SPRINGFIELD  In response to a looming shortage of registered nurses and growing demand from employers for nurses with four-year degrees, Illinois community colleges are pushing for the ability to award bachelors degrees in nursing.

However, the idea has been met with opposition from the states public universities. They say theyre willing to work collaboratively to address the issue but dont believe community colleges should be in the business of awarding bachelors degrees.

An Illinois Senate committee held a hearing on the proposal last week, but its sponsor, state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said he doesnt intend to move forward until after the new General Assembly is seated in January.

The hearing was held to encourage conversation among community colleges and universities, Manar said, adding that he plans revise the bill, possibly limiting it to certain high-need areas.

This bill isnt about going after universities; this bill isnt about trying to inject controversy into the nursing community, he said. This bill is straight up about making sure that underserved communities have health care."

A report last year from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation found that nearly one-third of registered nurses 55 and older plan to retire within the next five years, which could lead to a shortage in the near future.

Under Illinois law, registered nurses can have either an associate degree or a bachelors degree. But nationally a bachelors degree is now the typical entry-level education required for a job as a registered nurse, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Manar said communities across his district, which stretches from Decatur to the Metro East suburbs of St. Louis, are having trouble finding enough qualified nurses to fill positions at hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices and other health care facilities.

Todays policies are leaving those communities behind, Manar said.

Supporters say the change would make it possible for students and working nurses to earn bachelors degrees while staying closer to home, saving time and money.

Matt Berry, a spokesman for the Illinois Community College Board, said the council representing presidents of the states 48 community colleges have endorsed the idea. However, it would be up to individual schools to decide if its something theyre interested in doing, Berry said, adding that he expects a half-dozen to a dozen would pursue it.

We really look at this as an access issue and as an employer-driven proposal to meet workforce needs, he said.

Berry pointed to a report from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation that showed 44 percent of qualified applicants werent admitted to Illinois bachelors degree programs in nursing in 2013 due to lack of capacity.

But John Charles, director of government and public affairs for Southern Illinois University, said four-year schools offer robust nursing programs with room to expand.

The programs are in existence, theyre up and running and theyre successful, Charles said.

In addition to its traditional program, SIUs Edwardsville campus has the potential to provide virtually unlimited access through its online program, he said.

Enrollment in the program is up more than tenfold in recent years, from 50 students in 2014 to 560 students this year.

While the program has an on-campus component, Charles said, the university is willing to work with community colleges to bring those courses to students on their campuses rather than requiring them to come to Edwardsville.

The university also wants to work with community colleges to strengthen transfer programs for nursing students.

Meanwhile, as Berry noted, not all community colleges are looking to take advantage of the possible opportunity.

Ellen Colbeck, dean of health professions at Richland Community College in Decatur, said there doesnt appear to be a local need at this time.

Major employers in the area, including Decatur Memorial Hospital and HSHS St. Marys Hospital, hire registered nurses with associate degrees.

They are very happy with our graduates, Colbeck said.

She said the school also has strong partnerships with schools such as Eastern Illinois and Millikin universities. Benedictine University even offers bachelors degree courses on Richlands campus, Colbeck said.

Rob Widmer, president of Heartland Community College in Normal, said his school supports the proposed change statewide but hasnt had in-depth discussions about creating a bachelors program.

Our graduates are very successful coming out of the (associate degree in nursing) program, Widmer said, noting that the school has close partnerships with Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities for students who want to pursue a higher degree.
Update 10.15am: A mortgage broker has today said that new lending rules will not lead to a widespread return of 100% mortgages.

Certain exemptions to the new rules will mean borrowers do not always have to meet deposit requirements.

"Doctors, solicitors, accountants ... people who always get all the best of everything [are more likely to qualify]," said Karl Deeter from Irish Mortgage Brokers.

"Look - finance isn't a fair world."

He added: "People who you can trust with that amount of money as a bank are the ones who will get it.

"If you're Joe Regular, chances are it's not you."

Earlier:

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has denied that yesterday's change in mortgage lending restrictions for first-time buyers will lead to an increase in house prices.

The Central Bank

Read More:

"No, I think that the Central Bank made the right decision yesterday," he said Minister Coveney.

"I think they made that decision fully in the knowledge that the Government has introduced a Help To Buy Scheme.

"Don't forget, the Help To Buy Scheme is for first-time buyers who are buying new homes.

"What was announced yesterday by the Central Bank will apply to first-time buyers buying new and second-hand homes."

The Head of the Construction Industry Federation, Tom Parlon, also welcomed new mortgage lending rules.

Mr Parlon said that making it easier to get a mortgage "kills two birds with one stone", helping those in both the rental and retail markets.

He said that increasing the number of buyers provides an incentive for the construction industry.

"If the climate is right, and if it is viable for builders to build, they will build," he said.

"And I think this is helping that climate, and it is helping the plight of the people who are renting at the moment.

"And clearly, if someone moves out of a rental situation, it frees up the rental market.

"So we're killing two birds with one stone."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has welcomed the relaxation in the mortgage rules announced by the Central Bank today, writes Daniel McConnell of the Irish Examiner.

The decision of the Central Bank is to be welcomed here. Obviously they have put in conditions in respect of second and subsequent buyers. The Governments programme of 5bn worth of investment through the five pillars is very important, he told reporters.
President Higgins outlined the situation as homeless campaigner Br Kevin Crowley said his Capuchin day centre group is providing 560 dinners and nappies for almost 100 families every week, contradicting claims the recession is over.

Speaking at the 250th anniversary of the opening of the Presentation Primary School in Dublins inner city on the same day as new Central Bank mortgage rules were published, Mr Higgins said Irelands wealth gap challenge remained an ever-apparent threat.

Calling on those in positions of power to address growing housing, rental and homelessness crisis both in the capital and across the country, he angrily said what is happening to thousands of people today is entirely unacceptable.

I was at the Capuchin food centre this morning, they serve 540 breakfasts, give out 1,700 food parcels. Its not good enough for me to say this is what is done and pay tribute to those doing this. There is a bigger challenge, to be able to eliminate poverty, to be able to set housing in a way that people have expectations, shelter, are able to send their children to school.

President Michael D Higgins

Br Kevin [who runs the Capuchin day centre] gave me an example of someone who is not able to bring home one carton of milk because there isnt a fridge. This is 2016, 100 years after 1916. It is not acceptable. So there is the challenge.

The comments were repeated by Br Kevin, who was also attending the 250th anniversary of the opening of the Presentation Primary School and said the demand for his groups services  both from working families and homeless people  is 400% higher than in 2008.

In 2016, each morning we have about 300 people for breakfast and thats anything from 500 to 560 for dinner, six days a week, and then on a Wednesday we give out food parcels.

Up to the time of the recession, when it began in 2008, we gave out about 400 food parcels and now on any Wednesday morning it would be 1,700.

Not all of these people are homeless, some are people who have lost their jobs and are on the verge of losing their homes.

He said he remains deeply concerned that despite widespread attention to house price rises, the rental crisis and the linked escalation of homelessness, the issue is failing to be properly addressed, leaving young families to grow up in avoidable hardship. We are really concerned about the number of families coming each day for food, nappies and baby food, up to 80 a week. Its absolutely appalling we have little children in this day and age staying in hotels, people sleeping in parks. It is appalling, he said.
His comments came as the Government came under fire for only holding three meetings of a special Cabinet committee on Brexit since the British vote to leave the EU five months ago.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will now also hold special talks with Scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon on a joint-approach to dealing with Brexit at a special summit tomorrow in Cardiff, Wales.

Responding to reports yesterday that British big banks have been steered away from relocating to Ireland, Mr Noonan explained that only job-creating firms were wanted here.

We dont want brass plate operations that simply come here and screw a brass plate on to a door for tax advantages and dont have the strong economic activity here that creates jobs, we dont want that, he told reporters at a conference in Dublin.

International reports had suggested the Central Bank here was advising big firms they would find it difficult getting regulatory approval to move here.

There are no restrictions, but obviously we dont have to take everything that comes, Mr Noonan added.

Nicola Sturgeon

Ireland has been tipped as a contender to take thousands of finance jobs from London with Brexit. Countries such as Germany ad France are competing and have wooed banks to move there.

Tomorrows British Irish Council summit in Wales will see leaders from eight regions and countries discuss the impact of Brexit.

Elsewhere, Fianna Fail Foreign Affairs spokesman Darragh OBrien criticised the fact a Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit had only met three times since the June referendum in Britain.

Their first meeting  led by the Taoiseach  only took place three months after the vote, the Dail also heard.

It was outrageous only three committee meetings had taken place, argued Mr OBrien. A further meeting of the special committee will be held today.

Mr OBrien also reiterated a call for a Brexit minister to be appointed.

But Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan rejected these calls, saying: Not only would a separate minister for Brexit be completely unnecessary, the creation of such a post would, as we see from the UK experience, cause significant administrative disruption at a time when we need to be focused on substance.

Department of Taoiseach top officials were in Brussels yesterday to meet European Commissioner Brexit negotiator Michael Barnier, in what sources said was about what to expect when Britain triggers its exit next year.
Some are almost 70 families who became homeless last month.

Focus Ireland yesterday said a further 67 families were added to Dublins homeless list during October.

The homeless support agencys director of advocacy, Mike Allen, said: It is terrible to see, during the last year, the number of children who are homeless and living in emergency accommodation in Dublin has more than doubled from 1,343 to 2,110.

Christmas should be one of the happiest times of year for children and their families. However, it truly awful to realise that over 2,500 children will be homeless this Christmas Day. This is wrong and it is totally unacceptable.

During the first 10 months of 2016, Focus Ireland helped 230 families move out of homelessness into secure homes.

However, as at least two families are still becoming homeless every single day the crisis continues to deepen, said Mr Allen.

Increasing rents and a growing number of buy-to-let homes being either repossessed or sold is causing a constant rise in the numbers being forced into homelessness.

Focus Ireland called for urgent action from the Government to stem the level of evictions, particularly from buy-to-let landlords.

There are over 15,000 buy-to-let landlords who are in arrears by over two years. Banks and financial institutions are repossessing these homes and evicting the tenants at a rate of 100 a month, said Mr Allen.

We are calling on the Government to outlaw this practice and ensure, where banks repossess such properties, they sell them on with the tenant still in place.
The investigation took place against the background of 18-year-old Alex Ryans death after he sniffed the synthetic drug at a party in Greenmount, Cork, at the beginning of this year.

Three people face sentencing on different drugs charges in the case.

In Cork Circuit Criminal Court Judge Gerard OBrien said: What is alarming is the level of disrespect young people have for themselves in taking drugs manufactured by criminals. People think it is OK to do it because they are having a good time.

Donal McCarthy, who represented one of the three accused, said in relation to the nature and potency of the drug: None of the three people knew what they were getting.

Detective Garda Daniel McEnery said the investigation commenced following the admission of several young people to hospital after they had taken a drug at a party in Greenmount. Most of the people at the party were students aged around 20. One of those young people was Alex Ryan, and he died in hospital after ingesting the drug nasally.

Investigations brought drugs squad officers to the door of Harry Clifton, aged 29, at 11 St Finbarrs Place, Probys Quay, Cork, as their information was that the drug had been sourced from Clifton.

Clifton had supplied 12 trips of the drug to Ruairi Maher, aged 22, of 12 Ballycurrane, Thurles, Co Tipperary. The 12 doses were sold to him for a total of 80.

Maher had been contacted via dating website Tinder that night by Jessica OConnor, aged 20, of Rosebank House, Ballyhar, Killarney, Co Kerry.

She had been at a weekend-long party with friends and they had decided to get their hands on some kind of hallucinogenic drug. Maher told her he could get her 12 trips for 120, making a 40 profit by the transaction.

Through these channels the drug was brought to the party in Greenmount. Tom Creed, defending Clifton, said his client had warned Maher that it was strong and that nobody should take more than one dose. However, there was evidence that some people took two doses.

Mr Creed said Clifton had taken somewhat more than the single dose before with no adverse effect.

I would ask you not to lay the consequences for Mr Ryan at the door of Mr Clifton and ask the court to look at it simply as a section 15 [drug supply case], Mr Creed said.

Detective Garda McEnery said Clifton was not a drug addict and his motivation was profit. He had previous convictions for drug possession and cultivation.

Maher had previous convictions too, including one for simple drug possession.

Mr McCarthy, defending Maher, said he was very remorseful and wishes it had not happened and still cannot believe that it did happen. Mr McCarthy said it was Maher who phoned the gardai when people began to fall ill at the party.

Siobhan Lankford, defending OConnor, suggested that Jessica OConnor had the least involvement and had no previous convictions of any kind. She said her parents had taken a very serious view of the case and had brought her home to Kerry, ending her architecture degree in Cork in her third year. She took up a job in a supermarket and has since embarked on another course in Tralee Institute of Technology. She described the young woman as naive.

Ms Lankford said there was no question of monetary gain by OConnor and that she was representing a number of young people at the party who wanted to get an hallucinogen.

A number of different chemical and street names were given for the drug but Det Garda McEnery told Pearse Sreenan, prosecuting, the drug in question was commonly called N-bomb.

Apart from this drug being taken, there was evidence of people attending the party in Greenmount taking huge quantities of alcohol, including wine, spirits, and tequila, also that weekend, to the extent that 2,500 worth of damage was caused to the house. Ms Lankford said OConnor had paid for half of the damage done as a gesture of her sincerity.

Judge OBrien said he would sentence the three accused tomorrow.

Clifton pleaded guilty to having N-bomb for the purpose of supply. Clifton also admitted having MDMA for supply. He admitted simple possession of two other drugs namely cannabis and DMT.

Maher admitted conspiring with another to possess a controlled drug for the purpose of sale or supply, namely N-bomb.

OConnor admitted having N-bomb for the purpose of sale or supply.

Alex Ryan, 18, from Liscahane, Millstreet, Co Cork, died on January 23. Cork Coroners Court heard that the teenager died after consuming the synthetic drug N-bomb.

Mr Ryan had been on a life support machine at Cork University Hospital after becoming ill at the house party at St Patricks Terrace on Green Street in Greenmount, Cork city.

There is no reference to the late Mr Ryan in any of the charges faced by Clifton, Maher, and OConnor.
BRIDGEWATER, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Nov. 24, 2016) - Silver Spruce Resources Inc. ("Silver Spruce" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SSE)(FRANKFURT:S6Q) is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Karl J. Boltz as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Boltz has also been appointed by the Board to serve as a Director of Silver Spruce.

"On behalf of fellow Board members, I congratulate Karl on his new leadership role as President and CEO and welcome him to the Board of Directors of Silver Spruce Resources Inc.," stated Chairman, Dr. Brian Penney. "I would also like to thank Mr. Stephan Jedynak for his leadership during the restructuring and turnaround process that has helped to position the Company to pursue opportunities that can enhance value for our shareholders."

Mr. Boltz was the co-founding President, CEO and Director of EXMIN Resources Inc. (since merged with Sierra Metals). Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Boltz has worked for and with numerous public and private mining companies in Mexico, in various management capacities. He has over fifteen years leading and managing mining project activities with the most recent ten years concentrating on public company creation, project acquisition, funding, market development and administrative management. Mr. Boltz has provided services to the Company as the General Manager of Mexico Operations, since June 2015.

About Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

Silver Spruce Resources Inc. is a well-positioned Canadian junior exploration company pursuing development of the Pino de Plata epithermal silver/base metal/gold project located in the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental region of Western Chihuahua State in Mexico. The company has recently completed an exploration assessment on the property and is preparing for its maiden drill program. Silver Spruce also retains a portfolio of uranium and rare earth element properties in Labrador.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The company seeks Safe Harbour.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - November 24, 2016) - Sarama Resources Ltd. ("Sarama" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SWA) advises that aircore ("AC") and diamond drilling has commenced at the South Hounde Project (the "Project") in south-western Burkina Faso. The program is designed to build on encouraging results from the last drilling campaign and to test for strike and down-dip extensions to grow the current 2.1Moz1,2 gold inferred mineral resource to advance the Project.

Highlights

Encouraging intersections from previous drill programs and review of geophysical survey data have generated new targets that could add to the current 2.1Moz1,2 gold mineral resource at the South Hounde Project.

1,200m diamond drill program planned to target down-dip extensions of a high-grade lens at the MM Prospect to a vertical depth of 450m.

4,000m AC program planned to test for oxide mineralisation at the Djimbake Prospect, located a further 3.2km along strike from the southerly extent of the eastern horizon of the mineral resource.

2,200m AC program planned to test for oxide mineralisation along cross-structures inferred to link the MM-MC and Phantom East-MM Prospects.

USD$3.5M (CAD$4.7M) exploration program, funded by Acacia Mining plc, is budgeted for 2017 including geochemical and geophysical surveys and drill programs.

Sarama's President and CEO, Andrew Dinning, commented:

"After a phase of drilling in close proximity to the established mineral resource, we look forward to conducting step-out drilling to test for extensions to the strike of the mineral resource and also test down-dip of high-grade zones that have the potential to support underground mining.

This drilling is expected to yield valuable geological information to further develop the geologic model and enhance targeting and, if successful, will highlight the potential for extensions to the mineral resource that will be followed-up in 2017.

We firmly believe that the South Hounde Project has the potential to be an open pit and underground mining complex. The Project will play a key role in the development of the southern part of the Hounde Belt where Sarama has significant interests across three projects that collectively host a sizeable gold mineral resource."

Diamond Drilling

Depth Extension of High-Grade Lens -- MM Prospect

A high-grade lens within the MM Prospect that is defined by intersections including 10.2m @ 14.85g/t Au from 109.3m in DDH025, 15.5m @ 9.36g/t Au from 176.5m in DDH045, and 19.1m @ 4.06g/t Au from 263.5m in DDH050 will be tested for down-dip extensions.

The lens is centred at 1176800mN and two 600m-long diamond core holes are planned to target the down-plunge extension approximately 120m below the last significant drill intersection and to a vertical depth of 450m (Figure 1). The drilling will assist in resolving the plunge orientation of this lens and will lead to better targeting of the high-grade lenses within the mineralized zones which have potential to be amenable to underground mining.

Aircore Drilling

South-Western Corridor Extension -- Djimbake Prospect

A 4,000m AC drill program has commenced along the south-western extension of the Tankoro Corridor, a 10.2km-long zone of structurally emplaced porphyry dykes and associated gold mineralization. Mineralization is open to the north-east and to the south-west along this mineralized corridor.

The objective of the reconnaissance drill program at the Djimbake Prospect (Figure 1) is to test for oxide mineralisation potentially hosted in two parallel horizons up to 3.2km along strike from the limit of the current mineral resource. The drilling is guided by gold-in-soil and geophysical anomalies and an interpreted 070-striking cross fault that is part of the mineralized structural geometry.

Linking Structures -- MC, MM and Phantom East Prospects

A 2,200m AC program is planned to test for oxide mineralisation in near-surface expressions of cross-structures that are interpreted to link north-north-easterly striking mineralised lodes at the MM-MC Prospects and the Phantom East-MM Prospects. The reconnaissance-level targets were generated from geophysical surveys and the geological concept is supported by the presence of high-grade mineralisation in other areas of the mineralised system with a strike direction that is oblique to the main trend (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Drill Plan Showing Location of Planned Drilling

ABOUT SARAMA RESOURCES LTD

Sarama Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SWA) is a West African focused gold explorer with substantial landholdings in Burkina Faso. Sarama is focused on consolidating under-explored landholdings in Burkina Faso and other established mining jurisdictions.

Sarama's flagship properties are situated within the Company's South Hounde Project area in south-west Burkina Faso. Located within the prolific Hounde Greenstone Belt, Sarama's exploration programs have built on significant early success to deliver an inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.1 Moz gold1,2. Acacia Mining plc is earning up to a 70% interest in the South Hounde Project by satisfying certain conditions, including funding earn-in expenditures of up to US$14 million, over a 4-year earn-in period and may acquire an additional 5% interest, for an aggregate 75% interest in the Project, upon declaration of a minimum mineral reserve of 1.6 million ounces of gold.

Sarama holds a 31% participating interest in the Karankasso Project Joint Venture ("JV") which is situated adjacent to the Company's South Hounde Project in Burkina Faso and is a JV between Sarama and Savary Gold Corp. ("Savary"). Savary is the operator of the JV and in October 2015, declared a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 671,000 ounces of contained gold3,4 at the Karankasso Project JV.

Sarama has also agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Bondi Deposit from Orezone Gold Corporation (refer news release May 24, 2016). Bondi has a historical estimate of mineral resources of 0.3Moz Au (measured and indicated) and 0.1Moz Au (inferred)5,6.

Together, the South Hounde Project, Bondi Deposit and the Karankasso Project form a cluster of advanced gold deposits, within trucking distance of one another, which potentially offers a development option for a multi-source fed central processing facility in the southern Hounde Belt region of Burkina Faso.

Incorporated in 2010, the Company's Board and management team have a proven track record in Africa and a strong history in the discovery and development of large-scale gold deposits. Sarama is well positioned to build on its current success with a sound exploration strategy across its property portfolio.

43.0 Mt @ 1.5 g/t Au (reported above cut-off grades ranging 0.3-2.2 g/t Au, reflecting the mining methods and processing flowsheets assumed to assess the likelihood of the inferred mineral resources having reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction) The effective date of the Company's inferred mineral resource estimate is February 4, 2016. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report South Hounde Project Update, Bougouriba and Ioba Provinces, Burkina Faso", dated March 31, 2016. The technical report is available under Sarama Resources Ltd.'s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 9.2 Mt @ 2.3 g/t Au (at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off) The effective date of the Karankasso Project JV mineral resource estimate is October 7, 2015. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Karankasso Project, Burkina Faso", dated October 7, 2015. The technical report is available under Savary Gold Corp's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Sarama has not independently verified Savary's mineral resource estimate and takes no responsibility for its accuracy. 4.1Mt @ 2.1g/t Au for 282,000 oz Au (measured and indicated) and 2.5Mt @ 1.8g/t Au for 149,700 oz Au (inferred), reported at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off The effective date of the historical estimate of the Bondi Deposit mineral resource estimate is February 20, 2009. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "Technical Report on the Mineral Resource of the Bondigui Gold Project", dated February 20, 2009. The technical report is available under Orezone Gold Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the Company's plans for drilling and geochemical and geophysical surveys at the South Hounde Project, the results of such drilling, the Earn-In Agreement with Acacia, including the amounts that may be spent on exploration and interests in the South Hounde Project that may be earned by Acacia upon making certain expenditures and estimating a minimum reserve, the potential to expand the present oxide component of the Company's existing estimated mineral resources, and future exploration plans. Actual results, performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors include, among others, that the business of exploration for gold and other precious minerals involves a high degree of risk and is highly speculative in nature; Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves, they do not have demonstrated economic viability, and there is no certainty that they can be upgraded to Mineral Reserves through continued exploration; few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. There can be no assurance that any mineralisation that is discovered will be proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing or approvals will be obtained. However, the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, Acacia's continued funding of exploration activities, the Company's ability to carry on its exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold and other precious metals, that the Company will not be affected by adverse political events, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Sarama does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable 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.

NOTES -- DRILLING

The following applies only to the Company's South Hounde Project and not to its indirect interest in the Karankasso Project Joint Venture or the Bondi gold deposit which it has agreed to acquire.

Drilling results are quoted as downhole intersections. True widths of mineralisation are estimated to be approximately 70% to 80% of reported downhole intersection lengths, except as otherwise noted. The orientation of some of the mineralised units is not yet well understood.

The reported composites for the drilling were determined using a cut-off grade of 0.30g/t Au to select significant and anomalous intersections, with a maximum of 2m internal dilution being incorporated into the composite where appropriate. No top-cuts were applied to assay grades. Isolated mineralised intersections less than 2m in length have not been reported.

Gold assays for the drilling were undertaken by several internationally owned laboratories in Burkina Faso and Mali. Assays are determined by fire assay methods using a 50 gram charge, lead collection and an AAS finish with lower detection limits of 0.01g/t A.

The drilling was generally designed using a range of azimuths, according to program aims and mineralization orientation, dipping at -50-55 and were of variable length. Holes were spaced at 25-50m intervals along drill lines. All AC and RC holes were sampled at regular 1m downhole intervals. All diamond holes were sampled according to geological intervals but were generally <1m.

Intersection oxidation state classification is based on visual logging of the drillholes.

Sarama undertakes geological sampling and assays in accordance with its quality assurance/quality control program which includes the use of certified reference materials for AC, RC and diamond drilling as well as field duplicates in the case of AC and RC drilling.

For further information regarding the Company's QAQC protocols please refer to the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report, South Hounde Project Update, Bougouriba and Ioba Provinces, Burkina Faso", dated March 31, 2016. The technical report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

QUALIFIED PERSONS' STATEMENT

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the Company's exploration activities in Burkina Faso is based on information compiled or approved by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Guy Scherrer consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the preparation of the Company's mineral resource estimate is based on information compiled or approved by Adrian Shepherd. Adrian Shepherd is an employee of Cube Consulting Pty Ltd and is considered to be independent of Sarama Resources Ltd. Adrian Shepherd is a Chartered Professional Member in good standing of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Adrian Shepherd consents to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the preparation of the Karankasso Project's mineral resource estimate is based on information compiled or approved by Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa are employees of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and are considered to be independent of Savary Gold Corp. and Sarama Resources Ltd. Antoine Yassa is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and Eugene Puritch is a member in good standing of Professional Engineers Ontario. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa have sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which they are undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa consent to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Sarama has not independently verified Savary's mineral resource estimate and takes no responsibility for its accuracy.

Scientific or technical information in this news release, in respect of the Bondi Deposit relating to mineral resource and exploration information drawn from the Technical Report prepared for Orezone on that deposit has been approved by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Guy Scherrer consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - November 24, 2016) - Brixton Metals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BBB) (the "Company" or "Brixton") is pleased to announce that it has expanded the gold mineralization strike length at the Outlaw Zone and has now released the remaining results from the 2016 program on its Thorn Project located in Northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company drilled five holes at the Outlaw Zone for a total of 1,190 metres and four holes at the Aberlour Zone for a total 455 metres for a sum of 1,645 metres.

Highlights from the 2016 Exploration Program at the Thorn Project:

Near surface gold mineralization confirmed along a 450m strike length and remains open;

The Outlaw Zone gold-in-soils and the sedimentary unit has a strike of greater than 5 km;

Delineated a new large gold-in-soils anomaly and a corresponding near surface Induced Polarization chargeability high at the Chivas Zone;

The Chivas Zone has a strike length of 3.5km and is up to 2km in width. It remains open ended based on the geochemical-geophysical surveys;

The Chivas Zone soil geochemical sampling program returned up to 16.7 g/t Au.

Chairman and CEO of Brixton, Gary R. Thompson stated, "The 2016 exploration work at Thorn was successful in expanding the near surface gold mineralization at the Outlaw Gold Zone, which appears to have significant scale potential. In addition the delineation of a new 7 square kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly associated with a near surface IP chargeability high anomaly at the Chivas Gold Zone represents an exciting drill target for 2017."

Table of the 2016 Drilling Results: Drill Hole Zone From To Interval Weighted Average Weighted Average ID (m) (m) (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) THN16-131* Outlaw 0 121.00 NA NA THN16-132* Outlaw 0 18.00 18.00 1.61 12.31 including Outlaw 1.00 12.75 11.75 2.23 14.56 THN16-132* Outlaw 78.00 130.00 52.00 0.94 5.95 including Outlaw 120.00 130.00 10.00 3.61 23.75 THN16-133* Outlaw 0 13.00 13.00 1.73 7.25 including Outlaw 0 6.00 6.00 3.41 12.49 THN16-133* Outlaw 105.66 129.90 24.24 0.45 1.33 including Outlaw 116.60 122.30 5.70 1.13 2.38 THN16-134 Outlaw 49.00 75.00 26.00 0.31 NA Outlaw 83.00 148.60 65.60 0.63 NA including Outlaw 85.00 122.00 37.00 0.79 NA including Outlaw 103.00 122.00 19.00 1.02 NA THN16-135 Outlaw 41.50 96.00 54.50 0.35 NA including Outlaw 51.50 57.50 6.00 1.68 NA THN16-136 Aberlour 13.00 16.00 3.00 1.72 NA including Aberlour 15.00 16.00 1.00 4.42 NA THN16-137 Aberlour 22.50 24.00 1.50 0.58 NA THN16-138 Aberlour 30.00 31.00 1.00 0.91 10.00 THN16-139 Aberlour 24.00 26.00 2.00 1.48 NA including Aberlour 25.00 25.45 0.45 5.50 33.00

* results previously released October 31, 2016

Drill hole THN16-134 was collared 289 metres east from hole 132-133 and 130 meters east from drill hole 128 (59.65m of 1.14 g/t Au including 9.00m of 3.08 g/t Au). Hole 134 encountered two gold mineralized zones within sediments. The upper zone in hole 134 from 49 metres depth returned 0.31 g/t Au over 26 meters. The lower zone from 83 metres depth returned 0.63 g/t Au over 65.60 metres (including 19 m of 0.98 g/t Au). Drill hole THN16-135 was collared 740 metres east from hole 134. Hole 135 had a target depth of 500 metres however, encountered difficult ground conditions and was terminated at 195.07 meters depth, short of the target depth. Drill hole THN16-135 returned 6.00 metres of 1.68 g/t Au within 54.50 metres of 0.35 g/t Au. Mineralization is hosted within interbedded siltstone and greywacke. Primary sulphides are pyrrhotite and pyrite which occur as semi-massive to disseminated mineralization and veinlets.

Drill holes THN16-136 to 139 were drilled at the Aberlour Zone from the same pad where surface rock samples returned up to 57 g/t Au. Drill hole 136 at the Aberlour Zone returned 3 metres of 1.72 g/t Au including (4.42 g/t Au over 1.00m). Hole 139 returned 5.50 g/t Au over 0.45 metres (see table above).

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

Sealed samples were shipped by the Company geologists to ALS Minerals' preparation lab in Whitehorse, Yukon. ALS Minerals Laboratories are registered to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 17025 accreditations for laboratory procedures. Blank, duplicate and certified reference materials were inserted into the sample stream. Analysis for gold was done by Fire Assay with AA finish. All other elements were analyzed by Aqua Regia Digest with ICP-AES finish. Gold and Silver over-limits were analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish. Base metal over-limits were analyzed with Aqua Regia Digest and AES finish. A copy of the QAQC protocols can be viewed at the Company's website.

All reported assays are uncut weighted averages. The true width of reported mineralization is unknown at this time.

Mr. Sorin Posescu, P.Geo., VP Exploration, is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 standards and has reviewed and approved this news release.

About Brixton Metals Corporation

Brixton Metals is a Canadian exploration company focused on the advancement of its British Columbia and Ontario gold-silver projects toward feasibility.

Brixton wholly owns 2 past producers of high-grade silver within the Silver-Cobalt Camp of Ontario. The Langis mine produced 10.4Moz of silver at 25 oz/t Ag and 358,340 pounds of cobalt, the Hudson Bay mine produced 6.4Moz of silver at 123 oz/t. The projects are generally located 500 km north of Toronto, Canada. The high-grade silver mineralization occurs as moderate-steeply-dipping veins within any of the three main rock types; Archean volcanics, Coleman Member sediments and Nipissing diabase.

The 996 SQ/KM, wholly owned Thorn Project is located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, approximately 105 km ENE from Juneau, AK. The Thorn project hosts a district scale gold-silver trend associated with Triassic to Cretaceous volcano-plutonic complex. Many styles of mineralization have been identified related to porphyry and epithermal environments. Targets include high-grade gold-silver underground targets and large-scale open pit gold type targets.

Brixton Metals Corporation shares trade on the TSX-V under the ticker symbol BBB. For more information about Brixton please visit our website at www.brixtonmetals.com.
Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (TSX.V: BCN) ("Bacanora" or the "Company")- the Board of Bacanora, the Canadian and London listed company focused on developing the Sonora Project ("Sonora" or the "Project") in Mexico, is pleased to announce changes to the composition of the Board. These are in line with the Company's strategy to build a robust and independent Board with a complementary skill set to effectively facilitate the development of Sonora into a world class lithium carbonate operation.

Changes to Board of Directors

The Company is pleased to announce that Mark Hohnen, Non-Executive Director of the Company, has assumed the role of Chairman with immediate effect. James Leahy, interim Non-Executive Chairman, will resume his role as Non-Executive Director of the Company.

Mr. Hohnen has a long track record of creating value through the development of resource projects, as demonstrated during his time as Director of Kalahari Minerals and Extract Resources and in his current role as Director of Swakop Uranium, which is developing the world's second largest uranium mine and the largest mine development in southern Africa.

Additionally, Bacanora announces the appointment of Ray Hodgkinson as a Canadian based Non-Executive Director of the Company, replacing Shane Shircliff who has stepped down from this role to pursue other business interests. Mr. Shircliff served as CEO of Bacanora from May 2013 to May 2015 and as a Director from February 2014 to present. Ray Hodgkinson resides in Canada and has both substantial public company and natural resource experience. He is very familiar with Bacanora having been on its Board between 2006 and 2013, prior to its AIM listing.

Mr. Raymond John Hodgkinson (aged 60) has previously worked as an engineering consultant to Striker Exploration Corp. and Exoro Energy Inc. He has been an Independent Director of Westcore Energy Ltd. since March 2007 and a Director of Troy Energy Corp. since September 2009. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Aztek Energy Ltd. from June 1, 2006 to January 2010. He served as a Director of Tembo Gold Corp (formerly Lakota Resources Inc.) from October 2009 to July 15, 2011. He has 30 years of experience in the natural resources sector and is a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. Mr. Hodgkinson received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from University of Calgary in June 1977.

Set out below are details of Mr. Hodgkinson's current directorships and those that he has held within the last five years.

Current Directorships Past Directorships (past 5 years) Troy Energy Corp. Bacanora Minerals Ltd. Westcore Energy Ltd. Tembo Gold Corp. Aztek Energy Ltd.

Mr. Hodgkinson has an interest in 756,050 common shares in Bacanora. There is no further information on Mr. Hodgkinson, which is required to be disclosed under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Corporate Update

Bacanora and Rare Earth Minerals plc (AIM/ISDX: REM; OTC REMMY), together advise that the financing condition in the conditional lithium hydroxide supply agreement (the "Agreement") previously announced on 28 August 2015 has not been met under the terms of the Agreement. We advise further that we have had extensive discussions with the customer as to the feasiblity of securing project specific financing pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, that those discussions have now concluded, and therefore we are discontinuing further efforts to secure project specific financing pursuant to the Agreement.

It remains Bacanora's strategy to focus on the production of lithium carbonate to service the rapidly growing Asian and European markets for electric vehicles and energy storage. Sales of lithium carbonate represent some 75% of the current world market of lithium products.

During the year Bacanora has rapidly advanced the Sonora Lithium Project, the pre-feasibility study which was published in March and showed positive economics returns, from a development plan that involved ramping up production to 35 Kt of LCE1 over 2 years. In addition, Bacanora has demonstrated that it can produce battery-grade lithium carbonate from the ore at the Sonora Lithium Project and has distributed samples of its product for preliminary appraisal and testing by potential end-users.

The Sonora Lithium Project consists of ten mining concession areas covering approximately 100 thousand hectares in the northeast of Sonora State. It has an Indicated Mineral Resource (in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101")) of 4.5 million tonnes (LCE) and 2.7 million tonnes (LCE) within the Inferred category.

Bacanora continues to focus on its core business which is the completion of the Sonora lithium carbonate Feasibility Study ("FS") targeted for completion at the end of Q1, 2017 and the advancement of discussions with potential lithium carbonate customers.

New Chairman Mark Hohnen said, "Sonora is a compelling lithium asset poised to capitalise on a growing market for lithium carbonate and I am pleased to take on this role at this exciting time for Bacanora. I would like to thank James Leahy for his commitment to the Company following the sad passing of Colin Orr-Ewing. I also take this opportunity to welcome back Ray and look forward to benefitting from his significant experience of the Canadian markets. In addition, on behalf of the entire Board I would like to thank Shane Shircliff for his years of dedication to Bacanora throughout its formative stages and to offer him sincere best wishes in his future endeavours. As recent appointments have shown, we are dedicated to creating a strong, independent Board which has the ability to deliver production at Sonora, so that we may capitalise on the robust economics demonstrated from a 35,000 tonne per annum lithium carbonate operation for the benefit of our shareholders."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

1 LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li 2 CO 3 . 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.32 ppm LCE / Li 2 CO 3. . Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses.

ABOUT BACANORA:

Bacanora is a Canadian and London listed minerals explorer (TSX VENTURE:BCN)(AIM:BCN). The Company explores and develops industrial mineral projects, with a primary focus on lithium. The Sonora Lithium Project, which consists of ten mining concession areas covering approximately 100 thousand hectares in the northeast of Sonora State. The Company, through drilling and exploration work to date, has established an Indicated Mineral Resource (in accordance with NI 43-101) of 4.5 million tonnes (lithium carbonate equivalent) and 2.7 million tonnes Inferred. A Pre-Feasibility Study completed in Q1 2016 demonstrated the positive economics associated with becoming a 35,000 tpa lithium carbonate and 50,000 tpa SOP producer in Mexico. The Company is led by a team with lithium expertise which have proven mine development, construction and operational experience.

Source: Bacanora Minerals
A-50 seconds video recording of a lady offering free sex to Ghana's President John Mahama has gone viral on social media and become the talk of town.

Oh Mahama, I am just looking for you to fondle you and squeeze you, aaaaah. You are a real man. What do you want from me? My breasts, my buttocks, my thighs or my 'tonga'? Come and enjoy them for free and go. Even if you won't pay me, come and enjoy me and go. I, Adoley, I am asking you to come and enjoy 'tonga' for free and go, the lady who gave her name as Adoley was captured in the video.

The dark-skinned lady had long black artificial hair, lips painted in blazing colours and long fingernails.

Though seated throughout the recording, she appeared to be heavily built and had a slightly protruded stomach which was visible even through the John Mahama-branded T-shirt she wore.

Adoley started the video by saying she was blushing over John Mahama and had been looking for him for a long while.

She then heaped amazing praises on the president, describing him as a handsome man with cute lips and also with a very firm man hood.

The Presidency is yet to respond to the video.


Ghanaian musician, Charles Kwadwo Fosu, Daddy Lumba appear to be ready to release yet another campaign song for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo featured in a facebook video recording a song endorsing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

A new video on Facebook shows the artiste and music producer, Appiah Dankwa, popularly known as Appietus in a studio previewing the song.

In the video, he is heard touting the NPPs flagship 1-district, 1-factory policy among others policies of the party ahead of the December polls.

Daddy Lumba has in the last two elections endorse the candidature of Nana Akufo-Addo.

He has composed a number of songs for the party, most of which became very popular in the country before and even after the elections.

See the video below:





By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Okyeame Kwame (right) in a pose with John Cranley after the event

24.11.2016 LISTEN



Kwame Nsiah Appau, known in the showbiz scene as Okyeame Kwame, last Monday has been honoured by the mayor of Cincinnati in the United States for his outstanding contributions towards the development of the Ghanaian and African music industries.

The Ghanaian hiplife artiste was honoured with international cultural ambassador status which allows him to organise events, run cultural exchange programmes, among others, in a capacity as an international cultural ambassador for Cincinnati.

A presentation ceremony organised by the Black Nurses Association of Cincinnati, in partnership with the Cincinnati Ghanaian community at the Renew Community Church, saw the city Mayor John Cranley applauding Okyeame Kwame for his unprecedented efforts at fighting hepatitis B, for which the Black Nurses Association recognises.

Looking rather humbled and overwhelmed as he was being honoured for his contribution to the fight of hepatitis B and development of the Ghanaian music industry, Okyeame Kwame was full of praise to God.

At the ceremony, the mayor John Cranley declared November 17 of each year an 'Okyeame Kwame Day' to solemnise his status as cultural ambassador for the city.

He said, We want to make sure you always come back to Cincinnati and we have an open door for you. So we're also giving you a key to the city.

The presentation of the key to the city to Okyeame Kwame is a symbol of trade and cultural unity between Ghana and Cincinnati of Ohio State.

The 'Key To The City' is an honour bestowed by a city upon esteemed residents and visitors.

Okyeame Kwame joins a list of other celebrities; Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Tiger Woods, Kim Kardashian and several others. Earlier this year, Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and award-winning actor, Abraham Attah, had been given the keys to Massachusetts in recognition of their respective accomplishments.
The Amamere Folk Music & Dance Ensemble has been invited to represent Ghana at this year's edition of BAARE International Festival of Tradition and Contemporary Dance in Lome, Togo, from November 25 to 28.

Invited by Sojaf Company, the event which is expected to attract a number of cultural music and dance groups from some selected West African countries which include Benin, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, among others, is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, Togo.

The group is expected to showcase the best in Ghanaian culture.

Badu Evans, the leader and artistic director of the Amamere Group, told BEATWAVES that his group will showcase over 30 different traditional dances at the event.

He stressed that the ultimate mission of the group is to promote African culture through dances and music to showcase the richness of African traditional values.

The group which is made up of talented young boys and girls has, over the past years, been making waves with their magnificent and powerful performances.

They have delighted enthusiastic crowds in several towns throughout the country with pieces from their large repertoire of traditional and choreographed dance pieces.

By George Clifford Owusu
Johannesburg (AFP) - South African police Thursday said they had arrested a Hong Kong-bound Chinese man found with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage.

He was detained on Wednesday at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport after an anonymous tip-off.

"The 28-year-old male, who was in transit from Namibia to board a South African Airways flight to Hong Kong, was immediately arrested," the organised crime police unit said in a statement.

The horns, weighing 43 kilograms (95 pounds), were valued at around 6.6 million rand ($467,000, 441,000 euros).

He is due to appear in court on Friday.

Southern African countries are battling increased poaching levels. The trade is fuelled by organised syndicates mainly from Asian countries.

South Africa, which has the largest rhino population worldwide, has been hit the hardest, with 1,200 slaughtered last year alone.

Most of them were killed at the Kruger National Park, the country's premier safari destination.

The illegal trade is driven by huge demand in Vietnam and China, where it is believed to have medicinal powers curing everything from hangovers to cancer.

The belief has been scientifically proven to be false.

The horn is also crafted into prized ornaments.

In August, another Hong Kong-bound Chinese man was arrested at OR Tambo airport with 10 rhino horns and carved ornaments.
Lagos (AFP) - Amnesty International on Thursday accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injuring hundreds since August 2015.

The army denied the charge.

"This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the southeast of Nigeria," Amnesty warned in its report.

"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher," said Makmid Kamara, interim director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The watchdog said its report was based on analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eyewitness accounts relating to demonstrations and other gatherings of Biafran activists between August 2015 and August 2016.

The protesters were asking for a separate state for the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria.

Amnesty said the military used live ammunition with little or no warning to disperse the protesters.

In May 2016, it said, at least 60 people were shot dead and 70 injured in two days of events to mark Biafra Remembrance Day.

Amnesty called for an inquiry.

"The Nigerian government's decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed," it said.

"The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book."

Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman dismissed the allegation.

"We wish to debunk the insinuation that our troops perpetrated the killing of defenceless agitators. This is an outright attempt to tarnish the reputation of the security forces," Usman said in a statement.

He said the activists had in fact killed five policeman at a protest in May and attacked military and police vehicles.

"(...) The military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence," he added.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has staged series of demonstrations across the southeast since the arrest in October last year of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been charged with treason and still in detention.

Kanu, who is also head of the banned Radio Biafra, is accused of calling for a separate republic of Biafra, nearly 50 years after a previous declaration of independence sparked a civil war.

The 1967-70 conflict left more than a million people dead, most of them from starvation and disease, as the Igbo nation was blockaded into submission.

Amnesty and other human rights groups have previously highlighted similar claims against the military in December last year, when at least 350 Shiite Muslim protesters were killed in the northern city of Zaria.

The military has also been accused of a catalogue of abuses against civilians during Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
Cairo (AFP) - Eight Egyptian soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack targeting a checkpoint in Sinai, where the local affiliate of the Islamic State group is leading an insurgency, the army said Thursday.

"A group of armed terrorists attacked one of the security checkpoints in north Sinai," the army spokesman said.

"A car bomb attack, the clashes that ensued and a blast targeting one of the vehicles left eight members of the armed forced dead," he added.

Three jihadists were also killed in the fighting, he said.

The military did not reveal where exactly in northern Sinai the attack had taken place.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The army has been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai which has escalated since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The government says hundreds of police and soldiers have died in the attacks, which have also hit Cairo and the Nile Delta.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Egyptian IS affiliate.

The jihadist group also said it was responsible for the downing of a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015 which killed all 224 people on board, most of them Russian holidaymakers.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis (R) takes a run during the third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on November 24, 2016. By Peter Parks (AFP)

24.11.2016 LISTEN

Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - Skipper Faf du Plessis put his ball tampering controversy behind him to defy Australia's bowlers with a steely century to put South Africa in early control of the day-night third Test in Adelaide.

Du Plessis was booed by the crowd as he walked out to bat, following a ball-tampering incident for which he was found guilty and fined, but cleared to play in the match.

But he single-handedly lifted the Proteas before declaring at 259 for nine leaving him unbeaten on 118 after the tourists had been struggling at 95 for four against Steve Smith's revamped team.

The Australians, with David Warner unable to open the innings as he was off the field having treatment and hadn't been back long enough at the time of the declaration, negotiated 12 overs to be 14 without loss at the close of day one.

English-born debutant opener Matt Renshaw played watchfully for eight with Usman Khawaja on three.

It was yet another crucial knock by du Plessis at the Adelaide ground where four years ago his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 denied Australia victory to earn the Proteas a backs-to-the-wall draw.

Du Plessis scampered through for two off Josh Hazlewood to bring up his sixth Test century off 147 balls prompting a smattering of boos amid the applause of the 32,255 crowd.

It was a tribute to his focus and concentration as du Plessis played a chanceless innings, making it look easy despite the problems experienced by his team-mates.

Hazlewood was the best of the Australian bowlers with four wickets for 68.

Only opener Steve Cook provided any material support to his captain with 40 after profitting from an early reprieve.

Cook had a major let-off on four, when he was struck on the back pad by Mitchell Starc and given out leg before wicket in the day's third over.

But he was called back to the crease when replays found that Starc had over-stepped.

Cook eventually fell in the fifth over of the middle session when he sparred at Starc and nicked to Smith at second slip.

Dashing wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has scores of 84, 64 and 104 in the series, had a failure by comparison, managing just 24 off 33 balls.

Vernon Philander lost a third umpire review when 'Snicko' detected the faintest of edges off Hazlewood to Matthew Wade for four nearing the dinner break, while Kyle Abbott chipped in with a spirited 17.

Wade, recalled to the national side for dumped gloveman Peter Nevill, had five dismissals, four catches and a stumping.

Temba Bavuma failed to get a start when he edged Jackson Bird for eight and Starc recovered from his early Cook blunder to entice a thick edge from Dean Elgar to Khawaja at third slip for five.

He received ironic cheers from the home crowd when replays confirmed it was a legal delivery.

Renshaw then took his first Test catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for five off Hazlewood.

Hazlewood struck again in the over after drinks, coaxing an inside edge off JP Duminy to give Wade a catch for five.

Australia are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa first innings

S. Cook c Smith b Starc 40

D. Elgar c Khawaja b Starc 5

H. Amla c Renshaw b Hazlewood 5

JP Duminy c Wade b Hazlewood 5

F. du Plessis not out 118

T. Bavuma c Wade b Bird 8

Q. de Kock c Wade b Hazlewood 24

V. Philander c Wade b Hazlewood 4

K. Abbott lbw b Bird 17

K. Rabada stpd Wade b Lyon 1

T. Shamsi not out 18

Extras (b3, lb8, w2, nb1) 14

Total (9 wickets declared, 76 overs) 259

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Elgar), 2-36 (Amla), 3-44 (Duminy), 4-95 (Cook), 5-117 (Bavuma), 6-149 (de Kock), 7-161 (Philander), 8-215 (Abbott), 9-220 (Rabada)

Bowling: Starc 23-5-78-2 (1nb), Hazlewood 22-5-68-4, Bird 16-3-57-2, Lyon 15-1-45-1

Australia first innings

U. Khawaja not out 3

M. Renshaw not out 8

Extras (lb2, nb1) 3

Total (0 wicket, 12 overs) 14

To bat: David Warner, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird.

Bowling: Philander 4-2-10-0 (1nb), Abbott 3-3-0-0, Rabada 3-2-1-0, Shamsi 2-1-1-0

Toss: South Africa

Crowd: 32,255

Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) and Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

TV umpire: Aleem Dar (PAK)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
23.11.2016 LISTEN

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah GNA

Sekondi (W/R), Nov. 23, GNA - Mr Daniel Essuman, the Progressive People's Party (PPP) Parliamentary Candidate for Sekondi, has said a PPP Administration would establish a fruit juice and rice mill factories in Sekondi to create jobs for the unemployed youth.

He said the flag bearer of the Party, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, a renowned entrepreneur, had proven track record, and would fulfill these promises when the PPP is given the mandate to govern the country.

Mr Essuman said this at a parliamentary debate in Sekondi organized by the National Commission for Civic Education, the Centre for Democratic Development, the Ghana News Agency and Friends of the Nation and supported by the European Union, Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth and OXFAM.

The platform afforded the parliamentary candidates to interact with their constituents and share their vision and programmes with them.

Other parliamentary candidates who took part in the debate included Mr Andrew Egyapa Mercer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Emmanuel Assafua, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mr Peter Arthur of the Convention People's Party (CPP).

Mr Mercer said a portion of the petroleum revenues would be invested in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to ensure quality healthcare delivery to the citizenry.

He said a NPP Government would establish a new university in Sekondi that would train the youth in various employable skills to sustain the local economy.

Mr Emmauel Assafuah, the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for the area, said although he had not yet assumed office as the Member of Parliamentary; he had offered scholarships to many brilliant and needy students to further their education.

He said when the electorates renew the mandate of the NDC Administration, it would upgrade the Sekondi Central Market into a modern edifice that would revive socio-economic activities in the area.

Mr Peter Arthur of the CPP said a CPP Administration would provide employable skills to the youth, create jobs and continue the development agenda of the country's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

He said the CPP would also enforce the disability law so that all public buildings would be disability friendly.

Mr Tugbenu Ian Kwame, the Sekondi-Takoradi Director of the NCCE, urged the electorate to tolerate each other's views in order to sustain the country's democracy.

He said any candidate that emerges victorious in the polls ought to fulfill his pledge to propel the development of the constituency.

GNA
By Patience Gbeze, GNA

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - The Minister for Transport, Mr Fifi Kwetey, has stated that at the end of October this year, 16,053 vehicles had been involved in road crashes, killing 1,766 persons.

Additionally, 9,046 people were injured.

In a speech, read on his behalf at the National Public Transport Day, in Accra, the Minister said 2,323 pedestrian knock-downs were also recorded.

He said that the situation was not looking good, especially against the projected fatalities for the year.

The day was organised by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in collaboration with the Ghana Insurance Association (GIA) under the theme, 'Ensuring Safety on our roads before, during and after the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary General Election, Christmas and New Year 2017 Festivities'.

The day was instituted in 2009 to observe the day annually to reflect on the quality of the public road transportation services and also to create the opportunity for policy makers, politicians, and civil society actors to mirror the conditions of public road transport services and opportunity for improvement.

In the previous years, the Day was observed at lorry terminals throughout the country to educate and sensitise drivers, passengers and other road users on the need to keep the road safe, but this year, the organisers opted to observe it with other partners, including transport operators, especially the commercial passenger transport operators.

Mr Kwetey said Ghana records an annual average of 1,800 deaths through road traffic crashes, out of which, 75 per cent affect men often within the ages of 18 and 55 years.

'Commercial passengers transport operators/vehicle-related deaths are estimated at 21 per cent of all road traffic deaths,' he explained.

He, therefore, commended the NRSC for the initiative which he said, had brought about reforms that had been pioneered in recent years.

The Minister said the road Traffic Regulations, (L.I. 2180) 2012 had incorporated many of these new ideas motivated by public transport day-related dialogues and advocacy initiatives.

' Today, the Road Traffic regulations, L.I. 2180, 2012 makes mandatory the use of retro-reflective tapes for some categories of vehicles, mandatory refresher training for commercial drivers, installation of speed limiters, registration of commercial vehicle drivers' permits,' he said.

'While we admit that, some of these ideas are yet to see implementation, we need to appreciate the exercise of the existence of the appropriate legal environment to support the implementation process.'

Mr Kwetey announced that the Government was taking steps to activate regulation 121 of the L.I. 2180, which required that operators of commercial vehicles should be issued with road transport operator's license by the Ministry or its accredited agent upon satisfying some conditions and or guidelines.

He said the private sector today led the commercial passenger transport service delivery and it was important to help build their capacity to the levels of the Metro Mass Transit and the Inter-City STC for public good.

Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, the Executive Director of NRSC, said this year like all election periods, had been disturbing and stressful for all road users, road safety advocates and managers, as the projected traffic related deaths recorded so far had exceeded the target.

The projected figure is 1440, but as at the end of the third quarter they have recorded 1766 traffic-related deaths.

That situation, Mrs Obiri-Yeboah, said required more advocacy and education for best road safety practices from all fronts.

'This election and festive season, the Commission and its stakeholders are rolling out programmes, including lorry terminal and toll booth education, media engagement and sensitisation to address issues but not limited to high travel speeds, drink driving and fatigue driving,' she said.

Ms Aretha Duku, the GIA President, called on all stakeholders to be ambassadors to campaign for motorists to respect other road users.

GNA
London (AFP) - Nearly 60 people taking part in a vintage air rally from Europe to South Africa were released on Thursday after being detained by authorities in Ethiopia, organisers of the journey said.

Pilots of a dozen biplanes and their teams were allowed to leave the airport in Gambella, two days after arriving at the outpost in western Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan.

"They have been released. We hope to leave Ethiopia.

"They have a hotel because they cannot fly when it's dark. So they have to wait, so they should leave at first light tomorrow," a spokesman for organisers Vintage Air Rally told AFP.

The reason for their detention at the airport was unclear and the organisers were not expected to give more detail before the planes were air-bound and out of the country.

The teams included participants from France, Germany, the US and Britain, whose foreign ministry said it had been involved in the Gambella incident.

"We are providing assistance to a group of British nationals in Ethiopia who are taking part in the Vintage Air Rally. We will remain in contact with the local authorities," a spokeswoman for the UK's foreign ministry told AFP.

Dating from the 1920s and 1930s, the biplanes set off from the Greek island of Crete on November 12.

The first few days of their journey saw them touch down in Egypt, where they were the first group of aircraft to land at the country's famous Giza pyramids for 80 years.

The group had arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday and had been due to travel onwards to Kenya after the stop in Ethiopia.

A British pilot who joined the tour on Sunday, 72-year-old Maurice Kirk, was reported missing during the flight from Sudan to Ethiopia. Vintage Air Rally said on Wednesday that he had been found and had joined the other pilots at Gambella airport.

The 13,000-kilometre (8,000-mile) journey had originally been scheduled to end on December 17 in Cape Town, South Africa, travelling through countries including Tanzania and Zimbabwe along the way.
Political scientists at the University of Ghana's Political Science Department, have revealed that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), will take the lead over the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) if the upcoming general elections were to be held now.

According to them, this is because the NDC is losing its grip in key swing constituencies in the country.

The political scientists' comments followed a 3-month long election research in some key constituencies in various regions of the country.

Dr. Isaac Owusu Mensah, a lecturer at the Department in an interview on Eyewitness News said the research focused on twenty-four (24) swing constituencies.

In the swing constituencies, our findings showed that the NDC is losing its strength in the constituencies and are losing it to the NPP, he said.

He noted that, in the Greater Accra Region, the NDC had lost some support in areas such as Madina Zongo, and that suggests the gap between the parties will be close in the upcoming polls.

For the National data, the NPP is in the lead with 49.4% of the votes from the swing constituencies.. per our findings, the NPP can win the elections in the first round depending on how well it mobilizes its resources. Even if they don't win in the first round, they will be in the lead, he said.

'NDC's Zanetor will win Klottey Korle seat'

Dr. Owusu stated that, although the research was not emphatic on the chances of parliamentary candidates, its projections showed that the NDC's Zanetor Rawlings will win the Klottey Korle parliamentary seat.

He added that for Madina, NPP has taken Madina, adding that, the NPP will have majority seats in the next parliament.

'NDC cannot get 1.5 million votes in Ashanti'

The findings said the NDC's planned 1.5 million votes in the Ashanti Region was impossible; but could still maintain about 30 per cent of the total votes cast.

Dr. Isaac Owusu Mensah noted that, although he believes the research captures the realities on the grounds ahead of the elections, the various candidates and parties involved can affect the dynamics if they effectively mobilize and deploy the resources to secure their victory.

Scientific polls show I'll win on Dec. 7  Mahama

This comes barely a day after President Mahama said various independent scientific polls c learly show he will win the elections in December.

The President failed to mention which organizations conducted the polls, but said the polling results reflect the feedback from his campaign activities across the country.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @jnyabor
Staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) have resumed activities to protest against allegations of a takeover of some properties of the Authority.

It follows what the workers say is a breach of contract by the management of the VRA in the processes of protecting the assets of the authority.

A statement issued by the workers and copied to Citi Business News indicated their decision to dissociate themselves from a letter on repowering the T3 Thermal plant and embarking on other legitimate actions to back their demands.

We wish to put on record that leadership of the Staff Groups dissociates itself from the letter sent to the Hon. Minister of Power on the subject, Takoradi 3(T3) Repowering Project by VRA Management.

According to the statement, the Committee set up by VRA failed to engage the leadership of the staff groups before submitting a letter to the Minister of Power on the subject of repowering of the Takoradi T3 power plant.

The workers believe the action run contrary to an agreement of engaging them on the way forward before any action is taken.

On the contrary, VRA Management unilaterally wrote to the Ministry of Power on the way forward of the Repowering of the T3 Plant without recourse to the staff groups.

While maintaining its stance on the T3 and Mines Reserve Plant, the workers' union is reiterating its call that management should take immediate steps to stop any persons from interfering with the parcels of land in Tema as the company cannot guarantee their safety.

Subsequently, the workers of VRA have resolved not to participate in any a series of corporate wide activities and joint consultative meetings with VRA management.

Though a safety awareness day celebration has been postponed as a result of the action by the workers, they are expected to partake in the long service award ceremony scheduled for November 29.

Meanwhile the union says it will embark on any other legitimate action to back demands for the survival of the authority without notice to the VRA management.

A similar action embarked by the workers in August this year, culminated in a meeting with the Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor who chided the VRA for failing to inform the Ministry about their concerns before going public with them.

I really wish that they had contacted us so that we could engage. If we had failed based on the engagement, then we could think of the next step, John Jinapor said.

Though Mr. Jinapor denied of officially being informed of the matter at the time, he stressed that the meeting is necessary to iron out any differences.

There's been some miscommunication or misinformation. Neither I nor the Ministry have received any formal complaint from the staff of VRA. We heard that they had issued a statement and I saw it on social media and consulted my Minister and he gave some directives,

He added, Today we are meeting with the VRA management and the Union as well so that we take all these issues, explain them and I'm sure that if they also have some suggestions or issues, they'll bring that on board.



By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
The Parliamentary Candidate for the Progressive People's Party (PPP), in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem (KEEA) Constituency in the Central Region, John Sterlin, is aiming at winning 65% of the valid votes cast on 7th December.

He said he is the best to represent the aspirations of the electorates of KEEA in the next parliament.

John Sterlin, who is contesting the KEEA parliamentary seat for the first time, said he is optimistic of winning the seat, given what he has done for his constituents.

They are aware of what I have done and what John Sterlin can do to help them when I go to parliament. The teeming unemployed youth would be given jobs and as a fisherman, I would speak on the sustainability of the fishing stock and given this, I believe I am winning 65% votes at the polls, he posited.

He made these comments in an interview with citifmonline.com, when during his campaign trail over the weekend, where he addressed opinion leaders at Kwanhenkrom, Kissi and Komenda.

He alluded to the fact that, his political career was motivated by his brother in-law Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.

John Sterling, is a manager at one of Dr. Nduoms Hotels.

You know Dr. Papa Kwesi Ndoum himself is a big motivation and inspiration. If you get know him well you won't want to follow anybody else in Ghana politics. He is very forthright and a very reliable person who convinced me to be in politic.

He promised to curb illegal fishing activities in the fishing industry in the area, when voted into office.

He said he would ensure availability of premix fuel for the every fisherman to enhance their fishing expedition especially in bumper seasons.

He added that, an incoming PPP government would build citrus factory in order to enhance the farming communities in KEEA.

I have seen oranges rotten myself in the constituency because of bad roads and lack of factories to buy the oranges so we would build cottage factories to produce juices for the schools and hotels in Ghana, he noted.

He said he would be the best choice for the predominantly NDC constituency because he has a better chance than both the candidates of the NPP and the NDC.

Nana Ato Arthur of the NPP has been the MCE for four years, he was the deputy regional minister for one and half years, and a regional minister for two and half years, and top of that we have given him the Member of Parliament position for four years; what does he haveto show? If he has something to show it would be out there for us to see. And the NDC candidate Samuel Atta Mills where does he comes from? He couldn't even locate Brenuakyinim a popular village in this constituency. He should go to Ekumfi Otuam and contest there, he stated.

The KEEA Seat

The KEEA has traditionally been an NDC seat since 1992, until 2004, when Dr. Nduom won it on the ticket of the Convention People's Party (CPP).

His win was made possibly because of an alliance with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for which reason the party failed to put forward a candidate.

Dr. Nduom left the seat to contest as a presidential candidate in 2008 on the CPP's ticket.

The seat thus fell back to the NDC with Dr. J.S. Annan as the MP.

However, due to an internal division that saw an Independent Candidate, Dr. Ato Quarshie emerging from the NDC, the party lost the seat to the NPP for the first time, with the incumbent MP, Nana Ato Arthur.

Could PPP win?

Although the PPP as a party has not made any significant gains in terms of votes in elections 2012 in both parliamentary and presidential, the party seems to have a better chance this time round.

The PPP Parliamentary Candidate, John Sterling, is relying heavily on the influence of his in-law Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, whose growing business investments across the country and in the KEEA area, has given jobs to several persons including traditional NDC and NPP members, who have promised to vote for the party.

Residents have also complained about the failure of both the current NDC administration and the previous NPP government to better their lives.

Some constituents also appear to be buying into the PPPs campaign message to the effect that the NDC's Candidate, Samuel Atta Mills, brother to the late President Mills, is an alien in the constituency , since he originally hails from Otuam in the Ekumfi constituency.

If these developments are anything to go by, then the PPP, whose candidate is reportedly galvanizing a huge youthful support following the promise of jobs, could pull a big surprise on December 7.



By: Akwesi Koranten/ citifmonline.com/Ghana
Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - Opener Steve Cook profited from an early reprieve to lead a South Africa fightback after the loss of three wickets on the opening day of the day-night third Test against Australia on Thursday.

Cook had a major let-off on four, when he was struck on the back pad by Starc and given out leg before wicket in the day's third over at Adelaide Oval.

But he was called back to the crease when replays picked up a front-foot no-ball bowled by Starc.

Cook went on to end the first session unbeaten on 40 with skipper Faf du Plessis not out 26. The tourists were 89 for three after winning the toss.

Du Plessis was booed by the crowd as he walked out to bat, following a ball-tampering incident for which he was found guilty and fined, but cleared to play in the match.

The pair steadied the Proteas innings with an unbroken 45-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Starc recovered from his blunder when he enticed a thick edge from Dean Elgar to Usman Khawaja at third slip for five.

South Africa's Dean Elgar walks back to the pavilion after being caught out for five during the third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval

He received ironic cheers from the home crowd when replays confirmed it was a legal delivery.

English-born debutant Matt Renshaw then took his first Test catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for five off Josh Hazlewood.

The 20-year-old opener snapped up an ankle-high catch at first slip to claim the big scalp of Amla and leave the tourists at 36 for two in the 13th over.

Hazlewood struck again in the over after drinks, coaxing an inside edge off JP Duminy to give recalled wicketkeeper Matthew Wade a catch for five as the tourists slumped to 44 for three.

Australia are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.
Accra, 23rd November 2016 - The automation of Ghanas birth registration process, a programme spear headed by the Births and Deaths Registry, UNICEF and the Mobile Network Operator, Tigo, won the Changing Lives Award at the just ended AfricaCom 2016 Awards in Cape Town, South Africa.

AfricaCom is the biggest gathering of all African telecom service providers and vendors to network, showcase and discuss new and emerging technologies. It also celebrates the contributions of outstanding operators.

Commenting on the award, the Country Representative of UNICEF, Susan Namondo Ngongi, was happy that the partnership was yielding great results. Birth registration is a fundamental human right and an important national exercise for inclusion and social protection. When we are able to identify children, the country can effectively plan in terms of resource mobilization and distribution. We are also able to protect them from exploitation including child marriage and labour, she emphasized.

The CEO for Tigo and 2015 AfricaCom CEO of the Year recipient, Roshi Motman, was grateful to UNICEF and the Government of Ghana for the consistent support. Digital inclusion is an important focus for us and we will continue to look for innovative ways to integrate technology to create and scale up social good. The outcomes of this programme so far has been very impressive, together we are replacing the manual service with an effective and efficient process that ensures that every child is accounted for, she added.

The Births and Deaths registry is happy to note that through the collaborative efforts with Tigo and UNICEF, we are gradually overcoming the challenges associated with the manual registration of new births. Since the launch of the programme in May 2016, supervision has been made easier as senior officials are able to log into the system and verify which district and region has not up-loaded data since the last check. The programme promises good prospects of changing the face of birth registration and improved coverage in Ghana, said the Registrar for Births and Deaths, John Agbeko.

In May 2016, UNICEF, Tigo and the Births and Deaths Registry officially launched the automation of birth registration in Ghana after months of testing and training to digitize the manual process. The programme which is already being piloted in 300 communities across the country, has reduced paper work and travel time among officials of the Births and Deaths registry. It provides information in real time and digitally stores birth registration documents.

The Mobile Birth Registration Android App collects data related to a childs name, gender, date of birth and other family details. This is then sent to a central database managed by the Births and Deaths Registry Once data is collected, a Birth certificate is issued to parents by Registry officers. The data is verified at national level and used for various vital statistics analysis.

Data collected through the paper-based system could take up to six months to be entered into the central system, whereas the Mobile Birth Registration process achieves this in less than two minutes.

The project has received a lot of support and commendation from various stakeholders. In September 2016, it was showcased at the Every Woman, Every Child event on the margins of the 71st UN General Assembly by the GSMA, the trade group that represents network operators who use GSM technology.
Ebenezer Twum Asante

24.11.2016 LISTEN

Ebenezer Twum Asante, MTN Ghana CEO, has been adjudged the overall CEO of the Year in Africa's telecommunication industry at the AfricaCom Awards. Mr. Themba Zotwane, Senior Manager Operations in the WECA Region received the award on behalf of Mr. Asante.

AfricaCom is Africas most prominent annual industry awards for the telecommunications and information technology sector. This award comes barely a month after he was adjudged the Best CEO in the MTN Group.

Mr Twum Asante is the first Ghanaian CEO of MTN Ghana. He is credited for the companys consistent growth in the market share and entrenched leadership in the telecommunication industry.

Recently, MTN Ghana subscriber base saw a 3% growth to over 18 million, shooting its total market share to almost 50 per cent, and mobile data market share to over 60 per cent. MTN Ghana currently has 18 million subscribers and was the first telecoms operator to acquire a 4G LTE license at a cost of US$67.5million. MTN commercially launched its 4G LTE services on 21st June in all 10 regions of Ghana after it acquired the license in December 2015. This year, MTN has spent $96 million on network and information systems including the rollout of the 4G network.

MTN Ghana has within a period of one week won several other prestigious awards.

MTN Ghanas Finance Team swept three awards at the CFOs Awards organized by Instinct Waves. In addition, at the Advertising Association of Ghanas Gong Gong Awards, four of MTN Ghanas creative campaigns won prestigious awards.

Mr Twum Asante attributed these multiple awards to the commitment shown by the strong leadership team and the dedicated staff of MTN Ghana.

It's a blend of hard work, dedication and the commitment to delight our customers that drives us to excel in our work" he said. The awards demonstrates our vision and strategy to offer value to our customers.

He added that these awards are a recognition of the consistent growth the company has witnessed over the years. He dedicated the awards to all MTN customers.

Other awards the company has received this year include the GITTA Best Customer Service of the Year Award for the third consecutive time and three prestigious Institute of Public Relations awards. MTN also recently won the Engineering Business Management award in recognition of its 4G LTE project.
Following the lead of Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, Minister of Agriculture Ignati Arakelyan, today filed a request to become a member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

Arakelyan said that while membership in the party isnt obligatory, hes a team player and that the ideology of the party is close to his own.

When asked, Arakelyan couldnt point to any specifics, confessing that he wasnt familiar with the so-called Nzhdeh ideology of the Republican Party of Armenia.

Arakelyan said hes always voted for the RPA.

(Garegin Nzhdeh, 1886-1955), was an Armenian statesman, military strategist, and a member of the ARF)
The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) Presidential Candidate, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet has climaxed his one week campaign tour of the Northern Region at Janga in Mamprugu land where he fired salvos at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Running Mate, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia.

He said as a former second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia and the previous NPP administration failed to fix the myriad of developmental deficit recorded in Mamprugu land.

I thought this was the place where the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana came from because he has always been talking about his plenty facts and figures and long talks in Accra and I have discovered that none of his long talks and figures mean anything on the ground.

Apart from his long talks and empty facts and figures, meaning nothing on the ground I thought at least within the Mamprusi area, he will do something not knowing for the eight years the NPP has done nothing here and for eight years the NDC have also come and done nothing here.

He decried Mamprugu land's under development saying, Every chief we have gone to, every person we have spoken to has complained to us no water, no educational facilities and poor roads and then all of a sudden because he wants to be a vice President, he comes and gives a borehole and makes a donation to a hospital to make the people think that he cares for them.

Where has he been all these years? He has never been part of a northern agenda. He is one of the Accra northerners who has come to give his empty talks to deceive the people of Walewale, deceive the people of Mamprusi, deceive the people of Northern Region and deceive the people of Ghana, he chided Bawumia.

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet downplayed the NPP's change slogan and asked the people of Mamprugu not to vote on tribal lines.

I am telling you the people of Walewale, the three Northern Regions and in fact all the people of Ghana to reject the arise for change of the NPP. It will only bring one thing to this nation, one thing they desire, vengeance and chaos.

Ivor Kobina Green Street described the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP as Evil monsters who have the penchant for giving Ghanaians hell anytime they are in power.

For the past 24 years the NDC and the NPP have done nothing here in the north and they are only interested in fighting for power to steal our money.

He appealed to the electorate with emphasis on those in the three regions of the north to subscribe to the CPP's change agenda for accelerated development.

The CPP has the Northern Regions at heart. We are peace makers and the time has come for you to adopt the Sankofa change on December 7. Vote the CPP for accelerated development.

The CPP Presidential candidate has since left for the Upper East Region on his nationwide campaign tour.

Flashback

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet in the Northern Region toured Mion, Saboba, Gushiegu, Nantong, Bunkprugu, Tamale north, Kumbungu, Tolon, Savelugu, Salaga south, Sagnarigu, Walewale, Nalerigu among others.

The CPP has promised Persons with Disabilities free education, free healthcare and public transportation if it wins the December 7 polls.

The Ivor Kobina Green Street-led Convention People's Party (CPP) targets six out of the 31 parliamentary seats in the Northern Region.

In addition to the Kumbungu Parliamentary seat, which is the only one occupied by the party nationwide, it is also keeping an eye on the Sagnarigu, Mion, Yunyoo, Tatale and Salaga South seats.

Ivor Kobina Green Street hinted about the party's resolve to use all its arsenals to retain the Kumbungu Parliamentary seat.

According to him, the party is restrategizing to safeguard the only seat it is bragging with nationwide.

The CPP has also vowed to unseat the NDC Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu constituency, Hon. Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini.

The party has fielded the Sagnarigu electoral area Assembly Woman as its Parliamentary candidate for the 2016 polls.

Endorsements

The Chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpema Dawuni Alhassan and the chief of Nyankpala in the Tolon District of the Northern Region, Abdulai Yakubu Andani endorsed the Convention People's Party's (CPP) Presidential candidate, Ivor Kobina Green Street.

The three chiefs touted the CPP as peace lover and urged their subjects to give the party another chance to govern.



By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Baidoa (Somalia) (AFP) - With its security-sealed plastic boxes and cardboard polling booths, Somalia's election -- under way since last month and still ongoing -- has the trappings of democracy, but few of the functions.

Last week in the western city of Baidoa, 51 handpicked representatives of the Reer Aw Hassan clan took an hour to vote unanimously for Abdiweli Ibrahim Ali Sheikh Mudey, a current minister and the only candidate to show up on the day.

Among Mudey's backers were 15 enthusiastic female voters. "We selected the most beautiful man!" cheered one as Mudey smiled in his dark aviator sunglasses, a garland of purple tinsel round his neck.

Just 14,025 of the Somalia's perhaps 12 million citizens are voting for 275 MPs, who will join 54 appointed senators in voting for a new president, in an election described as "limited".

"It is a unique process and must be analysed within its uniqueness," said Deqa Yasin, the deputy chair of the national election body, the Federal Indirect Election Implementation Team.

Somalia's voting process has been drawn-out and deadlines repeatedly missed, and it is unclear when the presidential stage will take place

The voting process has been drawn-out and deadlines repeatedly missed, and it is unclear when the presidential stage will take place.

Somalis were promised a one-person, one-vote election.

But political infighting, backsliding and prevarication, combined with insecurity mainly due to Shabaab militants who control swathes of countryside and strike at will in Mogadishu and other towns, meant that plan was ditched last year.

Instead a complicated hotchpotch is in place.

It falls far short of a democratic election, but promises to be better than the last vote in 2012, when 135 clan elders nominated all the MPs.

Clan control continues

In the absence of parties, clans remain at the heart of the process. MP's seats are divvied up according to region and clan, with candidates voted for by "electoral colleges" of 51 representatives selected by elders.

That makes it roughly 100 times more inclusive than 2012, as officials are keen to point out.

Often the vote itself is ceremonial, with the winner negotiated in advance followed by the ritual placing of slips in ballot boxes.

In another country Somalia's election process might be dismissed as a sham, but the country's long history of conflict means this is being counted as progress

In another country the election might be dismissed as a sham, but Somalia's long history of conflict means this is being counted as progress.

"My voice mattered in this election," said Halima Suleiman, a 31-year-old woman who also voted for Mudey. Like her, many of those chosen to vote hail from Somalia's international diaspora.

Mohamed Abdi Omar, an elder, said: "This is the first time we have seen people selecting their candidates."

Somalis queued to vote in 1969 but since then civil war, government collapse, warlords and Islamist insurgents have ensured no election was held.

After 2000 a series of transitional governments were formed abroad until, in 2012, the current parliament was appointed in the capital Mogadishu.

Now voting is taking place in regional towns, strengthening the federalism that has built in recent years and is helping to defuse the zero-sum game for control of the capital.

For Michael Keating, the top UN official in Somalia, the goal of the process is "to figure out whether and how a peaceful transfer of political power is possible."

He listed numerous problems with the election: "intimidation, candidates being prevented from putting their names forward or prevented physically from going to locations. There's a lot of money changing hands."

Disputes, corruption, winners

Mohamed Nur, short and sweating in an oversized dark suit and tie, was like Mudey the sole candidate for his Shambara clan's seat in the southern port city of Kismayo.

"Before the election date had not yet approached we made consultations and the rest of the candidates have agreed to endorse my candidacy," he said, surrounded by a gaggle of cheering supporters.

Elsewhere in Kismayo, others were still setting the stage for the democratic theatre to come, and elders from the Rer Hassan clan were angry.

There were rumours that over half of their chosen delegates had been replaced in an effort to rig the vote.

Dubadh Isaac Mohammed, a rheumy-eyed elder in a traditional hat, scarf, sarong and short-sleeved shirt -- all red like his henna-dyed goatee beard -- demanded to see the final approved list, accusing local election officials of "trying to steal our vote!"

Local election chief Ali Abdi Raghe angrily dismissed the allegation.

Like his counterpart in Baidoa, Mohamed Mursal, Raghe is a close ally of the regional president ("his right and left hand," as one foreign observer put it) leading to suspicions that pre-existing power brokers are controlling even this limited electoral process.

"The important thing is that the delegates and candidates are from the region and are voting in the region," Mursal said.

For now, politics remains an elite game to which most Somalis are not invited -- and they will have to wait at least another four years for a more democratic election.

"It's a legitimate question: what are they going to get out of this process?" said Keating. "It's a tough one to answer."
On 12 November 2016, British High Commissioner Dame Judith Macgregor travelled to Maseru in Lesotho to celebrate and congratulate the Basotho people on their 50 years of independence. Her Majesty Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso accompanied by Basotho officials, 45 World War Two veterans, the Diplomatic corps and other dignitaries participated in laying wreaths at Mokoanyane Square on Sunday the 13th.

The Remembrance Day event was followed by a lunch at the Royal palace where Basotho veterans where honoured for their participation in the Second World War. A life size Spitfire replica was also given to Lesotho by the Spitfire Heritage Trust. This was a gesture of thanks to the Basotho for the donation of 24 similar aircrafts gifted to Great Britains 72nd squadron as support during the war.

In a press conference held on the same day, the High Commissioner, together with representatives from Letseng Diamonds, and the Sentebale and Durham Link charity organisations, engaged with media on Lesotho-UK opportunities and partnerships between the UK and Lesotho in support of the development of the Basotho people.

Concluding the press conference Dame Judith Macgregor said: There has long been a strong link between the Kingdom of Lesotho and Great Britain that cuts across development and education, examples of ongoing programmes include Chevening Scholarships and the 2016 Queens Young Leader winner, Maletsabisa Molapo. The UK and the Kingdom of Lesotho continue to enjoy rich links between people, institutions and communities. The British government works to continue that friendship and to support Lesothos development towards a stable, secure and prosperous future.
24.11.2016 LISTEN

Researcher at IMAM Institute, Sudan/Lecturer, Islamic University in Uganda

In 2014 ten public Sudanese universities signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the Islamic University in Uganda for a free staff development program. I, with other colleagues are beneficiaries of that framework.

As from elsewhere in Africa, scores of Ugandan students are annually enrolled for free undergraduate studies at the International African University in Khartoum. They undertake specialized disciplines like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, surgery, engineering, architecture, information technology, agriculture, education et al. This is a tremendous social contribution to Africa by the Sudan and its partnersSaudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria and until lately Libya. Yet its not the first nor the last Sudanese contribution to Africa.

The Deep Geopolitical Effects

From the 1960s to late 80s, Khartoum actively supported African liberation movements including providing physical and moral support against apartheid South Africa. This partly led to fall of two governments in Uganda. In 1969 president Dr Milton Obote ejected from Uganda foreign powers bent on using it as launch pad for destabilizing southern Sudan as a strategy to divert Khartoums focus from liberation efforts of central and South African countries. Two years later in 1971 an international conspiracy was blamed for a coup detat against Obote while he attended a U.K-led Common Wealth Group of Nations Summit in Singapore. Idi Amin, who was aided to topple Obote, too, later found it unsustainable for the international conspiracy against Sudan while at the same time posturing against imperialist domination of Africa. He expelled Asian business interests and upon counsel by Libyas Muammar Qadaffi, ceased all Uganda-based foreign maneuvers against the Sudan. This made western capitalist capitals for once, join in the largely socialist dissident Ugandan groups hosted by communist Mualim Julius Nyerere in Tanzania. Amin was overthrown in 1979, silently being condemned internationally for abandoning the south Sudan project.

Today, though not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the international criminal court (ICC), Khartoum is singled for the diplomatic effort of making the ICCs largest bloc of 34 African states parties consider withdrawing their membership from the Statute. Burundi, South Africa and Gabon are already ahead toward this. South Africa particularly cites the Statutes antagonism with its traditional immunity practiceas its leader, Jacob Zuma was challenged to arrest President Omar al-Bashir on Jun 15, 2015 while he visited Pretoria in total defiance of the ICC indictments.

Insofar as the geopolitical and international relations across Africa are; Sudans impacts are pretty felt. It must, however, review and make the same of its social and economic role in the continent.

The Need for Additional Economic Factor

Beside former Somali president, Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who had an education stint in Sudan, foreign sponsored graduates, mainly from Muslim minority Africalike Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, CAR, DRC, Ghana et alare finding it pretty hard to break through. They are neither significantly contributing to their communities nor actively engaged in daawa work. This calls for an additional effort on the part of host country Sudan and her partner governments. In Uganda, for example, Muslims are by the 2014 census, 13% of the 36 million Ugandansimplying are only about 4.7 million against 85% of the different forms of Christians. The Sudan Muslim graduates find it difficult to gain jobs from public institutions and those who by luck do; can hardly conduct daawa at the same timeto the extent that even pronouncing salaam alaikoum in presence of Christian bosses who favored them among thousands of job applicants is abandoned.

Therefore, in order to make the education offer more relevant and generate value par unit investment, Sudan must renegotiate with partners for a new approach. It should create a revolving fund to be accessed and later reimbursed by organized student associations. The fund can be used to establish income generating and job creating ventures in accordance with the students areas of specialization. A job security in a secure environment will make all Sudan University alumni positively contribute to the economies of their respective countries and earn a much enhanced social respect of engaging in daawa activities.

This way, Sudan together with partners will make a more expanded long lasting impact in Africa.
New opinion polls conducted by three different bodies tip the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to win the December 7, presidential election in the first round.

According to the polls conducted by GN Research, 51 percent of Ghanaians are confident that the flag bearer of the NPP is the best candidate to address unemployment, health and educational issues in the country when voted as president.

According to the latest survey carried out in Accra with sample size of 3,000 respondents by GN Research  a Ghana-based research company  released to the media in Accra Tuesday evening, apart from Nana Addo, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) also received high approval ratings.

However, 59.2 percent expressed their dissatisfaction with the general performance of President John Dramani Mahama in tackling these issues.

Emmanuel Edah, a Senior Research Analyst of GN (Groupe Nduom) Research, revealed this at the official outdooring of its latest survey on the 2016 elections and the perception of the media and their role in successful polls.

It was released at the time the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU's) latest report on Ghana's election also predicted first round victory for the NPP and its presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The Political Science Department of the University of Ghana yesterday also released its opinion polls, giving Nana Akufo-Addo a 'one-touch' victory, if the NPP is able to mobilize its support base.

The study therefore, concludes that NPP has a better chance of winning the December elections than NDC because NDC must win Greater Accra, Central and with Brong-Ahafo or Western Regions, which is possible but with minimal probability, the survey posited.

According to the research, the NPP ratings have improved tremendously in all the swing regions that it will need total mobilization of its supporters in its strongholds to clinch 'one-touch' victory.

If NPP is able to mobilize the core supporters to cast their votes the party has chance of winning in the first round; but if NDC and PPP are capable of making some gains nationally, this will force the elections into the second round, but NPP will still be in the lead in first round, Dr Isaac Owusu-Mensah, lead researcher at the Political Science Department, penned.

However, President John Mahama is unperturbed, as he also claims victory in unknown polls results.

In Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, the president said yesterday that various independent scientific polls clearly showed he would win the election on December 7.

He, however, failed to mention which organizations conducted the polls, but said the polling results reflected the feedback from his campaign activities across the country.

GN Survey

The GN research was part of its efforts to strengthen the electoral systems and quality of election in 2016.

It was carried out from August to November.

Mr Edah continued that 63 percent of Ghanaians also expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of the Members of Parliament (MPs) in their electoral areas.

He said the basis for the dissatisfaction showed clearly that the role of an MP is not understood by the electorate.

Possibly the campaign messages of the MPs lead to confusion in the roles that they are supposed to play in their constituencies, he noted, and opined that that calls for voter education on the roles of the appointed and elected people serving the nation.

Security

Security popped up as the most important issue for Ghanaians in the upcoming elections, taking a cue from the electoral malpractices in 2012, Mr Edah said.

The senior research analyst noted that although security was prioritized, residents in the Greater Accra Region do not necessarily feel threatened in their local towns or villages.

Legitimacy Of Elections

Mr Edah said the report cited that only 47 percent of the respondents were satisfied with previous elections in Ghana.

The level of dissatisfaction is attributed to administrative inaccuracies, errors, wasted votes and to a lesser extent, fraud.

Only 38% posit to have confidence with honesty in elections. Despite that perception, most Ghanaians (76%) plan to participate in the presidential election scheduled for December 7th, he averred.

Mr Edah continued that the survey revealed that 72% have some attention or great attention for political issues.

Latest EIU Report

In its November report on Ghana, the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is widely respected for its forecasts, stated, The Economist Intelligence Unit expects a transition of power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the December 2016 elections.

It, however, stated that there is the possibility of the election results being disputed, but confident that Ghana's democratic and judicial systems are strong enough to prevent any systemic threat to the country's stability.

It foresaw tensions will therefore, ebb after the election period is concluded.

According to the EIU, January 2017 should see the next administration take power, but the likelihood of a second round of voting being required in the presidential election, coupled with the distinct possibility of disputed results amid tense political environment, could disrupt this transition, the report noted.

Fears

The EIU warned that Post-election acrimony could well lead to outbreaks of unrest between rival supporters of the two main parties  the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party.

Despite the notable risk of significant political instability and potentially even social unrest in 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit did not expect any breakdown in Ghana's overall stability, even assuming the election results are disputed.

It described Ghana as a country that has one of the strongest democracies on the African continent that is not historically prone to widespread violent upheavals and that Although the judiciary has weakness (as shown by corruption scandal in 2015), it is generally regarded as competent in political matters which should ease the process, if the election result is contested legally (as it was in 2012).

Expectations

The Unit equally believed that There is also a notable upside risk that one of the parties will win by a convincing enough margin that the result is accepted and the political scene normalizes quickly.

The report also predicted that the next government and whichever party forms it would face a tight situation, with public employment cuts, slow wage growth and privatization  all likely to be on the agenda and all unpopular with the labour unions.

Belief

Nonetheless, EIU envisaged that although protests about economic conditions could disrupt business activity, it would not be of a scale to unsettle the overall stability, especially as prospects are generally favourable in more important employers such as agriculture.

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey & Charles Takyi-Boadu


Management of printing and packaging company, Innolink Ghana Limited, which is at the centre of a raging controversy over alleged attempts to manipulate the 2016 general election, yesterday mounted a strong defence against the accusation.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday raised concerns about the sneaking out of a plate used in printing ballot papers for the December 7 presidential poll from the production house of Innolink  one of the printing houses contracted by the Electoral Commission (EC) to print ballot papers for the elections  to an unknown person.

The plot was uncovered Monday evening by some party agents stationed at the printing house to supervise the printing and dispatching process of the ballot sheets to their final destinations.

At a press conference at the company's premises located at the North Industrial Area in Accra yesterday, Business Development Manager of Innolink, Kingsley Ntow Addo insisted, No plate of the presidential ballots had been given out by any officer of Innolink Ghana Limited.

Defence

He explained, At around 1:52pm on Monday, 21st November, 2016, Innolink was approached by Aero Vote Limited to assist it with the exposure of only one printing plate for the printing of the Statement of Poll, famously referred to as Pink Sheet.

This request was necessitated by the fact that Aero Vote, the company contracted by the EC to print the Pink Sheets, had issues with some of their production machines and could not afford to take the plate to the UK, which is the home country of the company due to the pressures of time.

Owing to the urgency of the request, Ntow Addo indicated, The management of Innolink consented to assist Aero Vote to expose the plate since Innolink remains one of the few security printing companies in Ghana with plate-baking machine.

The plate was duly exposed and the completed job was handed over to a representative of Aero Vote at 5:17 pm who duly left with it. There was no security breach, as has been alleged and that the Production Manager, one Martin Anderson, was cleared by the company's security before he handed over the plate to the Aero Vote official.

Justification

Considering the fact that the printing process is under close 24-hour monitoring by the National Security, police, BNI, EC and political party representatives, he claimed, It is therefore, impossible for anyone to collude with anybody to compromise the security of the printing process.

He however, admitted that the company did not inform agents of the various political parties or any member of the security agencies monitoring the printing of the ballot papers who had been stationed at the premises.

Contrary to the claim that the police were investigating the matter following an official complaint lodged at the Cantonments Police Station by the NPP, Ntow Addo said nothing of that kind had happened since the police had not been to the premises of the company.

A day after the allegation was made, he revealed that a meeting was held at the conference room of Innolink Limited, which was attended by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei and her team, management of Innolink, political party representatives and personnel of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

During the said meeting, the Innolink Business Development Manager related, Representatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said their report to the Director of Elections of the NPP did not state that the plate sent out was a presidential ballot plate, a claim this paper cannot independently confirm.

Assurance

But management of Innolink insisted, We have done nothing untoward in this matter because the plates used in printing the presidential ballot papers remain intact and would be destroyed in the presence of the security agencies and agents of the political parties on November 24, 2016.

Apart from that, Mr Ntow Addo said they had no reason to prefer one political party to the other because as a private sector operator that deals with all governments, they could not take sides, whiles assuring, We at Innolink are resolute in our commitment to ensuring that the integrity of the electoral process remains intact.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu


President Mahama in his desperate attempts to win the overwhelming support of the people of the Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions, the people of his tribal extraction, decided to maliciously play the tribal bigotry or card.

He tells them, I pity Dr. Mahammudu Bawumia for the NPP will use him and dump him because NPP will never allow a Muslim to become a President of Ghana. Look at what they did to Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama. Because they did not want a northerner or a Muslim to become their flag bearer to contest for the presidency of Ghana, they allowed seventeen people to contest for the flagbearership after President Kufuor completing his eight years of service and was going

If President Mahama is not being malicious here, then he is depicting his political ignorance and tribal bigotry.

Let it be known to this Mr. Dead Goat President who feeds on corruption much the same rate/way as he breaths that in the exercise of any democratic dispensation, people are neither imposed on others nor positions dished out and bestowed on others for their status in society or their acquired level of higher education degrees. However, people, regardless of their previously held positions, must contest for other positions of interest when such positions become available or vacant.

Similarly, and in strict adherence to the NPPs internal constitution and operational policies, Vice President Aliu Mahama had to succumb to the same rules of which he was not only an adherent but a proponent.

A few questions to be asked President Mahama. Is he aware that the NPP like NDC has a party constitution and operational party policies? Has he had the chance to familiarize himself with the NPPs written rules and regulations?

What are the NPPs terms and conditions for selecting their partys flag bearer to contest presidential elections? In 2007/08 when they attended the partys super mammoth Congress to elect their flag bearer who automatically became their presidential candidate, did NPP side-step their existing rules to do something differently untoward? If they did not but allowed all those who thought they were eligible for the position to contest in all honesty, why should President Mahama, the friends of lawless people and criminals like the Montie trio, Messrs Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, dare condemn the NPP and Dr. Bawumia?

Whipping up tribal sentiments will not work for him anymore because the northerners are equally suffering economic hardships under his government like any other Ghanaians elsewhere even though his government is 80% northerners. His thievery is suffocating all and sundry except the few people with whom he is stealing gluttonously with his two hands.

Are the NDC democratic? Do they have any written party constitution and if they do, do they adhere to the tenets and principles as therein enshrined? Do they have it written in their internal partys constitution to allow people to contest for their presidential candidacy slot? If they do have such a partys constitutional requirement in place, do they adhere to it, or for issues of political correctness bordering on opportunism, they flout that policy as and when it suits their political maliciousness?

Why should I spend my precious time educating this Dead Goat Mr. Me ntie obiaa President? For the sake of Ghanaians whom I love so much, I shall continue to tell you the following to prove how ignorant, malicious, a tribal bigot, and politically incompetent President Mahama is.

I am going to cite vivid examples or mention case references as precedents where departing Vice Presidents with intention to become successor-Presidents had to contest their partys presidential nominees primaries.

In America, Vice President George Bush Snr of President Ronald Reagans Republican Partys government had to contest primaries to be nominated as presidential candidate for the Republicans.

Republican Party presidential primaries, 1988. George H. W. Bush entered the contest as incumbent Vice-President and with the support of sitting President Ronald Reagan. Bush had trouble at first but by the time Super Tuesday was over his campaign's organization and fundraising ability had overwhelmed his opponents. He received all the votes at the convention - sourced from Wikipedia.

Again, Vice President Al Gore of President Bill Clintons Democratic Partys government did contest primaries.

Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2000 Incumbent Vice-President Al Gore had the support of the party establishment and a strong base within the party after eight years under President Bill Clinton. His only significant challenger was Bill Bradley who never managed to win a primary. With Bradley's delegates forbidden to vote for him, Gore was chosen unanimously at the convention.

In none of the two cases was it decided just to give them the nod to go for the presidential candidacy without going through primaries because they were Vice Presidents. This is true democracy in operation.

President Mahama talks as if Ghanaians who he claims to have short memory are stupid; they are without brains to reason as intelligent or normal human beings.

The NPP has not any established policy to bar northerners, Muslims or anybody based on their tribal orientation from contesting their flagbearship to eventually contest for the presidency of Ghana as is erroneously being propagated to fool the people of the regions mentioned above by President Mahama.

I believe the northerners will in any day any time prefer a competent Vice President Mahammudu Bawumia who can deliver on his promises to bring prosperity, comfort and peace of mind to them to having an incompetent, corrupt, and clueless and a liar President Mahama.

Stay tuned for more brainstorming and factual info from Rockson Adofo, a leading member of the Mahama Must Go movement.

Ye wo krom, mmarima wo krom

The wind for change is blowing. It will wipe out all the secretly installed machines and plots by the NDC to rig the impending Election 2016. God will defeat their plans at the last minute.

Ghanaians will be liberated from the killer corruption by President Mahama and his government and their agents and assigns forever, come 7 December 2016.

The battle is still the Lords. All NPP faithful and sympathizers please double your campaign efforts with the good tidings. Do not rest until we have solidly massively won the election.

Rockson Adofo
Often times, I sit by my Tv and radio sets and listen to political pundits and analysts making their projections based on opinion polls and trends just to make conclusions about who will win the elections come 7th December. I laugh a little bit.

They would take constituency by constituencies and digest them into details but they always forget one constituency that has the potential to decide who wins election 2016 particularly the presidentials, and that is the Police and other security services constituency. For us, we don't really care who wins parliamentary seat or not, but we are very much concerned about who wins the presidentials because we have political expectations that need to be fulfilled just like all Ghanaians despite being security officers.

Just imagine that as a presidential candidate you got to know through some of these "political prophets" that the police and other security services will vote against you and for that matter convince them with your message to win their votes. What will be your message to them? Just as it has always been in every election year, this time round too no specific message for us to vote on.

Very recently in America, during the electioneering campaigns, the biggest police union in America gave their support to Donald J. Trump because they believed in his message to him. The man eventually won the presidentials and would soon be sworn in as the 45th president of America. This should tell you that some specific messages should be directed to the members of the security services based on their needs because they matter a lot in every elections and not to be taken for granted as it has always be in the case of Ghana. Members of the police service as well as other security services are key stakeholders in determining who becomes the president in Ghana and that is a fact.

Come 1 December 2016, all police officers as well as members of other security agencies will go and vote. We will vote to elect our parliamentarians and president though the police officer himself doesn't have any permanent constituency apart from the police service which is his or her constituency as well as his or her electoral area. Even though the police are not actively involved in open politics, no one in this country can deny the fact that the police have political interests just like all Ghanaians. That reminds me of what Thomas Sankara, the slain Burkinabe leader once said,

" a soldier without a political ideology is a potential criminal". Probably it is the same way that a police officer without a political ideology might be a criminal and we don't want to be criminals contrary to our sworn oaths to the good people of Ghana so we will vote for certain parliamentary and presidential candidates but as to whether there is a right message for us police officers to vote on, I don't think so. The fact that the president appoints the IGP should tell you that the politicians have interest in the police and the police also have interest in politicians.

Police service a is a whole constituency by itself with different political interests from the top to down. It's a constituency which has no seat in parliament but has a member of parliament who is appointed by the president in consultation with the council of state based on Article 200(2) of the 1992 constitution. As to whether the appointed really represents the interest of the police in particular and that of the country in general as expected is a big question that will always remain unsolved until there is a form of independence in how the one who represents overall interest the police is appointed. Currently, most police officers believe that the president appointing the head of the police makes the police politically bias and tilted towards the politicians making a lot of "political sinners" going unpunished. There is always political power crisscrossing effectiveness of the police.

Currently, the biggest issue on table for some members in the police constituency is the full of Police Service Regulations 2012 popularly known as the C.I 76. It is overall lifetime insurance cover for every police and his or her immediate family. It is the solution to accommodatIon, provision of accoutrements and everything necessary that the police officer needs for efficient and effective policing. It is the the same document that the Doctors constantly referred to as "secret document" full of lucrative allowances being enjoyed by police officers and for that matter, took the whole country at ransom at the expense of precious lives being wasted in their bid for better conditions of service. On the other hand, we have seen forceful implementation of the punitive and some selected aspects of the C.I 76 to the detriment of the ordinary police officer. This is resulting in mass dismissal of many police officers whom scarce state resources were used to train to protect lives and properties and still widening the gap between police-civilian ratio instead of closing it to achieve the UN standards.

As to when the C.I 76 will be implemented fully to give the ordinary police officer a total life insurance cover, no one knows since we have been crippled by law not to embark on demonstrations though we have seen members of other essential services providers like the police holding placards with all sort of inscriptions on them going on demonstrations and strikes. Four years after the C.I 76 was passed as a policy and regulatory document, it is yet to receive full implementation. Now we are told that certain portions of the C.I 76 needs amendment so it is currently in the judicial mill. The issue of full implementation of the C.I 76 and other challenges confronting the police officer could just not attract the attention of any of the political parties in their manifestos and campaigns launch.

This year alone many police officers have died in diverse ways, all in attempt to fight crime in all forms. Policing particularly in the villages looks more of a curse than service to God and country. At times when one looks at the conditions under which one has to struggle to ensure that society is safe from crime leaves a lot to be desired. The type of buildings police officers who are serving mother Ghana sleep in and the kind of water some of them drink is just a problem. In the midst of all these woes, the police officer does not have peace at the workplace. When it's time to promote him or her too, "wahala". What really matters is duty ! duties!! duties !!! The very conditions that should cushion the police officer to be effective and efficient in performing duties, don't really matter. The duties are important than the human performing them I guess.

In Ghana, the only thing that change about the police is the the dress which comes in different colours even though it's supposed to be uniform. Since the year 2000, all the presidents and their appointed IGPs came with new police uniforms with different colours and left with them but the being in the police uniform, is just a suffering being without much change in his or her life.

If we are to vote on issues bothering me as police officer, then there is nobody to vote for and probably the very reason why I am still contemplating on whom to vote for. If am the only person that can earn a presidential candidate a win in the elections with the just plus one vote to avoid run off, then my total wish is the full implementation of the C.I 76 whether it's being amended or not.

It's my whole life as a police officer.

Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III

[email protected]

#Ahantadiaries_2016_11_24
A government appointee's accusation of ethnocentrism against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo is an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians, Mustapha Hamid has said.

Haruna Attah, an NPP member who is now with the NDC has authored an article in which he claimed that Akufo-Addo has an ethnocentric conviction that no member of a minority ethnic group will ever lead the NPP.

Haruna Atta who has been appointed Ghana's Ambassador to Namibia wrote:

"I do recollect very clearly, as if it happened only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the invitation, not knowing what to expect. The outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He raised a number of issues and concluded on my 'support' for the late Vice President. On that, this is what he told me.

"The words have been indelibly etched on my conscience: hHaruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong.' He went on to expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity, nothing else really mattered to me again. When I left, I confided in a few people, mainly family and friends, as witnesses."

"I received all manner of suggestions on how to handle this bombshell and indeed one family member high up in the NPP even suggested that I take it up with President Kufuor". "The frightening fundamental message was clear: No non-Akan should dream of leading the NPP as Presidential Candidate".

Reacting to the article, Nana Akufo-Addo's spokesperson, Mustapha Hamid, who is of Northern extraction himself, was emphatic that the piece is a fabrication.

"No such conversation has taken place and that is a simple fact" he stressed on Joy FM's Super Morning Show.

He explained that it does not make sense that Akufo-Addo who had an election to win in 2008 would make comments that could divide his own party and scuttle his chances of becoming president.

He said it is inconceivable that Akufo-Addo who was seeking votes would tell a Northerner that Northerners cannot become flagbearer of the NPP.

He said it is a "height of foolhardiness" which an experienced diplomat like Akufo-Addo can never do.

He said Haruna Attah who has known the NPP flagbearer ought to credit Akufo-Addo with some level of intelligence.

Mustapha Hamid wondered why Haruna Atta who defected to the NDC about seven years ago would wait till now to make such accusations against the NPP leader.

According to him, the article betrays the panic mindset of the governing NDC which is now apprehensive about its chances in the 2016 general elections.

Mustapha believes that it is an attempt to turn the heat on the NPP after President John Mahama received public bashing for his ethnocentric comments while on the campaign in the Upper East and Upper West regions last week.

He explained that once the vice-president is just a step away from being president, Akufo-Addo would not choose a Northerner (Dr Mahamudu Bawumia) as his running-mate and still hold the view that a Northerner in the NPP cannot be president.

The spokesperson to the NPP Presidential candidate explained that Mahama's own ascension to power after the death of a sitting president shows how important a vice-president position is.

John Mahama who was vice-president first became President following the death of President John Evans Atta Mills in July 2012.

"Mahama never contested presidential primaries in his life...but he is president by virtue of someone choosing him as a vice"

He said if there is any "unrepentant ethnocentric bigot" in this election, there is no doubt that it is President John Mahama.

He welcomed what he believes is the NDC's desire to execute a campaign of bigotry but warned that with poverty and corruption staring Northerners especially, this strategy will not work.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected]


Flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo electrified the entire township of Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, with a mammoth regional rally on Tuesday.

It took him and his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, over two hours from the main traffic lights to the Jubilee Park to address party supporters and sympathizers.

Nana Akufo-Addo told party supporters that an NPP government would improve agriculture in the Northern Region so that agro-processing would become a predominant business there.

According to the NPP standard bearer, such a venture would create enough jobs for the young people, and so it would not be necessary for the young men and women to travel to the south for none-existing jobs.

We are going to create jobs right here for the young people so that they can stay here in the northern and live a comfortable life, Nana Addo said.

The NPP presidential candidate re-echoed the party's willingness to implement the 'one district, one factory' policy, indicating that it would encourage agricultural practices and bring more jobs to the area.

I am promising you that within 18 months of a new government of the NPP under my leadership, the face of our country, Ghana, is going to change. We are going to get out of stagnation and backwardness, and move our country onto the path of progress and prosperity. We can do it. We, the Ghanaian people have the capacity to change the circumstances of our lives, Nana Akufo-Addo told the teeming supporters at the Jubilee Park.

This 'new Ghana', according to Nana Addo, will be a Ghana with opportunities for all, and where everybody is taken care of. We will have a society that is caring and compassionate and expresses solidarity. Nobody is going to be left behind. We are all going to march together, hands linked together, to that great future that beckons us, here in Ghana.

Having reiterated the NPP's willingness to implement its policies, he said a vote for Akufo-Addo in the December polls will mean that Ghanaians would have elected a president who will treat all citizens with the utmost respect, and one who will also jealously guard the public purse for the improvement of their livelihoods.

Nana Akufo-Addo reassured the electorate that every constituency in the Northern Region would receive the cedi equivalent of $1 million every year to tackle issues of sanitation, infrastructure and other developmental projects.

Tribal Politics

The NPP presidential candidate stated that John Mahama and his party are panicking and beginning to resort to divisive and tribal politics.

According to Nana Addo, he does not want a country that one tribe is set against other tribes and North against the South, indicating that it is the politics of the past. He added that Ghana is moving into a new destiny which is a united power.

He said that President Mahama says he (Nana Addo) is going round begging the people of Ghana to make him president and that he should stop begging; but he (Nana Addo) says that the president does not understand democracy because power is with the people.

I will continue to beg the people of Ghana; I am not going to stop because I am your servant, that is why I am begging you today, he stressed.

NPP Supporters at the Tamale Jubilee Park

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale


PM Karen Karapetyan says he will not pressure others in his government to join the RPA

Today, at the start of a government cabinet session, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan declared that he has filed a request for membership in the countrys ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

Karapetyan then noted seven reasons for the move.

The number one reason given by Karapetyan is that he was invited to assume the post of prime minister by Serzh Sargsyan, the president of Armenia and the RPA.

The second reason is that any government must have a political base and our government, first of all, has been a government of the Republican Party of Armenia, Karapetyan noted.

The prime minister continued by saying: Even if my first two reasons arent taken into account, some might theoretically ask why we dont form another party as our political base? This wouldnt be justified.

Karapetyan said that given the Artsakh issue and threats to the countrys security all forms of destabilizing actions must be avoided.

Citing his fourth reason to join the RPA, the prime minister said that the partys conservative ideology was close to his heart and that the party had many members he finds acceptable.

Karapetyan stressed that his main objectives were to foster vital change in the economic and social sectors, especially in the government system, and that this means that change must start from within the ruling party.

The prime minister then claimed that the RPA was undergoing a process of self-analysis and criticism regarding the need for change.

Citing his fifth reason for joining the RPA, Karapetyan said that by assuming the post of prime minister he had become a willing participant in the process for change.

The sixth reason Karapetyan noted is that many of his friends and supports also want to participate in this process of change.

The prime minister then said that he would not pressure non-party ministers or team members in his government to join the RPA. Such a decision was personal and ideological, according to Karapetyan.

Lastly, Karapetyan said that while the RPA hasnt always functioned effectively, due to objective and subjective factors, it is the party that understands its responsibility for ensuring the countrys security and development, has decided to change, and has the potential to do so.


IT WAS a display of rich African traditions when the Esama of Benin in Nigeria, Sir Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, stormed the Manhyia Palace Tuesday evening.

The chief was at the palace to commiserate with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, over the death of the latter's mother, the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II.

The Esama and the Asantehene are so intimate that people at the Manhyia Palace, notably the elders, have labeled the two powerful traditional leaders as brothers from different mothers and countries.

The Esama's past visits to the palace had often been characterized with massive celebrations; but Tuesday's visit was full of mourning because of the Asantehemaa's demise.

Ing Nana Poku Agyeman, a grand nephew of the Asantehene, who was at the palace, told DAILY GUIDE that the Esama of Benin Kingdom urged his 'brother' Otumfuo to remain calm in the face of the great loss.

The Nigerian monarch described the Asantehemaa's death as a great blow not only to the people of Asante Kingdom and Ghana, but also to the people of his kingdom as well.

Sir Chief Dr. Igbinedion said he and his people would play leading roles in the one-week celebration and final funeral rites of the late Asante queen mother.

Meanwhile, reports emanating from the Manhyia Palace indicate that some powerful chiefs from Africa and Ghana would be visiting the place today to take part in the one-week celebration of the late Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi


The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously dismissed the suit filed by Thomas Nuako Ward Brew, flag bearer of the Democratic People's Party (DPP), against the Electoral Commission (EC).

He was praying the court to suspend the December 7 general election.

The seven-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Sophia Adinyira, stated that the suit lacked merit both in form and substance.

According to the court, the proceedings for which the applicant was in court had been disposed of on November 7, 2016, indicating that the courts original jurisdiction could not be properly invoked in the instant case before it again.

The judges indicated that Mr. Ward-Brew's claim that he was in Nigeria during the extension ordered by the apex court for the filing of nomination forms was frivolous and of no substance.

One Man Show

The court reasoned that the DPP is not a one-man party and that other executives could have submitted the forms on his behalf as per CI 94 which states that any member of the party could submit the nomination forms.

In the view of the court, the senior lawyer cum politician was not vigilant when filing the nomination forms.

The court as a result, dismissed the case, awarding a cost of GH3,000 against the DPP presidential hopeful.

Earlier, the court had initially wanted to strike out the case on grounds of procedural errors.

Mr. Ward-Brew's error was that the title on his motion was different from that on his affidavit.

However, the lawyer's plea to the judges to be heard was considered, stressing that the court must consider the substance of the suit and not the errors.

Mr. Brew argued that at the time the Supreme Court order to the EC to extend the nomination period for disqualified presidential aspirants to amend their forms, he was out of the jurisdiction and therefore did not get the opportunity to correct his errors.

He was therefore, praying the court to order the EC to allow him to correct the errors to enable him participate in the December 7 presidential election.

Speaking to journalists after the ruling, Mr. Ward-Brew did not drop any hint of further litigation.

He said he believed the court was fair in its judgement, indicative of the fact that he would not seek a review of the decision.

DPP Out

The EC had said in October that it was unable to accept Mr. Ward-Brew's nomination as the forms were improperly completed and the candidate's particulars were not provided.

Charlotte Osei, EC Chairman, stated in Accra that the commission noticed the Voter ID number of the vice presidential candidate has not been provided and so the commission is unable to ascertain whether the vice presidential candidate is a registered voter and eligible to stand as a candidate for that office.

The commission stated, Despite requesting candidates to obtain 432 signatures endorsing their presidential nomination forms the number of subscribers to Mr. Ward-Brew's forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.

The commission said there were no signatures for subscribers, signatures of two subscribers (Isaac Dusi & Kofi Kuma) were identical and that raised questions about the legitimacy of the two signatures.

The EC said the same subscriber  Kumbung Dosetu  endorsed the nomination forms in two different districts (Lawra and Nandom) with two different signatures, raising issues again on the legitimacy of both signatures.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson

[email protected]


24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Gideon Ahenkorah, GNA

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Mr Ekow Jones-Mensah, Convention People's Party's (CPP) aspiring parliamentary candidate of the for Domeabra- Obom Constituency, has said the party will emerge victorious in the coming elections.

The seat is currently being held by Daoud Anum Yemoh of the the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Mr Jones-Mensah said the various awareness creation efforts on the prudent policies of the party would enable the electorate to opt for CPP in the coming elections.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he said the party was a threat to other competing parties due to its "bright prospects".

"The CPP is very strong in this constituency and some suspected supporters of my rivals have started removing my posters, because of the threat I pose', Mr Jones-Mensah said.

He said in spite of all the challenges, the party will still surmount the prevailing obstacles and win the parliamentary race.

Mr Jones-Mensah said the electorates are tired of the usual excuses being bandied about by the incumbent Member of Parliament at the expense of the constituency's development.

'The NDC has dominated this constituency for 12 good years and nothing beneficial has come from them", he said adding that, 'We are one of the highly deprived areas in terms of education, health, and infrastructure."

Mr Jones-Mensah said a CPP government would place emphasis on human resource development to help accelerate economic growth in the constituency.

'I am working with some foreign investors to establish a university in the area as the Nkrumahist party believes in education", he said.

Mr Ekow Jones-Mensah said the constituents have come to the realization that the Pan-Africanism ideology, which is the core value of the party, is the only alternative for our development.

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - The atmospheric heat currently being experienced in the country could greatly decrease during the months of December and January.

Presently, a combination of high temperatures and atmospheric moisture are basically the reason for the hot weather conditions pertaining in the country.

Mr Michael Padi, Senior Meteorologist at the Ghana Meteorological Agency, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.

He said currently, 'We have what is termed heat index, which is how much heat there actually is, and how that heat affects the human body or makes people feel, depending on atmospheric conditions.'

Mr Padi said whilst temperatures were high, there was also sufficient moisture in the atmosphere.

He said this increased the feel of discomfort on people, but did not mean there was more heat in the atmosphere than was normal for the period of the year.

Mr Padi said those in the northern part of the country for example, would not feel as uncomfortable as those in the south as a result of atmospheric heat, because the north had a lot less atmospheric moisture.

Mr Padi said by December, however, there would be a reduction in atmospheric moisture as the harmattan intensifies.

He said during the severe harmattan which was typically between December and January, temperatures would reduce because dust particles which would by then have replaced atmospheric moisture, would then absolve the sun's rays.

This, Mr Padi said, would greatly reduce atmospheric heat and result in a lot more comfort.

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) has expressed worry over the growing spate of electoral violence as the December 7 general elections approaches.

Ms Afi Yakubu, the Executive Director of the Foundation, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said FOSDA's anxiety comes on the heels of the latest clashes between supporters or the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern and Northern Regions.'

She said FOSDA's work on the ground indicates that there had been some flashes of violence which might explode if caution was not taken.

Ms Yakubu said even though the Police had done well in managing the situation so far there is the need to adopt a proactive or preventive strategy to ensure that these things do not happen at all.

"After more than two decades of multiparty democracy, we have to do better; we should strive to outdo ourselves as a country.

"Increasingly, elections must not create the kind of tensions and threats of violence we are experiencing now, that can only happen when we apply lessons learnt from previous election and best practices from other countries which will lead to pro-activeness.

"FOSDA is therefore, calling on the security agencies not to leave any stone unturned in the quest for violence free elections.

"Another deterring factor is the swift and fair arrest and punishment of those who are found to be guilty.

"We also call on all citizens and supporters of the various political parties to conduct themselves peacefully during this electoral season.

"We should also mature as a country knowing that democracy is here to stay hence should not create any kind of conflict among us a people, it should rather unite us," Ms Yakubu added.

The Executive Director also called on political parties to advise their followers to restrain themselves from violent conduct before, during and after the elections.

She said FOSDA with the support of its development partners has deployed 250 young men and women as Peace Ambassadors in eleven flash point constituencies to ensure peace before, during and after the election.

"We want to give the youth the opportunity to participate positively in the electoral process. The youth are tagged as perpetrators of violence but there are many more who are peaceful and nation builders. We call on the youth to avoid violence this elections," she stated. GNA
By Joyce Danso, GNA

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome a businessman has filed motion on notice reversing the ruling of the Supreme Court granting Mr Martin Amidu, the former Attorney General the green light to cross examine him.

On November 16, the Supreme Court presided over by Justice Anin Yeboah who sat as a sole Judge gave the former Attorney General the opportunity to cross examine Woyome in its ruling.

The motion is expected to be moved on December 6.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court is expected to witness the Cross Examination tomorrow November 24.

The Supreme Court granted the former Attorney General examine the businessman over the 51.2 million cedis paid to him as judgement debt.

Mr Amidu wanted to know how Mr Woyome spent the money pad to him in 2010.

This he said, was crucial in ensuring a speedy retrieval of the money, which he said was paid to him for no work done.

GNA
GNA Reporter

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Ethiopian Aviation Academy, the largest aviation academy in Africa, a full ICAO Trainer Plus Member and IATA Authorised Global Training Centre, has graduated 47 pilots, 92 aviation maintenance technicians, 50 cabin crew and 133 marketing professionals.

Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, the Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines congratulated and welcomed the new graduates to the airline's dedicated workforce.

He gave out diplomas to all the graduates, flight wings to graduating pilots and cabin crew and achievement award to graduates with outstanding academic performance.

He remarked: 'We believe education is the greatest equaliser in the 21st century and Ethiopian Aviation Academy has strategically positioned itself to train the African youth in the latest Aviation technology and skills to own, manage and operate their own indigenous home grown African Airlines to lead safe, economical and reliable aviation industry with global standards.'

He said the Airline would continue to scale up its capacity and continue nurturing the youth and prepare them for the 21st century African Aviation development.'

He said operating successfully for the past six decades since its establishment in 1956, Ethiopian Aviation Academy had significantly contributed towards alleviating the critical shortage of skilled aviation professionals.

Currently, the academy trains 1500 youths per annum and it envisages to enhance its intake capacity to 4000 by 2025.

Ethiopian Aviation Academy is certified by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration, the European Aviation Safety Agency, and IATA Safety Audit.

GNA
By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA

Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Mr Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff said the Government of President John Dramani Mahama is keen to ensure that the aviation sector grows efficiently with adequate expansion of physical infrastructure and soft skills.

He said it was Government policies to put in place a multi-tiered model of growth in infrastructure and quality services, such as the expansion, upgrading and building of the country's airport to boost the sector.

Mr Debrah made the remarks when Mr Mark Danis, the Regional Manager of American Airlines in-charge of Asia, Middle East, Africa and parts of Europe called on him at his office in Accra.

He said the commitment of Government to boost the aviation industry calls for the construction of the $ 250 million new Terminal 3 at the Kotoka International Airport to ensure better access to the facility.

Mr Debrah said new airports would play a pivotal role in the success of the country's new airline that Government was re-introducing by serving as a feeder airport to the Airport.

He said the expected impact of the project on the regions included directly providing employment within the air transport industry such as airlines and airports, aircraft control and meteorology services.

Mr Danis pledged the Airline's commitment to explore more opportunities in the country aviation industry.

He called on Government to support the current growth of Ghana's aviation industry with resources and the commitment to expansion of the physical infrastructure.

GNA
The Chairman of Interior and Defense Committee in Parliament, Fritz Baffour, has described as ridiculous claims that government has spent close to $300 million on the supply of National Security equipment without parliamentary approval.

The NPP at a press conference on Tuesday, alleged, among other things, that the Mahama-led government had signed a fraudulent deal worth about $300 million for the procurement of national security equipment.

The Deputy ranking member for Defence and Interior, Major Derek Oduro, affirmed the allegations against the government in an earlier interview with Citi News.

According to the party, government has already paid a UK-based firm, Santa Barron, $120 million dollars, for the supply of the equipment on 30th November without due diligence.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Fritz Baffour said his committee had no such expenditure budget.

The Ablekuma South MP retorted to the allegations, I don't know where it is coming from because I am the chairman of the defense and Interior select Committee in parliament and various interventions like that will come to us one way or the other.

If it was a budgeted item and I looked at our budget, we don't have anything like that, spending $300 million on arms, he added.

Mr. Baffour further explained that such a deal has to come before us [Defense Committee] for discussion so what I am saying to you is that it hasn't come to my notice. It hasn't come before my committee. I am telling you it is ridiculous that a certain amount is being spent unless it was part of the budget.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana


The new American Airlines Regional Manager for Africa, the Middle East, Asia and parts of Europe, Mark Dennis on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah at the Flagstaff House, Accra.

According to him, the visit was to afford him the opportunity to introduce himself, as well as the new operations of the airline, which has been operating in the country since 1994.

The Regional Manager was accompanied by Joseph Abbey Mensah, General Manager (GSA) and Marisa Roberts Ali, Inside Sales Representative, Offline Sales.

Welcoming the delegation to the Flagstaff House, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, said government is passionate about doing business with investors who have the expertise to help improve the economy of Ghana.

According to him, government has put structures in place which would help both indigenous and foreign investors to operate comfortably.

He said the government had effectively developed the country's airports and harbours in Accra, Tema, Tamale, Takoradi and Kumasi.

We are doing a lot in terms of infrastructural development to ensure that the country's airports have modern equipment to ensure safety and free flow of goods and services; we believe that in this way we will be creating direct and indirect opportunities for our people while enriching the national purse for a better Ghana, he stated.

By Solomon Ofori


Police in Hungary have launched a criminal inquiry into revelations that a consortium falsified public procurement documents in the construction of a Budapest health clinic, following an investigation by OCCRP partner Direkt36.

The October investigation by Direkt36 uncovered how theconsortium led by the company EU-Line had falsely claimed to have done similar construction work when they bid for the 1 billion forint (US$ 3.4 million) contract in the Hungarian capitals Jozsefvaros district. The contract was awarded in January 2015.

Istvan Tenyi, a citizen activist known for peppering authorities with criminal complaints based on news reports, contacted police after reading Direkt36s report.

The investigation is being conducted by the Budapest Metropolitan Polices anti-corruption unit, thepolice press office told Direkt36 in a written statement on Tuesday. No one has yet been charged.

Falsifying documents is punishable with up to one year in prison under Hungarys criminal code.

The clinics renovation was finished at the end of 2015. The municipality of Jozsefvaros, led by mayor Mate Kocsis, a prominent politician of the governing Fidesz party, told Direkt36 in a September statement that they had no plans to look into the procurement.

Its not the municipalitys responsibility to check tender bidders ownership structures or the truthfulness of their references, the municipality said.

The municipality and EU-line did not respond to questions sent by Direkt36 after it was revealed police were conducting an investigation.

EU-Line was awarded a new contract by Jozsefvaros following Direkt36s story on the clinic. On Oct. 13, three days after the story was published, the municipality signed a 35 million forint contract with the company to renovate a local kindergarten.

The municipality did not respond to questions from Direkt36 about the deal.

The clinic in Budapest's Jozsefvaros district (Photo: jozsefvaros.hu)

occrp.org
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has resorted to begging for votes after condemning the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for doing the same.

A senior member of the NDC, Kwamena Ahwoi, pleaded with some of members of clergy in Accra to convince members of their congregation to vote for President John Mahama.

Speaking at a meeting with the clergy in Accra, Mr Ahwoi said we beg you as we meet with you today [Wednesday], we are not hiding the fact that we are asking you to talk to your congregations to vote for our president and our parliamentary candidates.

In Mr Ahwoi's view, the NDC stands for peace, unity and nationhood, a message he said the clergy must convey to their congregants.

The choice is very clear; it is between peace and violence. It is a choice between unity and division. It is a choice between nationhood and ethnicity. We beg you, listen to our message. Convey our message to your congregation.

Mr Ahwoi also highlighted the NDC's ability to adapt over the years from the revolutionary party it was to what it is in its current incarnation.

We have rebranded ourselves. We have especially through Professor Mills, succeeded by President Mahama, completely turned the NDC around the times have changed so the NDC has changed with it. The times have changed, our governance pattern has changed with the times.

Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff, who was also at the meeting, promised that the next NDC government will provide jobs for the teeming youth in the country, as it has laid a solid foundation to propel the country's economic growth to fuel job creation.

Mr. Debrah also gave the assurance that his party's campaign will be devoid of insults, unnecessary attacks and unwarranted insults.

He encouraged NDC supporters to desist from activities that will lead to trouble, hooliganism and things like that.
An Accra based media organization Starr Fm is collaborating with HFFG to promote the welfare of Persons with disability in a visionary project known as HopePal.

It would be recalled that during the official launch of the project on the 11th of October, 2016, the Business Manager for Starr FM Mr. Elorm Nyahe indicated that as the Exculsive media partner to the HFFG, the network is with HFFG for the long haul towards creating awareness of problems associated with persons with disability.

To this end, an MOU has been signed between HFFG and Starr Fm to ensure that the objectives of the HopePal Project which seeks to advocate and mobilise resources to improve the well-being of persons with disability particularly young persons with disability are achieved.

Starr Fm is an affiliate of the Excellence In Broadcasting (EIB) Networks  Africas fastest growing Media Organisation  which comprises of entities such as GhOne TV, Agoo TV/Fm, Live Fm, Kasapa Fm, Ultimate Fm, Abusua Fm, Daily Heritage Newspaper, and Empire Radio among others.

The Maiden HopePal event will be held at the Mampong Technical School for the Deaf Deaf in Akuapem  Eastern Region as part of activities marking the International Day of Persons with Disability on Saturday December 3, 2016.

A key highlight of the event would be the first ever HopePalympics which will consist of various sporting events with the students.

The HopePal Project was officially launched by Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi, Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the 2016 International Day of the Girl Child which also coincided with the climax of the 15th Anniversary Celebrations of HFFG.

As a landmark for celebrating fifteen years of existence under the theme Championing Equal Opportunities for Women, Children, and the Vulnerable through Sustainable Partnerships, HFFG has come up with this visionary project in line with the organisations 5 year Strategic Plan which intends to pay special attention to this marginalized groups through an integrated approach that addresses population dynamics, gender equity and equality concerns to reduce their vulnerability.
President Elect Donald Trumps call to Make America Great Again endeared him to the American electorate. A great and winning America should worry Africa. When the United States of America was at its apex in the global power chain, the country had a dim view of Africa.

The US perceived the African continent as largely characterized by coups and chaos. The alternative perception of Africa as a possible future motor for global economy started taking shape when Americas overwhelming sway on global events receded.

When America was great (pax Americana), it deployed its overwhelming power to shape global systems. The country was once the factory of the world. Its high technology at the Silicon Valley revolutionized the World.

In the years 1970  2000 America was a lead contributor at 21.2 percent to the global economic output. During the same period, African countries registered mostly negative growth that was as low as negative 1.5 percent. It is during this period that entrenched the prevailing warped mindset that solutions to challenges facing Africa must emanate from outside.

When Americas position as a key driver of global economy started declining in the year 2000; its mindset towards Africa slightly changed as evidenced through the enactment of The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Americas position as a key contributor to the global economy is projected to continue to fall to 14.9 percent by 2018 as China, a newcomer, overtakes it. Americas closest rival, China, contributed only 4.1 percent to the global economy in the 70s rising to 15.6 percent in 2015. The Chinese contribution to global economy is projected to hit 17.2 percent by 2025. The period between the years 2000  2016 has led to a significant narrative change on Africa from one of a desolate continent to one that offers great opportunity.

Historically, a great America has had both positives and negatives. A great America ended the Second World War in Europe. In Africa, it indirectly triggered the end of political colonization. It also facilitated an interconnected World thereby offering a platform for prosperity to millions across the globe. The downside to a great America was forcing American will on countries (especially in Africa and the Middle East) and triggering the financial crisis that shook global markets in 2008.

Africa is a low production zone. On average, the continent contributes only 0.1 percent of the global economic output. This low productivity pushes Africas vibrant and youthful population to seek opportunities in developed economies. Instead of a wall against migrants; Trump should seek to enhance successful African owned enterprises to reduce the migration pressure that has become a campaign issue in the US and many Western capitals.

Africans should be worried. A winning America may want to amplify and relegate the continent into a warzone for competing geopolitics. A winning America is likely to relax its regulatory environment since it may care less how it wins. This will be in contrast with the recent past US effort to stem violence caused by quest for minerals on the continent. A notable example is the Dodd Frank Financial Bill 2010 that requires US companies to disclose source of minerals meant to dry up financing to militias in resource rich countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Elect Donald Trump should push for grow-Africa scenario both in terms of productivity and global participation in order to give hope to the continent in the emerging new World order. If Africa grows, it will offer markets and opportunities for the great America as well.

By James Shikwati

The author is Founder Director of the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN), [email protected]
Foreign Minister Steinmeier issued the following statement today (23 November) on the awarding of the German Africa Award to Thulisile Madonsela:

"Thulisile Madonsela is being honoured today with the German Africa Foundations 2016 German Africa Award. This is a good choice and sends an important message!

In her role as Public Protector, she rendered outstanding services to democracy and the rule of law in South Africa for many years. But not only did she bring renown and prestige to the position, she always listened to peoples concerns, including and indeed especially as someone in the political spotlight. Her elegant modesty and calmness created trust and encouraged people. And she is certainly courageous. As the first woman in this position, she revealed what many people had suspected, gave a voice to the individual and was an advocate for the poor. This was not without conflict, but even death threats could not stop Ms Madonsela from fighting for what she believes in. She stood up boldly for what civil societies around the world rightfully demand, namely functioning democracies, the separation of powers, and reliable and trustworthy statehood.

Ms Madonsela is also renowned and admired for her work far beyond her own country. Todays prize pays tribute to a courageous woman and puts the spotlight on what counts. My warmest congratulations!"

Background information:

Since 1993, the German Africa Foundation has awarded the German Africa Award to honour outstanding individuals for their long-standing endeavours to foster democracy, peace, human rights, art, culture, the social market economy and social concerns. Chosen by an independent jury, the award winners reflect a nuanced view of Africa and encourage people to get more involved with the continent and its people.

Since being awarded for the first time by former German Federal President Richard von Weizsacker over 20 years ago, the prize has always been awarded by leading German politicians, including Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Federal President Horst Kohler. From the beginning, it has been very highly regarded in both Germany and Africa, receiving wide coverage in the media. In 2015, Federal President Joachim Gauck awarded the German Africa Award to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Houcine Abassi of Tunisia.

This years prize has been awarded to lawyer Thulisile Madonsela for her role as Public Protector in South Africa. The award ceremony will take place today at the Allianz office at the Brandenburg Gate. The prize will be awarded by Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag.

Thulisile Madonsela is being honoured for her exceptional endeavours to defend the constitution and for her work in fighting corruption in South Africa. She served as Public Protector until October 2016, working tirelessly to uphold the principles of the rule of law in South Africa. Thulisile Madonsela was the first woman in this position, which was established to investigate corruption and abuse of power in the administration and government. As Public Protector, she took on many difficult cases, for which she also achieved international renown.
The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of an application filed by businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome who is seeking to put on hold the court's ruling for anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu to orally examine him [Woyome]. December 1, 2016 is the new date for the hearing of the case. The adjournment according to the judge was because the application was served on the Attorney General and Martin Amidu late. Amidu's examination of Woyome in limbo Lawyers of Woyome filed two applications at the Supreme Court praying the court to review the ruling which granted Martin Amidu the permission to orally examine their client a week ago.

The second application, on the other hand is a request for a stay of proceedings to enable the court determine the motion for review.

A stay of proceedings is a ruling by the court in civil and criminal procedure, halting further legal processes in a trial or other legal proceedings.

Background

Mr. Woyome was earlier ordered by the Supreme Court to appear in court for an oral examination over the controversial judgement debt saga. The order followed an application filed by Mr. Amidu, praying the Supreme Court to allow him to orally examine Woyome, after the Attorney General (AG) discontinued the process to examine him.

Justice Anin Yeboah, who gave the ruling argued that the applicant had the right to do that because he personally came to court to get a judgment to have Mr. Woyome pay back the GHc51 million cash he recieved as judgment debt.

The judge also indicated that, the application was granted because there was no evidence of execution before the court by the AG presently. Mr. Amidu's action followed a move by the Attorney General's (AG) office, led by the Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, to discontinue an oral examination of Mr. Woyome, despite serving an earlier notice to do same. The notice of discontinuance stated that please take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply.

This forced Mr. Amidu to file the application in court, in which he even alleged that President Mahama had ordered a discontinuation of the case because Mr. Woyome had threatened to expose officials of government and the NDC who benefited from the amount.

The AG's office arguing against Mr. Amidu's application in court, questioned his right to examine Mr. Woyome over the matter.

The 51 million judgement debt Alfred Woyome was paid 51 million after he claimed that he helped Ghana to raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup. However an Auditor General's report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.

The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the amount, after Mr. Martin Amidu challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman, Waterville, and Isofoton Following delays in retrieving the money, the Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court's judgment ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

Woyome prevents officials from valuing residence

But Mr. Woyome in April 2016, prevented officials of the Attorney General's Department and the Lands Commission from having access to his Kpehe residence for valuation.

The move was part of a directive from the Supreme Court to retrieve monies illegally paid to him. Mr Woyome however resisted the move, saying the planned valuation was illegal.

Mr. Woyome had earlier won the criminal prosecution that sought to imprison him for the offence.

 Citifmonline
Jurgen Klopp has warned that he is prepared to drop any players in his Liverpool squad should they become complacent.

The Reds are currently enjoying an impressive campaign and sit second in the Premier League table, just one point off leaders Chelsea, while they have scored more goals than any other side in the division.

While Liverpool  who were in top spot before Chelsea capitalised on their 0-0 draw at Southampton at the weekend  have been talked up as title challengers, Klopp is determined to keep his players feet on the ground.

Do not think too much about [the title], that will help, he is quoted as saying in The Guardian. We are here [at Melwood] four or five hours a day, sometimes longer, never less.

They still have a few more hours in the day to be influenced by people around them. If somebody is a character and wants to celebrate position one in November then he will not play in December anymore because I see it pretty quick.

But these things usually dont happen. The players are here in this situation because their character is really good. It is a long way to get here. It is not like they are surprised about success whether it is individual or as a team.

They had successes of being the best player at Southampton, Schalke or other teams. This is success but if you then celebrate this and dont be professional anymore then you have a problem.

But while Klopp has stressed his squad must avoid complacency, the German trusts them to act professionally.

It is not too difficult. Nothing has happened until now, Klopp said. It is better to be one time in first place than never in your life but it is not really important in this moment. There is nothing to think about.

If I went to the players and said: Dont think we are first or We are first but nothing has been reached, they would think Im silly because they know this already. Stay cool, play football and see what happens.
A leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands to be revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness.

Suzy Kassem: Rise Up and Salute the Sun

WAS IT WOYOME SPEAKING? Did we see and hear him right, or like Adriana in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors': I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me? Did our eyes and ears deceive us?

The Supreme Court last week, Wednesday, gave a ruling granting the Number One Citizen Vigilante, Martin Amidu, the opportunity to cross  examine Alfred Agbesi Woyome, touted as NDC financier and philanthropist.

The Attorney General's office had filed a notice suspending its efforts to retrieve Woyome's cash. Mr Amidu had not taken the issue lightly, for, after all, it was his singular effort that had exposed the wrongful payment of the judgment debt to Mr Woyome. At the Supreme Court, Amidu (as Plaintiff) had sued the Attorney General (as 1st Defendant /Respondent); Waterville Holdings Limited (as 2nd Defendant/ Respondent); and Alfred Agbesi Woyome (as 3rd Defendant/ Respondent). Mr Woyome who had been ordered to refund over fifty one million Ghana cedis (GH 51m) two years ago, had not paid anything more than four million Ghana cedis (GH 4m) to EOCO. He had made the cheque without writing who it is meant for because I was confused as to who should be the recipient. His bank accounts were empty, showing that he was penniless! Why should government fight anyone who is assisting it to retrieve the money?

Mr Woyome who spoke in an angry but defiant mood, discounted courtesy, decency and respect for discerning Ghanaians and charged that the Supreme Court was persecuting him. Ha  ba, (apology to I.K.Gyasi). He was musing like King Lear: Tremble thou wretch that hast within these undivulged crimes, Unwhipt of justice I AM A MAN MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING. The irony: Woyome is a victim!

Woyome felt some people were using Martin against himself. So, why should you use such a weapon to fight in a political season? He suspected that Martin was embittered for not being selected by former President, John Evans Atta Mills as his vice. And so what?

An English proverb says: Speech is silvern, silence is golden and Plato postulated so many years ago: Wise men speak because they have something to say: fools because they have to say something. Did Woyome forget that he was communicating with Ghanaians and that his tone, his inflections, the pitch, and the key emphasis gave signals about his emotional state? Of course, it was Epictetus who remarked: We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

And Rawlings, the owner of the NDC, was befuddled. He had earlier (March 2015) noted: The extent of corruption I have been talking about. I just read that the thief called Woyome had been freed. Why? Because his accomplices (Betty Mould and one other person) were not produced in court for vital evidence to incriminate him. Justice Ajet Nassam had ruled that the state had done a poor job for failing to produce key witnesses: Betty Mould  Iddrisu and Ebo Barton Oduro, the Attorney General and her deputy at the time of paying Woyome the undeserved cash. That was the criminal aspect of Woyome's transgressions.

Why shouldn't Rawlings fume? The NDC is his handmaid. He formed the PNDC when he was only 33 years and thought that he would remain that lanky hungry  looking young man  just as Caesar said of Cassius:  Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much; such men are dangerous. Around him were men and women about his age, garrulously screaming: We no go sit down make them cheat we every day. Rawlings's regime had added 'accountability' to Ghana's motto: 'Freedom and Justice'. The regime had 'sprayed like mosquitoes' General Kutu Acheampong, General Akuffo, General Roger Felli, Air Vice- Marshall Yaw Boakye, General Utuka, General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, and Rear Admiral Joy Amedume. Joy Amedume had been accused of having used his position to take a bank loan to build a house, and for that he was shot. Let us pray for the souls of these men, and for those they left behind.

The party belonging to the Apostle of probity and accountability, Jerry John Rawlings, has over the years demonstrated greed and avarice. There is hardly a project which is not tainted with corruption. Rawlings deserves our pitywhat does his conscience tell him? Where are his probity and accountability? Where are all his platitudesthe moral high ground? How long has PNDC/NDC ruled Ghana1981 to 2000; 2008 to 2016? If there is anything 'unprecedented' in, or about, this government, it is not about schools, hospitals, roads(an exercise in mediocrity), every government does theseit is the magnitude of corruption. And you say Dubai has come to Ghana? Tweaa. Sorry for quoting the Tweaa DCE, without acknowledging him. How much money went into that particular project? We do not expect anyone to shed crocodile tears when they are called to account for their stewardship.

Woyome had called on well  meaning Ghanaians to stand against the Supreme Court ruling, which was not against him personally, but binding on all, including the pitiable 'kayayei'? The closest intimation that he would be forced to name names was when he said a good number of Ghanaians had benefited from his benevolence including some of you journalists here.

To 'prosecute' means to carry out a legal claim against someone. The word originated from Latin 'prosecutus'. It entered into English around 1425 and the root simply means 'pursue'. But by 1579, 'prosecute' had taken on the sense of 'pursuing' legal action before a court. It featured in Higdon's 'Polychronican'. To 'persecute' means to harass, or pursue in order to injure or afflict. By 1450, the word whose origin was French 'persecuter' implied to pursue or torment or begin legal action. Now, to 'persecute' has the negative meaning of harming, harassing or tormenting. If Woyome had confused the two words, he should neither be prosecuted nor persecuted in the court of public opinion for fighting to the last drop of my blood. What a tussle it will be between the 'gargantuan' Brobdingnian, humongous, leviathan, stupendous Amidu and dwarfish, Lilliputian, diminutive, teensy Woyome! Without fear of being cited for acting 'subjudice' we expect to hear: Q Were you paid GH 54m? A: Yes Q Did you give some of the money to government officials? A: I don't remember except you (Martin Amidu) Q: Did you give some of the money to members of the opposition? A: Yes, O.B. Amoah Q: Why? A: As payment for services rendered and for a balance in the equation should I be called to account for the money. Q How did you use the money you received? A: I didn't use it to purchase chinchinga, but rather to build dams in the Northern Region and brick and tile factories in the Volta Region, a la Nana Addo. Q You are not being truthful to the court. A: You rather are not being truthful; go 'way you. Do you know me? Court: O-R-D-E-R!

Some people think Woyome has just demonstrated the narcissism in him, considered Ghanaians incapable of using their cerebrum (brain) and dealt a deadly blow to the NDC as a party. Just as Diana remained a rose to the British public, Martin Amidu remains a hero to the Ghanaian publicperhaps except for those who had tasted of his benevolence and beneficence.

[email protected]

Africanus Owusu-Ansah


With the growing need for trade to be made simpler, faster and easier, the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) team has started a nationwide training of declarants, importers and exporters on the newly introduced Cash Xpress Card.

The training, which took place yesterday at Tema, Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Aflao, Elubo and Takoradi, also involved major stakeholders in the trade industry.

West Blue Consulting, in partnership with Ecobank Ghana, recently introduced the GNSW Ecobank CashXPress Card to speed up the payment of duties and charges by exporters and importers at the ports.

The card, which is a reloaded prepaid, offers a new, convenient and secure way to make trade payments on the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) platform.

Participants commended Single Window for the introduction of the CashXpress Card, which makes payment of charges easier and convenient.

According to them, the training also afforded them the opportunity to ask lingering questions on their minds regarding the card.

The participants were also trained on Ghanas Trading Hub Help Desk Ticketing System, where complaints or suggestions can now be done seamlessly.

The GNSW CashXPress card is available at all Ecobank Ghana branches, and West Blue Office and its ezones located at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and Tema Harbour.

The card is also available on the e-payment platform of Ghanas trading hub.

By Cephas Larbi

[email protected]


Nigeria has joined the polio-endemic countries again after two years without recording a case of the infectious viral disease

The country was put back on the polio-endemic countries list after Jere, Gwoza and Monguno communities in the Borno State recorded four new cases of wild polio virus this year.

The Chairperson of the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Prof Rose Keke, who disclosed this at the opening of a four-day workshop in Accra to review the progress of African countries in polio eradication, called on African countries to update their polio preparedness and response plans.

She said the WHO considers the incidence a regional outbreak of Lake Chad Basin countries (Central African Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria).

This development raised a concern for ARCC members on how to ensure and assess the quality of activities in security compromised and inaccessible areas. This should be a lesson learnt for all countries, she said.

Five African countries, namely Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana and Guinea Bissau will be presenting their eradication activities, while Algeria and Cape Verde will present their complete documentation to the Commission.

Prof Keke said a total of 36 countries have successfully presented their complete documentation accepted by ARCC, but cautioned that the Commission may call any country following acceptance of the documentation to present again to ensure the country is still polio free.

She said high quality activities, high level advocacy and adequate resources were needed to overcome this situation for the African region to become polio-free.

Ghana's Polio Eradication

Dr Owen Kaluwa, WHO Ghana Representative, in his remarks acknowledged Ghana's polio eradication efforts, describing it as satisfactory and ongoing.

National Polio Committee's activities are ongoing with support of the country office. National Task Force on containment with support of WHO implemented Phase 1a of GAP III in 2015 and Phase 1b (destruction of sabin type 2 materials) in 2016 with the reports submitted to AFRO, he said.

Dr Kaluwa mentioned that although the routine oral polio vaccination coverage is good, there are some challenges in some districts, for instance, the Greater Accra Region has often been the most challenged region for achieving the AFP surveillance indicators.

Poor performing districts are supported with additional funds from the country office to improve on the surveillance indicators.

Ghana will continue the work and keep the political commitment to sustain the polio-free status of the country, he added.

BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


Rome (AFP) - A lost four year-old who made the perilous boat journey from Northern Africa to Italy alone will be reunited with her mother from Ivory Coast thanks to an extraordinary coincidence.

Oumoh, who had been taken from her father's family by her mother under the threat of female genital mutilation, was rescued at sea and brought to the Italian island of Lampedusa on November 5, along with around 15 other migrants.

But not one of the other passengers -- mostly women and children -- seemed to know who she was, according to police inspector Maria Volpe, who is charged with looking after migrant minors arriving in Sicily.

"Mamma Maria", as she is known, went to the island off the coast of Africa to retrieve the youngster and on November 9 Oumoh was entrusted to a children's community in Palermo.

"She had arrived a few days earlier, she seemed quite calm," Volpe, who has 20 years' experience with child migrants, told AFP.

Another immigrant child enabled police to find Oumoh's mother

Fate then intervened in the guise of Nassade, an eight year-old rescued last week off the coast of Libya and brought to Lampedusa along with her mother and baby brother.

At the island's reception centre, a police officer who wanted a chance to speak to Nassade's mother without interruption let the child look through the photographs on her mobile phone to distract her.

"It's Oumoh, it's Oumoh!" she suddenly exclaimed.

Set sail without her

It appears Nassade had met the young girl from Ivory Coast in a reception centre in Tunis. And to the police officer's astonishment, Nassade's mother was able to provide the phone number for Oumoh's mother.

Through her tears, the four year-old's mother said she had taken Oumoh away from home after her husband's family insisted the little girl must undergo female circumcision.

They had travelled to Tunis, where she had left Oumoh with a friend while she returned to the Ivory Coast to collect some belongings.

But the friend had had the chance to set sail for Italy and had taken Oumoh with her, though she kept her distance on their arrival.

Mediterranean migrant deaths

"The mother may have be planning to embark too, but she was detained in the Ivory Coast longer than expected and when she returned to Tunis, her daughter was gone," says Volpe, who spoke to the mother several times by telephone.

Rome and Tunis are now arranging to re-unite mother and child, "probably via a family reunification visa for the mother", she said.

A DNA test will be carried out as soon as possible to confirm their relationship.

During her years of service, "Mamma Maria", 56, has seen thousands and thousands of unaccompanied adolescent migrants, but only about 20 of them have been young children.

"It touches your heart when you see the eyes of the children, who are so small. They cling to you quickly, you become their reference point. But it is an honour to be able to do this work with love and humanity," she said.

At the start of November, Italian President Sergio Mattarella included "Mamma Maria" among the 40 everyday heroes who will be awarded the order of merit this year.
Most would consider working 365 days a year a curse rather than a blessing. Waking up in the early hours of the morning and working well into the night is not a feat that most are willing to take on. I, however, call myself lucky to work in an industry for which I have so much passion.

Though most days do not come without a challenge, I remain thankful for the blessings dairy farming has put into my life. After returning home from college, I took the time to ask my family why they are thankful to be dairy farmers.

My mother : It is a great place to raise a family. I have been able to teach my children the value of hard work and responsibility while farming. It is rewarding to see my children follow in the footsteps of their grandparents.

My father : I feel that having my kids work on a farm has made them appreciate the satisfaction that hard work is its own reward.

My grandmother : I like the independence that dairy farming gives me. It allows me to do my own thing and be in control of my time. I enjoy being around cattle, being outside, and being at home with my family.

Erin (sister), 17 : I am proud to be a dairy farmer because I am able to help provide food for the world. I take pride in producing a healthy and nutritious product for others to enjoy.

Sophie (sister), 12: I like being able to see the calves that I have raised turn into cows that I can be proud of. One of my favorite things is watching a newborn calf take those first wobbly steps.

As for me, I am thankful for those early mornings and late nights. I enjoy being able to watch the sun peak over the hills and set behind the trees, taking the time to reflect on my day. Though dairy farming comes with an infinite amount of challenges, there is no other place that I would rather be.

So as you come in from morning chores and gather around the Thanksgiving feast, ask yourself why you are thankful to be a dairy farmer. Just like my family, I am sure that you, too, will come up with a wide array of reasons.

Taylor Leach grew up on her familys dairy farm in Linwood, Kansas. Leach graduated with an associates degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College and now attends Oklahoma State University, majoring in animal science and agriculture communications. On campus, she is a member of the dairy club and also works on the university's dairy farm. Leach was the 2016 Hoards Dairyman summer editorial intern.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Stella Ndabeni Abrahams, will on Friday, 25 November 2016 recognise the stellar achievements of learners who have successfully completed the Film and Television Skills Programme.

These are 35 Western Cape learners who will be handed over their Statements of Results and awarded a Certificate of Completion in Film and Television Production; an NQF level 5 qualification.

The training provider, Atos has further committed to place 30% of the learners who successfully completed the programme at various companies in the media and ICT sectors. Such placement is currently underway.

The Film & TV Production Skills Programme emanates from the 2015 Budget Vote wherein the Deputy Minister committed to partner with relevant stakeholders to train young people on online video editing software. The partnership was concluded with MICT SETA, which then engaged with Atos to be the training provider.

The skills programme is aimed at upskilling unemployed youth and graduates with television and television production skills, thus enabling them to respond to the digital media environment. In its pilot year, the programme benefitted 150 leaners and was rolled out at three centres in the Eastern Cape (70), Western Cape (40) and Gauteng (40).

Members of the media are hereby invited to the certificate handover ceremony which will take place as follows:

Date: Friday, 25 November 2016

Time: 10h00

Venue: Lusaka Community Hall, Nyanga, Cape Town

Journalists will be afforded interviews and photo opportunities.

Media RSVPs: Sikelela Zokufa on [email protected] or 073 772 6574.
The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) Ghana has pledged to boost the training of banking professionals to enable them provide unmatched banking services to customers in the country.

The first female President of the CIB, Reverend Mrs Patricia Sappor made the pledge after she was sworn into office together with three executives to steer the affairs of the institute for the next four years.

Rev Mrs Sappor told journalists after her swearing-in ceremony held at the institute's plush auditorium in Accra: "We want to reposition the institute to churn out banking professionals who are digital savvy to serve customers of the banks very well".

She added that technology has redefined banking in Ghana, with the advent of mobile or digital banking, emphasizing that the institute under her leadership would put premium on impacting ICT knowledge into its students.

"Customers needs and expectations are changing by the day with a lot more emphasis on bringing convenience to clients and creating Customer Centric Institutions.It is now very critical to keep abreast with changing trends in the market place".

These Rev Mrs Sappor noted call for banking professionals with unparalleled skills and the highest level of integrity to continue to drive the banking sector of our economy.

"In view of the above, my vision and that of Governing Council of the CIB is to transform the Institute into a World Class, Professional and Financial Learning Centre", she stated.

Rev Mrs Sappor was confident that they shall achieve this vision through re-engineering the educational process of the institute to churn out innovative and digital savvy Banking Professionals; sourcing for funds and commence with the building of the Ultra-Modern CIB Educational Facility; and pursuing the CIB Presidential Charter and build a strong network of Associate Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIBs).

Earlier, in her acceptance speech, she pledged to collaborate with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to support and strengthen the Non-Bank Financial Institutions such as Micro Finance/ Savings and Loans Institutions in the country.

Rev Mrs Sappor also pledged to work closely with BoG, the Ghana Association of Bankers and other stakeholders to collaborate with government and offer suggestions that will contribute to the growth of the country's economy

"Working as a team and with a dynamic governing Council we shall support one another to achieve the above. We invite all ACIBs who are willing, and available to support in this journey of building a World Class Professional and Financial Learning Centre to join us", she stated.

The doors of the Council will remain open to suggestions and feedback that will help improve this great institution, Rev Mrs Sappor added.

She used the occasion to pay glowing tributes to the past presidents of the institute. In her own words : "What we see today as a great banking Institute, was nurtured by visionary presidents who led this institute with exemplary passion and commitment bringing the Institute to this adorable state, having trained over 1000/865 Professional bankers in the banking fraternity".

To her colleague women, Rev Mrs Sappor who is the first female president of the institute after more than three decades of the institute existence encouraged them that "it is possible to get to the top".

But she said they must know who they are and believe in themselves, have a purpose, positively distinguish and position themselves, be bold and resilient, and make an impact.

The immediate past President of the CIB Ghana, Mr Clifford Duke Mettle pledged to support Rev Mrs Sappor and her team to deliver. To this end he stated: "My successor is more capable to chalk more successes. Rev, you have my support. You are welcome to contact me any time you need my support".

Mr Mettle used the opportunity to thank the Governing Council members of the institute for their unflinching support during his term in office.

The Head of Banking Supervision at the BoG, Mr Raymond Amanfu commended the institute for being a strong pillar for the growth and development of the financial sector.

He therefore urged the new executives of the institute to work with the BoG to address the challenges facing the microfinance institutions in the country.

Meanwhile, Rev Mrs Sappor and her three other executives-Vice President, Treasurer, and Executive Member of the institute were sworn into office by a High Court Judge, Her Ladyship Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa.
Ghana, November 2016: Ghanas comparative advantages, which include an investor-friendly environment, natural resource wealth and macro-stability, will be explored in a forthcoming report by the global publishing firm Oxford Business Group (OBG).

The Report: Ghana 2017 will shine a spotlight on the key role earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises as a driver of new economic growth. It will also consider the challenges that the country continues to face, led by the three Ds of depreciation, dumsor and deficits.

AB & David has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with OBG for the publishing firms sixth report on the country. Under the MOU, the firm will team up for a third year with OBG to compile and produce the Legal Framework chapter of The Report: Ghana 2017.

Isabel Boaten, managing partner, AB & David, said she looked forward to contributing to OBGs coverage of Ghanas legal framework and updating readers on key developments, such as changes to the company law, public procurement, and the impact of the proposed Public Private Partnership bill on private sector participation in the provision of public infrastructure and services in Ghana.

Initiatives aimed at improving the ease of doing business in Ghana, including efforts to cut red tape for start-ups and make useful information readily accessible to investors, have given the country an edge on its peers, she said. While challenges remain, notably around financing, Ghana is putting firm foundations in place that should support its bid to boost capital inflows.

Welcoming AB & David on board for a third year, Shadeh Olivia Van Esch, OBGs country director in Ghana, said that the law firms local and regional knowledge had provided decision-makers eyeing the local markets potential, especially its long-term investment opportunities, with valuable insight.

AB & David is an established player in its field, advising both private and public sector players on a broad range of legislative and regulatory issues, she said. I am delighted that our team and, ultimately, our readers will once again benefit from the input of its experts.

The Report: Ghana 2017 will be a vital guide to the many facets of the country, including its macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking and other sectoral developments. The publication will also contain interviews with leading representatives, including President John Dramani Mahama, Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and Seth Terkper, minister of finance and economic planning, Alexander Mould, Acting CEO, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Kweku Bedu-Addo, Chairman, Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Valentina Mintah, CEO, West Blue Consulting, Joe Tackie, Chairman, Steering Committee, Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX). It will be available in print and online.
Adelaide (Australia) (AFP) - Skipper Faf du Plessis put his ball tampering controversy behind him to defy Australia's bowlers and produce his most satisfying century to put South Africa in early control of the day-night third Test in Adelaide.

Du Plessis was booed by the crowd as he walked out to bat, following a ball-tampering incident for which he was found guilty and fined, but cleared to play in the match.

But he single-handedly lifted the Proteas before declaring at 259 for nine leaving him unbeaten on 118 off 164 balls after the tourists had been struggling at 95 for four against Steve Smith's revamped team.

The Australians, with David Warner unable to open the innings because of the time he spent off the field having treatment when the declaration was made, negotiated 12 overs to be 14 without loss at the close of day one.

English-born debutant opener Matt Renshaw played watchfully for eight with Usman Khawaja on three.

It was yet another crucial knock by du Plessis at the Adelaide ground where four years ago his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 denied Australia victory to earn the Proteas a backs-to-the-wall draw.

Du Plessis scampered through for two off Josh Hazlewood to bring up his sixth Test century prompting a smattering of boos amid the applause of the 32,255 crowd.

"I was extremely motivated today. I was really driven to make a big performance and score a hundred," du Plessis said.

"To be really honest when I got to 100 I wasn't expecting to still get booed, so that was pretty disappointing."

It was a tribute to his focus and concentration as du Plessis played a chanceless innings, making him stand out in contrast to the problems experienced by his team-mates.

South Africa's Dean Elgar walks back to the pavilion after being caught out for five during the third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval

"My best (Test hundred). Surprisingly, technically, I was the best this whole series. I felt really good, but in the context of everything else, (it was) the best," du Plessis said.

Cheers and jeers

Hazlewood was the best of the Australian bowlers with four wickets for 68.

Only opener Steve Cook provided any material support to his captain with 40 after profiting from an early reprieve.

Cook had a major let-off on four, when he was struck on the back pad by Mitchell Starc and given out leg before wicket in the day's third over.

But he was called back to the crease when replays found that Starc had over-stepped.

Cook eventually fell in the fifth over of the middle session when he sparred at Starc and nicked to Smith at second slip.

Dashing wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has scores of 84, 64 and 104 in the series, had a failure by comparison, managing just 24 off 33 balls.

Vernon Philander lost a third umpire review when 'Snicko' detected the faintest of edges off Hazlewood to Matthew Wade for four nearing the dinner break, while Kyle Abbott chipped in with a spirited 17.

Wade, recalled to the national side for dumped gloveman Peter Nevill, had five dismissals, four catches and a stumping.

Temba Bavuma failed to get a start when he edged Jackson Bird for eight and Starc recovered from his early Cook blunder to entice a thick edge from Dean Elgar to Khawaja at third slip for five.

He received ironic cheers from the home crowd when replays confirmed it was a legal delivery.

Renshaw then took his first Test catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for five off Hazlewood.

Hazlewood struck again in the over after drinks, coaxing an inside edge off JP Duminy to give Wade a catch for five.

Australia are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.
A government appointees accusation of ethnocentrism against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo is an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians, Mustapha Hamid has said.

Haruna Attah, an NPP member who is now with the NDC has authored an article in which he claimed that Akufo-Addo has an ethnocentric conviction that no member of a minority ethnic group will ever lead the NPP.

Haruna Atta who has been appointed Ghanas Ambassador to Namibia wrote:

I do recollect very clearly, as if it happened only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the invitation, not knowing what to expect. The outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He raised a number of issues and concluded on my support for the late Vice President. On that, this is what he told me.

The words have been indelibly etched on my conscience: Haruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong. He went on to expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity, nothing else really mattered to me again. When I left, I confided in a few people, mainly family and friends, as witnesses.

I received all manner of suggestions on how to handle this bombshell and indeed one family member high up in the NPP even suggested that I take it up with President Kufuor. The frightening fundamental message was clear: No non-Akan should dream of leading the NPP as presidential candidate.

Reacting to the article, Nana Akufo-Addos spokesperson, Mustapha Hamid, who is of Northern extraction himself, was emphatic that the piece is a fabrication.

No such conversation has taken place and that is a simple fact he stressed on Joy FMs Super Morning Show.

He explained that it does not make sense that Akufo-Addo, who had an election to win in 2008, would make comments that could divide his own party and scuttle his chances of becoming president.

He said it is inconceivable that Akufo-Addo, who was seeking votes, would tell a Northerner that Northerners cannot become the flagbearer of the NPP.

He said it was the height of foolhardiness that an experienced diplomat like Akufo-Addo can never do.

He said Haruna Attah who has known the NPP flagbearer ought to credit Akufo-Addo with some level of intelligence.

Mustapha Hamid wondered why Haruna Atta, who defected to the NDC about seven years ago, would wait till now to make such accusations against the NPP leader.

According to him, the article betrays the panic mindset of the governing NDC which is now apprehensive about its chances in the 2016 general elections.

Mustapha believes that it is an attempt to turn the heat on the NPP after President John Mahama received public bashing for his ethnocentric comments while on the campaign in the Upper East and Upper West regions last week.

He explained that since the vice-president is just a step away from being president, Akufo-Addo could not choose a Northerner (Dr Mahamudu Bawumia) as his running-mate and still hold the view that a Northerner in the NPP cannot be president.

The spokesperson to the NPP Presidential candidate explained that Mahamas own ascension to power after the death of a sitting president shows how important the vice-president position is.

John Mahama was vice-president first before becoming president following the death of President John Evans Atta Mills in July 2012.

Mahama never contested presidential primaries in his lifebut he is president by virtue of someone choosing him as a vice

He said if there is any unrepentant ethnocentric bigot in this election, there is no doubt that it is President John Mahama.

He welcomed what he believes is the NDCs desire to execute a campaign of bigotry but warned that with poverty and corruption staring Northerners especially, this strategy will not work.

-Myjoyonline
24.11.2016 LISTEN

A Special Aide to the vice-presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Boadu, has died.

A reliable source told Peacefmonline.com a short while ago that the sad incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday, November 24.

According to the source, Mr Boadu was electrocuted in a hotel room at Wa.

The body has since been deposited at the Wa regional hospital.

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is in the Upper West region with the flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, campaigning ahead of the December 7 polls.

More soon....
Alas! It did not happen. The much expected showdown between former Attorney General, Martin Amidu and businessman Alfred Woyome at the Supreme Court on Thursday, November 24, 2016 did not come off as scheduled. As Mr. Amidu predicted, Woyome who was screaming his readiness to face him in court applied for a review of the earlier ruling. Justice Enin Yeboah's ruling to allow Amidu to orally examine Mr. Woyome sent him and the NDC spinning. The oral examination was to establish if he had any property to pay off what we now know to be an unlawful judgement debt.

Had everything gone according to plan, we would have known by close of day the people who benefited from the GHC 51 million cedi paid to the businessman. We might have understood why officials who swore to protect the state connived with others to steal from the state. Oh what joy this day would have been for us to finally know these hypocrites hindering the government's fight against corruption. But this was coming. The NDC's great anguish over the a potential oral examination of Woyome over the GHC 51 million judgement debt manifested when officials of the party turned on Amidu as if he is the enemy.

Consider this: The state after the story broke in 2010 claimed the payment had been a mistake and it would retrieve it. They once chased and arrested Woyome in traffic and proceeded to arraign him at a High Court on the charges of defrauding by false pretence and causing financial loss to the state. Even though they managed to bungle the case , they went to the Appeals Court after Woyome was acquitted and discharged by the High Court. Their song has been that they will retrieve the money at all cost.

But it was Martin Amidu who went to the Supreme Court to secure the judgement that ordered Woyome to refund the money. Instead of heartfelt gratitude and praise, the attacks on Mr. Amidu have increased and gotten uglier. The NDC's National Organiser, Kofi Adams recently alledged that Martin Amidu's pursuit of the case is borne out of jealousy. He is supposedly jealous of President John Mahama and the current Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah.

The Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine who went to court to prevent Amidu from the oral examination in an interview described Mr. Amidu as a liar.If anybody has told lies in this matter, Martin Amidu is the one who lied under oath and I've got all the false statements that he made under oath [up] to his affidavit. This from one of the top lawyers of the man who claims he has fought corruption better than other Officials of the government have been at pains to undermine Martin Amidu's credibility.

They are all acting as if Mr. Amidu will cash the cheque and take it to his hometown when it is the state that vacillated every step of the way. One day, they want to orally examine Woyome in court to establish whether he has any property or other means of satisfying the Judgement. The next, they withdraw the case and become staunch defendants of Woyome against the man who originally secured the judgement.

Their crude tactics to silence Amidu and free Woyome convey one meaning, the oral examination of Woyome will hurt the government. Enormously! Since they have not been able to provide one shred of evidence to back their convenient claims of jealousy, it proves Martin Amidu has been telling the truth all along. Top officials in the NDC did indeed benefit from the loot. The oral exa mination would hurt many in the NDC, but the ripple effect could shatter the hopes of the president to retain power. It is to our misfortune that the case has been delayed again. The campaign for election 2016 is nearing close, it would have ended the speculation and affirmed the obvious, that when it comes to corruption, the Mahama government just talks. Officials of the government that has been on the campaign trail selling its achievements in all things, including the fight against corruption stood with Woyome and not Amidu.

The good thing is that, the courts have been excellent in the unravelling of the mystery surrounding the payment of the GHC 51 million. Whatever happens next, We can be sure that one day we will know the architects and the beneficiaries of the crime. For now, Ghanaians can help Martin Amidu by doing as he asked; to vote President John Mahama out. After all, he is the only one who has always put Ghana before party, unlike the president and his people.
An Accra circuit court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the founder of International God's Way Church Bishop Daniel Obinim.

This was because Bishop Obinim and his two associate pastors as well as their lawyers did not report to court early in a case in which they allegedly flogged two teenagers in their church.

But, moment after the warrant and the court had adjourned the case to December 13, Bishop Obinim, surfaced with his lawyer and prayed the court to rescind the warrant.

The court presided over by her honour Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku said he will only hear them after she was done with all her other case for today.

They are presently seated in the court waiting.

Bishop Obinim is facing a charge of abuse while two of his associate pastors have been charged with abetment of crime. They have all denied any wrong doing and have been granted bail totaling GHc30,000.

-Starrfmonline
After the 2008 general elections in Ghana, Dr. Cobina Arthur Kennedy, one of the fore runners, and former flag bearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party -NPP, wrote a book, obviously a sequitur of the reasons among other things that caused the New Patriotic Party its unsuspecting defeat.

The book which has the infamous title, "CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH, -The Politics of complacency." enumerated several reasons why the NPP lost from the perspective of the author who was instrumental in the campaign of the party in 2008's general elections. Fast forward to 2016 some eight years down memory lane, the then opposition, National Democratic Congress -NDC who took the reins of political administration, held it for two consecutive terms and still bidding for a reelection to serve a third consecutive term which will possibly be a record in the annals of the country's democratic dispensation.

The party, led by H.E John Dramani Mahama, has carved a niche for itself in terms of infrastructure development notable among which include but not limited to; hospitals, roads, portable water, schools, revamping of some factories which hitherto, were defunct et cetera and thus had received, praises from a section of the Ghanaian population, a few local media houses and recently some international publishers.

The party however is caught up in a web of restless uncertainties due mainly to their inability to forecast a win of the elections based solely on the massive infrastructure projects it undertook during its tenure of office. Whereas the ruling elites had never failed to cease seize the opportunity to trumpet its achievement in infrastructure, the league of opposition parties led by the NPP on a number of occasions, chastised the government, saying touting infrastructure as an achievement is mediocre because every government executes some form of infrastructure development and more so, it was the duty of government to provide infrastructure.

Tagged the sitting government with corruption, neglect of redistributive programs aimed at alleviating poverty, unprecedented hike in unemployment mainly among the youth, and monumental incompetence, a word that has become a household word, used by both literate and illiterates who don't even understand what the word means. Coincidentally, the media houses, both electronic and print seemed to have fallen in love with the opposition with some journalists openly declaring support for the leader of the opposition party and thus skew every political discourse to one that will portray the NPP and its leader as the only panacea of the quagmire of problems bedeviling Ghana.

Sad as it may be, could the pro opposition media houses and the opposition be expressly wrong in their complaints? Is it not the duty of every administration to undertake infrastructure projects? Couldn't the government interlace the massive infrastructure development, with social interventional projects that will see to the bridging of the income gap and reduce unemployment and consequently alleviate poverty by widening the brackets of the middle income earners? Your guess on this is as good as mine.

With days to elections, the opposition New Patriotic Party and its leader Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, ably supported by Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia will stop at nothing but sing the hope song hinged on employment, provision of a one village one dam, one district one million Dollars for development, one district one factory, Zongo fund among others and promised to wean Ghana from borrowing for developments.

The questions everyone is however failing to ask the NPP and Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo are;

1. For the 216 administrative districts in the country, Ghana, which factory will be sited at where and how it would be funded?

2. If the NPP and Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo promises to wean Ghana from borrowing for development how do they intend to undertake their projects or are they intending to declare Ghana HIPC upon assumption of office again? Or perhaps they are just campaign promises?

3. If all governments undertake infrastructural development and so the NDC should not rejoice in their achievement in the success chalked in the sector, why was the infrastructure projects undertaken by the NDC's John Dramani Mahama not in existence before he came into power?

4. If the infrastructure development projects being undertaken by the John Dramani Mahama led NDC are not good for which the NPP is calling for a change why promise to continue those projects when they are elected? And if it is good and needs continuity why change the administration that envisioned and actually implementing such projects?

These are the questions that should occupy our minds in making decisions on the 7th December polls. The development of every country follows any one of two paths. Either a free market neo liberalism or redistributive socialism. The former allows individual or private entities a free will to determine the production and distribution of goods and services whereas the latter, governments determine the direction of production, distribution and allocation of resources which is aimed at ensuring equity.

In crude simple terms we can have growth or fairness, but not both. The economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s called this the "big-trade-off". So the big question is what are we trading the next four years of our future on December 7th, 2016 for, growth or fairness?

Are we going to see the elephant chased into the bush again or this time, the umbrella is going to be folded? The answer lies in the thumb of Ghanaians.

Richard Kwasi Anim

0244893767/ [email protected]

The writer is the President for the Distance Education Students' Representative Council. University of Ghana & Majority Leader of the University of Ghana Parliament House -UGPH

Legon.
The election to find a replacement for Naa Professor John Nabila, President of the National House of Chiefs would see four renowned chiefs gunning for the position.

The Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, King of the Akyem Abuakwa State in the Eastern Region would be battling out with the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State in the Volta Region, Togbe Afede XIV.

The others include Vice President of the House, Awulae Attibrukusu III the Omanhene of the Lower Axim Traditional Area and Nana Kobina Nketia V, Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area.

Three other chiefs have also filed their nominations to contest for the Vice President position of the House.

The election which comes on Thursday has coincided with the one-week celebration of the passing of the late Asantehemaa, Afia Kobi Ampem who died on November 14.

The Queen Mother, 111, had served as the royal mother for all the royal families in the Asante Kingdom for 39 years.

Naa Professor John Nabila has served his term as leader of the House from 2008. He succeeded Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, the Omanhene of the Sefwi-Bekwai Traditional Area.

He contested Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng, Paramount Chief of the New Juabeng Traditional Area in an election conducted in 2008 which saw him winning 34 out of the total 47 votes.

The eight years of Naa Professor John Nabila saw him overseeing issues relating to chieftaincy lands and ethnic disputes in the country.

However, his critics have accused him of delaying in addressing the installation of new chiefs after stools or skins have become vacant.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | AKABP
Thousands are gathered at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi to mark one week of the passing of the Queenmother of the Ashantis.

Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi died last week at 111 years.

The event has attracted people from all walks of life including top politicians who are expected to take time off their campaigning to commiserate with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu the second.

President John Mahama and the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, other foreign chiefs and senators as well as members of the diplomatic corps are expected at the Palace.

There would also be a procession of all the chief in the Ashanti kingdom to the Palace grounds before the event starts.

For a kingdom noted for a rich tradition and culture, Joy News' Erastus Asare Donkor reports that upon entry into the Palace, one is greeted by an enclave full of people are engaged in drumming and dancing of traditional priest from various shrines across the Ashanti Region under the supervision of the spiritual leader of the Ashanti kingdom.

The forecourt of the Asantehema's Palace holds another spectacle as all her grandchildren who wear a similarly designed haircut [Densinkran].

Also, present at the ceremony are the traditional executioners who are dressed in their full regalia.

Many who have travelled from far and near to experience the tradition are wowed by the full display of culture of the Ashanti people.

A 63-year-old man who hails from the Brong Ahafo Region said he was amazed to have seen a procession of all the chiefs in the kingdom.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim
The bible says resist the devil and he shall flee. This is exactly what I am calling on all economically -suffering Ghanaians, the NPP faithful with their sympathizers and all discerning Ghanaians inclusive, to do.

The NDC in connivance with the Electoral Commission have declared most of the NPP polling station strongholds throughout the country flashpoint areas where security will be beefed up. However, these are the safest and most peaceful polling stations.

They have left out the actual areas where troubles keep flaring up but are NDC areas. Kukuom in the Brong Ahafo region and Collins Daudas constituency in the north where people are being butchered because of their political affiliations have been left out of the flashpoint areas list.

Why have they declared such polling stations flashpoint areas? Why are they sending those Special Forces, of course their criminally-employed security forces to those areas? Are they not going to rather create commotions there, and then pretend to quell the disturbances leading to the end result of many electorates not having the time or chance to cast their vote for NPP and Nana Akufo Addo?

Again, I have barely learnt from Hon. Kennedy Agyapong on Oman TV how he has been tipped off by a policeman about the NDC wiring bribe money ranging from GHC600 to GHC2, 000 to NPPs nominated polling station assistants. They are sending the money to them through mobile money transfer.

According to Kennedy, they gave the mobile phone details of all the NPPs polling station assistants to the Electoral Commission as a requirement not knowing they were going to use such phone details for fraudulent purposes.

Charlotte Osei is such a shameless individual of a doubtful national origin. A woman who is constantly plotting with the NDC and President Mahama to rig the election.

All Ghanaians who really desire a change, as the only hope of bettering their circumstances should please refrain from allowing the NDC to use them as a vehicle for rigging the election. Any NPP polling station assistant who has received any such mobile transfer money should please report it to any nearby NPP Office.

They will be allowed to keep the unsolicited money but we shall make sure they do not allow NDC to have their diabolic way as pre-arranged.

I shall strongly advise any burger supporter of NPP and Nana Akufo Addo to phone home to advise their relatives and friends to vote massively for NPP. They should also advise them to report any dubious activities by the NDC that they become aware of to them to be passed on to the NPP leadership and the public to help negate any such malicious plots.

Charlotte Osei, that devil incarnate has arranged for a company that is not known to all the political parties except the NDC, to print part of the presidential ballots. Why is this bitch doing that?

She must be aware that the US where she has her husband and children currently residing are watching her movements and they are aware of her diabolic plans. If she does anything silly, they will refuse her a visa, or cancel any visa that she has to go there. She may only be able to flee to Nigeria, her alleged country of origin.

Charlotte Osei, the woman who is a disgrace to the very womb that conceived her and a blemish on womanhood, has by her deplorable actions given hope to Mr. Incompetent Mahama to go about bragging that he will win Election 2016 one touch.

Their plots will be negated and I shall not hesitate to blow the lid off their plots once I become aware of.

Just as I was about to send this write-up for publishing, I had a distance phone call telling me about another plot by the NDC to influence the results of the 7 December 2016 election. They have been sending bales of supposedly second-hand clothes (obroni waawu), to the NDC market women. These bales contain more money than second-hand clothes. When received, these nation-wreckers, accomplices in crime to John Mahamas thievery, distribute the money to their fellow market women and oblige them to swear an oath that they will vote for President Mahama and the NDC.

Some people are accepting this money and are doing exactly what they are asked to do. However, the wind for change is greater than this nonsense by the NDC.

God is Great. God is the One kicking John Mahama and the NDC out hence all their plots being uncovered as soon as they kick-start them.

The battle is still the Lords!

Stay tuned for more credible info from the Mahama Must Go movement.

Rockson Adofo
An Accra circuit court, which issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the founder of International God's Way Church Bishop Daniel Obinim, has rescinded the decision.

Bishop Obinim and his two associate pastors as well as their lawyers did not report to court early in a case in which they allegedly flogged two teenagers in their church hence the courts decision to have them arrested.

But, moment after the warrant and the court had adjourned the case to December 13, Bishop Obinim, surfaced with his lawyer and prayed the court to rescind the warrant.

The court presided over by her honour Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku dropped the decision after a few hours.

Bishop Obinim is facing a charge of abuse while two of his associate pastors have been charged with abetment of crime. They have all denied any wrong doing and have been granted bail totaling GHc30,000.

-Starrfmonline
24.11.2016 LISTEN

News Desk Report.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has inaugurated the 17th Millennium City Schools in Korle- Gonno, a suburb of Accra.

The aim of the project is to eradicate the shift-system among public schools within the capital city.

The three storey, 18-unit classroom block has offices for teachers, washrooms, library, computer and science laboratories. The building is disability-friendly, and has a generator set aimed at providing power in cases of power outages.

The school further aims to make teaching and learning attractive for its pupils.

Commissioning the edifice, the Mayor of Accra, Dr. Okoe Vanderpuije, said as part of the Assembly's efforts to turn Accra into a Millennium City, it has embarked on the construction of the Millennium City Schools, to create an environment for quality education.

He also noted that it was the policy of the government to invest more in the education of children, making them productive citizens.

Dr Okoe Vanderpuije, who is also contesting as the parliamentary candidate of the governing National Democratic Congress for Ablekuman South, averred that the government, through the AMA, will provide infrastructure, as well as learning and teaching materials to ensure quality teaching towards the development of the nation.

He emphasised that the quality teaching to children will breed effective and efficient professionals for the future of Ghana.

Dr. Okoe Vanderpuije appealed to teachers to ensure that children use the facilities established in the school, since that will broaden their knowledge and expose them to modern ways of learning, for them to be able to compete with others across the globe.

He mentioned the Kwashieman Cluster of Schools, Achimota Secondary School girls dormitory & 2 No head teachers bungalow and Accra New Town Experimental School have been completed and will soon be commissioned.

Dr. Okoe Vanderpuije charged management and teachers of the Korle-Gonno Cluster of Schools to endeavour to better their education performance within the Metropolis.

The Member of Parliament of Ablekuma South, Mr. Fritz Baffour, commended the Mayor of Accra for his vision in eradicating the shift system in the Metropolis.

He asked parents to pay attention to their childrens welfare by encouraging them to study.

Mr. Baffour reiterated the governments commitment to better the socio-economic conditions of Ghanaians.
24.11.2016 LISTEN

GirlEmpowered joins the International community to orange the world in an International action period aimed to end violence against women and girls around the world, the campaign which features 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, from International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November to Human Rights Day on 10 December, Orange Events will take place around the world.

GirlEmpowered joins the campaign by running the Say No To Violence campaign. This campaign features several activities undertaken by GirlEmpowered on social media and in communities and schools which aim to convey anti-violence messages.

The campaign starts with the recognition of the International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and girls on 25th November 2016. The United Nations (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is an occasion for governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations to raise public awareness of violence against women. It has been observed on November 25 each year since 2000.

To commemorate this day, GirlEmpowered is delivering the Voices Against Violence curriculum at Labone Senior High School.

The campaign will continue with social media advocacy and messages on the need to end violence or sustain the peace and its impact on the girl child especially as the Election Day draws near. Other activities include community sensitisation on the elimination of violence and human rights.

In a statement issued by the National Coordinator of GirlEmpowered; Marian Darlington, she states the need for stakeholders to join the campaign to Say No to Violence. She stated that violence of any form must not be overlooked or brushed aside as the little signs are what usually develop and go out of hand. She further stated that violence against women and girls is not just a female concern but a national concern and must be addressed in a nation that seeks to promote national peace.

Marian Darlington was recently appointed by The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE) as the National Coordinator of its non-profit flagship project GirlEmpowered, which promotes sustained empowerment and skills development of teenage girls.

For more information email: [email protected] /[email protected] or call 0577674040 to volunteer or donate.
Hundreds of sympathizers have converged on Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, to mark the one-week celebration of the passing of the queen-mother of the Ashanti Kingdom, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II.

Apart from the people from the region, scores of government officials and politicians have also joined the chiefs to mourn with the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu.

The Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Andy Okrah spoke to Citi News on the grounds and confirmed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer, President John Mahama has suspended his campaign activities and is due in Kumasi to join mourners.

This is not the time for us to be dong partisan politics in this period. We have to mourn with the king and Asante kingdom.

If it has happened to the Asante Kingdom and the occupants of the Golden Stool, the Asantehene, then it has happened to the nation. That is the reason why his Excellency, John Mahama has to leave the Upper East and run here to Kumasi to mourn, Mr. Okrah said.

He also indicated that people who have come from the United Kingdom, from Nigeria and many other parts who are coming to mourn with the king of Ashanti.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo will also be heading to the Kumasi to join Asanteman mourn the death of Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi.

Nana Addo has also suspended his campaign activities is expected at the Manhyia Palace to take part in the traditional ceremony later today[Thursday]



By: Hawa Idrissu/citifmonline.com/Ghana
King Thomas Edgar Brown, Monarch of the National Khoisan Kingdom, issued a Tribal Resolution today denouncing psychiatrys drugging of South African children with powerful mind-altering drugs.

I am issuing an official warning to the Khoisan people and all other Tribes and Nations against the dangers of psychiatry and I mandate all kings and leaders of all Southern African nations to denounce psychiatry and the psychiatric drugging of children, reads the resolution.

The King points to reports that South Africa has one of the highest rates in the world of prescribed psychiatric drugs for children labeled with ADHDa rate even higher than that in the U.S.

There are 27 international drug regulatory warnings on psychiatric drugs causing mania, hostility, violence and even homicidal ideation and in 2005 the South Africa Medicines Control Council issued a Drug Alert that SSRI antidepressants cause increased risk of suicide in children and adolescents.

We must protect our children, asserts the King.

The resolution comes after a week of activities lead by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) ( www.CCHRint.org ), a mental health watchdog group, to warn and educate Cape Town parents and youth on the dangers of psychiatric drugs.

On Saturday, King Brown accompanied Rev. Fred Shaw, international spokesperson for CCHR, to lead a Childrens Rights protest march against the World Psychiatric Associations (WPA) International Congress at the CTICC in Cape Town. Protestersdoctors, mothers, fathers and childrenchanted, WPA, WPA, how many kids did you drug today? Hey, hey WPA, how much money did you make today?

Rev. Shaw said, Few parents are aware that psychiatrists admit they do not have any medical test to confirm ADHD or any mental disorder, nor do they have any cures. However, the drugs they prescribe have been linked to suicide, violence, heart conditions, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, and psychosis.

Following the march, the King and the Reverend officiated the grand opening of CCHRs world-acclaimed free traveling exhibit: Psychiatry: An Industry of Death at the Castle of Good Hope. The mobile museum includes historical sections on psychiatrys role in apartheid as well as contemporary sections on psychotropic drugs and childrens rights.

Countering psychiatrys founding tenet that Man is an animal, the King ends his resolution with, We are a spiritual people; and psychiatry is an attack upon the souls of man and against God.

The free exhibithaving already toured more than 443 major cities around the world and educating over 805,000 peopleis open through 26 November at the Castle of Good Hope, 9 am6 pm. Catch it before it moves on to its next tour stop.
24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Pascal KafuAbotsi

The results of this years elections will see President John Dramani Mahama bid a touching goodbye to Flagstaff House, research conducted by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, has established.

Led by Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah, a Lecturer at the department, the survey, which was carried out in the swing regions of Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Central and Western, placed the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ahead of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer.

In the 2012 elections, the NDC won convincingly, all four regions. However, Dr. Owusu-Mensah told the press in Accra yesterday, that this year, in the Greater Accra Region, the NPP is tipped to lead with 55.2% as against President Mahamas 32.8%, while 57.2% for Nana Addo and 33.4% for President Mahama is the case in the Central Region.

The survey also showed that President John Mahama will lead with 55.8% in the Northern Region, while Nana Addo will shoot up his 2012 performance to 38.8%.

The Western Region will also witness 52.2% for the NPP, and a paltry 27.5% for the NDC, whereas in the Brong Ahafo Region, the NPP and NDC will secure 44.5% and 44.0% respectively.

The 2,400 respondents, who participated in the process, were drawn mainly from 24 constituencies marked as the strongholds of the ruling NDC.

In the Greater Accra Region, for example, Krowor, Ledzokuku, Korle Klottey and Madina were considered.

Techiman North, Nkoranza North, Nkoranza South and Wenchi were the chosen constituencies in the Brong Ahafo Region, while the focus was on Shama, Jomoro, Amenfi East and Sefwi Bekwai in the Western Region.

In the Central Region, Efutu, Awutu Senya West, Gomoa East, Cape Coast North, Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira, Asikuma-Odobeng-Brakwa and Agona West were the areas under consideration.

With support from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the team focused on the four regions, because they are on record to have alternated power between the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2000 and 2008 elections.

The zeal to find out if that logic was anything to go by, informed the decision of the researchers to find out peoples voting patterns this year, as well as the issues and perspectives that would influence their choices.

It was confirmed that while the campaign messages of the NPP resonated well with the respondents in the chosen areas  for example 'One District, One Factory'; 'One Constituency, One Million Dollars' and 'One Village, One Dam' among others, the opposite was the case for the NDC.

The DKM Micro Finance issue, Dr. Owusu-Mensah pointed out, will be the main factor the people of the Brong Ahafo Region would consider in casting their votes.

He recalled the people telling the research team that Mrs. Lordina Mahama, First Lady of the country, had some relationship with the liquidated company, which meant that she had knowledge of the treatment meted out to them.

For this reason, they would vote against the NDC. What even made the matter worse, the Lecturer said, was that they continued to see her image with that of the President.

Other issues which would inform the peoples decision-making would be the honesty of the candidate.

Here, 29% expressed this concern, whereas 27% and 1% will look out for somebody who cares and solves problems for people, and a President with crisis management skills, respectively.

51% responded in the affirmative that Dum-so is an issue in the election, 43% answered that it is not an issue, while 5.2% did not know if it is an issue in the elections, Dr. Owusu-Mensah indicated.

35.5% of the respondents would base their decision on the economy and provision of jobs; 25.9% on education; 15.5% on the issue of health care, and 6.5% on the perception of corruption.

Electricity supply will constitute 1.7%; transport services, 3.8%, and social security 1.8%.

0.8% will also take the imposition of taxes into account.

The study concludes that the NPP has a better chance of winning the December elections than NDC, because NDC must win the Greater Accra, Central and with Brong-Ahafo or Western regions, which is possible, but with minimal probability.

NPP strength in Northern Volta has been bolstered with changing new dynamics in the region. The NPP has also gained some hold in some constituencies in the Upper West Region, such as Wa East and Lambussie-Karni, it added.

Again, NPP has managed to diffuse the weight of the NDC in Asawase and New Edubiase, which will reduce the regional tally of the NDC in Ashanti, therefore, the 30% projection is questionable, the paper stated.

And if the NPP is able to mobilise the core supporters to cast their votes, the research emphasised, the party has chances of winning in the first round, but if NDC and PPP are capable of making some gains nationally, this will force the elections into the second round, but NPP will still be in the lead in [the] first round.
24.11.2016 LISTEN



President John Dramani Mahama is promoting deception into statecraft. In Mahama's Ghana, there is more propaganda than the reality on the ground. On the commissioning of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, the President beat his chest and unashamedly announced that he had brought Dubai to Ghana.

The Dubai the President has been trumpeting is the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, which, at US$78 million, is alleged to have been overblown in cost. How one interchange could translate into Dubai tells a lot about the thinking behind state power in this 21st Century.

That is not the only reason why many Ghanaians are uncomfortable with presidential pronouncements on so-called development projects under Mr. Mahama's watch. Barely one week after the Dubai declaration, the Head of State mounted the podium in the Upper West Regional Ccapital and told his bewildered listeners that he had provided more infrastructure in this run-down society than what obtains in much-advanced United States of America.

One needs not visit Uncle Sam to appreciate the white lie in the proclamation. The interesting development in the jigsaw is that apparently, the people of Ghana are unable to appreciate the President's monumental infrastructural development. He has to bring in a Nigerian actor to tell the people of Ghana what we are all supposed to see on the ground.

Through Nigerian journalist and failed politician Dele Momodu, Editor of the Ovation Magazine, and President Mahama's Chief Propagandist, and beneficiary of a number of state largesse, President Mahama has brought in Nigerian actor Nkem Owoh, known on the screen as Osuofia, to tell Ghanaians what we are supposed to see on the ground.

In other words, our eyes do not see and appreciate the wonderful things the President has done for us. Apparently ungrateful and lacking in appreciation, the people of Ghana have been paying for our sins by being subjected to bombardments from people who have been commissioned to whip our perceptions into line.

In one of the President's campaign advertisements, the Nollywood actor is seen arriving at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra and totally amazed at the transformation of the nation's main international airport.

What the actor fails to tell the people of Ghana is that even in its run-down state, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos is more elegant than the pin-sized Kotoka International Airport.

Money swine! That is epitomised by the way money is going down the drain in the name of an election campaign being waged by President Mahama. The President would not spare anything in his endeavour to spend his way to power. This President is prepared to spend on any venture if that would promote his cause.

At the same time that the President is doting on foreigners, our newly-qualified teachers and nurses have not been paid for two years. And the Head of State says he is running a caring administration.

With two more weeks to the elections, The Chronicle takes this opportunity to invite Ghanaians to be mindful of how and for whom we all cast our votes.

For all this while, Mr. John Dramani Mahama has supervised over poor health care delivery, very expensive borrowing, collapse of social interventionists policies bequeathed to him by his predecessor, and very expensive means of doing business.

The result is that the average Ghanaian is unable to eke out any meaningful existence, while cronyism has been promoted into statecraft.

The Chronicle believes the President has failed big time and should be shown the exit. Mr. Mahama does not deserve the vote!




24.11.2016 LISTEN

Microsoft has this week proven that it is once again a Champion of Cyber Security Awareness joining a growing effort by the government and other agencies to promote Cyber safety and anti-piracy awareness in Ghana.

Starting Monday 21st November 2016 through to Friday 25th November 2016, Microsoft in collaboration with the National Communication Authority, Ministry of Communication, and National Security Secretariat with the support from the US Government is hosting a week-long awareness drive on Cyber Security.

Technology is evolving and so is the increased need for security especially around information sharing. What was once a semi-isolated affair and it has become a multi-agency, cross-continent operation, with governments and rights holders alike striving to share information and pool resources. Said Derek Appiah, Country Manager, Microsoft Ghana.

The Cyber Security Awareness week kicks off with highly informative and thought provoking discussions presenting opportunities for companies with cutting edge solutions to cyber security and available solutions to businesses and organizations.

The week will grace high caliber speakers, sharing their perspectives and experiences in solving the mounting security threat facing government and businesses today.

The interactive Cyber Security Awareness program will also provide keen insights into the challenges that businesses face in protecting critical data from continual threats of attacks.

Also, during the same week, Microsoft has partnered with the Ghana Copyright office to announce their collaboration in the fight against counterfeit software which has impacted the lives of many users who have been exposed to security breaches.

We have partnered with the Government of Ghana and the Ghana Copyright office to create awareness, to promote and protect the rights of both users and fabricators of technology solutions added Appiah.

Our networks are getting smarter so are the threats, it's more important than ever to work with Governments to strengthen intellectual property laws and crack down on piracy.

The impact of pirated and counterfeit software has impacted the lives of many users who have been exposed to security breaches.

As a company, we make Cyber security which broadly includes anti-piracy, our day to day business and as an industry leader we shall continue to forge partnerships to counter these threats to our consumers.
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Ofaakor (C/R), Nov.24, GNA - Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has warned political party activists who intend to foment trouble in the December 7 elections to desist from such behaviour.

He said the security agencies were alert and would deal ruthlessly with such deviants, who would also be made to face the full rigours of the law.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur gave the warning when he paid a courtesy call on Nai Awoshi Tetteh Odupong II, the Chief of Ofaakor in the Awutu Senya East Constituency of the Central Region.

The call was to seek the permission of the Chiefs and people as he tours the area as part of the second phase of his campaign tour of the Central Region.

He also urged political parties to advise their followers to conduct their political activities devoid of any violence; as the security agencies were determined to deal with people trouble makers irrespective of their political affiliation.

The Vice President is expected to be in nine constituencies, including Agona East and West, Gomoa Central, Ajumako/Enyan/Esiam, Mfantseman and Abura/Asebu/Kwamankese.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur was accompanied on the campaign tour by Mr Allotey Jacobs, the Central Regional Chairman of the NDC, Ms Barbara Serwah Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National Vice Chairman of the NDC, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan, and former National Organiser of the NDC, among other officials.

In a response to a request made by Nai Awoshi Tetteh Odupong for the Government to add boarding facilities to the new Community Senior High Schools being built in the area, Vice President Amissah-Arthur explained that the Government's intention for building the community schools was to give priority in terms of access and education to students in the local communities.

He said adding boarding facilities to the schools would open up the schools to outsiders, especially those from the cities, to compete with students in the local community and thus, defeat the purpose of empowering the local people in terms of education.

He assured the chiefs and people that the water problems in the Ofaakor, and surrounding communities, were being worked on and soon the pipeline from the Kasoa area would be extended to the town for them to have potable water.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also stated that the request by Nai Awoshi Tetteh Odupong for the Kasoa Interchange to be named after a great ancestor of the place would be sent to President John Mahama.

He urged the NDC supporters in the area to vote massively for President Mahama to continue with his development projects.

Nai Awoshi Tetteh Odupong, for his part, commended the NDC Government for providing the Awutu Senya District with numerous infrastructural projects.

He pledged to support the Government of President John Mahama to succeed in their endeavours.

He said the NDC Government had initiated a lot infrastructural projects in the country, and should be given another four year mandate to continue with its transformation agenda.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also interacted with officials of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) at the Kasoa Lorry Station and addressed NDC supporters at mini rallies at Gomoa Akotsi, Dominase, and Gyahadze.

He also introduced Dr Nuhu Adams, Mr Desmond De-Graft Paitoo, and Mr Eric Don-Arthur as the NDC Parliamentary candidates for Awutu Senya East, Gomoa East, and Efutu constituencies respectively, to the people. GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

Ho, Nov. 24, GNA - The Ghana Police Church, Ho, has held a pre-election crusade to seek the protection and guidance of God in the impending general election.

More than 500 security personnel, civilians and members of the clergy, attended the open-space outreach, which prayed for the peace of the nation to be sustained.

The Reverend Father George Arthur, the Religious Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service, said the Police Administration organised to seek the favour of God in the affairs of the nation.

He said besides enforcing the electoral laws, they were also seeking fortification from God for the exercise.

Rev. Fr. Arthur, who is also an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said each resident was a potential contributor to peace and appealed to the citizenry to act peacefully.

He called for peaceful co-existence among all faiths and ethnic groups.

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Laudia Sawer, GNA

Tema, Nov 24, GNA - The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has commissioned one of its three-storey Industrial City Basic Schools (ICBS) at Tema Manhean Anglican Cluster of Schools.

The three-storey 15 classroom block has a library, staff common room, computer room and two head teachers' offices.

Commissioning the facility, Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the project was the first of four completed ICBS constructed in the Metropolis.

Mr Odamtten said the building would be accessed by children who used to attend classes under the shift school system.

He added that it would also afford all school going age children in the area the opportunity to have the needed quality education.

The MCE gave the assurance that his outfit was poised to improve the learning environment and infrastructure hence the construction of more school blocks.

He added that teachers from three selected schools were recently sponsored to the United Kingdom as part of an international exchange programme to enhance their experience.

He further indicated that the Assembly had plans to train young university graduates to manage the e-libraries in the newly constructed ICBS blocks.

Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, Greater Accra Regional, in a keynote address commended the TMA for the initiative.

Mr Afotey Agbo said it was a moral obligation to give quality education to the youth of Ghana for them to fully contribute to the development of the country in future.

He reiterated that the socio-economic development of every country was tied to quality education which he said the government under President John Dramani Mahama was providing.

The Regional Minister gave the assurance that the Tema Manhean cluster of schools would be fenced to enable the provision of extra curricula activities.

Nii Adjei Kraku II, Paramount Chief of Tema, also thanked the Assembly for the provision of the needed infrastructure for the development for the Metropolis.

GNA
By Kwamina Tandoh, GNA

Accra , Nov. 24, GNA - Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Immediate Past Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, has called for investment in research and technology to enhance education and development.

Prof. Aryeetey made the remarks at the 57th Founders Week Celebration of the Ghana Science and Arts Academy (GAAS) on the theme: 'Sustainable Land Administration in Ghana.'

Delivering a lecture on the topic: 'The Future of the University in Africa,' Prof Aryeetey said Africa was capable of developing globally competitive universities to deal with its numerous development challenges.

This, he said, could be achieved by an appropriate use of new technologies and an overhaul of government systems in the universities.

He said poor, inefficient and highly bureaucratic management, lack of training, low Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and overburdened management were challenges that faced the African universities.

Prof. Aryeetey said globalisation, internationalisation and technological changes were key factors influencing change in the importance, scope and complexity of higher education environments.

He said African universities lacked active and co-ordinated research community and cited Asian and European universities to have heavily invested in new technologies in their universities to attain a world class status.

'Are African universities generating, transferring and applying knowledge that can be used to solve contemporary African and global problems such as poverty, climate change, low infrastructure, low academic advancement in technology, international terrorism, Ebola and lifestyle diseases?

'Are the universities preserving knowledge for future use? Providing solutions to these and several other questions is key if the university in Africa is to remain relevant.

He, therefore, suggested that African universities need to maintain acceptable levels of autonomy with accountability and double efforts to re-engineer instructional pedagogy.

'Restructuring and re-engineering university governance in Africa will provide the means to become a combination of corporate, virtual, governance, African culture, advanced technology and developmental university,' he said.

Prof Aryeetey said there was the need to build partnerships for university governance to fill the funding gap created by the retreating African State and other traditional donor agencies through markets and performance-driven funding arrangements.

The Academy's Anniversary programme started in November 1960 with intense activities as attention is firmly focused on important national or topical issues.

The Founder's week starts with the Presidential Address delivered by the President of the Academy.

It is followed by a three-day symposium on a selected subject of topical or national interest.

The last day is usually dedicated to what used to be called the Anniversary lecture, now renamed the 'Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures' in memory of Ghana's first President.

GNA
By Benjamin Akoto, GNA

Koforidua (E/R), Nov 24, GNA - The New Juaben Municipal Election Office has given assurance of its readiness for next month's presidential and parliamentary polls.

Mrs. Lydia Sackey, the Municipal Electoral Officer, said they had assembled all the vital materials for the conduct of the polls in the two constituencies - New Juaben North and New Juaben South, which between them have 208 polling centres.

She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that they had already began training of the more than 1,000 election officials, who would be working in the various polling centres.

The last batch of officials would complete their training by December 01, six clear days ahead of the voting day.

Mrs. Sackey said she was upbeat about the successful conduct of the election in the two constituencies.

Three candidates are in the New Juaben North parliamentary race and in the New Juaben South, four candidates are contesting for the seat.

Meanwhile, all is set for the special voting in both constituencies on December 01.

GNA
By Sampson Adu-Poku, GNA

Kumasi, Nov 24, GNA - About 120 people claiming to be supporters of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) in Kumasi, have announced their defection to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Their spokespersons, Kwabena Amoateng and Benedict Awuah, accused the PPP dictatorship and incompetence.

The group said it saw the ruling NDC, led by President John Dramani Mahama, as being a true socialist party, well focused and working to transform the lives of the population.

It is not suffering leadership paralysis, has kept faith with the people and delivering development to them.

The defectors cited the massive infrastructure development - roads, schools, hospitals, electricity and water supply and the expansion of the ports, adding that 'Ghanaians can bear witness today of what has been achieved under the watch of President Mahama'.

They said it was on the basis of these achievements that they had decided to throw their weight behind the NDC - to support it to win the December 07 polls by a comfortable margin.

They pledged to work hard and make the needed sacrifices to help the party to win not less than 1.5 million votes in the Ashanti Region.

GNA
By Laudia Sawer, GNA

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been called upon to allow journalists to fully observe General Assembly meetings.

Mr Jerry Sam, Director for Programmes for Penplusbyte, a non-governmental organization, who made the call, said the general practice of inviting journalists to only cover opening and closing ceremonies of general assembly meetings was not the best.

Mr Sam said allowing them to fully observe the plenary would afford them the opportunity to get information on the plans and activities of the Assembly.

He made the call in Accra during a two-day maiden workshop for selected journalists on 'reporting using new digital technologies to facilitate citizens engagement at local government level', funded by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives.

He stated that just as reporters sit through Parliamentary proceedings, they must be allowed to be present at the General Assembly meetings since the assembly concept was a replica of parliament.

That, he noted, would be the only way for reporters to be well informed on the operations of the Assembly and thus be in a better position to properly inform and educate residents.

He said for decentralization to fully work in Ghana as it was intended, there was the need for MMDAs to be autonomous just their counterparts in Germany and other Western countries.

The Penplusbyte Director for Programme added that it was about time that the Coordinating Directors of the 216 MMDAs were empowered to make decisions without approval from their chief executives

He explained that whereas the Coordinating Directors were public servants employed based on their expertise, chief executive officers were appointees of the President and therefore mostly concentrate on their political party interests instead of the most pressing needs of their communities.

Mr Sam took participants through Ashaiman Municipal Assembly's (ASHMA) four-year mid-term plans, annual action plan, and sources of funding.

He also introduced the journalists to Penplusbyte's platform opengov.org.gh/ashaiman, which is intended to provide residents with the needed information on the Assembly's budget, funding and project.

The platform gave residents the opportunity to interact with officials of the ASHMA to report issues while it served as a feedback channel to the Assembly.

Mr Cosmos Kwame Akorli, Penplusbyte Programme Manager, Governance and Technology, in a presentation, said all decentralization stakeholders including the media had important roles to play to ensure the effective operations of the MMDAs.

Mr Akorli said the media must use their platforms to set the agenda on developmental issues as well as mobilize communities to demand responsive local governance.

The media, he added, must promote dialogue among the various stakeholders and collaborate with other NGOs to promote development.

He further implored them to play their watchdog role on resources allocated to the Assembly and their usage.

GNA
By Nana Osei Kyeretwie, GNA

Sunyani, Nov 24, GNA - Professor Thomas Akabzaa, Chief Direct of the Petroleum Ministry, has given an upbeat assessment of the nation's oil and gas industry, saying, its' future is promising.

He said with the start of oil drilling at the second oil field - Tweneboa Enyenra and Ntonme (TEN fields), and the Sankofa Gye Nyame expected to come on-stream next year, there certainly were better times ahead.

It was therefore important that the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) positioned itself 'for more work in that sector'.

Prof Akabzaa stated this in a speech read for him at the third regional stakeholders' dissemination workshop on the 'Findings and recommendations of the 2014 GHEITI reports on mining and oil/gas' held in Sunyani.

It was organized by the Finance Ministry together with the GHEITI Secretariat and the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG).

The workshop provided the platform to sensitize the over 100 participants, including District Chief Executives, Coordinating Directors and Finance Officers of the municipal and district assemblies, chiefs, non-governmental and civil society organizations and the general public, on the progress of the GHEITI process.

Prof. Akabzaa said aided by lessons from the mining sector the ministry had taken steps to deepen transparency.

It would continue to lend strong support to any effort to bring transparency and accountability into the exploration, development and utilisation of the country's minerals, oil and gas resources.

Mrs. Mona Quartey, a deputy Finance Minister of Finance, said the workshop was meant to address weaknesses in the extractive sector governance system.

It was not to 'satisfy the whims and caprices of any international institution or body'.

Dr. Steve Manteaw, co-Chairman of GHEITI, said the Initiative had over the years shown that it had the potential to help manage the often unrealistic high expectations of the host communities of the extractive industries.

GNA
Margaret Owusu grew up in the rural areas around the city of Tema, approx. 25 km from Accra, with hardworking parents and a strong passion for education. Today, her research is improving the lives of the rural population in Ghana.

Partly sponsored by Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC), partly by Toms Group, she was a PhD student at the Faculty of Life Science, of Copenhagen University from 2007 to 2010. Together with a team of other cocoa and agriculture experts from Ghana and Denmark Margaret Owusus research led to improved fermenting techniques of the raw cocoa beans used for the Toms Ekstra chocolate.

Traditionally, the farmers will extract the beans from the ripe pods and heap them on banana leaves to ferment. With the new technique the farmers spread the beans to dry on wooden trays and stack ten trays on top of each other, which increases efficiency and taste. While the traditional heaping method takes 5-6 days, the 10-tray technique takes 2-3 days, thereby allowing the farmers to produce more and sell at a higher price.

Like Margaret Owusu, more than 20,000 persons from Danida priority countries have been lucky to receive funding from DFC to pursue further studies in Denmark as Danida fellows. DFC, located under Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is implementing more than 1000 fellowships annually and administrates research activities for DKK 230 million per year. The mission is to ensure capacity building of academia in developing countries, developing solutions to local problems and thus improving the lives of the poor and marginalised.

All over the world former Danida fellows take up important positions. They hold jobs were they influence and effect change. In different capacities from doctors and nurses to teachers, professors, judges, government ministers and CEOs they drive development in a broad spectrum of sectors.

Today, Margaret Owusu is Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Food Microbiology and Mushroom Research Division at CSIR-Food Research Institute in Accra. She is also part of Danida Alumni Network, which was launched in May 2016 to ensure further collaboration between former Danida fellows, companies, NGOs and institutions. In November she was announced Alumni of the Month.
On behalf of the Government and People of India, our High Commissioner in Mozambique handed over a cheque of US Dollar 10 million yesterday to the Minister of Trade and Industry of Mozambique. This grant-in-aid was provided in response to a request from the friendly country of Mozambique, which has faced two consecutive years of drought leading to severe difficulties for its people. The Indian grant will help the Mozambique authorities to urgently purchase wheat from the international market, and thus help ensure availability of food for vulnerable sections of the Mozambique population.

India and Mozambique have long had warm and multi-faceted relations. India was among the first countries to open its embassy in Maputo, after Mozambique won its freedom in 1975. Mozambique is also home to nearly 20,000 persons of Indian origin, who provide a human link between the populations of both countries. Mozambique is also among our most important economic partners in Africa, and accounts for almost 25% of Indias net FDI into Africa. We see a closer economic partnership with Mozambique as a vital ingredient in addressing Indias future needs of energy and food security. Mozambique was the first country in mainland Africa that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited earlier this year. The gift from India for purchase of wheat is a gesture of solidarity for a country which we see as one of our most important future partners.
Ringing a cowbell and standing at the corner of Wingra Drive and South Mills Street, Brian Vanderbloemer shouted encouragement to the runners and walkers rounding the final bend of Thursdays Turkey Trot.

Its the time of year when a lot of people come home, said Vanderbloemer, a volunteer for the event that raises money for United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Dane County. So this is a great event to do with your family. Its another way to spend the holiday together.

The 5K run/walk was one of a series of races in and around Madison on Thanksgiving Day  with at least three of them named Turkey Trot.

At the United Cerebral Palsy event, some Turkey Trotters wore colorful tutus, turkey hats and even matching M&M costumes as they traversed the course in the Vilas Park area.

In its second year, this Turkey Trot drew hundreds, including many families and friends that raced together.

Mary Hoffland, of Prairie du Chien, watched the participants from the sidewalk while keeping an eye out for her two daughters, granddaughter and family friend who were running. She said the wide variety of runners and walkers of all ages, especially the little kids, was amazing to her.

This is such an inspiration, she said. Its a great example of a lifetime activity that a family can do together.

But even for volunteers like Vanderbloemer, the Turkey Trot was still a family affair. Vanderbloemer was volunteering with his wife, middle child, dad and father-in-law on behalf of United Cerebral Palsy.

This is just one way for everyone, volunteers and racers, to give without writing a check, he said.

Elsewhere in the Madison area, Festival Foods held its Thanksgiving Day run/walk  also called the Turkey Trot  on two courses Downtown and on the Near East Side, and the 13th annual Berbee Derby took place in Fitchburg.

The Berbee Derby was the first Thanksgiving Day run in Madison, its marketing manager Suzy Shain said. Since 2004, proceeds from the race have gone to the Technology Education Fund, which gives money to nonprofits with technology projects for youth and adults.

While Madison does have an older holiday race, Madison Colleges 30-year-old run/walk called, yes, the Turkey Trot, that event takes place in early November, getting ahead of the Thanksgiving Day race crowd.

As the years passed, interest in the Berbee Derby grew, and Shain reported more than 6,000 participated in the event Thursday, even as more Thanksgiving run options are added in Madison.

Joining the holiday racing scene this year with a start and end point at Breese Stevens Field was the Festival Foods Turkey Trot, which featured a 5-mile run and 2-mile walk.

Festival Foods Director of Community Involvement Brian Stenzel said that the Onalaska- based grocery chain had been looking to do a Madison Turkey Trot since its store on East Washington Avenue opened in April.

We like to do a Turkey Trot in just about every market we have a store, Stenzel said. These events are a great way to support local charities.

Madisons event is one of 10 Festival Foods Turkey Trots that occur on Thanksgiving across Wisconsin, all of which raise money for the local Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs, Stenzel said.

Stenzel said 550 to 600 people participated in Madisons Festival Foods Turkey Trot Thursday morning. He added that the race is here to stay, especially because of the strong community interest in it during its first year.

For us as a company, we always try to do our best to give back to the community in any way we can and have healthy, happy communities, Stenzel said.

Yet another, smaller, neighbor- organized Turkey Trot has taken place every Thanksgiving since 2010 in Madisons Far East Side Elvehjem neighborhood.

While all of these races benefit organizations in the community, Shain expressed concern that having too many races happening at once could be harmful, not just hurting the Berbee Derby, but the organizations benefiting from these events.

But, she added, because the new races have charity components, they all ultimately give back to the community through different avenues, which is what matters most.

And its what keeps her involved in the Berbee Derby every year.

The combination of exercise and family coupled with community involvement over time is really what drives me each and every year to provide a better race, Shain said.
Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia paid tribute Thursday to 12 presidential guards killed in a jihadist bombing a year ago, as questions were raised over a state of emergency still in force despite improved security.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed the attack in central Tunis as well as bombings earlier in 2015 at the Bardo National Museum and at a beach resort that killed 59 foreign tourists and a Tunisian guard.

The state of emergency has been in place since the attack, in spite of government assurances that security has improved in the north African nation.

"The security situation is (now) stable," Prime Minister Youssef Chahed told AFP earlier this month. "I would say that we are no more under threat than other countries in the world."

Tunisia, which relies heavily on money generated from tourism, last witnessed a major security incident in March, when dozens of jihadists assaulted state security installations in a town near the border with strife-torn Libya.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi leaves after attending the official ceremony

That attack killed 13 security forces members and seven civilians, but authorities praised the army and police response which resulted in the deaths of at least 55 jihadists.

A relative calm has since taken hold, and former prime minister Habib Essid in July hailed the first time the Muslim holy month of Ramadan passed without a jihadist incident in Tunisia since 2012.

"We have invested heavily in military equipment and also in human resources to keep the country secure," Chahed said.

European countries and the United States have stepped up cooperation, and President Beji Caid Essebsi has confirmed the presence of 60-70 US instructors for surveillance drones along the Libyan border.

A security official however insisted that the continued state of emergency was justified.

"Terrorist elements are still moving around in the mountains of the west (bordering Algeria) even though the noose is tightening and a certain number of their leaders have been killed," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'Limits freedom'

At the start of November, a soldier was killed at his home in the Mount Mghilla area, a key hiding-place of jihadists, in an attack claimed by IS.

The memorial shows three special agents with their weapons in on November 24, 2016

The security official said: "Hardly a week goes by without the police dismantling a terrorist cell" or announcing the seizure of weapons and ammunition.

The chaos in Libya alone justifies the state of emergency, according to researcher Rafaa Tabib, an expert on Tunisia's violence-plagued neighbour.

The measure has "helped the security forces in the fight against terrorism. They've been able to carry out raids... and to arrest suspects without judicial warrants."

But rights groups have raised concerns.

It has "limited the freedom of many people placed by the security services under administrative supervision on the slightest suspicion," said Messaoud Romdhani of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH).

Analyst Tarek Belhaj Mohamed said "growing social tensions" in Tunisia, hampered with weak economic growth since its 2011 revolution, were also a factor behind the state of emergency.

In January, a night-time curfew was enforced for several days after unrest in central parts of the country, the worst since the uprising that ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Emergency law allows authorities to ban strikes and meetings that might "provoke or maintain disorder", to temporarily close theatres and bars, and to place controls on media output.

At a ceremony on Thursday for the slain presidential guards, Essebsi unveiled a memorial inside the barracks of the presidential security service in a suburb of Tunis, showing three special agents with their weapons.

Twelve gunshots were fired in the air and the president lit two bowls with a flame brought to the barracks from the scene of the bus bombing, 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.
The Progressive People's Party (PPP) has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of deceiving Ghanaians with its free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

The party said, it will offer a proper and effective Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) policy if voted to office in December.

According to the party's Presidential candidate, Papa Kwesi Nduom, the PPP is the best political party to deliver effective educational policies.

Addressing some teacher associations at the GNAT Hall in Accra on Friday morning, Nduom said the governing NDC's free education policy was a substandard version of what the country's constitution stipulated.

He also accused the NDC of delaying the implementation of the FCUBE.

We must not allow what has been happening and what has been perpetuated by the President John Dramani Mahama. We cannot allow that to continue. You can't get the constitution which says this is what you must do and then you decide to do it in your own time but you have 8 years that you've been at the highest level of government, put all that aside and you [Mahama] still talk about progressively free, expanding access incrementally.

For me, free does not mean go and bring this or that. Nowadays they even sometimes, say go and bring your own chair, that is not part of free so that sought of policy must stop, he said.

He said a PPP government will prioritize education

Dr. Nduom assured the teachers that a PPP government will prioritize education and implement effective policies that will promote the growth of the sector.

He also promised to make delays in the payment of salaries of teachers a thing of the past.

Government must invest more in education

Dr Nduom earlier this year, while addressing students of the Catholic University College, called for more investment in the educational sector to enable the country achieve a higher literacy rate.

He argued that if such efforts are not adopted, the country will continue to suffer the challenges of underdevelopment.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) Presidential nominee, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet has described the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as nation wreckers for which reason they should be rejected at the polls.

According him, the two major political parties have for the past 24 years failed to develop the country.

He was addressing a rally at Janga in the Walewale constituency of the Northern Region.

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet charged saying, Everywhere we go Ghanaians are tired of all the fighting of the NDC and the NPP who are fighting to get power to steal our hope and take money for themselves and their family members.

He insisted that the NDC and the NPP have done nothing to improve the living conditions of Ghanaians.

Separate the fight of these two evil monsters, two parties which are merely racketeers. Enough is enough, enough of these 24 years of hell from these monsters. Fellow Ghanaians it is time to end it.

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet appealed to the electorate especially those in the three northern regions to consider the CPP as the best alternative to the two main political parties on December 7.

There is only one party who has truly sown and therefore deserves to reap your votes. Who has truly served the people of the three northern regions and the entirety of the surface of this our beloved nation and that is the CPP, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's party.

The CPP Presidential candidate, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet has since left for the Upper East Region on his nationwide campaign tour.



By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
24.11.2016 LISTEN

The judgement by the court of appeal reinstating Mr Eyitayo Jegede SAN as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Ondo State has sent the people of the state on wild jubilation.

Before the judgement from the court of appeal, political activities in Ondo State had assumed a subdued dimension due to the needless crises instigated by some self-seeking politicians who are believed to find ready-made aid in the court of a certain Justice Okon Abang whose penchant for dishing out highly questionable orders was confirmed by justices of the appeal court who said he acted in a violent attitudinal disposition to the rule of law.

The wild jubilation that engulfed the state immediately after the pronouncements of the appeal court must not be allowed to overshadow the compelling need for the people to troop out on Saturday, 26th of November, 2016, or any other day that might be fixed by INEC should it decide to listen to the voice of reason and postpone the election, to vote right and vote for the PDP candidate, Eyitayo Jegede.

Apart from this, the people of Ondo State must be vigilant and stand firm against every form of electoral manipulation and malpractices that might be thrown at them by people who do not mean well for the state. They must reject every form of inducement forces that are out to mortgage their future and that of their children approach them with.

In doing this, the people of Ondo State must remember that Governor Olusegun Mimiko has set a legacy and laid the foundation for people-oriented leadership and projects that must not be allowed to be frittered away by shenanigans parading themselves as office-seekers.

The people of Ondo cannot afford to forget so soon how chieftains of the ruling party at the federal level have been dancing disco on podiums and churning out one propaganda after another, half-truths after another and outright sophistry in their desperate bid to climb to power. Soon after, they have succeeded in visiting Nigerians with hunger, loss of jobs due to closure of businesses as a result of economic hardship, tyranny, etc, contrary to all that they promised.

Nigerians fell for their mendacity and today we are all paying the price for installing an obviously rudderless government in Aso Rock. Failures are always looking for cousins, and truncate the progress of selfless and genuine leaders, hence, the desperate attempts by some forces to stop Jegede just like they have attempted to do in other places.

This is the mistake Ondo people must not make. The majority of Nigerians dragged all of us into this mistake at the federal level, this is a golden opportunity for Ondo State to extricate itself from that error. They must not allow the enchantments and divinations of desperate power mongers to have any effect on them.

Of all the governorship contestants in the Ondo election, Eyitayo Jegede SAN is obviously the only one who has the mien of a man with a caring heart, ferocious in his job but gentle in his carriage. Little wonder he has achieved so much for himself as a lawyer and for the State as its attorney-general.

The forthcoming election presents the people with the rare opportunity to make a statement against those who want to sell the state to some landlords in Abuja and or Lagos. They must insist that Ondo State is not for sale.

With Eyitayo Jegede, the people are assured that the mega-school projects would not cease, rather more of it would spring up. They are assured that their children would continue to enjoy free ride to and fro school everyday thereby saving the parents the irritating burden of transport fare. They are assured that the urban renewal scheme would be continued, and that more befitting markets, motor parks, roads, mother & child hospitals that ensure available and easily accessible healthcare to the people, would not cease but rather expanded and improved upon.

There are also plans for power projects and the industrialization of the state taking advantage of Ondo as a major corridor to several states.

While people in PDP states like Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Gombe, Ondo, Rivers etc are hailing their governors for the developmental strides in their respective states, Nigerians are deeply regretting their choice of other parties at both the federal and state levels to the extent that even leaders, members and other stakeholders of such parties are equally regretting that they sought office in the first place because they acknowledge that their performances have been expectedly abysmal.

PDP has been tested and they have proved their mettle that they breed visionary leaders who have a knack for achieving results and serving their people. It has proved that despite the numerous fierce attacks against it, it remains the best political party in the land. It is the turn of Ondo people to continue in the noble path of supporting the PDP as they troop out to vote for Eyitayo Jegede SAN for an assured future.

[email protected] ; Twitter: stjudendukwe
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded his first official visit to Liberia. The visit will help Canada meet several of its top foreign policy objectives: empowering women and girls, promoting human rights, re-engaging with Africa, and addressing the pressing challenges facing the continent.

In Monrovia, Prime Minister Trudeau met with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to discuss issues of mutual interest, including peace and security, gender equality, and economic growth which benefits all Liberians, particularly youth.

The Prime Minister and President Johnson Sirleaf met with prominent women leaders, including Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, Mahawa Kaba Wheeler, Director for Women, Gender and Development with the African Union, Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, local community activists and youth. Prime Minister Trudeau underscored Canadas commitment to empowering women and girls, recognizing gender equality as being essential to sustainable development and inclusive peace.

The Prime Minister also visited a local school where he saw first-hand how Canadian development assistance and Canadian partners are playing a key role in education, and in helping young Liberians gain the skills needed to participate more fully in society.

During his official visit, the Prime Minister announced over $12.5 million in new initiatives aimed at supporting democracy, peace and security, inclusion, and gender equality in Africa.

The Prime Minister will now travel to Madagascar where he will participate in the Summit of La Francophonie.

Quotes

It was a true honour today to meet with Nobel Laureate President Johnson Sirleaf and others to discuss ways that Canada can help empower young women and girls across the continent to achieve their dreams. The Presidents unique perspective, as Africas first woman to be elected Head of State, and her accomplishments are both inspirational and a sign of things to come."

Rt. Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Without stability, people cannot prosper and development cannot take root. As we strengthen Canadas international engagement, Africans can count on Canadas unwavering support in its efforts to achieve a more peaceful, safer, and prosperous continent.

Rt. Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Quick Facts
Thousands are gathered at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi to mark one week of the passing of the Queenmother of the Ashantis.

Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi II died last week at 111 years.

The event has attracted people from all walks of life including top politicians who are expected to take time off their campaigning to commiserate with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu the second.

President John Mahama and the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, other foreign chiefs and senators as well as members of the diplomatic corps are expected at the Palace.

There would also be a procession of all the chief in the Ashanti kingdom to the Palace grounds before the event starts.

For a kingdom noted for a rich tradition and culture, Joy News' Erastus Asare Donkor reports that upon entry into the Palace, one is greeted by an enclave full of people are engaged in drumming and dancing of traditional priest from various shrines across the Ashanti Region under the supervision of the spiritual leader of the Ashanti kingdom.

The forecourt of the Asantehema's Palace holds another spectacle as all the late queen mother's her grandchildren who wear a similarly designed haircut [Densinkran] sit in mourning.

Also, present at the ceremony are the traditional executioners who are dressed in their full regalia.

Many who have traveled from far and near to experience the tradition are wowed by the full display of culture of the Ashanti people.

A 63-year-old man who hails from the Brong Ahafo Region said he was amazed to have seen a procession of all the chiefs in the kingdom.

The Akyenpimhene Oheneba Adusei Poku explained to Joy News the central role she has played in ensuring peace in the kingdom.

He said the late queen mother who is regarded as the mother of the Ashanti royal household also is in charge of the enstoolment of the Ashanti overlord, Otumfour would be hard to replace.

All Ashantis must see her demise as a personal loss because if she decides to make a good choice [in selecting who becomes the Asantehene] the kingdom would be at peace if she chooses otherwise there would be confusion in the kingdom, he said.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim
The running mate of the Progressive People's Partys (PPP) , Miss Brigette Dzogbenuku, has urged Makola market women and fisher-folks at Chorkor to vote for the PPP in the December 7 polls instead of the one-way voting for the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC).

Madam Brigette Dzogbenuku made the appeal at a one-day campaign tour of the Greater Accra Region, with her campaign train making stops at Makola Market, the Slaha and Chorkor communities.

In all the areas she visited, Madam Dzogbenuku called on the electorate to vote massively for the PPP for jobs and economic growth of the people of this country.

Accompanying Brigette Dzogbenuku and her team was the wife of the party's flag-bearer, Mrs. Yvonne Nduom, her son, Dr. Nana Kweku Nduom and wife, Esinam Nduom and the PPP parliamentary candidate for Chorkor-Mamprobi constituency, and some party faithful.

Madam Brigette revealed that although it has been the trend of the people in the area to vote for NDC, it will be wise this time around to give Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and the PPP a four-year term to enable him serve Ghanaians.

After four years, you will not say you are in Ghana you will say you are in heaven, she added.

The PPP vice presidential nominee noted that her party seeks the opportunity to implement an efficient agenda for accelerated development through an incorruptible leadership, education, health care and jobs.

For her part Mrs. Yvonne Nduom urged the women to vote for PPP, adding that the party's educational policy of free, compulsory and continuous Junior and Senior High school will be beneficial to them.

According to her, a PPP government will fight for high quality education for all Ghanaian children and free, compulsory, continuous from kindergarten to the end of Senior High School just as it happens in countries like USA, UK and other advanced countries.

Many girls drop out of school because of teenage pregnancy, stay in the same vicinity with their kids who grow up and follow in the steps of their predecessors.

However, PPP's educational policy will put a stop to this, and provide an avenue for the young girls to attend school at least to the senior high school level, she affirmed.

Mrs. Nduom said among the seven presidential candidates contesting the presidential election on December 7, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom was the most trustworthy and the one with the right team to lead Ghana to attain its development goals.

She observed that Ghana under a PPP government will implement feasible policies aimed at making the economy solid to compete globally.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), has re-launched its Initial Public Offer (IPO) after failing to successfully complete the process a number of times.

The offer which was re-launched today [November 24, 2016], seeks to raise about 380 million cedis.

Managing Director of ADB, Daniel Asiedu who confirmed the re-launch in an exclusive interview with Citi Business News said the bank is expecting a net return of 200 million cedis after the offer.

As a bank, we expect a net of 200 million cedis; the whole IPO will raise about 380 million cedis but because Bank of Ghana is selling down its shares, part of the money will be going to them while we retain the remaining amount, he said.

The last attempt to re-launch the IPO was in May this year where the bank rejected the share price investors offered.

Out of the 380 million cedis the bank is hoping to raise about 180 million cedis will go to the central bank which is giving up its shares in the bank.

In his first interview on the IPO since assuming office as MD of ADB, Mr. Daniel Asiedu also confirmed the participation of some public and private institutions .

He would however not readily disclose which institutions and how much each of them is seeking to acquire.

A couple of institutions both private and public sector have shown interest in the shares of ADB and at this stage it is a bit too early; but for the purposes of confidentiality, I am unable to confirm the names of these institutions, he observed.

Most people are aware that ADB is a good brand and we are sure that very soon ADB will be one of the best brands if not the best brandnaturally it will attract interest from investors, the ADB MD added.

Adb confident of high subscription

Though the bank had been unsuccessful with its plan a couple of times, its Managing Director explains to Citi Business News it is highly optimistic of the fortunes of the IPO this time round.

According to him, though the processes were inconclusive, the oversubscription indicates confidence of investors in the bank.

What really happened was that it was oversubscribed I think it was the issue of a unit price that we had to contend withThis time around, anybody who have shown interest is clearly aware that anything short of the listed price for each share is non-negotiable, Mr. Asiedu further intimated.

Proceeds of the offer are expected to be channelled into expanding the bank's operations.

These include; upgrading IT systems, branch upgrade and software improvement.

The offer closes on Monday, December 5, 2016 and the bank hopes to commence the processes for listing by 7th December 2016.



By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
Africans will make up to over 50% of the worlds youth for the coming three decades, this was a profound revelation at the 2nd Africa Day, a summit organised by European Investment Bank ( EIB) in partnership with Africa Development Bank , held in Abidjain, Cote divoir on 21st November 2016.

It was further revealed that, the worlds most advanced economies are increasingly based on knowledge and information which are available to them and how best these economies utilises these resources. Again, it came up at the conference that, investment in innovation has the potential to yield a sustainable and ultimately scalable rate of return in young people.

Mr Werner Hoyer , the President of European Investment Bank ( EIB) speaking at the conference said that, there is a program which aim to give out the financial support and model in promoting sustainable business and this will be by creating good jobs for the young people in the more innovative and sustainable development in Agriculture sector, which is the most important driver of productivity and economic growth.

Dr Alex Ariho , The C E O of African Agribusiness Incubator Network ( AAIN) from Ghana, who presented one of the key vision of AAIN on Agribusiness and youth employment at the conference stated that, AAIN is to ensure and advocate for environment that develops the leadership and technical competencies of youths which will enable them to reach their full potential in agribusiness incubation in Africa and attract investors. He added that, this will be how best African countries can create the necessary environment for thriving knowledge economy in Agribusiness incubation for the youths.

by Paul Atsu , AAIN Reporter
24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Benjamin Akoto, GNA

Koforidua (E/R), Nov 24, GNA - Scores of voters in the New Juaben South constituency were left disappointed as a forum meant to provide the platform for candidates seeking their mandate to represent them in parliament turned out to be a no show.

All four parliamentary candidates - Dr. Mark Asibey Yeboah of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Ransford Owusu Boakye, National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ms. Naomi Owusu Sekyere, Convention People's Party (CPP) and Nana Oboade Bonsu Boateng, People's National Congress (PNC), boycotted the programme.

They did not give any reasons for what they did.

The organizers - the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI), an NGO, could not hide their sadness at what happened.

Major General Nii Carl Coleman (Retired), Chairman of the CFI, told journalists that the goal was to help deepen the conversation between the candidates and voters.

That, he noted, would have aided the people to deliver the right judgment at the ballot

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - The 2001 year group of Labone Senior High School has donated medical equipment worth over GH10,000.00 to the school's sick-bay.

The items are nebulizer, kidney dishes, sterilizing drum, injection tray, drip stands, beds, mattresses, pillows and bed-sheets and cabinet for storing drugs.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Mr Seyram Freddy Ahiabor, said they were motivated by the actions of other year groups to give back what they had gained from the school.

'It is very necessary that 15 years after completing the school that gave us the educational foundation for our career, it is long overdue to give back in diverse ways to support the institution,' he said.

Mr Ahiabor said the gesture was just the beginning and that more items would be donated in the ensuing years.

He expressed gratitude to AshFoam Company for their assistance in providing some of the items and commended members for their contributions.

The group commended Mrs Felicia Tetteh, the School's Nurse, for her dedicated service to the school.

Rev Dr Ebenezer Markwei, the Board Chairman of the School, who received the items, thanked the 2001 year group members for assisting their alma mater, saying that the school would forever remain grateful to them.

He encouraged them to continue with such support for the progress of the school.

Mr Joshua Akrong, the President the Labone Old Students Association, called on other year groups to emulate the example of the 2001 group.

GNA
Accra Nov. 24, GNA - David Azeole, a barber was on Thursday handed down a 25 year jail term by an Accra Circuit Court for defiling a 13- year- old mentally challenged girl at Mayera, near Amasaman.

This was after the court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, had found Azeole guilty on the charge of having carnal knowledge of mentally retarded patient at the end of the trial.

The court however acquitted and discharged Alexander Amesenya a 27- year- old labourer who was being held for abetment of crime.

Prosecuting Inspector Judith B. Asante said the complainant was a trader residing at Mayera, near Amasaman with the victim who is her daughter.

Prosecution said on February 27, this year, the complainant left the victim in the house and went out. On her return at about 3:00pm she saw Amesenya sitting on a stone opposite her house and on seeing her, took to his heels.

When the complainant reached home and opened her door, she saw Azeole having sex with the victim and she raised the alarm.

The convict was arrested and sent to the Police Station. The complainant told the police that Amesenya also had sex with the victim.

Prosecution said the Police issued a medical form to the complainant to send the victim to the hospital for medical care.

GNA
By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - MTN Ghana's Finance Team has won three awards at the CFO Awards organised by Instinct Waves.

The company's Chief Finance Officer, Modupe Kadri, was also adjudged the Telecoms CFO of the Year.

This is the second consecutive time, Mr Kadri is winning the award.

He was awarded for his role in improving mobile broadband access and driving financial inclusion through MTN Mobile Money in Ghana.

Mr Kadri joined MTN Ghana from MTN Nigeria in 2014 as CFO after an outstanding seven-year career, where, he held the positions of General Manager, Financial Operations and also General Manager for Financial Planning in MTN Nigeria.

MTN Ghana's Finance team was also adjudged the Finance Team of the Year (Gold) whilst the MTN 4G project won the Financial Innovation Project of the Year.

Commenting on the awards, Mr Kadri attributed the feat to the rare sense of professionalism and hard work exhibited by the team.

He said: 'I am delighted to receive the CFO of the year award for the second time. It's a good feeling and I am happy that my contribution in Finance has been recognised once again.

'The Finance Team award also consolidates the fact that we continue to work together to achieve the desired results to ensure that the customer is delighted,' he added.

Earlier in the year, MTN Ghana received an award from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, (CIPS) Ghana and the Association of Ghana Industries for its outstanding contributions to local procurement initiatives.

That award follows one received from CIPS Africa in Johannesburg for the Most innovative use of technology in Procurement and Supply.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Dodowa, (GAR), Nov 24 - The SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is holding a capacity building workshop for journalists on its "The Voice for Change Partnership Programme (V4C)".

The three-day training workshop would expose the media professionals to activities of civil society organisations (CSOs) and provide platforms for the media to engage with the CSOs.

The V4C is an evidence-based advocacy programme, being implemented in partnership with the International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Dutch Ministry is funding the programme from 2016 to 2020, as part of their worldwide efforts to reinforce space for CSOs worldwide.

The programme is focused on four thematic areas - Food and Nutrition Security, Renewable Energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Mr Eric Banye, the Country Programme Coordinator, SNV Ghana, said the V4C programme was being implemented in six of the 38 countries the SNV was operating in - Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia and the Honduras.

He said Ghana, however, was focusing on Food and Nutrition Security, Renewable Energy and WASH.

He said the aim of the programme was to strengthen CSOs as advocates for an enabling environment in which governments and businesses provided ultimately good and affordable services for low-income segments in society, leading to impact on Food and Nutrition Security, Renewable Energy and WASH.

Mr Banye noted that sound arguments and a solid evidence-based showing that proposed changes were necessary and effective, and the CSOs were being empowered under the programme to influence decision-makers and those responsible for implementing those decisions.

GNA
By Joyce Danso, GNA

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Bishop Daniel Obinim, Founder of God's Way International Church, on Thursday narrowly escaped the penalty of a bench warrant issued against him and two other pastors for failing to appear in court.

Not long had the bench warrant been issued than Obinim and his two accomplices appear in court with Mr Ralph Opoku Edusei, who represented the accused persons, apologising to the court for being late and attributing it to traffic.

Defence counsel, therefore, prayed the court to rescind the bench warrant promising that the incident would not happen again.

Bishop Obinim had been dragged before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly assaulting two adopted children in the presence of his congregation.

Two other pastors; Kingsley Baah and Solomon Abraham, who were with him in the dock, have also been charged with abetment of crime.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and the court, presided over by Mrs Abena Adjin-Doku, admitted them to bail in the sum of GHa10,000.00 with one surety each.

Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent A. A. Annor, narrated that the complainant, Irene Aborchie Nyahe, is a legal practitioner residing at Community 17, Lashibi.

Baah and Abraham are in charge of the Accra branch of the church. The female victim aged 14 years and male victim aged 16 years are adopted children of Obinim and they lived with him at his residence in Accra.

DSP Annor said on August 17, this year, at about 17:00 hours, the Accra branch of the church held a church service where Obinim claimed he had a revelation from God that the two victims were engaged in pre-marital sex and the 14 year old girl was pregnant.

Prosecution said Obinim revealed that the victim was in the process of aborting the pregnancy and as such the Holy Spirit had directed him to chastise them in the presence of the congregation.

In the full glare of the church, Obinim removed his black belt and assaulted them.

In the process, DSP Annor said his two pastors, Baah and Abraham prevented the female victim from running away and Obinim continued to beat her.

Prosecution said the victim could not bear the pain hence sought refuge with Mrs Florence Obinim but her husband asked her to stay away.

According to DSP Annor, Abraham brought the victim back so Obinim who continued to beat her.

Obinim beat the two victims to his satisfaction before freeing them. The matter was reported to the police for investigations.

The matter has been adjourned to December 13.

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

By Ken Sackey, GNA

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Ghana will host the sixth edition of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA's) Electricity Regulatory Forum which is scheduled to take place in November 2017.

A statement issued by the ERERA and made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said participants at the Fifth Regulatory Forum, held this year on November 16 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, agreed to Ghana hosting the next forum.

Ghana's hosting of the event next year will be the second time she is hosting the Forum.

In 2011, ERERA launched the maiden edition in Accra after which Member States were invited to host subsequent editions. Cote d'Ivoire (2011), Senegal (2012) and The Gambia (2013) had previously hosted the Forum before the baton was passed on to Burkina Faso.

The statement said the Sixth Forum would seek to encourage participants to consider and discuss issues with institutional, technological, environmental and financial implications, but related to a successful energy transition in West Africa.

With preparations in top gear for the launch of the regional electricity market, participants at the Sixth Forum may also be expected to help define a strategy and policy for restructuring national electricity markets as a means of developing the unified regional market and facilitating electricity trade within ECOWAS.

In addition they would explore modalities for financing energy infrastructure in order to increase the availability of electricity as well as consider governance issues and regulatory best practices.

At the Ouagadougou Forum, participants were treated to presentations in four sessions dealing with the harmonisation of national policies and rules for the establishment of the regional electricity market, regulatory governance, development of energy infrastructure as well as innovative solutions to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Representatives of the Ministries of Energy, National Regulatory Authorities, power generation, transmission and distribution operators in ECOWAS Member States attended the Fifth Forum.

In addition were representatives of the West African Power Pool, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and technical and financial partners.

Mauritania was represented by delegates from the Ministry of Energy and the National Electricity Regulatory Authority of Mauritania.

GNA
24.11.2016 LISTEN

In the highest reaches of national life, there should be no reference to Fantes, Asantes, Ewes, Gas, Dagombas, ,Strangers and so forthWe should call ourselves Ghanaiansthe brothers and sisters, members of the same communityof the state of Ghana (Kwame Nkrumah).

THE RECRUDESCENT PROBLEM OF ETHNIC POLITICS

President Mahama has received a groundswell of flak for referring to his audience as northern brothers, when he made a passionate appeal to his audience to vote massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 general elections.

President Mahama made this appeal at a time when peace-loving Ghanaians are raising strong objections to political ethnocentrism, which seems to rear its ugly head every time an election season draws nigh.

This is hardly surprising as Ghanaian politics, for the most past, has never been about issues-based planks, competence, pragmatic nationalism, political morality, comparative advantage, patriotism and meritocracy.

Our electoral politics has mostly been about regionalism or ethnicity, or a combination of both.

Our lazy politicians know how best to fan ethnic sentiments in the lead-up to elections, for purposes of securing votes for that matter, as they usually do not have progressively pragmatic planks to run their campaigns on beyond agitprop canards.

Thus, their intellectual and emotional investment in rhetorical flippancy involving the question of ethnic politics, eventually assumes an ideological stock-in-trade character.

On the one hand, ethnic politics and ethnic chauvinism are delicate matters.

On the other, they potentially harbor destructive tendencies in that they tend to marginalize or otherize groups far removed from the heliocentric power of mainstream political and economic socialization, thus potentially creating a vast expanse of disaffection for and within these marginalized groups.

That elevated sense of ethnic superiority which underscores the concepts of otherism and marginalizationcall it superiority complex, if you willcomes with or is accompanied by a false sense of entitlement.

Yaw Osafo-Marfos deadly strain of ethnic imperialism captures this warped ideology of superiority complex.

Guans, the autochthonous inhabitants of what is Ghana today, have a lot to teach the rest of us who later joined them from without.

The Gonja People, of whom President Mahama belongs, are Guans. In any case is Bawumia also a Guan?

Since when did the word of arbitrary constructionnorthernassume the concept of ethnicity or of ethnic group, let alone a monolithic, undifferentiated one?

Does the south or southern too constitute a monolithic, undifferentiated ethnic group?

What about central, eastern, and western? And all those in between?

What about Ivor Greenstreets characterization of Bawumia as an Accra Northerner? And who is a Tamale Southerner or a Bolgatanga Southerner? Why all these infatuations with northerners in our political parlance?

Nonetheless, the word northern is not the same as Yen Akanfuo!

Ordinary Ghanaians and their educated elites do in fact love childish simplicity.

With that said, being ethnically resource-rich does not directly translate into scientific and technologicalnamely technocratic pragmatismwisdom for the technical advancement of those particular ethnic groups under whose feet nature has endowed with a vast swathe of mineral and gas/oil resources.

Neither do mineral and gas/oil resources imply an ethnic group will be more than capable of pragmatic governance and statecraft.

What is more, mineral and gas/oil reserves are not wealth in and of themselves.

In fact, science and technology are wealth-generating tools and those who control these instruments of science and technology also control wealth!

This is also why those in charge of the instruments of science and technology literally own natural wealth.

And they also control and manipulate our governments, institutions, political and economic leaders, and even our citizens in their corporate boardrooms, chambers of commerce, legislatures as well as on their stock exchangesfrom afar.

This is why we must tread cautiously when doing politics.

Also, the fact that Akufo-Addo never publicly denounced Yaw Osafo-Marfo for his ethnocentric philippic against non-Akans is cause for concern.

And, what do we have to say about his own controversial ethnocentric statement on otherism Yen Akanfuo?

Even so, the blunt rhetorical and conceptual specificity of Akufo-Addos Yen Akanfuo somehow makes President Mahamas northern brothers rhetorical slip excusable, for the northern part of Ghana is not technically as ethnically monolithic or homogenous as the formers Yen Akanfuo may seem to imply.

President Mahama brings his regional politics of inclusiveness to bear on national politics while Akufo-Addo, it turns out, does the opposite, his ideological infatuation with the politics of exclusion.

Akufo-Addo also never apologized for the harm his divisive Yen Akanfuo ethnocentric comment that caused a large segment of Ghanaians a heightened sense of discomfort, and, now, here he is, calling on President Mahama not to play tribal politics.

Playing politics of convenience and double standards are the stocks-in-trade of our schadenfreude bourgeois politicians.

Then again politics is fundamentally about playing double standards, about playing to the galleryones constituency or constituencies, that iseven if it involves bringing the strategic decisional pragmatism of ruthlessness to bear on eliminating ones foes and friends alike, who for one reason or another pose a serious existential threat to anothers political authority.

No one surgically describes this phenomenon of political realism better than Niccolo Machiavelli (see his book The Prince).

Regarding these sensitive matters therefore, Bawumia and Akufo-Addo have no moral right to label bona-fide Ghanaians as Togolese, Burkinabe, and Ivoirian.

We are yet to know what label Guans have in store for non-Guans in Ghana!

Thus far President Mahama, a Guan, has not called any bona-fide Ghanaian Togolese, Burkinabe, and Ivoirian.

Then again President Mahama, a Guan, was in what is today called Ghana before Akufo-Addo arrived from without!

In the main, though, the political philosophy of the ethnocentric party to which Akufo-Addo belongs has always been defined by identity politics and tokenism.

Technically, this ethnocentric party is not known to identify with broad-based party politics of the kind we associate with President Mahamas.

This also means that it is not a mainstream political organization in the narrow technical sense of broad-based party politics.

We shall surely return with Part 2!
- One of the Presidential aircraft which was recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, Agusta AW 101, a medium-lift helicopter specially designed for military operations, has crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base, Makurdi

- According to a reports, the aircraft crashed due to poor training of crew members saddled to man the operations of the aircraft

- Damages to the aircraft were significant but no life was lost to the crash

The crashed presidential aircraft handed over to the Air Force

One of the Presidential jet which was recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, Agusta AW 101, a medium-lift helicopter specially designed for military operations, has crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base, Makurdi.

The crash is coming two months after President Muhammadu Buhari handed over two over the two ballistics defence capable aircraft from the Presidential fleet to the Nigerian Air Force

According to a report by TheNewGuru.com, the jet crashed due to poor training of crew members saddled to man the operations of the aircraft.

After the handover, the aircraft was repainted from the initial white and green to camouflage.

A source told the news website that damages to the jet were significant but no life was lost to the crash.

No fatality but significant damage to aircraft considering the fact that they hardly do insurance in the military. The flight engineer was injured.

The crashed presidential aircraft handed over to the Air Force

The aircraft, Agusta AW101, which is a large armoured helicopter cost about $21million each (N10.5billion) making it 130% more expensive than the average aircraft of its class.

But the Nigerian Air Force, PRO, Group Captain Dele Famuyiwa, has denied the report that one of the aircraft crashed.

It was not a crash. I wouldnt call it a crash because it just fell on the ground in Makurdi.

READ ALSO: HOT! Justice Okon Abang is a DISGRACE to the judiciary  Fayose

I can say maybe it was an incident. You know accident is a higher degree of incidence. It was just an occurrence that did not take any life or equipment. Cars can malfunction and the same thing with any machine.

He said the crash was not as a result of low training and skill of crew member noting that the same crew had managed the aircraft at the presidency.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Ohaneze Ndigbo has moved its festival to Lagos

- The group said the essence of the festival is to promote unity

In what many has described as the spirit of one Nigeria, the Ohaneze Ndigbo has moved the hold Igbo unity day and cultural festival to Lagos.

Vanguard reports that the event is expected to hold at the National Stadium on Friday, November 26.

READ ALSO: Hausas, Igbos, Yorubas unite for Ikorodu Oga festival

The five South-East states governors and those of Delta and Rivers that have Igbo-speaking people are expected to attend the festival in Lagos.

Mr Ejike Metu who is the head of the publicity committee said it is to bring Igbo together to show our culture, tradition, forge unity and promote speaking of the Igbo language to ensure it does not go into extinction.

Igbos are disunited. We want to be together and end disunity and start speaking with one voice.

READ ALSO: IPOB analyzes fresh charges against Kanu, says DSS is illegal

Chief Tobechukwu Ezeani who is the chairman of the planning committee of the Ndigbo Unity Rally said the rally is propelled by consensus among all Igbos in Lagos and the diaspora that our spectacular cultural diversities must be harnessed as a showpiece of our strength in unity, and speed through oneness.

He noted that our heritage as a people is among the worlds finest, said his committee is working in concert with top Igbo business entrepreneurs, the intelligentsia, town unions, and market associations to renew and revive our best today for a bigger tomorrow.

Source: Legit.ng
A man was hit by a passing motorist on the Near East Side Wednesday evening, the Madison Police Department said.

Witnesses told police the man, 38, was walking erratically before entering into the street and falling. A call about the incident, which happened in front of Mad Cat Pet Supplies, 1012 Williamson St., came into the Dane County 911 Center at 7:28 p.m., a center supervisor said.

A passing vehicle then struck the man, police said. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.

A block of Williamson Street from South Brearly Street to South Ingersoll Street had been shut down but reopened after investigators left the scene.

The driver of the vehicle was cooperating with the investigation, police said.
What can be characterized as a cult? The main characteristic is a quite pragmatic and charismatic leader that can lead the small group of people with the power persuasion. The dangerous religious cults always pursue the same religious ideas of the apocalypses, isolation from another part of the world and Spiritism. All these ideas are inherited in the idea of indoctrination, which means manipulating people and controlling them. It`s not easy to determine the most dangerous cult in the world. They all have the same problems connected to the life, criminal activity, drugs consumption and many other related questions.

Here you may witness the top 10 most dangerous cults. They were ranked according to the casualties provided to them, even human casualties and even children casualties. It should also be mentioned the number of cult members. They are great soldiers in the war for the top of top ten most dangerous cults. Why are religious cults dangerous? They defy the idea of religion. Their religion provides many difficulties to the people around. They can`t work with that people. The most dangerous cults can even have blood sacrifices in their arsenal of creepy things. Therefore, here are presented the top 10 of most dangerous religious cults.

Scientology

One of the most dangerous cults in the world with followers in many parts of the world and from mega rich and popular people to the servants. The preachers tend to use manipulating technics and brainwashing methods to get people attention on their rights. The crucial point of this cult is bringing together all ideas connected to the negative feelings and reject it. The members of the Scientology follow the path for the full potential of human powers. Therefore, it brings them to the dangerous religious cult list. Their most memorable adepts are Priscilla Presley and Tom Cruise.

Hare Krishna

This dangerous cult was created in the sixties, and they bow to the supreme God of all Gods Krishna. This protagonist is a famous character of Mahabharata. Hara Krishna is one of the most dangerous cults that are provided with their chanting rituals, like the energy of God. These people may suffer for their religious practices as they prefer to live as Spartans with having a little communication with the world, sleep not much and eat less. The adepts of Hare Krishna can be involved in various criminal activities, like kidnapping and drug dealing. The most noticeable followers of this dangerous cult are Russel Brand, Beatles, and Steve Jobs.

The Unification Church

This dangerous cult provided its place in this list for the worshiping of the Moon. That`s the reason they can also be called Moonies. Therefore, Monies believe that Moon is supreme divine that controls everything on our Planet. The leader of the cult is Sun Myung Moon that believes that he is a messiah of the Moon Divine. Sun Myung Moon is an unwelcome guest for many civilized countries across the world. He is not allowed to visit some countries due to its deeds. The cult provides to the people the knowledge that real Heaven exists not only in an afterlife, but it can also be created on the Earth. His work as Messiah provided him millions of dollars in Korea.

Children of God

It`s a twisted secret cult that has a special place in the top dangerous cult list. Their primary believe that provided disgust to them amongst citizens of the USA was their believe that sex with children and incest are natural desires. The founder of their religion, David Berg had many wives and children which he used in sexual orgies. The doctrine of the religion for the Children of God also included Apocalypse. This dangerous cult also has another name as The Family. Their practice of sexual abuse provided them a nasty reputation. Few Famous personalities were raised in that cult as actress Rose McGowan who are famous for her role in Charmed. The famous actor River Phoenix was also raised in this cult.

READ ALSO: 8 sure signs of cult behavior

The Ku Klux Klan

This spawn was a proclamation of war against black people. It rose up from the Christian identity of the religion for Christ. These ideas of KKK came to play and rose to power after Civil War in the USA. The members of KKK could perfectly kill anyone for their plans. Their main targets were Africans and colored citizens of the USA. Their peak of power came in 1928, where the KKK had more than four million members. Their main enemies not always Africans, but all who does not support their ideas. Due to their nationalistic and racist propaganda, they have some resemblance to the ideas of the Third Reich.

The Manson Family

The charismatic personality can play a tremendous role in creating something powerful. Charles Manson was exactly the leader that could make people fear and respect him. Manson traveled around the USA and tried to find followers from all classes of the society. He even provided information that people also tried to find him and follow his ideas. In his family, he provided new names for his adepts. He even created a special temple nearby to Hollywood where he could host sexual orgies, sacrifices, and other nasty things. He believed in Helter Skelter, where this personality commands him to murder people and make sacrifices.

Heaven`s Gate

This cult didn`t get any medal in this top most dangerous cult list, but still, it should be mentioned that it`s a true doomsday cult. They believed that one day the Earth would be cleansed and recycled by their lords on the Alien ships. Their preached leaders can be named Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite. They were the harbingers of the mass suicides across the USA. They even provided instructional videos on how to commit suicide. This religion provided thousands of dollars to the believers and creators. In 1997 all members of the cult decided to commit suicide to be saved from cleansing. Therefore, police found their bodies in San Diego in a beautiful mansion.

The Solar Temple

And the bronze medal in the top 10 most dangerous cult can be named The Solar Temple Cult. Their charismatic leader Luc Joret also provided ideas about the end of the world. The Solar Temple adepts believed that every saving could be made via sacrifice. Through these sacrifices, they could go to the journey to their Heaven Planet  Sirius. Luc Joret earned more than one hundred million dollars in its beliefs. It should be mentioned some parts of his biography, where he once served as offices of Gestapo in the Hitler`s Army. Nevertheless, he believed too much in his ideas and also committed suicide. Still, his intentions provided his cult a place in the history as one of the most dangerous cults.

Branch Davidians

The Branch Davidians earn the silver medal in our top list of the most dangerous cult. The Leader of the Davidians, David Koresh preached his followers that the main enemy of the God was the Government of the USA. He launched his temple activity in Waco, Texas. He trained his believers, provided them guns and taught to be ready for fighting against the USA. In 1994, ATF forces reached his compound in Waco and witnessed crimes connected to sexual abuse, children pornography, drugs and weapons. More than one hundred members died in fighting against ATF. The tragedy is still the main question in the USA as it could be possible to illuminate violence.

The People`s Temple

And the gold medal in our top most dangerous cults in the world might be granted to The People`s Temple. Their leader, Jim Jones, started to provide his excellent ideas of brainwashing and zealots in the sky from the very young age. He was also famous for mind controlling people. He thought that The Bible was a ridiculous book that has ever been written.

He started to provide his doctrine and visions of humanity in the world. His followers grew in number, and his sick ideas also grew in numbers. He also used ideas of having sex with children, drugs, alcohol and even slavery. Nevertheless, he also preached the ideas of mass suicides to have access to the gates of the God. Therefore, it was believed the most dangerous cult in the world.

READ ALSO: 6 Reasons Rich Kids Join Cult Groups

Source: Legit.ng
A jet-set lifestyle doesnt have to be all private planes and decadent digs. In our Jet-Set Bohemian series, we blend the best of high and low for just the right balance  enticing everyone from backpackers to luxury boutique hotel lovers to come along for the ride.

at my hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay, I had a brief moment of panic. I decided a week before to set off on a three-week expedition voyage to Antarctica. I wasnt half as geared up as the other travelers gathered around me, sporting perfectly packed backpacks, goose-down North Face jackets and footwear that could survive even the toughest of blizzards. I was still in my travel uniform of skinny jeans and a black wool sweater, hoping to survive on the worlds coldest and windiest continents by layering every winter item I owned (which for a Florida girl, isnt a whole lot). Luckily, the concerned French shopkeeper in my now home base of Nice outfitted me with the warmest thermals they had in my size a day before I embarked on the 22-hour trip down to Uruguays capital.

When I imagined an expedition voyage, I expected bare bone conditions and closet-sized staterooms. Stepping on board Hurtigrutens 127-cabin 1B ice-class ship, MS Fram, these preconceived notions evaporated entirely as I was greeted by the smiling maitre d in the dining room, who escorted me to white tableclothed seat and offered a wine list of Old World bottles. My room wasnt suite-sized, but I had more than enough space to spread out. There was even twice daily cleaning service that included a mint placed on my pillow in the evenings. As for amenities, I couldve left all of mine at home. Bathrooms were stocked with products crafted just for the liner, with natural extracts from birch and cloudberries grown in Arctic climates.

I asked the Scandinavian expedition leader, Line, what I would need for excursions, worrying that my light layers wouldnt cut it since my Florida blood can barely handle snow, let alone the very real possibility of frostbite. She responded with a calm smile saying, Oh the shop on board is great! It really has everything you need for Antarctica.

explorers like Ernest Shackleton traveled to far-flung corners of the globe the most minimalist way possible in whalers and even row boats, but now some of the most untouched places can be reached (and enjoyed) in style. Our days on board had all the elements of an expedition, with mornings spent getting outfitted in muck boots and life jackets in the tender pit before speeding to shore and hiking through freshly marked trails past penguins. Evenings could be as active or leisurely as wed like, glamping on the ice-strewn continent or cozying up in the ships panoramic bar with top-shelf whiskey thats been aged in barrel at sea sailing from pole to pole.

And as with any expedition, courses can change just as quickly as the weather. Its not easy to get to Antarctica, but its also not easy to get out of Antarctica, Line explained one evening after spending hours in a polar circle boat trying to find a route through a 200-meter-thick ice belt blocking the path to land on Petrel Cove. As weather worsened over the evening, the expedition team charted out a new course with the captain to Paulet Island, a spot with over 200,000 pairs of mating Adelie penguins thats so tough to reach, the expedition coordinator hadnt been there in 10 years.

Photo courtesy of Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten makes expedition cruising look chic, but when Silverseas Silver Cloud wraps up a complete renovation next year, it will be one of the most spacious and stylish ice vessels on the market, cruising from Ushuaia, Argentina to Antarctica. Eighty percent of the ships suites will sport teak-lined verandas perfect for watching icebergs and whales as you cruise by, especially while wearing the in-room designer Etro bathrobes and matching slippers. Suites also show off ocean views from panorama windows, and sitting areas feature bars designed for entertaining, made even easier thanks to on board butler service.

All of the rooms are pretty lavish, stocked with Bvlgari bath products and Illy espresso machinesin addition to pillow menus and Bang & Olufsen sound systemsbut the owners suite is like having your very own penthouse at sea. The 587-square-foot suite can expand into two rooms with marble-lined bathrooms and full tubs, as well as a living and dining room set-up that feels just as cozy as what youd experience back home. The ship has everything from a Connoisseurs Corner stocked with cognac and cigars to a full-service spa, but its also expedition-ready with 18 zodiacs and an expedition team of 19 experts ready to take you out for hikes around the Antarctic Peninsula, pointing out penguins and petrels along the way.

Another destination just as untouchedand uninhabitedis the Galapagos, and Celebrity Cruises turns this expedition trip into a sailing one on board the 100-passenger mega-yacht Celebrity Xpedition. While cruising through the islands, take a seat at the aptly named al fresco restaurant Darwins, where you can dine on organic fare and freshly caught fish from Galapagos fishermen.

One way of passing the time here is with a glass of Champagne in the Jacuzzi sitting out on the penthouse suite terrace, but the perk of an expedition in this locale (besides the picture-perfect scenery) is getting off board and exploring the Galapagos infamous wildlife, whether its on a coastal walk or below water deep sea snorkeling past rays and white-tip reef sharks.

Lane Nieset is Pastes Jet-Set Bohemian columnist and a freelance writer covering all things travel from her home base in Nice, France.
Back in August, the Fremantle Council in Western Australia announced that they would be moving their Australia Day fireworks to a day other than January 26.

This was obviously an incredibly divisive decision, as is the larger debate to wholly change the date of the national day countrywide.

Now Freo has gone a step even further, announcing that they will be changing the date of all of their normal Australia Day events.

Mayor of Fremantle Brad Pettitt said that the council had heard from Aboriginal elders loud and clear that the day of January 26 was not a day of celebration.

He told The West Australian,

We thought it was time to acknowledge it wasnt a day of celebration for everybody and it was an opportunity for us to come up with a different format on a different day that could be truly inclusive.

Freo will instead celebrate on January 28th with an event called One Day in Fremantle, at which John Butler, Dan Sultan and Mama Kin will perform.

The day will also feature citizenship ceremonies that are usually held on Jan 26.

Former Western Australian of the Year Dr Robert Isaacs, who is an Indigenous Australian and a member of the Stolen Generation, told the paper he had not heard of any complaints from his Aboriginal community.

The shire needs to retract what its doing. Its not in line with community attitudes. I strongly condemn them for this whole thing. Australia Day is Australia Day.

But Pettitt has clarified,

We were never trying to say to people they couldnt do anything or shouldnt do anything on Australia Day. Thats for other people to judge. Were simply offering what I think is a really good alternative.

The One Day in Fremantle event will be held on February 28th on the Esplanade Reserve.

Source: The West Australian.

Photo: Chloe Sargeant / pedestrian.tv.
2016 Master Classics of Poker Amsterdam: Van Til Bubbles, Carrel Leads Massively

November 23, 2016 Frank Op de Woerd

Johan "busto_soon" van Til was the last to leave the 2016 Master Classics of Poker Main Event empty-handed after an exhilarating bubble. A total of 53 players remain, all guaranteed a min cash of 7,895 but all of them eyeing the 275,608 first-place prize as well.

Charlie Carrel, who took the runner-up spot in the 10,000 High Roller and third place in the 25,000 Super High Roller earlier this poker festival in the Dutch capital, leads the event with a wide margin. He has over 400,000 in chips more than his closest competitor; EPT Grand Final champion Jan Bendik sits in second place after Day 2.

Player Country Chip Count 1 Charlie Carrel United Kingdom 1,160,000 2 Jan Bendik Slovakia 740,500 3 Juha Helppi Finland 533,000 4 Michiel Brosky Netherlands 424,500 5 Artur Koren Germany 411,000 6 Kimmo Kurko Finland 402,000 7 Anton Wigg Sweden 375,000 8 Jonathan Rozema Netherlands 370,500 9 Kevin Killeen Ireland 353,000 10 Michael Sassen Netherlands 339,500

Day 2 started with several new players signing up. With the latest reentries and new entries, the total field grew to 356, the second biggest MCOP Main Event in the 25-year history of one of the oldest tournaments on European soil.

It didn't take Holland Casino Amsterdam long to release the prize pool information. The 1,409,760 was to be divided among 53 players. While the total amount of entries had grown, the first-place prize dropped a little compared to last year's tournament as a higher percentage of players will end up cashing.

Players like Steve O'Dwyer, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Govert Metaal would have no reason to infuse themselves in a possible discussion about the payouts, as they departed long before the money stage of the tournament was reached.

MCOP High Roller champion Noah Boeken, who survived Day 1 with a top five-stack, joined his famous fellow poker players on the rail. He handed his chips over to Charlie Carrel, the man he had beat heads up for the high roller title the evening before.

Boeken wouldn't be the only one sliding his chips to Carrel. Sometimes they came gift wrapped, like when Jasper Meijer ran his ace-king into Carrel's kings; sometimes he had to really battle for them. But in the end, most of the hands and chips went to Carrel. He abused the bubble like no other, taking down the majority of the pots during the almost two-hour long hand-for-hand play.

As the bubble loomed, several players were short. This made for an interesting dynamic with players asking bystanders how much other players. A lot of shorties folded and a lot of big stacks raised. The players with their heads on the chopping block had their hands tied, while the more fortunate big stacks became more and more liberal in their hand selection, it seemed.

Down to just 6,500, a little more than a single big blind, the absolute short stack Rens Pleijster took his time making his move. He wanted to see what the other tables were doing, but a floor person stepped in and told him he had to make his move sooner rather than later.

Pleijster wasn't happy, telling the floor he didn't know what he was talking about with a very agitated voice. As he was prompted for action, he pushed all in.

The cutoff, button and Artur Koren in the small blind all called to put Pleijster at risk. Big blind Michiel Brosky had other things in mind; he took his time and eventually cut out a raise. All other players instantly folded.

Before the cards were even on their backs, Koren scolded his neighbor on his decision to raise. Koren, who seemed to imply something fishy was going on, was frowning, muttering and rolling his eyes as Brosky was about to reveal his hand.

Pleijster assured Koren he didn't even know Brosky. Table mate Foeke Deinum also took sides with Brosky, it seemed.

Brosky, who was one of the bigger stacks at the table  though he hadn't abused the bubble up until that point as he had the dangerous big stack [Removed:172] on his immediate left  eventually showed . Rens Pleijster tabled .

The board ran out in favor of Pleijster and he quintupled as Koren, who was still enjoying his massage and had plenty of chips as well, just rolled his eyes one more time.

With Pleijster no longer at immediate risk, Johan "busto_soon" van Til was the one with the shortest stack. Action folded to Bendik on the button and the EPT Grand Final champion, who picked up a lot of pots on the bubble, raised to 11,000. The small blind folded and big blind Johan van Til moved in for 14,500.

Bendik called instantly by tossing in some 1,000 chips. It took awhile before the cards were on their back. After a player on the other table doubled, it was time for Bendik and van Til to show their cards.

Van Til showed king-queen, dominating the king-jack suited of Bendik. The flop was harmless but the jack on the turn was anything but a blank. Van Til got up, still straight faces, as a king completed the board. Van Til shook hands with Bendik and some cheering could be heard, mostly from the rail that had been watching and drinking for some time.

And just like that, Day 2 of the Main Event was done. While only 15 minutes were left in the level, the tournament organizers announced the level would start over at the beginning of Day 3.

On Day 3, the plan is to play down from 53 to a final table of nine. PokerNews.com will again be on the floor to see who goes even deeper and who'll just look back on the 2016 MCOP Main Event as that one year they had a shot but came up short. Action resumes at 2 p.m. local time with blinds at 2,500/5,000 (500 ante).
By establishing JMA which is one among the most sought after and top ranking school in his native place Pilani Rajasthan India, he built capacities for the spirit of inquiry creativity moral leadership among the students and became their role models.

Contact

Booma Natarajan, Principal

***@yahoo.co.in

91-1596-242314 Booma Natarajan, Principal91-1596-242314

End

-- His contribution to education is no less than his contribution to the healthcare and hospitality sector. Known for his dignified unassuming personality, gleaming intellect, meticulous planning, deep regard for punctuality, gifted business acumen, and dynamic leadership, Dr. BM Mishra made an indelible mark in the field of education at Pilani. He breathed his last in the evening of Thursday, the 04th August, 2016 at Syracuse USA after a brief illness.His wife Dr Suman Mishra well known Gynecologist from Syracuse USA, his son Dr Gautam Mishra ophthalmologist Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along with his wife Smt Mridula and daughter Anjali performed rituals in a prayer meeting at Pilani on 23 Nov 2016.On 24 Nov 2016, Smt Jamuna Mishra Academy JMA Pilani organized a cultural program and a band display in honour of the Mishra family who had not only come from USA but also from different parts of India. The School band did the ceremonial welcome fanfare for the dignitaries and Miss Parul Dhand of Class 11 anchored the proceedings.Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan in her welcome address profusely acknowledged the Mishra family for the continued support and said that it was befitting that 24 Nov 2016 being the last Thursday of the month has shaped up to be a Thanksgiving Day from the school teachers, staff and children. The Principal also urged the students to take inspiration from Dale Carnegie born 24 Nov 1888 who had authored several bestselling books which include "How to Win Friends and Influence People" as well as "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living".The welcome song played by the School Choir and Orchestra followed by the patriotic action song had the entire audience spell bound. The thought provoking mime depicting the changing attitude of people in past and present had everyone burst out laughing.Mr Vishal Sheoran who secured first rank in Class 12 presently pursuing BTech Computer Science from BKBIET Pilani, Miss Komal Swami who secured second rank presently preparing herself for being a successful teacher as well as Nishita Tailor, Preeti Sheoran and Pooja Saini first second and third rank holders from Class 10 pursuing Science stream at their Alma mater won loud applause when they received their merit performance awards. Vishal in his address said that he took pride in being an alumnus of JMA Pilani thanked the school for all round shaping of his personality and character and promised to bring more honours to the school in coming years.The loudest applause seem to have been reserved for Mr Jaipal Singh Sanskrit Teacher and Ms Neha Gupta who is herself an alumnus of BITS Pilani holding a MSc(Tech) presently teaching English at JMA Pilani for bagging the best teacher awards. Mr Padmanabh Mishra and Mr BS Mishra did the honour of awarding the prizes.Dr Gautam Mishra in his inspiring speech reiterated that change which is the only constant is inevitable and only those who are flexible and adaptable and use it as an opportunity for reflection and growth will be the ones who are destined to succeed. Dr Gautam specially thanked the Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan for her dedication, service and excellent work since the founding of the school in 2004.Mrs Jyoti Sharma niece of Dr BM Mishra read out a poem in honor and said that Dr Mishra indeed pursued his JMA Mission with passion and proved that there are indeed no dreams too large and no frontiers beyond reach.The Yoga display was truly mesmerizing and Karate display full of action. The School girls band did a dazzling display of various formations and played the all time great tunes "We shall Overcome - Hum Honge Kamyab and Sare Jahan Se Acha had one and all asking for more which ended up as the National Anthem. Ms Kavita Tiwari proposed the customary vote of thanks. The entire gathering departed from the JMA playground with beaming faces and pride that they were part of an institution which is indeed a jewel in the crown among the schools at Pilani.For more details about JMA Pilani see http://jmapilani.org About JMA Pilani: Smt. Jamuna Mishra Academy (JMA) established in the year 2004 which has been making rapid strides in early childhood education is presently one of the most sought after schools at Pilani considered as Oasis in the desert state of Rajasthan well known in India today for one among top in world ranking BITS Pilani University as well as CSIR Laboratory CEERI and globally renowned Birla Science Museum. JMA Pilani is a Co-educational English Medium School with Experienced Teachers, Spacious Classrooms and Modern Amenities designed to impart Quality Education combined with All Round Personality Development and lay the Best Foundation for the Child's Future. JMA which started in 2004 with an enrollment of 60 students for the Nursery, LKG, First Junior and Class I has grown today till Class XII and enrollment of 900. While the school admits both boys and girls, the girl student enrollment has been steadily rising every year and is presently nearly 50% of the total strength. The school has NCC for boys and the school girls band has been winning laurels every year too. Yoga and Fine arts are not just part of school routine but a way of life for the students.
This amazing offer has been designed for savvy travelers who wish to live the luxurious lifestyle and stay in a 4-star/5-star hotel accommodation at low price during their Christmas vacation in exotic beach locations.

Best Travel Club Membership for Tour Packages

Contact

R Travel Club

***@rtrvlclb.com R Travel Club

End

-- With Christmas appearing on the horizon, R Travel Club  the luxury-oriented travel club which offers all-inclusive luxury resort vacation packages at an affordable price  is delighted to introduce exclusive Christmas tour packages for its club members during this Christmas season. This amazing offer has been designed for savvy travelers who wish to live the luxurious lifestyle and stay in a 4-star/5-star hotel accommodation at low price during their Christmas vacation in exotic beach locations.R Travel Club is offering a golden chance to its already existing members and new customers to sign up for the best travel club membership for tour packages and get a promotional discount in the total package cost. The promotional offer will be applicable on selected resorts, hotels and palaces located in gorgeous beach destinations such as Cancun, Jamaica, Riviera Maya and more."Christmas time is about harmony, peace and love. Christmas is the best time of the year to get along with families and make memories to cherish for lifetime. That's why we are offering best travel club membership for tour packages to our club members which they can avail during their booking of Christmas vacations," commented James Schell, CEO of R Travel Club. He added, "We are one of the fastest-growing luxury vacation clubs in the world, and we are constantly expanding our resort portfolio to ensure an inventory of high quality resorts."With a huge coastline and some incredible countries full of unique cultures and incredible landscapes, beach holidays appeal to a wide range of travelers because of the many things to do in and around the destinations. By joining R Travel Club, travelers will get the benefit of best travel club membership for tour packages, which will add more charm to your luxurious vacation. R Travel Club also provides its club members other benefits such as transportation provisions, special deals on other travel needs, luxury travel & holiday tours, and deeper discounts for members  all at affordable price.To know more about special Christmas tour packages for club members, please visit the websiteR Travel Club is a team of experts inspires a passion for luxury travel among its members and brings them 4 star or 5-star travel experiences with substantial savings. We help travelers enjoy a hassle-free vacation with a luxury package deal that includes magnificent accommodations, gourmet meals, hotel transfers, guided excursions, and other added bonuses. Exploring the world is our passion, and we want to share the joys of discovery with you through the diversity of affordable all inclusive packages to eliminate all out-of-pocket costs.
If no then pack your bags and plan a vacation there. This beautiful city is the capital as well as the most populous city of the US state of Wyoming

Contact

Yoff

***@cheapflightticketonline.com Yoff

End

-- It is also the northern terminus that is extended from Cheyenne to Pueblo that is in Colorado. There are also several beautiful places in Cheyenne that one can explore.Places like Wyoming transportation museum which showcases the historical buildings as well as the railroads, Cheyenne Frontier days old west in which historical artifacts are displayed are all worth visiting. So, don't waste time just bookand explore this beautiful city.So, you can bookthrough these options:- Through the online booking sites.- Through various travel agents.- Through the airlines officially.Booking your flight through the online booking sites will also provide you certain offers and will make it more affordable to travel.On the other hand flights that travel to Cheyenne are the British Airways, Lufthansa and the Great lakes aviation. So, to know more about the details of the flights as well as about its services offered just make a call on these airlines and get the thorough details. The executives of these airlines will further provide all the details like the departure times, arrival time, information on the baggage policy the inflight services and many more.You can avail the cheap flights to Cheyenne from cities like South Africa, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada.
By: Nord France Invest

Hauts-de-France Region

End

--In Hauts-de-France, job creation is a priority, and the region's many assets are a powerful draw for business.This explains the new 'Welcome Home' campaign to attract and assist British investors and business leaders who want to set up shop in Hauts-de-France. Behind the initiative are the Hauts-de-France Regional Council and its partnersNord France Invest, CCI International, CRT Picardie Tourism, Nord France Convention Bureau and Lille's Agency.Xavier Bertrand, Hauts-de-France Regional Council ChairmanThe Welcome Home campaign underscores the region's commitment to continue working with British partners after Brexit, showcasing Hauts-de-France as the region closest to the UKa perfect location for businesses that want access to the European market. And geography is only the beginning: like the UK, Hauts-de-France makes creating a pro-business environment a priority. The campaign highlights the region's outstanding economy, infrastructure and quality of life. It also confirms that key players in the region are actively committed to crafting tailored solutions for their foreign partners and welcoming British investors and businesses that want to stay present in European markets. Video: released on the Welcome Home website www.welcom-eu.com and via social media, the new video promotes Hauts-de-France as a place where British and other foreign entrepreneurs can grow their businesses while enjoying excellent quality of life. In the video, British businessman James Anderson presents the advantages of living in Hauts-de-France in a series of short vignettes that highlight the region's many assets: R&D and innovation clusters, easy access, simple procedures for setting up a business, a competitive workforce, excellent quality of life and great food. New website: a dedicated website at www.welcom-eu.com will allow British business to make direct contact with regional partners who can help them set up shop in Hauts-de-France. The site will also include 'how-to' tips on getting started, organised by type of project: investment,business tourism, international partnerships and European programmes.A campaign featuring posters on the London underground system, banner ads on the websites of major British media outlets and information in brochures, on social media and other targeted vehicles will run in London from 4th November through 30th January. The aim: to make British investors aware of the advantages of doing business in Hauts-de-France and the support offered by the Regional Council and its partners. 4November  2December: place mats will appear in restaurants in The City, London's financial centre. 7November  5December: banner ads will run on the websites of targeted British media outlets (Independent.co.uk, Economist.com, Businesstraveller.com, Theguardian.com), redirecting users to a dedicated website. 21November  4December: a poster campaign will run on the London underground 1December: information on doing business in Hauts-de-France will appear in, Eurostar's passenger magazine, and, the in-flight magazine for British Airways. Social media channels will also provide practical tips for British investors and business leaders.The Welcome Home campaign grew out of a commitment made by the Regional Council last summer, when Hauts-de-France representatives met with British visitors in Calais to lay the groundwork for incoming UK-based businesses. The Regional Council has been closely involved at every stagefirst producing the video, then creating a toll-free number staffed by English-speaking representatives to coincide with initial contacts, and finally using European aid and support from regional institutions to streamline formalities required for new ventures.The region offers incoming businesses a wide range of advantages: The right location with the right infrastructure:located near Paris in the heart of Northern Europe, Hauts-de-France is within 180 miles of five European capitals. Its robust transport infrastructure includes motorways, railway stations, high-speed trains, international airports and seaports Favourable business environment:Hauts-de-France does not tax business premises R&D clusters to serve the business community: key focus areas include e-commerce, mechanical engineering, agricultural resources and composites A pool of 78 million consumers Tailored assistance: Hauts-de-France and its partners offer support services designed specifically for each project. These include helping businesses secure financing, create networks, find the right premises and work with the region's employment and training specialists Well preserved quality of life: attractions include the prestigious Louvre-Lens museum, Pierre Mauroy stadium, the stunning Somme Bay nature preserve and a number of regional parks Residents with a strong sense of hospitality and communityThe Regional Council and its partnersNord France Invest, CCI International, Lille's Agency, CRT Picardie and the Nord France Convention Bureauwant to make British investors and business leaders aware of the region's many strengths and to help them launch successful ventures in Hauts-de-France.Visit www.welcome-eu.comPRESS CONTACTSPeggy Collette: peggy.collette@ nordpasdecalaispicardie.fr  +33 3 28 82 53 03 / +33 6 75 93 38 28Wilma Rughooputh: wilma.rughooputh@ nordpasdecalaispicardie.fr - +33 3 28 82 53 18 / +33 6 18 78 12 12Sebastien Voisin: sebastien.voisin@nordpasdecalaispicardie.fr  +33 3 28 82 53 24 / +33 6 27 51 11 59Catherine Ryall, Business France UK Press OfficeEmail: catherine.ryall@businessfrance.frWeb: www.youbuyfrance.com/uk/
Home buyers in Germany not only have to pay high down payments for financing their property, but they also have to pay high transaction costs. Besides the transaction tax, also notary fees and the entry in the land register sum up to a considerable amount. The cases of the Netherlands

Author: Prof. Dr. Michael Voigtlander, IW Cologne



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AXA IM - Real Assets has completed, on behalf of AXA Insurance Companies, the acquisition of a newly developed data center in Amsterdam for 36.4 million. The centre is fully let on a long term lease to an international data centre provider. The data centre, which comprises 16,330 sqm across

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Groupe IDEC Invest, the real estate investment arm of Groupe IDEC, unveiled its first outlet development Viaduc Village in the South of France, at MAPIC last week. The Outlet Resource Group (TORG) has been appointed to lease Viaduc Village. The scheme benefits from a prime location on the A75 linking

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Falling market share and rising competition from other two wheeler majors, has caused Bajaj Auto Ltd to sit up and take a serious look at their scooter strategy.

Once a leader in the two wheeler industry, Bajaj Autos market share has been declining after their decision to exit the scooter segment in Dec 2009. At the time they decided to stop manufacturing scooter, so that they could concentrate on manufacturing motorcycles.

When Bajaj Auto quit scooter segment in 2009, they were the second largest two wheeler manufacturer (with 27% market share), first was Hero Honda (with 41% market share), which split a year later in December 2010. Third was TVS Motors with 18% market share.

Five years down the line, in 2014 the situation was such, Hero MotoCorp leads the lot with sales of 61 lakh two wheelers (41.2% market share), followed by HMSI (Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India), followed by TVS Motors, and then Bajaj Auto at about 21 lakh (14% market share).

Bajajs decline in market share is mainly attributed due to their decision to exit from scooter industry. For the period April 2014 to January 2015, scooter market has seen a marked increase of 27% to 3.74 million units, against motorcycle sales which saw just a 4% increase to 9.11 million during the same period. This stark increase is due to the huge rise in demand for automatic scooters. The best selling of the lot is Honda Activa, which registers about 2 lakh unit sales every month.

But, to their credit, Bajaj Auto has the export numbers, which have increased exponentially post their exit from the scooter industry. The company is the largest exporter of motorcycles in the country. Their exports for the same period, FY 2013/14, stood at 13.23 lakhs, which is 66.7% of the total motorcycle exports from India. Due to such high number of exports, the company has also managed to post record profits.

But, with the scooter market expected to grow faster than the motorcycle market, how long can Bajaj Auto avoid a re-entry? Well, it seems not very long. If we are to believe a new report, which claims that Bajaj Auto will launch their new scooter next year. Leaked now in patent sketches, the new Bajaj scooter will be a premium offering, which will rival the Vespa brand of scooters in India.

With prototype scooters already seen on test outside their facility in Pune, expect the scooter to be powered by a new engine, about 125-150cc. More details will be revealed soon.

Below is a collection of the iconic Hamara Bajaj commercials evolving over the years.

via gaadiwaadi
As part of the BMW  TVS JV, the new Apache 310 was launched earlier last month. Priced at about Rs 2.35 to Rs 2.7 lakh, depending on the city you buy, the BMW-engineered motorcycle is on sale at a total of 51 dealerships across India.

In different cities, the on road price of Apache 310 is different. For example, in Bangalore it is at Rs 2.7 lakh while in Mumbai it is at Rs 2.36 lakh. In Hyderabad, it was at Rs 2,34,000. This was the price told to the first customer when he booked the bike earlier this month. But, recently, the dealer called the owner and told him that the price had increased to Rs 2,37,600.

Reviews of the new TVS Apache 310 have already been published. But all of them talk about how the bike performs on the track. Now, for the first time there is a review which talks about how the bike performs in the city traffic. Youtuber Aarth Motovlogs has managed to test ride the bike in the city during peak hours and this is what he has to say.

 Easy to handle in traffic

 Engine does not get heated

 Smooth to ride

 Acceleration is impressive

 Cruising is also impressive

 Seating is comfortable

 Not a track bike

 Braking is good

 Tyres could have been better

Watch the full video below.

New TVS Apache 310 is based on the BMW G310R naked bike. It is part of the JV, which will see BMW-TVS launch a range of new motorcycles in the sub 500cc segment. As per Stephan Schaller, CEO, BMW Motorrad, the engineering of this new range of motorcycles has been 100% done by BMW. This means, the Apache 310 has BMW engineering at its core. Until now we have already seen two bikes from BMW  G310R and G310GS. Apache 310 is the third product. All these motorcycles are made at the TVS plant in Hosur, India.

Also Read  TVS Apache 310 continues testing after launch

TVS Motors has revealed that they will sell 10,000 units of Apache 310 annually. The segment leader, KTM sells about 4,500  5,000 units. This includes the KTM Duke 200, Duke 250, Duke 390, RC 200 and RC 390. Considering that Apache 310 is priced in between the RC 200 and the RC 390, they might into the share KTM RC twins.

TVS has also said that they are very confident of their new product. In order to meet the demand, their supply chain is well in place. The production line is currently equipped to assemble one unit of Apache 310 at every 7 minutes and 30 seconds.

Powered by a 313 cc single cylinder liquid cooled engine generating 34 hp and 27 Nm, Apache 310 has a top speed of 160 kmph (speedo indicated). TVS says that it can go much higher than that as well. Yes, the bike is equipped with features, and is said to be having the best built quality for any made-in-India motorcycle seen till date. But, considering that they are pitching this bike as an all-out racing machine, it seems overpriced. As for about Rs 25,000 more, you can buy yourself a KTM RC 390, which not only offers 10 hp more, but also comes with slipper clutch, ride by wire, better acceleration, tyres, braking and a wider sales / service network.

Only time will tell if TVS will be able to meet their sales target or not. For now, we can take admire the Apache 310 for its design and engineering.
Inspired by the way people move at heavy metal concerts, an international team of researchers from Uppsala University and Harvard University have learned how to spot danger zones in mass gatherings before disaster strikes.

Publishing online in the journal Physical Review Letters Nov. 23rd, Uppsala University's graduate student Arianna Bottinelli, and professor in applied mathematics David Sumpter, have developed computational tools to predict large-scale collective motion in simulated mass gatherings.

The team started with simulated crowds so they could reliably keep track of everyone's position. "From this data, we're able to predict the most risky collective motions that naturally arise in a dense shoulder-to-shoulder crowd," says first author Bottinelli, who will defend her PhD thesis in applied mathematics on the 25th of November.

Sumpter adds, "The next step is to apply these techniques to real-time video data. If we can use computer vision to track people, then our analytical tools can warn event planners of potential hazards before they arise."

Overwhelmingly, mass gatherings are held without incident. But sometimes things go wrong. People can be trampled or asphyxiated by crushing pressures generated by the crowd itself. These types of collective motion have been previously studied, but the new physics-based insights in this work provide an explanation for how these disasters occur in the first place.

Bottinelli, who lead the research, describes it like this: "It all comes down to way people gather into a randomly packed group. Physical body-to-body contacts are the foundation for potentially dangerous collective motion. Our work shows how to identify the emergent risks based on which people are touching each other."

The project started as a study in the way people "dance" at heavy metal concerts. These "mosh pits" forcefully separate the crowd, creating areas near the stage where the crowd is densely packed.

"We were staring at the concert data when we realized there were direct similarities with rallies, protests, and Black Friday sales events," said Dr. Silverberg, postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, who has been collaborating on this work. "The more we dug, the richer the physics became. Pretty soon we found ideas from material science and field theory could be applied directly to human crowds in extreme situations," he adds. The researchers noted that awareness is the key to safety. With the upcoming Black Friday shopping holiday in America and the general increase in protest events across the globe, there are increasingly hidden dangers in crowds. The team's conclusions and suggestion to the public is to "keep an eye on your surroundings -- if you're packed densely, then there's an inherent risk, and the best way to protect yourself and others is to spread out and move to an area with more physical space" the team concluded.

The research, "Emergent structural mechanisms for high-density collective motion inspired by human crowds" was supported by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Mathematics in Uppsala University, Sweden.
I have learned the hard way not to put my personal life on the Internet. But suffice it to say that, God willing, things should be pretty much back to norm...

2 weeks ago
Three new studies reporting on the effects of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

The first study looks at CT findings of the central nervous system in 16 newborn babies with congenital Zika virus infection confirmed by tests in cerebral spinal fluid.

The researchers identified a pattern of CT brain findings in the babies, including decreased brain volume, simplified gyral pattern, calcifications, ventricular dilatation and prominent occipital bone.

"We live in Pernambuco, a state in northeastern Brazil, which had the highest number of patients with microcephaly during the Zika outbreak in our country," said study author Natacha Calheiros de Lima Petribu, M.D., from the Department of Radiology at Barao de Lucena Hospital. "Our study proves that Zika virus infection can cause congenital brain damage in babies with and without microcephaly."

Another study analyzed the imaging results of three target groups affected by Zika: adults who developed acute neurological syndrome, newborns with vertical infection with neurological disorders, and pregnant women with rash outbreaks suggestive of Zika.

Many of the adults had symptoms of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the nervous system causing rapid onset muscle weakness. A few showed inflammation of the brain and spinal cord (Bickerstaff's encephalitis) or brain stem and spinal cord lesions. Common MRI findings included enhancement of certain spinal and facial nerves. In the newborns, MRI showed orbital injuries and anatomical changes in brain tissue.

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"It was alarming to find so many cases of neurological syndromes in adults, some very serious, related to Zika virus infection," said study author Emerson de Melo Casagrande, M.D., from the Department of Radiology at Antonio Pedro University Hospital -- Federal Fluminense University. "We have also noticed a difference between these syndromes, even though the trigger was the same."

In a third study, ultrasound and fetal MRI were performed on pregnant patients with Zika virus infection at different gestational ages. Once the babies were born, they underwent ultrasound, CT and MRI. The researchers then created 3-D virtual and physical models of the skulls. More than half the babies had microcephaly, brain calcifications and loss of brain tissue volume, along with other structural changes.

"The emergence of Zika virus in the Americas has coincided with increased reports of babies born with microcephaly," said study author Heron Werner Jr., M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at Clinica de Diagnostico por Imagem. "An early diagnosis may help in treating these babies after birth. Moreover, the knowledge of abnormalities present in the central nervous system may give hints about the pathophysiology of the disease."

Zika is mainly spread to humans via the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms may include fever, rash, joint or muscle pain, headache and bloodshot eyes. More serious conditions, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, have been associated with Zika infection in adults, but are uncommon. Many adults infected with Zika have no symptoms at all.

Zika appears to be most dangerous when transmitted from a pregnant mother to her fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy, increasing the likelihood of severe brain defects in the baby, including microcephaly. Zika has also been linked to eye defects, hearing impairment and stunted growth in babies.

Pregnant women and women who are considering becoming pregnant should avoid visiting areas where infected mosquitos are known to be present. However, if women live in areas where the mosquitos are present, the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is to wear clothes that protect from mosquito bites, use mosquito repellent and get appropriate testing, including routine prenatal care and an ultrasound at 18 to 20 weeks. Pregnant women who are worried that they may have contracted the virus should speak with their obstetrician to initiate testing.

Although these reports focus on the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the infection has spread to countries and territories around the world, including the United States.
Cruise ships, nursing homes, and daycare centers are common breeding grounds for norovirus, a contagious stomach bug that infects 685 million people around the world each year. Despite its prevalence, norovirus -- which has no specific treatment and is particularly dangerous in infants and the elderly -- has received surprisingly little attention from researchers. In a review article published November 22 in Trends in Molecular Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine scientists and colleagues at the University of Michigan Medical School discuss what we know about the virus.

1. People can shed norovirus for months.

Norovirus has a high tolerance for disinfectants and with an average 1.2-day incubation period, it can spread quickly. Although symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea typically resolve within 1-4 days, it is also possible for a person to shed the virus before symptoms appear and after their resolution. Viral shedding can occur for up to a few months in healthy individuals and for years in immunocompromised patients. The severity of symptoms does not correlate with Norovirus shedding, which makes protection against the virus rather difficult.

2. In a norovirus hot zone? Wash your hands.

Norovirus thrives in crowded public areas. Outbreaks spread when people eat or drink contaminated food, touch infected surfaces, or come into contact with someone shedding the virus. "Norovirus is extremely contagious and so washing your hands frequently is important," says review co-author Megan Baldridge, a physician studying pathogens and the microbiome at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "If you start to feel symptoms, avoid preparing food for other people and be careful to clean any surfaces that might be contaminated with bleach."

3. Some people are more susceptible to norovirus than others.

There are many different types of norovirus and people can be infected multiple times during their lifetimes. The infection is different for each species that is infected by the virus and how humans react to the virus is dependent on their genes. "Healthier people may get the virus and have uncomfortable, unpleasant symptoms for a few days, but those symptoms will resolve quickly," Baldridge says. "What can happen with people who are immunocompromised is that they can have a chronic debilitating infection that can be highly detrimental."

4. Norovirus can trigger other gut problems.

Norovirus has been suggested as a possible trigger for other gut diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Under certain conditions, norovirus infection may also alter normal resident intestinal bacteria and allow other infections to occur. Although there is much research to be done regarding the causes of different gut diseases, we know that various pathogens can affect how the virus reacts and these reactions may trigger other intestinal problems. "We're just starting to understand how there's a very complex interplay between norovirus infection and all the other different pathogens and commensal bacteria that could be present," Baldridge says. "These factors likely have very complex interactions with the gut."

5. There is no vaccine, but new strategies are on the horizon.

Vaccine and treatment research has been limited because of a lack of understanding of norovirus within humans, but recent discoveries in mice have identified that certain biological factors can slow down or kill the virus. "Up until now vaccines have exclusively been using virus-like particles, but some new developments may make it possible to generate a live attenuated vaccine, which is pretty exciting," "Baldridge says. "Having animal models and cell culture models to grow the virus and study how it acts a little more closely will help us better understand the virus and also think more about vaccination strategies."
After years of progress, the median earnings gap between black and white men has returned to what it was in 1950, according to new research by economists from Duke University and the University of Chicago.

The experience of African-American men is not uniform, though: The earnings gap between black men with a college education and those with less education is at an all-time high, the authors say.

The research appears online in the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series.

The paper looks at earnings for working-age men across a span of 75 years, from 1940 to 2014. The earnings gap between black and white men narrowed during the civil rights era. Then, starting around 1970, the gap between black and white men's wages started widening once again.

"When it comes to the earnings gap between black and white men, we've gone all the way back to 1950," said Duke economist Patrick Bayer, who co-authored the paper with Kerwin Kofi Charles of the University of Chicago.

The picture for black men looks very different at the top of the economic ladder versus the bottom, the authors say. Since the 1960s, top black salaries have continued to climb. Those advances were fueled by more equal access to universities and high-skilled professions, the study finds.

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Meanwhile, a starkly different story transpired at the bottom of the economic ladder. Massive increases in incarceration rates and the general decline of working-class jobs have devastated the labor market prospects of men with a high school degree or less, the authors say.

The changing economy has been hard on all workers with less than a high school education, but especially devastating for black men, Bayer said.

"The broad economic changes we've seen since the 1970s have clearly helped people at the top of the ladder," Bayer said. "But the labor market for low-skilled workers has basically collapsed.

"Back in 1940 there were plenty of jobs for men with less than a high school degree. Now education is more and more a determinant of who's working and who's not."

In fact, more and more working-age men in the United States aren't working at all. The number of nonworking white men grew from about 8 percent in 1960 to 17 percent in 2014. The numbers look still worse among black men: In 1960, 19 percent of black men were not working; in 2014, that number had grown to 35 percent of black men. That includes men who are incarcerated as well those who can't find jobs.

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"The rate at which men are not working has been skyrocketing, and it's not simply the result of the Great Recession," Bayer said. "It's a big part of what's been happening to our economy over the past 40 years."

The situation would be even worse if not for educational gains among African-Americans over the past 75 years, Bayer said.

On average, black men today have many more years of schooling than black men of the past, and the education gap between white and black men has shrunk considerably. Nevertheless, a gap remains: These days, black men have about a year's less education than white men, on average.

"In essence, the economic benefits that should have come from the substantial gains in education for black men over the past 75 years have been completely undone by the changing economy, which exacts an ever steeper price for the differences that still remain," Bayer said.

The findings show the need for renewed focus on closing racial gaps in education and school quality, which have been stuck in place for several decades, according to the authors. They also suggest that any economic changes that improve prospects for all low-skilled workers will have the important side effect of reducing racial economic inequality.

"We clearly need to create better job opportunities for everyone in the lower rungs of the economic ladder, where work has become increasingly hard to come by," Bayer said.

Find the report online at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22797
Three independent methods of modelling climate change impact on yield display the same bleak tendency: When global temperature increases, wheat yield will decline. This is demonstrated in a study carried out by an international group scientists, including Professor Joergen E. Olesen and Postdoc Mohamed Jabloun from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University.

The good news is that the comparison of the three very different climate models allowed the scientists to be even more precise in their projections and enabled them to put more accurate figures on the relation between global warming and declining yields. The models unanimously demonstrate that for each 1C that the global temperature increases, the global wheat production is projected to decline by an average of 5.7 percent.

Evidence-based action is necessary

The world population continues to grow and the standard of living continues improving. These two factors result in an increasing demand for food production. However, due to global warming we run the risk that food production decreases. Wheat is one of the world's most important food crops and we face an important problem if yields fall concurrently with an increasing demand.

"When talking about global food security it is important to understand how climate change will impact crop production at a global level in order for us to develop fact-based mitigation and adaptation strategies," says Joergen E. Olesen.

Three ways to predict the future

The scientists compared three very different crop model types: grid-based, point-based and regression-based. The two first were simulation models while the third was based on statistical data analyses. Each type included a series of different models and thus included actual implementation of the model types.

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A simulation model creates a model of reality based on the existing knowledge of reality. The model makes it possible to predict what will happen if some of the conditions/parameters are changed. Examples of input include facts on how crop growth periods and productivity react to temperature, precipitation and CO2 levels, and how evapotranspiration depends on temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration. In such models you can tweak the temperature and find an answer to the question "What will happen if the global temperature increases by 5C?"

Regression models use a statistical process for estimating the relationship between data. For instance, observed crop yield is statistically related to temperature and precipitation during the growing season. This estimated relationship can then be used to predict crop yield when temperature increases.

Grids, points and numbers

The grid-based model used by the scientists was based on the division of the world into geographical grid cells according to longitudes and latitudes. Together with climate and crop system data this division was used to estimate yields and production across the world in present production areas.

The point-based model applied data from 30 different locations (points) representing two thirds of the global wheat production. Results from these 30 locations were up-scaled to cover geographical areas with similar conditions.

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The regression-based model was based on global and country-level data. This type allows for indirect effects such the impact of climate variation on crop pests and diseases, or crop adaptation to climate change.

Warmer regions suffer the most

Depending on the model in question, the expected wheat yield will decline between 4.1 and 6.4 percent with each 1C global temperature increase. Warmer regions are most likely to experience the greatest decline in wheat yield.

This projected impact was similar for major wheat-producing countries such as China, India, USA and France but less so for Russia due to the generally cooler conditions of Russia's wheat-producing areas.

"By combining several models we were able to improve the confidence of the estimates in relation to climate change impact on global food security," says Professor Joergen E. Olesen.

Read the scientific article "Similar estimates of temperature impacts on global wheat yield by three independent models" in Nature Climate Change here.
Both male and female birds use traits like plumage brightness to size each other up, but a new study on Northern Cardinals in The Auk: Ornithological Advances shows that the meanings of female birds' markings may vary from one place to another, even within the same species.

Though they're often not as showy as the males, female birds have plumage ornaments that can convey information to other members of their species. A previous study found that among Northern Cardinals in Ohio, the brightness of females' facial markings indicated how aggressive they would be in defending their nests. However, when Caitlin Winters and Jodie Jawor of the University of Southern Mississippi repeated the study in Mississippi's longleaf pine forest to determine if the same held true there, they were surprised to learn that the variation among females' facial masks in their southern study population had no relationship to their aggressive behavior.

One of the key differences between the northern and southern cardinal populations studied is that unlike in Ohio, the researchers did not observe any evidence of brood parasitism, where one female cardinal sneaks an egg into another's nest, among cardinals in Mississippi. The Mississippi birds also had more habitat available to them and defended larger territories, leaving female cardinals there with less need to defend their nests. "This is an indication that selection pressures vary between northern and southern populations and that the information a female in the north needs to convey to other cardinals differs from what a female in the south has to say," explains Jawor, who has since moved on to New Mexico State University. "The ornament and behavior are both malleable."

To collect their data, Winters and Jawor captured female cardinals early in the breeding season and measured the brightness of their face masks with a color reflectance spectrometer. They tested aggressive nest defense behavior by waiting until a female left for a break in incubation and then placing a female Northern Cardinal decoy near the nest, observing the bird's reaction when it returned.

"This is a timely paper, as current research is demonstrating that the factors involved in the display of female aggression are widely varied throughout species," according to M. Susan DeVries of Edgewood College, who was not involved in the current study. "Considering that different populations are potentially subjected to different selective pressures that can influence behavior, this study's findings imply that the rules governing aggressive signals and behavior in females are much more complex than we once realized."
The shortening of telomeres in cells was thought to be an important biomarker for lifespan and aging. The edible dormouse (Glis glis), a small hibernating rodent, now turns everything upside down. In contrast to humans and other animals, telomere length in the edible dormouse significantly increases in the second half of its life, as researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna found out just recently. The study was published in Scientific Reports.

"As far as I know, no previous study has reported such an effect of age on telomere lengthening," says Franz Hoelzl, one of the authors. Apparently, this unique pattern is due to the peculiar life history of this species. They can reach maximum lifespan of 13 years, which is a Methuselah-like age for a small rodent. "This extreme lifespan is almost certainly related to their ability to rejuvenate telomeres," says Hoelzl. Telomeres are the endcaps of chromosomes, which prevent, together with proteins, the degradation of coding DNA sequences.

Telomeres in small animals shorten fast, but in edible dormice they even grow

In normal somatic cells, telomeres are shortened with every cell division. Besides, oxidative stress has a strong effect on telomere erosion. However, the rate of telomere shortening differs between species. For instance, it has been shown before that telomeres in fast-aging, short-lived wild animals erode more rapidly than in slow-aging, long-lived species.

Earlier this year, the author Franz Hoelzl and his colleagues from Vetmeduni Vienna showed that edible dormice has the capability to re-elongated its telomeres, given that food availability is high. This finding raised the question about the long-term balance between telomere attrition and repair.

The relative telomere length (RTL) gave evidence

To find an answer, the team started a long-tem study on changes in telomere length. In the Vienna Woods in Austria they regularly checked 130 nest-boxes that are occupied by free-living dormice. The researchers collected the rodent's buccal mucosa for three years. Thus, they could extract the DNA and determine the relative telomere length for each dormouse individually using qPCR. With this method scientists can define the amount of target DNA compared to a reference gene of the same sample.

Elongation does not only occur, it even increases in older edible dormice

"We found out that the telomeres were shortened in young animals but length significantly increased once the dormice were six years old or older. To top it all, the rate of telomere elongation also increased with increasing age of the dormice," says Franz Hoelzl.

Among the variables tested, only age significantly affected RTL in a non-linear pattern with telomere length decreasing in younger and increasing in older dormice. Hoelz says, "Telomere length was not affected by time of the year, sex, body mass or reproductive activity at the time of sampling." Nevertheless, the analysis of long term reproduction-data of the same population shows that the probability to reproduce also increases with age. This finding could indicate that telomere elongation is actually part of the preparation for upcoming reproductive events, as gestation and lactation could increase oxidative stress and the animals may attempt to protect their genome.
The network will bring European research, science and business together to further our understanding of the early universe and its consituents.

Dr Rapahel Hirschi, Associate Professor in Astrophysics at Keele University, will be leading the 'Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos' Action, supported by 37 other researchers throughout 27 European countries. The Action will focus on the evolution of the cosmos via the chemical fingerprints left by the nuclear reactions in stars.

The proposal highlights that current research in astronomy, astrophysics and nuclear physics is disjointed. The aim of the Action is therefore to bring those research communities together, to build interdisciplinary bridges across Europe, and to link research with businesses who can provide the technological tools required to exploit the research outputs.

The Action will aim to maximise the scientific and innovative return of huge investments already made in experimental facilities located across Europe, including GANIL in France, the first underground laboratory for nuclear astrophysics LUNA in Italy, and the accelerator facility FAIR being constructed at GSI in Germany.

Dr Rapahel Hirschi, Associate Professor in Astrophysics at Keele University, will be leading the 'Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos' Action, supported by 37 other researchers throughout 27 European countries. The Action will focus on the evolution of the cosmos via the chemical fingerprints left by the nuclear reactions in stars.

The proposal highlights that current research in astronomy, astrophysics and nuclear physics is disjointed. The aim of the Action is therefore to bring those research communities together, to build interdisciplinary bridges across Europe, and to link research with businesses who can provide the technological tools required to exploit the research outputs.

Dr Hirschi, who has coordinated similar research networks at Keele University, commented, "Our overall goal is to answer open questions we still have about the early stages of the universe, and to do this we must take a multidisciplinary approach and work together, specifically in nuclear physics and astrophysics, in a coordinated effort."

The Action will aim to maximise the scientific and innovative return of huge investments already made in experimental facilities located across Europe, including GANIL in France, the first underground laboratory for nuclear astrophysics LUNA in Italy, and the accelerator facility FAIR being constructed at GSI in Germany.

Approved by the COST Committee of Senior Officials on 24 October 2016, the Action is one of 25 approved out of 478 eligible proposals collected earlier this year, and one of only 4 Actions from the UK to be selected.

The COST Action will provide funding for networking activities, including workshops, training schools and short-term scientific missions for 4 years, and will also train a new generation of European scientists, providing interdisciplinary expertise and knowledge-transfer skills.

Dr Hirschi added, "I am really excited about working with other academics but also businesses -- this Action will open big opportunities for SMEs. It's exciting to help spread knowledge across European countries that may not have access to this type of research -- it is a great chance to build bridges between the academic world and industry leaders."

Dr Hirschi was asked to lead the COST Action proposal due to his record of successful projects including BRIDGCE, a UK network established to bridge the disciplines involved in the study of the origin of the elements.
Researchers at the Universite libre de Bruxelles, ULB define for the first time how the cancer cell of origin controls invasive and metastatic properties of tumor cells.

Tumor heterogeneity describes the differences between tumors in different patients and between the different cells within a given tumor. These differences have major implications for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of cancer patients. Different mechanisms have been proposed to account for tumor heterogeneity such as epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process in which epithelial tumor cells loose their adhesion and acquired mesenchymal migratory properties that are associated with metastasis and resistance to therapy. The reason for why some tumors undergo EMT and other not might reflect their cell of origin, although this possibility was not been investigated so far.

In a new study, researchers lead by Cedric Blanpain, MD/PhD, WELBIO investigator and Professor at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRIBHM), Universite libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, demonstrated for the first time, that the cancer cell of origin controls EMT in skin squamous cell carcinoma, the second most frequent skin cancer.

Mathilde Latil and colleagues used state of the art genetic mouse allowing lineage tracing of the cancer cell of origin together with expression of mutated genes that induced cancer formation in different compartments of the skin epidermis including hair follicle cells and the interfollicular epidermis, the cells that formed the skin barrier. Surprisingly, while the skin cancers arising from the interfollicular epidermis were epithelial well-differentiated cancers, tumors that arise from the hair follicle, were in general very invasive mesenchyme-like cancers that underwent EMT. These data demonstrate that hair follicle stem cells and their progeny are prone to undergo EMT, and give rise to metastasis, demonstrating that the cancer cell of origin is associated with tumor aggressiveness.

To understand the mechanisms by which cell of origin controls this malignant transition, Mathilde Latil and colleagues studied the changes in the transcriptional (all the genes that are expressed by a cell) and the epigenetic landscape (the accessibility of DNA that allows the expression of genes) of the cancer cell of origin and their resulting tumors. They found that the epigenetic and transcriptional landscapes of the cancer cell of origin primed the oncogene-targeted cells to develop into either well-differentiated or more invasive tumors characterized by EMT, underscoring the importance of the cancer cell of origin in controlling this transition. " It was really exciting to observe this remarkable and unexpected similarity in the epigenetic and transcriptional landscape of hair follicle lineage and the invasive tumor cells suggesting that the EMT genes are primed in the cancer cell of origin, which facilitate the development of EMT in cancer cells" said Mathilde Latil, the first author of this study.

In addition, this study allowed identifying the gene network that control tumor initiation and EMT related heterogeneity. "By combining genome wide transcriptional and epigenetic profiling, we can now define for each genes which are the factors and the specific DNA regions they bind that regulate gene expression in tumor cells. The identification of these gene networks that regulate different tumor functions will be instrumental to design new strategy to block tumorigenesis and EMT, which may improve cancer response to therapy and decrease metastasis" explains Pr Cedric Blanpain, the senior author of this Cell Stem Cell paper.
Using a new theory, Erwin Lambert shows that more freshwater in the Arctic may strengthen the Gulfstream's extension into the polar regions -- the opposite of what has generally been anticipated with future climate change.

A new study from researchers at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research gives less reason to fear a weakening of the Gulfstream due to climate change. One of the suggested 'tipping points' in the climate system is a substantial slow-down or even collapse of the Gulfstream due to increased freshwater input in the northern seas. In a warmer climate, the hydrological cycle of precipitation and evaporation will strengthen including more rainfall, river runoff and ice melt in the north. One can in its most extreme imagine this literally to close the large-scale ocean circulation between the Arctic and the lower latitudes.

In the article 'How northern freshwater input can stabilise thermohaline circulation', Erwin Lambert, PhD-student at UiB and the Bjerknes Centre and the University of Bergen, studies how ocean circulation is affected by increased freshwater input. Lambert and colleagues show how increased freshwater input in the north in some cases can even strengthen the Gulfstream extension into the Arctic -- just like a river in a typical Norwegian fjord is a driver for the fjord's exchange with the surrounding ocean.

In 1961, the American oceanographer Henry Stommel reduced the ocean to a few equations. With Stommel's model, the North Atlantic can be split into a warm part in the south and the cold Nordic Seas in the north -- a thought experiment of two boxes, without coastlines, islands or underwater ridges. In the North Atlantic, water flows northward at the surface, before sinking to the bottom in the Nordic Seas and flowing back southward in the deep ocean. The surface current flowing north is what we think of as the Gulf Stream. Stommel's description of how water circulates between warm and cold regions like this, was entirely theoretical, and it was the Finnish oceanographer Clas Rooth who applied it to the Atlantic in 1982.

Stommel's model is simple. It does not represent all factors in the real world, but still made it possible to answer a big question. You can neglect the wind, and there will be circulation in the North Atlantic. As long as water sinks in the north, the Gulf Stream will continue to flow north.

"The beauty of such a model is that we can understand the full behavior of its circulation," says Erwin Lambert.

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Lambert is a PhD candidate at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre, and works with a box model that builds on Stommel's model. He remarks that both theoretical models, like his, and the large and more detailed circulation models used for weather forecasting and climate projections, only represent the real world to a limited extent.

"The benefit of a theoretical model is that we know, and actually choose, what these limitations will be."

Simple models make it easier to pin-point the effect of changes. Like Stommel, Lambert can choose to let the water in the north be less salty and calculate how the ocean current will react to more freshwater in the Nordic Seas. A fresher north is exactly what is expected with global warming.

In a warmer world, there will be more rain and snow in the northern regions, meltwater from glaciers and sea ice will pour into the ocean, and together this will make the water in the Nordic Seas less salty. The salty Atlantic water that flows in from the south will mix with water that is fresher than it used to, and the mix will be less dense. As a result, water entering the Nordic Seas will not sink as efficiently as it has done in the past. According to Stommel's model, this would reduce the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the background for theories that global warming may weaken the Gulf Stream.

Two thirds of the water that enters the Nordic Seas flow back south in the deep ocean. The remaining one third continues on the north-bound route and enters the Arctic Ocean. This water is not included in Stommel's model, and when calculating the effect of climate change, it must be. The old model consists of one box for the southern part of the North Atlantic and one for the Nordic Seas.

By adding a third box, the Arctic Ocean, the ciculation in the Atlantic Ocean is stabilized. When you include the effect of more freshwater in the Arctic Ocean, the current will be less reduced than in Stommel's model with only two boxes. This makes Erwin Lambert think that increasing precipitation in the north may be less important for the circulation in the Atlantic than previously believed.

He admits that it's still an open question of how well such simple box models represent reality. For example, wind -- which the Stommel model does not consider -- is a vital driver of the Gulf Stream near the surface. But Lambert maintains that simple models still make it possible to study major processes in the ocean.

"It's amazing how much knowledge can be gained from a model that consists of merely five equations."
A recent article published in IEEE Intelligent Systems highlights the requirements the Internet of Things (IoT) will place on search engines and brings together the latest research being carried out in this field. 'On Searching the Internet of Things: Requirements and Challenges' has been written by leading researchers working in the field of next generation communications at the University of Surrey's Institute of Communication Systems (home of the 5G Innovation Centre) and Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge Enabled Computing (Kno.e.sis) at Wright State University (USA).

Experts in next generation communications outline how internet search mechanisms will need to change to support the Internet of Things (IoT) whereby billions of devices will become connected

Complex future technologies such as smart cities, autonomous cars and environmental monitoring will demand machine-to-machine searches that are automatically generated depending on location, preferences and local information New requirements will include being able to access numerical and sensory data, and providing secure ways of accessing data without exposing the devices to hackers

An article highlighting the latest research in this area by academics at the University of Surrey and Wright State University (USA) has been published in IEEE Intelligent Systems

A recent article published in IEEE Intelligent Systems highlights the requirements the Internet of Things (IoT) will place on search engines and brings together the latest research being carried out in this field. 'On Searching the Internet of Things: Requirements and Challenges' has been written by leading researchers working in the field of next generation communications at the University of Surrey's Institute of Communication Systems (home of the 5G Innovation Centre) and Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge Enabled Computing (Kno.e.sis) at Wright State University (USA).

With more and more IoT devices being connected to the internet, and smart city data projects starting to be implemented, there is an urgent need to develop new search solutions which will allow information from IoT sources to be found and extracted. While existing search engines have ever more sophisticated and effective ways of crawling through web pages and searching for textual data, the article argues that they will not be effective in accessing the type of numerical and sensory data which IoT devices will need to gather.

The article states that whereas in the past, human users have searched for information on the web, the IoT will see more machine-to-machine searches which are automatically generated depending on location, preferences and local information. Autonomous vehicles, for example, will need to automatically collect data (such as traffic and weather information) from various sources without a user being involved.

The IoT also presents a challenge in terms of cyber security. Applications which rely on public data, such as smart city technologies, need to be very accessible to make them available to a wide range of applications and services. Search mechanisms for these devices will need to provide efficient methods of indexing, crawling and finding data while ensuring the data is safe from hackers.

The University of Surrey's 5G Innovation Centre -- the UK's largest hub for research into next generation communications- is conducting a number of projects in the field of IoT search engines. These include developing search mechanisms that describe the sources of the data required, and developing algorithms for clustering and analysis of IoT 'time-series' data.

The article's lead author Dr Payam Barnaghi (a Reader in Machine Intelligence at the University of Surrey), says: "Search engines have come a long way since their original purpose of locating documents, but they still lack the connection between social, physical and cyber data which will be needed in the IoT era. IoT data retrieval will require efficient and scalable indexing and ranking mechanisms, and also integration between the services provided by smart devices and data discovery.

"IoT technologies such as autonomous cars, smart cities and environmental monitoring could have a very positive impact on millions of lives. Our goal is to consider the many complex requirements and develop solutions which will enable these exciting new technologies."

The article's second author, Professor Amit Sheth of Kno.e.sis, comments: "I see tremendous opportunities to effectively utilize physical (especially IoT), cyber and social data by improving the abilities of machines to convert diverse data into meaningful abstractions that matter to human experiences and decision making. IoT search, particularly for devices or machines to interact with each other to find and aggregate relevant information on a human's behalf, will become a critical enabler."
Researchers from University of East Anglia (UEA) have produced new guidelines aimed at improving the communication and understanding of scientific data -- using knowledge of how the human brain processes visual and written information.

Drawing on cognitive and psychological sciences and using climate change data as an example, the team looked at how scientists and other communicators can increase the accessibility of graphics used to present information, while maintaining scientific accuracy and rigor.

Scientific information is one factor that can influence decision-making to achieve change, and visualisation of data through graphics -- such as graphs, diagrams and thematic maps -- plays an important role in the communication of climate change findings to both expert and non-specialist audiences.

However, graphics created for scientific assessments published by bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been criticised for being inaccessible to non-experts.

The researchers from UEA and Temple University provide guidelines to support climate scientists in developing more accessible graphics. They show how they can be applied in practice and provide recommendations on how the IPCC might use these guidelines in the development of future reports.

The project was conducted in response to the IPCC itself asking how graphics and reports can be made more user-friendly as it looks ahead to the Sixth Assessment Report, due to be released in 2020-2021.

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Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers suggest that graphics should be tested during their development to understand viewers' comprehension of them, for example by using eye tracking technology to measure visual attention.

Co-author Prof Kenny Coventry, an expert in the relationship between language and perception and head of UEA's School of Psychology, said the cognitive and psychological sciences can provide valuable insights into how visualisations of data can be improved.

"Graphics of climate data are integral to scientific assessments of climate change, but only support communication and decision-making if they are understood," said Prof Coventry. "Testing graphics and applying insights from the science of human cognition to help overcome comprehension problems offers the potential to make climate science knowledge more accessible to decision-makers in society, while also retaining the integrity of the scientific data and evidence on which they are based.

"The ease of accessibility of graphics of climate science has implications for how society might make best use of scientific knowledge. Graphics of climate data that are accessible to all parties involved could support improved engagement, dialogue and decision-making between scientists, policy-makers, practitioners, communities and the public.

"While the science underpinning graphic comprehension is still developing, the guidelines we present provide a useful reference for climate scientists to apply psychological and cognitive insights when creating graphics of data."

The researchers say that visual attention when viewing graphics can be limited and selective -- visual information in a graphic may or may not be looked at and/or processed by viewers. An excess of visual information can also create visual clutter and impair comprehension, while the visual structure and layout of the data influences the conclusions drawn about it.

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Animating a graphic may help or hinder comprehension, and the language used can influence thought about the graphic.

The team used the guidelines to re-design a figure from one of the IPCC's Summaries for Policy Makers (SPMs), which are primarily aimed at experts working in government. This cognitively inspired version included larger font size to highlight key headings, emphasised important differences using contrast in colour, and reduced visual clutter. When tested with a sample of climate change researchers and non-experts, 80 per cent of them preferred the cognitively inspired version.

The guidelines include:

- Direct viewers' visual attention to visual features of the graphic that support inferences about the data;

- Include only information for the intended purpose of the graphic; break down the graphic into visual 'chunks', each of which should contain enough information for the intended task or message;

- Identify the most important relationships in the data that are to be communicated; consider different ways of structuring the data that enable the viewer to quickly identify these relationships;

- Use text to help direct viewers' understanding of the graphic, for example by providing key knowledge needed to interpret the graphic.

Jordan Harold, co-author and PhD researcher within UEA's School of Psychology and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said: "Visually representing climate data to inform decision-making can be challenging due to the multi-dimensionality of data, a diversity in users' needs across different stakeholder groups, and challenges and limitations in the use of software and tools to create graphics.

"As the IPCC prepares for its Sixth Assessment Report, there is an opportunity for it to open up the review process and ask the psychology and cognitive science communities, and those working in associated disciplines, for feedback on drafts of graphics. Similar collaborations have led to improved communication in related scientific fields."

'Cognitive and psychological science insights to improve climate change data visualisation', authored by Jordan Harold, Irene Lorenzoni, Thomas Shipley and Kenny Coventry is published in Nature Climate Change.
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It all started when Leanne Lauricella went shopping at Marshalls before Halloween. She was browsing the aisles when something caught her eye - a child's duck costume, complete with a big orange bill and two webbed feet. Lauricella runs a goat rescue group called Goats of Anarchy in New Jersey. She thought the duck costume would look cute on her baby goats, especially the newest rescue goat named Polly. So she bought the costume and took it home, not thinking too much of it. Little did Lauricella know just how much Polly would love that duck costume.

Goats of Anarchy

Polly is a baby goat with serious medical issues. She's blind, has neurological problems that affect her eating ability and is severely underweight for her age. She also suffers from anxiety.

Goats of Anarchy

When Polly can't find Lauricella, she frantically runs around the house, crying her heart out. Polly also has some weird habits, which Lauricella thinks are linked to her anxiety issues. "She'll find a corner of a wall in the house, and she'll just start sucking on the wall," Lauricella told The Dodo. "So all the corners in our house have these little suck marks from her mouth."

Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades

Goats of Anarchy

When Lauricella put the duck costume on Polly for a photo, something amazing happened. "As soon as I put it on her, she just instantly got calm," Lauricella said.

Goats of Anarchy

The duck suit seemed to have the same calming effect as a ThunderShirt, or being swaddled in a blanket. But for Polly, the duck costume worked better than anything. "I tried a ThunderShirt - it didn't work," Lauricella said. "There's something about that duck costume that calms her. She goes into a little trance. She just closes her eyes and she's out."

Goats of Anarchy

Now, whenever Polly has an anxiety attack, Lauricella puts her into the duck costume, and voila - instant calm. "She just calms down and goes to sleep," Lauricella said. "Instantly. It's become a thing that she's known for." The duck costume is also useful when Lauricella has to run errands, but can't leave Polly alone at home. When Lauricella once stopped at a local store, she put Polly into her duck suit, and the little goat snoozed in the shopping cart.

Goats of Anarchy

Other costumes seem to have the same calming effect on Polly, including a pig costume and a fox costume. But the duck costume remains Polly's favorite.

Goats of Anarchy

Polly might be small now, but Lauricella expects her to get a little bigger ... and eventually outgrow her duck costume. "I've started regretting that I didn't buy the next size up," she said.

Goats of Anarchy

But Lauricella might have found a solution - another rescue goat named Pocket who arrived a few days ago and is handicapped. "When Pocket came home, I laid him on [Polly's] back ... and it just calmed her right down and she went to sleep," Lauricella said. "It was almost like that duck costume. I've noticed that anytime he's lying next to her, she just gets calm. I've never seen her do that with another goat here."

Goats of Anarchy

When Polly eventually moves outside, Lauricella hopes Polly and Pocket will continue to be best friends. "I'm hoping she won't need [her duck suit]," Lauricella said. "I hope that Pocket becomes her duck suit."

Goats of Anarchy
OTTAWACanadian corporate executives whose companies together employ more than a million people are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers to press ahead with collective climate action, including putting a price on carbon emissions.

An open letter to the first ministers was released Thursday morning ahead of a planned meeting early next month in Ottawa, where the federal Liberals hope to finalize a pan-Canadian plan with all the provinces and territories.

Canada has a history of taking far-sighted policy actions to capitalize on the opportunities created by global economic change, the letter says.

The time is right for the same kind of bold leadership.

The 60-plus signatories include business leaders representing oil and gas, mining, forestry products, cement making, aluminum smelting, information technology, banking, grocery retail and building materials. Together, their businesses have revenues exceeding $300 billion annually.

Theyve made common cause with clean energy associations, environmental advocacy groups, organized labour and environmental think tanks through the Smart Prosperity Institute, based out of the University of Ottawa.

Their common message is that enlightened self-interest dictates Canada strive to be at the front of the pack as the global economy makes a historic shift.

That includes putting a price on CO2  the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions, stimulate innovation and drive energy efficiency, says the two-page letter.

Michael Crothers, the president of Shell Canada, said the open letter was conceived in September  before the election of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump shook the climate policy world  and is aimed less at the premiers than at fostering discussions with other industrial sectors across Canada.

Ive had a few with peers in our (oil and gas) sector but also with other business leaders, Crothers said in an interview.

It really starts to help crystallize into the implementation phase what are some of the key issues that people are concerned about, and how can we address those.

As the letter states, revenues from carbon taxes can be used to help vulnerable households but also to help businesses to remain globally competitive while making the low carbon transition.

That the signatories include the heads of the Aluminium Association of Canada and the Cement Association of Canada  two sectors considered most vulnerable to energy costs and emissions reductions  speaks volumes.

Aluminium Association president Jean Simard said Canada now has the lowest aluminum carbon footprint in the world and competes mainly with China, which controls half of global production.

The carbon intensity of aluminum production is down 60 per cent in Canada, while absolute emissions have fallen by quarter, Simard told The Canadian Press.

We think that now Canada has reached a point  not only for our industry but other industrial sectors  where we have to bring together a mix of policies, including carbon pricing on a national basis, in order to get Canadas economy as the best-in-class in the mid term, he said.

Its a message that still has many detractors.

Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative cabinet minister now contending for the federal partys leadership, rose in the House of Commons on Wednesday to decry Liberal climate policies, including a new national floor price on carbon that will drive up the cost of everything and force business to lay off workers.

Those concerns have only intensified since Canadas dominant trading partner elected a Republican president and Congress that are decidedly cool to the fight against global warming.

Simard suggested factors such as the strength of the U.S. dollar will have at least as much impact on Canada-U.S. trade as carbon pricing.

We think weve passed the point of no return in terms of world commitment on carbon reduction, he said, adding that whats needed now are government policies to accelerate the transition while keeping Canadian industries competitive.

According to the World Bank, seven of the worlds 10 largest economies have priced emissions of carbon dioxide in some fashion. China is set to bring in a cap-and-trade system next year, which will be the worlds largest carbon market.

Smart Prosperity chairperson Stewart Elgie said the low-carbon economy transition is underway, yet the world will continue to use oil and gas, cement and minerals for decades to come.

Canadas niche in that low-carbon economy is to be one of the cleanest producers of those products, Elgie said.

The only question for Canada is: Are we going to keep pace with that change so we can secure our future prosperity?

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Deepa Mehta was in New Delhi visiting her mother in 2012 when news broke of a horrific gang rape there.

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old medical student, was raped and beaten by six men for hours on a moving bus she was on with a male friend. She died two weeks later as a result of massive injuries sustained in the attack.

Theres something thats so visceral about this experience, about the thought of a young woman in a moving bus being gang-raped, and the bus is going around an area of Delhi, passing six police posts and nothing happens, Mehta, who grew up in New Delhi, said in a recent interview.

What was horrific about the whole process was that they threw the young couple out of the bus naked and it took some time for the police to come and get them.

Anatomy of ViolenceAnatomy of Violence, which started screening at Torontos TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, is a fictional dramatization of the lives of the rapists.

The intent is to initiate a dialogue about the systemic issues, like misogyny and patriarchy, that lead to such violence and breed such individuals, said the acclaimed Indo-Canadian filmmaker.

I do hope that it brings up discussion about how society is complicit in how we bring up our children, the kind of education they have, the glass ceiling and how important equality is, said the writer-director of the Oscar-nominated Water.

Mehta said she also hopes to elicit a sense of empathy for the rapists.

I dont feel compassion for them because they made a choice and they have to be responsible for that choice, and that choice is a horrific, brutal choice, she said.

I just think that if they hadnt been brought up the way they were, that girl would not be a victim, she would not be dead. Thats food for thought, so why are people afraid of feeling that were responsible for them being the way they are?

You have to own up to it, otherwise there will always be the monsters and monsters are so easy to dismiss. But if the monster is your brother, thats a problem.

Anatomy of Violence has a raw feel, with largely improvised scenes in New Delhi depicting the lives of the rapists from childhood onward. Some of them experience childhood trauma including molestation, rape and abuse by family members, as well as poverty.

The film also gives a dramatized look at the life of the victim but doesnt depict the actual rape.

I have no desire to re-victimize the victim, Mehta said. Its not about that poor young woman. Its about what we make, these guys, these brutal rapists.

Its also not just a film about whats going on in India, she added.

Yes, this is a very particular story, the context is the gang rape that happened in India in 2012, but its totally universal, Mehta said. It happened in Brazil a few months ago, it happens in Canada all the time.

And lets not kid ourselves, rape knows no class  rich people rape  it knows no geographic boundaries. It is based on patriarchy, power, misogyny, how we bring up our kids. Its the lack of equality, thats what we have to talk about.

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NEAR LANDER, WYO.-Its one thing to take on 130 wild horses, another to open your working cattle ranch to tourists. But thats exactly what Dwayne and Denise Oldham have happily done.

The Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary is Americas third wild horse sanctuary and its first on a working cattle ranch on an Indian reservation.

The government pays the Oldhams enough to feed the horses, but also makes them offer public tours as part of the public-private partnership.

The Oldhams have set up a small visitor centre with interpretive displays and have a Polaris side-by-side utility vehicle ready to take people out to the fields to see the horses.

I think, mostly, were just trying to be part of the solution, says Dwayne.

The horses are descendants of the Iberian ones that Spanish colonizers brought to North America in the 1500s. Soon they were in the United States, embraced by Native Americans and ranchers, but also running wild and often abandoned. They became known as mustang from the word mestango, an animal that strays.

Today, many ranchers hate wild horses for grazing on their land and eroding their soil with their hooves.

Without natural predators, wild horse herd sizes can double every four years. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management now protects and manages wild horses and burros and spends millions rounding them up each year, but only has holding corrals for so many.

Wild horses, says Dwayne, are usually put in break and train programs at prisons and then sold at auction and through online adoptions. Some never get adopted, however, and the United States no longer slaughters horses.

There are about 45,000 wild horses and burros in captivity and another 67,000 running wild.

The Oldhams run Double D Ranch on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Denise is from New Mexico originally and has Navajo heritage. Dwayne met her when he went down there to work as a vet. They have four grown children, raise cattle and sheep, and breed quarter horses.

The Oldhams are easing into the tourism side of their partnership with the government. Theyve created a Facebook page, taken out a few school groups and are talking with local casinos and a Japanese tour operator about trip packages. Tours, which cost $35 (U.S.) but are free for kids, are by appointment only from June to September.

The truth of the matter is Im busy enough, says Dwayne.

The horses are classified as mustangs, but most look fairly ordinary so who knows how much Spanish blood is still in them.

Whats really surprising is how these once wild horses gather around close enough for photos. A few even let us pat them.

These guys are pretty calm, says Dwayne. One reason is because we got them in November and fed them all winter and since June were doing all these tours.

Jennifer Bains trip was partially supported by the Wyoming Office of Tourism, which didnt review or approve this story.

When You Go

Get there: You can fly from Toronto to Salt Lake City, Utah, and then either rent a car or take a regional flight to Cody, Wyo., and rent a car from there.

See the horses: The Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary is at Double D Ranch, about a 10-minute drive north of Lander. Theres a free visitors centre and Monday to Saturday tours by appointment ($35 (U.S.) adults/$15 for ages 13 to 18 and free for 12 and under). Details: facebook.com/wrwhs10

Stay/eat: We stayed at the Riverton Holiday Inn (holidayinn.com), about 30 minutes from the Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary. We had breakfast at the Middle Fork in Lander (themiddleforklander.com) and had our eyes on lunch at Cowfish (cowfishlander.com) but the timing didnt work.

Do your research: Wind River Visitors Council (windriver.org), Wyoming Tourism (travelwyoming.com)

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CHICXULUB, MEXICOA Mexican judge has ordered a Canadian man who was arrested for the killing of a fellow countryman to be locked up for nine months as a precautionary measure while authorities investigate the death.

A news release from the attorney generals office for the state of Yucatan describes the imprisonment as an informal preventative detention.

The document says the attorney general has six months to complete its investigation before prosecution.

The man, identified only by his initials, is being held over a fatal stabbing of another Canadian man that took place on Nov. 13 in the port town of Chucxulub Puerto on the tip of the Yucatan peninsula.

An earlier news release says the victim died after being stabbed repeatedly with a kitchen knife while in the company of the suspect and one other person.

Friends and family have identified the man killed as 48-year-old Roger Corbett of Victoria.

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Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch is proposing to sell the CBC, saying she doesnt believe the broadcaster should be propped up by taxpayers.

What Im proposing is that it either be subject to an asset sale or an IPO, whichever will salvage the best value for Canadians with the intention being we get the best value for money for taxpayers, said Leitch (Simcoe-Grey) on Thursday.

The pledge was dismissed by the NDP as ridiculous.

Were back in the 1920s, said MP Pierre Nantel (Longueuil-Saint-Hubert). How about going back to Morse code?

Leitch linked her proposal to another of the major policy items she has put forward  instituting a cap on government spending. This means that every department will have to play its part, she said.

If theres an entity thats not competitive thats not profitable, I dont believe it should be in business, she said. And (the CBC) is an entity thats not only propped up by taxpayers but its stealing advertising revenue from other (media) outlets.

The playing field for broadcasters should be levelled, she said. So, having a single entity, which is underwritten by the taxpayers decreases competition and creates an unfair advantage, Leitch said.

What we need is competition in the marketplace so we hear from different voices, she said. A key part of our democracy is to hear those different voices.

However, the part of CBC that provides emergency services to remote and rural parts of Canada should be maintained, she added.

Earlier this week, Leitchs fellow Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier called for CBC to refocus its mandate, moving toward a PBS model, financed by public donations.

I strongly disagree with the stance taken by fellow leadership candidate Maxime Bernier and his call for CBC reform  the CBC doesnt need to be reformed, it needs to be dismantled, Leitch said.

Nantel said he doesnt think Leitch is truly describing reality. The CBC has a very specific mandate, which is to inform and entertain, and it is an unbiased voice that brings Canadians together, he said.

In 2012 the Stephen Harper government had proposed to cut CBCs funding over the following three years, which meant a loss of $115 million a year. In March, Justin Trudeaus government promised to restore and increase the CBC budget, beginning with a $75-million injection this year, followed by $150 million a year over until 2020-21.

With the CBC now flush with funds, perhaps it can stop competing for digital advertising revenue and level the playing field themselves, proposed Nantel.

All the money input was welcome because they were under siege but now they can cut some slack to their competitors, he said.

Earlier in this year, John Honderich, chair of the board of Torstar, which publishes the Toronto Star, addressed MPs who were studying the state of the media in Canada.

He said newspapers across the country have had to let go of huge numbers of journalists, leading to less political and community coverage, and less investigative journalism.

If you believe, as we do, that the quality of a democracy is a direct function of the quality of the information citizens have to make informed decisions, then this trend is very worrisome, Honderich said.

CBC News digital offerings are seen as the biggest competition to the Star, Honderich said.

James Baxter, founding editor of iPolitics, echoed Honderichs views, calling CBC News an uber-predator, that competes directly with private media companies.

When asked how money from dismantling of CBC would be redistributed, Leitch said she did not want to speculate about the future.

The CBC is taking all your advertising revenue particularly in the digital space, she said. Its not allowing different media outlets to truly participate as an equal player on a competitive level, were not hearing those different voices. And what I want to see in Canada is those different voices represented because freedom of speech is something that we actually embrace in this country.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Impressive.









In motion. Incredible













Don't mean to bring you all down but this is a Killer Hurricane.









My friend Jim Williams would point out the deaths were from flooding.

Yes, so true. Flooding caused by Otto.

Rare to see this misery there in November.

But it does happen. Martha 1969

5 fatalities. November.

Landfall in Panama not Nicaragua tho both got weather.









Otto is a dangerous hurricane.

Usually M N and O storms are a problem for the Caribbean.

Mitch for instance. Matthew caused trouble as well.

Jamaica keeps getting lucky.

Jamaica has much to be thankful for.............









As always time will tell.

And a special thanks to Mike from Spaghetti Models

www.spaghettimodels.com

Loved the Facebook Live during Matthew.

As we move forward with no ways to communicate.

Communicate, educate and sometimes entertain you.

That's what many of us try to do.

Knowledge is power!





Wow, wow Otto... Look at Otto! Cat 2 and running out of room while he tries to make Cat 3. He should stay where he is now, however he was not forecast to be a Cat 2 just a minimal 75 MPH hurricane so let's see how the day plays out. As for me I'm typing this while watching the Macy's Day Parade with one of my daughter-in-laws who is online. I used to watch the parade with my baby brothers in bed making a lot of noise annoying my mother who wasn't much into parades. Actually, my mother wasn't much into Thanksgiving. My Aunt made big meals or we went out to eat somewhere. My father would take me out to a Cafeteria usually around Thanksgiving so I could enjoy a "real meal" you know with the dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy. When my kids growing up I made huge meals, decorated the turkey and we had fun. Meyer kids generally have fun, just saying. But now I'm online with my brother in Greece listening to the song he sent me and talking to my daughter-in-law on messenger!! 2016 ... so much to give thanks for!!! So much!!!!We can watch hurricanes on satellite imagery with incredible models that help in early warnings for areas that years ago had no warnings before they were slammed with deadly storm surge. I think that's something to give thanks for ...And I can talk to my kids on Whatsapp, Snapchat, FaceTime and regular old messenger from Facebook while doing anything except handling dangerous equipment. Who knew the Internet had so much in common with Dimetapp? That said... I can watch the parade, sip Nespresso Latte and write while in bed under the warm covers as I balance the phone on one knee next to the laptop. Later we can be together on Facebook Live. Gotta love 2016 on so many levels for the ways we stay in touch on Twitter after "migrating" from AOL :) (for u know who you are...)I think you get where I'm going.... There is so much to give thanks for and as always it's what you focus on in life. I was taught my a spiritual mentor friend a saying from a Rebbe from years back. In spiritual matters you look up at people who have more than you to be more like them spiritually on any level even New Age "just think happy thoughts" or pray to the Lord whatever works for you. My additional thoughts here. And on material things you look at those who need and have less than you. Obviously to help them and give charity and be thankful for all you do have in your life.www.redcross.orgIf you spend your time always upset because you don't have as much as the next guy or gal... you are never happy. I remember growing up in Miami Beach in a very wealthy area or more so an area where some people were very wealthy and others like us lived in old, affordable mini Roaring 20s mansions that needed much work but I loved that house. We were told we had structural damage from the 1926 Hurricane that would never be fixed completely. But some neighbors lived on North Bay Road and near by Pine Tree Drive. So there was this nice kid who came over often to play with my kids who lived in a big, beautiful home on North Bay Road but it was on the landlocked side of the street (means he had a backyard not on the water) and all day from his fancy, beautifully decorated, expensive house he'd look out across the street at the larger mansion ON THE WATER that looked out on Biscayne Bay. We'd remind him he had a beautiful house. He's look sad and say "yeah but it's not the same" and I'd giggle and pray a bit that when he grows up he will look back and appreciate all he had back then on the wrong side of the expensive street.The point again here is what you focus on ..............People need rain in parts of the country that are in drought, that's a NEED not a want though they be wanting rain bad. People go through a whole winter and barely get snow and are sad. Some people I knew growing up would cry as kids when a hurricane turned away from making landfall in Miami. And speaking of Miami "Hey how about those Dolphins??"Just something to think on if you are here today reading my blog on Thanksgiving. We go through years of no hurricanes and then El Nino leaves and the switch is flipped. I do think La Nina is here in some way and we will have a strong winter in some areas. I know that sounds vague, but we have to see how the storm tracks play out in real time.And some people are already focusing on whether Paula will form...So stay tuned and be very happy for what you DO have and maybe next year you'll have more of what is on your wish list!Happy Thanksgiving from Raleigh where the temperature is supposed to hit 71 degrees today. Now I'm thinking we should have gone to Myrtle Beach. But making a quiet, sort of romantic candle lit dinner for tonight and planning on relaxing from the crazy whirl of social events a few days ago in Brooklyn.I'll update later today after landfall. And landfall is coming soon. Worth noting they have it decreasing in intensity down to 70 MPH at landfall. That would mean it makes landfall not as a hurricane but as a tropical storm. Despite the climo and weather history of the region I'm not convinced it won't be hurricane status at landfall. Otto has been an over performer since day 1.Besos BobbiStorm@bobbistorm on Twitter... look me up!Ps Be Safe.. no operating the toaster if you have made too many toasts ;)And some musical epicurean delights from when my old house on Miami Beach was young ;)--->

Labels: Caribbean, friendship, hurricane, jazz, otto, panama, parades, peanuts, thanksful, Thanksgiving, tropics, weather
Ontarios health minister says hes committed to improving safety in the pharmacy industry after meeting with the mother of an 8-year-old boy who died after allegedly being administered the wrong drug.

In March, Andrew Sheldrick died of a toxic overdose of baclofen, a muscle relaxant drug, according to a coroners report. Andrew had a diagnosed sleeping disorder and was on a regular prescription for tryptophan, a drug that helped regulate his sleep cycle and which his mother thought she had picked up from a Mississauga pharmacy.

But the coroners report concluded logic would dictate that baclofen was substituted for tryptophan at the compounding pharmacy in error.

The family met Tuesday with Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins, asking him to help implement a law that would increase oversight and tracking of pharmacies that make errors.

The hope is that we can make pharmacies safer. Thats the whole point of all this, said Melissa Sheldrick, who called the meeting productive. My child was taken from us because there was a careless mistake and we dont want that to happen again. We want it to be safer, whatever that takes.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said the minister was looking into ways similar tragedies could be prevented.

The minister had committed to looking at this and seeing if there are any steps we can take to improve transparency and safety in the pharmacy sector and thats exactly what we committed to doing with her, the spokesperson said.

Nova Scotia is the only province where pharmacists must report all errors to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada, a not-for-profit organization committed to preventing medication errors.

We are looking to bring the same model in Nova Scotia to Ontario. We do think that is the optimal approach, said Sylvia Hyland, the institutes vice-president and chief operating officer. Its a complex environment that we work in and its ever-changing. We need to have programs where we can share information with each other about problems that might be occurring or could occur.

Drug Safety Canada chair Terence Young, the Conservative MP for Oakville from 2008-2015 and previously an MPP in Ontario, said without increased transparency nothing will change and the errors will continue.

When a child dies from being given the wrong drug, its frightening for people because most people at some point in their life will take a drug for an illness, said Young, whose 15-year-old daughter Vanessa died in 2000 after taking a prescription drug. Young founded Drug Safety Canada in 2001 to advocate for prescription drug safety.

Right now there are many, many drug errors that stay in the shadows because theyre not reported, he said. If you have an independent agency that studies these, deconstructs them and find ways to prevent them, youll reduce them.

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OTTAWAThe Mounties have reached an agreement with China to try and halt the transpacific flow of fentanyl into Canada.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and Chen Zhimin, the vice-minister of Chinas public security ministry, have agreed to boost efforts to disrupt the flow of the drug and other opioids, the force announced Friday following meetings this week.

Fentanyl and other opioids pose a grave threat to community safety in Canada, said Paulson, who described the meetings as an important step forward in a co-ordinated approach to the problem of fentanyl.

Discussions to formalize joint investigations will begin next week, the RCMP added.

Last week, B.C. Premier Christy Clark, whose province is on the front line of Canadas fentanyl problem, urged Ottawa to take action to crack down on imports of the drug from China ahead of an opioid summit in Ottawa.

Fentanyl, a highly potent and addictive opioid, is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Another opioid known as carfentanil, commonly used as an animal tranquilizer, is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.

In a joint statement Friday, B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Morris and Health Minister Terry Lake said they are pleased with the RCMPs plans to work with the Chinese ministry.

We believe that by collaborating with our international and federal partners, enforcement will ultimately be stronger across all our provincial and international borders, the ministers said.

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale noted last week that the world needs to take the fentanyl problem seriously and Canada needs international help in staunching the flow of the drug from overseas.

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

Manitoba RCMP officers now carry fentanyl antidote to prevent overdoses

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OTTAWAA Russian politician who laments the decline of his countrys relations with Canada suggested Thursday that his homeland might be willing to play nice in its long-standing dispute over who controls the North Pole.

Igor Chernyshenko, a senator from the northern city of Murmansk, said Russia would respect any United Nations decision on who should control a swath of the Arctic seabed known as the Lomonosov Ridge, which extends across the North Pole.

Chernyshenko, who was at Carleton University in Ottawa for a conference on Canada-Russia relations, delivered the overture as an example of positive co-operation between two countries that have been at odds for nearly a decade.

The Russian embassy and Canadas foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, organized the conference as an example of the Liberal governments new foreign policy decision to re-engage with Russia because of its shared interest in the Arctic.

The previous Conservative government downgraded ties with Russia because of its unilateral annexation of Ukraines Crimea region in 2014. In opposition, the Conservatives have vocally opposed the rapprochement, saying it represents cosying up to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Conservatives saw Russias Arctic ambitions as provocative, especially after the Russians planted a flag on the North Pole seabed in 2007.

The Liberals say it is time to move beyond that, citing the need to work with countries that have a shared interest in a frozen wasteland thats rapidly thawing, leading to increased ship traffic, potential oil and gas exploration, as well as potential threats on the environment and security fronts.

Russia, Canada and Denmark have all filed competing territorial claims and it could take as long as 15 years for the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea to decide.

But the UN wont have the final say because it will be up to the countries themselves to negotiate a settlement based on the assessment.

The visiting senator told that his country would negotiate the division of the territory, which researchers believe contains significant oil and gas deposits.

We recognize international law and after the UN Commission makes its decision, Canada and Russia will positively decide on how to divide that up, Chernyshenko said through an interpreter.

He lamented the decline in trade between the two countries, which has shrunk since ties were downgraded and Canada joined its allies in imposing sanctions.

This is very sad.

Russias envoy to Canada says the renewed Arctic co-operation could be the spark that reignites relations on a broader level, including possible co-operation on fighting terrorism, and deeper business ties.

Its very good our bilateral dialogue has been relaunched. Canadas self-imposed isolation from Russia is over, Alexander Darchiev, the Russian ambassador, said in an interview.

Not so fast, said Joseph Pickerill, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion.

Russian and Canadian companies are free to pursue commercial opportunities in one anothers markets so long as their undertakings are in compliance with Canadas sanctions regime, Pickerill said in an email.

However, our diplomatic re-engagement does not mean it is business as usual with Russia.

Indeed, Canadian co-operation with Russia will have to be confined to the Arctic because of major differences on Ukraine and Russias backing of the Assad regime in Syria, said Whitney Lackenbauer, a St. Jeromes University historian.

Military co-operation between the two countries is also a long way off, which means no Russian observation of Canadian military operations in the North or renewed meetings between their defence chiefs.

Any characterization of the two countries as great partners, great friends, is not going to be appropriate, he said.

University of British Columbia international law professor Michael Byers said Russia and Canada are capable of settling territorial disputes and working together on shared interests in the North, including dealing with challenges that will come with more shipping traffic.

The Russians are anxious to find partners in the Arctic because their economy has been pummelled by sanctions and the decline in world oil prices, Byers said.

The Russians are desperate to see sanctions lifted. In that context, theyre very eager to improve relations in any domain.

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MONROVIA, LIBERIAAfrica and the rest of the world will never achieve peace and stability without empowering women and girls  and encouraging men to support them, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday on the first day of his visit to Liberia.

When you try and settle a conflict that doesnt involve women in the solution, its not going to last, Trudeau said in the capital of Monrovia during a panel discussion on the leadership roles that women can play in peace, security, governance and sustainable development.

Trudeau opted for Liberia  an impoverished country in West Africa that lived through years of brutal civil war and was hit hard by the deadly Ebola epidemic in recent years  as the first stop on his first visit to Africa since he became prime minister.

He did so, he said, in part because of the leadership of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role in securing and maintaining peace following civil war.

The symbolism dovetails nicely with a decision by the Trudeau government to put gender equity and the empowerment of women and girls at the heart of its international development strategy, which he talked up to the friendly  and sometimes adoring  crowd gathered for the panel discussion at city hall.

We have to pierce through the perception that womens issues are only for women to talk about and to fight about, Trudeau said as he encouraged men to join the battle to improve the lives of women and girls in order to improve the lives of everyone around them.

He did not shy away from saying that development assistance should include access to abortion. Earlier in the day, however, the prime minister danced around another controversial question about human rights in Liberia.

The fact is, different countries have different paces of evolution in terms of recognizing and enshrining those rights, but we can see that there has been tremendous progress over the years in many different areas, Trudeau said when asked to address the fact that many in Liberia do not condone same-sex marriage.

Standing beside Johnson Sirleaf at a joint news conference, Trudeau praised the Liberian president for the leadership she has shown on female genital mutilation, another human rights issue that affects the region.

Asked for her reaction to Trudeaus comments on LGBTQ rights, Johnson Sirleaf tried to walk a fine line between homosexual relationships and the countrys law prohibiting anal intercourse.

Liberia has no laws that restrict the rights of individuals to their own choices, she said.

Trudeau also unveiled a host of spending initiatives, including:

$10 million over five years, beginning this year, to support the activities of UN Women in West Africa;

$1.5 million this year to a UN-backed financing-acceleration instrument meant to enhance the engagement of women in peace and security;

$1 million to support the UN Development Program for the 2017 Liberian election, including encouraging the participation of more women in politics.

Trudeau emphasized the importance of making sure girls are able to stay in school, a challenge in a region with some of the highest rates of child marriages in the world.

He also visited a local elementary school run by the non-governmental organization Right to Play, where he was greeted by drummers and dancers, and pitched a ball down a field for kids to kick.

Ian Smillie, a long-time Canadian development specialist who has written extensively about the violence linked to diamond mining in West Africa, said he is glad to see Canada taking an interest in Liberia, even if the economic benefits are not obvious.

It is a fragile state whose fragility is due in part to the fact that nobody in the past century thought it was important enough to pay attention.

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Mayor John Tory has a somewhat complicated relationship with road tolls.

Back in 2003, the first time Tory ran for mayor of Toronto, he attacked rival David Miller for suggesting he would consider imposing road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

Miller refused to back away from the idea, saying a discussion on road tolls was needed if the city could come up with no other way to pay for transit.

Tory called the idea highway robbery.

His supporters stood at the Spadina Ave. entrance to the Gardiner holding signs. One said, Road Tolls = Highway Robbery. Another said Honk if you hate tolls.

What really worries me is the negative impact it will have on the downtown, Tory said during the campaign. If people just had that one other thing to worry about  paying $4.50, $2.25 each way  they may not bother to go downtown to do some shopping or go to a restaurant.

Tory lost that election to Miller, who never carried through with the tolling idea.

Fast forward to January 2013, when Tory, then a private citizen, participated in a panel discussion on transit in a pub.

Tory told the small gathering that he had performed a disservice with his attacks on Miller and that it is unfortunate that politicians were afraid to talk about the truth about whats needed.

I dont happen to think that road tolls are the best answer of all the sort of (revenue) tools that are available, but I will say and have said consistently we need some combination of tools to raise this money.

The following year, while running for mayor a second time, Tory consistently ruled out highway road tolls, but so did the other front-running candidates for mayor.

We need to make Toronto more affordable and imposing new taxes is not the way to tackle traffic congestion, he said in 2014. As your mayor, I will build my 53-kilometre, 22-station SmartTrack line, and provide real transit and traffic congestion relief across the city.

But earlier this year, Torys position appeared to soften.

A broader discussion around new ways of raising revenue will begin in April when the city manager presents his long-term fiscal plan, his spokesperson said in March.

Road and congestion pricing will almost certainly be part of that as one item on a long list of possibilities. The mayor does not wish to pre-empt that discussion but his views on road tolls are well documented: it would not be his preferred way to pay for road infrastructure.

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Tory set to announce tolls on the DVP and Gardiner

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Returning home from a morning coffee run, a Toronto resident abruptly stopped in his tracks after seeing two swastikas that were drawn in his neighbourhood in the Moss Park area last Saturday.

I walk this way to work every morning, resident James Breen told the Star. Its really shocking.

Five days later, Breen says that one of the symbols is still in plain sight at an abandoned building on Richmond St. E. in between Ontario St. and Sherbourne Ave., Thursday morning.

The other swastika, which was drawn on a vehicle parked in a car dealership, has since been removed.

Steve Maguire, a spokesperson at the Downtown Ford dealership said that the incident was reported to police on the morning the vandalism was discovered.

Since then, police said that they havent received any reports of vandalism or mischief in the area.

I feel that weve gotten a little bit complacent, thinking that things like this cant happen in Toronto, Breen continued. We have to still keep fighting against those beliefs that are inherent being in this country.

On the weekend of Nov. 13, anti-Semitic messages were drawn on the windows of the Mimico Centennial Library at 47 Station Rd. near Mimico Ave. and Royal York Rd.

Toronto Public Library media spokesperson, Ana-Maria Critchley told the Star that police had been notified, and that they were quickly removed.

Additional hate graffiti was spray painted in other locations in the community, she said.

I never really thought I would have to write a statement such as this because I never really anticipated such a challenge would come to the public library in this great city, City Librarian Vickery Bowles wrote in a statement.

Bowles went on to say that defacing the public library with messages of hate would not be tolerated, and that they threaten what a civil society stands for, and everything a public library stands for.

The public library is a welcoming, inclusive public space that supports the social justice principles of equity and inclusion, she said. I will  indeed all of us at Toronto Public Library  will stand up against hate speech whenever it comes knocking at our door.

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A group of Toronto high school students is hoping that one small step for worms could mean one giant leap for mankind.

After sending about 30,000 worms to space and back, the team is analyzing whether its findings could help treat patients suffering from ALS.

The project is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, run by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. It enables students to conduct microgravity experiments in space.

At the University of Toronto Schools, a secondary day school affiliated with U of T, 30 groups competed for the chance to send an experiment to the International Space Station as part of the program.

We were challenged to create a project that we thought would be meaningful and impactful to do in space . . . something that would . . . impact the real world, said Annie Gravely, a Grade 10 student who was part of the winning group.

At first it was like a huge thing, said the 14-year-old. How can you possibly come up with an idea that wouldnt have been done before, or wouldnt be too simple or trying (too hard)?

There were many restrictions about what the experiment could entail. It had to fit in an 8-milliletre tube, not involve any chemicals, LED lights or electronics and only take about a minute for astronauts aboard the ISS to conduct.

We sent these worms because the tube is really small, said Alice Vlasov, also in Grade 10. You cant fit any live animals, except for worms which are microscopic.

The experiment aims to form a connection between the muscle atrophy that both astronauts in space and people with ALS experience.

Knowing that a protein called ASM-2 (acid sphingomyelinase) increases in patients with ALS, the group wanted to test how microgravity affects ASM-2 levels in worms.

We were looking at how we could use this knowledge to actually treat ALS in the future, said Amy Freeman, a mentor for the high school students who worked on the project.

Freeman, 19, was in Grade 12 when the project began and is now a second-year neuroscience, molecular genetics and microbiology student at U of T.

If we did find that ASM-2 levels were higher in the worms that were in space compared to the ones that were on earth, then maybe we could target ASM-2 and lower it in patients with ALS to see if that can be a form of treatment, she said.

The experiment was launched in July and returned to earth about six weeks later. The group is now in the midst of analyzing its results. The students have mashed up the worms and plan to run tests which will reveal their ASM-2 levels.

Weve been measuring them and seeing how long they are, how fat they are, said Gravely.

We found that the worms in space were actually longer and fatter than the ones on earth.

That was kind of going against what we originally thought.

The group, which consists of 10 students, collaborated with St. Michaels Hospital during its research after reaching out to the hospital.

They were hosted by Dr. Jane Batt, medical director of the Tuberculosis Program and a biomedical science researcher. Much of the research and planning took place in her lab.

When Annie first came to me, I thought well this is cute, its great to have a child whos so interested in science but I honestly never believed in a million years that this was going to go to outer space, said Dr. Batt. So that was a real surprise and it was an absolute pleasure working with these kids as they got closer and closer to their goal.

You have these bright-eyed kids who honestly believe they can do it and they do it. It really just kind of reinvigorates you.

The team had to raise $40,000 to get the project off the ground. They raised the money through a Kickstarter campaign, sponsorships and parent donations.

You dont usually get a chance to learn that way in high school, said Freeman. Its usually just your teacher tells you things about science and you accept them for what they are. It was really amazing to actually look through scientific literature and try to make sense of it and come up with your own ideas.

Vlasov, 15, agreed the project taught her about science in a way no simple high school lab ever could.

It wasnt a hypothetical situation, she said. We actually got to perform it in the end.

When you send something to space, its so weird; it doesnt feel like its possible until it happens.

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Torontonians and others from around the GTA are split on how to feel about proposed tolls for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. Is it an unfair move that will just shuffle traffic (and subsequent jams) to other routes? A decision thats been long overdue? Or maybe somewhere in the middle?

Backlash  and support  erupted after sources confirmed Wednesday that Toronto Mayor John Tory planned to propose tolls for two of the citys major and frequently-congested highway, a move that could raise $300 million a year for road and transit projects. Tory officially promoted his support for tolls at a speech Thursday.

The idea of a toll drew outrage from Torontonians like Dawn Starkman, a North York resident who said she uses the Gardiner and DVP about three to four times a week for work.

I think its horrible. I think its going to cause backup and congestion and even worse traffic than we have, Starkman told the Star, adding that she thinks drivers will simply use main roads and streets instead of paying the tolls. I think the fact that theyre going to force us to pay for something else when were already taxed so heavily here is ridiculous Every other city in the world seems to be getting it right, but Toronto Why is it so difficult?

Greektown resident Vanessa Ibe, who told the Star she drives on the DVP and Gardiner every day for work, was also opposed to the tolls. Ibe said she avoids using public transit, so the toll fees would go towards supporting and subsidizing programs she doesnt use anyway.

Have your say

Theres a little bit of a disconnect (because) the DVP and the Gardiner are both heavily used not just by people living in the suburbs coming into Toronto but by people living in Toronto live myself who prefer to drive in over using public transit, she said.

Residents from other parts of the GTA were also miffed by the announcement.

I do think its kind of silly that theyre using the 905ers as a scapegoat and theyre expecting commuters to pay for Torontos tax dollars when we dont have a vote in Toronto, Oshawa resident Keith Ambrose said. Ambrose uses the DVP and Gardiner about once every two weeks for personal travel and more frequently for work.

(People) dont live in the suburbs and commute into Toronto because they like to commute, the commute sucks. They do it because of economic reasons, right? If you need tax revenue, tax the people that can afford a million dollars for a home, not the people who live in the suburbs because they dont have a million dollars for a home, he said.

But some Toronto residents are arguing that only people coming in from outside the city should have to pay.

Kalima Tarin, who lives near the Scarborough-Beach border, told the Star she uses the DVP and Gardiner four to five times a week for work, to run errands and to visit family. Tolls are a great idea, she said, but Torontonians already pay taxes to the city and shouldnt have to shell out more.

We have so many people coming into Toronto from outside of Toronto that dont reside here and I think those are the people that are congesting our streets and our highways, she said. Were paying for everything. Were paying for our bins, our garbage, in taxes, a lot more than they are. So theyre coming to Toronto and using our streets and using the freeways and they dont even reside here? They should have to pay for it People who actually live in Toronto shouldnt have to pay for it.

Not everyone is against the tolls, though; Aurora resident Peter Tomasso said he takes GO Transit into Toronto every day for work and thinks implementing tolls would be a positive thing.

I travel to the States a lot and any time Im going to Chicago or New York you have to pay a toll, he said, adding that hes never been stuck at a toll booth and hopes Toronto follows American examples on how to make paying the fees quick and efficient.

The DVP is awful, right? Im kind of like, if the city needs more money, that seems like a pretty easy way to get it, he said.

Implementing tolls might also get more drivers off the road, he added, which would cut back on traffic jams and also be better for the environment.

(I) just feel like our traffic is so bad that Im kind of optimistic that maybe these tolls will encourage people into using GO Transit or just any other means of alternative transportation, he said.

With files from Emma McIntosh and Evelyn Kwong

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

Its time to build: John Tory promotes road tolls for Gardiner, DVP

Highway toll plan prompts anger, sense of inevitability, from 905 politicians

Gardiner, DVP road tolls an idea whose time has come, councillors say

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GTA politicians in the 905 say Torontos decision to push a toll on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway, which are used heavily by 905 residents, is, at the very least, disappointing because there was no consultation, and, at worst, a move that will enrage commuters.

I think this is a short-sighted solution to Torontos problems  theyre literally taxing the 905 to pay for Torontos problems, said Durham Region Chair Roger Anderson.

He said with all the special municipal revenue tools only Toronto has, such as a land-transfer tax, under the Toronto Act, many arent being used or are used at rates that dont capture fair market pricing.

But they want to keep property taxes so low. A $500,000 house in the 905 pays almost double the property tax that a $500,000 house in Toronto pays, he noted.

Anderson said tolls will end up hurting Toronto businesses. I think this is going to backfire.

Oshawa Mayor John Henry agreed.

I had no prior heads up until I heard it on the radio this morning, said Henry, who isnt happy about the proposed toll of about $2. Would I support this? No.

Henry said many Oshawa residents, facing exorbitant hydro bills compared to just a few years ago and other hikes for user fees, are past the tipping point. Theres just no more money that people have left anymore.

He warned that Torontos business sector will suffer.

I use the DVP to get to Toronto. I think this will ricochet. For the folks that would have gone to the Eaton Centre, they will stay and shop in Oshawa.

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton disagreed with his counterpart on the other side of the GTA.

To my knowledge nobody (from Toronto) contacted my office, Burton said. Though he pointed to the lack of consultation by Toronto, he said the move is inevitable.

All over North America governments are resorting to tolls  its just a matter of time before it happens here, he said.

Burton said he only uses the GO Train when travelling into Toronto. I adopted the practice years ago, rather than sitting in the Don Valley Parkway or Gardiner parking lot. A huge number of our residents use the GO Train.

Burton said he supports a user-pay approach to covering the costs to maintain the major highways.

The world divides between people who want to put the cost of running a society on some kind of tax and those, like many economists, who talk about user-pay.

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua has a pragmatic view of the Toronto decision.

The reality is that the City of Toronto has billions of dollars worth of unfunded projects looking for revenue sources, he said. Citizens want (Mayor John) Tory to make key strategic investments in infrastructure and transit. The choice is pretty clear you either dramatically raise taxes or move to a user-fee model. He can also seek help from senior levels of government; unfortunately, however, they are facing their own fiscal challenges. To deliver on his promises, he will have to move quickly and decisively. I think that is his plan.

In neighbouring Mississauga, the countrys sixth largest city, Mayor Bonnie Crombie offered support to Tory, as well as some cautionary advice.

I support the building of regionally-integrated transit and transportation networks through dedicated funding. Mayor Tory has many tools at his disposal to raise revenues that other cities do not have. He has chosen to implement road tolls that will not only affect residents in his city, but those in the 905 as well, Crombie said.

Its important that Mayor Tory understand the ramifications of his actions on business and tourism. However, as Toronto owns the Gardiner and DVP, he is free to impose these tolls without input from his neighbours in the 905, she added.

I would caution him, though, that he must ensure that every penny of the money collected is reinvested into the repairs of the Gardiner and DVP, as well as into regionally-integrated transit projects that connect the 905 and the 416, Crombie said.

Residents need to see that this money is not going into general revenue, but directly into projects that address the dire problem of gridlock and congestion. People simply want to be able to move more quickly and easily around the GTA and any money that is collected must make this happen.

Meanwhile, the Star went to the start of the Gardiner Expressway, at the border of Mississauga to find out what commuters think of a $2 toll.

Ryan Perry, Toronto resident who works in Mississauga:

Wheres Rob Ford when you need him. I think its a dumb idea. Im not going to pay $2 to get on for 15 minutes and then turn around and pay another $2 on the way back again. I have to use the Gardiner everyday to get to Mississauga for work. Im just going to use one of the streets now. Thats what everyones going to do.

Carole Gardner, Brampton resident:

It just seems to me a way of getting more money out of us. Its just a tax by another name. Its just another money grab. We use the Gardiner all the time. What if you are only using it for one exit, like us today (shes come from Brampton to shop at the Etobicoke Ikea store)?

Joseph Kalina-Johnson, Toronto resident:

I agree with it. If it works for everyone I think its reasonable. It has to be a reasonable price too. I think $4 (for a return trip) is pretty good, not like the $30 they were trying to charge for the (UPX). As long as it cuts out the congestion, because the congestion is really bad  two bucks is not that bad. I think it will be a good idea, as long as Im not in traffic, Ill pay the four bucks. I use the Gardiner all the time, everyday, going downtown, going to Mississauga, Brampton, for work.

Bill Gardner, Brampton resident:

Absolutely against it. Where do the revenues from our licensing go, the gas tax that exists, all the other revenues that drivers contribute to? I really feel that the governments are wasting a lot of money, like Ontario Hydro being sold off and prices being so high now. You can avoid the Gardiner by using city streets.

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

Heres how people in the GTA are reacting to the mayors proposal for tolls on Gardiner, DVP

Its time to build: John Tory promotes road tolls for Gardiner, DVP

Gardiner, DVP road tolls an idea whose time has come, councillors say

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A woman in The Beach says a gray area in city building bylaws has signed the death warrant of her beloved Norway Maple.

Krista Sieroka, a financial advisor at CIBC, said her neighbours on Beaufort Road dug a pool in their back yard, and damaged the roots of the 40-year-old maple, which sits close to the property line.

Im heartbroken that the tree is damaged, and Im disappointed that our neighbours did this without first consulting us, Sieroka said.

Ken Hunt, the publisher of Toronto Life Magazine, and his wife Erica Baron, a lawyer at a top Toronto law firm, bought the property on Beaufort Road in February for $2.15 million.

When the Star contacted Hunt for an interview, he explained it was the first hed heard of the incident.

That certainly is bad news, Hunt said in an email.

He explained that the original plans for the pool had it in a different location on his property. Those plans would have required the removal of a city-owned tree, but the city denied the application, forcing Hunts contractor to move the pool.

The hole comes right up to the property line, leaving no room between the holes edge and the fence separating Sierokas yard from her neighbours. The trees damaged roots could be seen sticking out of the earth.

The dig happened without notice, and there was never a tree-protection zone put up around the maple, she said.

An arborists report commissioned by Sieroka says the tree, which was already suffering from a split in its truck, is now in decline and needs to be cut down  at a cost of nearly $3,000.

Sieroka complained to the city, which did an inspection. Forestry department spokesman Matthew Cutler said that an investigation is ongoing.

Since the trees in question are some distance from the pool, it never occurred to us that they were in any danger, Hunt wrote.

We, and our contractor, had no intention to violate the tree protection rules with this project, Hunt wrote.

Brent Clark, the contractor hired by Hunt, said the damage was an honest mistake.

In the case of the Norway Maple  the guys over-graded a bit and hit the root system, he said.

Wed never really assessed (that tree) in the first place, and we missed it, Clark said.

Given the grade of the ground and surrounding brush at the time, Clark said the Sierokas tree simply wasnt on his radar. Its a slip that hes sorry for, but a second opinion from the city before digging began could have prevented it, he said.

Theres only one town, Mississauga, that does pre-inspections. And its because its a second pair of eyes. Its rare that we miss, but I know it happens, he said.

(In Toronto) if something goes off your radar, theres nobody there to double-check. In Mississauga, it never happens, because they have their people come out before hand, he said.

After an inspection, Clark said the city ordered him to prune the damaged roots and cover them with rich top soil. Clark said hes not convinced the damage would kill the tree.

Ive been doing this a long time. Ive yet to see a tree die unless its actually taken out, Clark said. Ive never seen one die at that age.

So who is actually to blame for the Norway Maples demise? Well, turns out its rather complicated.

As Cutler, from Urban Forestry, explained, the city has a strict bylaw protecting trees in the city. In most cases, applying for a building permit includes filling out an online tree declaration form that identifies trees on the property, and submitting a tree protection plan. Urban Forestry will review those plans, and may require a tree protection zone around any trees at risk from construction work, Cutler said.

If you want to damage or remove a tree with a trunk size larger than 30 centimetres at shoulder height, you also need a special permit that includes notifying the neighbours of the planned work.

But theres no permit required to dig a backyard pool, meaning theres also no trigger for a tree declaration or protection plan, and also no requirement to notify the neighbours.

That does not, however, negate the need for a permit from Urban Forestry if the construction of the pool will injure or destroy a tree, Cutler said.

Essentially, without an enforced tree protection zone its up to the owner and contractor to ensure they dont accidentally damage a protected tree. And they wont get any help from the city unless they ask for it, which Cutler suggests doing.

As far as the Sierokas and Hunt are concerned, thats a grey area ripe for mistakes like the one that likely cost the life of Sierokas Norway Maple.

The city has this huge program of increasing the canopy cover of the city, said Sierokas husband, Dan.

If there wasnt actually something to stop people from doing whats been done in this case, it seems counterproductive, Dan said.

It seems to me that the penalties arent severe enough to keep people from flouting the law, he said.

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7.0 Earthquake off West Coast of Central America.









There have been similar cases. They are rare.

Happens. Officially no correlation.





Jamaica

http://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/featured/day-history-1780-hurricane-hits-jamaica/









Charleston 1886

http://library.sc.edu/blogs/academy/files/2011/08/After-the-Storm-8-5.5.pdf





Says it all....









Nice to see Drudge is back to weather and earthquakes..





Sadly there are fires in Israel burning.

Some are forest fires but others started in cities.

Arson has been seen as a new form of terrorism.

Some may be forest fires. Time will tell.

Nice to see people coming together to help others.

Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Russia and a few other countries..

..sent planes in to fight the fires.









I have friends living in the affected areas.

I wasn't aware as there is little on TV or regular news.

Friends were passing information on Facebook.

Pictures on Twitter.









Good to see international cooperation.





In other news it's snowing in parts of the USA.

Not a lot of parts and its 72 degrees in Raleigh.

Windows open, house smells incredible.









Otto broke records with this landfall.













And lastly there may be a fly in the ointment with Otto.













Hmmmn.





Please read my previous blog if you have not done so today.

Some good thoughts to ponder on regarding Thanksgiving.





http://hurricaneharbor.blogspot.com/2016/11/cat-2-hurricane-otto-making.html





Time to make a salad and start eating..





Stay tuned.





Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter





Ps... Seems to fit the stories of the day.

Add ... I feel the earth move.......

































When it rains it pours. Otto has made landfall near the town of San Juan in Nicaragua according to the NHC with 100 MPH winds. That's a first for that region officially and at the same time a strong earthquake registered nearby. Crazy but true.

Labels: earthquake, fires, hurricanes, landfall, music, otto, Thanksgiving, tropics
Researchers at the University of Toronto are imagining a world where drones can help paramedics save lives.

Although still in its preliminary stages, they have created a hypothetical network of drones across Ontario that would deliver life-saving defibrillators to those in cardiac arrest.

The benefits could be huge, said U of T researcher Timothy Chan, an associate professor of industrial engineering who is also the director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering.

The paradox of cardiac arrest, he said, is that interventions in this field are focused on public access to AEDs, although 80 per cent of cardiac arrest occurs in private residences.

(He also found that many life-saving defibrillators are inaccessible to the public during off-hours and evenings, when most incidents of cardiac arrest occur.)

Inspired by a similar program he saw in Europe, Chan and his team began looking at cardiac arrest data across eight large geographic regions from Toronto to Muskoka.

The team says theyd need 100 drones located at 80 bases across those 10,000 square kilometres to beat ambulances to a victim of cardiac arrest 90 per cent of the time.

Its a fact that someone in Canada gets cardiac arrest every 12 minutes, said Chan, and that their chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent per minute.

This is a problem where literally seconds count, he said, and getting that defibrillator to someone who can (use it) ASAP is the difference between life and death.

Chan doesnt think its realistic to put an AED in every other house, which is why this technology makes so much sense.

And its not that out there, he said.

Indeed, drones are already being used in delivering medical aid to remote locations in developing countries. Agricultural drones are giving farmers new tools to reduce crop damage. And, of course, Amazon and FedEx are pushing regulators to allow for drone-delivered packages.

Chan thinks AED delivery is only a matter of time. If (the public is) already interested in the delivery of commercial goods, why not life saving goods?

But Chan and his team  which consists of PhD candidate Justin Boutilier, assistant professor Angela Schoellig and researchers from St. Michaels Hospitals Rescu program  are still looking for funding to bring the research to the next level.

The team is also hoping to link up with existing fire and rescue agencies, to find ways that the operation of the AED-delivery drones could be integrated with existing 911 response teams.

Boutilier said Muskoka would be the ideal place for a test pilot run of the project, as data suggests the region has the longest rate of response to a cardiac arrest call but also the highest participation rate of bystanders giving CPR.

A few hypotheticals remain as well, Chan said. How the defibrillators would be recharged and maintained and how they would handle certain weather conditions are still up in the air.

But the AED itself is easy to use, he added. They are the size of a laptop and simple to operate In the U.S., (a study found that) sixth-grade students could work them as quickly as trained paramedics.

The last hurdle to making the drone defibrillator-delivery system a reality is Transport Canada regulations.

Under current rules, drone users must follow Canadian Aviation Regulations that stipulate unmanned air vehicles must be in sight of their operators at all times and respect the criminal code, provincial Trespass Acts as well as municipal law.

But Chan isnt worried about whether or not the idea will take off.

Regulations are being relaxed to encourage this kind of innovation, he said. My guess would be (AED drone delivery) is five to 10 years away.

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Queens Park will not slam the brakes on Toronto Mayor John Torys plan to slap $2 tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway.

But Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca emphasized Thursday that the province will not impose similar road-pricing charges on Ontarios 400-series highways.

No. Not happening, Del Duca told the Star.

But he said the provincial Liberal government was all ears to Torys proposal  with a caveat.

While we are always willing to listen to municipalities requests for new sources of revenue, these requests need to come with the support of council, the minister said.

If the mayor and the city want to implement tolling on city-owned highways that would be their decision and they would need to have public buy-in, added Del Duca.

At this time, we have not received a formal proposal from the city, but once it is received, we will need time to carefully review it, he said, noting the province knows how important it is to relieve congestion in Toronto for residents and commuters.

Were . . . making massive investments in transit in the city of Toronto, whether its providing $3.7 billion for GO RER (regional express rail), which will form the foundation for Mayor Torys Smart Track; $10 billion for the Toronto LRT projects, the Scarborough subway, and the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, or $169 million in gas tax, last year alone.

Under the 2006 City of Toronto Act, the municipality has the power to toll its own highways, but only with a green light from the province.

Surprisingly, neither the opposition Progressive Conservatives, which Tory led from 2004 until 2009, nor the New Democrats broached the issue of tolls during the one-hour question period in the Legislature

Im not going to comment on the strategy the opposition chooses to deploy here in the Legislature, said Del Duca, admitting he had expected Tory or NDP questions on the controversial proposal.

Given that Premier Kathleen Wynne is departing on an Ontario trade mission to Japan and South Korea, it was the last opportunity for more than a week for PC Leader Patrick Brown or NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to hold her to account.

Speaking to reporters outside the House, Brown said he opposes the tolls.

The last thing we need is to make life more unaffordable in Ontario, said the Conservative leader.

We have not yet heard whether Kathleen Wynne is going to be supporting this, he said, ignoring the fact that he had pointedly refused to get Wynne on the record moments before.

Brown said charges for driving on the two city-owned highways are a bad idea from the mayor.

I certainly wouldnt support tolling the DVP and the Gardiner. To make people pay for infrastructure theyve already paid for . . . it seems unreasonable, he said.

Right now, Ontario is becoming less and less affordable. This would make it worse. I hope Kathleen Wynne has not given the city of Toronto secret permission to go out and do this . . . . I dont think Kathleen Wynne should be giving out new taxation powers.

The NDPs Horwath also questioned the need for new tolls.

I dont believe the debate should be about how much more that people who are low-income folks, who are working poor, who are working class people, are going to have to pay to take the bus and to use the roads as opposed to the debate around what the other levels of government are doing to help struggling municipalities to pay the bills and provide good transit systems, she said.

Horwath accused the Liberals of trying to download, through the back door more costs on Ontarios cities and towns and called for the provincial and federal governments to step up.

Its no wonder that municipalities are having a hard time, and its up to the other levels of government, who bring in far, far much more money than municipalities do, to help them provide these key services, she said.

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

Gardiner, DVP road tolls an idea whose time has come, councillors say

Highway toll plan prompts anger, sense of inevitability from 905 politicians

Mayor Torys road toll pitch praised as bold move

How people in the GTA are reacting to proposal for tolls

John Tory takes a stand, on tolls, and chooses to lead: Keenan

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MANILA, PHILIPPINESA self-confessed drug dealer, whose father was killed in an alleged gun fight in prison, has testified before a Philippine Senate investigation that he provided police officials and an opposition senator with millions of pesos in protection money.

Rolando Kerwin Espinosa Jr. said Wednesday that he gave 8 million pesos ($216,400 CAD) last year to Sen. Leila de Limas bodyguard. De Lima was a former justice secretary who President Rodrigo Duterte earlier alleged had collected money from drug lords through her bodyguard, who was also her lover, to fund her senatorial campaign.

De Lima, who has initiated an investigation into Dutertes deadly anti-drug campaign, denied receiving money from Espinosa, saying she does not know him.

Human rights groups and Western governments have criticized Dutertes anti-drug campaign that has left more than 4,000 suspected addicts and pushers dead since July.

Espinosa, who was returned to the Philippines last Friday after his arrest in Abu Dhabi, said he dealt only with Dayan, who brought him to meet de Lima briefly in northern Baguio city last November where they had a picture taken together. De Lima has said she was campaigning at that time and many people wanted take a photo with her.

No, we had no discussion, Espinosa said, referring to de Lima. Ronnie warned me that she would not speak to me around many people.

De Lima told the hearing that Espinosas testimony was a fabrication and delivered under gunpoint, under duress.

May God forgive you for all your sins and may God forgive you for all your lies about me, and I forgive you, De Lima told the Senate inquiry.

She has said that Duterte was out to destroy her, first earning his ire years ago when as head of the Commission on Human Rights she investigated his suspected links to a death squad that assassinated drug suspects in southern Davao city, where Duterte was a long-time mayor.

Dayan, the bodyguard, was arrested last week after weeks in hiding. Dutertes allies at the House of Representatives presented him to the media late Tuesday, where he said he did collect money from Espinosa on instructions of de Lima.

He said he and de Lima were lovers for seven years. De Lima admitted in a television interview last week that she was once in a romantic relationship with Dayan.

Espinosas father, town mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., was arrested last month. He had agreed to cooperate with officials but was killed Nov. 5 in an alleged gun fight with police inside his jail cell. Senators investigating the case suspect it was an intentional killing.

Correction - November 24, 2016: The headline on this article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Phillippines' ex-justice secretary Leila de Lima worked for President Rodrigo Duterte. In fact, she was appointed by the previous president, Benigno S. Aquino III.

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BERLINThe German government expressed revulsion Wednesday at Nazi-style salutes such as those performed at a recent far-right event in Washington, but said it was confident the United States can tackle the issue.

Video published by The Atlantic showed participants at the event Saturday raising their arms in salute during a speech by Richard Spencer, head of the white-nationalist National Policy Institute.

Speaking generally, whenever we see videos from anywhere showing people raising their hand to do Hitler salutes we are repulsed, German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said Wednesday after being asked about the clip.

It goes against the principles and values of our politics, he added.

Nazi Germany was responsible for genocide and war that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people in the 1930s and 1940s. After the war, Germany made it a criminal offence to display Nazi imagery  including the salute, which was usually accompanied by the cry Sieg Heil! which translates as hail victory.

Seibert said the fact that the incident is being widely discussed in the United States was a good sign. We have great faith in American civil society, media and politics to address such bad developments, such terrible events, he said.

White-nationalist groups have existed in the United States for decades but drew increased attention last summer when activists showed up at the Republican National Convention to celebrate Donald Trumps nomination as the partys presidential candidate.

Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, was filmed Saturday saying Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory! to cheers from the audience.

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One of German Chancellor Angela Merkels most distinct character traits has been to often wait longer than others before making a decision. And these cautious ways have served her well: sidelining many critics or rivals as Germany awaited her views, and allowing her time to study the political winds and change course when necessary.

On Sunday, the politician who has led the German government for the last 11 years decided it was time to announce her perhaps most ambitious project: a bid for a fourth term as chancellor.

Already in 2013, there were rumours about Merkel resigning even before the end of her third term. But political observers in Berlin had clearly underestimated the determination of the German chancellor, who was once criticized for putting the nation into a deep sleep by refraining from clashing with her opponents. Now, she is being hailed as the leader of the free world on social media and by some commentators as the Obama era nears its end, Britain is beset by upheavals over plans to leave the European Union and France faces its own break-the-mould populist surge.

Despite making unpopular decisions such as allowing nearly 1 million refugees to enter the country last year, her approval ratings remain higher than those of her opponents.

In the eyes of many, the victory of Donald Trump has now made Merkel perhaps the most influential individual in the West who is not a populist.

But as Merkel has shifted to the left of the political spectrum, she has opened up a gap to her right.

At home in Germany, Merkel is now also confronted with a strengthened far-right movement, the anti-establishment Alternative for Germany (AfD). It is a party that might not exist if Merkel had stuck to more traditional party ideologies. During 11 years of her chancellorship, the conservative politician became a champion of liberal values, winning over more left-wing Germans but alienating some of her more traditional supporters.

Speaking on Sunday, Merkel specified that the resurgence of a political discourse characterized by hate was one of the reasons she had decided to run again. She also lowered expectations by saying it was absurd to believe that she alone would be able to turn the populist momentum. No person alone, not even the most experienced, can turn things to good in Germany, Europe and the world, especially not a chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, she said.

Some would argue that she has previously proven the opposite.

Merkels rise to power gained momentum in 2000, when she was elected head of the conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU), following a donation scandal in which much of the partys leadership was forced to resign.

It was a time during which Merkel championed conservative policy stances she now opposes. For instance, in 2002, she passed a party manifesto filled with anti-immigrant rhetoric. Immigration cannot be a solution for Germanys demographic changes . . . Increased immigration would threaten the inner peace and help radical forces gain power, it read.

While Merkel tried to stabilize her party in the early 2000s, her public image suffered. Meanwhile, Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroder implemented sweeping, unpopular measures to make Germanys economy more competitive.

It was Merkel who benefited from those reforms. She took office in 2005, about three years before the financial crisis would hit Germany and the world. Merkels politics back then was unspectacular, but she knew how to appeal to her core supporter base. In 2006, she headed an effort to establish Christianity as a core value of the European Union.

Her approval ratings were on the rise but took a hit following the financial crisis which cost thousands of jobs in Germany in 2009 and 2010. It took Merkel until 2013 to restore her support to pre-crash levels.

In 2011, the Fukushima power plant disaster shocked the world, but it had a consequential impact in Germany, where Merkel decided to reverse her own decision, and to abandon nuclear energy in the long-term.

That had been a goal of Germanys more left-wing parties for decades. Within a few days, Merkel destroyed one of their core differences and stunned liberal voters. Merkel sensed that Germany had turned more liberal than her party was willing to acknowledge.

The Fukushima moment repeated itself in 2015, when Merkel refused to close the borders of Germany amid an influx of refugees. Contrary to previous statements, she said last year: Islam belongs to Germany. Her selfies with refugees defined weeks of enthusiasm in the country.

Those weeks, however, could now become Merkels biggest weakness. Her approval ratings have declined, following the rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, sex assaults on women committed by immigrants, as well as a wave of terror attacks this summer.

Few consider the right-wing Alternative for Germany party strong enough to become a real threat to Merkels ambitions for a fourth term. In the long run, however, Merkels decision not to champion traditional conservative policy stances could have a lasting impact on German politics.

Her party used to test the limits of how far to the right a German conservative party can go. That is no longer the case and now a space has opened up that, depending on the mood of the voters, could be exploited.

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The pirates of the Amazon River relish striking after nightfall.

Wearing balaclavas, 15 of the marauders stormed Merinaldo Paivas riverboat as dozens of his passengers dozed in their hammocks. Suddenly, they woke to find rifles pointed at their heads.

The gunmen took cash, jewelry, smartphones, fuel and even food, forcing everyone to lie facedown on the deck. Then they disappeared on speedboats into the Amazon, a waterway so vast that some in Brazils frontier call it the river-sea.

Every riverboat captain knows theyre at the mercy of these bastards, the captain, Paiva, 41, said. Paiva has been plying the rivers of Brazils rainforests since he was a teenager. Were lucky it wasnt worse, he added of the robbery in April, listing other attacks in which passengers had been raped, tortured or killed.

Piracy has long been a fact of life on the rivers of Brazils anarchic wilderness. But as the population in the Amazon surges and drug gangs expand their sway over the region, hijacking opportunities have flourished. And police forces are struggling to keep up with the crime, culminating in a series of recent attacks that have terrorized riverboat crews and their passengers.

In October, four masked pirates with rifles took over a fuel ship on the Solimoes River and stole more than 2,600 gallons of diesel fuel, along with the cash, watches and clothing of the crew. In September, 10 masked men stormed a passenger ship near the city of Belem, robbing 260 passengers at once. The attackers used one woman aboard as a human shield during the ordeal.

The month before, the police released a video of men from one crew  the self-described Pirates of the Solimoes River  interrogating a rival gangster next to a dead body, putting riverbank dwellers on edge throughout the Amazon basin.

In a previous case near the city of Manaus, Huederson Paulino, a pirate who used the nom de guerre Mohican, confessed to killing and dismembering two men on a boat selling ice and salt. He led a gang that stole cash and fuel from the victims, and said his aim was to get spending money for Christmas.

I needed the money, so I did what was best for me, Paulino, 24, told reporters.

The growing alarm over piracy dovetails with rapid changes in the region. Far from an empty expanse of rainforest dotted by tiny outposts, the Brazilian Amazon has nearly 25 million people, with about 2 million in Manaus alone. The regions population surged 22 per cent between 2000 to 2010, according to census figures  nearly double the rate of the country as a whole.

But the Amazon is also one of the poorest parts of Brazil, and organized crime has spread, feeding a sense of lawlessness in the vast river basin. In remote riverbank villages, residents complain that police boats rarely venture into the waterways where many of the pirate attacks take place.

The authorities say they are trying. Here in Macapa, a city of 370,000 people in northern Brazil, an elite squad of camouflage-clad police officers from the Environmental Battalion regularly patrol the Amazon River for pirates, often called water rats in local parlance.

Just as highwaymen prey on road travellers elsewhere in Brazil, pirates are the scourge we face here in the Amazon, Lt. Col. Protasio Barriga Caldas, 47, said. .

Robbers have stalked these waterways for years. In one notorious case, pirates fatally shot Sir Peter Blake, the world champion yachtsman from New Zealand, in 2001. The gunmen boarded his vessel, the Seamaster, and robbed and attacked the crew. Blake managed to shoot one of the assailants in the hand, but died after being shot in the lung and heart.

These days, with more targets on the rivers and more criminal groups involved, riverboat operators warn that the pirates are growing even more ruthless and sophisticated.

In one case this year, the police in Amazonas state captured Jose Conceicao de Souza, a pirate who confessed to killing two Colombian drug traffickers and stealing about 573 pounds of cocaine the traffickers were taking by boat to Manaus.

Galdino Alencar, the president of the Union of River Navigation Companies of Amazonas state, said that pirates were increasingly targeting ships carrying large cargoes for the growing population of the Amazon, including cooking gas, electronic devices, cement and dried beef. But the most coveted cargo for pirates, he said, is fuel.

Its a product they can steal and go on to sell to gold miners operating illegally in the forest, Alencar said. He added that pirates were also stepping up attacks on ships docked in large cities like Manaus, spurring calls by his organization to create a federal river police force.

Caldas said the pirates usually travelled on speedboats, giving them a quickness and agility that bulkier riverboats lack. He added that they often came from impoverished urban areas or far-flung riverbank villages, and preyed on forest dwellers who rely on riverboats to purchase food, visit relatives or obtain medical care in Amazon cities.

Patrolling the Amazons colossal rivers for pirates can resemble a futile game of cat-and-mouse. On one river mission in October, police officers questioned residents of a settlement near the Port of Santana who described living in constant fear of pirates.

Theres no law on the Amazon River, Odete Souza Franca, 49, said. Her family makes its living by fishing and cultivating acai, the coveted purple fruit that is a staple here. She described a recent attack in which pirates boarded the canoe of her 17-year-old son, tied him up, and stole his GPS device and a cylinder of cooking gas.

Catching such culprits involves immense challenges.

To start with, the rivers of the Amazon basin course through a region almost the size of the contiguous United States. Ships on the main waterways can go days without seeing the police or navy boats. Pirates often know the rivers and surrounding terrain better than security forces, and can drop out of sight into far-flung villages.

Police officers here in Amapa state also complain that pirates often carry out their attacks in one state, only to dart over the border into a neighbouring one with a different jurisdiction.

Catching pirates is like waging war against guerrilla fighters, said Capt. Lucio Lima, the chief of a special operations unit of the Amapa police force that hunts down river bandits. They are elusive foes who make the most of their knowledge of river currents, geography and topography.

When two Polish explorers  Dawid Andres, 41, and Hubert Kisinski, 33  travelled the length of the Amazon River this year on pontoons outfitted with mountain bikes, they faced challenges from piranha-infested waters to whirlpools.

Still, they said their scariest moments came when pirates in Brazil approached them on three occasions. Each time, they said, they were able to talk their way out of daunting situations.

Its the stuff of a nightmare when a crew in Ray-Bans holding huge guns approaches you on the river, Kisinski said. Recalling one episode, he said that he and Andres had calmly explained that they were travelling without valuable items, and then asked the pirates if they had any beer to relieve the stress of the situation.

That calmed them down a bit; they even started to laugh, Kisinski said. One needs to keep a clear head when facing pirates in the Amazon.

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BEIJINGScaffolding at a construction site in eastern China collapsed into a deadly heap on Thursday, as iron pipes, steel bars and wooden planks tumbled down and crushed nearly all 70 workers in the countrys worst work-safety accident in over two years.

At least 67 people were killed by the collapse of a work platform at a power plants cooling tower that was under construction, state media reported. Two others were injured and one worker was missing.

The plants cooling tower was being built in the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province when the scaffolding tumbled down at about 7:30 a.m., an official with the local Work Safety Administration, who would only give his surname Yuan, said by telephone.

The reported death toll suggested that nearly all the construction workers at the cooling tower perished. Close to 70 people were working at the site when the scaffolding collapsed, according to local media reports.

About 500 rescue workers, including paramilitary police officers, were digging through the debris with their bare hands, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Footage showed debris strewn across the floor of the cavernous concrete cooling tower.

Rescue dogs were seeking to locate survivors or the bodies of victims, while backhoes shifted wreckage to the margins of the massive round tower.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local governments to learn from the accident and hold those responsible accountable. He said that in the wake of recent work accidents, the State Council, Chinas Cabinet, should carry out thorough inspections of work sites to reduce risks.

China has suffered several major work-safety accidents in recent years blamed on weak regulatory oversight, systemic corruption and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.

Also Thursday, Yang Dongliang, a former head of the State Administration of Work Safety, stood trial in a Beijing court for allegedly accepting $4.3 million (U.S.) in bribes between 2002 and last year, as he rose through the ranks as an official in Tianjin before joining the regulatory agency.

Yang was sacked in August 2015 in connection with a massive explosion at an illegal chemical warehouse in the northern port of Tianjin that killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. The head of a logistics company was also handed a suspended death sentence over the case.

Earlier this month, 33 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Chongqing in Chinas southwest. In 2014, a dust explosion at a metal production workshop killed 146 people.

Other accidents blamed on lax safety standards in recent years have also caused significant fatalities.

In June 2015, 442 people were killed in the capsize on the Yangtze River of a modified cruise ship blamed on poor decisions made by the captain and crew, while 81 people were killed in December when an enormous, man-made mountain of soil and waste collapsed on nearly three dozen buildings in the southern manufacturing centre of Shenzhen.

Construction of the 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant at the centre of Thursdays accident began in Fengcheng in late 2015 and was expected to be finished in November 2017. Provincial officials held a televised news conference late Thursday at which they bowed to express condolences to the workers families.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

Hundreds of coal-fired power plants are under construction in China.

Beijing has vowed to solve a looming problem of power oversupply and cap greenhouse gas emissions in the medium term, but economic planners said earlier in November they intend to boost coal power generation capacity by a fifth over the next five years, or the equivalent output of hundreds of new coal-fired plants.

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ISTANBULThree Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Syria in what the Turkish military said was a pre-dawn Syrian airstrike on Thursday, an account disputed by Syrian activists, who said the soldiers were killed by Daesh suicide attack the day before.

The Turkish military said in a statement on its website that the attack took place at 3:30 a.m., but did not provide an exact location. Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency said the airstrike took place near the town of al-Bab, which Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces are trying to take back from Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

However, a Syrian monitoring group that tracks the conflict through a network of activists on the ground said the Turkish soldiers were killed by a Daesh suicide attack on Wednesday.

Rami Abdurrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the suicide attack occurred outside al-Bab, near a village called Waqqah. He dismissed reports that it was an airstrike.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. There was no comment from Damascus, but the Daesh-run Aamaq news agency reported a suicide attack against Turkish troops in a village near al-Bab on Wednesday.

The Turkish military said 10 other soldiers were wounded in the attack, with one in critical condition.

If the attack is confirmed to be a Syrian government airstrike, it would escalate tensions with Turkey, which is a leading supporter of the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

Turkey sent ground troops into northern Syria in August to help Syrian opposition fighters battle both Daesh and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish troops are not fighting Syrian government forces, and have not been attacked by them, though Damascus has strongly objected to the military intervention.

It is clear that there are some who are not pleased with Turkeys fight against Daesh, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. But of course these attacks will be responded to in kind.

Turkeys main opposition party leader urged the government to act with common sense and not escalate tensions.

This (issue) could drag Turkey toward a very dangerous process, Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.

Citing national security considerations, Turkish authorities imposed a temporary media ban on coverage of the attack, barring media outlets from reports that foster fear, panic and chaos, and contain images of the deceased or the wounded, or exaggerated accounts.

Turkish warplanes meanwhile struck Daesh positions in al-Bab and other northern Syrian towns, destroying a building reportedly used as Daesh headquarters and seven defensive positions, Anadolu reported, citing unnamed Turkish military officials.

Elsewhere in Syria, a senior UN official said his team has received written approval from Syrian rebels in the besieged parts of the northern city of Aleppo to allow aid in and evacuate the wounded.

Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva that the UN also has verbal support from Russia, a close ally of the Syrian government, for a four-point plan reached earlier this month on Aleppo, the epicentre of the civil war.

Egeland said the team is still waiting for approval from the Syrian government, adding that trucks carrying aid could start entering east Aleppo within hours. East Aleppo is home to some 275,000 people and has been besieged by government forces since July.

The UN official said there are currently more than 900,000 people in besieged areas around Syria, more than at any time I can remember in this war. The conflict began in 2011 with an Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad.

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PALM BEACH, FLA.The scramble to shape his administration underway, President-elect Donald Trumps team has simultaneously begun turning its attention to raising tens of millions of dollars for festivities related to his Washington inauguration.

Trump, who vowed during the campaign to drain the swamp of special interests corrupting Washington, has set $1 million (U.S.) donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors, according to an official on the Presidential Inaugural Committee with direct knowledge of tentative fundraising plans. At the same time, Trumps inaugural committee will not accept money from registered lobbyists, in line with his ban on hiring lobbyists for his nascent administration.

Barack Obama set stricter limits on donations for his first inauguration, in 2009, holding individual donors to $50,000 each and taking no money from corporations or labour unions, as well as none from lobbyists and some other groups. Plenty of corporate executives, though, gave individually and often at the maximum amount. And he opened the spigots for his 2013 inauguration, setting no limits on corporate or individual donations.

The new details, confirmed Thursday on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to disclose private deliberations, came as Trump gathered with family at his Palm Beach estate on Thanksgiving.

It was a working holiday of sorts for Trump, who suggested on Twitter that he was engaged in trying to prevent an Indiana air conditioning company from moving jobs to Mexico.

I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S., Trump tweeted. MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!

The company, which has announced plans to move 1,400 jobs to Mexico from Indiana in the coming years, confirmed Thursday it has had discussions with the incoming administration, but said there was nothing to announce at this time.

On the eve of the national holiday, the president-elect offered a prayer for unity after a long and bruising campaign season.

Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight, Trump said in a video message on social media. He added, Its my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

Unity has emerged as a common theme during Trumps limited public appearances in the days since his stunning general election victory, which followed a campaign season in which he rained extraordinary personal attacks on his opponents in both parties, the media and his many Republican critics.

Unity would also be a theme for the incoming presidents Jan. 20 inauguration, the official said.

While Trumps fundraising plans have not been completed, he is expected to raise significantly more than the $43 million Obama raised for his 2013 inauguration. Taxpayers cover the cost of official activities such as the swearing-in, but outside donations pay for the many related balls and parties.

Trump has focused most of his attention in the two weeks since his victory on building a White House team from scratch.

He injected the first signs of diversity into his Cabinet-to-be on Wednesday, tapping South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. They are the first women selected for top-level administration posts. And Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, would be his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men.

The South Carolina governor has little foreign policy experience, yet Trump praised her as a proven dealmaker. DeVos, like Trump, is new to government but has spent decades working to change Americas system of public education.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on Wednesday said an announcement is forthcoming on his position, which would make him the first black choice  possibly as secretary of housing and urban development. But he also suggested hed be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday.

I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone, Carson wrote on his Facebook page.

Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said on condition of anonymity because the adviser was not authorized to disclose internal deliberations. The 78-year-old Ross, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., which has specialized in buying failing companies.

The picks come as Trump works to dissociate himself from the alt-right, a movement of white supremacists who continue to cheer his election. His first appointments included chief counsellor Steve Bannon, who previously led a website popular among the alt-right.

Trump on Thursday was with his family behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate. Hes spending the Thanksgiving holiday there after a week of interviewing potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team.

Its time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens, because when America is unified there is nothing beyond our reach, the president-elect said in his Thanksgiving message, which was posted on social media.

Trump will be sworn into office in fewer than 60 days. Beyond his Cabinet, he must fill hundreds of high-level administration posts.

He is expected to stay in Florida through the weekend.

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HAIFA, ISRAELA wildfire roared through parts of Israels third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes as the countrys leaders raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the blaze.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifas northern neighbourhoods, sending panicked residents fleeing from the area.

While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. In a rare move, Israel called up hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and was making use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by a slew of countries.

The Haifa blaze was the most serious in a series of fires that have erupted across the country in recent days. On a visit to the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said anyone implicated in setting the fires would be punished severely.

Its a crime for all intents and purposes and in our opinion it is terror for all intents and purposes, he said. He said incitement to arson was also playing a role in spreading the fires.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity or motives of the suspected arsonists, but Israeli officials typically use the term terror to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity.

Israel has been on edge during more than a year of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, that have tapered off, but not halted, in recent months. Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for fuelling those attacks.

Netanyahus accusations could test already brittle relations between Israels Jewish majority and its Arab minority, which has long suffered discrimination in Israel and says it has been slighted by rhetoric from Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the past.

Israels police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters that arrests had been made, without elaborating.

Its safe to assume that whoever is setting the fires isnt doing it only out of pyromania, he said. Its safe to assume that if it is arson it is politically motivated.

Ayman Odeh, the head of a joint Arab bloc of parties in Israels parliament and a Haifa native, appealed to Israelis to come together and abandon politics during the trying time.

This is something that harms all of us. This is not a story of Arab or Jew. Whoever did this is an enemy of all of us, he told Israeli Channel 2 TV news.

Israeli media said the Shin Bet internal security agency was helping search for perpetrators, while Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said we need to be prepared for a new type of terror.

The Palestinians meanwhile offered to send firefighting teams to help combat the flames, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Yousef Nassar, the director general of the Palestinian Civil Defence, said the offer of assistance was a humanitarian message. The Palestinians assisted Israel during a deadly wildfire in 2010. Israels response to the offer was not immediately known.

The rash of fires is the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history. That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft arrived from as far away as the United States.

Israel has strengthened its firefighting capabilities since then, buying special planes that can drop large quantities of water on affected areas. Several countries, including Russia, France, Cyprus, Turkey, Croatia and Greece, were also sending assistance to battle this weeks blazes.

Residents of eight neighbourhoods in the northern city of Haifa were told to evacuate their homes on Thursday afternoon, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Or Doron, a spokeswoman for the city of Haifa, said some 50,000 people had been evacuated.

Police and firefighters were deployed throughout the city, as people loaded up supermarket carts with belongings and fled their homes. Some people connected hoses together from apartment buildings to help battle the fires, while residents held cloth over their faces.

Guy Catlan, who runs a gas station in Haifa, told Channel 10 TV that workers turned the power off and were helping firefighters to prevent the flames from reaching it. There is a very large quantity of fuel here, he said. It is very dangerous to the entire area, it could be a big catastrophe.

Michal Schanin, a professor at the University of Haifa, was in the middle of a lecture when she received word that she and her 70 students would need to evacuate. She said that while the evacuation was orderly, the flood of cars fleeing the area caused a traffic jam.

We couldnt move. If, God forbid, there would have been fire there it would have been one huge trap, she said.

The military said it deployed two search and rescue battalions in order to assist civilian efforts. It also called up about 500 reserve soldiers to back up the police and fire departments.

Police said the blazes started early Tuesday morning at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Jews and Arabs live together. Fires later erupted elsewhere near Jerusalem and in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov.

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I am Kerry Burgess. This is what I think.
Re: The condo tower next door, Nov. 13

The condo tower next door, Nov. 13

When I first read the front-page article about the parents of children attending John Fisher Public School who are concerned about the health and safety of their kids because of dust, noise and vibrations from a planned condo project next door, my first thought was that it was a promo for the new weekly satirical news show on the Comedy Network, The Beaverton.

What are the parents doing now? With all the construction engulfing the area all around school currently, it sure must be fun for the kids to be transported to and fro in a bubble.

My son attended the school in the early to mid 2000s. While his teachers were fantastic, the school was a dump, both inside and outside. And from what I observe right now, the outside is still a dump.

They should tear the school down and encourage the KG Group to do what Tridel did with North Toronto Collegiate  integrate John Fisher Public School with the condo.

David Honigsberg, Toronto

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Re: New words trigger an abstract clash, Nov. 20

New words trigger an abstract clash, Nov. 20

Jordan Petersons sin is not that he has outed the inherent dangers of Bill C-16. Its that he chose to do so using social media. Had he, like a good academic boy, written about it in a refereed journal, no one  and certainly not the students and others he has engaged  would have noticed. But he would have ensured the support of the same academic brethren (including the dean of his department) who have signed letters and petition criticizing him.

As Marshall McLuhan foretold, The medium is the message.

Ab Dukacz, Mississauga

All English speaking people who avoid saying his or her in favour of the gender-neutral his can now be charged under Bill C-16, if there is the slightest suspicion that the speaker spurns the inclusive alternative.

People who think this is unnecessary should thank goodness that they do not speak French. Direct translation of typical statements go something like this: Canadians and Canadians who pay taxes  all those and those who work  Please remain with the one or the one with whom you arrived etc etc etc).

For example, francophone members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation are members of FEESO (Federation of teachers and teachers ). It is comforting to know that the legislature is working for the betterment of all of us and us. (I just made that up.)

Hugh McKechnie, Newmarket

Rosie DiManno didnt fairly report on the pronoun debate at U of T. She used inflammatory words such as hysterical and judgmental terms such as minority within a minority within a minority, gender contrived, and disappearing up their own anuses in fringe dialectics to minimalize the importance of respecting peoples right to self-identify.

How we treat those who are marginalized says a lot about who we are as a society. And neither Professor Peterson nor Rosie are displaying any empathy, respect or understanding for those who are transgender, gender-queer or non-binary.

Joy Cowan, Toronto

Whether you believe that gender is binary or that male and female are but two points on the gender continuum, the simple solution is to stop referring to people by gender. We all have names; whether we wish to honour the one given to us at birth  or choose one later in life that better represents to the world who we feel we are inside  is up to each individual. As individuals we should not be defined by inherent characteristics such as race, sexual orientation, or gender  but by who we are as a person. It is time to put the person back in personal pronouns.

Kevin Clink, Brampton

Bravo, Ms DiManno.

Brendan Calder, Toronto

The nonsense displayed by the University of Toronto and the ad hominem attacking Brenda Cossman against Jordan Peterson for his refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns when addressing students reminds me of Thomas Jefferson who said, I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility over the mind of man and the late William F. Buckley, Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended that there are other views.

The claim that universities are institutions of free speech is a little like claiming that chickens have teeth and cows can fly.

John Clubine, Etobicoke

Finally fact checking reveals professor Petersons hoax that the Ontario Human Rights Commission is threatening to silence his right to free speech and turn him into a ventriloquists dummy for the politically correct social justice warriors of personal preferred pronouns.

After all his paranoid posturing we learn that he has no inherent grasp that form follows function in free speech. Setting matters. This misleading hyped-up controversy has not been about freedom of expression in the market place of ideas where freedom is unrestricted but in the workplace - at a university, covered by the Code.

According to the OHRC: Refusing to address a trans person by their chosen name and a personal pronoun that matches their gender identity, or purposely misgendering, is discrimination when it takes place in a social area covered by the Code (employment, housing, and services like education).

Thus, how politically compromising is it for Peterson when he is in the classroom at work getting paid to do his teaching job: If in doubt, ask the person how they wish to be addressed. Use they if you dont know. Or simply use their chosen name?

Surely so much dissembling to deny a trangendered student their choice of pronoun that reflects their condition is unbecoming of a good teacher.

Tony DAndrea, Toronto

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By most measures, Toni Morgan has already lived the impossible dream. Now, the Toronto woman who went from homeless high-school dropout to Harvard University graduate hopes to help black youth in the city follow her star.

This week, the powerful ripple effects of Morgans story showed up in the library of Downsview Secondary School, where 120 students from 10 schools gathered to encourage one another to aim high, never give up on themselves and raise their voices against negative stereotyping they face every day in the media, school and the community.

The event, called Black Brilliance, was organized by students and strictly for students, with the support of their schools and the Toronto District School Board. But it was Morgan who lit the fuse and came home from Boston to her Jane-Finch neighbourhood to be the guest of honour.

What we face in our communities is not in the textbooks, not in the media and sometimes, sadly, its not even discussed in our circle of friends, Tinuola Akinwande, Grade 12 Downsview student and co-founder of the conference, told the crowd in her welcoming remarks.

Today is our day to discuss these issues openly and uncensored.

Those discussions took place in student-led workshops on such topics as internalized racism, black politics, media portrayals and messages about black culture, and racial divides unleashed with the rise of Donald Trump.

Morgan first emerged as an academic role model in April 2015, when she was accepted into a Masters of Education program at Harvard University at the age of 32 and turned to crowd-funding to make her dream come true.

Her journey had been a long one. As a teen who left her unstable home and bounced around shelters, she struggled so hard to manage part-time jobs, homework and classes that she eventually dropped out.

With the words of a vice-principal who said she'd never get a degree ringing in her ears, she set out to prove otherwise. It took 10 years to earn a bachelor of arts in equity and diversity studies at Ryerson University, which she attended while supporting herself through jobs in non-profits and community programs helping students and young moms.

It took the generosity of people who donated $95,000 through crowd-funding to cover tuition and living expenses for Harvard, where she graduated last June.

But the real catalyst for the Toronto students came two months before Morgan donned her cap and gown  when she invited a group to Harvard for a four-day visit and got the TDSB to back it.

Morgan showed the 43 students around campus, introduced them to professors, and took them to a black policy conference she helped plan, where they were captivated by stories from other black youth, including advocate, educator and poet Akeem Lloyd, who repeated his personal story of a tough upbringing with school and emotional struggles during a keynote address at Black Brilliance.

Morgan saw the Harvard trip as a way to help students picture themselves not just on an Ivy-League campus  but anywhere else they considered out of reach.

Shon Williams, 16, says hearing Lloyds story was a highlight.

I didnt really know where I stood in life, says the Grade 11 student at Downsview Secondary School. He showed me how to think bigger, how no one has to keep you down or hold you back.

Black Brilliance was an opportunity to spread that message.

I wanted to look for the kids who dont feel like they belong, like me. I want to tell them you are the voice, you matter and you can make an impact in this world, says Williams.

As Morgan sat surrounded by students on Tuesday morning, she was delighted it was their turn to shine.

Im actually really proud that I had nothing to do with this, says Morgan, 34, now a research fellow and teaching assistant at Harvard. The students did it all. I think this is what true mentorship and real community support looks like.

Its one of her biggest rewards.

You never know when the lightbulb is going to go on for a student. In eight short months, I got to see them light up and then act on it.

As an educator, Morgan is also interested in what the teachers learn and apply as a result of watching the youth organize and engage in the event.

Damilola Lateef, whos in Grade 12 at Downsview, says youth-driven events like Black Brilliance are empowering for students and will spark change.

Not long ago she felt apprehensive about the future. She wanted an education and a career but from where Im from, it seemed unlikely. No matter how smart I am, Im always going to be black first.

Voicing those doubts to peers has inspired her to challenge those attitudes from within, she says.

Ive learned there will be obstacles, and obstacles are meant to get past, says Lateef, who hopes to attend university to become a midwife. Before, I felt obstacles were barriers.

Student voices

Tatyana Bailey-Scott, Grade 11, C.W. Jefferys Collegiate:

Tatyana Bailey-Scott says she loves hearing other students speak passionately about things that affect their daily lives and would like to see more of it in the classroom. Ive learned there are different ways of handling our anger inside and (countering) racism, said the 16-year-old, halfway through the Black Brilliance event. Her other takeaway is not to settle in a comfort zone of the familiar. You can sit down and wait for change or you can go get it.

Marc Hall, Grade 10, Emery Collegiate:

Attending workshops with students from other schools inspired Marc Hall to start reflecting on things he hadnt really considered, such as judgments people make about each other, and how to respond to offensive classist or racist behaviour. Id thought about it, but not too deeply, says the 15-year-old. It put racism into perspective for me.

Damilola Lateef, Grade 12, Downsview Secondary School:

Damilola Lateef spent two months putting together a workshop on mental health for the Black Brilliance conference. Then came the U.S. election and with it a surge of emotion among students. At the last minute Lateef, 18, changed her topic to Donald Trump and what comes next. I wanted to channel all that anger and fear. Turns out she did, generating heated debates as kids aired their views on the divisiveness that flowed from the campaign.

Kardell McAfee, Grade 9, Downsview Secondary School:

Black Brilliance was a chance to talk about things that matter, says Kardell McAfee, 14. Every day its go to school, go home, sleep, repeat, he says. Im learning a lot of new things here, new perspectives. The message from educator and poet Akeem Lloyd also stuck with him. Work for what you want and strive for, and never undercut yourself.

Shon Williams, Grade 11, Downsview Secondary School:

Visiting Harvard University last spring with other students really opened Shon Williams mind, says the 16-year-old student. So much that he couldnt wait to express it to classmates back in Toronto. I felt as if Black Brilliance would be the perfect opportunity to do that and to say we care, says Williams, who is interested in a law career.

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The following was written by my friend Vivek Kaul at Mumbai-based Equitymaster.com, the biggest independent investment research firm in India.

China and India are both home to some of the world's fastest growing economies. But China's economic growth has outperformed India's -- by a long shot. The question is, why?

Fifty-five years ago, people living in India had higher average incomes than people in China. In 1962, India's average per capita income was $90, 29% higher than China's per capita income of $70. The story was the same in 1980 and in 1990. India's per capita income surpassed China's.

But then, Chinese per capita income took off, and India was left far behind. Twenty-five years later, in 2015, China's per capita income had grown to $7,820. This was 400% higher than India's $1,590.

And there's one big reason why China pulled so far ahead.

How Other Asian Economies Grew

Before we explain how China did it, it's important to understand how other Asian countries like Japan and South Korea went from being third-world countries to Asian economic powerhouses. These countries enjoyed high economic growth rates for a very long period of time.

And most of this growth came from exports.

Their export success is explained by Ryan Avent in his book The Wealth of Humans - Work and its Absence in the Twenty-First Century: "Success in exports markets once required economies to develop an entire suite of capabilities. To export electronics or cars, South Korea and Japan needed to build an entire, high-quality supply chain domestically; they needed lots of firms capable of designing and manufacturing components, and well-organized corporations capable of planning and coordinating the design, production and sale of complex goods."

Doing this took time. It started with building the supply chains needed to produce and export simple things like toys and radios. Then as capacity grew, companies in Japan and South Korea started producing and exporting more complicated products like cars, laptops and industrial machinery.

This is how they grew their economies. But China took a slightly different route.

China's Shortcut to Economic Growth

In 1980, China accounted for 1.3% of the global clothing and footwear export market. By 2007, this had grown to 37.6%. Meanwhile, India's share went from 1.4% (which was higher than China's in 1980) to only 3.2% by 2007, as shown below.

The story is the same for global merchandise exports. In 1993, China had a 2.4% share in global merchandise exports. Twenty years later, the number had grown to 11.5%. But, as noted in the following chart, India's share went from 0.5% in 1993 to just 1.7% by 2013.

China has left India well behind in the global export race. But China's export growth came during the supply-chain trade era. So, it was able to grow faster, and in a different way, than Japan or South Korea.

Avent explains: "Supply-chain trade changed everything. A California technology company could source component supplies from half a dozen Asian economics, have them all meet together in a Chinese port city for assembly, and then ship the finished package to consumers."

This meant that China did not have to build up its expertise and supply chains to build products that it could export. This shortened its time frame for exponential export growth.

Further to this, Avent notes: "A country like China could... immediately get into advanced electronics export game simply by tapping into global supply chains. Cheap labour and relatively small set of competencies were suddenly sufficient to participate in production of advanced goods. Trade swelled as international supply chains developed... And countries that found their way into supply chains enjoyed rapid growth."

The World Trade Report for 2013 commented: "A central feature of this... age of globalisation is the rise of multinational corporations and the explosion of foreign direct investment (FDI)...By 2009, it was estimated that there were 82,000 multinationals in operation, controlling more than 810,000 subsidiaries worldwide. Upwards of two-thirds of world trade now takes place within multinational companies or their suppliers -- underlining the growing importance of global supply chains."

China took advantage of the supply chain phenomenon to spur economic growth. But India missed out. The problem for India, and for China, is that the big gains from supply-chain trade have likely passed.

As a result, China needs to find a new economic growth model. And India's search for an economic growth model is likely to continue.

Mumbai-based Vivek Kaul is the editor of the Diary and The Vivek Kaul Letter, at India's leading independent investment research firm Equitymaster.com. You can sign up to receive his e-letter here.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor.

Kim Iskyan is the founder of Truewealth Publishing, an independent investment research company based in Singapore. Click here to sign up to receive the Truewealth Asian Investment Daily in your inbox every day, for free.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman has outlined a plan to reshape the Silicon Valley icon through divestitures. After a mixed fourth fiscal quarter earnings report, however, analysts have suggested that the company could engineer revenue growth with acquisitions.

Revenues of $12.5 billion for the fourth-fiscal quarter missed consensus forecasts of $12.8 billion late Tuesday, though earnings of 61 cents per share beat forecasts by a cent. Share gained 64 cents, or 2.8%, to $23.51 on Wednesday.

"IT spending has slowed in the last couple of months, even from being fairly slow all year." Needham & Co analyst Richard Kugele said of the outlook for the larger enterprise tech market.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio, is undergoing major change. The company is spinning out its enterprise services unit and merging the business with Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) in an $8.5 billion transaction. It has a similar, $8.8 billion deal to merge its software operations with Micro Focus International.

As it slims down, Kugele suggested the company should look for acquisitions in growing markets.

"They should definitely be stepping up on the storage side," the analyst said. "Next generation storage is where all of the innovation is happening in hardware."

After the company split from HP Inc. (HPQ) in November 2015, Whitman told investors during an earnings call that Hewlett Packard Enterprise would fill gaps by building or expanding their own businesses or through partnerships. However, the company would also pursue $2.35 purchase of storage outfit 3PAR, the $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com Corp. and the $3 billion deal for Aruba Networks Inc.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it would acquire high-performance computing Silicon Graphics International Corp. (SGI) for $275 million in August. The company declined to comment on whether it would launch more deals.

Nimble Storage Inc. (NMBL) could be a target for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Kugele suggested.

Shares of Nimble dropped nearly 15% on Wednesday after the company's third-quarter earnings, putting Nimble's market cap at $670 million.

Revenues grew 26% to $102 million in the third quarter, in line with forecasts. A loss of 18 cents per share equaled the consensus. However, sales and marketing expenses hurt margins.

"Fundamentally the difficulty for Nimble is that it sells all-flash storage products into an extremely competitive storage environment." Mark Kelleher of D.A. Davidson & Co. wrote in a report. Nimble declined to comment on the possibility of a deal.

Other candidates include Nutanix Inc. (NTNX) , with a market cap of nearly $4.7 billion, and Pure Storage Inc. (PSTG) , valued around $2.8 billion. "They are probably at the upper end of what is mathematically possible," Kugele said. "I don't think either want to sell." Both companies declined to comment.

Alongside storage companies like Nimble or Pure, Angelo Zino of CFRA Research suggested, a cloud networking company like Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) cloud interest HP Enterprise. Arista, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has a $6.7 billion market cap.
The following companies are subsidiares of Xerox: A B S Digital Limited, Acorn Business Machines (Holmfirth) Limited, Alloy Acquisitions Corp. LLC, Altodigital Networks, Altodigital Networks Limited, American Photocopy Equipment Company of Pittsburgh LLC, Amici, Arena Group, Arena Group Holdings Limited, Arena Group Limited, Arizona Office Technologies Inc., B 2 Business Systems Limited, Back2Business Limited, Bessemer Insurance Limited, Bessemer Trust Limited, Boise Office Equipment Inc., Bright Ceramic Technologies Inc., Bunch CareSolutions, Business Systems (North Wales) Limited, CPAS Systems, CREDITEX - Aluguer de Equipamentos S.A., CTX Business Solutions Inc., Capitol Office Solutions LLC, CareAR Holdings LLC, CareAR Inc., Carolina Office Systems Inc., Carr Business Systems Inc., Chicago Office Technology Group Inc., ComDoc Inc., Competitive Computing, Concept Group, Concept Group Limited, Connecticut Business Systems LLC, Consilience Software, Continua Limited, Continua Sanctum Limited, Conway Technology Group LLC, Copyrite Business Solutions (Holdings) Limited, Copyrite Business Solutions Limited, Copytrend Limited, Criterion IT Limited, Customer Value Group, Dahill Office Technology Corporation, Digitex, Digitex Canada Inc., Docucentric Holdings Limited, Document Systems, Document Systems, Eastern Managed Print Network LLC, Elan Marketing Inc., Electronic Systems Inc., Fovia (Innovation) Limited, G-Five Inc., GDP Technologies Inc., Global Imaging Systems, Global PR Corporation, Groupe CT, Gyricon LLC, Healthy Communities Institute, Heritage Business Systems Inc., ITEC Group, Image Technology Specialists Inc., ImageQuest Inc., Imagetek Office Systems, Impika, Impika SAS, Inland Business Machines Inc., Institute for Research on Learning, Integrity One Technologies Inc., Intrepid Learning, Invoco Group, Irish Business Systems, LRI LLC, LaserNetworks, LaserNetworks Inc., Lateral Data, Learn Something, Lewan & Associates Inc., Limited Liability Company Xerox (C.I.S.), M & S Reprographics Limited, MRC Smart Technology Solutions Inc., MT Business Holdings Inc., MT Business Technologies Inc., MWB Copy Products Inc., Mail A Doc Limited, Merizon Group Incorporated, Michigan Office Solutions Inc., Minnesota Office Technology Group Inc., Mitral Systems Limited, Mr. Copy Inc., Nemo (AKS) Limited, NewField IT, NewField Information Technology LLC, NewField Information Technology Limited, Northeast Office Systems LLC, Osprey Business Systems Limited, PARC China Holdings Inc., Pacific Services and Development Corporation, Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Platinum Digital Print Solutions Limited, Powerland, Precision Copier Service Inc., Quality Business Systems Inc., Quilver Business Services Limited, R. K. Dixon Company, RRXH Limited, RRXIL Limited, RRXO Limited, RSA Medical, Rabbit Copiers Inc., Reflex Digital Solutions (UK) Limited, Reprographics Egypt Limited, Saxon Business Systems Inc., Smart Data Consulting, SoCal Office Technologies Inc., Stem Networks Limited, Stewart Business Systems LLC, Stewart of Alabama Inc., StrataCare, Talegen Holdings Inc., Tektronix - color printing, Text Comm Limited (in receivership), The Xerox (UK) Trust, The Xerox Foundation, Time Business Systems Limited, Triton Business Finance Limited, Una-Stem Limited, Veenman B.V., Veenman Financial Services B.V., WDS, WaterWare Internet Services, XC Asia LLC, XC Global Trading B.V., XC Trading Hong Kong Limited, XC Trading Japan G.K., XC Trading Korea YH, XC Trading Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., XC Trading Shenzhen Co. Ltd., XC Trading Singapore Pte Ltd., XEROX CZECH REPUBLIC s r.o., XESystems Foreign Sales Corporation, XFS Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, XHC Acquisition Corp., XMPie, XMPie Inc., XMPie Ltd., XRI Limited, XRO Limited, Xerox (Europe) Limited, Xerox (Ireland) Limited, Xerox (Nederland) BV, Xerox (Romania) Echipmante Si Servici S.A., Xerox (UK) Limited, Xerox (Ukraine) Ltd LLC, Xerox A/S, Xerox AG, Xerox AS, Xerox Argentina Industrial y Comercial S.A., Xerox Austria GmbH, Xerox Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Equipment Limited, Xerox Business Services Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Solutions Inc., Xerox Business Solutions Southeast LLC, Xerox Buro Araclari Servis ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti, Xerox Canada Inc., Xerox Canada Ltd., Xerox Canada N.S. ULC, Xerox Capital (Europe) Limited, Xerox Capital LLC, Xerox Computer Services Limited, Xerox Comercio e Industria Ltda, Xerox Corporation, Xerox DNHC LLC, Xerox Dienstleistungsgesellschaft GmbH, Xerox Distributor Operations Limited, Xerox Egypt S.A.E., Xerox Equipment Limited, Xerox Equipment UK Limited, Xerox Espana S.A.U., Xerox Exports Limited, Xerox Finance AG, Xerox Finance Leasing S.A.E., Xerox Finance Limited, Xerox Financial Services B.V., Xerox Financial Services Belux NV, Xerox Financial Services Canada Ltd., Xerox Financial Services Danmark A/S, Xerox Financial Services Finland Oy, Xerox Financial Services LLC, Xerox Financial Services Norway AS, Xerox Financial Services SAS, Xerox Financial Services Sverige AB, Xerox Foreign Holdings LLC, Xerox Foreign Sales Corporation, Xerox GmbH, Xerox Health Care LLC, Xerox Hellas AEE, Xerox Holding Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Holdings (Ireland) Limited, Xerox Holdings Inc., Xerox Hungary Trading Limited, Xerox IBS Limited, Xerox IBS NI Limited, Xerox India Limited, Xerox International Joint Marketing Inc., Xerox Investments Europe B.V., Xerox Israel Ltd., Xerox Italia Rental Services Srl, Xerox Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Xerox Latinamerican Holdings Inc., Xerox Leasing Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Leasing GmbH, Xerox Limited, Xerox Luxembourg SA, Xerox Mailing Systems Limited, Xerox Manufacturing (Nederland) B.V., Xerox Maroc S.A., Xerox Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Xerox Middle East Investments (Bermuda) Limited, Xerox N.V., Xerox Overseas Holdings Limited, Xerox Overseas Inc., Xerox Oy, Xerox Pensions Limited, Xerox Polska Sp. z o. o, Xerox Portugal Equipamentos de Escritorio Limitada, Xerox Products Limited, Xerox Products UK Limited, Xerox Professional Services Limited, Xerox Realty Corporation, Xerox Renting S.A.U., Xerox Reprographische Services GmbH, Xerox S.A.S., Xerox S.p.A., Xerox Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, Xerox Servicios Compartidos Guatemala y Compani Limitada, Xerox Servicos e Participacoes Ltda, Xerox Shared Services Romania SRL, Xerox Sverige AB, Xerox Technology Services India LLP, Xerox Technology Services SAS, Xerox Telebusiness GmbH, Xerox Trading Enterprises Limited, Xerox Trinidad Limited, Xerox UK Holdings Limited, Xerox XHB Limited, Xerox XIB Limited, Xerox Xf Holdings (Ireland) DAC, Xerox de Chile S.A., Xerox del Ecuador S.A., Xerox del Peru S.A., Zeno Office Solutions, Zeno Office Solutions Inc., Zoom Imaging Solutions Inc., and inVentiv Patient Access Solutions.

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National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans and leases, such as working capital loans, equipment loans, lender finance loans, food and agriculture loans, government and non-profit loans, owner occupied commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans and leases; non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans consisting of loans on commercial properties, such as office buildings, warehouse/distribution buildings, multi-family, hospitality, and retail buildings; small business administration loans to support manufacturers, distributors, and service providers; term loans, line of credits, and real estate secured loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer loans. In addition, it offers treasury management solutions comprising online and mobile banking, commercial credit card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, and fraud prevention services, as well as other auxiliary services, including account reconciliation, collections, repurchase accounts, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. As of January 20, 2022, the company operated through a network of 81 banking centers located in Colorado, the greater Kansas City region, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas. It also operates 121 ATMs. The company was formerly known as NBH Holdings Corp. and changed its name to National Bank Holdings Corporation in March 2012. National Bank Holdings Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
The Boeing Company is the worlds largest manufacturer of airplanes and commands more than 50% of the market in some channels and categories. The company and its family of subsidiaries design, develops, manufacture, sell, service, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and related services worldwide. The company operates through four segments including Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital providing products and services to end-users in 150 countries.

Boeing got its start in 1910 when William E. Boeing developed a love for aircraft. Soon after he takes his first plane ride which leads him to build a hangar and begin construction of his first plane. The onset of WWI helped spur the companys growth but business was cut drastically in its wake. The start of WWII was another milestone for the company and one that led to its current position of dominance. The company was incorporated in 1916 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing employs over 140,000 people in 65 countries making it one of the most diverse employers on the planet.

The Commercial Airplanes segment is built around the iconic 7-series which includes the 737, 747, and 787. The segment provides commercial jet aircraft for passenger and cargo requirements, as well as fleet support services for regional, national, and international air carriers and logistics and freight companies. In terms of global volume, the company estimates about 90% of all air freight is carried aboard one of its jets. This segment also includes the Dreamliner family of planes. The Dreamliner is a game-changing airplane for many carriers as it opens up the potential for new one-stop destinations because of its capacity and range.

The Defense, Space & Security segment develops and manufactures a range of systems including manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles, missile defense systems, satellites, communications equipment, and intelligence systems for governments. Among the many iconic brands within this segment are the AH-64 Apache, Air Force One, B-52, C-17 Globemaster, Chinook, F/A-18, and the V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft used by the Marines.

The Global Services segment offers a range of products and services that include supply chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance, upgrades, conversions, spare parts, pilot and maintenance training, technical and maintenance documents, and data analytics to its commercial and defense customers.

Boeing is also a leader in innovation, leveraging its many decades and avenues of experience to further aerospace and defense technology. Among the many innovations is the MQ-25 Stingray which will be the worlds first autonomous aircraft. The Stingray is only one of many areas of research that also include drones and undersea vehicles.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company also operates a portfolio of oil and gas properties primarily located in offshore California and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2021, it operated approximately 135 wells. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Motorola Solutions, Inc. provides mission critical communications and analytics in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and video security devices and infrastructure, as well as the implementation, and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, public safety, and commercial customers who operate private communications networks and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce. Its land mobile radio communications and video security and access control devices include two-way portable and vehicle-mounted radios, fixed and mobile video cameras, and accessories; radio network core and central processing software, base stations, consoles, and repeaters; and video analytics, network video management hardware and software, and access control solutions. The Software and Services segment provides repair, technical support, and hardware maintenance services. This segment also offers monitoring, software updates, and cybersecurity services; and public safety and enterprise command center software, unified communications applications, and video software solutions through on-premise and as a service. It serves government, public safety, and commercial customers. The company was formerly known as Motorola, Inc. and changed its name to Motorola Solutions, Inc. in January 2011. Motorola Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. The company also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. As of March 01, 2022, it operated through a network of 1,300 banking offices and 2,000 automated teller machines across the South, Midwest, and Texas. Regions Financial Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, and international news to media organizations, professional, and news consumers through news agency and industry events. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited.
BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
A large clinical trial for a drug that treats dementia that is caused by Alzheimers ended for Eli Lilly in failure after the people receiving the drug did not show significant improvements compared to those who took a placebo.

The failure of this drug, which showed great promise in results from earlier studies, is looked at as a big setback, but not an end of the hopes for fighting the disabling disease.

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U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly said on Wednesday that its Phase 3 trial of solzanezumab had not progressed as was planned.

The company announced through a prepared statement that patients who were treated with the drug did not have statistically significant slowing of cognitive decline in comparison with patients that were treated with just a placebo.

Close to 47 million people globally have dementia. Medical experts expect that to double every two decades to reach more than 131 million by 2050.

Dementia, that originates from Alzheimers disease, represents as much as 80% of all dementia cases.

While two risk factors that are well established for Alzheimers include aging and genetics, there is hope adopting healthy habits of brain life could delay or even prevent the appearance of Alzheimers, says an U.S. based medical association.

In the Eli Lilly trial, over 2,100 patients who had been diagnosed with mild cases of dementia brought on by dementia took part in the trial known as EXPEDITION3 that started during 2013.

In a prepared statement the CEO, chairman and president of Eli Lilly John Lechleiter announced that the company was upset for millions of people that are waiting for a treatment that is potentially disease modifying for Alzheimers.

In addition, he said that results were to be evaluated by the company to determine the overall impact on its other drugs for Alzheimers it has in its pipeline.

The share price of Eli Lilly fell over 10% after the announcement.

As with other drugs that are anti-amyloid, solzanezumab was made to lower the amyloid plaque buildup inside the brain, which experts believe contributes to loss of memory that is associated with Alzheimers.

The clinical trial results could be another step backwards for the theory on amyloid, said a professor at a U.S. university.

However, while the results were disappointing, they will spur on the scientific community in its examination of other possible cures for Alzheimers and dementia, said medical experts.
Boeing recently debuted the Echo Voyager, a 51-foot-long autonomous submarine that can roam the seas for months. Unlike other unmanned underwater vehicles, it isnt dependent on a support ship. (Pinner Paul/Boeing)

As unmanned aerial drones have become a critical part of modern warfare, the Pentagon is now looking to deploy autonomous robots underwater, patrolling the sea floor on what one top Navy official called an Eisenhower highway network, complete with rest stops where the drones could recharge.

Although still in the development stages, the technology has matured in recent years to be able to overcome the vast difficulties of operating underwater, a far more harsh environment than what aerial drones face in the sky.

Saltwater corrodes metal. Water pressure can be crushing at great depths. And communication is severely limited, so the vehicles must be able to navigate on their own without being remotely piloted.

Despite the immense difficulties, the Navy has been testing and fielding several new systems designed to map the ocean floor, seek out mines, search for submarines and even launch attacks. While the unmanned crafts are now able to stay out for days or weeks, the goal is to create an underwater network of service stations that would allow the vehicles to do their jobs for months  and eventually years.

Military officials say there is a sense of urgency because the undersea domain, while often overlooked, could one day be as contested as the surface of the sea, the skies  and even space.

Take a look at two unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV's), and how these autonomous underwater drones could be used for intel gathering, surveillance, recon and neutralization of potential threats. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

While Russia and China are investing in their submarine fleets, the Pentagon has sought to seize an advantage by introducing new technologies, especially those where humans team up with highly capable robots and autonomous systems.

In 2015, the Navy appointed its first deputy assistant secretary for unmanned systems. And the Pentagon plans to invest as much as $3 billion in undersea systems in the coming years.

Last month, the Navy participated in the multi-nation Unmanned Warrior exercise off the coast of Scotland. Autonomous subs worked in concert with aerial drones to pass along intelligence that could be relayed from undersea to the air and then to troops on the ground.

Its too early to tell how the Trump administration might view the plans. But Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said advancements in undersea warfare should continue to be a priority for the Navy.

The Pentagon feels like the U.S. is well positioned to do undersea warfare and anti-submarine warfare better than any other country, said Clark, the author of a report titled The Emerging Era in Undersea Warfare. Whats changing, though, is other counties are developing the ability to deny above the water. . . . So the U.S. is thinking itll have to rely much more on under the water.

The goal is to have the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) deploy from manned submarines or even large autonomous drone subs the way fighter jets take off from aircraft carriers, he said. The Chinese and others have built sensors that can detect large manned submarines, but the military could still send in small, hard-to-detect drone subs.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), which looks to develop advanced technologies, is seeking to build the Eisenhower highway network on the seabeds in the seven oceans, Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, head of the office, said at a conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies this year. The ultimate goal is to have large-scale deployments of UUVs, he said. We want them to go out for decades at a time.

While the project is still in the conceptual stages, the Navy would one day like to build service stations underwater, similar to highway rest stops. There is even a name for them: forward-deployed energy and communications outposts.

A place where you can gas up or charge your underwater vehicles, transfer data and maybe store some data, said Frank Herr, the head of the ONRs ocean battlespace sensing department.

While that may be a long way off, the Pentagon is testing vehicles that are capable of going out for weeks or even months at a time. In recent years, Boeing has developed the Echo Ranger and Echo Seeker, autonomous vehicles capable of carrying out days-long operations. This year, it debuted the Echo Voyager, a 51-foot-long autonomous submarine with the ability to stay out for months; it isnt dependent on a support ship the way others are.

You dont need to have a support ship involved, and that drastically reduces the daily operational cost, said Lance Towers, director of sea and land at Boeings Phantom Works division.

This year, General Dynamics boosted its underwater offerings when it acquired Bluefin Robotics, which makes several types of underwater robots. Its 16-foot-long Bluefin-21 vehicle is capable of launching what the company calls micro UUVs, known as SandSharks, that weigh only about 15 pounds. The SandSharks could scan an enemy shoreline and pop up to the surface to relay data to aircraft flying overhead. The Bluefin-21 could even launch a tube that goes to the surface, sticks up like a large straw and then shoots out an unmanned aerial vehicle like a spitball.

While there are still huge hurdles to overcome, especially when it comes to battery life, underwater-vehicle technology is about where drone technology for aircraft was in the 1990s, said Carlo Zaffanella, General Dynamics vice president and general manager for maritime and strategic systems.

Signal processing is improving. So is autonomy, Zaffanella said. And the advancements are coming at a time when underwater warfare is becoming more important.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has a plan to plant 15-foot-tall pods across the ocean floor that could sit there for years waiting to be awakened. When they received a signal, they would float to the surface and release aerial drones, which could perform surveillance over shorelines.

Raytheon, meanwhile, is working on a torpedo that instead of blowing things up would be the militarys eyes and ears underwater, scouting for mines or enemy submarines, mapping the ocean floor and measuring currents.

The new generation of undersea vehicles would require powerful computer brains.

The undersea environment is particularly challenging and unpredictable, Navy Rear Adm. Bill Merz said at a recent conference. I would even go out on a limb here to say we are truly the unmanned of the unmanned vehicles, and in most cases we dont even have a man in the loop. So what we field and put in the water is on its own until we hear from it again.
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, visit the Lincoln Memorial before the Make America Great Again concert.

Jan. 19, 2017 President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, visit the Lincoln Memorial before the Make America Great Again concert. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

He has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to enter the White House.

Trump has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to transition into the White House.

Trump has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to transition into the White House.

Heres what President-elect Donald Trump has been doing after the election

Heres what President-elect Donald Trump has been doing after the election

President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Thanksgiving morning that he was trying to make good on a campaign promise that a Carrier air-conditioning factory in Indiana, and its 1,400 jobs, would not move to Mexico in 2019 as planned.

I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS  Will know soon! Trump tweeted.

Carrier, a division of United Technologies of Farmington, Conn., responded with a tweet about an hour later: Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time.

During the campaign, Trump called the planned closure of the Indianapolis plant disgusting and un-American and made it a campaign rallying cry. At an Indianapolis event in April, he went further, offering the crowd a 100 percent guarantee the plant would not leave if he were elected.

Heres whats going to happen, Trump said, according to Bloomberg News. Theyre going to call me, and they are going to say, Mr. President, Carrier has decided to stay in Indiana. 

1 of 35 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Heres a look at Trumps administration so far View Photos President-elect Donald Trump faces a challenge as he prepares for his move to the White House: selecting the men and women who will fill his administration. Caption The men and women the president-elect has selected for his Cabinet and White House team. Scott Gottlieb, nominee for commissioner of FDA President Trump is set to nominate Scott Gottlieb, a conservative physician and businessman with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a White House official said. Courtesy of American Enterprise Institute/via Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

One hundred percent  thats what is going to happen, Trump added. Its not like we have an 80 percent chance of keeping them or a 95 percent. One hundred percent.

The Carrier back-and-forth was reminiscent of a similar exchange over manufacturing facilities that Trump began a week earlier, when he said on Twitter that he had received a call from Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., saying that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky  no Mexico.

Trumps claim was exaggerated, as Fords union contract prevented it from shutting down its Louisville assembly plant. Ford clarified that it had merely decided not to relocate production of a single vehicle model, the Lincoln MKC, from Kentucky.

Carrier announced its plans to shut down the Indiana plant in February, with the closure slated for 2019.

Chris Nelson, a Carrier president overseeing the unit, issued a statement at the time saying the move to Mexico would allow the company to operate more cost effectively because of the industrys ongoing migration to that area as well as cost and pricing pressures driven, in part, by new regulatory requirements.

The closure could lead to the loss of more than $100 million to the Indiana economy and more than 1,000 other jobs that indirectly relied on the plant, according to some estimates.

Trumps promise to save the plant was met with skepticism in some corners of Indiana, the home state of Vice President-elect Mike Pence, but Trump carried the state easily over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Boycotts have long been a way for consumers to voice their discontent.

If money walks, policies or business practices sometimes change.

But would a boycott work against President-elect Donald Trump, who has angered many people by his actions and politics and who has a vast corporate empire that could create conflicts of interest?

There is a growing campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #grabyourwallet to boycott companies that do business with Trump or carry Trump-branded merchandise, including items sold by his daughter Ivanka Trump.

I asked readers to share their thoughts on this financial protest. Heres what folks had to say, starting with those who support a boycott:

Boycotting Trump products by voting with your dollars is a peaceful, effective way for people to demonstrate their democratic views, one reader wrote. I hope this social media boycott effort builds momentum as we engage in the holiday shopping season.

Debbie Anderson of Summerville, S.C., wrote: Im a big believer of letting my dollars do my talking. While I realize my pittance doesnt make a difference for a huge company, if people band together, we can effect change.

I think the real issue here is the lack of a firewall between Trumps business and the presidency, wrote Dina from Philadelphia. Even if these are the most honest people in the world, the appearance of a conflict of interest can never go away if his children are running his business. Of course they are going to consult their father about business issues. Of course, they will have access to information that the average businessperson will not. As president, can he make any decision without considering the impact to his business? You cannot expect that what is best for Trump Inc. will always be best for America.

Judith Dollenmayer of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., wrote: I think a boycott is entirely justified, at least until we see bright boundaries drawn between his financial affairs and his national duties.

Trump has made it clear that money is the language he speaks and that is where he shall feel our wrath, wrote Alison Welles of Potomac, Md.

I am supporting the boycott of all Trump products partially to exercise my free speech rights, wrote Katherine Pecka Maulden of Reston, Va. I choose not to enrich any commercial enterprise associated with the hate-filled Trump philosophy.

Here are comments from readers opposed to a Trump boycott:

Jan McCarthy of Keswick, Va., wrote: I think the attempts to boycott the Trump brand, and anything else these protesters are doing, are pure spite and revenge. I will be contacting these same retailers with my opposing view, and will not buy any products from any of them who capitulate and kowtow to these boycott bullies.

I can understand why people would want to boycott anything connected to Trump products and services, wrote Stephanie Battles of Mitchellville, Md. However we must realize that there are unintended consequences. A boycott will harm workers.

Leslie Stompor of Naperville, Ill., wrote: I dont think it makes sense to boycott stores that carry Trump products. Just dont buy the Trump stuff, and the stores will stop carrying it all on their own. Vote with your dollar!

David Engel of Marshalltown, Iowa, wrote: I think it is ridiculous to do this. Boycotting his businesses will do nothing to change his mind about his agenda and just looks like sour grapes.

I voted for Hillary and Im not throwing a fit, wrote Teresa Woods of Omaha. Why dont we support the president-elect to help him become successful instead of working against him? In the long run, we are only hurting our country. Lets see how he does. If he proves to be unfit for this country, then we can throw our tantrums.

Ive waged my own boycotts when Ive felt aggrieved or objected to the way a company is doing business. Im just glad that I live in a country where you have the freedom to support or protest a cause so that your voice can be heard.
Dear Readers: Happy Thanksgiving! The holiday season is now in full swing. One lovely gesture you and your family can do? Provide greeting cards for hospitalized service members to send back home to their loved ones.

Heres what to send in, according to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center:

 Three blank holiday cards (all the same holiday, and no glitter).

 Three matching blank stamped envelopes.

 A short greeting to the service member, with no personal information.

Secure and mail to:

American Red Cross in the National Capital Region

ATTN: Holiday Mail for Heroes

8550 Arlington Blvd

Fairfax, VA 22031

The deadline for sending in these holiday bundles of cards (Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa) is quickly approaching: Nov. 30.

Contact the American Red Cross at 301-295-1538 for more information.

Dear Heloise: I enjoy reading your column in the Creston (Iowa) News Advertiser.

I discovered two cooking-/food-oil stains on the front of a quite new 100 percent cotton garment after it had been washed and dried. Ive tried two commercial stain removers since then, but the stains remain. Is there any hope of removing them?

Barb in Iowa

Barb in Iowa: Lets try Heloises Last-Ditch Effort stain remover for whites and bleachable fabrics (no silk or rayon, ETC.). Heres the formula:

1 gallon hot water

1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent

 cup household liquid chlorine bleach

Mix well in a plastic, enamel-coated or stainless-steel container. Dont use an aluminum vessel.

Let the piece soak for up to 10 minutes. If staining remains, soak longer, then launder as usual.

This and many other stain solutions can be found in my Heloises Handy Stain Guide for Clothing pamphlet. If youd like to order one, visit my website, Heloise.com, or send a long, self-addressed, stamped (68 cents) envelope, along with $5, to: Heloise/ Stains, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Make sure you read and understand the care labels on clothing before you buy. It may not be a good investment if you must always have the garment specially cleaned.

Dear Heloise: Kids love stickers of any kind, so I save the ones that come free in the mail. When my grandkids come over, they love to play with them.

Judy K. in Texas

Dear Heloise: I travel a lot for business and am frequently in several airports per week. I try not to check luggage, but sometimes I must, depending on how much I take. I have taken a photo of my bag with my cellphone, and its come in handy. One time all I had to do was show the picture to the agent at lost and found, and he filled in the paperwork.

A Reader, via email

Heloises column appears six days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Send a hint to Heloise , P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
Retired Marine Corps Sgt. John Peck, who lost four limbs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan six years ago, said Wednesday he has much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

But in a heartfelt Facebook post he said he wanted to give special thanks to the young man whose family donated the new arms Peck received in a transplant last August.

[Retired Marine, a quadruple amputee, gets a new set of arms]

This year Im extremely grateful for someone I never had the pleasure of meeting, he wrote. I want to take this time to tell you about him. His name is Chris . . .(and) the arms that are attached to me, those used to be his.

Peck wrote that Chris was born in 1989 with a congenital brain injury called porencephaly which is rare and causes a cyst in the brain and its secondary effects cause blindness . . . and seizures.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says porencephaly is an extremely rare disorder . . . in which a cyst or cavity filled with cerebrospinal fluid develops in the brain.

It is usually the result of damage from stroke or infection after birth . . . but it can also be caused by abnormal development before birth, the institute says on its website.

Symptoms can include delayed growth and development, seizures, speech problems and cognitive impairment.

Peck said Chriss father described his son in a Facebook message as my own hero.

Peck, 31, who lived outside Fredericksburg, Va., and is still recovering in Boston, where the surgery was performed, said in an interview that the donors father contacted him after Peck appeared at hospital news conference last month.

He said the family did not wish to be identified.

In transplant cases, contacts between donor and recipient can be delicate, and Peck said he took steps to confirm the legitimacy of the overture.

On August 16th Chris was not feeling well so he decided to go lay down but unfortunately never got up, Peck wrote Wednesday. He suffered from a massive cerebral hemorrhage which the doctor said is devastating and he would never recover.

The next day his parents were told . . . that their loving son was pronounced brain dead, he wrote.

Peck recounted that Chriss family donated his arms, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, skin tissue and corneas. He saved at least four . . . lives and improved a lot more, Peck wrote. I will cherish him his life and his gift till the day I die.

He said since the 13-hour surgery at Brigham and Womens Hospital, his arms have been healing  although there have been some expected setbacks.

He is thought to be the second quadruple amputee from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to get a double arm transplant.

We keep in contact, Peck said of the donors father. My first message to him was pretty long. I told him, Maybe some day we can actually meet up and have a beer or something like that and just talk.

He said Chriss father replied: Not right now. The wife and I are still healing. But eventually one day, yeah, that would be great.
THE DISTRICT

Virginia man charged in 2015 SW slaying

A Virginia man was charged with murder Wednesday in connection with a 2015 shooting in Southwest Washington, police said.

On July 23, 2015, about 4:55 p.m., officers responded to the 100 block of Darrington Street SW for a reported shooting, police said in a statement. They found 25-year-old Isiah Agyekum of Southwest suffering from gunshot wounds.

Police said 23-year-old Turell Campbell, of Portsmouth, Va., has been charged with first-degree murder while armed.

 Justin Wm. Moyer

MARYLAND

Male driver killed in Clarksburg crash

A male driver was killed on Thanksgiving after his vehicle crashed in Montgomery County.

The wreck occurred near the intersection of Route 355 and Comus Road in Clarksburg, police said. No other injuries were reported.

Officials declined to release any more details Thursday because they were still working to notify the victims family members.

 Dan Morse

Md. man arrested over plane threat in Calif.

Northern California authorities have arrested a Maryland man who they say threatened to blow up a commercial airplane as it readied for takeoff at Oakland International Airport.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the 32-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making criminal threats.

The man told passengers on the Baltimore-bound Southwest Airlines plane that he was going to blow up the aircraft while it was in the sky. The captain was immediately alerted and returned the aircraft to the gate, officials said. Alameda Sgt. Ray Kelly said no explosives were found.

 Associated Press

VIRGINIA

Pedestrian dies weeks after Alexandria crash

A 62-year-old pedestrian died more than a month after being struck by a vehicle, Alexandria police said Wednesday.

The man, Peter Palm of Alexandria, was struck by a vehicle on Oct. 8 and died Saturday.

Police said the incident happened about 2:06 a.m. in the 200 block of North Henry Street. The driver of the vehicle, a 24-year-old Alexandria woman, stayed at the scene and was later charged with driving while intoxicated.

 Victoria St. Martin
The Rev. Leah Daughtry, left, Cora Masters Barry and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser after the unveiling of a monument in honor former D.C. mayor and Ward 8 council member Marion Barry Jr. at Congressional Cemetery in Washington on Nov. 23, 2016. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

On a cold morning in Congressional Cemetery, the man who engraved Marion Barry Jr.s headstone contemplated his handiwork.

Andy Del Gallo has worked on noble edifices from Charlottesville to Baltimore. He chiseled I have a dream, words spoken by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., into the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. But when it came to creating a suitable monument for the mayor for life of the District of Columbia, the artistic process took some twists and turns.

Barrys family objected to excessive wrinkles and an over-the-top smile in early models for the bronze-relief portrait on the grave marker, Del Gallo said. Doing likenesses is a tricky business, he said. To every persons eyes it looks different.

Two years after Barrys death, dispute over his memory reaches well beyond the artists studio. As the District lurches through rapid demographic and economic changes, residents and elected officials are still coming to terms with a legacy  civil rights activism and drug use, job creation and womanizing, part history lesson and part punchline  that defies simple labels.

Del Gallo was among about 150 people who attended the unveiling of Barrys gravestone Wednesday, a ceremony whose audience of past and present D.C. luminaries seemed appropriate for a man who dominated his citys political life for most of four decades.

D.C. Council members Phil Mendelson, left, Anita Bonds, former D.C. mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly and Dickie Carter at the unveiling of a monument in honor former D.C. mayor and Ward 8 council member Marion Barry Jr. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

The creation of a private monument for Barry also underscored how little the District has done to formally memorialize its most famous public figure.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser last year named a summer jobs program after her longest-serving predecessor. City officials have plans for a statue of Barry, although it is not yet clear where it will be placed.

But the District has yet to bestow Barrys name on a school or other significant public structure. The mayor and D.C. Council reside in a building named after one of Barrys antagonists, late council chairman John A. Wilson, who was not shy about criticizing Barrys stewardship of the city.

The city should do more, said D.C. Chamber of Commerce President and former council member Vincent B. Orange, who last year floated a proposal, ultimately unsuccessful, to rename the University of the District of Columbia after Barry.

Citing figures such as Wilson and Walter E. Washington  the Districts first elected mayor, for whom the convention center is named  Orange said that Barry is certainly in their ranks, if not higher, in his contributions to the District of Columbia. And I think that should be acknowledged.

Deciding on an apt gesture toward Barrys four terms as mayor  as well as his additional service as a council member and school board member, and his 1960s civil rights activism with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee  grows more complicated as time passes. The District in 2016 is filled with more-affluent, younger residents with fewer ties to past generations than the city that first elected Barry in 1978.

Many of the newcomers pouring into the city have no knowledge of or connection to the civic programs that earned Barry a lifelong constituency among large swaths of the Districts population, such as his summer jobs program for the young and his drive to promote African Americans into the management ranks of the citys bureaucracy.

Cora Masters Barry speaks at the unveiling of a monument in honor of her late husband, former D.C. mayor and Ward 8 council member Marion Barry Jr. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

When newer residents do know of Barry, it may be for all the wrong reasons, said political consultant and Barry admirer Chuck Thies.

People outside the District and people who are new to the District remember Marion for his personal failings. They remember the Vista Hotel, and they remember the disastrous fourth term, Thies said, referring to an FBI sting that caught Barry on video smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room and the citys financial collapse during his last stint as mayor in the late 1990s.

Theyre not aware of what he did and what he was for so many people who lived in the District in the 1970s and 1980s and whose lives were actually improved because of him, he added.

Barrys remoteness from some of his citys newer residents could be gauged on a recent afternoon at the corner of 14th and U streets NW, an area that in 1968 was racked by riots that inspired one of Barrys first bursts of D.C. activism  a food donation program for those whose homes had been damaged. Today, the area teems with trendy bars and cafes.

Alice Gardner-Bates, a 28-year-old artist, said she had known little about Barry before moving from Pennsylvania to Hyattsville in July with her husband, a statistician with the Department of Agriculture.

I knew about a D.C. mayor with the crack pipe. I didnt even remember his name, Gardner-Bates said. After moving to the area, she said, she began to research Barry online and was surprised to learn about his civil rights activism.

Told that a monument to Barry was being erected, she said she could see why it would be important to people who live here.

The monument unveiled Wednesday at Barrys grave plot sits amid rows of headstones and obelisks, many of them inscribed with the names of people who lived and died in the 19th century. Not far away, enclosed by a wrought-iron fence, is the grave of notorious FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Cora Masters Barry, Barrys wife, said she conceived the grave markers design with Barrys late son, Marion Christopher Barry, who died this year of a drug overdose without seeing the monument completed. The younger Barrys name is inscribed on the stone, which was created by Del Gallo with help from the D.C.-area monument company Eastern Memorials.

With Del Gallos portrait of Barry  still showing a puckish grin, even after the requested adjustments  several engraved quotations and the flag of the District of Columbia, the monument is not meant to be a comprehensive accounting of the ups and downs of her late husbands legacy, Masters Barry said: Its not a history book.

However, she did point to one phrase on the monument as especially befitting: Maya Angelous memorable description of Barrys unmitigated gall to stand up in the ashes of where he had fallen.

He was a man who had his difficulties, Masters Barry said. But he always came back.
This is an artist's sketch of the skyjacker known as Dan Cooper, or D.B. Cooper, from the recollections of passengers and crew of a Northwest Orient jet he hijacked between Portland and Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971, Thanksgiving eve. 'Cooper' later parachuted from the plane with $200,000 in ransom money. Dead or alive, he has not been found. (FBI via AP)

Its one of Americas most enduring mysteries  the only unsolved hijacking of a commercial airliner in the countrys history: Who was the man known as D.B. Cooper who took control of a Northwest Orient jet shortly before Thanksgiving in 1971 and parachuted out with $200,000?

On Thanksgiving Day, a website founded by the author of the most authoritative book on Cooper is releasing hundreds of FBI investigative documents related to the case. Geoffrey Gray, author of Skyjack and founder of the online magazine True Ink, will publish dozens of documents showing the FBIs interviews with the passengers and crew of the flight, and its assessment of the physical evidence. The magazine will release a second group of documents in a couple of weeks and a third and final release before the end of the year. By the end of 2016, True Ink will have disseminated hundreds of FBI papers on the Cooper case.

Were opening up everything we have to the public, and we need help solving the case, Gray said.

Where did the files come from?

Gray, who talked to current and former law enforcement officials for his 2011 book, said he obtained the documents through people he interviewed. He wasnt able to pore through every page, and hes hoping that True Ink readers will sign up for access, type up their notes into the magazines interactive project and eventually find new information to identify the hijacker.

The case has spawned legions of Cooperites  self-appointed citizen sleuths and investigators who have called the FBI with tips and various theories about Coopers real identity.

It all began Nov. 24, 1971, when a man who gave the name Dan Cooper bought a ticket on a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore. to Seattle. As the plane took off, Cooper gave an attendant a note saying he possessed a bomb and then demanded $200,000. After the plane landed in Seattle, the passengers got off safely and the cash was brought aboard, but the crew stayed.

Cooper ordered the flight to head to Mexico, but as the jet flew over a forest in Washington state, the planes back staircase opened and he jumped out with the money strapped to his body. He was never found. Law enforcement authorities had an artist draw up a now-famous portrait, known as the Bing Crosby sketch, showing a man in dark horn-rimmed sunglasses and suit.

Numerous suspects made headlines  more than a 1,000 were looked at  but none were ever charged with the crime. The bureau has also never ruled out that the hijacker could have been killed upon landing in the forest. The biggest lead came in 1980 when a family happened upon $5,800 in cash whose serial numbers matched the money that had been given to Cooper.

This summer, there was a burst of Cooper news. The History channel aired a documentary about a group of investigators who believed they had found their man: Robert Bob W. Rackstraw, a Vietnam War veteran and explosives expert who has over the years teased the public with denials and non-denials that he is Cooper. (He now insists that he is not.) The other development: The FBI officially closed the case.

[An aging Vietnam veteran becomes the target of D.B. Cooper sleuths]

Gray said his documents are voluminous. But they dont delve into the bureaus investigations of specific suspects.

This is the real stuff. These are internal reports and actual investigative documents that the bureau used to investigate the case, Gray said. Theres so many files and so much information I thought it would be helpful to have all this out there so people can find things I missed.
When his 16-year-old friend overdosed on heroin, Kyle Alifom was already on probation and feared more punishment. He carried her into the basement of his Northern Virginia house, found her dead the next morning and hid her body in a neighbors yard. He was given a harsh sentence for his crime: over 61/2 years in federal prison.

But last month, Alifom was set free after only three years behind bars. The 23-year-old apparently was offered a large sentence reduction in exchange for testifying against the man authorities see as the true villain: the heroin dealer.

The father of Emylee Lonczak, a rising junior at McLean High School, said the family was crushed by the news and frustrated that we didnt learn about Alifoms release from authorities.

Don Lonczak said he understood that in terms of risk to children out there, I think getting a serious dealer off the streets ultimately is more important. Still, the family doesnt think a young man who they believe could have saved Emylees life should be out of prison so soon.

You cant have a light sentence for something like this, because it basically sends a signal that however morally repulsive what he did might be in hindsight, it looks like a pretty sound legal strategy, Lonczak said. He was going to get in trouble with the law if he helped my daughter, and by not helping her there was the possibility that she might not have died. So he took the risk.

[McLean High School students heroin overdose shows disturbing trend]

On Aug. 21, 2013, Alifom, Emylee and two others went on a excursion from Fairfax, Va., to buy heroin in the District. There, they met up with dealer Antowan Thorne, who went by the nickname Smooth. Thorne had never met Emylee, although he had previously sold heroin to some of Alifoms other friends.

But law enforcement in Virginia and across the country are now targeting dealers whose drugs lead to deadly overdoses for the harshest prosecution. For selling the heroin that went into Emylees veins, Thorne was sent to prison for 25 years. Alifom, who had pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, testified at Thornes trial.

Our goal in every narcotics investigation is to dismantle the threat to our communities at the highest level possible, Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. This approach has resulted in the prosecution of large-scale drug traffickers who pose a significant threat on a national and international level.

Boente would not confirm that Alifoms sentencing reduction was in exchange for his testimony. By law, the subject is under seal. But Gene Rossi, a former prosecutor in the Eastern District who is now running for lieutenant governor, said such deals are the bread and butter of prosecuting major drug dealers.

I dont think its unfair or unwise to let that person go, Rossi said. He didnt intend for her to die; he was an immature young man who did something very rash and very stupid. Dealers such as Thorne, on the other hand, are the ones who are causing the poison to be on the street.

James Berthay, who dealt drugs with Thorne, testified during Thornes trial that their product was extremely, extremely potent heroin that quickly developed a following among 20-somethings in Fairfax County. Berthay, who became addicted while dealing, would warn buyers to take small doses and keep overdose medication on hand.

Emylee had never done heroin before the night of her death. Zachary Power, part of the group that went to the District that night, had to help her inject the drug. He testified at Thornes trial that afterward everyone was nodding off in the car, waking up only to compliment the quality of the drugs.

I have a very clear memory of Emylee saying, Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is real heroin. This is good heroin,  Neema Zadeh, another member of the group, testified in court.

While the three others in the group went in and out of consciousness, Emylee passed out completely. Alifom testified at Thornes trial that he brought her into his basement guest room, tucked her into bed and left a glass of water by her side.

I didnt think that she was deathly ill. There was no way of telling that she was deathly ill, he said in court. Emylee just appeared to be asleep.

When he came back in the morning, her body lay in the exact same position as it had the night before. The water was untouched. He realized she was not asleep.

She had foam, foam around her mouth, and she [had] urinated herself, Alifom testified. I panicked.

Power and Zadeh recalled that there had been discussion of calling an ambulance for Emylee the night before.

I remember [Alifom] insisting, Shes going to be okay. Dont worry about it. Ill take care of it. If anything happens, Ill call the ambulance. Its not a problem,  Zadeh testified.

Alifom testified that the heroin had made him nauseous, and he doesnt remember that conversation or much else. But Alifom acknowledged that he had been worried about getting caught violating his probation. He had prior convictions for charges including trespassing and marijuana possession.

Since Emylees death, Virginia has implemented a Good Samaritan law that protects drug users who call 911 to report overdoses. But the law is not as sweeping as in other states; it provides a defense that can be used in court, not immunity from prosecution.

Advocates for reform say that law does not go far enough.

I dont think people understand an affirmative defense; they ask, Am I going to be arrested?  said Brandon Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School. These overly harsh drug possession laws cause people not to care for friends or even loved ones who are facing overdoses.

In letters to the court after Alifoms conviction, friends and relatives described him as good-hearted but weak-willed. He was obsessed with attention and popularity, several said, and struggled with drug use and untreated attention deficit disorder.

He grew up to be a privileged but somewhat naive, spoiled and irresponsible child of the Facebook era, his uncle Mikael Wossen wrote. Being a follower and a pleaser of sorts, was a dangerous combination in this otherwise fun loving and highly sociable character.

Alifom declined to comment. His mother, Elizabeth Wossen, said the family does not want to discuss the past.

Her parents are suffering, we are suffering, she said. Weve all suffered enough.
A 62-year-old pedestrian died over a month after a crash with a vehicle, Alexandria police said Wednesday.

The man, Peter Palm of Alexandria, was struck by a vehicle on Oct. 8. He had non-life threatening injuries after the collision, but authorities said his condition worsened and he died Saturday.

Police said the accident happened around 2:06 a.m. in the 200 block of North Henry Street. The driver of the vehicle, a 24-year-old Alexandria woman, stayed on the scene and was later arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Members of the departments crash reconstruction team are investigating the accident. Police ask that witnesses or people with information about the crash contact Investigator Jordan Young by calling (703) 746-1816.
A Virginia man was charged with murder Wednesday in connection with a 2015 shooting in Southwest Washington, police said.

On July 23, 2015, about 4:55 p.m., officers responded to the 100 block of Darrington Street SW for a reported shooting, D.C. police said in a statement. They found 25-year-old Isiah Agyekum of Southwest suffering from gunshot wounds; he died after being transported to a hospital, the statement said.

On Wednesday, police said they arrested 23-year-old Turell Campbell, of Portsmouth, Va., in the District in connection with the shooting, and he was charged with first-degree murder while armed.

No information about the motive in the shooting or how Campbell was caught was immediately available.
Residents of a troubled mobile home park in Northern Virginia are withholding their monthly rents in hopes of forcing long-needed sewerage repairs  although the money seems unlikely to be used for that purpose, according to the landowner and city officials.

So far, 38 residents of the East End Mobile Home Park have paid a total of $24,000 to Prince William Countys General District Court instead of to the mobile home park as part of a process known as a tenants assertion and complaint, which is meant to protect renters in Virginia living in squalid conditions.

The residents  who pay lot fees of between $350 and $600 per month to live at the park  face eviction at the end of February. The land on which they park their mobile homes is being bought by the city of Manassas for $1.86 million, after years in which the city tried in vain to get the landlord to repair the leaky private sewer system.

An attorney for the landlord said she does not make enough from the lot fees to pay for the repairs, and city officials say they will empty the park and resell the land rather than trying to make it habitable for the current residents.

Since the pending purchase was announced by Manassas officials in April, the East End residents have banded together in search of a way to remain at the mobile home park, which offers a rare form of relatively affordable housing in the increasingly pricey Prince William area.

So far, according to city records, none of the residents have applied for the relocation money the city has offered, which could be as much as $2,300 per household.

The people who are living there have built a life for themselves in that community, said Jonathan Francis, an attorney representing the East End residents in a collection of complaints that are scheduled for a Dec. 9 hearing in the General District Court. The majority of their equity and lives have been put into their mobile homes.

The mobile home park is owned by a trust set up in 2005 on behalf of Helen Loretta Clarke. Timothy A. Cope, the attorney representing Clarke, has requested that Manassas pay his client to cover the lost lot fees, citing a provision in the land purchase contract that says up to $125,000 in rental losses will be reimbursed if tenants stopped making payments after receiving eviction notices. Additional rent losses covered by the city would be subtracted from the purchase price, the contract states.

I have no choice, Cope said. Without any income for four months, youre talking about a pretty good amount of money.

Manassas officials said this week that they are unwilling to cover those payments. The impasse sets up a potential legal dispute between the city and East End that could jeopardize the purchase.

Patrick J. Small, who is coordinating the purchase as the citys economic development director, said he doesnt consider the withheld money to be lost income for East End, since it is being held in a court escrow account.

They need to give me a really good reason why I should recommend to the city manager and the City Council that we not deny their request, Small said. Our position is that they have not lost rent.

Manassas Mayor Harry J. Hal Parrish (R) did not return a phone call for comment.

With the battle brewing, residents are trying to figure out their options while living with the stench of raw sewage that emanates from an open trench at one end of the park.

Im not sure what well do, said Alejandro Reyes, 28, inside the two-bedroom mobile home that he and his wife, Yorceli Reyes, bought for $23,000 shortly before the city announced it was buying the property.

Options for cheap housing in the area for them and their two young children are scarce, and they do not know of another mobile home park that has room.

Wed have to find an apartment or something, said Yorceli Reyes, 27. But nothing we could afford would have enough space.
MICHIGAN

Campus police officer dies of gunshot wound

A Wayne State University police officer has died after being shot in the head while patrolling an area near the Detroit campus, police said Wednesday.

After an hours-long manhunt, police arrested a suspect in the shooting, Detroit Police Chief James Craig told reporters.

The officer, Collin Rose, 29, was investigating complaints of thefts from vehicles on Tuesday when he stopped a man on a bicycle, Craig said. A second officer, responding to the scene, found Rose on the ground, suffering from at least one serious gunshot wound, the Detroit Free Press reported. The officer was not shot with his own gun, and police were searching for the weapon, the Associated Press reported.

According to witnesses, the suspect frequents the area where the shooting took place, in the Woodbridge area of Detroit, Craig said.

Rose is the first Wayne State officer to fall in the line of duty, school President M. Roy Wilson said. Rose, a canine officer, was a five-year veteran of the Wayne State police force. According to the universitys website, he served as the handler of a dog named in honor of a Detroit police officer, Patrick Hill, who was killed in the line of duty in October 2013.

Wayne State University police officer Collin Rose was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. (Mj Murawka/AP)

 Samantha Schmidt

OHIO

College student gets 20 years in terror plot

An Ohio college student who pleaded guilty to plotting an Islamic State-guided attack on a U.S. military employee and a police station was sentenced to 20 years in prison, authorities said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors said Munir Abdulkader, 22, from the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, was directed to carry out an attack in the Cincinnati area by Junaid Hussain, a well-known figure in the Islamic State. According to court documents, Abdulkader had planned to record the military members death before attacking the police station.

Hussain was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone strike in Syria in August 2015. The Justice Department said that Abdulkader had communicated with Hussain months before the drone strike.

Abdulkader, a chemistry student at Xavier University, was arrested in May 2015, but the case was not unsealed until this past July  more than a year after his arrest and four months after Abdulkader pleaded guilty.

Abdulkader is one of five people in Ohio charged in connection with the Islamic State. Earlier this month, federal officials said that they arrested a 20-year-old Columbus man for trying to leave the states capital to fly to Libya and join the group.

 Mark Berman

HEALTH

Drug trial halted after two more patients die

Juno Therapeutics again halted its study of an experimental leukemia treatment Wednesday after two more patients died of complications.

It was the second setback for the closely watched study, which was previously halted after two patient deaths in July. Company shares plunged more than 27 percent in frenzied trading.

The Seattle company said that the latest deaths occurred this week after patients suffered a severe form of brain swelling, similar to the previous two fatalities. Company executives in July blamed the deaths on chemotherapy drugs used in a pre-treatment regimen, rather than on Junos experimental drug.

The Food and Drug Administration granted researchers permission to resume the study several days later.

The companys therapy, known only as JCAR015, is in mid-stage testing, a make-or-break phase of development that usually focuses on effectiveness.

Junos approach is part of a promising, but still unproven, approach that re-engineers patients immune systems to attack cancer.

The company is studying several other gene-altering immunotherapies and said those trials will continue.

 Associated Press
Boys play with a ball in front of oil fields burned by Islamic State fighters in Qayyara, south of Mosul, Iraq. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

IRAQ

Airstrike destroys fourth bridge in Mosul

An airstrike by a U.S.-led coalition on Wednesday disabled a fourth bridge across the Tigris River in Mosul, leaving only one intact crossing the northern Iraqi city and further disrupting the Islamic State militant groups supply lines.

The Islamic State-run Amaq news agency and an Iraqi military commander in Mosul reported the pre-dawn airstrike, the second to target a bridge this week. Two other bridges were destroyed by airstrikes last month.

The airstrike was followed by intense fighting in an eastern Mosul neighborhood where Iraqs special forces are slowly advancing toward the city center, hampered by suicide car bombings, snipers and concern about the safety of civilians.

The Tigris runs through the center of Mosul, and until now most of the fighting has been on the eastern bank. Iraqi forces are expected to use pontoon bridges when they reach the river.

Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State in summer 2014, is still home to more than 1 million people. The United Nations says that at least 68,000 people have fled the fighting there.

Meanwhile, seven attacks in and around the capital, Baghdad, killed at least 14 and wounded 47, said police and health officials.

 Associated Press

NETHERLANDS

Populist lawmaker slams trial as charade

Populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders delivered a fiery closing statement Wednesday at his hate speech trial, slamming his prosecution as a charade, a disgrace for the Netherlands, a mockery for our society that threatens freedom of speech.

Wilders, whose party is riding high in Dutch opinion polls,told a three-judge panel sitting in a heavily guarded courtroom on the outskirts of Amsterdam that, as an elected lawmaker, he must be able to talk about the mega-Moroccan problem in the Netherlands and would not be muzzled by what he branded a political trial.

In an address that sounded as much like a campaign speech ahead of parliamentary elections in March as a legal defense, Wilders cast himself as part of a swelling anti-establishment movement worldwide that has manifested itself in Britains June vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trumps recent victory in the U.S. presidential election.

The prosecution centers on comments Wilders made before and after Dutch municipal elections in 2014. At one meeting in a Hague cafe, he asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. That sparked a chant of Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!  to which he replied, Well take care of it.

Prosecutors say that Wilders, who has been acquitted in another hate speech trial for his outspoken criticism of Islam, overstepped the limits of free speech by specifically targeting Moroccans.

 Associated Press

PHILIPPINES

Military drills with U.S. to be reduced next year

The Philippine armed forces chief said Wednesday that five military exercises with the United States, including at least two major naval drills, will be scrapped next year at the direction of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Gen. Ricardo Visaya said U.S. officials respected the Philippiness proposal to reduce the number of drills to 258, five less than this years exercises.

Visaya said the scrapped drills include an amphibious landing exercise and cooperation-afloat readiness and training, both major naval drills.

He said next years exercises will focus on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and counterterrorism efforts.

Duterte has said that he wants to chart a foreign policy less oriented toward Washington and expand security ties with China and Russia.

 Associated Press

Rare thunderstorm asthma kills 4 in Australia: A rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma sent hundreds of people to hospitals in Australias second-largest city, and four deaths have been confirmed. The wild thunderstorm in Melbourne caused rain-sodden ryegrass pollen to explode and disperse over the city, triggering asthma attacks in some who had never suffered from asthma.

More than 1,000 fighters from Iran killed in Syria, report says: More than 1,000 fighters from Iran have been killed in the Syrian civil war, according to a semiofficial Iranian news agency that cited figures from an official. Tasnim quoted Mohammad Ali Shahidi as saying that the number of martyred defenders of shrines . . . has passed . . . 1,000. Shahidi, who runs a foundation that supports families of those killed in conflicts, did not elaborate. Iran has been a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syrias war.

 From news services
At this shank end of a shabby year, Americans still can be thankful: They do not have the problem of nothing to grumble about. As we steel ourselves for Thanksgivings obligatory routs and revels  does anyone really like turkey? or Uncle Ralph, who keeps turning up, like a bad penny?  Americans are cudgeling their brains for reasons to feel gratitude. So, herewith, a call for everyone to temper gloom with lucidity. Things could be worse. And they often have been while Americans nevertheless have given thanks.

In her new book Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience, Melanie Kirkpatrick traces the evolution of this celebration from the Pilgrims 1621 feast with members of the Wampanoag tribe. Congress urged George Washington to recommend to the people a day of thanksgiving, which he did. Thomas Jefferson, however, did not feel authorized to promote this intermeddling of government with religious observance.

On Oct. 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that henceforth the last Thursday in November would be an official national holiday. He did so to thank God  and His instrument, the Union army  for the nations improving fortunes of war. And specifically for the victory at Gettysburg, where 47 days later Lincoln gave a short speech dedicating a cemetery. Thankfulness did not seem, and was not, inappropriate even in a context of American deaths in hitherto unimaginable numbers. Exactly 100 years later  53 years ago  Thanksgiving fell six days after the murder of a president.

In 1939, the New Deal having failed to banish the Depression  the unemployment rate was 17.2 percent  Franklin Roosevelt unlimbered the heavy artillery, the plucky American shopper. Happy days would be here again because FDR was moving Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the third. In 1933, his first year in office, November had five Thursdays and Thanksgiving was on the 30th, and in 1939 it was again set to land on that day, to the horror of the nations biggest retailers, who coveted more post-Thanksgiving shopping days.

But a Brooklyn haberdasher wanted the later date: If the large department stores are overcrowded during the shorter shopping period before Christmas, the overflow will come, naturally, to the neighborhood store.

Generally, the nationwide reaction was, Kirkpatrick writes, swift and vociferous. The pastor at the Church of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth, Mass., lamented that the sacred has given way to the secular forces of life. Alf Landon, the losing Republican candidate against FDR in 1936, said that the president had announced this change to an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler. Twenty-two of the 48 states adopted what Republicans cheekily called Franksgiving on Nov. 23, 23 stayed with Nov. 30, and three states celebrated both days.

Like much of the rest of the New Deal, moving Thanksgiving earlier failed to be an economic blessing. Nineteen days after Pearl Harbor, FDR signed a joint congressional resolution making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

Todays president-elect, who is not always a human sunbeam, seems to regard the nation (a hellhole) as akin to tundra in that anything done to it will improve it. Perhaps his deft presidential touch on the tiller of the ship of state will soon have the United States sailing toward greatness. But his coming ascension to the ships bridge might cause a polar frost, followed by scorching heat, at many Thanksgiving dinner tables. Uncle Ralph, squinting at Aunt Emmas defiantly worn Im With Her button, is going to say, with measured malice, I wish you were. At least there will not be anesthetizing boredom caused by the turkeys tryptophan.

Modern presidential campaigns, like the presidency itself, are too much with us, which makes it difficult to relegate politics to the hinterlands of our minds. Shortly before Thanksgiving 2013, the student government of Barnard College in New York City sent to all students this email: Happy Turkey Week. Thanksgiving is complicated. We urge you not to forget that this holiday commemorates genocide and American imperialism. But, enjoy the week off and make it into something meaningful.

The emails authors deserve the fate of William Veazie, a Massachusetts church warden who in 1696 was spotted plowing a field on the day designated for Thanksgiving. Kirkpatrick says he was fined 10 pounds and sentenced to an hour in the pillory in Boston.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.
Colbert I. Kings question In the age of Trump, what is a Christian? [op-ed, Nov. 19] was a fitting follow-up to the Nov. 17 Metro article Evangelicals put their faith in Trump. For centuries evangelical has been a wonderful word, derived from the Greek for good news or gospel. It signified a life transformed by the spirit of God, reflecting the character of Christ, based on faith and grace. It meant speaking truth, serving others and treating and respecting every person as created in the image of God. It was right doctrine and right living: honesty, generosity, fidelity in marriage, compassion and advocacy for those who were poor and vulnerable. It drew no line between personal and public morality. Personal virtue and integrity in business (keeping your word, paying your debts, giving your workers a fair wage) were two sides of the same coin.

Sadly, the word evangelical somehow has been corrupted into a political classification which even prompts the question, What is a Christian? All who claim that name should do so with humility, recognizing our own imperfections and guarding against any confusion of political preference with biblical principle. When faith functionally becomes a political identity, I fear (to use words evangelical Christians will understand) that, like Esau, we have sold our birthright for a bowl of pottage.

Lynn Bergfalk, Washington

The writer is a minister at Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church.

The Nov. 19 editorial Dangerous appointments noted that retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, President-elect Donald Trumps choice for national security adviser, considers Islam not a religion but a political ideology that hides behind what we call freedom of religion. Colbert I. Kings op-ed the same day, In the age of Trump, what is a Christian?, showed that the same claim could easily be made of Christians. Mr. King correctly pointed out that the politics of segregation dominated white Southern churches during the 1960s. The fact that more than 80 percent of white evangelical Christians supported Mr. Trump, despite statements and behavior by him that were clearly antithetical to fundamental Christian beliefs, indicates that for many Christians, political ideology trumps their core religious values.

It appears that some Christians are just as adept at interpreting the Bible to suit their political beliefs as radical Islamists who twist the Koran to suit theirs. Wrapping a political ideology with a veneer of religion is a universal technique. Exploiting religious and racial differences for political purposes, as Mr. Flynn has done, is a similar technique that is not isolated to one religion. That some members of both religions use these techniques should not be used to characterize or condemn either religion.

Roger Schaffer, Severna Park
In my politically diverse extended family, Thanksgiving was always a happy version of Crossfire or Firing Line, the occasion for raucous debates over the future of our country. My childhood and early teen years coincided with the 1960s, so the discussions sometimes got bitter.

Bitter, but never devoid of love and affection. Usually, we had Thanksgiving at the home of my godparents, Aunt Do and Uncle Emile. My aunt tried briefly to ban political conflagrations but gave up, realizing that the combatants enjoyed them. My family, particularly my dad and my Uncle Ray, trained me for what I would do for a living. They taught me how to argue, how to hold intellectual ground and how to break tense discord with laughter.

This Thanksgiving may be particularly tough for families who bear any resemblance to the one I grew up in. Donald Trump promises to be the most divisive president of my lifetime  and I still remember Richard Nixons tenure. Nixon made liberals like me angry. Trump scares us. I truly hope Im wrong, but I cant help but notice his authoritarian tendencies and his apparent inability to separate his new responsibilities from his business interests.

As for his supporters, they dismiss us as snobbish left-wing elitists completely out of touch with whats happening in the real America.

Hoping to help divided families maintain their solidarity, I have tried to imagine how screaming matches might coexist with moments of dialogue.

Playing my own role (I wont pretend I can channel Trump supporters), I could see beginning with some words about what those of us who voted for Hillary Clinton  proudly so, in my case  might learn from the election outcome. This, of course, would come after pointing out that she will end up ahead by something like 2.5 million popular votes, which in every other kind of election would just be called votes.

After the electoral-college argument died down, I would acknowledge that a great many of our fellow Americans are hurting. Our economy looks very different in the old industrial areas flattened by technological change and the offshoring of jobs than it does in the wealthier parts of our country.

I would concede that Democrats and liberals did not do a good job of addressing the estrangement of white working-class voters and that its not hard to understand why many of these voters felt that every suffering group of Americans had been lifted up by liberals  except for them.

Id also take to task liberals inclined to condemn those uneducated voters who cast ballots against their interests for a con man. I do believe they made a mistake theyll come to regret, but it shouldnt be hard to empathize with their desire to hurl a wrench into the gears of politics. I am in the camp that believes James B. Comey, the FBI director, tilted the election to Trump. Verbal commotion would no doubt follow this assertion. Nonetheless, I would accept the criticism that the Clinton campaign didnt devote enough attention to offering a clear economic vision that, I would insist, was inherent in her long list of policies.

But as I pass the turkey, Id ask Trump supporters to look at the election from the other side. Kimberly Moffitt, a professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, called my attention to Charles Gabas powerful tweet: Not all Trump supporters are racist, but all of them decided that racism isnt a deal-breaker. Id invite everyone at our Thanksgiving table to think hard about this.

Id also ask my conservative dinner mates to consider the embarrassment and potential corruption that could befall our country if Trump is not required to sell off his businesses. Surely no friend of the free market wants a president who could use his power and influence to push others, including foreign governments, to make decisions that would enrich him.

And Id ask them to join us in being prepared to stand up if Trumps inclination to punish his opponents and isolate a critical media leads him to misuse governments power toward these ends. A reverence for freedom should unite us.

I can hear my Aunt Dos voice warning me that the plan I just laid out will result only in warring relatives throwing cranberry sauce and drumsticks at each other. But if it came to that, Id still hope we could at least agree that the liberty to disagree is precious  and, yes, the apple pie is wonderful.

Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Protesters hold signs against President-elect Donald Trump in front of the White House on Nov. 9. (Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

Democrats from President Obama on down are blaming their 2016 debacle in part on too much identity politics  messaging aimed not at voters broadly, but at Latinos, women, African Americans and the LGBT community as groups.

The one group Democrats did not target were their old mainstays, non-college-educated whites (especially the males of that species), who responded by giving Donald Trump a margin of 39 points over Hillary Clinton, while voters of color failed to vote for her in the expected numbers.

According to much newly minted conventional wisdom, Democrats can and should win back downscale whites by cranking up economic populism, without losing minorities, women and other key components of their coalition.

We need to speak to their economic interests, that we get it, that we understand, that we talk about those things and we try to fight hard for those things, said Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), who is challenging Rep. Nancy Pelosi of ultra-diverse San Francisco for leadership of House Democrats.

Easier said than done. Consider: Rust Belt states that Trump turned red  Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan  heavily rely on coal for their electricity. Ohio and Pennsylvania also mine it. Some in those states likely backed the Republican partly out of opposition to Obamas crackdown on coal, the Clean Power Plan, which Clinton supported.

Democrats could modify their climate change policy, in the name of protecting coal jobs and lower utility bills; good for the working class of all races. That would infuriate green voters  and donors  on the East and West coasts. Itll never happen.

At a deeper level, Trump tapped unease among working-class whites that is related not to economics but to culture and race: in a word, identity.

A diverse society brings great benefits  social, cultural and economic. Urban Americans experience these daily. Life brims with new experiences, challenges, excitement, what an economist would call positive externalities of demographic change.

Yet homogeneity has benefits too. In rural areas, or small towns, where everyone speaks the same language, or practices the same customs, life can be simpler, more predictable, less frictional. Economists call these compositional amenities, and many people value them above the benefits of diversity  even above economic gains.

In a 2009 paper, a U.S.-British trio of social scientists led by David Card of the University of California at Berkeley used survey data from 21 countries to show that concern for compositional amenities is much more important in explaining public opinion on immigration than economic concerns, such as immigrations impact on wages and taxes.

Anxiety about cultural change can, and often does, outweigh evidence on immigrations economic impact  even positive data showing immigration actually raises wages overall, or that undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes.

The study found that compositional concerns rise as educational attainment falls. As you acquire more skills and information, it becomes easier, presumably, to adapt to an increasingly diverse culture. And the converse also holds.

The analysis (previously reported by Thomas B. Edsall of the New York Times) was based on survey data from Europe over a decade ago. Still, the fact that the Card teams findings applied across different societies on that continent suggests relevance to the United States, too  as does the fact that Trump just got himself elected president with overwhelming support from non-college-educated whites in smaller cities and rural counties by telling them he would build a wall on the Mexican border, impose extreme vetting on would-be immigrants and deport large numbers of the undocumented.

A General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, would have closed but for Obamas rescue of the auto industry; Trump won the surrounding county by six points.

The Democrats dilemma, then, is this: They can make only limited political gains with an economic pitch to the white working class, unless they adjust on immigration and other issues of identity too, probably.

Yet this would require compromising on what the party defined as matters of basic justice and tolerance, and turn off voters from their racially and ethnically diverse coalition of the ascendant.

Indeed, some on the left are already warning that conceding on identity politics would be a capitulation to white supremacy, in the words of Columbia law school professor Katherine Franke.

Its an understandable impulse  no concessions to this demagogue. And Democrats may end up doubling down on identity politics because of it.

The question is whether this will prove effective, or prove to many whites that Democrats just dont understand them, or care to; certainly Trump will encourage them to think so.

The alternative, of course, is to appeal to the public on the basis of our common American identity, and aspirations, rather than our overlapping grievances  cultural, racial, economic or otherwise.

For the time being, no leader or party shows any interest in that. The one that eventually does, though, might own the political future, if we still have one.

Read more from Charles Lanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
President Trump is set to nominate Scott Gottlieb, a conservative physician and businessman with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a White House official said.

Scott Gottlieb, nominee for commissioner of FDA President Trump is set to nominate Scott Gottlieb, a conservative physician and businessman with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a White House official said. Courtesy of American Enterprise Institute/via Reuters

The men and women the president-elect has selected for his Cabinet and White House team.

President-elect Donald Trump faces a challenge as he prepares for his move to the White House: selecting the men and women who will fill his administration.

President-elect Donald Trump faces a challenge as he prepares for his move to the White House: selecting the men and women who will fill his administration.

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday began to follow through on a pledge to put together a diverse administration  not only expanding its makeup along ethnic and gender lines, but also inviting aboard former critics and adversaries.

Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to be his United Nations ambassador, tapped billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos as education secretary and appeared to be nearing an announcement of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In choosing two women  one the daughter of immigrants from India  and possibly an African American man for Cabinet-level appointments, Trump has cast more broadly than he did with his first five picks for top jobs in his Cabinet and White House. All of those initial selections were white men.

Trumps latest appointments also show that a president-elect famous for demanding unwavering loyalty from those around him is magnanimous enough to look beyond his past grievances  and perhaps has concluded that recruiting potential foes onto his team is a smart strategy for healing and neutralizing the deep divisions within the Republican Party.

In a videotaped Thanksgiving message released Wednesday evening, Trump made a broader appeal for political reconciliation after a campaign marked by racial and gender divisions: We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight.

It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately, the president-elect added, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities.

His comments came as votes continued to be counted from the Nov. 8 election and showed that his Democratic opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, has amassed a popular-vote lead that now exceeds 2 million ballots, or a margin of about 1.5 percent. Yet she finished nearly 60 votes behind Trump in the electoral college.

[Welcome to Washingtons new normal: One Trump drama after another]

That disparity has festered with many Clinton supporters  including some who are calling for recount efforts in several states that she lost  making it more difficult for them to accept the fact that their candidate will not be taking the oath of office in January.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party continues to grapple with internal fissures stemming from the fact that much of its establishment wing had refused to get behind Trumps candidacy or did so only reluctantly.

Trump and Haley had been harshly critical of each other during the bitter 2016 campaign. Just days before the election, she pronounced herself not a fan of her partys nominee, though she would vote for him, and lamented that this election has turned my stomach upside down.

For his part, Trump had deemed her an embarrassment to her state.

President-elect Donald Trump named Betsy DeVos as his nominee for education secretary. Here's what you need to know about the conservative activist and billionaire donor. (The Washington Post)

Carson was one of the 16 opponents that Trump vanquished in the Republican primary season. At one point, quoting a memoir in which Carson acknowledged having a pathological temper in his youth, Trump said that the soft-spoken former neurosurgeon had a sickness comparable to being a child molester.

Though Carson endorsed Trump after folding his own campaign, it was with ambivalence. Are there better people? Carson said in a radio interview. Probably.

DeVos, a major GOP donor who had contributed to several of Trumps primary opponents, also questioned whether Trump reflected Republican Party values.

Haley and Carson both have scant experience in the subject areas of their posts  international diplomacy in her case and housing and community development in his.

DeVos, on the other hand, has a national reputation as a conservative activist who has forcefully pushed for private-school voucher programs. Her nomination is expected to face strong opposition from public school advocates, who oppose her efforts to funnel taxpayer dollars from public to private and religious schools.

[As ambassador to U.N., Haley would face the worlds most intractable conflicts]

Haley has been seen as a rising star in the Republican Party since her 2010 election as South Carolina governor, where she won the GOP nomination as an insurgent fueled by the tea party but became well-regarded by the party establishment as well.

Last year, Haley won wide acclaim in the wake of a racially motivated massacre in an African American church in Charleston; her efforts to heal and unify her state included calling for the removal of a Confederate flag on the grounds of the State Capitol that had for decades been a symbol of divisiveness.

She tangled with Trump repeatedly during the presidential campaign and used her star turn giving the GOP response to this years State of the Union address to rebuke his candidacy as the siren call of the angriest voices. Shortly before her states crucial primary, Haley endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) for the nomination.

But at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association the week after the presidential election, Haley was sounding a different note, saying she was just giddy about the prospect of a Trump administration.

Serving alongside Trump offers her an opportunity to ascend on the global stage, gain experience in foreign affairs and link herself again to the grass-roots, Trump-loving activists in the Republican base.

Haley also leaves herself positioned for a future run for national office or an elevation to secretary of state or another Cabinet position in the coming years, should there be a shake-up.

Trump is considering another prominent former rival and mainstream Republican, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, for secretary of state, although some Trump advisers are pushing back against that and backing other candidates, such as former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

[DeVos isnt a household name, but her efforts have reshaped public education]

DeVos  whose husband, Dick DeVos Jr., is an heir to the Amway direct-sale fortune  is a Michigan power broker and major donor to conservative causes and candidates around the country. Her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, one of the most profitable private security contractors during the Iraq War.

DeVos and her family supported Rubio in the GOP presidential primaries, and she was never an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. I still have reservations about him as a person, she told The Washington Post in July at the Republican National Convention, which she attended as a Michigan delegate.

She was more enthusiastic on Wednesday. I am honored to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in ed is not acceptable, DeVos tweeted Wednesday afternoon, before any official announcement was made. Together, we can work to make transformational change to ensure every student has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential.

DeVos has been closer to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana pushed to expand that states voucher program into the nations largest.

Her nomination was greeted with enthusiasm by GOP leaders on Capitol Hill. Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a frequent critic of what he viewed as the Obama administrations federal overreach on education, called her an excellent choice.

[What Trump may not know about the generals hes eyeing for top positions]

But others said her nomination heralded an intent by the Trump administration to dismantle the nations public schools by draining them of students and resources.

Betsy DeVos is everything Donald Trump said is wrong in America: an ultra-wealthy heiress who uses her money to game the system and push a special-interest agenda that is opposed by the majority of voters, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn  executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organization that has long raised concerns about funneling tax dollars to religious schools  called her nomination an insult to public education.

Meanwhile, Carson tweeted Wednesday that an announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again, although he declined to be more specific. Trump had tweeted Tuesday that he is seriously considering Carson for the HUD post.

In an interview with Fox News, Carson said that the issues he would deal with in that job represent a long-term interest of mine, and Ill be thinking and praying about it seriously over the holiday.

Carson has often spoken of the struggles of his upbringing by a poor single mother in Detroit. He earned a scholarship to Yale and ultimately achieved acclaim as a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Emma Brown and Robert Costa contributed to this report.
Over the past few months, several U.S. diplomats have come to see Delfin Lorenzana, the Philippines secretary of national defense.

Since taking power in June, Lorenzanas boss, President Rodrigo Duterte, has made a habit of lambasting his countrys most powerful ally. He insulted President Obama. Then he lauded China and praised Russias president, Vladimir Putin.

The diplomats wanted advice from Lorenzana, an old friend of the United States, on how to interpret a crude and mercurial president with modest experience in foreign affairs.

Now Lorenzana needs the same sort of help.

In a year of dizzying shifts, the triumph of President-elect Donald Trump has added a fresh layer of uncertainty in Asia. That is particularly true in the Philippines, a former American colony that, despite this history, has for decades been a close and critical U.S. partner.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wears an air force jacket given to him as a gift while posing for photos with Delfin Lorenzana, the secretary of national defense, in September 2016. (Ted Aljibe /AFP/Getty Images)

With China pressing its claims to most of the South China Sea, the United States and the Philippines moved in recent years to deepen ties. A military agreement that came into force last spring would see more U.S. troops on Philippine soil and ships at port.

Duterte put all that in doubt. The United States became the chief target of his bluster and anger.

Duterte allies, current and former diplomats, and defense experts in Manila, who had been scrambling before Nov. 8 to understand what this meant for their country, now say the future of the United States in Asia depends to some extent on how Duterte reads Trump and vice versa. But both sides lack adequate information to prepare.

In the run-up to the election, senior U.S. diplomats could offer little guidance on the Republican nominees foreign policy, Lorenzana said. Asked what Trumps victory meant for ties, the defense secretary said, We dont know.

The first challenge is parsing Dutertes plan.

Duterte spent more than 20 years running Davao, a city on the southern island of Mindanao  a role that gave him ample opportunity to patrol the streets, armed, on his motorcycle, but offered limited exposure to statecraft.

In the months since Dutertes inauguration, a drug war he launched has killed thousands, most of them shot in nighttime police raids, or gunned down by motorcycle-riding assassins, often after being named by police.

It was U.S. criticism that prompted his first outburst at Obama and may have spurred subsequent, spur-of-the moment moves to limit ties. Major announcements, including a call to oust U.S. Special Operations forces from Mindanao, were then made without consulting members of his cabinet. I learned about it through text messages, Lorenzana said.

As off-the-cuff proclamations piled up, members of Dutertes team offered different accounts of the presidents plans. Its quite confusing, frankly. There should only be one spokesman, said Jose L. Cuisia, who, until June, was the Philippines ambassador to the United States.

Dutertes calls for a separation from the United States will not go unopposed. The Philippines political and military elite has close ties to America, and a majority of Filipinos hold the United States in high regard.

Figures like Lorenzana, who spent more than a decade in the District, are now trying to counsel Duterte, to explain whats at stake in U.S.-Philippine relations, and to urge him to moderate his language and approach.

There are some signs it is working. At a cabinet meeting in early November, Dutertes team persuaded him to sign the Paris agreement on climate change  a deal he opposed. He has also decided to change, rather than cancel, U.S.-Philippine joint military exercises.

Antonio Carpio, a Philippine Supreme Court judge who has been publicly critical of the presidents foreign policy, said Duterte seemed, at last, to be willing to listen on some issues. He had a very narrow perspective, from Davao City only, but now he is getting more input. He changes, Carpio said.

The inexperienced statesman must now prepare for President Trump.

Trumps win gave Duterte an opportunity to reset ties after a disastrous start under Obama. Duterte seemed to seize the chance, offering an enthusiastic long live Trump.

I dont want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won, he said after the U.S. election, noting their shared love for crass language.

Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant professor of political science at Manilas De La Salle University, said Duterte welcomes Trump because he feels the president-elect is not gung-ho on democracy and human rights and will not criticize domestic policy.

But Duterte could also lose out under the new U.S. administration. Many in Manila expect Trump to focus on trade, especially between China and the United States, and a trade war between the worlds two largest economies could hurt the Philippines, analysts said.

There is also a risk that the new U.S. administration could use such issues as the South China Sea to secure concession on trade, potentially strengthening Beijings hand when it comes to maritime sovereignty claims, Heydarian said.

Because Asia policy did not rate in the presidential debates, Manila will be watching closely for any clues about Trumps vision.

For now, the thought of a toned-down Duterte praising a U.S. president instead of cursing him seemed to please Lorenzana. Thank God, he said.

It was discomforting to be standing behind him when he started ranting against somebody, you know, Lorenzana said.

Read more:

Duterte renounces U.S., declares Philippines will embrace China

With China pressing south, U.S. ships return to the Philippines Subic Bay

How one Filipino survived when a death squad came after him

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A man mourns at the site of a suicide truck bomb attack that killed dozens of people near the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Nov. 24. (Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)

At least 70 people were killed on Thursday, most of them Shiite Muslim pilgrims from Iran, when an explosive-laden tanker truck detonated at a gas station south of Baghdad in an attack claimed by the Islamic State, according to Iraqi officials.

The bombing was the deadliest in Iraq since July, when a suicide bomber killed more than 300 people in Baghdad, the capital.

The explosion on Thursday, near the town of Hilla, ripped through vehicles transporting people who had completed the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage and were on their way home to Iran, according to Falah Abdulkarim, the head of the security committee for the local provincial council.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the attacks as another example of the militants contempt for human life and its efforts to sow discord and division among the Iraqi people.

The attack came as Iraqi forces are battling for control of the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, which has been held by the Sunni Muslim jihadists of the Islamic State for more than two years. The militants have repeatedly tried to carry out large-scale attacks in other parts of the country during the five-week offensive in an attempt to divert the attention of thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers tightening a cordon around Mosul.

In one such attack, dozens of militants stormed Kirkuk, east of Mosul, and killed more than 80 people, most of them civilians. Last week, a group of Islamic State fighters briefly occupied a village south of Mosul, and on Wednesday, more than a dozen people were injured in a string of bombings in Baghdad, according to the interior ministry.

[Islamic State is kidnapping thousands of people to use as human shields]

The attacks have added to a staggering civilian toll during the battle for Mosul, which began in mid-October. As the Islamic State has retreated from villages on the citys outskirts, officials have discovered several mass graves containing hundreds of bodies, most of them policemen or soldiers executed by the jihadists as Iraqi government forces approached.

Civilians have also been dying in growing numbers in the city itself as fighting has intensified in Mosuls eastern neighborhoods. The militants have held civilians as human shields and fired on fleeing residents. At the same time, trauma medics remain positioned too far from the front lines to save many of the critically injured.

Shiite pilgrims in Iraq have been a frequent target of Sunni militants. The attack on Thursday came at the end of Arbaeen, a central Shiite ritual that draws millions of pilgrims each year and commemorates the end of 40 days of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein at the shrine bearing his name in the city of Karbala.

Iraqi security officials said the explosives  500 liters of ammonium nitrate  were stashed in a tanker truck that exploded at a gas station east of Hilla. At the time, several vehicles carrying pilgrims, including a large bus, were at the station, according to Abdulkarim, the local security official. The vehicles had recently left Karbala and were taking pilgrims toward the border with Iran, officials said.

Read more:

ISIS driven from ancient Nimrud, where destruction is worse than we thought

Iraqi Christians, scarred by Islamic States cruelty, doubt they will return to Mosul

A walk down one of Baghdads most bombed streets

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Toward the end of October, Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of London, addressed an event hosted by the London Jewish Forum that commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, a famous street protest in the British capital that saw an alliance of local Jewish residents, Irish dockworkers, trade unionists and other laborers and leftists thwart a planned fascist march.

This was at a time when anti-Jewish bigotry was rife in Europe. Across the Channel, Nazism was on the rise and fascists were in dominant positions in both Italy and Spain. The clashes at Cable Street are now remembered as a historic turning point in Britain's particular fight against the politics of division and hate, a powerful moment when people from disparate communities defended their city and found strength together.

This story of solidarity and social integration has inspired many people over the last eighty years and should continue to inspire us now, Khan said. London today is more diverse than ever before and on the whole is a shining example of how people from different backgrounds can live side-by-side.

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But his remarks were delivered under a cloud. In many countries in the West, the agenda of ultra-nationalists seems to be outpacing those of politicians like Khan, who represent vast, multicultural cities.

Many far-right parties in Europe are celebrating the presidential victory of Donald J. Trump. (Video: Jason Aldag, Ishaan Tharoor/The Washington Post)

The modern-day inheritors of the legacy of 1930s fascism  what the heroes of Cable Street rose up against  are in the ascendancy. In Austria, a presidential candidate from a party founded by former Nazis stands on the brink of victory in elections in early December. In France, Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, a party long associated with neo-fascism, is a key player in presidential elections next year. And, in the United States, the shock triumph of President-elect Donald Trump has been cheered by fringe neo-Nazis as well as the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan.

In Khans Britain, anti-immigrant sentiment and the campaigning of far-right populist politicians led, in part, to the countrys June vote for a Brexit, or quitting the European Union. The stunning electoral verdict was framed by analysts as a rejection of cosmopolitan elites. If you look at the political map of which parts of Britain opted for Brexit, London and a few other urban centers are islands in a sea of English Leave voters.

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From being at the heart of the national story, metropolises such as London seem increasingly detached from the right-wing populist surge in the hinterlands around them, where voters rallied to calls to take our country back and reclaim national sovereignty from the machinations of globalist elites.

There are people in New York that feel closer to people in London and in Berlin than they do to people in Kansas and in Colorado, Steve Bannon, the white nationalist ideologue now tapped to counsel Trump in the White House, grumbled at a meeting with European conservatives two years ago. And they have more of this elite mentality that theyre going to dictate to everybody how the worlds going to be run.

Trumps campaign harped on the supposed evil of globalism, rhetoric that helped win him the support of disaffected white rural voters. The detached liberals of the big cities were going to get their comeuppance.

Watching the U.S. election from afar, Le Pens chief strategist, Florian Philippot, chortled on Twitter: Their world is crumbling. Ours is just being built.

What cities represent

But their world  that of multiculturalism and the metropolis  isnt quite crumbling. In the United States, a host of mayors from major cities have signaled their willingness to push back against the proposed policies of the president-elect, including Trump's stated intent to round up and deport millions of undocumented migrants.

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In New York City, one of the so-called sanctuary cities, an estimated 500,000 undocumented people exist on a municipal database after they enrolled in a scheme that allowed them and other New Yorkers to obtain a city-specific identity card. Bill de Blasio, the city's mayor, has insisted that municipal authorities will refuse to cooperate should a federal government under Trump seek to obtain information on undocumented people listed on the database.

We are not going to sacrifice a half million people who live among us, De Blasio said. Were not going to tear families apart. We will do everything we know how to do to resist that.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made similar noises: For all those who are, after Tuesdays election, very nervous, filled with anxiety as weve spoken to, you are safe in Chicago, you are secure in Chicago and you are supported in Chicago. Administrations may change, but our values and principles as it relates to inclusion does not. (And so did Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.)

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It's not just on issues of deportations where cities and the Trump administration may clash. If a conservative Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, cities can defend the abortion rights of their residents. And already, in the face of policy paralysis on a national level, cities are pushing through larger progressive reforms: Seattle recently approved an ordinance for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, which is more than double the federally mandated figure; other local politicians, including former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, are leading the political fight on climate change even as controversial climate skeptics enter the White House.

No matter the ascension of a certain brand of nationalist politics, the reality in much of the West is of countries that are becoming both more urban and more diverse. Cities aren't just bastions of jet-setting Davos men: They are home to the fullest range of a nation's diversity. The politicians at the helms of cities such as New York or London have to act on a set of concerns  be it addressing income inequity, reckoning with housing shortages or defending inclusive societies  that echo across borders.

Increasingly, nation-states look parochial and backward, and cities are actually cosmopolitan and much more broad in their understanding, Benjamin Barber, one of the premier theorists of the global city and author of If Mayors Ruled the World, told WorldViews.

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Everywhere, cities are the engines of the economy  worldwide, they contribute some 80 percent of global GDP. More than 80 percent of the American population lives in urban areas. And the populations in medium to large cities overwhelmingly tend to vote against the platforms of right-wing populists. Yet because of the nature of federal elections  including the weighted system of the U.S. electoral college  the agenda of cities can get sidelined by right-wing populism.

Theres a fundamental asymmetry between what cities represent and what they are able to accomplish politically, said Barber.

Cities and the future

But if reactionary national politics puts the progress of a city at risk, then there's the chance we'll see more resistance from mayors. Citing powers already afforded to mayors in the United States, Khan has sought more authority to be devolved to his office in the wake of the Brexit vote, which he said he believes jeopardizes London's economic future.

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This includes greater control over tax revenues. Londons population is the same size as Wales and Scotland combined, but we have far less control over how our capital is run, Khan said in September.

These calls aren't only the province of left-wing politicians. Khan's predecessor, current British foreign minister Boris Johnson, was a staunch advocate for Brexit. But while he was London's mayor, he sought to introduce a special London visa to encourage foreign talent to his city and went out of his way to mock Trump's scare-mongering over Islam.

Mayors in general realize their cities depend on openness, that they need to be tolerant and inclusive, said Parag Khanna, author of Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization.

As a result, argued Khanna, cities are better positioned to be laboratories for democracy and policy solutions. In part because of their reputations as honest, pragmatic problem-solvers, a series of former mayors have won national elections in countries from Latin America to Asia at a time of profound global economic uncertainty.

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The capacity for cities to effect change often free of partisan rancor, Barber said he believes, makes them more capable of reckoning with the challenges of an interconnected world in the 21st century. He points to a number of increasingly popular forums where municipal authorities are coordinating on a global scale. This includes the C40 Group of cities mobilizing around climate change, chaired by Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo, as well as the Global Parliament of Mayors, a body that Barber helped found which seeks to be something similar to a United Nations of cities. It staged its first session in the Hague earlier this year and aims to expand in the months and years to come.

Globalization has its crises, but the desire of ultra-nationalists like Trump and his contemporaries across the pond to throw up walls and hide behind borders flies in the face of the real forces that are shaping the world.

To be against globalism means you are surely against all the progress of technology as well, which is intellectually facile, Khanna said.

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These reactionaries, Barber said, are the last wave in a series of political attempts to pretend that sovereign states still work. The nation-state isn't about to disappear, he cautions. But Barber envisions a future where there'll be a rebalancing of the relationship between nations and cities that will enable greater local governance across the world for the benefit of all.

The right-wing nationalism of the Trumps, Barber said, will become not so much toxic obstacles to history, but an increasingly obsolete expression.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, center, poses with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, and European Council President Donald Tusk during an E.U.-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Nov. 24. (Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday said he believed he still had U.S. support after the election of Donald Trump, despite the president-elects campaign pledge that he would be looking into recognizing Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula.

Poroshenko has been forced into a reversal, campaigning in Brussels on Thursday for the European Union to make sure the United States upholds its sanctions against Russia, which were instituted after the 2014 Crimean annexation and subsequent conflict in Ukraines east. Just weeks ago, it was the United States that was pressuring Europe to maintain unity on sanctions, which some European nations want to abandon.

Poroshenko and a senior E.U. leader said they were optimistic that the European Union would extend its sanctions before their expiration at the end of January. Poroshenko said that Ukraine still had bipartisan support in Washington, while European Council President Donald Tusk said that his post-election conversation about Ukraine with Trump was at least promising, compared with the president-elects campaign rhetoric.

Ukrainian officials, although privately concerned about possible changes in U.S. policy toward their country following Trumps ascendance, have maintained an iron wall of optimism in public. Poroshenko said that Trump himself had raised the question of Russian aggression, illegal annexation of Crimea during their Nov. 15 conversation.

Ukraine has strong bipartisan support in the United States Congress, Poroshenko said. We dont expect any significant changes in this bipartisan support.

But Tusk was more guarded in his assessment of Trumps coming policy on Ukraine.

When Tusk raised the issue of Crimea, Trump was calm and very general without details, but at least promising compared to some announcements during the campaign time, Tusk said.

He said the E.U. position on sanctions is very clear: They are still linked to the fulfillment of a peace plan for Ukraine known as the Minsk agreements that is far from being implemented.

The 28 E.U. nations plan to extend sanctions against Russia, most likely before a Dec. 16 summit of European leaders, Tusk said.

But it remains unclear whether E.U. sanctions would be able to survive in their current form if Trump abandons or loosens U.S. sanctions. The European sanctions are currently expected to be extended six months, until the end of July. Already, some European countries, Italy foremost among them, have been pushing for sanctions to be eased. But sanctions proponents inside Europe have been able to point toward transatlantic unity as a reason to extend them.

Trump has said he will improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has prioritized fighting the Islamic State in Syria together with the Kremlin.

But he has not always been negative about Ukraine. In a speech he made by video link to a September 2015 conference of supporters of Kievs integration into the European Union, he said that people here have to band together from other parts of Europe to help.

According to a recent tax filing by the Trump Foundation, the foundation of Ukrainian steel magnate Victor Pinchuk, who underwrites the conference, donated $150,000 to Trumps foundation after the appearance.

A spokesman for the conference said at the time of the speech that Trump was the only invited candidate to agree to speak.

Poroshenkos government has been growing more unpopular domestically, as pessimism increases about the leaders willingness and ability to combat the corruption that has long plagued the country.

Europe has also struggled to deliver its side of the bargain in a trade deal with Ukraine. Dutch voters in April rejected the trade deal in a referendum, casting the entire agreement into doubt. And a European pledge to award visa-free travel to Ukraine has been delayed amid internal disagreements over how visa requirements might be reimposed if needed.

Read more

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Trump tells Ukraine conference their nation was invaded because there is no respect for the United States

Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on self-dealing, new filing to IRS shows

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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A US-backed Islamist militia in southern Syria has been armed with portable surface-to-air missiles, so-called manpads. These weapons are capable of shooting down Syrian government aircraft as well as Russian warplanes, which have played a prominent role in providing air support to the Syrian army against the Al Qaeda-linked rebels.

The group, the Ansar al-Islam Front, exhibited the weapons, SA-7 Strela-2 missiles, in a video it posted on Sunday, claiming that it had a good number of them in its possession. The video, produced by a Dubai-based Syrian opposition propaganda network, shows the Islamists un-crating, assembling and testing the manpads.

We, in Ansar al-Islam Front, have distributed several points of air defense to counter any attempt by the Syrian warplanes or helicopters, which bomb points in Quneitra Province. We have a good number of these missiles, one of the Islamists states in the video, according to a translation posted by the web site Middle East Eye.

A second individual, identifying himself as Abu Bilal, tells an interviewer: We, in Ansar al-Islam Front and factions of the FSA, are distributing equipment and soldiers toward Tal al-Hara, Mashara, Sandaniya and Jabata. And in the coming days you will hear good news from Quneitra and its surroundings.

The shipping of these portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syria marks a major escalation of the US-backed war for regime-change that has devastated the country for the past five years, leading to the deaths of some 300,000 Syrians.

In September, US officials told the Reuters news agency that, after the breakdown of a brief US-Russian-brokered cessation of hostilities and amid renewed fighting around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Washington might resort to a Plan B, giving the green light to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to funnel the portable anti-aircraft missiles to the Syrian Islamists. At the time, however, State Department and administration official spokesmen denied the report.

Whether the delivery of the manpads has been ordered by the Obama White House, the CIA, the Pentagon or some faction within the vast US military and intelligence apparatus it is impossible to say. What is clear, however, is that they are intended to establish new facts on the ground in Syria before a Trump administration takes office in January.

Pressure for a US escalation in Syria has mounted since Trump gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal on November 11 in which the president-elect called into question the CIA and Pentagon operations for arming so-called moderate rebels in Syria, saying we have no idea who these people are.

In a rambling and incoherent statement to the Journal, Trump said he had an opposite view of many people regarding Syria, adding, My attitude was youre fighting Syria, Syria is fighting ISIS, and you have to get rid of ISIS. Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria.

The statement set off alarm bells within the US political establishment, whose predominant layers are committed to a strategy of escalating confrontation with Russia as part of drive to militarily assert US hegemony over the Middle East and, more broadly, the landmass of Eurasia.

The New York Times responded with an editorial The Danger of Going Soft on Russia, in which it accused Trump of acting as Putins apologist and insisted, Since Mr. Trump has refused to criticize the Kremlin, its important that Mr. Obama figure out, before he leaves office, how to punish Russia...

It would appear that shipping surface-to-air missiles to Syria, raising the prospect of US-backed forces shooting down Russian aircraft and triggering a far wider and more dangerous conflict, is part of this punishment.

As yet, Trump has enunciated no clear policy in relation to the conflict in Syria, outside of vows on the campaign trail to bomb the shit out of ISIS. At the same time, however, many of those surrounding him, including his vice president-elect Mike Pence and his nominee for CIA director Mike Pompeo, have strongly advocated direct US military intervention against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

The group which received the anti-aircraft weapons, Ansar al-Islam, while apparently counted by Washington as part of the moderate opposition in Syria, was previously designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the United Nations, as well as a number of other countries, because of its affiliations with the Al Qaeda network.

It first emerged as an armed group in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, fighting against US occupation troops and later the forces of the US-imposed regime in Baghdad. With the fomenting of the war for regime-change in Syria, it sent its members into that country to fight against the Assad government, thereby winning US backing.

Two years ago, the majority of the groups leadership announced that it was joining the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), which is supposedly the main target of Washingtons ongoing military intervention in Iraq and Syria. Some elements, apparently including those who have now been armed with manpads, rejected the merger, despite their shared ideology and objectives.

Previously, US officials had warned against supplying such weapons to Syrian rebels for fear that they would end up in the hands of Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters and could be turned against not only Syrian and Russian warplanes, but also Western civilian passenger jets. In the past, weapons funneled to so-called CIA-vetted moderates have quickly fallen into the hands of the Al Nusra Front, Syrias Al Qaeda affiliate. Now it appears that such concerns have been cast aside and the missiles have been supplied directly to forces tied to Al Qaeda.

The introduction of these weapons into the conflict in Syria in flagrant violation of international law is indicative of the growing desperation within US ruling circles over the debacle confronting its regime-change operation. Syrian government forces have made increasing inroads in the past few days in eastern Aleppo, the last stronghold of the US-backed Islamists, taking back at least a third of the area previously occupied by these forces.

The mounting hysteria found consummate expression in a speech delivered Monday at the United Nations by US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, the administrations foremost standard-bearer of human rights imperialism. Power read out the names of a dozen Syrian military commanders alleged to have attacked civilians or overseen torture in Syrian jails, warning, Those behind such attacks must know that we in the international community are watching their actions, documenting their abuses and one day they will be held accountable.

Power made no mention of war crimes committed by the US-backed rebels, which are also under investigation by the International Criminal Court, nor of the recent report that the global court is investigating over a decade of torture carried out by the US military and the CIA in Afghanistan and at so-called black sites around the world. One could easily come up with a list of a dozen US commanders who carried out attacks leading to the mass murder of civilians, from the brutal sieges of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 through to the assault on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan just a year ago.

Even as Power was speaking, a report filtered out of Syria that US warplanes struck a cotton mill in the village of Salhiyeh in the northeastern part of the country, killing 10 civilians, including children. Among the dead were three workers at the mill, a family of six who had taken shelter there after fleeing from a US-backed offensive in the area, and a bystander. Independent estimates place the number of civilians killed by US air strikes in the country at well over 1,000.
Many of the men in his unit ended up casualties of war. They shipped out in May 1943 to North Africa and saw action in Sicily, Salerno, the Volturno River, Anzio, Po Valley, St. Tropez, Rhone Valley, Vosges Mountains, Colmar Pocket, the Siegfried Line and on into southern Germany. Those who survived saw in the concentration camps the aftermath of war and the nature of the regime against which they had fought and the others had suffered injuries or lost their lives.

At the end of WWII, my father Paul was in southern Germany as a member of the 216th Anti-Aircraft Artillery-Mobile Gun Battalion. When news of Germany's surrender came, he was ushering German soldiers for transport to a prisoner-of-war camp. His unit was invited to visit a liberated Nazi concentration camp nearby. He declined, but some of the men visited the camp. They returned sickened by what they saw. My father never regretted declining that grim opportunity, while surely most of those who visited the camp wished they had.

Throughout the war, many sights the soldiers witnessed were not considered sights to be cherished nor spoken of lightly, if at all. While plenty of movies about the war were made during and after the war, it seems that there has been a new generation of war films as the veterans of World War II are slowly disappearing from our company. These films, like Saving Private Ryan, are more realistic in depicting battle, but also more personal, delving deeper into the character of their subjects and their experience of war. I am thinking of such films as The Railway Man, Unbroken, Hacksaw Ridge, and Fury. New war films seem to keep coming: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is due out in 2017. Is it because it takes decades for societies to "process" traumatic events and "make sense out of them"? Perhaps more stories will be told, put into books, and made into films. The best do not glorify war or battle but probe deeply into the human capacity for virtue in the midst of the hell that is war.

While many films focus on men, naturally enough, there have been others than deal with the lives of civilians, including women and children, during the period. Sophie Scholl comes to mind. Even Downfall includes the experience and fates of a secretary and wives and children. Modern war goes beyond the battlefield into homes; the Second World War included concentration camps with men, women and children.

But I know of nothing like a recent film about the aftermath of war on women. Directed by Anne Fontaine, the film is set in Poland, where Catholic nuns, raped by Russian soldiers earlier that year, are discovered to be pregnant. The Innocents takes place after the war in December 1945 and mercifully does not depict the atrocity (though it does contain one scene of violent assault, but is PG-13 about it). The Benedictine sisters have to decide "what to do" about this scandalous situation; opinions differ and an unbelieving Frenchwoman Red Cross doctor is enlisted for help.

In our current "Culture Wars" we are told that opposition to abortion is our war against women. The Innocents is an exquisite, powerful film made by women, about women, dealing with an extreme case for abortion: rape. It confirms the heroic nature of the merciful fight for life and reveals these nuns to be soldiers in their own way, enlisted in a cosmic war against darkness and the evil designs of an Enemy who can take credit for both concentration camps and abortion mills.

On the northwest side of Chicago, a relatively new condo-apartment complex has a brand new tenant: an abortion clinic. The thought of living in the same building where abortions are being done is sickening to me. Will any tenants want to move when they find out? Protests are starting. One war may be over, but the fight continues.
The Student Parliament (StuPa) of Humboldt University (HU) in Berlin voted on November 21 to oppose any Bundeswehr (armed forces) advertising at the university. The motion was tabled by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) chapter at Humboldt.

The StuPa adopted the resolution by a large majority: 19 voted in favor, six against and seven abstained. The resolution reads: The Student Parliament rejects all forms of advertising for the Bundeswehr at our institution and calls on the Berlin Students Union and the University administration not to allow advertising by the Bundeswehr on the campus of HU.

The resolution was triggered by the latest Bundeswehr advertising campaign, part of a drive that is increasingly targeting young people at schools and universities. The Bundeswehr has been advertising at HU since the beginning of the winter semester, especially in the canteen at the universitys North Campus. The advertisements are particularly aimed at recruiting medical students for the Army Medical Service.

In the days leading up to the StuPa meeting, the IYSSE distributed leaflets informing students of the motion to be discussed. Many students were indignant that the Bundeswehr was being promoted so openly at an institution of science and learning.

In its leaflet, the IYSSE explained that the Bundeswehr advertisements directly contradicted the principles of the university, which called for the humanization of social life. The universitys constitution states that HU promotes the maintenance of peace.

The resolution was introduced at the StuPa meeting by Sven Wurm, an IYSSE spokesman and member of the parliament. It is important that the StuPa act from the outset against this development, Wurm said. If we do not intervene early, the Bundeswehr will feel encouraged to push their offensive at other universities, including setting up recruitment stalls and holding evening lectures and the like.

The Bundeswehr advertising campaign is part of Germanys return to aggressive foreign and great power politics. Ever since the incumbent president, Joachim Gauck, and the federal government officially announced the end of German military restraint at the 2014 Munich Security Conference, career counselors and Bundeswehr youth officers have increasingly sought to recruit new soldiers at schools and job centres.

The passage of the resolution by the StuPa is an expression of growing opposition among young workers and students to the militarization of society. Students have also successfully protested against the Bundeswehr campaign at other German universities. Following an official protest by the General Student Committee (AStA) at the University of Hamburg, the Bundeswehr was banned from advertising there.

The rejection of Bundeswehr advertising by the StuPa at Humboldt University in Berlin has a particular significance. Two Humboldt professors, Jorg Baberowski and Herfried Munkler, have close links with the Bundewehr and play an important role in the elaboration and ideological justification of the new German war policy.

In the book Scholarship or War Propaganda? the IYSSE has documented how Baberowski writes for and lectures at the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr (ZMSBw) in Potsdam. For example, he wrote for the Military History Research Institute (MGFA), which opened in 2012 in ZMSBw, producing two publications intended as guidance in action for German soldiers. [1]

Professor Munkler regularly participates in public panel discussions about rearmament and war with representatives of the Bundeswehr, and in his capacity as a Humboldt professor makes statements lauding senior military figures. For example, on January 21, 2015, he delivered the testimonial lecture on the 60th birthday of the ZMSBw commander Colonel Dr. Hans-Hubertus Mack. The lecture was titled 1914-2014: The long roots of the recent wars in Europe and the Middle East. [2]

While Humboldt professors such as Thomas Sandkuhler try to suppress student criticism of the militarist tendencies at Humboldt University, students are no longer willing to accept the use of their university for war propaganda. **

Notes

[1] Vandreier, Christoph (2015): Jorg Baberowskis falsification of history, in Scholarship or War Propaganda? The return of German militarism and the dispute at Berlins Humboldt University, p. 103

[2] Testimonial lecture by Prof. Dr. Herfried Munkler in Potsdam at the ZMSBw: 1914-2014: The long roots of the recent wars in Europe and the Middle East, http://www.mgfa-potsdam.de/html/aktuelles/festvortrag1914?PHPSESSID=92bb8
Drones have been a hot topic in the news for some time. Depending on what youve read, theyre devastatingly effective weapons of war, the next big threat to personal privacy, a revolutionary leap in video technology, or hazardous toys capable of chopping your fingers off.

To be fair, theres a measure of truth to all those statements. But you might be surprised to learn that drones will soon affect our everyday lives in a host of useful ways. People are already using them to deliver fast food to hungry teens in Virginia, improve the productivity of Midwestern farms, and even protect rhinos and elephants in Africa from poachers.

In the next year, almost 2.3 million of the unmanned aircraft will be sold, according to market analysis firm Skylogic Research. And the vast majority will be the multirotor models embraced by apple farmers, wedding photographers, and search-and-rescue workers.

This is one of the few technologies that could revolutionize the way the world appears, says Mark Blanks, who oversees the test site at Virginia Tech University where air-traffic-control concerns related to drones are being studied.

Before we launch a few million more aircraft into our collective airspace, though, many concerns need to be resolved. Last summer the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled the first set of regulations governing the commercial use of drones, generally confining them to daylight flights below 400 feet and within the pilots field of vision. Experts believe theres lots of work to be done, however, to balance the technologys incredible potential against the publics right to safety. Right now, its a jumbled mess of competing policy visions, clashing local laws, and citizens privacy concerns, says Skylogic CEO Colin Snow.

But, even though the regulations, social norms, and tech standards are still in flux, researchers and pioneering companies are developing innovative ways to use these flying robots right now.

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Package Delivery

In an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said about 86 percent of the orders the online retailer ships weigh less than 5 pounds. Thats lightweight enough to be delivered by drone. Amazon is now testing autonomous aircraft that can drop a book or a pair of shoes at your home within 30 minutes of receiving an order.

So its not difficult to imagine a day when you no longer have to rush out to the store in your pajamas for a quart of milk. In fact, Dominos has already begun to test drones for pizza deliveries in New Zealand. And Walmart is examining ways to deploy drones inside its warehouses to photograph and catalog inventory. The retail giant has offered few details on its plans, but if it used drones for transporting goods, too, it would be a game-changer: 70 percent of the U.S. population reportedly lives within 5 miles of a Walmart store.

Googles research facility, known as Google X, launched a test program of its own in 2012. In one trial, the company has been delivering Chipotle meals to students and faculty at Virginia Tech University. But rather than receiving a burrito in front of, say, a dorm, customers must place their orders at a local kiosk, then wait a few minutes while a drone approaches and lowers their food into a field with a rope.

So much for convenience. The point, says Blanks of Virginia Tech, is safely mastering the logistics. Package delivery is one of the harder challenges to overcome, he explains. It involves operating over people, controlling multiple aircraft at once, and handling spikes in demand at certain times of day. But if Blanks researchers can create an effective air-traffic-control system, we could be looking at much more than a cure for the late-night munchies. Cutting down on the number of delivery vehicles on the ground could reduce the strain on the nations streets, highways, and bridges, too.

Bottom line. Dont expect Amazon to roll out mass drone deliveries for at least three years.

Agriculture

In recent years, farmers have discovered that drones are very useful for monitoring the health of their fields. It would cost me a couple hundred dollars an hour for a plane or helicopter, says fourth-generation grain and apple farmer Jeff VanderWerff. With my [DJI] Phantom 3 drone, a device I paid $1,200 for, I can fly it every day.

When he gets a commercial license, he plans to put the craft to use on the familys 1,800-acre Michigan grain farm. Aerial imagery from a drone equipped with an NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) camera could help him accurately estimate the yield of a crop in July, rather than waiting until harvest in October. With special software he could analyze that imagery, spotting crops beset by diseases, weeds, and flooding while theres still time to save them. And he could then use the drone to efficiently apply fertilizers and pesticides.

At the moment, he has to use a giant crop sprayer to treat the entire field. With drone technology, he says, Im going to determine exactly where the problem exists and apply pesticide to that area alone. Rather than 80 acres, I might treat just 15. That means fewer pesticides on the food, lower fuel use and emissions, and more healthy plants at harvest time.

Bottom line. Drone use on farms will become more significant when FAA rules permit certain flights beyond the pilots field of vision.

Photos and Videos

If you want a moment to look epic, Parker Gyokeres says, hire a drone. As a photographer in the Air Force, he once built a drone from scratch, outfitting it with a GoPro camera, because he could not persuade anyone to take him up in a helicopter. Today he owns a fleet of autonomous aircraft in New York that he uses to shoot projects as varied as BMW commercials, corporate events, and weddings (including the nuptials of U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y.).

The soaring panoramas captured by drones are compelling enough to have made their way into movies such as Captain America: Civil War, Spectre, and The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as CNNs coverage of the earthquakes in Italy and Ecuador a year ago. Real estate agents and travel hot spots are embracing the technology, too, to promote their scenic offerings. And now that drones can be programmed to follow their owners, theyre even more likely to turn up in the air above cyclists, skiers, surfers, hikers, and kayakers.

Bottom line. Images from drones are appearing right now on TV, movie screens, YouTube, and Instagram feeds.

Humanitarian Aid

Some 1.3 billion to 2.1 billion people on the planet dont have access to essential medicines, the World Health Organization says, often because they live in hard-to-reach places. To address that concern, California drone maker Zipline signed a deal with the government of Rwanda last February to shuttle supplies to remote areas on demand.

With Zip drones, which cover a roughly 50-mile radius, a health center in Rwanda can send a text message to order blood for a patient with severe malaria-related anemia and it shows up via parachute within 40 minutes.

We are already delivering more than 40 percent of the transfusions for the entire country, says Zipline founder Keller Rinaudo. These are cases where, if bad roads or lack of supply prevents deliveries, people die.

Similar efforts involving organizations such as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders and the companies Matternet and Vayu are already underway in Malawi, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea. Even certain remote locales in the U.S. will soon benefit from such services. Last August, the Obama administration announced that it would partner with private-sector firms to begin testing the idea on Marylands Smith Island, Washingtons San Juan Islands, and Nevadas Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic.

Bottom line. Drones are now delivering medical supplies in countries beset by malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS.

First Responders

In February 2015, the Michigan State Police received FAA approval to fly a SkyRanger quadcopter made by Canadas Aeryon Labs for public safety efforts. A week later, troopers used it to investigate a suspicious fire in Jenison. According to Aeryon CEO David Kroetsch, the craft can also be used to conduct search-and-rescue operations, gather aerial intelligence for SWAT teams, and even map accident scenes. That last task usually involves an officer on foot measuring the crash site and sketching the details on graph papera system ripe for inaccuracy, given the time constraints. With a drone and a laptop, he can instead stitch together a series of geotagged photos and even film fly-throughs to determine what drivers might have seen in the moments before impact. Thats evidence-grade data, Kroetsch says, and it can be done in 15 minutes. By completing the mapping quickly, officers can reduce the length of lane closures on busy highways, potentially sparing hundreds of thousands of dollars in tolls for a state, he says.

Better yet, aerial footage provided by drones keeps early responders out of harms way. In a SWAT scenario, for example, a camera-equipped craft with a powerful 30x zoom lens can give officers a close-up look at a compound where hostages are being heldwhile they remain 1,000 feet away. And, likewise, a fireman can fly a drone with thermal-imaging and video-streaming capability over a four-alarm blaze and determine, in real time, where to direct his colleagues and where to help them avoid trouble.

Of course, drones with zoom lenses also raise the specter of unwanted surveillance. In a 2012 Monmouth University telephone poll, fewer than one in four Americans endorsed the idea of having the aircraft patrol the nations highways, doling out speeding tickets. Thats why the Michigan State Police have taken a cautious approach, even meeting with the American Civil Liberties Union to review policies, says Sgt. Matt Rogers, a member of the forces aviation unit. The last thing I want to do is create case law, he says. If using a drone furthers an investigation, we require a search warrant.

Bottom line. Drones will become a vital tool for police officers and firefighters in the next five to 10 years.

Safety Inspections

Drones are exceedingly effective at finding structural flaws, not only because they can quickly and efficiently take high-resolution images and laser scans but also because they can get up close in treacherous spaces, such as the underside of an offshore drilling rig or the top of a cell tower.

Boeings drone-making subsidiary Insitu is working with BNSF Railway to test rail-inspection possibilities in New Mexico. If there was a lot of rain overnight, says Jon Damush, the companys vice president and general manager, we could send an unmanned sentry out before the first train of the day and see if there was a washout.

With a waiver to the flight rules that prevent drones from flying beyond the pilots view, the technology could one day be deployed to spot-check roads, bridges, pipelines, dams, and other public works. That could allow for better use of limited tax dollars. Even with the same amount of funding, with better information workers can be deployed to the places where theyre most needed, says Thomas Haun of PrecisionHawk, which offers drones and data services to energy companies, utilities, and construction firms. In the U.S., a country with a D+ infrastructure rating (according to the American Society of Civil Engineers), thats no small thing.

Bottom line. Inspection crews are already putting drones to use, and the scope of those efforts will increase as regulations get sorted out.

Insurance

Lets say a hailstorm rolls through Texas and damages 2,000 roofs in its wake, says Dan Burton, founder of DroneBase, an Uber-like service that connects businesses with independent drone pilots. We could go take some pictures and then say, Based on the damage to this roof, theres a 98 percent chance you will pay a claim. On this other one, its 80 percent. 

With that in mind, most of the major insurance companies are now experimenting with drones, some by hiring outside contractors, others by sending out aircraft of their own. If youre a claims adjuster, it saves you time and money, and reduces the risks of climbing ladders and walking on damaged roofs. But if youre the customer, that might not translate to lower insurance premiums.

I doubt the savings will be passed on to consumers, says Skylogic Researchs Snow. But those reductions in inspection time could lead to quicker settlements, and the detailed documentation in the aerial photos feasibly could aid with disputed claims.

Bottom line. This application could be widespread very soon.

Internet Access

Well over half the planets populationsome 4 billion peoplecurrently has no internet access. A full 1.6 billion live in areas too remote for mobile broadband. That means no Facebook, of course, but also no email, no world news, no information and instruction from YouTube, and no access to online commerce. And without a huge investment in satellites and cell towers, thats mighty difficult to change.

Google has floated a plan to fix the problem by relaying internet signals via a network of giant, high-altitude balloons, but the company is also reportedly looking into drones as a solution. Facebook is headed that way, too.

In the latter companys vision, a series of lightweight drones with the wingspan of a Boeing 737 will cruise high above normal airspace delivering connectivity to people within a 60-mile radius. Powered by batteries and solar energy, they will remain aloft for three months at a time. The company cant say when the project will be operationalsignificant advancements in science and technology will be needed, a spokesperson saysbut last June a full-scale prototype (shown at the top of this article) made a successful test flight of more than 90 minutes over southern Arizona.

Bottom line. It could be five to 10 more years before the program takes flight.

Hurricane and Tornado Forecasting

In the future, when a severe tropical storm approaches Florida, as Hurricane Matthew did last October, autonomous aircraft developed by defense contractor Raytheon Missile Systems could fly right up to the maelstrom to take measurements for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Originally created for anti-submarine warfare, the small, fixed-wing crafts known as Coyotes launch from the bottom of hurricane hunter planes, which often fly in the upper reaches of a storm, often more than 10,000 feet in the air. The Coyotes can, by contrast, maneuver around at 500 feetright at the dangerous boundaries of the storm, where the most dramatic atmospheric changes occur.

Instead of a camera to find bad guys, says John Hobday, head of business development for unmanned air systems at Raytheon, the Coyotes carry atmospheric sensors to measure things like air pressure, temperature, wind direction, and humidity. The changes they detect govern how a storm moves and what kind of damage it might do.

For NOAA, that is the info they have to deliver accurately to authorities in Miami, New Orleans, or Charleston, Hobday says. They need to be able to say with a high degree of accuracy, This is the big one. You need to worry about it now. 

For tornadoes, the margin for error is even narrower, explains Brian Argrow. A professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, he has been conducting research with drones for more than 15 years. Right now, the average warning time for a tornado is 14 minutes, he says. Drones enable us to get data thats going to protect property and save lives. But because tornadoes travel on land, beneath airspace governed by the FAA, it will take some time to iron out the necessary safety guidelines.

Bottom line. This is happening in limited scope now.

Wildlife Conservation

In recent years, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts have used drones to monitor the health of humpback whales off the coast of Cape Cod, even capturing from their blowholes breath samples flush with DNA that can be analyzed for wildlife studies. The U.S. Geological Survey has also dispatched them to observe sandhill cranes in Colorado. But to date, the techs most profound contribution to wildlife protection might be unfolding in Africa, where drones are policing vast tracts of land to catch poachers hunting rhinos and elephants. The horns and tusks of those animals can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars from Asian crime syndicates.

Instead of having park rangers go out after dark to try to catch the heavily armed bandits, drone pilots patrol the targeted areas with their aircraft, collecting data used to predict the poachers movements. We look at the patterns of how the animals move because that dictates how poachers move, says Bowling Green State University professor Thomas Snitch, who is working to refine the approach. We keep track of water sources because the animals have to get water every day.

That information is then cross-referenced with factors such as the weather and time of the monthbecause, for instance, well-lit full-moon nights are particularly dangerous.

Bottom line. Wildlife protection programs involving drones have been evolving since 2011.

Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the January 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.





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Luanda (AFP) - Thirty-seven former fighters from Angola's main UNITA opposition party go on trial Friday accused of attempting to stage a coup earlier this year, the state news agency Angop reported on Thursday.

Members of the group face charges of planning an armed assault against the presidential palace in Luanda and of occupying the premises of Angola's national public television and radio, on 31 January 2016, according to the charge sheet.

All are former members of the armed wing of the ex-rebel movement-turned-opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the prosecutor told Angop.

UNITA denied the accusations at a news conference.

The party's parliamentary group leader, Adalberto da Costa Junior, said it was "not the first time" that the Angolan authorities had "used this type of accusation to denigrate the opposition."

The prosecutor said the case had been kept under wraps for many months "to avoid unnecessary speculation and panic among the population."

Authorities are still looking for 20 other suspects in connection with the coup bid.

President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, 74, has ruled the oil producing nation with an iron fist for 37 years.

The country holds elections next year and dos Santos, 74, is expected to stand again and hold onto office as he has since 1979.

In March, 17 political activists were convicted and sentenced to between two and eight years for acts of rebellion. They were granted amnesty last month.
This 86-year-old man learned how to knit so he could donate hats to babies born prematurely, so there is still good in this world

After a painful two weeks, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and heres something to be thankful for  the country is filled with kind people who spend their days helping others while expecting nothing in return. Case in point  an 86-year-old man learned to knit so he could donate hats to babies born prematurely.

Ed Moseley, a retired engineer from Georgia, is no stranger to helping others in any way he can. During the 2015 holiday season, he helped donate hundreds of shoeboxes filled with toiletries to women and children in need.

So, when a group of senior living communities in Georgia asked residents to knit hats for premature babies, its no surprise that Moseley was immediately on board  and he was undeterred by the fact that he didnt know how to knit.

Moseley sought his daughters help and, upon his request, she brought him a starter loom kit, instructions, and yarn. It was easy, he told ABC News.

He continued, Somehow I had never knitted, and I always associated knitting with a bunch of needles but this looked pretty doable for me. I went through two or three before I came out with a good finished product.

It wasnt long before Moseley could knit a miniature hat in a little over an hour  and his efforts inspired others to follow suit. Residents and staffers at his retirement community followed Moseleys lead, and he hosted classes to teach others how to knit.

Between Moseleys own knitting and his successful efforts to galvanize his fellow residents, 300 little caps were recently donated to the preemies in NICU at Atlantas Northside Hospital.

To have a gift left at the bedside, or a nurse put the hat on the little babys head, makes it all seem less like a hospital, said Linda Kelly, clinical manager of the hospitals special care nursery.Its important for families to see their baby as a baby and not as a patient. This will help to get the families to that spot.

Im not crying  theres something in my eye.

The post This 86-year-old man learned how to knit so he could donate hats to babies born prematurely, so there is still good in this world appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Nov 24 (Reuters) - Demand for Islamic insurance (takaful) products is strong yet accessibility and capacity are among the most pressing issues facing the sector, an industry-wide survey released on Thursday showed.

Takaful serves as a bellwether of consumer appetite for Islamic financial products, a sector which has its core markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and is expected to reach $20 billion in gross written contributions by 2017.

Takaful providers are scattered across young insurance markets, where low penetration rates are attracting foreign players such as Lloyd's of London and Zurich Insurance.

While pricing has been a perennial concern for most Islamic financial products, the survey identified other factors affecting takaful demand.

The survey, conducted between September and October by the Islamic Insurance Association of London, drew input from 500 respondents mainly risk managers, brokers and insurers across the major markets for takaful.

Over a third of respondents said they have purchased some form of Islamic insurance, but accessibility is a key barrier: 48 percent of respondents said brokers are not offering the option of buying sharia-compliant covers.

This contrasts with the 70 percent of respondents that said they were willing to buy Islamic insurance if offered as an option alongside conventional covers.

Demand was strongest for commercial and healthcare covers, as well as for Islamic reinsurance, the survey found.

The lack of available capacity was another reason preventing 39 percent of respondents from purchasing takaful cover.

The survey covered some of the industry's major markets, with the bulk of responses from Malaysia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

Last month, Lloyd's of London gave in-principle approval for the specialist insurance market's first sharia-compliant syndicate.

In July, Zurich Insurance completed the acquisition of Malaysia's MAA Takaful, giving the European insurer a foothold in the world's second largest takaful market.

Allianz Malaysia Berhad is also in discussions to acquire HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Berhad.

Takaful is based on the concept of mutuality and follows religious guidelines that can prove challenging in the financial sector because they ban the likes of interest and pure monetary speculation. (Reporting by Bernardo Vizcaino; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
Johannesburg (AFP) - South African deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday won the support of Cosatu, the biggest union federation, to be the ANC party's next leader, boosting his chances of taking national power.

The African National Congress (ANC), which is currently headed by scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma, is due to choose its new leader in December next year.

The party leader becomes its automatic presidential candidate in the next general elections, with the ANC still the strong favourite to win the 2019 vote despite a fall in nationwide popularity.

Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said it had "resolved to support and lobby" for Ramaphosa, a former anti-apartheid activist and trade unionist who helped negotiate the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

The 64-year-old made a failed bid to succeed Nelson Mandela as president in 1999, before becoming a wealthy businessman and then returning to politics.

Cosatu does not have voting power in the ANC, but boasts over a million members.

"We shall work to lobby and influence the ANC structures to support comrade Cyril Ramaphosa," said Ntshalintshali.

Among the other names in the running to succeed Zuma are African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is Zuma's ex-wife, and ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize.

Zuma has shrugged off growing calls to step down after a series of corruption scandals and weakening economic data.

Two weeks ago, he survived a motion of no confidence after a public watchdog raised accusations over his relationship with the Guptas, a business family accused of wielding undue political influence.

Zuma's presidential term expires in 2019.
GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian rebels in besieged east Aleppo have agreed to a U.N. plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations, but the United Nations awaits a green light from Russia and the Syrian government, humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday. With freezing winter conditions setting in, some 275,000 people are trapped in east Aleppo, where the last U.N. food rations were distributed on Nov. 13. Hundreds of trucks are ready in Turkey and government-controlled west Aleppo to bring aid to the eastern sector, but the United Nations needs 72 hours once it has all approvals to prepare a "big, complex and dangerous operation", Egeland said. "We do now have written approval in principle by the armed opposition groups of east Aleppo," he told reporters, specifying that he was referring to rebels with whom the U.N. is in contact - which do not include former Nusra Front militants. "We have verbal support also from the Russian Federation on our four-point plan. We need written support and we need unconditional support also from Russia and we are waiting still for the answer from the government of Syria." Hundreds of wounded are awaiting evacuation for treatment under the plan, Egeland said. Asked about any 'Plan B', he replied: "In many ways Plan B is that people starve. And can we allow that to happen? No, we cannot allow that to happen." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Mark Heinrich)
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa will meet Iranian counterpart Hamid Chitchian in Tehran on Saturday ahead of OPEC talks in Vienna to discuss implementation of oil output cuts agreed in Algiers in September, an Algerian energy source said on Thursday.

"We will do the maximum to secure the implementation of the Algiers' deal," the source said.

State news agency APS later quoted an energy ministry source confirming the Tehran visit and saying that it would involve discussions on how to reach a consensus among OPEC members when they meet in Vienna on Nov. 30.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by David Goodman)
* Italian carrier may cut up to about a sixth of workforce

* Could also ground 20 planes to cut unprofitable routes

* Controlling investor Etihad seeks to turn airline around

By Stanley Carvalho and Agnieszka Flak

ABU DHABI/MILAN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Alitalia could cut up to 2,000 jobs as controlling shareholder Etihad Airways pushes for sweeping changes to turn the loss-making airline around, according to sources close to the matter.

The Italian carrier may also ground at least 20 planes to cut certain unprofitable routes on domestic and regional services where it is struggling to compete with low-cost rivals and high-speed trains, the sources told Reuters.

It is likely to remain loss-making for the next two to three years even if it carries out the job cuts of around a sixth of its workforce and the plane groundings, said one of the sources.

But a failure to slow the airline's decline and ultimately reverse its fortunes would not only see Abu Dhabi state-owned Etihad take further financial hits on its investment, but deal a significant setback to its European expansion ambitions.

It would also represent a defeat for the Italian government, which regards Alitalia as a strategic asset and a matter of national pride, denting its industrial strategy aimed at attracting foreign investment.

Yet Rome is in a tough position, as news of possible job cuts at Italy's flag carrier come at a sensitive time - days from a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reforms that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his political future on.

Alitalia said the next phase of its industrial plan would be presented to its board of directors and its staff soon and that it would not comment on any speculation until then.

Etihad, which owns 49 percent of the carrier, declined to comment.

FRUSTRATION

Etihad invested 560 million euros ($591 million) in Alitalia in 2014 as part of a wider 1.76 billion euro rescue deal, seeking to expand its global reach with access to Europe's fourth-largest travel market, and pledged to return the airline to profitability by 2017.

Story continues

Rome helped engineer the rescue, hailing it an example of Italy's attractiveness for foreign investors.

But two years after the deal was signed, Alitalia is losing half a million euros a day.

Alitalia management is now studying several options to boost revenues and create an operator that can finally yield a profit. No final decision has yet been taken, sources say.

The options include cutting between 700 and 2,000 jobs of the airline's 12,700 workers, according to three sources. This could put Etihad and Alitalia management on a collision course with unions - which have gone on strike over cost cuts in the past - as the busy Christmas travel season nears.

Alitalia is also considering grounding at least 20 planes, mostly Airbus 320 aircraft, said two of the sources.

The airline is also trying to renegotiate the terms of an alliance with Air France-KLM and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines to boost traffic on higher-margin transatlantic routes.

When Etihad took its 49 percent stake in the carrier, it promised to slash costs, turn Rome's Fiumicino airport into an intercontinental hub, improve the airline's cargo business and add new long-haul connections from Rome and Milan, keen to expand in Europe's fourth-largest travel market.

But the turnaround hit problems after low-cost airlines such as Ryanair expanded more aggressively in Italy, putting more pressure on Alitalia's domestic and regional services, and after militants attacks across Europe dented passenger numbers.

Last month Etihad CEO James Hogan used an interview with Italy's daily Corriere della Sera to vent his frustration about unions who hamper his efforts by taking to the streets over cost cuts and accused Rome of failing to support his turnaround plan.

The government responded by saying it had fulfilled all its commitments towards Alitalia.

EUROPEAN STRUGGLE

Alitalia needs money to invest in its long-haul business, but its existing Italian shareholders are unwilling to pour in any more cash.

The group of Italian shareholders, which control a combined 51 percent stake and include Italy's two biggest banks UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, have long ceased to take an active interest in the airline.

One option discussed is the conversion of a bond into semi-equity financial instruments without voting rights, allowing Etihad to invest more without breaching the ownership limit that ensures Alitalia retains its European status, according to two sources.

However, whether Etihad is prepared to invest more is uncertain.

"In the low oil price environment, it will be a big challenge for Etihad to convince Abu Dhabi for more cash," said one of the sources. "They've already pumped in a lot in Alitalia and others. It is time to get some money back."

Etihad's first major investment in Europe - Air Berlin - has also proven a struggle to turn around. Etihad is now in talks to buy some of its tourism operations and combine those into a new joint venture as part of a drastic restructuring that will see Air Berlin's fleet halve in size.

Ultimately the options for Alitalia remain few and far between, unless another cash-rich investor can be found or it can be folded under a bigger and financially stronger European player, industry sources and analysts have said.

Italian media suggested that German airline Lufthansa could buy into Alitalia, but both airlines denied those rumours.

"The low-cost carriers are getting stronger, Alitalia is weak in Italy and Europe, is a tiny player in intercontinental traffic and has little money to invest," said Andrea Giuricin, a transport analyst at Milan's Bicocca university.

"Either Etihad finds a European solution to Alitalia or lets it close up shop, although I doubt Rome would allow that."

($1 = 0.9469 euros)

(Additional reporting by Alberto Sisto in Rome, Paola Arosio in Milan and Victoria Bryan in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char)
Following on from its success at Londons prestigious Barbican, Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers opens at Manchester Art Gallery tomorrow with over 200 photographs from leading 20th century photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Gilden and Evelyn Hofer.

Curated by British photographer Martin Parr, this free exhibition reflects on how Britain is seen by those beyond its borders  particularly relevant in the light of recent events questioning the countrys position in Europe and internationally.

The exhibition kicks off on Friday with Martin Parr in conversation with Barbican curator Alona Pardo at Manchester Art Gallery.

22 artists from all over the world are involved, with a range of styles from social documentary and portraiture to slick street photography. Prepare yourself for a real journey of how international photographers from the 1930s onwards have captured the cultural identity of the United Kingdom through the camera lens from Evelyn Hofers humorous portraits of London tradespeople, to Rineke Dijkstras perspective on Liverpool nightclub culture and Shinro Ohtakes explorations of London.

Although the photographs selected for the main exhibition do not feature Manchester, Romanian photographer Alex Beldea will be working on a separate Strange and Familiar Library on the gallerys ground floor  collaborating with a range of people who access the gallerys learning programmes to capture Manchester and what it means to people. Together their images present a vibrant portrait of life in the city today.

Why not get involved? Visitors to the exhibition are invited to capture a portrait of Manchester in a single shot and help make Manchester present again. Images could be celebrating the citys architecture, icons or hidden gems  wherever you feel a connection.

You can share your photographs on social media using the hashtag #MAGstrangeandfamiliar, and images will be on display at Manchester Art Gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Make it your best shot. One will be chosen to be the face of a new Manchester Art Gallery postcard.

Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers  will be at Manchester Art Gallery from 25th November 2016  29th May 2017.

Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL Open daily, 10am  5pm and Thursdays 10am- 9pm

Free entry

www.manchesterartgallery.org
By Stanley Carvalho and Agnieszka Flak

ABU DHABI/MILAN (Reuters) - Alitalia could cut up to 2,000 jobs as controlling shareholder Etihad Airways pushes for sweeping changes to turn the loss-making airline around, according to sources close to the matter.

The Italian carrier may also ground at least 20 planes to cut certain unprofitable routes on domestic and regional services where it is struggling to compete with low-cost rivals and high-speed trains, the sources told Reuters.

It is likely to remain loss-making for the next two to three years even if it carries out the job cuts of around a sixth of its workforce and the plane groundings, said one of the sources.

But a failure to slow the airline's decline and ultimately reverse its fortunes would not only see Abu Dhabi state-owned Etihad take further financial hits on its investment, but deal a significant setback to its European expansion ambitions.

It would also represent a defeat for the Italian government, which regards Alitalia as a strategic asset and a matter of national pride, denting its industrial strategy aimed at attracting foreign investment.

Yet Rome is in a tough position, as news of possible job cuts at Italy's flag carrier come at a sensitive time - days from a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reforms that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his political future on.

Alitalia said the next phase of its industrial plan would be presented to its board of directors and its staff soon and that it would not comment on any speculation until then.

Etihad, which owns 49 percent of the carrier, declined to comment.

FRUSTRATION

Etihad invested 560 million euros (474.09 million pound) in Alitalia in 2014 as part of a wider 1.76 billion euro rescue deal, seeking to expand its global reach with access to Europe's fourth-largest travel market, and pledged to return the airline to profitability by 2017.

Rome helped engineer the rescue, hailing it an example of Italy's attractiveness for foreign investors.

Story continues

But two years after the deal was signed, Alitalia is losing half a million euros a day.

Alitalia management is now studying several options to boost revenues and create an operator that can finally yield a profit. No final decision has yet been taken, sources say.

The options include cutting between 700 and 2,000 jobs of the airline's 12,700 workers, according to three sources. This could put Etihad and Alitalia management on a collision course with unions - which have gone on strike over cost cuts in the past - as the busy Christmas travel season nears.

Alitalia is also considering grounding at least 20 planes, mostly Airbus 320 aircraft, said two of the sources.

The airline is also trying to renegotiate the terms of an alliance with Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) to boost traffic on higher-margin transatlantic routes.

When Etihad took its 49 percent stake in the carrier, it promised to slash costs, turn Rome's Fiumicino airport into an intercontinental hub, improve the airline's cargo business and add new long-haul connections from Rome and Milan, keen to expand in Europe's fourth-largest travel market.

But the turnaround hit problems after low-cost airlines such as Ryanair (RYA.I) expanded more aggressively in Italy, putting more pressure on Alitalia's domestic and regional services, and after militants attacks across Europe dented passenger numbers.

Last month Etihad CEO James Hogan used an interview with Italy's daily Corriere della Sera to vent his frustration about unions who hamper his efforts by taking to the streets over cost cuts and accused Rome of failing to support his turnaround plan.

The government responded by saying it had fulfilled all its commitments towards Alitalia.

EUROPEAN STRUGGLE

Alitalia needs money to invest in its long-haul business, but its existing Italian shareholders are unwilling to pour in any more cash.

The group of Italian shareholders, which control a combined 51 percent stake and include Italy's two biggest banks UniCredit (CRDI.MI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), have long ceased to take an active interest in the airline.

One option discussed is the conversion of a bond into semi-equity financial instruments without voting rights, allowing Etihad to invest more without breaching the ownership limit that ensures Alitalia retains its European status, according to two sources.

However, whether Etihad is prepared to invest more is uncertain.

"In the low oil price environment, it will be a big challenge for Etihad to convince Abu Dhabi for more cash," said one of the sources. "They've already pumped in a lot in Alitalia and others. It is time to get some money back."

Etihad's first major investment in Europe  Air Berlin  has also proven a struggle to turn around. Etihad is now in talks to buy some of its tourism operations and combine those into a new joint venture as part of a drastic restructuring that will see Air Berlin's fleet halve in size.

Ultimately the options for Alitalia remain few and far between, unless another cash-rich investor can be found or it can be folded under a bigger and financially stronger European player, industry sources and analysts have said.

Italian media suggested that German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) could buy into Alitalia, but both airlines denied those rumours.

"The low-cost carriers are getting stronger, Alitalia is weak in Italy and Europe, is a tiny player in intercontinental traffic and has little money to invest," said Andrea Giuricin, a transport analyst at Milan's Bicocca university.

"Either Etihad finds a European solution to Alitalia or lets it close up shop, although I doubt Rome would allow that."

(Additional reporting by Alberto Sisto in Rome, Paola Arosio in Milan and Victoria Bryan in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char)
By Stanley Carvalho and Agnieszka Flak

ABU DHABI/MILAN (Reuters) - Alitalia could cut up to 2,000 jobs as controlling shareholder Etihad Airways pushes for sweeping changes to turn the loss-making airline around, according to sources close to the matter.

The Italian carrier may also ground at least 20 planes to cut certain unprofitable routes on domestic and regional services where it is struggling to compete with low-cost rivals and high-speed trains, the sources told Reuters.

It is likely to remain loss-making for the next two to three years even if it carries out the job cuts of around a sixth of its workforce and the plane groundings, said one of the sources.

But a failure to slow the airline's decline and ultimately reverse its fortunes would not only see Abu Dhabi state-owned Etihad take further financial hits on its investment, but deal a significant setback to its European expansion ambitions.

It would also represent a defeat for the Italian government, which regards Alitalia as a strategic asset and a matter of national pride, denting its industrial strategy aimed at attracting foreign investment.

Yet Rome is in a tough position, as news of possible job cuts at Italy's flag carrier come at a sensitive time - days from a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reforms that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his political future on.

Alitalia said the next phase of its industrial plan would be presented to its board of directors and its staff soon and that it would not comment on any speculation until then.

Etihad, which owns 49 percent of the carrier, declined to comment.

FRUSTRATION

Etihad invested 560 million euros ($591 million) in Alitalia in 2014 as part of a wider 1.76 billion euro rescue deal, seeking to expand its global reach with access to Europe's fourth-largest travel market, and pledged to return the airline to profitability by 2017.

Rome helped engineer the rescue, hailing it an example of Italy's attractiveness for foreign investors.

Story continues

But two years after the deal was signed, Alitalia is losing half a million euros a day.

Alitalia management is now studying several options to boost revenues and create an operator that can finally yield a profit. No final decision has yet been taken, sources say.

The options include cutting between 700 and 2,000 jobs of the airline's 12,700 workers, according to three sources. This could put Etihad and Alitalia management on a collision course with unions - which have gone on strike over cost cuts in the past - as the busy Christmas travel season nears.

Alitalia is also considering grounding at least 20 planes, mostly Airbus 320 aircraft, said two of the sources.

The airline is also trying to renegotiate the terms of an alliance with Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA> and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines <DAL.N> to boost traffic on higher-margin transatlantic routes.

When Etihad took its 49 percent stake in the carrier, it promised to slash costs, turn Rome's Fiumicino airport into an intercontinental hub, improve the airline's cargo business and add new long-haul connections from Rome and Milan, keen to expand in Europe's fourth-largest travel market.

But the turnaround hit problems after low-cost airlines such as Ryanair <RYA.I> expanded more aggressively in Italy, putting more pressure on Alitalia's domestic and regional services, and after militants attacks across Europe dented passenger numbers.

Last month Etihad CEO James Hogan used an interview with Italy's daily Corriere della Sera to vent his frustration about unions who hamper his efforts by taking to the streets over cost cuts and accused Rome of failing to support his turnaround plan.

The government responded by saying it had fulfilled all its commitments towards Alitalia.

EUROPEAN STRUGGLE

Alitalia needs money to invest in its long-haul business, but its existing Italian shareholders are unwilling to pour in any more cash.

The group of Italian shareholders, which control a combined 51 percent stake and include Italy's two biggest banks UniCredit <CRDI.MI> and Intesa Sanpaolo <ISP.MI>, have long ceased to take an active interest in the airline.

One option discussed is the conversion of a bond into semi-equity financial instruments without voting rights, allowing Etihad to invest more without breaching the ownership limit that ensures Alitalia retains its European status, according to two sources.

However, whether Etihad is prepared to invest more is uncertain.

"In the low oil price environment, it will be a big challenge for Etihad to convince Abu Dhabi for more cash," said one of the sources. "They've already pumped in a lot in Alitalia and others. It is time to get some money back."

Etihad's first major investment in Europe  Air Berlin  has also proven a struggle to turn around. Etihad is now in talks to buy some of its tourism operations and combine those into a new joint venture as part of a drastic restructuring that will see Air Berlin's fleet halve in size.

Ultimately the options for Alitalia remain few and far between, unless another cash-rich investor can be found or it can be folded under a bigger and financially stronger European player, industry sources and analysts have said.

Italian media suggested that German airline Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> could buy into Alitalia, but both airlines denied those rumors.

"The low-cost carriers are getting stronger, Alitalia is weak in Italy and Europe, is a tiny player in intercontinental traffic and has little money to invest," said Andrea Giuricin, a transport analyst at Milan's Bicocca university.

"Either Etihad finds a European solution to Alitalia or lets it close up shop, although I doubt Rome would allow that."

(Additional reporting by Alberto Sisto in Rome, Paola Arosio in Milan and Victoria Bryan in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char)
Lagos (AFP) - Amnesty International on Thursday accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injuring hundreds since August 2015.

The army denied the charge.

"This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the southeast of Nigeria," Amnesty warned in its report.

"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher," said Makmid Kamara, interim director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The watchdog said its report was based on analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eyewitness accounts relating to demonstrations and other gatherings of Biafran activists between August 2015 and August 2016.

The protesters were asking for a separate state for the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria.

Amnesty said the military used live ammunition with little or no warning to disperse the protesters.

In May 2016, it said, at least 60 people were shot dead and 70 injured in two days of events to mark Biafra Remembrance Day.

Amnesty called for an inquiry.

"The Nigerian governments decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed," it said.

"The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book."

Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman dismissed the allegation.

"We wish to debunk the insinuation that our troops perpetrated the killing of defenceless agitators. This is an outright attempt to tarnish the reputation of the security forces," Usman said in a statement.

He said the activists had in fact killed five policeman at a protest in May and attacked military and police vehicles.

"(...) The military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence," he added.

Story continues

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has staged series of demonstrations across the southeast since the arrest in October last year of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been charged with treason and still in detention.

Kanu, who is also head of the banned Radio Biafra, is accused of calling for a separate republic of Biafra, nearly 50 years after a previous declaration of independence sparked a civil war.

The 1967-70 conflict left more than a million people dead, most of them from starvation and disease, as the Igbo nation was blockaded into submission.

Amnesty and other human rights groups have previously highlighted similar claims against the military in December last year, when at least 350 Shiite Muslim protesters were killed in the northern city of Zaria.

The military has also been accused of a catalogue of abuses against civilians during Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
Locals know their town is for the birds.

Meet Thomas Gobbles, the social media-famous wild turkey who runs amok in Casper, Wyoming.

Read: Turkey Lurkey: Gang of Giant Birds Running Amok in Small Town, Prompting 911 Calls

There have been several documented cases of Thomas chasing people, but no serious altercations have been reported, a resident of the town, who mans Thomas Gobbles 2,000-follower strong social media accounts, told InsideEdition.com.

The resident said Thomas Gobbles is often spotted disrupting traffic, or tormenting students at Casper College.

But, Thomas does not actively seek trouble, he said. The resident pointed out most people flee when the turkey approaches aggressively, which reinforces his dominant behavior.

He recommends people stand their ground, and use soothing music and treats like bread, tortillas and dog food to appease the turkey if they encounter him.

Ive even heard of some folks feeding him chicken, which I personally disagree with on an ethical level, the resident, who did not wish to be named, said.

In the past, locals have reported seeing him with a girlfriend  a one-footed turkey named Tina  but she was reportedly struck by a car months ago and hasn't been seen since.

I believe he is still mourning her, which may be [attributed] to his recent agitated behavior, the resident said.

Read: What's 'Hop'-ening Here? Kangaroo Jumps Into Family's RV, Returns With His Friends

He said the town started hearing rumors about the wild bird causing traffic jams nearly a year and a half ago, but Thomas Gobbles has since become a beloved and integral character in the community.

People identify with his personality, the resident said. He exemplifies a truly free Wyoming spirit where hes going to be himself regardless of what others think.

Story continues

Watch: Deer Jumps Into Driver's Seat of Woman's Car As She's Still In it: 'It Was Mad or Frantic'

Related Articles:
What does a ton and a half of turkey look like?

Well, if youre in Ambler, Pennsylvania, it looks like a happy Thanksgiving. One anonymous Montgomery County man has spent the past eight years working with a team of volunteers to provide Thanksgiving dinner for families in need.

We started the first year in 2008 with 30 families, the man told Fox29. This year were at 150 families, 3,000 pounds of turkey, $22,000 worth of groceries. The ad hoc organization spent Saturday driving around Ambler delivering their haul.

One of the recipients of the food is the Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund, a group that coordinates grocery donations to families in need. The Fund focuses on families caring for sick children.

Social worker Mary Berlin, stopping at Wissahickon Fire Company in Ambler  one of the drop-off points the charity group uses  said the donation means everything to her clients. Otherwise, theyd be going to the soup kitchen  This way they can actually have a really nice dinner at home with their kids.




HOUSTON (AP) -- Josh Reddick never expected to hear from the Houston Astros.

''I didn't know if I was on these guy's radar,'' the outfielder said Wednesday after finalizing a $52 million, four-year contract. ''It was something that came out of nowhere for me, not in a bad way. I was very excited to hear from them. Texas is something that brings me a little closer to home.''

Reddick, who is from Georgia, was drafted by Boston in 2006, traded to Oakland after the 2011 season and dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers at last summer's trade deadline on Aug. 1. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said Houston and Oakland talked about a possible deal.

''This is going to be a winning environment for the next four years,'' Luhnow said, describing his pitch to Reddick. ''We were willing to commit to the length of the deal early. Really felt like he fit in well with the culture that we're trying to build here. It spoke to him because he's seen it firsthand.''

Reddick, who gets $13 million in each of the next four seasons, appealed to the Astros as a free agent because he bats left-handed, won a Gold Glove and does not turn 30 until February.

In eight big league seasons, Reddick has 96 homers, 346 RBIs and a .255 batting average.

''Get to stay in the same division. Very comfortable being in this division,'' Reddick said. ''I know how things work. I know the stadiums. I know the pitching staffs. I know the hitters. So it's going to make this a very easy transition for me.''

Minute Maid Park was considered to be hitter friendly, even before renovations this offseason moved the center field wall in from 436 feet to 409. Reddick is looking forward to hitting more home runs in Houston than he did at the Oakland Coliseum.

''Hopefully some of these fly balls I've hit at the Coliseum over the last 4 1/2 years can maybe be 10 rows deep here,'' he said.

Reddick did not want to drag out contract talks.

''I think it was good before the winter meetings so you didn't have to worry about all the hype,'' he said. ''Go home and for the next 2 1/2 months train and get ready. Relax a lot better knowing I have a home and a good home once it comes around to February.''
With the wrapping up of the Q3 earnings season, things were relatively quiet in the auto sector last week. Among the major developments, Tesla Motors, Inc. TSLA completed the SolarCity acquisition, while Toyota Motor Corporation TM announced a new recall.

In an unusual move, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allowed General Motors Company GM to delay the recall of a large number of trucks related to the Takata airbag explosion issue in order to carry out long-term tests on the vehicles and attest to their safety.

Further, Ford Motor Co. F announced a fall in October sales volumes in Europe. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC started the production of the fifth generation CRV.

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. Tesla completed the acquisition of SolarCity Corporation on Nov 21. Shareholder approval for the merger was received last week. Owners of nearly 85% of the outstanding Tesla shares voted in favor of the deal (read more: Tesla Completes Acquisition of SolarCity for $2.6B).

Tesla currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

2. General Motors has been permitted by U.S. auto safety regulators to delay the recall of a large number of trucks related to the Takata airbag explosion issue, to Aug 31, 2017. The recall of these vehicles was initially slated to begin on Dec 31, 2016.

General Motors claims that its inflators vents are bigger and have stronger steel caps than that of the inflators that have been linked to the deaths. Moreover, its trucks have solar-absorbing glass which allows cabin temperatures to remain low, keeping the inflators cooler. The company has been allowed more time to prove that these vehicles are safe. The testing could help the company prevent the recall of 6.8 million vehicles, which would cost about $870 million (read more: General Motors Permitted to Delay Takata Airbag Recalls).

Currently, General Motors has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Story continues

3. Toyota announced the recall of 834,000 Toyota Sienna minivans in North America. Of these, 744,000 vehicles are in the U.S. Per reports, the sliding doors of the Sienna minivans of model years 2011-2016 can open while driving.

Currently, Toyota has a Zacks Rank #3.

4. Ford reported a 1.2% year-over-year fall in sales to 99,900 vehicles in its 20 traditional European markets (Euro 20) in Oct 2016. The automaker fared worse than the industry, which posted a sales decline of 0.9%. In the first 10 months of 2016, Fords sales increased 6% to 1,144,200 vehicles, compared with the industrys growth rate of 7.3%.

Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

5. Honda initiated the global production of the new 2017 Honda CR-V at the East Liberty Auto Plant in Ohio. The revamped car is expected to be sold in North America from winter.

Honda currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Performance

The companies in the auto sector recorded mostly positive performance last week. AutoZone, Inc. AZO was leading the gainers list with a 6.1% rise. Meanwhile, Ford was the only stock among the ones listed below to post losses over the week.

Even over the last six months, most auto stocks performed well. Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG gained the most over the longer term, while Tesla lost the most.

Company Last 1-Week Period Last 6 Months GM +1.9% +9.1% F -0.8% -10.5% TSLA +5.0% -11.4% TM +1.7% +13.8% HMC +0.5% +6.1% HOG +3.9% +34.6% AAP +4.9% +14.5% AZO +6.1% +5.0%

Auto-Tires-Trucks Sector Price Index

Auto-Tires-Trucks Sector Price Index

Whats Next in the Auto Space?

On Nov 28, Thor Industries, Inc. will release its fiscal first-quarter financial results.

On Dec 1, automakers will report their U.S. sales for November.

On the same day, Ford will pay a quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share to shareholders of record as of Oct 27.

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
By Nailia Bagirova, Rania El Gamal and Olesya Astakhova

BAKU/DUBAI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - OPEC may ask oil producers outside the cartel to make big cuts in output, Azerbaijan said on Thursday, highlighting the challenges in striking a deal as the two sides enter the final stages of talks aimed at cutting production to stabilise prices.

The oil minister of Azerbaijan, which is not a member of OPEC, was quoted in a newspaper as saying the cartel may want non-OPEC producers to cut output by as much as 880,000 barrels per day (bpd) - a figure which analysts said could help wipe out excess crude supplies and start to eat into record inventories.

However, the energy minister of Russia, the largest non-OPEC producer, said he hadn't heard about such a proposal, and that OPEC's earlier suggestion had been for members outside the cartel to reduce output by 500,000 bpd.

An OPEC source told Reuters the group had yet to decide on the final figures to be discussed on Nov. 28, when OPEC and non-OPEC experts meet in Vienna.

Oil prices were little changed on Thursday amid uncertainty over prospects for a deal to reduce output. [O/R]

"It could be expected that OPEC members may ask non-OPEC countries to cut production volumes for the next six months starting from Jan. 1 2017 ... by 880,000 barrels from the total daily production," Azeri newspaper Respublika quoted the country's oil minister, Natig Aliyev, as saying.

OPEC itself is expected to discuss production cuts of 4.0-4.5 percent at its ministerial meeting on Nov. 30, but members Iran and Iraq still have reservations about how much they want to contribute.

Such a cut would bring OPEC's current output down by more than 1.2 million bpd, according to Reuters calculations based on the group's October production, and is towards the upper end of market expectations.

OPEC has long insisted it wants non-OPEC producers to properly participate in global output cuts to support prices, citing tensions at the start of the millennium when Russia promised to join cuts but raised output instead.

Story continues

Russia has said it wants to help rebalance the market but prefers to freeze its output, which is around a post-Soviet high of more than 11 million bpd, rather than cut it.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday Moscow was working with Kazakhstan and Mexico, though not the United States, on joint output curbs, but reiterated it preferred to freeze output over cuts.

"According to our plans, (Russia's) oil output is going up next year. If we keep production at the current level we are making our contribution, for us that essentially means a cut of 200,000-300,000 barrels per day (in 2017)", he said.

That could seem as a rather small contribution to OPEC members, especially its leader Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, which have been insisting on full participation by Russia.

A senior OPEC delegate said earlier this week full participation by Moscow would be required: "Statements from Moscow indicating they are not willing to participate in a cut but just to freeze - this will make it difficult for OPEC to rebalance the market alone and bring prices up."

A cut of 880,000 bpd would represent less than 2 percent of current total non-OPEC output.

But given few non-OPEC producers are expected to participate in the cuts, the burden could be heavy on those that do so - potentially Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Mexico, all of which rely heavily on oil revenues.

Should OPEC and non-OPEC members reach a deal to cut 1 million bpd and 880,000 bpd in production respectively, it would immediately help the market turn into a supply deficit and help erode record stocks amounting to over 3 billion barrels.

Novak said on Thursday global oversupply had shrank to 1 million bpd from as much as 1.8 million at the start of the year.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Rania El Gamal and Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Potter)
DHAKA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A Bangladesh delegation will visit the Philippines to speed up recovery of the rest of some $81 million stolen from its account in the New York Federal Reserve in February, two officials said on Thursday, after recovering a fifth of the funds.

The five-member team, led by Law Minister Anisul Haq, will hold talks with Philippines authorities on Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.

"We are hoping it will help expedite the recovery of the rest of stolen funds," a member of the team told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

Unknown cyber criminals used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from its Fed account in early February, one of the biggest bank frauds ever.

They succeeded in transferring some $81 million via an account at the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. Most of the money was laundered through casinos in Manila and remains missing.

Only $15.25 million has been recovered. It was returned to Bangladesh earlier this month.

A senior central bank official told Reuters the team will also try to meet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier pledged the stolen money would be returned.

The team also included Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Abdur Razzaq, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry; and Eunusur Rahman, secretary of the Finance Ministry's bank and financial institutions division.

This week, an anti-money laundering body in the Philippines filed charges against five officials of RCBC bank and a former treasurer who "wilfully ignored" suspicious activity that led to the money vanishing after the cyber theft.

No arrests have been made, despite investigations by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and authorities in the Philippines.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul, editing by Larry King)
DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh delegation will visit the Philippines to speed up recovery of the rest of some $81 million stolen from its account in the New York Federal Reserve in February, two officials said on Thursday, after recovering a fifth of the funds. The five-member team, led by Law Minister Anisul Haq, will hold talks with Philippines authorities on Nov. 28 to Dec. 1. "We are hoping it will help expedite the recovery of the rest of stolen funds," a member of the team told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. Unknown cyber criminals used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from its Fed account in early February, one of the biggest bank frauds ever. They succeeded in transferring some $81 million via an account at the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. Most of the money was laundered through casinos in Manila and remains missing. Only $15.25 million has been recovered. It was returned to Bangladesh earlier this month [nL4N1DD09Y]. A senior central bank official told Reuters the team will also try to meet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier pledged the stolen money would be returned. The team also included Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Abdur Razzaq, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry; and Eunusur Rahman, secretary of the Finance Ministry's bank and financial institutions division. This week, an anti-money laundering body in the Philippines filed charges against five officials of RCBC bank and a former treasurer who "wilfully ignored" suspicious activity that led to the money vanishing after the cyber theft [nL4N1DO0X]. No arrests have been made, despite investigations by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and authorities in the Philippines. (Reporting by Ruma Paul, editing by Larry King)
For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS.

Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - As families across a bitterly divided America gathered for Thanksgiving, a battle erupted Thursday in Donald Trump's camp over his pick for secretary of state, with loyalists seeking to block the path of Mitt Romney, a fierce former critic of the billionaire.

With the president-elect hunkered down at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the holiday weekend -- from where he urged the country to unite after a "painful" campaign -- his team appears split over the prospect of making Romney, the Republican presidential candidate in 2012, America's top diplomat.

Some of Trump's staunchest supporters have united to oppose naming a man who called the real estate magnate a "fraud" and a "conman" during the campaign, when he helped lead the party establishment's drive to sideline him.

But the other leading choice for top diplomat, outspoken former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani -- one of Trump's loudest supporters from early in his campaign -- has drawn scrutiny for business dealings that could pose conflicts of interest.

"I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving," Trump tweeted on Thursday, saying he was seeking to persuade an Indiana air-conditioning company, Carrier Corp, to remain in the United States.

But his transition team said there will be no new cabinet announcements until at least Friday.

- Opposition to Romney -

Despite his lack of experience in foreign policy, Giuliani, 72, has openly lobbied for secretary of state, telling Trump's advisers he is interested in no other position, The New York Times reported.

However, Giuliani's candidacy has drawn attention to business dealings with foreign governments that may rule him out.

Picking Romney -- who lost the White House race to Barack Obama four years ago -- would reassure the Republican establishment and US allies worried about Trump's foreign policy.

But the businessman and former Massachusetts governor who savaged Trump's candidacy during the campaign also publicly differs from him on Russia, a leading foreign policy challenge.

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While the president-elect has praised President Vladimir Putin, promising to improve strained relations with Moscow, Romney has called Russia America's "number-one geopolitical foe."

Trump's close aide Kellyanne Conway cast further doubt on his suitability Thursday in what appeared to be a bad sign for Romney.

"Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney," she tweeted. "Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state."

Among them, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, another staunch Trump supporter, expressed skepticism that Romney would represent "the kind of tough-minded, America-first policies that Trump has campaigned on."

"I can think of 20 other people who would be more naturally compatible with the Trump vision of foreign policy," he told Fox News.

Gingrich was joined by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who told Fox News he was "still very unhappy that Mitt did everything he could to derail Donald Trump."

- Victory for conservatives -

Trump has so far nominated mainly older white men for his future administration, representing tough, right-wing lines on immigration, Islamic extremism and other issues. They include Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Michael Flynn as national security adviser and Stephen Bannon as chief strategist.

Trump moved to broaden his cabinet's base on Wednesday, nominating two women, including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley -- whose parents are Sikh immigrants from India -- as US ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley is a Tea Party conservative with no foreign policy experience, while Trump's choice of billionaire Betsy DeVos -- a fierce advocate of alternatives to local public schooling -- for education represents another victory for social conservatives.

Trump is widely expected to name the tough-talking retired Marine Corps general James "Mad Dog" Mattis as defense secretary on Friday.

Trump is also expected to pick his former primary rival Ben Carson -- an African American former neurosurgeon and religious conservative -- as secretary of housing and urban development.

Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is tipped for Treasury secretary, and according to the Financial Times the billionaire Wilbur Ross could be in line for the strategic post of commerce secretary.

With Americans still coming to terms with Trump's shock win on November 8, the former Green Party candidate Jill Stein announced Thursday that her party has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in the key battleground of Wisconsin, and is on track to seek one in two other Rust Belt states.

The Midwestern state of Wisconsin was a key battleground in helping to propel Trump to victory. The billionaire also won swing state Pennsylvania, and claimed a razor-thin victory in Michigan according to unofficial results released Wednesday.

The request comes amid mounting pressure from liberals to challenge the results of an election marked by fears of foreign hacking and -- from the Trump camp -- of vote rigging.

Although it is not expected to change the outcome, the demands could reignite debate over the legitimacy of Trump's election, already fuelled by Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote which now stands at two million.
The laundry is piling up. Calls from friends and family are going unreturned. You haven't been active for quite some time, and in general you've stopped doing many things you used to love to do. It's not that you're busy: You're depressed.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, the gold standard in psychotherapy for addressing depression, helps individuals change the negative thought patterns that may contribute to the mood disorder. A changed mind can help a person get back in the swing of things. It's "an 'inside out' treatment which asks people to review and change the way they think to alter mood," David Richards, a professor of mental health services research at the University of Exeter Medical School in England, explains in an email.

Now, emerging evidence finds that a simple therapy called behavioral activation -- which overlaps with CBT's behavioral component, but doesn't share its thought-pattern focus -- may be equally effective in treating depression. "BA is 'outside in' -- it is a treatment that teaches people that what they do and their mood are linked, and so by changing your behavior, mood can also change," Richards says. He led research published in July in The Lancet that found patients who underwent so-called behavioral activation therapy fared as well as those who received CBT. Because of its simplicity, BA was delivered by junior mental health workers at a lower cost than CBT, a more complex psychotherapy that requires more training to provide.

[See: Am I Just Sad -- or Actually Depressed?]

BA involves teaching clients to notice when they're starting to get depressed, and when that depression leads them to isolate themselves and become passive and inactive, explains Jonathan Kanter, a research associate professor of psychology and director of the Center for the Science of Social Connection at the University of Washington in Seattle. And then -- when they notice that -- they learn to engage in activities specific to their wants and needs, he says. Those activities could range from spending more time with friends or family to simply taking up a to-do list, getting to the gym ( exercise, on its own, has also been shown to reduce depressive symptoms) or even reengaging in a job search if unemployed. "To keep moving, to keep going, to not give up, to not quit, that's the key," says Kanter, who wrote a commentary on the study also published in The Lancet. "At the heart of the treatment, it's about tailoring the activity that is done as part of the therapy to the patient's values, to the patient's local world."

The July study -- funded by the U.K.'s National Institute for Health Research -- is the largest to date on behavioral activation and reflects findings from previous smaller studies also supportive of using BA to treat depression. But behavioral activation has been paid relatively little mind in practice and research given contemporary focus on cognitive therapies.

"BA is an older treatment that fell out of favor as the 'cognitive revolution' took hold, driven by psychologists who preferred this approach," Richards says. "It is mainly a lack of attention and research that has led BA to be neglected." The research on BA published in July randomly allocated about half of 440 study participants with major depressive disorder to be treated with BA and the others to be treated with CBT. "We now have enough evidence to be able to recommend BA or CBT to people with depression," Richards says. "People now have a choice." Researchers spoke about the international implications of their findings -- particularly for extending depression treatment to more people, especially underserved, low-income individuals -- amid increasing efforts to control health care costs by countries around the world, including the U.S..

"We could potentially help more people if we have therapies that are easier to implement and just as effective," Kanter says. At present, BA isn't widely used internationally or in the U.S., compared with standard therapies for depression -- from medication to CBT. But more therapists are being trained in behavioral activation, so it's becoming more available, Kanter says.

He adds that BA may be an option for patients who find traditional forms of psychotherapy, like CBT, too "touchy feely," and who are looking for a less involved approach. "It's very pragmatic; it's very focused on what are your goals -- how can we help you achieve your goals," says Kanter, who isn't taking client referrals, but incorporates BA in his own clinical psychological research.

[See: Coping With Depression at Work.]

Combined with its low cost, the malleability of the approach is another reason some experts think it could be used to reach people who might not otherwise receive treatment for depression. "There are big disparities in access to mental health care for minorities in the United States, [and] there's growing research suggesting behavioral activation is a good fit for minority patients as well," Kanter says.

However, he's quick to emphasize BA is but one treatment option, and that its important patients find a proven therapy that suits them best. He stresses that therapy is as effective as medication.

For individuals seeking a local therapist who provides BA, or behavioral therapy focused on changing behavior to treat depression, Andrew Elmore, a psychologist in private practice in New York City and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, recommends checking with the American Psychological Association, including state and regional chapters. The APA offers a search tool that can be used to find psychologists who specialize in particular issues, including depression, in a given geographic area.

"You can help people a lot by getting them to control their negative thinking," he says. "But if depression has a functional impact, which it usually does -- that is, to reduce the amount of activity that a patient engages in that will result in them having a fuller, happier or more rewarding life -- in the end, you've got to get them to change that behavior, to return to more fruitful activity."

[See: How to Find the Best Mental Health Professional for You.]

Above all, when seeking treatment for depression, experts stress seeing a health provider or mental health professional who offers evidence-based treatment and has patients' best interests at heart. "Whether it's compliance with taking prescription medication or being the beneficiary of cognitive behavioral therapy or behavioral activation therapy," Elmore says, "in the end the patients are obviously more motivated to comply with a treatment regimen if they believe that the person who's administering it is someone that really cares about them and wants to help them."

Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. He covers a wide array of topics ranging from cancer to depression and prevention to overtreatment. He's been reporting on health since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com.
By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An explosion killed two people and wounded more than 30 outside the governor's office in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Thursday, weeks after the United States warned of attacks by what it called extremist groups. Video footage showed a vehicle ablaze in the car park outside the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky in the city, 40 km (25 miles) from Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Windows were blown out and parts of the facade of the building, roughly six floors high, were torn off. The state-run Anadolu agency quoted provincial governor Mahmut Demirtas as saying two people were killed. Anadolu said the blast, which occurred shortly after 8 a.m., came from a vehicle in front of the building. Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Adana for a conference at a separate location, said 33 people had been wounded in the blast. Adana is about 10 miles (16 km) from Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. military uses to launch attacks against Islamic State militants in Syria. Families of U.S. military personnel were ordered to leave Adana and some other parts of Turkey in March over security concerns. "Damned terror continues to target our people. We will fight with this terror to the end in the name of humanity," Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik wrote on Twitter, saying he had spoken to the Adana governor. The U.S. embassy in Turkey condemned what it described as an "outrageous terrorist attack" and said it stood with Turkey, a NATO ally and member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said Kurdish PKK militants may have been responsible and that 21 people were wounded, five of them seriously. "It looks like they (the PKK) were probably behind it this morning yet again, as this looks like their one of their actions," he told broadcaster CNN Turk. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. SUSPECT SHOT The privately-owned Dogan news agency said police had shot the driver of a light commercial vehicle which tried to flee despite being ordered to stop by a police team which suspected it was linked to the bombing. It said an ambulance was sent for the wounded driver along with a bomb disposal expert to inspect the vehicle. PKK militants have carried out dozens of attacks on members of the security forces and government buildings since July 2015, when a ceasefire between the group and the Turkish state collapsed. Civilians have also been killed. A Turkish soldier was killed and two wounded on Thursday after an improvised explosive device was detonated by suspected PKK militants in the southeastern province of Sirnak, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, security sources said. The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast. Turkey has also been hit by at least half a dozen suicide attacks blamed on Islamic State over the past year, including suicide bombings in Istanbul in January and March which killed German and Israeli tourists, and a gun-and-bomb attack at Istanbul airport which killed 45 people in June. Turkey launched an incursion into Syria to try to push Islamic State away from the border in August, days after a suicide bomber killed more than 50 people at a wedding in the southern city of Gaziantep. The U.S. Consulate General in Adana warned three weeks ago that "extremist groups continue aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens and other foreigners in Adana". The State Department has warned U.S. citizens to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey. (Additional reporting by Birsen Altayli and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Andrew Heavens)
Istanbul (AFP) - A car bomb exploded in the car park of the governor's office in the southern Turkish city of Adana Thursday killing two people and wounding 33, officials said, in the latest attack to rock Turkey this year.

The explosion sparked a fire, with a cloud of dark smoke spewing into the sky, and caused damage to the governorate itself, state-run Anadolu news agency said, describing the blast as a "terror attack".

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a woman, Adana governor Mahmut Demirtas was quoted as saying by Anadolu, without providing further details.

- 'Accursed terror' -

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law, said two people were killed and 33 wounded, including one in critical condition.

Speaking to reporters after inspecting the site, Albayrak condemned the attack and said: "We have no fear from anything other than Allah."

As has been the case with previous attacks, Turkish authorities immediately slapped a broadcast ban on footage from the scene.

"This accursed terror continues to target our people," Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik, a ruling party MP from Adana, wrote on Twitter.

"We will fight against terror until the very end in the name of humanity," he added.

Celik who later visited Adana claimed the atrocity targeted the governor himself.

With a population of almost two million, Adana is one of Turkey's largest cities, located around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Syrian border.

The US consulate in the city had in September warned its citizens of a potential threat targeting US-branded hotels there.

"We strongly condemn the outrageous terrorist attack in Adana," the US embassy in Ankara said on Twitter, adding that the United States stands "with Turkey against terror".

Incirlik air base, just outside Adana, is used by American and coalition forces as a hub for air raids against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in neighbouring Syria.

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The attack came on the same day that three Turkish soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in an air strike in northern Syria that Turkey blamed on the Syrian regime.

Turkey has experienced a bloody year of militant attacks in its two biggest cities that have left dozens dead and put the country on high alert.

- Battle against PKK -

Kurdish militants have twice struck in Ankara, while suspected IS suicide bombers have hit Istanbul on three occasions.

In June, 47 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, with authorities pointing the finger at IS.

Another 57 people, 34 of them children, were killed in August in a suicide attack by an IS-linked bomber at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

The country is also still reeling from a failed July 15 coup blamed on the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen that has been followed by a relentless purge of his alleged supporters from all state institutions.

There was no immediate indication of who was behind the latest attack.

The Turkish military has stepped up operations against Kurdish militants after a fragile ceasefire broke down in the summer of 2015. Since then, there has been a dramatic surge in violence that shows no sign of ending.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, generally concentrates its attacks in the southeast of the country.

Although located in southern Turkey, Adana lies to the west of the southeastern region that has been the main theatre of conflict with the PKK.
Filipinos paying their respects to the preserved body of dictator Ferdinand Marcos were looking at a wax mask, his mortician has told AFP.

The divisive strongman died in exile in 1989 after he was booted out in a "People Power" revolt, but his embalmed body was returned to his ancestral home where it lay on display for over two decades.

His burial in Heroes' Cemetery last week sparked controversy in the Philippines, and removed him from the relatively exclusive global club of famous bodies on display.

Here are some of the others:

Vladimir Lenin

Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was the original communist leader to be embalmed, starting a trend among hard-left regimes around the world.

Lenin died in 1924 aged 53, and had wanted to be buried with his mother in the former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg, but was instead preserved in a mausoleum on Red Square, where he remains, attracting visitors curious to see the Bolshevik founder of the Soviet Union.

Debates on whether to remove the body started after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 but Russia's Communist party has vehemently lobbied to keep Lenin in situ.

Egyptian mummies

Say "Ancient Egypt" to any schoolchild and the first thing they'll think of is the mummies -- preserved remains of important figures.

The British Museum in London houses a collection of 120 human mummies from Egypt and Sudan, which count as one of its biggest draws for many visitors.

The museum also has 300 mummified animals, including dogs, cats and even a crocodile.

None of the mummies has been unwrapped since the 1790s and museum experts have used x-rays and CT scans to carry out research on them.

Mao Zedong

The Chinese revolutionary leader, who died on September 9, 1976, has been embalmed and on show since 1977 in a glass cubicle in the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Mao's body was placed in formaldehyde and other preserving fluids, according to an account in the People's Daily newspaper, and today the parts of Mao's body which cannot be seen are bathed in liquid.

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When the mausoleum is closed, the cadaver is lowered into a container maintained at a low temperature, the paper said.

Eva Peron

Eva Peron, Argentina's emblematic first lady of the 1940s and 50s, was embalmed when she died of cancer in 1952 at age 33.

"Evita" was as adored by her husband's poor and working-class base as she was reviled by the military and elite.

After Juan Peron was toppled in a 1955 coup, army officers secretly removed Evita's corpse from its resting place at a pro-Peron trade union headquarters and hid it.

Worried Peronist militants would find it, then-dictator Pedro Aramburu had the body taken to Italy and buried in Milan under a false name.

Peron's third wife and successor, Isabel, finally struck a deal: Evita's body was returned to Argentina in 1974 and she has rested ever since in her family mausoleum in Buenos Aires, a place of pilgrimage for her admirers and fans of the musical and movie about her life.

Ho Chi Minh

Although he wanted his ashes to be scattered over the country, the father of modern Vietnam was embalmed upon his death on September 2, 1969.

His body, preserved in the cold under a glass sarcophagus, has been on show since 1975 in a mausoleum in Hanoi.

The country has regularly called in help from Moscow in preserving the body, reflecting Soviet-era ties.

Papuan smoked mummies

The Dani people in the highlands of Indonesia's remote, easternmost region of Papua used smoke and animal oil to preserve important elders and local heroes.

The desiccated, blackened figure of Agat Mamete Mabel, a chieftain who ruled over Wogi village some 250 years ago is one of the most notable -- decorated with pig tusks slung around the torso, a feathered headpiece, and a traditional penis gourd.

The corpse is kept in a thatch-roofed hut, where it is tended by a select few villagers.

Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il

The bodies of North Korea's founding president Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il are on permanent display at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum in Pyongyang.

When Kim Il-Sung died of a heart attack in 1994, Russian scientists helped preserve the body of North Korea's "eternal president", who now lies in a glass coffin with filtered lights to keep his face looking rosy.

The Russian team assisted with the embalming of Kim Jong-Il's body when he passed away in December 2011 -- also from a heart attack -- and is believed to be in charge of the maintenance of the bodies.

Present-day leader Kim Jong-Un and his close aides visit the mausoleum on key national holidays -- such as Kim Il-Sung's birthday -- to pay their respects to his late grandfather and father.

Foreign visitors are allowed in the cavernous mausoleum twice a week -- Thursdays and Sundays -- but must dress according to a strict code and bow before the bodies.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram jihadists have raided three villages in northeastern Nigeria, killing five people and setting fire to several homes and fields, residents told AFP on Thursday.

Armed members of the extremist group on Wednesday sped into the villages of Huyum, Sabongarin Huyum and Wasada on motorbike, killing five villagers and looting their property before setting fire to their homes and farms, witnesses said.

"The armed men arrived at 4 pm and for four hours they held us all hostage," Huyum resident Bala Jonah said.

"They killed five people and burnt down our houses and farmland, just when we were about to harvest our crops," he added.

Hundreds of people living in the three villages fled for the relative safety of the town of Askira, located some 10 kilometres (six miles) away.

A local official from the village of Wasada confirmed the toll.

"There is no doubt the attacks were the work of Boko Haram. We have lost five men, our homes and our food," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

News of the attack has been slow to emerge because of the destroyed telecommunications infrastructure in northeast Nigeria, and restricted access.

The villages that the jihadists raided were located near Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls two years ago.

They are also near the Sambisa Forest, one of the group's last bastions.

Boko Haram's insurgency in Nigeria's predominantly-Muslim north has claimed at least 20,000 lives and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

Nigerian troops with the help of neighbouring countries have recaptured swathes of territory from Boko Haram since early 2015, but the extremists have carried out sporadic attacks on remote villages in the restive region.
ANKARA (Reuters) - A bomb attack which killed two people outside local government offices in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Thursday had targeted the provincial governor, Turkey' EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik, who is also a lawmaker for the province, said. The explosion outside the governor's office in Adana, about 10 miles (16 km) from the Incirlik Air Base used by the U.S. military, came weeks after the United States warned of attacks by what it called extremist groups. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall)
(Recasts with talks with municipalities and Meirelles comments)

BRASILIA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said on Thursday that the government will hold talks with financially troubled municipalities seeking 5.3 billion reais ($1.5 billion) in fines collected under an amnesty program for undeclared off-shore assets.

Earlier this week President Michel Temer agreed to share a similar amount with states struggling to pay their employees in exchange for measures to reduce current spending and reforms their pension systems.

Although Meirelles declined to say if the government intends to hand out that amount to municipalities, it was the first time he acknowledged authorities were willing to negotiate.

"We are getting ready to discuss with municipalities to see what is the best solution for this issue," Meirelles told reporters after meeting with the head of the Senate Renan Calheiros.

The federal government reaped 23.4 billion reais in fines from Brazilians who declared assets that were illegally held abroad. In exchange for paying the penalties, they were granted an amnesty from being criminally charged.

Some municipalities have filed suits to compel the government to allocate them 22.5 percent of that amount.

The dire state of the finances of states and municipalities has raised further worries about the fragility of the recovery in a country struggling to shake off a two-year recession.

Brazil's Senate late on Wednesday passed a bill that would reopen the asset repatriation program for another 120 days next year if it clears the lower house as expected.

Meirelles added that the country's gross debt will likely fall below 70 percent of the gross domestic product this year after the state development bank BNDES agreed to repay 100 billion reais in credits owed to the national treasury. The public sector's gross debt is currently 70.7 percent of GDP.

The drop in consumer confidence in Brazil in November was "normal" and will not derail economic growth, Meirelles said.

"No indicator ever moves in a straight line. There is a trend of gradual recovery in confidence," said Meirelles.

($1=3.39 reais) (Reporting by Alonso Soto Editing by W Simon)
Whereas astronauts on the International Space Station get to feast on turkey and candied yams this Thanksgiving, deep-space travelers on NASA's future Orion mission may chow down on retro food bars.

Because there is limited space inside the Orion capsule, NASA food scientists at the Human Research Program (HRP) are working to reduce the amount of food and supplies astronauts need for longer trips, as well as cut down on the waste they create. As a result, the scientists have developed high-calorie food bars that astronauts can substitute for breakfast. The researchers described this work in a new video.

So far, scientists have created a variety of flavors, including banana nut, orange cranberry, ginger vanilla and barbecue nut. Each bar is approximately 700 to 800 calories, thus ensuring the astronauts maintain a healthy weight as they eat the tasty snack. What's more, creating this single-meal replacement could help Orion engineers meet mass reduction requirements for the spacecraft, according to a statement from NASA. [Space Food Photos: What Astronauts Eat in Orbit]

"When you have 700 to 900 calories of something, it's going to have some mass regardless of what shape it's in, so we've taken a look at how to get some mass savings by reducing how we're packaging and stowing what the crew would eat for breakfast for early Orion flights with crew," Jessica Vos, deputy health and medical technical authority for Orion, said in the statement. "When you think about multiweek missions in Orion, having just one package for breakfast items for crew will help us limit the space we need to store them."

Food bars for breakfast may help reduce the weight of supplies carried on the Orion capsule for deep-space missions. NASA

Reducing weight aboard the Orion capsule is important, as "a heavier spacecraft requires more fuel and energy to propel it to its ultimate destination," NASA officials said.

In comparison, astronauts on the space station have about 200 meal options to choose from, and even get a special Thanksgiving dinner, including turkey, candied yams, cherry-blueberry cobbler, mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing and green beans, which Expedition 50 Cmdr. Shane Kimbrough showed off in a new NASA video.Astronauts on the orbiting lab have this array of options because space station meals come from thermostabilized or rehydratable packages sent from Earth. However, there is not enough room on the Orion capsule to store enough of these packages for a crew on a multiweek mission. Stowing food bars will reduce the amount of storage needed for breakfast and allow Orion crews to chow down on lunches and dinners similar to what space station crewmembers eat.

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However, NASA food scientists "also have to consider how the bars will affect crew morale, since food choice, variety and taste are important aspects of ensuring they consume enough, especially as mission lengths increase," NASA officials said in the statement.

NASA scientists have tested the food bars for flavor, texture and long-term acceptability so that they can determine the best possible meal-replacement option for the first manned Orion mission, expected to launch as early as 2021.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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By William Schomberg

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - In 2011, early in his time as finance minister, George Osborne said he would revive British manufacturing as he promised "a march of the makers" to rebalance the economy.

But nearly six years on, the economy is just as reliant on the services sector.

This week, Osborne's successor Philip Hammond staked out his own priority: turning around Britain's long-standing productivity problem to meet the challenges of leaving the European Union.

Hammond used his first budget statement to address what he called the "shocking" gap between productivity growth in Britain and almost all other large rich countries, something which threatens to gnaw away at the economy and workers' wages.

"We lag the U.S. and Germany by some 30 percentage points. But we also lag France by over 20 and Italy by eight," he told parliament on Wednesday.

"Which means in the real world, it takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five, which means, in turn, that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts," he said. "That has to change if we are to build an economy that works for everyone."

Hammond put money behind his pledge, saying he will borrow 23 billion pounds ($29 billion) to invest more in housing, transport and digital infrastructure and research over the next five years.

Beyond 2020, he promised to increase investment in economic infrastructure to between 1.0 and 1.2 percent of economic output each year, up from 0.8 percent now.

While modest in terms of overall spending - Hammond also announced a 122-billion-pound increase in government borrowing, limiting his budget options - the decision to borrow in order to invest represented a break with Osborne's more rigid approach to running the public finances.

Whether Hammond has more success with productivity than Osborne did with manufacturing remains to be seen.

The challenge already looks tough. Britain's budget office expects that leaving the EU will hurt the ability of companies to grow as they scale back on investment and find fewer migrant workers to fill their vacancies.

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The Brexit hit to productivity is expected to require an extra 18 billion pounds in government borrowing over the next four years, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said.

QUICK START?

Executives with some infrastructure firms questioned whether Britain can move ahead with the kind of urgency promised by Hammond on Wednesday.

A decision to approve new airport runway capacity for London took 25 years and other major projects have been slow to get going, often as a result of Britain's complex planning system.

John Hicks, UK head of government and public for AECOM, a U.S. engineering firm, said the new infrastructure funding might have to wait for government agencies to announce a pipeline of projects with a clear positive impact on productivity.

"It's a really good admirable aim, but to a certain extent I think what he's subtly doing is raising the bar for project viability," Hicks said.

Britain's business minister Greg Clark told Reuters the investment plan was focused on the long term and he would be providing details of its next steps soon when he published the new government's industrial strategy.

"This is very much with a view on the medium and long term horizon rather than a countervailing response to Brexit. It's not that kind of short-term stimulus," he said.

But Yael Selfin, head of UK macroeconomics at financial services firm KPMG, said the government had put more of a focus on areas which would help the private sector including road improvements which would probably be quick to carry out.

More investment in infrastructure that encourages private house-building could help to ease a lack of homes on the market which has discouraged workers from moving around the country, another drag on productivity growth, she said.

"It feels more focused in terms of purpose this time round," she said of Hammond's announcement.

However, Selfin and Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, both said Hammond had not addressed one of the big factors behind Britain's productivity problem - a lack of skilled workers.

"We spend less on research and development than most of our competitor economies, so that does hold us back," Johnson said.

"You kind of know what kinds of roads work and where to build them," he said. "We've struggled for decades and probably a century to work out what the right thing to do on the education system is." (Additional reporting by David Milliken, William James and Sarah Young; Editing by Louise Ireland)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain made fewer cars last month for the first time in more than a year, driven by slower domestic demand and prompting the industry's lobby group to renew its call for the government to maintain free trade as Britain leaves the European Union.

Overall output fell by an annual 1 percent to 151,795 units in October, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said on Thursday, although year-to-date volumes remain on course to beat the ten-year high achieved in 2015.

Demand for the 81 percent of British-built models which were exported rose marginally in October, but there was a 10.9 percent drop in the output destined for British buyers.

The SMMT said that model changes, which can reduce output as manufacturers phase out older products and bring in newer vehicles, had an impact on the monthly figures.

But separate car registrations data shows that overall sales growth has slowed since the June 23 referendum and rising business demand has compensated for a fall in sales to individuals in every month since April.

Britain's overwhelmingly foreign-owned car industry backed EU membership ahead of the vote and Nissan , which operates the country's largest plant, sought guarantees that its cars would not face tariffs before committing to a major investment.

SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said the data showed the need for government to guarantee that it would not become more expensive to sell British-made vehicles abroad.

"It is crucial that British-built cars remain attractive to international buyers and exports are not subject to additional tariffs, costs and other barriers to successful trade," he said.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Alexander Smith)
A California woman who vanished while jogging nearly a month ago was found alive, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Read: Husband Appeals for Return of Missing Jogger Wife as Reward Hits $50G: 'Just Bring Her Home'

Sherri Papini, 34, of Shasta County, was found safe and in stable condition along Interstate 5 in Yolo County, and is receiving medical treatment at an undisclosed hospital, officials said in a press conference Thursday.

Sherri disappeared earlier this month while jogging in a small town, and is believed to have been abducted by two armed Hispanic women, driving a dark-colored SUV. A motive for the abduction has not yet been released.

Officers found her around 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning after she was released by her captors. Despite being bound with restraints, Sherri was able to catch the attention of a passing driver.

While officers did not give details about her injuries, they said none of her injuries were life-threatening.

Sheriff Tom Bosenko of the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said in the news conference, "We are overjoyed with the fact Sherri has been located and reunited with her family."

She has since been reunited with her husband, Keith Papini, who once believed his wife was abducted after she disappeared November 2, and offered a $50,000 reward for her safe return.

His wife was last seen jogging on the Old Oregon Trail at about 2 p.m. after dropping her kids off at day care.

Keith reported her disappearance to the police when he returned to an empty house that afternoon, suspicious that his wife and two kids, ages 2 and 4, were not home to greet him after work.

Keith then called his childrens day care, and was told Sherri hadnt picked up the kids.

After searching the home, Keith told investigators he used the Find my iPhone app to locate his wifes cell phone about a mile from the home. Later, her ear buds and strands of her long blonde hair were found along the route.

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Read: Body of Teen Thought to Be Missing After Mom, Sister Found Dead Is Discovered in Woods

She is my wife, and I know everything about her, Keith said in an interview with People. I know that my wife would never leave me and never in a million years leave our kids.

He was also ordered by authorities to take a polygraph test, which he passed.

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with more information to call 530-245-6135.

Watch: Girl, 5, Found Alone in Bus Station Before Mom Later Found Dead at Home, Search On for Dad: Cops

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By Sylvain Andzongo YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Security forces in Cameroon arrested about 100 people during days of protests over alleged discrimination against minority English-speaking people, Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary and a senior security source said on Wednesday. Bakary said vandals who mingled with the demonstrators smashed shops in the northwestern town of Bamenda during the protests during which one person was killed. A second security source said the demonstrators also wanted independence for Cameroon's two English speaking regions and the departure of President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and is one of Africa's longest serving rulers. French is spoken in eight of Cameroon's 10 regions and English in the northwestern and southwestern regions. Bakary said reinforcements in Bamenda were helping security forces return the situation to normal. He said the protests posed no threat to Biya. "Unions were complaining of being a bit marginalised and said they were discriminated against because of the (English) language," Bakary told Reuters. "There are some politicians who are using the situation as a tool for leverage to pursue their own interests," he said, noting that the government was open to dialogue and ministers had met for talks to work out how to resolve the problem. Reuters television footage of Bamenda on Tuesday showed security forces scouring the streets for protesters, and several barricades and one avenue blocked by flames in the market area. A woman walking with two young children stopped in her tracks at the sound of a gunshot. It also showed residents fleeing as riot police and soldiers marched through almost deserted streets. It was not immediately possible to contact residents or union members - who had organised the protests - in the town. (Additional reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg in Accra; Editing by Louise Ireland)
(Adds quote from natural resources minister, background)

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Canadian government will announce its decision on two major Enbridge Inc pipeline projects on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Energy industry officials and environmental groups expect Ottawa to veto the proposed Northern Gateway line from Alberta's oil sands to the Pacific province of British Columbia and approve Enbridge's plan to replace the Canadian segments of its aging Line 3 from Alberta to Wisconsin.

The Canadian cabinet discussed the pipelines at a regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, said one source, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The question of pipelines is a major political challenge for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is under pressure from greens to block projects that could lead to more emissions from the oil sands.

At the same time, the energy industry wants more pipelines to ease transport bottlenecks in Alberta.

Trudeau has long opposed Northern Gateway, citing the proposed routing through a rain forest.

Line 3 currently is running at just over half capacity because of voluntary pressure restrictions.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr told reporters on Thursday that the Enbridge announcements would not be made on Friday "but very soon after that."

The Liberals, who came to power a year ago promising to do more to protect the environment, also must decide by Dec. 19 whether to allow Kinder Morgan Inc to more than double the capacity of its Trans Mountain line from Alberta to the Pacific.

Environmentalists and aboriginal activists are promising unprecedented protests should Ottawa approve that project and one Liberal legislator from British Columbia has publicly urged Trudeau to veto it.

Government officials, asked whether Carr might seek to delay the decision, say he is committed to meeting the Dec. 19 deadline.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Trott)
Ottawa (AFP) - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and China have agreed to jointly combat transpacific trafficking of fentanyl into Canada, they said Thursday following a wave of overdoses with the powerful synthetic opioid.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) Vice Minister Chen Zhimin agreed at a meeting in Ottawa "to strengthen coordinated law enforcement actions to disrupt the supply of fentanyl and synthetic opioids," according to their joint statement.

The drug's use in Canada has turned into a public health crisis that Paulson described as "a grave threat."

Highly potent and addictive, the analgesic is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The related drug carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.

Two milligrams of pure fentanyl (the size of about four grains of salt) is enough to kill the average adult.

Coroners have said the drugs were responsible for 2,000 deaths in Canada in 2015 and an even higher number is expected this year.

Three recent busts saw the powerful narcotics intercepted by border officials, during a routine traffic stop in Vancouver, and by postal staff.
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's Liberal government introduced a bill Thursday to increase voter eligibility, including rolling back a measure that excluded more than one million expatriates from voting in 2015.

Maryam Monsef, the minister for democratic institutions, told a news conference the reforms will "break down unnecessary barriers to voting, while enhancing the efficiency and integrity of our elections."

The measures do not, however, go as far as the Liberals pledged during the last campaign to revamp the way Canadians vote, by dropping the current first-past-the-post system in favor of a more representational model.

Those efforts have been met with significant pushback from the opposition which has called for a referendum on proposals, while in polls Canadians showed little appetite for such a drastic change.

Monsef said she hopes to introduce that legislation in the first half of 2017, while renewing her opposition to holding a referendum.

"I don't believe that a referendum is the best way to go about having a really complex conversation about an important public policy issue like electoral reform," she commented.

The legislation's proposed reforms include increased voter identification options such as allowing one voter to vouch for another who does not have proper identification, after 173,000 people did not vote in 2015 due to a lack of ID.

Another would create a national registry of future electors, aged 14-17, who would be automatically added to registration rolls when they turn 18.

In addition, expatriates who have lived outside the country for more than five years will now be allowed to cast a ballot.

Most non-residents were unable to vote in Canadian elections until 1993, when Ottawa created a special mail-in ballot for expats who had lived outside Canada for fewer than five years and intended to return.

The five-year rule was struck down in 2014, effectively depriving half of all Canadians living abroad of the right to vote.

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The decision provoked a backlash and a court challenge that is still ongoing.

Actor Donald Sutherland lashed out in an opinion article at the time, saying: "I'm Canadian. There's a maple leaf in my underwear somewhere... I have to restrain myself from saying 'eh?'... But I can't vote."

Proponents of the restrictions cited possible abuses.

After the government was called to rescue nearly 15,000 Canadian citizens living abroad and with few ties to this country from Lebanon in 2006, Ottawa became openly concerned about outside influence in Canadian elections.

Those fears, however, may have been exaggerated as expat voter turnout has typically been very low.
The epic and unpredictable adventures of John McAfee have taken their most startling turn yet: He's accepted a job working for someone else.

Toronto-based Equibit Development Corporation said in a press release today that McAfee has been hired as the company's chief security officer. In a somewhat unusual arrangement, however, McAfee will be reporting to the board and not the CEO.

"We're honored and thrilled to be working with John McAfee," said Equibit CEO Chris Horlacher in a statement. "With his input and ongoing guidance, EDC will continue to set the security standard for blockchain services. We share his unwavering commitment to IT security and, with his help, will continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in this industry."

Equibit is a security service for safely issuing shares in companies and protecting trades from hacks, using decentralized blockchain technology. The platform will also handle other shareholder services, like voting and registering new stock owners.

"Equibit Development Corporation has positioned itself to become a major player in the blockchain development field focused on the financial sector," said McAfee in a statement."With my guidance and advice, I anticipate the company to experience stellar growth and achievements."

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McAfee founded McAfee Associates in 1987 but left in 1994. The company was eventually sold to in 2011 for more than $7.68 billion.

In recent years, McAfee has led a somewhat colorful existence, as chronicled in numerous news stories. He fled Belize after it appeared he was being investigated in connection with a murder several years ago. No charges were ever brought, and the case appears to have been put to rest. He's also not been shy about discussing his decadent, gun-toting life in Central America with journalists.

Last year, he became a presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party but lost the nomination to Gary Johnson.

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He also continued his work in tech, launching a company called QuorumEx in 2010 to develop new types of antibiotics. In 2013, he started Future Tense Central, to create "D-Central," a security network device. That was followed by in 2014, an app that helps smartphone users understand what permissions they've granted to other apps. And, in addition to running an incubator, he still currently holds the title CEO and executive chairman of an investment fund called John McAfee Global Technologies.

This article originally appeared on VentureBeat. All rights reserved.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Cairo (AFP) - Eight Egyptian soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack targeting a checkpoint in Sinai, where the local affiliate of the Islamic State group is leading an insurgency, the army said Thursday.

"A group of armed terrorists attacked one of the security checkpoints in north Sinai," the army spokesman said.

"A car bomb attack, the clashes that ensued and a blast targeting one of the vehicles left eight members of the armed forces dead," he added.

Three jihadists were also killed in the fighting, he said.

"The search operation is ongoing... in the bid to eradicate the remaining jihadists," he added.

The military did not reveal where exactly in northern Sinai the attack had taken place.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The army has been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai which has escalated since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The government says hundreds of police and soldiers have died in the attacks, which have also hit Cairo and the Nile Delta.

On November 4, gunmen killed a top Egyptian army officer outside his home in the northern Sinai.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Egyptian IS affiliate.

- Plane attack -

Thursday's attack was the deadliest since an assault on a checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others in the Sinai peninsula.

IS claimed responsibility for that attack.

The group also said it was responsible for the downing of a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015 which killed all 224 people on board, most of them Russian holidaymakers.

In February, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi acknowledged for the first time that "terrorism" was behind the crash, although the government has not yet issued an official report on its cause.

Sisi had previously dismissed as "propaganda" the IS claim that it downed the airliner.

The prosecution said last week that Egypt would try 292 jihadist suspects over plots to assassinate Sisi and the Saudi crown prince and for carrying out attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.

The suspects, including 151 currently in custody, were referred to a military court for alleged membership of the "Sinai State", IS's local affiliate.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was recently photographed in her bikini without her approval, and she wasnt happy with the results.

So naturally, she had husband Michael Douglas capture some flattering images to share on social media herself. The couple have been enjoying a holiday vacation in Mexico when they were flanked by photogs.

Pissed the paparazzi photographed my ass, thus sharing the photographs my husband took of my ass, Zeta-Jones, 47, explained Wednesday, pointing out its always a better option for viewing.

When Douglas, 72, wasnt playing photographer to his love of nearly two decades, the actor was taking selfies on the beach during sunset.

Spending turkey day and giving thanks with the family in beautiful Mexico. Happy Thanksgiving!!! he wrote on Facebook.

Missing from both Zeta-Jones and Douglas photos were their children Dylan, 16, and daughter Carys, 13.

The couples marriage has been going strong after the pair split briefly in 2013, celebrating their 16-year wedding anniversary this year. In March, they toasted the milestone of their engagement by returning to the scenic Aspen, Colorado, location where Douglas proposed.




By Jessica DiNapoli

NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R) is in the lead to acquire the call center business of debt-laden telecommunications equipment company Avaya Inc for around $4 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Avaya has been looking for ways to lessen its $6 billion debt load, as it transitions from a legacy hardware business to a software and services company. The sale of that unit would significantly aid those efforts.

CD&R has so far prevailed in an auction for Avaya's call center business, the people said, cautioning that no deal was certain and asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Wednesday, citing sources, that CD&R was among the potential buyers that participated in the most recent round of bidding for Avaya's call center business. Reuters reported in August that Avaya was accepting bids for the unit, including from Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.

The Wall Street Journal also reported on Wednesday that Avaya could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as next month. While a bankruptcy filing is a real possibility for Avaya, the company is trying to use the sale of the call center business to tackle its debt outside bankruptcy court, one of the Reuters sources said.

Avaya and CD&R declined to comment.

Avaya faces a $600 million debt maturity due in October 2017. In its preliminary quarterly results released last month, the company's revenue fell to between $945 million and $955 million from about $1 billion in the same time period last year.

Avaya has been generating strong cash flow, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year reaching $900 million.

But its interest expense of more than $400 million every year has been pushing it consistently into a loss. Much of that is the result of the debt the company took on in its $8.2 billion leveraged buyout in 2007 by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners LP and TPG Capital LP.

Avaya has already announced it is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc on evaluating expressions of interest in its assets, and by Centerview Partners Holdings LLC on "potential transactional alternatives" to shore up its capital structure.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Jessica DiNapoli

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R) is in the lead to acquire the call centre business of debt-laden telecommunications equipment company Avaya Inc for around $4 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Avaya has been looking for ways to lessen its $6 billion debt load, as it transitions from a legacy hardware business to a software and services company. The sale of that unit would significantly aid those efforts.

CD&R has so far prevailed in an auction for Avaya's call centre business, the people said, cautioning that no deal was certain and asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Wednesday, citing sources, that CD&R was among the potential buyers that participated in the most recent round of bidding for Avaya's call centre business. Reuters reported in August that Avaya was accepting bids for the unit, including from Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.

The Wall Street Journal also reported on Wednesday that Avaya could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as next month. While a bankruptcy filing is a real possibility for Avaya, the company is trying to use the sale of the call centre business to tackle its debt outside bankruptcy court, one of the Reuters sources said.

Avaya and CD&R declined to comment.

Avaya faces a $600 million debt maturity due in October 2017. In its preliminary quarterly results released last month, the company's revenue fell to between $945 million and $955 million from about $1 billion in the same time period last year.

Avaya has been generating strong cash flow, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation last year reaching $900 million.

But its interest expense of more than $400 million every year has been pushing it consistently into a loss. Much of that is the result of the debt the company took on in its $8.2 billion leveraged buyout in 2007 by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners LP and TPG Capital LP.

Avaya has already announced it is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) on evaluating expressions of interest in its assets, and by Centerview Partners Holdings LLC on "potential transactional alternatives" to shore up its capital structure.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
On the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon welcomed kid inventors, one of whom was 16-year-old Sherwood from Ontario, Canada. Sherwood used an air compressor to create a fencing dummy, and while the invention worked, Fallon made quick work of the dummy by knocking its head off with a punch to the face.

Other kid inventions included a slider piano bench, which was created using a go-kart seat and skateboard wheels so that piano players with short arms could reach all the keys.

Perhaps the most impressive kid invention of the night came courtesy of two sisters, Claire and Sadie, from Weare, N.H. Ten-year-old Sadie proved that with the Amazing Curb Climber, nothing could stop her.

So I have cerebral palsy, which means I have to use a walker. So one day I was at the library. And they have these big steps, Sadie explained. And I couldnt get up because my walker couldnt climb up curbs or stairs. So I decided to make one that could. And so I did.

Watch Jimmy Fallons favorite Gilmore Girls on the Tonight Show:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
It's been a tough few days for Kanye West, though he can always rely on support from Chance the Rapper.

While cutting some live tracks for BBC Radio 1Xtra and sitting for an on-air Q&A, Chance backed Kanye's ambitious goal to become the first rapper president.

"If anyone could do it, Kanye could do it. I don't think Jay (Z) wants to be president of the U.S.," Chance said. "I definitely don't want to be president or any type of political shit."

Chance also covered off the backstory to his involvement in Kanye's The Life of Pablo, his relationship with outgoing president Barack Obama and plans for his first LP.

"What is next? I'll probably put out an album, that's what I've been thinking about," Chance said. "I don't know exactly the format every time when I'm making something but a lot of times I have an idea, and I think what I'm working on right now is an album. But I also think it's in two parts." The format, he continued, would be "something that you can consider an album, it might not be physical, or a disc or something, but an album that comes with its own live show is important."

Watch the full interview below.

Earlier, Chance sent a timely message of goodwill to his fellow Chicagoan, who is being treated in an L.A. hospital with symptoms described as exhaustion.

"I want to extend a very special prayer to my big brother Kanye West," he said during a chilled-out moment in his performance "All We Got" from Coloring Book. "I know there's a lot of weird folks out there. But you already know I'm a hundred grand. And I just want to extend this prayer and extend this love all the way from Britain. I might come back early to come see this man. Happy Thanksgiving."

Chance was in the U.K. for the now-canceled European leg of his Magnificent Coloring world tour.

The Coloring Book mixtape debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart in May, becoming the first streaming-exclusive set to reach the survey.
By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - In 2011, early in his time as Chancellor, George Osborne said he would revive British manufacturing as he promised "a march of the makers" to rebalance the economy. But nearly six years on, the economy is just as reliant on the services sector. This week, Osborne's successor Philip Hammond staked out his own priority: turning around Britain's long-standing productivity problem to meet the challenges of leaving the European Union. Hammond used his first budget statement to address what he called the "shocking" gap between productivity growth in Britain and almost all other large rich countries, something which threatens to gnaw away at the economy and workers' wages. "We lag the U.S. and Germany by some 30 percentage points. But we also lag France by over 20 and Italy by eight," he told parliament on Wednesday. "Which means in the real world, it takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five, which means, in turn, that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts," he said. "That has to change if we are to build an economy that works for everyone." Hammond put money behind his pledge, saying he will borrow 23 billion pounds ($29 billion) to invest more in housing, transport and digital infrastructure and research over the next five years. Beyond 2020, he promised to increase investment in economic infrastructure to between 1.0 and 1.2 percent of economic output each year, up from 0.8 percent now. While modest in terms of overall spending - Hammond also announced a 122-billion-pound increase in government borrowing, limiting his budget options - the decision to borrow in order to invest represented a break with Osborne's more rigid approach to running the public finances. Whether Hammond has more success with productivity than Osborne did with manufacturing remains to be seen. The challenge already looks tough. Britain's budget office expects that leaving the EU will hurt the ability of companies to grow as they scale back on investment and find fewer migrant workers to fill their vacancies. The Brexit hit to productivity is expected to require an extra 18 billion pounds in government borrowing over the next four years, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said. QUICK START? Executives with some infrastructure firms questioned whether Britain can move ahead with the kind of urgency promised by Hammond on Wednesday. A decision to approve new airport runway capacity for London took 25 years and other major projects have been slow to get going, often as a result of Britain's complex planning system. John Hicks, UK head of government and public for AECOM, a U.S. engineering firm, said the new infrastructure funding might have to wait for government agencies to announce a pipeline of projects with a clear positive impact on productivity. "It's a really good admirable aim, but to a certain extent I think what he's subtly doing is raising the bar for project viability," Hicks said. Britain's business minister Greg Clark told Reuters the investment plan was focussed on the long term and he would be providing details of its next steps soon when he published the new government's industrial strategy. "This is very much with a view on the medium and long term horizon rather than a countervailing response to Brexit. It's not that kind of short-term stimulus," he said. But Yael Selfin, head of UK macroeconomics at financial services firm KPMG, said the government had put more of a focus on areas which would help the private sector including road improvements which would probably be quick to carry out. More investment in infrastructure that encourages private house-building could help to ease a lack of homes on the market which has discouraged workers from moving around the country, another drag on productivity growth, she said. "It feels more focussed in terms of purpose this time round," she said of Hammond's announcement. However, Selfin and Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, both said Hammond had not addressed one of the big factors behind Britain's productivity problem - a lack of skilled workers. "We spend less on research and development than most of our competitor economies, so that does hold us back," Johnson said. "You kind of know what kinds of roads work and where to build them," he said. "We've struggled for decades and probably a century to work out what the right thing to do on the education system is." (Additional reporting by David Milliken, William James and Sarah Young; Editing by Louise Ireland)
After five elementary school children were killed in a horrific school bus crash on Monday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, many have wondered if different safety regulations might have prevented the deaths.

Police say the bus in Mondays crash was carrying 37 students when its driver, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, lost control of the vehicle and swerved off the roadway  striking a telephone pole and then a tree.

Twelve children were initially hospitalized following the wreck, including six in intensive care. The five students who were killed ranged in age from 6 to 10.

The bus was not equipped with seat belts, as Tennessee is not one of the six U.S. states that requires them on buses over 10,000 pounds.

The instillation and use of seat belts on school buses, while not widely adopted, has recently been promoted by federal authorities.

Lawmakers and others have said the cost of such a move would be restrictive, and some bus drivers worry they may trap students in an emergency, such as a fire. But the upside, government safety experts say, is absolute.

The position of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that seat belts save lives, the NHTSAs Mark Rosekind said in November 2015, according to ABC News.

The American School Bus Council, which educates on behalf of transportation providers, explains seat belt-less bus safety this way:

The children are protected like eggs in an egg carton  compartmentalized, and surrounded with padding and structural integrity to secure the entire container, the Councils website says. The seat backs are raised and the shell is reinforced for protection against impact.

But then in 2015, Rosekind, on behalf of the NHTSA, came out in favor of three-point lap and shoulder belts on buses.

I dont deny that this is a challenge, Rosekind has said, according to the Associated Press. But I want us to concentrate on this simple basic statement: School buses should have seat belts. Period. It should be utterly uncontroversial  there is no question that seat belts offer improved safety.

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Rosekind later clarified that while there is no federal mandate for safety belts on school buses, his agency was in the process of working to get one instated.

Were gonna start everything  from research to looking for funds  to figure out how to make this happen, he said. The sooner we get this done, the more lives we can protect, the more injuries we can prevent.

The National Transportation Safety Board has also recommended seat belts for newly purchased school buses, according to the AP.

Opponents of a seat belt mandate argue that it would be too costly to install them nationwide (federal agencies have estimated the cost to be between $7,000 and $10,000 per bus) and point to the fact that while school bus crashes are fairly common, fatalities resulting from these crashes are rare.

Whats more, according to the AP, a National Education Association survey of bus drivers found some express concerns that students who were panicked or disoriented in an emergency may become trapped by a seat belt (and that it would be basically impossible to ensure every student was using them).

While nearly 500 kids and teens die in car collisions during school travel hours each year, only about four are killed while riding on school buses during those same hours, according to a 2014 report by the NHTSA.

Still, the NHTSA says the addition of seat belts could reduce this number even further. CNN highlights a non-fatal 2014 school bus crash in Anaheim, California, in which the circumstances were very similar to the Chattanooga crash  except that the buss passengers were wearing seat belts  to support this theory.

The NTSB noted that the proper use of seat belts by the students involved in this weeks crash reduced the severity of their injuries. But officials there have not yet said if seat belts would have prevented fatalities entirely, according to the AP.

The debate  previously raised and tabled in Tennessee  has been reignited. The states governor, Bill Haslam, told reporters that he wants to have a wide-ranging discussion about school bus safety following the crash, according to the AP.

Anybody who saw anything of the Chattanooga situation yesterday, your heart is broken. Its a tragic situation where you have little kids involved, he said. I think thats part of our job to come back and say, Are we doing everything we can to ensure safety on school buses? 




(Adds details on currency, trade talks results)

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - China will defend its rights under World Trade Organization tariff rules if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump moves toward executing his campaign threats to levy punitive duties on goods made in China, a senior trade official said on Wednesday.

Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative, also told a news conference that a broad consensus of academics, business people and government officials have concluded that China is not manipulating its yuan currency to gain an unfair trade advantage as Trump has charged.

"I think after Mr. Trump takes office, he will be reminded that the United States should honor its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization," Zhang said through an interpreter. "And as a member of the WTO, China also has the right to ensure its rights as a WTO member."

Trump has said China is "killing us" on trade and that he would take steps to reduce the large U.S. goods trade deficit with China, including labeling Beijing as a currency manipulator soon after he takes office on Jan. 20, 2017, and levying duties of up to 45 percent on Chinese goods to level the playing field for U.S. manufacturers.

Trump said on Monday he will formally exit the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in January.

Zhang, who spoke at the closing news conference for a two-day technical meeting of U.S. and Chinese trade officials in Washington, was not specific on what steps that China would take to protect its rights under WTO.

The global trading body prohibits members from unilaterally raising tariffs above levels that they have committed to maintain.

China's state-run Global Times newspaper last week warned that a 45 percent Trump tariff would paralyze U.S.-China bilateral trade.

"China will take a tit-for-tat approach then. A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. U.S. auto and (Apple ) iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and U.S. soybean and maize (corn) imports will be halted," the newspaper warned.

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During the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meetings, officials from both countries said that China agreed to treat imported and domestic medical devices equally in procurement policies.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said Chinese officials confirmed that state semiconductor investment funds would not require technology transfers as part of their investments in foreign firms.

In the past, economists had widely viewed the yuan as artificially undervalued, but China during the past year has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign currency reserves to keep the yuan from falling further - prompting the U.S. Treasury to ease its warnings on Beijing's currency practices.

(Reporting by David Lawder, editing by G Crosse and Chizu Nomiyama)
Beijing (AFP) - At least 67 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed Thursday, state media reported, the latest industrial accident in a country with a dismal safety record.

A cooling tower platform plunged to the ground in the early hours, trapping an unknown number of people beneath it, the official Xinhua news agency said.

State broadcaster CCTV put the toll at 67, with local reports saying one person was still missing and two others injured.

Pictures of the scene in Fengcheng, in the central province of Jiangxi, showed a grey mass of concrete slabs, steel girders and twisted metal splayed in a heap on the ground inside a large round structure.

Hard-hatted rescue workers in neon jumpsuits carried bodies out from the site on stretchers wrapped in orange sheeting.

A total of 32 fire engines and 212 military personnel had been deployed to the scene, the Jiangxi provincial fire department said on a verified social media account.

The construction of two 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power units at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station began last July and was expected to be completed by early 2018, the local Yichun city government said on a verified social media account last year.

The expansion was budgeted to cost a total of 7.67 billion yuan (now $1.1 billion), it added.

The main investor for a previous expansion project at the plant suspended trading in its shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange Thursday afternoon, stating that "significant events" that could not be disclosed could impact its share price.

Its shares had fallen 3.41 percent by midday.

The State Administration of Work Safety has dispatched a team to investigate the cause of the accident, Chinese media reported.

Many companies cut corners with workplace safety to reduce their costs and widespread corruption in China also allows firms to sidestep oversight.

The Administration's former chief, Yang Dongliang, has been accused of accepting more than 28 million yuan in bribes. His trial started Thursday, Chinese media said.

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- Poor safety -

Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often poorly enforced.

In August a pipeline explosion at a coal-fired power plant in the neighbouring province of Hubei killed 21.

Earlier this summer more than 130 people were taken to hospital after chemicals leaked from a plant in eastern China.

In April a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to quell the flames.

Last December, the collapse of a gypsum mine in the eastern province of Shandong left one person dead and 13 others unaccounted for, with four miners only rescued after being trapped underground for 36 days.

A total of 19 people had been found responsible for the incident, Xinhua said Thursday, with three managers arrested and 16 other local officials "punished". The agency did not give further details.

The owner of the collapsed mine committed suicide by drowning himself at the scene soon after the collapse, Xinhua said.

He will not be subject to criminal liabilities, it cited investigators as saying.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will send inspection teams to investigate and severely punish illegal expansion by coal and steel firms as part of its efforts to slim down the two industries, the country's cabinet said on Thursday.

With most of the country's steel and coal enterprises making losses in 2015, China promised in February to slash 500 million tonnes of coal production capacity and 100 million to 150 million tonnes of crude steel capacity over the next three to five years in a bid to reduce price-sapping supply gluts.

The State Council said in a notice posted on China's official government website (http://www.gov.cn) that this year's targeted closures had already been "basically completed", but some firms were still illegally expanding capacity.

The cabinet named as culprits the Hebei Anfeng Steel Corp, based in the northern port city of Qinhuangdao, as well as a small steel plant in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

China has traditionally struggled to rein in its massive steel and coal sectors, with local governments often turning a blind eye to expansion projects that provide additional local employment and economic growth.

But this year Beijing been trying to keep its regions on a tighter leash, and inspection teams from the Ministry of Environmental Protection have criticized several provincial authorities for failing to restrict capacity growth in the two sectors.

The State Council statement said it will also encourage "high-quality firms" in the two sectors to step up restructuring efforts along the lines of the merger between the state-owned Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel groups.

It added that China would unveil financial incentives for regions currently trying to deal with overcapacity, and would provide more support when it comes to re-employing laid-off workers.

The notice summarized the proceedings of a regular Wednesday meeting held by Premier Li Keqiang, which also passed a draft law on reining in unfair competition.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and David Stanway in SHANGHAI; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
BEIJING (Reuters) - A well-known Chinese legal activist has been missing for several days, according to his wife, who said he had last made contact on a trip to a central province after being tracked by state security agents. Jiang Tianyong, 45, has spoken out about a government crackdown on legal defenders and has been involved in high-profile cases of dissidents who have irked Chinese authorities, including the case of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who got out of China after he fled to the U.S. embassy in 2012. Jiang's wife, Jin Bianling, said she and friends had been unable to contact him since Monday night, after he traveled to the city of Changsha, in central Hunan province, to visit relatives of an arrested human rights lawyer, Xie Yang. After confirming to a friend that he had bought a return train ticket to Beijing, Jiang went missing. State security agents had been tracking Jiang, Jin said. "State security had gone to his brother's house in the past to ask about him," Jin told Reuters by telephone from the United States, where she has lived since 2013, due to what she called pressure on the family because of her husband's work. "So we're very worried that he was taken away from the train station or that there was some kind of accident," Jin said. Police in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, where Jiang has family who tried to make a report of a missing person, told Reuters by telephone they were unaware of the situation, as did China's Foreign Ministry. An official at the media office of the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing declined comment, saying it could not comment on individual cases. Authorities have refused to renew Jiang's law license and he has been detained several times in the past. Dozens of people linked to a Beijing law firm have been detained or prosecuted in a crackdown on dissent since July 2015, as President Xi Jinping's administration has tightened control, citing a need to boost national security and stability. Many of those lawyers and activists have been sentenced for subverting the government, drawing the condemnation of international rights groups and governments. China consistently rejects criticism of its human rights record and says it is a country ruled by law. Authorities have accused dissident lawyers and legal activists of orchestrating protests outside courts, politicizing ordinary legal cases, and conspiring with "foreign forces" to undermine China's ruling Communist Party. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong on Thursday defended efforts by Chinese companies to take stakes in German companies, saying such deals benefitted both sides.

"Concerns about a 'sell-off of Germany' are completely unfounded," Liu told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper days after news that U.S. authorities had recommended blocking the sale of German chip equipment maker Aixtron [AIXGn.DE] by China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC).

Liu said China would continue to encourage its firms to invest in Germany despite the U.S. decision and a move earlier this month by Germany Economy Minister Sigmal Gabriel to withdraw approval of the 670-million-euro takeover deal.

The Chinese official met on Thursday in Hamburg with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said Germany would continue to welcome Chinese investments, but that such deal could not be a 'one-way street.'

Gabriel made a similar point during a visit to China earlier his month, urging the Chinese government to reduce barriers for German firms wanting to do business there.

So far this year, Chinese investors have agreed 47 deals to buy German targets, worth a total of 10.3 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters data, up from 29 deals worth 263 million euros in 2015.

Liu told the newspaper that Chinese firms accounted for less than one percent of foreign investments in Germany, but German firms had invested considerably more in China.

"If Chinese-German investments become more balanced and frequent in both directions, then the economic cooperation of both countries will lead to more advantages," she said.

Liu told the newspaper that Chinese investments in German firms had helped stabilise those businesses, while opening up new markets and securing employment.

Aixtron this week said it was in close touch with U.S. and German authorities about answering their concerns about the company's takeover by Fujian.

The company is seen as having a bleak future as a standalone company as it struggles with overcapacity in a market dominated by Chinese buyers.

Story continues

Liu also warned the West against imposing anti-dumping duties against Chinese steel.

"The improper use of measures aimed at supporting business and trade, such as anti-dumping duties, would not be at all helpful for solving overcapacity in the world steel industry," the paper quoted her as saying.

"Blaming the problems currently faced by European and U.S. steel exporters on overcapacity in the Chinese steel industry and its export subsidies is completely baseless and unfair," she said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)
Yahoo Celebrity

With the final season of "Dead to Me" dropping on Netflix on Nov. 17, Applegate said, "This is the first time anyones going to see me the way I am. I put on 40 pounds; I cant walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that."
Get your index finger ready, globetrotters. Black Friday travel deals are on.

While other shoppers huddle in the cold to door crash electronic and retail stores in the wee morning hours of Black Friday, travel lovers will be able to make their big-ticket purchases on cruises, airfares and all-inclusive packages in their pyjamas. The only heavy lifting required is a little deft index finger clicking.

Here's a look at some of the deals on offer this year:

Club Med All-Inclusive Resorts

It's the biggest sale of the year for the pioneer in all-inclusive resort experiences. Travelers looking for an easy, no-brainer holiday can save up to 55 percent on a Club Med vacation for stays booked from November 26 to June 17, 2017. The Club Med Black Friday Sale is applicable for eight of the chain's resorts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and Florida.

https://www.clubmed.us/o/flash-sale

MSC Cruises

Swiss-based liner MSC Cruises is sweetening a 2-for-1 Black Friday deal with an additional $350 onboard credit for their Caribbean cruises. The credits can be used for wifi use and drinks packages. Prices start at $399 per person on itineraries that depart from Miami and visit St. Thomas, Jamaica and Puerto Rico among others.

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Cruise-Deals/Top-Deals/Black-Friday-Cruise-Deals.aspx

Delta Air Lines

Frequent Delta fliers can travel to destinations across the US for 5,000 miles each way. The sale extends to Cyber Monday, November 28.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/shop/deals-and-offers/north-america/black-friday-flight-deals.html?icid=black_friday_112116

British Airways

US travelers eyeing a trip to London in January may be interested to learn of BA's Black Friday sale that will give away 1,500 hotel room nights to 1,000 passengers booking overnight flights from the US to the British capital. Participating hotels include The Rembrandt and Doubletree by Hilton London Westminster and is valid for three free nights. For residents from the UK, the airline is offering a 2-for-1 sale for a pair of business class flights. At 2,016, fliers save 49 percent off the normal ticketed price for international travel.

http://www.britishairways.com/

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Cathay Pacific

The flagship carrier of Hong Kong is offering 30 percent off economy class flights between the US and Asia, plus 500 bonus Air Miles for each booking. The rises to 1,000 Air Miles for premium economy class seats. Fares from Los Angeles to Asia start at $651 USD.

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/offers/flight/blackfriday-economy-nyc.html

Travelocity

Online booking site Travelocity is offering 15 percent off hotel bookings in advance of Black Friday and is teasing a promotion that promises up to $500 on savings for hotel reservations and up to $250 on vacation packages on D-Day. On Cyber Monday, the site will also release a coupon for hotel discounts every hour, on the hour between 8 am and 7 pm.

https://www.travelocity.com/g/rg/black-friday-cyber-monday-global?mcicid=home.topdeals.96632701

Hotels.com

Holidaymakers traveling within North America can stand to save an average of 50 percent off on a selection of 300 hotels during the sale which extends to Monday. Subscribing to the newsletter also earns travelers an additional 30 percent off discounted rates.

https://www.hotels.com/hotel-deals/4-day-sale/
Theres a lot of ridiculous things that people have done to try to get into clubs and bars when they dont have their ID, but this one may have to take the cake. In Amherst, Massachusetts, one bar owner reported that a customer attempted to use a slice of pizza as a form of ID.

Yep, you read that right  a slice of pizza.

Rasif Rafiq, the owner of the Amherst bar MonkeyBar, reported that a woman was asked to present ID before getting into the bar. She presented a slice of pizza instead of the ID, and after the bouncer tried to explain that the slice of pizza wasnt exactly going to cut it, SHE SLAPPED HIM.

Neither the bouncer or Rafiq are too concerned about the situation, other than remarking on how entertaining the whole incident was.

And on social media, showed their support for the girl who tried to use a pizza slice as ID. #relatable

22yr old woman was arrested for trying to use a slice of pizza as ID. It may not show her face.But it shows alot about who she is. & I her  Kevin Flood (@FLOOKLYN) November 21, 2016

pizza would've been an acceptable form of ID for me in high school tbh https://t.co/fAIrchuaMj  Selena Larson (@selenalarson) November 23, 2016

Thankfully, no pizza pies were harmed in the incident.

The post This college student tried to use a slice of pizza as ID at a bar, and it did not go well appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Helen Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono signed a revised peace accord on Thursday in a far more sober ceremony than a first deal rejected last month by millions at a plebiscite. As they inked the pact with a pen made from a bullet at a historic Bogota theater, onlookers chanted "We did it!" The new accord to end 52 years of war in Latin America's fourth-largest economy was put together in just over a month after the original pact was narrowly and unexpectedly defeated in an Oct. 2 referendum for being too lenient on the rebels. The government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) worked together in Cuba for four years to negotiate an end to the region's longest-running conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean nation. "It's final!" said Santos, standing before white banners of peace and Colombia's red, yellow and blue flag "I invite you to leave decades of violence forever in the past, to unite for all of us, for Colombia, for this dear nation, and to work together for reconciliation around shared ideals of peace." Opposition leader and former President Alvaro Uribe spearheaded the push to reject the original accord and wanted deeper changes to the new version. Opponents to the first deal are furious Santos will ratify the new deal in Congress instead of holding another vote and is urging street protests. Santos had always promised Colombians would have the final word in a referendum, but is sidestepping that for the revised deal. After the signing, he sent the deal straight to Congress for a vote next week. The government's majority means approval is likely to be speedy. FROM ARMS TO POLITICS The signing ceremony marked a six-month countdown for the 7,000-strong FARC to abandon weapons and form a political party. Despite widespread relief at an end to conflict, many among Colombia's largely conservative residents are angry because, like the original agreement, the new deal will not jail FARC leaders who committed crimes like kidnappings and massacres, and it allows them to hold political office. "As a party without weapons, the FARC can present its political project. It will be Colombians who support or reject it with a vote," said 65-year-old Santos. The understated signing in the 131-year-old Teatro Colon before mostly government and local dignitaries was a far cry from the fanfare celebration in September, where the coastal city of Cartagena hosted world leaders. Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his peace efforts, wants to get the deal in place as quickly as possible to maintain a fragile bilateral ceasefire. "For the good of the nation, let us make words the only weapon Colombians are permitted to use," said Londono, 57, who is known by his nom de guerre Timochenko. The expanded and highly complex new 310-page document makes only small modifications to the original text, such as clarifying private property rights and detailing more fully how the rebels would be confined in rural areas for crimes committed during the war. The FARC, which began as a rebellion fighting rural poverty, has battled a dozen governments as well as right-wing paramilitary groups. An end to the war with the FARC is unlikely to end violence in Colombia as the lucrative cocaine business has given rise to criminal gangs and traffickers. (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Andrew Cawthorne)
Bogota (AFP) - A former head of Colombia's intelligence services was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for involvement in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan by drug-gang hitmen.

Retired general Miguel Maza Marquez was convicted of conspiracy and "homicide with terrorist ends" over Galan's killing, the Supreme Court of Justice said in a statement.

The assassination occurred when Maza Marquez was director of the now-defunct Administrative Security Department (DAS), charged with providing Galan's security.

Galan was the leading candidate for Colombia's 1990 presidential vote when he was gunned down in front of thousands of people at a campaign rally on August 18, 1989.

The charismatic Liberal party senator had vowed to extradite drug kingpins to the United States, including Pablo Escobar, the powerful head of the Medellin cartel.

Escobar's top hitman, John Jairo "Popeye" Velazquez, was arrested in 1992 and convicted of the killing.

Liberal politician Alberto Santofimio, a rival of Galan, was later convicted of orchestrating the hit.

"The Supreme Court of Justice determined that (Maza Marquez) took part in the plan to assassinate the well-known political leader, weakening his security detail by assigning it to a hand-picked agent," the court said.

Maza Marquez, who was arrested three years ago, denied the charges.

Galan was killed along with a bodyguard and a local official at the rally in the Bogota suburb of Soacha.

Another bodyguard was wounded.

Galan was one of four presidential candidates killed in the bloody run-up to the 1990 vote, as Colombia's powerful drug lords waged war on a political movement to extradite them to the United States.

He was replaced on the Liberal ticket by Cesar Gaviria, who went on to win the election.

Escobar was ultimately killed in a rooftop gunfight with police in Medellin in 1993.
Donald Trump and conservative intellectual Yuval Levin. (Getty Images/Wikipedia)

I was one of the many journalists working  in the days before the Nov. 8 election  on a piece about what would happen to the Republican Party after Donald Trump lost.

During a conversation with one leading conservative intellectual, Yuval Levin, I was taken aback when he used the term nationalism in a positive way.

The challenge of articulating a constructive nationalism is absolutely essential now to how the right comes back, Levin, editor of National Affairs magazine, told me in late October.

I recoiled. The words negative connotations are obvious. But my surprise that Levin would endorse any form of nationalism was the result of my not paying attention.

Levin had written over the summer that the Brexit vote in the U.K. suggested that globalism is not the future and nationalism is not the past. Reihan Salam, executive editor of National Review, who also writes for Slate, and the New York Times Ross Douthat called over the summer for the right to move toward a pan-ethnic nationalism. And Salam has been writing about a need to revive a form of American nationalism for the last few years.

Yet still, I remarked to Levin, why use a term weighed down by an association with nativism, xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism? Especially since Trumps candidacy attracted support from explicitly racist figures such as David Duke, as well as the slightly more nebulous but still menacing alt-right movement, nationalism seemed like a highly problematic label. In the current moment, many people hear the term and automatically think white nationalism.

In addition, nationalism is generally a reaction against globalism, a word often used by radical fringe figures and groups who traffic in anti-Semitic conspiracies. Trump himself in mid-October was denounced by the Anti-Defamation League when he said his campaign was a threat to the global power structure and that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers.

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When I asked Salam about these concerns, he replied in his unflappable style: The idea that [nationalism] should be a dirty word is just a little strange.

After the election, I checked back with Salam and Levin to see if Trumps win  and the rally of a small group of neo-Nazis, in downtown D.C. during which they cheered the new president-elect  had changed their view. It hadnt.

We shouldnt be afraid of nationalism, Salam said. Its more, What form does it take?

Levin acknowledged that after the Republican victory, the issue for the right now isnt how to come back, but how it understands and defines itself. Constructive nationalism, he says, will be the key.

Levin, in his column on the Brexit vote this past summer, wrote that, Dismissing the growing desire for and force of nationalism as pure bigotry or revanchism or xenophobia is neither rational nor fair  indeed, such careless dismissal often itself sounds little different from blind bigotry.

That a fervent national spirit can (like other fervent political passions) invite and incite resentment, exclusion, and hate is beyond question. But it need not be the equivalent of any of these, and it is up to political leaders and political cultures to draw crucial distinctions, he said.

Levin and Salam want to move the Republican Party and the conservative movement in a direction that appeals to working-class people of all races, ethnicities and religions. They agree that Trumps election has greatly complicated that project, but they believe the word nationalism is an unavoidable and important term that captures the direction in which they want to go.

*****

So what do these and other figures on the right mean when they say nationalism?

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the campaign defined the term globalist negatively as an economic and political ideology which puts allegiance to international institutions ahead of the nation-state; seeks the unrestricted movement of goods, labor and people across borders; and rejects the principle that the citizens of a country are entitled to preference for jobs and other economic considerations as a virtue of their citizenship.

Levins description of nationalism in his Brexit column was the mirror image of that definition. He defined it as a distinctly American rejection of political cosmopolitanism  one that would take seriously the notion of the American idea, but would also take seriously the reality of the American nation, which is not an idea but an actual living society full of actual human beings who deserve to have leaders who put their needs, interests, and preferences first.

The key phrase is that Levin believes Americans deserve to have leaders who put their needs, interests, and preferences first.

Id seen this sort of language used at Breitbart News, the right-wing site that Trump senior adviser Stephen Bannon used to run. In late October, the site published a piece criticizing House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying that both he and Hillary Clinton view being American as an intellectual idea rather than a national identity.

This sounded a lot like the kind of language used by white nationalists, who talk of a national identity that belongs to whites of European descent.

But unlike Breitbart, which served as a media arm of Trumps campaign, Levin was a consistent critic and opponent of Trumps. And he is an ally, friend and adviser to Ryan.

Levin acknowledged that it is not some unfortunate coincidence that the human face of nationalism in politics tends to be obnoxious  it is a warning we should take seriously.

What all this argues for, then, is a class of leaders who give the national impulse its due but also see its limits and its dark edges and can distinguish and curtail them, Levin wrote.

And Salam, himself the 36-year-old son of Bangladeshi immigrants, said that his vision of nationalism is the opposite of racial nationalism. Its, Lets forge a common culture and create a sense of solidarity across these groups.

Its basically a language for solidarity, he said. What is it that binds people together?

Salam told me before the election that while hed like to see a somewhat more populist party that still attracts people with conventional values, he also thinks Republicans have to put a lot of energy into winning over racial minorities.

Republicans must make it clear that a vote for the GOP is not an anti-black vote. That is something people really struggle with, he said.

You might believe voter ID is a legitimate issue, he said. I dont think thats crazy, but this is an issue thats been weaponized against Republicans, he said. And some efforts to implement voter ID laws, Salam added  such as in Pennsylvania and Texas  did not look like people were making an honest and sincere attempt to address the integrity issue.

Here are some of the policies these pundits back: prioritize high-skilled immigration and slow overall rates of legal immigration; increase take-home pay for the working class and lower-income households through payroll tax cuts, tax reform or a larger earned income tax credit.

Salam and Douthat even argued this past summer that the GOP should abandon its long-standing policy of seeking tax cuts for taxpayers making more than $250,000. Levin would go along with that deviation from Republican orthodoxy, provided the party frames its positions as putting American interests first  on issues such as trade and foreign policy  and makes certain that voters understand it that way.

Rhetoric matters a lot. Its how we understand ourselves, and it sets a frame for policy, said Levin. He wants the GOP to be a party much more attuned to the challenges people face.

Salam believes immigration is the most important issue on which conservatives can show working-class people of all races and backgrounds that theyre fighting for them.

Salam would like to see immigration policy changed to prioritize the recruitment of higher-skilled, higher-wage earning immigrants. He rejects the charge that such a view is driven by racism.

One little-recognized problem with mass immigration, Salam believes, is that it makes earlier immigrants less likely to join the broader national culture, because their communities are continually replenished by newcomers from the home country.

And he argues that the labor environment is far less welcoming now to low-skilled workers than it was in prior waves of immigration. This results in the importing of individuals and families that out of necessity will rely on public assistance and public resources, from food stamps to hospital emergency rooms to public schools.

If we accept that we have a collective responsibility for the well-being of every member of our society, as I think we should, it makes sense to select immigrants who have at least a fighting chance of making it, Salam wrote in 2014.

The biggest challenge we face in the United States, in my view, is a lack of togetherness, he wrote. And slowing immigration is one way to help re-create what he calls melting-pot nationalism.

Even before the election, Salam proposed that a Republican case for restricting immigration based on protecting immigrants already here, and attacking employers exploiting illegal labor, might appeal to more-assimilated immigrants. He cited polling showing Clintons lead over Trump among U.S.-born Hispanics was far smaller than among those who were foreign-born. The same difference existed between Hispanics who primarily spoke English as opposed to those who were bilingual or who primarily spoke Spanish.

And while Trump did lose Hispanic voters by a wide margin, exit polls indicate he was supported by 29 percent of those voters, slightly better than 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney. That came as a shock to those who thought Trumps harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric would result in a big win for Democrats in that growing demographic.

*****

Trumps election, obviously, has thrown a curveball at conservative reformists, who are still grappling with how they should adapt and respond.

Levin wrote, a week after the election, that the conservative movement will undoubtedly be heavily influenced by the anti-establishment sentiment animating the GOP electorate, but he cautioned that conservatism needs to act as a check on the partys populism.

But in his Brexit column over the summer, Levin best expressed the concern about what Trump might do to the conservative-reform movement.

Trump thus stands to do irreparable harm to the cause that some of his most serious and well-meaning supporters want to champion and to the party that is the only plausible political vehicle for a constructive counter-cosmopolitanism in American politics, Levin wrote. He threatens to render them all, like him, ridiculous.

Related Video:
London (AFP) - Britain's next generation of cyber security experts will be taught at Bletchley Park, where Nazi codes were cracked during World War II, the head of the new college announced on Thursday.

The mansion house is celebrated as the site where codebreakers cracked the Nazis' Enigma cipher machine, credited by some historians with cutting World War II short by two years.

Head of the UK's first college of cyber security -- QUFARO@Bletchley Park -- said it would pick "the most talented and skilled students" and aim to unify Britain's complex and disconnected cyber education.

"For those interested in forging a career in cyber, the current pathway is filled with excellent but disparate initiatives -- each playing a vital role without offering a truly unified ecosystem of learning and support," Alastair MacWilson said.

"By connecting what already exists and filling the gaps, QUFARO will make it easier for budding professionals to grow their cyber security skills at every stage of their journey, and contribute more to the sector as a result," he added.

The achievements of Alan Turing and fellow mathematicians at Bletchley Park in central England were not acknowledged until 2000, when the top secret work achieved there was declassified.

The codebreakers' story was turned into an Oscar-winning film in 2014, "The Imitation Game", in which Turing was played by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

The new college will target 16- to 19-year-olds with cyber security courses which will include lessons in computer science, maths and physics.

Those behind the new centre include experts from the National Museum of Computing and BT Security.

The institute is due to open in 2018, following the completion of a A5 million ($6.2 million, 5.9 million euros) restoration of Bletchley Park.

Despite Turing's role in securing victory over the Nazis, Turing was prosecuted by the authorities in 1952 for "gross indecency" with another man and was forced to undergo chemical castration.

He was found dead by cyanide poisoning on June 7, 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday.

It was not until 2009 when Britain's then prime minister, Gordon Brown, formally apologised for the "horrifying" treatment Turing suffered: "We're sorry, you deserved so much better," he said.
(AP)

(Knox County Sheriffs Department)

A former wide receiver at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, has been charged with murdering his 16-year-old girlfriend.

William Gaul, 18, allegedly killed Emma Walker as she slept in her bedroom just before 6:30 a.m. Monday.

Per the Knoxville News-Sentinel, it appeared that Walker had been shot from the outside of the house. An aunt of Walker told the paper that she had recently ended their relationship and Gaul wasnt happy about it.

She had chosen to move on, Jenny Weldon, Walkers aunt, said Wednesday. He refused to accept it. He chose not to accept her wishes.

The two went to high school together at Knoxvilles Central High School. He has been dismissed from the team following his arrest and the school said in a statement that it was cooperating fully with the investigation into Walkers death.

[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you wont see on the blog]

After the shooting, detectives quickly placed Gaul under surveillance, concerned that he was preparing to destroy evidence connected to the killing, according to the Sheriffs Office. He was taken into custody at the Woodlands Apartments on Cherokee Trail late Tuesday night. Gaul, of Knoxville, remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of $750,000 bond.

Gaul has a court date regarding the charges scheduled for Dec. 2.

[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]

      

Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
By Annabella PultzNielsen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Four journalists from a Danish gossip magazine were sentenced to up to 15 months in prison on Thursday for paying for credit card data to help track politicians, celebrities and members of the royal family. An employee of the credit card company Nets got 18 months for selling information between 2008 and 2012 that revealed the whereabouts of prominent people such as Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Hannibal-actor Mads Mikkelsen. The leaks enabled the weekly magazine Se & Hor to follow Prince Joachim and his wife on what was meant to be a secret honeymoon to Canada in 2008, after it bought data about the couple's plane tickets from the Nets system operator. The media group that owns the magazine was fined 10 million Danish crowns ($1.52 million) last August for the covert monitoring of more than 120 celebrities. Two of its former managers were given suspended six-month sentences. "This case has drawn a clear line in the sand, leaving no doubt that stealing and selling confidential information is criminal offense," Nets spokesman Karsten Anker Petersen said. One of the monitored celebrities, Rene Dif of the Danish-Norwegian music group Aqua, was unhappy with the trial's results for the journalists. "These short sentences shows how ridiculous the Danish justice system is," he told TV2 local television. "There is no reason for people to be allowed to snoop around like this," said Dif, whose group topped the charts worldwide with its hit "Barbie Girl" in 1997. The four journalists said they would consider appealing the verdict. (Reporting by Annabella Pultz Nielsen; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
It has the largest USD loan exposure at 33%.

As the USD continues to strengthen, regional currencies have depreciated and the SGD is no exception. Whilst Maybank Kim Eng expects more volatility for ASEAN currencies ahead, its analysts note that DBS should be a key beneficiary of USD strength as it has the largest USD loan exposure at 33% vs peers 19-23%.

"We assess the FX translation impact on banks profits on the basis of some broad assumptions based on banks pretax profits by regions. For translational FX gains alone, we estimate DBSs FY16-17E pretax profits will increase the most by 2-4% vs OCBCs 0.8-1.7% and UOBs 0.7-1.4%. OCBCs and UOBs gains are partly offset by their relatively bigger exposure in ASEAN," says Maybank Kim Eng.







More From Singapore Business Review


Leipzig-based sales company Deckert Distribution has acquired worldwide sales rights to Levan Koguashvilis Gogitas New Life, a production from Koguashvilis own label Kino Iberica in Georgia, made in co-production with Croatias Embrio Russias Moskvitch Studio and Tato Film, based in the Ukraine.

Selected for Karlovy Varys Docu Talents workshop this year, Gogita follows a mans efforts to enjoy a second chance in life after 14 years in prison. Set in the Georgian sticks, in tragicomic tones the documentary depicts Gogitas new relationship with Maka, a woman not as pretty as Gogitas mom would like, though she bakes marvellous cakes.

Gogita fits perfectly into our slate. We want auteur films and are always looking for titles coming out of Eastern Europe, said Heino Deckert, who launched Deckert Distribution, a documentary world sales and distribution company, in 2003.

With Gogita, Koguashvili returns to documentary, which he explored with Women of Georgia and the short Father and Son.

Deckerts slate at IDFA also comprises Nima Sarvestanis Prison Sisters a story about attempts to reveal the truth behind the murder of a prisoner in Afghanistan by her cell mate who then escaped to Sweden, Rehad Desais The Giant Is Falling, about the failures and achievements of 22 years of democracy in South Africa, and Serban Georgescus Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons, a semi-satirical report about modern-day agriculture in Europe.

Vitaly Manskys Close Relations, Sergei Loznitsas Revue and Tamara Stepanyans Those from the Shore completed Deckerts IDFA lineup.

Relations portrays Ukraine after the Maidan revolution, Revue Soviet life in the 1950s and 1960s. Shore looks at the plight of Armenian asylum seekers.

Tbilisi-born Koguashvili is a leading exponent of Georgian recent cinema. His debut film, neorealist drama Street Days, drew the attention at the Rotterdam Festival in 2010, but he broke through to international recognition with his sophomore outing, Blind Dates (2014), which collected numerous nominations and awards including best film at the Zagreb Fest and Abu Dhabis New Horizons, and a Fipresci nomination at Berlin, as well as the Audience Award at Palm Springs.

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Koguashvili Kino Iberica won an incentive from the Georgian National Film Centre for his next feature, Brighton 4th, a dramedy to be co-produced with Bulgarias Art Fest, Frances MACT Productions and Russias New Media Order. Script is co-written by Koguashvili and Boris Frumin (Blind Dates). It will turn on a Georgian wrestlers trip to Brooklyn to try to pay off his sons gambling debt.

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ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Leaving behind two injury-hit years, Juan Martin del Potro is looking to cap his successful comeback by leading Argentina to its first Davis Cup title.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion said host Croatia is the favorite in the best-of-five series, but believes Argentina is in a strong position after losing in four Davis Cup finals since 1981.

''Croatia has a very strong team, but we are looking forward to a very good weekend,'' Del Potro said. ''They are playing at home on a favorite (fast indoor) surface. But, I also like fast surfaces.''

Federico Delbonis will start Argentina's quest for the title by playing Friday's opening singles match against Marin Cilic. Thursday's draw also pits del Potro against big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who returned to Croatia's team after a four-year absence.

In the doubles, the Croatian pair of Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor will face Leonardo Mayer and Gaudio Pella. Reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday.

''If I win, it will be a bit less pressure on Ivo and a bit more pressure on Delpo,'' Cilic said. ''I'm feeling quite positive.''

Argentina is the only nation in the Davis Cup's 116-year history which has reached four finals without winning the title. Croatia, targeting its second Davis Cup title after beating Slovakia in the final in 2005, will be led by an in-form Cilic, who has reached a career-best year-end ranking of No. 6.

''We are hoping that this long quest for the cup title will come to an end,'' del Potro said. ''This is a very different team we have since the last finals, new players, new team captain (Daniel Orsanic). Hopefully, a different result as well.''

The 37-year-old Karlovic will be the oldest player in the Davis Cup final in nearly a century. The towering Croat said he hopes to have short points and many aces in the match against del Potro.

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''I will try to evade long exchanges, he is better in long points,'' Karlovic said. ''More aces I serve, less able Delpo will be able to win.''

Croatia team captain Zeljko Krajan had to make a last minute change to his roster, leaving youngster Borna Coric out because of his recent knee surgery. Coric was replaced by doubles specialist Skugor.

''It was a very tough decision,'' Krajan said. ''Unfortunately, he is not fully fit to play long matches.''
Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have fled to Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding violence in Myanmar.

John McKissick, head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in the Bangladeshi border town of Cox's Bazar, told the BBC that Myanmar authorities' actions against the Rohingya amounted to "ethnic cleansing".

Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have left their homes in Myanmar, the UN says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

McKissick said troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh.

Dhaka has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

"It's very difficult for the Bangladeshi government to say the border is open because this would further encourage the government of Myanmar to continue the atrocities and push them out until they have achieved their ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar," McKissick said.

The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

Cradling his two-year-old son, he said troops killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam.

"They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt," Ayaz told AFP.

Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees.

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- 'Deep concern' -

Many of those seeking shelter say they walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

The Rohingya are loathed by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived there for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned Myanmar's ambassador to express "deep concern".

"Despite our border guards' sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh," the government said.

"Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing."

- Torture and rape -

Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP.

"They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

Myanmar's military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared.

"We heard that they (Myanmar's army) tortured her to death. I don't know what happened to my mother," said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent back to Myanmar.

Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say will be sent back across the border.

"They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar," said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced "certain death" if made to return.
Mexico City (AFP) - The massive underwater crater left by the asteroid that exterminated the dinosaurs has provided new evidence that sea levels were much lower during the last Ice Age, researchers said.

Scientists worked on a platform off Mexico's east coast to dig for clues about the destruction of life 66 million years ago inside the 200-kilometer (125-mile) wide Chicxulub crater.

By chance, the researchers found evidence that the sea was much further away than the current coast line during the last Ice Age, which began 110,000 years ago and ended around 11,000 years ago, said mission leader Jaime Urrutia, president of the Mexican Academy of Science.

While a large part of the crater is now under the Gulf of Mexico, it was not submerged during the Ice Age.

"We discovered a circular structure at the bottom (of the sea)," Urrutia told a news conference.

"The only way that (such structures) are made is through the dissolution of carbonate and for carbonate to dissolve it must be exposed to air," he said.

This shows that the Yucatan peninsula was "literally much larger" between 18,000 and 23,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, the scientist said.

International geologists, paleontologists and microbiologists arrived on the Myrtle platform in the Gulf in April and worked there for two months, digging 1.5 kilometers (.93 mile) under the sea floor and extracting six tonnes of rock.

Some results of the studies have been published in the journal Science but the analysis continues at a laboratory in Bremen, Germany.

The 12-kilometer (7.4-mile) wide asteroid slammed the earth at a speed of 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) per second some 66 million years ago.

Its crater is unique on the planet because of its "peak ring" formation, a circular elevation as high as 500 meters with a 30-kilometer radius.

The platform was installed over one of the peaks to study the nature of the rocks below and how they took shape.

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The scientists have yet to explain how the granite and molten rock petrified into peaks.

The first results show that the rocks moved up "like jelly," but while the rock was molten, the granite does not show signs of heating, Urrutia said.

The $15 million Expedition 364 was the first to peer into the undersea part of the Chicxulub crater.
President-elect Donald Trump urged Americans to unite and speak with one voice and one heart in his Thanksgiving message on Wednesday, November 23.

Trump says in the address posted the night before the holiday that Its my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

Weve just finished a long and bruising political campaign, emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight, it doesnt go quickly, unfortunately, Trump continues.

Anti-Trump protests have swept across America since the election, with frequent demonstrations being held in cities like Portland and Los Angeles. Credit: YouTube/Transition2017 via Storyful
Count Steve Bannon, Donald Trumps White House consigliere-in-waiting, as the latest political operative who has extrapolated a single, narrow presidential victory into a blueprint for a generation of electoral dominance. The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia, Bannon recently told The Hollywood Reporters Michael Wolff. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get [messed] over. If we deliver, well get 60 percent of the white vote, and 40 percent of the black and Hispanic vote and well govern for 50 years.

That prediction may seem grandiose for a strategist whose candidate is on track to lose the popular vote by more than any successfully elected president ever. On Wednesday, Hillary Clintons popular-vote lead over Trump crossed 2 million; several analysts tracking the remaining voteswhich are mostly in Californiabelieve her final advantage will near 2.5 million. Clinton will win the popular vote by more than John F. Kennedy in 1960 or Jimmy Carter in 1976, and could even approach George W. Bushs margin in his 2004 reelection. Trump will win a smaller percentage of the popular vote than Mitt Romney did in 2012.

That doesnt invalidate his victory. But its a fragile beachhead from which to reverse the publics consistent reluctance over the past generation to grant either party a lasting hold on power. Except for 1988, when George H.W. Bush prevailed after two terms of Ronald Reagan, neither side has held the White House for more than eight consecutive years since 1952. (Thats despite the fact that Democrats since 1992 have now twice won the popular vote in three consecutive elections.)

And while Republicans are understandably euphoric that they will control the White House and both congressional chambers next year, neither party since 1968 has maintained such unified control for more than four consecutive years, a far more rapid turnover than in earlier generations. History suggests the best advice for Republicans now celebrating their unified control might be three simple words: Dont unpack everything.

Recommended: Hillary Clinton's Lead Is Greater Than Multiple Former Presidents'

Yet Bannon and Trump have reason for optimism. While Trump did not establish new patterns in political allegiance, he did squeeze more advantage out of the old patterns than many, myself included, thought possibleand suffered less backlash from the groups most resistant to his coruscating message.

Trump dominated virtually every segment of blue-collar and non-urban white America: He not only beat Clinton among white men without a college education by more than Reagan beat Walter Mondale in his historic 1984 landslide, but he also equaled Reagans margin among non-college-educated white women. Even in households that included whites without a college degree who belonged to a labor union, Trump trounced Clinton by 58 percent to 32 percent, according to exit-poll figures provided by CNNs polling unit. He crushed Clinton everywhere along the non-metropolitan continuum from mid-sized and small cities to rural hamlets. As important, Trump made these gains without losing as much ground among college-educated whites as polls predicted he would, while slightly improving over Romneys anemic performance with non-white votersat least according to exit polls, which are disputed by some minority analysts.

Yet all this still left Trump with no margin for error. He not only lost the popular vote, but also sealed his slim Electoral College victory with wins of about 1 point or less in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvaniathe three loosest bricks in the Democrats blue wall. Trumps hold on those states could easily slip in a future election if he loses any ground among the constituencies who supported him, or if he further alienates the ones who opposed him.

Trumps hold on those states could easily slip in a future election.

Maintaining his standing with both groups will test the dexterity of Trump and advisers like Bannon. In his Hollywood Reporter interview, Bannon insisted that he, and by extension his candidate, is an economic nationalist and not a white nationalist. Both Bannon and Trump have, in fact, championed economic-nationalist themes aimed at both foreign competitors and domestic elites. But the right-wing Breitbart website that Bannon formerly ran also unmistakably appealed to white racial anxieties with lurid articles hostile to immigrants, Muslims, and African Americans. Trump, starting as early as his campaign announcement speechwhen he denounced undocumented Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapistsconsistently struck more racially divisive notes than any presidential candidate since George Wallace.

Blending messages of economic and racial solidarity, Trump positioned himself in a long line of conservative populists who have pledged to defend what historian Michael Kazin called the virtuous, masculine middle of America against threats from above and below them on the income ladder. But delivering on that promise wont be easy. Even if Trump pursues aggressively protectionist trade policies, its a heavy lift to reverse generations of decline in fading industrial cities. In office, hell also confront the contradiction that while he talks tough against elites, his agenda apart from trade offers them huge corporate and personal tax cuts, and a rollback of federal environmental and consumer-protection regulations.

Recommended: 'Hail Trump!': Video of White Nationalists Cheering the President-Elect

If Trump cant deliver the economic results his supporters expect, he might try to salve them by amplifying confrontational cultural policies like his pledge to accelerate deportations of undocumented immigrants. But that would virtually ensure a backlash among white-collar white and minority voters, most of whom opposed those ideas and might not have believed Trump would actually pursue them in office.

With his blue-collar dominance, Trump impressively swept every Rustbelt swing state and charted a new Republican path to the presidency. But those working-class white voters are irreversibly declining as a share of the electorate, while the groups most dubious of TrumpMillennials, minorities, and college-educated white womenare still growing. Maximizing support from the shrinking groups, without provoking even greater resistance from the growing ones, is the puzzle looming over Bannons dream of a 50-year Trump imperium.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
On Nov 23, 2016, Zacks Investment Research downgraded DST Systems Inc. DST to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Going by the Zacks model, companies holding a Zacks Rank #5 are likely to underperform the broader market.

Why the Downgrade?

There have been frequent downward estimate revisions of late. In fact, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter went done 5% (8 cents) to $1.52 per share over the last 60 days. For fiscal 2017, two out of the three estimates were lowered over the same time frame. The Zacks Consensus Estimate went down approximately 11.1% (57 cents) to $6.21 per share.

DST Systems reported mixed third-quarter 2016 results, wherein its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missed the same. Total revenue in the third quarter came in at $386.7 million. Excluding out-of-the-pocket reimbursements, consolidated operating revenues were $365.5 million, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $384 million.

Moreover, DST Systems balance sheet appears highly leveraged. The company exited third-quarter 2016 with $180.9 million in cash and equivalents compared with $72.7 million in the previous quarter. Long-term debt (including current portion) was $428.7 million compared with $712.2 million in the previous quarter.

DST has divested its Customer Communications division to focus on financial services and health care segments. In the second quarter, the company successfully sold its North American Customer Communications division to Broadridge Financial Solutions BR for a cash consideration of $410 million. It also divested its UK Customer Communications Bristol production facilities in exchange for net pretax proceeds of approximately $16 million. The proceeds from the aforementioned divestments will facilitate the acquisition of new businesses in addition to improving flexibility to capitalize on new opportunities in health care and financial services. However, all of this depends how the company utilizes these funds to drive future growth. Furthermore, loss of revenues due to divestments has made us increasingly cautious about the stocks future performance. Notably, DSTs Customer Communications segment had contributed over 30% to its 2015 total revenue.

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The company faces stiff competition from the likes of BroadridgeFinancial Solutions BEA, Lombardi, Savvion, and TIBCO Software, which offer their premium services at more competitive prices. Some of the companys clients are in a position to develop in-house capacity to perform transaction processing, recordkeeping and output generation services. In-house facilities of these companies could increase competition, leading to lower prices and profits for DST.

Furthermore, decreasing organic revenue growth, tough competition from International Business Machines Corporation IBM and Fiserv Inc. FISV, and a high debt burden remain concerns.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

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Dubai (AFP) - Prosecutors in Dubai said they have dropped the case against a British woman who had faced possible charges of extramarital sex after accusing two compatriots of rape.

A video obtained from the mobile telephone of one of the two men provided evidence that the act "happened with the consent of the three parties," a prosecution statement said late Tuesday.

Consensual sex outside wedlock is a crime in the Muslim city state, but the prosecution said the three are free to leave.

"Following the closure of the case, all three parties involved in the case are in the process of receiving their passports and are free to leave," it said.

The woman, identified only as ZJM, had lodged a rape complaint against the two men in late October, it said. Police arrested the two men and questioned them.

Police then released all three on bail but held their passports "to facilitate proper investigations," the statement said.

British advocacy group Detained in Dubai welcomed the decision not to press charges of consensual sex outside marriage against the woman, who it said was a tourist.

"We expect that the international outrage that this case deserved, influenced authorities to drop the charges, in order to spare the UAE (United Arab Emirates) of such negative press," it said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Home to luxurious resorts and a lively nightlife, Dubai has become a popular destination for tourists, many of whom are unaware of the strict Islamic rules applied in courts.

The emirate is also home to a large foreign population. Several westerners have been in legal trouble in the past.

A Norwegian woman who reported being raped by her boss received a 16-month jail sentence in 2013 for extramarital sex, perjury and consuming alcohol without a licence after retracting her initial statement.

She was freed after receiving a special pardon from the ruler.

Two Britons were convicted of sex on the beach in 2008, while a British mother-of-two and her alleged lover were jailed for adultery after being reported by the estranged husband.
For the 2nd consecutive year Dallas based personal injury firm, Eberstein & Witherite, LLP has been named as a Top 100 Workplace in Dallas/Fort Worth; Companies were chosen based on categories that included, diversity, perks, ethics, and family friendliness

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / November 24, 2016 / The Dallas Morning News has named the law firm Eberstein & Witherite, LLP one of the winners of the Top 100 Places To Work. This is the second consecutive year that the firm has received this honor.

More than 2,000 companies applied this year, and 307 were surveyed to determine the final 100. The competition was stiff, and less than half of the companies appearing in this year's list were repeat winners from last year. The process began in March 2016, when employees were allowed to nominate their company online.

"I'm so proud that we were chosen as one of the best places to work," stated Amy Witherite, founding partner of the law firm. "We think of our team as a family, and for them to believe so much in what we do, and to draw satisfaction and pride about the services we can provide our clients is just a tremendous honor. I was amazed when we appeared on the list for the first time last year, and to repeat this year means that we are continuing to do things the right way, and that our staff recognizes our commitment to our clients."

Employees of participating companies were contacted via email and asked to measure how true 22 short statements were about their organizations, such as: "My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful." They were also asked to rate their companies based on categories such as diversity, perks, ethics, and family friendliness.

Employees of the 100 companies that made the list will attended a luncheon on November 17, where the top three companies in each category were announced. The Dallas Morning News published the winners on November 20, 2016.

http://apps.dallasnews.com/top-100/2016/companies/Eberstein_Witherite_LLP

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ABOUT

Dallas-based law firm of Eberstein & Witherite, LLP, is experienced in helping injured Texans and their families obtain compensation for damages sustained as a result of negligent individuals and large corporations. Our partners, attorneys, and legal team are committed to providing the highest quality of legal representation in the area to ensure we deliver one thing: results. At Eberstein & Witherite, LLP we excel in providing personalized service to our clients in business litigation suits, personal injury cases, and bad faith insurance claims.

Media Contact

Lucy Tiseo

Eberstein & Witherite, LLP

Phone: 800-779-6665

Email: lucy.tiseo@ewlawyers.com

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Source: http://www.dallastexaspersonalinjurylawyers.com/news/eberstein-witherite-selected-top-100-workplace-2016

SOURCE: Eberstein & Witherite, LLP via Submit Press Release 123
Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian appeals court on Thursday reduced and suspended the prison sentence of author Fatima Naoot who was convicted on charges of insulting religion, a judicial official said.

Naoot had been sentenced to three years in jail in January after she criticised in a Facebook post the slaughter of cattle and sheep for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

She had left the country and returned last month as she appealed the ruling.

Naoot told AFP she intended to also appeal against Thursday's ruling, a suspended six-month sentence.

"We will appeal it to have a final acquittal," she said.

"It is a clear signal that Egypt supports freedom of belief and expression," she added.

Earlier this month, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 82 prisoners, many of them activists, including an Islamic reform advocate sentenced to jail for criticising religious texts.

Author Ahmed Naji, sentenced to two years for sexually explicit passages in a novel, remains in prison.
By Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian bill regulating non-governmental organisations is so restrictive it effectively bans human rights work and makes it harder for charities to operate, activists and development workers say. The bill, passed by parliament last week but subject to a final vote, restricts NGO activity to developmental and social work and introduces jail terms of up to five years for non- compliance. Egyptian rights activists say they face the worst crackdown in their history under general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who they accuse of erasing freedoms won in a 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. The government had been working for years on a new law regulating NGOs, which human rights groups feared would be more restrictive than Mubarak-era rules. But the bill that was drafted and rushed through by MPs last week is more draconian than anything the government had considered, introducing oversight into the funding and work of charitable and development groups with no political links. "It is just easier for the government and for us to issue a law banning NGOs instead of beating around the bush with this bill," said Mohamed Zaree, Egypt programme director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Waly who oversees the NGO sector did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Lawmakers who drafted the bill say is necessary to protect national security. The government has long accused human rights groups of taking foreign funds to sow chaos and several are facing investigation over their funding. But charities say the bill restricts them at a time when subsidy cuts and tax increases have made it harder for Egyptians to make ends meet. TREATED "LIKE THIEVES" Charities have long played an important role in feeding, clothing and providing healthcare and education in a country where millions live on less than $2 a day. But a sharp drop in the value of the currency and reforms promised by the government to clinch a $12 billion IMF loan mean their role is more critical than ever. Marwa El Daly, whose Waqfeyat al-Maadi Community Foundation offers training and toolboxes for jobless young people, says the bill is damaging. "The more you restrict NGO work and treat workers like thieves, the less inclined people will be to do it," said Daly. "Bills like these destroy the public's trust and make it seem like the state is protecting the people from NGOs." Provisions obliging NGOs to inform authorities before collecting and spending donations will bog them down and stifle their work, NGO workers say. Under the new bill, donations exceeding 10,000 pounds ($570) must be preapproved. If no approval is granted within 60 days the request is automatically denied. Failure to inform authorities can result in jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to 1 million Egyptian pounds ($57,000). The bill also gives the government power over deciding who can establish an NGO and for what purpose. It obliges groups to stick to the "state's development plan", severely restricting the work they can do in areas the government does not consider a priority. NGO chiefs who move their group's headquarters without informing the authorities can go to jail for a year. The bill also bans domestic and foreign groups from engaging in political activities or anything that harms national security, public order, public morals or public health -- a means, say human rights groups, to stifle dissent. "DEVASTATING" CIVIL SOCIETY Talaat Abdelqawi, head of the official Federation of NGOs, said the bill is a matter of security though he would prefer to see the jail terms dropped. "We care about the security and safety of citizens and stopping infractions either from suspect funding or foreign organisations attacking the country and the regime," he said. Under the new bill, fieldwork and polls conducted without prior state approval can land researchers in jail, as can collaborating with international institutions such as the United Nations. The United Nations says the bill effectively makes civil society a branch of government. "This bill proposes perhaps the worst restrictions on fundamental freedoms in Egypt since the 2011 uprisings," UN expert Maina Kiai said in a statement. "It aims to destroy Egypt's foundation for peaceful, civic engagement at its very roots. If it becomes law, it would devastate civil society not only in the short term, but possibly for generations to come." (Additional reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva, Editing by Lin Noueihed and Dominic Evans)
By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly two in every five pregnancies among girls in El Salvador aged 10 to 12 are the result of rape and incest but the rapists nearly always go unpunished, a U.N. agency has said. Girls under 12 are four times more likely to get pregnant as a result of rape by stepfathers and relatives, mainly fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins, than girls aged 13 to 17, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a report this week. Under Salvadoran law, having sex with a child under 15 is a crime that is regarded as rape, which carries a jail sentence. But of the 1,445 reported cases of girls aged 10 to 14 who got pregnant last year, there were no convictions against perpetrators of the crime. "None of them have been prosecuted by the institutions that have to do that," said Hugo Gonzalez, UNFPA's representative in El Salvador. He said one of the reasons why few perpetrators are punished is because families are reluctant to report the crime and because some poor families see pregnant daughters as a financial burden and push them into marriage with their rapists. "Families on the one hand are confronting teen pregnancy by somehow pushing girls to get married even with the ones who perpetrated the rape..," Gonzalez told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. "On the other hand if the male who made the girl pregnant is a relative of the girl, the family doesn't open a case to protect the honor of the family instead of protecting the rights of the girl," he said. On top of suffering sexual abuse, girls who become pregnant cannot have a legal abortion, which is banned without exception in the socially conservative nation. Last month, El Salvador's ruling leftist party presented a bill to Congress to allow abortion in cases of rape or risky pregnancy, offering a glimmer of hope to girls and women who do not want to go through an unwanted pregnancy. A third of all births in the Central American nation are to teenage mothers, one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America. The study, which surveyed 424 girls who gave birth in 2012, reported that one in four girls said their first sexual experience "wasn't consensual." In most cases, girls said they were persuaded to have sex because their boyfriends told them it proved that they cared for them, and that there was no risk of getting pregnant when having sex for the first time. The study also found girls who dropped out of school were far more likely to get pregnant, with 80 percent of girls saying they left school before becoming a mother, especially those from poor families living in rural areas. CHILD MARRIAGE According to the study, teen pregnancy is both a cause and a consequence of child marriage, depending on the girl's age. Child marriage puts girls at greater risk of domestic and sexual violence and keeps them in poverty, the study said. In El Salvador, a girl can get married under 18 with a parent's permission if they are pregnant or have a child. "The study found that girls aged 15 to 17 get married first and then get pregnant, but in the case of young girls, 10 to 12, they get pregnant first and then get married," Gonzalez said. He said improving access to contraception, ensuring more boys and girls use birth control methods, and better sex education in schools are key ways to tackle teen pregnancy. (Reporting by Anastasia Moloney, editing by Ros Russell.; 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 http://news.trust.org)
Dorothy certainly isnt in Kansas anymore, and neither is she in a recognizable version of Oz.

In a new trailer for NBCs Wizard of Oz re-imagining Emerald City, Dorothy is transported to a land which seems strangely akin to Westeros, with blue-faced tribal people replacing the traditional diminutive munchkins.

The trailer shows a much darker, more action-packed version of the tale, as dark magic mixes with kingdoms locked in a bloody battle for supremacy. Sound familiar?

Also gone is the adorable terrier Toto from the original 1939 movie, and in his place is a bulky K9 police dog who looks like he could do more damage than snapping at someones heels.

True Detective actress Adria Arjona brings a more street wise, warrior-like update to Dorothy, and the trailer also appears to reveal that Dorothy discovers the new version of the Scarecrow, in this case a crucified man covered in hay played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, along the side of a road. Not exactly Ray Bolgers brainless yet lovable companion from the original movie.

The new series is inspired by L. Frank Baums Wizard of Oz tales, and was revived by NBC after the network previously passed on the project in 2014 with Do No Harm creator David Schulner at the helm.

The trailer also features Vincent DOnofrio as a Merlin-esque take on the wizard himself. Joely Richardson, Florence Kasumba, and Ana Ularu also co-star in the show, which will have a two-hour special event premiere on Friday, Jan. 6 at 9 p.m.

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In France, Marine Le Pen of the National Front says Russia is doing a better job in Syria than Europe. In Britain, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage appears on Russias state-funded RT television channel, blaming the EU for the crisis in Ukraine. And members of Italys Five Star Movement share blog articles about small-business owners suffering because of Russian sanctions.

The upstart political parties messaging fits neatly into a pro-Russian narrative that, in recent months, has led experts and politicians to see a Trojan horse link between Europes rising anti-establishment movements and Moscows disinformation campaign. Its one they say is aimed at undermining trust in democratic institutions, weakening NATO, and shifting debates in Europe to benefit Russia.

A recent study of 45 insurgent parties by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) found a majority sympathized with the Russian governments positions.

What we are seeing now is a lot of backsliding on democratic values, democratic institutions, and media freedoms across the post-socialist space, Alina Polyakova, co-author of a new Atlantic Council report on the Kremlins propaganda efforts in Western Europe, told Foreign Policy. A lot of those negative changes are being brought about by populist politicians who are often aligned with Russia.

Long an issue in Eastern and Central Europe, Western European countries are just waking up to the scope of Russian propaganda and influence as election season in Germany and France looms. It has prompted new investigations into the mechanics of Kremlin strategy and stepped-up efforts to counter fake news and promote EU democratic principles.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament passed a strongly worded resolution responding both to Russian disinformation and Islamic State propaganda. The report outlined how Russia has intensified its propaganda efforts since annexing Crimea from Ukraine and called for more funding to support media freedom and education. It was approved amid loud dissenting voices from populist members of the parliament who warned that lumping Russia into a report that also deals with Islamist terrorists is hypocritical and may goad Moscow into renewed Cold War tensions.

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A headline from Tass, Russias state-owned news agency, said the report showed liberal Europes weakness. Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in, calling the resolution an example of political degradation of democracy in the West, according to RT. From Moscows perspective, the West is engaged in its own version of information operations. Putin has often argued that Washington has sought to undermine governments in Ukraine and Georgia under the guise of democracy promotion programs.

This report is insane. It fosters hysteria against Russia and neo-McCarthyism in Europe. Its a caricature of Russia, said parliamentarian Javier Couso Permuy of Spains far-left Izquierda Unida coalition. He called for lifting sanctions and relaxing tensions with Russia.

Despite a year where Russian hacking and troll factory-generated news served as a backdrop to the U.S. election, the links between authentic political conviction of Europes populist parties and Moscows influence are far from straightforward.

Experts are quick to say its mostly impossible to track the extent to which pro-Russian positions in Europe are directly shaped by the Kremlin. It is extremely difficult to trace foreign investments that sometimes go through obscure channels and offshore accounts. Additionally, many European policy stances that could benefit Moscow genuinely stem from historical geopolitical concerns and skepticism of U.S. intervention. Theyre also the result of legitimate criticisms of European dysfunction and the EU project.

Russia has made the most out of it; benefited from it, [and] to a certain extent, is using it, said Fredrik Wesslau, the director of ECFRs Europe program. But it is not the cause of European populism.

Yet plenty of suspicious signals point to a symbiotic relationship. They include the discovery of an $11 million loan to Frances National Front that was routed through the Moscow-based First Czech-Russian Bank in 2014 and trips to the Russian capital by high-ranking deputies from anti-establishment parties like Italys Northern League and Five Star Movement.

Many experts and European officials believe Russia is mainly exploiting the same democratic conventions that protect free speech to help amplify its view. Arguments first spotted on Sputnik, notorious for trafficking in distorted information and even outright lies, increasingly end up on political blogs and filter into mainstream arguments.

You can say theres a certain zeitgeist right now, Mitchell Orenstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said at an Atlantic Council event this month. There are many people in Europe, as well as in the United States, who are certainly not being paid by the Kremlin and yet are taking pro-Russian stances on foreign policy.

The danger is not only that there are agents of influence, Orenstein said. The danger is winning the hearts and minds of quite a lot of people in Europe.

Moscows narrative, analysts say, isnt aimed only at loosening the consensus on EU sanctions against Russia over its armed intervention in Ukraine. The propaganda effort is also an attempt to muddy the waters around controversial domestic issues on the continent, such as immigration and LGBT rights, and to undermine the EU by portraying it as an unwieldy and incoherent governing body.

The target audience is precisely the people who have a certain distrust toward the elite or the established opinions, said Sijbren de Jong, a strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.

One of their most popular tactics is to consistently, whenever they do something wrong  and they very often do  to point out that the others are just as bad, de Jong said. They know we tolerate dissenting voices, whereas they dont, so they make ample use of this.

The resolution passed on Wednesday recommended that EU institutions monitor sources of financing for anti-European propaganda. It called for beefing up task force powers to highlight disinformation tactics and for asking the European Commission to provide more funding to independent media outlets. But the report itself doesnt have much teeth to implement these policies.

Even so, said Anna Fotyga, a Polish member of the European Parliament who oversaw the drafting of the report, said it was an achievement in itself to establish an official EU position and raise awareness among member states. For the first time, the EU decided to speak in a very open way in areas that were well-known but lacking in description, she told FP.

Some experts say specialized strategic communication units are the key to making sure disinformation campaigns dont get free rein to muddy up fast-breaking news narratives. The case of the false Lisa story in Germany from January is often cited as a textbook example: Mainstream news media reported allegations that a German-Russian girl had been raped by migrants in Berlin before German authorities had time to verify the information and respond. When the story was debunked, subsequent accusations of a cover-up  even fueled by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  led to large protests.

A year ago, the EU established a disinformation task force, East StratCom, that employs 11 mostly Russian speakers who scour the web for fake news and send out biweekly reviews highlighting specific distorted news stories and tactics. So far, the newsletter has 20,000 readers each week. Last week, the EU parliament voted to increase its funding.

But the impact of such initiatives remains unclear in an internet age where people cocoon themselves in information bubbles to reinforce their strongly held views. East StratCom currently doesnt have enough resources to measure public impact and can only count the number of subscribers and Twitter impressions its work generates.

It can also be tricky to calibrate a response beyond pointing out disinformation that doesnt overstep the bounds of free speech and democratic values. After all, EU politicians and experts say there is little point to fighting propaganda with propaganda or conspiracy theories with more conspiracy theories.

Its important to not fall into the trap of thinking that Russia is behind everything, and is everywhere, and is 10 feet tall, Wesslau said. The risk is that we overreact and take measures that undermine our open societies.

Latvia and its large Russian-speaking population walked the edge of the dilemma this year. The country temporarily restricted Russian media three times in 2016, citing examples of hate speech and warmongering, including TV personalities who accused Ukraine of undertaking genocide against Russians and urging viewers against negotiating with Ukraine and instead to destroy it militarily. The content was still accessible online, but Una Bergmane, a researcher at Cornell Universitys Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, said the ban was more a statement of values and less an attempt to completely shut down the flow of information.

How effective that is, we dont know yet, she added.

Other experts say pointing out false information emanating from state-sponsored outlets like Sputnik and RT is low-hanging fruit. They say the Kremlins web of influence runs much deeper and requires significant steps to increase transparency and expose individuals or groups receiving Russian money.

StratCom usually captures these very blatant kind of lies, but you have this more subtle influence through ownership, said Ruslan Stefanov, a director at the Bulgaria-based Center for the Study of Democracy. He recently released a report attempting to chart the relationship between money and Russian influence, and recommended European countries provide more transparency around media ownership and foreign investments.

Still, others are less concerned that populist foreign-policy stances are swaying voters. Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech Republics energy security ambassador-at-large, called Russian propaganda ineffective and said voters were more interested in the economy.

What they are selling is simply not something people want, he said. I mean, they spend billions of dollars on building a TV network, RT, radios, online magazines, influence  and what do they get for it?

On the other hand, underestimating the potential effects of Russian disinformation would be naive, Polyakova, the Atlantic Council co-author, said.

The EU project right now is teetering, and what Russia is doing is stirring the pot, she said. This is the time to act to reinforce democratic institutions to respond to disinformation by countering it and also investing in our own principles and values.

Ultimately, the spread of fake news and the rise of populist voices echoing Kremlin talking points are reminders for the EU to look in the mirror, said Richard Youngs of Carnegie Europe.

It is easy and necessary to criticize Russia and advocate a robust response to its disinformation, he said. But we should, I think, also state at home and understand what is so dysfunctional about our own democracies that enables such obvious lies to gain traction.

Photo credit: ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images
By Alastair Macdonald and Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Parliament President Martin Schulz is returning to German politics, raising the prospect he may challenge Angela Merkel as chancellor and prompting speculation of a reshuffle in European Union institutions. Schulz told a news conference he would not stand for re-election as speaker of the EU legislature and would instead campaign for a seat in Germany's federal parliament next year. He made no comment on suggestions he may succeed departing Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier or become the Social Democrat candidate to challenge the conservative Merkel's bid for a fourth term in September's parliamentary election. Schulz, 60, had been pushing for a third 30-month term as EU parliament president in defiance of a deal that he make way for a speaker from the center-right, the chamber's biggest group. Should the conservatives, who have formed an effective grand coalition in Brussels with Schulz's center-left, secure the presidency in January, all three main EU political bodies would be headed by the center-right -- a possibility that has raised talk of change at the European Commission and European Council. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had pressed his fellow conservatives in Parliament to let Schulz stay on in the interests of stability following Britain's vote in June to leave the bloc. He denied threatening to resign if Schulz were forced out but said on Thursday he "regretted" him leaving. Juncker, from Luxembourg, has a five-year mandate running until October 2019. Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair Brexit negotiations, has a mandate expiring in May. At an unrelated news conference, Juncker and Tusk brushed off a question about whether either of them might resign. Tusk has support among EU states for a second term, though not from his native Poland, where opponents now hold power. CONSERVATIVE AMBITIONS The conservative leader in Parliament, Manfred Weber from Merkel's Bavarian allies, said his group would choose a nominee for speaker next month. Frenchman Alain Lamassoure and Mairead McGuinness of Ireland declared their candidacies. Weber, 44, has been cited himself as Schulz's successor, a position that could raise his profile for a future career in Germany and something Schulz also used to his advantage. Weber did not, however, rule out that his group might back a "consensus candidate" from another of the mainstream, pro-EU blocs in the chamber, which include liberals and greens. That could dampen complaints of a center-right lock on institutions while, as Weber said, maintaining a centrist front against the chamber's vocal minority of euroskeptic and extremist parties. Weber's center-left counterpart said he would resist a conservative sweep of EU jobs. "A right-wing monopoly on the EU institutions would be unacceptable," said Italian Gianni Pittella. "Political balance must be ensured." Speculation that Schulz would return to German politics grew after Merkel's grand coalition with the Social Democrat SPD backed Schulz's party ally Steinmeier to take over in February as Germany's figurehead president. Senior SPD members see Schulz as the party's clear favorite to succeed Steinmeier. Whoever takes over the role will have an overflowing in-tray as the EU's powerhouse tries to unite a divided post-Brexit Union, contain an assertive Russia and forge a new relationship with Washington under incoming President Donald Trump. Opinion polls favor Merkel to win again. The SPD trails badly but could end up in a new grand coalition under her. A member of the SPD leadership said it would decide by January whether Schulz or party leader Sigmar Gabriel would be its candidate for chancellor. One poll this week showed Germans thought Schulz has a somewhat stronger chance of ousting Merkel. He ran a bookshop in his native Aachen in western Germany before entering the European Parliament in 1994. As speaker of the body since 2012, Schulz used new powers granted by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to increase the legislature's role in EU politics and has used the post to raise his profile at home. (Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier in Brussels and Holger Hansen and Michelle Martin in Berlin, editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Timothy Heritage)
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to block Turkey's attempts to join the European Union. The Parliament passed a resolution calling on the EU's executive body, the European Commission as well as the group's 28 national governments to impose a "temporary freeze" on Turkey's EU membership talks.

The vote was clear: 479 in favor, 37 against and 107 abstentions.

Although it is nonbinding, the vote sends a powerful signal to Ankara that Europe does not approve of the actions taken by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a failed coup against his government earlier this year. Erdogan has engaged in a purge of his political and ideological opponents, arresting tens of thousands of opposition politicians, journalists and others allegedly linked to Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher whose group is accused by the Turkish government of having masterminded the coup.

Read more: Why is the Film That Predicted the Turkish Coup IMDB's Worst-Rated Ever?

In the resolution, Parliament said Turkey should remain "anchored" to the EU and pledged to review its position once the "disproportionate repressive measures" in Turkey were lifted. "Turkey is an important partner of the EU," it said. "[But] Turkey is not showing this political will as the government's actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path."

The words, however, are likely to fall on deaf ears. Ahead of the vote, President Erdogan dismissed the resolution as "worthless." Since the coup attempt, Erdogan has accused the EU of siding with "terrorists" rather than supporting his country.

The EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has also said Europe should not halt accession talks with Turkey, calling the move a "lose-lose scenario." The fear is that an increasingly anti-Western Erdogan could jettison a deal struck between the EU and Turkey earlier this year to stem the flow of migrants through Turkey to Europe.

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In addition to the political and media crackdown, plans by Turkey to reintroduce the death penalty have sounded alarm bells in the EU capital of Brussels. The death penalty is banned across the European Union. If Ankara brought it back, it would most likely end all talk of EU membership for Turkey.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament also issued a report calling on the EU to do more to counter Russian "disinformation and propaganda warfare," accusing Russian-backed media outlets of undermining European democracy and supporting anti-EU and extreme-right political movements.

Parliament accused the Kremlin of funding media outlets, including English-language site Sputnik News and news network RT, spreading fake news and sponsoring Eurosceptic movements in Western Europe to "distort the truth, provoke doubt, divide the EU and its North American partners, paralyze the decision-making process, discredit the EU institutions and incite fear and uncertainty among EU citizens."

Representatives from populist groups such as France's National Front, the UK Independence Party and Italy's 5-Star movements voted against the motion.

Read more: Donald Trump's Tweet About "Best Friend" Putin Is Most Retweeted From Final Debate
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Parliament on Thursday voted to freeze membership talks with Turkey over its "disproportionate" post-coup crackdown, further escalating tensions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey immediately branded the non-binding vote "insignificant", while Erdogan had already said in his latest broadside against the European Union that the result was worthless.

Most EU states meanwhile want to keep the Turkey talks on track, but the vote by a large majority of MEPs will only add to the bad blood in the wake of the July 15 failed putsch.

Lawmakers voting in Strasbourg, France, said the parliament "strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt".

They said they remained "committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU" but said that parliament "calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey."

The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.

- 'Insignificant' -

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hit out at the EU for a "lack of vision".

"It is insignificant from our aspect," he said in a televised speech.

"The EU should understand and decide whether it wants to shape its future vision with or without Turkey".

Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said the vote was "null and void" and accused the European Parliament of jumping on the bandwagon of "far-right" parties.

"Such a resolution... only serves the objectives of the far right, Islamophobia and xenophobia," he told a news conference.

The decision hit the embattled Turkish lira -- boosted by a rate hike earlier in the day -- to leave the currency losing 1.50 percent against the dollar on the day.

A furious Erdogan said on Wednesday that "this vote has no value at all" and accused Europe of taking the side of "terror organisations".

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"It is not possible for me to even digest the message that they want to deliver," he said.

Europe's message has however been increasingly clear about its concerns over rights and democracy in Turkey, especially over the coup crackdown that has seen almost 37,000 arrested.

Turkey formally applied to become an EU member in 1987 and accession talks only began in 2005, even though Ankara's aspirations to become part of the bloc dates back to the 1960s.

- Long-stalled bid -

While the vote will have no concrete effect as all EU member states except Austria so far want to keep the accession process going, it is yet another blow to relations that seemed to be improving before the July crisis.

Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian premier who now leads the Liberal group in the EU parliament, called on the European Commission to "implement the recommendation as soon as possible".

Verhofstadt dialled up the rhetoric earlier this week when he accused Erdogan, US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin of being part of a "ring of autocrats" trying to harm the EU.

Turkey and the EU had agreed to speed up the long-stalled membership talks after both sides reached a deal in March to curb migrant flows towards the European Union.

Brussels agreed to give visa free travel for Turks once it carried out key reforms and give more aid to Turkey, in exchange for Ankara cutting the number of refugees to the Greek islands.

But the process has stalled after the failed bid by a rogue group in the army to bring down the Turkish government -- making the call for a freeze largely symbolic.

The mass arrests and job dismissals as well as measures against Turkish media in the ensuing crackdown triggered a sharp reaction from EU politicians and rights watchdogs.
By Samuel Shen and Michelle Price

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz is setting up a wholly-owned unit in Shanghai to launch hedge funds that invest abroad, three sources said, as some foreign managers prepare for China to ease curbs on overseas investments aimed at stemming capital outflows.

The unit of Allianz, the world's fourth largest money manager by assets, will then apply for a special licence that would enable it to raise funds in China directly and invest the proceeds overseas, the sources told Reuters.

Allianz is looking to tap into Chinese investors' growing demand for overseas assets, which has been accelerated by a weakening yuan. China has so far been heavily restricting capital outflows to relieve pressure on its depreciating currency.

Europe's largest insurer is planning to apply for the Qualified Domestic Limited Partnership (QDLP) programme licence. The licence allows foreign managers greater freedom to raise funds within a set quota from domestic high net-worth Chinese investors through a wholly owned fund management company.

Licensing for the QDLP scheme has been informally suspended this year as Beijing tries to stem the capital outflows, but several foreign managers are positioning themselves in the expectation the regulators will grant a new round of QDLP licenses and quotas next year, the sources added.

A spokeswoman for Allianz, which owns U.S. bond fund manager Pimco and has nearly $2.2 trillion assets under management globally, confirmed the company is in the process of setting up the wholly-owned foreign entity but declined to comment further.

The Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office, which runs the QDLP scheme, did not respond to requests for comment. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which controls Chinas capital account, said in a statement the Shanghai government was responsible for any policy adjustments to the scheme.

The sources declined to be identified as the information is not public.

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A growing number of foreign financial institutions, including Aberdeen Asset Management, U.S. hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and Vanguard, have recently set up stand-alone money-management firms in China as Beijing further deregulates the mainland fund industry.

Previously, foreign asset managers looking to distribute investment products in China had to operate through minority-owned joint ventures with domestic firms, but Beijing has been gradually loosening the reins.

Allianz already has a fund management joint venture, GTJA Allianz, but its partner, Guotai Junan Securities, said in August it was putting its 51 percent stake up for sale amid a broader restructuring.

STRONG DEMAND

Unveiled in 2012, the QDLP licence is designed to allow foreign alternative asset managers, namely hedge funds, to raise funds onshore to invest offshore. The first round of licenses was granted in 2013.

Reuters reported last year that BlackRock Inc become the first traditional asset manager to receive the QDLP licence, joining a handful of other global funds, including Man Group Plc and Och-Ziff Capital Management Group.

(http://www.reuters.com/article/us-blackrock-china-idUSKCN0PV10320150721)

QDLP funds are private, meaning data is not publicly available on assets or performance, but industry insiders said BlackRock saw strong demand for its first QDLP product, the Health Sciences Hedge Fund.

China's domestic hedge fund industry has ballooned in recent years with 7,800 private investment fund managers accounting for around $361 billion (289.43 billion pound) in assets as of September, according to the Asset Management Association of China.

Many wealthy Chinese are keen, however, to hedge their exposure to the falling yuan through offshore assets. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that the proportion of personal Chinese wealth allocated offshore will increase from the current 4.8 percent to 9.4 percent, or by 13 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in assets, by 2020.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen in SHANGHAI and Michelle Price in HONG KONG; Editing by Denny Thomas and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Heres a dream many travelers share: sailing down the longest river in the world. Of course, youd need a little help. Spanning nearly 4,345 milesroughly the distance from New York to Paristhe Amazon River is an awesome natural wonder, home to fascinating creatures like pink dolphins, piranhas, Amazonian manatees, and crocodile-like black caimans. It snakes through a total of eight South American countries, including Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (to name a few), though its largest portion can be found in Brazil.

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The Longest River in the World

At its mouth, where it spills into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon fragments into an estuary thats over 186 miles wide. Navigating the mouth alone is a challenge, as it pumps up to 300,000-square-meters of fresh water per second into the Atlantic: that's about 20 percent of all the fresh water entering the oceans across the planet.

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Until the 1990s, many believed the Nile was the worlds longest river. When a team of Brazilian scientists launched an expedition to western Peru, however, they were able to confirm a newer, more distant source of the Amazon. It officially became the world's longest river, though it's always beat the Nile in terms of volume. The Amazon River Basin constitutes the largest drainage basin of any in the world, at around 2.7 million-square-miles.

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Trekking to the source of the Amazona glacial stream high in the Andes named Nevado Mismiis possible, but it requires a good guide and plenty of stamina. Arequipa-based operator Peru Adventure Tours offers 5-day treks up from Colca Valley, where youll be driven up in a four-wheel vehicle to the 17,000-foot peak. From there, the entire valley can be seen below. Though the climate at this altitude is mostly dry and barren, one unusual highlight is the rare Llareta: an odd, alien-like flowering plant that appears as a green, blobby mass.

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Traveling the entire length of the Amazonfrom the highlands down to the Amazon basinwould be extremely difficult, even for experienced rafters, explains Roland Balarezo, a guide with Aqua Expeditions whos been traipsing the legendary river for more than 23 years.

But it would certainly be culturally rewarding. Over 350 distinct indigenous groups inhabit the territory: Along the Peruvian Amazon, the locals are called roberenos, or mestizo, says Roland. Theyre a mix between the first western people in the area and the indigenous. Very few of their indigenous ancestors are still alive, but along the journey, we meet the Ashaninkas, Shipibos, Boras, and Yaguas peoples.

Related: Where to Find the Biggest Lake in the World

Not that life on the Amazon could ever get boring. Nevertheless, Roland makes sure his travelers come home with plenty of wild experiences with which to wow their friends. We do things like wrestling anacondas and caimans, and take our guests Pirhana fishing.

Experience the Amazon Riverand get a sense of its unfathomable lengthin total luxury with a three-night river cruise on one of Aqua Expeditions' intimate, hotel-like ships.
Thanksgiving is a time when we tend to overindulge, which can sometimes come with unpleasant side effects.

Dr. Kevin Ghassemi, assistant clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, is sharing the best ways to combat any discomfort you may encounter after eating too much turkey and stuffing.

To prevent discomfort ahead of time:

Because we all know this is something that can happen from past experience, if we can try to make an effort to prevent these symptoms from coming on, thats obviously best, Ghassemi tells PEOPLE. It may not be possible, but try to have the meal more drawn out and have a little bit at a time so you dont overfill your stomach in one sitting.

If you have heartburn or reflux:

Taking an antacid can be helpful, says Ghassemi. That can either be taken pre-emptively or after-the-fact when someone starts to not feel well. The ones that I recommend are H-2 blockers: Zantac (ranitidine) or Pepcid (famotidine). People who know they get heartburn can take one just before eating, or if they didnt plan ahead or start to get symptoms, they can take an antacid and it usually works within about a half hour.

WATCH: Celebs Dish (Really!): Favorite Thanksgiving Side

If you feel bloated:

Its been shown in the medical literature that peppermint supplements can be helpful to relax the gut and may aid in digestion and reduction in bloating, Ghassemi explains. Ideally, you take it before you eat. The key is to have these medicines or supplements in your system so theyre ready to work when your system gets stressed, but you can take it afterwards. That has a gut relaxing effect and may aid in the digestion that way.

If you dont have peppermint supplements on hand (they can be purchased at most drugstores), Ghassemi says peppermint tea can also help alleviate bloating.

Peppermint tea can help  the supplement tends to be more concentrated  but Ive had many patients say that peppermint tea helps with digestion, so its not a bad idea if they dont have the pill.

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If you have indigestion:

When that happens, the best thing to do, especially between dinner and dessert, is to get up and walk around, he says. Just walking around, the muscles help to move the digestive tract a little bit more, and that helps to aid in emptying the stomach. And its good to take a breather between courses.




By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Italian confectionery group Ferrero said on Wednesday it has launched an investigation into allegations that Romanian children as young as six were making toys for its Kinder chocolate eggs. The statement came after British newspaper, The Sun, reported this week that impoverished families in Romania were working long hours for little pay to make the toys at home. The paper said it interviewed a family of five - including three children aged between six and 11 - who described being paid 20 lei ($4.70) for every 1,000 finished eggs they delivered to a factory in the northwestern town of Carei. "We are appalled and deeply concerned by the allegations of unacceptable practice in Romania," Ferrero said in a statement. "(We) have launched an immediate and thorough investigation to establish all the facts as a matter of urgency." On Tuesday, Romanian prosecutors said in an online statement they were also looking into the report. The family interviewed by The Sun said they received materials to assemble the toys by a sub-contractor for Romexa SA - one of Ferrero's suppliers. "This is the first I have heard of it but I will find out who is responsible and the factories involved will have their contracts terminated if this is found to be true," Romexa area manager Daniel Muresan told The Sun. Around 168 million children  one in 10 globally - work in supply chains around the world, including in agriculture, manufacturing and construction, according to the International Labour Organization. Ferrero said its code of conduct banned child labor and all suppliers were subject to regular independent inspections. The company confirmed it worked with Romexa and that the sub-contractor had passed a strict audit in May. (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi, Editing by Katie Nguyen.)
A fire broke out in the parking lot of a train station in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut on November 24, according to local reports. The fire was reported as tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes as fires burned across the country.

Multiple investigations have been opened to determine the cause of the fires, according to local reports.

Planes arrived from Greece and Cyprus to assist in the firefighting effort. Over a dozen emergency personnel were dispatched to handle the fire in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, while in Haifa, more than 130 people were injured, Haaretz reported.

Israeli police provided regular updates on road closures and evacuations on their Twitter page. Credit: Twitter/Israeli Police via Storyful
Paris (AFP) - French conservative frontrunner Francois Fillon said he would be a president who brought in "radical" change and accused his opponent of only wanting to tinker, in the final debate before the second round of the rightwing primary.

If Fillon beats Alain Juppe in Sunday's primary, he is widely tipped to become the next president with polls showing he would likely face and defeat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the run-off next May.

Fillon, the surprise runaway winner in the first round of the rightwing contest last weekend, underlined his intention to reform a country he said was "on the verge of revolt".

"It is true that my project is more radical and perhaps more difficult," said Fillon, whose economic ideas have been compared to those of late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Fillon, a 62-year-old former prime minister, wants to slash an eye-popping 500,000 public sector jobs over five years and scrap the 35-hour working week in a bid to kick-start the sluggish French economy.

Fillon said his opponent, the 71-year-old centrist Juppe, would not go far enough. "He doesn't really want to change things, he wants to improve certain things but I'm sure it won't be enough."

Juppe responded that cutting that many civil servants' jobs "would not be possible". He favoured "deep and credible" reforms without what he called the "brutality" of Fillon's proposals.

- 'Putin choosing candidate' -

Juppe hit home in the televised debate with a jibe at Fillon's perceived closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin knew Fillon when they were both prime ministers and the Russian president praised him Wednesday as a "great professional" and a "very principled person".

"This must be the first presidential election in which the Russian president chooses his candidate," Juppe said.

Fillon brushed off Putin's comments but said the West must work more closely with Russia at a time when relations are at their worst since the Cold War.

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"Russia is a dangerous country if we treat it as we have treated it for the last five years," Fillon said.

He said the real danger to Europe was not Russia, it was the economic threat of "the Asian continent".

Television viewers gave victory in the debate to Fillon, reflecting a poll Wednesday that showed he would win 65 percent of votes on Sunday against 35 percent for Juppe.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was eliminated in a shock result in the first round.

Juppe and Fillon, a devout Catholic, have clashed this week over the latter's attitude to abortion.

But Fillon protested Thursday he had been wrongly portrayed as a "conservative from the Middle Ages" and said he had no intention to reform abortion law even if he personally was opposed to it.

"My conscience is my business," he said.

Le Pen is currently forecast to come first or second in the first round of the election on April 23 with around 30 percent of the vote, but then fail in the run-off on May 7.

But following the wave of populism that led British voters to choose to leave the European Union and swept Donald Trump to victory in the United States, no-one is writing off the National Front (FN) leader's chances.

Fillon dismissed suggestions his conservative approach made it hard for voters to distinguish between him and Le Pen.

"I have always fought the National Front," he said, adding: "We have to prevent Madame Le Pen from reaching the second round." If she did, it would be the sign of an "ailing democracy".

Le Pen says she wants to ditch the euro and organise a referendum on France's EU membership -- a move that would put the future of European integration at stake.

A re-election bid by deeply unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande seemingly moved closer on Thursday after figures showed a slight fall in the number of unemployed in October.

Hollande has said he would only stand again if he could make a "credible" reduction in unemployment by the end of his mandate. He said the figures were proof his approach was "bearing fruit".
By Ingrid Melander and John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon was seen as the winner of a final debate with rival Alain Juppe before a vote on Sunday to determine the conservatives' candidate for next year's presidential election, an opinion poll showed on Thursday. The winner of Sunday's conservative primaries' vote will have a good chance of being elected president in May, considering the divisions on the left and opinion polls showing a majority of voters opposed to seeing the far-right in power. "Alain Juppe does not really want to change things. He's staying within the system, he just wants to improve it," Fillon said in the debate on Thursday. "My project is more radical." Fillon, 62, a social conservative who champions free-market economic policies, unexpectedly stormed to first place in the seven-strong primaries' first round last Sunday, with a strong lead on 71-year-old Juppe, who had been the favorite in opinion polls for months. Both are former prime ministers. In an online survey by Elabe pollsters of 908 people who watched Thursday's televised debate, 71 percent of conservative and center-right voters found Fillon, an admirer of late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, hardly a popular figure in France, more convincing than Juppe. Fillon was also ahead among all viewers independent of their political stripe but by a smaller margin, with 57 percent versus 41 percent for Juppe. The pollsters did not provide a margin of error. Both propose supply-side economic strategy with cuts in public spending and raising the retirement age. They differ on other major issues, both on the economic and social fronts, with Fillon proposing more public-sector job cuts, which Juppe deems unrealistic, and a longer working week. "Reform should not be a punishment but bring hope," said Juppe, who is backed by France's two main centrist parties and is relatively popular among left-wing voters after campaigning on an inclusive, "happy identity" platform. During the debate, Juppe insisted on his attachment to France's diversity. "The French social model exists, I want to consolidate it," Juppe said, referring to the country's welfare safety net. "We should not break it." (Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Peter Cooney)
PARIS (Reuters) - Police have brought to safety about 60 residents of a monks' retirement home in southwestern France where a woman was found dead but are still searching for an armed individual, a local official said on Friday. "One woman, a resident was assassinated. The security forces have evacuated the residents, about 60, who are safe and sound," the official told Reuters, adding that the search in the building was over. "The (security forces) are still working to find the suspect." (Reporting by Sophie Louet; writing by John Irish; editing by Ingrid Melander)
PARIS/STRASBOURG, France, Nov 24 (Reuters) - France will seek more information from criminal investigations into Renault and Volkswagen diesel emissions before deciding whether to ban any of their cars from sale, Environment Minister Segolene Royal said on Thursday.

Speaking to European parliamentarians in Strasbourg, the French minister also said an examination of Renault engine software was underway, with initial findings due next month.

"We will be asking the consumer fraud investigators and prosecutors to communicate any findings that will enable us to establish whether it's necessary to withdraw sales authorisations," Royal said.

Following VW's exposure for using software to cheat U.S. tests, Renault and others have attracted scrutiny for their own use of "defeat devices" that reduce the effectiveness of technology to filter toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) from exhaust.

A Renault spokesman declined to comment.

VW and Renault face French criminal probes based on suspicions outlined to prosecutors by the DGCCRF consumer fraud agency that they had broken emissions laws.

Public energy research agency IFPEN is still examining Renault engine software, Royal said. "It's underway and will be published. We'll have the first results in December."

Many carmakers including Renault, Opel and Fiat use engine software to reduce the effectiveness of their anti-NOx technology outside certain conditions and temperature ranges.

Expert opinions differ as to whether such software is legal under EU law, which allows defeat devices when deemed necessary to protect the engine.

Some national authorities including Germany have said the law is too vague to allow proper policing of defeat devices, but Royal called EU law "perfectly clear".

Royal said the French criminal probe is also looking into separate concerns over Renault's Captur mini-SUV, when asked about reports that some investigators believed its test findings indicated another type of defeat device.

"The consumer fraud directorate has alerted the prosecutor," Royal said. "So clearly we have taken action over this observation." (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels and Laurence Frost in Paris, editing by David Evans)
Zagreb (AFP) - Juan Martin del Potro leads Argentina into battle against a Croatia side led by his good friend Marin Cilic in this weekend's Davis Cup final in Zagreb.

Del Potro and his team are hoping it's a case of fifth time lucky after four previous appearances in the finals.

Croatia, who have chosen a medium-slow court at the Zagreb Arena, have won it once -- defeating Slovakia to be crowned Davis Cup champions in 2005.

Del Potro, a veteran of losing finals against Spain in 2008 and 2011, says defeating his mate and fellow former US Open winner Cilic is key if Argentina are to break their Davis Cup hoodoo.

"Marin is a good player, I've known him since 12 years old and we've had a similar career," said Del Potro, who like Cilic is 28 years old with the pair both turning professional in 2005.

"He's a very good friend of mine on the tour. He deserves to be number six in the world at the moment. He's a great player and he has a chance to win this trophy this weekend, but we will try and win as well!"

Cilic gets the 2016 edition up and running against Argentina's Federico Delbonis in the opening rubber on Friday.

Del Potro then enters the fray against experienced Croat Ivo Karlovic, who at 37 years old will become the oldest player to feature in a Davis Cup singles match since 43-year-old Australian Norman Brookes in 1920.

"I would like to be a little younger, but that is life, we all have to get old one day, it's good that I'm still here," said the towering Karlovic.

-- Spirit of 2005 --

A non-playing member of the victorious 2005 squad, Karlovic returns following concerns over the match fitness of teenage star Borna Coric.

Cilic wants to conjure up the same winning spirit that paid off for the Ivan Ljubicic-led class of 2005.

"It was a huge achievement for our team, winning in 2005," reflected Cilic.

He described it as "amazing" to make the final after their first two matches were away.

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"We hope we can continue with this good run."

Cilic is the only top 10 ranked player competing with Del Potro 32 spots below him, but the Argentine boasts eight wins from their last 10 meetings and hasn't lost to Cilic since 2011.

"I know him very, very good but it doesn't matter the matches we played before because now is different conditions for me," said Del Potro.

The injury-plagued Argentine arrives in Zagreb after an excellent comeback year that delivered silver at the Olympics and then an epic revenge defeat of his Rio conqueror Andy Murray in the Davis Cup semi-final win over holders Great Britain in Glasgow.

Argentina are expected to have vocal support among the 15,000 fans courtside in what is their fifth away date in the competition.

Argentine captain Daniel Orsanic is expecting fireworks from his players.

"We are here to live the experience, to live the tie in the moment. We will do our best. That is all we can do. We have a desire to do well, to represent well our country."

Aside from Del Potro and Delbonis, Argentina's team features Guido Pella and Leonardo Mayer.

Joining Cilic and Karlovic for the host nation are Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor.

The annual competition is named after American player and politician Dwight F Davis and was first staged in 1900, with the USA beating Great Britain.
A German court said Wednesday authorities were allowed to grant Syrian asylum-seekers a version of protection that falls shy of full asylum. The court ruled that if the person was likely to face political persecution, arrest or torture upon returning to war-torn Syria, full asylum would be granted.

The Higher Administrative Court in northern Germanys Schleswig region confirmed the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) practice of issuing second-tier asylum for refugees coming from Syria. This decision goes against several rulings made by lower courts, which usually rule in favor of refugees.

There is no evidence proving that the Syrian government would suspect that people who fled to other countries belonged to the opposition, presiding Judge Uta Strzyz reportedly said. The case involved a BAMF appeal on a previous ruling that ordered the issue of full asylum for a Syrian woman. Fleeing a country due to war isnt a reason sufficient enough for granting asylum, the court and the attorney representing BAMF said.

Bernd Mesovic, the deputy director of the human rights group Pro Asyl, criticized the courts decision. The refugee agency UNHCR has pointed out patterns of Syrians being arrested and disappearing upon their return, he said.

Nearly 113,000 refugees, which include 94,000 Syrians, were granted subsidiary protection in Germany. This second-tier asylum grants a residency permit lasting one year, which could be extended to two more years. Families of these refugees are not allowed to join them for two years.

However, full asylum allows the refugee to stay in the country for three years followed by an unlimited residence permit. Their families are also allowed to join them.

Before Wednesdays ruling, lower administrative courts have sided with refugees suing BAMF for the second-tier asylum.

After the influx of refugees arriving in Germany in 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkels coalition government amended rules that granted full asylum to refugees based on their country of origin and implemented the second asylum package. This package stems the flow of refugees from countries like Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iraq while imposing stricter rules on granting protection for asylum seekers from Syria.

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Germany, which took in nearly 900,000 refugees last year, has witnessed several acts of violence initiated by asylum seekers. Counterattacks on refugees are also on a rise. BAMF said 57,058 refugees had been granted asylum in August 2016, a sharp rise compared to 16,769 in August 2015.

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BERLIN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Germany's economic ministry has questioned a plan by the country's defence ministry to buy U.S. transport planes, proposing instead the purchase of a Brazilian aircraft that could trigger orders for German firms.

A state secretary in Germany's economic ministry, Brigitte Zypries, told lawmakers in a letter that she had made the suggestion to her counterpart at the defence ministry after a visit to an Embraer facility in Brazil.

Zypries said Embraer presented its own KC-390 transport aircraft as a "very convincing" alternative to the purchase of Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J transport planes proposed by Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, according to a copy of the letter viewed by Reuters.

Von der Leyen last month said Germany was looking at buying 4-6 of the Lockheed planes and operating them jointly with France, as a complement to a fleet of A400M transporters by Airbus.

It was not immediately clear whether the suggestion would prompt a review by the defence ministry, which has played up the benefits of sharing a fleet of transport planes with France as part of a broader push to increase European defence cooperation.

A spokesman for the defence ministry confirmed it had received the letter, but declined comment on its substance.

No comment was immediately available from Lockheed.

In the letter, first reported by Spiegel Online, Zypries said German firms would benefit more from a Brazilian purchase, citing weapons maker Rheinmetall AG as an example.

Germany's military initially planned to buy only Airbus A400M transporters to replace its aging fleet of C-160 Transall planes, which is due to be retired in 2021, but recently moved to buy some smaller planes for different tasks.

It remains unclear when Germany could sign a contract for the additional military transports.

Embraer is the world's third largest maker of commercial aircraft. Lockheed is the world's largest weapons maker.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Berlin (AFP) - The leader of the German state of Bavaria has invited Donald Trump to visit, reports said Thursday, after he urged European politicians to keep an open mind about the controversial US President-elect.

Premier Horst Seehofer, a maverick member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, wrote to Trump to congratulate him on his victory and said he would be welcome "any time" in his state capital Munich, Bavarian government sources told German news agency DPA.

Specifically, Seehofer suggested Trump could attend the city's annual international security conference in February, just weeks after his inauguration as US president on January 20, the unnamed sources added.

In contrast with many German and European officials, Seehofer warned soon after the November 8 US election against prejudging Trump too harshly.

"I would urge us to see what he actually does," Seehofer said, calling for dialogue between Germany, European partners and the United States on "shared policy".

Seehofer has frequently clashed with Merkel over her liberal border policy, which permitted the arrival of around one million asylum-seekers over the last two years.

Following Trump's election, Merkel offered the populist billionaire "close cooperation".

But she stressed that relations must be based on the "values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief".

Trump, whose paternal grandparents hailed from Germany, is expected to attend the G20 summit, which Merkel will host in Hamburg next July.
MUNICH (Reuters) - Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer has invited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to visit the southern German state, possibly as soon as February for the Munich Security Conference, a source familiar with the invitation said. Seehofer, who heads the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), extended the invitation in a letter of congratulations to Trump after his victory, said the source. The Feb. 17-19 conference, a forum for debate about international security, often draws senior officials from around the world. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. It was not immediately clear when a sitting U.S. president last participated in the event, and the security conference organizers could not immediately be reached for comment. Seehofer's CSU and Merkel's CDU, which form a bloc in the German parliament, have been at odds over Merkel's migrant policy, which saw nearly 900,000 people enter Germany last year, an issue likely to play a major role in elections in September. During the U.S. election campaign Trump called Merkel's refugee policy a "disaster" that had boosted crime rates. Statistics compiled by the German Interior Ministry showed the number of crimes reported in 2015 - excluding visa and other immigration violations - remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at 5.9 million. Seehofer told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Thursday that his party would only participate in a coalition government in 2017 that agreed to its demand for an upper limit on migration. Merkel, who on Sunday announced her decision to run for a fourth term, has rejected setting an upper limit for migration. (Reporting by Joern Poltz in Munich and Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Earlier this week, it was rumored that Samsung was planning on releasing a glossy black version of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in December. Now, it looks like consumers wont have to wait too long to see what that might look like as photos of the new color option have already leaked online.

The set of leaked photos shows the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge model in the new glossy black color. As expected, the new coat of paint on the handset looks quite similar to Apples Jet Black color option for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The photos were allegedly posted by a Samsung representative on Chinese social networking site Weibo, as per SamMobile.

Glossy Black Galaxy S7 Edge

Photo: SamMobile

Comparing it to the current onyx black Galaxy S7/S7 Edge, the glossy black versions back panel appears to be a bit darker. Based on the photos, its possible Samsung slapped on the darker tone over the glass instead of under it, as speculated by 9To5Google.

Probably the most distinct difference of the glossy black color is that the metal frame on the edges are now also coated black instead of being silver. This makes the handset look even sleeker and quite more elegant to look at.

The only question that remains unanswered is whether this new variant of the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge will be a scratch magnet. Although the jet black iPhone 7 and 7Plus look great, their glossiness just makes them a lot more prone to scratches. Its kind of disappointing that users wont be able to fully show off the glossy black color if it's inside a case.

A comparison

Photo: SamMobile

Samsung is trying to boost demand for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge by introducing new colors for the device. This is the South Korean companys way of filling the gap left by the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7 for this years holiday season.

Earlier this month, Samsung released the coral blue version of the Galaxy S7, the color that was once exclusive to the Note 7. Theres no word yet on when exactly the glossy black Galaxy S7 will be available, but it will indeed be coming to the United States.

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(Adds background on GoDaddy, HostEurope and bidders)

By Claire Ruckin

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. website domain name provider GoDaddy is in exclusive talks to buy peer Host Europe Group (HEG) as it seeks to expand in higher-margin businesses beyond the initial set-up of websites, people close to the matter said.

Arizona-based GoDaddy, the world's largest website address registrar, has branched into hosting websites itself for small businesses and consumers.

Founded in 1997, the company became well-known in the United States for its sometimes outrageous TV marketing campaigns with celebrities or during the Super Bowl and other sporting events.

A purchase of HEG would help GoDaddy accelerate its shift into the more profitable web hosting business as well as broaden its customer base in Europe.

HEG, which serves mainly small and medium-sized businesses, is one of Europe's largest independent web hosting firms and could be valued at about 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion), or over 12 times its forecast 2016 core earnings of 140 million euros, people familiar with the matter have said previously.

In 2015, HEG posted like-for-like adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 114 million euros on sales of 280 million.

In 2017, Deutsche Bank estimates GoDaddy can generate nearly $1 billion in revenue from domains, $750 million from hosting and another $325 million from selling applications to help customers run businesses on the sites set up through GoDaddy.

The U.S.-based company, backed by private equity firms KKR and Silver Lake, trumped rival bids from German Internet service provider United Internet, which had teamed up with private equity firm Warburg Pincus, and a third bid by buyout firm Centerbridge, the sources said.

Deutsche Telekom this month withdrew from the bidding process, as did Permira, which teamed with Interoute, part-owned by investor Aleph Capital.

Cinven, GoDaddy and KKR declined to comment. Silver Lake and HEG were not immediately available to comment.

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Cinven bought HEG in 2013 for 438 million pounds and expanded the business with acquisitions.

Banks, expected to include Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and RBC, are lining up debt financing to back a potential deal between the two parties, totalling around 1.5 billion euros, or 4.5 times combined EBITDA, the sources said.

If a deal is struck, the financing could be launched before the year end. A financing of this size would be welcomed by Europe's very liquid leveraged loan market, which has been eager for new paper and event-driven deals as demand has far outweighed supply so far this year.

($1 = 0.9454 euros) (Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze and Eric Auchard in Frankfurt; Editing by Christopher Mangham and Mark Potter)
LONDON (Reuters) - Independent energy supplier, Good Energy, said on Thursday it would freeze power prices this winter, following in the footsteps of big six rival SSE and putting pressure on other suppliers to do the same. British wholesale gas and electricity prices have risen about 30 and 40 percent respectively since June, along with a bounce-back in other commodities such as coal, leading to speculation that some electricity suppliers could raise prices. Good Energy said its gas and electricity prices will be frozen until March 2017. The move mirrors a pledge made by SSE earlier this month, to freeze standard prices until April 2017, and turns up the heat on "big six" rivals Iberdrola's Scottish Power, Centrica's British Gas, RWE's npower , E.ON and EDF Energy , not to up their prices this winter. Energy bills have doubled in Britain over the past decade to about 1,200 pounds ($1,640) a year, and the chancellor said earlier this week during the autumn statement, the government could intervene in the market if it believes prices are too high. David Brooks, Good Energy's Managing Director, said some fellow independent firms may not be able to absorb the recent rises in the wholesale gas and power markets. "Wholesale power prices have spiked and, unless they had the ability to forward buy their power in times when it was cheaper; it is inevitable that those loss-leading suppliers will put their prices up," he said. Fellow independent firm OVO Energy increased its prices earlier this month, due to the higher wholesale costs. Small energy suppliers have been taking customers from Britain's "big six" over the past few years, and were able to offer cheaper deals due to lower operating costs. However, their smaller size means they have less protection from rapid rises in wholesale power and gas prices, narrowing the gap in the discount they are able to offer. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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LONDON  If you like Prince Harry and you like watching baby turtles get rescued, you've come to the right place.

SEE ALSO: Prince Harry hits back at 'sexist and racist' trolling of girlfriend Meghan Markle

During his tour of the Caribbean Islands, Harry recently journeyed to a turtle nesting site on Lovers Beach, Nevis. He then proceeded to help five baby turtles, which he'd worked with local volunteers to free from the island's undergrowth, by releasing them into the sea.

Here he is rescuing the turtles.

Image: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

As Harry looks on, the turtles make their plodding progress towards the sea.

Image: PAUL EDWARDS/The Sun/PA Wire

These turtles will probably never know they once touched royalty.

Image: PAUL EDWARDS/The Sun/PA Wire

Harry was working alongside Nevis Turtle Group  a collection of volunteers who, the BBC reports, comb the beaches of the island on a regular basis in order to find out about the habits of Nevis' miniature green inhabitants.

BONUS: New Zealand's earthquake literally cracked the Earth open
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This grandmother's childhood wish came true when she finally got the chance to meet Santa Claus.

Reddit user shawnwasim shared this ridiculously cute picture of his grandmother posing with Santa at the local mall. It was her childhood wish to celebrate Christmas.

SEE ALSO: 30 gift ideas for the person in your life who knows wine is the best medicine

His grandmother was born in an area which eventually became Pakistan, shawnwasim wrote on Reddit, adding that some Christian families did celebrate the holiday, but not in a grandiose way.

"There were Christian families who celebrated Christmas there but it was pretty hidden and not nearly as festive as the ones in Christian-majority countries like the US. She told me she would always watch Christmas cartoons (the one with the mouse who stays up all night for Santa on Christmas eve but falls asleep right before Santa shows up) and movies with the trees and snowfall and dreamed about living it some day."

So he and his family took his grandmother to a mall to meet Santa for the first time and by looking at her picture, you can tell she was thrilled.

While shawnwasim mentioned he wasn't Christian, he said he understood the love for the holiday.

"I'm not even a Christian and Christmas is my favorite holiday!"

We hope his grandmother gets to fulfill every Christmas wish on her list.

BONUS: Bill Nye Explains How You Dream with Emoji
Christmas season is just round the corner and its time to start stressing over what gift to get this year. If youre looking for a gift idea for a child, then we might have the answer for you. Enter Hatchimals, a brand new toy that requires the child to care for it before it actually hatches into an interactive cuddly soft toy.

If youre frowning at your screen thinking why would this even sound like fun, then you clearly arent acquainted with Kinder Surprise. While it might have been discontinued a long time ago due to safety hazards, many kids still pine for that milk chocolate egg that envelops a hidden toy in the middle. Case in point? Kids love hidden surprises. (Trust me on this  I might not be a kid but I am certainly young at heart).

The interactive pet toy, priced at $129.99, comes packaged in an unassuming speckled egg that requires some tender loving care before the stuffed animal inside hatches and pops out from the shell.

More than just the initial surprise of hatching the egg, the soft toy that comes out require the same amount of love and care for it to grow through its three life stages. Through the interaction with the child, the toy will grow and pick up new skills such as singing, walking and games.

Draggles

Penguals

Penguals

Burtle

Burtles

Choose from five variety of soft toys  the penguin-like Penguals, the fluffly Draggles, the cuddly Bearakeets (Target exclusive) or the unique Burtles (Walmart exclusive). There is even a Owlicorns exclusive to the Toys R Us site. And if youre thinking of getting one, youd better act fast. The Toys R Us website in Singapore is taking in online pre-orders only with stock coming in only in February 2017. With accolades like Walmarts Chosen by Kids 2016 Top Toy List and Winner  2016 Parents Choice Award (UK), it is easy to understand why parents are rushing to grab them off the shelves for their kids.

Planning on stocking a Hatchimals as stocking stuffers this Christmas? Why not try putting a request on Airfrov like what some of our users did and get one of our travellers to ship it back for you!

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(body text images: Walmart)

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The post Hatchimals The New Toy On Every Kids Xmas Wishlist appeared first on Airfrov Blog.
Garessio (Italie) (AFP) - Torrential downpours caused flooding in parts of northwest Italy on Thursday, with the rains expected to continue until the weekend.

The floods forced the closure of many roads, schools and businesses in the Piedmont and Liguria regions near southeastern France, which has also been hit by heavy rain.

Italian television channels showed footage of the Tanaro river bursting its banks and cutting in two the town of Garessio in Cuneo province near the tiny Mediterranean principality of Monaco.

"We are frightened, this reminds us of the floods of 1994," Garessio mayor Sergio di Steffano told reporters.

Flooding on November 5 and 6, 1994, left 70 people dead.

No casualties have yet been reported from Thursday's storms.

"We have shut all the bridges, factories and schools. The bars and shops in the (town) centre are flooded. The main road is shut, we are cut off from the world," di Steffano said.

A leading local official from Cuneo, Giovanni Russo, called on residents to stay away from the water except in case of absolute necessity.

Schools were shut in several provinces of the area.
Heres what most people know: The pilgrims and the Native American Indians celebrated Thanksgiving today with a bounty of food. Of course, there is much more to know about the feast, which first took place in Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. Continue reading to find out more fun facts about Thanksgiving, courtesy of History.com, CNN and All Parenting.

1. Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until more than 200 years after the first one was celebrated. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb, wrote to Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It didnt become an official U.S. holiday until Congress signed it into law in 1941.

2. A baby turkey is called a fryer-roaster.

3. While Black Friday is a popular day for consumers to go shopping, its also a busy day to be a plumber. They are called to help clean up after guests who overwhelm the system, according to Roto-Rooter.

4. Not all turkeys can gobble. While the males make the traditional noise, females cackle.

5. Benjamin Franklin wanted the countrys national bird to be a turkey instead of the bald eagle. In a letter to his daughter, he said the turkey was a much more respectable bird and the eagle was of bad moral character.

6. Turkey wasnt served at Thanksgiving. Venison, oysters, l obster, hickory nuts, cabbage, goat cheese and squash were probably consumed at the first celebration.

7. Forks werent used at Thanksgiving. Instead, the pilgrims used spoons and knives.

8. It was erroneously believed that The tryptophan in turkey was responsible for Thanksgiving food comas. Instead, its eating a high calorie meal and drinking alcohol that makes people sleepy.

9. Americans eat more than 46 million turkeys each year.

10. The Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade started in 1924 with 400 employees.

11. Fifty pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving.

12. The pilgrims didnt have ovens, which means pies of any kind were not eaten the first feast.

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13. Black Friday became a renowned shopping holiday in the 1960s.

14. Nearly 90 percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

15. Turkeys cannot fly if they are farm raised.

Thanksgiving

Photo: Reuters

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"She was one of the film world's most valuable assets and most popular citizens," wrote Robert Osborne, now host of Turner Classic Movies, in his front-page 1981 story in The Hollywood Reporter on the Thanksgiving-weekend drowning death of Natalie Wood. Though only 43, Wood had been acting for nearly four decades. She was 4 when she appeared briefly in 1943's Happy Land and 7 when she made Tomorrow Is Forever with Orson Welles (who said Wood was a natural actress - "so good, she was terrifying"), and at 8 she co-starred in the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street.

As a teenager and young adult, she made Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass and Love With the Proper Stranger - all three brought her Oscar nominations. Plus, she headlined West Side Story. She even had a brief romance with Elvis Presley, about whom she said, "He can sing, but he can't do much else."

Her career had taken a major drop-off by the time she'd sailed to Catalina for a long weekend with actor-husband Robert Wagner, then 51, aboard their 60-foot yacht, The Splendor. Along for the cruise was Christopher Walken, with whom she was making the sci-fi thriller Brainstorm. What happened that night remains a mystery.

Read more: Hollywood Flashback: When Howard Hughes Dislocated Ava Gardner's Jaw

The three had been drinking. There was an argument between Wood and Wagner. One explanation is Wood fell into the harbor when attempting to secure the ship's dinghy. Her flannel nightgown, wool socks and down-filled jacket might have weighed her down. Tabloids spun theories, but after multiple investigations, the cause of death was ruled "drowning and other undetermined factors." Adding to the tragedy was her lifelong fear of water. In his memoir, director Elia Kazan revealed that Wood had confided to him that she had "a terror of water, particularly dark water, and of being helpless in it."

She left behind step-daughter Katie, then 17, and daughters Natasha, 11, and Courtney, 7, and was buried on Dec. 2, 1981, in a white coffin at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

This story first appeared in the Dec. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and if you're having a hard time figuring out what to bring to Friendsgiving or to cook for your family's upcoming feast, fret not. We've asked fashion and beauty insiders to share their favorite recipes in celebration of the upcoming holiday. Here, Brock co-founder Laura Vassar shares her family recipe for olives.

Read more: Hollywood Holidays: Chef Matthew Kenney Makes a Savory Vegan Pie for Thanksgiving Dinner

"Our family gathers in Northern California at my grandparents' home in Sonoma. They live on a ranch, so we spend the weekend horseback riding, hiking and cooking. Our most coveted family recipe is one that has been in the Wright Family (on my mother's side) for generations. My grandfather has passed along the recipe - each holiday he makes his own olives. We patiently wait for these olives every fall, and after spending Thanksgiving together, each family is lucky enough to go home with a jar," says Laura Vassar, who co-designs Brock with husband Kris Brock. The couple behind the Newport Beach, Calif.-based brand of romantic dresses and skirts, founded in 2013, most recently took home the grand prize of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.

Adds Vassar: "Papa Donny picks the most perfect olives from the olive trees in his backyard that he's planted. My grandfather has the magic touch and when he feels they are perfect, we follow his recipe and then package the jars to send to family and friends. Papa Donny's olives always remind me of home, family, love and the holidays."

Read more: Hollywood Holidays: Monique Lhuillier's Go-To Cocktail Is "Thanksgiving in a Glass"

Ingredients

Selection of olives (ideally picked fresh)

Method

Wash olives and place in pint-size jars

Create mixture of 1/2 lye and 1/2 water

Soak olives in mixture for 4 days and then taste test (soak longer if needed)

Rinse and salt to taste

Special note: The trick is to soak them slowly and for the full amount of time!

Read more: Hollywood Holidays: Celebrity Florist Eric Buterbaugh Bakes a Sweet Pumpkin Dessert for Thanksgiving
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels plan to sign a revised peace accord on Thursday but opponents complain it does not go far enough.

Nobel Peace Prize-winner President Juan Manuel Santos is championing the accord, against fierce opposition led by ex-president Alvaro Uribe.

Here are five bones of contention in the accord to end the 52-year conflict, revised after an earlier deal was narrowly rejected in a referendum last month.

- Justice -

The accord would offer special non-custodial sentences for FARC members convicted of crimes.

Opponents want tougher punishments for the worst atrocities.

- Drug trafficking -

The accord seeks to tackle the cocaine trafficking that has funded the FARC and fueled the conflict.

FARC members could be spared conviction on common drug charges if they can show they did not profit from it personally. Opponents say that grants impunity to drug traffickers.

- Compensation for victims -

Under the deal, the FARC pledge to declare all their assets and use them to compensate victims. Opponents say that does not give sufficient guarantees.

Uribe says it does not take into account the "pain" of thousands of people who were kidnapped and children who were recruited to fight.

- Political future -

The accord aims to transform the FARC into a political party.

Opponents complain it does not ban convicted FARC members from running for office before they have completed their sentences.

- Enforcement -

Santos plans to enforce the deal by having it voted on in congress, where he and his allies hold a majority.

Uribe demands the revised accord be put to another popular vote.
Hundreds of migrants started rioting at the Harmanli reception center, in southern Bulgaria, on Thursday, November 24, after a recent decision to ban its occupants from leaving the premises over health concerns.

According to Bulgarian news reports, the camps 3,000 migrants were being temporarily quarantined over fears of the spread of infectious diseases among the public.

Some 1,500 migrants attempted to break out of the camp around noon, reports said. When prevented, they set fire to car tires and began hurling stones at hundreds of police officers.

This footage was filmed by a Syrian volunteer for the Bulgarian Red Cross, who told Storyful that he was at Harmanli when the rioting erupted. Credit: Facebook/Rasheed Allawi via Storyful
Hurricane Otto is expected to make landfall in Nicaragua on Thursday as the surprisingly late-season storm brews over the Caribbean, just off Central America. Three people died in Panama due to heavy rains associated with the hurricane.

Nicaragua has closed schools and is carrying out evacuations for over 10,000 people from areas in the storms path, while Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency.

Heavy rains are expected to lash Nicaragua and Costa Rica on Thursday and Friday, possibly causing floods and landslides in their path. While people were being evacuated by plane, boat and road in low-lying coastal areas, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said the hurricane could damage the countrys coffee and agriculture sectors. Otto could also pose a threat to the coffee crops in Nicaragua, which are almost ready for harvest, causing losses to impoverished farmers in the region.

Otto could seriously jeopardize food security for small-holder farmers who rely on maize, beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods, Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for U.S.-based anti-poverty group Heifer International, said according to the Associated Press.

A landslide in Panama trapped nine people early Tuesday, of which only seven were rescued. In Panama City, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school.

The Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center reportedly said Otto was a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (85 miles per hour), moving west at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour. The storm was 100 miles north-northeast of Limon, Costa Rica, on Wednesday night.

According to Costa Ricas National Meteorological Institute, a hurricane has never  since record-keeping began  made landfall in the country.

Here are some pictures of the hurricane as it descends on Central America, and the evacuation efforts being carried out:

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Photo: REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

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Photo: REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

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Photo: Ministry of Public Security/Handout via Reuters

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Photo: Ministry of Public Security/Handout via Reuters

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Photo: Ministry of Public Security/Handout via Reuters

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Managua (AFP) - Otto was downgraded to a tropical storm but not before striking Central America at hurricane force, as an offshore earthquake also shook the region.

The storm, packing sustained winds of up to 170 kilometers (110 miles) per hour at the time, triggered alarm in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Nicaragua was caught in the middle of both events, as the hurricane plowed into its Caribbean coast while the 7.0 quake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, off its other coast.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared a national emergency to handle both potential disasters.

But hours later, there were no reports of any widespread destruction, only of fallen trees and electrical cables, and a few collapsed roofs from the storm.

El Salvador ordered residents along its Pacific shore to move inland. But it and Nicaragua soon lifted tsunami alerts they had issued as a precaution.

By nightfall, Otto had weakened to a tropical storm over northwest Costa Rica, and the National Hurricane Center said in its latest update that "the center should emerge into the eastern Pacific in the next few hours."

The Miami-based NHC said Otto's maximum sustained winds had slowed to 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour.

In Panama, eight people lost their lives during the storm in recent days, three of them directly linked, Jose Donderis, director of the national civil protection service, said Thursday at a news conference.

The other five people died through acts of negligence or risky behavior, such as not following authorities' warnings, he said.

Otto's projected path was through sparsely inhabited rural areas in southern Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica.

Satellite images showed Bluefields, Nicaragua's main Caribbean city, bearing the brunt of the hurricane, but there was almost no wind or rain.

An AFP journalist there said there was even some sunshine.

"We haven't lost any lives. Things are going well. We think that tonight (Thursday), people should be able to start going back to their homes," said a government representative in Bluefields, Lumberto Campbell.

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- High vigilance -

In San Juan de Nicaragua further south, the town closest to where Otto made landfall, there were reports of strong wind and rain, with fallen trees and electrical cables, and roofs torn off -- but no deaths or injuries.

Neighboring Costa Rica, which had been fearing its first direct hit from a hurricane since records began in 1851, also showed little damage.

The government had declared a national emergency, closed schools, sent non-essential workers home for Thursday and Friday, and evacuated around 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast.

Vigilance remained high in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, however, given the risk of mudslides in coming days from the storm's rains.

In El Salvador, following the quake, officials scrambled to evaluate the possible damage. The task was made more difficult because some telephone lines in the capital San Salvador had been cut.
Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit against a Britain-based supermarket chain called Iceland Foods to ensure that companies in the Nordic nation can use the country's name.

"Iceland Foods has aggressively pursued and won multiple cases against Icelandic companies which use 'ICELAND' in their representation or as part of their trademark, even in cases when the products and services do not compete," its foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Nordic country has taken the case to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EU-IPO) in a bid to reverse the UK company's exclusive Europe-wide trademark registration for the word mark "Iceland".

The island nation deems the word mark "exceptionally broad and ambiguous in definition, often rendering the country's firms unable to describe their products as Icelandic."

Based in Wales, Iceland Foods was not immediately available for comment but was cited by the British press in September as saying: "We are not aware that our use of the Iceland name has ever caused any confusion with Iceland the country."

Recovering from the financial crisis of 2008, which caused Iceland's banking system to collapse, the nation is concerned its companies "are unable to promote themselves across Europe in association with their place of origin."

"This untenable situation has caused harm to Icelandic businesses, especially its small and growing companies," the Icelandic foreign ministry said.

"A company or product made in Iceland or by an Icelandic company should be able to represent itself using the name of the country," it added.

Iceland said it has tried to reach an agreement with Iceland Foods without any success, prompting the country to take legal action.

The announcement came a day after Iceland's Left-Green movement on Wednesday said it had failed in its bid to form a new coalition government, three weeks after snap elections triggered by the Panama Papers scandal.
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland said on Thursday it had taken legal action against Iceland Foods Ltd over the British supermarket chain's trademark registration for the word "Iceland".

Iceland's foreign ministry said the Europe-wide registration had often left Icelandic firms unable to describe their products as Icelandic and the government had therefore asked the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EU-IPO) to invalidate it.

"Iceland Foods has aggressively pursued and won multiple cases against Icelandic companies which use "Iceland" in their representation or as part of their trademark, even in cases when the products and services do not compete," it said in a statement.

The goal is to ensure the right of Icelandic companies to use the word "Iceland" in relation to their goods and services, it added.

The ministry said the north Atlantic island state had over the past years tried unsuccessfully to resolve the situation through talks with Iceland Foods, which specialises in frozen food.

A spokeswoman at Iceland Foods said it wished the Icelandic government had recently approached it to resolve the issue amicably, and that it did not believe there was any confusion between the firm's name and the island nation.

"While we will vigorously defend Iceland Foods' established rights where there is any risk of confusion between our business and Iceland the country, we have been trading successfully for 46 years ... and do not believe that any serious confusion or conflict has ever arisen," she said.

A spokeswoman for Iceland's foreign ministry said it did not know how long the process at the EU-IPO would take.

(Reporting by Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir; Additional reporting by Costas Pitas; Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Mark Potter)
An Idaho man was arrested on several charges on November 21 after he was found in the trunk of his mothers car in Lewiston. Police dashcam footage shows the man being found in the trunk, and a subsequent struggle with a police officer.

Police pulled over a vehicle with no license plates after it left a home known to be frequented by a person with outstanding warrants, KTVB reported. Reports cited Lewiston police as saying that Officer Tom Woods was speaking to the driver, identified as Angelia Barnett-Harrell, when he heard a noise from the trunk. Woods asked Barnett-Harrell if her son, Jesse Harrell, a fugitive, was in the trunk. She confirmed he was, police said. She also told Woods, Its a toy gun, dont shoot him.

Police said Woods then called for back up, and noticed the trunk was unlatched. As he went to close it, Jesse Harrell tried to jump out, leading to a struggle between the police officer and Harrell. Officer Woods wrestled what turned out to be a replica gun from Harrells hands, and struggled on the ground with him before other police officers arrived and handcuffed the fugitive, KREM reported. Credit: Lewiston Police Department via Storyful
AMSTERDAM  When IDFA festival head Ally Derks and her team began putting this years festival together, they couldnt possibly have foreseen the way world events would shape 2016, from the U.K.s shock Brexit vote to Americas still-resonating decision to put businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump in the White House, to Europes in-fighting about immigration from Africa and the Middle East. For some filmmakers, the timing couldnt have been better  Tonislav Hristovs The Good Postman, dealing with illegal immigration in Bulgaria, began shooting over two years ago. But for most, it was still business as usual.

Two things seem to have occurred this year, one being that the festival has made new headway geographically. In terms of territories, said IDFAs head of industry Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, speaking on the last day of the Forum.

Weve always have projects from all over the world, but this year we had a very strong project  for the first time, actually  from Brazil and also a very strong project from Argentina, so there are strong Latin-American projects being brought over to the European market, which I think is exciting. Weve always a pretty good line-up of Chinese projects too. Now, this year we only had one, but it did very well. Its a very artistic project called My China, and people were really excited about that. It is, of course, our goal to highlight non-European and American projects, which weve achieved so far.

But as IDFAs head of new media Caspar Sonnen recently pointed out, the geography of documentary is changing in more abstract ways. Said van Nieuwenhuijzen: A bigger proportion of the projects at the Forum this year were cross-media/interactive projects, and so far Ive been hearing really good responses from the producers, because theyve been having very interesting meetings. In that sense, the landscape is changing, and the Forum also wants to be in the middle of all these changes within the market. So in that sense its going well. But the traditional linear projects are also going well; I mean, its not like new kinds of projects are turning up and the old ones are fading away.

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VR, formerly the preserve of DocLab, seems finally to have made the transition into the Forum this year, but van Nieuwenhuijzen is careful to stress that this is not a case of hype. Its a continuation of our goals, but weve really put more emphasis on a bigger diversity within the festival and within the industry programs. Thats always one of our main goals, and innovation is also one of those goals, hence the cross-media/interactive selection. Its just growing, and we expanded in terms of the number of projects in the Forum. The landscape is changing, and also we want to be ahead of whats happening on the documentary world. Thats why we put more emphasis on these projects, because theyre interesting and exciting. Its not a break or a big change, its a gradual change, along the lines of whats happening in the world.

Obviously, the elephant in the room at this years festival was the current political climate, not only in the U.S. but also much closer to home.

Said van Nieuwenhuijzen: Within this industry of documentary filmmaking, within the current political climate  in the U.S., but also in Europe, coming up to the European elections  we feel its important to tell these stories, and you really could feel that energy in the Forum, in the conversations.

She added: Documentary has always, of course, been a reflection of our society, but with this disruption, shall we say, the feeling that it is more important than ever to look at whats happening around us and really take care not only of what kind of films we make but who is going to see these films. So all these new outlets and platforms are extremely important to see how we can use that to reach other audiences.

In other words, although there was an underlying sense of doom and gloom, there was a larger feeling that this was a challenge rather than a setback. You can see it two ways,  said van Nieuwenhuijzen. You can stay home and put a blanket over your head, or you can say, O.K., we have to do something. But I spoke with many Americans and many of them feel Maybe empowered is not the right word, but coming into this community of people who are really thinking carefully about whats happening in the world, that was, in a way, a release.

Given whats happened this year, and in such a short space of time, does the festival already have any thoughts or preparations for next year?

Were constantly thinking about things for next year, said van Nieuwenhuijzen, but talent, innovation and diversity are always our three main priorities. And the main thing about a festival like IDFA is that its about artistic film, its about new ways of storytelling and bring those stories to big audiences, so theres not a big shift. We were really happy this year that we could program strong films with really cinematic new voices and [in terms of industry] had even more professional guests than last year. Last year, we were amazed by the numbers of people turning up  and its getting bigger every year.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday tore into his successor Narendra Modi's clampdown on the cash economy, calling it an "organized loot and legalized plunder" of the country. Singh - the architect of economic reforms that led to years of rapid growth - dubbed Modi's shock move to scrap 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes a "monumental mismanagement" that could shave at least 2 percentage points off economic growth. The so-called demonetization drive is part of a crackdown on corruption, tax evasion and militant financing, but the decision to suck out 86 percent of cash in circulation threatens to push Asia's third-largest economy into a liquidity crisis. Opposition parties led by Congress have stalled parliament, demanding a reply from Modi and compensation for the families of dozens of people reported to have died while queuing at banks to swap old money for new. Belying his reticent image, Singh launched a broadside on the Indian leader, urging him to find pragmatic ways to ease the distress caused by the cash crunch. "What has been done can erode our people's confidence in the currency and banking system," said Singh. "In fact, it's a case of organized loot and legalized plunder." Modi, citing a survey he launched via a smartphone app, says that 90 percent of people expressed their support for the ban on old banknotes. The survey was not representative but drew half a million responses. With a small stock of smaller notes available and people struggling to get hold of scarce new 500 and 2,000 rupee bills, consumers are holding back spending and businesses are suffering. Delays in replacing canceled notes and restrictions on cash withdrawals "reflect very poorly" on Modi's team, the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, Singh said. In the year to March 2017, the cash crunch is expected to pull down economic growth from last year's 7.6 percent by as much as 4.1 percentage points, brokerage Ambit Capital reckons. Moody's Investors Service on Thursday warned the persistent cash crunch could worsen asset quality at Indian banks. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Kim COghill)
By Mirwais Harooni and Qiamuddin Shams BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In the year before Qari Naib blew himself up on Nov. 12 inside a NATO base near Kabul killing four Americans, Afghan intelligence warned the U.S. military at least twice that a worker could be planning an attack, government and security officials said. The Afghan officials also said they repeatedly asked Western forces to share information about local employees at the vast Bagram air base in order to check for "suspicious people among them", but were refused. When asked about the information sharing, NATO spokesman Captain William Salvin said NATO forces "routinely partner with ANDSF (Afghan National Defence and Security Forces) on all elements of security, to include information sharing. "We maintain a strong, day-to-day working relationship with our Afghan counterparts but due to operational security we do not get into specifics about what is shared." According to Afghan authorities, the U.S. military was cooperating closely now. "After this attack, American forces have agreed to share that information about their Afghan workers with us," said Wahid Sediqqi, the governor's spokesman for Parwan province where the sprawling, heavily fortified base is located. Authorities subsequently discovered that Naib, a known Taliban militant before undergoing a government de-radicalization program, was using a fake name, Qari Enayat, at work. Many intelligence leads turn out to be false and it is not clear whether better coordination would have unearthed Naib's true intentions in time to prevent him killing two U.S. soldiers and two contractors and wounding at least 15 others, in one of the worst assaults on U.S. forces for years. But the first attack inside one of NATO's most secure bases has raised questions about Western forces' screening of local workers and about program designed to reintegrate insurgents into society. The insider attack has also further complicated operations in a country where the Afghan Taliban, al Qaeda and, more recently, a local offshoot of Islamic State, are inflicting heavy casualties and making more territory unsafe. Since the Bagram attack, the base has been in near-lockdown, with few Afghan workers now permitted inside. Only 200 of an estimated 3,000 Afghans are believed to be allowed to return to work for now, police in Bagram said. SUCCESS STORY Until Nov. 12, Naib would have been seen as a success story for Afghanistan, which has tried to turn militants away from the stubborn insurgency that is bent on toppling the government and ridding the country of foreign troops. "He was a former Taliban ... working inside the base for a long time, gained their trust, and based on that trust he carried out this attack," said Sediqqi. In early 2012, after signing up for the reintegration program, Naib enrolled in a nine-month course at the Korean Vocational Training Center inside Bagram base, learning English, computer skills and how to fix cars. Like most students at the center, Naib was offered a job straight away. After going through security checks, including finger prints and biometrics to make sure he was not involved in past crimes, Naib started working for Texas-based Fluor Corp as a car mechanic at the base, members of his family told Reuters on a recent visit to his modest home a short walk from the base. Fluor Corp. said he was hired by one of its subcontractors. "Fluor does not directly employ Afghans at Bagram," the company said. "Furthermore, screening and vetting of employees follows a process prescribed by the U.S. government. We follow this process and require our subcontractors to do the same." Naib, who was in his mid-20s, worked the night shift from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m., originally earning around 20,000 afghanis ($300) a month. In March, he received a pay rise bringing his monthly salary to 30,000, his mother, Gulalai, said. According to his family, his supervisor was "very happy" with Naib and trusted him, giving him food and drinks to take home to his parents and four siblings, whom he alone supported. On Nov. 11, the evening before the attack, Naib left the house for work at 4 p.m. as usual, and "a loud explosion" was heard the next morning, Gulalai recalled, speaking in her dead son's room. She also urged authorities to release his body so that he could be buried. U.S. and NATO officials are investigating how Naib was able to breach the base's rings of security, which include numerous checkpoints and body scanners. Afghan police have detained Naib's father and a cousin as part of their investigation into the attack. PREVIOUS SUSPECT The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility soon after the bombing, saying the assailant was one of their fighters and that they had been planning it for four months. A spokesman declined to discuss Naib's case further. It is not known why or when the soft-spoken mechanic rejoined the Taliban, or if he ever really left. Bagram base, protected by concrete barriers and barbed wire fences and home to around 14,000 coalition soldiers and contractors, has come under attack before, mainly from rockets launched by militants outside, but never from within. Five years ago, Naib had been a suspect in one of those rocket attacks, Afghan security officials said, forcing him to go into hiding for days to avoid arrest. But the authorities never found any evidence linking him to the crime, and his mother said he was innocent. "My son was an angel at heart. He was not guilty at all," Gulalai said. To clear his name and prevent future police harassment, village elders recommended that Naib join a reintegration program that promised education and jobs. Around 11,000 militants have joined such schemes, but it is unclear how many remain peaceful. A U.S. government watchdog recently said the program had not led to a "significant diminishment of the military capacity of armed opposition." The government has documented 154 participants that have returned to fighting, but officials privately say the actual number is much higher. Some Afghans remain wary of American involvement in their country, and, while opposing militant violence, see foreign troops as a part of the problem, not a solution to it. "Even if he has blown himself up, he has killed and wounded Americans," said a relative of Naib, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. "He has not hurt any Afghans." (Additional reporting and writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
I decided to ditch cabs and take the tram service to meet a friend for coffee.

It wasnt like I had hours to spend on commuting, but I felt like I was losing touch with the simple old ways of doing things. For the people of Kolkata, trams hold a special place in our hearts. Which is why when we hear the suppressed murmurs and continual mutterings about the possibility of trams disappearing from our city, there is a sadness as if some close family member just got detected with 4th stage cancer. Ok maybe Im being dramatic, but trams in Kolkata are a big part of our heritage and something we dont want to lose.

Will Kolkata give up its heritage to keep up with the developed world? Photo source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com

In a few days I am set to leave my hometown again to conquer what school principals at morning assemblies refer to as the real world aka a full time job. The thought that by the time I make it back home again, the streets that I grew up on will wind their way across my city without the cantankerous rumbling of trams makes my heart heavy. Will Calcutta really give up on its heritage and history to keep up with the developed world? As recently as 2011, tram routes in Calcutta were cut down from 54 to a mere 21. Many routes have been reduced to one-way (e.g. Belgachia to Esplanade) in lieu of increased traffic.

Trams will always hold a special place in our hearts. Photo source: tourhq.com

For now, I decided to make the most of it and put it in my memory box, to revisit and cherish when I am far away. True, the amount of time it took me to reach was exponentially longer. But the lingering thought that that might just have been my very last tram ride only made me cherish every delayed minute even more. En route, to abstain from self-imposed and premature nostalgia, I distracted myself by doing what I do best - talk.

Majhi Kaku

K.C. Majhi is a conductor who has been with the tram company for 34 years. He has been transferred back and forth between different tram depots of Calcutta over the years, serving as a bus conductor as well for 6 years. He kept me company during those slow trudging twenty minutes as we chatted, many of our words getting lost in the gurgling clamor of the trams rusty engine. It seemed like the two of us were engulfed in a quiet, almost fragile embrace of reminiscence, clutching onto the iron headrest of the seat before us tightly,

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More From 101 India: Travel & Food



Majhi kaku (uncle) could see that I wasnt there to write a scoop on him, although initially he tried to shoo me away by saying you can find everything online.

Tales and talks in trams

Tram gulo ki shotti tule debe kaku? Eta toh amader oitijjho, (Will they stop the trams uncle? This is a part of our legacy) I said.

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He replied in Bengali saying, I have been in this company for so many years. When I joined there was no such thing as a red signal. We would just have policemen stopping vehicles manually. At that time roads were reserved solely for trams. Now there are more roads on which trams arent allowed. Then in 1991 the company started buses and the number of people using trams reduced. Even till 2000, trams would draw a fairly healthy number of commuters.

How many people use trams today?

When I started working, there were so many people using trams that they would be hanging out of them. Today I actually have a seat to sit on and talk to someone the way I am to you.

Could this be my last tram ride?

Before he got up to collect money from the five passengers that evening, he said, Oitijjho toh botei. Tule dile smriti hoye jabe (It is definitely a legacy. If they stop, itll only remain a memory).

More From 101 India: How My Trip To Panchmarhi Became My Worst Solo Adventure



Two days later I was stuck in traffic on my way to the hospital to visit a friend. A ray from the headlight bounced off the glass of the rolled up window of my Uber, creating a thin long shaft of yellow in tandem with the reflection of the galumphing old tramcar lagging behind. It was almost gasping for breath in its resilient effort to keep up with the new worlds expeditious vehicles. It reminded me of those blind-man bluff sessions where grandpa would run blindfolded with his arthritic legs in his zealous attempts not to be left out from my life because of his age.

You think of Calcutta you picture trams. Photo source: akashmondal.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101India.com.

By Suman Quazi

Photographs by Suman Quazi

Cover photo credit: flickr.com
"I was never reluctant to do it, I never saw any problem. I thought she was a kind of post-feminist character. Very quietly, very sure of herself, she does what she does," Isabelle Huppert told The Hollywood Reporter during the Actress Oscar Roundtable on her title role in the film Elle. "It's not really important for me whether a character is doing the right thing or is sympathetic. She's a really amoral character, although, I think the film's not amoral, but she reacts in a way that might seem amoral."

"It was very technical, we rehearsed a lot. It wasn't difficult, I have to say." Huppert said on shooting the four rape scenes in the film. "We all know those scenes might be more difficult to watch for the spectator than to do for the actor. It was very much prepared."

More roundtables featuring actors, screenwriters, songwriters, documentarians, directors, composers and producers will continue throughout February in print and online. Tune in to new episodes of Close Up With 'The Hollywood Reporter' starting Jan. 15 on Sundance TV, and look for clips at THR.com/topic/roundtables with full episodes on THR.com after broadcast.
(MOSUL, Iraq)  The death toll from a car bombing south of Baghdad claimed by ISIS rose to 73 on Friday, including about 40 Iranian pilgrims, as Iraqi forces fought house to house to dislodge the extremist group from the northern city of Mosul in a five-week-old campaign slowed down by stiff ISIS resistance and fears of massive civilian casualties.

Iraqi police and hospital officials said 65 other people were wounded in the Thursday night attack at a gas station on a major highway near the city of Hilla, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Iraqi capital.

It was the deadliest ISIS attack in Iraq since July, when a car bomb killed about 300 in a commercial district in Baghdad.

ISIS claimed the attack in a brief statement on its Aamaq media arm, saying it was a suicide truck bomb. Earlier, Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, had put the death toll at 56.

In Mosul, where an Iraqi government campaign to retake the city began last month, fighting continued in the eastern sector on Friday, with Iraqi special forces seizing another neighborhood, Masaref, and advancing in the densely populated Zohour district, according to Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil. The offensive to capture Zohour began earlier this week, but troops are facing spirited ISIS resistance, he added.

The sound of automatic fire and the thud of mortar shells and artillery shook the citys eastern sector, east of the Tigris River, the whole day on Friday. An Associated Press team in the area said civilians fleeing the fighting continued to flow out of the inner parts of the city toward the lines of the Iraqi military. Off the back of a truck, soldiers offered them rice, potatoes and tomato sauce. In the Bakr neighborhood, civilians lined the streets. Old and young men looked on silently, while children smiled and waved to the troops.

Lt. Col. Ali Hussein of the special forces in the Bakr neighborhood said his men were approached by three ISIS drones on Friday, of which they shot down two. He showed the AP team the wreckage of one. The drones were not armed, only carrying reconnaissance cameras, he added.

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It was a big push, in two weeks theyd only sent three others against us, he said of the drones.

Hussein spoke with several of the civilians fleeing their homes, offered them water and heard local grievances from elders. He also distributed medicine and food.

Thursdays attack south of Baghdad appears to have targeted a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala.

Irans Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Thursday night as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The attack came a day after some dozen small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100  a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on ISIS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq, and which mostly targeted members of Iraqs Shiite majority.

The gas station bombing underlined the continuing ability of ISIS to stage high-profile terror attacks even as the massive Iraqi military operation is underway in Mosul, the last major urban stronghold in Iraq held by ISIS. The offensive is aided by volunteer militiamen and the U.S.-led coalition, which has mostly been pounding ISIS targets in Mosul with airstrikes.

Moreover, Thursdays ISIS bombing took place in Iraqs Shiite hinterland south of Baghdad, a region that has largely been spared the near-daily violence that has for years engulfed the capital and Sunni regions.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Karbala, where he lavishly praised the countrys security forces for protecting the pilgrims against attacks by IS.

Extremist Sunni militants, including the Islamic State group, view Shiites as heretics and routinely target Iranian pilgrims who visit Iraq by the hundreds of thousands to pay homage to major Shiite shrines in Baghdad, and also the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, south of Baghdad, and Samarra, to the north of the capital.

Shiite Iran is a major backer of the governments in Iraq and neighboring Syria in their fight against ISIS, providing military advisers and weapons.

Let the vile Rafidha (Shiites) know that what awaits them in the near future, God willing, will be more painful and bitter and that the flames of the battles in Nineveh will reach them in Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf, ISIS said in its statement. Nineveh is the northern Iraqi province where Mosul is the capital.

The Shiite observance in Karbala, called the al-Arbaeen, routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, including many Iranians who travel overland into Iraq for the occasion. Several members of Iranian civil defense staff who had been in Karbala to offer assistance to Iranian pilgrims rushed to the gas station following the bombing, helping their Iraqi counterparts collect victims bodies and aiding the wounded. Iranian civil defense personnel typically accompany pilgrims on such trips to Iraq.

___

Faraj reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
At least 80 people were killed when an explosive tank ripped through a petrol station in Shomali in south Hilla on November 24, according to reports from Iraq.

Shiite pilgrims coming from Karbala were among the victims, Shia media said. At least eight buses caught fire in the explosion, another report said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and said through its affiliated news agency, Amaq, saying that more than 200 hundred Shiite pilgrims were killed.

This video was shared by an Iraqi activist and is described as showing the aftermath of Hilla explosion. Credit: Facebook/Hidar Nashi via Storyful
By Ulf Laessing MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State has been using drones to attack Iraqi troops advancing in the northern city of Mosul, the militant group's last major urban stronghold in country, the military said on Thursday. Iraqi forces, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul in the most complex campaign in Iraq since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Troops have been fighting inside eastern Mosul since the start of the month. Army officers showed journalists several drones looking like model aircraft which they said the group had built to scout out targets or launch attacks. "These drones were found in one of the houses (retaken by the army)," Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi of Iraq's U.S.-trained Counter Terrorism Service told reporters at a military headquarters in a Mosul suburb. "Daesh uses drones for surveillance and sometimes it attaches explosives to them and uses to target commanders or headquarters," he said, using a derogatory name for Islamic State. He did not say whether the drone attacks had been successful. Another officer said the drones had a range of one-and-a-half miles. The Iraqi military estimates there are 5,000 to 6,000 insurgents in Mosul facing a 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi government units, Kurdish peshmerga and Shi'ite militias. Iraqi troops have faced fierce resistance from militants in the city who are moving around the city through tunnels, driving suicide car bombs into advancing soldiers and hitting them with sniper and mortar fire. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Pravin Char)
By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A mother and her four-year-old daughter who were separated after fleeing the threat of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ivory Coast may be reunited in Italy before Christmas after a stroke of luck allowed police to trace the woman, authorities said. The girl, identified only as Oumoh, is one of at least 20,000 unaccompanied minors who have reached Italy this year from war-torn and poverty-stricken countries mainly in Africa and the Middle East. She arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Nov. 5 after being rescued from a rickety boat by the coastguard, police said. "She was quite traumatized, and initially wouldn't speak or communicate," Marilena Cefala, the head of Lampedusa's reception center, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. Days later, another girl from Ivory Coast recognized a photo of Oumoh on Cefala's phone while playing with it, and was able to identify the child's 31-year-old mother. The girl said she met Oumoh in Tunisia while waiting to travel to Italy. After a quick Facebook search, Cefala was able to track down one of Oumoh's relatives in France to get her mother's phone number which Cefala passed on to the police. "She (the mother) cried tears of joy when I told her that her daughter was safe and alive," police inspector Maria Volpe told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. Volpe said police were now waiting for a DNA test to confirm the story, before flying Oumoh's mother who remains in Tunisia to Sicily. "I am anxious to see the mother embrace her child. I hope we can receive this present before Christmas," she said. According to Volpe, Oumoh and her mother escaped Ivory Coast after Oumoh's father demanded the child undergo the most severe form of FGM, known as infibulation, in which the external genitalia are sliced off and the vaginal opening sewn up. Upon arriving in Tunisia, Oumoh's mother entrusted the child to a friend and went back to Ivory Coast to collect some belongings. Before Oumoh's mother was able to return, her friend left for Italy with the girl, but the two got separated before arriving in the country, police said. More than 168,000 migrants have reached Italy by boat this year, exceeding 154,000 for the whole of 2015 and quickly approaching 2014's 170,000 record. Italy has borne the brunt of new arrivals since the implementation in March of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants sailing for Greece. (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi, Editing by Katie Nguyen)
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, accused of a potential conflict of interest as she helms her own brand while making frequent appearances with her president-elect father, is separating her business and personal social media accounts.

In a "letter" that appeared Tuesday on her Twitter and Instagram feeds, the businesswoman's team said that her existing @IvankaTrump accounts -- which have 2.4 million and 1.9 million followers, respectively -- will now be for "personal" use.

All information related to her clothing and jewelry brands, meanwhile, will appear on @IvankaTrumpHQ accounts.

"As a private citizen, with full awareness of her heightened visibility, she will broaden her efforts to take a stance on issues of critical importance to American women and families," the statement said.

"Our company's mission is not political -- it never was and it never will be -- however, Ivanka, personally, has an increased opportunity to advocate for women and be a positive force for change," it added.

Ivanka Trump, The Trump Organization's vice president of development and acquisitions, and her two brothers, vice presidents at the conglomerate, have been called upon to manage their father's fortune and affairs during his tenure at the White House.

She stirred controversy when images released by the Japanese government showed the 35-year-old and her husband, real-estate developer and publisher Jared Kushner, standing and chatting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he met with the president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan last week.

She also participated in a telephone conversation when Argentina's President Mauricio Macri called her father, although the head of Argentine diplomacy has assured that she and the president only exchanged pleasantries.

Donald Trump has also indicated that his son-in-law, Kushner, who is largely absent from social media, could help broker a deal to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kushner is from an Orthodox Jewish family. The businessman and investor was a close adviser to Trump during the election campaign.
It looks like things are getting serious between Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner.

The DNCE vocalist and the Game of Thrones star were spotted together at Tribecas Greenwich Hotel, according to Page Six. The two were reportedly dressed casually and were very close to each other the entire time they were together.

Rumors that the two are dating sparked when they were spotted together at a pre-MTV Europe Music Awards concert held by Kings of Leon in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Jonas and Turner were also seen together during Halloween.

A source close to the former Jonas Brothers member told Us Weekly that he really likes the actress. The two are reportedly spending a portion of the Thanksgiving weekend together.

Another source reportedly said that one of the reasons why Jonas likes Turner is because she is super independent. The source said Jonas appreciates that Turner buys him drinks, adding: Shes definitely different than the other girls he has dated.

Prior to being seen with Jonas, Turner told the Sunday Times Style magazine that she finds dating difficult because of her fame. The actress said she doesnt know if guys intentions are real.

The only relationship Ive had is with someone who was in the industry, and I think if I dated someone who wasnt, the difference would inhibit the relationship, just because youre constantly traveling, Turner said. Also, you never know if people really like you for you. Someone whos been in that situation themselves understands. I suppose you find a way to work things out.

Turners last relationship was with The Vamps member James McVey. Meanwhile, Jonas was last linked to Brazilian model Daiane Sodre. Prior to that, he dated Gigi Hadid. They were together from June to November 2015.

Turner and Jonas have yet to confirm whether they are dating.

Sophie Turner

Photo: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

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Nicki Minaj's latest pop duet "Side To Side," with Ariana Grande is currently sitting pretty at No. 4 on the Hot 100, serving as another smash beyond rap for the Queens spitter.

Scroll through her chart history, and Minaj has slapped her vocals on pop soundscapes for the likes of Justin Bieber, Jessie J and even Madonna, to name a few. While the queen of bars can also deliver sweet notes, her alliances on wax have consistently been major keys.

Here are the most notable pop tracks that Nicki Minaj laid her Pinkprint on.

Justin Bieber, "Beauty and a Beat"

Bieber recruited Minaj for his Believedancefloor anthem "Beauty and a Beat" in 2012. Produced in part by pop heavyweight Max Martin, the track is classic early '00s Biebs: super innocent, stocked with synths, and sugary sweet. Even more fun is the song's video, in which Bieber films a pool party with his phone featuring Minaj and a cast of pool dancers.

Jessie J and Ariana Grande, "Bang Bang"

In a sort-of modern spin on "Lady Marmalade" (which saw a variety of divas from Christina Aguilera to P!nk all belting their hearts out on the 2001 cover of the classic song), "Bang Bang" brought together the star power of Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Minaj. The track later turned into one of the biggest of Minaj's career, peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2014.

Madonna and M.I.A., "Give Me All Your Luvin'"

When Madonna needed a a bit of pizzaz for her twelfth album, 2012's MDNA, the pop queen turned to Minaj to give her the boost she needed. "Give Me All Your Luvin'" even made it to the Super Bowl with an epic performance alongside M.I.A. (and her controversial middle finger).

Madonna, "Bitch I'm Madonna"

Madonna and Minaj reunited for "Bitch I'm Madonna" off Madonna's 2015 album Rebel Heart. Perhaps even more notable than the track is its music video which features the likes of Chris Rock, Katy Perry, and Kanye West.

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David Guetta, "Turn Me On"

Minaj's collaboration with David Guetta is pure dance pop bliss: colorful lyrics, pulsating beats, and soaring synths. In a 2015 interview with the Shoboy and Nina radio show, Guetta admitted he is a Minaj fanboy -- likely the reason for their team-ups. "It's funny because when I discovered her, she was already big in the hip-hop scene in the U.S.," he explained. "But I didn't know her from Europe and a friend of mine from the US sent me a song and I was like, 'Wow, her voice is incredible.' I checked her video out and I was like, 'Wow! She is incredible!"

David Guetta and Flo Rida, "Where Them Girls At"

"Where Them Girls At," a single from Guetta's 2011 massive album Nothing But the Beat, saw the first collaboration for the pair. The party track later peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100.

Bebe Rexha, "No Broken Hearts"

For Bebe Rexha's debut single from her upcoming album, she recruited Minaj for an assist on the club-banger "No Broken Hearts." The song is a straightforward party anthem, especially with a chorus that repeats, "No broken hearts in the club/No tears in the club/'Cause we gon' get it poppin' tonight."

The Lonely Island, "The Creep"

Made for a Saturday Night Live digital short, The Lonely Island(composed of former SNL cast member Andy Samberg and writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer) enlisted Minaj for one of their famed pop parodies. For "The Creep," the trio tried to combine the flavor of a dance sensation with the films of John Waters. Confused? Just watch its hilarious video.

Ariana Grande, "Side To Side"

Grande and Minaj team up once again for the fun and risque number "Side to Side." Serving as the third single from Grande's latest album Dangerous Woman, the sexy track may sound innocent enough (especially after the duo's fun performances of it on the MTV Video Music Awards and recent American Music Awards) when it's really all about sex. "That whole song is about riding leading to soreness," Grande told MTV News. "Ride dick bicycle is the lyric, indeed."
NBC News reporter Katy Tur took a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday, telling the host she was not surprised at all by the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election  one during which she became a frequent target of now President-elect Donald Trump.

In the video above, Meyers asks Tur why she wasnt surprised by the results. When you saw the excitement that was there, and the enthusiasm that was (at the rallies), you just knew that every single person that went there because they liked Donald Trump was going to go to the polls and pull the lever for Donald Trump. He just had this momentum behind him. But, she clarifies, My producer and I thought maybe we had Stockholm syndrome because we kept saying No, we think hes going to win, but because the polls didnt agree with us

Tur was embedded with the campaign and was repeatedly singled out by the then candidate during rallies and online. The taunts helped spawn the oft-trending #ImWithTur hashtag and Tur is now writing a book about her 18 months on the Trump trail and his rise to the highest office in the land. (Although she says she wasnt shocked by the fact that Trump won, the title of her book is Unbelievable.)

Tur also recounts an anecdote about running into a Trump supporter/hairdresser in the ladies room of one of the rallies who generously helped get her camera-ready. A bit later, while Trump was joking about killing journalists and the entire arena began booing and cheering at the idea of us dying, says Tur, in that crowd was the woman that was curling my hair. I didnt think that was very nice.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so0MXK6hXIw&w=605&h=340]

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Kanye West will likely be spending his Thanksgiving holiday at the hospital.

PEOPLE has learned Kim Kardashian West was spotted leaving UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday evening with a bodyguard in tow, and will likely be returning Thursday morning.

West, 39, remains hospitalized to undergo treatment for sleep deprivation, according to a source close to the rapper. Though he is starting to feel more like himself, the father of two understands the importance of resting and getting help.

The insider added, They are taking it day by day. He understands that getting help at the hospital was necessary.

PEOPLE confirmed West was hospitalized for exhaustion on Monday afternoon after canceling the remaining 21-dates of his Saint Pablo tour. West was medically stable when he was taken to the hospital, an LAFD spokesman told PEOPLE.

Up until now, Kardashian West, 36, had not left her husbands bedside, even missing Monday evenings Angel Ball in New York City which would have marked her first public appearance since the life-threatening robbery in Paris on Oct. 3, when she was tied up, gagged, held at gunpoint and robbed of millions of dollars of jewelry in her No Address Hotel apartment.

She was spotted flying out of New York to head back to Los Angeles shortly following news of Kanyes hospitalization.

Of course hes getting the support that he needs right now, a source previously told PEOPLE. Family and friends are around. Kim is being amazing. As are all of his friends and team and inner circle.




* Raids widen to Lotte Group and SK Group

* Prosecutors are investigating influence-peddling

* Probe centred around confidante of President Park

* Opposition parties seeking to launch impeachment proceedings

* Investigators looking into $8 bln merger of two Samsung units (Recasts with confirmation of raids, adds opposition party on possible impeachment, background, paragraphs 1, 7-15; adds bullet points)

By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL, Nov 24 (Reuters) - South Korean investigators raided the offices of Lotte Group, SK Group and government agencies on Thursday, officials said, as part of a widening probe into alleged influence-peddling that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye.

The businesses are suspected of providing money to two foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of Park who is at the centre of a growing scandal, to win government favours in relation to duty free licenses, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Prosecutors indicted Choi and a former presidential aide on Sunday on charges of colluding with Park to pressure companies to contribute funds to the foundations at the centre of the scandal, which has rocked Park's presidency.

Spokesmen at Lotte Group and SK Group confirmed the raid without elaboration. A prosecution spokesman was not available for comment.

The finance ministry and customs service, which oversee duty free licenses, were also raided, Yonhap reported. A finance ministry official and a customs official confirmed the raid but did not provide further information.

On Wednesday, investigators carried out related searches at offices of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate and the parent of global smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Samsung is alleged to have provided 2.8 million euros ($3.1 million) to a company co-owned by Choi and her daughter to use her influence to gain backing from a state pension fund for the $8 billion merger of two Samsung Group affiliates, Samsung C&T Corp and Cheil Industries, last year.

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South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), the world's third-largest pension fund, voted in favour of the merger despite criticism that the deal helped the Samsung Group family to cement control at the expense of other shareholders.

Its backing was seen as crucial to the success of the merger and some South Korean media reports said its approval came under mysterious circumstances.

Prosecutors also raided NPS offices yesterday in a clear signal they were expanding their investigation into the corruption scandal, which has left a worrying power vacuum in South Korea.

The Democratic Party, the main opposition party with 121 seats in the 300-member parliament, said on Thursday it was working towards impeachment proceedings against Park, aiming to put a motion to a vote early next month.

An impeachment motion requires at least half of the parliament to start and needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

Opposition parties, however, must get some votes from Park's ruling party if the motion is to succeed. Most of the members of Park's party have yet to indicate their positions.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Seoul on Saturday in the fourth straight weekend of protests against Park, the biggest public demonstrations in South Korea since the 1980s.

Park, who's five-year term ends in February 2018, has resisted calls to resign but has apologized twice.

(Additiona reporting by Ju-min Park, Cynthia Kim and Jane Chung; Editing by Richard Pullin and Paul Tait)
A vote to impeach South Korea's scandal-hit president could take place as early as next week, lawmakers said Thursday.

A growing number of ruling party politicians have endorsed the opposition-led campaign to oust President Park Geun-Hye over the scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-Sil, who leveraged their mysterious ties in milking business companies for cash and peddling influence.

"We will seek to vote on the impeachment motion as early as December 2, and no later than December 9," Woo Sang-Ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

A senior ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker also said the impeachment move would be put to a parliamentary vote by December 9.

Opposition parties had been hesitant in pushing through an impeachment motion that requires two-thirds support, although they enjoy a combined working majority at the 300-seat parliament.

But the move gathered steam when former head of the ruling party Kim Moo-Sung jumped into the fray Wednesday, declaring Park must be impeached for breaching the constitution.

More than 30 Saenuri lawmakers support Park's impeachment, with 29 needed to cross party lines for the motion to be passed.

If the vote is successful it would be the first time in 12 years that South Korea's parliament has impeached a president.

Park has issued public apologies and also promised to submit herself to an expanding probe by state prosecutors, as well as a separate investigation by an independent special prosecutor to be appointed by parliament.

- 'Co-culprit' -

Prosecutors said on Sunday Park had colluded with Choi, branding the president a "co-culprit".

They said Park would be probed as a suspect, pushing to interrogate her directly -- a move which would make her the first sitting South Korean president to be quizzed by prosecutors.

Park's lawyer has dismissed the probe's findings as a "house of cards" built on "imagination and guesswork", declaring she would not submit herself to the "politically-biased" prosecutors' questioning.

Story continues

Even if the impeachment vote gets two-thirds support at parliament there is no guarantee the country's conservative Constitutional Court will approve it, even as the snowballing scandal continues to hit South Korean household names.

Prosecutors on Thursday raided the finance ministry and the headquarters of two of the country's most powerful companies.

SK and Lotte have been accused of making huge donations to foundations linked with Choi in return for lucrative state licences for duty-free businesses.

The raid came a day after prosecutors searched the headquarters of Samsung Group over allegations it had bribed Choi to win state approval for a controversial merger it sought last year.

Park faces allegations that her government offered policy favours to the firms that offered contributions to Choi's foundations.

Several heads of the country's top firms, including Samsung and Hyundai, have been interviewed by prosecutors, shedding light on the unhealthy ties between the government and conglomerates that have endured for decades.

Public anger towards Park escalated earlier this month at one of the largest -- and loudest -- anti-government protests the country had ever witnessed.
By Isabel Coles, Saif Hameed and Ulf Laessing ERBIL/BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish and Shi'ite forces near Mosul have agreed to coordinate their operations in support of a U.S-backed offensive seeking to encircle and capture Islamic State's last major urban stronghold in Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials said on Thursday. The agreement will restrict the movement of the jihadists in and out of Mosul and aid the attempts of the forces ranged against them to complete the encirclement of the city from the western side, according to the officials. It came after Iraqi Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters linked up near the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, on Wednesday in an advance that cut the militant group's supply route from the rest of the territory it holds in western Iraq and Syria. Islamic State retaliated with a massive truck bomb in Hilla, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, which are in Iraq's far north. The attack on Thursday killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian pilgrims returning from the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, according to police and medical sources. The agreement between the Iraqi Kurds and Shi'ite groups was reached at meeting between commanders of Kurdish peshmerga forces deployed in Sinjar, west of Mosul, and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organisation. Badr is the biggest component of a coalition of Shi'ite forces known as Popular Mobilisation who are assisting the U.S. backed offensive seeking Mosul's capture - regarded as a major step in dismantling Islamic State's self-styled "caliphate". "The joining of these forces greatly reduces the freedom of movement of ISIL insurgents in and out of Mosul," said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, referring to Islamic State. "They have already lost the effective ability to move in large numbers, but now this has been made more difficult for them." Mosul is already ringed to the north, south and east by Iraqi government forces and Kurdish peshmerga forces. Iraq's U.S.-trained Counter Terrorism Service breached Islamic State defenses in east Mosul at the end of October and is battling to expand its foothold in the city. THOUSANDS FLEE The offensive to take Mosul started on Oct. 17 with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. It is turning into the most complex campaign in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi military estimates there are 5,000 to 6,000 insurgents in Mosul facing a 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi government units, Kurdish peshmerga and Shi'ite militias. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, believed to have withdrawn to a remote area near the Syrian border, has told his fighters there can be no retreat. A prominent Popular Mobilisation leader, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, said on Wednesday his forces had reached a junction where Kurdish peshmerga forces were deployed in Sinjar, close to Syria. But Islamic State remains in control of the 60 km (40 mile) road between Mosul and Tal Afar, which is hindering the forces battling the jihadists from completing the encirclement of Mosul from the west. Mohandes said Popular Mobilisation units would next try to separate Mosul from Tal Afar, which lies on the route between Mosul and Raqqa, the jihadists' main city in Syria. Thousands of civilians fled Tal Afar this week as Popular Mobilisation forces close in on the town, which is mostly populated by ethnic Turkmen. The exodus is worrying humanitarian organizations as some of the civilians are heading into insurgent territory, where aid cannot be sent to them, provincial officials said on Wednesday. Those fleeing Tal Afar are Sunni Muslims, who are in a majority in Nineveh province in and around Mosul but a minority in Shi'ite-majority Iraq. Tal Afar also had a Shi'ite community, which fled in 2014 when Islamic State, an ultra-hardline Sunni group, swept through the region. Abadi tried to allay fears of ethnic and sectarian killings in Tal Afar, saying any force sent to recapture it would reflect the city's diversity. MOSUL TUNNELS Islamic State fighters in Mosul are dug in among more than a million civilians as a tactic to hamper air strikes. They are moving around the city through tunnels, driving suicide car bombs into advancing troops and hitting them with sniper and mortar fire. "We are controlling large parts of the eastern side," the commander of the Counter Terrorism Service, Talib Shaghati, told reporters in Bartella, one of the first villages taken from Islamic State in the offensive. "One of the challenges we face ... is the presence of civilians." Nearly 69,000 people are registered as displaced by the fighting, moving from villages and towns around the city to government-held areas, according to U.N. estimates. The figure does not include the thousands of people rounded up in villages around Mosul and forced to accompany Islamic State fighters to cover their retreat toward the city as human shields. It also does not include the 3,000 families which have fled Tal Afar. Earlier this month, the bodies of at least 20 people killed by Islamic State were hung up across Mosul- five crucified at a traffic junction - to warn residents against cooperating with the Iraqi military. "Mosul's residents are part of the security forces. They are cooperating with us," said Counter Terrorism Service commander Shaghati. "They give us information." (Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Giles Elgood and Pravin Char)
New York (AFP) - Christie's on Wednesday wrapped up one of its biggest auctions of Latin American art at $22.7 million, with seven Cuban painters drawing record prices as interest in the region's artists climbs.

In a two-day sale, Christie's auctioned nearly 300 lots of five major private collections. Although the total came in below the expected $30 million, it was still one of the auction house's largest takes for Latin American art.

"There were strong results for the collection of Cuban works belonging to a single owner, with active bids that earned many lots more than double the initial estimates," Virgilio Garza, Christie's Latin American art chief, said in a statement.

"This auction means that modern Cuban painting is back," he added.

Buyers from 36 countries took part in the bidding.

"Sandias" ("Watermelons") by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, an almost abstract work of explosive colors, drew the highest sale price: $2.16 million after a telephone fight between two buyers.

"The subject of Tamayo's 'Watermelons' is perhaps one of the most recurrent and most important in his work. And he is very personal, almost nostalgic about his childhood and his people, Oaxaca," Marisol Nieves, a Latin American art expert, told AFP.

Seven Cuban artists obtained record prices for their work -- six modernists and one contemporary -- including Mariano Rodriguez for "Pelea de gallos," ("Cockfight") which was sold for $1.08 million.

Most of the Cuban works came from a mysterious Cuban-American seller living in Florida who amassed an impressive collection of modern Cuban art for more than 30 years.

Other Cubans who achieved record prices for works were Esterio Segura, Fidelio Ponce de Leon, Carlos Enriquez, Rene Portocarrero, Victor Manuel and Domingo Ramos.

Two other artists broke their own records at the auction: Uruguay's Pablo Atchugarry for a marble sculpture which sold at $ 439,500, and Argentina's Guillermo Kuitca for his triptych "Deng Haag-Praha" painted on mattresses for the Biennale de Sao Paulo in 1989, which sold for $511,500.
Theres no shortage of drama when you buy or sell a home. As such, it should come as no surprise that movies are filled with real estate dealingstriumphant ones, funny ones, sketchy ones, scary ones. So how accurate are these cinematic portrayals of the profession? And are there any lessons we can glean from the big screen that would help real-life home buyers and sellers?

The answers to those questions, of course, depend on which movie youre talking about.

Heres a rundown of some of the most memorable real estate moments in movies, and the take-home lessons they offer. Grab the remote; weve got the popcorn.

American Beauty

Lesson learned: With real estate, first impressions matter.

Annette Bening nabbed an Academy Award for her portrayal of Carolyn Burnham, Americas most tightly wound Realtor who goes all out to impress home buyers. Before a showing, she strips down to her undies and cleans and vacuums a house while repeating affirmations to herself: I will sell this house today! And when potential buyers come to see it, she has an answer for every question. Fine, its just a facade, behind which her life is falling apart, but it just goes to show how much work goes into selling a house  and yourself.

How accurate is it? Agent Burnham may be in meltdown mode, but as far as her efforts to sell a house go, shes on the moneyhouses really do need to be spiffed up in order to tempt buyers to bite. Thats why home staging is so important, as is creating curb appeal. That said, feel free to skip the motivational tapes.



Revolutionary Road

Homeownership: The American dream? Not always. Paramount

Lesson learned: Homes have a history, and sometimes it can be dark. Also, the suburbs can crush your soul.

Kathy Bates plays Helen Givings, a 1950s Realtor who sells the American dreamaka a sweet house in a Connecticut burbsto young couple Frank and April Wheeler (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet). But April grows bored, depressed, and miserable, triggering a series of events that lead to her terrible death in the house. The movie ends with Givings attempting to sell the house to another young coupletaking care, of course, to not mention what had happened to the previous owners.

Story continues

How accurate is it? The accuracy of this closing scene depends on where you live. Most states require sellers to disclose major defects in a house, such as flood damage or a cracked foundation. But the law on disclosing a death on the property varies by state. Some states require sellers to fess up, while others dont. So make sure to ask your Realtor whats up before you say too littleor too much.



The Big Short

Itsy-bitsy gully, ya think? Paramount Pictures

Lesson learned: Real estate goes through highs and lows.

A gaggle of uncannily good-looking outsiders in the finance world (played by Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt) suspect that the housing market is poised to crash. So a hedge fund manager (Steve Carell) and his team travel to the heart of the boom, Florida, to assess for themselves. They pose as prospective buyers while an agent perkily drives them around an upscale housing development to check out properties. Although they see signs of distress in the many For Sale signs and abandoned homes, the agent is undeterred, explaining that the housing market was in an itsy-bitsy gully right now. Itsy-bitsy, indeed!

How accurate is it? This movie was based on the heavily reported, nonfiction best-seller by financial journalist Michael Lewis. So yeah, its real, and while this agent sorely underestimated the itsy-bitsy gully, almost everyone did, too. Realtors can make an educated guess where a market is heading, but no one knows all the answers.



The Money Pit

Lesson learned: Never underestimate the power of a good home inspection.

This classic about a real estate deal gone awry starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long vividly illustrates the point that when buying a house, if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

In the film, an agent shows a young couple a million-dollar home that they can purchase for a mere $200,000. As soon as the ink is dry on the sales contract, the house starts hilariously falling apart.

How accurate is it? Not very. No Realtor worth their salt would allow a deal like this to go down without an extensive home inspection, which would reveal the houses many flaws so the buyers would know exactly what theyre getting into. Still, home buyers should take this movie to heart and make sure to do their due diligence rather than just trusting everything will be all right, because odds are, they wont be.



Glengarry Glen Ross

Lesson learned: The real estate business can be a pressure cooker.

In this movie, written by award-winning playwright David Mamet, Alec Baldwin plays a trainer/sadist who harangues a hangdog real estate sales team (played by Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, and Ed Harris) to ABC, or always be closing.

How accurate is it? Granted, most Realtors arent taught to be that single-minded. But as many will tell you, it is a hard businesstypically one where they dont get paid until the deal is done. So let it serve as a reality check in case you occasionally dabble with the idea of becoming a real estate agent. Its no cakewalk and you wont bring home the bacon without, as Baldwin puts it, brass balls.



I Love You, Man

Lesson learned: Savvy marketing can sell the house.

Peter Klaven (played by Paul Rudd) is a mediocre L.A. Realtor who has lucked into listing Lou Ferrignos glamorously tacky Hollywood Hills home. Unfortunately, hes having a tough time finding interested buyers. Could it be fate when he runs into marketing wiz Sydney Fife (played by Jason Segal) at an open house?

How accurate is it? While some of Sydneys marketing ploys, like crazy billboards, may seem outlandish, they get the job done. Creative approaches to market a home can capture a whole lot of eyeballsweve seen Realtors wear panda suits, host over-the-top $50,000 open houses, dub homes ugly, and it all seems to have the desired effect of increasing exposure, which can only up the odds of a home sale.



Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Lesson learned: The deals never really done until closing day.

Now that the rowdy frat house that tormented them in the first movie has finally been shut down, Mac (played by Seth Rogan) and Kelly (played by Rose Byrne) decide to sell their homeand quickly get an offer. Alas, during escrowthat waiting period before both parties close the dealan even rowdier sorority moves in next door. Thats when the Realtor warns Mac and Kelly that their buyers could pull out of the deal if they find out the neighborhood is now blighted by raucous partiers.

How accurate is it? This one is spot-on: Buyers can back out at any point before closing day. But there is a consolation prize for sellers who end up getting ditched: In some cases, buyers will have to forfeit their earnest money deposit, which can be a substantial chunk of change. So its not all bad news if you have to go back to the drawing board and find a new buyer. Having Zac Efron on your side cant hurt.

The post What You Can Learn From the Most Memorable Real Estate Moments in Movies appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
UPDATE: 04:58 p.m. EST  The death toll in the China construction site accident has risen to 67, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Five people were injured and several were trapped after a work platform collapsed at a power plants cooling tower in eastern Chinas Jiangxi province Thursday morning.

Over 200 rescue personnel are at the scene helping people trapped under a pile of iron pipes and debris, the local fire department reportedly said. The $1.1 billion power plant is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Original story:

At least 40 people died and many were injured when a platform collapsed at a construction site in eastern Chinas Jiangxi province Thursday morning. Several people are believed to be still trapped in the collapsed scaffolding, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

At around 7:30 a.m. local time Thursday (06:30 p.m. EST Wednesday), a work platform at a power plants cooling tower collapsed in Fengcheng city, a local Work Safety Administration official told the Associated Press. The total number of construction workers at the massive tower at the time of the accident is still unknown and rescue operations are underway. Television footage of the construction site showed iron pipes and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the concrete cooling tower.

Such accidents are a relatively frequent occurrence at construction sites in China where three decades of swift economic growth has been marred by tragedies ranging from mining disasters to factory fires.

China vowed to improve its safety standards in wake of the Tianjin explosions a year ago which left 173 people dead. A series of explosions at a massive chemical warehouse at the port city in northern China in August 2015 was labeled the worst disaster for Chinese first responders. The blasts left over 100 first responders, including police officers and fire fighters, dead.

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CAIRO (Reuters) - At least eight members of Egypt's security forces were killed on Thursday in an attack on a checkpoint in the northern Sinai, a military spokesman said in a statement. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The statement said the military killed three of the assailants. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. There have been conflicting reports on what happened. The statement said that a car bomb and an explosive device lead to the death of eight military personal. However, other security sources said earlier that assailants fired two rocket propelled grenades at the checkpoint south of the city of al-Arish, and three pick-up trucks carrying masked men then drove by and opened fire. The militant group staging the insurgency in Sinai pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and policemen since then. In its weekly online magazine Al-Nabaa released on Thursday, Islamic State urged members to join other branches of the group active in areas like the Sinai, Libya, Yemen and West Africa if unable to reach its self-declared "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria. Islamic State had previously called on members to carry out attacks in their home countries if unable to enter Iraq or Syria because of tougher security measures in the region aimed at cutting off jihadist supply lines. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Yosry Mohammed; writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Toby Chopra)
Lillys Eli Lilly and Company LLY announced that its key pipeline candidate, solanezumab, failed to meet the primary endpoint in a phase III study (EXPEDITION3) in patients with mild Alzheimer's dementia. The drugmakers shares declined almost 11% on Wednesday following the disappointing news.

Solanezumab is an anti-amyloid beta monoclonal antibody which Lilly was co-developing with TPG-Axon Capital.

Data from the study showed that treatment with solanezumab did not result in statistically significant slowing in cognitive decline  the primary endpoint  compared to placebo. Moreover, while many secondary endpoints favored solanezumab, they had only a small magnitude of benefits.

LILLY ELI & CO Price

LILLY ELI & CO Price | LILLY ELI & CO Quote

Lilly has decided not to pursue the regulatory submissions for solanezumab for the treatment of mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. Lilly also said that it will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and Lillys other Alzheimers pipeline candidates.

We remind investors that Lilly changed the primary endpoint for the EXPEDITION3 study in Mar 2016. While the original study design included co-primary endpoints of cognition and function, the company decided to proceed with only a single primary endpoint of cognition.

This is not the first time that solanezumabhas failed to meet the primary endpoint in late-stage trials. Top-line data on solanezumab from two phase III EXPEDITION studies conducted on patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease were announced back in Aug 2012. Solanezumab failed to meet its primary endpoints in both the EXPEDITION studies.

The unfavorable results of the EXPEDITION3 study is expected to result in a fourth-quarter charge of approximately $150 million (pre tax), or approximately 9 cents per share (after tax). Lilly will provide an updated 2016 financial guidance and discuss its 2017 financial guidance next month.

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Meanwhile, Biogen Inc. BIIB is evaluating its Alzheimer's disease candidate, aducanumab, in phase III studies. Aducanumab is being evaluated in two phase III studies  ENGAGE and EMERGE  in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Shares of Biogen declined almost 4% as Lillys disappointing outcome cast a dark cloud over Alzheimers programs like aducanumab which are based on the beta amyloid hypothesis.

The Alzheimers disease market has attracted a lot of attention from several companies. However, the successful development of therapies for the treatment of Alzheimers disease is challenging and we note that several companies have failed in developing treatments for the same. In fact, Eli Lilly has faced failure before in this field. The company suffered a major setback in Aug 2010, when it had to halt the development of another phase III Alzheimers candidate semagacestat (LY450139).

Meanwhile, Pfizer PFE shelved its late-stage Alzheimers candidate, bapineuzumab IV, after it failed two phase III studies. Pfizer was developing the candidate in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson JNJ and Elan Corporation. The Alzheimers disease market represents a huge commercial potential and a successfully developed product could generate billions of dollars in sales once launched.

Lilly carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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24 Nov - While film producer Lily Monteverde has nothing against indie movies, she does hope that the Metro Manila Film Festival will change its new approach after this year.



As reported on Coconuts Manila, the Regal films producer, who spoke to the media at the press conference of her new movie "Mano Po 7: Chinoy" recently, admitted that she is sad that the movie didn't make the cut to join this year's festival.



She also expressed her concern about the decision to screen more indie than commercial movies this year, especially since the MMFF is synonymous with the Christmas season screenings.



"There is a time for indie movies, but not Christmas season. Christmas is reserved for the family," said Monteverde.



The producer explained that the MMFF is traditional for children, especially for children of the poor.



"All of these people, like [class] C, D, E, they [have] their bonuses. Once they have their bonus, they bring the whole family to the movies to watch the GP (general patronage). It's a pity, I feel so sorry for the kids. This is a family movie. But anyway, let's hope that next year, the entire system should be changed," she added.



"Mano Po 7: Chinoy" is set to be released in theatres this 14 December.



(Photo source: instagram.com/motherlilym)
The inaugural RIBA International Prize for the world's best new building has been awarded to the Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Lima, Peru, a "modern-day Machu Picchu" designed by Grafton Architects.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced in December 2015 that it had created a new international award recognizing "the most significant and inspirational building of the year." Architect Richard Rogers chaired the grand jury for this inaugural edition.

Ireland-based firm Grafton Architects is behind the new campus building for UTEC, an engineering university established to provide young Peruvians access to qualifications, opportunities and social mobility.

Located in the Barranco district of Lima, the building sits on the edge of a ravine and features a vertical structure of exposed concrete, with a succession of platforms making up the building's frame such that "teaching rooms, laboratories and offices are enclosed, inserted into and suspended from the exposed concrete structure," according to the RIBA jury.

The building was noted for its mix of open and enclosed spaces, which takes into account the region's climate and blends with the surrounding terrain.

"To its close neighbours, it is a series of landscaped terraces with clefts, overhangs and grottos, a modern-day Machu Picchu," stated the jury.

"The entire life of this vertical campus is on full display to the people of Lima."

Grafton Architects won the RIBA European Award in 2013 for the University of Limerick Medical School and are also behind the Universita Luigi Bocconi, names World Building of the Year in 2008. The firm's current projects include the new Paul Marshall Institute for the London School of Economics.
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WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp subsidiary Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co has received an interim payment of $1.28 billion for its 10th contract for F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon said.

It said in a statement the payment was to ensure there would be no major production delays while the final terms of the contract for 90 F-35 Lightning II jets up to a maximum of $7.19 billion were being finalised.

The award is a modification to a previous Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract and comes after negotiations on the ninth contract for F-35 jets concluded.

The U.S. Department of Defense will continue to negotiate the specifics of LRIP 10 to finalize the contract, a spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said.

This order includes 76 F-35A aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants and foreign military sales customers; 12 F-35B aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps and non-U.S. DoD Participants and two F-35C aircraft for the U.S. Navy.

"Once a final agreement on LRIP 10 is reached, the balance of the funding is provided. We appreciate the actions taken by the JPO to ensure delivery of F-35s," a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said.

The F-35 is the Pentagon's costliest arms program. The U.S. Defense Department expects to spend $391 billion to develop the plane and buy 2,443 of the supersonic, stealthy new warplanes, in the coming decades.

Lockheed, and its main partners including Northrop Grumman , Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems, have been developing and building F-35s for the U.S. military and 10 allies.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh and Mike Stone in Washington, Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; editing by David Clarke)
Skipper Faf du Plessis put his ball tampering controversy behind him to defy Australia's bowlers and produce his most satisfying century to put South Africa in early control of the day-night third Test in Adelaide.

Du Plessis was booed by the crowd as he walked out to bat, following a ball-tampering incident for which he was found guilty and fined, but cleared to play in the match.

But he single-handedly lifted the Proteas before declaring at 259 for nine leaving him unbeaten on 118 off 164 balls after the tourists had been struggling at 95 for four against Steve Smith's revamped team.

The Australians, with David Warner unable to open the innings because of the time he spent off the field having treatment when the declaration was made, negotiated 12 overs to be 14 without loss at the close of day one.

English-born debutant opener Matt Renshaw played watchfully for eight with Usman Khawaja on three.

It was yet another crucial knock by du Plessis at the Adelaide ground where four years ago his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 denied Australia victory to earn the Proteas a backs-to-the-wall draw.

Du Plessis scampered through for two off Josh Hazlewood to bring up his sixth Test century prompting a smattering of boos amid the applause of the 32,255 crowd.

"I was extremely motivated today. I was really driven to make a big performance and score a hundred," du Plessis said.

"To be really honest when I got to 100 I wasn't expecting to still get booed, so that was pretty disappointing."

It was a tribute to his focus and concentration as du Plessis played a chanceless innings, making him stand out in contrast to the problems experienced by his team-mates.

"My best (Test hundred). Surprisingly, technically, I was the best this whole series. I felt really good, but in the context of everything else, (it was) the best," du Plessis said.

- Cheers and jeers -

Hazlewood was the best of the Australian bowlers with four wickets for 68.

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Only opener Steve Cook provided any material support to his captain with 40 after profiting from an early reprieve.

Cook had a major let-off on four, when he was struck on the back pad by Mitchell Starc and given out leg before wicket in the day's third over.

But he was called back to the crease when replays found that Starc had over-stepped.

Cook eventually fell in the fifth over of the middle session when he sparred at Starc and nicked to Smith at second slip.

Dashing wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has scores of 84, 64 and 104 in the series, had a failure by comparison, managing just 24 off 33 balls.

Vernon Philander lost a third umpire review when 'Snicko' detected the faintest of edges off Hazlewood to Matthew Wade for four nearing the dinner break, while Kyle Abbott chipped in with a spirited 17.

Wade, recalled to the national side for dumped gloveman Peter Nevill, had five dismissals, four catches and a stumping.

Temba Bavuma failed to get a start when he edged Jackson Bird for eight and Starc recovered from his early Cook blunder to entice a thick edge from Dean Elgar to Khawaja at third slip for five.

He received ironic cheers from the home crowd when replays confirmed it was a legal delivery.

Renshaw then took his first Test catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for five off Hazlewood.

Hazlewood struck again in the over after drinks, coaxing an inside edge off JP Duminy to give Wade a catch for five.

Australia are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa said it was cancelling 830 short- and medium-haul flights on Friday, just over a quarter of its schedule, due to a strike by pilots, it said on Thursday. Pilots represented by union Vereinigung Cockpit began the walkout on Wednesday, prompting the cancellation of almost 1,800 flights in the first two days of the strike action. Friday's cancellations are for short- and medium-haul flights and will affect more than 100.000 passengers, the German airline said. Most long-haul flights will be unaffected, it added. Lufthansa board member Harry Hohmeister said demands for a 20 percent pay hike were unsustainable for the airline's future. (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Ludwig Burger)
Madonna is standing by her son after his alleged arrest and we get it

Music legend and mother of four Madonna has come out in support of her son following his alleged arrest in the U.K.

Earlier this week it was reported that Madonnas 16-year-old son, Rocco, was allegedly arrested for drug possession after being caught by police with marijuana. The event is said to have taken place in September, and comes months after a custody battle that saw Rocco move to London to live with his father, director Guy Richie.

According to a statement received to People magazine Police confirmed that Rocco had been arrested.

The arrest follows a stop and search by officers from Camden borough on Wednesday, 28 September, the statement read. [Rocco] was dealt with by way of Triage, which uses multiple strands to engage and educate young people in order to prevent re-offending.

According to British tabloid The Sun, Rocco wont receive a criminal record for the charges.

Now Madonna has given a statement of support for her son.

Speaking to The Associated Press, the star said that she was standing by her son during this family matter.

I love my son very much, she said. I will do whatever I can to give him the support that he needs, and I ask that you respect our privacy at this time.

3 heads are better than !!!  A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Aug 25, 2016 at 8:33pm PDT

Madonna, who was recently pictured filming the popular Carpool Karaoke segment with James Corden, reached a custody deal with her ex-partner Guy Richie earlier this year after taking the matter to the High Courts on both sides of the Atlantic. The pair agreed that Rocco could remain living in the U.K. with his father.

We Need! A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Apr 29, 2016 at 11:25am PDT

Despite being a huge megastar, Madonna has proven that she is a mother first and foremost. There is always going to be press scrutiny and interest in her life and, as a result, the lives of her children. We think its amazing to see her stick by her family and were sending all our best to her and her family at this time.

The post Madonna is standing by her son after his alleged arrest and we get it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix series Making a Murderer, has something to give thanks for this Thanksgiving after a judge on Wednesday ordered new testing of evidence for his case.

Averys lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, said an agreement to start independent scientific testing on critical pieces of evidence was signed, according to CBS News.

The agreement comes nearly three months after Zellner pledged she had a plan to overturn his 2007 conviction.

Avery was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the 2005 death of photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.

Among the evidence to be tested, Averys blood sample will be included.

Zellner said she feels encouraged that the attorney generals office was helpful in expediting these tests.

Earlier this month, a judge granted the release of Brendan Dassey, Averys nephew, who was convicted in 2007 of helping his uncle allegedly rape, kill and mutilate Halbach. He was a 16-year-old high school sophomore when he received a life sentence in prison. Dassey remains in prison after a federal appeals court blocked his release.

Dassey confessed to police but later recanted, while Avery has long stood by his innocence. Making a Murderer shed light on the crime they were both convicted of, but questioned, among other things, the testing of evidence linking Avery to Halbachs murder.

Avery was previously convicted of rape and served 18 years in prison before being exonerated after DNA testing proved his innocence.




Steven Avery has at least one thing to be grateful for as he heads into Thanksgiving.

A judge has ordered new testing of the evidence used to convict him in the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach, the Appleton, Wisconsin, Post-Crescent reports.

The order comes after Averys attorney, Kathleen Zellner, filed a motion seeking new DNA tests in the case. Zellners motion, filed in August, sought testing for scientific evidence that the attorney said didnt exist during Averys trial.

Also Read: 'Making a Murderer' Subject Brendan Dassey to Remain in Prison, Judge Orders

Zellner also asserted in the filing that Mr. Avery has already completed a series of tests that will conclusively establish his innocence.

According to the Post-Crescent, most of the evidence that will undergo new testing relates to Halbachs RAV4, which was found along the outskirts of the Avery Salvage Yard days after her disappearance. The evidence includes blood flakes from the floor of the vehicle, bloodstains from the drivers and passengers seats, a swab from the cars ignition area, and a bloodstain swab from the rear passenger door.

Judge just entered order for scientific testing to proceed. Steven Avery says it will be a Happy Thanksgiving after all. #MakingAMurderer  Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) November 23, 2016

Zellner tweeted about the order on Wednesday, writing, Judge just entered order for scientific testing to proceed. Steven Avery says it will be a Happy Thanksgiving after all.'

Avery became a topic of national conversation late last year, when the Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer premiered and threw his guilt into doubt for many viewers.

Also Read: 'Making a Murderer': Steven Avery Pens Prison Letter, Says 'Everything Is Going Good'

Story continues

While Avery received good news on Wednesday, his nephew Brendan Dassey  also convicted in Halbachs 2005 death, and featured on Making a Murderer  was not so fortunate.

After a judge overturned Dasseys conviction and ordered him to be released, a different judge ordered that he remain behind bars, granting Attorney General Brad Schimels emergency motion for a stay of Dasseys release.

The ruling, issued last week, ordered that Dassey remain in prison pending the outcome of the attorney generals appeal.

Related stories from TheWrap:

'Making a Murderer' Subject Brendan Dassey to Remain in Prison, Judge Orders

'Making a Murderer': Steven Avery Pens Prison Letter, Says 'Everything Is Going Good'

'Making a Murderer': 26 Updates Since the Series' Debut (Photos)
24 Nov - Actress Mariel Rodriguez has recently shared the first photo of her newborn baby Maria Isabella in celebration of Robin Padilla's 47th birthday on 23 November.



The actress, who is currently recuperating in the United States without her husband, published a photo of the baby, and wrote, "Dearest [daddy Robin Padilla], Happy happy birthday. I can't wait to meet you dad!"



"[Mum] says all these wonderful things about you, how much of a hero you truly are, how generous, kind, loving and compassionate you are. If I inherit a few of your traits that already makes me one blessed girl," the actress added.



Padilla later reposted the message to his own Instagram account, and wrote, "This is the greatest gift you have given me so far, so I will repost this."



Rodriguez gave birth to her first daughter and Padilla's seventh on 14 November. The actor, who couldn't be there due to visa problem stemming from his previous conviction, was later granted the executive clemency by President Rodrigo Duterte.



He vowed to use this advantage to expedite the process of getting his US visa to see his wife and newborn baby.



(Photo source: instagram.com/marieltpadilla)
SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle Mariners finally landed the established shortstop they've long been trying to find.

To do it, they had to part with a talented young pitcher who still has the potential to blossom.

Seattle and Arizona pulled off a five-player trade Wednesday night, with the Mariners acquiring speedy infielder Jean Segura and the Diamondbacks getting right-hander Taijuan Walker as the centerpieces of the deal.

Segura immediately projects as Seattle's leadoff hitter and starting shortstop, solidifying an infield that already includes All-Star sluggers Kyle Seager at third base and Robinson Cano at second. But getting Segura meant the Mariners had to give up on the inconsistent Walker, a power arm who has showed occasional flashes of brilliance.

''It's hard anytime you give up talent like Taijuan,'' Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said. ''Frankly, you have to give to get ... and Segura fit this club.''

Arizona also obtained shortstop Ketel Marte, while Seattle received outfielder Mitch Haniger and left-hander Zac Curtis.

The addition of Walker could help a dreadful Arizona pitching staff that posted a 5.09 ERA last season, tied with Minnesota for worst in the majors. He joins a rotation that includes ace Zack Greinke, Shelby Miller, Patrick Corbin and Archie Bradley.

The Diamondbacks finished 69-93 last season, fourth in the NL West.

A touted prospect, the 24-year-old Walker went 8-11 with a 4.22 ERA and 119 strikeouts in 25 starts for Seattle last season. He would be outstanding one game and then struggle the next.

''Young, controllable pitching is hard to find, and adding Taijuan to the rotation gives us significant depth in that area,'' new Arizona general manager Mike Hazen said.

Segura, an All-Star in 2013 with Milwaukee, is an immediate upgrade at shortstop for Seattle, which went 86-76 last season and finished three games out of a playoff spot. He hit .319 with 20 home runs, 33 stolen bases and 63 RBIs for the Diamondbacks, who acquired him from the Brewers in a January trade.

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Segura spent most of last season at second base for the Diamondbacks, but will move back to shortstop with the Mariners.

''This trade made more sense for where our roster is, and Jean Segura fit this club about as well as any player we were looking at,'' Dipoto said.

Going into the offseason, Seattle thought its starting pitching depth was enviable. Now the Mariners will need to find supplemental arms after dealing Walker.

''Most of our focus, if not our primary focus, from now until opening day is going to be left toward the pitching staff,'' Dipoto said.

That might not be so easy for Seattle. Hazen said the thin market for pitchers was one of the reasons the Diamondbacks made the trade for Walker.

''We felt this was the opportunity we were going to have to take due to the market,'' Hazen explained.

Whether it turns out to be a successful trade could ultimately depend on how Marte and Haniger develop.

Marte had many of the same problems with inconsistency as Walker, but also became a liability in the field. Marte hit .259 in 119 games last season, but hitting was secondary to being solid in the field. At times Marte was excellent, but too many routine plays were not made. He finished with 21 errors.

Still, the Diamondbacks were struck by his athleticism and the fact that 2016 was his first full season in the majors at one position.

''Our scouts loved his ability and athleticism in the middle of the field,'' Hazen said. ''We think he adds a lot to the middle of our infield.''

Haniger, who turns 26 next month, hasn't gotten much of a chance to prove himself at the major league level, but Dipoto believes he can play all three outfield positions. Haniger was the Diamondbacks' minor league player of the year after hitting .321 with 25 homers and 94 RBIs between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno. He made his major league debut on Aug. 16 against the New York Mets and appeared in 34 games, hitting .229 with five homes and 17 RBIs.

''We feel like Mitch, like so many of the guys we have acquired dating back to last year, there is not much left for him to do in the minor leagues,'' Dipoto said. ''We really like our depth and potential for impact and feel good with where we are with our outfield.''
There's this perception that I was sitting at home in a depression," says 54-year-old playwright/filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan. "I probably was. But I was also sitting at home in a depression when I was 25 years old. I'm always sitting at home in a depression."

This particular depression was in 2011, and Lonergan indeed was sitting at home when Matt Damon paid a visit and offered him a writing job. At the time, Lonergan was in the midst of a pitched legal battle over the last film he'd made with Damon, Margaret, a searing two-and-a-half-hour family drama that many critics since have described as a little-seen masterpiece - but which back then was being held up from release by a lawsuit filed by producer Gary Gilbert, who was demanding a shortened re-edit that Lonergan was refusing to make. Damon, concerned about Lonergan's "horrible limbo," wanted to do something nice for his friend. So he sat in Lonergan's Manhattan apartment and pitched him an idea for a script about a New England handyman who ends up with custody of his dead brother's teen son - a story Damon thought would be right up Lonergan's dark alley.

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Damon was right. Lonergan didn't merely end up writing the screenplay for Manchester by the Sea, he also ended up directing it - his first time behind the camera in the decade since filming Margaret. Starring Casey Affleck as emotionally damaged Lee Chandler, Lucas Hedges as his 16-year-old grieving nephew and Michelle Williams as Affleck's estranged ex-wife, the movie in many ways is a perfect comeback vehicle for a filmmaker who rose to critical acclaim on close character studies of familial tragedy (his first film, You Can Count on Me, earned him a best screenplay Oscar nomination). Critics already are calling Manchester, which opens Nov. 18, another masterpiece, although this one is unlikely to be little-seen. At Sundance in January, it was the object of a fierce bidding war, ultimately won by Amazon with a $10 million offer.

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"No question there was a rough time with all that went wrong with Margaret," says Lonergan, sounding somewhat less depressed than usual. "This has obviously been free of those troubles, so that's great. I really like this movie - but I also really liked Margaret. If I do another movie, I hope I like that, too."

The idea for Manchester by the Sea actually was hatched by John Krasinski, the Office actor and budding indie screenwriter and director (The Hollars). Krasinski shared his nascent pitch with Damon over dinner in 2011 during the filming of The Adjustment Bureau (in which Damon co-starred with Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt). They actually grew up a few bus stops from each other in Massachusetts - Damon in Cambridge, Krasinski in Newton. Damon liked Krasinski's idea so much, he considered not only starring in the film but also making it his directorial debut. They wasted no time heading to New York to pitch Lonergan.

Embroiled in his Margaret troubles and committed to other stage projects, it took Lonergan a couple of years to get a first draft written. By then, Damon's schedule had filled up and he'd had second thoughts about directing the project, although he still wanted to star in it. Lonergan, meanwhile, finally had seen movement on Margaret (the film had a limited release in 2011; the court case was settled in 2014) and was starting to think about stepping behind a camera again. "I think the characters that he created really got their hooks into him," says Damon. "He came back with this 150-page draft. It was too long, but it had everything that was in the movie." Damon urged Lonergan to make Manchester by the Sea his next directing job.

Even with Damon still attached to star and produce, financing was hard to come by. And then, another blow: Damon had to drop out as the lead because of a slew of other commitments - like The Martian - that would have delayed production for years. He recruited childhood pal Affleck to take his place, even though Damon knew Affleck wasn't nearly as bankable a star. "This is one of the best roles I've ever seen for a leading actor," he says. "I didn't want to hand it off to somebody unless that was somebody I grew up with and who would make me happy I gave it up." It turned out Lonergan felt the same way. He'd known Affleck since he and Damon co-starred in a London revival of the playwright's This Is Our Youth in 2002.

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Despite Damon's departure from the cast, financing finally came through, with newbie producer Kimberly Steward (daughter of World Wide Technology founder David Steward) stepping in with the roughly $8.5 million budget. The investment came with one caveat: As a hedge against another Margaret-like standoff, Damon would have final cut. For Damon and Lonergan, it was a no-brainer. "I knew Matt could protect me as long as nothing crazy happened," says Lonergan. "And I wasn't about to let anything crazy happen this time."

For such dark material, the Manchester shoot turned out to be something of a buddy comedy, with a dash of Waiting for Godot. Lonergan and Affleck are kindred spirits creatively, although sometimes explosively so. The two endlessly dissected the minutiae of every scene. "There was one day where Casey and Kenny argued for 30 minutes about whether Casey should walk into the kitchen or living room or he should stop in the kitchen before he went into the living room to deliver this line, or he should deliver the line standing next to the table, or should he deliver it in the doorway," recalls Hedges. "I was like, 'What the hell are they talking about?' I don't understand why it would be any different."

But for Lonergan and Affleck, there was a method to their madness. "Often we weren't disagreeing, we were just sort of hashing things out," says Affleck. Says Williams, "It's hard to play these parts, and I think that some of it is a coping mechanism." Still, she recalls with a chuckle, "Sometimes I would think, 'Casey, it's Kenny Lonergan; just do what he wants.'"

Notes Lonergan, "It was just a way of relating to each other that we both enjoy. It was a very fruitful partnership. I really liked working with him enormously. I know he liked it, too."

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

The final cut of the film came in at two hours and 15 minutes - not that much shorter than Margaret - but neither Damon nor Steward asked for re-edits. They took the film in January to Sundance, where it received a rapturous reception and universal critical acclaim. Sony, Universal, Fox and Lionsgate all put out bids, but Amazon's $10 million offer prevailed. For Damon, doing business with a streamer didn't have any stigma. "It's critical we have the Amazons and the Netflixes," he says. "More people are going to see Manchester because it's on Amazon than would ever get a chance with a platform release. That's our ticket to sustainability with these small movies. Because Lord knows it's a struggle to get them made.

"Someday," he goes on, "I'm going to be able to say to my children, 'When your dad had any bit of leverage in Hollywood, this is what he helped to do.' "

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

Claire Folger

This story first appeared in a November stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump told the Los Angeles' mayor he would support the city's 2024 Olympics bid when the two spoke this week, NBC reported on Thursday, citing the mayor's spokeswoman. Trump and Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, spoke by phone on Wednesday and "had a productive conversation about ways to expand infrastructure investments and opportunities in communities across America," spokeswoman Connie Llanos said, according to NBC. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report, and representatives for Trump did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The California city is seeking to host the summer Games for a third time in a bid that centered on celebrating diversity. It had been seen as the front-runner in the race with Paris and Budapest until Trump's election this month after a highly divisive contest against Democrat Hillary Clinton that left the nation deeply divided and stoked fears about the future among some immigrants and minorities. Last week, Los Angeles bid leaders urged officials at an Olympic meeting not to doubt the United States or its commitment to its founding principles and strength. Garcetti, who supported Clinton, had previously said Trump's win after a campaign filled with harsh rhetoric toward immigrants, Hispanics, Muslims and women could be detrimental given the international makeup of the 98 voting members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC is set to make its selection in September 2017. Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city with nearly 4 million people, hosted the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984. Llanos, in a statement, said Trump's conversation with the mayor was short, and that Garcetti also "stressed the important role that immigrants and immigration reform will play in L.A.'s - and the nation's - long-term success," NBC said. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in West Palm Beach, Florida; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chris Reese)
Mexicans will pay for the wall! read a September tweet from President-elect Donald Trump, who said throughout his election campaign he will build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to curb the inflow of illegal immigrants. Now, a leading Mexican cement maker has come forward to offer services to the real estate tycoon to help build the wall.

Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) is willing to make the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican southern border a thing of reality.

We cant be choosy, Enrique Escalante, CEO of GCC told Reuters Wednesday. Were an important producer in that area and we have to respect our clients on both sides of the border.

Based in Chihuahua state, GCC is one of the biggest cement manufacturers in Mexico. It has three plants in the U.S., from where it generates about 70 percent of its sales, according to Reuters. One of the plants is in Texas and two distribution centers in the states Amarillo and El Paso cities. The company also has plants manufacturing concrete, aggregates, asphalt and building materials in El Paso and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The companys shares are trading at their highest since 2008, and Mexican multinational cement company Cemex owns 23 percent stake.

For the business were in, Trump is a candidate that does favor the industry quite a bit, Escalante said.

During the election campaign, Trump told his supporters that he would build a big, beautiful, powerful wall along the border, which is roughly 2,000 miles long.

I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and Ill build them very inexpensively, Trump said during the start of his campaign on June 16, 2015. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.

However, the 70-year-old did not mention the wall at all in his victory speech on election night, Nov. 8.

The estimated cost for such a structure could range anywhere between $15 billion to $25 billion, Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute told CNBC last October.

Story continues

Related Articles
Michelle Obama stunned us all when she re-wore this floral dress for her last Medal of Freedom Ceremony

It seems like yesterday that First Lady Michelle Obama came into our lives, with all of her beauty, intelligence, spirit, and chic style choices. In the last year of her role, she has taken more fashion risks than everdemonstrating her sartorial prowess and evolution. High-fashion silhouettes and bold hues have been on the agenda, as well as embracing unexpected brands.

She wore an industry favorite at the Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony on Tuesday in the East Room of the White House, opting for none other than Belgian designer Dries Van Noten. Her floral print silk dress is another one of her signatures, as well as one of the brands trademarks because of its silk robe-inspired shape.

US-POLITICS-OBAMA-MEDAL OF FREEDOM

Three-quarter-length sleeves and a midi length rounded out the dresss details, while the First Lady pulled her hair back into a sleek chignon to let the frock play centerstage. Gemstone drop earrings played on the regal purple hues in her dressa piece she wore once before, last November at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Qatar:

Ellen DeGeneres, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, and Robert De Niro were among the 21 honorees at Tuesdays festivities. They even participated in a mannequin challenge: the second in the White House after FLOTUS completed one of her own with Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

We are certainly going to miss seeing the First Lady in all her fashion glory, so were savoring every last one of her looks before the year comes to an end.

Related links:

This Video of Michelle Obama Singing Along to Usher Will Make Your Day

Michelle Obamas Cheery Floral Dress Will Brighten Your Day

This article by Faith Cummings originally appeared on InStyle.

The post Michelle Obama stunned us all when she re-wore this floral dress for her last Medal of Freedom Ceremony appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Theres less than a month to go before the Electoral College meets Dec. 19 to finalize the presidential election results, and still all the votes have yet to be counted and state results still may come under challenge. Further, a campaign is underway to encourage Republican electors to reject the results of the popular vote and vote for someone else.

In the latest twist on the seemingly neverending 2016 election saga, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein said Tuesday she will seek recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts were causing many [Americans] to wonder if our election results are reliable," Stein said in the statement. "These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified.

jill stein

Photo: Jim Young/Reuters

Unofficial election results indicate Republican Donald Trump won 290 electoral votes to 232 for Democrat Hillary Clinton, although Clinton won the popular vote with 64.2 million to 62.2 million for Trump. If the results in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are reversed, Trump would lose 30 electoral votes, leaving him 10 shy of the 270 needed to secure the presidency. Michigans 16 votes have yet to be awarded to either candidate.

Avengers director Joss Whedon and actress Debra Messing are among the high-profile backers of a growing audit the vote movement, the Hill reported.

Whedon urged his followers on Twitter to demand recounts.

Trump railed during the campaign that if he lost, that would mean the election had been rigged, an idea scoffed at by election officials nationwide.

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Researchers at the University of Michigans Center for Computer Security and Society contacted the Clinton campaign last week, saying they had found evidence the results in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked, New York magazine reported.

Electors in a number of states report getting thousands of emails, letters and telephone calls, urging them to switch their votes when the Electoral Colleges 538 electors meet in their state capitals. Twenty-eight states require their electors to abide by the popular vote but 22 do not, although party rules do require them to vote for the winning candidate or face fines.

"I fully intend to vote for Donald Trump," Jim Skaggs of Bowling Green, Ky., one of that state's eight electors, told USA Today. Skaggs said he doesn't like Trump but even though hes not bound by law, he thinks its his duty to go along with the popular vote in his state.

P. Bret Chiafalo of Everett, Wash., told Politico the campaign amounts to a hail Mary. He said they are encouraging GOP electors to vote for another Republican instead of Trump.

So-called faithless electors are uncommon. The last time one turned up was in 2004 when a Minnesota elector voted for John Kerrys running mate John Edwards instead of the Democratic presidential nominee. And the last time there was more than one faithless elector was 1872 when Horace Greeley died the day after the election.

Nonetheless, as of late Wednesday, more than 4.6 million people have signed a Change.org petition urging Republican electors to jump ship and offering to pay whatever fines are imposed.
Shares of Microsoft Corporation MSFT have been steadily treading higher over the last one year. The stock generated a return of 8.87% compared with the S&P 500 indexs gain of 7.87%.

The upward momentum in the stock has been primarily driven by strong cloud growth. The continuing enterprise strength, benefits from the Office 365 subscription model, strong growth prospects of Azure and promising new products are expected to generate top-line growth in 2016.

Meanwhile, per a Reuters report, it is rumored that Microsoft is trying its best to get the European Commissions approval for its $26.2 billion takeover of LinkedIn Corporation LNKD that is scheduled for Dec 6. To that end, Microsoft will not only allow LinkedIn competitors to access to its own software, but will also give hardware manufacturers the freedom of opting to install services offered by its rivals.

For example, professional social networks that already have access to the companys application program interface (API) will continue to enjoy that functionality even after the deal materializes. Additionally, hardware manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE, Dell and Lenovo will have the freedom to install any other professional social network on their devices.

MICROSOFT CORP Price

MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote

Why this Move?

Microsoft reportedly submitted the concessions related to its LinkedIn deal to the European Commission last week as the EU anticipates the deal to have adverse effects on competition. Moreover, as per the Reuters report, Microsoft is trying its bit to convince the EU that it is playing fair and is offering a level playing ground for competitors to prove their mettle.

We note that LinkedIn has posted encouraging results in the third quarter and witnessed a strong year-over-year improvement in both the top and the bottom line. Moreover, it recorded an impressive 18% surge in cumulative member count.

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LinkedIns traction in the mobile segment is particularly impressive, primarily attributable to the launch of its applications for Apples AAPL iPhones and Android-based smartphones. Synergies from its acquisitions are expected to contribute to earnings through targeted marketing strategies over the long term.

If the EU gives the green signal for the deal, Microsoft will be able to tap into the strong user base of 433 million LinkedIn users to promote its own products as well as generate a healthy cash flow through ad revenues.

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Sofia (AFP) - Around 1,500 migrants have rioted in Bulgaria's largest refugee camp, triggering clashes that left two dozen police injured and prompted the arrest of hundreds of protesters, officials said.

"Around 300 migrants, six of them considered a threat to national security, have been arrested," Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told BNR public radio after visiting the camp in early hours of Friday.

He added that 24 police officers and two migrants had been injured and that the situation had been brought under control.

Angry migrants -- mostly Afghans -- set car tyres on fire and threw stones at around 250 police officers, members of the gendarmerie and firefighters at the Harmanli reception centre near the Turkish border earlier Thursday to protest a recently imposed ban on migrants leaving the centre pending medical checks.

Local police chief Nina Nikolova told AFP earlier Thursday that the situation was under control and that the migrants were in talks with the state refugee agency.

But tensions flared up again in the evening when police had to use two water cannons to push the rioting group of migrants back into the buildings and prevent them from leaving the camp.

The centre, which houses just over 3,000 migrants, was the scene of another protest in October when several hundred Afghans demanded they be allowed to continue their journey towards western Europe.

With a fence along the Turkish border, Bulgaria has largely remained on the sidelines of Europe's worst migration crisis since 1945.

Nonetheless around 13,000 migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, are currently trapped in the European Union's poorest country.

Although the so-called Balkan migrant trail was effectively shut down in March, migrants have continued to cross the region in smaller numbers.

Tensions have been rising particularly in Greece where tens of thousands of people remain stranded.

Migrants set fire to a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos Thursday after a woman and a six-year-old child died following a gas cylinder explosion, local police said.

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The explosion occurred while the 66-year-old woman was cooking, police said, adding that the child's mother and four-year-old sibling were hospitalised with serious injuries.

In an apparent act of rage, migrants then set fire to the Moria camp on Lesbos, causing significant damage, police said.

Ensuing clashes between migrants and police left six refugees slightly injured.

Neo-Nazis last week attacked a migrant camp on the eastern Greek island of Chios.

A number of people were injured in the violence, which also left dozens of refugees stranded without tents.
By Angel Krasimirov and Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian police fired water cannon and rubber bullets to quell a riot by migrants angered at being confined to their refugee camp due to a health scare, the interior ministry said on Thursday. The unrest at the camp in Harmanli, a town close to the Turkish border, came two days after authorities sealed it off to prevent anyone leaving after local media reported the migrants were carrying infectious diseases. Earlier on Thursday, residents set fire to furniture and tires and threw stones at riot police, who deployed water cannon. In the evening, violence erupted again in the camp, home to 3,000 people, mostly of Afghan origin. "We used a water cannon, blanks and rubber bullets as well as physical force," Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov told reporters outside what is Bulgaria's biggest refugee camp. "The number of detained migrants is dynamic. At the moment they are more than 200. For the time being we are talking about containing the escalation," he said adding that 14 police officers had been wounded. He said he was not aware of any wounded migrants. Reflecting the gravity of the situation, and the political impact of the migrant crisis, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov was on his way to the camp late on Thursday, a spokeswoman said. Last week Harmanli townspeople staged a protest calling for the camp's closure after media alleged that migrants there carried communicable skin diseases. The head of the Bulgarian Refugee Agency, which runs the camp and took the decision to seal it temporarily to allow health authorities to investigate, told Bulgarian National Radio that those reports were false. Bulgaria has built a fence on its border with Turkey and has bolstered its border controls to prevent inflows of illegal migrants. Some 17,000 migrants were detained in the first 10 months of the year, down by more than a third on last year. Despite the decreasing numbers, Bulgarian nationalists have staged protests in recent months calling for the immediate closure of all refugee centers, and for migrants to be returned to Turkey or their countries of origin. They say Bulgaria, the EU's poorest member state, cannot afford to support them in such numbers. (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Robin Pomeroy and Chris Reese)
Lesbos (Greece) (AFP) - Angry migrants set fire to a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos after a woman and a six-year-old child died following a gas cylinder explosion, local police said.

The explosion occurred while the 66-year-old woman was cooking, police said, adding that the child's mother and four-year-old sibling were hospitalised with serious injuries.

In an apparent act of rage, migrants then set fire to the Moria camp on Lesbos, causing significant damage, police said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to try to put out the flames.

Ensuing clashes between migrants and police left six refugees slightly injured.

Some migrants fled the camp after the blast but had since returned and calm was being restored, a police source said.

Several fires have erupted in refugee camps on the Greek islands, where some 16,000 people became stranded after the European Union signed a deal that was aimed at stemming the influx of migrants.

Moria has a capacity for 3,500 people but currently houses more than 5,000.

Part of the camp was badly damaged in a fire on September 19 during clashes between migrants and police, and thousands had to be moved out before returning two days later.

Nearly 66,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece, according to official figures.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 24, 2016 / Miranda Gold Corp. ("Miranda") (MAD.V) and Prism Resources Inc. ("Prism") (TSX-V:PRS) are pleased to announce drill results from our Cerro Oro Project in Colombia.

Prism and Miranda "scout" drill-tested a large low-sulfidation epithermal gold system at Cerro Oro, where mapping and sampling indicate the potential for multiple high-grade gold veins occurring within broader zones of lower grade disseminated and fracture controlled mineralization. The original planned program called for four to five angle holes totaling 1,200 meters.

Due to failure to obtain important surface easements in a timely manner, the drill program was limited to three angle holes totaling 472 meters. Miranda will continue to work on easement agreements.

All three holes completed have significant mineralization.

Cerro Oro drilling highlights (refer to Table below):

CO-001: 1m @ 3.67 g Au/t in a locally coliform, sulfide-quartz breccia, interpreted to be a down-dip and strike extension of the "Victoria Vein".

CO-003: 1.45m @ 3.53 g Au/t in a heterolithic, matrix supported hydrothermal breccia that forms a contact zone with a dacite porphyry dike. The main breccia is subsequently injected by finer "fluidized" breccia. Several crosscutting sulfide veinlets occur in matrix and clasts. This is a newly recognized mineralization style on the project and indicates complexity and multi-stage mineralization in the system.

The Colombian Ministry of Interior has notified Miranda that a "Consulta Previa" with nearby indigenous peoples will be required for any additional work on the project. Miranda has started the "Consulta Previa" process, and intends to pursue it expeditiously.

Prism has decided to withdraw from the joint venture in the Cerro Oro project; partially because the planned drill program is delayed, and because Prism intends to focus on the exploration of their recent acquisition of the past-producing Huampar Mine in Peru, a historic silver-gold producer.

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As a consequence of the delay in the planned Cerro Oro drill program, Miranda has advised Prism that their obligations under the joint venture agreement are now satisfied, and that Prism may terminate the agreement with no monetary consequence. Miranda is pleased to have had Prism as a partner at Cerro Oro, and both companies will continue to consider partnering other Miranda projects in Colombia. Miranda will look for another funding partner on the project.

Miranda drilling demonstrated a proof of exploration target concept, and encountered significant multi-stage, telescoped primary epithermal and possible secondary porphyry-style alteration. This alteration and mineralization complexity was not recognized previous to core drilling. The geometry of the "Victoria Vein" and other veins and vein-breccia were defined, which will help design follow up drilling.

These drill results show a strike extent of 130 m along the "Victoria" fault-breccia-vein zone extending from the surface to a depth of 80m. Gold mineralization is strongly correlated with mercury (to 9.6 ppm), antimony (to 139 ppm), arsenic (to 1,900 ppm) and zinc (to 4,740 ppm). No other elements show appreciable elevated values.

In conventional zoning models for epithermal systems, high level to low level elemental occurrences are - Mercury -> Antimony -> Arsenic -> Gold. In the same zoning models, gold is typically minor or absent in the mercury zone and gold begins to occur more strongly at the deepest extent of antimony, while the highest gold grades occur where arsenic begins to diminish as a major element. Zinc is associated with gold in many South American epithermal deposits, and the gold-zinc association at Cerro Oro compares favorably to the same relationship seen at nearby Marmato. Using the same exploration zoning model, Marmato would occur with similar abundant zinc and adularia, but below the zone of mercury-antimony observed at Cerro Oro.

Table of significant drill results defined as 1m or greater, greater than 0.300 g Au/t. True thickness cannot be estimated but all holes are angled to test high-angle vein-faults with an approximate 72 southeast dip:

All five plus-1g Au/t intercepts contained either banded quartz vein or vein-breccia over 1m or greater. The minus-1g Au/t intercepts contained pyritic stockwork or sheeted pyritic veinlets and disseminated pyrite. Fine-grained adularia is associated with all gold occurrences. Some breccias contain matrix supported, mineralized clasts that may be explosively injected from lower depths. Breccias are from 6 m to 20 m wide, although the significant gold intervals within them are narrower. However in CO-001, 4.7 m of mixed banded vein and vein-breccia are significantly mineralized.

Alteration is typified by abundant mixed clays and more local silicification. In core, up to four cross-cutting events are observed. Adularia has two habits of occurrence - both as vein and veinlet selvages or pervasive within other alteration.

This limited drill program tests 130m of a system that has a mapped 1.5km strike and 600m width. Miranda believes that intercepting multiple mineralized zones justifies continued drill tests of the large epithermal gold system at Cerro Oro. Widely used epithermal zoning models suggest higher gold grades are highly permissible below a near surface zone one of high mercury and antimony.

Miranda intends to do gridded auger soils over the entire alteration zone and where possible determine clay species in soil pits, surface exposures and existing drill core. Gridded soils should indicate the centers of stronger and more continuous areas of gold mineralization. Areas of high-temperature illite may indicate upwelling fluid centers above high-grade mineralization. After modeling structural-dilational controls, future drilling will be designed to test below the mercury-antimony zone.

Project Description

Miranda controls approximately 1,100 hectares at Cerro Oro of which 711 hectares are controlled by a contract and the remainder through applications. The project is in the Caldas department 120 km south of Medellin.

Cerro Oro is 14 km southwest of the Marmato District. Both occur on a northeast trend of several aligned epithermal systems. Marmato, believed to be an analog target for Cerro Oro, has a greater than 150-year history of mining. The Cerro Oro gold system has seen less erosion than Marmato, and a greater vertical extent of mineralization may be preserved. Classic epithermal zoning models suggest that the abundant mercury and antimony at surface at Cerro Oro indicate that gold endowment may be better at depth, lower in the system.

Porphyry dacite stocks mapped at Cerro Oro are equivalent to the dacite porphyry hosting the veins at Marmato. At Cerro Oro, it is inferred that gold-bearing fluids from vein structures flooded into porous wall rock near the paleo surface. While the porous rocks at surface are important for potential broad zones of lower grade mineralization, veins may be better developed within competent dacite porphyry at depth.

Data disclosed in this press release, have been reviewed and verified by Miranda's Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Hebert, C.P.G., and B.Sc. Geology, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Miranda

Miranda is a gold exploration company active in Colombia and Alaska. Miranda employs a prospect generator and joint venture business model. Miranda focuses on generating projects with world-class discovery potential, and then joint ventures multiple projects to maximize the chance of discovery, while reducing financial risk and shareholder dilution. Miranda has active exploration joint ventures with Montezuma Mines Inc., and a production joint venture with Gold Torrent Inc. Miranda is working actively to acquire and joint venture more projects.

About Prism

Prism Resources Inc. is a junior exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF BOTH MIRANDA AND PRISM

For more information related to Miranda:

Joseph Hebert, Chief Executive Officer

+1-775-340-0450

Email: joseph.hebert75@gmail.com

www.mirandagold.com

For more information related to Prism contact:

Robert (Bob) Baxter

Prism Resources Inc.

+1-778-928-1864

Email: bbaxter@prismresourcesinc.com

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.

U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE: Miranda Gold Corp.
The California mother-of-two who went missing while jogging earlier this month has been found safe, the Shasta County Sheriffs Office said in a statement Thursday.

Sherri Papini, 34, was reported missing on Nov. 2, 2016, after she went on a routine afternoon jog and never returned home. Her family feared that she had been abducted.

Its not clear where she was or the circumstances of her disappearance, but authorities have said that it is an on going critical investigation.

The sheriffs office added that Papini was located out of area, and that she is currently in stable condition and receiving medical clearance at a hospital, according to the statement. She has also been reunited with her husband, Keith Papini.

The mother had been last seen at around 2 p.m. on Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive on Nov. 2 near Redding, a rural town in the northern part of the state.

Keith reported his wife missing that evening after he returned home to find neither Papini nor their two children, who Papini usually picks up from day care. (The children were at daycare, having not been picked up.)

Keith told Good Morning America after her disappearance: She could drop her phone but she would never in a million years not pick up our children on the time that she normally would have.




By Alex Whiting ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More funds are urgently needed for a worsening hunger crisis in drought-hit southern Africa that is expected to peak early next year and already affects 39 million people, forcing some to eat seeds and pull children out of school, aid agencies said. Poor harvests in what has been the region's worst drought in 35 years meant many families ran out of food in August - much earlier than the usual October, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. The next harvest is not due until March/April, forcing some to eat vital seed stocks, sell possessions and eat fewer meals. The whole region has been hit, with Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Madagascar the worst-affected countries and 28 million people needing immediate help. "This is a crucial period coming up - the height of the lean season. The numbers (needing aid) are still growing and the crisis has yet to reach its peak," said David Orr, World Food Programme (WFP) southern Africa spokesman. WFP's operations in seven countries most in need of international support are 50 percent funded between now and April, with a shortfall of nearly $300 million. "This may affect our ability to scale up our operations as planned in the lead-up to the peak of the lean season," Orr told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Johannesburg. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) appealed for aid in July and has received just 26 percent of the $2.9 billion it needs, the organization said earlier this month. More funds earlier in the crisis could have averted the need for farmers to sell cattle to buy food, and given more of them access to drought-tolerant seeds and help to diversify their crops so they were less reliant on maize, Orr said. Funds have been slow arriving partly because of demands on donors from other major crises including the Syrian war, and an initial reluctance by some governments in the region to declare it a crisis, said Francesco Del Re, senior strategic adviser to FAO's southern Africa El Nino response. FAO is trying to reach farmers with seeds and tools before the planting season ends. It has been a rush, especially in Madagascar. "It's really time critical, you can't miss (the planting season)," Del Re said by phone from Madagascar. "At this stage we are trying to stabilize the situation, and then see what we can do to make people better off." Hunger levels in parts of southern Madagascar are at phase four of a five-point scale used by food agencies, in which five is famine. Hundreds of thousands of people are living on the brink, Orr said. "It's extremely precarious and alarming and will probably continue to be so well into next year which is why we're so concerned to maintain the effort there," he said. In Malawi, some 6.5 million people need aid - nearly 40 percent of the country's population - including 3.5 million children, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. Some 60 million people worldwide were affected by drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, but southern Africa was the worst affected region. El Nino is now over, and scientists say a weak La Nina weather pattern has arrived, which is expected to bring heavier than usual rains. This could boost harvests and restore depleted water reserves, but also brings the risk of flooding. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, Editing by Ros Russell.; 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 http://news.trust.org)
This is from an earlier forecast of 1%-2%.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has narrowed Singapore's growth forecast for the whole 2016 as the economy grew 1.1% in 3Q16, slower than the 2% from the previous quarter.

MTI expects Singapore economy to grow by only 1% to 1.5%, down by the more positive outlook of 1% to 2% before.

The manufacturing sector expanded 1.3% YoY, similar to the 1.4% growth in the previous quarter.

"Growth was supported by the electronics and precision engineering clusters, which had benefitted from an improvement in external demand for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment respectively," MTI said.

The construction sector also posted growth at 1.6%, but eased from a 2% growth in the preceding quarter. This is due to the expansion in public sector works.

However, the wholesale & retail trade contracted 1.5%, in contrast to the 0.9% growth.

"Growth was weighed down by the wholesale trade segment, which contracted on the back of weakness in the wholesale trading of petroleum and petroleum products," the ministry noted.

The transportation & storage sector, accommodation & food services sector, information & communications sector, and business services sector realized a growth of 0.6%, 2.1%, 2.2%, and 0.2%, respectively.

The finance & insurance sector, on the other hand, contracted 0.7% due to the weakness in the offshore financial intermediation, fund management, and security dealing segments.





More From Singapore Business Review


This is how much money has been donated to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pences name

They say the best revenge is living well, but Democrats are responding to Donald Trumps win with action  and the amount of money donated to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pences name proves that the Vice President-elects policies against women will not be tolerated or normalized.

Just two weeks after Hillary Clintons shocking loss to Donald Trump, Planned Parenthood has confirmed that over $50,000 have been donated to the organization in Pences name.

Although Pence has no shortage of anti-women policies, he is especially committed to restricting womens reproductive rights. Most notably, he spent four years vigorously fighting to pass a bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

At the time, the former governor of Indiana stated:

If Planned Parenthood wants to be involved in providing counseling services and HIV testing, they ought not be in the business of providing abortions. As long as they aspire to do that, Ill be after them.

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He kept true to his word and, due to the consequences of Pences extreme anti-choice stance, there was a state-wide HIV outbreak in Indiana in 2015.

Nancy Pelosi Meets With Vice President-Elect Mike Pence At The Capitol

When he arrives in Washington, Pence will have a powerful platform to go after Planned Parenthood in a frightening manner that could negatively impact millions of women.

The organizations services include comprehensive healthcare and STD-testing and counseling for sexual assault survivors. For many women who have nowhere else to turn, the organization is nothing short of life-saving.

I'm doing it. You? And if you're here to comment and tell us to get over it, I'll block you. You are NOT. WELCOME. HERE. A photo posted by Amber Tamblyn (@amberrosetamblyn) on Nov 12, 2016 at 9:19am PST

For this reason, its critical that we support Planned Parenthood in any way we can. Luckily, thousands of Americans have proven that theyre committed to fighting for this amazing organization that has provided so many of us with physical and mental healthcare. We wont be silenced, and Planned Parenthood will not be federally defunded on our watch.

Go here to donate to Planned Parenthood!

The post This is how much money has been donated to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pences name appeared first on HelloGiggles.
NASA Budget For Earth Science To Be Heavily Defunded In Favor Of Space Exploration: Donald Trump's Views On Climate Change Echoed By Bob Walker

Donald Trump is set to drastically slash funding to NASAs division that conducts research about climate change and its impact on Earth. Trump has made it clear that NASA is meant for deep space exploration, and thats what it should focus on. As expected, environmentalists and climate change advocates are concerned because of statements from one of the senior men in Trumps NASA transition team.

Trump Wants to Axe NASA Earth Science. That's a Bad Idea.https://t.co/V0oWqd3kOc  Janice Jhana Elks (@OMAHAGEMGIRL) November 19, 2016

Just when the environmentalists were about to applaud Republican president-elect Donald Trump for keeping an open mind about climate change; one of the men in charge of Trumps NASA transition team confirmed what he had been hinting at in his pre-election speeches. The agencys budget for Earth Science, a sub-department dedicated towards research into hazard monitoring and climate change, will be severely scaled-back, reported The Guardian. Trump intends to reserve the agency solely for space exploration, said Bob Walker who is in charge of NASAs fiscal policy,

We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research. Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.

It may not come as a surprise that Walker, a senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency, had once referred to the issue of climate change as politically correct environmental monitoring. The president-elect is expected to set a lofty goal for NASA when he becomes the 45th president of the United States. He expects the agency to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.

Any and all Earth-centric science will be covered by other agencies, continued Walker,

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My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing NASA programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr. Trumps decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.

Nearly proclaiming the science as baseless and fictional, he went on to add that the link between humanity and climate change is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. In other words, he implied that only half the people from the scientific community agree than humans had any impact on the rapidly changing climate and global warming, while the other half refutes the same.

Trump's NASA looks good for human space exploration and terrible for Earth science https://t.co/soDvrVoeHX  TLKN: (@tlknbrands) November 23, 2016

Needless to say, there has been overwhelming consensus about the impact of human activity on climate change. While no research is universally accepted, close to 97 percent of the scientists seem to agree theres a strong link between human activity and climate change. It isnt clear how Walker arrived at the figure, but he strongly maintains the science pertaining to climate change has been heavily politicized.

How does Donald Trumps policy decision affect NASA and its climate change research division? NASA is set to lose funding for its research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. For many decades, scientific organizations, research facilities, and individual scientists have relied on the data gathered by NASA. Though the agencys primary responsibility is space exploration, its robust network of satellites reliably provide a wealth of information, that helps facilities across the world keep an eye on the changing climate.

A handy list of the Nasa Earth science missions that may be axed under Trump  everything from temperature to soils to rainfall to ice cover pic.twitter.com/Jiae6HuQy8  Oliver Milman (@olliemilman) November 23, 2016

Fortunately, even if NASA might not be able to continue its research through its Earth Science division, organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively involved in parallel research pertaining to global warming and climate change. NOAA has several experienced researchers, established methodologies, and reliable equipment scattered across the world to ensure that climate research doesnt stop abruptly.

A Trump adviser wants to scale back NASAs ability to study climate change https://t.co/Nu98OyOJ6n  Vox (@voxdotcom) November 23, 2016

Unfortunately, NASA and NOAA have worked closely with each other for several decades, and have deeply entrenched research topics, which might suffer beacause of Trumps impending decision. Incidentally, the soon to be defunct divisions budget was set to grow to $2 billion next year. Walker merely mentioned the Earth Science division will lose funding. He never mentioned NOAAs budget will be increased.

NASAs budget was supposed to be $2.8 billion. Though there has been no official word yet, Donald Trump could reallocate the funds from the Earth Science division towards deep space exploration.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

During his numerous speeches, Trump had claimed that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. However, after being chosen as president-elect, he appears to have significantly mellowed down. He even admitted there is some connectivity between human actions and the climate. This caused several environmentalists to breathe a little easy. But now it appears they might have to remain apprehensive throughout Donald Trumps four-year term as president of the United States.

[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]

NASA Budget For Earth Science To Be Heavily Defunded In Favor Of Space Exploration: Donald Trumps Views On Climate Change Echoed By Bob Walker is an article from: The Inquisitr News
By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - When Bishnu Pandey, a Nepali migrant working in India, returned home two weeks ago, he had hoped to clear a loan taken by his family to rebuild its village home with his savings.

But the 35-year-old New Delhi restaurant worker had his dreams shattered after the bank refused to exchange cash worth $440 because of a crackdown on "black money" ordered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The shock announcement to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee bills - worth $7.50 and $15 - seeks to flush out billions of dollars in unaccounted wealth and hit the finances of militants suspected of using fake currency to fund operations.

"I don't think I am the target but I became a victim," Pandey told Reuters outside a bank branch in Kathmandu, showing stacks of the old Indian notes that are no longer legal tender.

"I have no money now to return to work and I have no way to pay back the family debt," he said, referring to $275 his father borrowed to repair his house damaged in earthquakes last year that killed 9,000 people and destroyed nearly one million homes.

The tall, lanky Pandey, from Naubise village in Dhading district, 24 km (15 miles) from Kathmandu, is one of hundreds of thousands in the desperately poor Himalayan country hit by the currency ban announced two weeks ago.

Families of migrants like Pandey, students seeking admissions in Indian colleges, those seeking medical treatment, pilgrims and those visiting families across the open border have all been hit. Unlike people in India, they can't deposit or swap old notes at banks that will accept them until Dec. 30.

Pashupati Murarka, chief of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), estimates that dud banknotes worth as much as 10 billion Indian rupees ($146 million) may be held by individuals and the informal sector.

Nara Bahadur Thapa, an official at the central bank, said Nepal received 70 billion rupees ($640 million) in remittances from migrant workers in India every year.

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Thousands of Gurkha soldiers retired from the Indian army also get their pensions paid in the Indian currency.

Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda, a former Maoist rebel commander, spoke to Modi over phone last week seeking arrangements for the exchange of Indian cash held in Nepal, his aides said.

Modi pledged to resolve the issue, but no arrangements have been made yet, they said.

($1=109 Nepali rupees)

($1 = 68.725 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Nick Macfie)
(Reuters) - No drugs or alcohol were found in the system of the man accused of vehicular homicide in the crash of a Tennessee elementary school bus that killed six children and critically injured several more, police said on Wednesday.

Johnthony Walker, 24, was driving the bus full of students home from Chattanooga's Woodmore Elementary School on Monday when it veered off a road, flipped on its side and smashed into a tree and telephone poll, according to a police affidavit.

Officials said five children were killed initially: a kindergartner, a first-grader and three fourth-grade students. Police said on Wednesday evening that a sixth child had died.

Walker was driving on a narrow, winding road at well above the speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 kph) when he lost control, leaving the bright yellow bus mangled and nearly severed in two, the affidavit said.

Walker has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart told reporters on Wednesday there had been no fatal crashes on that stretch of road over the past three years.

Hart added that the road was not on the bus' designated route, but he did not provide an explanation why the bus was there.

Six students were rushed to the hospital in critical condition immediately after the crash and another six were hospitalized with less severe injuries before being released, hospital officials said. Nineteen other students were treated and released within hours of the crash, hospital officials said.

Six children remained hospitalized, but the hospital did not provide their current conditions, citing privacy, Chattanooga Police Sergeant Austin Garrett told reporters.

Garrett said there was no indication that Walker intentionally tried to harm the children.

Walker's mother, Gwenevere Cook, told CNN that her son tried to rescue students from the bus after the crash but blood and the children's limp bodies made it difficult.

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No children were thrown from the bus during the crash, Garrett said. The bus was not equipped with seat belts but had two cameras on board as well as an engine chip that could contain information, according to the NTSB.

The mother of an 8-year-old child killed in the crash filed a lawsuit against Walker and bus operator Durham School Services alleging negligence, according to documents uploaded online by local broadcaster WTVC.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - There is no need to panic about the Indian rupee's fall on Thursday, a finance ministry official said, after it fell to a record low of 68.86 against the U.S. dollar amid capital outflows from emerging markets and worries about the country's demonetisation drive.

"The government is monitoring the situation," Finance Ministry Spokesman D.S. Malik told Reuters. Normally, market forces would decide the right value of the rupee, he said.

Despite repeated interventions by the central bank to stem the slide, the rupee breached its previous low of 68.85 against the U.S. dollar set in August 2013, when the country was mired in its worst currency crisis in more than two decades.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)
The New York Police Department (NYPD) shared footage on Thursday, November 24, described as showing members of the NYPD Highway District leading the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan.

This footage shows the officers on their motorcycles next to Central Park. Credit: Twitter/NYPDnews via Storyful
Jadon and Anias McDonald, the conjoined twins who were separated Oct. 14, received poems, handmade cards and get-well notes from prisoners at Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

It's the best gift I've ever gotten, the twins mother, Nicole McDonald, told CNN in an exclusive report Thursday. She and her husband, Christian, are thankful for the support theyve received over the past month.

A note from a stranger can help turn their day around. When you're just about running out of gas, it's the constant fuel that not only feels good because people care so much, it rejuvenates me in a way that I can't explain, Nicole said. The McDonalds get daily messages through Facebook and the mail.

The prayers are what really helped them get through. I think our prayers did influence God to help out, Christian told CNN Thursday. I know God hears prayers.

All of the optimism and love has changed Nicoles outlook. Instead of seeing the ugly hearts of people, I get to see the best hearts of people all the time, she said. And it shows me continually that most people are good. We get this perception that most people aren't, but what I'm seeing is so amazing to me.

Before Oct. 14, the twin boys were separated at the head during an operation at Childrens Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center. Even though the surgery was successful, the boys have suffered seizures, infections and fevers. Still, the 13-month-old boys are progressing and having a fast recovering.

The children are progressing right on target, if not ahead of schedule, the lead neurosurgeon for their case told CNN Nov. 10.

As a neurosurgeon, I guess it puts you in a happy mood, said Dr. James Goodrich, who led the operation at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella

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Essen (Germany) (AFP) - A German court began hearing Thursday a complaint by a Peruvian farmer who accuses energy giant RWE of contributing to climate change that has caused glacial melting in the Andes, threatening his home and livelihood.

Saul Luciano Lliuya argues that RWE, as a major historic emitter of greenhouse gases, should share in the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a nearby glacial lake that is at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice.

"We hope that the court will rule in our favour, so as to save our world, our Earth, in some way," said Luciano, who had travelled to the western German city of Essen to attend the hearing.

Luciano, who is also a mountain guide, is being advised by pressure group Germanwatch which said the case was the first of its kind in Europe and could set a legal precedent.

But Germany's second-largest energy producer said the case was "unfounded", telling the court it "could not be made liable for general and global developments such as climate change".

"There is no legal basis for the applicant's request," RWE spokesman Guido Steffen told AFP.

Observers had expected the court to reject the David versus Goliath case as early as Thursday, but the judge has instead set a new hearing date for December 15.

It is unclear if a ruling would be expected at that date, or if the judge would seek "proof of evidence", meaning the court would plunge into the question of climate change and its causes in proceedings that could last months.

- 'Partly responsible' -

Luciano's German lawyer, Roda Verheyen, claimed that RWE is the "top single-greatest CO2-emitter in Europe".

Pointing to a 2013 climate study, she said the company was responsible for 0.5 percent of the total emissions "since the beginning of industrialisation" -- making it at least partly responsible for the Peruvian farmer's plight.

"We're not saying that RWE is responsible for climate change as a whole, but we're saying that RWE is a major contributor and should therefore be obliged to pay 17,000 euros ($18,000) -- a pro-rata sum towards the costs of eliminating the risk of flooding," Verheyen said Thursday.

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Besides seeking the sum to help pay for flood defences, Luciano is also asking RWE to reimburse him for 6,300 euros he himself has spent on protective measures, according to a summary of the case.

"The big contributors to climate change, such as RWE, must finally take responsibility for the consequences of their emissions," Luciano was quoted as saying in a statement on the Germanwatch website.

"We in Peru have hardly contributed to climate change but have to live with the worst consequences," said the father of two.

RWE has countered that the plantiff has failed to demonstrate a clear link between CO2 emissions and the alleged flood danger, and that the act of emitting greenhouse gases was not against the law.

Steffen, the RWE spokesman, said the firm did not understand why it had been singled out for legal action.

"We are making a huge contribution to the modernisation of coal-fired power plants in Germany" to make them more efficient and reduce the output of CO2, he told AFP.

At the same time RWE was "investing billions in renewable energy", he said, as part of Germany's switch from fossil fuels to clean energy such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power.
By Nick Carey

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pilots at ABX Air, an express cargo airline that serves online retailer Amazon.com Inc and DHL Express, went on strike on Tuesday, a critical time for retailers with the holiday shopping season about to kick into high gear.

Some 250 pilots, who are represented by the Teamsters union, went on strike in the early morning, affecting around 75 flights, mostly for Amazon and DHL, a unit of Deutsche Post AG.

Pilots went on strike because ABX, owned by Air Transport Services Group Inc, has violated its contract by asking them to work emergency hours over the last two years because of a staffing shortage, then failed to grant them compensatory time off or allow pilots to take earned vacations, the union said.

"Our pilots are striking so that we can have the status quo of our contract restored, and we would like that to be in the next minute so we can return to serving our customers," said Tim Jewell, a pilot and secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 1224, which represents ABX pilots. "But if the company chooses not to do that our members are prepared to continue striking."

Air Transport Services Group said in a statement that ABX was taking multiple steps to tackle an "illegal work stoppage" including seeking a court order to get pilots back to work.

"We expect the court will uphold our position that the actions taken by the union to refuse work assignments is not legal, and the issues involved constitute a minor dispute to be resolved via arbitration under terms of our current labor agreements," ABX Air President John Starkovich said in a statement.

The strike comes just ahead of Cyber Monday, which is the biggest day of the year for internet shopping and is expected to break records this year.

Amazon has contracts with the major U.S. package delivery companies United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp, giving it alternatives to ABX.

In May, Amazon also entered into a long-term agreement with Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc under which the company would provide cargo services to the online retailer using 20 Boeing Co 767-300 freighters.

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"We work with a variety of carriers and are confident in our ability to serve customers," Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said.

DHL, however, said the strike had affected deliveries of goods into the United States.

"Due to a work stoppage affecting our airline partners, inbound deliveries to portions of the Americas will be delayed today," the company said in a statement. "We are continuing to monitor the situation."

Matt Barton, an aviation industry economist with FlightPath Economics, said he expects the strike will be short, so will only cause a "relatively minor shortage" for Amazon.

But he said the long-term problem is a nationwide shortage of pilots, as older pilots retire and too few step up to replace them, which portends more strikes in the coming years.

"Call it a canary in the coal mine or a shot across the bow, but this is happening now," Barton said. "We are going to see pilot wages rise and problems like this for the next 10 to 15 years."

(Additional reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru)
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis hosted Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at the Vatican as the two work towards warming long-strained ties, a press release from the Holy See said.

The two men "discussed the good relations which exist between the Holy See and Vietnam, reinforced by a common spirit of dialogue" over the course of a 15-minute meeting Wednesday, the statement said.

The Vatican said the states were "constantly searching for ways to develop relations even further", but did not comment on the possible re-establishment of diplomatic ties.

Vietnam's communist regime broke off diplomatic ties with the Vatican in 1975, but both sides have been working towards reconciliation since 2007, including a meeting between the prime minister and the pope two years ago.

The papal nuncio in Singapore, Leopoldo Girelli, has been the Vatican's "non-resident pontifical representative" to Hanoi since 2011.

The vast majority of Vietnam's 93 million inhabitants say they follow Buddhist traditions, but about seven percent of the population say they are Catholic.

Catholic land confiscated since the end of French colonial rule in 1954 remains a contentious issue between the church and state, and has led to demonstrations.

In recent years, church leaders have also called for jailed activists to be released from prison and have fought for religious freedoms in the authoritarian nation.

The pope is keen for the Church to tap into Asia, a continent where the number of Catholics, currently just 3.2 percent of the population, is rocketing.

Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has visited South Korea, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and is working towards a historic reconciliation with communist China.
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelans are running short of food, medicine and patience, but fear not: President Nicolas Maduro is here to cheer them up -- by dancing salsa.

Grinning under his black mustache, the burly, towering socialist swivels his hips and twirls his wife Cilia Flores in front of the cameras.

"People say I'm crazy for dancing salsa," he said on one recent broadcast.

"Hands up everybody who dances salsa! Admit it, we're all crazy!"

With hunger and violent crime gripping the country and the opposition calling for his head, this is Maduro's new strategy for winning hearts and minds. That is an uphill battle; most Venezuelans would like him to leave power.

Wednesday was a case in point as Maduro celebrated his 54th birthday with a live performance by old-school salsa greats El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.

"What a surprise!" the president exclaimed before taking the first lady for a spin, dancing to the classic "Me libere."

- 'Ridiculous' -

A former bus driver, Maduro has often sung and danced at campaign rallies.

But his continued capering amid the crisis, and his recent launch of a dedicated salsa radio show, seem like bad taste to some weary citizens.

"He is ridiculous. It's offensive. He is laughing at the people," said Euro Bermudez, 62, coming out of a bank in Caracas after collecting his pension.

"Instead of spending money on television programs, he should be bringing us medicine."

Spoof photo "memes" of Maduro online have shown him dancing in various inappropriate settings: at the scene of a crime or in a long queue for food.

But truck driver Orlando Zacarias, 49, said he saw Maduro's dancing as a necessary means of continuing the "socialist revolution."

"Little by little, he is reaching out to each and every Venezuelan to transmit his message," Zacarias said.

- Salsa time -

Maduro launched his radio show "Salsa Hour" late last month on the same day that opposition lawmakers called for a political trial against him.

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They say mismanagement and corruption in his government have plunged the country into crisis.

The opposition won control of the legislature in elections a year ago.

Now Maduro is using salsa's popular beats to reach out to ordinary Venezuelans who deserted him in that vote, says social psychologist Ricardo Sucre.

"He wants to show himself to be confident and relaxed, not as though his government is about to fall."

Maduro himself brands the crisis a US-backed capitalist conspiracy.

He casts his programs as a counterweight to media that he says are out to discredit him.

- Dancing through scandal -

The last edition of his television program "In Touch With Maduro" lasted four hours and featured a live salsa band.

With his long broadcasts, Maduro is carrying on a tradition of his late mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Chavez's weekly television show "Alo Presidente" was an outspoken and unpredictable spectacle.

Maduro lacks Chavez's charisma, Sucre says, but all the same "Chavez chose him as his successor because he could get through difficult times without looking nervous."

Maduro weathered a scandal last week when a US jury convicted two of his wife's nephews of plotting to smuggle cocaine.

But the following Sunday, the presidential couple were on television dancing for the nation.

"Are you still dancing now?" said senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles. "The country is waiting for you to face up to things."

- 'Indestructible' -

Maduro's "Salsa Hour" lasts two hours, with the leader chatting to listeners about the artists as well as social issues.

He dedicates songs sarcastically to his opponents.

One tune goes out to the opposition leader of congress, Henry Ramos Allup.

"You're crazy, crazy," goes the song by Roberto Roena. "And I am cool."

Ramos is one of the leaders of efforts to drive Maduro from office. Maduro has staunchly resisted. He has the public backing of the army and control of key institutions.

As his own personal theme tune, Maduro has adopted a Ray Barretto salsa classic: "Indestructible."
President Barack Obama casts an early ballot in the 2012 election. (White House File Photo)

A flurry of reports has raised questions over whether electronic voting systems were hacked during this months election, and Green Party candidate Jill Steins campaign has raised more than $5 million with the aim of double-checking the vote in three key states.

It all started with a report published by New York magazine on Tuesday. It said that a group of lawyers and computer scientists, including the University of Michigans J. Alex Halderman, was calling for a closer look at ballots from Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Those states narrowly went for President-elect Donald Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The group noted that counties in Wisconsin with electronic-voting systems showed Clinton receiving a lower proportion of votes than she did in counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots.

The implication was that hackers, perhaps based in Russia, may have tampered with the e-voting machines. However, the magazine said the group had no proof of such interference; rather, it was reportedly calling upon the Clinton team to press for a recount or an audit.

The Clinton campaign hasnt responded publicly, but the push for a recount snowballed nevertheless.

In an article published on the Medium website, Halderman said he and other experts are indeed seeking an official review of the election results from closely contested swing states, on the grounds that the results were at odds with pre-election polling. Heres how Halderman explained it:

Were this years deviations from pre-election polls the results of a cyberattack? Probably not. I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong, rather than that the election was hacked. But I dont believe that either one of these seemingly unlikely explanations is overwhelmingly more likely than the other. The only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence  paper ballots and voting equipment in critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, nobody is ever going to examine that evidence unless candidates in those states act now, in the next several days, to petition for recounts.

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The individual states are responsible for recounts, in which votes are re-tallied; as well as for audits, in which returns from randomly selected sample precincts are checked for accuracy.

The margin of victory, though close, isnt close enough to justify an automatic recount in Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania. That means candidates would have to seek a recount and potentially bear the cost, which runs into millions of dollars.

Green Party candidate Jill Steins presidential campaign said it would demand recounts in the three states if it can raise enough money to pay for them. Today the Stein campaign said it has raised $5 million in contributions and is filing an affidavit for a recount in Wisconsin, the first of the three states.

George Martin, a member of the Wisconsin Green Partys coordinating council, said the filing fees alone are expected to be $1.1 million. We are prepared to deliver certified checks, anytime they ask for it, to cover that, he said during a news conference.

Wisconsin election officials confirmed that petitions for a recount were received before todays 5 p.m. CT (3 p.m. PT) deadline.

Martin said the fees for Pennsylvania and Michigan would tally up to another million dollars or more, and there will be further legal expenses ahead. Any leftover money would go toward training future candidates, Martin said.

Some social-media users (including Heba Abedin, the sister of Clinton aide Huma Abedin) passed along calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct its own audit. But in a statement obtained by The Washington Post, the Justice Department said a decision to investigate would be based solely on the facts and evidence as they relate to the federal statues the department enforces  and not on a telephone call-in campaign.

Complicating the matter were reports that the reported presidential vote totals for Wisconsins Outagamie County exceeded the total number of voters who cast ballots there.

That mystery was quickly cleared up: County officials said that ballot counters added up the votes incorrectly when reporting them on Election Night; but that the errors were corrected in the official tally.

Snopes.com, a well-known reality-checker, traced the genesis of the Justice Department campaign as well as the Outagamie County controversy. And there are plenty more caveats about the whole #AuditTheVote uproar. Heres a sampling from Twitter:

The election probably wasn't hacked. But Clinton should request recounts just in case. https://t.co/gFP1SwLLhp  Vox (@voxdotcom) November 23, 2016

.@CarlBialik and I couldn't find any evidence that voting machines in key swing states were hacked. https://t.co/pMYGLXcccq  Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) November 23, 2016

To follow: some *very* quick analysis which suggests the claim here of rigged results in Wisconsin is probably BS: https://t.co/SYlE76bnmQ  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 23, 2016

Don't be fooled by @DrJillStein's attempt to raise $ for a recount. If HRC seeks one, it will happen. Stein just seeking fools again.  Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 23, 2016

Seriously considering whether this New York Magazine article was planted as a giant field experiment to document liberal motivated reasoning  Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) November 23, 2016

This report, originally published on Nov. 23, has been revised with updates about the Stein campaigns fundraising effort and its plans for seeking a recount.

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Prince Harry took a sunset sail to St. Kitts in the Caribbean as he spent a night in a cabin on the Royal Navy ship that is his home from home on his royal tour.

Harry left for St. Kitts and Nevis after a day in Barbuda, where he relived memories of a visit there with his late mother Princess Diana a few months before she died.

The prince and brother Prince William vacationed on Barbuda in April 1997  but this time he had no time to revisit the same holiday spots, like the K Club and the renamed Princess Diana beach.

The Prime Minister Gaston Browne (who earlier had invited Harry to honeymoon at his island.) told reporters, Diana was just a beautiful soul and it is so sad she was taken so young. Prince Harry said to be that he remembers going there with his mother as a little boy, It was one of her favorite spots.

Instead of heading to the areas he had visited with his mother, Harry focused on environmental issues, seeing one of the worlds largest colonies of frigate birds, that live in the countrys mangroves, and later unveiling a plaque and planting a tree highlighting the Queens Canopy. That is a project to create a network of forest conservation initiatives throughout the 52 nations of the Commonwealth.

During much of his Caribbean tour, Harry is traveling, and sleeping, on the Royal Fleet Auxilliary Wave Knight tanker ship. The vessel, which has been in action against Caribbean narcotic traffickers. Harry will likely be in a comfortable cabin with a small double bed and a desk.

St. Kitts and Nevis, which he visits today, brings its own memories for Harry too. When he was a young boy he visited the latter with mom Diana and William and had some mischievous fun plotting to race giant cane toads near a swimming pool.




Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin called for "constructive dialogue" with Antonio Guterres at a meeting Thursday with the incoming secretary-general of the United Nations.

Putin said that Russia "has always supported and supports strengthening (the UN's) leading role in international affairs, in conflict-resolution, in the struggle for human rights", according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin added that he hoped he would have the "same constructive dialogue" as with his predecessor Ban Ki-moon.

Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal, meanwhile said he recognised Russia's "decisive role not only in the framework of the United Nations but in all other aspects of international relations".

"The fundamental conditions for me to be useful to the international community rest in my having constructive relations with a country like the Russian Federation," the statement quoted Guterres as saying.

Guterres, who also served as UN refugee chief, begins his five-year term as UN secretary-general on January 1.
An eight-line poem written by Anne Frank, the Jewish schoolgirl whose diaries became one of the most profound documents of the Holocaust, was sold Wednesday at auction in the Netherlands for $148,000.

The BBC reports that the Bubb Kuyper auction house in the Dutch town of Haarlem expected it to fetch no more than 50,000 ($53,000).

Frank, a German-born Jew, kept intimate and detailed diaries during the two years her family hid in an attic apartment above her fathers shop in Amsterdam to evade the Nazis during the German occupation. They were eventually discovered and sent to concentration camps, where Frank died of typhus at the age of 15.

The auctioned poem was dated March 28, 1942, about four months before she and her family had gone into hiding.

Addressed Dear Cri-Cri, the verse was penned in a poezie album (friendship book) belonging to Christiane van Maarsen, the sister of Franks best friend, Jacqueline. Such books were common among Dutch youths at the time.

The first four lines of the poem were appropriated from a Dutch periodical, the BBC says, and are believed to have been traditional and oft-cited lines of encouragement. The latter half appears to have been Franks original writing, according to a statement on the auction house web site.

Jacqueline, Franks best friend, explained in a note on the web site why she decided to part with the page.

My sister (nicknamed Cricri) tore this page out of her poezie album and gave it to me around 1970, read the note, which accompanied the sold item and is quoted on the auction house website.

I know that my sister was not as attached to this verse from Anne to her as I am to the verse Anne addressed to me, and that is the reason that I am now putting it up for sale.

The New York Times reports that the Anne Frank House museum, in the Amsterdam building where her family hid for two years, did not bid on the document because it did not directly shed light on Franks life. A spokeswoman for the museum, Maatje Mostart, remarked, however, that it was very special that part of an Anne Frank collection comes out after so many years.

[BBC]
The chief executive of popular online discussion website Reddit on Wednesday admitted to using his position in the company to edit comments that were critical of him. Steve Huffman said he anonymously changed references to his username  spez  to that of a pro-Donald Trump subreddit  r/the_donald.

After moderators of r/the_donald called the CEO out on his abuse of power, Huffman posted, I messed with the f--- u/spez comments, replacing "spez" with r/the_donald mods for about an hour, maintaining that he only changed the target.

Its been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldnt play such games, and its all fixed now, Huffman said from his account, admitting that he faced flak from the community for his move. Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly wont do this again.

Earlier this week, the New York Times published a report on a Washington DC pizza place  Comet Ping Pong  which had been at the center of a fake news report alleging that it housed a child-abuse ring run by Hillary Clinton and campaign manager John Podesta. There was no evidence to back this claim and Reddit clamped down on the r/ Pizzagate subreddit that was looking to prove the conspiracy. The page that replaced Pizzagate on Reddit read, We dont want witchhunts on our site.

Reddits move was met with a spate of f--- u/spez comments, mostly from the pro-Trump subreddit.

Huffman, 33, replaced Reddits former CEO Ellen Pao in 2015 after the latter faced severe criticism from its user base for firing Victoria Taylor, an employee in charge of managing a popular Q&A sub-board. Pao was also behind the closing of subreddits like r/fatpeoplehate.

Huffman, who co-founded the company in 2005, was tasked with balancing the sites censorship, which has been called out by users for trampling upon their freedom.

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On November 24, 1784, future President Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia. Taylor became an unexpected obstacle to slaverys expansion, until his sudden death in 1850.

Taylors death on July 9, 1850 shocked a nation that was in a heated debate about issues that eventually led to the Civil War. The details about how President Taylor died are still in dispute today.

But as a Southern and slaveholder, the former military officer was at the point of forcing a possible armed confrontation between the North and the South, since he objected to moves to force New Mexico to becoming a pro-slave state.

How Taylor got to a ceremony at the site of the Washington Monument on July 4, 1850, where he reportedly ate some tainted iced milk and cherries, mirrored the life journeys of three former Presidents: George Washington, Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison.

Taylor grew up in a wealthy Southern family that owned plantations and slaves, and became a career army officer. During the Mexican-American War, General Taylor led the United States forces to victory at Buena Vista, making him a national hero.

Taylor ran as a Whig presidential candidate in 1848 and he wasnt a professional politician. Once he took office in March 1849, it became clear that Taylor, the military man, was more interested in preserving the Union than the art of politics or pleasing Congress.

The President decided to press for statehood for the newly acquitted territories of California (which could include Utah) and New Mexico, and to let the regions hold their own constitutional conventions. This guaranteed that the territories would join the Union as anti-slavery states, tipping the balance in the Senate to the North.

Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senate Majority Leader Henry Clay pressed for a compromise that only admitted California as an anti-slavery state. Siding with Taylor was the Whig leader William Seward, who later played a prominent role in the Lincoln administration. Taylor also supported New Mexico in a border dispute with Texas.

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In February 1850, Taylor told southern leaders who threatened to secede that prisoners, taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang  with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico.

Congressional leaders agreed on a bill that later became the centerpiece of the Compromise of 1850 and had planned to present it to Taylor. But Taylor fell ill on July 4 and died five days later at the age of 65.

Officially, he died from cholera morbus, and today, the prevalent theory is that Taylor suffered from gastroenteritis, an illness exacerbated by poor sanitary conditions in Washington.

The secession crisis was still in full swing when the little-known vice president, Millard Fillmore of New York, was thrust into office. The Northerner soon supported an amended Compromise of 1850, which was passed in September 1850. The compromise did reduce the threat of Southern secession for several years, but it included the controversial Fugitive Slave Act.

In all, Taylor was President for a total of 16 months. His very brief legacy as President included his belief that states and the federal legislatures should handle some constitutional issues, and he believed Presidents should be above politics. His threat of force against Southern secessionists was also noteworthy.
* H1 current operating profit up 7 pct l-f-l

* Cognac H1 operating profit up 9.1 pct l-f-l

* CFO "comfortable" with current FY profit forecasts

* Shares rise, outperform Paris stock market (Recasts with CEO, CFO comments, shares, analyst)

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - French spirits group Remy Cointreau expressed confidence in year-end profit targets on Thursday after a recovery in demand for cognac in China and in its main U.S. market boosted half-year results.

The maker of Remy Martin cognac and Cointreau liquor, which is trying to sell more of its higher-priced spirits to boost profitability, said it planned to accelerate advertising and promotional spending in the coming five years to boost sales.

"We are only at the start of an adventure that will be more sustainable and healthier," Chief Executive Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet told reporters.

Chief Financial Officer Luca Marotta said he was "comfortable" with the consensus of analysts' estimates for full-year like-for-like operating profit growth of 8-9 percent, after first-half operating profits rose seven percent.

Chapoulaud-Floquet said she was "very confident" on the group's prospects in China for the rest of the year.

"The Mid-Autumn festival was good. We are seeing an acceleration on superior brands and starting new battles to boost sales of Cointreau and Botanist gin in China," she said.

The first ever store the group has dedicated to its $3,000 per bottle Louis XIII cognac in Beijing was performing "well above targets", two months after its opening, she added.

Demand was also picking up in Russia as consumer confidence improved in that country, although it was more subdued in Africa, Chapoulaud-Floquet said.

Remy shares, up around 14 percent so far in 2016, were up 1.4 percent in mid-session trading, beating a flat Paris SBF-120 equity index.

"Remy is well-placed to benefit from the global premiumisation trend in spirits. China may be turning the corner at last," said analysts at brokerage Liberum analysts.

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Similar to other spirits makers, including larger rivals Diageo and Pernod Ricard, Remy Cointreau has faced pressure on sales of cognac and other luxury goods in China following a government crackdown on luxury gift-giving and personal spending by Chinese civil servants.

The Remy Martin cognac division, which accounts for 80 percent of group profit, saw operating profit rise 9.1 percent on a like-for-like basis to 101.9 million euros, with brands such as 1738 Accord Royal and Louis XIII performing well in the United States and China.

The Chinese government's crackdown has led to significant changes across the group, with Remy Cointreau moving more towards the United States, which now contributes 38 percent of group sales compared to around 20 percent for China.

While Remy is pushing higher priced products, rival Pernod Ricard has taken the opposite approach in launching less-expensive brands in China.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Elaine Hardcastle)
Hundreds of migrants started rioting at the Harmanli reception centre, in southern Bulgaria, on Thursday, November 24, after a recent decision to ban its occupants from leaving the premises over health concerns.

According to Bulgarian news reports, the camps 3,000 migrants were being temporarily quarantined over fears of the spread of infectious diseases among the public.

Some 1,500 migrants attempted to break out of the camp around noon, reports said. When prevented, they set fire to car tyres and began hurling stones at hundreds of policemen. Credit: YouTube/Sakar News via Storyful
To say things have changed for Riz Ahmed, 34, since he first stepped into the world of The Night Of is a massive understatement. Back in 2013, the Pakistani-British actor and musician (who also raps about social justice under the moniker Riz MC) shot the pilot for the buzzed-about HBO series, in which he stars as Naz, a Pakistani-American college student accused of murder. But the project was put on hold following the untimely death of its executive producer, James Gandolfini. In the meantime, Ahmed's career exploded, with an acclaimed turn in the Jake Gyllenhaal starrer Nightcrawler and a role alongside Matt Damon in this summer's Jason Bourne. He also earned a spot in the newest film to burst out of the Star Wars universe, Rogue One, which premieres in December.

Your career took off in the gap between doing the pilot and completing The Night Of. How did that affect your take on the character?

I felt like I was almost a different person, in how I had grown or changed in the intervening years. Something life-changing happened to Naz in that period between the end of episode one and the start of episode two. I guess it took years of prep to nail that first scene at the start of episode two.

Read more: 'Rogue One' Actor Riz Ahmed Pens Essay About Being "Typecast as a Terrorist"

Did that gap bring any particular challenges?

Just having too much time to think about it. It can be rather helpful to be swept up in the momentum of something. Also, having that time to think about the subject matter weighed heavily on my shoulders, wanting to do justice to the project - I interviewed so many people in prison. I think in a way that helps in the parts where Naz is carrying a heavy burden.

The project came out just as justice-system reform became a hot topic in America. How do you feel about being part of the zeitgeist?

These are massive, moving issues that need to be dealt with urgently. In a way, there's nothing new about these issues, whether it's Black Lives Matter or mass incarceration. These are age-old issues. [Co-creator] Richard Price didn't want to get on a soap box and preach about them, but he couldn't help but reflect on some of the issues that were around in the society he was drawing from.

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Lucasfilm

Naz starts off as a wide-eyed college kid and by the end is hardened by prison. How did you balance those aspects?

As an actor, the whole idea of playing different characters is, you believe that fundamentally I could be you or you could be me in a different set of circumstances. We all have it within us to be anyone. This role was an illustration of that for me. When you see him in a domestic setting as a student, he's very much a caterpillar. And then he goes into this cocoon and something else starts forming, another aspect of his personality through experience starts bubbling up. It's kind of like mixing on a disc. Certain things on the fader go down; other things on the fader go up.

Read more: 'Star Wars' Writers Get Political: Will Anti-Trump Tweets Hurt 'Rogue One'?

Physicality has been important in your work. How did you approach that as you portrayed the pilot Bodhi in Rogue One?

Bodhi is someone who's been running away his whole life. His planet gets occupied, so he goes, "How do I get out of here?" And the way was by becoming a long-distance cargo pilot. But, of course, that comes with guilt. If you look down and you're wearing the same Imperial uniform with the same insignia that the people occupying your planet are wearing, it's guilt and a lot of running away. I had the idea that this character is jittery. He's jumpy. There's a restlessness to him. This comes from the trauma and guilt.

This is the most diverse cast of any Star Wars movie. What does it mean to be a part of that?

I feel like Star Wars is leading the way. I like to think we are all heading in this direction. Some people are kicking and screaming or dragging their feet. Some people are sprinting. It's really a credit to [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy and the team there that they want to embrace the future and the reality of a global film market. It feels contemporary, it feels global. Culture is a space for us to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, so why don't we just have as many different kinds of shoes as possible?

This story first appeared in a November standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Global stand-up star Russell Peters has joined Hawaii Five-O star Grace Park and Judy Greer (Married) in Public Schooled, a coming-of-age comedy from Canadian filmmakers Kyle Rideout and Josh Epstein.

Peters, who had a cameo in Jon Favreau's Chef and lent his voice to Disney's The Jungle Book, also is starring in the drama Russell Peters Is the Indian Detective for Canadian video streamer CraveTV.

Newcomer Daniel Doheny also is boarding Public Schooled in the lead role of Liam as the movie shoots in Vancouver through Dec. 18.

Greer was previously announced to star as the mother of a socially awkward boy who has been home-schooled his whole life. When the boy falls in love with a popular one-legged girl, he abandons his mother's suffocating love and enrolls in public school, entering a world of sex, drugs and social studies. Park plays Greer's best friend.

Rideout and Epstein co-wrote the script, and Rideout is directing. Epstein is producing the indie from the Canadian Film Centre and Motion 58 with Adam Folk and executive producer Justine Whyte.

Peters is repped by WME.

Read more: 'Hawaii Five-O' Star Grace Park Joins Judy Greer in 'Public Schooled' (Exclusive)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's food safety watchdog said on Thursday it would have to introduce a quarantine that could hit agricultural exports if there were more outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) at pork breeding facilities in the southern Krasnodar region. The watchdog said on its website a quarantine could affect, for example, grain exports. Analysts said this would be due to concerns ASF - a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever among pigs - could be transmitted via animal feed. Russia is one of the world's largest wheat exporters. However, the Rosselkhoznadzor watchdog played down the significance of the warning when contacted by Reuters. "There is no need to impose any significant restrictions, including export restrictions, now," Aleksey Alekseenko, a spokesman, said. Experts at Rosselkhoznadzor are currently reviewing the situation and conclusions are expected to be made in the next couple of days, he added. There have been ten ASF outbreaks in the Krasnodar region in November. Russia, the world's second-largest wheat exporter which has enforced trade restrictions in previous years, has recently promised a stable tax regime and support for grain traders, whom it will need to boost exports in coming years. Its total 2016 grain crop is expected to reach a record high of 117 million tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry has said. (Reporting by Polina Devitt and Olga Popova; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Clement Uwiringiyimana KIGALI (Reuters) - A Catholic priest who planned to return to Rwanda to register an opposition party and run for president in 2017 was barred from boarding a flight to Kigali on Wednesday, he and his supporters said in a statement. Father Thomas Nahimana, 45, who left Rwanda 11 years ago saying he feared for his safety, and three others in his team were stopped from boarding a connecting flight in Nairobi, they said. Nahimana's planned return was less than a year after a referendum approved a constitutional change to let President Paul Kagame stay on until 2034, if he wins elections. Kagame's government has been praised for transforming a nation that was torn apart by genocide in 1994, but it has also faced criticism from international rights groups and Western donors for stifling free speech, a charge it denies. "As we were preparing to embark, we were greatly surprised to be given the message by Kenya Airways' agents that Rwanda's government had just denied us the right to board this flight and the right of entry to Rwandan territory," according to the statement distributed to journalists in Rwanda. There was no immediate government comment. Nahimana's supporters said he had planned to register his Ishema party, which he set up while abroad, after his arrival and also intended to run in the 2017 presidential election. They said his party's goal was to "unite the Rwandans". Rwanda has one registered opposition party, the Democratic Green Party, but it has no seats in parliament. There are several other parties, but experts say they all broadly back Kagame's ruling party and do not offer any real opposition. Another opposition politician, Victoire Ingabire, returned to Rwanda from abroad to contest the 2010 presidential vote and was subsequently convicted of crimes linked to genocide denial in 2012 and jailed for eight years. Rwandan non-governmental organisation Ibuka, which supports genocide survivors, had called for Nahimana to be arrested on arrival. The group and officials had accused Nahimana of being a genocide revisionist. The Rwandan Catholic church has said Nahimana does not represent the church's position. In 1994, 800,000 people from the ethnic Tutsi minority as well as moderates from the Hutu majority were massacred. Kagame, a Tutsi, led a rebel force into Kigali in 1994 to halt the slaughter. Nahimana, a Hutu, has called Kagame's government a dictatorship and has in the past called for both Tutsi and Hutu victims of the genocide to be remembered, accusing Kagame's ruling party of neglecting the memory of Hutus killed. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alison Williams)
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that the women known as the San Antonio Four be declared innocent and exonerated after almost 15 years in prison, KSAT 12 News reports.

The story of Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez  who were convicted in 1997 of attacking Ramirezs nieces, ages 7 and 9  was the subject of a recent documentary Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, that aired on Investigation Discovery.

Rivera was convicted in December 1997 of sexual assault and sentenced to 37 years. Her friends were each sentenced in February 1998 to 15 years. Rivera was then paroled in 2012, but the other three women were released on bail in 2013 with the help of the Innocence Project of Texas following new evidence.

A judge earlier this year refused to void their convictions while ruling that each was entitled to a new trial.

Ramirez and three of her friends were accused of sexually assaulting her two nieces over a two-day period while Ramirez cared for the young girls at her apartment in San Antonio, Texas in 1994.

I couldnt believe it, Ramirez told PEOPLE this year, recounting her ordeal. I was like, where did they even come up with that? I was like in shock.

Ramirez, then 19, was a fast-food restaurant worker whod recently learned she was pregnant. Her friends, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera, were a lesbian couple raising Riveras two young children from a prior marriage. Like Ramirez, the fourth friend, Kristie Mayhugh, also was gay.

The womens sexuality figured at trial, when prosecutors accused them of cult-like ritual abuse of the victims.

The ruling said Thursday: They are innocent. And they are exonerated. This court grants them the relief they seek.
(Reuters) - Her hair tied into pigtails by matching pink ribbons, seven-year-old Bana Alabed inspects the rubble in her home town of Aleppo, before walking to face the camera. "I am sad. It's so bad," she tells her audience in English in a clip posted on Twitter. She is later seen holding a banner reading: "Stand with Aleppo. Please stop the bombing and end the siege." The video, posted on Tuesday and accompanied by the text "checking in the morning after a night of bombing" is the latest the young girl has shared with her nearly 94,000 Twitter followers depicting life in the war-torn Syrian city. Her account gives a poignant human face to a nearly six-year conflict pitting President Bashar al-Assad against rebels seeking to oust him, in which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their homes. Renewed air strikes, after a pause that lasted several weeks, have worsened conditions in Aleppo's rebel-held east, where residents are short of food, medicine and fuel. On her Twitter account, which is managed by her mother, Alabed shares pictures of the city's bombed buildings and of herself at home. "Good afternoon from #Aleppo I'm reading to forget the war," she said in one post showing Alabed with a book and a doll. A picture posted on Thursday of smoke in the sky had the caption "Good morning from #Aleppo. We are still alive. - Bana." Asked about what they hoped to achieve, Alabed's mother Fatemah, told Reuters via Twitter in English: "Effort to show people our (lives) so they can act. We only tweet what we think of. The video is near our home, our neighbourhood (is) in ruin". The seven-year-old's tweets have gained attention from at least one prominent user of the micro-blogging site. When Fatemah tweeted "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling about her daughter wanting to read one of her stories, the writer and her agent quickly responded. Fatemah said Alabed had since received "Harry Potter" ebooks and would start reading them. Alabed tweeted her thanks with a picture to which the author replied: "Love you too, Bana! Thinking of you, keep safe #Aleppo". (Reporting by Francesca Lynagh and Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Siena (Italy) (AFP) - Shareholders in Italian bank Monte Paschi di Siena (BMPS) approved Thursday a rescue plan that will see up to five billion euros injected into the world's oldest bank still operating today.

The rescue plan that will also see Italy's third-biggest lender offload tens of billions of non-performing loans was approved by the European Central Bank on Tuesday.

Fears about BMPS have led to concern about the health of the entire Italian banking sector, and severe slumps in the share prices of lenders.

Shares in BMPS have fallen by over 80 percent since the start of the year.

Even top Italian bank, Unicredit, has seen its share price plunge by over 60 percent this year.

BMPS intends to raise the up to $5.4 billion in new capital before the end of they year, but that could be complicated by the constitutional referendum next weekend, the failure of which could spark Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's resignation and early elections.

The bank's new chief executive, Marco Morelli, said the rescue plan represents a "fundamental transformation which should allow the bank to reposition itself, with greater force and solid capital, among the leading Italian banking establishments".

The bank hopes that part of the capital can be raised by holders of its bonds converting them into shares.

Morelli also hopes to attract an anchor investor into the bank, and has recently visited the United States, Britain and France to tempt investors.

The bank hopes it can cut the level of capital it needs to raise from the market to 2 to 2.5 billion euros, as the context is not favourable as Unicredit is also expected to tap the markets in early 2017.

BMPS also plans to cut 2,600 jobs and close a quarter of its some 2,000 branches to try to turn the corner.
By Madeline Kennedy (Reuters Health)  Just one in five people over age 60 in the U.S. have been vaccinated against a painful eruption of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, despite recommendations that all of them should get the shot. Shingles is caused by the same virus as chicken pox, which remains dormant in the body and can reactivate in times of stress or when the immune system is weakened. Blood studies indicate that virtually everyone in the U.S. born before 1980 has been exposed to chicken pox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its estimated that among people over age 50, one in three will eventually develop the painful rash, which generally appears as red blisters on the face or side of the body and can also cause long-term nerve damage. After age 80, half of adults have had shingles. The rash usually heals within two to four weeks; however, some people develop ongoing nerve pain which can last for months or even years, said lead author Dongmu Zhang of Merck and Co., Inc., a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company that makes a shingles vaccine. Vaccination of appropriate adults may help to prevent or attenuate herpes zoster, Zhang said by email, adding that the CDC recommends it for all adults over 60. The vaccine is also approved for people aged 50 to 59, though guidelines stop short of recommending it for that age group. The federal governments Healthy People 2020 initiative set a goal of having 30 percent of people over 60 vaccinated by 2020, Zhangs team writes in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. To determine how many older adults are getting the vaccine, the study team used data from two healthcare databases, one including nearly 7 million adults over age 60 and another with 7 million people between 50 and 60. Researchers looked at how many of them received the herpes zoster vaccine between 2007 and 2013. They also looked at factors that might affect whether or not people got the vaccine, including age, sex, geographic area, health insurance type and whether or not the person had a compromised immune system. The team found that by 2013, less than 2 percent of 50 to 60 year olds, 24 percent of adults between 60 and 64 and 15 percent of adults over 65 had received the herpes zoster vaccine. The vaccine was first approved in 2006, and the number of people getting vaccinated each year went up between 2007 and 2013, researchers note. Women and people with normal immune systems were more likely to receive the vaccine, as were people who visited doctors and pharmacies for regular medical care more often. But people who visited emergency rooms and had inpatient hospital stays were less likely to get the vaccine. People who got the flu vaccine were also more likely than those who didnt to have had the herpes zoster vaccine. Zhangs team urges doctors to use routine health encounters like a visit for flu vaccination as opportunities to also educate people about the shingles vaccine and urge them to get it. The pain of shingles can be debilitating and is not easily treated, Dr. Barbara Yawn, a professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, told Reuters Health by email. The pain and itching of shingles can be so bad that people may not be able to do their usual activities, said Yawn, who was not involved in the study. In the oldest group, the disability can be so marked that people are unable to provide their own care and become dehydrated and may end up in the hospital because they cannot even get up to get a drink due to the pain, Yawn added. Shingles is a preventable disease that can have adverse effects on your quality of life, Yawn said. It is better to prevent shingles than try to treat after it has occurred. Herpes zoster is a disease that a vaccine may help to prevent, yet the vaccination rate remains low, Zhang said. It is imperative that people talk with their physician or pharmacist to determine if they are eligible for vaccination against herpes zoster. SOURCE: bit.ly/2gz6hV7 American Journal of Preventive Medicine, online October 26, 2016.
By Carolyn Crist (Reuters Health)  Workers who get less than 11 hours of rest between shifts may be more likely to take sick leave, a Norwegian study suggests. Quick returns, defined as breaks shorter than 11 hours between the end of one shift and the beginning of another, were tied to a 21 percent increase in the odds of nurses taking sick leave the following month. Recent studies suggest these rapid changeovers can be associated with equal or even worse effects on sleep and fatigue than night work, said lead study author Oystein Vedaa of the University of Bergen. Our study also suggests short time for rest between shifts predicts sick leave and night shifts do not, Vedaa told Reuters Health by email. The importance of rest time between shifts has received little attention in previous research. Vedaa and colleagues looked at shift work and sick leave data for 3,700 nurses and nurses assistants at Haukeland University Hospital, one of four public hospitals in western Norway. They asked nurses who worked more than 18 hours per week to participate in a survey, and 1,538 answered questions about themselves as well as their work schedules and sick leave. More than 80 percent of nurses had quick returns during the year and, on average, each had three quick returns per month. More than 70 percent had at least one sick day during the year, averaging one sick leave day per month. Quick returns increased the risk for sick leave during the following month. In addition, prior sick leave increased the risk for future sick leave. Other variables, including sex, age, marital status, children living at home and number of hours worked were not associated with more sick leave. In fact, experience with shift work, measured in years, was associated with a reduced risk for sick leave spells. Researchers also found no link between increased sick leave and personality characteristics associated with high tolerance for shift work, such as high flexibility, low drowsiness after sleep loss and low preference for the morning. The European Working Time Directive says workers are entitled to a minimum 11 hours of daily rest during a 24-hour period. Some healthcare workers in some European countries, however, are exempt from these guidelines. Since quick returns are usually not necessary to maintain staffing, they should be eliminated in shift schedules, the study authors write in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. We cannot abolish night work, however, it should be an easy thing for shift planners to eliminate short rests between shifts, Vedaa said. This seems worthwhile considering it may help reduce sick leave - and the associated costs. Although the study focuses on nurses, the findings could help shift work planning for doctors and medical students as well, said Tom Smith of the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center, who wasnt involved with the study. Smith and colleagues have researched U.S. workers beliefs about and experiences with sick leave in the workplace. We know the serious implications of this, Smith told Reuters Health. When people are overworked and overburdened, there are more accidents and more mistakes. The study focuses on healthcare workers, Smith said, though he would like to see future studies about pilots, bus drivers and other shift-work positions that may face short-break issues. Hed also like to see studies in other countries such as the U.S. because of differences from Norway in demographics and socioeconomic status. In addition, a higher response rate would tell us more about whats typical of all nurses, said Smith. The clinical implications of short breaks between shifts and sick leave are important as well, he said. Quick returns are bad for nurses, which may indicate the effects are bad for patients, too. If nurses are more likely to become sick, then are they forgetting to give medicine or failing to check up on patients? he said. We should think about the potential health care mistakes. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2g58t2b Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, online November 8, 2016.
GOA Indias long-awaited single film shooting permit system is finally being implemented. Execution comes a year after the so-called single window system was announced at the 2015 Film Bazaar in Goa.

The system is to be operated by a new agency called the Film Facilitation Office. It is run by Indias National Film Development Corporation and headed by Vikramjit Roy.

The agency took charge in June and has assisted 14 international productions to date with five more due to be cleared before the end of the year. There are offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

The bureaucracy involved in obtaining permits and police assistance in India sometimes often put off international films from shooting in India. Numerous Indian films also choose to shoot abroad for the same reason.

The vast country has 36 states and union territories. And there are a myriad other offices that permissions have to be sought from, including the Airports Authority of India, the Border Security Force, the Coast Guard, the Archaeological Survey and many more.

The FFO has appointed nodal officers within each of these services who will act as contacts for international productions once a single permission has been applied for. We solve it from macro to micro, Roy told Variety. Clearances will be issued in a maximum of three weeks, he says.

Roy favors a dialog-based solution to practical problems that might arise. He provides the example of Hollywood actor Brendan Fraser who arrived in Mumbai with a tourist visa than a business visa to shoot The Field. The FFO managed to secure permission for Fraser to work using the logic that the tourist visa was issued by the central government and therefore was legal. The FFO is working towards getting a dedicated film visa approved for future shoots.

The FFOs script review board, made up of retired senior civil servants, is instructed not to interfere creatively, but correct factual errors. The script for upcoming German film Nachtschatten stated incorrectly that only fake medicines were available in a certain region of India. Dialog resolved the issue and everybody lived happily ever after, says Roy.

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The next challenge for the FFO is to get the gargantuan system online, and create comprehensive databases. Mumbai-based software agency Mastek has been hired to implement this and the process is likely to take a year.

The FFO is also reaching out to Indias massive domestic film industry in order to next offer the same facilities to Indian productions. In order to incentivize the states and regions a new national film award for most film friendly state has been instituted. The state of Gujarat won the inaugural award this year.

The FFO is a free service for now, but we will charge once weve proved ourselves, says Roy.

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Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia paid tribute Thursday to 12 presidential guards killed in a jihadist bombing a year ago, as questions were raised over a state of emergency still in force despite improved security.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed the attack in central Tunis as well as bombings earlier in 2015 at the Bardo National Museum and at a beach resort that killed 59 foreign tourists and a Tunisian guard.

The state of emergency has been in place since the attack, in spite of government assurances that security has improved in the north African nation.

"The security situation is (now) stable," Prime Minister Youssef Chahed told AFP earlier this month. "I would say that we are no more under threat than other countries in the world."

Tunisia, which relies heavily on money generated from tourism, last witnessed a major security incident in March, when dozens of jihadists assaulted state security installations in a town near the border with strife-torn Libya.

That attack killed 13 security forces members and seven civilians, but authorities praised the army and police response which resulted in the deaths of at least 55 jihadists.

A relative calm has since taken hold, and former prime minister Habib Essid in July hailed the first time the Muslim holy month of Ramadan passed without a jihadist incident in Tunisia since 2012.

"We have invested heavily in military equipment and also in human resources to keep the country secure," Chahed said.

European countries and the United States have stepped up cooperation, and President Beji Caid Essebsi has confirmed the presence of 60-70 US instructors for surveillance drones along the Libyan border.

A security official however insisted that the continued state of emergency was justified.

"Terrorist elements are still moving around in the mountains of the west (bordering Algeria) even though the noose is tightening and a certain number of their leaders have been killed," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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- 'Limits freedom' -

At the start of November, a soldier was killed at his home in the Mount Mghilla area, a key hiding-place of jihadists, in an attack claimed by IS.

The security official said: "Hardly a week goes by without the police dismantling a terrorist cell" or announcing the seizure of weapons and ammunition.

The chaos in Libya alone justifies the state of emergency, according to researcher Rafaa Tabib, an expert on Tunisia's violence-plagued neighbour.

The measure has "helped the security forces in the fight against terrorism. They've been able to carry out raids... and to arrest suspects without judicial warrants."

But rights groups have raised concerns.

It has "limited the freedom of many people placed by the security services under administrative supervision on the slightest suspicion," said Messaoud Romdhani of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH).

Analyst Tarek Belhaj Mohamed said "growing social tensions" in Tunisia, hampered with weak economic growth since its 2011 revolution, were also a factor behind the state of emergency.

In January, a night-time curfew was enforced for several days after unrest in central parts of the country, the worst since the uprising that ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Emergency law allows authorities to ban strikes and meetings that might "provoke or maintain disorder", to temporarily close theatres and bars, and to place controls on media output.

At a ceremony on Thursday for the slain presidential guards, Essebsi unveiled a memorial inside the barracks of the presidential security service in a suburb of Tunis, showing three special agents with their weapons.

Twelve gunshots were fired in the air and the president lit two bowls with a flame brought to the barracks from the scene of the bus bombing, 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.
Its profits could decline by up to 1.7%.

Given Singapore banks exposure to the region, Maybank Kim Eng conducted a sensitivity analysis to assess the FX impact on Singapore banks profits, where: 1) regional currencies (ex-HKD)/USD will depreciate/appreciate by 5% and 10% against SGD; and 2) a 20 and 30bps increase in credit costs on potential higher provisions from USD exposure.

"We assume there are no major systemic risks in the financial system. Our analysis shows that on aggregate, banks profits will decline by less than 2% as the impact of higher credit costs is partly offset by translational gains from USD strength."

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

There will be default risks if corporates/customers are not able to repay USD debt when their domestic currencies depreciate further. In the event of potential higher provisions from USD exposure, we assess the impact by factoring a 20-30bps increase in credit costs on the banks USD loan book.

On an aggregate basis combining both translational FX gains and increase in credit costs, we estimate that FY16-17Es net profits may decline by less than 2% across the banks, ceteris paribus. OCBC may see a larger decline in profits of 1.4-1.7% vs peers 1.2-1.6%.

This can be attributed to OCBCs larger exposure in Malaysia and Indonesia, as PBT from these two countries formed 24% of total PBT as at 9M16. For DBS, translation effects of stronger USD partly offset the higher provisions from its larger USD loan exposure.





More From Singapore Business Review


(Reuters) - Another child has died as a result of a school bus crash earlier this week in Tennessee, police said on Wednesday, raising the total killed to six.

Chattanooga Police announced the death in a brief statement on Twitter, but provided no additional information. Johnthony Walker, 24, has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. Several other children remained in the hospital as of Wednesday.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Peter Pan is heading to Washington, D.C. Fox series Sleepy Hollow, which has been significantly revamped following Abbie Mills tragic death, has cast a Once Upon A Time actor in a recurring role.

Robbie Kay, who also played the lead role of Tommy Clark on NBCs Heroes Reborn, has joined Sleepy Hollow Season 4 as a handsome Internet star named Logan MacDonald, Deadline reports. He is loved by numerous tween girls around the world including Molly Thomas (Oona Jaffe), the daughter of Secret Service Agent Diana Thomas (Janina Gavankar).

Robbie Kay

Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn

Diana is replacing Nicole Beharies Abbie Mills as the Ichabod Cranes (Tom Mison) new partner and fellow witness. Crane and Abbies sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) will head to Washington, D.C. in Season 4 where he will meet a new villain  an eccentric tech mogul named Malcolm Dreyfuss (Jeremy Davies) and some allies in the form of Jake Wells (Jerry MacKinnon), an expert on supernatural phenomena, and engineering prodigy Alex Norwood (Rachel Melvin).

Ichabods son and sin-eater Henry Parrish (John Noble) and the Headless Horseman will be seen in Sleepy Hollow Season 4.

Sophie Foster (Jessica Camacho), Daniel Reynolds (Lance Gross) and Betsy Ross (Nikki Reed) will no longer be seen in the supernatural drama.

Last season ended with the tragic death of Abbie after she sacrificed her life in order to stop The Hidden One (Peter Mensah) and Pandora (Shannyn Sossamon). Much to the chagrin of fans, Sleepy Hollow chose to say goodbye to Beharie and Abbie. Moreover, despite being unable to replicate the success of its freshman season, the series was renewed for a fourth season.

The show will no longer be set in Sleepy Hollow.

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Sleepy Hollow Season 4 premieres on Friday, Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. EST on Fox. The first episode is titled Columbia.

SleepyHeads, what do you think of the new Season 4 cast? Drop them in the comments section below!

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Baidoa (Somalia) (AFP) - With its security-sealed plastic boxes and cardboard polling booths, Somalia's election - under way since last month and still ongoing - has the trappings of democracy, but few of the functions.

Last week in the western city of Baidoa, 51 handpicked representatives of the Reer Aw Hassan clan took an hour to vote unanimously for Abdiweli Ibrahim Ali Sheikh Mudey, a current minister and the only candidate to show up on the day.

Among Mudey's backers were 15 enthusiastic female voters. "We selected the most beautiful man!" cheered one as Mudey smiled in his dark aviator sunglasses, a garland of purple tinsel round his neck.

Just 14,025 of the Somalia's perhaps 12 million citizens are voting for 275 MPs, who will join 54 appointed senators in voting for a new president, in an election described as "limited".

"It is a unique process and must be analysed within its uniqueness," said Deqa Yasin, the deputy chair of the national election body, the Federal Indirect Election Implementation Team.

The voting process has been drawn-out and deadlines repeatedly missed, and it is unclear when the presidential stage will take place.

Somalis were promised a one-person, one-vote election.

But political infighting, backsliding and prevarication, combined with insecurity mainly due to Shabaab militants who control swathes of countryside and strike at will in Mogadishu and other towns, meant that plan was ditched last year.

Instead a complicated hotchpotch is in place.

It falls far short of a democratic election, but promises to be better than the last vote in 2012, when 135 clan elders nominated all the MPs.

- Clan control continues -

In the absence of parties, clans remain at the heart of the process. MP's seats are divvied up according to region and clan, with candidates voted for by "electoral colleges" of 51 representatives selected by elders.

That makes it roughly 100 times more inclusive than 2012, as officials are keen to point out.

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Often the vote itself is ceremonial, with the winner negotiated in advance followed by the ritual placing of slips in ballot boxes.

In another country the election might be dismissed as a sham, but Somalia's long history of conflict means this is being counted as progress.

"My voice mattered in this election," said Halima Suleiman, a 31-year-old woman who also voted for Mudey. Like her, many of those chosen to vote hail from Somalia's international diaspora.

Mohamed Abdi Omar, an elder, said: "This is the first time we have seen people selecting their candidates."

Somalis queued to vote in 1969 but since then civil war, government collapse, warlords and Islamist insurgents have ensured no election was held.

After 2000 a series of transitional governments were formed abroad until, in 2012, the current parliament was appointed in the capital Mogadishu.

Now voting is taking place in regional towns, strengthening the federalism that has built in recent years and is helping to defuse the zero-sum game for control of the capital.

For Michael Keating, the top UN official in Somalia, the goal of the process is "to figure out whether and how a peaceful transfer of political power is possible."

He listed numerous problems with the election: "intimidation, candidates being prevented from putting their names forward or prevented physically from going to locations. There's a lot of money changing hands."

- Disputes, corruption, winners -

Mohamed Nur, short and sweating in an oversized dark suit and tie, was like Mudey the sole candidate for his Shambara clan's seat in the southern port city of Kismayo.

"Before the election date had not yet approached we made consultations and the rest of the candidates have agreed to endorse my candidacy," he said, surrounded by a gaggle of cheering supporters.

Elsewhere in Kismayo, others were still setting the stage for the democratic theatre to come, and elders from the Rer Hassan clan were angry.

There were rumours that over half of their chosen delegates had been replaced in an effort to rig the vote.

Dubadh Isaac Mohammed, a rheumy-eyed elder in a traditional hat, scarf, sarong and short-sleeved shirt - all red like his henna-dyed goatee beard - demanded to see the final approved list, accusing local election officials of "trying to steal our vote!"

Local election chief Ali Abdi Raghe angrily dismissed the allegation.

Like his counterpart in Baidoa, Mohamed Mursal, Raghe is a close ally of the regional president ("his right and left hand," as one foreign observer put it) leading to suspicions that pre-existing power brokers are controlling even this limited electoral process.

"The important thing is that the delegates and candidates are from the region and are voting in the region," Mursal said.

For now, politics remains an elite game to which most Somalis are not invited -- and they will have to wait at least another four years for a more democratic election.

"It's a legitimate question: what are they going to get out of this process?" said Keating. "It's a tough one to answer."
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Treasury said on Wednesday it supported the report by a government-appointed advisory panel that suggested a national minimum wage of 3,500 rand ($245) per month, throwing its political weight behind the policy initiative. "The report represents ... an important milestone in our government's efforts over the years in this regard," Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was quoted as saying in a statement. Supporters of a minimum wage say it can stimulate growth as workers can spend more while reducing inequality. Critics say it could lead to increased unemployment as employers will be unable to afford higher wage bills. ($1 = 14.2299 rand) (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Alison Williams)
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean investigators on Thursday raided the offices of Lotte Group, SK Group and government agencies as part of a widening probe into alleged influence-peddling that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye, Yonhap news agency reported.

The raids came a day after prosecution investigators carried out related searches at offices of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate and the parent of global smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

The businesses are suspected of providing money to organisations controlled or owned by Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of Park, to win government favours in relation to duty free licences, Yonhap reported.

A Lotte Group spokesman confirmed the company's offices had been raided but gave no further details. An SK Group spokesman had no information on the matter and a prosecution spokesman was not available for comment.

Prosecutors on Sunday indicted Choi and a former aide of Park on charges of colluding to pressure companies to contribute funds to foundations at the centre of the scandal.

The finance ministry and customs service, which oversee duty free licences, were also raided, Yonhap reported. A finance ministry official confirmed the raid but a customs official had no information.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Joyce Lee, Cynthia Kim and Jane Chung; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Spain has confirmed its position as a new hotspot for food lovers. Riding high on the Spanish food scene, chef Martin Berasategui, has scooped three Michelin stars for his Lasarte restaurant in Barcelona, a rating also held by his eponymous restaurant in Spain's Basque Country. Plus, the 2017 edition sees no less than 28 two-star eateries listed in the Michelin Guide to Spain and Portugal.

Martin Berasategui joins rank with a select few chefs in the world who have two triple Michelin-starred restaurants to their name. His self-titled restaurant in Lasarte-Oria is a key stop-off for fans of fine dining visiting the region of San Sebastian. In fact, Spanish Basque Country is famous for its wealth of high-quality restaurants, with the Arzak family notably prominent on the scene.

Martin Berasategui also brings his vision of haute cuisine to Spain's west coast, with another gastronomic restaurant, Lasarte in Barcelona. Here, the chef is supported in the kitchen by Paolo Casagrande, serving a cuisine that is "surprising and particularly imaginative," says Michael Ellis, Michelin Guides' international director. Dishes are refined and come presented with great attention to detail. Ellis goes on to say that "Some of his great creations make it possible to gauge the full extent of this chef's creativity: unique creativity in the service of an almost exceptional taste experience, elevating this restaurant to the position of one of the meccas of world cuisine."

With the addition, Spain now counts nine three-star restaurants.

A long list of two-star eateries

While France only counts 10 two-star restaurants in the latest Guide, the 2017 Spain and Portugal edition sees 28 restaurants awarded two stars, with 23 in Spain and five in Portugal. With a list like that, there's something for all tastes and in all regions. However, further down the Costa Blanca, Alicante stands out for its upsurge in culinary quality, in particular with Escalata in Cocentaina and BonAmb in Xabia.

The future of Spain's gastronomic scene seems assured, with 15 restaurants newly crowned with one Michelin star. Catalonia confirms its status as an unmissable destination for food lovers thanks to Celeri, focusing on a raw no-cook cuisine, and Xerta, serving contemporary Mediterranean cuisine.

With its vibrant energy, the gastronomy of Spain almost overshadows that of neighboring Portugal, with which it shares a Michelin Guide. Portuguese cuisine is, however, on the up, Michelin resumes, with two new two-star restaurants and seven eateries gaining one star.
Actor Tom Holland donned his red and blue Spider-Man suit as he delighted children in a New York hospital this week, but one pint-sized Batman fan was clearly waiting for someone else.

Holland and Spider-Man: Homecoming co-stars Zendaya and Jacob Batalon took a break from filming and walked into New York-Presbyterian Hospital to lift up the spirits of its smaller patients.

Read: Super Students Dress as Batman, Captain America and Other Heroes for Prom

To pull off the spectacle, Holland suited up in the famous costume, which has been delighting kids since Spider-Mans inception in 1962.

Hey buddy, what's up, Holland says in the video posted to Instagram as he visits one of the kids. Im Spider-Man, nice to meet you."

What a beautiful day at the @nyphospital. Thank you so much for having us and making this happen. Always love being back with the squad @Zendaya and @lifeisaloha. #poopoo @lollipoptheatrearts A video posted by  (@tomholland2013) on Nov 22, 2016 at 1:31pm PST

The boy, Nicholas, who was wearing a Batman t-shirt, was clearly more of a Dark Knight kind of guy.

"So do you like Batman better than Spider-Man? Holland asks, to which the boy nodded.

Flabbergasted, Holland shoots back: What? Why is that? Whats better about Batman?

The adorable child responded: Poo poo.

Read: Will Spider-Man Scuffle With Cops Trigger a Superhero Crackdown

In a video posted to Hollands Instagram account, Holland wrote: "What a beautiful day at the @nyphospital. Thank you so much for having us and making this happen. Always love being back with the squad @Zendaya and @lifeisaloha."

The new Spider-Man film opens in theaters next year.

Watch: Swat Team 'Superheroes' Scale Hospital Building to Make Sick Children Smile

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It will be broadcasted on a 24-hour format.

As people in Singapore welcome the festive season with shopping sprees, StarHub TV launched 24-hour shopping channel GoShop in partnership with Astro Malaysia.

Go Shop, a Mandarin shopping channel, will be on Channel 110. It will be available on StarHub Go, the telco's streaming service, by early next year.

StarHub TV head of content Lee Soo Hui said Go Shop will introduce special offers on TV through innovative bundling.

Shopping is a favourite pastime of Singaporeans, whether it is online or at the mall. Go Shops extensive catalogue, accompanied with detailed product demonstrations, will enable our viewers to make informed decisions before making that purchase from the comfort of their living rooms," Lee noted.

To make purchases on Go Shop, customers have to log on the shop's website. Payment can be made via selected credit or debit cards. The products will then be delivered to the customer within two to three days with no additional shipping fee.







More From Singapore Business Review


Baghdad (AFP) - Here is a look at the latest developments on the ground on the main fronts of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, as of 1800 GMT on Friday:

IRAQ

- Battle for Mosul -

Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group deep inside Mosul were urged by an aid group to create safe exits for residents.

The International Rescue Committee also predicted that the fighting to retake IS's northern stronghold would last until the spring of 2017 and worried that the trapped population would run out of supplies or take huge risks to flee.

Since the October 17 start of a broad offensive to retake Mosul, Iraqi forces have already recaptured several eastern neighbourhoods despite fierce jihadist resistance.

A senior Iraqi commander said Wednesday that 40 percent of eastern Mosul had now been retaken.

Iraqi forces are also closing in on Mosul airport south of the city.

SYRIA

- Raqa -

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, is advancing in the desert as it tries to push closer to IS's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.

The SDF has been battling the jihadists to drive them from positions some 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city.

- Battle for Aleppo -

The Syrian army advanced in Aleppo after pounding the city's rebel-held east with air strikes and shelling that killed dozens.

State television said army units were advancing into Masaken Hanano, east Aleppo's largest district.

Almost 190 civilians, including 19 children, have been killed in east Aleppo since the latest assault began on November 15, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Another 16 civilians, including 10 children, have been killed in rebel fire on western Aleppo, it says.

- Other fronts -

Syrian rebels backed by Turkish forces are inching closer to the IS stronghold of Al-Bab in Aleppo province, as they press Ankara's Operation "Euphrates Shield" to expel IS from the border area.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Syrian conflict with his Russian Counterpart Vladimir Putin after the Turkish army accused Damascus of killing four soldiers in northern Syria on Thursday.
GENEVA (Reuters) - One of Sudan's largest rebel groups, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), signed an accord on Wednesday with the United Nations to end the use of child soldiers, a U.N. representative said. There has been fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, when adjacent South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum. Talks to secure a lasting ceasefire in the three warring regions under a road map for peace collapsed earlier this year, less than a week after they began. SPLM-North chairman Malik Agar signed an action plan at a ceremony in Geneva outlining measures to end recruitment of children under the age of 18 and release those currently in the group's ranks. "SPLM-N is firmly committed to the protection of children in conflict and today's signing is a continuity of that commitment," Agar said following the ceremony. Neither Agar nor U.N. officials present at the ceremony provided figures on the number of child soldiers involved in the conflict. A U.N. statement said the group would be removed from a list of parties accused of child recruitment in its annual report on children and armed conflict upon completion of all steps agreed to in the action plan. U.N. officials said they signed a similar agreement with Khartoum in March 2016 and hoped to complete more with the country's other major rebel groups. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Alison Williams)
Khartoum (AFP) - Around 300 Sudanese students and schoolchildren marched in the capital Khartoum on Thursday, defying government efforts to quell persistent protests against fuel subsidy cuts that have led to spiralling prices.

Dozens of anti-riot policemen and security service agents moved in to disperse the demonstration, cordoning off the north Khartoum neighbourhood where it was held, an AFP correspondent reported.

"No, no to high prices. Bring down prices of medicines," the marchers shouted.

The cuts have led to a nearly 30 percent hike in the price of fuel, leading to stiff increases in the cost of other goods, including medicines.

A previous round of fuel subsidy cuts in 2013 sparked serious unrest that was only suppressed with a deadly crackdown that drew international condemnation.

The government has been determined to avoid any repetition and has rounded up at least a dozen opposition leaders whose parties had called for protests, the latest four prominent leftists on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that 26 people arrested during protests would face trial on charges of breach of the peace.

The government has been forced to progressively cut fuel subsidies since 2011 when South Sudan seceded, taking with it nearly three-quarters of the formerly united country's oil reserves.
LIMA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Peru's fiscal deficit ballooned to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter as the current deficit narrowed to 2.3 percent, central bank data showed Thursday.

The government of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former investment banker who took office in July, is aiming to trim the annualized fiscal deficit to 3.0 percent by the end of year before cutting it to 2.5 percent in 2017.

The central bank said in September that it expects a 3.8 percent current account deficit in all of 2016 and a 3.4 percent gap next year.

The following is a breakdown of quarterly results:

Q3 Q2 Q3 2015 Curr -2.3 -3.5 -5.1 Acct as Pct of GDP Curr -1.140 -1.744 -2.472 Acct bln bln bln balance in dollars Fiscal -4.4 -0.2 -3.2 balance as Pct of GDP

(Reporting By Mitra Taj; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan is updating its foreign ministry website listing the times it says China blocked its international space, a move endorsed by the island's independence-leaning ruling party on Thursday. The list, last in use when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was last in power from 2000-2008, comes after official communication channels between Taiwan and China ceased with Taiwan President and DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen taking office in May. China says Taiwan is part of "one China", ruled by Beijing. It regards the island as a renegade province, ineligible for state to state relations, to be united by force if necessary. "I don't know the details of the updates," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday in Beijing when asked about the website. "On 'Taiwan's international space' issue, we have always stressed the 'one China' principle and its handling. This is also the general consensus in the international community." Taiwan has only a handful of allies in the world, including the Vatican. In March, China resumed ties with the small west African state of Gambia, one of only a few African countries, along with Burkina Faso, Swaziland and Sao Tome and Principe, to recognize Taiwan. China's actions "will only increase a negative perception" of China by Taiwan and "adversely affects the long-term relationship" of both sides, DPP spokeswoman Chiu Li-li said in statement. The list includes working-level international meetings Taiwan delegations were barred from attending, sometimes due to their Taiwan passports, the ministry said. It also includes a snub by a UN aviation agency from inviting Taiwan to a meeting in September. Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognizes China. The most recent incident on the list involves the title of former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou in the handbook of an international conference he attended in Malaysia last week. His title was changed to "former leader" from "former president", according to the ministry. Beijing distrusts the DPP because it traditionally advocates independence for Taiwan, which has been self-ruled since Chiang Kai-shek's defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Thai prosecutors have charged a string of tour operators with ripping off Chinese tourists, police said Thursday, as the kingdom cracks down on scams targeting their most lucrative visitors.

China sends more people to Thailand than any other nation and tourism remains one of the few bright spots in the kingdom's otherwise bleak economy.

But complaints have soared in recent years over dodgy tour guides and practices, particularly so-called "zero-dollar" scams.

Such schemes promise Chinese package tourists an impossibly cheap or free holiday only to pile on excessive charges once they arrive in Thailand.

Prosecutors this week charged 13 people from seven different Thai tour operators.

"They are charged with organised crime offences, joint money laundering and illegally running tourist operations without permission," deputy national police spokesman Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen told AFP.

Local media, citing Bangkok's Criminal Court, said the companies made as much as $2.7 million through the scams.

Court officials did not respond to requests for comment.

In recent years China has played a major role in keeping Thailand's tourist boom rolling.

Tourism authorities say they are on course to receive a record 32 million visitors this year, up from 30 million last year.

Nearly one third will come from China with 9.1 million expected, a 14 percent increase on the previous year.

Thailand's junta, which has moved closer to Beijing since seizing power in 2014, is desperate to avoid any tail-off in Chinese visitor numbers.

So far tourists from Thailand's giant regional neighbour have kept on coming despite some major setbacks.

Last year 20 people were killed, most of them ethnic Chinese tourists, when a bomb went off at a religious shrine in the centre of Bangkok.

Two ethnic Uighurs, a persecuted in minority in China, are currently on trial over the attack.

Authorities are keen to stamp out scams, aware they can do just as much to damage tourism as bombs.

"These scandals not only impact the country's economy... it also impacts our reputation," Krissana added.

"In turn we expect to receive more quality tourists coming in, not just Chinese but other nationalities too."
Evacuation Day

If you asked a New Yorker, or anyone from the Northeastern Seaboard for that matter, 150 years ago if they were excited for Thanksgiving you would have received a blank stare.

Instead, that individual would likely be quickly preparing for the major late-November holiday of the time: Evacuation Day.

Prior to President Lincoln's establishment of Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday  a decision that followed the Union victory at Gettysburg in an attempt to foster national unity  Thanksgiving simply did not exist as a standard celebration.

States and communities within the Northeast celebrated the idea of giving thanks, but it was never a widespread national event linked to a certain day, as it is now.

Instead, November 25th was a day for national celebration for a vastly different reason.

On November 25, 1783 the last British troops withdrew from Manhattan, signaling the end of the Revolutionary War.

Grant Stoddard, writing for Cafe, recounts the birth of Evacuation Day:

Washington's triumphal entry into [Manhattan] was delayed as the last Union flags that still flew were torn down. British soldiers went to the pains of flying a Union flag in Battery Park and greasing the flagpole. (The spiteful lubrication was intended to make removing the flag exceptionally difficult and all but ensured that it would still be in view as their ships departed.)

But as soon as British vessels raised sail, patriots did their all to remove it and replace it with the Stars and Stripes. Wooden cleats were quickly cut and nailed into the pole.

Despite the grease, Continental Army veteran John Van Arsdale managed to clamber up the pole and rip down the flag while the British were still in view of the harbor.

In retaliation, the British fired a single cannon towards crowds lining Staten Island, but the shot fell short.

Story continues

The celebration of Evacuation Day continued until the lead-up to World War I, as a secular feast featuring plentiful amounts of food and liquor. The completion of the holiday was a competitive reenactment of clambering up an oiled pole to rip down a British flag.

Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

As relations with Britain warmed  and perhaps because the US and Britain were such close allies in World War I  interest in Evacuation Day was quickly subsumed by Thanksgiving.

But Evacuation Day should at least be brought back into the public conscience. Not because of any lingering ill will towards the British, of course. But rather because it's aa celebration, in properly unique fashion, of a newly established United States.

Along with the celebration of kicking out the British, Evacuation Day also serves as a poignant reminder that Americans died trying to free Manhattan from British rule  a place that's now the site of the US's greatest and most iconic city.

Over 10,000 Revolutionary soldiers and sailors perished aboard British prison ships in Brooklyn's Wallabout Bay (near the present-day Brooklyn Navy Yard) during the seven year British occupation of the city  a total that exceeds the number of soldiers killed in battles throughout the war.

By celebrating Evacuation Day, the US can help remember these thousands of early American patriots, and commemorate the end of America's founding conflict.





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The stars want to stuff your holiday stockings. (Photo: Getty Images/Illustration by Alex Alonzo)

Gift guides usually are divided into standard categories, such as presents for dads, dog lovers, or fitness fanatics. But there arent enough suggestions for celebrity fanatics  people who mourned the tragic split of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, coveted Rihannas bold style, and enjoyed every out-there quote that philosopher-in-training Willow Smith dropped in the last 12 months. This year, weve tracked down some celebrity products just as ridiculous and extravagant as the world of celebrity itself and divided them into very specific categories for your convenience. Happy shopping!

For the romantic still reeling from the Brangelina split: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolies Miraval wine, $98-$139 for six bottles.

Brangelinas wine is still being sold. (Photo: Miraval/Getty Images)

Wine from the French estate the A-listers share  and, sniff, where they were married  would impress at a party. After all, its a piece of celebrity history. Who knows what will happen to the brand in years to come? Even if it continues, presumably the ownership will change, and sipping a glass of it will probably feel different to Brangelina fans. In fact, you might want to buy a bottle for yourself to keep for posterity.

For the person who misses Mileys sweet dog Floyd: Miley Cyruss Floyd hood, $24.95

RIP, Floyd. (Photo: Live Nation Merchandise/Getty Images)

Cyrus turned her sadness about the 2014 loss of her pup Floyd into exactly the kind of fashion statement she would make. Its a bonus that it captures the cuteness of her beloved pooch. However, you should probably avoid giving it to anyone who has cats.

For the person who shares Whoopis love of goofy holiday garb: Whoopi Goldbergs ugly holiday sweater, $100-$139

Whoopi Goldberg offers a variety of holiday sweaters. (Photo: Lord & Taylor/Getty Images)

The View co-host understands that no one should be without a quality piece at this years ugly-sweater party. Seriously, why go to a secondhand store when you can spend more than the cost of a familys holiday feast on a cashmere sweater from Lord & Taylor? You might even wear it more than once!

Get a collection of Kathy Griffins gossip in one book. (Photo: Flatiron Books/Getty Images)

For the person who cant get enough celebrity gossip: Kathy Griffins Celebrity Run-Ins book, $16.06 (hardcover)

Not everyone will cross paths with Leonardo DiCaprio, Demi Lovato, or Woody Allen in their lives, but they can feel like they did with the stories that Griffin tells about them in her latest tome. And because the storyteller is Kathy Griffin, expect them to be hilarious. Note: The book should pair well with the Miraval wine.

Story continues

The rapper sells barware. (Photo: popcultureliving.com/Getty Images)

For the person who loves to get the party started: Flo Ridas South Beach Cocktail Set, $216

The Miami rappers collection for lifestyle company Pop Culture Living combines a sense of celebrity bling with high-class living and an affinity for all things beautiful, or at least thats what the website promises. Cant you just see your friends mingling over this set to the tune of My House? The only issue is that the tray pictured is the entire set. The accessories are going to cost at least $106 more. #celebrityproblems

Glitter like Ivanka in this blingy bracelet. (Photo: ivankatrumpfinejewelry.com/Getty Images)

For the Trump supporter who likes to stand out: Ivanka Trumps mixed cut diamond cuff bracelet, $47,000

Wow. Ivankas mixed cut diamond cuff, made of diamonds and 18-karat white gold, is a stunner. In fact, the piece from Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry might attract so much attention at your familys holiday gathering that you wont have time to argue over the presidential election. Everyone wins! (Except, of course, the kids whose college tuition was spent on the jewelry.)

These socks come with a wisdom beyond their years. (Photo: Stance/Getty Images)

For the person looking for wisdom from a 16-year-old: Willow Smiths Earth vs. Cosmo socks, $18

The precocious daughter of actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith (and sister of superhero Jaden Smith) designed a line of socks for Stance that actually would make an affordable stocking stuffer. And yet it still captures Willow perfectly, with whimsical designs and names for each of the styles. I just learned that each time we see a full moon, its one-quarter of a centimeter farther away from Earth! the teen told Vogue when her collection was announced. That just inspires me to show the world that crazy shifts and happenings arent just occurring on Earth. Things are going on in all corners of the universe. See?

Fancy up your sweatpants with RiRis help. (Photo: PUMA/Getty Images)

For the woman who dislikes traditional sweatpants: Rihannas faux fur sweatpants, $1,200

We admit the audience for this product is small, if it does in fact exist. The luxe piece from RiRis Fenty for Puma collection should be just as comfortable as the sweats youve worn in the past  they still feature pockets and an elastic waistband  but theyll just be a lot more stylish and a lot more expensive.

JT wants to help you into a suit and tie. (Photo: Live Nation Merchandise/Getty Images)

For the person who likes to act out the Suit & Tie video: Justin Timberlakes Collectors Keepin It Classy bow tie, $14.95

Anyone can look (well, almost) as good as the former NSync star does when hes all fancied up in his 2013 clip with Jay Z. The recipient can even brag about being endorsed by Timberlake himself, since JT is printed all over the tie. Voice and dance moves not included.

Of course, she has holiday products to sell. (Photo: kimkardashianwest.com/Getty Images)

For the person who exclusively uses celebrity emojis to communicate: Kim Kardashians Kimoji cry face collage wrapping paper, $35

Celebrity enthusiasts will be thrilled with anything packaged in Kim K.s gift wrap. Which is good, because after buying it you wont have a lot left over for buying something to wrap! The paper also is likely to inspire stimulating conversation about the Kardashian clan. Will Kim one day be our first lady? How soon will Dream and North get their own spinoff? The possibilities are endless.
When they are not busy with their catering service, they can be spotted at the Dastkar Mela.

As I walked through Dastkar, packed with people checking out stalls selling traditional arts and crafts, essential oils, plant seeds, clothes and food, there was a distinct crowd that was drawn to the whiff of spices that came from the stall of Ilham.

Ilham, which means 'positive in the Dari language, is a catering initiative that was born after hours of talks between UNHCR, ACCESS Development Services, an organization that builds livelihoods and the Afghan women enlisted with them. Behind this counter were women clad in salwar-kameez and head scarves, rapidly chatting amongst themselves while cooking and taking orders at the same time. There was a method to this I was yet to discover.

More From 101 India: People



These women are refugees who came to India at different points of time. Widowed and war torn, with hope of a better life for themselves and their kids, they came here to seek asylum and a dignified future. The influx of Afghan refugees to India started in 1979 when the Soviet invaded Kabul and continued through the civil rebellion against the Taliban regime. At present, there are nearly 11000 Afghan refugees registered with the UNHCR living in pockets of Delhi.

With smiling faces, they welcomed me with a cup of Afghan tea and fresh from the oven Afghan Kulchas.

Hello, greeted Qadria, a middle aged woman in her 50s, with a shy and kind smile.

Qadria was the only one who could speak Hindi. As I started talking to her, I realized her Hindi was flawless with no grammatical errors.

Where did you learn Hindi?

Bollywood, she said with a laugh.

That cant be serious! But she was. Qadria is a big Bollywood fan. So much so that she taught herself Hindi to understand the movies better.

Like Sunday is a holiday for you in India, Friday is a holiday in Afghanistan. I watched a movie every Friday and bought a Hindi dictionary to teach myself. I wanted to understand the dialogues better.

Story continues

The Ilham Stall at Dastkar

Even if the other women couldnt understand Hindi, they joined the club at this point. They were all huge Bollywood fans and missing a Bollywood conversation was a sin.

Whos your favourite Bollywood actor?

Salman Khan, giggled Farhat. Her 7-year-old son, Zian, whos a huge SRK fan, came around at this point and winked at me like a perfect Bollywood hero act. It was a Khan vs Khan war right here. He even danced to a song before he left.

Naseema, who was busy baking cakes, was easily distracted by Bollywood and giggled her way through the conversation.

Farhat handling the deals

So, why did you decide to cook? I asked Qadria.

I was a high school teacher. I did my Teachers Training Course. I thought Ill get a teaching job in India but had to settle for cooking.

How do you manage so many orders?

Back in Afghanistan, we had a lot of parties at home where many people gathered. I cooked for many people then. Thats how I learned to cook for a crowd.

More From 101 India: Monica Liu: The Don Of Chinatown | 101 Traces



On second thoughts, women have been cooking in their kitchen for generations but theres been no money attributed to this.

How many orders do you get in a month?

In the beginning we got quite a few orders. We even went to the Taj Hotel and cooked for 250 people and were greatly lauded. We delivered food to the US embassy too. But in the last one month, we havent got any orders.

Do you miss anything about Afghanistan?

After coming to India, I saw so many vegetables. I have never seen so many vegetables in my whole life. But theres one called Gandana (or the Afghan leek), that I like so much but cant find here. However, once I did see it in the INA market, but it was very expensive, around 200 rupees for a small bunch that I didnt buy it.

I promised to let her know if I found gandana for a reasonable price anywhere in Delhi.

Qadrias favourite Indian dishes are dosas and momos. She goes to Central Market often and treats herself to these. They have a similar preparation to momos in Afghan Cuisine but according to her, nothing beats the spicy sauce they are served with here. Her eyes light up at the thought.

Chapali Kebabs being prepared. Photo source: Pinterest

What about your family? Who do you stay with?

I have two sons and two daughters. My older son is 19. Hes registered with an open school at the moment. When he studied in Afghanistan, he was taught the course in German. He did not know English at all when we came to India. In six months, hes learnt the language and started working in a call center. But now because of issues with his visa, hes been asked to leave the job. Hes a talented, hard working and smart boy but we have been burdened by circumstances. My other children are sitting at home and I feel quite helpless. My eldest son wanted to be an engineer but I cannot do anything about it. I was a teacher and it saddens me to see my kids suffer. I feel sad.

With problems of not getting a visa extension, despite UNHCR intervention, they face problems in renting out houses, opening bank accounts, receiving quality education and getting jobs.

At this time, people flooded the stall. Kabuli Pulao, Chapali Kebabs, Khajurs (Afghani donuts) and Kulchas (Afghani biscuits that have a sweet gingery taste) were a hot favourite of the crowd.

The famous Kabuli Pulao that got over in no time. Photo source: Kasmirobserver.com

I decided to chill with Zian (Farhats son). He, on the other hand, was busy making Bajre Ki Roti. It was a pleasure watching him cook. The stall next to Ilham was a Rajasthani food stall and Zian made the cook give him a lesson in roti making. He showed off his skills, ate half the roti and offered the other half. Zian knows Hindi and sings Hindi songs every two minutes. He is a crowd charmer and makes friends with almost everyone he spots.

Amidst the flurry of orders, I spotted Naseema whipping up cake batter and queueing them up for the oven. I sat next to her and participated in the process. She often spoke in Dari to me that I miserably and obviously failed to understand.

When Qadria finally joined us, I asked her why Naseema was baking incessantly.

Today is the last day of Dastkar, she replied.

They will take away the oven today. So shes baking cakes for her kids back home and working harder than everybody else to take this extra time out.

Naseema is busy whipping up batters. Shes too shy to look up

Initiatives like Dastkar help them to earn. They participated in Dastkar last year too and look forward to the next one from 15th to 26th December. Cooking gives them the therapy they need to tuck their past away.

Currently their delivery service has stopped because they dont have the capital to invest. They have pick up points for their food though - one near Sai Mandir, Khirki Extension and the other near Jain Temple, Bhogal. If you want to get a taste of the food prepared by Ilham, you have to write in to aditisabbarwal@accessdev.org which I highly recommend.

More From 101 India: The Kabuliwalas of Kolkata | 101 Traces



Like a helpless lump of cornflour that gets turned into a tortilla under perfect heat, ACCESS helped in providing them with an identity, work that keeps them closer to home.

Where do you see your future? I asked Qadria.

Future, she smiled, is best kept in the future. No one could have put it more simply.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101India.com.

By Priyanjana Roy Das

Photographs by Priyanjana Roy Das
Wildfires that have been burning across Israel since Tuesday have continued to spread, reaching Haifa, Israel's third-largest city. The fires, which the government has partially blamed on arsonists, have forced the temporary closure of a major Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.

While there have been no major injuries yet, AFP reports that 50,000 of the citys nearly 250,000 residents have been evacuated. The fire is out of control and is spreading from one house to the other, rescue service chief, Naftali Rottenberg told public radio.

Residents in eight other neighborhoods have been told to leave due to six different fires that are spreading. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that four evacuation centers have been set up.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said some of the fires were started by arsonists, but police chief Roni Alsheich said not all fires are connected to the act and wanted to put an end to the rumor as he believes it will motivate those who want to cause terror, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Extreme weather such high temperatures and dry winds are also causing the fire to spread. When you have simultaneous fires raging you cant rule out the possibility of arson. All leads are being pursued, but our first priority is to extinguish the fire. The extreme weather is making it difficult, and we are preparing for an intense couple of days, Fire and Rescue Services Coastal District Commander Amos Yaakov told Israel Today.

Although no deaths have yet to be reported, the national ambulance service said 35 people have been treated for smoke inhalation. There have also been reports of residents being trapped by flames.

We evacuated three neighborhoods and there are people who are stuck, fire department spokesman Kayed Daher told AFP. The fire is still burning and the flames are approaching a gas station.

Israel Wildfires

Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner

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Thousands of migrants fleeing to Europe were rescued from the Mediterranean by the Italian Coast Guard between Tuesday, November 22 and Wednesday, November 23.

On Tuesday, the coast guard conducted 12 separate rescue missions which saved 1,397 migrants. During the operations, eight bodies were recovered, according to local news outlet Telemia.

Tuesdays operations ended with an overnight rescue that spilled into early Wednesday morning, the operation (seen in the footage dated November 23), saved 374 migrants, according to the coast guards Twitter.

Reuters reported the coast guard also coordinated a helicopter airlift for three migrants in need of immediate hospital care off the coast of Libya (as seen in the last two videos). Credit: YouTube/Guardia Costiera via Storyful
Ankara (Turkey) (AFP) - The Turkish army blamed the Syrian regime for an air strike Thursday in northern Syria that killed three soldiers -- the first time it has accused Damascus of killing its troops since launching its three-month military incursion.

The incident came on the first anniversary of the shooting down of a Russian military jet over the Syrian border by the Turkish air force.

That led to a seven-month crisis in relations between Turkey and Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that has provided military support to Damascus.

The army said the strike took place at 3:30 am (0030 GMT). It did not indicate the location, although local media said it took place in the Al Bab region.

"In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously," the armed forces said in an online statement.

Turkish media reported earlier that the attack was by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

Adding to the confusion, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was an "attack by IS" on its website.

But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim insisted at a news conference that the army's statement was "still valid".

He said it was evident that "some are not happy with Turkey's fight against Daesh (IS)", without indicating who this might be.

Yildirim vowed that the attacks would be "given a response" and would not diminish the military's determination to remove "terrorists" in the region.

But Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu warned that the incident could drag the country "into a very dangerous process" and called for the government to act with "common sense".

The prime minister's office slapped a broadcasting ban on coverage of the strike an hour after the military's statement, Turkey's broadcast watchdog said on its website.

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The injured soldiers were taken to hospitals in the southeastern cities of Kilis and Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, the official news agency Anadolu said.

Anadolu said another seven Turkish soldiers were lightly injured in a second attack blamed on IS on Thursday evening in the same region and taken to Kilis for medical treatment.

- 'First Al Bab then Manbij' -

The Turkish military launched an operation -- dubbed "Euphrates Shield" -- with tanks and air power in August to support Syrian opposition fighters seeking to retake territory from IS in northern Syria.

Ankara-backed rebels comprise several brigades rather than one organised force, according to experts.

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are taking part in the operation, which Erdogan said this week was pushing forward with its aim of taking Al Bab from IS.

The operation has also targeted Syrian Kurdish militia, whom Ankara views as linked to its outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has staged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is proscribed as a terror group by the US and EU but not by the United Nations.

"After that (Al Bab), we will go towards Manbij" to remove elements from the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Forces (YPG) militia, Erdogan said.

Kurdish-led forces recaptured Manbij from IS in August but Ankara has called for them to leave what Turkey emphasises is an Arab majority town.

Since the offensive began, the rebels captured the IS stronghold of Jarabulus, cleared IS from Al Rai and retook the symbolically important town of Dabiq without much resistance.

The latest deaths raise to at least 15 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since Turkey began its operation in northern Syria.

Most were killed by IS but one soldier died in an attack blamed on the YPG militia.

- Assad presses Aleppo offensive -

Amid a rapprochement with Russia, Turkey has largely been tight-lipped as Assad's Moscow-backed forces press an offensive to recapture the whole city of Aleppo, which is divided between the government and rebels.

The government last week resumed its drive to retake the city's east, where more than 250,000 civilians have been under siege for months, with dwindling food and fuel supplies.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of civilians had tried to flee but were forced back by gunfire.

Save the Children called for an internationally-monitored ceasefire to allow aid into east Aleppo and the evacuation of sick and wounded civilians.
Today in slightly unsettling news, your dog is totally clocking your every move

You know that slightly creepy thing where your dog follows you around? You know, quietly watching every single thing you do? That thing is about to start feeling a LITTLE bit creepier.

disney dog lady and the tramp

As NPR reports, a study with 17 dogs was recently conducted in which scientists found that a doggie could remember and mimic their owners actions up to an hour later.

Claudia Fugazza, author of the study and animal behavior researcher at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, told NPR that she decided to test dogs memories of events via a training technique she invented called Do As I Do.

Basically how it works is dogs learn to observe their owners actions, then repeat them when given the command Do it! And, as Fugazza explains, this study definitely indicates that your pup is watching you VERY closely

via GIPHY

If you ask a dog to imitate an action that was demonstrated some time ago, then it is something like asking, Do you remember what your owner did? 

As Victoria Templer, a behavioral neuroscientist at Providence College, explains to NPR, the fact that our dogs pay such close attention to us is kind of a mixed blessing.

Theyre so tuned into human cues, which can be a good thing.But it also can be a disadvantage and make it very difficult, because we might be cuing dogs when were totally unaware of it.

So does this mean our pups have episodic memory just like us humans? Well, as Fugazza sees it, probably not.

Episodic memory is traditionally linked to self-awareness, and so far there is no evidence of self awareness in dogs and I think there is no method for testing it.

Dont worry, science assures us that we have plenty of other things in common with our pups. Like, for example, the ability to love.

You know, thats probably why your dog is clocking your every move. Because they just love you THAT MUCH. Cuuuuuute.

The post Today in slightly unsettling news, your dog is totally clocking your every move appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Tom Hanks sent a fan a typewriter, proving yet again hes everyones favorite dad

The ultra talented artist Denise Esposito just received the most jaw-dropping gift from Tom Hanks  a gorgeous typewriter signed by Tom himself, along with a heartfelt thank you note. In October at the Rome Film Festival, Denise proved her ultimate fan status by sending Tom a Moleskine sketchbook that was full of her drawings of his most famous film characters. When you see how talented she is, youll wonder why she didnt get that typewriter in the mail any sooner.

From Forrest Gump to Toy Storys Woody, Denise sketched beautiful images of Tom throughout his career, and its a beautiful thing to behold. Soon after, she got a call informing her that Tom loved her gift, and he wanted to meet her. I couldnt believe it and nearly started to cry, she tells LAist.

Dreams come true! Thanks @tomhanks for being such a wonderful guy!

Dreams come true! Thank you @tomhanks for being such a wonderful guy! Here's what he called "the proof for the internet!" #tomhanks #omg #imcrying A photo posted by Denise Esposito (@deniseespositoart) on Oct 13, 2016 at 6:04am PDT

That wasnt the end of the good news, though. A package showed up at her doorstep a few days ago, containing a thoughtful present from Tom, who has been a fan of typewriters for ages.

How amazing life is when your favorite actor sends you a typewriter and a thank you letter? How unbelievably cool is that? I cant stop staring at all of this. When a gesture is worth a thousand words.. and this man really left me speechless

Were pretty speechless, too. If Tom Hanks werent the most accessible, relatable actor in Hollywood before, he just rose to the top of the list. In the letter, he encouraged Denise to keep making art. And we really hope she does.

The post Tom Hanks sent a fan a typewriter, proving yet again hes everyones favorite dad appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Copenhagen (AFP) - Denmark's only three-star Michelin restaurant on Thursday faced questions over hygiene after it was fined 20,000 kroner (2,688 euros, $2,839) by the country's food safety authority.

Geranium, the first eatery in Denmark to receive top Michelin honours, had been storing fresh shellfish like oysters, crayfish and scallops at too-high temperatures over an extended period, the Danish Food Administration wrote after an inspection.

Two walk-in coolers also had "black, green and white splotches growing on the underside of shelves and on packaged pickled garlic," according to a report dated September 29 but only cited by Danish media on Thursday.

The regulator slapped the Copenhagen restaurant -- which charges 2,000 kroner for a meal without drinks -- with a frowning "smiley", the lowest grade of its four-tier system.

"I do not agree with what is written. I believe that it is greatly exaggerated but I admit that there are some parts of the process where perhaps we have been a bit unattentive," Geranium chef Rasmus Kofoed told Danish news agency Ritzau.

The restaurant had been using a computerised system to monitor food temperatures incorrectly, but fish and shellfish were always stored on ice regardless of the surrounding temperature, he added.

This year the Nordic edition of the Michelin Guide gave three stars to Geranium, but only two to Copenhagen's celebrated Noma, which was named best restaurant in the world by Britain's Restaurant magazine in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Noma too faced criticism from the Danish food safety regulator in 2013, when it was accused of not taking adequate action after a sick kitchen worker gave dozens of customers a nasty case of food poisoning.
By Bate Felix

PARIS (Reuters) - An agreement to cut global oil production is possible, but would only happen if countries that do not belong to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) also agree to cut output, Total's (TOTF.PA) chief executive said on Thursday.

"It will only be possible if non-OPEC countries including Russia also agree to cut (output), because Saudi Arabia will not shoulder the burden alone," Patrick Pouyanne told an energy forum in Paris.

OPEC is due to meet on Nov. 30 to coordinate an output cut agreed in Algiers in September, potentially with the cooperation of Russia, which is not a member of the group.

Russia could revise down its 2017 oil production plans if a global output freeze pact comes into force, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

"To be honest, the missing element is; In what way the election of Donald Trump (as president of the United States) is going to affect the dynamics within OPEC?" Pouyanne said, without elaborating.

France's Total signed a deal with Iran this month to further develop its part of the world's largest gas field, becoming the first Western energy company to sign a major deal with Tehran since the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year following a nuclear deal.

"When I take a decision to sign an accord with Iran on the eve of the election of Donald Trump, I do that knowing that I'm potentially exposing about $1 billion (0.80 billion pounds) of the company's funds to risks. But I do so knowing that in the $150 billion that we manage, that risk is acceptable," Pouyanne said, in a speech about energy and geopolitics.

"But I also do so knowing that being the first oil major to sign a deal will open doors for the company to potentially benefit in a major market and our Iranian partners will appreciate it," he said.

Trump has called last year's deal ending a diplomatic standoff between Iran and six world powers over the country's nuclear policy and opening the way for western investment "the worst deal ever negotiated," although he has also conceded it would be hard to tear up a deal enshrined in a U.N. resolution.

(Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Mathieu Rosemain and Adrian Croft)
The year 2017 will see the rise of sanctustays,' experiential travel and a return to the human touch, according to a new trends report on the state of travel for 2017.

Analysts at the travel website Booking.com gazed into their crystal ball to come up with predictions on how people will be traveling in the next year.

For the report, experts looked at guest reviews, industry studies and travel data to come up with their forecasts. Conclusions were also drawn from surveys conducted by Booking.com among 12,780 respondents around the world.



Here are a few of their forecasts:



Relaxation travel

Interest in health and wellness holidays are predicted to spike next year, with notable interest from overworked travelers in India, China and Thailand, according to survey results collected by Booking.com. The travel industry will respond by developing more wellness sanctuaries, dubbed SanctuStays ranging from villas, apartments and resorts, with services like wellness workshops and meditation facilities.





Experiences over shopping

Rather than material souvenirs, more than half (58 percent) of travelers polled said they plan to allot more of their travel budget to experiences, experts say.





Human automation

In a sign that travelers are increasingly seeking out contact with the locals and more authenticity, bookings at bed and breakfasts and ryokans are the most highly-rated on the site. To replicate human interaction, expect advances in chatbot technology which tries to emulate the warmth and spontaneity of human communication.

Green travel

Travelers are heeding the dire warnings of climate change, and will make more eco-friendly travel considerations in the coming year, experts say. Expect 2017 to see increased discussion on economic incentives such as tax breaks for green travel, and the greening of transportation.
Hilla (Iraq) (AFP) - A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad, as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from the jihadists.

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where packed buses returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.

Most of the dead were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

IS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said several buses were targeted.

"A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack," he told AFP. "There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians."

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

"There are completely charred corpses at the scene," said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

- Diversionary attacks -

Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi condemned the "brutal and inhumane" attack, the IRNA news agency said.

US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price also strongly condemned the attack, saying it was "clearly intended to stoke sectarian tensions".

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"The United States remains steadfast in its partnership with the Iraqi people and government, and this attack only serves to strengthen our resolve in defeating ISIL," he said, using another name for IS.

Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul Thursday, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

- 'Brutal' fighting -

"It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian told AFP.

IS fighters moving in an intricate network of tunnels have used snipers, booby traps and a seemingly endless supply of suicide car bombers to stop Iraqi forces.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by IS west of Mosul and on Wednesday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

That will make it very long and dangerous for IS if it attempts to move fighters and equipment between Mosul and Raqa, their last two bastions.

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since October 17.

A few of them have returned to their homes in retaken areas already but Iraqi forces on Thursday slapped a curfew on neighbourhoods of eastern Mosul under their control.
President-elect Donald Trump, a neophyte when it comes to security issues, reportedly has declined daily intelligence briefings, leaving the details to Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday Trump has decided instead to concentrate on filling key national security posts.

A senior official who is privy to the same briefings President Barack Obama receives told the Post receiving such briefings would help bring Trump up to speed on world events.

Trump has a lot of catching up to do, the official told the Post.

Trump has received just two briefings since he claimed victory, the first within days of the election and the second Tuesday before he headed to Florida for Thanksgiving, the Post said.

The Presidents Daily Brief is a classified document summarizing key security developments and insights from 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. It also updates covert CIA programs and typically is delivered each morning.

The last three presidents-elect used the intelligence briefings offered during the transition to literally study the national security issues that they would be facing and the world leaders with whom they would be interacting as president, Michael Morell, former deputy CIA director who supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, told the Post.

The president-elect is missing out on a golden opportunity to learn about the national security threats and challenges facing our nation, knowledge that would be extremely valuable to have when he takes the oath of office and when he steps into the Situation Room for the first time.

intelligence

Photo: Pete Souza/Reuters

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Trump also has yet to meet with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has submitted his resignation, or other top intelligence officials except for Adm. Mike Rogers, who is the director of the National Security Agency and is said to be in the running to replace Clapper.

Trump selected Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA and retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn as his national security adviser.

Flynn is an anti-Islamist who has said Islamist militancy poses an existential threat to the United States. He served as Trumps national security adviser during the campaign and seems to have the same loose relationship with facts that has been a Trump trademark.

His Flynn Intel Group consulting business has ties to Middle Eastern countries, the New York Times reported, adding he took a paid speaking engagement with Russia Today and sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the networks anniversary party in Moscow. He has labeled the current administrations reluctance to use the description radical Islamic terrorism as the worst kind of political correctness.

Pompeo, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, is a foe of the Iran nuclear deal and has called former NSA secrets leaker Edward Snowden a traitor who should be put to death. He also is a proponent of harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding.

Pompeo fought administration efforts to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, blocking efforts to move the prisoners to the mainland and downplaying hunger strikes at the facility.

Related Articles
President-elect Donald Trump is hoping to raise approximately $65 million to $75 million to fund the activities planned for his inauguration, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Trump will allow big corporations and donors to give money for the Jan. 20 event.

Trump will seek corporate donations of up to $1 million and even allow donations from political action committees on a case-by-case basis. The real estate moguls fund-raising total would beat President Barack Obamas both in 2009 and 2013. In 2009, Obamas Inaugural Committee raised a record $53 million and in 2013, $43 million.

However, Trump is planning on banning money from registered lobbyists. Restrictions on corporate donors and individuals will be much lighter. Restrictions are yet to be finalized, members of Trumps Inaugural Committee said. Thomas Barrack Jr., who is heading the committee, said the decision to restrict funds from certain groups was in line with the president-elects thoughts on ethics reform.

In 2009, Obama had banned donations from lobbyists, political action committees and corporations, and put a cap of $50,000 on individuals. He, however, relaxed his rules for his 2013 inauguration, which followed one of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history. Corporations were allowed to donate money and the cap on individual donations was increased.

Barrack said the committee was working on finalizing plans by the end of the week adding: Its like putting on the Olympics in 61 days.

Sources told the Times that the committee will launch tiered giving packages next week ranging from $25,000 to $1 million. Donors will be allowed access to events with Trump and his team based on their donations. The committee will hold two official balls, a marked decrease compared to the 10 official balls Obama attended. Trump is not expected to donate funds for the ceremony himself.

The Jan. 20 swearing-in could cost up to $200 million with tax payers taking on most of the burden. It is expected to draw a crowd of two million to three million people, beating Obamas record of drawing an estimated 1.8 million people for his 2009 inauguration. More protests are also expected.

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Its one of the greatest opportunities that this president has to put his fingerprints on bridging the divide, Barrack said Wednesday.

Trumps Presidential Inaugural Committee features many of his campaign donors as the committees finance vice-chairs. Conservative mega donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks and California venture capitalist Elliott Broidy are some of the 17 people listed as finance vice-chairs.

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Donald Trump

President-elect Donald Trump reportedly turned away the intelligence officials responsible for getting him up to speed on US national security concerns and world affairs, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday night.

Trump, who has been meeting with domestic and international dignitaries in the two weeks since he won the election, has only received two classified intelligence briefings according to the Post, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence reportedly participated in the meetings almost every day.

Post reporters Greg Miller and Adam Entous wrote that Trump got his first classified briefing days after the election, and a second one on Tuesday, before heading to Florida for Thanksgiving.

The intelligence briefing is a summary of feedback from the 16 US intelligence agencies and a roundup of the CIA's secret international operations.

Sources within Trump's transition team who were cited by the Post suggested that, separate from the daily briefings, Trump deems choosing people for national security positions within his administration a priority.

The report follows concerns from within Washington that the president-elect  who has never held public office before  is unprepared for the gravity of daily Oval Office duties.

The Obama administration began nudging the Trump transition team about one such concern on Tuesday, warning that the incoming administration should pay close attention to North Korea, which has grown increasingly belligerent toward the US under its leader, Kim Jong-un.

One unnamed official told the Post "Trump has a lot of catching up to do," while David Priess, a former CIA officer who was on George W. Bush's daily briefing team, said Trump's absence from the meetings "is not unprecedented over the decades-long scope of these briefings."

Since his major upset victory in the November 8 election, Trump appears to have generated considerable fanfare for the numerous meetings he has had with people vying to work for him, according to a New York Times report published Tuesday.

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The newspaper noted that Trump preferred meeting candidates at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate "because the images of him receiving potential cabinet appointees at the front door of the clubhouse resembled 10 Downing Street in London."

In the days following the election, Trump has summoned journalists and top brass from five major news networks for a brutal meeting at Trump Tower, demanded apologies from the cast of a Broadway musical, railed against "Saturday Night Live," and sat down for an extensive interview with The New York Times.

Uneasiness over Trump's ability to handle national security affairs reached unprecedented levels after the Republican National Convention. Dozens of top GOP national security officials signed a letter warning that Trump could be "the most reckless president in American history."

NOW WATCH: Trump's pick for UN Ambassador once said he was 'everything a governor doesn't want in a president'





More From Business Insider


President-elect Donald Trump filled two more positions in his administration Wednesday but uncertainty swirled over whether former rival Ben Carson would accept a post.

Trump nominated billionaire Betsy DeVos as education secretary and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

A spokesman for Carson said the retired neurosurgeon had accepted an offer to become secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development but later retracted the statement, saying no decision had been made. Carson confirmed Tuesday he was under active consideration for the job.

DeVos, a Republican activist from Michigan, is the wife of billionaire Richard DeVos Jr., the son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos Sr., and a strong proponent of school choice. The announcement brought swift reaction from National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, who said in a statement DeVos supports a corporate agenda to privatize, deprofessionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions to public education.

betsy devos

Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters

Haley, 44, said she hadnt campaigned for a Cabinet position and didnt expect one since she often was at odds with Trump during the campaign, having described herself as not a fan of the real estate mogul. Trump called her weak on illegal immigration.

In nominating Haley, however, Trump praised her as someone with a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation. Haley, who is the first minority and youngest of his nominees so far, said she accepted the appointment out of a sense of duty. She has no background in foreign policy.

Retired Gen. David Patraeus, ousted as head of the CIA amid revelations he had turned over secrets to a lover who was writing his biography, told the BBC he would serve in the Trump administration if asked.

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Heres who Trump has selected for his administration so far:

Chief of staff: Republican party Chairman Reince Priebus

Chief White House strategist: Stephen K. Bannon, head of alt-right Breitbart News

Attorney general: Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

CIA director: Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.

National security adviser: retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn

Education secretary: billionaire Republican activist Betsy DeVos

nikki haley

Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

U.S. ambassador to the U.N.: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

Top jobs still to be filled:

State: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is seen as the leading candidate

Defense: Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane said he declined the job. Still in the running are retired Marine Gen. James Mattis and Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser to George W. Bush.

Interior: Venture capitalist Robert Grady and Lucas Oil founder Forrest Lucas are seen as the leading candidates.

Agriculture: Possible candidates include former Govs. Dave Neineman of Nebraska, Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Rick Perry of Texas, and current Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.

Commerce: Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is seen as the leading candidate along with investor Lew Eisenberg.

Labor: Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Victoria Lipnic reportedly is seen as the leading candidate.

Health and Human Services: Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are reported under consideration.

Housing and Urban Development: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is reportedly considering the appointment.

Transportation: Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., a friend of Trumps children, is seen as a leading candidate.

Energy: Oklahoma billionaire oilman Harold Hamm is seen as a leading candidate.

Veterans Affairs: Retiring Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., are reported under consideration.

Homeland Security: House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, has said hes interested in the job.

Environmental Protection Agency: Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and climate skeptic Myron Ebell are reportedly leading contenders.

Office of Management and Budget: Trump transition team member Eric Ueland and former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn are seen as leading candidates.

Director of National Intelligence: Former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers reportedly are under consideration.

Related Articles
By Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Wednesday named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a former critic with little foreign policy experience, as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at a time of uncertainty over America's international role under his presidency. Haley, one of two women chosen so far for a job in Trump's Cabinet, is "a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," the Republican president-elect said in a statement. Trump on Wednesday also picked wealthy Republican donor and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Education Department. Haley, the 44-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants, represents what some Republicans hope could be the new face of their party: a younger, more diverse generation of leaders. Haley took Trump strongly to task during the presidential campaign over his harsh rhetoric about illegal immigration and for not speaking forcefully enough against white supremacists. Trump has chosen mostly male conservatives so far for senior positions as he shapes his administration following his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. Trump takes over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. Also on Wednesday, a spokesman for former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Trump had not offered the retired neurosurgeon the post of housing and urban development secretary, disputing a Wall Street Journal report, which the newspaper later corrected. "Trump did not make an offer," Carson spokesman Armstrong Williams told Reuters. "He asked him to consider HUD. Nothing has been offered and no decision has been made." Carson told Fox News on Wednesday night: "We are considering which is the way that I can be most effective. So that information should come out in the next few days. We will make a public announcement." The Wall Street Journal, citing two people familiar with the deliberations, also reported that Trump was expected to pick billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary. In a video message released ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, Trump said he hoped it would be a time for Americans "to begin to heal our divisions" following a "long and bruising political campaign." "Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight," Trump said. "Now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and to restore the full promise of America for all of our people." AMERICA'S GLOBAL ROLE The choice of Haley may be aimed at countering criticism of Trump's divisive comments about immigrants and minorities, as well as accusations of sexism during his election campaign. Haley led a successful effort last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston. The flag was carried by pro-slavery Confederate forces during the Civil War and is viewed by many as a racist emblem. Haley said she had accepted Trump's offer and would remain governor pending her confirmation to the Cabinet-level post by the U.S. Senate. "When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed," she said in a statement. Haley's job may include reassuring allies worried about some of Trump's campaign promises, including building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration and reviewing trade agreements, and his suggestion that he would push NATO partners to pay more for their own defense. He has antagonized China, another major power at the United Nations, with his talk on trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The New York real estate magnate, who has never held public office, gave few clues about his world view during an extensive interview with The New York Times on Tuesday. Asked what he sees as America's role in the world, Trump replied: "That's such a big question." When pressed further, he described the Iraq war as a mistake, urged better relations with Russia and called for an end to "that craziness thats going on in Syria." The United States, which along with Russia is one of the five permanent veto powers on the 15-member U.N. Security Council, is also the largest funder of the United Nations, paying more than a quarter of its $8 billion peace-keeping budget and 22 percent of the regular budget. Trump picked conservatives to lead his national security and law enforcement teams last week, suggesting he plans to make good on his campaign promises to take a hard line on Islamist militancy and curbing illegal immigration But a relative moderate, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is among the candidates under consideration to head the State Department. SHARP WORDS FOR TRUMP Haley would succeed Obama's U.N. envoy, Samantha Power, a foreign policy expert before she took the job. In contrast, Haley, a state lawmaker before becoming governor, has little experience in international relations. She was a robust critic of Trump during the early stages of the Republican presidential nominating race, including condemning him for not disavowing the support of the Ku Klux Klan and one of the white supremacist group's former leaders, David Duke. In a rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union address in January, Haley called for tolerance on immigration and civility in politics, in what some saw as a rebuke of Trump. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," she said. "We must resist that temptation." She supported Trump rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both U.S. senators, in the Republican race before saying last month she would vote for Trump despite reservations about his character. Haley also criticized Trump last winter for not releasing his tax returns, prompting him to hit back on Twitter: "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed of Nikki Haley!" EDUCATION CHOICE DeVos, Trump's education pick, is a billionaire former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, who has long pushed for a larger role for private education. Trump said she would "break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back." Her appointment is also subject to Senate confirmation. As chair of the American Federation for Children advocacy group, DeVos has advocated for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. The National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union, condemned DeVos' nomination. "She has consistently pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions to public education," said NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia. (Additional reporting by Michele Nichols in New York and Susan Heavey, Eric Walsh and Eric Beech in Washington; Writing by Doina Chiacu, Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Leslie Adler and Bill Rigby)
(WASHINGTON)  The military parade for Donald Trump has come early. Two months before Inauguration Day festivities, an extraordinary number of recently retired generals, including some who clashed with President Barack Obamas administration, are marching to the president-elects doorstep for job interviews.

Its not unusual for an incoming administration to consider a retired general for a top position like CIA director. But Trump has turned to retired officers so publicly and in such large numbers that it raises questions about the proper balance of military and civilian advice in a White House led by a commander in chief with no defense or foreign policy experience.

The tilt toward military officials may reflect a limited pool of civilian options. Many officials from previous Republican administrations politically disowned Trump during the campaign, calling him unqualified. And Trump suggested he wouldnt want many of them, as he vowed to drain the swamp by running establishment figures out of town.

Robert Goldich, a retired government defense analyst who has watched administrations for 44 years, says Trumps focus on retired generals might be unprecedented.

The only one announced for a top job thus far is Michael Flynn, a retired three-star Army general. Trump appointed Flynn as his national security adviser, a post that does not require Senate confirmation but is central to a presidents decision-making process. Flynn was forced out as Defense Intelligence Agency director in 2014. Afterward, he strongly criticized the Obama administrations approach to fighting the Islamic State group and threw his support to Trump.

Among others under consideration are two retired four-star Marine generals  James Mattis for defense secretary and John Kelly for homeland security secretary. Other names surfacing include retired Army Gen. Jack Keane and David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who was Obamas CIA director in 2011-12 before resigning amid disclosure that he had an affair with his biographer and shared highly classified information with her.

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In remarks to the New York Times on Tuesday, Trump spoke about the Pentagon post in ways that offer insight into why he is attracted to former generals like Mattis.

I think its time maybe, its time for a general, Trump said, suggesting he favors a military mindset. Look whats going on. We dont win, we cant beat anybody.

Kelly retired this year after a storied career capped by commanding the U.S. Southern Command, where he differed with the White House over closing the Guantanamo Bay prison and expressed doubts about the administrations moves to open all combat jobs to women.

Bing West, a Vietnam War veteran and former assistant secretary of defense, said Trumps outreach to retired generals is wise.

Our country is fighting a long war. Its common sense to seek the experience of those who have proven they know how to fight, he said in an email exchange.

The concern about undue military influence derives from a long U.S. tradition of civilian control of the military, which is the basis for a ban on active-duty officers running the Pentagon. The Constitution affirms civilian control by making the president the commander in chief and giving Congress the authority to declare war and fund the military.

The appointment of too many generals to high civilian positions could prompt fears that Trump is on a path to militarizing U.S. foreign policy or giving the military too much sway in decisions about war and peace.

But that view was rejected by Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. In an interview, he noted that it was President George W. Bushs civilian advisers who pushed hardest to launch the 2003 Iraq invasion.

In my experience, veterans have been less likely than the civilians to advocate for military intervention abroad, said Fontaine, who was among dozens of Republican national security figures who signed a letter during the campaign warning that Trump would be a dangerous president.

Still, some retired generals are leery of Trump stacking his national security team with warriors.

The biggest fear is too many generals in politics. Thats not a good thing, said Mark Hertling, a retired three-star Army general who opposed Trump. But given the lack of knowledge of a president who knows nothing about diplomacy or the military, they might provide some very good advice.

Hertling credits Mattis with an unusual knack for leadership and strategic thinking. Trump met with Mattis last weekend but has not said if he will nominate him. If he does, Trump would need Congress to provide an exception to a law requiring a military officer to have been out of uniform for at least seven years before becoming defense secretary.

That exception has been sought only once since the position of defense secretary was created in 1947. George C. Marshall, who retired as a five-star Army general and then served as secretary of state after World War II, was tapped to be defense secretary in 1950 by President Harry Truman.

The law Congress passed allowing Marshall to lead the Pentagon was meant to be a one-time exception. It said it was not to be construed as approval by Congress of continuing appointments of military men to the office of Secretary of Defense in the future. It said that after Marshalls term ended, no additional appointments of military men to that office shall be approved.
When President Barack Obama moves on from the White House in January, he will leave in place a precarious power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran after years of revamping Washington's approach to the region. Then it will be Donald Trump's turn to weigh in, and Tehran may have found themselves an unlikely ally in the Republican businessman who threatens to upset the entire outlook of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Obama's administration, while critical at times of the kingdom, supported Saudi Arabia in its political endeavors across the Middle East, often at the expense of Iran. The administration's landmark multilateral nuclear treaty with Tehran, however, saw unprecedented levels of negotiation between Western and Iranian officials and lifted years-long economic sanctions against Iran.

The president-elect is expected to scale back U.S. intervention in the Middle East. While there is not likely to be a warming of U.S.-Iranian relations under a Trump administration, Washington's absence could work in Tehrans favor, emboldening efforts to expand its already growing sphere of influence without fear of U.S. reprisal and with potential sponsorship by Russia.

Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim-majority Iran have long been locked in what analysts have referred to as "a regional cold war." The rival powers have not engaged in direct military conflict, but back opposing military and political movements. In the Syrian Civil War, Iran supports Syrian President Bashar Assad against a network of rebel groups sponsored by the West, Turkey and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia. In Iraq, Shiite militias and an Iran-friendly government in Baghdad also add to Riyadh's worries over Tehran's influence. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is directly involved in a massive military campaign in Yemen against Houthi rebels, who represent the country's Zaidi Shiite minority and receive political and possibly military support from Iran.

The Obama administration often censured Tehran-aligned movements while supporting allies of Riyadh. On the diplomatic level, Obama fought diligently for the historic Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, and eventually managed to get Iran and five other countries on board with it.

Trump used the deal as fuel for his campaign, during which he took a particularly tough stance against Iran and for which he was lauded by conservatives. He vowed to tear up the nuclear treaty and threatened to shoot Iranian ships out of the water if they provoked the U.S. Navy.

Trump also went after Saudi Arabia, leading experts to question the depth of his support for the traditional U.S. ally.

Actually, everything about Trumps foreign policy is in doubt. He said something totally contradictory on his campaign. On one hand he attacked the JCPOA, but on the other hand, he also criticized the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia, Iranian journalist and Middle East analyst Saeid Jafari told International Business Times in an email.

Trump has criticized Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries for getting rich off of their vast oil deposits and benefiting from U.S. security pledges without ample compensation. Riyadh's oil minister Khalid al-Falih responded last week to Trump's repeated calls to make the U.S. energy independent by stating that Trump would "see the benefits" of maintaining Saudi oil imports and the industry would advise him "that blocking trade in any product is not healthy." Trump has also resorted to Twitter wars with billionaire Saudi Prince Waleed Bin Talal.

More concerning to Saudis than social media squabbles is how a Trump administration plans on handling Iran and its proxy military and political forces in the region. The U.S. currently targets the Islamic State group in Syria, but supports Syrian rebel groups. Both entities oppose Assad. Riyadh had hoped a Hillary Clinton administration would have increased the U.S. military commitment to support the rebels in Syria and oppose rebels in Yemen.

Trump's victory appears to cast heavy doubt on the U.S. military's future role in the Middle East.

"Donald Trump does all kind of things that are completely the opposite of what we have seen from American politics and policy," said Kenneth M. Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C., said in a phone interview with IB Times.

I think its clear that a Trump administration has no intention of going to war in Yemen, and has no intention of ramping up assistance to Saudi Arabia, Pollack added.

Trump seemed to affirm this noninterventionist stance Tuesday when he told the New York Times, "I don't think we should be a nation-builder."

He has expressed his disdain for the beleaguered opposition groups of Syria, pointing out their ties to radical jihadist movements such as Jabhet Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as Al Qaeda's Al Nusra Front. The president-elect has not gone as far as to pledge support for Assad, but he has hinted at cooperation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who backs the Syrian leader and whose forces in Syria regularly coordinate with Iran and its allies.

Gerald Feierstein, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near east affairs, said Trumps ties to Russia will benefit Tehran's political ambitions.

"I speculate that, as president, Trump would like to minimize his engagement in the Middle East, except for the fight against ISIL and other violent extremist groups. If that were the case, it would strengthen Iran's hand in pursuing its efforts at regional hegemony, particularly if the fight against violent extremism includes enhanced cooperation with Russia, the Syrian regime and, by extension, Iran," Feierstein said, using an alternative for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

The uncertainty of Trump's message, however, could also very well work in Saudi Arabia's favor instead. If next year's administration chooses to scrap the Iranian nuclear deal as a central goal, Tehran will likely find itself in Washington's crosshairs.

"The wild card is Trump's other stated preference to take a more confrontational stance against Iran itself both in terms of its nuclear aspirations as well as its malign efforts in the region. If that becomes a Trump administration policy choice, he would likely find a supportive environment in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC," Feierstein said.

While Trump has not yet definitively chosen his cabinet, some rumored frontrunners, such as Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, former Mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani and former Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, have been extremely critical of Iran. Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California and a potential pick for defense secretary, has even advocated for the use of tactical nuclear weapons against the country.

Michael Knights, military and security affairs expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an affiliate of the American Israeli Political Affairs Committee, said Trumps administration will likely take an aggressive stance toward Iran.

"The Trump team will go for Iran very hard. Whether they like the Saudis or not, the Trump team and Riyadh will end up on the same side of the regional Cold War," Knights said. "The U.S. will return to a containment posture vis-a-vis Tehran, possibly even with punitive military pressure and covert exploration of regime change.

Many experts say its too early to tell what Trump and his future administration are capable of. The contradicting statements made before and after his election have kept allies and enemies alike waiting for a clear sign of direction in next years U.S. foreign policy.

It is really impossible to say. President-elect Trump has given numerous, and often contradictory signals on both Iran and the Saudi question. Only time will show if his election will have a profound impact on U.S. policy toward the Middle East, said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., who specializes in regional security affairs related to Iran.

Nobody really knows the answer to this. I don't even think the president-elect knows the answer to this question, he added.

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Donald Trump (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he has been MAKING PROGRESS keeping a Carrier Corp. factory in the U.S.

I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS  Will know soon! he exclaimed Thursday.

On the campaign trail, Trump targeted the air conditioner and furnace manufacturer when he railed against American companies for shifting factory jobs away from the U.S.

Carrier earned Trumps ire after a video went viral in February showing the company informing its distraught Indiana workers that their jobs would be cut so production could move to Mexico. For many, Carrier came to symbolize the plight of U.S. manufacturing. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also decried the companys move to Mexico.

On Thursday, Carrier responded to Trumps tweet by saying it was in discussions with his transition team. There was nothing to immediately announce, the company said.

Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time.  Carrier (@Carrier) November 24, 2016

Last week, Trump also claimed partial credit for persuading Ford Motor Co. to keep a plant in Kentucky instead of moving it to Mexico. But the New York Times noted that Ford had said it was only keeping a line of cars at the Kentucky location and no jobs were impacted by the largely symbolic announcement.

Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky  no Mexico  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016

I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016

See also: 16 places that shaped the 2016 election: Indianapolis, Ind. >>
Ten weeks before Donald Trump takes the oath of office, the President-elect has sent one consistent message, which is that he wont be bound by consistency post-election any more than he was before November 8. Depending on your preferred news source, this is either a terrifying prospect or overdue comeuppance for the Fourth Estate.

Indeed, even within the mainstream media, the outlook for the next four years is deeply confusing as pundits, reporters and editors contemplate a leader whos made it clear he thinks were all a whining bunch of losers. As a result, the message from Trump, as conveyed through his Twitter broadsides, public pronouncements and his spokespeople, is that he will continue to control the conversation through bluster, diversion and shape-shifting that have left more heads spinning to keep up than any of corps of dancing Wilis in the ballet Giselle.

Last week, for example, Trump agreed to an out-of-court settlement of $25 million to end a class-action lawsuit over charges that his laughably named Trump University was a fraud. That night, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended a performance of Hamilton, where he was directly addressed during the curtain call with this admonishment: We truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.

To be sure, both events were covered heavily by the press. But Trump was either smart enough or thin-skinned enough  again, depending on your POV  to attack Hamilton, the actor delivering the message and Broadway in general. Which story dominated the news cycle over the next few days? Having learned little, it seemed, about the the scandal of false equivalency that so often balanced the perceived misdeeds of Trump and Hillary Clinton, the two stories were on Page 1 of the New York Times, while the Hamilton story carried the tabloids. Trump 1, press 0.

On Monday, Trump met with the news chiefs from the major networks, along with anchors and reporters including NBCs Deborah Turness, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd; ABCs James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz; CBS Norah ODonnell, John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and Gayle King; Fox News Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace and Suzanne Scott; MSNBCs Phil Griffin; and CNNs Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett. According to Trumps chief mouthpiece Kellyanne Conway, it was an excellent meeting.

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Nuh-uh, said many of those at the meeting  anonymously, of course. It was a total sh!t show, one said, complete with personal dressing downs by Trump of various individuals he felt had not shown him due respect throughout the campaign. Trump was a monster, was the message. The next day, he was scheduled to meet with a New York Times contingent, first privately with publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and then for an on-the-record conversation with executive editor Dean Baquet and a contingent of editors, reporters and columnists. This time, Trump came to them, though not before canceling the meeting via a Twitter message falsely accusing the Times of changing the terms of the gathering.

RelatedNew York Times Asks Subscribers To Stay Loyal After This Erratic And Unpredictable Election

According to accounts of that meeting, which was live-blogged by Times reporters, no excrement was flung. Indeed, the Times reported that Trump, while yielding no ground on his right to use the White House as a selling point for his business interests, confessed he no longer had the fire in the belly to lock Clinton up, as hed repeatedly promised during the campaign. He averred that climate change might have some roots in human behavior, with no mention that it was a hoax perpetrated by China, as he had during his campaign. He disavowed the ugly pronouncements of anti-Semitism and racism promulgated by his supporters on the alt-right and defended Steve Bannon, who took a leave as head of alt-right megaphone Breitbart News Network to lead Trumps advisory team. He called the Times a world jewel, in some contrast to his anti-Times Twitter drumbeat that more typically included the words failing and dishonest.

I hope we can all get along, Trump said.

Perhaps most significantly, at least to the cowering mainstream press, Trump said we had nothing to worry about, indicating he will respect the First Amendment. I think youll be OK, he said  again, in contrast to his actions during the campaign, which included cutting off reporters, having his security throw them out of rallies and excluding whole news organizations from access to his campaign.

RelatedSean Hannity To Donald Trump: Deny Access To News Outlets Not Called Fox

A story in Forbes magazine credits Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner with steering the Republicans campaign away from traditional advertising and putting all its marbles in social media, where the real power lies. That will be the preferred narrative moving forward. In one of the best columns to date on this subject, the New York Times Amanda Hess today described precisely how the Hamilton incident, along with celebrity garment-rending over the election, plays into the oppositions m.o.:

Lefty celebrities have long been preaching to the choir, but they are increasingly galvanizing the other side when their chatter is rerouted into an online conservative echo chamber, Hess wrote. These right-wing aggregators make sure that any leftist celebritys political reach will be neutralized by a backlash from people who dont idolize and agree with them.

A strong argument can be made that the inauguration of someone who lost the popular vote by 1.75 million votes and counting demands protest and vigilant activism. Whats clear, however, is that for now, Trump remains the top dog, wagging the tail of a shell-shocked media establishment in desperate need of new models  not only for business, but for journalism itself. Its revealing that Hesss counter-intuitive dispatch, which should be read as a clarion call, was featured on Page 1  of the culture section.

And now for something completely different, two culture notables to consider over the Thanksgiving weekend that have everything, and nothing, to do with politics:

1. The election is clearly on the minds of John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, who are giving their best show ever this week and part of next at the Cafe Carlyle. The set is called The Arc of a Love Affair, which it is, but its also so much more, as any program beginning with Jason Robert Browns Hope must be. The song is less than two weeks old and was written in response to the election:

Though Im beyond belief depressed, confused and mad / Well I got dressed. I underestimated how much that would take / I didnt break. Until right now / I sing of hope  and dont know how. And thats just for starters.

They are the Nick & Nora of the cabaret set, Jessica the polished chanteuse, John the eager-to-please perfectionist. Their taste and incomparable virtuosity are suffused with affection and spontaneity  she always ready with a sideways glance or an arched eyebrow; he seemingly amazed as his scatting keeps up with the fingers flying up and down the neck of his guitar.

The set list includes a couple of beautifully wrought Joni Mitchell covers (Help Me, from Court And Spark, and A Case Of You, from Blue), a poignant nod to Leonard Cohen (Everybody Knows); Jessicas gorgeous rendition of Yip Harburg and Burton Lanes Look To The Rainbow and a wild ride through the jazz standard Perdido, with cunning accompaniment from Konrad Paszkudzki on piano and Jay Leonhart on bass.

But the highlight of the evening was the least flashy number: Johns achingly tender delivery of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammersteins never-timelier song from South Pacific, (Youve Got To Be) Carefully Taught, written in waltz time but sung here  James Taylor-style, as John noted  as a ballad. As with Hope, the inclusion here of a quietly caustic lament about the poison of racism couldnt have struck a more sensitive nerve, even among the supremely well-heeled Cafe Carlyle crowd. It was all perfection.

2. Thirty-five years ago this month saw the opening of Merrily We Roll Along, the Broadway flop that ended the spectacularly fecund partnership of lyricist/composer Stephen Sondheim and director Harold Prince. Based on a Kaufman and Hart play that tracked the lives of three friends in reverse chronology, the score has since become one of Sondheims most beloved, though the show itself continues to defy attempts to make it work, for reasons I considered in my Soho News review at the time: Drama depends on the accumulation of motives to achieve its ultimate payoffMerrilys book falls from a cynical present to its heroes innocent past, from denouement to climax to setting out. Theres nothing for an audience to achieve in this set-up and nothing for an actor to build in the way of character. It is, instead, a continuous dressing down.

Lonny Price was a child actor cast as one of the leads in that production, which also included an equally young Jason Alexander (none of the cast members was over 25, another problem). Price has gone on to become a writer-director (I still have a soft spot for A Class Act, the story of A Chorus Line lyricist Edward Kleban, which Price co-wrote, directed and starred in, and which also was a Broadway flop, opening against a small item called The Producers).

Price recently found a trove of film footage shot for a TV profile of the making of Merrily that was killed when the show closed after 16 performances. That footage, including auditions, home movies and interviews with Prince, Sondheim, book writer George Furth and others, forms the basis of Prices moving documentary, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, which is in theaters now.

Most poignant are the interviews with the actors three decades after the debacle that had begun with so much hope and enthusiasm. Time has treated each differently: Alexander, of course, would go on to stardom in Seinfeld and return to win a Tony for Jerome Robbins Broadway; performer Abigail Pogrebin would eventually become a prolific journalist; female lead Ann Morrison is seen working with learning-challenged folks in Florida.

A concert version of the show reunited Prince and Sondheim, who had gone their separate ways. The post-Merrily period for Prince was especially devastating, a series of spectacular flops that included A Dolls Life, Grind and Roza  and then came The Phantom Of The Opera.

Of course, Best/Worst does the opposite of what Merrily attempted, telling its story in mostly chronological order. Some of the sequences are difficult to place in time, and it has its share of indulgences and longueurs. But for Broadway buffs in general and Sondheim fans in particular, its as indispensable  and entertaining  as Craig Zadans oral history, Sondheim & Co., and D.A. Pennebakers Original Cast Album: Company.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Nigel Farage, the Brexit campaigner who U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said would be great as Britain's envoy to Washington, taunted Prime Minister Theresa May with a mock ambassador's reception complete with chocolate and champagne. May's government dismissed Trump's suggestion this week of "Ambassador Farage" saying there was no vacancy as Kim Darroch is currently serving as ambassador to Washington. But at a party at London's Ritz hotel, Farage was cheered by his financial backers before offering guests pyramids of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, a joking reference to a long-running and much-lampooned 'ambassador's reception' TV advert in which the gold-foiled confection is cast as the delicacy of choice for diplomats. Farage praised what he called "the political revolution" that had brought Brexit and then the election of Trump, whom Farage supported at a political rally before his victory. "For those that are here who aren't particularly happy with what's happened in 2016, I've got some really bad news for you: It's going to get a bloody sight worse next year," Farage told guests from a staircase at the Ritz to laughs and cheers. "I suspect there is another big seismic shock in British politics, perhaps going to come at the next election," Farage said after complaining that Britain was still ruled by "the career professional political class." Farage told CNN he wanted a closer relationship between Britain and the United States and that he would like to act as a middle-man to improve relations. He said he would be open to moving to the United States as a go-between if the British government wanted to follow Trump's suggestion: "It's up to the British government." When asked by ITV television about Farage's ambassadorial ambitions, finance minister Philip Hammond said if he ever needed advice from the leader of the UK Independence Party, he had his telephone number. "Tell him not to hold his breath," he added. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London and Susan Heavey in Washington; editing by Stephen Addison)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - More than 10,500 state employees have been dismissed over suspected links with the Kurdish PKK militant group, Turkish Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said on Thursday in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk. Turkey is fighting an insurgency by the PKK in the largely Kurdish southeast and it has previously dismissed hundreds of teachers it said were linked to the militant group while arrested pro-Kurdish politicians. Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 state officials since a failed coup attempt in July. It was not immediately clear whether the 10,500 Muezzinoglu was referring to were part of that number or an additional purge. (Reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Turkish social drama Cold of Kalandar was the biggest winner at the 10th edition of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

At a ceremony in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday Kalandar claimed the best feature film prize and also the achievement in cinematography award. It is the second time that a Turkish film has taken APSAs top prize, after Greek-Turkish co-production Beyond the Hill won in 2012.

The film, which was selected as Turkeys contender for the foreign-language Oscar race, premiered at the Tokyo festival 13 months ago and won the festivals best film and best directing for prize for Mustafa Kara.

Its selection as Turkeys Oscar contender was significant. The film delivers hard-hitting social criticism and an image of impoverishment and desperation that is far from the image of an economic powerhouse that conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently trying to present.

Social criticism was a recurring theme throughout the APSA nominations and tonights prizes. The best directing prize went to Chinas Feng Xiaogang for his recently released I Am Not Madame Bovary, which is a bitter satire on Chinas judiciary system. The APSA UNESCO Diversity prize went to The Dark Wind, a drama about the persecution of the Yazidi ethnoreligious group trying to live under the shadow of ISIS.

The Dark Wind is a wonderful film, but very sad. Coming to these awards, I had not realized the subject matter of the Yazidis, and we wanted to highlight this to the world, and bring more attention to these people, said veteran producer and APSA jury member Nansun Shi.

Jury head, Lord David Puttnam said: There were two significant things I came away with: number one was how often the issue of family occurred, the importance of family and the role of family, is an underlying theme that popped up time and time again. The other that I found really encouraging was the quite extraordinary quality of the male performances. I have never seen that number of absolutely outstanding male performances  ever. Anywhere.

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Puttnam said that the jury could have awarded six male acting prizes. In the end it rewarded two Indian performers. Manoj Bajpayee won the APSA prize for his performance in Aligarh, as university professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras who, in 2010, was fired from his position for his sexual orientation. A special mention went to Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui for his performance in Anurag Kashyaps Psycho Raman (aka Raman Raghav 2.0.) An unusually restrained Kashyap accepted the prize on Siddiquis behalf.

The large number of folk in town for APSAs 10th anniversary, a meeting of the film schools organization CILECT and the Asian Animation Summit meant that a larger venue than in previous years was necessary. Some 960 people were seated at more than 70 tables.

The awards ceremony was held in a cathedral-like auditorium inside Brisbanes Convention Center, complete with choral singing, projection mapping and a high degree of formality. Job titles, honorary titles, medals and country names were all read out in full. The original occupants of the land were honored with stirring didgeridoo and vocal performance and some minor pyrotechnics.

Think what life would be like without cinema, said David Puttnam. It would be little else but an economic competition.

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Asia Pacific Screen Awards Champions Diversity, Unity

David Puttnam Heads APSA All-Star Anniversary Jury
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will retaliate against an attack in Syria which killed three Turkish soldiers, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters on Thursday in Ankara. "Three soldiers lost their lives in the attack yesterday. It is clear that some people are not happy with this battle Turkey has been fighting against Daesh (Islamic State). This attack will surely have a retaliation," he said. The Turkish military said earlier that a suspected Syrian air strike had killed the three soldiers, in what appeared to be the first Turkish casualties at the hands of Syrian government forces since Turkey launched an incursion into Syria three months ago. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Nick Tattersall)
Cold of Kalandar, Turkey's foreign-language Oscar entry, was the big winner at the tenth edition of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, held Thursday in Brisbane, Australia.

The drama, which tells the tale of a family struggling to survive in a mountain village high above the Black Sea, won the APSA for best feature film, while director Mustafa Kara was awarded the inaugural APSA Young Cinema Award for his second feature. Marking the tenth year of the APSAs, the Young Cinema Award was created to honor emerging talent from the region. Debut or sophomore filmmakers are eligible for the prize.

Cavahir Dahin and Kurset Uresin shared best cinematographer honors for Cold of Kalandar, which earlier this year picked up the two main prizes for best film and best director at the Tokyo Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.

Best director honors went to Chinese master Feng Xoiaogang for the dark satire I Am Not Madame Bovary, his 16th feature as director.

Japanese trio Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tadashi Nohara, Tomoyuki Takahashi took home the best screenplay prize for Happy Hour.

Jury chair Lord David Putnam said of the 24 films that competed at this year's awards: "There were two significant things I came away with: No. 1 was how often the issue of family occurred - the importance of family and the role of family is an underlying theme that popped up time and time again. The other that I found really encouraging was the quite extraordinary quality of the male performances. I have never seen that number of absolutely outstanding male performances - ever. Anywhere."

Added jury member and Australian producer Jan Chapman: "I found a fascination with the variety of films and felt a gratitude that we can see such a range of styles of films from such a range of countries. It is really quite astounding and such an insight into other worlds."

Read more: 'Cold of Kalandar' ('Kalandar Sogugu'): Istanbul Review

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Aligarh's Manoj Bajpayee won best actor honors for his portrayal of award-winning university professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who, in 2010, was fired from his position for his sexual orientation, while Hasmine Killip took home the best actress award for her role as a 16-year-old homeless mother living on the streets of chaotic Manila in Ordinary People.

With the strength of performances in the acting categories, the jury awarded several additional prizes.

A jury grand prize went to iconic Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung, who was honored for her work in The Bacchus Lady, the latest role in a stellar 50-year career. And a jury grand prize special mention was given to 8-year-old Indian actor Sunny Pawar for his role as the young Saroo Brierley, lost in Calcutta, in the highly fancied Australian film Lion.

Sitting alongside Puttnam on the APSA jury this year were Kim Dong-Ho, current chairman of the Busan International Film Festival; Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi; Palme d'Or and Academy Award-winning producer Chapman; and Indian master filmmaker Shyam Benegal.

The panel also awarded a jury grand prize to cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing for his 'breathtaking" work on Yang Chao's Crosscurrent, and presented director Hussein Hassan with the APSA Cultural Diversity Award for The Dark Wind, an Iraq-Qatar-Germany co-production which exposes the reality of the Yazidi ethnic minority as they try to live under the shadow of ISIS.

A separate jury this year also handed out awards for youth, animation and documentary features. The winners included: The World of Us (Republic of Korea), produced by Lee Chang-dong, which was named best youth feature; Seoul Station (Republic of Korea) by Lee Dong-ha, Suh Young-joo and Yeon Sang-ho, which was tapped as best animated feature; and Iran's Starless Dreams, which earned best documentary feature honors.
Twelve people have been arrested in eastern India for trafficking newborn babies, who were smuggled out of clinics in biscuit boxes, police said Thursday.

Police busted the illegal adoption racket after they found three newborns inside a cardboard box being taken from a clinic north of Kolkata on Monday night.

The clinic owner and seven others were arrested on Monday, and four others were detained Wednesday after raids on other clinics.

One of the stolen babies, a girl, has been reunited with her parents, while the mothers of the other two were still being identified, senior police officer Bharatlal Meena told AFP.

All the babies were between three and five days old, he said.

"We fear that at least 45 newborns were trafficked by the gang over the past two years," Meena said, adding the clinics were paid 200,000 rupees ($2,900) for a boy and half that for a girl.

"Some of the women admitted to the nursing home (clinic) were told that they have given birth to stillborn babies," he said.

"If a mother wanted to see her baby, the nursing home employees would tell her that that it would be a scary sight. Most of the time parents would return home without seeing their babies."

The babies were stolen from at least four clinics in the area and were kept in boxes before being handed over to a charity.

The charity passed the babies to an agent who worked for prospective adoptive parents, Meena said.

"Investigators have obtained evidence that babies born in this nursing home had been trafficked to several cities, including one in the US."

Last year, police in New Delhi busted a charity that had allegedly sold two dozen babies and toddlers to couples for up to 550,000 rupees each.

Kidnapping and trafficking children in India has long been a major problem, with many sold to unscrupulous employers for use as cheap labour.

The racket in Delhi involved prospective adoptive mothers being admitted to private clinics where they were given a false record of having delivered a baby as well as a birth certificate for their "newborns".

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Experts say couples wanting to legally adopt in India are often frustrated by lengthy bureaucratic delays and complex rules, pushing them towards the thriving illegal adoption market.

Desperately poor parents also sometimes sell their children, while others are kidnapped by traffickers, experts say.

India has an estimated 30 million orphans. But only 4,362 children were legally adopted in 2014 and 3,677 in 2015, according to the government's central adoption authority.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - As many as 12 bodies have been uncovered in hidden graves in Mexico's violent state of Guerrero, the state government has said, and authorities will continue to investigate on Thursday. Cartels are battling over drug trafficking routes in the southwestern state, home to the beach resort of Acapulco. Five bodies were found on Wednesday and seven on Tuesday, the state government said on its website, all located in hidden graves in the municipality of Zitlala. Nine corpses with signs of torture were also found on Monday in the state, where the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 sparked a major human rights crisis for President Enrique Pena Nieto. Pena Nieto's popularity has hit fresh lows over his handling of the economy, rising violence and perceptions of corruption. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel)
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board began a probe on Wednesday into a large fire the day before at Exxon Mobil Corp's Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery that critically injured four people, the agency said in a statement.

A total of six people were injured in the blaze on the alkylation unit at the 502,500 barrel per day (bpd) refinery, the CSB said. Four of the injured remained in a Baton Rouge hospital burn center on Wednesday.

An Exxon spokeswoman said the company is working closely with agencies probing the blaze.

"An investigation into the cause of the incident at Baton Rouge is underway," Exxon spokeswoman Lauren Kerr said on Wednesday night.

"All appropriate agencies have been notified and we are working closely with them."

The fire broke out as work was being done to restart the alkylation unit, sources familiar with plant operations told Reuters on Tuesday. They declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak with media.

"According to initial inquiries, flammable vapors were released during unplanned maintenance around a pump," the CSB said on Wednesday.

"Although there was no explosion, the release ignited and caused a large fire."

On Tuesday, Exxon said four people were injured in a "small fire" at the refinery.

The Chemical Safety Board has no regulatory or enforcement powers, but is tasked with determining the root causes of explosions or fires at U.S. chemical plants.

CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Sutherland said the agency had repeatedly investigated U.S. refinery fires.

"The CSB has investigated too many incidents at refineries across the country," Sutherland said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We continue to be concerned about the safety of oil and gas workers and their surrounding communities. The management of risk is an important part of any high hazard operation."

The Board also continues to work for a tougher regulatory system for safety at refineries and chemical plants, according to the statement.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Joseph Radford)
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and China have agreed on new U.N. sanctions to impose on North Korea over the nuclear test it conducted in September, but Russia is delaying action on a draft resolution, a senior Security Council diplomat said on Wednesday. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, believed China could persuade Russia to agree to the new sanctions and that the 15-member Security Council could vote on the draft resolution as early as next week. Since North Korea's fifth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 9, the United States and China, a close ally of North Korea, have been negotiating a new draft Security Council resolution to punish Pyongyang. That draft text was recently given to the remaining three permanent council veto powers - Britain, France and Russia. "The (permanent five members) are getting very close to agreement on a draft resolution," the diplomat said. "The key thing is that China and the U.S., who have led this, have got to a position that they agree on. So the issue now is Russia. "The Russians are trying to hold it up but the Chinese are comfortable with it in terms of content," the diplomat said. Two other council diplomats confirmed China has agreed to new sanctions but that Russia had some issues. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China supported further action being taken by the Security Council in response to North Korea's nuclear test, but details of the draft resolution were still being discussed. The senior diplomat said the draft resolution closes loopholes in sanctions imposed on North Korea by the council in March, following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January. It cracks down on North Korea's coal exports, the diplomat said, and lists new names for targeted sanctions of a global travel ban and asset freeze. The senior diplomat gave no further details. In March the council banned the 193 U.N. member states from importing North Korean coal, iron and iron ore unless such transactions were for "livelihood purposes" and would not generate revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. Coal is particularly important to the economic health of North Korea, as one of its only sources of hard currency and largest single export. Coal also is bartered for essentials, including oil, food and machinery. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in Beijing; Editing by Bill Trott)
BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria on Thursday said U.S. President Barack Obama could well keep working until his last day in office to end the war in Syria, and Russia did not want to be held responsible for the demolition of eastern Aleppo. "I would never underestimate an outgoing U.S. president as a lame duck," Staffan de Mistura said in an interview published on Friday in Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "President Obama .... and Secretary of State John Kerry are very motivated to end the greatest humanitarian tragedy of this century that has played out during their time in office. It's about their legacy," de Mistura said. De Mistura on Tuesday had expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could launch a "brutal" new offensive to crush rebel-held eastern Aleppo before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. He said his recent meetings in Damascus showed the Syrian regime had been emboldened by Trump's comments during the campaign about ending support for the Syrian opposition. But he said he reminded Syrian leaders that any U.S. president would face massive public pressure if the situation ended as a human tragedy with 200,000 people starving. De Mistura said he feared eastern Aleppo could be decimated by Christmas if the bombardment continued, which would spur tens of thousands of refugees to flee to Turkey, and could lead to a prolonged guerilla war in rural areas and car bombs in cities. The head of the Syria "White Helmets" volunteer group on Thursday said besieged residents of Aleppo were about ten days from starvation. The U.N. envoy said he believed Russia's claim that it was not bombing any targets in eastern Aleppo, but added that Moscow was also not stopping Syrian forces from attacking hospitals or other targets in the city. Still, he said he believed Russia was serious about "not wanting to take responsibility for the destruction of eastern Aleppo." He said it was simply not in the interest of Russia or the Syrian government to be left with a completely destroyed country, five or six years of a "mini-Afghanistan," and a type of guerrilla war in the rural areas. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese)
By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's pensions regulator probably won't be able to demand payments from former BHS owner Philip Green to plug a hole in the collapsed retailer's pension fund until mid-2017 at the earliest, its boss said on Wednesday.

Lesley Titcomb, chief executive of The Pensions Regulator, also told lawmakers that any demand could then be appealed through the courts, potentially adding months or even years, to the process.

"Things are at a very, very early stage at the moment," she said during an appearance before a parliamentary committee.

Billionaire Green sold the loss-making department store chain last year to Dominic Chappell, a serial bankrupt with no retail experience, for one pound ($1.2) with a pension fund deficit.

The deficit had ballooned to 571 million pounds by the time BHS went into administration in April this year. If not filled, this will leave 20,000 BHS pensioners facing significant cuts to their income.

BHS closed the last of its stores in August and 11,000 jobs were lost in total.

Green had promised in June to "sort" the pensions issue but Titcomb said earlier this month that he had not made a comprehensive and credible offer, a claim Green disputes.

She began enforcement action this month to seek redress on behalf of the BHS pension schemes by issuing "Warning Notices" to Green, his holding companies, Chappell and his vehicle Retail Acquisitions.

Titcomb told parliament's Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday that recipients of the warning notices had been given time to respond. When they do so the Pensions Regulator will then decide whether to take cases to its Determinations Panel.

That panel, which operates at arm's length from the regulator's case teams, will make a final decision on whether the parties must fill the hole in the pension fund.

"They (the panel) will set their own timetable as to when that hearing happens. That is unlikely to be, I would have thought, before the middle of next year," she said.

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"In the meantime our door remains open to any further offers."

Confirmation by the Determinations Panel that the parties must pay would create a legally enforceable debt to the scheme.

However, Titcomb said its decision could still be appealed to the Upper Tribunal.

"The timetable then is completely out of our hands, the Upper Tribunal is part of the courts mechanisms," she said.

On Tuesday Frank Field, the opposition Labour lawmaker who chairs the Work and Pensions Committee, wrote to Titcomb asking what powers she has to seize assets other than cash as part of any enforcement action, prompting media speculation the regulator could go after Green's properties and superyachts.

Titcomb, however, was clear with lawmakers it would be up to the courts to pursue any debt.

A spokesman for Green, whose Arcadia group owns a string of fashion chains including Topshop, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Field has also written to Arcadia's board and the trustees of its pension fund, which is also in deficit, seeking information about its recovery plan. The regulator has also demanded information from Arcadia.

(Editing by Susan Fenton)
KIEV (Reuters) - Three Ukrainian IT students have paid tribute to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs by making his portrait with computer keyboard keys. The students from a private IT academy in the southeastern city of Mariupol spent three months dismantling around 100 keyboards to make a replica of Jobs' face. "When I began, I spent around three hours to glue two lines of keys," student Ivan Kuchugura told television channel TRK Ukraine. "I burnt my fingers as it was hot glue...I had to take breaks...because I had pain in my back so it was very difficult." The artwork, which includes the words "Apple", "Steve Jobs" and "iPhone" currently hangs on a classroom wall at the academy. (Reporting By Reuters Television)
By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders reaffirmed support for carrying out a 2014 pact on closer ties with Ukraine but cited "limitations" amid divisions over how far to go with a country mired in intractable corruption and conflict. Some in Ukraine feel the EU has not shown enough support in its confrontation with Russia and worry that promises by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to mend Washington's relations with Moscow could be come at their expense. On top of that, a provision to lift EU visas for Ukrainians is snagged and the Netherlands is struggling to work around a national referendum that rejected the EU's agreement on freeing up trade and building closer political ties with Kiev. Three years after a pro-EU uprising overthrew the Moscow-allied leadership in Kiev, the mood was publicly upbeat at Thursday's Brussels gathering at which European Council President Donald Tusk spoke Ukrainian and exchanged jokes with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a joint news conference. "You have many friends here, and I can promise you that you will not be left behind," Tusk said. "We also have our limitations, but we will continue in our efforts to fulfil your justified expectations. "Ukraine's success will be the success of all of Europe." But behind the official optimism, problems with the deal are mounting as many in the EU are unhappy with the pace of reform in Ukraine, especially in purging rampant graft, and some want to rehabilitate trade ties with major energy supplier Russia. For Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 45 million people, the drive toward Western integration has come at a high cost. Scores were killed during clashes between protesters and Ukrainian security forces 2013-14 and soon afterwards Russia annexed the Crimea region and went on to back an insurgency by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. The EU slapped sanctions on Russia over the bloodshed in the industrial east but the conflict - which killed nearly 10,000 people to date - remains unresolved. Tusk said the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia would be extended - likely for six months - before an EU summit on Dec. 15-16. But the future beyond that has turned murky as EU divisions over the wisdom of penalizing Moscow have deepened. Trump's rise to power may only weaken the bloc's resolve. CORRUPTION, ENERGY, TRADE AND VISAS Corruption remains rife in Ukraine. Public declarations revealed recently vast wealth held by officials, upsetting both the EU and Poroshenko's constituency at home. EU leaders told Poroshenko he must do more in rooting out graft, improving rule of law and liberalizing the economy. Still, Tusk said he hoped Ukrainians would be granted visa-free travel to the EU - coveted by Kiev - by year-end. But that is not certain as Germany and France have stalled the process, fearing an influx of Ukrainians could pressure the job market and stoke anti-foreigner feeling that has already hurt mainstream parties facing elections next year. At Thursday's summit, Brussels and Kiev signed a "strategic energy partnership" agreement, a message to Russia which has strived for years to bypass Ukraine in selling more of its gas to Europe, including by the Nord Stream pipeline. But that is unlikely to assuage Ukrainian concerns after Brussels lifted a cap on Gazprom's Opal pipeline, opening the way for Russia to expand Nord Stream capacity. And the future of the entire association accord, which EU leaders said had boosted Ukrainian exports to the bloc by 5 percent this year, is now uncertain in the wake of the Dutch vote to reject it. While the pact is being provisionally applied, The Hague is negotiating for a legally-binding EU summit decision that would allow the Dutch parliament to override the referendum result. The document would spell out that the agreement does not prejudge Ukraine's eventual membership in the EU, does not oblige the bloc to provide military or financial support to Kiev and does not give Ukrainians access to European jobs. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Islamabad (AFP) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone".

Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-held Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire.

The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond".

Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over the Himalayan region, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution".

He voiced concern over incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC).

"We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said.

Johnson also lamented the "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies.

"Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours... and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be."

Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers.

India said it had responded by carrying out "surgical strikes" across the heavily militarised border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place.

There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths including of civilians.

After Wednesday's shooting Pakistani authorities closed the road leading to the scenic Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination near the LoC, for security reasons.

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Residents told AFP they had fled the valley fearing for their lives after repeated shellings, seeking shelter in the region's main city Muzaffarabad.

"I along with my wife and six children travelled by foot through the night," said resident Tasawar Shah.

The Indian foreign ministry Thursday also accused Pakistan of targeting civilians in villages along the LoC, and of supporting "armed terrorists" it said had crossed the border earlier in the week and killed three Indian soldiers.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British rule ended in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

Rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.

Johnson, in Pakistan for a two-day visit, also spoke about US President-elect Donald Trump's campaign threats to reconsider defending NATO allies unless they up defence spending.

"We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," he said.
Geneva (AFP) - The United Nations on Thursday dismissed rumours that its special envoy for the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, had resigned.

"Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the UN said in a statement.

Arabic media had reported earlier Thursday that de Mistura had handed in his resignation for personal reasons.

The 69-year-old was named to the post in July 2014, charged with the daunting task of trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has torn Syria apart since 2011, killing 300,000 people.

Two other special envoys had previously held the post before resigning: former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, and former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi.

De Mistura, a Swedish-Italian career diplomat, told Swiss public TV network RTS last month that he had no plans to quit the job, despite the difficulty of the task.

"If I did it, it would only be if I thought there was no use for our work and if my family asked it of me," he said.

"My conscience tells me I must support the Syrians, but no one is indispensible," he added.
Airstrikes hit several besieged areas in east Aleppo city on November 24, killing at least 27 people and injuring many others, according to local media.

At least 14 people were killed in barrel bombs and rocket attacks in the Myasar neighborhood alone, the same reports said.

Other local media also reported on strikes on the Myasar neighborhood.

This video was shared by a pro-opposition media and is described as showing an unexploded rocket in Myasar neighborhood. Credit: YouTube/SMART News Agency via Storyful
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) - A Uzbek politician jailed over 20 years ago on embezzlement charges that supporters say stemmed from his opposition to the late strongman Islam Karimov has been freed, a family friend told AFP on Thursday.

Samandar Kukanov, now 72, was imprisoned in 1993 while serving as an MP in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan's parliament.

"Yes, he is free," said photographer and filmmaker Umida Akhmedov by email after speaking to Kukanov's son Sardor.

Kukanov's original 20-year-sentence was extended at least once during his term and a Tashkent-based rights group said it was extended for a further three years in October.

Kukanov's release comes as interim President Shavkat Mirziyoyev looks to consolidate control over the Central Asian country following the death in September of Karimov after 27 years at the helm.

Mirziyoyev served as Karimov's prime minister for 13 years.

Steve Swerdlow, a Central Asia researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch group told AFP the diplomatic community, including the US government, which publicly appealed to the Uzbek government to release him, had played an important role in securing Kukanov's release.

"If interim president Shavkat Mirziyoyev is serious about showing the world that his rule will be an improvement over Islam Karimov's repression he'll need to release many more political prisoners in addition to ending torture," Swerdlow added.

Uzbekistan was a serial human rights abuser under Karimov, who parlayed the country's strategic location on the Afghan border into geopolitical favour with Russia and the West.

The Muslim-majority country of 32 million people is Central Asia's most populous and rich in commodities including cotton, gold and gas.
* Palm futures touch highest since September 2012

* On track for fourth straight session of gains

* Ringgit hits almost 14-month trough

By Fransiska Nangoy

JAKARTA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose

nearly 5 percent on Thursday to a four-year high, tracking a

rally in soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) on latest

U.S. government biodiesel requirements.

Weakness in the ringgit against the dollar also

helped palm oil as it makes the tropical oil cheaper for foreign

buyers. The Malaysian currency touched its lowest since Sept.

30, 2015, tracking slides in most government bond prices.

Benchmark palm oil futures for February delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were up 2.2 percent

at 3,020 ringgit ($677.89) a tonne at the midday break, heading

for their fourth straight session of gains. Traded volumes stood

at 24,633 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Palm oil futures rose as much as 4.9 percent soon after the

market opened, touching their highest since September 2012,

tracking the overnight soyoil market, traders said.

CBOT soyoil futures surged nearly 7 percent on Wednesday

after the U.S. government released final requirements for

biofuel use for next year.

"The biodiesel requirements will boost demand for soybean

oil and indirectly for palm oil as well, which is its near

perfect substitute," said Adhi Tasmin, a palm analyst with

Maybank Kim Eng Securities in Jakarta.

However, rising production and concerns over possible demand

disruption in India may cap the rally in palm prices, Tasmin

said.

Palm oil is expected to break a resistance at 2,963 ringgit

per tonne and rise to the next resistance at 3,002 ringgit, Wang

Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy

technicals, said.

The January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity

Exchange rose 2.7 percent, while the January contract

for palm olein climbed 1.3 percent. Trading in Chicago

is closed on Wednesday for Thanksgiving holiday.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0505 GMT

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Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL 6-Dec 3021 +62 2994 3028 318

MY PALM OIL 7-Jan 3018 +60 3018 3100 1699

MY PALM OIL 7-Feb 3020 +66 3016 3098 11614

CHINA PALM OLEIN 7-Jan 6302 +80 6134 6496 780612

CHINA SOYOIL 7-Jan 6908 +180 6654 7058 462308

CBOT SOY OIL 6-Dec 36.85 +1.5 0 0 0

INDIA PALM OIL 6-Nov 553.8 +1.5 552.6 555.5 138

INDIA SOYOIL 6-Dec 705.7 +4.85 685.65 707.9 11380

NYMEX CRUDE 7-Jan 47.98 0.02 47.92 48.17 8853

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne

CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound

Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne

India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 4.4550 ringgit)

($1 = 68.7199 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.9189 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
Caracas (AFP) - Talks aimed at easing Venezuela's economic and political crisis are threatening to run off the rails and could come to a head on December 6, opposition members warned Thursday.

The Vatican-backed "dialogue" aims to calm tensions as the center-right opposition demands a vote on removing Socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

It blames his management for the crisis driven by falling oil prices that has caused desperate shortages of food and medicine.

The opposition MUD coalition this week accused the government of boycotting the talks.

Some of its members threatened to do the same if the government does not agree at the next meeting on December 6 to let it have a vote.

"The government not only unilaterally froze the dialogue by not attending the talks on Tuesday, but also called into question the full meeting in December," said Jesus Torrealba, leader of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

Another senior opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, alleged the government had skipped Tuesday's talks in pique after the opposition-led congress held a session on the conviction of two of his wife's nephews on US drug charges.

Maduro appeared on television shortly afterwards and insisted: "The dialogue continues to progress."

Opposition party Causa Radical, part of the MUD, called Thursday on prosecutors to investigate Maduro himself over possible complicity in the drugs affair.

That effort appeared unlikely to bear fruit because the high court has found in Maduro's favor in a string of rulings over recent months.

A survey by pollster Datanalisis in October indicated 78.5 percent of Venezuelans opposed Maduro's leadership.

Maduro has consistently resisted efforts to hold a recall referendum or early election. The opposition says he controls the courts and electoral authorities.

At the last round of talks on November 12, the sides made vague commitments to ease tensions and the food crisis. They have since accused each other of breaking their word.

"What is the point of this process if it yields no results?" Capriles said on Thursday.

"On December 6 we have to push for an electoral solution. We want a date. If not, I won't be coming to the party."
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelan customs officers confiscated a shipment of medicine that a charity said Thursday was a donation for poor citizens suffering shortages in the country's economic crisis.

Authorities said the cargo was an unauthorized import. The Catholic charity Caritas said it was a donation from Chile and claimed authorities had not responded to requests for permission to distribute it.

The cargo contains 75,000 packets of medicine as well as food supplements, the customs department said.

"The merchandise arrived without a permit. It does not fulfill the requirements to be distributed in this country," the department said on Twitter.

Caritas Venezuela president Janeth Marquez said the medicine arrived in the country in August.

Customs said that since the right papers had still not been filed, the cargo had been declared abandoned and the medicine handed over to the national social security service.

Opposition deputy Jose Manuel Olivares in congress on Thursday accused the government of "stealing" the medicine.

Marquez said her organization had contacted the health ministry to request a permit to distribute the medicine but had received no response.

"We are very upset," she told AFP on Thursday. "We hope the medicine will be given to those who most need it. That is what our Chilean friends wanted."

International NGO Human Rights Watch has described the situation in Venezuela as a "humanitarian crisis."

Economic turmoil has been aggravated over the past two years by the fall in prices for the country's crucial oil exports.

Shortages of food and basic supplies have sparked riots and looting.

The Pharmaceutical Federation says 85 percent of medicines are running short.

President Nicolas Maduro is resisting the opposition's efforts to remove him from power. His socialist government and the center right opposition have been holding fractious crisis talks.

"We want the arrival of food and medicine to be a priority at the talks," said Marquez.

"We have been promised more donations, but we are waiting to receive a permit."
For more than five weeks Iraqi forces, accompanied by Kurdish peshmerga and Shiite militias, have attacked ISIS positions in and around the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

In recent weeks, the fighting has moved to the outskirts of and neighborhoods in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the terrorist group's last stronghold in the country.

In the clip below, a US-led coalition airstrike on November 10 knocks out an ISIS fighting position near the city.

The November 10 strike came about three weeks in the Mosul offensive, and 14 airstrikes on that day and the day prior hit ISIS tactical units, fighting positions, buildings, weapons systems, tunnels, vehicles, and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, or car bombs, which have become a frequent sight during the offensive.

Fighting has been heavy in the eastern half of Mosul, which is divided into eastern and western flanks by the Tigris River.

iraqi forces car bomb mosul

Iraqi forces pushed into that part of the city at the beginning of November, encountering street-to-street fighting with sniper fire and car bombs, made all the more complicated by the constant presence of some of the million or so civilians still in the city.

"If there were no civilians, wed just burn it all," Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridhi, a counterterrorism commander, told The Washington Post in early November.

"I couldnt bomb with artillery or tanks, or heavy weapons. I said, 'We cant do anything.'"

The ongoing fighting in and around the city also poses risks to the civilian population.

Retreating ISIS fighters have abducted a number of civilians for use as human shields, and are believed to have summarily executed others, a charge that has also been leveled at Iraqi forces and their partners.

UN officials have said that civilian causalities from the fighting were overwhelming government and international aid groups.

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A displaced Iraqi woman cries after she finds out that her 15-year-old son Maitham was killed by an Islamic State mortar in Samah neighborhood, Mosul, Iraq. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

"We are very worried that more and more civilians will be hurt and victimized as the campaign intensifies," said Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, according to Reuters. "Civilians are not being caught in cross-fire, they are being targeted."

Civilians in Iraq have also been killed by operations supporting the Iraqi campaign against ISIS.

The US government said in early November that 39 civilians had been killed in 13 strikes since March this year.

Iraqi forces have continued to advance into different neighborhoods as the city, moving cautiously, wary of both civilians in the line of fire and ISIS fighters lying in wait.

Analysts have also warned that the terrorist group, which has deployed chemical weapons numerous times in the past, is likely to do so during the fight for Mosul, which was a hub for production of such weapons.

And while people remain here, much more will have to endured," the BBC's Quentin Sommerville said in a report posted earlier this week. "The fight for Mosul has only just begun."

You can see the full video of the November 10 strike here.

NOW WATCH: Footage reveals ISIS' secret underground tunnels near Mosul





More From Business Insider


By Suzanne Barlyn

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> has asked a U.S. court to order dozens of customers who are suing the bank over the opening of unauthorized accounts to resolve their disputes in private arbitrations instead of court, according to legal documents.

The motion, filed in the U.S. District Court in Utah on Wednesday, is in response to the first class action lawsuit filed against Wells since it agreed to pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers for opening up to 2 million deposit and credit-card accounts in their names without their permission.

The scandal has shaken Wells, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets. Its former Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf stepped down amid the furor, it has been put under tougher regulatory scrutiny and its reputation has been damaged as it faces multiple probes.

The move to enforce the mandatory arbitration clauses comes as Wells Fargo has launched an advertising campaign to win back customer loyalty in the wake of the scandal.

A spokesman for Wells Fargo declined to comment on the filing.

In a written response to questions from U.S. lawmakers, published last week, the bank said it would stand by its arbitration policy but was offering free mediation services to affected customers.

Mandatory arbitration rules inserted into account-opening agreements prohibit customers from joining class actions or suing Wells Fargo. Instead, the agreements require individual, closed-door arbitration.

Mandating arbitration when signing up for financial products has become standard practice after a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision validated the practice. But customer advocates say it improperly denies customers the legal protections of court proceedings, such as the right to appeal, and helps to conceal corporate misconduct from the public and regulators because documents and hearings are not made public.

Customers trying to recover small sums of money are also unlikely to find lawyers to represent them in arbitration, critics say, and the cases do not set a legal precedent to help other affected individuals.

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Last year, a court dismissed an earlier lawsuit against Wells Fargo, saying that customers had signed arbitration clauses when opening their accounts.

The bank has come under fire over its mandatory arbitration clauses from Democratic lawmakers in Congress, including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a brainchild of Warren, is considering rules to ban banks, credit card issuers and other companies from forcing customers to submit to arbitration and waive their right to join class action lawsuits.

But the CFPB could find its powers scaled back by President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress, according to members of both political parties, lobbyists and lawyers.

(Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Lisa Shumaker)
Photo: House Beautiful Videos

[UPDATE FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2016, 11:09AM: Qoo10 is also offering discounts to shoppers on top of coupons. It was previously mentioned that no discounts are offered]

The post-Thanksgiving shopping tradition thats driving many Americans off the rails at the moment is returning to Singapore this weekend with several retailers here jumping on the Black Friday bandwagon.

For those who are still keen on shopping even after Singles Day (11 Nov), heres where you can take advantage of Black Friday bargains in Singapore, both online and offline.

1. Amazon

Head on to Amazons website from 14 to 26 Nov if youre looking for great bargains. Be sure to refresh their Black Friday page at 7am every day to discover new deals.

2. Cotton On

Now is probably the best time to restock your everyday basics as Cotton On is slashing 30 per cent off its full-priced items if youre purchasing them online from 24 to 26 Nov. If youd rather hit their brick-and-mortar stores, be sure to shop at the outlets at Bugis Junction, Plaza Singapura, Bedok Mall and Lot One until 28 Nov. You might walk away with a top as cheap as $10.

3. Esprit

Esprit is having a sale online from 24 to 27 Nov, offering 50 per cent off every second piece.

4. Lazada

From home appliances, health supplements to electronics, everything has been on sale on Lazada since Singles Day. Their sale ends on 12 Dec.

5. Robinsons

All three Robinsons stores  The Heeren, Raffles City and Jem  will be opened from 7am on Friday (25 Nov), with up to 80 per cent discount storewide.

6. Timberland & The North Face at Singapore Expo

Get your adventure gear at a bargain at the Timberland and The North Face sale, happening at the Singapore Expo from 24 to 27 Nov, with discounts up to 80 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.

7. G2000

Need new office wear? G2000 is offering 50 per cent off your second piece. This storewide promotion will be available from 24 to 29 Nov.

8. SaSa

Need to shake up your beauty regime? SaSa is offering up to 70 per cent off its products storewide for outlets at Bugis Junction, Lot One and Nex shopping malls on 24 Nov. Yes, one day only.

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9. Sephora

If youd rather shop for beauty products from Sephora instead, the retailer is offering 20 per cent off all of their products if you buy them online on 25 Nov.

10. New Balance

If youre looking for fresh New Balance kicks, head over to any of the brands Experience stores for 20 per cent off your purchase.

11. Books Actually

Heres something for the bookworms. Homegrown books and stationery retailer BooksActually is throwing a 20 per cent off storewide sale from 24 to 25 Nov.

12. Qoo10

If youre an avid Qoo10 shopper, the e-marketplace is giving away cart coupons priced up to $100 from 23 to 25 Nov. The site is also offering discounts of up to 80% on products from over 1,000 participating merchants.

Heres how the coupon scheme works:

*Qoo10 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping Coupon Scheme

Black Friday

(23rd- 25th Nov) Coupon offered by Qoo10 once min. purchase amount is met Min. Purchase $ 10 $ 50 $ 30 $ 130 $ 100 $ 600 Cyber Monday

(26th- 28th Nov) Coupon offered by Qoo10 once min. purchase amount is met Min. Purchase $ 5 $ 30 $ 20 $ 120 $ 50 $ 250

13. Shopee

Online retail site Shopee is having a Black Friday and Cyber Monday (28 Nov) with up to 80 per cent off their items.
Why Anne of Green Gables is the hero we need right now

Anne Shirley was the original nasty woman, which is why America needs her right now. A couple weeks ago, American girls were told that they could be anything  except the President of the United States, even when they are as qualified as one could possibly be. Tonight, on Thanksgiving, American audiences will be treated to an Anne of Green Gables reboot, and it couldnt come at a better time.

Here are some of the reasons that we need Anne Shirley right now:

Anne Shirley has a very bad temper.

Hillary was dealt a terrible blow last week, and because of societal expectations, she had to keep her cool. You know who has zero chill? Anne Shirley. Shell break a slate over your head, and she will STAND BY IT.

She is not likable.

Sure, shes likable to us, but shes not universally beloved in Avonlea. Josie Pie and crew love to throw shade her way. Anne keeps succeeding in spite of them.

She is the winner of the Avery.

Yeah, she wins the Avery scholarship. She beats out Gilbert Blythe, and everyone else.

She dyes her hair green.

You hurt Annes feelings , and she might react badly and dye her hair green. Anne shows us that we can make mistakes, we can overreact, and then we can move on.

annegren

Shes not a boy.

Woof. The Patriarchy hits close to home on this one. Anne arrives in Avonlea only to find out that Matthew and Marilla wanted a boy. Sure, it puts her in the depths of despair, and then she keeps moving on until Marilla regrets that she ever said it. Lets go, ladies. Its time to live our truths so fully that the Patriarchy will regret that they ever tried to put us down.

Glass Ceiling? Shes on top of it, walking the ridge pole of a roof.

Remember that time that the Avonlea school went to Moody Surgeons house for Mr. Phillips goodbye party, and Josie Pie was showing off by walking a fence? Anne couldnt help but throw down a gauntlet, saying that she once knew someone who could walk the ridgepole of a roof. Of course, Josie challenged Anne, and before we knew it, Anne was on top of Moodys kitchen roof (until she fell and sprained her ankle). Gilbert offered her a ride, and she opted to take the long way home rather than give him the satisfaction.

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If Anne Shirley had been with us last week, shed have been scaling the Javits Center just to prove that she could. When the results came in showing Hillarys defeat? Anne would have walked her home through the haunted forest.

Shes fishing for lake trout.

When the Barrys dory springs a leak, she jumps out and clings to the bridge post, only to have Gilbert Blythe come smugly rowing by. When shes in his boat, he dares to say, The fact is: I rescued you. Anne shuts that down so fast.

Shes not a damsel. She didnt need rescuing. She reminds us that while we might accept and welcome the help of our allies, we dont need them. We are more than capable of saving ourselves (even if we cant save that lovely piano cover).

She doesnt fall for the lie that its okay for boys to treat you badly (because they like you).

It takes Anne a long time to forgive Gilbert for calling her names and teasing her. Of course, we as the audience know that its because he likes her. Diana knows, too, and she tries to tell Anne as much, but Anne does not bite. She will not allow herself to be treated poorly just because Gilbert Blythe doesnt know how to process his feelings, and we shouldnt either.

She internalizes messages about what she should look like  because she is real.

Im not saying that this is good, but I am saying that it is real. When we meet Anne, she hates everything about herself, from her name (Couldnt you call me Cordelia?) to her hair, to the fact that she deeply believes that shes ugly.

We live in a world were women are given so many complicated mixed messages about how we should look and feel and be that it is impossible to meet them all. Anne shows us what its like to carry that weight, to grow through it, and to become the person you want to be in spite of what other people tell you.

She is surrounded by strong women.

A fellow Anne of Green Gables fanatic recently pointed out to me that Gilbert Blythe is a kind of specter. We dont really know anything about him, she argued. Thats certainly true compared to the female characters in the book. Diana, Marilla, Rachel Lynde: all of these women are deeply felt, complicated, and intensely human. They are products of their circumstances, and they are allowed to forge their own destinies.

Anne knows what we should all know. That life in this world is a lot easier when you surround yourself with strong women who lift you up and Matthew. Every single little girl  and adult woman  should have a Matthew in her life to tell her, I never wanted a boy. I only wanted you from the first day. Dont ever change. I love my little girl. Im so proud of my little girl. (Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out.)

To catch a fresh dose of Anne, you can tune in to PBS this Thanksgiving (tonight!!!) at 8 p.m. EST.

If you cant wait that long, theres always the Kevin Sullivan original, where Megan Follows is the perfect imperfect heroine. Better yet, curl up with the books and prepare yourself to be soothed in a way that only Lucy Maude Montgomery can soothe you.

The post Why Anne of Green Gables is the hero we need right now appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Girls creator Lena Dunham took to Instagram to send a message to her critics Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. The HBO star was inundated with mail after Donald Trump won the presidency in the 2016 election Nov. 8. Thats because in April she said she would move to Canada at the Matrix Awards if the New York businessman won.

Turns out, Dunham isnt going anywhere. Today I received a letter (yes, on paper) that read, Dont let the door hit you on the awhen you cross the border into Canada. This is actually one of the more polite notes Ive gotten recently and Ill survive it just fine, she said.

Dunham, 30, already said she wouldnt flee the country, but she reiterated that fact Wednesday: Ive realized I can survive as a Jewish pro-choice sexual assault survivor with a queer family member and a belief that we are all exactly and beautifully equal.

The HBO star then explained why she would not leave, despite Trump defeating former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. I can survive staying in this country, MY country, to fight and love and use my embarrassment of blessings to do whats right, she wrote. Its easy to joke about moving to Canada. Its harder to see, and to love, the people who fill your mailbox with hate.

Dunham ended her post with a question: Its harder to live, fully and painfully aware of the injustice surrounding us, to cherish and fear your country all at once. But Im wiling to try. Will you try with me?

The most garnered more than 78,300 likes from her 2.8 million followers. The messages also generated more than 3,000 comments.

In her next post, she shared a picture that read, Gratitude.

Lena Dunham

Photo: Getty Images

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella

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The year was 1924; the place, New York City. A group of animals from the Central Park Zoo marched down a street in Harlem accompanied by a very special group of people: a handful of immigrant Macys employees, who wanted to express how thankful they were for living in the United States that year. And thus, the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade was born.

Though today the event is a big blowout, with A-list stars, Broadway performances and millions of spectators on hand to watch the marching bands, floats and balloons make their way downtown, the parade had humble beginnings, outlined in the new book Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade: A New York City Holiday Tradition, by former PEOPLE editor Stephen M. Silverman.

Want to impress your Thanksgiving guests with some supercool facts about the parade, now in its 90th year? Weve got you covered.

1. The first-ever balloon was Felix the Cat

The biggest star of his time, as Silverman tells PEOPLE, Felix debuted in 1927. He was filled with air and not helium, however, so instead of soaring above the New York City streets, he was held up on stilts. To commemorate the parades 90th year this Thanksgiving Day, Felix will make a triumphant return  filled only with air and carried on stilts.

2. A rubber shortage put the parade on hold

For a few years during World War II, Macys canceled the event, in large part because there wasnt enough rubber or helium to create and inflate the balloons.

3. Macys wasnt the first department store to have a parade

That honor would go to Gimbels, a now-defunct Philadelphia-based chain that launched its own parade one year before Macys.

4. The balloons used to be released at the end of the route

Seriously. In the early years, they would untether them, and they would fly away and invariably end up somewhere on Long Island, Silverman recounts. If you found one, you could claim a reward. The problem? Aside from the environmental toll, people would rip the balloons apart and bring in small pieces in hopes of earning said reward.

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The tradition ultimately came to an end when one loose balloon became entangled in the propeller of a small plane, nearly taking it down. The pilot said she had something extra-special to be thankful for that Thanksgiving, Silverman says. These days, the balloons are simply deflated, crated and stored in New Jersey once the parade ends.

5. Square balloons present the most challenges

Were looking at you, SpongeBob. Any pointed parts are difficult to design, inflate and balance, Silverman says. But round balloons can be tricky, too: It actually took them a while to get Olive Oyl well balanced, he says. What finally made it work? They put Sweet Pea in her arms.

And if a balloon is sporting an accessory, look out! One year, so much rainwater collected in the cap of one character that it spilled out and drenched the crowd as the balloon made a tight turn.

Bonus: How much do you think the parade costs?

That one well never know, Silverman says. Macys wont disclose that, he explains. As they say, its a gift to the city, and as with any gift, you dont leave the price tag on.

Catch the 90th Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade at 9 a.m. ET on NBC.




Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes as fires burned across Israel on November 24.

Over a dozen emergency personnel were dispatched to handle a fire in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, while in Haifa, more than 130 people were injured, Haaretz said.

At a press conference on Thursday, Israels Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu blamed arsonists for the fires, saying that Israel was facing a wave of terror in the form of arsonists, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Every fire caused by arson, or incitement to commit arson, is terrorism for all intents and purposes, and we will bring them to justice, Netanyahu said. Credit: Facebook/Rachel Eitan via Storyful
Wildfires in northern and central Israel have force thousands from their homes as Croatia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus dispatched firefighters and equipment to help battle the blazes.

Russia also is reported to be sending firefighting aircraft, and officials are mulling whether to ask Turkey for help as well.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were indications some of the fires were started by arsonists.

When you have simultaneous fires raging you cant rule out the possibility of arson. All leads are being pursued, but our first priority is to extinguish the fire. The extreme weather is making it difficult, and we are preparing for an intense couple of days, Fire and Rescue Services Coastal District Commander Amos Yaakov told Israel Today.

Two people have been treated for smoke inhalation.

Arutz-Sheva reported the fires worsened early Thursday. Weather forecasts promised no break in the hot, dry weather, with high winds complicating firefighting efforts. Crews managed to subdue a fire in Nataf, near Jerusalem, Wednesday but new blazes erupted in Karkom, near Tiberias.

These are terrible scenes to look at, Israel Parks and Nature Authority director Shaul Goldstein told the Jewish Press. A whole world has been burnt. Animals and a rich plant world that we couldnt manage to protect. More than the stiff punishments that should be meted out to the people responsible.

Four suspects have been questioned in the Nataf fire, which began Wednesday morning, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Jerusalem Post. He said the suspects had been repairing a roadway when the fire started, forcing the evacuation of more than 200 people.

Two homes were destroyed and 30 damaged in the northern town of Zichron Yaakov and residents were evacuated to the Arab village of Abu Gosh, Ynetnews reported. Fire threatened a gas storage facility between Kiryat Arba and the Adora settlement in the West Bank, forcing road closures in both directions. A large brush fire also broke out near a school in Nazareth.

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Acting fire Commissioner Shimon Ben-Ner issued a nationwide ban on bonfires and fires in open fields.

Forest fires raged in Shefaram and near Kiryat Gat.

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Its a Wonderful Life is a holiday film favorite for many families around the country, and this year marks the films 70th Anniversary.

To celebrate, the New York town of Seneca Falls, widely considered the inspiration for the movies Bedford Falls, is pulling out all the stops.

In addition to the towns Its a Wonderful Life Museumone of only four movie museums in the countrythe Seneca Falls yearly festival to honor of the film is bigger than ever.

The weekend, December 9 to 11, will be packed with activities, presentations, screenings, and special appearances from the Bailey kids: Carol Coombs, Karolyn Grimes, and Jimmy Hawkins.

Seneca Falls is celebrating the 70th anniversary of It's a Wonderful Life.

Visitors can expect to be transported back to a Victorian-era Christmas with horse-drawn wagon rides, historic home tours, a tree lighting ceremony, bonfire, and caroling. There will also be plenty of opportunities to meet the cast, as the actors will host a variety of autograph and photo sessions throughout the weekend.

Seneca Falls is about a two-hour drive from Buffalo and an hour drive from Syracuse. Travelers can choose from a number of hotels and bed and breakfasts, all within five minutes of downtown.
In the two weeks since Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, a number of anti-Trump protests and rallies have taken place throughout a frustrated America. In Portland, Oregon alone, the peaceful demonstrations have turned violent, with local police declaring some to be riots due to the nature of arrests and incidents of vandalism. Many Americans are making it clear they don't subscribe to Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again."

One such artist is Compton rapper YG, who has been very vocal about his feelings against Trump over the summer with his protest song "FDT (F--k Donald Trump)," which featured Nipsey Hussle on the original and G-Eazy and Macklemore on the remix. In September, YG embarked on the F--k Donald Trump tour with Kamaiyah, RJ, Slim 400 and Sad Boy, a movement of West Coast artists with the same belief: F--k the president-elect and everything he represents.

On Thanksgiving Eve (Nov. 23), Portland's Roseland Theater held two sold-out shows. During the evening performance, the artists didn't water down their message, taking the opportunity in each of their sets to start "F--k Donald Trump" chants. Sad Boy, perhaps best known for describing the discrimination Hispanics face in L.A. on YG's song "Blacks & Browns," exercised his freedom of speech by having his hype man wave Mexico's flag as a signal of pride. It felt like a direct middle finger to Trump and his stance on immigration. (Trump advocated during his campaign for removing illegal immigrants from the country and constructing a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.)

Oregon, along with Washington and California, is historically known for being a blue state, and Kamaiyah had remained neutral before joining the tour. Like Sad Boy and Slim, who performed before her, she rallied the crowd into a chant of her own, perhaps garnering the loudest crowd participation of the night. During her set, the 21-year-old Oakland rapper kept the party going with songs like "Out the Bottle," "Freaky Freaks" and "How Does It Feel." Portland has shown a lot of love to Bay Area artists in the past who have made the trek up north, and Kamaiyah was no exception.

After RJ performed some songs off his OMMIO (On My Mama I'm On) series, he balanced getting political with getting ratchet by hosting a twerk-off competition with Slim as judge. By this time, the fully energized audience was ready for the night's main event, as loud "YG" chants echoed throughout the venue. Once the house lights went dark, YG appeared on a gurney, laying down as he passionately rapped the words to "Who Shot Me?" like he was still searching for the answer.

YG has positioned himself as an outspoken MC who is willing to stand up against injustice. At the same time, much of the rapper's popularity is due to the critical praise for his 2014 effort My Krazy Life and several of his gangsta rap tunes ("BPT," "Bicken Back Being Bool" and "Twist My Fingaz," to name a few) have gone mainstream. There was rarely a moment when the crowd neither rapped along to his lyrics nor participated in his performance. "Every time I come out here it's a movie, goddammit," said YG, who wore a red flannel with the words "Police Get Away With Murder" on the back.

YG shouted out Sad Boy and the Latinos in the building and then took the crowd to Compton with gems like "Really Be" and "Word Is Bond" and kept the energy high with his 2009 classic "Toot It and Boot It." He also did his own version of the viral Mannequin Challenge craze with the same hype man waving a Viva Mexico flag on stage, getting both levels of the Roseland to stand completely still with "My N---a" as its soundtrack. He promised to upload the footage on Instagram after the show.

YG also brought out earlier performers to make his finale worthwhile. Slim served as his right-hand man for his set. RJ returned for a performance of "Get Rich" with him while Kamaiyah emerged for "Why You Always Hatin?" In a personal moment, he performed "Blacks & Browns" after warning the crowd he might forget some of the words. This time around, he did it all the way through with Sad Boy as the audience watched and listened intently.

But the biggest anti-Trump statement was YG orchestrating several audience members to get on stage and attack a Donald Trump pinata with sticks. This caricature of Trump, with a suit and a "Make America Great Again" hat, was eye-opening in that protesters -- especially in the L.A. area -- have burned a giant paper mache Trump head and beaten a Trump pinata before in a gesture of solidarity. The hatred of Trump has turned into a bonding experience, as concert goers watched the pinata get dismantled and thrown into the crowd. The scene led into the tour's theme song, "FDT," which closed out the night.

YG, who didn't say much this evening to push the agenda of getting Trump out of office, simply reiterated what he's been saying about Trump and his supporters: "Suck my d--k."

Update: YG's Red Friday mixtape, set to drop Nov. 26, leaked earlier this afternoon, which the rapper addressed on Twitter by laying the blame on his record label Def Jam in a series of Tweets that, charitably, can be abbreviated to "FDJ."
The shopping holiday offers plenty of deals on TVs, games, computers and other tech.

Whether looking for a new flat screen, computer, tablet or the latest video games to add to the collection, Cyber Monday offers a relatively stress-free way to get great deals ahead of the holiday season.

With offers for hundreds of dollars off on some of the best tech in 2016, shops like Best Buy, Walmart, the Microsoft store, Apple and others have a great collection to choose from.

TVs:

Samsung HDTVs are going for 50 percent off at Walmart and the retail giant is selling Samsung 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TVs for $999. The 60 1080p HD Smart LED TV is selling there for $579 and comes with an $80 Walmart Gift Card. Walmart also has several other deals on televisions worth looking for depending on the intended budget.

The LG B6OLED TV is going for $1800 at all online retailers.

Video Games:

The Microsoft store has a lot of options including discounts on controllers, discounted Xbox Live subscriptions and discounts on games and consoles themselves.

PlayStation lovers can get a PS4 Bundle for $246.99 that includes Uncharted, the game.

Computers (thanks to Fortune):

The Microsoft Surface Book i5 has a $400 discount at the online Microsoft Store.

Dell Inspiron PCs start at $399 in Microsofts marketplace.

The HP Notebook 15 can be purchased for a discounted $299 through Microsoft.

The Dell Inspiron Gaming Edition Laptop is $300 off via Walmart at $1,000.

The HP X360 is going for $229 at Best Buy.

The Lenovo Ideapad is being sold for a discounted $400 at Best Buy.

The Lenovo Yoga 910 can be purchased for $150 at Best Buy.

Wearables:

Garmin Vivofit 2 armbands can be had for just $69.99.

Pebble digital watches come with$50 savings from Best Buy.

Amazon is offering the Withings Activite Pop for just #99.95.

Smart Phones:

Best Buy is offering gift cards for the purchase of iPhone 7s and Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edges. The iPhone comes with a $250 gift card while the Samsung phones are accompanied by $450 in gift cards. The iPhone SE comes with a $160 Best Buy gift card. Other deals for LG and Motorola phones are also available.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for 134,386 current and former U.S. sailors, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday. It said a laptop used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services employee working on a U.S. Navy contract was hacked. Hewlett Packard informed the Navy of the breach on Oct. 27 and the affected sailors will be notified in the coming weeks, the Navy said. "The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke said in a statement. Burke said the investigation of the breach was in its early stages. "At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest misuse of the information that was compromised," the Navy said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; editing by Grant McCool)
After some back and forth with The New York Times, President-elect Donald Trump went ahead with the planned interview, sharing his vision of what lies ahead. The interview follows Trumps address to the nation from earlier this week, when the future President chose to update the American people on his transition progress and his 100-day plan via YouTube, rather than a regular press conference.

The full transcript of Trumps interview with the Times is now available online.

DONT MISS: Leak: iPhone 8s major redesign paves the way for a new killer feature

We already talked about Trumps insistence on convincing Apple to make iPhones in the USA, but thats just one tidbit from the interview.

Trump addressed other matters, climate change include  spoiler alert, Trump would almost agree that climate change is a human-made thing, not an invented one:

I think right now  well, I think there is some connectivity, Trump said when asked whether theres a connection between human activities and climate change. There is some, something. It depends on how much. It also depends on how much its going to cost our companies. You have to understand, our companies are noncompetitive right now, he added, pivoting back to talking about US jobs.

Interestingly, Trump had words of praise for the Times as well, a media outlet he called out numerous times for the negative coverage he received during the election.

[I] just appreciate the meeting and I have great respect for The New York Times. Tremendous respect, Trump said.  Its very special. Always has been very special. I think Ive been treated very rough. Its well out there that Ive been treated extremely unfairly in a sense, in a true sense. I wouldnt only complain about the Times.

Trump also said he disavows the alt-right groups and their movements. First of all, I dont want to energize the group. Im not looking to energize them, he said. I dont want to energize the group, and I disavow the group. They, again, I dont know if its reporting or whatever. I dont know where they were four years ago, and where they were for Romney and McCain and all of the other people that ran, so I just dont know, I had nothing to compare it to.

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But its not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized, I want to look into it and find out why, Trump added.

These are just some of Trumps remarks to the Times  see the full transcript at this link.

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These days, we seemingly cant go a week without hearing about a dangerous piece of smartphone malware or some new way for hackers to keep tabs on what were up to. Indeed, the golden age of information has also provided malicious actors with more avenues to spy on, and in some cases steal money from, unsuspecting users.

To this point, cyber security researchers from Ben Gurion University in Israel recently disclosed that theyve unearthed a way to spy on users via headphones connected to a vulnerable computer. Yep, in 2016, not even your headphones can be used without having to worry about a third-party eavesdropping on your conversations. The software at issue is still very much a proof of concept but it nonetheless appears to be incredibly advanced, creative, and downright frightening.

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According to Wired, the malware, which researchers are calling Speake(a)r, has the ability to remotely infiltrate a PC and subsequently use a connected pair of headphones to record audio, even when the computers own microphones have been completely turned off or even disconnected.

The experimental malware instead repurposes the speakers in earbuds or headphones to use them as microphones, the report explains, converting the vibrations in air into electromagnetic signals to clearly capture audio from across a room.

A video demonstrating how the malware works can be viewed below. Its pretty next-level stuff.

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The startling win of Republican Donald Trump as the U.S. president is starting to show its impact on telecom policy parameters. Recently, Trump confirmed the appointment of Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison as advisors of the U.S. telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This might jeopardize net neutrality as both the officials of them are staunch opponents of the norm. Trump himself is a stern critic of net neutrality.

There is little doubt that the ISP (Internet Service Provider) industry will gain the most if the net neutrality laws are scrapped fully or partially by the FCC. Leading ISPs including AT&T Inc. T, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, Comcast Corp. CMCSA and Charter Communications Inc. CHTR have decided to challenge the net neutrality laws in Supreme Court.

Notably, the current FCC chairman Tom Wheelers term will come to an end this month. Trump will take charge of White House on Jan 20, 2017 and will select a new FCC head. Last week, the FCC abandoned its plans to reform the Business Data Services (BDS) market and decided not to proceed with its set top box reform proposals. The FCC was persuaded to take these decisions after a group of Republican lawmakers asked Wheeler to refrain from acting on "controversial" issues during his final months in office.

According to a recent Reuters report, U.S. telecom behemoth Verizon received regulatory clearance from the FCC for the $1.8 billion deal to purchase XO Communications Inc.s fiber-optic network. Notably, the FCC had allowed Verizon to enter a lease to use XO Communications wireless spectrum licenses for 5G deployment.

Furthermore, Verizonis planning to start selling its upcoming IoT Fast Track services to small business owners.The service will offer technical, supplier-related and expense details to small and mid-sized companies for the IoT (Internet of Things) installations. Moreover, customers will not have to purchase Verizons network services to avail its IoT offerings.

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Meanwhile, leading cable MSO (multi service operator) Comcast is foraying into the lucrative digital media market to drive growth. Recently, NBC Universal, a subsidiary of Comcast invested $200 million in online social news site BuzzFeed. Notably, Comcast had put in $200 million in BuzzFeed last month.

In a separate development, Comcast and satellite TV operator DISH Network Corp. DISH jointly announced that the latters virtual MPVD (Multichannel Video Programming Distributor) platform, Sling TV, will be integrated into the cable MSOs cloud-based, managed video delivery platform, X1.

Leading wireless chipset manufacturer Qualcomm Inc. QCOM is set to launch a new version of the Snapdragon mobile processor. Recently, Qualcomms subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. entered into a strategic alliance to manufacture a premium Snapdragon processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, using the latters 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology.

Outside the U.S., Mexican telecom regulator -- Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) -- recently reaffirmed that the conversion of analog TV signals to digital signals across the nation, will be completed by the end of this year. The process will come to a conclusive end when a total of 460 low-power TV stations will switch off their analog signal.

The Mexican wireless market is currently controlled by America Movil SAB AMX, AT&T and Telefonica SA TEF. All three stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Read the last Telecom Stock Roundup for Nov 17, 2016.

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. The BDS market, where telecom and cable MSOs provide a host of different network related services to business entities of different sizes, have been a lucrative source of revenues in the recent years for the service providers. More significantly, these service providers have been generating handsome revenues from the small and medium businesses by often charging steep price. At present, BDS is a $45 billion market opportunity per annum (read more: FCC Abandons Plans for BDS Reforms, Delays Voting Process).

2. Per the FCC, the set-top box market is primarily dominated by pay-TV operators and is currently valued at about $20 billion annually. Meanwhile, lack of competition has resulted in higher rental fees for consumers. At present, an average consumer spends around $231 per annum to lease set-top boxes. According to a recent study by the FCC, the cost of cable set-top boxes has risen 185% while the price of computers, televisions and mobile phones has dropped 90% since 1994 (read more: FCC's Set-Top Box Reform Postponed After Trump Victory).

3. Net neutrality implies an open-Internet atmosphere which will prohibit ISPs (Internet Service Providers), especially the telecom and cable TV operators, from discriminating against applications. In order to control the flow of bandwidth-consuming applications such as video streaming, the ISPs have been discriminating against several web-based contents and applications. Content developers have to pay heavy sums to ISPs for accelerated data transfer (read more: Trump's FCC Appointments Cast Doubts Over Net Neutrality).

4. XO Communications operates as a fiber-based IP and Ethernet network consisting of 20,000 route mile intercity network in the U.S. and Canada. Verizon has a nationwide wireless network for 4G LTE and plans to launch the faster 5G technology in 2017. The XO Communications acquisition will help the company offer cable TV and Internet services with 5G connection, at 2050 times higher speeds of 25 gigabits per second (read more: Verizon Gains FCC Approval for XO Communications Buyout).

5. Verizon clearly stated that its $15,000 IoT Fast Track services are specifically designed for small business owners instead of larger multinational companies such as auto makers who usually opt for cellular-based IoT offerings. The main motive behind this latest offering is to expand the companys addressable market for IoT services.The service will essentially connect small business owners interested in IoT ventures with Verizon consultants (read more: Verizon to Offer IoT Services to Small Businesses).

Price Performance

The following table shows the price movement of the major telecom players over the past week and the last six months.

Company Last Week Last 6 Months VZ 4.46% 1.31% T 4.68% 0.60% S -0.13% 119.09% TMUS 2.99% 29.78% VOD -4.27% -11.08% CHL -1.03% -2.32% AMX -0.84% -6.45% CMCSA 2.36% 10.44% DISH 1/24% 19.23%

Over the last five trading sessions, share price movement of major telecom stocks witnessed a mixed trend. While AT&T (4.68%) and Verizon (4.46%) gained significant value, Vodafone (4.27%) lost the most over the same time frame. However, over the last six months, the price performance of most telecom stocks was predominantly positive. Among the stocks that gained considerably were Sprint (119.09%), T-Mobile US (29.78%), DISH (19.23%) and Comcast (10.44%).

Whats Next in the Telecom Sector?

We do not foresee any significant changes in the telecom industry or overall global economic factors that can affect the industry in the coming week. Consequently, we expect stocks to trade in line with the broader market movement.

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You waited for the last minute and now you really need to get that Thanksgiving dinner going. Wondering what the most popular Thanksgiving recipes are in your area? Dont worry, Googles got you covered with a state-by-state breakdown of the hottest Thanksgiving recipes.

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Looking at search data from the past five years, Google researchers found a unique recipe that people search for during Thanksgiving week. According to Business Insider, the researchers didnt search of the most popular dish for every state. Instead, they looked at the most distinct meal that constantly came up.

The following infographic lists the various unique foods that youre most likely to search for based on the state you call home.

New Yorkers might have a hard time with flan this week, while folks in Texas might be looking to bake the perfect Sopapilla cheesecake  check out Business Insider image below, which contains every states unique Thanksgiving food-related Google searches.

thanksgiving-dinner-2016-recipes-by-state

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By Alex Fraser BLETCHLEY, England (Reuters) - It was once the home of Britain's codebreakers during World War Two. Now more than 70 years later, Bletchley Park is preparing to host the UK's first national college of cyber education, with a first intake of students starting in September 2018. Work is under way to revamp several derelict buildings on the site where mathematician Alan Turing cracked Nazi Germany's "unbreakable" Enigma code. The new school for 16- to 18-year-olds, which will sit beside the historical attraction and the National Museum of Computing, will take 100 students in its first year. Forty percent of their curriculum will consist of cyber studies. The plan for the school, which will be part publicly and part privately funded, was unveiled by Qufaro, which calls itself a not-for-profit body formed by cyber security experts, as part of an initiative to establish a UK national cyber security hub. "Bletchley Park we felt was a natural home for a cyber security college because it's building on the innovation and the work that took place in the Second World War, bringing it up to date and making it relevant again," said Tim Reynolds, deputy chairman of the National Museum of Computing and a director of Qufaro. Selection for places will be through talent spotting and an entrance exam. Qufaro expects 90 percent of students to board at the school. "What we are looking to do is to wrap around all of the expertise that currently exists along with the educational support that they are going to need, to ensure that they're either industry ready or university ready," Reynolds said. "This will be a one-stop-shop where the outcome, or output in terms of students, will be ready for whatever path they choose to take." While Bletchley Park attracts visitors, some of its buildings are in need of work, with smashed windows and peeling paint. Among those who have helped save it from disrepair is Margaret Sale, whose late husband Tony led the rebuilding of a replica of Colossus, the world's first electronic computer, used to decipher codes sent from the Lorenz Cipher, a machine used by the Nazis. The 84-year-old, who still volunteers at the National Museum of Computing, hopes the new college will help preserve the Bletchley Park legacy. Asked about the difference between the site's codebreaking past and the college's future work, she said: "It will have a different feel because the world is so different. Now we know what is in people's speeches before they even sometimes know it themselves." "So much has changed ... But basically it's still the same thing. It's making sure that you are one step in advance of your enemies." (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
(Photo: Gene Page/AMC)

SPOILER ALERT: The interview for the Go Getters episode of The Walking Dead contains storyline and character spoilers.

Sasha fierce, indeed! While Hilltop leader Gregory remained safely behind the curtain of his second-floor bedroom window during Sundays attack by the Saviors, grieving Sasha and pregnant Maggie took charge and saved the community from an ever-increasing influx of walkers. Turns out it was a pretty awesome effort in real life too: Actress Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Sasha, was suffering from a nasty stomach illness that necessitated frequent tossing-her-cookies breaks while filming that action-packed sequence.

Martin-Green, whose character is one of the few created specifically for the TV series, talked to Yahoo TV about how the once fragile Sasha has become one of the most resilient Alexandrians, where she thinks Sashas relationship with Abraham was headed before his demise, and what Sashas role is after losing so many loved ones.

She also talks about that fun but challenging action sequence that ended with a trip to the ER, and hints at where Rick Grimes group will be in the December midseason finale.

Yahoo TV: Lets run down everything Sasha has been through: She lost her love, Bob. She lost her beloved brother, Tyreese. Shes gone through all the grief, really the PTSD, of those losses, and she allows herself to become involved again  then has to watch Abrahams horrible death. How is Sasha standing at this point? What in her has taken her to where she is now?

Sonequa Martin-Green: I love that question, because I think its a very deep thing that has occurred in me, Sasha, that keeps me standing at this point. What I love about this story, and what I actually love about everything that Ive lost in this story, is that its sort of brought me out of my shell. I feel kind of like I went through this metamorphosis.  It starts from the beginning of the zombie apocalypse [and goes] all the way up to losing Tyreese. That was the beginning of a new era for me, because I realized that I had been living a certain way the entire time, from the onset of the zombie apocalypse. I had been living in a way that actually closed me off to everyone, because I didnt want to take on the risk. It was this whole defense mechanism that I had built up around myself. After I lost Bob and Tyreese, I realized that there had to be a point to life, because otherwise there was no reason to live it. Thats when I really, really toyed with death and with suicide. What brought me out of that was realizing that life is meant to be lived and that life is meant to be spent with people, engaging with them.

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Whats so interesting about it is that the healing that I went through is what allowed me to open up to Abraham. Now that hes gone as well, I just find comfort and strength in a focused mission that I believe is right in line with this new person that I am, which is a mission that is sacrificial, that will save lives.

(Photo: Gene Page/AMC)

Overall, Sasha has put everything that has happened into a certain perspective and has just willed herself to go forward no matter what?

Absolutely. Ive really been opened up to the value of life and what that really means in a way that is personal to me and in a way that results in action. Ive realized that just like Bob used to say, and Tyreese used to say, and my father used to say, there is a difference between living and surviving, and its to find unique people who will sacrifice for it. Ive been reborn in a sense. Ive sort of come to my purpose, which is to be this servant and to be this person who really does engage, who is strong enough to take on people and to let them into my heart, who can handle that risk and whos willing to give of myself for everyone else.

And Sasha is now pushing Jesus to do that, when she says to him, What do you want this place to be? Shes really pushing him to become that kind of sacrificial person, and he seemed to be seeking that kind of encouragement.

Yes, and I do love that, because it takes those people to really see you, to see where you are, and to offer a hand to pull you to your potential. Thats happened in so many different relationships on the show. Its certainly happened with a few people with me. I think thats such a gift that we give each other, especially in this world when the stakes are always so very high. I know that the person who serves the most is leader, because thats what the leader should do, be the biggest servant. Its really about trying to encourage him to step up to lead and trust himself and use his talent and his skills to actually make a difference. Its really about encouraging him that thats possible.

How much of their strength do you think Sasha and Maggie are drawing from each other? They both seem kind of amazed about how resilient the other is.

Oh, I think that in a lot of ways theyre the closest people to each other at this point. Theyve had such similar experiences for a long time now. You can go all the way back to them watching the sunrise together in Season 5, after they both lost their siblings. I think that they kind of keep their lost loved ones alive in each other. Its almost like Glenn is alive between the two of us, and Abraham stays alive between the two of us.

I think theres also the female empowerment of it all. That is definitely a prevailing theme as well, just the sheer tenacity that women possess, especially in Maggies story. Shes pregnant, and shes still healing, and then shes also mourning the loss of a husband. Shes lost so much. She just finds a way to keep going. I think that in that way, we sort of are a mirror to each other. Because we can understand each others grief, and we also understand each others strength.

The women have always been very powerful, but now we see Sasha and Maggie fresh on the heels of these horrific losses, and they dont just help save The Hilltop, they took charge when no one else would. Rosita is making moves in Alexandria. Tara is off on a mission. Enid is at The Hilltop to support Maggie and Sasha. Michonne is not simply accepting Ricks plan; shes figuring things out for herself. These are all just fierce women.

Yes! I agree with you. Just like a lot of things in this show, its not told in a way that is aggressive or that is isolated. These women are just doing what needs to be done. Its not pinpointed as something that a womans doing or something that a woman normally wouldnt be able to do, but she can do it now. Its just a story. I love the idea of how this world is an equalizer. Everyone has the same fight. You either succeed in the fight or you dont. Were all on the same battlefield. I just think its so poignant in that way, because it is just an organic thing that happens, that these women are so tough. Its almost because its so organic that it is so empowering to see.

That attack scene with the AMC Gremlin and the music  Tom Payne said on Talking Dead that you were actually battling a pretty nasty flu kind of thing while you were filming the scene.

I was. It was a stomach virus. It was so crazy! I think I was called to work in the afternoon, because it was mostly night. We had later call times that day than usual, but on the way down  my husband [The Walking Dead co-star Kenric Green] drove me  I was already feeling sick. Right before we pulled into base camp, I had to pull off and throw up. Then I just continued to throw up every 30 minutes for the rest of the day and night. It was awful, but I just dug deep and in a very weird way it almost became a personal challenge just to make it through the shooting day. I didnt want anything to be delayed. I didnt want anything to have to be rescheduled. We work under the gun so much on the show, and so I wanted to get through it. I would throw up, and then I would announce, Ive got about 15 minutes before I throw up again. Now I feel OK, lets get it done. It was hilarious. They were also very generous. They moved some things around so that I could kind of jam-pack all of my stuff so I could be done and get out of there. Then Kenric, he swooped me to the ER.

Everybody was really giving and helpful and supportive, including Tom and Lauren [Cohen]. I think she held my back one time as the medic was holding out a bucket. They were definitely my family, as usual.

By the end of the episode, Sasha has made this deal with Jesus for him to find Negans home. Shes sharpening her knife and channeling Abe by smoking his cigar. Safe to say shes working out a big picture plan?

Yes. I think at this point, as much as I have changed, there are things that I still lean on. One of those things is my ability to calculate. I say way back in Season 4, I do the math, and I dont gamble. That is a strength of mine that has been kind of altered since Ive changed.  Now I can use it for the greater good. I am doing the math and making sure that every step of my plan is well thought out so that it will be perfectly executed, because it is vital.

You and Michael Cudlitz have such wonderful chemistry, and the Sasha/Abraham relationship promised to be so much fun. How has it been for you shooting the new season without Michael there, without Steven [Yeun] there?

Thats the hardest part of the job, losing people, losing our show family members. We dont get to see each other at work in this particular story. Obviously the friendship will always be there, but sharing in this particular story in this particular moment in time, that comes to an end. Thats very, very sad, but because of the impact that Steven has had on the show and that Michael has had on the show, theres almost this feeling that they didnt leave. Thats been quite interesting. Then on the flip side of it, its very weird that theyre not there. Its the part of the job that we would rather not have to deal with.

Do you wonder what would have happened with Sasha and Abraham as a couple?

Yes! I actually think I know exactly what would have happened. I think that would have been it for the two of them. I think they would have gotten married. I think they would have eventually had children. I think it would have just been, This is it, as happily ever after as you can get in the zombie apocalypse. That was a life commitment that was made, at least from Abraham. He basically proposed on the porch, and I accepted. It was building to that, which makes it that much sadder.

It does, and I keep going back to Season 6 and Always Accountable, when their relationship really began. Do you think Sasha knew she had feelings for him before he made that big move in the insurance office?

I think at that point, it was apparent to me that he was me in a lot of ways. I had just come out of the dark. Here I was in the light on the other side, and then I see across to this person who seems to be in the same place that I was once in. For the first time, I was able to be that person that offers my hand and say, Im going to pull you to your potential. Then the beauty of our relationship is that that happened 100 percent. He even says, I like the way you call bullshit. He was impacted, and then it became reciprocal in that way. Its kind of like the warrior recognizes the warrior and the leader recognizes the leader; the kindred spirits unite in that way.

I think at that moment in time, it was more just about recognizing this person being in the place that they were in, being outside of myself enough, finally. Being able to see someone else and being able to really look at them and see where they are, even be in a state of wanting to help. Even wanting to help takes engagement. He was kind of a test for me, in a lot of ways. He was an opportunity for me, also, in a lot of ways. OK, if this is the new person you are, how about this man right here? Are you going to open up to him? Then eventually saying yes to the relationship was the last step in my healing process. Its what solidified it for me. Its like, Yes, this is who I am, and this is who he is. This is who were going to be together.

Sasha is one of the few characters on the show whos not in the comic book. Storylines are mixed around all the time, but theres not even that kind of rough road map for where she might be going in terms of source material. Do you wish that there were, or is it freeing that you dont have that for Sasha?

I do find it freeing, actually. Obviously the source material is dynamite. I heard one person say that its like the highway, that the show takes detours and exits, but then gets back on the main highway. I do love that. But I do find it quite liberating that Im not in the comic. Anything is game. You dont have anything to even just compare your story to, because everyone has quite a different story in the show than their character does in the comic. You can still draw from it in some ways, but I think its cool to just be completely in imagination and just having whats on those written pages in the script to build my [character] on.

Last question: What can you hint about where we will end up at midseason?

Lets see, what can I hint? Like we were saying earlier, you see the women, and you see them being decisive and making these tough decisions about moving forward and deciding that theyre going to take on the mantle of rectifying this wrong. Everybodys journey with that, everybodys journey with what life looks like now, now that Negan is here, youll definitely start to see where all those paths are going to lead people.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
Time to look ahead to next weeks episode of The Walking Dead.

In the power vacuum left by Ricks huge retreat, Maggie and Carl have stepped up as worthy leaders who arent afraid to act. Now in every community, theres someone gunning for the throne  Spencer in Alexandria; Dwight in the Sanctuary; Jesus, well, on Maggies behalf in the Hilltop; and next week it looks like pig farmer Richard wants to call the shots in the Kingdom.

And if we had to guess how this plays out:

Spencer, dead  the moment he tries anything.

Dwight switches sides, tries to double-cross Negan, ends up super, extra dead.

Maggie and Jesus have almost pushed Gregory out of the way, but hell probably try to stab them in the back and fail miserably. Again.

And were not too confident in Richards success. King Ezekiel has a tiger. And tiger trumps pig any day of the week.

As for Carl and Jesus, we think well be left hanging on their fates in the next episode. These writers love to create needless drama by withholding information. Do we even have to bring up the Morgan backstory episode?

Well also catch up with Tara and Heath next week. Remember them? Do you care? No? OK, well, theyll be doing stuff, dealing with the moral gray area when they murdered Saviors at that outpost last season. Still not interested? Alright. Well, well see you, and hopefully not too much of them, next week on Walking Dead Ahead.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

Check out our Walking Dead power rankings so far this season:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below.
By PTI: Dubai, Nov 24 (PTI) Two Indians have been killed and four others including three children injured when the car they were travelling in collided head-on with a vehicle in Oman, a media report said today.

Kerala residents Pottachole Ameer, 32, and his mother-in- law Kavumpuram Jemeela, 45, died in the accident which took place on the Barka-Nakhal road, about 70 km from Muscat.

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Ameers wife and their three children have been injured in the accident which occurred when their car collided with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction late on Tuesday, Times of Oman reported.

The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital where the condition of two children is stated to be critical.

Ameers father-in-law, who works in Dubai, has reached Oman to assist the family.

Ameer, who had been living in Oman for a decade, owned a hypermarket in Nakhal for the last three months.

Meanwhile, Shameer, who is co-ordinating the efforts to repatriate the bodies of victims to India, said it would happen only on Monday.

"As the next few days are holidays here in Oman, we will not be able to process the papers required to send back the bodies," Shameer added. PTI CPS AKJ CPS

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Eight years after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed, only 102 families have been given the Rs three lakh compensation that the government had promised.

By Vidya : Eight years after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed, only 102 families have been given the Rs three lakh compensation that the government was supposed to hand over. For the rest, including the foreigners, the government is still trying to locate their kin so that the compensation could be handed over to them.

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These details were given out in an affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashwini Sanap who is posted at the Mumbai police headquarters during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Rajeshwar Panchal.

The affidavit states that of the total 166 victims:



Relatives and the next of kin of 74 deceased in Maharashtra and outside have been given the compensation

Bodies of two deceased people could not be identified

Kins of the four deceased were declared as ineligible

Family of one deceased had refused to take compensation



22 deceased persons were officials of police department/ NSG Commando/ Home Guard who were on duty. State government had given compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the kin of those who had died.



About 15 police personnel, the department is not sure how much compensation has been given.

One deceased person named Sunil Thackare was from Thane district but whereabouts of his kin could not be traced. A woman had claimed to be his widow but she did not have any papers to justify her claim so the department is still looking for his legal heirs.

There were 26 foreigners who had died in the attack and their families were eligible to get Rs 3 lakh compensation. The department communicated with the respective embassy of each foreigner. The department has sent repeated reminders to the embassies but have not got any response from them.

30 people who had died were from different parts of the country. The department has tried to correspond with the respective district collectors office to ask if the compensation has been paid to them or not, however here as well the documents sent by the respective collectors office has been incomplete or inappropriate and now the departments are only corresponding with each other.

Central governemnt does have a scheme for assistance to civilian victims of terrorist/ communal/ naxal violence that came into effect from April 1, 2008. However details about compensation by state government and compensation to the victims of other blasts and terror attacks like the train blast, the twin blasts at Zaveri Bazar and others were not given in the affidavit filed by state government.

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In the PIL, Rajeshwar Panchal had claimed that 724 people have died in terror attacks and blasts in Mumbai from 1993 till the Zaveri Bazaar blasts on July 13, 2011. It said the victims and their families had failed to get a "just compensation" from the respective state governments. Panchal says, "After every terror attack a minister announces that we will give so much compensation, they announce as if they are giving alms while it is their duty. The government has to see the status of an individual and according to that compensation has to be given. When America was attacked they gave Rs 10 crores as compensation while here governemnt gives a few lakhs which is worth nothing."

Hearing this the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice M S Sonak directed Maharashtra government to submit details of compensation accorded to victims of blasts and other terror attacks in the state and file an affidavit in two weeks.



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This highly equipped and fortified building is considered to be one of the biggest official cum-house complexes in the country.

By Alok Ranjan: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao is moving into his new home cum office today which has spread over a nine-acre plot in Begumpet. According to some reports about 50 crore rupees have been spent on the entire complex.

This highly equipped and fortified building is considered to be one of the biggest official cum-house complexes in the country. The complex has been constructed by Mumbai-based realty major Shapoorji Pallonji.

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The house was initially supposed to cost 35 crores, but the finishing bill reportedly stands at around 50 crores.

CONSTRUCTION FOR OFFICE COMPLEX ON HOLD

Every facet of the splendid new house is fully Vasthu compliant. He decided to construct the new complex because the existing headquarters for the government and his home were reportedly not good on Vaastu.

A new government secretariat or office complex is to be built as well. Its construction is currently on hold. A PIL has been filed in the Hyderabad High Court over the proposed plan of state government to demolish the Secretariat building and constructing a new one.

This building complex, comprising five different buildings including the residential bungalow of the chief minister, Chief Minister's office, conference hall and two buildings.



ADVANCED SECURITY MEASURES

The new complex also has advanced security features, including high rise complex fortification, windows equipped with bullet proof glasses and closed CCTVs. Around 50 security personnel would be deployed for guarding the complex round the clock.

The opposition is accusing KCR of drawing from taxpayer's money for this lavish home. They hit out at KCR saying that while people of Telangana are engulfed in various problems including due to demonetisation limits he is moving to the newly constructed palatial house funded by taxpayer's money.

HERE IS THE LIST OF SOME LAVISH EXPENSES BY TELANGANA CM KCR IN THE RECENT PAST Oct-Nov 2016: Earlier reports came in that CM's new official residence at Begumpet built at a cost of Rs 35 crores. But now supposed to cost as much as Rs 50 crore. Oct 2016: KCR stopped operating out of the Hussain Sagar Lake facing state secretariat as he felt the complex lacked positive feelings. Its construction is currently on hold. Dec 2015: Telangana CM KCR spends Rs 7 crore on yagam, ignores drought-hit farmers' plight. Aug 2015: Telangana CM Spends 4.5 Crores approx. on the New Convoy Toyota Prado. He got four brand new Toyota Prados for his convoy. The CM's convoy comprises two Toyota Prados and four Toyota Fortuners. These four Fortuners have been replaced by Prados. July 2015: Telangana's KCR gifts himself Rs 5 crore Mercedes-Benz bus at taxpayers' expense.

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Watch video



Also Read: KCR moves to new home where even the toilet is bulletproof

--- ENDS ---
The CISF's order comes at a time when the government has demonetised high denomination currency in a bid to fight black money menace.

By Manogya Loiwal : At least 59 airports have been put on high alert by the Central Industrial Security Force after a businessman, carrying Rs 3.5 crore in cash, was apprehended at the Dimapur airport, in Nagaland.

All CISF commandants have been directed to be on high alert following reports that many people are using the tax exemptions to tribals in the Northeast to transfer money.

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The CISF's order comes at a time when the government has demonetised high denomination currency in a bid to fight black money menace.

The Rs 3.5 crore cash was later traced to Anato Zhimom, son-in-law of former chief minister Neiphiu Rio, and was found to be legitimate. Zhimon, being a tribal, produced the tax exemption certificate. Scheduled tribes in Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are exempted from paying taxes.



The incident, however, has set the alarm bell ringing among investigating agencies who suspect that many could use this route to transfer their 'black money' to tribal areas and convert it into 'white'.

ALSO READ: Poor people become black money mules for rich

ALSO READ: Capt Amarinder Singh: SAD to convert Rs 1,000 crore black money by calling it gurudwara chadawa

ALSO READ: Income Tax raids to continue crackdown on black money hoarders



ALSO WATCH



--- ENDS ---
A fraudster was today arrested for posing as a sub-inspector and making calls to former dean of AIIMS telling him that a non-bailable warrant has been passed against him.

By Ajay Kumar: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police arrested a fraudster who allegedly posed as a sub-inspector and made calls to a former dean of AIIMS, asking him to pay up or face arrest and prosecution. A public prosecutor of Patiala House court has also been accused in the case.

According to the police, the accused, Shahid (27), a resident of north Vinod Nagar in Delhi, had called up the former AIIMS dean, saying that there was a nonbailable arrest warrant issued by the court in a case filed by the Reserve Bank of India.

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"The caller had introduced himself as sub-inspector Dharampal Singh of Delhi Police and said there was a non-bailable warrant against the former dean. The caller also said that public prosecutor Prakash Kumar Agnihotri was dealing with the case," JCP (crime) Ravindra Yadav said.

ALSO READ: AIIMS hunting for new boss as MC Misra set to retire in two months

"When contacted, Agnihotri said there was a case by the RBI against the former dean and an amount of Rs 72,116 was to be paid to settle the case. Agnihotri also demanded that the amount be deposited in his account," Yadav added.

The former dean realised it could be a fraud and filed a complaint with the police. "Since we had the caller's phone number, a trap was laid and he was arrested from his home," Yadav said.

"The accused revealed that he had been trying to extort money from different people in a similar fashion. He used to track potential targets, mostly government officials, by searching their details on the Internet," Yadav added.

--- ENDS ---
After becoming available for sale since June this year, for 8,50,000 dollars, the infamous Amityville Horror house was sold last week.

By India Today Web Desk: Forty-two years ago, on a cold November night, a beautiful, water-front family home named High Hopes became the site of a gruesome mass murder.

A son, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr, shot his parents, two younger sisters and two younger brothers in their sleep, which he swore the "voices in the house" made him do.

And with that, a family home in Long Island became the infamous Amityville Horror House.



Read the whole story: 'Amityville Horror' house for sale: Here's what lurks in the history of this haunted home

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THIS AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE HAS BEEN BOUGHT AGAIN.



After being on the market since June for 850,000 dollars, the historic 1927 Dutch Colonial on Amityville's Ocean Avenue went into contract last week.

The 5,000-square-foot home comes with five bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a boathouse and a slip, and sits on a quarter-acre lot along the Amityville River.

But one cannot forget is that it also comes with a dark history, several horror stories, the DeFeo family murder, and the ordeal of the next buyers of the house, the Lutz family, who fled the house in the middle of the night 28 days after buying it.



WHO BOUGHT IT?

A woman named Caroline D'Antonio bought the house in 2010. She later decided to sell it after her husband died in 2015, the New York Daily News reported in June.

As for who is buying it now, well, the property's listing agent refuse to discuss the terms of the sale.

"We dont discuss the terms of a sale until its closed," said Jerry ONeill of Coldwell Banker Harbor Light, the listing agent.

Whoever it is, we wish them best of luck.

Meanwhile, here's a picture Paranormal Investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (yes, The Conjuring was their story) captured on the second floor of the house while investigating.

Source: Warrens.net

--- ENDS ---
A Mail Today team visited several of these eateries on Wednesday, starting from the BJP's national headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road to the Parliament canteen, and even those that serve key ministries located in Shastri Bhawan as well as Rail Bhawan that houses the railway ministry.

ven the Parliament House canteen that is famed and fabled for its low costs is accepting only cash, even as the entire debate on demonetisation and the advantages of a cashless economy are playing out on the premises.

By Rakesh Ranjan, Siddhartha Rai: When it comes to the currency ban and consequent push towards digital payments, the BJP and the party's government at the Centre are yet to put their money where their mouth is.

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to withdraw Rs500 and Rs1,000 banknotes from midnight November 9 in a bid to fight corruption and envisioning a cashless economy for India, eateries at his own party headquarters and Parliament are transacting only in cash. Plastic money and e-wallets do not work.

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A Mail Today team visited several of these eateries on Wednesday, starting from the BJP's national headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road to the Parliament canteen, and even those that serve key ministries located in Shastri Bhawan as well as Rail Bhawan that houses the railway ministry.

The reporters found that the only mode of transaction at all these places was just hard cash and nothing else.

Also Read: 20 provisions of demonetisation modified by Modi sarkar in 15 days

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE THE MOUTH IS

MT has video footage of interactions with the canteen operators. The team first visited the canteens run on the premises of the BJP national and Delhi headquarters, the latter at Pt Pant Marg, and found no option of monetary transaction but for cash. "Sorry, we don't accept cards or Paytm here. Please tender the new notes only," was the standard response at both the places, though with shy smiles.

Interestingly, some chaiwallas around these highprofile areas have already shifted to e-wallets and other forms of digital give-and-take.

Though most of these canteens are not run by the party with the operations being outsourced, observers say the BJP and the ruling regime should have made it a priority to ensure that digital transactions are allowed at these outlets, at least a fortnight after the currency ban.

Also Read: Women weavers from Kerala are least worried about PM Modi's demonetisation drive

The state of affairs on the ground is such that the Centre-run medical store Jan Aushadhi at Shastri Bhawan, just in front of the main entrance, not only refused to take money via ewallet or a card, but also declined from accepting the demonetised notes. These notes, as a matter of government declaration, are to be accepted as legal tender at these stores at least till November 24.

"We have been transacting only in cash and so will continue to do so. Though we have to accept old notes till November 24, we still are not accepting it," said the store manager.



GROUND REPORT

Mail Today visited the fifth floor canteen at Shastri Bhawan to once more be accosted with similar responses. "Please pay in cash. We don't accept Paytm or cards." However, the cashier suggested going to the second-floor canteen, which he claimed accepted card payments. However, the eatery was closed. The staff, though, added that this canteen, that remains open only till 2 pm, also accepted only cash.

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Even the Parliament House canteen that is famed and fabled for its low costs and tantalising food is accepting only cash, even as the entire debate on demonetisation and the advantages of a cashless economy are playing out on the premises.

Also Read: PM Modi shares demonetisation survey results, says 90 per cent respondents back drive

Shastri Bhawan, named after former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, houses such big and crucial ministries as the Human Resource Development, Law and Justice, Information and Broadcasting, Corporate Affairs, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Culture, Women and Child Development, etc. The premises see footfalls in thousands every day, including a large number of bureaucrats and other employees.

When a Mail Today correspondent tried to ask the cashier at the Rail Bhawan canteen if he was accepting money via e-transfer, he curtly said, "This is not a public canteen, but one run by the government. The prices are too subsidised to be dealt with via electronic transactions. It is not our problem that people don't have cash; they should come when they do." This building too witnesses footfalls of thousands daily.

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"We don't run party office canteens. But, the amount of demand for cashless payments has gone up across the country manifold as you can see from the various reports pouring in daily. You should not see what is happening in one Canteen staff at govt, BJP offices unprepared formoving towards cashless system or two places or some public offices as an indicator of what is happening in the economy," said party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao.

"Possibly, if it is not happening at some places, it may be because the owners and operators don't feel the need to shift to cashless transactions as they do not feel the competition or possibly where their business has not suffered. Now who is going to spend three times more, when they can have the same thing at a small price in the Parliament canteen. Even in the party canteen, the party doesn't need to tell the person to shift. If his business will suffer, he shall shift."

Also read: How cashless Maharashtra farmers are living their nightmares during demonetisation

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--- ENDS ---
Sources said that the Income-Tax department has launched a massive prove following reports on cash being moved to tribal areas through chartered flights.

By Atir Khan: Investigating agencies have unearthed a racket that is involved in converting black money into 'white' through tribals, according to sources.

The Income-Tax department and other agencies have launched a massive probe following reports that huge sums of cash are being moved to tribal areas in the Northeast through chartered flights.

Several small airports, said sources, are currently under the radar of investigating agencies. Logs of chartered flights are also being studied to trace the cash transfer route. The Central Industrial Security Force has today put 59 airports on alert to check cash smuggling during demonetisation.

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ALSO READ: 59 airports on high alert to check cash smuggling during demonetisation



THE CASH TRAIL



Scheduled tribes in Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are exempted from paying taxes. The I-T department suspects that at least Rs 3.5 crore, in old currency notes, was sent to Dimapur, Nagaland, and this money belonged to a politician.

A Delhi-based trader and two others are being questioned by the agencies in this regard, said sources. According to the agencies, the money was first sent from Delhi to Hisar and then to Dimapur in a chartered plane.

The suspects in this case said the money was meant to purchase land but could not produce documents to support their claim.

Later, Anato Zhimomi, the son-in-law of former Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, claimed the money.

ALSO READ: Income Tax raids to continue crackdown on black money hoarders

ALSO READ: Anupam Kher backs PM Modi on black money crackdown, compares it to house renovation

ALSO READ: Currency crackdown: With nowhere to go, black money is now buying railway tickets

ALSO WATCH



--- ENDS ---
The RBI circular, which was issued on November 14, bars District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) from taking part in the currency exchange exercise.

Bombay High Court deferred the hearing in the petition filed by various district cooperative banks. (File photo)

By Vidya : The Bombay High Court today deferred the hearing in the petition filed by various district cooperative banks after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular asking them to be kept out of the process of demonetisation.

Additional Solicitor General practising in the Supreme Court, Maninder Singh, told the high court that the Union government was in agreement with the RBI on the district cooperative banks in rural areas not being allowed to either exchange old notes or deal with new notes.

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Singh produced the Central government's order which said that only urban and state cooperative banks can participate in currency exchange process.

DISTRICT BANKS FINANCIALLY HIT



Mumbai District Central Co-operative Bank had filed a petition challenging the circular issued by the RBI five days after the government's demonetisation move. District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) from Solapur, Pune, Nashik, Thane, Kolhapur, Sangli also joined the list of petitioners.

ALSO READ: Bombay High Court adjourns hearing on RBI circular about cooperative banks



According to the circular under challenge, which was issued on November 14, DCCBs have specifically been barred from taking part in the entire exercise of exchanging money, or accepting deposits, in the now discontinued currency notes.

Almost all district banks complained about how they had been financially hit due to this discriminatory move.

ALSO WATCH



Advocate VM Thorat, appearing for the Solapur DCCB, said that till November 14 the bank had collected old notes worth Rs 246 crore from its customers but the State Bank of India, which is the clearing agent, is now refusing to accept the money. "The bank is unable to disburse salaries to teachers who have salary accounts here," Thorat said.

ALSO READ: Demonetisation: 10 questions PM is asking India through his Narendra Modi app



Advocate for the district bank in Pune said the bank has collected Rs 600 crore in old currency notes from its customers. Again, SBI refused to accept the money.

NEED CLARITY ON ISSUE

Maninder Singh told the court that this case was among the dozen cases the Union government wants the Supreme Court to hear.

"At this moment, notices have been issued to petitioners and the next date for the hearing in the case is in December. Similar cases are running in high courts in Rajasthan and Kerala," Singh said.

The petitioners told the court that the Union government had asked for a stay on all demonetisation petitions but the apex court turned down the plea. However, the same was not explicitly written in the Supreme Court order. Therefore, the division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice AM Badar adjourned the hearing to December 5 saying it would not be appropriate to hear the case without a clarity on the issue.

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ALSO READ: PM Modi to BJP MPs: Don't call demonetisation surgical strike, only soldiers do that

ALSO READ: If bypolls were a referendum on demonetisation, has PM Modi won it?

ALSO READ: Demonetisation will destroy black money stashed over 70 years, Centre tells Supreme Court



--- ENDS ---
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati exchanged jibes as they focus on the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

By Mausami Singh: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav came to Parliament to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. However, more than his meeting with the prime minister, it was his jibe at BSP president Mayawati that drew a sharp reaction from Behenji.

The young chief minister has often addressed Mayawati as 'Bua' even while attacking her, but in her latest response the BSP supremo has rechristened him as 'Babua' (a kid).

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READ| Muslims hold key to electoral outcome in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls



What did 'Babua' say?

Akhilesh Yadav called Mayawati the second BBC. He said, "Bua Broadcast Corporation is being seen on TV quite often these days."

"Bua has been saying that the condition of Agra-Lucknow Expressway is quite bad. But, the fact is that if a Sukhoi can land on it, you can imagine how well it is constructed," Akhilesh said.

Taking a swipe at Mayawati's criticism of what she called "inauguration of Agra-Lucknow Expressway for electoral gains", Akhilesh said, "I want to tell Bua that your elephant in Lucknow kept sitting. It didn't move. You only planned the schemes on paper. It is the Samajwadis, who have got it into existence."

WATCH:



Well the BSP elephant has big ears and the BSP leaders were keeping a close watch on the chief minister's statements.

It didn't take long for the Bua-BBC jibe to travel to Mayawati and only minutes later the BSP chief was there at the media stand to give a tit-for-tat.



What did 'Bua' say?

Mayawati has often snubbed Akhilesh's public outreach to her. Responding to Akhilesh's BBC jibe she exclaimed that 'Maan na maan mein tera mehmaan' (without being invited you are feeling like a guest). '

Clearly miffed over the statement from Akhilesh, Mayawati said, "The SP chief and his Babua have no face to show. They have been going from door to door, touching people's feet in order to have an alliance as they know that they are not coming back in power."

"The BSP has not forgotten what happened in 1995. That incident echoed in Parliament as well. Since then we have no association with the SP," Mayawati said.

WATCH:





--- ENDS ---
CBI officials obtained inputs about irregularities in post offices in terms of amount being accepted in old 500, 1000 rupee notes after demonetisation.

By Ashish Pandey: Central Bureau of Investigation and postal department officials on Thursday carried out surprise checks at various post offices of Hyderabad to verify the accounts there.

CBI officials obtained inputs about irregularities in post offices in terms of amount being accepted in old 500, 1000 rupee notes after demonetisation.

Simultaneous raids were conducted on as many as eight post offices in Hyderabad city.

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CASH WORTH RS 40 LAKH SEIZED FROM HIMAYATNAGAR POST OFFICE



Reports suggest that during the raids, cash worth Rs 40 lakh was seized from Himayatnagar post office.

Also read | Noose tightens around Vijay Mallya, CBI gets non-bailable warrant



The raids are going on at the General Post Office in Abids, Narayanguda, Chikkadpally and Himayatnagar areas.

CBI officials interrogated the post office staff, inspecting their records and cash reserves relating to transactions since November 9.

CBI GOT COMPLAINTS ABOUT POST OFFICE STAFF



Sources say that the CBI has received complaints that some post office staff are allegedly exchanging the demonetised high-currency notes illegally.

The sleuths are also verifying certain savings accounts, where a huge amount of money has been deposited post the demonetisation announcement.

Also read | CBI seeks free hand from Supreme Court to investigate rape videos shared online



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Patna, Nov 24 (PTI) Accusing the JD(U) of adopting "double standard" on demonetisation, opposition BJP in Bihar today posed a direct question to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whether his party was in favour of the decision to ban old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes or against it.

"On one hand, Nitish Kumar welcomes the step to end black money. On the other, former JD(U) president and MP Sharad Yadav sits on a dharna with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, demanding rollback of the demonetisation decision," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.

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"Nitish Kumar should clarify if he agrees with Sharad Yadavs view that notebandi ka wahi harsh hoga jo nasbandi ka hua tha apatkal mein (demonetisation will meet the same fate as that of forced sterilisation during the Emergency days)," he added.

Immediately after the Centres announcement of the demonetisation decision, Kumar had supported the step to fight black money and even sought an attack on benami property. But, Yadav was questioning the rationale behind the decision, Modi pointed out.

"Isnt it double standard of the JD(U) on demonetisation? Being the head of the party, Kumar should make it clear whether the JD(U) is in favour of demonetisation or opposed to it," the former deputy chief minister of Bihar said. PTI SNS NN RC

--- ENDS ---
In a very subtle manner the Modi government has told the Supreme Court that black money was allowed to be accumulated in the country and the demonetisation move will unearth such stashed money.

By India Today Web Desk: With the Supreme Court questioning government's real intent of the government to fight black money and corruption a day earlier, the Centre on Thursday told it that demonetisation was one such step to that end.

The government submitted an affidavit in the apex court saying that the demonetisation of high value currency notes would "unearth black money stashed over seven decades in the country".

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had asked the government that if it was serious to combat corruption and black money, why it did not appoint a Lokpal.

READ| Demonetisation survey fake, sponsored; dare Modi to call election to know real mood: Mayawati



OBJECTIVES OF DEMONETISATION

In its affidavit, the government listed out the reasons for implementing demonetisation of 86 per cent of currency in circulation prior to the decision.

These are Demonetisation is an attempt to unearth black money, which have been accumulated in the country in the past seven decades. It is a step to reduce the ratio of cash transactions in the country. Global average for cash transaction ratio to GDP is 4 per cent while in India, it stands at 12 per cent, the government told the court. Demonetisation will unearth illegal parallel economy running in the country. It is an attempt to make fake currency notes useless. Demonetisation will check funding of terror groups in the country. The Modi government also claimed that terror funding has stopped since demonetisation.

WATCH VIDEO:



'WE ARE FIGHTING BLACK MONEY'

In its response, the government also informed the court about the steps taken to fight corruption. It said, "We constituted SIT to curb black money and also amended the Benami Properties Act."

People might have had to face some inconveniences due to demonetisation but recalibration of ATMs is in full swing and situation will improve soon, the government told the apex court.

The Centre also said that the government was well within its right to demonetise currency notes by withdrawing the legal tender status as well as giving exemptions for certain services under the RBI Act 26.

READ| Manmohan Singh tears into Modi's demonetisation, calls it monumental mismanagement



The demonetisation situation is being closely monitored on daily basis and relaxations and relief measures are being taken accordingly, the government said in its affidavit. The farmers have been allowed to buy seeds from stipulated government stores, it said.

The Supreme Court will hear a bunch of petitions against demonetisation on Friday.



WATCH:





--- ENDS ---
Delhi was relatively calm today even though it was the last day of exchanging old currency notes.

By Parbina Purkayastha: As it was last date of using old currency notes for payments, the national capital did not see much chaos as was expected. The government had set a deadline of November 24 for the people to use the old notes at select places such as government hospitals, toll plazas, railway ticket counters and milk booths.

After midnight today, people will only be allowed to deposit the old currency notes at the banks till December 30.

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"The government could have extended the date. I still have old currency worth Rs 4500." said Surpiya, a metro commuter. "Yes, I still have old currency notes to deposit but it is okay, we have time and there is nothing to worry," said another citizen.

Places like metro stations, pharmacies, hospitals saw no major rush. However, the only places that saw long queues to finish old notes were petrol pumps. "Today is the last day and I prefer finishing old currency notes by filling the tank," said a bike rider.

Ever since the government's decision of demonetisation on November 8, long queues have been seen outside banks and ATMs across the country, as people flocked to exchange and deposit old currency.



POOR PLANNING



The Opposition parties have accused the government of poor planning behind the implementation of the move, resulting in large-scale chaos. The reaction on the ground has, however, been mixed. While most people have lauded the move to fight corruption, many have said that the implementation, especially when it comes to availability of currency, should have been much better.

Meanwhile, banks are hoping that the pressure might lessen a bit as Big Baazar starts dispensing cash to customers by swiping their debit or credit cards. Big Bazaar has tied up with the State Bank of India and enabled mini ATMs across all 260 stores to help consumers withdraw cash, while they shop.

"This option is better than ATMS and banks, we can take the token and come back after an hour and collect the cash," said a customer at Big Bazaar.

--- ENDS ---
All the petitioners have been asked to file their replies by Friday next week as to what is their stand on Centre's plea to transfer all pleas to the Supreme Court or Delhi High Court.

The real problem at hand now is transferring money from RBI to the RBI branches and then to banks.

By Harish V Nair: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay the proceedings in PILs challenging demonetisation filed in various High Courts but issued notice to all petitioners on a plea by the Centre to transfer all the petitions to the apex court or to the Delhi High Court

All the petitioners have been asked to file their replies by Friday next week as to what is their stand on Centre's plea to transfer all pleas to the Supreme Court or Delhi High Court.

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AG requested a stay on proceedings to prevent "chaos and confusion" but CJI Thakur refused it saying "that is difficult. There may some individuals seeking some immediate reliefs we cannot shut them out suddenly. So let us wait for the replies". The CJI sought to know what the situation was on the ground to which the AG said that "it is much better."

He said the real problem being faced was transferring the money from RBI to RBI branches and then to banks. AG said Rs6 lakh crores have been collected so far and "banks will soon be flush with funds."

"Lending rates will soon come down, another positive development is big surge in digital use" he added. Meanwhile the main matter challenging the constitutional validity of demonetisation is listed for November 25.

Also Read: 20 provisions of demonetisation modified by Modi sarkar in 15 days

COURT REFUSES TO TRANSFER PETITION

On November 18, the court had said public seemed to be frantic due to the currency crunch following the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes and asked centre to take all measures to alleviate the sufferings of people.

It had refused to transfer petitions pending in various High Courts to the Supreme Court that day also saying "we cannot shut out out people from approaching high courts also and HCs are more aware of magnitude of problem in each state."

The CJI had however asked the Attorney General to file a transfer petition and said the matter will be taken up at a later date.

"We can consider transferring all petitions to the Delhi High Court... anyways you file a transfer petition," the CJI had told Rohatgi.

"The Supreme Court is already examining the issues and passing orders and therefore the high courts and lower courts needed to be restrained from hearing pleas to prevent confusion", the AG had said adding such a step was taken in 2G and coal scam matters.



Also Read: Common man worst affected by demonetisation, says Mamata Banerjee

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On November 15, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with the central government's decision to demonetise Rs1,000 and Rs500 currency notes but sought an affidavit as to what urgent extra measures can be taken to put an end to the severe inconvenience people faced.

Also Read: Captain Amarinder says no impact of demonetisation on terror funding



Also Read: AAP to gherao Parliament on Tuesday to protest demonetisation



--- ENDS ---
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has been tweeting in Hindi lately, to cater to a larger audience across the country.

By Santosh Kumar: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is very active on Twitter and tweets in English and sometimes in Bangla. But the recent trend shows that she has been using Hindi as a language to tweet.

The move is considered to be quite strategic, in order to reach a wider cross-section of people over the demonetisation issue, which she is vehemently opposed to. A scroll down of her Twitter feed will show that most of her tweets on demonetisation are in both languages.

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Through her Twitter, she has tried to emerge as a central figure of the anti-demonetisation front and her outburst started from Twitter only, when she termed the Modi government's decision 'a financial chaos and disaster let loose on the common people of India', after PM Narendra Modi finished his address to the nation.

Banerjee's Hindi tweets also indicate that she is now looking for a wider canvas politically, something that the ensuing chaos in the aftermath of the demonetisation drive can give her. She hit Delhi streets and held meetings against demonetisation, since the Parliament's winter session began on November 16.

Also read: PM's demonetisation move a "Tughlaki" diktat, only inconveniencing innocents, says Lalu Yadav



Now that the Opposition parties have decided to launch a pan-India anti-demonetisation protest 'Aakrosh Diwas' on November 28, they all will try to mobilise masses, as much as possible. Banerjee's use of Hindi to reach out and appeal the people across the country will come in handy.

Demonetisation has affected people across the country and speaking in a language that reaches out to the maximum number of people, is certainly a logical idea. Also, now that the TMC is a national-level political party, speaking and tweeting in Hindi makes sense, when the heart of India's political landscape, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindi speaking state, is going to polls in next few months.

Also read: Uddhav Thackeray attacks PM Modi over demonetisation, says shedding tears on TV not enough

--- ENDS ---
By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: The couriers of narcotics syndicate are struggling to supply drugs in Mumbai after the government announced demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 on November 8. The narcotics trade in Maharashtra has come to a standstill, thanks to demonetisation.

Since the last two weeks, not a single consignment of drugs has changed its location in the state. Under the impact of demonetisation, drug peddlers are finding it difficult to sell their stock in the absence of high-value currency.

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"Entire narcotics trade has been crippled due to demonetistaion in the country. All the gang members of drug syndicate are busy in exchanging old currency into new ones. It would not be wrong to say that the backbone of narcotics has been broken down," said Kumar Sanjay Jha, Zonal Director, Narcotics Control Board (NCB), Mumbai to India Today.



The drug business thrives on cash transactions and hawala. "But if there is no cash component in the market, than how could anyone buy or sell a single gram of drug/tablet to its client," Jha added. Interestingly, the syndicate has roped in jail accused (just released on bail) for the purpose of exchanging money at banks and other sources.

LESS DRUG SUPPLY

Data available with India Today shows that the supply of drugs has gone down drastically in the state. In the last two months, only one case of 2 kg cocaine was registered by the NCB, whereas, between September to December in 2015, 4 cases of 9 kg cocaine, 1 kg of heroin and 1 kg of ketamine was registered.

Also read: Two groups clash after argument over demonetisation in Mumbai, 2 injured

The NCB conducted its last operation on November 13 in Mumbai, but after that even its own officials, instead of conducting search operations are now working on other alternatives, such as improving its intelligence, reviving its informer base to strengthen its network and working on the pending cases.

In the last two weeks, supply of charas, meth, MD and cocaine are badly affected. "Forget big transactions, even the number of small parcels and couriers has gone down drastically," Jha said.

According to the sources, few big players have gone in hiding or "for vacation" till the market revives, which is not possible before March-April 2017. Another reason is that drugs supply from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh into Maharashtra has been reduced.

Also read: Uddhav Thackeray attacks PM Modi over demonetisation, says shedding tears on TV not enough

However, due to demonetisation, the narcotic trade could witness loss worth several crores between November to December 2016.

--- ENDS ---
Railway reservation to medicines, air fare to bills for utilities such as water and electricity, even purchase of petrol-diesel, milk, metro tickets and many other facilities will be discontinued at midnight today.

By India Today Web Desk: With the deadline for using old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for utilities and railway reservation ending tonight, a increase in the chaos, which has been seen at various places for the last 15 days, is expected. Railway reservation to medicines, air fare to bills for utilities such as water and electricity; even purchase of petrol-diesel, milk, metro tickets and many other facilities will be discontinued at midnight today.

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In all probability, people will try to spend their cash which is being lying in their possession in the older denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 for various government services.



In Delhi, it is the last day when people can pay their outstanding property tax in MCD offices. As of now, all the corporations have received tremendous response as people are paying their property tax in old currency notes. On Wednesday only, the North MCD got more than seven crores as property tax. On the final day, it is expected that this figure may cross Rs 10 crores.



As the deadline for these currency notes ends tonight, it will be the last chance of getting those currency notes to be spent. So, a last moment rush is expected at various outlets. To provide respite to the people, the Centre has already announced a lot of relief measures.



OLD CURRENCY NOTES CAN BE DEPOSITED IN POST OFFICE ACCOUNTS

The demonetised Rs 500 and 1,000 notes can be used for deposits in post office savings accounts, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

"The deposits into Post Office Savings Account are excluded from the bar imposed therein (on deposits of demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in small saving schemes)," a statement from the ministry said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier in the day asked banks not to accept demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for deposit in the small savings schemes, with immediate effect. No reason was assigned for the move.

Also read | Demonetisation standoff: Modi attends Lok Sabha but does not speak; why is PM scared, asks Oppn

RS 2.5 LAKH WITHDRAWAL FOR WEDDINGS

The RBI had imposed stiff conditions for withdrawal of up to Rs 2.5 lakh in cash from bank accounts for weddings, saying the money can be withdrawn only from the credit balance as on the day demonetisation was announced on November 8.

"A maximum of Rs 2,50,000 is allowed to be withdrawn from bank deposit accounts till December 30, 2016, out of the balances at credit in the account as of close of business on November 8, 2016," the Reserve Bank of India notification said.

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"Withdrawals can be made by either of the parents or the person getting married (Only one of them will be permitted to withdraw), " it said.

The application for withdrawal should be accompanied by evidence of the wedding, including the invitation card and copies of receipts for advance payments already made.

Also read | Not in Narendra Modi's blood to go back on decisions: Venkaiah Naidu on note ban rollback

--- ENDS ---
The first batch of 40 BJP MPs will meet at Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar's residence at 7 pm today to prepare themselves for the debate on demonetisation,

By India Today Web Desk: Facing massive opposition in and outside Parliament over demonetisation, the government has now decided to tutor its parliamentarians on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

In the schedule worked out by the government, senior Union ministers including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar, Suresh Prabhu, M Venkaiah Naidu, and JP Nadda will brief groups of BJP MPs on the note ban.

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Also read | Demonetisation standoff: Parliament sees no work for 7th straight day

40 MPs TO MEET AT ANANTH KUMAR'S HOUSE



Tonight, the first batch of 40 BJP MPs will meet at Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar's residence at 7 pm to prepare themselves for the debate on demonetisation, which finally began in Rajya Sabha today.

Both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned today following ruckus over the Opposition's demand that Modi should sit during and speak on demonetisation, a move he himself had announced on television on November 8.

Also read | Government proposes, Opposition disposes: Logjam in Parliament continues



ALL-INDIA BANDH ON NOVEMBER 28



Monday, when the Parliament meets again, is also the day a united Opposition has called for an all-India bandh - Jan Aakrosh Diwas - to protest the banning of old high denomination notes and the death of nearly 70 people in two weeks.

Also read | Ironical much: No plastic money, e-wallets accepted at Parliament eateries









--- ENDS ---
Trucks contributed about 5 per cent to the GDP last year, but after demonetisation, 70 per cent of the transporters are forced to take their vehicles off roads.

By India Today Web Desk: Trucks are said to be the lifeline of Indian economy as the principal mode of transport of goods across the country. Figures show that trucks industry contributed 4.8 per cent to the country's gross domestic product in 2015-16.

In terms of value, trucks' contribution to GDP amounted to Rs 544,800 crore last year. This means they contribute little over Rs 1,492 crore daily to the nation's gross domestic product.

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READ| Demonetisation a monumental mismanagement, says Manmohan Singh as PM Modi sits in Rajya Sabha

But, according to the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), demonetisation has pushed 70 per cent of trucks off roads. AIMTC is a representative body for 9.3 million truckers, and more than five million bus operators, tourist taxis and maxi cabs.

CASH-BASED INDUSTRY CHOKING

With 80 per cent of the transactions in cash, Rs 1,194 crore is what the industry needs daily to sustain operations -- the bulk of which is just not available today.

A transporter, Kultaran Singh Atwal, who owns seven trucks, said that he was forced to keep five of his fleet idle due to demonetisation. He needs a minimum of Rs 20,000 cash per truck per trip to keep them running but he is deprived that much of cash.

READ| Demonetisation survey fake, sponsored; dare Modi to call election to know real mood: Mayawati

Atwal is not an exception. There are many like him as 80 per cent of the truck business run on cash. With the government's curbs on withdrawal of money and exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the motor transport business is suffering.

WATCH:



SITUATION MAY WORSEN

The AIMTC warns that if the situation is allowed to persist not only the supplies of essential commodities like milk, fruits, vegetables and medicines will get increasingly affected but it will also cripple the lives of 200 million people directly or indirectly dependent on this industry.

"Under the Finance Act, I'm allowed Rs 35,000 per truck per trip in cash for expenses on diesel, octroi, etc," said Atwal, who is the Chairman of AIMTC.

READ| Unruly scene in Lok Sabha: SP MP Akshay Yadav throws papers at Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

"How can I survive when there is an overall withdrawal limit of just Rs 50,000," Atwal asked adding, "The government must hike the withdrawal limit or allow cheque-based transactions in our sector."

Echoing similar sentiments, Bal Malkit Singh, advisor and former President of AIMTC, said, "Our operations are getting badly affected as the withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000 that we have been given is very little."

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SUPPLY CHAIN BADLY HIT

What is happening in the process is the supply chain has been hit. "Movement of products is slowing down. Supplies of essential commodities like food, pulses or any export consignment are either getting slow or even coming to a halt in some places."

READ| Demonetisation deadline for using Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes for utilities ends tonight, chaos expected

The fortunes of truckers are also linked to that of the trading business in India, which is facing its own set of woes. With bulk purchases in mandis almost drying up, delivery of products also becomes redundant.

TRADERS FACE 75 PER CENT DROP

"The lack of cash flow in the markets is equally affecting us traders and the transport sector as well, since both these businesses totally function on cash," said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders.

READ| 20 provisions of demonetisation modified by Modi sarkar in 15 days

"Our businesses have seen an overall drop of 75 per cent due to the demonetisation. There is a lack of money flow in the markets," Khandelwal said. "After demonetisation, around 60 per cent of freight is not in movement," added Naveen Gupta, the association's Secretary General.

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Gupta said there is also a sharp drop in long-haul movement because, apart from diesel and tolls, all the other expenses, like the daily expenses of drivers, local taxes are also paid in cash.

READ| Kerala politicians attack Malayalam actor Mohanlal for supporting demonetisation

"The ones plying are the short-haul vehicles, which are either running on diesel bought with leftover old currency and because there is an exemption on tolls," Singh added.

(With IANS inputs)

WATCH:





--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi actor Shakti Arora is upset, and not without reason. The talented actor, who was all set for a November wedding this year, has been forced to postpone his wedding indefinitely, thanks to demonetisation.

Also read:TV stars Kapil Sharma, Divyanka Tripathi, Arjun Bijlani react to the Rs 500/1000 notes ban



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Yes, you read that right.

Celebrities are also getting affected by the central government's decision to ban all old currency notes.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a statement saying that all the old Rs 500/1000 notes would be considered invalid, and had put a country-wide ban on them to stop black money and corruption.

While TV stars Kapil Sharma, Arjun Bijlani, and Divyanka Tripathi had applauded the move by the government, Shakti is obviously not over the moon about the same.

"I had withdrawn cash to pay to the wedding organisers, caterers and other staff as I had to give them an advance. However, they are refusing to take the old currency now. It will take me a long time to exchange the old notes with the new ones. I have no idea when we will get married now. It's definitely not happening this year," The Times of India quoted the actor as saying.



--- ENDS ---
It was a government outreach to opposition parties to end the log jam in Parliament. Couple of hours after the news broke about this government reach out, several opposition leaders took to social media to debunk it.

By Brijesh Pandey: It was a government outreach to opposition parties to end the log jam in Parliament. Yesterday Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar reached out to 5 opposition leaders for a meeting today at 10 am at Rajnath Singh's chambers. But if the government thought that this outreach will meet some kind of success in ending the logjam it was dead wrong.

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TWEETS SET AGENDA

Couple of hours after the news broke about this government reach out, several opposition leaders took to social media to debunk it. TMC leader Derek O Brian tweeted that the media reporting that Parliamentary Affairs mantri reaching out to 5-6 of us opposition parties. 15 parties meet tommorrow at 10 pm to strategize.

Tweets like this set the agenda for the day. As Congress leader Mallikarjun Khadge said that though the government has issued invitation to 5 parties they will not go for the meet as they themselves have a meeting at 10 pm. We will only go if only speaker or parliamentary affairs minister call them.

DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY

An embarrassed government was clearly on the back foot. Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar started denying that any formal invitation was extended to the opposition parties. He said, " As a government we are reaching out to them everyday.

All of us have spoken to them. Issue is why are they delaying such a key issue". Rejecting the opposition charge that the government is working on a divide and rule policy, he said that we are treating all parties equally. We are asking them to give us suggestions and there is no prestige issue involved.



Rebuffed by the opposition the government immediately went into huddle with HM Rajnath Singh, I&B minister Venkiah Naidu and parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar to further discuss the government agenda and how to break the log jam. They were joined by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and then Prime Minister also joined the meet.

OPPOSITION HARDENS STAND

Meanwhile the opposition further hardened the stand against the government by making it clear that they will not be talking to the government till 28th Nov when Jan Akrosh diwas happens.



As charges and counter charges flies thick and fast between Government and a united opposition , we could actually be staring at a washed out winter session of parliament.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Government has allowed NABARD to disburse Rs 21,000 crore to cash-starved farmers, helping them sow winter crops like wheat ahead of the sowing season, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said today.

The governments demonetisation move, which swept away 86 per cent of currency in circulation, has badly hit farmers leaving them without cash just ahead of the sowing season.

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Das said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will disburse the money to farm cooperatives for onward payments to farmers.

"NABARD, for the facility of agricultural operations in the current rabi season and especially for the benefit of farmers, has sanctioned a special limit of Rs 21,000 crore to district central cooperative banks," he told reporters here.

More than 40 per cent small and marginal farmers get crop loans from cooperative institutions, he said.

The move is aimed at easing liquidity crisis facing farmers who were left with very little cash to buy seeds and fertilisers for winter crops due to restrictions placed on bank withdrawals post demonetisation.

This has threatened crop production in a year that came after two successive years of drought.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had yesterday relaxed rules on loans to farmers, allowing NABARD to disburse up to Rs 23,000 crore to district cooperative banks for crop loans.

Das said that out of the total agriculture credit, institutional credit meets more than 40 per cent of the requirement of small and marginal farmers.

"So the sanction of Rs 21,000 crore to the district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) will enable them to pass on or grant funds to the primary agriculture cooperatives. This will then help in meeting crop loan requirements of farmers in Rabi season," he said.

This, he said, will help in smooth flow of credit for farmers to enable them to undertake rabi requirements.

"Over and above this Rs 21,000 limit, as and when the additional limits are required, they will also be sanctioned by NABARD," he said.

To ensure farmers get credit in cash, the government has advised NABARD, RBI and banks to make the required cash available.

Banks have been asked to ensure the district cooperative banks and regional rural banks, which provide loans to several farmers cooperatives, get sufficient cash.

"DCCBs will get their cash from currency chests of banks and state cooperatives. NABARD has created list of DCCBs and their list of requirements have been given to banks," he said. PTI JD ANZ ABI

--- ENDS ---

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The NIA has managed to trace the origin of one phone to Pakistan which can provide some crucial information.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Soon after an encounter in Handwara on October 6, in which security forces gunned down three Lashkar terrorists, the Army had recovered a Samsung and a Chinese made Huawei phone, both without SIM cards from the encounter site.

The National Investigation agency (NIA) has managed to trace the origin of one phone to Pakistan which can provide some crucial information. As per NIA sources, "The Huawei phone was shipped to a dealer in Pakistan, while the Samsung mobile phone was shipped by a company to Zambia, from where it was further transported to Mauritius. It finally made to Handwara encounter site. The NIA is now preparing to seek help from Mauritius to get more information.

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The NIA sources confirmed to India Today that the terrorists killed in the encounter were using ICOM wireless, similar to the one recovered in case of Bahadur Ali (another Pakistan terrorist caught alive). ICOM sets are synced to Android mobile phones which can send text messages without a SIM card, through a mobile app.

Also read: Alert sounded at IAF base in Kashmir's Awantipora after radar system develops snag



Experts say this is an effective method of communication between masterminds in Pakistan and infiltrating terrorists. Providing the terrorists with specific grid references for the route to be followed and use of GPS, compass and topographical sheets during movement also establishes that these LeT terrorists were trained and mentored by military experts.



RECOVERIES MADE



The recoveries made after the encounter included three AK rifles, three Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, a number of magazines, significant rounds of bullets, 4 walkie talkie radio sets, three GPS devices, three mobile phones, dry fruits and medicines besides a map and a matrix sheet.

Three fidayeens dressed in Army fatigues were killed in an ecounter on October 6 as they opened fire outside the 30 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Langate in Handwara. The firing which started at 5 am continued for 10-15 minutes but the army troops quickly neutralised the terrorists. The probe was handed over to the NIA.

Both Uri and Handwara encounter probes are being conducted by the NIA.



HELP FROM US



After identification of Faidulla (Fadulla) from a dairy recovered from one of the three terrorists killed in Handwara encounter, the same blue dairy has provided more clues.

Also read: Pakistani air force chief warns India against escalating dispute into full-scale war



As per sources in NIA, "An MLAT request to the US has been sent for information on 2 Facebook accounts and one Twitter account suspected to be linked to one of the slain terrorists. With Facebook and Twitter headquarters based in the US, the NIA has sought their help formally.

--- ENDS ---
By Charu Thakur : When Bollywood filmmakers are always on a lookout for the most unusual B-Town on-screen jodis for their films, director-producer Sahil Sangha has been able to pull off the perfect casting coup. And it isn't for your regular Bollywood masala film, but for an ad film. Sangha has managed to do what no one else has done so far, getting Hrithik Roshan and Jacqueline Fernandez in the same frame.

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ALSO READ: Hrithik Roshan's dinner date with sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan

ALSO READ: Jacqueline Fernandez and 100 other women have their eyes on an important Guinness World Record



If Jacqueline and Hrithik's sizzling chemistry in the teaser made the right noise, the full-length film has only taken it a notch higher. Sahil, who began his directorial journey with 2011 film Love Breakups Zindagi, in an exclusive interview to IndiaToday.in, talked about the casting coup, Hrithik's professionalism and Jacqueline's electrifying energy on the sets.

Sangha, who has returned behind the lens after a gap of five years, found the two main characters of his ad film in Hrithik and Jacqueline. The 34-year-old producer-director revealed that even before shooting for the ad film, he was convinced that Hrithik and Jacqueline will create magic with this.

"I was convinced that Hrithik and Jacqueline are going to set the screen on fire. Two months before we shot the film, we did a print ad. And Jacqueline was made to wear this emerald green gown. And it was at that moment that I knew that this was the dress and we need to make this happen for the commercial too. This is how I wanted to see Jacqueline in the film. I think it was the wisest decision to bring Jacqueline and Hrithik together on this. The right talent is all we need to get the best of results," says Sangha.

But making the film wasn't exactly a cakewalk for Sangha. Hrithik pulled a muscle during the rehearsal. Jacqueline had the task of matching steps with Hrithik. But Sangha says that the two surprised him with their hard work and dedication. "Hrithik never settles for less, and keeps on putting his best foot forward. I would give him 10/10 for his commitment and hard work. It was a pleasure to have him on the set. Jacqueline, on the other hand, has so much inherent talent and ability to pick up new things. Action and dance were expected from Hrithik, but the way Jacqueline shot those hand-to-hand combat scenes in a gown and stilettos is commendable. She has this infectious energy which can't be ignored," he adds.

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Hrithik and Jacqueline's sizzling chemistry in the ad might have caught the fancy of many, but one cannot help but notice its similarity to a popular scene from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith. But Sangha says that it wasn't a conscious decision and it just happened to look that way. "It gets highlighted as an inspiration. Our film is about a new-age couple who is at par with each other on every level. The grammar of the ad film is different from the film. But maybe, the point of view is very similar, therefore, the throwback is immediate."

Within four days of its release, the film has already received 1 million views and Sangha is ecstatic with the response. And he is definitely looking forward to working with the two in future. "It would be a privilege to work with Hrithik and Jacqueline in future for a full-length feature film. They are friendly and beautiful personalities. I have known Hrithik for a long time, he is a gem of a person. And working with the two was a breeze as they are hardworking and professional. When you are working with artists of their calibre, they keep you on your toes. And that is the best part about a creative journey," he signs off.



--- ENDS ---

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Category 2 Hurricane Otto hit land near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua, where thousands had already been evacuated away from vulnerable coastal areas and into shelters.

By Reuters: A strong earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Central America shook the region on Thursday, and could prompt hazardous tsunami waves, U.S. monitoring agencies said, just as a hurricane barreled into the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Emergency services in El Salvador said on Twitter there were no immediate reports of damage at a national level.

The 7.0 magnitude quake, initially reported as a magnitude 7.2, was very shallow at 10.3 kilometers (6.4 miles) below the seabed, which would have amplified its effect. Its epicenter was located some 149 km (93 miles) south-southwest of Puerto Triunfo in El Salvador, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared a state of emergency due to the quake and Hurricane Otto, which landed on the country's southeastern coast earlier on Thursday, his spokeswoman said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that "hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 kilometers (186 miles) of the earthquake epicenter."

El Salvador's government also said it saw the threat of tsunami waves hitting the coast.

Earlier on Thursday, the Category 2 hurricane hit land near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua, where thousands had already been evacuated away from vulnerable coastal areas and into shelters.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Nov 24 (PTI) Cutting across party lines, Indian-Americans have hailed the nomination of Nikki Haley as the US envoy to the UN, saying this would further strengthen Indo-US ties under the incoming Trump administration.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

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This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, a Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Convention.

"This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body. May be in securing Indias rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage," Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur.

"She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"Its a proudmoment for all Indian-Americans onPresident-elect Trumps choice of Governor Nikki Haley as USambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haleys appointment -- her Indian and Sikhheritage -- is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trumps nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet level position, has taken my breath away," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

Welcoming the appointment of Haley, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning.

"Governor Haley has done a tremendous work as South Carolinas first female and Indian American Governor and she will surely succeed as the top diplomat at the United Nations," said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC).

USINPAC has been working with the Trump transition team to make sure that qualified Indian Americans have the opportunity to serve in the Trump administration, Puri said.

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Last week, USINPAC had hostedCongressman Lou Barletta, and Matt Keelen, a republican strategist and consultant for the Trump campaign, for a google hangout.

In addition to Haley, Keelen had said Trump is also considering the former Indian-origin governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal for a position in his administration.

Keelen said Trump understood the importance of US-India ties, as the two nations share the same values, face the same issues with terrorist attacks on their soil. PTI LKJ AJR NSA

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Nov 24 (PTI) Cutting across party-lines, Indian-Americans in the US has hailed President-elect Donald Trump for nominating Nikki Haley as US envoy to the United Nations.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, an old-time Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Convention.

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"This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body. May be in securing Indias rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage," Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur.

"She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"Its a proudmoment for all Indian-Americans onPresident-elect Trumps choice of Governor Nikki Haley as USambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haleys appointment -- her Indian and Sikhheritage -- is a clear indication of inclusivity for theincomingadministration. The President-elect is uniting the party and getting competent leaders with proven track record to serve in hisadministration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trumps nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet level position, has taken my breath away as I celebrate the highest milestone for the Indian-American community and the inherent trust that America has in her citizens love of America and our cherished Constitution," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

Welcoming the appointment of Haley, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning. MORE PTI LKJ AJR

--- ENDS ---
The steps are being taken since the government wants the Navy to be prepared for any eventuality as tension between India and Pakistan has been escalating ever since Pakistan-backed terrorists attacked and killed 19 soldiers in Uri on September 18, Navy sources said.

the Navy has also finalised the requirement of 176 torpedoes to be fitted on the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant and the six Scorpene submarines which would join the Navy in 4-5 years.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: Amid the ongoing tension between the armies of India and Pakistan, the Indian Navy is "fast-tracking" steps to meet its requirements for torpedoes for its submarine fleet, including the German HDW and under-construction Scorpene boats.

Along with it, the Navy has also finalised the requirement of 176 torpedoes to be fitted on the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant and the six Scorpene submarines which would join the Navy in 4-5 years.

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The steps are being taken since the government wants the Navy to be prepared for any eventuality as tension between India and Pakistan has been escalating ever since Pakistan-backed terrorists attacked and killed 19 soldiers in Uri on September 18, Navy sources said here.

The Navy has a limited number of torpedoes for the German-manufactured HDW Type 209 submarines, while the INS Kalvari - the first of the Scorpene Class boats - would be without any torpedo as the tender for buying Blackshark torpedoes from Italy was retracted due to alleged wrongdoings in the procurement process.

"The Navy through its official channel has contacted the German government and requested it to fast-track the upgradation of 64 SUT torpedoes which is already contracted for," Navy sources told Mail Today.

Also Read: Cabinet Committee gives nod to buy 12 Dornier aircrafts for Navy

The remaining inventory of 24 SUT torpedoes would also be upgraded now as part of the request made by the Indian Navy to Germany, the sources added.

India has procured 98 SUT torpedoes from Germany in the 1990s for its HDW submarines. Of these, 64 were found to be in a better condition and were thus cleared for upgradation a couple of years back.

"Under the present circumstances, it was decided that the entire arsenal available with us should be kept ready," the sources said.

Sources said that in view of delay in the procurement of new torpedoes for the submarines, the Scorpene submarines can be modified to fire the SUT torpedoes till the time the new ones come in.

All procurements in this regard would be done by the Navy in a fast-track mode as the government has empowered the vicechiefs of the three services to make procurements worth Rs2,000 crore to buy spares and ammunition for existing platforms.

The Navy is also in talks with Russian manufacturers for immediate supply of spares and ammunition for its warships and weapon systems. Russia has several warships for immediate upgradation and maintenance.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday cleared the acquisition of 12 Dornier surveillance aircraft for keeping an eye on the vast maritime borders of the country.

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Also Read: India denies Pakistan navy claim of submarine straying into territorial waters

The aircraft worth Rs2,500 crore would be built by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at its Kanpur facility, sources told Mail Today. For covering a vast maritime area extending from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Arabian Sea, the Navy has recently procured 12 P-8I long-range surveillance aircraft from the US.

The Dorniers would supplement the long-rangers and are used for short- and medium-range patrolling of the seas.

--- ENDS ---
A total of 209 passengers opted for travel insurance while making bookings for the train as of November 19.

By Siddharth Tiwari: Processing of insurance payouts to survivors and families of the victims of the ill-fated Indore-Rajendra Nagar Express (Train No. 19321), eligible to receive compensation under the travel insurance scheme for passengers who booked their tickets through IRCTC, are on the fast track.

On 20 November 2016, the train from Indore to Patna derailed near Pukhrayan, Kanpur, resulting in 149 deaths and more than 200 injuries, in the worst train accident in India in recent years.

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A total of 209 passengers opted for travel insurance while making bookings for the train as of November 19. There were 128 passengers eligible for insurance up to the accident spot, out of which 50 tickets were cancelled, leaving 78 eligible passengers. The number of passengers covered under each insurance company are: Royal Sundaram (32), Shriram (14) and ICICI Lombard (32).

READ| Indore-Patna Express accident: Despite warnings, no action taken against substandard management

Five among these passengers died in the tragedy, in addition to seven cases of injury and hospitalisation and eight minor injuries.

The travel insurance scheme for rail journeys at the time of booking was announced in the Budget Speech this year and implemented since September 1. The scheme is optional for passengers booking ticket through IRCTC website, with three Insurance companies - Royal Sundaram, Shriram General and ICICI Lombard - providing the travel insurance to the passengers.

The claim for the five death cases has been provisionally approved by all the insurance companies, and they are in touch with the families to complete the claim settlement formalities. Only one passenger had filled up the nominee details for the insurance; for the remaining four the claim settlement will be made with the legal heir, as soon as the documents are provided. The families have currently requested time for providing the documents.

READ| Indore-Patna train accident: Did not hear noise from the wheels, says gateman

For the seven injury cases, insurance companies are getting in touch with the passengers and their families, few of these cases are for cashless hospitalisations or through TPA (Third Party Administrator)

For 36 passengers, the insurance companies are not able to make contact as the phone number is switched off/not reachable. In these cases firms have sent emails on the given ID, enquiring about their well being and providing contact details of the representative of insurance company.



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By PTI: envisaged: Jaitley

New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Amid the ongoing tussle between the judiciary and the government over appointment of judges, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said appointments taking place today are not happening as envisaged originally.

"You cannot interpret the Constitution to give it some purpose by giving a possible meaning which is different from language, but you cannot say exactly the opposite.

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"That is why the appointments made today are happening differently than originally envisaged," he said delivering a lecture on Separation of power among organs of state at a workshop on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha Library.

He said though the Constitution says the President will appoint the judges in consultation with the Chief Justice, the same has been interpreted in different ways.

This, Jaitley said, has been interpreted as Chief Justice recommending and government appointing, the Collegium recommending the names and thirdly, as whatever said, it will be binding on the President and government has no role in appointments. "You cannot interpret the basic structure of Constitution as just the opposite," he said.

Jaitley, however, said the three organs of democracy have their powers separated and no one institution can be superior to the other and the judiciary cannot become either the executive or the legislature.

He said he has been a critic of the apex court judgement on NJAC and has disagreed with it publicly, adding though it is right on the basic principle on maintaining independence of judiciary as part of basic structure of Constitution, it cannot be superior to the other organ.

"An elected Parliament is also a part of the basic structure, an elected government is also a part of basic structure and a Minister and the Leader of Opposition are also part of basic structure.

"In order to protect and defend the primacy of one basic structure, one cannot allowed to steamroll on the other parts. It is this lack of balance can upset this whole theory of separation of powers," he said.

A former Law Minister, Jaitley said courts can review an executive order and strike down the action of executive or legislature, but it can neither become the executive nor the legislature.

"It cant discharge their functions. It has a power to quash, it does not have the power to direct the legislature," he said, adding that the power to quash has to be based on conventional principles.

"It cannot quash on the ground that I think the alternative proposition is a better one," he said.

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"In terms of laying down judicial guidelines, you are actually having a judicial legislation," he said, taking a dig at judicial overreach.

He said though the court is entitled to review of executive orders, "The court has the authority to tell the executive to act as per law, but court is not entitled to tell the Executive that now I will discharge your functions." (MORE) PTI SKC ZMN

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Kamaal R Khan took potshots at veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Twitter.

By India Today Web Desk: A self-proclaimed actor, producer and film critic Kamaal R Khan took potshots at veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Twitter.



ALSO READ: Gautham Menon to revive Dhruva Natchathiram with Vikram



SEE PIC: Prasanna's chiseled look for Thiruttu Payale 2



Condoling the death of Carnatic vocalist M Balamuralikrishna, Kamal Haasan took to Twitter and shared a heartwarming post about the legendary singer.



81 yrs Mahaguru Dr. Balamurali enthralled millions with music.Thanks 2 technology even death cant silence his voice.Pranam guruji & goodbye Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) November 22, 2016

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Responding to Kamal Haasan, Kamaal R Khan wrote, "Mr. @ikamalhaasan you have only 367000 followers, means you are Chai Cum Paani compare to Me Me Me the no.1 critic and super star KRK."



Mr. @ikamalhaasan you have only 367000 followers, means you are Chai Cum Paani compare to Me Me Me the no.1 critic and super star KRK. KRK (@kamaalrkhan) November 22, 2016

His "Chai cum paani" remark, which roughly translates to "less tea more water," has received a lot of flak from Ulaganayagan fans.

Earlier to this, Kamaal R Khan also faced the wrath of Thalaivar fans when he made racist comments against superstar Rajinikanth for his Kabali.

Meanwhile, Kamal Haasan, who is currently recovering from the fracture, will resume the shoot of his upcoming trilingual Sabash Naidu from january 2017.

The film which marks Haasan's fifth directorial venture, will have music by maestro Ilayaraja.

Jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Raajkamal Films International, the film also stars Shruti Haasan, Ramya Krishnan, Roger Narayanan and Brahmanandam in pivotal roles.



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The government's demonetisation decision has paralysed cooperative sector in Kerala. Banks and hospitals have been exempted from the strike (hartal).

By Jeemon Jacob: Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front has called for a 12-hour strike (hartal) on November 28 to protest against the government's demonetisation move, which has paralysed cooperative sector in the state. Banks and hospitals have, however, been exempted from the strike.

According to LDF convener Vaikom Viswan, the decision has been taken after PM Modi refused to meet all party leaders from the state to discuss the issue.



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PM WANTS TO KILL KERALA'S COOPERATIVE SECTOR



"Cooperative banks are the backbone of Kerala's banking sector, serving the rural poor. Banning of 1000 and 500 rupee notes has adversely affected the functioning of the cooperative banks. We believe that PM Modi has a hidden agenda to kill the cooperative sector of Kerala," Viswan told India Today.



Also read | Kerala politicians attack Malayalam actor Mohanlal for supporting demonetisation

LDF is observing a black day today against demonetisation.

Today, CPM leaders met at the state secretariat in the morning and decided to organise a massive protest against demonetisation. CPM leaders maintained that the situation was worsening by the day and had intensified in the last week in the wake of growing chaos.

Also read | CM Vijayan slams PM for refusing to meet Kerala leaders over condition of cooperative banks

KERALA ASSEMBLY PASSES RESOLUTION



On November 22, Kerala Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution against the Centre, paralysing banking operations in cooperative banks.

Kerala's cooperative banking sector has a three-tier system with around 1,600 primary cooperative banks attached to 14 district cooperative banks under the control of the apex State Cooperative bank. Total deposit in these banks amounts to Rs 1.27 lakh crore.

Also read | Women weavers from Kerala are least worried about PM Modi's demonetisation drive

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By PTI: Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI) In a bid to mitigate the currency crisis, the Maharashtra government today further extended exemption from paying toll on state highways, including Mumbai Pune expressway, till the night of December 1.

"I spoke to Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari regarding the same (extension) this morning. I have apprised him about the delicate situation on the ground. The official communication (approving extension) came to me in the afternoon and we immediately disseminated the information," said PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil.

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"Once Gadkari informs us about the relaxation in toll collection, we will immediately disseminate the order to all the toll booth operating companies," he had said earlier.

The minister said the government intended to minimise inconvenience to people through the relaxation.

After the demonetisation of high-denomination notes on November 8, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that all state roads would be toll-tax free until November 11 midnight.

On November 11, the state government extended the waiver of toll on state roads and highways till November 14 midnight.

Meanwhile, the Central government today further extended the date for toll exemption on National Highways till midnight of December 2 to ensure smooth traffic flow and mitigate currency hardships.

The Centre had last week extended the suspension of tolls till November 24 midnight for all National Highways, as a relief to commuters after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were rendered defunct by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI ND GK NSK SRY

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By Anindya Banerjee: When West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport on Tuesday, she had one resolve; to project herself as a national leader, who can take others along and give the BJP a tough fight in 2019. Demonetisation was not the main issue.

The next day, while there was a united Opposition protesting inside Parliament, Mamata held a separate dharna at Jantar Mantar flanked by his party MPs. She came down hard on the central government. Her speech in broken Hindi was intended for the national audience. "I can challenge that no one will vote for the BJP. If I were you (PM), I would have apologised to the public. Why are you so egoistic? You have branded everyone in the country a black marketeer and have yourself turned into a saint," Banerjee thundered in Hindi, who otherwise prefers speaking in Bengali.

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Though it was a TMC platform but in a show of strength, she had the backing of JD(U), SP, NCP and AAP at Jantar Mantar. JDU Chief Sharad Yadav during the protest questioned the legality of demonitisation. Yadav said, "Under which law have you enforced this measure? You are stopping a person from withdrawing his hard-earned money which is his fundamental right. Demonetisation has destroyed the business of small traders. Come to Parliament and explain the logic as to how it will curb black money."

Also read: Besides economy, PM Modi's demonetisation disrupts status quo of polity, society

The street protest was also addressed by SP's Dharmendra Yadav, AAP's Raghav Chadha and NCP's Majid Memon. But for Banerjee, the issue was more of putting the Modi Sarkar in a spot than debating the dynamics of demonitisation. That's what makes headlines, that's what gives her space to emerge as an opposition leader to lead a section of the society, disenchanted by the move.



UNITED OPPOSITION



Barely a week back, the West Bengal CM camped in Delhi, met senior leaders of other parties to create a united opposition. She walked the extra mile and called up arch enemy CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to forget differences and join hands in opposing this move, which was snubbed by the Left. Though her efforts didn't get enough results last time, but she led a march to the President's house with the National Conference and Aam Admi Party leaders, demanding a 'rollback'.

Today as she returned to Kolkata, her job is far from being over. This coming Monday, she will lead the charge in her own state to observe a grand all-India protest called by all opposition parties dubbed as 'Jan Akrosh Rally'. Post which, she will travel to Lucknow, Patna and then Punjab to protest against demonetisation. This yatra is not just a formality but what's known as 'brand positioning' in marketing parleys. She wants to showcase that she has the ability to lead the charge in the next general elections when it comes to fight against Narendra Modi and can take along the like-minded parties in the process to reach that position.

Also read: PM's demonetisation move a "Tughlaki" diktat, only inconveniencing innocents, says Lalu Yadav

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It can be interesting to see whether the Congress will be comfortable with Banerjee's new avatar, since they will have Rahul Gandhi as their PM candidate. It is also no secret how Bihar CM Nitish Kumar harbours prime ministerial ambitions that led to the infamous rift between two old allies, JDU and the BJP.

BSP Supremo Mayawati also considers herself a PM candidate, come next general elections. So once the winter session gets over, the biggest takeaway will be how Didi is eyeing Delhi and is actively working in that direction.

Also read: Uddhav Thackeray attacks PM Modi over demonetisation, says shedding tears on TV not enough

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Describing the implementation of the demonetisation drive as monumental mismanagement and a case of organised loot and legalised plunder, former PM Manmohan Singh said it will also drag the country's GDP by 2 percentage points.

By Press Trust of India: After five days of confrontation, Rajya Sabha today saw resumption of debate on demonetisation briefly during which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the opposition attack, saying the step was a "monumental management failure" which would lead to dip in GDP growth by at least 2 per cent.

Singh termed demonetisation as "a case of organised loot and legalised plunder".

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the House, the opposition and the ruling side came to an agreement to do away with the Question Hour and resume the debate, which had been left incomplete on November 16.

READ: Manmohan tears into Modi's demonetisation, calls it monumental mismanagement



Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister will also participate in the debate.

The opposition had been demanding presence of the Prime Minister for resumption of the debate for the last five days.

Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PM's name.

Debate was resumed during the Question Hour, from 12 pm to 1 pm, after which the House went into lunch break. When it met again at 2 pm, the Prime Minister was not there, prompting the opposition parties to demand his presence again as they wanted him to listen to all the speakers.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the discussion should be carried forward as the Leader of the House has said that Prime Minister will come.

Opposition members then trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans like "bring back black money, stop making false promises".

READ: 10 best quotes from ex-PM Manmohan Singh's speech against Modi's demonetisation drive

Jaitley said his "apprehensions" that the opposition did not want the debate had come true as they were looking for "excuses" to run away from the discussion.

As pandemonium prevailed, the House was adjourned till 3 PM and then for the day as the same situation existed.

Earlier speaking during the debate, Singh said, "These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure."

The noted economist said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, which was an "under-estimate and not an over-estimate".

He said he agreed with the objectives of the scheme to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as spelt out by the Prime Minister but he wished to highlight the problems that the common people and poor have been subjected to by the move.

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"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," the former Prime Minister said.

Watch: What will happen to old currency notes?



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Former prime minister Manmohan Singh lashed out at PM Modi during the first Parliament debate on demonetisation since it was announced on November 8. Here is how Manmohan Singh crushed Modi's arguments, one by one.

By India Today Web Desk: From calling prime minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive a "monumental mismanagement" to rubbishing the claim that the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from the financial system of India is for the "greater good" and it will benefit in the long run saying "in the long run, we are all dead," former prime minister and revered economist Manmohan Singh was on a roll opening the first ever Parliamentary debate on demonetisation.

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Read: Manmohan Singh tears into Modi's demonetisation, calls it monumental mismanagement

Read the 10 best quotes from Manmohan Singh during the first debate on demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha

Dr Singh pointed out how millions across India are inconvenienced because of the demonetisation drive and how the GDP will be hit by at least 2 per cent.

We have pulled out some quotes from PM Modi that Dr Singh crushed during his speech today:

ON THE 50-DAY TIME FRAME









ON FUTURE



ON THE RURAL POOR







FIGHTING THE EVIL VS FAILING THE PEOPLE

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COLLECTIVE MADNESS



Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Three Maoists were killed by the police in Nilambur forests in Malappuram, Kerala today.

By Revathi Rajeevan, Jeemon Jacob: Three Maoists, including a woman dalam leader, were killed in Nilambur forests in Malappuram, Kerala today afternoon. The police identified Devraj alias Kukku and Ajita, a woman leader among the killed. Another person was not identified.

According to Loknath Behera, DGP Kerala, a police team headed by Malappuram superintendent of police sealed the area, where the Maoists were camping. "When they refused to surrender, police fired and three persons were killed in the encounter," Behera said.

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The police received information that an armed gang was moving in Kurulayi forest range and a police team was rushed to the spot. "The team was located four kilometers away from the local village inside the forest. When the police sealed the area, the gang started firing," a senior police official revealed.

Nilambur, Silent valley, Iritty and some part of Wayanad district had recorded Maoist presence in Kerala earlier.

The police had restricted movements of the local people in the area. Combing operations are going on in the forest areas of Nilambur, south division.

Also read: Chhattisgarh Police nabs local carrying Rs 6 lakh of Maoists for exchange

Also read: Kerala: 3 CPM members arrested for murder of Congress leader in 2010

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By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court today set aside the order of the Patna High Court granting bail to suspended RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, accused of raping a minor girl, saying that there is a "possibility of interdicting" fair trial by him if released.

"In a given case, if it is found that there is a possibility of interdicting fair trial by the accused if released on bail, this public interest of fair trial would outweigh the personal interest of the accused while undertaking the task of balancing the liberty of the accused on the one hand and interest of the society to have a fair trial on the other hand.

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"When the witnesses are not able to depose correctly in the court of law, it results in low rate of conviction and many times even hardened criminals escape conviction. It shakes public confidence in the criminal justice delivery system," a bench of Justices A K Sikri and A M Sapre said.

The court said that there is need to ensure that criminal justice delivery system works "efficiently", "smoothly" and in a "fair manner" and it has to be given prime importance in such situations.

"For the foregoing reasons, we allow this appeal thereby setting aside the order of the high court. In case the respondent (Yadav) is already released, he shall surrender and/or taken into custody forthwith. In case he is still in jail, he will continue to remain in jail as a consequence of this judgement," the bench said.

It noted that the prosecutrix has already been examined in the trial court, but a few other material witnesses, including father and sister of the prosecutrix, are yet to be examined.

"As per the records, threats were extended to the prosecutrix as well as her family members. Therefore, we feel that the high court should not have granted bail to the respondent (Yadav) ignoring all the material and substantial aspects pointed out by us, which were the relevant considerations," the court said.

The bench said that the prime consideration is to protect the fair trial and ensure that justice is done which can be done, only if witnesses depose fearlessly and freely.

"This may happen only if the witnesses are able to depose without fear, freely and truthfully and this court is convinced that in the present case, that can be ensured only if the respondent is not enlarged on bail," it said, adding that it was not a fit case for grant of bail at this stage and "grave error" was committed by the high court. (More) PTI MNL SJK RKS SC

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The demonetisation move has created schisms within alliances of the ruling BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and main Opposition Congress in the states.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: The Narendra Modi government's demonetisation initiative has not just disrupted the status quo of the country's economy but also of polity and social life. This tectonic shift in economy is forcing divisions and realignments within political parties and families.

The demonetisation move has created schisms within alliances of the ruling BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and main Opposition Congress in the states.



READ| Demonetisation: Rs 1000 notes can't be used now, Rs 500 will live on till Dec 15

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SHIV SENA AND AKALI DAL

The Narendra Modi government itself has suffered the jolt of scrapping high denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. The NDA's alliance partners in Maharashtra and Punjab - Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) respectively - and at the Centre have not fully backed demonetisation.

On November 16, just eight days after the demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address at 8 pm on November 8, leaders of BJP's two oldest allies - Shiv Sena and SAD - marched to Rashtrapati Bhavan in a delegation led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. They petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee against the inconvenience caused to the people due to "mismanaged demonetisation" and demanded "immediate suspension of the dictatorial and draconian step of demonetisation".

Shiv Sena has been critical of the BJP-led NDA governments of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi. It has criticised both the PMs and also former deputy PM LK Advani for engaging Pakistan, calling it "hobnobbing". It also mocked Narendra Modi after the Uri terror attack saying Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif had shown his "56-inch chest".

However, SAD expressing reservations over the manner in which demonetisation has been implemented is quite unusual. SAD is one BJP ally which has stood by its side in thick and thin. Hence, the latest development should worry the ruling BJP.

CONGRESS

As far as the Opposition is concerned, two voices are being heard in them. In the Congress, its vice president Rahul Gandhi has gone to the extent of calling demonetisation a "scam". However, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has spoken in favour of the notes ban, saying it is in the interest of the country, though he expressed reservations over its implementation.



BIHAR'S GRAND ALLIANCE

The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar - comprising Lalu Prasad's RJD, JDU and Congress - is divided over discontinuing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has surprisingly lent his total support to Narendra Modi, both RJD and Congress are vehemently against the PM's move.

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JDU

Not only the Grand Alliance but also the JDU itself is feeling the strain of the "surgical strike" on black money. As against Nitish Kumar's whole-hearted support to the move, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav was seen lending his support to Mamata Banerjee's protest event at Jantar Mantar on November 23.



BSP

BSP too has remained unscathed with those supporting demonestisation. Recently, a senior leader's mike was snatched away just because he was singing paeans on the Narendra Modi government's "bold" demonetisation move in the presence of the party supremo.



A BSP Neta praised PM Modi in front of Mayawati in her rally for #DeMonetisation

She got pissed and asked her workers to snatched his mic pic.twitter.com/WQAYNbdW3zRishi Bagree (@rishibagree) November 21, 2016

Besides the political parties, the status quo in several families is also getting disrupted. Demonetisation has divided the opinion in the Bachchan family. While Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have supported the Narendra Modi government's "war" on black money, his wife and Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan has taken a diametrically opposite stand. Like Sharad Yadav, she was also seen with Mamata Banerjee at Jantar Mantar.

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MIDDLE CLASS

Even the middle class families are seeing divergent opinions over demonetisation. For instance, Noida resident Tusi Kumar, who is a lawyer, has expressed reservations over the drive. More than scrapping of notes, he has objection to the implementation of demonetisation.

Tusi hates standing in queues. But his wife Lily Singh, who works in a private firm, does not mind his standing in queue for a couple of hours to withdraw money from ATM "for the sake of India".

As the Narendra Modi government takes more steps to check black money and corruption, this disruption of status quo in political parties and families is likely to intensify in the days to come.

Also Read:

Ratan Tata asks government to consider special relief measures for poor following demonetisation

Two groups clash after argument over demonetisation in Mumbai, 2 injured

Starting today, BJP MPs to get demonetisation tutorials by senior Modi ministersOpposition united against demonetisation, but not on the same page on future strategy

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PM Modi who made a rare appearance at Rajya Sabha chuckled over the comments of SP MP Naresh Agarwal's comments and smiled at Mayawati's comment.

By India Today Web Desk: After a week of acrimonious exchanges over the demonetisation drive, Parliament finally started debating the contentious move and even saw at least two moments when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making a rare appearance in Rajya Sabha, chuckled.

Speaking after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who started today's debate, Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agrawal joked about the rumour that most Modi ministers did not know about the November 8 announcement.

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"There are those who say the PM did not take even (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley into confidence. If Arunji had known, he would have whispered about it in my ears. He knows me," Agrawal said, bringing the House down. Both Modi and Jaitley could not help laugh.

Later, Modi smiled again when Agrawal assured Modi that he is safe in Uttar Pradesh. "Don't worry for your safety at least in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Following his televised announcement on the banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes two weeks ago, Modi had said certain forces opposed to the move "may not let him live".

Also Read: PM Modi shares findings of demonetisation survey, says drive has backing of 90 per cent respondents



"WILL YOU COME BACK, MR PM"

Later during the Rajya Sabha debate, another Uttar Pradesh leader, BSP's Mayawati, in her speech asked if the Prime Minister will continue to sit in Rajya Sabha when it meets after lunch.

While Modi did not assure, he smiled.

At the time this story was written (2.10 pm), Modi had not returned to the Rajya Sabha, forcing the Opposition to ask Finance Minister Arun Jaitley about his assurance that Modi will speak.

Jaitley, in his reply, accused the Opposition of running away from the debate by continuing to insist on Modi's presence in the House.

Also Read: PM Modi may speak in Rajya Sabha today, his ministers hold talks with Opposition to end logjam

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By India Today Web Desk: Arjun Kapoor will be essaying double roles for the first time in Mubarakan. The 2 States actor's twin avatar which he shared on Twitter on Thursday has raised expectations around the film.



Arjun is playing the twin brothers Charan and Karan in this Anees Bazmee film. Bazmee has made multiple films with Arjun's uncle Anil Kapoor, such as No Entry, Welcome and Welcome Back. This time around Bazmee has roped in both Arjun and Anil for this upbeat comedy.

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ALSO READ: Malaika Arora finally breaks silence on rumours of affair with Arjun Kapoor

ALSO SEE: Top 5 'bromantic moments' between Varun and Arjun on Koffee With Karan's latest episode



Arjun is donning the role of a sardar for the first time in Mubakaran. As such, he has had to go through intense preparation to play the part. Infact Arjun's Punjabi was on full blast in the recent episode of Koffee With Karan where the actor broke into Punjabi when he and Varun Dhawan were challenged by Karan Johar to enact a situation in any language of their choice except Hindi.

Mubakaran whill be shot for the most part in Chandigarh. The remaining portions will be canned in London.

Apart from Mubarakan which is scheduled to release on July 28, next year, the actor will also be seen in Half Girlfriend, the cinematic adaptation of the Chetan Bhagat book of the same name.

ALSO WATCH: Up close and personal with Arjun Kapoor





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On Tuesday, Pakistan Army-backed terrorists had killed three Indian soldiers from the 57 Rashtriya Rifles battalion and beheaded one of them while trying to infiltrate inside the Indian territory.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: A day after it vowed to take revenge for beheading and death of its soldiers, India on Wednesday launched a massive fire assault across the Line of Control prompting the Pakistan Army DGMO to make an unscheduled call to the Indian Army to deescalate the situation.

On Tuesday, Pakistan Army-backed terrorists had killed three Indian soldiers from the 57 Rashtriya Rifles battalion and beheaded one of them while trying to infiltrate inside the Indian territory.

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This was the first time after the surgical strikes on September 29 that the DGMOs of the two countries spoke to each other and Lt Gen. Ranbir Singh clearly told the Pakistanis that India was just retaliating to Pakistani actions.

Government officials said the two DGMOs spoke after Pakistan requested for an unscheduled hotline interaction during which the unethical act of mutilation of bodies of Indian soldiers by terrorists was raised.

"He (Pakistani Director General of Military Operations) was categorically informed that if any ceasefire violations were initiated by the Pak troops or any infiltration attempt was made by terrorists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or territory under its control, it would invite an appropriate response by the Indian army," an Army press release said here.

Talking sternly, DGMO Ranbir Singh raised the issue of infiltration attempts by terrorists from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir and unethical act of mutilation of the body of Indian soldiers close to the Line of Control by terrorists infiltrating from Pakistan. "Pakistan's DGMO was exhorted to exercise strict control on their troops to refrain from any nefarious activities," the statement from the DGMO's office said.

Also Read: Pakistan DGMO calls Indian counterpart after fierce retaliation

PAKISTAN IN DENIAL MODE

Continuing to be in denial mode for its cowardly acts, Pakistan denied its role in mutilating the body of Naik Prabhu Singh of 57 RR on Tuesday, saying the allegations were aimed at maligning Pakistan. In the hotline conversation, Pakistan's DGMO informed about civilian casualties on his side caused by Indian firing at the LoC.

Lt Gen. Singh expressed grief at civilian casualties but emphatically stated that retaliatory firing by the Indian troops has only been carried out targeting locations from where Pakistan has initiated ceasefire violations on the Indian posts.

He also expressed his concern to Pakistani DGMO about casualties caused to Indian civilians and soldiers due to unprovoked Pakistani firing. Pakistan Army had earlier in the day said seven people, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with the Indian troops on the LoC, taking the death toll in such incidents on their side to 14 since last week.

In Wednesday's fire assault by Indian soldiers, Captain Taimoor Ali Khan, Havaldar Mushtaq Hussain and Lance Naik Ghulam Hussain of the Pakistan Army were killed. Pakistani media reports stated that the Indian firing had also hit a passenger bus near Dhudnial in Neelam valley. Media reports said that up to 10 civilians were killed on Wednesday due to firing by the Indian troops.

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Also Read: Watch: Pakistani man ruthlessly thrashes transgender woman, arrested

Pakistan also claimed that seven Indian soldiers were killed by its retaliatory firing but it has again proved to be a lie. The development came a day after three Indian soldiers were killed, with body of one of them being mutilated in a cross-LoC attack. Wednesday's offensive by the Indian army came hours after it vowed heavy retribution to the killing of its soldiers.

Army officials said the talks are likely to lead to de-escalation of tension on the LoC and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir region which have been on the boil since the Uri attack. Indian Army's massive retaliation was planned on Tuesday itself as it was observing that Pakistan was trying to pressurise the Indian side by attacking civilian areas unprovoked.

The Army was planning to give a clear message to Pakistan that it can also escalate the situation beyond their control. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had on Tuesday given clear instructions to the Army to take appropriate action along the LoC as per the local situation.

--- ENDS ---

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By PTI: Kohima, Nov 23 (PTI) The apex tribal organisation in the state, Naga Hoho has urged the Nagaland assembly to ensure that the 33 per cent women reservation in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) does not bring divisions among the people of the state resulting in creation of an unmanageable situation.

Urging the Nagaland Assembly and other civil societies to exhibit magnanimity, the Naga Hoho opined that the state government?s attempt to implement the Municipal Act of 2001 and 33 per cent women reservation is too hasty and will create only chaos and unwanted situations for which the present Nagaland Assembly shall be held responsible.

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The move by Naga Hoho followed a motion to revoke the resolution adopted on September 22, 2012 which was moved in the ongoing session of the Assembly yesterday by Parliamentary Secretary for Municipal Affairs, R Tohanba and is scheduled for consideration and passing tomorrow.

The motion is to seek the adoption of the resolution by the NLA for revocation of the resolution which was passed under Article 371A of the Constitution of India on September 22, 2012 which exempted Nagaland from the application of Part 1XA of the constitution of India in ULBs elections.

The Naga Hoho press communique this evening further expressed ?shock? to learn about the motion on the matter of according 33 per cent women Reservation in ULBs.

?This exercise is not less than undermining the voice of the people in the state,? the Hoho said.

The Hoho maintained that the very fact that there is no opposition in the present NLA does not entail that the voices of the people who are concerned about protecting their rights "should be strangled".

Therefore, the Naga Hoho has been stating that this is the last appeal to "all the members of the present NLA to consider with all seriousness this vital social issue".

The Hoho cautioned revocation will bound to bringing severe social unrest and disharmony among different Naga tribes while imposing various provisions under the Constitution of India by discarding the rights of the Naga people guaranteed under Article 371A of the Constitution. PTI NBS SUS SUS

--- ENDS ---
It is suspected that black money owners are using the tax exemption status of the Naga tribes to convert the old currency notes into new ones.

By Praveen Shekhar: At least two chartered planes from Hisar have landed in Nagaland's Dimapur within a span of one week, raising suspicions that black money owners are using the tax exemption status of the Naga tribes to convert the old currency notes into new ones.

The Central Industrial Security Force on Tuesday apprehended Amarjeet Kumar Singh, a businessman, from Munger (Bihar) who carried Rs 3.5 crore of demonetised currency in a chartered jet.

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It was reported that the cash had disappeared. But the cash that disappeared from Dimapur after being flown in by a chartered flight resurfaced on Wednesday, in an equally dramatic manner.

The cash, all in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes, is legitimate, certified by the income-tax department and has been handed over to the owner - Anato Zhimomi, a Naga businessman.

Director General of Nagaland Police, LL Dungell said, "A local businessman, Anato Zhimomi has produced income tax exemption certificate and claimed that the money belonged to him. The businessman being a tribal is entitled to exemption. Income tax officials after detailed investigation handed over the cash to him."

Also read: Demonetisation standoff: Parliament sees no work for 7th straight day

Zhimom is the son-in-law of former chief minister and Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio of Naga People's Front, an ally of the BJP. According to sources, Zhimomi had given the money to one Amarjeet Singh, a businessman from Bihar, to buy farm land in Haryana. The deal didn't materialise and the money was returned.

The income tax and intelligence officials suspect that the Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland could be part of a big money laundering racket, with the masterminds exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast. The IT deparment zonal office in Guwahati has sent a team to probe the matter and cross check Zhimom's bank details. Zhimom is a businessman who has several business interests in Nagaland.

Last week, too, a chartered jet had landed in Dimapur from Hisar. Haryana police and Hisar aerodrome officials said it is for the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to check luggage of people hiring chartered planes.

INCOME TAX EXEMPTION TO TRIBES

Nagas, like all resident tribes of the sixth schedule areas of the Northeast, are exempted from paying the income tax.

The tribals of five Northeastern states - Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh - are fully exempted from tax under Section 10 (26) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Tribals within areas of district councils constituted under sixth schedule of the Constitution are also free from tax liability.

They are entitled to claim exemption from tax in respect of income from any source, arising therein and income by way of dividend or interest on securities.

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Also read: 59 airports on high alert to check cash smuggling during demonetisation

For availing this exemption, the person must satisfy both of the following two conditions:

1. He must be a member of Schedule Tribe as defined by Article 366(25) of the Constitution of India and,

2. He should be residing in any area in the states of Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram or districts of North Cachar Hills, Mikir Hills, Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills or in the Ladakh region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. When a tribal starts residing at some other place for any reason, including transfer of employment, he loses the exemption.

A similar exemption is available to all those defined as "Sikkimese" in the IT Act. This again is for any income generated from Sikkim itself and for income from dividend or interest on securities generated anywhere. The objective behind these exemptions is to provide fiscal concessions to backward areas and communities.

MODUS OPERANDI

In times like now, it is this exemption that is apparently being misused to covert black money into white money. The modus operandi is very simple. Contractors and businessmen from outside the Northeast region routinely use accounts of tribals to conduct their business. Contracts are drawn up in the name of a local in exchange for a certain commission and the outsider businessmen is able to launder his money in the name of local businessmen.

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Also read: Manmohan Singh tears into Modi's demonetisation, calls it monumental mismanagement

--- ENDS ---
Pakistan urged the international community to take note of the intentional targeting of civilians and increasing number of civilian casualties, and called upon the international community to play an active role in diffusing the deteriorating security situation along the LoC which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side.

By Anil Kumar: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called a high level meeting to review the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of continued unprovoked firing by the Indian security forces.

The Prime Minister was briefed by Foreign Affairs Minister Sartaj Aziz, DG ISI Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar, SAPM on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and National Security Advisor Lt. General (R) Nasser Khan Janjua on the prevailing situation along LoC particularly the unprovoked ceasefire violations on November 23, 2016 by the Indian Forces in Dhudnial sector by intentionally targeting a civilian bus and subsequently the ambulances that were sent for the rescue of the injured people.

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In the meeting, Pakistan reiterated its condemnation of the bus massacre, and re-affirmed its political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just and legitimate struggle for the exercise of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UNSC resolutions.

Pakistan urged the international community to take note of the intentional targeting of civilians and increasing number of civilian casualties, and called upon the international community to play an active role in diffusing the deteriorating security situation along the LoC which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side.

During the meeting, rich tributes were paid to the jawans of the Armed Forces of Pakistan, who laid down their lives while defending their motherland yesterday.

The belligerent targeting of the ambulance which was rescuing those injured in the attack on the bus, was dubbed as a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law.

It was agreed that India is deliberately trying to divert the attention of the international community from the grave human rights violations, massacres and atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces against the innocent and defenceless Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

It was stated that the world in general and India in particular should know that the Pakistani nation will never abandon their Kashmiri brethren and will continue to support them in their just and UN mandated freedom struggle.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations from the Indian security forces along LoC; however, we cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport," the Prime Minister stated.

"Kashmir issue is an unfinished agenda of the partition; we will never abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their freedom struggle," Sharif added.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Nov 24 (PTI) Nepal, which is rich in biological diversity, should make all efforts to conserve its herbs, President Bidya Devi Bhandari said today as she inaugurated Yoga guru Ramdevs Patanjali factory which will produce organic medicine and other items.

Bhandari said the new venture in southern Nepals Bara district will help create employment opportunities in the country.

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Nepal is rich in biological diversity and it is the need of the hour to conserve herbs that are available within in the country, she said.

Minister for Agriculture Gaurishankar Chaudhary said Nepals highland was home to herbs production and insisted on their proper utilisation. Balkrishna also underlined the need for opening a herb research centre in Nepal.

Indias Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said Patanjali had helped further strengthen the Nepal-India ties existing on different spheres.

The Patanjali Ayurved factory has an ambitious plan to generate employment for 10,000 Nepalese youths in the next ten years when the factory is expected to manufacture herbal products worth Rs 100 billion.

Established with a total of Rs 1.6 billion joint investment from Non Residents Association of Nepal and Patanjali Yogapeeth and brought into operation eight months ago, the factory produces 55 types of essentials, including food and cosmetic items. PTI SBP MRJ AKJ MRJ

--- ENDS ---
Haley, 44, represents what some Republicans have said could be the new face of the Republican Party: a younger, more diverse generation of leaders who could help bolster conservatives as US demographics shift.

By Reuters: By picking fellow Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations, US President-elect Donald Trump's pick rounded out his early Cabinet choices with his first woman and ethnic minority.

But he also opted for a state politician with little experience in the federal government or international diplomacy who has been a sharp critic, backing two of his rivals and criticizing the harsh rhetoric of the presidential campaign.

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In tapping the popular governor of a state that supported him, Trump's choice could signal an attempt to reach out to minorities in the wake of his Nov. 8 victory following a bitterly divisive campaign.

His victory has sparked protests and concerns by those worried that his denunciation of immigrants, Muslims and Hispanics during the campaign could translate into policies eroding civil rights.

Trump said on Wednesday that Haley could bring people together and was "a proven dealmaker" who "will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."

Haley, 44, represents what some Republicans have said could be the new face of the Republican Party: a younger, more diverse generation of leaders who could help bolster conservatives as US demographics shift.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, she drew national attention in 2015 when she led a push to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds in Columbia after a white gunman killed nine people at a historic predominantly African-American church in Charleston.

But Haley, now serving her second four-year term as governor, has little experience in foreign policy and the diplomatic issues likely to come before the United Nations.

In a statement on Wednesday, she praised the state's residents for taking "a chance on a little-known, 38-year old, minority, female governor" when she took office six years ago.

ANOTHER OUTSIDER

Like Trump, Haley came to politics as an outsider.

After years working in her family's gift shop in Bamberg, a small town an hour south of the state capital, she ran for state representative in 2004 and defeated a nearly 30-year incumbent, touting her fiscal conservatism while brushing off racial slurs.

She won her gubernatorial bid in 2010 on a platform of reform, receiving the endorsement of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a former Republican vice presidential nominee and darling of the party's Tea Party wing.

Still, Haley has not hesitated to call out fellow Republicans, including Trump. In January, she offered the party's rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, seizing the spotlight in what was seen as a strong rebuke of Trump.

Haley called for tolerance and civility in her remarks. Although she never mentioned Trump by name, she urged Americans not to "follow the siren call of the angriest voices," adding: "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country."

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But she told the Federalist Society recently that although she was not an early or vocal supporter of Trump, she did vote for him and was "thrilled" that he won.

Born to Sikh parents who emigrated to South Carolina from India, she is no stranger to US racial and ethnic tensions.

While Trump won with the lowest minority vote in decades,, Haley has scolded Republicans for not working harder to broaden their appeal beyond white Americans.

"Our approach often appears cold and unwelcoming to minorities. That's shameful and that has to change," she said in a 2015 National Press Club speech. "Its on us to communicate our positions in ways that wipe away the clutter of prejudices."

Although she worked to heal the racial tensions that exploded after the gun attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015, she has also been critical of the Black Lives Matter movement that gained ground after a series of high-profile shootings of unarmed African-Americans by police.

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"Some people think you have to yell and scream in order to make a difference. Well, that's just not true," she told the National Press Club. "When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying and that can make a world of difference."

TRIPS ABROAD

On Wednesday, Haley said, "When the President believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nations standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed."

Her international experience is largely centred on her efforts to draw foreign businesses to South Carolina, including at least eight overseas trips, local media reported.

One - a June 2011 trip billed as an economic development mission to Europe and the Paris Air Show - cost the state $158,000 and drew criticism back home over its luxury accommodations and a hotel party.

She said afterwards she did not know how much was spent and had learned a lesson, even as she pledged to keep up the sales pitches, the Charleston Post and Courier reported at the time.

"There is a method to the madness," she said, according to the newspaper. "I am selling the state the only way I know how."

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The Post and Courier said her trips included trade show visits and economic development meetings, including stops related to BMW and Volvo , two automakers with facilities in South Carolina. She has visited Germany, Sweden, Britain, Japan, Canada and India, it reported.

As governor, she has also been embroiled in the thorny issue of nuclear waste amid federal facilities in the state aimed at storing and converting such materials.

Earlier this year, she fought to have some nuclear material from Japan headed for South Carolina moved to New Mexico.

"Critics will ask if Nikki Haley has been engaged in int'l affairs. I've had convos w/her on & off over the years. She has a strong worldview," Dan Senor, a former adviser to 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said on Twitter.

--- ENDS ---
Nikki Haley's extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by the US President-elect as ambassador to the United Nations.

By Reuters: Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab. They moved to Amritsar before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s.

Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina - she was called "Nikki" as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.

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READ: Nikki Haley lends Donald Trump's team diversity, but little diplomatic heft



Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, told Reuters family and friends were thrilled by Haley's appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

"It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success," Randhawa told Reuters by telephone.

Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikki's father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

India's foreign ministry said it was happy to hear news of Haley's appointment, describing her as a supporter of closer US-India ties who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June.

"We know Governor Haley very well," said spokesman Vikas Swarup. India's foreign secretary visited the United States earlier this month and interacted with "very senior levels" of the Trump transition team, he also said.



HOMECOMING

Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child, doesn't speak Punjabi and has converted to Christianity. But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called "an emotional and very personal day".

"I always yearned to see Punjab - my motherland - and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years," she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with nips from a water bottle.

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first US ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the United States into a Punjabi family but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favourable views towards India, where he has some real estate interests.

Amritsar (Punjab): Nikki Haley's family celebrates after she was chosen to be US ambassador to UN by President elect Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/sFgdslMUzO ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

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The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.



Trump's stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan.



READ: Donald Trump picks Indian-American Nikki Haley to be US ambassador to UN



Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York and Haley's appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

India, the world's largest democracy, is also lobbying to be made a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council, although it's doubtful this would be a priority for Trump. The foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post.

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"We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success," said Randhawa. "And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days."

Also read:

H-1B visa: Indian techies face uncertain future under Donald Trump

Donald Trump changes his tune on climate change, jailing Hillary Clinton



--- ENDS ---
Marshal Sohail Aman's warning on Thursday comes as tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory after a day of violent exchanges.

Pakistan army tanks take part in a military exercise in Khairpur Tamiwali, Pakistan on November 16, 2016. Photo: AP

By AP: Pakistan's air force chief has warned arch-rival India against escalating the dispute over Kashmir into full-scale war.

Marshal Sohail Aman's warning on Thursday comes as tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory after a day of violent exchanges.

The Pakistani army said Indian fire killed 12 civilians and three soldiers on Wednesday - the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.

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Aman told reporters in the port city of Karachi that "it is better if India shows restrain". If New Delhi escalates the crisis, he says Pakistani troops will "know full well how to deal with them".

Kashmir is split between Indian and Pakistani areas of control and claimed in its entirety by both countries, which have fought two wars over the territory.

--- ENDS ---
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have been adjourned till Friday 11 am following ruckus over Opposition's demand that PM Modi speak on demonetisation in Parliament.

By India Today Web Desk: The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned for the day amidst ruckus over demonetisation by the opposition at around 3.00 pm, shortly after the house met after another adjournment in the post-lunch session.

As the house re-assembled post-lunch at 2.00 pm, the opposition demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's continued presence in the house. Modi had come to the house at 12.00 noon and sat for an hour. However, he did not return after the lunch break.

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Pandemonium over the demonetisation decision continued in the Lok Sabha also, forcing the adjournment of the house for the day. The government efforts to break the logjam failed to cut much ice with opposition lawmakers.

The chair adjourned the lower house of Parliament after the Question Hour was washed out due to opposition uproar and acrimonious scenes over its demand for a debate under the house rule governing an adjournment motion.



Two who made Modi smile amid note ban crossfire: Naresh Agrawal, Mayawati

LATEST FROM RAJYA SABHA:



Opposition creates ruckus again. Rajya Sabha adjourned till Friday 11 am.



You couldn't recover Swiss Bank black money, but create inconvenience for those with white money. You've created more havoc than Hitler: Mamata Banerjee



People in offices perform in terms of policies, they are not to be judged by number of times they appear on camera: Arun Jaitley on RBI governor Urjit Patel



First day it was a debate without any pre-conditions, from next day they started putting unreasonable conditions and it continues: Arun Jaitley

Opposition thinks demonetisation is a blunder. Don't they think Commonwealth and 2G was a blunder? Arun Jaitley

The Opposition's main proposal was that PM Modi must be present during the debate. Then they started looking for more excuses: Arun Jaitley

Government is convinced that our steps against corruption and black money are correct: Arun Jaitley

Those who didn't consider scandals to be a blunder, they are considering demonetisation to be a blunder: Arun Jaitley

Those parties who were once a part of every scandal in the country are now opposing demonetisation: Arun Jaitley

Their government had the most scams and black money generated during its tenure. 2G scam, coal scam everything happened during their government: Arun Jaitley



Rajya Sabha adjourned till 3pm after uproar by Opposition on PM's absence

Opposition creates uproar in Rajya Sabha over PM's absence

What did Opposition say while 2G? That PM will sit and he did so for two days. Now you cannot run away: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Opposition is devising ways to avoid the debate, these actions just prove it: Arun Jaitley on Opposition demanding PM's presence



We were assured that PM will listen to us and answer us: Ghulam Nabi Azad on PM's absence.



Its is sad that 90-95 per cent of people of the country have been affected by demonetisation : Mayawati.



Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2:01 pm.



Only 2 per cent people hold black money, then why other 98 per cent people are suffering due to demonetisaton: Derek O'Brien



You are talking about cashless society, but here 90 per cent of people use debit card to withdraw money: Derek O'Brien

Most of the people don't have bank account: Derek O'Brien

One out of 15, have credit card. Then what kind of cashless economy you are talking about? Derek O'Brien

We have lost Rs 3,75 lakh crore of GDP in the last 15 days: Derek O'Brien

We are not against black money, but here people are suffering. Centre not doing anything about electoral reforms: Derek O'Brien

We call this big black scandal and people are suffering because of that: Derek O'Brien

Our suggetion was why don't you allow the use of old Rs 500 note for longer point of time. Centre is saying that they have to keep the entire decision in secret, but who is stopping to print more Rs 100 notes in the last one year: Derek O'Brien

I challenge the government to use any agency to harass us, put Mamtadi in jail, but we'll not stop raising public concern. We know, what is happening. We are here for solution: Derek O'Brien



Demonetisation hasn't been successful: Naresh Agarwal, Samajwadi Party MP

Why no action against the black money stashed abroad? Naresh Agarwal



Decision was not taken in the national interest, but considering UP elections: Naresh Agrawal

Samajwadi Party is against demonetisation: Naresh Agrawal

People who have voted for you have now turned towards us: Naresh Agarwal



We are not against demonetisation, but against the way they took it. There is not enough currency available: Ghulam Nabi Azad

PM will participate in the debate, Opposition should start debate: Arun Jaitley

We are concerned about the inconvenience caused to people because of demonetisation: Ghulam Nabi Azad



Nobody has anything against Manmohan Singh: Venkaiah Naidu



Congress members have already moved the breach of privileged motion against the PM Narendra Modi: Anand Sharma

Opposition is very clear that PM has to come, if PM is running away from the debate then what is the point of meeting HM: Anand Sharma

Former PM Manmohan Singh made a request to speak, speaker allowed it. He was stopped by FM and ruling party leaders. It is shameful: Anand Sharma

There is financial chaos after the decision taken by PM Modi, Opposition is right in asking PM to explain and clarify: Anand Sharma



Mayawati asks: PM should come in the House and participate in the debate. Why is he running away?

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar and SS Ahluwalia meet Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over papers thrown at her

Congress to protest across Rajasthan against the economic crisis prevailing post demonetisation: Sachin Pilot

Agar PM mein himmat hai to Lok Sabha bhang karaayein, desh mein chunaav karayein, sahi survey tabhi hoga: BSP Chief Mayawati #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/oX7vV0KMXe ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016 The survey is fake and sponsored: BSP Chief Mayawati on 90 per cent back demonetisation move in PM Modi's app survey

Opposition parties decide in their meeting to not hold talks with the Govt till 28th November: Sources

MANMOHAN SPEAKS



After the Congress suggested former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will speak on the government's demonetisation debate, an angry Finance Minister Arun Jaitley objected to the proposal and asked the Opposition to resume the debate.

"The ex-PM Dr Manmohan Singh would like to speak something," Congress Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.



To which Jaitley objected. "If it is on demonetisation issue, let the Opposition resume the debate and let Dr Manmohan Singh speak," he said. "If there is no debate, nobody from the Opposition is going to be allowed to speak," Jaitley added.

Later, the government had to concede to the demand and allowed Singh to speak, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi listened on.



Highlights of Manmohan Singh's speech:

#Demonetisation a monumental mismanagement

#That's why 60-65 people lost lives so far

#What's been done can weaken people's confidence in currency and banking system

#It will have disastrous effect on economy

#In my opinion, this scheme, the way it has been implemented will hurt agriculture, small industries

#PM said wait for 50 days but for the poor section even 50 days can be detrimental

#Important to take note of the grievances of the people suffering

#PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme

#I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it

#PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme

#Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation

#Cooperative banking sector which is serving large number in rural sector is not operational

#I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering

#Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote: "In the long run we are all dead."

#I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering

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OPPOSITION DEFERS MEET WITH GOVT



Meanwhile, a meeting with some Opposition leaders called by Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been deferred after the Congress said it needs more time to discuss the outreach.

Sources said the Opposition parties have decided in a meeting today to not hold talks with the government till November 28.



"We'll first meet the Opposition and then decide whether we'll go to the meeting called by the Home Minister or not. Let the PM or Speaker call the meet," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said.

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Also read | Not in Narendra Modi's blood to go back on decisions: Venkaiah Naidu on note ban rollback

Also read | Demonetisation standoff: Modi attends Lok Sabha but does not speak; why is PM scared, asks Oppn

Also read | Demonetisation: To counter Modi's 10 questions, Opposition prepares 10-point attack

--- ENDS ---
By Vidya : The Bombay High Court while rejecting the bail application of Peter Mukerjea has relied on the statements of his driver Shyamvar Rai. In the 8-page order, Justice NW Sambre said, "Statement of co-accused, Shyamvar recorded under Section 164 and Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code raises finger towards the applicant as regards his involvement. So as to substantiate the same, reference can be drawn from the fact that even though the applicant was at the relevant time out of country, still he was in regular touch with the main accused, Indrani (his wife) everyday on phone and SMS were also exchanged."

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Justice Sambre also delved in the statement of Mukerjea's adopted daughter Vidhi saying she also "speaks of disapproval of relationship between Sheena and Rahul" by him. The statement of other witnesses Pritul Sanghvi, domestic help, Waghmare also pinpoints finger of involvement of the applicant to the crime in question.

Also read: Two groups clash after argument over demonetisation in Mumbai, 2 injured

The Bombay High Court refused to believe that Peter would be so blind in love for his wife that he would not bother about the whereabouts of Sheena. Sambre in his order said, "Even though Peter is a stepfather of the deceased, Indrani and he claims to have supported the relationship of his son, Rahul with Sheena, in such an eventuality, the least that was expected of it is, applicant being the stepfather of Sheena and father of Rahul should know her whereabouts."



ENOUGH EVIDENCE



Further in the order which was put out today, Sambre said, "Infact, it could be gathered from the record that, his own son, Rahul has insisted for personally meeting Sheena and that was an occasion for Mukerjea to find out the whereabouts of Sheena as he claimed to have supported their relationship. It is really unbelievable that, a stepfather has no concern for a daughter for almost three years." The court said that the burden to prove the same is on Mukerjea under the provisions of Section 106 of the Evidence Act.

Also read: Uddhav Thackeray attacks PM Modi over demonetisation, says shedding tears on TV not enough



The court concluded that there is enough material in the investigation prima facie to infer that Mukerjea was also not in support of relationship of Rahul with Sheena, just like Indrani. He being in regular touch with Indrani prior to leaving abroad and even after living in foreign country with Vidhi speaks of the discussion of the applicant with Indrani, including that of the issue of murder unless contrary is proved while recording the evidence.

Justice Sambre also noted that the lower courts have twice rejected the bail application of Mukerjea, first on February 12, 2016 and thereafter on May 23, 2016. Both these orders, in detail discussed about the material available on record for the purpose of dealing with the plea of bail of the applicant and has rejected the same.

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The accident happened in Fengcheng at around 7 am (2300GMT), and rescuers are on the scene Xinhua said, without giving other details.

By Reuters: At least 40 people have died and others are still trapped after a platform under construction at a power plant's cooling tower in eastern China's Jiangxi province collapsed on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua said.

The accident happened in Fengcheng at around 7 am (2300 GMT) and rescuers were on the scene, Xinhua said.

The death toll was likely to rise because an unknown number of people were still trapped, it said. Five injured workers have been sent to hospital.

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Deadly accidents are relatively common at industrial sites in China, and anger over lax standards is growing. Three decades of swift economic growth have been marred by incidents ranging from mining disasters to factory fires.

China has vowed to improve safety at such facilities. President Xi Jinping has said authorities would learn the lessons paid for with blood after chemical blasts in the port city of Tianjin killed more than 170 people last year.

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Actor Prasanna, who will be next seen in Thiruttu Payale 2, took to Twitter and shared his beefed up look for the upcoming film.

By India Today Web Desk: Making his acting debut with the Tamil film Five Stars, Prasanna went on to act in some of the critically acclaimed films like Kanda Naal Mudhal, Azhagiya Theeye and Achchamundu Achchamundu to name a few.

However, the actor got the much-needed breakthrough after playing the antagonist in Mysskin's Anjathey. Now, Prasanna is collaborating once again with Mysskin for Thuparrivaalan, which has Vishal in the lead.

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ALSO READ: Vikram's next with Vijay Chander to feature Sai Pallavi?



ALSO READ: Allu Arjun's next with director Linguswamy to roll from March 2017

Prasanna, who has been roped in to play the lead role in Thiruttu Payale 2, took to Twitter and shared his look from the film.



Speaking about his look, Prasanna was quoted by The Times Of India as saying, "I have been training for the past one year as I wanted to come out of my chocolate boy image. I wanted to show people a different aspect of myself."

Thiruttu Payale 2, which is a sequel to the 2006 film of the same name, also stars Bobby Simha and Amala Paul in the lead roles.

Meanwhile, Prasanna will also be seen in Dhanush's directorial debut film Power Paandi, which has Rajkiran and Chaya Singh in pivotal roles.

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The book is titled "Rajiv Gandhi assasin, hidden truths, Priyanka meeting Nalini." In it she explains about the torture she went through inside the prison and her surprise meeting with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

By Pramod Madhav: Nalini Sriharan who has remained in prison for more than 24 years acclaiming the title as the longest serving women prisoner in India, has finally given a nod to release a book about her prison life. In it she explains about the torture she went through inside the prison and her surprise meeting with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The book titled, ''Rajiv Gandhi assasin, hidden truths, Priyanka meeting Nalini'' was written by Egalaivan with Nalini's permission.



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NALINI MEETS PRIYANKA

In an excerpt, Nalini explains in detail her meeting with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Nalini was baffled earlier on how a 17 year old girl who was waiting for her father to return home after his campaign, who had to watch his death repeatedly on television will ever believe that Nalini was innocent.

"She was looking straight at me for nearly two minutes. The silence surrounding the place was itself haunting. When I raised my eyes to look at her, her cheeks had turned red. With her lips flittering, she asked me 'why did you do it? My father is a good man,a soft man, you could have resolved anything over a discussion with him', she said as she broke down crying. I did not expect to see her cry. I know how painful a tear is", she narrated.

Nalini replied to Priyanka Gandhi,"Madam, I don't know anything. I won't even hurt an ant. I'm a prisoner of circumstances. I've never thought of hurting anyone even in my dreams." Nalini said that more than her pain she was unable to bare watching Priyanka cry.

CONFESSION UNDER DURESS

Priyanka had later asked if Nalini gave a confession on her own for which Nalini had replied," I was tortured continuously. I was mentally and physically tired. They had given me glucose. I couldn't fight anymore when that officer kept his hand on my dress. I surrendered and gave the confession they wanted and signed it."

Priyanka had asked if Nalini knew about the suicide bombers for which Nalini maintained innocence and said that she did not know anything about them.

Nalini impressed by the way Priyanka Gandhi Vadra treated her believes that she is definitely capable of leading any massive political movement.

Also Read: Rajiv Gandhi assassin writes to NCW, seeks release from prison

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After facing heavy backlash on social media, Danish fashion brand Jack and Jones apologised for the sexist ad featuring Ranveer Singh. The brand has also immediately pulled off around 30 hoardings from all across India.

By India Today Web Desk: A popular young actor posing slinging a woman on his shoulder, suggesting women are nothing more than mere objects, and an apparent punch line by the side that says "Don't hold back. Take your work home."

That was Danish fashion brand's idea of men not holding back. The brand got their brand ambassador Ranveer Singh to pose with a woman slung on his shoulder (who by the way, seems exhilarated that a man is treating her as "work"), put the above punch line by the side and put out as many as 30 huge hoardings in different parts of India as part of their latest campaign "Don't hold back".

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Social media users, enraged by the blatant sexism in the ad, called out the brand for approving the idea and the actor for agreeing to be a part of this.



#DontHoldBack, just RT if you think this @JackJonesIndia ad by @marching_ants should be brought down for its #sexist undertones. pic.twitter.com/DgTaLuh3eO Payal Shah Karwa (@payalshahkarwa) November 20, 2016



The brand, however, needed someone, if not more, as famous and popular as Ranveer Singh to tell them that their ad reeks of sexism and that they have let down and offended many people who fight against ill-treating women. Actor Siddharth, a superstar in south India and quite popular among the north Indian audience for his lead role in Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra's Rang De Basanthi, was the person who lashed out at the brand.

In his tweet, Siddharth said, "A new low for women's rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? [sic]" and used #FAIL.

Soon, the brand realised how the idea backfired and apologised personally to him initially, and then tweeted out an apology to all.



@Actor_Siddharth We didn't intend to offend anyone with one of our billboards. #NOTHOLDINGBACK and withdrawing it immediately. JACK & JONES INDIA (@JackJonesIndia) November 22, 2016

Regret that one of our billboards has caused distress, we did not intend to offend anyone. #NOTHOLDINGBACK and withdrawing it immediately. JACK & JONES INDIA (@JackJonesIndia) November 21, 2016

In an email statement to Live Mint, Vineet Gautam, country head, Bestseller India that sells Jack and Jones, said, "As a progressive brand that is loved by youth the world over, we take our responsibility of always being respectful, as seriously as we do our bold attitude. We regret that a billboard of our current campaign has caused people distress. We did not intend to offend anyone, and have discontinued it immediately."

Many Twitter users appreciated the brand for owning up to the mistake and deciding to pull off the hoardings.

Ranveer Singh, the brand ambassador for Jack and Jones, has not responded to the controversy yet. Is it fair to expect the man, known for being outspoken and outright crazy, to apologise for the mistake?



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Ratan Tata asked the government to consider special relief measures for the poor so as to lessen their hardships of currency crunch following demonetisation of high value notes.

By PTI: Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata today asked the government to consider special relief measures, similar to those employed at the time of national calamities, for the poor so as to lessen their hardships of currency crunch following demonetisation of high value notes.

"While the government is doing its best to increase the availability of new currency note, it may be worthwhile to consider special relief measures similar to those employed at times of national calamities to serve the poorer segment of the population for their daily needs and for enabling emergency healthcare/medical treatment in smaller hospitals," Tata said in a tweet.

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READ| Demonetisation: Rs 1000 notes can't be used now, Rs 500 will live on till Dec 15



Such emergency measures will be greatly appreciated by the distressed segment of the population as it would exhibit that the government cares and has not forgotten the needs of the common man at this moment of transition during the implementation of such an important demonetisation programme, he added.

Tata noted that the note ban implementation is said to be causing great hardship to the common man, particularly relating to medical emergencies, major surgical interventions and the procurement of medication at many hospitals in smaller towns across the country.

Hardship is also being experienced by the poorer people due to shortage of cash to meet the daily household needs for food, he added.

Earlier this week, Tata had hailed the government's move to demonetise high-value currency notes as a bold act saying the move will eliminate black money and corruption.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a surprise move on November 8, had announced that legal tender character of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 stands withdrawn from the following day.

READ| Besides economy, PM Modi's demonetisation disrupts status quo of polity, society



The move was aimed at curbing black money, check circulation of fake currency and terror funding.

Following the announcements, long queues have been seen outside banks for exchanging and depositing the old currency.

Also Read:

Two groups clash after argument over demonetisation in Mumbai, 2 injured

Starting today, BJP MPs to get demonetisation tutorials by senior Modi ministers

Opposition united against demonetisation, but not on the same page on future strategy



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Jaitley came to Patel's defence today with an explanation: people who perform do not appear on cameras.

By India Today Web Desk: As the country grapples with the mayhem following the demonetisation drive, many have wondered why Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has not spoken a word in more than two weeks.



Today, his boss, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, came to his defence with an explanation: people who perform do not appear on cameras.

"People in offices perform in terms of policies. They are not to be judged by the number of times they appear on camera," Jaitley said when reporters asked him why Patel has not made any statement yet.

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Earlier this week, a senior Union leader of the powerful All India Bank Employees Association had alleged the complete failure of the RBI during the demonetisation drive and called for Patel's resignation.

"Since two weeks, the bank employees are working from eight in the morning till midnight including weekends. Still, there are truckloads of work to do. There has been absolutely no cooperation from the RBI's side," Vishwas Utagi had said.



With Patel missing, it was left to Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das to appear on TV almost every day and announce fresh measures in the wake of the banning of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

Even State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya has firefighted the government's controversial move, which has blocked all work in Parliament for a week now.

Patel had succeeded Raghuram Rajan as RBI chief in September this year.

Also Read: Rupani dials Jaitley, RBI chief on co-op banks note swap ban

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Hyderabad, Nov 23 (PTI) Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and three Telangana ministers were today granted relief by a railway court at Secunderabad in connection with a case registered against them by RPF over rail roko protests held during 2011 for formation of Telangana state.

Along with Dattatreya, Telangana ministers Nayani Narasimha Reddy, K T Rama Rao and T Padma Rao, Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) leader M Kodandaram and senior BJP leader G Kishan Reddy were among eight persons who appeared before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court for Railways.

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During examination under section 251 CrPC, they pleaded guilty for offence under section 147 (Trespass and refusal to desist from trespass) of the Railways Act.

They requested the court to take lenient view with regard to the sentence and accordingly the court allowed their plea and released them under section 3 (power of court to release certain offenders after admonition) of the Probation of Offenders Act (PO) Act, Public Prosecutor Secunderabad Railways Division told PTI.

"Since it is their first offence, the court warned them and released them."

During 2011, as part of Sakala Janula Samme (general strike) organised in support of separate statehood demand for Telangana, the BJP and TRS leaders along with members of pro-Telangana organisations trespassed into railway track and organised Vanta Varpu (mass cooking).

However, in view of the rail-roko call, the railway administration had already cancelled the trains and since the trains were suspended, there was no rail-roko held.

While pleading guilty, they also submitted before the court that they participated in the agitation in larger interests of Telangana people. PTI VVK DK ZMN BAS

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A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre asked whether Yadav was already "released" following the bail granted by Patna High Court earlier.

By Indo-Asian News Service: The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail of Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Rajballav Yadav accused of raping a minor girl.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre asked whether Yadav was already "released" following the bail granted by Patna High Court earlier.

When the apex court was informed that he was not released, the bench said: "Let him remain in jail."

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The court order came as it allowed the Bihar government's plea challenging the bail.

Also Read: Supreme Court cancels rape accused RJD MLA's bail, victim's family demand capital punishment

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Nagaland, like other northeastern states, is a tax haven since there are tax exemptions for the local tribal communities, and security at the smaller airports is non-existent.

By Shivendra Srivastava: A few days ago, a private chartered flight took off from an abandoned runway strip in Hisar and landed at Dimapur in Nagaland. On the flight was a man named Amarjeet Singh, who was carrying with him Rs 3.5 crore in the devalued Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. Though Amarjeet managed to fly out of Hisar on the chartered flight with the cash, he was arrested by the CISF soon after he landed in Dimapur on the basis of information that he was carrying with him 'suspect money'. Amarjeet was later handed over to the Income Tax department with the cash. The runway strip at Hisar is maintained by Haryana flying club governing body and its members, and no security checks are conducted there since it is not a commercial airport.

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Later, the cash, amounting to Rs 3.5 crore, disappeared and neither the CISF nor the IT department had any clue as to where it went. During the course of subsequent investigation, it came to light that a local businessman named Anato Zhimomi had come to claim the cash with a certificate of Income Tax free entity. The money was released to him and the cash and Amarjeet were let go.

The money, it is believed, belongs to a businessman from Bihar and was meant to be converted from black to white. And Anato Zhimomi was to help facilitate this conversion. Zhimomi is said to be an influential person considering that his father was a Rajya Sabha MP and his father-in-law, Neiphiu Rio, a Lok Sabha MP and three-time chief minister of Nagaland.

Nagaland, like other northeastern states, is a tax haven since there are tax exemptions for the local tribals, and security at the smaller airports is non-existent.

NAGALAND, LIKE OTHER NORTHEASTERN STATES EXCEPT ASSAM: A TAX HAVEN

As per the Constitution, Nagas, and all other residents of the sixth schedule areas of the Northeast, are exempt from paying income tax.

The sixth schedule is a special provision which gives tribal communities considerable autonomy in the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and tribal councils of Assam and Tripura. The Imphal valley is not part of this.

Also, there is no limit to the amount of money they can keep in their bank accounts, which makes the region a tax haven as unaccounted for cash can be parked in the bank accounts of the tribals.

DIFFERENT VERSIONS

Another version of the Amarjeet-Anato deal is that Anato had given Amarjeet the money to purchase land in Haryana. However, after the PM's demonetisation announcement, the money became useless and Amarjeet flew the devalued currency notes back to Dimapur where Anato staked his claim on them.

IT RAIDS ON ANATO

Late on Wednesday evening, the IT department raided Anato's residence and other premises and recovered the money. During the raids, Anato also revealed that he had been converting money ever since the demonetisation order came into effect.

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ALSO READ:

59 airports on high alert to check cash smuggling during demonetisation



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By India Today Web Desk: Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor were last seen together on the silver screen in the 2006 film Saawariya. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film marked the Bollywood debuts of both these Kapoors, and the two never once were together on the big screen in the decade that has passed by in between.

ALSO READ: Anushka to play journo to Ranbir's Sanjay in biopic by Rajkumar Hirani

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ALSO READ: Sanjay's biopic finally has a release date

2017 will see that change. Ranbir and Sonam are pairing up again for a film, Rajkumar Hirani-directed biopic of Sanjay Dutt. If reports are to be believed, Sonam will be playing one of the actresses Sanjay Dutt has dated.

Anushka Sharma is to be seen with Ranbir again after their 2015 film Bombay Velvet. Anushka's role is that of a journalist in the film, and is probably based on Rhea Pillai, Sanjay Dutt's first wife. Pillai, a former model, is known for her work in the television and advertisement industries.

And if self-proclaimed critic-actor-filmmaker Kamaal R Khan's words are anything to go by, Sonam is playing Madhuri Dixit, and Anushka is playing Rhea Pillai in the biopic.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, however, a source close to the film said, "Her (Sonam's) character is not reflective of any particular woman but is a fictional amalgamation of the many women Dutt dated through the 1980s and 90s."

Rajkumar Hirani confirmed the news to the tabloid.

There were reports earlier that Madhuri Dixit had requested the makers of the biopic to not include her in the film, and Sonam's character - 'not reflective of any particular woman' - might be to accommodate that request from Dixit.

Ranbir is stepping into the shoes of Dutt, who is known for his hit films through the '80s and '90s. Ranbir is said to be undergoing a complete transformation in order to play Sanjay Dutt.

The film, based on the rise and fall, the imprisonment and controversies in the life of Sanjay Dutt, is reportedly slated for a Christmas 2017 release.

ALSO WATCH: Ranbir Kapoor to play Sanjay Dutt in biopic by Rajkumar Hirani





--- ENDS ---
Sexual Potency examination is meant to establish that the accused is physically capable of committing the alleged sexual acts.

By Priyanka Sharma: India should amend the rules on testing the sexual potency of rape accused, a group of the country's top forensic experts has urged in an international journal, underscoring a crucial legal contention in a nation where violence against women is common.

The examination is meant to establish that the accused is physically capable of committing the alleged sexual acts. Well-known people who underwent it include spiritual leaders Asaram Bapu and Swami Nithyananda, journalist Tarun Tejpal and actor Shiney Ahuja. However, experts say Indian laws are ambiguous on what exactly constitutes "potency" and how to determine it.



CHANGED DEFINITION OF RAPE

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Every rape accused in the country has to undergo the test, but the article suggests that to rule out impotence, experts only say "sexual dysfunction" as potency depends upon various anatomical, physiological, pathological and psychological factors.

As per the changed definition of rape after Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, potency test stands irrelevant in rape cases, therefore, medical experts are of the opinion that the test should be scrapped as in the rest of the world, a potency test does not even exist in medical literature.

In Indian medical text books, it is described as ability in males to perform sexual intercourse.

Also Read: Tehelka rape: 50-yr-old Tarun Tejpal taken for sexual potency test

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/tehelka-tarun-tejpal-rape-sexual-potency-test-after-arrest-goa/1/327392.html

Forensic experts (Prof) Dr Sudhir Gupta, (Add Prof) Dr Abhishek Yadav from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Dr Shashank Pooniya from Lady Hardinge Medical College and Dr Md Shadab Raheel from FH Medical College in Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh) have said in the article that unlike sterility, potency is not permanent and it depends on various factors. Besides organic causes, diseases and psychological causes are also responsible for impotence. The article has been published in the International Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences.

One of the authors, Prof (Dr) Sudhir Gupta, head of the forensic department at AIIMS, told Mail Today, "Whenever an accused is apprehended on charges of sexual assaults, he should be subjected to necessary medicolegal examination for collection of trace evidences without any reference to potency testing." He added that if the accused is apprehended for committing rape under clause a, b, c and d of section 375 IPC, the person should be exempted from undergoing potency test. Another author, (Add Prof) Dr Abhishek Yadav, said, "When a person has been apprehended for committing rape under clause a, of section 375 IPC and he does not claim impotency, then there should be no reason to believe that the man is impotent and should be exempted from undergoing potency test. If the accused claims to be impotent, only then should he be subjected to potency test by a court order when the magistrate has assessed the necessity of the potency test."

Also Read: What is a potency test?

WHAT THE EXPERTS HAVE TO SAY

Experts have argued that in a developing country like India where the health sector is already struggling due to the lack of funds and manpower, there is no need for spending huge resources on such an issue which ultimately does not have any substantial impact over the fate of a case in a court of law.

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In civil courts, questions of potency arise in cases like adoption, disputed paternity, nullity of marriage and divorce.

Recently, a fast-track Court in Delhi raised objections to the manner in which potency examination of an accused is done and "double negative" opinion is given after the test. The court also asked the Union Health Ministry to frame guidelines for potency tests of accused, if necessary.

"The current opinion of potency tests is double-negative and generally written as, 'There is nothing to suggest that the person examined is incapable of performing sexual intercourse under normal circumstances'," Dr Yadav said.

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The BJP leader's comment is in stark contrast to the party's praise for the government's bold decision to fight the black money menace.

By India Today Web Desk: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the results of a survey on demonetisation, which showed 90 per cent people supporting the move, BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha slammed it.

"Let us stop living in a fool's paradise and getting carried away by planted stories and surveys conducted by vested interests," Sinha tweeted.

Sinha's comment is in stark contrast to the BJP chief Amit Shah's praise for the government's bold decision to fight the black money menace.

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Taking a dig at the decision which the Modi government has called pro-poor, Sinha said, "Must understand the pain of the poor, suffering, voters, supporters and women".

...well Intentioned savings over many years of our mothers & sisters for emergency can't be equated with black money.

Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 23, 2016

LSO READ: PM Modi shares demonetisation survey results, says 90 per cent respondents back drive

CRITICAL OF GOVERNMENT



The BJP leader has been critical of the government in the past. He had slammed the Central government over its handling of the situation following the suicide of Ram Kishan Grewal over the issue of One Rank, One Pension.

"I wish the Delhi situation after the death of an army veteran was handled in a more mature, proper, practical and fair manner," Sinha had tweeted.

ALSO READ: Shatrughan Sinha slams Centre over OROP suicide, says opposition leaders not our enemies



Sinha had ruffled a few feathers when he said that BJP veteran LK Advani can be a better Prime Minister.

"The state India is currently in, with problems on the border and problems outside, we can use someone with the intellect of Advani. He can guide India with his experience and knowledge," Sinha had said. "Advani is still fit to be PM, he should be better used by the BJP," he had said.

ALSO READ: Advani can be a better PM: Shatrughan 'Shotgun' Sinha

ALSO WATCH



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By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Nov 24 (PTI) US President-elect Donald Trump has received just two classified intelligence briefings, far less than that of his predecessors, since his surprise election victory more than two weeks ago, a media report has said.

"Trump has a lot of catching up to do," a senior US official told The Washington Post.

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The Post reported that Trump so far has received two classified intelligence briefing, which is far less than those by previous president-elect.

However, the vice president elect Mike Pence has been receiving it almost every day, it added.

Trump supporters dismissed the issue.

"National security is Donald Trumps No.1 priority and I think hes taking it very seriously. Look how many leaders hes met with, how many phone calls hes done, positions hes filled. People who are being critical need to get a life," said Congressman David Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The Trump Campaign, did not respond to questions but advised against assigning any significance to it.

Intelligence officials said they have been ready to brief the president-elect every day.

Trump, however has been spending his time in Cabinet formation and selecting key members of his administration.

"His pace is not as frequent as most recent presidents-elect, but it is not unprecedented over the decades-long scope of these briefings," David Priess, a former CIA officer and PDB briefer during the George W Bush administration told the Post.

"The last three presidents-elect used the intelligence briefings offered during the transition to literally study the national security issues that they would be facing and the world leaders with whom they would be interacting as president," said Michael Morell, former deputy CIA director, who supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the campaign.

"The president-elect is missing out on a golden opportunity to learn about the national security threats and challenges facing our nation knowledge that would be extremely valuable to have when he takes the oath of office and when he steps into the Situation Room for the first time," Morrell told the daily. PTI LKJ AMS

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Malayalam beauty Sai Pallavi is in consideration for Chiyaan Vikram's next project with director Vijay Chander, say reports.

By India Today Web Desk: After a series of flops, Chiyaan Vikram made a decent comeback with sci-fi thriller Iru Mugan, which reportedly grossed Rs 100 crore worldwide.

Vikram is joining hands with director Vijay Chander of Vaalu fame. While the project will take off next year, reports suggest that the makers have roped Sai Pallavi of Premam fame.

ALSO READ: After Ennai Nokki Paayum Thotta, Gautham to work with Nivin Pauly?



ALSO READ: Vivek Oberoi on Ajith Kumar's Thala 57- Excited to work with the one and only superstar

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Speaking about her role, director Vijay Chander was quoted by The New Indian Express as saying, "She knows the script, and talks are on. Everyone likes the character that she did in Premam. So, we wanted to bring her to Tamil cinema. I guess it's a 'yes', but it has to come from her."

After the stupendous success of Premam, Sai Pallavi earned a strong fanbase in Tamil Nadu. Notably, the actor was also considered to play the lead role in Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai.



Meanwhile, grapevine is rife that Vikram and Gautham Menon are coming together for a project, which is expected to roll from next year.

Also, Vikram and Hari are once again collaborating for Saamy 2, a sequel to the blockbuster Tamil film of the same. He will also star in the Tamil remake of the Hollywood film Don't Breathe.



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Whether or not Giuliani did this is not really the issue. Its more that Benjamin decided to side with an oppressive, theocratic regime in order to score political points against the Republican politician.

The Organisation of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC) wrote a statement criticising Benjamins comments.

It read: What we, members of Iranian-American Communities, are astounded by is the depth of depravity that he and his ilk will sink to in defending their illgotten infamy for impeding the Iranian peoples struggles for genuine democracy by effectively aiding and abetting the sectarian Islamic theocratic despots in Iran.

Whilst Benjamin was in the State Department, his bureau was criticised by then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton for their hostility towards the MEK and refusal to assess that the Iranian Regime was the true centre for terrorism.

In fact, when Benjamin dared to say that the MEK were creepily dedicated to the freedom of their people, he woefully misjudged the Resistance and the Regime they oppose.

The Iranian Regime took advantage of one revolution designed to depose a harsh regime, to implement their own, they have the highest execution rate per capita in the world and they consistently meddle in the affairs of other sovereign nations including US allies.

The Resistance merely want to bring democracy and human rights to their country.

The OIAC finished their statement by telling Benjamin that by his unwarranted criticism of the MEK, he is opposing the will of the Iranian people, supporting a despotic regime and standing on the wrong side of history.
Skepticism about the deal is strong, both among Democrats and the Republican Party, who rejected that agreement almost unanimously. Now, Irans anti-American rhetoric has intensified, and reports have accumulated that the Islamic Republic may refuse to comply with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The initial expectations surrounding the deal were that the agreement would initiate an era of cooperation between Iran and the West, as well as that the diplomatic and cultural contact would promote moderation within the Iranian regime.

Sheehan writes, Nearly a year and a half after these assurances, no such trend is apparent in Irans foreign or domestic policy. In fact, the sanctions relief afforded the Islamic Republic as a result of the agreement has only provided it with more resources to expand its destructive regional influence. Tehran helped to bring the Assad regime back from the brink of overthrow early in the Syrian Civil War. The same is true in Iraq, where the Iranian theocracys influence has deepened sectarian divisions throughout the country. He adds, In reality, Irans leaders responded to the implementation of the JCPOA by intensifying their anti-Western rhetoric and their provocative gestures towards US forces and interests. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to shoot down American aircraft; it has sent patrol boats speeding toward American warships in the Persian Gulf; and it has conducted several test-launches of ballistic missiles, in defiance of international resolutions against Irans work on weapons that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Provocations have also intensified. Last October, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles at the US Navy and launched strikes into the territory of Saudi Arabia, a close US ally.

In the wake of the nuclear negotiations, Arab allies have also become increasingly anxious about the apparent withdrawal of American leadership from the region. And naturally, so has Israel  which is now threatened by a permanent Hezbollah presence in Syria, courtesy of Tehran, writes Sheehan.

Thus, Mr. Trumps promises to renegotiate the Iran nuclear agreement are well recieved, but are insufficient. It is important that the incoming president formulate an Iran policy that not only constrains the Islamic Republics nuclear policy but also strongly discourages its regional influence, militarism, and illicit behaviors more broadly, says Sheehan.

The behaviors in question are not limited to foreign policy and the US governments response shouldnt be either. President Obama was criticized by human rights advocates because his administration became overly preoccupied with the nuclear deal, and neglected the issue of Irans human rights abuses at home.

The predictions of the JCPOA resulting in Iranian moderation have not materialized. Each and every presidential administration since the 1979 revolution reached out to Iranian leadership and the results have been the same. Offers of reconciliation were received as signs of weakness, and appeasement met with belligerence.

With this incoming US president there is an opportunity to reset Iran policy, which should start from the principle that the Iranian regime is in need of replacement. Unrest in the country indicates cracks in the regimes grip on its citizenry. There is an opportunity to pursue a change from within by reaching out to the Iranian people and their organized resistance.

The main Iranian opposition, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) believes in a democratic, tolerant, and anti-fundamentalist Islam. It has extensive support within Iranian society, and for more than fifty years it has worked to establish democracy, human rights and gender equality in Iran. MEK is the pivotal force of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of Irans democratic forces, including national and religious minorities seeking a democratic, pluralistic and secular government in their homeland. It is led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.

The MEK have been targets of the regimes suppression because they represent the best hope of a break with the existing state of affairs. An estimated 120,000 MEK activists have been executed to date. their network of support made it possible for the MEK to disclose the regimes secret nuclear plans, as well as to reveal other details related to terrorist plots and networks within the regime.

In 2015 a policy initiative designed to correct Iranian policy led some forty bi-partisan senior former US officials, who served in four administrations, to embrace Mrs. Rajavis 10-point plan. The plan calls for political legitimacy through universal suffrage, rights for all citizens, in particular women and minorities, the establishment of the rule of law, separation between church and state, protection of property rights, equal opportunity and environmental protections, and a non-nuclear Iran, free of weapons of mass destruction.

Reversing his predecessors positions on the nuclear agreement might be a good move for the Trump administration, but it must be careful to not repeat the mistake of focusing too narrowly on that issue. Attention should also focus on Irans human rights record and on the struggle of the Iranian people for a democratic system of governance.
Toameh asserts that, emboldened by a lack of repercussions, the Iranian Regimes goal in the middle east now is to eliminate the Zionist entity, and their influence is spreading to the terrorist group Hamas in Palestine.

Iran had previously denied financial and military aid to Hamas because they refused to support the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, a key Iranian ally. Relations appear to have thawed however, which is terrible news for the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

Earlier this week, Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said: Relations between Iran and Hamas are currently undergoing revitalization, and are moving in the right direction.

The right direction means that Iran will ally with Hamas against US ally Israel.

He continued: Relations between Iran and Hamas extend over a period of 25 years. Undoubtedly, any flaw in this relationship has a negative impact. But this relationship is capable of renewing itself. This is a relationship that is based on supporting the resistance and the Palestinian cause.

Toameh wrote: In reality, Hamas and Iran have no meaningful ideological or strategic differences. Both share a common desire to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic empire. The two entities are also committed to an armed struggle against Israel and are vehemently opposed to any compromise with it When it comes to the real agenda, such as destroying Israel and launching terror attacks, Iran and Hamas continue to be in total alignment.

He states that Iran is only interested in undermining moderate Islamic and Arab tendencies, so he advises Donald Trump to take the Iranian threat seriously, lest it impact on another US ally.

Otherwise, the biggest losers will be Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.

The PA have disavowed Irans meddling and support for terrorism, but Israel may prove their best ally in stopping the Iranian threat.

Toameh wrote: Abbas has no choice but to work with Israel if he wishes to prevent Iran and its supporters from overthrowing his regime, and perhaps dragging him to the centre of Ramallah and hanging him as a traitor.

Palestinian Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said: Iran has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Palestinians. Iran must respect the particularity of our country. We hope that Iran will focus on placing Palestine back on the map and not intervene through this or that group.
Mohsen Shemirani, an Iranian scholar, and political analyst in Tehran, assessed that the reason for the significant jump is that the larger number encompasses all the deaths from the Iranian forces, including Afghans and Pakistanis fighting for them and terrorist groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah, as opposed to Iranian- citizens only.

Iran recruited Afghan and Pakistani refugees, mainly ethnic Shiite Hazaras, in exchange for citizenship for them and their families; they also sent their own terrorist force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to fight alongside Hezbollah fighters for the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

Ali Alfoneh, a Washington-based international affairs expert and IRGC analyst, said: Tehran allows authorities to grant citizenship to the families of Afghans and Pakistan nationals who are fighting in Syria against Sunni militants including the Islamic State.

Alfoneh noted that even including noncitizen deaths, the number of 1,000 seemed excessive.

He said: Irans losses peaked in February 2016, as 61 Iranian nationals were killed in the suburbs of Aleppo. By comparison, in the course of the past six months, Iran suffered minor losses  18 in June, five in July, five in August, nine in September, six in October and six in November.

Daryoush Bourbour, a retired Iranian special forces commander who lives in the United States, said: The use of voluntary forces in war has always contributed to more casualties.

Iran often claims that it is only in Syria to protect religious shrines, but the bodies of their fighters are often found a long way from the shrines and close to the actual war zone.

Originally silent about their involvement, Iran has been very public about their war dead through 2016. They want to rally the public behind the cause, but the majority of Iranians still despise the war.
In a previous post last year we mentioned the main theme for the Dutch Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice (until 27th November 2016), but we haven't reviewed this space yet. Since the architecture Biennale closes this week, let's have a look at it today.

Commissioned by Het Nieuwe Instituut and curated by Malkit Shoshan, the space is entitled "Blue: Architecture of Peacekeeping Missions". The pavilion is wrapped in a blue tent and infused in a blue light, symbolic colours hinting at the fact that some UN peacekeeping missions are located in the desert region of the Touareg, known as "blue men" because of their indigo clothing, and they are carried out by the UN Blue Helmets.

Architect and founder of the architecture think tank FAST, Shoshan studied the progressive way that The Netherlands contributes to United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Sahel, in cities devastated by poverty, disease, sickness, hunger, conflicts, climate change.

UN military bases are usually conceived as self-sustaining islands characterised by extreme design: they are shut off from their surroundings by barbed wire and trenches; they integrate wells, power and waste treatment plants and hospitals, but do not contribute to improving the lives of the inhabitants of these regions.

UN peacekeeping missions started in 1948 and the first period of the missions closed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The second generation of missions started at the end of the Cold War and lasted until 9/11. This second phase registered a change in trends with peacekeepers moving from the borders of the cities and operating on a military, political, social and humanitarian level (think about the missions in Kosovo). The third phase goes from 9/11 to the "War on Terror" and mainly revolves around large militarized missions operating in inhabited areas.

Shoshan proposes in the pavilion new solutions to make sure that the bases can be turned into proper spaces for the local communities and into catalysts for local developments. The architect suggests therefore to add a fourth "D" - standing for Design - to the UN "Guidelines for the Integrated Approach" that reunite Defense, Diplomacy, and Development.

Shoshan introduces in the pavilion a four-step process to integrate the UN bases into the local society: the program starts with the "Exchange" phase (first interaction with the community at the beginning of a mission), continues with the "Interface" (second period after the base is constructed offering the civilian population medical treatment and access to water food and electricity) and the "Shared Space" (the peacekeepers and the local community deliver projects together, in a secure environment) and culminates in the "Post-Mission" phase (the state of the city once the mission is gone and the structures are maintained by the local population).

The pavilion features models of this four-step process; examples of African nomadic architectures juxtaposed to the military-type tents adopted by explorers and missionaries in the 19th century; a reconstruction of a playground by Dutch Aldo van Eyck, who travelled to Africa and was fascinated by Mali, a place that prompted him to write architectural poems, and a case study of Camp Castor in Gao, occupying a third of the size of the city and placed in a central area for the future growth of the city.

In a previous post about the announcement of the theme for this pavilion we noted how Mali and peacekeeping missions may not have anything to do with fashion, but there is a solitary high heeled shoe on display inside the pavilion, linked with a story of a woman as recounted by journalist Peter Chilson.

In May 2012 Chilson was in Bandiagara, Mali, shortly after the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) - an organization fighting to make northern Mali (an area known as Azawad) an independent homeland for the Tuareg people - had taken control of the region and were initially backed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine. At the time, smaller Islamist groups began imposing strict Sharia law and Chilson witnessed many people burning objects they owned (books, DVDs, CDs, photographs...) that may have got them in trouble with Islamist policemen.

One woman in a traditional African dress and a headscarf ran out of a villa that housed the aid office with a shopping bag containing a few pairs of high heeled shoes, and threw the bag in the fire. In the pavilion, the solitary high heeled shoe should not be interpreted from a literal fashion perspective, but in a metaphorical way as a symbol of desire, freedom, and a glimpse of normality and vanity in a place of conflict.

Interested in the theme of conflicts and architecture? On November 26th at the Giardini (ASAC Library at Central Pavilion, 11.00 am) there will be a talk entitled "Conflicts", featuring Milinda Pathiraja (Robust Architecture Workshop), Jaeuun-Choi (Studio Jaeeun-Choi and Shigeru Ban Architects), Manuel Herz and Robert Jan van Pelt (School of Architecture, University of Waterloo), Alejandro Aravena, director of this year's biennale, and the President of the Biennale, Paolo Baratta.
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[November 23, 2016] International Experts for High-tech Textiles to meet in Dresden, Germany

DRESDEN, Germany, November 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference 2016 to be held November 24 & 25 at the International Congress Center Dresden.

& 25 at the International Congress Center Dresden. Dresden Carbon Researcher nominated for Federal President's German Future Prize 2016 - winner to be announced November 30 .

. High-tech Cluster HP-Fiber-Structures and Research Center Carbon Fibers Saxony (RCCF) - Unique High-Performance fibers for mass applications. Unique high-tech textiles set trends for innovation in numerous application areas, and on November 24 and 25, about 650 materials experts from 27 countries will attend the Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference 2016 at the International Congress Center Dresden. These experts will be exchanging ther newest research findings and applications. Key topics will be fiber composites, polymer materials, and the functionalization of textile structures for fiber composites, protective textiles, and the sector's current mega trends. The event will also focus on sustainability and recyclability. This year's partner countries are Austria and Switzerland; and the host city for this important European textile conference is Dresden, which is Germany's center for lightweight engineering and one of the leading German locations for new materials.



"Concerning technical textiles, Germany holds the top position in Europe and world-wide with 13 billion Euro in annual sales," Chokri Cherif, Director of the Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology (ITM) at TU Dresden says. "We need to make use of this competitive advantage. The Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference, which we host with the German Centers for Technical Textiles Dresden, Aachen and Denkendorf, intensifies the exchange of technological expertise, experience, and unique ideas among companies, research institutes and universities." Read full press release: http://datas.weichertmehner.com/addtc2016.pdf

Contact: WeichertMehner (Agency), Mathias Rentsch, +49(0)-351-50140200, [email protected]

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[November 23, 2016] Enterprise File Sharing and Synchronization - Market Trends and Forecast from Technavio

Technavio's latest report on the global enterprise file sharing and synchronization (EFSS) market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005161/en/ Technavio publishes a new market research report on the global enterprise file sharing and synchronization market from 2016-2020. Ishmeet Kaur, lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on enterprise application sector, says, "Factors like the increasing employee and customer requirements for remote information access, rising adoption of cloud-based workspace services, and greater acceptance of BYOD policy among organizations are contributing significantly to the growth of the EFSS market." The global EFSS market will grow at a CAGR of 20.15% during the forecast period. The continuous growth in the use of smartphones and tablets, BYOD adoption, growing need for team collaboration, and increasing virtualization are the major factors affecting the growth of the market. Enterprises are adopting virtualization to enhance productivity and reduce costs related to hardware upgrades and software license renewals. With the centralization of data storage and computing activities, the dependency on the network has increased. In virtualization, a server is integrated with the computing resources and provides end-users with on-demand access to these resources. The virtualization of IT infrastructure allows employees to share files even from remote locations which enhances employee productivity and collaboration among team members in an enterprise. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=54472 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. The top four emerging trends driving the global EFSS market according to Technavio ICT research analysts are:



Increasing mobile workforce in enterprises

Transforming traditional workspace into virtual workspace

Embedding of digital rights management in EFSS solutions

Increasing integration of EFSS solutions with content-aware data loss prevention solutions Increasing mobile workforce in enterprises Employees are becoming more dependent on mobile devices because of the increasing need for a seamless connection between enterprise networks and employees. In 2015, the global mobile workforce was approximately 1.3 billion, and it will reach approximately USD 1.64 billion by 2020. This growth in the mobile workforce is because of the high popularity and acceptance of the BYOD policy among enterprises. The emergence of new mobile technologies such as near-field communication, wearables, and biometric readers also add fuel to the growth. This is transforming the work culture in developing regions such as China, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, further compelling the organizations to increase their mobile workforce to stay competitive.

Transforming traditional workspace into virtual workspace Many organizations are focusing on modernizing their IT workspaces to drive technological improvements in the organization and increase productivity. The employees prefer flexible and dynamic workspaces that offer the flexibility to work from any location via the virtual workspace. Therefore, firms are slowly replacing traditional desktop and cabin models with virtualized workspaces that provide flexibility, cost efficiency, and security. The virtualization of the workspace is achieved by separating key elements such as user experience, operating system, management, and configuration from hardware. EFSS solutions help modernize the IT virtual infrastructure so that the user can have a seamless experience with technology. Embedding of digital rights management in EFSS solutions The adoption of BYOD increases the need to separate enterprise files from other personal data. For this, the IT teams of enterprises use data containerization, which is an application that isolates sensitive enterprise data in an employee's personal device and protects it from malware attacks, intruders, and other device applications. However, the chances of leakage of containerized data and loss of data control still prevail. In such cases, digital rights management (DRM) policies are adopted to enhance data security. DRM, when embedded with EFSS, controls each file's behavior in the employee's personal device and prevents unauthorized content redistribution. Hence, enterprises are adopting EFSS solutions embedded with DRM to secure their files and data. Increasing integration of EFSS solutions with content-aware data loss prevention solutions The trend of integrating EFSS solutions with security content-aware data loss prevention (DLP) solutions is gaining popularity. Content-aware DLP solutions protect enterprises from insider threats and prevent data leakage. The content aware DLP solution read, decipher, and understand contents such as email, documents in Microsoft (News - Alert) word and excel formats, and PDF inside files, folders, and programs as well as identify sensitive data and prevent data leakage. "The DLP vendors provide solutions to help enterprises to create data classification mechanisms and integrate them with an EFSS platform. This integration blocks files that are classified as confidential. The integrated solution notifies the administrator regarding the copying or forwarding of information such as credit card number, transaction details, and project related information," adds Ishmeet. The key vendors are as follows: ACCELLION

Box

Citrix Systems

Dropbox (News - Alert)

Egnyte

Google

Microsoft

Syncplicity Browse Related Reports: Global IT Asset Management Market 2016-2020

Global Enterprise Information Management Market 2016-2020

Global Enterprise Application Integration Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. 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/20161123005161/en/

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[November 24, 2016] T-Systems Opens a New Data Centre in Hayes, West London

LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The data centre is part of a twin data centre, located across Slough and Hayes.

and Hayes. It houses T-Systems' new private cloud: the Dynamic Cloud Platform. T-Systems has opened a data centre in Hayes, West London, to twin with its existing data centre in Slough, England. It has a scalable architecture designed to grow to hyper-scale and is located in the Virtus' London2 Data-Centre facility. This is one of four data centres that T-Systems operates in the UK and over 60 worldwide. The opening of the data centre coincides with the arrival of T-Systems' next-generation Enteprise Private Cloud platform in the UK. The first business customer will start to move to the data centre in early December. Christoph Rode, Managing Director of T-Systems Ltd. says: "We are very excited about the opening of this new data centre and the expansion of the services we can offer our customers. It not only gives T-Systems' customers a choice about the location of their data centre, whether to run their services in the UK or Germany, but it also positions T-Systems as a leading cloud service provider." The data centres which house the platform offer a high level of intrinsic availability (Tier III) and are combined using a fast DWDM ring. This provides very low-latency and high-bandwidth neworking between the two data centres. Both data centres are equipped with all the common carriers, which gives excellent network access both to and between the two sites. These features allow services to be shared easily across the two locations.



The new cloud platform itself adds a resilient dual-site storage architecture and a dual-site virtual machine architecture which together provide high-availability disaster tolerant services, network and data access. Add to this high security access control and management to provide industry leading virtual Private Cloud services. With its industry leading SAP-in-the-Cloud capabilities, T-Systems is responding to the current UK demand, driven by the demand for SAP HANA, for a local agile Cloud Solution that meet the demands of the local marketplace.

About the Dynamic Cloud Platform: The Dynamic Cloud Platform (DCP) is the common hardware and service base for T-Systems' range of Enterprise Cloud Solutions including Dynamic Services for Infrastructure, Dynamic Services for Collaboration, Dynamic Services for SAP and Dynamic Services for HANA. As a significant investment into the UK market, the new data centre provides a compute, storage and networking layer for T-Systems' Managed Cloud Services portfolio for the Enterprise, both for local UK and global Customers, forming part of T-Systems' Global Data Centre footprint covering EMEA, Asia and the Americas. About T-Systems As one of the leading global ICT service providers, T-Systems supplies integrated solutions for business customers. These solutions are based on global offerings in fixed-network and mobile communications, highly secure data centers, a unique cloud infrastructure built around standardised platforms and global partnerships, and top security in line with Germany's strict data protection regulations in response to customer demand. T-Systems has a footprint in more than 20 countries, 46,000 employees, and external revenue of 7.1 billion euros (2015). Alongside traditional ICT services, T-Systems' portfolio also offers cloud access, custom infrastructure, and platforms and software from the cloud, as well as innovative projects in promising new business areas such as big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and Industry 4.0. http://www.t-systems.com http://www.twitter.com/tsystemsde http://www.facebook.com/tsystems

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It's no mystery to me why Superman's alter ego was a reporter, but now, more than ever, the United States needs Clark Kent to wear that red cape as himself.

It's tough to be a real journalist these days. And, it's increasingly rare.

The most high-profile "journalists" perhaps are those on television -- major networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC and cable "news" outlets like CNN and FOX. Yet many of these people whose faces are familiar via TV do commentary -- not news.

And those "reporting" the news cross the lines of true journalism almost daily.

A real journalist or news reporter does just that: reports the news. It may not be exciting, but it's the foundation of our profession.

As one of those journalists for more than 20 years now, seemingly little cracks in the integrity of news reporting glare out at me like a broken cornerstone in the very foundation of journalism.

One network I was watching this week described the fatal school bus accident in Tennessee as a "tragedy," and expressed condolences to the families involved. This was in a news report.

No. That's not how we do it.

We report what happened. We give details such as the standard who, what, where, when, why and how: who was involved, what happened, when and where it occurred, why it happened, if known, and how -- as much of that information as is available. We let the reader/viewer know the source(s) of all that information.

And we leave it at that.

Now, I'd safely say that 100 percent of people agree that this school bus accident was, to any normal human being, a tragedy.

But that's an opinion. That's not a fact.

And that's where some who are supposed to be journalists blur the lines.

It seems so harmless.

Call an obvious tragedy what it is -- the deaths of little schoolchildren is a horrible thing. But that opinion belongs on the commentary pages or segments of the news.

Because it all snowballs from there.

In journalism, it's our job to report the facts. Period.

Sometimes people don't like the way we do our job. They would rather see a headline that says, "2 people pass away after car accident," as opposed to the more straightforward, "2 die in auto collision."

But we don't do "soothing" news. We don't do "softening the blow." We just do news.

Opinion, you might say, is impossible for any human being to put aside completely. Opinion, you may think, inherently affects things such as the exact headline wording on a story, or the placement of a story on a particular page of a newspaper.

Well-trained, seasoned and disciplined journalists know that what the layman in this way calls "opinion" is actually news judgment.

Yes, you could say that it's my opinion that a local story about planting a tree in memory of a community leader is more important in the JG-TC than a multiple-fatal Tennessee school bus crash. That would mean that the local story gets stronger placement on page 1 than the out-of-state story.

But years of work in newspapers gives me news judgment, if I've done my job at all, and done it well. I know that a reader in Mattoon can't get that local story anywhere else; I know that a reader in Charleston already has seen stories on the school bus crash by the time he or she picks up the JG-TC in the morning.

My news judgment tells me that something that happens in one of our readers' hometowns is more important than an event elsewhere. It directly affects local people. And we're the only and best newspaper source for such information.

Don't give me a cape, though. And our other staffers would refuse one, too. We don't feel heroic. To us, we are doing our jobs. Period.

But the increasing rarity of that should be a huge red flag to the American people.

Our views of the nation and the world are shaped by the news we consume. The increase in fake news; in journalists not reporting the news but inserting opinion in newscasts; and in lazy people considering opinion as news threatens to skew that view for each of us.

We have to think past what we're told and consider the source. We have to use our own vetting process to determine if the "news" we are seeing or reading or hearing is reliable and fact-based, or if it's just bologna.

Most people are too lazy to do that. And it makes me mad.

There's a reason why it's the highest insult to a journalist to call him or her biased in their news reporting. Proper, objective reporting is the hallmark of our profession, and the reporter who is biased is worthless.

Or, used to be.

We need to keep our standards high. The erosion of the very highest, most strict journalistic standards is what chips away at every American's ability to know what is truly going on in the world.

President-elect Donald Trump is already trying to block journalists from doing their jobs. It's tradition for a pool of press members to travel with a president-elect and president. The idea is that since every American obviously can't see what the president does in person, journalists fulfill that role -- as we do for many other things -- and report through an unbiased lens what the president is doing.

That's the way it's supposed to be. It's wrong for Trump (or anyone else) to thwart that, and if there is opinion-based reporting being done via the pool -- and labeled as news -- that's wrong too.

Hate the media? That's your right. But don't rejoice that Trump is trying to block major national news correspondents from doing their jobs. What that means is that you have less access to real, accurate news reports regarding what your president-elect is doing. It doesn't harm the media -- it harms everyday Americans on whose behalf the press is supposed to be working.

Good journalists must step up and save America.

Experienced, dedicated news reporters must keep doing their jobs and swimming against the tide of fake news, items of opinions presented as "news," and things like Facebook memes that too many people consume as "news."

At the JG-TC, we use traditional reporting methods to report the news -- what readers think about that news is up to them. We go to the courthouse and the police stations and other sites for news and get information directly from the sources. And we let you know exactly where we got the news that we report.

Don't offer any well-trained, conscientious news reporter a red cape. Just do your part and be discriminating in how you consume news. Know -- or do the legwork to find out -- the difference between real and fake news, opinion and facts.

America will be just fine. But it's going to be good journalists who save the U.S.A., and savvy news readers who know it.
Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shiites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement, Reuters reports.

The group is also fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shiite militias are taking part.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travelers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.

Irans Foreign Ministry condemned the attack without giving a casualties toll. Tehran will continue to support Iraqs relentless fight against terrorism, ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Photo: Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani.
National Museum Rice Salad

 cup pine nuts

 cup pumpkin seeds

6 cups chicken stock

1  cup wild rice

1 carrot, cut into -inch-long matchsticks

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

1 Roma tomato, finely diced

4-5 scallions, finely chopped

3 bunches watercress (or arugula)

Vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds in a small baking pan, and toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Let cool. Combine the chicken stock and wild rice in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for about 45-55 minutes, until the grains are just opened up and tender. Spread the hot rice on a baking sheet and let cool. When rice is cool, scrape it into a large bowl and add carrots, dried cranberries, diced tomato, toasted pine nut pumpkin seed mixture, and scallions. Toss all ingredients together with the vinaigrette, refrigerate for at least one hour, and serve over watercress. Place cider vinegar in a bowl and slowly mix in oil. Sweeten with just a touch of honey and whisk. Pour vinaigrette on top of salad and chill. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Variation: slide three chicken breasts thinly and marinate overnight in a second batch of the vinaigrette. Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium heat until oil shimmers. Drain and pat dry the chicken. Add chicken and saute until golden brown on the outside and cooked thoroughly. Add to the remaining ingredients per the recipe above. 4-6 servings

Source: epicurious.com, adapted from "The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook" by Richard Hetzler
Almost a month after a two-alarm overnight fire destroyed a house near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus, autopsy results show that it wasnt the fire that killed the man living inside, but liver damage.

David G. Spinar, 57, was in the house at 4217 Y St. during the Oct. 27 fire, but an autopsy showed his death was attributed to cirrhosis of the liver.

Heart conditions, such as cardiomegaly and mild coronary vascular disease, also contributed to his death, according to Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly.

Lincoln Fire Investigator Ken Hilger determined the fire was accidentally caused by Spinar knocking over a lamp. The bulb in the lamp didnt break, but eventually ignited newspapers or the floor covering.

Spinar was the only one inside of the estimated $54,000, one-story house at the time.
"Oh, don't the days seem lank and long

When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,

And isn't your life extremely flat

With nothing whatever to grumble at!"

-- Gilbert and Sullivan

WASHINGTON -- At this shank end of a shabby year, Americans still can be thankful: They do not have the problem of nothing to grumble about. As we steel ourselves for Thanksgiving's obligatory routs and revels -- does anyone really like turkey? or Uncle Ralph, who keeps turning up, like a bad penny? -- Americans are cudgeling their brains for reasons to feel gratitude. So, herewith a call for everyone to temper gloom with lucidity. Things could be worse. And they often have been while Americans nevertheless were giving thanks.

In her new book "Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience," Melanie Kirkpatrick traces the evolution of this celebration from the Pilgrims' 1621 feast with members of the Wampanoag tribe. Congress urged George Washington to "recommend" to the people a day of thanksgiving, which he did. Thomas Jefferson, however, did not feel "authorized" to promote this "intermeddling" of government with religious observance.

On Oct. 3, 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed that henceforth the last Thursday in November would be an official national holiday. He did so to thank God -- and His instrument, the Union army -- for the nation's improving fortunes of war. And specifically for the victory at Gettysburg, where 47 days later Lincoln gave a short speech dedicating a cemetery. Thankfulness did not seem, and was not, inappropriate even in a context of American deaths in hitherto unimaginable numbers. Exactly 100 years later -- 53 years ago -- Thanksgiving fell six days after the murder of a president.

In 1939, the New Deal having failed to banish the Depression -- unemployment was 17.2 percent -- Franklin Roosevelt unlimbered the heavy artillery, the plucky American shopper. Happy days would be here again because FDR was moving Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the third. In 1933, his first year in office, November had five Thursdays and Thanksgiving was on the 30th, and in 1939 it was again set to land on that day, to the horror of the nation's biggest retailers, who coveted more post-Thanksgiving shopping days.

Generally, the nationwide reaction was, Kirkpatrick writes, "swift and vociferous." The pastor at the Church of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth, Massachusetts, lamented that "the sacred has given way to the secular forces of life." Alf Landon, the losing Republican candidate against FDR in 1936, said the president has announced this change "to an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler." Twenty-two of the 48 states adopted what Republicans cheekily called Franksgiving on Nov. 23, another 23 stayed with Nov. 30, and three states celebrated both days.

Like much of the rest of the New Deal, moving Thanksgiving earlier failed to be an economic blessing. Nineteen days after Pearl Harbor, FDR signed a joint congressional resolution making the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving.

Today's president-elect, who is not always a human sunbeam, seems to regard the nation ("a hellhole") as akin to tundra in that anything done to it will improve it. Perhaps his deft presidential touch on the tiller of the ship of state will soon have America sailing toward greatness. But his coming ascension to the ship's bridge might cause a polar frost, followed by scorching heat, at many Thanksgiving dinner tables. Uncle Ralph, squinting at Aunt Emma's defiantly worn "I'm With Her" button, is going to say, with measured malice, "I wish you were." At least there will not be anesthetizing boredom caused by the turkey's tryptophan.

Modern presidential campaigns, like the presidency itself, are too much with us, which makes it difficult to relegate politics to the hinterland of our minds. Shortly before Thanksgiving 2013, the student government of Barnard College in New York City sent to all students this email: "Happy Turkey Week. Thanksgiving is complicated. We urge you not to forget that this holiday commemorates genocide and American imperialism. But, enjoy the week off and make it into something meaningful."

The email's authors deserve the fate of William Veazie, a Massachusetts church warden who in 1696 was spotted plowing a field on the day designated for Thanksgiving. Kirkpatrick says he was fined 10 pounds and sentenced to an hour in the pillory in Boston.
"The pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts... nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."

-- H. W. Westermayer, author

"There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American."

-- O. Henry, American author

Thanksgiving is an emotional time. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.

-- Johnny Carson

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

 Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

 President Abraham Lincoln, proclamation in 1863 that led to establishment of a permanent national holiday.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day.... When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before. What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?

-- John Greenleaf Whittier

"It's like being at the kids' table at Thanksgiving -- you can put your elbows on it, you don't have to talk politics ... no matter how old I get, there's always a part of me that's sitting there."

-- John Hughes, movie director

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks -- I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.

-- Irving Berlin, American songwriter

Be thankful for what you have; youll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you dont have, you will never, ever have enough.

 Oprah Winfrey

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.

-- Willie Nelson

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

 Edwin Way Teale, American naturalist

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations.

 Oscar Wilde, Irish writer
The letter by Andrew Borakove made several very bold statements pertaining to bringing back the death penalty (" Nebraskans culpable in executions ," Nov. 19). His letter injects a religious reading into the debate with quotes from Mosaic law. Borakove writes, Thou shall not kill, murdering murderers ... is madness, and, the bulk of us agree that murder is a heinous act. However, we ignore this covenant by having the state, the body of our spiritual compact, kill people. He also writes, When a person is executed in Nebraska, we all participate in that murder," and, "I doubt it makes God happy either.

Now, I ask Andrew Borakove, and everyone, to look at abortion with the same view as the death penalty, and I invoke religious law in the same way he did. We ignore this covenant by having the state, the body of our spiritual compact, kill human lives. When a person is aborted we all participate in that murder! This does not make the world a better place, and I know God is not happy as the turmoil in our county and world explicitly shows!
Activists looking to end beer sales in the troubled village of Whiteclay have chipped in reward money for information on the death of a woman found beaten behind a building there in August.

Sherry Wounded Foot, a 50-year-old mother of three, was found unconscious Aug. 5 and died in a hospital 12 days later. Her killing remains an unsolved case.

Soon, a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest will be posted on the Nebraska Crime Stoppers website.

"There was a stark realization that there was a family who wouldn't be spending Thanksgiving with their loved one because she was beaten to death in Whiteclay," said John Maisch, an activist who arranged the reward.

It's uncommon, but not unheard of, for private citizens to contribute reward money to Nebraska Crime Stoppers for a specific case.

The last time was a few years ago, said Steve Sunday, Wilber police chief and president of the state Crime Stoppers board.

A thousand dollars is the most Nebraska Crime Stoppers will offer in a single case. But, Maisch said, "to me it would be not only helpful, but it would be appropriate if the beer stores put up some money."

Maisch and others have argued Wounded Foot's death is further cause for Whiteclay's four beer stores to be shut down.

The stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer last year, in a town of about a dozen people on the doorstep of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned.

Vagrancy and violence are rampant in Whiteclay, and activists say beer sales there are largely to blame for systemic issues on Pine Ridge, including alcoholism and related birth defects from fetal alcohol syndrome.

Wounded Foot's family has said her brother, Sanford Wounded Foot, was similarly found lifeless and beaten on Whiteclay's main street in 2012. No arrests were made in that case.

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Sheridan County Sheriff's office are investigating Sherry Wounded Foot's death, said Sheridan County Attorney Jamie Simmons. The Nebraska Attorney General's Office is also involved, she said.

"It's being treated as a homicide investigation," Simmons said Wednesday.

In October, a county commissioner told a legislative committee that local law enforcement "absolutely" does not have adequate resources for proper policing in Whiteclay.

The statement led the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission to order the beer stores to reapply for their licenses, a process that is expected to take several months.

Maisch, a former Oklahoma liquor regulator who grew up in Nebraska, produced a documentary film about Whiteclay.
COLUMBUS  Its been one year since Creston Ridge Wind Farm started producing electricity and, according to Loup Public Power District data, it has exceeded expectations.

Loup Power CEO Neal Suess said the wind farm was expected to operate at around 40 percent of capacity. However, the four turbines located southwest of Creston have performed well above that level.

The wind farm produces less electricity during the summer, which was expected.

Suess has been presenting monthly reports on the wind farms production to the utility's board of directors since the project went online in December 2015. Only in May, July and August did energy production dip below 50 percent of capacity. In March and April, the two highest-performing months, the four turbines generated at 67.6 percent and 74.6 percent of capacity, respectively.

LPPD officials and board members and representatives from Omaha-based Bluestem Energy Solutions, the project's developer, are happy with the results so far.

Bluestem Energy constructed the wind farm and sells the electricity to LPPD through a purchase contract.

The project's second phase, which adds three more turbines, is nearing completion.

The 100 percent federal tax credit for wind projects ends at the end of the year and will decline by 20 percent annually for four years. Bluestem project manager Adam Herink said a lot of developers are trying to meet an end-of-the-year deadline.
RACINE  When Robin and Diane Wilson were patiently studying the idea of starting a small family business, a coffee shop, one step they took was consulting a business mentor.

Robin recalled: We met with him a number of times, and as we were just sort of getting ready to get things off the ground, he told us to forget the whole thing, that it was really impractical.

Oops. Wrong. Twenty-five years later, Wilsons Coffee & Tea is still thriving in West Racine and is now a second-generation business.

About that mentor, Robin concluded, And so we thanked him, and we left, and we never saw him again. That same week we signed the lease on the building down the street and started getting it ready.

Wilsons 25th anniversary is perhaps best contemplated and celebrated while sitting comfortably with a hot beverage. The 3,000-square-foot shop at 3306 Washington Ave., with its tin ceiling and wooden floor, is one of the areas most popular coffee shops and hangouts.

Robin and Diane, both registered nurses, explained how they came to open a coffee shop.

We wanted to start a family business with the idea that it would stay nice and small, Robin said. It was a lot of things. We wanted mostly to see if we could do it, and we thought it would be fun to do, depending on what sort of business we settled on, and so we spent a couple of years exploring one business after another until we finally stumbled on this.

And it was before Starbucks and Caribou (Coffee) and all the rest of these were around, Robin continued. It was Diane who suggested they might do specialty or gourmet coffee.

The idea just sort of clicked with us, Robin said.

However, it had to be something that the whole family agreed on, including the children, Diane added. Neal, now 35, was just 10 then, and Renae, now 45, was 19 or 20. They not only agreed, but today theyre co-owners, with their parents, both 68, having retired earlier this year.

Second generation

The Wilsons opened their shop in 1991, but steadily outgrew the original long, narrow space at 3113 Washington Ave.  where the DaVita dialysis clinic now stands. So, in 2000 the Wilsons bought the former Pfisters Flowers at their present site, and remained in West Racine.

Today at the shop, Wilsons serve somewhere between about 420 to 520 cups of brewed coffee and 300 shots of espresso per day.

Both Neal and Renae were involved in the business early. Renae joined it full-time right out of college. Neal took a year off after high school, considered going into software development, then also joined the business.

He took over the roasting at age 19 and now travels worldwide teaching coffee roasting and coffee buying as a Specialty Coffee Association of America-certified instructor.

Renae does all of the baking and far more of the administrative tasks than Neal.

I tell everybody what to do, she said. Mostly they do what I tell them, she added with a laugh.

She and Neal collaborate on the hiring, and Renae said, Our current staff helps us with that, as well.

Both full-time employees get health insurance, and all employees get paid time off, Renae said. They have eight employees outside the family and 10 including their parents.

Renae quipped: (Our parents) are still employed here mostly because they keep showing up.
RACINE  Jane Nikolai was installed as president of Kiwanis Club of West Racine at the annual dinner Sept. 27. The installation was conducted by Kiwanis Division 1 Lt. Governor Randy Henderson.

Other officers for the coming fiscal year are: Noel Newgord, vice president; Mary Sue Langendorf, secretary, and Barbara Walker, treasurer. Members remaining on the Board of Directors are past president Judy Van Swol, Rob Cooper, Dennis Martin and Nick Barnicke. Newly installed Board members are Joe Caminiti, JoAnne Michel and Davis Driver.

In recognition of her significant commitment to Kiwanis, the Hixson Award was presented to Mary Sue Langendorf. Her contributions to the community include tutoring students at the Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization, working with high school students at the Reality Check Days sponsored by Educators Credit Union, working with the second grade hospital orientation program at Ascension All Saints Hospital, assisting at the Holy Communion Food Pantry and acting as coordinator of the Kiwanis Key Club at Park High School. She is also the secretary for the West Racine Kiwanis Club and the coordinator of the Kiwanis Club of West Racine Salvation Army Christmas gift program for children.

Mary Sue is married to Gary Langendorf who has been a member of the Kiwanis Club of West Racine for thirty-three years and is also a Hixson Award recipient.

The Hixson Fellowship was established in 1983 to honor George F. Hixson, the first president of Kiwanis International, and to build the endowment fund of the International Foundation. In awarding a Hixson Fellowship to a member, the club donates $1,000 to the Kiwanis International Foundation in the recipients name.

Kiwanis International includes more than 8,176 adult clubs along with 7,904 youth clubs with a total membership of over 628,000 in more than 80 nations. This past fiscal year the Kiwanis Club of West Racine, in addition to thousands of hours of volunteer service, has donated more than $32,000 to the Racine community.

Meetings are held at 7 a.m. every Wednesday in the Caledonia room at St. Lukes Health Pavilion at Ascension All Saints Hospital. New members are welcome.

The Kiwanis Club of West Racine will celebrate its 40th anniversary Nov. 11.
KENOSHA  For years, Eleanore Kurpis lived the good life.

Traveled to Europe. Summered in Florida. Succeeded in business. Raised five healthy, accomplished children.

But over time, memories fade. Commerce fluctuates. Even the shiniest gold tarnishes.

A truck barrels into the youngest son  a man on the cusp of professional and personal achievement  leaving him clinging to life, gravely injured, forever incapacitated.

In a few seconds, life changed.

Material things are nice, but they are fleeting, Eleanore says.

A mothers love is not.

For almost 13 years, Eleanore, with assistance from Societys Assets, an independent living group, has abandoned the pursuit of worldly treasure and success. She has dedicated herself to caring for her son in her home.

And instead of yearning for the good times of days past, she has forged perhaps an even better life for herself and her family.

Good day, bad day

April 9, 2003, was supposed to be one of the best days in the life of Eleanore Kurpis.

The Kenosha native turned 60 that day.

But April 9, 2003, ended up being one of the worst days in the life of Eleanore Kurpis.

She and her husband, Joe, didnt know if their son Philip  the youngest of five  would live another day.

Horrible things happen to very nice people, she said.

Phil was born in Wisconsin in September 1977, but grew up in Minnesota, one of the stops in his fathers corporate career. Phil graduated from St. Cloud State University, was engaged to be married and ready to start a career.

He traveled to Las Vegas with some friends and family for one last bout of fun before settling down to the serious business of going to work and starting a family.

On April 6, 2003, Phil was crossing Las Vegas Boulevard. The traffic light changed as he made his way to his friends who were on the other side of the street.

Seconds later, a truck  the drivers vision blocked by a vehicle in another lane  slammed into Phil, breaking bones, nearly tearing off his right arm, and inflicting serious brain injuries.

His parents rushed to Las Vegas. They spent the next three months at the Las Vegas Medical Center as Phil clung to life. He spent another three months in another Las Vegas facility before the family decided that they wanted Phil to return home.

The family rented a private plane and flew Phil back to Wisconsin. He went to West Allis Hospitals critical care unit, then to Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Hospital in Milwaukee, and then to a care facility in Mequon.

We spent every day with Phil, Eleanore said.

Still, the mother wanted her son home.

We never wavered from that, Eleanore said. I believed the chances of him surviving and flourishing as best as he could were better in his home.

Doctors and other medical experts cautioned the couple on their choice. They told us that we were in for a long haul, Eleanore said, They told us that this would be a lifetime.

Coming home

In April 2004, Phil came home, taking a room in his parents house that had been Eleanores childhood home on 24th Avenue in Kenosha. The couple added two lifts, renovated the bathroom and created an upstairs apartment where they could stay while Phil was with his professional caregivers.

Things didnt start smoothly. Phil got an infection a week after he came home. Eleanore and Joe were exhausted all the time. But Phil improved. He gained weight, became more alert and seemed happier.

The couple retained aides from Societys Assets, which has offices in Racine and Kenosha, to help provide care at various times of the week. Still, Eleanore is with Phil almost all the time, ensuring he gets the very best care.

Each day, usually over coffee, Eleanore and Joe review what needs to be done: Appointments, medication, feedings. They try to take Phil out of the house at least once a day.

He cant do anything by himself, Eleanore said. But Ive never given up hope. I know hell never walk again, but he still has a voice. I hope he can talk again someday.

Eleanore says Phil can tell when she sings to him. If its a song from before the accident happened, he smiles and sings along.

Somehow, he knows.

Phil is where he is today because of Eleanore, said Julie Lupi, a human resources manager at Societys Assets. She makes sure that Phils days are full and happy. She wakes up every day grateful for another day to spend caring for her son.

For her undying dedication and devoted care of her son, next month Eleanore will receive the Heart of Family/Friend Caregiving Award from the Wisconsin Long Term Care Workforce Alliance.

Lupi nominated Eleanore for the award.

Shes the caregiver of the world in my eyes and my mind, Lupi said. You can hear the love, the joy, the happiness in her voice.

Sharing the credit

Eleanore deflects such praise and instead lauds a tight-knit family that includes Phils four siblings, aunts, uncles and others who have helped their bond become only stronger in the past 14 years.

Each Sunday, Eleanore invites relatives other for dinner. Thats time for us to connect as a family, she said.

She also credits the strength and health of her marriage as a steadying influence.

What we did, what we are doing, we have done as a team, she said. Our marriage is strong. We are on the same page each and every day.

We always tried to share what we had, but what happened to Phil changed our perspective on whats important, said Joe Kurpis. Material things dropped to the very bottom. We feel the most important thing is what were doing for our son.

Eleanore and Joe dont take many trips these days. They sold the house in Florida. Joe still works, helping one of their sons operate his business.

They have a different life now.

Our 50s were wonderful years. I catch myself every once a while with a little bit of sadness about how things once were,Eleanore said. But then I look at Phil and I see him happy.
ROCHESTER  Entering his seventh term, Robin Vos will lead a state Assembly with its highest number of Republicans in generations.

But next year in the Legislature promises to be filled with tough issues, including how to fund roads and education. Vos, R-Rochester, said he is also looking at Racine County-related measures, like Interstate 94 construction.

Vos spoke to The Journal Times about the next legislative session, the election, his own future and more.

What are your top priorities in the next legislative session?

The most important thing the Legislature does is pass a balanced budget. So that is what we will spend much of the first six months discussing.

As part of that balanced budget, I have a few priorities. I would like to continue to increase our investment in education, especially public schools and universities. I would like to find a long-term solution for funding road repairs and maintenance. And I would like to make sure that we continue to make our state a place where families can find good-paying jobs that provide benefits.

Could you foresee legislation specific to Racine County coming forward?

There are some ideas that Id like to work on. One would be to look at the trail that has been proposed going from Union Grove-Dover connecting to Burlington and over to Racine (called the Rails to Trails project). That has had a lot of community support. Id like to work on a bipartisan basis to help make that happen.

I would like to make sure we finish I-94 reconstruction, so that as jobs continue to flee Illinois, that they relocate to Racine County as much as they have been to Kenosha County.

Id like to continue to work with local governments to make sure they are able to provide the services that they need. One example would be, I know that in Dover, they have needs as far as the amount of services required at the Southern Wisconsin Center. Thats a special place in my heart, to take care of our veterans and those people who have disabilities.

I would lastly say to make sure I focus on what I promised, which is to keep good schools funded in Racine County. As many of our schools are in steady or declining enrollment, we have to continue to look at our education system, which really has been based on funding pupils. If we are in declining enrollment, thats going to cause problems in the long run, not just in Racine County but statewide.

Why were Republicans so successful in the election, especially in Wisconsin, where GOP legislative majorities increased and Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win since 1984?

My job as speaker is to go out and recruit high-quality, dedicated people who want to become public servants. I think that we have done a good job finding people in various stages of their life to take some time out of their private-sector career to become a public servant.

Secondarily, I think we have a really good message. We make promises when we run for election and then we work like crazy to fulfill them. We have taken hard votes to reform the way government operates. We have stuck to our conservative principles. All at the same time, (we are) investing in our priorities which is health care for the poor, public schools and trying to make sure we have a good quality of life.

Would you be interested in running for higher office in the future?

I dont think so. Ill be really honest with you: I love the fact that I get to find that balance  which is not always easy  between having a successful business and private career and being a full-time public servant. I feel like I have the very best job I can ask for, and I try as hard as I can to work at it.

I love being speaker because it allows me to be a key player in helping to make Wisconsin prosperous, but I also dont have to worry about being driven around by the State Patrol. I can take care of myself and work at my factory.

On a lighter note: whats wrong with the Packers?

I gotta tell you, Im a little bit disappointed. It seems like they dont have the same level of passion theyve had in the past. Aaron Rodgers gets the ball downfield and a lot of the guys dont make the play at the crucial time.

What are you most thankful for this year?

I am lucky that I have both of my parents still with me, who I love very much and I get to see on a regular basis. I have a niece and a nephew and my sibling who lives close to me. So Im most thankful for my family.

I am second-most thankful for what is like a second family in Madison, which is the staff that I get to work with and the people that I serve with in the Capitol.
RACINE Tangella King arrives at Knapp Elementary School every day by 6:50 a.m. to make sure shes organized. As principal, King feels its important to greet every student, particularly the younger ones, each day as they walk in.

I dont even remember my elementary school principal, King said. The only thing I remember about the principal is you went there, to the office, when you were naughty. Thats the only time you got face-to-face time with the principal.

Some of the students who walk through Knapps doors dont have many allies outside the home. King said she wants them to know that the school is there for them.

I think its not fair for my students not to have a relationship with me or vice versa, King said. I want them to know that Im on their side.

Its been three months since Knapp, 2701 17th St., opened as the first community school in the Racine Unified School District. Its one of three major school construction projects completed in the last year. Beyond teaching students, the school offers programs and services to address additional needs. The goal is not just to educate the students but to make sure theyre in good mental and physical health.

Parents take advantage

During the first parent-teacher conference in early November  called Academic Parent Teacher Team meetings  Familia Dental offered to students and parents free screenings and an opportunity for parents to schedule an appointment.

That way (parents) kind of have an idea as to how important dental health is, but also to let them know we are in the community and accepting new patients, said Lauren Langer, community relations manager for Familia Dental. We have the ability to take our mobile dentistry unit on-site to schools and day cares so that parents dont have to take that additional time off. The dental work can actually be taken care of while the child is already at school or day care.

Carol Payton took advantage of the service with her two sons.

It was important just because Ive been looking for a dentist and they kind of fell into my lap, Payton said. I havent gotten around to scheduling an appointment.

After both of her children had their teeth examined, Payton gave the Familia Dental representatives her contact information for the purpose of making an appointment. Its a task that seems simple, but for many Knapp students  85 percent of them coming from economically disadvantaged families  having the representatives at the school makes it easier to answer questions parents might have.

Also present at the parent-teacher conferences to answer questions were representatives of Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, Advancing Family Assets from United Way, Racine Art Museum and The Arc of Racine County.

Sometimes Im too busy or I dont know about programs and services, Payton said.

Landry said Familia Dental reached out to Knapp to work closer with the school.

In the spring, Familia Dental will be returning to Knapp with our mobile dentistry unit to provide services on site, Landry said.

For King, these meetings are an opportunity to get families on board with the education the children are receiving. She calls it her state of the school address.

All of the adults come together in the classroom, and we look at the data behind the work that the students are doing day to day, King said. We talk about attendance as a major component. If theyre here, they will learn.

Families eat together

Adult participation is critical in the execution of Knapp as a community school and King said they have after-school programs specific for children and adults.

Families And Students Together is the main program used to build better relationships at home.

Families come in with their kindergartner, or anybody that lives in their household  families do some sort of activity or game, King said.

The weekly event is geared toward the younger students, teaching them how to communicate their feelings productively and to boost their self-esteem. The event climaxes with a family meal at the school.

I think having that family meal is really a good idea, King said. Its important, because its fostering the unity and the community that we need at our tables and in our school.

The Young Leaders Academy, another after-school program, teaches students discipline, unity, respect for themselves and for each other.

The Eco-Justice Center, 7133 Michna Road, received a grant from SC Johnson in early November and students who participate in YLA had a chance to tour the center. The students fed goats, saw how garbage gets turned into compost and tasted the different produce grown on the property.

Most of the kids that live in the neighborhood, I dont believe, have the opportunity to experience things like this, said Kyle King, site coordinator at Knapp. Its good for them to experience the simple things in life.

Student have opportunities to be involved in music, play games and continue their education. Kyle King said they also like to keep an encouraging eye on students during the day and keep in contact with teachers.

I know some of the kids may have issues, you would label them as at-risk children, but well take the time to develop relationships with them as well as sit down with them in class during school hours, Kyle King said. It takes a village to raise a child.
All hope not lost

Today is Thanksgiving in America, a day of gratitude and feasting. Legend has it that the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation first celebrated it in 1621 with the Native Americans to thank them for helping them with grains and lessons in corn growing.
Avoiding another spiral

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Draft of Civil Aviation Bill sent to Tourism Ministry

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FMO ups stake in NMB

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Fringe parties leaders meet PM Dahal

A total of 25 fringe political parties representing in the Parliament drew the attention of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal towards what they called their exclusion from any political decision-making like the formulation of new laws.
India positive about replacing banned notes with legal bills

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Iraq suicide bomb: Blast kills 70 Shia pilgrims

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Minister Mahat and Australian Minister for International Development meet

A meeting between visiting Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat and Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Feirravanti-Wells, took place here on Thursday.
Minister Mahat urges Australian counterpart to set up visa section in Nepal

Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is currently in an official visit to Australia, placed a request to Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop to establish a 'visa centre' in the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu.
Myanmar wants ethnic cleansing of Rohingya - UN official

Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory, a senior UN official has told the BBC.
Nepali migrant workers provide monetary aid to ailing child

Nepali migrant workers in Israel have provided monetary aid of Rs 110,000 to a child suffering from cancer of Jirikhimti of Patharisanischare-8, Morang.
Oli asks UML cadres to remain stand-by for 'waves of protest'

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Pilot dies in ultralight crash

A Russian pilot died after an ultralight aircraft crashed at Chapakot-6 in Kaski district on Wednesday.
President inaugurates Patanjali Ayurved Industry

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Railway Department yet to decide on Indias proposal

The Department of Railway has said it is yet to take a decision on Indias proposal to conduct preliminary engineering and traffic survey of the proposed Barahani (Uttar Pradesh)-Kathmandu Railway project,
RPP takes conciliatory approach

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal which had been opposing amendment to the constitution has struck a conciliatory tone following his partys merger with the Pashupati SJB Rana-led RPP on Monday.
Tharu council warns against Province 5 split

The supporters of Tharu Welfare Council in Banke have demanded the government to form a separate Tharuhat province by incorporating the Tarai districts between Nawalparasi and Kanchanpur.
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High court sets 19th Dec/2016 to deliver its ruling on whether to grant Rubaga South Constituency Voter Habib Buwembo, permission to challenge Rubaga South MP Kato Lubwama,s academic qualification.

Submissions in the case were concluded with Buwembo asking presiding Judge Margaret Oguli Oumo to grant his request maintaining that the legislator lacks the minimum academic qualification to be an MP, having failed his Uganda Certificate of Education examination.

Buwembo wants extension of time of about 30days so that he can hunt for the 500siignatures to support his intended election petition, to throw Lubwama out of the 10th parliament, because the time within which he should have done so lapsed.

But Lubwama in his response assured Buwembo and Justice Oguli that not even he has the power to extend time set by parliament, and allow Buwembo to file an election petition against him.

Lubwama maintains that he has never forged any academic papers and that the Diploma he has is authentic, since it was acquired after sitting for special exams at Makerere University and passed.
By Judith Atim

President Yoweri Museveni has issued a missive in which he blames Western powers for conducting wars of aggression which have since turned to what he calls curses to the perpetrators.

The missive titled Casualties of Western Neo imperialism and African weakness characterized by a hard hitting tone against the West and an assertion of the presidents authority also blames African leaders for betraying the continent.

He further argues that before the Western countries killed Col. Muamar Gaddaffi, Libya, with its small population of only 6 million people, had the second biggest amount of electricity in the whole of Africa after South Africa and was becoming a big source of investments for the rest of Africa as well as a market for African products.

The president asserts that the destruction of Libya has also led to terrorist groups invading Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, and other countries.

In light of this, President Museveni says African leaders should never have allowed external powers to attack any part of the African soil without their permission.

Outside the continent, he cites attacks on the twin-towers, in New York in 2001 that led to Western Invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, saying two of these wars by the West against Independent and Sovereign States, were clearly wars of aggression and were unjust wars.

He says It is only the war in Afghanistan that was a just one because the Al-Quaeda, had carried out aggression against the USA and so It was correct that the USA responded and dislodged the Talibans and their allies, Alquaeda, from Afghanistan.

Owing to all these, he has questioned why Africa should tolerate such disruption caused by foreigners.
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ANGOLA  Services exist in the northeastern Indiana area for special needs children and adults.

An Angola couple want to provide a support system for their parents.

John and Carolyn McNabb moved to Steuben County last year. Carolyn grew up in Hudson and met John when she moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1983. They were married in 1984. During her pregnancy, Carolyn lost her amniotic fluid and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks prior to undergoing a Cesarean section.

The McNabbs daughter, Megan, now 24, was born premature, at 32 weeks, weighing just 3 pounds, 6 ounces. She is developmentally delayed with traits similar to autism and does not speak.

Being her parent is a 24-7, 365-days-a-year job, said John.

The McNabbs want to share their experiences, and friendship, with other parents. A first meeting of their support group will be on Friday, Jan. 13, 6-8 p.m. at the YMCA of Steuben County, 500 E. Harcourt Road, Angola.

Its for everyone and children of all ages, said John.

The parents, thats what were going to focus on, he said, noting that it can be a lonely journey raising a special needs person.

Megan goes to RISE Inc. several days a week, and enjoys being at home with her parents, said Carolyn. Megan loves music and sound, and carries a plastic music toy with her everywhere, pushing the buttons and joyfully listening to the tones. Megan likes to run, but has a clumsy gait and requires supervision.

Through the new group, Carolyn said shed like to arrange field trips and activities, such as excursions to the fire department or zoo, or possibly a local farm. Carolyn supervised Helping Hands at her church in Houston, Texas, watching special needs children ages 7 and up while their parents went to the services. The McNabbs also were in a network with parents who home schooled their children in the Houston area.

Here, they attend Fairview Missionary Church where John is starting a special needs ministry during the 10:31 a.m. casual service in the church gym.

The McNabbs moved here to live near family, though John, a Texas native, noted that its been a bit of a culture shock coming from a metropolis to a rural community. He said he looks forward to meeting more people that share similar experiences.

The YMCA was gracious in letting the new group gather in its facilities, he said, and said hed recieved much support from the community.

The Special Needs Disability Initiative begins in January, after the hubbub of the holidays, in a room at the YMCA. The McNabbs plan to hold meetings twice a month. For details, contact them at 832-202-8160 or jcmcnabb@earthlink.net.
A newer class at West Salem High School is bringing together a unique group of students to work toward a common goal.

Metal Arts I and Metal Arts II consists of 50 students total. The courses teach students how to use welding and metal in order to make aesthetically pleasing art projects.

There are two types of students enrolled in the courses: Those accustomed to technical education courses and those who typically lean toward art courses. By leaning on each other, the course has offered both types of students an interesting and effective learning environment.

Metal arts teacher Paul Liethen, who also teaches the metal and welding courses at the school, said that the students have created a pretty interesting bond.

Its been a lot of fun, Liethen said. Half of these kids love art and the other half love industrial studies.

Were reaching a different audience with this course that may not otherwise be involved with welding, and at the same time, the art kids are showing the metals kids how to think outside the box and be creative, he added. Its pretty cool.

It all began with a couple of senior exit projects completed in the past by former students of LiethensClara Haldeman and Olivia Aleckson.

Their projects combined art with technical education and it sparked an idea in Liethens mind. After a recent visit to Western Technical College with his welding course to talk about creativity, the idea of a metal arts class came to mind.

Since then, students in the class have made projects for various groups and faculty members, such as a West Salem DECA sign that occupies the school store on campus and decorations for the office staff.

As for the connection between the art and tech ed students, Liethen isnt the only one noticing the unique chemistry.

Senior Gabe Sweeney joined the metal arts class because he wanted to take a material arts course after taking numerous welding and tech ed courses.

Sweeney, who is currently making a crawfish out of metal spoons in the class, is happy to have the art students there when working on projects.

The blend of students is cool because its cool to see the bridge between the types of of students, he said. People who have the technical experience know how to work the metal and the people with art experience have more of an imagination, so its cool to see those things come together.

Senior Gretchen Lichtie, who is also in the course but has traditionally taken more art classes, is also very impressed with the way the students work together.

It really helps having kids from both sides of it because theres a creative view from the kids who are more accustomed to art, and the kids who know how to use the machines help us art kids figure out the most efficient way to use that imagination, Lichtie said.

For students who typically dont participate in the same co-curricular activities or elective classes, the metal arts classes have created a unique connection in a diverse group of students.
The West Salem School District is celebrating its report card from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, while La Crosse is the only one of 21 Coulee Region schools districts rated as meeting few expectations.

Area school districts in general fared well under the new rating system.

Twenty of 21 school districts in the region met or exceeded expectations, and West Salem was the only district rated as significantly exceeding expectations. Statewide, 91 percent of public school districts met or exceeded expectations, with this year being the last for district-wide ratings.

The state rated La Crosse as meeting few expectations after scoring the district in four categories, including student achievement, student growth, ability to close achievement gaps, and metrics related to graduation and post-secondary readiness.

According to the districts report card, La Crosse scored 63.7 points out of 100 for student achievement. The district scored lower in both student growth (43.3) and closing achievement gaps (61.8) but ranked high for being on track for post-secondary readiness (88.1).

According to 2015-16 enrollment data from the DPI, 48.7 percent of La Crosse students are economically disadvantaged. That puts the district in the middle of the pack among the 21 area school districts. A third of the districts reported a higher proportion of poverty, as high as 61 percent in Arcadia. All of those districts received better report card ratings, including Prairie du Chien and Independence, which exceeded expectations.

On the other end of the spectrum, Viroqua, Holmen, Onalaska and Bangor were among 12 area school districts rated as exceeding expectations. Onalaska Superintendent Fran Finco said his district, which rated 79.6 points out of 100, takes its commitment to student growth seriously, with efforts to individualize instruction and provide extra resources to struggling students paying off in the districts report card.

Our teachers try to focus on learning outcomes, he said. Not trying to reach the end of the chapter.

Holmens director of instructional services, Wendy Savaske, said the report cards provide valuable insights into district achievement. The report card data highlighted how well Holmen did in English Language Arts test scores and closing the gap for English language learners and economically disadvantaged students.

Even with the high ratings, West Salem Director of Instruction and Technology Michael St. Pierre said the report cards highlighted areas his district could improve. The data showed the district could do more to improve its math scores in grades six through 12, as well as focusing on improving student achievement in general at the district.

The district batted nearly 1.000 on the ranking for student growth, which St. Pierre said was a testament to a commitment to help all students.

We are hitting a home run on growth, he said. Both for our kids that are proficient and those below proficiency.
Every year when the gun-deer hunt begins, I dream about a place in the Chequamegon National Forest southwest of Mellen. I try to imagine the routine in the remote hunting camp named Old Tamarack that I visited many years ago to hunt grouse with the owner, our long-time friend, Tom Heberlein.

Years ago, when we both lived in Lodi, Tom invited me to the camp for the deer hunt to write about it, an invitation that I wasnt able to accept at the time. Ive always regretted not having that experience.

So when I began to dream once again about Old Tamarack on opening weekend, I decided to call Tom.

He answered his cell phone Sunday evening  a poor connection, but good enough to give me a report on conditions. They had snow, he said, about two inches Friday night. There were no deer hanging from the buck pole after the first two days, but we know theyre around. They walk in our tracks and visit the deer stands at night.

The deer were just trying to annoy them, he said with a chuckle.

I asked him the question that has hung over the deer hunt since chronic wasting disease was found in three Wisconsin deer in 2002: Is there consensus in camp about how Wisconsin should deal with CWD?

Tom, 71, is professor emeritus in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a visiting professor at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umea, Sweden. He studies hunters and hunting issues. Hes also the author of a book, Navigating Environmental Attitudes, published by Oxford University Press in 2012. I suppose he would have an opinion on this issue that has gained more attention with a report of record-setting chronic wasting disease infection rates in 2015. There are fresh calls for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to do more testing and more research aimed at stopping the spread of the disease seen as a threat to the Wisconsin deer herd and the states deer hunting tradition, a $1 billion economic asset.

In his answer to the CWD question, Tom said consensus depended on who was in camp at the time. In the interest of camp comity, they were not discussing it, he added.

But his opinion has not changed since he wrote more than a decade ago that the state had reacted unscientifically to the CWD discovery, treating it as a fire to be stamped out without sufficient scientific research on the efficacy or the effects of its early deer eradication efforts or other policies. Meanwhile, the net value of the Wisconsin deer hunt dropped by about 20 percent after CWD was discovered, he wrote, citing a study in 2004. Wisconsin would have been more likely to minimize the negative human impacts and to at least contain CWD if the disease had been treated as a long-term scientific problem rather than a fire.

He has not changed his mind, he said Sunday evening. The states response has hunters worrying about the quality of their venison, generated fear among people dependent on the hunt and created policies that have no firm basis in research. He cited the example of banning baiting in the 43 CWD counties as a way to reduce concentrations of deer as a possible cause of the spread of disease. There are no good studies to show the connection, he said.

Tom said that if CWD is allowed to run its course, it will probably lower deer numbers, but there are many environmental scientists who believe the deer population is way too high.

As if to underscore that view, the Leopold Foundation had a controlled hunt at The Shack in the Leopold Legacy Center, according to a story by Paul A. Smith of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who participated. Smith said, Deer numbers are high enough in the area to prevent or inhibit regeneration of many plant species, including red and white oak and white pine. So the hunters were to shoot only antlerless deer as a way to reduce deer population.

Aldo Leopold, who founded the program of wildlife and forest ecology at the University of Wisconsin, advocated controlling deer population in the 1930s and 40s, a policy unpopular then as now.

Smith said: Leopolds teachings have spawned a litmus test in the conservation community: WWAD (What would Aldo do)? Given todays plant and animal makeup of his former farm, there is no doubt. Hed hunt deer, especially does.

Tom Heberlein knows Leopolds teachings; he was responsible for starting the annual Leopold observance in Wisconsin.

He said that deer numbers have always been thin at Old Tamarack; he hasnt shot a deer in 13 years. But one can still enjoy hunting with fewer deer numbers, and maybe enjoy it even more, he added. Every deer is a celebration because they come only with hard work.

So it is that the Old Tamarack journal will soon hold the report of yet another deer season, one that started in the wind and snow and lingering controversy about deer management in Wisconsin.
Dan Kapanke will seek a recount in his bid to unseat state Sen. Jennifer Shilling in a race she won by just 56 votes.

An attorney for Kapankes campaign told a meeting of the Wisconsin Elections Commission Tuesday morning that a petition would be submitted Wednesday, the final day on which he can request the recount.

The 32nd District race pitted the Senate minority party leader against the Republican she unseated in a 2011 recall.

Once the petition is submitted, recounts will begin Monday in Crawford, La Crosse, Monroe and Vernon counties. About 70 percent of the more than 89,000 votes were cast in La Crosse County.

La Crosse County Clerk Ginny Dankmeyer said she anticipates it will take five to six days to complete the recount with 30 to 35 poll workers on the job. Other county clerks estimated they will need two to five days.

Most of the ballots will be counted by hand. Dankmeyer said the slowest part of the process will be the very cumbersome process for counting 21,846 absentee ballots.

Shilling declared victory as the final precincts reported numbers early Nov. 9, but Senate Democrats postponed their leadership vote last week under the shadow of uncertainty surrounding that race and the loss of the 24th District seat held by Julie Lassa of Stevens Point.

That leadership vote is now scheduled to take place this afternoon, and Shilling last week asked her colleagues for their support in her bid for the minority leadership spot.
The #NoDAPL movements national day of action Nov. 15 drew a crowd of more than 60 people outside the La Crescent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office, united by their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Chuck Davis, an Oglala Lakota member and speaker at the protest, said the recent protests are an example of the seventh generation principle. The Native American ethic exhorts the current generation to make sustainable choices for the sake of those who come after, up to seven generations.

Standing Rock camp is sparked by our youth, the seventh generation, Davis said. This is the seeds of our prophecy: The seventh generation brings us back to the center of the circle. When they say Standing Rock is evolving, it will bring all peoples of the world to the center of the circle. This is solidarity. We hear their cries: Water is life.

The protesters on South Oak Street drew energy from the Army Corps recent announcement it must consult with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe before further construction. Although happy about the news, protesters called for ending the of the use of all pipelines and the fossil fuels they carry.

We are standing for all peoples. Eighteen million people have water access from the Missouri River  these snake lords  oil lords  are illusionists, Davis said. David Blaine, David Copperfield have nothing on them. They say they will bring jobs. They say this will be the safest pipeline yet. Look in the news  a pipeline in Pennsylvania broke. All pipelines break. It isnt a matter of if. Its a matter of when.

An organizer of the protest, Roxy Anderson of La Crosse, encouraged protesters to take to social media, a theme that has become the main driving force behind #NoDAPL.

Ive been following the protest on social media since September. It seems that the largest networks: NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, are not covering the story, said Lori Schimke of Sparta, Wis.

#NoDAPL began in the spring of 2016. The protests started in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would go under the Missouri River and stretch 1,134 miles from North Dakota to Illinois.

The Standing Rock Sioux, along with over 200 native tribes and others, oppose building the pipeline because of its environmental risks. The pipeline would also go through the tribes reservation and, according to nodaplsolidarity.org, the pipeline would engender a renewed fracking frenzy in North Dakotas Bakken shale region.

This is the right of the people to dissent from policies that are genocidal and eco-cidal, said Al Gedicks, a retired UW-La Crosse sociology professor and executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council. Security forces release attack dogs on protesters. We ought not to be witnessing human rights violations like these in 2016. What is significant here in La Crescent (is) we are far from the actual battlefield, we are greater than their force at Standing Rock.

Protestors held homemade signs, such as dirty money will destroy clean water. Davis burned sage and led the group in a sun dance prayer and song that rendered the days action in prayer and showed alliance with the camps at Standing Rock.

Liz Rog of Decorah, Iowa, who will travel to Standing Rock this week, sang a song she wrote about the protest. Children ran through the crowd.

Its important to get them (children) involved in situations that affect people and their rights. You have to stand for something or youll fall for anything, Alyssia Lonetree of Lyndon Station, Wis., said.

Lonetree was carrying her children during the protest; one on her back and one in front.

Koob Hmoovyaj, a student at UW-La Crosse, held two signs at the protest; he is a member of the La Crosse community group Hmong United for Justice.

We are standing in solidarity. We are organizing a group to go to Standing Rock soon, Hmoovyaj said.

When asked about awareness of the North Dakota protests, Hmoovyaj said there was not as much awareness as he would hope at his school.

Organizations are coming in and promoting it, but not as much as I would hope, he said.
When the Black River Falls Police Department won the $15,000 grant offered by Haus Von Stolz Kennel in Lomira, Wis., they were met with financial needs.

The grant covered the cost of the K-9 unitKilo, a black, female German Shepherdher officers five-week intensive certification training and two years of maintenance training.

But it does not cover any additional costs the K-9 unit accrues past training.

We can do anything, Black River Falls Police Departments Chief of Police Scot Eisenhauer said. This is the communitys dog, we are depending on community fundingthis unit will bring the community closer together and keep Black River Falls a safe and great place to live.

Owner Angie Fink started the Haus Von Stolz Kennel in 2014. The kennel is one of only a few in Wisconsin that breeds, raises and trains police dogs; Fink raises European line German Shepherds.

My hope is by donating the dogs this will generate the public to help the department with their needs. Officers are so short staffed and there are so many communities with major drug problems, Fink said. I named the program Ive got my eyes on you so the officers know they always have someone watching.

The department has a small team with only five full-time officers and four part-time officers.

Fink sends letters to every department in the state informing them of her grant, and she donates two dogs every year. In July, she narrowed her search to two departments.

Officer Jeremy James wrote the grant with many supporting letters of recommendation from members of the community, such as a retired district attorney, school district, first responders and the chief of police. Black River Falls was chosen from among 73 other agencies.

I look and research departments about the drug apprehension rates, the community, criminal activity; that is exactly Black River Falls, they dont have a lot of money and they wouldnt be able to start this themselves, she said. Jeremy went above and beyond. He sent in nine or 11 letters.

The training that Officer James has to go through for his certification is five weeks long and has days that can last up to 13 hours  so long, in fact, that Fink brings someone in to make lunch and dinner for those participating in the training.

Handlers and their dogs are also given space in a building on the kennels property to stay in; the departments receiving the grant cannot normally afford to put up the officer for five weeks.

The dogs do select demos. On the 29th we are going to go to two prisons and do drug sniffs, we are assisting government agencies and also getting the dogs and their handlers used to day-by-day work, she said.

Fink said Officer James and Kilo are getting along well. Officer James has been practicing his training on the weekends on top of the weeklong training sessions.

The K-9 unit, still in its infancy, will bring the dog in full-time in two weeks.

Kilo, whose birthday is Aug. 5, is 15 months old. She descends from a line of police dogs on her paternal line and personal protection dogs on her maternal line.

New to the world of K-9 units, the Black River Falls Police Department was lucky enough to have some items donated to them.

Theisens Sporting Goods donated free food for life, a bulletproof vest was donated and they received donated medical care by a local veterinarian. As a temporary solution to the lack of a current K-9 unit squad car, the department received a used sheriff departments K-9 kennel they will put in a 2008 Impala.

The K-9 unit car is not only about the dog, but the visibility of it on the streets, Eisenhauer said.

Kilo will serve a multi-purpose use for the department; help in the fight against narcotics, officer protection, tracking people involved in the selling of drugs and tracking missing persons.

The people we are arresting for drugs are at the bottom of the rope, theyre easy to catch. We get a call from Kwik Trip and someones passed out in the water softener salt and they call it in, he said. This will allow us to function further up the rope; the dog will lead us to traffickers, dealers.

To raise money for a new K-9 unit squad car, the police department will host fundraising events throughout the year. The first planned event is a steak feed at Donna Ks Bar and Family Diner on Jan. 26, 2017.

Eisenhauer, who previously worked at the city of Burlingtons police department for 14 years, has seen the benefits of a K-9 unit.

There was definitely a lot of community involvement, programs in the school that would focus on the dog, it was very nice to have that extra back-up, he said.
MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP)  The lawyer for a Wisconsin man convicted in a case profiled in the Making a Murderer Netflix series says an agreement to start independent scientific testing on several critical pieces of evidence has been signed.

The agreement was filed Wednesday with Angela Sutkiewicz, the special judge appointed to oversee Steven Averys appeal. It comes nearly three months after Averys lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, pledged she had a plan to overturn his 2007 conviction.

Zellner said its encouraging that the attorney generals office was helpful in expediting these tests.

Avery was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the 2005 death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County.

Evidence to be tested includes a vial of blood said to be a sample of Averys blood from 1996, a spare key for Halbachs sport utility vehicle found in Averys bedroom by sheriffs deputies, and the swab from the hood latch of Halbachs vehicle that later generated a DNA profile for Avery.

Zellner has said she wants to determine if the hood latch DNA swab was fabricated from other known DNA samples that law enforcement officers had in their possession.

Averys nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also sentenced to life in prison in Halbachs death. He confessed to detectives that he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach in the Avery familys salvage yard.

But in August, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin ruled that investigators coerced Dassey, who was 16 years old at the time and suffered from cognitive problems, into confessing and overturned his conviction. State attorneys are appealing the decision.

Avery and Dassey contend they were framed by law enforcement angry with Avery for filing a lawsuit against Manitowoc County over his wrongful imprisonment for a sexual assault he didnt commit.

Their cases gained national attention last year after Netflix aired the multi-part documentary examining Halbachs death.
State officials are readying for an unprecedented potential recount of Wisconsins presidential election after Green Party candidate Jill Stein, citing concerns with the legitimacy of the results, told the commission her campaign will request one.

In a possible final twist to an election filled with surprises, Steins campaign said Wednesday it intends to request recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the three states that tipped the electoral college to Republican Donald Trump.

The Stein campaign launched online drives to raise the millions required to pay for the recounts  and to recruit volunteers in Wisconsin to participate in a recount.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, Steins campaign manager, Dave Cobb, said the campaign had raised, in just a few hours, more than $432,000 toward what it estimates is the $1.1 million cost of a recount in Wisconsin. Hundreds of thousands came in later in the evening.

Elections Commission director Michael Haas said Wednesday that the commission is preparing for a recount. But Haas said the commission has not seen credible evidence of any attempt to manipulate Wisconsins election results.

We dont have any reason to suspect that any voting equipment has been tampered with, Haas said.

Trump narrowly won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton in pre-election polls in those states. Unofficial results showed Trump winning Wisconsin by a little more than 27,000 votes.

Steins announcement came after reports surfaced that academics and activists were trying to persuade Clintons campaign to seek recounts, citing findings that raise questions of whether election results in the three states were subject to a cyberattack.

New York Magazine reported late Tuesday that in Wisconsin Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used paper ballots counted by optical scanners.

J. Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, wrote in a Wednesday blog post that he was part of a group that approached the Clinton campaign.

Halderman wrote that Wisconsins election results probably were not tampered with. But he noted the 2016 campaign has seen unprecedented cyberattacks aimed at influencing it. The Democratic National Committee and several Clinton staffers had their emails breached and later released, in efforts that U.S. security officials later attributed to Russian hackers.

The only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence by recounting paper ballots, Halderman wrote.

Prominent political statisticians at the website FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times responded to the New York Magazine report by saying demographic differences, not cyberattacks, are the likely explanation for discrepancies between results in counties with electronic machines compared to those with paper ballots.

In Wisconsin, the recount would involve examining paper ballots as well as paper audit trails of the roughly 5 percent of votes cast on electronic touch-screen machines.

Wisconsins presidential election was close, but not close enough to trigger a requirement that the state pay for a recount  meaning whichever presidential campaign requests a recount would have to foot the bill.

Friday is the deadline in Wisconsin for Stein or any other candidate to formally petition for a recount. Deadlines also are fast approaching in the other two states.

The Clinton campaign on Wednesday did not respond to a request for comment on whether it would petition for a recount as well.

It remains unclear how much the recount in Wisconsin would cost or when the fee would be due, Haas said. The confusion stems from contradicting state statutes and from the fact that Wisconsin has never conducted a presidential recount, he said.

Haas said the commission is beginning to consult with county clerks to develop an estimate for the cost of a recount.

The last statewide recount in Wisconsin was of the state Supreme Court race in 2011. It cost more than $520,000 and involved 1.5 million votes, or roughly half the votes cast in the presidential election.

Cobb said the $1.1 million estimate was based on that figure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
PALM BEACH, Fla.  President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and prominent charter school advocate Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education, the first women selected for top-level administration posts in his new administration.

Both Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation.

While some cheered Haleys selection, despite her limited experience on the international stage, the DeVos choice faced criticism even before it was formally announced Wednesday.

Conservatives warned that DeVos, a longtime Republican donor, previously supported the Common Core education standards that Trump railed against during the campaign.

Trump, who was at his Palm Beach estate Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, called DeVos a brilliant and passionate education advocate.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is the only minority member chosen by Trump so far.

Retired neurosurgeon and Trump loyalist, Ben Carson, an African-American, has been offered the job of secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a person familiar with the offer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the deliberations publicly.

Carson has not yet accepted the offer, but he tweeted on Wednesday that an announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.

Trump said that Haley, his U.N. choice, has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country.

She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals, he said in a statement. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.

Active in Wis. politics

DeVos, from Michigan, is a longtime advocate for charter schools and school vouchers. She currently leads the advocacy group, American Federation for Children, and sits on the board of the Jeb Bush-led Foundation for Excellence in Education.

Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families, Trump said.

DeVos said in her own statement, The status quo in education is not acceptable.

The DeVos family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors. DeVos husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company.

The couple gave $22.5 million to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 2010, at the time the largest private donation in the centers history.

American Federation for Childrens senior advisor is Scott Jensen, the former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker. He now runs the groups Wisconsin operations.

Since 2010, the group has spent at least $5.4 million on campaigns in Wisconsin, according to Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimates, mostly on Republican candidates. It spent heavily on Wisconsin legislative races this year.

Betsy DeVos has been a driving force for the privatization of our public schools, said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. Shes used her familys wealth to reward politicians who support her agenda across the nation, including Scott Walker and Republicans in Wisconsin.

Being a billionaire whose hobby is underwriting campaigns to steal our public school dollars and send them to unaccountable private schools disqualifies her from being our Secretary of Education.

Hours before the DeVos pick was announced, conservative policy leader Frank Cannon, president of American Principles Project, called her an establishment, pro-Common Core secretary of education.

This would not qualify as draining the swamp,  Cannon said, referencing Trumps campaign trail slogan. And it seems to fly in the face of what Trump has stated on education policy up to this point.

Asked about DeVos support for the Common Core standards, Trump spokesman Jason Miller noted that the president-elect has been consistent and very clear in his opposition to Common Core.

Anybody joining the administration is signing on to the president-elects platform and vision for moving America forward, Miller said.

Haley cites sense of duty

There was less immediate opposition to Haleys selection.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham praised his home-state governor as a good choice and said in a statement that he looks forward to working with her on overdue reforms of the United Nations.

Graham is chairman of the Senates Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations, which is responsible for funding the U.N. and all American foreign assistance.

Haley said she accepted the assignment partly out of a sense of duty.

When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nations standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed, she said in a statement.

Not all presidents have treated the ambassadorship to the U.N. as a Cabinet-level position, and Republicans have tended not to grant that status.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Trump is spending significant time weighing his choice for secretary of state. Among those he has interviewed is 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who repeatedly denounced Trump during the 2016 campaign.

After secretary of state, the U.N. ambassador is the highest-profile diplomatic position, often serving as the voice for U.S. positions on the international stage. As part of the Cabinet, Haley would have more opportunity to shape U.S. policies, rather than simply defend the administration.

Yet it could be an awkward role at times. Trump campaigned on the theme of America first and said he is skeptical about international unions that tie us up and bring America down. Trump has also described the United Nations as weak and incompetent.

Haley would be the third consecutive female U.S. ambassador to the U.N., after Susan Rice and Samantha Power, the current ambassador.

Wisconsin State Journal staff contributed to this report.
Last weeks election and its fallout had a surprising effect on a divided America. At last, we found something we can agree on: America has embarrassed itself.

This is hardly the first time America caught itself blushing. Remember: We are the nation that produced The Anna Nicole Show.

A lot of people felt the nation embarrassed itself in electing Donald Trump president. A lot of those same people embarrassed the nation  and themselves  by how they reacted to the news.

Protesters gathered in city streets and on the information superhighway, not to revolt against a rigged election but to complain things didnt go their way. If only Hillary Clintons supporters had displayed such passion before the election  and, you know, actually bothered to vote  Democrats might not have ended up red-faced.

This isnt how Americans deal with disappointment: When confronting a monumental defeat, what Americans do is get trashed, destroy a gas station bathroom and make up a story about how they were robbed at gunpoint. Somewhere, Ryan Lochte is grateful the nations sore losers are taking the spotlight off him.

When college students started freaking out over the prospect of a Trump presidency, professors canceled exams on campuses across the country. Administrators directed distraught students to counseling services and offered them pizza. You know, just like they did during the Vietnam War. Wait no, back then, grown-ups in authority mobilized the National Guard, not Dominos drivers.

Its trite to criticize millennials for being coddled, or their parents for babying them. But its no accident that the students organizing a post-election cry-in at Cornell are part of a generation thats been handed orange slices, participation trophies and anything else theyve wanted since birth. Hence their feeling of entitlement to the president of their choosing.

Protesting is a perfectly American response to outrage. After all, millenials grandparents marched for equal rights for women and minorities. But they sought basic human rights, not the promise of always getting what they wanted. The Declaration of Independence doesnt promise life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, the president you want and free pizza.

The election and its aftereffects revealed a deeply torn America and attracted attention overseas. How could the U.S. elect a man with no political or military experience, one with a penchant for offending just about everyone? Abroad, this made about as much sense as Americans taste for peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

This same sense of shock enveloped our campuses and cities as election returns poured in. Shock turned to panic among immigrants, homosexuals, the disabled, and everyone else Trump targeted during his campaign. So people took to the streets or, in the case of college students, assumed the fetal position and wept. I used to do that same thing the night before biology quizzes.

These concerned citizens forget that voters on the other side of the political aisle were just as dismayed eight years ago over fears Obama would take their guns, establish death panels and declare Sharia law. None of those things happened, of course.

Our system of checks and balances is designed to divide powers and prevent the president from single-handedly dismantling federal programs, walling off the country or filling his cabinet of advisers with swimsuit models.

Democrats will learn, as Republicans did eight years ago, that one mans power is limited, even if that man happens to (heaven help us) possess the nuclear launch codes. Heres to hoping they also learned its more effective to hit the streets before an election than after. And that sometimes in life, many things, such as the Electoral College, just dont make sense.

Whether the Trump presidency becomes a zit on the face of American history wont be known for years. But unrest over the outcome of a properly conducted election has become an immediate pockmark. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, citizens, and learn from this experience. You never know when national events will make America grate again.

Somewhere, Ryan Lochte is grateful the nations sore losers are taking the spotlight off him.
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The sad reality is that reports of hate crimes have spiked in the wake of Donald Trumps election win. The trend is so pronounced that it prompted Los Angeles County Supervisors to pass a motion yesterday that ensures a swift and thorough response to reports of hate crimes.

On Wednesday, L.A's law enforcement leaders stepped forward to echo the Board of Supervisor's call for timely action. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck and Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey held a press conference to emphasize the citys stance against hate. Among the topics discussed was the all-too-common scenario in which a victim, for various reasons, decides against reporting a hate crime. As noted by Feuer, the victims may be undocumented immigrants who are afraid of exposing their status, reports the L.A. Times.

Acts of hate tear at the fabric of who we are as a nation, and we want to send a strong message that no one should be reluctant or afraid to report a hate crime, said Feuer. None of us is ever going to re-victimize someone who is either a victim or a witness of a hate crime.

Feuers office, in a statement released after the conference, said that the gathering was held in light of a national trend in which theres been a 6% increase in hate crimes against Muslims, as reported by the FBI. On Wednesday, Feuer tweeted some additional data provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center; according to the statistics, there were seven reports of hate crimes in the county during the first week after the election.

According to @splcenter, there were 400 #hatecrimes reported in the first week since the #election, 7 in #losangeles county.  The Office of Mike Feuer, L.A. City Attorney (@CityAttorneyLA) November 23, 2016

Between 2014 and 2015, L.A. County saw a 24% jump in hate crimes, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations; the figure is even more stark when one considers that, for the previous seven years, reports of hate incidences had been declining.

Beck said in Feuer's release that, "Hate crimes are more than just attacks on an individual, they terrorize communities. Beck added that the LAPD now has a Hate Crime Coordinator and dedicated hate crime detectives at each of their police stations.

Supervisor Hilda L. Solis released a statement yesterday saying that the motion passed will ensure that authorities will, among other things, provide information on protection, and opening lines of communication to encourage reporting of hate crimes and incidents."

Victims and witnesses are encouraged to report hate crimes by calling a toll free number (877) 275-5273 set up by the LAPD. Callers are assured that law enforcement will not inquire about an individual's immigration status.
Thursday, November 24, 2016

Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A) provides that

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay:

(1) A Declarant-Witnesss Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) is inconsistent with the declarants testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

So, how many states have a similar rule that defines prior inconsistent statements as nonhearsay only when they are given under penalty of perjury? I'm going to start compiling them in this post.

Prior Inconsistent Statements NOT Under Oath INADMISSIBLE: (1) Alabama, (2) Arkansas; (3) Florida; (4) Hawaii; (5) Idaho; (6) Illinois; (7) Indiana; (8) Iowa; (9) Maine; (10) Massachusetts; (11) Michigan; (12) Minnesota; (13) Mississippi; (14) Nebraska; (15) New Hampshire; (16) New Mexico; (17) New York; (18) North Carolina; (19) North Dakota; (20) Ohio; (21) Oklahoma; (22) Oregon; (23) South Dakota; (24) Texas; (25) Vermont; (26) Virginia; (27) Washington; (28) West Virginia; and (29) Wyoming.

Prior Inconsistent Statements NOT Under Oath Possibly Admissible (Hybrid): (1) Connecticut; (2) Louisiana; (3) Maryland; (4) Missouri; (5) New Jersey; (6) Pennsylvania; and (7) Tennessee.

Prior Inconsistent Statements NOT Under Oath Admissible: (1) Alaska; (2) Arizona; (3) California; (4) Colorado; (5) Delaware; (6) Georgia; (7) Kansas; (8) Kentucky; (9) Montana; (10) Nevada; (11) Rhode Island; (12) South Carolina; (13) Utah; and (14) Wisconsin.

Alabama Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if -- (1) PRIOR STATEMENT BY WITNESS. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition

Alaska Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Arizona Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Arkansas Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(i):

A statement is not hearsay if:

(1) Prior Statement By Witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (i) inconsistent with his testimony and, if offered in a criminal proceeding, was given under oath and subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a disposition [deposition]....

California: No

Colorado Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Connecticut: (somewhat):

From State v. Whelan, 513 A.2d 86, 92 (Conn. 1986)

"We, therefore, adopt today a rule allowing the substantive use of prior written inconsistent statements, signed by the declarant, who has personal knowledge of the facts stated, when the declarant testifies at trial and is subject to cross examination."

Delaware Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Florida Rule of Evidence 90.801(2)(a):

A statement is not hearsay if the declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement and the statement is:

(a) Inconsistent with the declarants testimony and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Georgia Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Hawaii Rule of Evidence 802.1(1)(A):

The following statements previously made by witnesses who testify at the trial or hearing are not excluded by the hearsay rule:

(1) Inconsistent statement. The declarant is subject to cross-examination concerning the subject matter of the declarant's statement, the statement is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, the statement is offered in compliance with rule 613(b), and the statement was:

(A) Given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Idaho Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if -

(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony and was given under oath and subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Illinois Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A)(1):

A statement is not hearsay if

(1) Prior Statement by Witness. In a criminal case, the declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is

(A) inconsistent with the declarants testimony at the trial or hearing, and

(1) was made under oath at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Indiana Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

Notwithstanding Rule 801(c) , a statement is not hearsay if:

(1) A Declarant-Witnesss Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) is inconsistent with the declarants testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Iowa Rule of Evidence 5.801(d)(1)(A):

The following statements are not hearsay: (1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarants testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Kansas Rule of Evidence 6-460(a): No

Kentucky Rule of Evidence 801A(a)(1): No

Louisiana Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): (somewhat): there must be "additional evidence to corroborate the matter asserted by the prior inconsistent statement."

Maine Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement that meets one of the following conditions is not hearsay:

(1) A declarant-witnesss prior statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) Is inconsistent with the declarants testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Maryland Rule of Evidence 5-802.1(a): (somewhat) prior statement must be "given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury," "reduced to writing and was signed by the declarant," or "ecorded in substantially verbatim fashion by stenographic or electronic means contemporaneously with the making of the statement."

(Proposed) Massachusetts Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1) reads as follows: "(d) Statements which are not hearsay. A statement is not hearsay if(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with his testimony and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition."

Michigan Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if (1) Prior statement of witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Minnesota Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if:

(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Mississippi Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if: (1) Prior Statement by Witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarants testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Missouri: (somewhat):

From State v. Jennings, 815 S.W.2d 434, 443 (Mo.App. 1991):

In a criminal case, a witness' prior inconsistent extrajudicial statements may not be admitted as substantive evidence when the witness at trial denies having made the statements....However, statements a witness admits having made may be admissible under  491.074 without the declarant's admitting their truth.

Montana Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Nebraska Rule of Evidence 27-801(4)(a)(i):

A statement is not hearsay if:

(a) The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (i) inconsistent with his testimony and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Nevada Rule of Evidence 51.035(2)(A): No

New Hampshire Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if -

(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty or perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

New Jersey Rule of Evidence 803(a)(1): (somewhat) prior statement must be "contained in a sound recording or in a writing made or signed by the witness in circumstances establishing its reliability" or "given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury...."

New Mexico Rule of Evidence 11-801(d)(1)(A)

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay: (1) A Declarant-Witness's Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross- examination about a prior statement, and the statement (a) is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

New York:

From People v. Raja, 77 A.D.2d 322, 325 (N.Y.A.D. 2nd 1980):

"The less complex method is simply to introduce the earlier statement as a prior inconsistent statement....However, when this procedural route is chosen, the statement may be used solely to impeach the credibility of the witness; it may not be offered as substantive proof of the truth of its contents."

North Carolina Rules of Evidence:

Commentary to North Carolina Rule 801(d)(1):

Subdivision (d)(1) of Fed.R.Evid. 801 departs markedly from the common law in North Carolina by excluding from the hearsay ban several statements that come within the common law definition of hearsay. Accordingly, the language of Fed.R.Evid. 801(d), which provides that in certain circumstances prior inconsistent statements, prior consistent statements, and out-of-court identifications are not hearsay, was deleted.

See State v. Minter, 432 S.E.2d 146, 153 (N.C.App. 1993): "see also State v. Cope, 240 N.C. 244, 249, 81 S.E.2d 773, 777 (1954) (prior inconsistent statements admissible for impeachment purposes and not as substantive evidence)."

North Dakota Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay:

(1) A Declarant-Witness's Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony and, if offered in a criminal proceeding, was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Ohio Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if:

(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (a) inconsistent with declarants testimony, and was given under oath subject to cross-examination by the party against whom the statement is offered and subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Oklahoma Rule of Evidence Section 2801(4)(a)(1):

A statement is not hearsay if: a. the declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (1) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Oregon Rule of Evidence 801(4)(a)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if:

(a) The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is:

(A) Inconsistent with the testimony of the witness and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Pennsylvania Rule of Evidence 803.1: (somewhat) prior statement must be "under oath subject to the penalty of perjury," "a writing signed and adopted by the declarant," or "a verbatim contemporaneous electronic, audiotaped, or videotaped recording of an oral statement."

Rhode Island Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

South Carolina Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

South Dakota Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay:

(1) A declarant-witness's prior statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) Is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Tennessee Rule of Evidence 803(26): (somewhat) prior statement "must be an audio or video recorded statement, a written statement signed by the witness, or a statement given under oath."

Texas Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay: (1) A Declarant-Witnesss Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement (A) is inconsistent with the declarants testimony and: (i) when offered in a civil case, was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition; or (ii) when offered in a criminal case, was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding except a grand jury proceedingor in a deposition....

Utah Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A): No

Vermont Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if -

(1) Prior statement by witness. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is

(A) inconsistent with his testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

Virginia:

From Hall v. Commonwealth, 355 S.E.2d 591, 595 (Va. 1997):

Prior inconsistent statements of this kind, however, are inadmissible hearsay if they are offered to prove the truth of their content because they suffer from all of the usual disabilities of hearsay, e.g., they were made out of court, under circumstances which the jury cannot evaluate; the witness was not under oath when they were made; the jury was unable to observe the demeanor of the witness when making them; and the witness was not available for cross-examination when they were made.

Washington Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if--

(1) Prior Statement by Witness. The declarant testifies atthe trial or hearing and is subject to cross examination concerning the statement, and the statement is

(i) inconsistent with the declarant's testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition....

West Virginia Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement that meets the following conditions is not hearsay:

(1) A Declarant-Witness's Prior Statement. The declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the statement:

(A) is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony and was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition....

Wisconsin Rule of Evidence 908.01(4)(a)(1): No

Wyoming Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A):

A statement is not hearsay if: (1) Prior Statement by Witness.  The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is (A) inconsistent with his testimony, and, if offered in a criminal proceeding, was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2016/11/federal-rule-of-evidence-801d1a-provides-that-a-statement-that-meets-the-following-conditions-is-not-hearsay-1a-de.html
The election may be over, but for President-elect Donald Trump, the work is just beginning.

The president-elects transition team now needs to choose who will work in his administration.

It is a big job. There are positions, such as cabinet secretaries, that must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In all, there are about 4,000 jobs in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government.

They include everything from top-level advisers and cabinet members to ambassadors, agency directors, and people who answer the telephones.

Dorrance Smith knows about working at the White House. The former senior White House advisor has worked there two times, for Republican Presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush. Later, he was a senior advisor at the Defense Department for President George W. Bush, the son of President George Bush.

Smith says filling all those jobs is not as easy as saying, I want this person in this job. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and government lawyers first must investigate them.

They will go through your background for the past 20 years to determine whether or not you are fit to serve And you also are going to have to reveal publicly as a public servant your assets and many people would prefer not to have that be public information.

If the person has financial investments in a related area, they may have to sell them before taking the job. Smith did when he took a media-related job in the administration.

There are sacrifices and there are decisions that people of means are going to have to make in order to serve and theyll have to make the determination if it's if it's worth it.

Donald Trump: Untraditional

Traditionally, the incoming White House team hires people from their party who have worked at the top levels of government. However, Donald Trump is different. He ran a campaign that was not traditional.

Smith says there are Republicans who do not want to work in Trumps administration.

Before the election, Trump did not have as many people working on a transition plan as democrat Hillary Clinton. Sources say she had more people chosen for government jobs. Shortly after his election, Trump also replaced Chris Christie as the head of his transition team. He named vice-president-elect Mike Pence as the leader of the team.

The president-elect has said he wants to drain the swamp. A swamp is a wet muddy area. By using that phrase, he may mean he wants to get rid of government workers he thinks are not doing a good job. But Smith says that not using people who already have strong government experience makes Trumps job harder.

Part of what he ran on was draining the swamp and part of being the fact that he's elected was the first step and pulling the plug on the swamp. But now he's got to fill the pond. And it's an overwhelmingly daunting task.

White House Changes

Presidential elections mean big changes for many workers in the executive branch of the U.S. government.

In 1992, George Bush was not re-elected. So, Dorrance Smith had to decide what to do when he left the White House in January.

The same year, Democratic Congressional official John Angell was moving to the White House. His boss, Leon Panetta, had been named head of the White House budget office.

Angell explains, after the presidents inauguration speech and parade are over, he walks into the Oval Office of the White House. Then he is in charge of one of the worlds largest organizations.

You don't know what's going to happen that afternoon. The next morning there could be a financial crisis. There could be a foreign policy crisis. So, you really have to be up and running is the phrase. On January 21st.

For Angell, getting ready for that day meant many meetings in Washington to prepare a new budget for the Clinton presidency. It also meant flying down to Arkansas in a private jet to meet with then President-Elect Bill Clinton.

It is a very stressful process he says. As a government official with many years of experience, both in Congress and the White House, Angell says he thinks Trump is facing a very difficult transition. That is because of his lack to government experience.

Angell says preparing a budget at the beginning of the Clinton presidency was a very difficult experience.

And we were working 18 hours a day, and throwing together two or three meetings a day for the president and the team. And it had to be done very quickly and in the end the worst thing was you didn't want to fail. Because you'd be failing at a level you've never failed at before.

As a former top Congressional official , Angell says Trump faces hard choices about cutting government and cutting programs that are popular with Americans. Trump will be working with a Republican Congress. Some members will have their own ideas of what to cut, and what to keep.

Dorrance Smith gives a funny example of how these things can work.

After losing the 1992 election, President Bushs administration wanted to cut the yearly pardoning of a live turkey at Thanksgiving time in November. In the ceremony, the president appears with a real turkey at the White House and says the turkey will be pardonednot killed for a meal.

But when they took the event off the presidents schedule, they were in for a surprise. Smith says The White House was swamped by turkey industry supporters demanding that the pardon ceremony continue.

I guess there are a lot of turkeys in a lot of congressional districts with a very strong lobby because we had to put it back on. And the lame duck president had to go pardon the turkey one more time.

What will happen next in the current presidential transition is hard to predict. Smith says Trumps campaign and election blew up all of the models.

The Trump transition team will work on filling those 4,000 jobs. Their new administration will need to be ready for whatever happens on January 21, the first full day of the Trump presidency.

Im Anne Ball.

Anne Ball wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on our Facebook page.

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

transition  n. a change from one group or state or condition to another

assets  n. investments or other items worth money

swamp  n. a wet and muddy place outside

pond  n. a body of water

daunting  adj. difficult

task  n. a job for someone to do

inauguration  n. the ceremony when the new president is sworn into office

pardon  v. to be forgiven, so one will not face punishment

lobby  v. to try to influence government officials to make decisions for or against something
The top appeals court in Egypt overturned life sentences against former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi and officials of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The court cancelled the second of two life sentences against the former president. A death sentence against Morsi had been overturned by the same court a week before in the middle of November.

The overturned charges include accusations of spying for the militant group Hamas.

Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud is a lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood. The group has been outlawed in Egypt. He told the French news agency AFP he believes the court's decision was fair because, in his words, "the (first) verdict was full of legal flaws."

The former president and his associates will be retried in the two cases that were overturned. Morsi must still serve a 20-year sentence for his part in the detention and torture of protestors outside the presidential palace in 2012.

Political Pressure and Government Crackdown

Morsi became Egypts first democratically elected president in 2012. But, he was arrested after being ousted by the Egyptian military in 2013. Former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al Sisi then took power.

Since then, thousands of officials and supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have faced trials.

The Sisi government's crackdown drew criticism from around the world. Human rights groups have accused Sisi of ordering imprisonment and executions for political reasons.

Sisi has denied having influence over Egypts courts, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. Many rulings have been overturned in the past two years, but many people are still serving sentences or are awaiting trial.

Said Sadek is an Egyptian political expert. He told VOA that the easing of sentences against Muslim Brotherhood officials may have been influenced by the U.S. presidential election.

Sadek says the Egyptian government may believe it can deal with the situation.

"They feel now that they are strong enough to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't lead to any provocations," he says.

However, Sadek says he does not believe that the series of retrials will lead to acquittals soon:

The legitimacy of (President Abdel Fattah al Sisis) regime depends on fighting terrorism, so acquitting Muslim Brotherhood leaders would be counter-productive to this strategy, for the time being, he said.

Im John Russell.

Edward Yeranian wrote this story for VOA News. John Russell adapted this story for Learning English with additional information from the Wall Street Journal. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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Words in This Story

overturn  v. to decide that (a ruling, decision, etc.) is wrong and change it definition

verdict  n. the decision made by a jury in a trial

retry  v. to judge (a court case) for a second time

crackdown  n. a serious attempt to punish people for doing something that is not allowed

retrial  n. a second trial in a court of law in order to make a new judgment on a case that has been judged before

acquittal  n. the act of deciding that a person is not guilty of a crime
Every year, billions of kilograms of fresh produce are wasted in the United States. The food ends up in landfills, producing harmful greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, millions of poor Americans go hungry, without access to healthy, affordable meals.

Evan Lutz is passionate about correcting that social injustice. And he combines that goal with a passion for business.

My entire life Ive wanted to become a social entrepreneur, not just starting a business that made money but also one that gave back. I'm just an average guy with a passion towards, towards making sure no food goes to waste and making sure no person's ever hungry in America and I want to do that through business.

Lutz is CEO and founder of Hungry Harvest. Hungry Harvest is a business which collects and sells ugly produce. These are fruits and vegetables that most food companies would throw away. Lutz says more than six billion pounds are wasted each year due to surface imperfections and processing inefficiencies.

"So I'll give you an example. If you go to a grocery store and walk down the aisle and see all the produce lineup shiny, perfect, same size and color you might notice that everything, everything if you go to a farm right everything doesn't grow the same way on a farm. But if you go to a grocery store everything is growing the same exact way. Right. So all that stuff that doesn't grow the same way, oftentimes gets wasted, gets thrown out. And so we take all that stuff that normally get thrown out because it's too big too small in odd size of shape, we box it up into a variety boxes and we deliver to our customers once a week.

Lutz established Hungry Harvest in 2014. Its success depends on team work.

"Every week on Monday or Tuesday we will decide the contents box which will go into the next weeks box right, so we will call up farmers, we will work with packing houses and wholesalers to give them calls, shoot them emails, shoot them texts even or do in person visits to see what they have available that would normally get thrown away that week. We then place the order when we can accurately project how many customers and how many boxes we will have that weekend and so that's the process on Thursdays. And on Fridays we will actually make the boxes for Saturdays. Saturdays well make the boxes for Sundays. Sundays will make boxes for Mondays and all of those days well do deliveries so Saturdays well send out drivers theyll come to our warehouse and make deliveries.

For every purchase and delivery, Hungry Harvest donates healthy food to needy people. Hungry Harvest has recovered 300,000 pounds of produce to date and provided 100,000 pounds to those in need.

Lutz was inspired to act after seeing extreme poverty in areas of Baltimore, Maryland. He says he wants to eliminate the so-called food desert in that area.

"Our plan for 2016 is actually to eliminate a food desert in Baltimore. And how we're going to do that we already have the infrastructure in place. We have drivers that make deliveries to our customers every single week. We have an assembly line and we can use recovered boxes. And really what we want to do is have access to certain areas of Baltimore to fresh produce for really cheap and we'll work on accepting EBIT and WIC and food stamps by the end of the year. So people will go on in these food deserts and be able to go online pay a reduced price for those boxes and then we'll have volunteers then actually assemble and deliver the boxes for us. And that's how you limited food desert grant people access to healthy affordable foods.

In January 2016, Lutz appeared on the American business competition television show Shark Tank. It connects investors with entrepreneurs. Lutz sought a $50,000 investment in Hungry Harvest, in exchange for a five percent stake in his company. He got even more than he expected: $100,000 for 10 percent ownership.

Lutz is using the money to expand. Right now consumers can receive produce from Hungry Harvest in Maryland, Virginia, Philadelphia and the District of Columbia.

"So, we want to be the largest produce delivery service on the East Coast in five years and the largest in the United States in 10 years. And we wanted to do that with a purpose of reducing food from going to waste and feeding hungry families. Like I said there's six billion pounds of produce that go to waste every single year. How amazing would it be if we can reduce 1 billion pounds of that from going to waste and give that to our customers and donate that to hungry families right. Or if there are 50 million people that are food insecure. What if we could eliminate that and make it 25 million people that are food insecure in the next 10 years right. That's the impact. I think this model can make. And that's exactly what we plan to do over the next ten years."

For Evan Lutz, giving back to others came from his upbringing.

When I was growing up my parents instilled in me the values of giving back and giving is a lot more powerful than receiving. And so I wanted to bring that to life when I was fulfilling my career dreams of being an entrepreneur.

Lutz says Hungry Harvest has turned that hope into a reality.

"I live breathe and literally eat hungry harvest. So this is my entire life. I'm not unsatisfied at all not having a life outside of hungry harvest this is what I do. And I love what I do. It's a dream come true

But Evan Lutz now has even bigger dreams for Hungry Harvest. Why not end food waste and hunger in America.

We sell produce with purpose and that doesn't just mean we reduce food from going to waste. It doesn't just mean we give back to the community in terms of donations and feeding the hungry. It doesn't just mean we hire people that are getting back on their feet, we hire people that were formerly in prison and we hire people that were formerly injured or were sick they were living in homeless shelters they were really looking to get back on their feet for a second chance in life."

And so we live by this mantra of we want to live a life of purpose. And we do that and we just happen to sell fruits and vegetables. So everything we do has a social purpose, has a social impact in Hungry Harvest and that is reflected in how we live our daily lives. And we're really happy to be fulfilling great mission and to be doing something that's really sustainable and that we think can really revolutionize the food industry in America.
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It's customary for the president of the United States to spare the life of a turkey each year for Thanksgiving. But when and how did the stran
LEXINGTON,Neb.  The ball is back in the State of Nebraskas court.

Dawson County District Court Judge James Doyle gave the state 10 days from Nov. 18 to return a 2006 Dodge Ram pickup truck seized by the Gothenburg Police Department two years ago from Michael Schulz.

Schulz was arrested in April 2014, charged with possession of burglars tools, trespassing, and theft by taking. At the time of Schulzs arrest, Gothenburg police had reason to suspect he and others were attempting to steal copper from the Gothenburg Wastewater Treatment Facility, according to court records.

Schulzs pickup was impounded as evidence at that time.

For two years, Schulz was investigated for possible copper and brass thefts by entities ranging from the Gothenburg Police Department to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and United States Attorneys Office. State charges were filed, then dropped in anticipation of federal charges being filed against Schulz.

Those charges never came, however, so in June 2016 the State of Nebraska re-filed a single charge of possession of burglars tools against Schulz. He pleaded no contest to an amended misdemeanor charge of attempted possession of burglars tools, and was sentenced to 18 months probation.

Throughout the entire two-year investigation and subsequent conviction, Schulzs pickup was held as evidence. With his criminal case seemingly concluded, Schulz sought an order to have his pickup returned to him. Doyle issued the order in August 2016, and the Dawson County Attorneys Office sent notice of Doyles order to the City of Gothenburg.

The Gothenburg Police Department notified Schulz that he could pick up his pickup, provided he paid the towing and storage fees. Top Notch Towing of Gothenburg, which impounded and stored the truck at the request of investigators, informed Schulz that the fees amounted to more than $19,000 (more than the value of the truck). According to a letter to Schulz from Gothenburg Police Chief Randy Olson, state law mandates that Schulz is responsible for the costs because he was convicted of a crime in the case in which the truck was seized as evidence.

Further, GPD told Schulz that if he didnt pay the fees within 30 days, his truck would be liquidated and the money from the sale used to pay the towing and storage costs.

Through attorney Russ Jones, Schulz sought a temporary restraining order to bar the sale of the truck, and requested the State of Nebraska be held in contempt of court for failing to return the pickup.

A hearing was held in the matter on Nov. 4. Jones said hed never had a case where a judge ordered property be returned, yet it was not returned. However, the State of Nebraska (Dawson County Attorneys Office) held the position that they complied with the judges order, in that they notified the City of Gothenburg of the Doyles decision. The City of Gothenburgs position, according to court documents, is that Schulz must pay the fees then seek reimbursement. Jones said Schulz is unable to pay the fees.

In an order handed down Nov. 18, Doyle wrote, the ultimate question is whether the defendant must pay the storage fees which in turn depends on whether the vehicle was taken into custody and the defendant was charged with a felony or misdemeanor related to the offense for which the law enforcement agency took the vehicle into custody.

In this case, all of the offenses for which the truck was taken into custody were dismissed without a conviction, Doyle continued. After such dismissal, the defendant was charged with one of the crimes previously dismissed. However, the retention of Schulzs vehicle during the time the cases were pending was not for the purposes of determining whether Schulz committed the crime for which he was ultimately convicted. Instead, according to the representatives for the City of Gothenburg and the Dawson County Attorney, the vehicle was held for the investigation of crimes other than the crime for which Schulz was convicted.

In light of that, Doyle found that the storage fees shall not be assessed against Schulz.

However, Doyle wrote that the State of Nebraska was not in contempt of court at this time for failing to return the vehicle, as it delivered a copy of the judges order to the City of Gothenburg.

On Aug. 19, 2016, the court entered an order requiring the state to return the defendants property. Using the resources available to it, including direction to law enforcement authorities, the State of Nebraska shall have 10 days from the date of this order to comply with the courts Aug. 2016 order and return the 2006 Dodge Ram pickup to the defendant.
Editor's note: The Clipper-Herald will do a story on each of the five Lexington Regional Health Center employees who were recently recognized by the hospital for reaching the 40-years of service milestone.

LEXINGTON,Neb. - Charlene Tilson was born at the Lexington Community Hospital and grew up south of Eustis before moving to Elwood.

A life-long science enthusiast, she graduated from Elwood High School and then attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and Bryan School of Nursing inLincoln, where she received her Nursing Diploma, making her a registered nurse.

Little did she know her professional career would be spent in the same city and same hospital, though bigger and in a new location, from where she was born.

Going into nursing seemed like a natural fit for Tilson taking into account the influences of her youth, she said.

"Before my parents married, my Mom was a Nurse Aide at the Holdrege hospital. In high school and college, I loved the science classes of general biology, microbiology, and anatomy and physiology," Tilson said.

Tilson started working at the old hospital on Sept. 1, 1976. When staff moved from the old hospital to the new location that would later become Tri-County Hospital on Erie Street, she worked as the receiving nurse for the OB patients and newborns.

Numerous changes in healthcare have ensued during my career, Tilson said.

"Most of the patient services were inpatient, instead of outpatient. People were even admitted as an inpatient for routine physicals, etc. As the years went by, there were many challenges with the changes in healthcare, including new technologies, the payment reimbursement system, insurance companies' rules, etc," she said.

Tilson also noted that the amount of laws and regulations for healthcare, especially hospitals and healthcare systems, grew exponentially each year.

When asked why she spent her career in the same town and with the same employer for 40 years, Tilson listed two reasons.

"I have always loved healthcare and its challenges, plus I have had the chance to work with some great people over the past 40 years. I truly believe LRHC also has been deeply committed toLexington and the surrounding communities, especially the past few years," Tilson said.

She said she has been blessed to work in a hospital where she has been able to serve in different capacities.

"Working in a small hospital as a nurse and then as the Health Information Management (HIM) Director has given me so many different opportunities to grow as an individual and as a leader; whether as an OB Supervisor, ER nurse, Assistant Director of Nurses, Quality Management Director, Medical Staff Services, Privacy Officer or the Project Manager for our Electronic Health Record," Tilson said.

Brenda Jewett, said she was hired in 1995 by Tilson to work at LRHC. She works as a coding supervisor.

Jewett describes Tilson as a fantastic mentor and friend who is "very patient and always saw the positive attributes of others."

Tilson is someone who enjoys being on the cutting edge of technology and often wanted to be a beta site for new computer programs, Jewett said. Both Jewett and Tilson work in the Health Information Management, know as HIM, which manages medical records.

"We were affectionately referred to as her 'HIM chicks' as she tended to play mother to all of us - taking each of us under her wing to make sure we succeeded in our jobs and always had our back," Jewett said.

Jewett said Tilson took her role as "keeper of the records" very seriously. She said Tilson's nursing background has been very helpful in her many job functions: privacy officer, computer project manager, working with medical staff and as director of HIM.

"She as a memory like no one else, but if she couldn't remember, she had notes and she could find the information for you," Jewett said.

Jewett noted that Tilson has been active in the Nebraska Health Information Management Association as secretary, member of the 2003 Conference Committee, president-elect, president, past-president, member of the eHIM Roundtable, member of the Professional Promotions Committee and treasurer. In the latter group she was recognized as the 2015 Distinguished Member.

Angela Puls, informatics system coordinator at LRHC, said Tilson is a caring and compassionate friend who genuinely cares about all the people she works with.

Puls said Tilson is a strong leader who had a personal impact on her furthering her healthcare career.

"She encouraged me to go back to college to get my degree in HIM and supported me through that journey. Her passion for healthcare makes her an incredible teacher and over the years I have witnessed her mentor numerous individuals," Puls said.

The ups and downs of life and the different stages of life have been on display for Tilson to watch during her career at LRHC, she said.

"In a small hospital you also see the cycle of life, from birth to the end of life, at times in one day," Tilson said.
Duke Energy is working to reduce that number with its new avian pilot program.

Duke Energy initiating a bird-friendly program in Polk County

50 miles of bird-friendly distribution power lines in Frostproof

Duke says upgrades also will help prevent and reduce outages

After extensive research, the company rolled out the program along 50 miles of distribution power lines in Frostproof.

Duke Energy has been retrofitting our structures to make them more bird friendly for several years now, said Peveeta Persaud, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy.

"Design upgrades include rebuilding our lines, our horizontal lines so that they're vertical or stacked as well as replacing poles to insure that there's adequate spacing. This will all help prevent birds from getting in between our lines as well as perching on and building nests on our electrical structures."

The pilot program is one aspect of the $500 million the company is spending on upgrades in Florida. Besides protecting the birds, Duke Energy expects the changes to also prevent and reduce outages.

These upgrades will help strengthen the grid and improve reliability for our customers, said Persaud.

Conservation watch group Audubon Florida said its glad to see the improvements.

Overall, I think it will save quite a lot of birds and when you think about the scale of the work Duke is doing especially, said Barbara Walker, a board member for Audubon Florida.

The upgrades also help the company maintain compliance with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In 2013, Duke Energy Renewables, a subsidiary of the company, pleaded guilty to violating the treaty and was fined $1 million, according to the Department of Justice. The case centered around the deaths of 14 golden eagles and 149 other protected birds at the company's wind farms in Wyoming.

Construction on the power lines in Frostproof is scheduled to be complete by the beginning of 2017. Duke Energy said if the program is successful, it could be expanded across the country to Duke Energy's other service areas.
Anil Kapoor is not afraid to try new things.

After making his international debut with Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, the Bollywood actor went on to star in the TV series 24 and Mission: Impossible  Ghost Protocol.

Now the action star will be playing a pivotal role in Amazon Original's new sci-fi drama The Book of Strange New Things. Based on the book of the same name by Michael Faber, the web show will trace the setting up of a new colony in space, Oasis, where Kapoor plays the role of Vikram Danesh, who is the head of the settlement.

The series is going to be directed by Kevin MacDonald ( The Last King Of Scotland) and star Game of Thrones star Richard Madden. The series is being penned by Matt Charman whose writing credits include Bridge of Spies.

The actor spoke to The Hindu about the digital medium he is venturing into, "Thats the future of how people are going to consume content all over the world. I was always keen to work on a web show and since this opportunity came along, I decided to take it."

He also spoke to the daily about how he thinks content on television is undergoing a change to compete with online platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. He thinks the industry is taking a step in the right direction by giving the audience all sorts of shows they want to see.

Anil Kapoor had also acquired the remake rights to 24 and made a series that changed the face of Indian television. The drama went on to become the most awarded Indian television show of 2014 with 32 nominations and 16 wins. Additionally, he also has the remake rights for popular sitcom Modern Family

Here's a glimpse at Anil Kapoor's role in 24:

One of his other fun roles on TV includes him starring in Family Guy as the caricature version of his role in Slumdog Millionaire.
Editor's note: From Tuesday, 22 November 2016, Firstpost is carrying Rupleena Bose's daily dispatches from the ongoing International Film Festival of India, in Goa

There are things that attach itself to being a tenant.

We make homes and inhabit spaces that are owned by someone else. We live with scraps left behind by people. And sometimes even in their absence, we share a house with them and struggle to make it exclusively ours. But the scraps never leave us, they threaten to disturb every inch of comfort and harmony that we have carefully built in our lives.

This is something that happens to Emad and Rana in Asghar Farhadis new film The Salesman (also known as Forushande) We are thrown into their middle class home when the building they live is about to collapse. With them, we are in the street now with a desperate need to find a new place to live without the fear of finding bodies in the rubble. From here unfolds a stunning drama leaving Emad, Rana and the audience breathless for a moral resolution till the end.

The city is Tehran and the houses (particularly the one that Emad and Rana move into following their evacuation from the old cracking building) reminds you of India and the cities we live in. They lead fairly busy lives. Emad is a schoolteacher. They are a married couple and a part of an amateur theatre group performing Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. They are Willy Loman and Linda in the play, defeated and steadily moving towards a tragedy through their choices.

Even while their shows and rehearsals continue, a fellow cast member helps them find a terrace apartment. Almost as if speaking too soon, Emad says, "I think for once we have been lucky". They are told that the previous tenant was a woman who left her belongings and has refused to collect them. They adjust, making space for their things living with the past of the house. A day after they move in, Emad has to stay for yet another censorship visit of their play and Rana comes back home. She does everything middle class couples do when they move in: she claims her space and makes it home. Except, in a moment  everything changes.

The buzzer rings and thinking it is Emad back home, she leaves the door open and goes for her shower. Soon after, Emad returns to see patches of blood on the stairs leading up to his house. He finds out from his neighbours who rush Rana to the hospital that she was attacked in the shower by an unknown man; a possible client who thought the house was still inhabited by the previous tenant, a woman of many male acquaintances.

In middle class urban spaces, making a home where one is free and secure is not easy especially for women. From then on two journeys begin; Ranas to make sense of the violation of her space, and Emads to find a way to assert his masculinity and his failure to be the protector. They struggle and make choices, they dont go to the police. It is never clear what exactly happened in the attack  only a hint that if she hadnt smashed her own head, things could have been worse. For Rana, silence is the only possibility, she refuses the humiliation and questions of what happened to her by not talking, to the cast members, to the neighbours or to the police. Emad, on the other hand, in his heroic role-play tries to find the man who entered his house and eventually he does.

In the end, in trying to erase and correct the memory of the attack, they scar themselves with an event that entangles them with the life of the intruder. As they shuttle between their empty flat in a building that promises to collapse any moment and their temporary home where Rana fears being alone, you know the characters are heading towards an irrevocable loneliness. There is clash of class and morality. And when Emad plays the morally superior man seeking a kind of a revenge on the attacker through humiliation, you know they will never be same people again.

The Salesman won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor at this years Cannes Film Festival. Farhadi has his way with realism, his stories unfold in a way that suspense is redefined as it is in this film where till the end the audience wonders where such a story will end if at all. The film ends, leaving us in a strange ambiguous position where you know all the characters are bound together by the strand of humiliation. It leaves you to wonder about the path taken by both the protagonist and the intruder in a film where the subtext is clearly about morality in men and women.

Read part one of the Iffi Diary here.

The writer is assistant professor at the department of English at Sri Venkateswara College
The winter of 2016 just got a little bit brighter for us; the Ryan Gosling and Emma Watson starrer La La Land is all set to release on 9 December 2016.

La La Land is a musical love story set in Los Angeles, directed by Damien Chazelle, who has also directed Whiplash. The periodical is a story of jazz pianist Sebastian, who falls for an aspiring actress, Mia in Los Angeles.

The film is already on the must-watch list of film enthusiasts, and knowing the beautiful onscreen chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who have starred together previously in Crazy, Stupid, Love and Gangster Squad, the film is going to be a loved by many.

However, a lucky few people in India didn't have to wait till next month to watch the film.

JioMami held a special screening for a select few in Mumbai which was attended by the who's who of the film industry. Needless to say, they had some amazing things to say about the film.

Uff such a gorgeous film. So alive and so full of love. Floated all the way back home #LaLaLandAtMAMI  Namrata Rao (@aliceinandheri) November 23, 2016

Movie magic is back. LA LA LAND makes you want to be stupid and idealistic and hopeful forever. Ryan and Emma are stellar. #LaLaLandAtMAMI  Suprateek Chatterjee (@SupraMario) November 23, 2016

Thank god for @anupamachopra's obvious crush on Ryan Gosling. After #NiceGuys earlier, tonight saw #LaLaLandAtMAMI. Dreamiest film.  Raja Sen (@RajaSen) November 23, 2016

Hollywood hasn't ever felt this intimate, warm and Cherbourgian. La La Land, I pronounce thee instant classic. #LaLaLandatMAMI  Sukanya Verma (@SukanyaVerma) November 23, 2016

I just saw the best film of 2016! #LaLaLandAtMAMI a masterclass in filmmaking it keeps hitting the high notes non stop. LOVE LOVE   Suparn Verma (@Suparn) November 23, 2016
Meghan Markle is not a new face for those of us who closely follow TV.

On one hand, when she is not playing Rachel Zane on the law series Suits; she spends her time gracing the red carpet wearing designer dresses; and on the other hand, she is also a passionate campaigner of many philanthropic endeavours.

While everyone knows Markle as the Prince's new girlfriend, the lesser known fact is that Markle is an active humanitarian campaigner; particularly on the topic of gender equality, and is also the global ambassador of World Vision Canada.

She is acutely aware that these two elements of her life dont necessarily go hand-in-hand, so she recently wrote an essay for Elle about how she reconciled Hollywood fame with her philanthropic pursuits.

She explains how she knows that the two worlds are not 'mutually exclusive', it is difficult to find the balance between the two. She started her Web site, the Tig, in part, she writes, to offer 'thoughtful pieces about self-empowerment' for women, mixed in with the other features the site has for its readers.

She writes, "With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibilityto advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings. And, if Im lucky enough, to inspire."

The New Zealand Herald points out how Markle's activism started at a young age. At 11, she forced a soap manufacturer to alter an advert after she wrote a letter to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and other high-profile figures complaining that it implied women belonged in the kitchen. Her socio-political activism has become increasingly important to her in recent years, and she is particularly passionate about her work in Africa.

Markle was last in the news when Prince Harry released an unprecedented statement, lambasting the press and 'social-media trolls' for hassling Markle and her family.

Kensington Palace has issued a statement this morning about the harassment currently being experienced by Meghan Markle and her family. pic.twitter.com/EuFZ4fmUIj  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 8, 2016

The letter released by Kensington Palace on his behalf claims that there had been "racial undertones" in some of the coverage about the LA native  who has one white parent and one African-American parent and describes herself as bi-racial.

Markle and Prince Harry reportedly met at an event in Toronto and have been a couple since June.
Dont hold back.

When the Danish menswear brand Jack and Jones launched its campaign with the same name, we didn't anticipate what was going to follow. But its latest bilboard ad featuring actor Ranveer Singh has done quite some damage, showing insensitivity towards sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

The ad features Singh, all decked up in formal clothes, lifting a woman on his shoulders. A butler is seen in the background, sporting a smirk. The worst part - the text reads: 'Dont hold back. Take your work home.'

Dont hold back what? Your male chauvinism? Or your inextinguishable urge to portray women as sex objects?

Twitterati did not take the ad too casually either and attacked the brand.

Tamil actor Siddharth joined the club when he expressed his disgust towards the ad through a tweet:

A new low for women's rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? #Fail pic.twitter.com/3PW5mMaKOt  Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) November 20, 2016

It is not the first time that Siddharth has raise his voice against gender inequalities. He has often objected to women being dubbed as vamps while men being glorified as heroes for stalking the opposite gender in Hindi cinema. However, it is not just Siddharth who voiced his ire towards the brand and its ad.

According to a report by Mint, the ad was reported to the advertising industry watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). This forced the multinational company to withdraw the ad and apologise to the complainants. They responded to Siddharths tweet as well. However, rather than owning up, they decided to plug in their campaign again.

@Actor_Siddharth We didn't intend to offend anyone with one of our billboards. #NOTHOLDINGBACK and withdrawing it immediately.  JACK & JONES INDIA (@JackJonesIndia) November 22, 2016

Though the ad has been withdrawn, we are yet to hear from the brand ambassador Ranveer Singh.

It is a well-known fact that Singh takes personal interest even in the scripting of his commercials. He is also prompt with his replies on Twitter, whether it is accepting Hrithik Roshans dare to dance in the public wearing a Krrish costume or responding to Shah Rukh Khans comment on Koffee with Karan Season 5 taking a dig at Singh wearing padded underwear in the promos of Befikre.

But the fact remains that bagging over 14 brands is not going to help enhance Singhs popularity if he consents to doing such ads.
The crucial meeting of the GST council that was to happen on 25 November has been cancelled. No new date had been finalised, as of 24 November. Prior to the postponement, the GST negotiations between the state finance ministers and the

Union government had hit a roadblock after it was exposed that the Union government had been allegedly concealing true data from the state finance ministers during a large part of the negotiations . The present stalemate is around the issue of jurisdiction on the service taxpayers in the under Rs 1.5 crore revenue category. That the Union government has presented

misleading data to state finance ministers that hugely under represents the actual taxpayer base size is a pretty serious affair. Its not surprising that it didnt make big letter headlines given how the Delhi-based think-tanks and a segment of the business media is cheering for the Union governments side in the GST negotiations. This sort of thing should have ended the

GST negotiations altogether, but the state governments have greater faith in cooperative federalism than the Union government had.

Now that this is out in the open, Arun Jaitley is finding it difficult to defend the Unions claims on a tax base that he earlier took for granted, given the allegedly misleading information that was fed by the Union government officials to the state finance ministers. Now, those gains by the Union government, based on allegedly previously concealed information, is suddenly up for negotiation and grabs. The future of this negotiation will decide a very crucial issue of federalism in the Indian Union  would the states retain any serious amount of revenue autonomy at all or will they become total beggars seeking alms in the court of the New Delhi Empire.

Let us understand the implications of this alleged concealment of data. The crucial issue is, who will control the service tax base for entities under the Rs 1.5 crore annual revenue threshold. This is not a theoretical argument but one that is premised on numbers  the most crucial among which is the actual size of this under Rs 1.5 crore revenue service tax payer base. In the initial meeting of the GST council, service taxpayer data supplied by the Union government to the state finance ministers showed a service taxpayer base of 11 lakh.

Negotiations thus happened on the basis of this number, which the state finance ministers in good faith believed to be true. One does not expect that in a crucial forum like the GST council, the Union government would be concealing real information and feed allegedly misleading information. Based on that 11 lakh number and its estimated revenue corpus, the states were magnanimous to the Union and decided to let the Union government retain control of the under Rs 1.5 crore annual revenue service tax base. Everything changed turned out that this 11 lakh number that was supplied by the Union government to the state finance ministers was deemed to be misleading by them.

New data available with the state finance ministers suggest that the actual service taxpayer base with below Rs 1.5 crore annual revenue is almost 31 lakh! That is almost 3 times the number that the Union government fed the state finance ministers earlier. Chairman of the empowered group of state finance ministers, West Bengals Finance Minister Amit Mitra has directly accused the Union government of concealing service taxpayer information from the states. A three-times increase in tax payer base has very different revenue implications. On the basis of that, a majority of the states have now proposed that for the under Rs 1.5 crore revenue class, state governments will have full control of both goods and service taxes, while for the over Rs 1.5 crore slab, there will be dual control and revenue sharing between the States and the Union.

Any entity whose bluff has been called out so directly would be embarrassed and would respond directly to the serious allegations that have been raised. Not, so the Union government. It has refused to agree to the formula proposed by a majority of the states, including Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Delhi, Odisha and others. Thus the stalemate continues. It is unfortunate when a 31 percent vote share government has the power to hold at ransom the united political decision of a majority of state governments. That is a fundamental flaw in the federal structure of the Indian Union.

In the 4 November meeting of the GST council, the state finance ministers wanted updated data on assesses of service tax, excise and VAT. Without giving updated data to state finance ministers on such crucial matters, what is the point of a GST

council meeting? Was the Union government thinking that the GST council will be a tea-drinking, rubber-stamp club for New Delhis decisions? After the state finance ministers raised a cry based on the new data on service taxpayer base, the Union

government tried to counter that by calling for a re-opening of the settled decision.

The goods and services issues are not equivalent. The service taxpayer base issue was settled earlier based on false date. Updated data that shows the actual base to be nearly 3 times larger than what the Union governments earlier allegedly misleading numbers showed has resulted in this justified calls for negotiations from a majority of the states. There has been no such corresponding allegation of concealment from the states about the goods taxpayer base.

The Union government has retained the right to impose cess at will. Thus, it has a rate elastic source of revenue. The state governments, on the other hand, after GST proposals, have not been left with any elastic source of revenue. Thus, Union will

generate its own revenue in response to what it deems as an emergency. The states will have to go with a begging bowl to Delhi in a similar situation. This is unjust and a blow to the powers and dignity of the states.

Also, the upper slab of luxury goods, which represents a whopping 25 percent of the total indirect tax base, has been forcibly kept low on Union governments insistence since it wants to add cess over it, which it does not have to share with the states. Thus, Union already wants to deprive states from their legitimate revenue claims in the top-most tier. Either states should also have the power to impose cess or the highest slab has to be revised upwards significantly to squeeze the space for Union cess. Otherwise this becomes another way where states will be deprived of their rightful revenue.

One hopes that the BJP will not be so shameless to introduce the GST bill as a money bill and silence the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. This too after getting immense cooperation extended by most of the opposition in spite of many reservations and concerns about GST that the opposition had voiced during the parliamentary GST debate. The states, by agreeing to GST, have given up exclusive revenue powers. By dangling deadlines and roll-out dates and its pressure tactics via big corporate controlled industry bodies, the Union will try to force the state into a dishonourable and damaging settlement.

It is up to the states to stand up to this blackmail coming from same Union government that has allegedly misled state governments by giving wrong information during crucial GST council meeting. This is about the future federalism in the Indian Union and preservation of the basic structure of the Constitution of India. If the state governments do not have exclusive control over any part of the tax-payer base, it will mean that the federal structure of the Indian Union will be damaged permanently. Any union government that misleads state government by concealing revenue data does not have any moral or ethical right to claim jurisdiction over the revenue sources situated in states.
New Delhi: Moody's Investors Service Thursday said the shock ban on high-denomination currency notes will in the near term significantly disrupt economic activity and lead to weaker growth, but in the long run can boost tax revenues and translate into faster fiscal consolidation.

With 86 percent of the currency in circulation being swept away with the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, households and businesses will experience liquidity shortages for a few months, it said, adding demonetisation will "weigh on GDP growth for a few quarters, dampening government revenues."

But in the medium term, higher income declarations by way of deposits of banned notes will boost tax revenues which will support government's capital expenditure programme and support fiscal consolidation, it said.

In a report titled 'Indian Credit -- Demonetisation Is Beneficial for Indian Government and Banks; Implementation Challenges Will Disrupt Economic Activity', Moody's said the demonetisation move is affecting all sectors of the economy to

various extent, with banks being the key beneficiaries.

"Although the measures in the near term will pressure GDP growth and thereby government revenues, in the longer term they should boost tax revenues and translate into higher government capital expenditure and/or faster fiscal consolidation," Moody's Sovereign Group Associate MD Marie Diron said.

Moody's added there will be loss of wealth for individuals and corporates with unreported income, as some will choose not to deposit funds back into the formal financial system to avoid disclosing the sources of these funds.

In the immediate period, demonetisation would "significantly disrupt economic activity, resulting in temporarily weaker consumption and GDP growth," it maintained. Households and businesses will experience liquidity shortages as cash is taken out of the system, with a daily limit on the amount in old notes that can be exchanged into new notes.

"Corporates will see economic activity decline, with lower sales volumes and cash flows, with those directly exposed to retail sales most affected," Moody's Corporate Finance Group MD Laura Acres said.

However, greater formalisation of economic and financial activity would ultimately help broaden the tax base and expand usage of the financial system, which would be credit positive, it added.

In a separate report, S&P Global Ratings too said demonetisation would be positive in long-term, but will have a transitory impact on growth in the short run and could hurt banks' asset quality.

"Bank deposits would benefit due to demonetisation, though not all inflows will remain in the banking system on a permanent basis," S&P said.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, thereby withdrawing 86 per cent or Rs 14 lakh crore worth currency from circulation.

Moody's said implementation challenges, in addition to affecting growth and government revenues, will impact corporates by lowering sales volumes and cash flows. In the medium term, the impact on corporates will depend on how quickly liquidity returns to the system and transaction flows are restored, it added.

The US-based agency said the government could prevent the same amount of cash returning into the system, in an effort to increase the use of non-cash transactions and digital payments.

"This would improve the overall operating environment for doing business in India -- by improving the ease and speed at which payments reach manufacturers and reducing corruption -- but would prolong the economic disruption," it added.

Consumption in India is still largely cash-driven, and a move towards digital payments would require a likely gradual change in consumer habits.

Banks would benefit significantly from a move towards digital payments, given their role as intermediaries for such transactions, Moody's added.

Rising bank deposits -- which Moody's expects to increase by 1-2 per cent as a result of the demonetisation -- could lower lending rates, a positive for the banks.

In the nearer term, however, Moody's expects asset quality to deteriorate for banks and non-bank finance companies, as the economic disruption will significantly impact the ability of borrowers to repay loans, in particular for the loans against property, commercial vehicles and microfinance sectors.

"A prolonged disruption could also have a more significant impact on asset quality, as both corporate and small-and medium-sized enterprise customers have a limited ability to withstand a sustained period of economic weakness," Moody's said.
London: Harish Manwani (62), chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), is in the reckoning to take on the chairmanship of Tata group where a battle rages between ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Sons, the holding company of the Mumbai-based over USD 100-billion conglomerate.

According to British channel Sky News, Manwani, the former chief operating officer of the Dove-to-Marmite consumer goods giant is being lined up as a possible successor to Cyrus Mistry, who was ousted last month.

The emergence of a potential new chairman so soon after Mistry's exit  which sent shockwaves through the Indian

corporate establishment  could ease concerns about the management of the group, which also has major interests in power, chemicals and consumer goods, the channel reported.

In a sudden and dramatic turn of events last month, Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the chairman of Tata

Sons and replaced by his predecessor Ratan Tata in the interim, triggering a confrontation between the single-largest shareholder and the Tatas.

Returning to Tata Sons after the abrupt removal of Mistry, Tata has moved quickly to consolidate his grip over

the $103-billion salt-to-software group by seeking to remove the ousted chairman from boards of group firms.

TCS has called an EGM on 13 December, Indian Hotels has convened it on 20 December and Tata Chemicals on 23 December to seek Mistry's ouster.

Even after being removed as chairman of Tata Sons  the holding company of the Tata Group  Mistry continues to head the group's several listed firms, including Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.
On 21 November, a startup from Delhi called BookMyChotu put up a Facebook post offering services of handymen (colloquially called chotu) to stand in queues outside banks, for an hourly charge. The post began with the questions, "Are you short of cash?" and "Need a Helper to stand in Queue of the bank/ATM till the time your turn comes??" This post is symptomatic, and a blatant example of the exploitative nature of the current cash crunch, which threatens the marginalisation of the weaker sections of society. Firstpost tried to engage with the service as a customer to see how the process works.

The sites Facebook post, already shared by thousands, had attracted sufficient outrage considering which the operations, Firstpost felt, might have been halted. In any case, confirmation was required to know whether operations were up. We confirmed a booking on 22 November through the sites online booking facility for the next day. While we got a confirmation through mail, we received no further calls or any form of communication, on the day of service. Initially, it seemed, that the site had paid heed to social media outrage and held on to its operations. But we decided to call the number given on the website. We got through to a person, who did not give his name, but confirmed that the services were ongoing. "Sir demand hi bohat zadaa hogyi hai ab. Aap aisa kijiye main apko dusra number deta hun [The demand has been very high. I will give you another number]."

We wanted to make sure that the person knew we wanted a helper to stand in the queue for banks and not any other chores. To which the person said, "Haan haan mil jaaenge. Ladke roz nikal rahe hain [Yes, yes you will get the guys they are doing this every day]." While the website is anchored to a Noida address, its operations are spread all over Delhi. We wanted to confirm if they had a problem sending people to different parts of the city to which the person said, "Nahi sir. Koi problem nahi hai. Ladke purey din har jagah nikal rahe hain [No sir, there is no problem. The guys travel all day to all places in the city].

In a frontpage article on 23 November in the Hindustan Times the CEO of the service Satjeet Singh Bedi is quoted as saying that his inspiration behind the idea was "when my mother was ill and I needed immediately needed cash". Contrary to that sentiment, there are no conditional restrictions to who can use the websites services. This means that as long as you have the money and are willing to pay, you can get someone to stand for you in queue.

Incidentally, and though the service may have become popular only after it demonitisation antics, Firstpost addressed the neo-feudal tone in its nature of operations back in July. BookMyChotu has since, evidently gone on and straddled itself to a wave of crisis to ride the misery of the poor and the unprivileged, dehumanise their very existence and serve the rich and resourceful, which is exactly the class demontisation seeks to address. Under the garb of nationalism and assisting with a national motive, BookMyChotus services are the first, elaborate manifestation of the marginalisation of the poor for the benefit of the rich. It proves that equality can be conveniently mystified, as long as there is someone to pay the price and someone to bear the cost.
Bhaderwah: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said autonomy to both sides of Jammu and Kashmir was the only viable solution to the nearly seven-decade old problem.

"Borders cannot be changed but these can be made irrelevant and soft for people to people exchange and opening new vistas of trade and commerce for overall economic prosperity of the region."

"We bat for autonomy to both sides of Kashmir and converting LoC-IB as soft border," the National Conference President said while addressing a public meeting in Bhaderwah.

Abdullah said that issues between India and Pakistan cannot be resolved by guns or cannons, which have even been proven by four wars, but these can definitely be deliberated upon for amicable solution through a sustained process of dialogue.

He said the reality of LoC and International Border between the two nations cannot be challenged at the strength of military power and therefore the two parts of the state should be granted maximum autonomy.

In the context of Indo-Pak dialogue, he referred to the speech of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Tanghdar, emphasising that friends can be changed but not the neighbours.

He said the intermittent skirmishes on borders have only aggravated the problems of the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC President cautioned New Delhi against delaying the resolution of political issue of Kashmir, saying restoration of the commitments made in the Instrument of Accession is the only way forward in wriggling out the state from prevailing crisis.

He said the state of Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India on three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communication, which has been re-emphasised by the former Sadr-e-Riyasat, Karan Singh in Parliament recently. He said the genesis of discontent among people in Kashmir was due to breaking of promises and said that mistrust among youth is deep-rooted.

"The alienation is growing among youth, who cannot be won over by brute force or the notes of Rs 500 or Rs 1000," he said, adding that a meaningful engagement with all the stakeholders had assumed immense significance.

Warning RSS against furthering divisive agenda across the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular, Abdullah said that the state had not acceded to Hindu India but a secular nation, a proud abode for all faiths and communities.

"Nobody has right to undermine the sacrifices of Muslims in independence struggle of India," he said and asked the BJP to refrain from practicing the British legacy of 'divide and rule'.

Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Minister and National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah said that the state is facing grave challenge from divisive forces that were working overtime to generate hatred among religious communities and drift between the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

"There are political forces that are engaged in furthering communal and caste politics, which is against the essence of pluralistic state like Jammu and Kashmir", he said and urged the party cadre to stand against them for safeguarding the single entity and secular foundations of the state.

He said the existence of National Conference is due to its secular credentials and the cherished slogan of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah "Hindu Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian Unity" will always remain guiding force for the party.

Omar referred to the polarising politics of the PDP and BJP saying while the former contested 2014 elections in Kashmir by instilling fear among people about the Sangh Parivar and later based its electoral plank on getting rid of Abdullah and Mufti dynasties.

"Narendra Modi vowed during electioneering in the state to free J&K from Abdullahs and Muftis but took no time in allying with PDP after the poll results came out", he said and decried the opportunistic politics of the two parties.

The former Chief Minister expressed anguish over large scale devastation and destruction in Kashmir Valley during over past four months and claimed 90 youngsters got killed, hundreds were blinded and thousands injured.

"And the irony is that some people in the Centre are under the delusion of youngsters getting killed for Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes", he added.

He questioned the claims of normalcy dawning after demonetisation, saying the people of Kashmir would not sacrifice their sons for Rs 500 or Rs 1000 notes.

"There has been a widespread discontent among the people, which needs to be addressed by solving the political issues of Kashmir", he maintained.

Omar Abdullah, who is on a three day tour of Chinab Valley along with his father, Farooq Abdullah and several other senior leaders of the party was addressing a public rally at Dak Bungalow Bhaderwah.

"Our accession with Indian state was conditional and was limited only to currency, defense and foreign affairs but gradually they started draining it.

Then they came with the false promises, be it Narsimha Rao's 'Sky is the limit', or Vajpaye's confession from Lal Qilla on 15 August and now Narinder Modi's promises," said Omar Abdullah.
The devastating inferno that rattled both patients and physicians in West Bengal's SSKM Hospital last week, thankfully, left out an important slice of world medical history.

A living room sized laboratory where British medical doctor, Ronald Ross, researched painstakingly for over a decade and received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1902 for his work on transmission of malaria, becoming the first British Nobel laureate, and the first born outside of Europe.

The laboratory was saved, so was a small sized memorial instituted in the name of the legendary doctor in 1927.

Sir Rosss discovery of the malarial parasite in the gastrointestinal tract of a mosquito proved malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes, which laid the foundation for the method of combating the disease.

The blaze originated on 22 November in a newly constructed library on the sixth floor of the Ronald Ross building, which houses several departments of the hospital, in the morning. The floor, which houses the male and female plastic surgery wards and a nurse station, was immediately evacuated. As many as 19 fire tenders brought the blaze under control.

"We incurred damages in some of the wards but ensured the fire did not reach the Ross laboratory. Like human lives, this one was also extremely important for us," Dr Nimal Majhi, a physician who works closely with the states government hospitals, said in an interview.

"It was a great relief, the fire was precariously close," said Dr Majhi, adding that efforts are already on to set up a building for research in the name of the legendary doctor, who was also an amateur artiste and poet. He published several novels and composed songs as well. The state government is contemplating constructing an auditorium in his name in Kolkata, he added.

The fire at the state-run SSKM Hospital was doused after two hours. Around 150 people, including patients, visitors, staff and bystanders, were evacuated but the accident set off an alarm because it was the second such incident in the hospital in two months.

Dr Tamanesh Bhattacharya, a seasoned physician, said he was happy authorities at SSKM  known as Presidency General during the colonial days  managed to save what he considered one of the most important legacies of world medicine.

Ross is back in news, and it is good that the state government is trying to preserve an important legacy. His work saved millions lives across the world, including soldiers of the two World Wars. Let's not forget malaria was nightmarish for almost three decades before Ross made the breakthrough. He should always be remembered, said Dr Bhattacharya.

There is another tinge of history in the life of the doctor, though. The eldest of ten children of Sir Campbell Claye Grant Ross, a general in the British Indian Army, and Matilda Charlotte Elderton, Ross was born in Almora (now in Uttarakhand) in 1857, the year of the Sepoy movement that historians consider Indias First War of Independence, or the Great Rebellion.

"His work was phenomenal, so was his love for people in India, especially Kolkata where he regularly interacted with writers, poets and actors, often acting in stage shows, says Kolkatas seasoned politician and historian, Nirbed Ray.

Ray said he felt happy that the state government plans to preserve the legacy of Ross. "It should have been done earlier, the memorial came up in 1927, and he was even present to inaugurate it," said Ray.

The doctor achieved a breakthrough in August 1898, when he managed to culture 20 adult "brown" mosquitoes from collected larvae, and then successfully infecting the mosquitoes from a patient (named Husein Khan) for a price of 8 annas (one anna per blood-fed mosquito). And after blood-feeding, he dissected the mosquito and recovered a "circular cell" from its gut. It was on 20 August 1898 that Dr Ross confirmed the presence of the malarial parasite inside the gut of the mosquito, and the following day he confirmed the growth of the parasite in the mosquito.

Ray said Dr Ross, overjoyed, even composed a poem for his discovery and posted it to his wife in faraway Liverpool. It read:

This day relenting God

Hath placed within my hand

A wondrous thing; and God

Be praised. At His command,

Seeking His secret deeds

With tears and toiling breath,

I find thy cunning seeds,

O million-murdering Death.

I know this little thing

A myriad men will save.

O Death, where is thy sting?

Thy victory, O Grave?

Almost 84 years later, the legacy of the famed physician is being resurrected in the city where he found ways to counter what was then one of the worlds biggest medical crisis.

"Never mind if a fire rekindled our memories, better late than never," said Ray.
No more will students have to hide their comic books under the desk during lectures, or snoop around to get their dose of popular literature in school. You ask why? The Council of School Certificate Examination (CISCE) has decided to include popular books like JK Rowling's Harry Potter series for junior and middle school students as part of their English Literature syllabus starting from the academic year 2017-18, according to a Times Of India report.

What's more, graphic novels like Amar Chitra Katha, Tintin, Asterix comics and Art Spiegelman's 'Maus' will be a part of the syllabus from class 3 to class 8, says a report by The Economic Times. Satyajit Ray's Feluda, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes will also feature in the new syllabus, along with JRR Tolkien's 'The Hobbit', PG Wodehouse and Charles Dickens' classics. A string of autobiographies of Anne Frank, Malala Yusufazai, APJ Abdul Kalam are also some new additions, with Enid Blyton's Noddy series, for the lower classes.

"This is a good idea. Having these books as a part of the syllabus would ensure that children will be able to connect with what is being taught, a lot more than they did with 'serious' and abridged Shakespeare. I think that children are reading less than before today because they don't find immediate value in what they read in school anymore and this move will help them cultivate a reading habit, which is what ultimately matters," says Sujatha Nair, an English teacher at an ICSE school in Mumbai.

Further cementing the great truth that ICSE > all other boards pic.twitter.com/g8gipjibM4  Suprateek Chatterjee (@SupraMario) November 24, 2016

Holy shit, Maus is in the ICSE syllabus! #win https://t.co/gMXbdyQQtd  Shiva Jayashankar (@adyarite) November 24, 2016

So apparently Harry Potter is being added to the ICSE syllabus & I NEED TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL! WHY DIDN'T THEY TEACH SUCH GOOD THINGS TO US?  Prags (@inkdin) November 24, 2016

@anipandita if true, it's like introducing Wes Anderson and Tarantino in a film syllabus but getting rid of Ray and Fellini  Suprateek Chatterjee (@SupraMario) November 24, 2016

#harrypotter n #hobbit in icse?? Let students discover genres on their own via libraries instead of forcing make belief wizadry on them  shwetabh mathur (@shwetabh2) November 24, 2016

A student of the Pawar Public School, Gayatri Nair, says: " I like this idea since I like fantasy and magic. Not that there's anything wrong with Tagore and Shakespeare, but I think this is more appropriate for our age. I think that this ensures that there's an actual scope for improvement. I would have liked John Green to be added too, though."

An earlier Times Of India report showed that the very first survey of learning achievement of class 10 students conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) indicated that majority of the states and Union territories are performing below the overall average score, with only 41 percent students able to correctly answer in English.

"It comes as a happy change that the Board is looking at modernisation of the international curriculum and making it child-centered. It will help us teachers, who may otherwise have never read this kind of literature, to understand the viewpoint of the child better. When we were children we read about Tom Sawyer and identified with him because we were in a similar situation, and in the same way, this step is bound to help current students identify with the subject today. Yes, they might lose out on traditional literature but the focus of the subject of English in schools is not literature appreciation, but rapid reading. One can always pick up traditional literature later on," says another teacher of an ICSE school, Sunandita Dey.

CISCE chief executive and secretary, Gerry Arathoon, was quoted by the newspaper as saying: "Earlier, we were preparing curriculum for class IX till XII. But now with having our own syllabus right from pre-school will ultimately help students to prepare for ICSE examinations in a better way. Now, students will be capable of working towards the board examinations much before."

Another ICSE board student, Jaden Rodrigues welcomed the change: "Shakespeare is boring and confusing but Rowling is interesting. I love the Harry Potter series because it's got adventure and journey. It won't be studying anymore. This will help encourage children who do not read to pick up books. Next, they should add Percy Jackson."

This change signals one of many in what is and will be thought of as literature, 'relevancy' to be the key word in our mind. Just as Bob Dylan's Nobel win brought back the relevancy of the position of the poet laureate, this could help bring back the significance of a subject competing with the likes of Math, Physics and Chemistry, in an essential way, the way it should be  for the love of it.
Srinagar: Separatist Hurriyat Conference on Thursday hit out at chief of Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri

Ravi Shankar for his statement on Kashmir, terming it as "ridiculous and hilarious".

At a peace conference in Jammu on Wednesday, Sri Sri had said, "The (Kashmir) conflict has become the cash cow for some people. They don't want to put an end to it. This has become a source of earning for them. But the common people are facing the brunt of it. They need to come forward and isolate those people."

Reacting to this, a spokesman of hardline Hurriyat Conference led by

said, "It (Sri Sri's comment) is far from reality and the remarks regarding the present freedom movement and resistance leadership are baseless and illogical."

Advising the spritual guru "to go through the history and equip himself with the facts" before commenting, the spokesman said in a statement that "this deceitful rhetoric has no takers" in the valley.

Referring to Sri Sri's statement regarding the type of "freedom", the Hurriyat spokesman said "before asking this question, he should have gone through the pages of history and resolutions of United Nations and promises made by his own political stalwarts...."
New Delhi: India on Thursday remained non-committal about holding talks with Pakistan Prime Minister's foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz during the Heart of Asia Conference which he will attend in Amritsar next week.

Incidentally, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is ill, will not attend the two-day meet on 3 and 4 December.

MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup told a weekly media briefing that the programme was in a "fluid state" and he was not in a position to "rule in or rule out anything at this stage. I can only say that as of 24 November nothing has been decided".

When pressed on the subject, he said, "The programme is still evolving. The associated events connected with the conference are in a process of evolving. At this point, I am not in a position to make any other announcement."

Swarup reiterated India's stated position that though the country is for dialogue "talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand".

"Our position on it (talks) is very very clear from the beginning. We are for a dialogue with Pakistan. But talks and terror cannot happen together. It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen," he said and also referred to Swaraj's address at the UN recently that for talks to take place, Islamabad will have to end terrorism.

Asked whether Swaraj will attend the conference, he said "The external affairs minister will not be able to attend."

Swaraj is undergoing treatment for kidney failure.

The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will be attended by representatives of over 40 countries.
In Kashmir, the spectacle of clashes on the de facto border is slowly transforming into a spectre of war. After two Indian soldiers were killed and another beheaded on Tuesday, seven civilians and three Pakistani soldiers died in shelling on Wednesday. The intensity of the flare-up is only going to increase in the coming days.

Since the Uri attack, when at least 20 Army soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn raid by attackers from across the border, and India's subsequent 'surgical strikes', the skirmishes along the border have been rising sharply. Earlier they were restricted to small gunfire and sniper killings. Now, they are becoming increasingly perilous, with artillery shells being used for the first times in years, victimising even the civilian population.

Although the exchange of gunfire at the Kashmir border is not uncommon, what distinguishes this recent flare up is the sheer scale and indiscrimination with which the two armies have been targeting each other. At least 40 civilians and many more soldiers have reportedly perished on both sides of Kashmir since the surgical strikes were carried out by the Army.

Due to escalating diplomatic tensions, the armies of the two countries have shown least regard to the 2003 ceasefire agreement, brokered by the United Nations, which had silenced the roar of machines guns at the borders and brought much-needed relief to people living there. In today's time, not a day passes without one or the other side claiming injuries or casualties.

In such a climate of antagonism, the people of Kashmir are the primary victims of any escalation, diplomatic or military, between India and Pakistan. Not only are thousands of people forced to abandon their livelihoods and the education of their children, but it inflicts psychological wounds on generations which no medicine can cure.

Most importantly, it prolongs the sufferings in Kashmir. Notwithstanding its costs, the media in the two countries has already started beating the drums of war with retired Army generals and former diplomats drooling in the comforts of their homes on primetime news that each side should "teach a lesson" to the other.

These self-proclaimed torchbearers of our morality miss the larger point that at the end of any war, the clashing sides sit and talk it out. War doesn't bring victory to any side. It only perpetuates death and destruction. If the world powers could engage with Germany after the end of World War II, what stops India and Pakistan from starting a process of reconciliation.

Under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the relations between India and Pakistan have been on a roller coaster ride, touching a high on one day with the PM-Nawaz meeting taking place and tanking to an all-time low due to the continuing terror attacks, allegedly masterminded by Pakistan. There has to be consistency and it can only come if Kashmir issue is settled.

The climate of hostility which has prevailed between India and Pakistan since their birth in 1947 endangers the lives of millions who lives under the shade of gun in the divided Kashmir. The two countries have more pressing issues, like education, healthcare and poverty, to address than to waste their resources in ramping up their defence capabilities which end up victimising their own people.

Rather than training guns at each other and employing the outdated Cold War tactics to claim political and military gains, India and Pakistan must start a meaningful dialogue process which can end their decades-long hostilities. Our world will be a much better place to live in if there is a climate of love and respect for mutual coexistence rather than mindless acrimony.

The political and military leadership in the two countries owe this to their tormented people. They especially owe this to the people of Kashmir who have been at the receiving end of the Indo-Pak hostilities over the last seven decades of turmoil.
The Indian Army on Wednesday launched a counter-offensive against Pakistan along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed, with the body of one mutilated in a cross-LoC attack, even as Pakistani troops continued to shell Indian positions, injuring six jawans.

Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of Northern Command, Brig PS Gotra said the India Army launched a counter-offensive along the Line of Control in retaliation to Tuesday's offensive in Machhil sector of Kashmir.

The Indian Army posts are responding strongly and giving a befitting reply, Defence PRO Manish Mehta said.

Pakistan Army also fired at Indian posts along the LoC in Bhimber Gali, Krishna Ghati and Nowshera sectors.

Four jawans were injured in shelling by Pakistani troops along the LoC, an Army officer said, according to PTI. "Two BSF jawans suffered minor injuries in ceasefire violation by Pakistan troops along LoC in Bhimbher Gali area of Rajouri district at 0945 hours on Wednesday," a senior BSF officer said. They are out of danger, he added.

In the cross-LoC attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists, three Indian soldiers were killed on Tuesday, with body of one of them being mutilated.

The ambush on the Army patrol took place in Machhil sector of Kashmir, following which the Indian Army vowed heavy "retribution". This is the second such incident of mutilation of the body of an Indian soldier in the same sector since 28 October.

Pakistan said that nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured when Indian fire hit a bus in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, reported The Indian Express. Three Army personnel were also killed, added the report. Meanwhile, India said that Pakistan targeted civilian in Machhil, Keran and Gurez sectors.

Meanwhile, Indian Army's Director General of Military Operations Lt General Ranbir Singh on Wednesday talked to his Pakistan counterpart, an official said. While India raised the issue of mutilation of an Indian soldier's body, Pakistan talked of civilian deaths in the firing on the border.

"The Pakistan DGMO was exhorted to exercise strict control over their (Pakistan) troops to refrain from any nefarious activities. This would lead to return of normalcy along the Line of Control," the official statement said, according to IANS.

Lt. General Singh told his Pakistan counterpart that if "any ceasefire violations were initiated by Pakistan troops or any infiltration attempts were made by terrorists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or territory under the neighbouring country's control, it would invite an appropriate response by the Indian Army".

The Pakistan DGMO, meanwhile, informed the Indian side about the alleged civilian casualties on their side due to Indian firing along the Line of Control.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan has shown utmost restraint in the face of Indian belligerence and will not tolerate India's "deliberate targeting" of civilians and ambulances.

"We cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport," Sharif said, Dawn reported.

Pakistan also summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh for the third consecutive day on Wednesday to condemn "unprovoked ceasefire violations" at the LoC and claimed Indian troops were "intentionally" targeting civilian areas.

According to The Economic Times, this escalation of tension along the border is "provocation tactic to trigger a reaction and political tailspin ahead of retirement of Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on 29 November". The report added that New Delhi wants a smooth transition and wants to avoid extension of Raheel's term, which the Indian response at border was "befitting but below the radar.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup on Thursday said that MEA has summoned the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner, and stated that despite calls for restraint Pakistan, violated ceasefire 27 times from 12-21 November.

MEA summoned Pakistan's Dy HC & stated that despite calls for restrain Pakistan violated ceasefire 27 times from 12-21 Nov-Vikas Swarup, MEA pic.twitter.com/Dp1vIGHIZc  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

The MEA has also issued a demarche and Swarup stated that these acts are a clear violation of the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

Swarup further said that the government protested the targeting of 18 villages along LoC between 16 and 21 November by the Pakistan Army and raised concerns over the continued attempts of infiltration.

Swarup did not rule out Sartaj Aziz but said, "Talks and terror can't go together. Environment has to be terror free for talks to take place."

The MEA also expects early repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed LoC around seven weeks back.

We expect early repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed LoC over 7wks ago: MEA pic.twitter.com/zIMkcojXtv  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

With inputs from agencies
Pakistan has completely failed in its ambition of drawing international attention to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July. This has led many civilians in the neighbouring country, including members of the political class, to question the wisdom and viability of its India policy. Is a serious review of the policy now underway?

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs foreign policy advisor, Sartaj Aziz, informed the Pakistan Senate on Tuesday that a high-powered official committee would be set up  presided by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry  to work out a "doable and sustainable India-Kashmir policy". The committee will comprise senior officials of the Ministries of Defence, Interior and Information, as well as from representatives from the army and intelligence agencies, including the ISI.

The establishment of such a committee would be a routine affair in most countries, where reviews of important policy areas are periodically undertaken by officials at the political level, however, Pakistan is different. Its army has never given up control of the countrys important foreign and security policies. Certainly, Pakistans India policy has always been within its domain. Thus, many pertinent questions arise about the timing and the leadership of the Chaudhry committee.

Nawaz has always tried to wrest control of Pakistans India policy from the army. These attempts were witnessed in his two previous terms, as in the current. The army has never let him off the leash, though. The immediate trigger for the committees appointment may be a response to the Senates interest in going into reasons why Pakistans diplomatic efforts to highlight the so-called human rights situation in the Kashmir Valley have failed. But the fact that the Chaudhry committee has been announced on the eve of General Raheel Sharifs retirement suggests that it is one more endeavour of the prime minister to gain control of the countrys India policy.

It is unlikely that the new army chief, whoever he is, will allow the country's India policy to go outside of the armys remit. This is despite the combative and unprecedented words, doable and sustainable. Their clear implication is that the Generals have not succeeded in establishing a coherent India policy  one which serves Pakistans national interest.

Nawaz's basic charge against the Generals is correct. However, he cannot escape his share in Pakistans failure at getting India condemned for the way it handled the Kashmir Valley agitation. He also does not seem to have made any real attempt to restrain the Generals from raising the temperatures along the LOC, or in reining in the anti-India jihadi tanzeems.

Nawaz has been under great political pressure lately because of his familys alleged corruption, as revealed in the Panama Papers recently. Although obliquely, Gen Sharif too joined Imran Khan and other political parties in demanding that Nawaz should subject his family and himself to a probe. This weakened Nawazs ability to exert himself in policy matters but he could have still taken a stand, especially after the Uri attack. Instead, he chose to launch a blistering attack on India at the United Nations General Assembly, only to be met with complete international rebuff.

The truth is that Prime Minister Narendra Modis steps towards Pakistan, after it raised the ante following Wanis killing, took Pakistan by surprise. Earlier, Pakistan was pro-active and India reactive; now the roles have reversed. Pakistan has been compelled to maintain, as best as it can, the basic postulates of its approaches toward India; especially its core policy that any use of conventional forces by India may lead to nuclear war. That threat was challenged by Indian army's surgical strikes following the Uri attack.

India needs to maintain its present pro-active posture, which sends the clear message that India is no longer willing to accept Pakistani calibrated terrorism and hostility. Thus, the decision to respond aggressively along the LoC to Pakistani provocative firing is appropriate as per the pro-active approach. This is painful for many Indian civilians and soldiers are making the supreme sacrifice. India has to preserve with the present approach so that Pakistan and the international community gets the message that Indian policy has changed.

There are voices being raised in India about where this tit for tat approach is going. Is it leading to a dangerous abyss that may result in unforeseen consequences? It is this thinking that led India in the past to exercise restraint and allowed Pakistan to strike India through terrorism.

The international community lauded Indias restraint while putting Pakistan under pressure, but eventually let it off the hook. A changed Indian approach will lead the international community to ask Pakistan to stop its provocative actions. The onus has to be on Pakistan to change course.

The Chaudhry committee has to be shown that it will have to take note of a new Indian resolve to end Pakistani terror and negativity. That if nothing else, India may put a few scratches on the Pakistani armys mind though its obdurateness will no doubt continue.

India is in for the long haul and Modi has to prove his mettle.
Islamabad: Pakistan is not worried at all about any threat from India and its "battle hardened" military is capable of responding to aggression, air force chief Marshal Sohail Aman said on Wednesday.

"We are not worried about India at all," the Air Chief said, speaking at the ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS).

He said it is better if India showed restraint and solved the Kashmir issue to prevent escalation of tension. "India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them," he was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

Aman said that Pakistan does not want war but cannot ignore this kind of pressure. "We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression," he asserted.

He said Pakistan had "readied all of its (battle) plans following threats from India" after the terror attack in Uri sector.

The Air chief asserted that Pakistan, engaged in Operation Zarb-e-Azab, has a "battle hardened military" to respond to threats.

The air chief's remarks came a day after Pakistan claimed that Indian forces targeted a passenger bus in PoK killing at least nine people and wounding another nine.It also claimed that seven Indian troops were killed in retaliatory fire when India opened fire on the Line of Control (LoC) and killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Indian Army on Thursday launched a counter offensive against Pakistan along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed, with body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack, even as Pakistani troops continued to shell Indian positions, injuring six jawans.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate "deliberate targeting" of innocent civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC," he added.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail of Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who was accused of raping a minor girl.

#FLASH: Supreme Court rejects the bail plea of RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav in a rape case  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Abhay Manohar Sapre asked whether Yadav was already "released" following the bail granted by Patna High Court earlier. When the apex court was informed that he was not released, the bench said: "Let him remain in jail."

The court order came as it allowed the Bihar government's plea challenging the bail.

The girl, a resident of Rahui in Nalanda, was allegedly raped by Raj Ballabh on 6 February at his Bihar Sharif residence, around 70 km from Patna. The Times of India reported that the Nalanda police had filed an FIR only in April and Raj Ballabh was named as the key accused. The police chargesheet also names a woman and her relatives for allegedly supplying girls to the RJD lawmaker. RJD then suspended the accused from party membership a day after his arrest.

Ahead of the hearing against his bail plea in the Supreme Court, Raj Ballabh called upon Lalu Prasad Yadav in October, saying that he had no grudge against the state government. He also maintained that there was no serious charge against him and "no FIR or statement of the victim under 164 CRPC against me".

The third term RJD MLA was suspended from the party in the wake of the rape allegation against him.

The minor girl, however, expressed concern for her and her family's safety, as the Bihar government in October appealed against the bail order in the Supreme Court. "He [Yadav] is out of jail... I am scared and afraid for my family. What will happen to them? I am already dead after what happened to me. I have nothing more to lose," said the Nalanda schoolgirl in a WhatsApp message to reporters.

The Supreme Court on 24 October rejected a plea by Raj Ballabh to remain outside Bihar, favouring that the RJD legislator should remain in jail till the victim records her statement "fairly and without any fear".

With inputs from agencies
Sandip Jat works in an apparel manufacturing company in Noida. He is more than happy to receive Rs 36,000 as three months' advance salary from his employer. Given his meagre salary, it wouldn't have been possible to accumulate such a big amount of money in a short period of time. But the note ban imposed by the central government has ensured he received the cash up front.

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of high value currency notes on 8 November, various companies are paying their employees advance salaries, using the big piles of currency they might have stashed away in safekeeping.

Bimal Jain of the Punjab Haryana Delhi Chambers of Commerce had said that loans and advance payments could be one of the many ways people might use to get rid of old currency notes. Sandip Jat is one of the many beneficiaries of the move.

Speaking to Firstpost, Jat said his company sells apparel abroad, and so has been unaffected by the cash crunch in India. "Our company has always purchased raw materials through banks. The company used up the old notes to pay our advance salary. So, there has been no cash crunch here," he said.

Industry experts say companies that conducted a lot of cash-based transactions are the ones hit by demonetisation. "Most of our transactions are made in cheques, but we also make cash payments for some expenditures, which have all stalled temporarily. Since we have a long standing relationship with our suppliers, they have agreed to it," said Pramod Agarwal of Surinder Devi Creations.

It's not only the businesses that dealt in cash that are hit, but also the ones that deal with luxury goods, Jain had said.

Wakeel Ahmed works at a shop selling Exide batteries. He says sales have fallen by 90 percent since demonetisation. "Dealers who used to order 100 batteries a day don't even order 10. It seems that people have stalled purchase of batteries, at least those batteries which are used in car engines," he said.

While the reduced liquidity among people is directly responsible for the fall in demand, one hopes things will normalise once new currency comes in.

And though former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said the demonetisation move would impact the economy by over 2 percent, many in the industry hope things are more optimistic. Pramod Agarwal, who works with Delhi-based Surinder Devi Creations, told Firstpost that the money unearthed by this process could enrich the economy. He said the move by the government could also ensure goods and commodities are priced more realistically, which would then strengthen the Rupee.

"Our foreign currency accumulation increases in the coffers due to the appreciation of the Rupee. Because of this, our budget deficit will decrease and give a boost to the economy," Agarwal said.

On the other hand, said Hari Prasad, proprietor of Manokamna Exports, said, "Since the last 15 days, I am carrying a cheque of Rs 50,000 and am unable to encash it. Many of my workers are absent from work, because they are spending entire days at the bank. But despite all this, I am happy with the move. It will make transactions digital and reduce corruption."

Regarding the criticism coming in from various quarters, he likened it to computerisation of various services. "When computers were introduced, many people were wary it would result in loss of jobs. But computers have become part of our daily lives now. Similarly, people will also take time to get used to demonetisation and digital transactions. Once people get used to it, it would have good effects," he said.
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the Opposition of inventing reasons to run away from a debate on demonetisation and took a swipe at former PM Manmohan Singh over his criticism, saying it is no surprise that he is unhappy as "maximum black money was generated" under his rule.

Rejecting Singh's contention that GDP growth will plunge by 2 percent, he said demonetisation will have a positive impact on the economy over medium to long term as the money from shadow economy will find its way into the mainstream.

"Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as a blunder," Jaitley said.

His response came after Singh castigated the government and the Prime Minister over demonetisation during Rajya Sabha debate, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."

As the Rajya Sabha was repeatedly adjourned with Opposition insisting that the Prime Minister be present during the entire debate, Jaitley lashed out at the opposition saying it was not keen on the debate but on disruption.

"The government position is very clear from the day one that we are ready for the debate.... The Opposition was finding excuses to avoid discussion but today morning they were taken by surprise when we announced that the Prime Minister will participate in the debate.

"Now they are inventing and manufacturing reasons to escape the debate," Jaitley told the media.

Lashing out at the previous UPA government, Jaitley alleged that "the maximum black money was generated during the 2004-14 as well as the period was engulfed in various scams like 2G and coal scam".

"We are not surprised that they did not like the anti-black money measures the government has taken...Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as a blunder," he said.

Stressing that demonetisation decision will have a "positive" impact on the economy, Jaitley said, "This (the move) will have a positive impact as far as the medium and long terms are concerned. A lot of shadow money will become part of the banking system (due to demonetisation)."

The minister said the measure will increase the lending capacity of banks which could extend the money to farmers, social sector and also industry.

Seeking to bring out the contrast between the UPA and the current NDA regimes, the Minister said the previous government had "policy paralysis" and thus, could not take "tough decision" unlike the Modi dispensation.

On an allegation that some BJP leaders were aware of the move, while Jaitley was not kept in the loop, the Finance Minister said, "This decision was kept a secret. The people who needed to know, knew (about it)... the allegation is already contradictory that the information was known to some BJP members as though I was not a BJP member."

Jaitley also rejected the accusation that RBI governor Urjit Patel did not address the media after the announcement of the scheme, saying the "office people are supposed to perform" and not come out in front of the camera.

Underlining that the demonetisation decision is in the interest of the country, he said the government has taken the "right steps" and is implementing it in the "right manner" and will defend it.

He also rejected the JPC demand by some of the Opposition parties, saying there should be some "evidence" or "blame" for initiating such investigation.
Dhuri: AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday alleged that Tuesday's attack on his vehicle, when he was going to Nihal Singh Wala to address a rally, was an attempt by the Badals to scare him away from Punjab.

"They can never break my resolve to work for the welfare of Punjab which has been ruined during the misrule of Akalis and Congress," he said while addressing a rally here on the fourth day of his 11-day tour of poll-bound Punjab.

Blaming the SAD-BJP government for the "deliberate" breach in his security, Kejriwal alleged, "It was an attack on me by the Badals to scare me away from Punjab."

"I myself saw a police officer indicating towards a group of 15 to 20 people, who came rushing towards me and started attacking my vehicle with canes," he claimed and asked, "Can someone dare to do that with the Badals in Punjab? I think it was a deliberate attack".

"I don't need security by the Badals, I have come here to sacrifice my life for the sake and cause of Punjab. I am ready to fight till my last breath for the people," Kejriwal said.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for causing inconvenience to the people through demonetisation, he alleged, "It is the farmers, shopkeepers, women and government employees who have suffered the most and are forced to stand in the queues to withdraw their own hard-earned money."

He alleged that Modi was only making fool of the people as demonetisation has actually benefited business tycoons.

"If Modi really has brought back black money, then the black money amassed by the Badals and those stashed by Amarinder in foreign banks should have been brought back," he said.

On the attack on Preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, Kejriwal asked, "If religious preachers are openly attacked, how can Badal ensure safety and security of the common man?"

He alleged that the SAD-BJP government, which claimed to be panthic, has "failed" to arrest the culprits in a series of sacrilege incidents in the state and assured that if AAP forms government in the state the culprits will be nabbed.

Alleging that Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and the Badals are contesting the Punjab assembly polls jointly, he said, "I have learnt that many hoardings of Congress across Punjab have actually been funded by Badals."

"Similarly, they (SAD and Congress) are seen together waving black flags at me wherever I go. I have never seen Akalis showing black flags to Congress leaders and vice versa," Kejriwal said.

Speaking at Dirba he alleged, "A month ago the Badal government withdrew a corruption case against Amarinder. It was a favour reciprocated to him for opposing the CBI probe against Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia for his involvement in the multi-crore drug racket."

Similarly, when Amarinder was the chief minister, from 2002 to 2007, he had never acted on the corruption cases against the Badal, the AAP national convener alleged.

"Everybody knows Amarinder and his family have stashed ill-gotten money in Swiss Bank accounts. But Badal, in his 10 year as the Chief Minister, never acted against him," Kejriwal alleged.

Asserting that AAP forms government in Punjab, it would not tolerate corruption, he said, "AAP has always worked against corruption. When I came to know an AAP minister was trying to seek a Rs 6 lakh bribe, I threw him out of my Cabinet immediately."

However, Badal has failed to take action against his ministers Tota Singh and Majithia, who have been accused of corruption and drugs, Kejriwal said.

He claimed that Badal instead of acting against corrupt leaders was filing "false" cases and lathi charging Anganwadi workers and teachers, who peacefully protest for their rights.

"Congress too failed to take action against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler who were involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots," he said, adding Amarinder has given clean chits to Tytler and Kamal Nath.

Accusing both SAD and Congress of surrendering Punjab's right on river water, senior AAP leader H S Phoolka said the party will not allow a single drop of water to be taken from the state.

"The SAD-BJP combine and Congress have misled people on Sutlej-Yamuna-Link canal issue. The notification of acquiring land for it was issued by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Amarinder had supported it," he alleged.
New Delhi: With reports of surge in deposits in Jan Dhan accounts with as much as Rs 21,000 crore being parked in them following demonetisation, Congress on Thursday sought a CAG probe into the entire issue saying the country is being taken for a ride.

"This whole Jan Dhan business, I have always believed from Day 1, that there is more to it than meets the eye. We hope the CAG will do a quick inquiry into this whole Jan Dhan issue," Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said.

He said, "the entire country is being taken for a ride on the Jan Dhan issue."

Jan Dhan Accounts have seen a huge surge in deposits, with Rs 21,000 crore being parked in such accounts following demonetisation announced earlier this month, with maximum being in West Bengal and followed by Congress-ruled Karnataka.

In the last 13 days, banks have been flooded with deposits in Jan Dhan accounts that have touched Rs 21,000 crore, sources said.

On 8 November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a surprise move announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and since then, long queues before banks and post offices are seen to deposit or exchange these currencies.

Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal leads the pack of states which has seen the highest deposits so far followed by Karnataka.

Following the currency withdrawal, the total balance has crossed Rs 65,000 crore to Rs 66,636 crore. As of 9 November, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.

With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) was launched on August 28, 2014. Such accounts have a deposit limit of Rs 50,000.
The turn of events in Rajya Sabha on Thursday raises a serious question. Are the Congress and its new found friends Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Left really interested in a debate on demonetisation, in a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to what they think are the "popular concerns" or their singular intent is to disrupt Parliament?

It now seems that the opposition wants to keep their disruptive momentum going until 28 November for their nationwide bandh call against demonetisation, which they call Akrosh Diwas Bharat Bandh. There couldn't be an Akrosh Diwas (anger day) if the lead opposition leaders themselves don't display or continue to display their anger till that day.

They also know that given a chance Modi, with all the eloquence at his command and ability to counter charge against his rivals, they would not be left with much to charge against him and his regime. Their anger would subside unless they find some fresh reasons to be angry and make people feel the same anger as they do. It is thus best suited to them, as part of their strategy to keep on creating a ruckus on flimsy pretexts and not to let Modi respond, at least till Monday.

Consider how events unfolded today  till noon the opposition was crying hoarse that the Modi was avoiding Parliament, which to them effectively meant insulting temple of democracy and in turn parliamentary democracy.

But then Prime Minister surprised by coming to Rajya Sabha and announcing through Finance Minister and Leader of that House Arun Jaitley that he would intervene in the debate. That effectively took the steam out of the opposition stance and for an hour it seemed an orderly debate would take place. But one realises that then the opposition had no other option but to let the debate proceed.

The opposition leaders very well knew that the Prime Minister, who happens to be the Head of Executive of the nation simply can't afford to sit for days in both Houses of Parliament to listen to all speeches. He has other businesses to do. The minister-in-charge of the nodal ministry remains present in the House. Some other ministers also remain present and notes are given to the PM by the ministers and other staff. He also listens to the debate, as and when possible, on TV even if he is not present in the House. The Prime Minister responds in the designated time in Parliament which is an old practice.

So when the House reassembled after lunch, the Prime Minister didn't come, the opposition was back to what they know it the best, disrupt the House and force adjournment for the day. Their arguments could sound more hollow, more so after Finance Minister asserted that PM would come and respond in the debate. The question is what makes Congress, BSP, TMC, SP, Left so determined to find common ground and disrupt the House day after day without any valid ground.

The way events are unfolding and the way Rahul Gandhi and company are making boastful claims on "opposition unity", it seems that their concern is not about demonetisation but fighting a political war against Modi, which they in any case always wanted to. Demonetisation is only the pretext. They all are claiming to be championing hardships faced by the common man and woman on the streets due to discontinuance of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but the way they are venting their anger, albeit claiming to be on people's behalf raises the question is there something more behind than what meets the eye.

But then too many conflicting points are being made by opposition leaders, without one caring for others' demands. They are perhaps conscious not to cede their lead role to another leader  Rahul to Mamata or vice versa, Kerjriwal to Mamata or vice versa, Mayawati to Rahul or vice versa, Yechuri to Mamata or vice versa and so on.

Sample their contradiction and conflicts. The Congress and Left parties did not join Mamata Banerjee's march to the President House because Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Sitaram Yechuri could not march in her leadership. Same happened at Mamata's Jantar Mantar rally. Mamata also wants to overthrow Modi regime now. Mayawati wants the dissolution of Parliament and a snap poll now. Mamata and Kejriwal want complete roll back, Rahul wants constitution of JPC. Rahul and Kejriwal smell a scam but when Manmohan Singh rose to speak on demonetisation in Rajya Sabha he didn't talk about JPC or any scam. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav attends protest rallies but his party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is openly in support of Modi's demonetisation move. The list of contradiction in opposition ranks would go on.

What, however, makes them come together is their known anti-Modi positioning but will that be enough to convince the people at large that they have waged a war against the present ruling dispensation on demonetisation to protect their interests. Their present difficulties bleed their heart more than getting convinced by stated objectives of Modi that his shock therapy was to fight against corruption, black money, fake currency, drug, hawala, terror and Naxal financing.

In the din the Congress and its present fellow travellers did not even listen to what their leader, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said in Parliament: "I do not disagree with the objectives of taking steps against terrorism and black money.... In the process of demonetisation, monumental mismanagement has taken place. What has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency and banking system,..... I say so with all responsibility that we do not know what will be the full outcome. 50 days is a short period but for those who are poor, even 50 days can bring about disastrous effects." This essentially means that the economist and administrator in Manmohan Singh endorsed the objectives behind PM Modi's bold move but a Congress politician in him made them add other riders. The second part can still be debated, provided his party let the Parliament function.
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"Most of the people eat food in dhabas when they eat outside. Can the government inform us about a dhaba in which a person carries card-swiping machine in his dhoti?" he said.

"Many labourers became unemployed today...there are very long lines and crores of people in those lines. But it is not just that," he said.

"Does the farmer own black money when he engages in transactions for seeds, fertilisers?" he said.

"It is a reality that the farmer is an important part of the economy. That is why India does not have to beg," said a dramatic Anand Sharma in the Rajya Sabha.

"What authority do the prime minister and finance minister have so that we have to beg you for our very own money?" thundered Anand Sharma.

"You have created a condition in which you told a person that he can exchange Rs 4000...I marvel at your generosity," Anand Sharma said sarcastically in the Rajya Sabha.

"After the Uri attack and surgical strikes, we posed various questions about the army....You said we cannot ask questions about the army," said Anand Sharma.

"If you are the government, that doesn't mean India belongs to you. You have created such an environment that we cannot ask questions," he said. "If we ask questions, you start asking questions about our nationality," he added.

"Who got the benefits of your decisions?" he said. "Your government is only for those people who are your friends. You hurt those people who question you."

"If you are trying to give this impression to the country that India started fighting money laundering now, then the prime minister is living on a different planet," said Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.

After this statement, the Congress MPs began shouting again. Note that Anand Sharma was not interrupted even once when he was talking in the Rajya Sabha.

"But I think Anand Sharma does not know much about economics," he said. "If his claim of fight against black money is true, he would not have ignored the fact the entire country has welcomed this move by the Narendra Modi government," he added.

"In the future, inflation will be controlled when more people pay taxes," he said. "The central government will also get more resources for the welfare of farmers, labourers, youth, women in the country."

"Some people had suggested that this move should have been made public seven days before implementing it. But secrecy is most important in such issues," he said.

"The government has taken many steps against corruption. Demonetisation was a historic step against corruption. This was also a warning to the corrupt that the black money they had was useless now," he said.

"Finance Minister had informed the House only about the counterfeit money in the economy, not the money which some people have got through corruption," Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha.

"Some people just seem to be unhappy that Prime Minister Modi has taken an important step against corruption and black money," he said.

"When the government had just come to power in 2014, there was an atmosphere against corruption," Piyush Goyal said in Rajya Sabha.

"This is a step after which a person will think twice before engaging in corruption," he said. "The poor labourers will benefit the most," he added.

"Please do not hold views which the corrupt can use to free themselves," Goyal added.

"You (Congress) talked about surgical strike. We did not mention it. This is good. You have given us a certificate that we conducted precise strikes against corruption," he said.

"The country is ready to tolerate a few days of inconvenience," he said. "The entire country is with us," he added.

"And even the Election Commission won't be able to notice when someone is carrying the Rs 2000 note in one's pocket," he said.

"Several crore vegetables were just thrown away per day from markets," he said. "Who gave you the advice to come up with the Rs 2000 note? Go outside Delhi to the villages of India. Nobody will accept that note," he said.

"The farmer is unable to buy fertiliser and seeds," said SP's Ram Gopal Yadav in Rajya Sabha. "Farmers are not able to sell potatoes now. Were these potatoes made using black money?" he said.

Who gave you the advice to come up with the Rs 2000 note? SP asks govt in Rajya Sabha

"Our party will move adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha," she said, adding that demonetisation was a dictatorial and draconian step by the government.

"We told the President that he is the custodian of the Constitution. We told him to talk to the government," Mamata Banerjee said.

"Today, people are not getting access to vegetables in the markets. Children are not getting milk. People are dying," she said.

"Today, how did the non-performing assets increase in the last six months?" the Bengal chief minister said.

"After cancelling notes, there were a lot of notes needed in banks for the huge demand," Mamata Banerjee said after meeting the President.

"90 percent of blak money is in tax havens abroad," Yechury further said. "It's like the prime minister is killing the pond to kill the crocodiles, forgetting that the crocodiles can survive on land too."

"But where is this black money? All estimates say 6 percent of this black money is in cash," he said. "Black money is in circulation, in real estate...gold imports have surged in the last few days."

"We want black money controlled. We want it eliminated. The World Bank says that nearly 21 percent of the Indian economy is in the black economy," Yechury said.

"If you stop these Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, you think corruption will stop? Now, corruption will double with the Rs 2000 notes," Yechury said.

"After 26/11, we went on debating over a new law to combat terrorism. On many issues, we had agreed over how terror funding needed to stop," Yechury said.

"We want to stop counterfeit money. Locate where this is happening. Punish them. We will all support this. But this is not the way to stop it," he said.

"By this way, you are killing the poor," he said. "As Anand Sharma said, 0.02 percent of the cash is counterfeit. To take care of that, you needed to do this?" he added.

"The point is that black money is not going to go away with this. Black money is not stock, it is a flow," Yechury said in the Rajya Sabha.

"For the rest of India, it is Tarasta Bharat," he said. "People can't get their children treated at hospitals."

"In our rural population, 80.8 percent of the rural population is not covered by the banks," he said. "What banking does the prime minister want us to go to? There is Shining India with e-wallets for them," he said.

"Why are you agonising the Indian people?" Yechury said. "Agonising people is a way to tell people: I control your personal lives," he said, adding that this was a fascist move.

"People will say this Tughlaqshahi," he said. "This does not meet the objectives of what the prime minister set out to do."

"You have allowed banks to exchange notes. Bulk of Indians today are dealing with rural cooperative banks. You don't allow them to change notes...86 percent of the rural population is dependent on transactions from these banks," Yechury said.

"Don't give this exemption to political parties to spend whatever they want," Yechury said. "If you're serious about stopping corruption, stop the supply side of corruption," he added.

Laughing at Das, Patel said, "Are you kidding me? How can you allow your EAS to issue such statements. You are making a fool of yourself."

Slamming the Narendra Modi government's handling of the issue, Patel gave example of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, who during a press conference on Wednesday said: "The new currency notes, just as the old ones, will lose colour if rubbed with a piece of cloth wet because that's the nature of the dye used. If your note does not lose colour, it's one of the signs that it may be fake."

"Abolishing black money is a move we all support, and BJP government's intention is great but you are asking people to be hungry for 50 days for a feast on the 51st day. Vo aadmi toh mar ayega, bhoj kya khayega (The person will die on the 51st day, what will he do with the feast)," says Patel.

Rajya Sabha erupted after the comment. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad interrupted Tiwari's speech and said that the statement, which was "atrocious", should not go in record. "No one speaks about the country's prime minister in such an atrocious way. It should not go in record,"Prasad urged the Chair.

In a dramatised speech, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh compared prime minister to former dictators like Gaddafi, Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. "The seat that you (Narendra Modi) occupy, has been occupied by Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shastri ji, Charan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But the way you are working, I am forced to say that it reminds me of dictators like Gaddafi, Hitler and Mussolini."

"Modi government marched to victory in 2014 because the country was tired of scams and scandals. That was our poll promise. I request Congress to come out of the dilemma - are you in favour of the people who are hoarders and scamsters or you are in favour of a bold step that eradicates black money from the country. Narendra Modi is capable of taking very strong steps. Temporary pain for long term gain - is the buzz across India. One thing I want to assure - if your money is valid, nothing will happen to it."

"You have got a chance to discuss important things on this platform so do not waste it by mud-slinging. When it comes to people and their hatred towards our PM (the way you claim), we saw their hatred in 2014 and we will see it in 2019," Naidu says to a thundering applause.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu addresses Rajya Sabha and says that people across the nation are watching this Session and they are not interested in a history lesson.

As expected, the Opposition targetted the Narendra Modi governmemnt over its "ill-preparedness" and "lack of empathy" for the general public. Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad at the end of day one requested the prime minister to appear in the House tomorrow and discuss the issue of demonetisation.

While the Lok Sabha was adjourned earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha argued and debated on topics till 6 pm on Wednesday. Chairman of Upper House PJ Kurien announced that the House will resume the same discussion (on demonetisation) from 2 pm on Thursday.

The first day of Winter Session went as expected, in fact it went better than expected.

While the Union ministers and BJP MPs are demanding an apology from Leader of Opposition in the House Ghulam Nabi Azad for his Uri remark, Congress MPs are demanding an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demonetisation scheme.

"The nation wants to know today," he added, reminding of a news anchor famous for shouting at the panellists on his show.

"The Opposition has disappointed us and the country," he said. "I want the Congress to clarify on Azad's remark," he said.

"Those who ruled over the country for 50 years and ruined the situation of the aam aadmi and those who did not let the Parliament function are now also on the same path," said Naidu. "The prime minister will respond if needed," he said.

"They are not strong...they are not on the side of the truth, the people are not with them," Naidu further said.

"The government is ready for a discussion. We don't know what has happened with the Congress. Suddenly, they took a U-turn," said Venkaiah Naidu.

"There is a need to fix the railway infrastructure. Modiji talked about the bullet train. But there is no focus. How will the aam aadmi benefit and get safety?" said Rahul on the Patna-Indore Express tragedy.

"This is one of the biggest economic decisions in India. But the prime minister had not thought about the impact," he said. "This is some other form of the prime minister," he added.

"We are ready for a discussion. These days, why does the prime minister need to come to the Parliament? He is on a different level. He does not need to interact with his ministers," said Rahul sarcastically.

"People are complaining of deals at the back of long lines to banks. So people are suffering huge losses," he said. "Only 15 or 20 friends of the prime minister will benefit from this move," he added.

"People have told me that they are suffering a lot," said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi outside the Parliament on the issue of demonetisation.

The Opposition members raised slogans, even as deputy chairman PJ Kurien threatened to adjourn the House. And... he did. The Rajya Sabha is adjourned till 12 pm.

Rajya Sabh and Lok Sabha will resume in a while. Meanwhile, asking his countrymen to tell their views on demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted saying, "I want your first-hand view on the decision taken regarding currency notes. Take part in the survey on the NM App."

Speaker of Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan, quite hassled by the way the MPs were behaving, threatened to adjourn the House. "Kyun kar rahe ho?" asks Mahajan very politely as Opposition MPs raised slogans and asked for debate over demonetisation. The protesting MPs also demanded that Modi should come to the House and make a speech.

The Lok Sabha is heading for another adjournment as the Opposition escalated their attack on the BJP government over the same issue of demonetisation. By the look of it, the Winter Session of Parliament till now has been a total washout with no constructive debate happening on the floor.

After the ruckus got out of hand, a very calm Hamid Ansari stood up and adjourned the Upper House till 2 pm.

Members could not keep it together even as the Rajya Sabha resumed proceedings at 12.32 pm.

However, an unrelenting opposition continued to raise slogans. The Speaker again appealed to the opposition to participate in the debate saying that the disruption of proceedings would not resolve the problem. "I am really pained. If you are people's representatives, you should stand by them," she said. As pandemonium continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon after 20 minutes of proceedings.

Ignoring the slogan shouting opposition members, Speaker allowed the Question Hour to continue amidst noise. When some opposition members tried to bring a placard, denouncing the demonetisation move, infront of Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who was replying a question related to his Ministry, the Speaker tried to intervene and asked the MPs not to disturb the Minister. "This is not good. Everyone will be shown on TV, but don't disturb the Minister. If you want to discuss something, raise it before the government. People are in pain, tell the government. But this is not the way to highlight people's grievances," Mahajan said asking them to return to their seats.

Samjawadi Party, NCP and RJD stood in the aisles in solidarity with the other opposition members. While AIADMK members were also on the aisles raising the issue of Tamil fishermen injured allegedly in firing by Sri Lankan Navy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was seen busy in his seat in an intimate discussion with AAP MP from Punjab Harinder Singh Khalsa.

Opposition disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha for the fourth consecutive day demanding discussion on demonetisation on a rule which entails voting forcing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House for about 50 minutes soon after it assembled. As soon as the House met, members of Congress, TMC, Left parties and AAP rushed to the Well of the House demanding discussions on the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 under Rule 56, that entails.

As BJP members also created a ruckus, an angry Kurien snapped at them. "Why should treasury benches do this? Mr Minister, why should treasury benches to this," he asked Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

He told Azad that he was ready to accept his notice under rule 267 seeking suspension of business. "Mr Azad, I am ready to admit your notice under 267 if only there is order in the House."

As they shouted slogans from the Well, Kurien said, "You cannot speak in the Well. Shouting in the Well is of no use. If you go back to your seats, I will give you time (to speak)."

At this point, TMC members carrying placards of "Financial Emergency" trooped into the Well, with Congress members following suit.

"He should come and listen to the pain people have faced because of his decision," Mayawati said. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition is ready for discussion on the issue but Prime Minister should come to the Rajya Sabha first. As he spoke, members of the BJP moved into the aisles raising slogans.

No sooner were the listed papers laid on the table in Rajya Sabha, Sharad Yadav of JD(U) said the government should pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to kin of the 70 persons who lost their lives due to hardships caused by withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. Naresh Agarwal (SP) and Mayawati (BSP) said Modi should be called before starting discussion on the demonetisation.

"Today they want PM Modi to address Parliament, tomorrow they will be demand a JPC on the demonetisation issue. Trust me, the opposition is just shifting the goalpost. Why are they running away from a debate? Why do they just want prime minister to speak, is the finance minister not competent enough to reply to their questions," asks Prasad.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked the Opposition on their demand of asking Prime Minister Modi to address the House of Parliament and in turn asked, "Why is the Opposition running away from debate?"

"Government wants that there should be a long and elaborate discussion so that we can explain to this country the enormous benefits of this move," Singh said. "Congress and other opposition parties are on a self-destructing course."

On the other hand, Jitendra Singh said that the Opposition was on a self-destruct course.

"Let's keep Opposition and government out of this. Let's think of the people," he further said.

"Almost 70 people have died. He must be crying for them. And I respect that," Congress leader Kapil Sibal told Times Now, clearly taking a dig at the prime minister and implying that he could not come to the Parliament because he was crying.

Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Rahul alleged that the government and the prime minister are not allowing a debate in the House. "We have filed an adjournment motion in the House and we want Modi to discuss the issue with us," says Rahul Gandhi

"Main poochna chahti hoon prime minister se ki agar unhone itna acha kaam kiya hai to vo ghabra kyu rahe hain? (I want to ask PM Modi that if he has taken a decision which is so good why is he scared?) I urge President to summon Modi and ask him to take measures to solve the problems faced by people post demonetisation move," Mayawati told the media after Lok Sabha got its first adjournment of the day.

Alleging that it sends a wrong message if prime minister keeps shying away from a debate, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday that a debate is a must because otherwise the BJP government looks like it has done something wrong. "Puri daal kali lag rahi hai."

Proceedings was continuously disrupted as Opposition leaders raised loud slogans against the BJP government. Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu urges Speaker Sumitra Mahajan not to adjourn the Lower House. "The debate has begun, madam Speaker. Please let the debate happen. The world is watching what Congress and the Oppostion is doing inside the House," Naidu said.

The protesting MPs, for the past half an hour, have continously made noise and tried to disrupt the Lok Sabha proceedings. Speaker Mahajan still holding solid ground.

Opposition members are trying their best to disrupt the proceedings, but BJP MPs (MJ Akbar, Jitendra Singh) are holding their ground and not giving in to the awful noise that the protesting MPs are making.

 Samajwadi Party's Akshay Yadav tore paper and threw it at Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the Lok Sabha. This is definitely a new low for Opposition parties in the Parliament.

"I am very sorry that the RBI has been exposed to this kind of criticism which is fully justified," he added.

"It is not good that every day, the banking system comes up with some modifications. That reflects very poorly on the prime minister's office," he said.

"The national income can decline by about 2 percentage points...I feel that the prime minister must come up with some constructive proposal," said the former prime minister.

"In my opinion, the way demonetisation has been implemented will hurt agriculture, small industries and the people in the informal sector," he said.

"I want to know from the prime minister the names of countries where people have deposited their money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw it," he said.

"What has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency and banking system," said Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha.

"I say so with all responsibility that we do not know what will be the full outcome," he said. "50 days is a short period but for those who are poor, even 50 days can bring about disastrous effects. About 60-65 people have lost their lives," he said.

"Today, there are no two opinions in the country. It is important to take note of the grievances of the common people who have suffered," said Manmohan Singh.

"I do not disagree with the objectives of taking steps against terroism and black money," said former prime minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

"By the day, the damage to the economy is increasing. Today, reports have come which have said that in three sectors that are biggest in exports, 4 lakh people have lost their jobs in the last one week or so," Sitaram Yechury said.

Addressing the Upper House, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said how can the prime minister say something like this? "How can the prime minister allege that Opposition parties are in favour of black money? This is wrong."

Within minutes after the Rajya Sabha began today, the opposition members were up in arms protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that those cirticising the government are not angry with the government's preparedness but the fact that they did not get time to prepare.

Slamming the prime minister for his statements on black money hoarders and his veiled attack against the Opposition, the leaders of Congress and SP and BSP created ruckus in the Upper House and demanded that Modi should address the MPs and apologise for his remarks.

"I'm sure many of us have read analysis of noted economist Lawrence Summers, former chief economist of the World Bank and advisor to Obama government who concludes that this exercise has "resulted in chaos and loss of trust" and "without new measures, is unlikely to have lasting benefits. Don't you think it is high time and right time to form a committee of our real experts and intellectuals like Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha, Subramanian Swamy and other top economists and intellectuals of our party and veteran Murli Manohar Joshi to help the government in this hour?"

In a series of tweets on Friday, BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, reiterating his faith in PM Modi's intention, said, "However, I have serious concerns about the outcome, fallout and responses of the people of India and the almost united opposition in particular."

Seventh day of Winter Session and looks like this week business will take a massive hit due to ongoing protests by the Opposition

As Opposition din did not die down even after many requests by the Speaker, Mahajan adjourned the Lok Sabha till Monday (28 November) 11 am.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that a man  Rakesh Singh  tried to jump in the Lok Sabha off the audience gallery on Friday after the House was adjourned. "Security officials overpowered him and took him under custody and he has been let off with warning," Mahajan added.

Taking the nation by surprise, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes with effect from midnight.

Latching on to media reports, Yechury sought to pick holes in the November 8 decision as he noted that 29 crore out of the 30 crore Rupay card holders have never used their cards in a swipe machine. Referring to a report on surfacing of two variants of Rs 500 currency notes, the Marxist leader also took a dig at Modi, saying it was the "Prime Minister's way" of stopping circulation of fake currency.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, dubbing him as 'Tughlaq' who had "gone missing" after issuing a farman (order). "Barely 20-25 percent of cash demand being met in Metros. Rural areas even worse. While Tughlaq goes missing after his firman," Yechury tweeted.

Will government's wait-and-watch technique, as far as Opposition's protests are concerned, work out in their favour? Most political observers say no because the government does not have the luxury of time. Meanwhile, Opposition leaders are still not relenting with their demand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in Parliament.

Opposition leaders met before Parliament session commences for the tenth day. However, the worry again is will the Opposition let the Parliament function? Winter Session will go on for 22 sittings - 50 percent of the sittings are already over - the Upper House and the Lok Sabha have still not been able to table crucial bills.

"Why is the BJP government so stubborn? Why is the prime minister not coming to debate?" Mayawati asks.

In Samba, security forces killed two militants early on Tuesday when a group of militants tried to sneak in from Pakistan through the International Border near a border outpost in this Jammu district. According to reports, the two militants were killed following a "heavy firing exchange" with the BSF.

Even as terrorists infiltrated the International Border and attacked two - Nagrota and Samba - districts of Jammu and Kashmir, there was no talk of that in Parliament. The attack in Nagrota reportedly started around 5.30 am with militants firing at a field regiment camp located in the garrison town of Nagrota near the headquarter's of army's 16 corps in the state.

Demonetisation has been the reason for Parliament washouts over ten days now since Winter Session began on 16 November. Interestingly, Parliament has not discussed anything else except note ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government since the Winter Session began.

TMC leader slammed the BJP government for deploying Army in West Bengal. Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien that the deployment was a routine exercise and casting aspersions on the prime minister is not acceptable.

Opposition: Modiji says he wants the poor to build their own homes, but what about those homes which are being broken?

If one had to compare, Rajya Sabha gets adjourned way faster and sooner than the Lower House.

Unrelenting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan continues to let MPs speak on different issues while a group of MPs continue to try to disrupt Lok Sabha. But since Winter Session has begun (16 November) members who are against the demonetisation drive have tried, and sometimes successfully, to stall Parliament.

"These photos on the walls of the Rajya Sabha, from where emanates the power of democracy, often haunt me. It has been particularly difficult these last few days to get past those photos.Till 1 December (15th day since the commencement of the Winter Session) no business has been allowed to occur in the House except on the first day when a good debate took place in the Rajya Sabha over demonetisation. Regular disruptions, chaos and high-pitched slogan shouting have resulted in complete pandemonium in the House. The continuous ruckus usually leads to the suspension of the House proceedings and, sadly, it has become a regular feature. I ask myself: is this the only alternative left to us to address the genuine grievances of the public, the states and the nation?"

"Today, the situation is that the withdrawals of the foreigners who come to India are being rationed," he said. "This has globally affected India's image," he added.

"Demonetisation created a situation that 86 percent of the currency was invalidated. Now, after one month, tens of millions of Indians are standing in queues...It is wrong to give an impression that the Opposition is opposing the prime minister's crusade against black money," Sharma said.

"The government has collective responsibility but the prime minister is the first among the equals," said Congress leader Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.

"In the 2G debates, we have insisted that the prime minister participates in this discussions but there is no such practice in this House that the prime minister must be here to listen to each and every member," Jaitley said.

"What is the stage we are in? Halfway through the debate, you interrupted the debate and are now raising concerns which have never been raised in the House," he told the Opposition.

"In this case, we've repeatedly said that the prime minister is going to participate in the debate," Jaitley said.

"It's obviously an important issue. The questions have to be answered," he said. "The government and the council of ministers fucntions on a collective responsibility. There is no such principle that a specific person has to answer."

"We've gone through this exercise of having a major debate which is incomplete. We have spent seven hours on the debate under rule 167," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha.

When asked what does the Opposition want, Rahul said, "He should come and debate in Parliament and explain his decision," he said.

Targetting the Prime Minister over the issue of note ban, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP government saying that the decision to scrap high denomination currency was the biggest mistake ever. "It was a bold decision - that's what Modi ji says - but bold decisions are also foolish decisions. Demonetisation was a foolish decision. Our farmers, fishermen and the poor of the society are dying, our Prime Minister does not care for any of that. He (PM Modi) is laughing and having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering. The idea behind cashless economy is that a few people and corporates will get maximum benefits from these transactions. This has damaged the nation."

Today, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi launched a full frontal attack on the prime minister and an united Opposition on Thursday observed Black Day to mark one month since the demonetisation scheme kicked in.

8 November was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. It's been a month since then and the Opposition protests have gone on unabated - both in and outside Parliament.

"It is a matter of shame that the government refused to pay tributes to the martyrs," Azad thundered, provoking the ruling party ministers and MPs, who began shouting as if Azad had just thrown something at them.

He also said that by protesting in front of the Gandhi statue, the Opposition was the one which paid tributes to the deceased.

"We have been saying for a long time that over 100 people have died because of demonetisation," said Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha. "But the government refused to pay tribute to the deceased," he added.

President Pranab Mukherjee has accused the Opposition of "gagging majority" in both Houses of Parliament. "Debate, dissension and decision are necessary," Times Now quoted the President as saying. "The Parliament must not be disrupted...this is unacceptable."

The Winter Session of Parliament began on 16 November. On 8 December, both the Houses  Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha  met for the 14th day but within minutes of commencing, both the Houses were adjourned. The deadlock over demonetisation has led to wastage of the Winter Session so far and considering that just one more week is left for the session to wrap up, there is little hope that the Houses will be able to pass, introduce or even debate the Bills that have been listed for consideration.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venakaiah Naidu also termed the 'dharna' by opposition leaders near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises as a big 'tamasha' and an insult to the Father of the Nation. "Our opponents particularly the Congress I am told are observing a Black Day. I say what they are observing is a 'Black Money Support Day'," Naidu said.

Hitting out at the Congress-led Opposition for observing a 'Black Day' against demonetisation decision, government on Thursday said they are actually observing a "Black Money Support Day".

According to Times Now, the parliamentary panel has found Mann guilty of security breach after he filmed a video entering Parliament by crossing several security layers and posted it on social media.

 As if the logjam in Parliament  for which President Pranab Mukherjee admonished both Houses  was not embarrassing enough for the country, there is now a delegation of parliamentarians from Vietnam who are going to witness what happens in an Indian Parliament.

"Govt running from debate, if they allow me to speak then you will see what an earthquake will come," says Rahul Gandhi.

Keep in mind that Vietnamese Parliamentarians are in both the Houses to witness this scene.

It's hard to decide at this point who is trying to stall Parliament. During zero hour in Lok Sabha, MPs in Lok Sabha kept raising ruckus while Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tries her best to keep the House in session.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 14 December On Friday as the count of members in the Upper House remained 21 despite calls from the Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, the house was adjourned till Monday. The benches remained empty while BJP and Congress leaders sparred with each other blaming each other for the non-functioning government.

According to an NDTV report Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that Prime Minister Modi will be present in Parliament for the three remaining days of the Session and can participate in proceedings for either of the House depending on the need.

Congress is going to raise the issue of corruption charges against Kiren Rijiju. Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader, Anand Sharma has given notice under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha for discussion on corruption charges against Rijiju.

"This is the first time that the government is scheming to make sure Parliament does not function. It usually is the job of Opposition to stand up and protest. However, this government is doing a pretty job of that and making sure that Parliament does not work and no one questions the ruling party's decision. Demonetisation has hurt a lot of people, but Modi government's arrogance is not allowing us to debate it in the House," a TMC member said.

BJP was reacting to Congress vice-president's claim that he has information of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's alleged involvement in "personal corruption." Rahul was speaking a joint press briefing of the Opposition after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day amid din created by Opposition.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said that if Rahul Gandhi had any information, he could have revealed them twenty days ago, ""but till today he wasn't ready to make any earth-shattering revelations."

Soon after Rajya Sabha passed the amended The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill (2014) and Kurien congratulated the members over a productive day, Anand Sharma raised the issue of Rijiju and his alleged involvement in the Rs 450-crore scam. Kurien tried to maintain calm in the House by saying, "Allegation without informing the Chair cannot be allowed."

As Opposition members raised slogans and ruckus, Kurien said, "What can I do except adjourning. Both sides are indisciplined. The House is adourned till tomorrow (15 December) 11 am."

It seemed like the members in the Upper House were just waiting to pass one single Bill this Winter Session. Soon after Kurien praised the members of the Upper House for being disciplined, ruckus over alleged corruption allegations on Kiren Rijiju took the House by storm again.

Kurien: "I have given the floor to Leader of Opposition. That's the tradition. Let's follow it. Please sit down."

Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi object to leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad speaking in the Upper House. Kurien asks BJP members to sit down. Amid slogans of "Agusta Agusta" , BJP leaders demanded to know what is the topic of discussion?

"I have to adjourn.. what should I do?" asks Kurien. "This is for the first time in history of India that it's the ruling party that's not letting the House to function," says Azad.

Sources said that it was also decided in the meeting to raise the plight of farmers and common people in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and demand a loan waiver for farmers. Representatives of Congress, Trinamool Congress, BSP, SP, JD-U, CPI, CPI-M, NCP, DMK and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) were present in today's meeting.

Leaders of various parties said the entire opposition has decided to approach the President to "complain" against the ruling party for not allowing them to speak in Parliament. The leaders said they were elected representatives of the country and had every right to speak in Parliament and it was "unconstitutional" not to allow them to speak in both Houses. Sources said time is being sought from the President till Friday and all opposition parties were ready to raise the issue unitedly before him.

Taking their protest on demonetisation to President Pranab Mukherjee's doorsteps, Opposition parties sought a meeting with the president to convey the problems caused by the measure to the common man and "over not being" allowed to speak in Parliament. At a meeting of the opposition held in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, representatives of various parties decided to raise with the President the problems of the common people, including the poor and farmers arising out of demonetisation.

Advani also added that "had Atal ji been in Parliament today, he would have been upset."

Senior BJP leader LK Advani told Home Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene and stop disruptions in both Houses of Parliament. Expressing his unhappiness, Advani allegedly said that he "feels like resigning".

Opposition leaders are scheduled to meet the President and PM Modi to push for a way to break the deadlock.

The BJPs Parliamentary Party meeting to discuss the strategy to counter the Oppositions charges against the government is currently underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the gathering.

The last day of the Winter Session of Parliament is setup for a big tussle between the government and the Opposition as both try to break the deadlock.

"Regular and continuous disruptions signify this session... The rules about displaying placards and shouting slogans were ignored by all sections of the house," Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said in his closing statement before adjourning the house.

The Rajya Sabha on Friday concluded its winter session after an emotional speech by the Chairman as the house was adjourned sine die.

On the eve of Winter Session, two all-party meetings were convened, first by the ruling NDA and the other by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan. At the all-party meeting Modi requested all parties for cooperation in order to make Parliament session a fruitful one.

"I hope that Winter Session will be fruitful. I expect that Winter Session will proceed in a positive way. I hope that Winter Session debate will strengthen democracy. I believe that to take the country ahead this Winter Session debate will be useful, " said Modi as Winter Session sets to begin.

"If you will put their husbands in jail, who will provide for them, who will pay for their children," Azad asked as he reiterated that Congress leader Anad Sharma's suggestion to send it to Standing Committee should be taken into consideration.

Ghulam Nabi Azad stood up as the bill was taken up for discussion and said that none of the parties are in opposition of the bill in essence. However, he said that the government's bill will "finish Muslim women" instead of saving them.

He said that a committee should reflect the nature of the House, which the list of suggestions given by Sharma does not. Sharma's suggestion did not include names from the BJP.

Jaitley said that the previous precedents show that any amendments or motions should be introduced with prior notice. He said that the Opposition's demand to send the bill to Select Committee was invalid. He also raised objection on the suggestion on members of Select Committee made by Anand Sharma.

Kurien said that the Leader of the House is a very learned advocate himself and all points raised by him are of relevance. The rule he quotes that a prior notice should be given is also correct, he said. "However, the same rule adds that the Chairman has the power to admit such a motion and which is why I cannot overrule it. It is now admitted and hence is the property of the House, only members can amend it," Kurien said on Jaitley's objection over the Opposition motion seeking triple talaq bill be sent to Standing Committee.

Roy, responding to Jaitley's objection that the Select Committee suggested by him did not reflect the nature of the House, Roy said that he had included members from all parties who were willing to send the bill to the Standing Committee. However, BJP members were not included because the government was not willing to send the bill to the committee. Roy added that if the BJP is interested in sending the Bill for further scrutiny, he has no objection to ammend the list to include its members too.

Govt requests to take up GST bill first as Dy Chairman ruled Triple Talaq bill can't be taken for passage without first building consensus in House

"If you will put their husbands in jail, who will provide for them, who will pay for their children," Azad asked as he reiterated that Congress leader Anad Sharma's suggestion to send it to Standing Committee should be taken into consideration.

Ghulam Nabi Azad stood up as the bill was taken up for discussion and said that none of the parties are in opposition of the bill in essence. However, he said that the government's bill will "finish Muslim women" instead of saving them.

He said that a committee should reflect the nature of the House, which the list of suggestions given by Sharma does not. Sharma's suggestion did not include names from the BJP.

Jaitley said that the previous precedents show that any amendments or motions should be introduced with prior notice. He said that the Opposition's demand to send the bill to Select Committee was invalid. He also raised objection on the suggestion on members of Select Committee made by Anand Sharma.

Kurien said that the Leader of the House is a very learned advocate himself and all points raised by him are of relevance. The rule he quotes that a prior notice should be given is also correct, he said. "However, the same rule adds that the Chairman has the power to admit such a motion and which is why I cannot overrule it. It is now admitted and hence is the property of the House, only members can amend it," Kurien said on Jaitley's objection over the Opposition motion seeking triple talaq bill be sent to Standing Committee.

Roy, responding to Jaitley's objection that the Select Committee suggested by him did not reflect the nature of the House, Roy said that he had included members from all parties who were willing to send the bill to the Standing Committee. However, BJP members were not included because the government was not willing to send the bill to the committee. Roy added that if the BJP is interested in sending the Bill for further scrutiny, he has no objection to ammend the list to include its members too.

Govt requests to take up GST bill first as Dy Chairman ruled Triple Talaq bill can't be taken for passage without first building consensus in House

The Winter Session of Parliament opened on Wednesday with a united Opposition mounting an assault on the government over demonetisation, saying it had led to "economic anarchy" in the country. The opposition parties also demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the alleged selective leak of information before the official announcement.

While Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after paying tributes to nine leaders, including sitting TMC MP Renuka Sinha, the seven-hour-long debate in Rajya Sabha, however, remained inconclusive. The debate in Rajya Sabha continued till 6 pm on Wednesday before Deputy Chairman of the House PJ Kurien adjourned it till 11 am tomorrow. Kurien said that the discussion on demonetisation will be resumed on Thursday at 2 pm. "From 11am to 12 pm will be the Zero Hour and Question Hour will be from 12-1 pm," said Kurien. There were repeated demands by the opposition members that the Prime Minister should be present in the House to listen to the members.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said Modi, who did not come to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, should at least be present tomorrow and possibly intervene. The government rejected as baseless the opposition charge that there was "leakage" of the 8 November decision and said everyone was taken by surprise which is why there are "initial" problems.

Joining ranks over the raging issue, parties like Congress, JD(U), RJD, SP, BSP, Trinamool Congress, Left and AIADMK slammed the government, particularly targeting PM Modi, for making Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes invalid and said the "ill-timed" and "ill-conceived" step had severely hit the common people, the farmers and the poor.

During a discussion on demonetisation, which was taken up after suspension of all business in response to notices given by a host of opposition members, a scathing attack was made on the government which strongly defended the step as one taken in national interest and to end corruption and black money, which it linked to terror activities in the country.

Here's a quick recap of what happened today

Anand Sharma uses wit and humour to attack Modi

Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma on Wednesday demanded a probe into "selective leakage" of the demonetisation move, which he termed a "Nadirshahi farman" (autocratic order). Initiating a debate after listed business was suspended to take up a discussion on the 8 November decision to withdraw old higher denomination currency, Sharma used wit and humour to attack Modi for being insensitive to problems caused to the common man.

He asked Modi to state where he got Rs 23,000-24,000 crore, estimated by the International Money Watch Group, for his Lok Sabha elections. He also asked if cheque or credit card payments were made to organise his rally at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh a few days ago. Alleging that the information on demonetisation was selectively leaked, he said, "Your BJP units have deposited crores (just before the 8 November decision)."

Sharma also sought to know from the Prime Minister as to "who wants to kill him", referring to the Prime Minister's speech in Goa where he had said that with demonetisation resulting in "Looting of their 70 year corrupt earnings, they will destroy me, they can kill me". "There should have been an ordinance for demonetization. But no ordinance was brought. This is a Nadirshahi farman (autocratic order)," Sharma said.

"The decision to demonetise high currency notes was leaked to a select few. Secrecy was not maintained on this issue. It was published in a Gujarati newspaper long back and even other newspapers wrote about it," said Sharma. "There should be a probe into the selective leakage of information," he said, asking: "What did the government do to prepare for effective implementation of the policy."

He also sought to know from the government which law gave it the right to impose limits on withdrawing money from peoples' own accounts. "I condemn Prime Minister's statement in Goa for mocking the people who are standing in queues. He must apologise. Please explain who wants to kill you," said Sharma posing a question to Modi. Congress will not tolerate anyone planning to harm the Prime Minister of the country, he said. "An atmosphere has been created by the government where questioning them has become a parameter to decide one's nationalism," said Sharma.

He sought to know from the Prime Minister as to from where the "15 thousand crore rupees spent on your mega election campaign come from". "Did you pay for your recent Ghazipur rally through credit card," Sharma said mocking the government for asking people to use plastic money for day-to-day expenses.

Sharma also demanded that Modi must disclose the list of those names, who are holding black money in Swiss banks. "Government has a list of those holding black money in Swiss banks. We demand that the Prime Minister must tell who all are there in the list," said Sharma. He said the government should disclose how much money left India between March and September this year and how many people invested in bullion, bought gold or forex during this period.

Sharma took a dig at the government for using the term "surgical strike" in the context of demonetization and the unplanned consequences of the move, saying, "Bina doctori padhe sab surgeon ban gaye (You became a surgeon without training or education)."

Quoting media reports, Sharma said State Bank of India  the country's largest lender  knew of the decision way back in March and a Gujarati newspaper had in April published a report of the move to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. He demanded a probe into "how many people bought more than Rs 1 crore of foreign currency and bullion" since April. "This is a serious issue... you never kept secrecy (about the decision)," Sharma said. The "ill-timed" and "ill-conceived" move had unleashed "economic anarchy" in the country and benefited a few, he said, adding that to fight black money created by higher denomination currency, a bigger Rs 2,000 note has been brought which is similar to the paper on which 'churan' is sold and "shed colour" was brought.

"Your government is insensitive," he said adding Modi was riding a bullet train in Japan when old, women and common man were queueing up at banks at 3 am in the morning to get currency to buy their daily needs. Sharma said Modi had in his Goa speech had stated that those standing in line at banks were those involved in 2G spectrum and coal scam as well as holding black money. "I condemn the Prime Minister for calling the poor standing in the queue for his Rs 4,000-4,500, black money holders and scamster," he said.

Taking a dig at the Modi, he said someone who "changes clothes five times a day", has become Prime Minister and travels around the globe was "calling himself a sanyasi and tapasvi".

Sharma demanded that the names of persons holding accounts in Swiss bank and those revealed in the Leichtenstein and HSBC lists should be made public. The names of bank loan defaulters above Rs 5,000 crore should also be made public. While the decision had put the common man to immense hardship by way of having to stand in long queues to lay hands on valid currency to meet daily needs, the information about demonetisation was selectively leaked to the "friends of BJP," Sharma alleged. The move had branded 86 percent of the currency in circulation black money and "everyone a criminal," he said adding when Modi announced the plan it was expected that adequate arrangements would be made for dispensing new notes.

"The magnanimous prime minister allowed Rs 4,000 of old currency to be changed... what right does the Constitution give the government to place restrictions on withdrawal of ones hard-earned money," he asked, adding one has to "beg to be allowed to withdraw his own money." He said former RBI Governor IG Patel had written about the government's decision to demonetise currency in 1978 and it would be absurd to think that all ill-gotten money is kept in cash and not invested in real estate, billion, equities or foreign exchange.

Moving towards cashless economy was fine but even the most developed economies of US or Europe have not achieved that objective yet. If they had, the US central bank would have stopped printing dollars, European Central Bank won't be printing Euros and UK central banks would have stopped printing pound sterling, he said.

Stating that the government had in one stroke declared everyone a criminal, he said the government and the finance minister have stated that terrorists would have benefited if advance information on the decision was given. "Which terrorist goes to RBI with sack full of counterfeit currency to change."

After withdrawing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, restrictions were placed even on foreign tourists who could not get their currency changed.

The Congress leader said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had informed Parliament in August that fake currency was 0.02 percent of the total currency in circulation. "If 0.02 percent by government admission is counterfeit currency, how can that be made the base to remove 86 percent of currency in circulation," he said.

An undeclared emergency has put common people in grave inconvenience, he said while crime money, ill-gotten wealth and that accrued through corruption or tax evasion is blackmoney, Prime Minister should answer if he considered money in the market, or in households, or with farmers, workers and employees was also blackmoney.

"This question arises because a message has gone that Indian economy was run on blackmoney... you decide but don't brand the whole country," he said, adding whether the cash the farmers gets for his crop or the one he uses to buy seeds or fertilizer was blackmoney. He said the move had rendered millions of agriculture workers and labourers unemployed.

Mayawati calls demonetisation ill-timed

As the debate was in progress, BSP chief Mayawati demanded the presence of the Prime Minister in the House to hear out the Opposition parties and address their concerns.

Mayawati questioned the government's preparedness for the demonetisation of high-value bank notes, accusing it of spending the last ten months on settling the black money of its people. Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on the demonetisation of high-denomination currency notes, she said: "The government has said that they spent ten months preparing for this decision. Ten months was a long time to prepare. If they were serious about it, they would have prepared well for all the problems that people are facing today."

"What we are witnessing in India today would not have happened had they prepared," she added. Accusing the government of supporting those close to it in settling their ill-gotten wealth, Mayawati said: "In the last ten months, the BJP government has worked to help the party supporters and big businessmen to settle their black money.

"If the government had spent ten months preparing for it, then why do they need another 50 days? There is something fishy."

"Masses are in pain. The Prime Minister must be sleeping after taking pills. The move is without preparedness and people will punish BJP in 2019 during general elections. People of five states going for elections including Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will punish BJP," she said, adding that the poor and the middle classes were the worst sufferers. "It is an immature decision taken in haste and the whole country feels that is an 'economic emergency'," she said adding that it was like a "Bharatbandi situation."

Opposition demands Modi's presence in Rajya Sabha

Mayawati said the House should request the Prime Minister to be present and answer the members' concerns. It is "a very serious issue", she said, adding she has been observing Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, appears "sad".

Her demand was supported by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, who said the PM must be present in the House to hear out the concerns of various parties.

Earlier, Kurien said he had received as many as 13 notices under rule 267 for suspension of business to take up discussion on inconvience and hardships caused by demonetisation of currency. He said there was a general consensus for discussion and the government too was agreeable, so the list of business as notified stands completely suspended.

Azad demanded that the prime minister should at least "hear out the feelings of six-seven main parties, otherwise there is a mismatch. The feelings of opposition members should be heard by PM. I demand that at least he hears them out and sit in the House at least today. We can wait for him to come."

This was objected to by DP Tripathi (NCP), who said that as Leader of the Opposition he should not distinguish between the big and small parties. Ram Gopal Yadav (who was expelled from Samajwadi Party) joined Anand Sharma to allege that information on demonetisation was "leaked" and termed it as a scam while demanding a thorough probe into it.

"A BJP leader in Punjab had tweeted on 5 November about the new Rs 2,000 note. How did this happen? This is an issue of concern. There is a scam in this. This should definitely be probed," he said, alleging further that 10 percent of the people have 90 per cent of wealth of the country and the remaining 90 per cent do not have anything.

The common people, especially the poor and the housewives were put to great hardship through this move and if elections are held today they will teach this government a lesson, he said, adding that majority of women who saved money through household savings were upset with the move.

"Elections are not fought with money power. You cannot win elections through money power. No one can win elections like that. Elections are won only by winning the hearts of people," he said.

Demonetisation of high denomination currency has created big problems to common people and and law and order situation is being created with police being deployed outside banks to control the queue.

"Do not hold elections now. If you meet and ask for votes from housewives in villages, they will beat you up with 'belan' and you will have to embalm your back with turmeric," he said, adding that you might lose elections if you hold early polls. Yadav said the entire House was against corrupt and drug money, but lamented that an impression is being created that those opposing this are against curbing black money which is erroneous.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who also sought a JPC probe into the suspected leak, said the sudden move was akin to "jumping out of a moving train". He said unlike the rich, who the PM said were standing in queue, it was the poor, handicapped and old people who were doing so to get their hands on their hard earned money. He alleged that while loans worth Rs 7,000 crore was written off today by banks including Rs 1,200 crore of Vijay Mallya and said that the prime minister has made the honesty of the country to stand in queues.

Yadav also took a dig at Jaitley saying he was sure that the Finance Minister was not part of the decision making on demonetisation, because had he been, Jaitley would have tipped him off. This remark left most members including Jaitley laughing.

Yechury renames PM as "Modi Antoinette"

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that of the 130 crore population in the country, only 2.6 crore have credit cards.

He took a dig at Modi and narrated the infamous quote of Queen Marie Antoinette during the French revolution who had said that people can eat cakes when they don't have bread. "We have Modi Antoinette who says 'If you don't have paper, use plastic'".

Yechury compared the Prime Minister with a Roman ruler. He said a Senator had remarked about this ruler that: "I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it's the sand of the Coliseum. He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it."

Alleging that a BJP unit in Kolkata deposited Rs 1 crore in Indian's Bank Account on 8 November, he said "prove me if I am wrong." He added that Prime Minister was advertising for Paytm while talking about cashless economy.

The CPM leader said 1/5th of the economy is black economy and people who kept black money invested it in real estate, gold etc. That is why the imports surged and stated that it was this PM only who had stated that 95 percent of the black money is stashed offshore and is in safe havens.

"PM is cleaning a pond to kill crocodiles but big crocodiles have survived and only small fishes are dying."

He also demanded that corporate funding of all political parties should stop and there should be a stystem of state funding for elections to which Kurien said "why don't you move a private members bill in this regard."

Terming the demonetisation move as "Tughlaq shahi", he said the length of queues before banks and ATMs was ever increasing and asked why the government was agonising the people. He sought an investigation into the move, saying "let there be a joint parliamentary committee" for a proper probe. "We need to know the motive behind the move" as before every parliamentary session there is some gimmick which diverts attention from other major issues.

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: After five days of confrontation, Rajya Sabha on Thursday saw resumption of debate on demonetisation briefly during which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the opposition attack, saying the step was a "monumental management failure" which would lead to dip in GDP growth by at least 2 percent.

Singh termed demonetisation as "a case of organised loot and legalised plunder".

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the House, the opposition and the ruling side came to an agreement to do away with the Question Hour and resume the debate, which had been left incomplete on 16 November.

Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister will also participate in the debate.

The opposition had been demanding presence of the Prime Minister for resumption of the debate for the last five days. Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PM's name.

Debate was resumed during the Question Hour, from 12 pm to 1 pm, after which the House went into lunch break. When it met again at 2 pm, the Prime Minister was not there, prompting the opposition parties to demand his presence again as they wanted him to listen to all the speakers.

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said the discussion should be carried forward as the Leader of the House has said that Prime Minister will come.

Opposition members then trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans like "bring back black money, stop making false promises".

Jaitley said his "apprehensions" that the opposition did not want the debate had come true as they were looking for "excuses" to run away from the discussion.

As pandemonium prevailed, the House was adjourned till 3 PM and then for the day as the same situation existed.

Earlier speaking during the debate, Singh said, "These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure."

The noted economist said he decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, which was an "under-estimate and not an over-estimate".

He said he agreed with the objectives of the scheme to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as spelt out by the Prime Minister but he wished to highlight the problems that the common people and poor have been subjected to by the move.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," the former Prime Minister said.
Mumbai: After taking repeated digs at the Centre over demonetisation, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday dubbed the move as "extortion of common man" and asked

the BJP to take former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words on the issue seriously as it came from a "renowned economist".

"I will not hesitate in taking a critical stand on the process in which demonetisation was implemented," Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai.

"The way in which a referendum was sought in Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union, a survey is being done here. But seeing people's response, their (UK) Prime Minister chose to step down. Will something similar happen here?" he said.

Thackeray was apparently referring to the Prime Minister seeking people's feedback over demonetisation on the Narendra Modi App, where a number of questions have been posed with regard to scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

He said there was no point in Modi becoming emotional at a time when people have tears in their eyes. "One person cannot take a decision for 125 crore people. Before taking the decision to demonetise the currency, people should have been taken into confidence," he said.

"Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a renowned economist. Thus, his words and opinions should be taken seriously. The way in which money is being collected, seems that money is being extorted from common man. You have brought tears in the eyes of people who made you come to power with a lot of aspirations," Thackeray said.

Coming down heavily on the government over the issue, Singh castigated the government and the Prime Minister over demonetisation during Rajya Sabha debate today, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder".

Referring to the Reserve Bank's decision not to allow district central co-operative (DCC) banks to exchange the old currency, the Sena chief asked if liquor baron Vijay Mallya had taken loans from these banks.

"Did Vijay Mallya take loans from any of the DCC banks? Banks from which he did take loans, how have they been allowed to exchange the old currency?" he questioned.

He said that the government should extend the dates up to 31 December, until which defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are accepted at petrol pumps and hospitals.
Lagos: Amnesty International accused Nigerian security forces on Thursday of killing at least 150 peaceful advocates of Biafra's secession from Africa's most populous nation, but the military and police dismissed the allegations.

An army spokesman said Amnesty's statement, the latest in a series of allegations of impropriety levelled against Nigeria's military in the last year, aimed to tarnish the security forces' reputation. The police said they did not attack people holding demonstrations.

Amnesty said the military fired live ammunition, with little or no warning, to disperse members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group between August 2015 and August 2016. Its 60-page report based on interviews with 193 people, 87 videos and 122 photographs from that period also said troops and the police used "arbitrary, abusive and excessive force to disrupt gatherings".

Secessionist feeling has simmered in the south-east since the Biafra separatist rebellion tipped the west African country into a 1967-1970 civil war that killed an estimated 1 million people. It flared up again last year after IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu was detained on charges of criminal conspiracy and belonging to an illegal society. That prompted supporters of Kanu to hold protests that Amnesty said were dispersed with live ammunition.

Army spokesman Sani Usman said Biafra separatists had behaved violently, killing five policeman at a protest in May and attacking both military and police vehicles.

"The military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence," said Usman. Nigeria Police Force spokesman Don Awunah said officers "always abide by the law" and adhere to best practices. "We don't attack people who are demonstrating, which every Nigerian has a right to do," he said.

Witnesses told Amnesty that some protesters had thrown stones, burned tyres and, in one incident, shot at the police but added that "these acts of violence did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly".

"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths," said Makmid Kamara, interim director of Amnesty International Nigeria, who called on authorities to launch an investigation into the matter.

He said the government's deployment of troops at the events seemed "in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed".

The report is the latest in a string of accusations levelled at the army by Amnesty. Last year it said more than 8,000 people died in detention during a crackdown on Boko Haram.

It also said soldiers killed hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims in the northern city of Zaria in December 2015. A judicial inquiry in August concluded that 347 people were killed and buried in mass graves after those clashes.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to the United Nations, was relatively unknown on the national stage until a mass shooting in her state vaulted her to prominence.

The June 2015 massacre at a historic black church in Charleston laid bare some of the racial tensions that persist in South Carolina, which in 1860 became the first state to secede from the United States ahead of the Civil War.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, spoke out forcefully against the shooting by a young white man and led efforts for the divisive Confederate flag to be pulled from the South Carolina state capitol.

The removal of the flag was seen by some as a watershed moment for race relations in the state.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haley, 44, would become one of only two women so far nominated for Trump's cabinet, alongside Republican megadonor Betsy DeVos who was picked Wednesday as education secretary.

Raised as a Sikh, Haley is also the first minority figure in Trump's list of otherwise white-only top administration officials. Haley now identifies as Christian.

Her appointment may go some way towards reassuring those alarmed by Trump's strident anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric, as well as his pick of a top advisor, Steve Bannon, who is admired by white supremacists.

Haley was sharply critical of Trump during the election campaign and endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio during the Republican primary race before backing Senator Ted Cruz.

While campaigning against Trump in the primaries, she called him out for his failure to repudiate the Ku Klux Klan.

"I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party. That is not who we are," she declared.

Popular with the 'Tea Party'

Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in 1972 in Bamberg, South Carolina, Haley served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005-2011.

After her election as governor, Haley stayed firmly on the right, displaying hostility to trade unions, taxes and gay marriage.

In January, the Republican Party picked Haley to present its response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, when she attacked him over the economy and his signature health care law.

As a child, Haley helped in her parents' clothing shop and assisted with the bookkeeping. She went on to get a degree in accounting.

Popular among anti-tax "Tea Party" conservatives, Haley received an endorsement from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and won the South Carolina governorship in 2010.

She is currently the youngest governor in America and the second of Indian descent, after Louisiana's Bobby Jindal.

Haley's prestigious posting at the United Nations is sure to draw ire from opponents, given that she has virtually zero foreign policy experience.

But she received congratulations from the UN ambassadors of close US allies Britain and Israel.

"She will bring to the UN a strong track record of achievement from South Carolina, and I know that the UK-US relationship will continue to go from strength to strength," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon hailed her as a "longstanding and true friend of Israel" who in South Carolina fought a pro-Palestinian movement that sought to target Israel with boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

If confirmed, Haley would replace Samantha Power, who has served as the US ambassador to the UN since 2013.

Haley is married to Michael Haley, an officer in the South Carolina National Guard and has two children.
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Washington: The United Nations have welcomed the nomination of Indian-American Nikki Haley as the next US envoy to the world body, terming it as a good sign for the future.

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said it is heartening to see an effort to get the position of the Permanent Representative to the UN filled as quickly or named, as quickly as this.

"So that's a good sign for the future," he said in response to a question.

"We are aware of the naming of Nikki Haley, and it's someone with whom officials here are acquainted in terms of being aware of her position on many issues, including the laudable comments she made following the horrifying racist shootings in Charleston, South Carolina," Haq said.

Two of the closest American allies, Israel and the United Kingdom, have also welcomed the decision to appoint Haley as the next US envoy to the United Nations.

"I welcome the announcement of the intention to appoint Governor Nikki Haley as the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations," the Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said after Trump nominated Haley as his Ambassador to the UN.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haley would be the first Indian-American to ever serve in a Cabinet position to any presidential administration.

"Haley is a longstanding and true friend of Israel and is an outspoken fighter against the BDS movement in her state, and throughout the US," Danon said.

"I know that we at the Israeli Mission will continue to work in full partnership with our friends in the American Mission, as we further strengthen the special bond and shared values between Israel and the US," he said.

The British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft welcomed Haley's nomination.

"I congratulate her on her nomination and I look forward to working closely with her," the Ambassador told reporters when asked if he had any concerns that Haley has pretty much zero foreign policy experience.

"She will bring to the UN a strong track record of achievement from South Carolina, and I know that the UK-US relationship will continue to go from strength to strength," he said.

"As you know, we sit literally side by side in the Security Council, and we will continue to be shoulder to shoulder," Rycroft said.

Haley, 44, was named as the US envoy to the UN on Wednesday by President-elect Donald Trump, as she scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration.
Islamabad: Amid escalated border firing, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan has shown utmost restraint in the face of Indian belligerence and will not tolerate India's "deliberate targeting" of civilians and ambulances.

Sharif's remarks, made during a high-level meeting chaired to review the LoC situation, came a day after Pakistan claimed that nine of its civilians and three soldiers were killed in firing by the Indian Army.

"We cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport," Sharif said, Dawn reported.

Pakistan on Wednesday said three of its soldiers were killed in Indian firing along the Line of Control, while nine civilians were also killed as Indian troops allegedly targeted a passenger bus in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations from the Indian side," Sharif said.

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and National Security Adviser Naser Janjua briefed the meeting about the "unprovoked Indian firing".

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Indian troops fired at an ambulance which went into the area for evacuation.

At least 18 persons were injured in Wednesday's firing, the ISPR said.

The meeting, also attended by Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General Rizwan Akhtar, paid tributes to the killed soldiers and deplored the targeting of the ambulance as a violation of International Humanitarian Law, a statement said.

Sharif reviewed the situation along the LoC and called upon the international community to play its active role in defusing tension between the two nations, "which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side", said the statement issued by the Prime Minister's office.

The meeting concluded that India was trying to divert the attention of the international community "from the grave human rights violations, massacres and atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces" in Kashmir, it said.

In a related development, Pakistan Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman on Thursday said Pakistan's armed forces were "not worried about India at all".

Aman said: "We are not worried about India at all, it is better if they show some restraint."

He called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: "They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve."

The Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of Pakistan and India spoke to each other on Wednesday as tensions flared in the aftermath of deadly clashes on the LoC.

Firing exchanges and a bitter diplomatic war between the two neighbours have escalated after the September 18 killing of 19 Indian soldiers in a terror attack on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.
WASHINGTON Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for 134,386 current and former U.S. sailors, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday. It said a laptop used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services employee working on a U.S. Navy contract was hacked. Hewlett Packard informed the Navy of the breach on Oct. 27 and the affected sailors will be notified in the coming weeks, the Navy said."The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke said in a statement.

Burke said the investigation of the breach was in its early stages.

"At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest misuse of the information that was compromised," the Navy said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; editing by Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: Muslims across the United States feared they were being targeted for surveillance this week when they received automated polling calls asking them to press one if they identified as Muslim or two if they did not.

Many worried President-elect Donald Trump was making good on his campaign promise to register all Muslims in the country or private citizens were laying the groundwork for a registry.

The calls were in fact sent out as part of a survey by Emerge USA, a non-profit organisation seeking to empower Muslim-Americans.

The group created an algorithm to call Muslims for a poll on their views and experiences after the 8 November national election, Sarah Cochran, director of its Virginia chapter, said on Wednesday.

Cochran said she had to reassure some call recipients that Emerge USA was conducting the poll, and an anti-Islam group was not using the organisation's name as a disguise. "All of our work is affected, where we cant get people to participate because theyre afraid," said Cochran.

Since Trump's stunning election win, Muslims living in the United States have been on edge. One of his supporters has cited camps where Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II as a precedent for a registry. Trump's choice for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in a recent video described Islamism as a "vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people on this planet and it has to be excised.

"On Tuesday, the Council of American-Islamic Relations posted on Twitter and Facebook asking about reports American Muslims were receiving robocalls on how they "identify." Meanwhile, others posted to their own social media accounts with questions about the calls.

One call recipient posted on Facebook "Not sure if this is a scam or this is real but I have surely reported and urge you to report as well if you get the same phone call. Welcome to the new world!"
Washington: Nikki Haley was on Wednesday named as US envoy to the United Nations by President-elect Donald Trump, as she scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration.

"Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country," Trump said, referring to his former critic with whom he had sparred bitterly during the campaign.

44-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants from Punjab, Haley is the first woman tapped by Trump for a top-level administration post during his transition to the White House. "She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," Trump said, announcing the South Carolina governor Haley's name as next US envoy to the United Nations.

The presidential transition team said this would a cabinet-level position in the Trump-Pence Administration. The cabinet position would require confirmation by the Senate. If confirmed by the Senate, Haley would be the first Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level position in any presidential administration.

Commenting on her nomination to the key post, Haley said she would be happy to represent America at the UN.

"I was moved to accept this new assignment for two reasons. The first is a sense of duty," Haley said. "When the President believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed," she said.

"The second is a satisfaction with all that we have achieved in our state in the last six years and the knowledge that we are on a very strong footing," Haley said, adding that she will remain South Carolina Governor until the US Senate acts affirmatively on her nomination.

Haley, a Republican, said this month's elections have brought exciting changes to America.

"Our country faces enormous challenges here at home and internationally. Last week, President-elect Trump asked if I would meet with him to discuss those challenges, which I was happy to do. He has asked that I serve our country as our next Ambassador to the United Nations. Pending confirmation by the US Senate, I have agreed," she explained.

Haley's nomination is a turning point for the Indian-American community which is increasingly playing greater role in American politics.

Noting that Haley is one of the most universally respected governors in the country, the official announcement said after working at her family's business, she turned her focus to economic development and has travelled abroad to negotiate with international companies on behalf of South Carolina.

As governor, she has led seven overseas trade missions and successfully attracted jobs and investment through negotiations with foreign companies, it said.

One of her trade missions was to India. Trump's plan to offer the job to Haley, a rising Republican star, was first reported by the Post and Courier.

Haley, currently the youngest governor in the country, has already carved out a legacy for herself, serving as her home state's first female and first minority governor. Haley, who is serving her second term, has worked on trade and labour issues as governor but brings little foreign policy experience. Her views on various US military and national security matters usually fall within the Republican Party's hawkish mainstream.

Trump met with Haley on Thursday at Trump Tower in New York as part of the round of meetings the president-elect has held.

With her appointment to the top diplomatic post in UN, Haley has become the first woman and minority to join Trump's administration. She would replace Samantha Power.

Haley was critical of Trump during the primary campaign and had backed Senator Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. However, before the general elections, she switched her position, saying she would vote for Trump.

Born Nimrata "Nikki" Randhawa, Haley is the first minority and female governor of South Carolina, a deeply conservative state with a long history of racial strife.

She is the first Indian-American woman Governor and the second Indian-American governor of any State. Prior to becoming governor, she represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011. A true fiscal conservative and savvy businesswoman, Haleys leadership drove down South Carolinas unemployment to a 15 year low by adding more than 82,000 jobs in each of South Carolinas 46 counties, the transition team said.

Prior to dedicating her life to public service, Haley worked at her family business.

In 1998, Haley was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce and named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003. She also became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 and president in 2004.

Haley is a proud graduate of Clemson University where she earned a degree in accounting. Haley and her husband, Michael, a Captain in the Army National Guard and combat veteran who was deployed to Afghanistans Helmand Province, have two children, Rena, 18, and Nalin, 15.
A suicide truck bomb killed more than 80 people, most of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a US-backed military offensive launched on 17 October to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.

Iraqi troops drove Islamic State militants from three more neighborhoods in the northern city of Mosul, a commander said. Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told the Associated Press that his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments, and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government's campaign to liberate the city began last month.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya television network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.
BAGHDAD A suicide truck bomb killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said. Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.The group is also fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shi'ite militias are taking part.The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack without giving a casualties toll. Tehran will continue to support Iraq's ''relentless fight against terrorism," ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

(Reporting by Saif Hameed and Mohammed el-Sherif; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Mark Heinrich and Toby Chopra)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Park Inn by Radisson, the colorful and dynamic midscale hotel brand, today announces the opening of a new residence in Riga Barona. Offering 78 spacious apartments, and operated by The Rezidor Hotel Group, this latest addition to the portfolio is the first branded hotel residence apartment conveniently located in the heart of the city center at Krisjana Barona iela.

All 78 apartments have between one and two bedrooms and include a balcony or sun terrace. Each are equipped with a kitchenette, smart television and free Wi-Fi high-speed internet access. Residence apartments are perfect for individuals, business or leisure travelers, families or groups of friends who are looking for flexibility and independence in addition to truly special accommodation.

The Park Inn by Radisson Residence in Riga also offers a 24-hour reception service, a coffee shop conveniently located on the ground floor, and a connection to the Tokyo City restaurant.

"We are incredibly proud to open the first Park Inn by Radisson Residence in Riga. The residences will complement our portfolio of 5 hotels featuring 1,300 rooms in Latvia, making us the leading international hotel operator in the region," said Michel Stalport, Area Vice President of Eastern Europe & Russia for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. "We are committed to maintaining our leading position in the Baltics and further grow the mid-market segment. The Park Inn by Radisson Residence in Riga will showcase the best of our fast growing mid-market brand, designed to add color to life, and attract more owners to partner with us."

General Manager of Park Inn by Radisson Residence Riga, Barona, Fikret Yuksel, added: "Park Inn by Radisson Residence Riga is a great hotel experience: friendly, positive, vibrant and uncomplicated. Guests staying with us will experience the best of international mid-market hospitality standards. They can expect to feel just like at home whether travelling for business or leisure, alone or with family and friends, for long or short term."

Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States with 640,000 inhabitants and is a key economic and financial hub in the region. Roughly half of all jobs in Latvia are in Riga, and the city generates more than 50% of the country's GDP. Riga Port is one of the largest harbors of the region. Riga's historical center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has also been nominated as the European region of Gastronomy for 2017.

The Park Inn by Radisson Riga, Barona will be managed and operated by The Rezidor Hotel Group.

About Radisson Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world's largest hotel groups with nine distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,600 hotels in operation and under development in 120 countries. The Group's overarching brand promise is Every Moment Matters with a signature Yes I Can! service ethos.

The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, and prizeotel brought together under one commercial umbrella brand Radisson Hotels.

Radisson Rewards is our international rewards program that delivers unique and personalized ways to create memorable moments that matter to our guests. Radisson Rewards offers an exceptional experience for our guests, meeting planners, and travel agents at over 550 hotels in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Radisson Meetings provides tailored solutions for any event or meeting, including hybrid solutions placing guests and their needs at the heart of its offer. Radisson Meetings is built around three strong service commitments: Personal, Professional and Memorable, while delivering on the brilliant basics and being uniquely 100% Carbon Neutral.

The health and safety of guests and team members remain a top priority for Radisson Hotel Group. All properties across the Group's portfolio are subject to stringent health and safety requirements, as outlined in the Radisson Hotels Safety Protocol.

More than 100,000 team members work at Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems. For more information, visit our corporate website. Or connect with Radisson Hotels on:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Lucie Cardona

Corporate Communications & PR Leader

Radisson Hotel Group
Airbnb Inc. is in talks to acquire Chinas Xiaozhu.com to expand in the nations home rental sharing market, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The companies have held multiple meetings and the discussions are advanced in nature, the person said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private. A deal is likely, the person said.

While Airbnb is the biggest platform for people to rent their homes to travelers globally, its grappling with more established local rivals Xiaozhu and Tujia.com in China. The San Francisco-

based company already has about 75,000 properties listed in the worlds most populous nation and plans to increase staffing 10-fold to 300 full-time workers.

Airbnb and Xiaozhu declined to comment on whether the companies were in talks about a deal.

Chinas online holiday rental market could reach 10.3 billion yuan (USD1.5 billion) in transaction volume by 2017, up from an estimated 6.78 billion yuan this year, according to IResearch. Before the deal surfaced, the U.S. startup had been anticipating 2 million room nights in China, the person said. The company had also recently inked a partnership agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd., whose messaging service WeChat has more than 800 million active monthly users and provided 60 to 70 percent of Airbnb Chinas logins.

Xiaozhu would give Airbnb an instant boost in the worlds second largest economy. The Chinese startup, which was founded in 2012, this month said it raised $65 million of new funding. The company says it has 10 million active users and more than 100,000 listings in 301 cities across the country. Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Chen Chi said at the time of the funding announcement that Xiaozhu expects to deliver 500 percent organic growth in 2016.

A deal for Xiaozhu would also help Airbnb reduce the risk of a costly battle for market share. Uber Technologies Inc. lost more than $1 billion in China in a battle with Didi Chuxing before selling its business in the country to its rival.

In September, Airbnb said it raised $555.5 million in new funds as it expands around the world. The funding round, which valued the company at $30 billion, could eventually reach $850 million, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.

Tujia was valued at more than $1 billion after a $300 million funding round last year from investors including All-Stars Investment Ltd. The company is also backed by HomeAway Inc., Ctrip.com International Ltd., LightSpeed Venture Partners and GGV Capital. The company says it has listings for 450,000 homes in total, including 335 destinations in China and 1,018 overseas. Bloomberg
A rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma sent hundreds of people to hospitals in Australias second-largest city, and four deaths had been confirmed by yesterday.

Family confirmed Clarence Leo, a nightclub bouncer and father of two, died at home early Tuesday morning after the wild thunderstorm in Melbourne on Monday night caused rain-sodden ryegrass pollen to explode and disperse over the city. The pollen caused asthma attacks in some patients who had never suffered from asthma before.

Ambulance Victoria responded to more than 1,870 cases, which was six-times the usual workload for a Monday evening, spokesman Mick Stephenson said.

Professor George Braitberg, head of the Royal Melbourne Hospitals emergency department, likened the scene in the hospital on Monday night to a war zone.

Seven asthma patients had been transferred to the hospitals intensive care unit, he said. Some patients had never before had asthma attacks, he said.

Ive been an emergency physician for about 35 years, worked in a number of hospitals, and I can say, hand on heart, that I have not seen this before, Braitberg told Ten Network television. AP
According to a statement issued by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), the bureau intends to continue to carry out the Centralized Registration Measure for First-time Infant Educations Students in the first month of 2017. This measure applies to infants who were born between 2012 and 2014 and are intending to enroll for education for the first time in Macau. It will allow parents of such infants to access the centralized registration system, and apply to a maximum of six schools. The application system will be open to parents between January 5 and 20, 2017. In order to apply, parents must complete and submit the information in their enrolment document, as well as upload a recent photograph of the infant showing the childs full face without any obstructions such as a hat.

Local jailed for 10 months for killing cats

Macau resident Chan Ho-Yueng, who has killed two cats in Taiwan while he was studying in the territory, has discontinued his court appeal and will soon be jailed for a period of 10 months, according to reports in Taiwan. On December 30 and 31 of 2015, Chan was questioned by the police in Taiwan after being accused of torturing and killing the popular stray cat called Big Orange. In January of this year, Chan was expelled from the National Taiwan University (NTU) after killing a second cat in Taipei.

S treet performance scheme receives 57 applications

A total of 40 people were granted an approval by the Cultural Affairs Bureaus (IC) Street Performance Scheme to showcase their talents at Fortaleza do Monte, AnimArte Nam Van and Casas-Museu da Taipa. The IC has received a total of 57 applications over the past two weeks. The applicants comprised of 53 local residents and four tourists. Applications pending approval are currently still under evaluation. The 57 applications involve 50 performances, seven visual-arts displays, and six handcrafts displays. Several applicants have applied for multiple categories.

Crown employees visited by consular staff

Australias Foreign Minister Julie Bishop revealed that three Australian Crown employees, who have been arrested in China, were visited by consular staff on Tuesday. As the Times reported yesterday, a group of Crown employees were formally arrested last Friday for alleged gambling-related crimes, and their detainment could be extended beyond two months while the case is being investigated. Bishop told Sky News television that the crackdown on gambling was part of President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption campaign and that Australians in China are subject to following Chinese law. Australia has received formal notification of the detentions, Bishop said.

Fourth bridge to initiate construction next year

Chau Vai Man, the coordinator of the Transportation Infrastructure Office (GIT), said that construction of the fourth bridge connecting Macau Peninsula and Taipa is expected to begin in 2017. Chau said that Macau is currently waiting for approval from the Central Government regarding the sea area around the bridge. Chau said that if Beijing approves the project soon, then the public tender regarding the bridge might start in the first or second quarter of 2017. The MSAR government awarded the contract for the preliminary design of the fourth bridge to Chinese company China Communications Construction Company.
A top Cambodian court yesterday upheld the life sentences for the two most senior surviving members of the Khmer Rouge regime, which is responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people, saying that the massive scale of the crimes showed the two mens complete lack of consideration for the lives of the Cambodians.

The Supreme Court Chamber said the 2014 verdict by a U.N.-assisted Khmer Rouge tribunal was appropriate given the gravity of the crimes and roles of the two defendants  Khieu Samphan, the 85-year-old Khmer Rouge head of state, and Nuon Chea, the 90-year-old right-hand man to the communist groups late leader Pol Pot.

The two men, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, sat impassively as the lengthy verdict was read out. They were detained in 2007 and started serving their sentences in 2014.

Some 1.7 million people are estimated to have died from starvation, disease and execution due to the extremist policies of the communist Khmer Rouge when they held power from 1975 to 1979.

The gravity of the crimes should be reflected in the sentence  the crimes were not isolated events but occurred over an extended period of time, said Kong Srim, president of the Supreme Court Chamber.

Given the significant role of the accused, the Supreme Court Chamber considers that the imposition of the life sentence for each of the accused is appropriate and therefore confirms the sentence imposed by the trial chamber, he said, as he wrapped up a two-hour reading of the verdict.

He added that the massive scale of the crimes showed a complete lack of consideration for the ultimate fate of the Cambodian population, especially the most vulnerable group.

Lawyers for Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea filed lengthy appeals against their verdicts by the Khmer Rouge tribunal  formally called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which was set up in 2006. They had alleged a slew of legal and factual errors, as well as biases by the judges.

They suggested that their clients were unfairly being singled out while the Cambodian government sought to block the tribunal from trying other suspects.

The two defendants are also on trial in a second case where they are facing charges of genocide against ethnic minorities and foreigners, and implementing policies of rape and forced marriages.

Originally all the charges were to have been part of one trial, but fears that they would die before proceedings could finish led to their case being broken into two parts, know as Case 002/01 and 002/02.

Their two co-defendents, Ieng Sary, the third-ranking Khmer Rouge leader and its foreign minister, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, died during the first phase of their trial. Sopheng Cheang, Phnom Penh, AP
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said yesterday he has no worries about Donald Trumps election as U.S. president, adding that he expects the businessman will align his future policies with global realities.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winners remarks were his most extensive yet regarding the election of the real estate tycoon and reality television star who has called for putting Americas concerns first and shown little interest in Washingtons traditional espousal of global democracy and social justice.

Commenting at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said he looks forward to seeing Trump at some point following the Jan. 20 inauguration. Such meetings usually draw protests from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from China.

The 81-year-old monk said he has always regarded the U.S. as the leader of the free world and wasnt concerned about remarks made by Trump during the election campaign. Some of those comments have been cited as offensive to Muslims, Hispanics and other U.S. minority groups.

I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express. Now once they [are] elected, having the responsibility, then they have to carry their cooperation, their work, according [to] reality, he told reporters in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. So I have no worries.

Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, spokeswoman for the self-declared Tibetan government-in-

exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said she was not aware of any plans for a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Trump.

She said the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community have enjoyed good relations with successive U.S. presidents and expected that to continue under a Trump administration.

His holiness has always put great hope in the U.S. as a champion of democracy. He hopes for continued support from the new president and his government, she said in a telephone interview.

China had demanded Mongolia scrap his visit for the sake of the general picture of a sound and steady development of bilateral ties. Mongolias fragile economy is heavily dependent on China, and the countries are in discussions of a USD1.2 billion Chinese loan to help pull it out of a recession.

Mongolian television station Eagle TVs website reported that China has delayed talks on the loan and on cooperation in mining, apparently in response to the visit by the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959. Mongolias Foreign Ministry said it had not received any notice, while Chinas Foreign Ministry offered no confirmation but demanded Mongolia take measures to eliminate the negative impact of the visit.

The incorrect actions of the Mongolian side regarding the Dalais visit harmed the political foundations of China-Mongolian relations and caused a negative impact on the development of the bilateral relations, spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing.

In his comments in Ulaanbaatar, the Dalai Lama said his visit to the landlocked, primarily Buddhist nation had no political purpose and that he had not publicly advocated independence for Tibet since 1974. The Dalai Lama has long called for Tibet to remain under Chinese rule, but with greater political participation by Tibetans and stronger protections for its traditional Buddhist culture.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, although many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent country for much of that time.

Asked to comment on climate change  which Trump has denounced as a hoax  the Dalai Lama said he was heartened by the turn to alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.

I think [] we must now concentrate on these things. I dont know whether we can reduce cars or not. People everywhere busy, busy. I dont know if it will be possible, he said.

Referencing past efforts to minimize damage to the ozone layer, the Dalai Lama said that raised the chances of similar cooperation on climate change.

So that gives us hope, there is possibility, he said.

While the U.S. has in the past called on China to respect civil liberties in Tibet, Trump has praised authoritarian rulers such as Russias Vladimir Putin who have been strongly criticized by human rights groups.

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Trump in a phone call and the countrys state media have welcomed his election as harkening a less confrontational policy toward China. Those outlets have also applauded Trumps announcement that he would abandon a U.S.-led free trade agreement in Asia that had excluded China.

However, Trump has also accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and pledged to bulk-

up the U.S. military, leaving questions as to his ultimate approach to relations with the worlds second-largest economy. Ganbat Namjilsangarav & Grace Brown, Ulaanbaatar, AP
The entire leadership of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia has resigned to make way for democratic changes.

Party Leader Milos Jakes called an emergency meeting of his government this morning after admitting to underestimating the force of the pro-democracy movement.

Twenty-four members of the Politburo and the Secretariat stood down  mainly the same hardliners who called in the Soviet tanks in 1968 to crush the Prague Spring reformers.

And the hero of that movement, Alexander Dubcek, has returned from exile to a triumphant welcome in Prague.

He told a jubilant crowd of 250,000 people in Wenceslas Square: My idea of socialism with a human face is living with a new generation.

He also said the new Civic Reform  the broad coalition of opposition groups formed only a few days ago  represented all the people.

Pressure on members of the Czech Communist Party had been building for months as they found themselves increasingly out of step with other Warsaw Pact countries and their own people.

Two weeks ago the change sweeping Europe resulted in the breaching of the continents most potent symbol of the West-East divide  the Berlin Wall.

Even the Kremlin  led by reforming President Mikhail Gorbachev  has indicated it wished to see change in Czechoslovakia.

Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda said recently the Czech people had lost faith in their leaders.

And after the resignations Moscow called for a greater understanding between the Czech authorities and those campaigning for reform.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

The Federal Assembly abolished the Communists constitutional hold on power after the resignations.

The following month Alexander Dubcek was elected chairman of the new administration and dissident Vaclav Havel became president, completing what became known as the Velvet Revolution.

In 1990 the country was separated into two independent republics  one Czech and one Slovak  and free elections were held for the first time since 1946.

Over the next two years the Slovak separatist movement successfully campaigned for autonomy from the Czech lands.

The Velvet Divorce was concluded and from 1 January 1993 Czechoslovakia ceased to exist and became two independent states  the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Facebook is developing censorship tools to suppress controversial content as a means to appease Chinas ruling Communist Party and finally re-enter the worlds most populous country.

The New York Times reported this week that a small team, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs blessing, is developing software that can censor posts from appearing in the feeds of people in a specified geographic area. The Times cites three current and former Facebook employees that the tool was designed to get Facebook back into China where it has been blocked for a number of years.

A number of American internet companies already operate under partial or full censorship in order to do business in China. Professional network company LinkedIn courted controversy for allowing censorship of its Chinese platform. Apple has partially censored content on iTunes and iBooks, but has still had problems most notably earlier this year when both platforms were shut down unexpectedly following orders from Beijing.

Facebook already partially censors some content in a number of countries as a condition of operating in those territories. The company blocks already posted content in Pakistan, Russia and Turkey at the behest of the governments of those countries. The Times reports that this new censorship tool takes things further by blocking posts from ever reaching Chinese users feeds.

The Times report adds that Facebook would not be in control of what content would be censored, rather the company would allow a third party partner, almost inevitably a Chinese company, to become the information gatekeeper.

Sources told the Times that the censorship tool may never be used or be enough to allow the company to enter China and was one of many different approaches Facebook was using to enter the Middle Kingdom. However, the news that Facebook was developing such tools is likely to lead to a storm of criticism not least because the strategy is somewhat at odds with the companys stated mission of making the world more connected and transparent.

Facebook is still reeling from the fake news controversy that many felt had an influence on the U.S. elections. Zuckerbergs response to the criticism of the social network was initially prickly, downplaying the size and importance of fake news on Facebook. The company has since cracked down on fake news sites, prohibiting them from using its ad network, which places ads on other peoples websites with Zuckerberg pledging to filter out misinformation. Abid Rahman, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg
Global institutes, particularly in the U.K., are now seeking to create a balance between teaching and research, according to Maureen McLaughlin, head of Universities and Standards at Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in U.K.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference held at Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) yesterday, McLaughlin told the Times that in the past 20 years, research has been dominant in university agendas in a bid to make sure that teaching has the same profile and agenda  to benefit its students more directly.

McLaughlin noted that the U.K.-based agency is working closely with institutions in Macau, and also is looking at working with the Tertiary Education Service Office (GAES). Their collaboration is aimed towards improving the quality of university teaching and research, as well as student experience.

Weve been working with IPM now ever since we came [] and we review IPM exactly the same way that we reviewed any U.K. institutions, so it is quite a tough standard for them to actually rise, but they did, she explained to the Times.

According to her, the collaboration between local institutions and universities from the U.K. would enable greater awareness of issues that global higher education is facing such as the importance of new teaching agendas.

When asked about the vital factors that would help enhance the quality of university teaching, McLaughlin noted that leadership needs to come from the top of the institution.

She also cited institutional incentives to raise the profile of teaching within institutions, rewarding its staff and listening to students learning experience as some of the factors. [And] to make sure that any income that we [universities] get needs to be spent on teaching activities, she added.

Unlike in Macau, where GAES and other government bodies support local research studies, McLaughlin said that the most common challenge that higher education faces in the U.K. is funding.

She also stressed that Brexit has caused anxiety for the countrys international students, with European students uncertain about whether they are still welcome or whether tuition fees will increase.

Our international students are often the lifeblood of a lot of work of our institutions. Not just because of the different range of cultural influences that they bring, but they are financially very important for U.K. institutes, McLaughlin explained. I think there are challenges to maintaining good and positive relationships between Europe, within our European counterparts and more globally.

She admitted that institutions are concerned about research that they are undertaking with European counterparts. While it is still too early to feel the effect of Brexit, the expert noted that institutions are already worried about student recruitment and staff mobility.

McLaughlin believes that the MSAR has the potential to retain local students.

They should be able to stay within their own confines and contribute to local economy. So hopefully some of the plans that GAES has in place to actually instigate those good frameworks and foundations should lead to a wholly better research, teaching and culture in the future, McLaughlin explained.

Additionally, there is still an increasing demand and supply mismatch between the Macau and U.K. workforces.

Unlike the U.K., which is suffering with a lack of graduate jobs, Macau is experiencing a shortage of professionals in certain fields.

I think all of these will drive up better qualified students who want to stay within Macau and keep their practices here. That should hopefully solve some of the human resources issues you have in Macau, she concluded.
An Asian-themed property catering to Chinese gamblers and guests has become the first new casino-hotel to open in nearly six years along the Las Vegas Strip.

The Lucky Dragon Hotel and Casino began operations Saturday, in what officials characterized as a soft opening, ahead of a Dec. 3 grand opening, KSNV-TV reported.

With about 200 hotel rooms, the property just off Sahara Avenue is small by Las Vegas standards. The casino has more baccarat than blackjack, and only about 300 slot machines, compared with thousands at most Strip resorts.

The Las Vegas Sun reports the center of the casino surrounds a 15-foot, 1.25-ton glass sculpture of a dragon, and the food court was built to resemble Asian night markets with multiple restaurants and street food vendors.

Dave Jacoby, chief operating officer, told KSNV the Lucky Dragon aims to attract overseas tourists and local residents looking for authentic Asian cuisine and popular games.

Guest signs are in Chinese and English, and the hotel elevator doesnt list a fourth floor because the number is considered unlucky in some Asian cultures.

The Sun reported that when the resort won final Nevada Gaming Commission approval last month, General Manager Matthew Harkness said it will market to Asian customers in Las Vegas, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest U.S. and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The casino was financed with money from Chinese investors and developed by privately held Las Vegas Economic Impact Regional Center through the EB-5 visa program, which grants green cards to foreigners in return for investments of at least USD500,000 on job-creating projects. AP
Nida Fatin Mat Asis was slumped lifeless in her car seat, bleeding profusely from her nose and mouth, after her Honda hit a lamppost and skidded into a ditch. Her husband was slightly injured, and their baby wasnt hurt at all.

Her husband, like Nida a government doctor, had no idea what had happened until the post-mortem came in: A broken metal canister, later identified as part of an air bag inflator, had shot through her mouth and lodged in the base of her skull.

The deaths of Nida and four other Malaysians have been linked to faulty Takata air bags that are subject to one of the worlds largest auto recalls. The U.S., with 11 deaths, is the only other country to have reported such fatalities. Why this Southeast Asian country of 30 million would be hit disproportionately hard by the defective air bags is a mystery, but the families of two Malaysian victims and a survivor blame weaknesses in their countrys recall system.

They say Honda, the leading foreign brand in Malaysia, has failed to alert car owners about potentially deadly risks from the air bags or do enough to track down second-hand car owners. They also say the company hasnt provided enough replacement parts or alternative options for car owners if repairs cannot be done immediately.

The defective air bags have faulty inflators and propellant devices that may deploy improperly in an accident, shooting out metal fragments that can injure or kill. More than 100 million vehicles involving 17 automakers have been recalled worldwide, including 69 million in the U.S. alone, underscoring the scale of the crisis.

All the deaths in Malaysia involved the Honda City, a subcompact made for Asia and Europe. Experts say heat and humidity can make air bag explosions more likely, but neighboring Thailand, with a similar climate, has reported no deaths.

In his first media interview since his wife died on April 16, 2016, Nidas husband, Abdullah Shamshir Abdul Mokti, told The Associated Press they had not heard about the recall and never received a notice from Honda. They bought their used 2006 Honda City in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, taking it with them when they moved to a rural town in Sabah the following year.

Nida, 29, was driving the morning she died because Shamshir was tired from night duty. Immediately after the crash, he thought she had suffered a concussion. Horrified to find no pulse, he shined a light into her eyes. Her pupils were fixed and dilated.

The inflator must have shot through her mouth like a bullet, said Shamshir, who later returned to Kuala Lumpur.

The post-mortem report, shown to the AP, says examiners found a broken, 2.6-centimeter diameter, 2-centimeter long air bag inflator, lodged in the base of Nidas skull. Her teeth were smashed and her nose fractured. Injuries to her brain stem likely caused her immediate death, it said.

As a Muslim, I accepted her death as fate but I also believe she is a victim of multinational corporate manslaughter, Shamshir said. I hold Honda and Takata responsible. This isnt an isolated case. We have five deaths in Malaysia, five very preventable deaths.

In an email, Honda said it sent out recall notices for the air bag inflators of Nidas car in July 2015, but to the cars first owner. It said it only had the database of the cars first owner at the time.

Malaysias first air bag-related fatality was in July 2014, when a heavily pregnant driver and her unborn child were killed in eastern Sarawak state. A minor collision in her 2003 Honda City set off the air bag, which shot a one-inch-wide metal shard into her neck.

In May 2016, Honda reported a fatality involving a 2003 Honda City, in northern Kedah state. On June 26, Norazlin Haron, a 44-year-old single mother and accounts clerk, died in central Selangor state. She left behind two sons, ages 9 and 12.

The fifth death, on Sept. 24, was in southern Johor state.

A fractured inflator apparently punctured Norazlins chest and lungs, said her eldest sister, Norain Haron. Part of the inflator was found in the car, which was only lightly dented in the collision.

Norazlin bought the car new in 2005 and tried to get the air bag fixed after she received a recall notice marked urgent, just weeks before her accident. A Honda dealer said he was short of parts and told her to return in July.

The recall notice didnt explain why the air bag had to be changed, said Norain.

Its like having a live bullet in the car, said Roslinya Latip, Norazlins sister-in-law. Honda is not doing enough. You sent a letter with an urgent stamp but there is no explanation, no spare part and no Plan B. Whats the point? There is a loophole in their management and service here. Safety is not No. 1 [for Honda] in Malaysia.

Honda said it sent two recall notices to Norazlin in July 2015 and a third on June 1 this year. It said it found no evidence she was told to return in July to fix the air bag.

The Malaysian Association of Standards Users, a consumer group, blames the deaths on lax auto safety laws. Malaysia does not issue public notices of recalls or keep central databases enabling car owners to check if their vehicles are affected. The group is pushing for a new vehicle safety authority similar to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S.

There are no international standards for safety and recalls, or for how car owners should be notified. Many countries do not have strict regulations or a clear process that automakers must follow when they discover a problem, so defective parts recalled in one part of the world might not be recalled in another.

Honda began recalling drivers side air bags in the U.S. in 2008. It only started recalling side air bags in small cars sold in Europe and Asia in November 2014, after the first death of a driver in Malaysia.

The first letter Honda sent Malaysian car owners was labeled an invitation for product update. A later one, stamped urgent, notified car owners of an airbag inflator replacement activity, but did not explain the recall and risks involved. Honda said it kept the letter simple and straightforward to ensure customers would read it and not dispose of it as junk mail.

Honda Malaysias website does not explain the reason for the recalls or mention deaths associated with the air bags.

Honda America has a website on the recalls, hondaairbaginfo.com, explaining the problem and showing in a video clip how the air bags can explode. It lists the dates and locations of air bag-related deaths in the U.S.

Honda Americas dealers also can provide loaner or rental vehicles free of charge until repairs are made. It has hired private investigators to contact hard-to-reach owners.

Malaysia is Southeast Asias third-largest car market, after Thailand and Indonesia, with more than 666,000 new cars sold last year. The country also has nearly 500,000 road accidents a year: Malaysian drivers attitudes and road rage are common coffee shop talk.

The Road Transport Department and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research didnt respond to AP queries about the air bag recalls and accidents. Transport ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

Honda Malaysia says 60 percent of air bag inflators have been fixed, but 90,000 driver-side inflators and 65,000 front passenger inflators have yet to be repaired. Honda said it is working with the Road Transport Department and insurance companies to locate secondhand car owners and began sending out notices them in October.

Honda Malaysias main priority is to continue to reach out to all affected customers nationwide and replace airbag inflators of those affected vehicles, it said.

Nidas and Norazlins families are in negotiations with Honda over a settlement, as is housewife Rabiah Bie, whose near-miss led her to speak out.

Rabiah bought her 2005 Honda City used in 2010. She says she didnt know about the recall.

Driving home in the small town of Slim River in northwestern Malaysias Perak state on May 3, Rabiah swerved to avoid an oncoming car, hit a manhole beside the road and skidded into a ditch. A ruptured inflator slashed her neck before lodging in her car seat headrest.

A day later, Honda issued a statement announcing the April 26 and May 1 air bag-related deaths. Rabiahs husband checked the car and found the hole in her headrest and the rusty inflator. Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AP
A self-confessed drug dealer, whose father was killed in an alleged gun fight in prison, has testified before a Philippine Senate investigation that he provided police officials and an opposition senator with millions of pesos in protection money.

Rolando Kerwin Espinosa Jr. said yesterday that he gave 8 million pesos (USD160,000) last year to Sen. Leila de Limas bodyguard. De Lima was a former justice secretary who President Rodrigo Duterte earlier alleged had collected money from drug lords through her bodyguard, who was also her lover, to fund her senatorial campaign.

De Lima, who has initiated an investigation into Dutertes deadly anti-drug campaign, denied receiving money from Espinosa, saying she does not know him.

Human rights groups and Western governments have criticized Dutertes anti-drug campaign that has left more than 4,000 suspected addicts and pushers dead since July.

Espinosa, who was returned to the Philippines last Friday after his arrest in Abu Dhabi, said he dealt only with Dayan, who brought him to meet de Lima briefly in northern Baguio city last November where they had a picture taken together. De Lima has said she was campaigning at that time and many people wanted take a photo with her.

No, we had no discussion, Espinosa said, referring to de Lima. Ronnie warned me that she would not speak to me around many people.

De Lima told the hearing that Espinosas testimony was a fabrication and delivered under gunpoint, under duress.

May God forgive you for all your sins and may God forgive you for all your lies about me, and I forgive you, De Lima told the Senate inquiry.

She has said that Duterte was out to destroy her, first earning his ire years ago when as head of the Commission on Human Rights she investigated his suspected links to a death squad that assassinated drug suspects in southern Davao city, where Duterte was a long-time mayor.

Dayan, the bodyguard, was arrested last week after weeks in hiding. Dutertes allies at the House of Representatives presented him to the media late Tuesday, where he said he did collect money from Espinosa on instructions of de Lima.

He said he and de Lima were lovers for seven years. De Lima admitted in a television interview last week that she was once in a romantic relationship with Dayan.

Espinosas father, town mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., was arrested last month. He had agreed to cooperate with officials but was killed Nov. 5 in an alleged gun fight with police inside his jail cell. Senators investigating the case suspect it was an intentional killing. Teresa Cerojano, Manila, AP

Philippine-US military exercises to be reduced next year

The Philippine armed forces chief said yesterday that five military exercises with the United States, including at least two major naval drills, will be scrapped next year at the direction of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Gen. Ricardo Visaya told reporters that U.S. officials respected the Philippines proposal to reduce the number of drills to 258, or five less than this years exercises.

Earlier this week, the two allies held a meeting of their Mutual Defense Board and Security Engagement Board co-chaired by Visaya and Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., head of the U.S. Pacific Command.

Visaya said the scrapped drills include an Amphibious Landing Exercise and Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, both major naval exercises that include territorial defense training.

He said next years exercises will focus on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and counterterrorism.

Duterte has said he wants to chart a foreign policy less oriented toward Washington, and wants to expand security ties with China and Russia.

Armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the 258 exercises include small drills involving only a few soldiers, but that 13 are considered major drills.

Padilla said the large-scale Balikatan or shoulder-to-

shoulder exercises will be retained but will focus on humanitarian and disaster response.
The idea to rationalize the number of civil servants in order to save on government resources was one of the highlights of the second day of presentation by the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, regarding the policy address for 2017.

The Q&A session held yesterday afternoon at the Legislative Assembly (AL) was a continuation on the session held the previous day, where many questions were presented to Chan.

The first to address the problem of the high number of civil servants was lawmaker Chui Sai Peng, who suggested that the government simplifies bureaucratic procedures in order to reduce the need for these workers.

According to Chui, the core of the rationalization resides in the simplification, calling on the government to de-bureaucratize and ease administrative procedures.

The lawmaker used a comparison between Macau and the neighboring region of Hong Kong to argue that there are too many civil servants in the MSAR.

Replying to the lawmaker, Secretary Chan reaffirmed, we cannot compare with a different reference, noting that the situation of Hong Kong is different. Instead she reaffirmed that the current number of civil servants is [what is] necessary to fulfill the needs [of Macau].

Adding to the reply was the director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Eddie Kou. He said that, regarding the simplification of procedures, said we have already done several assessments and created several interdepartmental communication circuits, adding that in 2016/2017 there will be 47 items [that will be shared] and about 200 circuits [of communication] that are related to the presentation of documents.

Kou also highlighted the focus of efforts to reduce inconveniences in terms of the waiting times at self-service kiosks.

Another of the lawmakers raising problems relating to civil servants was the lawmaker and vice president of the AL, Lam Heong Sang, who called for a change to the recruitment system that he says is cumbersome. The consequence of this, according to Lam, is that staff need to work long hours and wait for a long time until [the department] has the vacancies occupied. Lam added there are also problems for staff [in applying] to other positions even within the same service.

On the topic, Chan acknowledged that currently the number of career staff is almost the same as the number staff working on short-term contracts. We are going to study a way of integrating the workers that are already working with the SAFP into the career [path], starting with those who have been performing [their] duties for a long time, she said.

While Lam remarked on the difficulties in hiring new civil servants, it was Fong Chi Keong who contrarily pointed out that is even harder to fire them.

We have a lot that arent working [] while the others have to work a lot more [to compensate] for them, said Lam.

According to the lawmaker, such an attitude affects the morale of other workers and produces negative influences, affecting also the work of the administrative mechanism.

Fong suggested that, similarly to what happens in Hong Kong, the government in Macau should implement a regime of a one-time compensation for an early retirement in order to clean cases like these out of the system.

200 interpreters and translators need ed

Two hundred is the number of new interpreters and translators required in the near future in the region. The figure was advanced yesterday by the director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Eddie Kou, speaking at the Legislative Assembly (AL) in a reply to a question raised by lawmaker Angela Leong the previous day. Kou said that more courses [are needed] in order to attract more talent to that field, adding that the future needs in the finance and juridical fields are still unknown, but the government has already created a task force to monitor those needs.

Lawmakers call for Land Law review

Lawmakers Zheng Anting, Si Ka Lon and Leonel Alves called for a review for the land law yesterday in order to correct mistakes made in the past with the approval in 2013 of the current law, which presents important loopholes.

Referring to the particular case of the Pearl Horizon development, lawmakers Zheng Anting and Leonel Alves referred to examples of foreign investors who have been defrauded by the outcome.

Zheng noted that the government accepted and received the payment of special stamp duty for the acquisition of units [in June 2015] without any problems, adding that buyers fulfill all their responsibilities but now they are defrauded.

I agree with what the president of TUI [Final Appeal Court] said [ which was] to go to the courts as the last resort; a solution that involves many costs and a long period of time to a resolve, said Zheng.

Alves then concluded that it is a serious problem that we hope can be solved for the progress of Macau.

The land law affects all our population and all economy, continued Alves. It should also be in the group of laws [that the office of Secretary Chan plans] to disclose.

Secretary Chan replied: Regarding the law revision, there isnt yet a consensus in society. Without consensus we wont do any law review. Meanwhile, regarding the resort to the courts, it was not the government that took the cases to the judiciary institutions, this was done by the interested [parties] in the defense of their rights and interests.

Another of the laws that Alves said needed to be urgently addressed was that of the cases of top officials who, due to a technical reason, have no right to appeal since they are judged by the TUI.

According to the lawmaker, the problem could be easily solved if the TUI had more than the current three judges. He added that the impossibility of an appeal is an injustice to people involved and also to the society. RM
A scheme for free-sailing yachts journeying between Zhongshan city and Macau was officially inaugurated yesterday. The new scheme shortens the traveling time between the two cities to approximately 45 minutes. Customs on both sides will take altogether 10 minutes to complete all custom checking procedures.

In Zhongshan, yachts covered by the new scheme are allowed to dock only at Keppel Cove. The bay is currently under construction until all projects are completed.

The first project concerns the construction of 250 berths. A four-story border checkpoint structure has been constructed at the bay. Macau is providing 120 berths.

The local government chose a wharf located in Coloane to establish the berthing areas for the scheme.

As of yesterday, yachts travelling between the two cities are now required to apply for a permit 48-hours ahead of their arrival in Macau.

The Macao Customs Service also requires documents from both the yachts and the passengers in order to obtain permission to enter Macau.

Macau regulates that each boat carries a maximum of 20 people. Boats cannot berth elsewhere when traveling between the two cities, and passengers cannot alight midway through the journey.

Keppel Cove is planned to have over 400 berths. A total of 250 high-end residences with private berths has also been scheduled for construction at the site.

Before the official inauguration, on October 25 and 27, both cities conducted two drills.

The free yacht scheme had been postponed several times in the past, with the government initially predicting an opening date in mid-2015.

The scheme was agreed by the two regions in July 2014. JZ
In Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut states that he wrote the book, in part, to clear (his) head of all the junk in there as a 50th birthday present to himself. In this, the week of my admittedly-a-few-years-past-50th birthday, I thought Id do a little mental housekeeping of my own by putting some astronomical pet peeves behind me, with your indulgence, dear reader.

First: Jupiter and Saturn are called gas giants because theyre mostly hydrogen and helium, both of which are gases on Earth. But, under the pressure of crushing gravity, these elements are gaseous only in these planets outermost parts; their interiors comprise mostly liquid hydrogen and helium. Calling Jupiter and Saturn gas giants is comparable to calling Earth a liquid planet because of the relatively shallow layer of water on its surface (the oceans).

Second: Meteors burn up by friction. Meteors typically disintegrate 30-60 miles up, where the air is quite thin. Its not air molecules scraping past them that heat meteors to luminescence, its the molecules in their way. Just as the air inside a pump heats up when inflating a bike tire, so does the air compressed before a hypersonic meteor, reaching temperatures hot enough to vaporize metal.

Third: With very few exceptions, computer-generated flyovers of planets are created with exaggerated vertical relief, giving a false impression of the terrains true nature (which is crucial in understanding the planets nature).

Last: The International Astronomical Unions 2006 decision to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet due to its failure to clear its orbit of similarly sized bodies was widely called a demotion, implying that planets are better than dwarf planets. Are continents better than islands? Are oceans better than seas?

There, I feel better.

Next column: Lunar highs and lows.
Volunteers  Horizon Home Health and Hospice is looking for volunteers to join our team to provide quality compassionate care to our patients through the following activities: companionship, socialization, respite, and support for patients and families and much more. Information: Cynthia Nixon, 208-800-8085 or cnixon@horizonhh.com.

Volunteers  The Senior Companion Program at the CSI Office on Aging needs volunteers, age 55 and older, to assist homebound seniors by providing friendly visits, transportation or other assistance as needed. Senior Companions make positive impacts by helping to improve the mental and emotional status of their clients. Senior Companions receive a stipend per hour of service (to income eligible seniors) and can work between 15 to 40 hours a week. They receive reimbursement for mileage, and training on age-related problems. Information: Dandre, 208-736-2122, or toll free, 800-574-8656

Drivers  The Twin Falls Senior Center needs drivers to deliver meals to homebound seniors in Twin Falls Monday through Friday, and the routes take an hour or less to complete. Commitment is based on your availability. Volunteers must be 18 years of age with their own car, and have proof of liability insurance and a background check. Drivers receive 54 cents a mile fuel reimbursement. Information: 208-734-5084.

Drivers  The American Cancer Society is looking for volunteer drivers for its Road to Recovery program in Twin Falls. Volunteers will drive patients to and from medical treatments. Commitment is flexible. Information: 1-800-227-2345.

Volunteers  The Fifth Judicial District CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Program is seeking community volunteers to become advocates for abused children. Advocates receive training and support to investigate, report, monitor and advocate for children involved in the child protection system. Advocates are needed in all eight counties of the district, and the program needs volunteers in the Mini Cassia area. Information: Tahna, 208-735-1177

Volunteers  St. Lukes Home Health and Hospice is looking for new volunteers to join its team to share compassion and care and increase the quality of life for patients and their families. The program is designed to offer companionship and socialization to patients as well as respite and support for the caregivers. Information: Marie Sharp, 208-814-7603 or sharpm@slhs.org.

Volunteers  The Twin Falls Senior Center has a ladies group (The Crazy Quilters), who are looking for individuals to put finishing touches on quilts as a group while socializing. The group meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All quilt project proceeds are given to the Twin Falls Senior Center. Information: 208-734-5084.

Volunteers  St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center is in need of volunteers for a variety of positions from shuttle drivers to care volunteers to gift shop volunteers and more. The medical center is looking for pleasant, and friendly individuals with a sincere interest in voluntary services offered to patients, visitors, employees and guests. Meet new people and learn new experiences and challenges. Information: Kim Patterson at 814-0861 or kimpa@slhs.org, or visit the Volunteer Services Office, lower level at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center; 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. Applications are available at the Front Information Desk.
TWIN FALLS  Throughout his campaign, the potential security risk posed by Muslim refugees was a persistent theme at President-elect Donald Trumps rallies. He called for an end to resettlement of refugees from Syria and terror-prone regions, and said he wouldnt resettle refugees in communities where they are not wanted.

So what will this rhetoric mean after he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20?

I think everyone is in a mode of waiting and seeing of what might be the priorities of a Trump administration, said Jan Reeves, director of the Idaho Office for Refugees.

While nobody is jumping to conclusions, Reeves said, there is concern about whether the rhetoric that transpired during the campaign could come into play. Theres certainly a lot of concern about the future of the refugee program, the future of immigration policy, the future of Muslims in our country.

Zeze Rwasama, director of the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center and himself a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sounded optimistic about the future of the program he oversees. He followed the election closely, and he suspects Trump doesnt want to end refugee resettlement but rather to ensure refugees are properly vetted and are people who will become good citizens.

Thats what I want, too, Rwasama said. Thats what anyone wants.

Rwasama attributed some of Trumps rhetoric to the fact that, as a government outsider, he didnt have access to classified information about the vetting process for refugees. Now that he does, Rwasama thinks Trump will keep the program.

I think that now this program, he knows it better than before and now this program belongs to him, Rwasama said.

Potential changes

The Obama administration has proposed resettling 110,000 refugees in the United States over the 2017 fiscal year, which started this Oct. 1, of whom 300 are expected to come to Twin Falls. Refugee resettlement has been a controversial issue around the country and the world as millions of refugees have fled the civil war in Syria, and it has factored into the local debate in Twin Falls more than in perhaps most places.

A movement to shut down the CSI Refugee Center started last year but failed to get enough signatures to force a countywide vote. The issue returned to the headlines over the summer, when news broke about a 5-year-old girl who had, authorities said, been sexually assaulted by three boys from refugee families at the Fawnbrook Apartments, bringing national media attention to Twin Falls, dominating City Council meetings for more than a month and prompting accusations of a cover-up and threats to local officials.

Throughout the campaign, the Republican president-elect criticized his opponent Democrat Hillary Clinton for supporting an increase in the number of Syrian refugees to be allowed in the country, saying it would put the U.S. at greater risk of terrorist attack. After the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack, Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, a policy he later walked back in favor of stricter vetting and temporarily banning people from countries like Syria.

Trump continued to speak about the issue at some of his last campaign stops in Minnesota and Michigan, pointing to a September stabbing attack committed by the son of Somali refugees at a Minnesota mall as justification and reiterating his pledge to suspend the admission of Syrians. Since then, some of Trumps proposed appointments of hardliners on immigration and refugee resettlement to key positions, including naming former Breitbart head Steve Bannon as his chief strategist, have given hope to those who want him to follow through on his campaign pledges on these issues.

Here in Michigan, youve seen firsthand the problems caused with the refugee program ... It puts your security at risk and it puts enormous pressure on your schools and your community resources, Trump said at a rally in Michigan just before the election, Reuters reported. A Trump administration will not admit any refugees without the support of the local community.

There have been reports from some parts of the country of harassment of minorities, including Middle Eastern-looking people, since the election, but Rwasama said he has seen the opposite here  an outpouring of supportive telephone calls to the Refugee Center and trailer-loads of donations of coats, socks, shoes, kitchenware, and other items refugees need. Twin Falls, he said, has been an example other cities could model.

The reaction I have seen with the community has actually come with material support, he said. And I do appreciate this community.

It would take an act of Congress to abolish the refugee resettlement program entirely, and Trump hasnt indicated thats what he intends.

I havent heard suggestions that we would let no refugees from (any) countries, just certain countries, said Bill Smith, director of the University of Idahos Martin Institute, which studies war and peace.

But the president does have a lot of power to decide how many refugees will be allowed to enter the country, and from where. This years number of 110,000 refugees, of whom thousands are expected to come from Syria, is something Trump could change when he assumes office, Smith said.

Ill just say that under the current law, every year the president of the United States determines the need for protecting international refugees through resettlement programs, Reeves said. The number is established by the president.

President George W. Bush imposed a temporary moratorium on refugee admissions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, during which time U.S. security officials reviewed and tightened vetting procedures, Reeves said.

Using that as a precedent, I would say its possible that something like that could be implemented by a new administration, if that were the will of the administration, Reeves said.

Wait and see

States and local governments have little control over refugee resettlement, a fact state and local officials in Idaho often point to when asked about the issue. Trump isnt the only Republican politician who wants a greater local say. Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter called a year ago, after the Islamic State terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, for consideration ... to enabling states to opt out of the refugee resettlement program. And U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, has introduced legislation that would, among other provisions, let states and communities opt out of the program.

Labradors press office said he would work with the president-elect on the issue but didnt directly address whether Labrador would seek to advance the particular proposals in his bill now that Trump will be president.

Immigration reform is a high priority for 2017, for both Congress and our incoming president, Labrador said in a statement. I look forward to working closely with President-elect Trump to secure our borders and implement a vetting process that ensures immigrants do not pose a security threat to the United States.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said he doesnt believe the Obama administrations assurances that the security checks currently in place are adequate.

I continue to believe that one of our strongest focuses needs to be  (to make sure) adequate and accurate vetting takes place, Crapo said in mid-November.

Crapo said the Unites States should take in refugees from places like Syria, where conditions make it difficult for U.S. officials to verify peoples backgrounds and stories, only if officials can be sure the vetting process is strong enough.

We should insist on an adequate vetting process, he said.

Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymens Association, is waiting to see what Trumps policies will be on both immigration and refugee resettlement. While the large role played by Latino immigrants, many of them undocumented, in the local dairy industry is widely known, Naerebout said refugees in the Magic Valley are also an important part of the workforce both at some dairies and at food processing plants.

The refugees are important to our community and bring value to our community, he said.

There isnt a visa program the dairy industry can use  dairy work is year-round, and the agricultural visa programs that exist now are for seasonal workers  and with unemployment in the Magic Valley below 3 percent, Naerebout said, any policies that lead to a smaller labor pool would have a negative economic impact not only on dairies but on other agricultural sectors, and on construction and the service industry, all of which employ many foreign-born workers.

There are multiple job openings throughout the Magic Valley that are not being filled, he said.

Twin Falls Mayor Shawn Barigar said he would wait to see what sort of policies come next year.

President-elect Trump and Secretary Clinton said an awful lot of things about what they would do, he said.

If participating in refugee resettlement becomes a local option, Barigar said, the community would have to discuss it  he doesnt view it as a decision for him to make unilaterally. But he did express support for the program.

I think its been successful, he said. I would hope that we would continue to have that opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance to those who have been through traumatic situations and allow them to move forward in living the American dream like the rest of us.

Smith, the director of the Martin Institute, said letting communities opt out would be a big policy change.

There are a lot of  groups who identify as strongly conservative who also feel strongly about maintaining a refugee program, he said, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, some evangelical and Baptist churches, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our state agencies and the city agencies have stayed remarkably strong in terms of their commitments as things have sort of evolved in terms of the conversations over resettlement in the past year-and-a-half, he said.

Twin Falls County Commissioner Terry Kramer said whether to host a refugee resettlement program has never been a choice for the county, and that opting out would be quite a dramatic change.

Thats something, I guess, we would have to discuss as a community if it became a choice, he said.

From a county government perspective, Kramer said, the programs effect has been neutral, probably no different than that of any group of people moving in.

We see, probably, some indigent claims because of the program, but I think that we also see opportunities for these people to start successful businesses in the community and be productive members of the labor force, he said.

Kramer credited this to the work of the CSI Refugee Center.

If (there were) no support, if they were just dropped here, it would be very challenging, he said. But because they have that Refugee Center with all the support to try to transition people into our lifestyles, its a lot more helpful.

Kramer said he expects to see better screening but also continued resettlement of some refugees. The U.S. has a particular moral obligation to help people who have to flee their countries because they were Americas allies, he said.

Youre always going to have those refugees who stood up for our policies in their countries, he said. We just have to protect those people that protect us. I think its really important.
She met and fell in love with a handsome sailor, James Partridge, and they were married in 1949. Millie passed away just four days shy of their 67th wedding anniversary. Together they had two sons born in Palm Springs, California and then moved to Twin Falls, Idaho in 1955 where their daughter was born. Millie was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses on September 25th, 1955. As a family they traveled abroad to Ecuador to serve as volunteers teaching the Bible. Even after they returned home, teaching others about the Bible was always very important to Millie, and she spent many volunteer hours in the ministry even up until she passed away.
As a candidate, President-elect Donald Trump famously promised not only to use the phrase but also to fight radical Islamic terrorism. Yet as his administration comes together, its getting harder to make the distinction between that fight and outright Islamophobia.

Religious prejudice should have no place in American life, a once-pat observation that now bears repeating. Moreover, claiming that fear of Muslims is rational  as has Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trumps selection as national security adviser  makes the fight against terrorism more difficult, and distracts from equally profound challenges facing the U.S.

Flynns comment is hardly unrepresentative. Trump himself has said Islam hates us, while he and several underlings have called for a registry for all Muslims in the U.S. (the fate of this proposal is now uncertain). His adviser Stephen Bannon compares the fight against terrorism to medieval Christendoms fight against the Turks. Some of Trumps closest campaign advisers have called for ideological tests for all Muslims and widespread surveillance of mosques.

Purely from a practical standpoint  again, leaving aside moral or constitutional qualms  these views are profoundly unhelpful. Islam is the worlds second-largest and fastest-growing faith, encompassing one-quarter of its population and divided among numerous sects. Overwhelming majorities of the worlds Muslims reject violence against civilians in the name of Islam.

These are exactly the people whose help is most necessary in fighting the threat of Islamic terrorism  and this is exactly the rhetoric most likely to alienate them. Such language also feeds Islamic States narrative that the West will never accept Muslims living in their midst and weakens the best line of defense against radicalization: the willingness of communities to police themselves and report suspicious activity.

And then there are the wider policy implications. The fight against radical Islamic terrorism is important, but it is only one of many geopolitical challenges  from Russian revanchism to the rise of China  facing the U.S. Elevating it to the level of a millennial struggle seems more likely to be a dangerous self-fulfilling prophecy than a wise strategic decision.

Finally, the incoming administrations stance is encouraging to autocrats such as Egypts President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, who says he wants to reform Islam, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who praised Trump as a natural ally. But stiffer repression (in Egypt) or continued war crimes (in Syria) will not dim the allure of violent jihad.

The only thing that will do that is support for better governance, more economic opportunity, greater political freedom, and stronger, more open communities. These are values the U.S. has long stood for, admittedly sometimes more strongly than others, and they remain worth defending no matter who is president.
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.
(HealthDay)For critically ill adults, acute kidney injury is a risk factor for delirium and coma, according to a study published online Nov. 17 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Edward D. Siew, M.D., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues examined whether acute kidney injury correlates with delirium and coma in 466 critically ill adults in a prospective cohort study. Using multinomial transition models adjusting for demographics, non-renal organ failure, sepsis, prior mental status, and sedative exposure, the authors examined the correlation between acute kidney injury and daily mental status.

The researchers found that stage 2 acute kidney injury was associated with increased risk of delirium and coma (odds ratios, 1.55 and 2.04, respectively), as was stage 3 acute kidney injury (odds ratios, 2.55 and 3.34, respectively). After adjustment for baseline values, daily peak serum creatinine values correlated with delirium and coma (odds ratios, 1.35 and 1.44, respectively). The association between stage 3 acute kidney injury and daily peak serum creatinine and both delirium and coma was modified by renal replacement therapy.

"Acute kidney injury is a risk factor for delirium and coma during critical illness," the authors write.

Copyright  2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Light and moderate alcohol consumption of up to two drinks per day is associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke but seems to have no effect on a person's risk of hemorrhagic stroke, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine. High-to-heavy drinking was found to be associated with increased risk of all stroke types.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and University of Cambridge, UK, suggest that the divergent associations of alcohol consumption with different types of stroke may explain some of the inconsistent findings of previous studies which investigated the association between alcohol consumption and stroke but did not discriminate between different stroke types.

Dr. Susanna Larsson, lead author said: "This is the first study that combines the results from all available prospective studies on alcohol consumption and risk of hemorrhagic stroke subtypes. Our results showed that heavy drinkers were about 1.6 times more likely to suffer from intracerebral hemorrhage and 1.8 times more likely to suffer from subarachnoid hemorrhage. The association between heavy alcohol consumption and these two types of stroke was stronger than that for ischemic stroke."

Ischemic stroke is caused by blood clots which block diseased or damaged cerebral arteries. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a weakened blood vessel, such as an aneurism, bursts and bleeds either within the brain (intracerebral) orless commonlyinto the space between two membranes that surround the brain (subarachnoid). The researchers suggest that different associations between alcohol consumption and type of stroke may have to do with the effects alcohol has on the human body.

Dr. Larsson explained: "Previous research has found an association between alcohol consumption and lower levels of fibrinogena protein in the body which helps the formation of blood clots. While this may explain the association between light to moderate alcohol consumption and lower ischemic stroke risk, the adverse effect of alcohol consumption on blood pressurea major risk factor for stroke - may increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke and outweigh any potential benefit".

To examine the association of alcohol consumption with different stroke types, the researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 prospective studies with data on ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. They also included data from the Cohort of Swedish Men and the Swedish Mammography Cohort, rendering a total sample of 18,289 ischemic stroke cases, 2,299 intracerebral hemorrhage cases and 1,164 subarachnoid hemorrhage cases.

Alcohol consumption across all studies was assessed with a questionnaire or by interview and standardized to drinks of alcohol. Exposure categories were light (<1 drink per day), moderate (1-2 drinks per day), high (2-4 drinks per day) and heavy (more than four drinks per day).

While this meta-analysis included a large sample size, allowing for associations between alcohol consumption and different stroke types to be estimated with relatively high accuracy across a wide range of alcohol consumption and in different subgroups, the authors caution that it is limited by its lack of individual patient data which prevented the same exposure categories to be used in all studies. Also, the possibility that the associations of light and moderate alcohol consumption with stroke risks have been overestimated due to the small sample sizes of some of the included studies cannot be ruled out.

Most of the studies included in this meta-analysis adjusted for major potential confounders such as age, sex, smoking, body mass index, and diabetes. However, observational studies can show a possible association between alcohol consumption and risk of different types of stroke, but they cannot show cause and effect because other factors may have impacted the results.

More information: Susanna C. Larsson et al, Differing association of alcohol consumption with different stroke types: a systematic review and meta-analysis, BMC Medicine (2016). Journal information: BMC Medicine Susanna C. Larsson et al, Differing association of alcohol consumption with different stroke types: a systematic review and meta-analysis,(2016). DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0721-4
(HealthDay)For older adults with late-life major depression (LLMD), the combination of antidepressants (AD) and physical exercise (PE) seems beneficial, especially for individuals with specific characteristics, according to research published online Nov. 21 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Stamatula Zanetidou, M.D., from the University of Genoa in Italy, and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial involving 121 individuals aged 65 years and older with major depression. Patients with LLMD were randomly allocated to AD (sertraline) or AD plus PE in a primary care setting with psychiatric consultation-liaison programs to regulate clinical management of individuals with psychiatric disorders.

The researchers found that the likelihood of achieving remission from depression with AD + PE was higher than with AD alone for characteristics of age 75 years and older, polypharmacy, greater aerobic capacity, displaying psychomotor slowing, and less-severe anxiety. More individuals were recruited at centers that had a primary care with psychiatric consultation-liaison program established for longer duration. Primary care physicians expressed positive views on AD + PE after participating in the study, and were more likely to use this therapeutic strategy.

"The combination of PE and sertraline could improve the management of LLMD, especially when customized for individuals with specific clinical features," the authors write. "Liaison programs might influence the implementation of similar interventions in primary care, and primary care physicians viewed them positively."

Copyright  2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
For many of us, the holiday season can give rise to extra stress. We may feel the weight of hectic schedules, financial strain and more people crammed into less space. Some may strive for an unrealistic ideal of holiday happiness and feel the stress of falling short. Tragic national and global events may cast a shadow, and we may be unnerved by warnings to exercise caution during this busy travel season.

However, it is possible to cope with stress and focus on enjoying the sights, sounds, and yes, even travel of the holidays.

Consider this equation:

Define the stressor + use your strengths + find resources = reducing stress and crises.

In other words, start with defining stress appropriately. Stressors are the external events that leave us feeling helpless and out of control. Stress is our body's physical or emotional reaction to the stressor, which means we can have control over how we respond. We can use the equation to learn to respond with a positive response rather than a negative response.

First, define the real stressor.

What is it that is actually worrying you? Are you afraid something like the Paris attacks will happen when you travel to Kansas to visit family, or did the attacks remind you that there are elements of evil in the world? If so, it's helpful to put this stressor in perspective and consider the good that you experience every day.

Start at the beginning of your day and count the number of kind acts you encountered. Perhaps someone opened a door for you, or said a kind word, or the driver in front of you at Starbucks paid for your drink. Reflect on the many kind acts you've experienced over your lifetime, and ask yourself whether you are more likely to encounter safety, goodness and a pleasant trip, as opposed to a dangerous situation. Appropriately defining the stressor de-escalates our helpless feelings and increases our sense of control over our situation.

Second, tap into your internal strengths.

Everyone possesses strengths, and one way to find those is to recall a time that was stressful and consider how you were able to make it through and be resilient. When have you felt scared, and how did you survive it? Your answer may include using a particular skill set, prioritizing needs over wishes, adopting a realistic timeline, applying humor to the situation, setting appropriate boundaries, or changing your negative self-defeating talk to "positive self talk." This last technique is easy to apply by adopting a motto you can quickly call upon when you feel stress begin to arise:

My stress is a signal. I need to pause and relax.

I'm the only person who can make me stressed or keep me calm.

Nothing says I have to be confident and strong all the time. It's OK if I feel unsure or confused.

It is impossible to control other people and situations. The only thing I can control is myself and how I express my feelings.

Visualize your trip or holiday gathering in detail as a successful event, while at the same time applying your personal strengths. You will have more control over the situation as well as your emotions.

Third, find and use resources.

Since everyone has experienced feeling stressed, use that as permission to ask for help from your support system. Approach a partner, relative, trusted friend or colleague, and let that person know you value his or her support. Here is one way to ask for help: "I trust you to be able to tell you that I have been feeling stressed recently. I would like to allow myself some time for self-care and was wondering if you may be willing to help me do that." Clearly explain the help you're seeking, such as an afternoon of child care or a referral for a counselor, and offer to reciprocate when that person is in a time of need.

Sometimes the hardest part is asking for help. However, doing so means you care about yourself, and your bravery may inspire others to also seek support. If you need help beyond what your support system can provide, remember that resources in North Texas include professional counselors and case managers, shelters and housing assistance, food pantries, clothing closets, health care professionals and legal advocacy assistance.

Finally, even on the busiest days, all of us can find a few moments to use our inner resources and practice a simple de-escalating technique called a relaxation exercise. First, close your eyes and clear your mind. Form a calming mental impression using all of your senses, such as walking on a beach, hearing the ocean, feeling the sand and breathing in the fresh, salty air. Breathe deeply into your abdomen and say to yourself, "Breathe in relaxation." Become aware of any tension in your body. Breathe out from your abdomen and say to yourself, "Breathe out tension." Use each exhalation as an opportunity to let go of tension. Practice this exercise when you wake, fall asleep and anytime you need a break during the day.
Credit: National Cancer Institute

Drug companies should stop using donations to atone those who cannot afford expensive vaccines and instead lower prices, argue experts in The BMJ today.

It follows a recent decision by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to refuse a donation of one million doses of Pfizer's pneumonia vaccine for children caught in humanitarian emergencies. MSF judged it more important to press the company to lower the price that is the main obstacle to access.

Pfizer has since announced a special price for the vaccine to humanitarian organisations, in line with GSK, the other producer of this type of vaccine.

But in an editorial published today, Els Torreele at the Open Society Foundations in New York and Professor Mariana Mazzucato at the University of Sussex, argue that donations and benevolent price reductions for selected countries or populations "remain random acts of charity that do not get to the heart of the problem: the unacceptable commodification of human lives by drug companies using monopoly pricing power to determine who lives and who dies."

They point out that pneumonia vaccines are likely to cost less than a dollar to produce, but are typically being sold at $120-160 (96-130; 110-150) per dose in wealthy countries, and at least three doses are required to protect a child. Pfizer's revenue from this vaccine was $6.2bn in 2015.

They explain that GSK and Pfizer have previously agreed to supply their vaccines at around $3 per dose to Gavi, a public-private partnership that works to increase access to vaccines in some 50 of the poorest countries.

"Though this has been applauded as an act of corporate social responsibility, they say the price "is still more than profitable, and there is no transparency around the cost structure of vaccine manufacture or company use of tax deductions to assess the true generosity of such offers."

As with expensive medicines, "high vaccine prices are the consequence of corporate decisions to focus on maximising shareholder returns at the expense of public health," they argue. "It is now clear that drug companies have identified vaccines as the next pot of gold."

So what is the reason behind this price hike, they ask?

In contrast to the medicines market, there are no generics for vaccines to drive down prices, giving even stronger pricing power to a small number of multinational vaccine producers, they explain.

As with medicines, the often cited justification for high vaccine prices is that research and development is expensive and risky, they add. Yet a detailed estimate of the development cost of rotavirus vaccines suggests that companies could recover all fixed costs quickly and offer these vaccines to all countries at affordable prices.

Instead, "they seek to fragment the market, selling in middle and high income countries in ways that maximise short term returns."

They call on companies to agree on a fair price that takes into account the research and manufacturing costs, the public research contributions, and the public health importance of vaccines. "This, rather than charitable donations meant to mask the system failures of a profit maximising healthcare economy, would be a beneficial corrective for public health," they say.

"The right price for vaccines must take into account the value of their collective creation but also the fact that they are essential goods produced collectively to safeguard the vulnerable - no matter where they live," they conclude.

More information: Editorial: Fair vaccine pricing please, not random acts of charity, Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Editorial: Fair vaccine pricing please, not random acts of charity, www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.i6173
Who is the fairest of them all? Holding a mirror to our own moral superiority. Credit: Royal Holloway, University of London

Recent research published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science has shown that when evaluating their own morality, people will almost always judge themselves as morally superior to the average person.

This better-than-average phenomenon reflects peoples' overly positive evaluation of themselves - a "positive illusion" - which may have consequences for decision making and conflict.

If everyone is special, no one is

The researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London's Department of Psychology asked participants to judge a series of human qualities as to how desirable those traits were, how much they themselves possessed those traits, and how much they thought the average person possessed the traits. These qualities included descriptors such as hard-working, sociable, honest, trustworthy and prejudiced.

Nearly all participants rated themselves highly on the moral traits, but rated the average person as distinctly less so. This discrepancy between the true average (what everyone rated themselves as) and the perceived average, (what everyone rated the average person as), led the researchers to conclude that, "nearly all participants irrationally inflated their moral qualities".

Previous research in the field has argued that such 'positive illusions' promote individual wellbeing. However, this study revealed that even those individuals with relatively low self-esteem identified themselves as morally superior to the average person.

Paths paved with good intentions

Ben Tappin, lead author on the paper and postgraduate within Royal Holloway's Department of Psychology, explained:

"Our research indicates that most people believe they are just, virtuous and moral  more so than the average person, and, in particular, that this phenomenon may be irrational. Recognising we build a 'positive illusion' of our own goodness relative to the average person is important, especially when we are living in times of political fracturing and moral conflict. If we keep telling ourselves our beliefs, actions and traits are better than a majority of others' you can see how it becomes easy to lose sight of the validity of opposing views, and our own fallibility."

Dr Ryan McKay, Principal Investigator at Royal Holloway's Morality and Beliefs Lab commented:

"While this study doesn't look at why people think this way, or the consequences of this phenomenon, it raises important questions about how these judgments affect our lives  from personal relationships and intergroup relations, to work and prosocial behaviour. Ongoing research in our lab is looking into these issues, including how an illusion of moral superiority manifests itself in groups as well as individuals."

The results of this research formed part of the debate on this week's BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze, which explored the self-deception of morality and the 'self-deception that helps maintain our self-esteem'.
East-West Gas Pipeline construction continues in Georgia - New 19km section announced

Georgia is continuing to finalise the construction-rehabilitation of the East-West Main Gas Pipeline in order to safeguard the countrys natural gas supply.The Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) announced to continue construction of Tsiteli Khidi (Red Bridge)-Gardabani 19 kilometres long section of the high pressure main gas pipeline.As of today, 35 percent of works have already been carried out, said the GOGC.The total cost of the project was 3,482,298 GEL (about $1.40 million/1.30*).By implementing Tsiteli Khidi  Gardabani project, the GOGC will finalise the construction of a new Tsiteli Khidi - Saguramo 90 kilometres long section of the East-West Main Gas Pipeline.The pipeline sections will replace existing corroded and damaged main gas pipelines, some of which were commissioned in 1959. The construction of the above mentioned pipeline will ensure uninterrupted delivery of increase natural gas volumes from Georgia-Azerbaijan border to Georgia, first of all to Tbilisi consumers as well as to Thermal Power Plants located in Gardabani, said the GOGC.The implementation of the project will also facilitate the increase of a guaranteed gas supply to the population and enterprises of the Shida Kartli and western Georgian regions, free economic zones, and the Black Sea coastal recreation zone.Construction of the East-West gas pipeline launched in Georgia in 2014.
The News in Brief

Georgian opposition party threatens to plant marijuana on New Years Eve



A political party in Georgia has launched an unusual campaign to legalize marijuana: if Parliament does not decriminalize cannabis by the end of the year, they will plant the narcotic plant in their office on New Years Eve.



The relatively new party, which was formed earlier this year, said on Wednesday at a briefing that the government should soften its approach to drugs and the legalize the use of marijuana.



Party spokesman Zurab Japaridze called on Parliament to pass a bill already this fall that will decriminalize the possession and consumption of the plant; a proposal which Parliament already has discussed but rejected at the first hearing in March.



Japaridze has given parliament a deadline before the end of the year; otherwise, his fellow Girchi members will publicly plant a marijuana plant in the partys office when the New Year countdown starts on December 31.



We are addressing the government and the newly elected parliament and demanding from them to change the strict drug-related legislation. On the one hand, we ask the government to make consumption of marijuana and other drug substances produced from it fully legal, and on the other hand, legitimate the cultivation and storage of the weed, he said.



Consumption of marijuana, which grows in the wild throughout Georgia, was not considered a criminal offense until 2006, when President Mikheil Saakashvili launched an anti-drug campaign. Between 2008 and 2013, thousands of Georgians were detained and forced to undergo drug tests.



Japaridze said the party understands that by planting marijuana they would violate the Criminal Code.



But we are not crazy people who have nothing better to do than making such a statement. We have families and we have a lot of important things to be done, but for us this is a political act. It is the fight for freedom in a particular way, Japaridze said.



Under current Georgian legislation, possession of a small amount of marijuana is punishable by a fine of up to 500 lari (USD 200) or up to one year in jail. Selling of drugs is punishable by up to 11 years in jail. (dfwatch.net)







Officials whose promotion caused protest, resigned



Two high-ranking officials of Defense Ministry, whose promotion to their positions generated protest amongst the public, have resigned.



Sergo Ninua and Giorgi Tsabadze are waiting for the results of probing launched about their issue. They also demand questioning of those persons who spoke about scandalous facts in a TV story aired by the Moambe News Program on Channel One on November 15.



A reserve officer of the Georgian Armed Forces released a video address on social networks yesterday where he spoke about various scandalous incidents. The protest refers to staff changes carried out by Levan Izoria, the Defence Minister.



The author of the video address is protesting the appointment of Sergo Ninua and Giorgi Tsabadze to top posts in the air defence corps.



The officer claims that the newly appointed high-ranking officials used to carry out pressure on soldiers on political grounds during the rule of the United National Movement (UNM) party in the country. (1tv.ge)







Georgias Patriarch Ilia II departs for Russia this week



Georgias Patriarch Ilia II will depart for Russia this week, shortly after the first session of the countrys new Parliament.



The first meeting of Georgia's new Parliament is expected to be held on November 18.



Ilia II is scheduled to meet Russias Patriarch Kirill on November 19.



The following day, Georgia's spiritual leader will take part in a service at Christ of Saviors Cathedral in Russia with other patriarchs from different nations.



After the service Ilia II will attend a reception dedicated to the 70th jubilee of the Russian Patriarch, a representative from the Georgian Patriarchate told local IPN news agency.



The Georgian Patriarch will hold a service at Moscows Georgian church on November 23 - on the day commemorating Saint George - and will return to home to Georgia on November 25. (agenda.ge)







Constitutional majority enables the future parliament to make more decisions with fewer problems - Davit Usupashvili



A constitutional majority enables the future parliament to make more decisions with fewer problems, but in the meantime, perhaps, it requires more thoughtful decisions, Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili said at a reception held in the legislative body for former and new members of Parliament.



"Many important events have taken place in this building for decades, but today's meeting is unique, since the event is dedicated to the continuity of the legislative authority. We want to underline the fact that all of us, regardless of which political party we belong to, regardless of whether we won or lost elections, serve our common homeland. State service is not a privilege or reward, it is honorable labour.



We have gathered here in order to give hopes to the people once again that we had, have and will have a government which will rule the country and will ensure conduct of next elections and it will be continued this way. We will not have governmental breaks and the events that, unfortunately, had taken place in this Parliament, he stated.



The event was attended by former and new Members of Parliament, representatives of the Government, and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili. (IPN)




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Secretary General of the EAC, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany His Excellency Egon Kochanke signs the agreement as Ms Lena Thiede, Counsellor / Head of Regional Cooperation at the German Embassy in Dar es Salaam; Director of KfW Development Bank Dr. Helmut Schon and EAC Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sector) Hon Bazivamo looks on



Secretary General of EAC , Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko signs the second agreement with KfW Development Bank Director, Dr. Helmut Schon

Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko and KfW Development Bank Director, Dr. Helmut Schon displays the Financing Agreement document . Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany pose for a picture after initialled Financing AgreementSecretary General of EAC , Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko signs the second agreement with KfW Development Bank Director, Dr. Helmut SchonAmb. Liberat Mfumukeko and KfW Development Bank Director, Dr. Helmut Schon displays the Financing Agreement document .



The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko having a chat with His Excellency Egon Kochanke, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Republic of Tanzania and Accredited to the EAC The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko having a chat with His Excellency Egon Kochanke, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Republic of Tanzania and Accredited to the EAC



The Federal Republic of Germany, KfW Development Bank and the East African Community (EAC) today signed Financing Agreement of 40 million euros in total, to support regional immunization programme and establishment and operations of the Regional Laboratory Network for Communicable Diseases.



The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko signed on behalf of the Community while His Excellency Egon Kochanke, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Republic of Tanzania and also accredited to the East African Community initialled on behalf the Germany Government and Dr. Helmut Schon, on behalf of KfW. The Federal Republic of Germany, KfW Development Bank and the East African Community (EAC) today signed Financing Agreement of 40 million euros in total, to support regional immunization programme and establishment and operations of the Regional Laboratory Network for Communicable Diseases.The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko signed on behalf of the Community while His Excellency Egon Kochanke, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Republic of Tanzania and also accredited to the East African Community initialled on behalf the Germany Government and Dr. Helmut Schon, on behalf of KfW.
PARADISE  Its just another day in Paradise for cowboy John Thompson, whose ranch is a corral squeezed between Montana Highway 200 and the railroad tracks that built this small town.

On this day, Thompson  you can call him Jonie T.  is locked in a battle of wits with Geronimo, a half-thoroughbred, half quarter horse that Jonie T. says was abused.

Geronimo has accepted a saddle, but has other ideas about letting Jonie T. sit in it, and dances in circles to get away from his 68-year-old trainer.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Thompson repeats, turning round and round with Geronimo. The horse finally obeys, and Thompson carefully eases his boot into a stirrup, and himself onto the animal.

A month ago he bucked me eight feet in the air, Thompson says. Hes come a long ways.

So, too, has Jonie T., who is pretty sure horses saved his life.

Hes just trying to return the favor.

***

Locomotives to one side of the corral, and vehicle traffic on Highway 200 on the other, make this a nosier operation than you might expect, but its a patriotic one. In a circular pen built inside the corral, two American flags fly high over everything.

My goal is to take all the fear out of a flight animal, Thompson says. What better place than somewhere that 17 trains a day go by on one side, and has a busy highway with logging trucks and semis with jake brakes on the other?

Here at his corral flanked by trains and automobiles, Jonie T. will happily part with his philosophies, and his life story, to the willing listener.

Im an all-American cowboy, he announces as he zips chaps over his jeans. I live by the cowboy tradition. Thats respect, trust and honor. Im praying our country gets back to those, but unfortunately those words are dying, just like the true cowboy is.

Thompson says he wont set foot on a machine with four wheels when a horse with four legs can do the job, and that no self-respecting cowboy would.

You might expect, then, that it would be the music of Hank Williams or George Jones that Thompson listens to, but out of the open doors on his GMC pickup, its Fat Bottomed Girls by the British rock band Queen that is playing on the radio.

I listen to classic rock n roll, Thompson says unapologetically.

So, too, do the other horses in the corral  Sundance Cree, Shadow Dancer and Pawnee Joe  who sidle up to the corral fence when Thompson arrives.

Pawnee Joe, hes my Jughead, Thompson says. Hes been my therapy. Him and Sundance Cree are the two horses that brought me back to reality.

***

In his life, Jonie T. says he has worked on oil rigs, in a meat-packing plant, on a railroad section crew, as a ranch hand and on on-call jobs. Hes been married four times, divorced that many, and has seven children and 13 grandchildren to show for the unions.

Forty-five years ago, this was a whiskey-drinking cowboy, he says. Quart and a half a day. Two guys out of the Libby AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) told me, You keep doing what youre doing youre gonna die. 

Born in Havre, Jonie T. says he was a Hi-Line brat, which he defines as half-breeds (hes part Chippewa-Cree) and full-bloods. I ran from Malta to Browning with a wild bunch.

His time on the Hi-Line was interrupted by high school, when his family moved to Sanders County and Thompson enrolled at nearby Plains High School.

I graduated in 1967, and I swore to God Id never come back to this town, Thompson says, a promise he kept for almost 40 years.

But things have a way of changing. When he did return to live with his mother, Loretta, he brought Sundance Cree and Pawnee Joe  and, he freely admits, mental health issues  with him.

But booze was no longer a part of his baggage.

That (AA) program put a cork in the bottle and helped me walk away, Thompson says. Its given me my life back. I told those two fellers in Libby, some day Im going to do what youve done for me, but Ill do it for horses.

The day he returned to Sanders County 10 years ago, I unloaded my horses down by the river, and knew I was home, he says. This is, truly, paradise.

***

About five years ago his mental health counselor put Thompson in touch with the Montana Vocational Rehabilitation and Blind Services, a part of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

The agency helped Thompson pursue his dream  to one day operate a rescue ranch for horses that also offers equine therapy for children with autism and other disabilities  by getting his horse-training business up and running.

"I just want the ranch before I'm 90," he says. "I tell my grandkids, 'Don't ever stop believing.' It took me a whole lifetime."

Hes trained 60 horses in the last three to four years, Thompson says, using the philosophy that you break the horse, not the spirit.

Its called push and release, Thompson says. You push the horse to its limit, have them face their fears and let them run with it. Then you walk them through it, replacing the pain with something thats loving and respectable. I had one guy tell me, Youre not a horse whisperer. Youre a horse psychiatrist.

Things have gone well, he says, just not always on the financial side. Like most horse people, Jonie T. has a soft spot for abused or neglected horses, and he sometimes has to borrow money from his mother to feed ones he takes in.

A couple of years ago when he went to buy hay from his supplier in Trout Creek, he saw two sickly horses hanging around.

They were the walking dead, he says. Nothing but bones with skin hanging off them. Couldnt have weighed more than 265 pounds.

When he asked his hay supplier whose horses they were, the man said, Hopefully, yours. Somebody dropped them off in the middle of the night.

What are you going to do if I dont take them? Thompson says he asked.

Theyll be destroyed, Thompson says he was told.

***

So Shadow Dancer and Cheyenne Autumn came home to Paradise with Jonie T, joining Sundance Cree, Pawnee Joe and whatever client horses have been around. He says hes spent more than $8,000 caring for the rescue animals, and recently sold Cheyenne Autumn to a friend.

I say sold, but I havent gotten any money for him yet, Thompson says. Thats OK, because I know he has a good home. Im not into it to get rich. If I can help a horse, especially an abused horse, Ill do it. I get rich in the rewards I can see in the horses.

Thompson says a Lakota Sioux Indian in North Dakota taught him the mustang way of breaking a horse and one day Ill run into a mustang I can use it on.

It begins, he says, with getting a horse in a pen, tying a rope around its neck, and letting the animal run until its had enough.

Just let him run till hes done, and focuses on me, Jonie T. says. Then Ill walk with them, say Whoa and well stop. Take a step back, stop. Go forward, stop.

Its a long process, and every horse is different.

***

Thompson had 40 hours of work into one animal, and I still couldnt get him to face whatever was bothering him, he says. I told my mom one morning, Today is the day I finish that horse.

He got on the horse in the smaller pen, then rode him into the larger corral to take him around barrels located there.

I got him around one time, but the second time he took off, Thompson says. I dropped the reins and raked him with my spurs, and we just went flying west. The fence was getting closer and closer and I knew I had to get him to turn or wed both go through the barbed wire.

But when the horse turned, It was at a 90-degree angle, Thompson goes on. I lost my balance, grabbed the saddle horn, and it snapped. When my weight shifted the horse knew he had his chance, and he bucked me into the barbed wire fence, then (kicked) me with all 900 pounds.

Someone who had pulled up near the highway to watch the scene called out to ask Thompson if he was OK.

I said, Yeah, I just got a horse to finish, Thompson says. I grabbed the lead rope, got him back in the round pen, put my spurs in his backside and he ran and ran till he couldnt run no more. When he finally tired out and put his neck down I come up to him and said, You done?

And only then, Thompson says, did he notice that his boots were blood red and he was bleeding like a cut turkey. He drove himself to Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains, where he was stabilized and transported to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.

But he was back at work as soon as possible, because this is where he loves to be.

I wish I had patience with people like I do horses, Thompson says.

If youre looking for a Thanksgiving angle to this story, there isnt one, at least not beyond the fact that Jonie T. is ever so thankful he gets to spend his days with horses.

But you know, for a cowboy, thats enough.
A small community theater in Montana experienced big drama when actors in New York singled out the vice president-elect after a performance last week.

Hamilton: An American Musical is playing on Broadway. Last Friday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended the show, where actor Brandon Victor Dixon called out to Pence to stand up for all Americans.

We, sir  we  are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, Dixon said. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.

The next morning, Denise Rose, executive director of the Hamilton Playhouse in Hamilton, Mont., said her phone woke her up about 6 a.m.

My Twitter account was going crazy, Rose said. I thought, Its too early.

Rose said she discovered her phone was buzzing from the wrath of people 2,415 miles away angered by the interaction between the musical Hamilton's actor and Pence.

The two Twitter monikers are similar  @hamiltonplayers compared to @hamiltonmusical. But the number of Twitter followers is not: 47 for the Montana theater, 451,000 for the Broadway musical.

My phone would go crazy in clumps of 10 to 15, then an hour later all the re-tweets started again, Rose said. We were getting tweets calling us racist, untalented, disrespectful and more.

Tweets included: The cast of your show is disgusting! Rude to a wonderful man & his family! Very contentious example for social discourse. You're forcing public to believe one way. What a DISGRACE by the actors & writer BASHING a great American who loves his country!

People mistakenly called for us to be boycotted for our behavior towards Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Rose said. I was thinking how far can this get?

One tweet was '#think' and I thought, Seriously? Maybe you should be paying attention. It was shocking to me.''

What alarmed Rose was when outraged people followed the link to the Hamilton Playhouse Facebook page and started giving one star reviews and nasty posts.

One Facebook post said, Really disgusting what your cast and crew did to Presidential Elect ...Mike Pence last night. Its one thing to be rude to someone like Pence, whom can forgive and forget, but its another thing to insult him when his boss Donald Trump NEVER forgives and forgets. Would never support anything these disgraceful actors and crew do in the future on any other projects they may work on. Doubt they will be getting much work after this anyway.you just offended 50% of the country just like Hillary did and look what happen to her.

Another Facebook post said, Disgusting behavior your company allowed last night to the elected VP. You provide a service that he paid for & I'm sure it wasn't to be harassed! The arrogance of the show & actors to inject themselves into an issue that was settled on Nov. 8th.

Rose said that with the jump to Facebook she realized the posts could harm the Hamilton Playhouse. She stepped into action, replying to everyone to let them know they had the wrong organization.

I asked them why they gave us a bad review, she said. I said you know youre talking to a small non-profit community theater across the country in Hamilton, Montana. I was able to get them to remove the bad posts, but it's taken a lot of time and energy.

Rose said that once she started contacting those who voiced outrage, she started getting online apologies.

Some people followed us then tweeted on our behalf saying they are a good organization, Rose said. Luckily, as of today, all the bad reviews were removed and most of the original posters on Twitter have apologized or removed the tweets. That didn't stop people from re-tweeting the posts before they were removed, but I'm hopeful that we stopped the issue before it could do too much harm.

Rose said locally the Hamilton Playhouse did get a couple of nice tweets and supportive entries on Facebook.

There has been no local negativity, Rose said.

She has not been to New York to see Hamilton: An American Musical, but watched the PBS special about it.

Im obsessed with the sound track and a big fan of the author, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rose said. It will go on tour and when it comes to Seattle, Ill go.
Four miniature chefs are ready to take over your kitchens for Thanksgiving, Missoula.

The girls headed to Taste Buds Kitchen on Wednesday morning to try their hands at some Thanksgiving staples: stuffing, cranberry sauce and sugar cookies.

It's the second annual Thanksgiving camp for youngsters after Taste Buds opened for business last summer.

"We usually do three recipes," event host Hillary Lester said of the kids' camps. "We try to do something sweet, something savory and something in between. It's hard to send them home with lots of sugar."

The girls  particularly 6-year-old Oryah Sidle  didn't need any extra sugar. They donned their aprons and dove right into the first recipe, each grabbing a bowl to mix the ingredients for the mini stuffing muffins.

"My family says I'm the mixing queen," said 6-year-old Rylee Cook  a fitting last name, she and her 9-year-old sister Taylor pointed out.

Cooking camps like this one are important for kids to "not be afraid" of cooking, Lester said.

"It lets them try more things," she said. "If they get in and can try it at camp, then they can go try it at home."

Sidle chattered nearly nonstop throughout the morning, excited by every step of every recipe.

"The turkey cupcakes with frosting we made last year," she said of her favorite Thanksgiving food, before adding, "and mashed potatoes!"

Ten-year-old Kaylee Macholz' favorite Thanksgiving food is unique.

"We usually go to Alaska, and my dad catches a bunch of salmon and halibut for Thanksgiving," she said.

Once the mini stuffing muffins were in the oven, it was time to tackle the sugar cookies  which would eventually be decorated like turkeys.

"I made chocolate chip cookies before with my friend and my teacher Brooke," Sidle said, switching her Rs to Ws.

"Why can't we use all of it?" she asked Lester as they started measuring sugar.

"That would be really sweet," Lester said as some of it ended up on the floor.

They didn't have to think long about what they were thankful for this year. It's family.

"I'm thankful for my mom because she lets me cook Thanksgiving," Sidle said.
Missoula County Public Schools is investigating a substitute teacher who on Tuesday allegedly called two students the n-word.

According to an MCPS news release, the sub "allegedly made an offensive and inappropriate comment in a sophomore English class at Big Sky High School" on Tuesday.

The sub "said two students were the 'n-word,' and started berating them for apparently no reason," said EmpowerMT program director Kim Spurzem. "We have a young person who's also an active trainer through our organization who was in the classroom.

"He challenged the substitute teacher in the room and others helped. The sub apparently stormed out and left."

Two students then brought the incident to administrators attention, said Big Sky principal Natalie Jaeger.

In the news release, MCPS said that once the administration learned of the incident, the sub was immediately removed and Human Resources launched an investigation. The parents of the students who were subjected to the racial epithet were also contacted.

While these problems are cropping up elsewhere  including racist fliers citing the American Nazi Party distributed around Missoula  they can be particularly tricky to tackle in schools, Spurzem said.

Hate speech hasnt been separated from politics, she said. Its been tied to the electoral process, so I saw a lot of educators stepping back.

There can be politics tied to these things, but the schools have to send a message that we dont tolerate this hateful language.

Following the Big Sky incident, MCPS did send a message.

"MCPS does not condone the use of language which denigrates or marginalizes others," according to the news release. "MCPS apologizes for the acts of this substitute and any impact it may have had on the students in the classroom, the students to whom the comment was directed, and everyone in the Big Sky family."

Spurzem said the one good thing to come from this incident is how quickly both Big Sky and MCPS administration acted.

"It was great to see (the student) stand up and seek immediate action," she said.

***

"Until the investigation is complete, the substitute teacher will not be eligible for employment as a substitute within the district," according to the MCPS news release.

Substitute teachers are not under contract, said Missoula Education Association president Melanie Charlson, who does not represent subs. Subs are temporary until theyve been deemed a long-term sub (in a sub role more than 35 days). At that point, they would become contracted.

In essence, theyre a temporary day-by-day employee of the district, Charlson said. They are not contracted employees of the district by any means.

Jaeger said administrators heard almost immediately about what was happening in the classroom. Students were texting and calling their parents, parents were calling Big Sky administration and two students went to the assistant principal (Jaeger was out of the office at the time, but immediately returned to the school once she heard).

We immediately removed the sub from the classroom and called HR, she said.

Jaeger alerted the classrooms teacher that she will be talking to the class the next time they meet, frankly, to thank them for speaking up when there was something they knew wasnt right.

I am grateful our students stood up for themselves and each other, she said. They did the right thing.

This isnt the first time Jaeger has had to deal with inappropriate words or actions by staff in her career, she said.

Theres always times when staff or students say and do things they shouldnt, she said. In a community our size, that is inevitable. If its intentional or unintentional, we have to take action and help people understand how their words and actions affect other people.

But this instance  was not a misunderstanding. Its offensive language that has to be taken care of right away.

***

The incident comes on the heels of a slew of racist and anti-Semitic problems in Missoula and statewide leading up to and following the Nov. 8 election.

Were prepared to get really busy, said EmpowerMT development and communications specialist Jesse Jaeger.

This fall, a Missoula Nissan Hyundai lube technician lost his job for posting a picture on Facebook of his middle finger raised in front of a car with Hillary Clinton bumper stickers. The man had said on social media that he refused to work on the car because it showed support for the Democratic presidential candidate. Regional operations director Nick Griffin apologized for the employees comments, pointing out they do not reflect us as a team.

EmpowerMT staff say theyve seen troubling incidents all year.

High schools often have themed dress-up days during their Homecoming weeks. At one in Missoula, dubbed America Day, some students sported Confederate flags, hung Confederate flags in the cafeteria and flew Confederate flags in their truck beds.

Spurzem said another school had Holiday Day, during which some students wore doilies on their head to mock yarmulkes and said things such as I own the media. Others wore loud prints, she said, claiming to be celebrating Kwanzaa.

Weve been seeing this ramp up all year, Jesse Jaeger said.

EmpowerMT has gotten calls from five or six schools or organizations post-election, looking for training on how to deal with these kinds of issues. They attribute it to inflammatory and discriminatory comments made by GOP President-elect Donald Trump.

We talk about being non-violent and not bullying, standing up for whats right, said EmpowerMT youth programs coordinator Jamar Galbreath. But theres a lot of confusion with these kids because they dont understand how someone who perpetuates bullying and violence  who stands for those things could get elected to the highest office.

EmpowerMT youth programs specialist Claire Michelson said shes seen tensions rising in the middle schools this year.

But after the election there was this breaking point where the loud voices of the people who support Trump are starting to dominate, she said. It sounds like theres a lot of pressure to say you support Trump or youre happy with the election results, or to not say youre against it.

A lot of students are really worried in general about their friends, their family and themselves, if theyre of marginalized identities.

Galbreath pointed out that its important for everyone to realize that these issues did not begin with rhetoric used throughout the presidential campaign.
I am thankful for you, western Montana!

Every year for the last 22 years Z100 has collected turkeys for local food banks. It started with Craig and Al, a simple idea: make sure the people who need them get a turkey for Thanksgiving. A turkey showed up, and then two and then three and so on. Thus the Guerrilla Turkey Drive was born.

Every year someone asks, why guerrilla? Well, it is a grassroots movement and you never know where a turkey donation is going to come from.

It has grown, and so has the need over the last 22 years. One food bank turned into five. As the need grows every year, western Montana, you come through and meet that need.

So we all here at Cherry Creek Media thank you. Thanks to our sponsors. Thanks to the businesses that pool money from their employees and go and buy turkeys by the pound. Thanks to the small businesses that write a check. Thanks to the kids who break their piggy banks to buy a turkey. Thanks to the people who cant afford a turkey, but will give their last five bucks. Thanks to the people who have used a food bank in the past, but this year, they can afford an extra turkey so they are paying it forward. Thank you to anonymous, who shows up every year and wants no thanks.

Thank you, western Montana; because of you, over the past 22 years, thousands of your friends and neighbors will at least have a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Chris Wolfe (Eric Wolferman),

program director, KZOQ FM,

The Brian and Chris Show,

Missoula
HAMILTON  Its not official yet, but the Ravalli County Commission appears ready to name Steve Holton the countys new sheriff in December.

Current Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman will officially resign from that position on Dec. 27 in preparation for taking on his new duties as county commission at the start of the New Year.

Hoffman defeated incumbent and fellow Republican J.R. Iman in the primary last June. He did not face a challenger in general election.

On Monday, the commission met to determine the process it would use to appoint a new sheriff to fill out Hoffmans remaining two years.

During the short meeting, Hoffman told the commission its been no secret that he has been supportive all along of offering that post to his undersheriff, Holton.

Hoffman said he had complete confidence in Holtons ability to carry out the job. Appointing the undersheriff would also lead to a smooth transition for both the sheriffs office and the community, he said.

I would hope, if I were sitting where youre sitting, my vote would be to undertake the process that causes the least amount of upheaval in the sheriffs office and the least amount of upheaval in the community, Hoffman said.

If appointed, Holton would have to file for the position in a year, which would open the door for others interested in competing for the office, Hoffman said.

The position has two remaining in the current term.

For the most part, the commission appeared to support the idea of a seamless transition.

I think it provides the smoothest transition and I think thats what we need to do right now in that office, said Commissioner Jeff Burrows.

Commissioner Greg Chilcott said hes seen Holton work his way up through the ranks since he started in the reserve deputy program more than 16 years ago.

Hes always stepped up, Chilcott said. He has my confidence. I think that he will do a great job. I think the deputies respect him. There is a certain beauty in having continuity through a transition.

Commission Chair Ray Hawk said his only concern was that some in the community might look at the decision to appoint Holton without a competitive process might see that as a good old boy type of deal. We didnt take applicationsWe didnt open it up to other people in the community or the department.

I have no problem with Steve, Hawk said. I would rather do it as a public process.

No matter which way the commission goes on this issue, Hoffman said they will likely face criticism from some.

Hoffman said the commission could go through a public process and come up with the same decision of hiring Holton only to hear people complain that they already had their minds made up before they started.

Chilcott said Holton will be taking a risk in accepting the sheriffs job. As undersheriff, he has some long term protection in his job. If a new sheriff is elected, by law the undersheriff must be provided employment inside the office.

Hell no longer have that protection, Chilcott said. It gives me an elevated level of confidence in him. He is only taking that risk because he knows its the right thing to do.

At the end of the meeting, the commission unofficially agreed that Holton would be appointed to the position right after new elected officials were sworn in on Dec. 30.
POLSON  The day in June authorities told Tabitha Warner that her missing stepson had been murdered, and that Warners sister and brother-in-law were the prime suspects, she says she told them, Youd better have damn good proof.

Five months later, on Wednesday morning, a sobbing Warner struggled to address her orange jumpsuit-clad sister in a Lake County courtroom.

I truly dont want to know how deep your betrayal really is, Warner said at Kassandra Seeses sentencing for accountability to negligent homicide. I have so many questions and emotions its unreal. What you did is truly unforgivable.

Warner called a plea agreement that suspended 15 years of a 20-year sentence for her sister a slap on the wrist. She told District Court Judge James Manley it was far too lenient.

Lake County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher said he agreed, but the unusual circumstances of the case made the plea deal the best way to make sure Kassandra Seese and her husband, Stephen Seese, are held accountable for homicide.

The February murder of 18-year-old Richard Warner in Arlee gained notoriety after his body was discovered in June, and the disturbing details of the case emerged.

***

Warner appears to have been brutally beaten to death in February. His body was then hidden in the shower of the camper-trailer where he had been living with the Seeses and the Seeses two young children.

The family continued to live in the camper containing Warners body, and Stephen and Kassandra allegedly piled trash on top of the victim to hide the body. A source told the Missoulian that Kassandra Seese later told investigators she had used Febreze to combat the odor of rotting flesh inside the trailer.

The couple explained Richards disappearance to family by telling them the teenager had gotten upset over something, packed his things and left.

At some point after the murder, Kassandra Seese took the children and moved in with Tabitha Warner and her husband, Joe  Richards biological father  in Osburn, Idaho. She continued to visit her husband at the trailer that still contained Richard Warners body.

You lived under our roof, you drove our cars, you borrowed money from us, you borrowed money from your 9-year-old nephew, Tabitha Warner said Wednesday. You tried to take your kids back to Arlee, you tried to bring the camper to Osburn, knowing our son was in the bathroom. Have you taken the time to think what that would have done to our family, our kids? What if (the Warners younger son) had found his brother? Thats a nightmare that will never go away.

As it is, she went on, We have a 9-year-old autistic boy who doesnt understand how his aunt could do such horrible things to his brother. He doesnt understand how he can love you and hate you, all at the same time.

***

Kassandra Seese looked straight ahead, and not at her sister, most of the time Tabitha Warner was on the stand. But when Warner started talking about the two young Seese children and the psychological issues they are apparently exhibiting, the mother dropped her head to the table.

I do not understand how you as a mother could put your children in such a horrible situation, Warner said.

Seeses 3-year-old daughter shut down, wouldnt talk, and now we know why, Warner said. She watched her mommy and daddy brutally kill her buddy.

Joseph Warner also read a statement Wednesday.

He spoke of the escalating shock that overtook him on June 7, when authorities called to tell him his son had been found, that he was dead, and that his decomposing body had been located underneath a stack of trash in the bathroom of the trailer where the teenager had been staying with his aunt and uncle.

We had the wool pulled over our eyes, the victims father said, to the point they even housed one of the people involved in his son's homicide.

Joseph Warner also bitterly complained about authorities releasing his sons remains to a grandmother rather than his father and stepmother, and plea agreements he says he was never consulted about.

We feel weve been railroaded, Warner said. The system has left us out. I feel disrespected, as does my family. We will never have closure.

***

For the disrespect you have felt, we should all be sorry, Judge Manley told the Warners. A fairer sentence would have been her spending most of her adult life in prison. But this is a unique situation.

Stephen Seese claims his wife struck the fatal blow that killed Richard Warner. Kassandra Seese claims her husband did, with a hammer, while she and their two children watched.

Its disgusting that the only two people who know what happened cant testify against each other, Eschenbacher said. And they hid his body for so long it actually benefited them.

The body, discovered when two people who came to move the trailer in June noted a rancid smell, was so badly decomposed that there are a lot of questions about what the actual cause of death even was, Eschenbacher said.

With the Seeses blaming each other, the county attorney said it was possible juries could acquit both of them based on reasonable doubt.

Eschenbacher believes Stephen Seese is responsible for the killing based on the victims broken bones, broken ribs, broken jaw  outrageous blows directed repeatedly at this kid.

With the plea agreement, which includes credit for the 161 days shes been held in jail, Kassandra Seese agreed to testify against her husband. That leveraged a plea agreement with Stephen Seese, who is schedule to change his not guilty plea next month.

That agreement, Eschenbacher said, will allow him to argue for a 40-year sentence for Stephen Seese, and Seeses attorneys to argue for less.

We will probably never know what happened in that trailer, Eschenbacher said, but we wanted to make sure we held both these people responsible.

Given the chance to speak after her sentence was handed down, Kassandra Seese kept her back to her family, but said, I know they wont take my apology, but Im sorry.
Jessica Chastain rules the Washington-based political thriller Miss Sloane with such steely authority that you are hard pressed to imagine another actress playing the imperious, largely unsympathetic title character. In the opening moments, Elizabeth Sloane, a formidable Washington lobbyist, legendary for her deviousness and determination to win at all costs, impassively describes her professional modus operandi. Lobbying, she declares, gazing straight into a camera, is about foresight. It involves anticipating an opponents next move and calculating your response ahead of time so that nothing takes you by surprise.

With her heavily applied crimson lipstick, copper hair and pallid complexion, Elizabeth is beautiful but scary. Shes just one step away from a bloodless cousin of Morticia Addams. The story then jumps two years back, and Elizabeth is shown testifying before a Senate subcommittee. Questioned about breaking ethical rules by arranging a trip for a senator to Indonesia to research the feasibility of a tariff on palm oil, she repeatedly invokes the Fifth Amendment.

The tone of the interrogation is so nasty that the film, directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) from a screenplay by Jonathan Perera, appears to view the matter at hand as the earthshaking equivalent of passing nuclear secrets. At the end of the scene, Elizabeth loses her cool, speaks out, and immediately faces contempt charges that could land her a five-year prison sentence.
Copyright  2022 HT Digital Streams Ltd All Right Reserved
Police are still investigating the homicide of a man found dead in his home in a rural area west of Butte Sunday morning, Sheriff Ed Lester told The Montana Standard by phone Wednesday.

On Sunday, police responded to 2300 Gregson Ln. after a man discovered Stanley Gene Becker, 59, dead inside the residence.

Police said Becker appeared to have died sometime before Sunday and did not release any details about Beckers lifestyle, occupation, or how he was killed.

At this time no additional details are being released, Undersheriff George Skuletich said during a Wednesday media briefing. He added that police are in the process of interviewing friends and family members.

Police have declined to say if they have any suspects or persons of interest.

People with information are asked to call Det. Sgt. Ray Vaughn at 406-497-1156 or Crimestoppers at 406-782-7336. Callers may be eligible for a reward.

Friends are invited to a celebration of Beckers life at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, at the Quality Inn & Suites, 2100 Cornell Ave.
Editor's note: Butte writer Suzanne Stefanac, photographer Dark Sevier and KBMF radio station manager Clark Grant went to Standing Rock late last week. Traveling with them were two Native American men from Butte, Alonzo Willis and Isaiiah Other Bull.

For Alonzo Willis of Butte, being sprayed by a water cannon in subfreezing temperatures wasn't the worst part of a Sunday night confrontation at Standing Rock.

It was seeing a woman severely injured.

He said he and Butte friend Isaiiah Other Bull were close to protester Sophia Wilansky when she was injured in a confrontation with police.

After the water-spraying, the crowd had thinned out to fewer than a dozen people. Two of them -- including Wilansky -- were near a barricade on the highway. "They weren't past the barricade -- not past the barbed wire or anything," Willis said. "They were just standing there."

"One of the guys got hit with a rubber bullet. The girl (Wilansky) got hit by a rubber bullet and she fell," said Willis, 23. "And then they shot a percussion grenade and it got her in the arm."

Law-enforcement at the scene denied using grenades, and said the Wilansky may have been hurt by a propane tank being used as a weapon by the protesters. But Wilansky, Willis, Other Bull and other eyewitnesses dispute that account.

"It hit her and it just went 'Boom!' It blew her down," Willis said.

He said he and two others "ran over there as fast as we could ... she was screaming, 'My arm is gone!'

He said the police were firing tear gas canisters while she was down. "When we'd gone through action training, they were saying when someone gets hurt, it's usually best to just leave them, but we knew it was her arm and we had to get her out of there," he said. "We just picked her up. We ran until we found a car" and put her in it.

"That's when I first really saw her arm. You could see bone and blood."

Other Bull was also nearby, and his account matches Willis'.

"They shot her with a rubber bullet and she fell. She was trying to get up and run back and that's when they threw that grenade at her. Big old wound. All open. As big as a hand."

Willis said he saw men get out of a giant armored vehicle labeled Stutsman County (N.D.). "They were laughing. One of them said something like 'That was a beautiful shot.'

"We couldn't believe it was the police saying it. They didn't act like professionals at all. They acted like were in a different country and they were in a war.

"They kept saying, 'Put that phone down.' They don't want people documenting."

Afterward, both Willis and Other Bull said the event had changed them.

Other Bull, 23, lives in both Butte and on the Cheyenne reservation in Lame Deer. His mother, Michaelynn Hawk of Butte, belongs to the Crow nation and is executive director of the Indian People's Action.

The grandson of a chief, Other Bull refers to himself as "a traditional" and says "you can feel" the spiritual energy at the camp, where "it's all about trust."

But he says "Seeing what the cops can do ... it's hard to trust them now. They do what they want and get away with it."

"The camping was great," Willis, an Arapaho, said. "We were all like one big family, a community. ... we were all there to save Mother Earth. Everyone was there just to help each other.

But he said seeing Wilansky hurt "made me really not understand how humans can do that to each other.

"We just sat around quiet. We couldn't laugh after that."
DAVENPORT, Iowa - The Bix Youth Band will hold auditions from 1 - 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27 at the Bettendorf Community Center, 2204 Grant St. (Crimson Room). Being a former member does not ensure a spot for 2017.

The band needs the following: saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone); trumpets; trombones; rhythm (pianists, bassists, drummers).

Auditions will be heard in order of arrival. Please arrive before 4:15 p.m., but arriving that late will not guarantee there will be time to hear your audition. Keyboard, drums, and all necessary recordings will be provided. Please bring your own copies of the music.

For more information, contact Band Director Jim Buennig at jbuennig@gmail.com

The Bix Youth Band is sponsored by the Bix Memorial Society of Davenport, Iowa. The band seeks to spread the music of Bix Beiderbecke, plus other early 20th century artists and further jazz education in the Quad Cities. The Youth Band is made up of middle and high school students from throughout the region who express an interest in early jazz and complete a successful audition.
DES MOINES  Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey again encouraged Iowans to consider choosing a fresh, Iowa grown Christmas tree to decorate their home this holiday season.

Selecting a fresh Christmas tree can be part of a great family tradition and is an opportunity to connect with an Iowa farmer and support the local economy, Northey said. Iowa is fortunate to have more than 100 Christmas tree farms in all parts of the state, so everyone has the opportunity to get their own fresh tree to help celebrate.

A directory of tree farms across Iowa is available on the Iowa Christmas Tree Association website at www.IowaChristmasTrees.com. On the site there is a Find a Farm link on the top left-hand corner of the page. Besides the location of the farms, the directory also includes a phone number and hours of operation for each farm to assist in planning.

These farms devote over 1,500 acres to Christmas tree production in Iowa and as a result harvest approximately 39,500 Christmas trees each year. The result is a $1 million dollar industry contributing to Iowas economy.

It takes 6 to 12 years to grow a Christmas tree before it is ready to be sold. Most tree farms in Iowa are 3 to 8 acres in size and sell trees by choose and harvest method, where a customer comes to the farm and cut their own tree.

Following are tips to keep in mind to make your trip to a Christmas tree farm more enjoyable:

 Be sure you know what size tree fits in your home, both height and width, before you leave. Trees always look smaller in the field and there is nothing worse than bringing a tree indoors only to find its too big.

 Wear comfortable clothes, sturdy shoes, and gloves that you arent afraid to get dirty.

 Make sure the tree you pick has a straight trunk and will fit properly in your tree stand.

 Fresh trees need water. Once you get your tree home remember to check the water daily. Trees can use up to a gallon of water daily.

 Make sure you unplug any tree lights before you leave home or go to bed.

 Remember  fresh cut Christmas trees are biodegradable! Recycle your tree after Christmas.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has additional information on selecting and caring for Christmas trees available at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/yard-and-garden-selecting-and-caring-christmas-trees.

Follow these tips and your will be able to enjoy a beautiful, fresh and locally grown Christmas tree throughout the holiday season, Northey said.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
With the latest round of election returns, challenger Jennifer Baker opened up a seemingly insurmountable lead over incumbent Daniel Digardi in a previously tight race for a Napa Valley College Board of Trustees seat.

Meanwhile, American Canyon City Councilman Kenneth Leary pulled away from City Councilwoman Joan Bennett in a race between incumbents for one remaining seat. Challenger Mariam Aboudamous has a big lead over them both for the other seat.

Napa Countys Election Division released results Wednesday for more than 19,000 additional ballots from the Nov. 8 election. More than 95 percent of the ballots  61,041have been counted.

Baker leads Digardi 41 percent to 35 percent for the Trustee Area 1 seat, with Jacqueline Kearns having 24 percent. Baker increased her lead over Digardi from 79 votes with the last election results released on Nov. 16 to 434 votes.

Thats fantastic. Im very excited, Baker said when she learned the news Wednesday afternoon.

With the tight race, Baker had written in pencil on her calendar a date to meet with Napa Valley College President Ronald Kraft for an orientation. Now, she said, it appears she can put the date down in ink.

One thing she hopes to accomplish on the college Board of Trustees is getting the college better connected with the community, said Baker, the former St. Helena Library director.

Digardi on Wednesday conceded that the race is over.

Jennifer ran a hard campaign and I tip my hat to her, Digardi said.

He expressed surprised that Kearns had garnered almost a quarter of the vote. Kearns didnt attend candidate forums or campaign, he said. But her presence on the ballot affected the race.

Its anybodys guess what might have happened if she hadnt run, he said.

Digardi said among the accomplishments hes most proud of during his single term is helping to bring the Trades Introduction Program to the college. The program helps students prepare for a career in the construction sector.

In the American Canyon City Council race, Leary has 25 percent of the vote and Bennett 24.07 percent of the vote for the final seat. Leary increased his lead from 23 votes with the Nov. 16 election update to 98 votes.

In other races, Measure Z saw its vote total rise from 62.91 percent in the Nov. 16 election update to 64.48 percent. But the proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase for open space needs 66.7 percent to win.

Icela Martin extended her lead in the Napa Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees Area 5 race. She has 30.06 percent of the vote, compared to 29.15 percent for Susan Larson Bouwer, 23.88 percent for Jesse Ryan Allured and 16.91 percent for Jessica De Lasaux.

The race for the Calistoga Joint Unified School District Board remained tight. Matthew Reid and Julie Elkeshen appear to have two of the seats wrapped up. Mark Galindo has 20.46 percent of the vote and Martin Hunt 19.58 percent in the race for the third seat.

The Calistoga race also has voters in Sonoma County.

For all of Napa County, 2,300 ballots remain to be counted, officials said. These include 1,500 ballots damaged and not able to be read by optical scanners and 744 provisional ballots that face such issues as the voter not showing up on the registration list.

In addition, state law requires the county to manually tally every contest in at least two precincts. That is done to confirm that human eyes and optical scanners arrive at the same result, a county press release said.

Registrar of Voters John Tuteur said results should be ready for certification well ahead of the Dec. 9 deadline.

As registrar of voters, it is my responsibility to make sure that every vote is counted accurately so that the public can have confidence in the final, certified results, Tuteur said.

As of Nov. 22, 10 of Californias 58 counties had finished counting Nov. 8 election results, according to the Secretary of States office. An estimated 1.8 million votes remained to be counted.
A winery owner once asked me to name my desert island winethe one I would choose if I could have only one for the rest of my life. He didnt expect me to immediately say Champagne!

We typically dont think of Champagne as a no-occasion wine, which may have been why he was surprised. We drink it for a wedding toast and at midnight on New Years Eve (and not necessarily to celebrate being stranded on a desert island). But champagne is so much more. It can turn a bad day into a wonderful evening, a minor setback into a victory. It pairs beautifully with a variety of foods. Yet we dont think of it as an everyday drink, a partner to a mealand thats unfortunate.

Champagne is a remarkable food wine, excellent with much more than oysters and caviar, two traditional pairings that connote luxury. (Strawberries, tooat least at Wimbledon each summer, presumably with a sweeter style of champers.) It offers as much complexity in styles and terroirs as Burgundy or Bordeaux.

David White shares an enthusiasm for the worlds classiest bubbly in his delightful new book, But First, Champagne (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016). White, the District-based founder of the award-winning wine blog Terroirist, has penned an indispensable guide to the French region and its wine.

Ive been completely infatuated with wine for about a decade now, says White, 34. After a few years, I realized my palate was taking me to France, especially to a narrow corridor running from the northern Rhone Valley up through Beaujolais and Burgundy to Champagne.

When hes not writing about wine, White is co-owner and chief operating officer of Keybridge Communications, an issues-advocacy public relations firm. A few years ago, a friend planning a trip to Champagne asked White to recommend a good guidebook on the region. I couldnt find one, even though my shelves were full of wine books, White said. That planted the seed for this book. Then I went on vacation to Champagne, and I wished I had that book.

That was 2014. White signed a contract late last year and wrote the text in four months to get it published in time for this years holiday season, the time of year when the majority of champagne is sold in this country.

The book may have benefited from the rushed schedule. White deftly guides us through the wines history without delving too far into minutiae. He describes how champagne became the drink of celebration when Clovis was crowned the first king of France in Reims in the year 496 and the race with the English a millennium later to capture bubbles in the bottle (and create bottles strong enough to hold those bubbles without exploding)all in just a few, and just enough, pages.

We learn how the economics of production led to the rise of the big champagne houses, familiar names such as Moet & Chandon, Ruinart and Mumm, which dominate the industry even today. In sidebars throughout the book, White explains the more geeky aspects that dont fit easily into a chronological history, such as how to read a champagne label or open a bottle without popping the cork.

Most important, we meet the renegade farmers who make their own wines instead of selling their grapes to the large houses, the grower champagnes that show the same individualistic terroir and character as the famed single-vineyard wines of Burgundy.

Whites passion is clearly with these small growers, whose wines are denoted by the production code beginning with the letters RM on the label. He devotes most of the second half of his book to brief profiles of his favorite producers. This is the guidebook to go with the history. And while grower champagnes were introduced to Americans by importers Kermit Lynch in the 1980s and Terry Theise in the 1990s, White follows their history back to the early 1920s and 1930s, with Salon and Philipponnat.

Hes also a fan of blanc de blancs, the champagnes made exclusively from chardonnay. In the Cotes des Blancs, a part of Champagne where chardonnay is king, you can scratch the soil and get chalk under your fingernails, he says. The wines have all the crunchiness and minerality of a great Chablis, the depth and concentration of the greatest white Burgundies.

They have bubbles, he adds. And bubbles are fun.
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The cabinet, however, incorporated a provision paving the way for marriage of minor girls under 18 years in special circumstances, Xinhua news agency reported.

The cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, allowed marriage of minor girls under 18 years under special circumstances subject to clearance from the court and their parents' consent, Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam said.

He said the minimum marriage age for men also remained unchanged at 21 years.

Bangladesh, which has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world despite a three-decade-old law banning marriage for girls under the age of 18, in September 2014 proposed measures to lower the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 16 years.

Over the last two years, the move to lower the legal marriage age for girls has been met with widespread protests.

--IANS py/dg

( 184 Words)

2016-11-24-18:26:13 (IANS)
"Yes, we are aware of what Pakistan has claimed but we categorically reject these allegations," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

Giving the facts, Swarup said that according to Appendix A to the 1991 agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers was required in respect of military aircraft.

"Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information," he stated.

"Despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner and Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, 2016, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect the requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements."

However, the spokesperson also added that in another recent case, when Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back to Lahore, the overflight permission was provided expeditiously.

--IANS ab/vt

( 220 Words)

2016-11-24-19:18:14 (IANS)
MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup gave the information during his weekly briefing here.

Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz would be attending the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

The conference on development and security in Afghanistan is likely to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Swarup did not confirm the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan, stating that talks and terror can't go together.

The conference will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 18 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Sushma Swaraj is waiting for a kidney transplant and is under close observation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

--IANS rn/rn

( 177 Words)

2016-11-24-20:54:13 (IANS)
The Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) on Thursday alleged that customers vandalised bank property in some of the branches of public sector banks and halted banking operations after becoming impatient over the cash crunch following demonetisation. The union said the situation "could turn worse" in a week or so if the customers face difficulties in withdrawing their salaries from banks and ATMs. "Customers are getting impatient day by day due to non-availability of cash in banks and ATMs following the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. In a protest over the cash crunch, customers on Tuesday had halted the day's operations in a branch of a public sector bank at Amabikanagar in West Bengal's Bankura district. There were some incidents where customers vandalised bank property, said BEFI's General Secretary Pradip Kumar Biswas. "We apprehend the situation could turn worse in a week or so if customers' plight continues for withdrawing salaries in the next week," he said. The union's secretary Joydeb Dasgupta said: "There is a shortage of cash supply even though the central government kept on saying there is enough supply of cash." Citing Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data, Biswas alleged that the shortage of cash would continue even though the "four currency notes printing presses" are running at "optimal capacity". "Cash shortage would continue even though four currency notes printing presses will run at their optimal capacity. It would take 4-5 months to restore normalcy in cash supply," Biswas said. In value terms, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes together accounted for 86.4 per cent of the total value of bank notes in circulation, RBI's latest annual report said. As on March 2016, there were 15,707 million pieces of Rs 500 notes and 6,326 million pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation. --IANS bdc/pgh/bg ( 312 Words) 2016-11-24-19:12:14 (IANS)
The Congress Party on Thursday alleged that the government is disregarding the will of the people by not allowing Parliament to function. "Truth of the matter is ruling party does not want parliament to function as Prime Minister is not wanting to come to Parliament, not wanting to be accountable, not accountable to the people of India on demonetisation and answer the relevant question causing great pain, agony and anguish to the common person,"Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. "You(PM Modi) are disregarding the will of people who elected you by trampling upon an institution like Parliament and disrespecting it by ignoring the institution by blocking the institution from functioning and by creating divide and rule policy inside and outside the house," he told ANI here. "Unfortunately, people want answers from Centre and also from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those answers would have to be given for your one unwitting decision of demonetisation that has plunged the country into economic chaos," he added. On Wednesday, the Congress Party took out a protest march over the demonetization move and alleged that the nation is suffering courtesy Prime Minister Modi's declaration of an economic emergency. Holding placards, scores of Congress workers and supporters gathered here to vent their ire against the government's move and raised slogans such as 'Modi mitra kushal, janata behaal' and 'Abki baar janata ki mehnat ki kamai par vaar'. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Ajay Maken, who led the protest march towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, told the media that Prime Minister Modi is least bothered about the poor and lower income groups. The Winter Session of Parliament has not been able to transact any substantial business for the last five days due to opposition uproar over the demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes.(ANI)
A pall of gloom descended over Pratapgarh area of Agartala today with the report of a 34-year-old BJF jawan of Tripura martyred in Kashmir two days ago while patrolling across high terrains along Indo-Pak border.The slain jawan, identified as Sambhu Satmura, resident of Subhasnagar locality in southern Agartala, served as havilder, was posted at F Company of 107 battalion BSF in Kashmir. He was killed in the landmine blast along Indo-Pak international boundary at Jamia Wali Gali of Sawjian sector in Poonch district while returning from duty on November 22 afternoon.Sambhu was scheduled to come home on November 28 on leave for a month, said Mousumi, younger sister of the slain jawan. Mousami lives with her mother Bina Satmura (56) in Subhasnagar and Sambhu's wife lives with her parents nearby."I had a talk with my brother on the day of the incident in the morning and he confirmed his schedule of arrival. At night his commanding officer called up and informed us about the incident. Since then my mother lost consciousness and I am helpless now," she stated.She said the body was expected to arrive here last night but it was not possible due to the cancellation of flight following bad weather in Kashmir. It is expected that the body will reach home today, she said.The state administration and BSF have made special arrangements to pay guard of honour to the slain jawan. Besides, administrative arrangement has been made for a large number of people, including the local MLA and other political leaders, visiting the bereaved family.Sambhu had joined Border Security Force (BSF) in the year 2003 and tied the nuptial knot in 2013. He was the only earning member of the family. His father was also a BSF solider, who went missing for more than a decade. UNI BB AD1138 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1036382.Xml
Mr Modi will attend the All India DGPs' conference at the National Police Academy in which the Director Generals of Police from all the states and Union territories across the country will participate to discuss a wide range of issues ranging from terrorism to cyber crimes.

The Prime Minister will stay at Rajasthan Bhavan on the sprawling and salubrious Sardar Vallabhhai Patel National Police Academy campus during his visit to the city.

Tight security arrangements have been made in and around the academy by the state police along with the National Security Guards personnel in view of Mr Modi's visit.

Chief secretary Rajiv Sharma held a meeting with top officials of police and civic departments to discuss the various steps to be taken to provide foolproof arrangements for the PM' visit.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has been instructed to put up welcome arches.

The Prime Minister will fly back to New Delhi on Saturday evening.

Mr Modi last visited the city on August 7 this year to attend an official programme at Gajwel, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao besides addressing a BJP-organised public meeting in Hyderabad.UNI SMS CS 1153

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Former Chief Minister and Opposition Leaderin Karnataka Assembly Jagadish Shettar today urged the SiddaramaiahGovernment in the state to fix the Minimum Support Price (MSP) forSugarcane at Rs.3200 per tonne. Talking to newsmen here, he said that the price of Sugar hadincreased to Rs.45 per Kg as against around Rs.20 to 23 per kg lastyear and the government should meet the demand of farmers who weredemanding the MSP to be fixed at more than Rs.3000. He alleged that the government had failed to maintain financialcondition of the state and was unnecessarily blaming the centre forcreating problem due to demonetisation of high value currency.UNI HVN CNR CS 1250 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1036463.Xml
Barring business and public transport, life is limping back to normal in the Kashmir valley, where separatists have extended the strike till December 1. However, there is no change in the situation in and around the historic Jamia Masjid, where the main gates remained locked since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants were killed in an encounter in Anantnag. However, gates were opened last Saturday and Sunday when separatists had given relaxation in strike. Both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), spearheading the agitation, have in their last protest calendar extended till December 1, demanded right to self determination. There is however, full day relaxation in the strike on Saturday and Sundays. Police said there was no curfew or restrictions in any part of the Kashmir valley, though deployment of security forces on ground would continue to maintain law and order. Business and other activities remained closed in the entire Kashmir Valley and transport also remained off the road in support of the separatists call , demanding right to self determination. Educational institutions witnessed a good rush of students and parents who had come to collect new books, uniform and other articles from the school management after government announced mass promotion from Ist to 11th class barring 10th class. Shops and other business establishments remained closed in civil lines, including main business hubs of historic Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city, Hari Singh High Street (HSHS), Gonikhan, Residency road, Moulana Azad road, Mahraj Bazar, Batmaloo, Iqbal park, Dalgate, Regal Chowk and Budshah Chowk. Some private vehicles, besides two-wheelers and cabs, could be seen plying on some routes , especially roads connecting summer capital Srinagar with rest of the districts. However, passenger vehicles were off the road. Meanwhile, all the gates to historic Jamia Masjid, where no Friday prayers could be offered for the past 19 weeks due to restrictions, were again locked since November 21 and no one was being allowed to enter the complex. The Jamia market, which witnessed heavy rush of customers last Saturday and Sunday when there was relaxation in strike, again wore a deserted look with large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed there. Business and other activities remained paralysed in the down town and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK), where large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed to prevent any untoward incident. A report from Baramulla said that security forces and state police personnel remained deployed in entire north Kashmir, where shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the road. However, good number of private vehicles could be seen plying on some routes though security forces remained deployed on bridges over river Jehlum, connecting old town with civil lines in Baramulla. Business and other activities remained paralysed in this and other south Kashmir towns, including Kulgam, Pulwama, Awantipora, Pampore and Pahalgam, a report from Anantnag said. Transport was off the road in entire south Kashmir though some private vehicles could be seen plying. Additional security forces remained deployed at Kakpora, where the situation is very tense after the killing of a militant in an encounter with security forces recently. Reports of complete strike were also received from central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Badgam, including Kangan, Charar-e-Sharief, Chadoora and Chanapora, where business establishments and shops remained closed. UNI BAS SV 1233 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-1036373.Xml
The car was heading from Satna to Indore when the incident occurred. The collision was so severe that it ripped the car apart. Prakash Kanungo (48), his wife Chhaya and daughter-in-law Surabhi died on the spot.

His doctor son Abhishek and grandson Akshat (10) were seriously injured. Both were sent to Indore after being administered primary treatment in Ashta.

The family, which originally hails from Raipur, had shifted to Indore recently. They had gone to attend a wedding ceremony in Satna and were returning to Indore when the accident took place. The bodies were sent for post-mortem.UNI XC-PS SV 1350

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched a scathing attack on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who described demonetisation as a "monumental management failure", and expressed fear that the Opposition left without any alibi with the presence of the Prime Minister in the Rajya Sabha might stall the debate. Without naming Mr Singh, Mr Jaitley said he was pained to hear in the Rajya Sabha that the head of the previous Government which was mired in so many scams -- 2G, Commomwealth Games, Coal blocks allocations, etc -- finds the campaign against black money as a ''blunder''. It was during 2004 and 2014 when he was heading the government that most of the scams happened, for which the then Government had drawn scathing indictment by the Supreme Court and other courts, he said talking to reporters here. The Finance Minister expressed fear that the Opposition might not take the debate forward. The day this session opened, the Government made its stand very clear that it wanted the debate under 193 to explain to the people the steps it had taken to root out black money and clean up public life, but the Opposition kept on changing its strategy putting ever new condition, he said. "And today the Opposition was surprised to find the Prime Minister in the House, and they fielded three speakers but it was clear that they were not fully prepared," Jaitley said.UNI NAZ SNU 1526 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-1036783.Xml
The urgent need for curbing mushrooming ofhair implant clinics, which are fleecing people with huge sums butgiving unscientific service was today highlighted in the KarnatakaAssembly by a member. Chintamani legislator M Krishna Reddy during the question hoursaid thousands of such clinics have sprung in cities and even smalltowns but government had no control over them nor had it stipulatedguidelines for such clinics, which had become a health risk. Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar said the government hadreceived complaints against such clinics from experts in the fieldof skin, leprosy and venereal diseases and had ordered that all suchclinics should registered under Karnataka PrivateMedical Establishments Act. However only 18 such clinics, 16 in Bengaluru and two inMangaluru had applied for registration. While the government hadconsidered seven applications, the remaining nine clinics were askedto submit proper documents. The process of registering hair implantclinics had started in June this year but not many had come forward. The government had issued a notification that within threemonths all such clinics should be registered under KPME Act.Otherwise action would be taken as per the rules, he said. Mr Reddy objected to the Minister's clarification saying that thegovernment was not serious in cracking down on such clinics whichdid not have experts treating the people.UNI RS CNR CS 1517 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1036757.Xml
The State Bank of India (SBI) believes that there is significant excess currency floating in the economy. The excess cash requirement floating in the system number could be as much as Rs 5-lakh-crore. According to SBI Ecowrap issued today, it is said that the Bank believes that such excess cash is neither required nor desirable for overall equilibrium of the economy. Over the time, a large part of such excess cash becomes unaccounted and adds to the stock of black economy. The Ecowrap said, "such excess cash is neither required nor desirable for overall equilibrium of the economy. Over the time, a large part of such excess cash becomes unaccounted and adds to the stock of black economy. Thus the move to demonetise the higher denomination currency is a step in the right direction, though we need to be vigilant regarding the sources of generation of black economy." It added, "from occupying a measly 0.51 percent of the total value in currency circulation in 1988, the value of high denomination currency has seen an exponential increase over the years and currently stands at 85.2 percent as on March 2016." The SBI publication suggested that the Government should come up with a detailed list of incentives to popularise digital transactions. These could be, completely banning all cash transactions for government services, mandatory installation of POS machines at merchant outlets and making PAN details mandatory for any cash transaction above a specified limit. It also suggested that the Government may also look at specifying a certain limit for digital transactions for individuals that could be available for tax deduction. These may be akin to tax rebates given under section 80C.More UNI ADP SNU 1618 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-1036861.Xml
Alert troops foiled two major infiltration bids from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in north Kashmir during the past 24 hours, official sources said. However, the Defence Ministry spokesman was not available. The sources said troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC) in Naugam Sector noticed some suspicious movement. When challenged, the infiltrators opened fire while fleeing back into the PoK, they said, adding that the security forces also retaliated. There was, however, no report of any casualty. Security forces also foiled similar attempt in Gulmarg Sector where after a brief exchange of fire militants managed to escape back into the PoK. A large number of militants are waiting in launch pads at LoC to sneak into this side from PoK before the infiltration routes are closed due to snowfall. The infiltration attempt came after Pakistani troops violated ceasefire at Keran, Machil and Gurez sectors during the past 24 hours.UNI BAS SWSNU 1647 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-1036881.Xml
Asserting that the government's demonetisation move has spread chaos across length and breadth of the nation, the Congress Party on Thursday demanded the ruling dispensation to revoke the limit imposed on withdrawal. Congress leader Anand Sharma accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of wrecking the nation's banking system. "The Narendra Modi government has broken trust of the people and has wrecked the banking system of the nation. Our demand is that the Centre should revoke the withdrawal limit and free the people from inconvenience. And if this limit over withdrawal continues then our allegations that the Centre benefitted few people and put the rest of the nation in inconvenience," said Sharma. Ridiculing the government for weak implementation of demonetisation, Sharma said the Prime Minister has banned high denomination notes without any proper litigation. "The government was not ready to implement such a huge decision. This unpreparedness has made the government look foolish. The Prime Minister himself launched the demonetisation drive and spread chaos across the length and breadth of the nation," Sharma said. "The Prime Minister has in a way snatched people's money from them. In the history of the nation it has never happened when the people were not allowed to access their own money. The money in the banks of common people is not black money, it is their hard earned money," he added. Sharma further said the Prime Minister's stubbornness and pride is responsible for the ongoing chaos in both houses of the Parliament. "As far as the opposition is concerned, we demanded a debate but because of the Prime Minister's stubbornness and pride the Parliament witnessed a continuous chaos. Had he come and heard us then the situation would have been different," he said. "He came today and went which does not solve the purpose. The Prime Minister should listen to the opposition. The Centre has levied this rule without brining any law," he added. Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day today on demonetisation issue. The Rajya Sabha resumed discussion on scrapping of high value currency notes in the presence of Prime Minister Modi in the pre-lunch session. However, it could not carry out the same in the post-lunch session due to Congress members insisting Prime Minister Modi's presence throughout the debate. Later, they trooped into well of the House raising slogans which forced adjournment of the House. Leader of the House Arun Jaitley charged the Opposition with looking for new reasons to run away from the debate. (ANI)
Realising severe cash crunch in the countryand to control the rising public resentment over non-availability oflower-denomination notes, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) todayairlifted a large consignment of currency notes to Chandigarh fromhere yesterday. The Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd. (BRBNMPL)unit at Metagalli here airlifted a large consignment of newlyminted Rs.2,000 and Rs.500 denomination notes fromthe Mysore Airport to Chandigarh, sources in the Airport Authorityof India (AAI) here confirmed today. The Mysore Airport was used only periodically, especially duringthe Dasara season. But it has come handy for the RBI to ensurespeedy movement of currency notes to the desired destinations. This is the first-ever official airlifting operation of currencynotes from the Mysore Airport though earlier reports indicated thatnotes were shipped from the airport and also transported via trainfrom the RBI printing unit that has a dedicated railway line. A Boeing C-17 Globemaster, a large military transport aircraft,landed at the airport and the consignment was loaded amidst tightsecurity. Boeing C-17 Globemaster is a wide-bodied aircraft,belonging to the Indian Air Force. It is a high-wing, four-enginetransport aircraft that can carry large equipment, supplies andtroops directly to small airfields even in harsh terrain. The aircraft took off for Chandigarh in the afternoon afterloading the currency notes brought to the airport from the RBIprinting unit. There was heavy police presence at the airport wherethe authorities were ready with the consignment before the aircraftlanded. The consignment from the printing unit was brought in trucksto the airport in a secure convoy provided by the Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF). As soon as the Globemaster landed, RBI officials, IAF personnelloaded the containers to the aircraft and the CISF provided asecurity blanket. Though sources were unable to divulge the quantumof currency, the consignment was described as 'huge' since the RBIhad engaged a large aircraft. The airlifting of the consignment reportedly followed asuggestion from the Prime Minister's Office to make use of theMysore Airport for ferrying the currency printed in Mysuru todifferent parts of the country. RBI Mumbai had approached the AAI touse the airport to ferry the new currency to different destinationsin the country. The communication came from the Mumbai officefollowing the directive it received from the Prime Minister's Office. Transportation of notes printed in Mysuru is routinely carriedout through trains to different destinations with tight securityprovided by the CISF. However, the decision to airlift theconsignment was to cut down the transportation time.UNI BSP CNR CS 1711 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-1036993.Xml
More than 1500 ceramics and ceramics tiles manufactures, importers, traders from various countries will converge in the first Vibrant Ceramics Expo and Summit(VCES) to be held at the Sabarmati river-front in Ahmedabad from December 16 to 18. The event is being organised by Morbi Ceramics Association (MCA) with the support of the Gujarat Government with an objective to popularise the ceramics and tiles sector of India as disclosed by a delegation of ceramics industry of Gujarat today here. The delegation, led by Gujarat Granito Manufacturers Association president KG Kaundariya, said Morbi in Gujarat is world's second largest manufacturing hub of ceramics and ceramic tiles with over 600 units and industrial investment of over Rs 8,000-crore which counts 90 percent ceramic production in India. Morbi also has a distinction of producing country's first 3D tiles that have huge export potentials he added. Morbi Dhuva Glaze Tiles Association president Nilesh Jetpariya said country's ceramics and ceramics tiles is estimated to be of Rs 24,000-crore of which 40 percent is in the organised sector and 60 percent is the unorganised sector. The focus of this event will be on knowledge summit, ceramic expo and global B2B meetings and delegates from several countries will participate in the event which will serve as a unique platform for bringing together various segments of the Ceramics Industry including Vitrified Tiles, Wall Tiles, Floor Tiles and Sanitary Ware, he said. Sandip Patel, Chief Executive Officer of the event, said VCES-2016 shall enable a lucrative networking and investment opportunity for SMEs as well as major players in the industry for its overall development. The theme of Vibrant Ceramics is Make in India, Skilled India, Digital India, Clean India and Smart India, he said.UNI RKS DB SW SNU 1807 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-1036995.Xml
Two Nepali citizen were killed and 16 other injured in a road accident in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh this afternoon, police sources said. A jeep carrying 18 people fell down in a deep gorge near Rohru of Shimla this afternoon, killing two Nepalese on the spot. The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Rohru for treatment. The vehicle was on way to Chargaon from Rohru when the vehicle fell down 20-foot deep gorge, the sources said. A rescue party immediately rushed to the spot and evacuated the victims from the ill-fated jeep. The police was probing the cause of the accident.UNI ML SW SNU 1831 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-1037130.Xml
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said that Punjab will witness a revolution in enhancing skill development and generation of self-employment as the Union Government has approved to set up 1000 skill development centres in the state and nearly five lakh youth will be imparted training from the state, every year. Interacting with the media after laying the foundation stone of an ITI at village Sofi, along with Union Minister for State Vijay Sampla, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Punjab would be a major gainer under the 'Skill India' programme, initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the skill centres not only provide self-employment to the youth, but also provides professional and skilled work force to the industry. He also announced that all banks would provide loans at low interest up to Rs 10 lakh to the trainees and entrepreneurs to start their units. Replying to a question on the proposed domestic airport at Adampur, Mr Badal informed that administrative work on that project has been completed and physical work would be initiated soon. Announcing a major project for the overall development of the villages, the Deputy CM said the Punjab government has fixed the next target to provide 100 per cent sewerage, concrete roads and solar lights in all 12,400 villages of the state at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore in the next five years. He also informed that out of 167 cities/towns, the work on sewerage and water supply has been accomplished with Rs. 9000 crore whereas the remaining cities would be covered till March 31, 2017 under this project. Terming Pargat Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu as spent forces, Mr. Badal said "Sidhu got hit wicket whereas Pargat made self goal by joining sinking ship of congress". Wishing congress good luck to include both leaders, he said "it would not impact SAD in any case as they have lost their faith and credibility by bargaining with various political outfits and now they have finally joined Congress as they failed to receive any buyer". Earlier addressing the gathering, Mr. Badal has also announced Rs. 1.25 crore for the overall development of village Sofi. In his address, Mr Sampla said the SAD- BJP government under the leadership of Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Mr Sukhbir, has set new records of development and the coalition would contest elections on the agenda of development and brotherhood. Technical Education Minister Madan Mohan Mittal announced that classes in this ITI would start from next academic session, as the project would be completed within a year, at a cost of Rs 13.85 crore. UNI XC RJ 1854 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-1037215.Xml
The incident took place when Parsiya tehsil-resident Vikrnat Rajput was coming here and the assailants ambushed and opened fire on the youth's head and chest killing him on the spot.

The miscreants fled soon after committing the crime. Police cordoned off the area to nab the culprits.UNI XC-BDG RSA SNU 1933

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1037003.Xml
Former Union Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah today batted for talks between New Delhi, Kashmir stakeholders and also Pakistan, to address the issues in the Valley. ''Crucial dialogue between New Delhi and all stakeholders in Kashmir and externally with Pakistan is must as sooner or later, the Central leadership will have to talk to Islamabad for lasting peace in the region,''' Dr Abdullah said, while addressing a rally in Kishtwar district. He said the solution to Kashmir problem lies in a sustained dialogue process and not in military might or aggression on the LoC and the International Border. ''Dissent and discontent in the Valley cannot be silenced by canons on the border or by pellet guns in Kashmir, but New Delhi must show compassion and try to win over the hearts and minds of people, especially the disillusioned youth,'' he added. ''Any rigid stance in dealing with the volatile, complex political situation in Kashmir will prove to be counter-productive and have adverse ramifications for the entire region,'' the former chief minister cautioned. The National Conference President further said that PDP-BJP Government had been rendered completely defunct in Kashmir and its writ was being questioned on a daily basis by quarters, it had tried to appease and then suppress.''Such is the writ of Government in the Valley that the business establishments, transport, schools and every sphere of activity is running as per weekly protest schedules and calendars,'' he quipped. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should not misrepresent signs of normalcy and activity in the Valley as an alleged restoration of normalcy as all such activities were being carried out according to the weekly schedules, being issued by the Hurriyat leaders, he alleged. ''Ms Mufti should see the writing on the wall and understand that mass discontent is not only due to the complete refusal of the Government to acknowledge the Kashmir issue, but also because of the PDP's betrayal to those who voted and supported it during the 2014 elections','' the NC President said, while referring to the anti-BJP plank of the PDP during electioneering and its subsequent U-turns in its run up to forging an alliance with the BJP. He said PDP instilled fear among voters about a looming threat and danger of BJP making inroads into Kashmir, but ironically changed its colours with the sole aim of attaining political power at the cost of its ideology and promises. Dr Abdullah said that political opportunism and breach of the peoples' trust would have serious implications for PDP. ''In such a scenario, the strengthening of National Conference at the grassroots assumes an added significance to meet the challenges faced by the state,'' he added. NC was not guided blindly for the sole goal of power, but its unflinching political philosophy to safeguard the honour and dignity of the people and to uphold the unity and integrity of the state, with opportunities of progress to all, irrespective of caste, creed, colour or regional affiliation, he claimed. Dr Abdullah also dwelt upon the local issues and related the deficiencies in various services to perpetual mis-governance and wrong handling of the crucial government functions by the PDP-BJP government. He expressed concern over harassment being caused to nomads by evicting them from their habitations after over six decades of peaceful and harmless co-existence in such ecosystems that they are a part and parcel of.UNI VBH RJ 2106 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0098-1037611.Xml
As part of itsnationwide protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetization, rulingLeft Front in Tripura will observe dawn to dusk general strike on Nov 28 next. Left front convener Khagen Das today said left parties are not going tojoin hand with any other party on the issue though entire opposition MPsprotesting against it together. The leftists will hold daylong demonstration infavour of the strike in all sub-division headquarters on Nov 26. He alleged demonetisation has turned up havocfor common people across the country. Mr Das clarified the banking services, post office, university examinationswill not come under the coverage of bandh. However, the school headmasterswould be requested to postpone the annual examinations in schools on November28.UNI BB SJC -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1037612.Xml
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today squarely blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the expected decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) following abrupt decision to ban high value notes and said he owed explanation to the nation why farmers and poor were being subjected to such kind of unprecedented sufferings for their no fault. Mr Prasad said here that his party was not against any move to wipe out black money from circulation but Mr Modi should explain why he was not taking stringent action against high-ups who had amassed huge black money. Instead, poor and farmers were being subjected to torture in the name of crackdown on black money by abruptly scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, he remarked. " The abrupt scrapping of high value notes is bound to leave its adverse effect on GDP and it would decline substantially, " the RJD supremo said adding Mr Modi should make it known to the nation how long it would take for the country to recover from onslaught on GDP following abrupt demonetisation. Mr Prasad said image of the country stood dainted and huge capital invested in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was drained out following demonetisation. It was a great loss for the country and people would have to suffer due to haste decision of the Prime Minister without doing any homework required for such operation, he added. UNI KKS SJC -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1037616.Xml
Seven employees of Scientific Security Management Services (SSMS) Pvt Limited, which loads cash into 128 ATMs of SBI, HDFC and few others, siphoned off about Rs.74 lakh cash (Rs.100 and Rs.2,000 denominations currency notes) for converting black money into white by taking a commission of 25 per cent. However, the seven employees, including manager of SSMS and three others were arrested by city police on today following one of them along with Rs.15 lakh cash was taken into custody by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Samalkot in East Godavari on Tuesday. The police managed to recover Rs.35 lakh from the gang and the investigation has revealed that the gang has siphoned off about Rs one crore in the past two years by short-filling in the ATMs in Vizag city and also by manipulating the machines. DCP (Law and Order, Zone-I) Navin Gulati said that after demonetization, the seven persons have siphoned off Rs.74 lakh by short-filling in the ATMs and Rs.39 lakh was given away in exchange for old notes for payment of commission. For about Rs.15 lakh new currency notes, the gang demands a cash of Rs.20 lakh old currency (Rs500 and Rs,1000) to fill the old currency in banks as against the Rs one crore which they had used. The arrested were identified as D Srinivas, B Rambabu, PV Dora, RGV Gowtham, L Manoj Kumar, P Nookayyasetty and K Deepak Kumar, all were employees of SSMS and residents of Vizag and the private persons were S Mahesh Babu, B Satish Kumar and V Kesava, whose job is to identify the customers to convert their black money into white. The RPF personnel nabbed Dasari Srinivas when he was moving suspiciously with the cash of about Rs15 lakh all in new Rs2,000 denominations as Samalkot on Tuesday. The RPF personnel suspecting a foul play sent him to Income Tax (IT) department. As Srinivas belongs to Vizag city, IT officials on Wednesday asked Vizag police to take him into custody for investigation. The Task Force Police and MVP Police investigated the case and nabbed nine others in connection with the case and the cops have found that the gang have involved in a criminal and conspiracy and stolen the money from the ATMs with their technical knowledge. At the time of loading cash, the ATM machines would not count the quantity of money deposited, unlike the time of disposing the cash. After the cash is loaded, the ATM gives out a slip stating that cash has been added, which would be submitted to the bank concerned as receipt. The DCP said that the authorities of banks also failed to find suspicious as the bankers didn't carry out random checking of ATMs. Whenever auditing is going in ATMs, the gang managed to fill the cash in ATMs. The gang has confessed that they stolen the new currency in exchange of old currency. However, the police are yet to find out the persons they had a deal with Rs 39 lakh new currency. We are investigating the case in various aspects to nab few others and recover more money, he added. UNI BSR RJ 2253 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0098-1037708.Xml
A 32-year-old man drowned while swimming in a 'bandhara' (weir) on Panchanganga river at Shahapur village in Hatkanangale tehsil of the district today.Mubarak Rajasaheb Ghatwade, a resident of Sadalga village in Chikodi tehsil of Belgaum district inneighbouring Karnataka, had gone to the bandhara on Panchanganga river, near Shirol-Kurundwad road, for washing clothes along with his family members this afternoon.After washing the clothes, he went for a swim with his cousin in the river and was swept away in deep water. He drowned while his cousin swam back to safety on the bank.Mubarak's relatives immediately informed the police, who fished out his body from the water with the help of villagers.Further investigation into incident is underway, the sources added.UNI SSS SS SW RJ BL2301 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1037716.Xml
Militants tonight attacked a police station at Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir, official sources said. They said militants attacked police station Kralgund, Handwara in Kupwara, with automatic weapons from a distance. Security guards also retaliated and the exchange continued for some time, they said adding militants later managed to escape under the cover of darkness.Additional security forces have been rushed from other areas and a massive hunt has been launched to nab the militants.UNI BAS ADG 2246 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-1037697.Xml
The Bombay high court today refused to hear the petitions of district co-operative banks on demonetisation issue, saying it cannot grant any relief to them until the Supreme Court clarifies on the matter. A bench, headed by Justice A S Oka, had asked the banks to get clarification from the Supreme Court on whether the high court can hear their pleas. The Mumbai, Solapur, Nashik and Pune District Central Co-operative Banks have approached the high court challenging the RBI circular of November 14, restricting them from exchanging or depositing old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, which were declared as illegal tender under the government's demonetisation move on November eight. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh had earlier informed the court that the Supreme Court had two days back issued notices in the transfer petition filed by the Union government seeking for all matters on the demonetisation issue to be heard either by Supreme Court or any one high court. The order of the Supreme Court does not mention anything about refusal to stay proceedings in the high court, he said. V M Thorat, counsel for Solapur co-operative bank, argued that the apex court had orally refused to grant interim relief of stay on all the other petitions. Justice Oka said refusal of relief by way of stay has not been mentioned in the Supreme Court order and hence the petitioners here will have to seek clarification on it. ''You (banks) can get clarification from the apex court. If Supreme Court says there is no stay, then we will hear this matter. But till then it would not be proper for us to hear the petitions or grant any relief as the apex court is already seized of the issue,'' Justice Oka added.UNI AAA SS RJ RAI2336 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-1037592.Xml
State Youth Congress President Vikramaditya lambasted state BJP leadership for launching a campaign in the state from day of assuming power by six term Chief MinisterVirbhadra Singh that this government will fall and not completeits tenure, which ultimately has come out to be untrue. Vikramaditya was addressing a public meeting at Lunj in Kangrasubdivision today in connection with strengthening the youth congressat the gross root level. He asked the state BJP leadership to botherabout the National Democratic Alliance Government at the center led byPrime Minister Narinder Modi which has pushed the country to a dockbecause of unplanned demonetarization and forcing poor and middleclass people to remain in queues before the banks and ATMs to gettheir own money for sustaining their families. He was critical ofModi government for pushing the country into financial crisis underthe pretext that it was a crusade against Black money. Vikramaditya said that Prime Minister Modi failed to get back themoney from the Swiss banks as claimed by him during Lok Saba pollseven after three years and by demonetarization he has pushed his ownvoters to the streets. He blamed Modi government for the deaths of common people while beingin queues for procuring their own money, which he described, wasunfortunate and disturbing. Vikramaditya highlighted in the achievements and developmentsLunjmade during the present Virbhdra Singh government in the state ingeneral and in Shahpur assembly segment in particular despite beingrepresented by BJP MLA. He said different offices including SDM officewas sanctioned for Shahpur in order to help rural people at their doorstep. Vikramaditya was touring this politically important district for thelast three days. He was accompanied by Sanjay Rattan MLA atJawalamuhki, CPS Neeraj Bharti at Jawali and Vice Chairman StateForest Corporation Kewal Singh Pathania during his Lunj tour today. At Lunj he was accompanied by state youth Congress general secretaryand in charge for Kangra and Chamba districts Udpati Thakur, otheryouth Congress leaders Vinod Zinta and Sunil Sharma. Eralier he was accorded a warm reception at Lunj by the youth Congressworkers. UNI XC RJ 2346 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-1037291.Xml
Donald Trump Jr., the older son of the US President-elect, in October participated in a private meeting in Paris at which the possibility of supporting Russian efforts to halt the war in Syria was discussed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The meeting took place on October 11 at the Ritz Hotel in the French capital and included diplomats, politicians and businessmen, some of the participants confirmed. Among the participants was Randa Kassis, who is a member of one of the Syrian opposition groups that was created in Moscow and which, according to the Journal, is being supported by the Kremlin in the search for a end to the war that erupted in Syria five years ago, EFE news reported. The meeting was organised by Kassis's husband, Fabien Baussart, the President of the French Centre for Political and Foreign Affairs, a think tank that often organises international meetings on subjects on the world agenda. According to the Wall Street Journal, the younger Trump's participation at the meeting stirred controversy about the role of the now-president-elect's family members in affairs of state and his stated desire to cooperate closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kassis confirmed to the paper that Trump's son had participated in the meeting, saying that he had emphasised the importance of having Russian cooperation in Middle Eastern conflicts such as the one in Syria. In an earlier message posted on her Facebook page, Kassis had said that the Syrian opposition was sure that Russia and the United States could reach an agreement on the conflict thanks to Trump's presidential victory. Trump's former campaign chief, Kellyanne Conway, said that Trump Jr. was present only at one roundtable discussion in Paris, adding that Kassis participated in that discussion, and in a group dinner for about 30 people to analyse the prospects for the US election. Rivalries between Russia and the United States so far have hindered progress on finding a solution for ending the war in Syria despite the efforts being made by the United Nations to get all parties to agree. Among other issues, the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama and the government in Moscow have not agreed on the role of Syrian President Bashar al Assad in a political solution to the conflict. --IANS lok/ ( 392 Words) 2016-11-24-05:22:14 (IANS)
An explosion killed two people and wounded more than a dozen outside the governor's office in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Thursday, state media said, weeks after the United States warned extremist groups were planning attacks.Video footage showed a vehicle ablaze in the car park outside the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky in the city, 40 km (25 miles) from Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Windows were blown out and parts of the facade of the building, roughly six floors high, were torn off.Adana is about 10 miles (16 km) from Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. military uses to launch attacks against Islamic State militants in Syria. Families of U.S. military personnel were ordered to leave Adana and some other parts of Turkey in March over security concerns."Damned terror continues to target our people. We will fight with this terror to the end in the name of humanity," Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik wrote on Twitter, saying he had spoken to the Adana governor.There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Kurdish PKK, Islamic State and leftist militants have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in recent years.The state-run Anadolu agency quoted provincial governor Mahmut Demirtas as saying two people were killed and 16 wounded. Anadolu said the blast, which occurred shortly after 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), came from a vehicle in front of the building.The U.S. Consulate General in Adana warned three weeks ago that extremist groups "continue aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens and other foreigners in Adana". The State Department has warned U.S. citizens to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey.REUTERS CJ PM1223 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1036441.Xml
Taiwan is updating its foreign ministry website listing the times it says China blocked its international space, a move endorsed by the island's independence-leaning ruling party today.The list, last in use when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was last in power from 2000-2008, comes after official communication channels between Taiwan and China ceased with Taiwan President and DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen taking office in May.China says Taiwan is part of "one China", ruled by Beijing. It regards the island as a renegade province, ineligible for state to state relations, to be united by force if necessary."I don't know the details of the updates," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday in Beijing when asked about the website."On 'Taiwan's international space' issue, we have always stressed the 'one China' principle and its handling. This is also the general consensus in the international community."Taiwan has only a handful of allies in the world, including the Vatican. In March, China resumed ties with the small west African state of Gambia, one of only a few African countries, along with Burkina Faso, Swaziland and So Tom and Prncipe, to recognise Taiwan.China's actions "will only increase a negative perception" of China by Taiwan and "adversely affects the long-term relationship" of both sides, DPP spokeswoman Chiu Li-li said in statement.The list includes working-level international meetings Taiwan delegations were barred from attending, sometimes due to their Taiwan passports, the ministry said.It also includes a snub by a UN aviation agency from inviting Taiwan to a meeting in September. Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognises China.The most recent incident on the list involves the title of former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou in the handbook of an international conference he attended in Malaysia last week.His title was changed to "former leader" from "former president", according to the ministry.Beijing distrusts the DPP because it traditionally advocates independence for Taiwan, which has been self-ruled since Chiang Kai-shek's defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists. REUTERS JW AS1442 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1036692.Xml
European Union leaders will praise Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday for his reform efforts but behind the scenes the EU is losing patience over Kiev's slow fight against corruption and the intractable conflict in the country's east.Three years after a pro-EU uprising overthrew Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Poroshenko will be in Brussels for an EU-Ukraine summit where he will be told he must do more to earn closer relations with the bloc."3 years since EuroMaidan," European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter, referring to the 2014 street revolt, ahead of the summit. "Ukraine on right track under President Poroshenko's leadership. EU support remains strong."The former Soviet republic's aspirations to closer relations with the West have exacted a high cost.Scores were killed during clashes between protesters and Ukrainian security forces. Shortly after President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and went on to back a pro-Russian insurgency in east Ukraine.The EU slapped sanctions on Russia over Ukraine but the conflict in the industrial east - which killed nearly 10,000 people to date - remains unresolved and peace efforts led by Germany and France have stalled for nearly two years now.The West says Russia is driving the revolt, though Moscow denies that. Germany and France invited Ukraine and Russia to another joint meeting on the crisis next week.In Ukraine, some already feel the EU has not shown enough support in their confrontation with Russia and are worried that promises by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to mend Washington's ties with Moscow could come at their expense.GRAFT STILL RAMPANTEU leaders will applaud Poroshenko for carrying out some energy, economic and police reforms under these difficult circumstances. But corruption remains rife in Ukraine, with a crony culture that tacitly allowed bureaucrats to amass wealth.A key reform obliging officials to declare their wealth recently revealed they hold millions of dollars in cash, have fleets of luxury cars, expensive Swiss watches, diamond jewellery and large tracts of land.The shock revelations not only upset the EU but also undermined Poroshenko's backing at home.EU leaders at the summit are also expected to dub Ukraine the bloc's strategic partner in gas transit, a message to Russia which has strived for years to sell more of its gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine, including by the Nord Stream pipeline.Brussels says Ukraine's exports to the EU rose 5.2 percent since an agreement on closer political and trade relations entered force at the start of this year.But the future of that partnership is uncertain after Dutch voters rejected it in a referendum earlier this year.While the pact is being provisionally applied, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is hoping to negotiate extra legal assurances by mid-December - stating among other things that EU states are not obliged to prop up Kiev financially or grant employment to Ukrainian citizens - that would allow his parliament to override the negative referendum result.That could prove difficult.The EU has also dragged its feet on granting visa-free travel to Ukraine, mainly due to hesitation from Germany and France, which both face elections next year in which increasing anti-immigration feeling will be a burning issue.Reuters CJ AS1417 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1036639.Xml
Britain is in talks to boost trade and security cooperation with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said today, part of London's efforts to improve trade links with emerging market countries. Britain has been seeking to bolster global trade ties following its June referendum vote to leave the European Union, with the Government seeking to broaden relations with the fast-growing economies outside Europe.On a visit to Pakistan, Johnson said talks were progressing on plans to increase annual trade beyond 2.5-billion-pounds (3.11-billion-dollar) per year. "Consider the size of the Pakistan economy, how fast it's growing, look at the size of the UK economy, we could do so much better," Johnson said in Islamabad before meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The two countries have had strong cultural ties since Pakistan gained Independence from Britain in 1947, with more than one million people of Pakistani origin currently residing in Britain. Pakistan's sputtering economy has rebounded in recent years, helped by improved security in the country, and growth is expected at just over 5 percent this fiscal year, the highest rate since 2008. Economic expansion is set to increase due to a 54-billion-dollar investment from China in a network of road, rail and energy projects that will form an economic corridor linking western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea port at Gwadar. However, despite improved security Islamist militant groups continue to pose a threat and have carried out several large-scale attacks in recent months. Britain has also long been concerned about the radicalised Islamists with links or training in Pakistan carrying out attacks on British soil. Three of the four bombers who carried out the attacks on London transport network in July 2005 that killed 52 people were of Pakistani origin and the fourth had travelled to Pakistan before the attacks. Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's top foreign policy official, said the two nations were discussing how to improve security cooperation. Aziz said Prime Minister Sharif has invited his British counterpart Theresa May, who visited India this month, to travel to Pakistan next year to further boost ties. Johnson also said the United States' President-elect Donald Trump was right to urge members of NATO to pay more towards the military alliance, which is heavily reliant on the United States. Johnson urged other member nations to pay 2 percent of their budget towards defence spending. "We need a strong NATO alliance, and I think that the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," Johnson said.REUTERS AKC SNU 1628 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1036899.Xml
Turkey will retaliate against an attack in Syria which killed three Turkish soldiers, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters today in Ankara."Three soldiers lost their lives in the attack yesterday. It is clear that some people are not happy with this battle Turkey has been fighting against Daesh (Islamic State). This attack will surely have a retaliation," he said.The Turkish military said earlier that a suspected Syrian air strike had killed the three soldiers, in what appeared to be the first Turkish casualties at the hands of Syrian government forces since Turkey launched an incursion into Syria three months ago.REUTERS AKC RAI1951 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-1037488.Xml
An Indian Christian evangelist in New Zealand will be deported despite his claims that "Hindu extremists" in India have threatened to kill him, media reported on Thursday. Auckland High Court's Justice Peters acknowledged that the situation for Christians in India had "deteriorated" under the new government, which was elected in 2014, but not since the man's initial bid for refugee status was rejected a year ago, Stuff.co.nz reported. The man, identified only as BD, was detained and jailed in 2012 for overstaying his visa. Since then, the Indian Christian evangelist has been fighting the deportation order on humanitarian grounds. The Immigration and Protection Tribunal in New Zealand turned down his first claim for refugee status in 2015. He made another claim saying that his stay in jail had strengthened his Christian faith so much, that the preaching he would be compelled to do when back in India would put his life in danger. That claim too, has been turned down by the Auckland High Court. In a decision earlier this week, Justice Peters said the man had initially been rejected as a refugee because his risk of danger would be low if he returned to India. However, he also noted Indian police's "sometimes lacklustre" response to hostility against Christians, according to the report. But the man's lawyer said a "rising tide of Hindu extremism" under the India government, coupled with his client's intensified will to "convert heathens", meant circumstances had changed enough for the High Court to reconsider his entitlement to refugee status. The lawyer urged the High Court to reconsider his client's entitlement to refugee status by saying that his return to the country might land him in deep trouble. The lawyer cited Vishva Hindu Parishad as a threat for minorities, including Christians in India, according to the media report. Hindu and Christian leaders in Auckland's Indian community, however, labelled BD's religious claims a "baseless" excuse to remain in the country. Veer Khar, a Hindu and the president of the Indian Central Association, said all faiths were tolerated in India. Justice Peters noted "whether or not (the man's) faith has intensified" did not increase his risk of attack, because he was already a well-known evangeliser. BD had claimed that his brother in India had received several threatening telephone calls, but Justice Peters dismissed those claims. Ilamgo Krishna Moorthy, the president of the New Zealand Hindu Temple Association, said "a lot of evangelists" visited India regularly and the man would not be stopped. --IANS soni/rn ( 430 Words) 2016-11-24-20:36:14 (IANS)
German police arrested a 20-year-old Syrian refugee who sympathised with Islamic State after he tried to cross into Denmark with potential bomb-making materials, a spokesman for the Stuttgart prosecutor's office said today.The man, whose name was not disclosed, had been in Germany for some time but it was not immediately clear when he entered the country, the spokesman Jan Holzner told Reuters."We have evidence that he sympathised with Islamic State," Holzner said.He said the man was arrested on Sunday in the southern city of Ulm after failing to cross into Denmark a day earlier, but gave no further details. He did not know whether the man had been granted asylum in Germany."He was carrying materials that could be used to make a bomb," Holzner said. He declined to provide any more details but said the quantities of material involved were "not typical of what would be used in a normal household."He said the investigation was continuing and it was not clear if the man had been in contact with Islamic State members outside of Germany."At this point we have no additional suspects in this case. We cannot say if there are others behind the scenes," he said.German authorities are on high alert for possible Islamist attacks after two attacks linked to the militant group in July.Holzner said the man would be detained in Stuttgart.In October, Syrian refugee Jaber Albakr hanged himself after being arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on a Berlin airport.REUTERS SDR RJ RAI2335 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1037733.Xml
KIEV, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Education Minister Liliya Grynevych on Tuesday thanked China for helping to develop education in Ukraine.

"We appreciate the Chinese Government and the Chinese people for giving us the assistance. We are grateful that particular importance in this support is paid to secondary education," Grynevych said during a ceremony to open a Chinese-donated language-learning complex at the Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages.

Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Du Wei said at the ceremony that China was pleased to offer a helping hand to Ukraine in improving the quality of its education.

"It is a pleasure for us to make a contribution to the development of Ukraine's education. What we have already done is a small part of much broader aid. I promise that we will continue this great initiative," Du said.

Over the past few months, Chinese authorities and private companies have made a series of contributions to projects focusing on education in Ukraine.

In August, the Chinese government handed over modern educational equipment worth about 273,000 U.S. dollars to the Ukrainian authorities to establish three linguistic classrooms at Kiev Gymnasium, where about 600 students are learning Chinese.

The move was followed by an initiative by Chinese technology giant Huawei to train 10 Ukrainian students who major in information and communications technology at Huawei's headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen in China.

Furthermore, the Hong Kong-based Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce provided a grant of 200,000 U.S. dollars to Ukraine for the development of inclusive education.
A woman dresses in Chinese Kunqu opera costume at the 400th anniversary exhibition of the death of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in Vientiane, capital of Laos, Nov. 23, 2016.(Xinhua/Liu Ailun)

VIENTIANE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Culture Center in Laos and the National University of Laos (NUOL) on Wednesday hold lecture and exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of the deaths of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare, the two literary giants from China and Britian.

Speaking at the event with the participation of over 300 people, President of the NUOL Somsy Gnophanxay said these activities provide teachers and students the opportunity to study the world outstanding literature and drama works, as well as valuable experience for the protection and development of modern literature works.

Que Xiaohua, director of Chinese Culture Center in Laos, expressed the hope that these activities will promote the understanding of Lao people over Chinese traditional drama works and traditional cultural features, thus enhancing cultural exchanges and friendship between the Chinese and Lao peoples.

While giving the lecture titled "Shakespeare's Richard III in Chinese way", Chinese theater director Wang Xiaoying introduced his way of performing Shakespeare's Richard III with Chinese traditional drama.

After the lecture, teachers and students of the NUOL visited the exhibition themed "Dialogue Across Time and Space -- Homage to Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare" with the display of photos, video, and multimedia, among others.

The Chinese Culture Center in Laos also plans to hold a series of activities including performance, lectures, seminars, and film screening to expand the dissemination of Tang Xianzu and Chinese drama.
ANKARA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish parliamentary commission abolished a controversial motion regarding sex abuse of minors on Wednesday following strong reaction from opposition parties and NGOs, local broadcaster NTV reported.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said at a commission meeting that a specific clause in the 48-item regulation did not include amnesty to "even a single rapist."

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which criticized the proposal as "an amnesty to rapists," welcomed the move to withdraw the bill.

The bill, which proposed to allow pardons for some men who assaulted underage girls if they marry the victims, provoked fury across Turkey recently.

The opposition slammed that it will legitimize child rape and enforce underage marriages.

The government argues that the motion aims to deal with issues caused by the all-too-common custom of child marriage in Turkey.

The bill was issued in the parliament at a night session on Nov. 17, but did not pass since a majority could not be sustained.

Turkish president Erdogan suggested that the problem should be "solved with a wide consensus," urging the government to heed criticisms and suggestions from the entire spectrum of society.
CAIRO, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Tourism Ministry welcomed as "positive" the decision of the U.S. Department of State to consider Egypt among the safe countries for travel and tourism, the ministry said in a press statement Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of State published a map on Tuesday highlighting in green the safe countries for travel and tourism, which included the most populous Arab country.

"The decision is a message of reassurance regarding the Egyptian tourist sites and an invitation for tourists to visit Egypt," Egyptian Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed said in the statement.

He also stressed the importance of the decision for improving the mental image about Egypt as a tourist destination.

Egypt's tourism industry suffered over the past five years of political instability and relevant security issues that followed the ouster of two heads of state after mass protests.

It further worsened after a Russian plane crash in Sinai that killed over 200 Russians in October 2015, an Italian student's ambiguous death in Cairo in February and a tragic EgyptAir flight crash in May that killed all 66 passengers onboard, including 15 French.

Employing about four million people, the tourism sector is one of Egypt's main sources of national income and foreign currency, bringing the country about 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 alone.

The Egyptian tourism minister said last week that about four million tourists visited Egypt since the start of 2016, compared to 14.7 million tourists who visited the country in 2010.
File photo taken on July 16, 2016 shows Donald Trump speaking at a campaign event in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday nominated Betsy DeVos to head the Department of Education, the first female pick for his cabinet.

In a statement released on his website, Trumps said "DeVos is a highly successful education advocated, businesswoman and philanthropist."

"Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system......so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," the statement said.

The nomination needs to be confirmed by Congress.

DeVos is a prominent supporter of the school voucher system, in which the government distribute education funds directly to parents in the form of vouchers, allowing the parents to send their children to the school of their choice.

DeVos argues such mechanism can boost competition among schools, which benefit education quality.

But the policy has also attracted much criticism, especially from teacher unions, which say standardized education will be threatened.

DeVos is a Michigan native who has been a long-time donor for the Republican Party.
BEIRUT, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's President Michel Aoun received Wednesday a congratulation letter from Qatar's ruler on his election as president, as well as an invitation of visiting Qatar, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani conveyed the message from Qatar's ruler, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, saying that Qatar hopes Lebanon will also overcome the cabinet formation dilemma soon.

Following the meeting with Aoun at the presidential palace, the foreign minister said he hopes this will be the beginning for restoring stability. Qatari-Lebanese relations will continue and Qatar's support for Lebanon will not stop, he added.

The Qatari visitor later held talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

He said that his country appreciates the policy that Lebanon has endorsed towards the "regional issues and its humanitarian role in hosting the Syrian refugees."

He also hoped the new government will be formed quickly "so that the economy can be boosted," and Lebanon could return as "a destination for Gulf tourists."

The visit comes a few days after a senior Saudi delegation led by Mecca Governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal visit the country.

Aoun's was elected on Oct. 31 as the 13th president of Lebanon, ending more than two and a half years of presidential vacuum since the end of the six-year tenure of former President Michel Suleiman in 2014.

In addition to pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun said in his oath of office that Lebanon must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their country.
File photo taken on Oct. 19, 2016 shows Donald Trump participating in the third and final presidential debate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States. Former real estate tycoon Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States after a neck-and-neck race with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- After months of calling for torturing terrorism suspects, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump suggested he now did not support bringing back torture tactics in his latest interview with The New York Times.

Trump's reversal on the stance of torture came after his meeting with retired Marine Corps general James Mattis over the weekend, whom, according to Trump, was being "seriously, seriously considered" to be the next U.S. defense chief.

"He (Mattis) said, 'I've never found it (torture) to be useful," The Times quoted Trump as saying.

"Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I'll do better," Trump said Mattis had told him so.

"I was very impressed by that answer," said Trump, adding that he concluded that torture was "not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking."

Trump constantly called for reintroducing waterboarding and other torture when interrogating terrorism suspects in his presidential campaign. He once even floated the idea of killing family members of terrorist suspects.

So far, Trump's picks for vice president, CIA director and national security advisor had all called for reintroduction of torture tactics to the upcoming Trump administration's counterterrorism toolbox.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A new report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday found that spurred by Chinese innovations, the number of patent applications rose to 2.9 million in 2015, up nearly 8 percent from the previous year, Farhan Haq, the UN deputy spokesman, told reporters here.

"The jump was powered by innovators in China who filed more than one million applications for the first time within a single year," Haq said.

After China, innovators from the United States and Japan filed the most applications, he said.

According to the report, Chinese innovators filed the most patent applications (1,010,406) in 2015, followed by those from the United States (526,296) and Japan (454,285), and China's patent office received 1,101,864 filings in 2015, making it the first office to receive more than a million applications in a single year.

An estimated 10.6 million patents were in force around the globe in 2015. The U.S. applications accounted for about a quarter (24.9 percent of the total), followed by 18.3 percent in Japan and 13.9 percent in China.

In terms of sectors, computer technology (7.9 percent of the total) saw the highest percentage of published patent applications worldwide, followed by electrical machinery (7.3 percent) and digital communication (4.9 percent).

Around 1.24 million patents were granted worldwide in 2015 (5.2 percent more than 2014, and the fastest growth rate since 2012). This was due mainly to an increase of grants in China, which issued 359,316 patents in 2015 to surpass the U.S. (298,407) as the largest patent issuing office, WIPO noted.

Trademark applications, too rose 15.3 percent to about six million in and worldwide industrial design applications grew by 2.3 percent to 872,000, according to WIPO.

China also saw the highest trademark filing activity with some 2.83 million applications, followed by the United States (517,297), European Union (EU) Intellectual Property Office (366,383) and Japan (345,070), said the report.

In addition, 2015 saw about 4.4 million trademark registrations, covering some 6.2 million cases, recorded. This was an increase of 26.6 percent over 2014 and the fastest growth in more than 15 years.

Around 4.4 million trademark registrations covering 6.2 million classes were recorded worldwide in 2015. This was a 26.6 percent increase on 2014 and the fastest growth in more than 15 years.

Global applications for industrial design -- the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article, consist of three dimensional features (shape of article) or two dimensional features (patterns, lines or colour) grew by 2.3 percent, rebounding from a sharp decrease recorded in 2014.

Designers across the world filed 872,800 applications containing 1.1 million designs. The growth was mainly due to increases in applications filed China, the Republic of Korea and the United States.

WIPO is a specialized agency of the UN provides business services for obtaining intellectual property (IP) rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It works to strengthen capacity in developing countries to help them benefit from using IP. WIPO also provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.

"As policy-makers seek to invigorate growth around the world, it is encouraging to report that intellectual property filing activity saw healthy progression in 2015," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, announcing the agency's World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

"IP use grew in most countries in 2015, reflecting its increasing importance in a globalized knowledge economy," he added.
LILONGWE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Malawi human rights bodies and the African Women's Development and Communications Network have described the sentencing of the Malawian "Hyena" as "lenient" and "a failure to justice for women and girls in Africa."

On Tuesday a local magistrate court slapped Eric Aniva, 45, with a 2-year-jail term for conducting "sexual cleansing" to women and girls in the name of culture, exposing them to the risk of HIV infection.

In a statement released Tuesday evening as the organizations observe the global women's rights Calendar (from Nov 22 to 26) in Malawi capital, Lilongwe, the human rights organizations have called on the High Court of Malawi and the Director of Public Prosecutions to review and appeal the sentence.

"We are shocked and appalled that a man, living with HIV, has for over two decades sexually violated children as young as 12 years of age in an outdated retrogressive culture that is harmful for women and girls and the magistrate saw it fit to only give him 2 years in jail," the statement said, quoting Emma Kaliya, a veteran Malawi Human Rights Activist and Executive Director for Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre.

"What message does this send to all perpetrators of sexual violence hiding behind discriminatory and destructive cultural practices? That you can get away with only two years? This is a disgrace and a big let-down to the women and girls of Malawi. The courts of justice must revoke and reconsider this sentence," she adds.

Aniva's arrest and conviction followed a revelation in an interview he had with BBC that he had had sex with over 100 women and girls as young as 12 in what is believed to be cultural cleansing for bereaved widows and nearly initiated girls.

His case is the first to be tried under the Malawi Gender Equality Act of 2013, which states that the criminal offence of sexual violation attracts a fine of 1 Million Malawi kwacha (about 1,200 U.S. dollars) or a jail term of a maximum 5 years in default.

"It is a great disappointment to the test of a new law that should otherwise be stringent enough to fully protect women and children. We are enraged!" the statement further quotes the Malawi human rights activist Kaliya.

The African Women's Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) has also condemned Aniva's sentence in strongest terms.

FEMNET'S Head of advocacy, Hellen Apila, described Aniva's acts as destructive culture that human rights bodies world over were fighting against, saying the practices endanger and harm women and girls in Africa.

"This particular case presented a great opportunity for the Malawi Judicial system to affirm its commitment to justice for women and girls in Malawi but it has failed them," said Apila in the statement.

She added: "Persistent sexual violations under the pretext of culture continue to dodge women and girls in the world and this must be vehemently condemned. We urge the government of Malawi not to waste this important opportunity to make landmark strides in ending destructive cultural practices by invoking the full force of the law and any other cases of sexual violations that infringe on the rights of women and girls," said Apiya.

The statement also quotes sentiments of disapproval from various sectors of society, among them cultural leaders, media from Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Tunisia and Rwanda who equally expressed outrage over the sentence and called for stiffer penalties.

Since the sentencing of Aniva on Tuesday, there have been mixed reaction across the country with some members of the public sympathizing with Aniva for "being victim of deep cultural practice that is as old as its people."
KIGALI, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Government of Rwanda has demanded an apology from the Vatican for the role played by members of the Catholic Church in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi,according a government statement released on Wednesday.

The demand comes days after Rwanda's nine Catholic bishops apologized - in a general manner - for some of the acts committed by some members of the Catholic Church during the genocide which claimed the lives of about one million people.

"Given the scale of the crimes, there is ample justification for an apology from the Vatican, as has occurred repeatedly with other cases of lesser magnitude," it said in the statement.

Pope Francis last year made a surprise public apology for recent scandals "either in Rome or in the Vatican" during his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square, but did not specify which scandals.

In the Wednesday statement meanwhile, Rwanda government said while the bishops step is welcome, as individual expressions of remorse, its "profound inadequacy only serves to highlight how far the Catholic Church still remains from a full and honest reckoning with its moral and legal responsibilities."

"First, as they apologize on behalf of a few unnamed individuals, the bishops appear to take the extraordinary step of exonerating the Catholic Church as a whole for any culpability in connection with the genocide. Everything in the historical record contradicts this divisive claim," it said.

It also wondered why some churches did not read out the apology statement as directed by the bishops.

"It is regrettable that some priests apparently declined to read the bishops' message to parishioners as intended, thus disassociating themselves from even this mild expression of regret."the statement said.

Survivors say several clergy have blood of genocide victims on their hands.

For example Father Athanase Seromba is said to have ordered the bulldozing of his church in western Rwanda with 2,000 Tutsis inside and ordered the survivors shot.

Catholic monks reportedly helped him get to Italy, change his name and became a parish priest in Florence. Several catholic churches were turned into memorial sites.

On a lighter note, the Government of Rwanda commended the bishops on the importance of combating genocide ideology, and offered to continue to engage in an open and frank dialogue with Church leaders with a view towards encouraging the Catholic Church to face up to its own past without excuses or fear.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, warned on Wednesday that the inaction in moving forwards the Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts has a cost, measured in human lives and suffering.

"The situation on the ground is changing steadily and dangerously, as proponents of Israeli settlement expansion feel emboldened, internal divisions among Palestinians flare up and the prospect of a future Palestinian state comes under threat like never before," Mladenov said while briefing the UN Security Council on the current situation in the Middle East.

He said he visited Nablus in the West Bank twice this month, and saw the harsh conditions there that was combined with regular Israeli incursions and the lack of a permanent home, creating potential tension for violence.

What people need, he said, were courageous Israeli and Palestinian leaders who together could chart a clear strategy to peace and security.

For his part, Stephen O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and UN emergency relief coordinator, also briefed the Security Council, saying that 70 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip currently receives some form of international assistance -- "yet our ability to deliver that assistance has become increasingly restricted."

In the West Bank, the pace of demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian property by the Israeli authorities has far exceeded previous years on record -- more than double this year compared to 2015, he said.

Israel had repeatedly banned the shipment of cements and other construction materials to the Gaza Strip, claiming that it is used by militants to build up tunnels used for carrying out attacks into Israel.

The Middle East peace process has been idle since U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry failed to broker negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians in April 2014.
CAPE TOWN, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday called on Parliament to accelerate the implementation of the resolution for the establishment of a Media Appeal Tribunal.

The current Press Ombudsman is not adequate to sufficiently protect the rights of the individual citizens, community and society as a whole, the ANC said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

"Under the guise of freedom of speech, our media tramples on the constitutional rights of others and in itself begins to constitute the real threat to media freedom, diversity and democracy," ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.

This followed the suspension of Steve Motale, editor of The Citizen newspaper. Motale has been one of the few black voices in the industry who upheld the principles of diversity and impartiality.

Motale was suspended after a damning investigation into former finance minister Trevor Manuel, current finance minister Pravin Gordhan and ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu was published in the paper a few weeks ago.

It appears that Motale has been accused of having a personal vendetta against Manuel, who is white, and of running a campaign against him.

Motale's suspension sparked a debate about the lack of transformation within the media, with particular reference and emphasis on print media.

This is a historical debate, and one, which will be unresolved for as long as there are, within society and the media itself, defenders of a system that is untransformed in terms of ownership, control and management, Kodwa said.

This defence presents itself as upholding media freedom and freedom of speech whilst in reality masking the commitment to undermine the diversity of views and plurality of voices, he said.

"A largely untransformed media, as we have in South Africa, is an offensive against progressive values and ideas," Kodwa noted.

Having understood that the media is a contested terrain and therefore not neutral but reflective of the ideological battles and power relations in society, the ANC has continuously sought to effect fundamental and lasting change in the sector.

"We condemn in the harshest possible terms interference by vested interests in the functioning of the newsrooms and the stifling of editorial independence to drive predetermined agendas," Kodwa said.

Honesty, accountability, fairness and editorial independence are meant to be hallmarks of South Africa's media, however it is increasingly clear that certain sections of the media continue to adopt anti-transformation stances and remain unaccountable to the general public, Kodwa noted.

The ANC proposed the Media Appeals Tribunal in 2010, building on a resolution adopted at the party's 2007 National Conference. The ANC argues that the current avenues individuals can pursue in order to right a media wrong, litigation and complaining to the Press Ombudsman, are inadequate.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday encouraged the Turkish Cypriot leader and the Greek Cypriot leader to overcome hurdles in the Cyprus peace talks to "do their utmost" in order to reach a settlement in 2016.

The secretary-general, in a statement read to the press here by Farhan Haq, deputy UN spokesman, said that he has been updated by his special adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, about the outcome of the UN-brokered talks that took place between the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Ak?nc?, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, on Nov. 7-11 and Nov. 20-21.

"The secretary-general encourages Mr. Ak?nc? and Mr. Anastasiades to do their utmost to overcome also this particular hurdle and conclude the promising work that they had undertaken in Mont Pelerin," Haq said at a daily news briefing here. "They have made significant progress across chapters over the past eighteen months, advancing their talks further than ever before."

"They should continue to build upon their substantial achievements," he said.

"The secretary-general urges the leaders to continue their efforts in line with their shared commitment to do their utmost in order to reach a settlement in 2016," he said. "Especially in a region and in a world marked by increasing tension, they must not let this historic opportunity slip."

"Despite the best efforts of Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Ak?nc?, the talks did not yield the desired results regarding agreement on the criteria for territorial adjustment and they decided they would return to Cyprus to reflect on the way forward," Haq said.

"The secretary-general shares the disappointment of the two leaders who had hoped that the meetings in Mont Pelerin would pave the way for the final phase of the talks," Haq said.

On the same night of Nov. 21, thousands of people from both communities gathered in the buffer zone in Nicosia in support of the leaders' shared vision of a united homeland, Haq noted. "The secretary-general is confident of the leaders' continued desire to deliver on these expectations with a mutually beneficial solution."

"Cypriots deserve nothing less," he said.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general reiterated his full support and the commitment of the United Nations to assist the two leaders in reaching their shared goal, while respecting that the future of Cyprus will be determined by Cypriots, for all Cypriots, Haq said, adding that Ban "will be in contact with both leaders soon to discuss the next steps. He is in close contact with his special adviser who is currently assessing the situation."

"The secretary-general urges all interested parties to avoid any statements and actions that would make the resumption of talks more difficult," he said. "He reminds them that temporary set-backs are not uncommon in peace processes as talks approach a final stage."

"The secretary-general also calls upon all interested parties, especially the guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, to do their utmost to support the leaders during the coming days and weeks, which will be crucial for the negotiations and the future of Cyprus," Haq added.

The United Nations which brokers the reunification negotiations announced in the early hours of Tuesday that the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities had failed to achieve the necessary convergences on criteria for territorial adjustments that would have paved the way for the last phase of the talks.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern part, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece, and moved Turkish Cypriots from all over the island into the enclave controlled by Turkish troops.

The leaders of both the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus have said that after four decades of negotiations they are close to a solution by the end of this year, provided they can overcome difficulties in agreeing on security arrangements and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced Wednesday that its highly anticipated experimental Alzheimer's drug called solanezumab has failed in a late-stage trial, dealing another blow to efforts to combat the illness.

"Solanezumab did not meet the primary endpoint in the EXPEDITION3 clinical trial, a phase three study of solanezumab in (more than 2,100) people with mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease," the company said in a statement.

Patients treated with the drug "did not experience a statistically significant slowing in cognitive decline compared to patients treated with placebo," it said.

Lilly also said it will not pursue regulatory submissions for solanezumab for the treatment of mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

"The results of the solanezumab EXPEDITION3 trial were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease," John Lechleiter, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lilly, said in the statement.

"We will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimer's pipeline assets."

Solanezumab also failed in two previous phase three clinical trials, known as EXPEDITION 1 and 2, which involved patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.

"It's extremely disappointing to learn that it hasn't delivered a meaningful change for people living with dementia, when the need is clearly so great," Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Alzheimer' s Society, said in a statement.

"Dementia is society's biggest health challenge -- and we've seen time and again that developing effective treatments is incredibly difficult. This is only one drug of several in the pipeline and they aim to tackle dementia in different ways, so we should not lose hope. Dementia can and will be beaten."

Professor Peter Roberts of University of Bristol, said he was not in the least surprised by the solanezemab data.

"The problem, to my mind, is completely fundamental," Roberts said. "There is still no convincing evidence that shows a clear relationship between amyloid deposition and deficits in cognition in humans. All we really know is that evidence of amyloid deposition begins up to maybe 20 years before the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This might be a good indicator, but does not prove causality."

Alzheimer's disease is a fatal illness that is believed to start with changes in the brain that may begin 20 years or more before symptoms appear. Those changes cause a progressive decline in memory and other aspects of cognition that eventually lead to dementia.

There are currently an estimated 47 million people living with dementia worldwide. The number of people affected by dementia is expected to reach nearly 75 million in 2030 and 131 million in 2050.
CHICAGO, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Wednesday as strong U.S. economic data put pressure on the precious metal.

The most active gold contract for December delivery fell 21.9 U.S. dollars, or 1.81 percent, to settle at 1,189.30 dollars per ounce.

Investors were driven away from the precious metal as a safe haven as a report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed durable good orders increasing by 4.8 percent during the month of October, which was much higher than expected.

Analysts note a 12 percent gain in transportation orders and a 14.5 percent gain in core capital goods, both of which were also better than expected. This report put pressure on gold as analysts believe it increased investors' confidence in a December Federal Reserve rate hike.

Another report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed the PMI Manufacturing Index flash increasing to a level of 53.9, a figure which was within expectations. Analysts note that this indicates solid improvement and is the highest reading of this measure since October 2015.

Gold was not highly influenced by the U.S. Department of Labor's weekly jobless claims report, which was released on Wednesday instead of Thursday due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The report shows initial jobless claims increasing by 18,000 to 251,000, a figure within expectations.

However, analysts note that this week marks 90 weeks of initial claims below the 300,000 level, which they believe is the longest run below that level since 1970.

These three reports have kept investors focused on the expected Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting expected in December. Investors believe the Fed may raise rates from 0.50 to 0.75 during the December FOMC meeting.

According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 94 percent at the December meeting and the same percentage for the February meeting.

Silver for December delivery fell 24.1 cents, or 1.45 percent, to close at 16.391 dollars per ounce. Platinum for January delivery dropped 11.9 dollars, or 1.26 percent, to close at 931.10 dollars per ounce.
by Xinhua writer Liu Wanli

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Surging forward to the door of a truck carrying food to Mosul, the city in northern Iraq that is witnessing spreading battles and destruction, hundreds of people raised their hands to scramble for a box of aid.

The soldiers escorting three trucks loaded with oil, flour, rice and sugar shouted at the crowds, trying to keep them in line, but had to open the door to distribute the food as soon as possible in fear of attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants coming from nowhere out of the tunnels in the district liberated by the army early this month.

Children were crying loud in the chaos, even louder than the sound of heavy machine guns fired in other districts in eastern Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq that was seized by IS in June 2014.

Despite the tradition of storing three-month supply, many people in Mosul are running out of food after living under IS control for more than two years.

"We support each other in the past two years, but everyone is living in fear for such a long time and that's why they scramble for food even when they still have certain storage," said 26-year-old college student Jassim.

All these people are living on Saddam Street which was changed to the name of an IS leader after the group seized the city. Walls along the street were covered by bullet holes and many windows were smashed. The counter-terrorism soldiers had to drive a Humvee to tow away the wreckage of the car bomb to make room for the crowds.

"The militants launched nine suicide car bombing attacks when we were trying to take that street," said Mohammed who fought against IS since Oct. 31, pointing at the crossroad about 50 meters away where nearby houses were destroyed.

"The snipers are taking cover at civilian houses, using them as human shields, so we cannot bomb their positions, but have to search street by street, building by building. It takes a lot of time and is quite risky," he said.

Despite being threatened by stray bullets and rocket attacks, most of the people are not willing to leave for IDP camps. They say they would rather take risks living in their houses than living in tents during the coming winter.

However, even if they want to take shelter in the camps which are dozens of kilometers away from street battles, they may not get their way.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a report on Monday that "68,550 people are currently displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance" since the military operations to retake Mosul began on Oct. 17, and "camp capacity stands at 10,000 available family plots in eight camps which today could house 60,000 people."

It added "With winter temperatures arriving in northern Iraq, creation of additional capacity is accelerating to accommodate new displacement."

However, the OCHA said in an earlier report that it was expecting 200,000 people to flee in the first few days of an attack to retake the city, but said the worst case scenario could be up to 700,000 people. Up to 1.5 million people in the city could be in need of aid.

The three-week street battles in the densely packed districts in Mosul showed that fighting against more than 3,000 IS militants, according to estimation of the Iraqi army, seems to take more weeks, if not months.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said Wednesday that the Iraqi army and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, on Wednesday completely encircled Mosul, while the counter-terrorism forces are continuing to clear the militants in and out of Mosul after more than a month since the major offensive was launched.

The Shiite units advanced to west of the IS-held town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, recapturing six villages and seizing the main road between Tal Afar and nearby town of Sinjar, cutting off the IS supply routes from the west side of Mosul, and enabling both the paramilitary units and other Iraqi and Kurdish forces to entirely isolate and surround the city, according to the statement.

The UN agencies warned that the battles to retake Mosul could spark the biggest humanitarian crisis of the year and called for the international community to provide support for the war-torn country.

Though the aid agencies are worrying about the possible worst scenarios, the residents who have been liberated by the army in Mosul's eastern districts are optimistic. "The worst scenarios are gone. We are free now and freedom matters," said Jamal Karim, who was waiting with his grandson to receive aid package on Saddam Street, under the protection of the army.
File photo taken on July 16, 2016 shows Donald Trump speaking at a campaign event in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina and a former critic, as his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country," said Trump in a statement.

"She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," the statement said.

It will be a Cabinet-level position, and Haley has accepted, Trump said in the statement.

Haley supported Trump's rival Senator Marco Rubio of Florida during the Republican nomination race, and she was one of the most vocal critics of Trump early in his run.

During the presidential campaign, Haley frequently called out Trump for his hard-line immigration policy, and also criticized Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.

Only till the end of October did Haley announce that she would vote for Trump despite reservations about his character.

Born to Indian immigrants in South Carolina in 1972, Haley is the first woman and visible minority to serve as governor of South Carolina. She is also the youngest current governor in the country.

According to South Carolina's local daily The Post and Courier, Haley had little diplomatic experience before her nomination as one of the country's top diplomats.
The sun cuts through the smoke as an Iraqi soldier walks into the center of a burning oil wells, set ablaze by retreating Islamic State (IS) jihadists, while guarding the men tasked with putting out the fire in the town of Qayyarah, some 70 km south of Mosul on November 20, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)

by Xinhua writer Liu Wanli

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Surging forward to the door of a truck carrying food to Mosul, the city in northern Iraq that is witnessing spreading battles and destruction, hundreds of people raised their hands to scramble for a box of aid.

The soldiers escorting three trucks loaded with oil, flour, rice and sugar shouted at the crowds, trying to keep them in line, but had to open the door to distribute the food as soon as possible in fear of attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants coming from nowhere out of the tunnels in the district liberated by the army early this month.

Children were crying loud in the chaos, even louder than the sound of heavy machine guns fired in other districts in eastern Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq that was seized by IS in June 2014.

Despite the tradition of storing three-month supply, many people in Mosul are running out of food after living under IS control for more than two years.

"We support each other in the past two years, but everyone is living in fear for such a long time and that's why they scramble for food even when they still have certain storage," said 26-year-old college student Jassim.

All these people are living on Saddam Street which was changed to the name of an IS leader after the group seized the city. Walls along the street were covered by bullet holes and many windows were smashed. The counter-terrorism soldiers had to drive a Humvee to tow away the wreckage of the car bomb to make room for the crowds.

"The militants launched nine suicide car bombing attacks when we were trying to take that street," said Mohammed who fought against IS since Oct. 31, pointing at the crossroad about 50 meters away where nearby houses were destroyed.

"The snipers are taking cover at civilian houses, using them as human shields, so we cannot bomb their positions, but have to search street by street, building by building. It takes a lot of time and is quite risky," he said.

Despite being threatened by stray bullets and rocket attacks, most of the people are not willing to leave for IDP camps. They say they would rather take risks living in their houses than living in tents during the coming winter.

However, even if they want to take shelter in the camps which are dozens of kilometers away from street battles, they may not get their way.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a report on Monday that "68,550 people are currently displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance" since the military operations to retake Mosul began on Oct. 17, and "camp capacity stands at 10,000 available family plots in eight camps which today could house 60,000 people."

It added "With winter temperatures arriving in northern Iraq, creation of additional capacity is accelerating to accommodate new displacement."

However, the OCHA said in an earlier report that it was expecting 200,000 people to flee in the first few days of an attack to retake the city, but said the worst case scenario could be up to 700,000 people. Up to 1.5 million people in the city could be in need of aid.

The three-week street battles in the densely packed districts in Mosul showed that fighting against more than 3,000 IS militants, according to estimation of the Iraqi army, seems to take more weeks, if not months.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said Wednesday that the Iraqi army and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, on Wednesday completely encircled Mosul, while the counter-terrorism forces are continuing to clear the militants in and out of Mosul after more than a month since the major offensive was launched.

The Shiite units advanced to west of the IS-held town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, recapturing six villages and seizing the main road between Tal Afar and nearby town of Sinjar, cutting off the IS supply routes from the west side of Mosul, and enabling both the paramilitary units and other Iraqi and Kurdish forces to entirely isolate and surround the city, according to the statement.

The UN agencies warned that the battles to retake Mosul could spark the biggest humanitarian crisis of the year and called for the international community to provide support for the war-torn country.

Though the aid agencies are worrying about the possible worst scenarios, the residents who have been liberated by the army in Mosul's eastern districts are optimistic. "The worst scenarios are gone. We are free now and freedom matters," said Jamal Karim, who was waiting with his grandson to receive aid package on Saddam Street, under the protection of the army.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (C), U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (L) and U.S.Trade Representative Michael Froman pose for a photograph at the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, on Nov. 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States on Wednesday kicked off an annual high-level dialogue to seek more cooperation between the world's two largest economies, aiming to pave the way for a smooth transition of bilateral ties amid the U.S. presidential change.

"Firstly, we have to properly manage the differences, ensuring a smooth transition of China-U.S. economic and trade relations to the next U.S. administration," Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said at the opening plenary session of the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the last high-level economic dialogue between the two countries under the Obama administration.

Wang said China will consider reasonable concerns of the United States, and that China also hopes the U.S. will fulfill its obligations under the Article 15 of the Protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), important provisions regarding China's market economy status in anti-dumping cases.

Secondly, the two sides have to expand areas of cooperation and yield more deliverables in the areas of two-way investment, digital economy and food safety, laying a solid foundation for China-U.S. economic and trade relations over the next year and a longer period, the Chinese vice premier said.

Thirdly, he called on the two sides to further strengthen the outcomes of the JCCT and highlight the JCCT's role in bilateral economic cooperation, showing a new type of China-U.S. major country relations with the principles of non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said the JCCT has "focused on areas ripe for collaboration" and promoted more trade and commerce between the two countries over the past three years.

The JCCT has sparked the creation of the China-U.S. Year of Tourism 2016 and facilitated a U.S. trade mission of 12 healthcare companies to Beijing and Chongqing, China, last month, Pritzker said.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman emphasized the need to keep the U.S.-China relations "on an even keel" amid strong headwinds of populism and protectionism around the world.

"Our two governments have less than two months to reinforce and fortify this relationship, so that it can endure through the uncharted waters that lay ahead," Froman said.

The JCCT gives the two sides a concrete opportunity to make progress in economic cooperation and address differences between the two major trade partners, he added.

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the U.S., and plays an important role in China-U.S. economic cooperation and addressing economic and trade frictions.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. took part in an overseas private discussions in October whose themes included finding a way to cooperate with Russia to end the war in Syria, local media said on Wednesday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump Jr. attended the Oct. 11 event in Paris, France, and the event was hosted by a French think tank, whose founder had reportedly worked closely with Russia on the Syrian crisis.

In a comment posted on Facebook three days after the Election Day, Randa Kassis, the wife of the French think tank founder, said that "Russia and the United States will reach accord on the issue of the Syrian crisis, because of Trump's victory."

"Such hope and belief is the result of my personal meeting with Donald Trump junior in Paris in October," said Kassis.

Kassis' official website page describes her as a French-Syrian politician and a leading figure of opposition to the Syrian government.

Kellyanne Conway, former campaign manager of Trump confirmed to the Journal that Trump Jr. attended the event. However, Conway downplayed Trump Jr.'s direct contact with Kassia.

"Don was addressing a roundtable in Paris, and she (Kassia) was present for that talk and at a group dinner for 30 people," according to a statement by Conway released by the Journal.

"This event featured a number of opinion leaders from all over the world who were interested in the U.S. elections," said the statement.
BUDAPEST, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The year 2016 is expected to be a record film production year, Csaba Domotor, Hungarian state secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, told wire service MTI on Wednesday.

The official made the comments after parliament discussed a bill intended to offer enhanced educational opportunities for motion picture industry professionals.

Spending on international and domestic films in 2016 looks to reach a record high of 85 billion forints (about 292 million dollars), a number that can easily grow to 170 billion forints next year, he said.

In 2011 the number was only 33 billion forints, Domotor added.

The system of subsidies for film-making was overhauled in 2010, he said.

The National Film Foundation was established in 2011, and since then Hungarian motion pictures have won over 100 top international awards including a 2016 Oscar for best foreign language film, won by "Son of Saul" and its director, Laszlo Nemes.

Hungary is encouraging its motion picture industry to portray issues of key significance in processing its history which has also resulted in growing audiences in the movie theaters, Domotor said.

Hungary has been a motion picture producer for the past 120 years, Domotor said, which obliges us to treat the industry as part of our national wealth. (1 U.S. dollar = 291.13 Hungarian forints)
VALLETTA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Malta has been selected as one of the National Geographic Traveler's "Best destinations for 2017" recently.

The destinations were all chosen by the magazine's editors and fall into one of three categories: cities, nature and culture. Malta is in the top of culture categories.

Writing for National Geographic, author Lisa Abend writes: "Eager for its turn on the world stage, this tiny island nation in the Mediterranean Sea is embracing a reboot while holding fast to a formidable heritage."

"Storied land of the Knights of Malta, home to three World Heritage sites -- including the capital, Valletta -- and a recent headline-grabber as a setting for the television phenomenon Game of Thrones, Malta pivoted toward the future with the 2015 inauguration of architect Renzo Piano's reimagining of Valletta's old City Gate, Parliament building, and Opera House," Abend wrote.

There are variety of cultural activities occurring throughout the year in Malta, such as Carnival week in February; a number of three-day weekends celebrating feast days of various saints, known as traditional village festas, from late May to September.

Also popular is the annual Isle of MTV free outdoor mega-concert, and Malta Music Week in June.

Earlier this month Sport Diver Magazine readers voted Malta 3rd best diving destination in the world, placing just behind the Maldives and Egypt at this year's Sport Diver Awards.

This placed Malta as the most popular diving destination in the Mediterranean as voted for by thousands of Sport Diver readers.

Such events are expected to leave an impact on Malta's already thriving tourism industry. Official monthly figures published from Malta's National Statistics office have all seen an increase in tourists when compared with their corresponding months in 2015.
YAOUNDE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The 4th Africa-Arab World Summit meeting opened on Wednesday in Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo with around 60 leaders from the two regions participating.

Under the theme "Together for sustainable development and economic cooperation," this year's summit focused on the "assessment of the progress achieved in the implementation of the action plan" adopted in the 3rd summit held in Kuwait in 2013, according to reports from Malabo.

The discussions also focused on "ways likely to deepen this cooperation framework at a time when Africa and the Arab world are working to collectively take up the common challenges they are facing."

Equatorial Guinean President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said while hosting the summit that there are many things in common between Africa and Arab countries, like history, culture and religion, etc. He hoped Africa can emerge and increase its position in international arena. He asked the Arab countries to help Africa emerge by providing avanced technologies.

General-Secretary of Arab League Ahmed Abou EL Gheit said the security situation in Africa is related with the security situation in Arab region, and hoped the two regions strenghthen the cooperation in the concerned areas.

At the summit, African Union President Nkosazama Dlamini Zuma called the youth in the two regions to promote their communication and cooperation in order to face the challenges of the new era.

The Africa-Arab Summit is the supreme policy organ of the Africa-Arab Partnership. It adopts the long and short term action plan and strategies of the partnership. The first Africa-Arab summit was held in Cairo, Egypt, in 1977, since 2010, the summit is held every 3 years alternatively in African and Arab countries, with the second one held in Libya, and the third in Kuwait.
PRAGUE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- After the United States, Russia has officially requested the Czech Republic for the extradition of Russian Yevgeni Nikulin, who was detained in Prague in October on suspicion of computer hacking, said Czech Justice Ministry spokeswoman Tereza Schejbalova on Wednesday.

The United States charges Nikulin for having attacked the Linkedin social network and the servers of the Dropbox and Formspring companies.

The Californian federal court previously charged Nikulin of a hacker's attack, theft and conspiracy.

According to the U.S. investigators, Nikuklin used the Internet to hack computers of the Linkedin professional network on March 3-4, 2012 and he gained passwords of their users with the intent to either sell the stolen data or use them for an unauthorised access to further computers and accounts.

Russia sought Nikulin's extradition for his crime committed in Moscow on April 2, 2009, in particular a theft of finances amounting 3,450 U.S. dollars from the damaged T.A.P. through the Webmoney electronic payment system.

Schejbalova said that both extradition requests from the United States and Russia shall be referred to the preliminary investigation of the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office in Prague. Conditions of the extradition admissibility in each of the requests will be assessed individually.

The U.S. Embassy asked for Nikulin's extradition in a note submitted to the Czech Foreign Ministry on Nov. 16. The Foreign Ministry sent the U.S. request to the Justice Ministry on Tuesday. However, on the same day, the Czech Justice Ministry received an extradition request from the Russian General Prosecutor's Office also issued on Nov. 16.

The admissibility of the man's extradition to the United States or Russia will be decided by the Prague Municipal Court after the prosecutor's office submits proposal.

If there are several requests for extradition of the same person, the court will assess the admissibility of extradition in relation to each of these applications separately, said the court spokeswoman Marketa Puci.

She said it might happen that the extradition to both countries would be admissible according to the court's verdict, then the final decision will be up to the Justice Minister who can decide to which country the person will be extradited regardless of court verdict.

Czech police detained Nikulin in a Prague hotel in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was in the Czech Republic with his girl friend.

After the arrest Nikulin collapsed and has to be hospitalised. He is now in custody.

Russia said it would do its utmost to prevent the extradition of Nikulin to the United States. Enditem
BRATISLAVA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Slovak firms will pay less taxes as of next year.

The Slovak parliament approved a reduction in corporate tax from 22 to 21 percent and the scrapping of mandatory health insurance contributions from dividends and replacing them with a tax totalling 7 percent on Wednesday.

"The amendment is aimed at improving the business environment and increasing the motivation to pay taxes," stressed Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir.

The amendment also increases the ceiling for the flat rate expenditures of self-employed people. In line with the new rules the self-employed will be able to claim for flat rate expenditures reaching up to 60 percent of total costs, with a maximum of 20,000 euros (21,200 U.S. dollars) annually.

Moreover, the amendment is set to toughen sanctions if the result of a taxpayer's activities is deliberate circumvention of a tax obligation. Conversely, sanctions for taxpayers should be eased if they pay their fines on time.

Kazimir explained the adoption of these measures by pointing to the need to fight tax evasion.

"These are measures aimed at combating tax evasion and letterbox companies," stated Kazimir.
CANBERRA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Australia's wealthier suburbs tend to be home to healthier populations compared to the nation's lower class suburbs, national health data released on Thursday has shown.

Researchers from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration, a brainchild of Victoria University and Torrens University, released Australia's Health Tracker on Thursday, which showed vast discrepancies in the general health of Australians in richer areas and neighborhoods closer to the city compared to those who live in poorer and more rural areas.

In wealthier, inner city suburbs in Melbourne, around 55 percent of people were considered to be overweight, while in poorer suburbs, 71 percent of people were considered to be overweight or obese, something the Australian Health Policy Collaboration said put them at higher risk of developing cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

The story is much the same in Australia's largest city, Sydney. Researchers found that poorer areas in Sydney's west were considerably more overweight than areas closer to the CBD, in Haymarket and The Rocks, the rate of overweight and obese Australians was at just 45 percent.

Professor Maximilian de Courten, epidemiologist from Victoria University, summed it up by saying "wealthier (zip) codes were healthier zip codes", while Dr. Andrew Knight, a GP and senior lecturer at the University of NSW said those in rural areas and poorer suburbs often lived further away from vital health services.

"The higher you are on the pecking order, the healthier you are... There is a clear gradient across the country," Knight told Fairfax Media.

Overall the Australian Health Policy Collaboration said 63.4 percent of Australian adults were considered to be overweight or obese, while almost one in five Australians were drinking alcohol at "risky" levels.

Researchers from the Collaboration said they hope the study will help lawmakers plan ways to help the community combat poor health.

"Australia's Health Tracker by Area is one part of a series of resources that were designed to enable better accountability and action on chronic diseases," the Australian Health Policy Collaboration said.

"The local area profiles of health data can be used to inform service planning, commissioning and research. The profiles can also be used to compare the data from one area against national chronic disease prevention and reduction targets."
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The common interests between China and the United States far outweigh their differences no matter how the leadership changes in the U.S., a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

"Our two countries enjoy a high degree of complementarity in our economic cooperation, which has brought tangible benefits to our business communities and to our two peoples. These realities will not be changed by the (U.S. presidential) election," Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce told Xinhua at a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) held here.

Zhang said he felt strongly that business communities on the both sides have a strong desire to deepen economic cooperation between the two countries and this will not be changed either, after attending the JCCT and other trade events over the past several days.

"No matter how the leadership changes in the United States, the shared interests of our two countries far outweigh our differences," he said, noting that bilateral trade between China and the U.S. reached 558.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an increase of 228 times from 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Zhang said it's "quite normal" for China and the U.S. to "have some frictions and differences" as the world' s two largest economies expand the scale of economic and trade cooperation and their interests become more intertwined.

But the two sides need to work together to resolve their disparities and "take a constructive approach" in managing those differences that cannot be resolved by the two countries, he said.

Zhang stressed that China has "paid close attention" to the remarks made by U.S. President-elect Trump during the presidential campaign, particularly his remarks on the U.S.-China economic and trade relations, and that China is also "closely observing" what he will do after he takes office.

Responding to a question about Trump's proposals to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports, Zhang said Trump will be reminded that the United States" should honor its obligations" at the World Trade Organization (WTO) after he moves into the White House.

China, as a member of the WTO, has also the right to defend its rights and interests in accordance with the WTO rules, he added.

Zhang said he's "confident" that China is capable of dealing with these issues and that China has good dialogue mechanisms with the U.S. administration on economic and trade policies to ensure that their relations will move forward "on a healthy track" .

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the U.S., and plays an important role in China-U.S. economic cooperation and addressing economic and trade frictions.
The 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) is held in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, on Nov. 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The common interests between China and the United States far outweigh their differences no matter how the leadership changes in the U.S., a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

"Our two countries enjoy a high degree of complementarity in our economic cooperation, which has brought tangible benefits to our business communities and to our two peoples. These realities will not be changed by the (U.S. presidential) election," Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce told Xinhua at a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) held here.

Zhang said he felt strongly that business communities on the both sides have a strong desire to deepen economic cooperation between the two countries and this will not be changed either, after attending the JCCT and other trade events over the past several days.

"No matter how the leadership changes in the United States, the shared interests of our two countries far outweigh our differences," he said, noting that bilateral trade between China and the U.S. reached 558.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an increase of 228 times from 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Zhang said it's "quite normal" for China and the U.S. to "have some frictions and differences" as the world' s two largest economies expand the scale of economic and trade cooperation and their interests become more intertwined.

But the two sides need to work together to resolve their disparities and "take a constructive approach" in managing those differences that cannot be resolved by the two countries, he said.

Zhang stressed that China has "paid close attention" to the remarks made by U.S. President-elect Trump during the presidential campaign, particularly his remarks on the U.S.-China economic and trade relations, and that China is also "closely observing" what he will do after he takes office.

Responding to a question about Trump's proposals to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports, Zhang said Trump will be reminded that the United States" should honor its obligations" at the World Trade Organization (WTO) after he moves into the White House.

China, as a member of the WTO, has also the right to defend its rights and interests in accordance with the WTO rules, he added.

Zhang said he's "confident" that China is capable of dealing with these issues and that China has good dialogue mechanisms with the U.S. administration on economic and trade policies to ensure that their relations will move forward "on a healthy track" .

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the U.S., and plays an important role in China-U.S. economic cooperation and addressing economic and trade frictions.
JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's disaster relief organization Gift of the Givers said Wednesday it is still battling to secure freedom for their compatriots held hostage by al-Qaeda militants in Timbuktu, Mali.

Yehia Dicko, negotiator of the organization, is currently in

Mali and will meet the influential people on the Algerian border to negotiate the release of Stephen McGown, who was taken hostage five years ago, and another hostage Gustafsson, said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder, director and chairman of the Gift of the Givers.

Sooliman added that tribal, religious and spiritual leaders are now negotiating with al-Qaeda for the release of the two. The rebels had asked the South African and Swedish governments for 5 million euros (5.25 million U.S. dollars) each in ransom.

"We responded that the governments don't talk to terrorists nor pay any ransoms," he said.

The militants have also demanded the release of the two in exchange of prisoners either from Mali or Niger, which was also declined by the Gift of the Givers.

The South African organization has distributed food and water during the Islamic month of Ramadaan, built boreholes and upgraded places of worship to encourage the rebels to release the hostages.

"We pray that by this Christmas we succeed in securing an unconditional release as we have run out of options," Sooliman said.

Malcolm McGown, father of Stephen McGown, told Xinhua that they are hoping that the government, the Gift of Givers and the international community could assist in the release of his son.

"The last five years has been very difficult to us as a family. We do not have the means to pay the ransom money demanded by al-Qaeda." he said.
WELLINGTON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Producers of organic food can expect a boost in exports with the signing of a certification agreement between New Zealand and China, New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said Thursday.

The Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Certified Organic Products would support the growth of the organics industry in New Zealand and provided greater assurance for consumers, MPI director plants food and environment Peter Thomson said in a statement.

"New Zealand consumers can have increased confidence in organic food imported from China because MPI has assessed the Chinese system and found it to be robust," said Thomson.

"This new arrangement and the assessment required to conclude it, provides MPI with knowledge and confidence in the supply of organic produce from China."

Exports of organic produce to China were worth 27 million NZ dollars (18.89 million U.S. dollars) and were likely to grow with the reduction in compliance costs and the certainty the arrangement provided New Zealand exporters of organic products.

"Our organic sectors should experience growth, not only with increased export and import opportunities but also a wider range of organic ingredients available for processed foods that would be available for sale domestically and for export," he said.

The arrangement, which takes effect from mid-2017, excluded aquaculture, apiculture, and textiles.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official on Wednesday refuted the accusation of China as currency manipulator, saying that China has been making progress in its market-oriented reforms of the country's foreign exchange system.

Exchange rate issue is not new in China-U.S. relationship, said Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce said at a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) held here on Wednesday.

Academic and political communities have already made the conclusion that China does not manipulate its currency, said Zhang when asked about comments on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to label China as a currency manipulator after he takes office.

Zhang stressed that China has "paid close attention" to Trump's remarks during his presidential campaign, particularly his remarks on the U.S.-China economic and trade relations, and that China is also "closely observing" what he will do after he takes office.

China has been making progress in its market-oriented reforms of foreign exchange rate system, said Zhang.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in its October report that China does not meet the standard of manipulating its currency, and cited China's progress in reducing its current account surplus to GDP ratio.

China's central bank has improved communication on its exchange rate policy with the market since early this year and has taken measures to deal with the depreciation of its currency, the Renminbi or RMB, said the report.

C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said it's not justifiable to say that China is manipulating its currency.

Chinese authorities have taken measures to prevent the RMB from sliding, which has promoted U.S. competitiveness rather than undermined it, said the expert.

"It would thus be factually incorrect, as well as ineffectual, for the new Trump administration to label China a currency manipulator," said Bergsten.
by Liang Xizhi, Deng Qian, Gui Tao, Peter Barker

LONDON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior British Treasury official on Wednesday reiterated the importance his country attaches to trade and economic ties with China.

Britain remained confidence of its economic prospect and is willing to work closely with all its long-term trade partners with China included, said Simon Kirby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, at a briefing on the government's annual autumn financial statement.

With the celebration of the eighth China-Britain Economic and Financial Dialogue in London on Nov. 10, the golden era of the bilateral relations has been reaffirmed by British government with the commitment to further developing trade ties.

Britain remained "open for business" and committed to maintain the "Golden Era" relations with China, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Nov. 9 during her meeting with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai in London.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in a statement that the China-Britain ties will continue to deepen with complementary bilateral trade ties, adding that China and Britain will remain natural partners and build on this relationship.

Besides the further development of the bilateral ties, some experts told Xinhua that they also believed that China and Britain should take the opportunity of "golden era" to strengthen their economic and financial cooperation in third party markets, which is important for the two countries and world economic recovery.

Professor Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London, said in an interview with Xinhua that there are opportunities for Chinese companies to work with British companies in third party markets because they are quite complementary.

Brown said the two countries will see a lot more of this sort of cooperation, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East in the future where China knows it needs partnerships.

"I think the UK would bring analysis and local knowledge to the table, and the fact that it has got very very internationalized companies that have been out foraging overseas for a long long time. So there is a lot of knowledge," said the professor.

"China would bring capital to the table, and the ability to get things done, some of it new technology; and the fact that it is politically welcomed in a lot of these places, whereas the UK may have more political inhibitions in the way it operates," he said.

Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club in Britain, highlights China's Belt and Road Initiative and believed the two countries could cooperate more in the markets along this road.

"The Chinese imagination demonstrated by Belt and Road Initiative is exactly what the world needs to get out of QE and dull growth. By opening a whole new region to major development many nations can experience development, and many nations invest in and sell to the new areas," he said.

He pointed out that Britain has a lot of experience of dealing in many unusual economies in various stages of development, in which the two countries can benefit from it in jointly developing third party markets

"If the UK decides to prioritize the new areas of Belt and Road Initiative and Africa, then China and the UK can, indeed, have a golden era ahead. If we limit ourselves to bilateral trade and investment there will be a silver era. But it is the addition of third party work that heralds a golden era," he said.

Keith Bennett, vice chairman of the 48 Group Club, also considers that China and Britain have great and increasing potential to cooperate in third markets, as this potential and possibility rests on a number of solid foundations.

China is now a major player in the global economy and Chinese companies, both state and private, are being encouraged by the government to go out. In many cases, they are looking to investing and doing business in countries, territories, industries and economic sectors where Britain has a long-standing presence, as well as deep connections and experience, sometimes dating back centuries, he said.

Bennett told Xinhua that Chinese and British companies have already worked well together in some of Africa, which proves that the two countries will have more potential in further advancing cooperation in other third party markets.

"I have seen this for myself, for example when I accompanied a Chinese business delegation to South Sudan four years ago. The skills, possibilities and synergies of British and Chinese enterprises are therefore highly complementary not only in a bilateral sense but also for third markets and can deliver benefits not only to each other but also to local enterprises, people and economies," he said.

Professor Xiong Yu, chair of technology and operations management of Newcastle business school at Northumbria university, believed that the stable partnership between the two countries is particularly important in the current volatile international environment.

Xiong said Britain's Northern Powerhouse strategy will form a win-win relationship with China's Belt and Road Initiative in the "golden era" of China-Britain relationship, which will not only benefit the two countries, but also leave positive impact on the whole world.

"The close cooperation between China and Britain will go beyond the scope of the two countries to influence the world. The two countries will bring other countries of the same values to participate actively in this cooperation mechanism and form a sound platform for economic and trade cooperation in third party markets," he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) attends the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

By Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Experts in Bangladesh have hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in Peru as the Chinese leader called for taking economic globalization forward with vigorous measures.

It is high time for China, the world's second largest economy, to play its role in injecting new impetus into the Asia-Pacific and global economic growth, said the experts.

They expressed the hope that China would go ahead with measures which may help other players make further contributions to the Asia-Pacific as well as global economic development.

They highly appreciated the Chinese president for calling on APEC members to boost sustainable, inclusive, green and interconnected development.

Munshi Faiz Ahmad, chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, said what Xi said at APEC summit is exposition of China's greatness and commitment to its responsibility to stand by the less affluent section of the society all around the world.

"We admire him and his speech at the summit aimed at injecting fresh dynamism into global growth," he said, adding that proposals made by the Chinese leader look set to usher in a new era for further economic boom of countries like Bangladesh.

He said all the major parties must continue their efforts for a new kind of economic globalization to ensure equity and justice, and steer it towards a more inclusive and mutually beneficial direction.

"Globalization has so far benefited more big multinational companies and developed countries. We would now hope what Xi proposed will be a pro-poor one," said Ahmed.

He said such economic globalization will immensely help achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change.

"It's now very clear to all that there is no alternative but to pursue an inclusive growth."

Ahmed said developed nations must take responsibility for their historic emissions and contribute more funds and transfer of technologies to the countries combating the man made disasters. "This is another area where we want China and all the major players play their roles properly."

MS Siddiqui, a professor at Dhaka's Daffodil International University, said economies of the world cannot walk back. He noted that Bangladesh is already beneficiary of globalization.

The recent growth of Bangladesh economy based on export oriented garment industry and the economy is already more than 60 percent integrated to global economy, he added.

We welcome the call for economic globalization. We are looking forward for dynamic action, said the professor.

"China should represent the interest of the developing countries as well as the least developed countries. I personally welcome Xi for calling to take economic globalization forward with vigorous measures," said Salehuddin Ahmed, an adjunct professor of Bangladesh's two leading universities, Brac and IUB.

He said economic globalization must take place while keeping the interest of the bottom 60 percent population of the world, specially of the development countries.

The APEC meeting, hosted by Peru, took place Saturday and Sunday in Lima under the theme of "Quality Growth and Human Development."
Photo taken on Nov. 22, 2016 shows armed Myanmar government militia, belonging to the Border Guard Force, patrol at Muse town in Myanmar's northern Shan state as clashes between the military and ethnic insurgents increased. (AFP Photo)

YANGON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday urged armed groups in northern Myanmar to join the government's peace process by signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) to immediately end the conflicts.

Suu Kyi, in the capacity of chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, made the call in her first remarks after military conflicts broke out in the border areas four days ago.

She extended sympathy and condolences to victims who had lost their lives and those who had been wounded.

"At a time when people of Myanmar are in the process of striving for national reconciliation and peace that had remained elusive to them in the past, it is extremely disappointing and saddening that these incidents are instigated," she said.

"Mining of bridges and attacks on border posts by these armed groups also cut off flow of trade, transport and communication, thus deterimently affecting the socio-economic lives of civilian population in the area," she said.

She stressed that taking up arms would not bring about any desired goals of the people but only lead to protracted armed conflicts.

The 21st Century Panglong Conference is the only way to end all armed conflicts and establish a perpetual peace, she said, adding that the government is still keeping the door open to all relevant stakeholders for participation in the peace process and that all parties need to sign the NCA to end all conflicts.

She asked the armed groups to work together with the civil society to find ways to strengthen the monitoring mechanism that would ensure non-violation of ceasefire agreement and to work toward a peace goal and take part on equal terms in the upcoming second 21st Century Panglong Conference to be held in February 2017.

Military conflicts broke out in the border area of northernMyanmar's Shan state early Sunday morning, when an alliance of three non-ceasefire signatory ethnic armed groups launched surprising attacks on government's military outposts and police stations in Muse and Kutkai townships as well as a border trade zone in Muse.

The three armed groups are Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

Ten people, including four civilians, have been killed and 33 injured in the clashes, according to updated figures of the Information Committee of the State Counselor's Office Wednesday.

Four temporary relief camps have been opened in Muse, where 3,000 refugees are being accommodated, according to the committee.

The State Counselor said the Myanmar government is striving its utmost to help restore the situation in the North to normalcy.

The Myanmar government has pledged to unwaveringly push through the all-inclusive peace process under the umbrella of the NCA.

It has invited non-signatory armed groups, represented by the Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN), to the meetings of the Framework for Political Dialogue and on the working guidelines for holding a national-level political dialogue.

The government had also coordinated to provide opportunities for non-signatory armed groups to attend the first 21st Century Panglong Conference held in August-September this year in NayPyiTaw together with the signatories.

The government had also arranged meetings with the DPN twice in Thailand's Chaiangmai and thrice in Yangon to persuade them to take part in the peace process.
by Lin Hao, Liu Tong

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- As the new administration in the United States showing signs of turning inward, Malaysian officials and analysts said they hope China will play greater role in promoting free trade.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump this week unveiled his first 100-day plan in office, topped by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Malaysia is likely to wait until the U.S. formally notifies the other parties that it does not intend to ratify the TPP, said Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies, even though it is clear now that the 12-nation trade pact "is pretty much dead."

Malaysia has actively promoted TPP as it would provide the country with preferential access into four markets with which it currently does not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), namely the United States, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

Oh Ei Sun, a Malaysian analyst at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said a TPP without U.S. could still be viable in theory as it would account for more than one third of the global economy and trade volume.

But for Malaysia, a TPP without U.S. is much less attractive, because Malaysia sees the agreement as another chance at securing a preferential trade arrangement with the world's largest economy following the previous failure of negotiations for a bilateral FTA, Shahriman said.

What concerns Malaysia more is the anti-trade and anti-globalization sentiments looming in many parts of the world that would hamper trade growth, a bad news for trading nations like Malaysia.

With a population of around 30 million, Malaysia's limited domestic market could not generate enough demand to sustain economic growth, said Ong Ka Chuan, Second Minister at Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Ministry.

"Even a big market like the U.S. has to interact with China," he said during a recent interview with Xinhua.

Ong insisted that the trend of free trade remains "unstoppable", despite the sentiment behind Britain's decision to withdraw from the European Union and the election of economically-protectionist Trump as U.S. president.

HOPE ON CHINA

Malaysian officials said they would explore other options if TPP would not materialize, including negotiating bilateral FTAs with the other TPP members.

Currently Malaysia is focusing on the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which involves 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its six major trading partners in the Asia Pacific region, including China.

Another option may be a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) actively pushed forward by China during a recent meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The FTAAP process was launched at the 2014 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing with the endorsement of a roadmap. Subsequently, a "collective strategic study" was conducted, as agreed by APEC members, and the results should be reported to economic leaders by the end of 2016.

The FTAAP is not likely to go as far as the TPP in removing the "behind the border" barriers to trade, but it is now more crucial than ever, said Shahriman, the Malaysian analyst.

"There's a growth in anti-trade sentiments across the world and especially in the West. It's now up to China and other countries in the Asia Pacific to keep the momentum for freer trade alive," he said.

Meanwhile, China has shown great wisdom in pushing trade growth, said Ong. "Due to different economic level and national conditions among countries and regions, pushing for the liberalization of free trade blindly may backfire," he said.

On the other hand, with its advantages in infrastructure building and technology development, China has pushed for free trade by actively sharing experiences with partners and improving connectivity, said the Malaysian minister, adding that the "Belt and Road" Initiative represent a new direction for free trade.
SOLUKHUBMU, Nepal, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Nepal on Wednesday formally announced the completion of much-awaited Imja Lake Lowering Project' that has been executed above 5000 meters in the Everest region of the country.

Bal Krishna Khand, Nepalese Minister of Defense and Jaya Dev Joshi, Minister of Population and Environment jointly inaugurated the Community Based Flood and Glacial Lake Outburst Risk Reduction Project Thursday at the Imja Lake premise, some 11 km from the world's highest peak Mount Everest in Solukhumbu district.

Imja Lake, one of the biggest glacial lakes in the Himalayan country, is located at an altitude of 5010 meters above the sea level. The depth of the glacial lake is 150 meters.

According to research, the lake has been expanding annually since 1960s with global temperatures on rise. As the lake was posing high potential risk of an outburst, the safety project has been completed by the Nepal Army by lowering the water level by 3.4 meters.

"We have done this kind of project for the first time with the support of UNDP and local community. This is a unique and challenging kind of project. It has given us confidence that we can implicate this project design in other parts as well", Rajendra Chhetri, Chief of Nepalese Army told Xinhua while attending the ceremony.

Around 150 people including 40 Army personnel and locals of Khumbu region were deployed in the area for more than six months to complete the project by developing drainage and lowering the water level.

The project that commenced in April and completed at the end of October is under Department of Hydrology and Meteorology of Nepal. It has been funded by Global Environment Facility and United Nations Development Fund.

Sophie Kemkhadze, Deputy Country Director of UNDP Nepal told Xinhua on the spot, "We initiated this project to mitigate the risks caused by the Imja glacial lake. We have constructed drainage and the water level is controlled now. As a result, the risk of outburst has been lessened, saving the lives of thousands of people living downstream."

Under the project, various communities living downstream of the lake have also been provided with infrastructures for their preparedness and mitigation of disaster risk reduction including evacuation centers, early warning systems and capacity building trainings.

The risk reduction project has been expected to directly benefit more than 87,000 locals of Khumbu region, trekkers, guides and tourists.

Though Nepal's temperature increases only by 0.04 degree Celsius annually, many glaciers are melting and forming glacial lakes in this region of the country due to the global warming.

According to a study of International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, there are 1466 glacial lakes in Nepal by 2009. Among these, 21 are said to pose potential risks and four glacial lakes in the high Himalayas are at serious risk of an outburst and need immediate attention.

"We have developed methodology to implement such projects in other glacial lakes as well based on experience and success of Imja project", the Deputy Country Director of UNDP added.

According to reports, Nepal has experienced 24 glacier lake outburst flood events in the past few decades including three incidents in Dudhkoshi river basin alone, causing huge damage and loss of life and infrastructure.
ANKARA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed, 16 others injured in a suspected terrorist bomb attack in the parking lot of the governor's office of southeastern Turkish province of Adana early Thursday, Dogan News Agency reported.

Several ambulances and police teams were seen rushing towards the area.
MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia has sent its 58th humanitarian aid convoy to the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said Thursday.

"The convoy of over 40 cars with 400 tons of humanitarian aid for Donbass moved out towards the Russian-Ukrainian border. It delivers food products, emergency supplies, medicines, construction materials, and educational supplies," said the ministry.

After custom and border inspections, the convoy will continue to move to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

"Experienced drivers-rescuers are driving the trucks. Also there are doctors and technical staff in the convoy," it said.

The ongoing conflict between Ukrainian government forces and independence-seeking militia began in April 2014.

Since August 2014, 57 convoys of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations have delivered more than 65,000 tons of vital humanitarian goods to Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
ANKARA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Three Turkish soldiers were killed Thursday in an attack by the Islamic State (IS) militants near the city of al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo province, Dogan News Agency reported.

Seven other soldiers were also wounded in the attack. The injured have been rushed to hospitals in the Turkish border provinces of Gaziantep and Kilis, Dogan said.

The IS attack came one day after Turkish warplanes hit eight IS targets near Al-Bab.

The Turkish army and Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) have been fighting around the Al-Bab and Al-Rai regions as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched three months ago. Enditem
Fire breaks out after a bombing at the parking lot of the Adana governor's office in southeastern Turkish, Nov. 24, 2016. Two people were killed and 21 others injured early Thursday in the bomb attack, Hurriyet News reported. (Xinhua/Mert Macit)

ANKARA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 21 others injured early Thursday in a bombing at the parking lot of the Adana governor's office in southeastern Turkey, Hurriyet News reported.

Adana Governor Mahmut Demirtas said a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated near the entrance of his office.

"It is thought that a female suspect carried out the attack, Demirtas said, adding that the license plate of the suspect's car had been identified.

Emergency personnel are working at the site of the bombing, which also destroyed several vehicles nearby and damaged the building of the governor's office.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus condemned the attack on his Twitter account, vowing that Turkey would "not surrender to terrorism."
by Xinhua Writers Yuan Quan, Xue Yanwen, Jia Zhao

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese poets have often employed the cuckoo's arrival as a symbol for a call to return home, but few knew where the bird had come from.

Technology now has the answer. Satellite tracking has shown the common cuckoo can travel up to 12,000 km between winter grounds as far away as east Africa and its summer home in Beijing.

Chinese and British ornithologists and bird lovers caught 16 cuckoos in three Beijing wetland parks in May, and fitted satellite tags to five birds.

Data showed that a male bird named "Skybomb Bolt" had completed a 3,700-km non-stop flight from central India, across the Arabian Sea, to Somalia earlier November, while two had flown to northern India, and the other two were lost.

It is thought to be the longest migration route known for any cuckoo and is much longer than that of the European cuckoo. "Before leaving India, he had already travelled nearly as far as some UK cuckoos do on their entire migration," says Chris Hewson, a researcher and member of British Trust for Ornithology.

"Watching how it has made the world look small is a fantastic and humbling experience."

Beijing cuckoos fly south in October and return in April. Though well-known for their distinctive call, the birds are very secretive. Shi Yang, a bird watcher for 10 years, says cuckoos usually perch in the dense tree canopy: "They are rarely seen unless they fly." As such, they are very difficult to study, confounding ornithologists who speculate on their flight paths. The population, breeding seasons and threats they face are still unknown.

Only in recent years have tracking devices become small enough for the birds to carry. In the past, satellite technology was only able to track bigger birds, such as red-crowned cranes and whooper swans.

"In the future, when technology advances, we hope to track different, smaller birds too," says Terry Townshend, an organizer of the project and founder of the Birding Beijing NGO.

Townshend, a Briton who has been bird-watching in Beijing for five years, boasts how schools have participated in the project, broadening its impact beyond traditional science circles.

He frequently visits schools, gives lectures and leads school bird-watching trips. Students can follow the cuckoos' progress and learn more about their habitat.

In August, Beijing middle school students, who were studying the Olympics at the time, named "Skybomb Bolt" after the champion sprinter Usain Bolt.

Illegal netting of migratory birds has been frequently reported in China this year, reinforcing the importance of public engagement.

"People want to protect what they love, but they can only love what they know. It's important to tell more people about the incredible journeys. When people learn about the cuckoo, they want to protect it."
JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli army officer was killed when his tank overturned in the Golan Heights, a military spokesperson said on Thursday morning.

Three other soldiers were also injured in the accident that occurred overnight during "routine training," the spokesperson said.

The soldier killed in the accident was identified as Sergeant Ido Ben-Ari, a 20-year-old tank commander in the 401st Brigade.

Military authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, and annexed it in 1981, a move not recognized internationally.
ANKARA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 21 others injured early Thursday in a bombing at the parking lot of the Adana governor's office in southeastern Turkey, Hurriyet News reported.

Adana Governor Mahmut Demirtas said a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated near the entrance of his office.

"It is thought that a female suspect carried out the attack, Demirtas said, adding that the license plate of the suspect's car had been identified.

Emergency personnel are working at the site of the bombing, which also destroyed several vehicles nearby and damaged the building of the governor's office.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus condemned the attack on his Twitter account, vowing that Turkey would "not surrender to terrorism."
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visits to Ecuador, Peru and Chile and his attendance at the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting have promoted Asia-Pacific cooperation and China-Latin America relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

The week-long tour, during which Xi met with foreign leaders and representatives from different walks of life in the three countries, and attended a string of bilateral and multilateral meetings and activities, has produced impressive results, said Wang.

At the APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, Xi put forward a series of key initiatives, injecting impetus to cooperation in the Asia-Pacific as well as the development of the global economy, said Wang.

The Chinese president highlighted at the meeting that economic globalization is an irresistible trend, calling for the promotion of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and opposition to protectionism of all forms, Wang said.

On the building of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which was launched at the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing, Xi urged all parties to stick to the agenda and take more effective actions to realize FTAAP at an early date.

The Chinese president also underlined APEC's role as a pioneer and champion of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large, and called on APEC members to leverage the Asia-Pacific's role as a growth engine and work for an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy, the Chinese foreign minister said.

Xi's proposals, which contributed Chinese wisdom to the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, demonstrated China's image as a responsible major player and its key role in calming people, boosting confidence and building consensus, he added.

While addressing the Peruvian Congress, Xi expounded Chinese policies on Latin America in a comprehensive way and encouraged the two countries to look at their relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, said Wang.

Xi proposed that China and Latin America and the Caribbean hold high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation, seek synergy of their development strategies, speed up and upgrade practical cooperation and bring benefits to their peoples. His proposal specified the path toward building a China-Latin America community of common destiny and opened up broader prospects for the development of China-Latin America ties, said Wang.

Wang believed that Xi's attendance at the closing ceremony of the China-Latin America year of cultural exchanges and a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives helped encourage the deepening of cultural dialogues and media exchanges between the two sides.

The Chinese foreign minister noted that Ecuador, Peru and Chile, all at a crucial stage of development, have strong aspirations for deepening their ties with China. Xi's visits, his first to the countries in the capacity of head of state, have become a historic event in China-Latin America relations, he said.

Important consensus on enhancing political mutual trust and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation has been reached between Xi and the leaders of the three Latin American countries, which opened up a new development stage in bilateral relations, Wang said.

China-Ecuador and China-Chile relations have been lifted to comprehensive strategic partnerships during Xi's visits, sending a strong signal that the countries would deepen mutual trust and join hands for cooperation, said Wang.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Peru diplomatic relations and the heads of state of the two countries exchanged visits within three months, which showed the high level of comprehensive strategic partnership, said Wang.

The Chinese and Peruvian presidents have also signed an inter-governmental action plan for cooperation between 2016 and 2021, which echoed a joint communique issued in September on deepening China-Peru comprehensive strategic partnership and served as guidance for the development of bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation in the next stage, Wang added.
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's ruling political party ranked the third in its approval rating for the first time since President Park Geun-hye took office in February 2013 on public anger at a scandal involving President Park and her longtime confidante.

Approval scores for the Saenuri Party was 16.7 percent this week, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous week, according a poll of 1,519 voters conducted by local pollster Realmeter between Monday and Wednesday.

It was the lowest under the Park administration, keeping a downward trend for eight weeks in a row.

Support for the governing party sank in accordance with President Park's approval rating tumble. The party's division contributed to alienation of voters as seen in former and incumbent lawmakers leaving the party and a heavyweight of the party announcing his plan to join the campaign to impeach the embattled president.

Park's approval rating inched up 0.4 percentage points to 10.1 percent this week, but negative assessment on the president was up 0.2 percentage points to touch the highest of 86.3 percent in about four years in her office.

Approval scores for the biggest opposition Minjoo Party increased from 30.5 percent to 33.4 percent, keeping the first position among political parties.

The Minjoo Party has led the campaign to impeach President Park, vowing to put the impeachment motion to vote in the National Assembly as late as Dec. 9.

The casting-vote wielding opposition People's Party saw its support rate rise from 16.5 percent to 17.9 percent, surpassing the ruling party for the first time since it was launched in early 2016.

Among presidential hopefuls, Lee Jae-myung, mayor of Seongnam city in Gyeonggi province, posted the fastest increase in approval rating among contenders in the presidential election.

Support for Lee advanced from 10.0 percent to 11.6 percent this week, ranking the third for the first time in the Realmeter's survey. It exceeded the scores for Ahn Cheol-soo, former chairman of the People's Party whose approval rating declined from 12.0 percent to 11.4 percent.

Lee began to gain popularity thanks to his differentiated welfare policies in the Seongnam city, and he recently became a rising star among president hopefuls for his active participation in the candlelight vigils to let President Park step down or be impeached. Lee is affiliated with the Minjoo Party.

Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the Minjoo Party, logged his approval rating at 21.2 percent this week, up from 20.4 percent the previous week.

Support for Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General, fell from 18.1 percent to 17.4 percent on public sentiment that Ban had supported President Park before.

Ban has never announced his clear intention to run for presidency, but he has been viewed here as one of presidential hopefuls. His tenure at the United Nations is scheduled to end this year.
Cai Mingzhao (R), President of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Alejandro Ramos, President of Notimex of Mexico, at Xinhua headquarters in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 23, 2015. (Xinhua/He Jingyuan)

by Edna Alcantara

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Societies in both Latin America and China are searching for ever faster, reliable, timely access to information, said Alejandro Ramos, director of Mexico's state news agency Notimex.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Ramos said media in both regions need to maximize the power of the Internet to get close to readers and promote the image of their countries, not just with daily news, "but with positive aspects, such as culture, sports, shows, arts and economy, themes which are very interesting for users."

The director participated in a summit for Chinese and Latin American media executives, which took place Tuesday in Santiago, Chile, to discuss the challenges facing communication media in the digital age.

Latin America-China relations are at their best ever stage, as shown by the visits by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Ecuador, Peru and Chile in recent days, Romas added.

He also emphasized that "communication media play a very important role to favor this type of cooperation."

Ramos recognized that in a globalized world, traditional press has stopped being attractive to the public, especially in developing countries, and that new audience seek out information through new channels such as social networks.

While social media "do not do journalism, and do not have the knowhow ... or the trust of communication media, they do influence public opinion and reflect social interest," he elaborated.

"The process of change that communication media had gone through since the Internet appeared 25 years ago has created a new way to organize journalism work," explained Ramos. "There is a constant updating and a skill involved in making use of digital tools and methods."

Ramos stated that news agencies like Xinhua are models to follow "for their organization, their coverage, their ample and diverse proposals, which present many different platforms of news release, besides traditional text, photo and video. They use social networks and all the tools at their disposal."

Ramos, who had been the editorial director of the Mexican daily El Financiero for 30 years, said news agencies have an important and growing role to play today, as they generate around 80 percent of global news.

Since 2013, Notimex has blazed its own path in digital journalism, seeking to ensure a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, focusing on its own content at the highest level of trustworthiness.

"Notimex is immersed in a process of change toward digitalization, which is needed for us to provide a better service to our users ... this allows us to better attend to the communication media who hire us and to the population," he explained.

In conclusion, Ramos said the Notimex has continuously trained its personnel, including commercial and administrative teams, by offering basic courses on the proper use of smart phones, video cameras and photo equipment, as well as language and writing skills, all those needed for an efficient digital ecosystem.
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company (BAIC) will take part for the first time in CarShow Mapfre 2016, which opened Friday in Mexico City.

The three-day event will showcase the latest models from some 20 of the world's top automotive brands, such as Lamborghini, Ford and BAIC, which makes a range of passenger vehicles, including Hyundai and Mercedes-branded cars through joint ventures.

Visitors to the show "will be able to enjoy a variety of activities, such as test driving different cars in a controlled environment," the head of CarShow Mapfre, Jose Ramon Zavala, told Xinhua.

"It will feature the leading car brands, among them BAIC, of course, many related events, and an exhibition of modified racing cars, which will bring Shelby cars down from the United States," said Zavala, referring to Shelby Mustangs.

This third edition of the car show will differ from the previous ones with a "big welcome" to BAIC, which will invite visitors to "experience its cars in the test drive zones and 4x4 track, which are going to be offered at the event for the first time," said Zavala.

"Carmakers hope to see people get in their vehicles, experience them, feel how they drive, and own them," he added.

The show will include virtual reality components, a special area for children, videogames and a kid's track.

Zavala, who estimates the event will draw about 25,000 visitors, said the show was steadily gaining name recognition, and "what better way to do that than by including more major brands, like BAIC."

The Nov. 25-27 car show will be inaugurated Thursday night at Mexico City's Hipodromo de las Americas horse-racing track, with a special event attended by car company representatives.

BAIC was founded in 1958 and now has operations in 44 countries in southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The Chinese automaker entered Mexico's market in October.

The company employs some 130,000 people worldwide, and generates more than 50 billion U.S. dollars in revenue each year.
ANKARA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Three Turkish soldiers were killed in an air attack by Syrian regime forces in Aleppo province on Thursday, the Turkish General Staff has announced.

Ten soldiers were also wounded in the attack on the 93rd day of Turkey's Euphrates Shield Operation, the statement said.

The attack marks the first intervention by Syrian regime forces targeting Turkish soldiers since the launch of the operation with Free Syrian Army fighters to clear Syria's northern border area of terrorist groups.
by Xinhua writer Zhu Junqing

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- After Donald Trump's election, U.S. mainstream media begun to criticize Facebook for the spread of fake news, calling it to perform editorial responsibility and tighten censorship.

The accusation by U.S. elite media, which predicted Trump's defeat, goes against its long-standing chanted principle of freedom of speech, and its reproach against China's Internet governance.

Such self-contradiction demonstrates the West's lack of knowledge of the way public opinion works via the Internet. It also shows that its traditional public opinion pattern is faced with strong challenge from the Web-based information circulation.

From the unrest in Arab countries in North Africa and the Middle East to the United States, mainstream media bore a full brunt of challenges from the Internet.

As many media watchers said, "the two public opinion fields" have become a global issue, and online public opinion may bring unpredictable impact on real life. And most of them believed that the Internet has fallen into a communication instrument to spread rumors and fake information.

It is obvious that allowing bogus information to spread is not equivalent to protecting the freedom of speech. On the contrary, as U.S. President Barack Obama has warned, fake news threatens the basic principle of freedom of speech.

"If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won't know what to protect," he said during a visit to Germany.

In fact, creating a healthy cyberspace featuring truth, credibility, and a sense of public responsibility has nothing to do with curbing freedom of speech.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Friday that the social network will step up efforts to weed out fake news with "stronger detection," which the Chinese government has resorted to in a bid to break rumors.

In such context, it is easy to understand China's idea to enhance Internet governance and ask Google, Facebook and other U.S. websites to follow Chinese law and comply with Chinese regulations.

It is high time for the international community to work together for the common welfare of all people, establish a cyberspace governance system to promote fairness and justice, and uphold the notions of equality and respect, innovation and development, openness and sharing and security and order.

Related:

China Voice: China moves to become an Internet power

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cyberspace security, the Internet and information technology have been key in China's development, and the country has been striving to build itself into a major Internet power. Full Story

China to build democratic, transparent Internet governance system: draft outline

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MEXICO CITY, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Malnutrition in Latin America appears headed to dip below the 5-percent threshold over the next decade, experts said during the presentation of a report here on Wednesday.

The report, titled "Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025", was compiled by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

"A more rapid rise in income and improved agricultural productivity will speed up the reduction, but the key is better access (to nutrition) among the poor," said Roberto Martinez, the OECD's director in Mexico.

"It is a problem of distribution. It is a problem of inclusion, especially in emerging economies with lower income," he added.

The report calls on regional countries to apply new technologies in the agricultural sector to boost efficiency and production.

Malnutrition rates worldwide are expected to fall, from 11 percent to 8 percent, except in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the rate will remain at an elevated 19 percent.

Despite the downward trend, some 638 million people around the world will still suffer from malnutrition in 2025, said Martinez.

According to the FAO, malnutrition affects 5.5 percent of the population in Latin America.

Fernando Soto, the FAO's representative in Mexico, said that despite the projected decrease in malnutrition, food production nevertheless faces a major challenge.

"The main challenge the agricultural production system will face by 2025 will be how to produce more than 5 billion tons of food, but with less water, much less soil and less biodiversity, and the unpredictable consequences and uncertainties of climate change," said Soto.

One key way to bolster agricultural production, he said, is to strengthen family farming, which in Latin America alone represents more than 80 percent of the region's productive farms and generates up to 67 percent of its food.
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia is waiting for greater clarity from the new U.S. administration over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a senior Malaysian official said Thursday, days after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed to withdraw from the free trade pact.

Malaysia will continue its work in amending relevant legislations, which will not only comply with the TPP but also strengthen and update laws to facilitate trade and fulfill the country's international obligations, said Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed.

Under the present conditions, said the minister, the TPP cannot enter into force without the U.S. participation, as the United States accounts for about 60 percent of the combined GDP of the 12 members.

As per the TPP agreement reached by the 12 countries, a minimum of six members accounting for 85 percent of their combined GDP must ratify the free trade deal.

TPP members agreed on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, to keep in close contact and update each other on developments in their respective countries, said Mustapa.

"Once there is certainty from the new U.S. administration after Jan. 20, 2017, the chief negotiators may meet to consider options and the way forward," he said.

Earlier this month, Mustapa suggested Malaysia focus on the negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, another free trade agreement involving 10 ASEAN members and its six major trading partners in the Asia Pacific, including China.

Noting that free and fair trade has benefited Malaysia, the minister said Malaysia will continue to pursue preferential trading arrangements that are fair and bring benefits to the country in terms of trade, investment, income and employment.

"While globalization and liberalization may not be perfect, free trade agreements complemented with appropriate domestic policies and support measures can spread the benefits of development in favor of the poor and marginalized segments of society," he said.
by Xu Lingui, Peng Peigen

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Only six months ago, Awan Riak was in his office near the White Nile advising the president of South Sudan. He is now on campus at one of China's prestigious higher learning institutes.

Housed in a traditional courtyard that once served as Empress Dowager Cixi's cabinet chamber, the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) at Peking University is where Riak and his fellow classmates learn development theories from Chinese professors.

Taking a mid-career study program is not uncommon, but for ministers like Riak, a year's break was a step out of the center of politics and away from the comfortable lifestyle of a minister at home.

The former minister in the Office of President of South Sudan told Xinhua that it was a courageous decision to come to China for a master's degree in public administration.

"It is not easy at the beginning. You have to do the laundry, take 20 to 25 minutes walk to school from the apartment, and your classmates are 10 or 20 years your junior," Riak said. "It is an experience I missed really. I have adapted and enjoyed it."

Riak was among the first 48 students enrolled when ISSCAD opened in September 2016. Proposed by President Xi Jinping at the U.N. headquarters in 2015, it materialized a year later, offering one-year master's degrees and three-year Ph.D. degree programs to potential leaders and policymakers in developing nations.

Teaching staff include some of Peking University's best instructors in economics, administration, and international development, headed by former World Bank Chief Economist Justin Yifu Lin.

Lin, ISSCAD dean, said one of his findings from dozens of years researching development issues is that the biggest challenge for a country's development is not capital or industrial structure, but development ideas.

He said the institute will help students learn ideas generated from China's development experiences, which are particularly suitable for developing countries, compared to those from the West.

JOURNEY TO THE EAST

Riak said he came to learn how China transformed itself to become the world's second largest economy in a little more than three decades and wants to bring the experience home to benefit South Sudan.

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, has been facing persistent challenges to peace and security since gaining independence in 2011.

The latest outbreak of conflict between supporters of two political camps in capital Juba this July resulted in hundreds of deaths. The head of a UN mission recently voiced concern that clashes were pushing the country towards further division and risked a full-scale civil conflict.

"Everything else comes after peace," Riak said. The country is facing challenges on all fronts: fighting poverty, building infrastructure, and providing basic needs for its population such as clean water, electricity, functional health care and education.

While peace is yet to come to South Sudan, other countries are in a better position to unleash growth initiatives.

ISSCAD's first batch of students are from 27 countries, with nearly three-quarters in Africa.

Desta Tesfaw Mebratu, pursuing a Ph.D. in national development, held a ministerial position for the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.

He considers China a model for Ethiopia's economic and social development as governments in both countries play similarly important roles in leading development efforts.

Mebratu said the western development model, exemplified by the IMF's neoliberal structural adjustment programs introduced in the 1990s, has failed in many African countries.

The approach is seen to put African people in a poverty trap and prompted some governments to search for alternatives. The rapid economic development in East Asia prompted some African policymakers to look to the East.

"Theoretically, western ideas look pretty, but they do not work for my country," said Jumanne Said Gomera, an ISSCAD student and policy analyst with the Prime Minister's Office of Tanzania.

Lin said China went through many of the developing world's challenges decades ago. China was extremely poor when the transitioning from an inward looking economy to a market economy started in the late 1970s. But in less than four decades, its per capita GDP surged from lower than one third of Sub-Saharan African countries to be among the world's high-medium income countries in 2015.

In comparison, most developing countries at the end of the Second World War still face development challenges today.

"Poverty is not destiny. Change is possible," Lin said, adding that China is willing to share its development ideas and experience.

BEST SCHOOL

There is no lack of good public policy schools around the world, but ISSCAD Academic Dean Fu Jun believes his has the potential to become the best.

Fu received his Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard University, mainly researching mathematical modeling, institutional political economy, and related policies.

Like him, the institute's core faculty members are well versed in western development theories as well as in Chinese experience.

China's growth story, involving one-fifth of the world's population in the past three or so decades is very relevant to other developing countries, Fu said. The combination of theory and practice the ISSCAD faculty offers, gives them an edge over their foreign counterparts.

"We believe a curriculum combining theory with practice will offer the best for our students. In line with this, the program's courses are supplemented by workshops or seminars led by senior officials or practitioners in various policy domains," Fu said.

Fu said in selecting the candidates, the institute values their intellectual ability as well as their leadership skills, and is striving to broaden their vision and improve their managerial skills to become better leaders in the future.

"In addition to infrastructure development and financial support, what is more important in the long term is education. There is a big difference between being given a fish and being able to go fishing," Fu said. "And there China can make a difference as well."

For many students, the past few months have proved to be eye-opening. Gomera said that he did not know the role of the private sector in the Chinese economy before coming here, adding that he mistakenly thought 80 percent of Chinese companies were run by the state.

"We learned about the language, culture, and history of the West since we were kids in school, but few things about China," said Ayman Fakih, who works for the Lebanese Ministry of Finance. "Unless you are here, you can't understand China's reform and opening-up."

He said almost everyone around him has gone to the United Kingdom or Spain for higher education, and that he will stand out as one of the first few Lebanese to have done a master's degree in China.

It is the same for Riak, who could be the first South Sudanese minister to have a Chinese education background.

"It is a new beginning for us to come to learn here." Riak said. "I will encourage my other colleagues to come."
ABUJA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber killed two people outside a local motor park in Nigeria's Maiduguri city, capital of the northeastern state of Borno late Wednesday, a police spokesman said Thursday.

Victor Isuku, spokesman of the police in Borno State, said there was an explosion outside the local Muna Garage in the city when the bomber detonated his improvised explosive device.

He told Xinhua the victims were inside a Mercedes Benz car parked by the roadside. They were hit by the explosion which damaged their car.

Normalcy has returned to the area, he added.

Last Friday, a suicide bomber blew up himself at the entrance of the same motor park and was the only casualty of the incident.

On the same day, one suicide bomber killed himself and two others a few meters away from the motor park, while another bomber was killed before gaining entry into a refugee camp in the city.

The Borno State has been a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram and has been frequently raided in the past six years. In past months, the Nigerian government has launched several military operations to eliminate the terrorist threat.

Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing of more than 2.6 million people since 2009.
COLOMBO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's custom officials on Thursday seized a large haul of cocaine estimated to be worth 13.8 million U.S. dollars.

The drug was being smuggled in a sugar container from Brazil.

Customs Spokesman Dharmasena Kahandawa told Xinhua that customs officials had seized 200 kilograms of cocaine which has been hidden in eight sugar bags in a shipping container.

An investigation has been launched to see if the cocaine had been smuggled for the local market or whether it was to be smuggled elsewhere.

"The shipping container was en route to Portugal. So the Police Narcotics Bureau has launched an investigation," Kahandawa said.

The seized cocaine has been handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation.

Customs officials have beefed up their examinations on sugar containers arriving from Brazil after a large haul of cocaine was seized in June.

The haul weighed more than 90 kilograms and was stealthily concealed in several travelling bags inside a container of sugar.

The container had arrived from Brazil.

Sri Lankan authorities are trying to probe if Colombo is being used as a transit center to smuggle drugs.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent condolences to Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi over an oil tanker explosion that killed at least 80 people and injured dozens.

In a message dated Friday, Xi mourned the dead and offered condolences to the bereaved families and those people injured in the explosion.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China will actively participate in bilateral and multilateral trade deals, regardless of developments to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deals, a commerce official said Thursday.

China will work with all parties concerned to negotiate the RCEP and push for an conclusion as soon as possible, with full respect for the core status of ASEAN in the deal, Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang said at a press conference.

The comments came after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries.

Shen said China will continue to deepen reforms, open up its economy and cooperate with the World Trade Organization members to create a free and favorable environment for global trade.

RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member states of ASEAN, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
GUANGZHOU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China Ocean Economic Development Index, which gauges China's ocean economic development, rose to 119.9 in 2015, the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS) announced Thursday.

The index was 2.8 percent higher than 2014.

The seas and oceans are integral to China's social-economic development, and the ocean economy has already become a powerful driver for the national economy.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, the annual growth rate of the China Ocean Economic Development Index was 3.7 percent, suggesting a good overall development of the ocean economy.

The index refers to the comprehensive quantitative evaluation on China's ocean economy development in a certain period. It includes three subindices (development level, efficiency and potential) and covers 29 third-grade indicators. Taking the levels recorded in 2010 as baseline readings, the basic index is set as 100.

The development level sub-index, which includes development scale, structure, benefits and openness of the ocean economy, was 119.7 in 2015, 0.7 percent higher than the previous year.

The development efficiency sub-index, which includes the development stability of the ocean economy and the people's quality of life, rose to 118.8, 4 percent higher than 2014.

The development potential sub-index reflects innovation in the ocean economy and natural resources and the environment. It increased to 121.4 last year, which was 4.6 percent higher than 2014.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral relations and cooperation between China and the Philippines have stepped into a new development period, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Thursday.

Geng made the comments at a daily press conference when briefing reporters on bilateral cooperation on trade and investment as well as in other fields.

The two countries have begun to implement the deals reached during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to China last month.

Representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Agriculture have been despatched to the Philippines to work with their counterparts there, Geng told a daily press briefing.

Achievements have been made in areas of economy and trade, investment, tourism and agriculture, Geng added.

Duterte's state visit to China was in October. It was his first official visit to a foreign country outside the ASEAN since he took office in June.

In their meeting last month, President Xi Jinping and Duterte agreed that their countries would properly handle differences and achieve full improvement and greater progress in bilateral ties.

The visit by Duterte to Beijing was a marking that bilateral ties and cooperation stepped into a new development period, said Geng.

China and the Philippines possess unique advantages in conducting cooperation on trade and investment, as the two countries are close to each other and compliment each other economically, said Geng.

China supports the efforts made by the people of the Philippines to push economic development under the leadership of Duterte, the spokesperson said.

"We believe cooperation between the two countries will benefit both peoples," Geng said.
BRUSSELS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- European Parliament President Martin Schulz announced Thursday that he would return to national politics in Germany.

"I will not run for a third term as president of the European Parliament. Next year, I will run for the German Bundestag as the head of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) list in North Rhine-Westphalia," Schulz said in a recorded video statement.

Schulz said that he would remain engaged in the European project in the future, hailing European integration as "one of civilization's most successful projects."

"My commitment to the European project is unwavering. From now on I will be fighting for this project from the national level, but my values do not change," he said.

Born on Dec. 20, 1955, Schulz was a bookshop proprietor. He started his political career in 1974 by joining the SPD.

Schulz became president of the European Parliament in 2012, and was re-elected in 2014.
MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday it had detained a retired Russian navy officer suspected of spying for Ukraine in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

"Captain II rank Leonid Parkhomenko was fulfilling tasks assigned to him by the Main Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, and provided classified information on the Black Sea Fleet's activities to the foreign secret service," FSB said in a statement.

The FSB has initiated a criminal case against the officer on charges of high treason, it said.

The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational strategic command of the Russian navy, based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov with headquarters in Sevastopol.

Ukraine's Crimea was incorporated into Russia in 2014 following a referendum, whose results were recognized by Moscow, but rejected by Ukraine and Western powers.
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and the European Union (EU) agreed to continue cooperation in the spheres of counter terrorism, security and defense, disarmament and non-proliferation, officials said Thursday.

Top diplomats reached the agreement at the seventh meeting of Pakistan-EU Joint Commission held in Islamabad on Wednesday, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

They welcomed the holding of the second Dialogue on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, as well as the fifth round of the Counter-Terrorism Dialogue in April 2016 in Brussels.

The Pakistan side was jointly led by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Tariq Bajwa. The EU delegation was led by Gunnar Wiegand, managing director of the European External Action Service.

The meeting discussed the economic reform program of the Pakistani government and the EU welcomed the progress made in this respect.

The EU acknowledged the challenges faced by Pakistan in hosting over 3 million Afghanistan refugees and is ready to consider providing additional support, including for their voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan in safety and dignity.

They also agreed to further cooperate on migration issues, including irregular migration, and reaffirmed their commitment to the continued implementation of the EU-Pakistan Readmission Agreement.

Both sides recognized the importance of mutual cooperation in the field of energy.

They welcomed the agreement to hold a first EU-Pakistan energy meeting in January 2017 in Brussels to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information.

The next meeting of the bilateral joint commission will be held in Brussels in 2017.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has prosecuted 564 individuals for telecom fraud in nine cases and convicted another 53 in four cases, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Thursday.

In the first batch 21 cases handled by the SPP and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), 481 persons were arrested, the SPP said.

The cases involve a huge amount of assets, along with serious social effects, the SPP said.

The cases come in three types: student victims, cross-border fraud and the high-profile cases handled by the MPS.

One case reputedly led to the death of Xu Yuyu, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Linyi City in east China's Shandong Province. Xu was reported to have lost 9,900 yuan (1,400 U.S. dollars) meant for university tuition fees to fraudsters. She died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 19.

An unidentified official from the SPP said the progress in the 21 cases have contained the increase in telecom fraud.
DUBAI, Nov.24 (Xinhua) -- Dubai International Airport, known as DXB, welcomed 6.4 million passengers in October, said the Dubai Airports Corporations on Thursday.

The figure brings the civil aviation hub closer to hosting 83 million passengers in 2016, reported the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) state news agency, WAM.

DXB passenger traffic reached 6,420,208 passengers last month, over 6,250,810 in the corresponding month last year, a 2.7 percent increase.

Once more, Eastern Europe led the pack as the fastest-growing market in October, with a 25.2 percent increase "due to additional capacity and new services launched by a number of airlines."

South America came second with a 9.9 percent surge, while Asia posted an 8.2 percent rise.

India remained the primary destination country with 901,958 passengers, followed by Britain with 493,181 passengers and Saudi Arabia with 349,198 passengers.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said the firm remains "on track to achieve our forecast for 83 million passengers by year-end."

"Accordingly, DXB is sure to retain its status as the leading airport worldwide for international passenger traffic," he said.

Dubai Airports' biggest client, Emirates Airline, reported earlier in November a 75 percent profit decrease in April-December 2016.

Emirates Airline blamed the strong dollar and increased air fare competition for its decline in profits.
SANTIAGO, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- New media organizations from China and Latin America have created a solid public foundation for the development of bilateral relations, a senior Chinese official said here Wednesday.

"To keep pushing forward China-Latin American relations in the new era, media circles on both sides have to pool together our wisdom and power," said Huang Kunming, Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, during a keynote speech at the China-Latin America Media Summit held in Santiago, Chile.

The summit is being held at a historical moment when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid state visits to three Latin American countries and attended the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Summit, noted Huang, who also serves as the director of the Cultural Progress Advancement Office of CPC Central Committee.

In his speech, Huang reviewed the progress made in the "rich and brilliant joint reports" in the Chinese and Latin American media in recent years. He also put forward three proposals for how the media could play a stronger role in strengthening ties between China and Latin America.

Firstly, the media should highlight and uphold the progress made in China-Latin America relations.

"Chinese and Latin American media should bear firmly in mind the general direction of China-Latin America friendliness and common development and take concrete steps to perform their responsibility and fulfill their mission," Huang said, adding that the media should actively guide public opinion by promoting win-win aspects of the relationship while explaining the significance and broad prospects of bilateral cooperation. Doing so would "inject new vitality and energy" into bilateral relations.

Secondly, the media should promote aspects of pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America. Covering topics that focus on the practical relationship between the two sides is key here.

"The media should clearly report on each other's investment policies, market demands and interests, deliver more comprehensive, specific and friendly information to each other, and set a tone of sincerity, friendliness, openness and inclusiveness for China-Latin America cooperation," said Huang.

Finally, the media should foster China-Latin America friendliness through organizing a series of discussions on a wide range of topics and mobilizing government, enterprises, the public and social organizations to to push forward friendly relations between the two, noted Huang.

The summit, organized by the State Council Information Office of China and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is the first event of this type ever held between both regions.

Over 20 media chiefs from China and Latin America, including President of Xinhua News Agency, Cai Mingzhao, delivered speeches at the summit.

The summit attracted more than 100 mainstream news organs to join the discussion on how to further promote mutual understanding and friendly cooperation between China and Latin America through the media.
JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Immense fires spread to Haifa on Thursday, and Israel's government requested international assistance to put out a three-day wave of forest fires across the country.

Haifa district Fire and Rescue Services Spokesman Uri Chibotero said that fires erupted in at least six areas in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, including in two residential neighborhoods and an old junk yard in downtown Haifa.

The flames broke out amidst exceptionally dry and windy weather and forced thousands out of their homes in the neighborhoods of Romema and Sapir as well as Haifa University.

In addition, the municipality transferred hundreds of pupils from nearby kindergartens and schools to alternative schools.

Meanwhile, live television broadcasts showed heavy smoke spreading to nearby neighborhoods as residents ran out of their apartments carrying bags or pets.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin asking for assistance.

Putin told Netanyahu he will send two B-200 planes, each of them can carry 13,000 liters of water and flame retardants, according to the statement.

Firefighting planes from Croatia, Greece, Cyprus, and Italy are also expected to land at a military base in Israel on Thursday, following the government's request for international help.

Local media reported that Turkey, with its renewed diplomatic relations with Israel since June, also offered assistance.

Rain shortage since the start of winter, as well as days of very dry air and strong easterly winds further stoked the fire, spreading it across central and northern Israel.

The fires started on Tuesday near Neve Shalom, a community between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, forcing the evacuation of the entire community.

More forest fires spread to dozens of other regions from Jerusalem to Nahariya, Israel's northernmost coastal city.

According to Magen David Adom, Israel's medical emergency service, at least 21 people, including five toddlers, needed medical care for smoke inhalation.

There were no reports of serious injuries however.

MetaoTech weather service said the dry and windy weather conditions are expected to continue until the beginning of next week.

Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri said police forces are still investigating if the fires were caused by arson.

In 2010, a massive forest fire in the Carmel ridge in northern Israel broke out amidst similar weather conditions and raged for days, killing 42 people.

The media back then harshly criticized Netanyahu for procrastinating in asking for international assistance.

The incident lead to a reform in firefighting services, including establishing an airborne firefighting squadron.
MALINDI, Kenya, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan authorities on Thursday issued a terror alert following leaked information of impending attack in the coastal region by suspected Al-Shabaab militant group.

A National Intelligence Services (NIS) report warns of possible attacks on unspecified locations in the three counties of Kilifi and Tana River in the coastal region and Kitui in eastern Kenya.

However, the NIS does not specify the location and exact time for the attacks by the group that had in past staged deadly terror attacks in various parts of the country.

The report indicates that five terror suspects arrived in Malindi on Nov. 7 using private vehicle to coordinate the attacks.

The suspects, Shamid Ahmed, the group leader, Abdula Alhdi, Aisha Alhadi, Mohammed and Rashid are believed to have sneaked into the country from Somalia after they underwent paramilitary training.

Police have circulated their details and registration number of the vehicle to all security agents to hunt down the five who are still at large.

Malindi police commander Matawa Mchangi said on Thursday that they a still analyzing the intelligence report and appropriate action taken to avert any possible terrorism act.

"We have heightened security in Kilifi County ahead of the festive season, but urge resident to be extra vigilant," said Mchangi.

The coastal region, a major tourist spot is one of various locations targeted by a series of grenade attacks and abduction of foreigners in recent months.

The East African nation's coastal towns are the backbone of the country's thriving tourism industry, which has been hit by the fear of terror attacks and the kidnapping of foreigners by Somali pirates from resorts near the border with Somalia.

Mchangi said several police units, especially the anti-terrorism police officers, are on higher alert.
HANGZHOU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- When Luo and her husband went for a hike in the mountainous southwestern province of Yunnan, in 2006, neither had the slightest idea that a stroll in the countryside would change their lives, and the lives of the few remaining residents of Mangjiao, a Hani ethnic minority village, forever.

"It was a kind of ghost town. The old buildings were derelict or decaying. Most of the people had left to work in big cities or moved to more comfortable accommodation in nearby towns," Luo said.

At an awards ceremony on Tuesday in east China's Zhejiang Province, people from different walks of life were honored for protecting China's vanishing villages, Luo among them.

Identifying as Hani themselves, albeit highly urbanized, there and then, Luo and her husband decided to help improve the village. So they sold their house and began raising money.

Populated by the Aki people, a distinctive subgroup of the Hani, Mangjiao was the last village in China where the ethnic group still lived a traditional lifestyle.

Since the "adoption," Luo has worked tirelessly to keep Mangjiao architecturally and culturally intact. The couple helped the local government solve a drinking water crisis. They set up a cultural museum and rebuilt a distinctive drum temple.

"We also made a documentary about the buildings, the lives of the people, their festivals and traditions," Luo added.

The Aki people have no written language, so the buildings have a particular historical importance. "Every building in the village had stood the test of time. We could not just let them disappear, and a whole culture along with them." Luo said."

China's traditional villages are disappearing as hundreds of millions of people move to the cities. The number of villages plummeted from 3.63 million to 2.71 million in ten years from 2000. With only about half of the remaining 5,000 traditional villages under state protection, the outlook for the rest is bleak, unless people like Luo come to their aid.

TRADITION VS. URBANIZATION

Chen Shisheng has been restoring traditional buildings since he was 13, and is concerned about a lack of young people who want to take up the trade.

"These days it's mostly old men doing the work. Young people just don't bother," said Chen, 55, a resident of Huian County, east China's Fujian Province. Chen has trained 60 apprentices, most of them senior citizens.

"Restoration work requires time and patience, but the young leave the village and move to coastal areas for work," Chen said. "Who is going to repair these buildings in the future?"

It is a similar situation in Shiwukeng Village in east China's Anhui Province, where tea-making, bee-keeping and building treehouses are dying arts.

With 600 years of history, the remote village has been plagued by poverty for years and fallen into disrepair.

"Ten years ago, the village was home to 900 people, but a new road meant more than 500 people were relocated. Their houses were forgotten and abandoned," said Lyu Huayi, head of the village.

Restoring buildings is expensive, and many villages are gradually perishing. "In recent years, some money has arrived from tourism developers, but a full recovery will take time," Lyu added.

Author Feng Jicai compared the situation to that depicted by Qian Zhongshu in his novel "Fortress Besieged."

"Those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out," he said. Residents want to go to big cities where they find indoor plumbing and shopping malls, while developers want to make money from rural tourism.

About 300 million migrant workers have left their rural villages. A recent survey by Central South University found that traditional villages of historic, ethnic or architectural values were vanishing at a rate of three per day along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

GOVERNMENTS ON THE MOVE

As urgency mounts, a range of measures are underway. A nationwide program to protect traditional villages began in 2012. In late 2015, each of the 2,555 villages on a national list of the most important traditional villages received three million yuan (430,000 U.S. dollars) in subsidies from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

"The next priorities are to improve legislation, to set up a mechanism to protect villages and channel more money into the program," said Zhao Hui, chief economist at the ministry.

The government could put more villages on the list, come up with new policies and support those who who are expert in traditional repair techniques, Zhao said.

Local governments also have their parts to play. In May, for instance, Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, passed a law stipulating principles for protection, restoration and funding. Lhasa has 1,123 villages, unique in landscape, culture and tradition. As the local economy speeds up, many are yet to be protected. The law sets out responsibilities, establishes a long-term protection mechanism and encourages volunteer groups to help.

"The law will enhance protection of precious cultural resources in Lhasa," said Zhang Hui of Lhasa Municipal People's Congress.

New laws and public money can only do so much to help. In Anhui's Zuyuan Village, the beautiful landscape has made the village popular with tourists. A Shanghai company recently spent 50 million yuan on restoration work, mainly converting abandoned houses into home stays and inviting tourists for "a natural ecological experience."

Chen Jiteng, a preservation expert, believes that when maintaining villages, it is important to keep what makes them unique, such as culture or language.

"Only in this way can we stop villages disappearing," he said.
DHAKA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi cabinet Thursday approved the draft of the "Child Marriage Prevention Act 2016" keeping the minimum age for girls' marriage unchanged at 18 years.

The cabinet, however, incorporated a provision paving the way for marriage of minor girls under 18 years in special circumstances.

After the meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, Cabinet Secretary M Shafiul Alam told journalists that the minor girls under 18 years can get married under special circumstances subject to clearance from the court and their parents' consent.

He said the minimum marriage age for men also remained unchanged at 21 years.

Bangladesh, which has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world despite a three-decade-old law which bans marriage for girls under the age of 18, in September 2014 proposed measures to lower the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 16 years.

Over the last two years the plan to lower the legal marriage age for girls was met with huge protests.
NAIROBI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- For a long time, domestic violence was viewed as women's issue in Kenya since they were taken to be main victims and their cases were commonly reported following increased campaigns against the vice.

But things have changed and men are no longer mere perpetrators but victims too, and their suffering has in recent days been popular reportage in Kenyan media.

And so has been adoption of the term gender-based violence (GBV) encompassing acts likely to cause or result to physical, emotional, psychological and economic harm on both men and women.

This is unlike domestic violence which usually took account of violence against women only.

This emerging reality of men falling victims to domestic violence is featured in 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHs), which shows 44 percent of men between 15-49 years having experienced physical violence against 45 percent of women.

Similarly, 21 percent of married men were emotionally abused by their spouses with a further four percent experiencing sexual violence.

For anti-GBV advocates, the violence against women and men is now a national crisis that requires collaborative efforts to solve.

"Trends of gender based violence are changing. There are cases of women violating the rights of men only that men don't report," said June Ashioya, an advocate of the High Court and member of FIDA-Kenya, which draws membership from female lawyers and implements activities on human rights of women and campaigns against gender based violence in Kenya.

Ashioya, who has handled cases of domestic violence against men, says fear of reporting the violations hampers search for their justice.

"I have handled about five cases from Nairobi (Kenya's capital) in which men have seriously been violated by their wives but they fear going to the police station to report because they feel embarrassed and humiliated. But you see there is nothing much you can do about it if they don't report," she said.

Globally, one in every seven men has experienced domestic violence according to World Health Organization (WHO), meaning men should also be encouraged to speak up, based on Ashioya's argument.

However, women in Kenya continue to face new aspects of violence despite the existence of numerous laws in support of elimination of all forms of discrimination against them.

Presently, conflicts over finances, infidelity, matrimonial property and inheritance make up the major causes of violence against women, Ashioya told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Matrimonial property is a major cause where property is registered in the name of the man and the wife and now probably the man wants to marry second wife and so on or separates from the wife causing a conflict."

And so has gender-based violence developed into a crisis amounting to huge losses in collective calculated value annually, said Cyprian Nyamwamu, a gender and governance expert and director of Future of Kenya Foundation, which integrates matters of gender based violence and governance in its activities.

From studies, gender based violence affects the economic, social, physical and psychological status of the victim as it affects the day-to-day activities of the affected, family members and close relatives.

"The National Gender and Equality Commission finalized a study last year which basically shows the cost of gender based violence has gone beyond 300 million U.S. dollars annually and that is massive. It now tells you that is a crisis and that is how we should describe it," said Nyamwamu.

At this point, churches, religious organizations and traditional institutions ought to be actively engaged in curbing this vice if the fight against the incident is to be won, argued Nyamwamu.

Kenya is predominantly a patriarchal society, a cultural order which continues to put women at a disadvantageous position in the efforts towards ending violence against them.

In this regard, Nyamwamu advocated for active inclusion of men in anti-GBV campaigns and programs.

"Men must now step forward and fight for their families. They should be the one providing care and protection to their families rather than being factors or agents of gender based violence," he said.

Kenya has enacted various laws against domestic violence among them Protection Against Domestic Violence, Matrimonial Property Act, Marriage Act and even Prohibition Against Female Genital Mutilation Act and the country is viewed in the international arena to have been making steady efforts toward ending the vice.

However, Nyamwamu said the government needs to invest more resources toward the enforcement of the existing laws.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has promised more spending on transport improvements in poor regions for the next few years in the latest effort to realize its ambitious poverty reduction goals.

Vice minister of transport Dai Dongchang said Thursday that over half of vehicle purchase taxes, around 840 billion yuan (120 billion U.S. dollars), will be earmarked for rural road construction during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), a substantial increase on the 550 billion yuan spent during the previous five years.

"There has been a shortfall in funding due to shrinking tax income since we cut or exempted duty on compact and new energy vehicles. But we will guarantee the spending despite any difficulties," Dai said at a press conference.

Besides central government spending, Dai expects support from banks and private investors. "We have agreements with policy banks for financial aid and will encourage local authorities to explore new financing channels, such as public-private-partnerships," he said.

Nearly 2 trillion yuan of private investment was used for highway construction in poor areas from 2011 to 2015, according to official data.

Poverty relief is high on China's agenda. Since the start of reform and opening-up in 1978, an economic boom has helped lift more than 700 million people out of poverty. China was the first developing country to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goal -- a 50 percent reduction in the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

By the end of 2015, China still had 55.75 million people below the national poverty line of 2,800 yuan per year, equivalent to the entire population of a medium-sized country.

However, transport difficulties remained a major impediment to rural development, mainly in central and western regions.

The Ministry of Transport decided in August to expanded the area covered by a campaign to improve roads. The area now includes old revolutionary bases, areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and remote border counties.

A total of 236,000 km of rural roads were built or renovated in the first ten months of the year, meeting the target for the whole year early, Dai said.

Better transportation will lead to more effective development and utilization of mineral, energy and tourist resources in poor areas, accelerating the pace of poverty eradication.

In Ningxiang County, central China's Hubei Province, 2,000 km of new rural roads have helped tourism, creating 12,000 jobs and increasing per capita annual incomes by 15,000 yuan.

By the end of last year, 96.1 percent of towns and 86.2 percent of villages in impoverished areas were connected by tarmac or cement roads with shuttle bus services.

At a meeting earlier this month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged the government to channel more energy into rural infrastructure, including water conservation, renovations, power grids and telecom networks.

With the goal of building an all-round moderately prosperous society by 2020, China has been developing specialty industries, transferring employment, relocating people and extended social security coverage.
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday urged Pakistan and India to exercise restraint along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region amid escalation of tension that led to casualties on both sides in recent weeks.

Pakistan military said on Wednesday that Indian cross LoC firing killed at least seven bus passengers and three soldiers.

"Of course, we are concerned about the recent incidents on both sides of Line of Control in Kashmir and we call for end to violence," Johnson said at a joint press conference with Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz in Islamabad after their talks.

"We encourage both sides to maintain a positive dialogue," the British foreign secretary said when his attention was drawn towards the violence in the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Johnson ruled out mediation between Pakistan and India and insisted it was not for his country to "prescribe a solution or mediate."

"The long standing position of the UK is India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir, taking into account of the Kashmiri people," he said.

Johnson said his country was looking forward to enhanced strategic partnership with Pakistan, especially in areas of education, security, trade and culture, adding that it is important for the two countries to work together for security and stability of the entire region.

On his part, Aziz pointed out that the two countries have been cooperating under the framework of enhanced strategic dialogue since 2011. The two sides had already agreed to three new roadmaps on trade and investment, culture and education and security.

Sartaj Aziz said the two countries have also been discussing a multi-year development cooperation framework.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended an invitation to his British counterpart to visit Pakistan next year.
WARSAW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Polish investments, including public projects, are too dependent on European funds, according to Polish Deputy Prime <inister Mateusz Morawiecki, local media reported.

Morawiecki noted that Poland had managed to "push forward" major infrastructural projects only when it gained access to EU funds, according to Polish Press Agency.

"Our public investments, particularly infrastructural ones, are too dependent on the EU, which is the weakness of our investment model that we would like to change in the next five to 10 years. This cannot be done quickly," Morawiecki noted.

Morawiecki said he was satisfied with foreign investments in Poland this year as they were carried out from scratch rather than through privatisation.

Morawiecki said stimulating private investments was important for him and added that their current quality was much better than before.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU), reported last Friday that it was preparing to finance 11 investment projects in Poland.

According to the EIB press office, the bank has so far signed 94 million euros (99 million U.S. dollars) worth of loan agreements in Poland. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars)
JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fires on Thursday forced a widespread evacuation in Haifa, as foreign countries sent in firefighting planes to help put out a three-day wave of forest fires throughout Israel.

Tens of thousands of residents from around 11 neighborhoods were forced to evacuate the areas immediately, along with Haifa University and many businesses.

In addition, the municipality transferred hundreds of pupils from nearby kindergartens and schools to alternative schools.

"We have no control of the fire; we are in a state of war," a senior police official told Channel 2 TV news.

Firefighting teams and planes struggled with multiple blazes in the area from the Carmel ridge to the Mediterranean coast.

Other teams fought fires near the coastal city of Caesarea, Rishon LeZion city south of Tel Aviv, the Wadi Ara region in northern Israel, and in Jerusalem.

The fires spread quickly amidst exceptionally dry and windy weather.

Live television broadcasts showed heavy smoke spreading to nearby neighborhoods as residents ran out of their homes carrying bags or their pets.

The Fire and Rescue Service declared "a state of emergency," and 300 firefighter reservists from the Homefront Command were called to duty.

The Homefront Command also deployed two Search and Rescue battalions in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

Three Greek firefighting planes, capable of refilling their water tanks at sea, arrived in Haifa, to help hundreds of local firefighters put out the fires.

Three more planes are expected from Turkey, which renewed its diplomatic relations with Israel in June.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Russia President Vladimir Putin asking for assistance.

Putin told Netanyahu he will send two B-200 planes, each capable of carrying 13,000 liters of water and flame retardants, according to the statement.

Firefighting planes from Croatia, Cyprus, and Italy are also expected to land at a military base in Israel on Thursday, following the government's request for international help.

Uri Chibotero, Haifa district's Fire Service spokesman, said that the fires erupted simultaneously in at least four areas in the coastal city of Haifa, reinforcing suspicions that arson was involved.

However, Luba Samri, police spokeswoman said that police forces are still investigating if arson caused the fires.

A shortage of rain since the beginning of the winter season, combined with days of dry air and strong easterly winds, stoked the fire, spreading it across central and northern Israel.

The fires started on Tuesday near Neve Shalom, a community between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, forcing the evacuation of the entire community.

Further forest fires caught dozens of other regions from Jerusalem to Nahariya, Israel's northernmost coastal city.

According to Magen David Adom, Israel's medical emergency service, at least 21 people, including five toddlers, needed medical care for smoke inhalation. However, there were no reports of serious injuries.

MetaoTech weather service said the dry and windy weather conditions are expected to last until the start of next week.

In 2010, a massive forest fire in the Carmel ridge in northern Israel, which erupted under similar weather conditions, raged for days, killing 42 people.

The media harshly criticized Netanyahu back then for procrastinating in asking help from the international community.

The incident led to reforming firefighting services, including establishing an airborne firefighting squadron.
Rescuers work at the accident site at the Fengcheng power plant in Yichun City, east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 24, 2016. Sixty-seven people have been confirmed dead and another missing as a platform of a power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed in Jiangxi Thursday, rescuers said. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

FENGCHENG, Jiangxi Province, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sixty-seven people have been confirmed dead and three others injured after a construction platform collapsed in east China's Jiangxi Province Thursday, rescuers said.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have urged local authorities to spare no efforts in the rescue, treatment and follow-up work.

More than 60 people were working on the platform and another dozen were on the ground waiting to begin their shift at 7 a.m. when the platform of a power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed in the city of Fengcheng, rescuers said.

More than 300 rescuers, two drones and seven cranes are involved in the search for victims.

The injured are receiving treatment at hospital, and one is in a critical condition.

Wang Yaosheng, who was waiting to begin his shift, narrowly escaped death by running away when he saw the falling platform.

"Several elevators collapsed. All those on the platform fell and were crushed by the steel bars and other materials," he recalled. "I was shocked."

The workers on the ground all managed to escape. Two were slightly injured, including Wang.

The deceased were taken to a funeral home 10 km away from the collapse site.

"We will clean up the bodies once the police have collected DNA," said a worker who did not give his name.

According to the rescuers, most of the victims were from the provinces of Hebei and Hubei.

Construction of the cooling tower is part of an expansion plan of the Fengcheng Power Plant, with an estimated cost of 7.67 billion yuan (1.1 billion U.S. dollars). The plant is owned by Jiangxi Ganneng Co. Ltd., a state-owned power corporation listed in Shenzhen. Trading of its shares was suspended Thursday following the accident.

The tower was being constructed by Hebei Yineng Tower Engineering Co. Ltd. According to Liao Huishou, an engineer from the firm in charge of the project, the designed height of the tower under construction is 156 meters, and over 70 meters have been built since April.

Liao said it is a complicated project because of its double-curve design. The construction platform is adjusted based on the height of the tower. The project is planned to last 26 months.

"Time was very pressing and the construction was very difficult," said Liao.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has "basically" achieved this year's steel and coal capacity reduction goals, according to a State Council statement.

A statement released after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang spoke highly of the results while noting problems such as uneven progress and certain companies seeking to add capacity.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel and coal. Cutting overcapacity is high a priority as the two industries have become a major drag on growth.

Steel capacity is to be cut by between 100 and 150 million tonnes by 2020, including 45 million tonnes this year. This year's coal target was 250 million tonnes.

As the task has finished ahead of schedule, the next step is to ensure the stated cuts are effective. The State Council will send investigators to Hebei and Jiangsu provinces to probe into cases where capacity cut rules were breached.

In recent months, capacity cuts are said to have helped recovery in both steel and coal prices.

The statement asked local governments to give financial support to and create jobs for workers made redundant by the cuts. In May, the Ministry of Finance announced 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S. dollars) of aid for steel and coal companies to resettle laid-off workers.

Mergers and acquisitions will be encouraged for further consolidation in the two industries, the statement said.

The meeting also canceled 114 administrative approval items on professional qualifications and passed a draft revision to the law on unfair competition.
Zhang Dejiang (C rear), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, presides over a seminar on the making of the general rules of the civil code in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Nov. 23, 2016. Zhang made an inspection tour on the making of the general rules of the civil code in Sichuan Province from Nov. 21 to 23. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

CHENGDU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Top legislator Zhang Dejiang called on authorities to pool their wisdom and uphold democracy in the making of the general rules of the civil code.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks during a trip to the southwestern province of Sichuan from Monday to Wednesday.

The top legislator said the legislation should be of high quality since the general rules will play a leading role in the civil code, which, as an important and basic law of the socialist legal system, is closely linked to people's immediate interests.

Further polishing and improvement is still needed, though the draft of the general rules was deliberated twice by the top legislature.

One of the major objectives of the general rules is protection of property rights, he said, stressing that obligations should be undertaken accordingly.

He urged authorities to enhance the protection of intellectual property rights with more powerful provisions.

At a seminar held in provincial capital Chengdu, Zhang stressed that while making the general rules, the essence and principles of the Constitution must be reflected.

The rules should be an improvement on existing laws and the relationship between civil law and other legal entities should be appropriately handled, Zhang said.
MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia expects that crude oil producers will be able to curtail output to stabilize prices at an upcoming meeting in Vienna, Austria, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday.

"I believe that we have a fairly good chance," Novak told reporters when commenting on the upcoming meeting between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC crude producers scheduled for Nov. 30.

At an informal meeting of OPEC in Algeria in late September, participants agreed to restrict oil output, but there was no special agreement on specific limits or cuts for particular countries.

The final decision is largely expected to be made at the official meeting in Vienna.

It is also expected that a number of oil-producing countries, which are not OPEC members, including major producer Russia, would join the agreement.

Russia is ready to cap its output at the current level, Novak said, adding that the country is in talks about a crude oil output freeze with other non-OPEC countries, in particular with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mexico.

Novak said Russia would cut its oil output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in 2017 if an output freeze agreement was reached.

Russia produced around 534 million tons (10.7 million barrels per day) of oil in 2015, up 1.4 percent year-on-year, according to the Energy Ministry.
SINGAPORE, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called on Singapore's President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday during his visit to the city state, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

MFA said Tan and Rutte reaffirmed the excellent ties between Singapore and the Netherlands. They noted the long-standing and historical cooperation between the two countries.

Lee and Rutte welcomed the strong bilateral partnership, including in emerging areas of cooperation such as cyber-security, and discussed international developments. Lee also thanked the Netherlands for its continued support for the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

Rutte also delivered a speech titled "The Netherlands, Singapore, our Regions, our World: Connecting our Common Future" at the 39th Singapore Lecture, in which senior officials, representatives from the business community, think tanks, educational institutions and the diplomatic corps participated, said MFA.

Earlier on Thursday, Rutte and Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli witnessed the signing of several agreements between Singapore and Dutch companies and institutions of higher learning to expand joint collaborations at a Business Round Table organized by the Embassy of the Netherlands.
BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and 15 others wounded on Thursday in a car bomb blast at a fuel station in Babil province in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said.

The attack occurred in the afternoon when a booby-trapped car detonated at a fuel station in the town of Shomali in east of the provincial capital city of Hillah, some 100 km south of Baghdad, destroying several nearby vehicles, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims was also destroyed by the blast, the source said, adding that Iranian pilgrims were among the casualties.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 1,792 Iraqis and wounded 1,358 others in October across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the Islamic States, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
JAKARTA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- An army helicopter with five crew aboard lost contact while passing Borneo Island of central Indonesia on Thursday, a military spokesman said.

The helicopter was carrying logistic supplies for soldiers at borders between Indonesia and Malaysia in the northern parts of the island, Major General Wuryanto, a military spokesman, told Xinhua by phone.

The chopper made last contact at 11:29 a.m. local time and it should have arrived at its destination in Long Bawan village of North Kalimantan province around 11:50 a.m., the spokesman said.

"Still, until now the helicopter has not arrived," he said, adding that the chopper departed from Juwata airport in Tarakan town of the province at 10:54 a.m..

"A search operation for the helicopter will start tomorrow (Friday) morning," he said.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged local authorities to step up rescue efforts, treatment and follow-up work after 67 people died in an accident at construction site.

The platform for a cooling tower under construction collapsed in Fengcheng, east China's Jiangxi Province, Thursday morning. Of the 70 people who were working at the site when the accident happened, 67 were killed and three injured as of 8:00 p.m. Thursday.

Xi ordered those involved to leave no stone unturned when investigating the accident.

A number of work safety accidents have occurred recently, and local governments must learn from these accidents and ensure any potential work safety issues are addressed, Xi stressed.

Efforts should be made to ensure the safety of people's lives and their property, Xi said.

Premier Li Keqiang also called for all out efforts to treat the injured.

Li said a work group from the State Council will be formed and led by the State Administration of Work Safety to provide guidance and help the rescue work.

Supervision should be strengthened and precautionary measures should be taken to prevent serious accidents from happening again, Li stressed.


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      1  2022    2  290,9  ,   18%     2021    36,6%       .
GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Jan Egeland, UN special adviser on Syria, said Thursday that humanitarian trucks and teams stood at ready to deliver life-saving supplies to the 275,000 civilians trapped in east Aleppo as soon as all necessary approvals are provided by warring factions.

"We first presented our humanitarian plan on November 3... we now have written approval in principle by the armed opposition groups of east Aleppo, as well as verbal support from Russia on our four-point plan," the diplomat said.

"We are still waiting for the answer from the government of Syria," he added.

Contingent on all parties to the conflict giving the green light, the UN hopes in the coming days to provide vital medical supplies, conduct medical evacuations, deliver food and other critical items while sending more medical personnel to east Aleppo.

The last time aid reached eastern districts of what was once Syria's economic hub was in July this year.

Egeland warned that UN food supplies have now run out in east Aleppo.

If all warring parties give the go-ahead, Egeland explained that relief teams would need 72 hours to prepare operations and a few days and nights to carry out their objectives.

Meanwhile, the senior Norwegian diplomat also reminded that conditions in other besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria are extremely concerning as a result of the conflict which broke out in March 2011.

Some 400,000 people have died during the five-year war while millions more have been displaced by fighting and reigning insecurity.
Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun (R), also Chinese Public Security Minister, meets with Thailand's Justice Minister Paiboon Khumchaya in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 24, 2016. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Thailand pledged to boost anti-drug cooperation as Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun met with Thailand's Justice Minister Paiboon Khumchaya Thursday in Beijing.

Guo called on both sides to maintain the sound momentum of pragmatic cooperation, further strengthen law enforcement cooperation in all areas, particularly in the field of drug control, and step up security cooperation along the Mekong river.

He said such work will help promote regional stability, bring tangible benefits to the two peoples, and push bilateral ties to a higher level.

Paiboon echoed Guo's remarks on deepening cooperation in cracking down drugs so as to strengthen bilateral relations. Enditem
SHANGHAI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) hopes to issue loans of up to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to about 15 projects next year, a senior executive said Thursday.

Zhu Xian, NDB vice president, said the bank had approved loans of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for seven projects in 2016.

Earlier this week, the NDB board of directors announced it had issued loans to two new projects in China and India.

An offshore wind power project, located in east China's Pinghai Bay, Putian City, Fujian Province, will receive a 2-billion-yuan (280 million U.S. dollars) sovereign loan from the bank.

The NDB also provided India with a sovereign project loan of 350 million dollars to the Madhya Pradesh Major District Roads Project.

"We want to fund projects that are creative and bring benefits to the local people and environment, like the two we just approved," Zhu said.

NDB President K.V. Kamath said the bank was committed to infrastructure construction projects and sustainable development in its member states.

The bank, which formally opened in July last year in Shanghai, approved its first package of loans worth 811 million U.S. dollars in April.
European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (not seen) at the end of a European Union leaders summit at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

STRASBOURG, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favor of a non-binding motion to temporarily freeze Turkey's accession talks to join the European Union (EU) on Thursday.

The MEPs urged the European Commission and national governments to halt the ongoing EU membership talks with Turkey, which was blamed for its "disproportionate repressive measures" in response to July's failed military coup.

In the text, adopted by a strong majority of 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions, MEPs indicated that "Turkey is an important partner of the EU" before qualifying, "But in partnerships, the will to cooperate has to be two-sided (...) Turkey is not showing this political will as the government's actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path."

In a Tuesday debate with MEPs that proceeded Thursday's vote, Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign relations head, tried to avoid alienating the EU partner while inviting MEPs to share their views.

"Some say that Turkey has to choose between the West and the East. Personally, I do not agree. Turkey can -- and should -- stay true to its nature as a bridge between worlds and cultures," Mogherini declared to the Strasbourg hemicycle.

"But if Turkey moves further away from our European Union and from democracy, it would lose part of its own heritage, its own identity, its own culture and also its own power."

Belgian head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, Guy Verhofstadt, however, was more critical during the debate: "Let's not fool ourselves anymore. We all know that this is not in compliance with European values, that it is not in compliance with European principles."

Briton Syed Kamall, speaking on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, showed a rare point of agreement with his Belgian peer. "The EU continues to pretend that it is 'business as usual' in relations with Turkey. But we can all see that the current relationship is not working," the conservative MEP declared.

"We are not abandoning Turkish citizens -- they believe in the same values as us -- nor are we abandoning the vibrant civil society that is today under so much pressure. Our doors remain open," reassured Hungarian MEP Kati Piri (Socialists and Democrats group), before specifying, "We are merely reacting to what is happening in a country that says it wants to join the European Union."

According to Turkish state media Anadolu Agency, however, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would not be moved by the resolution, saying on Wednesday that the vote would hold "no value" in Turkish eyes, claiming "our country has not seen real support from the Western countries."

A temporary freeze on accession talks would require no new negotiating chapters being opened and no new initiatives taken regarding Turkey's EU Negotiation Framework, which became active on October 3, 2005.

Turkey's bid to join Europe began with the EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), with an accession application filed in 1987. The country was first recognized as a candidate by the EU in 1999, with EU leaders agreeing in 2004 to open accession negotiations with Ankara.

Talks have faltered, however, in recent years due to disagreements over the handling of refugees in the migrant crisis that has been ongoing since 2015, human rights issues, and other issues.

Territorial disagreements over the status of the island of Cyprus have also been a sticking point for negotiations since they opened.
HAMBURG, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- European and Chinese politicians and business people have shared the view that the Belt and Road Initiative can lead to better connection between Europe and China after intense discussions at a panel of the two-day Hamburg Summit "China Meets Europe" which opened on Wednesday.

Zhang Jianwei, vice chairman of Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co. Ltd, said the Belt and Road Initiative offers many Chinese enterprises an opportunity to expand their market presence in countries and regions along the Belt and Road, so that a corridor connecting China and Europe can be built.

Ellis Mathews, head of division for China at the European External Action Service, noted that the European level will further understand the Belt and Road initiative to formulate corresponding policies in order to match the EU side of the policy with the Chinese policy.

Cooperating with China means a win-win situation for countries along the Belt and Road, said Jonathan Taylor, vice president of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg.

Jens Meier, chief executive officer of Hamburg Port Authority, said that understanding another country requires figuring out their education, culture, and economic system, and then negotiating to find best practices.

The summit which is scheduled for Nov. 23 and 24 this year in the northern German city of Hamburg will deliver discussions, keynote speeches and panel meetings focusing on various topics, such as the fallout from Brexit, the Belt and Road Initiative and boosting efficiency in industrial manufacturing.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong is expected to address the closing session on Thursday as the guest of honor of the conference.

Initiated by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in 2004, the biennial summit serves as an important platform for discussing China-EU economic cooperation.
HANGZHOU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese man stood trial Thursday in east China's Zhejiang Province for a cross-border online gambling case involving 400 billion yuan (57.8 billion U.S. dollars).

Zhou, 47, was charged with establishing an online casino in June 2012 in Wenzhou, according to Songyang county people's court.

In May 2013, Zhou relocated his company to Vietnam to avoid the Chinese police.

In June 2014, police in Songyang opened an investigation into Zhou's activities. Police discovered that 2.04 million players bought 400 billion yuan worth of game coins. Zhou and his accomplices made 580 million yuan in illegal earnings.

Zhou was arrested in Vietnam and repatriated in April this year.

Eight of his accomplices were sentenced in an earlier case and several are still at large.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has met this year's target of retiring 45 million tonnes of steel and 250 million tonnes of coal production capacity, meeting both goals ahead of schedule. The government will press more efforts on preventing a backlash of overcapacity and allocating workers.

This was announced by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as he presided over the State Council's executive meeting on Wednesday, as a report on retiring excess steel and coal mine capacity was deliberated.

Retiring excess industrial capacity is on top of government's working agenda. When addressing the G20 summit in Hangzhou in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China's plan in cutting excess capacity in the coal and steel sectors were based on China's plan for long-term growth, and that "China has gone to the greatest lengths in its efforts in cutting industrial over-capacity, and we will fulfill our promises."

Phasing out excess industrial capacity properly was made a clear priority by Premier Li in the government work report this March, and he has times and again highlighted the issue at high-level meetings that the government should use market-driven and law-based measures in capacity cuts.

Thanks to such efforts, the operation of a number of steel and coal producers has been improving, while the sector's structures continue to improve. Figures from the National Development and Reform Commission show that profits of industrial enterprises with revenues over 20 million yuan (2.9 million U.S. dollars) grew by 8.4 percent from January to September year on year.

Measures that have enabled such changes include shutting down small- scale and inefficient coal and steel producers and punishing illegal practices. Local governments have also placed strict control in adding any new capacity, and local officials who break the rules are held accountable.

While acknowledging the progress already made, Li also added that the re-employment of workers has made good progress, meeting the original targets set.

An online survey by the State Information Center shows that efforts in cutting excess capacity were applauded by 87.74 percent of participants surveyed.

The year 2016 marks the taking off for China's efforts to cut excess capacity, and such achievement does not come easily, Li said.

Yet there are still issues to be addressed. For example, illegal new capacities in steel and coal in some areas started to revive due to the recent rise in prices. Also, workers relocation still remains a problem for some enterprises. Much is yet to be done in the coming year.

The Wednesday meeting makes clear that appropriate relocation of labor forces as well as proper control of steel and coal prices will be given more attention from now on. The meeting calls for more thorough and comprehensive efforts on re-employment and fiscal subsidiaries.

Li stressed that in the coming year, it is important to phase out excess capacity through reforms, taking further steps in merger and acquisition in steel enterprises, as well as integration of coal mining and power generation.

"We should bear zero tolerance to steel and coal producers which fail to meet national and environmental standards," Li pointed out.

Government at all levels as well as enterprises should lend more efforts to worker re-employment in coal and steel companies and make full use of fiscal subsidiaries, he added.

It was decided at the Wednesday meeting that the State Council will dispatch investigation teams to work on possible cases of fraud and illegal production in steel and coal sectors, so as to ensure the unmitigated fulfillment of the country's target in capacity cuts.

Related:

China sets steel overcapacity-cut target by 2020

BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- China will achieve major progress in the steel sector's structural overhaul by 2020 and "fundamentally bail out" the industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday.

China plans to reduce crude steel output by 100 million tonnes to 150 million tonnes by 2020 and ease the uneven supply-demand situation in the sector, according to the ministry's 2016-2020 plan on upgrading the steel sector. Full story
The Eiffel Tower is lit in green in Paris, France on Nov. 4, 2016 to celebrate the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change. (Xinhua/Han Qian)

PARIS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- An Asian collector paid 523,800 euros (551,620 U.S. dollars) on Tuesday for a section of the Eiffel Tower's spiral staircase, Artcurial auction house said.

Composed of 14 steps, the 2.6-meter high section once linked the second and third storeys of the Paris landmark "French Iron Lady" built in 1889.

The section of the staircase that Gustave Eiffel climbed to inaugurate the monument was removed in 1983 when elevators were installed. The staircase was cut into 24 sections, with their length ranging from two to nine meters.

One of them has since been preserved on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower and three others have been donated to the museums of Orsay, La Villette and the Iron Story in Nancy. On Dec. 1, 1983, the remaining 20 sections were first auctioned.

The different sections are displayed at "prestigious locations around the world," with one piece in Foundation Yoishii in Yamanashi, Japan and another near the Statue of Liberty in New York, according to the auction room. The piece sold on Tuesday numbered 13.

"The auction battle on the phone and in the room, and then the exceptional result of this Eiffel Tower's staircase shows the deep attachment of international collectors to French culture and an interest that is as strong as ever for the most emblematic monument in Paris and our country," said Francois Trajan, deputy chairman of Artcurial.
BRUSSELS, Nov.24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union(EU) will grant visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the end of this year, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday.

Juncker made the remarks at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after the 18th EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels.

"Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions being set for this purpose...we should now deliver on visa liberalization,"said Juncker.

Following a Commission proposal published in April, the Council of the EU on November 17 agreed a negotiating position on visa liberalization for Ukrainians.

Once the new visa regime for Ukraine is agreed with the Parliament and formally adopted, it will provide for visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens when travailing to the EU, for a period of stay of 90 days in any 180-day period.

However, taking into account of the migratory situation in the EU, the Commission proposed to strengthen the current suspension mechanism, making it easier for member states to notify circumstances which might lead to a suspension.

In December 2015 the Commission concluded that Ukraine had met all the benchmarks for the visa-free requirement.

Apart from the issue of visa-liberalization, the EU chiefs and Ukrainian president discussed the bloc's support for the Ukrainian reform agenda, particularly on anti-corruption, at the summit.
VIENTIANE, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Laos and Vietnam on Thursday signed seven documents to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation during the visit of the Vietnamese party chief to Laos.

General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Bounnhang Vorachit and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong witnessed the signing of the deals following their talks.

The two leaders briefed each other on the important issues in their countries, reviewed bilateral relations and cooperation in recent years and discussed future cooperation during their talks, reported local Vientiane Times.

On the same day, the Vietnamese party chief and his delegation paid a courtesy call on Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and President of Lao National Assembly Pany Yathotou.

The Vietnamese party chief is on a three-day visit here starting on Thursday.
KIEV, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and Israel are planning to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) next year, visiting Israeli Parliament Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said here Thursday.

"I expect that the FTA between Ukraine and Israel will be launched in 2017," Edelstein, speaker of the Knesset, told a cultural-economic forum in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

The work to remove final obstacles for signing the deal is underway, Edelstein said, voicing his hope that Israel's government bodies will soon give a green light to the preferential trade regime with Ukraine.

Ukraine and Israel began their FTA talks in 2013, but the process was suspended over the crisis in the East European country. Last year, the negotiations were resumed.

In the first half of 2016, the overall trade turnover between Ukraine and Israel fell 3.7 percent year-on-year to 430.3 million U.S. dollars.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Around 1,092 ancient tombs have been discovered during construction work on the city's new administrative center, local authorities said Thursday.

The tombs date as far back as the Warring States (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), period right up to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), according to Beijing municipal administration of cultural heritage.

The team also discovered one ancient city site and 69 ancient kilns.

More than 10,000 cultural relics have been unearthed, including pottery, porcelain, bronze and iron ware, in Lucheng township of Tongzhou district in the seven months to late September, the agency said.

They explored an area of 1 million square meters and excavated 40,000 square meters.

Sixty sites have been completely relocated for better protection.

Tongzhou, which is about 40 minutes' drive from the center of Beijing, will become a subsidiary administrative center for Beijing municipality.
COTONOU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- One Indian-Pakistan and three Benin nationals have been arrested as suspected in trafficking 54 kg of cocaine from Brazil, source close to the police on Thursday told Xinhua here in the economic capital Cotonou.

According to the source, the four alleged traffickers were arrested on Wednesday in connection with 54 kg of cocaine that Police discovered on Monday in a sugar filled container in Cotonou autonomous Port.

"Another Indian-Pakistan national is on the run" and is actively sought, the same source close to the Inquiry committee set up for the case said.

On Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Badirou Lawani disclosed the discovery of 48 packets weighing a total of 54 kg in a container filled with sugar from Brazil on Monday in the Port of Cotonou.

"The first tests undertaken concluded that it was cocaine," Badirou Lawani said during press conference in the economic capital Cotonou.

"Analyses are in progress at the level of the national lab of narcotics and toxicology so as to confirm the real nature of the product," he added.

"This situation challenges all of us," Lawani underscored.

Public Prosecutor ensured that Benin Justice will play its role in the effective repression of that form of criminality, as the West African region is at the heart of a growing triangular trade of drug.
SOFIA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Armed Forces will hold more and bigger exercises in 2017, the country's chief of defense, General Constantin Popov, told reporters at the National Military Training Complex "Charalitsa" on Thursday.

The number of exercises would definitely be higher compared to 2016, "but more importantly, they will be much larger and much more complex," Popov said.

Of course, the number of participants would be significant, Popov said.

To work out the largest possible number of tasks that are as close as possible to reality was the priority, Popov said.

"Saber Guardian" is to be the biggest military exercise in Bulgaria in 2017, he said. It would also be conducted on the territories of other countries such as Hungary and Romania, and would involve a total of more than 35,000 personnel from more than 15 countries, Popov said.

NATO's annual Crisis Management Exercise CMX17 would be another key drill for Bulgaria next year, Popov added.

In 2015, Bulgarian armed forces conducted 264 national and 25 international exercises. In addition, military units of the Bulgarian army participated in 82 joint trainings and drills with the U.S. army, according to data from the country's defense ministry.
TEHRAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) expressed optimism about the future cooperation with Iran, official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

Kitack Lim said that "Iran is one of the most important members of the IMO and it has always been active in terms of representations to the IMO meetings."

"I am very much optimistic about the future activities and representation of Iran at IMO and am very confident for working closely with the Iranian government. I look forward to more cooperation between IMO and Iran," he made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with the Iranian Ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad.

Baeidinejad also said that Tehran is seeking to promote cooperation with the IMO.

After years of limited relations with the organization due to the western sanctions on Iran, a new chapter has now opened for collaboration which will hopefully entail great achievements for the Islamic republic, the Iranian envoy said.

Iran is among active maritime industry in the world with a large volume of oil and cargo exchanges through sea routes, he said.

After removal of the sanctions, Iran's situation in the fields of shipping and marine has reached a desirable level, Baeidinejad said, adding that given its major capacities, Iran can have a powerful presence in the world seas.
BUDAPEST, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of Hungary's government, employers and unions signed an agreement here on Thursday granting record minimum wage hikes in 2017 and 2018 along with cuts in taxes and social contributions.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban addressed the gathering, saying that with the new salaries not only were there jobs available, but it would be worthwhile for people to work.

Noting that the salary increases were the result of actual economic performance, he pointed out that nowadays there were plenty of jobs as opposed to six years ago when the struggle was to prevent the economy from collapsing.

Current economic policy, he said, rests on the presumption that if they have enough work, they have everything. Granted, Orban said, not everyone can get the job they want, or even work in the profession they studied for, but anyone who really wants to work will find employment.

The prime minister noted that employers were granted payroll and other tax cuts in exchange for the wage hikes. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) will find the cuts to be substantial, he added.

Meanwhile, he said the world was on the brink of a technological revolution, or as he put it, a new industrial revolution.

The technological changes underway will change many things in Hungary and elsewhere, and knowledge of this is what shapes Hungary's new economic policy, Orban said. The current agreement sets the conditions for entering the new industrial revolution and making sure Hungary has a chance to keep up.

Economy Minister Mihaly Varga called the move an exceptional, one-of-a-kind move, since it actually covered a six-year framework. This agreement, he said, was the first document of a new era in which no one knows exactly what to expect.

Peter Lakatos, vice president of the Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists, warned that the numbers were calculated based on a far more efficient economy than existed at present, and it would require efforts on the part of the government, employers, and employees alike to achieve it.

He pointed out that there had not been enough time for modeling the changes, so exactly how they would affect small businesses, multinationals, Hungarian big business and services was not yet clear.

He worried that some employers might choose to hire workers "off the books" and that the efficiency gap between Hungarian and foreign business might widen.

Imre Palkovics, president of the National Federation of Workers' Councils said that for the first time, salaries were becoming a market factor in Hungary. But he also warned that a great deal of effort would be required to boost the real value of wages and salaries by 30 to 40 percent over the next six years as envisaged.

Palkovics also pointed out that while Hungary's gross domestic product (GDP) was 60 percent of the European Union (EU) average, current wages and salaries were far below that. At the same time he applauded the fact that with the wage hikes, the net minimum wage would finally equal the minimum subsistence level.

Under the agreement, in 2017 the minimum wage will go up by 15 percent, while the wage minimum for work requiring at least a secondary education will rise by 25 percent, with further increases of 8 and 12 percent in 2018. Employer payroll on salaries will decline by five percentage points in 2017 and a further two percentage points in 2018.
RAMALLAH, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official said Thursday that the Palestinians are willing to positively respond to the U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's wish to make peace with Israel.

Tayeb Abdul Rahim, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Presidency chief of staff said in Ramallah "We are ready to respond to the desire of newly elected president of the United States President Trump for peace in the Middle East."

"We always positively responded to all former initiatives in order to make a just and comprehensive peace in the region," Abdul Rahim told a gathering at the office of Japan diplomatic representative in Ramallah.

Last U.S.-sponsored direct bilateral peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians had stopped in April 2014 after it went on for nine months without achieving any tangible progress due to deep differences on Israel settlement.

The senior official also called for supporting the state of Palestine to join all international agencies and treaties and condemn all the Israeli policies of sieges, land confiscation, homes demolitions and killing of children.
YICHANG, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Scientists have discovered evidence of spawning by wild Chinese sturgeons in the Yangtze River for the first time in three years, the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute said Thursday.

The spawning period for the rare fish is from October to November, and the last time the activity was spotted was in mid-November 2012, said Jiang Wei from the institute.

Over the three years from 2013 to 2015, researchers failed to monitor any spawning in the section of the Yangtze River downstream of Hubei Province's Gezhouba Dam -- the only known spawning ground of the species.

Born in the Yangtze, the sturgeons migrate to the sea like salmon, where they mature before returning to their birthplaces to spawn. Previously, they returned to Jinsha River, a major tributary of the Yangtze, but with the construction of the Gezhouba Dam across the main stream of the Yangtze in 1981, the migration route was cut off. Clearly they have found a new spawning site, downstream of the dam.

For more than 20 years, researchers found spawning sturgeons in autumn and winter downstream of the dam, but none have been seen since 2013. However, researchers found signs of hope in April 2015 when they discovered a large school of juvenile sturgeons in the Yangtze estuary.

The institute has strengthened its monitoring work since November. Finally, the spawning activities were captured by monitoring equipment about 400 meters downstream of Gezhouba Dam in the early hours on Thursday.

Jiang said the discovery relieved concerns that wild Chinese sturgeon have lost the ability to reproduce. "The natural breeding activity of Chinese sturgeons never stopped."
MOGADISHU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military officers and senior commanders from the Somali National Army (SNA) have agreed on a new plan for joint operations against Al-Shabaab.

The senior military officers who ended a three-day meeting in Mogadishu also agreed to undertake major military operations to liberate areas still under the control of the insurgents.

"The commanders will reconvene soon to finalize plans for joint operations," the African Union said in a statement released in Mogadishu on Thursday.

The statement said major issues discussed in the three-day meeting included strengthening the SNA, in preparation for AMISOM's exit from Somalia in 2018.

The exit strategy formulated by the Africa Union's Peace and Security Council calls for the staggered withdrawal of 22,000 AMISOM troops, including Kenya's, beginning in October 2018 and be completed by the end of 2020.

The troops were deployed to Somalia in 2007 to defend the government against the Al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group Al-Shabaab which has been terrorizing Somalis and East Africans across the region.

Omar Abdulle Alasow, the senior International Humanitarian Law/ Human Rights Advisor to AMISOM, said the pan African body's mission has put in place mechanisms for preventing, mitigating and strengthening compliance of International Humanitarian Law, to reduce the risks of grave human rights violations by troops.

"It also has policies designed to investigate and take necessary disciplinary measures against erring uniformed personnel," Alasow said.

SNA Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Maj. Gen. Ali Bashi Mohamed said the meeting had further strengthened cooperation between the join forces, in countering militant insurgency.

"We are going to plan and come up with a common operation, fighting side by side against Al-Shabaab," he said.

"We agreed to work closely to flush out the enemy from the country. There has never been a better time for SNA and AMISOM to come together like now," Bashi noted.
BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Up to 80 people were killed and some 31 others wounded on Thursday in a suicide tanker truck bomb attack at a fuel station in Babil province in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a security official said.

The attack occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden tanker truck at a fuel station in the town of Shomali in east of the provincial capital city of Hillah, some 100 km south of Baghdad, the Iraqi NINA news agency quoted Falah al-Khafaji the head of the security committee of Babil's provincial council as saying.

The massive blast destroyed a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims and many nearby vehicles at the busy fuel station, the agency said, adding that many of the casualty were Iranian and Pakistani nationals.

The pilgrims were returning home after observing a major ritual of Arbaeen in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, as the Shiite Muslims use to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, one of the Shiites' twelve most revered Imams, who was killed in 680 A.D. and buried in Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad.

The Shiite Muslims had already observed the death day of Imam Hussein on Oct. 12, in a ritual named Ashura Day, but they usually continue their mourning till the ritual of al-Arbaeen, or 40 days after the Imam's death which took place on Nov. 21.

Earlier in the day, a police source put the toll at 10 killed and more than 15 others wounded by the massive bombing.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such suicide deadly attacks against Shiite Muslims and crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 1,792 Iraqis and wounded 1,358 others in October across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the Islamic States, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
KABUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Thursday met with visiting Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov, the Presidential Palace said.

The two sides discussed issues on regional infrastructure, including extension of railways, transit, development of human resources, effective use of regional economic opportunities and regional cooperation during their meeting held in Afghan Presidential Palace, the palace said in a statement.

They also discussed the fight against terrorism, the statement said, adding that the two emphasized the importance of regional cooperation.

Earlier in the day, the top Kazakh diplomat also met with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani and discussed issues of mutual interest and bilateral ties.
NEW DELHI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday described the scheme of demonetisation as "a monumental mismanagement" and said it will drag India's GDP by 2 percentage points.

"This scheme of demonetisation, the way it has been implemented will hurt agricultural growth in our country, will hurt small industry, will hurt all those people who are in the informal sectors of the economy," Singh said in his address in the Upper House of Indian parliament.

"And my own feeling is that the national income, i.e. the GDP of the country, can decline by about two percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an underestimate, not an overestimate," he added.

Singh questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of putting curbs on withdrawing money from the bank.

"I would like to know from the prime minister, the names of any countries he may think of where people have deposited their money in the banks but they are not allowed to withdraw their money," he said.

Earlier this month, in a surprise televised address, the Indian prime minister announced withdrawal of currency notes of 500 and 1,000 Indian rupees from India's financial system.

He described the move as part of his anti-corruption drive to stop counterfeit and black money.

The currency notes of 500 and 1,000 ceased to be legal tender since then and people were urged to get the notes swapped at banks and post offices until December 30. Beyond that until March 31, the depositors have to furnish identity proof.

The move has triggered panic among the people who queued outside banks and ATMs to exchange the banned currency notes and withdraw cash, besides causing huge disruptions to daily life.

India is an overwhelmingly cash-based economy and banned currency notes are estimated to be 85 percent of the cash in circulation in the country.

Media reports have attributed over 60 deaths to demonetisation across India. These include suicides, cardiac arrests and hospital casualties owing to non-availability of money.

Since the announcement, the government has faced serious criticism from opposition, especially inside the parliament. Opposition lawmakers demand statement from Modi and caused disruptions in the parliament.

On Thursday, both the Houses of parliament were adjourned for the day over the demonetisation issue.

Singh's Congress party-led government lost power to Modi's Bhartiya Janta Party two years ago.
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 Afghan children died due to chilly and unfriendly weather in the country's northern province of Jawzjan over the past two days, a local official said Thursday.

"As many as 20 innocent children died due to freezing weather in Darzab District, Jawzjan province over the past two days," Abdul Rahman Mahmoodi, deputy to provincial governor, told reporters.

The victims belonged to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) who fled their homes due to clashes between security forces and Taliban insurgents in the neighboring Sari Pul province in recent months, the official added.

More than 1,600 IDP families have been living in schools, mosques, abandoned buildings and even in open areas in the district, Halima Sadaf, a member of the provincial council, told Xinhua earlier on Thursday.

Moreover, she noted that some of the ill-fated children have died due to winter-related diseases.

Over the last two months, 95,000 Afghan families have become internally displaced and been forced to flee their homes as fighting occurred in several Afghan provinces, according to officials.

The mountainous northern Afghan provinces have received its first snowfall since Monday.
BANGKOK, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Thai police dismissed implications of an Australian intelligence report suggesting some Thais were involved with the Islamic State (IS), local media reported Thursday.

The Police said there has been no evidence so far of Thai nationals funding the IS group, but further investigations are under way to verify the latest information provided by Australia.

The words came after Australian police informed Thai authorities on Tuesday that some groups of Thais were providing financial support to IS.

Deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul in charge of security said Thailand still hasn't got any information indicating that there are IS-aligned movements in the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan also played down concerns, saying there was no link showing IS had expanded into Thailand.

"I haven't seen information about some Thais giving support," Prawit said.
AMMAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Thursday it will provide a 102 million euros loan to the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) in Jordan.

The loan will be provided in two tranches and will include the refinancing of existing debt as well as financing for the most pressing investment needs, given the rapidly increasing volume of waste.

A 5 million investment grant from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) will co-finance the first committed tranche, worth 50 million euros.

The second uncommitted instalment of up to 50 million euros is expected to be supplemented by an additional amount of up to 50 million euros co-financed by several donors including DFID, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and others.

Jordan hosts around 1.3 million refugees from Syria who have fled their homes, of whom more than 400,000 are living in Amman alone. This is creating enormous pressure on municipal services in Jordan's capital.

The EBRD financing will increase the capacity of the city and the municipality to address the most urgent needs as well as to strengthen long-term resilience.

Development of solid waste infrastructure is urgently required to address a 25 per cent increase in the levels of waste generation.

This modernisation will lead to improved services and reduce the environmental and social impact of a sharp rise in the number of people living in and around Amman.

In 2015, the EBRD provided a 18 million U.S. dollars loan to the Greater Amman Municipality to help manage solid waste, generate electricity and reduce CO2 emissions, all of which have substantial environmental impacts.

Jordan became an EBRD shareholder in 2012 and to date the Bank has committed 613 million U.S. dollars across 29 projects in various sectors of the economy, in addition to 95 million U.S. dollars of trade facilitation credit lines with local banks.
DJIBOUTI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Djibouti have discussed ways of further strengthening bilateral relations and comprehensive cooperation in various areas, including in the military field.

Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, talked with Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Prime Minster Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed during his working visit to the African country on Nov. 23-24.

Fan recalled that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Guelleh have reached important consensus on bilateral relations during their meeting at a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg in December.

He said that the two leaders reached consensus on enhancing political mutual trust and advancing practical cooperation in various fields to jointly build a new model of win-win cooperation and common development between developing countries.

China is willing to work with Djibouti to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders and to actively push China-Djibouti relations to a new level, Fan said.

Fan also pointed out that relations between the two militaries have been developing smoothly in recent years.

The two sides have made frequent exchanges of visits, and achieved remarkable results in personnel training, naval escort and supplies, and participation in UN peacekeeping operations.

He said China is willing to make joint efforts with Djibouti to continue to promote the healthy and stable development of relations between the militaries.

President Guelleh commended China for its strong support and assistance to Djibouti, saying that Djibouti attaches great importance to the relations between the militaries and the two countries.

Djibouti would like to strengthen exchange and cooperation with China in political, economic and military fields, he said.

Prime Minister Kamil said Djibouti and China boast close relations, and that Djibouti is willing to provide support for China's activities in Africa.
TEHRAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the terrorist attack in Iraq on Thursday that claimed the lives of 80 pilgrims, among them 24 Iranians.

"It is an indication of frustration," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

The terrorists launched such attacks to compensate for the repeated defeats they have suffered recently, Qasemi said.

"Such brutal and inhuman acts are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government; neither could they disrupt the Islamic republic's joint fight with Iraq against terrorism," he said.

"Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Islamic republic's embassy in Baghdad are seriously pursuing the case," he added.

Officials here confirmed the death of 24 Iranian pilgrims in the suicide tanker truck bomb attack at a fuel station in Babil province in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday, state IRIB TV reported.

Up to 80 people were killed and some 31 others wounded in the suicide attack on Shiite Muslim pilgrims on Thursday afternoon, Iraqi security official said.
ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen's central province of al-Bayda on Thursday, a security official told Xinhua.

The U.S. airstrike targeted a motorcycle in Sawmaah district of al-Bayda province, leaving two al-Qaida militants killed on the spot, the local security source said on condition of anonymity.

According to the anti-terror Yemeni security source the dead included a local commander of the terrorist group.

The source said that nationalities or identities of the killed al-Qaida operatives are not known at this point.

Local residents confirmed that two missiles were fired from the U.S. drone on al-Qaida militants riding a motorcycle in Sawmaah area.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.
BUDAPEST, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Hungary appears on the verge of producing the largest export numbers in the country's economic history, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Thursday, addressing a forum to mark Hungarian Export Day.

This year's probable record follows a similar record last year, he said.

Szijjarto noted that in the first eight months of 2016, exports were up by 3 percent year-on-year and that the driving forces had been the engineering and pharmaceutical industries.

Based on last year's numbers, Hungary has become the 35th largest exporter in the world (its overall population is about 10 million), and it has been granted the right to organize the World Export Development Forum in 2017.

Szijjarto acknowledged that 79.1 percent of its exports were to countries within the European Union, but added that between 2010 and 2015, its sales to the Orient had risen by 7 percent.

Zoltan Urban, CEO of the Hungarian Export-Import Bank (Eximbank), organizer of the forum, said his bank's role was to offer information on business opportunities and to encourage investments.

He noted that while statistics say that world trade declined by 13 percent in 2015, Hungarian exports had been up by 7 percent, and Eximbank had increased the volume of its export-related credit/lending services by 30 percent.

Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Hungary, Nurbakh Rustemov, attended the forum as a guest of honor, with Hungarian businesses interested in investing in Kazakh agriculture.

Meanwhile, an agreement to start up direct air services between Budapest and Astana was signed on Thursday.
JUBA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudanese government said Thursday that it was not worried over rebel leader Riek Machar's movement in the region, after it was reported that the former First Vice President had been denied entry to Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Arik told Xinhua that the government had not received official information on the alleged denial of Machar's entrance into these countries.

"We also heard what happened to him last week when he tried to enter these countries. But this information is not official," Arik told Xinhua in the capital Juba.

"The government's position is that we are not worried about the former first vice-president. This is not our position but to implement peace with the faction led by Taban Deng Gai," he added.

Gai replaced Machar as first vice president in the transitional unity government formed mid-April in the aftermath of the July fighting in Juba. Machar's SPLA-in Opposition was forced out of Juba by forces loyal to President Salva Kiir.

"We are not controlling him (Machar) but it's up to the countries where he enters to decide," he said.

The remarks came after SPLA-IO spokesman on Thursday reiterated that Machar only returned to South Africa on official reasons and would return to South Sudan.

The regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member countries like Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda that helped broker the fragile peace deal to end years of conflict in South Sudan have lately vowed to deny SPLA-IO officials sanctuary in their capitals.

"What is important is that these countries (IGAD) work with the government in Juba," Arik said.
GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Thursday denied media reports that the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is resigning his post.

"Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Syria said Thursday evening in a brief note to correspondents.

Earlier on Thursday, media reports cited "diplomatic sources" as revealing de Mistura had asked the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to relieve him of the Syria role for personal reasons.

Furthermore, media reports added that the UN Envoy was "disappointed" about the prospects of any progress in the political process in Syria in the near future, and he was "facing constant pressure."

De Mistura was appointed as UN Special Envoy for Syria in July 2014. His mandate will last to March 2017 and can be be renewed by the next UN Secretary-General
YAOUNDE, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two persons were killed and two others injured in two suicide bomb attacks on Thursday morning in Cameroon, a security source has told Xinhua.

The attacks took place around 7 a.m. in Mora, a small town in Cameroon's Far North Region bordering Nigeria, by two women suspected to be members of Nigerian Islamic group Boko Haram.

The first attacker was killed when launching suicide attack in the entrance of a market in Mora. The second attack killed the attacker and injured two civilians.

No official announcement has been available on the attacks so far.
ACCRA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ghana's Electoral Commission (EC) said it was ready to conduct special voting on December 1 ahead of the general election six days later.

Deputy Communications Director for the EC Yussif Ayuba said on national radio Thursday that all logistics needed for the conduct of the election had been dispatched to the designated centers across the country.

He also indicated the electoral body was in touch with the police authorities here to ensure adequate security on the day of the exercise.

Ayuba assured the Ghanaian public and the international community that the commission was committed to delivering a free and fair election.

Special voting is a polling conducted for security personnel, journalists as well as permanent and temporary staff of the EC who will be working on Election Day.

The EC says some 65,000 personnel will take part in this year's special voting.
KIEV, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine on Thursday denied Russia's allegations that a retired Russian navy officer, who was recently detained in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, was spying for Ukraine.

"This time, a former officer of the Black Sea Fleet became a victim of the provocation. We actually know nothing about this man," Andriy Lysenko, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's spokesman, told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Russia's Federal Security Service said it has arrested Captain II rank Leonid Parkhomenko on suspicion of treason.

The detained man was charged with providing classified information on the Black Sea Fleet's activities to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

The arrest of Parkhomenko marked the latest incident in a string of similar arrests of alleged Ukrainian intelligence agents and saboteurs in Crimea.

Kiev has denied the link to all the detainees, saying that the arrests were aimed at discrediting Ukraine in the eyes of the international community.

The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational strategic command of the Russian navy, based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov with headquarters in Sevastopol.

Ukraine's Crimea was incorporated into Russia in 2014 following a referendum, whose results were recognized by Moscow, but rejected by Ukraine and Western powers.
CAIRO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned Thursday a suicide bomb attack that killed over 80 people and wounded more than 30 others in Babil province of the war-torn Iraq, Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Carried out Thursday afternoon by a tanker truck, the suicide bombing occurred at a fuel station in Shomali, a town east of the city of Hillah, some 100 km south of the capital Baghdad.

"Egypt stresses solidarity with the government and people of Iraq against the phenomenon of terrorism that targets Iraq's security and stability," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the statement.

He voiced Egypt's support for all necessary measures by Iraq to combat rampant violence and terrorism in the Arab state.

Abu Zeid also called for collective international efforts to fight terrorism.
HAMBURG, Nov. 24(Xinhua) -- Several European and Chinese political and business heavyweights delivered speeches here on Thursday to mark the end of the two-day Hamburg Summit "China Meets Europe".

The summit drew senior officials, entrepreneurs and leading scholars from China and the European Union (EU) to discuss the most important issues in the Sino-European economic relations.

Nikolaus Schuees, conference chairman, in his closing remarks, expressed his thanks to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, saying that his "third participation in the conference shows that bilateral German-Chinese relations are closer than ever".

Fritz Horst Melsheimer, president of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, emphasised Hamburg's importance as a part of the "new Silk Road"(Belt and Road Initiative) at the closing lunch for 400 guests in the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

The shift in the Chinese economy to greater innovation and sustainability is not automatically a threat. Instead, this transition opens up new opportunities for investment and market access on both sides, provided that there is a clear understanding of the conditions for this closer cooperation, he added.

At the summit there were many discussions relating to the China's Belt and Road Initiative, Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said that cooperation rather than confrontation is a useful concept in international relations, adding that especially here in Hamburg, "we are highly aware of the importance of China's role in the global economy."

The summit which was scheduled for Nov. 23 and 24 this year in the northern German city of Hamburg delivered discussions, keynote speeches and panel meetings focusing on various topics, such as the fallout from Brexit, China's economic transition, the Belt and Road Initiative and boosting efficiency in industrial manufacturing.

Initiated by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in 2004, the biennial summit has served as an important platform for discussing China-EU economic cooperation.
LONDON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The importance of China and Asia to Britain's aviation and airports sector was stressed in London Thursday by government Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.

Grayling was making a keynote speech at a conference in London of the Airports Operators Association to discuss aviation and the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport.

He told delegates Britain has to connect with fast-growing cities in Asia, South America, and Africa, while maintaining strong connections to vital markets like the United States, Australia and Europe.

Looking at where global aviation is heading, Grayling said the industry anticipates that there'll be demand for 33,000 new passenger and freight aircraft over the next 20 years.

"That will pretty much double the size of the world's fleet, though we'll be flying on a new generation of lighter, cleaner, quieter aircraft, " he said, adding: "But what's important is that Britain is in a position to take advantage of that growth."

Grayling said: "The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says that if Britain retains its aviation market share, air traffic growth in Asia alone will create an extra 4.7 billion pounds (5.86 billion U.S.dollars) in exports over the next 10 years, and the creation of 20,000 high value jobs."

Britain's aviation industry is already responsible for 40 percent of the country's imports and exports by value outside the EU.

Grayling said away from the main London airports, Britain's provincial airports are flying high, handling over 97 million passengers in the past year.

Grayling described British aviation as a success story, saying airports have a critical role to play in building a prosperous future.

Commenting on his recent decision to give government backing to a new third runway at Heathrow, already Europe's busiest airport, Grayling said it will pave the way for an extra 260,000 aircraft movements, worth 76 billion U.S. dollars a year to the British economy.

Looking to the post-Brexit era, Grayling said: "We are working hard across government to ensure our exit strategy addresses concerns of the aviation industry. That includes on issues like air traffic management, safety regulation, customs and border control."

"It's vital we have best possible access to European markets. This will be a fundamental consideration when it comes to negotiating our future relationship with the EU."
PARIS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of registered jobseekers in France fell by 0.3 percent in October for the second successive month, official data showed on Thursday.

The decline of unemployment rate will offer a boost to President Francois Hollande, who set creating jobs as a pre-condition for running presidential election in 2017.

France received jobless claims from 3.478 million people in October, 11,700 less than that of September, Labor Ministry said.

On a yearly basis, the monthly unemployment rate was down by 2.8 percent.

In a last chance to devote on his promise to lower unemployment rate, Hollande proposed a 2-billion-euro-(2.11-billion U.S. dollars)-plan to create more jobs via improved training for 500,000 unemployed people and more incentives to encourage recruitment.

In a visit to a start-up dealing with on-line training earlier on Thursday, the French head of state acknowledged the fight to bring down the double digit unemployment "will be long."
CAIRO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 15 supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison over inciting violence and vandalism in Suez province northeast of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The defendants, mostly from Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, have also been accused of assaulting a police officer and a conscript from Suez police station.

Suez Criminal Court also acquitted four defendants in the same case that dates back to 2014 when a group of Morsi's supporters held anti-government protests and riots in support of the deposed Islamist president.

Most of Morsi's loyalists, including the ousted president himself, are currently in custody facing various charges varying from inciting violence to espionage.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a 25-year jail term against Morsi in the case of espionage in favor of the Palestinian Hamas movement and ordered the ex-president's retrial. A week earlier, the court overturned the death sentence against Morsi in a 2011 jailbreak case.

On Oct. 22, the same court confirmed a 20-year prison sentence against Morsi over inciting clashes between his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace in late 2012 that left 10 people dead.

Morsi was overthrown by the army in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group. Later crackdown on his supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

Since his ouster, the new leadership of former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has been facing a rising wave of anti-government terrorist attacks that left hundreds of police and military men dead, which led Sisi to declare "a war against terrorism."
Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a suicide truck bomb attack, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla south of Baghdad, Iraq, November 24, 2016. (REUTERS PHOTO)

TEHRAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the terrorist attack in Iraq on Thursday that claimed the lives of 80 pilgrims, among them 24 Iranians.

"It is an indication of frustration," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

The terrorists launched such attacks to compensate for the repeated defeats they have suffered recently, Qasemi said.

"Such brutal and inhuman acts are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government; neither could they disrupt the Islamic republic's joint fight with Iraq against terrorism," he said.

"Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Islamic republic's embassy in Baghdad are seriously pursuing the case," he added.

Officials here confirmed the death of 24 Iranian pilgrims in the suicide tanker truck bomb attack at a fuel station in Babil province in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday, state IRIB TV reported.

Up to 80 people were killed and some 31 others wounded in the suicide attack on Shiite Muslim pilgrims on Thursday afternoon, Iraqi security official said.
DAMASCUS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed on Thursday by shelling on rebel-held areas in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, a monitor group reported.

Aerial and ground shelling by the government forces targeted rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the Qatari-based al-Jazeera TV said the death toll in eastern Aleppo has risen to over 50.

The Observatory, which claims to rely on a network of activists on ground, said the shelling came amid ongoing battles between the Syrian army and the rebels in Masaken Hanano, an area in eastern Aleppo that the former has recently infiltrated.

The Syrian opposition has repeatedly accused the government forces of shelling eastern Aleppo, while official media outlets accuse the rebels of constantly firing mortars and rockets on residential areas in western Aleppo.

For months, the Syrian government and Russia have been urging rebels to leave Aleppo, offering them safe passages to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebels, however, turned down all offers, which has resulted in intensified violence.
Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades watch as smoke billows in the background on November 3, 2016, at an entrance to Aleppo (AFP Xinhua Photo)

DAMASCUS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed on Thursday by shelling on rebel-held areas in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, a monitor group reported.

Aerial and ground shelling by the government forces targeted rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the Qatari-based al-Jazeera TV said the death toll in eastern Aleppo has risen to over 50.

The Observatory, which claims to rely on a network of activists on ground, said the shelling came amid ongoing battles between the Syrian army and the rebels in Masaken Hanano, an area in eastern Aleppo that the former has recently infiltrated.

The Syrian opposition has repeatedly accused the government forces of shelling eastern Aleppo, while official media outlets accuse the rebels of constantly firing mortars and rockets on residential areas in western Aleppo.

For months, the Syrian government and Russia have been urging rebels to leave Aleppo, offering them safe passages to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebels, however, turned down all offers, which has resulted in intensified violence.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (From L to R) attend a joint press conference at the end of the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 24, 2016. The European Union (EU) will grant visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the end of this year, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday. (Xinhua/Gong Bing)

BRUSSELS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and Ukraine on Thursday wrapped up their 18th bilateral summit in Brussels, focusing on support for reforms in Ukraine, as well as vise-free regime for Ukrainians travelling to the 28-nation bloc.

"We highly rate the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities, including those of President Poroshenko, to implement large-scale reforms in extremely difficult conditions. Ukraine's success will be the success of all of Europe," said European Council President Donald Tusk at a press conference which was also attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after the summit.

The EU will allocate more than 170 million euros(179.41 million U.S. dollars) to support good governance in Ukraine, according to deals signed at the summit.

The bloc will provide Ukraine with 15 million euros to fight corruption, 104 million euros to carry out public administration reform, and 52.5 million euros to foster the rule of law, the European Commission elaborated in a press release.

These allocations are parts of an support package to "foster accountable and transparent governance" in Ukraine which altogether make up a package worth over 300 million euros, the Commission noted.

"This new funding is evidence of the EU's continued support to the Ukrainian reform process, and to fundamental, sustained change to the way the country is governed," said Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

"The EU is committed to building better governance for Ukraine, and fostering economic reforms, to make Ukraine a stronger, more prosperous and more resilient country." Hahn added.

Apart from the support for Ukaine's reform, the EU confirmed that it will grant visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the end of this year, according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions being set for this purpose...we should now deliver on visa liberalization,"said Juncker at the joint press conference.

Following a Commission proposal published in April, the Council of the EU on November 17 agreed a negotiating position on visa liberalization for Ukrainians.

Once the new visa regime for Ukraine is agreed with the European Parliament and formally adopted, it will provide for visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens who travelling to the EU, for a period of stay of 90 days in any 180-day period.

However, taking into account of the migratory situation in the EU, the Commission proposed to strengthen the current suspension mechanism, making it easier for member states to notify circumstances which might lead to a suspension.

In December 2015, the Commission concluded that Ukraine had met all the benchmarks for the visa-free requirement.

Regarding the crisis in east Ukraine, EU leaders at the summit reiterated their support to Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

"Europe must do everything in its power to make sure that Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and stability are preserved," said Tusk.

"We continue to support the Minsk process and our sanctions are linked with the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements," he added.

In July and September 2014, the EU imposed economic sanctions targeting exchanges with Russia in specific economic sectors, in response to an alleged role that Russia has played in conflicts in east Ukraine.

In March 2015, EU leaders decided to align the existing sanctions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Taking stock of the situation in east Ukraine, the EU in July extended the sanctions against Russia until Jan. 31, 2017.
ASTANA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has no plans to make his children his successor. He made the remarks recently during his interview with Bloomberg.

The Kazakh president said that the transfer of authority is stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and will occur in accordance with the fundamental law of the country. "I'm not envisaging succession for my children, I don't think that's a question for us," Nazarbayev said. He also stated that he is full of health and energy and would continue work until 2020. Nazarbayev noted he'll decide whether to seek a new term based on his health and the level of public support.

Nazarbayev has been the country's leader since 1991, when he was elected the kazakh first president following its independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991. Since then, Nazarbayev has been re-elected president so far.

Nazarbayev has three daughters. Rumors about Nazarbayev's handing the power to his family members appeared after his daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva was elected the chairman of Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security in September 2016. Dariga Nazarbayeva earlier served as Vice Prime Minister in the former government.
A snub-nosed monkey looks on at a research base in Shennongjia, central China's Hubei Province, Sept. 30, 2016. The latest consensus showed numbers of snub-nosed monkeys in the area over doubled from 501 in the year of 1986 to more than 1,300 in 2016. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Social status can alter the function of the immune system but the effects are reversible, a new study in rhesus monkeys said Thursday.

The study, based on adult female rhesus monkeys housed at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center, showed that low-status monkeys are more likely to have unwanted inflammation than their high-status counterparts after infection, but improvements in social status can turn things back around.

The findings could help explain why poor and working class people have higher rates of inflammatory disorders, such as heart disease and diabetes, according to the study published in the U.S. journal Science.

"Social adversity gets under the skin," co-first author Noah Snyder-Mackler, postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, said in a statement. "If we can help people improve their social standing, and reduce some of these hierarchies, we may be able to improve people's health and well-being."

In the study, researchers first put 45 unrelated females that had never met each other one by one into new social groups and found these animals formed a pecking order in order of seniority, with those introduced to their groups earlier tending to rank higher than those that came later.

To find out how rank affected their health, the researchers took immune cells from the monkeys and measured the activity of roughly 9,000 genes.

More than 1,600 of the genes were expressed differently in lower-ranking than in higher-ranking females, particularly within a type of white blood cell called natural killer cells, the first line of defense against infection.

Then, the researchers rearranged the females into nine new social groups. Once again, the females sorted themselves in order of arrival, with the first females to join the newly-formed groups ranking higher than latecomers.

In the re-sorting, the researchers made females that were previously high on the dominance ladder move down one or more rungs, and those that were low were moved up.

Those whose status improved became more sought-after grooming partners once they were promoted, giving them more opportunities to relieve stress through bonding, the researchers said.

The immune cells of formerly low-ranking females also became more like those of high-ranking females, in terms of which genes were turned on or off, when they improved their social standing, they said.

"This suggests the health effects of status aren't permanent, at least in adulthood," said study co-author Jenny Tung, assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology and biology at Duke.

The results provide solid causal evidence that low social status leads to disparities in health, not just the other way around, as some have argued, said Tung.

The differences between higher- and lower-ranking females were even more pronounced when their immune systems were triggered to fight a potential pathogen.

When the animals' white blood cells were mixed in test tubes with a bacterial toxin called lipopolysaccharide, pro-inflammatory genes in the cells from subordinate females went into overdrive.

If similar molecular mechanisms underlie the link between social status and health in humans, interventions that improve a person's social support network could be just as important as drugs for mitigating the physiological costs of low status, the researchers said.
Photo provided by the Colombian Presidency shows Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L, front) and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono (R, front), shaking hands during the signing ceremony of a revised peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC at Colon Theater in Bogota, capital of Colombia, on Nov. 24, 2016. Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono signed a revised peace agreement here on Thursday. This revised agreement will be sent to Congress. (Xinhua/Colombian Presidency/Cesar Carrion)

BOGOTA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua)-- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono, signed a revised peace agreement here on Thursday.

This came less than two months after a plebiscite narrowly rejected the original agreement, which took four years to negotiate.

In his speech, London apologized to the victims of the conflict in the name of the FARC, and hailed the new agreement as the common wish of all Colombians to end the war.

"Words are the only weapons that Colombians allow us to use," said Londono, who called on the former enemies to co-exist despite their differences.

Santos said the revised agreement was the result of a rigorous discussion between the government and FARC, who had gathered for weeks in Havana, Cuba, to consider proposals to those who opposed the first peace agreement.

Santos stated that peace must be the most important topic for any nation and that Colombia should become an example in a world riven by conflicts.

"Building a country at peace is the most ambitious and transformational project that any generation has ever had the opportunity to fulfill. I cannot imagine a more noble, a more sublime task, a more elevated effort than protecting life and building peace," he stated.

Unlike the previous agreement, this new deal will not be subject to a public vote but will have to be approved by Congress over the course of the next week.

Within 90 days after the approval, the FARC will begin to lay down arms. And within five months, all the weapons of the FARC will be in the hands of the UN.
JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of people fled roaring bushfires in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, on Thursday, as the country's leaders blamed Palestinians for intentionally starting the fire.

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told reporters that "up to half" of the fires over the past days had been "arson terror," and transportation minister, Israel Katz, accused Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Speaking at a press conference in Haifa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "any arson or incitement for arson is an act of terror. Whoever try to burn down parts of Israel will be punished."

Arab lawmakers reacted angrily on the accusation, saying the statements were inciting against the country's Arab minority.

The fire was most serious in Haifa. Spreading quickly through the dry air and windy weather, the blaze forced at least 60,000 people to leave their homes in the coastal city of Haifa.

No serious injuries were reported, but more than 100 people were hospitalized after they inhaled smoke, the medical emergency service said in a statement.

In an unusual move, the Homefront Command called up 300 firefighter reservists from two Search and Rescue battalions in Haifa, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

Following a request for international assistance, 12 firefighting planes and a helicopter arrived on Thursday to help put out the fire. The aircrafts were sent by Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Croatia.

Netanyahu said that the 747 Supertanker, the world's largest firefighting plane, was on its way from Colorado, United States, to Israel.

The Hebrew-language Ynet news site reported that Israel had accepted an offer by the Palestinian National Authority to send four firefighting vehicles to help in the straggle to gain control over the fire.

MetaoTech weather service said the dry and windy weather conditions are expected to continue until the beginning of next week.

Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri said the police are still investigating if arson caused some of the fires.

In 2010, a massive forest fire in the Carmel ridge in northern Israel, which broke out amidst similar weather conditions, raged for days and killed 42 people. The media harshly criticized Netanyahu for procrastinating in asking help from foreign countries. The incident led to a reform in the firefighting services, including the establishment of an airborne firefighting squadron.
OTTAWA, Nov.24 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott announced Thursday that the Canadian government supports the development of a national suicide prevention service.

"We are pleased to be part of this important project, which will ensure that Canadians of all ages and backgrounds can access the help they need, when they need it, with technology that works for them. We can help prevent suicide across Canada," said the minister.

The Canadian government is to provide two million Canadian dollars (about 1.5 million U.S. dollars) over five years to support the development of the national suicide prevention service.

This service, which includes more than 30 Canadian community organizations, will use text, chat and phone technology, integrate and link existing regional distress and crisis line services across Canada.

Once fully implemented in late 2017, it will ensure that individuals in crisis, regardless of where they live in Canada, have access to free and confidential support, on a 24-hours seven-day basis.

The Canadian Distress Line Network and its partners have already begun testing the service in the country's three provinces -- British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. This pilot phase includes testing the integration and compatibility of the various technological platforms used to link existing crisis call centres, developing standardized training for responders, and setting national service standards.

The Canadian Distress Line Network is a national network of organizations that includes regional and local crisis, distress and suicide prevention services. Its member organizations currently respond to more than 75,000 suicide-related calls each year and more than 650,000 distress and crisis texts, calls and chats.

Suicide affects people of all ages and backgrounds in Canada. On average, more than 10 Canadians die by suicide every day and 4,000 suicides per year, according to the Canadian Health Ministry.
Photo shows the sold section of the Eiffel Tower's spiral staircase. (Photo courtesy of Artcurial auction house)

PARIS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- An Asian collector paid 523,800 euros (551,620 U.S. dollars) on Tuesday for a section of the Eiffel Tower's spiral staircase, Artcurial auction house said.

Composed of 14 steps, the 2.6-meter high section once linked the second and third storeys of the Paris landmark "French Iron Lady" built in 1889.

The section of the staircase that Gustave Eiffel climbed to inaugurate the monument was removed in 1983 when elevators were installed. The staircase was cut into 24 sections, with their length ranging from two to nine meters.

One of them has since been preserved on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower and three others have been donated to the museums of Orsay, La Villette and the Iron Story in Nancy. On Dec. 1, 1983, the remaining 20 sections were first auctioned.

The different sections are displayed at "prestigious locations around the world," with one piece in Foundation Yoishii in Yamanashi, Japan and another near the Statue of Liberty in New York, according to the auction room. The piece sold on Tuesday numbered 13.

"The auction battle on the phone and in the room, and then the exceptional result of this Eiffel Tower's staircase shows the deep attachment of international collectors to French culture and an interest that is as strong as ever for the most emblematic monument in Paris and our country," said Francois Trajan, deputy chairman of Artcurial.
LAGOS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's crude oil remains a hot cake in the oil market, a top Nigerian oil official said Thursday.

Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), made the remarks to repoters in the capital city of Abuja after declaring opening the 2016/2017 bid for crude oil grades.

He said Nigerian crude oil is not an abandoned commodity, and has continued to earn premiums and it is hot cake all over for refiners because of the light nature of the crude.

"It induces very high yields on the valuable products that you produce from crude oil," and continues to maintain good demands in the market, he said.

"In fact, contrary to the speculation that a lot of Nigerian crude goes to China, most of the oil are consumed and refined in India and Europe, particularly this year and last year. Most of Nigerian crude ends up in European refineries," he added.

Nigeria produces about 600,000 barrels of oil per day when activities are in full swing.
BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A suicide tanker truck bomb attack on Thursday killed some 80 Shiite pilgrims, including 24 Iranians, at a fuel station in Babil province in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, security sources said.

The attack occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden tanker truck at a fuel station in the town of Shomali in east of the provincial capital city of Hillah, some 100 km south of Baghdad, destroying buses carrying Iranian pilgrims and many nearby vehicles.

The pilgrims were returning home after observing a major ritual of Arbaeen in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad.

The Shiite Muslims had already observed the death day of Imam Hussein, one of the Shiites' twelve most revered Imams killed in 680 A.D. and buried in Karbala, on Oct. 12, in a ritual named Ashura Day, but they usually continue their mourning until the ritual of al-Arbaeen, or 40 days after the Imam's death, which took place on Nov. 21.

The massive blast killed and wounded more than 100 people, but the security officials gave conflicted reports about the exact number of casualty. However, the Iraqi NINA news agency quoted Falah Radhi al-Khafaji, the head of the security committee of Babil's provincial council as saying that the massive blast killed 80 people and wounded 31.

Many of the casualties at the busy fuel station were Iranian and Pakistani nationals, NINA said.

For its part, Iran condemned the terrorist attack and confirmed the death of 24 Iranian pilgrims, according to official IRNA news agency.

"It is an indication of frustration," IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

The terrorists launched such attacks to compensate for the repeated defeats they have suffered recently, Qasemi said.

"Such brutal and inhuman acts are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government; neither could they disrupt the Islamic republic's joint fight with Iraq against terrorism," he said.

Later in the day, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that an Iraqi suicide bomber, named Abu Fahad, struck buses carrying Shiite pilgrims, including Iranians, at the Shomali fuel station and the nearby Anwar Babil restaurant near the highway, according to an online statement, of which the authenticity could not be independently verified.

The Iraqi President Fuad Masoum strongly condemned the attack that killed many civilians, most of who were women and elderly.

Masoum expressed his "deep sadness to the death and wound of Iraqi people, Iranian, Pakistan and Muslim pilgrims from other countries."

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in a statement condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist truck bombing near the city of Hilla in the Babil province, saying that the IS extremist group is seeking to avenge their losses in the IS-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

"This cowardly suicide attack is deliberately aimed at exacting maximum casualties among civilians. Many of the victims were pilgrims returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in the City of Karbala," the statement quoted the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief Jan Kubis as saying.

The bombing underscores the importance of the ongoing fight against IS militant group in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province.

"The more Daesh (IS group) feels cornered on the frontlines, the more they may seek to avenge their losses with attacks against unarmed civilians," Kubis said.

Thursday's attack came as the Iraqi forces and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, are surrounding the city of Mosul to drive out the IS militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.

The IS terrorist group frequently carried out such suicide attacks against Shiite pilgrims who perform communal rituals in Iraq, in an attempt to provoke sectarian strife in the violence-shattered country.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 1,792 Iraqis and wounded 1,358 others in October across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the Islamic States, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
HELSINKI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chances for Iraqi asylum seekers to stay in Finland improved this week following a court decision dismissing a rejection by the migration authority, media reported on Thursday.

A sunni muslim from Mosul, northern Iraq, recently complained to the Administrative Court about the negative decision made by the Finnish Migration Authority (Migri) on him. The authority had deemed that the applicant could move inside Iraq from Mosul to Baghdad, and thus would not need asylum in Finland.

Esko Repo, head of the asylum unit of the Migri, told national broadcaster Yle on Thursday that the court decision means that the authority no longer regards internal escape in Iraq as "a reasonable alternative" for comparable future applicants and will probably grant them asylum instead.

Repo could not estimate how large a percentage of applications will be affected by the change of policy.

Another Migri official told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that there could be hundreds of cases affected.

Asylum seekers in Finland who get a negative decision can complain to courts and get legal assistance in the lawsuit.

In the Finnish system, decisions dismissed by the Administrative Court will not automatically convert to positive status, but the application needs to return to Migri for reprocessing. Usually Migri will follow the guidance of the court.

This autumn, two percent of the complaints to a court resulted in the court dismissing a Migri decision as Migri had been deemed to have misinterpreted the law or had done a procedural error.

Repo pointed out that a person from Mosul can still get a negative decision in Finland in the future.

Currently 8,000 applications are in line awaiting decisions by Migri.

Finland made regulations stricter for Iraqi applicants this year. While last year 80 percent of Iraqi applicants could stay in Finland, this year 80 percent of applications have been rejected.

The latest sign of policy change will be good news to people who have escaped from the areas captured by the Islamic State.
BERLIN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- German family minister still finds it possible to pass a bill to improve welfare for children from single parent family within this year, local media reported on Thursday.

Manuela Schwesig has called for a quick agreement with opposition parties on better welfare for children raised by single parent, when introducing next year's budget of her ministry to the parliament.

The bill was passed by the federal cabinet but fails to enter the parliament's agenda due to opposition parties' disagreement.

German children from single parent family at present can receive per month 145 euros (about 153 U.S. dollars) if under five years old, 194 euros if between six and 11 years old, for at most six years.

The ministry's plan is to raise the upper age limit to 18 years old and to cancel the time restriction. About 260,000 children are expected to benefit from the improvement.

The ministry's budget reaches 9.5 billion euros next year at record high. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars)
The 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held in Manhattan of New York City, the United State, on Nov. 24, 2016. (Xinhua Photo/Li Muzi)

NEW YORK, Nov 24 (Xinhua) -- The 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City kicked off on Thursday among unprecedented law enforcement presence as millions of spectators gathered along the route to marvel at the annual spectacle.

Approximately three thousand law enforcement officers, many of them carrying assault rifles and walking bomb-sniffing dogs, were deployed within and around the parade route. More than 80 sand-filled sanitation trucks could be seen at key points including street intersections, serving as barriers against potential attacks.

The heightened security force came as a recent arrest of a Brooklyn resident who allegedly attempted to join ISIS and expressed support of a terrorist attack in New York City. However, city officials said there was no specific or credible threat.

The parade stated around 9 a.m. from Upper West Side of Manhattan and proceeded to Macy's flagship store at Herald Square on 34th Street.

Famous for the huge balloons and floats, this year' s parade featured 16 giant character balloons, 27 smaller novelty balloons, 26 floats, more than one thousand cheerleaders and clowns, 16 marching bands and performance groups.

The floats included one from Chengdu, China. Featuring pandas, the Dujiangyan dam and Qingcheng mountain, the float attracted lasting applauses and cheers.

"It was so exciting to see the parade in person," said Maxine Thomas from the state of Texas.

3.5 million people were expected to come and see the nationally televised parade that kicks off the holiday shopping season. Another 50 million will be watching the celebration from home.
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Thursday released its policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean. The full text of the English version of the policy paper is as follows:

Preface

The world today is undergoing unprecedented historical changes, with multi-polarization and globalization gaining momentum. The rise of emerging markets and developing countries has become an irresistible historical trend. At the same time, the world economy is recovering amidst twists and turns. Global and regional hot-spot issues take place frequently. Traditional and non-traditional security threats are intertwined. Safeguarding world peace and promoting common development remains a daunting task.

China has entered a crucial stage in achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In order to fulfill the "two centenary goals" of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020 and turning the nation into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the mid-21st century, China has been actively promoting the construction of a socialist market economy, socialist democracy, advanced culture, a harmonious society, as well as ecological civilization. China adheres to the independent foreign policy of peace and is unswerving in its implementation of the opening-up policy. China stands ready to expand common interests with other countries, promote the construction of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, and forge a community of shared future.

The development of China cannot be possible without the development of other developing countries, including countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2013, the Chinese leadership has set forth a series of major initiatives and measures on strengthening China's relations and cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean in a wide range of areas, which has provided new development goals and new driving forces for the relations. Building on the previous achievements, the Chinese government hereby releases its second policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, to summarize experience, draw a blueprint for the future, provide a comprehensive explanation of the new ideas, proposals and initiatives in China' s Latin America and Caribbean policy for the new era, and promote China's cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean in various areas.

Part I Latin America and the Caribbean: A Land Full of Vitality and Hope

As important members of emerging economies and the developing world, Latin American and Caribbean countries play a major role in safeguarding world peace and development. Since the dawn of the new century, Latin American and Caribbean countries have actively explored development paths suited to their own conditions and attained achievements that have attracted the world's attention.

Faced with changes in the external environment triggered by the global financial crisis, all countries are taking active steps to cope with the challenges and maintain and promote inclusive and sustainable economic and social development. Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole boasts huge development potentials and bright prospects, making it a rising force in the global landscape.

Part II China's Relations with Latin America and the Caribbean in the New Stage of Comprehensive Cooperation

Though far apart, China and Latin America and the Caribbean have a long history of people's friendship. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, with the concerted efforts of several generations, the relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through a remarkable journey.

In 2008, the Chinese government issued its first policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, putting forward the goal of establishing a comprehensive and cooperative partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit and common development with Latin American and Caribbean countries. In 2014, leaders of the two sides held a meeting in Brasilia and jointly announced the establishment of the comprehensive and cooperative partnership of equality, mutual benefit and common development. Since then, the relations have entered a new stage of comprehensive cooperation. The two sides have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges and political dialogues, all-round and rapid development in trade, investment, finance and other areas, and increasingly close cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides have also supported and closely coordinated with each other in international affairs. The establishment of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (China-CELAC Forum) has provided a new platform for cooperation between the two sides, setting the course for simultaneous and complementary development of bilateral and collective cooperation between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Based on equality and mutual benefit, the comprehensive and cooperative partnership between China and Latin America and the Caribbean is oriented towards common development. It does not target or exclude any third party. It conforms to the fundamental interests of the two sides and the trends of our times featuring world peace, development and cooperation, and serves as a shining example of developing countries working together to seek common development, shoulder common responsibilities and cope with common challenges in the new era.
GEW introduces students to entrepreneurship

Youthful enthusiasts hailing from ASJA Girls and Boys, Holy Faith Convent (Penal) and Naparima College were specially provided with an in-depth business-oriented seminar which entailed some of the latest technological strategies used by todays successful entrepreneurs, all geared at guiding the students in becoming young entrepreneurs.

Topping the list of these innovative marketing strategies was none other than social media  the newest and easiest gateway to the business world. As a preview, featured speaker Richards used his personal experience to emphasise that young people can start demonstrating an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. He related the story of a doll making business he started when he was just seven years old that was very popular and successful.

You have to understand your market and your audience, he said. There wasnt money to buy toys back then. Girls wanted dolls, I wanted money and so, I sold dolls. I could not make enough of them. I sold to the entire community.

This was my beginning as a young entrepreneur.

It begins with an idea. There is no one right answer to be an entrepreneur. Its what drives you. If you do something you really like, youll never work a day in your life. Find your passion. Richards used the largest local communications brand, TSTT who was also a gold sponsor as a prime example.

Ask yourself what technologies are available to your business. Internet, websites and computers in this age are crucial. Applications and quality software are now pivotal. Social media provides a platform that was never available to businesses many years ago. I urge you to capitalise on these opportunities and master them. They will carry your business to where you want it to go. TSTT is a perfect example and the leading provider of these enabling capabilities, he added.

Also sharing similar sentiments were Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago (YBTT) Project Co-ordinator, Sandrine Rattan, and former Naps man Christian Benjamin, Information Technology Support at BESTin Technologies. Together, the pair, alongside YBTT graduates and businessmen Gerard Thomas (RockIt) and YBTT general manager Shedron Collins delved deeper into their journeys as blooming businessmen to the attentive audience. Students were also privy to technological assistance in business via YBTT success stories Keagan Lewis, Zarah Gibbons and Deidre Lee Kim.

Speaking on behalf of YBTT and on the importance of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Week, Rattan was pleased to be a part of this celebration.

We want to change the mindsets of these students, she explained. Young people were wired to go to school and just get a job. Particularly with the unemployment statistics that are rising, we need more entrepreneurs. They must think entrepreneurial. YBTT is reaching out to all youths to turn away from becoming robots of a system. Becoming your own boss is what we inspire to do. Become your own success story. We commend TSTT for understanding this vision and for their commitment to helping us share the knowledge with these impressionable minds. The attentive audience also benefitted from an interactive workshop segment hosted by Thomas, who wowed the youthful bunch with some of the globes coming technological advancements in business. From phones that scan fruit to test its freshness to artificial self-healing skin, the students were captivated by these developments although still in their primary stages.

According to Benjamin, There is no better time to become an entrepreneur.

Start now. Dont wait on the world. This time is your time. Become an entrepreneur and be who you want to be.
John Lane murder victim laid to rest

Plaza succumbed to his wounds one week after he was shot, along with four other persons in Dabadie, early in November.

The officiator for the service prayed for angels to guide Plazas soul to the almighty and assured the congregation that they would be reunited with him in the afterlife, but his prayers and preaching could barely be heard over the wails and cries of Plazas close relatives, who still could not come to terms with his death.

My daddy gone! Oh God! My daddy gone! wailed one of Plazas two daughters during the final viewing of his body. The child could have been seen being escorted out of the church with tears streaming down her face as she cried and screamed for her father.

Other relatives were equally unable to contain their grief as they made their way out of the church and toward the burial site.

Tears could have been seen in the eyes of every relative, friend and loved one who gathered at the church to pay their final respects.

On November 5, Plaza was shot, along with his nephew Kevin and another relative, Frank Joseph, during a brazen drive by shooting at John Lane, DAbadie.

According to reports the group of men were liming on the street at about 3.45 pm, when gunmen rolled up to them in a white Nissan Tiida, with no licence plates.

The occupants of the vehicle fired on the group, and the men scattered in different directions, attempting to escape.

Newsday understands that the gunmen got out of the car and gave chase to the fleeing men shooting them all several times.

Witnesses reported hearing more than 50 gunshots during the incident.

Frank and Kevin died at the scene, but Plaza was rushed to hospital where he fought for his life while in critical condition, until Saturday last.

Plaza was buried at the Santa Rosa RC Cemetery.
Former Clico director sues Imbert

Nigel Salina, an international business consultant from Cascade, and his company Nigel Salina and Associates are challenging the ministers decision, which Salina said he was told about in a letter from Clicos attorneys, dated September 26.

Justice Frank Seepersad, on Monday, granted leave to Salina at an in chamber hearing.

Salina, who was appointed a director of Clico in September 2008, was not entitled to the bond offer of the government in 2010 and 2011.

Salina, who is represented by a team of attorneys led by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, said he was distressed and angered as he had to explain his part as a director of Clico and has been completely exonerated but is being denied payment.

He said he received payment of US$461,748.04 last year and is yet to receive the remainder US$110,298.67 in order to meet daily living expenses and pay for his childrens private education.

Salina is seeking several declarations that the decision is unlawful in that it is inconsistent with and departs from the previous clearly stated lawful policy of the government and Central Bank without a cogent justification or lawful reason.

He also wants the court to declare that the decision is unlawful and unfair in that it frustrates and departs from his reasonable and legitimate expectation that he would be treated the same as other creditors of Clico and paid the 15 percent balance.

He claims that the decision is unfair and in breach of the principles of natural justice, in denying or postponing payment, contrary to policy and contrary to what they had been led reasonably to expect without being informed of a (and in breach of their legitimate expectations), without informing him of the proposed change in policy or giving him an opportunity to be heard before the decision was taken.

The matter comes up for hearing again on December 15 in the San Fernando High Court.

Salinas lawsuit is one of many filed against the state by Clico policyholders following the Central Banks suspension of the insurance companys activities after the companys collapse in January, 2009.

The TT Government currently has control of Clico and portions of the financial arm of the CL Financial parent group as part of a billion-dollar bailout plan for the cash strapped conglomerate.
DRUNK MAYOR FINED

This was the stern advice yesterday from Point Fortin Magistrate Alicia Chankar, before whom His Worship stood on a charge of drunk driving to which he changed his inital plea of not-guilty to guilty.

The Magistrate, who presided in the Second Court, remarked that holders of public offices must at all times seek to set better examples for society to follow. Pauls conviction and fine came just five days before the nation heads to the polls for the local government election scheduled for next Monday.

Paul, 71, was expected to go on trial yesterday as he pleaded not guilty to the offence at his initial court appearance on October 20.

But when the case was called, the mayor changed his plea to guilty.

As such, court prosecutor Sgt Ancil Corrie told the court that on October 18, at Grant Trace in Rousillac, police of the South-Western Division intercepted a car driven by Mayor Paul during a roadblock exercise. While speaking to him, the officers observed that Pauls breath had a strong odour and his speech was slurred.

The court heard that a certified breathalyser technician administered a breathalyser test to the mayor which he failed. The legal prescribed limit is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. Two other evidential tests were administered to him which he also failed. Sgt Gosine, head of the South-Western Traffic Unit subsequently charged His Worship with driving under the influence of alcohol.

In mitigation yesterday, Pauls attorney James Philbert - a retired Acting Police Commissioner - informed Magistrate Chankar that prior to his clients arrest he (Paul) consumed DayQuil (a cold medicine) then took two drinks. Paul has no previous conviction and no pending matters before the courts.

The result slips of the breathalyser tests were tendered into evidence yesterday.

Holders of public offices are to set better examples to society, remarked Magistrate Chankar who then imposed a fine of $7,000 on Paul with the instruction that it be paid in full within two weeks, failing which, he will serve one year imprisonment with hard labour.

The mayor had been granted $5,000 station bail. The trial was initially scheduled start last week Thursday, however the mayor was absent from that hearing with attorney Philbert then telling the court that his client had a doctors appointment after complaining of chest pains.
Fix the school!

Garcia made the comments yesterday afternoon following a private meeting held next to the school with government officials, staff and a part of a group of parents.

There might be minor works to be done and I have instructed the EFCL to invoke emergency procedures so whatever needs to be done, will be done with the emergency it requires. These are things like cleaning and painting, Garcia told media personnel.

The facility will first accommodate the Standard Fours and Fives on Tuesday and then the rest by December 2 , the Minister assured.

The issue of transportation to and from the new temporary location will be dealt with for all of the 248 students.

Santa Flora Government Primary School is the alma mater of President Anthony Carmona.

On arrival at the school yesterday, the Minister together with other officials were greeted by protesting parents and students holding placards at the front gates to the schools compound. Some of the signs read,  Rats, bats and snakes Infestation,  No Mr Garcia show some respect and  We want we school right now.

Angry parents began accusing the Minister, and by extension the Government, of ignoring their plights.

Garcia together with Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis, Member of Parliament for the area, Nicole Olivierre, and other officials first held a private meeting.

More than an hour later, officials invited the protesting parents inside but a group of them refused to attend on the basis that they wanted the media to sit in so as to broadcast what was said.

While some went to the meeting held next door at the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) , others remained outside .

As the Minister emerged from the meeting, parents accused him of being disrespectful and running away by not speaking to them. As he walked past the angry group, Garcia in turn accused them of being disrespectful and abusive to him. The Minister insisted that they had the opportunity to speak with him at the meeting but they refused to attend.

One parent - Michael Nemaiquestioned the timing of the visit insisting that it was nothing more than a political ploy to gainvotes in Mondays local government election.

Speaking to media personnel, Garcia maintained that the purpose of the visit was to ensure that the children are aqequately housed so that learning and teaching can take place in an environment that is peaceful.

He also described the Petrotrin representatives as kind and gracious .

Next door to the existing school structure is the ongoing construction of a new school.However, works are being delayed as contractors await outstanding payments.

The Minister confirmed that contractors are not paid and he promised to sit down and discuss that issue so as to pay them.

 I cannot state when they will be paid or when work will resume, Garcia added.

PTA president Sarah Gopaul admitted that the association was not initailly pleased with the response by the Ministry as he had taken  too long  to respond to their plights.

 It is nine weeks and they (officials) are tellling us that we, the parents, have shut down the school. No. Our childrens satfey is of utmost importance and we are not playing politics with our children welfare, Gopaul added.

She complained that the floors are moving away from the walls, the roof is falling apart and the steel is turning into power. That, Gopaul charged, is not a conducive environment for children.

Thus far, the parents said they are satisfied with the temporary solution and hope for a permanent solution.

Parents Nicoli Rampersad said she has been home-schooling her daughter ,Jan?a, five, since September.

However, the child is anxious to attend classes and interact with teachers and classmates.

Another parent added, My son, Malachi Bacchus, is a bright student.

He was the valedictorian in his pre-school. Malachi is missing his friends and teachers.
Protect officers

He took Government to task after an off-duty prison officer was shot in both legs at his businessplace in Princes Town. Richards said that despite numerous pleas to put things in place by way of legislature to protect prison officers and by extension officers of the protective services, no action has been taken .

It was reported that Naresh Toll was shot in both legs at about 9 pm on Monday, after gunmen stormed his business place in Princes Town. After the attack Toll was rushed to hospital where he is said to be warded in a stable condition. While a motive behind the shooting is not yet known and detectives continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident, Richards told Newsday that the plight for protection of prison officers was one which his organisation has been highlighting for years .

We have always advocated for the protection of prison officers and by extension officers of the protective services, said Richards .

This has been our single greatest plight, but there has been no response from any government on this issue. Prime Minister Keith Rowley recently talked about redoubling efforts to ensure safety of officers inside and outside the prison, but to date we have not experienced any effect of the government increasing their efforts .

Attorney General Faris Al Rawi remains unsupportive, because he is not treating with the recommendations which were made .

It would seem that my maths was right when the honourable Prime Minister said what he said, because zero multiplied by two remains as zero. Richards said prison officers have made several reports and complaints of being threatened in and out of the prison, being followed to their homes by unknown persons and having homes staked out .

In an interview yesterday, on a radio station, Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart said the issue of security for prison officers is a serious one because of their liine of work. This (being a prison officer) is a high-risk job and is not for the faint of heart .

But despite all that we have been through, we continue to operate in a professional manner, Stewart said .

Toll was not the only prison officer to be attacked by gunmen this year. In February, Prison Officer Fitzalbert Victor was fatally shot outside his home at Pritzgar Lands in Laventille. Investigations revealed that he was targeted as a direct consequence of his official duties. Contacted for comment yesterday, Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon said he was out of the country on state affairs and would reserve comment until he returns home and is fully briefed .
Media 21 slams Ramdeen

Media 21 said nothing revealed by Ramdeen at a news conference on Tuesday, amounts to any wrongdoing on the part of the company or any person in relation to its expression of interest. The company said it is satisfied that its lands are more than 90 percent ready for the commencement of home construction. Media 21 further stated it has been able to demonstrate proof all the required documentation in this matter.

The company said contrary to Ramdeens claims, it is not a media house but a limited liability company that has been lawfully engaged for over 25 years in a number of business activities pursuant to its bye-laws. Media 21 said it had heard nothing from the HDC since its expression of interest and in those circumstances, has moved on to develop the lands on its own to offer to those interested in home ownership. The company said at no time was it requested to bid on any PPP projects nor has it ever submitted a bid, as claimed by Ramdeen. Media 21 said it only submitted an expression of interest and will quite readily do so again should the opportunity arise in the future.
Students, parents protest at La Fillette

The protestors have promised that the protest action would continue for as long as it takes until they get the attention of the relevant authorities, and construction begins on a school which was promised three years ago.

Newsday was told by Kevin Quintaro, whose daughter attends Blanchisseusse Primary School, which is located on the Blanchisseusse Main Road, that the building the students use is a dilapidated church which has not seen any repairs in years.

The toilets leak, Quintaro said.

When rain falls, the classes get flooded out.

There are abandoned tanks all over the compound, and the building is infested with mosquitoes.

I heard the minister of education go on the news and say that the school is currently under construction, but that is not true. Quintaro said that his child, along with the 120 other students who attend the school, are now sharing decrepit rooms at the church which was constructed over 50 years ago. Newsday understands that the church building was extended to accommodate the students, but it is still not enough since some classes have to share a room on a daily basis.

My daughter has complained to me several times about not even being able to use the toilet or drink water during the break because there are so many children and not enough facilities, complained Quintaro
PNM wins first local govt seat

The Commission advised special electors living in this district that because they are now not required to vote, those electors who have already collected their envelopes are requested to return them to the Office of the Returning Officer at the San Fernando City Corporation, any registration area office/sub-office or its electoral office at Scott House in Port-of-Spain. PNM General Secretary Ashton Ford confirmed Victor-Wilsons victory and said the party is pleased with this development.

UNC chairman David Lee confirmed Soodeens withdrawal and explained this was done on medical advice. Lee said Soodeen had fallen ill recently and medical advice given to the UNC advised against Soodeens continued participation in the campaign.

Lee said had Soodeen continued, justice would not have been done to him or the party. He was not worried about the PNMs victory, saying the UNC would roll with the punches. When contacted yesterday, Soodeen was mum on his medical condition but said it began to affect him two weeks ago. He was optimistic about contesting the 2019 Local Government election once he regained his health. I am very disappointed, said Soodeen.

He added, I would have loved to contest the election, but after having a long conversation with my doctor, he advised that I take complete bed rest to recover. Meanwhile, Victor-Wilson expressed her disappointment at not being able to enjoy the thrill of counting votes on election night
NACTA: UNC struggles in Chaguanas

The indications are that the UNC will retain control of Chaguanas in spite of a very stiff challenge from the PNM for control of the Borough. The Mayor Gopaul Boodhan, who has a relatively high favourability rating among the 14 incumbent Mayors and Chairs, is well liked among voters on both sides of the divide and is putting up a stiff resistance to hold the borough for the UNC, said NACTA.

At best, the PNM can win only four seats in Chaguanas which will give it a tie for the contested eight seats. But PNM is leading in only three seats while the UNC is leading in five of the eight seats up for grabs and is guaranteed a minimum two aldermen. The PNM is guaranteed only one alderman with the other alderman going either way. In an addendum, NACTA added, They are pleased with Mayor Gopaul Boodhan in Chaguanas.

But UNC is still struggling to hold on to the city because of poor representation from some of the reps. The addendum also said that in each marginal seat in the corporations of Sangre Grande, San Fernando, Siparia, Rio Claro, Chaguanas, the PNM is leading.

Whether the PNM controls a borough or not and is in opposition, it is leading in all of the marginals, NACTA said. While voters express dissatisfaction with PNM, they are still sticking with the PNM. They are displeased with representation in Sangre Grande and San Fernando, for example. but they are still voting PNM. NACTAs original statement said that the PNM has consistently led in the polls since last March till now and is projected to retain all the local governments it currently controls.

The findings of the poll show the PNM winning some cross over support (from the traditional UNC base) that could help it in marginal seats in Chaguanas, Rio Claro, Barataria, Siparia, Princes Town, and Sangre Grande.

UNC is not gaining cross over support although PNM supporters are widely dissatisfied with the party.

The findings show PNM could wrest one local government from the UNC and tie another one.
Rowley: We, not they, talk Local Govt issues

At a Peoples National Movement (PNM) rally at Five Rivers, Arouca, on Wednesday, he refuted claims by several media houses that the election campaign had dwelt on trivia such as the cost of roti dinners, even saying he had spoken of UNC spending on other national festivals.

Citing research that says 84 percent of what a person hears is not remembered, he said that this is the local government election where the PNM has spoken most about the relevant issues of local government reform which will bring governance closer to the people.

Saying some observers are saying that in this election both he and Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar are fighting for their political futures, Rowley quipped, My political future in the PNM is very secure. If other people have a problem, that is their problem.

On local government reform, they (UNC) gave no response. They have not engaged the issue, except to say that if we try to do what we have said well do, they would lie in wait in Parliament to try to block us. Thats their only response to our crusade on this long standing issue of local government reform. Accusing the Opposition of a record of obstructionism in Parliament even amid the need for a special majority to amend Local Government, Rowley said that even without Opposition support he will deliver 23 seats worth of local government reform, and the next time he will deliver 30 seats worth, presumably based on his hopes for the next General Election results.

Likewise, he accused the Opposition of being obstructionist towards the very Gaming Bill that the Opposition had previously drafted, using the lack of accompanying regulations as an excuse to not back the Bill.

The Bill is needed, he said, because gambling has let some persons become filthy rich, while possibly facilitating corruption and a destruction of the countrys social fabric.

He told supporters that even if they morally do not like gambling, it is better to have regulated gambling under the Bill than have it unregulated as now obtains.

Regarding the campaign, Rowley said hed received a very warm welcome at a walkabout in Charlieville, declaring that no part of the country is off-limits to the PNMs ambitions in this election. He even mouthed former prime minister, the late Patrick mannings battle-cry, We will beat them in the North, we will beat them in the South....

Regarding crime, He scoffed at Persad-Bissessars claim that crime is high because the Government has dismantled measures put in place by their predecessors.

He demanded to know what these measures were, even as he said the National Security Council is now working better under his leadership than it was under hers
Hilarious: self-proclaimed communist comrades arrested after attacking Trump supporters in Texas

Communism is one of the most ridiculous ideas that mankind has ever created. Any logical person could take one look at the belief system and realize just how absurd it actually is, yet more and more people continue to convince themselves that it makes sense. It only makes sense, considering this generation actually believed in the lies of Bernie Sanders and his democratic socialism scam that any reasonable economist could debunk in a matter of seconds.

The communism trend has even managed to make its way to Austin, Texas of all places, where an organization entitled Red Guards Austin has been spreading commie propaganda and causing problems for the sane folks in the area. Recently, six members were arrested for attacking Donald Trump supporters in the middle of a protest.

John Binder of Breitbart Texas reports, Austin law enforcement officials arrested 34-year-old Jarred Roark after he allegedly assaulted a Trump supporter and was subsequently charged with a felony aggravated assault, evading arrest, and resisting arrest. Another five protesters with the organization were arrested, including 19-year-old Jade Tabitha Shackelford who was charged with felony assault.

It should come as no surprise that people dumb enough to believe in communism are also mentally deranged enough to physically attack innocent people simply for having different opinions. This is the kind of mindset that has caused the Regressive Left to fall so far behind the rest of the country. They believe that they are the only people who could ever possibly have a point of view worth listening to, so they wage physical war on all of those who oppose them.

There are truly evil people walking amongst us every day and we should be prepared to handle that by any means necessary. People who willingly align themselves with a political organization as corrupt as the Communist Party cannot be trusted to behave civilly and we should address that fact honestly.

There are groups like the Red Guards all over the country that are willing to go to great lengths in order to push their agenda onto others. The American people should feel free to protest without fear that members of an extremist organization are going to attack them for expressing their opinions in a non-violent way. That starts by revealing the truth about those who infringe on that freedom.

Sources:

DailyCaller.com

WashingtonTimes.com

Breitbart.com

Submit a correction >>
Suck it up, Buttercup bill from Iowa will stop spending taxpayer money on colleges who treat students like babies

If you, like many of us, have been growing increasingly frustrated by the news of college administrators crumbling under the demands of their self-important students then there is some news that is sure to put a smile on your face. A new bill has been introduced into Iowa state legislature that promises to fight back against the Regressive Left in a way that promises to leave them literally shaking, as they so often claim.

Jazz Shaw of Hot Air explains what is happening with the bill, writing that Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican, plans to introduce a bill that echoes the eye-rolling frustration expressed by many who think colleges are coddling their students  The bill would take aim at state universities that offer election-related sit-ins and grief counseling beyond the resources normally available to students. Those colleges that use taxpayer dollars to fund these extra programs would be subject to a budget cut for double the amount they spend.

Finally those in charge of the taxes that we are forced to pay have started to listen to our grievances and take note of why so many of us have a problem with taxation. Colleges  especially public universities  should be places where young people go to become contributing members of society and get a legitimate education. They should not be safe spaces for liberal crybabies where conservative opinions and speakers are banned. Our tax dollars should not be funding these ventures, yet they are.

Hopefully the Suck it up, Butterup bill will not only catch some steam in Iowa, but also every other state in the union. We should all be in support of these kinds of bills being passed for a few reasons. First of all, we should be fighting this culture war against the Regressive Left before it is too late to come back from. Second of all, we should be much more selective of what our tax dollars are being used to fund.

While there are some necessities that improve all of our lives that exist solely because of taxes, there are a lot of things that arent so necessary. Welfare programs like the Obama phone are completely ridiculous and are legitimately socialist in nature. When you analyze the situation, are public universities that enable young people to follow this special snowflake leftist ideology any different? It is truly dangerous and should be prevented in the future.

The wellbeing of our country could very well depend on it.

Sources:

DesMoinesRegister.com

RadioIowa.com

HotAir.com

Submit a correction >>
Kejriwal to hold nation-wide rallies against demonetisation

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold six rallies over the next four weeks across the nation against the central government's demonetisation move, AAP announced on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also hold demonstrations against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes across all its district headquarters.

"On November 28 across the nation, the AAP will hold demonstrations at all district headquarters against the Rs 8 lakh crore scam," AAP leader Ashish Khetan told the media here.

He said Kejriwal will hold rallies in Meerut, Varanasi and Lucknow on December 1, 7 and 18 respectively.

The AAP convenor will hold rallies in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur on December 20, 22 and 23.

"We will ask seven questions to the public through rallies about demonetisation," Khetan said.

The AAP has strongly opposed the central government's demonetisation move announced on November 8 and demanded its roll back.

--IANS

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US rate hike fears spook investors, equities trade in the red

Maharashtra,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

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Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS) Heightened chances of a US rate hike, continued outflows of foreign funds and caution over the ongoing derivatives expiry dragged the Indian equity markets lower during the mid-afternoon trade session on Thursday.

Besides, massive depreciation in rupee which touched its new record low of 68.86 to a US dollar and political logjam over the demonetisation drive eroded investors' confidence.

The key Indian indices traded with losses of more than half a per cent each, as automobile, banking and healthcare stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) receded by 60.80 points or 0.76 per cent to 7,972.50 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,049.14 points, traded at 25,875.12 points (at 2.00 p.m.) -- down 176.69 points or 0.68 per cent from the previous close at 26,051.81 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,049.14 points and a low of 25,810.97 points during the intra-day trade so far.

The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,250 declines and 1,117 advances.

"Markets traded in the red due to negative global cues. Caution prevailed ahead of the F&O (futures and options) expiry," Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities, told IANS.

"The minutes of the US Federal Reserve, which were released on Wednesday evening, suggested a possible rate hike next month. This triggered a steep decline in Asian and domestic markets."

On Wednesday, the equity markets closed in the green due to positive global cues, coupled with short covering and value buying.

The barometer index was up by 91.03 points or 0.35 per cent, whereas the NSE Nifty edged up by 31 points or 0.39 per cent.

--IANS

ppg-rv/vt

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PM will participate in demonetisation debate, Jaitley assures RS

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday assured the Rajya Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the debate on demonetisation.

Replying to the opposition demands that Prime Minister Modi should be present in the House during the debate, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha P.J. Kurien said: "How can the Prime Minister always sit here. He is also a human being."

The Prime Minister was present in the Rajya Sabha to attend the debate on demonetisation till lunch break.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "The Prime Minister should be present in the House for the debate to go on."

Hitting out at Azad, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Jaitley angrily said: "It has become very clear that the opposition doesn't want a debate. Now they are finding different ways to run away from the debate. Now, this is a new method.

"The debate should continue. The Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Keeping in mind the traditions of the House, the PM will come to the House and participate in the debate," he added.

Jaitley added: "There is no tradition that if the debate goes on for 15 hours, he will be there for that long."

Replying to this, Azad said: "When they (NDA) were in opposition they had demanded that the Prime Minister should be in the House during the debate on 2G spectrum."

Following this, the opposition members trooped to the Chairman's podium, only to compel the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman to adjourn the House till 3 p.m.

--IANS

sid/rn
US rate hike fears plunge rupee to record low

Maharashtra,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS) Heightened chances of a US rate hike and continued outflow of foreign funds from equities and debt markets plunged the Indian rupee to its new record low of 68.86 to a US dollar during the mid-afternoon trade session on Thursday.

Besides, political bickering over the demonetisation drive and a stalemate on the contours of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework led to the erosion in rupee value.

However, an apparent intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) arrested any further fall in the Indian currency.

On Thursday, the rupee plunged to its new record low of 68.86 to a US dollar (at 1.14 p.m.). The Indian rupee weakened by 22 paise to 68.78-79 (2.30 p.m.) against the US dollar from its previous close of 68.56-57 to a greenback.

"The Indian rupee touched its record low level of 68.86 to a US dollar post 1.00 p.m. due to heightened chances of a US rate hike," Anindya Banerjee, Associate Vice President for Currency Derivatives with Kotak Securities, told IANS.

"Apparent intervention by RBI has arrested further falls and stabilised rupee below the 68.86-mark."

According to Hiren Sharma, Senior Vice President and Head-Forex Advisory at Anand Rathi Financial Services, rupee's fall was in-sync with other currencies which have declined against US dollar.

"Yesterday's US data and FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes have strengthened the rate hike scenario in December. Off-loading of debt and equity by FPIs (foreign portfolio investors) has declined rupee," Sharma said.

"But RBI this time around has taken an aggressive stance to halt a complete one way rout. Forward premiums have corrected immensely. In fact, November month, which still has four trading sessions to go, is negative."

--IANS

rv/vt
Widespread distress as demonetisation hits small, medium businesses hard

Delhi,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) A huge wail of distress is being heard from small and medium business enterprises across India that have been hit hard by the demonetisation of high-value notes.

Alarmed by the drastic fall in trade, commerce and business activities by around 75 percent post-demonetisation, traders in Maharashtra have demanded various types of concessions to help tide over losses since the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were demonetised on November 8 in an ostensible bid to control black money and weed out fake currencies.

A delegation of the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA), led by its President, Viren Shah, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and apprised him of the situation.

Similar concerns are being express by SMEs across the length and breadth of the nation -- and their plight seems to suggest that it is this sector that will be hardest hit as the GDP rate takes a beating post-demonetisation: falling to 3.5 per cent, according to an Ambit Capital estimate.

Owners of small businesses in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh say that sales have dropped 50 to 60 per cent since the demonetisation. "Our stocks are not coming. We have even been waiting for the glass bottles of our shakes, which are very popular. The transporters are not bringing the stocks," the owner of a popular eatery in Chandigarh's Sector 8, told IANS.

Grocers say that sales have dipped because people either don't have the new currency or there is no change. "If someone brings the new Rs 2,000 currency note and buys things worth even Rs 250, we are at pains to return change," said Mukesh Kumar, a grocer in Patiala town, 80 km from Chandigarh.

Rajasthan's capital Jaipur, famous for its gem and jewellery sector, has seen a sharp decline in business. Jewellers say their trade has come down by almost 50-60 per cent in the last 10 days or so.

A similar situation prevails with the world-renowned Jaipur quilts. "Our trade has seen a sharp decline of almost 60-70 per cent as our quilts were bought mainly by tourists -- and now they do not have cash," said a quilt trader in the city.

Business activity in the bustling markets in Old Delhi has slowed down as the demonetisation move continues to hurt local traders, with markets facing a 50-90 per cent slump in their business.

"Despite strong competition from malls and e-commerce portals, the local traders had managed to retain and grow the customer base so far. However, customers are avoiding shopping at the local markets now due to insufficient cash in the system and local traders do not have an online payment facility," Sanjay Bhargava, General Secretary, Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, told IANS.

Trade in potatoes, a much sought-after produce of Himachal Pradesh, is at a standstill owing to the cash crunch after demonetisation. "There is hardly any wholesaler or agro commodity trading house to buy the potatoes in this area. Most of the farmers have been forced to sell the produce at rates almost less than the actual cost of production," Najaib Gill, a prominent potato grower of Una town, told IANS.

On Goa's beaches, at the beginning of the peak season, the only thing upbeat appear to be the waves. "There is no business. Most foreigners are cash-strapped. Even after standing in queues, they do not get the legal currency notes and we cannot accept old notes. Shacks are suffering because of the demonetisation," All Goa Shack Owners Association President Cruz Cardozo said.

In Hyderabad, Mohammed Ahmed, who deals in hardware and tools, said business was down by 50-70 per cent in the last two weeks. "Customers are coming either with spiked notes or new notes of Rs 2,000. There is acute shortage of loose change which has badly hit our business," said Ahmed of United Agency in the Moazzam Jahi Market area.

In Bengaluru, hawkers, street vendors, roadside shops, eateries, retail outlets and small traders across the board are the worst-hit, as their business plunged over 50 per cent due to the cash-crunch. "Though we managed to serve customers in the initial days with the cash in hand, we could not do business as before due to shortage of notes from Rs 10 to Rs 100," Sharon Tea Stall owner Abraham told IANS in Bengaluru's eastern suburb.

In Chennai, K. Gopalakrishnan, Managing Partner, TransGears, and past President, Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association, told IANS that the cash crunch will aggravate in December when wages have to be paid. "While workers want wages in cash, some of our suppliers insist on cash and carry and this is causing us a major problem. The impact of demonetisation will be felt for one more year," he said.

Further south, a leading florist in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram, who sources about 70 per cent of his flowers from Benguluru, said his business has been affected. "The biggest mistake I made was not taking a swiping machine as I never felt the need for it. I am forced to reduce my orders, as customers are not walking in as before and a huge majority of them ask me if payment can be made through cards," the florist said.

In Srinagar, where shops and establishments recently reopened after over 130 days of curfew, Mohiuddin Hakim, 60, who has been in the wholesale grocery goods business for over 30 years, said he has never been hit so hard by a cash crunch all these years.

"It looks like I have lost all my business while my stocks and bank accounts are still intact. It is like going bankrupt without losing a penny," he said while turning back a few retailers who used to take goods on credit from him and would clear their accounts at month-end.

A Kolkata-based noodles manufacturer said that after demonetisation he has been forced to run his unit at sub-optimal capacity. The daily production has been slashed by 40 per cent.

Middlemen suppliers and traders in noodles have also been feeling the pinch of the cash crunch. "With the falling sales volume, our daily revenue from selling noodles was also squeezed. We usually keep a margin of Rs 2-2.50 a kg for a daily sell of around 180 kg," Soumen Samajpati, a noodles trader, told IANS.

(Biswajit Choudhury anchored this story with inputs from Quaid Najmi, Jaideep Sarin, Anil Sharma, Saurabh Katkurwar, Vishal Gulati, Fakir Balaji, Vekatachary Jagannathan, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, Sanu George, Mohammad Shafeeq, Sheikh Qayoom and Bappaditya Chaterjee)

--IANS

team-bc/vm/sac
Trump taps Betsy DeVos for US Education Secretary

United States,Politics, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Washington, Nov 24 (IANS) US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Betsy DeVos to be his Education Secretary, the first woman to be appointed to his cabinet and a defender of allowing parents to use public funds to send their children to private or religious schools.

"Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate," EFE news quoted Trump as saying in a statement.

"Under her leadership, we will reform the US education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," he said in the statement.

DeVos, 58, was president of the Republican Party in Michigan and currently heads the American Federation for Children, a group that is pushing for expansion of the option allowing parents to use public funds to send their children to schools of their choice, whether they be private or religious institutions.

She is also a strong opponent of teachers' unions, which she has called a formidable "enemy".

DeVos accepted the offer of a Cabinet post, saying in the same statement Trump released that "I am honoured to accept this responsibility to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again."

"The status quo in education is not acceptable. Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfil his or her highest potential," she added.

--IANS

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India imposes safeguard duty on some steel imports

Delhi,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The government has imposed safeguard duty on import of hot rolled flat sheets and alloy or non-alloy steel plates, excluding hot rolled flat products in coil form, to protect domestic steel manufacturers against cheap imports.

The Finance Ministry has said in a notification that the effective duty rate would be calculated after deducting the value of the goods and the anti-dumping duty payable when the import price is below $504 per tonne.

A 10 per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty payable will be imposed on imports up to November 22, 2017. This will be lowered to 8 per cent between November 23, 2017, and November 22, 2018, it said.

A "six per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty is payable, if any, when imported during the period from November 23, 2018, to May 22, 2019, (both days inclusive) at an import price below $504 per ton on CIF (cost, insurance, freight) basis," it added.

Earlier this month, the government had imposed anti-dumping duty for six months on imports of steel wire rods from China.

Last December, India imposed anti-dumping duty, ranging from five per cent to a whopping 57 per cent, on cold rolled steel from China, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the US to curb its imports.

It comes after a 20 per cent import tax failed to check cheaper imports, resulting in losses to domestic producers, such as the state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd.

Earlier this year, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) initiated a probe into dumping of colour-coated steel from China and the European Union.

The Essar Steel India and the JSW Steel Coated Products had filed a petition before the DGAD for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of anti-dumping duty on the alleged dumped imports of "colour-coated/pre-painted flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel originating in or exported from China PR and the European Union".

The Director General (Safeguard) in his final findings in August this year "had come to the conclusion that increased imports of subject goods into India has caused and threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic producers of subject goods, thereby necessitating the imposition of safeguard duty on imports of the subject goods into India."

--IANS

bc/nir/vt
Jagmeet Brar made Trinamool Punjab unit chief

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Ahead of the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday appointed former Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar as the partys state unit chief.

"Brar has been fighting for the cause of the people of Punjab for several years. He will continue to fight against corruption and the drug menace in the state," Trinamool Congress Vice-President Mukul Roy said here.

The Trinamool also said it plans to forge an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Punjab assembly polls.

"The plans for the Punjab polls are being finalised. It is too early to say anything. But we do have a great rapport with the AAP; both want to fulfil the people's wish to get rid of the current SAD-BJP alliance government in the state," said Trinamool MP Sultan Ahmed.

Brar, who was expelled from the Congress in April, is a former member of Parliament and a former Congress Working Committee member.

In the wake of the Congress defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Brar suggested that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical so as to introspect on the worst ever performance of the Congress.

He was eying to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He said his decision to join the Trinamool was in due consultation with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

"My decision to join the Trinamool is part of a larger initiative to form a national alternative and was done after due consultation with the AAP," Brar said.

He said his unconditional support to the AAP will continue so as to rid Punjab of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government.

"Our efforts along with the AAP to rid Punjab of the (Parkash Singh) Badal scourge will continue. There is no scope for difference here," Brar said.

"Our support for the AAP will continue unchanged and unconditionally under the leadership of (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee," he said.

--IANS

and/tsb/bg
Leopard beaten to death near Gurugram

Haryana,National,Environment/Wildlife, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Gurugram, Nov 24 (IANS) A nearly two-year-old leopard was beaten to death on Thursday by villagers near Gurugram, an official said.

The young leopard was killed after allegedly injuring at least six persons in Mundawar village, located in the foothills of Aravali mountain range, near Sohna, some 26 km from Gurugram city.

The leopard entered the village on Thursday morning and was beaten to death by the villagers.

Out of six injured persons, four were admitted to Sohna civil hospital.

Villagers informed the forest department officials but they failed to reach the spot on time.

Angry over the poor response from the forest department, people blocked traffic by keeping the body of the leopard on the Sohna-Ballabgarh road.

People told police that the leopard was spotted in the region on several occasions over the last one year. The information was conveyed to forest officials but they remained inactive.

The body of the leopard has been sent for post-mortem examination.

Authorised forest officials (wildlife) were not available for comment despite efforts.

--IANS

pradeep/sm/bg
Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day as Modi stays away

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned for the day amidst ruckus over demonetisation by the opposition at around 3.00 p.m., shortly after the house met after another adjournment in the post-lunch session.

As the house re-assembled post-lunch at 2.00 p.m., the opposition demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's continued presence in the house. Modi had come to the house at 12.00 noon and sat for an hour. However, he did not return after the lunch break.

Amidst ruckus by the opposition, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, who was in the chair, adjourned the house until 3.00 p.m.

As the house met at 3.00 p.m., the opposition persisted with its demand for Modi's presence in the house during the discussion on demonetisation.

The government accused the opposition of running away from discussion.

As the opposition members trooped to the well of the house, raising slogans against Modi, the chair adjourned the house for the day.

--IANS

mak-sk/nir/vt
'Trump's son participated in meeting on Syria's future'

United States,Politics, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New York, Nov 24 (IANS) Donald Trump Jr., the older son of the US President-elect, in October participated in a private meeting in Paris at which the possibility of supporting Russian efforts to halt the war in Syria was discussed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The meeting took place on October 11 at the Ritz Hotel in the French capital and included diplomats, politicians and businessmen, some of the participants confirmed.

Among the participants was Randa Kassis, who is a member of one of the Syrian opposition groups that was created in Moscow and which, according to the Journal, is being supported by the Kremlin in the search for a end to the war that erupted in Syria five years ago, EFE news reported.

The meeting was organised by Kassis's husband, Fabien Baussart, the President of the French Centre for Political and Foreign Affairs, a think tank that often organises international meetings on subjects on the world agenda.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the younger Trump's participation at the meeting stirred controversy about the role of the now-president-elect's family members in affairs of state and his stated desire to cooperate closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kassis confirmed to the paper that Trump's son had participated in the meeting, saying that he had emphasised the importance of having Russian cooperation in Middle Eastern conflicts such as the one in Syria.

In an earlier message posted on her Facebook page, Kassis had said that the Syrian opposition was sure that Russia and the United States could reach an agreement on the conflict thanks to Trump's presidential victory.

Trump's former campaign chief, Kellyanne Conway, said that Trump Jr. was present only at one roundtable discussion in Paris, adding that Kassis participated in that discussion, and in a group dinner for about 30 people to analyse the prospects for the US election.

Rivalries between Russia and the United States so far have hindered progress on finding a solution for ending the war in Syria despite the efforts being made by the United Nations to get all parties to agree.

Among other issues, the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama and the government in Moscow have not agreed on the role of Syrian President Bashar al Assad in a political solution to the conflict.

--IANS

lok/
Pakistan to supply 52 trainer aircraft to Turkey

Pakistan,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Karachi, Nov 24 (IANS) Pakistan has signed a deal with Turkey to supply 52 Super Mushshak basic trainer aircraft, a minister said.

Talking to media at the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2016, Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer said the deal will strengthen ties between two brotherly countries and result in huge foreign exchange for Pakistan, DunyaNews reported.

"Development of a fleet tanker in collaboration with Turkey, is another example of close relationship in the field of defence production between two countries", Tanveer added.

The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in three batches  in 2017, 2018 and the last batch in 2019.

The indigenously-made Super Mushshak aircraft, is a primary trainer aircraft with a recorded range of 814 km and a maximum speed of 268 km/h. These state-of-the-art training jets, developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), have been in high demand from various African and Middle Eastern nations.

The Minister also announced that another agreement was signed with Ukraine for the upgradation of 200 al-Khalid-1 tanks.

The Al-Khalid or "The Immortal Tank", is a main battle tank developed in a joint venture between China and Pakistan in the 1990s. It is powered by a Ukrainian diesel engine.

Talking to media, Tanveer said Ukraine defence industry is one of the most advanced in the world, which also produced battle tanks for the Russian army.

--IANS

vgu/rn
Kejriwal to hold rallies against demonetisation

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold six rallies in the next four weeks, including one in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, against demonetisation, the AAP announced on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party said it will also hold demonstrations against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in all district headquarters in the country on November 28.

"It is a Rs 8 lakh crore scam," AAP leader Ashish Khetan told the media here, referring to the demonetisation announced by Modi on November 8 that has triggered a cash chaos.

Khetan said Kejriwal will hold public rallies in Meerut, Varanasi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on December 1, 7 and 18 respectively and in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur on December 20, 22 and 23 respectively.

"We will ask seven questions to the public through rallies about demonetisation," Khetan said.

"We will ask them if there should be an independent probe into the documents seized during Income Tax raids into Sahara and Birla's offices which revealed that bribes worth crores of rupees paid to Modi and many other leaders," he said.

Kejriwal had earlier this month accused the Prime Minister of receiving bribes while he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and sought a judicial probe into the issue.

Khetan added that AAP will also ask people if it was right to waive off loans of big industrialists worth Rs 1.14 crore.

"Since demonetisation, around seven lakh crore rupees have been deposited in banks. Should this amount be used to waive off further loans of big corporates? Or should the Prime Minister take strong steps to recover loans worth Rs 8 lakh crore?"

He asked if it was right to waive off loans of 63 big industrialists, including Rs 1,200 crore loan given to Vijay Mallya, just a week after the demonetisation.

"The central government has a list of 648 people who have Swiss bank accounts. Should that list be made public?

"Around 80 lakh crore rupees are stashed in offshore accounts according to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Prime Minister's own estimates. Should there be efforts to bring that money back," Khetan asked.

The AAP has strongly opposed the central government's demonetisation move announced on November 8 and demanded its rollback.

--IANS

vv/mr
People visit Big Bazaar for cash withdrawal

Delhi,National,Business/Economy,Human Interest/Society, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) People visited the outlets of supermarket chain Big Bazaar on Thursday to withdraw cash. They said it was quite convenient than standing in queues outside bank offices and at ATM kiosks for hours.

Thursday was the first day of cash withdrawal facility from Big Bazaar after such a provision was announced on Wednesday by the Future Retail firm at its 258 Big Bazaar and FBB stores in over 115 cities and towns across the country.

The State Bank of India (SBI) helped Big Bazaar activate this facility through the bank's cash at point of sale (POS) machines.

"We have two dedicated card swiping machines for cash withdrawal. Only one transaction is allowed per person and we are giving only Rs 2,000 per transaction. There was rush in the morning but it thinned out in the afternoon," said a staff member.

Customers at the Big Bazaar said they were relieved to find such innovative way of cash withdrawal.

"I had refrained from going to ATMs and banks so far due to the rush and long queues there. I could withdraw cash here very easily today. This service should be extended at all such kind of stores," said Sandeep Kaushik, who visited a Big Bazaar outlet on Thursday.

Some, however, faced inconvenience after debit cards of certain banks like HDFC, ICICI, Punjab National Bank were not accepted by the system.

--IANS

spk/pgh/vt
Vodafone's digital wallet customers to get to withdraw cash from outlets

Delhi,National,Technology,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Vodafone India will allow its 8.4 million-plus Vodafone M-Pesa customers to withdraw cash through their digital wallets from any of its over 120,000 outlets across the country, the company said on Wednesday.

"Vodafone M-Pesa customers do not need to stand in long queues outside ATMs and bank branches for cash. We have invested in building a nationwide network of over 120,000 M-Pesa outlets, equivalent to the numbers of bank branches in the country," said Suresh Sethi, Business Head, Vodafone M-Pesa, in a statement here.

Over 56 per cent of these outlets are located in rural India.

"Our customers can visit any of these outlets and use the unique cash-out feature of Vodafone M-Pesa to withdraw cash from their digital wallets at their own convenience. Further, our digital wallet too can be easily digitally loaded via credit/debit cards or net banking," he added.

Customers need to carry an identity proof to their nearest M-Pesa outlet from where they can withdraw money, subject to availability, in line with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, the statement added.

--IANS

ag/tsb/dg
RBI's cash for wedding rules: Rude jokes on happy occasion

Delhi,National,Business/Economy,Human Interest/Society, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) News of a wedding being called off here on account of the cash crunch following the recent demonetisation of high value currency notes starkly highlights some irrational conditions imposed by the RBI on withdrawal of Rs 2.5 lakh in cash permitted for marriage expenses.

An eight-month-long engagement was called off here on Wednesday, two days before the wedding.

"The groom's family was demanding a high-end car, diamond jewellery and cash. We couldn't raise enough cash to fulfill their demands owing to the notes-ban and they called-off the marriage," Tilak Raj Singh, an uncle of the bride, told IANS.

The distressed woman's father, a businessman in Delhi, could manage to raise only Rs 2.5 lakh due to the restraints following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday imposed stiff conditions for withdrawal of up to Rs 2.5 lakh in cash from bank accounts for weddings, saying the money can be withdrawn only from the credit balance as on the day demonetisation was announced on November 8.

"A maximum of Rs 2,50,000 is allowed to be withdrawn from bank deposit accounts till December 30, 2016, out of the balances at credit in the account as of close of business on November 8, 2016," the RBI notification said.

"Withdrawals can be made by either of the parents or the person getting married (only one of them will be permitted to withdraw)," it said.

Moreover, there should be "a detailed list of persons to whom the cash withdrawn is proposed to be paid, together with a declaration from such persons that they do not have a bank account. The list should indicate the purpose for which the proposed payments are being made," the notification added.

Families that have weddings planned during this period were reluctant to go on record with their problems post-demonetisation. The parents of a prospective groom spoke to IANS on the matter.

"We have been hearing scary stories related to marriages and such other occasions due to dearth of cash. The government should have implemented proper replenishment schemes keeping in mind that the Indian economy is largely cash-based... around 85 per cent of transactions are done in cash," said the groom's father Abhijit Sinha.

"Also, the local vendors carry out almost 90 per cent of their dealings in cash... how are they supposed to carry out their business," he wondered.

"The bank people were very helpful, but the rules are pathetic. For instance, how do I give a 'tentative expense detail' of the wedding," asked the groom's mother Sharmila Sinha.

"Another thing that it asks for is to certify that no other person in the groom's or bride's family is withdrawing cash for the same wedding from your bank or any other bank... Isn't that bizarre," she said.

"Besides, how are we supposed to meet all the wedding expenses within Rs 2.5 lakh," she added.

The issue of the curious conditions posed by RBI was also put to the bankers in Kolkata.

"We will follow the RBI's instruction and take the credit balance of the account as on November 8, even if customers have higher credit balance at the time of withdrawal," State Bank of India's Chief General Manager (Kolkata Circle) Partha Pratim Sengupta told IANS.

"There has been complete chaos going on for the last two weeks. From the point of practicality, banks should consider the updated credit balance at the withdrawal but this has not been allowed," Bank Employees Federation of India General Secretary Pradip Kumar Biswas told IANS.

Asked about the plight of parents required to meet such stiff compliance terms for cash withdrawal, UCO Bank's Kolkata Zone Nodal Officer Samir Kumar Dey said: "I would not make any comment. You see and judge."

"Bank branches will ask for the lists of the persons to whom the cash withdrawn will be paid and bank will seek declarations from such persons that they do not have a bank account," he added.

--IANS

bc-bdc-ppg/pgh/dg
Jaitley says maximum black money generated in UPA rule

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Defending the demonetisation decision as "correct", Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said maximum black money was generated during the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's rule.

"The steps this government has taken are right and are being implemented in the right manner," the minister told the media in Parliament House here.

Lashing out at the Congress, Jaitley said: "We are not surprised when we hear from those who ran the government between 2004 and 2014 that they do not like these steps against black money."

"The maximum black money was generated in this country between 2004 and 2014. The biggest corruption scandals pertaining to the Commonwealth Games, the 2G spectrum and the coal blocks took place during this period," he added.

Jaitley said people who did not consider these scandals to be blunders were now considering the campaign against black money and corruption to be a blunder.

Jaitley was referring to former Prime Minister and Congress's Rajya Sabha member Manmohan Singh describing the post-dmonetisation chaos as "organised plunder", which he apparently mistook as "blunder".

"This is the exact rational argument that they will put forward in the debate in Parliament as it takes place. But it's obvious that the opposition is uncomfortable with the debate and are inventing ...a ... manufacturing reason to run away from the debate," the minister said.

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday resumed discussion on the government's demonetisation move after facing repeated adjournments for the past five days.

However, the opposition again forced adjournment of the house in the post-lunch session over its demand for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate.

--IANS

rak/ps/tsb/vt
Sony launches new flagship camera at Rs 249,990

Delhi,Business/Economy,Technology, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Sony India on Thursday launched a new flagship camera 'a99 II' -- an 'A-mount' interchangeable lens camera for high resolution and continuous shooting at high-frame rates.

Consumers can buy 'a99 II' camera at select Sony Centres and other electronic and digital imaging stores across the country at Rs 249,990, the company said in a statement.

The "a99 II" with 42.4MP resolution is eight per cent smaller than the original a99 and has a newly-designed grip, magnesium alloy body, dual SD card slot and other upgrades that improve both hold and operation.

"The camera has been designed without an optical low-pass filter to allow the finest natural details and textures to be captured with depth and realism and the photographer can select compressed or uncompressed RAW files, as required," the company said.

The new camera combines the hybrid phase detection auto-focus (AF) system with exclusive Sony A-mount features such as Translucent Mirror Technology (TMT) and is capable of recording high-quality footage at 100 Mbps for 4K recording.

The phase detection auto-focus system is capable of 'full-time AF' and is the first implementation of 4D Focus in the full-frame "a" series.

--IANS

anuj/na/bg
Rajya Sabha adjourned over Modi's absence during debate (Third Lead)

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned for the day after a spate of adjournments as the opposition continued to create ruckus over demonetisation issue and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi sit through the debate on it.

As the house re-assembled post-lunch at 2 p.m., the opposition demanded Modi's continued presence. Modi had come to the house at 12 noon and sat for an hour -- after five days' parliamentary business was washed out by protests over his absence. However, he did not return after the lunch break.

Although Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the house that the Prime Minister will participate in the debate on demonetisation, the opposition was not convinced and kept protesting.

Amidst din, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned the house until 3 p.m. but the situation was no better at 3 p.m. and the house was ultimately adjourned for the day.

Soon after the house met for the day's business at 11 a.m., Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Chair that former Prime Minister and Congress member Manmohan Singh wanted to speak on demonetisation issue.

Kurien, who was presiding, promptly allowed Singh to speak.

But Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley objected to Singh's speaking on the issue, saying a debate on the issue was on and nobody can speak while "holding up the debate".

"There is a debate in continuation. The honourable former Prime Minister is entitled to participate in debate. But you can't say I'll hold up the debate and give the opposition a special opportunity to speak. That is something totally unacceptable."

"You can't devise a new procedure," he said, adding that if there is no debate, nobody from the opposition will be allowed to speak.

Kurien reminded him that it was Zero Hour but Jaitley said that it was not being conducted "in the normal manner of a Zero Hour".

"If it is on the issue of demonetisation or currency issue, the opposition should start the debate. Let Manmohan Singh speak in the debate. We'll answer him," he added.

The opposition members protested noisily against the government's position and amid pandemonium, the house was adjourned till noon.

To the opposition's surprise, Prime Minister Modi arrived in the house at 12 noon and members welcomed him with applause.

The house functioned normally for the next one hour as the Prime Minister sat and patiently heard the opposition members, including Manmohan Singh and Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party.

As soon as the house met after the lunch break, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, who was speaking when the house was adjourned, said she had requested Modi to sit through the debate in the post-lunch sitting as well.

"The entire opposition requested the Prime Minister to sit through the debate. It is sad that he is not in the house after lunch," she said.

The BSP chief was supported by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Azad.

"We had said that if the Prime Minister is here for the debate, the house will run, otherwise it will not run," Azad said.

Kurien, however, countered him by asking how was it possible for the Prime Minister to be present all the time.

Hitting out at opposition, Jaitley said: "I had this doubt and now it is confirmed that the opposition is trying to run away from debate and trying to find reasons for it... Continue the debate, Modi will participate as per the tradition. There is no tradition that the Prime Minister will sit through the whole debate."

Azad, however, said that during the debate on 2G scam, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the whole debate on the opposition's insistence.

As opposition members created a ruckus, the house was adjourned till 3 p.m.

As the house was reconvened, the opposition persisted with its demand for Modi's presence and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into what the members called was a selective leak of the demonetisation decision. Minutes later, the Chair adjourned the house for the day.

--IANS

mak-sk/vd/vt
IIT student strength to be one lakh by 2020

Delhi,National,Education, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The overall students' strength of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the country will be enhanced to one lakh by 2020, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey said the IIT-Council has approved, in-principle, the proposal for increasing the overall students' strength in the IITs from the current 82,604 to one lakh by the year 2020.

The Minister said the IIT-Council took the decision at its 50th meeting held on Wednesday.

While asserting that there "is no adverse effect" on studies in the institutes due to shortage of faculty, Pandey said the IITs were taking faculty-enhancing measures.

"The IITs have been taking measures to attract quality faculty, which include year-round open advertisements, invitation through search-cum-selection procedures to alumni/scientists/faculty, advertisements in international journals, and appointment of NRIs and PIOs to faculty positions on the same terms as applicable to regular faculty.

"In addition, Institutes are engaging contract, adjunct and visiting faculty," he said.

"The government has also launched the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) to enable foreign faculty to teach some courses in the higher educational institutions," said the minister.

He also said that several steps such as outstanding young faculty awards, mobility of faculty from one central educational institute to another, and pay parity to faculty have also been taken to attract best faculty in these institutions.

--IANS

and/pgh/dg
Tens of thousands evacuated in Israel amidst wave of fires

Israel,Defence/Security,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Jerusalem, Nov 24 (IANS) Fires on Thursday forced a widespread evacuation in Haifa and foreign countries sent in firefighting planes to help put out a three-day wave of forest fires across Israel.

Tens of thousands of residents from around 11 neighbourhoods were forced to evacuate the areas immediately, along with Haifa University and many businesses, Xinhua news agency reported.

In addition, the municipality transferred hundreds of pupils from nearby kindergartens and schools to alternative schools.

"We have no control on the fire... we are in a state of war," a police official said.

Firefighting teams and planes struggled with multiple blazes in the area from the Carmel ridge to the Mediterranean coast.

Other teams fought fires near the coastal city of Caesarea, Rishon LeZion city south of Tel Aviv, the Wadi Ara region in northern Israel, and in Jerusalem.

The fires spread quickly amidst exceptionally dry and windy weather.

Heavy smoke spread to nearby neighbourhoods as residents ran out of their homes carrying bags or their pets.

The Fire and Rescue Service declared "a state of emergency", and 300 firefighter reservists from the Homefront Command were called to duty.

The Homefront Command also deployed two Search and Rescue battalions in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, a military spokesperson said.

Three Greek firefighting planes, capable of refilling their water tanks at sea, arrived in Haifa, to help hundreds of local firefighters put out the fires.

Three more planes are expected from Turkey, which renewed its diplomatic relations with Israel in June.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke over phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance.

Putin told Netanyahu he will send two B-200 planes, each capable of carrying 13,000 liters of water and flame retardants.

Firefighting planes from Croatia, Cyprus, and Italy are also expected to land at a military base in Israel on Thursday, following the government's request for international help.

Uri Chibotero, Haifa district's Fire Service spokesman, said the fires erupted simultaneously in at least four areas in the coastal city of Haifa, reinforcing suspicions that arson was involved.

However, Luba Samri, police spokeswoman said that police forces are still investigating if arson caused the fires.

A rain deficit since the beginning of the winter season, combined with days of dry air and strong easterly winds, stoked the fire, spreading it across central and northern Israel.

The fires started on Tuesday near Neve Shalom, a community between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, forcing the evacuation of the entire community.

Further forest fires caught dozens of other regions from Jerusalem to Nahariya, Israel's northernmost coastal city.

According to Magen David Adom, Israel's medical emergency service, at least 21 people, including five toddlers, needed medical care for smoke inhalation. However, there were no reports of serious injuries.

MetaoTech weather service said the dry and windy weather conditions are expected to last until the start of next week.

In 2010, a massive forest fire in the Carmel ridge in northern Israel, which erupted under similar weather conditions, raged for days, killing 42 people.

The media harshly criticised Netanyahu back then for procrastinating in asking help from the international community.

The incident led to reforming firefighting services, including establishing an airborne firefighting squadron.

--IANS

py/dg
Two held with Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes

Delhi,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Two persons were apprehended with Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes at Nizamuddin Railkway Station, the city police said on Thursday evening.

Ajit Pal Singh and Rajender Singh, both residents of Pitampura in Delhi, were arrested by a team of Delhi Police Crime Branch.

"They were carrying Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes from Nizammudin Railway Station," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

They were nabbed at the station with the cash, which they had brought with them from Mumbai, the police officer said.

The Income Tax Department and Intelligence Bureau officials, along with a team of the Crime Branch personnel are jointly interrogating them, Yadav added.

--IANS

sp/vgu/vt
Two more including doctor arrested in Bengal child smuggling racket

West Bengal,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Nov 24 (IANS) A nursing home's owner and a doctor were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal Police in relation with the inter-state child smuggling racket that was busted two days back here, a senior CID official said on Thursday.

"The owner of Sri Krishna Nursing Home on College Street have been arrested along with Dr Santosh Kumar Samanta for their involvement in the racket," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal Police) Bharatlal Meena said.

With these arrests, the total number of people nabbed in the sensational case involving several nursing homes in Kolkata and adjacent districts has shot up to 13.

Eight persons, including a doctor, two quacks and an owner of Sohan Nursing Home - suspected to be the centre of the crime - were arrested from Baduria in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday for allegedly running the racket.

CID sleuths detained one woman from the same nursing home and two more from Behala based South View Nursing Home on Wednesday. They were arrested later.

The arrested people were connected to three nursing homes, a health clinic and a North 24 Parganas-based non government organisation. The number of arrests may go up with the investigators suspecting the involvement of more city based health facilities in the racket.

The matter came to light on Tuesday, when acting on a tip off, CID personnel raided Sohan Nursing Home and Polyclinic in North 24 Parganas district's Baduria on Monday night and recovered three infants who were about to be smuggled out, the officer said.

The culprits used to tell the parents that the newborns have died and then smuggle the infants inside biscuit packages via the NGO, Meena said.

The racket was going on for almost three years and police fear they trafficked around 25-30 infants in that period. Some of the infants were trafficked to other states as well, he said.

The arrested people have been slapped with various charges like kidnapping (IPC 369), exploitation (IPC 370) and criminal conspiracy (IPC 120B).

--IANS

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Sushma Swaraj not to attend Heart of Asia meet in Amritsar

Delhi,National,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who has suffered kidney failure, will not attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar next month, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup gave the information during his weekly briefing here.

Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz would be attending the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

The conference on development and security in Afghanistan is likely to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Swarup did not confirm the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan, stating that talks and terror can't go together.

The conference will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 18 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Sushma Swaraj is waiting for a kidney transplant and is under close observation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

--IANS

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CBI arrests Garrison Engineer in bribery case

Delhi,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The CBI has arrested a Garrison Engineer for accepting new currency notes worth Rs 25,000 as bribe on the pretext of releasing three pending bills of a private construction company worth Rs 26 lakh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths held R.S. Verma, the assistant engineer (Western Command) Chandimandir -- a military cantonment area in Panchkula district in Haryana -- red handed while receiving the first bribery instalment from the complainant, CBI Spokesperson Devpreet Singh told IANS on Thursday.

"It was alleged in the complaint that three bills amounting to Rs 14 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for construction contract carried out at the Western Command Chandimandir by the private construction company were pending with the sub-division Garrison Engineer," Singh said.

"The bills were to be allegedly released by the engineer for which he demanded Rs 60,000 from the complainant. He was arrested while receiving the first instalment of Rs 25,000," he added.

Verma has been booked under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act following a complaint received from the partner of the private construction company.

--IANS

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Tripura's Left parties to observe 12-hour November 28 shutdown

Tripura,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Agartala, Nov 24 (IANS) The ruling CPI-M -led Left Front in Tripura has called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown on November 28 to protest against demonetisation, party leaders announced here on Thursday.

"As part of the all-India agitation against the Centre's November 8 demonetisation, we urge the people of Tripura to observe the 12-hour strike across the state," Tripura Left Front convenor and former Lok Sabha member Khagen Das told reporters here.

Accompanied by other Left leaders, he said the four Left parties in Tripura will also organise a two-hour protest demonstration in front of the central government offices on November 26 on the issue.

"We have already requested the Centre to continue with the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency till December 30 or until the cash crunch is dealth with."

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is the leading partner in the ruling Left Front in Tripura.

Das, a former Health and Revenue Minister in Tripura, said the people, especially the poor, farmers, unorganised workers, daily labourers, small and medium traders are the worst victim of the Modi government's demonetisation decision.

On Tuesday, six Left parties, including the CPI-M and the Communist Party of India, announced in New Delhi a week-long mass movement across the country beginning from Thursday.

--IANS

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Two held with Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes

Delhi,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Two persons were apprehended with Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes at the Nizamuddin Railway Station here, the police said on Thursday evening.

Ajit Pal Singh, 41, and Rajender Kumar, 51, both residents of Pitampura in Delhi, were arrested by a team of Delhi Police Crime Branch. They worked for an industrialist, Sanjay Malik, who owns a pharmaceutical factory in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.

"They were carrying Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes from Bandra in Mumbai to Nizamuddin Railway Station," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

"The cash which Rajender and Ajit took from Mumbai belonged to Malik. He got his money (old notes) changed and also took commission from acquaintances. So far about Rs 1.5 crore of new currency has been brought from Mumbai," Yadav said.

Both Kumar and Pal told interrogators there are many agents and sub agents dealing in new currency and gold.

The two were apprehended outside the station with the cash, while waiting for a car driven by Malik's employee Rajiv Thapa, the police officer said.

They travelled from Bandra to Delhi in the Sampark Kranti Express without ticket or any other valid identity card. They carried the Rs 27 lakh in new currency in a bag.

Pal works in Malik's company, while Kumar received Rs 5,000 salary from Malik. He used to live in Malik's residence in Pitampura. Both do not have any PAN card, police said.

The Income Tax Department and Intelligence Bureau officials, along with a team of the Crime Branch personnel, are jointly interrogating them, Yadav added.

"The police is looking for Sanjay Malik and other agents in Mumbai who are involved in this syndicate," Yadav said.

--IANS

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Union Cabinet mulls ways to promote cashless transactions

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Union Cabinet on Thursday discussed ways to promote cashless transactions by various ministries, which have been directed to promote the use of e-wallet and unified payments interface, informed sources said.

The Cabinet meeting -- presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- is also learnt to have approved the amendments to the Income Tax Act to levy tax on unaccounted deposits in banks after the November 8 demonetisation.

The sources in the Finance Ministry said on November 23 that post-demonetisation, a whopping Rs 21,000 crore had been deposited in Jan Dhan bank accounts across the country, with the maximum reported from West Bengal.

The second meeting of the Cabinet in as many days was held as opposition parties plan to hold protests across the country on November 28 over the government's demonetisation decision.

The government has demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb black money and corruption as well as to move the economy further towards digital transactions.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier in the day held a meeting through video conferencing with top executives of public and private sector banks.

He said physical currency must shrink while the economy should expand with more focus on the digital currency.

--IANS

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Never consider myself a successful person: Philip Lee

Goa,Cinema/Showbiz,Bollywood,Hollywood, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Panjim, Nov 24 (IANS) Philip Lee, the iconic producer of "The Revenant", "Crouching Tiger" and "The Dark Knight", says he does not allow success to overpower his humility as his aim is to keep working hard.

Lee, who visited 10th NFDC Film Bazaar here on Wednesday, told IANS: "I never consider myself as a successful person. I am not being humble but this is true. It is not good for my soul to say that I am successful."

Though Lee is academically explored a lot and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Directing from the College of Arts at Nihon University in Japan, a Diploma in Management of Executive Development from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Master of Fine Arts in Producing from The American Film Institute (AFI) and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, he went through a hard way to reach curve his niche.

"I started off working at the back office of a film company where I used to do paper works... However, one day I went to my boss and asked if I can change the department, as I wanted to get in to the creative process of filmmaking.

"Since then I am doing what I wanted to do. I work hard so that I can continue doing my work passionately. This industry is very challenging!" he shared.

Lee says that he wants to explore Indian films and this is the reason why he is in the country.

"Well, one of the reasons I am here is to get a better exposure of Indian films because I did not watch them so far. The Indian market always fascinates me. Therefore, if I can collaborate, it would be great.

"Film is the very important medium to get expose to the culture of any country. You know, in fact I was trying to make an Indian movie with a friend of mine here eight years ago. However, it did not happen then, it might happen this time," he said.

The producer is going to conduct a Master Class at the NFDC Film Bazaar on Mounting and Positioning the Epic across Cultures.

And he is excited.

"When they told me I have to take a 'Master Class', I was like, hey don't call me a 'Master', I just want to share my journey with youngsters. I learnt from mistakes as I have seen cross-over culture and projects. I just want to share all that in my class," he said.

(The writer's trip to Goa has been sponsored by NFDC Film Bazaar. Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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Demonetisation imposed with eye on UP polls: Samajwadi MP

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The demonetisation of high value currency was done keeping the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in mind, Samajwadi Party's Naresh Agrawal said on Thursday.

Taking part in a debate on demonetisation in the upper House, Agrawal said his party was opposed to the move as it was implemented in a hurry and as a result it had not been successful.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) indulged in theatrics against black money to divert voters' attention ahead of the assembly elections in the state," he added.

Agrawal pointed to the inconveniences of the lower and middle classes on account of the sudden demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and asked: "Which industrialist, politician, IAS/IPS officer or protector of terrorists is standing in queues today?"

He sought to know why no initiatives were taken against unaccounted money hoarded abroad. "There has also been no action against Vijay Mallya."

--IANS

mg/nir/mr
Egypt court jails 15 Morsi loyalists 10 years over violence

Egypt,Immigration/Law/Rights,Politics, Fri, 25 Nov 2016 IANS

Cairo, Nov 25 (IANS) An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 15 supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison over inciting violence and vandalism in Suez province northeast of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The defendants, mostly from Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, have also been accused of assaulting a police officer and a conscript from Suez police station, Xinhua news agency reported.

Suez Criminal Court also acquitted four defendants in the same case that dates back to 2014 when a group of Morsi's supporters held anti-government protests and riots in support of the deposed Islamist President.

Most of Morsi's loyalists, including the ousted President himself, are currently in custody facing various charges varying from inciting violence to espionage.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a 25-year jail term against Morsi in the case of espionage in favour of the Palestinian Hamas movement and ordered the ex-President's retrial. A week earlier, the court overturned the death sentence against Morsi in a 2011 jailbreak case.

Morsi was overthrown by the army in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group. Later crackdown on his supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

--IANS

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Colombian government, FARC sign revised peace agreement

Colombia,Politics, Fri, 25 Nov 2016 IANS

Bogota, Nov 25 (IANS) Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono, signed a revised peace agreement here on Thursday.

The revised agreement will be sent to Congress, Xinhua news agency reported.

The initial peace agreement was rejected by a slight margin in an October 2 referendum vote, after the conservative opposition led by former hardline President Alvaro Uribe said it did not go far enough to hold the rebels accountable for past crimes.

The vote sent both sides back to the negotiating table, with Colombian President Santos insisting a new deal be ready as quickly as possible to maintain the momentum of the negotiations, which lasted nearly four years.

Santos' government said earlier this week that the new treaty takes into account the Opposition's concerns.

--IANS

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INVITE GEORGE WASHINGTON AND PATRICK HENRY TO YOUR HOME THIS CHRISTMAS

By Chuck Baldwin

November 24, 2016

NewsWithViews.com

I am happy to report that the highly prized FREEDOM DOCUMENTS are now available. Many people greatly anticipate this fall printing of THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS so they can purchase them as Christmas gifts. Heres how it all came about.

A few years ago, I sadly discovered that it was next to impossible to find our nations great historical documents compiled in one volume, so we decided to fix that problem. It took us a full year to research and compile over 50 of our countrys greatest historical documents, but we did it.

Now you can have these great documents at your fingertips in one beautifully bound, easy-to-read format. These are the documents that gave birth to the greatest free nation on earth. Nowhere else that we know of can you find these documents complete in one volume under one title. We call this magnificent collection THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. This compilation of documents is available only via Chuck Baldwin Live. Our supply is very limited and will not last long.

This is the great compilation of historical documents that presidential candidate and former Texas Congressman Ron Paul has in his possession--as does Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. The Tennessee State Supreme Court also ordered several copies. Pastors, teachers, high school and college students, law and history students, and homeschoolers have found THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS immensely valuable to the study of American history and civics.

Included in this remarkable volume are documents such as The Mayflower Compact, The First Thanksgiving Proclamation, the complete text of Patrick Henrys immortal Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech, The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, George Washingtons Farewell Address, Ronald Reagans First and Second Inaugural Addresses, and so on.

We have also included several letters written between John and Abigail Adams. Do you remember the poem about Paul Reveres ride? Well it, too, is included in this compilation. Also included is the letter written from within the Alamo by William Barret Travis to the people of Texas. Of course, the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights are also there.

This giant compilation includes more than 50 documents, over 170 full-sized pages complete with a spiral ring binding for easy copying and a professionally designed color cover. This volume is must-reading for every American patriot. For the price of a couple of good pizzas, you can have the great documents of American history delivered to your door.

The price is $35 for a single copy, or $25 each if you purchase two or more, plus a $5 shipping fee for each book. Example: if you order two books, the total price is $60. (The shipping cost might be more for books delivered outside the continental United States.) Simply mail your check or money order to:

Chuck Baldwin Live

P.O. Box 10

Kila, MT 59920

We also take credit cards. Obviously, this is the fastest way to obtain your copy of THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. To order by credit card online or to learn more about THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS.

In spite of rising packaging and shipping costs, we are maintaining THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS current low price again this year.

Former Constitution Party Presidential candidate, the late Howard Phillips, said, THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS is must-reading for every American. It is essential that this volume be placed in every home in the country. I read my copy daily. We require our homeschooled children to study THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS.

Do not look for this volume in stores; it can only be purchased here. A retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel thought he could find a volume containing these documents by simply going to the Internet. After searching several days without success, he ordered two copies of THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. He called my office and said, Tell Chuck hes right. You cant find these documents anywhere else in one volume. I tried.

Here are some other personal testimonials of people who have purchased THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS:

Im ordering one for me and one for our local library. -GP, Kaunakakai, HI

I really appreciate Chuck for putting this together!! I'm sending copies to my two different sets of homeschooled grandchildren. -DH, Lewisville, Texas

Im looking forward to sending one of these to each of our seven children. -JN, Post Falls, Idaho

Thank you for putting this together. Should be required reading for all high school students. We can't wait to get it! -CB, Laurinburg, North Carolina

Ive been stressing the importance of our Constitution and Bill of Rights to my children, and this is a treasured gift that's worth more than money can buy. -BT, Granbury, Texas

I have just started homeschooling my 12-year-old, and this is a perfect resource! -SM, Redlands, California

Thank You for putting this awesome collection of historic documents together." -CB, Pendleton, Indiana

Thank you, Dr. Baldwin, for compiling this fantastic collection of documents. I have purchased copies for our children, copies for our closest friends and copies for the children of our closest friends. Again, thank you! Besides the Bible, this is the best book I have read in a long time." -RK, Austin, Texas

I ordered several last year and gave as Christmas gifts. THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS are amazing! Thank you! -DW, Smithfield, Kentucky

You will be most happy to know that this morning THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS arrived. I went into raptures. I cherish my FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. Thank you, Pastor Chuck, for getting it into one binding and making it possible to hold such priceless documents for what is really a frugal price. -John, Queensland, Australia

We bought your FREEDOM DOCUMENTS and gave them away as presents to our children and others. They are great, and it is wonderful to have them all in one volume. They will be used to teach our children from kindergarten through twelfth grade and beyond. -MS, Hillsdale, Michigan

I have begun reading through my copy of THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. I must admit, I was somewhat skeptical of the price before purchase, but now that I am reading it, I understand what a bargain it is! Priceless! -KT, Massachusetts

THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS could save our country, if we can get enough people to order it. -WS, Mansfield, Texas

I just wanted to say that I received my order and they are great! This is by far the best collection I have seen. I am a disabled Vet and would like to order 5 more to send to my children. -GB, Oakhurst, Oklahoma

Good job. Ill give my extra copy to my old high school. -RM, Fargo, North Dakota

I am a deacon in our church and hope to use these books as teaching aids. Please send four copies. -SO, Ocala, Florida

I believe you will be just as pleased to receive your copy of THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS as were these folks.

Again, here is the link to order THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS

Notice how many people are ordering THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS for their children and grandchildren. This is for good reason. We know the public schools stopped educating students regarding real American history decades ago. And, sadly, most private, parochial, and Christian schools do not teach much U.S. history either--especially when it comes to the content of these great documents. The unfortunate reality is, if most young people do not obtain THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS, they will grow into adulthood having never read the vast majority of these wonderful historical documents. I remember being required to study some of these great documents in public school when I was a youngster. But those days are long gone!

More than one person has told me that once they started reading THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS they could not stop. They have told me that as they read these great documents the feeling of national pride and patriotism swelled in their hearts like never before. These documents will truly inspire (or re-inspire) the great feeling of American patriotism like little else will. And why not? These are the documents that came from the minds and hearts of the great men and women who birthed and built this wonderful country. I am sure that the Spirit of 76 will swell in your heart, too, as you read THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS.

Remember, this is a special, limited Christmas printing and will not last long. Plus, a delay in ordering may result in the books not arriving before Christmas. So order now!

One more time, here is the link to order THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS

[If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link.] [I also have many books and DVDs available for purchase online. Go to Chuck Baldwin Live Store]

 2016 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved





Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.



E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Website: ChuckBaldwinLive.com
The US State Department has for the first time listed 27 years old French Moroccan terrorist Abdelilah Himich as a dangerous terrorist as the younger former serviceman is cited as one of the key masterminds of Paris and Brussels attacks.

Himich according to US authorities played a crucial role in the two attacks which killed 130 people 2015 and 32 in March this year.

Born in Rabat Himich has not been suspected of any terrorist ideology. He left the kingdom of Morocco very young for France, near the city of Montpellier where he spent his childhood.

Nurturing big ambitions, Himich also nicknamed Abu Sulayman Al Faransi enlisted in the French army, the Foreign Legion in 2008, at the age of 19. He fought in Afghanistan against the Taliban.

He served in the army for two year until 2010. He gave up the service upon frustration after he was denied to attend his late fathers burial. He was arrested in 2011 in possession of around 1kg of cocaine worth 50,000 euros. He was condemned in 2013 to four years in prison, one on respite, reports say.

The young Moroccan in prison would undergo brainwash. Freed in 2014 and put under surveillance, Himich fled France for Syria via Italy, Greece, Turkey to join al-Qaeda-linked group al Nusra group. He later joined Islamic State group (IS) to become one of the groups key officers.

Himich according American officials in Syria established a battalion called Tarik Ibn Zyad made of foreign IS militants. The group provided support for attacks in Syria, Iraq.

Himich quickly and easily climbed to high ranking position in the global terrorist group thanks to his military skills and experience, the French center for terrorism analysis CAT notes.

Himich has never been associated to the Paris and Brussels attacks but the State Department points out that it possesses evidences of his support for the attacks.
Soon deliberate efforts to use redistricting to maximize the GOP advantage in state legislatures and in the U.S. House could face judicial scrutiny. Photo: Darren Hauck/Getty Images

As the clock slowly ticks down toward the next decennial round of congressional and state legislative redistricting after the 2020 census, a federal court decision in Wisconsin could represent the beginning of a whole new regime of judicial supervision of partisan gerrymandering.

The 2-1 decision from a three-judge district court panel is a potential landmark because it adopted a new standard for judging redistricting actions aimed at maximizing partisan advantages, something courts have in the past considered impractical.

At the Washington Post, Kim Soffen explains the cases potential significance:

Numerous times since the civil rights era, courts have struck down how partisan state legislatures set up legislative districts on the grounds that those decisions diminished the political power of racial minorities. But courts have been far less likely to intervene in cases where states organized voting districts to boost one party, preferring to not get involved in explicitly political matters.

This was why the decision Monday by the federal District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin was so significant. The court found that the Republican-held legislature had intentionally manipulated district lines to favor Republican candidates. And that manipulation was so extreme, it found, that it violated the one person, one vote principle and the Democratic voters rights to fair representation required by the Constitutions promises of equal protection.

Federal courts have on occasion questioned partisan gerrymanders that were transparently designed to dilute minority voting rights. But this is a whole new thing. And it seems designed to appeal to one very important Supreme Court justice: Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote in this as in so many other areas of constitutional law, who has kept the door open to challenges to partisan gerrymandering but has never favored one because of the difficulty of measuring the offense or providing a remedy.

In Vieth v. Jubelirer in 2004, four of the justices, in a characteristically vigorous plurality decision by Justice Antonin Scalia, [argued] the issue should be off limits to the courts because there were still no judicially discernible and manageable standards for gauging when mapdrawers went too far. Another four justices remained steadfast that the issue was proper one for the courts and proposed various tests for evaluating partisan gerrymander claims. Meanwhile, Justice Anthony Kennedy found himself in the familiar role of the middleman, neither prepared to embrace the tests offered by the other justices nor prepared to join Justice Scalia in saying the issue should be forever banished from the courts. Partisan gerrymandering returned to the high court two years later in LULAC v. Perry. Again, the Court was unable to agree on a standard, leaving the status quo in place.

In the decade since, the issue of partisan gerrymandering has remained largely dormant.

Not anymore. Because of the multi-judge decision, the Wisconsin case could go straight to the Supreme Court. And the decision indeed offers a standard  albeit a novel one  for determining unlawful partisan gerrymanders. Its called an efficiency gap  a measurement of the disproportionate number of votes wasted by voters of the disfavored party (in other words, votes that dont contribute to victory for candidates). The courts more general objective was to keep the efficiency gap from becoming so high that it would effectively entrench the power of the gerrymandering party until the next redistricting cycle almost no matter what actual voters wanted.

As one of the academic originators of the efficiency gap explained in a 2014 article, it offers courts a standard similar to the one they already use to determine the compatibility of variations in district size with the one-person, one-vote principle. That seems to be precisely what Anthony Kennedy has been asking for in past SCOTUS cases.

Election law expert Rick Hasen lays out the possible trajectory of the case:

[W]hat happens when this case gets to the Supreme Court? There are four votes (the four liberals) likely to embrace the result in this case, if not necessarily the precise reasoning. There are three Justices (CJ Roberts, and Justices Alito and Thomas) likely to reject the claim in this case as non-justiciable. So to get to a fifth vote there are two possibilities: Justice Kennedy likes what he sees here, in contrast to the other cases where he has waited and rejected other standards, or a new Ninth Justice appointed by President Trump votes for it. How likely is that? Well Trump has promised to appoint someone like Justice Scalia, if that new Justice votes like Scalia, its not likely at all. But this is not an issue that necessarily breaks along party lines, and so we will have to see how things go.

So bottom line: this is a big victory for those who want to see courts rein in partisan gerrymandering. But it is anybodys guess what happens to this when it gets to the Supreme Court.

If Kennedy buys the plaintiffs argument in this case, we could see not only regular judicial interference with legislative gerrymandering, but a particular benefit to Democrats, who (a) are very likely still to be in the minority in many states after 2020, and (b) have a particular and severe problem with the kind of vote wastage the new standard would examine.

Indeed, the partisan implications of the case are so large that the Wisconsin legislature could decide not to appeal the decision, taking a bullet for the national party while keeping SCOTUS from getting the case right away. Who knows? By the time the case makes it to the High Court, perhaps Donald Trump will have reshaped it. But otherwise the days of free-and-easy partisan gerrymandering could be numbered.
NYPD counterterrorism funding could be at risk. Photo: @NYPDCT/Twitter

As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to block federal funding to sanctuary cities  generally, those municipalities, like New York City, that refuse to comply with some elements of federal immigration enforcement  and he appears ready to follow through on some aspects of that plan when he takes office.

New York City is getting more than $8 billion from the federal government in this years budget, though a bit more than $1 billion is in disaster recovery and Hurricane Sandy aid. But that still leaves about $7 billion that could potentially be at-risk if Trump acts against sanctuary cities, according to a preliminary report from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Thats a small portion  less than 9 percent  of the citys $83.4 billion budget. But certain agencies rely on bigger chunks of federal funds than others. Many of those are programs that provide social services, which means if the Trump administration plugs the funding spigot, the citys most vulnerable citizens could feel the brunt of that fallout.

For example, per Stringers analysis, all 39,000 New Yorkers who receive Section 8 vouchers (subsidized rent for low-income people who live in private housing) depend fully on federal funds; if, say, thats on the chopping block, the city and state would need to come up with more than $480 million, or those families, if unable to afford the unsubsidized rent, could end up in the already overwhelmed shelter system. Other funding the city could possibly lose: about $445 million for free or reduced school lunches; $247 million for Child Protective Services; and $183 million  almost all  of the Department of Healths money for its HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment program. Again, if federal monies are nixed, the city or state would have to make up those shortfalls, and/or reduce, perhaps significantly, the size and scope of these initiatives.

And lets not forget the NYPD. Federal funds make up less than 4 percent of its total budget, but more than 60 percent of the departments $386 million Intelligence and Counterterrorism funding, a portion of which goes to training the men and women who are now helping to secure the president-elects apartment.

The comptrollers full report is available here, and to be clear, the Trump team  still in transition mode  hasnt targeted any specific funding, or provided really any details what its sanctuary city policy would look like.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to protect New Yorkers from Trumps policies, undocumented immigrants among them. If the federal government wants our police officers to tear immigrant families apart, we will refuse to do it, the mayor said Monday in his address at Cooper Union. If the federal government tries to deport law-abiding New Yorkers who have no representation, we will step in. We will work and build on the work of the City Council to provide these New Yorkers with the lawyers they need to protect them and their families. As Politico points out, that resistance could cost the city  in legal-aid services, for example  in ways completely separate from any potential losses in federal funding.
Trump could have signaled support for public education reform. But he chose instead to give a gift to the Christian right via Michigan voucher champion Betsy DeVos. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Some observers looking superficially at Donald Trumps choice of Betsy DeVos as Education secretary may just view this as a gender-diversity hire to head a department he doesnt care much for to begin with, or perhaps even a reward to Michigan for falling narrowly into his column in a close presidential election.

But DeVos is actually a very serious choice for the job, whose appointment sends a clear message about Trumps education-policy emphasis. If it represents a valentine to anyone, it is probably sealed with kisses and sent to the Christian right in exchange for its success in convincing 81 percent of white evangelicals to vote for the mogul despite his character issues.

DeVos has been called the four-star general of the pro-voucher movement. She and her husband, Amway heir Dick DeVos, have devoted an enormous amount of time and money promoting voucher initiatives  the use of public funds to finance private schools  around the country. Chalkbeat reports:



In 2000, she helped get a ballot measure before Michigan voters that would have enshrined a right to vouchers in the states Constitution. After the measure failed, she and her husband formed a political action committee to support pro-voucher candidates nationally. Less than a decade later, the group counted a 121-60 win-loss record.

One recipient of its support: former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who created the voucher program that Trumps vice president-elect, Mike Pence, later expanded.

Because the term school choice is often tossed around promiscuously to refer to anything other than traditionally operated public schools, its important to understand that DeVos is devoted to the more radical vision of robust publicly funded private schools competing for parents allegiances. Yes, the DeVoses have supported independently operated charter public schools  the apple of the eye of most education reformers and a type of school choice supported by both the Clinton and the Obama administrations  but mainly, it would appear, only if they resemble private schools in their freedom from public accountability.

The DeVos influence is one reason that Michigans charter sector is among the least regulated in the country. Roughly 80 percent of charters in Michigan are run by private companies, far more than in any other state. And state authorities have done little up to now to ensure that charter schools are effectively serving students, eliciting concern from current federal authorities.

Why mess with charters, DeVos seems to think, when you could just put the public money into existing private and religious schools?

Charter schools take a while to start up and get operating, she told Philanthropy Roundtable in 2013. Meanwhile, there are very good non-public schools, hanging on by a shoestring, that can begin taking students today.

That preference is certainly a family tradition. Dick DeVos was one of the early proponents of the rhetorical trick of undermining support for public schools by relabeling them government schools. The couple have sent their own children to private religious schools. And they are very tight with the Christian right generally; James Dobsons Focus on the Family is one beneficiary of the familys philanthropy, along with many Christian schools.

Lest Betsy DeVos be confused with some devout private citizen interested in education as a purely philanthropic cause, it should be noted she was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party in the 1990s, and before that was a national Republican committeewoman. The DeVos familys highly strategic network of allied donors focused on conservative causes has led them to be compared to the Kochs. Indeed, they have collaborated with the Kochs on occasion, such as the campaign to convince Michigan governor Rick Snyder to sign anti-labor right-to-work legislation.

In any event, Trumps selection of DeVos for his cabinet unmistakably represents a gift to conservative constituencies and their wealthy donors. And it also could be viewed as a large lost opportunity for the new administration. Had Trump gone with an education reformer more genuinely interested in public education  like, say, New York charter-school entrepreneur Eva Moskowitz or former D.C. school chief Michelle Ree, both of whom were on the early short lists for the gig  he might have split Democrats to some extent and at least shown some interest in fixing rather than killing public schools.

Media attention may focus on Trumps inevitable efforts to dismantle federal support for Common Core school standards, and DeVos may be inaccurately described as some sort of moderate because she (like nearly every other GOP pol on the planet) supported Common Core in the past. But make no mistake: Trump has decisively associated himself with people who would be perfectly happy with a future in which the only thing public about schools will be the taxpayer subsidies.
Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images

To say that the past two weeks  past two months, and perhaps two years  have been punishing for Americas women and people of color is surely an understatement.

During the presidential campaign, many Americans, notably those most likely to have voted for Hillary Clinton, were on the receiving end of torrents of vitriol coming from Donald Trump and his supporters: They were caricatured as rapists and criminals, bimbos, dogs, and pigs, and subjected to the humiliation of watching a man repeatedly accused of sexual assault run for president, advised by a cadre of racists adorably referred to as members of the alt-right, all while our first black president and first woman nominee were regularly called crooks and threatened with imprisonment and execution.

That man won the presidency, beating the candidate whom the vast majority of black voters, Latino voters, Asian-American voters, and women (if not white women, who voted for Trump by 53 percent) supported.

Those voters watched as Trump promptly appointed white nationalist Steve Bannon as a senior White House adviser and proposed Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a man once deemed too racist to serve as a judge, to succeed Loretta Lynch as attorney general. They have shuddered as, across America, hateful expressions of white-nationalist victory have proliferated: You can kiss your visa good-bye, scumbag; theyll deport you soon, dont worry, you fucking terrorist, screamed one man in Queens at a Muslim Uber driver. A dugout wall in upstate New York was decorated with swastikas alongside the words Make America White Again. In Ann Arbor, a man threatened to set a Muslim student on fire with his lighter unless she removed her hijab. At Canisius College in New York, students posted photos of a black doll hung from a curtain rod. The nations white supremacists have been rolling in their own affirmations of power, while those proven again to have less of it stand witness.

And now, the women and people of color who made up Clintons base and were the most enthusiastic supporters of her campaign, the ones who have the most to lose under the Trump administration, have found themselves on the receiving end of the lions share of the blame for our recent national cataclysm.

There was Mark Lillas recent New York Times column, The End of Identity Liberalism, in which the writer noted that Clintons tendency to slip into the rhetoric of diversity, calling out explicitly to African-American, Latino, LGBT and women voters at every stop was a strategic error. Lilla praised Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as political exemplars, capable of communicating commonality and captur[ing] Americans imaginations about our shared destiny. He did not describe the ways in which these men cemented their appeal to some of the voters Hillary failed to inspire: Reagan ran on the vilification of Welfare Queens, and Bill Clinton interrupted his 1992 presidential campaign to preside over the execution of a cognitively disabled black man named Ricky Ray Rector.*

Lilla argued that where Hillary Clinton  who did not repeat her husbands Sister Souljah strategy and instead emphasized themes of feminism and racial equality throughout her campaign  went wrong was in not catering enough to white Americans. Citing the Ku Klux Klan as the first identity movement in American politics (yet failing to point out that it has flourished in response to gains made by nonwhites and non-Protestants), Lilla warned, Those who play the identity game should be prepared to lose it. As if the centuries-long push toward enfranchisement, civil rights, equal pay, and reproductive autonomy, and against domestic, sexual, and police violence were a game, and as though those who dared to play it were virtually asking for the punishing reprisals they received for their trouble.

It is unconscionable, this know-better recrimination, directed at the very people who just put the most work and energy into defeating Trumpism, coming from those who will be made least vulnerable by Trumps ascension.

Clintons erstwhile primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, seemed to amplify Lillas message on his book tour this week by recommending that Democrats embrace the working class and Ditch Identity Politics, according to one headline. In fact, the headline was overblown: Sanders did not say we should dump identity politics, and affirmatively noted that we should bring more and more women into the political process and that we need 50 women in the Senate!

But Sanders did say something telling. Asked by a young woman who described herself as wanting to become the second Latina senator in U.S. history for tips, Sanders offered not advice, or even acknowledgment of the particular roadblocks  sexism, racism, fundraising, party support  she might encounter. What he offered instead was an insulting reaction to what he assumed must motivate her ambition: an argument based purely on identity. Noting that she would not like what he was about to say, he scolded her that it was not enough to say, Hey, Im a Latina, vote for me; that it was not good enough for somebody to say, Im a woman! Vote for me! No, thats not good enough. Never mind that nobody has ever made that argument for a female or minority candidate except in the fevered imaginations of Hillary haters. It is clear that this is what Sanders hears when someone describes a desire to overcome representational inequality in politics: an infantile, politically unsophisticated, feather-brained appeal to narcissistic self-advancement.

Which brings us to the weeks most diverting assault on the Clinton base: a New Yorker profile by Jia Tolentino of the men and woman behind Chapo Trap House, a popular leftist political podcast, unofficially led by Will Menaker, the son of a former publishing executive and New Yorker editor. Calling themselves The Dirtbag Left, Tolentinos subjects say that their political mission is to take aim at the Democratic Party and offend the sensibilities of the leftist language police, a set of goals that makes them not entirely distinguishable from many on the right. The story was funny and punishing, itself a New Yorker cartoon, bringing to vivid life some of the worst suspicions anyone has ever harbored about the young, well-heeled Hillary-haters who proclaim themselves the true left.

In the piece, Menakers colleague Felix Biederman described the podcasts male listenership (70 to 80 percent) thusly: a guy who goes downstairs at Thanksgiving, briefly mumbles, Hi, everyone asks him how community college is going, he mumbles something about a 2.0 average, goes back upstairs with a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, and gets back to gaming and masturbating. In perhaps the pieces most startling example of self-reflexive commentary, Biederman said of Clintons Election Night celebration turned funeral at the Javits Center: This entitled fucking slob  This fucking asshole brought all her donors to have a big party about how great they were. Shes never been a fucking leader, ever, in her life. She just has these fans who are psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks.

The peanut-butter gobblers are keen to unleash their righteous rightness, their furious convictions, on the Javits Center crowd  the wealthy donors, sure, but also Mothers of the Movement, the reproductive rights and womens leaders, the thousands of supporters who had canvassed and phone-banked and gotten out the vote and driven souls to the polls. It could almost be Trump supporters talking, but its coming from the people who  though they dont believe it  may agree with the elite freaks about many policy prescriptions and political goals.

Like Sanders, the Chapo guys acknowledge that better representation of women and people of color in the media sphere in which they work is crucial, but seem to exempt themselves from any personal responsibility. We are literally just dudes who just do this, Matt Christman told Tolentino, without seeming to have considered that the passive state of being just dudes who just do this  have a podcast, exult in their slackerdom and sloth, and say terrible things about people without fear of repercussion, of arrest, of violence  is predicated on their identities, as economically comfortable white men.

The world has never lacked for young, spoiled white people (perhaps mostly men), who grumble ungratefully at their parents (perhaps mostly moms), whove done the work of putting food on a Thanksgiving table, and instead return to their onanistic gaming aeries with loaves of bread (no roses) and an absolute assuredness that they know better than everyone else and that one of the great injustices of the world is the ban on them saying whatever vulgar thing theyd like to.

If history tells us anything, it is that some of these guys will grow into lovely human beings; some will successfully apply pressure to the Democrats that will force them to the left, for which I and other Hillary-supporting entitled fucking slobs will be deeply grateful; others will eventually find a more natural fit for their energies and animus in the Republican Party. In a way, I am grateful to them. They remind us, as Barack Obama did this month, that the sun still comes up every morning.

But whats not funny about all this is that we are in a moment of national crisis, in which the developmental stage of the Dirtbag Left might be mistaken for a flash of political wisdom, when prioritization of the (yes, systemic) approaches to reducing racial, gender, and class inequality is most likely to be walked back in the name of distancing the party from the women and people of color who lost the election.

And that would be the greatest shame of this shameful election cycle. Because the objects of the vitriol from the left, dirtbag and otherwise, are the hardworking heart of the Democratic Party, now the resistance: the grandmothers who left their houses every morning to get out the vote; the people who took buses and carloads of volunteers to knock on doors and ring buzzers and make endless phone calls; the Black Lives Matter activists who protest the killing of their children and targeting of their communities; the women and men who provide reproductive-health access, even as the government works to roll back that access; the abortion rights and gay rights and criminal justice reform advocates who didnt write off Hillary Clinton, but instead asked her to be better.

All of these people are facing very dark and scary days, and instead of blaming them, I want to thank them. Ill also thank Clinton herself, now an old woman, who worked her ass off for decades to do something no woman has ever done before; and President Barack Obama, who for eight years showed us a different picture of what leadership could look like in America. Neither of their careers would have been possible without the struggles of generations of identity politics activists that came before them.

*An earlier version of this column incorrectly referred to Ricky Ray Rector as mentally ill. He had cognitive disabilities, not a mental illness. It also mistakenly attributed a quote that Felix Biederman gave to The New Yorker to Will Menaker. We regret the error.
Complacency is a trap. At least thats what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.Time passed.More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.Click on an image to see it larger.For additional photography please visit my flickr page You can find my music on Jango World & latin - Worldbeat ) and at iTunes and most online stores.Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.
The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress.

Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
This coming year could be a surprisingly exciting time for oil and gas developers.

Yes, energy prices are depressed right now. But not everyone sees that as a negative. In fact, private equity funds are still raising record amounts of capital for energy investments  with managers and investors alike seeing the current downturn as a prime time to pick up good assets for cheap.

Most of that PE money is earmarked for U.S. shale. But this weeks announcements from Indonesia state oil firm Pertamina, and Japanese government arm Jogmec, show that the spending spree may now be extending to global oil and gas assets.

Pertamina had $700 million this year for acquisitions  and will likely have billions for the coming year. Jogmec is even more flush with cash  having arranged financial backing totaling $5.2 billion yearly for oil and gas M&A.

Thats a lot of cash now hunting for projects. So the question is  where in the world might these big players be looking?

Obviously, both firms are headquartered in Asia. Suggesting that this region would be a logical place to look for buyouts. But recent events show the focus here is likely to extend well beyond just Asian projects. Pertamina, for example, was decidedly Africa-minded this past year. Buying into projects in Gabon and Mozambique.

Jogmec also favored Africa  providing financial support for Japanese firms working in onshore Kenya. And stepping out even further by getting into frontier exploration in Greenland.

In fact, as the map below shows, Jogmec has a worldwide scope for oil and gas projects. Covering six continents where the company has supported projects through equity capital participation or financial guarantees.

(Click to enlarge)



Source: Jogmec Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities report

That suggests Jogmecs billions could theoretically be deployed almost anywhere in the world. Although a closer look at the companys recent activities provides some deeper clues on where exactly it might be considering.

A little-known fact about Jogmec is that it also provides government-to-government support for petroleum activity. Including helping foreign governments conduct geophysical surveys over prospective areas in the onshore and offshore. Related: Why The Bakken Needs The Dakota Access Pipeline

By footing the bill for seismic work globally, Jogmec actually gets a sneak peak at data all over the world. Which it uses to identify project opportunities that it later invests in.

And heres the map showing everywhere that Jogmec (and its predecessor company JNOC) has been surveying.

(Click to enlarge)



Source: Jogmec Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities report

Now, heres a critical point. The higher the number on the projects above, the more recently theyve been conducted. Which gives us some clues about where Jogmec has been focusing on over the past few years.

Latin America is one spot that jumps out. With Jogmec having executed four geophysical projects in Mexico, as well as one in Colombia.

Another surprising spot is southern Russia. Where Jogmec has been doing not just geophysics, but also exploratory drilling.

Eastern Africa has also held some interest for the company. Like Pertamina, its been involved in Mozambique  and has also been assisting the government of the tiny island nation of the Seychelles.

One final place that jumps out is Southeast Asia. Where Jogmec has recently been working on offshore exploration in both Vietnam and Malaysia.

Obviously, the firm could look anywhere going forward. But this past work provides some strong indications on which areas will be first targeted  a point that should be of note for project developers in any of these parts of the world. Jogmec also doesnt discriminate in terms of exploration or development projects  being heavily involved in both stages.

With billions to spend and a hunger to secure supply, this firm could become a valuable partner for numerous projects around the world.



Heres to the right backing,

By Dave Forest

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
After earlier this week OPEC tabled the issue of Irans and Iraqs participation in the OPEC deal until November 30, the markets might have thought there would be little jawboning left to do until that day. But not so fast.

If you ask Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the OPEC deal is a near done deal, and on Wednesday, Nicolas Maduro tasked his Oil and Mining Affairs Minister, Eulogio del Pino, with traveling to Moscow to finish the much awaited OPEC output limit, not only with OPEC members, but non-OPEC members and Moscow.

I have given orders to Eulogio del Pino to go to Moscow and finish the agreement with Russia, OPEC and non-OPEC countries.

This task seems daunting at best, given that Russia has said they would freeze only after OPEC agreed internally, and Iran and Iraq have yet to climb onboardwith the latest refusals coming as late as Tuesday, although Iraq did come out on Wednesday and change the tune theyve been singing all alonga song which foretold of their refusal to use OPEC secondary sources as a basis for freeze talks, and of their request for exemption on the grounds that they are still fighting a costly war against the Islamic State.

Yesterdays song by Iraqs Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was markedly different. What we lose in lowering production we will gain in oil revenues. Our priority is to raise the price of a barrel of crude.

That priority, at the expense of market share, seems to be a newfound one for Iraq, in light of this comment not 24 hours prior by Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-jafari: It would not be fair for us to cut oil output.

OPEC sources, according to Reuters, say the cut will now be in the realm of 4 percent or 4.5 percent, presumably based on Octobers production, although that presumption has not been verified officially. Using October secondary sources provided by OPEC, assuming OPEC shoots for the low end of that range (4 percent), and counting Libya and Nigeria out, with Iran in all likelihood being allowed to hold fast at current levels, the remaining OPEC members will have to shave roughly 4.8 percent to reach an overall cut of 4 percent. This assumes Iran, Libya, and Nigeria stay at October levels and do not increase production, and Iraq agrees to actually cut. If Iraq is only asked to freeze, the remaining members will need to cut nearer 6 percent, which would mean a 600,000 million bpd cut for behemoth OPEC member Saudi Arabia.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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With less than a week to go until the much-anticipated OPEC meeting in Vienna on November 30, the oil exporting cartel still seems unable to determine the terms of production cut quotas, who will be exempt from cutting, and even who will participate. According to Reuters, in the latest twist to emerge, as OPEC tries to find the sweet spot for production that reduces the oversupply of crude, the organization will ask non-OPEC oil producers to also make big cuts in output, as it seeks to share the burden of declining output and prevent market share gains by non-OPEC nations.

The oil minister of Azerbaijan was quoted as saying the cartel may want non-OPEC producers to cut output by as much as 880,000 barrels per day (bpd). "It could be expected that OPEC members may ask non-OPEC countries to cut production volumes for the next six months starting from Jan. 1 2017 ... by 880,000 barrels from the total daily production," Azeri newspaper Respublika quoted the country's oil minister, Natig Aliyev, as saying.

Reuters then reported that an OPEC source had claimed the group had yet to decide on the final figures to be discussed on Nov. 28, when OPEC and non-OPEC experts meet in Vienna. As previously reported, OPEC is expected to discuss production cuts of 4.0-4.5 percent among its members at the Vienna meeting, complying with the roughly 1.2 mmbpd reduction as set forth in the Algiers meeting, which outlined a total OPEC output of 32.5-33.0 mmbpd. Iran and Iraq, however, still have reservations about how much they want to contribute.

A cut of 880,000 bpd would represent less than 2 percent of current total non-OPEC output.

Shortly after the report came out, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said Russia was working with Kazakhstan and Mexico, though not the United States, on joint output curbs, but reiterated that Moscow would prefer to freeze output rather than cut. He said that a freeze would be quite a difficult and harsh situation for us as our plans envisioned an output growth next year."

In an amusing twist, Russia floated the concept of a "pro-forma" cut, saying that by keeping its production fixed, it would be an effective "cut" to its 2017 production plan.

A production cap would mean Russia pumping 200,000 to 300,000 barrels a day less than planned in 2017, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in Moscow on Thursday, or as Bloomberg's Will Kennedy put it, Russia is trying to "sell a production freeze as a cut."

"According to our plans, (Russia's) oil output is going up next year. If we keep production at the current level we are making our contribution, for us that essentially means a cut of 200,000-300,000 barrels per day (in 2017)", he said.

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

Novak also said that Russias position has remained unchanged and consistent (even if the algos may have misinterpreted it), and added that as our president said earlier, we are ready to freeze production at the current levels. President Vladimir Putin on Monday reaffirmed the country is willing to freeze, adding he sees no obstacles to an OPEC agreement this month after the group made major progress in overcoming differences.

In other words, one can forget about a production cut from Russia, which - like OPEC - is already pumping at record output levels. Russian output increased to a record 11.205 million barrels a day in November, near a post-Soviet record. The country has raised its production forecasts several times a year since 2015. Related: Russia Is Finally Making Headway In Its Pivot East

While Russia, the largest crude supplier outside OPEC, has reiterated its preference for a freeze over a cut for several months, members of the group, including Saudi Arabia, had been expecting the nation would eventually join a cut, according to people briefed on the matter. If Russia and other non-OPEC producers balk at the idea of cutting output, the exporters group could reconsider pushing ahead, the people said.

As Bloomberg reminds us, if theres no agreement to restrict output, the International Energy Agency has said that oil prices are likely to fall in 2017. OPECs own estimates of supply and demand also show that the Algiers agreement would barely drain a record oil surplus next year without the cooperation of non-members.

Which means that the role of Russia, and other non-OPEC members, will be critical in the shaping of next week's deal, Emmanuel Kachikwu, Nigerias minister of state for petroleum, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Russia is as interested in firming up the price as we are, he said. A senior OPEC delegate told Reuters earlier this week that full participation by Moscow would be required: "Statements from Moscow indicating they are not willing to participate in a cut but just to freeze - this will make it difficult for OPEC to rebalance the market alone and bring prices up."

Putting even a cut of 880,000 bpd in context, this would represent less than 2 percent of current total non-OPEC output. But given few non-OPEC producers are expected to participate in the cuts, the burden could be heavy on those that do so - potentially Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Mexico, all of which rely heavily on oil revenues.

To summarize:

The good news: an ideal scenario, should OPEC and non-OPEC members reach a deal to cut 1 million bpd and 880,000 bpd in production respectively, it would immediately help the market turn into a supply deficit and help erode record stocks amounting to over 3 billion barrels. It would also likely send the price of oil to the upper-$50 range.

The bad news: according to the head of the IEA, Faith Birol, U.S. shale oil producers - which are in no way bound to any production cuts or freezes - will increase their output if oil prices hit $60 a barrel, meaning OPEC will have to walk a fine line if it curtails production to prop up prices, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

"If this decision pushes the prices up (to) around $60 dollars, we may well see a significant increase from shale oil from the U.S.," Fatih Birol told Reuters on Wednesday. He said this level would be enough for many U.S. shale companies to restart stalled production, although it would take around nine months for the new supply to reach the market. Related: Is OPEC Playing The Oil Markets Again?

Low prices have led to two consecutive years of falling investment in upstream oil and gas investments, a pattern Birol expects to continue in 2017. This, he said, could lead to tighter oil supply and price spikes in the future.

"We are entering a period of greater oil price volatility and the companies, organizations and countries should prepare themselves accordingly," he said.

Finally, adding to the complexity, there are two more wildcards: one is Iran oil production and whether Trump will seek to undo the Iranian nuclear deal. Should that happen, and if sanctions are reintroduced, some 1 million barrels in daily oil exports from Iran may go offline, further pressuring the market. The other is suddenly waning Chinese demand, on what some analysts have speculated is the result of the Chinese Strategic Petroleum Reserve approaching full status, which could eliminate as much as 1.1 million bpd in demand from the market once China stops filling up its extensive SPR.

By Zerohedge

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As a Democrat with an internet connection, I have been subjected to a number of 2016 election postmortems from The Professional Left. They mostly have one thing in common: complaints that Democrats lost the White House (or, in the case of Wisconsin-specific critiques, lost Wisconsin) because we did not adequately kowtow to white men.

As a white man, the only response I can muster is, simply, stop. That view is part of the problem, not anything to do with the solution.

The prime example of this flavor of critique was in Sunday's edition of The New York Times. Columbia professor Mark Lilla argues "the age of identity liberalism must be brought to an end." That is, the makeup of the Democratic coalition (minority voters, non-Christian voters, most women, the LGBTQ community) "has produced a generation of liberals and progressives narcissistically unaware of conditions outside their self-defined groups, and indifferent to the task of reaching out to Americans in every walk of life."

To prove this, he cites the overwhelmingly Republican votes of the "white working class and those with strong religious convictions." Or, as some would call them, Republicans.

Lilla's thesis is not merely that Democrats lost the Republican vote, but that we are also wrong to blame a "whitelash"  the idea that white voters suffering financially turned their anxiety into "racial rage"  for our loss. Blaming the "whitelash," he says, "is convenient because it absolves liberals of not recognizing how their own obsession with diversity has encouraged white, rural, religious Americans to think of themselves as a disadvantaged group whose identity is being threatened or ignored" and "because it sanctions a conviction of moral superiority and allows liberals to ignore what those voters said were their overriding concerns."

Insert eye-roll emoji here!

Lilla is arguing, first, that Democrats' so-called "identity politics" have given traditionally Republican voters an "identity" of their own that they formerly lacked. This is patent falsity. Indeed, this country's first, and its still most-prevalent "identity," is that of white, male and wealthy. That identity alone was given the franchise in 1787. That identity controlled vast swaths of U.S. history, from the post-Reconstruction "Redemption" period to every civil rights struggle of the 20th century.

That identity has repeatedly concerned itself with the status and, indeed, "identity" of The Other, from scrupulous laws detailing exactly what fraction of African blood comprises black people to Japanese internment to, not that long ago, a national registry of suspicious Muslims.

That identity alone remains the default "normal" in America despite its absolute minority status.

Historically, culturally and politically, identity liberalism, as Lilla calls it, emerged not from a sterile vacuum as some sort of fully formed, source-less movement; rather, it developed as a direct response to the white identity conservatism that has held power in nearly every era of this nation's existence. To paraphrase Billy Joel: Liberals didn't start the fire of identity politics; we were the ones burning from it since this nation's founding.

As Adam Johnson from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) notes at the end of his response to Lilla and others making this argument, it's likely Lilla "hated identity politics to begin with, and would have regardless of who won" the election. Writers like him are blaming it for Clinton's loss but no doubt would have lamented the way Clinton won by polarizing the electorate and shutting out those poor forgotten white men.

Second, Lilla argues that Democrats didn't listen to what Republican voters wanted. In fact, Lilla is the one not listening. I would direct him, first, to the Democrats' platform, which is full not of polarizing "identity liberalism," but of real-world solutions for the kind of economic anxiety he claims those voters sought relied from. I would also remind him that only one of the major-party candidates in this past election spoke regularly of "commonality" and "shared destiny," the message Lilla insists Democrats must embrace to win. Hint: That candidate's slogan was "Stronger Together," and her name rhymes with "Schmillary Schminton."

Every honest report on Donald Trump's economic agenda both then as a candidate and now as president-elect spells out exactly how that agenda actually fails to benefit the white voters suffering economic distress. Over and over again, Trump promised to roll back the clock not just on the status of the white folks but also on the inevitable progress of commerce and manufacturing.

For example, Trump made great campaign hay of an out-of-context quote by Clinton saying she was going to put coal miners out of work. What Clinton actually said was that as the coal industry dries up  a process well underway due mostly to coal's expense compared to natural gas  those workers need retraining and investment in replacement careers. What Trump offered those coal workers, instead, was a continued life working in a coal mine, stuck underground breathing toxic dust and being subject to more per-capita danger than almost any other workers in the country. I'm not a coal miner, but come on; how is that a more appealing message?

In case after case, from the Obamacare repeal to tax policy, Trump's actual policy positions have little to do with making the day-to-day lives of so-called "whitelash" voters any better.

Lilla's misunderstanding comes not just from ignoring what the candidates actually said, but also from ignoring those white-identity voters. There were no doubt many who felt economic anxiety, but overwhelmingly Republican voters do have a sense of backlash  or, you know, "whitelash"  that exists outside of whatever their economic status may be.

Take this IPSOS poll from last year. The researchers suggest their results show a pretty severe strain of "nativism" among U.S. Republicans, with majorities from that party saying "I don't identify with what America has become" and "I feel like a stranger in my own country." Trump spoke directly to those feelings with those stupid red hats. If you feel like America is changing around you, you're not going to vote for the candidate asking you to embrace what we have in common; you're going to vote for the one telling you we can roll back all those changes.

Further, exit polling data shows clearly that Clinton won low-income Americans' votes. Some of that is because she overwhelmingly won the youth vote, and younger people early in their careers don't make as much as their older counterparts. But it's also because Trump's message of protectionism and nostalgia was tailored to those with something to protect  higher incomes  and a past worth glorifying.

But perhaps most importantly, Republican voters themselves admit to exactly the "whitelash" Lilla says is a figment of our imaginations. University of Wisconsin political science professor Katherine Cramer has been going Jane Goodall with Wisconsin's small-town, rural white voters for a decade. In a recent piece for Vox, she describes both the run-up to and immediate after-effects of the election.

Despite data showing that these groups were not disadvantaged compared to other groups in the state, "people expressed a deeply felt sense of not getting their 'fair share.'" They felt marginalized by everything from participation in state decision-making to state investment in their communities. Again, Cramer says, they were not getting the shaft on taxes, and consider that every leadership position in state government (aside from Walker, a suburban Milwaukeean) is held by someone not from Madison or Milwaukee.

Mostly, Cramer says, these voters "thought that they were not getting their fair share of respect." In this, I can maybe see a glimmer of Lilla's thesis about identity liberalism. But it comes not from any Democrats' active disdain for these voters, but rather by the way Democrats do not privilege these voters over others. For groups used to being on top, being merely equal to others is a significant demotion.

So that's that: Trump's campaign wasn't about policy to improve these "whitelash" voters' lives; it was, instead, about returning to the nostalgic days when those voters had "respect," back when America was great the first time. And in what we've seen so far, Trump is living up to this promise. Earlier this week, Trump went on a Twitter rant against the hip-hop musical "Hamilton," which casts Hispanic and African American actors as America's white founding fathers. That's not why he says he's mad at the play, sure, but the optics are pretty clear.

And, as I write, Trump has named as possible cabinet members and key staffers more white guys named Mike than he has women or minorities. Barack Obama's cabinet, the one that looked like America as it is, is on its way out, to be replaced by a cabinet that looks like America as it used to be.

If winning again, whether in Wisconsin or nationally, means returning to a nostalgic America where only white men (like me!) matter, count me out. All of you on The Professional Left blaming the Democrats' traditional coalition  and its strongest voting blocs  for losing the election can stuff it.
From Wallwritings

In the film, The Best Man, written by Gore Vidal, a candidate for president, Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson), is arguing with his more principled opponent, William Russell (Henry Fonda).

Exasperated at one point, Cantwell says to Russell, "I don't understand you."

Russell responds, "I know you don't. Because you have no sense of responsibility towards anyone or anything. And that is a tragedy in a man, and a disaster in a president."

The Best Man first appeared as a play in 1960. The film was released in 1964. More than five decades later, our newly-elected 45th President, Donald J. Trump, may be the disaster Gore Vidal warned us about.

Check the record. Start with Trump's campaign comment on John McCain (pictured above).

"He's not a war hero," said Trump. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

Rebecca Gordon, the author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes, teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco.

She has a more nuanced approach to our newly-elected president.

In her essay, "Life Under Trump," for TomDispatch.com, she shared stories from her classroom the week Trump was elected.

She reminded her students that Trump voters included a sizable portion of our population which feels marginalized and denigrated by our present public policies.

In due time, many of those Trump voters may find they have been conned by a master con artist who told them what they wanted to hear. Cons most often lead to disaster.

Our media was complicit in Trump's election, treating his race as a daily horse race with winners and losers. What the media failed to do was to examine seriously the nature of the candidate who won the final race.

In President-elect Trump's meeting with The New York Times editorial board, he continued that con. And the Times did what media leaders do, they dutifully reported what he said, even as they certainly knew this is a man who says whatever he feels the audience in the room wants him to say.

The mistake the Times made in its editorial comment following that meeting was to treat what Trump says, literally. They wrote:

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"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful." "-- George Orwell, author of "1984.""



Brexit support sign in window of London home where author George Orwell once lived.

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The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, upending projections of pollsters and pundits that predicted his defeat, has triggered comparisons with Brexit, the vote earlier this summer where British citizens voted to leave the European Union, also catching the pollsters and pundits by surprise.

And yes, the campaigns for Brexit and the Trump presidency each employed similarities. Each campaign utilized 'make our country great again' slogans.

Further, each campaign also targeted immigrants as the source of deep-seated societal problems, particularly in the employment arena. Trump targeted Mexican immigrants while Brexit targeted Eastern European immigrants in Britain, primarily those coming from Poland as well as Muslims and blacks.

Despite accurately citing some similarities, too many of the news media comparisons of Brexit and Trump on both sides of 'The Pond' have been simplistic, infused with failures to sufficiently contextualize the array of forces entangled in those stunning votes.

Comparisons on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, for example, have downplayed the upsurge in racist attacks, primarily targeting blacks and Muslims during the immediate aftermaths of both the Brexit and Trump victories.

In the weeks after the June Brexit vote, police in Britain received reports of more than 5,000 racist assaults, verbal abuse (in-person and online) and xenophobic graffiti. Surveys in Britain of white Brexit supporters found negative sentiments about multiculturalism and social liberalism in excess of 80 percent. Meanwhile, here in the US nearly 50 percent of Trump supporters who participated in a February 2016 poll disapproved of the end of slavery for blacks.

Far too many of the examinations into the Brexit and Trump victories logged across America's ideological spectrum --- right to left --- have sought to minimize the role of racism in those electoral victories.

Veteran British anti-racist activist Lee Jasper made an observation about the Brexit vote that is applicable to the Trump victory in America.

"The fact that large parts of the British working class were so easily convinced that immigrants were the cause of their woes, not the bankers, is a result of the reservoir of latent racism in Britain, left unaddressed and festering under the poisonous weight of austerity," Jasper wrote a few days after the Brexit vote.

The 'austerity' policies pursued by conservative British governments have sharply slashed social spending. The austerity cuts in areas from education to housing to health care and jobs creation have impacted lower income whites and non-whites alike albeit slamming non-whites more harshly due to institutional race-based deprivations.

Over 35 percent of the non-whites in Britain live in poverty compared to 17.2 percent of whites, according to a report released in September by Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission. That Rights Commission report listed the unemployment rate for blacks at 12.9 percent compared to 6.3 percent for whites. Another indicator of institutional deprivations is the fact that blacks with college degrees earn 23 percent less than whites with the same degrees in Britain.

British austerity is similar to budget-cutting initiatives pursued vigorously by conservative Republican politicians here in the US.

Some of the poorest regions in America and Britain are predominately white areas that have been controlled for years by conservative politicians who've provided more tax cuts to corporations than increases in economic opportunities for their lower income white constituents.

The area in England consistently listed among the most deprived, Tendring, where whites comprise 97.5 percent of the population, gave Brexit 70 percent of its votes. Britain's ruling Conservative Party (which enacted the austerity policies) and Britain's ultra-conservative United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) control Tendring. Voters in West Virginia, the state persistently ranked as having the highest levels of poverty among whites, gave Trump 68.7 percent of their votes.

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From Consortium News

The Green Party is demanding a recount of votes in three key states that could potentially affect the outcome of the election that saw Donald Trump chosen as president. The party was able to raise $2.5 million needed to at least pay for the recount in Wisconsin in less than 12 hours from the time the Greens' intentions were reported by the media on Wednesday.

Jill Stein, leader of the party that received less than 1 percent of the national vote, said in a press release that the Greens wanted the recount "because reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable."

The Green Party wants recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan -- the three states that effectively determined the result of the presidential race by slipping from the Democratic column in 2012. The deadline to file for a recount is Friday in Wisconsin, Monday in Pennsylvania and Wednesday in Michigan.

The cost of the Wisconsin recount is $1.1 million, according to the Green Party press release. The release does not say what the cost for all three recounts is, but the party initially sought $2.5 million. That was widely reported as the total amount needed. But once that goal was reached, the target was jacked up to $4.5 million.

The party's home page appeal for money says the entire cost with legal fees could be $6 million to $7 million. This statement also includes a quote from Stein that blames "foreign agents" for hacking into "party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states." Her quote in the press release removed the words "foreign agents."

Slim Margins

Trump narrowly beat Democratic contender Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and is leading in Michigan, which more than two weeks later is still too close to call. Just a 55,000-vote swing is all that is needed in the three states to flip the election to Clinton.

On Tuesday it was reported that a group of U.S. professors -- computer scientists and elections lawyers -- had held a conference call with the Clinton campaign to ask it to file for an audit in the three states. They said that actual results differed from exit polls and that Trump had done considerably better in areas where electronic voting machines were used. Clinton did better where paper ballots were used.

Some experts explained that electronic machines were used in rural areas, which were stronger for Trump, while paper ballots were used in urban areas largely backing Clinton.

The academics lobbying the Clinton campaign have suggested that a foreign government may be behind the hacks. The Obama administration had said before the election that Russia was trying to influence the election through hacking, though no evidence was made public.

In his final testimony to Congress last week, outgoing Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted that there was no proof about who was behind the supposed hacks into email accounts of Democratic leaders which proved embarrassing to the Clinton campaign.

The Clinton campaign has made no statement about the recount. But many Clinton supporters have backed the effort online. The Trump transition team has made no comment.

Trump won the Electoral College vote 290 to 232, with Michigan's 16 electoral votes still outstanding and with 270 votes needed to be elected President. Clinton won the national popular vote by about 2 million votes.

The Green's Motive

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Only Chickens Fear Diversity

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Perhaps having a device free Thanksgiving would soothe the savage breast of half of gathering family members, if only until that post over stuffed tummy gurgling, craving carbonation to overcome too many upending election night surprises before belching out a food coma inauguration.

Despite desperation voting, pointless non-voting for points not taken, deterioration of humane treatment of all humanity and food deserts in the middle of Fracking and Factory Farms' gluttony, temporarily fracturing our union -- happiness is, appreciating Native Americans for the holiday they gave us and supporting all who celebrate Thanksgiving in war zones, by keeping the peace around our dinner tables here at home.

Our national Fault Lines are less in our stars than in ourselves, so Go High!

Give every American from sea to shining sea -- documented or not, original occupiers of the realm or invading European forces, historically enslaved or constitutionally kept in her place -- family, friends, nosy neighbors and even strange acting relatives from afar, a welcome home.

In grateful chorus, pause administrations' mutations -- bestowing upon each other our thanks in celebration of temporarily re-occupying the No Man's Land of loving unity, civility and mutual respect, with a calm, not so fast with that trumped fueled family feud!

Arguably, it's reasonable to expect Donald Trump will perpetually elect to be his own worst enemy, and, without any help from the sanity of the popular vote, sustaining love thy neighbor as thyself and stewardship of the earth and all life upon it -- clearly, some of the people, some of the time are enabled, indeed emboldened by vulgar loudmouths mistaking inciting violence, for leadership.

Amidst self-righteous victories, our saintly patience can rise above the gullible, gasping to revitalize the supremacy of rusty minds and oil slicked tongues, worshipping the greatness of fifth grade phrases in the shadow of the very economic swamp creationists they, and their Pied Piper, claim to want to drain.

Yes, judicial dredging of Congress and K. Street could uncover the remains of Individual Thought and exceptional Justice for All. However, the Thanksgiving grease trap that needs draining from top to bottom, is the cesspool of Koch heads laughing all the way with indiscriminate Hedge Funds, while the duped, Hail Trump and commit acts of discrimination.

Government of, by and for the people, was never intended to mean not voting, only voting or trusting everything or everyone streaming on any screen. Sadly, some studies profess that over half of Americans trust the news on Social Media, and Millennials are less likely to fact check this news. Also, older in not wiser. Those over forty are less likely to trust any POV different from their repetitive primary source of corporate owned media, Aiding and Abetting America's current cannibalistic tendencies.

Now that The Right White has been put back in the White House, humane Americans need vigilantly support all whose Constitutional rights are most vulnerable to mobs transitioning Thanksgiving into Halloween.

If We the People, stand tall with our fellow Native Americans, Female Americans , African-Americans, Islamic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, LGBTQ Americans, physically & mentally challenged Americans -- racism and sexism agenda fails!

In Thanksgiving:

Almost two million more Americans voted, "No" to all forms of racism and sexism

Open-minded Millennials are smarter than Baby Boomers were when we were Millennials

One Thanksgiving Day, we will give thanks to Native Americans for their ancestors saving our ancestors from starvation

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European Parliament votes to end accession talks with Turkey

The European parliament Thursday voted overwhelmingly to end EU accession talks with Turkey.

The majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament voted to halt membership talks with Turkey after Ankara's post-coup crackdown on the opposition with potential ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

More than 110,000 people in Turkey - including soldiers, academics, judges, journalists and Kurdish leaders - have been suspended from their positions or dismissed over their alleged backing for the plotters of a failed military coup in July. Some 36,000 have been arrested and media outlets have been shut.

The European parliament members voting in Strasbourg said the parliament "strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt (in July last)." The anti-Turkey resolution was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.

The Turkish EU affairs minister, Omer Celik, reacted promptly to the vote, calling it "null and void" and saying it "breached basic European values." He said that the European Parliament "loses perspective when it comes to Turkey."

His comments echo those of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the vote.

Addressing a meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Wednesday, President Erdogan said: "Let me say this in advance... Whatever the result is, in our eyes this vote has no value."

"This country's struggle for its stability and future won't be interrupted by (European legislators') raising and lowering their hands," Erdogan said. "This nation has shown the world (during the failed coup attempt) that it is not a fair-weather democrat and that it will risk its life for its rights, its freedoms and its honor."

Erdogan called on countries of the OIC to stand up to the West where, he said, Muslims were being confronted with "double standards, prejudice, alienation" and were being attacked.

Erdogan has suggested that Turkey could hold a referendum on the future of Turkey's EU negotiations and that his country could join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia and China, as an alternative to the EU.

Nearly three decades after its official bid to join the European club, Turkey is not yet a European Union member. Talks on possible EU membership for Turkey have been taking place since 1963, when Ankara and Brussels drafted an association agreement stating the country would aim to be a member of the bloc.

According to Reuters, President Erdogan, and many Turks, were angered by the Western response to the failed coup, viewing it as more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the events themselves, in which more than 240 people were killed as rogue soldiers commandeered fighter jets and tanks.

Erdogan talks of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has revived his pet topic of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in place of the European Union, Turkish journalist Semih Idiz says adding: His call comes at a time when Turkey's ties with the West are at an all-time low because of Ankara's refusal to meet Western standards of democracy, veering toward authoritarian rule instead.

The SCO is defined as "a Eurasian political, economic and military organization." Joining it would mean a radical change of sides for Turkey, Idiz said and warned that if it were to happen, it would also have serious regional and global ramifications, since Ankara would most probably have to not only give up on its EU bid, but also its NATO membership.

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From Smirking Chimp

You've read post-election analysis by the discredited corporate pundits who thought Hillary was a shoo-in. Since I saw Donald Trump's "upset" coming, my take on what happened and why may be of more interest.

As with any large-scale disaster, the ascent of a spectacularly unqualified buffoon to the most powerful political office on earth came about as the result of numerous system failures and operator errors. Here's a bird's-eye view of what went wrong.

System Failures: Problems Hardwired Into the Machine

Democrats took their progressive base for granted.

Following George McGovern's landslide loss to Richard Nixon in 1972, the Democrats' conservative southern wing seized control of the DNC and other leadership apparatus. Center-right Dems won four presidential races with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, but at a cost. Election after election, liberals and progressives -- the party's base and thus its greatest potential source of votes, donations and enthusiasm -- were taken for granted as the party moved right in search of swing voters. Where else, the Clintonian Brahmins asked smugly, could lefties go? The answer was nowhere: snubbed, unmotivated and disgusted, they stayed home this November.

No safety net for workers displaced by globalization and deindustrialization.

NAFTA wasn't the beginning; it was the last nail in the coffin of the postwar boom that elevated blue-collar manufacturing jobs to professions paying enough to finance the American Dream. Year after year, millions of workers lost good jobs and were forced to make do with two lousy ones. Inner cities, and not a few suburbs, rotted and died. Neither major party talked about the Making of America Not Great Anymore, much less tried to do anything about it. Trump scored big Rust Belt points merely by acknowledging the long-ignored pain of millions.

In media coverage of the horse race, some candidates are more equal than others.

If you were designing American democracy from scratch, you'd probably make it a rule that every candidate for office receives the same attention from the media. (France does this.) But we're light years away from that ideal. Trump received more TV minutes and column-inches than his Republican rivals because he was (a) outrageous and (b) a celebrity. Clinton's coverage overshadowed Sanders' because media gatekeepers were (a) enamored of their pre-fab "first woman president follows first black president" narrative and (b) couldn't imagine that an elderly socialist from Vermont could be a serious contender. Who would be president-elect today had Rand Paul, Carla Fiorina and Bernie Sanders been given a fair chance to make their cases to the voters? Probably not Trump.

Operator Errors: Screw-Ups By Individual Politicians and Organizations

Hillary's campaign partied like it was 1996.

Campaigning has changed since the Clintonian heyday of the '90s, but Hillary's strategists didn't get the memo. Trump ad-libbed outrageous vidbytes at his rallies, making them must-see TV and earning billions in free exposure; Hillary stuck to her deadly dull stump speech, doomed to be ignored. While Trump worked Twitter like a tween at 3 am -- ensuring that story-hungry editors would see his hilarious rants when they arrived at their desks -- it took 12 Clinton staffers to compose a single tweet whose made-by-committee provenance made it dead on arrival. She spent many millions on a repeat loop of anti-Trump TV ads featuring clips everyone had already seen. Considering that she barely survived Bernie Sanders' primary challenge, it should have been obvious to her team that the Democratic party has moved left (as has the nation). So why did her 2016 campaign follow the old Dick Morris move-right-for-the-general-election model from 1996, moving right in order to "reach out to Republican megadonors"? Meanwhile, Morris himself understood the new reality. "But Trump is doing more than driving populist Democrats into Republican arms," Morris wrote. "He is separating the establishment left of the Democratic Party from its populist base. His candidacy separates the blue-collar social populists from their partisan moorings even as his economic populism appeals to the Sanders left." He wrote that in May.

The DNC ignored polls that showed Bernie was a better candidate than Hillary.

Trump's "surprise" win wasn't shocking to people who were paying attention. Throughout the primary and general election, the DNC brushed off head-to-head tracking polls that showed that Hillary Clinton never enjoyed a commanding lead over, and sometimes fell behind, Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, consistently held a double-digit lead, sometimes as high as 20 percent, over Trump. As it turned out, Trump would have lost to Sanders. In a change year when Americans were in the mood for radical populism, Sanders offered all the stuff voters liked about Trump -- his anti-free trade message, economic populism, opposition to stupid foreign wars, the fiery, outspoken energy of a loud New Yorker -- minus his manic loopiness and offensive comments about women and minorities. Granted, Bernie's poll numbers would have suffered under an onslaught of ads depicting the Vermont senator as the second coming of Stalin, Soviet May Day parade footage and "The Internationale" playing incessantly. But the Cold War is over. Americans are more afraid of cost-cutting CEOs than commissars.

Hillary Clinton didn't appoint Bernie Sanders as vice president, or to a cabinet position.

Democratic voters wanted Hillary -- a lifelong right-wing Democrat -- to balance the ticket by choosing a progressive running mate like Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker or her rival Bernie Sanders. But she never considered any of them, going instead with some guy who's name I still struggle to remember. Ironically, no one understood the disastrous implications of Hillary's choice better than right-wing blogger Wayne Allyn Root in The Blaze: "Hillary desperately needed a shot in the arm; an exciting and edgy vice president by her side...Tim Kaine isn't just boring... Kaine is an affront to every Bernie Sanders supporter -- which happens to be all the youth and energy in the entire Democrat Party."
From Consortium News



Protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 13, 2016

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Late Sunday night -- at the start of Thanksgiving week -- Native American protesters were attacked by law enforcement agents near the site of the Dakota Access pipeline, a project that Native Americans and environmentalists have been trying to block.

Police and other security forces deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, percussion grenades and water hoses to stop about 400 protesters from crossing the Blackwater Bridge on state Highway 1806, about a mile from an uncompleted section under Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir, where work has been on hold by order of federal agencies.

"As medical professionals, we are concerned for the real risk of loss of life due to severe hypothermia under these conditions," the Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council said in a statement posted on Facebook. One hundred sixty-seven people were injured and seven were taken to the hospital, according to Jade Begay, a spokeswoman for the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Sunday's standoff began around 6 p.m. local time, when a group of about 100 "water protectors" attempted to clear burned out trucks that were blocking the bridge, which is on the most direct route from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to Bismarck, North Dakota. The trucks have been in place for several weeks, and law enforcement has constructed a barricade behind them, forcing all traffic to take an approximately 20-mile detour.

"The purpose of this action was to do something to remove that barricade because it's dangerous," said Begay, a member of the Tesuque Pueblo and Dine', who has been at the Standing Rock encampments since September. "That barricade poses a danger not just to everyone at the camp, but also to Cannon Ball and other communities that are south."

"They're using that barricade as an excuse for us not to be able to lawfully protest," said Frank Archambault, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe from Little Eagle, South Dakota. "We got word that the drill is now on the pad so tensions are high right now."

The 1,200-mile, four-state pipeline is intended to carry oil from western North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois. But construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline has been protested for months by the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation lies near the pipeline route and there are fears a leak could contaminate the drinking water. They also worry that construction could threaten sacred sites.

Cheryl Angel, an Elder member of the Rosebud Nation, was an eyewitness to what happened Sunday night [Nov. 20] in sub-freezing weather with water hoses.



'Security' forces stationed at the Dakota Access pipeline construction spray protesters with pepper spray.

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Cheryl Angel: I'm a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. I am Sasusaku, Lakota. I currently live at Cannonball, to support Standing Rock, in their efforts to save the water that millions of Americans [depend upon]. [On the evening of November 20th], after a day of prayer and ceremony at all three camps, our security attempted to open the bridge by removing the burnt out trucks that the North Dakota authorities had put there themselves, and had started on fire themselves and left on the bridge.

So our security forces tried to remove them from the bridge and the North Dakota authorities then decided to escalate their presence by calling in a militarized vehicle, and I'm going to say ... maybe 100 more law enforcement vehicles. There were so many you couldn't even count them. You need to understand that ... what separates the tribe from the pipeline area that's being excavated is the Cannonball River. At some points it's about 40 feet wide, at other points it's only 20 feet wide. But there is a bridge that connects between those two lands, those two boundaries. And that's where the armored vehicles were parked that were already burnt out.

Dennis Bernstein: And, in terms of what happened... we understand that a number of people were wounded with these tear gas canisters. We understand that they were using water hoses in, I guess, 20-25 degree [Fahrenheit] weather. Tell us more about that kind of violence. So people can really, you know, get a human face on what's going on there.

CA: I felt like I was in a war zone. I had ... been called to a meeting so I was heading for the meeting. I could hear young warriors running through the camps, saying "Everybody to the north bridge." So everybody answered the call. They got in their vehicles and they drove to the north bridge. So both sides of the road had cars facing north. People were walking on the sides of the road.



The DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) being installed between farms, as seen from 50th Avenue in New Salem, North Dakota. August 25, 2016.

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November 22, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a strange statement on Syria. He called the situation in the country a collective failure and added that "because of the lack of political leadership and humanity of the leaders of Syria" the international community continues to watch the death of civilians.

First, it seems strange that UN Secretary General hold Damascus responsible for everything. Second, he ignored the efforts of the Syrian army aimed at saving its citizens from the atrocities of militants and terrorists. According to the Inside Syria Media Center, the Syrian army helped more than 30 Syrians to escape militant-controlled eastern Aleppo in November.

It is even stranger that these protective measures have also been criticized by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien. He said that humanitarian corridors in eastern Aleppo that were organized by the Syrian government and its allies are dangerous, or are considered dangerous by the city's population, because the militants don't allow civilians to leave the city and don't want to respect the truce.

In addition, it should be mentioned that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura speculated that the eastern part of the city would be destroyed by the end of 2016. By saying so he hints that the cause of all of this hides in 'destructive' actions of the Syrian troops and their allies. However, UN officials do not show similar concern for Iraqi Mosul, where US-led international coalition conducts attacks on residential neighborhoods without any respect for the lives of civilians. So what is the real aim of these statements? Probably not concern for civilians, but rather concern for the militants, which will be killed if the Syrian Army and its allies decide to resume air strikes on the militants' positions in Aleppo.

Despite the preconceived statements of the UN representatives, it is increasingly evident that the Syrian army has to to win a landslide victory in the battle for Aleppo as soon as possible. Only in this case it will be possible to return to the political settlement of the conflict and restore peace in Syria.
Edward Lozansky and Jim Jatras

With the defeat of Hillary Clinton by Donald Trump, we may never know how close America and all mankind came to nuclear war. Driven by the globalist agenda of the "indispensable" neoconservatives and liberal-interventionists calling the shots in a Clinton administration, it would have been only a matter of time before the United States found itself at war with Russia, or China, or both.

When Trump takes office, for the first time since Ronald Reagan we will have a president with the stature and vision to put the interests of the American people first. Trump's firm hand on the tiller of the American ship of state combined with his business sense will enable him to deal confidently but fairly with the formidable, no-nonsense leaders of the world's next two major powers: Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping. This is a unique historic opportunity that must not be wasted.

Trump can move decisively to restore stability to a global order that has been spinning out of control. It is a good sign that he held cordial phone conversations with both Putin and Xi soon after his victory. It's time to cement mutual goodwill with both Russia and China, which have established a de-facto alliance in response to the mishandling of American policy under Trump's immediate predecessors.

No one should pretend Trump's task will be easy in light of the world's many contentious issues. Trump's "America First!" policy to make the United States secure, prosperous, and great again is a welcome change from decades of globalism. Similarly, Putin and Xi also put their countries' interests first -- that's their job. But Trump has dealt with "tough customers" before, and that hasn't stopped him from making great, mutually beneficial deals.

Among our suggestions:

Dispense with the "indispensables": Trump is right when he says he doesn't need smug, self-anointed "experts" who have "perfect re'sume's but very little to brag about except responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war." None of those who denounced Trump during the campaign should be allowed to serve in his administration, no matter how contritely they beg. This is not vindictiveness, is it good sense. As they say, "personnel are policy": Trump must keep out of his administration people whose only "contribution" would be to try to steer him back to the failures of the past.

Make the common struggle against "radical Islamic terrorism" a priority: Trump has rightly faulted his erstwhile opponent and the lame duck sitting in the White House for their failure to name the principal security threat to America and the whole civilized world. To say the least, that threat is neither Russia nor China, who themselves are battling jihadism at home. It is urgent to settle the dangerous flashpoint in Syria. Aid to so-called "moderate" terrorists from western and regional patrons like Saudi Arabia must end, immediately. Coordination among the U.S., Russia, and China, and with Syrian and Iraqi forces, must aim to destroy all jihadist groups, not just the Islamic State. NATO should reach out to Shanghai Security Organization to coordinate a worldwide anti-terrorism strategy.

Defuse regional tensions where America's vital interests are not at stake: Despite suggestions from the foreign-policy establishment, neither China nor anyone else is threatening the sea lanes in the South China Sea. As Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's opening to Beijing shows, even America's closest regional partners do not want to be pushed into a military confrontation to suit the agenda of "indispensables" in Washington. American concerns about North Korea can only be solved with Beijing's security respected. In Europe, NATO forces should stand back from Russia's borders and territorial waters. NATO expansion should be ended -- starting with the U.S. Senate's declining to act on the accession of tiny and corrupt Montenegro -- while a new security architecture in Europe takes shape. The Alliance's 2008 pledge to bring in Georgia and Ukraine should be withdrawn. We and our European allies should find a way to cooperate with Russia on pulling Ukraine out of its political and economic crisis as a united, neutral state.

Russia boasts the world's greatest landmass and natural resources unrivalled by any other country. She also has the only nuclear arsenal comparable to America's. China is the most populous country in the world, with an economy achieving a par with ours and a burgeoning military sector. If American policy had been designed to alienate both of these giants and drive them to cooperate against us, it could not have been more successful.

President Donald Trump can correct the mistakes of past U.S. presidents. Rather than adversaries Russia and China can become America's essential partners and are, we are convinced, ready to respond positively. It's time for Trump and America to take the initiative for U.S-Russia-China cooperation towards a secure, prosperous, and peaceful future.

A Trump-Putin-Xi "Big Three Summit" should be a priority for the new U.S. President's first 100 days. That's something Winston Churchill, one of the original Big Three, would have understood: "To jaw-jaw always is better than to war-war."

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An effective form of suppression and control is the co-optation of the so-called "progressive left" in such a way that self-described "progressives" or "leftists" find themselves unwittingly supporting terrorism.

Well-documented facts pertaining to the 9/11 wars, all supported by sustainable evidence, have barely made inroads into the collective consciousness of Western media consumers. Despite the presence of five years of sustainable evidence that contradicts the Western narratives, people still believe the "official" lies.

The consensus of ignorance is sustained by what Michel Chossudovsky describes as an "American Inquisition". Beneath the protection of this psychological operation, the engineered enemy is Islam, and the Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) has become a brand to disguise imperial wars of aggression as "humanitarian"

.

Thus, huge sums of public monies are diverted from worthwhile, domestic projects such as healthcare schools and roads, to support a criminal Project for a New American Century (PNAC) that is globalizing death, poverty, and destruction as the U.S led empire tries to impose a unilateral model of control over the world. The U.S is said to be "exceptional", and therefore the rightful ruler. Manifest Destiny writ large.



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Dissent is suppressed within the framework of corporate media monopolies. Predominant narratives are supported by corrupt "NGOs" -- totally bereft of objectivity -- and intelligence agency "fronts". Real investigative journalism offering historical context and legitimate evidence are relegated to the fringes, far outside the domain of the broad-based "consensus of misunderstanding." So-called "progressives" (presumably unwittingly) support Canada's close relationships with Wahabbi Saudi Arabia, Apartheid Israel, and even the foreign mercenaries currently invading Syria (ie ISIS and al Nursra Front/al Qaeda).

Some of the more pernicious lies covering the escalating war on Syria include unsubstantiated memes that fit neatly into the propagandists' toolbox of false representations, and of projecting the West's crimes onto the victims (Syria and Syrians).

To clarify: the War on Syria is not a "civil" war; the "uprising" was not "democratic"; Assad does not "starve his own people"; Assad, does not "bomb his own people"; Assad is the democratically-elected president of Syria, and not a "brutal dictator".

Conclusive evidence demonstrates, and has demonstrated for years, that the war is an invasion by Western proxies, which include ISIS and al Qaeda/al Nursra Front, and that there are no "moderates".

The initial uprisings were marred by armed, foreign-backed criminals, against unarmed, innocent people, unarmed soldiers, and unarmed police. Peaceful grassroots protests were hijacked by these murderous foreign-backed elements (as was the case in Ukraine) -- all consistent with "hybrid war" as elaborated by Andrew Korybko. The illegal sanctions imposed by the West -- including Canada -- coupled with terrorist practices of theft and hoarding of humanitarian aid -- are responsible for the starvation.

Claims that Assad "kills his own people" were further debunked when the so-called "Caesar photos" evidence was proven to be a fraud. In fact, many Syrians criticize Assad for not carpet bombing terrorist occupied areas (as US occupiers did in Fallujah, for example). They sometimes refer to Assad as "Mr. Soft Heart".

The disillusionment of the so-called "left" and "progressives" is exemplified by a piece from the "Socialist Project": Solidarity With the People of Syria! Build the Antiwar Movement! where journalist Richard Fidler writes,

In that country,[Syria] the rebel cities that rose up four years ago in revolt against the brutal Bashar al- Assad dictatorship are now under a genocidal siege, bombed and assaulted from the air by Assad's military, aided and abetted by Russian fighter jets and bombers. Their desperate fight for survival, if unsuccessful, will put paid to the Arab Spring and with it the potential for building a democratic, anti-imperialist governmental alternative in the Middle East for an extended period to come. Socialists everywhere have every interest in supporting the Syrian people and opposing that war.

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William Kunstler

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The quote below by William Kunstler is perfectly appropo to what is occurring in North Dakota right now. But America is even worse now than it was in Kunstler's time because of a state-sponsored, corporate-controled massive, media blackout. We should not forget when Trump (Obama with a backbone) takes over that this outrage began on Obama's watch.

When Obama passes the gauntlet to Trump, the stage will have been set to take things even further. With only weeks left in office he suggests that "fake news" should be stopped. What do you think? Do you think the alt-right (Fascists) will like Obama's idea? Do you think they will like to stop news stories they don't like? Do you think they will continue Obama's policy of jailing journalists and arresting and torturing whistle blowers? Constitution or not, censorship of any sources that are not approved by the Secret Government will be legalized. Thank you Mr. President.

"And that's the terrible myth of organized society. That everything that's done through the established system is legal. And that word has a powerful psychological impact. It makes people believe that there is an order to life and an order to a system. And that a person who goes through this order and is convicted has gotten all that is due him and therefore society can turn its conscious off and look to other things and other times. And that's the terrible thing about these past trials that they have this aura of legitimacy an aura of legality. I suspect that better men than the world has known and more of them have gone to their deaths through a legal system then through all the illegalities in the history of man. Six million people in Europe during the Third Reich, legal, Sacco and Vanzetti, quite legal, the Haymarket defendants, legal, the hundreds of rape trials throughout the south where black men were condemned to death all legal, Jesus legal, Socrates legal and that is the kaleidoscopic nature of what we live through here and in other places because all tyrants learn that it is far better to do this thing through some semblance of legality than to do it without that pretext."

William Kunstler

The Sane Progressive, Debbie, believes that we may be better off with Trump as President than we were with with Obama (How dare she?) She has eloquently and passionately explained the poison, the cancer that Obama has been to the American people. The latest hypocrisy of calling November "Native American Heritage Month" while at the same time winking at the atrocities in North Dakota is typical. By his duplicitous proclamation, he puts up a false flag. He will serve as a lightning rod. On the one hand the neo-Fascists and White Supremacists and Christian Supremacists will condemn him as un-American. On the other, neo liberals will take up the gauntlet against the the neoFascists and White Supremacists and Christian Supremacists, instead of showing up in North Dakota. As Debbie explains so eloquently, Obama and the Democrats sooth their consciences with sweet talk" they can feel comfortable as they stuff themselves with tryptophan and fall asleep sweet dreaming, while the Water Protectors are attacked, threatened, and jailed. That is the poison of identity politics" brilliant!

The Sane Progressive's website address is here. All Americans should subscribe to it.

Here's an original idea -- let's declare 2017 Native American Heritage YEAR, and give the proclamation some teeth. Let's vow that for an entire year (is that too much to ask?) we will honor the treaties we made with them. What do you think?


Education

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Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) November 23, 2016: Before the election on November 8, 2016, political pundits (roughly the equivalent of weather forecasters) worked with red-and-blue maps of the United States to identify various red "paths" and various blue "paths" that each major political party's 2016 white presidential candidate might take to a possible victory in the Electoral College.

As you may have noticed, no political pundits are crowing today that they called the actual "path" that the Republican Party's 2016 presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump (born in 1946), took to his decisive Electoral College victory.

As I write, the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (born in 1947), holds a substantial lead in the popular vote in excess of two million votes.

Once again, we should note that no political pundit had forecast that Hillary would receive a substantial number of votes in the popular vote, but lose decisively in the Electoral College.

Nevertheless, we are probably not going to be relieved of political pundits making mistaken election forecasts, just as we are not likely to be relieved of weather forecasters.

After the election results were known, political pundits promptly pivoted to articulating post-election analyses. Even though it is hard to believe, many political pundits actually get paid real money, just as weather forecasters do.

In the mix of post-election punditry, I want to call attention to Mark Lilla's "The End of Identity Liberalism" (dated November 18, 2016) and Ross Douthat's "The Crisis for Liberalism" (dated November 19, 2016) -- both in the Sunday Review section of the Sunday print edition of the New York Times. So an editor may have orchestrated the match-up of the two pieces.

Mark Lilla (born in 1956) is a white political scientist at Columbia University. Ross Douthat (born in 1979) is a white Catholic convert and conservative columnist at the New York Times.

In the title of Lilla's piece and throughout his essay, he refers to "identity liberalism," which he characterizes as allegedly celebrating the differences of our diverse ethnic groups.

For his part, Douthat is a wee bit more explicit, characterizing "the concept of 'identity politics' as shorthand for a vision of political liberalism as a coalition of diverse -- gay and black and Asian and Hispanic and female and Jewish and Muslim and so on -- bound together by a common struggle against the creaking hegemony of white Christian America [also known as white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, or WASP for short, cultural dominance]."

So our two white male commentators have one thing in common -- they are commenting on a certain cultural and political trend that is not known for celebrating white male Anglo-Saxon Protestants or other white males, except possibly for certain white male feminists or other favored white males. (Disclosure: I am also a white male commentator.)

Historically in American culture, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, and former Protestants, dominated the prestige culture down to, say, 1960, when the white male Roman Catholic Irish-American Harvard-educated Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts narrowly defeated the white male Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the 1960 presidential election. Tragically, President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

No doubt the cultural and legislative victories of the black civil rights movement in the 1960s contributed to the white backlash that helped power Trump's Electoral College victory.

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Nine ppl killed by Indian firing on a bus

Indian troops resumed heavy shelling on Wednesday after a day-long lull and targeted a passenger bus in Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Lawat area, killing nine people and injuring 11 others. Indian troops also fired at an ambulance which went into the area for evacuation, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.



A total of 10 people have been killed today, and 18 others wounded in Indian shelling.



"Indian troops hit a passenger coaster with small and big arms in the town of Lawat, killing nine passengers and injuring 11 others," said Jamil Mir, superintendent of police (SP) in Neelum Valley.



"Four bodies and all 11 injured persons have arrived in District Headquarters Hospital Athmuqam, but five bodies are still in the coaster," SP Mir said.



The coaster was on its way to Muzaffarabad. Lawat is located some 90 kilometres northeast of here in the upper belt of valley that straddles the restive Line of Control (LoC).



SP Mir said shelling in Neelum valley had begun at about 3:00am, but intensified in the morning. Officials from other areas had similar stories.



Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif held a special meeting at the Corps Headquarters Rawalpindi to review the situation along the Line of Control (LoC), with emphasis on the attack by Indian troops on a civilian bus, said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).



Deliberate targeting of innocent civilians is unprofessional and unacceptable, said the army chief. General Raheel Sharif also appreciated the morale of the troops. He appreciated the most befitting response given by the troops. The army chief directed the troops to give an instant and effective response for any future violations by Indian forces.



In a separate incident of Indian shelling in Nakyal, one person was killed and six others injured.



Sardar Zeeshan Nisar, assistant commissioner of Nakyal, in the southern Kotli district said, "Shelling in my area has started at about 8:40 am, and it has been indiscriminate." The assistant commissioner said six people were injured, and one person who was earlier wounded had succumbed to his injuries. "So far, four injured persons have been brought to a health facility," Nisar said earlier, "But I am afraid there may be more casualties, as shelling is ongoing."



Tatta Pani sector of district Kotli was also receiving shells. According to an official at the office of the deputy commissioner Kotli, one person was injured in the area.



Locals in Battal, Madarpur sectors of district Poonch said their areas were also hit by heavy shelling. "There were unconfirmed reports about some people having been injured, but we are awaiting confirmation," a police official told media men from Madarpur.



ISPR in a statement confirmed that Pakistani and Indian troops had exchanged fire across the LoC on Wednesday. Indian forces were targeting the civilian population, ISPR said, adding that a civilian bus and ambulance were fired at. "An intense exchange of fire is ongoing as Pakistani troops target Indian posts."



Earlier, ISPR said, "Indian resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling on LoC in Shahkot, Jura, Battal, Karela, Bagh , Bagsar, Hotspring sectors today."



The federal cabinet during a meeting in Islamabad today strongly condemned the 'unprovoked' Indian firing along the LoC and extended its condolences to the affected families, Radio Pakistan reported.



The latest incident of cross-border firing comes just a day after the Indian army claimed three of its soldiers were killed along the LoC and threatened Pakistani forces of retribution.



The Indian army also claimed that the body of one of the dead soldiers had been "mutilated."



The Foreign Office however rejected the claim, saying that the "reports are a fabrication and a blatant attempt to malign Pakistan".



AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir who has returned from Neelum valley said the situation was critical all along the LoC.



"I call upon the government of Pakistan to raise the unprovoked shelling of civilian populations as an issue in the UN Security Council to build pressure on India," he told journalists in Muzaffarabad.



He said since Neelum valley was highly vulnerable to Indian guns, "a great trial had begun for its nearly 250,000 residents."



He claimed that Indian troops were not even allowing transportation of injured persons to Muzaffarabad.



Tensions between Pakistan and India have been running high following an alleged 'surgical strike', unrest in Kashmir and the Uri army base attack in September.



Since then there have been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing in Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians.



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped up a drive to isolate Pakistan diplomatically after the Uri army base attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. Hours after the attack occurred, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed Pakistan a 'terrorist state' and accused Pakistan of involvement.



The Uri attack occurred days before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was set to address the United Nations General Assembly regarding Indian human rights violations in held Kashmir.



Following the attack, India claimed it had conducted a cross-border 'surgical strike' against 'launch pads of terror' in Azad Jammu and Kashmir  a claim Pakistan has strongly rejected.
*T*his is yet another example of the corruption of the mainstream media. If you like this blog's content please subscribe to our mailing at upper right c...
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
Some Nigerians have decided to make Ghanas politics their business in this years elections. We have had actor Hanks Anuku campaigning for the NPP, and Nigerian businessman, Dele Momodu doing the PR works for NDC and the latest introduction is popular Nollywood actor, Nkem Owoh, popularly known in the showbiz world as Osuofia.



Well, Osuofia has finally disclosed why he is in Ghana and who invited him among others. In an interview with Joy News, he disclosed that he is in Ghana on the invitation by Prez Mahama through his good friend, Dele Momodu.



On why he is in Ghana, he said, Im in Ghana on the invitation of Prez Dramani Mahama through my good friend, Chief Dele Momodu.

He went on to say,



Im appreciating the relationship thats existing between me and President Mahama. I was in Ghana before, but when I came back now, I was telling my friend that he hasnt brought me to this part of Ghana and he said, its the same place just that the development of Ghana by Prez Mahama is just commendable. There is a transformation gradually on a very positive note in Ghana and this makes me salute the President the more. I think hes doing a lot of work in Ghana.

Source: viasat1.com.gh









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One of the first aerial photographs of the Antarctic, this picture was obtained from a balloon in 1901. It shows Erich von Drygalski's ship, the logbooks of which were used in the study. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Heroes of Antarctic exploration have played a crucial role in research that suggests the area of sea ice around Antarctica has barely changed in size in 100 years.

Ice observations recorded in the ships' logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the German Erich von Drygalski have been used to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.

The study, published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere, suggests Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.

The research, by climate scientists at the University of Reading, estimates the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice is at most 14% smaller now than during the early 1900s.

Jonathan Day, who led the study, said: "The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice.

"We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new.

"If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher."

The new study published in The Cryosphere is the first to shed light on sea ice extent in the period prior to the 1930s, and suggests the levels in the early 1900s were in fact similar to today, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square kilometres. Although one region, the Weddell Sea, did have a significantly larger ice cover.

Published estimates suggest Antarctic sea ice extent was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around 6 million square kilometres in recent decades.

The research suggests that the climate of Antarctica may have fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century, swinging between decades of high ice cover and decades of low ice cover, rather than enduring a steady downward trend.

This study builds on international efforts to recover old weather and climate data from ships' logbooks. The public can volunteer to rescue more data at oldweather.org.

Day said: "The Southern Ocean is largely a 'black hole' as far as historical climate change data is concerned, but future activities planned to recover data from naval and whaling ships will help us to understand past climate variations and what to expect in the future."

Capt Scott perished along with his team in 1912 after missing out on being the first to reach the South Pole by a matter of weeks, while Shackleton's ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew journeyed to attempt the first ever cross-Antarctic trek.

In addition to using ship logbooks from three expeditions led by Scott and two by Shackleton, the researchers used sea-ice records from Belgian, German and French missions, among others. But the team was unable to analyse some logbooks from the Heroic Age period, which have not yet been imaged and digitised. These include the records from the Norwegian Antarctic expedition of 1910-12 lead by Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach both the south and north poles.

More information: Edinburgh, T. and Day, J. J.: "Estimating the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice during the Heroic Age of Exploration":www.the-cryosphere.net/10/2721/2016/, The Cryosphere, DOI: 10.5194/tc-10-2721-2016, 2016 Journal information: The Cryosphere
Credit: University of Plymouth

Beaches left decimated by the severe winter of 2013/14 have still not recovered almost three years later, according to new research led by the University of Plymouth.

The study, published in Marine Geology, showed around eight weeks of storms left many beaches along the UK's Atlantic coastline in their most eroded state since records began.

Conditions since have in many cases done little to replenish exposed areas, with parts of Devon and Cornwall having only recovered around half of the sand lost during that time.

For the research, scientists examined the response at 38 natural beaches in the south west of England, ranging from semi-sheltered reflective gravel barriers to ultra-dissipative exposed sand beaches with dunes.

It showed that some beaches experienced sediment losses of up to 200 m3 for every 1m strip of beach, providing the potential to dramatically change the equilibrium state of beaches along the western side of the continent.

The current study includes data gathered up to the middle of 2015, but researchers have continued assessing the beaches at Slapton Sands in Devon and Perranporth in North Cornwall to examine whether the situation is improving.

Dr Tim Scott, who led the study alongside colleagues in the University's Coastal Processes Research Group, said:

"As of October 2016, Perranporth had only recovered about half of the sand lost in 2013/14, while Slapton Sands has seen a marked and lasting shift of sand from the western end of the beach to the east. But it appears the impact of the storms that winter were so extreme at Slapton Sands, with large waves consistently from the South West, it would take a series of significant easterly wave events of similar impact to replenish what was lost. Since 2013/14, wave conditions have remained southwesterly-dominated and that is why we are seeing the current, and dramatic, effects."

Previous research led by the University  published in March 2016  showed the 2013/14 storms were the most energetic to hit Europe's Atlantic coastline since records began in 1948. Regardless of this, it had been expected that most of the sand lost as a result of those storms would have been replenished.

However, data collected as part of the current study and more recent analysis, has shown that while there has been some recovery in the summer months since 2013/14 these have largely been wiped out in the following winters.

This has created a situation where high water shorelines are further landward at sites such as Perranporth, while communities such as Torcross  at the western tip of Slapton Sands  are left more vulnerable as the sediment protecting the sea wall remained depleted.

Dr Scott added:

"Our ongoing research has shown that recovery after a severe weather event can take many years, but we are also seeing that those effects are intrinsically linked to long-term climate cycles. With the advance of climate change, it is likely we will experience more extreme and energetic storms in the future, and developing a greater understanding of coastal recovery  and any means by which we can influence it  will be essential."

The full study  The extreme 2013/2014 winter storms: Beach recovery along the southwest coast of England by Scott, Masselink, O'Hare, Saulter, Poate, Russell, Davidson and Conley  is published in Marine Geology.

More information: Tim Scott et al. The extreme 2013/2014 winter storms: Beach recovery along the southwest coast of England, Marine Geology (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2016.10.011
Credit: University of Auckland

Scientists believe a new battlefront is opening in science denialism and this time the target is the science of invasive alien species and the fight to protect some of the world's rarest species and most unique ecosystems.

In the science journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, conservation biologists Dr James Russell of the University of Auckland and Professor Tim Blackburn of University College London say scientific evidence on invasion biology is under attack, with much of the opposition value-based rather than science-based.

What we are seeing, Dr Russell says, is a rejection of established scientific fact along with an attempt to re-frame, downplay or even deny the role of invasive alien species in global environmental change.

"Currently there is a lot of talk about living in a post-truth world, and, as scientists, we don't want to appear precious or to overreact. But we do see a manufacturing of scientific controversy on an issue where, in fact, no controversy exists," he says.

"Instead, there is and has long been a consensus between the world's leading ecologists on harmful effects of invasive species and this is not in dispute  at least not among the vast majority of scientists."

Dr Russell cites recent articles in high-profile international news outlets such as the New York Times, New Scientist and The Economist questioning the science of invasive species management.

But the questioning is also coming from other scientists, with a number of published academic papers and books taking aim at invasive species biologists and their work.

In response, Dr Russell and colleagues have come up with a list of 24 specific challenges that invasion biology faces along with some proposed solutions.

Those challenges include ensuring that successes in management, such as eradication of invasive pests from islands, are highlighted.

"Scientists have often not been very good at communicating their work, and our emphasis has too often been on only conveying facts. So there is a need for us to talk clearly and more often about not just the scientific evidence but about why this issue is so important for all of us," says Dr Russell.

The issue of invasive alien species is often better understood in New Zealand where our unique native biodiversity is often linked with a sense of national identity, he says.
The European regulation that bans throwing discarding catches to the sea could speed up the mortality of endangered marine birds in the Mediterranean.

The accidental catch of marine birds by long liners can skyrocket, at least in the short run, with the prohibition of discarding catches, set by the European Union, according to an article published in the journal Scientific Reports by a team led by Professor Jacob Gonzalez-Solis, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio).

This study, which analyzes interaction between the populations of Cory's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) and the long liners in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, is also signed by the experts Andrea Soriano-Redondo, Veronica Cortes, Jose Manuel Reyes-Gonzalez and Santi Guallar (University of Barcelona and IRBio), together with Juan Becares, Beneharo Rodriguez and Pep Arcos, from SEO/BirdLife.

More than 500 birds die every year due to Mediterranean long liners

Longlining is a fishing art that consists of a long pole line with thousands of hooks- which is thrown from the boat to the sea. Each year, this type of fishing causes the accidental death of at least 5000 birds in the Mediterranean, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). At a global scale, these incidents with long liners are the cause of the death of an amount between 160.000 and 300.000 marine birds, and represent one of the biggest threats for lots of species in this group.

The end of discards and marine birds?

Before going back to the harbor, fishermen throw fish with no trade value to the sea (or the ones that are not legally big enough). Lots of seabird species follow the route of these fishermen to feed from the discards that are thrown back to the sea. The future European regulation wants to force fishing boats to come back to the harbor every day and stop throwing these discards for good, even if they don't have commercial value.

The study combines different sources of information to understand the interaction between marine birds, trawling boats (which provide discards as easy food to birds) and long liners, (which cause the accidental death for marine birds). To do so, they will use data on monitoring with GPS devices for Cory's shearwater and warnings from fishermen when they catch the birds accidentally.

"Our study shows that with the lack of trawling boats the ones that produce more discards- marine birds opt for feeding from long liner baits, so the risk of being stuck in the hook and dying is higher. From the moment the European regulation is set as mandatory, fishermen won't throw discards to the sea and therefore, bird mortality in long liners will skyrocket" warns Gonzalez-Solis.

"Therefore, before setting this regulation that bans fishermen from throwing fishing discards, it is absolutely essential and urgent to set up appropriate correcting measures in long liners so that they prevent birds from getting stuck on hooks and die".

The removal of discards is one of the spear points of the new common fisheries policy (CFP), approved in 2013. With this, it is expected to reduce the pressure on fishing resources and ecosystems, but in order to reach this goal it is necessary to work through the reduction of fishing effort and the improvement of the selection of fishing arts. "If reducing discards is limited to bringing ashore the fish that used to be thrown back to the sea, creating new markets for these, we won't fulfill that aim" says Pep Arcos, head of the Marine Program for SEO/BirdLife.

However, the CFP thought of measures to tackle the problem of the accidental catches, improving protocols of fishing data collection for example, identifying how and where the accidental catches happen, among other factors to be controlled- and applying measures of mitigation when necessary. "The study we published shows another factor to bear in mind when applying these measures, urgently", says Pep Arcos. "To get satisfying results, it is essential having the cooperation of fishermen, for whom bird captures are also a problem: a nuisance and waste of material".

Protecting endangered birds in the Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are one of the most important breeding areas for little shearwaters, and especially for the Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), a species that leads the list of most endangered birds in Europe. Little Shearwaters easily fly hundreds of kilometers, and the ones that breed in the Balearic Islands frequently visit the Catalan and Valencian coasts to get fed. For this reason, they are at risk of getting stuck and die in any long liner that goes around the Catalan, Valencian and Balearic coastline.

As Gonzalez-Solis says, "a recent demographical study linked the low survival of Balearic little shearwaters to the impact of accidental capturing in fishing arts, as in long liners. If there is not an urgent solution, these species which only breeds in the Balearic Islands will disappear in a few decades".

For a sustainable fishing line in the Mediterranean

Accidental catches of marine birds have been removed in other areas of the planet for example, in the marine area under the influence of the Antarctic Treaty in the Austral Ocean- thanks to the application of correction measures in long liners.

With the support of the Fundacion Biodiversidad and fishermen's associations, and the collaboration of SEO/BirdLife and BirdLife International, this team of experts of the University of Barcelona has been presenting for many years a series of research lines to understand the problem with accidental catches of marine birds in the Mediterranean and to find solutions for this problem. To do so they are studying the efficacy of several mitigation measures adapted to the demersal fishing line float that works in Mediterranean coastlines.

In particular, Jacob Gonzalez-Solis and Veronica Cortes (UB-IRBio) are the authors of Manual de buenas practicas en la pesca de palangre de fondo (Manual of good practices in longline fishing, 2015), a report that gathers the best techniques to avoid accidental catches of marine birds by long liners in the Mediterranean, such as the nocturnal haul or the use of bird lines. Last September, this team organized for the first time in Europe, the sixth edition of the International Conference on Albatrosses and Petrels, in which they talked about the problem of marine bird accidental catches worldwide, and in particular, shearwaters in the Mediterranean.

More information: Andrea Soriano-Redondo et al. Relative abundance and distribution of fisheries influence risk of seabird bycatch, Scientific Reports (2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep37373 Journal information: Scientific Reports
Experts at the University of Birmingham are launching an interdisciplinary project called CreativeDrought to prepare rural communities in Africa for possible future drought by combining local knowledge with environmental science.

Involving leading researchers from universities in Africa and the UK, the team put together by Birmingham drought expert Dr Anne Van Loon will work directly with people in rural southern Zimbabwe - particularly small-scale and subsistence farmers. They will be building on existing local experiences and stories of drought and creatively experimenting with possible futures.

Supported by a grant announced by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the pilot project focusses on the Mzingwane region in Zimbabwe, which suffered the consequences of a severe drought this year.

The project aims to support rural communities by combining local stories about past drought events with modelling of future drought to create a virtual experience of coping with a lack of water in the region.

Project leader and University of Birmingham Water Science Lecturer Dr Anne Van Loon said: "With the CreativeDrought project we hope to lay the foundations for new ways of supporting rural communities in developing countries better prepare for the impacts of drought.

"We want to work with people in rural Zimbabwe to combine the strengths of local knowledge with scientific methods. We believe we can help increase drought resilience by engaging local communities and authorities in creative experiments based on past drought stories and future drought model scenarios."

Drought events cause severe water and food insecurities in many developing countries. In many of these countries, resilience to drought is low for many reasons, including poverty, unequal political and social structures. The project focusses on limited access to information and problems adapting traditional knowledge to changing situations.

The project spans a number of research disciplines, including social, cultural and physical geography, hydrological modelling, drought analysis, water resources management, sociology, arts, and climate change adaptation.

Researchers will collect stories about past drought events and other useful local knowledge, before developing hypothetical future drought scenarios with a locally-relevant hydrological model.

The project team will then organise workshops with communities to experiment with stories about how future drought may affect them and how they might be able to cope. The project also aims to embed the outcomes of these workshops in local water management.

Local water management agencies in Zimbabwe, as well as regional agencies in southern Africa are faced with the complex problem of managing the variable water resources and may benefit from the project.

Local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and humanitarian response organisations may also benefit from the project's findings, through an improved understanding of local communities' perceptions of drought and how these can be adapted to prepare for an uncertain future.

Drought has already increased in frequency and intensity in Zimbabwe with further increases projected, amplifying stresses on water availability and food supply. The Mzingwane region of southern Zimbabwe is extremely vulnerable to drought because of the semi-arid climate, infertile soils and lack of reliable water sources. It also has a poor population that depends on small-scale dryland farming and high unemployment, as well as limited access to information, tools and resources.

The community's ways of coping with drought historically might not be sufficient for future droughts, but this project hopes to show that through building in collaboration with them scenarios of possible future droughts, combining their local and cultural knowledge with scientific modelling, their ability to adapt will increase.
A common species of Asian tree frog may actually be two separate species according to new genetic data collected by an international group of scientists. If the two groups of frogs are confirmed to be different species, assigning their scientific names may require searching historical records of foreign explorers in Japan during the 1800s.

Before the frogs are officially recognized as two separate species, researchers will test if individual frogs from the two groups have unique physical or behavioral features and if they can produce healthy offspring.

The project began when researchers at European universities expanded their studies on sex determination and population dynamics in amphibians to include Asian species. The species of tree frog that they chose, Hyla japonica, is found throughout Japan, the Korean peninsula, eastern China, and eastern Russia. Collaborators around the world began sending genetic samples from local frog populations to discover their evolutionary relationships.

The data revealed evolutionarily distinct groups of frogs in Japan, the Korean peninsula, and eastern Russia. Ancestors of the modern frog populations likely traveled either into or out of Japan by two separate routes: from the North on a chain of islands between Russia and Japan, and from the South along a land bridge on the Philippine Sea Plate between South Korea and Japan.

Japanese H. japonica populations may have been isolated into separate East and West groups. Researchers are exploring this possibility in more detail with an ongoing research project led by Ikuo Miura, PhD, an Associate Professor in Amphibian Research Center at Hiroshima University.

The same separation between East and West Japan is known in other species of frogs and skinks. Miura explains that the scientific community has no definitive information about exactly what caused the divide between East and West Japan, but suggests the possibility of the expansion of ancient basin associated with volcanic activity in central Japan.

Miura and Yuya Higaki, a fourth-year bachelor's degree student, are currently running genetic analysis on 50 populations of H. japonica from across Japan. They will present their preliminary results on November 26th at the annual conference of the Herpetological Society of Japan. This project is part of Miura's larger research interests in sex determination and its influence on speciation and evolution.

If H. japonica is recognized as two separate species, it will be challenging for researchers to decide which species should keep the original name due to the mystery surrounding which population of H. japonica was used for the original species characterization in 1858. The German-British naturalist Albert Gunther named H. japonica after examining a specimen collected years earlier, potentially in 1826, by Philipp Siebold and Heinrich Burger, German botanists and physicians who were among the first Westerners granted official access to Japan. The modern research team visited the British Museum of Natural History to inspect the original specimen, but the location of where Siebold and Burger collected the first H. japonica is recorded only as "Japan." For now, naming the species will remain a historical mystery secondary to the ongoing scientific questions.

The current research paper is published in the November 23, 2016 issue of BioMed Central Evolutionary Biology.

More information: Dufresnes C, Litvinchuk SN, Borzee A, Jang Y, Li J, Miura I, Perrin N, Stock M. Phylogeography reveals an ancient cryptic radiation in East-Asian tree frogs (Hyla japonica group) and complex relationships between continental and island lineages. BioMed Central Evolutionary Biology. 23 November 2016.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
FORT EDWARD  The Salem man who allegedly shot an occupied pickup truck in his driveway one night last June, narrowly missing the driver, appears headed to trial after efforts to negotiate a plea deal have stalled.

Brian Tschorn, 36, faces a three-count indictment for the June 19 gun play at the 1581 county Route 153 home where he was staying. He faces felony counts of reckless endangerment and prohibited use of a weapon and a misdemeanor criminal mischief count, according to Washington County Court records.

He has pleaded not guilty and is free pending further court action.

Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said there have been plea talks in the case, but Tschorn has not accepted an offer that would require a guilty plea to a felony. He said a state prison sentence was proposed as part of a plea deal.

This was a situation where the driver was almost hit, he said.

Police said Tschorn fired several shots from a small-caliber rifle toward a pickup truck whose driver was lost and had turned into the long driveway into the remote home near Chambers Road, just east of the village of Salem, where he was staying late the night of June 19. Police found the shots hit the trucks roof once and the trailer it was pulling twice, court records show.

A number of .223-caliber rounds were recovered, and Tschorn surrendered a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic rifle to police, claiming that was the one he used. Police said there were a number of other guns in the home, but a .223-caliber rifle  which could be subject to the states SAFE Act regulations  was not located.

At least one of the shots penetrated the trucks cab, almost hitting the driver, lodging in the trucks instrument panel and hitting the driver with fragments. No injuries were reported.

The driver, identified in court records as New Hampshire resident George Cole, told police he became lost as he tried to find a relatives new home.

In a statement to Washington County sheriffs officers filed in County Court, Cole is quoted as saying he was unable to turn around in the driveway when he realized he was at the wrong home, and a man came out of the home with a rifle and started shooting.

I stuck my head out the window and yelled, Im lost, dont shoot, dont shoot, and continued to back out, Cole told police. I was about 100 yards from the guys house when I heard two or three more shots as I was leaving and one of those shots came through the cab.

Tschorn told police he shot at a trailer but said he didnt know how many shots he fired, according to court records.

I shot until the gun was empty, he is quoted as telling sheriffs Deputy Lance Barber.

Tschorns wife, Nicole Tschorn, told police that the couple had problems with trespassers and thieves at the home and installed a driveway alarm that alerted them when the truck pulled into the driveway. She said she called 911 and told police that her husband fired shots into the woods and that he told her he saw four men in the truck and two had handguns, court records show.

Police said Cole, who flagged down a sheriffs officer in Salem minutes after the shooting, was alone.

Two neighbors told police that constant shooting on the 194-acre property had caused them concerns for months. The neighbors names were redacted from statements filed in court, but one said Tschorn runs up and down the driveway screaming and another wrote that their daughter was scared to stand at the local school bus stop because of the shooting.

He randomly shoots all day, one told police, court records show.

Tschorns lawyer, James Knox, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Tschorn is due in Washington County Court for pre-trial hearings on Dec. 1, with trial before Judge Kelly McKeighan set to start on Jan. 9.

He could face up to 7 years in state prison on the charges.
veterinary technician

I am thankful I live in a country that allows me my rights that include the freedom of speech, press, religion and to peacefully assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, to decide for myself if I want to own a gun, protection to secure my home, myself, my papers against unreasonable searches and seizures, rights regarding search and seizure, and that no cruel and unusual punishment be inflicted. I am grateful for the Bill of Rights.

SARA DALLAS

Saratoga Springs Regional library director

Actually, I am very thankful for having special people in my life. I am surrounded by love and friendship in my personal life and work life. Most people are not that fortunate. It makes me feel special and lucky.

LISA OSTRANDER

Moreau

Realtor/gym owner

My family  my kids and wife keep things in perspective for me  and being with them is always the highlight of my day. DAVID SNIDER Cambridge theater director I am thankful for my family and my good friends. SUE MOWRY Argyle program coordinator I am thankful to have a lot of terrific co-workers I can learn from. ASHLEY LEVINE Queensbury guidance counselor Its hard to pinpoint any one thing, but I would say its the opportunity to make a difference in a kids life. NANETTE BLANCHARD Diamond Point school principal

I am thankful for my wife and children, their health, happiness and prospects.

BOB MOREHOUSE

Diamond Point

Self-employed

Obviously, my children and my grandson, but also Im very thankful for those people who allow me into their lives, even for a short time, each morning on the radio.

JACKIE DONOVAN

Queensbury radio program director I have so much to be thankful for, especially my friends, my health and my family.REBECCA EVANSKY Fort Edward Adirondack Health Institute My family, good health and, of course, all my friends. BETSEY TOWNE Saratoga Springs Adirondack Health Institute

I think its easy to be thankful at this time of year. We have a great family, and its important all year that you should be thankful for that. J.P. QUINTAL Queensbury Adirondack Health Institute My family and the privilege I had of growing up in a family that taught me the value of respect. They taught me I could do anything. LEE CLEAVLAND Glens Falls social worker I am thankful for a lot of things  my family, mostly. KYLA SANTISTEBAN Glens Falls social workerI am thankful for health and family. It has been a rough year for us, so we are just going out to eat at Fort William Henry. CANDICE FRYE Kingsbury arts administratorFamily and health. That is what I am thankful for. MARGARET RISHEL Queensbury retiredI would have to say Im most thankful for my little family  the support and love of my husband and the joy, love, and learning my children bring me as a mother. BRI LEBRECHT Queensbury small business ownerEditors note: This question was asked at a school event in Fort Ann, at the Salvation Army in Glens Falls and through social media.  Compiled by Bill Toscano
I applaud and appreciate The Post-Star's editorial staff making endorsements of candidates during election time. It is not only their right, but duty to take a stand because the reading public deserves to know as many facts as possible about such candidates. It's also true that newspapers  reputed  have many more facts than your average citizen. I know I read The Post-Star's comments and editorials diligently because without their coverage, I feel less informed about those people who represent us in office.

With regard to the Vermont couple who chastised The Post-Star about making "endorsements" and explaining their opinions of candidates who run/ran for office, why would any card-carrying citizen oppose that? You may not agree with a newspapers endorsements, but let's be honest, who better to make a declaration about those who will be representing us than the people who interview, cover, write and inform the public about potential candidates. I take exception to those TV commentators and newspaper/magazine writers who blindly stand behind the wall of neutrality during election time and declare "they won't take sides." Why not? Aren't they citizens too? Perhaps those in the media who write about how they come to their position about potential candidates offer a way to their reading and watching public how to come to theirs. The Post-Star and other reputable newspapers always explain why they came to their decision.
This oldie but goodie by Magnus Fiskesjo from Prickly Paradigm Press definitely remains the singular anthropological text published on the relationship between the Thanksgiving turkey pardon and the War on Terror:

Each Thanksgiving, the president of the United States symbolically pardons one turkey from the fate of serving as a holiday dinner. In this pamphlet, anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjo uncovers the hidden horrors of such rituals connected with the power of pardon, from the annual turkey to the pardoning of the original Teddy Bear. It is through these ritualized and perpetually remembered acts of mercy, Fiskesjo contends, that we might come to understand the exceptionaland troublingstatus of the War on Terror prisoners being held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.

In The Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon, Swedish anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjo, see in the annual presidential reprieve of an otherwise doomed turkey something much more than a lark. (Just ask a vegetarian; its no joke.) It is really a symbolic pardoning act which, through public performance, establishes and manifests the sovereigns position at the helm of the state by highlighting . . . his power to control matters of life and death. That observation leads Fiskesjo to some troubling thoughts on the exercise of U.S. sovereignty, from Teddy Roosevelts big-stick era to the holding of prisoners at Guantanamo.Jennifer Howard, Washington Post Book World
Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether 

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Chairman of the Union George Nyaunu in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM said the move will render a number of Ghanaians in the business jobless since very few people will be needed to help customers fill their cylinders.

He accused the NPA of using the new regulation as a way of depriving some employees in the sector their source of income.

READ ALSO: Fuel prices reduced at the pump

The measures being proposed by the NPA will involve awarding a contract to somebody and taking the job from the Ghanaian but we are also Ghanaians. They have workers at their various filling stations so its like they are taking the contract from them and giving it to a particular person.

He also mentioned that the NPA have not consulted the Union on this matter and questioned when they will be asked to share their opinion.

READ ALSO: Gas shortage reported in Accra

He suggested that government could emulate the style of European countries by extending gas pipelines to all households with meters like it is done in developed countries.

If it must be done then it must be done well. If you travel to European countries, you see that the government provides gas to them in their house and they pay. Instead of doing this house to house, we can plan something like this.
Workers at its plantation around an hour from the Liberian capital, aware of strong competition from Asia and the little respite in sight for the rubber market, fear they have few means of fighting back.

"The day we were told, the same day, 189 people had already been laid off," said Harris Kerkula, president of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), who told AFP the firm had broken a collective bargaining agreement.

After intervention by the labour ministry, a few dozen jobs were saved, but officials asked the union to accept the redundancies "because the company is going through some difficulties", Kerkula added.

As Liberia's biggest private sector employer, with around 8,000 staff, Firestone's plantations in Harbel have grown into an entire community over the decades, providing a generous package of services the state cannot match.

As a result, redundancy means workers lose their free housing, money for school fees, medical care and subsidised meals in one fell swoop, with just six weeks' severance pay for many.

"I will be going to Lofa County where I was born because if I stay here my family will die from hunger," former employee Nyumah Tamba told AFP.

"I have been working for nine years and I am leaving with nothing," he said, watching his three children play nearby.

Troubled history

Critics say Firestone has always exploited Liberians. Allegations of child labour and "slave-like" working conditions have dogged the company for years, despite more recent improvements.

In 2014, US media outlets ProPublica and PBS Frontline accused Firestone of paying off the regime of former dictator Charles Taylor during the early years of the 1989-2003 civil war to allow its operations to continue.

Children were forced to work alongside their parents to meet impossibly high production targets, others alleged.

The firm denied funding Taylor's atrocities and asserted that it simply paid taxes as required by any government. Child labour was not permitted, Firestone added.

But despite many twists and turns through some of Liberia's darkest years, these redundancies are the first since the 1980s, the company claims.

In an email to AFP, the firm defended its decision on the grounds of low natural rubber prices and high overhead costs associated with the company's concession agreement, along with Liberia's "uncertain business climate".

Furthermore, as a direct result of the 14-year civil war, when new rubber trees were not planted, production was low, Firestone said.

Government cash cow

The monotonous work of rubber tapping may not seem immediately attractive to workers, but the Firestone package is rare in a society with catastrophic education standards and an absence of training programmes.

More than 16,000 students are enrolled in 17 Firestone-funded schools, while the Firestone Medical Centre, a 300-bed hospital cares for 5,700 patients a month.

Since 2004, Firestone says it has paid $1 billion (940 million euros) in tax revenue to the government -- indispensable in a nation that counts the presence of just a handful of multi-nationals.

Labour Minister Neto Zarzar Lighe was careful not to criticise the firm in an interview with AFP. "A total of 500 employees were to be redundant and we were able to reduce that to 428 employees. That is significant," he said.

He defended the firm against accusations they had reneged on a pension agreement with employees, saying that as the scheme was private and non-contributory, different rules applied.

It was not always like this: Firestone and its employees enjoyed the boom years when Detroit's automobile firms were the powerhouse of the American economy.

But today life is much changed for the workers who have been let go.

Some have turned to plantations abandoned by Firestone, tapping the same trees as contractors and climbing perilously high up the exhausted trunks with the hope of finding some remaining latex.
The branding of the buses was done at a cost of GH3.6 million.

OccupyGhana in a 20-page document submitted to the Attorney General, Marrietta Appiah-Oppong, said, she must apply the law guiding government contracts known as AFRC Decree 58, 1979, where offenders face up to 10 years jail sentences.

Smarttys Management has however refunded some of the amount but OccupyGhana said the repayment was unsatisfactory.

Meanwhile, Ace Ankomah, a member of the group, speaking at press conference, said: "Government has had a year to take action but all that has happened is a resignation and a partial refund. This is not enough, the people are keeping monies that they dont deserve, the law demands that we punish the people who were engaged in this transaction. What has happened with that? How do you fight corruption by simply taking a partial refund?"

According to him, "The law demands that every dime of the money be returned to Ghana, every pesewa must come back, and the people who did this must be punished or else tomorrow somebody will do it and pay a partial refund. Then lets all begin to steal and do partial refunds, but unless and until we put people before court and Ghanaians know that at the very least, you will pay three times the monies lost to Ghana, we will never stop corruption."

Context

The branding of the new Chinese Huanghai buses for the MMT with portraits of John Mahama and past presidents caused public outcry, resulting in the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, in December 2015.

Subsequently, the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, ordered the Attorney General to probe the contract and report back to him.
The oral examination was expected to take place on Thursday (November 24).

Justice Enin Yeboah ruled that Martin Amidu orally examines the man at the centre of the controversial GHC 51 million judgement debt saga.

However one of the applications is praying the Supreme Court to review the ruling of the court given a week ago.

READ ALSO: Angry Woyome storms Citi FM studio

The second application, is requesting for a stay of proceedings until the appeal is reviewed.

In the motion, Woyome said: Take notice that Counsel for, on and behalf of, the applicant herein will move this honourable court for an order praying for stay of proceedings pending the determination of an application for the reversal of the ruling dated 16th November, 2016 of His Lordship, Anin Yeboah, JSC, sitting as a single justice in the above-mentioned case.

Martin Amidu filed an application to be allowed to cross-examine Woyome after the Attorney General decidedbto discontinue oral examination.

Background

Woyome was paid GH51.2 million after he claimed he had incurred losses for financially engineering 1.1 billion Euros for the CAN 2008 tournament and other government projects.

However, the Auditor-General's report released in 2010 said the amount was paid illegally to him.

The report resulted in a nationwide controversy, with operatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who were in government during the CAN 2008 tournament claiming Woyome did no work to be paid that whopping sum of money.

The then Attorney-General, Joe Ghartey, said Woyome was contracted to help in raising money for the construction of the stadia but he failed to meet the deadline.

The then NPP government, he said, had no choice but to abrogate the contract with Woyome.

In 2009, when the NPP had left office, Woyome went to court and claimed that his contract had illegally been terminated and demanded a judgement debt from government.

The Attorney-General in Prof. Mills administration, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, who failed to defend the state, rather negotiated with Woyome for him to reduce his demand on the government.
"There have been at least 16 confirmed death and thousands displaced," Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for United Nations peacekeeping force MINUSCA, said in a statement.

MINUSCA said Tuesday that one of its bases had come under fire during the clashes before its troops drove the attackers out with retaliatory gunfire. It announced reinforcements were being sent to the base to protect some 5,000 civilians sheltering there.

The fighting broke out between the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC) and the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC).

The two factions are fighting for control of taxes levied on Fulani herders during the current seasonal migration.

Lambert Lissane, a senior FPRC official, said the group and other ex-Seleka armed groups were negotiating a deal with the government but that UPC chief Ali Darass did not want to take part.

"We have decided to stand together against him," Lissane said.

The government is trying to bring together 14 armed groups under a disarmament deal to consolidate a fragile peace in the former French colony, where militias are flourishing in the power vacuum left by a weak state.

One of the world's poorest countries, CAR is struggling to emerge from a civil war which erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka coalition.

The coup led to the formation of "anti-Balaka" vigilante units, drawn from the Christian majority, which began to target Muslims. Both sides committed widespread atrocities.

France last month withdrew a military mission it deployed in December 2013 to stabilise the country, leaving the UN's 12,500-strong MINUSCA peacekeeping mission to protect civilians from armed groups.
But Royal Dutch Shell lawyer Peter Goldsmith told High Court of England and Wales judge Peter Fraser that the cases concerned "fundamentally Nigerian issues", and shouldn't be heard in London.

"The claims raise issues of Nigerian common law, customary law and legislation," he said during the first day of the three-day hearing.

"The events are said to have occurred in Nigeria and the alleged physical damage is all said to be found in Nigeria."

Shell pointed out that the case involves its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC, which runs a joint venture with the government.

Goldsmith said the case was aimed at "procuring an 'anchor defendant'" to establish the High Court's jurisdiction over SPDC, opening the door for further claims.

Daniel Leader from legal firm Leigh Day, which is representing the claimants, said oil spills from Shell's pipelines had "blighted the lives of the thousands of Nigerians who live in Ogale and Bille" communities.

"It is clear to the claimants that Royal Dutch Shell is ultimately responsible for failing to ensure that its Nigerian subsidiary operates without causing environmental devastation," he said in a statement.

"At the moment these communities have no choice -- they have to take them to court to get them to act."

King Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi of the Ogale community told AFP his community had no option but to seek a ruling in London.

"Shell is Nigeria and Nigeria is Shell," he said. "You can never, never defeat Shell in a Nigerian court. The truth is that the Nigerian legal system is corrupt."
According to the judge Justice Enin Yeboah, his decision was due to the late service of the application on both the Attorney General and Martin Amidu. He further added that he wanted to give a fair hearing to all parties so no one will feel persecuted as claimed by Woyome.

Woyome yesterday filed two processes, one seeking a review of the ruling granting Amidu's request to examine him and second seeking to stay proceeding pending the determination of the review.

The processes today [Thursday, November 24] hindered the cross-examination of Woyome by Amidu over the refund of the judgment debt paid him.

Speaking to Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Amidu said that todays judgment is once again an attempt by the John Mahama-led government to deny Ghanaians the 51 million Cedis.

There are abundant things I could have asked in cross-examination, the guy would not have denied it and that is why it is dangerous for them to allow me to examine him before 7th December.

There was even an instance in which a 100,000 cheque was given by Woyome when President Mills was traveling abroad. I wont mention the name when I cross examine you would know. He signed the cheque and the endorsement of the cheque will show you who cashed it, he added.

He argued that since the government was against the oral examination, it allowed Woyome to file an application to have it stopped.

It will be embarrassing for the government if they file an application because the whole public will know that after all they didnt want to collect the money so their surrogates file it but the Attorney Generals office was in court teleguiding things unethical lawyers do, he added.

Meanwhile, Alfred Woyome has expressed confidence that the state will pay him more money before the court brings an end to the controversial GHS 51.2 million judgment debt case.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra Friday, November 18, 2016, Mr Woyome said: Im envisaging that before this case ends Ghana is going to pay a lot of money to me, but I will respect the Supreme Court.

According to him, the money [judgment debt] was paid to him legally by the state.

"The money was paid to me legally, the court didn't even say I should pay back because it is legal, the court said it is unconstitutional," he noted.

"I will continue to fight till the last drop of my blood. The list that is going around about sharing money, to who, how ??, those who claim they have the list should come out with it," he said.

Mr Woyome has been in the news since 2012 for allegedly putting in false claims to defraud the state to the tune of GH51.2 million, but the High Court and the Court of Appeal have cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Ethnocentricity - President Mahama has a valid point! There comes a time in a persons life when as a matter of conscience and fair play, he/she has to take a stand. The time has come for me to take just such a stand on an issue I had prayed and hoped would not come to that.President Mahama has recently been targeted by all sorts of critics for allegedly making ethnocentric comments in his campaign trip up North.The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), which is usually measured in its approach to issues, joined the litany this week with a strangely one-sided statement rudely entitled: Prez Mahamas Comments: Ethnocentric, Divisive and Condemnable.According to the MFWA, while campaigning in the Upper West Region, the President of Ghana and leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), His Excellency John Dramani Mahama opted to use very ethnocentric and divisive campaign language. The President, while addressing party supporters in Lawra as part of his campaign tour of the Region, made comments to suggest that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) only uses northerners to win power and dump them afterwards.And if I may ask, what is wrong with that? The President was only stating an obvious and historical fact known to many people with a sound knowledge of Ghanas politics since Independence.My relationship with the late Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama (May He Rest In Peace), just like the one I have with President, John Dramani Mahama, cannot be denied. I shared a lot of private moments with the late Vice President and he often poured his laments about the politics of the system to me. It was a privilege I still cherish. He was most gracious in allowing me to also share my own insights with him. He is now dead and gone and whatever he disclosed to me are interred with his bones and my own living memory, but one issue I once brought to his attention, I feel I must now disclose to set the records straight in the memory of this noble man and also defend the name of another noble man, John Dramani Mahama.After the almost 20 presidential aspirants run against him  as a sitting Vice President  in the NPP primaries for the 2008 Elections, Alhaji Aliu Mahama with much humility, conceded to Nana Akufo-Addo who emerged winner, sort ofI do recollect very clearly, as if it happened only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the invitation, not knowing what to expect. The outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He raised a number of issues and concluded on my support for the late Vice President. On that, this is what he told me.The words have been indelibly etched on my conscience: Harruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong. He went on to expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity, nothing else really mattered to me again. When I left, I confided in a few people, mainly family and friends, as witnesses. I received all manner of suggestions on how to handle this bombshell and indeed one family member high up in the NPP even suggested that I take it up with President Kufuor. The frightening fundamental message was clear: No non-Akan should dream of leading the NPP as Presidential Candidate.Not only that, Mr. Hackman Owusu Agyeman, going beyond Nana Akufo-Addos ethnicity, used religion as his anti-Aliu stance. He confronted me in the presence of a witness: Abdul-Rahman, with a nation of about 70% Christians, do you think it will be fair to have a Muslim President? He was referring to Alhaji Aliu Mahama, a Muslim. I answered calmly that in all the major hotspots of the world, it is when some groups think they are dominant and go on to marginalize groups they regard as minorities that the minorities also rise up to assert themselves, by whatever means.Dr. Addo-Kufuor, President Kufuors brother had his turn too. At a funeral at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra, he also railed against my support for Aliu and threatened that You are working yourself out of reckoning in any future NPP government. I replied that history would vindicate me. I could go on and onThe late Vice President after he was dumped by the NPP took it all with equanimity only occasionally going through heart-breaking introspection.NPP Presidential Candidate Nana Akufo-Addos virulent opposition to an Aliu Presidency was so intense that he once openly tongue lashed me at a dinner party where the host had to come to my defence and his daughter even asked me what I had done to her fatherIronically she asked: Are you NDC?The Akan leadership of the NPP is something the Party will have to confront one way or another and hopefully the time would come when it can be ceded, but clearly not now. Nana Akufo-Addo is one of the architects of that doctrine and he is in charge.These are very delicate times, so the MFWA and others that are jumping into issues without adequate historical perspectives must be even more circumspect about things they publish, than the people they seek to condemn. They must know that their ignorance or perhaps arrogance could be more harmful to our polity than the truth and honesty of those that would hold up the mirror to reflect the reality. President Mahama was only reflecting that reality. It was neither hate speech nor divisive. It was the painful (to those whom the cap fits) truthThe MFWA, I believe would, in light of the foregoing, use its vast resources to research more into ethnicity in Ghana so as to play the honest arbiter and perhaps also find in its professional heart some room to apologize to President Mahama.A Harruna Attah, P.O. Box CT 4910, Cantonments, Accra. arhattah@hotmail.com. November 2016.
This is a prediction from the partys Deputy General Secretary Koku Anyidoho. He mentioned this in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.

Itll be first round win.

He said that even though they are certain of a one touch victory they are not leaving anything to chance. We are taking no region for granted.

He also disputed claims by the New Patriotic Party that they have gained grounds in the Volta Region which is seen as the stronghold of the NDC. He said the NPP will not realise the target it has set in the Volta region in the December polls.

If they wake up now and excite themselves we are moving from zero seat to five seats and they are moving from 12perecent to 50pecerntyou do the mathematics and tell yourself whether realistically, they can move from 12percent to 50percent in the Volta region, he stated.

The [party] is committed to ensure that both presidential and parliamentary polls are won, he added.

He said the party is on the last lapse of its campaign as the election day draws nearer.

Meanwhile a research from the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana has indicated that the NPP would take the lead over the governing NDC if the upcoming general elections were to be held now.

According to a team of researchers from the department led by a senior lecturer, Dr Isaac Owusu-Mensah, the opposition party would record 49.9%.
He said the media attacks started after the police gave their version of the clash which possibly did not go down well with members of the NPP.

Speaking on Accra-based Starr FM Supt. Cephas Arthur said I have been attacked severally in the past week such that a purposive communication strategy was designed about me such that people should go to the various radio stations and attack my integrity and they did so...from persons of the New Patriotic Party.

I can state that on authority, I was attacked on some radio stations, it was all over some didnt even bother to call to get my part except that they were so gleeful in propagating the hate attack, he added.

Supt. Arthur however indicated that he is not bothered by the attacks. He rather promised to give his best in the service despite the attacks.

I am not scared at all, infact that is my upbringing, I am so truthful, factual and when I am speaking the truth I dont fear anything.

He emphasised that he will remain neutral in such matters and only uphold the truth.

Some supporters of the NDC who were going for a health walk clashed with the security and some members of the NPP infront of Nana Addos residence.
Head of Corporate Affairs, Abraham Tettey-Nartey said "no presidential ballot has been given out by any staff officer of Innolink Ghana Limited."

According to the party's director of elections, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, there's a major security breach at Innolink.

He said "the report was that the production manager, one Martin Anderson, had handed over a production plate to a gentleman who entered and moved out with the plate."

Meanwhile, Tettey-Nartey explained that another printing company named Aero-Vote Limited approached Innolink to assist with the exposure of only one printing plate for the printing of the statement of Poll also known as Pink Sheet.
Lynxxx whose real names are Chukie Edozien is the creator of the sub-genre of Naija pop music known as Jollof Musik.

Lynxxx who is the son of former deputy governor of old Bendel State in Nigeria Chief John D. Edozien attended Corona Primary School, Ikoyi and Kings College. He obtained a degree in Business, Economics and Marketing from University of Hull.

As the Head of Syndik8 Records he released his debut single  in 2009 which gave him a strong head start in the music scene.

He released his debut album "This Is Lynxxx" the following year. Lynxxx holds the record as being the first Nigerian artiste to be endorsed by Pepsi.

Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi is a year older today too. She is one of the top actresses in Nigeria who allows her work speak for her. Her filmography and TV appearances are not impressive but stellar.

The actress had her first big break in the 1995 Nollywood classic ''. From then on she has had memorable performances in countless Nigerian movies.

On the TV front, she has a dominating and strong career too. She was in the popular late 90's Nigerian soap ''. Let's not forget that Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi is a strong cast member of the M-NET soap opera ''.

She has also acted in TV series such as Doctors' Quartersand Solitaire.
The CEO was on Tuesday November 22, 2016, arrested at Computer village, Ikeja for allegedly stealing 9 iPhones.

In earlier reports, eyewitnesses said Egbegbe went to a certain Keelcech Innovations Store, took some iPhone 7 and iPhone 6 plus mobile phones, told the sales girl he was coming, and then crossed to enter his car.

Following this, the producer was beaten by a mob and taken to the police station.

Egbegbe released a statement denying the allegations, but it was revealed on November 23, 2016, that he was still in Police custody.

According to Linda Ikeji's blog, Egbegbe was officially charged to court by the Police today November 24, 2016.

He's presently at the Magistrate court in Ikeja. According to Lagos state Police PRO, Dolapo Badmus, "After Discreet Police Investigation and two nights in custody, Seun Egbegbe has been charged to court for stealing."

Meanwhile, Pulse paid a visit to the hubbub of Lagos where Seun Egbegbe was portrayed by merchants as a notorious thief who uses charms on people before stealing.

Eye witnesses say Egbegbe has been doing that in computer village for a long time now. An eye witness said, "Just last week Friday, November 18, 2016, Egbegbe walked into a shop and stole 2million naira worth of goods. He was successful."

ALSO READ: Seun Egbegbe speaks on alleged theft

How he was able to walk away with all that is, however, unclear.
She took to Instagram today, November 24, 2016, writing, "We have so much bitterness inside, We find it very hard to forgive people even d smallest offence, We most often forget every Good thing someone did for us just bcos of a small one they didn't do.

We write people off once we see them, Just bcos they are not cladded in gold. We tell evil lies about people, bcos we need favour. We Backstab, kill and Main each other bcos of money.

We hate on someone who has never done us wrong, Just to do solidarity for our friend who hates that person. We judge things we know we shuld leave for God to judge.

Yet we are out here everyday proclaiming how much we love God. We have really fallen. It is not Nigeria that is corrupt............ It is our Hearts. May God forgive Us."

Shan George has started shooting her latest movie '' in the city of Calabar, Cross River state, Nigeria.

The movie written by the Nollywood actress is being directed by Stanley Williams.
The accused identified as Obed Fwoms, is facing a one-count charge of wounding and similar acts, Daily Post reports.

The prosecutor, Insp Nwosu George, told the court that the accused assaulted Ofoke with a knife, stabbing him on his manhood on November 17, at his residence.

George said, Ofoke said that he was coming from work when he saw other tenants in the compound gathering around Fwoms.

The complainant said he asked one of his neighbours what had happened and he was told that Fwoms damaged the ceiling of the house to connect electricity supply without informing others.

Ofoke, who confronted the accused on what he had done, told him it was only a thief that would damage the ceiling of the house without informing other tenants.

He said the accused, who was annoyed about the statement, brought out a knife from his pocket and stabbed his manhood with it.

The complainant said he was quickly rushed to the hospital by his neighbours who were at the scene of the incident and the case was reported to the police, which led to the arrest of the accused person."

According to him, the offence contravened Section 244 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

However, the accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Daily Post reports that the Magistrate M.O Osinbajo granted the accused bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties.

ALSO READ: 3 tenants docked over alleged assault on landlord

Osinbanjo also ordered that the two sureties must be gainfully employed and should show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
Yep. You read that right. No more Maths and English. Physics and Chemistry, at least not in the form we know it.

The head of the Department of Education in Helsinki, Marjo Kyllonen, said:

There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s  but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.

What's the replacement?

Instead of the normal individual subjects, it'll be more multi-discplinary. So, say you're teaching the history of Agriculture in Nigeria, you're teaching the geography of it, chemistry, mathematics, physics. More context, less abstract.

What that means is that you'll never have to say things in class like,

This education system will first be introduced to 16-year-olds. This will make students choose more independently what their future ambitions are.

That's not all. Students won't sit in the classroom formats. They will now sit in discussion group formats, where everyone is basically bouncing ideas off each other and solving problems head on.

What's Finland doing to prepare for this?

About 70% of the teachers in the country's capital, Helsinki are already going through preparatory training for this system. Teachers involved in this will also get a salary raise because of this.

Can this system work in Nigeria?

No, not yet. Not next year. Or next two years. Or even in the next 10 years.

Finland didn't arrive at the point they are right now; they reached this stage following a series of reforms and evolution.
Kayode Awwal, 51, appeared at a Surulere Chief Magistrates Court on a three-count charge.

The resident of 143, Akerele Extension, Surulere, Lagos, was accused of defrauding Miss Bright Oguntunde.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the counts of conspiracy, stealing and obtaining money under false pretences.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Olugbenga Salami, told the court that the accused committed the offences at about 12.00p.m., on April 27, 2015, at No. 143, Akerele Extension, Surulere, Lagos.

The prosecutor said that the accused first obtained N320,000 under the pretext of procuring an American visa for the complainant.

"At another time, he obtained N1, 460,000 under the pretext of helping her to purchase two plots of land at Ikorodu, Lagos," Salami said.He submitted that the offences contravened Sections 285, 312(1) (a) and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. A. Famobiwo, granted the accused bail in the sum of 100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Famobiwo ordered that one of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused, while the other should be a property owner in Lagos state.

She also said that sureties should provide evidence of tax payments, while their addresses should be verified.
Utomi, who is unemployed and resides at 2, Rev. Dayo Fatukasi Close, Irawo, Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, is facing a one-count charge of defilement.

The prosecutor, Insp Simeon Inuoha, told the court that the offence was committed on Nov. 2 at the residence of the accused.

Inuoha said that the accused called his neighbours daughter into his room and inserted his finger into her vagina when one of the co-tenants caught him in the act.

The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

Chief Magistrate B. O Osunsanmi granted the accused bail in the sum of N300, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
The 42-year-old suspect who hails from Orlu village of Orlu South Local Government, Imo state, was reportedly arrested alongside some area boys, Daily Post reports.

ALSO READ: NSCDC arrests two fake money launderers

The accused who is reported to be a father to seven children was reportedly introduced to the trade by one Abdulaziz from the Niger Republic.

Daily Post reports that Collins revealed that he left his family behind in Imo state and have lived in Sokoto Metropolis for three years, adding that he used to be a motorcycle mechanic.

While parading the suspect, the state commandant, Babangida Abdullahi Dutsenma, disclosed that the command apprehended the suspect following an intelligence report on the fake money printer.

He added that Collins was so well versed in his trade that the fake currencies looked a lot like the original.

Dutsenma also said that the other suspects are thugs who specialised in stabbing innocent people at will.

According to the commandant, the thugs have stabbed no fewer than four people within the metropolis, who are currently undergoing treatment at various hospitals.

ALSO READ: Fake currency dealer arrested by Lagos police

He said, Area Boys in Sokoto is not sponsored but a matter of interest. And I see Area Boys as a disaster coming to the state that deserves enough measure or else they will make the state unbearable.
Total Media reports that the girl who worked for one Bamidele Ademola Olateju, allegedly stole the items which include stole 30 set of wrist watches, assorted jewellery, two Toshiba laptops, one iPhone 6, two Nokia phones and charger, $2,000 cash and other items all valued at the amount.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Adeleye, told the court that Shamshi committed the offences between September 22 and 28, 2016, at the residence of the complainant at 1, Val Ifeanyi Close, Bakare II Estate in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state.
The suspect, Adekunle Francis, was arrested on Tuesday, November 22 at Ipamesan, Sango Ota, Punch reports.

Francis is alleged to have lured the girl into an uncompleted building under the pretence of praying and anointing her and raped her.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, revealed that the victim later reported her experience at the hands of the pastor, at the Sango Police Station.

Punch reports that the Divisional Police Officer, Akinsola Ogunwale, immediately dispatched a team who promptly arrested the suspect

During the interrogation, the suspect reportedly confessed to committing the crime, blaming his actions on the devil.
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The Acting NAFDAC Director-General, Mrs Yetunde Oni, disclosed this on Thursday, November 24, during the destruction in Lafia.

Oni represented by Alhaji Abubakar Jimoh, Director, Special Duties, said that the periodic destruction exercise was one of NAFDACs strategies to prevent the circulation of fake, counterfeit medicines and unwholesome products in the country.

She said that some of the products earmarked for destruction were voluntarily handed over to NAFDAC by various governmental and non-governmental organisations while others were mopped up from the open market via enforcement activities and NAFDAC Surveillance Systems.

ALSO READ: NAFDAC shut down water factory over safety concerns in Niger

According to her, fake and counterfeit medicines and other regulated products and drugs worth 30 million were destroyed in the state in 2014.

"We are happy that this figure is down to N21 million in 2016. This is an indication of NAFDACs strengthened enforcement and surveillance systems.

"We are optimistic that in the near future, we would have nothing or little to destroy as we work towards ensuring availability of good quality, efficacious, safe and affordable medicines and wholesome regulated products for the Nigerian populace."

She, however, expressed regret that counterfeiters continued to adopt different strategies to evade arrest and enjoy proceeds of their corrupt practices in spite of NAFDACs laudable efforts.

"In keeping with the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari, NAFDAC will continue to deploy all strategies to ensure that violators are not only arrested but also face the full wrath of the law."
The allegation was made by human rights organization, Amnesty International in a new report.

The denial was made by Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman via a statement.

The statement reads:

The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a planned release of a report by Amnesty International on an unfounded storyline of mass killings of MASSOB/IPOB protesters by the military between August 2015 and August 2016.

For umpteenth times, the Nigerian Army has informed the public about the heinous intent of this non-governmental organization which is never relenting in dabbling into our national security in manners that obliterate objectivity, fairness and simple logic.

The evidence of MASSOB/IPOB violent secessionist agitations is widely known across the national and international domains. Their modus operandi has continued to relish violence that threatens national security.

Indeed between August 2015 and August 2016, the groups violent protests have manifested unimaginable atrocities to unhinge the reign of peace, security and stability in several parts of the South East Nigeria.

ALSO READ: The Nigerian Police is not a friend
He gave the assurance while addressing state house correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the state House.

Ngige said that ASUU had eight demands of which seven had been trashed out, adding that the government conceded to them the right to exclude endowment funds accruing to universities from the Treasury Single Account.

The minister said the TSA was not for punishment but to enable every government institution to, at a first glance, know its financial disposition and for accountability.

The government agreed to ASUU demand but limited it to only endowment fund, and that is fund sourced by ASUU.

But that does not also mean that at the end of the day the university council will not have rights to audit such an account.

That is really the area that is a little bit contentious.

The other aspect of it is the earned allowances; the earned allowance is the only one that is not sorted out now because everyone knows and agrees that we are in a recession.

"And if we are in a recession and you are asking us to pay you N284 billion, nobody will pay it because the money is not there.

So they agreed and National Assembly also agreed and something was worked out.

And government offered them some amount pending when we finish the auditing of the first tranche of money that has been given to them in the same area of earned allowances.

That tranche of money they collected is being audited but the auditing process is very slow because some people for strange reasons are not allowing auditing to take place.

A time frame of six months has been fixed within which the auditing will be done.

According to Ngige, within the six months government has offered what it will pay monthly while ASUU has made a counter proposal.

He said that both parties had gone back to their principals to look at the proposals and return.

He said the Executive and the National Assembly would look at the finances of government and propose an appropriation for subsequent years.

For 2016, there is nothing in the budget for it; it will be done and appropriated and paid when due.

I dont think the matter is a helpless case, we are moving forward and next week they will come back with their counter proposal, he said.
The statement reads:

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is an icon of democracy and one of those who struggled to enthrone democratic governance in Nigeria.

We celebrate him as one of the greatest political leaders in Nigeria and a role model.

We commend his unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of the Nigerian people through his philanthropic activities especially in helping thousands of the internally displaced persons in the North East recently.

Atiku is one person who even at the height of the insurgency when people were running and closing their businesses he was establishing schools and manufacturing industries to provides jobs for our youths.

ALSO READ:El Rufai says Atiku is a liar

As he clocks 70 years we wish him Gods continuous guidance, protection and sound health to continue with his invaluable service to the nation and humanity in years come.
According to the report, security agents fire live ammunition into crowds with little or no warning.

This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher, Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Makmid Kamara, said.

The Nigerian governments decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed. The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book.

It is chilling to see how these soldiers gunned down peaceful IPOB members. The video evidence shows that this was a military operation with intent to kill and injure, Kamara added.

ALSO READ: Police arrest 14 suspected IPOB members during procession
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator George Akume, stated this Thursday, November 24, when he led other members of the committee on an oversight visit to the Army Headquarters in Abuja.

Akume described the military as a strategic sector of the country and commended it for decimating the insurgents and restoring normalcy to the North-East.

He commiserated with the army and families of officers and soldiers who have made the supreme sacrifice in the course of the fight against the terrorists and assured the army of continued support.

ALSO READ: Suicide bombings will end soon - Army

In his remark, the Chief of Army Sfaff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, said the army would not have been able to degrade the insurgents but for the support of the National Assembly.
This was revealed to newsmen by the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor.

Irabor also said the Nigerian Army has put measures in place to put an end to the bombings and called on members of the public to be vigilant.

According to Daily Post, he said troops have rescued a total of 5,235 captives from Boko Haram terrorists.

Irabor said I am delighted to be with you again this afternoon to acquaint you with developments within the theater of operation. The troops of Operation Lafiya Dole have continued with the ongoing operations to clear the remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists.

Since our last interaction, our troops have conducted many operations with immense successes.

The impact of recent bombings in Maiduguri, though sad and unfortunate, was minimal due to the alertness of troops and other security agencies.

Apart from the one wherein two Civilian JTF personnel were killed and some others wounded, only the terrorists died, while one was captured alive.

Irabor also told newsmen that one captured suicide bomber is helping the Army with its investigation on suicide bombing incidents.

He said I wish to remind the general public to be more alert and security conscious with their environment, especially when a strange face comes around.

I also commiserate with all the victims of the recent suicide bombings by terrorists within the theatre. We shall continue to work to ensure the safety of lives of every citizen.

Let me once again use this medium to remind the remnants of Boko Haram that their miserable days are numbered because their future is going to be disastrous if they fail to surrender and lay down their arms.

Let me therefore, encourage them to take advantage of this window of opportunity now to surrender as failure to do so would be hugely regretted.
The attackers were said to be young females.

One of the bombs exploded in Mora, killing one of the girls and wounding at least four people, Babila Akaou, prefect of the Mayo-Sava department said.

Locals killed the second girl before her device detonated, he added, without going into further details.

The sect has frequently used female bombers and children to hit targets.

The two girls, aged between 13 and 18, were said to have entered the town early on market day and were spotted by a watch committee, said Akaou.

"They were heading toward the market. They werent wearing shoes  which drew attention," a local identified as Abou said.

He said the girls passed by him around 7 a.m.

ALSO READ: Suicide bombings will end soon  Army

Suicide bombers have launched attacks in Mora, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Nigerian border, several times before.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Buhari while in Malabo participated in the opening ceremony and working session of the Summit, on Wednesday.

NAN reports that during the summit, Nigeria and other African countries received a pledge of two billion dollars from the Kuwaiti government to fund key development initiatives in agriculture, youth empowerment, education and support to fight terrorism.

Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, confirmed this development in a statement issued in Abuja.

At the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, jointly organized by the African Union Commission and the League of Arab States, the Kuwaiti government said the amount would be released to African countries as soft loans to promote the development of the continent.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) will release one billion dollars for the support of the fight against terrorism, youth empowerment and boosting agriculture, while another one billion dollars will be for strengthening educational systems in Africa, he said.

The statement said Kuwait had in 2013 made similar facilities available to some African countries to diversify their economies, particularly in sectors that directly impact the lives of citizens.

President Muhammadu Buhari led the Nigerian delegation to the summit, which was attended by African Heads of State, and prominent leaders from the gulf.

NAN reports that Morocco and some Arab countries staged a walk-out of the fourth Africa-Arab World Summit in Equatorial Guinea in protest against the presence of a delegation from the Polisario Front, a group seeking the independence of Western Sahara.

Reports from Malabo indicated that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Yemen as well as Somalia also left the one-day summit in solidarity with Morocco.

It would be recalled that Morocco had made an official request to rejoin the African Union (AU), more than four decades after leaving the union in protest against the membership of Western Sahara.

The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member.

The Kingdom of Morocco, however, officially submitted a request to accede to the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act, and therefore, become a Member of the Union.

An Adviser to King Mohammed VI on Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom, Taieb Fassi Fihri, informed the Commissions Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, when they met, on Sept. 22 2016, in a bilateral meeting in the margin of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of Moroccos intention to rejoin the AU.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu that the accident happened at about 9p.m. on Wednesday.

Amaraizu said that the Police is yet to identify and contact the relations or friends of the victims.

He appealed to members of the public to report to the Police any missing person or someone that undertook a journey through the Onitsha-Enugu road that has not returned home.

He said: "The accident involved an empty luxurious bus and a mass transit company mini-bus loaded with passengers coming from Enugu.

"It was gathered that both vehicles collided while plying one way, which left one person in the mini-bus dead while 11 others are in critical condition.

"Police intervention saw the conveyance of the injured persons to Ekochin Hospital 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, near Enugu."

ALSO READ: 2 crushed, others seriously injured in bus crash
Ayinde made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lokoja.

He said littering the River Niger would not help in meeting the rivers desired status.

The environmentalist advised the state government to forward a bill to the State Assembly to sanction anyone found guilty of littering the river and its environment.

Ayinde said that a dirty environment would not encourage investors.

He, however, said the River Niger was supposed to be one of the major tourist attractions in the state and for generating revenue for the state government.

The environmentalist urged the state government and the ministry of environment to stop people littering the river bank.

Ayinde said, Once the river is clean, it would attract people.

He said that even small countries like Ghana, used their rivers for tourism.

Ayinde said the Kogi Government should work on the River Niger.
But now it seems Emmanuel Kachikwu spoke way too soon about the 2.1 million barrel per day figure.

Hours after President Muhammadu Buhari held talks with representatives from the oil-producing Niger delta in the capital Abuja on November 1, the attacks resumed in spectacular fashion.

A blast on the Trans-Forcado pipeline just 48 hours after it reopened was a brazen provocation, casting doubt on the Nigerian government's ability to secure peace in the region.

Forcados produces 215,000 barrels per day.

Then on November 5, the major pipeline was hit again by the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, a group that has stepped up its attacks in recent months.

In the middle of the month, the Niger Delta Avengers, the main group in the restive region, claimed to have bombed three Nembe creek trunk lines.

The Avengers said the ongoing sabotage was in response to the Nigerian navy's "Operation Sharkbite" in the region aimed at stopping attacks by militants and pirates.

"We are determined to continue this war by all means necessary," the Avengers said.

'Constant invasion'

The Nigerian army launched "Operation Crocodile Smile" in the oil hub of Warri earlier this year in an attempt to stop the pipeline sabotage hammering the economy.

But regional leaders say that the presence of the troops is stoking tension in a frustrated region, caught between violent militants and heavy-handed soldiers.

Shootouts here have led to high-profile casualties.

In October, a Nigeria Premier League defender Izu Joseph was accidentally shot dead when soldiers raided his hometown of Okaki in southern Bayelsa state.

Last week, Nigerian newspaper Premium Times said that soldiers had killed a kidnapped pastor in August mistaking him for a militant.

Fed up with the violence, women have started protesting.

"Only some days back, they (soldiers) invaded Oporoza community with two gunboats," Godspower Gbenekama from Gbaramatu community, near Warri, told AFP.

"Angered by the constant invasion, women from the community mobilised in protest, met the soldiers and told them that they were tired of their frequent invasion of their community."

No trust

There is a deep-rooted distrust of President Buhari, a northerner, in an impoverished region where people are cynical about politicians after years of broken promises.

Some feel they are being punished after not voting for Buhari's ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party in 2015.

"There is no desire to achieve anything through the deceit called peace talks," Niger delta activist Annkio Briggs told AFP.

"The Niger delta not voting for APC in 2015 was unforgivable and the people are being punished today."

Others feel that Buhari's pledge to create a $10 billion Niger delta infrastructure fund is nearly impossible to achieve given Nigeria's economic crisis.

"I don't think that they really feel a sense of trust in the government," said Dolapo Oni, energy researcher at Ecobank.

"Unfortunately there's not much that government can do, I think the disruptions will likely continue," Oni said.

Charles Swabey, oil and gas analyst for BMI Research, echoed Oni, saying the attacks were pressure tactics that played havoc with production and showed the government the militants "have the capability to carry on."

The wave of attacks began in early 2016, tipping the West African country into a recession in August.

Nigeria depends on oil for 70 percent of its government revenue and the bulk of its export earnings.
Obasanjo also told Buhari to stop blaming past administrations for the economic crisis.

The former president made the comments on Wednesday, November 23, during the first Akintola Williams Annual Lecture in Lagos.

Below are seven important things Obasanjo said to Buhari:

Now that we have had change because the actors and the situation needed to be changed, let us move forward to have progress through a comprehensive economic policy and programme that is intellectually, strategically and philosophically based.

Businesses are closing, jobs are being lost and people are suffering. I know that President Buhari has always expressed concern for the plight of the common people but that concern must be translated to workable and result-oriented socio-economic policies and programmes that will turn the economy round at the shortest time possible.

We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect things to change. That will be a miracle which normally doesnt happen in normal national economies.

The economy requires a great element of trust to get it out of the doldrums, let alone out of negativity. That trust and confidence has to be created.

When justice is only for sale and can only be purchased by the highest bidder, impunity and anarchy would be the order of the day and no one would be safe. In this regard, drastic action was needed to save the situation, albeit one would have preferred an alternative that would serve the same purpose, if there was one.

May God continue to imbue the executive with the necessary wisdom and courage to clean the dirty stable of the judiciary and the bar for the progress and the image of our nation.

Budget padding must not go unpunished. It is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.
According to reports, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been trying to find the whereabout of the $175,750,000 that was deposited in Dame Patiences account.

According to The Nation, a source with the anti-graft agency said the cash was withdrawn from her account and disappeared without a trace.

In her reaction, the former first lady said the anti-graft agency has not linked her to the investigation.

Mrs. Jonathan also claimed that she only had $10m in her bank account before it was blocked by the EFCC.

The former first lady, in a statement signed by her spokesman, Sam Dokubo, said The purported story in a newspaper on November 19, 2016, about a missing $175m allegedly belonging to the former first lady is not just fictitious but plain falsehood.

The EFCC has not made any statement to the existence of an investigation of any missing $175m linked to the former first lady.

If any such funds as claimed, which was deposited by certain verifiable persons has gone missing without a trace from a known bank, Skye Bank, as was reported, then, the bank, its officials and those mentioned must be held to account for the funds and not the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who was in no way a part of the transaction.

The claim that the money was credited to a company linked to Dame Patience Jonathan is also false; otherwise it should be officially substantiated with credible evidence by Skye Bank and the EFCC that are jointly mentioned in the report.
THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

We cant pay N284b allowances, government tells ASUU

The Federal Government yesterday said it could not afford the N284 billion earned allowances being demanded by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Earned allowances are the emoluments the lecturers are entitled to enhance academic productivity and increase research output.

Eyitayo Jegede is authentic PDP candidate for Ondo poll

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday declared Eyitayo Jegede of the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction as the rightful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship election billed to hold on Saturday in Ondo State.

150 pro-Biafra activists killed, says Amnesty

A chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions and violence has allegedly resulted in deaths of at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in the Southeast.

THE VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

2017 draft budget based on unrealistic assumptions - Senate

A draft budget framework for 2017 submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari is based on unrealistic assumptions about oil production and the currency exchange rate, the Senate said yesterday.

DSS Sting operation: Reps drill Justice Dimgba, Wike, Liman, CCB, others

THE House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee investigating all cases of property and arrest of persons by the Department of State Services, (DSS), especially the circumstances surrounding the attempt to arrest a Federal High Court judge in Port Harcourt, yesterday drilled Justice Abdulahi Liman of Port Harcourt Federal Court, Governor Nyesom Wike, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba and the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau.

OBJ to Buhari: Act fast, economy cant be saved by orders, wishful thinking

LATCHING on the state of the nation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to rise to the challenges posed by the current recession in Nigeria, noting that orders, wishful thinking and blame game would not solve the hapless state of affairs in the country.

THE NATION NEWSPAPER

Obasanjo attacks Buhari, Senators, Reps, judges

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke yesterday on the state of the economy.

Army denies killing 150 pro-Biafra protesters

The Nigerian Army yesterday said it did not kill 150 pro-Biafran protesters, as alleged in a statement by the global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI).

Ondo: INEC drops Ibrahim for Jegede as PDP candidate

Eyitayo Jegede is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said last night.

THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER

YABATECH suspends academic activities as fire destroys hostel

Academic activities at the Yaba College of Technology have been suspended for three days after the female hostel of the school was gutted by fire in the early hours of Wednesday, destroying 20 rooms.

Jegede is now PDP candidate, says INEC

In a judgment lasting three tension-soaked hours, the Appeal Court, Abuja, resolved the controversy surrounding the governorship ticket of the Ondo Peoples Democratic Party in favour of Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, sending the PDP supporters in the 40-year-old state into wild jubilation.

We cant meet ASUUs N284bn demand nowFG
Wike made this submission through the Commissioner of Justice in Rivers State, Emmanuel Chinwenwo Aguma (SAN) at a hearing organised by the National Assembly to investigate the alleged invasion.

He also alleged that the DSS operatives claimed to be acting on orders from above, adding that they did not know which house to raid.

According to the Governor, Nobody is out to defend rogue Judges, but things must be done within the ambit of law.

Aguma said The Governor was taken aback by the presence of so many DSS operatives and His Excellency queried the propriety of invading the Judges residences at such an unholy hour.

His Excellency was not aware of the particular Judge whose property the armed men were invading or to arrest, but was baffled that it took such huge number of operatives to arrest a Judge or Judges.

This put the Governor on enquiry as His Excellency doubted the propriety, legality and legitimacy of the action.

The Rivers law officer also told the lawmakers that a junior DSS officer harassed and threatened to shoot Governor Wike.

He said That same Operative assaulted His Excellency, the Governor, in the presence of his superiors who have not disciplined the said Operative till date.

The lawless conduct of the DSS operatives and police officers in the full glare of a large crowd that had now gathered created doubts in His Excellency, the Governor as to the true reason/objective of the Security Officers.

His Excellencys suspicions were heightened by the fact that the so-called SSS Operatives did not even know the particular residence of the Judge they had come to arrest.

This seemed strange as the DSS office in Port Harcourt shares a boundary fence with the residence of one of the Judges.

According to Daily Post, Governor Wike told the lawmakers that the constitutional responsibility of the DSS is internal security.

Adding that Every other responsibility, whether under the Act or the instrument, revolves around internal security of the nation. It is an intelligence gathering agency.

It is, therefore, outside the duties of the DSS to dabble into the traditional roles of the Police Force in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime, and the maintenance of law and order, where such crime or acts do not threaten the internal security of the nation."
Reacting to the victory of the partys candidate, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Fayose told newsmen in Ado Ekiti that the electoral body should postpone the election as it did recently in Edo.

He said that the victory of Jegede as the PDP candidate in the Saturday election was not in favour of the party to win the poll.

He called for the postponement of the poll as done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the last Edo governorship election.

Fayose alleged that INEC, in collaboration with some people, had succeeded in undermining the strength of the party through the long judicial impediment.

Postponing this governorship election remains the best option if INEC is truly an unbiased umpire.

I commend the Court of Appeal panel as the judgment should not have been otherwise because you cannot cover the truth. l have said it ab initio that charlatans in PDP are colluding with INEC and some elements to undermine our party, he said.

This is not the best of times for us in the PDP and the good people of Ondo State. This is not the best time this judgment should have come.

But we are still looking for Nigeria of our own, I mean Nigeria, where there will be fairness and equity.

It is regrettable that some charlatans can be colluding with INEC and others to destroy our party. This is very regrettable and unfortunate.

As it is now, the commission has no reason not to postpone this election because what the INEC did was a deliberate action to weaken our party.

This judgment coming at this time is a major setback for our party, which I believe can only be cured if this election is postponed, he said.

ALSO READ:Fayose calls for sack of Justice Okon Abang
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the governor and made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

Wike advised Nigerians not to lose hope in the judiciary no matter the level of attacks on judicial officers by the powers that be.

He added that no matter the level of intimidation by the powers that be, there are resilient judicial officers, who would always enthrone the rule of law in the country.

The governor urged the people of Ondo State to vote massively for Eyitayo Jegede to enable him continue with the `giant developmental strides of outgoing Gov. Olusegun Mimiko.

I wish Eyitayo Jegede the PDP candidate, the best in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

Ondo people know that Eyitayo Jegede is their candidate and only hope to continue the good works of Gov. Mimiko.

There have been pressures to make sure PDP scatters so that at the end of the day, PDP will not have a candidate in Ondo state.
Jegede, who was on Wednesday declared the rightful candidate of the party by an Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, led protesters to the State Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) demanding the election be shifted.

He was said to have been accompanied to the INEC office in Akure by a mammoth crowd.

He said he wants the election postponed to ensure that the process is held in full compliance with the provisions of Section 34, 45 and 74 of the Electoral Act 201o as amended.

In a letter he wrote to the INEC chairman, Mahood Yakubu, he said since the Electoral Act stipulates that names of candidate should be published 30 days before the election, it would be appropriate if INEC starts counting his days from November 23 when the court judgment in his favour.

According to him, this will also allow the party to submit a list of his partys agents in good time before the election as provided for by the Electoral Act 2010 which stipulates that each party should make list of their party agents available to INEC 14 days before the day of election.

He said: "It follows from the foregoing that any list of agents purportedly forwarded by one Poroye and his fellow pretenders who had been illegally parading themselves as the state executive members of the PDP, Ondo State cannot be regarded as authentic.

"As it is, the peoples democratic party has not forwarded the list of its agents to the commission.

"Whichever way one may look at the situation on ground, the governorship election of Ondo state slated for 26th November, if conducted, will undoubtedly be in breach of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

"It is in light of the foregoing that I request you to differ the governorship election for Ondo State for at least 30 days so as not to conflict the election in flagrant violation of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended."

Jegede's victory at the appeal court came after he challenged the decision of an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang which ordered INEC to remove Jegede's name as the PDP candidate and replace it with Jimoh Ibrahim.
The Appeal Court in Abuja declared Jegede the authentic PDP candidate for the poll slated for Nov. 26.

The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to replace Jimoh Ibrahims name with that of Jedege.

Before the judgment, INEC approved Ibrahim as the PDP candidate for the election.

Jegedes campaign jingles and promos rented radio and television airwaves immediately after the judgment.

A NAN correspondent who went round Okitipupa on Thursday observed that Jegedes campaign train was in the town and its environs.

Jegedes campaign team sang his praises and distributed fliers on his election bid.

His supporters were also jubilating, dancing and singing different campaign songs.

Meanwhile some supporters of the candidate are calling for postponement of the election to give the PDP candidate an adequate time for campaign.

The supporters, who described the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, said that INEC should give Jegede adequate time for campaign to make the judgment more beneficial.

Mr Ayodele Fasakin, the Jegede Faction Campaign Director in Okitipupa, told NAN that the team had a short time to campaign.

INEC should postpone this election; we dont have enough time for campaign because the election is two days away.

I am optimistic that Jegede will win the election; it is glaring," he said.

One of the supporters, Mr Ayinde Ikudaisi, said that he was satisfied with the judgment, and urged INEC to give Jegede more time to 'sell' himself to members of the electorate.

The judgment is victory for us. The court has proven to be the last hope of a common man, Ikudaisi said.

Another supporter, Mrs Yemi Akinwale, also said that she was delighted at the development, adding that adequate time for Jegedes campaign would give him wider chance of winning.
The Court of Appeal, on Wednesday in Abuja, dropped the partys candidate, Jimoh Ibrahim, and replaced him with Eyitayo Jegede, who was the flag bearer before being substitued.

Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman of the partys national caretaker committee, has described the judgment as a massive step forward, but argued that the party deserved a little more time to select its agents in the interest of fair play.

Victory comes from God, however, a bit of extension of time will be fair, especially considering the fact that it is only now that the party will begin the process of selecting its agents, Makarfi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Jos on Thursday.

Makarfi urged INEC to consider the partys request in view of the protracted battle that had trailed the partys candidacy.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr Felix Hyat, Chairman, Kaduna chapter of the PDP, suggested a two-week extension to allow time to select and submit names of agents.

Agents at the election and collation centres are very crucial to fairness in any election.

If INEC insists on conducting the election, the PDP will certainly be at a disadvantage from the polling units to the collation centres at the wards, local governments and the state levels, he said.

Hyat commended the judiciary for restoring justice to Jegede and the PDP, and declared that the judgment had revived the party from a near fatal situation.

The former aviation minister called on Alhaji Modu Sheriff, former National Chairman of the party, to embrace the Makarfi group toward rebuildling the party.
The Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Mr David Anayele, made the call at a news conference in Akure on Thursday.

Anayele said their members were demanding for more inclusive participation in electoral processes and governance across the nation.

"Leave no one behind, disability votes count.

"Twenty seven teams of PWDs trained observers, which include a driver, an observer and a Personal Assistant, will be deployed to 200 polling units.

"This is the representative random sample of the 3009 polling units in the state.

"Observers will rove on election day and answer questions at each of their assigned polling units, using a comprehensive checklist before sending their reports to a central database system via coded text messages."

Anayele contended that PWDs were greatly marginalised from participating in Nigerias electoral processes because polling units are not always physically accessible to those that are unable to walk or have impaired walking.

He listed other hindrances as inaccessible locations of polling booths, high placement of ballot boxes and hearing and visual impairments which often disenfranchised the group from voting.

The director stressed that these often discouraged Nigerians with disabilities from coming out to participate in elections.

Similarly, Mrs Grace Jerry, the Executive Director, Inclusive Friends Association, called for the use of sign language interpreters and Braille facilities in elections.

She demanded for more incentives, ballot box accessibility, change in narratives and stereotypes about persons with disabilities.

She called for national legislation on disability rights.

Jerry advocated collaboration among Civil Society Organisations before 2019 election.
The reports followed a Supreme Court decision which upheld the nomination of Eyitayo Jegede, a member of the Makarfi faction, as PDPs governorship candidate for the Ondo elections instead of Jimoh Ibrahim of the Sheriff faction.

Im surprised at some of the reporting you media people are carrying, all the reporting yesterday was not correct because the issue in the lower court, is the issue of governorship of Ondo state, Sheriff told The Cable.

That issue is between the state chairmen and the chairmen of the other group, the court of appeal has not touched anything on who is the leader or who is the substantive national chairman of the PDP that is the issue in the court of appeal. The Supreme Court says the Court of Appeal to hear that matter.

If the court appeal decides that they should hear that matter  saying Makarfi is the chairman, there is no issue like this, Ali Sheriff remains the substantive chairman of the PDP until the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt (gives judgement otherwise)  and the Supreme Court also ask the court now to go and hear that matter, so therefore the issue of discussion therefore is between Jegede and Jimoh Ibrahim.

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We are not party to it. We will abide by any decision of court, we are law-abiding citizens, he added.
The Vatican said the states were "constantly searching for ways to develop relations even further", but did not comment on the possible re-establishment of diplomatic ties.

Vietnam's communist regime broke off diplomatic ties with the Vatican in 1975, but both sides have been working towards reconciliation since 2007, including a meeting between the prime minister and the pope two years ago.

The vast majority of Vietnam's 93 million inhabitants say they follow Buddhist traditions, but about seven percent of the population say they are Catholic.

Catholic land confiscated since the end of French colonial rule in 1954 remains a contentious issue between the church and state, and has led to demonstrations.

In recent years, church leaders have also called for jailed activists to be released from prison and have fought for religious freedoms in the authoritarian nation.

The pope is keen for the Church to tap into Asia, a continent where the number of Catholics, currently just 3.2 percent of the population, is rocketing.
The vote is not binding, but it aims to ratchet up the pressure on Erdogan, whose leadership has taken an even more authoritarian turn since a failed coup in July.

More than 100,000 public workers, including police officers, teachers, soldiers and others, have been fired for what Turkish authorities have said are connections to the coup or to terrorists. Hundreds of organizations have been forced to close, including many news outlets.

The vote, in Strasbourg, France, also raised the stakes for EU governments that are loath to cut off the talks with Turkey. So far, only Austria has publicly advocated suspending the talks.

Ending the negotiations even temporarily would further jeopardize a fragile deal reached with Turkey in March that has dramatically stemmed the flow of migrants to Greece from Turkey.

The influx had threatened to overwhelm some European governments, and it bolstered the fortunes of populist political movements. Many European governments are concerned that the migratory flow could resume unchecked if relations with Turkey sour further.

Erdogans government has suggested that it may pull out of the membership process altogether if there is no progress by the end of the year. This week, he said a vote to curtail the talks would mean the European Parliament was siding with terrorists.

On Thursday, a majority of lawmakers put those concerns aside. There were 479 votes in favor of the resolution to suspend the negotiations with Turkey, 37 against and 107 abstentions.

Ahead of the ballot, the leaders of the main political groups at the Parliament said the European Union had to stand by its humanitarian values and ensure that Turkey did not reinstate the death penalty, which Erdogan has vowed to approve. A ban on capital punishment is a condition of EU membership.

Some of the lawmakers said the EU should not allow itself to be held hostage by Turkey over migration and should instead find ways to share the burden of looking after the influx. The Turkey deal is an instrument we have given to Erdogan against us, Ska Keller, a German lawmaker, told the Parliament this week.

A formal binding procedure to suspend the Turkish accession talks has not been invoked by the vote.

For that to happen, the European Commission, the blocs executive body, or one-third of EU member states would first need to make a formal proposal to do so, and a majority of the member states would then have to vote in favor of the measure for it to pass. Turkey would also be granted the opportunity to be heard, according to rules established in 2005.

Turkey first applied for membership in 1987, and formal negotiations began 11 years ago. But talks soon bogged down amid resistance from France and Germany, as well as vehement opposition from Cyprus, which is a member of the European Union but has been divided since Turkey invaded the north of the island in 1974.

The latest round of talks on Turkeys joining the European Union has been underway for nine months.

Facing enormous pressure from migration, which had reached such levels that it was threatening to tear the bloc apart, the 28 member states agreed in March to speed up the discussions as one of several inducements to Turkey to quell the flow.

That deal also provided for the union to pay Turkey 3 billion euros, or about $3.2 billion, for refugee assistance in 2016 and 2017, with a further 3 billion euros in 2018.

In exchange, Turkey agreed to help stop the passage of refugees across its border and to take back migrants rejected for asylum in Europe. Turkey hosts an estimated 2.7 million refugees or other migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and other countries.

The agreement has been broadly successful in reducing the flow into Europe. The number of migrants crossing into Greece was at about 100 or fewer a day in the last few weeks, compared with 2,000 a day last year. So far, Europe has disbursed 677 million euros of the promised funds, badly needed at a time of economic hardship in Turkey.
Hurricane Otto, upgraded from a tropical storm by the US National Hurricane Center, was packing sustained winds of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour that were forecast to strengthen further before landfall.

The slow-moving system was expected to churn slowly through northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua over two days, dumping heavy rains that the US center warned would likely cause "life threatening flash floods and mudslides."

Both countries had issued red alerts for the areas to be worst-hit, evacuated thousands of people and ordered the closure of schools, some of which were designated shelters.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis' declaration of a national emergency meant government offices in his country would be closed Thursday and Friday, except the ones dealing with the storm.

"Let me be clear: the hurricane is potentially highly destructive. We hope no one gets hurt, but that is why we must be prepared, and follow authorities' orders," Solis warned.

In Bluefields, a Nicaraguan city of 45,000 inhabitants directly in the storm's path, there was panicked buying of battery-powered lamps, bottled water, canned food and plastic bags.

"I'm expecting it won't hit Bluefields directly... but it's worrying that it's stationary because it's growing bigger and taking up a lot of water and has become unpredictable -- it could go in any direction," a shopkeeper, Elmer Jackson, told AFP by telephone.

Otto has already proved deadly in Panama, where on Tuesday its outer band of rains and wind caused a mudslide that killed two people, brought down a tree that crushed a nine-year-old boy in a car in the capital, and drowned an 18-year-old swept away by the Utive River.

Evacuations

Princes Barberena, a resident in Greytown, an outpost on Nicaragua's far southern Caribbean coast, said some locals were crossing the nearby border into Costa Rica looking for safer shelter.

But the situation there was not projected to be much better.

Costa Rican officials have ordered the evacuation of more than 4,000 people along the sparsely inhabited northern half of its Caribbean coast. But some were defiantly staying.

"Some people don't want to leave their homes, leave all their possessions, their animals," police officer Christian Rodriguez told the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion in the village of Batan, close to the Caribbean port city of Limon.

One woman who did evacuate her home near the village of Barra del Colorado, Teresa Romero, 52, told AFP that around 10 male locals had refused to leave. She was taking shelter in a church near the inland capital of San Jose.

The high winds and heavy rains could devastate crops -- a big blow especially in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

Otto "could seriously jeopardize food security for small farmers who rely on maize (corn), beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods" in Nicaragua, Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for Heifer International, a US-based poverty-fighting charity, said in a statement.

"The storm is coming at a terrible time for the vital coffee crop, which is usually harvested between now and December," she said.

Late-season hurricane

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Otto was a rare, late-appearing hurricane in the Atlantic storm season, which runs from June to the end of November.

It was also on an unusually southern trajectory.

A previous, far-stronger hurricane, Matthew, devastated parts of southern Haiti early last month, killing 546 people and leaving nearly 175,000 homeless.

The US National Hurricane Center said up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) of rain could fall on parts of northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua between Wednesday and Thursday.

Dangerous surf and rip tides were also likely, it said.
"There have been at least 16 confirmed death and thousands displaced,"Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for United Nations peacekeeping force MINUSCA, said in a statement.

The violence erupted on Monday between rival factions of the former "Seleka" Muslim rebel group in the town of Bria, 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Bangui.

MINUSCA said Tuesday that one of its bases had come under fire during the clashes before its troops drove the attackers out with retaliatory gunfire. It announced reinforcements were being sent to the base to protect some 5,000 civilians sheltering there.

The fighting broke out between the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC) and the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC).

Lambert Lissane, a senior FPRC official, said the group and other ex-Seleka armed groups were negotiating a deal with the government but that UPC chief Ali Darass did not want to take part.

"We have decided to stand together against him," Lissane said.

The government is trying to bring together 14 armed groups under a disarmament deal to consolidate a fragile peace in the former French colony, where militias are flourishing in the power vacuum left by a weak state.

One of the world's poorest countries, CAR is struggling to emerge from a civil war which erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka coalition.

The coup led to the formation of "anti-Balaka" vigilante units, drawn from the Christian majority, which began to target Muslims. Both sides committed widespread atrocities.

France last month withdrew a military mission it deployed in December 2013 to stabilise the country, leaving the UN's 12,500-strong MINUSCA peacekeeping mission to protect civilians from armed groups.
A dozen biplanes dating from the 1920s and 1930s took off on November 12 from the Greek island of Crete, embarking on a 13,000-kilometre (8,000-mile) journey to Cape Town.

But less than two weeks into their journey the pilots were grounded at Gambella airport in western Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan, a spokesman for Vintage Air Rally told AFP.

"They are all in Gambella in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian authorities have decided to locate them at state accommodation for the moment.

He confirmed all of the pilots participating in the rally had been detained by Ethiopian authorities but did not say whether they faced arrest.

The reason for the pilots being stopped was not immediately clear, with the spokesman saying it may relate to problems with landing permits, although he believed their flight paths had been approved.

Vintage Air Rally's comments come a day after the organisers said a British pilot taking part, Maurice Kirk, had gone missing during the three-hour flight from Sudan to Ethiopia.

The 72-year-old pilot, who joined the rally only on Sunday, was subsequently said by Vintage Air Rally to be safe at Gambella airport with the other participants.

Teams taking part in the rally come from a dozen countries including Canada, France, Germany, South Africa and the United States.

A spokeswoman for Britain's foreign ministry told AFP they were looking into the reports of the pilots being grounded: "We are in contact with the local authorities regarding a group who have been prevented from leaving Gambella Airport, Ethiopia."

The pilots had arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday, after earlier in November becoming the first group of aircraft to land at Egypt's Giza pyramids in 80 years.
Allied with the anti-establishment Pirate Party, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future party, the Left-Green had been in talks since Sunday in a bid to forge a governing coalition with the centre-right Reform Party.

"It is evident that not all the parties are convinced to continue these negotiations so I have decided to stop them and I don't think that there is ground to continue," Katrin Jakobsdottir, the leader of the Left-Green movement, the second largest party, told state broadcaster RUV.

Jakobsdottir said she had informed the president of her decision.

It was not yet known what would happen next.

Pirates co-chairman, Birgitta Jonsdottir, had said prior to the start of the talks on Sunday that she was optimistic the five parties would reach consensus on major issues.

"The people want very much to see improvement in both the work in the parliament and the image of the parliament", Jonsdottir said at the time.

Since its independence in 1944, Iceland has only seen one centre-left government, which emerged from the 2009 election after the 2008 financial collapse.

Led by the largest election winner Independence Party, the centre-right coalition failed to find common ground over a range of divisive issues including relations with the European Union, institutional reform and fishing.

The October 29 snap vote, prompted by a massive tax scandal ensnaring several Icelandic officials, saw the Pirates become the third largest party with 10 seats.
"Capt. II rank Leonid Parkhomenko was fulfilling tasks assigned to him by the Main Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry.

He provided classified information on the Black Sea Fleets activities to the Foreign Secret Service," FSB said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the FSB has initiated a criminal case against the officer on charges of high treason.

The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational strategic command of the Russian navy, based in various harbours of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov with headquarters in Sevastopol.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N), which is fighting government troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, is on a UN list of groups blamed for committing grave violations against children.

The deal inked Wednesday, known as an "action plan", is the first step in getting off that list.

"We are open. We have nothing to hide," SPLM-N leader Malik Agar told reporters at the UN in Geneva after the signing.

Under the deal, the SPLM-N agreed to release all children in their ranks, take measures to stop the recruitment of minors including through formal orders to senior commanders, and help ex-child soldiers reintegrate with their families.

The UN envoy for children in armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, called it a "significant day" and said her office would help the SPLM-N honour its pledges.

The SPLM-N is one of several ethnic minority rebel groups fighting the Arab-dominated government of Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court.

Last month the SPLM-N said it would suspend talks with Khartoum after Amnesty International accused government forces of unleashing chemical weapons on civilians in Darfur state this year, killing up to 250 people.
Dozens of anti-riot policemen and security service agents moved in to disperse the demonstration, cordoning off the north Khartoum neighbourhood where it was held, an AFP correspondent reported.

"No, no to high prices. Bring down prices of medicines," the marchers shouted.

The cuts have led to a nearly 30 percent hike in the price of fuel, leading to stiff increases in the cost of other goods, including medicines.

A previous round of fuel subsidy cuts in 2013 sparked serious unrest that was only suppressed with a deadly crackdown that drew international condemnation.

The government has been determined to avoid any repetition and has rounded up at least a dozen opposition leaders whose parties had called for protests, the latest four prominent leftists on Wednesday.
Phra Dhammachayo is the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, a temple about 50 kilometres north of Bangkok, that is the base of the powerful Dhammakaya Buddhist sect.

A court recently issued an arrest warrant after Dhammakayas 76-hectare World Peace Valley meditation complex in Nakhon Ratchasima province, three hours drive from Bangkok, was found to have encroached on a national forest.

Dhammachayo, 72, was also indicted on Wednesday for alleged money laundering of 1.4 billion baht (40 million dollars).

He has been summoned to appear in court on Nov. 30, along with four other suspects.

The Department of Special Investigation is searching for two further suspects who have eluded capture, police said.

A temple spokesman told newsmen that Dhammachayo had fallen ill and remained at his temple in the Pathumthani province, adding that he had no intention of escaping.

There will not be a human shield, the spokesman said, adding that a mass of sect followers who had gathered at the temple were there simply to pray, not to prevent the arrest.

The 1,000-acre, futuristic-looking temple is notorious for holding massive religious ceremonies with hundreds of thousands of participants and unorthodox Buddhist teachings.
Frank Malabed, the embalmer of choice for high profile politicians and celebrities, revealed the secrets of his trade following the controversial burial at the Heroes' Cemetery in Manila last week.

The interment stoked fresh speculation about the dictator's final resting place, with many believing the real Marcos was secretly laid to rest years ago and the body on display had been a wax replica.

But Malabed, who embalmed the body, insisted it was real.

"The face the people saw was wax. But for the rest of the body there was no need for that because it was clothed," the 66-year-old told AFP.

"The hair, that's only a wig."

Critics say during 20 years in power he looted state coffers and ordered the torture and killing of thousands of foes.

Marcos's body was embalmed by Malabed in Hawaii. In 1993 it was flown to the ancestral home in the northern Philippines, where it was put in a glass case for public viewing.

'Shrivelled skin'

Malabed said Marcos, who died from lung, kidney and liver complications aged 72, was disfigured by oedema -- the build-up of fluid that causes tissues to become swollen.

Embalming drains blood and other body fluid, which is replaced with preservative solution. But the resulting "shrivelled skin did not look good", the mortician said.

"Ma'am did not care for that," he added, referring to the widow Imelda.

"She wanted Filipinos to see President Marcos (the way) he looked before, when he was still young."

Malabed said he received the already embalmed body a week after Marcos's death, but had to repeat the procedure because the face looked "bloated" and he feared it would decompose within a week.

"I'm a perfectionist when speaking about embalming," he said, later telling the Marcos family the reworked body would be intact for 30 years.

"I'm proud, because he was a 20-year president and not an ordinary person."

In 1991, Malabed said the widow paid another mortician to work on the face with materials "similar to" the restorative wax used to rebuild the faces of people disfigured in fatal accidents.

Malabed said he last checked the corpse "by hand" on August 8, pronouncing it in good condition as burial preparations began in secret. He said another mortuary handled the actual ceremony.

The dictator's eldest daughter Imee, the family's official spokeswoman for the body, did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

But days before the burial, Imee told ABS-CBN television that "of course" the body was real, though "all kinds of procedures, all kinds of chemicals had been used" on it.

War dead

As a child, Malabed dreamed of becoming an engineer, but he soon followed in the footsteps of his mortician father.

By the time he was an 18-year-old apprentice, Malabed was working on the mangled bodies of US soldiers killed in the Vietnam War, which had been flown to the then-US air base at Clark.

Malabed got his first big break embalming a brother and a sister of Imelda, a job which opened doors to the Marcos family.

But it has not been all Marcos: he also embalmed Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, the Marcos family's arch-political foe whose assassination at Manila airport by government forces in 1983 altered the course of Philippine history.

Under strict instructions from the family matriarch, Malabed preserved the body, but made no effort to fix the bullet-shattered face.

Aquino's corpse -- wearing the same bloodstained jacket in which he had died -- became the rallying point for the revolution that ultimately brought his widow to power, and sent Marcos into exile.

For Malabed, a devout Catholic, the identity of a person when they were alive is not important; he treats all his clients equally.

His skills do not come cheap, he admits, but says the final result is well worth it.
Islamic State, the ultra hard-line Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.

The group also is fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shi'ite militias are taking part.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant on its premises that is popular with travelers. Five pilgrim buses were set afire by the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

In recent months Islamic State has intensified attacks in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major Iraqi city under Islamic State control.

ALSO READ: 6 of the most notorious terror attacks by ISIS in 2016

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack without giving a casualty toll. Tehran will continue to support Iraq's "relentless fight against terrorism," ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

U.S. officials condemned the attack.

"The United States remains steadfast in its partnership with the Iraqi people and government and this attack only serves to strengthen our resolve in defeating ISIL," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The latest UN-brokered negotiations between Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci held in Switzerland this month ended on Tuesday with no agreement, with the two sides still far apart on the key issue of land-for-peace.

"I want to assure that I am determined and ready to take the necessary steps to continue the dialogue," Anastasiades said in a televised address on Wednesday.

"I am ready to continue the dialogue where it broke off," adding that he was in touch with EU leaders to keep the "door open" for talks.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

The much-heralded talks were supposed to produce a map of the internal boundaries of a future federation on the island to pave the way for a deal by early next year.

But like the five days of discussions earlier this month, negotiations broke down, with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress.

Ban said he will be in contact soon with the leaders to discuss the next steps with just five weeks to go before the UN chief hands over to Antonio Guterres to lead the world body.

"The secretary-general urges the leaders to continue their efforts in line with their shared commitment to do their utmost in order to reach a settlement in 2016," said a statement from Ban's spokesman.

"Especially in a region and in a world marked by increasing tension, they must not let this historic opportunity slip," he added.

Breakdown 'deeply regretted'

Turkish Cypriots made up just 18 percent of the island's population in 1974, but they currently control more than a third of its territory.

It has always been agreed that some of the territory currently controlled by the Turkish Cypriots will be ceded to Greek-Cypriot control in any peace deal.

Anastasiades said the talks broke down on the issue of territorial adjustments because the "Turkish Cypriot side didn't show the required flexibility despite our efforts."

He said he "deeply regretted" the negative outcome in Switzerland but said he would not allow the opportunity to settle the four-decade-long crisis "to be lost".

Anastasiades revealed that the two leaders were close on the percentage of territory to remain under Turkish Cypriot administration in a future federation, with Akinci suggesting 29.2 percent and the Greek Cypriots proposing 28.2 percent.

But they remained far apart on how many Greek Cypriots should be able to return to homes they fled in 1974, with Akinci determined to minimise the number of Turkish Cypriots who would be displaced for a second time.
According to a survey of Realmeter, local pollster, released on Thursday, 79.5 per cent of respondents expressed agreement on impeaching the scandal-hit president.

Among them, 60.3 per cent strongly favoured the impeachment.

However, the portion of those who want to force Park to be impeached was up from 73.9 per cent tallied recently when people demanded voluntary resignation or forcible impeachment.

Meanwhile, the presidential office rejected the demand, saying Park will maintain her presidency to take responsibility for state affairs.

In spite of public and parliamentary oppositions, she pushed a military intelligence pact with Japan, formally signing the deal on Wednesday to directly exchange information on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Protesters in front of the South Korean defense ministrys headquarters, where the two sides sealed the military pact, shouted for the presidents immediate resignation.

They said Park must distance herself from state affairs, including diplomacy and security affairs.

On Sunday, the prosecution office said Park had conspired with her decades-long friend in multiple crimes.

Park became the countrys first female president and first sitting president to be investigated as a criminal suspect.

Prosecutors raided Samsung Group headquarters on Wednesday and stormed the headquarters of Lotte and SK, two of the countrys top five conglomerates, on bribery allegations.

The countrys parliament is set to launch a separate investigation into the scandal later this month.

The team of a special prosecutor who will probe the case independently is forecast to kick off investigation early December.
The return of former priest Thomas Nahimana after 11 years in exile in France sparked fierce debate in Rwanda where pro-government media accuse him of preaching ethnic hatred and denying the 1994 Tutsi genocide.

"To our surprise, as we were preparing to board, agents from Kenya Airways came and forbade us from boarding this plane and returning to Rwanda," Nahimana said in a statement, vowing to remain in transit in Nairobi until he was allowed to do so.

The Rwandan Catholic Church in 2011 asked France to stop Nahimana from publishing material which it claimed denies the 1994 massacre in which mostly members of the Hutu ethnic group killed some 800,000 people in a 100-day genocidal spree.

He and another priest Fortunatus Rudakemwa in Italy, both of the majority Hutu ethnicity, launched a website attacking the government of President Paul Kagame and honouring the memory of Hutus killed by his Rwandan Patriotic Front, the former rebel group now in power.

Kagame has ruled the small east African country since his forces stopped the genocide against his Tutsi minority, and he is seeking re-election in 2017 after the country's constitution was changed last year.

While he is regularly praised for the stability and economic performance of his small nation, Kagame is also often criticised by rights groups for lack of political freedoms and freedom of expression.

All recognised parties generally support the policy decisions made by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) -- with the exception of the small Democratic Green Party which was the only one to object to the 2015 constitution changes.

In 2010 Rwandan opposition figure Victoire Ingabire was arrested shortly after her return from exile to Rwanda to run for election.

After laying flowers at the genocide memorial in Kigali, Ingabire called for the perpetrators of crimes against the Hutu majority also to be pursued and prosecuted.
The former army chief, who has overseen a warming of ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main backer Russia, made the comments during an interview aired Tuesday with Portuguese broadcaster RTP.

"Our priority is to support national armies, for example in Libya to assert control over Libyan territories and deal with extremist elements. The same with Syria and Iraq," he said, responding to a question on whether Egypt would contemplate a UN peacekeeping role in Syria.

Asked by the interviewer whether he meant the Syrian military, he responded: "Yes."

Sisi, who was elected in 2014 almost a year after overthrowing his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, has cracked down on Islamists and is battling a deadly jihadist insurgency.

His government had been supported by billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia, but ties appear to have cooled between the two countries amid disagreements over Syria.

Saudi Arabia backs rebels trying to oust Assad, while Russia and Iran are supporting him militarily.

Saudi Arabia suspended oil shipments to Egypt in October, a move announced after Cairo backed a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council, angering Riyadh.

In his interview, Sisi maintained Egypt's broad position on resolving the Syrian conflict, saying the solution must be "political."

"Our stance in Egypt is to respect the will of the Syrian people, and that a political solution to the Syrian crisis is the most suitable way, and to seriously deal with terrorist groups and disarm them," he said.

Sisi, who has praised Donald Trump, also said a plan floated by the US president-elect to have a database for Muslims was understandable.

"Yes," he said when asked whether he felt concerned by such rhetoric.
SPRINGFIELD  In response to a looming shortage of registered nurses and growing demand from employers for nurses with four-year degrees, Illinois community colleges are pushing for the ability to award bachelors degrees in nursing.

The idea has been met with opposition from the states public universities, however. They say theyre willing to work collaboratively to address the issue but dont think community colleges should be in the business of awarding bachelors degrees.

An Illinois Senate committee held a hearing on the proposal last week, but its sponsor, Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said he doesnt intend to move forward until after the new General Assembly is seated in January.

The hearing was held to encourage conversation among community colleges and universities, Manar said, adding that he plans revise the bill, possibly limiting it to certain high-need areas.

This bill isnt about going after universities; this bill isnt about trying to inject controversy into the nursing community, he said. This bill is straight up about making sure that underserved communities have health care."

A report last year from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation found that nearly one-third of registered nurses 55 and older planned to retire within the next five years, which could lead to a shortage in the near future.

Under Illinois law, registered nurses can have either an associate degree or a bachelors degree. But nationally a bachelors degree is now the typical entry-level education required for a job as a registered nurse, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Manar said communities across his district, which stretches from Decatur to the east suburbs of St. Louis, are having trouble finding enough qualified nurses to fill positions at hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices and other health care facilities.

Todays policies are leaving those communities behind, Manar said.

Supporters say the change would make it possible for students and working nurses to earn bachelors degrees while staying closer to home, saving both time and money.

Matt Berry, a spokesman for the Illinois Community College Board, said the council representing presidents of the states 48 community colleges have endorsed the idea. However, it would be up to individual schools to decide if its something theyre interested in doing, Berry said, adding that he expects a half-dozen to a dozen would pursue it.

We really look at this as an access issue and as an employer-driven proposal to meet workforce needs, he said.

Berry pointed to a report from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation that showed 44 percent of qualified applicants werent admitted to Illinois bachelors degree programs in nursing in 2013 because of a lack of capacity.

But John Charles, director of government and public affairs for Southern Illinois University, said four-year schools offer robust nursing programs with room to expand.

The programs are in existence, theyre up and running, and theyre successful, Charles said.

In addition to its traditional program, Southern Illinois' Edwardsville campus has the potential to provide virtually unlimited access through its online program, he said.

Enrollment in the program is up more than tenfold in recent years, from 50 students in 2014 to 560 students this year.

While the program has an on-campus component, Charles said, the university is willing to work with community colleges to bring those courses to students on their campuses rather than requiring them to travel to Edwardsville.

The university also wants to work with community colleges to strengthen transfer programs for nursing students.

Meanwhile, as Berry noted, not all community colleges are looking to take advantage of the possible opportunity.

Ellen Colbeck, dean of health professions at Richland Community College in Decatur, said there doesnt appear to be a local need at this time.

Major employers in the area, including Decatur Memorial Hospital and HSHS St. Marys Hospital, hire registered nurses with associate degrees.

They are very happy with our graduates, Colbeck said.

She said the school also has strong partnerships with schools such as Eastern Illinois and Millikin universities. Benedictine University even offers bachelors degree courses on Richlands campus, Colbeck said.

Rob Widmer, president of Heartland Community College in Normal, said his school supports the proposed change statewide but hasnt had in-depth discussions about creating a bachelors program.

Our graduates are very successful coming out of the (associate degree in nursing) program, Widmer said, noting that the school has close partnerships with Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities for students who want to pursue a higher degree.
When this single mother wraps up a long workday, she looks forward to spending quality time at home with her five children. But Briana Berry, of Rock Island, works late most nights and rarely has that luxury.

We don't get to spend much time together because I work so much, said Berry, 25, through tears during an interview at her familys Rock Island apartment. If Im not at home, Im at work.

After a 16-hour shift just a few days prior, the Certified Nursing Assistant, or CNA, at Hope Creek Nursing Home in East Moline clocked out about 9 p.m. on a school night.

She collected her children from Ms. Twinkies Daycare in Rock Island, and headed home to their two-bedroom apartment less than five minutes away.

They made it there around 9:30 p.m., and the children changed into their pajamas. The family, which includes a 3-month-old infant and four children between the ages of 5 and 9, found space on the only bed in the apartment  a king-size mattress that topples over a queen-size frame where three of Berrys daughters sleep.

Mom sleeps on one of the two couches she rents in the living room, and her infant sleeps in a playpen. Her son sleeps in a separate room on the ground atop old couch cushions.

Shortly after she tucked her children into their respective sleeping areas, they woke up hungry. Without a table and chairs, the siblings shared a plate of diced hot dogs with a bottle of ketchup while sitting on the kitchen floor.

Breaking the cycle

Following the birth of her fifth child, Berry moved her family out of a rough neighborhood on Rock Islands west side to a more central part of town, about a mile from Longview Park.

Beyond a kitchen table, six chairs and appropriate bedding for her children, Berry needs winter clothes for herself and her family this holiday season, simple amenities she cant afford.

I try to work so much to make sure my bills are paid, but my check at the end of the month basically goes all toward rent, she said, fending off more tears.

She earns $12.50 an hour and receives benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

When Berry's at work, Antoinette Gooden, aka Ms. Twinkie, comes to the rescue.

Gooden began watching and caring for the children, who she calls her "spiritual adopted kids," this past November.

"When they first came to my daycare, just something about their eyes told me they needed more than they were getting," said Gooden, who helped nominate Berry for the Wish List Quad-Cities program. "I do as much as I can to help her."

A few days after their late-night snack, as she reflected on her 56-hour work week, Berry said she hopes to break the sad cycle of her life, a routine she knows all too well from her childhood. Berry never met her father, and only briefly saw her mother on nights as she returned home from work to check on her in bed.

My mom was in the same situation as I am, but she only had me and my sister, said Berry, who doesn't have the "best" relationship with her only sibling. I know they hate it, but if I dont go to work, we wouldnt have anywhere to spend time together.

'They're my biggest motivation'

Berry's children don't have much of a father figure in their lives.

The father of Berrys first four children is wanted by police on several felony charges, according to online court records and authorities. Her newborns father helps out when he wants to," she said.

Lacking a strong support network of family and friends in the area, Berry relies heavily on Gooden's helping hands.

On a recent Sunday, Gooden brought the children with her to Grace City Church in Rock Island and Chuck E. Cheese's in Davenport for a birthday party. Berry, meanwhile, spent time with her youngest one at home.

Formerly in a similar situation, Gooden feels it's her calling to do what she can to supplement Berry's parenting efforts.

"I was a single mom with three kids, so I know the struggle," she said. "She has really good kids, and I see that she's trying hard."

Looking forward, Berry has her eyes set on returning to school to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, or LPN, so she can provide more for her family.

"I like knowing that I'm going somewhere helping people that can't do much for themselves," said Berry, whose mother works as an LPN in Houston. "Hopefully, one day, that will be me."

As her children returned from their outing with Gooden, Berry's tears disappeared. The family had a Sunday night together ahead of them  a tease of time Berry craves more of in the future.

"They're my biggest motivation," she said, rocking her baby in a swing Gooden gifted her. "There are some days I feel like I can't do anything, but I know I can't give up because I know there are probably people in worse situations."
WASHINGTON -- I'm afraid I missed the conference of white supremacists in Washington this weekend.

I was hosting my daughter's bat mitzvah.

But I have a pretty good picture of what happened, because luckily -- for me, if not for them -- several other journalists attended Saturday's gathering of alt-right leader Richard Spencer's National Policy Institute at the Ronald Reagan federal building.

Attendees shouted "heil" and "Lugenpresse," a Nazi term that means "lying press." Some of the few hundred attendees applauded mention of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website. Reality TV personality Tila Tequila tweeted an image of herself and others giving a Nazi salute and the misspelled words "Seig heil!"

White nationalists and counter-demonstrators clashed violently in the street outside the gathering in downtown Washington, and, as The Washington Post's John Woodrow Cox reported, inside and outside a family restaurant, Maggiano's, in northwest Washington.

The scenes seemed as if from another time and another place, but in Donald Trump's America, they are here and now. And if Trump doesn't do something more forceful to disown his neo-Nazi hangers on, they will continue their brazen march into the mainstream.

The New York Times quoted Spencer at the conference saying that "we have a psychic connection, or you can say a deeper connection, with Donald Trump in a way that we simply do not have with most Republicans."

"We've crossed the Rubicon in terms of recognition," Spencer said, arguing that "America was, until this last generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity. It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us."

Politico quoted Spencer saying the alt-right was "a head without a body" and "the Trump movement was a body without a head." Now, "I think, moving forward, the alt-right can, as an intellectual vanguard, complete Trump."

The Los Angeles Times quoted Spencer saying Trump's election was an "awakening" and that "we're not quite the establishment now, but I think we should start acting like it."

The white nationalists are emboldened by Trump's selection of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Stephen K. Bannon to top jobs in his administration.

Bannon, who boasted that the Breitbart News outlet he ran was "the platform for the alt-right," was praised lavishly by Spencer. And The Post's David Weigel quoted Spencer saying Sessions -- tapped to be attorney general -- is "eye-to-eye with us" on immigration. (Sessions has tried to restrict legal immigration.)

Shortly after the election, Trump said his supporters who were harassing Muslims and Latinos should "stop it."

But they aren't stopping. In the past few days, a city park in Brooklyn was defaced with swastikas and the message "Go Trump!" while an Arab American Uber driver in Queens filmed another driver shouting at him: "Trump is president so you can kiss your [expletive] visa goodbye, scumbag.  They'll deport you soon."

While the white nationalists were meeting in Washington and clashing with protesters, Trump was engaged in a Twitter fight with the cast of the Broadway musical "Hamilton." Trump demanded the actors apologize for urging Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who attended the show, "to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

Rather than quarrel with that unobjectionable message, perhaps Trump could listen to the George Washington character in "Hamilton" sing "One Last Time":

"Like the scripture says:

Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid."

This passage, from Micah 4:4, is in Washington's letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790. The rabbi recalled these words during my daughter's bat mitzvah this weekend.

"Happily," Washington wrote, "the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

Continued the first president: "May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Please read Washington's words, Mr. President-elect, and repeat them to Richard Spencer and his ilk as you brush off the white nationalists riding on your coattails.

There is room for cooperation on much of Trump's agenda. But cooperation is difficult, if not impossible, when a president gives sanction to bigotry.
It was turkey and all the trimmings of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner Sunday at the 11th annual free Community Thanksgiving Dinner at St. James Lutheran Church.

The event was established to offer a Thanksgiving dinner for the entire community similar to the legendary ongoing Belle Fourche Christmas Dinner.

The churchs interim pastor, Jean Helmer, continued the tradition of adding a bit of costuming so anyone who wanted to make a donation to the Belle Fourche Ministerial Associations Compassion Cupboard food pantry would know who to see.

Otherwise there was no donation basket at the door where a count was kept of diners through the scheduled three hours of serving.

Helmer said the concept is to offer a meal where the entire community, no matter what their means, could sit and give thanks together for all the good things of the past year.

The turkeys, roughly 25, were prepared at the Lynns Dakotamart commercial kitchen.

Two other local churches, the United Church of Christ and St. Pauls Catholic, pitched in with dessert offerings to top off the menu.

Volunteers not only handled final food preparation and serving lines, in many cases they helped young and old carry their dinners to seating in the church dining hall area.

In the first of three hours of serving, about 220 people were checked in.
Sienna Yellow Eagle Prince wasn't sure if she was ready to cook the family turkey by herself this Thanksgiving, but she was thrilled to be named the winner in the "How to Cook a Turkey" contest.

Sienna, 8, a third-grader in Heather Schmitt's class at Knollwood Elementary School, won the grand prize, a $50 Target gift certificate, in the annual Thanksgiving contest, held by the Rapid City Journal.

Her drawing, which depicted a large table set for a Thanksgiving feast, was chosen by Journal staff for its colorful details.

"It feels good," Sienna said, her smile beaming.

Sienna was surprised at home on Veterans Day with the gift, and her family, eager to highlight her creativity, surrounded her.

"She's always been artistic," said Whitney Yellow Eagle, Sienna's mother. "She's always drawing and making things all the time. She'll build houses out of Q-tips and toilet paper rolls using tape. She made a turkey out of a rubber glove."

Sienna said: "I like to create stuff. I like to make stuff."

Dozens of drawings in Sienna's room show off her creativity, and although she got a special award for her drawing of a perfectly roasted bird at the Thanksgiving table, she said her real specialty is flowers.

"I like to draw flowers because I can make my own colors and sizes," she said.

Schmitt calls her student "a very good artist."

"She puts a lot of effort into her work, and she does what she's asked to do ... but she can be silly sometimes," Schmitt continued. "She's quiet when she needs to be and loud when she's laughing."

Whether she spends her award on books (she's a fan of Dr. Seuss and "Babymouse"), toys or drawing supplies, Sienna and those close to her are thrilled to see her being rewarded for her talents.

"I think it's great," Schmitt said. "The fact that she took her time and did quality work, I think it's wonderful."
The employees of the Coleman Co. in Rapid City have joined the ranks of those in the America who have to wonder where is the federal government when you need it.

This past fall, a 48-year-old employee with terminal cancer discovered that for some time her employer had not been putting her 401(k) contributions into her retirement account, which was especially devastating news for someone who desperately needed the money to pay medical bills and insurance premiums, make house payments and cover regular living expenses.

According to the story in the Journals Sunday edition, she was among several employees who had figured out the jewelry maker was not properly handling their 401(k) contributions.

The owner of the company, which has around 70 employees, does not dispute the accusations. He told reporter Tom Griffith the firm has been experiencing cash-flow issues during a tough business cycle but is working to correct the problem.

While that sounds good, the employees there likely won't feel reassured until they see their money in their accounts.

As a result, some employees have contacted the federal government  specifically the U.S. Department of Labors Employee Benefits Security Administration  for assistance in a matter that would startle any hard-working individual who is saving for retirement.

The agency was tight-lipped when asked what it is doing now that the employees have requested its assistance and provided documentation of the problem. When asked about the status of the case by the Journal, a spokesman replied, "we cannot confirm or deny if there is an ongoing investigation."

He did say, however, that the agency is aware of the complaints, perhaps giving a ray of hope to those who must be wondering if they will ever see their 401(k) contributions.

So what message are federal bureaucrats sending to the employees of this company? It's hard to tell at this stage; maybe they are investigating and maybe they are not.

What is clear, however, is that this agency feels no particular need to be held accountable at this time.

As it stands now, Colman Co. employees are in a state of limbo thanks to the vagaries that come from this agency. It is probably best to hope that the owner of the company follows through on his pledge to restore those funds since these federal bureaucrats feel no obligation to let the employees know they are working on their behalf.
Russian man acquitted of murders seeks $156,000 compensation  report

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI)  Alexey Serenko, a resident of Aksay town in southern Russia, who spent two years in jail after being charged with killing a family, seeks 10 million rubles ($156,000) in compensation for unlawful prosecution, Kommersant newspaper reported on Thursday.

On September 24, 2009, Serenko was arrested on suspicion of murdering lieutenant colonel Dmitry Chudakov, his wife Irina Chudakova and their two young children. The family was killed at the Don highway in the Aksay District of Rostov Region in the summer of 2009. Later Serenko was charged with three other murders and one attempted murder, according to Kommersant.

Serenko claims that he was subjected to physical abuse in detention in order to make him confess to killings while his relatives and friends received threats, according to Kommersant.

The case against him was sent in 2011 on further investigation. Soon after Sirenko was released from detention on the pledge not to leave town. Charges against him were dropped on November 4, 2013.

Two criminal cases were opened over abuse of authority, and Serenko appeared to be a victim.

The Prosecutor Generals Office apologized to Serenko in February 2014 for four years of unlawful prosecution, Kommersant reported.

He seeks to recover 6 million rubles ($90,500) for his stay in detention in 2009-2011 and 4 million rubles ($62,500) for staying under pledge not to leave town in 2011-2013.
European Parliament calls on Russia to release jailed opposition activist

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI)  Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) during a plenary session on Thursday expressed concern over the welfare of Russian activist Ildar Dadin sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and called on Russia to immediately release him, according to the Parliament's press-release.

MEPs insist on a thorough and transparent independent investigation into the situation with Dadin who complained on a number of occasions of prison conditions and torture.

The European Parliament members also discussed the necessity of imposing targeted sanctions on those responsible for the mistreatment of Dadin.

On December 7, 2015, Moscows Basmanny District Court sentenced Dadin to 3 years in prison for numerous violations of protest laws. The Moscow City Court later reduced the term to 2.5 years.

Dadins wife, Anastasia Zotova, wrote on Facebook in early November that her husband had been beaten and received murder threats when transferred to a penal colony in Karelia. The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) launched a probe into the allegations. Later, the FSIN announced that independent medical commission from a local hospital had not found injuries on Dadins body.
Sentence reduced for one of Bank of Moscow ex-managers

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  The Moscow City Court has reduced a 4.5-year prison sentence given to Konstantin Salnikov, former top manager of the Bank of Moscow, for embezzling over 1 billion rubles (about $15.6 mln) from the bank, by 6 months, RAPSI learnt in the courts press office on Thursday.

A 4-year jail term of Alla Averina, the second ex-bank top manager convicted in the case was upheld.

Moscows Meshchansky District Court handed down the sentence to Salnikov and Averina on February 10.

A prosecutor demanded to sentence Salnikov and Averina to 7 and 6 years in prison and to fine them 500,000 ($7,800) and 400,000 rubles ($6,250) respectively.

Investigators claim that Salnikov, the former senior trader at the banks Currency Transactions Department, and Averina, the former director of the banks Department of Transactions Administration, were the accomplices of Andrei Borodin, then president of the Bank of Moscow, and his first deputy, Dmitry Akulinin, who have been charged in absentia of embezzling over 1 billion rubles from the bank.

Salnikov has been charged with embezzlement, and Averina stands charged with being an accessory to embezzlement and abuse of office. According to investigators, they acted in collusion with Borodin, Akulinin and one other bank employee.

In 2011, a criminal case was opened against Borodin and Akulinin on charges of large-scale fraud involving state funds. They were accused of lending $443 million to shell companies, which then transferred the funds to Yelena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov and the owner of the construction empire Inteco.

Borodin fled to the UK in 2011. In November 2011, the Russian Interpol bureau put Borodin and Akulinin on the international wanted list. In March 2013, Borodin was granted political asylum in the UK.
Termination of MP status for Ilya Ponomaryov upheld by Russias Supreme Court

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov)  Russias Supreme Court has upheld preliminary termination of the State Duma lawmakers status for Ilya Ponomaryov, RAPSI reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

Ponomaryov himself was absent because earlier the Basmanny District Court of Moscow had put him in detention in absentia due to his status as defendant in a criminal case over embezzlement at the Skolkovo Foundation. Representative of Ponomaryov, lawyer Maria Bast asked the court to hear testimony of former Russian lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov.

Bast said that because of her clients political beliefs and activities, and fear of repercussions from authorities, he had a good reason not to be present during the State Dumas sessions. She also noted that legislative changes introducing termination of MP status for being absent during the session are related to persecution of her client.

Representative of the State Duma said that prosecution in a criminal case is not listed as appropriate reason not to be present during sessions. He added that such legislative changes were adopted based on the Russian legislation norms.

Former MP Gudkov denied that the State Dumas regulations list clear criteria for evaluating appropriateness of reasons to be absent during sessions. MP is a subject to federal laws and is accountable only to the voter, Gudkov said. He also expressed an opinion that preliminary termination of Ponomaryovs status may be politically motivated.

The Supreme Courts Board for administrative cases has upheld the previous ruling.

Ponomaryov has filed an administrative lawsuit with the Supreme Court against the State Dumas ruling on preliminary termination of his MP status.

Earlier, the lower houses official website has published a report over a meeting that happened on June 10 that resulted in preliminary termination of Ponomaryovs status. Ex-lawmakers absence during the parliamentary hearings was announced as a reason for such termination.
A small local community theatre experienced big drama when actors in New York singled out the Vice President elect recently.

Hamilton: An American Musical is playing on Broadway, in New York. Last Friday, Vice-President elect Mike Pence attended the performance. After the show, actor Brandon Victor Dixon called out to Pence in a plea for protection.

We, sir  we  are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, Dixon said. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.

The next morning, in Hamilton, Montana, Denise Rose executive director of the Hamilton Playhouse said her phone woke her up about 6 a.m..

My Twitter account was going crazy, Rose said. I thought its too early.

Rose said she discovered the phone was not buzzing because of a group text but from the wrath of people with strong reactions to the musical and Pence interaction.

The two twitter monikers are similar - @hamiltonplayers compared to @hamiltonmusical.

It wasnt viral but my phone would go crazy in clumps of 10 to 15 then an hour later all the re-tweets started again, Rose said. We were getting tweets calling us racist, untalented, disrespectful and more.

Tweets included: The cast of your show is disgusting! Rude to a wonderful man & his family!, Very contentious example for social discourse. Your forcing public to believe one way. What a DISGRACE by the actors & writer BASHING a great American who loves his country!

People mistakenly called for us to be boycotted for our behavior towards Vice-President elect Mike Pence, Rose said. We only have like 47 followers on twitter and I was thinking how far can this get? Rose said. One tweet was #think and I thought seriously, maybe you should be paying attention. It was shocking to me. We were called racists, untalented and various other negative things.

What alarmed Rose was when outraged people followed the link to the Hamilton Playhouse Facebook page and started giving one star reviews and nasty posts.

One Facebook post said, Really disgusting what your cast and crew did to Presidential Elect ...Mike Pence last night. Its one thing to be rude to someone like Pence, whom can forgive and forget, but its another thing to insult him when his boss Donald Trump NEVER forgives and forgets. Would never support anything these disgraceful actors and crew do in the future on any other projects they may work on. Doubt they will be getting much work after this anyway.you just offended 50% of the country just like Hillary did and look what happen to her.

Another Facebook post said, Disgusting behavior your company allowed last night to the elected VP. You provide a service that he paid for & Im sure it wasnt to be harassed! The arrogance of the show & actors to inject themselves into an issue that was settled on Nov. 8th.

Rose said that with the jump to Facebook she realized the posts could harm the Hamilton Playhouse. She stepped into action replying to everyone to let them know they had the wrong organization.

I asked them why they gave us a bad review, she said. I said you know youre talking to a small non-profit community theatre across the country in Hamilton, Montana. I was able to get them to remove the bad posts, but its taken a lot of time and energy.

Rose said that once she started contacting those who voiced outrage she started getting online apologies.

Some people followed us then tweeted on our behalf saying they are a good organization, Rose said. Luckily, as of today, all the bad reviews were removed and most of the original posters on twitter have apologized or removed the tweets. That didnt stop people from re-tweeting the posts before they were removed, but Im hopeful that we stopped the issue before it could do too much harm.

Rose said locally the Hamilton Playhouse did get a couple of nice tweets and supportive entries on Facebook.

There has been no local negativity, Rose said.

She has not been to New York to see Hamilton: An American Musical but watched the PBS special about it.

Im obsessed with the sound track and a big fan of the author, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rose said. It will go on tour and when it comes to Seattle, Ill go.

Its been an interesting few days. Thank goodness, we are 3000 miles away from the epicenter and other than a few misinformed people; we are unlikely to be damaged by it. Of course, donations by way of apology are always welcome!

For more information on the Hamilton Playhouse in Montana, visit www.hamiltonplayers.com.
Guwahati : Security forces had apprehended a hardcore Bodo militant from Assam's Chirang district.

According to the reports, based on intelligence input, police and army had launched operation at Runikhata area in the BTAD district and nabbed the militant belonging to NDFB(S).

The nabbed militant was identified as Gobin Islari and recovered a 7.62mm pistol, ammunition in possession from him.

In past two years following the adivasi massacre in the BTAD area in 2014, security forces had nabbed over 100 NDFB(S) cadres from different areas of Lower Assam.

On the other hand police had recovered one AK-56 and an AK-81 rifle from Jagerachuba area near Barama in Baska district on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati : The arrested member of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) Samedur Rahman had expressed his desire to turn approver in the multi-crore job scam under APSC.

The arrested APSC member had expressed his desire to turn approver before the court he was produced before the court on November 22.

A top police official who investigated the scam said that, Samedur Rahman may be given his statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on November 29.

Samedur Rahman was produced before the Kamrup district CJM court on Wednesday and police said the court for Samedur's desire.

'Ramhan's confessional statement will be recorded in the CJM court,'A the police official said.

Earlier the Special Judge's court on November 22 had sent the APSC member on 14-day judicial custody.

Court ordered to produce him in the court again on December 6.

Police had earlier arrested APSCas Chairman Rakesh Paul on November 4 and APSC's Assistant Examination Controller Pabitra Koibatra from his residence at Lisubagan area near Hengerabari in the city on November 12.

Earlier Dibrugarh police arrested Mabud Ali Choudhury the PSO of Samedur Rahman in connection with the job scam.

Police also arrested an engineer from Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district after police caught him red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a dentist to appint in the Assam Medical College Hospital (AMCH) on October 27.

The arrested engineer was identified as Naba Kumar Patir and he is an assistant engineer of Town and Country Planning department of Assam government posted at Dibrugarh town.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Kahmandu, Nepal: German has pledged to provide 36 million euros for the continuation of German-supported projects in Nepal for the next two years.

German had pledge so during the Nepal-German bilateral government consultation meetings that was concluded in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

According to the German Embassy in Kathmandu, among the support, 16 million euros will be making available for post-earthquake reconstruction. The entire pledged amounts are in grants, reads the press statement issued by the embassy.

German has been assisting Nepal through German Development cooperation and the support is now focusing on sustainable economic development and trade, health, and energy efficiency/ renewable energy.
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If the city of Santa Maria can be compared to a living organism, its streets are its veins and its people are its lifes blood. Like many livi
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During the 90s, a young boy name Aston Chen took Hong Kong with storm, only 6 years old and performed tai chi Kung fu in the 1994 movie "Shaolin Popeye". He made several movies in Hong Kong as a child martial art actor, but when he turned to his teens it became too difficult for him to get an acting in Hong Kong because he wasn't a cute little boy anymore (which happens a lot to child actors), he went to Taiwan in early 2000s to restart his career. One of his first Taiwan movie was the tv production from 2002 that had the name Rumble in the Gambling Bronx, but it was renamed because it sounded familiar from other martial art movies, it was renamed to "Nothing, Nothing, Nothing!".

Story:

After his fathers death, young Bruce Chan (Aston Chen) travels from his home to the city of Taipei to find his sister (Kit Yee Chung). But he has no money and his sister work as a prostitute for the crime lord Chung (Jamie Luk). After Bruce rescue some street kids to be arrested by the police, he become friend with the street kids leader who is a young girl named Lok Yee (Nicole Tung Ka-Ka). However Chung also notice Bruce's martial art skills, and hire him to fight for him in an underground fight club, Bruce accept but only in one condition, that he get his sister back after he wins the fight.

Overall:

Allthough it's a tv production, the movie is a mix of a matinee and serious martial art movie. At first it feels like a kid movie, then it becomes too brutal scene for kids, the fight club scenes feels realistic, some unnecessary death scenes, and there is some uncomfortable woman abouse, child abuse even though that's just a few scenes, and then it change to a goofy TV movie again. And when it comes to Aston Chen, I can see clearly that he hasn't the magic that he use to have when he was a kid. His martial art skill is too ordinary martial artist, he wasn't like that before when he was only 6 his skill was very quick and magical. However the movie is watchable and likable. After all it was made for tv and for that it's pretty decent.

I reward it with 5/10.
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SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City counselor is scheduled for a hearing with the Iowa Board of Behavioral Science after being accused of having romantic relationships with two of his clients.

According to a charging document from the Iowa Board of Behavioral Science, Mark Garlick, of Sioux City, is facing seven charges in connection to the accusations.

The document says Garlick began a romantic relationship with one client, whom he had counseled between March 2010 and March 2011, approximately one year after providing the counseling.

Another client, whom documents say Garlick counseled between January and May of 2013, told Garlick she had feelings for him, and he continued to provide counseling to her while not documenting her romantic feelings.

Documents say Garlick made remarks of a sexual nature to the second client during sessions and communicated outside of sessions. Documents say he repeatedly hugged, kissed and touched the client and also accepted gifts from her.

Garlick's hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 2 before the board in Des Moines.
Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar.

Turkey Trot

Work up an appetite and start a healthy new holiday tradition this year. Join us all day at Adams Nature Homestead and Preserve, 272 Westshore Drive, for the Turkey Trot Fun Run/Walk. No registration needed. Please bring non-perishable food items as we will be giving them to the George J. Williams Memorial Food Bank.

Thanksgiving Day Worship Service

Join the congregation of Resurrection Lutheran Church, 1008 River Drive, North Sioux City, at 10 a.m. in praise and thanksgiving for the abundant blessings of body and spirit bestowed upon us by the loving and gracious Lord and Savior.

A Photo Album of Ireland

This traveling exhibit is a program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit is open during Sioux City Public Museum hours. Admission is free. Visit siouxcitymuseum.org for additional information and museum hours.
We want to know what you think about the movies. You can Tweet us your reviews @scweekender or share them on Facebook, facebook.com/siouxcityweekender. We'll pick the best comments on Monday before the next Weekender. Here are this week's movies:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Starring: Eddie Redmayne and some fantastic beasts

Story: A writer embarks on an adventure to rescue magical creatures and thwart the plans of evil wizards.

Rated: PG-13 for some fantasy action violence

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

The Edge of Seventeen

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson

Story: A high schooler's life reaches a boiling point when her best friend starts dating her older brother. And then other stuff happens.

Rated: R for sexual content, language and some drinking -- all involving teens

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Bleed for This

Starring: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart

Story: A world champion boxer suffers a near fatal car crash, and he's left not knowing if he'll ever walk or fight again.

Rated: R for language, sexuality/nudity and some accident images

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Starring: Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart

Story: An American soldier returns from Iraq to a roaring stadium but the memories of the war still cut deep.

Rated: R for language throughout, some war violence, sexual content and brief drug use

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Arrival

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner

Story: A linguist is tasked to translate communications from a possible alien race that landed on Earth.

Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Doctor Strange

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton

Story: A former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey to learn a new healing method and discovers a world of mystic arts.

Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Trolls

Starring: A bunch of freaky-haired trolls

Story: Trolls are under threat of being eaten, so it's up to a troll princess and her unhappy companion to save them.

Rated: PG for some mild rude humor

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Hacksaw Ridge

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer

Story: A WWII army medic becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Rated: R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Inferno

Starring: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones

Story: Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with amnesia and must race across Europe to foil a global scheme.

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief sensuality.

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders

Story: Jack Reacher is back and ready to uncover a government conspiracy in order to clear his name.

Rated: PG-13 for violence, language and some drug material

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender
For the past five years, John Olson has spent nearly every Thursday night at The Chesterfield preparing for the local comedy open mic. Sure enough, Olson was at the Fourth Street bar and music venue last week. But that particular Thursday was different from the other comedy nights. That particular Thursday was the five-year anniversary of the comedy open mic nights.

The somewhat weekly event was created by Olson and his friend Marc Dunlap. The guys had the idea planted in their heads as they approached as many Sioux City bars as possible. The Chesterfield owner Mick Gamet was the only person to respond to Olsons and Dunlaps request.

The comedy nights took over ladys night, which wasnt doing too well at the time. The event started off with a bang.

We had a good crowd  there was a bunch of people, Olson said of the events early years. It has been a steady rollercoaster ride from then on out.

Crowd numbers would fluctuate from week to week. Some nights the comedians would have close to 20 or 30 people to test new material to. Other nights, theyd be telling their jokes to their fellow comics. The comedy nights served as a way for aspiring local jokesters to test their routines to a living, breathing audience from an actual stage.

Drake Strong was interested right away. He had been searching for a place to try out his standup routine when he found a flyer with details of the first comedy night at The Chesterfield. Strong was 19-years-old at the time. Because of his young age, Olson prevented Strong from entering the bar entirely.

After confirming with Gamet that performers could enter the bar and leave before 10 p.m., Olson let Strong in a few months later. Once Strong started performing his standup, he became a regular at comedy nights, only a missing a handful of events over the years.

The event still continues to draw in new comics. Matt Hattorf had been a consistent audience member for three months before deciding to give standup a shot. For the past few months, Hattorf has been the one telling jokes and humorous stories to bar patrons.

Ive always been told that I got a knack for this sort of stuff, he said. I just wanted to check it out and see how these guys did everything. I loved it. I loved every minute of it.

Looking back over the last five years, Olson remembered some of the highlights of comedy night. Comedian Buzz Sutherland made a surprise visit and performed his set in front of The Chesterfield guests.

He came down here and that was really awesome, said Olson.

The event as also hosted comedians which are now up-and-coming in the comedy scene. Comedy nights had seen all kinds of special guests over the years and even paid tribute to Siouxland hypnotist comedian J. Medicine Hat.

That was a packed house, said Olson.

Comedy night continues to please audiences looking for laughs on Thursday nights, while also allowing its comedians to hone their craft in a place they can call home.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Aerial view of the Gauss in the ice during the 1901 German Antarctic Expedition NOAA

Heroes of Antarctic exploration have played a crucial role in research that suggests the area of sea ice around Antarctica has barely changed in size in 100 years.

Ice observations recorded in the ships logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the German Erich von Drygalski have been used to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.

The study, published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere, suggests Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.

The research, by climate scientists at the University of Reading, estimates the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice is at most 14% smaller now than during the early 1900s.

Jonathan Day, who led the study, said: The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice.

We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new.

If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher.

The new study published in The Cryosphere is the first to shed light on sea ice extent in the period prior to the 1930s, and suggests the levels in the early 1900s were in fact similar to today, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square kilometres. Although one region, the Weddell Sea, did have a significantly larger ice cover.

Published estimates suggest Antarctic sea ice extent was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around 6 million square kilometres in recent decades.

The research suggests that the climate of Antarctica may have fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century, swinging between decades of high ice cover and decades of low ice cover, rather than enduring a steady downward trend.

This study builds on international efforts to recover old weather and climate data from ships logbooks. The public can volunteer to rescue more data at oldweather.org.

Day said: The Southern Ocean is largely a black hole as far as historical climate change data is concerned, but future activities planned to recover data from naval and whaling ships will help us to understand past climate variations and what to expect in the future.

Capt Scott perished along with his team in 1912 after missing out on being the first to reach the South Pole by a matter of weeks, while Shackletons ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew journeyed to attempt the first ever cross-Antarctic trek.

In addition to using ship logbooks from three expeditions led by Scott and two by Shackleton, the researchers used sea-ice records from Belgian, German and French missions, among others. But the team was unable to analyse some logbooks from the Heroic Age period, which have not yet been imaged and digitised. These include the records from the Norwegian Antarctic expedition of 1910-12 lead by Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach both the south and north poles.

###

Please mention the name of the publication (The Cryosphere) if reporting on this story and, if reporting online, include a link to the paper (http://www.the-cryosphere.net/10/2721/2016/) or to the journal website (http://www.the-cryosphere.net).

More information

This research is presented in the paper Estimating the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice during the Heroic Age of Exploration to appear in the EGU open access journal The Cryosphere on 24 November 2016.

The scientific article is available online, free of charge, from the publication date onwards, at http://www.the-cryosphere.net/10/2721/2016/. A pre-print version of the final paper is available for download below.

Citation: Edinburgh, T. and Day, J. J.: Estimating the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice during the Heroic Age of Exploration, The Cryosphere, doi:10.5194/tc-10-2721-2016, 2016

The team is composed of Tom Edinburgh (Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK [Reading]  now at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, UK) and Jonathan J. Day (Reading).

The Cryosphere (TC) is an international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications, and review papers on all aspects of frozen water and ground on Earth and on other planetary bodies. The main subject areas are ice sheets and glaciers, planetary ice bodies, permafrost, river and lake ice, seasonal snow cover, sea ice, remote sensing, numerical modelling, in situ and laboratory studies of the above and including studies of the interaction of the cryosphere with the rest of the climate system.

Notes from the University of Reading

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration refers to the period of 1897-1917 when several expeditions took place to explore the Antarctic. Logbook data was used from the following ships:

Endurance (1914) Sir Ernest Shackletons ship that became trapped in ice during the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Terra Nova (1903-04 and 1910-13) Captain Robert Scotts expedition during the race to the South Pole that cost him and his team their lives

Scotia (1903-04 and 1910-13) Ship used in expedition led by William Spiers Bruce to explore the Weddell Sea and collect specimens

Nimrod (1908-09) Another of Shackletons voyages that was more successful. It included notable achievements including the Great Southern Journey to a new farthest south latitude.

Aurora (1911-14 and 1914-16) Another ship that was part of Shackletons Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Discovery (1902) Expedition by both Scott and Shackleton which achieved a furthest south lattitude

Pourquoi-Pas IV (1909-10) carried a team in the Jean-Baptiste Charcot expedition that returned with several scientific discoveries, including the discovery of Charcot Land island.

Gauss (1902-03), the first German expedition to Antarctica, led by Erich von Drygalski

Belgica (1898-99), first winter expedition to Antarctica, led by Adrien de Gerlache

Animations showing the routes taken by these explorers and how their ice observations compare to modern satellite records are available by contacting the University of Reading press office on +44 (0)118 378 5757 or pressoffice@reading.ac.uk.

A video explaining the study is on the University of Reading YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/LlD47gPs2o4.
New Station Crew Arrives, Next-Generation Weather Satellite Launched and More. NASA

On Nov. 19 Eastern time, two days after launching aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Expedition 50-51 crew, including NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson arrived safely at the International Space Station.

A few hours after docking, Whitson and Expedition 50-51 crewmates, Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, were greeted by space station Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos. The arriving crew members, who are scheduled to remain on the space station until next spring, will contribute to more than 250 research experiments while onboard the orbital laboratory. Also, Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Leaves the Space Station, Advanced Weather Satellite Launched into Orbit, SLS Hardware Installed in Test Stand, C-Level Platforms Installed in Vehicle Assembly Building, and Giving Thanks from Space.
Schiaparelli ESA

Good progress has been made in investigating the ExoMars Schiaparelli anomaly of 19 October. A large volume of data recovered from the Mars lander shows that the atmospheric entry and associated braking occurred exactly as expected.

The parachute deployed normally at an altitude of 12 km and a speed of 1730 km/h. The vehicles heatshield, having served its purpose, was released at an altitude of 7.8 km.

As Schiaparelli descended under its parachute, its radar Doppler altimeter functioned correctly and the measurements were included in the guidance, navigation and control system. However, saturation  maximum measurement  of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) had occurred shortly after the parachute deployment. The IMU measures the rotation rates of the vehicle. Its output was generally as predicted except for this event, which persisted for about one second  longer than would be expected.

When merged into the navigation system, the erroneous information generated an estimated altitude that was negative  that is, below ground level. This in turn successively triggered a premature release of the parachute and the backshell, a brief firing of the braking thrusters and finally activation of the on-ground systems as if Schiaparelli had already landed. In reality, the vehicle was still at an altitude of around 3.7 km.

This behaviour has been clearly reproduced in computer simulations of the control systems response to the erroneous information.

This is still a very preliminary conclusion of our technical investigations, says David Parker, ESAs Director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration. The full picture will be provided in early 2017 by the future report of an external independent inquiry board, which is now being set up, as requested by ESAs Director General, under the chairmanship of ESAs Inspector General.

But we will have learned much from Schiaparelli that will directly contribute to the second ExoMars mission being developed with our international partners for launch in 2020.

ExoMars is extremely important for European science and exploration, says Roberto Battiston, President of Italys ASI space agency. Together with all the participating states in the programme, we will work towards the successful completion of the second ExoMars mission.

ESA and ASIs strong partnership will continue to be instrumental in this valuable and exciting European mission.

Meanwhile, scientific data from the instruments aboard Schiaparelli during the entry, plus tracking data from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Mars Express and Indias Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope India have been passed to the science teams. These data will contribute to understanding of the Red Planet and especially its atmosphere.

The Trace Gas Orbiter is starting its first series of science observations since arriving at the Red Planet on 19 October, taking advantage of the initial parking orbit before beginning a long series of aerobraking manoeuvres that will deliver the spacecraft to its operational orbit towards the end of 2017.
Horse racing and beer drinking have combined, with proceeds from craft suds being directed towards a charity that aids members of the racing industry.

An article by the Gazette & Herald explains that Howard Kinders enterprise, the Horsetown Beer Company, has been finding success selling four fine ales with horse racing themes. Five pence from every bottle and pint sold goes toward Racing Welfare, which, according to the piece, provides help and support to anyone that is working, or has worked in the Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding industry.

The company, which is located in Malton, North Yorkshire, in England, has found success with its four ales  Whitewall Golden Bitter, Malton Races Dark Bitter, Highfield Gallops Apple Cider and Blink Bonny Lager.

Kinder set up the company this past summer and immediately found strong support for Horsetowns offerings. "All our growth has come from the local community and we also have the support of a number of local trainers," he was quoted as saying.

"All the beers are on sale in the local pubs, bars and shops, and we also have a number of outlets in the surrounding areas that sell our products, as well," he added.

"From my research we are the first company in the UK to produce horse-racing beers, said Kinder, and I am pleased to say through our sales I expect to donate in the region of 4,000 annually to Racing Welfare."

(With files from the Gazette & Herald)
Ben Wallace cant remember sending a three-year-old pacer out for 31 starts in a year, but the trainer will watch as his Easy Lover Hanover makes start No. 31 in Mondays (Nov. 28) $314,600 Hap Hansen Progress Pace at Dover Downs.

At least Wallace can expect the gelding to be tight after all that racing.

Im not flying down to train him, lets put it that way, Wallace said, laughing.

Easy Lover Hanover has helped Wallace rebuild his stable after a fire Jan. 4 at Classy Lane Training Centre destroyed a barn that housed horses trained by Wallace, Roger Mayotte, Chantal Mitchell, Kris DiCenzo, Dan Lagace, and Floyd Amos.

Brad Grant owned four horses killed in the fire, all trained by Wallace, including multiple-stakes-winner Apprentice Hanover. On Jan. 18, Grant and Wallace bought three horses at the Tattersalls January Select Mixed Sale at the Meadowlands. Easy Lover Hanover was among that group, purchased for a price of $70,000.

The horse began racing immediately for his new connections and won his first six starts before finishing second in the Youthful Series final at Mohawk Racetrack. He rebounded with a win, but finished off the board in his next three races and was given a respite during which he was gelded.

After rounding back into form, Easy Lover Hanover won six of seven races prior to a second-place finish by a neck to Check Six in his Progress Pace elimination on Monday.

Hes one that gelding helped a lot, Wallace said. His attitude sort of came right around. It wasnt an overnight process, but he figured out what we wanted to do and started to finish up his miles real good. Thats kind of why we kept going with him.

It was something that I felt he always needed, but he was racing so good at the time when we got him it was kind of hard to do. We didnt want to set him back. Then he threw in a bad race at Flamboro and I said to Brad that this horse has been trying to tell us something all spring and maybe its the time to geld him. So we did.

Hes right now about as nice a horse as youd want to have. You can do anything with him.

Easy Lover Hanover has won 14 of 30 races this season and earned $156,824. He has helped Wallaces stable post a total of 42 victories and bank $422,312 in purses this year, figures nearly identical to 2015.

I lost 18 horses in that fire (in January), so when I got Easy Lover Hanover I was trying to get something that I could (race) right away, Wallace said. On Jan. 5th, I had nothing. Everything was gone. And we still found a way to win 42 races up here. So it hasnt been as bad as it could have been. But I lost Apprentice Hanover. This is a nice horse, but by no means is he an Apprentice Hanover.

Easy Lover Hanover will start Mondays Progress Pace from Post 1 with Doug McNair in the sulky. Easy Lover Hanover is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line, behind 2-1 early choice Boston Red Rocks from Post 2. Check Six, who would top $1 million in seasonal earnings with a cheque, is 9-2 from Post 4.

Were happy enough with the spot we got, Wallace said. Hell be in the race, thats for sure. If you draw outside with that bunch, they can all leave great  as can he  but it is an advantage when you know that you dont have to overcome a bunch of obstacles to maybe get where youre going.

The Progress Pace will be Easy Lover Hanovers final start this year. The horses connections are looking forward to more good times next season.

Hell get some time off and then hopefully chase some of those four-year-olds next summer, Wallace said. I think if we pick our spots and get a little lucky here and there he might be OK in the open division, but I think he would be well suited for some of those four-year-old races like the Confederation Cup and Prix dEte.

If he takes some time and muscles up again he could come back and could be a nice little pacer. Were happy with him and hes finishing up the year good. Hopefully we get a decent trip on Monday and really finish the year off great.

Following is the field for the Progress Pace in post order:

(PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line)

1-Easy Lover Hanover-Doug McNair-Ben Wallace-3/1

2-Boston Red Rocks-Tim Tetrick-Steve Elliott-2/1

3-Manhattan Beach-Matt Kakaley-Scott DiDomenico-5/1

4-Check Six-Yannick Gingras-Ron Burke-9/2

5-Lyons Snyder-David Miller-Jimmy Takter-10/1

6-Western Fame-Mark MacDonald-Jimmy Takter-8/1

7-JK Will Power-Corey Callahan-David Smith-12/1

8-Katies Rocker-Andy McCarthy-Jim Campbell-15/1

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has announced the makeup of a horse racing advisory commission that has been tasked with recommending legislative actions and regulatory improvements for the state industry.

According to an article by Crains Detroit Business, the commission, which falls under the umbrella of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, will be chaired by Don Ryker, who is the owner of the equine veterinary practice Don Ryker DMV and Associates.

Michigan Harness Horsemen's Association President Thomas Barrett is part of the commission, as is Michigan Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association president George Kutlenios.

The commission is rounded out by Northville Downs Operations Manager Mike Carlo, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Assistant State Veterinarian Nancy Frank, and Professor Frank Nickels of the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Each member of the commission has been named to a four-year term that will conclude in the fall of 2020.

(With files from Crains Detroit Business)
Standardbred owner Ralph Branca, 90, the beloved three-time All-Star pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers who gave up a home run known as the Shot Heard 'Round the World, passed away on Wednesday, November 23.

On October 3, 1951, Branca gave up a three-run homer by outfielder Bobby Thomson as the New York Giants beat the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in the ninth inning of a playoff game in the National League. The Shot Heard 'Round the World lifted the New York Giants right into the World Series.

Branca was born January 6, 1926, in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He played 12 seasons in the MLB, from 1944 through the 1956 season. The right-handed starting pitcher threw for three teams: the Dodgers from 1944 to 1953 and then again in 1956, the Detroit Tigers from 1953 to 1954, and the New York Yankees in 1954.

Branca was also a member of the USTA and was an owner of Standardbreds, most notably under the nom de course of Bramble Patch Farm.

World champion pacer Kassa Branca p,2,1:52.3 ($743,893), a son of No Nukes who was foaled in 1986, was named after Branca and co-owner Doug Kass. The pacer won the million-dollar Woodrow Wilson in 1988 at the Meadowlands Racetrack in a world record time of 1:52.3.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Ralph Branca.

(USTA)
Texas Judge Rejects Lifting Ban on Bathroom Decree

Contact: Liberty Counsel , 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org WICHITA FALLS, Texas, Nov. 23, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Texas Federal Judge Reed O'Connor denied requests from two federal executive branch departments to lift the ban on the Obama administration policy to allow so-called transgender public school students access to the bathrooms with which they self-identify.

In his ruling against the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, Judge O'Connor stated "the Court finds that Defendants failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success or irreparable harm sufficient to justify a partial stay of the Court's preliminary injunction." Connor wrote that the federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of "sex"the scope and meaning of which the federal government agencies claim now includes gender identitywere declared nearly 40 years ago. He referred specifically to the time gap between the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and this year, when the Obama administration announced its new transgender bathroom guidelines for public schools.

"We applaud Judge O'Connor's steadfast stand against the Obama administration attempts to impose its unlawful and harmful LGBT agenda on public schools," said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel's Founder and Chairman. "The Obama directive is a lawless act and defies common sense."

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
GERMANTOWN, Md., Nov. 24, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Abortionist LeRoy Carhart will no longer be conducting abortions at Germantown Reproductive Health Services (GRHS), an abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland, that has until now provided abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.According to local sources, Carhart's last abortions in Maryland took place during the week of October 30, 2016. He returned to GRHS on November 8, but stayed only a few hours, sending several very late-term patients home without abortions. He left later in the afternoon and never returned."The fact that Carhart will no longer be aborting babies in Maryland is something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We congratulate our co-laborers at the Maryland Coalition for Life for their hard work that has made this day a reality," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Carhart's brand of very late-term abortions are morally reprehensible and very dangerous, having taken the lives of countless viable babies and two of this patients. We have worked for years to end this atrocity, and today, Maryland is free from the dangers posed by Carhart."GRHS, once among the few abortion facilities that would openly do the expensive third-trimester abortions, now offers them up to 19 weeks.Carhart located his extremely late-term abortion business to Germantown in December 2010. This move was prompted by the 2009 closure of Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, where he also worked conducting third-trimester abortions. His plan to move his late-term business to Nebraska was thwarted by the passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - the first of its kind - by the Nebraska Legislature in April 2010, which banned abortions at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy.While in Maryland, Carhart's risky abortions were responsible for the emergency transport of at least eight women to hospital emergency rooms . In addition, one of his third-trimester patients, Jennifer Morbelli , died in 2013 from complications to her procedure.Earlier this year, a Federal lawsuit was filed against Carhart for a seriously botched late-term abortion that came close to costing the life of another one of his patients. He also faced the scrutiny of the House Select Panel on Infant Lives, which issued subpoenas to him and GRHS for documents related to the suspected trafficking of aborted baby remains and the deaths of babies who may have been born alive during abortions at the Germantown facility.Carhart continues to operate an abortion facility in his home town of Bellevue, Nebraska, where he still does abortions up to 20 weeks."At age 75 and not in the best of health, we believe it is a great time for Carhart to retire," said Newman. "We pray that before next Thanksgiving, he will make the decision to quit the killing business for good."
Beste Stan, Het is bijna zover, na maanden voorbereiding kijk ik er erg naar uit om het tweede pianoconcert van Brahms te spelen met het S...
Kelso police received the report of a credit card 'skimmer' being found at the Chevron at 500 Allen Street in Kelso Monday.

A credit card 'skimmer' is a device used to clone people's debit and credit card information. Chevron employees noticed that the screen on a gas pump wasn't working. Upon opening the control panel, they found the wiring had been disconnected, according to police records.

Kelso police have received at least one report of a person purchasing gas at the Chevron and later having credit card information used for unauthorized transactions. At this time, it is unknown when the device was inserted and how many victims there may be, according to police reports.

Another pump at the Chevron was also tampered with, but no entry to the control panel was gained, according to the police report. Chevron has taken more security measures, the report said.

Workers at the store declined comment at this time.
A Hillsboro, Ore., man returned to the Cowlitz County Jail on Tuesday night after prosecutors got an arrest warrant for the kidnap and rape of a 13-year-old girl known to him in September 2014.

Woodland police arrested Jose Rigoberto Gomez Sosa, then 44, after he and the girl were found at the Motel 6 in Woodland. Now, after two years of investigation, Gomez Sosa faces charges of second-degree kidnapping and second-degree rape in Cowlitz County.

A parent suspected Gomez Sosa of having a sexual relationship with the girl in Oregon and then kidnapping her after he was evicted from their Hillsboro home. On Sept. 11, 2014, Hillsboro, Ore., police located Gomez Sosa and the girl at the Motel 6 in Woodland using an IP address, according to court records, and called Woodland police. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree sex abuse, three counts of second-degree sodomy and two counts of second-degree rape at the Washington County Circuit Court.

On May 14, 2015, a Hillsboro detective contacted Woodland officers and said that during law enforcements investigation, Gomez Sosa admitted to having sexual intercourse with the girl several times, including once at the Woodland Motel 6, according to court records.

During a law enforcement interview with the girl, she also said they had sex on several occasions even though she told him she did not want to, according to the records.

She said police arrived shortly afterward. The girl was taken into protective custody and returned to her family unharmed.

Gomez Sosa has been serving time at the Washington County Jail in Hillsboro but was extradited to sheriffs deputies and booked into the Cowlitz County Jail shortly after 9 p.m. on Tuesday. The Cowlitz County prosecuting attorneys office ordered his arrest warrant in March.

Gomez Sosas bail was set at $200,000 on Wednesday. Gomez Sosas arraignment has been scheduled for Dec. 6.
Two suspects in two Kelso home invasions last month made first appearances in Cowlitz County Superior Court on Wednesday after being extradited from Ohio.

Joseph Lamont Edwards, 39, and Kelsie Brianne Lee, 27, both transients, are accused of burglarizing two Kelso homes and robbing the people inside on the morning of Oct. 28.

Edwards is accused of attacking a husband and wife with a crowbar while they lay in bed with their three-year-old daughter, according to court documents. That house was on the 800 block of First Avenue. 400 block of 12th Avenue.

Both the husband and the wife were taken to the emergency room at St. John Medical Center. The husband was later taken to SW Washington Medical Center for potentially life threatening injuries. He suffered a large cut to his head and an apparent stab wound to his back, among other injuries. He ran out of the house and yelled to neighbors to call for police, according to police records.

The wife was covered with blood and complained of head injuries when police found her.

A third suspect in the robberies, Mescha Denice Johnson, was arrested the same day by Kelso police in front of a home in the 800 block of First Avenue (the second home burglarized). She had blood on her hands and clothing. Johnson told police she used a ruse to enter the first home (on 12th Avenue), allowing Edwards and Lee to go in and rob the residents.

Johnson allegedly knocked on the door of the 12th Avenue house at 3 a.m. She told police Edwards and Lee then went into the house where Edwards is accused of threatening the two residents with a crowbar. He and Lee took a wallet and cellphone, according to court documents, before burglarizing the second home on First Avenue.

She told police she drove Edwards and Lee to the second house.

Lee and Edwards were arrested Nov. 9 in Ohio. Kelso police said Edwards has ties to the East Coast.

Lee, Edwards and Johnson are each charged with two counts of first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon enhancement, residential burglary with a deadly weapon enhancement and first-degree burglary with a deadly weapon enhancement.

Lees bail was set at $500,000 and Edwards bail was set at $750,000, aggregate with a charge for possessing a stolen vehicle. Johnson is awaiting arraignment and is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
To the tune of clinking glasses, laughter and lots of chatter, more than 150 people enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner at the Longview Salvation Army Thursday afternoon.

The Salvation Army, at 1639 10th Ave., held their annual Thanksgiving meal  complete with turkey, ham, stuffing, pie, cranberries, cider and more  from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday. Young and old filled the 10 tables in the upstairs cafeteria of the building, while a handful of volunteers served plates of hot food.

Salvation Army Capt. Darryck Dwelle said it was great to lend a hand to fellow community members.

I think the most valuable part is giving somebody who doesnt have anywhere to go a place to go and to be in a community. We see families that are at home enjoying their family and community, but some of these individuals here, they dont have that opportunity. They dont have a place to go, so thats why were here. Were here to offer them that sense of community and that sense of love, Dwelle said. I mean thats really what its about, expressing Gods love through practical ways.

Lance Nelson, of Longview, said he went to the Thanksgiving meal at the Salvation Army for just that reason, because he didnt have anywhere else to go. Although he came by himself, he said he met new people after a woman offered him a seat next to her at her table.

When I found out about it, I thought it was a great idea. ... I thought it was awesome that they bring the meal to you, they serve you. Its part of the American spirit, Nelson said.

Others enjoying the meal said the food was great and that it was nice to be surrounded by friends and family.

Adi Sherman, youth coordinator at the Salvation Army, volunteered to work the dinner and said the event went well.

I want people (here) to know that theyre loved, cared for, and that theres a community here for them, Sherman said.

The Salvation Army offers hot meals Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
An autopsy Wednesday night found that Donald William Howard died of blunt force trauma to his head, and the Cowlitz County Coroners Office has ruled his death a homicide.

Howard, 62, was found dead in his Woodland home after firefighters were called there to put out a fire reported at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. The Coroners Office is not releasing the estimated time of Howards death because it is an important part of the investigation.

Authorities had withheld Howards identity until announcing it Wednesday night after checking fingerprints. Coroner Tim Davidson said his office also had photo and visual confirmation from family members.

Davidson and Cowlitz County Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig declined to describe the condition of Howards body.

Wednesday afternoon, Rosenzweig said authorities are close to finishing processing the crime scene. Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory scientists are assisting with the on-scene investigation.

Rosenzweig said police have interviewed several people of interest but havent identified a suspect.

Rosenzweig encouraged anyone who has information about the homicide to call Cowlitz County Sgt. Brad Thurman at 360-577-3092.

The public also can leave anonymous tips by using the smartphone app tip411. Tipsters can download the CCSOTip app or text a tip to 847411 and begin their message with CCSOtip.
tech2 News Staff

Google owned DeepMind has announced partnership with the National Health Services in the UK to develop information technology products directly coordinating with medical professionals and understanding their needs. DeepMind has entered a five year partnership with the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

The medical professionals have to juggle multiple systems, and still use outdated technologies such as pagers, paper reports and fax machines. The top down IT-solutions currently deployed are developed far away from the field. Changes in the condition of a patient undergoing treatment does not always reach the right professionals at the right time. Over ten thousand patients in the UK die every year from preventable causes, and 40 percent fewer patients would be admitted to critical care units if they would have been administered the right treatment in a timely manner.

This is where DeepMind comes in. It ensures that the right patient information is delivered to the right professionals, to reduce the number of preventable deaths. Over the course of a year, DeepMind engineers have developed and perfected a smartphone app called Streams. Streams tracks medical tests as and when they come in, and alerts clinical teams if it identifies a risk of the patient developing acute kidney injury (AKI). The prototype testing phase has been completed, and the application has been registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Streams will be available to clinicians from early 2017.

A streamlined app for medical alerts means that the clinicians are spending their time better, and delivering critical healthcare to the patients that need it the most. About half a million man hours are expected to be saved in administration, where the clinician juggles multiple logins to services, paper reports, and pager alerts. Patients stand to benefit with more time being available to medical staff for direct healthcare.

DeepMind plans to expand the capabilities of the application over the course of the next five years, to include more conditions where early intervention can save lives. Early detection of the risk of organ failure caused due to sepsis or other reasons is planned. The app will detect deterioration that is difficult for clinicians to catch. The infrastructure for streams is based on state of the art interoperable standards, which means that the NHS can easily integrate services from third party developers into the application.

DeepMind is using artificial intelligence to address some of the toughest challenges facing society. Last month, DeepMind started learning on its own, gaining information and understanding from external data sources. DeepMind monitors power usage in Google Data Centers to reduce the power used by about forty percent. In March this year, DeepMind famously defeated Go champion Lee Sedol, an intuitive game that has historically been a challenge for artificial intelligences. Since then DeepMind has moved on to tackle Starcraft.
hidden

Iran, once an international outcast due to its controversial nuclear programme, has expressed hope it can work in tandem with India to enhance nuclear safety and knowledge management in the region to prevent "accidents". The country also plans to invite India to participate in the annual VVER Technology Forum next year.

"We have common issues. Both countries use VVER (Water-Water Energetic Reactor) technologies. Both have developed research activities and they could follow that. We have similar interests in the nuclear programme from the safety point of view. Things could be done very easily. We hope things could be extended in a more tangible manner in the future," Naser Rastkhah, who heads the Iran Nuclear Regulatory Authority, told IANS here.

Rastkhah is participating in the 11th International Public Forum-Dialogue "Nuclear Energy, Environment, Safety". "Next year we are going to host the VVER Forum and we will invite the (nuclear) regulatory body of India," Rastkhah said. Banking on India's long-standing experience in nuclear safety, Rastkhah raised concerns over the dearth of knowledge among countries that are foraying into the nuclear energy sector in the region.

"From the regulatory point of view, we belong to the same region and any accident anywhere is an accident everywhere. India has a very good experience long before Iran in this regard and they could probably cooperate with our nuclear regulatory authority to increase safety in the region... to of course prevent accidents."

"Most of the newcomers in the region have least knowledge in safety of (using) nuclear energy. If people are aware, safety is there. Usually we are influenced by lack of information. If we could extend our collaboration with the Indian regulatory body, we are on the safe side," he noted. Earlier this year, India and Iran took a major step in boosting connectivity and trade with the inking of an agreement on the Chabahar port. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with the Iranian leadership and said that the time has come for both sides to "regain the past glory of the relationship".

The two sides also signed 12 agreements, including on science and technology, culture and railways and three on the port itself. India and Iran are not members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Asked about India's bid for membership and China blocking its entry into the group, Rastkhah clarified he has no information on this. Iran's nuclear programme began in the 1950s and has had a chequered past.

On July 14, 2015, Iran clinched a deal with five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, or P5+1, ending a decade-long dispute over its controversial nuclear programme. The agreement resulted in the lifting of international and Western nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions on Iran in exchange for wide-scale limitation on the country's nuclear activities for a specific period of time.

Focusing on the current scenario, Rastkhah flagged issues with countries in the southern part of the Persian Gulf. "I am very much concerned about the southern part of the Persian Gulf. Clean energy in the region is nice, but there is lack of knowledge and it is very difficult to manage. Our people say 'never we want another Fukushima'," he added.

IANS
tech2 News Staff

Micosoft is believed to have pulled the plug on its Lumia range and possibly its fitness band range, but looks like that doesn't mean the company has given up hope on building a smartphone. If reports are to be believed than the company is ready to bounce back into smartphone arena.

Nadella has been a ray of hope from the time he took the helms at Microsoft, and after some arguably great restructuring, he now believes that the company is building an 'ultimate mobile device'. According to Australian Financial Review, Nadella said that the company will continue to be a part of the phone market.. He further said, "not as defined by todays market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device.

The report talks about how the company will focuss on offering something unique, rather on competing with others. The company, according to the report, is not afraid of taking risks and ready to enter new segments and also redefine old ones. Talking about Surface, he explained how the company jumped into the 2-in-1 or hybrid form factor three years ago, when it will still questioned. That reminds us, and Nadella also made it a point to be noted, that the company had released the HP Elite x3, a 3-in-1 device.

Meanwhile, there have been rumours circulating about the alleged Surface Phone. And, reports about Lumia being showed the backdoor, puts the long time rumoured Surface Phone to the forefront. If reports are to be believed than there would be three Surface Phones targeting three different user groups  consumers, business users and enthusiasts. But nothing is known about the specifications of all three models yet, and the pricing is expected to be on the lines of higher-end segment. Surface Phones are likely to make an appearance in 2017.
tech2 News Staff

Ta'u is the largest island in the American Samoa archipelago, situated in the south pacific ocean, over four thousand miles away from the west coast of the United States. The power needs of the remote island has so far been met with diesel-based generators, that were shipped to the island. Unplanned outages and rationing were part of daily life. The islanders had to turn on the generators for power only in the mornings and evening when the diesel got low.

SolarCity, that was recently acquired by Tesla, has implemented the world's most advanced microgrid on the island over the course of a year. 1.4 megawatts of renewable energy is generated from an array of solar panels, that is stored in 60 Tesla powerpacks. The microgrid can provide nearly hundred percent of the energy requirements of the island, using an environmentally friendly source of energy. The batteries can hold enough power to power the island for three days, over the course of a seven hour charge.

Keith Ahsoon, one of the six hundred residents on the island, said "This is part of making history. This project will help lessen the carbon footprint of the world. Living on an island, you experience global warming firsthand. Beach erosions and other noticeable changes are a part of life here. Its a serious problem, and this project will hopefully set a good example for everyone else to follow"

The critical infrastructure on the island, including the hospital, the high school, the elementary schools, the fire stations, the police stations and the local businesses no longer have to worry about unscheduled blackouts and rationing. The microgrid is operated by the American Samoa Power Authority. The funding of the project was split three ways between the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Interior. The microgrid is expected to deliver the equivalent of 414,502 litres of diesel being burned every year.
Aditya Madanapalle

Google translate might have once been delivering funny results, but it has been constantly improving and is now approaching human levels of capabilities in its translations.

The Artificial Intelligence delivering translations between languages has created a model of its own, for translating between languages it has previously not been trained to handle. Google calls this Zero Shot translation.

Artificial intelligences are trained for tasks, which usually involves feeding in tons of data, and the more data that is fed into the system, the more accurate it gets. For example, to train the AI to translate between English and Spanish, the English versions and the acceptable Spanish versions are fed into the machine.

Say the artificial intelligence is trained to translate between English and Spanish, then trained to translate between Italian and Spanish, the machine can fairly accurately translate between English and Italian on its own. This may seem like a trivial task for humans, but for machines, it is particularly challenging. This is the first time machines have demonstrated capabilities of handling translation tasks they were previously untrained for.

In September, Google switched from Phrase-Based Machine Translation (PBMT) to Google Neural Machine Translation (GNMT) for handling translations between Chinese and English. The Chinese and English language pair has historically been difficult for machines to translate, and Google managed to get its system close to human levels of translation by using bilingual people to train the system.

In November, Google Translate got its biggest ever update, with GNMT rolled out for eight language pairs. French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish were added to English and Chinese, making GNMT available for 35 percent of the translation requests on Google. Google planned to add GNMT for all 103 languages in Google Translate. That would mean feeding in data for 103^2 language pairs, and the artificial intelligence would have to handle 10,609 models.

Google tackled this problem by allowing a single system to translate between multiple languages. The knowledge required for translation is shared across language pairs, and this forces the system to better use its modelling powers. When the translation knowledge was shared, curious Google Engineers checked if the AI could translate between language pairs it was not explicitly trained on before. This was the first time machine based translation has successfully translated sentences using knowledge gained from training to tranlsate other languages.

The developments were announced by Google in a blog post, and was accompanied by a research paper published on Arxiv.

Google engineers were curious about how the AI was managing to do this. Using a plotter integrated into TensorFlow, Google engineers peeked into the mind of the artificial intelligence, to see what was going on.

The coloured dots in the image are phrases with the similar meanings bunched together. In the zoomed in view, phrases from three different languages, are grouped together. This is evidence that the machine is saving information about the meaning of the phrases, instead of just phrase translations. The models created by the machine shows what Google calls a "universal interlingua representation."

Google celebrated ten years of machine based translations earlier this year. Over one billion words are translated every day.
hidden

Facebook has been slapped with a racial discrimination lawsuit for allegedly not responding to the repeated complaints of harassment by two black employees, said a report. "The suit, filed on Tuesday in US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges Facebook allowed "retaliation against the employees reporting discrimination to fester and continue" at the facility despite their continued complaints," CNET reported on Thursday, adding, "The complaint asks for more than $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages per plaintiff."

The two black employees - Robert Baron Duffy, a former employee, and Robert Louis Gary, a current employee -- alleged that a facility manager used "racial slurs when referring to black employees." It has also been alleged that they were being paid lesser than other employees.

"Facebook didn't respond properly to alleged discrimination at the North Carolina facility, which the plaintiffs say took place over a three-year period," said Sonya Smallets, a lawyer at San Francisco-based Minnis & Smallets who is representing Duffy and Gary.

However the Facebook has termed these complaints as "claims without merit" and said they have "investigated and taken quick action to terminate (the manager's) employment and provided extensive anti-bias, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training to all data center employees nationwide.

"Additionally, we've continued to monitor the work environment at [the North Carolina facility], and all US data centers, to ensure that improper behavior...is not repeated," the report quoted Facebook.

IANS
Epson has always fought fiercely against the counterfeit ink business and has taken multiple measures to curb the sale of counterfeit bottles. To protect the rights of its customers, Epson conducted a series of raids in Mumbai and Chennai recently, where operatives have generated information about fixers involved in filling, bottling, packaging and distributing counterfeit Epson ink. In an effort to send a strong message of zero tolerance towards the sale of fake cartridges, the police in different parts of the country have stepped up their cooperation and efforts to arrest and terminate such practices.

On the basis of the information shared by Epson vigilance team, the Mumbai police raided the premises of a dealer in a swift and well-coordinated action on 4th October. Ashok Prajapati in Kalbadevi area of Mumbai was engaged in packaging of counterfeit Epson ink bottles for various printer models and was supplying those counterfeit packed Epson ink bottles to various retailers in Mumbai and in other cities. The police seized 1773 counterfeit ink bottles, 4110 empty bottles with Epson trademark, 10342 pieces of bar code stickers, 30200 ink bottle wrappers & stickers of Epson and 215 litres of inks from Mumbai. In terms of quantity of seized counterfeit materials, this is one of the biggest raid actions done so far.

Similar raids were carried out by Chennai Police on 15th October & 18th November in the city. Police conducted raids in T.Nagar and Saidapet area and successfully seized counterfeit products of Epson in large quantity. The dealers were involved in the manufacture and supply of counterfeit Epson Ink bottles. Nearly 500 Ink bottles with the mark Epson were seized along with other printing materials and machines used by this business for making counterfeit Epson ink bottles. They also seized 2729 Epson Ink Bottle labels from the dealers. A seizure memo and FIR has been registered against the owners of the businesses.

A spokesperson at Seiko Epson Corporation said We view the infringement of our patents very seriously and counterfeiting would be the most important of these. We will continue to fight against those that inappropriately use Epsons patented technology. We would like to extend special accolades for Mumbai & Chennai police force in successfully conducting these counterfeit raids and limiting the damages to a bare minimum. Maintaining high standards of corporate ethics while encouraging everyone to respect the rights is the paramount objective at Epson.

Seiko Epson Corporation will continue to back the enforcement authorities for such raids in future. This is to further safeguard its interests and to defend the business of its authorised dealers. This practice will also act as a constraint to the manufacturers and dealers that engage in this offence.

@Technuter.com News Service
Some agitators for the sovereignty of Parliament called a demonstration today, some months after winning a referendum ostensibly about the sovereignty of Parliament, because they are aggrieved at the high court for asserting the sovereignty of Parliament. More than fifteen thousand were invited; two thousand said they would turn up; and in keeping with the Leave campaign's enviable record of reliability, a few dozen actually did . The Britishness-signalling of this patriotic elite was rewarded with a blather from the chinless dimness that is Jacob Rees-Mogg, who spoke in tongues ("we have to make sure it is continued until the end and that we leave as soon as soon"), blessed the United Kingdom by putting words in the mouth of the United States (couldn't he find a British quote?) and attributed a misquote from Julius Caesar to something called "the great Boris Johnson." No, I don't know what that is either; but it is presumably a Boris Johnson somewhat other than the Boris Johnson who announces to foreign newspapers what his patroness will not deign to share with the House of Commons. The rabble was also roused by the dentally-oriented race-baiter, David Davies (not to be confused with the floundering prima donna and David Davis publicist, David Davis), and by one of those clapped-out UKIP leadership things of which there seem to be so many these days. Such fun was had by all that another demonstration against the sovereignty of Parliament and in favour of something that is already happening will take place in ten days' time. One can only wonder how long they'll be able to sustain this level of intensity.
Myanmar`s Rohingya: Stateless, persecuted and fleeing

The UN says upto 30,000 Rohingya have been displaced by violence in Myanmar\'s Rakhine state, where dozens of people have been killed in clashes with the military.

AFP, Rakhine State :

Scores of Rohingya Muslims have been killed in a Myanmar army crackdown since early October, when sword-wielding assailants raided police posts in the remote marshlands bordering Bangladesh.

The military struck back with ground clearances, most recently backed by helicopter gunships.

Access to the conflict areas is heavily restricted, but witness testimony has seeped out alleging mass rapes, indiscriminate killings and the razing of entire Rohingya villages by Myanmar's security forces-claims they deny.

It is the latest chapter in the grim recent history of the Rohingya, a one million population reviled across Myanmar as illegal immigrants and denied citizenship. The following is a fact box on the Rohingya.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim ethnic group described by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Using a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Sunni Muslims are loathed by many in majority Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali" - even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

The UN refugee agency says well over 120,000 have fled Rakhine since religious violence in 2012 -- an exodus that continues, despite the perils of the sea journey.

Last year, thousands were stranded at sea after a well-worn trafficking route through Thailand collapsed after the discovery of scores of shallow graves on the Malaysia border.

There are around 300,000 Rohingya living in Bangladesh's southern coastal district bordering Myanmar, the vast majority of whom have fled Myanmar in recent decades.

Bangladesh recognises only a small portion as refugees and regularly turns back those trying to cross the border.

On October 9 armed men ambushed border posts killing nine policeman and escaping with guns.

Security forces were sent in, vowing to repel the attacks. Nearly 30 civilians died in the ensuing clashes. That number has surged over the following weeks as troops clear remote villages.

The government says the attacks amount to an insurgency.

They accuse a previously unknown Pakistani Taliban-trained militant of leading the attacks and rallying hundreds of disgruntled Rohingya to his cause.

It is hard to verify those claims, although videos of armed men have emerged appearing to back them up. Security operations are ongoing.

The violence has revived calls from rights groups for Myanmar to recognise the Rohingya's rights to citizenship and end their persecution.




France accuses Assad, allies of waging 'total war'

Reuters, Paris :

France accused Syria and its allies on Wednesday of using political uncertainty in the United States to launch "total war" against rebel-held areas in the country and said states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad would meet in Paris soon.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is only inaugurated on Jan. 20 and the outgoing administration is not expected to take an active role in Syria so close to leaving office. European diplomats have expressed concern that Assad may feel emboldened by Trump's vow to build closer ties with Russia, Syria's ally.

"Today one million people are besieged. Not just in Aleppo, but in Homs, Ghouta and Idlib, and that's the reality of the situation in Syria," Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters after a weekly cabinet session.

He did not say what the planned meeting might achieve to tackle five years of conflict which have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced half of Syria's population, but said protecting Syrian civilians was an urgent priority.

"France is taking the initiative to confront this strategy of total war by the regime and its allies, who are taking advantage of the current uncertainty in the United States."

A meeting of countries opposed to Assad, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, will take place in the coming days in Paris, Ayrault said. A diplomat said the ministerial talks would happen in early December.

The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria also expressed concern on Tuesday that Assad could launch a new offensive to crush eastern Aleppo before Trump takes office. Intense bombardment of east Aleppo, including of hospitals, has left residents even more deprived of medicines, food and fuel in recent weeks.

Accusing Syria and its Russian and Iranian backers of "cynicism", German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told parliament that the renewed strikes would merely add momentum to the cycle of violence.

"Far too many people right now believe they can profit from the power vacuum after the U.S. elections and play the military card," he said. "We have to break through this logic. The talks on ceasefires and humanitarian aid must not stop during this period of transition in Washington."

A Western diplomat in Geneva also expressed concern over Trump's pledge to fight Islamic State alongside Russia.

"Today with few exceptions we see Russia fighting the opposition, or rather civilians in besieged opposition areas, not Islamic State," he told Reuters. "If this is the fight Trump would want to join, it would destroy any prospects of a political solution."

"But if it means Washington would get Russia to start seriously fighting Islamic State, rather than the opposition, that is good."

France, a staunch backer of the anti-Assad opposition, is now actively pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution to sanction Syria for the use of chemical weapons, Ayrault said.

An inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has already found that government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.

"It's been proved that the regime and Islamic State have used chemical weapons so we now need sanctions and that's the resolution we want at the U.N. The international community must stop turning a blind eye," Ayrault said.

"We aren't going to sit and do nothing," he added.

Russia has said the inquiry's findings cannot be used to take action at the Security Council and that the Syrian government, which denies using chemical weapons, should investigate the accusations.




China defends Asia-Pacific trade after Trump threat

AFP, Santiago :

China's President Xi Jinping vowed to strengthen world trade in the face of US President-elect Donald Trump's threat to pull out of a key trans-Pacific accord.

Speaking on a visit to Chile on Tuesday, he vowed to "push to build an Asia-Pacific free-trade zone and an open world economy."

Trump on Monday vowed to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact on his first day in the White House.

On the last stop of a tour to strengthen trade ties in Latin America, Xi said he and Chile's President Michelle Bachelet agreed to join in a "full strategic relationship."

They expanded their countries' existing free trade agreement and signed 12 cooperation agreements.

"To drive the long-term development of bilateral ties, we have decided to enhance our bilateral relations to a strategic relationship and open a new page in ties between Chine and Chile," Xi told a news conference.

Chile is the world's biggest copper producer and the second-largest producer of salmon.

China is its biggest trade partner, receiving a quarter of all Chilean exports last year..
Want to promote Bangladeshi foods worldwide: Shaheda Yesmin

Shaheda Yesmin was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh on 24 January, 1963. Broadly trained and highly accomplished chef with a strong combination of culinary experience and management skills, Shaheda Yesmin has gained an extensive knowledge in culinary arts

When I was only six years old I first cooked a recipe of egg. Still now I can remember that moment. Once I went to a restaurant which was the nearest to my residence. I took a recipe of spicy sea food salad that was cost Tk 800 which I understood it was too much price rather than its quality. After that I started to think about cooking by myself. Then I started to experiment different types of foods one after another in home in different occasion which were appreciated by all. That was the beginning of a new journey in my life in the field of cooking, this was said by broadly trained and highly accomplished chef Shaheda Yesmin while sharing about the beginning of her cooking related career.

From 2009 Shaheda has been running a cooking school named Jewels Kitchen where many aspiring professional and non-professionals attend to enhance their knowledge of authentic Thai cuisine. In 2004, derived from passion, she introduced Jamdani Jewel's, an in-house boutique where the intensive flower motifs on the traditional Jamdani saree are self-designed. In fact, Some of her highly exclusively designed sarees have been worn by Chandrika Kumaratunga (former President of Sri Lanka), Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Queen of Bhutan), Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress Party of India, Gursharan Kaur, wife of Dr Manmohan Singh, Suvra Mukherjee, wife of Pranab Mukherjee and the famous Indian actress Rani Mukherjee.

As the member of Women Entrepreneur Association of Bangladesh (WEAB) Shaheda Yesmin represented the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2004. Same year she also nominated as one of the guest speakers at the International Women Association conference in Mumbai, India. She was the elected Vice President of Commonwealth Womens Association, Washington DC in USA in 2007. Now she is also an elected Vice President of Womens Culinary Association of Bangladesh.

While talking with her Shaheda Yesmin said, Basically I want to promote Bangladeshi foods worldwide. We have a rich tradition in case of foods. Our recipes are very much multidisciplinary which can easily attract people of any part of the world. So we should come forward for the survival of our foods to other countries. We can experiment with Bangladeshi foods in different ways.

While asking her about any plan to write any book about cooking Shaheda replied, In fact, I have no courage to write any book on cooking after Siddika Kabirs recipe book. However, every Bangladeshi woman in their life obviously read Siddika Kabirs book for learning cooking as their guidelines. Now I am working with foods of 64 districts and eight divisions. Therefore, I am also engaged with publishing a cooking related magazine titled Spoon.

Shaheda Yesmin was also engaged with Rupchanda-The Daily Star Super Chef as its judge in 2014. In her Jewels Kitchen, she takes classes from October to February in the year, she mentioned. n

- Sheikh Arif Bulbon
UGC Chair urges Australian scholarship for university teachers

Prof Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh speaks with a 3-member Australian delegation led by Leonie Muldoon, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for South Asia, Austrade, Australia at UGC office on Tuesday.

Campus Report :

Prof Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh urged the Australian Government to provide scholarship for university teachers of Bangladesh especially young scholars for their professional skills development.

Prof Mannan came up with the observation when a-three member Australian delegation led by Leonie Muldoon, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for South Asia, Austrade, Australia called on him at UGC office on Tuesday. Other members of the delegation included Mostafizur Rahman, Business Development Manager, Australian Trade Commission, Australian High Commission, Dhaka and Minhaz Chowdhury, Country Manager, Australian Trade Commission, Australian High Commission, Dhaka.

The delegation said that Australia is interested in establishing academic and research collaboration with Bangladeshi universities in a number of areas for enhancement of quality in education and research and also for skills development of the teaching professionals.

UGC Chairman briefed the members of delegation about the activities and functions of UGC and different components of Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP). He observed that more and more academic and research collaboration among the higher educational institutions and of Bangladesh and Australia are needed for expansion, enhancement and internationalization of higher education.

Prof Dr Mohammad Yousuf Ali Mollah, Member, UGC, Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum, Member, UGC, Prof Dr Md. Akhtar Hossain, Member, UGC, Prof Dr M Shah Nowaz Ali, Member, UGC and Dr Md. Khaled, Secretary, UGC among others were present on the occasion.


AIUB VC at IAU 15th general confce

Vice Chancellor of American International University - Bangladesh, Dr Carmen Z Lamagna is seen at the International Association of Universities 15th General Conference in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand recently.

Campus Report :

Vice Chancellor of American International University - Bangladesh (AIUB), Dr Carmen Z Lamagna participated in the International Association of Universities (IAU) 15th General Conference in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand from Nov. 13-16, 2016, hosted by Siam University, Chulalongkorn University, Suranaree University of Technology and Asian Institute of Technology.

The IAU is an international non-governmental organization, whose permanent secretariat is in Paris, France. It is a membership organization bringing together universities, institutions of higher education (HE), national and regional associations of universities. Its aim is to promote debate, reflection and action on key issues in the field of HE. The Association offers its members and all its stakeholders a global meeting forum and various services such as information, research and analysis of its latest developments through surveys, different references and publications. The IAU provides opportunities to build partnerships and networks among HE institutions worldwide.

AIUB VC presented a paper on: Higher Education: Response to Local and Global Challenges. Internationalization of HE is expected to fulfill numerous purposes in addition to improving the quality of learning and the student experience. IAU has taken a leadership role in promoting HE internationalization with a "higher purpose" as well as responding to the socio-economic, cultural and environmental challenges, locally and globally; ensuring that capacity building approaches respect all partners' contributions. Setting international collaboration on a more level playing field despite difference in access to financial resources.
Share index reaches record high at week's close

BSS, Dhaka :

The major price index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) reached at 14-month high on Thursday to finish a bullish week.

DSEX closed at 4791.33 with adding nearly 93 points over the week. Accordingly, the blue-chip DS30 ended over 11 points up at 1769.53 and the Shariah DSES 10.57 points higher at 1133.27.

The average daily trade volume increased by 28.68 percent to 12.60 crore shares when the value surged by 43.53 percent to Taka 12.60 crore.

Share price rose across the board due to the higher transaction and eventually drove the indices upward. Out of the 330 traded securities, 227 closed higher against 88 losing issues when 13 remained unchanged.

Bank, mutual funds and power were the major advancing sectors during the week when the top five gainers were Dragon Sweater, Generation Next, Miracle Industries, AB Bank and Asia Insurance.

The five major losing companies included National Polymer, Desh Garment, Aman Food, Ambee Pharma and BBSL.

The top five turnover leaders were AB Bank, Beximco Limited, Doreen Power, Square Pharma and BBSL.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed the week up, with its major CASPI index ending 54.65 points higher at 14724.

Like DSE, most of the issues traded here closed higher when both the trade value and volume of shares increased significantly.
Murder case lodged by Irfan's family

Chittagong Bureau :

The family members of the mysteriously killed central Chatra league leader Irfan Chowdhury lodge case before the court in Chittagong after refuse by the respective thana authority .

This murder case has been lodged yesterday before the court of senior judicial magistrate ASM Shahidullah Kaiser . Elder sister of Irfan Chowdhury Advocate Jubaida Sarwar filed the case , sources said.

Asstt. Proctor of Chittagong University Anowar Hossain, President of CU Chatra league unit Alamgir Tipu were accused in the case for the alleged killing of central BCL leader. Mentionable that the dead body of Irfan Chowdhury was detected from his own residence at No.2 road of Ctg University on Sunday night last.

Victim Irfan was the student of Fianance & Banking deptt of CU of session 2006-07 . He was also the Asstt. Secretary of the central committee of BCL, sources added.


Ensure world standard training for armed forces: President

President Abdul Hamid at a photo session with the high officials of Ordnance Center and School, Rajendrapur Cantonment in Gazipur on Thursday at the reunion of corps of the Ordinance Corps. Press Wing, Bangabhaban photo

BSS, Gazipur :

President Abdul Hamid has stressed the need for delivering world standard training by the Ordnance Center and School so that the members of armed forces both at home and abroad give priority to pursue training from there.

"There is no alternative to training in military life. Training makes people disciplined, helps enhance professional knowledge and increase loyalty. So you have to continue to receive training," the President said while addressing a parade at the sixth reunion of Army Ordnance Corps at Ordnance Center and School at Rajendrapur Cantonment in Gazipur on Thursday.

Mentioning that Ordnance Center and School prepares smart army members for ordnance corps through various training, President Hamid said the role of the training center is praiseworthy to make a civilian youth a soldier through hard training.

"Ordnance Center and School is an internationally recognized training institute where members of armed forces of friendly countries take training every year," he said, adding that that is why the training must be in accordance with international standard so that members of armed forces both at home and abroad give priority to pursue training from there.

The members of the corps, having specialized training on ammunition and explosive, are working as an inseparable part of the Bangladesh Army, Border Guard Bangladesh and Rapid Action Battalion to eliminate terrorism and militancy, said the President.

"The members of the corps have significant contribution to increasing the production capacity of Bangladesh Ordnance Factories and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory," he added.

Riding on an open jeep, the President inspected the parade of artillery corps. After inspecting the parade, he also took salute from the podium.

Earlier, the President was received by Chief of Army Staff Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq when he reached the parade ground.
Uniting for an Asian Century

Lee Jong-Wha :

There is no question that Asia's standing in the global economy is stronger than ever. The region now produces about 40% of the world's GDP, measured according to purchasing power parity. During the recent economic crisis, Asia accounted for more than half of global GDP growth. Add to that a massive population and growing political influence, and Asia finally appears ready to lead on a world stage long dominated by the West.

But it is too early to open the champagne. The United States and Europe maintain an advantage, in terms of global strategic influence, while Asian countries are facing major political, economic, and security challenges.

In fact, Asia's growth momentum is declining. China is working overtime to achieve an economic soft landing, following decades of breakneck expansion. Japan is preoccupied with escaping slow growth and coping with population aging. Asia's other economic powerhouses - India, Indonesia, and South Korea - each face their own set of economic and political problems. Across the region, rising income inequality, financial instability, and environmental degradation are hampering development.

More problematic, despite being deeply interdependent, the region's countries struggle to act collectively. The persistence of power rivalries, historical resentments, and territorial disputes, together with pronounced disparities in economic and military might, create substantial obstacles to unity. A recent surge in coercive behavior by China, a nationalist revival in India, and a shift toward conservatism in Japan have exacerbated these challenges.

But, at a time when Western countries are moving toward isolationism - exemplified by the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump as US president - intra-regional trade and investment are more important than ever. Beyond the economic benefits, integration would yield important political benefits, with an integrated Asia enjoying more influence on the international stage. To reap those benefits, Asia must mitigate regional military and political conflicts and develop a long-term vision for regional integration.

Asia is home to some of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. There is a risk of armed clashes in the East and South China Seas, and North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, despite tougher sanctions pushed by the United States and the United Nations. Stronger cooperation among Asian countries, together with the international community, could ease regional tensions and lead North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

Some regional institutions have already been established, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), ASEAN+3 (the ten members of the ASEAN plus China, Japan, and South Korea) and the East Asia Summit (EAS). Such institutions will be critical to resolving conflicts and establishing a framework for peace that can support regional prosperity and global leadership.

But that is only the first step. And whether Asian leaders share a common vision for regional integration remains unclear. Judging by Europe's experience - from the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 to the establishment of the European Union in 1993 - there is no need to rush the integration process. But it will take a lot of time and effort. Perhaps the best way to kick-start this process is to identify areas where the region can gain the most from integration, and take steps that will bring quick returns. For example, Asian countries can move toward a single market with common rules governing trade and free movement of workers, especially skilled ones. Launching the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free-trade agreement currently being negotiated by ASEAN and six partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand), would be an important step in this direction.

Given the vulnerability of cross-border capital flows, Asia must also pursue joint action on financial supervision, surveillance, and regulatory issues to prevent and manage crises. One specific goal should be to improve the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, a $240 billion currency-swap arrangement, and its surveillance unit, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office. Another should be to establish a de facto Asian Monetary Fund with a broader membership.

It should be noted that none of these efforts would aim to supplant existing sub-regional, regional, and global institutions. Rather, by making Asia a more effective and united actor, new regional trade and financial measures would complement and strengthen current arrangements.

For any of this to work, bureaucracies and the private sector, including business leaders and academics, must actively support high-level political commitments to integration. Such support should not be too difficult to muster. After all, integration would facilitate the exchange of valuable knowledge, from effective economic and social policies to technological and scientific insight.

Forums and dialogues on regional public goods could also prove valuable by promoting cooperation on cross-border challenges, including epidemics, natural disasters, and environmental degradation. Person-to-person connections would help to highlight for Asian societies their cultural commonalities and shared values, fostering progress in areas where particular countries might lag.

At a time when the global order is increasingly uncertain, Asia should take its fate into its own hands, by pursuing closer economic and political regional cooperation. If Asian countries can develop a shared vision for an economic community and a political association, this century could be theirs.

(Lee Jong-Wha, Professor of Economics and Director of the Asiatic Research Institute at Korea University, served as Chief Economist and Head of the Office of Regional Economic Integration at the Asian Development Bank).

Courtesy: Project Syndicate


Illegal VoIP continues as powerful people make fortune

MEDIA report on Wednesday said the number of international incoming calls to the country through formal channel has come down to around 73.3 million minutes a day from more than 112.99 million minutes in July 2015. The government revenue has also plummeted accordingly as powerful people or their relatives are misusing the international call system to mint illegal fortune.



The government owned mobile operator Teletalk has been mainly blamed for running illegal call business through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and as per the news item in April this year Bangladesh Tele-Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had detected 1256 Teletalk SIMs it was operating in making illegal calls. Some were found activated for four hours while some others over 84 days at the longest defying regulator's order to deactivate them. The fact is that when illegal operators close some SIMs they open new SIMs and for powerful quarters, it is not difficult to get new SIMs. Teletalk is blamed for 98 percent of the illegal VoIP as dishonest business houses are running call centers in the capital and throughout the country.



It is almost known to all that powerful people are making ineffective any resolve of the concerned government agencies to stop the illegal VoIP business. It has rather thrived in recent past. Report said BTRC had fined Teletalk over Tk 50 lakhs in May this year but the State Minister's intervention looking after the Telecommunication Ministry allowed it to escape without payment. It had rather eroded the power of the regulatory body while the illegal business continues unchecked.



It is no secret that powerful quarters are using Teletalk to mint illegal fortune and as such they influence almost all appointments and posting in the organization in a way that would protect their interest. So when other mobile operators have mostly deactivated illegal SIMs and making huge profit expanding their business, Teletalk is sinking while even failing to pay due fees to the government.



There is a growing frustration over the failure of the present State Minister Advocate Tarana Halim who had vowed when she took over last year to end illegal VoIP as one of her top priorities. But now it appears she has to make compromise. Earlier report said the same mobile operator had failed to pay the 3-G installation fees and some Ministers had even reportedly lobbied with the Finance Ministry last year to make the payment for the operator claiming it was suffering from financial crunch. We don't know what happened later on.



In fact it is not difficult to understand why Teletalk is sick but the question is whether dishonest business houses should be allowed to run illegal VoIP business to deprive the government of its revenue. In our view a total reorganization is needed in the organization to protect it from vested interest quarters.






Chris Gayle arrives today



West Indian all-rounder Chris Gayle is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Friday afternoon to play in the seven-team 4th Bangladesh Premier League T20 for a franchised team Chittagong Vikings.

Chittagong Vikings media manager confirmed on Thursday that he will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport between 4:25 to 4:55pm.

Gayle is likely to appear on the ground for Vikings against table topper Rangpur Riders on November 27 (Sunday).

In the last three edition of BPL T20, Gayle played for franchised teams Dhaka Gladiators, Barisal Burners and Barisal Bulls respectively, where he scored 541 runs in 10 matches, including three centuries and one half century, at an average 77.28 runs.

Vikings secured 4th slot in the points table, bouncing back from behind after four consecutive defeats. Vikings secured three successive victories at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on the way to their collection of eight points from eight outings having four wins and four loses.

Starting their campaign with a 29-run win over all-losers Comilla Victorians in the tournament opener, Vikings lost to Rangpur Riders by nine-wicket, Khulna Titans by four-run, Barisal Bulls by seven-wicket and Dhaka Dynamites by 19-run. Then maintained their winning spree beating Rajshshi kings by 19-run, Comilla Victorinas by six-wicket and Barisal Bulls by 78 runs.


5 held with Yaba in city

DB police raided a house in city\'s Mirpur area on Thursday and arrested five persons with Yaba tablets, equipment of drug manufacturing materials.

Staff Reporter :

A team of Detective Branch (DB) of Police in a drive arrested five persons with huge Yaba tablets, equipment of drug manufacturing and chemical materials from the city's Mirpur area on Wednesday night.

The arrested men are: Jasim Uddin, Tariqul Islam, Akbar Ali, Jubayer Hossain and Rasel Mia.

Tipped off, a team of DB police raided Mirpur Section-2 on Wednesday night and arrested them with Yaba tablets, Yaba manufacturing equipment and chemicals, said Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Police seized a compressor, a motor, a mixture machine, a spray machine, ball pace machine, an out light machine, a tube and other equipment from their possessions, the DC said.

A case was filed with the Mirpur Model Police Station, the police official said,

Earlier, police in a drive seized a covered van full of chemicals worth around Taka three crore from the city's Sabujbagh area on Tuesday night.
Trump adds DeVos to his Cabinet education posts

USA TODAY, Washington :

Donald Trump is going with a former critic for a key foreign policy post, picking South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on

Wednesday to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The president-elect has also picked Betsy DeVos, a businesswoman and charter school advocate from Michigan, to be his secretary of Education, DeVos said in a tweet posted early Wednesday afternoon.

"I am honored to work with the president-elect on his vision to make American education great again," DeVos said.

And former Republican primary rival Ben Carson, mentioned as a possible pick for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said on Twitter and Facebook that "I feel that I can make a significant contribution," and an announcement is "forthcoming." In announcing his nomination of Haley to the U.N., Trump said the South Carolina governor "has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country - she is also a proven deal-maker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."

Trump has also said he was "strongly considering" Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, for the HUD slot.

Haley, 44, who won election to the governor's post as part of the Tea Party wave in 2010, criticized Trump throughout the Republican nomination campaign and endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during the South Carolina primary. After Rubio dropped out, Haley backed Trump opponent Ted Cruz.

Haley - who must be confirmed by the Senate - said she was honored by Trump's selection of her as U.N. ambassador. "Our country faces enormous challenges here at home and internationally," she said in a statement put out by the Trump transition team.

Earlier this year, Haley called Trump one of the "angriest voices" in politics and criticized his "irresponsible talk," including the candidate's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. At one point in the campaign, she tweeted: "I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK."

Trump returned the favor, tweeting on March 1: "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!" (Haley replied, also on Twitter: "Bless your heart.") As U.N. ambassador, Haley would be given Cabinet rank, officials said. South Carolina Republicans praised the selection of their two-term governor.

Bruce Haynes, a GOP consultant who hails from South Carolina, called Haley "one of the brightest and hardest working leaders in the Republican Party," and said she will be "an incredibly valuable addition" to the Trump administration. While she and Trump have differences, "people forget Haley rose to stardom as an anti-establishment candidate, a young state senator who beat older more experienced Republican candidates to become governor," said Haynes, a founding partner of the Washington-based Purple Strategies firm. "So while she has been critical of Trump at times, she's a fellow political outsider."

Haynes also noted that Trump's latest appointment "signals a step toward diversity in age, gender, race and points of view." As a woman and daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley would bring a dash of diversity to Trump's appointments, which so far have uniformly consisted of white males.

In a statement released by her office in South Carolina, Haley said she was proud to have been elected governor twice and cited accomplishments made during her tenure, including bringing jobs to the state, reforming education and ethics reform. Trump had interviewed Haley for secretary of State. Among other candidates for that top diplomatic post: Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Other announcements are expected Wednesday, though officials would not confirm what they might be. The New York businessman has also spoken highly of retired Gen. James Mattis, a top candidate for the secretary of defense slot. The president-elect is spending Wednesday and the Thanksgiving holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. Haley has little foreign policy experience, but supporters noted she has traveled abroad at least eight times during her two terms as South Carolina governor. Her husband Michael was deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand Province in 2013 as a member of the Army National Guard. The couple have two children: Rena, 18, and Nalin, 15.

Born in Bamberg, S.C., the Clemson University graduate was a business owner who served in the state legislature before becoming South Carolina's first female governor, the youngest in the nation.

If the Senate confirms Haley as U.N. ambassador, she would be replaced as South Carolina governor by Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster - a prominent supporter of Trump.
NHRC Chief wants punishment of factory owners

Staff Reporter :

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque on Thursday said there was severe negligence of the owners behind the fire and casualties at gas lighter factory in Ashulia on Tuesday.

"Necessary actions against the owners should be taken immediately. If it is needed, there should be a criminal case filed against the owners because the owners have committed a serious crime," the NHRC Chairman said.

He came up with the remarks after visiting the victims with burn injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) around 1pm on Thursday.

Kazi Reazul Hoque said, every victim with burn injuries is in a very severe state whether they are undergoing treatment in ICU or general wards. Nobody is out of danger yet. Everybody needs intensive care.

He also said, the factory owners, government organisations, fire service department, the Labour Ministry could not deny the responsibilities of the incident.

"Our observation is that there were no safety measures taken in the gas lighter factory. Such as specific dresses, masks and so on," he said.

There were also child workers engaged in this hazardous job. The labour worked there a minimum of 14 hours a day and got Tk 2,200 as salary which is in violation of Labour Act as well.

He said, one of the NHRC teams has already gone there to Ashulia. After the visit, they will provide a complete report regarding the incident.

The license of the owners should be cancelled immediately and actions should be taken against them, he added.
SC rejects Khaleda`s plea

Staff Reporter :

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday rejected a petition filed by BNP Chirperson Khaleda Zia challenging the trial proceedings of Niko corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against her.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order dismissing her petition for leave to appeal against a High Court (HC) order that removed a stay order of trial proceedings of the case.

ACC lawyer Khurshed Alam Khan said now there was no legal bar to proceed with the trial of the case.

The HC on June 18 last year rejected a writ petition filed by Khaleda challenging the trial proceedings of Niko corruption case against her.

On December 7 last year, the BNP Chairperson filed the leave to appeal petition with the SC against the HC verdict.

In the petition she also prayed to the apex court to stay the trial proceedings of the case against her.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Niko graft case on December 9, 2007 against Khaleda and four others on charge of incurring loss of Tk 13777 crore to the State Exchequer for awardind a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko when she was PM between 2001 and 2006.

Former Law Minister Moudud Ahmed, former State Minister for Energy A K M Mosharraf Hossain, former Acting Energy Secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam and Kashem Sharif, Vice-President (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd, were also sued in the case.


67 killed as scaffolding collapses at China power plant

Rescue workers look for survivors after a work platform collapsed at the Fengcheng power plant in eastern China\'s Jiangxi province. Internet photo

Los Angeles Times :

State media say the death toll from the collapse of scaffolding at a construction site in eastern China has jumped to 67, with two other workers injured and one more missing.

China's state broadcaster CCTV says more than 100 paramilitary police have joined in efforts to rescue workers trapped when a work platform at a power plant construction site came tumbling down Thursday morning.

The plant's cooling tower was being built in the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province.

The latest reported death toll suggests that nearly all the construction workers at the cooling tower perished. Local media reports say close to 70 people were working at the site when the scaffolding collapsed.

Footage showed iron pipes, steel bars and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the cooling tower.

China has suffered a series of major industrial accidents in recent years that have been blamed on corruption, disregard for safety and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.

The head of a logistics company was recently handed a suspended death sentence over a massive explosion at an illegal chemical warehouse in the northern port of Tianjin last year that killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.

In June 2015, 442 people were killed when a modified cruise ship capsized on the Yangtze River; poor decisions by the captain and crew were blamed. Last December, 81 people were killed when an enormous, man-made mountain of soil and waste collapsed on nearly three dozen buildings in the southern manufacturing center of Shenzhen.
Sugar Mills harvesting paddy from disputed land for Gaibandha Santals

Rangpur Sugar Mills authorities harvesting paddy from Santals\' disputed lands in Baghda farm area of Gobindaganj Upazila on Thursday following the High Court order amid police protection. Later, this paddy will be distributed among the Santal people.

Staff Reporter :

Rangpur Sugar Mills started harvesting paddy from the lands of Santals in Baghda farm area of Gobindaganj Upazila complying with a High Court order.

In the morning, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Gobindaganj Abdul Hannan asked the Santal leaders to harvest the paddy from their land.

But the Ethnic group rejected the proposal and demanded immediate withdrawal of all the criminal cases filed against them and removal of the barbed wire fence constructed by the mill authorities around their land. The authorities started harvesting the paddy around 11:30am, complying with the HC order, our Gaibandha correspondent reports quoting the UNO.

The administration will process the paddy and handover to the evicted Santal families, the UNO said.

However, Santal leader Mathius Mardy said that they would not receive paddy until the fulfillment of their demands to withdraw all criminal cases against them and release of arrested Santals. They also demanded removal of the fence around the land.

The Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) said, the mill authorities will handover the paddy to the Santal people after the full harvesting from the lands.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said, the mill authorities harvested the paddy according to the HC order and they are assisting them in the work.

Abdul Awal, Managing Director of Rangpur Sugar Mills said, they have tried to handover the paddy to Santals, but they refused to accept it.

Deputy Commissioner Abdus Samad said that they would store the paddy until the Santals accept those.

Eralier on November 17, the HC asked the authorities concerned to allow the Santal people to harvest paddy from their land at Bagda Farm in Rangpur Sugar Mills area.

If anyone had already harvested the paddy of Santals' land, the local administration would take steps to return the crops to them, the HC said in its order.

On November 6, police fired and lobbed teargas shells during an eviction drive at the Shahebganj sugarcane farm leaving three Santals killed and several others injured. Protesting the eviction, Santals shot arrows at police and mill workers injuring 25 people, including policemen.

The clash broke out when workers of Rangpur Sugar Mills along with police went to Bagda Farm area to reclaim land of the sugar mills allegedly occupied by the Santal community.
Shia pilgrims among 80 killed



Nearly 80 people, many of them Shia pilgrims, have been killed in a truck bomb attack at a road stop in Iraq, a security official says.

The blast struck at a petrol station and restaurant near Hilla, some 100km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

The road stop was full of people returning from the Arbaeen pilgrimage in the city of Karbala. Many of the dead were reportedly Iranians. The Islamic State jihadist group said it carried out the attack.

It claimed that as many as 200 people had been killed and wounded in the blast, in a statement delivered by its news agency Amaq. Buses carrying Iranian Shia pilgrims appear to have been targeted in the attack, which struck near the village of Shomali. Provincial security chief Falah al-Radi Radhi told the BBC that Iranians were among nearly 80 people who had been killed and more than 20 wounded in the attack. The toll was expected to rise, he said.


Pakistani stage actress Kismat Baig shot at by gunmen in Lahore

INDIA TV :

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Pakistani stage actress Kismat Baig in Lahore on Thursday.

According to 'Dawn', Kismat Baig was travelling with another person in Lahore when two unidentified men riding a motorcycle shot at them.

Kismat Baig is reported to have received four bullets while her guard received one. Baig is currently admitted in Services Hospital, Lahore and is said to be in critical condition while his guard's condition is said to be stable now. Lahore Police has initiated investigation into the incident.

Another stage actor, Hassan Khan, was tortured by suspects in Gulberg sometime ago. A case was registered against unidentified suspects following his brother's complaint. In September this year, television host of a local news channel 'Abb Takk' was allegedly poisoned by a 'fan'. Sana Faisal, the host of Khufia programme, was allegedly approached by a 'fan' in Karachi who asked her for a selfie and an autograph. Sana also ate the ice cream offered by her fan following which she was hospitalised. She was believed to have been poisoned by her fan.
Gulistan incidents forces DSCC to change mind

Reza Mahmud :

Eviction against illegal street vendors from Gulistan pavements in the capital has become uncertain. The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has stopped the drive following a violence that erupted between vendors and officials on October 27 during the eviction.

"The eviction is temporarily closed now. We have directed the vendors to keep sufficient spaces for the pedestrians. Temporary shops on the pavements are a common scenario in our neighbouring countries," Khan Mohammad Billal, the Chief Executive Officer of DSCC told The New Nation yesterday.

The corporation conducted eviction drives against the illegal street vendors of Gulistan pavements in several times. During the last one on October 27, the eviction drive triggered violence between law enforcers, City Corporation workers, ruling party supporters and the vendors. Some people, including few members of vendors, were injured in the incident.

After the incident, DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon told a press briefing the same day, "The eviction drive will be continued. No one would be allowed to grab an inch space on the footpaths at Gulistan. We will conduct the eviction drive regularly till the pavements are freed from vendors." Two days after the violence, the street vendors again came back to Gulistan pavements. They opened their makeshift shops as usual. The same scenario in the Gulistan area is still remaining. The people use the busy intersection regularly become disappointed. Sources said, many influential groups regularly take extortions from the street vendors. The street vendors frequently arranged protest processions demanding arrests of those extortionists. But those influential groups remain untouched.

"The extortionist groups are behind the unstable situation in the Gulistan footpaths. They played as the real players against the eviction drives," said a business of the nearby Gulistan Hawkers Market preferring anonymity.

"We became hopeful when the DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon declared that the footpath would be totally freed. But now we have seen the street vendors in full swing dominations. It is really painful. The total Gulistan area becomes a state of hawkers. Pedestrians hardly could walk by the temporary shops, hawkers and the buyers," Hasibul Islam, a pedestrian said to this reporter. In the same time, a bus driver of Gulistan bus stop said, "The hawkers grabbing most area of footpaths and even a noted portion of roads. As a result, the vehicles including public buses disrupted to run easy in the shrunken streets. It caused serious gridlock regularly in the area. We are not hopeful to get respite from this situation."

But the City Corporation officials said, they think the street vendors are keeping noted spaces of the pavements free for pedestrians. They are not creating disturbs to run vehicles smoothly. Khan Mohammad Billal said, "We have already directed the hawkers if they fail to keep sufficient spaces for the public, they must be evicted under the directions of courts." This reporter while visitng the area found that the pavements of two sides of the road from the Bangabandhu Square Monument at Gulistan intersection to the Zero Point are full of various products, including cloths, shoes, cosmetics and temporary shops of the street vendors.

Besides, the total link road between the monument area to Golapshah Mazar are full of hawkers with fruits, shoes and other shops. Cars and rickshaws are hardly passes the area very slowly causing huge traffic congestions. The situations of other adjacent areas were also the same.


A booth of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd at a finance expo in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, Nov 7, 2015. [Photo/VCG]

China's five largest State-owned commercial banks are planning to set up their own asset management subsidiaries to carry out debt-to-equity swap programs, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Agricultural Bank of China Ltd announced on Tuesday its board of directors approved the proposal to establish a wholly owned subsidiary, ABC Asset Management Co, in Beijing with a total capital contribution of 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion).

ABC Asset will specialize in the debt-to-equity swap business, including acquisition of debt assets, converting debt into equity, holding, managing and disposing of equity in debt-to-equity swap enterprises and other financial business, according to the announcement.

The investment, which will be funded by ABC's own capital, "meets the bank's needs to adapt to changes in the internal and external economic and financial environment".

"It will enable the bank to enhance its competitiveness and gradually transform its business model from over-reliance on the deposit and loan business and to carry out integrated operations," the bank said.

Zhang Minghe, who leads the debt-to-equity swap business of China Construction Bank Corp, said CCB is seeking to set up its own investment management company and will actively apply for regulatory approval.

"As far as we know, all five of the large State-owned commercial banks are thinking alike. Each is considering establishing a subsidiary with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. The final result will depend on the resolution of the board of directors," he said.

"We commercial banks regard this as an opportunity to transform our business," he added.

After the subsidiaries are established, they will raise funds for debt-to-equity swaps from qualified institutional and individual investors.

The sources of money will include insurance funds, pension funds and industrial investment funds that can make long-term investments.

"By setting up a subsidiary, we'll have a professional team specializing in debt-to-equity swaps. Moreover, it will be easier for the subsidiary, as a legal entity, to isolate risks from the bank," Zhang said.

According to the State Council's guidelines, banks are only allowed to transfer debts to implementing agencies, including financial asset management companies, insurance asset managers, and newly established bank subsidiaries. The implementing agencies will then turn the debts into the equity of target companies.

Compared with choosing a third-party implementing agency, banks will have advantages by setting up their own subsidiaries with the investment function, said Lou Wenlong, vice-president of Agricultural Bank of China, in an article published in 21st Century Business Herald last month.

"First, banks have a better understanding of target companies than third-party implementing agencies, it will be more efficient and smooth to go through the procedures of commercial negotiations, due diligence and valuation for debt-to-equity swaps."

"Second, the sources of funds will be more diverse and secure because banks can make full use of their own capital or raise funds from asset management products and bond issuance."

"Finally, banks will benefit from potential earnings of target companies after their businesses take a turn for the better, which will offset possible financial losses caused by transfers of debts to third-party implementing agencies at huge discounts," he said.
Myanmar must resolve humanitarian crisis

Dhaka briefs foreign diplomats: HRW calls Bangladesh to protect refugees: OIC calls for immediate cessation of violence: 107 Rohingyas, 7 boats pushed back

Residents displaced by conflict flee from Maungdaw in Rakhine State. Internet photo

Staff Reporter :

Bangladesh on Thursday has urged the international community to put pressure on the Myanmar government to resolve the humanitarian crisis following the ongoing massacre in Rakhine state of the country.



Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told this while talking to journalists at his office after briefing the foreign diplomats at the State Guesthouse 'Padma' over the prevailing crisis of Rohingyas who are trying to enter Bangladesh to avoid persecution in Myanmar.



Ambassadors and High Commissioners of different countries including USA, India, China and EU countries were present in the briefing.



Replying to a query about whether Bangladesh will recognise the Rohingya refugees as its citizens, the Foreign Minister said they have no such plan right now.



When asked about Border Guard Bangladesh's (BGB) all out efforts why and how Rohingyas continued to enter Bangladesh territory, he said it is very tough and difficult to resist Rohingyas' trespass into Bangladesh.

"It is not always easy to do the right thing as the humanitarian situation of some children and women is so grave. So there is no option but to allow them in Bangladesh," AH Mahmood Ali said.



He added those who especially children and women with grave situation, from Rakhine state trespassed into the Bangladesh territory, they are being provided foods, treatment and medicines.



"It is not possible to remain always vigilant in many inaccessible border areas. However, our BGB men are resisting the entry of the Rohingyas who are coming in from Naf river and land ports along the Cox's Bazar coastline every day," he said.



Earlier on Wednesday Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry summoned the Myanmar envoy in Dhaka and expressed concerns over the issue. Dhaka also urged immediate steps to take back the Rohingyas. Meanwhile, members of BGB sent back some 107 Rohingyas when the ethnic people of Myanmar were trying to intrude into Bangladesh territory through Naf River. Lt Col Abu Jar Al Jahid, Commanding Officer of BGB Battalion-2 of Teknaf, said some three groups of Rohingyas were trying to enter Bangladesh territory illegally with seven boats through Nila, Hoaiking and Domdomia points in the morning.



Later, a BGB team halted the Rohingyas and pushed them back to Myanmar, Jahid added.



A mobile court, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Teknaf M Shafiul Islam, sentenced seven brokers to different jail terms for helping the Rohingyas to enter the country in exchange of money. Besides, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Thursday expressed grave concern at the deteriorating situation following the ongoing security operation in Rakhine state, Myanmar. Reports have been received of serious human rights violations against innocent Rohingya civilians including torture, rape and summary executions.



The OIC expressed its further concern that the destruction of homes and mosques has forced tens of thousands to flee their villages and the subsequent blockade in the region has also left many in the area facing acute shortages of food, water and essentials. OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen called for an immediate cessation of violence and urged the authorities of Myanmar to ensure that the security services act in full compliance with the rule of law and to allow humanitarian aid agencies access to the affected region to provide needed relief to the victims.



He further called upon the Government to abide by its obligations under international law and human rights covenants and take concrete steps to prevent the further deterioration of the crisis in Rakhine state.



Apart from this, calling upon the Bangladesh government to accept and protect Rohingya refugees, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the country is under obligation to allow them to enter into its territory for their protection.



"Under Customary International Law, Bangladesh may not summarily reject the border asylum seekers fleeing widespread human rights abuses or generalised violence. It is obligated to allow them to enter the country and seek protection," an HRW statement said yesterday.



HRW's South Asian Director Meenakshi Ganguly said, "Bangladesh has long argued that it cannot afford to host the Rohingya, and it is of course imperative for the international community to provide necessary assistance."



Thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross border into Bangladesh despite Border Guard's sincere effort to prevent the influx.
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Changes to Rule 41 will Further Expand FBI's Mass Hacking Capabilities

"The US government wants to use an obscure procedureamending a federal rule known as Rule 41 to radically expand their authority to hack," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said. "The changes to Rule 41 would make it easier for them to break into our computers, take data, and engage in remote surveillance."

The FBI hacked into more than 8,000 computers in 120 different countries with just a single warrant during an investigation into a dark web child pornography website, according to a newly published court filings.This FBI's mass hacking campaign is related to the high-profile child pornography Playpen case and represents the largest law enforcement hacking campaign known to date.The warrant was initially issued in February 2015 when the FBI seized the Playpen site and set up a sting operation on the dark web site, in which the agency deployed malware to obtain IP addresses from alleged site's visitors.The piece of malware used by the FBI is known as a(NIT). The malware was used for at least 13 days to break into the computer of users who visited certain threads on Playpen and then sent their IP addresses back to the bureau.Earlier this year, court documents related to the Playpen case revealed that the FBI hacked over 1,000 alleged visitors of Playpen in the U.S. using a single warrant, along with computers in Australia, Chile, Colombia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, the UK, Turkey, and Norway during the investigation.However, the new federal court hearing transcript from a related case reveals that the hack went much further farther and wider than previously believed and that the bureau actually hacked into more than 8,000 users' computers across 120 different countries."We have never, in our nation's history as far as I can tell, seen a warrant so utterly sweeping," federal public defender Colin Fieman said in a court hearing at the end of October, according to the transcript.According to the transcript, the FBI also hacked what has been described as a "satellite provider." "So now we are into outer space as well," Fieman said."The fact that a single magistrate judge could authorise the FBI to hack 8,000 people in 120 countries is truly terrifying," Christopher Soghoian, a principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told Motherboard.The major controversy surrounding the Playpen case has been that Virginia-based US Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan who signed the warrant did not have the authority to authorize such searches.The fact is that the magistrate judges are a more junior type of judges who don't actually have jurisdiction to issue warrants outside their own districts. Only more senior federal judges, known as district judges, have the authority to issue such warrants under Rule 41.However, this would likely change with the changes introduced to the Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by the US Department of Justice.The changes to Rule 41 will grant the FBI much greater powers to hack into any computer within the country, and perhaps anywhere in the world, with just a single search warrant authorized by any US judge (even magistrate judges).The changes in this rule are set to take effect on December 1, 2016.However, the DoJ further defended the changes to Rule 41 in a Monday blog post writes Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division.If take into effect, privacy activists and cybersecurity experts believe that the US law enforcement will most likely use the changes to Rule 41 to further expand their capabilities of mass hacking techniques.
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:
For anyone who has visited the capital cities of the Baltics you cant help but feel the similarities and yet their own personal uniqueness, and everyone will undoubtedly have their favourite! For us there was something about the chocolate box cobbled streets of Tallinn, the pastel shades punctuated by the ancient churches, the mixture of Eastern European and Scandinavian culture and of course, the remnants of communism that made this place so interesting!

Toompea hill panoramic

The strangely named hill comes from the German Domberg, meaning cathedral Hill and is a a limestone hill in the centre of Tallinn standing around 30 metres higher than the rest of the city. The hill is also the centre of the government and parliament of Estonia and has historically been linked to the rulers of the country. Reflecting this also the fact that the parliament is actually situated within Toompea Castle which is topped by the Hermann tower, the flag that flies above here is a symbol of the government of Estonia. But what we loved the most about this area of the city was the amazing views down over the stunning old town below!

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Reflecting the era when Estonia was part of the Russian Empire this typical Orthodox cathedral gives the old town a diverse vibe. Built in the Russian Revival style between 1894 and 1900 it is dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, as is the large cathedral in Sofia, who won the Battle of the ice in what is present day Estonia in 1242. As with all Orthodox churches it is lavishly decorated both inside and out and reflects the cultural position and influences of Estonia, technically part of Eastern Europe but heavily influenced by Russia in many ways but also Scandinavia and nearby Finland with regards language.

Visit the old city walls in the Virgins tower

Many of the ancient city walls of Tallinn still stand and are available in parts to explore, these which include the Virgins tower are amongst the most well preserved and offer the best views. Being a city that stands right on the Baltic sea, with many powerful nations such as Germany, Finland, Denmark and Russia surrounding it the city had to fortify itself from these threats. The medieval walls were first ordered to be built by Margaret Sambirian in 1265 and became known as Margaret wall. Having been extended and strengthened over the years much of what still stands today is from the 14th century and was a large reason for the old town to become a UNESCO world heritage site.

Take in the views from St Olafs church

Once again reflecting the Scandinavia cultural influences within Estonia the church was built in the 12th century for the community of those states and was dedicated to King Olaf II of Norway. The tower of the church is its most striking feature, ironically having been hit my lightening around 10 times causing the church to be burnt down on three occasions. Now standing at 417.7 ft tall it is rumoured that from 1549 to 1625 it was the tallest building in the world and is one of the reasons the KGB used the spire as a radio and surveillance point from 1944 to 1991. But it is that height that attracted us to climb the hundreds of tower to take in the spectacular view of the city and the Baltic Sea beyond.

The fairytale old town and Tallinn town hall

Tallinn old town is a UNESCO listed wonder, a pastel coloured fairytale that trumps many of the other cobbled streets of the old towns of Europe we have strolled along. The stunning and unique town hall is the oldest in the Baltic region and Scandinavia having been built in the 13th century and it sits in the ancient town hall square, the centre of cultural life in Tallinn as well as a symbol of the city as an independent state as a major centre of the Hanseatic League. The old town itself dates from the 13th-16th centuries and has been left remarkably preserved despite wars, occupations and fires that have passed through. The old town really is one of the factors that made us fall in love with this stunning city!

Step back in time at the occupation museum

Like much of Eastern Europe Estonia has suffered from the occupations of the Nazis and The Soviet Union is short succession. After fighting for independence and freedom from several earlier occupations including Denmark, Germany and The Russian Empire the double and brutal occupations to come would shape the future of this county forever. Remembering the key events of these occupations, those who suffered the most as well as the cultural impact on Estonia is important for the people of not only this country but for every visitor to understand and never forget. A truly moving and well put together exhibition.

Head out to the graveyard of soviet monuments

A little off the beaten track this strange place is a reflection on how many ex-soviet block countries are unsure and conflicted on how to deal with this history. As the years since the union broke up pass and some of the anger dissipates the debate on how or whether to preserve this part of their history is even more open to opinion! As such the statues that used to once sit proudly around the city and the union are in a state of limbo. Torn down in angry riots once independence was once again gained it is a surprise they even survived to this day. But what to do with these historic items that represent an era of Estonian and European history that needs to be remembered just as much as any other. Located 5 miles outside of the city in the Pirita district, behind the Maarjamae Palace ( Estonian History Museum) this bizarre scrapyard of communist relics is a must for those interested in this culture.

Have a day over in Helsinki

Tallinn is just across the Baltic sea from the Finnish capital of Helsinki, a wonderful and fascinating city to visit and a great opportunity to explore and other country during your time in Estonia. Ferries run often daily with 3 companies running several different services from 2hrs to 3hrs and costing around 50-70 for a return trip. Helsinki is similar to Tallinn in many ways and you can clearly see how both countries share so much culture. The large Helsinki Cathedral and the historic Suomenlinna sea fortress are amongst our favourite things to see in the Finnish capital.

Post coming soon all about our day trip to Helsinki!

Have you ever been to the fairytale city of Tallinn?

We fell in love with this wonderful, beautiful and fascinating city after discovering all the cool things to do in Tallinn, what are your recommendations?

See more from this country

See more from our backpacking adventure:
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.
Many people will be distracted today carving the Thanksgiving turkey.

As the long hours of preparation culminate in the annual ultimate feast, minds will subconsciously start to drift toward the next pressing issue. Before the first spoon of dressing hits the plate, fidgety shoppers have already rifled through the mountain of sale ads and developed a Black Friday attack strategy.

One of the biggest bargains of the holiday season is compliments of country music star Chris Young.

Young will be appearing at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau on Dec. 8. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music starts at 7:30 p.m. Opening acts include Dustin Lynch and Cassadee Pope.

Tickets are $29.50, $42.50 and $55.50.

This is the good part: Until the day of the show, with the donation of a new toy costing at least $10, you will receive $20 off the purchase of an individual ticket. All the collected toys will be donated to the Happy Slapowitz's Toy Bash for Toys For Tots, which distributes the gifts to disadvantaged children in the local area.

Young has scheduled nine concerts directly benefiting Toys For Tots at different venues.

Buying a ticket serves two purposes. It helps local needy kids have a better Christmas, and it allows access to one of the most prolific country music hit-makers of the last decade.

Young, 31, won the fourth season of "Nashville Star" in 2006. He was immediately signed to RCA Records, but it took three years for him to hit his stride. When he found the groove with his golden baritone voice, he reeled off five consecutive No. 1 singles, including: Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song, The Man I Want To Be, Voices, Tomorrow and You.

Last year, Young released his fifth studio album, which included two more chart toppers, title track I'm Comin' Over and Think Of You, a duet with tour mate Pope.

I asked her to do it last year at a show in Miami, Young says. It's challenging vocally. Cassadee loved the song and it got to No. 1 so fast.

In Cape, Young will also perform a few tunes from his new seasonal album It Must Be Christmas.

I put a lot of work into this. It's one of those things that has been a long time coming. This year, it just seemed right, he said. Somehow, we carved out time to track it in the middle of all these shows. It's a little weird making a Christmas album when it's 100 degrees outside.

Lynch seemed to come out of nowhere in 2012, proudly hoisting the banner for traditional country music and winning wide-spread support for signature debut single Cowboys And Angels, an instant classic that was certified gold and nominated for several major awards.

The 31-year-old Lynch is a Tennessee native. He grew up in Tullahoma, which is 77 miles southeast of Nashville, straight down Interstate 24. He migrated to Music City in 2003 and spent eight long, hard years paying dues and learning the craft, before signing with Broken Bow in 2011.

He followed up his first single with She Cranks My Tractor.

His pure honky-tonk style was critically acclaimed by Rolling Stone magazine, who called him the best part of the CMA Music Fest in 2014.

Lynch is one of the hottest commodities in the industry. He hit the top of the charts with three straight singles from his sophomore album, including title track Where It's At (Yep, Yep), Hell Of A Night and Mind Reader, for which he recently received another gold record. His current single is Seein' Red.

Earlier this year, Lynch toured with Luke Bryan and Little Big Town. In May, he started Stay Country, his own clothing line.

Pope was already a seasoned musical veteran when she grabbed the national spotlight on a popular NBC vocal competition. She is co-founder of the pop-punk band Hey Monday and appeared in videos and sang on albums with rock band Fall Out Boy.

In 2012, she toured on the east and west coasts, before successfully auditioning for "The Voice." As the Florida native advanced each week, she quickly started turning heads as her renditions of Over You and Stupid Boy shot to No. 1 on iTunes.

Eventually, she would become the first female winner of "The Voice," capturing the crown in Season 3 in December, 2012.

The 28-year old Pope released her first major label country album, "Frame By Frame," in 2013, and it debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. It featured her first single, Wasting All These Tears, which cracked the coveted Top 10.

Riding the momentum of her "Voice" title and a chart-topping album, she was able to immediately tour with superstars Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley. Her current single is the sun-drenched Summer.

Earlier this year, Pope scored her first No. 1 single with Think Of You, the duet with Young.
CARBONDALE  A ward of the state of Illinois nearly from birth, Victor Feraru spent most of his first 17 years between 40 foster homes, three groups homes and visits with biological family members. The situation was such that Feraru, who grew up in the Peoria area, did not expect to live beyond that.

Yet through his own strength, determination and support of a family who adopted Feraru after he became an adult, the second-year Southern Illinois University School of Law student now has the opportunity to assist children facing similar situations across the state. Feraru was recently appointed by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director George Sheldon to the agencys Childrens Justice Task Force. His first meeting was last week in Chicago.

Victor's experiences with the child welfare system will be a valuable contribution to the Children's Justice Task Force. Sheldon said. His personal story reflects the experiences of so many youth in care and inspires us to do our jobs better every day. I look forward to working with him.

Established in 1989, the 26-member task force is a multidisciplinary, legislatively mandated advisory group comprised of child advocates, law enforcement, medical and mental health professionals, attorneys, judges, child and parent advocates and child abuse survivors. The group, which meets four times a year around the state, makes recommendations to DCFS on policy and practices directed at improving investigative, prosecution and judicial handling of child abuse cases in a manner that limits additional trauma to the child victim.

Bringing his experiences to the task force as both a law student and a survivor is very humbling, Feraru said. He wants to offer a unique perspective and provide hope for children facing similar situations.

Many people see it from the top down, so Im able to give them a perspective from the bottom up, said Feraru, who is 35. I think people who have been in my position  the statistics bear it out  they dont make it here (law school).

When you survive abuse  physical, mental and emotional  and you come out to the other side, you can offer a point of view that a person doesnt get, he said. Normal lifes problems pale in comparison. Obviously, I will learn as I go. Primarily what I think sets me apart from a majority of what I would see on any task force is that I am a product of the system. The system didnt help me out any; it was the altruism of human beings. I believe that is why they want me on the task force and I believe that is what I offer them.

Veronica Resa, DCFS deputy director of communications, said the agency is much different than it was in the 1980s and 1990s when Feraru was growing up. During that time, there were about 50,000 children in the system; now there are about 16,000. The agency emphasizes being proactive to get families assistance to keep them together, if possible, before children come into the system, she said.

I think we are doing a lot better serving families and we are working on prevention as opposed to waiting until a family is in crisis, Resa said.

At age 16, Feraru was in an adoption process when the couple, who lived in the Quad Cities area, died. He was emancipated and no longer a ward of the state a year later. Feraru would go on to earn a bachelors degree in English writing from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A family from High Point, North Carolina, heard of Ferarus story during an Air America radio broadcast when he was in his early 20s. He credits their support, encouragement and love with his success. The family legally adopted Feraru, who changed his last name, when he was 28.

I was very fortunate, he said. They have always been very supportive and encouraging. My life turned around then because I went from being part of the nonprivileged to what some would consider very privileged.

Ferarus essay, Transcending Trauma, was the college winner of The Nation magazines 2008 Student Writing Contest. Along with writing a blog for The Huffington Post, he is working on his autobiography, Victors Luck.

Feraru did not plan to return to Illinois after his foster care experiences. Though he had other choices for law school, Feraru said he was comfortable at SIU School of Law, and views his decision to attend law school in Illinois as symbolic. It was an immediate connection to the faculty, which he described as compassionate, but which also challenge students to do their best.

I dont think I could have had better opportunities to help the community, work in the federal judiciary, or have access to professors or access to opportunities. Everything sort of fell in place, he said. I feel like Illinois is part of who I am; its part of the fabric of who I am. Midwestern values is not just hyperbole; its a fact.

On the task force, Feraru is representing the legislatively mandated task force position of an adult survivor of child abuse and or neglect. Belleville attorney and retired 20th Circuit Court Judge James M. Radcliffe recommended Feraru for the appointment. Members can serve up to two, four-year terms, for a total of eight years, and Radcliffe is leaving the task force after serving eight years. Feraru has an understanding of the instability that a lot of kids experience in the system and appears to me to be a really bright guy, said Radcliffe, who was a judge for 20 years and presided over juvenile cases in St. Clair County before retiring in 2007.

The task force has been instrumental in several improvements regarding child services in Illinois, including the implementation of statewide child advocacy centers, Radcliffe said.

Feraru was an extern this past summer for Staci M. Yandle, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois in Benton. She said her general impression of Feraru is that he is very energetic and takes his responsibilities very seriously.

Victor has had to overcome many obstacles in his life and, as a result, has developed a unique ability to persevere and an overall sense of stick-to-it-ness, Yandle said. Also, as a result of his own personal experiences, I believe Victor will bring a perspective and insight that, along with his other qualities, will be an asset to the task force.
Community organizations and churches throughout The T&D Region will be sharing God's love with bountiful feasts on Thanksgiving Day.

Seven churches have combined to make the Orangeburg Thanksgiving Feast and Praise event, for example, a reality.

The feast will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 24, at St. Pauls United Methodist Church. The event is free and open to the public.

Other Thanksgiving Day meals include:

* Thanksgiving meal at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of Orangeburg at 1240 Russell St.

* Thanksgiving meal from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 24, at First Baptist Church of North at 405 Stafford Ave. The meal will include turkey and all the trimmings and is expected to accommodate up to 400 people.

* Community Thanksgiving Day Lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 24, at St. Phillips Holiness Church, Olar. A clothes give-away will also be held. Call Denmark First Baptist Church at 803-793-3690 for more information. Shuttle bus service will be available by calling 803-571-0400.

*Community Thanksgiving Day Lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 24, at Denmark-Olar High School, Heritage Highway, Denmark. A clothes give-away will also be held. Call Denmark First Baptist Church at 803-793-3690 for more information. Shuttle bus service will be available by calling 803-571-0400.
The people who knew Gov. Nikki Haley when she was growing up say South Carolina will miss her but shell serve the country well as ambassador to the United Nations.

Im so proud of her. She has done so much for South Carolina and is one of the best governors our state has seen in a long time, said Renee Jeffcoat, who was a classmate in Bamberg.

I feel like Donald Trump wants to make his administration have the best of the best, and hes definitely doing that with Nikki, she said.

Haley, a Bamberg native, finished high school at Orangeburg Preparatory Schools. She then attended Clemson University, where she graduated with a bachelors degree in accounting.

She was first elected to the S.C. House representing District 87 in Lexington County in 2004. The 44-year-old businesswoman was elected governor in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014.

Haley is the daughter of Dr. Ajit Randhawa and Raj Randhawa, who owned Exotica clothing stores in Bamberg and Orangeburg.

Haley has often touted her small-town roots and strong work ethic. Those who know her say the traits have served her well.

She was a leader, a good friend who was very loyal, trustworthy and somebody you really wanted to be around. You always felt comfortable with her, and shes still that way today. She just tried to make you feel at ease ... and let you know that she really cared about you, Jeffcoat said.

Jeffcoat recalled the birthday parties they went to and the nights they spent at each others homes.

I went to school with her from elementary school until about the seventh grade. We attended Richard Carroll Elementary. Shes very down to earth and always remembers where she came from. Even during her time in government, shes always remembered Bamberg, especially our education, and has given back immensely, Jeffcoat said.

Jeffcoat is a special education teacher at Richard Carroll Elementary School in Bamberg. She also serves as a committee member for Haleys nonprofit organization, The Original Six Foundation.

Haley, who has two years left on her term as governor, will be missed, Jeffcoat said.

I hate that were going to lose her in South Carolina, but I do see her looking out for America the same way. Shell also look out for us the best way she can -- and as often as she can. She never forgets where she comes from," Jeffcoat said.

Bamberg County Councilman Trent Kinard also went to school with Haley and said the local community and state can be proud of her appointment.

Were all proud of her honestly, but at the same time, some people will be disappointed that shes going to be unable to finish her term as governor of South Carolina, Kinard said.

He described Haley as a good listener.

Nikki was a person that would listen, and she was a person that could bring people together. She wasnt an in-your-face kind of person, Kinard said.

The councilman said Haleys achievements serve as a good example for the youth that they can achieve any goal they set.

Nikkis been involved in the school system with the Original Six Foundation, and shes been back numerous times. ... With her now being a U.N. ambassador, its something that the school system can build on and talk to kids about, Kinard said.

Bamberg resident Jamie Brabham said she has known Haleys parents for a long time and that her daughter, Roberta, and Haley were close friends.

Ive known Raj and Ajit for a long time and just cherish their friendship. Nikki spent a good bit of time around here when the kids were in high school, Brabham said.

She said Haleys character will be a strength in her new role as a U.N. ambassador.

Shes a very committed individual, and she wants to do the best she can. I think shes done quite well for the state of South Carolina. I dont pledge allegiance to either party. I try to think of the individual, and I think she has certainly filled the need here for bringing industry in, Brabham said.

I think her appointment is awesome. I think she is well-spoken, super-educated and I think she will have a wonderful working relationship with the U.N.," she said.

Haley's fairness and her commitment to diversity will also serve her well in her new role, Brabham said.

Ive seen her grow up and watched her fulfill her dreams, and the family as well. Shes very open and to represent small-town USA and the state of South Carolina, I think its an honor for our state to have her in that position. Shes made our state proud, and Im sure shes going to make our country proud, Brabham said.

Cox Industries CEO Mikee Johnson, a high school classmate, said hes happy for Haley and her accomplishments and will be praying for her family.

He serves as chair of the State Workforce Investment Board at Haleys request. Johnson is also the vice chair of Haleys Original Six Foundation.

I could not be happier for our governor and my friend Nikki Haley. More importantly, I could not be more confident in her ability to fulfill the role in the best interest of our nation, he said.

He said, During her first gubernatorial campaign and through the last six years of her administration, I have witnessed firsthand her fierce determination, dedicated work ethic and her ability to instinctively and correctly analyze any situation.
In his final days as president, Barack Obama faces perhaps his most difficult decision yet: Should he pardon Hillary Clinton for her alleged misuse of a private e-mail server containing classified information and for her role in the Clinton Foundation, or should he choose to let a Donald Trump-led Justice Department make the call, despite promises from the president-elect he would continue investigations into Clintons past?

Either choice presents potential problems for Obama and his legacy. If he were to pardon Clinton, the decision would most assuredly be viewed as politically motivated, partisan and contrary to justice.

A recent McClatchy-Marist Poll conducted just days before the Nov. 8 election shows 83 percent of respondents believed Clinton did something wrong while 51 percent said she engaged in illegal activities. According to CNNs presidential exit poll, which seems to have had a greater proportion of Democratic Party supporters than the election results showed, 63 percent of voters said they were bothered by Clintons use of a private e-mail server.

Experts agree that President Obama has the power to pardon Clinton, and its true many other lame-duck presidents have made controversial pardons in the past. President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, who had been indicted on 65 criminal counts that included trading with Iran during an oil embargo, tax evasion and racketeering. George H.W. Bush pardoned six individuals involved in the Iran-Contra affair.

But something about this pardon is very different; the general perception across the country is justice has not occurred in Clintons case. She has continuously promised she did nothing illegal and that her actions were merely mistakes. A pardon of her conduct would leave the issue open forever; for the rest of her days shed be able to tell the world with a straight face the accusations werent true, and no one could say a court had ruled otherwise.

In the case of President Nixon, everyone knew he was guilty; he admitted as much. In the case of Marc Rich, most people believed he was guilty, and the evidence overwhelmingly proved it. In the case of Hillary Clinton, however, far more than half the nation believes, at the very least, Clinton did something, but what exactly happened and whether or not it deserves a conviction remains to be determined.

For many, including former Justice Department prosecutors and Republican members of Congress, the evidence against Clinton is overwhelming; but without a conviction, the debate and hostility on both sides will never subside. Its odd then that so many are calling for Clinton to be pardoned in the name of healing the nation. Until we have a determination from a court, there wont be any healing. Tens of millions of people will feel there is no justice, and, quite literally, they will be right.

Obama knows all this, of course, but he, as any person in his shoes would, must consider the ramifications of a decision not to pardon would have on his party and his own legacy. How would it look if a person who was almost elected president were to be convicted of multiple crimes, or even simply dragged through the mud in a prolonged court case? How would it look for Obama, who campaigned on Clintons behalf and testified in the court of public opinion about her trustworthiness? Could the modern Democratic Party survive such a disaster?

Trump has far less to consider. He won the presidency in large part because of his rejection of the established political ruling class in Washington. If he were to pardon Clinton, it would completely undermine the persona he has spent years cultivating and only make the most dedicated of Democrats happy. That does not, however, mean there wouldnt be any negative consequences for Trump. If Clinton is prosecuted, Trump will face intense scrutiny and vicious attacks from Democrats and many in the media.

A decision not to pardon, if it should result in a prosecution against Clinton, would be a nightmare for Democrats and for Obama, and it could start the Trump administrations first days off mired in controversy. But at least the American people would learn the full truth, which  and call me old-fashioned  ought to mean something.
To the winner goes the spoils. And having won the White House in a surprising upset, Republicans are understandably giddy, perhaps no one more so than South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, who once again has Hillary Clinton in his investigative crosshairs.

And why wouldnt he be? His partys president-elect, Donald Trump, was clear on his plans for Mrs. Clinton. In the second presidential debate, Mrs. Clinton said, Its just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country. Trumps immediate response: Because youd be in jail. Candidate Trump then went on to promise that, if elected, he would assign a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs. Clintons exploits as secretary of state.

Democrats, understandably, are calling for President Obama to issue Mrs. Clinton a blanket pardon before leaving office in early 2017. Obama shouldnt pardon her. President Trump should. And he should announce his intention to do so immediately.

There is evidence that Obama was aware that Clinton was storing classified communications outside of protected government computer systems in clear violation of federal law. If he was aware, then Obama also lied to the public about his knowledge. Further investigation into Clintons emails would bring Obama under scrutiny, which gives him a strong incentive to pardon Clinton at the 11th hour of his presidency.

But if we are serious about healing the divisions that plague our nation, Obama should have absolutely nothing to do with pardoning his own former secretary of state. Even if he were ignorant of her malfeasance, he should have nothing to do with pardoning a fellow Democrat. Because Obama potentially has much to gain from pardoning Clinton, his doing so would exacerbate the animosity between those on the left and the right.

But a pardon from Trump, who has nothing to gain, would go a long way toward quelling that animosity.

The pardon should be strictly restricted to Clintons actions while secretary of state. If she violated the public trust, it was in this capacity. One cannot violate the public trust when behaving as a private citizen. On that note, there is evidence that the Clinton Foundation has engaged in the trading of political favors for donations. For the type of non-profit the Clinton Foundation is, engaging in politics is strictly prohibited. If there is wrongdoing here, the foundation and its directors should have to answer to the IRS.

But did Clinton commit crimes while secretary of state? FBI Director James Comey didnt think so. Then he did. Now he doesnt. About half of Americans seem to agree that the Wikileaks evidence, if not enough to convict her of being a criminal, is more than adequate to disqualify her from holding public office. To this half of Americans, a rigged system gave Clinton a pass that a regular person in a similar situation would never have received.

Meanwhile, the other half of Americans would argue that our criminal justice system, after considering the facts and giving her a fair hearing, determined that she committed no crime. To this half of Americans, pursuing Clinton further has nothing to do with justice. It is merely about using the veneer of legal action to extract a pound of political flesh.

Dragging this out further will cost far more than the effort is worth. And the cost will be paid in the form of a widening rift between the American people. The only path to healing is for President Trump to pardon her.

At this point, whether she did or did not breach the public trust is a lesser concern. What matters more is that we have become a people divided. To survive the many challenges that lie ahead, we must unite. To unite, we need to let festering wounds heal. President Trump will have a rare opportunity to demonstrate that he is everyones president by healing those wounds. He can do this by pardoning Hillary Clinton.
The year was 1996 and Thanksgiving followed a contentious election the same as two decades later.

Unlike in 2016, the outcome was not so close, though the bitterness and division that were born in the re-election of Bill Clinton to the presidency and magnified in the years to follow are omnipresent today.

After the campaign of 2016, its hard for Americans to recall any that were more divisive. But there is a need for healing after every election and that is because the results matter. Americans care about their country.

In 1996, Martin W. Wiles was living in Branchville and writing periodically for The Times and Democrat. We chose his words as our Thanksgiving editorial that year.

Today, Wiles is an author and speaker residing in Greenwood. He and his wife Michelle are the founders of Love Lines From God (www.lovelinesfromgod.com), a devotional ministry designed to encourage those on a spiritual journey with Jesus Christ. He still contributes to The T&D.

In 1996 and again in 2016, Wiles words about Americas advantages are food for the mind that we hope many will find a way to digest on this day.

----

Thanksgiving is a beautiful season of the year.

It is refreshing to see the signs of harvest adorning people's yards.They are a reminder of a distant past when Thanksgiving symbolized our gratefulness for an abundant harvest. Those crops would see many people through harsh winters until the time of spring planting.

Thanksgiving should recall Plymouth, that colony of long ago. The colonists landed on that bleak Massachusetts shore in December. They endured a desperate winter in which about half of them died. By good fortune, there was an Indian named Squanto in the area. The Pilgrims believed he was a special instrument from God sent to preserve their lives. He showed them the best places to fish and what to plant and how to cultivate it. They worked hard, got their crops in the ground and saw a bountiful harvest the next November. The Pilgrims treated themselves and their Indian neighbors to the first Thanksgiving feast.

The picture of the early Pilgrims celebrating Thanksgiving with their Indian neighbors should remind us of things to be grateful for during this season.

That picture reminds me of the greatness of America's land. Rich and fertile land that grows more than we need allows us to export to other countries needing our crops. We must never forget to thank our farmers who diligently nurture this great land.

That early Thanksgiving reminds me of America's great people. Indeed, we are a nation of immigrants. America is a melting pot of many different races, ethnic backgrounds and cultures. These different groups serve to make America a rich nation with an abundance of variety. Though from different backgrounds, we should be thankful that America still opens her borders to those who long for freedom.

I am thankful that America is a land of generosity. The early Thanksgiving was one of sharing with neighbors. Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and others made it possible for all Americans to have at least a minimum standard of living. We must maintain this generosity. We cannot allow any hard-working Americans who call this their country to fall through the cracks of indifference.

We must be thankful for our freedoms. In part, it was a desire for religious freedom that thrust the colonists to this new land. Others saw it as the land of opportunity. The early shapers of our government made sure we would never have basic freedoms snatched from us. Our great Constitution guarantees these wonderful freedoms to all Americans.

I am proud to live in this great land of the free and brave, a land of blessings beyond measure. Yes, America has problems, but the advantages of living here far outweigh the disadvantages.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson: My God! how little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!"

God bless America!
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By Azernews





By Nigar Abbasova

Resource-rich Azerbaijan, which is constantly seeking potential energy markets, expands its energy cooperation with Cambodia.

The Southeast Asian state has invited Azerbaijan, which possesses vast experience in the field of energy to help develop Cambodias prospective oil and gas industry.

The issue of bolstering ties was high on agenda during the meeting between Azerbaijan`s Ambassador to Cambodia Anar Imanov and Cambodian Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem.

Imanov, addressing the meeting highlighted the official visit of the Cambodian Prime Minister to Azerbaijan in 2014 and stressed the importance of this trip in terms of the development of relations.

The minister, in turn, invited the Azerbaijani companies to develop oil fields in Cambodia.

Cambodia has oil and gas reserves, but they must be assessed, explored and developed. The country is now promoting investments in its extractive industries, while a number of licenses have already been granted to international companies for petroleum exploration.

Certain areas of the country have shown great potential, as preliminary exploration has led to positive results, and Cambodia is expected to commence exploration of a number of blocks in the near future.

Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Cambodia increased in recent times. Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultations between the countries was signed in 2014, the year, which marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Cambodia
By Trend





Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 9 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on November 24.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in the Gizilhajili village of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Berkaber village of Armenias Ijevan district.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were also shelled from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Shikhlar village of the Aghdam district, as well as on nameless heights of the Goranboy and Tartar districts.

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.
By Gunay Hasanova

Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran, known as IDRO Group, plans to build 2,000 railway wagons jointly with the German company, whose name has not been disclosed.

The share of Irans investment in construction of wagons will amount to 55 percent and these wagons will be used in nine major cities of the country, said the Head of the Investment Development Department of IDRO, Fardad Daliri, IRNA news agency reported.

"The amount of investment needed for the construction of wagons is estimated to be 2 billion Euros which will be provided by the Fund for National Development of Iran and foreign companies", said Daliri.

The new joint plan on the production of wagons aimed at attracting advanced technologies of the European partners.

Iran is the Middle Easts second-largest economy and is reported to be the largest to re-enter global markets since the Soviet Union in 1991.

The international sanctions that had crippled Iran's economy were lifted following a January implementation of a deal between Iran and world powers called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Irans Customs Administration's statistics show that Germany exported $1.43 billion worth of goods to Iran and imported $248 million from this country during 10 months of current Iranian fiscal year, which started on March 21, 2015.

German exports to Iran were valued at 4.7 billion Euros ($5.1 billion) in 2010 but have fallen as the West tightened sanctions imposed over Irans nuclear program.

Hence, Iranian transport sector remains underdeveloped because of poor management and the impact of international sanctions.

However, with huge levels of transport and logistics investment planned or underway, Irans transport industry has the potential to become a major economic sector for the country.

Attractiveness for international finance in the transport industry is also on the rise. Iran jumped up 12 spots from rank 27 to 15 with the lifting of international sanctions on Transport Intelligences rankings for emerging markets in January 2016.
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, has announced the launch of its credit card in partnership with Dubai-based low-cost airline flydubai.



The new DIB flydubai Credit Card will enable customers to enrol in Open, a newly-launched rewards programme from the emirate's low-cost carrier.



By joining the programme, customers will earn Open reward points every time they use their card for local and international purchases.



To cater to different customers, three types of credit cards have been launched, namely the Classic, the Platinum and the Signature Credit Card. Based on the card they choose, customers will be able to earn Open reward points on domestic and international retail purchases, as well as earn additional reward points on spends with flydubai, said the DIB in its statement.



In addition to accumulating Open reward points, customers can also enjoy a range of benefits, including discounts across select retailers in the UAE, lounge access and travel privileges, it stated.



Dubai Islamic Bank Group CEO Dr Adnan Chilwan said this unique range of credit cards cater to an extremely diverse audience in the UAE who travel frequently for business and pleasure.



"Critically, DIBs own 1.7 million customer base provides us with excellent insights into the growing needs of regional travellers. So, it was a natural step for us to partner with flydubai and introduce a card that is innovative and convenient to use," he remarked.



Ghaith Al Ghaith, the chief executive of flydubai, said the airline had been committed to developing product offerings to enhance the experience of customers, most recently launching its new rewards programme called Open.



"Its called Open because its simple and straightforward. Members can earn reward points with every flight and then use those points to pay for flights and upgrades any day of the year as there are no blackout dates, and because no minimum balance of points is required, members can also pay for flights with a mix of cash and points," he explained.



"Through our partnership with Dubai Islamic Bank, we welcome this co-branded credit card as a way to make the travel experience with flydubai even more rewarding for our passengers," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The Big 5, the largest building and construction expo in the Middle East, ended on a 'eco-friendly' note with hundreds of companies showcasing their innovative sustainable products over the four-day event in Dubai, UAE.



Going green is a major trend across all exhibitors at this year's Big 5 show, said the event organisers on the sidelines of the eight edition of Gaia Awards.



"With the UAEs and regions focus on delivering sustainability in construction it was paramount to choose sustainability as a key theme in this years Big 5, remarked event director, Josine Heijmans.



"Its with this backdrop that the Gaia Awards are more relevant than ever. Visitors to The Big 5 are constantly looking for innovative products that are environmentally friendly and the Gaia Awards helps us uncover these products and technologies and share them with the construction and design industry, she stated.



SageGlass was selected as the most innovative product in the Middle East, which will contribute towards a more sustainable built environment.



SageGlass is an electronically tintable, dynamic glass that prevents heat and glare, increases occupants comfort, optimizes daylight while maintaining the view to the outdoor.



Awarded by a panel of industry experts headed by Dr Alaa Ashmawy, Professor of Civil Engineering and Dean of the School of Engineering at AUD, SageGlass can reduce energy consumption up to 20 per cent.



In addition, its a sustainable solution that contributes to Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification points. "In 2015 we started working on the first project in the Middle East and the Gaia Awards is our first recognition in the region; I am truly happy of this achievement, SageGlass representative said receiving the award."



Mario Seneviratne, the managing director of Green Technologies and member of the Gaia Awards judging panel, The Gaia Awards are an excellent platform to identify truly sustainable products in the Middle East.



The UAE is one of the top 10 markets for green building space according to US Green Building Council (USGBC) and Dubai ranks eighth in Solidiances list of top 10 global cities for green buildings.



Ariston Thermo Group, a multinational company headquartered in Italy, said it was pursuing energy efficiency in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.



According to the marketing manager, Jacopo Guzzarotti, The Big 5 is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our innovative solutions to save energy and present our new products to the local market.



To help construction industry professionals save time and money, ProTenders.com exhibitor launched its new Construction Product Catalogue at The Big 5 today.



ProTenders is now a complete online B2B construction platform that enables all types of construction companies to increase their brands visibility, generate leads and streamline their tendering process, using our unique secure cloud-based platform, said Karim Helal, its cofounder and CEO.



The new catalogue is an effective tool that enables suppliers to be traced and contacted, and supports consultants finding the right products that match their requirements. It also helps suppliers to list all their products, including specs, data sheets, brochures and images.



Our award winning e-tendering platform has so far proven a huge success with over $20 billion managed bids and 900 processed tenders, remarked Helal.



According to the organisers, the robust international participation at The Big 5 reinforced Dubais position as central business hub of the broader Middle East region.



The Turkish Government, which is Platinum Sponsor of the event, is strongly investing on The Big 5 to support Turkish manufacturers of construction products expand in the UAE and beyond.



This year, we have over 250 Turkish exhibitors at The Big 5 and 35 more at the co-located PMV Live and MEC shows, Ersahin Cagatay, from Expotim International, said. In 2015, the Turkish Pavilion had 50 exhibitors; this year we have almost 300 companies and we plan to grow our participation to The Big 5 even more in future, he added.



This year, the participation of Italian companies has been bigger than ever, with 380 exhibitors. At the Big 5 in Dubai, our companies have the chance to meet thousands of buyers and traders from the Middle East and Asia, and explore the great opportunities offered by this market, the director of the Italian Trade Commissions Dubai Office, Gianpaolo Bruno, stated.



The local construction industry is growing at a rate amongst the highest in the world, boosted by the organization of the Expo 2020 Dubai, he noted.



Abui Dhabi-based Albaddad Group said it had closed deals worth almost Dh2.2 million ($598,799) at The Big 5. The company founded by Hussain Albaddad in 1971 to supply the requirements of the tents from the royal family, has now grown into a leading supplier of tends and outdoor furniture for events.



During the first three days, the company won the Al Wathba contract for the National day celebrations from the Abu Dhabi Government besides a 5,000-sq-m outlet facility in Nigeria and a 2,000-sq-m project for the Radisson Blu Hotel in Oman.-TradeArabia News Service
High-profile government officials and private entities involved in maritime activities today (November 24) discussed latest developments in the industry at the Dubai Maritime Innovation Workshop hosted by the Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA).



DMCA is the government authority charged with regulating, coordinating and supervising all aspects of Dubais maritime sector.



The workshop was widely participated in by top maritime sector experts and leaders, decision and policy makers, government officials and representatives of leading international maritime companies as well as other entities involved in various maritime activities.



The event witnessed participants come up with new creative ideas for further enhancing the competitiveness and attractiveness of the local maritime cluster, in line with its tireless efforts to position Dubai among the worlds leading maritime capitals by 2020, said a statement from the authority.



The in-depth discussions were carried out through specialised group works and covered ports, docks, maritime tourism, and the maritime sector and governmental sector, among other key topics, it added.



The workshop was held as part of UAE Innovation Week 2016, an important event that creates a clear roadmap for fostering a culture of innovation that helps shape the future and fulfil the vision of the UAEs wise leadership to transform the country into one of the worlds most creative nations.



The workshop kicked off with an interactive session entitled Dubai Maritime Cluster Office: Organizational Culture and Innovation in Dubais Maritime Sector which highlighted the pivotal role of the Dubai Maritime Cluster Office in establishing innovation as an institutional approach, a standard governmental practice, and main pillar for meeting the Dubai Maritime Sector Strategys (MSS) key objective of making Dubai a highly prominent global maritime cluster, it said.



The agenda included extensive discussions conducted by specialised working groups and a series of interactive sessions touching on innovative ideas supportive of the DMCAs efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of the local maritime cluster and benefit from Dubais great potentials in areas such as the independent maritime arbitration, modern ports, advanced infrastructure, key policies and legislation, investment facilities, and integrated logistics services, among others.



Amer Ali, executive director of DMCA, said: The workshop reflects our solid commitment to strengthen cooperation between the government and private sectors in driving innovation, creativity and excellence within the local maritime sector and putting Dubai and the UAE at the forefront of the most innovative maritime destinations in the world.



We are pleased to have organised a successful workshop on the sidelines of UAE Innovation Week which is a starting point for reaching higher levels of growth and progress based on innovation, which in turn has become one of the distinctive features of the ambitious development the UAE aspires as it transitions into a post-oil economy, he added.



The positive response and remarkable success of the second edition of the workshop motivated us to provide more tools for transforming the innovative ideas discussed during the interactive sessions into leading initiatives that support our ambitious objective to build a vibrant, diverse and safe maritime environment that contributes to Dubai Plan 2021s goal of achieving sustainable economic growth based on innovation and productivity, Ali concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
The share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the global gas market is set to increase in the coming years, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).



In fact, LNG supplies have grown at a faster pace than total gas consumption, said the Global Gas Security Review, seeking to provide more transparency into the LNG market.



The growth in the global gas trade, along with the diversification of supply sources, is improving the security of supply, said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency. But there is still a need to be vigilant on gas security as the changing nature of the market means that regional demand and supply shocks may now be felt in more distant places than ever before.



A growing share of LNG capacity is offline  mostly because of a lack of enough gas to feed into the system but also because of security and technical problems  meaning the market has less extra capacity than assumed.



Between 2011 and 2016, the level of unusable export capacity has doubled, disabling about 65 bcm of gas, which is equal to the combined exports of Malaysia and Indonesia, the worlds third- and fifth-largest exporters. A period of low oil and gas prices could further worsen the situation.



However, the Global Gas Security Review finds that LNG contract structures are becoming less rigid, increasing market liquidity. In 2015, about 40per cent of LNG contracts had fixed destination terms, down from 60per cent for contracts signed up to the year 2014.



While shorter term contracts are gradually becoming more common, buyers are also accepting longer contracts in exchange for increased flexibility in the final destination in order to better respond to market conditions. Flexible contractual structures are important for gas security as they enable to aggregate gas volumes at a lower cost from various regions.



The report provides detailed case studies on Europe and Japan. For Japan, it show that while gas markets reacted relatively effectively to the loss of nuclear generation in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the factors that made that possible cannot always be counted on in the future.



The Global Gas Security Review builds on an extensive set of data and other substantial inputs from industry and will be produced on an annual basis. It is accompanied by country specific statistics; data on outages of LNG export capacity by type and region; flexible LNG demand by importers; flexible LNG supply by importers, producers and portfolio players; and flexible gas demand and supply in Europe.  TradeArabia News Service
JetSmarter, one of the worlds leading private jet company, will launch the first shared, private JetShuttle flight that will connect Europe and the Middle East, offering JetSmarter members single-seat trips on flights between Dubai and London.



For the first-time in the private aviation industry, travellers will be able to reserve seats on direct, scheduled flights between three continents  North America, Europe and the Middle East.



The Dubai to London JetShuttle flight, which will carry passengers on Legacy 650 aircrafts, departs from Dubai on Thursdays at 8:30PM, and flights from London to Dubai will be on Fridays at 12PM. This new route will offer significant time savings for passengers travelling to and from each city, by arriving and leaving from Luton and Al Maktoum International airports, and avoiding the hassles of travelling through the two largest commercial airports in the world. Travel time on this JetShuttle route is expected to be 7  8 hours, door to door, and passengers will arrive to their destination with the luxury of having their car transportation waiting for them on the tarmac.



We have a large membership base in Dubai, and due to the high demand, we are expanding our intercontinental JetShuttle service which will now connect three major continents  North America, Europe and Asia, said Sergey Petrossov, founder and CEO of JetSmarter. Were proud to announce this new intercontinental route, as we further establish ourselves as the worlds leading private aviation company and continue our global expansion.



This intercontinental JetShuttle flight will make Dubai the new Middle East/Asian hub for shared private jet travel, as JetSmarter members in Dubai will now have the opportunity to jet-set to other popular European and North American destinations on JetSmarters scheduled flights to cities including Nice, Ibiza, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Geneva, New York, Chicago, South Florida, Los Angeles and many more.



Reservations for this Intercontinental JetShuttle service are available now and can be made through the JetSmarter app, available for iOS and Android devices. London to Dubai flights are JetSmarter public charters operated by Advance Air Management. - TradeArabia News Service


Turkish Airlines continues to expand its destination network with the addition of flights to Havana (Cuba) and Caracas (Venezuela) as its 16th and 17th global destinations.



Beginning on December 20, Havana and Caracas flights will be operated three times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays in both directions.



Introductory round trip fares are available from Istanbul to Havana, Cuba, and Caracas, Venezuela. starting at $699, inclusive of taxes and fees.



Additionally, for the first six months of operation to these new destinations, there is a special offer for Miles&Smiles members, with a 25 per cent reduction in the miles needed to redeem either award tickets or upgrades. - TradeArabia News Service
Emirates Aviation University opened its third International Aviation Management Conference (IAMC) yesterday (November 23).



Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, the two-day conference brought together industry leaders, researchers and aviation management professionals to tackle the challenges and opportunities currently facing the aviation industry under the theme Lessons Learned, Current Challenges, and the Road Ahead.



IAMC provides an ideal platform for aviation influencers to tackle industry hot topics and share case studies and best practices. Its also an opportunity for aviation management researchers, academics and authors from all around the world to showcase their papers and present their studies in a dynamic environment. The conference addresses the steady growth in the various sectors of aviation and emphasizes the need for more research on key issues that impact the industry as a whole.



Keynote speakers included Mohammed Ahli, director general  DCAA; Gary Chapman, president of Emirates Group Services and dnata; Laila Bin Hareb, assistant director general, Strategy and International Affairs  UAE General Civil Aviation Authority; and Michael Herrero, area manager at Iata.



The IAMC 2016 is hosted by EAU with Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) as a principal partner. The conference is also supported by General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Dubai Police and Coventry University and sponsored by Dubai Duty Free. - TradeArabia News Service
UAE's Etihad Airways recently celebrated the graduation of 310 future leaders from the companys Future Leaders Programmes.



The graduation event at Al Raha Beach Hotel in Abu Dhabi was attended by Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, chairman of Etihad Aviation Group and board members, Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh and Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi.



Al Mazrouei said: We all share great pride and congratulate our graduates on what they have achieved. We also look forward to their contributions making Etihad Aviation Group even more successful and bringing us closer to our goals. The group has made a major commitment to investing in its people, the cornerstone of our service excellence and success.



He added: Over the past 13 years, the company has built a workforce of 27,000 employees, representing 150 nationalities to deliver world-class services. The team includes more than 3,000 UAE nationals, covering areas such as marketing, customer service, ground operations, cockpit crew, engineers and technicians.



UAE nationals currently make up 29 per cent of the airlines core staff and form the largest nationality group amongst Abu Dhabi-based employees. Emiratis are also the number one nationality occupying positions at manager level, executive level and in the cockpit.



The 310 graduates are spread throughout different divisions: 65 working as Cadet Pilots at Abu Dhabi University; 19 at Etihad Flight College in Al Ain and 74 graduates are based in Technical Engineering. A further 152 are learning about the business within the Graduate Management Development Programme based at various Etihad Airways offices.



James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group president and chief executive officer, said: A new batch of future leaders has graduated and they should be very proud of what they have achieved  the programmes are challenging and form a major commitment to learning and development. What is important for them now is to take this further and bring their new found knowledge into the business so we can work together to develop the next generation of leaders.



The star performer awards for 2016 were presented to cadet pilot, Abdalla Ismail Al Zarooni; technical engineer, Khalid Ismail Al Hammadi and sales manager for Los Angeles, Khamis Al Blooshi.



In other achievements, Omar Abdulla Al Marzouqi from Flight Operations, Yasser Al Yousuf from Etihad Guest and Adel H Al Maghrebi from Global Airports, were recognised for completing their Executive Aerospace MBAs at Toulouse Business School.



Etihad Aviation Group has formed strategic collaborations with a range of UAE educational and Emiratisation institutions, including the Human Resources Authority, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ACTVET), Ministry of Higher Education, Zayed University and Abu Dhabi University, to offer UAE nationals opportunities to develop into world-class industry professionals. - TradeArabia News Service
Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach has welcomed Leonardo Baiocchi as the property's new general manager.



A seasoned Four Seasons professional, Baiocchi began his career with the group in 1993, where he was appointed to work at the front desk in the Four Seasons Hotel Milano. Since then, Baiocchi has worked at the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus and Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet; Palazzo Tornabuoni Private Club and Residences; Four Seasons Hotel Firenze; Four Seasons Hotel Budapest; Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh; Four Seasons Hotel London at Canary Wharf; Four Seasons Hotel Chicago; Four Seasons Hotel Milano; Regent Chiang Mai, Thailand.



Pursuing his love for hospitality further, the Kenyan-born hotelier arrived in Dubai from Istanbul, where he led both Four Seasons properties as general manager for five years. I was one of the pioneers at clustering Four Seasons hotels under the same management, he said. There are a lot of benefits and cost efficiencies to synergising management of hotels under the same ownership. It makes a lot of sense.



In his new role at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, Baiocchi will be responsible for the operations on site as well as have additional responsibility for oversight of the sister property Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Centre.



Baiocchi holds a hotel management degree from Glion Hotel School, Clarens, Switzerland and is fluent in Italian, English and French. - TradeArabia News Service


Dubai Airports has issued a statement today to clear the air on what it called inaccurate reports related to slot allocation for Indian carriers at the worlds busiest international airport, Dubai International (DXB).



Its important to understand that the assignment of traffic rights via bilateral agreements and slot allocation are two discrete processes, explained Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.

According to a report in India's The Hindu newspaper, India's Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had written to Dubai Civil Aviation Authority President Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum earlier this year regarding granting of slots at the Dubai airport ot Indian airlines.



In his letter, he stated that the Dubai Airport Authority has been turning down the requests of Indian carriers for slots or providing unviable alternatives, the newspaper said.

Traffic rights are negotiated between governments. Slot allocation is managed separately by an independent organisation at arms length and in accordance with international guidelines established by the International Air Transport Association. Specifically, Dubai Internationals slots are allocated by an independent slot coordinator, Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), in accordance with IATA guidelines. ACL conducts slot allocation activities at other major international airports around the world as well, Griffiths said in the clarification.



Dubai International is the busiest airport for international passenger traffic in the world, with 90 carriers connecting the airport to more than 240 global destinations with high demand for a limited supply of slots, added Griffiths.



We welcome the expansion of the flying rights between India and Dubai. Despite the competitive slot situation, Indian carriers continue to grow services, operating more frequencies than Dubai-based airlines between Dubai and India. There is clearly demand for more seats and we are confident that the airlines operating on these routes will take up more seat capacity, if agreed by Dubai and India, and reap the benefits of that growth. - TradeArabia News Service
The next generation of cruise ships moves from concept to construction today, as the first piece of steel is cut at the STX France shipyard for Celebrity Cruises newest ship.



The ship will be called "Celebrity Edge," befitting the many daring design advances and innovations of Celebrity's first new ship class since 2008. The modern luxury cruise line is also announcing today the name of Edges sister ship, Celebrity Beyond, signaling the incredible experience guests can expect onboard Celebrity Edge and the entire Edge Class, changing the way travellers see the world.



"Edge Class is destined to be a trailblazer in modern luxury travel," said Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises. "The new ships will be on the cutting edge of innovation and the leading edge of design, so the ship names are spot on and offer a sense of how Celebrity Cruises is looking into the future.



Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Celebrity's president and CEO, said: "We set the bar high for the architects and designers on Edge class, and we were rewarded with a stunning design. Cutting the ship's first piece of steel is the traditional first step in the shipbuilding process, and I'm excited to see our dreams turn into reality over the next 24 months."



She added: "We are excited to reveal more details soon, and travellers, trade partners and enthusiasts alike will not be disappointed  this ship is going to be amazing."



Laurent Castaing, general manager STX France, said: "Everyone involved in Edge has embraced the challenge of making this new class of ships dramatic and special, and we take great pride in helping Celebrity Cruises take such a remarkable step forward in ship design."



The company expects delivery of Celebrity Edge in Fall 2018. Celebrity Beyond is scheduled for delivery in Spring 2020, and the third and fourth Edge Class ships in Fall 2021 and Fall 2022, respectively. - TradeArabia News Service
Barb Gorges received her first bird book as a teenager.

It was a Golden Field Guide to the birds of North America, and it was full of hundreds of colorful pictures of birds she figured she would never see. But then one day, on a bike ride from her house in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, to a nearby park, she noticed bright blue birds flying over her head.

I raced back home and looked it up and realized it was an indigo bunting, the Cheyenne birder recounted. I was so excited, realizing that everything wasnt a sparrow.

She made a note of the month and year and where she saw the bird, the first of hundreds of such entries.

Its information like that  sightings gathered on family trips, on organized events or in her backyard  Gorges now uses to help local and national researchers.

She is considered a citizen scientist, someone who records what she sees in the natural world to help build a body of research.

On Dec. 1 and 2, the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute will host Wyomings first Citizen Science Conference in Lander. The event was created largely as a way to connect citizen scientists in the Cowboy State with researchers, said Brenna Marsicek, one of the conferences organizers.

I believe we have a critical mass of people who are thinking about and working hard on citizen science in Wyoming, Marsicek said. At the conference we will think of challenges we face and solutions we have brainstormed or tried out or are trying to investigate.

Citizen scientist is a broad term used to define anyone who is not a trained researcher collecting information about his or her surroundings. It might be for something like Project FeederWatch by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which asks people to record birds at their feeders each day. Or it might be the Wyoming Biodiversity Citizen Science Initiative moose count days, where dozens of people wander the mountains near Laramie looking for moose and signs of moose.

Most important, citizen scientists are people who can be places formal researchers arent, Marsicek said.

The idea is you dont have to be a professional biologist to study what types of bats are in your backyard, Marsicek said. Members of the public can ask questions and collect data and contribute to real research projects by being the local eyes and ears of whatever study area is being looked at.

Community help

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other agencies and nonprofits often have projects that members of the community can participate in, said Zack Walker, the departments nongame bird and mammal program supervisor.

He has asked for help with anything from frog and toad surveys to setting up wolverine monitoring stations. Hes also seen universities use volunteers to sort through hours of camera trap images or video footage to survey what wanders by.

Technology has increased volunteers ability to record and transmit critical data to researchers, he added.

There are a lot of things we do that we wouldnt have the time and manpower to get done without their help, Walker said. And to get buy-in into the sciences and into the work thats being done, thats only a benefit in my eyes. 

The conference, which will include speakers such as Robert Miller from the Intermountain Bird Observatory, will also address challenges of citizen science. Wyomings trespass law, for example, says someone can be charged with criminal trespass for collecting data on private land.

There are a lot of folks unclear on how that exactly impacts their work as citizen scientists and citizen scientist managers, Marsicek said.

Researchers also struggle to recruit volunteers to record necessary information. Work in Wyoming is often remote, she said, and the key is either finding people willing to go into rugged country or connecting with groups already headed into those areas.

For veteran citizen scientists like Gorges, the conference will be a chance to let researchers and professional scientists know what volunteers need.

Not only do they need to train you so you know what youre doing, but they share results with the people who help them, she said.

Theres something very satisfying about reading a paper written with data you collected, Gorges said.

That is gratifying, she added. It makes you feel like you are doing something.
BOISE, Idaho  What would happen to an industry that loses one-fourth or more of its employee base?

Idahos agriculture industry, and particularly its farming sector, might run head-on into that hypothetical question if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to reverse his predecessors executive actions on immigration and deport people living in the country illegally en masse.

Agriculture represents about 4 percent of Idahos $65 billion annual gross domestic product, and about the same percentage of the state labor force. The states share of the estimated 11.1 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is minuscule  approximately 45,000, or 0.4 percent, according to analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center.

But Pews analysis says Idahos workers living in the country illegally dominate in the states agriculture industry. More than 1 in 3 in Idaho are farm workers, and their numbers constitute 43 percent of all farm workers in the state, according to the research.

The states agricultural industry employs more than 40 percent of Idahos population of immigrants living there illegally, and more than one-quarter of all state ag workers entered the country without legal permission. Idaho, Washington and Oregon are the only three states in the nation where agriculture is tops in both of those metrics, said Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer with Pew and one of the studys authors.

The share of agriculture workers who entered the country illegally tends to be very high everywhere, Passel said. But Idahos agriculture sector is a little bit unusual because it also employs the largest portion of these immigrants in the state. Nationwide, construction and the leisure/hospitality industry, which includes hotel service workers, employ the most immigrants who are in the country without legal permission.

Just 4 percent of unauthorized workers are in agriculture nationwide, Passel said.

Idaho tops in amnesty eligibility

Idaho ranked first among states in the percentage of immigrants who entered the country illegally and could avoid deportation under President Obamas executive action on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and related moves on pathways to citizenship  more than 60 percent, according to Pew. Thats because such a high percentage of Idahos population of these immigrants, nearly 9 out of 10, is Mexican. That population qualifies at a higher rate based on DACAs criteria regarding longevity and family ties.

Trump has proposed immediately reversing Obamas actions and deporting anyone in the U.S. illegally.

Tracking that population is difficult. Neither employers nor industries that depend on those workers are likely to aggressively monitor and report those here illegally. Employers may check work papers but thats not fool-proof, and some workers who enter the country legally on work visas just overstay.

A measurable if imperfect proxy for that population is foreign-born workers. Robert Troxel is manager of the Marsing Agricultural Labor Sponsoring Committee, an Owyhee County-based temp agency for documented agricultural workers that hires about 1,800 people annually as far east as Idaho Falls and north to Payette County. Almost all are Hispanic, he said.

The states unemployment rate is tight at 3.8 percent. We have been short of workers here for the last two or three years, Troxel said.

Dependent on foreign-born labor

Troxel said that if workers are deported, it will have impact.

If food prices go up because it cant get harvested or processed by the existing workforce, then theres going to be dramatic repercussions, he said.

Like Troxels group, the Idaho Dairymens Association has supported and worked for immigration reform to address the status of workers who are in the country without legal permission. Dairy workers are needed year-round, not seasonally, so the industry has little use for H-2A visas granted to temporary agricultural workers.

Any change in immigration policy that brings some certainty to what that policy is, is a positive, because currently we really dont have an immigration policy, said the associations executive director, Bob Naerebout. Weve become very dependent on foreign-born labor, and therefore the rural economy becomes very dependent on foreign-born labor.
The historic Lodge on the Desert is back in bankruptcy court, just a year after completing a bankruptcy reorganization prompted by a default on a construction loan.

But an attorney for the boutique hotel says business will continue as usual as the owners work with new investors to refinance the business and restructure its debt.

The hotels owner, Lodge Partners LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Wednesday, protecting the company from legal action while it works out plans to repay or shed its debts.

The historic boutique hotel at 306 N. Alvernon Way opened in 1936 and has 103 rooms, meeting spaces and a full service restaurant and lounge. It was renovated and expanded in 2007.

The Lodge filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2013 when it was unable to pay about $11.5 million in construction loans form Wells Fargo Bank, and it emerged from bankruptcy in 2014 after restructuring its debts.

But the repayment plan failed and the hotel was unable to refinance its debt with a private investment firm that acquired the hotels loans from Wells Fargo, said Michael McGrath, bankruptcy attorney for Lodge Partners.

The property hasnt rebounded as quickly as we expected, said McGrath, who represented the company in the earlier bankruptcy case.

Lodge Partners has hired John Rutherford, a management and business executive specializing in business turnarounds, to lead the restructuring effort.

A new investor group, Lodge in Tucson LLC, is expected to provide new financing and operating funds during the bankruptcy, subject to court approval, McGrath said.

The new funds will go to enhance the hotels guest experience, make additional improvements to the hotel and restaurant, and strengthen the hotels sales and marketing efforts, the company said.

The hotel staff will be maintained and all existing reservations for the hotel, for meetings and for the restaurant will be honored, the company said. The hotels third-party management company, Coastal Hotels Group, will continue to manage the property.

The hotel has not yet filed a schedule of assets and liabilities but indicated it expects to have funds available to repay unsecured creditors, including vendors.

McGrath said a new appraisal of the property should shrink the secured portion of the former Wells Fargo debt, adding that the company hopes to have a bankruptcy reorganization plan approved within about six months.
We went for a walk the other morning  53 degrees at 10 a.m. Sunny, no wind. Did I mention we were wearing shorts?

Yes, I guess its true, weve become true snowbirds. Blood that used to run through our veins like Kool-Aid now resembles the viscosity of 30-weight motor oil.

I know in time the blood will thin as we once again adjust to life in the desert. Heck, we might even have to put on a sweater. But for now, boy is it nice to be home.

And Tucson, you see, will always be home to me, no matter how many summers we spend in the pines.

Home, after all, is where you were born. Where you grew up. Where you got your first real kiss on the mouth. Where you graduated. Where you learned all the words to Bear Down, Arizona. Where you married and raised your kids. Where your grandparents are buried. Where you scattered the ashes of your parents.

Nowhere else are the sunsets so vivid, the moonlight so bright, the tamales, the burros, the chile rellenos so delicioso.

Every fall as we drive down from the Rim, heading toward Winkleman, I look for the sentinel that tells me Im back in the desert: the first saguaro. Welcome back, its outstretched arms seem to say.

Not that all the signs are so welcoming. Last year, we came back to find half our landscape plants withered or dead, thanks to a malfunctioning drip system.

This year we came back to termites  two 3-foot-long tubes snaking down a kitchen wall. Two days later the exterminators arrived, necessitating a removal of half the kitchenware in our bottom cabinets.

Luckily, the tubes were old, the termites gone, at least for now. Still, holes were bored, poison applied, and we were told to keep on the lookout for any new signs. Luckier still, the tubes washed off without damaging the paint on the wall.

Sigh. As Gilda Radner used to say, Its always something.

One fun thing about switching from a climate thats going into dormancy to one thats reviving after the summer heat is that I get to replenish my flower pots with pansies, lots and lots of pansies.

Forget about that derogatory term equating pansies with a certain lack of toughness. Ive learned theyre one of the few flowers that can shrug off a hard freeze. Sure, theyll wilt in the summer, but for winter color, theyre hard to beat.

After the pansies were potted, I boiled sugar water and put out my hummingbird feeder. Within hours I was rewarded with my first bejeweled little flier. Perhaps it flew down from colder climes as well  a true snowbird.

We get Tucson TV news programs up north  as well as the online edition of the Star. So we are up-to-date as to whats happening locally. Getting up to speed with the traffic takes a tad longer  especially the interminable wait at major intersections.

Still, its a small price to pay for big-town living  and shopping. First stop: Trader Joes, then Costco. Next stop: Anitas Street Market for flour tortillas. Its so nice to eat a warm, fresh tortilla  one that hasnt been thawed out after reposing in the freezer for months on end.
Age: 16

Current grade: 11th

Home country: Tanzania

What shes thankful for: In Africa, I cant go to school. My parents didnt have money. Here I go for free. I am thankful for school because it is important in my life.

Her letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Gentille. Im from Tanzania. I came to Tucson on March 23, 2015, with my family. I traveled with my family to come here. I have lived here for one year in Tucson. I am a student at Amphi High School. I am in 10th grade. When I finish high school, I want to go to college to learn many things. Im 15 years old. In Tucson I live in an apartment with my family. My family is beautiful. In my family we are five children, and I am the oldest. I have three brothers and one sister. I dont want to change anything in Tucson, because everything is wonderful. Many people find jobs, but they work hard to find money. I dont like my first country, because there is too much fighting.

I love my family and how my mom still teaches us to be kind with our neighbors. They help us when we are sick. I dont want to change anything, because everything is wonderful. The most important thing is to have many jobs. People want to be safe. I want you to help us at our school to have everything we want. Everything is better in Tucson, because sometimes it is going to be cold and hot. I love Tucson so much.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely:

Gentille Shurweryimana
By JING SHUIYU in Beijing and YUAN HUI in Hohhot | China Daily | Updated: 2016-11-24 08:22

Inner Mongolia Ding Ye Foodstuff Co Ltd, one of the country's biggest sunflower seed exporters, said it is speeding up its push to go global with the launch of new production lines at home and plans to establish overseas offices in the next two years.

The Bayannur-based private company, established in 2013, processes sunflower, pumpkin and calabash seeds and mainly exports to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Its chairman said it plans to invest more than 500 million yuan ($73.8 million) to build 20 new production lines in 2017.

"New lines will boost production capacity by processing 200,000 metric tons of seeds a year, almost four times its current capacity," said Chairman Nie Changcheng.

Pinning high hopes on growing demand from overseas, the company said it would establish two offices in Germany and Spain in 2018, in addition to the three existing ones in Dubai, Iran and Egypt.

Nie said he was also considering a new factory in Iran by the end of 2018.

"It's not an easy task for Inner Mongolian food exporters to expand their presence abroad," said Yu Guangjun, a research fellow at the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences.

Yu said that most important of all, food exporters should deliver quality agricultural products in accordance with international trade rules.

"Food companies need to enhance the competitiveness of agricultural products through industrial upgrades and technological innovation. Only in this way can they secure overseas markets," said Wang Ji, an analyst at China-Inv Co-Harmony Investment Fund Management Co Ltd.

The average export price of sunflower seeds, according to Nie, fell about 1,000 yuan per ton to 7,500 yuan in October, compared with the previous month.

"But the effect is manageable," Nie said.

To maintain its earning growth, Ding Ye said it had made efforts to encourage famers to plant in scientific waysand to upgrade their equipmentso the seeds could be of high quality.

Contact the writers at jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn and yuanhui@chinadaily.com.cn
PHOENIX  A federal judge on Tuesday upheld the legality of Arizona laws on identity theft, even though he said they may have been crafted largely to catch those not in the country legally.

In a 44-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell agreed with immigrant-rights groups that the state has no right to prosecute anyone for having a forged I-9, a federally issued document used to verify the identity and employment authorization of people who are not U.S. citizens. Campbell said that is solely the purview of the federal government.

But Campbell said none of that keeps state and local police and prosecutors from going after people for other forms of employment fraud, even if their fake documents are part of the same plan to illegally obtain a job.

Campbell also rejected arguments that the employment-fraud laws are unenforceable and void because they were motivated solely by animus against unauthorized aliens.

The judge acknowledged a series of statements by lawmakers in approving the measures nearly a decade ago that they wanted to use ID-fraud laws to rid the state of those not here legally. And he acknowledged that then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, in signing one of the bills, said that a state like Arizona has no choice but to take strong action to discourage the further flow of illegal immigration through our borders.

But Campbell said voiding a law on that basis is a dangerous venture into legislative mind-reading. And he said just because some legislators made certain statements does not mean others didnt have the same goals in mind.

Arizona has had identity-theft laws for decades.

At issue here, however, were revisions made in 2007 and 2008 that created an entirely new crime of using fake IDs to get a job.

While the laws apply statewide, foes were particularly targeting the Maricopa County Attorneys Office, which Campbell said has made extensive use of the statute.

The judge actually enjoined enforcement of the laws last year. But after a federal appeals court told him to take another look, he concluded that earlier decision was overbroad.

He said it is clear that Congress intended to make it illegal to commit fraud in obtaining an I-9 form.

That includes presenting false documents to get the form in the first place. And that, said Campbell, shows that Congress intended to make violations of that strictly a federal issue.

But he rejected arguments that federal pre-emption extends to everything else involved in the process.

For example, he said, someone who submits a false I-9 form to an employer then would need to submit other documents with the same fake name, things like a direct-deposit form for a bank account, which also would need to have that same fake name.

Would prosecution based on the use of the false name at the bank be preempted simply because it was done to maintain consistency with fraud already committed on the Form I-9? the judge mused.

What if the employee sought a car loan, and used the same false name as he did on the Form I-9 because he knew the lender would contact his employer to verify his employment? Campbell continued. Certainly, the court can find no intent of Congress to preempt (such local laws) so broadly, let alone a clear and manifest intent.

The judge also said there may be a desire by federal officials to preserve their ability to enforce labor laws and, when necessary, use undocumented workers as witnesses.
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The mid-1920s in Tucson were a time when someone living near the corner of what is now Elm Street and Campbell Avenue might say, I think Ill start a rodeo.

And then actually do it.

The Tucson rodeo and parade, one of Tucsons longest standing traditions, was the brainchild of Frederick Leighton Kramer, who cleared a field on his property in 1925 in what is now the historic Catalina Vista neighborhood, put up bleachers for 3,000 spectators, and offered $6,650 in prize money to the cowboys of the day.

Back in that day, the rodeo site was on the very outskirts of Tucson, northeast of where the University of Arizona put its footprint. Catalina Vista, now officially designated as a National Register Historic District, lies between Grant Road and Elm Street, and Campbell Avenue and Tucson Boulevard.

Kramer passed away in 1930, but the rodeo  now in another part of town  and his legacy remain. When the neighborhood was developed as Catalina Vista Estates and streets were named, the main street heading north from Elm Street leading to the trademark circular park on Waverly Street was named after him.

Even today, residents are preserving whats left of his presence in the neighborhood.

Last year, his home on Elm Street  which at points in its existence was a school for girls and a kindergarten run by Catholic nuns  was demolished to make way for a new housing development. The home had been empty and in disrepair for more than a decade when it was torn down, never having made it into the National Register of Historic Places that would have prevented its demise. But neighbors raised money to salvage hundreds of the distinctive green porcelain roof tiles from the home and used them to roof a ramada in Tahoe Park, a place in the neighborhood where residents always have and still can enjoy some solitude or time in the sun.

Thats whats good about this neighborhood, said Alison Hughes, president of the Catalina Vista Neighborhood Association. It pulled together to raise the money to put that ramada up.

Other portions of Kramers 170-acre spread in the neighborhood were split up over the years to make way for the neighborhood development in the 1940s and later. The stables and other buildings have been converted to homes, including one that is painted bright blue and stands as a symbol of the neighborhoods history. What is said to be Tucsons first built-in swimming pool remains in use on the property.

Through the years, residents have come and many have stayed.

Elda DuPont is 93 years old and has lived in Catalina Vista since 1953 when she moved in with her husband, Bill, a little more than a dozen years after the area was planned for development, named and advertised as a neighborhood scientifically planned to conform with the Tucson of tomorrow. As homes were being built and residents were moving in, the neighborhood was annexed into the city of Tucson in 1946.

Given the chance, DuPont can recall street by street and house by house who lived where, how many kids were in those families and who worked where. Her home was literally the edge of town at the time.

My husband was in the fire department and you had to live in the city, DuPont recalled. That was as far as you could go. There were no roads just kind of a path that was all dirt.

DuPonts uncle, Al Hubbard, built her home, one of an estimated 20 he built in the neighborhood which features the work of some of Tucsons most prominent architects and homebuilders including Josias Joesler and Arthur Brown. The homes are an array of Tucson architecture with a significant number of adobe houses, pitched roofs, some tiled, some not. The homes range in size. Some even have basements, not a common trait of the architecture of today.

Like many of Tucsons historic neighborhoods, present and past residents are of the whos who of Tucson history with names like Drachman, Jacome, Estes, Mansfield and Kinerk. There were mayors and prominent business people, some famous just in Tucson and some beyond.

A book, Tucsons Catalina Vista: The Neighborhood and Some of Its People by Bill and Kay Bigglestone, chronicles the neighborhoods history.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and a long-time advocate of womens rights lived in the neighborhood from 1950 until she died in 1966. Her son, Stuart, lived next door. The book quotes a Tucson Citizen news story in which Sanger was quoted as saying Arthur Brown did the perfect house for me  I do not care for boxes or square rooms. And when I look out the windows, I do not want to see the ground. I want to see sky and trees and flowers.

One of Tucsons most notorious residents, Joseph Bonanno, took up residence in Catalina Vista in 1974, which brought a level of curiosity to the neighborhood. Residents knew he was there. They knew his reputation as a Mafia crime boss. They witnessed law enforcement agents rummaging through his trash looking for evidence to convict him of a crime.

But to them, Bonanno was just a charming neighbor.

If you didnt know his reputation and you met him, you wouldnt think anything about it, said Dave Sunderman, who was 10 years old when his family moved there in 1948. He still lives in the home where he grew up.

Bonannos presence at Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, which sits just south of the neighborhood on Campbell Avenue across from the UA medical school, was just a part of going to church, Sunderman said.

The ushers would always sit in the back and Joe would sit in a section on the edge with his arm over the edge of the pew, Sunderman said. That was his spot. And his guards would be in the back with the ushers.

He was a very handsome man, very charming, DuPont recalled.

Suzi Deurloo grew up in Tucson and knew of the neighborhood. Attending nearby Salpointe Catholic High School meant she would hang out with friends at Tahoe Park, which is at the southeast corner of Norris Avenue and Edison Street, a block south of Grant Road and a block east of Campbell.

All the Salpointe kids used to play hooky and have lunch here, Deurloo said. Theyd go to The Bone and get something to eat and bring it here, she said, referencing the nearby Lucky Wishbone fried chicken establishment.

When the opportunity presented itself, her family bought an adobe home in the center of the neighborhood.

Even before moving in, her family had history in Catalina Vista. She said her grandfather, Jim Kane, was the champion all-around cowboy in the 1927 rodeo held on the Kramer property.

Because of where my house is, we always get a kick out of saying that grandpa won the rodeo, Deurloo said. Her home backs up to where the rodeo was held.

Deurloo happened upon her future home when she stopped by during an estate sale 22 years ago.

I walked in the house and started shaking really hard. I think I was shaking because I was meant to be there, she said. There was no for sale sign or anything but I asked them if they wanted to sell the house.

The owner said he was planning to list it for sale, but she talked him out of it and her family bought the home.

It was built by architect Henry Jaastad who would be Tucsons mayor from 1933 to 1947, and whose architectural work includes the facade of St. Augustines Cathedral, the old El Conquistador Hotel, what is now Safford Middle School, Dunbar School and some of the buildings at Tucson Medical Center.

For the most part, the house maintains its original structure with the exception of the ceramic tile the Deurloos have installed. Theres been a remodel of the kitchen. The beamed ceilings, tiles over the fireplace and the mission doors at the entrance are Jaastad originals.

Our house was at the end of his career and we think he was pretty smart, Deurloo said.

But its not just the homes that keep Deurloo and others in the neighborhood. Its the people.
Way back in August, the Arizona Board of Regents requested a report.

They didnt call it a secret report. They didnt call it an attorney-client privileged report. It was just going to be a quick, deep evaluation of problems at the University of Arizonas medical schools in Tucson and Phoenix.

Its going to be a broad look at whats going on, regents chairman Greg Patterson said then. Were doing a comprehensive evaluation, so its going to be full 360s of management style, structure, et cetera. Everybody is concerned with how public money was spent, and we have no reason to believe it was spent inappropriately.

Move forward three months, and indeed public money was spent  $180,000 to be precise  on this report.

Now, though, the regents are calling the whole thing a work of attorney-client privilege, not subject to the Arizona Public Records Law. They are fighting even the idea of blacking out the attorney-client privileged areas of the report and releasing the rest.

In other words, theyre saying  Shoosh, nosy reporters. Go away.

This should not be surprising to people who are familiar with Pattersons body of work. From 2008 until August this year, Patterson maintained a blog called Espresso Pundit, some of which is still available online. It was an Arizona political blog that took special relish in zinging the press, especially the Arizona Republic but also the Star  and me specifically a couple of times.

Ive criticized Patterson repeatedly for being vociferous in his public indictments of the press but clamming up when it came to his public role as a member of the regents.

Suffice it to say Patterson, an attorney and accountant, has documented through the years his disrespect for Arizonas journalists, so it shouldnt come as a surprise that he is willing to indulge in hiding public records requested by reporters. It is shortsighted, though, since ultimately its the public who loses out.

But clearly Patterson understands that public records should actually be available to ... you know ... the public. In fact, thats the exact phrase he used in 2009 when writing about a johns list kept by a busted prostitution business in the Phoenix area. Patterson struggled to get the list and turned to Phoenix council member Sal DiCiccio for help, as he described in September that year.

Councilman DiCiccio thinks that if information is public that it should actually be available to ... you know ... the public.

Seems sensible, doesnt it? Then and now.

Oodham casino kerfuffle

The news came out piecemeal this week. First, it appeared, in what would be a big win for Southern Arizona, that the lawsuit over the Tohono Oodham casino in Glendale had been settled. Then it turned out thats what the governors office wanted us to think.

As it turned out, what really happened was that Gov. Doug Duceys office put pressure on the Oodham to agree to a settlement and new terms in the state-tribal gaming compact. Representatives of 10 other tribes signed on to the proposal in a ceremony Monday, but Oodham representatives werent there.

A glaring omission, no?

Not if the idea was actually to put pressure on the Oodham to go along with the governors settlement proposal. The message was really Come along or get left behind.

This is how Duceys spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato, explained the situation to me: The governor believes its time to move forward and that there could be a positive outcome for everyone involved here, so its a win-win-win for the tribes, the state and the taxpayers. Lets move past the litigation and find some common ground.

Hes right that the deal looks good. It allows the Oodham to have full-scale gambling at their casino in exchange for additional gaming at other tribes casinos until 2026, when a new compact will have to go into effect.

But it would be crazy for the Oodham to rush into the agreement. They know that better than anyone, having found a loophole in the existing voter-approved compact that allowed them to build the casino in Glendale in the first place. So no wonder theyre taking their time before agreeing to end hostilities with the state.

Tucsons rotating Republicans

If three is a trend, Tucson has a new one: The rotating Republican seat.

For the third straight election, voters in a Democratic-leaning district have voted in a single Republican state representative from the Tucson area. These have been three different candidates in three different districts.

This years winner is Todd Clodfelter, who took the most votes of all three candidates in Legislative District 10, edging out fellow winner Democrat Kirsten Engel by 97 votes and defeating incumbent Democrat Stefanie Mach by 857 votes.

The bad news for Clodfelter: Each of the previous two rotating Republicans have lost their first attempt at re-election. Ethan Orr won a seat in LD9 in 2012 but lost re-election in 2014. That same year, Republican Chris Ackerley won in heavily Democratic LD2. This year, though, Ackerley lost his LD2 seat at the same time Clodfelter won.

Clodfelter will have a chance to break the rotating Republican jinx in 2018.

Friese joins leadership

Three Southern Arizona legislators have been elected to leadership positions for next session.

In the House, Rep. Randy Friese, a Democrat from Tucson-area Legislative District 9, will be assistant minority leader. Thats a position held by former state Rep. Bruce Wheeler last session.

Sen. Gail Griffin, a Republican from LD14 who lives in the Sierra Vista area, will return as majority whip in the Senate.

Sen. Steve Farley, a Democrat from LD9, will return as assistant minority leader in that chamber.
Three armed men forced their way into a home and robbed an elderly couple at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon southwest of the city.

At about 1 p.m., deputies went to a house in the 4200 block of West Valencia Road in response to a home invasion, said Deputy Ryan Inglett, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

Detectives learned that the men knocked on the door and forced their way into the house when the door was opened, Inglett said.

Surveillance footage was viewed by investigators. The couple was forced to the floor at gunpoint, and then the robbers stole items and left in an unknown direction, said Inglett.

The assailants were described as Hispanic men in their 20s to 30s who were wearing dark clothing.

Inglett said the men are considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME, an anonymous tipster hotline.
The Arizona Daily Stars Sportsmens Fund Send a Kid to Camp program raises money so children from low-income households and military families can attend overnight YMCA, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps and Camp Tatiyee, for school-age children and older teens with special needs, for little or no cost to their families.

We spent $190,982 to send 644 children to camp. So far this year weve received 1,351 donations totaling $164,219.

Since 1947, the Arizona Daily Star Sportsmens Fund has helped pay for 38,551 children to go to camp. Were one of the oldest 501c(3) charities in Arizona. Your contribution qualifies for the Arizona tax credit of up to $800 for donations to qualifying charitable organizations.

Donations are welcome throughout the year.

Recent donations include:

Shirley, Gloria, Dan and Brian Carr, in memory of Richard E. Carr, $200.

Debbie Kornmiller and George Campbell, in memory of Mark Stewart, $100.

Theresa Dellheim, $50.

Dealing Divas, $39.

Sally Drachman, in memory of Jody Owens, $50.

Elaine and Richard Carlton, $400.

Keith Hamilton, $200.

James Lewis, $300.

Violet Linder, $20.

Steven Marder, $100.

Patricia Hacker, $200.

One anonymous donation of $25.
The University of Arizonas plan to open a veterinary school, stalled after numerous flaws were found, is set for a hearing that could decide the projects future.

The American Veterinary Medical Association, which ruled in July that the UAs proposal didnt meet quality standards for veterinary training, will convene a panel in mid-December to consider the universitys appeal of the finding, association spokesman Michael San Filippo said.

The association accredits veterinary schools, and the UA cant proceed without its blessing. The project received an $8 million infusion from state taxpayers before concerns came to light, money already being spent to renovate a proposed site in Oro Valley.

The associations Council on Education rejected the UA plan saying it didnt meet five of 11 standards for accreditation. The council found that the schools plan, when implemented, will not permit the school to be in compliance with standards, a notification letter to the UA said.

Problems identified included lack of proof of the schools long-term financial viability, inadequate staffing and recruiting plans, lack of a high-quality research program and concerns about student access to learning opportunities.

The project, a signature initiative of UA President Ann Weaver Hart, will be in limbo for at least a year if the university loses its appeal. Once turned down, a school must wait 12 months before attempting to restart the accreditation process.

UA officials have disputed the accreditors findings and Hart predicted in a July news release that the appeal would be successful.

We will demonstrate that we have addressed all of their concerns, she said. We are absolutely committed to earning AVMA accreditation.

The UAs proposal differs from traditional veterinary schools in that it relies heavily on partnerships with entities such as Reid Park Zoo and the Pima Animal Care Center to provide training opportunities for students.

So far, the UA proposal has not been made public. University officials recently denied a public-records request from the Arizona Daily Star to examine it. Keeping the document under wraps for now is in the best interest of the state, said Teri Moore, the UAs public records coordinator.

UA spokesman Chris Sigurdson said the appeal is a closed-door process. In order to protect the integrity of our appeal, we are not releasing the original submission requesting the first stage of accreditation nor the appeal document until the AVMA has made their final decision, he said.

San Filippo, the veterinary association spokesman, couldnt say when the appeal panel will render its decision.
Tucsonans will have another chance to learn from Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky, a renowned linguist and political activist, is returning to Tucson to teach a seven-week politics course at the University of Arizona with Emeritus Professor Marv Waterstone.

Chomsky has previously taught a two-week linguistics seminar at the UA and appeared in several guest lectures, including at the Tucson Festival of Books.

The spring politics course would explore climate change, nuclear weapons, militarism, globalization and capitalisms impact on social inequality.

Tuesday lectures will be taught by Waterstone, former director of the UAs graduate interdisciplinary program in comparative cultural and literary studies. On Thursdays, Chomsky will use real-life examples of concepts discussed by Waterstone and host a questions and answers session.

The course, a humanities seminar, is open to community members and UA students for $225. First day of class is Jan. 12.

For more information, visit hsp.arizona.edu/course/what-politics
PHOENIX  Gov. Doug Ducey fired the embattled director of the state Department of Economic Security on Wednesday.

The dismissal of Tim Jeffries came on the heels of reports he flew to Nogales on a state plane to take several staffers out drinking at a Nogales restaurant during business hours. Jeffries was celebrating the fact these workers had agreed to become at will employees who could be fired for no reason.

But gubernatorial press aide Daniel Scarpinato said there was no single reason for the ouster, saying it came after a review of Jeffries tenure and actions at the agency.

Gov. Ducey has taken appropriate action today to move the agency forward in a way that will ensure we are meeting our mission of assisting Arizonas most vulnerable citizens, Scarpinato said in a prepared statement. The plan now is to to find a new director and bring stability to the agency, he said.

The firing of Jeffries from his $215,250-a-year job is an about-face for Ducey, who has backed his pick for the agency through Jeffries series of controversial acts.

As recently as August, Scarpinato said: The governor is very supportive of what hes doing there and of how hes engaging with employees.

Thats when Jeffries came under scrutiny for emailing staffers in the agency, which has more than 7,000 employees, about his trip to Lourdes, France, and offering to take their written special intentions to the holy shrine. The governors office also had no problem with Jeffries displaying a cross on the wall of his state office.

A month later Jeffries found himself back in the public eye for sending a message to all DES employees on a state-owned email list with a link to a story with arguments against Proposition 205. That measure, since defeated, would have allowed for the recreational use of marijuana.

The scrutiny intensified after it was revealed that Jeffries had fired close to 500 workers, including many who had previously received high evaluations and even raises. That raised allegations that the director was targeting women, minorities, older workers and gays.

It got to the point that Ducey removed Jeffries power to fire workers. Ducey also set up a process allowing those already fired to petition to get their jobs back.

There were signs the cumulative effect of Jeffries actions was beginning to take its toll.

On Monday, Ducey gave his first indication he was taking a closer look at the agency. The governor told reporters he was disappointed in what he had heard and read about his DES director and that his confidence in Jeffries had been shaken by what has been reported.

DES oversees a host of programs from food stamps and welfare benefits to unemployment insurance. It also is responsible for investigating cases of adult abuse; the child abuse functions had previously been taken from the agency, then under a different director, because of mismanagement.

Scarpinato said the governor believes it is important to have the agency running properly and without controversy and distractions.

For several weeks, we have been engaged in a careful investigation of the agency, he said, saying the size and impact of DES on Arizonans required that level of attention.

Ducey immediately named Henry Darwin, the governors chief operating officer, to run the agency as interim director.

Darwin moved quickly to ease tensions at the agency, sending out a message assuring employees that his goal is to further your capacity to do more good for the people of Arizona. He also asked employees to put aside wasteful distractions and focus on what matters most.

But Darwin also made it clear that while he welcomes their input, he expects a certain level of loyalty and acquiescence to the decisions he makes.

When topics are open for debate, all views are valid, he said in the memo obtained by Capitol Media Services.

But debate must end at some point, and the chain of command must decide. And this is very important: Once the decision is made, everyone on the team must totally commit, he added, saying, there can be no second-guessing or passive resistance.

Jeffries was not the only one to get the ax on Wednesday.

Also gone are: Daniel Collier, who was Jeffries chief of staff; Juan Aracella, the agencys chief accountability officer; Morris Greenidge, who had been chief human resources officer; executive assistant Marie Barker; and Charles Loftus, its director of security.
International high school students  many of them from war-torn countries  can teach us a thing or two about gratitude.

Thats what Joan Fox, an English-language development teacher at Amphitheater High School, realized when she asked students in her emergent writing class to write letters to Mayor Jonathan Rothschild at the end of last school year.

She gave them some guidelines  maybe share their background, what they like about life in Tucson and what could be better.

It was the second year she had given the assignment.

What struck me was how the concerns, complaints and dreams of the immigrants and refugees were identical to folks who have lived in the city for decades, Rothschild writes in an email. And how over and over they expressed their thanks for being in Tucson and how they each wanted to work hard, get as much education as possible, and make their new country an even better place.

The refugee and immigrant students in the class came from around the world and many barely spoke English when they started the school year.

By the end of the year, Fox had them writing letters to their mayor.

Their progress is just miraculous, and it doesnt matter where they come from or what they start with, says Fox, who is on medical leave. Theyre all so intent on learning the language, and I have never seen people who love America more. Theyre so grateful to be here, and they see what we have with new eyes. Their gratitude and their love and their innocence, despite everything, is beautiful.

Fox sent almost two dozen student letters, written in April and May, to Rothschild this year. Heres what some of her students had to say. Letters may be edited for clarity.

Gentille Shurweryimana

Age: 16

Current grade: 11th

Home country: Tanzania

What shes thankful for: In Africa, I cant go to school. My parents didnt have money. Here I go for free. I am thankful for school because it is important in my life.

Her letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Gentille. Im from Tanzania. I came to Tucson on March 23, 2015, with my family. I traveled with my family to come here. I have lived here for one year in Tucson. I am a student at Amphi High School. I am in 10th grade. When I finish high school, I want to go to college to learn many things. Im 15 years old. In Tucson I live in an apartment with my family. My family is beautiful. In my family we are five children, and I am the oldest. I have three brothers and one sister. I dont want to change anything in Tucson, because everything is wonderful. Many people find jobs, but they work hard to find money. I dont like my first country, because there is too much fighting.

I love my family and how my mom still teaches us to be kind with our neighbors. They help us when we are sick. I dont want to change anything, because everything is wonderful. The most important thing is to have many jobs. People want to be safe. I want you to help us at our school to have everything we want. Everything is better in Tucson, because sometimes it is going to be cold and hot. I love Tucson so much.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely:

Gentille Shurweryimana

Linda Hussein

Age: 15

Current grade: 10th

Home country: Iraq

What shes thankful for: If you try for a good future, you can, but in Iraq you cant. Im thankful for safety and free school.

Her letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Linda Hussein. I am from Shingal, Iraq. I am Ezidi. I came to America because ISIS came to my country and Shingal. They came and took anything. They killed fathers, and they tried to change our religion, only because we are Ezidi. Please, we need help. Please you can help Ezidi. We are not Muslim, but this is happening to all of us in my country. We want to live in our country, but dont have anything. The army fled in my country. In my country there is so much fighting.

The students here say they want to change some things in school, but they dont know this school is good. I dont want to change anything in this school. In my school in Shingal the teachers are Muslim. They fight with students. I do want to change my country, because it is so bad. I want to change my countrys schools and cities; we dont have anything. I want tell you: Please help my country.

Thank you for reading my letter, but please help Ezidi.

Sincerely:

Linda Hussein

Oanh Lai

Age: 18

Current grade: 11th

Home country: Vietnam

What shes thankful for: Im thankful for my family here.

Her letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Oanh. Im from Vietnam. I moved to Tucson on June 19, 2015. My country is shaped like a big capital S. Do you eat Vietnamese food? Its good and tasty. I love the food in my country. In my country, I left my uncle and my grandma. I miss them very much. I want them to come here to me and bring the food from Vietnam to Tucson. I like my school in Tucson because it is big, and I have many friends from other countries.

I live with my parents, my brothers and my sisters in Tucson. My parents go to work every day, and I just see them at night. When I go home, my sister and I help our parents cook food and clean house. I think one thing that can be changed in Tucson are the parks. I want all parks to have many games and water slides for the kids. That will make our city a beautiful place.

Sincerely

Oanh Lai

Sara Mohamed

Age: 15

Current grade: 10th

Home country: Eritrea (She was born in Sudan but identifies as Eritrean.)

What shes thankful for: There is no more work there, but there is work here. Im thankful for my family who are all living here.

Her letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

Hi I am Sara Mohamed. I was born in Sudan. My dad and my mom were born in Eritrea. I didnt see Eritrea, but my family tells me it is pretty. I went to school in Sudan. ... My mom and my dad ran away to Sudan. And after that they married in Sudan. Sudan has rivers but Eritrea has the sea. I have friends in Sudan. All my friends are beautiful. ... The last time I celebrated (a holiday) with them was a sad day, because I cant see them again, only after six years. I have my grandmother in Sudan. I miss her. And I have my brother in Sudan. He was married on March 29, 2015. Three months later I came to the United States. I came to America on June 16, 2015.

I live in Tucson, Arizona. Arizona is next to New Mexico, south of Utah, north of Mexico. To the west is California. The weather in Tucson is good. The weather in Sudan and Arizona are the same. I like Arizona people. Arizona is my favorite state. I want to help the Arizona people who are homeless. They dont have food. They dont have homes. When the weather is hot, they are hot. When the weather is cold, they are cold. I want more big parking lots and hotels here. Also, the university, the education is too expensive. All the people come from there to sit and to learn. I want to graduate from an Arizona university. I would like Arizona to be famous. I want to save people who need help. My best state is Arizona.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely:

Sara Mohamed

Adam Uwikunze

Age: 15

Current grade: 10th grade

Home country: Tanzania

What hes thankful for: In my first country, there was war. But in America, there is no war. Its safe here. Im thankful USA cares about refugees and to help them.

His letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

I am Adam Uwikunze. I am from Tanzania. I moved to Tucson on October 15, 2015. In my first country it was very dangerous and scary, because there is war. Our president kills people like animals. Now I live with my big family here. We are ten people. We have lived in Tucson about five months. In Tucson, I like soldiers because they help people in the world. I need to be a soldier, and help my first country. I like my first country. I will never forget my country.

I have my family. I live with my parents, one brother, and six sisters. I dont want to change anything here. I think all is better for me. I like Tucson and the people who live in Tucson. First, I like the weather. It is too hot, but that is good. We need to praise God.

Thank you for reading my letter. God bless you!

Sincerely:

Adam Uwikunze

Beatrice Kashindi

Age: 15

Current grade: 10th grade

Home country: Tanzania

What shes thankful for: Life in Tanzania is different than life in Tucson. The teachers beat students, but here teachers dont beat students. I am thankful for school because its giving us everything.

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Beatrice. I am from Tanzania, and I speak Swahili and English. I moved to Tucson from Tanzania. My parents are from Congo, but they lived in Tanzania. I like my life to be with peace not war. I like my family. I feel happy when I see my family. In Tanzania there are many people, but there are few houses, and many people live in tents. But here I live in a house. I am so very happy when I sleep in my own bedroom. I like school in Tucson. The teachers cant hit students, but in Tanzania teachers hit students and slap them. I like to be happy and have peace all my life.

My parents like Tucson, because it has more jobs. They earn money every month. All my fathers relatives live in South Africa. My fathers brother has lived in Canada for eight years now. He has five children. I would like to visit my uncle in Canada. I want more lights on streets so people can see better when it is night.

Thank you for being our mayor.

Sincerely:

Beatrice Kashindi

Tangi Ndayishimiye

Age: 15

Current grade: 10th grade

Home country: Burundi

What hes thankful for: In my country, there is no freedom. People fight. There are no jobs and a lot of homeless people. Here ... there is freedom, I go to school for free. I can have a better life here. Im thankful for America and people who live in America who can bring refugees here. They dont care if you die or not (in Burundi). Here people care if something happens to you. They dont want you to die. They want you to live.

His letter:

Dear Mayor Rothschild:

My name is Tangi Ndayishimiye. I am from Burundi. I have been in Tucson for four weeks. My country is small, but it is beautiful. There are many houses and many people and many friends. I have three brothers and one sister. We came here, my two brothers and I. My sister and my other brother stayed in Burundi. My sister is married, and my brother didnt want to come. I like my family so much. I like Tucson, because in this city you can buy everything you want, everything you want to drink, and there is freedom. There are many houses, and we play everything we want. I like this place, because it is better than my country.

My family and I like this city. We have food, a nice house, and a nice car. We live in freedom. I go to school. I eat what I want. One thing I want to be changed in Tucson is to make more jobs for people and to have more buildings. Thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely:

Tangi Ndayishimiye
PHOENIX  A new voter-approved law that raises Arizona's minimum wage to $12 by 2020 has a lesser-known section that lets victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse or stalking take paid sick leave to manage the effects of those events.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports (http://bit.ly/2g6g6Gi) that Proposition 206 will let workers use paid sick leave for medical attention, services from a domestic violence program, counseling, relocation or legal services that may be required after experiencing domestic abuse. They can also use paid time off to help a family member who may need these services.

Shannon Rich, director of public policy at Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, said safety and economic security are often linked for survivors of domestic violence. Many survivors weigh the decision to leave an abusive situation based on financially providing for themselves and their kids, and they may risk staying in order to meet their financial needs, Rich said.

Now, businesses sometimes may allow their employees to use sick time for domestic violence, but others may not, Rich said. The change in law will provide a uniform policy for all employers, she said.

"It's going to be an amazing resource for survivors," Rich said.

The voter-approved measure requires employers to allow full-time workers to earn up to five paid sick days per year, though employers with fewer than 15 workers must only provide three sick days per year. Workers will be able to use sick days for illnesses, including those of family members, and public health emergencies.

Current state law requires employers with 50 or more employees to allow victims of a crime to take time off work to "obtain or attempt to obtain an order of protection, an injunction against harassment or any other injunctive relief to help ensure the health, safety or welfare of the victim or the victim's child." The employer can't fire an employee for exercising these rights, but the time off doesn't need to be paid.

A handful of other states have paid sick leave policies for domestic violence, known as "safe time" policies, and several cities have enacted policies as well. Washington state also passed a sick leave law on Election Day that includes provisions for paid leave for domestic violence.

Garrick Taylor, a spokesman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which opposed Proposition 206, said the "safe time" provision was rarely, if ever, discussed when the chamber and proponents of the ballot measure debated the proposition.

Taylor said the chamber opposed the measure because of its dramatic wage hike and paid-leave provision. "But the reason for our opposition to the initiative did not include its provisions for victims of domestic violence," Taylor said.
Next month ABC will premiere the latest travel series by Ab Fab star Joanna Lumley.

Joanna Lumleys Japan is a 3 part series that sees her travel from the icy Siberian seas of the north to the subtropical islands of the south.

Featuring the much loved Joanna Lumley, the series will follow her as she travels to the far reaches

of Japan, from the icy Siberian seas of the north to the subtropical islands of the south. With her

natural curiosity and engaging storytelling, Joanna will take viewers on an adventure exploring some

of the most uncharted corners of Japans 6,800 mystical islands.

In this 360, Joanna will journey over 2000 miles travelling across Japan by boat, train, plane and

foot. From rustic mountains to sprawling metropolitan super cities, Joanna will embark on an epic

journey across this beautiful, yet often perplexing, country of extremes and give audiences a unique

insight into the people who make up these enchanting islands and their rich culture.

Starting in the north, in Hokkaido, Japans wild north, Joanna will make her away across Hokkaido

by train and car. Known for its rugged terrain, it is home to some of Japans most beautiful and

endangered wild animals.

Next, she will go to Honshu, the largest and most populated of Japans islands. Winding her way

south, she will begin in Tohoku, before boarding the bullet train, which will plunge her into the

metropolitan sprawl of Tokyo, before taking her to the ancient capital, Kyoto.

Finally, Joanna will journey through Japans forgotten island, Shikoku, on foot, before crossing over

to the volcanic Kyushu Island.

Joannas epic journey comes to its end on the idyllic beaches of Kohama, one of Japans smallest and

most remote pacific islands.

7:40pm Sunday December 4 on ABC.
Help India!

By RINA,

New Delhi: The president of a Mumbai organization Muslim Council of India, Ibrahim Bhai demanded the authorities of Jama Masjid Trust to neither allow interring the terrorists killed in recent Mumbai terrorist attacks nor consider them a Muslim because they have committed a barbarous act which is clearly un-Islamic.

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Members of Muslim Council of India today handed over their presidents letter containing the same demand to the authorities of Jama Masjid Trust, the organization that supervises over Mumbais Bada graveyard, situated in L. T. Marg Police Station area, and takes care of abandoned Muslim corpses. They also requested the authorities to not allow interring terrorists anywhere in Mumbai.

When contacted in this connection, the trustee of the Trust Hanif Nakhande confirmed receiving the letter and said, Personally, I agree with the opinion of the Council but according to Shariah, you cannot stop interring a Muslim from being buried in a Muslim graveyard, even if the deceased has been greatest sinner.

Later, the member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali corroborated the demand raised by the Council. He said, The terrorists were no longer a Muslim. It is appropriate to not let them buried in any Muslim graveyard. Some other Muslims have also expressed the same opinion.

Moreover, the president of Ulama Association Maulana Athar said in this regard, It is not allowed in Islam to kill any one with a sense of revenge. Whatever these terrorists have done is un-Islamic and the more we condemn it the less it would be. Therefore, such people should not be given place in the graveyard.

Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizwi, a Shia leader supported the decision of the council asking who have given right to avenge for crores of Muslims to a few terrorists. The book according to which the Muslims throughout the world lead there live never allows killing innocents, he added.

Responding to a query senior inspector Jayant Sarmokadam said, We hand over abandoned Muslim corpses to Qabristan Trust and they conclude final rituals using Trusts fund. If the Trust refuses to offer funds, police will have to bear the expenses.

Common Muslim opinion is that the terrorists should be identified and the corpses be handed over to the country wherefrom they came. Interrogations with the only terrorist captured alive, Ajmal Qassab, have made Indian authorities to conclude that all indications point toward Pakistan. However, the corpses of all nine terrorists killed in Mumbai are still lying in the mortuary of Mumbais J. J. Hospital.
Help India!

By NNN-APP,

Islamabad : Russian version of Shaheed Benazir Bhuttos book, Reconciliation  Islam,Democracy and the West was launched in Russia to mark the first anniversary of her martyrdom.

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According to a message received here from Moscow a large number of Russian scholars, journalists, students and Pakistanis attended the function on Friday.

Dr. Tariq Chaudhry, a Pakistani businessman in Moscow, who arranged translation and publication of the Russian version of the book also spoke on the occasion.

He said the purpose of bringing out Russian version of the book is to enable the Russians to comprehend the reconciliation vision of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and promote better understanding between the people of both the countries.

Russian scholars and students in their speeches expressed great appreciation for the thinking of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.

Speaking as chief guest, the Ambassador of Pakistan in Russia, M. Khalid Khatak said it is an outstanding book by an outstanding political leader who lost her life in the fight against terrorism. Her martyrdom was for peace and justice.

The Ambassador said that Shaheed Benazir, who had the unique distinction of being the first woman to be elected twice the Prime Minister of an Islamic country, wrote this book on a challenging subject.
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Kochi: Showing their loyalty to the BJP government of Karnataka, the Mysore city police on July 9 attacked on and arrested hundreds of peaceful demonstrators of the Popular Front of India who were demanding release of two hundred innocents including dozens of PFI activists arrested on July 6 in connection with the Mysore communal clash.

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Popular Font of India members stage a protest on Bangalore Road in Mysore on Thursday demanding the release of people who were arrested during Kyatamaranahalli violence.



The PFI had organized a Jail Bharo Andolan yesterday afternoon even though Section 144 was in force in the place. The people had assembled at the Fountain Circle. They were peacefully demanding the release of more than 210 innocent people arrested in connection with the communal clashes in Mysore. The people were sitting peacefully and offering voluntary arresting. A group of local women activists of PFI marched in to join the protest. As they reportedly resisted arresting by the police and refused to disperse the police unjustifiably resorted to lathicharge and bursting of tear gas to disperse the protestors. Several people were severely wounded in the lathicharge and the stampede-like situation that followed.

With the police arresting 200 more people yesterday the total number of people arrested so far in relation with the communal clashes in Mysore has reached to 400. None have been released yet.

The state leaders of the PFI including President K Abdul Latheef and General Secretary Afsar Pasha who had been arrested on the spot have not yet been released. Talks are going on with the higher authorities of the police for the release of the leaders and others, said Abdur Razak, a PFI official.







Communal clashes broke out in Udayagiri and nearby places in Mysore on 2nd July when a masjid compound was desecrated by miscreants. The violence that followed took lives of three including a 14-year old, who people say, was killed in police firing. Police had to resort to firing to disperse the angry mob. Prohibitory orders were imposed in the areas till July 6th and then extended to 13th.


Help India!

By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net

Two weeks ago, we had analysed why Subramanian Swamys ridiculous proposal of imposing AFSPA in Malappuram was so stupid, on so many levels. We had argued that it has always been a peaceful district and there have never been any incidents of communal clashes in the region. Once again, the only Muslim-majority district in South India proved the same in the way it reacted to the recent Muslim converts killing by showing exemplary composure.

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Muslim leaders offering prayers at the burial place of Faisal at Kodinhi



After the murder of Faisal, a recent convert to Islam, the area remained tense, but there was not even a single incident of violence reported anywhere in the district after five days of the incident.

Ruling out all apprehensions of communal violence, schools at Kodinhi were functional even on the day of the murder.

We give no room for rumours and apprehensions that could draw curfew and violence. All educational institutions were opened. Shops at some parts of Nannambra panchayat were closed showing respect to Faisal. We knew that the best way to react to communal killings is to keep calm, E P Mujeeb, educational affairs standing committee chairman of Nannambra panchayat.

Muslims form 95% of Kodinhis population.

According to Mujeeb, he was killed by Hindu hardliners on the clear communal motives. The murder might be aimed at tarnishing the communal harmony prevailing at Kodinhi and Malappuram, he said.

Faisals mother Meenakshi has alleged that his son was killed by RSS activists and had received threats from the Hindu outfit.

Residents here drew accolades even from the district police and they called a meeting to praise their heroic attitude.

People here deserve an applause as they maintained peace considering the volatile circumstances they were in. Residents here have taught others how they should react and kept away from any law and order issues,said DySP P M Pradeep while attending the all-party meeting.

The functionaries of Kodinhi mosque and its cleric were the real heroes as they managed to call a meeting of all local residents and urged the people to remain peaceful and stay from spreading rumors as that could create misunderstanding between the communities.

A speech made by the Imam here in the mosque ahead to the last prayers for Faisal exhorted the people to lay trust in the law.

It is true that the death of Faisal shook the collective conscience of the people here. Many were pained by the news. In a situation like this, it was easy to upset the religious harmony. But, the intervention of mosque committee, IUML and Jamat-e Islami helped us to retain peace, said Kodinhi mosque secretary Elimbadan Hamsa.

To add to this, IUML state president Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal also exhorted Muslims to ensure the protection of their Hindu brothers.

Some anti social elements have been trying to demolish peace in the state. Muslims are obliged to ensure that their brothers are safe. Culprits must be punished and no community should be trailed over the crimes, committed by some assailants, a press statement, issued by Thangal on Wednesday said.

Kodinhi Jama Masjid committee has decided to build a house for Faisals family, which has no way to lead its life. Faisal was living in a rented house nearby with his wife Jesna and children.

Faisal, who had worked in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia had returned home on leave only four months ago. He was preparing to return to the Gulf when some unidentified assailant killed him in the wee hours on Saturday.

It is our collective responsibility to ensure protection for the family of Kodinhis son, who was killed only for accepting the religion of his choice, Hamsa said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), the expatriate outfit of IUML, has come in aid for the family of Faisal. KMCC will distribute the family monthly pension for Failsals family and will support the studies of Faisals two children.
Help India!

Kolkata : Intensifying their protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation initiative, activists of West Bengals ruling Trinamool Congress held protest rallies across the state on Thursday.

In Kolkata, slogan shouting Trinamool activits marched from Gol Park to Hazra crossing in the southern part of the city.

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Senior leaders including Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Power Minister Sovandeb Chatterjee and city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee participated in the march.

Similar rallies were brought out in each of the districts, where ministers and senior leaders took part.

On Friday, the Trinamool would hold rallies in every block of the state.

The party is also slated to bring out a rally here on November 28.
My exposure to JK Rowling's 'Wizarding World' was sparse at best. When I was younger I re-watched my DVD copy of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire numerous times, so much so I can't even recount the number. I remember absolutely adoring the film: the action, the intrigue and the struggles of Harry Potter was something I even found to be relate-able to a point. To this day I wonder why I never did delve deeper into the 'Potterverse'. That all changed after I saw the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...

Addressing the elephant in the room...

Fantastic Beasts is a spin-off, another piece of the puzzle that is the Wizarding World Cinematic Universe.

Helmed by Director David Yates and written by the author of the original Potter books JK Rowling (This being her first ever screenplay) the same creative crew returned to jump-start a new franchise that has been reported to have five films. Probably because Warner Bro's has to compensate for the fact that their other juggernaut cinematic franchise (the DC Extended Universe) is failing critically and right now is basically a huge narrative mess trying to play catch up with you-know-who.

Simply put, and with no hyperbole, this is pure cinematic magic. I absolutely adore this extension piece of the Wizarding World and a fine reintroduction to the universe that captured the imagination of millions.

Narrative and aesthetic design...

My love for this film starts, most and foremost, with its design. I do not only mean this in a narrative sense but also in its presentation. The 1920's Prohibition America aesthetic looks fresh when combined with the look of the Wizarding World and moulds more organically with the continuous transition of the characters from the no-maj (the American version of Muggle) world - this is true in the narrative sense as well when you look at the events which transpire in the no-maj world.

Growing with its audience...

Unlike in the original Harry Potter films the no-maj in Fantastic Beasts are more aware of the wizards and their world. This adds political and social sub-text complexities to the narrative and the overall world being built by the writers, it also adds to the struggles of the characters which inhabit this world.

It gives this new setting more flavor - one that is even different from its predecessors. There's a feeling that the status quo of the world can be broken at any moment which makes the actions of the characters within the story more consequential adding intensity to its plot mechanics.

The inherent difference of this setting compared to the original Harry Potter films is that it actually focuses less on personal struggles and more on the struggle of the world itself. Issues within the Wizarding World. The personal struggles are still there for character development, and they are genuinely affecting, but there is a constant focus on the overarching plot of the brewing conflict between the no-maj and the Wizards.

I feel that this reflects the writers intent of world building for the sake of franchise development, at least even with the cynical purpose, the details built remain interesting and in turn create engaging dialogue for the characters.

Magical cast...

The characters that inhabit the plot are expectedly charming and moving with a particular note of Dan Fogel's character 'Jacob Kowalski' but I have a belief that you should experience them for yourselves as the viewer - just know that you'll love them as the acting in this picture is superb and doesn't lack in star power within the cast: Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller and Alison Sudol all match their characters to the tee.

Please sir, may I have some more?

Overall the biggest compliment I can give this film is that it truly inspired me to go back and experience its predecessors as it truly did captivate me and successfully got me on board for what Yates, Rowling and company has in store for the future.
President Elect Donald Trump is constantly confounding critics and pundits, especially those on CNN and other mainstream Media, with some of his high level appointments and position changes. Today he picked South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his United Nations Ambassador, shocking pundits because she had very nasty things to say about Candidate Trump during the campaign. Gov. Haley is also the daughter of Indian immigrants.

The President Elect is going against many of the Republican Partys most staunchly held positions. But it should not have surprised anyone since Mr.

Trump had never been a staunch Republican. From 2001 to 2009 Donald Trump not only contributed to both parties but was a registered Democrat. Simply put, no one should be surprised that he is going against many Republican policies because he isnt a real Republican, just a politician who switched to that party so he could run for President, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Trump on climate change

Mr.Trump told The New York Times that he believed climate change has a human component. Every Republican Senator denies climate change even exists. During the campaign candidate Trump went along with this, publicly saying climate change was a Chinese hoax. Now President-Elect Trump says he is considering reversing his former intention to reject the recent 2015 climate initiative agreement (Accord de Paris) which has 193 signatory countries/governments.

Trump on Clinton

Trump also made putting Hillary Clinton in prison for supposed criminal activities a main rally point in his campaign, always getting a rousing chant of lock her up from his gigantic crowds. But now his stated position is that the Clintons are good people and that she has suffered enough, going on to say he wants to concentrate on governing the divided country.

Trump on torture

President Elect Trump also called for waterboarding and other torture techniques during his rallies to loud approval from the audiences. That and his suggestion that the government should not just kill terrorists but also their families are both war crimes under international law. But in Tuesdays New York Times editorial board meeting he said that his likely selection for Secretary of Defense, retired U.S.

Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, told the President-Elect that torture is not effective and therefore he is reversing his pro-torture stand.

Trump vs electoral college

Secretary Clinton won 2 million more votes than winner Candidate Trump. That happened because the Electoral College actually selects the President, not the voting public who elect members of the Electoral College who are pledged to vote for their candidate but are not required to do so. It is theoretically possible that when the College meets on December 19th to supposedly vote Mr.Trump in as President-Elect enough of the electors could defect so no one gets the required 270 votes.

Technically Mr.Trump is still Candidate Trump and not President Elect Trump until and unless he gets 270+ votes next month.

If you are cynical enough this could explain why Mr. Trump is ready to reverse many of his most radical policies. Or, it could simply be that many of his extreme positions were just a ploy to get more support from Republicans during the election.

Even more Machiavellian, the Electoral College cant simply elect Secretary Clinton; it appears that if nearly 40 Republican-pledged electors defected so no candidate got 270 votes, the selection of President goes to the U.S. House of Representatives - that House is dominated by Republicans but they wouldnt be required to select Mr. Trump or even a Republican. The Vice President would be selected by the Senate which itself originally wasnt even supposed to be elected to office.
According to a spokesperson for the FBI, A-list movie star Brad Pitt, 52, whose new spy film Allied directed by Back to the Futures Robert Zemeckis is released in cinemas this Friday, has not been criminally charged for an incident on a private jet during which he reportedly lost his temper in full view of his adopted son Maddox and possibly more of his children.

Allegations led to Pitt/Jolie divorce

The allegations came amid Pitts messy divorce from fellow A-lister Angelina Jolie, 41, who wants full custody of their six children, three biological, Shiloh Nouvel and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, and three adopted, Maddox adopted from Cambodia, Pax adopted from Vietnam, and Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia.

Details on the incident, which took place on 14 September, are murky, as very little about what actually happened has been released. It was also investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, who also dropped the charges filed against Pitt and closed the case. Jolie (who rebranded herself as Angelina Jolie-Pitt recently and will probably be de-branding herself back pretty soon) filed for divorce just five days following the incident.

The FBI have released a statement

Laura Eimiller, the FBI spokeswoman, who works at the bureaus LA field office, made the following statement: In response to allegations made following a flight within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which landed in Los Angeles carrying Mr.

Brad Pitt and his children, the FBI has conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation, and concluding that, No charges have been filed in this matter.

While Jolie and Pitt had been seriously romantically involved since 2005, they only got married two years ago, making Jolies decision to file for divorce even more shocking. She has given irreconcilable differences between the pair as the reason for her decision, and says she has decided to end their marriage for the health of the family.
The hits just keep coming for Donald Trump as he announced yet another member of his cabinet. As with some of his other selections, Trump's new Secretary of Education has been met with criticism.

Education pick

Over the last two weeks, Donald Trump has created controversy by adding controversial names to his administration, including Breitbart News' Steve Bannon, Sen. Jeff Sessions, and retired Gen. Michael Flynn. The next name to be added to that list is Betsy DeVos, whom Trump nominated to become the next Education Secretary. DeVos has made her name as a mega donor to the Republican party, who is known to be anti-public school, as she has helped lobby in the state of Michigan to move to a charter school system.

While The Hill reports on November 23 that establishment Republicans, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are thrilled with the pick, others are not.

Trump picks GOP megadonor Betsy DeVos for Education secretary despite past support for Common Core:https://t.co/D9d9UTH0hF pic.twitter.com/VULEG92Ucl  The Hill (@thehill) November 23, 2016

According to the education website known as "Chalkbeat," DeVos' lobbying influence in Michigan's education system has resulted in "roughly 80 percent of charters in Michigan are run by private companies, far more than in any other state." While part of DeVos' plan is to turn public education into a for-profit business, her motive is actually rooted in a more personal cause.

This woman is now in charge of America's public school system.https://t.co/m9EdDwjEtm  If You Only News (@IfYou0nlyNews) November 23, 2016

DeVos is a devout Christian, who has pushed for the elimination of the teaching of evolution in the public school system, and to be replaced by "Christian education," especially in science classrooms.

As pointed out by "If You Only News," one of the most widely used Christian books that are making their way into charter schools refer to evolution as a "wicked and wain philosophy," while teaching the debunked theory that "many scientists today are Creationists."

Family ties

Jennifer Jacobs, a national political reporter for Bloomberg Politics, went into Betsy DeVos' family history, and revealed some troubling information.

"DeVos brother is Erik Prince, the ex-Navy SEAL, ex-CIA spy, founder of Blackwater, security firm banned from Iraq after fatal shootings," Jacobs tweeted. Blackwater, now known as "Academi," came under fire in 2007 when a group of their security employees were convicted of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while injuring nearly two dozen others.

DeVos brother is Erik Prince, the ex-Navy SEAL, ex-CIA spy, founder of Blackwater, security firm banned from Iraq after fatal shootings. https://t.co/BDO2h4jszW  Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) November 23, 2016

Moving forward

By Donald Trump nominating Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, it signals another shift to the far right in his political positioning for the country.

Once a supporter of the common-core education model, DeVos is now opposed to the program, as she appears to have her sights set on dramatically shifting the nation's education agenda into the future.
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Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang addresses the opening plenary session of the 27th Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington, US on Nov 22, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

WASHINGTON - China and the United States on Wednesday kicked off an annual high-level dialogue to seek more cooperation between the world's two largest economies, aiming to pave the way for a smooth transition of bilateral ties amid the US presidential change.

"Firstly, we have to properly manage the differences, ensuring a smooth transition of China-US economic and trade relations to the next US administration," Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said at the opening plenary session of the 27th Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the last high-level economic dialogue between the two countries under the Obama administration.

Wang said China will consider reasonable concerns of the United States, and that China also hopes the US will fulfill its obligations under the Article 15 of the Protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), important provisions regarding China's market economy status in anti-dumping cases.

Secondly, the two sides have to expand areas of cooperation and yield more deliverables in the areas of two-way investment, digital economy and food safety, laying a solid foundation for China-US economic and trade relations over the next year and a longer period, the Chinese vice premier said.

Thirdly, he called on the two sides to further strengthen the outcomes of the JCCT and highlight the JCCT's role in bilateral economic cooperation, showing a new type of China-US major country relations with the principles of non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said the JCCT has "focused on areas ripe for collaboration" and promoted more trade and commerce between the two countries over the past three years.

The JCCT has sparked the creation of the China-US Year of Tourism 2016 and facilitated a US trade mission of 12 healthcare companies to Beijing and Chongqing, China, last month, Pritzker said.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman emphasized the need to keep the US-China relations "on an even keel" amid strong headwinds of populism and protectionism around the world.

"Our two governments have less than two months to reinforce and fortify this relationship, so that it can endure through the uncharted waters that lay ahead," Froman said.

The JCCT gives the two sides a concrete opportunity to make progress in economic cooperation and address differences between the two major trade partners, he added.

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the US, and plays an important role in China-US economic cooperation and addressing economic and trade frictions.
Cloud Gate 2 dancers explore human identity through expressive movements and dance while on stage at London's premier dance theater. [Photo/Provided to China Daily]

A dance company from Taiwan with members that have a background in tai chi and martial arts in addition to ballet made their debut at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London this week with three new works that premiered earlier this year.

The members of Cloud Gate 2 put their unconventional talents to work in performances that provided a showcase for up-and-coming dance and choreographic talent.

Cloud Gate 2, the sister company of internationally acclaimed Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, was founded in 1999 to encourage talented young dancers, original works, and innovative young choreographers.

This week's three-night run was part of the Out of Asia 2 season at Sadler's Wells, which brings Asia's performing arts to London.

Alistair Spalding, artistic director at Sadler's Wells, said: "The event is a very important season and people have really seen what Asia is about."

He said London's leading venue for innovative dance will incorporate Asian and Chinese works into its regular program in future, rather than confine them to special seasons.

Cloud Gate 2's artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung said his inspiration comes from his life experiences and feelings.

He said moods and emotions can influence artistic output in the dance field. Referring to one of two works he choreographed for Sadler's Wells, he said:"The Wall was created when I felt confused and trapped in life and I use choreography to solve my problems."

The piecethe second of the three that were part of the Sadler's Wells programis a dark and complex dance performed on a dimly-light stage with dancers marching, robot-like, before breaking free into their more expressive movements against the sound of dramatic heavy beats.

With the contrast of light and shadow, dancers change from dark costumes to light with the occasional burst in which solo dancers show of their skills.

Looking forward to the company's future work, Cheng said its mission is to bring the art of dance to everyone in Taiwan.

"We go to grassroots communities, smaller villages and schools to perform for them the same program we have brought to London."

Cheng hopes to have three new choreographers in action with new works produced by next spring and hopes to produce a new work of his own.
WASHINGTON - A senior Chinese official on Wednesday refuted the accusation of China as currency manipulator, saying that China has been making progress in its market-oriented reforms of the country's foreign exchange system.

Exchange rate issue is not new in China-US relationship, said Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce said at a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) held here on Wednesday.

Academic and political communities have already made the conclusion that China does not manipulate its currency, said Zhang when asked about comments on US President-elect Donald Trump's plan to label China as a currency manipulator after he takes office.

Zhang stressed that China has "paid close attention" to Trump's remarks during his presidential campaign, particularly his remarks on the US-China economic and trade relations, and that China is also "closely observing" what he will do after he takes office.

China has been making progress in its market-oriented reforms of foreign exchange rate system, said Zhang.

The US Treasury Department said in its October report that China does not meet the standard of manipulating its currency, and cited China's progress in reducing its current account surplus to GDP ratio.

China's central bank has improved communication on its exchange rate policy with the market since early this year and has taken measures to deal with the depreciation of its currency, the Renminbi or RMB, said the report.

C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said it's not justifiable to say that China is manipulating its currency.

Chinese authorities have taken measures to prevent the RMB from sliding, which has promoted US competitiveness rather than undermined it, said the expert.

"It would thus be factually incorrect, as well as ineffectual, for the new Trump administration to label China a currency manipulator," said Bergsten.
Image: CBS Youtube video screenshot

In a weekend interview, President-elect Donald Trump commented that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obamas signature health-care law with the goal of insurance for everybody, and has made a vow to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on costs and prices in Medicaid and Medicare. Theyre politically protected, but not anymore, he said of pharmaceutical companies. In response to conservative Republicans who are dubious about his pledge to ensure coverage for millions, the President-elect pointed to several interviews he gave during the campaign, where he promised to not have people dying on the street.

Its not going to be their plan, he said of people covered under the current law. Itll be another plan. But theyll be beautifully covered. I dont want single-payer. What I do want is to be able to take care of people, he said Saturday.

Trumps plan, which is likely to face questions from both the right and left, will come after the House has taken more than 60 votes in recent years to eliminate all parts of the Affordable Care Act to adopt more conservative health-care policies, which usually rely more heavily on the private sector.

I think we will get approval. I wont tell you how, but we will get approval. You see whats happened in the House in recent weeks, Trump said confidently. As he has developed a replacement package for Americans, Trump said he has paid attention to critics who say that repealing Obamacare would put coverage at risk for more than 20 million citizens covered under the laws insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion.

Were going to have insurance for everybody, he said. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you cant pay for it, you dont get it. Thats not going to happen with us. People covered under the law can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.

Republican leaders have said that they will not strand people who gained insurance under the ACA without coverage. However, it is still not quite clear from either Trumps comments in the interview or recent remarks by GOP leaders in Washington on how they can ensure that keep that promise.

But what could Trumps replacement for Obamacare look like?

CBS News This Morning reported that Trump said he would use executive power if necessary to replace the Affordable Care Act. White House correspondent for Bloomberg News talks about it here in the clip below:

Then the question is, will Trumps plan be a better one than the Affordable Care Act?
As per a new report published by a realty price tracking portal, a downfall in the new home rates has trapped over 10 million American homeowners. The report estimates that about 18.8% of mortgaged homeowners were trapped in homes that they would sell at a considerable amount of loss in the first quarter of 2014. Though it marked an improvement over the final figure of 19.4% as recorded during the last quarter of 2013, and a major improvement from the all-time high of 31.4% home mortgages underwater in 2012, there are still over 10 million homeowners dealing with negative equity.

Bank of America

As per the most recent mortgage charts released by the Charlotte based lender Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the standard long term 30 year fixed rate mortgage deals are coming out at an interest rate of 4.000% and are carrying an annual percentage rate of 4.159%. The relatively shorter 15 year fixed rate mortgage home loan deals are being traded at an interest rate of 3.375% and are accompanied by an APR yield of 3.530% today. For potential home buyers who are looking forward to having more flexible home loans, the bank offers its ideal 5 year adjustable rate mortgage home loans at an interest rate of 2.875% and an APR yield of 2.875% to start with.

In the refinancing arena, the popular 30 year fixed rate mortgage home loan options are being quoted at an interest rate of 4.250% and an APR yield of 4.328% this Tuesday. The short term 15 year refinancing fixed rate mortgage home loan options are up for grabs at an interest rate of 3.375% today and an annual return rate of 3.602%. Mortgage shoppers with flexible home refinancing needs can opt for the best 5 year adjustable rate mortgage packages, which are now advertised at an interest rate of 3.000% and an APR yield of 2.929% today.

Wells Fargo

This Tuesday at the major U.S. based mortgage provider Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), borrowers interested in standard long term home loans will have to pay an interest cost of 4.375% and deal with an annual percentage rate of 4.575% to secure the 30 year fixed rate mortgage deals. In the short term home loan division, 15 year fixed rate mortgage home loans are highlighted at an interest rate of 3.500% and an APR yield of 3.783%.

When it comes to refinancing home loan options, the popular 30 year fixed rate home loan packages are traded at an interest rate of 4.250% and an APR yield of 4.335% today. For the seekers of short term home loans, 15 year refinancing fixed rate mortgage home loans are ideal options at an interest rate of 3.500% and an APR yield of 3.6475 today.

SunTrust

As per the new mortgage charts released by SunTrust Bank (NYSE: STI) on May 20, 2014, the standard long term 30 year fixed rate mortgage home loans are still traded at an interest rate of 4.375% and are carrying an annual percentage rate of 4.4853%. In the short term lending section, the 15 year fixed rate home loans are quoted at an interest rate of 3.300% and an APR yield of 3.5109% this Tuesday.

When it comes to flexible mortgage home loans, mortgage shoppers can spot the 5 year adjustable rate mortgage packages being listed at an interest rate of 3.200% and an APR yield of 3.0908%. The more flexible 7 year adjustable rate mortgage options can be secured at an interest rate of 3.750% and an APR yield of 3.3954% today.

Disclaimer: The rates quoted above are basically the average advertised by a particular lending company. No guarantee of taken from the lender aspect whether the borrower will qualify for the mortgage rates mentioned in the article. The lenders dole out interest depending upon various facets, some of which may be unique to the borrower. This website does not engage in the sale or promotion of financial products and makes no claims as to the accuracy of the quotation of interest rates.
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BINH DINH  The Peoples Committee of Binh Dinh Province has approved a VND31 billion fund to stabilise prices of essential goods during Tet festival 2017.

This was announced by Man Ngoc Ly, director of Binh Dinh Department of Industry and Trade.

The fund is aimed at achieving domestic price stabilisation for the products. It is used to avoid sudden increases in prices of the products and avoiding speculation and price increases, especially in the province, according to Ly.

It will also supply essential goods for people in mountain and remote areas during the Tet festival.

These included rice, sugar, confectionery, cooking oil, fish sauce, in addition to meat, eggs, vegetables and various fruit. Those goods must meet standards on quality, food hygiene and safety, as well as have quarantine certificates from relevant offices.

Further, companies must sell goods at prices 3 to 8 per cent lower than market prices.

This year, the companies that accept loans from the provincial stabilisation fund include Sai Gon Co.op Binh Dinh Co. Ltd  owner of Co.op mart Quy Nhon and Co.op mart An Nhon, the Anh Nhat Import-Export Manufacture and Trade Limited Company in Quy Nhon, addition to three good suppliers including Van Canh JSC, Vinh Thanh JSC and An Lao JSC.

The three-month price stabilisation programme will start on December 15, 2016 and continue until March 15, 2017.  VNS
HA NOI  The electricity sector in 2017 will strive to prevent the power tariff from stirring controversy, said Hoang Quoc Vuong, deputy minister of Industry and Trade.

Vuong said the sector has not seen complaints about power tariffs this year, as the prices have been kept stable. The sector has ensured power supply to the production and consumption demand as well as national energy security in the year of 2016.

A report from the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) showed that in 2016, the group planned to have power output of 175.9 billion kWh. Of which, the EVNs power productivity would be 81.6 billion kWh, while that of purchasing power output was 94.27 billion kWh and the commercial power output was 19.1 billion kWh.

As of October, total power capacity was 40,823 MW, including 15,368 MW of hydropower plants; 13,826 MW from thermal power plants; 2,209 MW from small hydropower plants and 395MW from imported power.

The National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)  one of the two big groups providing fuel to thermal power plants said its gas supply next year was expected to be lower than this years. Therefore, PetroVietnam will continue to work with its members to adjust the gas supplies in 2017 to meet with power production demand.

Nguyen Van Bien, deputy general director of Viet Nam National Coal and Minerals Group (Vinacomin), said the group and ong Bac Corporation have been studying to design three new vessels to better serve coal transportation. Vinacomin has also worked with three transport companies to facilitate coal transport to thermal power plants.

This year, Vinacomin supplied around 4.8 million tonnes of coal to EVN thermal power plants. The amount is expected to reach 5 million tonnes in 2017.

Deputy minister Vuong asked all power companies to pay attention to power plant maintenance to ensure safety, as there were some incidents this year.

He required PetroVietnam to ensure gas supplies for electricity production while asking Vinacomin and ong Bac Corporation to supply coal for 22 power plants.

In addition, Viet Nam will consider importing power from Laos if the tariff was lower than local production costs. -- VNS
HA NOI  The agricultural sector will focus on restructuring, developing and promoting ten key products for export, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a meeting held on November 22 in Ha Noi.

The ministry will dedicate all its resources and restructure policies to develop these products, which will have an export value of US$1 billion, instead of making investments in all agro-products at the same time, Cuong said at the meeting between his ministry and a working team from the Government Office.

One of the products the ministry will focus on, for instance, will be brackish water shrimp. Specific plans for this product will be submitted to the prime minister.

The export value of shrimp is expected to increase from $3 billion at present to $8-10 billion between 2025 and 2030, as per the plan. Scaling up will be possible because the countrys coastal areas have seen many changes and have huge potential, the minister said.

The ministry will work to improve the production of provincial and municipal goods, based on the unique produces of the region, such as the ong Thap mango, Hung Yen longan, Lang Son custard apple and Hoa Binh orange. This will lay the foundation to promote and develop national products.

Cuong said the government needed to put mechanisms in place to resolve problems, especially those related to policies on capital for enterprises and co-operatives. To start with, the planning and investment ministry should amend Decree 210 to suit the socio-economic conditions of different regions and the resources available for businesses there. The ministry would propose that regulations be amended to permit cooperatives and enterprises to take more credit, he said.

At the meeting, Mai Tien Dung, minister and chairman of government office, quoted the prime minister as saying that restructuring the agricultural sector, especially to attract investments, would be a huge task.

There are many risks and limited support for its development, according to Dung. The sector currently focuses on the export of rice, seafood, coffee and rubber, and has a weak production process and is not competitive.

Cuong said the agricultural sector had restructured itself over the years and was successful in many areas. For instance, he said, the sectors export value touched $30 billion a year and the export value of ten key items was pegged at around $1 billion.

Many industries have adopted modern, large-scale production processes to their benefit, according to the minister. For instance, Viet Nam has become the largest animal feed producer in the Southeast Asian region. The country is also a leading seafood exporter in the world market. However, many provinces and cities have not focused on restructuring the agricultural sector in a similar manner, which has affected its ability to be competitive and export farming products across the world. Agricultural enterprises also struggle to get funds to improve production and expand.

In the coming months, Cuong said, the ministry would implement seven major items, as per the prime ministers directives. This includes sector restructure; improving quality of disaster forecasts and actively coping with climate change; building new rural areas; upgrading food hygiene and safety; better management of agricultural materials; protecting of forests and forestry development; and supporting fishermen, especially in the four central provinces that were affected by the recent toxic sea spill.

Dung said the government office would submit the agricultural ministrys proposals and reports to the prime minister, and offer positive solutions to overcome the hurdles the sector faces, particularly those related to policies, institutions and state managements.

Before December 15, the government office would set up an agricultural department and an industrial department, which would be separate from the economic department, to improve the state management of the two sectors, Dung said.  VNS
HA NOI  Up to 88 businesses will be presented with the "Viet Nam Value Award 2016" in recognition of their strong national brand names on November 30, officials announced on Wednesday.

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Trade Promotion Agency o Kim Lang said, of the 88 businesses, 23 firms won the awards five consecutive times, including Viet Tien, An Phuoc, Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage JSC (Sabeco) and Vina Coffee, as well as Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam JSC (Vietcombank), Bitis, Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and Sai Gon Jewelry JSC (SJC).

Further, 26 enterprises reported annual revenues of at least VN5 trillion (US$220 million) and 70 others earned at least VN1 trillion per year, according to Lang. Some small companies will also be honoured for their efforts to invest in new fields such as biotechnology and hi-tech industries.

This years award winners operate in various fields such as engineering; machinery and equipment; garments, textiles and footwear; and electronics, information technology and telecommunications, as well as agriculture, forestry and seafood; finance and banking; food and beverages; trade services; and construction and real estate.

In 2015, their combined revenues exceeded VN662 trillion, up nearly 20 per cent from the figure in 2013. They exported over $2 billion worth of goods, contributing more than VN59 trillion to the State budget, and created jobs for nearly 500,000 labourers.

The enterprises also donated more than VN2.3 trillion to charity concerns last year.  VNS
HOI AN  Hoi An has included the 1875-built Hainan Chinese Temple on Tran Phu street as a new destination among 22 sites in the old quarter, expanding tourism sites in the city.

The temple, one of five Chinese temples in Hoi An from previous centuries, was built to worship the souls of 108 merchants on three vessels from Hainan Island who were killed by Nguyen Dynasty officials under Emperor Tu uc (1847-1883).

The Hainan Chinese merchants were all killed on July 16, 1851, according to a document in the temple, having been mistaken for pirates.

The three ships were anchored off an islet of now Quang Ngai Province on their way back to Hainan Island.

Emperor Tu uc punished the officials and soldiers who massacred the merchants and sent merchandise back to the families of the dead from Hainan Island.

The temple, a short walk from Hoi Ans market, has undergone many restorations to protect its timber rafters and Hainan Chinese style sculptures.

The temple along with Guangdong Hall, (1885) Fujian Chinese Club (1697), Chinese Hall (1741) and Jiao Zhou (1845) were spiritual worship places for the Chinese community in Hoi An.

The city has hosted 2.62 million tourists, of which 1.3 were foreigners, in the first three quarters this year, a 17.9 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.  VNS
To celebrate the 46th National Day of Oman on November 18, Viet Nam News presents an article written by Ambassador of Oman, Kheikh Sultan Saif Hilal Al Mahruqi.

The Sultanate celebrated its 46th National Day, the 18th of November, which remains carved deeply in the memory of the Omani people. This historic date represents a major turning point for Omani citizens.

Since the outset of the Omani modern renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said 46 years ago, its outreach has prevailed at all levels, on the domestic front and in external relations.

The year 2016 forms a turning point in the Omani development track with a view to safeguarding achievements made over the past 46 years in accordance with the Vision 2020 objectives. These objectives include providing jobs for Omani youths, focusing efforts on social solidarity through education, training, health and human resources development and improving economic diversification.

Foreign Policy:

Over the years Omani foreign policy has been shaped in accordance with solid principles founded on consistency, balance, clarity and rationality in establishing relations with countries of the world.

The Sultanate has been enhancing efforts for peace and supporting peaceful initiatives in various regional disputes, as well as finding and releasing foreign hostages who went missing in war zones.

Economic Development and Food Security:

The Sultanate has also maintained public services. The states budget this year focused on a set of procedures, namely: increasing the flexibility and sustainability of the fiscal system, rescheduling public resources, and raising the capacity of state-owned companies by founding holding companies required to draft plans and strategies in accordance with new governance principles.

In the annual report of Transparency International index 2015-2016, the Sultanate won sixth place among Arab states and 62nd place in the world.

Oman won second place among Arab countries and ranked 26th globally in the Global Food Security Index 2016.

Food Security :

The Sultanate seeks to achieve food security through a strategic plan focusing on increasing local food output, augmenting strategic stock of imported commodities, encouraging food processing and aquaculture and offering incentives to investors in farming, livestock and fisheries sectors.

Fish farms:

Optimising the Sultanates strategic location, and its coast line, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries decided to allocate a special sector for fish farms to produce the best quality of fishery products.

Short-cut to implementation :

In the context of economic diversification, the directives of Sultan Qaboos gave rise to a pioneering national programme codenamed Tanfeedh (or execution), which seeks to revolutionise specific plans, programmes and policies across various economic sectors in accordance with well-studied and executable visions, with a focus on converting industries, tourism, logistics, mining and fisheries.

Transport:

The Sultanate is taking steps to set up a network of tarmac roads to connect all governorates to facilitate the movement of residents across the country and to give a boost to trade, industry and tourism, besides connecting the Sultanate to neighbouring states.

Tourism:

This year the Sultanate implemented the Oman Tourism Strategy, which aims to provide 500,000 jobs and increase investment. The strategy also aims to raise the tourism sectors contribution to gross domestic product by 10 per cent by the year 2040, as well as developing the local economy and small and medium-sized enterprises.  VNS
HAARLEM  A very rare handwritten poem by Jewish diarist Anne Frank was sold for 140,000 euros to an unnamed online bidder yesterday, fetching almost three times its reserve price.

Auctioneers closed the sale after just two minutes of tense bidding at the Bubb Kuyper auction house in the western Dutch city of Haarlem.

Around 20 collectors took their seats in a sales room decorated with antique books, maps and illustrations while others bid by telephone and online.

The reserve price was set at 30,000 euros (US$31,000).

"Over the last 40 years, only four or five documents signed by the teenager have gone under the hammer," Bubb Kuyper co-director Thys Blankevoort said.

"I am pleasantly surprised. I wasnt expecting 140,000," he said after the sale.

"It indicates the emotion with which people buy (these pieces) and the symbol that Anne Frank was," he said.

Dedicated to "Dear Cri-cri," the poem, written in Dutch in black ink on a notebook-size piece of white paper which has slightly discoloured with age, is signed "in memory, from Anne Frank".

The final four lines read: "Others have criticised you for what thou hast done wrong, make sure that you make it better, thats the answer".

Frank wrote the 12-line text, dated March 28, 1942, in a friendship book belonging to the older sister of her best friend only three months before she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam.

"My sister, named Cri-cri, tore this page from the booklet and gave it to me in 1970," said a statement by Franks best friend, Jacqueline van Maarsen, read by Blankevoort.

"I know that my sister was not as attached to this verse from Anne to her... and that is the reason that Im putting it up for sale," Van Maarsen said.

"My mother will do something good with the money in the spirit of Anne Frank," her son Maarten Sanders, who attended the auction, said.

The Diary of a Young Girl, which Frank penned while in hiding from June 1942 to August 1944 has sold more than 30 million copies in 67 languages.

She died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in early 1945, aged 15, less than a year after the Nazis captured her and just before the end of World War II.

A series of letters between Anne and her sister Margot with American penpals sold for $165,000 in 1988. And a 1925 edition of Grimms fairy tales, with both girls names written on the title page, went for $62,500 in May in a New York auction -- fetching twice the estimated price.  AFP
CALIFORNIA  Vietnamese Britney Chau Nguyen won Mrs Asia USA International 2016, which was held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Centre in California last Saturday.

Britney Chau Nguyen triumphed over 57 other candidates from different countries in Asia and won the vote of the judges with her traditional customs, evening gowns and ensemble.

Founded in 1987, the pageant helps improve leadership skills, promotes personal and professional growth, enhances social skills, confidence and stage presence, and strengthens cultural values and camaraderie. The title is awarded to a candidate who is beautiful, kind and active in social matters.

As Mrs Asia USA 2014 and the only Vietnamese in the jury, Sonya Suong ang crowned Britney Chau Nguyen.

Britney Chau Nguyen is a Vietnamese American who is currently living and working in Florida. She was the fourth runner-up of Mrs Vietnam World in August, which gave her the experience and confidence to enter Mrs Asia USA International 2016.

She said she would now devote more time on community activities to promote Viet Nams culture abroad.  VNS
About half of nationwide communes are targeted to meet new-style rural area standards by 2020, deputies said before the second session of the 14th National Assemly (NA) closed in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa

HA NOI  About half of nationwide communes are targeted to meet new-style rural area standards by 2020, deputies said before the second session of the 14th National Assemly (NA) closed in Ha Noi yesterday.

Legislators adopted the goal as part of a resolution on enhancing the efficiency of the national target programme to build new-style rural areas along with agricultural restructuring.

They also proposed that there should be about 15,000 agricultural co-operatives and co-operatives unions with efficient operations and proper linkages by 2020.

By then, the ratio of agricultural labourers is expected to fall to less than 40 per cent of all labourers in the country, and the average income of rural residents is set to be at least 1.8 times that of 2015.

NA Deputy General Secretary Le Bo Linh said in a report that as of the end of last year, more than 1,500 communes, or some 17 per cent of nationwide communes, met new-style rural area standards regarding electricity, irrigation, income, security and master plans.

The country mobilised VN851.38 trillion (US$38.52 billion) to implement the programme from 2011-15, and the ratio of poor rural households fell from 17.4 per cent in 2011 to 8.2 per cent in 2015.

However, Linh said shortcomings remained in implementation.

Authorities had inadequate directives for farmers, technology application in agricultural production remained limited and connections among production, processing and distribution phases were weak.

There was also a lack of farm produce carrying national brand names with high added value and pollution endangered the rural environment.

The resolution said the country must renew agricultural production methods and restructure agriculture to cope with climate change and protect the environment.

It must also revise land policies to stimulate land concentration, a factor needed for mechanisation in farming, while facilitating enterprises to invest in agriculture, and foster linkages among the government, businesses, scientists and farmers.

It must also prioritise funds for production models that generate jobs and income, and areas populated by ethnic minorities in tough conditions.

Questioning of authorities

Policymakers also passed a resolution on voters questioning of the authorities.

They approved of having NA bodies, the Government, the Supreme Peoples Court, the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and relevant agencies answer more than 2,400 questions posed by voters to the NA during this session.

The NA asked the Government and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to direct ministries, sectors and localities to adopt measures to progress in several major areas next year.

In industry and trade, authorities must tackle inefficient public projects and strictly treat those to blame for the bad investments. They should also intensify market management to tackle counterfeit and smuggled goods.

They should build a roadmap to develop the automobile industry over the next two decades, and strengthen the supervision of hydroelectric projects.

Regarding environmental protection, the authorities should revise regulations to ensure that investment projects are environmentally-friendly, besides moving production units from residential areas into industrial complexes.

Taiwanese-invested steel firm Formosa, which caused mass fish deaths along the central coast this year, will be closely monitored.

Authorities must also improve education and training to create quality human resources and trim staff from administrative organisations.

Legislators assigned the NA Standing Committee, the Government and law enforcement agencies to deal with former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, who misused his power in appointing executives and badly affected the prestige of the Party and State.

These agencies are to speed up inspections to prosecute officials and civil servants making similar mistakes.

Various issues

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said corruption and misspending of public resources remained serious, while the country is still confronted with various issues in the economy and improving healthcare, social security, traffic safety and urban management.

These worry people and voters nationwide. The government at all levels must make every effort to handle shortcomings for stable and sustained economic development with reasonable growth, said Ngan.

Action is needed to assure social welfare and improve peoples lives, maintain political stability and consolidate national defense, besides assuring social order and security in 2017 and the years afterwards, she said.

Opinions offered

According to deputy Bui Van Phuong of Ninh Binh Province, this NA session has been an eventful one.

He said although two-thirds of the deputies are newly elected, the quality of their work is good.

A noteworthy point is the democratic atmosphere: deputies discussed and debated in a straightforward manner with a high sense of responsibility."

The newly allowed direct debate between deputies and with ministers creates a platform for deputies to express their opinions, which helps ensure better and more reliable NA decisions, he said.

However, Phuong suggested that in the next sessions, debates should also be conducted between deputies and law compiling and appraisal bodies, not just among deputies and ministers.

Deputy Pham Tat Thang--from the southern Vinh Long Province--said the NAs session has yielded fruitful results in all three aspects of the NAs functions: law-making, supervising and deciding on important national issues.

He also praised the quality of Q&A session: Unlike in the past, NA did not ask only a minister to respond to deputies questions about a certain issue but picked up a group of issues for both ministers and members of the Government to answer."

This shows the co-ordination and shared responsibility among ministers and Government members in addressing the issues, he said.

Can Van Luc, an economic expert and senior advisor of BIDV Bank Chairman, praised the NAs adoption of crucial plans that will greatly impact the middle- and long-term socio-economic development of the country, such as the plan for management of public debts, public investment and finance.

However, he said it would be very challenging to realise some of the NAs goals.

For example, the goal of attaining a GDP growth of 6.7 per cent in 2017 and keeping budget deficit lower than 3.5 per cent of the GDP next year. They are both very difficult to achieve, he said.

While agreeing with the NAs decision to cancel the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant due to economic difficulties, Luc said the plan should be put on the table again a more appropriate time in the future, claiming it would serve the power demand of the country in the long term.

Luc also hoped that the quality of laws will improve further by following proper procedures and taking into consideration opinions of related parties such as enterprises, associations, and experts.

The number of full-time deputies should also be increased. Deputies should also have assistants in terms of legal grounds, he said.

Nguyen Van Tho, 72, a retiree in Ha Nois Tay Ho District, said that he appreciated the deputies work during NA meetings.

They went straight to the point when discussing bills, socio-economic plans, questioning four ministers at Q&A sessions and debating with them. The deputies did a good job on raising issues that voters are most concerned with"

However, Im not satisfied with the answers of the four ministers at hot seat during Q&A session," he said.

Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan could not answer the question concerning State official Trinh Xuan Thanhs successful escape after being found violating economic management regulations and causing serious consequences including the loss worth VN3.3 trillion as he was chairman of PetroVietnam Construction Corporation."  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, yesterday, during which he affirmed the Vietnamese Party and States consistent policy of paying attention to consolidating and developing ties with Cambodia.

At the talks, which took place on the threshold of the ninth Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit, PM Phuc expressed the wish that the Viet Nam-Cambodia relations would grow in line with the motto of good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive partnership and durable sustainability.

The Vietnamese leader spoke highly of Cambodias socio-economic achievements under the leadership of the Government and the Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) as well as PM Hun Sen.

PM Phuc believed that the ninth CLV Summit will be successful, thereby contributing to the enhanced co-operation among the three countries.

For his part, PM Hun Sen also affirmed that Cambodia is keen on boosting its relationship with Viet Nam.

The two PMs discussed a wide range of issues related to Viet Nam-Cambodia ties as well as measures to further foster the bilateral partnership in economy and trade, and to ensure security and political stability in each country.

Both leaders expressed their desire to soon complete the border demarcation so as to build the common border of peace, friendship, stability and development, thus facilitating border economic growth and people-to-people exchanges.

PM Phuc proposed the Cambodian Government and PM Hun Sen continue creating optimal conditions for Cambodians of Vietnamese origin to stabilise their lives so that they could contribute to Cambodias socio-economic development.

The two leaders also agreed to work closely on the organisation of activities marking the 50th anniversary of Viet Nam-Cambodia diplomatic relations in 2017, with the attendance at the inauguration ceremony of a bridge connecting Viet Nams An Giang Province and Cambodias Kandal Province in early next year as the first activity.

On this occasion, PM Phuc invited PM Hun Sen and his wife to visit Viet Nam soon. The invitation was accepted with pleasure.  VNS
SIEM REAP  Leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam have agreed to develop the connectivity of the three economies as an important task in the near future, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said after the 9th Summit of Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area (CLV 9).

Speaking at a joint press conference after the summit he co-chaired with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, PM Phuc said the three countries shared the viewpoint that they will continue to closely coordinate and make use of every opportunity and resource to serve development, including help from partners such as Japan and the ADB, among others.

He stressed that the private sector will be encouraged to participate in the CLV co-operation mechanism.

According to Cambodia PM Hun Sen, those at the summit praised the outcomes of CLV co-operation in the fields of trade, investment, tourism, agriculture and people-to-people exchanges.

He further noted that the CLV development triangle has been transformed from operating within an underdeveloped area, into a region with promising economic development, where local living conditions have improved dramatically.

Hun Sen cited, as an example, the surge in Cambodias per capita income, which rose from US$294 a year when the country joined the CLV development triangle, to $1,300 today.

The PM said the three sides pledged to provide more incentives and favourable conditions for trade and investment within the triangle. The countries will complete the tourism development plan for the region and a plan of action to connect the three economies, not only in transport, but also in infrastructure, energy and tourism.

Lao PM Sisoulith praised the joint statement and the outcome of the summit, affirming that the three countries will work closely to carry out the agreements.

Leaders of the three countries also reached a consensus on the use of the telecommunication network to establish links allowing leaders and agencies of the three countries to regularly discuss and tackle issues in a timely manner.

They also agreed on a proposal for Viet Nam to set up a vocational training centre to serve the developing triangle area.

In the spirit of the agreements, the three countries will continue their close coordination in economics and investment, while working together in ensuring political security, peace and stability along their borders, laying a firm foundation for their cooperation in culture, education and particularly tourism.

The three leaders agreed to work together in fulfilling the UN Millennium Goals to 2030, with special attention paid to the protection of the environment and the management and use of water resources and other natural resources.

Meanwhile, PM Phuc said Viet Nams telecommunication service provider Viettel can assist in establishing links for online meetings among the three countries leaders and agencies.

Viettel will also support the building of e-government in the three countries, and set charges for Viettel users in the three countries at similar levels for domestic calls, thus helping put in place investment activities and serve tourists and residents in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.  VNS
ROME  Pope Francis has welcomed and spoken highly of President Tran ai Quangs visit to the Vatican, considering it an occasion for Vietnam and the Vatican to enhance mutual understanding, thereby fostering bilateral ties.

At a meeting with the Vietnamese leader on November 23 (Vatican time), the Pope recalled the fine impressions he had during his meetings with Viet Nams senior leaders in recent years. He also expressed his sentiment toward the Southeast Asian nation.

The Vatican highly valued the countrys socio-economic development achievements, along with its collection of public opinions before approving the Law of Belief and Religion, he said.

President Quang thanked the Popes sentiment towards Viet Nam and voiced his delight at the encouraging strides in bilateral relations.

Viet Nam consistently respects and ensures the right to freedom of religion or belief of all people, he affirmed, adding that it has also continually fine-tuned the legal framework for ensuring that right.

He and Pope Francis shared the view on positive progress in the Vietnamese-Vatican relations as seen through high-level meetings and maintained dialogues via the joint working group mechanism.

Appreciating active contributions by Viet Nams Catholic community over the past time, they underlined that the Catholic Church in Viet Nam should operate as in line with law and Catholics should lead a good secular and religious life and be good citizens.

They also agreed to maintain dialogues and meetings between the two sides.

The meeting took place in a sincere and straightforward manner with mutual respect.

On this occasion, President Quang also met with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to exchange views on the Catholicism situation in Viet Nam and the Vietnamese-Vatican relations.

President meets leaders of Italian parties

Viet Nam attaches importance to developing the strategic partnership with Italy, its important partner in the EU, President Tran ai Quang has told leaders of several Italian parties.

The President separately met with leaders of the Democratic Party, the Communist Refoundation Party and the Communist Party of Italy on November 23 (local time) as part of his State visit to the country.

At these meetings, the Vietnamese leader informed his hosts about outcomes of his talks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

He noted with pleasure the strong development of the bilateral relationship across fields since the two countries established their strategic partnership in January 2013.

President Quang also introduced socio-economic development orientations as well as foreign policy set by the 12th Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), affirming that the Vietnamese Party treasures the traditional friendship with Italys left-wing parties.

He stressed the CPVs stance on maintaining, consolidating and enhancing its relations with fraternal parties while expanding ties with major and ruling parties in foreign countries.

Reviewing the 18th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Ha Noi last October, the President noted the parties resolve to struggle for peace, independence, equality, democracy, civilisation and socialism.

The Vietnamese leader expressed his hope that the Italian left-wing parties and the CPV will increase meetings and experience sharing as well as support each other to achieve common objectives, contributing to deepening and materialising the bilateral strategic partnership.

In reply, the Italian hosts reassured the solidarity and friendship of their parties towards Viet Nams past struggle for national liberation as well as the present cause of national construction.  VNS
HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich agreed that the Viet Nam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has experienced dynamic development since it was formed in 2012.

In their meeting on November 23 in Moscow, the two Deputy PMs also agreed that maintaining political trust via regular dialogues and delegation exchanges is an important basis for boosting bilateral cooperation, especially in economy.

The two sides said that they would closely co-ordinate in implementing the Viet Nam-EAEU free trade agreement, which is hoped to increase bilateral trade value to US$10 billion by 2020, as well as accelerating priority co-operation projects.

Both Deputy PMs affirmed their governments would create favourable conditions for enterprises of the two countries to invest in fields like energy, railways, machinery, light industry and agriculture.

They noted the need to make use of the potential of both nations and boost their effective co-operation in defence-security, science-technology, education-training, culture-tourism, labour and collaboration between localities.

At a meeting between Deputy PM Minh and First Vice Chairman of the Russian State Duma Ivan Melnikov on the same day, the two sides expressed their pleasure at the close co-ordination at international forums between Viet Nams National Assembly and the Russian State Duma and wished the two legislative bodies would further their collaboration in the future.

Lauding the close relationship between the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the Communist Party of Russia, Ivan Melnikov believed that the two parties would continue their close co-ordination to promote bilateral ties.

Also on November 23, the Vietnamese officials met with First Vice Chairman of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation (Senate) Nikolai Fedorov.

The Russian leaders agreed to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese people to study, work and live in Russia.

The same day, Deputy PM Minh visited Viet Nams Embassy in Russia. He encouragedthe embassys officials and staff to effectively implement the external policies of the Party and State.  VNS
HCM CITY  People with disabilities are thankful for the efforts HCM City has taken to increase their access to public buses, but say more can be done.

I am very proud of the citys bus system, Nguyen Van Cu, deputy head of the HCM City-based Disabilities Research and Capacity Development (DRD) Centre, told a conference it organised to find ways to better help people with disabilities travel by buses and integrate into society in other ways.

Compared to other provinces and cities, buses in the city are better and easier for people with disabilities to use, Cu said.

However, the city should continue to improve and address shortcomings in service attitude and other aspects, he added.

Le Hoang Minh, deputy head of the city Department of Transportation, said that the city was one of the first localities in the country to exempt people with disabilities from buying bus tickets, before a provision to this effect was included in the 2012 Law on People With Disabilities.

The city now has 263 of its fleet of 2,512 buses with low or semi-low floors that help people with disabilities, especially wheel-chair users, get into buses as also those with automatic bridge-plate or ramps, more than double the 117 in 2012.

It is also introducing 1,680 new buses in a four-year (2014-2017) period, including 300 buses with low floors using compressed natural gas as fuel.

Moreover, 350 of 497 bus stops have been upgraded to have sloped entrances for wheel-chair users, Minh said. Bus stations in the city have staff on hand to guide people with disabilities on using the bus service better, he added.

Phan Thi Kim Van, a wheelchair user and third-year student of the citys University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said: I am very addicted to commuting by bus. I take it everyday to college.

However, the buses she uses have high floors, and whenever she has to board one, the staff and/or other passengers help out, she said.

Van said the helpful attitude was markedly different from earlier days when the staff, instead of helping her, showed obvious irritation and bad temper.

Now, the attitude of the buses staff has changed because I am a familiar face. Both the driver and the conductor are friendly, Van said.

Nguyen Thi Huyen, another wheelchair user and student of the University of Information Technology, said she usually experiences a good and friendly attitude from bus staff. They tell me to be careful, and get on to the pavement after getting off the bus, she said.

Told to get off

However, there are times when buses refuse to take her. On November 6, a bus conductor asked me to get down because there was no place for a wheelchair. This after I was helped to get into the bus, she said.

Another wheelchair user, Tran Phuong, complained that the sloped ramp to bus stops are often occupied by vendors, and others in similar situations said several bus stops are too narrow.

Phan Thanh Tan of Bien Hoa City, who has a hearing impairment, has been rejected several times by bus staff because he uses a card that exempts him from buying a ticket.

Although the Law on People with Disabilities grants the exemption, several people who are entitled to it still pay the bus fares.

Nguyen Tan Tao, deputy head of Transport Co-operative No.15, said all the bus drivers and other staff should be informed about the exemption and instructed to be friendly and helpful to people with disabilities.

They should take in the initiative in opening buses for people with disabilities and even help them get exemption cards from the Transport Management and Operation Centre, he said.

Other conference participants suggested that L.E.D. signboards and loudspeakers are installed at bus stops so that people with hearing and visual impairments know where they need to get off.

Other suggestions included smart phone apps, bus maps and directions to bus stops; signboards announcing ticket exemption for people with disabilities; simplified procedures for the exemption card; and broadcast of videos in public spaces on ways to help people with disabilities.

Training courses

Minh of the Transport Department said training courses have been opened to improve the attitude of bus drivers and staff.

More than 1,000 cameras have been installed to ensure compliance, and by the end of next year, smart cards will be piloted towards reducing discrimination against people using exemption cards.

The smart cards will be provided free to people with disabilities, he said.VNS
HA NOI  Cutting edge geotechnics has an important role to play in an emerging economy like Viet Nam, deputy minister of transport Nguyen Hong Truong said on Thursday.

Geotechnics, or geotechnical engineering, is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the study and modification of soil and rocks.

Speaking at the third edition of the international conference on geotechnics in Ha Noi, Truong said the conference offers a valuable opportunity to reduce the geotechnical gap between Viet Nam and the world. It creates a playground for international and Vietnamese scientists to learn from each other. The ministry will consider applying the knowledge and experience gained in implementing its Strategy on Sustainable Traffic Development, Truong said.

The two-day GEOTEC HANOI 2016 conference, whose theme is sustainable infrastructure development, has attracted around 500 participants from across the world. It has been organised by Fecon JSC, a Vietnamese company in underground construction, along with the Viet Nam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and the Japanese Geotechnical Society.

Ikuo Towhata, vice-president of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, expressed his concern about the traffic infrastructure in large cities such as Ha Noi and HCM City, which are seeing a rapid increase in the number of vehicles.

Unless mass transits such as subways are introduced, traffic in big cities will become very difficult soon, he said. Such a situation has happened before and is happening now in Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai, where I am living.

For economic development, cities require not only local public transport, but also long-distance rapid railways and motorways, he said. This suggests that business demands for geotechnical engineering will be high in the very near future (in Viet Nam), Towhata said.

Pham Viet Khoa, Fecons managing board chairman, said that though the demand for sustainable infrastructure development is rising rapidly, construction techniques in Viet Nam still lag behind the rest of the world by two to three decades. We wish to create a forum that has the participation of state officials, scientists and enterprises that help implement cutting-edge technologies in infrastructure development, meeting the three key criteria of speed, effectiveness and sustainability, he said.

At the conferences, 13 papers on coastal geotechnics against climate change and 67 other papers on deep foundations, underground construction and tunnelling, ground improvement and monitoring and maintenance work were presented. The papers presented were selected from the 145 papers submitted by authors in 31 countries, especially Viet Nam, Japan, South Korea and China.

On the sidelines, 44 firms took part in an exhibition that showcases their latest construction technologies and designs.
HCM CITY  A Chinese passenger was caught this morning after allegedly attempting to steal another passengers luggage on board a flight from a Nang to HCM City.

According to the Southern Airports Authority, the Chinese passenger used a nail clipper to try to cut the lock of a luggage in the overhead compartment. He was thwarted by a flight attendant.

The flight crew reported the incident with witnesses from other passengers on board. When the flight landed in Tan Son Nhat airport, he was handed over to the Southern Airport Authority.

The luggage reportedly contained jewelry and money worth billions of ong.

Vietnam Airlines has warned its passengers to keep an eye on their luggage to prevent theft.  VNS
ONG NAI  The ong Nai Province Police have decided to dismiss two officers of the Nhon Trach District Police from their duties for the wrongful arrest of a local woman.

Colonel Nguyen Van Tho, head of the Advisor Division and spokesman of the provincial police, made the announcement today.

The two police officers are Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Truong Quoc Hieu, deputy head of the Nhon Trach District Police, and Major Nguyen Van Son, deputy head of the district polices investigation police team.

After receiving the notice of dismissal, Hieu also received the decision on retirement.

In April, Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc, a resident of Phuoc An Commune, Nhon Trach District, reported to police that she and her family had been beaten by several forest managers.

Ngoc was then temporarily seized for opposing the authorities on duty.

However, investigations showed that this action was without justification.

The Nhon Trach District Peoples Procuracy made a formal public apology to Ngoc.  VNS
REYKJAVIK  Icelands Left-Green movement said Wednesday it had failed in its bid to form a new coalition government, three weeks after snap elections triggered by the Panama Papers scandal.

Allied with the anti-establishment Pirate Party, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future party, the Left-Green had been in talks since Sunday in a bid to forge a governing coalition with the centre-right Reform Party.

"It is evident that not all the parties are convinced to continue these negotiations so I have decided to stop them and I dont think that there is ground to continue," Katrin Jakobsdottir, the leader of the Left-Green movement, the second largest party, told state broadcaster RUV.

Jakobsdottir said she had informed the president of her decision.

It was not yet known what would happen next.

Asked if she would now return the power to form a government to the president, she replied: "Im going to sleep on it."

Pirates co-chairman, Birgitta Jonsdottir, had said prior to the start of the talks on Sunday that she was optimistic the five parties would reach consensus on major issues.

"The people want very much to see improvement in both the work in the parliament and the image of the parliament", Jonsdottir said at the time.

Since its independence in 1944, Iceland has only seen one centre-left government, which emerged from the 2009 election after the 2008 financial collapse.

Led by the largest election winner Independence Party, the centre-right coalition failed to find common ground over a range of divisive issues including relations with the European Union, institutional reform and fishing.

The October 29 snap vote, prompted by a massive tax scandal ensnaring several Icelandic officials, saw the Pirates become the third largest party with 10 seats.

The Panama Papers, released in April, fuelled the resignation of former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and prompted the snap vote.  AFP
NICOSIA  Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said Wednesday he was determined to continue peace talks aimed at uniting the island, after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned against missing a "historic opportunity" for peace.

The latest UN-brokered negotiations between Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci held in Switzerland this month ended on Tuesday with no agreement, with the two sides still far apart on the key issue of land-for-peace.

"I want to assure that I am determined and ready to take the necessary steps to continue the dialogue," Anastasiades said in a televised address on Wednesday.

"I am ready to continue the dialogue where it broke off," adding that he was in touch with EU leaders to keep the "door open" for talks.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

The much-heralded talks were supposed to produce a map of the internal boundaries of a future federation on the island to pave the way for a deal by early next year.

But like the five days of discussions earlier this month, negotiations broke down, with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress.

Ban said he will be in contact soon with the leaders to discuss the next steps with just five weeks to go before the UN chief hands over to Antonio Guterres to lead the world body.

"The secretary-general urges the leaders to continue their efforts in line with their shared commitment to do their utmost in order to reach a settlement in 2016," said a statement from Bans spokesman.

"Especially in a region and in a world marked by increasing tension, they must not let this historic opportunity slip," he added.

Breakdown deeply regretted

Cyprus is one of the worlds longest-running geopolitical disputes and has been a key stumbling block in Turkeys EU accession bid.

Turkish Cypriots made up just 18 percent of the islands population in 1974, but they currently control more than a third of its territory.

It has always been agreed that some of the territory currently controlled by the Turkish Cypriots will be ceded to Greek-Cypriot control in any peace deal.

Anastasiades said the talks broke down on the issue of territorial adjustments because the "Turkish Cypriot side didnt show the required flexibility despite our efforts."

He said he "deeply regretted" the negative outcome in Switzerland but said he would not allow the opportunity to settle the four-decade-long crisis "to be lost".

Anastasiades revealed that the two leaders were close on the percentage of territory to remain under Turkish Cypriot administration in a future federation, with Akinci suggesting 29.2 percent and the Greek Cypriots proposing 28.2 percent.

But they remained far apart on how many Greek Cypriots should be able to return to homes they fled in 1974, with Akinci determined to minimise the number of Turkish Cypriots who would be displaced for a second time.

Anastasiades and Akinci have been among the most outspoken proponents of a deal within their own communities, but they would still have to sell any agreement they reach to their respective voters.  AFP
Waterloo

Fire Alarms Nov. 9

Ambulance runs: 7

10:12 a.m., 2060 Crossroads Blvd., natural gas leak.

11 a.m., 1245 South St., assist resident.

1:41 a.m., 731 Hope Ave., assist resident.

Fire Alarms Nov. 10

Ambulance runs: 20

12:12 a.m., 120 Washington St., automobile accident.

Fire Alarms Nov. 11

Ambulance runs: 22

8:25 a.m., Downing and Wallgate avenues, automobile accident.

8:34 a.m., 2320 Northeast Drive, false alarm.

9:26 a.m., 211 Butler Ave., assist resident.

10:26 a.m., Lafayette Street and Osage Road, field fire.

1:14 p.m., Denver Street and Forest Avenue, automobile accident.

2:44 p.m., West Third and Wellington streets, automobile accident.

3:19 p.m., 633 Riehl St., prescribed burning.

Fire Alarms Nov. 12

Ambulance runs: 18

4:34 a.m., 3220 West Ridge Drive, smoke investigation.

Police Log

Mandy Joan Kennedy, 35, of 231 Miriam Drive, was arrested Nov. 22 at 111 W. Ridgeway Ave. for third-degree theft. She allegedly took items from Walgreens.

David Charles Miller, 24, of 210 Mobile St., was arrested Nov. 16 on West Ninth Street for second-degree burglary, fourth-degree theft and interference. He allegedly took coins from 1116 Randall St., Evansdale, on Oct. 18.

Isiah Taquez Tate, 28, of 2759 St. Francis Drive, was arrested Nov. 14 on East Third Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a crash.

Angela Marie Carley, 28, of Waverly, was arrested Nov. 13 at 207 Butler St. for serious domestic assault. She allegedly assaulted Anthony Fuller.

Harry Thomas Carpenter, 44, of 3926 W. Airline Highway, was arrested Nov. 13 at 2125 Commercial St. for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Sam Chester Thomas II, 41, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested Nov. 13 on Clay Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated and driving while revoked following a traffic stop.

David John Gaines, 55, of 907 Cutler St., was arrested Nov. 12 on Almond Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Joseph Harry Gramlich, 36, of 915 Sheffield Ave., was arrested Nov. 12 at his home for child endangerment. He was allegedly caring for children while intoxicated.

Ronald James Barker, 47, of 553 Eastgate Drive, was arrested Nov. 11 at his home for assault. He allegedly assaulted Austin Huffman, 22.

Timothy Leon Grafton, 54, of 817 W. Mullan Ave., was arrested Nov. 6 in the 800 block of West Third Street following a crash involving a sign.

Kavina Devoness Partee, 18, of Waterloo, was arrested Nov. 5 at West Fifth and South streets for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and driving while suspended following a traffic stop.

Robbery: Douglas Bearbower, 41, told police two people assaulted him and attempted to take his bicycle while he was riding in the 300 block of Lafayette Street at about 5:45 p.m. Nov. 16.

Burglaries: Shanette Wright reported the theft of a flat-screen TV during burglary to her home at 219 Mohawk St. on Nov. 21. Mary Denton reported the theft of a computer, tablet, tools, laptop computer, clothing and food during a burglary to her home at 3738 W. Ninth St. on Nov. 21.
WATERLOO  The holidays will be brighter for many across the Cedar Valley, thanks to the efforts of Columbus High School students.

During recent weeks, they have been participating in fundraising activities for the annual Thanksgiving food drive benefiting St. Vincent de Paul.

It was organized by about 30 seniors in the social ministry Christian service class. As in the past three years, they set a goal that equaled the annual food assistance budget at the local chapter of the Catholic charitable organization, or $27,000.

At an assembly Wednesday, the class revealed how much money had been raised.

Our goal this year was higher than its ever been, senior Kyle Boe told the school.

But we didnt meet it ... we exceeded it.

The drive raised $31,508.20  which was 117 percent of the goal. Class members presented an oversized check to Pat Russo, executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul council of Waterloo.

The money, along with donations of 486 food items, amounts to 189,535.2 canned food equivalents.

Thats based on the average of six cans that can be purchased for each dollar.

Teacher Pat Wiss, who oversees the fundraising, noted the donations picked up in the final days of the drive.

We hit the goal and surpassed it this morning, she said. Last Friday, I think, we were only at $15,000.

That was a teachable moment for some in the class.

I definitely learned we are capable of a lot, said senior Kiki Cabrera, noting the goal was challenging.

Marifer Gutierrez said the class was very nervous about reaching it. We worked very hard on our events, she said.

They raised money through dodge ball and volleyball tournaments, a trivia night, a bake sale, out of uniform days, competitions between grade levels and homeroom, and taking collections at parishes in Waterloo and Cedar Falls.

Our two biggest things were our community meal we hosted here at the cafeteria and the coffee shop, said senior Adam Funk. Performers sang and played instruments during the coffee shop as a silent auction took place. It was just a great opportunity to build community and raise funds for St. Vincent de Paul.

Russo was grateful for the efforts of the students, saying the money would be put to good use.

We use it to fund our food programs for the year, he explained. Through the emergency food box program, the organization gets three to five days of food to needy people, serving approximately 100 families per month.

In addition, it will fund all the food we need for our Christmas program, which is called the Christmas basket program, said Russo. Along with a Christmas meal and several other days worth of food, it provides a coat for each member of a family and toys for children younger than 12.

That will serve between 560 and 650 families this year.
WATERLOO  Local police are warning shoppers to use extra caution when removing money from ATMs.

Ahead of the Black Friday shopping event, authorities in Waterloo and Cedar Falls discovered skimming devices had been placed on ATMs in both cities.

This time of the year, be careful of what you put your card into, said Capt. David Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department.

Thieves place skimmers over the card slots of ATMS, and the devices are designed to capture information from the cards magnetic strip. After a day or so, the thieves retrieve the skimmer and download its data. Mohlis said he didnt know if the devices used in Waterloo and Cedar Falls are capable of also recording the PIN number when it is entered.

Earlier this month, Cedar Falls police received numerous calls about fraudulent charges on credit cards. Investigators determined the victims had used the same ATM and eventually retrieved video showing a suspect installing a skimmer on the ATM at Farmers State Bank, 515 Main St., Cedar Falls.

Police said the device was placed around 11 a.m. Nov. 13 and removed at 5:21 p.m. that same day. Cedar Falls police released surveillance video footage of the suspect.

Waterloo police received similar fraudulent charge complaints, and they traced the activity of the ATM at Farmers State Bank, 224 W. Sixth St., Mohlis said. That device was installed at 6 a.m. Nov. 12 and retrieved at 5:17 p.m. Nov. 13.

We are starting to get multiple reports from people that money was taken out of their accounts, Mohlis said Wednesday.

Mohlis cautioned residents to review their ATM and credit card statements for suspicious activity. He also said shoppers should take a second look at the card slot when they go to an ATM.

He said the skimmers are designed to look like part of the machine but actually sit a little higher on the ATM compared to the normal card slot. He said a skimmer also might appear to be a loose card-reading slot.

It looks like if you pull on that thing, it will probably pull out, Mohlis said.

He said the suspect in the Cedar Falls incident appears to be a different person from the Waterloo incident.

Anyone with is asked to call the Waterloo Police Department at 291-4340, the Cedar Falls Police Department at 273-8612 or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at 855-300-TIPS (8477). Tips also may be left at www.cvcrimestop.com. Tips also may be sent with TipSoft or by texting the word CEDAR plus the information to CRIMES (274637).

Woman arrested following assault

ARLINGTON  An Oelwein woman was arrested following an assault over money exchange in Arlington earlier this week.

The incident began Sunday at about 11:30 p.m. when the Fayette County Sheriffs Office responded to an assault-in-progress call in Arlington.

Deputies learned Barbara B. Swaggerty, 50, of Oelwein, was demanding more money from the resident and would not leave. When the home owner called 911, she assaulted him and fled, deputies said.

Further investigation and statements showed Swaggerty was soliciting money for payment of sexual acts. Swaggerty was arrested Tuesday for assault causing bodily injury (a serious misdemeanor); trespassing (a serious misdemeanor) and obstruction of emergency communications (a simple misdemeanor).

This incident remains under investigation and more charges are likely going to be filed, deputies said.

Teen is arrested

for stolen guns

WATERLOO  A Waterloo teen has been arrested in connection with guns taken during a December burglary.

Waterloo police arrested Anquavion Dawon Claybon, 18, of 435 Dawson St., Tuesday for trafficking stolen weapons.

He was released from jail the same day.

Police allege Claybon obtained a .22-caliber revolver and a 1914 Mauser pistol that had been taken from a burglary to 1323 Virginia St. on Dec. 21 and left the weapons with an acquaintance for a night.

He allegedly paid the acquaintance $250 and retrieved the weapons the following day, court records state.

Police recovered two stolen rifles  a .22 caliber and a .17 caliber  the night of the burglary.
A system of 'emergency' consular liaison volunteers will be formally launched by China's Foreign Ministry by the end of the year.

The service, offered by its overseas embassies and consulates, will give help to Chinese citizens in the first instance if they find themselves in difficulty abroad, reports the Beijing News.

It comes as an increasing number of Chinese people travelling around the world for business or tourism, encounter problems as they go.

The first batch of 27 Chinese residents from 23 countries has arrived in Beijing for an 11-day consular protection liaison training programme. They will be given an understanding of China's diplomatic work and consular protection, and related legal issues, as well as required knowledge and skills such as security and emergency rescue.

The ministry started to pilot the consular protection liaison system at the beginning of this year in Chinese embassies and consulates in 20 countries, following the experience of several pioneer embassies and consulates.

As embassy and consulate staff are limited, it has become necessary to utilize civil resources efficiently, said Yang Shu, executive deputy director of the ministry's Centre for Consular Assistance and Protection.

When Chinese citizens encounter problems in foreign countries, consular protection liaison volunteers can go to their aid if embassy and consulate staff cannot arrive immediately, said Yang.

The liaison volunteers are mainly Chinese residents in foreign countries, Yang said, they are not officials of the embassies and consulates, but offer services to Chinese citizens on a voluntary basis.

Details on how they are selected, and the kinds of things they should do, and what support they can get will be further explained after the establishment of the system, said Yang.

Yin Fei, an inspector with the Beijing Government's Foreign Affairs Office, said although the Chinese government has the responsibility to help Chinese citizens when they meet with danger or difficulties in foreign countries, consular protection is not unlimited.

China's consular protection will only be offered to people with Chinese nationality, with the willingness of the citizen, and within the framework of law, Yin said.

As an example, If a Chinese citizen doesn't follow the instructions of a foreign museum and breaks a cultural relic there, consular protection will include negotiating with the foreign government to treat the person concerned humanely and protect his necessary legal rights such as finding lawyers, contacting relatives and offering translation services, said Yin. "However, our government, embassies and consulates, cannot work beyond the law," he said. "We can help you, but cannot exempt you from legal punishment or compensation."
Murray police warn of prowlers in several neighborhoods
[Today The Wild Hunt welcomes back religious studies scholar, author and instructor Christine Hoff Kraemer. In November, she, along with other Pagans, attended the American Academy of Religions 2016 meeting in Texas, and she has joined us to share her impressions. ]

The American Academy of Religion held its annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas from November 19-22. The meeting is held concurrently with the Society of Biblical Literature, and the two organizations combined bring together nearly 10,000 educators and scholars of religion for a packed weekend of lectures, workshops, and events.

AARs Contemporary Pagan Studies Group has been in existence since 2005. This year saw the induction of two up-and-coming younger scholars as co-chairs of the group: Dr. Shawn Arthur of Wake Forest University, and Dr. Amy Hale of Helix Education. Hale and Arthur will be taking over from Dr. Chas Clifton and Dr. Jone Salomonsen, influential Pagan Studies scholars who have provided long-term leadership and service in this fledgling academic field.

AAR presenters strive for unbiased analysis of the history and current trends in contemporary Paganism. The academic tone of the papers, however, could not conceal scholars concern for the future of scholarship and the Pagan movement after the 2016 presidential election. Underlying the thoughtful, measured discussions was a grave sense of responsibility, and a commitment to finding truly effective responses to national and global crises.

A Pagan Scalability Crisis

Many of this years papers focused on challenges to Pagan communities created by the movements growth, the current political and economic environment, and/or the realities of climate change. Dr. Gwendolyn Reece (American University) gave a paper entitled The Scalability Crisis: Contemporary Paganism and Institutionalization. Reece suggests that there is an under-acknowledged element to Pagan institutionalization controversies: namely, that the growth of the Pagan population in the United States has strained the movements non-institutional resources to their breaking point.

Reece based her work on a large-scale national survey she conducted from 2011-2012, as well as an analysis of 69 blog articles by Pagans on institutionalization. As with similar studies, Reece notes a large percentage of solitary Pagan practitioners in the United States (52% in her study, 79% in a recent study by Helen Berger). Reeces data indicates that most of these practitioners are not solitary by choice. Her analysis suggests that around 60% of solitary Pagans want a group but cannot find one given current conditions.

Reece argues that this situation is caused by the non-scalability of the house church model used by many Pagans. In a house church model, groups meet in a members home and all leadership services are provided on a volunteer basis. However, these groups are inherently unstable, as they are easily impacted by leader burnout or unexpected life events on the part of the host. Other challenges include the necessity of hiding Pagan practice due to neighbors prejudice, limited space for worship, and lack of funds to support aging volunteer leaders.

Due to its inability to serve the majority of self-identified Pagans and its instability, the house church model is failing on multiple fronts. As a result of this unmet need, Pagans are being pushed toward greater institutionalization despite their ambivalent feelings about organized religion. It is unclear, however, whether Pagan communities have either enough density or cohesion to provide the services that Pagans desire.

In a last-minute addendum, Reece also noted the additional urgency around legitimization and protection of legal rights triggered by the 2016 presidential election. She remarked, I expect organized anti-defamation to again increase in importance. Because these are external threats that do not make a distinction between the variety of Paganisms, it is possible that this will increase the solidarity among Pagans in resistance.

Pagan Legitimization Strategies

Strategies for forming Pagan identity and legitimizing Pagan traditions in the eyes of the public were a major thread in this years presentations. Both Dr. Patricia E Iolana (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Lee Gilmore (San Jose State University) grappled with the belief that an unbroken line of religious practice is what makes a religion legitimate. This belief has often been problematic in Paganism, leading Pagans to cling to outdated historical research because it seems to support their hopes for their religious communities.

Gilmore explored how the desire for unbroken lineage has influenced Pagan use of the term indigenous at the Parliament of the Worlds Religions. She notes that there is no universal consensus about the meaning of indigenous. It is contested wherever it appears.

However, when white North American Pagans use the term indigenous in order to legitimize their religious practices, they obscure the economic and environmental desperation of indigenous communities of color. Gilmore states that Pagan use of the word indigenous purchases political legitimacy for Pagans on the interfaith stage, but does very little to give back to generationally traumatized and impoverished indigenous peoples.

Gilmore also notes that narratives of unbroken lineage often tie religious authenticity and identity to blood ancestry. This is a legitimization strategy used by far-right white supremacist groups, and it is associated with concerns about ethic purityconcerns that in the past have justified violent campaigns of ethnic cleansing. Gilmore encourages white Pagans to try to get ahead of [this dangerous rhetoric] by allying with indigenous peoples and other communities of color [and] remaining attentive to the differences and intersections of power in these relationships.

Responding to these remarks, Dr. Shawn Arthur questioned the desirability of narratives of unbroken lineage for any religion: Do we really believe the old is better than the new? Upon reflection, I think we can see many of the ideological positions addressed here today are not particularly helpful for strong or unifying identity development. Nor are they particularly useful for good community relations, especially when these perspectives unknowingly support existing webs of power and authority.

Dr. Sabina Magliocco (California State University, Northridge) noted that North American Pagans are not alone in their attraction to ancient and pre-modern cultures. The desire to reclaim cultural and religious traditions, she explained, is a characteristic of a post-colonial world: part of a global movement, not in any way restricted to North America.

She stated additionally that narratives of victimization, such as the narrative of The Burning Times for Wiccans and Witches, are also part of a wider pattern. Since the 1950s, narratives of oppression have been part of the way groups claim identity, and that pattern is now part of the way groups must position themselves in US discourse to be seen as legitimate.

This paper session raised the question: if myths of unbroken lineage and political oppression have negative consequences for our North American Pagan communities, what alternative strategies for legitimization and identity-formation can we pursue instead? This complex question is too large to answer at a single conference, but the second Pagan Studies paper session suggested ways Pagans might alter their existing strategies to be more effective.

An Inclusive Future from an Imagined Past?

In a joint paper, Barbara Davy and Stephen Quilley (University of Waterloo) examined some of the problematic consequences of some Pagans desire to dismantle the modern state and return to a smaller-scale, tribal society. Many Pagans indicate that they are willing to accept trade-offs in quality of life in exchange for the community cohesion, lessened ecological impact, and potential spiritual benefits of such a shift. In her presentation, however, Davy noted that the modern state is what protects individual human rights. Without an overarching state that organizes and governs smaller communities, many barriers to the xenophobic behavior that has historically been a component of small-scale agricultural societies would be removed.

Although our society is already torn by systemic inequalities, small-scale societies could be worse, not better, for people with marginalized identities. As Davy and Quilley state, In the absence of effective nation states, societies would be likely to experience greater violence, intolerance of diversity and an inability to sustain modern health care systems. Existing patterns of institutional care for the disabled and elderly would break down as would the established provision of all manner of public infrastructures.

Unfortunately, Davy notes, whether or not we have fully accepted the consequences, climate change is likely to cause a collapse of the global economy and force us back to a smaller-scale society whether we find it appealing or not. This research challenges Pagans to re-evaluate their romantic ideas about small-scale pre-modern societies and to more realistically envision the challenges presented by climate change.

Dr. Amy Hale emphasized the need for Pagan religion to be truly responsive to the historic moment, rather than simply reactive. She states, A lot of anti-modernist rhetoric is a Romantic expression of privilege, given that conditions of the past were not exactly favorable to women and people of color Pagans very explicitly look to a past that probably never was, to try to find inspiration for a better, more tolerant and inclusive future. The past, real or imagined, may not be the best place for Pagans to find strategies for facing environmental and economic crisis.

As right wing, white nationalist political parties gain power in governments around the world, more than ever Pagans must create robust structures to support diverse but harmonious communities. Mr. Thomas Berendt (Temple University) presented on the diversity of Pagan communities in the Philadelphia area, and he particularly highlighted the prevalence of multiple religious and sexual identities among Pagans. This embrace of diversity and hybridity, he suggests, is a strength of the Pagan movement.

In the ensuing discussion, Berendt and Dr. Christopher Chase both spoke passionately about their efforts to create safe community spaces for students fearing harassment and violence. Magliocco also noted a positive aspect of Pagan narratives of historical oppression: these sacred stories, she says, tell us that We must be in the first line of fire to protect.

Relating her own familys experience with sheltering friends and neighbors during the Nazi occupation of Rome, Magliocco reminded the audience that there are many forms of resistance, some as simple as opening ones home to those in danger.

Additional papers in these sessions were given by Lee Ann Hildebrand (Graduate Theological Union) and Christopher W. Chase (Iowa State University). A complete listing of titles can be found in the 2016 AAR program book. For members of the public who are interested in future Pagan Studies sessions at AAR, the American Academy of Religion annual conference is accessible with the purchase of a registration. Many of the papers presented at AAR Pagan Studies session are later published in The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies or may be available by contacting the author directly. The 2017 annual meeting will be held November 18-21 in Boston, Massachusetts.

[About the Author: Christine Hoff Kraemer is a religious studies scholar specializing in contemporary Paganism, sexuality, theology, and popular culture. In 2008, she completed her PhD in Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University. Christine is an instructor in the Theology and Religious History department at Cherry Hill Seminary. Her books include Seeking the Mystery: An Introduction to Pagan Theologies and the collection Pagan Consent Culture: Building Communities of Empathy and Autonomy (edited with Yvonne Aburrow). She is also the proud parent of an extremely high-energy toddler.]

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The views and opinions expressed by our diverse panel of columnists and guest writers represent the many diverging perspectives held within the global Pagan, Heathen and polytheist communities, but do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wild Hunt Inc. or its management.
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Those of you who have been waiting with bated breath for the past few months in anticipation can finally exhale: Canada has a new national bird. (Well, not official, that isbut more on that later.)

After vigorous, engaged public debate, the winner is the Gray Jay, a bird only found in Canadas boreal forests that, supporters say, reflects well on Canadians themselves, with its friendliness, hardiness, and smarts. (Adorable photo above by Corey)

To attain the top spot, the Gray Jay beat out contenders such as the Common Loon, Snowy Owl, Canada Goose, and Black-capped Chickadee.

Whether the Canadian government will adopt this recommendation remains to be seen; at the moment, there is no official Canadian national bird. Currently, the Gray Jays status is honorary, through a contest sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. The organizations officials note that the countrys upcoming sesquicentennial is the perfect time to select a national bird.

Whatever happens, heres to you, Gray Jay. Youre Canadian through and through, you thrive in frigid conditions that make most of us to the South blanch, and youre cute as a button. Love, your neighbors to the south who tomorrow will be feasting on Ben Franklins preference for our national bird.
Based on preliminary popular vote totals, the 2016 presidential election saw a significantly larger number of states decided by a margin of 5% or less than in 2012, when only four states met that criteria. Four of these states were within 1%, including Michigan, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The four states meeting the criteria in 2012 were Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. While the latter two were again within 5% in 2016, Ohio and Virginia were decided by between 5 and 10%.

Click the map for an interactive version.
Nov 24, 2016 | By Andre

As a tech geek, there are many software, robotics, and 3D print related companies that would be a dream to work for. Over time, Ive come to realize that these forward thinking companies usually have research departments that get to play with all the newest gadgets while innovating toward the technology of tomorrow.

Of the companies that fall into this category, Autodesk is one that is doing all they can for 3D printing technology. I recently explored the Toronto based AutoDesk Research facility and was blown away by the sheer number of 3D printers they had on hand to play and develop new technologies with. But it's the Pier 9 Workshop, launched in 2013 and located in San Fransisco, that seems to be pushing things to the next level in thanks to their incredibly diverse and state-of-the art fabrication center.

A perfect case study of what Autodesk (and similar tech minded companies) get to work with in these facilities was demonstrated by YouTube tech vlogger Tom Scott during his recent visit to Pier 9, as seen in the video below.

Specifically, Tom was able to get a sneak peak at the future of 3D printing stainless steel with the help of giant robot arms. And while this isnt the first time weve seen these robots, typically seen in modern day automotive plants, what the Autodesk research team is hoping to achieve with them certainly is new.

As things stand, robotic arms arent necessarily the smartest of creatures. Maurice Conti, Director of Applied Research and Innovation at Autodesk notes that two of the problems with programming robots the traditional way are that you need to tell it exactly what you want it to do. The other is that the robot assumes that nothing changes. You just manually drive the tip of the robot to where you need it to go and then hit record, and then remember that point, then you drive it over to the other place and hit record. And so on and so forth.

So, when your eventual goal is to 3D print in stainless steel with these robots with relative ease and maximum safety, a lot of obstacles need to be overcome. As things stand, there are no failsafes in place that allow the robots to be conscious of external obstacles in their vicinity, such as human beings. In most cases this means if you accidentally find yourself in the path of a two tonne robotic arm, you will likely lose the fight.

Currently, it appears the robotics team is trying to develop a closed loop feedback system. This means that the robot could have more awareness of what it's doing from a general surroundings standpoint, but also from 3D printing perspective. If, for example, the material being used for the 3D printer jams, the robot will be aware thanks to its vision system and either pause the print or automatically correct based on the external data it collects.

But why experiment with giant robotic arms for 3D printing progress at all? Well, as Heather Kerrick, Senior Research Engineer suggests, normal 3D printers do basically 2.5D. They go to an X and a Y, and then up and down. This robot can point in various directions. The robot needs to know not only where it is, but how it should point when it gets there. We give it a piece of geometry, and the software figures out the instructions set for the robot that will result in a print, that is what we want.

In the end, just as has been the case by other corporate research centres (like Disney and their clever 3D model balancing algorithms for example), Autodesk is putting their money where their mouth is and pushing 3D print technology to the next level.

Posted in 3D Printer

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Fred wrote at 11/25/2016 3:58:46 PM:What exactly is a "sneak peak"? Is it just me or does that sound somewhat like "Silent Hill"?




Nov 24, 2016 | By Benedict

Team Delft, the Formula Student racing team from the Netherlands Delft University of Technology, has explained how 3D printing is helping guide its cars to victory on a yearly basis. The latest version of the student-made racing car utilizes a 3D printed steering wheel and bracket.

Taking place annually in countries like the UK, Germany, and China, the Formula Student engineering competition is the worlds premier event for students interested in designing, building, and racing their own small-scale, formula-style racing cars. For the last decade, the British edition of the event has taken place at the hallowed Silverstone racing track, home of the British Grand Prix, and its reigning A Class champion is a team from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. In 2014 and 2015, however, the honors went to the team from the the Delft University of Technology, one of the competitions most successful teams, and a regular podium finisher in the German and Austrian Formula Students events.

Although Formula Student Team Delft is, as its name suggests, a student project, the group has a history as long and decorated as many professional car manufacturers. Created back in 2001, the team has undergone many changes of personnel, with new students arriving and old ones graduating on a yearly basis. Throughout its existence, however, Team Delft has been on a mission: to create fast, efficient, and expertly designed vehicles to enter into Formula Student competitions. Jonas Holtermann, that teams chief engineer, recently explained how 3D printing technology has helped the young team to innovate, cut costs, and drive to glory in recent years.

As one of the most successful teams in the history of the Formula Student competition, Team Delft has had to rethink and redesign its high-speed, high-efficiency vehicles year after year. In addition to constant research and testing, the adoption of new manufacturing techniques has helped the team to carry out constant upgrades, with additive manufacturing proving a particularly valuable resource in recent years. Holtermann, who is in charge of the top-level concept of the car, told Medium how Team Delft has used 3D printing to improve two important areas of its racing car: the steering wheel, and a metal bracket used to connect the steering rod to the front of the vehicle.

It should come as no surprise to learn that Team Delft, as a forward-thinking group of young engineers, has used 3D printing for several years to prototype parts for its racing car. What might be more surprising, however, is that the team has also used additive manufacturing to create end-use parts, such as the latest version of its steering wheel. Using an FFF/FDM 3D printer, Team Delft was able to create a uniquely shaped wheel, sidestepping the limitations of other manufacturing methods, and providing a design suitable to the cars multiple drivers, some of whom prefer an under-grip style of handling, and some of whom favor other styles.

After trying 3D printed steering wheels made from standard PLA, the team eventually settled on a wheel made from Colorfabb XT- CF20 3D printing material, chosen because of its high flex modulus (6.2 GPa), moderate strain at break, and high level of dimensional accuracy. The steering wheel is in a narrow space and needs to be able to deal with lots of force, Holtermann explained. Drivers need to be able to really dig into the shape and apply force around corners. It being strong and having a good grip instills confidence in the drivers.

Another element of the Team Delft car that has benefitted from the distinct advantages of 3D printing is a somewhat less visible part: a bracket that connects the steering rod of the inner wheel to the front of the car. Unlike with the steering wheel, FDM 3D printing was not an option in this situation, with the critical part needing to be made from ultra-strong titanium. Due to the complex shape of the part, however, a 3D printing method was required. The only suitable option for Team Delft was Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), through which they could turn titanium powder into a complex, ultra-strong bracket.

According to Team Delft, using DMLS 3D printing has enabled the team to create the bracket as a single piece, rather than several pieces that would require welding together. This single-piece construction has helped to make the part strong, while the bottom-up method of manufacture also allowed the engineers to use a highly complex internal geometry for the partsomething that would not have been possible using a casting process. The reason we used titanium 3D printing for the part was that it simply couldnt be made in any other way, Holtermann said. We needed very specific geometries for the loads that were being applied.

With Team Delft returning from its travels with two out of three podium finishes this year, the team is already thinking about 2017, and will once again turn to 3D printing where innovation is required.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Nov 24, 2016 | By Tess

There is no denying that 3D printing technologies have helped breathe new life into a number of smaller niche industries, perhaps most notably the watchmaking industry. From refurbishing vintage watches with 3D printed parts to creating wholly new designs with 3D modeling, additive manufacturing is an exciting new technology for watch makers and designers. Among those working with 3D printing to create new watches is Dutch designer Michel Holthinrich, who very recently launched his very own 3D printed watch brand: Holthinrichs Watches.

The new brand, which so far consists of one stunning 3D printed watch design called the Ornament 1, is the product of several years work, all beginning six years ago when Holthinrich studied architecture at the University of Delft in the Netherlands. While studying, Holthinrich found himself more interested in watchmaking and design than in building design, so decided to create his very own watch.

Notably, Holthinrich was determined to create his watch using a combination of traditional watchmaking techniques and more contemporary technologies. Naturally, the designer was drawn towards 3D printing, as it offered him a unique way to make original and intricate designs that would be impossible using other manufacturing methods.

As the designer writes on his website, "3D printing evokes new ways of thinking, creating possibilities for new designs which are traditionally not or very difficult to realise. When the specific conditions related to power and heat remittance are sufficiently incorporated in the design it has the potential to open up whole new and interesting possibilities in terms of formal design and future mechanics within the watchmaking tradition.

To help with the 3D printing process, Holthinrich reached out to Belgian 3D printing company Materialise, which helped him to prototype and test some early versions of his watch case. After some botched attempts and much tweaking both on the design and 3D printing front, the watchmaker and Materialise were able to successfully print a number of metal cases for his watch. The next step was to refine the 3D prints using more traditional manufacturing techniques, such as CNC milling. CNC milling allowed the designer to refine the 3D printed cases until they were smoothed out, and all final touches were done by hand.

Overall, each watch took about 20 to 30 hours to 3D print and post-process, and at least 40 hours of manual finishing. Lets just say that each watch took a lot of time to make. The mechanics of the watch are provided by a reliable Swiss ETA 7001, a movement that has been around for decades and which watchmakers are familiar with, making the new 3D printed watches easy to repair.

Holthinrichs first watch, which is currently available for pre-order, costs 3,499 euros through his website. Of course, this is a high price point, though considering how many hours have gone into perfecting the timepiece, it begins to seem a bit more reasonable. Additionally, the wristwatch can be personalized with an engraving.

Michel Holthinrich officially launched his 3D printed watch brand this week at the University of Delft. Over 80 people attended the launch, including representatives from other Dutch watch companies who were interested in his 3D printing approach. Tell us, would you spend 3,499 euros on an expertly designed and personalized 3D printed watch?

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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SoTired wrote at 12/13/2016 6:05:33 PM:SIGH....




Nov 24, 2016 | By Julia

Dutch designer Rein van der Mast has just announced his newest effort in the world of luxury fountain pens: the Spica Virginis, a titanium 3D printed fountain pen and nib. Printed on 3D Systems ProX DMP 300, the silver-coloured Spica Virginis weighs in at 32 grams, with a length of 150 mm and diameter of 22 mm. Itself resembling an ear of wheat, the Spica Virginis is named after the brightest star in the Virgo constellation, translated from Latin as the virgins ear of [wheat] grain, or the Virgins Spike.

An equally breathtaking 3D printed latticework case, a structure only feasible by 3D printing van der Mast tells us, accompanies the pen. Beyond the aesthetics of the design, technical benefits include a better stiffness-to-weight ratio than previously seen. Only 100 pens will be manufactured, available for purchase in the Netherlands and online for a whopping 2,490.

Back in 2013, we saw van der Mast release the worlds first 3D printed fountain pen under his artist alias, Pjotr. Now, over three years later, advancements in 3D printing tech have afforded van der Mast new opportunities for more complex design features and mechanical assemblies, all in a single 3D print. Chief among them is a one-of-a-kind 3D printed nib made of titanium, slit included (patent pending).

Where the traditional model has always been straightforward, it is amazing what one can create by 3D printing, van der Mast explains in a press release. I can create very complex ink channels and precisely affect the way the nib interacts with the paper as well as the pen's user. And of course, this way one can also create very complex shapes for esthetic reasons. Artists and calligraphers with a taste for luxury will rejoice.



The 3D printing community will also recognize van der Mast as the founder of 3D printing consultancy agency SOLide, and the Manager of Design and Engineering at the Dutch start-up Additive Industries, a 3D printing company particularly well known in the aerospace and automotive fields. After the release of his first 3D printed fountain pen in 2013, the Cavalry, van der Mast joined the team at Additive Industries as a means to extend his technical skills in 3D printing. Today, he explains that in case of the Spica Virginis design has priority over technology. Back in 2013 it was the other way around.

Rein van der Mast

The Spica Virginis thus also stands as a demonstration of that shift, illuminating the potential of 3D printing in the growing landscape of customized design. "And it is only getting better, the designer tell us, as more machines enter the market for fabricating smaller objects more precisely."

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Gregg Herken in the New York Times:

In a controversial lecture more than 50 years ago, the British scientist and novelist C.P. Snow suggested that natural scientists had the future in their bones. Snow was speaking in 1959, when the public still held scientists  particularly physicists  in a kind of awe, because of their role in the invention of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. But Snow might well have had in mind the Italian-born physicist Enrico Fermi, the subject of a new scientific biography by the husband-and-wife team of Gino Segre and Bettina Hoerlin. Fermis intuito fenomenale  phenomenal intuition  and his near infallibility in predicting the results of experiments were characteristics that prompted colleagues at the University of Rome to designate him the Pope. One of his graduate students marveled: Fermi had an inside track to God.

The title stuck, for a different reason, when Fermi; his wife, Laura; and their two small children emigrated to America in December 1938, a move hastened by the racial purity laws of Mussolinis ally, Nazi Germany. (Lauras parents were Jewish; both would perish in the Holocaust.) In contrast to other scientists who fled European fascism, Fermi exuded an almost ethereal calm, and he remained unflappable in the face of both triumph and disaster. Lacking Einsteins nimbus of white hair, Oppenheimers tortured introspection or Tellers mercurial temperament, Fermi  small, dark and frail-looking as a child, according to his sister  more closely resembled a middle-aged Fiat mechanic than a mover of the universe.

More here.
Gideon Lewis-Kraus at Bookforum:

In a 2005 essay for the New York Times Magazine, the critic A. O. Scott considered two recent and rather quixotic decisions, made in parallel by rival camps of young writers, to devise print magazines. One was The Believer, inaugurated in 2003 by Dave Eggerss independent San Francisco publishing house McSweeneys, and the other was n+1. WhereThe Believer gave itself over to historical whimsy,n+1 self-consciously styled itself the heir, in its mandarin ambition, to the little politics-and-culture magazines of midcentury. Its founders model was the later Partisan Review, a magazine they admired for its droll, caustic attitude, and for the flexible liberal intelligence exemplified by its successful reconstitution after its break with Stalinism. The editors of n+1 looked backward, as Scott put it, to organize a generational struggle against laziness and cynicism, to raise once again the banners of creative enthusiasm and intellectual engagement. Keith Gessen, one of n+1s founders, proposed to Scott his own origin myth with deliberate understatement: Here I am with all this fiction no one would want to publish, and heres Mark with these essays no ones going to publish, and after a while we felt like we had this critical mass of stuff that nobody would want to publish.

Mark is Gessens colleague and friend Mark Greif, and those strange, uncategorizable essays nobody would want to publish remain, along with the early writing of Elif Batuman, the most distinguished, original, and consequential body of work to have come out of n+1s first decade. They have now been collected in a volume called Against Everything. The individual pieces have been grouped into five sections: one on the basic necessities of food, sex, and exercise; another on varieties of pop music; a third on reality television, YouTube, and the evolution of the epithet hipster; a fourth on police and war; and one loose, interpolated sequence on Stanley Cavell and Thoreau and the Meaning of Life. Most of the essays appeared in n+1 and reflect the journals general complexionacademically current but free of jargon; discontented but free of resignation; gladiatorial but free of truculence; sincere but free of gentility.

more here.
Landowners encourage commissioners to stand ground in wake of lawsuit

At Tuesday's, Brown County Commission meeting local residents asked commissioners to stand their ground after Summit Carbon Solutions sued the county.
AnastasiaDate has provided members with its 5 key reasons why Latvia is a stunning destination for romantic adventure.

AnastasiaDate, the premier online dating service among singles worldwide, has recommended Latvia as a great place for romantic adventure and discovery. The online dating specialist has given its five reasons why Latvia is the best place for a memorable trip.

Latvia packs a range of qualities in for such a relatively small country and offers a surprising amount for adventurous tourists to do. In its new awareness campaign, AnastasiaDate has given key reasons why members should visit Latvia for an exciting journey.

According to AnastasiaDate, the first reason that makes Latvia a top romantic destination is the abundance of nature it offers. Natural habitats cover over half of Latvia making it a lush and beautiful place. The country is famous for its wonderful national parks, which include Gauja, Razna and Kemeri.

AnastasiaDates second reason to recommend Latvia as a favorite destination is that it has exciting urban areas. One of the most popular places in Latvia is the action-packed capital Riga, which offers tourists with a great nightlife experience. There are plenty of places to explore in Riga such as the Freedom Monument and Nativity Cathedral.

The wonderful Latvian people are the third reason suggested by AnastasiaDate for the countys growing reputation as a great destination. Latvians are generally good natured, friendly, and intriguing. They can make interesting people with whom to strike up a conversation.

The fourth surprising feature that makes Latvia the go-to destination is the beautiful beaches and seaside towns across the country. The best beaches are in Jurmala, Liepaja, and Jurkalne, and they make lovely places to get some fresh sea air and sunshine throughout spring and summer.

The fifth and final feature is the historic treasures of Latvia. The country is home to impressive sights including Sigulda Castle, the majestic Rundale Palace, and the beautiful Old Town in Cesis. Visitors can have a wonderful time in these places and learn about their relevance to Latvian history.

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Members can use the amazing features offered by AnastasiaDate such as Live Chat and Correspondence to contact Latvian singles and learn more about their country and its beautiful places.

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AnastasiaDate is the leading international dating service that facilitates exciting and romantic companionship between men and women all over the world. Founded in 1993, AnastasiaDate now has over 20 million international users and attracts more than 80 million visitors annually. Additionally, over 1.5 million conversations are exchanged onsite daily. AnastasiaDate is committed to member safety, customer satisfaction and the ongoing pursuit of innovation. With headquarters in New York, AnastasiaDate has additional representation in every country it touches, providing a high level of customer service to a worldwide clientele. All members are able to communicate across a variety of top-notch multimedia platforms, including video chat and a mobile app for Android and iPhone.

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AsianDate turns the spotlight on Mongolia by exploring the countrys top 5 sights to discover.

AsianDate, the leading international dating service for singles seeking Asian matches, has revealed the five stunning destinations that make Mongolia such a wonderful place to explore. The popular online dating service is always looking to help singles explore the best Asian destinations, and Mongolia is often overlooked due to its remote location.

Mongolia is a mystical land associated with horses and nomads. A large part of the country remains unexplored and offers tourists the opportunity to set their eyes on enchanting and little-seen places. The abundant nature and the cobalt blue skies make Mongolia a great place to visit for those who love nature and adventure.

The top Mongolian destination recommended by AsianDate is the Terelj National Park, known for its rich natural beauty. The park is famous for its remarkable rock formations and densely forested mountains. Romantic visitors can enjoy the serene beauty and stunning scenes that nature presents here.

Chinggis Square, located in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, is second on the list of top five places to visit in Mongolia. Here, the contrast between the modern and traditional is clearly visible as the square is surrounded by both old and new buildings. The square has statues of Chinggis Khan, the founder of the Mongol empire and Sukhbaatar, one of the leaders of the 1921 Mongolian Peoples Revolution against the Qing dynasty.

AsianDate recommends the Orkhon Valley as the third must-visit place in Mongolia. The place is known for its rich history and captures the culture and traditions of the local people. The valley is famous for its picturesque steppes and landscapes and is surrounded by the fertile Khangai Massif. It has a rich fauna and flora, making Orkhon Valley the perfect place to view the nomads of Mongolia in a verdant setting.

In fourth place on AsianDates list is the popular Lake Khovsgol. Acclaimed as one of the clearest lakes in the world and bordered by magnificent mountains, Khovsgol is easily one of the best scenic destinations of the country.

Fifth on the list of top places in Mongolia is the region of Mongolia to the west. It is home to rare wild animals and ethnic communities. The majestic snow-capped mountains are the biggest attraction here.

AsianDate is a popular online dating destination for singles from across the globe. The globally renowned website is committed to delivering a wonderful online dating experience to all registered members. They have a wide range of dating tools and features available on their website all powered by the best in technology.

AsianDate members can use the websites innovative and advanced dating features to connect and communicate with members from across Asia. Its a great way to learn more about destinations across such as the enchanting country of Mongolia.

For more information, visit www.asiandate.com

About AsianDate

AsianDate is part of the Anastasia Family of sites, founded in 1993, which offers premium international dating to facilitate exciting and romantic companionship online between men and women all over the world. The Anastasia Family includes AsianDate.com, AnastasiaDate.com, AmoLatina.com, ArabianDate.com, and AfricanDate.com, which bring together over 20 million international users and more than 150 million online visitors annually. Additionally, over 2.5 million conversations are exchanged onsite daily. AsianDate is committed to member safety, customer satisfaction and the ongoing pursuit of innovation. Headquartered in New York, the Anastasia Family has additional representation in every country it touches providing a high level of customer service to a worldwide clientele. All members are able to communicate across a variety of top-notch multimedia platforms, including video chat and a mobile app for Android devices available in Google Play.

Media Contact

Company Name: AsianDate

Contact Person: Asian Date PR

Email: pr@asiandate.com

Phone: +1 (212) 609-0533

Country: United States

Website: http://www.asiandate.com
IndexBox has just published a new report World: Tantalum  Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2020.

This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global tantalum market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices.

The global trade in tantalum amounted to 401 million USD in 2015, fluctuating strongly over the period under review. A 34% drop in 2009 was followed by recovery over the next two years, until exports decreased again. Exports slightly increased in 2014 and continued to decline after. Overall, there was an annual increase of +2.4% from 2007 to 2015.

According to IndexBox estimates, USA became the leading global exporter of tantalum in 2014. In 2015, the USAs tantalum exports totaled 127 million USD, which accounted for a 32% share in terms of global exports. Thailand, China, Japan, and Kazakhstan were the other key global suppliers of tantalum in 2015, with a 56% combined share of global exports.

Kazakhstan (+18.2% per year) and Thailand (+14.5% per year) were the fastest growing exporters from 2007 to 2015. USA significantly strengthened its position in terms of global tantalum exports, growing its share from 17% in 2007 to 32% in 2015.

On the other hand, USA (24%, based on value terms), Mexico (12%), Indonesia (9%), the Czech Republic (7%), and Taiwan (6%) were the leading destinations of tantalum imports in 2015. Imports to Indonesia grew rapidly from 2007 to 2015. By contrast, the Czech Republic slightly contracted its imports of tantalum over the same period. Indonesias share in terms of global imports increased significantly (+9 percentage points), while the share of the Czech Republic illustrated negative dynamics (-6 percentage points).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION

1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1 KEY FINDINGS

2.2 MARKET TRENDS

3. MARKET OVERVIEW

3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE

3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY

3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY

3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 2020

4. PRODUCTION

4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-2015

4.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY

5. IMPORTS

5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-2015

5.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY

5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY

6. EXPORTS

6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-2015

6.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY

6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY

7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERS

3 easy ways to order

Follow the link below to review a free sample or to buy the report: http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-tantalum-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

Call us +44 20 3239 3063 to discuss your information needs and for special discounts on multi-report orders

Email your order to info@indexbox.co.uk

Price: 1490 EUR for Single License

Source: http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-tantalum-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

Media Contact

Company Name: IndexBox Marketing

Contact Person: Inna Ivonina

Email: info@indexbox.co.uk

Phone: +44 20 3239 3063

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.indexbox.co.uk
IndexBox has just published a new report World: Titanium  Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2020.

This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global titanium market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices.

The global titanium trade fluctuated over the period under review, with a slight downward trend in the last three years. Exports amounted to 753 million USD in 2015. Overall, there was an annual increase of +0.4% from 2007 to 2015.

According to IndexBox estimates, Japan remained the global leader in supplies of titanium. In 2015, Japans titanium exports totaled 214 million USD, which accounted for a 28% share in terms of global exports. USA, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine were the other key global suppliers of titanium in 2015, with a 47% combined share of global exports.

USA (+5.8% per year) and Japan (+3.4% per year) were the fastest growing exporters from 2007 to 2015. USA strengthened its position in the global titanium export structure, growing its share from 14% in 2007 to 21% in 2015.

USA (32%, based on value terms), the UK (15%), France (14%), Malaysia (6%), and Germany (4%) were the leading destinations of titanium imports in 2015. Imports to Malaysia posted outstanding gains from 2007 to 2015. By contrast, Germany significantly contracted its imports of titanium over the same period. Frances share in terms of global imports increased significantly (+12 percentage points), while the share of Germany illustrated negative dynamics (-6 percentage points).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION

1.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1 KEY FINDINGS

2.2 MARKET TRENDS

3. MARKET OVERVIEW

3.1 MARKET VOLUME AND VALUE

3.2 CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY

3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES BY COUNTRY

3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 2020

4. PRODUCTION

4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2007-2015

4.2 PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY

5. IMPORTS

5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-2015

5.2 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY

5.3 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY

6. EXPORTS

6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-2015

6.2 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY

6.3 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY

7. PROFILES OF MAJOR PRODUCERS

3 easy ways to order

Follow the link below to review a free sample or to buy the report: http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-titanium-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

Call us +44 20 3239 3063 to discuss your information needs and for special discounts on multi-report orders

Email your order to info@indexbox.co.uk

Price: 1490 EUR for Single License

Source: http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-titanium-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

Media Contact

Company Name: IndexBox Marketing

Contact Person: Inna Ivonina

Email: info@indexbox.co.uk

Phone: +44 20 3239 3063

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.indexbox.co.uk
If you or your child has just been diagnosed with dysgraphia, a learning disability that affects handwriting and fine motor skills, your next step is to pursue accommodations at home or in the workplace. Depending on the type of dysgraphia  spatial, motor, or dyslexic  occupational therapy can also be helpful.

There is no cure for dysgraphia, and medication will not help. But problems associated with writing and fine motor skills can be improved  especially if you start early. Plus, understanding parents, teachers, bosses, and friends can be critical for rebuilding damaged self-esteem and providing the support adults and children living with dysgraphia need to find success.

Academic Interventions for Dysgraphia

The most important thing your childs school can do to help her manage her symptoms of dysgraphia is to take pressure off the act of writing, either by requiring less writing overall or by allowing alternatives like typing or speaking. Some helpful changes in the classroom may include:

[Self-Test: Could Your Child Have Dysgraphia?]

 Allow the student to take extra time on tests. Students with dysgraphia take longer to form words and letters  or even fill in bubbles on a multiple choice exam  meaning that extra time will reduce stress and allow them to more successfully demonstrate what they know.

 Provide worksheets. Rather than requiring children to copy down problems from the board  which can put students with dysgraphia at a disadvantage  teachers should print out worksheets beforehand to distribute to the whole class.

 Remove neatness as a grading criterion. Low marks for messy handwriting can frustrate a child with dysgraphia and make him feel as though his effort was worthless. If a childs handwriting is absolutely illegible, it may be necessary for him to switch to word processing software.

 Reduce the length of written assignments. In math or science classes, reduce the number of problems required.

[Screener: Dysgraphia in Adults]

 Provide the student with the teachers copy of the notes. If this isnt possible, teachers can allow another student to buddy up and share notes.

 Allow students to substitute key words for full sentences, whenever possible. This cuts unnecessary time struggling with handwriting, while still providing the student with an opportunity to answer the question correctly.

 Create oral alternatives to writing assignments. This can mean allowing an oral version of full exams, or replacing a short worksheet with a quick oral lesson summary at the end of the day.

 Allow for some spelling errors. When possible, teachers should permit the use of a dictionary or spell-checking device.

[Dysgraphia  Theres an App for That]

 Use physical accommodations. These can include pencil grips, erasable pens, and paper with raised lines, all of which help students with dysgraphia work on handwriting skills. Graph paper, which provides visual guidance for spacing letters and numbers, is also useful. For big projects, students can use Ghostline poster board, which is lined with a light grid.

 Allow students to use computers with word processing software, whenever possible. Alternatively, teachers should allow students to use planning software before writing a long answer by hand.

At-Home Interventions for Dysgraphia

In the early grades, especially, its important that you work in tandem with your childs educational team to help improve handwriting at home, as well as at school. Here are several ways you can accomplish that:

 Teach typing. This is an absolutely life-saving strategy for any child with dysgraphia. Invest in a well-regarded childrens typing program, such as Typing Instructor for Kids, for younger kids, or the classic Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, for tweens and teens. Reward your child for practicing on the computer  even for as little as ten minutes a day.

 Help your child get a good grip on the pencil or pen. In situations where typing isnt possible, its important for your child to hold her pencil correctly. Though she might not see the point of changing her grip, the correct grip will reduce hand fatigue and pencil pressure  meaning writing will be easier and less painful. Many kinds of pencil grips on the market today reinforce the tripod grip that children should use. The Grotto Grip Pencil Grasp Trainer (pathwaysforlearning.com)  designed and tested by occupational therapists  is often rated the most helpful.

 Encourage your child to dictate sentences into a tape recorder before writing them down. This will take advantage of his speaking skills and allow him to focus solely on letter formation  without getting wrapped up in grammar and syntax.

 Be a scribe for your child. Almost every child with dysgraphia resists any homework that involves writing  and as a result, even simple assignments can take hours to complete. To increase your childs willingness to write, take some of the pressure off him by agreeing to write for him  in a limited capacity, of course. When writing a paragraph, for example, you can write down the first sentence as your child dictates it, and your child can write the next sentence  and so on and so forth, until the assignment is complete. This shortens homework time, takes stress off your child, and forces him to look ahead to the next sentence and plan his thoughts accordingly.

 Prompt your child to say the words as he writes them. Auditory feedback engages various areas of the brain, helping students stay focused and monitor their efforts.

 Do letter-formation drills (print and cursive). Letters dont have to be perfect. They should, at a minimum, be fairly consistent and readable. Make sure your child always forms letters from the top instead of the bottom  a common pitfall for new writers with dysgraphia.

 Use Handwriting Without Tears (hwtears.com), a program that includes a workbook and online tools. Its been proven to be very effective.

 Engage in multi-sensory exercises. Ask your child to write in the air, in sand, or in paint, using his finger. This enables a tactile learner to feel the letter and form a memory based on its shape.

 Keep letters inside the lines by writing on raised-line paper (therapyshoppe.com). This type of sensory-friendly paper will help your child get a sense of how far apart the lines are  making it easier to write on regular lined paper in the future.

 Build muscle memory in fingers. Kendra Wagner, a learning specialist, recommends this occupational therapy trick: Have your child walk her thumb, index, and middle finger up and down a chopstick, placed on a flat surface, as fast as possible. Only the three grip fingers should touch the chopstick.

Workplace Interventions for Dysgraphia

Even if youve learned to compensate for dysgraphia by the time you reach adulthood, accommodations at work can still make a big difference in your productivity and overall job satisfaction. Possible accommodations include:

 Allow use of reference materials. A dictionary or thesaurus  or advanced spell-checking or word-predicting software  can make everyday compositions easier and more readable.

 Have a coworker or supervisor proofread important written material before its sent out. In instances where spelling or grammatical errors would be perceived as unprofessional, having someone else check over your writing before its distributed can help someone with dysgraphia manage writing-related anxiety.

 Use text-to-speech software. Read & Write Gold is widely considered the top of its class, and can help employees make use of superior verbal skills to help them compose an email or write a report.

 Allow the employee to respond to questions or instructions verbally. Whenever possible, oral communication should be prioritized over written communication.

 Supply writing aids. Pencil grips, bold-lined paper, or other tools can help adults with dysgraphia manage the physical process of writing.

 Create computerized versions of common forms. If a person with dysgraphia is required to fill out paperwork frequently, ask if it can be transferred to a fillable PDF and typed into instead of hand written.

Treating Dysgraphia with Therapy

You or your child may also benefit from working with an occupational therapist, particularly if you struggle extensively with the fine motor skills involved in writing. Occupational therapy is most often used in treating dysgraphia in children, but some OTs work with adults as well.

Occupational therapy might include manipulating different materials to build hand and wrist strength, running letter formation drills, and practicing cursive writing, which can be easier than printing. Simple repetitive movements, like taking pegs out of a pegboard and putting them back in, can help someone with dysgraphia gain finger strength that will make writing easier and more intuitive.

Adults with dysgraphia who went through childhood undiagnosed may have unresolved feelings of shame or anger related to the condition, and may benefit from seeing a psychotherapist to talk through these complex emotions. Regardless of age, its important for people with dysgraphia to recognize that the condition is nothing to be ashamed of, and psychotherapy can be beneficial for dealing with unresolved anger and building self-esteem.
On the occasion of Mens day, UrbanClap launches a video supporting the cause of equality. A firm supporter of equality for all, UrbanClap is known for its stance on social issues like education, support for LGBT and women empowerment. The platform being a level playing field for all its partners irrespective of gender, UrbanClap strongly felt the need to establish the fact that no gender is superior to the other, but equal.

The film portrays four women from different walks of life, in off beat professions, that are most often not thought of as a conventional choice of career. It recreates anecdotes from their lives to accentuate the need for equality in every walk of life. Stories of Shanti Devi  a truck mechanic, Vankadarath Saritha  the capitals first bus driver, Mehrun Nisha  a bouncer in a pub in Delhi and Teena Chaudhary a fitness trainer with UrbanClap. The video ends with a wish from every woman who doesnt need a man, but wants them  as equals.

Commenting on the video and the initiative, Abhiraj Bhal, cofounder, UrbanClap said, We have always supported various causes from the very beginning. The work force at UrbanClap and our partners are given equal opportunities irrespective of their gender. We believe that everyone has the right to choose a profession and excel in it. Our partners and employees are welcomed into the company solely on the basis of their merit. Our past efforts and associations have also promoted this line of thought. This is just a small gesture towards furthering this cause and we hope that everyday celebrates the same. This video in no way feels the need to undermine one gender to champion the other. It promotes equality and the need to coexist.

The film is an attempt to make people realize that conforming to sexism does not strengthen a gender, equality does.

To support us in our endeavor, you can associate with us. We seek to partner with NGOs and assist them in making an equal society.
This International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, Twitter aims at continuing to encourage women to speak up through its women empowerment initiative and safety tools in order to make them feel secure online, as well as offline.

After two successful #PositionOfStrength events in Delhi and Bangalore, Twitters global initiative for women empowerment online launched in Mumbai in October. In an attempt to bridge the gender equality gap on the Internet, the Mumbai leg, organised in partnership with Point of View (@povmumbai), SheThePeople.tv (@SheThePeopleTV) and FemPositive (@fempositive), aimed to promote and protect womens voices online.

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/786816738717491200

Women make up only 29% of 375 million Internet users in the country, and fewer are on social media platforms (Source: Statista), and Twitters Internet safety and women empowerment global movement, #PositionOfStrength, aims to engage women online while educating them on Twitters safety tools, how to use Twitter as a platform to build a profile and create influential personal brands, have a voice through alternative narratives and counter speech, and Tweet with confidence from a #PositionOfStrength.

The first Asian edition of the initiative was organised in Delhi in February 2016, and it subsequently travelled to Dubai, Singapore, and Indonesia. While Bengalurus women were the second cohort in India to experience the women empowerment initiative, Mumbai saw the third edition of the initiative in India, with 25 Indian women influencers from varied backgrounds coming together to share their experiences and their views on female empowerment on Twitter.

The #PositionOfStrength movement includes a closed-door roundtable and a workshop with leading women influencers. Some of the women influencers invited to the Mumbai event included Paromita Vohra (@parodevi), Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi), Chhavi Sachdev (@chhavi), Shaina NC (ShainaNC), Kaneez Surka (@kaneezsurka), Pearl Miglani (@PearlMiglani), Reema Prasanna (@ScrollsNInk), Rimjhim Ray (@GlobeSlother), Ramya Pandyan (@ideasmithy) and Sannuta Raghu (@sannuta). These influential women highlighted how they used the platform in their personal as well as professional life and provided their perspectives on using Twitter as a #ForceForGood for women in society.

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/parodevi/status/786829071904870400

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/GlobeSlother/status/786821815909818368

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/ScrollsNInk/status/786819984899145728

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/povmumbai/status/786814636473528320

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/SheThePeopleTV/status/786834209180676096

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/povmumbai/status/786837671804936192

Twitter as a #ForceForGood

#PositionOfStrength is as much about womens empowerment, as it is to empower and help all other people on the platform. Following the roundtable, Twitter conducted a workshop to train 13 NGOs on how to use the platform effectively to achieve different objectives. The NGOs talked about how they use Twitter for fundraising, collaboration and networking. For instance, iCALL (iCALLhelpline), a non-profit counselling helpline set up by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (@TISSpeak) has launched an online hashtag campaign, #PickUpThePhone to spread awareness regarding mental health. Safecity (@pinthecreep), Responsible Netism (@Rnetism), CraYon Impact (@crayon_impact) are some of the other organisations that shared the work they do on the platform, which ranges from documenting sexual harassment, building communities, spreading awareness, providing support and reaching out to those in distress.

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/povmumbai/status/786905522880417795

Mahima Kaul, Public Policy Head, Twitter India said, It is imperative for individuals to understand that your voice matters. They have the power to challenge and engage with the issue through counter speech. Through this initiative, we want women to Tweet from a place of confidence and speak their truth about the world and the issues they care about.

Women speak up: Twitter hashtags that have sparked debates

Women influencers, media persons, and politicians in India and around the world have used Twitter effectively to support female empowerment. Hashtags such as #MyFirstPublicIndecency, #WhyIStayed, #WhyILeft, #INeverAskedForIt are reflective of how women are using Twitter to raise awareness, build communities, and be heard. The most recent examples of this movement include #SoNotOkay and #IAmANastyWomanBecause that sparked off on Twitter during the debate season between Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) and Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump).

#PositionOfStrength also encourages men to be part of the movement by supporting initiatives like HeForShe (@HeForShe), a solidarity movement led by the United Nations (@UN) that encourages men to be part of the change.

Embeddable Tweet Link:https://twitter.com/kavita_krishnan/status/631720418571739136

Embeddable Tweet Link:https://twitter.com/jenstewart77/status/789148643823644672

How you can improve your experience on Twitter

Last week, we announced progress on three focus areas on the platform: controls, reporting and enforcement.

Advanced Muting Options: Along with Block and Report, Twitters Mute button allows users to mute accounts they dont want to see Tweets from. Last week, Twitter expanded mute to where people need it the most: in notifications. This safety update enables users to mute keywords, phrases, and even entire conversations they dont want to see notifications about.

Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/safety/status/798583524986998784

Hateful Conduct Policy: Twitter has created a new hateful conduct option within the reporting flow to make it easier to report hateful conduct. Twitter has also expanded the types of reports that can be processed to include more bystander reports, which helps to reduce the burden on the person experiencing the abuse and to create a culture of collective support on the platform.Embeddable Tweet Link: https://twitter.com/safety/status/798587761884209152

You can read about the progress we are making in tackling abuse on our latest blog here.

In its endeavour to enable users to have better control of their timeline, Twitter recently rolled out its Quality Filter feature that automatically filters low-quality content like duplicate tweets or content that appears to be automated, when turned on in the notifications settings. Additionally, users now also have the ability to limit which notifications they receive on mobile and on twitter.com.

In relation to promoting a safer online environment for Twitter users in India, the Twitter Safety Center is now also available in Hindi. Heres a list of accounts and hashtags you can follow to stay updated on women empowerment on Twitter.

Follow Twitter Safety (@Safety) for updates and Twitter Support (@Support) for

tips and tricks to help you boost your Twitter skills and keep your account secure.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has discussed how NATO can further reassure allies and partners in Europe during talks with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in London.

Above: Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon meets the Secretary General Of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Crown copyright



At a working dinner at Lancaster House with the Secretary General this evening Sir Michael praised the NATOs Enhanced Forward Presence commitment in the Baltic States in the face of an increasingly assertive and unpredictable Russia.



They also agreed to build on the commitments made at the Warsaw and Wales Summits: countering hybrid threats, supporting greater maritime cooperation and boosting our cyber security.



Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "Britain is stepping up to deal with the threats we face. The Army and RAF are providing assurance to NATO allies; with troops going to Estonia and Poland and jets being deployed to the Black Sea. Our Royal Navy is taking on people traffickers and training new Libyan forces in the Mediterranean. The UK is ahead of the NATO spending target and were ensuring the Royal Navy is growing with cutting-edge new aircraft carriers, frigates and submarines launching over the next few years."



At the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels last month Sir Michael said that the UK will commit RAF Typhoon aircraft to Romania as part of the NATO Southern Air Policing mission to offer reassurance to Black Sea allies.



He confirmed that the UK will send 800 personnel to Estonia as one of four framework battalions to NATOs Enhanced Forward Presence, to which France and Denmark will contribute further troops.



Last week at the Foreign Affairs Council (Defence), the Defence Secretary called on European partners to do more and increase their defence spending to the NATO 2% commitment, meaning they are better positioned to tackle the new and emerging threats to European security.



Backed by a 178 billion equipment plan and defence budget rising in real terms for the rest of this parliament, the UK is one of the five of the 28 countries in NATO that meets the 2% spending target.
TORONTO, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Morrison Hershfield is pleased to announce Catherine Karakatsanis will be inducted in to the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Canada's Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame. This comes after she is named Canada's Top 100 Award Winner for the fourth consecutive year.

Launched in 2003, the Top 100 Most Powerful Women Awards celebrate the progressive accomplishments of Canada's top female executives, as well as their organizations and networks. Catherine, who will receive the 'Corporate Executives' award for breaking new ground and barriers in her profession and for her contributions to society, will be honored during a gala celebration at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 24.

Catherine Karakatsanis' remarkable career at Morrison Hershfield is evident through the series of engineering and senior management positions held prior to becoming COO. She brings extensive engineering and management expertise to her role and as a member of the firm's Board of Directors. Ms. Karakatsanis is recognized for her diversity of business and engineering contributions through many industry awards, induction as a Fellow in the 'Canadian Academy of Engineering'; awarded the 'Engineering Medal of Management'; the 'Ontario Women's Directorate  Leading Women Building Communities Award'; among others. Her dedication to best management practices and commitment to the enrichment of the engineering profession have earned the respect of her colleagues at Morrison Hershfield and her peers across the country. She continues to be a role model, mentor and an inspiration.

The Top 100 Awards serve to recognize talented leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and to inspire the current and next generation to push the boundaries of what's possible. "For these highly accomplished women, receiving a Top 100 Award means much more than recognition or a chance to share the spotlight with other remarkable Winners, it's an opportunity to pay it forward," says WXN founder, Pamela Jeffery. "WXN Top 100 Award Winners are powerful women both in their careers and their potential to transcend boundaries to have a greater impact on the communities around them."

At Morrison Hershfield, we embrace the diversity of our talent and leverage this inclusiveness to better understand the needs of our clients and communities as we deliver value to the many projects we undertake across North America. Simply put, we believe that empowering women to reach their full potential leads to stronger business performance.

From everyone at Morrison Hershfield we congratulate Catherine on being celebrated as one of Canada's leading businesswomen!

About Morrison Hershfield

Morrison Hershfield is a market leading, employee owned engineering firm contributing to the social wellbeing and economic prosperity of the communities we serve. We are anchored by exceptional technical and solution experts, thought leaders and high performing employees across North America. Our highly focused approach to the clients and markets we serve ensures that we deliver the value our clients demand.

More information and details are available at morrisonhershfield.com

About the Women's Executive Network (WXN)



Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada's leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is a founding member of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, dedicated to increasing the diversity of Canada's corporate boards. In 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, followed by London, UK in 2015, creating an international community of female leaders.

More information and details are available at wxnetwork.com or top100women.ca.

The full list of WXN's 2016 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners can be found at https://www.wxnetwork.com/top-100/top-100-winners/.

SOURCE Morrison Hershfield Limited
NEW YORK, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 3rd edition of the report 'Construction and Housebuilding Market Report  Republic of Ireland 2016-2020 Analysis' covers activities in the residential and non-residential construction sectors in the Republic of Ireland, following the economic downturn and then the more recent recovery of the Irish property market. The report should be of particular interest to contractors, developers, investors, local authorities, private and social housing contractors and their supply chains.

Key areas covered:

Review of the Irish construction and housebuilding sector - total output, key sectors of growth, key influencing factors and forecasts.

Review of the major public and private non-residential sectors - activity and output, with key sub-sectors of growth.

Forecasts for growth to 2020 - and analysis of the major development projects in Ireland, together with regional project data across all sectors.

Supply structure  the leading 25 Irish construction and engineering contractors, players in the housebuilding market. Key areas of insight include:

Review of the main challenges impacting completion levels in the Irish housebuilding sector including high local authority levies, social housing contributions, strict planning constraints, opposition to high density housing in Dublin and lack of infrastructure.Analysis of the potential long-term impact of Brexit on the Irish construction and house-building sectors, both in terms of inward investment, exports, impact on the economy and potential opportunities for companies to relocate within Ireland.Review of the government's housing strategy - plans for 25,000 new homes to be built every year until 2021 and over 5.35bn to be spent on 47,000 social housing units by 2021.Review of government legislation affecting the construction industry.Detailed analysis of the government's most recent capital investment plan 2016-2021. This will see almost 27bn invested over 6 years, with key areas of investment including transport, education, environment, housing and health.A review of the performance of the non-domestic construction sectors including social infrastructure, productive infrastructure and private non-residential sector. The latter includes all industrial, commercial, retail, agricultural and hotel & leisure construction output and has been one of the leading sectors in the recovery of the construction sector.

Some of the companies mentioned in the report include:

Abbey Plc, Ardmac, Ballymore Properties, BAM Ireland, Bartra Capital, Bennett Construction, Bovale Developments, Cairn Homes, Castlethorn Construction, Collen Construction, Designer Group Engineering Contractors, Dornan Engineering, Flynn Management & Contractors, Gannon Homes, Harcourt Developments, JJ Rhatigan & Co, John Paul, John Sisk, Jones Engineering, Kirby Group Engineering, Maplewood Developments, McGarrell Reilly Homes, Mercury Engineering, New Generation Homes, O'Flynn Construction, P J Hegarty & Sons, Roadbridge, SIAC, Stewart Developments, Suir Engineering, Victoria Hall Management Limited (VHML), Walls Construction.

Key areas covered in the report include:

IRELAND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT & SOCIAL BACKGROUNDEconomic growth in 2015 and 2016  revisions to GDP and GNP.Imports and exports in 2015 and 2016.Impact of the 2016 budget and new government.Impact of 'Brexit' on the Irish economy and construction and housebuilding sectors.Demographic profile of Ireland - population trends, regional data.

CONSTRUCTION MARKET OVERVIEW

Total construction market - value of construction output 2011-2020 and key trends.

Recovery of the Irish construction industry  key drivers and performance.

Forecasts for construction output in Ireland to 2020.

Regional construction activity  overview, regional construction activity by sector, role of NAMA in regional project funding, southern region (Munster), northern & western region (Connacht/Ulster), eastern & midland region (Leinster), Dublin region.

Construction employment levels, construction and labour costs.

SECTORAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITYOverview and value of output by sector.Residential construction sector  overall market performance, trends and drivers.Housing completions  overall housing completions, public/private sector completions, housing completions by type of unit.Regional housebuilding activity  regional housebuilding completions.Dublin housing market  completion figures, house prices.Private non-residential overview  industrial construction, commercial construction e.g. offices, retail, hotel & leisure.Social infrastructure sector  output and activity in the education & healthcare sectors.Productive infrastructure  output and activity in the transport infrastructure and utilities sectors.

KEY FACTORS AFFECTING THE INDUSTRY

The infrastructure and capital investment plan 2016-2021.

Planning and development - planning reforms 2015-16, urban regeneration & housing act 2015, government housing strategy.

IRISH CONSTRUCTION MARKET SUPPLYOverall market and structure of the Irish contracting industry.Key construction companies and contractors  company profiles, expertise, project experience, forward strategy.Structure of the Irish housebuilding industry.Key housebuilders  quoted and larger regional housebuilders  company profiles, expertise, project experience, forward strategy.

Read the full report:

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Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Alcoholic Beverage Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2016 - 2021)" report to their offering.

The demand for alcoholic drinks market is growing at a faster rate in emerging countries like India, China, Indonesia, Singapore is driving the demand for alcoholic drinks industry. Emerging countries, which are focusing more on tourism, is the major factor for increased demand in emerging nations. New product launches and innovations in alcoholic drinks is favoring the growth of the industry. Companies are launching more products because of the changing consumer preferences.

One of the major challenge the alcohol industry is facing is because of the change in climatic conditions which is leading to decrease in the yield of the crop, thereby increasing the cost of the beverage. Increasing government regulation and taxes are leading to increase in the overall cost of the drink, which is acting as a barrier to the industry.

Europe has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol lead by France and is followed by Germany, Italy, UK, and others. The reasons for the growth of the industry is because of increased disposable income and increased consumption of alcohol in younger generations. There are many health benefits associated with consuming alcohol in a limited quantity. Some of the benefits are, reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease, prevention from cold, and drinking red wine decreases risk of heart and burns fat. Though on the darker side, when alcohol is consumed in the larger quantities it causes many diseases.

Report Structure:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. RESEARCH APPROACH & METHODOLOGY

3. MARKET Overview

4.MARKET SEGMENTATION

5. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6. COMPANY PROFILES

7. APPENDIX

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f5nh5m/global_alcoholic

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161124005077/en/

Research and Markets

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Related Topics: Beverage, Alcoholic Beverages
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]inally after a long time, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, spoke on notes ban in parliament debate and his speech was truly uplifting and nobody could have put the sham of demonetisation in better words. Its going to be difficult for Modi to counter such a speech with logic. Dr Singh, a reputed economist, opened the debate in the Rajya Sabha on demonetisation on behalf of his party, the Congress. He said that while he cannot presume to know the final outcome, agricultural and economic growth will be dented by the PMs sudden cancellation on November 8 of the high-denomination currency. After chaos, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to be present in parliament as his step to abolish Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes was labelled as a monumental management failure. The GDP of the country would decline by about 2 per cent by what has been achieved. And this is an underestimate and not an overestimate, pointed out by Singh. Since the winter session of parliament began last week, the opposition has attacked the government for failing to anticipate the shortage of cash that has eclipsed the country since the notes were cancelled with just a few hours of notice.

Opposition leaders have been demanding a statement from the PM, while the government, till today, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would present the governments explanation. But that explanation was more of an attack than a clarification. The BJP government says that 88 billion dollars of old notes have been deposited in banks since the ban was called, and that new Rs. 500 and Rs. 2,000 notes are being supplied every day to banks, where the serpentine lines of last week have now substantially decreased. However, in rural India people have been suffering more hardships than their urban counterparts. With limited or no access to banks, farmers are sowing their winter crop. The shortage of cash may turn the situation into a crisis. The government has announced urgent measures to help farmers, like allocating Rs. 21,000 crores to state-lender NABARD to dispense loans. The government has also indicated that while it expects a contraction of growth for a quarter, it is prepping a big investment push as compensation. Dr. Singhs speech was preceded by sparring between opposition leaders and the Finance Minister, who said that the former PMs comments should be made once the debate was formally initiated.

Earlier, in an emotive speech delivered after his announcement, PM Modi had asked for just 50 days to complete his crackdown on black money. Then later on Modi conducted a survey, through his own app, and thanked people in participating in it, but the reality is completely different. The survey results lacked information regarding how many down trodden, middle income group, construction workers, farmers, logistic workers etc participated. This seems to be fabricated survey results. Who will believe and why should one believe. Many working class people including me have not participated in the survey because, set questions didnt address  if the prescribed medicine of Demonitisation is able to cure the Corruption-disease and in balancing the direct  and side-effects of this move, rather it asked if the disease is good or bad?

According to me, important questions went missing from the survey such as; Can demonetisation move eliminate corruption? Was this move, executed with proper planning to prevent drastic consequences: such as severe money crisis, suffering and death? Can we legally allow having a single innocent person to suffer or die from any Government issued policy? Was the timing of implementation of this move, just before the election, aimed for political gain or to eliminate corruption? Will the introduction of Rs. 2000 notes increase or decrease corruption?

No one supports corruption, but here PM Modi is using corruption tools to gain political mileage and shielding himself from the blunder he made. About 70 people lost their lives post demonetization. The survey has no option for a disagreement for the demonetisation and its results. It is a one sided questioner not giving a balance of opinions. Its either one agree to it or is confused but no one can disagree with it. How can we even call this a survey? This is mockery of peoples rights and intelligence. Forget about implementation, I cannot comprehend how people can praise this policy. Not even policy. This is keeping people to financial hostage.

Moreover, the current population of India is 1,332,970,942 as of Wednesday, November 23, 2016, based on the latest United Nations estimates. How can PM make a justification after taking consideration of only 5 lakhs? Five lakhs is negligible number when compared to 1,332,970,942. Moreover, most of the suffering men and women dont want to download Narendra Modi APP.

People who have voted against the demonetisation are his own followers. Then why didnt he get 100% results? Seems some of his true followers did not rate well. This survey really seems awkward. It seems that Modiji is also trying to check whether people are happy or not with his decision. Its a totally, useless survey in my opinion. Obviously, no one likes to download an app except his followers. They are saying Rs. 5 lakh crores are deposited in the banks accounts, but why dont they say that Rs. One lakh crore has been withdrawn also. Why people have deposited, you know the reason but why they have withdrawn is totally because of lack of implementation and your third class planning. To add further, let me say that this demonetisation definitely will not solve the issue of counterfeit because new and old currencies possess same security features. Ideally, security enhancement should be there to avoid counterfeit notes.

Anyway, the issue is still the same without coming to core conclusion. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day following sustained ruckus over the demonetisation move and a demand for Prime Minister Narendra Modis presence and intervention during the debate on the issue. Parliament has been witnessing heated arguments ever since the beginning of the winter session with adjournments ordered almost every day. This is what; Indian politics and politicians are all about. They waste our hard earned as taxpayers money.

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Washington, DC  This year, and for several years, there has been a concerted effort in many states to stop some voters from voting, or to make it much harder for them to participate. Since the Supreme Court rolled back key provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, elected officials have purged existing voters from the rolls, made cuts to early voting, reduced polling places, put in place strict voter photo ID laws and levied onerous voter registration restrictions.





We recognize the importance of a peaceful transfer of power as a hallmark of a functioning democracy, and we recognize that we have one of the best election systems and democracies in the world, but we also need to say it out loud: Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters of the United States





It is clear that this kind of voter suppression could impact the outcome of elections, Carson continued. We may never know whether the efforts to block voter participation changed the outcome in any particular race  but we must be on guard for the future.





Tight margins in some key elections show that suppression may play a role.









We are not talking about vigilante voter intimidation, said Carson. We are talking about official, legal voter suppression by state legislatures and election officials.





Carson pointed especially to the work of Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, who engaged in a multi-year effort to stop eligible Kansans from voting. Laws drafted by Kobach required restrictive documentary proof of citizenship to register by mail and at the DMV. Despite defeats in federal and state courts, Kobach still pushed to keep eligible citizens from voting.





Some try to justify voter suppression as just politics as usual  trying to ensure their candidates will win, Carson said. There is no excuse for erecting unnecessary barriers to voting. It is not the American way.





In 2016, the League worked to make sure voters impacted by new laws were aware of these restrictions. In Ohio, the League made thousands of phone calls to inform voters about that states purge. In Virginia, the League conducted outreach so voters knew about the new ID law. In Kansas, the League worked to register voters and provide them information. Across the country League members volunteered as non-partisan poll observers.





Every eligible citizen should vote and the election system should help them participate rather than standing in the way, said Carson. The League of Women Voters will continue our work to expand participation in the election process and work to give a voice to all Americans, she concluded.





The League is gearing up to take a stand in statehouses and courtrooms nationwide to ensure no voters are left behind.





What states rigged their elections? Heres the list of 13 states with new voting restrictions in effect in the 2016 election:





Alabama: restrictive photo ID requirement

Arizona: limitations on mail-in ballot collection

Indiana: provide proof of identification

Kansas: documentary proof of citizenship

Mississippi: restrictive photo ID requirement

New Hampshire: restrictive photo ID requirement

Ohio: cuts to early voting, changes to absentee and provisional ballot rules, elimination of same day register and vote, and illegal purge of voters

Rhode Island: restrictive photo ID requirement

South Carolina: restrictive photo ID requirement

Tennessee: additional restrictions with photo ID requirement and illegal purge of voters

Texas: restrictive photo ID requirement

Virginia: restrictive photo ID requirement
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 74F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.
Iraqi Assyrians Fear Future Persecution in Post-ISIS Iraq

Iraqi Christian soldiers attend the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul in Iraq, October 30, 2016. ( Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah) WASHINGTON -- Iraqi Christians are uncertain if they will be included in negotiations deciding the power structure of a post-Islamic State northern Iraq, an Iraqi Christian human rights activist told The Christian Post. Although Iraqi-led coalition forces are fighting to liberate Mosul and many Christian villages in the Nineveh Plains from IS (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh), much uncertainty remains about what the future will look like for Iraqi Christians in their ancient homelands. Even though IS is being driven out of the area, many native Christians will not return until they are given guarantees from the Iraqi government, Kurdish Regional Government and the international community that they will be able to live without fear that another radical Islamic uprising will put their lives in danger once again. Loay Mikhael, head of the foreign relations committee of the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council and deputy chairman of the Soraya Charity Organization in Nineveh, told CP that Iraqi Christians are ideally looking for a way to return to their homelands and "rule themselves" with a certain level of autonomy. "We believe that situation should be that after liberating Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, the Christians should be able to rule themselves -- whether that is creating a province or if there is any sort of safe haven or autonomy for Christians in the region so they can rule themselves -- be protected by themselves and have international community aid and U.S. military assistance to be able to sustain themselves, at least for a while," Mikhael said. "Christians, they ask, 'Are we going to go back and have neighbors similar to ISIS and neighbors who will persecute us and drive us out of the Nineveh Plains and Mosul again or will there be guarantees by the international community, by central government and KRG?'" Mikhael said that the future for Christians and other parties in Iraq post-IS is "still not clear," as the central Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government have disputed about who will control that Nineveh Plains after IS is driven out. "Christians don't know what will happen as far as who will rule the area," Mikhael told CP. "So, we have been asking similar questions about what will be post-ISIS era and nobody has given us any answer to that." "Now, central government and KRG are having a conflict between themselves and each of them is claiming this is their area," Mikhael said. "This has to come to an end." Mikhael added that when the government and KRG and other actors in the area previously met to discuss the Nineveh Plains, Christians were not a part of that conversation. "The Christian forces, by the way, were not a part of their conversation agreement after the post-liberation of the area," Mikhael said. "So, I don't think we know whether there is a seat for us to be in the process of negotiating or what will happen." In September, U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., introduced what has been referred to as the "Nineveh Province Resolution," which would ask the United States government to commit to working with the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to help create autonomous regions or zones for indigenous religious minority communities in the Nineveh Plains that will give those communities "security and self-determination within the federal structure of Iraq." The measure currently has 11 co-sponsors. "These communities need a place to go home to. We need a place to resettle them," Kirsten Evans, a senior advisor with the lobbying group In Defense of Christians and a proponent of the resolution, told CP. "We also need to guarantee that those centuries of cultural heritage that are embedded in that soil continues to survive in that area," Evans added. "These communities could survive anywhere. ... It's not just that these communities survive, it is that their culture survives in the place that it is rooted in because they have that right and the culture has that right, and we want to see the international community do everything in its power to guarantee them that right." Mikhael explained that the concept of creating autonomous regions for minority communities isn't just some new idea. "This is since the 1920s when creating the new state and after World War II -- there was some promises to create a state for the Christians, for the Assyrians there. The idea was again brought to life in 2007, as well. We talked about it and we were able to restore it in the KRG draft constitution, article 35, that Christian minorities have a right to form and create their own autonomous region by law," he stated. "This is not something we want to create. This is something that already exists but we want to bring it to reality." Evans added that both the Iraqi government and the KRG "have already conceptualized in their own legal framework the possibility of autonomous provinces with special zones for some of these minority communities." While there might be some disagreement about the structure of power in a post-IS Nineveh Plains, simply rebuilding many of the Christian towns in the region will be a years-long undertaking, as a number of the Christian towns that have already been liberated are over half destroyed, Mikhael said. The town of Qaraqosh, which was once home to 50,000 Christians, has been 65 percent destroyed. "After liberation, there should be money allocated for this area by coalition or United Nations to give to some organizations to clear at least mines and booby traps," Mikhael said. "Phase two will be building what has been destroyed -- houses, streets, schools, infrastructure. Phase three will, if we are able to build something there and enable these communities to go back to their homes, will focus on how can we create job opportunities, how will the people survive again. We need to create some projects to ensure that each family member will be working somewhere to make their livings and be able to sustain themselves."
As part of an effort to recreate a population of a particularly rare breed of horse called Przewalskis horse back in its natural habitat on the Central Asian and Mongolian steppes, Atran Airlines has flown 14 of the animals from their previous home in Hungary to Orenburg in southern Russia.

The horses previous home was in the Hortobagy National Park in eastern Hungary, from where they were moved by truck by Horse Trans Cargo to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport.

Celebi Ground Handling staff at the gateway then loaded them on board the aircraft that would take them on the next stage of their journey: flying overnight on a Boeing 737-400SF operated by Atran Airlines, one of the three carriers within Russias Volga-Dnepr Group.

Reaching Orenburg on the steppe, they were then moved to a local nature reserve.

The wild horses will have several months of quarantine and acclimatisation before joining another group of wild horses imported from France that are already in the reserve.

This special livestock cargo has not been the first to be handled at Budapest Airport, and ground handling staff did their best, as usual, to ensure a most comfortable flight for these valuable wild animals, explained Jozsef Kossuth, cargo manager at Budapest Airport.

We have had many different four-legged passengers before, including extremely valuable race horses, young Hungarian breeder bulls and a special zoo delegation consisting of 13 lions, he added.

There are believed to be approximately 380 Przewalskis horses ranging across a protected area of approximately 2,400 hectares in the Hortobagy National Park.

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November 23, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran  Privatization in Iran only effectively started in 2001. Five years later, in 2006, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed a constitutional amendment  the Law on Implementation of General Policies of Article 44 of the Constitution  to ease the sale of state-owned enterprises in an attempt to downsize government and help expand the private sector. But this grand scheme has never hit its intended target, and genuine privatization has thus far remained slow.

Indeed, based on figures published by the Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO), total proceeds from privatization in the last 16 years were just over $108 billion, largely facilitated via local exchange markets (more than 61%).

Although the current Iranian year (ending March 20, 2017) is thought to be the final year of the Privatization law enacted in 2006, IPO Managing Director Jaafar Sobhani was quoted as saying by Hamshahri daily Nov. 1, It might be extended for another year should parliament approve of it. Indeed, given that there are still over 200 companies on the IPOs to-do list, many economic experts view the current privatization schedule as far-fetched and impractical. Furthermore, implementing the 2006 law in itself has proved to be extremely challenging, largely due to the lack of ease of doing business and complicated bureaucracy favoring state-owned companies.

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(Source: Iran Privatization Organization)

For instance, vested interests within the government  according to Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia  are prepared to block any major effort to divest public firms to the private sector. Hamshahri reported that Tayebnia apparently was tacitly referring to the minister of mining, industry and trade and the oil minister in an address to the 57th annual meeting of the Public Private Dialogue Council on March 7.

Moreover, when the government has pushed for privatization, it has greatly been a cash-raising enterprise. Indeed, paying off debts has been a major driver of the transfer and sale of a great number of enterprises to so-called quasi-state entities  and principally pension funds  as noted by Tayebnia in an Oct. 7 interview with Al-Monitor. This type of sale occurred on a large scale during the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13). Coupled with the disbursement of justice shares  a scheme pursued by Ahmadinejad to bestow shares to low-income groups in a bid to improve income distribution  the value of these ownership transfers amounted to more than 300 trillion rials ($9.47 billion).

Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, a member of parliament and member of the parliamentary Economic Commission, in a June 25 interview with Nama News, questioned the very nature of such share divestments. Addressing the failure of privatization in Iran compared with developed countries, he noted, The outcome is worse than the time before the share transfers. Commenting on figures on privatizations conducted by the IPO, Pourebrahimi said 25% of such entities were divested to the Civil Servants Retirement Organization, 15% to the Farmers, Villagers and Nomads Social Insurance Fund and 25% to the Social Security Organization. What is of particular note in the view of Pourebrahimi is that the managers of these funds are appointed by the minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare. This is fundamentally at odds with one key aspect of privatization in itself.

According to the IPO, merely a small fraction of state-owned enterprises, estimated at about 5%, have actually been divested to what would be regarded as the real private sector, as opposed to quasi-state entities and the like. This has meant that factors such as promoting quality, raising productivity and increasing efficiency were untapped, said Hossein Abdo Tabrizi, an adviser to the minister of roads and urban development, at a roundtable held by AyandeNegar, a publication affiliated with the Tehran Chamber of Commerce. The comments appeared in the monthlys July 22-Aug. 21 edition. A major transfer of ownership of public companies happened under the previous administration [of Ahmadinejad] but all in an unfavorable way, he said. The distributional impact of privatization was what the then-government was vying for and now I am certain that the intended target was never hit."

A further factor frequently cited as an explanation for the meager size of the Iranian private sector is the lack of ease of doing business in the country, as shown by international rankings, according to data compiled by the World Bank this year. This is testimony to the low amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) as an alternative to capital scarcity in the economy in the course of the past 15 or more years of privatization policies.

It is clear that FDI has never played a constructive role in capital injection in the privatization process, which has long been suffering from low investment. Abdo Tabrizi, From the actual start of the privatization scheme to date, income per capita has declined continuously and the middle class in Iran has been the victim constantly being wiped out of the face of the economy, Abdo Tabrizi said in AyandeNegar. This has touched a degree that the labor force participation rate has reached the worrying rate of 36%, he stressed. The rate is the proportion of people eligible to participate in the labor force who are actually participating in it, by working or looking for work. It is usually expressed as a percentage of the total labor force-eligible population in an economy.

On a broader, structural level, the private sector only makes up roughly one-fifth of the economy. Meanwhile, 80% of fiscal spending is allocated to state-owned enterprises. Under such circumstances, it appears that hopes for further transparency and openness to induce genuine privatization in the country will likely remain unfulfilled.
November 17, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Your Excellency the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, greetings from the Palestinian people. We ask you that all detainees, prisoners and bodies of innocent martyrs be handed over because they have the right to freedom of education and to play rather than be tortured in Israeli prisons.

With these words, Mariam Hashem al-Mahatina, a 14-year-old student in Hawaa High School for Girls in south Hebron, addressed Ban. Her letter was among half a million other letters that Palestinian students wrote Nov. 7 as part of the campaign launched in solidarity with detained children.

The letters were handed to the UN human rights official at the UN headquarters in Ramallah through the campaign organizers  the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

According to the figures of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, there were 350 children, including 12 girls, in Israeli prisons up until Nov. 7. The boys are detained in Israels Megiddo and Ofer prisons, while the girls are held up in Hasharon prison.

These figures accompanied the letters that were submitted to the UN headquarters, in addition to details about the arrest of children. More than 2,000 cases of children being arrested have been recorded since early October 2015, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

Israa Wahid, a 13-year-old student at Ain Munjid School in Ramallah, said that she wanted to study nursing, but after seeing Israels torture of children, she gave up her dream out of fear of having to face a case like Ahmad Manasras. Ahmad was arrested in Jerusalem on Oct. 12, 2015, after being shot and injured by Israeli settlers and police on the grounds of having allegedly attempted a stabbing attack.

She wrote in her letter to Ban, When I saw the video in which Ahmad was tortured, I cried my eyes out.

The letter-sending event coincided with Ahmads trial and his sentencing to 12 years in prison. Sentencing a child to such a long prison term set a precedent in Israeli courts.

Rami al-Rumhy, the head of Ain Munjid Elementary School, told Al-Monitor that his schools participation in the campaign stems from the students deep interest in Ahmads case and that of other detainees. He said, We distributed the letter templates to grades 7 and 8 at the school, and we noticed that the students reacted to the issue and showed interest and solidarity with Ahmad, who is close to their age and other detained children.

Rumhy added, The students showed interest in this event and expressed their feelings toward their detained fellows. Each of them wrote from the heart, knowing that they could be among those detainees.

Qadura Fares, director general of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, told Al-Monitor, We did not send the letters to count numbers. It was an attempt to show the international organization [UN] its responsibility toward protecting children.

He added, We addressed the Ministry of Education and sent letter templates. Each child wrote his own letter alone without any help or dictation from anyone. By addressing Ban, the students challenged the international organization morally, as they are children asking for the UNs protection.

Fares said that these letters might not alter international opinion now, but cumulatively and with ongoing efforts, change will happen. He noted, Solidarity through such letters, in addition to political and diplomatic efforts, might get things moving.

Fares added that this event aims at stirring the Palestinian people. The international stance is frozen and stagnating because of the absence of comprehensive Palestinian militancy.

He noted, The political road is blocked, and there are no horizons for activating the international community to protect these children through politics. Our only choice is to rely on the Palestinian street as a militancy tool based on harmony and unity among all factions and on the persistence of these events to shake the international community.

These events and other potential ones might be the first step in a long journey for Palestinians to alter international opinion so children under occupation are protected by human rights laws.
November 23, 2016

The 1,500-plus delegates of the seventh Fatah congress, the next generation of Palestinian leaders, will be relatively younger (in their 40s and 50s) and more representative of the occupied territories than the current leadership. The congress, to be held Nov. 29 in Ramallah, will agree on a political platform and an action plan for the Palestinian struggle and elect the new members of the movements Revolutionary Council and the Central Committee. Currently, the 22 members of Fatahs Central Committee and 100 members of the Revolutionary Council are older and represent leaders who returned to Palestine after the 1993 Oslo Accord such as Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Maher Ghneim, Abbas Zaki and Mahmoud al-Aloul.

Notably, the sixth congress was held in Bethlehem in 2009 after a 20-year lull in meetings.

Congressional delegates vote using secret ballots. The once secretive liberation movement published the names of its delegates to the Nov. 29 congress, giving the world a glimpse at the next crop of Fatah leaders. The most prominent feature of the list was its exclusion of renegade Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan and his supporters.

A quantitative look at the delegates shows that about 1,100 of the 1,500 voters, or 73%, come from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Less than 400 delegates reside outside Palestine. Furthermore, 167, or 11%, of delegates are women, and 33, or 2%, are Christian. One delegate, Uri Davis, an Israeli Jew, was elected to the Revolutionary Council during the sixth congress in 2009.

The delegates also include 151 current or former members of the military (50 are retired), 44 members of Palestinian diplomatic missions and 66 prisoners who will vote via proxies (50 are from the West Bank).

Nearly 312, or 21%, of the delegates (200 from the West Bank and 112 from Gaza) were elected by their communities over the past two years and represent the youngest group of delegates (late 20s and early 30s).

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad, a young international media spokesman for Fatah, told Al-Monitor that the membership distribution was done fairly according to the internal laws of Fatah. "Representatives of the youth, the different cities of the West Bank and Gaza, the popular resistance and civil society organizations were all included," he said.

Abu Zayyad said delegates will handle a full political agenda. "The congress will discuss Palestinian relations with Israel, the role of the youth in the movement, relations with some Arab countries, the assignment of a deputy for [Abbas] within Fatah and the evaluation of the popular resistance and what can be done to empower it," he said.

Al-Monitor spoke to a number of first-time delegates who expressed excitement about the potential change in the Palestinian liberation movement, which launched its first attack against Israel back in January 1965.

Jawad Thawbteh, from the village of Beit Fajjar, was 28 when he was elected in the 2014 Fatah primaries. He was the youngest delegate from his area. Speaking to Al-Monitor by phone, Thawbteh said that he and other delegates are committed to making changes in the bylaws of the movement to revitalize it.

We need to change some provisions of our movements bylaws that dont encourage the young to join," he said. "At present, you need to have been a member of Fatah 15 years before you qualify to be elected to the 100-member Revolutionary Council.

According to the Fatah hierarchy, the Revolutionary Council acts as a sort of legislative arm of the movement, while the 20-plus Central Committee acts as its executive branch. Thawbteh said that he will advocate for the movement to adopt a clear strategy of nonviolent resistance. I will do my best to push for a resolution committing to the use of popular struggle that is in line with international law, he said.

Tahseen al-Astal, 44, from Gaza, was chosen as a representative of professional unions. The deputy head of the Palestinian journalists union told Al-Monitor that he is opposed to transforming Fatah into a party. Our liberation struggle is far from over," he said. "The West Bank and Gaza are still under occupation, and we need to keep the issue of ending the occupation as our central theme.

Fadi Abu Baker, from Nablus, is a PLO employee born into a family of Fatah leaders. He told Al-Monitor that the seventh congress must find the right balance between young and old, and between those from the occupied territories and those from outside. We must not forget our fellow revolutionaries outside of Palestine and some of the leaders who are older and wiser, he said.

Baker said that he was unhappy that leaders from Lebanon, Jordan and Tunisia form a minority in the seventh congress, after having constituted a majority since the beginning of the movement. He reflected on the congress' political manifesto, saying, I hope that after discussion, we can find a formula that can work. The idea of smart popular resistance must be defined and we should not totally abandon the armed struggle, even though at present it is not a viable option.

The convening of the seventh Fatah congress at Abbas headquarters in Ramallah could possibly mark the last time he and the movement's fellow founding fathers wield power in a movement that is becoming younger and more reliant on new leaders from the occupied territories.

Abbas has shown strength and resilience in putting together a congress that few felt would take place without Dahlan and his supporters. Publicly announcing the names of the delegates is a small victory for Abbas  an indication that the movements strongest asset continues to be its ability to stay independent of pressure from regional and international players. The successful convening and conclusion of the congress will provide Abbas with an honorable platform to exit the political scene and put in place a generation of younger, more pragmatic and more energetic Palestinian leaders.
November 23, 2016

BAGHDAD  On Nov. 10, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) announced they blocked the road between Mosul and Raqqa, thus cutting the supply lines between the cities claimed by the Islamic State (IS) as its capitals. Days later, on Nov. 16, Hadi al-Amiri, a prominent PMU leader and the head of the Badr Organization, said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had called on the PMU to enter Syria after liberating the Iraqi territories.

Calls for the PMU to intervene in Syria are not new, as many PMU spokesmen had previously mentioned this possibility when the operations to liberate Mosul first started in October. Now, however, the Syrian regime itself  and its direct leadership in particular  has called on the PMUs intervention, which means that the sectarian war in the Middle East is entering a new phase.

Syria has never made an official call like that before. For instance, Hezbollahs intervention in Syria did not follow a call; the party believed the battle in Syria to be its own and took part either as a personal initiative or in response to an Iranian command.

In addition, Assads call was not addressed to the Iraqi president or prime minister, but rather directly to the PMU leadership, and such a call cannot be conceived through official channels because it would be rejected.

Iraqs current situation is subject to international standards and US commitments that prevent it from formally interacting with such a call. But this is not the only reason; the Syrian regime is quite condescending toward the Iraqi government, which it believes to be part of a US political process and had been pitting against it since 2003.

Syria resorted to nonofficial or semiofficial parties, believing that it could achieve what it had achieved during the Lebanese civil war. Syrias Baath Party is still incapable of dealing with countries at war through their official circles, but it can easily communicate with nonofficial or semiofficial parties.

The Syrian regimes message today is that it will be dealing with a specific counteragent to the Islamic State (IS). By calling on a Shiite militia that has achieved real victories against IS and that is larger and more powerful than Hezbollah, the regime is sending an internal message meant to stir up fear among Sunnis.

Yet on the other hand, this call seems to illustrate Syrian support of the PMU factions that want to intervene in Syria, while other PMU factions refuse to. Some PMU factions, and particularly those affiliated with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, are still rather conservative because Sistani refuses to fight a war outside of Iraq and has explicitly forbidden Shiite fighters from traveling to Syria since the beginning of the Syrian crisis. In addition, the Iraqi street itself does not support a war outside of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Amiris statement regarding Assads call could be an attempt to test the waters at the popular and governmental levels.

In this context, PMU security spokesman Youssef al-Kalabi told Al-Monitor, The PMU will not make any move without the approval of the armed forces general commander [Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi], noting that the PMU could be combing the borders for some IS members, but he did not rule out the possibility of entering into Syria if Iraqs national security is compromised and should the Iraqi government approve such action.

Some PMU factions have entered Syria in the past, but once the majority of factions or the PMUs entire strong army including its many militias and factions enter the Syrian territories, the battle for the Middle East could definitely be on the verge of a new phase.

In 2012, the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade had announced forming its first troops in Syria to defend the Shiite holy shrines, although the subsequent battles they fought alongside the Syrian regime were far from the shrines. However, the momentum gained by these brigades subsided after the fall of Mosul. The bulk of those troops withdrew from Syria to Iraq after IS took over Mosul on June 9, 2014, according to some websites affiliated with the Syrian opposition. However, Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia organization that adopted a slogan similar to that of the Lebanese Hezbollah, soon replaced the withdrawn troops of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas.

Shortly after the fall of Mosul, the PMUs fight alongside the Syrian regime entered its second phase, since the Iraqis intervention in Syria was no longer to defend the Shiite shrines but to fight terrorism. The fight against IS had become an international and Iraqi demand, although the battles were not only against IS, but also included anti-regime groups.

Hezbollah al-Nujaba has published several videos on YouTube of its troops in training and in combat operations in more than one place in Aleppo, including a video of its fighters on an operation south of the city in November 2015. These operations were clearly larger than those carried out by the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, which focused on defensive operations around the holy shrines.

Then came Assad's call, marking the third phase of the Iraqi intervention in Syria, dubbed as a comprehensive intervention by the PMU and a strengthening of the strategic Shiite alliance. This way, the presence of the armed Shiite groups would directly be under the umbrella of the Syrian regime, rather than under the management of Hezbollah or Iran.

However, should such an action take place, it would result in additional conflicts in the region and have major repercussions on Iraq, while the raging war will continue even if the Iraqi forces succeeded in liberating all territories from IS. It is also likely for this to weaken the PMU instead of strengthening it, by making its fighters intervene in battles outside of Iraq and compromise its unity since many Sistani-affiliated factions would object to the PMUs intervention in Syria.
November 23, 2016

Four warehouses containing large quantities of weapons were discovered over the past days in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdane on the border with Libya. On Nov. 12, the Tunisian Ministry of Interior announced that there is a weapons warehouse in one of the olive forests in the city. On the same day, the ministry unveiled a second underground store containing war material, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

On Nov. 13, the ministry said it discovered a third warehouse in the city containing a large quantity of arms and ammunition, including SAM7 missiles. On Nov. 14, security forces uncovered a fourth store in the Amiriyah neighborhood in the city of Ben Guerdane. While such discoveries show that jihadi groups in Tunisia still enjoy a margin of movement and are planning to establish an emirate, they also mark a great security success for Tunisian authorities.

In this context, the question arises as to how the security services managed to detect these stores in one fell swoop and in such a short time. It all started Nov. 6 when a Tunisian soldier named Saad Ghazlani was killed by an armed group in the city of Kasserine, located in the west of the country. On the same day, the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack. Following the operation, Tunisian troops launched a sweeping operation in the western mountains on the border with Algeria. Tunisia announced Nov. 9 the killing of Talal Saidi  the leader of the group involved in the killing of Ghazlani  in the Jabal Saloum region in Kasserine. Saidi was the emir of Jund al-Khilafah, which is loyal to IS.

According to press statements by the official spokesman for the Tunisian Ministry of Defense, Col. Belhassen Oueslati, the weapons stores were discovered in the city of Ben Guerdane as a result of information found on the phone of Saidi.

Nizar Maqni, a Tunisian terrorism analyst, said that the disclosure of such large quantities of weapons in the border town of Ben Guerdane reveals the IS intention to completely seize the city.

He told Al-Monitor, We are collecting numerous and sizeable weapons from one area only. What is serious about this is that the weapons include anti-aircraft SAM7 missiles, as per the Tunisian Ministry of Interior, and this is a precedent in Tunisia. IS wants to occupy Ben Guerdane region through more intensified fire [weapons] than the Feb. 20 operation witnessed by the city in retaliation for the US strike against IS in the city of Sabratha in Libya near the Tunisian border. The quality of the discovered weapons reflects the intention of the organization to control the geographical area. It is unlikely for these weapons to be stored for transfer to the border with Algeria, knowing that jihadi, al-Qaeda and IS fighters are stationed in the mountains of Kasserine and have been fighting a guerrilla war since 2012 against the army forces and the Tunisian guard.

He added, I think a replica of the Ben Guerdane scenario  i.e., the attempt to control Ben Guerdane  is in the making, but this one will include more fire and will take into great consideration the [IS] attack that aimed to take over the city in March. The weapons that were found can protect the airspace from any airstrikes and can allow IS  should it control the city  to have defensive groups and other attacking groups that would be tasked with expanding into neighboring regions. In other terms, this is another attempt to occupy the Libyan city of Sirte similarly to the February 2015 attempt. At the time, IS lost the city after the liberation operation launched by the Al-Bonyan Al-Marsous operation, loyal to the Government of National Accord forces, in May 2016.

It is noteworthy that IS launched a terrorist attack against the city of Ben Guerdane in March 2016, leaving dozens dead and wounded. IS wanted to establish its own emirate in the city, knowing that 50 IS fighters who took part in the attack on the city hailed from the city itself. Before that, Tunisian authorities had announced August 2013 the creation of a military buffer zone along its eastern border to prevent weapons smuggling and ammunition coming from Libya into the country.

Mustafa Abdul Kabir, a civil activist in Ben Guerdane, told Al-Monitor, The discovered weapons date back to 2012 and 2013. They are not newly stored but were smuggled from Libya to Tunisia and stored in the town of Ben Guerdane prior to the creation of a buffer border zone, as per security sources. This discovery reveals the extent of organizational interdependence between jihadi groups in Libya and their counterparts in Tunisia. This [interdependence] started in 2011 following the fall of the late Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime and the proliferation of arms in the country.

In the wake of the fall of the Gadhafi regime, large amounts of weapons were smuggled into Tunisian territory, according to a report by the UN Security Council expert group, which has been monitoring the arms embargo imposed on Libya since 2011. The report was released in April 2013.

In the same context, a study on the jihadi movement in Tunisia based on judicial dossiers was published Oct. 26 by the Tunisian Center for Research and Studies on terrorism. It revealed that jihadi leaders, namely the leader of Ansar al-Sharia, Saifullah bin Hussein  also known as Abu Iyad  showed since August 2011 interest in sending jihadi members to the city of Derna, located in the far east of Libya, to receive military training. Those were also interested in introducing weapons from Libya to Tunisia and storing them in preparation for any confrontation with the Tunisian state. Also, Ansar al-Sharia established in 2011 the so-called guesthouse in the city of Sabratha, in western Libya, to receive new Tunisian jihadi members.

Whether the discovered weapons are new or old, their discovery is deemed a security success for the Tunisian security services, especially considering that it followed the killing of Saidi. While it led to the killing of the leader of the IS branch in Tunisia, it revealed the ability of jihadi groups to move despite the larger war being waged by the state against them. It also revealed that the desert border with neighboring Libya is still the weak flank of Tunisia, from which arms are introduced and to which supporters of the jihadi movement travel to be trained to use weapons and then return to fight government forces or carry out terrorist operations, as happened in the Sousse resort attack in July 2015 and the Bardo Museum attack in March 2015.
November 22, 2016

After an outcry heard around the world, Turkey decided Nov. 22 to reconsider a proposal that, in some cases, would pardon rapists of underage girls if no physical force was involved.

On Nov. 17, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey made a proposal to parliament that would pardon men charged with statutory rape prior to Nov. 16 if they have married or agree to marry their victims. Once the bill was shared with the press, there was an uproar on social media, and although public gatherings and demonstrations are illegal under the emergency law in Turkey, women organized several protest marches around the country.

One lawyer told Al-Monitor that the proposed law "normalizes a crime against humanity."

With the intense public condemnation, the AKP agreed Nov. 22 to recall the proposed law  for now.

The AKP has been quite successful in reversing progressive laws it had introduced over the years. For example, in 2005 it was the AKP-led government that approved a change making sex with minors under 15 statutory rape, period. That is, rapists could no longer avoid jail time by agreeing to marry their victims, even if the marriage had the child's or parents' consent. Indeed, over the years, the AKP also approved legislation that increased jail time to 16 years for statutory rape, up from 5 years.

After the legislation was passed, people apparently felt freer to report rapes. The number of reported rape cases from 2008 to 2013 increased 30%, and about half of the victims were minors. Data for sexual harassment of minors from 2004 to 2014 is also scary: Court cases rose to 18,104, up from 4,032  an increase of almost 450%.

Rape cases are always in the news in Turkey. Over the past couple of years, statutory rape in juvenile prisons, religious schools and boarding houses has affected hundreds of children. The most notorious case involves the Ensar Foundation  known for its intricate links with the government  where 10 boys were raped. The minister of family and social services criticized the press coverage of the case, saying, Just because this happened once, we should not tarnish the reputation of Ensar Foundation.

The recalled bill is a continuation of what started in December, when the AKP-controlled Constitutional Court first canceled the required 16-year sentence for statutory rape. Then, in May, Al-Monitor reported on a parliamentary investigative commission that recommended decreasing the legal age for marriage. The commission recommended that rapists who agree to marry their victims should be forgiven, and that religious marriages should be allowed at a younger age than civil marriages, along with other mind-boggling suggestions. Just two days before the July 15 failed coup, the court decided that even the age of 15 was not appropriate for defining statutory rape  because raping a girl of that age should not carry the same consequences as raping a 4-year-old. Those steps did not garner sufficient public attention to make headlines, but the new proposal hit a nerve.

AKP members have been working full-time on TV and social media to defend the proposal from every angle. For example, Vahdettin Ince told CNN Turk TV: "What other cultures accept is not universal. Eighteen years as the limit [to be considered an adult] may be in the law, but I dont think it is correct. Why wait [to get married] until 18 years old? Ince and several others argue that Islamic law, which allows all individuals to marry upon reaching puberty, should be applied.

Currently in Turkey, a child aged 15 or older can legally get married with parental permission. The minimum age would have changed under the proposed law if the perpetrator agreed to marry the victim. Hence, the law serves two purposes: legalizing marriages for those under the age of 15, and providing amnesty for those who are currently being prosecuted. Although AKP members vehemently claim this one-time pardon only applies to cases of consensual sex, it is problematic to consider sex with a child younger than 18 to be consensual.

AKP leaders sank even deeper as they struggled to defend the proposed legislation. For example, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told the press: "The law does not cover rapists, just people who had sex with minors." Bozdag argued that the proposed law was aimed to provide one-time relief for about 3,000 men currently in jail whom he considers victims. He said that these people had formed families  without a legal marriage  and that the minors and their parents consented. His words  minors consent  generated an uproar on social media. Bozdag also took to Twitter, insisting that the law only covers cases in which the "couples" are in a religious marriage yet unable to obtain a civil marriage certificate due to the girl's age. They must subsequently agree to a legal marriage.

On Nov. 19, Bozdag, with his unyielding stance in favor of the law, added insult to injury, in a sense, when he said: In some places, particularly in places where Roma people live in high numbers, our citizens carry out ceremonies, weddings for underage [girls]. We do not approve of it. Independent media described the ministers comments as racist. Indeed, there is no evidence that the victims Bozdag claims to save are Roma. To the contrary, those who are brave enough to report from the field explain in detail that the problem is pervasive all around the country.

Although Bozdag and other AKP members claim this is a one-time pardon, neither the public nor lawyers are convinced. A human rights lawyer who specializes in minors rights told Al-Monitor: This kind of a blanket amnesty normalizes a crime against humanity. It therefore sets a precedent to allow marriage at any age as long as the minor is said to have reached puberty, as early as 8 or 9 in Turkey. Indeed, that is what Islamic law suggests, and this has been a longtime battle for different religious orders and tribes in Turkey. It is an open secret that the law was introduced to appease these groups, whose support is crucial for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his quest for an imperial presidency.

That said, KADEM  the Women and Democracy Association, whose vice chair is Erdogans daughter  posted a press release about the proposed law raising certain red flags, particularly about how to determine the free will of a minor. Initially, that reaction was seen as a stand against the law, but it was later clarified that the foundation was not saying the proposal is wrong, only incomplete.

The AKP's definition of victimization varies among rape cases. The AKP wants the public to sympathize with and forgive the rapists. Its arguments are that male "victims" are suffering in jail merely for following tradition and that there are too many such cases to ignore. The same arguments could extend to other matters  for example, honor killings are traditional, and so is polygamy. Is the next step to legalize polygamy since that system also produces "victims"? Should honor-killing perpetrators be forgiven, as they are following a tradition?
November 23, 2016

Turkey is currently preoccupied with many obvious problems. But there's one up-and-coming issue that deserves immediate attention, as it has the potential to become a major security risk: What happens when young people can't find jobs?

I only have 150 lira [$40] in my pocket. I can live on that for 10 more days. Before the [government-Kurdish] clashes, I used to work in a restaurant, but now most of the city is in rubble and I have no job, 21-year-old A.A., who wanted to be identified only by his initials, told Al-Monitor. He had just returned from Mardin to Turkeys predominantly Kurdish town of Sirnak.

Asked if there is hope for the future, he said, What hope? We live day to day."

A public official from Cizre  the town most affected by clashes between Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)  told Al-Monitor the town is trying hard to find jobs for young people through the state employment agency, but the effort hasnt been enough.

Local authorities are painfully aware of the growing youth unemployment in the areas of clashes," said the official, who also asked to remain anonymous. "They are trying to find solutions by creating employment for them in urban reconstruction projects. But this is a problem that cannot be alleviated by day-to-day solutions. It goes deeper. It is structural."

The youth unemployment problem in Turkey can no longer be solved with short-term and makeshift localized solutions. Parallel to the economic slowdown plaguing the country for a year, the unemployment rate has also risen. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), unemployment in Turkey reached 11.3% in August. Since August 2015, the number of unemployed Turks has grown by 435,000 (1.2 percentage points).

For years, Turkeys youth unemployment rate has been below the European Union average. But in June, for the first time, it surpassed the EU average of 18.5% to reach 19.9%.

The period of economic slowdown is particularly hard on new graduates who are looking for their first jobs. When we cant provide employment for the new graduates, instead of a generation of producers we end up with a generation of consumers. Today one of six men ages 15-29 and one in every five women are unemployed, economist Ozcan Kadioglu of the daily Dunya told Al-Monitor.

Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development gives an even bleaker picture of youth unemployment in Turkey. About 28% of the 15-29 age group in Turkey are classified as NEET  youth "not in employment, education or training." According to the organization, the NEET group costs Turkey 3.4% of gross national product, about $25 billion.

Of course, some say that a large portion of this group is actually working but unregistered, without social security. Though there is no reliable figure for this supposition, many observers agree this is the case, especially among those in the upper range of the age group.

Why are the 15- to 21-year-olds not in school? In another disturbing finding, the higher the education level, the higher the unemployment rate. In other words, there are more unemployed university graduates than those who have only gone through elementary schooling. The issue of qualified but unemployed young people is becoming more serious.

According to TUIK, as of December 2014, 29.4% of Turkey's 78 million people were aged 17 and under. In the heavily Kurdish southeast Anatolia area, minors make up half the population.

Also according TUIK data, Cizre  the town most affected by the violence  had a population of 120,000 in 2014. Of that number, 70% were below 30 years of age and 40% were younger than 20. TUIK says the average age in Cizre is 19. Many other towns and cities in the southeast follow a similar pattern.

From those figures, about half of the below-30 men (30,0000-40,000) dont have steady employment. The worst off are those looking for jobs in the service sector.

A public official reached by phone who didnt want to be identified told Al-Monitor that the town wants to employ these young people in the reconstruction projects coming to the region. We are organizing accelerated training courses for these young people in construction, tiling, water and electricity installations. We hope they will then find jobs in these fields, he added.

Kadioglu calls attention to another important dimension of the problem: Growing youth unemployment means an increase in burglaries, petty crimes, fraud and domestic violence. Unemployed youth envy their peers who have good jobs, and this prods them into illegal endeavors to make money. We are observing a serious increase in [young people] joining organized crime gangs, trafficking narcotics and [committing] burglaries.

Cizre resident Suleyman G., as he identified himself, has similar observations. Before the clashes, we didnt see idle young people hanging about in parks or on street corners in packs. Now in a park next to my house, we have young people congregating freely and displaying their daggers to the public. They are candidates for crimes, he told Al-Monitor.

According to Kadioglu, the increase in youth unemployment, especially among the educated, is caused in part by misguided education policies.

Turkey has never been able to establish vocational training schools that prepare the youth to go where the jobs are. Instead they are directed to universities. Most university graduates pursue civil servant jobs, Kadioglu said.

In addition, he said, schools do not offer adequate foreign language education, and high school curricula are not geared to the needs of the technical sector.

In a nutshell, increasing unemployment among young people is emerging as a serious risk factor in Turkey. In towns and villages that are most affected by clashes with the PKK, youth unemployment has already emerged as a true security risk, encouraging youth to turn to crime or take up arms with the PKK. The issue has been fostering terror in the southeast more than any other factor. Sadly, as Ankara is fully committed to emptying the PKK's ranks by killing the members, no one seems to be studying how Turkey reached the point where its policies have become a rich recruitment tool for that very group.

Shouldnt Turkey turn off the taps before it tries to drain the pool?
Patriotism can be a tricky thing. We may feel pulled toward national allegiance, but the truth is there are darker moments in each country's past.

Ali Callahan quickly discovered that in her study of Alabama history. Ali, a homeschooled fourth grader, is learning about her home state through a series of field trips to historic sites. Her mom, Rachel, is designing her own curriculum to ensure Ali understands the nuanced past of the state she loves.

On her blog, Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life, Rachel wrote about this process:

"When Carla Jean and I sat down at the beginning of the school year and discussed my objectives, near the top of the list was 'present a balanced, two-sided view of Alabama history.'

"This becomes pretty difficult for the first time right around the point of statehood, and more specifically, what precipitated statehood - the Creek Indian War. I reminded Ali that there are always two sides to every story and that people aren't usually 'bad' or 'good,' then we read a couple of really great articles on the Encyclopedia of Alabama. At the end of them, Ali said 'They did a REALLY GOOD job because I'm totally confused on who the good guys and bad guys are.'

"But it didn't take long to start feeling that it was most likely the Americans."

Ali has been frustrated and horrified by how settlers interacted with Native Americans. Those tensions were unmistakable as she learned about Fort Toulouse - Fort Jackson, a site near Wetumpka, operated by the Alabama Historical Commission. It was key in a number of wars that predate the state's formation.

The forts sit at the point where the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers meet. The strategic position meant this land was prime for battle; Native Americans, the French, British and American settlers vied for position in the years prior to Alabama's statehood.

"It's interesting that two different nations would build forts here," Rachel said during our trip.

When the French established Fort Toulouse, the property was at the eastern edge of the Louisiana territory. They built a relationship with the Alibamu, or Alabama, tribe of the Creek Confederacy. (Other tribes avoided declaring allegiance so they could play the French and British off each other.)

Fort Toulouse dates back to 1717, although the Toulouse on site now is a replica that sits a ways away from the original position. Ali and her brother Noah, 5, didn't hesitate to get their hands on this history during our visit. As I read from the park's self-guided tour brochure, the Callahan kids climbed every available surface in the commandment residence. Ali later said this was her favorite part of the trip. The two-room house sits adjacent to a pair of barracks within the fort's walls. The fort's simple wooden walls offered little protection against heavier artillery, but would protect soldiers from musket fire.

The property was home to the Alibamu tribe until 1763. That history is portrayed, too, with Creek summer and winter homes adjacent to Fort Toulouse. Ali scrambled onto the upper bamboo bunk bed while the rest of us took turns on the lower bed, marveling how cool it was in the home, even on an unseasonably warm fall day. The Creek winter house used similar bedding, but it was within solid walls instead of a thatched overhang.

After the British won the French-Indian War in 1763, the British assumed ownership of the land. Fort Toulouse sat abandoned for some time. As we walked across the park to the second fort site, depicting what came next, I pointed out the one-mile Bartram Nature Trail. We could come back later, Rachel and I suggested, if we still had energy for that stretch. ("One mile running is not long," Noah informed me. Rachel, an avid runner, replied: "I've done my job.")

Across the park, remnants of Fort Jackson's moat and walls remain. Gen. Andrew Jackson led construction in 1814, and the 7-foot-high, picketed walls were reinforced by a moat. It may be hard for some to envision a complete fort and the 15-feet of protection this combination created. But as Rachel noticed on Google Earth, the fort's outline is still visible.

After the Americans won the Creek Indian War, the fledgling country acquired some 20 million acres from the Creeks. Now, much of that land is Alabama.

Ali learned this prior to the trip, and Rachel recounted her daughter's frustrated reaction: "Ali yelled out upon reading the above fact, 'AGAIN?!?! HOW MANY TIMES ARE THE AMERICANS AND BRITISH GOING TO TAKE LAND FROM THE INDIANS?!?'"

Ali and Noah were ready to run some energy off after so much learning, and so we turned toward a mound covered in fauna. (Well, they ran toward it. The adults walked.) The mound is from the Mississippian period, dating to about 1100 AD, and the kids quickly recognized its relationship to those we had seen in Moundville.

With each visit, the state's story reveals its layers. What occurred in northeast Alabama can be connected to events in the western part of the state. A battle at one site could be related to surrender at another--as Ali learned as she continued to walk the trails of Alabama history.

IF YOU GO

Fort Toulouse - Fort Jackson

252 W. Fort Toulouse Road, Wetumpka, AL 36093

334-567-3002

Hours: Nov. 1-March 31, 7 a.m.-5 p.m.; April 1-Oct. 31, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; visitor center, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Daily

Admission: $2 adults, $1 students

RELATED READING

"Alabama" by Barbara A Somervill introduces young readers to the state's history, geography, notable people and more.

"A Day in the Life of Alabama Vol. 1: Life on the Frontier" by Clarke Stallworth is a collection of the late Birmingham News journalist's stories about Alabama history.

"100 Things You Need to Know About Alabama" by Horace Randall Williams introduces a number of topics Ali is learning during her year of Alabama history. The new book reaches from prehistoric times to modern days in anticipation of the state's bicentennial in 2019.

"Red Eagle: Legendary Creek Warrior" by Tom Bailey tells the story of a leader of both Creek and European descent. His great-grandfather was a commanding officer at Fort Toulouse, and Red Eagle was a key player at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend--the next stop on Ali's Alabama history agenda.

Learn Alabama history with these 64 children's books
A paraplegic Cherokee County man accused of shooting his handyman, dismembering him and dumping his body parts by the roadside was sentenced to life in prison today, with the judge blasting him in court documents as an "emissary of Satan."

Terry Lee McKinney, 63, was found guilty earlier this month in the 2015 death of Leroy "Pete" Foster, 60, of Cedar Bluff.

In his three-page sentencing order, Cherokee County Circuit Judge Shanunathan Bell drew attention to the fact that McKinney killed and then dismembered Foster with a chain saw before throwing body parts out of his car window, depriving Foster of "a proper and respectful burial." He also observed that there was "no reasonable explanation" for why McKinney killed Foster.

"This homicide and its immediate aftermath is so heinous that there is no doubt that Mr. McKinney acted as a emissary of Satan and was immersed in evil," Bell stated in his order. "This act should not be blamed on mental illness or the victim, but should be placed squarely upon the person that caused this grave harm..."

According to testimony, investigators said Foster worked for McKinney for about two to three years doing household chores, such as carrying wood and lumber. But McKinney had known Foster's family for about 25 years.

Foster's mother first reported his disappearance to Cedar Bluff Police on March 27, 2015, saying she last saw Foster with McKinney, who lives in Cedar Bluff.

Two days later a dog turned up human remains along County Road 82, and police recovered knees, part of a thigh, a torso and two feet. The torso had one gunshot wound near the shoulder. Medical examiners retrieved a bullet from the torso, he said. A grisly search for further body parts covered between five to 10 miles.

That day, investigators executed a search warrant at McKinney's house and found a chainsaw, a metal pan, a hand gripper usually used to pick up trash and a pair of pants. All had blood, bone particles and human tissue on them. On the second floor of the residence were found firearms and pieces of human vertebrae.

Inside McKinney's vehicle were blood, tissue, bone particles and Foster's wallet. Authorities stated they also found blood on the bottom of McKinney's motorized wheelchair.
Terri_Sewell

Cong. Terri Sewell

Last week's nomination of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general by President-Elect Donald Trump has sparked reactions spanning the spectrum, from critics recalling the racially-tinged testimony that derailed his federal judge nomination 30 years ago to supporters who cite his role in crippling the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama and his commitment to "rule of law."

On Tuesday, Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell, a colleague of the senator on Capitol Hill for the last six years, weighed in. She says that while she and Sessions "do not agree on many important social issues" she knows him as someone "willing to hear dissenting views" and it is "imperative" that he "make reasoned decisions that will benefit all Americans."

She also vowed to hold Sessions, who will likely be confirmed after what will likely be a spirited hearing, "accountable for protecting the precious civil and human rights of all Americans."

Here's the full text of her comment:

"Senator Jeff Sessions has been given a tremendous honor and responsibility by the President- Elect to serve as the head of the Department of Justice. As a colleague and member of the Alabama delegation, I hope to work productively with him in his new position. At the same time, the Senator knows I will continue to be a fierce advocate on issues that are the cornerstone of our democracy. These issues include civil rights, immigration, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and the appointment of judicial nominees that are fair, impartial, and reflective of America's diversity of thought and experiences.

While we do not agree on many important social justice issues, Senator Sessions and I have enjoyed a productive working relationship on economic development issues that have benefited my constituents and our state. I am also appreciative that he was the Senate sponsor of the Foot Soldiers Congressional Gold Medal Bill that paid tribute to those who sacrificed for the equal right to vote in this country. Over the past six years in my personal interactions with Senator Sessions, I have known him as someone who is willing to hear dissenting views. It will be imperative now more than ever that he weigh all sides of the crucial issues and make reasoned decisions that will benefit all Americans.

As the Representative of Alabama's 7th Congressional district, I share the serious concerns raised by the national civil rights community, and I stand with my constituents in holding Senator Sessions accountable for protecting the precious civil and human rights of all Americans in his new role as the nation's top law enforcer."
A more than 400-acre wildfire in northwest Jefferson County is 50 percent contained, the Alabama Forestry Commission said.

Spokeswoman Coleen Vansant said a blaze near Banner Mine Road in Graysville prompted some people have left their homes due to a voluntary evacuation Tuesday afternoon. She said residents should expect to see more smoke in the area as officials start using fire to burn all the fuel within containment lines. The fire should be 100 percent contained within the next couple of hours, Vansant said.

"The wind has died down," Vansant said. "So that really helped them out."

AFC officials are also working a 419-acre fire in Parrish in Walker County. The blaze is located on Hay Valley Road and is 100 percent contained.
Kentucky vs. Auburn Baseball

Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler awaits an appearance by Gov. Robert Bentley to question him under oath in his office about use of state funds Monday, May 2, 2016, at the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

(JULIE BENNETT)

State Auditor Jim Zeigler says he's kept his campaign pledge to use his office as a bully pulpit to try to expose government waste.

Zeigler, who is nearing the halfway point of his four-year term, says he's bringing a new purpose to a low-profile statewide office.

Zeigler has filed lawsuits and taken public stances on a range of topics, questioning everything from a new beachfront hotel in Gulf State Park to the relocation of the George and Lurleen Wallace portraits in the state Capitol.

The state auditor is an elected position created by the state Constitution. The main duties are to keep track of state personal property valued at $500 or more.

Zeigler says he has tried to expand his role through means available to every citizen who wants to monitor and influence their government. Those include showing up at public meetings, lobbying the Legislature, requesting documents and filing taxpayer lawsuits.

"My plan was to use all my rights as a citizen taxpayer from the pulpit of the state auditor's office and turn the office into something Alabama needs, an inspector general of state government," Zeigler said. "I have made a start at doing that."

Some of Zeigler's efforts have fallen flat, at least on direct results.

For example, Zeigler requested that Gov. Robert Bentley appear before him for testimony under oath so he could question the governor about the governor's travels and communications with former adviser Rebekah Mason.

Bentley declined the request, saying the Ethics Commission was the appropriate agency for such an investigation. Attorney General Luther Strange later informed Zeigler that Bentley was not required to sit before him.

Zeigler also gave the Ethics Commission a report on the governor.

In fact, Bentley has landed in Zeigler's cross hairs probably more than any other public official.

The governor declined comment for this story.

Zeigler says he's had limited contract with Bentley, even though their offices are within a short walk of each other in the Capitol.

"I've barely had any communication with the governor or his office about anything," Zeigler said. "I've only met the governor twice for about 30 seconds each time and none of this was mentioned."

Zeigler, a Republican, teamed up with Democratic state Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow of Red Bay on a lawsuit challenging the use of BP oil settlement money on a new beachfront hotel at Gulf State Park.

A Montgomery County judge dismissed the case, finding that Zeigler and Morrow had no standing to sue because the money was coming from BP, not taxpayers.

Zeigler also sued the governor and others over the State of Alabama Accounting and Resource System, known as STAARS, claiming that the contract for the financial software violated the competitive bid law.

The judge dismissed the governor as a defendant in the case, at Bentley's request. Other defendants remain, and the lawsuit is still pending.

More recently, Zeigler urged voters to reject Amendment 6 on the Nov. 8 ballot, a proposal to change the impeachment article in the state Constitution.

Zeigler said the changes would make it harder to impeach Bentley.

Voters approved the amendment.

Zeigler said some of his efforts have yielded results.

He spoke out against an $8.3 million Medicaid contract before it was delayed by the Legislature's contract review committee.

Zeigler was not the only one raising questions about the contract.

Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, who worked as a deputy attorney general assigned to the state auditor's office 20 years ago, said he likes Zeigler but questions his efforts to draw attention to issues outside the scope of his duties.

Ward said the auditor's responsibilities on state inventory control are large and important, though not necessarily exciting.

"All the lawsuits out there about being a waste-cutter and all that, I think it's a distraction from what the job is charged to do," Ward said.

"He's got a lot of work on his plate. I know it's good politics for him. I hope he is focused on the things the auditor is charged with doing under the statute and the constitution."

Zeigler said he's working to put more teeth in those official duties.

"I found out that when a state property audit finishes, if it ends up reporting losses, I have no authority to recover the property, to take any action," Zeigler said.

Instead, the auditor reports findings of lost property to the attorney general.

Zeigler said he doesn't believe the reports have resulted in any property recovery in the last five years.

He said the audits need to have some consequences, even if the amount of missing property is not large.

"It's not just the amount of property missing, it's the deterrent effect," Zeigler said. "Why have an auditing system if, when it finds losses, nothing happens, there's no recovery?"

Zeiger said his office is on schedule with the property inventories even though he said the staff has been cut from 12 employees to six since he took office.

The Legislature has cut the budget for the auditor's office, appropriating $760,475 this fiscal year, more than $100,000 less than the office received from the General Fund a few years ago.

Zeigler said his waste-cutting crusades do not come at taxpayer expense. He said private attorneys paid the filing fees and court costs on the lawsuits he's filed.

"We haven't charged a cent to the state on account of these lawsuits," he said.

Zeigler also said he declined his state car, gasoline credit card, laptop, cell phone and marble desk plate.

He said he doesn't need a state car because has a Toyota Prius that he's driven 259,000 miles.

And he said he's assembled an "army" of 32 volunteers who can help check into reports about questionable government spending.

The volunteers responded to an announcement on Zeigler's Facebook page. In October, Zeigler said 36 people gathered in Clanton for a brief training session on how to follow up on complaints.

Zeigler said he wants every citizen to know they have power as taxpayers and to understand the state motto, "We Dare Defend our Rights,."

"That's not just a catchy slogan," Zeigler said. "It's meaningful."
Regions racist employee

A Regions Bank senior-level employee who was labeled "Racist of the Week" on social media after posting comments on Facebook derogatory of President Obama and his family, some of which alluded to slavery, is no longer with the company, the bank says.

June Pridmore was senior vice president of loan operations since 2008, according to her LinkedIn profile, which has been deleted.

"I voted [Trump] in," she wrote, in part. "I like him. He has a beautiful wife unlike the ugly and embarrassing woman (for lack of a better word), in the White House now. Ms. Trump's face would make Michele (sic) O'Bama (sic) a Sunday face."

"I'm certainly glad [Trump] he has a lot of money because she he (sic) won't be bought out like Barack (sic), socialist Muslim O'Bama (sic) or his wife or all those host of relatives they have in the whitehouse (sic) for US to support.

"They have sponged the US of money flying to every single location in which they could vacation, taking the Grandmother with them. ....Oh yes, and let us NOT forget they flew the family dog on a SEPARATE plane. If any idiot out there thinks that is justified, you deserved him as president.

"I prefer a man who can buy Michele (sic) and Barack and sell them several times over."

Not surprisingly, the comments, like the spate of similar racists thought expressed through social media since President-elect Donald Trump's victory, ignited a social media firestorm.

Regions, headquartered in Birmingham, initially said it launched an investigation and revealed its response today.

Bank spokesperson Jeremy King said: "We appreciate the concerns shared about offensive social media comments that were made through an associate's personal Facebook account. We want you to know that we share those concerns. Those comments do not reflect our values as a company or the way we do business. The associate is no longer an employee of the company."

Pridmore's comments also raised concerns about whether her apparent biases might have influenced any loan approvals. King said the former employee was not in a position where she could approve or deny loans.

On her Facebook page, which has also been deleted, Pridmore said she attended Brookwood High School.

Regions is the nation's 18th largest bank, with $125 billion in consolidated assets.
CHINA DAILY

It is a great pleasure to gather with old and new friends in the beautiful city of Santiago. The China-Latin America Media Summit is held at a historical moment when Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying a state visit to three Latin American countries and attending the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Against such a background, holding the media summit under the theme of "Media Organizations Working Together for Better China-Latin America Cooperation" and having discussions for common development is of great and special significance. On behalf of China's State Council Information Office, I would like to extend my warm welcome to all attendees and heartfelt gratitude to all parties for their hard work in preparing for the summit.

Despite the long distance between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, their peoples have enjoyed natural amity and long-standing friendliness. In recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited Latin America three times and had frequent meetings and close contacts with Latin American and Caribbean leaders at major international conferences and other occasions, and together they reached extensive consensuses on a range of issues of common concern. China and Latin America have formed a comprehensive partnership of equality, mutual benefits and common development, and both sides are working hard to create a new "five-pronged" landscape featuring political sincerity and trust, win-win economic and trade cooperation, cultural mutual learning, coordination in international affairs, and reciprocal promotion between overall cooperation and bilateral relations. China-Latin America cooperation in various fields has maintained high-level and high-speed progress.

China and Latin America couldn't have achieved such good relations today without the efforts of their media, which have paid more attention and reported more intensively on each other in recent years. Chinese media have reported on Latin America's economic transformation and its pragmatic cooperation with China in support of its reinvigoration and collective rise. During the Rio Olympic Games, Chinese reporters showed Chinese audiences the social progress and improving lives of people in Latin America, either through written or televized reports. Mainstream Latin American media such as Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo, Argentina's Agencia TELAM, Mexico News Daily and Chile's American Economy magazine also produced in-depth coverage of the G20 Hangzhou Summit held in China, and worked with major Chinese media like Xinhua News Agency, China Daily and CCTV in such aspects as the provision of reports and the production of special pages. Their rich and vibrant joint reports received a good response. Such media reports have deepened the understanding and friendship between Chinese and Latin American people and laid a solid foundation among the public for the development of bilateral relations.

To keep pushing forward China-Latin American relations in the new era, the media on both sides have to pool their wisdom and power. In today's society, the media is an important force that can guide public opinion, influence government decisions and promote people-to-people understanding. It should give full play to its advantages and play a constructive and conducive role in promoting China-Latin America cooperation.

The media should facilitate progress in China-Latin America relations. Media relations and public opinion are, in a way, the barometer of state-to-state relations, and the media plays an important role in shaping international relations and people's sentiments. The Chinese and Latin American media should bear firmly in mind the general direction of China-Latin America friendliness and common development and take concrete steps to shoulder their responsibility and fulfill their mission. They should proactively guide public opinion, promote the win-win concept, advocate development, and explain the significance and broad prospects of bilateral cooperation, so as to inject new vitality and energy into China-Latin America relations. There have been voices in the international community that derogate the cooperation and friendliness between China and Latin America, which is all the more reason why we should coordinate our stances and work together to be an objective and just voice in response to those misinterpretations, in a bid to create a favorable public environment for China-Latin America relations.
How the Egyptian regime used the law to crack down on opposition and isolate voices of dissent.

Since the summer of 2013, following the military coup led by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the ruling regime in Egypt has managed to handcuff the public space, surround it with restrictions.

This has been in a stark contrast to the period before the coup when Egyptians, during the popular uprising that took place on January, 25, 2011, were encouraged to engage actively in managing the countrys affairs through peaceful means and ballot boxes. This period benefited both civil society organisations and political parties.

Egypt now finds itself ruled by a military, security and intelligence junta.

Egypts generals have constantly employed repressive tools to instill fear among the population in order to stifle free expression and peaceful opposition.

The military cliques goal here is to evacuate citizens from the public space, to eliminate the autonomy of civil society organisations and to marginalise political parties that are not controlled by the security and intelligence services.

They have also continued to adapt different legislative and legal measures to crack down on opposition and isolate voices of dissent.





In this context, one specific law issued on November 24, 2013 by the interim President Adly Mansor is worth special attention. Making use of his temporary legislative competence, Mansor issued a law organising the right to public meetings, processions and peaceful demonstrations.

[The anti protest law] has also created a citizen diaspora and turned Egyptians into a chased community pushed outside of the public space and pursued by criminal state institutions that have tirelessly violated human rights and civil liberties.

This dreaded law, known locally as the protest law, should be scrutinised because it provides the basic justification to usurp the freedom of a large number of Egyptian youths, students, workers, Muslim Brotherhood members as well as others.

It has also created a citizen diaspora, turning Egyptians into a chased community pushed outside of the public space and pursued by criminal state institutions that have tirelessly violated human rights and civil liberties.

The anti-protest law recognises in its eighth article the citizens right to organise a meeting, or conduct a procession or protest, but requires a notification written three days at minimum and 15 days at maximum in advance. This written notification should be directed to the police station located within the area of the activity in question.

Yet in its10th article it effectively eliminates the citizens rights of peaceful assembly and demonstration.

Article 10 gives the security services absolute power to cancel or postpone the demonstration, change the location, and modify the activity path based on serious information or evidence regarding the existence of threats against security and peace which the security services themselves provide.

This formulation is of a clear despotic nature as it makes the security services both the opponent and the judge, as well as unbinding their hands to abuses without any supervision, control or objective evaluation framework.

The security services authority is only partially checked by allowing citizens to contest prevention and delaying decisions in front of the Urgent Matters Courts, which rarely rule against the security services.

In its 14th article, the law unleashes the authority of the security services, represented by the Minister of Interior, to coordinate with the governors, as local representatives of the president, to identify secure spaces before public institutions of all types  military, civilian, administrative and service  into which citizens are not allowed to go.

READ MORE: Is another revolution brewing in Egypt?

As a result of this stipulation, the security services have expanded their use of the term secure spaces to practically prevent citizens peaceful demonstrations.

The law then provides a range of financial penalties and prison sentences for those who violate its rulings. Violations are defined, on the one hand, in relation to the involvement of citizens in the disturbance of public safety and public order, or in the blockage of roads and means of transportation or in the attack on lives and public and private property.

On the other side, the law uses ill-defined terms to cast a wide web to prevent citizens from peaceful demonstration by criminalising their involvement in disrupting production sites, in obstructing the people, in preventing them from the exercise of their rights and businesses, or in preventing public institutions from fulfilling their mandate.

This second set of stipulated prohibitions de facto cancels freedom of assembly which is enshrined in the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 and in the international human rights conventions that successive Egyptian governments have ratified.

The anti-protest law then moves to end the provisions of fear and arbitrariness by granting the security services the authority to use batons and rubber  and non-rubber- bullets to disperse meetings, rallies and demonstrations that they themselves deem as violent. Here, too, the security services become the final arbiter with unchecked authorities.

The law does not include an adequate definition of what constitutes an act of violence in demonstrations, nor does it clearly specify what constitutes acts of violence. By legalising dispersion by force, however, it unleashes police brutality towards citizens.





On the third anniversary of the January Revolution, on January, 25, 2014, 49 citizens were killed in demonstrations. Eighteen demonstrators were killed on the fourth anniversary of the revolution in 2015  among those was Shaimaa al-Sabbagh who was shot by a police officer during a peaceful silent march.

Between 2013 and 2016, hundreds of Egyptians were arrested and taken to police custody following their participation, or attempted participation, in peaceful demonstrations.

Another example of authoritarian lawmaking in Egypt is the amendment of Article 78 of the Penal Code. On September, 21, 2014, the current president, using the interim legislative prerogatives which continued since his nomination in June 2014 to the election and convening of the legislature, the House of Representatives, at the beginning of 2016, amended Article 78 of the Penal Code.

Amended article 78 of the Penal Code The amendment practically criminalises the public and peaceful activity of nongovernmental organisations that Egypts generals have classified as enemies and conspirators.

The amended article voids the legal right of NGOs to receive foreign funding through legal channels while upholding the provisions of transparency and accountability.

This amendment practically criminalises the public and peaceful activity of nongovernmental organisations that Egypts military junta has classified as enemies and conspirators.

The amended Article 78 voids the legal right of NGOs to receive foreign funding through legal channels, while upholding the provisions of transparency and accountability. It also disrupts their ability to cooperate with international NGOs.

Article 78 has a uniquely vague phrasing, amounting to criminalising matters and actions that are not well defined and to holding citizens and organisations responsible for intentions and promises.

The first paragraph reads as follows:

She/he who requests for her/himself or for other, or who accepted or took, even though a medium, from a foreign country, or from those who are working for its benefit, or from a natural person or an entity, or from a local or foreign organisation, or any other organisation that is not affiliated with a foreign country and does not work in its favour, liquid or transferred money or hardware/machinery, or equipment or weapons or ammunition or the like or other things; or promised something of these matters, to intentionally commit any act that harms the national interest or jeopardises the independence of the country or its unity or the safety and security of its lands or to commit any acts of hostility against Egypt or to breach public peace and order- is penalised with life imprisonment and a fine of not less than five hundred thousand pounds and not more than what she/he was given or promised.

If it is normal to criminalise the receipt of funds, machinery, equipment, weapons or ammunition, from a natural person or an entity for the purpose of jeopardising the independence of the country or carrying out hostile acts. it falls outside the normal scope of the law for criminality to be based on vague formulations such as committing an act that could harm the nations interest, or breaching public peace and order.

It is also out of the normal scope of the law for the amended article 78 to lack every objective and substantive definition for the things that one should not receive by involving formulations such as or other things in the text after pointing to receiving funds, weapons and ammunition and the like.





Moreover, the amended article 78 includes additional vague phrases that cast the web of criminalising public and peaceful activities of NGOs even wider.

Article 78 of the Egyptian penalty code, in its amended version, is a clear enabler of the new authoritarianism. It allows the army generals to repress and penalise NGOs, especially those human rights organisations which have refused to turn a blind eye to the human rights violations that occurred between 2013 and 2016.

The clear-cut differences between acts of terrorism and violence, which are rightfully classified as hostile acts, and the legitimate documentation of injustices and violations that Egypts generals want to deny, are absent from the amended article.

The separating lines between criminal receipt of weapons and ammunition with the purpose of harming the country and its people, and, receiving computers and printers that are needed by human rights organisations to manage their activities are also absent.

The eradication of autonomous NGOs is the true objective of the new authoritarianism, and it complements the objective of evacuating citizens from the public space which is enshrined in the demonstration law.
Two million more refugees are expected to return to a country mired in violence and braced for a bitter winter.

Kabul, Afghanistan  Caught in the middle of political tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are some two million Afghan refugees  registered and unregistered  who now face the option of either returning voluntarily or being deported from Pakistan.

And it couldnt happen at a worse time.

Winter in Afghanistan can be bitterly cold. The country is also experiencing a spike in violence, with increased attacks from the Taliban and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters, leading to peak levels of civilian casualties and internal displacement as people flee the fighting.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is also concerned about refugees returning to a country that is among the most affected by undetonated landmines  an enduring legacy of the Soviet invasion. According to the UN Mine Action Service, 1,587 communities in 257 districts across the country are affected. The UNHCR is offering returning Afghans training in how to spot and defuse a mine.

Im scared to come here because there is no security, says Medina Ghassen, 16, an Afghan refugee who was born in Pakistan, as she waits for a doctor to inspect her mothers injured foot at a UNHCR clinic at the Kabul deregistration centre.

Her family has decided to return to Afghanistan voluntarily and is now being removed from the refugee registry. They are also being given cash and medical help by the United Nations before finding a home in Afghanistan.

[Pakistani authorities] wouldnt let us stay there. They made the situation very hard, Ghassen, whose family is originally from Logar province, south of Kabul, explains.

I was going to school, and I dont think I can go to school here. Its very dangerous, she adds.

The family says it is not sure where they will stay after leaving the UNHCR centre, which is bustling with thousands of people who arrived overnight.

There is already a chill in the air, and staff have been scrambling to get enough blankets and heaters to keep people warm overnight. The deregistration of the refugees  a process that can take around 30 minutes for each person or family, depending on the crowds and the needs of the individuals  starts moving at a brisk pace shortly after 7am.

Each registered family member can receive around $400  not enough to pay for rent and food for long.

WATCH: Returning Afghan refugees struggle to resettle

Samiullah Rostam, 46, had lived in Peshawar, in the north of Pakistan, for 29 years. He found a wife there, and together, they had seven children. But after being detained five times in two months and having to pay fines  for either what he claims were fabricated infractions or as bribes  Rostam decided that hed had enough, even though the UNHCR had registered him as a refugee.

The [Pakistani] police really hassled us and tormented us  and I was seeing on TV police grabbing families  including women  by the arm and dragging them out of their homes to deport them, and I thought, We cant stay here,' Rostam says, emphasising that while he was not deported, he felt he had no choice but to leave.

He rented a truck and returned with his family to Afghanistan in late October.

Now, their future is uncertain, he says. They are temporarily staying at the house of his brother-in-law, but he doesnt know where they will go next.

A lot of people [Afghans] I know didnt even think about where they would be staying  they just left, Rostam says.

Voluntary returnees

Although the return to Afghanistan was voluntary for all those who are registered as refugees, the distinction between their situation and those who are unregistered and deported by the Pakistani authorities can be arbitrary.

Some families describe how some of their members were registered with the UNHCR but others were not, largely because they had been unable to complete the paperwork. Some had registered but failed to get their refugee cards renewed, leaving them ineligible for the UNHCRs help on their return to Afghanistan. That was the case for several members of Tanadar Lodins family.

We all had to leave together at the same time  the Pakistanis made things very difficult for us, says Lodin, 40, who says he made a living in Peshawar as a street vendor.



Pakistan ID card verification targets illegal aliens

Pakistan has repeatedly justified the move to deport registered and unregistered Afghans on the grounds of national security, accusing some Afghan refugees of posing a threat.

This has led to a crackdown on the two million Afghans living in the country, leaving them with little option but to return.

We call these people voluntary returnees, but they really dont have a choice  this is not voluntary, says Ahmad Faheem Sattar, senior repatriation assistant the UNHCRs deregistration centre in Kabul.

Not everyone returned in response to direct harassment. Mir Ahmad Khan and his family returned after 37 years because Pakistan started requiring visas and passports for Afghans earlier this year, which effectively cut them off from their family in Afghanistan.

We have a lot of relatives on this side, and it became difficult for us to see each other, 70-year-old Khan, who left Kabul during the Soviet invasion explains. We didnt want to leave, but we had no real choice.

After the political relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan deteriorated, there has been additional pressure on Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and the number of returnees increased considerably, says Hafiz Ahmad Miakhel, a spokesman for Afghanistans Ministry of Refugees and Returnees (MoRR).

There have been clashes at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which Pakistan has sealed and is hoping to secure with a fence, to which Afghanistan objects.

There are roughly a million registered Afghan refugees remaining in Pakistan, with another million or so unregistered there, although figures vary.

Those registered have until March 2017 to leave Pakistan. Those unregistered were required to return by November 15. That has not happened as it is impossible to process so many people at the border. Even among the registered, the UNHCR is taking appointments weeks in advance to avoid long lines outside its facilities in Pakistan.

A problematic surge

According to MoRR data, as of October 15, a total of 191,946 Afghans who are not registered with the UNHCR have returned to Afghanistan. Of this, roughly 20,000 had been deported, or roughly 2,000 each month this year.

Projections by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the agency charged with helping unregistered refugees and deportees, suggest that by the end of the year, the number of undocumented returnees  those not registered with the UNHCR  will increase by 97,636.



Afghan refugees in Pakistan being deported

According to the IOM, the returnees  voluntary and involuntary  come from all over Afghanistan, and will end up back in provinces where fighting has been rampant  from Helmand to Nangarhar.

UNHCR numbers indicate that roughly 350,000 registered Afghan refugees have already returned this year  making the total number of Afghans returning from Pakistan over half a million. Another 50,000 refugees are going to return to Afghanistan by the middle of December.

Afghanistan is accustomed to dealing with returnees with about seven million Afghans have returned from all over the world since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Yet dealing with such high numbers of returnees  about 6,000 registered refugees a day  is posing a major challenge for the government.

If they come back gradually, we can accommodate them, says Miakhel.

But if they come quickly, as they have, there will be too much pressure on the government to meet their needs, he adds, emphasising the need for support from the international community.

The registered get help from the UNHCR in the form of money and healthcare, while the IOM helps roughly 20 to 30 percent of the unregistered. The Afghan government tries to cover the rest, giving $50 per person.

Its not much money, but thats all the government can afford, Miakhel explains, stressing that he doesnt consider the situation to be a crisis.

Maya Ameratunga, director of UNHCRs office in Kabul, disagrees. Its a crisis on both sides of the border, she says.

Its a crisis of protection in Pakistan, in the sense of the level of harassment, intimidation and lack of support from host communities  but its also a crisis on this side.

People are coming back after two or three generations to a country that they dont know  theyre coming back to what? Theyre coming back to winter, and there have been promises made to them of land and shelter, but theyre not available right now  itll take the government time, Ameratunga says.

According to the MoRR, there are 61 camp sites being built to house returnees who have nowhere else to go. But at present, none of these sites is ready.

Ameratunga is worried that this will lead to a major socioeconomic crisis in Afghanistan.

Young people need to have hope for the future in their own country. If they dont have hope in their own country, they might look further afield to seek opportunities  in Europe for example, she says. Or they may fall victim to recruitment from anti-government elements.

Lodin, back in Afghanistan after 35 years, cant see a clear future for his family of 20.

Its our own soil were back on, he says, but where do we go? What do we do?
Former government troops hoping to return to civilian life in towns under al-Shabab control, lay down their arms.

Galad, Somalia  Line up in a straight line. We will do the talking on your behalf, an elderly man with a henna-dyed beard tells the group of young men. They are standing in front of an iron-gated compound in the centre of the town of Galad in Somalias central region of Galguduud, holding AK-47 rifles.

Until a few days ago, the young men, who are all from the town, were government soldiers fighting against al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked group trying to overthrow Somalias internationally recognised government. The men are now calling time on frontline service; hoping to put down their guns and return to civilian life in their hometown. But Galad is now firmly in the grip of the rebel group.

Somali troops, backed by Ethiopian forces, had been in control of Galad, but pulled out in July. Ethiopian troops vacated the town first; the poorly equipped Somali soldiers followed shortly after.

Al-Shabab fighters stationed just outside the town soon came in and took control. Anyone who worked with the Ethiopian and Somali troops was now at the mercy of the group. Al-Shabab often publicly beheads government troops it captures, and anyone else working with the government can expect a similar fate.

For the young men, the group of elders is all that stands between them and death by beheading.

Sixty-six-year-old Daud Ali Gaafow is a lead negotiator between al-Shabab leaders and those who have been fighting the group but now want to return to civilian life in areas under its control. He has been doing this for more than seven years.

There has been a crisis in our country. Lots of bloodshed; neighbours and brothers fighting against each other. Unnecessary violence. And as elders, it is our responsibility to do our part and help our people, Gaafow explains after witnessing another truce between al-Shabab and former government troops.

In this town alone, we have facilitated the safe return of hundreds of people, both men and women, he adds.

Brokering a truce

As Ethiopian troops continue to withdraw from towns and villages in south and central Somalia, the elders have never been busier.

Addis Ababa has withdrawn its troops from at least 10 towns since the start of this year, and four towns in this month alone. Al-Shabab has taken over all of those towns and villages.

Those who have worked with the Ethiopian forces are left with two choices: to seek refuge in areas not under the armed groups control or to reach out to the elders to broker a truce.

The elders say they have worked on the safe return of more than 500 young Somali men this year alone. Since the Ethiopian troops withdrew from Galad district, 200 young men have put down their weapons, according to the elders and the towns al-Shabab administration.

To Gaafows right, sitting crossed-legged with speckles of grey in his beard, is Abdullahi Ibrahim, another town elder who has been inundated with requests to broker a deal with the towns al-Shabab leaders.

All we are doing is to serve our people. We first speak to the young men before we approach al-Shabab leaders, he explains.

Convincing the young men that they will not be harmed by their former enemy is a hard task, he says.

READ MORE: Al-Shabab regains land as Ethiopia pulls troops

They want assurances that they wont be harmed. They also want guarantees that their belongings will not be confiscated by al-Shabab. We give them assurance that that will not happen to them.

But it is not only the former soldiers that need assurances before any deal is struck.

Convincing al-Shabab to allow the men, men whom al-Shabab fought for control of areas that they have just retaken after many years, is not an easy or straightforward task.

The group has lost several senior leaders to US air strikes that it says were facilitated by spies in the area it controls.

Anyone that has worked with the government, the Ethiopian forces or the African Union troops in Somalia is a suspect until proven otherwise.

We guarantee they will not go back and fight al-Shabab again. We also give al-Shabab assurance that these young men are not spies, that they are now civilians, Ibrahim says.

Meanwhile, sitting in front of the two groups  the elders and the former government soldiers  is al-Shababs highest ranking leader in the region: Hassan Yakub, a plump-faced man with a towering figure that fills his camouflage uniform.

These young men are from this region. They were living here peacefully before the Ethiopian colonisers captured the area. They were then deceived into working for them, Yakub says, as the former soldiers place their weapons on a table beside him.

When they witnessed the truth, they contacted their clan elders and asked for forgiveness, and to be let back into the society, Yakub tells Al Jazeera.

This is an unprecedented step from al-Shabab, but the group is working hard to win the hearts and minds of the local population.

They have admitted they were in the wrong and have asked [God] for forgiveness, Yakub, clutching a brand new AK-47 on his lap, says. We forgive them and trust them as fellow Muslims.

Coming back home

As the truce is agreed, the former soldiers breathe a sigh of relief. For the first time in many weeks, they can now walk freely in their hometown. Ahmed Mohamed, a former casual labourer before he became a government soldier, says he is looking forward to starting his life again.

When the government and Ethiopian troops came to the town, they started recruiting the young men to join them. We were promised good money. So, I joined them, Mohamed says.

If you did not join them, you would be accused of being al-Shabab, or being a sympathiser. We were never paid even for one single month. When the Ethiopians left, we followed them because we thought al-Shabab would kill us, he adds.

I then heard of the elders and what they were doing and I spoke to them. They assured me I wont be harmed, and thats how I came back, Mohamed says with a smile.

Hussein Ali, a former camel herder, sits attentively waiting for his turn to speak and ask for forgiveness.

When government and Ethiopian troops took over the town, he was employed as a local council leader.

When they left, it was everyone on their own. Every one of us had to find a way to survive, and because we heard al-Shabab would kill us if they found us in town, we escaped, Hussein explains. Now, we returned after the elders promised us we wont be killed.

The call for the afternoon prayer blares from the speakers on the towns mosques, signalling the end of the meeting and the start of the young mens freedom.

Ethiopia says it will likely vacate more towns in southern Somalia, so as the elders walk away, they know they will have more busy days ahead.

It is better to negotiate and sort our differences without Somali blood spilling, Gaafow, the oldest of the elders, says. We will continue doing this job if it means saving the life of our young men.

Follow Hamza Mohamed on Twitter: @Hamza_Africa
His vision of isolationist US foreign policy will not solve the problems of the Middle East.

When I attended President Barack Obamas speech at Cairo University seven years ago, I felt the optimism he brought to the audience with his hopeful and thoughtful words  a feeling many in the Middle East shared as they hoped to put their frustrations during the previous eight years of President George W Bush behind them.

In the aftermath of the recent election which brought Donald Trump to office, feelings of anxiety and stress have resurfaced across the region. Many believe Trumps stunning victory is nothing short of disastrous for the Middle East.

A man who does not know the difference between Sunni and Shia, Kurds and Arabs, or Ennahda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) cannot, and should not, be trusted. Some pundits believe Trump will pay little attention to the region because of its complex and chaotic conflicts. However, these very conflicts may end up dragging his administration into the region, and no one has a clue how it would handle them.





Trumps apparent embrace of isolationism flies in the face of the interconnected state of global and regional affairs. The anachronistic strategy of the 19th century, adopted by President Thomas Jefferson and championed by President James Monroe, is a delusion the US cannot afford.

The scariest aspect of Trumps non-interventionist inclination is that it is not based on rational calculations. Instead, it is a reflection of despair and frustration, driven by what Trump perceives as Obamas failures in the Middle East.

In this sense, the underlying problem is not whether Trump would intervene in the region, but that his intervention would be based on his shallow and dangerous worldview.

Three key issues inform how the Middle East may grow increasingly unstable under Trumps presidency. First and foremost is his understanding, or lack thereof, of regional politics. Trumps view of the Middle East is part and parcel of his wider vision of global politics, which lacks any depth or understanding of how complicated and entangled the world has become.

Trump believes disengagement from the region is the remedy for its problems. Interestingly, he has consistently lambasted President Obama for adopting a similar approach in recent years. Abandoning the region will not resolve its problems and will not make America great again.

In fact, this may have terrible consequences to the region stability including a more powerful and emboldened Iran, an surge in sectarian conflicts, a continued proliferation of radical movements, a collapse of fragile states, and an expansion of Russian influence in the Levant and North Africa.

Second is Trumps vision of Islam, which is ominously hostile and ill-informed. It is frightening that a US president openly loathes an entire faith due to the actions of some individuals. If Trump carries this vision into the White House, it would be catastrophic for both the Middle East and the United States.

OPINION: What will Trump do on Syria?

On the one hand, this view will facilitate the recruitment efforts of radical groups such as ISIL. On the other, it will increase anti-American sentiment among the ordinary citizens of the Middle East. If Trumps rhetoric is reflected in his policies, we could be on the precipice of a renewed clash of civilizations, which is exactly what the Obama administration has tried to dispel over eight years.

The third relates to Trumps authoritarian leanings, which empowers repressive regimes in the region at the expense of democracy, human rights and freedom. It is not surprising that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was among the first Arab leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory.

Likewise, the Assad regime in Syria is likely to seize on Trumps presidency as an opportunity to double down on its positions and continue slaughtering its own people with the support of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, another autocrat that Trump is fond of.

Following this gloomy path, a Trump presidency may serve as the death knell for American ideals such as democracy and human rights, even if these positions were upheld only rhetorically by previous administrations. This would not only increase regional instability, but would more importantly disenchant millions of young Arabs who are fighting for freedom and dignity.

If President Obama failed to address the Middle Easts problems with his rational thinking, intellectual background, and political experience, what should we expect from someone like Donald Trump who embodies the polar opposite of all these traits?

Khalil al-Anani is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar. He is the author of Inside the Muslim Brotherhood: Religion, Identity, and Politics.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Turkey is seeking to protect its economic and political interests in northern Iraq while fighting against PKK and ISIL.

Many commentators seem perplexed about Turkeys willingness to be a part of the ongoing Mosul operation.

There are a number of concrete interests that drive Turkeys approach: limiting the area of operations of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot the YPG; supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); protecting Turkmens; preventing and managing potential refugee outflows; and helping Mosul remain stable in the post-ISIL period.

The row between Ankara and Baghdad appears to emanate from Baghdads desire to reduce the Turkish, Sunni and Kurdish influence in Mosul when ISIL is pushed out of the city.

Turkish forces in northern Iraq

The Turkish military presence in northern Iraq, particularly in Bashiqa, is directly connected to the rapid rise of ISIL in the summer of 2014. Most observers were surprised by how sudden and complete the fall of Mosul to ISIL was, and were shocked by the groups rapid capture of large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria. When the city fell into the hands of ISIL, there were serious concerns on the part of the international community that the militants could even march to Baghdad.

Turkey had long cultivated strong economic and political ties with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) as well as various Sunni and Turkmen groups in Iraq, which made it a major stakeholder especially in northern Iraq. Extensive Turkish investments in the region were directly threatened by the rise of ISIL.

In June 2014, when it captured Mosul and declared its caliphate, ISIL abducted 49 Turkish diplomatic personnel in the city, including the Turkish consul. Months-long rescue efforts prevented a direct Turkish military action against ISIL until the hostages were finally freed in September 2014.

Just as it released the Turkish hostages, ISIL surrounded the small city of Kobane on the Syrian-Turkish border, driving new waves of refugees into Turkey. In an unprecedented act of military coordination, Turkey allowed Kurdish Peshmerga forces to travel through its territory to prevent the fall of the city to ISIL. This operation laid the groundwork for deeper military cooperation with the KRG in Iraq.

Turkey has long maintained its commitment to Iraq's integrity and unity, as the potential break-up of the country would only deepen the conflicts and worsen the humanitarian outlook for the region. However, given the autonomy the KRG enjoys and the collapse of the political compact in the country since the US invasion, for some observers, Iraq's integrity is a bit of a fiction by now. by

At the time, Turkey was pursuing a reconciliation process with the PKK, an effort supported by KRG President Massoud Barzani. Turkey had long been suspicious of the PKK-linked Democratic Union Partys (PYD) ambitions to create de facto autonomous zones in northern Syria and opposed US military aid for the YPG militants.

Despite Turkish objections, the US continued to support the YPG and turned a blind eye to the creation of de facto autonomous cantons in northern Syria. This has remained a sore point in US-Turkey relations, particularly after the reconciliation process collapsed and fighting resumed between Turkey and the PKK in July 2015.

Two important interests

Turkeys recent Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria aims to drive ISIL away from its borders and concurrently thwart PYDs ambitions to connect its cantons. If the PYD were to do so, it would effectively create a PKK statelet along the Turkish border.

Therefore, Turkeys insistence on its military presence in Mosul is guided by a similar set of interests and military posture as in northern Syria.

While the PKK does not command the kind of resources and legitimacy that the KRG enjoys, their presence and efforts to gain legitimacy as a bulwark against ISIL is a major concern for Turkey. Thus, counterbalancing and limiting PKK activities while supporting the KRG are two important Turkish interests in Iraq.

OPINION: The day after the battle for Mosul

The Bashiqa base was established as a military training camp in March 2015 after the fall of Mosul and Turkeys decision to support KRG against ISIL. Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz visited Baghdad and promised support to the Iraqi army and Peshmerga forces in the form of equipment and training to retake Mosul from ISIL.

Turkey has long maintained that the Bashiqa base was established with the knowledge and approval of the Iraqi government.

In fact, the Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obaidi is seen in a video when visiting the military camp. This was surely at a time when the Iraqi government felt most threatened by further ISIL expansion and sought whatever help it could get.

Since then, the international anti-ISIL coalition  of which Turkey is a member  has appeared to make some headway in pushing back ISIL. As a direct result, Baghdad has become more comfortable in its posture and reverted back to targeting the Turkish presence in northern Iraq.

Baghdads changing stance towards Turkey

In December 2015, the Iraqi government gave Turkey an ultimatum to pull its military forces from Bashiqa and threatened to go to the United Nations Security Council. Turkey announced that no additional troops would be sent but it refused to pull its forces, a decision welcomed by the KRG. Ankara reassured Baghdad that Turkish troops were there to train local Peshmerga forces against ISIL and it respected Iraqs territorial integrity.

When Baghdads deadline passed without Turkish withdrawal, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on NATO to use its authority to urge Turkey to withdraw immediately from Iraqi territory. At the time, Abadis stance against Turkey was probably a reflection of Russian pressure on Iraq following Turkeys downing of a Russian jet in November 2015.

Most recently in October 2016, the Iraqi prime minister again threatened to go to the UN over the presence of Turkish soldiers in Bashiqa, which he said constitutes a violation of Iraqi national sovereignty.

His words drew a sharp rebuke from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who reiterated Turkeys readiness to actively fight in the impending coalition operation to liberate Mosul. Turkey vowed to stay to support the fight against ISIL largely because of its strong relations with Sunni Arab and Turkmen groups as well as the KRG.

OPINION: The battle for Mosul  The beginning of the end

Under Nouri al-Maliki, the previous Baghdad government had pursued sectarian policies. These policies and numerous massacres against Sunnis led to the collapse of Sunni-Shia relations and a dramatic rise in sectarian tensions in the country. Turkey has been wary of a repeat of the same scenario in the ongoing Mosul operation as well as in the post-ISIL Mosul.

Turkey has long maintained its commitment to Iraqs integrity and unity, as the potential break-up of the country would only deepen the conflicts and worsen the humanitarian outlook for the region.

However, given the autonomy the KRG enjoys and the collapse of the political compact in the country since the US invasion, for some observers, Iraqs integrity is a bit of a fiction by now.

Turkey is seeking to protect its economic and political interests vis-a-vis the KRG government while fighting against PKK and ISIL, both of which continue to attack Turkey.

Under normal circumstances, the Turkish presence in Iraq would probably have violated the countrys sovereignty. Currently though, the dysfunction and collapse of the Iraqi political system appear to have rendered that point moot.

Kadir Ustun is the Executive Director of the SETA Foundation in Washington DC.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Syrian rebels agree to aid deliveries to east Aleppo, UN says, but no official confirmation yet from Russia or Syria.

Syrian rebels in besieged east Aleppo have agreed to a plan for aid deliveries and medical evacuations, according to UN officials, but the global body is awaiting a green light from Russia and the Syrian government before it can begin life-saving operations.

Jan Egeland, the head of a UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, said on Thursday that his team had received written approval from Syrian rebels and verbal support from Russia for the United Nations plan reached earlier this month.





The four-point plan involves the supply of medical and food aid, the evacuation of 200 wounded or disabled civilians, and medical staff to rotate in and out of besieged areas.

We have written approval in principle by the armed opposition groups of east Aleppo, Egeland told reporters in Geneva, specifying that he was referring to rebels with whom the UN is in contact  which does not include Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

We hope to have a full green light from both the Russian side and Syrian government side.

Asked about whether there was a Plan B, he replied: In many ways, Plan B is that people starve. And can we allow that to happen? No, we cannot allow that to happen.

READ MORE: Fears grow in east Aleppo as government forces close in

Once Syrias economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been devastated by fighting since the rebels seized the east of the city in 2012, turning its historic heart into a battlefield.

More than 250,000 civilians are still trapped in the divided city and are at risk of mass starvation as the winter sets in. Lorries are waiting in Turkey and west Aleppo to bring in aid, but the UN needs 72 hours to prepare the big, complex and dangerous operation, Egeland added.

Dozens of civilians tried to flee east Aleppo on Wednesday but were forced to retreat by gunfire, local sources told Al Jazeera, as the Syrian army  backed by allied forces from Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah  continued its assault on the divided city.

Two or three families paid smugglers and were attempting to cross when clashes and gunfire broke out and forced them back, Aleppo-based journalist Zouhir al-Shimale told Al Jazeera.

INFOGRAPHIC: Aleppo  who controls what?

Earlier this week, Stephen OBrien, the UN humanitarian chief, said conditions in the rebel-held areas had gone from terrible to terrifying and were barely survivable by human beings.

Let me be clear, we are not just seeing a resumption of violence in Aleppo. This is not business as usual. What has been unleashed on civilians this past week is yet another low in an unrelenting, inhuman onslaught, and it is as heartbreaking as it is not inevitable, OBrien told the UN Security Council on Monday.

These parties to the conflict are  all of them  choosing to do this. It is civilians who pay the price.

Rebel forces have steadily lost ground since Russia, a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, intervened to bolster his government last year.

Recapturing eastern Aleppo would give Assads government perhaps its most important victory yet in the conflict, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people since it began in March 2011.
Two people killed and 16 injured in southern province in latest explosion to target a government office in the country.

Two people have been killed and 16 others injured in a car bombing outside the governors office in the southern Turkish city of Adana.

Mahmut Demirtas, the governor, told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the explosion occurred at 8:05am local time [06:05 GMT] on Thursday in a car park close to the office entrance.

It is suspected that a female suspect carried out the attack, he said, adding that the licence plate of the suspects car had been identified.

CNN Turk news channel broadcast a video from the scene, showing a vehicle ablaze in the car park and thick black smoke rising into the sky.

Nearby vehicles and the governors building had been damaged in the incident, Anadolu said quoting preliminary reports.

The Turkish prime ministers office has imposed a temporary broadcast ban on news of the blast, according to the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK).
Refugees clash with police near the Turkish border after authorities restrict their movement over health fears.

Police in Bulgaria have fired tear gas and water cannon at refugees protesting about restrictions on their movement after authorities barred them from leaving the area where they stay pending medical checks.

Between four and six police officers were injured on Thursday after some 1,500 refugees clashed against their treatment at the Harmanli reception centre near the Turkish border.





The centre, which houses just over 3,000 refugees, imposed a ban on the refugees movement earlier this week after local media alleged that the camp, the largest in Bulgaria, was home to communicable skin diseases.

According to the Reuters news agency, the refugees began throwing stones at police, who then deployed water cannon to disperse them.

The protesting refugees were accused of damaging several buildings, including the camps canteen, and setting fires to tyres, mattresses and broken furniture.

The riot had started at noon but the situation has already been brought under control, an interior ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.

Petya Parvanova, the head of the Bulgarian Refugee Agency, which runs the camp, blamed media reports for the clashes.

An artificially created tension led to this, following misleading reports of infections at the centre, she said.

READ MORE: The migrant hunter of Bulgaria

Bulgaria has built a fence on its border with Turkey and has bolstered its border controls to prevent inflows of refugees.

Some 17,000 were detained in the first 10 months of the year, over a third fewer than a year ago.

Despite the decreasing numbers, Bulgarian nationalists have staged several protests in recent months calling for the immediate closure of all refugee centres in the country.

At present, some 13,000 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, are currently trapped in the European Unions poorest country.
Refugee Youth Services said nearly 1 in 3 children it tracked are missing after French authorities closed the camp.

Nearly one in three migrant children tracked by a refugee charity have gone missing since the Jungle camp in the northern French town of Calais was dismantled in October.

Refugee Youth Service said on Wednesday that it could not locate a third of the 179 child migrants it had been tracking since authorities bulldozed the Jungle, home to up to 10,000 people fleeing war or poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

The fate of children staying in the squalid camp where migrants converged in the hope of making it across to Britain has been a political problem for the UK government.



Calais refugee children wait to be allowed into UK

Religious leaders, refugee rights campaign groups and opposition parties have accused Britain of dragging its heels in helping to deal with unaccompanied children.

Refugee Youth Service, which has worked in the Calais camp since November last year, said a lack of information and widespread misunderstanding about what will happen to them had led to many children disappearing.

These are some of the most vulnerable children in the world. They have been let down time and time again, Ben Teuten, the charitys cofounder, said in a statement.

When they disappear we are extremely concerned that they will be preyed upon by traffickers and are unlikely to seek state support due to their treatment to date.

Earlier this month, the French authorities began moving about 1,500 unaccompanied child migrants from the Jungle to reception camps across the country.

Josie Naughton, who helped to set up another charity, Help Refugees, said many migrant children were frightened.

Being placed somewhere that you dont understand  where you dont necessarily have access to translators or social workers  and not knowing how long youll be there, that triggers a natural instinct to take control of your own life, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Migrant children have two legal routes into Britain. One is under European Union rules that allow for children to be reunited with relatives already in the UK.

The other is under the so-called Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act which allows the most at-risk child refugees in Italy, Greece and France to be taken to the UK for sanctuary.

Refugee Youth Service called on the French and British governments to provide clearer information to child migrants, and urged the authorities to report children as missing when they disappear from reception centres.

French and British officials were not immediately available for comment.
Government and FARC rebels sign new peace accord but public opinion over new agreement remains deeply divided.

Colombias government has signed a revised peace agreement with the armed group FARC aiming to end half a century of hostilities, nearly two months after the rejection of the original deal in a referendum.

President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Timochenko Londono signed the 310-page accord on Thursday at the Colon Theatre in the capital Bogota.





We can turn the page on violence, Santos said after the signing, while praising the persistence of the negotiators to reach a better agreement.

For his part, rebel leader Londono said: The word should be the only weapon in Colombia, adding that the new deal took into account the concerns made by many sectors of society.

The two men shook hands amid loud cheers from the audience.

The hastily organised ceremony was a far more modest and sombre event than the one in September in the city of Cartagena, where the two leaders had signed an accord in front of an audience of foreign leaders and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

READ MORE: Colombia reaches new peace deal with FARC rebels

The new agreement introduces some 50 changes intended to assuage critics led by still-powerful former president Alvaro Uribe.

They range from a prohibition on foreign magistrates judging crimes by the FARC or government, to a commitment from the armed fighters to forfeit assets, some of them amassed through drug trafficking, to help compensate their victims.

But the FARC would not go along with the oppositions strongest demands: jail sentences for rebel leaders who committed atrocities and stricter limits on their future participation in politics.

Public opinion has been divided on the signing of the deal, as some overwhelmingly loathe the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, for crimes such as kidnappings and drug-trafficking, while others want peace to prevail.

However, a recent wave of alleged assassinations in conflict areas has raised pressure on the government to seal a peace deal fast.

There is no time to waste, Santos said in a televised statement on Monday.

Lives have been lost and many more are in danger.

The revised deal aims to end 52 years of conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Period of uncertainty

However, a period of discord and uncertainty looks certain from now on, as opponents threatened to resist the revised deal.

We invite citizens to persist in the struggle for the future of democracy, said Uribes Democratic Center party.

In the coming days, we will examine various actions to call the people into the streets and democratic spaces, it party said in a statement.

Al Jazeeras Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Bogota, said Santos is determined to go ahead despite the opposition.

This new deal will not go to a second referendum, he said, noting that Santos will instead introduce it in Congress where it is expected to gain approval.

Government and FARC negotiators presented the redrafted version earlier this month.

Uribe, however, complained that it still did not satisfy his key demands, notably punishing FARC leaders for their crimes.

I think the agreement is not perfect. I think there will be impunity. I think these people remain criminals even if they are respecting the agreement, Ignacio Greiffenstein, a Bogota resident, told Al Jazeera.
Wave of alleged assassinations in conflict areas raises pressure on government to sign revised peace accord.

Colombias government and the armed group FARC are due to sign a revised peace accord to end their half-century conflict despite bitter complaints from opponents.

Public opinion is divided on the signing of the deal, scheduled for Thursday, as some overwhelmingly loathe the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, for crimes such as kidnappings and drug-trafficking, while others want peace to prevail.

However, a recent wave of alleged assassinations in conflict areas has raised pressure on the government to seal a peace deal fast.

There is no time to waste, President Juan Manuel Santo said in a televised statement on Monday.

READ MORE: Colombia reaches new peace deal with FARC rebels

Lives have been lost and many more are in danger.

The revised deal aims to end 52 years of conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Santos and Rodrigo Timochenko Londono, the FARC leader, signed an earlier version of the deal in a triumphant ceremony with international leaders on September 27.

But Colombians narrowly rejected it in a referendum on October 2.

Period of uncertainty

Now, a period of discord and uncertainty looks certain as opponents threaten to resist the revised deal.

We invite citizens to persist in the struggle for the future of democracy, said the Democratic Center party led by Alvaro Uribe, the conservative ex-president.

In the coming days, we will examine various actions to call the people into the streets and democratic spaces, the party said in a statement.

Al Jazeeras Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Bogota, said Santos is determined to go ahead despite the opposition.

This new deal will not go to a second referendum, he said. Instead, President Santos said, the government will introduce it in Congress and it will probably be approved there.

However, public opinion in the capital Bogota remains deeply divided.

I think the FARC needs to pay for all theyve done. I dont support this deal because they inflicted too much damage, Diana Ocampo, a Colombian resident, told Al Jazeera.

They should have negotiated in a different way. They are giving them too much power. What they want is power to manipulate people and turn this in another Cuba.

Uribes demands

Government and FARC negotiators presented the redrafted version earlier this month.

Uribe, however, complained that it still did not satisfy his key demands, notably punishing FARC leaders for their crimes.

Under the deal, the FARC would disarm and transform into a political party.

Uribe and his allies say the groups leaders should not be allowed to run for office while still serving their sentences.

I think the agreement is not perfect. I think there will be impunity. I think these people remain criminals even if they are respecting the agreement, Ignacio Greiffenstein, a Bogota resident, told Al Jazeera.

I dont think the victims will be fully compensated. But even considering all this, I still believe we need to support the deal for the victims and to avoid further deaths.
The future of Turkmen-majority Tal Afar and PMUs actions could alter the outcome of the battle for Mosul.

Tal Afar, near Mosul  When Islamic State fighters withdrew from Tal Afar airport last week, they left behind a place that was little more than a vast field of explosive-rigged rubble. No building remains standing and burned out vehicles dot the ruined strips of tarmac linking dug-in defensive positions.

ISILs retreat before the coalition of mainly Shia militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) (al-Hashad al-Shaabi), left a runway that looks as if it will never again see a plane and dozens of booby-trapped IEDs.

ISIL fighters didnt go far, withdrawing only the two kilometres to Tal Afar itself, within easy sight and weapons range. Small clouds of smoke from incoming mortar strikes mushroomed up around the airfield as PMU pickups moved along cleared access roads on Sunday afternoon.

Fighters exchanged machinegun fire at the end of the runway closest to the city, while three men clutching radios took cover behind a collapsed building and tried to locate a sniper targeting them. Shortly after came the repeated whistle of outgoing artillery fire passing overhead.

An armoured suicide car bomb, one of ISILs most devastating weapons, began moving towards their position, but quickly turned back, the driver seemingly deciding he would not be able to breach their defences.

In response to news of retaking Tal Afar airport by PMUs, the mukhtar, or mayor, of a village just outside Tal Afar which is still occupied by ISIL, said: Living under ISIL is hell. We dont care who comes; the army, Peshmerga, the PMUs, we just want to be free.

In a dramatic development on Wednesday, ISILs last supply line from Mosul to Syria was severed by Iraqi-led forces, leaving the armed groups stronghold completely isolated. PMU fighters captured the road linking Tal Afar to Sinjar, west of Mosul, and linked up with Kurdish forces there, according to Iraqi security officials. Taking over Tal Afar itself completes the encirclement of Mosul and denies ISIL fighters any chance of reinforcements.

Living under ISIL is hell. We don't care who comes; the army, Peshmerga, the PMUs, we just want to be free. by A village mayor, outside Tal Afar

Tal Afar itself is small, with a pre-ISIL population of only 200,000. It has fallen to as low as 100,000. But the future of this Turkmen-majority city and the actions of the PMUs could alter the outcome of the six-week long offensive to retake Mosul, 60km to the east.

Comprised mostly of Shia militias, but also including Sunni groups and others, the PMU was officially designated part of the Iraqi armed forces in February 2016, after it took centre stage in the fight against ISIL in 2014.

Iraqi armed forces are pressing on Mosul, ISILs last significant urban stronghold, from three sides. But commanders left the expanse of desert between it and the Syrian border open at first, seemingly to allow ISIL fighters an escape route back to Syria and to spare Mosul residents the worst of the fighting.

The PMU, however, filled the gap with an offensive announced on October 29. They moved fast, pushing northwest from the city of Qayyara. There is no doubt who holds power here. The road is lined with flags of its different member factions, including Badr Organisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib al-Imam Ali, al-Abbas brigade and Kataib Hezbollah, variations in green and yellow of swords, maps and  inspired by Lebanese Hezbollaas motif  an outstretched hand clutching a Kalshnikov.

Most of these groups were trained and backed by Iran and, despite official oversight from Baghdad, maintain loyalty to Tehrans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

READ MORE: Battle for Mosul: ISILs innocent victims

The PMU excel at mobile warfare, but the push on Tal Afar has been long. Roads from Qayyara are scored with deep gashes every few metres, a standard ISIL delaying tactic, and holes where IEDs have been dug out are almost as regular.

After about 50km, tarmac gives way to gravelled paths through power line-studded desert linking a series of small settlements of mud-bricked houses and dry trees. This stretch of desert next to the Syrian border that the road to Tal Afar leads through, was once a stronghold of both ISIL and its precursor organisations.

Residents have fled now, with coils of razor wire and gun trucks signalling the presence of sporadic groups of PMU fighters in their place.

Roads eventually become dry mud and the last 30km to the airport cuts through a virtual moonscape of fine dust several inches thick that plumes from wheel arches and rear bumpers cutting visibility to just metres even at noon. Tyre tracks are the only indication of the path between sporadic tents, checkpoints and communications lorries.

Along this route stream an endless variety of pickups, flatbed lorries piled high with supplies and hulking fuel tankers. Fighters crowd on to all of them, clutching Kalashnikovs and wearing balaclavas with winter jackets to protect against the dust.

Underneath, the men are dark tanned and unlike clean-shaven Iraqi forces, many sport beards with their mismatched fatigues. Most are a long way from home, but morale remains high and they blast religious songs, shout and smile on their way to battle.

The PMUs role in the Mosul operation has been controversial.

Human rights groups have documented violations committed by PMU members, including the abduction, killing and torturing of civilians in past operations to retake territory from ISIL. The presence of the units in a majority Sunni area risks furthering sectarian divisions and even provoking Turkish involvement.

Despite PMUs prominent roles in previous offensives against ISIL, Baghdad deliberately and publicly excluded them from moving on Mosul in an effort to minimise any sectarian element of the battle for the largely Sunni city.

Nisham, a Turkman from Tal Afar in his 20s, who now lives in an IDP camp outside Mosul, warns that the advance of the PMU could risk exacerbating deep pre-existing tensions. There will be a sectarian war there, he warned.

Tal Afar saw some of the worst of Iraqs sectarian bloodshed with death squads on both sides. When ISIL overran the area in 2014, it destroyed Shia mosques and executed dozens of men. Now, many residents and local Sunnis worry of a PMU quest for vengeance.

Should this come to pass, the situation could be further complicated by Turkey which has discovered a newfound sympathy for Tal Afars Turkmen.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to intervene if the PMU terrorises Tal Afar and currently has troops massed at Silopi near the tripoint with Iraq and Syria. The PMU operation was, as a result, an unwelcome development to governments in Baghdad and Erbil, as well as the US-led anti-ISIL coalition.

IN PICTURES: In our village, ISIL executed hundreds of people

But PMU leaders have attempted to assuage some of these concerns, with former Transport Minister Hadi al-Amiris Badr Organisation quickly taking a lead and providing a level of acceptance from the government in Baghdad that the PMU did not enjoy.

Local Turkmen leaders have urged Baghdad to allow only army or police forces to enter Tal Afar in accordance with pledges by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. But at the airport, commanders described plans to move on the city soon.

There, a local operation commander and Badr member who goes by the nickname Abu Ali al-Nasri said the PMU had taken the airport in just six hours, catching ISIL off guard and killing 15 of its fighters. Kataib Hezbollah had led the assault, another fighter said, while Iranian advisers had been present, the commander confirmed.

Nasri said preparation had already begun to move on the city itself and that his men had now surrounded it from three sides, sending foreign ISIL fighters fleeing, along with their families, to Syria. His men would soon complete the encirclement, he added, cutting off ammunition and support from the Syrian side.

Some PMU fighters feel that they have been unfairly portrayed and rankle at the term militia. Another senior Badr commander, who introduced himself as Abu Mohammed al-Attabi, sought to assuage concerns, pledging that Tal Afars civilians would be protected. Some think we have revenge in mind, but people can see from our treatment that is not the case, he said.





Despite recent rhetoric, Michael Knights, an Iraq specialist at the Washington Institute, predicts that the PMU may in fact be satisfied in having proved their relevance and strength to Baghdad by encircling Tal Afar and allow the Iraqi army to finish the extremely tough urban fighting that awaits them in the town.

If they do decide to move in, however, Knights warns that the standards of behaviour to which they hold themselves and the nature of the groups involved will be crucial.

The presence of more openly sectarian elements could provoke fear and resentment from majority Sunni Mosul residents or incite Turkey into a cross-border action. The ultimate success of the Mosul campaign may depend on it.
Foreign minister says meeting to be held in Paris to confront strategy of total war by Syrian regime and its allies.

France has accused Syria and its allies of using political uncertainty in the United States to launch total war against opposition-held areas in the country and called for new sanctions on Bashar al-Assads government for the use of chemical weapons.

Making the accusations after a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Frances foreign minister, said that countries opposed to the Syrian president would meet soon.

Donald Trumps inauguration as the new US president will not happen until January 20 next year and President Barack Obamas outgoing administration is not expected to take an active role in Syria so close to leaving office.

European diplomats have expressed concern that Assad may feel emboldened by Trumps pledge to build closer ties with Russia, Syrias ally.

READ MORE: Battle for Aleppo  All hospitals are destroyed

Today one million people are besieged, not just in Aleppo, but in Homs, Ghouta and Idlib, and thats the reality of the situation in Syria, Ayrault said in Paris.

He did not say what the planned meeting might achieve, but said protecting Syrian civilians was an urgent priority.

France is taking the initiative to confront this strategy of total war by the regime and its allies, who are taking advantage of the current uncertainty in the United States.

Meeting planned

The proposed meeting of countries opposed to Assad, including the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, will take place in the near future in Paris, Ayrault said.

France, a staunch backer of the anti-Assad opposition, is now actively pushing for a UN Security Council resolution to sanction Syria for the use of chemical weapons, he said.





An inquiry by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has already found that government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group had used mustard gas.

Its been proved that the regime and ISIL have used chemical weapons, so we now need sanctions and thats the resolution we want at the UN. The international community must stop turning a blind eye, Ayrault said.

We arent going to sit and do nothing.





Russia has said that the inquirys findings cannot be used to take action at the Security Council and that the Syrian government, which denies using chemical weapons, should investigate the accusations.

Meanwhile, on the ground, doctors and activists in Syria are calling on the international community to airdrop supplies in opposition-held eastern Aleppo.

They are also calling for a safe passage for civilians, and want the UN to monitor it.

At least 13 people were killed in fighting in Aleppo on Wednesday, according to rescue workers.

They said they have been trying to recover the injured, but there are no hospitals left to take them to following Syrian governments latest assault on medical facilities in opposition-held areas.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that dozens of civilians tried to flee the besieged parts of Aleppo on Wednesday but were stopped from escaping because of fighting.

READ MORE: In East Aleppo, there is no way out

On Tuesday, the Syrian army issued a statement accusing opposition fighters of holding civilians as hostages.

Permit those citizens who want to do so to leave, stop using them as hostages and human shields, clear the mines from the crossings identified by the state, it said.

Anti-government groups deny they are preventing civilians from leaving and accused the government of spreading rumours.

Renewed assault

The Syrian army  backed by allied forces from Iran, Russia and the Lebanese group Hezbollah  launched a renewed assault on east Aleppo on November 15.

The offensive has killed at least 143 civilians in the citys east, among them 19 children, and more than 375 in all of Aleppo province.

Opposition fire has killed 16 civilians in the government-held west, including 10 children.

The Syrian conflict has killed an estimated 400,000 people since it began in March 2011.
ISIL claims responsibility for blast targeting Shia Muslims returning from Arbaeen pilgrimage in city of Karbala.

An earlier version of this story stated that the death toll had surpassed 100. Our sources in Iraq now say the toll is 97.

Nearly 100 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a massive suicide truck bomb blast at a petrol station south of Iraqs capital Baghdad, according to police and medical sources.

The target of Thursdays attack near the town of Hilla appeared to be Shia Muslim pilgrims returning from the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage in the holy city of Karbala.

READ MORE: ISIL suicide bombers kill dozens in two cities

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Erbil, said an oil tanker rigged with explosives tore through the petrol station, which has a restaurant on its premises that is popular with travellers.





The whole place was completely wrecked. It was a massive blast, Abdel-Hamid said.

When the gas tanker blew up, it also torched several buses and minivans that were carrying the pilgrims.

Our correspondent said that as of 03:00 GMT on Friday the number of those killed in the attack was at least 97, rising from a previous death toll of 80.

Earlier, security sources had said they expected casualty figures to increase in the coming hours.

It is believed that among them are not only Iraqis, but some Iranians too, while some unconfirmed reports also say that there could be some Bahrainis among the victims.

With todays attack, ISIL is sending the message that it can still cause and inflict a lot of pain, Abdel-Hamid said.

READ MORE: Iraqi militiamen sever ISILs key supply line to Syria

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

There are completely charred corpses at the scene, said Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee, adding that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the lorry was packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

ISIL has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a large-scale military offensive launched last month to retake Mosul, the last major city under its control in Iraq.

The latest attack highlights just how difficult it is to guarantee any kind of security in certain areas of Iraq, Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from Dohuk in northern Iraq, said.

Despite of evidence of ISIL getting hit very hard, they still seem to be able to attack when and where they want in certain parts of the country.

The International Organization for Migration said on Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since the start of the Mosul offensive on October 17.

The group said that about 7,000 people had already returned to their homes, leaving roughly 69,000 still displaced, most of them in camps.
Ankara criticises vote that calls for a temporary halt to its EU membership talks over the response to failed coup bid.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has dismissed a European Parliament vote calling for a temporary freeze to Ankaras membership talks with the European Union as insignificant.

Of the 623 politicians present for Thursdays vote in Frances Strasbourg, 479 were in favour of a halt in negotiations over Turkeys disproportionate crackdown following Julys failed coup attempt. Thirty seven abstained against and 107 abstained.

Yet, the vote is non-binding and EU governments are unlikely to take heed.

Shortly after, Yildirim said that the outcome had no value and urged EU leaders to speak out against what he termed a lack of vision.

The EU should understand and decide whether it wants to shape its future vision with or without Turkey, he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Mehmet Simsek, Turkeys deputy prime minister, also criticised the decision, describing it on Twitter as populist and counterproductive.

Meanwhile, Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden, said the vote showed a populist short-term rather than strategic long-term approach to relations which Turkey.

Obvious that many in European Parliament take a populist short-term rather than strategic long-term approach to relations which Turkey.  Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) November 24, 2016

OPINION: Turkey is the sick  but still strong  man of Europe

The decision comes amid heightened tensions within Turkey in the aftermath of the coup bid on July 15. Since then, almost 37,000 suspects have been placed under arrest, and tens of thousands have lost their jobs.

Politicians voting in Strasbourg said the parliament strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt.

Last week, top EU politicians cancelled a visit to Turkey after Ankara refused to see one member of European parliament because of her criticism of the governments response to the coup attempt.

Ankara blames US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, for the coup  a charge he denies.

Gulens movement, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refers to as a terrorist organisation, runs schools, charities and businesses internationally.

In comments published last weekend, Erdogan said Turkey should not be fixated on joining the EU and floated the idea of joining up with Russia and China in a Eurasian security group.
In first such incident on Syrian territory, three dead and 10 wounded in attack near northern city of Al Bab.

The Turkish military has said that three of its soldiers have been killed and 10 more wounded in Syria by an air strike allegedly launched by Syrian government forces.

A statement from the Turkish armed forces on its website said that the attack occurred at 3:30am local time [00:30 GMT] on Thursday.

In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously, it said in the statement.

It did not say where the attack occurred, but Turkish news media said the location was near the northern Syrian city of Al Bab.





If confirmed, this could be a major escalation because it would be the first time that Turkish troops have been killed in a Syrian air strike, said Al Jazeeras Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border.

The Turkish military statement says it believed so far that it was a Syrian air strike that killed its troops. But we have not had any confirmation from them after that.

The city of Al Bab is a strategic area, which is close to the Turkish border in northern Syria en route to Raqqa and Idlib. It is one of the remaining strongholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

Our correspondent added: Earlier in the day, we heard claims from several Syrian pro-government websites saying that this attack was carried out by ISIL.

The Turkish prime ministers office has imposed a temporary broadcast ban on news of the attack in Syria, according to the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK).

In September, three Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded during clashes with ISIL fighters in northern Syria.

In August, one Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a rocket attack on a Turkish tank south of Jarablus. Turkish military blamed that attack on Kurdish YPG fighters.

ANALYSIS: Kurds and refugees behind Turkeys Syria offensive

On August 24, Turkey sent ground troops into northern Syria to support Syrian opposition fighters in its stated fight against ISIL, also known as ISIS, and to curb Syrian Kurdish territorial gains.

At the moment, the Turkish troops are not engaged in combat with Syrian government forces.

Turkey has a significant presence in northern Syria, said Al Jazeeras Javaid. It has already cleared the town of Jarablus from ISIL and it is now moving towards the second ISIL-held city in the region, Al Bab.

After it takes Al Bab, Turkish military says its aspirations are that it will clear the whole area and it will retake the town of Manbij from SDF, the largely Kurdish force.

Turkey views Syrian Kurdish troops as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed group that has been battling government forces in southeastern Turkey for decades.
With a murder every one and a half hours, El Salvador is counted among the worlds most dangerous nations. Awash with weapons and torn apart by the internecine struggles of rival criminal gangs, the country is experiencing violence at levels unseen since the aftermath of its long and brutal civil war.

While the state struggles to find an effective law enforcement and judicial solution to the problem  the Salvadoran authorities have tried the iron fist of military force, prosecuting gangs into oblivion and even, briefly and unsuccessfully, negotiation  things have become so bad that others have started taking matters into their own hands by forming vigilante groups and tracking down and murdering gang members who are threatening their community

In this first episode of Latin America Investigates, an uncompromising and compelling new series in which we team up with some of the continents best investigative journalists, reporter Bryan Avelar and filmmaker Lali Houghton travel to the western province of San Miguel to find out more.

There the notorious MS-13 gang rules the roost through fear and terror. With an estimated 60,000 soldiers nationwide  many of them bearing distinctive tattoos to mark their allegiance  and more than half a million affiliates, from lookouts to family members, MS-13 claims to both protect its own and look after the interests of the economically marginalised.

However the reality for the public is a seemingly never-ending cycle of violence, intimidation, extortion, kidnap and murder. Most people are too terrified to stand against them or even speak out, let alone help the police.

But now a vigilante death squad, called Los Exterminio, is fighting back. Accredited with at least 40 murders of gang members, it first came to prominence last summer when seven bodies were found on a country road. The dead men had all been executed with a bullet to the head and all were thought to have belonged to MS-13.

So whats driven the shadowy figures who operate under Los Exterminios banner to take such drastic action? And what truth is there to rumours that they are funded by local businessmen and benefit from a collaborative  if secret  relationship with the police?

FILMMAKERS VIEW

by Lali Houghton

I had never been to El Salvador before and the thought of venturing into unknown waters both fascinated me and drew shivers. When I first spoke to local journalist Bryan Avelar, it immediately became clear that the story was not going to be easy. We were setting out to investigate death squads killing off local gang members, specifically the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, in the western province of San Miguel.

We had all heard of how dangerous El Salvador was  the highest homicide rates outside of war; a mafia born out of poverty; a country crippled by murder and fear. I had also heard of the French filmmaker Christian Poveda who got too close to MS-13 and paid the ultimate price.

Life in El Salvador is cheap and murder is sewn into the fabric of society. There was almost one every hour in the first three months of 2016, according to the official Instituto de Medicina Legal.

At my side was my guide and go-between, Bryan Avelar, aged only 23. I wondered what all these dark murder stories must be doing to his psyche. He was just as fascinated as I was but with a level of wisdom far beyond his years; he was able to see beyond the sensationalist rhetoric of the media and banal statistics fed by the government.

A relentless investigator, he was risking his life to try to shine a light on the complex mess his country finds itself in.

According to online digital newspaper El Faro, 70 percent of businesses in El Salvador have to pay extortion money to MS-13 or the Barrio 18 Gang.

Their tentacles stretch across all aspects of society. And yet with access to the gangs so difficult to achieve, few are able to articulate quite how they have expanded and taken control of the country. The closest Ive seen was a book written by anthropologist Jose Martinez DAubusson, who spent a year living in a shanty town controlled by MS-13.

Ultimately, it is social and historical factors that trap large swaths of the population in poverty creating a breeding ground of new recruits for the gangs.

And then appear Los Exterminators. A legion of town vigilantes killing off gang members in order to stem the violence that is affecting the local economy. Allegedly assisted by police and financed by local businessmen, they want respite from life under the shadow of MS-13.

Desperate and defiant people who have lost all faith in the authorities, they are filling the lawless vacuum created by a lack of police response. They have taken matters into their own hands and fight fire with fire, ultimately causing yet more death.

The closer we got to them, the more perilous the situation felt. Bryan was told in a veiled threat not to pursue the story further. We managed to get the interview with the Los Exterminio group from a separate source.

My own role was fleeting, a tourists eye fascinated and trying to make sense of the mayhem. It is Bryan, in the end, who has to live with the ghosts and the constant fear that tomorrow may be his last story.










English News 1st China-LatAm Media Leaders Summit begins in Chile

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 24 Novembre 2016



Today, China-Latin America cooperation has brought practical benefits to our daily lives in all aspects. Some observers pointed out that the China-Latin America relationship has achieved triple boosts by transiting from a buyer-seller relationship to investment partners, then to development partners. Amid the momentum to increase bilateral cooperation, we need to increase mutual recognition and understanding based on the already existing political, economic, personnel and cultural relationships, where media should be in place to assist.

People's Daily



The first China-Latin America Media Leaders Summit opened in Santiago, Chile, coinciding with Chinese President Xi Jinpings State visit to the South American country.



Lu Xinning, a deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, also delivered a speech with the theme, Expand Mutual Understanding Through Communication and Cooperation, at the summit.

Here is the full text of her speech:



What draws China and Latin America closer?



Bathed in the summer sunshine in the Southern Hemisphere, we gather here today to attend the first China-Latin America Media Leaders Summit with the theme, Media Organizations Working Together for Better China-Latin America Cooperation to discuss friendship, share ideas and plan for the future. We are here to contribute our thoughts and make friends. It is of pioneering significance.

Chile is said to be the farthest country from China. We took almost 30 hours to arrive in Chile. On the way here, there was a question that puzzled me the most: what draws China and Latin America closer to build a future despite the fact that the two sides are divided by the vast Pacific Ocean? I can sense that the answer lies in our common pursuit and strong desire for communication, which resonates with the sentence that President Xi Jinping often quotes: mountains and seas do not distance people with common aspirations.



Bilateral communication beckons more platforms



I have been crazy over Latin American literature since I was in college 3 decades ago. I still remember the admiration when I came across Latin American literature for the first time. Gabriel Garcia Marquez built the Macondo town with his imagination, Juan Rulfo depicted the mysterious man Pedro Paramo, the important writer Jorge Luis Borges created a magnificent artistic world, and Pablo Neruda wrote down emotional poetry All of these have always made me learn more about the ancient and exuberant Latin American civilization.

Literature brings people closer to each other, while the historic progress after World War , especially the change in the international landscape in the new age, encouraged both sides to embark on a cooperation course in choosing a development path, national rejuvenation and other top-level agenda. Over the past few decades, China and Latin America share similar feelings towards the direct or indirect interruptions from the Western world. It is without a doubt that justice and fairness have not been achieved in the current international relationships. Under such a context, China and Latin America are in great need of mutual support to pursue our own dreams and find a suitable development path.



Bilateral ties upgraded to development partnership

Today, China-Latin America cooperation has brought practical benefits to our daily lives in all aspects. Some observers pointed out that the China-Latin America relationship has achieved triple boosts by transiting from a buyer-seller relationship to investment partners, then to development partners. Amid the momentum to increase bilateral cooperation, we need to increase mutual recognition and understanding based on the already existing political, economic, personnel and cultural relationships, where media should be in place to assist.

My employer, the Peoples Daily, is an official newspaper of the Communist Party of China. As a media group with an almost 7 decade-long history, the Peoples Daily not only provides the most influential newspaper in China, but also offers more than 10 media platforms such as magazines, websites, television, broadcast, electronic screen, SMS news and phone app. The market value of Peoples Daily Online, successfully listed in 2012, has surpassed that of the New York Times. The number of accumulated downloads of the Peoples Daily app on the phone has exceeded 148 million. As one of Chinas biggest omnimedia, the Peoples Daily has over 350 million users at home, covering almost one quarter of the population. In an era of media and communications, I believe that the information flow and voices of media exert more influence than ever over state-to-state relations and people's welfare.



Talent should be added to build exchange platforms

In order to enhance exchanges between Chinese and Latin American media, I propose the two sides cooperate in the following fields:

First, an exchange mechanism should be built to replenish the talent pool serving China-Latin America cooperation in media. At present, the biggest obstacle to bilateral media cooperation is language. Only a few Chinese media can produce news in Spanish and Portuguese, but most of the content is translated. Moreover, the reporters and editors familiar with conditions in Latin America are not enough. The same is true in Latin America, where few media professionals there can speak Chinese and know about the situation in China.

Patricia Castro, a Peruvian scholar who lived in China for 12 years, pointed out thatthe best way to know a country is to go there. It is hard to let others listen to the voice of China, but as long as we start to communicate, then we are already on the path of mutual understanding.In order to enhance mutual understanding, the Peoples Daily and other Chinese media can send their staff who speak Spanish and Portuguese to Latin America for training. At the same time, Latin American media can send their reporters to China to learn more about China through local Confucius Institutes.

We can encourage more bilingual talent who speak Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese to provide translation services for media, enterprises and governmental organizations of both sides based on a translation crowd-sourcing platform built by Global Times, thus overcoming the language barriers and bridging the communication and exchanges. We hope such platforms would increase in a bid to seize every communication opportunity.



Cooperate with think-tanks to increase exchange mechanisms

Second, we should pursue deeper recognition and understanding by cooperating with each others think tanks. The Latin America Center of the Peoples Daily has cemented its relationship with the Foundation of Getulio Vargas (FGV), the biggest think-tank in Brazil. A prompt communication mechanism with relevant scholars on topics related to China-Brazil cooperation was set up as a result. The Peoples Daily also invited the scholars of FGV to the Forum on "Belt and Road" Media Cooperation in Beijing. Yang Zhenwu, People's Daily editor-in-chief, visited Argentina and Brazil last year, during which he met with local media, spoke at the FGV, introduced Chinas economic new normal and answered questions raised by local scholars and media representatives. Similar events should be held more frequently. In fact, we could and should apply such an exchange mechanism in bilateral exchanges to other Latin American countries, even replicate it at Latin America research institutes in China. The People's Daily is willing to establish a platform for more discussions in order to enhance mutual understanding.

Bolstering content cooperation

Third, we should provide readers with more news products by increasing our content cooperation. Currently, a considerable part of the Chinese reports on Latin America are cited from Western media, and the situation in Latin America is similar. There are only eight reporters from five Latin American media in China. Though Chinese media have stepped up their efforts in covering Latin American events, counterparts in Latin America havent given enough focus to or used enough Chinese mainstream reports. Instead, they tend to use the Associated Press and EFE.

I want to let all my colleagues know that the Peoples Daily is Chinas biggest omnimedia group and the most important news content producer. We have been providing customized news services for foreign media and offer them with China-related news based on demand. Some media from Latin America and other part of the world have shown their interest in this service. We welcome more Latin American media to try our service and your suggestions and advice are most appreciated. We invite all of you to read the sufficient China-related news provided by the Spanish and Portuguese channels on Peoples Daily Online. The website can establish a news exchange mechanism with major online media in Latin America in the future. Meanwhile, we are considering quality reports written by our Latin American counterparts on our platform, so as to give the two peoples a window to know the real China and Latin America through content cooperation.

Dear colleagues,

There is an old saying in China, To know is to understand and sympathize. This era has given the media a mission to bring closer ties between China and Latin America. In July 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping brought up the idea that the Chinese dream and Latin American dream are the same dream before attending the first China-Latin America and the Caribbean summit. During President Xis second visit to Latin America this time around, he explained the importance of building a China-Latin America community of common destiny. The people of the two sides have been bravely pursuing and realizing the dreams based on their ancient civilizations. These practical actions are the extraordinary stories we should record and tell. I hope all media professionals would strive hard to tell more impressive stories about China-Latin America cooperation.

Thank you!



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Trunk market springs up in Chinese cities Communist of China always maintains vitality More robots entering people's daily life Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Opposition protecting Government and RBI from prosecution under Section 304 A IPC etc

Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 24 Novembre 2016



Bengaluru, India

Sub:- Deaths caused by negligence in demonetization program warrants prosecution of Government India led by PM Modi and RBI officials



--- In Parliament (Rajyasabha) the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on November 24, 2016 said that about 70 deaths have happened due to monumental mismanagement of demonetization program under Section 26 (2) of Reserve Bank of India Act (the program which is supposed to be with Cabinet approval under Article 78 of the Constitution of India)



Therefore Government of India (GOI) led by PM Modi (including its Cabinet) and RBI officials are legally expected to be prosecuted under Section 304 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which reads as  [CAUSING DEATH BY NEGLIGENCE.Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both].



But opposition parties in India are trying to protect Government of India and RBI from prosecution under Section 304 A IPC etc



Here it is in context to add that if any driver kills some body by car / truck due to negligent driving then the driver is prosecuted and punished under Section 304 A of IPC.



In addition to proof the former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh (who was also Chief Economic Adviser to GOI, RBI Governor, Head of Planning Commission of India, Finance Minister of India) may be having about criminal negligence of Government of India and RBI the following additional proofs can also be taken into consideration which added the hardship of the victims and which resulted in these ~ 70 deaths:-



(1)- ID was illegally demanded from the bearer of the notes while replacing old notes with new notes despite mention on the notes by RBI Governor that I promise to pay to the bearer of Rs 500 & 1,000 notes, which were demonetized.



(2)- The GOI and its political and other defenders are spreading a canard that under Section 26 (2) of Reserve Bank of India Act this demonetization and after that whatever GOI & RBI have been doing is legal, but in reality& in law it is wrong. The Section 26 (2) of RBI Act reads as  On recommendation of the Central Board the [Central Government] may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender [save at such office or agency of the Bank and to such extent as may be specified in the notification].



In Section 26 (2) of RBI Act - and to such extent as may be specified in the notification - is most important. If RBI or its office or agency (like Post Office and Banks) refuse to exchange the old notes with new notes by saying that there is no currency available (as per extent or limit say Rs 2,000 or 4,000 per day etc specified in the notification) then Court can declare RBI (through its office or agency) as Bankrupt (because it is unable to repay outstanding debts) and can declare such Immediate-cutoff-demonetization illegal.



[Because this extent, as specified in the notification, when un-fulfilled (that too and especially regarding currency) would violate constitutional fundamental right of life & liberty of the people under Article 21 and also the constitutional right to property under Article 300A which says no person shall be deprived of his property (currency etc) save by authority of law].



The observation on November, 18 by Supreme Court of India - that if situation (about availability of currency at Post offices and Banks) does not improve then there may be riots - is precisely the situation where Court can declare RBI bankrupt and declare this demonetization [where Rs 500 and 1,000 notes were cutoff (denied as legal tender) at the notice of 4 hours in the night], illegal.



Hence former PM Dr Singh rightly said in Parliament on November, 24 that this monumentally mismanaged demonetization is organized loot and legalized plunder.



The above mentioned illegalities committed by GOI and RBI also added the hardship of the victims and resulted in these ~ 70 death which are deaths by criminal negligence on the part of GOI and RBI.



It is hoped that even now opposition political parties of India (through Parliament and other State agencies) will ensure the prosecution of Government India (GOI) led by PM Modi and RBI officials for criminal negligence, act done in common by all and for criminal conspiracy under section 304 A, 34, 120 (B) IPC etc.



Regards



Hem Raj Jain



(Author of Betrayal of Americanism)



Bengaluru, India.



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English News The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) condemns the use of Deadly Force by Law Enforcement against Standing Rock Water Protectors, calls for additional UN action

- 24 Novembre 2016





Minneapolis, Minnesota United States: The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) offers this statement on the occasion of todays press conference to provide updates on the condition of Ms. Sophia Wilansky. She was injured as a result of deadly force used by Morton County North Dakota Sherriffs Department against water protectors from the Oceti Sakowin Standing Rock Camp on the night of November 20th, 2016. IITC, first and foremost, offers our thoughts for her and her family, and our prayers for her recovery.



Ms. Wilanskys arm was severely injured when she was reportedly struck by a concussion grenade fired at several hundred unarmed water defenders opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The multi-billion dollar oil pipeline threatens the water, Treaty rights and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Due to the severity of her injuries, Ms. Wilansky, who is 21, was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis where she has undergone several hours of surgery. IITC Board member Lisa Bellanger, based in Minneapolis, is in close contact with the family and we will continue to monitor her condition in that way.



In addition to concussion grenades, North Dakota law enforcement also used high pressure water cannons, mace, tear gas and rubber bullets against the water defenders who were attempting to cross a bridge near the DAPL construction site. Many suffered from hypothermia as a result of cold water directed at them at high velocity in sub-freezing temperatures with potentially life-threatening effects.



The IITC considers these actions as constituting use of deadly force. New reports indicate that over 300 water protectors were injured in this incident, and 27 were taken to hospitals including some with broken bones and head injuries. Photos, videos and eyewitness accounts were widely circulated on social and other media. The IITC strongly condemns this escalating violence used against peaceful human, Treaty and environmental rights defenders opposing the DAPL.



The IITC has reported this latest incident and the escalation of police violence it represents to the United Nations (UN) human rights system including the UN Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, members of the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Multinational Corporations, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. IITC has requested that UN human rights bodies immediately contact the United States government to call for an immediate halt to the increasing human rights violations including the use of deadly force against these unarmed defenders.



As a result of information and reports submitted by IITC which documented the actions of law enforcement at Standing Rock up to that time, on November 15th 2016 the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Peaceful Assembly Mr. Maina Kiai issued a statement, reported in the Washington Post, Indian Country Today and the UN Press, calling the use of the tactics used by law enforcement officials, private security firms and the North Dakota National Guard up to that time as unjustified and excessive force. However, the tactics used in the November 20th incident far exceeded those used previously which were addressed by the Rapporteur.



IITC worked with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST) to organize an official visit by Grand Chief Edward John, member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in late October to observe the continued impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction such as threats to water, Treaty rights and sacred areas. His report included the escalating levels of repression, violence and intimidation against Tribal members and their supporters by state law enforcement, private security and the National Guard. Roberto Borrero representing the IITC accompanied him as a human rights observer.



IITC and the SRST also submitted two joint urgent actions to the UN Human Rights system, including four UN Special Rapporteurs, in August and September of this year. This submission highlighted a number of human rights violations and requested that these UN human rights mandate holders call upon the United States to uphold its commitment, including to the Tribes right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty. Primary concerns expressed by the SRST included the potential devastating effects on the Missouri River, its primary water source as well as on sacred sites and burial grounds. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has also extended an invitation to Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of indigenous Peoples, which is currently in process.



IITC has also recently received very disturbing reports of suspected pesticides or other toxic chemicals being sprayed over the Oceti Sakowin camp, possibly by airplanes during the night, causing immediate health effects. The use of chemicals by private individuals or law enforcement has not been confirmed, but a growing number of on-site reports indicate that there is cause for serious concern. IITC calls on local law enforcement, the State of North Dakota, the United States Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency to determine if such chemicals have been used in this way, obtain samples of suspicious droplets found on vehicles and tents, and report their chemical contents and known or suspected heath impacts without delay. Such applications in this situation, including exposure of the many children in the camp, may constitute the use of chemical weapons under international law. This must be investigated, confirmed or denied without delay.



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Blockchain technology matured a lot this year. Sure, it's still unclear why banks should use it  needs vary by company. But it is clear blockchains provide more value if they can interact with each other.

Competing blockchain vendors have worked hard to differentiate their products and sell them to banks. In the process some players have begun open-sourcing their software  following the same path as operating-system programmers and architects of the internet.

Their commitment to open source has shown an underlying interest in interoperability. When software designers and systems builders work on projects, they can study similar efforts by others and consider how they can all ultimately connect, said Adam Ludwin, the chief executive of the Silicon Valley blockchain startup Chain.

Last month Chain began open-sourcing its blockchain platform, Chain Protocol, which it built with the help of nine major banks and payments companies to run high-volume financial applications on permissioned blockchain networks.

Days earlier, the bank consortium R3 revealed that Corda, its distributed-ledger platform for managing financial agreements between regulated financial institutions, would be released as open-source code to The Hyperledger Project, an initiative to advance blockchain technology for recording and verifying transactions across multiple industries. Hyperledger has been building technology for more general purposes, where all details of a trade are shared with all members of the network.

"Let's say someone wishes to connect a Chain network that has digital assets running on it with a Corda contract," Ludwin said. "If those projects are open source and well documented, and that documentation is public, then whoever might be building the interfaces or connectors for these networks and services will have a much easier time doing so. That's why open source is a boon for interoperability."

Since the blockchain industry first caught banks' attention, a lot of thought has been focused on the technology's potential uses. "What problem are we trying to solve," banks constantly ask themselves  as they do when faced with any new technology or innovation. But as the discussion evolved, the question arose whether there should be one blockchain or many, and whether access should be permissioned or permissionless. The open-source trend in the permissioned blockchain world would suggest the latter.

Whatever applications banks deem necessary for their business can be built on top of the blockchain's inner plumbing, said Brian Behlendorf, the executive director of Hyperledger. But vendors need to collaborate because such efforts are expensive.

"We talked to blockchain companies, and they'd talk about great apps that they could build  medical records, reforming how land title would work" and other things, Behlendorf said, citing his work at a previous job with a venture capital company. "Then we'd ask them, 'What do you spend the money we're giving you on?' And they would say, 'On plumbing.'"

Open source is a model for developing and distributing software. If a certain software is open source, that means that the original code, or source code, is available for all to download and use freely for their own purposes and that code was written in an open, collaborative way.

"In the software innovation community we tend to build on each other, and that creates faster innovation, more progress and more positive transformation of industry  that's what open source is really all about," said Jeff Jaffe, CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). "People write code and make it available to colleagues much like researchers do with research papers. Research papers have been around hundreds of years, were always open and people were able to read other people's results."

Wendy Seltzer, W3C's policy counsel and strategy lead, said making code available to many experts in the field can help make bugs "shallow." If it's something they are using, she said, they are also contributing to finding and perhaps patching flaws.

Moreover, it is a way for engineers to give back to the engineering community.

"When external engineers can review the architecture and code, they can assess the quality of the projects companies are working on. This serves as a great recruiting tool," said Max Levchin, CEO of the digital lending startup Affirm and a co-founder of PayPal. "When you open-source, it allows third parties to build applications on top of yours, [a process] which acts as a distribution channel for your own product."

The challenges facing businesspeople and engineers to make an open-source strategy work cannot be underestimated. It's like planning a big party, Behlendorf said.

"It's possible to rent the location for the night, hire the DJ, get everything catered and then have nobody show," he explained. "Or people show up, but they don't dance.  It's a really bad, lousy party."

Behlendorf identifies with the school that says open-sourcing earlier is better, he said, because when one organization presents something as a finished work, others are reluctant to join in, thinking they are too late.

Seltzer used some different imagery to make a similar point. Under most open-source licenses, anyone can take the code and fork it  that is, take the source code from an open-source software program, like R3's Corda for example, and build an entirely new program from it.

"If the holder of one piece of the fork takes it in a direction you, as a user of the software, don't like, you're free to copy and move off in a different direction," Seltzer explained. "There's no guarantee the two pieces will continue to interoperate."

Each user of software is faced with that choice: to remain on the common branch or to go off in a different direction. Sometimes properties of code serve to enforce that cohesion, Seltzer said. Sometimes governance mechanisms like those in a consensus standards organization serve to unify people around the interface or interoperability point.

Ian Jacobs, W3C's technical staff contact for web payments activities, said a number of different pieces need to come together to achieve interoperability.

"You don't get interoperability magically; just having a single open-source code base is not interoperability," Jacobs said. "We've even seen in the case of browsers at first some convergence toward a single code base, but then communities have different priorities and they fork and go back to multiple code bases."

Behlendorf said industry observers get too caught up in who will become the dominant player among the blockchain vendors, but this does not have to be a winner-take-all environment to create value. Having many providers of infrastructure technology would probably create more value than if there were just one.

"This isn't going to look like Amazon with a retail business or Google with a search business. This will look like the database business, where you have a couple of very large companies growing around that," he said.

Even though interoperability is important, Ludwin sees it as less important than problem solving. If the industry spends too much time making sure the players interact before putting any networks in place, that might actually slow down progress and problem solving.

"What will drive interoperability ultimately will be the customers  not the vendors  that say, 'I have a business reason to connect my set of services to this other set of services,'" Ludwin said. "Trying to anticipate all of those at the outset is not practical."
The longtime CEO of Oconee Federal Financial in Seneca, S.C., is handing the reins to his son.

Curtis T. Evatt, Oconee's president and chief financial officer, will succeed T. Rhett Evatt as CEO of the $484 million-asset holding company and Oconee Federal Savings and Loan Association on Jan. 1.

"I'm certainly honored to follow my father as CEO and by the trust that the board has in me," Curtis Evatt, who will remain president and CFO, told American Banker on Wednesday.

T. Rhett Evatt, 88, will become executive chairman of the bank on Jan. 1. He has worked at Oconee since 1960 and has been CEO since 1983.

Curtis Evatt started working full time at the bank in 1994 in compliance and information technology. He was first named CFO in 2010, a position he held until he was named president in 2014. He returned to the CFO role in March.

The company's focus is on residential lending, the younger Evatt said.

"We want to be the premier residential lender in our markets," he said.
WASHINGTON  The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's ongoing search for a president has taken on a new urgency for those pushing for a person of color to be nominated for the job amid fears that President-elect Donald Trump's selections for the Fed board will not have minorities' interests at heart.

The Fed Up campaign  whose goal is to reverse what it sees as the central bank's unfair lack of consideration of the disproportionately high rates of unemployment among minorities  says its effort has become even more important considering Trump's other pending appointments. The president-elect will have to fill at least two vacancies on the Fed's Board of Governors, whose members sit on the monetary policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

"With Trump and the Republican Senate potentially filling two vacancies on the Board of Governors  we'll need the regional reserve banks to be aware of those dynamics," said Jordan Haedtler, deputy campaign manager for Fed Up. "The economic challenges that we face as a country  and that the black communities in that Federal Reserve district feel especially significantly  are going to remain a problem. Quite frankly I expect that they will be felt even more acutely in a Trump administration."

Several Democrats in Congress have similarly called on the Atlanta Fed to elevate a person of color to succeed Dennis Lockhart, who announced in September that he was stepping down. Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., said there are many qualified African-Americans in business, banking and academia who could serve as head of the bank. Such a selection, he said, would send a powerful, positive message to the black community that it still has a voice in public decision-making.

"This is an opportunity  to pull this nation together and there's nobody out there feeling as hurt and disappointed as the African-American community," Scott said in an interview. "I truly believe that this would be such a healing moment."

Regional Fed presidents are important for at least two reasons. First, they are in charge of supervision of all Fed member banks and bank holding companies in their districts. Secondly, they sometimes serve on the FOMC, which is made up of 12 members, the seven members of the Board of Governors and a rotating cast of five regional Fed Bank presidents.

Ernest Patrikis, a former New York Fed official and partner with White & Case, said that typically the members of the board can outvote the regional bank presidents and as such have marginally more power. But the board has traditionally operated in a more collaborative atmosphere, not a top-down hierarchy, he said. That ironically makes the regional Fed presidents more important, since most dissenting votes come from within their ranks.

"It's good to see a dissent or two, and that will generally be a Reserve Bank president," Patrikis said.

Diversity at the leadership level of the Federal Reserve System is a clear problem. Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a gathering at the Kansas City Fed in September that she was "committed to improving diversity throughout our organization, including at the upper ranks." The Fed also established the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion as part of the Dodd-Frank Act to examine and encourage the development of a more diverse workforce.

But the system has a long way to go. Of the twelve reserve bank presidents, all but one are white, and to date there have only been three African-American members of the Board of Governors. Most of the minorities working in the Fed system are employed in either middle management or service and support roles rather than senior management, according to agency reports.

The Atlanta Fed has said little about its search, citing the confidentiality of the process. But it did hire executive search firm Spencer Stuart as a consultant  a common, but not required, step. The search committee, pursuant to a lesser-known provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, consists of nonbank board members only.

The search process also adopted some other innovations first used by the Minneapolis Fed when it sought a president to replace outgoing president Narayana Kocherlakota last year  namely opening up the nomination process to accept suggestions from the general public. Tom Fanning  chief executive of Southern Company and head of the search committee  said in October that in addition to accepting public suggestions, the bank was coordinating its search with the Fed board.

"As we look through the candidate list, we're sort of coordinating with the Fed Board to make sure that the candidate list is good, but this is the first time we have asked, in a very transparent way, for anyone to submit a candidate," Fanning said. "I think it's notable, and it's a good thing."

Fanning said the bank hopes to have its search process complete before Lockhart steps down, but the bank is prepared for the search to goes on longer.

Lockhart's resignation was compelled by the byzantine rules governing the tenures of regional Fed Bank presidents. Fed bank presidents must retire at age 65, except in cases where they were made president after the age of 55. In that case, they may serve either until age 75 or for 10 years, whichever comes first. Lockhart was installed as Atlanta Fed president in 2007 at age 59, and his 10-year term expires at the end of February.

Regional bank presidents are submitted to the Fed Board for approval, but in practice the board tends to accept the nominees that the banks recommend. The board has not rejected a bank's nominee in recent memory. The banks and the board also tend to collaborate throughout the search process so there are no surprises when a bank's pick comes before the board. But that doesn't mean the board acts as a rubber stamp  in 2009 Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo voted against the nomination of Narayana Kocherlakota to be president of the Minneapolis Fed.

Those kinds of traditions govern much of the way the Fed operates, but it remains to be seen how those traditions interact with a Trump administration that promises to be anything but traditional. Also unclear is how deep of a footprint the Trump administration will have on the Fed board, who his picks will be and how quickly they will be appointed.

Trump enters office with two vacancies left unfilled by the Obama administration  owing to a Senate blockade of his nominees because of the administration's unwillingness to appoint a Fed vice chairman for supervision, instead allowing that role to be informally filled by Tarullo. He is widely expected to depart the board at some point after a new vice chairman for supervision takes over, though his term on the board does not expire until 2022.

Lou Crandall, chief economist at the research firm Wrightson ICAP, noted that Trump will have the chance to appoint a new head of the Fed board in 2018, when Yellen's term expires. Though Yellen can stay on as a board member until a separate term expires in 2024, there is no modern precedent for that. Lael Brainard  another Fed board governor and a noted supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton  might also choose to depart.

"Over the next year, the Trump administration could have to find as many as five Fed board candidates," Crandall said.

What that means in terms of monetary policy is unclear  Trump has both praised and criticized the Fed for its handling of interest rates, though Republicans in Congress have largely favored a less accommodative policy. But Haedtler said there is reason to expect that accommodative policies  which Fed Up favors as critical to increase employment in minority communities  will be out of fashion in a Trump administration. That makes it all the more important to have an ally at the Atlanta Fed, he says.

"There's a lot of uncertainty. Unfortunately, the only people we have to trust to hold him accountable are the institutions that haven't always acted in a way we liked in the past  and I put the Fed in that category," Haedtler said. "We'll need the regional reserve banks to be aware of those dynamics, and so I hope whoever is selected in Atlanta comes in with that difficult task in mind."
James Cope, a former Pinnacle Financial Partners director who pleaded guilty to insider trading in October, was supposed to pay a $55,000 fine as part of a plea deal. But the judge hearing the case contends he should pay more.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger in Nashville, Tenn., said Monday that the amount of the fine was too low given Cope's net worth, according to court documents. Cope was scheduled to be sentenced, but the judge ordered his lawyer, Aubrey Harwell Jr. of Neal & Harwell, and the government to reach an alternative agreement.

"The court informed the parties that the fine in the plea agreement would not be accepted by the court," a note from the documents says.

The hearing is to reconvene, but a date has not been set.

In October, Cope reached an agreement with the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee to plead guilty to one count of insider trading. He would serve a two-year probationary sentence, including nine months of home confinement, and pay the $55,000 fine. Cope faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $5 million fine.

The $11 billion-asset Pinnacle disclosed in an April regulatory filing that Cope bought stock in Avenue Financial Holdings in January after he learned of the Nashville companies' merger discussions at an executive meeting earlier in the month.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing its own case against Cope. The SEC charges that Cope, who resigned from Pinnacle's board in April, used the information to buy roughly 10,000 Avenue shares and received more than $56,000 after the company agreed to be sold to Pinnacle.

Pinnacle completed the Avenue acquisition in July.
There are many things that can be said about the election of Donald Trump and most will probably get said before 20 January 17. Beyond an unlikely candidacy and an even more surprising election, Trump, long before inauguration, is an overachiever on many fronts. Indeed, a Reelect Trump bumper sticker was spotted in Easton, Maryland just a day after the election. Here are the top ten things Trump has already accomplished before his first term begins.

10. He Hijacked a Major American Party

Just as the Democrats had a coronation planned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Republicans had a tiara in mind for Jeb Bush too. Alas, Donald Trump beat the odds, and the party hacks, for the Republican nomination. The Grand Old Party has yet to recover from the insurgent coup.

Withal, Republicans need Trump more than Trump needs a party. Either the old guard adjusts to Trumps pragmatism or Trump might start a new party. Clearly he has the votes.

The Democrats too were bull-rushed by the Clintons, then gob smacked by Trumpsters.

News on the left keeps getting worse. Democrats are now looking to the Minnesota caliphate for new blood, considering Representative Keith Ellison (D) as party chief. Elevating Ellison is a little like playing Russian roulette with five rounds in the cylinder. Ellison isnt so much a progressive as he is an outspoken Islamist huckster and anti-Israeli demagogue.

Seems the DNC learned nothing from the election.

9. He Bitch-slapped American Media

Theres no polite way to put this. American press and broadcast shills, nationally and universally, tried to cook the 2016 primaries and general election with bias, lies, vitriol, hate, and racism. Both parties and the media insinuated, with little or no evidence, that the Republican nominee was a Kremlin stooge. Trump took it all in and gave as good as he got. He was correct throughout; the press, the federal cops, and Clinton Inc. are crooked.

When it counted, Americas productive deplorables turned out to be a lot more reliable than Americas dependent barnacles. If there is a fundamental demographic schism in America, the divide is between the makers and the takers. Score one this time for makers and family Trump.

Next time the media sneers at non-college graduates, blue-collar men/ women, or flyover country, those cynics would do well to remember that folks with enough moxie to get a job and work for a living are the same citizens who get off their keisters and vote.

The press tried to lynch Trump for what he said while largely giving Hillary a pass on what she had done. Sensible voters took that double standard personally. The country will recover from Trump rhetoric long before voters will forget how badly the Clintons, print and broadcast professionals behaved.

Trust is a terrible thing to waste.

8. He restored Political Integrity

When Hillary drones chirped Im with her, Trump responded Im with you. When the vice president elect was asked about Trumps character, Mike Pence replied, you cant fake good kids. When Hillary was asked about those huge pay to play checks, she responded, I took what they offered. When Trump was asked about his presidential salary, he said that he will be a dollar a year man.

Even when the question is relative, character matters.

When asked if Trump might make America great again, deplorables across the country responded with a resounding yes.

7. He Saved the Judicial System

With the election victory, Trump gets a judicial trifecta: some balance on the highest court and the opportunity to clean house at the Justice Department and the FBI. Recall that Justice Sotomayor suggested that sex, race, and melanin were unique sensitivities. Also recall that Justice Ginsberg campaigned very publically against Trump, an unprecedented breach of judicial temperament and discretion. With any luck, these two and the Keystone cops at the Justice Department should be history or irrelevant under a new court and administration.

6. He Torpedoed Immigration Inertia

For decades, both political parties have played kick-the-can with border security and immigration. Indeed, associated pathologies like drugs, crime, and terror have been neglected or minimized. Even after the Saudi 9/11suicide bombings, political paralysis prevailed. In the recent campaign, Trump used the now famous wall metaphor to illuminate the unalloyed stupidity of open borders and uncontrolled, unvetted immigration of refugees, Muslim or Mexican.

Trump has put an eminently logical question on the table. How do we have open borders and ensure national security or the defeat of terror and the Muslim jihad?

A nation is safe, secure, and sovereign -- or it is not.

5. He Made Emigration Fashionable

Many Hollywood poseurs, low-rent music divas, media fan boys, and their big city cohorts have vowed to leave America if Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

Poor loser day is here. Flyover country is waiting. If left coasters are moving north this year, they need to start for Canada before the snow flies.

Note to Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg, and Amy Schumer: Please stop on the East Coast and pick up Chuck Schumer, Chris Matthews, and Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. on your way out.

4. He Reset the US Foreign Policy Agenda

Trump suggests adjustments to policy with Europe, Russia, Israel, and the Muslim world are needed. Winning is back on the table too. If the various Muslim small wars cannot be won with EU or Ummah partners, then new coalitions make sense. Israel is the indispensable moral center of gravity in the Middle East. Russia is the indispensable ally for defeating Islamism and the jihad.

Stand by for Putin/Trump and Netanyahu/Trump bromances to be consummated.

3. He Burst the Globalism Bubble

If the fatally flawed assumptions of globalism and world government were wounded by Brexit, a Donald Trump presidency might be the coup de grace. By challenging feckless interventions, naive foreign policy, weak trade deals, and flaccid partners/alliances; Donald Trump has turned US foreign/ military policy on its ear, all to the good.

New thinking and new players are long overdue. The true path to global diversity is national sovereignty, not the rote of EU or UN globalist conformity. Trumps skepticism about utopian hokum is fresh air.

2. He Cashiered Humanitarian Intervention

With Trump, disastrous small wars associated with so-called humanitarian interventions may be resolved or allowed to die on the vine. In it to win it or out might be the new doctrine from the start. If Europe and the Muslim world care not to finance or fight for the defeat of Islamism, so be it. The target set for America, Russia, and China is thus simplified.

Even James Clapper now agrees that America cannot save Islam from itself.

1. He purged three Dynasties

Armed only with the wisdom of crowds, Trump brought an end to the Bush, Clinton, and Obama regimes. Call it regicide. Call it a political trifecta. Call it hiatus from breeding lawyers in the White House. Whatever! The prospects for loony liberals and chronically constipated conservatives are greatly diminished in the next four, or eight, years.

If the president elect is as cost efficient as Commander-in-Chief as he was as a candidate, then America may be well served. In spite of an unprecedented media and Clinton Inc. bias blitz, Trump demonstrated that ground truth is the often the default setting in a digital world -- if the internet, not the press, does the vetting.

Epilogue

The most obvious post-election irony comes from the mean streets of American cities, liberal urban sinecures where Clinton/Obama voters riot and vandalize in the wake of defeat, validating the worst about the American Left; first arrogant winners, now sore losers at every turn.

Maureen Dowd at the NY Times once pandered to Barack Hussein Obama as the black prince. As is their wont, the Times was only half right. Alas, the euphemistic prince turned out to be just a black swan who never flew, never set a better standard for America.

Withal, a quarter century national nightmare may now be over. Theres much celebrate in 2017, thanks to deplorables across the land.

G. Murphy Donovan writes about the politics of national security.

Illustration by Ronny Gordon
As a child of the fifties, I grew up with a family feeling for the Pilgrims. I vividly remember the Thanksgiving decorations in school, the pilgrim in his tall hat. No matter that I was a first generation American on one side and second on the other, the Pilgrims were my forefathers, and I loved them. More than that, I understood them on a deep visceral level, because I shared their commitment to freedom. I still do.

Like the Pilgrims themselves, we celebrate today the providential manner in which our country was founded. Our forefathers and mothers were heroic, ordinary people who wanted to live free from monarchy, peacefully worshipping God and raising their children following their Godfearing values of personal responsibility and hard work. They got us off on the right foot, and we all benefit to the present day.

This year we have a very special Thanksgiving, celebrating the triumph of ordinary Americans against the utopian and corrupt tyrants of the ruling elite who would rob us and our children of our cherished heritage.

I identified with the Pilgrims so strongly because I had my own personal family story of arrival on these shores. This is what the multiculturalists miss: the American story includes all of us.

My grandfather came in 1905 at age ten, his family having survived one of the worst Czarist rent-a-mob attacks on Jews in Russian history. They packed up and fled for safety and freedom of religion in what they called the golden land, America. My grandfather told me he kissed the ground when they landed, and swore to learn English as fast as he could. They never looked back. America was their beloved home where they embraced the chance to work hard and raise their family up, in dignity and safety from religious persecution.

In 1620, my literal ancestors would not have known about the Pilgrims, or felt any affinity to them. But the feeling was not mutual. The Pilgrims steeped themselves in the Jewish Bible and drew some of their most profound insights and institutions from it. They saw themselves as the Israelites fleeing Pharaoh to the Promised Land. In England, the head of the Puritan movement invited Jews back into England for the first time in 365 years.

Jews are directed to read the Haggadah every Passover, retelling the story of the Exodus as if it occurred to each and every one of us in the present generation, because every generation must choose freedom for themselves. I often wish Americans would do the same on Thanksgiving. We actually have a first-person account of the first Thanksgiving, and the year that led up to it, written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford to encourage other Englishman to join them in this goodly land. It has the odd name Mourts Relation. You can read it online here, here, or buy it here.

So while we are aglow from all that delicious stuffed turkey and pumpkin pie, let us understand who we are thanking on this day and what they did for us. Our English forefathers left civilization behind for a fearful wilderness. Half of them died in the effort. But the others never stopped thanking God and doing his work. Their reading of the Bible convinced them that God wanted us to be free.

In Mourts Relation, we can read the actual description of the day Pilgrims chose leaders by common assent the very day they first came ashore in America. We can read the one paragraph Mayflower Compact, the precedent for the American Constitution. They were encouraged to vote for men who would promote the common good, not vote like unto the foolish multitude, who more honor the gay coat, than either the virtuous mind of the man, or glorious ordinance of the Lord.

The Pilgrims were politically savvy. They knew that unless they gained control over their charter, they would have no religious freedom, whatever sweet promises were being made to them. So they secretly bought the controlling shares in the governing monopoly King Charles I had sold to shareholders, the Massachusetts Bay Company, and became self-governing.

For the Pilgrims, as for Americans today, freedom was an opportunity that can be squandered or invested in success. Their answers permanently defined the American spirit: egalitarianism, education, hard work, savings, honesty, self-control, charity and community spirit. Pilgrim values are the foundational requirements for free enterprise and capitalism to flourish. They also led to Americas admirable philanthropy and civil society.

Many of these values were secularized and popularized by Benjamin Franklin, who grew up in a pious Puritan home. His grandfather was one of the original Pilgrims who celebrated that first Thanksgiving. Franklin is credited as the most influential American of his age, inventing the type of society America would become.

As religious and freedom-loving people, these first Americans did not look to the government to take care of people. Because of the Bible, they rejected the European ideal of a powerful centralized government. Genesis taught them all men are created equal. Exodus taught them God wants his people to be free, and can choose one people as moral leaders to found a new land. in the Book of Judges, the Bible explicitly contradicts the divine right of kings, and says Gods laws are superior to the power of any tyrant.

The Pilgrims lived these values in their churches, whose leaders were elected, and their towns, run as a pure democracy. The next generation came to understand the problems of intolerant majority rule in direct democracy, which were corrected by our Revolutionary War generation, who created a republic through our Constitution.

These foundational American values are at risk. America as launched by the Pilgrims is on the verge of self-destruction. Leftists dominating education kindergarten-to-college have taught two generations to be ashamed of the Pilgrims. This is a necessary first step in their program to devalue freedom of thought and speech and religion, pretending they are hateful and a threat to minorities. They have taught our children to be ashamed of our history and national identity, and substituted a mini-fascist mindset where all must think approved thoughts.

Where the Pilgrims taught that our God-given rights supersede human governments, our children are taught our rights come from the state. Big government is the answer to every aspect of life, even the most personal and sacrosanct, including religious belief. This leftist rejection of our cultural values and actual history is wrecking our freedom and our prosperity.

Democrats have turned themselves into the Party of Moral Superiority (PMS), more Puritan than the Puritans in the pejorative sense of the term, where thought police dictate what we must think and feel, and do. Inevitably, it is a system where all pigs are equal but some are more equal than others -- above the law, justified in blacklisting, cheating and persecuting conservatives through every means available, including the full might of the federal government via the DOJ and the IRS.

The death knell is open borders and too many legal immigrants. We are losing our two-party systems check on tyranny by importing Democrat voters; we are losing our national identity by huge numbers of immigrants who we are not assimilating; we are losing the rule of law, voted on by our representatives. New Americans, young and old, are taught to despise our founders instead of adopting them as their own.

When we devalue love of country, love of freedom, personal responsibility and rule of law we have thrown away everything the Pilgrims struggled and died for.

This year we have been given a reprieve.

Join the Pilgrims as they prayed Psalm 100 on arriving on our shores. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Happy Thanksgiving.
A New Mexico CEO, Mathew Blanchfield, appeared on Tucker Carlson's show Wednesday night to defend the letter he posted on his website, 1st in SEO in New Mexico, telling his clients who voted for or support Donald Trump to take their business elsewhere. In his letter, he calls Trump "racist, sexist, fascist." He asked his clients to respond and confirm "where you stand politically. If you are a Republican or support Trump, we will no longer serve you." He wrote that he had a moral obligation then, on the Carlson program, decried Trump's "lack of moral turpitude" for allegedly taking the mainstream press to task over its biased reporting throughout the campaign. Not only does he not know the meaning of the word "fascist," he does not know the meaning of the word "turpitude." He thinks he is really, really smart but he is not. And unfortunately for him, Carlson is smart.

Carlson attempted to point out his exclusivity, his intolerance, but Blanchfield wasn't having any of it. He is imprudently proud of himself and his own moral superiority. Never mind those people who lost their businesses because they would not bake a cake for, provide flowers for, or photograph gay weddings, even though they had served those clients respectfully for years. Mr. Blanchfield was most likely on board in condemning those people because he is so inclusive and compassionate.

Then there is the Penzey Spice Co. of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Anyone who cooks knows this brand. Mr. Penzey has also told any and all of his customers that his company no longer wants the business of Trump supporters. His Facebook post (read the whole thing) is as illiberal as Blanchfield's. He suggests Trump voters "redeem" themselves by donating to the ACLU or the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the most radically intolerant leftist organizations in America, a group that specializes in viciously savaging anyone on their radar whose politics they do not like.

Of course, CNN's Chistianne Amanpour weighed in with a speech to The Committee to Protect Journalists, those privileged but beleaguered victims of bias and violence. She bemoaned Trump's tweet about the media inciting protestors. Trump was right of course but Amanpour was overwrought. She fears journalists like her are going to be "put in cages." Like most of her colleagues in the mainstream media, they cannot abide the fact that all their calculated propaganda employed to defeat Trump failed. She is seething with rage that "The winning candidate did a savvy end run around us and used it to go straight to the people." Wow. A candidate for President spoke directly to the people and won.

The horror.

She rails against "fake news sites." Those would be the ones with which she and her fellow journos disagree. That would be any site with conservative views reporting or commenting on the issues the left considers settled and beyond debate. It is Amanpour and her ilk that broadcast fake news, like "Hillary will win in a landslide." Every word out of their mouths is propaganda meant to sway public opinion. That is how stupid they think American citizens are. So stupid that we do not see them for exactly what they are: elitist snobs who believe it is their job to dictate to us how to think, act, speak, and vote.

Someone these past few days noted that Hillary lost because she was more concerned about which bathrooms people can use than with the economy or the middle class that has been eviscerated by eight years of Obama policies, regulations, and the ACA. Too true, but the Democrats still do not get it. So wedded to identity/group politics they are about to make Keith Ellison head of the DNC. Ellison is a confirmed anti-Semite, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas pal of Louis Farrakhan. The Dems actually think they have to go harder left!

The electoral map proved that the Democrat brand prevails, with a few exceptions, only on the coasts, and only in the north of the east coast. The infuriated left in California wants to secede. The state with the largest welfare dependent population, the most illegal immigrants, the highest taxed residents, thinks it can survive outside of the republic. Who are these people and where did they study econ 101 let alone the Constitution? Wherever they went to school, those basics were not taught. Mr. Blanchfield and Mr. Penzey know exactly nothing about the how the world works, or about history and its lessons. Ms. Amanpour certainly should, as she has been an international correspondent for many years but she, too, has been so marinated in the primordial ooze of globalist leftism and the belief in her own intellectual primacy that she is absolutely contemptuous of the American people who voted for Trump, for a change in direction.

CNN's Carol Costello, when confronted with a millennial conservative who uttered the words "traditional values" said, "I don't know what that means." Therein lies the problem. These people who decide what is news and how it will be reported, and assume their power in deciding who will be elected have no values beyond their political ideology, which is to overturn anything and everything that reeks of traditional values. Blanchfield, Penzey and Amanpour will of course be celebrated by their peers for their "courageous stand" against Trump and his basket of deplorables. They don't own bakeries, florist shops or pizza parlors that can be shuttered merely be exercising their freedom of religion.

Anyone who makes the left this apoplectic has got to be good for the country. Trump just may be the man to right this ship. These leftists are already scrambling for the lifeboats.
The Electoral College has once again done what seems to be its special genius to do. It favored the common sense of the American people.

The presidential contest in 2016 came down to common sense versus political correctness  and common sense won. Clinton embraced every politically correct progressive policy, while Trump subjected the dogmas of political correctness to the mockery and scorn they so richly deserved.

It is plain common sense that a country must control its borders or cease to be a country. The grandees of the press and the other members of the ruling elite were beside themselves with outrage at Trump when he dared to make this commonsense claim. It is also plain common sense that importing huge numbers of Muslims from the Middle East amounts to importing trouble and, in some cases, terrorism. Yet the ruling elite made it clear that importing Muslim refugees is the politically correct policy. Curiously, they were also very worked up about the urgency of getting certain boys into the bathrooms and showers set aside for girls.

These dogmas of political correctness are actually very extreme views  extreme because they destroy the basis upon which we can reason together about how we will be governed. When our own self-preservation becomes a secondary concern and when basic beliefs about public decency are turned on their head, how can we find common ground about how we should live as citizens?

The politically disturbed urban masses of America's largest sanctuary cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, went for these strange ideas. Americans outside the big cities  the blue-collar workers, the farmers, the churchgoers  embraced Donald Trump's commonsense views on immigration and national security instead.

The Constitution and the electoral system it contains are the Founders' design for how we, the people of the common sense nation, are to govern ourselves. The Founders, you see, believed we the people are capable of political self-rule by virtue of our common sense. And we showed ourselves once again that they were right, and that we are.

Robert Curry is the author of Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea from Encounter Books. You can preview the book here.
EE, the largest mobile carrier in the UK, has announced that its 4G Network is now officially bigger than any of the previous generation 3G networks in the country thanks to a new spectrum band. Yesterday, the UKs largest carrier switched on its latest 800 MHz spectrum capacity at over 700 sites across the UK, which have allowed it to cover a further 5,000 square kilometres which previously had zero 4G coverage, something that will help the carrier reach its goal of covering 95% of the UK by 2020. Aside from further coverage for previous 3G-only areas, the new spectrum also penetrates walls, trees and other objects which much more ease than other spectrum bands, meaning indoor coverage for over 500,000 homes has also been improved. Thanks to all of this, parts of Glasgow, Somerset, Snowdonia and more now all have access to EEs fast 4G network, something that is sure to tempt a number of customers to make the switch, the only requirement is a VoLTE-enabled phone so users can place phone calls, due to the fact that 4G is the network available in those areas. Nonetheless, the expansion of its network now means the company covers over 75% of UK land, giving them the largest 4G Network on the market.

As part of their 2020 goal, the company also has plans to switch on further 800MHz capacity at over 3,000 more sites by the end of next year, which should lead to coverage in even more areas of the country and give them an even bigger lead over its competitors. Unfortunately, though, it looks as though the company will have to make do with its current spectrum bands to meet its 95% coverage goal, due to the fact that the company, along with its parent company BT have been banned from biding on one of the two spectrum bands at next years 4G auction.

Along with the spectrum switch-on announcement, the company also took the opportunity to push coverage clarity, by asking Ofcom, as well as other carriers, to report land coverage, instead of population coverage, when talking about their networks, just as EE will do from January 2017 onwards. As well as this, the company has also launched an online map that allows customers to check coverage, along with a status checker in case of any network downtime. The carrier is definitely serious about being clear to its customers, as well as providing the best 4G coverage to UK customers, so it appears the company is on track to meeting its 2020 goal.
By most accounts, the HTC Vive is the most advanced virtual reality (VR) headset on the consumer market, but its also the most expensive one. Thats why some people were skeptical in regards to HTCs ability to profit from the first generation of this emerging technology but apparently  thats exactly what the Taiwanese tech giant managed to accomplish. During the companys latest earnings call, the Taoyuan-based consumer electronics manufacturer revealed that its not only selling each HTC Vive unit at a profit but that it has also managed to sell much more than 140,000 devices, a figure which has been widely reported in recent weeks.

In fact, HTCs VR business is apparently doing so well that the company is highlighting it as the key component of its long-term strategy to recover its struggling operations. While the Taiwanese tech giant managed to cut its Q3 2016 losses in comparison to previous periods, its struggling phone division is still dragging it down which recently prompted rumors about a potential sale which HTC strongly denied. Unfortunately, the company still declined to release specific sales numbers for the HTC Vive, which understandably aroused some suspicions among investors. Regarding the claim that the VR headset is sold at a profit, its less significant than its $800 price tag initially suggests. Namely, Oculus repeatedly stated that its selling the $600 Oculus Rift at-cost, i.e. no profit. Given how Oculus is selling the $200 Touch controllers separately from its VR headset, unlike HTC, its debatable how much money is the Taiwanese tech giant actually making per sold unit.

Earlier this year, HTC spun off its VR business, stating that such a move will help it seal new alliances in the gaming industry, currently the most profitable market for VR solutions. While some interpretations of this decision claimed that the Taiwanese company wanted to prevent its phone business dragging down HTCs VR unit, the firms management insisted how that isnt the case, revealing how there are already plans in motion to revive its smartphone manufacturing division. All in all, the VR industry certainly seems to be establishing itself as an important component of the consumer electronics market and the only question that remains is whether HTC will manage to grab a significant share of it in the future.
The HTC 10 might be the companys most powerful smartphone in 2016, but this Taiwan-based smartphone manufacturing company had released a couple of additional devices that are rather interesting, like the HTC Desire 10 Pro, for example. This handset was introduced alongside the HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle back in September, and it has been available in some regions for a while now. Well, the company has just announced this smartphone in India, as they promised a couple of days ago.

The HTC Desire 10 Pro is a really well-specced mid-range smartphone. The device features a 5.5-inch fullHD display with Cornings Gorilla Glass protection on top of it. It also packs in 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable internal storage. The device is fueled by MediaTeks Helio P10 64-bit octa-core processor, along with the Mali-T860 GPU. On the back of the Desire 10 Pro, youll notice a 20-megapixel camera (Laser Autofocus, EIS, f/2.2 aperture), while theres a 13-megapixel shooter (f/2.2 aperture, 27.8mm focal length) available on the front side of this phone. The 3,000mAh battery is also included in this package, and the fingerprint scanner can be found on the back of the device. Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on the Desire 10 Pro, and on top of it, youll get HTCs Sense UI. The HTC Desire 10 Pro comes with the companys BoomSound audio, and it offers 4G LTE connectivity. The phone measures 156.5 x 76 x 7.86mm, while it weighs 165 grams.

The Desire 10 Pro is inspired by many of the same innovations that have made the flagship HTC 10 so popular making it the most brilliant Desire ever, said Faisal Siddiqui, President of HTC South Asia. The HTC Desire 10 Pro comes in Stone Black and Polar White color variants, and it is priced at Rs. 26,490 ($385) in India. For those of you who are interested in purchasing this handset, you should know that it will become available starting from mid-December, though we dont have the exact date just yet. We presume that HTC plans to sell this smartphone directly from their web store in India, though it is possible the company is going to partner up with Snapdeal, Flipkart or Amazon India, well see.
After a couple of years on the sidelines, Nokia is heading back to the smartphone market, or more precisely  the Nokia brand is. While Nokia never really excelled in the modern smartphone industry, its brand is still one of the most well-known in the world, which is why Foxconn decided to purchase the old phone business from Microsoft for $350 million earlier this year. Following that acquisition, the Chinese tech giant founded HMD Global Oy, a Finnish company established to help FIH Mobile design, manufacture, and distribute new Android-powered Nokia devices. While many rumors regarding these upcoming devices have been circulating the industry for months, no official details are likely to be revealed before late February, when the Mobile World Congress 2017 is scheduled to start.

However, that isnt to say were completely in the dark regarding upcoming Nokia phones. As it turns out, one such device just surfaced on Geekbench. The test in question was performed on November 12th and refers to the phone as the Nokia Pixel, which probably wont be the official name of this smartphone. In any case, Nokias new piece of hardware scored 404 on the single-core test and managed to achieve a 661 multi-core score. The Geekbench listing reveals that the device in question is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 system-on-chip which boasts a dual-core CPU clocked at 1.19 GHz complemented with the Adreno 302 GPU, as well as 1 GB of RAM. In other words, this is a low-end, entry-level Android phone, most likely designed for emerging markets. Despite that, the Nokia Pixel tested by Geekbench was running Android 7.0.1 Nougat. Its also worth noting that the leaked phone boasts Quick Charge 3.0, seeing as the Snapdragon 200 was spotted onboard.

While entry-level devices probably wont excite many people browsing Android tech sites, keep in mind that the Nokia Pixel is probably just a small part of what HMD Global has in store for us next year. The Finnish company will certainly be releasing at least one mid-range and one flagship device over the course of 2017, the former of which is rumored to be sporting the Snapdragon 430 and 3 GB of RAM. As the new Nokia owner also hired Mother, the largest independent marketing agency in the United Kingdom to market the upcoming Android smartphones, so we should expect to see a lot of Nokia-branded advertising next year.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was a true disaster for the company. This was supposed to be their best smartphone to date, and it was well received after it launched, but that didnt last. The companys flagship phablet had significant issues, the Galaxy Note 7 units started catching fire due to battery issues, and the company was forced to recall the phone, not once, but twice. After the second recall, Samsung had opted to stop selling the device altogether and cut their losses. That being said, it seems like the company is trying to make amends, read on

The company had already compensated owners in various ways, but it seems like Samsung France is making the extra effort. The company has been sending letters via mail to the consumers who purchased the Galaxy Note 7, and in those letters, they apologize for the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. In addition to the apology, the consumers are receiving a free 128GB microSD card, and all that in addition to 100+ discount that they received a while back, this discount was applicable only to users who opted to exchange the Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge. In addition to all this, the Galaxy Note 7 consumers can enter into an SMS contest in order to run for a free experience in the Samsung Life Changer Park, 1,000 people will win this award. For those of you who dont know, this is Samsungs virtual reality amusement park which is located in Paris, France. This contest is rather specific, once it opens, consumers will receive an SMS message from Samsung, and the first 1,000 that respond to it will win, and be able to choose whether they want to visit the Samsung Life Changer part on December 20th or December 27th.

It seems like Samsung is doing all they can to apologize to consumers, and make the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco a bit less painful. The Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be the most popular Samsung-branded phablet in history, and pre-order numbers were through the roof, but unfortunately, the phone did not last for long. It remains to be seen if the company plans to ship out free microSD cards in some other regions as well, or perhaps they have something else in mind, stay tuned.
Samsung is the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, theyre selling tons of smartphones every year. Now, the company is including fingerprint scanners in most of their smartphones these days, even those more affordable ones, which means theyre required to secure quite a few fingerprint scanning modules in order to utilize them in their smartphones. A couple of months back, when the Galaxy Note 7 was launched, the company had issues securing enough iris scanners for the device, which caused various delays for the company due to high demand (before the company stopped selling the device), and it seems like theyre planning to secure some extra fingerprint scanner suppliers in order to avoid any supply issues moving forward.

According to a report that is coming from Korea, Samsung is planning to source fingerprint scanner modules for their more affordable, entry-level smartphone, from local suppliers. The company had, allegedly, already talked to some companies regarding this, though we still dont know if they agreed to anything just yet. If this report is to be believed, the company will partner up with two new companies, and those companies will provide Samsung with around 2 million fingerprint scanning modules. Now, as some of you may know, FPC and Synaptics are the main players in this field, they hold the vast majority of the market, and were not sure if anyone can challenge them, but it seems like Samsung is looking for more affordable options at the moment, and that might allow them to sell their budget phones for even less money, while also securing enough fingerprint scanner modules.

Speaking of fingerprint scanners, earlier this month, a report surfaced claiming that Samsung plans to make their own fingerprint scanners. The companys System LSI division is allegedly working on producing such modules since 2015, though theyre still not ready, and wont be before 2017, so the company is forced to look elsewhere. Do keep in mind this is just a rumor at this point, Samsung did not confirm that they plan to manufacture their very own fingerprint scanning modules. In any case, well see what happens in the coming months, but for now, it seems like the company is looking elsewhere for help, though making their very own fingerprint scanning modules would surely be a good thing for them, as they would not depend on outside sources, at least not as much as they do at the moment.
While its obviously hard to predict what the next big thing for the smartphone industry will be, its likely that phone manufacturers will at least try to commercially implement some kind of flexible display technology in their future devices. Being the biggest smartphone maker in the world, Samsung is naturally spearheading this initiative, as evident by the companys many investments in related fields. The South Korean tech giant has been pushing the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology for years and has already filed for numerous patents utilizing it for the purpose of creating a smartphone with a flexible display.

In fact, weve been hearing about such patents for a couple of years now, with the most recent one surfacing earlier this month. Today, a report emerged that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just approved another one of Samsungs patents pertaining to this technology. The filing with the USPTO was originally made back in mid-2014 and describes a flexible display device which includes a bendable panel configured for displaying images along with its inner workings. The creation encompasses two electrode layers separated by a dielectric elastomer film. When a certain amount of voltage is applied to both electrodes, this invention is capable of bending without any physical pressure exerted by the user. In addition to that, the design documents state that this display would be resistant to impact and allow for both bendable and completely foldable smartphones.

In other words, Samsung is describing a display which would be able to bend on its own, as soon as its given the go-ahead to do so. For example, imagine using a regular smartphone, pulling down a notification panel, and tapping on a shortcut to order your device to either bend to some extent, or fold over completely. Of course, this is all just hypothetical, but its an example of how this technology could work in practice. Speaking of which, theres obviously no way of knowing whether this patent will ever be implemented at a commercial level. So, while were waiting for more news on that front, you can check out Samsungs complete filing with the USPTO by following the source link below.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix is one of the most interesting devices ever released by the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer. For just under $600, Xiaomi is offering a huge, almost bezel-free display and some quite powerful hardware packed underneath it. As is the case with all Android original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Xiaomis latest flagship isnt running stock Android. Instead, it ships with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with MIUI 8 on top. In addition to that, the device also comes with some pre-installed apps, Microsofts Cortana digital assistant included.

While Microsoft initially developed Cortana to ennoble its Windows Phone smartphones and compete with the likes of Google Now and Siri, the companys struggling mobile OS forced it to expand Cortana support for other ecosystems in order to keep its digital companion relevant. Therefore, Cortana has been available on Android devices for over a year now, and Microsoft is now actively trying to get it in front of as many consumers as possible. Thats why the Redmond-based tech giant recently signed a deal with Xiaomi which guarantees that some of its apps will come pre-installed on Xiaomi-made smartphones, Cortana included. As a part of this deal, Xiaomi also get access to some Microsofts patents, many of which were utilized during development of the Mi Mix. Apart from Cortana, the Mi Mix is also bundled with a plethora of other Microsoft apps including Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint. However, the existence of Cortana is particularly significant here because the Mi Mix is one of the first smartphone not made by Microsoft to ship with a pre-installed version of the companys digital assistant.

As for the device itself, its a really curious invention with some notable highlights. The 6.4-inch 1080 x 2040 display which covers more than 90% of the devices surface area is one of its best features, as is the quality ceramics case protecting its internals. With that said, its relatively obvious Xiaomi did quite a bit of experimenting with the Mi Mix, so it remains to be seen how well will this flagship sell once it leaves China. Speaking of which, were still waiting for the company to announce a global release for the Xiaomi Mi Mix.
(ANSA) - Rome, November 24 - The work of late Gothic Florentine painter Giovanni dal Ponte is on display in Florence in one of several exhibitions that will delight art lovers in Italy this weekend.

'Giovanni dal Ponte (1385 - 1437/38). Protagonist of late Gothic Florentine humanism', running until March 17, 2017, presents around 50 works from Italian and foreign collections including the early 15th-century Tuscan master's 'Coronation of the Virgin with four saints' at the Galeria dell'Accademia in Florence.

The exhibition intends to bridge a gap in knowledge of the artist who played an important role in the development of Florentine early Renaissance painting, with works spanning his entire production. The triptych from the museum of San Donnino in Campi Bisenzio, created for the church of Sant'Andrea in Brozzi, illustrates the influence of Gherardo Starnina on dal Ponte's early development with his exuberant and profane interpretation of the late Gothic tradition. Many of the works on show, including the 'Coronation of the Virgin with four saints' from the Academy's own collection, have been specially restored for the occasion. Meanwhile, 200 artworks by the 20th-century Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali are on show in an interactive and multimedia exhibition in Bologna opening Friday.

'Dali Experience', running at Palazo Belloni until May 7, presents 22 museum sculptures, 10 works in glass, 12 'Gold objects', over 100 illustrations and four monumental sculptures in strategic positions around the historic centre. The exhibition aims to establish an empathetic relationship with the visitor in order to transmit an emotional message. Last but not least, Friday sees the opening in Milan of an exhibition devoted to 18th century Venetian landscape painter Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto.

'Bellotto e Canaletto. Lo stupore e la luce', running until March 5, presents around 100 paintings, drawings and other works, of which around a third have never been shown before in Italy. photo: One of the works in the dal Ponte show at the Accademia in Florence
Photo taken on Nov 6, 2016 shows twin panda cubs Fu Feng (Left) and Fu Ban who were born at the Schoenbrunn Zoo, Austria, on Aug 7. [Photo/Xinhua]

VIENNA - Twin panda cubs, born at the Schoenbrunn Zoo, on Aug 7, have officially been given names at a ceremony on Wednesday.

The female cub is called Fu Feng meaning "fortunate phoenix," while the male cub is "Fu Ban" meaning "fortunate half" or "fortunate companion."

The latter name had been chosen by the public via an online poll held by the zoo. The prefix "fu" has become traditional for panda cubs born here.

Alongside zoo staff, dignitaries such as Chinese Ambassador to Austria Li Xiaosi, as well as Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner took part in the ceremony.

"The names are lucky, and it is a special sign that the cubs were born on exactly the 45th year of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and Austria," said Li.

He said the name fans chose for Fu Ban -- "fortunate companion" -- means they may wish for the two siblings to remain together.

Mitterlehner said the cubs are an expression of friendship between the two countries, and also an attraction for tourists.

He noted that Austria has attracted about 800,000 tourists from China this year, which is expected to top the one-million mark in 2017. The panda cubs are expected to draw interest worldwide, he added.

Zoo director Dagmar Schratter said she is commonly asked when guests will be able to see the cubs directly and not just via camera footage, as at present they live in a hollow trunk that guests cannot see directly into.

She said once they are big enough, they will make their own way around their enclosure, something that could occur by the year end.

She noted that the cubs had already been playing together, and also that their mother Yang Yang is doing well and is becoming more relaxed since the birth.

The zoo will further celebrate the birth of the twins with a family festival on Nov. 27.
(ANSA) - Rome, November 24 - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has selective memory on EU rules, European Affairs Undersecretary Sandro Gozi told an ANSA Forum Thursday. Schaeuble this week chided the European Commission for allegedly not checking individual EU member countries' budgets closely and rigorously enough, prompting Italian Premier Matteo Renzi to suggest the EC start by checking Germany's huge trade surplus.

"(Schaeuble) often remembers the rules he likes, and often forgets the ones he dislikes," Gozi said. "But when rules exist they must all be applied, including those on trade imbalances. "We want a more loyal Europe and more loyal ministers, who also apply the rules they don't like as much".

Gozi also said that EU member States that do not respect their obligations on sharing the burden of the asylum-seeker crisis should have European funding cut. Premier Matteo Renzi's government has previously threatened to wield the EU budget veto unless countries like Hungary take in their fair share.

"Punish the European States that break the rules on solidarity, the rule of law and the right to asylum by reducing development funds," Gozi said. "You cannot have the Europe of (the summit in) Bratislava, when the word Africa did not even appear and the logic of closure prevailed".

Gozi also told the forum that Italy would not vote for the EU fiscal compact to be included in treaties. "We think that some rules do not work", he said, since they would not help the priorities of growth and job creation. "We will open a debate on this" next year, he added, noting that the fiscal compact foresees an assessment on its performance five years after it came into force, and thus in 2017.

"Beginning in March, we would like to open a wide-ranging political debate" on the issue, he said.

Gozi also spoke about next month's Constitutional referendum, saying that a Yes vote to the overhaul of the nation's political machinery on December 4 would show that Italy wants change. "(A Yes win) would confirm to the world that the Italians have changed and they want to keep doing so," he said. "A No (win), on the other hand, would confirm the image of the usual little Italy that falls under the thumb of conservation. "It would be awful news for our partners". He blasted the No campaign's threat to take legal action if the Yes vote wins by a narrow margin thanks to people voting from outside Italy. "I thought what Alessandro Pace said was astounding - the head of the No committee had the courage to say that if Yes wins he'll appeal, if No wins he won't. "Hats off. I hope these strange conceptions of legality and correctness are swept away too".

Gozi said that the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) must not be allowed to hold all of the EU's top positions when Social Democrat Martin Schulz steps down as the president of the European Parliament. "Our position is clear," Gozi said, when asked what would happen if the EPP obtains the EP presidency. "(Then) the question of Donald Tusk's presidency of the European Council would open up. It's not possible for the presidents of the Commission, the Council and the EP to all be EPP representatives". Schulz has announced he is leaving EU politics to seek a seat in the German Bundestag.


(ANSA) - Rome, November 24 - European Affairs Undersecretary Sandro Gozi told an ANSA Forum on Thursday that Italy would not vote for the EU fiscal compact to be included in treaties. "We think that some rules do not work", he said, since they would not help the priorities of growth and job creation.

"We will open a debate on this" next year, he added, noting that the fiscal compact foresees an assessment on its performance five years after it came into force, and thus in 2017. "Beginning in March, we would like to open a wide-ranging political debate" on the issue, he said.


(ANSA) - Rio de Janeiro, November 24 - Police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the strangling murder of Italian citizen Pamela Canzonieri last week, police spokesperson Alberto Maraux told ANSA on Thursday.

The suspect was the victim's neighbour and has a previous conviction for drug trafficking. The arrest comes the day after Brazilian investigators said they had identified several suspects in the case.

Rome prosecutors meanwhile said they were investigating the case on suspicion of murder and were awaiting the results of an autopsy showing she had been strangled. Canzonieri, 39, was found dead last Thursday in her home in the seaside village of Morro de Sao Paolo on Tinhare' island in the State of Bahia after police received an anonymous tip.

She had been strangled manually and there were no signs of a break-in, investigators said.

The native of the Sicilian city of Ragusa had spent the last five southern hemisphere summers on the tourist-haven island, where she rented a house and supported herself by waitressing.


Israel: hate graffiti and threats at Reform synagogue Media report possible link to Western Wall controversy

(ANSAmed) - Tel Aviv, November 24 - Israeli police were on Thursday investigating graffiti containing hate messages that appeared overnight on the walls of a Reform synagogue in Raanana near Tel Aviv. Police sources said a knife covered in blood was also found outside the place of worship and that Reform leaders had received death threats. Media report that the graffiti and threats may refer to controversial plans to apportion part of the Western Wall to Reform movements that allow men and women to pray together. Orthodox Judaism instead requires separate access and devotion for men and women. (ANSAmed).




Cairo Fashion Nights designers mix tradition with innovation Director set up event after 2011 uprising

(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, NOVEMBER 24 - Fashion designers as young as 20 and most presenting their first collection ever were at Cairo Fashion Nights, the brainchild of Susan Sabet.



Sabet, director and founder of the fashion magazine 'Pashion', set up the initiative to support designers and boutiques in the Egyptian capital after the 2011 uprising. For this sixth edition, she told ANSAmed, ''I was inspired by Alta Roma's 'Room Service'.'' Thus, the suites of a luxury hotel in Cairo were transformed for a day and a night into boutiques where around 30 designers presented their creations to a wealthy clientele. All the designers focused on trendy apparel that nonetheless made use of local craftsmen and sometimes commissioned associations employing the disabled to create parts of their work. Al-Noor wa Al-Aamal is one such association, which brings together the blind to use bamboo to create baskets and bags. Among the creators is MonaLissa, an elegant woman of Panamanian origins who has been living in Egypt for the past 25 years and who opted to mix styles from the two countries, as well as Sherine Fahmy, who focuses on leatherwear with bits of Egyptian silver and ceramics incorporated as well as highly original necklaces. Many chose to innovate by introduce bits of leather into their works, coming up against - according to May Ezzat, who presented her first collection of bags - ''the mentality of craftsmen accustomed for three generations to work in the same way''. Reem Jano has recently completed a course of studies at Design Studio under Azza Fahmy - the most important Egyptian contemporary jewelry designer, who in collaboration with the Scuola di Gioielleria Contemporanea 'Alchimia' in Florence has set up a training institute specialized in jewelry design in the Al Fustat quarter of Old Cairo. After taking part in this the London Fashion Week in February 201, she said that she will be at Milan's Palazzo Giureconsulti for Artistar Jewels. Along with the collections of these emerging designers, Cairo Fashion Nights included the works of students from Cairo's Fashion & Design Center, which - thanks to the Milan Istituto di Moda Burgo, which boasts some 52 sections throughout the world, from China to Saudi Arabia and Egypt - trains tailors, models and designers. (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - Tunis - A project to promote job opportunities for young people and economic development in Libya is to be presented in the Tunisian capital on Monday.



Sleidse (Support to Libya for Economic Integration, Diversification and Sustainable Employment) is being funded by the European Union to the tune of 7.6 million euros and will be implemented by technical support agency Expertise France. The four-year programme will contribute to the process of peace-building in the unstable north African country by examining the dynamics of the local job market and creating an on-line platform for future entrepreneurs and a plan for facilitating and increasing funding for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, among other things. Specific aims include training the staff of Libya Enterprise, the agency devoted to SMEs, establishing a high-level working group in order to create a funding agency for SMEs in conjunction with BPI France, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and supporting the creation of an agricultural cooperative in the city of Beni Ulid. (ANSAmed)
Wildfires rage across Israel for third consecutive day Russia promises firefighting planes

(ANSAmed) - Tel Aviv, November 24 - Major wildfires continued to rage across parts of Israel for the third consecutive day on Thursday, fuelled by prolonged drought and strong winds. The areas worst afected were around Jerusalem, in the north and in the centre near Modiin.



However, wildfires were also reported in the West Bank, with the situation near the Jewish settlement of Talmon said to be critical. Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy and Turkey have already answered Premier Benjamin Netanyahu's appeal for firefighting planes and Russia has also pledged two aircraft.



Meanwhile, Israeli media report growing suspicions among security forces that many of the fires - up to 50% according to Security Minister Gilad Erdan - may have been started deliberately. The hashtag 'Israel is burning' has gone viral on social media in the Arab world, with Dubai security chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim hailing the wildfires.



"Israel has banned muezzins and has been attacked by fire.



Blessed be to God," he wrote.



Tamim led investigations into the assassination of the founder and commander of the Al Qassam brigades, Hamas' military wing, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in a hotel in the emirate that was attributed to Israel. (ANSAmed)
Migrants: EU presidency moots new Dublin Regulation revision Selective relocation, closure of internal borders

(ANSAmed) - Brussels, November 24 - The Slovak duty presidency of the EU on Thursday proposed a new revision of the EU's Dublin Regulation on migrants, saying that States should choose certain categories to relocate, the easiest to integrate and the most vulnerable. The proposal also envisages the closure of internal borders and measures such as "detention" to prevent "secondary movement". Earlier this month the EU rejected a Slovak proposal to remove the obligatory nature of solidarity called for by a new European Commission migrant relocation plan and make it voluntary.




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Passenger traffic at DXB reached 6,420,208 passengers compared to 6,250,810 recorded in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 2.7 per cent. Year to date, passenger numbers at DXB have risen 6.8 per cent to 69,366,094 compared to 64,947,684 recorded during the first ten months of 2015.



Eastern Europe led the pack again as the fastest-growing market in October (+25.2 per cent) thanks to additional capacity and new services launched by a number of airlines, followed by South America (9.9 per cent), Asia (8.2 per cent) and the Indian Subcontinent (6.7 per cent). India remained the top destination country (901,958 passengers), followed by the UK (493,181 passengers) and Saudi Arabia (349,198 passengers).



London continued to be the top destination city out of Dubai with 301,024 passengers followed by Doha (230,561 passengers) and Mumbai (177,590 passengers). Baku (+108.7 per cent) topped the list of cities in terms of percentage growth, followed by Amritsar (80.9 per cent), Calicut (56.8 per cent) and Cape Town (49.3 per cent) due to increased capacity.



A total of 35,294 flights operated at DXB during the month under review compared to 34,921 movements recorded in October 2015 representing an increase of 1.1 per cent. Year to date 347,463 flights operated at DXB, up 3 per cent compared to 337,426 recorded during the same period in 2015. The average number of passengers per flight during the month was 191 up from 187 during October of last year.



Octobers freight volumes totalled 236,169 tonnes, up 9.5 per cent compared to the 215,714 tonnes handled during the same month last year. Year to date cargo volumes reached 2,127,589 tonnes, up 2.8 per cent compared to 2,069,360 tonnes recorded during the same period last year.



Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said: Cargo numbers impressed during October with the biggest monthly increase weve seen all year. On the passenger side, we remain on track to achieve our forecast for 83 million passengers by year-end. Accordingly, DXB is sure to retain its status as the leading airport worldwide for international passenger traffic.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: The push for growth, new markets and expanding fleets dominated by the two big incumbents in Emirates and flydubai, Dubai International has cemented it's position as the true global travel hub, despite the pressures of congestion and delays.

With almost 70m passengers handled thus far in 2016, and with figures yet to come in for November and December, its status as the world's busiest international airport remains as robust as it was a year ago.

The sharp rise in cargo traffic too speaks to the better integration and bonded transport links from Jebel Ali to both Dubai International and Dubai World Central as well as the traditional boost to freight traffic coinciding with the soon to arrive festive period.

Ahmad added: Dubai International has reaped the rewards of its runway improvements as well has enhanced runway operations between aircraft to allow speedier landings and take-offs. Going forward, the pressure to expand DWC becomes ever more greater.
The three-storey stand which allows visitors to experience Emirates iconic onboard features, such as the First Class Shower Spa and the Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge was declared the winner of the Best Exhibition Experience category at the Event Magazine Awards. Held in October in London, the annual Event Awards recognises the very best in brand experiences and experiential across the UK's live events industry.

The Infinite Possibilities stand also took home the award for the Best Augmented/ Virtual Reality Technology at the fourth edition of the Event Technology Awards held on 9th November in London. The Event Technology Awards recognise the achievements of companies delivering digital and technical solutions to the event industry across the UK.

Composed of nearly 11,500 individual parts and standing tall at 8.5 metres, the Emirates Infinite Possibilities stand has been representing Emirates at various leading global events and exhibitions. The stand made its world premiere at ITB Berlin in March 2016 where it managed to attract more than 15,000 guests during the duration of the event.
The carrier, which began operations last October, currently operates a fleet of two A319s, with a two-class business and economy configuration, servicing a thrice daily service to Tunis, a three times a week service from Misrata Airport to the southern Tunisian city of Sfax and a four times a week service to Istanbul.

Badiali said the carrier is also hoping to upgrade its Istanbul service to daily possibly in December and to shortly get the green light to begin flights to Casablanca. We are all set to start but its all dependent on approval from the Moroccan government.

The CEO said Libyan Wings turned in a sterling performance, well over target in its first year of operations. We have been running at 90% load factor and a more than decent yield. We now need to increase frequency and are in discussions for possible new destinations.

Badiali said the airline, which currently employs between 120-130 staff, should have carried 250,000 passengers by the end of January next year.

The CEO said that the airline, which had operated with a very high punctuality record and had built a good brand reputations for service and safety, is now going through a major change moving from the start-up phase to a bigger company in a more competitive environment. We are now preparing the next steps and are also working on a couple of inter-line agreements.

Among expansion being explored by the airline are possible joint ventures in the ground handling and technical arena. We are talking about small steps in the MRO field, possibly around line maintenance.

Badiali said the majority of the airlines passengers are Libyans, particularly on the Tunisian routes with Libyans not requiring visas to travel to Tunisia. Theres currently a very high level of demand, he said, particularly from medical traffic going to Tunisia and Turkey. We have also noticed an upturn in demand from the international energy sector. When the country does settle, we will see a huge uplift in demand from the inward investment and real estate sectors.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of foreign affairs Edward Nalbandian had a meeting on November 23 with Secretary-General of the International Organization of La Francophonie Michaelle Jean within the framework of the organizations ministerial conference in the capital of Madagascar, the ministry told ARMENPRESS.

The results of the previously held conference in Yerevan were discussed at the meeting. Mrs. Jean mentioned that she remembers her visit to Armenia and the high level conference very warmly.

The sides touched upon the steps aimed at strengthening the IOF and raising its reputation, and exchanged views around the preliminary works of the Francophonie summit and the conference.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan on November 23 participated in the 59th session of the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva, the Ombudsmans Office told Armenpress.

During the closed session Arman Tatoyan presented a special report on implementation of requirements of the Convention against Torture.

At the session the Committee members attached importance to the regulations of the draft constitutional law of Armenia on The Human Rights Defender, which relate to the Ombudsmans activity as a national mechanism for torture prevention. Therefore, the state was encouraged to take steps for adopting the draft law as soon as possible. The Committee members attached also importance to the results of the work of the Ombudsman.

Arman Tatoyan also had a working meeting with Geneva Advocacy Director of the Human Rights Watch John Fisher.

Taking into account the special attention of the Human Rights Watch to the cases of use of force and specific arms against the civilians in the state of war, Arman Tatoyan brought Mr. Fishers attention to the violence, bombardment of settlements, beheadings committed by Azerbaijan against the civilians of Nagorno Karabakh during the April war, as well as the state-level anti-Armenian propaganda in the Azerbaijani media. Special attention was paid to the role of the NKR Ombudsman on carrying out fact-finding activities and the importance of his reports. The results of that work with the proofs of respective facts were transferred to Mr. Fisher.

The Armenian Ombudsman also had a meeting with ILO Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Heinz Koller.

At the meeting the main directions of cooperation in the field of working rights protection were discussed.

The sides agreed to make a project proposal in the near future and to take concrete steps on that path. Mr. Koller expressed his readiness to arrive in Armenia with a special mission aimed at implementing such programs.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. US President-elect Donald Trump sent his first message to the American people on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, reports TASS.

In the message Trump expressed hope the Americans will resolve their differences and will unite for a common goal. This historical political campaign is now over, Trump said.

However we have a chance to together build the history, reach real changes in Washington, ensure security in cities and achieve prosperity, including in poor communities, he said, adding that to achieve success it is necessary to be united and to restore trust between citizens.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Artur Aghabekyan and Primate of the NKR Diocese Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan continue holding meetings with the representatives of Armenian organizations in the US ahead of Telethon 2016, reports Artsakhpress.

Deputy PM Aghabekyan and Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan on November 23 visited Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in Los Angeles, where they had a meeting with the teachers and high-grad students of the school.

The NKR representatives presented the security issues, the current educational, religious and economic situation. They emphasized in their speeches the importance of fully utilizing the pan-Armenian potential, as well as solving the NKR and nationwide issues. At the end of the meeting they answered to the questions of participants.

Thereafter, the NKR delegation had a meeting with the ARF Western US Central Committee representatives. They comprehensively presented the overall situation in the NKR after the April military operations, in particular, by the request of the American-Armenians, they talked about the security issues and the opportunities of restoring the more affected settlements in the bordering regions.

The NKR Deputy PM attached importance to the role of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund on solving socio-economic issues in the NKR and urged the ARF to actively participate in the works of the Telethon 2016. The ARF representatives expressed their readiness to actively take part in the NKR-related programs. The sides exchanged views on the ongoing political processes in the NKR and the issues related to strengthening the cooperation with the United States.

The NKR permanent representative to the US Robert Avetisyan accompanied the NKR delegation in all working meetings.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministry of Armenia will send two wounded soldiers abroad for treatment, minister Vigen Sargsyan presented the decision at the Cabinet meeting.

Serviceman Mher Petrosyan will be sent to Germany and Ashot Grigoryan to Russia, with 26 million AMD and 712 thousand AMD being allocated respectively.

The defense minister said the expert committee  formed at the order of the healthcare ministry  has approved the treatment in Germany and Russia for the servicemen.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the ministerial conference of the International Organization of La Francophonie in Antananarivo, Armenias foreign minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Culture and Francophonie minister of Ivory Coast Maurice Bandaman, the MFA told ARMENPRESS.

Minister Nalbandian said Armenia attaches importance to the development of relations with African countries and will boost actions in this direction.

The sides discussed the opportunities of developing political and cultural cooperation. In this regard, the ministers highlighted the creation of a corresponding legal-contractual field.

The ministers exchanged views on issues of the IOF agenda and boosting cooperation in international structures.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on November 23 had a meeting with Luxembourgs Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn within the framework of the ministerial conference of the International Organization of La Francophonie in Antananarivo, press service of the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

The sides exchanged views over the political dialogue between Armenia and Luxembourg, expansion of legal framework, development of mutual cooperation on trade-economic, cultural, scientific-educational sectors.

The FMs attached importance to the expansion of cooperation within the framework of international structures. They talked about the works of the organizations ministerial conference and the preparation of the summit.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The Government adopted several decisions, under which the appropriateness of future activities of several state non commercial organizations  as separate organizations  were revised. As result, it is proposed to re-organize several SNCOs by merging.

Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan presented the decision under which the Rehabilitation Center for Convicts SNCO and the Juridical institute of Justice Ministry SNCO will be merged.

Under the decision it is proposed to unify the center with the institute, by reserving the centers functions for the institute. In addition, it is planned that the re-organized SNCO will further be re-organized into a fund. It will enable to further merge the Assistance to convicts fund into it, she said. According to the minister, as a result of the re-organization the state budget expenditures will decrease and approximately 115 million AMD will be saved.

The SNCOs functioning under the Culture Ministry were also revised, thus, merging many SNCOs of the ministry into one another.
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The government will gradually lower the duty from 10 per cent this year to 6 per cent by 2019.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry.

New Delhi: Government has slapped safeguard duty on import of certain steel products to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments.

The safeguard duty has been imposed on import of hot rolled flat sheets and plates (excluding hot rolled flat products in coil form) of alloy or non-alloy steel.

The effective duty rate would be calculated after deducting the value of the goods and the anti-dumping duty payable when the import price is below USD 504 per tonne, said a Revenue Department notification.

The duty arrived at would be 10 per cent in the first year and will gradually reduce to 6 per cent by 2019, it said. A 10 per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty payable will be imposed on imports up to November 22, 2017. This will be lowered to 8 per cent between November 23, 2017 and November 22, 2018.

A "six per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty payable, if any, (will be imposed) when imported during the period from November 23, 2018 to May 22, 2019 (both days inclusive) at an import price below USD 504 per ton on CIF basis," it added.

The Director General (Safeguard), in his final findings on August 2, 2016, "had come to the conclusion that increased imports of subject goods into India has caused and threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic producers of subject goods, thereby necessitating the imposition of safeguard duty on imports of the subject goods into India."

Earlier this month, government had imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China for six months.

An anti-dumping duty equivalent to the difference between the landed value of steel products and USD 499 per tonne will be imposed on products exported by Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co Ltd.

In case of other producers, the anti-dumping duty would be the difference between the landed value and USD 538 per tonne, a government notification of November 2 had said.

The 'landed value' of imports was defined as the assessable value as determined by the customs and includes all duties of customs. India previously slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations, including China and South Korea.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry.

They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products. India has initiated maximum anti-dumping cases against "below-cost" imports from China.
New Delhi: In the wake of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the government on Thursday announced that toll collection on national highways has been suspended further till December 2 midnight.

The Transport Ministry also announced that scrapped Rs 500 notes will be accepted at toll plazas from December 2 midnight to December 15.

Sufficient swipe machines will be installed at toll plazas with help from SBI and other banks to fight the crisis, the government added.

The Modi government is expected to announce on Thursday evening further extensions on exemptions of old notes for accessing essential services, said an ANI report.

After rolling out the ban on high-value currency notes on November 8, the Centre had permitted exchange of old notes at a host of places including petrol pumps, Mother Dairy and government milk booths, government hospitals, railway ticketing and crematoria and burial grounds for 72 hours. After two more extensions on November 11 and November 14, the concessions for accepting banned notes ends on Thursday night at petrol pumps, hospitals, pharmacies, railway stations, airports and some other places.

The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it may give yet another extension if it thinks it was required.

The old high value notes were banned on November 8 with an aim to eradicate black money from circulation and stop spread of fake currency notes in the banking system.
'Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation,' Singh said.

Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attended the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition began the debate on demonetisation, with veteran Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh slamming the government over the implementation of the move to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," he said.

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure," the noted economist said, adding the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, which was an "under-estimate and not an over-estimate".

Slamming the government move, Singh said, "in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder."

The former prime minister said that it was also important to take note of the grievances of the peoples suffering. 60-65 people have lost their lives, what has been done can weaken our people's confidence in currency and banking system, Singh said.

"Well, 50 days is a short period, but for those who are poor and deprived sections of the community even 50 days of torture can bring about disastrous effect. And that's why about 60 to 65 people have lost their lives. Maybe more.

"What is more is, what has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency system and in the banking system," the former prime minister said.

I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it. PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme, the former prime minister said in the Rajya Sabha.

The opposition parties had earlier created a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha, demanding that Modi attend the debate on the issue of demonetisation, leading to the adjournment of the House till 12 pm.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had slammed the Congress, TMC and other parties for stalling the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha.

If it is on demonetisation issue, let opposition resume the debate. If there is no debate, nobody from the opposition is going to be allowed to speak, Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha.

As the Opposition continued their protest over note ban issue, Speaker P.J. Kurien clarified that the debate on demonetisation would take place later in the afternoon, indicating that Modi would be present then.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day following uproar over the demonetisation issue.

Earlier, reports suggested that the Prime Minister will attend the Winter Session of Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Opposition has been stalling the proceedings of Winter Session of Parliament, demanding Modi to speak of the governments move to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

Top BJP leaders held a meeting at Rajnath Singh's chamber in Parliament on Thursday as the government attempted to find a truce with a united opposition just before the session began. Another round of meeting was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chamber.
The conference to be addressed by PM Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will witness participation of over 40 countries.

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will not attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup disclosed the information in this regard.

He also brushed aside the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan while stating that talks and terror can't go together.

"It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen," said Swarup.

Amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar.

The conference to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.

India has also lodged strong protest with Pakistan against repeated ceasefire violations and deliberate targeting of villages along the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistan Army, and deplored continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists to target Indian posts and patrols, said Swarup.

Swarup said the MEA called in Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah the last evening and issued a demarche, the fourth one this month, on the continued violation of ceasefire from the other side of the LoC..

"The Government of India stated that despite calls for restraints, Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120mm heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire Agreement of 2003.

"The government conveyed that it strongly deplore the passive support of the Pakistan Army to armed terrorists that came from close to Pakistan Army posts from November 22, targeting an Indian patrol near the LoC in Machhal sector and killing three Indian soldiers, including inhuman mutilation of the body of one of them."

Swarup further said the govt also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan Army of the 18 villages along LoC during the period November 16-21, which has resulted in a non-fatal casualty, besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and displacement of the civilian population

"The government conveyed its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across LoC to target Indian posts and patrols. During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances, where terrorists indulged in various actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts from across the LoC," he added.

Talking about Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, the MEA spokesperson said, "The government also reiterated its concerns about the safety and wellbeing of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed over LoC over seven weeks ago. We expect the earlier repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India."
The bench pointed out that the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 were passed in December 2013 and they became a law in January, 2014.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Centre for dragging its feet in appointing corruption ombudsman Lokpal and observed that the Lokpal law could not be rendered ineffective due to the delay in taking decision by the government on the status of the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao, hearing a writ petition filed by NGO Common Cause challenging the provisions of Lokpal Act and its Rules, said the law should be made workable and taken to its logical end.

The CJI told attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi, You (government) seem to be always interested in cleansing the system, then why are you dragging your feet. Appointment of Lokpal is in the right direction. The Lokpal which is intended to bring probity in public life must be allowed to work whether you amend the law or not.

The bench asked the attorney-general the reasons for the delay of three years in carrying out the necessary amendment to the Act. The AG said an amendment bill was introduced in Parliament and later it was sent to the standing committee which suggested some changes and the bill is still pending. The AG submitted that the Centre was reviewing the entire Lokpal Act and the rules.

The bench pointed out that the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 were passed in December 2013 and they became a law in January, 2014. We will interpret the rules in a manner to make it functional, till Parliament could amend the rules, the CJI observed. The AG told the bench that such a move would mean that the court is legislating which Parliament alone can do.

Earlier, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, representing the petitioner Common Cause, submitted that the court should interpret the Act, to bring Lokpal into existence expeditiously, as the political class has not shown any interest in carrying out the necessary amendments to the Act, to make it functional. Saying that the Act was passed in 2013 after a long anti-corruption crusade led by Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan asked Do we need another Anna Andolan to bring Lokpal into being?

The CJI pointed out that the selection committee has not been duly constituted because the selection committee, comprising the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition, Chief Justice of India could not meet to select an eminent person in the panel which will form the search committee to select Lokpal and other Members.
The government added that demonetisation was a step to reduce ratio of cash transactions in the country.

The Supreme Court had on Friday dubbed as a "serious issue" the long queues outside banks and post offices. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Justifying the demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes from the night of November 8, the Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that this was a bold attempt made in 70 years to unearth black money that has been stashed over the years.

In its affidavit to a batch of petitions, the Centre said the objective behind demonetisation was to unearth an illegal parallel economy and it is aimed at reducing the ratio of cash transactions. It said that the menace of fake currency has been tackled and funding for terror groups has stopped. The apex court is to hear a batch of petitions on Friday challenging demonetisation.

Further the Centre also informed the court about the steps taken in the last few days to ease peoples difficulties to ensure that the transition was a smooth one. It said that re-calibration of ATMs is on in full swing. Further it stated that any difficulty being faced by the people would be sorted out.

The affidavit said the government earlier constituted SIT to curb black money, amended Benami Act. It said there is no shortage of new currency and already Rs. 6 lakh crores had been received as deposits in banks. The government has set up a committee which will take stock of the ground situation across the country.

The general rule is that the cash transactions in the market should not be more than four per cent of the GDP but it is 12 per cent in India.

The banks are flush with money and lending rates will come down. Alternate arrangements have been made to address the problems of farmers and traders, special teams have been sent to all the States and the situation monitored.

The Supreme Court on Friday took on the Centre over demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, saying, "There are difficulties. You can't dispute that."

"We will have riots on the streets," the apex court observed.

The Supreme Court dubbed as a "serious issue" the long queues outside banks and post offices and expressed its reservation on the Centre's plea seeking a direction that no other court in the country should entertain petitions challenging the November 8 notification demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

"It is a serious issue which requires consideration," a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A R Dave said, while asking the parties to be ready with data and other issues in writing.

Chief Justice TS Thakur said because of these difficulties, people are approaching the courts.
Jaishankar was replying to a question on whether soft power can be employed in Indias dealings with China.

New Delhi: With China not budging from its position on Indias NSG bid, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar has called for a sensible and pragmatic conversation between the two sides on how not accommodating each others aspiration was detrimental to the overall relationship. The foreign secretary also observed India should use its soft power and do more in improving its image in China as people there do not have a very fair idea about the country.

According to news agency reports, the foreign secretarys comments featured in a report of the Standing Committee on External Affairs on Indias soft power which was tabled earlier in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

I do not think we should be in denial of what is the problem that we are having with China right now. So, at this time what is required with China is a sensible pragmatic conversation about how not accommodating each others aspirations is not beneficial to the relationship. We need to have the conversation and we will have that conversation, Mr Jaishankar was quoted by news agencies as saying in the report.

He was replying to a question on whether soft power can be employed in Indias dealings with China. Referring to the NSG issue, he said soft power has a value but asserted it cannot be substitute for some serious hard power arguments.

..We cannot find a fix for a terrorism problem or a PoK problem or a NSG problem in soft power engagement per se. At the same time, the foreign secretary was quoted as saying, I do believe, particularly in China, we need to do more to improve our image there. I did two postings there back to back. I think an average American has an image of India which is much superior to what an average Chinese has of India.

Therefore, clearly there is work to be done , there is soft power deficiency there which needs to be remedied. Comparing Indias soft power with that of China, the foreign secretary said Indias pluralism, which does not have sharp edges, and the very lack of assertiveness make people comfortable and less threatened.

A part of it was also because a democratic country with a culture of tolerance, culture of acceptance seems to be intellectually less domineering than China, he said.
Nepal Rastra Bank has called the new currency notes unauthorised and illegal.

New Delhi/ Kathmandu: Nepal Rastra Bank on Thursday banned the use of Indias new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination, terming them unauthorised and illegal.

These two currency notes were issued by the Reserve Bank of India recently after old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes were withdrawn.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has called the new currency notes unauthorised and illegal.

NRB spokesperson Narayan Poudel said these new currency notes are not yet legal in Nepal, according to onlinekhabar.com.

Mr Poudel said these notes will be legal in Nepal only when India issues a Fema notification as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Meanwhile, with a concerned Nepal and Bhutan raising with India the issue of implications of Indian demonetisation  since Indian currency is legal tender in both nations  New Delhi said it is considering the matter and the RBI will remain in touch with their counterparts in Nepal and Bhutan.

The MEA said, Both the Nepal Rashtra Bank and the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan are in touch with the RBI regarding facilitation of collection and deposit of Indian bank old series notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations that are already in stock of the Central Banks, other banks/ financial institutions and general public in Nepal and Bhutan under existing provisions. The matter has been raised by both the Governments of Nepal and Bhutan as well. The government is considering the matter and the RBI will remain in touch with their counterparts in Nepal and Bhutan.

The inter-ministerial task force formed by the government is also looking into issues relating to foreign nationals/tourists in India, NRIs/PIOs holding old series high denomination notes, and the diplomatic missions based in India. Consultations are ongoing and as soon as we have concrete recommendations from the task force we will share with all stake holders.

According to news agency reports, Nepal and Bhutan - also two major recipients of developmental aid from India  have taken up with New Delhi the issue of demonetisation of high-value currency bills and the impact it could have on financial assistance to them and that as per this years budget, India has earmarked Rs 5,490 crore for Bhutan and Rs 300 crore for Nepal.
May quit Bihar alliance over CMs PM praise.

Patna: Taking note of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars statements backing the Centres demonetisation move, the Congress threatened to leave the Grand Secular Alliance  the ruling alliance in the state  on Wednesday.

State Congress president Ashok Chaudhary, who is also Bihars education minister, said, We are in the alliance on the directions of the high command, and we can pull out immediately if they order us.

The statement came during a protest march led by Congress leaders against demonetisation.

There are also reports that RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav is not happy with Nitish Kumars statements backing demonetisation. Sources said several leaders, including Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, have urged Mr Yadav to take a tough stand against the Mr Kumars statements.

Mr Kumar was the first non-NDA political leader to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demonetisation issue, hours after it was announced on November 8. Mr Kumar had even urged the PM to launch a crackdown against those who had invested their black money in benami property.

On Monday, Mr Kumar had given another statement in favour of the Prime Minister by saying, He is riding a tiger which may damage his alliances, but we respect the bold move.
Chouhan convened a meeting of heads of all the government departments to discuss the issue.

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan inspects the preprations for the 69th Aalmi Tablighi Ijtima near Bhopal. (Photo: PTI)

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday constituted a five-member committee to prepare a roadmap for the state government to switch over to cashless system within a stipulated period of time.

The move comes in the wake of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The state government woke up to the reality when it has been found that the not-cull decision has particularly hit the rural population hard at least initially and decided to speed up process to turn to digital currency to cope up with a challenge of this nature in future, sources in chief ministers office said.

Mr Chouhan convened a meeting of heads of all the government departments to discuss the issue.

He ordered the departmental heads to send their suggestions to the committee in this regard to help it prepare the roadmap for the state government to switch over to cent percent cashless system.
For the fifth consecutive day, both Houses of Parliamnent saw a washout of proceedings.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Winter Session of Rajya Sabha on Thursday, after a combative Opposition  which have been demanding his presence in Parliament to discuss the demonetisation issue  forced proceedings in both Houses to be stalled for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday.

In the Lok Sabha, the government and the Opposition continued to clash over demonetisation and the rule under which the debate on it should take place. The Centre has ruled out a debate with voting, something that sections of the Oppostion has been clamouring for.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition closed ranks to demand Modis presence in the House to reply to the debate on the hardship caused by his decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, forcing the adjournment of proceedings twice.

The uproarious scenes led to the adjournment of the proceedings first till noon and then till 2 pm. When it met again, deputy chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned the House for the day after just 15 minutes, amid arguments and confusion between the Treasury and Opposition benches.

Earlier, BSP leader Mayawati sought an apology from Mr Modi for speaking outside the House on demonetisation when Parliament is in session, while the Congress demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to go into the sudden announcement of the demonetisation of 86 per cent of the currency in circulation.

In the Lok Sabha, Opposition members, including those from the Congress, the TMC, the RJD, the CPI(M) and the BJD, besides the SAD and the Shiv Sena  both part of the ruling NDA  expressed their views in the House when it assembled at noon after one adjournment, with the Sena changing its stance on demonetisation and sparing the government embarrassment by praising the move and supporting its stand that the debate be held under Rule 193, which does not entail voting.
Heritage 365 has art and craft, garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, furniture, fashion, lifestyle products and heritage travel.

India is a land of diverse cultures and traditions and the cultures of different regions have influenced each other. To celebrate this diversity, an exhibition is coming up in Delhi that promises to pay an ode to the countrys rich heritage. A confluence of artists, craftsmen, fashion designers and jewellery designers brings a unique exhibition for Delhiites. Heritage 365, as the name suggests, is a celebration of the countrys creative geniuses not for a day or two but for 365 days of the year. It has art and craft, garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, furniture and fashion, lifestyle products and heritage travel. It focuses on the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Conceptualised and organised by Vandana Haksar and Gunjan Mubayi, Heritage 365 has been brought together by the Neemrana Music Foundation with the support of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Tourism and the Indian Heritage Hotels Association.

A two-day exhibition opening on November 25 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lawns will witness revivalist textiles and crafts from nationally awarded craftsmen and weavers. Delhiites are in for a triple treat. Theres award-winning craftsmen and their works. Then one could find fashion, jewellery and accessories at one corner while theres also furniture and lifestyle items. Then theres heritage tourism where a few well-known hotel chains will be participating.

Award-winning craftsmen like Mohd. Bilal Khatri for Bagh printing, Ram Kishore Derawala for block printing, Badshah Miyan for Leheriya tie-and-dye, Ghanshyam Nimbark for miniature paintings, Rahul Salvi for Patan Patola, Abdul Jabbar Khatri and Padamshree Tayaab Khan for tie-and-dye, Leheriyan, Chandrakali Pusham for Gond tribal art, Geeta Baria for Bhil tribal art, Vankar Shamji for Bhuj embroideries, Abdul Rauf Khatri for Ajarakh printing and Abdul Majid for block printing will showcase their skills and products.

Aman Nath, the founder-trustee, of the TNM Foundation, is excited and perceives this exhibition as a step towards his commitment to the preservation and promotion of Indias cultural inheritance. He says, It has always been my endeavour to promote Indian heritage and to showcase what India has to offer by repackaging the unrivalled crafts, culture and tradition of the chosen states, re-imagined by the countrys foremost creative minds. But this area has remained unrepresented.

Sharing the platform with the craftsmen will be fashion designers of Fashion Design Council of India like Sanjay Garg, Gaurav Jai Gupta, Aneeth Arora, Sunita Shanker and Swati Kalsi. A Designers Enclosure has also been set up for FDCI members to exhibit and sell their garments and accessories. Traditional kundan, polki and silver jewellery will be on display along with contemporary fashion accessories. A fashion show conceptualised by Sunil Sethi, president, FDCI, will showcase the best of Indian textiles and garments with jewellery.

The exhibition and sale at Heritage 365 features Anupama Bose, Sanjay Garg, Purvi Doshi, Vaya, Bodhi, Button Masala and O Layla, Pero for clothes, Sameer Wheaton with exceptional furniture, Rasa for clothes and home linen, Anantaya for home decor & Amrapali for exquisite jadau and silver jewellery, amongst others.

Heritage 365 positions this platform as a showcase for various forts, havelis and boutique travel destinations that dot Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. As part of the world of heritage tourism, the travel and hospitality sector will showcase truly hidden and unexplored gems that Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have to offer to expats, and domestic and international tourists in the luxury budget and adventure segment. These include: Ahilya Fort, Castle Mandawa, Chomu Palace, Dera Mandawa, Jodhana Heritage Resorts, Ranbanka Palace and Samode Palace. The TNM Foundation has also collaborated with the embassy of Italy to promote the exchange of ideas and revival of the arts and crafts and heritage tourism sectors. Haksar says: Heritage 365 is an exhibition especially curated for the people of Delhi. We hope to make it an annual event for them and make it an integral part of Delhi's social culture. Heritage 365 is a vestige of the past that can be celebrated 365 days of the year.
While the investigation is in process, eight people have been taken into custody.

Mumbai: Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday seized 15 lakh tablets of psychotropic substances worth Rs 57 lakh and took eight persons into custody in this connection. The drugs were procured in India from various dealers across the hinterland and supplied through post.

The orders for these banned drugs were placed online or over phone calls from the US/UK.

Officials seized the drug following specific information that these psychotropic substances (like Alprazolam, Zolpidem etc.) were being exported directly by a group based at Mira Road. Searches were conducted in the premises of Air Express, a private company, and two other premises resulting in the seizure of 15 lakh tablets valued at around Rs 57 lakh. The groups modus operandi was that the orders were received from US and UK at three call centres based in different parts of country and it was communicated to Air Express office, which in turn received their supplies from multiple suppliers at Sangli, Ludhiana and Delhi. These were packed by the company in courier covers and sent to Delhi, from where they were sent abroad by Speed Post as medical samples. While the investigation is in process, eight people have been taken into custody. While six of these eight accused were detained in Mumbai, the other two were detained in Chandigarh and another part of Maharashtra. They will be produced in court on Thursday.

The seizure also includes four high-end cars including an Audi and a Range Rover.

Out of these three call centres, two are located in Maharashtra and the third is located in Chandigarh. According to sources, the group has been using the same method to smuggle the drugs but its frequency increased from the year 2009 onwards. Sources also claimed that at least six of the eight would be arrested as they are directly involved in the crime. A search for these people began on Monday itself, but they were detained and taken to the DRI office late on Tuesday night. It took almost 24 hours to seize the total stock from the premises of these offices in Mira Road (east), said an official. Sources revealed that DRI officials received information about the substances from Ludhiana.

Psychotropic substances like Alprozolam, Diazepam, Nitrazepam, Zolpidem, Amphetamine etc are normally used as sedatives and mood elevators. They are otherwise available strictly under medical licensing. The legal market value of these substances is not more than Rs 5 per tablet. However, when abused, their value depends on how much one is prepared to pay for it.
It was argued that it was the states constitutional obligation to compensate.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to submit details of compensation accorded to victims of blasts and other terror attacks in the state and file an affidavit in two weeks time.

A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak sought the affidavit while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Rajeshwar Panchal. The lawyer sought judicial intervention of Right to Life dealt with in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution in relation to victims of terror attacks and bombings in the country. The petition sought that a just and fair amount be given as compensation to families of those killed in bomb blasts and terror attacks. The petition further sought that income of the deceased, social status of families and number of dependents be taken into account when deciding the amount of compensation.

In the past, it was argued before the court that it was the states constitutional obligation to compensate as it was a failure on the part of the state to perform its duty in guaranteeing Right to Life dealt with in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Although government pleader, Abhinandan Vagyani, on Thursday submitted an affidavit stating that a sum of Rs 3 lakh had been distributed to victims of the November 26, 2008, terror attacks, the affidavit filed by deputy commissioner of police, Ashwini Sanap, claimed that the process of disbursing the compensation amount was still on.

The court however sought details of disbursement of compensation amount in all other blast cases in the recent past (after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts).
Petitioner had contended that these bodies were functioning as parallel courts.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to declare all Darul Qazas  courts operating under the Muslim personal law  illegal and their closure.

The PIL had also sought cancellation of the All India Personal Law Boards (AIMPLB) registration because these Darul Qazas are running under its supervision; however, the court did not allow the petition.

The division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak was hearing a PIL filed by Nazir Noor Ali and a few other petitions were also clubbed with it which were filed challenging the Darul Qazas practice of hearing various matters, especially matrimonial and inheritance issues and giving verdict on them.

The contention of the petitioner was that Darul Qazas are running like parallel courts which are illegal and unconstitutional.

Senior counsel Yusuf Muchala and advocate Sagir Khan on behalf of AIMPLB had produced 2014 Supreme Court order passed in Vishvalochan Madan v/s Union of Indias matter saying this order has already covered all the issues raised in the PIL and other petitions. Accepting their contention the bench said as per the apex court order, verdicts of Darul Qazas are not binding on individual and hence the high court refused to entertain the petition.

According to the bench the Supreme Court order has covered everything from fatwas to matrimonial issues and it has clarified that it is not binding on individuals and hence, if the petitioners have any issue they should take other remedies available in the law.

Nazir Noor Ali, who had filed the petition, told the Asian Age that the judgement of the high court was not correct. After getting the order copy we will definitely go to the Supreme Court against this order, said Mr Ali.

He also said, Our lawyer was trying to convey to the court that the issue raised in our petition is completely different and has not been addressed by the Supreme Court, but the judges did not get what she was trying to say.

According to Mr Ali, his contention is that Darul Qazas are passing orders despite matters pending in family courts.
The compensation has to be given to contractors, as it is part of the concession agreements signed with each contractor.

Mumbai:The state government will compensate infrastructure companies collecting tolls in the state which has been waived off for motorists for the time being following the Centres demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes since November 9.

The state government has asked contractors to send in their claims, estimating their loss, for the same. The compensation has to be given to contractors, as it is part of the concession agreements signed with each contractor. On an average Rs 10 crore is collected daily from different tollbooths around the state.

The compensation from the state government does not necessarily have to be in cash but can also be in terms of extending concession period for the days when the toll collection was put on stay by the government, said an official from the public works department (PWD).

On November 9, ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) announced that highways would be toll free up to November 18. However, considering the situation, the exemption limit was extended till November 24. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to compensate Rs 700 crore to contractors who come under their ambit.

We will take opinion on the same from the Central government and also will check as to how do they compensate toll the contractors under the jurisdiction of NHAI. For now, we are looking at normalising the situation that has arisen following the demonetisation and once we receive the claims from the contractors we will scrutinise them, said Chandrakant Patil, PWD minister.

In the state there are around 41 tollbooths of which 27 are under the PWD and the remaining14 are under the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Radheshyam Mopalwar, managing director, MSRDC, said, If the government compensates the contractors, the estimated cost would be around Rs 4.5 crore daily which is the amount collected daily by contractors of tollbooths under the MSRDC.
Trump, however, said during his campaign that the nation's prison system was a mess and voiced support for private prisons.

Boise: The population of American prisons is likely to rise for the first time in nearly a decade with President-elect Donald Trump's promise to detain and deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally and his selection of tough-on-crime Sen. Jeff Sessions to the nation's highest law enforcement post.

If so, one of the prime beneficiaries would be the private companies that operate many of the nation's prisons. The stock market seems to agree.

A day after the election, CoreCivic Co., formerly Corrections Corporation of America, saw the biggest percentage gain on the New York Stock Exchange with shares climbing 43 percent.

Shares of Geo Group, another private prison company, also jumped 21 percent.

The federal prison population had been trending down for nearly a decade when the Obama administration announced in August that it would phase out its use of some private facilities.

The announcement followed a Justice Department audit saying private facilities have more safety and security problems than government-run lockups.

The policy change did not cover private prisons used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though federal officials have said they are considering phasing out private contractor immigration facilities.

Trump, however, said during his campaign that the nation's prison system was a mess and voiced support for private prisons.

"I do think we can do a lot of privatizations and private prisons. It seems to work a lot better," Trump told MSNBC in March, though he didn't offer any details on what that might mean for the federal prison system.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds up to 34,000 immigrants awaiting deportation. Forty-six of the roughly 180 facilities in which ICE holds those immigrants are privately run, with about 73 percent of detainees held in the private facilities, the agency says.

"Trump was saying during his 100-day plan that mandatory minimums for people re-entering the country would be set at two years - that's going to require a longer-term need for beds," said Michael Kodesch, a senior associate with financial services firm Canaccord Genuity Inc.

Immigration detention centers are particularly profitable for private prison companies because they command a higher rate for each inmate bed, he said.

Yet what's good for investors isn't good for the country, said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, a national nonprofit group that works to reduce incarceration and detention rates.

"They're handing the keys to a deportation machine over to the Trump administration," Libal said. "And I think there's no reason to believe that the Trump administration won't drive that machine forward through human rights protections or due process protections people in the detention system."

Sessions, Trump's pick for attorney general, was among a handful of Republican senators blocking a bipartisan bill that would reduce lengthy sentences for low-level drug offenders.

McLaurine Klingler, a spokeswoman for Sessions, said no one on Sessions' staff was immediately available to talk about his feelings on the DOJ's use on private prisons.

CoreCivic spokesman Jonathan Burns said the company doesn't take positions on proposals, legislation or policies that would determine the basis of an individual's incarceration or detention.

He said the company instead works to "educate lawmakers on the benefits of public-private partnership generally and the solutions CoreCivic provides."
Pakistan said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing. (Photo: Representational Image/AP)

New York: Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan on Thursday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly "abhorrent act" that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis.

The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

Pakistan Army on Wednesday said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan on Wednesday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.
The key provision of the proposed new sanctions would be a cap on North Korea's coal exports to China.

North Korea carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test on September 9, claiming it had made major strides in its efforts to fit a miniaturized warhead on a rocket that could reach the United States.(Photo: AP)

United Nations: The United States and China have agreed on a new raft of tougher UN sanctions against North Korea in response to Pyongyang's fifth and biggest nuclear test, a Security Council diplomat said Wednesday.

Although Russia has expressed reservations about the draft resolution, they should not stand in the way of a Security Council vote on the new package of punitive measures as early as next week, the diplomat said.

The key provision of the proposed new sanctions would be a cap on North Korea's coal exports to China, Pyongyang's main trading partner and ally, that could deprive the communist hermit state of tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

"The key thing is that China and the US have gotten to a position where they can agree on," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"The Russians are trying to hold it up, the Chinese are comfortable with it in terms of the content," he added.

The diplomat described the proposed resolution as a "very meaty" document that would close loopholes from the measure the council adopted in March, the toughest sanctions yet imposed on North Korea.

They would target coal exports, allowed under the previous measure for "livelihood purposes" if the revenue does not go toward financing Pyongyang's nuclear or ballistic missile programs.

Chinese coal imports from North Korea have surged in recent months amid fears that the funds are helping bankroll Pyongyang's military programs prohibited under UN resolutions.

New names of officials and entities linked to North Korea's ballistic and nuclear programs would be added to the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for a global travel ban and an assets freeze.

"It is high time for the Security Council to come together to tighten up the sanctions regime against DPRK, to impose additional measures," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said.

The new measures would be introduced next week, he added.

Number one security threat

China and the United States have spent three months negotiating the latest measures, which would be the sixth set of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since its first nuclear test in 2006.

President Barack Obama reportedly told his successor Donald Trump that confronting the nuclear threat from North Korea represents the top US national security priority.

The breakthrough on the new sanctions followed a meeting between Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the weekend during which the US president pressed for tougher measures against Pyongyang.

North Korea carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test on September 9, claiming it had made major strides in its efforts to fit a miniaturized warhead on a rocket that could reach the United States.

The reclusive regime has carried out more than 20 missile tests this year, one of which reached Japanese-controlled waters after a launch in August.
The official Xinhua News Agency says an unknown number of other people remained beneath the debris at the site in Jiangxi province.

At least 22 people have been killed in a scaffolding collapse at a construction site in eastern China. (Photo: AFP/Representational)

Beijing: At least 67 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed Thursday, state media reported, the latest industrial accident in a country with a dismal safety record.

A cooling tower platform plunged to the ground in the early hours, trapping an unknown number of people beneath it, the official Xinhua news agency said.

State broadcaster CCTV put the toll at 67, with local reports saying one person was still missing and two others injured.

Pictures of the scene in Fengcheng, in the central province of Jiangxi, showed a grey mass of concrete slabs, steel girders and twisted metal splayed in a heap on the ground inside a large round structure.

Hard-hatted rescue workers in neon jumpsuits carried bodies out from the site on stretchers wrapped in orange sheeting.

A total of 32 fire engines and 212 military personnel had been deployed to the scene, the Jiangxi provincial fire department said on a verified social media account.

The construction of two 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power units at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station began last July and was expected to be completed by early 2018, the local Yichun city government said on a verified social media account last year.

The expansion was budgeted to cost a total of 7.67 billion yuan (now $1.1 billion), it added.

The main investor for a previous expansion project at the plant suspended trading in its shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange Thursday afternoon, stating that "significant events" that could not be disclosed could impact its share price.

Its shares had fallen 3.41 percent by midday.

Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often laxly enforced.

In August a pipeline explosion at a coal-fired power plant in the neighbouring province of Hubei killed 21.

Earlier this summer more than 130 people were taken to hospital after chemicals leaked from a plant in eastern China.

In April a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to quell the flames.

Last December, the collapse of a gypsum mine in the eastern province of Shandong left one person dead and 13 others unaccounted for, with four miners only rescued after being trapped underground for 36 days.

A total of 19 people had been found responsible for the incident, Xinhua said Thursday, with three managers arrested and 16 other local officials "punished". The agency did not give further details.

The owner of the collapsed mine committed suicide by drowning himself at the scene soon after the collapse, Xinhua said.

He will not be subject to criminal liabilities, it cited investigators as saying.
Thai newspapers are running out of stock, printing special editions with archival photographs.

The first month of mourning for Thailands King Bhumibol ended on November 13, a day before the Loy Krathong festival and the Super Moon. I went to Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn, where Bangkok celebrants floated flowers and candles down the Chao Praya River, beneath the golden spires of the Grand Palace where the king will lie in state for one year until his cremation. Grief now mingles with celebration; street corner bands play the kings hit songs, artists paint his portrait, mahouts from Ayutthaya led a regal procession of 11 white elephants, who knelt in reverence before the Grand Palace. Thai newspapers are running out of stock, printing special editions with archival photographs and interviews with those who knew the king; his tailor and shoemaker, diplomats noting his fluency in five languages, wounded soldiers who lay in hospital beds as the king thanked them for fighting communist guerillas, sportsmen who watched him build his own boat and win a gold medal in sailing in the 1967 Asian Games. In this fading age of kings, Bhumibol Adulyadej was sui generis.

There are many programmes about King Bhumibols Sufficiency Economy, based on moderation, prudence, that uses knowledge and virtue as guidelines in living, similar to the Gandhis Swadeshi principles. The Kings projects greatly advanced Thailands living standards until globalisation ripped through Asia in the 1990s, creating inequality and discord, as it has across the globe. When Thailand was hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, King Bhumibol stated; Being a tiger is not important. The important thing is for us to have a sufficient economy to have enough to support ourselves.

Modernitys grievances found a leader in Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecom billionaire with a Masters degree in criminology from Texas State University, head of the populist, anti-monarchist Thai Rak Thai Party, which opposed the Peoples Alliance for Democracy, middle class supporters of the monarchy, known as Yellow Shirts. (King Bhumibol was born on a Monday; in Thai culture yellow is his fortune colour). A Yellow Shirt intellectual who has reached out to Red Shirt leaders told me We understand the problems raised by the Red Shirts  we want to fix them too. The challenge is finding a way we can work together, with dialogue, not conflict.

Bangkok has a vocal contingent of falang reporters  thats Thai for ferungi, foreigner  fixated on the pessimist narrative that after King Bhumibols death the Red Shirt-Yellow Shirt divide will trigger chaos throughout the land. (For the record, many such falangs were dead certain that Clinton would trounce Trump in the recent US presidential election). There is a tiresome conceit in these assumptions, when observing daily gatherings and reading poignant eulogies from Thai citizens of every class and region, and, which show the special bond between the king and his people. He helped them build a strong country, and his passing has brought the nation together.

As investigative reporters get laid off and Twitter feeds proliferate, theres a credibility void once filled by seasoned journalists, the guy on the ground who speaks Thai, a basic qualification for interpreting this complex and pivotal nation. There are writers bars in Bangkok where you will find old school journalists who critique corporate medias shallow reportage, wherein the fault lines in Thai society are simplistically rendered as Poor Red Shirts vs. Rich Yellow Shirts, and churlish bloggers who cast all Red Shirts as beleaguered soldiers of democracy tormented by an antique plutocracy.

One such blogger is Andrew Spooner, who posted vicious tweets about the king as he lay dying in Siriraj Hospital. Another is Andrew MacGregor Marshall, who purports to be a Thai expert but admits to speaking no Thai, yet slanders and mocks the Thai monarchy in an obsessive manner that many find offensive, to which he replied: Ive never insulted the Thai people. I just said (accurately) that many are enslaved and brainwashed by monarchy. This prompted ludicrous comments like this place is as bad as North Korea posted from a beach resort in Phuket, perhaps?

What is not widely known is that the medias Red Shirt bias was facilitated by Mark Penn, political strategist for Thaksin Shinawatra at the New York PR firm Burson-Marsteller, whom Thaksin hired in 2001 to manage his successful bid for Prime Minister. Mark Penn was also chief consultant to President Bill Clinton, manager of Hillary Clintons first failed presidential bid in 2008. Penns role in building the Thaksin dynasty has been covered by Frances Le Monde, but was never reported in the US until 2015, when Penns cover was blown in a trove of leaked emails from his ex-boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Under the subject line No Longer Homicidal US secretary of state Clinton wrote to her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills; Could you try to contact Mark Penn to confirm he no longer represents Thaksin before I call Thai PM at 9.30? Wikileaks also published US embassy cables about Thaksins funding for covert militia inciting Buddhist-Muslim violence in Thailands southern provinces.

I was in Bangkok in 2010 and witnessed Red Shirt riots which left over 800 people dead, thousands wounded and $6 billion of property damage. Thais, and falangs, were outraged by Thaksins success at spinning the international media against the Yellow Shirts. A US state department official who served in Bangkok from 2005 to 2009 told me: We knew that Thaksin hired an American consultant, and we were concerned about his campaign to destabilise the Thai government and the Thai economy, but Penn was careful, he worked behind the scenes managing the Thaksin media and campaign.

In 2006 Thaksin was ousted in a bloodless coup and fled Thailand to avoid trial for money laundering and human rights violations.

Despite what some falangs assert, Thaksins influence has waned; a contingent of Red Shirt leaders no longer see him an agent of change and reform as he is irreparably tainted by corruption and his brutal War on Drugs, where thousands of mostly young Muslim boys were slaughtered.

Thaksin continues to fund anti-monarchist propaganda from his exile bases in Cambodia and China, it is alleged that Andrew Spooner and MacGregor Marshall are on Thaksins payroll, and Mark Penn is still top strategist. What other motive, besides financial inducement, drives these falangs to incite conflict in Thailand? Who benefits, should Thailand cease to be an anchor of stability on a turbulent continent? Certainly not the Thai people, or their neighbours. King Bhumibol once said; In Thailands history there have been dissensions from time to time, but in general, unity has prevailed. Let us hope that it will.

Maura Moynihan is an author and Tibet expert who has worked with Tibetan refugees in India for many years
Sharif said Pakistan wanted a serious, sustained and result-oriented dialogue with India on all issues of mutual concern.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday warned that Pakistan will not tolerate deliberate targeting of civilian areas by Indian troops, a day after the Pakistani military claimed 12 people, including soldiers, were killed in alleged cross-border firing.

Mr Sharif, presiding over a meeting with civil and military leaders, said Kashmir was an unfinished agenda for Pakistan and the country would not stop pursuing the issue, Geo News reported.

Mr Sharif said Pakistan was deeply concerned at the recent developments in Kashmir and the gross human rights violations by Indian forces. The unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the main threat to security in the region, he added.

Referring to the recent ceasefire violations by Indian security forces along the LoC, Mr Sharif said India had deliberately escalated tensions at the LoC in order to try to divert the attention of the international community from the grave situation in Kashmir.

He said the international community, particularly the United Kingdom, should take a notice of the gravity of the situation and call on India to respect human rights of the people of Kashmir and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Sharif said Pakistan wanted a serious, sustained and result-oriented dialogue with India on all issues of mutual concern.

He claimed Pakistan has so far exercised restraint in the face of Indian actions at the Line of Control, but would not permit deadly attacks on innocent civilians. We will not tolerate the deliberate attack on innocent civilians, Mr Sharif said.

His statement came a day after 12 people, including three soldiers, were killed in alleged Indian cross-border firing. Indias response came after the Indian Army warned of heavy retribution following the killing of three of its soldiers, with the body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack.

Pakistan denied as false and baseless its troops were responsible for the mutilition and deaths of Indian soldiers. Thursdays meeting with Mr Sharif was attended by advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, national security advisor Nasser Janjua and ISI chief Gen Rizwan Akhtar.

Mr Aziz, Janjua and Gen. Akhtar briefed Sharif regarding the situation across the Line of Control.

Meanwhile, talking to UK secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs Boris Johnson who called on him here, Mr Sharif expressed his confidence that under its new leadership, Britain will emerge stronger and continue playing an important role in the world affairs.

Mr Sharif also said Pakistan wanted a serious, sustained and result-oriented dialogue with India on all issues of mutual concern.

Recalling his cordial meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May on the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September 2016, the Pakistan Prime Minister said he looked forward to welcome the British Prime Minister in Islamabad next year.

Pakistan considers the UK a close friend and a trusted partner; our bilateral relations are founded on shared history, cultural linkages and strong people-to-people contacts, Mr Sharif said.

He said Pakistan and the UK had strong economic and trade ties. We are confident that our existing relations with the UK would be further enhanced to the mutual benefit of both countries, especially in the field of trade and investment.

Pakistan greatly appreciates the work undertaken by the UK department for international development that has created tremendous goodwill for the UK in Pakistan, he added.

Highlighting Pakistans contributions in the global fight against terrorism, Mr Sharif said, Pakistan has been the worst victim of terrorism, adding, We have lost over 60,000 lives and suffered huge economic losses in our fight against terrorism.

We are fighting this war as an imperative not as an option, the Prime Minister said. The successfully ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azb is in its final phase and the National Action Plan has been launched to deal with the threat of violent extremism and radicalisation, the Prime Minister said.
This stern message is likely to be conveyed by PM May, when she undertakes an official visit to Pakistan sometime in the early part of 2017.

Those series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks by ten terrorists affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which lasted over four days across Mumbai, claimed the lives of 164 people, including one Briton, six Americans and 12 Europeans, and left another 308 injured. (Photo: AFP)

London: An anxious British Government has decided to tell Pakistan that it will have to rein in terror outfits like the LeT and the JuD who have been held responsible for terror attacks in India and elsewhere and that Islamabad would have to do more to reduce threats to the UK and the world from terrorists based on its soil.

This stern message is likely to be conveyed by Prime Minister Theresa May, when she undertakes an official visit to Pakistan sometime in the early part of 2017, and must be seen in the context of the terror strikes launched in the city of Mumbai in the last week of November 2008.

Those series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks by ten terrorists affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which lasted over four days across Mumbai, claimed the lives of 164 people, including one Briton, six Americans and 12 Europeans, and left another 308 injured.

What that horrific tragedy also did was it trained global attention on the activities of the LeT, which till then was focused only on Kashmir.

In the eight years since this terror incident, the LeT's ambitions and reach have extended to the UK, as is evident from the speeches of its founder Hafiz Saeed, who now openly threatens the destruction of the UK.

London, according to sources, seems unconvinced about Islamabad's past promises given to then Home Secretary Theresa May of full bilateral cooperation with the UK on counter-terrorism, immigration, serious crimes and narcotics.

There is a view that not much has changed insofar as Islamic extremists spreading their terror mayhem from Pakistan.

In fact, they said, that any honest observer of Pakistan would agree that the situation there has only worsened, with these elements not only increasing their spread and influence within the country, but also outside, particularly in the UK.

They claimed that there is no sense of calm within the UK when it comes to grappling with the unsettling face of Islamic extremism within the country.

Prime Minister May, according to these informed sources, is most likely to flag on priority her government's concerns of LeT fingerprints being discovered in the UK.

British objections to a UN-proscribed terrorist like Hafiz Saeed being allowed by authorities in Pakistan to hold public rallies and openly threaten destruction of the UK and United States are likely to be aggressively asserted, the sources said.

They also claimed that with the help of British Pakistanis, Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its front organisation the Jamat-ut-Dawa, are declared proscribed groups as per the UK Terrorism Act 2000 of the UK.

With them making deep inroads in the country, Prime Minister May can be expected to firmly tell Pakistan to take steps to neutralise these terror elements operating from its soil, or London would be constrained to review engagement with Islamabad.
by Lucia Leung

Msgr. Stephen Lee recalls that after the "special" way, now there is the "ordinary" way to receive mercy and to give it. A Mass with about 3 thousand people. Flourishing activities during the Holy Year.

Macau (AsiaNews) - The closing of the Holy Door in this special year of Mercy does not mean that "God's mercy is over." As experienced in this year it is not as "a fireworks display" that vanishes, something "fleeting and exciting", but that leaves us empty handed.

With the Holy Year, a "special" path is over but the "ordinary" path to mercy remains: confession, fasting, penance for sins, the liturgy, compassion for others. They are among the issues touched by Msgr. Stephen Lee Bun-sang, the bishop of Macau, at the closing of the Holy Door. The prelate, originally from Hong Kong, took office as bishop for the diocese of the former Portuguese colony on 23 January.

The ceremony was attended at least 3 thousand people gathered outside the St. Paul's School.

Before the conclusion of the ceremony, the head of the Committee for the Holy Year, the general vicar Fr. Pedro Chong presented a report on the activities that flourished during the jubilee: concerts; pilgrimages to Portugal and France; Eucharistic adoration for 24 hours; sacrament of reconciliation for young people.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The National Food Security Act was passed in 2013 but it is still in the pilot phase. It is applied to the 52 districts in the country. So far 55 million euro in aid have been distributed, but to start the project it would take two billion. Women forced to work until the ninth month of pregnancy.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Thousands of people, including mothers and pregnant women, protested in Calcutta for their right to maternity benefits. According to the National Food Security Act of 2013, pregnant and breastfeeding women should receive a subsidy of 6 thousand rupees from the state. However, "three years after the approval of the law, only pilot testing was confined in 52 districts", denounces Fr. Irudaya Jothi SJ, coordinator of the Right to Food Campaign, a network of over 500 NGOs in West Bengal.



On November 22, the protesters gathered at the Esplanade, in the heart of the city. There they divided into two parades, from Howrah and Sealdah stations. Sombari Mandi, a young mother of Burdwan district, who lost her infant son last September was among protesters. She told AsiaNews that the child "died at birth because I was malnourished. If I had enough food and was not forced to work up to the ninth month of pregnancy, maybe he would have lived".



The Food Security Bill (also known as the NFSA, National Food Security Act) was launched in August 2013 by the then government led by the Congress of Sonia Gandhi. Later the law was ratified in parliament, not without arousing doubts from the experts, concerned about the interest of corrupt administrators who are responsible for the distribution of aid attracted by the huge sums of money.



In its original formulation, the decree required a distribution of 5 kg of cereals per person per month, in controlled prices by 1-3 rupees per kilo; free meals to pregnant women, nursing mothers, children between six months and 14 years of age, malnourished children and the homeless. Instead once it the text was approved, some categories were excluded and in India even today many people are starving.

Protesters took to the streets have made specific requests: every pregnant woman should be guaranteed the benefit of 6 thousand rupees [ 82]; the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 should be abolished and all women (including housewives) must be granted 26 weeks of paid minimum wage during pregnancy; replacing poor quality flour with authentic grain. The current law governing working women who are pregnant dates to 1961, but provides for exemption from work only for 12 weeks.



Fr. Jothi, who coordinates the Udayani Social Action Forum (social formation of Jesuits in Calcutta) - one of the major sponsors of the protest - shows that in the 2016-2017 biennium only 4 billion rupees [ 55 million] were allocated. "In order for the right to maternity benefits becoming universal - he concludes  we would need at least 150 billion rupees [2 trillion euro]".
by Mathias Hariyadi

Buni Yani, a former journalist and professor of communication, is accused of having manipulated the words of Ahok and having incited the radical Muslim groups. A petition calling for his prosecution has collected more than 100 thousand signatures. The fundamentalists promise more protests on 2 December.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Indonesian police have arrested and named as suspect Buni Yani, a former journalist and professor of communications, accused of having incited the protests on 4 November against the Christian governor of Jakarta.

In the days after the event, a petition calling for a trial against Yani had collected more than 100 thousand signatures. The former journalist has confessed to having manipulated the words of Tjahaja Basuki Purnama known as "Ahok", making them seem an insult to Islam and generating the blasphemy charges against the politician.



Yani has been included in the list of suspects after several hours of questioning by police. He is charged with defamation and manipulation in religious matters, one of the four dimensions protected by former President Suharto (1967-1998).

Anyone who was guilty of the crime in one of the so-called Sara (Suku, ethnicity, Agama, religion, Ras, race and Adat-istiadat, local customs) was subject to severe punishment. Now, after the Reformation in 1998 following the fall of Suharto, Indonesians enjoy more freedom of expression and the ability to criticize. Civil society wonders if this freedom has not become too widespread.



Through his Facebook profile, Yani has expressed his disappointment at the arrest: "Now I need my friends and the support of all Muslims. I am under arrest and I cannot go home. " Again it was through the social network that Yani Ahok is accused of having "carried out a religious defamation" after editing a phrase uttered by the governor during a rally.



After the protest on November 4 mass (which was attended by at least 100 thousand people) and the inclusion of Ahok in the trial for blasphemy, radical Muslim groups promise new demonstrations against the governor. The Gerakan Nasional Pengawal Fatwa (Gnpf, national movement for the defense of the fatwa) is organizing a "mass prayer" in the central streets of Jakarta on 2 December. The police and the army said they will not tolerate any protest activities.

The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the two largest moderate Muslim groups, issued a statement idistancing themselves from Gnpf and accusing the organizers of the event on December 2 of manipulating the symbols of moderate movements.
His whereabouts are unknown since Monday after he visited families of detained human rights lawyers. Jailed and tortured in the past, he said last June that he feared he might be arrested. The Ministry of Public Security remains silent.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  The wife of one of Chinas best known human rights advocates said that her husband has gone missing.

Jin Bianling said that her husband, lawyer Jiang Tianyong, went to visit the families of some detained human rights lawyers. He was supposed to return to Beijing on Monday (21 November), but has not been heard since. His mobile phone is switched off. His friends fear that he might have been detained by police.

According to the South China Morning Post, Jiang had confided that he feared arrest and rarely spent more than a night in the same place.

Jiang, a Protestant, is known for defending important Chinese dissidents, like Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng and the blind dissident Chen Guangcheng, as well as members of Falun Gong and AIDS patients.

In the past, he was imprisoned for months and tortured, which he reported.

Jiang was disbarred in 2009, but has continued his activism, recently helping to publicise the plight of nearly two dozen human rights lawyers arrested as part of a sweeping 2015 government crackdown.

In July 2015, police arrested some 300 lawyers and activists guilty of defending people against the abuses of companies and local authorities.

To date, at least 16 of these lawyers remain in prison on charges of "inciting subversion of state power".

The Ministry of Public Security in Beijing did not immediately respond to journalists request for a comment about Jiangs whereabouts.
Amadiya (AsiaNews) - An "emergency with an emergency" that made the already precarious conditions of Christians in Mosul and the Nineveh plain even more difficult, more than two years on from having to abandon their homes to an Islamic State (IS) advance.

The offensive launched on 17 October by the army and Kurdish Peshmerga has generated "a new wave of refugees, at least 200 thousand" according to the latest estimates, which has relegated the fortunes and needs of those preparing to spend Christmas as refugees for a third year ". This is what Fr. Samir Youssef tells AsiaNews. The pastor of the diocese of Amadiya (in Iraqi Kurdistan), which handles 3,500 displaced families, Christian, Muslim and Yazidi who have abandoned their homes and lands to escape the jihadists.



Fr. Samir is at the forefront beginning of the emergency and is among the beneficiaries of the campaign launched by AsiaNews "Adopt a Christian from Mosul," which continues ahead of Christmas and winter just around the corner.



The first refugees from Mosul and the Nineveh plain, he says, "have been forgotten because of the new emergency" triggered by the offensive against the Caliphate. Children are forced to wear old and worn out shoes, which often are not enough to shelter from the cold and snow. Families cannot afford new blankets, but continue to use those of past years. There is no kerosene, food is scarce and needs are becoming more pressing.



"In our area - says the priest - 80% of aid is from the Church. The government does little or nothing, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations deal only with those people who are in refugee camps ". In Enishke [mountain village between Zakho and Dohuk] there are at least 400 families in need, "but here the UN and the government does not do anything" and it is "only thanks to Caritas and the Church that they have had aid".



Basic necessities, resources stocks "should be distributed to all", adds Fr. Samir, who does not want distinctions "between Christians, Yazidis and Muslims when it comes to charity. I want aid to be given to all in need, without distinction. " Among the priorities, says the priest, is the collection "of money to send 800 children to school. Most of them attend a school 30 minutes away from the village. "

Last year, he recalls Fr. Samir, "we distributed a lot of help, thanks to the many donations we received." But this year "the resources were far inferior - he said - and not enough to meet all of our needs. We live in a state of emergency and need everything from food to fuel, from clothes to money to purchase personal hygiene products".



The fugees from Mosul and the Nineveh plain are "concerned for their future, pending the liberation of all" areas still under the control of the Islamic state. "Christians and Yazidis are heartbroken - said the priest - to see the images coming from their areas, that tell of devastated homes [nearly 80% of the total], stolen property, stolen clothes."



A "systematic destruction" perpetrated by Daesh militiamen with the sole purpose of "preventing the return of refugees to their homes", combined with the massacre of entire families and the enslavement of women, especially among yazide,who have become the sex slaves of the jihadists.



Today the Iraqi troops are not only fighting the IS, but also have to feed a population weary after more than two years under the rule of the "Caliphate". "We are hearing reports  continues Fr. Samir  of kamikaze that mingle with the victims; and again, of the presence in each village of a house where yazide women were detained, abused and sold as the sex slaves of fighters.

This is combined with the drama of pregnant women: they are mostly members of the minority Yazidi victims of sexual violence. "Many of them - says the priest - are asking to have an abortion. In any case, we now have the future problem of a generation of children who will not even know who their father is, abandoned to their fate. " These are also the consequences of the war and constitute an additional source of conflict and tension in an already high risk context.



Other details emerge from the liberated villages, perhaps less cruel but of strong symbolic meaning: "We are seeing pictures - highlights Fr. Samir - with walls covered with writing, many of them say: 'You love life, we want death'. These are the messages of the jihadists, written just before their retreat and who have now flocked en masse to the area west of Mosul, on the right bank of the Tigris River. The danger is that the city is split in two and, like Aleppo in Syria, is the scene of a conflict that will drag on for the next few years. "



Finally, the priest tells of the many children of Mosul and the territories occupied by the IS who "have suffered brainwashing, grew up with the ideology of death, of war, of violence". Minors where the jihadists "were taught to use weapons and that instead of taking up a book have learned to handle guns. He warns that recovery programs are needed to rid these children of the "indoctrination now" and a "re-education of the general population."



An example comes from the village of Enishke: a Muslim family was of the Yazidis because it turned out that the head of the family has a brother in Mosul who was a leading member of IS. "People now want to drive them out - says Fr. Samir - and the higher the danger of revenge and retaliation, according to a well-rooted Islam logic of washing blood with blood". It will be difficult, he warns, to change this mindset and give precedence to charity, forgiveness.

A few weeks before Christmas and at the end of the Jubilee Year, Fr. Samir says only mercy can save an Iraq torn by violence and divisions. "We are starting the preparations for the holidays - says Fr. Samir - with prayer meetings, celebrations, seminars. To the Christians of East and West, but especially to those who are in Europe and the United States, tell them not to forget us. As Pope Francis says, mercy should not end but must live on in our love towards each other. No one - he concludes - should close their door to mercy (DS).
by Alberto Caccaro

Fr Alberto Caccaro, a PIME priest in Cambodia, shares his thoughts about the court ruling upholding life imprisonment for Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan. Both are accused of "crimes against humanity, extermination and murder." Ordinary Cambodians faces many difficulties to overcome the trauma of dictatorship. God's love provides hope against the disappointments of human justice.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews)  Yesterday morning a joint Cambodia-UN court upheld the conviction of Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, two prominent leaders in the Khmer Rouge Maoist movement that carried out a bloodbath in the 1970s that killed a quarter of the Cambodian population.

Still, the decision is not enough to heal the wounds that people carry in body and mind. What follows are the thoughts of Fr Alberto Caccaro, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute Foreign Missions (PIME) in Cambodia.

After nine years of existence, the special court for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia has handed down two important and final sentences of life imprisonment. The first one is against Nuon Chea, 90, nicknamed brother number two because he was second only to the brother number one Pol Pot; the second is against Khieu Samphan, 85, considered the regimes ideologue and president of Khmer Rouge state, the Democratic Kamphuchea. These are not secondary characters, but the head, the brain and executive arm of a regime responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people.

Whilst the verdict seems to finally bring some hope for justice to the Cambodian people and to the families of the victims, neither victims nor their surviving family members can ever be adequately compensated. I am not going into the merits of this special court  set up in 2007 after a difficult compromise between the United Nations and the Cambodian government  nor shall I dwell upon procedural irregularities, corruption allegations, and the huge and uncontrolled waste of money that turned the court into a business for many. To do so would mean that human justice is always partial and fatally unjust in offsetting wrong-doing.

Chhang Youk, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DCC), said that those responsible for the killings should get two million years in prison, one for each victim of genocide, but that is not possible. The DCC researches and records material available on the Khmer Rouge. Since its establishment, it has surveyed 19,440 mass graves and 185 detention and torture centres scattered throughout the country.

Nevertheless, the final verdict of life imprisonment, although "rendered moot" by the age of the accused, could at least help soothe the pain, the lack of meaning in the history of a country where impunity still prevails, where justice always has price or a political hue. I wonder then, after this final verdict, if justice has been done and if, in addition to the verdict, there are other human, cultural and religious resources that can help overcome the trauma and the ghosts of the past.

However, in motivating the sentence, which dates back to August 2014, the court stated that the two accused are guilty of "crimes against humanity, extermination, murder, political persecution and other inhumane acts [. . .] committed in the territory of Cambodia from 17 April 1975 to December 1977".

The first conviction was followed by defence lawyers filing an appeal but the courts latest decision is final, 40 years after the facts. Some years ago, Chhim Sotheara, psychologist and director of the Mental Health Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation, was called to testify about the devastating effects of trauma suffered by millions of Cambodians during that period of their history. In his view, "symbolic justice" was a minimal outcome of the long and ongoing trial.

In fact, many Cambodians have not yet overcome the trauma, which manifests itself in painful memories, in dreams in which dead family members cry or ask for help, full of fear. It is not true that time heals. Matthias Witzel, who authored the Understanding Trauma in Cambodia Handbook on behalf of the Center for Social Development, noted that many Cambodians still suffer from "post-traumatic stress disorder" from the violence they endured or saw. He explains that defence mechanisms converge in three areas in the human psyche to alleviate pain following a trauma: "dissociation, avoidance, and numbing.

Many Cambodians live in a permanent state of dissociation and avoidance. They avoid everything that can remind them of the fear and pain they once experienced. They avoid complex situations in which they would be hard-pressed to manage relationships. Often, when there is no way out, they react violently. A lot of domestic violence, in fact, is due to similar untreated trauma, to persistent fear, to a sense of vulnerability and threat that still dwells in the hearts of many.

Political instability on its own, being constantly victims of corruption, or at the mercy of someone, a policeman who stops you in the street or a doctor who will only care for a fee, without being able to ask for explanations or respond because of a permanent sense of inferiority, all this generates more fear and a sense of threat, exacerbated by widespread impunity and the lack of justice. The result is a need for emotional detachment, generalised apathy, censorship of what comes to the surface from the deep wounds of the soul.

At various levels, this inhibits the process of reconciliation with oneself and with others. People prefer expediency and luck, or money, the only tool able to free from any kind of threat. I wonder whether if  in addition to this latest verdict and the next, or to therapeutic counselling, which is too expensive for most people  there are other resources available to people, like religion, Buddhism for instance.

In this respect, I welcome a book released a few days ago by the DCC, because it at least documents an ongoing reflection. Titled Cambodia's Hidden Scars, it is in its second edition, and offers an interesting interview with Sao Chanthol, a monk at the Wat Lanka monastery in Phnom Penh. In it, the monk explores the themes of reconciliation from the perspective of the immutable law of karma of "cause and effect", according to which past lives, acts committed, always have an influence on present life.

The Dhammapada states that "Just as rust arising from iron eats away the base from which it arises, even so, their own deeds lead transgressors to states of woe" (240). This means that a man's destiny is determined and "corroded" by his own deeds. I cannot reach a firm conclusion on whether what the victims suffered during Khmer Rouge regime [1975-1979] was their Sanchita [karma]. . . Yet, I would like to clarify again that everything happens based on a process of cause and effect, Chanthol said. Yim Sotheary, a trauma psychiatrist who is also Buddhist, said that whilst believing in the positive influence of religion, she would never tell a patient that what happened to him or her was the result of their karma.

A second and equally rooted belief that does not contribute to the internal reconciliation process, is that the soul of those who have suffered a violent death will never find peace. This explains the repeated nightmares and the visits of dead relatives in dreams. A further difficulty is the fact that in Buddhism we are our own refuge. One is ones protector, one is ones own refuge. There, one should control oneself, even as a trader controls a noble steed. (Dhammapada, 380).

Adding silent pain to the radical solitude of being does not help either, just like the verdict. Even if it is final, it remains external and is not enough to heal the wounds or respond to the pain. I wonder if in this context one can or should suggest other religious perspectives, other interpretations of evil and the suffering of existence. I wonder whether one should not be more daring and proclaim with greater force that what is central is not the law or legal justice, but the love of God, which is capable of looking into the heart of each person . . .", as Pope Francis says in Misericordia et misera. Indeed, I wonder whether we ought to be more daring.
Speaking to the Security Council Nickolay Mladenov describes an "increasingly worrying and dangerous situation" "Immobility" of the international community is costing "human lives and suffering." Israel raises an expansion project in east Jerusalem which includes the construction of 500 new homes.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The expansionist policies of Israel regarding settlements and entrenched divisions between the Palestinians make " the evolution of the situation in the Middle East increasingly "dangerous, according to the UN special envoy Nickolay Mladenov.

He was intervening during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council which was held yesterday at UN Headquarters in New York. Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities have re-launched the project to build 500 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.

During the meeting Mladenov defined the new settlements part of an "increasingly worrying" development and called on the government authorities to stop the project.

"The situation on the ground - said top UN diplomat - The situation on the ground is changing steadily, dangerously, as proponents of Israeli settlement expansion feel emboldened, internal divisions among Palestinians flare up, and the prospect of a future Palestinian state comes under threat like never before".



The Bulgarians intervention comes just a few hours after the announcement of the Israeli authorities, which have re-launched the project - without long - to build 500 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. An area that, according to the Palestinians, should be the capital of a future  in an increasingly unlikely - Palestinian nation.



Analysts and Middle East policy experts point out that the decision of Israel is the confirmation of an expansion policy that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to step up following the US presidential victory of Donald Trump. The executive's hawks are convinced that the new administration will be less critical of the settlements than Barack Obama, at least in theory.

The test of the Israeli government's strength is matched by the inertia of the international community, primarily the United Nations. "The inaction has a cost - warned Mladenov - a price which is measured in human lives and suffering" and those opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state "do not offer viable solutions."



"The alternative - said in his speech to the Security Council - is an occupation without end, a permanent conflict that fuels the hatred between the peoples of Israel and Palestine and that nourishes extremism in the Middle East torn by ethnic and religious conflicts".



According to the latest statistics provided by Peace Now, Israel gave the green light to 2,623 housing units in the West Bank, including 756 illegally-built homes that have been retrospectively "legalised.

About 570,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlements built by Israel after it seized the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Under international law these settlements are illegal, a view disputed by the Israeli government, which has boosted its expansionist policy in recent years.

Peace talks between the two sides broke down in 2014, triggering an escalation of violence in the region.
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The most popular attraction in Sioux Falls is Falls Park and the falls inside this park have captured the hearts of many people since 1856. The park itself has one-hundred-twenty-three acres and most people head straight to the falls when they arrive at the park. There is something mesmerizing about watching more than seven thousand gallons of water rush over the falls every second of the day.

Another way that people can see the view of the falls and the city is to climb up the fifty-foot viewing tower that is near the Visitors Center. Once people have had enough of the falls, they can visit the Queen Bee Mill, Millrace and Dam, Seney Island, the Horse Barn, and multiple sculptures that are located inside the park. The old Light and Power Company Building has been turned into the Falls Overlook Cafe and it is the perfect place to take a break and have a bite to eat.
10 Best Things To Do in South Dakota

Things To Do in South Dakota

If you're looking for a place to bring your whole family for a variety of festivities, action, adventure, and great places to learn American history (especially the Sioux tribes), then you cant go wrong with the state of South Dakota . Weve rounded up ten of our best things to do in South Dakota. You probably wont be able to see all of it on one vacation, so youre probably best picking out a handful of locations that stand out to you the most.

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Being a high-powered lawyer whos part of the partnership at Americas most prestigious law firms doesnt mean one wont be subjected to racial discrimination. Thats especially true as some Americans may be feeling that racist behaviour is now nothing to be frowned upon following the election of Donald J. Trump as the next president.Biglaw partners have shared to The American Lawyer that they experienced racist behaviour, being told to go back to their own countries. Trump on the campaign trail had openly called for mass deportations of illegals and restrictions on Muslims entering the country.William Lee, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, told the publication that he had been told by a man at a wealthy Boston suburb to go back to your own country.Lee is described by The American Lawyer as one of the country's top intellectual property litigators. Wilmer Hale is ranked 12th on the publications A-List which ranks US firms on overall excellence. On gross revenue, the firm is 20th overall in the US, according to the publications Am Law 100.Lee, who is of Chinese descent but whose family has been in the US since 1948, recounted how he was filling his Mercedes-Benz SUV when a man approached him and asked how he could afford such a car. The man also reportedly said Lee was not welcome in the US.The lawyer told the man he didnt understand but was told, You mean, you dont understand English?I dont understand ignorance, he countered.Meanwhile, Cyndie Chang told The American Lawyer how she was also told by a Caucasian man to go back to her own country while she was standing on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. back in May.Chang, whos a fifth-generation immigrant to the US, is the managing partner of the Los Angeles office of Duane Morris and president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Duane Morris is ranked 72nd on the Am Law 100.Chang, who said she didnt respond to the comment, said she was in shock, and fear, a little bit.I am somewhat anxious and fearful, Chang told the publication, revealing she had scrapped plans to visit a relative a few hours from a city she was soon travelling to in order to avoid driving alone.Recently, Trump said he was so saddened to hear about hate coming from his supporters.In an interview on 60 Minutes, the President-elect said: If it helps, I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it!
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The recapitalization of the UK, Europe and Middle East partnership of King & Wood Mallesons has failed as its partners were unable to commit enough capital to match the lifeline offer from the Chinese and Australian partnerships.Its understood that only 20 per cent of regional partners were willing to put cash into the firm and commit to a 12-month lock-in. The firm needs capital to meet its debt obligations.A statement from the firm said that it is considering a range of strategic options, including mergers, in conjunction with the firm's bankers and financial advisers.Two international firms have announced appointments to global roles. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Adrian Maguire as co-head of its global financial investors group, one of its eight sector groups. He will work alongside Markus Paul and succeed David Higgins who will return to fee-earning on 1January 2017.The group comprises lawyers across Europe, MENA, Asia and the US and acts for financial investor clients, including private equity funds; pension funds; infrastructure funds; sovereign wealth funds; and alternative capital providers.Meanwhile, Simmons & Simmons has announced that commercial litigation partner Stuart Dutson will head the firms international arbitration practice comprising more than 20 dedicated partners across its global footprint.Dutson joined the firms London office from Eversheds earlier this year having previously held roles at Linklaters and legacy firm Herbert Smith.The Herbert Smith Freehills -SMU Asian arbitration lecture takes place in Singapore tonight (Thur 24. Nov) and will be given by the city-states chief justice The Honourable the Chief Justice, Sundaresh Menon.He will speak on the role of the party-appointed arbitrator, discussing whether they are adjudicators, advocates, or something in between. Commentary will be provided by Alastair Henderson, Herbert Smith Freehills' Head of International Arbitration, Southeast Asia.The lecture series, hosted by Singapore Management Universitys Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia this year, was established in 2010 through funding from Herbert Smith Freehills, and promotes collaborative forms of dispute resolution and access to justice.
Sullivan & Cromwell has promoted its Sydney office chief along with four other lawyers to the firms partnership.The appointments of Waldo D. Jones Jr., currently a special counsel, and fellow incoming partners John Horsfield-Bradbury, Joseph J. Matelis, Jeffrey B. Wall and Thomas C. White will be effective on 1 January 2017, an email from chairman Joseph C. Shenker which was obtained by Above The Law reveals.Jones, who joined Sullivan & Cromwell as an associate in its New York office in 1990, is currently the special counsel that heads up the Sullivan & Cromwells Sydney office. He was previously resident in the Firms Melbourne office during 1992 to 1994 and 1996 to 2001.Jones regularly advises U.S. and non-U.S. corporations and broker-dealers, and non-U.S. governments, on securities, privatization, merger and acquisition, project finance, venture capital and joint venture transactions in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.The capital markets and M&A specialist finished his B.A. from Rutgers University - New Brunswick in 1985 and his J.D. from University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1990.Meanwhile, Horsfield-Bradbury handles equity and debt capital-markets transactions, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and credit and leveraged finance at the firms London office. An associate in the firms General Practice Group, he finished his B.A. and Masters in Math from Cambridge in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and his J.D. from Harvard in 2008.Matelis is a special counsel in Washington, D.C. focused on antitrust matters, including merger reviews, other government proceedings involving competition issues, litigation, and counselling. He finished his B.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1993 and his J.D. from Harvard in 1996.Wall is a special counsel in Washington, D.C. who co-heads the firms Appellate Litigation Practice. He finished his B.A. from Georgetown in 1998 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2003. Despite being a 2003 graduate, he has already argued 11 cases before the US Supreme Court.White is a special counsel in the firms New York office who is part of the firms Litigation Group. He represents global companies and financial institutions in complex commercial litigation, arbitration, and government investigations in the areas of securities law, contract disputes, ERISA, and bank regulation. He finished his A.B. from Dartmouth in 2004 and his J.D. from Yale in 2007.
Hi Rozyx , Kaffee is correct , just scan all your flightseven if they are for him to visit you or the other way around or any hotel bookings where you have stayed together.

Maybe write statutory declaration on your plans to live together and if you want to rent a house or etc.if you have any invitations to weddings birthdays etc.or if you have saved tickets from concerts.As well your banks account statements , if you have bought him a present or he had bought you as well something or sent you money.

A solid evidence if you want to make a will.

Or if he has a superannuation to write you down as a beneficiary.

Just have a look in the forum there are a couple of threads about that.

Good Luck !
Hi there, my partner is a permanent resident and eligible for citizenship. She has been in Brazil for 3 months already and may stay for a while due to family issues. She wants to apply for citizenship in February. What would be easier, applying from Brazil or from in Australia? I don't know what the processing times are? Are they the same? All I do know is that if you apply from outside Australia, you need to be here at the drop of a hat to attend to tests etc. she's gonna go back to Brazil for a bit after she gets the passport but with the intention of coming back to live here in the very near future. Basically she wants to be here for as little time as necessary during the process because of her fathers health. Any advice and info much appreciated. Cheers.
Footfalls and enquiries for Honda decline over 30 percent, Toyota's by up to 15 percent.

The sales of the passenger vehicle industry, particularly utility vehicles, were just about beginning to accelerate for FY2016-17 when the Government of India delivered a speed-breaker on November 8. It announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

Rough estimates show, carmakers in India have seen a decline in bookings, and enquiries have stopped translating into sales following the announcement. Though the passenger car market is not marked by cash sales with 70-80 percent of payments made through financing and debit and credit cards, the impact of demonetisation is palpable. Overall, market sentiment is down with customers rejigging their priorities with cash not available readily.

Honda Cars India has witnessed more than 30 percent dip in footfalls at its dealerships this month, which has affected sales across the board. Jnaneswar Sen, senior VP (sales and marketing), Honda Cars India said December sales numbers could be different with the currency crunch easing. That would push up sales and enable carmakers to achieve this fiscals sales targets.

Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has experienced slowdown of deliveries though no cancellations have been reported. The carmaker has witnessed 10-15 percent dip in enquiries and walk-ins in the past week. N. Raja, director and senior vice-president, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, maintains that if the situation recovers in the coming weeks, meeting fiscal targets for the fiscal would be possible.

Auto industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) feels the subdued market sentiments could continue for another couple of months which would severely impact the financial targets of four-wheeler companies in the short-term. Vishnu Mathur, director general of SIAM, said that people were more concerned about getting money rather than spending it.

This trend will continue for another couple of months till the liquidity crunch eases. Since 80 percent of four-wheeler sales in India occur through bank financing and 20 percent in the form of upfront payments, or through cheques, many customers will be unable to do so seeing the pressure that banks are currently under.

No more cash down in rural India

The scenario in rural India could be worse compared to urban India. In non-urban centres, RTOs that accept road tax for new registration of vehicles in the form of cash have put a lid on it as car purchases have become discretionary. People are visiting showrooms but not making any bookings. This has seen some car companies offering 100 percent funding options to woo customers.

Entry-level bikes to feel the heat

In the case of two-wheelers, where payment is mostly in cash in rural markets, sales would be more impacted by the end of the fiscal. According to ratings agency ICRA, demonetisation is expected to have a moderate adverse impact on domestic two-wheeler sales volumes in the near term. Rural markets account for 60 percent to 65 percent of the entry-segment motorcycle sales which will be affected given the high propensity for cash purchases.

Though favourable monsoons have been a significant trigger for healthy demand from the rural markets during the current fiscal, most of the sales have been sentiment-driven, given that the kharif crop sales commenced in October/November. However, the ban on high denomination notes and the consequent constrained liquidity may result in dip or delay in realisation of crop sales, thereby leading to low demand for such vehicles.

However, ICRA believes that the adverse impact is likely to be a short-term one. With strong structural factors and demand drivers, the two-wheeler volumes are likely to revive in the forthcoming months.
Toyota showcased its strong hybrid technology with the new Prius.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on November 23, 2016 organised a Toyota Caravan show at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi to spread awareness about safety and eco-friendly technologies through a series of interactive sessions. The event was organised on a common platform for opinion leaders from the government and industry, along with engineering professionals from Toyotas offices in Japan, Singapore and India.

As a hybrid technology pioneer, Toyota also showcased its strong automotive hybrid technology through the new Prius.

Comprising sessions on the broad themes of Commitment to safety with technology and education and Creating a clean and sustainable future through environment-friendly technologies, the seminar saw participation from government officials, including Girish Shankar, secretary, ministry of heavy industries, Anshu Prakash, additional secretary, ministry of heavy industries, Sayed Musawwir Ali, special secretary, department of environment. Also present were Akito Tachibana, MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Shekhar Viswanathan, vice-chairman and whole-time director, TKM, N. Raja, director and senior VP, TKM, and Raju B. Ketkale, senior VP, TKM.

Commenting on the event, Girish Shankar said, TKMs platform has helped to reflect, share knowledge and enhance understanding on the various challenges with regard to road safety and the need for achieving a sustained environment.

Sharing his views on the initiative, Akito Tachibana said, Toyota believes that we have to play a greater role than just manufacturing cars. We are here to solve the bigger issues in the society leveraging our technology and innovation. We aim to offer the newest technology towards creating a sustainable Earth for the next generation. Toyota takes the ownership in building a safer, cleaner and greener world for our children.

Pushing safety

Energy crisis and increasing pollution are some of the gravest problems faced by the world today. Through Toyota Caravan, we aim to drive awareness and steer the way to future by building "safest cars ensuring the safest driving experience". We believe road safety is significant for the sustained social and economic development of a nation. Through our various safety awareness campaigns, we urge every citizen to become safety brand ambassadors by changing the prevailing mindset, added Tachibana.

N. Raja said, Although strong hybrid technology is still at a very nascent stage in India, the Camry Hybrid has received an overwhelming response from our customers, which indicates the willingness of the market to accept alternative fuel technology which not only benefits the environment but also conserves fuel.

The Camry Hybrid is the sole such model which is locally manufactured at TKMs second plant in Bidadi near Bangalore. The Japanese carmaker currently sells 33 hybrid models in more than 90 global markets, having sold a cumulative 9 million hybrids.

The next Toyota Caravan is scheduled to be held in Jaipur on November 26, 2016.

Also read:

2016 Toyota Prius review
Hyundais next compact estate model will not be concealed for long , because we have the first set of spyshots of the new design. Just like any other wagon version of a hatchback or a sedan, the car shares the front end with the hatchback variant, and this goes for the doors as well.From what we can discern from the prototype seen in the photo gallery, the rear of the i30 Wagon is not that different when compared to the regular i30 . Just like its predecessors, the i30 will share its platform with Kias Ceed , a car that is currently in the development stage and will get a production version next year.The wagon version of the Hyundai i30 is also expected to be revealed next year, and theres a change that the South Korean brand might show it at the Geneva Motor Show. While we are only four months away from that event and these are the first spyshots of the i30 Wagon, you cannot rule out this possibility.After all, the i30 has taken its time for development, and the estate body style probably does not require that many changes before it gets the final approval for launch.Apart from the hatchback and the wagon, Hyundais i30 range is expected to include another body style with this generation. The addition to the range will be a five-door liftback , which will be launched later on in the production cycle of the ongoing i30. From the beginning, that body style was announced as planned for launch after the wagon is ready, so Europeans might have to wait another year for it.If the term lift back is something that is not familiar to you, think about a sedan with an opening rear hatch. That is the idea with this body style, which is something between the hatchback and the estate concerning practicality. With Peter Schreyer at the head of the design department, theres a chance it will have a harmonious look.
We believe him to be the most significant explorer of the 15th century because he found America, even though the Vikings were there first. Yet at roughly the same time there was a man called Zheng He, who commanded a fleet of over 300 ships, went round the Indian Ocean and brought back gifts for his Emperor, including giraffes.You see, China dominated world export in much the same way it does today. And while Henry Ford's Model T was the first mass-market car, the Chinese won't let a little thing like that stand in their way.So far, their conquest of the European market hasn't worked. So they're trying with Australia instead. And by they, we mean Haval, the Great Wall brand that is bringing two SUVs over, complete with RHD.Both of them were penned by the former head of BMW M design, Pierre Leclercq, who worked on the previous generations of the X5 and X6, among other things. Despite this, the H8 looks a lot like the old Audi Q7 from the front and the VW Tiguan I on the inside.The H6, which is the smaller o the two, is powered by a 2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine producing 197 hp and 315 Nm of torque. It's got a 6-speed twin-clutch gearbox sending power only to the front wheels. This is more of a crossover that will compete with the Hyundai Tucson, Nissan X-Trail, and Toyota RAV4.The H8 looks like a Touareg , both inside and out. The cabin is decked with wood and Mercedes-like trim. The leather is of exceptional quality... reportedly. Its version of the 2-liter turbo makes slightly more power and torque, but it's matched to a 6-speed auto from ZF.Haval is really trying to cover all the bases, starting with the tiny H2 and ending with the three-row H9 launched earlier. If you fancy looking at a review of something you're never going to buy, we've got you covered.
Styling is a subjective thing, and while the new Micra looked like the sharpest tool in Paris a few months ago, we're not so sure anymore. In this gray color with metallic accents, it's a bit of an eyesore, especially at the front. The small grille and pinched fog lights are not a testament to Nissan's design capabilities.From the back, it's a little bit better, thanks to high-placed taillights. Comparing it to the polo, you can tell that the Micra has been over-designed. It's got hidden door handles, lights that cut into the trunk, creases down the side and thick rear pillars.Having grown since its previous incarnation, the Micra is now the size of a Renault Clio, or 8cm wider, 6cm lower and a massive 17cm longer. This means more legroom and a bigger trunk. The video says that at 300 liters, this Nissan has nearly 100 liters more than the VW Polo (204 liters). But that's not correct, since the Polo has 280 liters even with a full-sized spare. Let's just conclude that the new Micra is much better than before and leave it at that!This particular car is equipped with a 1.5-liter dCi diesel engine producing 90 PS and 220 Nm of torque. It's described as being peppy and well insulated from the cabin. Speaking of which, the dashboard is also a little over-designed, but the two-tone combination and soft-touch materials pull this supermini away from anonymity. The design flourishes on the outside impede rear visibility, so parking sensors are a must-have feature.Overall, we can't say that this strikes us as a big contender in the segment. Renault's aging Clio still has a fantastically supple ride, pleasing French design and the same engine. Even this test car has some weird flaws like the wind-down windows and no grab handles in the back.
Chiron acceleration demo 1 Tag a friend! Video by @the.bleugatti #Bugatti #Chiron #OnlyChirons A video posted by Only Bugatti Chirons (@onlychirons) on Oct 21, 2016 at 8:07pm PDT

First of all, this image, which comes from the GTboard Facebook page, qualifies for what the Internet calls "potato quality". Secondly, it doesn't come with any details, so all we have is a bunch of pixels.Even so, if this is a photo that actually shows a Chiron needing assistance to move around and not a Photoshop job, we are, most likely, dealing with a test car.The Molsheim-based automaker did perform its fair share of crash tests before introducing the Veyron's successor to the world, as those of you who followed the leaked crash test mule story remember.Some of you might wonder about the timing involved here - while a number of pre-production cars have shown up around the world earlier this year, in places such as Monaco (of course), official production of the 1,500 hp machine kicked off in September.As for the extremely safe high-velocity driving part of the intro above, a few lucky aficionados have already had the pleasure to take the quad-turbo beast for a spin. And this is how we found out just how little effort the French mechanical supermodel requires from its driver, even when talking about hooning. Those of you who missed the video showcasing this will find it below. Ironically, we have to ask you not to try this at home, whether you drive a hypercar, supercar or a beater that can barely get to 60 mph.We'll keep you updated if new details on this damaged Chiron show up.
The first electric vehicle sold under the Maserati brand will be the production version of the Alfieri concept. The Italians want to launch it in 2020, shortly after the introduction of conventionally-powered versions. The Alfieri might also get a plug-in hybrid option, as the brand is also considering implementing a few of those in its portfolio by the same date.We also know that the Alfieri will not get a V8 engine, but a twin-turbo V6 unit. We believe the power plant might be borrowed from the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, which would make it more beneficial for both brands of the Italian-American corporation.According to Autocar , the decision to implement a V6 engine came after CO2 emissions figures of the V8 were considered for this model within the fleet average, and the answer was unfavorable for the eigh-cylinder mill.Maserati officials have officially confirmed the information regarding the electric Alfieri, which had first surfaced on the Internet this summer . Before this official confirmation, we knew that Maserati was considering electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, and that a production car based on the Alfieri was supposed to be launched after the Levante It appears that the rumors regarding this model were accurate, as it seems that the Alfieri was delayed , and that it will also get an electric version. The Italian model is reportedly getting an all-new platform, which will underpin other models from the Trident brand.The same platform would then be used by the next GranTurismo and GranCabrio. Using the same platform as an electric vehicle would make these cars suitable for plug-in hybrid versions, as well as for offering them in all-electric variants. This is not necessarily going to happen, especially for the GranCabrio, but the possibility exists on a theoretical level.
Things like these show us that the current systems used for issuing speed tickets with fixed speed cameras are not entirely fool-proof, and that mistakes can still occur.Fortunately for Mr. James Roberts, the top speed of his vehicle is just eight mph (12 km/h), while the speeder that was mistakenly confused with him was driving at 42 mph (67 km/h) in a zone where the limit is at 30 mph (48 km/h).At the precise time when the speeding offense took place, the 74-year-old pensioner was ten miles away, in his home in Abergele, where he was recovering from a triple heart surgery. Along with the fact that his vehicle did not have a license plate per se, theres not better alibi than this in the given situation.As the UK s Metro notes, the ticket was objected and then revoked after it was found to be issued incorrectly. However, while we are happy that the retired electrician from North Wales did not get an incorrect speeding ticket, we find ourselves wondering just how often does this happen in the UK and other places of the world.As you know, these speeding cameras and some red light cameras are cash cows for some local authorities, as they can end up earning serious money for the city without too much effort put into them.It has been demonstrated on several occasions that some red light cameras, for instance, were configured to make it easy for drivers to get a ticket without crossing the intersection on a red light.The same can be said about some speeding cameras, because their systems are not entirely perfect, and the system can always have a glitch when you are passing.This error is particularly frustrating, as the offense happened at a plausible distance from the presumed offenders home if an automobile was involved, but without any number plates on the mobility scooter.In other words, the man was sent the fine even though the mobility scooter that is registered in his name does not have license plates, and the vehicle could not have even reached 30 mph (the speed limit on the segment), let along 42 mph with a triple heart surgery patient at the wheel.
Ford Motor Company is again teaming up with the Detroit Area Agency on Aging for the ninth consecutive year as part of the Holiday Meals on Wheels Thanksgiving program. Their efforts will ensure that more than 6,000 area homebound seniors can enjoy a Thanksgiving Day meal.

Fords donation of $50,000 to DAAA goes to supply the food for Thanksgiving meals, and provides additional funding for the daily meal service throughout the year. Additionally, Ford employees and their families will come together on Wednesday, Nov. 23, to assemble freshly prepared meals at Valley Services at 1980 Bagley in Detroit, starting at 8 a.m.

At Ford we dont just build great cars and trucks, we also build communities, said Pamela Alexander, director of the Ford Motor Company Fund and community services. By providing thousands of meals to seniors in our region on Thanksgiving we help to ensure that no one is hungry on this holiday.

Ford Fund, which works to strengthen communities year-round by assisting hunger relief agencies, once again joins The Parade Company and Gleaners Community Food Bank in helping to feed the hungry in southeast Michigan. According to Gleaners, 715,000 local residents, including 300,000 children, face hunger this year.

While we celebrate this holiday season with friends, family, and a nice meal, homebound seniors and adults with disabilities in our community are often neglected. Thats why we are sharing the love and feeding our homebound and disabled adults this Thanksgiving, said Paul Bridgewater, DAAA president and CEO. Thats why we are thankful for the Ford Motor Company Fund. They are driving away hunger on Thanksgiving with their generous donation that enables us to deliver fresh, hot, traditional Thanksgiving meals to 6,000 seniors. To us, the donation and the volunteers theyre supplying to DAAA are a much-needed gift to our entire community.

Ford, which is investing $20 million in local and educational and community programs this year, is also extending its support for the region with a new three-year sponsorship commitment with The Parade Company  producer of both Americas Thanksgiving Parade and the annual Ford Fireworks.
The Volkswagen emission scandal erupted last September 18 of 2015. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Clean Air Act violation notice to the German automaker group Volkswagen. The reason for the notice violation issued by EPA was due to the discovery of a tricky program installed intentionally by Volkswagen to engage full emissions control only during testing.

A turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines is programmed to activate certain emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing which allows it to pass the emission US standards provided during regulatory testing, but actually emits 40 percent more Nitrogen oxide, a harmful and toxic gas linked to lung cancer, to the environment in real-world driving.

Due to this emission scandal, Volkswagen's affected models for massive recalls are placed in the limelight. Affected Volkswagen models which did not pass the emission testing are the following:

2009-2015 Audi A3 2.0 L TDI

2009-2015 VW Beetle 2.0 L TDI

2009-2015 Beetle Convertible 2.0 L TDI

2009-2015 VW Golf 2.0 L TDI

2015 VW Golf Sportwagen 2.0 L TDI

2009-2015 VW Jetta 2.0 L TDI

2009-2014 Jetta Sportwagen 2.0 L TDI

2012-2015 VW Passat 2.0 L TDI.

According to Auto Express, Volkswagen gave their agreement for a record settlement as high as $14.7 billion (12bn) to the US authorities, one year after the emission scandal came into light. The high-record settlement offered by Volkswagen will compensate for the damages incurred by the toxic emissions brought by the Volkswagen models involved, and to help in funding the clean air projects.

Car and Driver further report that the car company Volkswagen will not be selling new diesel models for now. Sales were halted upon the emission scandal eruption. Volkswagen has been offering electric cars but has long stopped selling diesel cars especially in the US.

For those who purchased the TDI cars, they can sell their model back to Volkswagen for the price ranging $12,500 and $44,000 which depends on the model, trim, age, and location. This buyback process was announced early November 2016. For those who opted not to sell their cars, they can receive compensation money between $5100 and $10,000, and an offer for a free emission fix is also given. Those who did not choose any of these options are given until May 2018 to decide.

Volkswagen is looking into fixing the model's emission flop. But sources hint that the company will reveal their plan regarding this by the end of the year 2017. More updates regarding the Volkswagen emission scandal will be given soon.

Here is an excerpt of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver regarding the Volkswagen emission scandal.
The 2017 Honda Civic Type R was spied testing In California Road and spy shots from car parazzis are now all over the internet. This is the second time that we see the development model of the recently introduced Honda Civic Type R Prototype and it looks like this time, it is on its final stage of testing and is ready for production. Will we get the much awaited Type R soon?

The 2017 Honda Civic Type R is in the final stages of development as we have seen recently with the presentation of the model at the SEMA 2016. Honda first revealed the new Civic Type-R at the 2016 Paris Auto Show. However, the beautiful specimen of black color that we saw in Paris is just a prototype. But recent spy photos show that the production version will be very close to the prototype shown according to RoadAndTrack.

The 2017 Honda Civic Type R shown in the video below shows the same external elements that the Type-R Prototype. The images are not of good quality, but clearly shows the body kit, which looks identical in its rear area, wheel arches and rear spoiler included, so we can expect that Honda will unveil a version of calcada series to the concept shown up now, and it will be marketed in the same configuration both in the US and Europe.

Like the Honda Civic hatchback, the Civic Type R will be manufactured at the plant of the brand in the UK and shipped from there to other countries, including the United States and Canada. The mechanical specifications are still a mystery, but is expected to have the 4 - cylinder VTEC Turbo engine, derived from the current Type-R, with a higher power figure, around 340 horses according to AutoEvolution.

Recent reports here at AutoWorldNews showed that its power will be managed exclusively front wheel drive and channeled wheels through a box manual gearbox six relations.

Watch the spy video of the 2017 Honda Civic Type R here where we expect that it can go on sale next year.
The newest version of Airbus A350 passenger jet completed a maiden flight Thursday during a well-attended event to see the long-haul market contender in action. The A350-1000, one of three test aircraft assembled at Airbus main facility in France, departed early Thursday before crowds of employees and potential customers, returning to Toulouse after a three-hour flight. The test models, the largest of the A350 series, will undergo about 1,600 hours of flight tests for certification, according to Reuters report on this weeks debut. The standard 1000 version will have 366 passenger seats, a beefier version of the A350-900 thats now in service and making it a contender against Boeings 777 series. Airbus contends that the composite-built A350-1000 will cost 25 percent less to operate than the B777-ER, according to the Reuters report. The A350-1000 is slated to enter service in 2017.

Meanwhile, Airbus, which also is undergoing a consolidation of its Toulouse operations to cut costs, faces potential roadblocks in completing deliveries of its current aircraft. Delays from suppliers have left incomplete A350-900 jets parked in Toulouse waiting for their cabins to be finished. Meanwhile, some smaller A320 jets waiting to be delivered dont have engines from Pratt & Whitney  all of which a Reuters report indicates is a sign of suppliers struggling to keep up with demand for new components. But officials said the A350-900 is still on schedule for 50 deliveries this year despite ongoing concerns over suppliers. It has improved, but it is not where it should be and we are watching them very carefully, an Airbus official told Reuters.
Good judgment and quick thinking are hallmarks of the aviation mentality. Both pilots and air traffic controllers are in the decision-making business. For controllers, every moment our headsets are plugged in, were making choices that affect the safety and flow of traffic in our airspace.

Some choices are easier than others, such as not clearing anyone for takeoff when Ive got a Gulfstream IV on short final.

Others are more nuanced. Thats certainly true when were determining which aircraft gets to depart first. FAA Order 7110.65 2-1-4 directs controllers to, Provide air traffic control service to aircraft on a first come, first served basis as circumstances permit. The demands of traffic flow sometimes dictate other than first come first served, hence the circumstances permit phrase.

On a recent sunny day, I was putting that phrase to work. An IFR Cessna 182 Skylane was just pulling up to the hold short line of Runway 27. Its pilot checked in, cheer in his voice. Tower, run up complete. Were all ready to go.

I noted his enthusiasm, but unfortunately, he was just one of three aircraft I was eyeing. Rumbling up to the hold short line on the opposite side of the runway, I had an IFR Airbus A320 airliner, followed by an IFR Embraer Phenom 100 light corporate jet. Shortly after the Skylane called me, the Airbus and the Phenom each reported ready in sequence.

Decision time. Who goes first?

Immutable Facts

Controllers spend their time assessing different factors about the aircraft under their supervision, and then acting on that information. Naturally one of those bits of information is which aircraft was ready to depart firstin this case, the Skylanebut thats only one of many variables in our calculations.

Perhaps youve been to a theme park, like Disney World or Universal Studios, and waited hours in long lines for a thrill ride. Once you arrived at the head of the line, the smiling attendant likely asked you how many people were in your party. If you replied, Four, and they only have three seats remaining, shell keep on going up the line until she finds a party of three. Disneys not going to send the ride off with three empty seats, just because those folks happened to be after you. Thats inefficient, since those three people would then take up space on the next ride and bump somebody else back.

In a way, thats how ATC operates, analyzing each specific aircrafts requests, routes, and restrictions in order to improve order and efficiency for the system as a whole. To provide the best overall service, sometimes individual aircraft have to wait a little longer so another aircraft with different requirements can go.

For instance, do any of the aircraft in line have a call for release (CFR) time or an expect departure clearance time (EDCT)? Aircraft going to major airports like Atlanta Hartsfield or to the Washington D.C. or New York City areas are often saddled with hard departure windows that range anywhere from 2-10 minutes. These windows are assigned by a Traffic Management Unit (TMU) so that the departure fits in with the ongoing stream of traffic headed to those airports.

If a CFR or EDCT aircraft misses its window, it has to wait for the next one. Ive seen aircraft get delayed 30 or 40 minutes because they were 60 seconds late taxiing to the runway. These windows are serious business. For an airliner with hundreds of passengers in the back, thats a lot of potential missed connectionsand angry passengers.

Tower controllers dont have room to budge here. If were inside a CFR/EDCT aircrafts window or the window is approaching quickly, that aircraft takes priority. The entire tower crew works to make sure we hit the mark. Ground controllers will sometimes need to hold other aircraft on the ramp to get the time-sensitive flight to the head of the line. If there is a steady stream of arrivals and only room for one departure, its going to be the CFR/EDCT flight if the tower controller has a choice.

The A320 opposite my Skylane has a three minute CFR window to New Yorks John F. Kennedy airport, with only two minutes remaining. If I let the Skylane go first, hell take a minute and a half to get airborne and out of the way. Thats cutting it too close. I decide the A320 is number one and clear him for takeoff. The Cessna driver will need to wait a little longer.

Staying Ahead of the Traffic

As the A320 rolls, Im examining the route for the Embraer Phenom 100 light jet thats taken its place at the hold short line. Both the Phenom and the Skylane are headed in the same direction: northeast. Thats a potential conflict thanks to anotherand far more commonimmutable factor: basic aircraft performance.

The vast majority of controllers arent pilots. Many have never even taken a seat inside a cockpit. However, from the beginning of our training, were taught to identify aircraft and recognize how their individual performance affects our overall sequence.

We dont need to know specifics. Im a private pilot raised in an airline family. Ive been around airplanes my entire life. Even with that background, I couldnt tell you the V speeds for the Phenom 100 bizjet or the Cessna 182s best climb speed. However, any controller knows with confidence that the Embraer jet is sure as heck going to out-climb and out-run the Skylane.

To contend with performance differences, tower controllers will typically assign different headings to aircraft on departure. These headings must differ by at least 15 degrees to create legal IFR separation. Off Runway 27, if the Phenom was southbound and the Skylane northbound, I could clear the prop for takeoff heading 290 and the jet heading 250. That gives me more than enough separation.

Thats not the case here, since theyre both routed northeast. Picture what would happen if I launched the Skylane first on a 290 heading. As the Cessna turns, I could immediately launch the Embraer on a heading 270, and Ive got my initial departure separation. However, the radar controller then has to keep them separate in their climb. With the slowly ascending Skylane in the way, he cant turn the Embraer right until the jets at least three miles past or a thousand feet above the Cessna, taking the fast mover well out of his way before he can turn on course.

I make the call and clear the Phenom for takeoff on a heading of 290, knowing that as soon as hes airborne, Ill be able to clear the Skylane on a heading of 270. Theyll never be a factor for each other, and theyll be perfectly set up for their ascent: fast jet in front, slower prop in trail.

As the Embraer takes the runway, I advise the Skylane hell be next. Alright. Well be here, tower, the Skylane says. The enthusiasm in his voice is notably fading. I feel for the guy, but I stand confident that this is the best decision overall.

Crossing Out

The Phenoms mains lift off the ground and I reach for my mic switch. Before I can clear the Skylane for takeoff, my ground controller cuts me off with a new flight progress strip. Its for an IFR Beechcraft Bonanza, whos requesting to depart our inactive Runway 36. That runway cuts right across the middle of 27. Tower, a new voice says on the radio, Bonanza ready at three-six. I can take an immediate. Hes hustling up to the 36 hold short line, obviously in a hurry. His route of flight? Northeast, just like our Cessna.

Graphics by the author.

Lets examine the situation. Ive already departed two jets ahead of the Skylane, whos been ready to go the entire time. Each jet took about a minute and a half to depart, so the Cessnas taken a three-minute hit for the benefit of the overall traffic flow. Not a huge delay, but hes putting his valuable time and money on the Hobbs meter just like everyone else.

How longs the Bonanza been waiting? All of two seconds. Hes also requesting something specialRunway 36, which isnt currently in useinstead of fitting in with the standard flow of traffic.

The complication lies in the northeasterly routing of both aircraft. If I depart the Skylane first, radars going to hook the Cessna right across Runway 36s departure path. The Bonanza will probably have to wait three to five minutes for the Skylane to be clear of his flight path, depending on how fast the Cessna turns and climbs.

On the flip side, if I make the Bonanza number one, the Skylane will have to wait until the Bonanza cuts across the Runway 27/36 intersection. Thatll be about another minute, added on to the three hes already waited. I can then launch the Skylane. Both will depart on vastly different headings and will be well-spaced for their northeast climbs, the Bonanza in the lead, Skylane in trail.

At this point, you probably think Im going to tell you my decision. Nope. Youve got all the information about both aircraft in front of you. Youve got their aircraft types, their direction of flight, their potential conflict point, how long each has been waiting, how long their estimated total delay time will be, and their runway request.

Now, you make the choice. Whos number one?

Whats for lunch? A healthy salad or a half-pound burger? Thats just one of the life-and-death decisions Tarrance Kramer has to make as a tower controller in the southeastern U.S.

This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue ofIFRmagazine.

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With less than five months to before Armenias next parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Karen Karapetian announced on Thursday his decision to join President Serzh Sarkisians Republican Party (HHK).

Karapetian described the move as logical as he opened a weekly session of his cabinet in Yerevan.

First, I was invited to take up the post of prime minister by the president of Armenia and the chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, Serzh Sarkisian. Second, any government needs to have a political power base and our government has been, first and foremost, an HHK government, he said, listing the main reasons for it.

Karapetian, 53, is a former business executive who has not been affiliated with any party until now. The main official rationale for Sarkisians decision to appoint him as prime minister in September was to speed up economic reforms in Armenia.

The premier reaffirmed that he was primarily tasked with changing many things in our social and economic life. He insisted that the HHK leadership fully supports his reform agenda.

The announcement came on the eve of an HHK congress in Yerevan which is expected to discuss the ruling partys preparations for the parliamentary elections slated for April. The HHK has yet to clarify whether Karapetian will remain prime minister in case of its victory in the polls.

Nine of the 19 current government ministers did not serve in Armenias previous cabinet headed by Hovik Abrahamian. Most of them are technocrats handpicked by Karapetian.

Two of those cabinet members, Transport and Communications Minister Vahan Martirosian and Agriculture Minister Ignati Arakelian, told reporters after Thursdays cabinet meeting that they too have applied for membership in the HHK. Both men insisted that they were not forced to do that.

The Armenian National Congress (HAK), a major opposition party, was quick to scoff at Karapetians decision to join the HHK. Levon Zurabian, the HAKs parliamentary leader, called it a further indication that the Sarkisian administration is not serious about its promised reforms.

The HHK is a corrupt swap which has its own rules  That system cannot tolerate any outside influences, Zurabian told RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Karapetian is saying that he is ready to change things or that the Republican Party is ready to change things and change itself, he said. But we can only see one thing: the Republican Party doesnt change, while everybody else does by being sucked into that swamp. This once again shows that any change in Armenia is possible only if we change the entire power base.
24 November 2016 10:22 (UTC+04:00)

Armenias armed forces have 9 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on November 24.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in the Gizilhajili village of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Berkaber village of Armenias Ijevan district.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were also shelled from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Shikhlar village of the Aghdam district, as well as on nameless heights of the Goranboy and Tartar districts.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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24 November 2016 17:46 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Karen Karapetyan, who just a couple of months ago was appointed as the prime minister, may be the next head of state in Armenia, the country which loses more and more a credibility on its incumbent president.

Given the difficult socio-economic and the potentially explosive political situation in Armenia, there were huge expectations on the new government. The nation with each fourth holding a status of poor was in anticipation of real changes.

He had certain priority tasks to solve. First of all, it was related to the national debt, which continues to grow. Next year it will reach $6 billion, and this figure is very dangerous, especially since the growth trend still exists.

Introducing the future prime minister, Sargsyan told his party fellows that Karapetyan was pretending to become the symbol of changes in Armenia and might ride a big wave to achieve new economic and political liberties for the nation.

Although, this optimism of the Armenian president was shared by only few in the country and abroad. At a time with only seven months ahead of parliamentary elections there are no revolutionary expectations from the new government.

These upcoming elections indeed promise to be a landmark event as the new authorities will be guided by the new constitution that defines the parliament as the supreme power, and prime minister as the key figure to administer all economic spheres.

Obviously, the government of millionaires wants to regulate existing problems and rejects shocks, but principle changes are needed. However, the existing government system and economic model remain to be stronger than the government's efforts. Its steps are limited enough to break this system, thus slowing down the development of the country.

The fight against corruption, the dominance of monopolies, the reduction of shadow business and other urgent problems that must be addressed by the government are of political nature, not administrative.

Although the Armenian government and population relied on Karapetyan a lot, apparently, nothing has changed in the country except one thing: the Armenians suddenly realized that Karen Karapetyan has more populist thinking and approach than his predecessors.

Right after taking the post, Karapetyan announced his intention to present Armenian economic strategy in the near future. He suggested two major stages in this regard. The first was a short one and stipulated soonest reforms in capable of stirring trust in the public. The second stage was a long-term one and implied a strategic vision of Armenias development.

Though no one has yet seen the work and its outcome of the Armenian premier activity, but yet he enjoys positive feedback of the people thanks to his populist statements, promises, and programs. As to the implementation of all these, no one in the government has taken a single step, including Karapetyan himself.

Meanwhile, the economy of the country remains critical, demonstrating unbelievably low indices each year. Descending economy, high poverty and increasing outflow of people are the pure realities in Armenia, which lack any governmental scenario or program to change the situation.

Armenias external debt is growing, as well as the budget deficit. Moreover, the economic growth is significantly lower than it was foreseen. The state debt of Armenia has already amounted to $5.36 billion as of the end of the first half of 2016. The forecasted GDP in 2016 amounts to 5.443 trillion drams. Consequently, by the end of the first half-year, the national debt of Armenia made up 46.7 percent of GDP, which is quite risky for the countrys economy.

Moreover, Armenia doesnt attract the foreign investors at all.

Despite different positive statements from the government on achievement of a stable situation in the country, the national economy remains critical.

This reality gives birth to question whether why Armenia needed a government change if nothing in reality altered in the country. Why did President Sargsyan decide to take this step? What kind of threats the former Government of Hovik Abrahamyan represented for him?

There are various rumors going on regarding this issue.

On one hand, some believe that Sargsyan doesnt really make any decisions on the future of the country. And Karapetyan was brought to power under the pressure of Moscow.

On the other hand, some claim that Sargsyan himself doesnt really support Karapetyan.

He transferred full authority to the prime minister to release himself from entire responsibility and failures.

The country is suffering from high poverty, negative migration dynamics and deeply-rooted social and economic apathy.

It looks like Karapetyan, by agreeing to rule the government in a pre-election campaign time, has undertaken a huge responsibility. Of course, he will not be able to improve the situation dramatically before the elections. And in case the election results are not positive, he will not be allowed looking for those to blame somewhere else; he will have to claim the whole responsibility for it.

In any of the scenarios, it seems like Armenia's ruling "Karabakh clan" may at some point decide to replace the current leader.

Serzh Sargsyan as no one else is well aware of the real situation in Armenia and is well aware that tremendously growing economic crisis will lead not only to serious popular unrest but dethrone him from power.

Obviously, to achieve the loyalty of the "Karabakh clan" on the background of the weak resource base and the economy will be hard for Sargsyan.

Depending on this, Karapetyan will either ride the big wave or fall from it into the turmoil of peoples disappointment and political collapse.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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24 November 2016 11:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

FAO Country Representative and head of the organizations Partnership and Liaison Office in Azerbaijan Melek Cakmak has praised what the country has done to develop the agrarian sector.

Cakmak, addressing a workshop which marked the launch of the FAO-Azerbaijan Partnership Programme and the first meeting of its Steering Committee, said Azerbaijan`s accomplishments in agrarian area are highlighted as an example to other countries at FAO-held regional and international events.

She expressed confidence that the Steering Committee of the FAO-Azerbaijan Partnership Programme will contribute to monitoring the implementation of projects and planning future action.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev, in turn, hailed Azerbaijan-FAO cooperation.

He highlighted the country`s agrarian policy priorities: The main goals of the state agrarian policy are to reduce dependency on the import of food products, strengthen food security and become one of food exporting countries through expanding the export potential.

International experts made a presentation on FAO`s strategic goals and cooperation tools, development of agriculture in the Central Asia, priorities and operational framework of the FAO-Azerbaijan Partnership Programme.

The Partnership and Liaison Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations opened in Baku this February.

Azerbaijan, which joined FAO in 1995, is currently benefiting from FAOs technical assistance in many areas, such as organic agriculture, agriculture marketing, locust management, food security, seed sector development, improved livelihoods for rural populations, animal health, and cattle breeding.

FAOs partnership with Azerbaijan is shaped by the 2015-2019 Country Programming Framework (CPF), reflecting relevant national development plans and strategies at the same time as supporting FAOs strategic objectives and regional priorities.

Last year, the sides have enlarged the legal base of their fruitful cooperation by signing two agreements.

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24 November 2016 13:23 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijan and Russia will sign two bilateral agreements on cooperation in the spheres of pension provision and labor migration, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Azerbaijans Population Salim Muslimov said on November 24 at a meeting with representatives of Russias Social Insurance Fund in Baku.

The minister said that Azerbaijan is the only country in the CIS, which has no bilateral agreement with Russia on pension provision.

Now we are preparing to sign two agreements in the spheres of pension provision and labor migration with the Russian counterparts, he said.

Muslimov added that Russia is the largest economic partner of Azerbaijan.

We [Russia and Azerbaijan] are exporting natural resources, including the energy ones, he noted. Therefore, the fall in global oil prices had a negative impact on our economies.

Delegation of Russias Social Insurance Fund led by Deputy Head of the fund Aleksey Polikashin is on a visit to Baku.

During the visit, the Russian side has held a number of meetings with Azerbaijani colleagues to study Azerbaijans experience in the sphere of automation of processes regarding social protection.

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24 November 2016 14:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijans State Committee on Property Issues has named some of state facilities, which will be offered for privatization at the next auction.

The next investment auction, which is scheduled for December 20, will put up for sale some 84 enterprises and properties, including 23 joint stock companies, 26 small enterprises and properties, 32 of unused non-residential areas and 3 vehicles.

These are companies on the balance of state agencies and organizations including recreation areas, hospitals, dispensaries, and plants.

Baku Railway Hospital, Central Seamen's Hospital, Nabran Recreational Center in Khachmaz, Shahdag resorts in Gusar, Sumgayit Industrial Complex and others will be offered to investors.

Large underground parkings in Baku, including those in Nizami and Sabail districts, will also be put up for privatization.

The economy of Azerbaijan has so far managed to attract nearly $1.1 billion by means of investment tenders.

The committee reported that overall 352 state enterprises and facilities have been offered for privatization.

The third stage of privatization started in the framework of the presidential decree dated May 19, 2016 on additional measures to improve the process of state property privatization, as well as the presidential decree from July 19, 2016, on some measures to improve the management efficiency and accelerate privatization of state property.

Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as improve the business environment of Azerbaijan.

The portal for privatization  privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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24 November 2016 17:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Head of the Financial Market Supervisory Body (FMSB) Rufat Aslanli stated that the restructuring of Azerbaijans financial sector may be completed by late 2016 or early 2017.

Speaking at a banking conference in Baku on November 24, he said that the authority has already carried out stress tests and analysis of the situation in the banking sector to take measures aimed at preventing problems.

Stress-tests in systemically important banks revealed that they are shock resistant. The fact implies that no fiscal or monetary load is projected in the sphere for 2017. However, we, as a regulator, defined certain regulating frameworks for systemically important banks, he said.

He added that the authority has also developed new legal and operational mechanisms to implement restructuring of financial institutions.

Along with revocation of licenses, appointment of temporary administrator and further liquidation, the mechanisms also envisage the use of instruments, applied in world practice.

Capitalization of banks

Aslanli went on saying that the process of capitalization of banks will be completed by year end, mentioning that the FMSB has already held talks with shareholders of not systematically important banks, which experienced certain problems related to the shortage of capital.

The talks were quite a difficult process, but they were held in intensive and constructive manner. Our main aim was to reach an additional capitalization of banks. Therefore we have tasked the banks to develop a new program of capitalization.

He mentioned that a number of banks have already competed the process of capitalization, while others will carry out the process until year end.

As for the banks, where additional capitalization was impossible, their licenses were revoked, he added.

The licenses of 10 banks were revoked in 2016 due to their failure to meet necessary requirements specified in the relevant legislation. Some 32 banks are currently operating in the country.

New legal platform

Aslanli said that a special legal platform is currently being developed to prevent any unauthoritative activity of bank management, mentioning that the punishment may even include criminal responsibility.

The punishment envisages bringing of management to administrative, financial or even criminal responsibility depending on the extent of violations. He mentioned that the bill has already been prepared and submitted to the Government for discussion.

The number of customers of local banks decreased by 3.5 percent to 5.515 million in January-September 2016, while the number of clients increased in September by 0.8 percent amounting to 44,723. The number of client accounts reduced by 5.4 percent to 15.349 million in January-September 2016.

IBA privatization

The restructuring and further privatization of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) is still one of the principal issues in the banking sector of the country.

Aslanli said that the privatization of the financial institution is expected to be announced in 2017. He said the work implemented jointly Azerbaijans Finance Ministry is underway to complete the preparatory procedures.

Both local and foreign investors will be able to take part in the privatization process of the IBA, while main goal is to diversify, reduce the size of the banks assets in the first half of 2017.

About 40 percent of Azerbaijani banking sector's assets account for the share of the IBA, and it is a threat to the banking system. Therefore, its necessary to bring the assets size of the IBA to a level that will not threaten the banking system.

The shortcomings in the management, investment and loan policy of the IBA in recent years, as well as financing of less efficient, risky investment projects worsened the bank's financial state, caused increase in the share of distressed assets and reduced its liquidity.

In July 2015, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the measures for rehabilitation related to the preparations for privatizing the state-owned shares of the IBA.

To overcome the current situation, restore the bank's financial position and ensure its sustainability, the distressed assets of the bank were transferred to the state-owned Aqrarkredit CJSC non-banking credit organization. Bonds worth 3 billion ($ 1.74 billion) were issued under the state guarantee to ensure IBA's liquidity.

New mechanisms for ADIF

The FMSB head said that the country should quit the process of insuring deposits of population.

Over the 10 years of its existence, the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) was able to accumulate funds worth 140 million manats ($ 81.65 million), which does not even account for 10 percent of the insured deposits, he said.

He further said that a mechanism for crediting of ADIF by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) was developed to provide the Fund with financial means. Aslanli noted that the mechanism was successfully tested during the repayment of deposits to the clients of Bank Standard.

Aslanli said that some 40-45 million manats ($ 23.3  26.4 million) is expected to be paid to the depositors.

However, the existing mechanism of attracting funds from the CBA, increases liabilities of the Fund to the government. Therefore, we are developing new mechanisms to increase capitalization of ADIF.

ADIF has so far paid compensations worth 710 million manats ($414.09 million) to depositors of the recently closed Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank, Parabank, Caucasus Development Bank, AtraBank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Ganjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard.

Switch to Basel II and III

The regulator seeks to bring the regulatory frameworks in compliance with Basel II (facilitated and standardized approach to the risk assessment) and Basel III (new approach) standards.

Head of department at FMSBs office of strategic services Rustam Tairov, addressing the event said that the authority is currently assessing the possibilities of the banking system Basel II and III international standards.

This is a long process, while our main objective is creation of new regulating frameworks based on the assessment of risks. Under the changes the authority will pursue a zero-tolerance policy. Moreover, the FMSB intends to strengthen the potential of banks on risk management

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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24 November 2016 17:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan will hold a presentation of its products for Germany in a bid to expand the range of its exports.

Samir Valiyev, Head of Staff of the Azerbaijani Economic Development Ministry said that the presentation will take place within the framework of the 6th meeting of Azerbaijan-Germany High Level Working Group on Trade and Investment in Baku.

"During the meeting we will also discuss the prospects of cooperation in trade, investment, ecology, education, etc. We would also like to invite German companies to become residents of industrial parks in Azerbaijan," Veliyev said.

The official further added that German companies have invested $405.4 million in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan.

"Currently, some 169 companies with German capital are operating in Azerbaijan. Investments of German companies in to the capital amounted to $488.3 million, including in the non-oil sector constituted at $405.4 million," he said.

Veliyev added that so far 11 twinning projects have been conducted in Azerbaijan and the implementation of three more projects are underway.



In turn, Eckhard Franz, an official of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, noted that the issues discussed in the framework of the Working Group meeting play a major role in the development of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Over the past two decades, the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Germany have developed into new heights and objectives.

The exchange of official visits and extensive contact of the business community have played an important role towards transforming the bilateral relations between Baku and Berlin from formal and official diplomatic contacts into a strategic partnership that continues to flourish every day.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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24 November 2016 13:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum and the Executive Committee of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC) have signed a cooperation protocol as Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev met with ICOC Academic Chair Alberto Boralevi and Editor-in-Chief of HALI Magazine Ben Evans.

Minister Garayev pointed out President Ilham Aliyev`s order to organize the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets in Baku next October. He stressed the importance of the event in promoting Azerbaijans ancient art of carpet-making.

The minister further mentioned that the Azerbaijani carpet and decorative arts were included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

In his speech, Boralevi said the ICOC will assist Azerbaijan in organizing the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets.

Carpets occupy a preeminent place among all the examples of Azerbaijani craftsmanship. In 2010, the Azerbaijani carpet was proclaimed a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO.

Today, carpet weaving still continues in regions of the country, although the number of ready products has reduced. To preserve this tradition and revive Azerbaijans weaving traditions the country aims to develop open ten carpet production enterprises.

The process is expected to start in the first half of 2017, according to the Economy Ministry, while the preparation of State Program of the Development of Carpet Weaving Craft is over.

Azerbaijans Carpet Museum established in Baku in 1967, being the first carpet museum in the world is the very place that can familiarize all the interested with the unique examples of the national carpets. A new carpet museum, designed in the form of a rolled carpet, opened in the Baku Seaside Park in 2014 and all carpets were transferred to this museum.

The ICOC is dedicated to advancing the understanding of carpet and related textile arts, primarily of the eastern hemisphere.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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24 November 2016 16:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Armenia distorts the essence of the statements made by the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in L'Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen, as well as the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, trying to mislead its people and the international community, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend on November 24.

Hajiyev was commenting on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an interview with Sputnik news agency.

The interrelation, as well as equal and common use of principles are stressed in the Helsinki Final Act dated 1975, Hajiyev added.

Hajiyev said that according to the Helsinki Final Act, any country is responsible for the use of force against the territorial integrity and political sovereignty of other country or the threat of using force.

According to the paragraph 8 of the Helsinki Final Act, while expressing respect for the equal rights of peoples and the principle of self-determination, the member-states in all cases act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and corresponding norms of international law and the territorial integrity of countries, he added.

In previous declarations, the presidents of the OSCE MG co-chairing countries present the principles of settlement of the conflict in accordance with the Helsinki Final Act in the following order: non-use of force or threat of using force, territorial integrity of countries and self-determination of people," Hajiyev added.

Armenia, often touching upon the principle of using force or threat of using force, does not understand that it bears the responsibility for fulfillment of the conditions arising out of this principle, he said.

Hajiyev stressed that Armenia is a side, which occupied Azerbaijani territories, i.e. used force.

"It is Armenia which has big military contingent in the occupied Azerbaijani territories and continues to pose threat by using force, he added. Today, Armenia is trying to present the results of occupation of Azerbaijani territories, that is, the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and ethnic cleansing carried out there, as self-determination.

"All this is nothing but Armenias unsuccessful attempt to cover up its aggression against Azerbaijan, he said.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that after the Armenian armed forces withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and internally displaced people return to their native lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the region will be able to exercise this right within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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24 November 2016 18:01 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Turkeys Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral stressed that the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict leads to increased inequities towards Azerbaijan.

The envoy made the remark while addressing a conference Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries over the last 25 years in the Parliament of Azerbaijan on November 24.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a bleeding wound of Azerbaijan and Turkey, said Ozoral. The pendency of this conflict leads to increased inequities towards our fraternal country.

He noted the importance of restoring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Ozoral added that Turkey has done everything possible for newly independent Turkic-speaking countries to occupy a worthy place in the international arena.

Ankara backs Baku on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and advocates a solution to this problem in the framework of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. Turkey has repeatedly voiced its desire to contribute to peace and stability in the region.

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Currently, it is co-chaired by the Russian Federation, the U.S., and France.

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. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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24 November 2016 10:52 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The use of foreign languages in advertising maybe allowed in Azerbaijan.

The issue is reflected in amendments proposed to the law "On State Language of Azerbaijan".

Under the draft law, an advertiser may use other language besides the national one on the outdoor advertising structure (a billboard).

In this case the text in foreign language should be placed under the national language and should be smaller than the state language in size, as well as should occupy no more than 1/3 of the whole area.

The issue will be discussed at the plenary session of the Parliament on November 29.

Meanwhile, another amendment be on spotlight of the Parliament will be ban on advertising infant formula to parents.



Under the amendments proposed to the law "About nutrition of infants and young children", the advertising of artificial feeding for pregnant women and mothers will be banned in health facilities and public places.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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24 November 2016 10:14 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan`s Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov has met Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin to mull inter-parliamentary ties, Azertac reported.

During the meeting, Volodin highlighted intensive dialogue existing between the legislative bodies of both countries.

He spoke about relations between the two countries and stressed the importance of continuing the efforts for developing constructive bonds.

Asadov, in turn, praised relations between the two countries. The Speaker stressed the role of reciprocal visits of heads of the states in developing ties.

He also spoke about active cooperation of the parliamentary delegation of both countries within the international organizations.

We support each other. Friendship Groups operate in both countries` parliaments. More than 200 documents were signed between the two countries, he added.

Head of the Milli Majlis Administration Safa Mirzayev, Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Aydin Jafarov, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov were also present at the meeting.

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23 November 2016 19:17 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan`s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov has met Chair of the European Conservatives Group at PACE Ian Liddell-Grainger, Azertac reported.

They exchanged views on prospects of developing relations between Azerbaijan and PACE.

Mr. Mammadyarov highlighted successfully developing relations between Azerbaijan and the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe. On negotiation process over the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Minister highlighted unacceptability of violation of international recognized borders of the states through the use of force.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, in turn, praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and PACE. He also highlighted successful activity of Azerbaijans parliamentary delegation in PACE.

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24 November 2016 12:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The strike of employees of Germany's Lufthansa flagship airline has also affected the flights in Bakus direction, the airline companys Azerbaijani office told Trend on November 24.

Frankfurt am Main-Baku and Baku-Ashgabat flights by Lufthansa, as well as those in the opposite direction, have been canceled for Nov. 24 and Nov. 25, the company said. There is no information yet regarding the flights for Nov. 26.

Lufthansa's Baku office also noted that every passenger of the canceled flights is being treated individually, a variety of alternatives are being offered, those passengers can change the departure date or cancel the reservation free of charge.

Lufthansa cancelled 900 flights on Nov. 23 and 912 flights for Nov. 24, which affected some 200,000 passengers.

It is the 14th strike since April called by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots union. Lufthansa urged VC to work towards a resolution.

Pay talks between VC and the German carrier broke down earlier this month, and Lufthansa said the union had "consistently rejected the offer" of mediation.

The union is calling for a 3.7 percent pay rise for 5,400 pilots dating back to 2012. Lufthansa, which is facing increasing competition from budget rivals, offered a 2.5 percent increase over the six years until 2019.

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24 November 2016 16:03 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Romania strongly supports the development of the EU-Azerbaijan relationship.

Dan Iancu, Ambassador of Romania to Azerbaijan made the statement as he met local media representatives on November 24, on the occasion of the beginning of his mandate in the country.

The ambassador expressed hope for the swift start of negotiations on a comprehensive and ambitious agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Romania and Azerbaijan enjoy traditionally very close and friendly relationships developing since 2009 within the framework of the bilateral Strategic Partnership.

Iancu added that the Embassy of Romania in Baku holds currently for the 4th successive term since 2009 -- the mandate of NATO Contact Point Embassy.



"In this capacity the Embassy has strongly promoted the NATO-Azerbaijan partnership and has contributed to the intensification of political dialogue and cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan; improving awareness about Azerbaijan within NATO; informing Azerbaijani public opinion about the North Atlantic Alliance current policy, NATO values and standards," he said.

The ambassador noted that Romania is the second country which recognizes the independence of Azerbaijan on December 11, 1991 after Turkey.

"Over the years there were eight visits of Romanian Presidents to Baku; President Ilham Aliyev visited Bucharest five times. The two countries develop extensive dialogue and cooperation at the level of Parliaments, of the Ministries for Foreign Affairs, as well as between other governmental bodies," Iancu said.

During the past three years there has been a steady increase of the bilateral trade turnover. For the whole of 2015 (according to Romanian data) the bilateral trade stood at $161.3 million, up 13 percent compared to 2014, with a balance in favor of Azerbaijan.

SOCAR has opened a branch in Romania and is presently expanding its activities on the market.

Meanwhile, the ambassador gave information about the National Day of Romania to be held on December 1, marking the day in 1918.

On this say the Peoples Assembly in the city of Alba Iulia (South-West Transylvania) unanimously adopted a Resolution stating the union of the provinces of Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures (until that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), all with Romanian-majority population, with the Kingdom of Romania. Coming in the very aftermath of the World War I, the Great Union of 1918 (as it is called by Romanians) marked the accomplishment of the process of national reawakening started out by the formation of the modern Romanian state in 1859.



This historic event reflects the fulfillment of a long-lasting desire for freedom, unity and national dignity of many generations of Romanians. December 1 is celebrated by Romanians all over the world as a symbol of solidarity, hope and triumph against adverse circumstances. It reflects, to this day, Romanias attachment to the principles of tolerance, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and respect for cultural values of all people.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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24 November 2016 18:06 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan and Pakistan, the two strategic partners, have agreed on the necessity of early finalization of joint projects implemented in different sectors of the economy.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Yaqub Eyyubov.

During the meeting held on the sidelines of IDEAS 2016 International Defense Exhibition, Hussain expressed his satisfaction over the existing close relations between the two countries, and stressed the need for further enhancing of defense relations between the countries.

Moreover, Hussain said that Azerbaijan can also benefit from the services of Pakistan's defense and civil institutions for the training of its civil and military personnel, adding that the country can also avail the services and expertise of Pakistan in the purchase of defense equipment.

The president underlined that there is also a need to enhance the volume of trade between the two countries.

Eyyubov, in turn, expressed his appreciation for Pakistan's defense products, which meet international standards, mentioning that Azerbaijan is very impressed by Pakistan's experience and knowledge in this field.

He also expressed a desire to initiate joint projects with Pakistan in different sectors.

The Azerbaijan-Pakistan all-weather friendship" covers various facets of the economic and political ties. Pakistan is one of the oldest and closest allies and strategic partners of Azerbaijan in Asia.

Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992.

Islamabad backed Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh War and it is the only country that does not recognize Armenia. Pakistan also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the genocide against the civilian population of Khojaly, which was committed by Armenian armed forces.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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24 November 2016 11:53 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Resource-rich Azerbaijan, which is constantly seeking potential energy markets, expands its energy cooperation with Cambodia.

The Southeast Asian state has invited Azerbaijan, which possesses vast experience in the field of energy to help develop Cambodias prospective oil and gas industry.

The issue of bolstering ties was high on agenda during the meeting between Azerbaijan`s Ambassador to Cambodia Anar Imanov and Cambodian Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem.

Imanov, addressing the meeting highlighted the official visit of the Cambodian Prime Minister to Azerbaijan in 2014 and stressed the importance of this trip in terms of the development of relations.

The minister, in turn, invited the Azerbaijani companies to develop oil fields in Cambodia.

Cambodia has oil and gas reserves, but they must be assessed, explored and developed. The country is now promoting investments in its extractive industries, while a number of licenses have already been granted to international companies for petroleum exploration.

Certain areas of the country have shown great potential, as preliminary exploration has led to positive results, and Cambodia is expected to commence exploration of a number of blocks in the near future.

Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Cambodia increased in recent times. Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultations between the countries was signed in 2014, the year, which marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Cambodia

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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24 November 2016 13:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan, the oldest known oil producing country in the world, is interested in closer contacts with OPEC, the cartel representing 14 major oil producing nations.

Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that bolstering ties between Azerbaijan and OPEC through dialogue and consultations will pave the way for reaching an advantageous agreement on the possible output reduction.

In his article published on the official press, the minister said that any decision of the cartel, whether it would be a freeze or cut of oil production, will have a stimulating influence on uplift in prices.

Members of the OPEC will meet next week on November 30 in Vienna to decide on the details of an agreement to cut output that the group has been trying to hammer out since September.

Doubts remain over whether the cartel will agree to a proposed cut of 4 percent to 4.5 percent that has been discussed. That would imply a supply cut of more than 1.2 million barrels per day, according to Reuters calculations.

In the U.S. market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 settled down 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $47.96 a barrel. Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled down 17 cents, or 0.35 percent at $48.95 a barrel.

Aliyev further mentioned that bearing a commitment of the control over the black gold market and distribution of responsibilities among the producer states will serve as a message of possible tougher measures in relation to those, interested in speculations.

Given the fact that the economic factors providing high oil prices are weak, there is a necessity of intervention into the market. Taking into consideration GDP indices of countries in 2016 and 2017, we may observe a slump in economic growth in China, India, and Eurozone. GDP is expected to drop down from the current level of 6.5 to 6.1 percent in 2017, while India is projected to record a decrease from 7.5 to 7.2 percent. Economic growth rates in Eurozone are expected to drop from 1.5 to 1.2 percent.

The minister also mentioned that OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo has expressed an intention to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan.

The visit will provide a solid basis for the development of cooperation with the group and will increase a prestige of the country among oil producing states. In this regard, with the consent of the president, the Energy Ministry has already sent an invitation to Mohammed Barkindo.

OPEC Secretary General and Azerbaijani Energy Minister earlier met in Vienna prior to the OPECnon-OPEC first meeting of the High-level Committee. Azerbaijan has already demonstrated its intention contribute to the stabilization of the oil market unilaterally declaring that it will not increase the production and export of its oil.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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24 November 2016 14:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR will additionally produce about 3,650 tons of oil annually, thanks to the commissioning of a new well that is being drilled at the Oil Rocks offshore field.

The company reported that the wells projected depth is 1,700 meters and its daily yield is expected at the level of 10 tons.

In January-October 2016, SOCAR produced 6.32 million tons of oil at Azerbaijans offshore and onshore fields, as compared to 6.91 million tons in the same period of 2015.

SOCAR produced 8.16 million tons of oil at those fields in 2015, as compared to 8.32 million tons in 2014. Along with SOCAR, foreign companies also extract oil in Azerbaijan. In total, 41.59 million tons of oil were produced in Azerbaijan in 2015, as compared to 42.02 million tons in 2014, according to SOCAR.

--

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24 November 2016 11:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has stated that he wont hand power to his children to succeed him.

Im not envisaging succession for my children, I dont think thats a question for us, Nazarbayev said in a interview with Bloomberg. Our transfer of power is spelled out in the constitution, while he wont say anything now about a successor, he said.

Until 2020, Im going to work. And well meet again in 2020, said Nazarbayev, who won another five-year mandate in a 2015 election. Nazarbayev, whos ruled since 1989, said hell decide whether to seek a new term based on his health and the level of public support.

Rumors about Nazarbayevs handing the power to his family members appeared after Nazarbayevs daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva was elected the chairman of Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security.

Dariga Nazarbayeva earlier served as Vice Prime Minister in the former government.

Dariga Nazarbayeva also refuted the rumors that she is going to succeed her father as the president, calling them speculations, RIA Novosti reports.

I see myself as a person who truly and faithfully serves to the motherland, and as a member of our presidents team. This entire guessing is just a speculation, Nazarbayeva said earlier.

Kazakhstan is a presidential republic. Executive power is exercised by the government and legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of Parliament.

Currently, Kazakhstan is ranking on the 50th place in terms of Government Efficiency Index. The efficiency Index includes expenditures, workload regulations, and political transparency. It beats a number of European countries in government efficiency.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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24 November 2016 13:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Two people were killed and other 21 were injured as a result of the explosion in front of the governorship building in the Adana province, Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, the Haber 7 newspaper reported on November 24.

An employee of the governorship has been detained, according to the newspaper.

The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) terrorist organization stands behind the terror attack, according to police assumptions.

10:58 (UTC+04:00) The blast was a terrorist attack carried out by a woman, the DHA news agency reported Nov. 24.

Rescue workers are working at the explosion site.

Reportedly, there is a threat of another explosion.

10:18 (UTC+04:00) Two people were killed and other 16 were injured as a result of the explosion, said the provinces Governor Mahmud Demirtas, the TRT Haber news channel reported Nov. 24.

It is reported that a car bomb exploded in front of the governorship building.

09:35 (UTC+04:00) A big explosion occurred in front of the building of governorship in the Adana province in the southern Turkey, the TRT Haber news channel reported Nov. 24.

There are injured people as a result of the explosion, according to the report.

Rescue workers and ambulances have been sent to the event scene.

Meanwhile, it is reported that the building of the governorship has also been damaged.

---

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24 November 2016 14:03 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran, known as IDRO Group, plans to build 2,000 railway wagons jointly with the German company, whose name has not been disclosed.

The share of Irans investment in construction of wagons will amount to 55 percent and these wagons will be used in nine major cities of the country, said the Head of the Investment Development Department of IDRO, Fardad Daliri, IRNA news agency reported.

"The amount of investment needed for the construction of wagons is estimated to be 2 billion Euros which will be provided by the Fund for National Development of Iran and foreign companies", said Daliri.

The new joint plan on the production of wagons aimed at attracting advanced technologies of the European partners.

Iran is the Middle Easts second-largest economy and is reported to be the largest to re-enter global markets since the Soviet Union in 1991.

The international sanctions that had crippled Iran's economy were lifted following a January implementation of a deal between Iran and world powers called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Irans Customs Administration's statistics show that Germany exported $1.43 billion worth of goods to Iran and imported $248 million from this country during 10 months of current Iranian fiscal year, which started on March 21, 2015.

German exports to Iran were valued at 4.7 billion Euros ($5.1 billion) in 2010 but have fallen as the West tightened sanctions imposed over Irans nuclear program.

Hence, Iranian transport sector remains underdeveloped because of poor management and the impact of international sanctions.

However, with huge levels of transport and logistics investment planned or underway, Irans transport industry has the potential to become a major economic sector for the country.

Attractiveness for international finance in the transport industry is also on the rise. Iran jumped up 12 spots from rank 27 to 15 with the lifting of international sanctions on Transport Intelligences rankings for emerging markets in January 2016.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
In a brilliant burn Patrick Burke, a legislator in New Yorks Erie County, proposed a bill this week that would ban gay conversion therapy for minors. The proposed law which would only affect Burkes county, which includes the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The law is named the Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangermentor PENCE, for short.

Said Burke:

Conversion therapy is an abomination. It is clearly abuse. Its brainwashing. It does real damage. Even calling it conversion therapy takes the edge off of what it really is. The Vice President-elect has been a supporter of this, and hes earned the name. People need to remember this. Mike Pences views are extreme. I dont want them to become normalized. This isnt normalnone of this is OK. We have work to do.

During his campaign for Congress in 2000, Pences platform stated that funds for HIV prevention and care should be redirected toward conversion therapy rather than programs that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus:

Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.

Conversion therapycounseling that uses psychological, spiritual or physical methods to try to change a persons sexual orientation or gender identityis currently banned in five states: New Jersey, California, Oregon, Illinois and Vermont, as well as in the District of Columbia.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo introduced an executive order in February that banned insurance coverage of conversion therapy as well as prohibiting the practice in all facilities falling under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Mental Health. Cuomos executive actions came after a statewide bill banning conversion therapy passed in the state assembly but failed to gain traction in the state senate.

Burke hopes if his bill passes in the Erie County Legislature, it could have a ripple effect.

This could have ramifications throughout at least New York state,

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In the summer of 1637, two working men at the English colony at Plymouth faced the possibility of execution if they were convicted of what the Puritans was said to be a grave moral crime.

Pilgrims John Alexander and Thomas Roberts had been caught in a homosexual relationship.

Plimoth Plantation Museum in Plymouth Massachusetts have discovered court records from their case, and from a handful of others to piece together the lives of the colonys and Americas earliest gay and lesbian settlers.

Plimoth Plantation as a museum has always been a place that has tried to recover every life, said Richard Pickering, the museums deputy director. Pickering quoted the poet and author Paul Monette, who wrote that most of gay history lies in shallow bachelors graves. Were telling the audience that were going to talk about all those uncles and all those aunts who have fallen off the family tree, said Pickering. Their stories may be lost, so lets contemplate those lost lives. Though the historical record is sparse, we can get a sense of what the options of the past were, and provide some sense of history to a modern gay community that really doesnt have a strong sense of its past much before 1960.

Plimoth Plantation began researching the gay history of the colony about 15 years ago, in preparation for bringing its replica of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower to gay-friendly Provincetown.

Through the records were scant the prosecution of Alexander and Roberts for homosexual conduct reveals layers of complexities in the pilgrim life. Though the maximum penalty was death, neither man was executed. Alexander, who was perceived as the seducer and therefore was considered more responsible, was branded with a hot iron and banished from the colony, Roberts was allowed to stay, though the colony forbade him from owning land or participating in the political process.

At first glance you would think that 17th-century New Englanders would be very harsh, said Pickering. But both men were spared execution, and in time Roberts was allowed to own land and to vote. Even though there are statutes, in the enactment of the law they are much more gentle. It may have been that the colony needed every pair of hands and couldnt afford to lose both workers, or that in a tiny community of a few hundred, the judges would have known the defendants personally and would have been reluctant to send neighbors to their deaths

Happy Thanksgiving

Back2Stonewall.com

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Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 61F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of light rain. Low 47F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Top class: life-transforming teacher training in Nepal

Education is one of the most powerful tools for changing the world. Across Nepal, BMS World Mission is helping to transform lives by training teachers

Before the training I did not enjoy my job. I was always depressed and wanting to finish the lesson. I did not have a good way of teaching, says Usha Kumal, a teacher in Nepals Palpa District. Through training I got a lot of ideas to control the class, to teach in fun and interesting ways, and I became happy with my job.



Usha is one of many teachers who have received BMS-supported training. We are partnering with the Kathmandu International Study Centre (KISC) Education Quality Improvement Programme (EQUIP) to help train teachers in 36 schools across the country and enhance the quality of education.



In Nepal, rote learning is common practice when it comes to teaching. Children are taught from textbooks and expected to memorise everything. That kind of learning makes it difficult for students to develop the important skills of problem solving and creativity.



Its important to remember that rote learning is not always wrong, says Annie Brown, a BMS mission worker who trains teachers through KISC EQUIP. But, if thats the only way that children learn, then they have no way of applying that knowledge and theyre not thinking about what it means.



Beyond rote learning, another challenge is often the education of teachers. Many have not had more than primary education themselves and have not had teacher training. The training Annie and the KISC EQUIP team provide gives teachers the tools they need to develop problem solving, creative thinking and character in their students. It also provides teachers with different ways to engage students in learning and gives them strategies to manage their classes.



One principal, Ram Chandra Bhandari, has been working at Himchuli School in Lamjung District for nine years and he regularly attends EQUIP leadership training.



I was struggling with affirming my staff, says Ram Chandra. I did not understand its importance, but now Ive started to do it more and have seen great results because my staff feel happy and valued. Ive also learnt that its important to seek the input of my staff and to listen to them.



Its more than just teachers and principals who are feeling the positive impacts of the training. Students also receive support. Each year KISC EQUIP provides scholarships to students in partner schools. This year 90 students (45 boys and 45 girls) received funding.



The scholarships are helping students like 16-year-old Sunita. Shes a bright, hard-working student who recently experienced tragedy when her mum died. This has made it difficult for her to concentrate as she felt responsible for taking care of her siblings outside of school. KISC EQUIP provided her with a scholarship in the hopes that it will help her overcome challenges and fulfil her ambition to become a nurse and serve her community one day.



At BMS we know how important education is to the future of our world, and so we remain dedicated to training teachers in Nepal so that students can get the kind of education that all children deserve. Thank you for helping to make that possible.



Transforming lives through education is a part of the strategy at BMS. If you want to support BMS work to change lives through teacher training in Nepal, you can today!



This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission.

BMS World Mission, 24/11/2016
Military relations between China and Ethiopia have deepened with frequent high-level visits and cooperation in training, medicine, roles in United Nations peacekeeping missions and other fields, said Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission.

Fan paid an official visit to Ethiopia from Nov 21-23 and held talks with Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome, Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa, and Chief of General Staff of the National Defense Forces Samora Yonus, China's Defense Ministry said.

Ethiopia has had a long and productive friendship with China, Fan said during his meeting with Teshome.

Thanks to the oversight, attention and promotion by the top leaders from both countries, Fan said, they have constantly strengthened political trust, deepened friendship between the two peoples, and achieved pragmatic cooperation.

Teshome said China is Ethiopia's most important and reliable strategic partner. China and Ethiopia enjoy broad common interests and similar development models, and China's achievements have provided a good reference point for Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is willing to work with China to enhance political mutual trust, expand economic and trade exchanges, deepen defense exchanges and push bilateral ties between the two countries and militaries to new levels, Teshome stressed.

Prior to the talks, Fegessa held a welcoming ceremony for Fan. The two sides had friendly and in-depth talks on deepening the bilateral military relations and reached important consensus on strengthening high-level exchanges and military medical cooperation.

Contact the writer at Zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
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For this year's Thanksgiving meal, Suzanne Kibodeaux of Sour Lake will be setting out polished silverware, tying ribbons around crystal glasses and placing her china on tablemats in fall colors.

For every holiday meal, she said she uses her nicest table settings.

"It sets the mood that this is a special occasion. It's not an everyday plate occasion," said Kibodeaux, 47. "Your family means a lot to you. You're having a good meal. You want to have it on nice plates."

These days, though, using any china at all feels special. In an era of paper napkins and IKEA glassware, fewer households own formal tableware - and many actively don't want the stuff.

The 18-to-34 millennial generation - which includes some of Kibodeaux's

stepchildren - simply isn't into fine tableware.

According to TheKnot.com , the top wedding website in the U.S., only 26 percent of couples now include china on their wedding registries. That's about half as many as register for casual dinnerware. The percentage has been dropping since 2008.

Lauren Kay, senior style editor at The Knot, says that in a recent Knot survey, 49 percent of those who didn't register for fine china said that they just don't think they would use it. Forty-five percent said they're "not really that fancy."

Kibodeaux said she thinks only her 34-year-old stepdaughter, who also likes to throw parties, would be interested in her nine sets of china.

"If I were to give her a set of dishes she might be more into it, but she's not going to go buy them herself," Kibodeaux said.

Keeping it casual

Decades ago, when brides-to-be registered at department stores, almost all of them chose a china pattern. Lenox Brand, America's only major manufacturer of bone china, used to sell far more fine china than casual dinnerware, says Sherri Crisenbery, a vice president at Lenox.

Now that buying pattern has flipped: These days, casual dinnerware leaves china far behind.

That trend, Crisenbery and Kay both say, is all part of the ever more laid-back American lifestyle. Jeans are more likely to appear in an office than pantyhose, and brides get married in fields, cowboy boots peeking out from under satin-and-lace dresses.

So forget old-school china's frilly details and floral patterns. Young couples, Kay said, want simple dishes.

"Plain white is definitely a thing right now," she said. "It has incredible versatility. "People are paying more attention to their food, what's local and seasonal. There's no better way to show off a home-cooked meal than on a white plate."

Fussiness, too, is out. To stay relevant, for many patterns, Lenox downsized the traditional five-piece place setting (dinner, salad and bread plates plus a cup and saucer) to just three pieces (dinner and salad plates with an all-purpose bowl).

The company still makes and sells a handful of patterns from the early 1900s, Crisenbery said. But brides now gravitate toward more current designs: A collaboration with the design house Kate Spade New York has been a hit.

"There's a big trend in gold," Crisenbery notes. "If a millennial doesn't want formal dinnerware, the bride sure loves a little bling and sparkle. It has to be more modern, updated and a little more today."

Filling thrift stores

The Treasure House of St. Mark's in Beaumont gets china sets donated each week, said Kristen Rivette, who processes donations at the thrift store.

"Almost all of our tables up front have sets on them," Rivette said.

But they move through the store quickly, Rivette said. People of all ages will buy them for weddings and other special events, she said, and the staff tries to price them affordably--between $30 and $80 per set on average.

The more expensive sets go on eBay, where they usually sell faster, she said.

At Blue Bird Circle Resale Shop in Houston, Nancy Beck's flowery Wedgwood bone china service for eight is tagged at $750 - a fraction of what it originally cost.

For years, Beck served dinner every evening on Wedgwood bone china - the flowery Bianca pattern from the Williamsburg collection. When she and her husband retired and downsized, Beck offered the set to her two sons and their wives.

"My sons said, 'No, thank you,' " she said, barely able to contain her laughter. "My daughter-in-law told me that her mother's already trying to give her stuff, too."

So Beck hauled it to Blue Bird Circle, a thrift shop.

"Surely there's someone out there who will enjoy it," Beck said.

Nearby, another thrift store - the Guild Shop of St. John the Divine - devotes an entire room to table settings, including fine and bone china. In addition to English Wedgwood patterns, there's French Haviland and American-made Lenox, too.

Thrift stores have plenty of formal tableware these days, says Dodi Willingham, co-chair of the nonprofit Blue Bird shop.

Blue Bird has a warehouse full of high-end dishware, she said.

"We get so much china in here because when parents and grandparents pass away, the children have to clean out the house and don't want the stuff," Willingham said. "We sell it like crazy, but it's because we don't put a lot of money on it. At our prices, you can have a different set of china for Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving or whatever."

Willingham says that once it's set out, china tends to sell quickly - just not to millennials.

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A Central Texas judge has apologized for his controversial social media commentary on the arrest of Otis Tyrone McKane, who allegedly killed SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi, calling his suggestion of a lynching "harsh" in a statement to mySA.com Wednesday.

Burnet County Judge James Oakley, the county's top elected official, shared SAPD's Facebook post announcing the arrest of McKane, then added a comment from his personal profile to the thread saying, "Time for a tree and a rope," according to the Austin American-Statesman, which captured a screenshot of the now-deleted post.

RELATED: Judge who told new citizens to move if they don't like Trump as president will retire in 2017

Oakley told mySA.com his comment was "off the cuff" and "indeed curt and harsh," but said it had nothing to do with the suspect's race.

"It is for that reason that I deleted it soon after posting and apologize for not being more thoughtful and comprehensive in my expression," he said. "What I should have posted, if anything, is a comment that more clearly reflects my opinion on the cowardly crime of the senseless murder of a law enforcement officer. My view of the "suspect", whom has admitted to the murder, is the same regardless of ethnicity or gender."

A manhunt for McKane, 31, ended with his arrest on Monday. McKane is charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting and killing Marconi while he issued a traffic citation on Sunday near SAPD's downtown headquarters. Following his arrest, McKane told reporters he "lashed out at somebody who didn't deserve it" due to an ongoing custody battle over his son.

RELATED: What we know so far about Otis McKane, suspected in ambush killing SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi

Oakley told mySA.com he supports the death penalty.

"To be clear, I advocate due process. I also support the death penalty in cases where the ultimate crime has been committed and there is clear and complete evidence and where all steps of the judicial process have been respected," Oakley added. "I would also point out that I am an administrative judge, and do not preside over criminal court."

According to the Burnet County website, Oakley was elected in 1992 as the constituency's first Republican commissioner since the Civil War.

He is a Texas State University graduate and spent a decade working in corporate communications and public relations. Oakley has held his current position since January 2015, according to the website.

RELATED: Chrome wheels led police to suspected cop killer in San Antonio

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Texas has a long and complicated history with the issue of abortion. After all, the case of Roe v. Wade originated in the state.

And, now, a state lawmaker is stepping into the latest debate surrounding reproductive rights. Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton, has filed a bill to prohibit lawsuits over the idea of "unwanted births."

"Wrongful birth" is the legal concept that the parents of a congenitally diseased child may sue a doctor, claiming that the medical professional failed to properly warn them of the risk of conceiving or giving birth to a child with serious genetic or congenital abnormalities.

WHAT'S COMING: 17 interesting bills filed by Texas lawmakers

That failure to warn, the thinking goes, prevented the parents from making a truly informed decision about whether to have the child.

Story continues below.

In theory, with a ban in place, a doctor opposed to abortion could withhold key pieces of information from the parents. While there are potential medical ethics implications to outright lying to a patient, a failure to disclose would be a complicated legal issue to pursue.

Simmons' office was closed Wednesday and he could not be reached for comment. Messages left for Planned Parenthood and Texas Right to Life were not immediately returned Wednesday.

Parents have sued doctors for medical malpractice - with mixed results. A couple in Washington state won $50 million from a doctor in 2013, but juries in other states have tossed the lawsuits.

TOP 10: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sets priorities for upcoming legislative session

This isn't the first g0-round in Texas with the issue. A similar proposal failed in the 2015 legislative session.

And, the issue has Texas roots. It arose in a 1975 Texas Supreme Court case brought by a woman whose child was born with disabilities after her doctor did not tell her that she had rubella, which is known to cause serious birth defects, while she was pregnant.

Nationally, about half of the states recognize wrongful birth claims.
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A Texas fisherman recently reeled in a massive 11-foot tiger shark with an attached research tag, leading to what may be the biggest coincidence in shark-catching history.

When Zack Wolk caught the female shark in Panama City, Florida, he didn't think much of the date when scribbling down the tag information found on the predator. It was a cloudy Thursday on Oct. 25, 2016, a date that would later be revealed to be exactly 10 years after the tiger shark was originally tagged as a tiny pup by scientists.

NOPE: Incredible shark video shows Great White busting through diver's cage with diver inside

Grind TV, an outdoor lifestyle site, spoke to Dana Bethea, a research ecologist with NOAA Fisheries and the excited scientist at the receiving end of Wolk's probing call about the shark.

"I couldn't believe it when I got a hit! Ten years to the day!? I immediately called my colleagues into my office to make sure it wasn't a mistake," Bethea said. "We were ecstatic. I had a huge smile on my face. This is a big deal!"

When researchers tagged the female tiger shark a decade ago, it measured only 32 inches. In addition, the shark was caught and released 74 miles from where it was first tagged.

"Several recaptures are called in each year by recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, and colleagues," Bethea told Grind TV. "Most recaptures are weeks or months old. Every once and awhile we'll get a tag that's been at liberty for a couple years. This is the first recapture we've had like this!"

SHARK HAVEN: Pacific nation of Kiribati establishes large shark sanctuary

According to Grind TV, the unlikely coincidence dethroned the previous tag and recapture record, which was a little over five years. As for Wolk himself, Bethea said he was "just as excited as I was."

"It was nice to interact with someone so helpful and genuinely interested in our research," Bethea said. "NOAA benefits greatly from citizen science like this."

Click through above to see films about sharks.
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Electric Ireland has announced it's renewed a contract to power the Northern Ireland offices of IT giant Allstate using renewable energy.

The electricity company will be supplying 2.5 million electricity units - the equivalent of the energy needed to power 1,000 homes - to Allstate's three sites in Northern Ireland.

It has provided power to Allstate since 2011, which the US firm said had helped its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It employs 2,200 people in Belfast, Londonderry and Strabane.

Electric Ireland business markets manager Tony Dunlea said: "Since our entry into the competitive electricity market 15 years ago we have steadily developed a wide range of product offerings to meet our customers' specific requirements and also a wide ranging renewable energy portfolio here in Northern Ireland.

"Our renewed partnership with Allstate NI is another example of our credentials and commitment to delivering the appropriate green energy product at competitive prices.

"We have structured this contract in a way which will enable Allstate NI to save time and resources and reduce energy usage with online consumption reporting which will help to implement efficiency initiatives for the company."

John Healy, managing director of Allstate NI, said: "At Allstate NI we are dedicated to minimising the impact our business has on the environment and we are reducing our carbon footprint by improving energy efficiency and positively engaging with staff across our three sites."
Philip Hammond's first - and last - Autumn Statement announced a raft of spending giveaways worth 36bn over the forecast period, and modest tax increases. The spending measures will largely be funded through new borrowing.

This statement makes clear that the big theme of economic policy under Mr Hammond will be improving productivity. He wants to send a powerful signal that the UK is open for business and that the Government has a plan to grow the economy through this Parliament.

Mr Hammond wants to strengthen productivity through targeted investment, not with big increases in Government spending.

Entrepreneurs in the Northern Ireland technology sector will be looking to see how they can benefit from the National Productivity Investment Fund's extra 4.7bn of R&D funding by 2020-21. There will likely also be further benefits from the decision to review the already competitive R&D tax credit regime, an extension of which would be welcomed by all businesses that qualify for this relief.

Northern Ireland will directly benefit from an additional 250m infrastructure capital funding over the period to 20/21 which could help with major developments including potentially the York Street Interchange, A5 and Belfast Transport Hub.

The Chancellor has confirmed that the Government will continue to follow the business tax road map, including the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 20% to 17% by 2020.

The Autumn Statement documents also confirm that the Government will continue to work with the Executive towards the introduction of a new rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland, subject to the Executive demonstrating it has placed its finances on a sustainable footing.

There were very few new tax measures announced, although it seems that almost all previously announced changes have been confirmed. One that is new and welcome is a commitment to amend the Northern Ireland corporation tax regime to give all SMEs trading in Northern Ireland the potential to benefit.

Glenn Roberts is tax partner at Deloitte
Chancellor Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street yesterday for the House of Commons to deliver his Autumn Statement

Northern Ireland's ability to attract investment based on a 12.5% business tax rate has been secured following the Autumn Statement, it has been claimed.

Chancellor Philip Hammond, in his first budget statement to the House of Commons since succeeding George Osborne, said he would continue the policy of UK-wide corporation tax cuts, but he gave no pledge to cut any further than a planned reduction to 17% by 2020.

The Chancellor also announced a 250m infrastructure fund for Northern Ireland - part of a new 23bn National Productivity Investment Fund - as well as a freeze in fuel duty and a the minimum wage increase.

But there were no drastic measures announced, with Mr Hammond insisting on taking a cautious approach.

Peter Legge, a tax partner at accountancy firm Grant Thornton, said: "Many had predicted the Chancellor's Autumn Statement to announce further reductions to corporation tax in the UK following the Brexit result. The fact that it did not can only be good news for Northern Ireland as we seek sufficient differentiation to secure additional investment."

Mr Hammond's speech also signalled a 4% rise in the minimum wage for over-25s to 7.50 an hour from April 2017.

But Martin Fleetwood, tax partner at PwC in Northern Ireland, warned that the move would be difficult for many employers to bear.

"The increase comes at the same time employers are facing a quadruple whammy of additional costs from the apprenticeship levy, holiday pay changes, pension auto-enrolment increases and the alignment of employer and employee national insurance costs," he said.

"The national living wage added 1% to the average pay bill for employees whenever it was introduced in April, and the latest increase will be felt by more employers as more employees are now at the national living wage level.

"The actual cost will vary across industries, with retailers, facilities management, care homes and the hospitality industry especially impacted."

The Chancellor also announced an additional 2bn in research and development funding, after which Ian Edwards, the tax director at EY in Northern Ireland, said it was "essential" for the province to capitalise on the support.

"If Northern Ireland is to become a powerhouse in science and technology, we must make more of the links between academia and the commercial world and utilise all available sourcing funds," he added.

The Autumn Statement had been billed as a programme to help people who are just about managing to make ends meet.

But Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said there was no avoiding the fact that growth forecasts had been revised down and public sector borrowing revised up.

"The UK economy is expected to slow from 2.1% in 2016 to 1.4% in 2017 before a modest rebound to 1.7% in 2018," he added.

"Northern Ireland is expected to expand at a much weaker pace and will struggle to avoid a contraction next year."
Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton has claimed companies are showing interest in setting up in Northern Ireland on the basis of its looming lower rate of corporation tax.

Addressing MLAs at Stormont's economy committee, Mr Hamilton said the region was "future-proofed" against businesses that might try and misuse the lower tax rate.

He added that even if World Trade Organisation tariffs were imposed in the aftermath of a withdrawal from the EU, the benefit of a reduction in corporation tax would greatly outweigh any tariff costs.

"We still have a very strong appetite for the corporation tax proposal," Mr Hamilton explained. "We've a strong message out there - the one thing I asked for was a rate and a date, and we've got a rate and a date."

The move to devolve corporation tax powers will see the rate drop from 20% to 12.5% in April 2018 for companies in which at least 75% of costs are generated in Northern Ireland.

Mr Hamilton also dismissed concerns that shifting global politics would have an impact investment here.

US President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he intends to cut the US corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%.

But Mr Hamilton said the tax landscape was moving fast, with momentum now gathering strongly against base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) - strategies that aim to exploit loopholes in tax rules to shift profits to reduced or no-tax locations.

"Companies are having to normalise their tax arrangements within the next two years, and we have already had a lot of interest in Northern Ireland," he added.

"We are having a lot of companies talking to us either by design or by accident. In Northern Ireland, we are already BEPS future-proofed. Only those transactions carried out within Northern Ireland will be able to avail of the 12.5% tax rate. There is no second step there - never."

Responding to suggestions the region could lose out on investment to UK neighbours, Mr Hamilton said Northern Ireland's selling point was "skills-related and cost-centred".

"I think we are in a better position than some of our neighbours around us," he explained.

His comment came as delegates from Invest NI spent their last day in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on a trade mission.

Meanwhile, MLAs were told of the "strong performance" in investment over the past five years, with 3bn worth of job-related cash ploughed into the economy - 590m of which was in research and development.

Some 87 international investors have also set up shop here, and Northern Ireland is the only UK region to experience growth in exports over the past year. Committee chairman and Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy called the figures "impressive".
Hip hop star Chance The Rapper has apologised to his fans after cancelling shows in Manchester and Dublin.

The rapper was due to perform concerts at the Helix in Dublin and the O2 Apollo in Manchester as part of his Magnificent Colouring World Tour.

He tweeted: " The remainder of the European leg of #magnificentcoloringworldtour is cancelled. I'm deeply sorry and will make it up to you."

Earlier this week Chance, real name Chancellor Johnathan Bennett, hinted he might cut his tour short as he offered a "special prayer" for his close collaborator Kanye West, who has reportedly been hospitalised for sleep deprivation and dehydration, during a performance in BBC 1Xtra's Live Lounge.

During his rendition of All We Got, he said: " I want to extend a special prayer to my big brother Kanye West. I know there's a lot of weird folks out there but you already know that I'm a hundred grand.

"I want to just extend this prayer and this love from all the way in Britain. We might come home early to see this. Happy Thanksgiving."

Concert promoter MCD previously wrote on Facebook: " It is with regret that Chance The Rapper has to cancel the remainder of his European tour due to personal reasons.

"These are two shows at the Helix in Dublin and a show at the Apollo in Manchester. He sends his apologies for this and looks forward to returning to Europe in 2017. Refunds are available from point of purchase."

According to his website he is due to resume his tour in Australia on December 29.
T in the Park has been held at Strathallan Castle in Perthshire for the past two summers

T in the Park is to "take a break" in 2017 as organisers bid to resolve issues around its recent move to a new site.

Scotland's biggest music festival has been staged at the Strathallan Castle estate in Perthshire for the last two years after it was forced to move from its previous long-term base at nearby Balado.

The move was hit by a battle for planning permission and major transport congestion, leading to restrictions which organiser DF Concerts described as "simply not workable".

The first version of the festival was held at Strathclyde Park in the outskirts of Glasgow in 1994 and there has been suggestions that a new music event is being planned by T in the Park bosses for Glasgow Green in July 2017, but no details have been confirmed.

A statement by DF Concerts and partner Tennent's Lager said: " For over 23 years, T in the Park has been at the heart of Scotland's music scene - with you by our side. But for now, sadly, we need to take a break."

It added : "The last couple of years have had their challenges. Against our will, and despite a prolonged fight, we were forced to move from Balado, Kinross, in 2015.

"This move was a mammoth task for the event and one that was compounded by a series of onerous site restrictions placed upon us as preparations for the event in 2015 took place."

Planning permission was secured for the festival just months before it was first held at Strathallan, with some local residents and environmental groups objecting due to its proximity to a protected osprey nest.

Transport in and out of the new site also became an issue with long delays.

The statement continued: " As the build-up to the festival was well under way, we were informed by Scottish Government ministers that we would have to apply for full planning permission due to the presence of an unregistered, but protected in law, osprey's nest.

"The constraints - logistically and financially - that the resulting planning conditions put upon us are simply not workable.

"We tried our best to work with the pressures placed upon the site by bringing in an additional team and fixing the first year traffic issues, but ultimately we're not in control of the overall site layout and the continued restrictions means that the negative impact on our fans and the limitations placed on their experience is too great.

"We now need to take stock and take a year out to try to resolve the issues so that we can once again deliver the kind of camping festival you are used to and deserve."

RSPB Scotland, who fought to protect osprey nests near the Strathallan site, said it is disappointed the festival will not be staged in 2017 and hopes it will return.

Head of planning Aedan Smith said: "RSPB Scotland worked hard to help ensure that the event could go ahead in 2015 and 2016, while minimising the impacts the festival would have on the wildlife that the site had been home to for many years.

"The fact that the osprey nest that had been on the site for a number of years was able to continue to be successful, and fledge chicks, illustrates how nature and development can often successfully coexist where there is a willingness on all sides to carry out activities responsibly."

Two people died at the event this summer before any acts took to the stage.

Peter McCallum and Megan Bell, both 17, died in the campsite in what were reportedly drug-related incidents.

Police also launched a rape investigation at the festival this year following an attack on an 18-year-old, while a cash machine containing a ''significant'' amount of cash was stolen from the main arena.

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers were the last act to perform at the 2016 festival with other headliners including the Stone Roses and Calvin Harris.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "T in the Park has been an important festival in Scotland's annual portfolio of events for over two decades and we are disappointed that the event organisers have taken the decision not to stage it next year.

"The Scottish Government has worked with the event's organisers in relation to the relocation of the event to Strathallan, including providing grant funding for related transitional costs.

"We hope the organisers can address some of the challenges they have encountered recently to allow the festival to return in the near future."
DESMOND BOAL IS HELD ALOFT BY JUBILANT UNIONIST SUPPORTERS AT THE BELFAST CITY HALL AS THE RESULT OF THE SHANKILL BY-ELECTION IS ANNOUNCED. 17/2/1960

Harry Ward was shot dead in The Diamond Jubilee Bar, Shankill Road, Belfast October 1991. Pictured is his sister Sadie, being led away from the scene.

The body of Joseph Donegan, discovered in an entry off Battenberg Street in Belfast's Shankill Road area, lies covered by a blanket. 25/10/1982.

Steel helmeted police at a burning barricade across Shankill Road, Belfast, littered with stones and debris after a spree of rioting. 1969

A child lies by a litter bin after an IRA bomb blast in Warrington town centre 1993

THE IRA FUNERAL ON THE FALLS ROAD OF ROSE CURRY, KILLED IN A PREMATURE BOMB EXPLOSION AT MERRION STREET, LOWER FALLS BELFAST

The funeral of DI Austin Wilson, an RUC man killed in a booby trap car bomb in the grounds of Magee College, Londonderry. 23.3.1987

RUC policeman, DS John Bennison killed in booby trap car bomb in the grounds of Magee College, Londonderry. The coffin is carried from his home at Tyler Avenue, Limavady. 23.3.1987

Abercorn Restaurant bomb. Rosaleen McNern (right) who lost both legs, an arm and an eye - her sister Jennifer (left) lost both legs.

Abercorn Restaurant. The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn , on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

Abercorn Restaurant. The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn , on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

Rose and Crown Bar. Two men were killed and 27 injured when a bomb went off in the hallway of the bar. 2nd May 1974

Lisburn Fun Run, 6 soldiers killed. All that ramains of their van after a IRA bomb explosion. 15/6/1988.

Warrenpoint (Narrow Water Castle) where 18 soldiers were killed 27/8/1979. A grim reconstruction of the scene at narrow water, Warrenpoint. An Army helicopter flies in past a replica of the hay lorry which hid the first bomb. 31/8/1979.

Ian Paisley confronts an RUC officer when refused access to Duke Street where the Civil Rights parade went on. 10/10/1988

A man is taken away by troops in the Markets area, Belfast as searches followed vicious shooting battles between gunmen and army. 11/8/1971.

Crumlin Road Jail. The scene outside as traffic on the Crumlin road is searched by the RUC following the escape. 17/11/1971

An army bomb disposal expert in flameproof suit and padded body armour tackles an incendiary bomb at a clothing shop in the cetre of Belfast in 1984.

Scene where Michael Tighe (17) was shot dead by RUC when found with rifles in a shed in Lurgan. 24/11/1982.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams pictured canvassing with Martin McGuinness, Alex Maskey and Danny Morrison shortly after he was shot and injured in a UDA gun attack in Belfast city centre.

Richard Alan Baird (28) killed by a remote controlled bomb hidden in a parked van. The bomb was detonated when a RUC mobile patrol drove past in Bessbrook Co. Armagh. Also killed in the blast were Paul Gray (25) , Robert Lockhast (44) and Noel Webb (30) 17/4/1979

Lord Gerry Fitt, founding member of SDLP and Civil Rights Organiser. Pic shows Gerry Fitt, then a republican MP, is held by police as the Civil Rights demonstrators clash with them in Duke Street, Londonderry. Pic includes nationalist leader Eddie mcAteer (centre) caught up in the struggle. 7/10/1968.

Mr Roddy Connolly of Bray, unveils a plaque at 420 Falls Road, Belfast, where his father, James Connolly, the 1916 leader, lived from 1907-10 while working in the north for the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. Connolly was born 100 years previous to the plague being unveiled (pictured here in 1968). The plaque was donated by MP Mr Gerry Fitt (also pictured).

Unionist protests at visit to Belfast of Charles Haughey, former Taoiseach. Pictured Rev Ian Paisley. 11/4/1990.

Unionist protests at visit to Belfast of Charles Haughey, former Taoiseach. Pictured are Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the DUP, intervening as Cedric Wilson is led away from the Europa. 11/4/1990.

Alan Black, a survivor of the Kingsmill, Armagh Massacre/Shooting, when he was shot with his 10 workmates in an ambush on their way home from work by gunmen. 5/1/1976

Reggie and Walter Chapman: Protestant brothers brutally murdered on a lonely roadside in S. Armagh. Kingsmill Massacre/Shooting. 5/1/1976. Their Bessbrook funeral. 8/1/1976.

Hugh O'Toole, owner of O'Tooles Bar (The Heights), Loughinisland, in which six men were shot dead watching the 1994 World Cup on television.

The scene outside Graham's bookmakers shop, North Queen Street after a shooting where five men were injured. 29/04/1993

The scene outside Graham's bookmakers shop, North Queen Street after a shooting where five men were injured. 29/04/1993

Anglo Irish Agreement Protest Rally outside Belfast City Hall, with Unionists showing a united front. 'Ulster Says No'. 10/12/1985

William Hughes who was killed in shooting incident due to a mistake by gunmen. The car they were sitting in near Coagh, Co. Tyrone looked like a police car. In the hail of gunfire directed at the car, William Hughes died. His daughter Ann and her fiance Malachy Foye were wounded.

The funeral of Marie Wilson, killed along with 10 others in no warning explosion during a Remembrance Day Service at Enniskillen Cenotaph. 8/11/1987

Gordon Wilson. Irish Senator who's daughter Marie was a victim of the Ennieskillen Remembrance Day explosion in 1987. Pictured with his grandson Timothy.

Funeral of Walter Moore, who was shot while in a shop at the rear of Oldpark RUC base, Oldpark Road Belfast

John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono raise their fists as they join a protest in front of British Overseas Airways Corp. offices in New York on Fifth Avenue, Feb 5th 1972. The demonstrators called for the withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland.

Main Street Claudy in August 1972 when three Provisional IRA car bombs exploded without warning, killing 9 local people and injuring many others.

Peter Robinson of the DUP pictured in the Israeli Border Area with AK47 rifles while on a fact finding mission to the Middle East. Pacemaker Press Intl. Dec. 1984

Northern Ireland murder victim Irene Andrews who was murdered by John White on the 26th June 1973.

A casualty of the riots in Northern Ireland in 1972

Pictured is Jimmy Stewart, who lost both legs in the Abercorn Restaurant explosion. The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn, on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn, on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn, on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn, on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

<b>The Belfast Telegraph Troubles Gallery</b><br/>The explosion of a bomb in the crowded central Belfast restaurant, the Abercorn, on 4th March 1972, was one of the most horrific incidents of the Northern Ireland violence. Two women were killed - 130 people injured.

Stewart Gardner, Argylls second lieutenant of Dollar shot dead at Crossmaglen, Co Armagh. September 22nd 1972.

A man receiving attention during the shooting incident in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, which became known as Bloody Sunday, January 31, 1972.

Father Aiden Troy - Chairman of Board of Governors of Holy Cross School - discusses the sitation with a senior police officer on Ardoyne road

Security forces keep a watchful eye as a young girl and her father walk up the Ardoyne Road in North Belfast to Holy Cross school. Police stepped up their security outside North Belfast schools after recent threats and trouble as parents walked their children to school.

Army bomb disposal experts blow up a second device in a grate beside a protestants car parked near the entrance to the Holy Cross Catholic Shool after having dealt with a suspect bomb across the road in the Protestant Wheatfield Primary And Nursery school.

Ardoyne Road parents and their children on their way to Holy Cross Girls Primary School in what is now the tenth week of the dispute and loyalist protest.

A pupil from the Holy Cross school in North Belfast interferance where trouble has been erupting for several weeks.

Protestant school children who were separated from their parents, scream for their mothers who were held behind armed police and army lines, before the catholic Holy Cross school children were brought to school in Ardoyne this morning.

Catholic Holy Cross Primary School children in tears as their parents march them through armed police and army lines who where holding back protesting protestant residents in Ardoyne, North Belfast, on their first day back to school this morning.

Catholic Holy Cross Primary School children in tears as their parents march them through armed police and army lines who where holding back protesting protestant residents in Ardoyne, North Belfast, on their first day back to school this morning.

Police officers carry an injured dog away to get medical help after a blast bomb was launched by protesting loyalists

An injured police officer is helped into an ambulance by his colleagues after a blast bomb was thrown at them from protesting loyalists in the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne, North Belfast, this morning, this is the third morning trouble has flared as catholic parents and their children through a protestant area to the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, North Belfast.

Terrified school children after a blast bomb was launched by protesting loyalists. The blast bomb injured one policeman and a police dog, this is the third morning trouble has flared as catholic parents and their children through a protestant area to the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, North Belfast.

Terrified school children after a blast bomb was launched by protesting loyalists. The blast bomb injured one policeman and a police dog, this is the third morning trouble has flared as catholic parents and their children through a protestant area to the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, North Belfast.

Terrified school children after a blast bomb was launched by protesting loyalists. The blast bomb injured one policeman and a police dog, this is the third morning trouble has flared as catholic parents and their children through a protestant area to the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, North Belfast.

An injured police officer is helped by two of his colleagues after a pipe bomb was thrown at them from protesting loyalists this morning in the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne, North Belfast, after Holy Cross Primary school children were marched through lines of Police and army on the second day back to school.

Holy Cross Primary School Protest September 2001. Riot police and army march Holy Cross school children and their parents past burnt out cars and protesting loyalists on their second day back to school in Ardoyne, North Belfast this morning.

Holy Cross Primary School Protest September 2001. The postman was the only sign of normality this morning on the Ardoyne Rd as despite all that has been happening - the mail got through.

Smoke spreads as a pipe bomb explodes after it was thrown at police and army lines by protesting loyalists this morning in the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne, North Belfast, after Holy Cross Primary school children were marched through lines of Police and army on the second day back to school.

Alice Lee Bunting in tears as she makes her way to Holy Cross Primary School

Ardoyne residents try to overturn an army landrover in Ardoyne avenue after trouble flared up again outside the nearby Holycross school. Picture: Pacemaker

Holy Cross School, November 2001. Children laugh and sing as they make there way up the Ardoyne Road this morning after loyalist protests were suspended and things start to get back to normal for the first time since school term started in September of this year

Paulette Donnelly with her parents arriving at Holy Cross Girls primary School after walking through "Corridor of Hate" on Friday (7/9/01).

School children and parents with RUC officers who had to escort them to the Holy Cross Primary School Ardoyne today. Photo by: Niall Marshall

Catholic school children and their parents make their way to Holy Cross school under a heavy police and British Army presence in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Robert Irons, one of the 7 workmen killed in the IRA 600lb bomb blast on the Omagh to Cookstown road at the Teebane crossing. Pacemaker Press

Nigel McKee, one of the 7 workmen killed in the IRA 600lb bomb blast on the Omagh to Cookstown road at the Teebane crossing. Pacemaker Press

David Harkness, one of the 7 workmen killed in the IRA 600lb bomb blast on the Omagh to Cookstown road at the Teebane crossing. Pacemaker Press

Cecil James Caldwell, one of the 7 workmen killed in the IRA 600lb bomb blast on the Omagh to Cookstown road at the Teebane crossing. Pacemaker Press

William Bleakes, one of the 7 workmen killed in the IRA 600lb bomb blast on the Omagh to Cookstown road at the Teebane crossing. Pacemaker Press

Remains of the van in which 7 workmen were killed in an IRA landmine explosion in Teebane, Co.Tyrone. 18/01/92. Pacemaker Press

Remains of the van in which 7 workmen were killed in an IRA landmine explosion in Teebane, Co.Tyrone. Pacemaker Press

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

Banned Derry Civil Rights march broken up by RUC batons in presence of Gerry Fitt MP, three British Labour MPs and television crew. Two nights of rioting ensued. 5/10/1968.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

Civil rights marchers are confronted by a strong force of polive in Duke Street. October 1968

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

Banned Derry Civil Rights march broken up by RUC batons in presence of Gerry Fitt MP, three British Labour MPs and television crew. Two nights of rioting ensued. 5/10/1968.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

First protest march to Belfast city centre. A crowd of students pictured at a meeting with Ian Paisley near Belfast City Hall. Pictured is Ciaran McKeown(with beard). 9/10/1968.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

The first Civil Rights (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) from Coalisland to Dungannon, held on 24/8/1968. Pictured is a member of the official party leading the civil rights marchers, appealing to the crowd, and requesting that there should be no violence during the march in Dungannon.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

First protest march to Belfast city centre. A crowd pictured at a meeting with Ian Paisley at Shaftesbury Square, Belfast. 9/10/1968.

People's Democracy group organised a four-day march from Belfast to Londonderry, starting on 1/1/69. The most serious incident was near Burntollet Bridge in County Londonderry, when marchers were ambushed by some 200 loyalists.

In March 1988 two corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were stripped, beaten and shot dead, after driving into the path of a republican funeral in Belfast.

In March 1988 two corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were stripped, beaten and shot dead, after driving into the path of a republican funeral in Belfast.

In March 1988 two corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were stripped, beaten and shot dead, after driving into the path of a republican funeral in Belfast.

In March 1988 two corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were stripped, beaten and shot dead, after driving into the path of a republican funeral in Belfast.

In March 1988 two corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were stripped, beaten and shot dead, after driving into the path of a republican funeral in Belfast.

Royal Highland Fusilier, Robert Thompson from Hamilton, Scotland who was killed in Northern Ireland. July 27 1980

Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein, pictured leaving court in Belfast after charges against him involving IRA membership were dropped 1976.

Police and rioters clash in Londonderry after an Apprentice Boys march, 1969.

Funeral courtege of Kathleen Feeney, 14, who was shot dead by an IRA gunman in Londonderry in a failed ambush on British troops. November 1973

Kathleen Feeney, 14, who was shot dead by an IRA gunman in Londonderry in a failed ambush on British troops. November 1973

RIR Support The Orangemen At Drumcree January 2000. Members of the Royal Irish Regiment with a flag supporting Orangemen in Drumcree.

Garvaghy Road Residents Meet With David Trimble May 99. Brendan McKenna arrives at Craigavon Civic Centre to meet the First Minister David Trimble in an effort to solve the Drumcree stand off.

An RUC officer fires plastic bullets at rioting nationalists on the Garvaghy Road

Disturbances On Garvaghy Road Portadown May 1998. Rioters hurl stones at RUC riot police on the Garvaghy Road, Portadown, Northern Ireland, during disturbances following an Orange parade in the area.

Nationalist Protest March At Garvaghy Road March 1998. A young Loyalist waves the Union Jack at Royal Ulster Constabulary police in riot gear, from the Loyalist side of the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland, as a nationalist-republican protest march, passed by peacefully down the Nationalist Garvaghy road.

Northern Ireland Troubles gallery.....Nationalist Protest March At Garvaghy Road March 1998. Security Forces kept a Loyalist counter demonstration at a safe distance from Nationalist marchers near Oben Street, Portadown

Nationalist Protest March At Garvaghy Road March 1998. Brid Rodgers and Brendan McKenna in attendance at Garvaghy Road demonstration, Portadown

Nationalist protesters walk to Garvaghy Road July 1997. Residents Coalition in Drumcree Portadown to voice their anger at Loyalist Parades through their area

Drumcree Orange Order Demonstration Scarfs drapped around the Road Sign of Drumcree near Portadown

DAVID TRIMBLE MAKES HIS WAY TO GREET THE PORTADOWN ORANGEMEN AFTER THEY MARCHED DOWN GARVAGHY RD 1996.

Drumcree Orange Parade At Portadown July 1998. Portadown Grand Master Harold Gracey gives a speech to the crowds outside Drumcree Church of Ireland.

Tempers flare as Orangemen are blocked from walking the Garvaghy Rd, Drumcree, July 2000

Orangemen go no further as they reach the barrier at Drumcreee preventing them from marching on the Garvaghy Rd.

Portadown March at Drumcree bridge July 2002 Portadown District Orangemen parade down to the barrier at Drumcree before trouble flared

Some of the knives used by the Shankill Butchers in their attacks. Pacemaker Press

A man with slashed wrists after an attack by the Shankill Butchers. Pacemaker Press

Con Neeson who was killed by the Shankill butchers in the late 70's. Pacemaker Press

The body of catholic man lies in an entry off the Shankill Road in West Belfast after being murdered by members of the Shankill butchers. 25/10/82. Pacemaker Press

As the Queen was visiting Belfast city centre in 1977, soldiers came under attack a few hundred yards away in the republican Falls Road area. An army captain was seperated from his unit and was being heavily stoned and kicked when a 'snatch squad' of his troops rushed the crowd to rescue him from the mob.

Ulster Defence Association/U.D.A: 1972. Delegates at the talks between Vanguard, Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Association of Workers.

Ulster Vanguard Movement: A section of the crowd at the Vanguard Association Rally at Ormeau Park. 18/03/72

Behind the barbed wire of long kesh internment camp are SDLP MPs(from left)Paddy Devlin, Austin Currie, John Hume and Ivan Cooper. They were visiting internees. 21/09/71

Martin McGuinness handcuffed to a policeman after being remanded at Special Criminal Court in Dublin, January 1973.

O'Tooles Bar (The Heights) in the Co. Down village of Loughinisland. Six men were shot dead by two UVF gunmen, while they were watching the 1994 World Cup on television.

O'Tooles Bar (The Heights), in the quiet Co Down village of Loughinisland where UVF gunmen burst in opened fire, during a World Cup match on June 18, 1994.

Respects are paid to the victims of Bloody Friday, Oxford Street, Belfast

A man talks to soldiers over the barricade, in Divis Street, Belfast. 16/8/1969

Belfast, Bloody Friday, 21 July, 1972, the IRA set off 26 explosions in Belfast, which killed 11 people and injured 130. 7 people were killed in Oxford Street bus station and 4 at a shopping centre on the Cavehill Road.

A man is frisked by masked members of the UDA at a barricade on the Lisburn Road end of Sandy Row. 1972

UDA men line up for inspection at Bloomfield before the march. 30/09/72

Martin Meehan (centre) with Gerry Adams at a funeral in Belfast in 1971 of a Belfast IRA commander.

Ian Paisley at the scene of the IRA motar attack on Newry Police Station. which killed 9 officers. 28/2/1985.

Joan Travers and her daughter Ann at the funeral of her other daughter, Mary, shot dead by IRA gunmen in Windsor Avenue, Belfast. while walking home from Mass with her father Judge Tom Travers. 1984

Mourners panicking at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, after a gun and bomb attack by Michael Stone which left three people dead and four seriously injured during the funerals of three IRA membes shot dead in Gibraltar. 1988

Some of the 24 Ulsterbuses which were burnt out after an IRA attack on the depot in Armagh. 28/4/1982.

Supporters of the UDA preparing food to be used by UDA members in the Shankill Road area. 02/07/72

Scene of the IRA bomb and shooting attack at Loughall Police Station which resulted in 8 IRA and 1 Civilian being killed.

Northern Ireland Troubles Gallery: Mrs Mary Meehan who was shot by the army in Cape Street, 23rd october 1971. Family photo.

Members of the UDA provide an escort at the funeral of 30 year old John Lunnen Brown, a UDA volunteer, of Blackmountain Park, Springmartin. 01/07/72.

Peter Robinson about to invade the small village of Clontibret, Co Monaghan, in 1986.

Army engineers take away the fallen statue of the famous Protestant minister The Rev 'Roaring Hugh Hanna' after an early morning IRA bomb blast at Carlisle Circus. 3/3/1970

Bobby Sands' son Robert Gerald holds his mother's hand at the funeral of his father Bobby in west Belfast flanked by Masked IRA men. Picture by Martin Wright

Hunger striker Bobby Sands coffin, flanked by an IRA colour party, leaving his mother's home in Twinbrook.

The funeral of RUC man William Russell, shot while investgating a burglary at the Avoca Shopping Centre, Andersontown, Belfast

UDR colleagues fire a volley of shots over the grave of Private Steven Smart, at Movilla Cemetary. Private Smart was killed along with three others after an IRA bomb blew up their Land Rover in Downpatrick. 13/04/90

A soldier recieves first aid after being injured by debris after a car bomb exploded on the Crumlin Road. 29/05/72

UDA members being carried in a Land Rover along the Shankill Road. 22/05/72.

Betty Williams, former leader of the NI Peace People, pictured with Mairead Corrigan.

Sir John Hermon, the former Chief Constable of the RUC at the funeral of the RUC's 100th victim of the Troubles, Constable Neill Quinn. Newry 22/6/1081

The children who escaped death by inches at Darkley, from left, Graham Ritchie, Helen Wilson, Nigel Wilson, Andrew Reid (standing) and Keith Ritchie, photographed the day after the INLA attack.

Darkley (Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Hall). The scene where three elders were shot dead by the INLA. The terrorists broke in during a church service. 20/11/1983

Miami Showband massacre... A Ford Escort which was one of the cars used by loyalist gunmen, is left abandoned near the murder scene. 31/7/1975

Mrs Arbuckle, wife of constable Victor Arbuckle who was shot during the Shankill Road riots receives the Union Jack which covered the coffin during the funeral service at Roselawn Cemetry

RUC constable Victor Arbuckle who was shot during street disturbances on the Shankill Road Belfast. He was the first RUC man killed in the troubles. October 1969

John Hume is detained by soldiers during a civil rights protest in Londonderry in August 1971.

John Hume is detained by soldiers during a civil rights protest in Londonderry in August 1971.

MOURNERS CARRYING HURLING STICKS HEAD THE FUNERAL PROCESSION OF JOHN JOSEPH KAVANAGH, FOUND SHOT DEAD IN THE RIVER BLACKSTAFF. 27.01.1971.

Troops and UDA members on joint patrol at Clon Duff Drive in Castlereagh Road area of Belfast, 1972.

John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono raise their fists as they join a protest in this Feb. 5, 1972, file photo in front of British Overseas Airways Corp. offices in New York on Fifth Avenue. The demonstrators called for the withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland.

Billy Wright ,loyalist fanatic who was shot dead in the Maze Prison, was leader of the renegade Loyalist Volunteer Force

President of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at the funeral of Patrick Kelly . 1987

Northern Ireland Troubles Gallery: Scots Guardsman, Paul Nicholls, from Caithness, killed by an IRA sniper on the Falls Road, Belfast. 1971

The former chief of the Army has claimed the military experience in Northern Ireland provides a template for conflicts in years to come.

But General Sir Richard Dannatt is highly critical of a lack of planning by Army chiefs during Operation Banner - the codename for the British military campaign in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007.

In a new book he writes: "Ministers like the political uplift that goes with a short, sharp successful military operation, which ideally rights a simple wrong.

"The 1991 Gulf War was perhaps a politicians' ideal template for a 21st century conflict: the Troubles were not.

"They are, however, far more typical of what soldiers are likely to confront in the future."

In Boots On The Ground, Sir Richard also argues that the Provisional IRA had been "contained, if not defeated" by the mid-1970s.

The senior officer, who served for four decades in the forces, concludes: "Essentially, (the IRA) was failing, unable to force a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland."

But from the same period, 1975 onwards, he also records regular surveys of public opinion which showed almost two-thirds of people in Britain were in favour of the withdrawal of troops from the province.

The book, which deals with the history of the Army since the Second World War, includes an attack on what Sir Richard calls the "recurrent myth" that the Ministry of Defence regarded Northern Ireland as a "mere training ground" compared to military tours of Germany, for example.

"The reality was that soldiers were there because they had a job to do," he states.

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Sir Richard reiterates that Operation Banner was now regarded by military chiefs as a "campaign without a campaign plan".

This backs up a review by the Army in 2006 that concluded there was little evidence of a strategic vision and no long-term plan.

"Muddling through, as more than one junior officer was exhorted to do, was no substitute for a plan," he argues.

With hindsight, the ex-commander suggests the initial three-month period when the Army arrived in 1969 was not properly utilised.

For three years afterwards the Army had "attempted to hold the line between the two communities" and in so doing had been drawn into the conflict itself.

It was perceived as "part of the problem - a precursor to the situation some three decades later in Iraq and Afghanistan".

Overall, around 300,000 soldiers took part in Operation Banner, the longest campaign in British military history.

A total of 763 British service personnel were killed.

That included 197 members of the UDR, 155 of them while off-duty.

Sir Richard writes: "Insurgents could be defeated militarily in the short-term but insurgency could only be defeated by tackling its root causes.

"The military task is to create the appropriate security conditions for civilian agencies to tackle the political, social and economic causes that fuel the radical discontent.

"As a result, somewhat paradoxically, military 'victory' is not the ultimate objective."

Boots On The Ground: Britain And Her Army Since 1945, Sir Richard Dannatt, Profile Books, 25
The 'tiny' Christmas tree in the town, which the council says is 30ft high

A Christmas tree erected in Ballyclare has been slammed by locals for being too short.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has been forced to raise its height in response to the criticism - but that may not halt the attacks.

It was erected on Monday - but soon afterwards staff were deployed from the council and given the task of measuring its height following complaints that it was far too small.

Ulster Unionist councillor David Arthurs said it wasn't acceptable, and called on the council to replace it.

"When I saw the tree, I thought it looked tiny. No way is it good enough for the town. I have made my thoughts clear to the relevant officers at the council and have asked them to replace it."

The council confirmed that the height of the tree was 30ft - which it said was the same specification as previous years.

But residents of the town are sceptical.

Many took to social media to express their disapproval.

Commenting on Facebook, one resident said: "Nice to see Ballyclare getting short straw again! Mini Christmas tree going up in square, bet Antrim tree still as big as last year."

Another said: "The problem is that it's smaller than the other trees around the square."

Staff at Russell's, a shop directly opposite the tree, were among those voicing criticism.

One worker said: "They are saying it's the same size as last year.

"I have been here 32 years and that's the smallest tree I have seen in the town.

"Staff and customers are laughing at it."

A colleague added: "It's an absolute disgrace."

Yesterday a passer-by said: "It's pathetic and it's crooked.

"It would be better to plant a tree and let it grow."

Ballyclare councillor Vera McWilliam told the Belfast Telegraph: "The council is responding to complaints as best they can. Arrangements have been made to raise the tree.

"I am confident that by Saturday, when the lights are switched on, the tree will have been raised and will be beautifully dressed. Hopefully that will erase all anxieties."

Mr Arthurs said: "My understanding is that the tree has been raised... I am disappointed with the situation.

"I have not yet seen the tree raised and decorated, but I still think the initial effort by the council was poor.

"We need to be realistic about our town centres. We have organised a market this weekend and have been planning that, and then the council go and put up a mediocre Christmas tree

"I hope that, come Saturday, the people of Ballyclare are happy.

"Going forward, we as councillors in Ballyclare will make sure that the people of Ballyclare get the tree they deserve."
Two joggers have told of the dramatic moment they found a German student who lay outdoors in the freezing cold overnight after falling to the bottom of a cliff - and how she is lucky to be alive.

The student was airlifted to hospital after falling at Cavehill Country Park in north Belfast.

The 20-year-old woman, who is a student at Queen's University in Belfast, was found by two passersby who were out on Wednesday.

She told her rescuers that she had been there since about 3pm on Tuesday.

The alarm was raised after Richard Lamont and David McCrum found a handbag in the area.

Richard took the bag home and investigated to find out who it belonged to.

After locating a QUB student card he contacted the university who quickly got back with their concerns about her as she hadn't turned up for class.

David then went back up Cavehill to the area they found the bag and also located a coat and hat.

He told the BBC: "She was in a hole which, I imagine, saved her life as that kept her from going into hypothermia.

"She said a gust of wind took her. The cold air was passing over the top, she was a very lucky girl."

Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Rescuers: David McCrum and Richard Lamont. Pic: BBC The woman is treated A helicopter lifts the injured student on Cavehill Cavehill Country Park: Rescue operation under way. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker. / Facebook

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The pair found the handbag during an early morning run and after returning they found a coat and hat and became increasingly worried.

"I looked down to see roughly where she fell and I heard a voice saying 'hello'.

"I came across her and couldn't believe it.

"I was amazed, it was unbelievable."

Incredibly, the student was very coherent and was able to speak to the men who found her.

They estimate the woman fell around 60ft.

David said: "Her wits were about her when she was talking to us. She was very coherent.

"The first thing I said was 'I found your coat and hat.'

"I put it round her and took what I had and put it round her and she was answering every question."

He added: "She was a wee warrior."

The woman was out in the freezing cold overnight and said she was constantly hoping and praying that someone would find her.

David said: "I just held her hand and she was gripping it very tightly when they were moving her."

The rescuers say they now have a special bond with the girl.

"When you are looking in to someone's eyes and they are fighting for their life, it touches you deep.

"At first it was just amazing that I heard that voice. It was touching, shock, everything was going through my mind.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Cavehill Country Park: Rescue operation under way. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker. Cavehill Country Park: Rescue operation under way. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker. Cavehill Country Park: Rescue operation under way. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker. Belfast's Cave Hill / Facebook

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He added: "It's like a bond when you find someone like that fighting for their life, you know that she's been through mental stuff that night that you can't even comprehend, she's basically found a brother."

A helicopter was used to lift the woman to an ambulance in the area. She is being treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital where her condition was described as 'stable'.

A PSNI search and rescue team, mountain rescue, the ambulance service and fire service were involved in the operation.

A challenging day @PSNIAirSupport, 2 multiagency incidents. Our thanks to all the emergency services & colleagues. #KeepingPeopleSafe pic.twitter.com/P1H3hYGl9d  PSNI Air Support (@PSNIAirSupport) November 23, 2016

A PSNI spokesman said: "Thank you to the vigilant members of the public who found this girl and stayed with her until help arrived."

The police gave the following safety advice for those who venture out walking on hills;
It is understood up to six caravans were parked at the site in Magherafelt.

Caravans parked at a site on the shores of Lough Neagh are to be moved off by midday on Friday, the High Court has ordered.

A judge granted an application by Mid Ulster District Council amid claims the unauthorised encampment at Ballyronan Marina Car Park was stopping public access to the area.

Any failure to comply with the order could result in occupants being held in contempt and facing the threat of imprisonment.

It is understood up to six caravans were parked at the site in Magherafelt.

Council representatives served them with notices as part of the court action.

At a hearing before Mr Justice Horner it was suggested that caravan tenants should be told to move out by noon on Friday.

The judge consented to the application but stressed that a penal notice should be included.

It means that any disobedience could result in possible imprisonment.

"Make sure you have the warning," he told a barrister for the council.

Mid Ulster District Council later confirmed it had sought a High Court order for possession of lands at Ballyronan Marina Car Park on the shores of Lough Neagh

In a statement it added: "Mr Justice Horner granted the Order on the terms sought and the occupiers are to be off these lands by noon this Friday.

"The council took this legal action because the occupants were not authorised to encamp on these lands and their actions were preventing the general public from full use of the services in that area."
The Duchess of Cornwall has met families of soldiers currently deployed in Iraq before opening a hospital's children's cancer unit.

Camilla visited Normandy Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, where she placed a posy on the 4 Rifles Memorial Wall, which includes the names of those killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She was then welcomed by a fanfare by buglers before attending a reception in the Serjeants Mess with families, soldiers, battalion veterans and injured servicemen.

She also presented five long-service medals and a meritorious service medal to serving Riflemen before signing a visitors' book.

The 4th Battalion the Rifles (4 Rifles), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Carl Boswell, currently has 250 Riflemen based at Al Asad Air Base, 100 miles west of Baghdad, providing training support to the Iraqi army.

The Duchess wished everyone a happy Christmas and said: "What a pleasure it has been to come to these new barracks, everyone seems to be very settled here.

"The partners of those serving abroad are doing a great job of supporting each other."

Joanna Metcalf, attended with her daughters, Ruby, 11, and Florence, four, while her husband, Serjeant Major Stephen Metcalf, is on deployment in Iraq.

The 36-year-old from Church Crookham, Hampshire, said: "It was really nice to meet the Duchess, it's nice to know that people do support us and it's nice for the children to meet someone important as it gives them an idea of the importance of their father's role."

She added: "My husband is away until February, it's the first time he's been away for Christmas so we're not looking forward to it and Florence is starting to miss him."

Ruby said: "It was really good to meet her, it makes me feel really proud of my dad."

Warrant Officer Richard Brown, 46, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was presented with his Meritorious Service Medal by the Duchess.

He said: "It's great for morale to have a visit from the Royal Colonel, she likes to be part of the regimental family and the battalion in particular."

The Duchess then went on to visit Southampton Children's Hospital to open the cancer unit Piam Brown which has undergone a 1.7 million seven-month refurbishment.

At the Southampton hospital, the Duchess met patients, fundraisers, nurses and families before touring the unit and taking in the consulting rooms, clinic, day ward and teenage games room.

A hospital spokesman said: "The unit, which sees more than 120 new patients a year from across the south of England, was originally opened in 1988.

"Since then it has become a national and European centre of excellence for neuroblastoma and the development of immunotherapy treatments, with Dr Juliet Gray, a consultant in paediatric oncology, the UK's representative on the European Neuroblastoma Research Group.

"The additional beds provided by the refurbishment offer the potential for the unit to take part in more clinical studies and the opportunity for children from outside the region to come to the hospital for novel immunotherapy trials which are not available in other centres."

During her visit, four-year-old Phelan Jordan showed the Duchess his picture of a car and nearly gave it to her but when Camilla asked if it was for her he explained it was his picture.

The Duchess also met Alicia Cole, 11, who won a drawing competition run by Southampton Children's Hospital Charity and who presented her with a framed copy of her artwork.

Camilla also attended a reception for supporters where she unveiled a plaque to officially open the new ward.

At the reception, she also met MasterChef winner Shelina Permalloo, Southampton Children's Hospital Charity's first charity champion.

The Duchess said: "I just wanted to congratulate everybody who's been involved with this wonderful refurbishment of the Piam Brown Ward, I can just see what a wonderful job it is doing for children with this illness.

"I've had a friend before who's had a child on this ward so I just know how wonderfully well they are looked after and I think this new ward will make all the difference, and so I am very proud and pleased to be here today."
First Minister Arlene Foster has been urged to "pressure" Peter Robinson into appearing in front of the public accounts committee in Dublin to give evidence on the Nama scandal.

Mr Robinson has, however, said he is not answerable to the Oireachtas committee.

Nama has been accused of treating the Republic's parliamentary inquiry into its 1.2billion sale of Northern Ireland property loans with "utter contempt".

The inquiry has been warned it has been shunted into a very difficult situation by former Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson's refusal to appear before the hearings.

In a letter, Mr Robinson said he was not answerable to the inquiry and that he had already given evidence to a separate inquiry into Project Eagle in Stormont.

The former DUP leader said the committee could email him if it wants his views on any specific issues and he would be happy to respond.

Committee chairman Sean Fleming said much of Mr Robinson's statement to the Stormont hearing "flatly contradicts" evidence given by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to the Dublin hearing last week.

The inquiry would have to adjudicate on that, he said.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly said she was disappointed Mr Robinson has refused to appear.

"I believe it would have been very helpful if Mr Robinson attended," she said.

"We are now placed in a very difficult situation. He has flatly contradicted what the Deputy First Minister said here."

In Northern Ireland SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has called on First Minister Arlene Foster to "pressure" Mr Robinson into giving evidence.

He said: The contradiction between the former First Minister and the current deputy First Minister means one of two things has happened; either Martin McGuinness is correct and was asleep at the wheel, or Peter Robinson is correct and Martin McGuinness was aware of this shady deal, did nothing to intervene and is now trying to wash his hands of it.

There is now clear public perception that both parties in this Executive are afraid of the truth of the NAMA scandal. In the interests of public confidence both must now be unreservedly transparent and forthcoming in any and all investigations into the matter.

As his Party Leader and as the leader of an Executive cast into disrepute by this scandal, Arlene Foster must pressure Peter Robinson to give evidence to the Public Accounts Committee in Dublin. Up to now she has shown only indifference and equivocation on this critical issue. If she does not, and this contradiction is not resolved, then the Executive Office must be asked which version of events is correct.

It has also emerged that key witness Ronnie Hanna, Nama's former head of asset recovery, has snubbed invitations to appear before the hearings.

Mr Hanna wrote to the committee saying he was declining the invite principally because of an ongoing investigation into the affair by the UK's National Crime Agency and the PSNI.

He added that he still has not been released from a duty of confidentiality to Nama.

Frank Daly, chairman, and Brendan McDonagh, chief executive, of the Republic's toxic assets agency, were called before Dublin's Public Accounts Committee again to be cross-examined about the so-called Project Eagle portfolio.

Several TDs on the committee expressed outrage that their lengthy opening statements - testimony on which the witnesses are questioned - were only handed into the inquiry 40 minutes before it was due to start on Thursday.

Labour's Alan Kelly said it was "unacceptable" and "frankly insulting", adding under normal circumstances he would call for the hearing to be adjourned.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly added: "I think it is totally unacceptable ... This is treating the committee with utter contempt."

Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald also said it was contemptuous and "sadly it seems to be part of their pattern".

Ms McDonald said Nama must be called back again before another hearing and urged the inquiry to "mark their cards for disrespecting the committee".

The inquiry was forced to adjourn for a period to read the Nama testimony.
The interchange would allow non-stop traffic flow between the Westlink (pictured), M2 and M3 with a new bridge and underpasses

Stormont ministers have been urged to use the Chancellor's 250 million infrastructure boost to deliver an under-threat motorway link across the region's busiest traffic bottleneck.

Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has warned that a question mark hangs over the long awaited 130 million York Street interchange project in Belfast due to a potential loss of key European funding as a consequence of Brexit.

The interchange would allow for the non-stop flow of traffic between the Westlink, M2 and M3 with the construction of a new bridge and associated underpasses.

In the autumn statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced extra capital funds for the devolved administrations, with Northern Ireland to receive an additional 250 million over four years.

With the Stormont Executive able to decide where to spend the cash, the announcement was met by calls from business organisations to proceed with the York Street build.

It was originally envisaged that around 40% of the construction costs would be sourced from the European Union. However, Mr Hazzard has claimed the UK's vote to leave the EU has cast serious doubt over that money.

While the Treasury has vowed to cover any EU funding shortfalls for projects signed off before Brexit, the next round of funding applications relevant to the York Street project does not open until 2018, so there is uncertainty whether it would be rubber-stamped before the UK exits the Union.

Ann McGregor, chief executive of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Autumn Statement money should be used to deliver the project.

"One of the key infrastructure projects in which investment must be made is the York Street Interchange," she said.

"Road schemes such as this will do much to ease congestion on heavily trafficked roads in the region which will help businesses to move products and goods more efficiently and in the process reduce costs."

The Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) echoed the call.

Chief executive Glyn Roberts said: "NIIRTA welcomes the additional 250 million for investment in our infrastructure and would urge the Executive to make the York Street Interchange a top priority for funding."

Stormont's budget for next year is set to be announced in December.

Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir said the Chancellor had responded to demands from the devolved administrations for a capital stimulus.

However, he said the statement also represented the UK Government's continuing commitment to a "self-defeating austerity agenda".

"I am glad that the Chancellor has listened to calls from the Devolved Administration Finance Ministers, who together represent 10 million people, to provide a capital stimulus," said Mr O Muilleoir.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said: "I strongly welcome the Chancellor's Autumn Statement today which takes forward this Government's commitment to build an economy that works for everyone, in Northern Ireland and the whole of our United Kingdom.

"Northern Ireland will benefit from over 250 million infrastructure capital funding which will enable the Executive to invest in key infrastructure projects to support future growth."

Mr Hammond also confirmed the UK-wide rate of corporation tax will fall to 17% by 2020.

That move will have implications for the Stormont Executive's economic flagship policy of reducing its devolved tax rate on business profits to 12.5% by 2018.

Mr O Muilleoir said: "The Executive supports a corporation tax rate of 12.5% to encourage business growth and create tens of thousands of jobs.

"Now we have clarity on the British Government's plans, we can move into intensive negotiations on the practical outworkings of this derogation."
Councillors Darren OReilly, Gary Donnelly and Padraig McShane with Mohamed Al-Halabi (second left) and flags in council chamber

A Northern Ireland councillor who was investigated after being pictured alongside an Irish Tricolour and the Palestinian flag in Coleraine council's chamber has been suspended for three months.

The controversy erupted in June 2015 after photographs emerged of independent councillor Padraig McShane and his guest Mohamed Al-Halabi, international director of co-operation for the municipality of Gaza, seated in the Coleraine council chamber - with the flags draped across the table in front of them.

An investigation was launched following unionist outrage to see if the code of conduct for councillors had been breached.

Mr McShane a member of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council was found to have committed four breaches of the code.

The councillor was been suspended for three months from November 28 and will not be allowed to attend council or committee meetings.

Mr McShane's lawyer has confirmed he will be appealing the decision to the High Court.

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Acting commissioner for the Local Government Commissioner for Standards Sanctions Ian Gordon said: "The respondent had sought permission to show personal visitors the council chamber and Mayors parlour; he had not sought permission to display flags in the chamber.

"He was aware of the current sensitivity and issues around flags both in his council and elsewhere in Northern Ireland. This was a misuse of the council chamber and his subsequent publication of the photograph was an attempt to use his position as a councillor to secure a political advantage for himself or others.

"The surreptitious manner in which the flags were displayed demonstrates his disregard for his councils developing policy on flags and was an improper use of the chamber. His deliberate actions and the subsequent publicity, generated by himself, were likely to cause controversy and brought the role of a councillor and his council into disrepute.

"The respondent had embarked on a deliberate course of action which was politically motivated and contrary to what his council would expect from an elected member. He accepts that he has failed to comply with Paragraph 4.6 of the Code. "

Mr Gordon said Mr McShane's comments in the media during the investigation and his failure to appear at the hearing showed there was "no evidence that he has shown insight or reflection on any of his failures to comply".

He continued: "To the contrary, it appears from quotes in the media, attributed to the Respondent, that he is unconcerned about the outcome of his actions.

"Such conduct and lack of insight or understanding of the purpose of the code, gives rise to a question on the likelihood of further failures to comply with the code, on the part of the respondent."

In response to the suspension Mr McShane's lawyer said it was an attempt to "sanction an elected politician for expressing political views".

In a statement Michael Brentall Solicitors said Mr McShane will be appealing the decision to the High Court.

It said: "This decision on behalf of the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards to suspend our client for a period of three months, is an attempt to sanction an elected politician for expressing political views.

"This sanction is an attempt to silence our client and prevent him from properly representing his constituents. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the censuring of such views and is a disproportionate interference with his right to freedom of expression.

"We can confirm our client will be appealing this decision to the High Court.
John Hemsworth died six months after being attacked near Springfield Road in July 1997 during disturbances linked to the Drumcree dispute in Portadown (Police Ombudsman/PA)

Police have expressed regret after a watchdog found officers assaulted a man who later died from his injuries.

West Belfast man John Hemsworth, 39, died six months after being attacked near Springfield Road in July 1997 during disturbances linked to the Drumcree dispute in Portadown.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris said : "It is a matter of deep regret that individual culpability for the assault on Mr Hemsworth has not been identified and that police officers who may have committed offences have not been held to account."

Before his death, Mr Hemsworth alleged police officers had carried out the assault but two subsequent investigations were inconclusive.

However, when the controversial case was referred to the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman for independent investigation years later, new evidence was unearthed.

Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said: "The medical evidence is that the injuries sustained by Mr Hemsworth were the sole underlying cause of his death in 1998. Further, the available evidence leads me to conclude that those injuries were sustained as a consequence of Mr Hemsworth being assaulted by police officers.

"I am concerned that throughout the course of three investigations and an Inquest no officer who was present has been able to recall the incident."

The assault took place after a night of trouble during which Springfield Road police station had come under repeated attack from petrol bombs and other missiles.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had deployed riot squad officers in a bid to disperse the crowds.

Mr Hemsworth, who was making his way home after a night out, alleged that as he was walking along Malcolmson Street, a minor road off the Springfield Road, police assaulted him.

He was treated in hospital for a broken jaw and discharged.

Mr Hemsworth provided a brief account of what happened to his solicitor, who, after his death, lodged a complaint with police.

At post mortem, the pathologist said it had not been possible to link Mr Hemsworth's death to the injuries he had received.

The lack of detail in his account also meant police were unable to properly establish his movements prior to the assault, nor who had been with him and i n January 1999, police reported that they had found no evidence to support the allegations.

However, members of the Hemsworth family pursued the case and an inquest was ordered by the Attorney General.

The coroner concluded 'it was highly probable that one or more officers of the RUC Operational Support Unit Blue Section was responsible for the injuries to Mr Hemsworth', which were likely to have played a part in his death.

After receiving a referral from the PSNI, Ombudsman investigators carried out door-to-door inquiries, issued media appeals, held a public meeting and sought footage from military helicopters but none provided new evidence.

They also traced witnesses who had been with Mr Hemsworth on the night of the attack.

These witnesses, who corroborated each other's evidence, said Mr Hemsworth and a number of other people had been at a house at Brittons Parade until after 1am on the morning of the assault.

Unable to get taxis, they decided to walk to their homes and all left the property together. One witness, the last of the group to see Mr Hemsworth, said she parted company with him at Oakman Street.

Given this information, the Ombudsman's office staged a reconstruction of the route Mr Hemsworth would most likely have taken to get to his home in Conway Square. This placed him in Malcolmson Street at or around 1.45am when police officers from the Blues Section were known to have been present.

Dr Maguire said: "The previous investigations did not get this information and were working to a flawed timeline. They relied on the evidence available then that Mr Hemsworth had arrived home not any later than 1.15am, before the RUC Blue Section was in Malcolmson Street."

Ombudsman investigators then interviewed 16 police officers from a number of units of the RUC's Blue Section, some of whom were in Malcolmson Street that night.

None admitted assaulting Mr Hemsworth, nor did they implicate any of their colleagues in the attack.

Most of the officers have retired from policing, but others remain within the PSNI.

DCC Harris said the PSNI accepted the Ombudsman's findings and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Mr Hemsworth's widow Collette said her lengthy quest for truth was worthwhile.

She said: "This has been an emotionally exhausting journey in establishing the truth and the facts surrounding John's death and I welcome the report findings by Dr Maguire.

"I was robbed of my loving husband and my daughter of her devoted father.

"Nothing can ever replace that aching gap in our lives. The cherished memories we have of John remain with us every single day. He was a wonderful human being who would not have harmed a living soul and yet he was so cruelly set upon.

"Despite all the heartache of this past 19 years we can finally say that we established the truth for John - that the vicious and unprovoked assault by the RUC on John was the direct cause of his death. In that regard the battle for the truth was worthwhile despite how difficult it was."

Meanwhile, Relatives for Justice, which has supported the family, described it as "beyond incredible" that none of the officers interviewed could remember anything about the attack and Mr Hemsworth's daughter Danielle appealed for them to "break the wall of silence".
New evidence has been uncovered about an attack on a man who died six months after he was allegedly beaten by an RUC riot squad.

John Hemsworth was assaulted in the early hours of July 7, 1997 in west Belfast. He was subsequently admitted to hospital and died on January 1, 1998.

Before his death Mr Hemsworth (39) alleged RUC officers had carried out the attack.

Two subsequent police investigations were unable to confirm this.

However, in 2011 an inquest found it was "highly probable" they were responsible for the injuries which contributed to his death

New evidence has now come to light after an investigation by the Police Ombudsman.

It places Mr Hemsworth in the same location as police officers at the time of the assault.

Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said it confirmed the conclusions of the inquest.

Mr Hemsworth was born in Kearney, New Jersey, but, after a few years, his family moved to Northern Ireland.

The July 1997 assault took place following a night of trouble in west Belfast.

Springfield Road police station had come under repeated attack from petrol bombs and missiles. The RUC had deployed the 'blue section' of its Operational Support Unit.

Mr Hemsworth was making his way home following a night out. He later alleged that as he was walking along Malcolmson Street, off the Springfield Road, police assaulted him.

Although injured, he got to his home in Conway Square. His wife advised him to go to hospital, where he was treated for a broken jaw and then discharged.

He later provided a brief account of what happened to his solicitor, who began to gather information prior to making a complaint about police.

Following Mr Hemsworth's death his solicitor lodged this complaint, which was investigated by police.

A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive.

In January 1999 police reported that they had found no evidence to support the allegations.

In 2011 a coroner concluded "it was highly probable that one or more officers of the RUC Operational Support Unit blue section was responsible for the injuries to Mr Hemsworth". The PSNI then referred the matter to the Police Ombudsman's Office.

Investigators traced witnesses, who placed Mr Hemsworth in Malcolmson Street around 1.45am when police officers from blue section were present.

Dr Maguire added: "The medical evidence is that the injuries sustained by Mr Hemsworth were the sole underlying cause of his death in 1998.

"Further, the available evidence leads me to conclude that those injuries were sustained as a consequence of Mr Hemsworth being assaulted by police officers."
The loyalist club at Tyndale where Lorraine was last seen

The sister of a young woman raped and murdered almost 30 years ago has vowed she will never stop fighting for justice.

Lorraine McCausland's partially clothed body was found beside a stream in north Belfast in March 1987.

Nobody has ever been charged with killing the 23-year-old mother-of-two.

Yesterday, detectives announced they had reopened an investigation into her murder.

Detective Inspector Michelle Griffin said a cold case review had identified "potential new lines of inquiry".

She added the "shadow of loyalist paramilitarism" hung over the case, but also expressed hopes that people would come forward with information.

Lorraine's family is also hopeful of a breakthrough after all these years.

In a direct appeal to her sister's killers, Cathy McIlvenny, said: "Come forward and clear your conscience.

"I'll never stop fighting until I get it (justice) for her. We have fought hard to get to this point."

Lorraine had been for a night out and was last seen in a loyalist club at Tyndale.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close The loyalist club at Tyndale where Lorraine was last seen Murder victim Lorraine McCausland's sister Cathy McIlvenny / Facebook

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Police believe she was raped in the club before she was "savagely beaten" and dumped.

She was found beside a stream in Forthriver on March 8, 1987.

Despite 14 arrests during the original investigation, her killer has never been caught.

Further tragedy was to strike the family in future years.

Ms McCausland's son, who was two when she was killed, was murdered 18 years later.

Craig McCausland died after being shot in Dhu Varren Park in north Belfast in July 2005.

The police blamed the killing on tension within the loyalist movement.

Ms McIlvenny said the murder of Lorraine had devastated the whole family. "If I was living with something like that on my conscience... it could be something very small that you think isn't important but everything is important," she added.

Ms McIlvenny also thanked the PSNI for reopening the investigation and giving the family hope after 29 years.

She said: "Remember, this was not a paramilitary or Troubles-related murder - this was a sexual attack against a 23-year-old woman."

Detective Inspector Griffin described Lorraine's killing as the "merciless beating of a vulnerable young woman".

She added: "The murder has had a profound effect on her family. It would also have had a lasting impact on the people who witnessed these events some 29 years ago."

The detective confirmed that detectives have specific lines of inquiry, but she refused to reveal further details.

She said: "We have felt frustrated that we got so close to charging people involved in this rape and this murder, but we are just missing that last evidential link that will build the jigsaw puzzle and get us over the line.

"It is our assessment that Lorraine had been enjoying a night out with friends and then ended up in a loyalist drinking club at Tyndale.

"We believe she was raped in the club and later savagely beaten inside and outside the premises before her partially clothed body was dumped on open ground beside a nearby river."

Detectives working on the initial investigation conducted 29 searches and took more than 100 witness statements.

A total of 107 exhibits were submitted for forensic examination and 45 exhibits subjected to examination.

Now, the latest technology is being used to examine DNA evidence linked to the case.

Officers yesterday distributed leaflets in the local area to highlight the reopening of the investigation.

DI Griffin hopes that people who may previously have been fearful about coming forward will now consider doing so.

She said: "The shadow of loyalist paramilitarism hangs over this case.

"I believe people have been reluctant to tell the truth about that night, what they saw and heard, what they know, because they are frightened. I understand that fear."

The detective continued: "This was not a sectarian murder. There is no evidence that the UDA directed or sanctioned the murder, but we do believe they were members and close associates of the UDA."

One of the main suspects in the case was reportedly recruited as a police informant within weeks of Lorraine's body being discovered.

DI Griffin said: "It is police policy not to comment on any persons status as an informant."

Referring to previous reports relating to the murder, including a report conducted by the Historical Enquiries Team, she added: "None of those reports suggested that the reason nobody has gone to court is because of their status".

Anyone with information can contact detectives from Serious Crime Branch on the non-emergency 101 number. Those who wish to remain anonymous may contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Two women have hit out after being left waiting for more than three years for a health trust to hand over their dead sister's medical notes.

Patricia Brolly died in Altnagelvin's intensive care unit in August 2013.

Three weeks later siblings Kathleen Hart and Mary Higgins submitted a request for paperwork relating to her care.

They had asked the Western Trust's medical records department for the files as part of an official complaint about treatment Mrs Brolly was given earlier in 2013 as a patient in a different ward.

While Mrs Hart and Mrs Higgins did receive some of the records, the pertinent notes relating to her care in ward two were missing.

They are unhappy with the hospital's explanation that the notes are "missing", as it could impact on their ability to pursue their complaint.

They came forward days after a judge spoke of his frustration with the department.

Speaking at Londonderry Magistrates Court last Friday, District Judge Barney McElholm threatened to close Altnagelvin Hospital over lengthy delays in the handing over of medical records requested as part of a court case.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mrs Hart explained: "Our sister Patricia, who had a lot of medical problems like rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, was admitted to ward two with cellulite, which is a painful skin infection.

"She was in so much pain it was difficult to even look at her, but even though she was begging the staff on the ward for breakthrough pain relief, they consistently refused.

"Breakthrough pain relief is given in between other pain relief. Patricia was a nurse and she was well aware of what was available, but her pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

"The level of pain she said she was in was dismissed by the nurses who were supposed to be caring for her, and Patricia felt she had no choice but to sign herself out.

"She managed her pain at home with the help of her GP but her condition continued to deteriorate and she developed sepsis."

Patricia was readmitted into Altnagelvin in July.

Mrs Hart added: "She went to ward five but was quickly transferred to the high dependency unit (HDU), and then on to the intensive care unit (ICU), where she died in August."

She said they have no issue with the care Patricia was given in either ward five, HDU or ICU, but were not happy at how she was treated in ward two.

"We decided to lodge the complaint because Patricia deserved better, everybody deserves better," Mrs Hart added.

"But we thought we were stuck because the crucial notes from Patricia's stay in ward two can't be found.

"It is interesting that the rest of her notes are here, we have a copy of them."

As part of their attempts to get their sister's files from ward two, Mrs Hart and Mrs Higgins met with a number of key personnel from the Western Trust.

In April 2015 a letter to them from trust chief executive Elaine Way confirmed the existence of the notes and assured the sisters that periodic searches for them will continue.

In the letter, seen by the Belfast Telegraph, Mrs Way wrote: "Mr J Foster, Head of Records and Information Governance, had advised that the missing volume of notes was available and photocopied at one stage so there is no reason to believe that the information has been disposed of."

Mrs Higgins said that while she and her sister felt totally deflated by the trust's continued failure to locate the missing notes, they have been inspired by Judge McElhom.

She said: "That letter was the last word we had from the trust - that was over 18 months ago.

"When I read what Mr McElhom said in court I realised that we are not the only ones, but he has more clout than we do, so we hope that he can shake the place up and our sister's notes will soon be located."

A spokesman for the Western Trust said: "The trust had been in communication with the family, and will continue to keep them informed of progress. The Western Trust cannot comment on individual cases."
Mary McAleese with host Claire Byrne at the Tiffany Awards in Dublin yesterday

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has described her doctorate study in canon law as "sleeping in the same bed as a python".

"You never finish it, you just get to the point where you have to abandon it," Mrs McAleese said.

She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican with a quip that her social life was "very active" given the 11pm curfew.

Her studies have "filled her head up with crap", the former President said.

But the plus side is that it has cleared her mind of "a whole lot of things".

The eighth President of Ireland, Mrs McAleese recently joined over 100 academics in challenging the Church's ban on artificial contraception.

Mrs McAleese was honoured yesterday at the annual Tiffany Ireland funds lunch for women in business and philanthropy at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin.

Guests included the President's wife Sabina Higgins; Fionnuala Kelly, wife of the Taoiseach; director general of RTE Dee Forbes, and Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital.

Also among the guests was Ann Buckley, helped from homelessness by charity Daisyhouse and who is now studying journalism.

Mrs McAleese was interviewed on stage by Claire Byrne, who asked what outcome she wants from her religious studies.

Most practitioners of canon law end up annulling marriages, Mrs McAleese said, explaining that she didn't want to do that.

As the only married person in her class, nobody ever asked her a question, she said, claiming they had an "unhealthy interest in bad marriages".

Instead, she wants to look at the hierarchical structure of the Church, which she says is "not serving its purpose".

She slated the Vatican's recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children's Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.

The former President said she was "enormously proud" of Ireland, adding that "perplexing events" in the United States and the UK prompt her to say "Thanks be to God I live in Ireland".

She spoke of the "radical" European Union, which had healed the divisions of two World Wars, and she warmly praised Ireland's embrace of new emigrants.

"We are not saying what they are saying in the United States," she said, adding that all Irish political parties were pro-inclusion because of the history of the Irish people who experienced discrimination yet stuck it out and went on to become "Corporate Britain and corporate America".

There is some racism in Ireland, but "that's not how most of us feel", she said.

Realising that older Irish communities in the UK were going to vote for Brexit over fears "immigrants were taking their jobs" was "so depressing", Mrs McAleese said.

During her time as President she told how she visited a new building in Wales and was told by the then First Minister that the chief architect and other key players in the construction were all Irish.

He told her if she had walked onto the site 40 years ago, everybody carrying a hod would have been an Irishman.

"The Irish don't carry the hod anymore," he had told her.

"That's a measure of how we've moved on and moved up," Mrs McAleese said.
A key figure in the controversial Project Eagle sale, former Nama official Ronnie Hanna, has declined an invitation to be quizzed by politicians in the Republic.

Mr Hanna, the agency's former head of asset recovery, was arrested last summer by officers from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), which has been investigating the sale of Nama's Northern Ireland loan book.

Mr Hanna wrote to the Dail's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) "respectfully" declining their invitation to give evidence.

Committee chairman Sean Fleming said: "He (Mr Hanna) has written to the committee saying he's respectfully declining the invitation."

In his letter, Mr Hanna said he was still bound by a confidentiality agreement he signed with Nama. He also cited the ongoing NCA investigation in Northern Ireland as a reason why he could not appear.

The PAC is examining Project Eagle after the Comptroller and Auditor General found that a probable loss of 190m was incurred in the 2014 deal. Nama has rejected this finding.

Nama chairman Frank Daly previously told the PAC that no evidence had been produced to substantiate the allegations made against Mr Hanna.

Mr Hanna was named in the Dail by TD Mick Wallace as one of two men arrested by the NCA. Former Nama adviser Frank Cushnahan was also held. Both men were questioned and released. They deny wrongdoing.

Former First Minister Peter Robinson also declined to appear at the PAC, but sent TDs a letter on Project Eagle.
Peter Robinson has declined to appear before the inquiry

Sacking a prominent Belfast businessman from his role as a Nama adviser would have stoked political tensions in Northern Ireland, the toxic asset agency's chairman has said.

Nama's Frank Daly was asked before a parliamentary committee investigating its controversial sale of the 1.2 billion Project Eagle portfolio if that meant Frank Cushnahan was protected.

"No, it doesn't mean he was protected," he told Dublin's Public Accounts Committee.

"We would have needed something very solid to remove Mr Cushnahan from (Nama's) Northern Ireland Advisory Committee because there is no doubt at all it would have caused tension up north."

Mr Daly added: "I know when the Deputy First Minister (Martin McGuinness) was here recently, he indicated it wouldn't really have been a problem for him.

"But he was very clear in his evidence that it might have been a problem for others.

"I think that bears it out."

However, Mr Daly said if Nama knew about Mr Cushnahan's alleged involvement in the Project Eagle sale while he was still a Nama adviser then he would been removed - "political sensitivities or not".

He added: "But up until the time he resigned in 2013 we knew absolutely nothing about those activities of his, or alleged activities."

The Project Eagle portfolio of Northern Ireland property loans was bought by US investors Cerberus in April 2014.

Another US company Pimco, a leading bidder, has said it pulled out weeks earlier because it was asked for a fixer payment of 16 million for three parties behind the scenes.

The money was to be shared equally by Mr Cushnahan, US law firm Brown Rudnick and Ian Coulter, a managing partner of Belfast solicitors Tughans, Pimco has said.

Mr Cushnahan was formerly a Nama adviser on Northern Ireland, on the recommendation of the Democratic Unionists.

All parties have denied any wrongdoing.

Former Northern Ireland first minister Peter Robinson has written to the Dublin inquiry, saying he is not answerable to the hearings and that he has already given evidence to a separate inquiry into the affair at Stormont.

The former DUP leader said the committee could email him if it wants views on any specific issues and he would be happy to respond.

Committee chairman Sean Fleming said much of Mr Robinson's statement to the Stormont hearing "flatly contradicts" evidence given by Mr McGuinness to the Dublin hearing last week.

The inquiry would have to adjudicate on that, he said.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly said she was disappointed at Mr Robinson's refusal to appear.

"I believe it would have been very helpful if Mr Robinson attended," she said.

"We are now placed in a very difficult situation. He has flatly contradicted what the Deputy First Minister said here."

Another key witness, Ronnie Hanna, Nama's former head of asset recovery, has also turned down an invitation to appear before the hearings.

Mr Hanna said he was declining the invite principally because of an ongoing investigation into Project Eagle by the UK's National Crime Agency and the PSNI.

He added that he still has not been released from a duty of confidentiality to Nama.

Mr Daly has disputed claims by Pimco that it told the agency all the details behind its withdrawal from the sale.

The Nama chairman said it was never told Brown Rudnick introduced Mr Cushnahan to Pimco on April 2013 - while he was still a Nama adviser.

Pimco also did not tell them that Mr Cushnahan was one of the organisers of a meeting in May 2013 between Pimco and Mr Robinson and then finance minister Sammy Wilson, said Mr Daly.

He added they were also not told about Pimco being asked for a success fee as early as June 2013.

"Pimco's letter to this committee is materially inaccurate because it states that Pimco provided details of these matters to Nama in a series of calls in March 2014," he said.

"Pimco did not provide these details to Nama in March 2014 or indeed at the time of its indicative offers in September or December 2013.

"At no stage in Nama's extensive engagement with Pimco, from Sept 2013 to March 10 2014, did Pimco inform Nama that Mr Cushnhan was a potential beneficiary of the success fee arrangement proposed to Pimco by Brown Rudnick.

"Only Pimco can explain why they did not tell us about these details and we have written to them asking why none of these details were disclosed to Nama at the time."
Irish premier Enda Kenny will use a visit with the Pope next week to encourage him to come to Ireland.

The Taoiseach will use the occasion to encourage the pontiff to visit Ireland in 2018, when Dublin hosts the World Meeting of Families, a three-yearly gathering of the Catholic Chruch.

A Government spokesman in Dublin said: "He will express the full support of the Government for the invitation by the Irish Bishops Conference to Pope Francis to visit Ireland in the context of that meeting and assure the Pope that the normal state courtesies and support will be extended to him if he decides to come to Ireland.

"They are also expected to discuss a number of issues of mutual and global interest, including bilateral relations, developments in the European Union and migration."

The pair are to meet in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on November 28. Irish Bishops have already formally invited Pope Francis to attend.
CCTV showing Brussels airport bomb suspect Mohamed Abrini, the so-called 'man in a hat', just before the attack in April 2016

The Brussels bombing suspect dubbed "the man in the hat" was led to a secret meeting in a Birmingham forest and handed 3,000 by two men to fund terrorism, a court has heard.

Mohamed Abrini, who is also wanted by French authorities in connection with the Paris attacks last November, made visits to a casino during his trip to the UK between July 9 and 16 2015, Kingston Crown Court in south-west London heard on Thursday.

Prosecutors allege the 31-year-old Belgian citizen received the payment from defendant Zakaria Boufassil, 26, together with Mohammed Ali Ahmed, between July 9 and July 16 2015, when Abrini travelled to the Midlands from abroad.

The Birmingham pair are charged with supplying "a quantity of sterling currency" to Abrini between June 1 2014, and April 16 2016 with the intention of committing or assisting another to commit acts of terrorism.

Boufassil has pleaded not guilty to the charge but prosecutor Max Hill QC told the jury Ahmed had admitted the same offence on November 8.

He said this would become relevant to jurors when determining if the case against Boufassil had been established, adding the accused denied sharing Ahmed's intention.

Mr Hill said there was "no doubt" the money was handed over with the intention of assisting acts of terrorism, adding: "We suggest that Mr Boufassil committed this offence together with Ahmed, and he is as guilty as his co-defendant Ahmed.

"That will be for you to decide when you've heard all of the evidence."

The court also heard Abrini visited at least one casino during his time in the UK - both before and after the alleged cash handover took place - but there "was no clear evidence" the money had been gambled.

Mr Hill said telecommunications evidence suggested there was a "convergence" of the three men near Small Heath Park in Birmingham on July 10 last year before a "pre-arranged cash handover meeting" the following afternoon.

The court heard Abrini was interviewed by Belgian investigators on April 20 and 21 this year and told them he had travelled to Syria to visit his brother's grave.

Mr Hill said that while there Abrini recalled meeting a man called "Abaaoud" who asked him to collect some money in the UK and supplied him with phone numbers.

Abrini was instructed to travel to Birmingham the day after he arrived in London and was told to go to the Small Heath Park area "several times" only to find no one there, the court heard.

But on his third day in Birmingham he was led to a forest to collect the money, Mr Hill said.

Jurors were told Abrini described Ahmed as the man who guided him to the location and Boufassil as the one who handed over the money in a bag.

He said Boufassil told him it had taken so long to organise the meeting because he had to "verify with Syria" that he was not an imposter.

The money was withdrawn from a bank account held by Anwar Haddouchi, who previously lived in Birmingham, he said.

Mr Hill said Haddouchi was an associate of Ahmed and had left the UK before July last year and travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State (Daesh).

He told the court: "Abrini had come to collect the money in the UK. The destination of the money would certainly include Syria - it would appear Daesh, also known as Islamic State - either to Haddouchi himself or to other fighters."

French national Azzedine Kaddour, 26, has known Haddouchi since he was 15 years old and said he was like a "big brother".

In a witness statement read to court, he said Haddouchi "cared a lot about money" and received benefits. His wife was also given 500 euros a month by her father.

The prosecution allege benefit payments were still going into Haddouchi's Lloyds TSB account after he had left the country in the summer of 2014.

A statement from another friend, Ilyass Sakhi, described receiving graphic picture messages from the man's phone via WhatsApp before eventually changing his number on advice from Belgian police.

He said he got messages including images of "people dying", "Muslim children killed" and corpses for up to a year after he last saw Haddouchi, but could not be sure he was the one sending them.

The trial continues.
A judge listed the case for a week-long trial in September next year.

A data protection watchdog could be set to feature in a landmark legal action over a naked photograph of a 14-year-old Northern Ireland girl being allegedly posted on a Facebook "shame" page.

The High Court in Belfast heard today that the Information Commissioner has requested documents in the claim against the social media giant.

A judge also listed the case for a week-long trial in September next year.

In what is believed to be the first litigation of its kind in the world, the girl is suing Facebook and the man suspected of posting her photo.

Her lawyers allege the image was blackmailed from her and then published as a form of revenge porn.

The girl, who cannot be identified, is seeking damages for misuse of private information, negligence and breach of the Data Protection Act.

Her photo was said to have been posted on a so-called shame page on Facebook several times between November 2014 and January 2016.

Barrister Peter Girvan, instructed by McCann and McCann solicitors to represent the teenager, has likened it to a method of child abuse.

It is contended that Facebook had the power to block any republication by using a DNA process to identify the image.

In September the company failed in a bid to have the action dismissed at a preliminary stage.

At that stage barrister for Facebook relied on a European directive, claiming it provides protection from having to monitor a vast amount of online material for what is posted on one page.

It was also stressed that the social network always respond to any reported breaches brought to its attention.

The picture was taken down as soon as notification was received, the court heard.

But the girl's legal team countered that putting a naked picture of a 14-year-old should have been a "red-line" issue for the company.

If the image had been blocked all subsequent publications would have been avoided, they contended.

Following the failed attempt to halt proceedings, the case was mentioned again today before Mr Justice Stephens.

He was told the Information Commissioner has asked for the statement of claim.

The development could lead to the watchdog applying to become involved in the action.

The judge also confirmed that he was setting aside five days to hear the trial
Claims by an IRA man turned lawyer in his book that he was involved in multiple shootings, bombings and armed robberies have been raised directly with the Prime Minister.

Theresa May was asked by the Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott if she would back an extradition from the Republic of solicitor Kieran Conway, a former director of intelligence for the IRA.

In his autobiography, Southside Provisional, Mr Conway said he took part in "five or six" bombings, armed robberies and fatal gun attacks against British soldiers - although he said he could not be sure his own shots caused the deaths.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Theresa May said in principle she supported bringing people to justice in such cases.

"The question of whether or not an individual would be extradited or a request would be made for extradition is for the appropriate investigation and prosecution authorities to decide," she said. "We do, of course, recognise the concerns about those cases where it is still possible to bring people to justice, and obviously we want to see that being done."

Mr Elliott said: "He (Mr Conway) stated he will never disclose information on any fellow IRA man despite knowing details of IRA actions he himself defines as constituting war crimes.

"At a time when the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is deliberating on the correct approach to dealing with legacy issues, I asked the Prime Minister to assure me that Her Majesty's Government will apply for the extradition of this terrorist for questioning in order to grant some form of justice to the long-suffering victims and their families.

"It is individuals like Conway who indicate that we cannot expect any meaningful movement until they engage with the process and are honest about their own past. The UK Government must ensure any new agreement will not contain amnesties for the men and women of violence."

Mark Hamilton, head of the PSNI's Legacy and Justice Department, said: "We are currently examining everything that has been said by Mr Conway in order to ascertain what investigative opportunities will be progressed. Where appropriate, all actions will be considered if the evidence exists to do so."

Speaking this week, Mr Conway described how he planted a "small number of bombs".

"You would have been concerned there would be no civilians injured and then ensure your own safety in getting away, and in that order," he said.
Police encountered a storm of criticism as serial killer Stephen Port was found guilty of murdering four young gay men to fulfil his depraved sexual fantasies.

The 41-year-old chef stalked his victims on dating websites and plied them with drinks spiked with fatal amounts of the drug GHB to rape them while they were unconscious.

He dumped their bodies in or near a graveyard within 500 metres of his flat in Barking, east London, and embarked on an elaborate cover-up.

He disposed of their mobile phones, repeatedly lied to police, and planted a fake suicide note in the hand of one of his victims, taking the blame for the death of another.

Following an Old Bailey trial Port was found guilty of the murders after a jury deliberated for 28 hours and 27 minutes.

He could face spending the rest of his life behind bars.

The deaths of Jack Taylor, Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth over 15 months bore striking similarities but police allegedly failed to make the link until relatives of his final victim demanded answers.

Mr Taylor's family, who are planning to sue, said: "We do believe Jack would still be here if they had done their job.

"The police should be held accountable for Jack's death. We do understand it's not them who took Jack's life, but Stephen Port would have been stopped."

The family refused to accept Mr Taylor would have taken drugs willingly and put pressure on officers to treat his death as suspicious.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "While timely and commendable, this verdict is no compensation for the loss of four young gay men who had their lives, hopes and dreams cut short."

He accused the police of "class, gender and sexuality bias" and said lives would have been saved if police had acted on concerns sooner.

"If four young well-off women had been murdered in Mayfair, I believe the police would have made a public appeal much sooner and mounted a far more comprehensive investigation," he said.

An Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry is ongoing into the handling of the case and 17 officers are facing investigation into possible misconduct.

Family quietly cheered as Port was found guilty of murdering Mr Walgate by a majority of 11 to one.

Port's sentencing was adjourned until 10.30am tomorrow.

The court heard Port had an insatiable desire for boyish-looking men he referred to as Twinks.

He trawled the internet for pornography involving inert young men being "raped" by older men. The victims' relatives sat through harrowing evidence, including home videos of Port enacting his drug rape obsession.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield, who led the investigation and has been a police officer for 28 years, said: "Port is probably one of the most dangerous individuals I've encountered."

He also described Port as a "voracious sexual predator".
Secret report outlines a string of avoidable deaths and long-term injuries over many years

A premature baby was left to die in a sluice room at a failing NHS Trust hospital in Manchester.

The baby, which was born too early to resuscitate, was not nursed for the two hours of her short life but died alone in the room used for the disposal of medical waste.

The distressing incident was detailed in a secret internal report into chronic shortages, bad staff attitudes and clinical errors in the maternity departments of North Manchester General and Royal Oldham hospitals.

A review of maternity services at Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust, which operates the two hospitals, was obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the Manchester Evening News.

It outlined a string of avoidable deaths and long-term injuries caused by failures over many years.

The report detailed how one woman died of a catastrophic haemorrhage after her symptoms were put down to mental illness and another was left with a colostomy because her condition was missed three times.

It also said the Trust was placing women at "unacceptable risk" by taking on too many high-risk pregnancies at North Manchester General due to a lack of beds at Oldham.

The baby was born just before the legal age of viability, which is around 23 weeks. As per guidelines, staff did not try to keep her alive, but the report said "essential" basic compassion was missing.

When the baby was born alive and went on to live for almost another two hours, the staff members involved in the care did not find a quiet place to sit with her to nurse her as she died," it said.

"[They] instead placed her in a moses basket and left her in the sluice room to die alone.

Expand Close The review was carried out by new maternity director Deborah Carter at Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust, which operates North Manchester General and the Royal Oldham hospitals / Facebook

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Whatsapp The review was carried out by new maternity director Deborah Carter at Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust, which operates North Manchester General and the Royal Oldham hospitals

Long-term failures in the departments led to high levels of harm for babies in particular and repeated warnings over years had not led to improvements.

The paper said the trust tried to suppress the report and even claimed it did not exist.

The report identified clear evidence of poor decision-making which has resulted in significant harm to women and real issues on maternity wards.

This resulted in high levels of harm for babies in particular, which has significant life-long impact, it said.

The Trust had a heavy reliance of locum staff  more than one third of the consultant workforce  and as such was "very general in its makeup" and lacked specific skills and competencies, which had led to "untoward outcomes for woman".

In one instance, a baby died because its mother had a rare blood type which staff failed to identify.

It cited worrying repetitive themes across the department, including failures to monitor basic vital signs, poor documentation, key lab results left unchecked, and critical missing information left off patient records.

On Wednesday night the trust said more staff had been taken on and progress was being made to improve care.

The report described a rigid mindset among staff who tended to view patients' conditions as uncomplicated, repeated breach of safety procedures and little performance monitoring of the high numbers of agency staff on the trust's books.

The Trust received more legal claims and paid out more in damages than any other between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of them relating to mothers and babies  payouts which totalled more than 25 million.

Professor Matthew Makin, medical director at Pennine, said: The priority is for all of the trust's services to meet the high standards that patients expect and deserve.

We are steadily making the necessary improvements so that patients can receive reliable, high quality care across all of our services.

In addition to the appointment of a new Head of Midwifery, 31 new midwives started in post across our two maternity units at North Manchester and Oldham last month.

One incident identifies that a baby died following birth because the mother was not identified during her antenatal care as being rhesus negative and given the appropriate treatment to prevent any adverse effects on her baby, he said.
Thomas Mair, who was found guilty of her murder

Jo Cox's husband Brendan Cox, mother Jean Leadbeater and sister Kim Leadbeater after speaking to the media following the guilty verdict in Thomas Mair's trial for the murder of the Labour MP

A Neo-Nazi was handed a whole life sentence for the murder of MP Jo Cox and told by her grieving widower that it was the "most incompetent and self-defeating" act of terrorism.

A jury deliberated for just more than 90 minutes to find Thomas Mair guilty of killing the 41-year-old mother-of-two as she arrived for a surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

Mair (53) shouted "Britain first" as he fired three shots at Remain campaigner Mrs Cox and stabbed her 15 times on the afternoon of June 16, just days before the EU referendum.

Following the conviction, her widower, Brendan Cox, told the packed Old Bailey courtroom: "We are not here to plead for retribution.

"We feel nothing but pity for him that his life was so devoid of love and filled with hatred, his only way of finding meaning was to attack a woman who represented all that was good about the country in an act of supreme cowardice.

"The killing of Jo was in my view a political act, an act of terrorism."

But he added it had been a "most incompetent and self-defeating" act as it had led to communities pulling together and "allowed millions to hear a voice instead of silencing a voice".

Bernard Kenny (78), who was stabbed as he tried to halt the onslaught by jumping on Mair's shoulders from behind, described the defendant's crime as a "pure act of evil".

He said in a statement that he would do the same thing again as it was "the right thing to do", even though his actions were not enough to save Mrs Cox.

Mair was silenced by trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie, who refused the defendant's request to address the court before he was sentenced.

The judge paid tribute to Mrs Cox's "generosity of spirit" as she tried to help others - even as she was facing a violent death.

To an impassive Mair, he said: "In the true meaning of the word, she was a patriot.

"You affect to be a patriot. The words you uttered repeatedly when you killed her give lip service to that concept.

"Those sentiments can be legitimate and can have resonance, but in your mouth, allied to your actions, they are tainted and made toxic.

"You are no patriot. By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country - its adherence to parliamentary democracy."

Mrs Cox's family hugged the prosecution team and wiped away tears as they left the court.

Outside, Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen said: "Jo Cox championed the democracy and inclusivity of this country and for that she paid the ultimate price."

Mair's conviction comes amid growing warnings of a heightened terror threat from right-wing extremism.

Senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu said around one in 10 referrals to the Government's anti-extremism programme was now linked to the far right.

The trial had heard how even as she lay mortally wounded in the street, the MP for Batley and Spen tried to protect her aides by urging them to leave her and save themselves.

An investigation of his use of library computers exposed Mair's interest in far right, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi politics in Britain and abroad.

Two days after the killing, Mair was brought before Westminster magistrates under the terrorism protocol. When asked to confirm his name, the defendant, described by neighbours as a shy loner, said: "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain".

He has refused to answer to the charges against him and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf to murder, grievous bodily harm to Mr Kenny and possession of the gun and dagger.

Having opted not to give evidence in the trial or put forward any positive defence, he was found guilty of all charges.
A police officer and a civilian help a wounded person after an explosion that killed people and wounded several others in southern city of Adana, Turkey.

A car bomb attack targeting a government building in the south of Turkey has killed at least two people and wounded 33 others, officials said.

The attack in Adana was the latest in a string of deadly bombings that have rocked Turkey for more than a year.

Police have shot and captured a suspect, officials added.

Minister of European Union affairs Omer Celik said police opened fire on a light utility vehicle believed to be carrying the person responsible for the attack in the city after the driver refused calls to stop.

The minister said the latest report by security forces indicated the suspect was wounded in the confrontation.

"We don't know exactly if they are wounded or deceased," Mr Celik said. "Ultimately, those who committed this heinous act will not get away with it."

The bombing outside the office of the governor of Adana province was the latest in a string of deadly bombings. The attacks have been carried out by Kurdish militants or the Islamic State group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack.

The car bomb was detonated remotely at the entrance to the Adana governor's office, and the governor was the likely target, Mr Celik said.

The governor, Mahmut Demirtas, said earlier that the attack was believed to have been carried out by a woman.

Several cars in the car park caught fire after the blast, video footage showed. The blast also damaged the government building, Anadolu Agency said.

Some of the wounded were in a serious condition, said the city's mayor.

"The bomb that was detonated was a high-impact one," said Huseyin Sozlu.

The European Union has expressed increasing disapproval of Turkey's wide-ranging crackdown on critics and political opponents following a failed coup attempt in July, actions Ankara defended as part of an ongoing war on terror.

On Thursday, the EU Parliament held a non-binding vote to freeze talks on Turkey's bid to join the 28-nation bloc.

Deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus condemned the bombing and offered condolences on Twitter, adding: "Having become a target because it has disrupted the game being played in the region, Turkey will not yield to terrorism, it will continue its fight against terrorism with determination."

As with previous attacks, Turkish authorities imposed a media ban, barring broadcast and publication of graphic images or information that might hinder the investigation.

A statement by the United States consulate urged all citizens to "avoid this area throughout the day, maintain a high level of vigilance, monitor local media for updates, and exercise caution if you are in the vicinity".

American troops are stationed at the Incirlik Air Force base, roughly six miles from the city centre.

Incirlik serves as a base for aircraft involved in the US-led coalition's campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

AP
At least 56 people, including 20 Iranian pilgrims, have been killed by a car bomb south of Baghdad.

The attack, which also left 45 others wounded, took place at a petrol station near the city of Hilla, according to hospital and police officials.

They said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite holiday in the holy city of Karbala.

The Islamic State group claimed it carried out the attack, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

Meanwhile, a senior Iraqi commander said his troops have driven Islamic State militants from three more neighbourhoods in the northern city of Mosul.

Brig Gen Haider Fadhil, of the special forces, said his men have retaken the neighbourhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighbourhoods are all in the eastern sector of Mosul, east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government's campaign to liberate the city began on October 17.

Government troops are backed by US-led coalition air strikes against IS positions in the city.

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban centre still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq.

AP
The scaffolding collapse happened at a site in Jiangxi province in eastern China

Sixty-seven people have been killed, with two other workers injured and one missing after scaffolding collapsed at a power plant construction site in eastern China, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV said more than 100 paramilitary police have joined the rescue effort.

The plant's cooling tower which was being built in the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province came crashing down at about 7.30am local time, an official with the local Work Safety Administration said.

The latest reported death toll suggests that nearly all the construction workers at the cooling tower perished. Local media reports said about 70 people were working at the site when the scaffolding collapsed.

Rescue workers, aided by search dogs, were digging through the debris with their bare hands, according to the state television report, which showed iron pipes, steel bars and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the massive concrete cooling tower.

Rescue dogs were seeking to locate survivors or the bodies of victims, while diggers shifted wreckage to the margins of the massive round tower.

China has suffered a series of major industrial accidents over recent months, blamed on corruption, disregard for safety and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.

The head of a logistics company was recently handed a suspended death sentence over a massive explosion at an illegal chemical warehouse in the northern port of Tianjin last year which killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.

In June 2015, 442 people were killed in the capsize on the Yangtze River of a modified cruise ship blamed on poor decisions made by the captain and crew, while 81 people were killed in December when an enormous, man-made mountain of soil and waste collapsed on nearly three dozen buildings in the southern manufacturing center of Shenzhen.

Construction on the 1,000-megawatt coal-fired unit in Fengcheng began in late 2015 and was expected to finish in November 2017.

In recent weeks Chinese officials have sent mixed signals about the future of coal in the country's energy production.

Although Beijing has vowed to solve a looming problem of power oversupply, economic planners said earlier in November that they intend to boost coal power generation capacity by a fifth over the next five years, or the equivalent output of hundreds of new coal-fired plants.

AP
Juan Manuel Santos shakes hands with with Rodrigo Londono after signing a revised peace pact in Colombia (AP)

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has signed a new peace agreement with the country's largest rebel movement, aiming to end half a century of hostilities.

Mr Santos and Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), signed the 310-page accord at Bogota's Colon Theatre - nearly two months after the original deal was rejected in a referendum.

After signing, they clasped hands to shouts of "yes we could".

The hastily organised ceremony was a far more modest and sombre event than the one in September where the two men signed an accord in front of an audience of foreign leaders and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

The new accord introduces some 50 changes intended to assuage critics led by still-powerful former president Alvaro Uribe.

They include a commitment from the insurgents to forfeit assets, some of them amassed through drug trafficking, to help compensate their victims.

But Farc would not go along with the opposition's strongest demands - jail sentences for rebel leaders who committed atrocities and stricter limits on their future participation in politics.

In an act of protest, members of Mr Uribe's political party are considering a boycott of next week's scheduled debate in Congress on ratifying the agreement, accusing the legislature of disobeying the constitution.

They are also threatening to call for street protests to denounce what they say is a "blow against democracy".

"The government preferred to impose itself in a way that divides Colombians instead of a national pact that would bring us together," Mr Uribe's Democratic Centre party said in a statement.

The lack of broad support for the accord will make the already-steep challenge of implementing it even tougher.

Colombians overwhelmingly loathe Farc for crimes such as kidnappings and drug trafficking.

Ensuring that the 8,000-plus fighters do not wind up joining criminal gangs rampant throughout the country, or the much-smaller National Liberation Army, will also test the state's ability to make its presence felt in traditionally neglected rural areas at a time of financial stress triggered by low oil prices.

There is also a risk that peace could trigger more bloodshed, as it did following a previous peace process with Farc in the 1980s.

That fear, although less prevalent than in the darker days of Colombia's half-century conflict, has become more urgent with more than a dozen human rights defenders and land activists in areas dominated by Farc being killed by unknown assailants since the initial signing ceremony in September.

Mr Santos this week held an emergency meeting with his cabinet and UN officials to discuss the murders, taking an opportunity to reinforce his message that peace cannot wait.

So far this year, 70 have been killed, according to Bogota-based We Are Defenders, more than in all of 2015 and 2014.

"We have to take action. There's no time to lose," Mr Santos said in a televised address announcing the ceremony.

Once signed, Mr Santos will introduce the accord to congress, where a solid majority in support of peace is expected to ratify it as early as next week.

AP
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has expressed concern over the escalating dispute in Kashmir between Pakistan and India.

Mr Johnson, who was in Islamabad for talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz, urged the two nations to "maintain a positive dialogue" in a bid to resolve the dispute over the territory, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.

His intervention came as Pakistan's air force chief warned rival India against escalating the dispute into full-scale war, urging New Delhi to exercise restraint.

Marshal Sohail Aman said that if Indian forces escalate the crisis, Pakistani troops "know full well how to deal with them".

Tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory, where Pakistan said Indian fire on Wednesday killed 12 civilians and three soldiers - the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.

The neighbouring countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which remains one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

The latest exchange came a day after the mutilated body of an Indian soldier was found in Kashmir.

The Indian military did not say whether the soldier was killed by Pakistani soldiers or Kashmiri rebels, who have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a high-level security meeting to review the Kashmir situation.

"We will never abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their freedom struggle," Mr Sharif said.

AP
A mudslide on the outskirts of Panama City caused by Hurricane Otto (AP)

Thousands of people in the Caribbean have been evacuated from their homes as Hurricane Otto moved towards Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Heavy rains from the storm, which has strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane, were blamed for three deaths in Panama.

Otto was forecast to make landfall on Thursday in Nicaragua, just north of the Costa Rican border.

Officials in Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast and closed schools nationwide for the rest of the week.

Heavy rain was already causing flooding in some areas and the president announced that public employees would not have to work on Thursday or Friday.

The country's National Meteorological Institute noted that a hurricane had never made landfall in Costa Rica since record-keeping began.

Nicaragua also closed schools and was evacuating more than 10,000 people from communities in the storm's path.

Heavy rains were expected to affect the entire country on Thursday and Friday, raising the possibility of flooding and landslides in the interior.

The US National Hurricane Centre said the storm had regained hurricane strength late Wednesday night, with winds of 85mph, after fluctuating between tropical storm and hurricane status earlier this week.

By Thursday morning, Otto's maximum sustained winds had increased to nearly 105mph, with additional strengthening possible before landfall.

The storm caused heavy rains in Panama as it moved roughly parallel to that nation's northern coast.

Jose Donderis, Panama's civil defence director, said a landslide just west of Panama City early on Tuesday trapped nine people. Seven were rescued but two were pulled from the mud dead. In the capital, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school.

Panamanian authorities closed schools and began to release water from the locks and lakes feeding the Panama Canal.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said Otto could damage the country's important coffee and agriculture sectors.

Nicaragua also feared damage for impoverished farmers and to coffee crops that are almost ready for harvest.

Otto "could seriously jeopardise food security for small-holder farmers who rely on maize, beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods", said Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for Heifer International, a US-based anti-poverty group.

AP
Smoke billows following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces in a rebel-held area of Daraa, Syria, on November 23, 2016. AFP/Getty Images

A US soldier has died from wounds sustained in an IED blast in northern Syria.

CENTCOM said the blast happened near Ayn Issa.

No further details are available at this time.

Meanwhile Syrian armed forces have announced the formation of an anti-terrorism force called Fifth Corps.

The Syrian army did not specify where the force would be deployed.

Moscow's military backing of the Syrian government, with intensive aerial bombings and long-range missiles fired from the Mediterranean, has dramatically turned the fortunes of the Syrian government - emboldening ground advances on multiple fronts, including in the besieged rebel-held parts of Aleppo city.

State TV on Tuesday aired announcements urging armed opposition groups to allow civilians to exit the besieged enclave of Aleppo through government-designated corridors.

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Another warning urged residents to co-operate with government forces. A third called on residents to avoid going out in the streets except in "dire need" and to stay clear of areas where armed groups operate.

On Sunday, the Syrian government dismissed a UN peace proposal to establish limited autonomy in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

The offensive was accompanied by pro-government troops pushing their way into neighbourhoods on the edges of eastern Aleppo.

Fighting on the southern edge, in the Sheik Saeed neighbourhood, intensified on Tuesday. A major rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham, said one of its leading commanders was killed as they repelled advances by government troops.

On Tuesday, Assad received a Russian delegation in Damascus, headed by the Russian deputy prime minister, in a show of close ties between the two governments in the face of international criticism.
A former Northern Ireland prison officer who won a 100,000 payout for unfair dismissal has been convicted of two counts of assault.

Zoe Crowe was found guilty after a contest at Belfast Magistrates Court last Friday. The 39-year-old from Knockleigh Drive in Greenisland will be sentenced on December 15.

She had denied assaulting Gary Jenkins on April 6 causing him actual bodily harm, and of unlawfully assaulting Amanda Waide on the same date.

Glamorous Zoe hit the headlines in 2011 when she was sacked from her job at Maghaberry Prison on Christmas Eve.

Her dismissal, which was revealed in a courier delivered letter to her home, came after a Department of Justice investigation into alleged misconduct at the high-security jail. Her troubles first began in November 2011 when she was led out of Maghaberry Prison by security staff and suspended from duty.

Zoe later took a case with the Northern Ireland Civil Service Appeal Board (NICSAB) which found she had been the victim of unfair dismissal. In 2012 she was awarded a 100,000 compensation windfall that also took into consideration six months of lost pay.

The petite blonde was supported throughout the process by DUP peer Lord Morrow, who said: This lady has been through a dreadful ordeal and the manner in which she was treated was appalling and degrading.

Zoe is well known around south-east Antrim and comes from a big family based in the Rathcoole estate. Pictures of her enjoying an eleventh night bonfire in the area feature on her Facebook page, as do sexy snaps of her dressed as a naughty schoolgirl and a bumblebee.

The former prison officer also has words of warning for anyone who crosses her, saying on social media: I can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. Pick your words wisely.
Germany's Constitutional Court said Yahoo had not yet exhausted its legal possibilities in lower courts

Germany's highest court has rejected a case brought by Yahoo against a law designed to compensate news publishers for the use of their content.

The Constitutional Court said on Wednesday that the technology giant had not yet exhausted its legal possibilities in lower courts and should turn to them first.

The judges did not rule on the issue itself, which also affects rival search engine companies such as Google.

Germany revised its copyright laws in 2013 to allow media companies to request payment from search engines which use more than snippets of their content.

A lawyer for Yahoo said he was not immediately able to comment on the verdict as the court had not yet informed the parties.

AP
An Indian protester shouts slogans while standing in front of a sign denouncing Islamic scholar Zakir Naik, in New Delhi, July 18, 2016.

Indias National Investigation Agency is preparing documents to summon for questioning a controversial Muslim preacher suspected of inciting terrorism, an NIA official told BenarNews.

Popular televangelist Zakir Naik has been facing heat from Indian authorities since July, when Bangladeshi media reported that one of the perpetrators of a deadly terrorist attack at a cafe in Dhaka was influenced by his sermons.

Naik, 51, has since left the country, according to the NIA.

Last week, the Indian government imposed a five-year ban on Naiks Mumbai-based NGO, the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The law aims to regulate and prohibit the acceptance and use of foreign contributions or hospitality for any activities deemed detrimental to national interest.

As of now, we have no concrete evidence with regard to his whereabouts, NIA Inspector General of Police Alok Mittal said.

Mittal said Naik would be summoned for questioning via his lawyer in India and, if he failed to appear within a stipulated period, a warrant for his arrest would be issued.

Since Saturday, NIA investigators have searched in about 20 locations  IRF offices and residences of people affiliated with it. On Monday, the Indian government blocked websites of the IRF and IRF-run Islamic International School, as well as Naiks social media accounts.

Interpol assistance

Mittal said the NIA may seek Interpols help to find Naik.

Our team is scrutinizing documents confiscated during the searches and preparing grounds whereby we can seek Interpols help for his extradition (if he does not return), Mittal said.

Another NIA official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity that Naik would certainly be placed under arrest if he were to appear for questioning.

The NIA on Wednesday sent notices to three Indian banks asking them to freeze 25 bank accounts belonging to Naik, his family and the IRF, the same official told BenarNews.

The NIA has registered a case against Naik under Indian Penal Code sections 10 (affiliation to an unlawful association), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth) and other sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, he said.

Naik is accused of making inflammatory remarks, such as praising late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, supporting suicide attacks and denouncing Hindu gods during sermons delivered through Peace TV, a channel partly funded by Naiks IRF.

Although the channel, which was blacked out in Bangladesh in the wake of the July 1 attack, does not have a license to air in India, it broadcasts in several parts of the country through private cable TV operators.

Naik has denied accusations of inciting terror. In July, he told Indian journalists via Skype from Saudi Arabia that he was a messenger of peace and his statements were being taken out of context.

During the Skype conference, Naik made clear he would remain abroad until January because of prior commitments, but would make himself available as and when summoned by Indian authorities.

Not in hiding

IRF spokesman Arif Malik refuted claims that Naik might try to evade the law.

I have no reason to believe he will not appear before the NIA if summoned. He is not in hiding. About a fortnight ago, he was in Africa. His entire itinerary is available on the IRF website, which the government has blocked, Malik told BenarNews.

Malik also challenged Indian media reports that the IRF paid 80,000 rupees ($1,162) in scholarship money to student Abu Anas, who was arrested in January for alleged links with the Islamic State.

IRF or any other charitable organization never doles out money directly to a needy student, Malik said.

Mobin Solkar, Naiks lawyer, declined comment on NIAs decision to summon his client for questioning, saying he was preparing to challenge the governments five-year ban on the IRF.

We are soon going to put up our case before the tribunal to challenge the governments decision. The tribunal will decide whether to ratify or reject the ban, he told BenarNews.
Bangladesh Border Guard personnel stand watch for illegal entry of Rohingya Muslims along the banks of the Naaf River, Nov. 23, 2016.

Updated at 8:55 a.m. ET on 2016-11-30

Bangladeshs government complained Wednesday about an influx of Rohingya Muslims from neighboring Myanmar, following reports that hundreds have crossed the border as they flee killings and the burning of homes in Rakhine state.

Border-police officials from both countries met Wednesday in the southeastern Bangladeshi district of Coxs Bazar to discuss the situation along their shared frontier, while Dhaka summoned Myanmars ambassador to lodge a complaint about the violence in Rakhine  a western state in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar where the Rohingya minority is concentrated.

[We have] raised our deep concern at the situation in Rakhine state. We have urged them to improve the situation there for the Rohingyas to return to their homes, Bangladeshi Additional Foreign Secretary Kamrul Ahsan told reporters after summoning Myanmar Ambassador U Myo Myint Ahasan to his ministry.

Ahsan said he handed the envoy a diplomatic letter conveying Bangladeshs concern about the new influx of Rohingya Muslims into Teknaf and Ukhia, two sub-districts in Coxs Bazar.

We have told them that [Rohingya] are sneaking into Bangladesh, Col. Khandker Farid Hasan, the southeast commander of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), told reporters in Coxs Bazar after a meeting with a 31-member delegation representing Myanmars frontier police.

They informed us that they were also aware of this. We, the two parties, discussed ways to stop such illegal entry, he said, noting that the two sides had agreed to cooperate in sharing information about cross-border movements of Rohingya.

The ambassador and members of the border-guard delegation from Myanmar did not talk to Bangladeshi media afterward.

The comments by Bangladeshi officials were the governments first admission that Rohingya had succeeded in crossing into southeastern Bangladesh amid a crackdown by Myanmar authorities that followed the early October killings of nine Myanmar police officers during attacks on border posts in Rakhines Muangdaw township.

At least 86 people have been killed and more than 30,000 displaced by the violence in Rakhine, the worst outbreak since hundreds were killed in inter-communal violence in 2012, which caused thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Last week, Bangladeshi officials said they had sealed the border and pushed back hundreds of Rohingya who were seeking refuge in Bangladesh.

On Wednesday, Abdul Majid, the officer-in-charge of police in Teknaf, told BenarNews that the border guard and coast guard had transferred 70 Rohingya and four human smugglers into police custody after they were caught crossing the frontier.

They will obliterate us

Hundreds of Rohingya have made it over to the Bangladeshi side while others are still waiting to cross the frontier along the Naaf River that separates Rakhine from Coxs Bazar, according to news reports and eyewitness accounts this week.

Md Ayub, a Rohingya who succeeded in crossing the river, said he had fled Rakhine to save himself.

From here, I can see our village burning. Allah knows what happened to my wife, daughter, mother and others. Please save us. They will obliterate us, he told BenarNews by phone.

Ayub said the Myanmar security forces set fire to villages along the Naaf River to force Rohingya to sail into Bangladesh territory.

Hundreds of Rohingya have been waiting to cross into Bangladesh. They have no way to save lives, he said.

Earlier this week, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported that an analysis of satellite imagery showed that 820 additional structures had been destroyed in five Rohingya villages between Nov. 10 and 18, bringing the total number of burned buildings that HRW claims to have documented in Rakhine to 1,250.

On Nov. 16, a spokesman for Myanmars government refuted HRW allegations that 430 buildings in three Rohingya villages had been burned, saying the actual number was 155 and militants had committed the arson.

The Rohingya are a stateless people who have suffered from persecution in Myanmar, where they are considered to be Bengalis, or illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

About 300,000 to 500,000 Rohingya are thought to live in Bangladesh, mostly in Coxs Bazar district, according to Bangladeshi government estimates.

At least 1,000 Rohingya have entered into Bangladesh; many of them have taken shelter inside the refugee camps, a resident of a Rohingya camp in Ukhita told BenarNews on the condition of anonymity, referring to the latest influx.

An earlier version gave wrong information about the day on which meetings involving the Myanmar ambassador and border police officials from both countries took place.
Malaysias police chief Wednesday denied allegations that the leader of a coalition advocating clean government and electoral reforms has been mistreated in solitary confinement, but confirmed that Maria Chin Abdullah was arrested for activities deemed detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Chin, the chairwoman of the Bersih coalition, was arrested on Nov. 18 because of documents discovered during a raid at Bersihs offices that day, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said.

Chin was taken into custody on the eve of a massive rally in Kuala Lumpur that she and other activists were organizing to highlight Prime Minister Najib Razaks alleged involvement in a corruption scandal known as the 1MDB affair, which he has denied.

She was detained because what we found threatens national security, Khalid told a news conference, declining to divulge the contents of the documents as he cited an ongoing investigation.

Since her arrest, Chin has received sufficient medical attention, Khalid said as he defended himself against criticism from a group of NGOs. In a joint letter, they called for her release and alleged that she was being kept in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell with lights on all the time.

The doctor also had visited her three times since her detention, Khalid said, adding that a doctor was on standby for any emergency.

On Tuesday Chin received a visit from the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), led by Razali Ismail. He said Chin appeared to be in good health and her cell was acceptable in terms of cleanliness.

The so-called bed has no mattress and she has to wash with cold water. She indicated that she would like a mattress at the very least to cushion the discomfort of the wooden bed.

Chin has also requested a copy of the Quran and reading materials, as well as to be able to see her children and family, Razali said about the 90-minute visit, in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Khalid said Chin did not make a request but that police would provide those items if such a request were made.

Arrest linked to documents

Chin was arrested under Malaysias Security Offenses (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), which allow authorities to hold her for 28 days without charges, Khalid confirmed.

SOSMA can be used not only for counterterrorism but also for human trafficking as well as offenses that can threaten the national security, Khalid said, defending the arrest.

Chin was among at least 24 rally organizers and supporters from Bersih along with counter rally group Red Shirts who were arrested prior to, during and after the Bersih 5 rally. All others have been released.

Jamal Md Yunos, the leader of the pro-government Red Shirts, and three activists from his group were released on police bail on Tuesday.

SUHAKAM continues to hold the position that Maria Chin Abdullah is unjustifiably incarcerated and would like to reiterate that in accordance with Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile, Razali said, adding Chin has been interrogated for three hours since her arrest.

Since Monday, hundreds of Malaysians have participated in vigils at Kuala Lumpurs Independence Square, demanding Chins release. Rallies will be held each night until she is free, a Bersih official said.

Police probe OSF links

Meanwhile, police are investigating Bersihs possible links to the Open Society Foundations (OSF) funded by George Soros. Khalid said Chin had admitted to receiving funds from OSF.

Its not like we do not know OSFs track record. How many countries have they toppled, Khalid said without releasing any details.

Chin admitted that her group had received a grant of $70,000 ringgit (U.S. $15,750) from OSF between 2010 and 2011, but OSF denied Khalids charges, the Asia Sentinel reported.

The Open Society Foundations are proud to have supported civil society in Malaysia for 10 years. Claims that the Open Society Foundations funded attempts to overthrow the government in Malaysia are entirely false, the group said in a statement emailed to the South China Morning Post.
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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, November 23, 2016 Contact: Aruna Prabhala, Center for Biological Diversity, (408) 691-6272, aprabhala@biologicaldiversity.org

Nancy Rodrigue, Friends of Tesla Park, (925) 321-9970 Lawsuit Launched to Protect Wildlife Habitat From Off-road Vehicle Park Expansion SACRAMENTO, Calif. A coalition of environmental and community groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the proposed expansion of an off-road vehicle park in Livermore into a key wildlife corridor and biodiversity hotspot known as Tesla Park. Approved by the Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission Oct. 26, the expansion of the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area into Tesla would nearly triple its size to 4,675 acres and put threatened and endangered wildlife including California red-legged frogs, California tiger salamanders, San Joaquin kit foxes, Alameda whipsnakes, golden eagles and burrowing owls in the path of off-road vehicles. This expansion will destroy habitat for rare wildlife and degrade air and water quality for neighboring communities, said Aruna Prabhala, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. At a time when climate change, drought and urban sprawl are shrinking habitat for wildlife throughout California, the state should be protecting open space, not allowing it to be ripped apart by off road vehicles. The lawsuit was brought by the Center, Friends of Tesla Park and Alameda Creek Alliance. It argues that approval of the expansion and associated environmental documents violate the California Environmental Quality Act by inadequately disclosing, analyzing and mitigating likely negative environmental impacts, including impaired water quality, increased hillside erosion, harm to wildlife, degraded local air quality and damage to cultural resources. Throughout the administrative process, the commission ignored scientific studies and comments from expert agencies urging further analysis and protection of affected wildlife and habitat. Tesla Park includes 3,100 acres of oak woodlands, grasslands and sensitive habitat for vulnerable animals and plants along rolling hills that drain into Coral Hollow Creek. In contrast, Carnegie consists of barren hills stripped of vegetation and suffering from erosion. It would be a travesty to allow Teslas incredible wildlands, cultural and historical resources to be destroyed by off-highway vehicle use, said Nancy Rodrigue, a member of the Friends of Tesla Park Steering Committee. You only have to look at the environmental devastation at Carnegie to know what will happen at Tesla if OHV use is allowed. Many local and regional agencies have pushed for Tesla to be preserved as a park rather than converted into an off-road vehicle recreation area, including Alameda County, the city of Livermore, Livermore Area Recreation and Park District, East Bay Regional Park District and Alameda County Resource Conservation District. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Friends of Tesla Park is a broad alliance working to permanently preserve the area known as the Tesla Park as a non-motorized natural and historic preserve. For more information about Tesla Park and how you can help preserve it go to www.teslapark.org
Having the right contacts and a good network are indispensible in the business world. To help exhibitors and visitors make business contacts that suit them to a tee, for the first time ever analytica 2017 will feature a platform for pre-arranged meetings at a Buyer-Seller Forum.

The Buyer-Seller Forum has been an integral part of the Indian sister exhibitions analytica Anacon India and India Lab Expo for two years now. Susanne Grodl, Exhibition Director of analytica trade fairs at Messe Munchen, explains: "Our one-to-one meetings are a complete success in India. This year's forum had more than 800 participants. Now we are expanding this service to analytica Vietnam. After all, personal discussions are of enormous significance, especially in the Asian business community."

How does the Buyer-Seller Forum work?

Prior to the fair, representatives of exhibiting companies inform the fair's organizer which potential business partners in which sectors and companies they are interested in. Based on that information, the fair's organizer arranges 20-minute meetings that take place in a separate area at analytica Vietnam. The Buyer-Seller Meetings are on the first two days of the fair and are free of charge to both parties. Organizer IMAGInternationaler Messe- und Ausstellungsdienst GmbHis coordinating the trade fair and the Buyer-Seller Forum in conjunction with its local partners, i.e. the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Information (NASATI) and the Vietnam Association of Testing Laboratories (Vinalab).

A market with potential

The fact that interest in analytica Vietnam is so high proves that the Vietnamese market for laboratory technology, analysis, biotechnology and diagnostics is generally in great demand. Exhibitors include leading Vietnamese and international manufacturers such as Asecos, Saigon Instruments, Shimadzu and Waters. There will also be national pavilions from China, Germany andfor the first time everfrom Singapore.

"We are particularly pleased that leading international manufacturers are so interested in analytica Vietnam. It clearly reflects the development and the dynamics of the Vietnamese economy," says Gabriele Kraus, Executive Director at IMAG. Vietnam is currently in the process of becoming the second ASEAN state (after Singapore) to enter into a free-trade agreement with the EU. The EU will probably ratify it in 2018.

analytica Vietnam takes place at the International Center for Exhibition (I.C.E.) in Hanoi from March 29 to 31, 2017.
It can be tough to be a vegetarian. You have to work harder than everyone else to make sure youre getting all the nutrients your body needs. So, when its time to take a
LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigeria's government and private sectors have made a pitch to foreign investors at the 2016 International Telecommunication Union conference, Telecoms World, where they presented the country's developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) opportunities for future investment.

Image by 123RF

Nigerias participation, which was put together by the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), was led by the executive vice chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, the executive Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Nasir El-Rufai, Minister in the Ministry of Communications, Adebayo Shittu and MainOnes chief executive officer, Funke Opeke.

Speaking during the panel session on Smart Communities as the key to a Digital Nigeria, Prof Danbatta talked up the opportunities for investment in Nigeria, aided by flexible regulatory policies. Buttressing his comments, Funke Opeke, described the Telecom Infrastructure gaps in the country and the opportunities available for investment. She highlighted as example, the government-assisted Infrastructure Company (Infraco) project, where MainOne is licensee for Lagos State, which aims to expand broadband penetration from the current 20% to over 30%, targeted in the National Broadband Plan for 2018. According to her, licensees for five other regions of the country are currently available for bid.

Opeke highlighted the tremendous potential Nigerias ICT industry offers to investment, underlining Nigeria's 80 million internet users, the growing population of smartphone users, and the countrys over 100% voice penetration. She noted that most regions of the country are still under-served in terms of ICT deployment and reiterated that commitment of the government to diversify the economy from oil will require greater ICT penetration to create jobs. Availability of broadband infrastructure across all regions of Nigeria and the technology adoption this will facilitate will greatly accelerate the pace of development in Nigeria, facilitate increased non-oil trade, enhance the Digital economy, improve public access to education, health and other social services and aid job creation, Opeke said.

The ITU Telecom World is an annual conference sponsored by the ITU which features high-level CEO and Ministerial Round Tables to facilitate open dialogues between governments and business leaders. Held in Bangkok, Thailand, the conference theme for 2016 is Collaboration in the Digital Economy and featured sessions on collaborative regulation, smart sustainable cities, fostering SME innovation, gender inclusive development and digital financial services for financial inclusion.
The Financial Mail (FM) AdFocus Agency of the Year 2016 is PhD Media SA. The Agency, which also won the FM AdFocus Media Agency Award, boasted top scores across each category. "Winning is not an easy thing so it feels amazing to have won," says Wayne Bishop, managing director (JHB).

Any agency that is showing growth in the current climate is a winner so to come on top is very special, he adds. Winning at FM AdFocus as a media agency, demonstrates the importance of media agencies in the business today, especially media agencies that have strategy sitting at their core.

Medium Agency of the Year - AVATAR

He was not the only one to describe 2016 as a tough year. Winner of the Large Agency category, which was very competitive this year, and Industry Leader 2016, FCBs group chief executive officer, Brett Morris, says this has been a tough year with clients who are either flat or cutting back. To get through bad times and deliver good results takes talented people, clients that allow you to do great work, and partnerships.

On being named Industry Leader 2016, Morris paid tribute to the FCB employees. This Award belongs to the 6,000-plus FCB employees. The groups Hellocomputer also took home the FM AdFocus Digital Agency of the Year.

Both the winners of the FM AdFocus African Network of the Year and the Partnership of the Year, Burson-Marsteller Africa and The Hardy Boys respectively reiterated the need for good partnerships. Brave and generous clients encourage you to do more, especially in the tough times," adds Dale Tomlinson  CEO and EXCO, The Hardy Boys.

The inaugural FM AdFocus PR Award was won by Ogilvy PR Johannesburg. A beaming Joanna Oosthuizen, national managing director of Ogilvy PR, says it is important that PR and what is today is recognised. CEOs and company leaders are demanding effective ways to meaningfully impact how people think about and engage their organisations and products. This is why PR matters and underpins how our work has evolved well beyond just the press release.

Commenting on their win, FM AdFocus Specialist Agency, Grid Worldwides MD & partner, Adam Byars, says: The world does not need another brand. #MakeItMeanSomething. We give brands meaning to ensure they remain relevant in the 21st century.

Openco won FM AdFocus Small Agency. This was the third year that the FM AdFocus Student Award was sponsored by Nedbank, which was won by Carina Bonse from the Red & Yellow School in Cape Town.

Upon receiving the FM AdFocus Lifetime Achievement Award, Happy Ntshingila says the industry must continue to transform. First we formed the Herdbuoys and made a difference to the industry. The recognition of Avatar this evening as Medium Agency is an indication that there is transformation and this transformation needs to continue if we are to continue doing what do well.

Happy Ntshingila

The FM AdFocus Awards process and results are audited by Deloitte, who have a representative that sits in on all the jury sessions. Craig Page-Lee, AdFocus jury chairperson and founder of d-cifr, explained the process of how the jury gets to the winners. Page-Lee and AdFocus deputy-chairperson, and group CEO, The Jupiter Drawing Room - South East Africa, both expressed the disappointment in the lack of entries in the category FM AdFocus New Broom, which, as a result, was not awarded this year. This Award is about new talent coming into the industry so it is disappointing that there was a lack of nominations. We want to encourage the industry to enter into this category next year and to keep in mind that it is not only about individuals, but also about groups of individuals.

The two also highlighted the importance of filling in the FM AdFocus questionnaire properly as it has been proven time and time, and over and over that the questionnaires that have been filled in more diligently and are well written come out tops.

A moments silence was held to pay tribute to the late Gordon Patterson.

View all the FM AdFocus Awards 2016 winners, as well as the Award's gallery.
An overwhelming majority of 93% of medical professionals agree that shorter working hours for junior doctors should be implemented across the country, with shifts of longer than 24 hours, therevealed.

The issue of working hours has been ongoing for many years, if not decades, but has never been addressed effectively.

Following the widely publicised tragic death of a young doctor earlier this year, the subject has been brought to the fore which has shed some light on the dire situation young doctors are currently faced with.

This young doctor was involved in a car accident after allegedly falling asleep while driving on her way home after working a shift of at least 24 hours. What is not being reported are the stories about other doctors whom this has also happened to  this was one of many cases which was highlighted in the media, says Professor Mark Sonderup, vice-chairman of the South African Medical Association (SAMA).

International data suggests working continuously for 16 hours is problematic and is against prevailing data. Therefore this reduction to 24 hour shifts, whilst a positive move, is still not in line with current evidenciary international best practice, he says.

While the Western Capes provincial department of health reduced the shifts for young doctors from 30 hours to no longer than 24 hours, it is important that this regulation is implemented across the country to ensure safer working hours for medical interns.

Of the respondents, 44% said that shorter shifts will ensure the mental and physical well-being of junior doctors while 38% said it will lead to better patient care.

Staff shortages

When asked how unemployment impacts their profession as a whole, 41% of the survey respondents stated that medical professionals are over-worked due to staff shortages in hospitals. Shorter working hours for junior doctors are likely to place even more strain on over-worked medical professionals in terms of the available pool of staff we have, says Sonderup.
Did you know that South Africa's Eastern Cape is the mohair capital of the world? I didn't, until yesterday that is, when we visited the Mohair South Africa headquarters in Port Elizabeth. In fact, our mohair story is quite a rich one...

Originating in the Tibetan Himalayas, the silk-like fabric or yarn - known as mohair - produced from the Angora goat's fleece has been a highly treasured natural fibre for thousands of years. It was a stroke of luck, however, that led to the foundation of the mohair industry in South Africa. In 1938, the sultan of Turkey sent 12 infertile Angora rams and one ewe to the country, unbeknownst to him that the ewe was already pregnant. She gave birth to a ram, establishing Angora breeding stock in SA, leading to the establishment of a now prolific industry that contributes roughly 50% of total world mohair production.

What's so special about mohair?

It isn't known as 'the noble fibre' or 'the diamond fibre' for nothing - some of its unique qualities include its versatility; carpets, curtains, duvet filling, furniture covers, rugs, blankets, suits, socks, scarves, cardigans - there's very little you can't do with mohair. It has a similar natural lustre to silk, is very lightweight yet durable because of its pliability, and is crease-resistant ensuring products hold their shape. Another thing mohair holds very well is colour, responding to dyes in a way that few fibres do. Lastly, it has an innate climate control system absorbing and releasing atmospheric moisture, meaning it keeps one cool in summer and warm in winter. Mohair is basically the super fibre of the textile industry, in high demand with interior designers, craft specialists, and industrial fibre specialists.

From fleece to final product

The mohair process begins with clipping the fleece from the Angora goats. This happens twice a year, either by hand or electric shears. This is followed by meticulous classing - sorting the mohair into various lengths, diameters, and quality types. Next the mohair is washed, and carded - the fibres are positioned in uniform lengths and the vegetable matter is removed. Combing comes next, followed by spinning - converting the mohair into yarn. Twisting and brushing the yarn produces its fluffy appearance. Through weaving or knitting, the mohair yarn is manufactured into woven cloth or knitted panels for garment production. It can be dyed after combing, spinning, or weaving.

There are 20 mohair manufacturers in the Eastern Cape, along with many local designers situated in the province. The end products don't come cheap though as a lot of care, from farming to production, is needed. The most expensive, high-quality fleece is obtained from the very first shearing of an Angora kid goat. Many emerging farmers participate in this industry too, contributing to its sustainability, with upcoming farmers producing 629 tonnes of mohair, valued R41m in 2014.

From its charmed beginnings to its rigorous production process, the Mohair South Africa story is certainly one to share locally and abroad.

For more info on Mohair SA, go to www.mohair.co.za.
According to Deloitte's Global Manufacturing Competitiveness survey, South Africa is ranked 27th in the world, down three places from 2013 and it is expected to slip further down the ranking in the next five to ten years. The rising cost of production, combined with muted investments in technology, is making it difficult for South African manufacturers to compete with their international peers.

However, Mike Vincent, Africa industrial products and services sector leader at Deloitte believes advanced technology and the Internet of Things (IOT) can help manufacturers in South Africa and the rest of the continent be more globally competitive, streamline operations and increase productivity.

Thanks to IoT, we have a positive outlook on the future of manufacturing in Africa, on condition that appropriate investments are made. Innovative new sensory technology in the IoT space allows manufacturing companies to monitor and analyse the manufacturing process better. This includes how the end user interacts with the products. There is an exciting opportunity now to use this business knowledge and customer insight to improve the manufacturing process and most importantly the product itself.

IoTs new data processing technologies and availability of analytical forecasting models monitor the entire manufacturing value chain - from concept to completion and beyond. By adding innovative IoT sensors in the operation, connectivity is improved at all levels. The business becomes inherently smarter.

For example, machines using parts manufactured and imported from different parts of the world almost completely build sophisticated cars. This is a time consuming and costly process. Now the digital supply chain is supported by advanced predictive analytics that coordinate all principal partners, countries, individual parts, thousands of suppliers and even employees in the factories.

As this example illustrates, IoT and analytics are innovating manufacturing, improving interoperability across a large set of assets and linking machines, products, computers, people, and analytical resources into one ecosystem. IoT and analytics are creating two important buckets of value in manufacturing: growing the business and operating the existing business more efficiently.

To reap the benefits of IoT, African entrepreneurs who want to operate on a global scale should be increasing investment in IoT infrastructure. Doing this reduces the dependency on labour intensive and time-consuming tasks and brings cost efficiencies and improved competence to the business. As a result, the business will make smarter decisions and realise better profits.

Realising efficiencies

IoT in manufacturing can help companies realise the following efficiencies:

Accelerate planning and pre-manufacturing  IoT and analytics can deliver insight to help companies gain a better grasp on selecting suppliers, considering risk, managing material costs, and fluctuations, potentially resulting in improved predictability and performance in the local and international market. Streamline manufacturing processes  Predictive tools and machine learning allow potential problems to be identified and corrected before they occur. The value of lean manufacturing and just-in-time processes improves exponentially when intelligence obtained via IoT analytics is applied. Improve post-manufacturing support and service  New levels of connectedness and the higher-level insights of IoT and analytics can help manufacturers gather information from customers effectively and improve service and support in the aftermarket. This enhanced support costs and builds long-term brand loyalty.



Vincent concludes, Manufacturers that want to improve their competitiveness internationally should seriously consider applying IoT data processing and analytical forecasting technologies in their operations. Technology-driven manufacturing innovations are evolving rapidly, which makes analytics and IoT a trend to watch in 2016 and beyond.
Edcon CEO Bernie Brookes turned necessity into virtue on Wednesday, when he agreed that key parts of the group's strategic plan would be made conditions of the competition authorities' approval of the debt-to-equity restructuring that was announced in September.

Edcon CEO Bernie Brookes.Picture: Freddy Mavunda

Stable to growing employment, increased focus on import-replacement as well as securing the Edcon Empowerment Trust were all made conditions of approval by the Competition Tribunal.

The Competition Commission had recommended that the plan to convert Edcons creditor base into equity holders be approved unconditionally.

However, following intervention by Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, the tribunals approval came with conditions attached.

These conditions mirrored the plans Edcon announced in September. The troubled retailer will retain the current workforce and "is likely to" employ an additional 2,000 new staff within two years.

According to the tribunals order, the additional employment will depend on "extraneous circumstances such as prevailing macro and micro economic conditions and trading conditions, (as well as) internal circumstances such as the state of Edcons financial position and operating performance".

Edcon also reiterated its commitment to implementing an import-replacement programme. In terms of the tribunals condition it has agreed to meet with representatives of the Economic Development Department on a quarterly basis for five years and other public entities that might be invited.

The retailer has also agreed that the Edcon Empowerment Trust will not be affected versely by the restructuring.

Brookes welcomed the support he received from the competition authorities.

"Given that the company has much to do to get competitive, it was responsible of them not to enforce onerous covenants."
Sewells MSXI, the consulting and outsourcing company specialising in the automotive industry, shared a list of strategies for motor retail dealers when it participated in the third NADA Business of the Year road show of 2016 recently.

The presentation by the company CEO, Warren Olsen, highlighted three prime strategies based on what the global company has learnt. The three major focus points for 2017 were new vehicle sales, service sales and parts sales.

New vehicle sales  its all about market share

Olsen went on to detail the benefits of having one of the leading franchises as this is where most of the business is being done. For instance, in the first half of this year there were 49 brands on the local vehicle market and five of these brands were responsible for 61% of total dealer sales of 202,000 vehicles, while 32 other OEM brands each had a share of 1% or less.

The CEO said these facts and figures mean that more multi-franchise dealerships are inevitable, especially considering the rising costs of running a profitable automotive dealership in South Africa.

Multi-franchise setups provide a crucial hedging position for investors in tough and competitive environments. Multi-franchise dealers are then able to actively seek efficiencies that can flow from this type of set-up, explained Olsen. However, dealers must realise that certain franchise mixes work better than others and that brand integrity and separation are still very important. On the other hand, the OEMs need to lay out clear multi-franchise guidelines.

Service sales  its all about customer retention

The key to the second major focus for dealers is for them to develop and implement effective strategies to retain service customers. Customer retention has tangible benefits, but it is a challenge that requires proactive thinking. OEM service plans and warranties are good tools to keep dealer customers loyal, with service plans responsible for keeping 68% of customers loyal with warranties having a 45% loyalty factor. However, the problem arises when the vehicle is out of warranty because then only 10% of customers remain loyal to a dealership.

A proactive solution is for dealers to sell their own dealer service or labour plans as, according to European studies, this tactic achieves 89% dealer customer loyalty once the OEM plans expire.

The use of predictive analytics plays an important role in encouraging customers to return to the selling dealer for after-sales service. It is also important to look after customers so that they are willing to recommend a dealers service to family, friends, and business colleagues, while not neglecting the basics of regular, special-offer service promotions.to the independents with the backing of an OEM.

Parts sales  its all about countering the rise of the independents

Olsen also discussed the increasing role being played by independent service providers in the retail motor industry, with particular focus on tyre, battery and shock absorber fitment as well as selling parts and providing vehicle servicing and undertaking repairs.

The independents must not be underestimated whether they are offering used vehicles, parts, service or body repairs, but these independent operators are also a wonderful potential market for selling them genuine replacement and service parts, added Olsen.

Firstly, he said the dealers should investigate ways of providing similar services at competitive prices, but the dealers must make mining the independent market a prime target for parts marketing.

Most of the 17 detailed strategies that were presented to the the delegates at the NADA Business of the Year (BOTY) roadshow leaned heavily towards the use of strong industry partnerships, technology, webspace and the use of other digital communication methods in the rapidly changing environment in which motor dealers are now operating in most part of the world, including South Africa.

Olsen also stressed the importance of still maintaining the personal link with customers, staff, and other business partners as it is still very important for a business to have a face and a human side in these changing times.
Howard Audio works the night shift for MTN

Howard Audio pulled a few all-nighters during our new project for MTN. We were tasked with reproducing an exact copy and re-record of The Commodore's "Night Shift" for their latest TV commercial, directed by Teboho Mahlatsi from The Bomb Commercials.
I've often heard friends and family voicing their dislike for interacting with call centres, irrespective of the company that the call centre represents, or if they have the best practices and technology in place. However, I recently had a conversation with my local General Practitioner who had a completely different viewpoint.

Rita Kruger

In her opinion, people working in call centres deserve medals for what they do. Can you imagine, she said, how it feels to have your every action monitored and scheduled? Reflecting on her words made me think about the rules and regulations that form part of the day-to-day operations in the call centre industry.

Even if as an employee you are desk-bound from 8am to 5pm, the one thing that you have is the freedom to plan your day. Not so in call centres where your work is scheduled through a workforce management system into 15 or 30 minute intervals, and you are measured on your adherence to the plan. Call centre agents must stick to stringent times for their tea and lunch breaks or risk forfeiting them. A quick toilet break cannot be taken unless there are enough people to answer the calls in the queue. Is this something youve ever had to consider going about your daily office schedule?

Already a very controlled environment, the call centre is also heavily regulated by legislation, which agents need to bear in mind while on the job and something which they are constantly reminded about. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act that mostly regulates outbound call centres indicates who agents may call, and when. The rules include no calls to residential areas before 8am in the morning or after 9pm in the evening, and no calls to customers listed on the do-not-call registry. Any errors made in this regard could result in ruining a customers day and potentially losing them as a customer forever.

As a call centre agent, you also need to be aware of the rules of the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa, the Protection of Personal Information Act and, in the financial services industry, the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act that regulates the selling of and advice that can be given for financial and insurance products. There are a lot of rules to remember and minimal time to interact with the client to conclude a sale or make an impression, so these agents need to think on their feet.

There are also rules and regulations about debt collections, plus contractual requirements. For example, contracts might stipulate that calls be answered live instead of going through an automated system, or within a certain time frame. You must verify that youre speaking with the account holder, and a conversation with a business customer is guided by an entirely different set of rules which are more onerous than the ones for an average consumer.

Added to all this, there are the call centres own in-house rules, such as no mobile devices at your desk, needing to be at your work station five minutes before your shift starts, adhering to the scripts, being aware of your talk time, being available to customers and treating customers fairly. Feeling the pressure yet?

Lets toss in the big brother element. Each keystroke made by the agent is captured on camera. Every call is recorded. There are quality monitors and target-driving supervisors. There is real-time monitoring of each call, and any call that goes over the average duration is flagged.

Tyler Olson via 123RF

Agents handle numerous calls a day. Even on a short call  the average is three-and-a-half-minutes  they need to build a relationship with the stranger on the other end of the line to resolve the query. Callers often complain that staff do not have the authority to resolve problems, but agents are limited in terms of the approvals they may give.

Then you get the difficult customer who will argue with or challenge you, ask for a recording or to be transferred to a manager, maybe even threaten to take the matter to the ombudsman or the media. Unfortunately, there is no response in the script for sarcasm. Language differences can also create a barrier. Its often difficult to explain English business-language terms and conditions so that a person who speaks a different dialect is able to understand.

Its actually a far tougher environment than we give it credit for with long hours, restrictive working practices, close scrutiny by management and high stress for a repetitive job. Do call centres get it wrong? Yes, but they also get it right. They handle thousands of calls each day to serve thousands of customers with the intention to resolve, up-sell, retain and offer.

Next time youre on a call with one of these agents, think about the position theyre coming from and how it would feel to be in their seat. I say, hats off to all the call centre agents.
In order to empower the South African youth, we need to provide them with the right information. However, in a society infiltrated with all sorts of messages, how can the right information cut through the noise?

Khethi Ngwenya

Owner and MD of SchoolMedia, Khethi Ngwenya, has put together five 2017 trends that outline just how the youth should and could be targeted in the coming months.

We need to be savvy about how we go about reaching this particular market, because they are not interested in reams of text, being told what to do or how to do it. This is a generation that is empowered by tools such as the internet and mobile technology, so we need to make sure we are leveraging off these resources ourselves rather than competing with them.

Five trends
Technically, Africa has significant potential for hydropower. There are, however, two constraints to realising this potential, commercial viability and lack of political structures.

The current demand for power in sub-Saharan Africa is about 100GW of which 22% is supplied by hydro, with future demand predicted at 385GW by 2040 of which 26% is projected to be provided by hydro.

These projections imply that about 80GW of hydropower is to be added in the next 24 years, which amounts to about 3GW per year. This is a substantial rate of development, which will require significant investment to achieve.

African power pools

Considering the five major power pools on the continent  Central Africa (established 2003), Southern Africa (established 1995), West Africa (established 2001), East Africa (established 2005) and COMELEC (North Africa; established 1989)  75% of the electricity mix resides in the northern and southern African power pool systems with South Africa being one of the largest contributors.

Generation in these power pools is predominantly thermal (oil and coal) based. Much of the hydropower potential resides in the central, western and eastern power pools and remains undeveloped.

Old infrastructure

In addition, some of the power plants on the continent were built by former colonial powers and minimal upgrades have been conducted since then, reducing the effective power output to well below the potential initially installed. There are, however, major projects underway such as Inga 3 (4,500MW) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it has been subject to long delays as a result of logistical and funding issues.

Financial viability

Although there is technical potential to satisfy much of future planned demand, development prospects are limited by the financial viability of the projects.

Many of Africas cash strapped governments turn to the private sector for some form of public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements for investment yet many do not have robust PPP frameworks in place.

The private sector, however, makes decisions based on factors such as political stability, supportive legal framework and return on investment (ROI) and their implications for costs and tariffs. The private sectors expectation of an acceptable ROI is often in conflict with governments desire to keep tariffs as low as possible.

Projects are often financed with a combination of equity and debt funding and investment is made on the basis of proven bankability. Herein lies the major issue.

Bankable feasibility studies

Financiers require bankable feasibility studies, which consider the technical feasibility as well as the sustainability, including social impact and economic and financial viability of projects. Investors want the confidence that if they finance an expensive plant, there will be an acceptable return on their investment. This often means they need guarantees that they will be able to sell power generated by the plant for at least a 20-year period.

Funders want assurance that the body signing the power purchase agreement is financially sound. In a number of instances however, the institution or parastatal that would have to buy the power is technically bankrupt, rendering the project unbankable without intervention of government in some acceptable form.

Social impact

While maintenance of hydropower plants and the average cost of producing hydropower is relatively low, the projects require high upfront capital to build dams, and power plants, and in some instances underground caverns and tunnels. Development times can be long, especially if a dam needs to be built.

This has a social impact as dam building can mean inundating large areas with water and displacing communities, which has to be carefully handled to ensure sustainability of both the project and the displaced community.

Political stability

Another issue relates to political stability. Financiers do not want to invest in projects that are going to be compromised by political instability or even in extreme cases, appropriation, before the repayment period is complete.

In addition, weak transmission systems mean several areas in Africa are not interconnected. In areas where there is great potential for power generation, including cross border sales, such as the DRC, limited infrastructure exists. Extensive transmission lines need to be built to evacuate power, which adds to the costs.

Once again, political stability plays a role as financiers do not want the ability to sell power to be compromised by damage to transmission systems through theft or as a result of conflict. High initial costs against low certainty of sustainability means many projects that are identified as having technical potential may never come to fruition.

Conduct a study

As many governments do not have the funds to undertake feasibility studies and fund developments themselves, they may extend rights to developers to conduct a study on a specific scheme. In considering a project, developers usually start with a reconnaissance phase followed by a pre-feasibility study and eventually a bankability feasibility study  all at their own cost.

The cost of such studies vary, depending on the amount of information available and the complexity of the project, but can be in the order of $2m or about 1% of the estimated capital cost of the project. This high cost represents a substantial risk to potential developers and in the face of high uncertainty of securing a bankable project, is a major barrier to development.

Robust PPP frameworks

A firm concession is required by financiers as part of proving project bankability, but there is often little assurance from authorities that the developers right to develop a scheme will be granted or protected through the entire process.

In some instances, the process of undertaking studies is welcomed by the authorities, but issuance of a firm concession is then in conflict with tender based procurement policies, which causes downstream approval difficulties. This reinforces the need to have robust PPP frameworks with a fair mechanism for dealing with unsolicited bids.

Chinese model

Two models that have enjoyed some success include the Chinese model and the development agency model. China negotiates with governments in Africa to grant sovereign loans to develop assets, sometimes against security of other fixed assets.

Because China has significant influence on the African continent and its government, lenders and contractors operate as a unified front, it has enough impact to effect this model.

Development agency model

Another model that enjoys a degree of success is the involvement of development agencies such as the World Bank or African-based development banks in funding the initial studies. This takes some weight off private developers and helps unlock projects on the continent.

Investment at this level is, however, fairly limited and needs to be accelerated if the kind of growth agencies are projecting for hydropower development in Africa is going to be realised.

Once a bankable feasibility study exists, private equity investors and operators are prepared to get involved, but it is the cost and process to get there that is a deterrent. This is where donor organisations and other funding bodies can play a greater part.

While most of the identified projects are technically feasible, when the commercial aspect is considered, only a portion of them are commercially feasible. The many challenges faced by hydropower projects on the continent can be overcome if proper governance and frameworks are put into place and donor and other funding bodies get involved in bringing the projects to bankable feasibility stage.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has raised R100m to support the studies of almost 2,500 missing middle students.

Missing middle students do not qualify for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) assistance. The fundraising event received a generous cash donation from FirstRand Foundation.

The chairperson of FirstRand Empowerment Fund (FREF), Sizwe Nxasana, said FREF has a very specific mandate to contribute to a strengthened economy and a better South Africa through promoting and funding education, especially among historically disadvantaged South Africans.

He said FREF represents a significant piece of the endowment created by the groups successful BEE scheme.

Many of us have watched our tertiary education system struggle with violence and disruption over the past year and those of us who have benefited from that education system in the past need to step up and ensure the next generation receives the same benefit.

We hope that this contribution ensures that those students that want to continue studying and complete their exams can do so, said Nxasana.

UJs vice chancellor and principal professor Ihron Rensburg said this contribution is in addition to FirstRand Foundations previous contribution of R6m over three years. He said it was encouraging to see the private sector investing in education.

I continue to be astounded at the extraordinary goodwill that has been shown to our university and our students. It is important for students to acknowledge the commitment and the contribution made by the private sector towards the funding of higher education, which FirstRand Foundation has demonstrated with this donation, said Professor Rensburg.

He said the recent wave of Fees Must Fall student demonstrations highlight the funding challenges facing all South African universities.

The universitys council and executive management fully support the goal of free education for the poor and the implementation of a funding model, which will enable access to missing middle students.

We are deeply grateful to business and industry, and the public sector for their timely response and generous contributions that have helped UJ reach its goals for the missing middle. We are truly humbled, honoured and inspired, Rensburg said.
The long and tortuous process of getting Parliament to pass the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Bill came to an end with its adoption by the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.

The legislation improves benefits for jobless workers and will put to some use the R120bn surplus sitting in the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

The period for which UIF benefits can be claimed has been increased from eight to 12 months. And public servants are included under the UIF for the first time.

Maternity benefits are improved and maternity benefits and claims are treated separately from other UIF benefits and claims.

The draft bill was first discussed in the National Economic Development and Labour Council in 2013 and tabled in Parliament in March 2014. It fell off the table because of the general election and had to be retabled in October last year.

The National Assembly adopted the bill in May and then there was another long delay as Parliament went into recess for the local government elections.

Cosatu parliamentary liaison officer Matthew Parks said on Wednesday the union federation supported the bill as "a major victory that will benefit millions of workers. The federation has fought long and hard for this victory."

The federation called on President Jacob Zuma to sign the bill into law urgently - before the end of next month - to help impoverished and retrenched workers, mothers on maternity leave and their families.

Parks said Cosatu wanted UIF benefits to be extended to workers who resign from jobs and informal sector and self-employed workers (such as taxi drivers) and also to cover paternity, parental and adoption leave.

"Government has agreed to Cosatu's demand to further negotiations with Cosatu at Nedlac on how to expand access to the UIF to cover these missing areas," Parks said.

Parliament's labour portfolio committee is considering the Labour Laws Amendment Bill to provide paternity and adoption leave benefits.

Source: BDpro
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) have launched a partnership to bolster student and teaching support in the travel indusry.

From L-R: Trishia Tshandu, UJ Student and bursary recipient; Andrew Stark, Managing Director, Flight Centre Travel Group; Neo Malema, UJ Student and bursary recipient.

On Monday 21 November 2016, new student bursaries and significant sponsorship of a lecture room at the UJ School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH) by FCTG were announced at the Bunting Road Campus of the University.

At the launch event, the two bursary recipients met with the FCTG Managing Director, Andrew Stark and other senior managers.

Trishia Tshandu (20), a second-year tourism student from Johannesburg, said she is the first person in her family to attend university. Her sister is the familys sole breadwinner.

Neo Malema (21), a first-year tourism student currently living in Melville with his mother, said he would have had to drop out of university next year had he not managed to secure a bursary.

I am funding my first-year studies at UJ through part-time work as a tour guide and assisting my brother with sound engineering gigs. I have managed my dyslexia with repetitive reading and self-teaching. Once I complete my degree, Id like to look at business concepts like a boutique hotel offering especially for entertainers. Im grateful not only for the bursary, but also for the benefit of the mentorship that Flight Centre offer to us.

Dr Diane Abrahams, Director of STH said: Transformation in the tourism and hospital industry is vital for the growth of this important sector of our economy. At the STH we enable young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, to enter the industry in a variety of exciting careers whereby they transform not only their lives but that of their family and the community in which they live.

FCTG is sponsoring bursaries for two of our students who are excelling academically, and are part of the Missing Middle  students who are regarded as too rich to qualify for government support, but too poor to afford tuition fees, said Abrahams.

Travel, tourism and hospitality is the fastest-growing sector alongside banking and agriculture, contributing 10% to global GDP. Wed like to see more government collaboration with the private sector to promote the industry. We are committed to doing our part and our partnership with UJ is the start. We care about delivering amazing travel experiences but we also care about collaboratively educating our youth of today to become our leaders of tomorrow, said Stark.
47 pilots, 92 aviation maintenance technicians, 50 cabin crew and 133 marketing professionals graduated from the Ethiopian Aviation Academy at a ceremony held at the Ethiopian Headquarters last week. The institution is the largest aviation academy in Africa, a full ICAO Trainer Plus Member and an IATA Authorised Global Training Centre.

Tewolde GebreMariam, group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, was present to congratulate the new graduates and welcome them to the airlines workforce. He gave out diplomas to all graduates, flight wings to pilots and cabin crew, and achievement awards to graduates with outstanding academic performance.

We believe education is the greatest equaliser in the 21st century and the Ethiopian Aviation Academy has strategically positioned itself to train the African youth in the latest aviation technology and skills to own, manage and operate their own reliable aviation industry with global standards. We shall continue to up scale our capacity and nurture the youth as we prepare them for 21st century African Aviation development, GebreMariam remarked.

Operating for the past six decades since its establishment in 1956, Ethiopian Aviation Academy has significantly contributed towards alleviating the critical shortage of skilled aviation professionals. Currently, the academy trains 1,500 youths per annum and it envisages to enhance its intake capacity to 4,000 by 2025.

The academy is certified by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, the U.S Federal Aviation Administration, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and IATA Safety Audit (IOSA).
Tammy Lederle is founder and CEO of both Brandnew Creative Agency and Take Charge. She started her own catering business from her mom's kitchen when she was 19 years old, having learned from the 'best She Boss ever' - her mom, who also successfully ran two businesses. Here's how Lederle baked her own entrepreneurial passion.

Having completed a part-time public relations course, where she learnt the importance of communication and promotion, Lederle joined the marketing diploma course at Red and Yellow School in Cape Town. Thats where she met some of the greatest marketing and advertising minds in the country, worked on incredible projects, was pushed and stretched in ways that were uncomfortable but necessary, and learned to be a team player. But thats not where it all began.

'She Boss' Lederle.

Lederles entrepreneurial success was preceded by playing school-school in her moms kitchen and gathering her 5-year-old friends together in the dining room to hold very serious board meetings. Her first business out of Silwood Cordon Bleu cooking school was Tammy Lederle Catering (TLC), working for private clients and corporates and catering for up to 300 people per event out of her parents home kitchen with one assistant. She went on to work as a chef in the six-star Park Hyatt Hotel, cooking for guests like the Gates family, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.

Its a 'kitchen passion' thats lasted, as the Brandnew office still receives many treats, because Lederle loves baking, despite having moved on to greater things, as she always knew she was an entrepreneur. She also keeps those creative ideas flowing, with her side-line business, Take Charge, flourishing  she stumbled on a product that charges smartphones on the go while in Sydney in 2013 and developed a local line of genuine leather handbags, purses and tablet cases with built-in power banks that charge your phone or tablet from dead to full in just an hour.

But Lederle is by no means alone in her entrepreneurialism, saying SA is a nation of born entrepreneurs, as were motivated from a young age to be business owners and forge paths where others havent ventured before. She falls into this category herself, having started two successful businesses of her own before the age of 20 based on the desire to run her own show and teach others, which prompted her to start my own thing as soon as she was able to.

Entrepreneurial lessons from corporates

Thats not to say shes always followed an entrepreneurial path, as Lederle shares that having worked for corporates for five years  as marketing executive on Seventeen and National Geographic magazines, and later as marketing manager at 8 Ink Media publishing house as well as group marketing manager at Associated Magazines, working on the esteemed Cosmopolitan; House & Leisure; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Marie Claire titles taught her the importance of time and budget-keeping, systems, operations and the need for financial prowess.

Thats important because entrepreneurship forces you to fully commit to your idea, putting your own money, time, energy and heart into the business youve created and conceptualised. Lederle says, Its quite easy to unemotionally work for someone else, and spend their money and time, but when you decide to be an entrepreneur, you suddenly realise that every ounce of passion, cash, time and thought matters.

Team Brandnew.

And as the times have changed in our country, so a stronger need for entrepreneurialism has emerged. Lederle says because its not as simple as it once was to find a job you really want, so comes the birth of startups by youngsters who figure they may as well enter the real world by kicking off with an idea of their own.

She says the positive side of this  other than the free-thinking, free-spirited humans the culture of entrepreneurialism creates  is that big businesses are putting energy and money into assisting startups to grow and reach their real potential, guiding them with business know-how, networking and basic finance.

Rise of there-isnt-even-a-box thinkers

On how entrepreneur-mindedness benefits those in the creative industries in particular, Lederle says, Having an entrepreneurial mind means that you never see what is, you see what could be. You see potential and opportunities in everything, constantly gauging how things could be done, felt, created, consumed better.

This means youre relentlessly curious about new ways of exploring the usual, and generally have a natural born understanding of the way humans react and behave. The benefit of this to the creative industry? Theres an army of there-isnt-even-a-box- thinkers who ceaselessly chase new avenues and unashamedly forge new paths, instead of following and copying other creators. Lederle says this results in new art, technology, experiential and communication ideas never thought of before, which are often so simple and necessary that we wonder how we didnt think of the ideas ourselves.

But do you have what it takes? In March 2009, while sitting at a dinner table with family friends, Brandnew Marketing was born when they needed someone to do their marketing for a small hospitality and property brand. Despite Brandnews successes along the way, its not always easy, and you need to be able to keep going, even when the clock strikes 5pm and the corporate world switches off of work mode. Lederle adds that no one has it all figured out, stating, We all look at other entrepreneurs and assume they know exactly what theyre doing and where theyre headed next, but when you sit down and have an honest, authentic chat, you realise that everyones just winging it and hoping for the best.

Lederle lists the following qualities of a good entrepreneur:

A drive to succeed, despite the inevitable obstacles and set-backs that arise.

A natural curiosity for how things work and how people behave. Excellent entrepreneurs would make the best post-crime scene witnesses, because they notice everything on the scene prior to the crime: The waitresses strange hairstyle, the off kerning on the menu, the wilting pot plant in the corner, the way the man at the back seemed uncomfortable in his own skin, etc.

The ability to put aside your ego and ask questions and advice from those who know more and have more experience than you.

The open mind to read, learn and absorb information thatll make you a better business owner.

Leadership skills that mean you work in the trenches with your staff/team, instead of delegating and expecting them to do it all.

#creativity #bornmakers #designers #daringgreatly #brandnewcreative A photo posted by Brandnew Creative Agency (@brandnewscoop) on Jun 8, 2016 at 9:55pm PDT

Lederle has put this into practice and honed her power in leading and guiding rather than taking everything on herself and has learned to delegate and trust the experts she hires to do what they do best without interfering too much, rather guiding the creative process, and sticking to the following belief: If we give our all and it doesnt work out or we dont get the client or work, we can still feel proud of ourselves for trying our best.

Lederle clearly loves her team like theyre her family (though her brother Dean is actually part of the team), and feels so hugely grateful every day when she hears them banter, learn and laugh with each other, knowing she has created an environment they all enjoy and grow from. She also helps others, having taken part in the recent panel at #beingbossZA, focused on mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs.

Thats what I call a true She Boss! Follow Lederle and Brandnew on Twitter and Instagram for updates.
The world is in a constant state of digital evolution. New business trends quickly and dramatically determine how people work, shop and communicate.

Image by 123RF

Here are the most important digital business trends to expect in 2017:

On-demand economy

Consumers want things on demand. Whether its movies, accommodation, transport or business solutions. Businesses need to understand new markets and workforces to create innovative products based on consumer demands. The rise of services like Airbnb, Uber and Netflix demonstrate the rise in consumer expectations for immediacy. In the coming year, new products and services will need to deliver based on behaviour and expectation  big time.

Experience trumps product

Customer experiences are more important than ever. In 2017, how products and services enhance lifestyle and workflow will be front and centre. Brands need to remain relevant by engaging and making the lives of their target markets easier.

Research shows 69% of customers switch brands because of a poor user experience, which has made the market increasingly competitive. More than ever, products are competing to stay ahead of the business game. Seamless user experience will find its way into business and office hardware and software in 2017, replicating existing trends in consumer tech.

Big data

The analysis of large volumes of data is used in a number of ways to solve problems. In 2017, itll be used in making data-driven decisions. Data analytics will draw meaningful insights from raw data to make considered business decisions at the right time and gain an edge over competitors. Automated data programs will be crucial for companies that want to expand in the coming year.

Changes in workflow

Workflow behaviour and interaction will start to mimic real-world apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp. Employees and customers want business communication to feel and work like their personal communication. In the new year, software will continue to mimic consumer apps and reshape processes that support employees. Slack is an example of the beginning of an enterprise renaissance that doesnt just change tech  it changes how companies and people work.

Mobile-first transforms the web

The web will be re-imagined more dramatically for mobile in 2017  itll become mobile-only, not just mobile-first. The purpose of the web will be radically transformed to be increasingly dynamic and personal for screens people carry. Businesses will be forced to modify product and service offerings to integrate with mobile.

Automated finance

Financial experts have identified automated banks as the next big disruptor in the banking sector. According to a recent study, automated banking could replace 30% of employment in financial services over the next decade. Financial advisors and analysts are due to be replaced by robo-advisors that have the data needed to make split-second, informed decisions. This trend will gain traction in 2017 and marks a new era in service delivery thats geared towards automation.
LRAs Dominic Ongwen, appearing in court during his pre-trial hearing in January 2016, in a suit unlike his bush attire.

It is going to be historic that after ten years, one of the five indicted LRA commanders is in our custody and the actual trial begins. We have put in place public viewing centers at the four locations the crimes were committed

GULU-UGANDA:The International Criminal Court (ICC) has released names of the three judges who will preside over Mr. Dominic Ongwens case. The former commander of Sinia Brigade under the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), is facing 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity before the ICC, in Trial Chamber 9.

The three are Judge Bertram Schmitt, a German jurist who was born on September 9, 1958, is the Presiding Judge; Judge Peter Kovacs, born in 1959 in Hungary and Judge Raul C. Pangalangan, born on September 1, 1958 in the Philippines. The trial, which will commence on Tuesday, December 6, 2016, will take place in The Hague in the Netherlands.

This was disclosed to the media in Gulu by Ms. Maria Kamara, the Outreach unit coordinator for Uganda and Kenya, on November 22, 2016 from Gulu town.

It is going to be historic that after ten years, one of the five indicted LRA commanders is in our custody and the actual trial begins. We have put in place public viewing centers at the four locations the crimes were committed says Ms. Kamara.

Uganda government ratified the ICC Rome Statute in June 2002 and in 2004 referred the LRA situation to the ICC to investigate focusing on alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the context of an armed conflict predominantly between the LRA and the national army, which took place mainly in northern Uganda, between 1986 and 2006.

Pre-Trial Chamber issued arrest warrants in 2005, against five top LRA commanders: Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen. While Lukwiya and Odhiambo have been confirmed dead and the ICC judges have terminated proceedings against them, Ottis death has not yet been confirmed. While Kony is still at large, Domini Ongwen is in custody awaiting trial.

Who is Dominic Ongwen?

Dominic Ongwen was born in 1975 in the village of Coorom in Amuru district in northern Uganda. He was the former commander of the Sinia Brigade of the LRA who was abducted in 1999 when he was walking to school. He rose through the ranks, becoming a Major at the age of 18 winning the confidence of Kony, leader of the LRA.

It is alleged that he was the commander who led the attacks in Pajule Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp in October 2003, Odek IDP in April 2004, Lukodi IDP in May 2004 and in Abok in June 2004. He surrendered from the Central African Republic (CAR) and was transferred to the custody of the ICC in January 2015, where he is standing trial.

The LRA killed more than 100,000 people, abducted more than 60,000 others and displaced more than 1.8 million people from their homes, mainly in Acholi and Lango sub-regions of northern Uganda.

Although the Prosecution, the Defense as well as the Legal representatives of victims requested the Chamber to consider the possibility of holding the opening of the trial in Uganda, preferably in Gulu, thereby making the proceedings relevant and meaningful to the communities connected to the alleged crimes, the Trial Chamber declined the request and decided that his trial will now take place at the seat of the court in the Hague.

4109 victims have applied to participate in Ongwens trial. The Defense lead counsel is Ugandas Chrispus Ayena Odongo.

We dont know how long the trial will last. It will probably last several months and years depending on the complexity of the case. If found guilty, he will serve a maximum of 30 years in jail or life- imprisonment as ICC does not condemn prisoners to death says Kamara.

She explained that although three countries in Africa; Gambia, Burundi, and South Africa have expressed interest to withdraw from the ICC; the withdrawal will not affect on-going investigations.
The 50-mile route outlines the shape of a turkey, with the starting line near Castro and 14th St. The wing takes you through the Castro, Dolores Heights, and the Mission District. The route gets harder to follow from there, forming the feathers of the turkey on the east side of the city.



Then, you head south through Portola and the Balboa Park area for the turkey's feet. If you somehow manage to make it this far, you can continue through Twin Peaks, Cole Valley, and Haight-Ashbury until you reach the turkey's head. Then there are a few loops through Pacific Heights and the Marina District before you can head back south towards City Hall to finish the ride.
PODCAST Your ticket to Truman Capotes celebrity-filled party at the Plaza.

Truman Capote is a true New York character, a Southern boy who wielded his immense writing talents to secure a place within Manhattan high society. Elegant, witty, compact, gay  Capote was a fixture of swanky nightclubs and arm candy to wealthy, well-connected women.

One project would entirely change his life  the completion of the classic In Cold Blood, a non-fiction novel about a horrible murder in Kansas. Retreating from his many years of research, Truman decided to throw a party.

But this wasnt ANY party. This soiree  a masquerade ball at the Plaza Hotel  would have the greatest assemblageA of famous folks ever gathered for something so entirely frivolous. An invite to the ball was the true golden ticket, coveted by every celebrity and social climber in America.

Come with us as we give you a tour of the planning of the Black and White Ball and a few glamorous details from that strange, glorious evening.

FEATURING: Harper Lee, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Robert Frost, Lillian Hellman, Halston, Katherine Graham and a cast of thousands (well, or just 540)

The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you . by you!

We are now producing a new Bowery Boys podcast every two weeks. Were also looking to improve the show in other ways and expand in other ways as well  through publishing, social media, live events and other forms of media. But we can only do this with your help!

We are now a member of Patreon, a patronage platform where you can support your favorite content creators for as little as a $1 a month.

Please visit our page on Patreon and watch a short video of us recording the show and talking about our expansion plans. If youd like to help out, there are five different pledge levels (and with clever names too  Mannahatta, New Amsterdam, Five Points, Gilded Age, Jazz Age and Empire State). Check them out and consider being a sponsor.

We greatly appreciate our listeners and readers and thank you for joining us on this journey so far. And the best is yet to come!

Truman Capote in 1945

From the unusual book jacket of Other Voices, Other Rooms, 1948

Babe Paley with Truman Capote in Capri, early 1960s

Capote in Kansas, at the grave of the Clutter family, their murder being the inspiration for his book In Cold Blood.

Just a few days before the party, this is what New York City looked like  draped in a toxic smog.

Truman Capote with his guest of honor  Katherine Graham

Graham is on the left and Capote is front and center, but the real action is Lauren Bacall and Jerome Robbins at right.

Supermodel Penelope Tree looks a little bit like Batgirl here.

Andy Warhol came to the party without a mask.

Norman Mailer and an unidentified guest.

One of the most talked about couples of the evening  Frank Sinatra and his new bride (with a new haircut) Mia Farrow.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rural municipalities are losing prime real estate because habitat conservation groups are acquiring them, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities annual convention heard.

Whats the value of them gobbling it up? asked Rossburn Mayor Brian Brown, while referencing one property the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) purchased three kilometres east of Rossburn, in an interview yesterday.

Were 20 miles from Riding Mountain National Park, which is a conservatory for animals already  its huge. Why do we want to keep making the park bigger, essentially, by buying land around it?

Brown said corporations with a conservation mandate are benefiting from a cheap assessment  the same 26 per cent rate agricultural land receives.

Delegates at AMMs convention passed Rossburns resolution, lobbying the province to implement a higher assessment class of 35 per cent for conservation groups acquiring land. The three-day event ended in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Lots purchased by conservation groups are often left in their natural state, the resolution explained, resulting in low assessments and low property taxes.

The municipality would prefer families resided on these lots, which would prompt construction and additional tax revenues. He mentioned 240 acres purchased by NCC near Rossman Lake, a resort community, will sit empty instead of potentially becoming cottage lots.

Corporations like NCC often pay an inflated price for land to remove from or limit agricultural growth. The assessment branch, Brown said, then determines the organizations property taxes based on their assessed market value instead of what they paid for the lot.

Rossburns resolution was one of nearly 50 proposals voted on at this years AMM convention.

A number of resolutions from Westman municipalities were endorsed.

Drainage was a key issue presented, with the Municipality of Russell-Binscarth asking the province to tell Saskatchewan to stop its drainage practices, which, Mayor Len Derkach believes, impairs Manitoba infrastructure.

Increasing flow from Saskatchewan enters his municipality from several spots, overwhelming places like Smith Creek dam and subsequently causing significant erosion and flooding in Russell-Binscarth and downstream.

The current situation has created wealth through improved farmland for Saskatchewan, at the same time increasing Manitoba costs on infrastructure and reducing farmland assessment due to flooding and land being taken out of production, the resolution read.

The municipality acknowledged governments are seeking long-term solutions, but the need for help is immediate.

(The resolution is) our way of expressing a priority item within the municipality and were calling on the government to pay attention to this, Derkach said.

In addition to inter-provincial lobbying, Russell-Binscarth wants Manitoba to establish a compensation fund to offset any infrastructure repair costs and assessment losses.

We spend thousands of dollars each year repairing infrastructure that is washed away, Derkach said.

A Municipality of Two Borders resolution asked the province to pay conservation districts to remove flood-related debris like fallen trees from waterways.

The debris can clog waterways, devastating in case of a repeat of the 2011 and 2014 floods.

They arent an immediate problem, but they are just another unfortunate legacy of the floods we experienced, Reeve Debbie McMechan said.

Two Borders also wants the province to encourage municipalities to take part in inter-municipal conservation projects.

McMechan was discouraged an inventory of water infrastructure, developed by their conservation district, was not adopted by some municipalities when the offer was extended to them.

It was a free program for Two Borders, and she understands other municipalities may have been asked to pay a nominal fee.

Where that information can be made available for a minimal cost, it can have great benefit to all municipalities, she said.

In an apparent reference to last years bid in the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa to censure a councillor, their resolution asked the province to amend the Municipal Act to provide municipalities with a more comprehensive process for addressing continuous Code of Conduct breaches by a council member.

In a joint resolution supported by the RM of Wallace-Woodworth, provincial help is sought by newly amalgamated municipalities to reduce the cost of changing the legal names of land titles.

A resolution jointly sponsored by the Town of Minnedosa suggests the regulatory requirements on volunteer organizations and non-profit groups like halls, community libraries and museums be reduced. The annual audits currently pose a financial hardship, the resolution claimed.

As well, the City of Dauphin does not want people curious about the Manitoba Health Card to be referred to municipal offices. The city indicated health care is under the purveyor of the province.

The 2017 AMM convention will be held in Brandon in the last week of November.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Both of Manitobas best-managed companies are based in Brandon this year.

So determined the CIBC and Deloitte-supported Canadas Best Managed Company program, whose provincial shortlist ceremony was held Tuesday night in Winnipeg.

The two shortlisted companies are Jacobson & Grenier Group of Companies and Cando Rail Services, which both carry long ties to Brandon.

Cando Rail Services CEO Brian Cornick, centre, receives a finalist award as one of two Brandon-based businesses to be named Manitobas best-managed. Pictured left is CIBC representative Wayne Negrey, and at right is Deloitte rep Rick Soenen.

Its great to see them recognized, Brandon West Progressive Conservative MLA Reg Helwer said, pointing to both companies long-term community impacts as reason enough for praise, let alone their recent commendations.

I think in Brandon were always really proud of our organizations and the companies that are chosen to start there and stay there and continue to provide employment, diversify the economy, and look for more opportunities.

Deloitte representative Rick Soenen said that both companies qualified for the Manitoba regional award due to their proven track records in four key areas, including strategy, capability, commitment and these three pillars end result: financial performance.

We look at things like how innovative is the company, we look at the productivity of the company, we look at the ability of the company to execute upon the strategy, Soenen said. Thats where the two Brandon companies were recognized.

Jacobson & Greiner Group of Companies sticks out as a very diversified company with a strong presence, he said of the Brandon-based collection of development-centred efforts.

Its got a young, dynamic management team that has lots of plans for the company going forward, which I think will elevate the company.

Cando Rails edge over other Manitoba companies came, in part, as a result of the companys stock ownership program, which allows its employees to become more invested in its outcomes.

It sends a message to everyone down the line that this is our company, Cando Rail CEO Brian Cornick said. This isnt just a job. We own this company and that makes a difference.

This was the first time Cando Rail submitted an application for the award, Cornick said, noting that whether they won or lost it would have been a worthwhile experience.

CIBC representative Wayne Negrey, left, and Deloitte representative Rick Soenen, right, bookend representatives from Jacobson & Grenier Group of Companies, whose members are Nycolle Adams (vice-president of marketing), from left, Tamra Rapsky (chief financial and operating officer) and Connie Froese (vice-president of finance).

Had they lost, they would have learned where they fell short and how they might improve as a company into the future.

Now that theyve won, Cornick said that theyve received affirmation from their colleagues that theyre on the right path.

The fact that Brandon companies earned both of this years Manitoba regional awards is no easy feat, Soenen said, noting that most companies up for the distinction are based in Winnipeg.

Early next year will see the CIBC and Deloitte-supported effort name Canadas 50 Best-Managed Companies, although Soenen notes that regardless of whether Brandons companies clinch the award, they have already proven an inspiration to other companies.

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkePA
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The construction of 199 housing units within the next few years might sound like a significant project, but developer Aaron Dubois shrugs off calling it ambitious.

We should definitely be moving four units a month, he stressed. We feel that the markets there, but were also a phased development. Were not going to dump all these units on the market. There has to be a market for them.

In all likelihood, there will be a market for these units, Brandon Area Realtors president Glen Tosh suggested  a notion that City of Brandon economic development director Sandy Trudel was quick to support.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Developer Aaron Dubois with Brandon Evergreen Developments, and realtors Sandy Donald and Brad Hardy with Royal LePage stand at the future site of The Woods subdivision in Brandons south end on Wednesday.

Under a newly formed company called Brandon Evergreen, Dubois hopes to see the 199-unit subdivision, called The Woods, break ground at the south side of Brandon within the next few months.

The 5.65-acre development, between 18th Street and Tracey Street just south of Sycamore Drive, will see 23 townhouse-style units built and four apartment-style buildings with 44 units apiece constructed.

The hope is to have everything constructed within five years, Dubois said.

We will build as fast as market absorption allows.

According to Tosh, the local housing market should be able to accommodate the developers timeline.

The Brandon market is a very stable market right now, he said, noting that year-to-date sales between 2015 and 2016 have remained fairly consistent, at a 1.8 per cent increase.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 of this year, the Brandon Area Realtors count 607 single-family home and condo unit sales.

Comparing The Woods with other large-scale housing developments Brandon has seen constructed in recent years, Tosh said that the goal of having 199 units built within the next few years is in keeping with what the local market has been able to accommodate.

Originally from British Columbia, Dubious said that he found himself drawn to Brandon due to its affordability, beauty and economic stability.

Prior developers have already made the area around The Woods a neighbourhood, he said, enthused to contribute to the areas forward momentum.

Dubois affirmed that hes here to stay, happy to be a Manitoba company doing a Manitoba project in Manitoba.

This is a story that Trudel said she has heard quite often.

Where some markets are boom and bust, with investors swooping in for short-term gains and jumping ship prior to the unfortunate bust side of things, Brandons stable market ensures it is able to attract longer-term investors who offer a greater commitment to their community.

If youre looking at making an investment into development and being comfortable that youre going to have a steady, safe return on investment, that storys ours, she said.

Brandons stable market is closely linked to the fact that Brandon, and the broader Westman, carries a very diversified economy, Trudel explained  an appealing quality for the long-term investor.

Where developers like Dubois have their pick of the litter when it comes to Canadian communities, Brandon is lucky to have the competitive edge of market stability to draw them in, she said.

As for the development of housing units in specific, Trudel noted that buyer interest in condominium units has remained consistent over the past few years, and is a segment of the market thats being well-received.

While the market for residential units remains strong, realtor Sandy Donald credits The Woods unique qualities with providing buyers an additional nudge, citing vaulted ceilings, a year-round indoor heated pool, guest suites and other unique features as selling points.

Theyre hungry for homes, but a lot of people dont want cookie cutter, Donald said. They want something thats a little unique and set apart. If it suits their lifestyle and their budget, they have a real appetite for it.

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkePA
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty years after Inglis prairie giants were immortalized with national heritage status, the wooden warehouses are standing with newfound pride.

The volunteer board responsible for the historic row of elevators was pleasantly surprised to learn the worlds largest travel guide publisher, Lonely Planet, deemed its restored grain elevators one of the top 10 sights to see in Canada.

Chair Judy Bauereiss said this is the first time the Inglis elevators cracked the list.

Winnipeg Free Press File These elevators are the last example of a row of five wooden elevators in the world. They were built between 1922 and 1941 and were restored in Inglis by a small group of carpenters. Lonely Planet, the worlds largest travel guide publisher, deemed the historical landmark on of the top 10 sights to see in Canada.

We had no idea, Bauereiss said of the 2017 ranking. It came out of the blue.

The honour this year is significant because Lonely Planet ranked Canada the number one travel destination in the world, which will surely entice travellers to consider both the country and its best attractions for an upcoming trip.

The recognition comes on the heels of the heritage sites most successful summer, with 890 tours booked from June to September, and when exposure for the sentinels is paramount. The board needs money as they embark on a five-year revitalization plan to repaint the structures and replace rotting wood.

The northernmost Paterson elevator, scaling 75-feet high, cost $46,000 for a fresh coating this year. They hope to repaint an elevator a year until the five-elevator set is complete, Bauereiss said.

While seeking funding sources from private donors and governments, she notes the recognition is a feather in their cap.

This would certainly not hurt our chances to get some more grant money for the next stage, she said.

The elevators, an enduring symbol of the golden age of Prairie grain handling, were labelled a national heritage site in 1996, a year after the last train departed with wheat to market.

The massive structures were propped up over the next decade, in an ambitious $9-million rehabilitation effort completed in 2006, Bauereiss explained.

Area farmers, who she described as practical, scoffed at the cost to keep them standing.

They said just tear them down and put up a plaque, but 20 years later that perspective has changed, she said. The elevators really are a way of life.

Four of the elevators have stood since 1922, the year the railway arrived, and one was constructed in the 1940s. It is currently the only standing row of five wooden grain elevators remaining in the world.

This leg or vertical elevator brought grain from the scale to the all wood grain bin and structure.

At their peak, there were nearly 6,000 wooden grain elevators across Canada. Today, there are fewer than 300.

A former high school history and English teacher, Bauereiss admits this jewel of the rural landscape is romanticized nowadays, but they conjure up special memories.

We have these concrete silos, which I dont doubt are more efficient and can hold more, but they just dont have the charm and the attraction for me that the wooden elevators do because of what goes with that  peoples childhood memories of small towns.

The Inglis Area Heritage Committee recognizes their role in preserving this nostalgia.

Bauereiss said in the midst of regular fundraising campaigns, they have mounted an art gallery inside one of the elevators and hope to attract musicians who want to play in a grain elevator, which has acoustics to die for.

Some of the visitors who caught a glimpse of the structure this year came from every Canadian province, Germany and Austria.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Reena,

How do I get rid of a bubble under the carpet in my living room?Many thanks, Jeannette

Dear Jeannette,

Here is a popular fix for a carpet bubble. Use a pointed screwdriver to make a small hole in the carpet. Purchase Bubble Glue or Carpet Seam Sealer (strong adhesive). Squeeze the carpet glue into the hole moving the glue around underneath the carpet and being sure not to spill any product on the carpet. Push the carpet bubble down and set heavy books on the area for several hours. If you cannot find these products ask your hardware store for a strong carpet adhesive. Some people have great results filling a large syringe with carpet adhesive and squeezing it directly under the carpet.

Dear Reena,

Just started reading your column and love the practical tips. Maybe I missed this question but can you suggest how I can safely remove some burned-on oven-mitt fabric fibers from the top element of my new black stove without damaging or scraping the black ceramic top. Dont ask what happened. Thanks and keep on helping us with your great ideas. Signed, A frustrated cook

Dear Frustrated Cook,

Wet the area with dish soap and water to dampen. Scrape the area gently with a metal putty knife or razor blade (available where appliances are sold). Wipe to clean; your stove should look as good as new!

Dear Reena,

I am taking on a new challenge this year which is growing my very own basil. My best friend buys basil at the store. How should fresh basil be selected and stored? Barb

Dear Barb,

Basil is now more popular than ever! If you grow your own basil, it should be picked just as the plant begins to bloom. Early morning hours are the best time, after the dew has evaporated and before the sun is high. The oil content in the leaves is the best at this time. When purchasing basil, look for leaves that are bright green and fresh-looking. Limp wrinkled leaves with black spots are good indications that basil is old. Basil leaves should be rinsed lightly and dried; wrap in paper towels and seal in a plastic bag. Basil can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. Dried basil (like other dried herbs) can be substituted for fresh in recipes however use only one third of the amount of the fresh required.

Dear Reena,

I enjoyed hearing you speak at our office Christmas party and since that time my colleagues and I have had an on-going debate that I am hoping you can settle. Can pizza be baked on a coal BBQ grill? Tammy

Dear Tammy,

Yes, for that wood-oven taste made famous in Italy, barbeque your pizza. Prepare the coals for grilling. Use the indirect method if you have a covered grill. Move the hot coals to the sides of the grill in a circle just larger than the pizza. For extra flavor, sprinkle mesquite or hickory chips on the coals. Place pizza on the grill 4 to 6 inches above the coals. Cover; cook 15 to 25 mins. or until crust is brown, cheese is melted and the center is hot.

To cook a pizza on an open grill, place the pizza on a sheet of heavy duty foil or on a foil pan 4 to 6 inches from medium coals. Cover with foil tent; cook 10 mins. or less.

Dear Reena,

I had a cleaning lady over to help me with some spring cleaning. She used S.O.S pads on the bath (which I didnt realize till afterwards). They have taken the shine off the bathtub. They were obviously the wrong thing to use. What should she have used, and is there any way I can remedy this? Does it mean a new bathtub? Sincerely, Julia

Dear Julia,

For regular bathtub cleaning you can opt for a green scrubby pad, dish soap and water. Scrub and rinse. With so many options available, a scratched bathtub does not necessarily need replacement, you may instead want to consider repair. Here are a few options: Professional bathtub specialists can repair scratches or cover the entire tub with a bathtub liner so that it looks as good as new. There are also scratch kits available at home improvement centers to re-glaze or re-enamel the tub.

Some people recommend applying car wax to the outer rim and sides of the tub as you would for a car. The risk with this is that it makes the tub very slippery especially if any wax lands on the floor of the tub; therefore I do not recommend this option.

Feedback from Fabulous Reader

Re: Stuck Jar Lid

What works to loosen lids is to wrap an elastic band around the lid. Or tap the bottom of the jar with the heel of your palm to break the seal. Sherri

Fabulous Tips of the Week

I was horrified to discover that my child splashed red nail polish on our brand new carpet. Even though the stain was dry, I discovered that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser removed the nail polish. Vanessa

Make your own laundry detergent; grate one eighth bar Sunlight laundry soap and combine with one quarter cup borax. Toss clothes and mixture into the washing machine. Clothes always come out clean; I have been doing this for years. Edna

Use S.O.S pads and water to remove nail polish from carpet (some elbow grease required). Joel

Note: Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.

Ask a question or share a tip at reena.ca

Reena Nerbas is a rural Manitoba home economist in a lab coat  and shes not afraid to use it. Keep your questions coming:

 householdsolutions@mts.net

(204) 320-2757
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Brandon has granted the contractor hired to widen and strengthen portions of Brandons south dike system as part of the 2016 South Dikes Work Project permission to conduct 24-hour work along specific areas of the dike for the period of time between Nov. 25 to Dec.16.

The project will see a number of areas of the dike system on the south side of the Assiniboine River from 26th Street to the Third Street dam reinforced and widened as part of the larger, multi-year Brandon Flood Protection System Enhancements Project.

Conducting work prior to the onset of winter is being done proactively to prepare for any potential spring flooding that Brandon may experience as a result of 2016s excessive moisture levels. As per the extension, overnight work will be limited to the area north of Hilton Avenue between 24th Street and 18th Street North; and the area north of Parker Boulevard between 18th Street North and Eighth Street North.

Activity will be limited to the movement and placement of material on the dike and will not include any truck travel through the affected areas. In being granted this extension, the contractor is required to hand-deliver notification ahead of the scheduled 24-hour work to all residents in the area between Third Street North and 34th Street, from the Assiniboine River to the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks.

In addition, the contractor must adhere to the requirement not to undertake any of the above 24-hour work in the residential-adjacent areas between the Third Street dam and the Brandon Co-op Feeds Terminal, and further, that any lighting used in this 24-hour work faces toward the river and not affect traffic flow.

 The Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 19-year-old Brandon man faces several charges related to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

On Monday, the accused showed up to the girls residence shortly after midnight and asked her if he could come into her room to talk. The two spent several hours in the girls bedroom where the assaults took place.

The girls mother found the man in the room in the morning and ushered him out of the home.

Later the same day, the victim and her mother reported to a school guidance counsellor that the girl had been assaulted by the accused, who is an acquaintance.

The matter was referred to the police and statements were gathered the same day.

On Tuesday, police arrested and charged the man with assault, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference, sexual assault and unlawfully in a home.

He is set to appear in court in January.

 The Brandon Sun
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A 53-year-old man was arrested for shooting a rifle at a home at Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation on Saturday.

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Demystifying Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Biography, Husband & Education Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer and actress. As a seasoned Nigerian writer, she has been called the most prominent of a procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors that is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. She has been making Nigeria proud in the global scene ...

Wole Soyinka  Biography, Wife, Children, Family, Quick Facts Professor Wole Soyinka, a great and brilliant Nigerian writer and political activist, who was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The name, Wole Soyinka, is a household name both in Africa and beyond especially in the field of literature. With over 50 pieces of work, his writing includes poems, novels, memoirs ...

5 Most Vulgar Kenyan Radio Presenters It appears being vulgar is the real deal nowadays especially for the fact that the world is becoming more exposed and civilized. Sadly, but true, young people are constantly being exposed to images, discussions, and content that most people would deem detrimental to the African culture and moral statutes. This is because most of us ...

6 Sexiest News Anchors In Kenya Some news anchors have been stealing eyes every time they appear on-screen. Most of us hardly concentrate on the programme they present as our entire focus is usually on their striking physique and beautiful faces. It is common knowledge that Kenyan women are amazingly beautiful. From the celebrities to the everyday woman, they are all in ...

Interesting Oprah Winfrey Quotes To Keep You Motivated Oprah Winfrey is one of the worlds most powerful women in the media and business sectors. Her life is the typical success story that motivates and lifts ones morale. One amazing thing about this media mogul is her sincerity about past hurts, mistakes, healing, and success. The renowned talk show host and media personality is the first ...

Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ...

Steve Harvey  His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ...

Intriguing Things You Should Know About Danny Kokers Rise to Fame and Who His Wife Is Danny Koker is popular as the star of the History Channel reality TV series, Counting Cars. Prior to him appearing on the show, the TV personality was a musician who had embarked on a number of national tours with his rock group, Counts 77. He and his group have released quite a number of songs ...

Fun Facts You Didnt Know About Andy Cohens Rise to Prominence and His Partner Andy Cohen is one of Americas top media personalities who gained prominence after helping to bring the Bravo network back to life. He also hosted a couple of shows on the network, including the popular nightly series Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. After rising to the position of head of production and development at ...

Tracing Isha Sesays Career Until CNN, Her Worth And Why She Divorce Her Husband As far as journalists of African origin go, Isha Sesay is one of the most famous on the continent  and by extension, the world. The Sierra Leonean and British journalist has had a successful career since she joined the industry in 1998. In that time, she has worked for a host of major media ...

Open Secrets of How Joanna Gaines Balances Her Career With Being a Wife and Mother Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia Homes, a business she runs with one goal: converting houses to homes. She doubles as the lead designer of the company which she co-owns with her husband, Chip Gaines. Lady Gaines gained massive popularity when she became a co-star with her husband on the HGTVs show, Fixer Upper. ...

Juicy Details of Ayesha Currys Love Story With Stephen, Her Family Members and Recent Pursuits When your husband is one of the greatest basketballers that the NBA has ever seen, then it bestows on you the status of a celebrity wife  and may not even demand that you do anything extra to maintain that status. However, Ayesha Curry, the wife of multiple NBA champion, Steph Curry, is not one ...

What Is Tarek el Moussas Ethnicity, Why Did He Divorce His Wife and Who Is He Dating? Tarek El Moussa has made himself one of the most recognizable men on reality television, especially to fans of HGTV. Thanks to his expertise in the world of real estate, Tarek has become a national star. But even to his hardcore followers, there are questions about Tarek El Moussa that remain unanswered, such as his ...

Fun Facts About Natalie Beckers Lonely Childhood and Eventual Career Success Natalie Becker is an actress of South African descent who became famous for her appearance in films like The World Unseen and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A multitalented individual, Natalie is also a television/radio presenter. She is also a co-founder of the Thought Leader Global Media which she runs together with ...

Top 3 Female CNN News Anchors You Didnt Know Were Africans CNN is one of the leading news agencies in the world. The satellite and cable news network was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and has been one of the best sources of news for a number of years. It also boasts of the best journalists and presenters all around in media broadcasting. The company is a ...

Channels That Aided Katie Pavlichs Growth as a Journalist and All About Her Marriage To Friedson If you have ever come across any Fast and Furious featuring Barack Obama, it is the handiwork of Katie Pavlich. The book which claims to have exposed Obamas bloodiest scandal and the shameless cover-up thereof, has been earning Pavlich much praise and fame ever since it was published in 2012. Nonetheless, Pavlich is more famed ...

Is Oprah Winfrey Married? Husband, Children, Biography, House, Facts Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist, talk show icon, producer, actress, and writer. The media icon famously dubbed The Queen Of All Media owns and hosts the highest-rated television program in the media circle. Read more about the powerful television star below. Oprah Winfrey Biography Oprah was born as Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, to a ...

Who Is Arsenio Hall, What Happened To His Talk Show and Why Do Fans Think He Is Gay? He is one of the funniest beings to have graced the comedy constituent of the American entertainment industry. Arsenio Hall has a reputation for the rib-cracking disposition always portrayed in his comedy roles. He is not just a comedian; he is also an actor and a former talk show host for his popular show, The ...

What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ...

Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ...

How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ...

Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina  American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ...

Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ...

Team Valor Pokemon Go  7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go  The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ...

Sheryl Underwood  Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ...

Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ...

Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias  Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ...

Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo  The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ...

Millie Weaver  Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ...

Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ...

Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols  Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ...

Who Is Bree Morgan  Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ...

Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ...

Liz Wheeler  Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ...

Betty White  Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ...

Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ...

Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ...

Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...

Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...

Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...

Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...

Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...

Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...

Joel Osteen  Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ...

Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ...

Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...

Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...

Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...

Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...

Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...

Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...

Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...

Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...

Demystifying Pokimane  Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...

A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...

Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...

Alex Aiono Biography  Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...

Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...

Princess Love Bio  Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...

Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...

Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...

Safiya Nygaard  Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...

The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...

Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...

Inside Fred Armisens Life  Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...

Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...

Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...

Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...

Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...

xChocobars  Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...

Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...

Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...

Matpat (Matthew Patrick)  Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...

Facts About Ricegum  His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...

Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti  Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...

What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...

David Letterman  Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...

Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...

Lester Holt  Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...

What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...

The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...

Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...

The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...

Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...

The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...

Jeff Dunham  Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...

Ellen DeGeneres  Net Worth, Wife  Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...

Revisiting Joan Rivers Death  The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...

The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...

Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...

Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...

How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...

Madison Gesiotto Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...

Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...

What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...

Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...

Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother  Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...

Carli Bybel Bio  Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...

Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...

Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch  a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...

Norm MacDonald  Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...

Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...

Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...

Samantha Bee  Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...

What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap  and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...

Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...

A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...

Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...

Desi Perkins  Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...

The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...

Connor Franta  Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...

Rhett and Link  Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...

A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...

What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...

David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month  Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...

Merrell Twins Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...

Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...

Ninja  Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...

What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...

Emma Chamberlain Biography  Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...

Anna Akana  Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...

Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...

Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...

Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...

Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...

Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...

The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...

Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography  Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...

PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...

Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman  What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...

Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...

LaurDIY  Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...

Lachlan Ross Power  Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...

Alfie Deyes  Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...

Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...

Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...

Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...

Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...

How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman)  The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...

Grace Helbig  Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...

Mark Wiens Bio  Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...

Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...

CaptainSparklez Bio  Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...

Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...

5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...

Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...

Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...

Jacksepticeye  Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...

Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...

Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...

Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...

Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...

Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...

Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...

Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...

Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...

Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...

Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...

Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...

Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...

Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel  h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...

Lilypichu Bio  Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...

KSI  What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother  Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...

The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...

The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...

What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...

What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...

Matt Carriker Biography  Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...

Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...

Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents  George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...

Gloria Govan Bio  Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA  after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...

Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...

Who Is October Gonzalez  Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...

Who Is Tony Berlin  Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...

The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...

Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...

Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...

Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel  Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...

Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...

Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband  Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Sun editorial (Facing Facts About Fake News, Nov. 19) quotes U.S. President Barack Obama as saying if we cant discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems.

The context of the quote, as the editorial explores, is the generation of news through partisan news sites and social media, which are represented as facts but essentially confuse, mislead readers. Described by the term which has entered our everyday conversation  fake news.

The question for us is not why this is happening. It has ever been thus. The question is how come it works.

A partial, but significant, answer may be found in David McConkeys column (Takeaways From Trumps Unbelievable Victory, Nov. 21). McConkey offers a Trump quote, (T)he day I realized it can be smart to be shallow was, for me, a deep experience.

What was Trump saying? It is doubtful that he was saying that he now (or ever) characterizes himself as being shallow. What he is probably meaning is that, to engage, influence people, it is smart to present thoughts, ideas, characterizations, opinions in a shallow fashion. That is, make the statement with no argument or no reasoned argument to support the statement. And he became, or is, masterful in doing so.

What, in essence, Trump recognized is that we are not looking for reasoned arguments. We look for simple, digestible statements make America great again, bring back jobs, deport illegal immigrants. Sounds good. Says it all. Period  full stop. Analyze and we might change our mind (heaven forbid).

Opposed to this kind of thinking or characterization of us is what President Obama was hinting at when he spoke about the need to discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda.

What President Obama was talking about is the need for critical thinking when we listen to or read fake news, campaign rhetoric and promises, even real news. Critical thinking which can separate the grain from the chaff. Which, with respect to fake news, may result in all chaff, no grain. Which can recognize shallowness.

The concept of critical thinking, itself, defines why the acceptability and danger of fake news, non-discrimination in thinking, and shallowness persists. Critical thinking requires us to conduct research and analysis in order to apply reasoning and logic to ideas, opinions and situations. Which means that we need to be continually open-minded, investigative.

A lot to do or ask of ourselves.

It is much easier to latch onto an ideology (no matter how vaguely formed in our minds), tradition, follow the leader (parents, friends). In so doing we become receptive to shallow ideas, opinions, statements and fake news. With no thought required or given, to examine these ideas, statements and news for their logic, their utility, their validity in terms of describing the world.

Philosophers contemplating democracy have grappled with these realities. For example, who should be allowed to vote for political leaders knowing that we do not, will not evaluate, assess, analyze their respective promises, proposals? Politicians, political leaders on the other hand use these realities to make shallow promises, proposals that have limited validity or usefulness. Those reporting the news use these realities to create fake news which they know will be accepted as truthful and go unchallenged.

What would our world look like if we saw things in an open-minded way and examine an idea or concept from as many angles as possible? If we would look past (our) own views of the world and to better understand the opinions of others.

Politicians, run for your life!

ROSEMARIE and

CHESTER LETKEMAN

Brandon
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the announcement this week that Canada intends to purchase 18 Super Hornet fighter jets from Boeing as an interim measure to deal with a gap in the countrys defence capabilities, the Liberal government has made a wise decision.

Even if its not the most popular one with critics.

Last June, a National Post story correctly predicted that the Trudeau government was intent on buying Super hornet fighter jets on an interim basis. On Tuesday, Liberal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan made that announcement, saying that Canada would soon enter into negotiations with the U.S. government and Boeing for the purchase of the interim aircraft, to augment our existing and aging fleet of CF-18s.

Super Hornets advanced operational capabilities, low acquisition and sustainment costs, and Boeings continued investment in the Canadian aerospace industry  US$6 billion over the past five years alone, especially in Winnipeg and Manitoba make the Super Hornet the perfect complement to Canadas current and future fighter fleet, said Boeing spokesman D. Scott Day, following the announcement.

The Super Hornet is a twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather multirole fighter jet capable of landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier, according to Boeings website. The Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday that Procurement Minister Judy Foote declined to outline what the proposed purchase would cost taxpayers. Presumably Canada still has to negotiate that price.

But we can get some idea from the website Aeroweb, which reported earlier this year that the flyaway unit cost of an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was about US$67.2 million  or US$70 million if you include non-recurring and support costs. At the high end, thats a price tag of at least $1.26 billion.

Aeroweb suggests the latest estimates for the F-35 A is about US$109.88 million per aircraft  though there have been media reports of much higher costs. Obviously the Liberals are looking at saving some cash on new aircraft while they plan for an open competition to replace the remaining CF-18s, thus making good on one of Justin Trudeaus cornerstone election planks.

Should the government move ahead with the Super Hornet purchases, Canada will once again find itself operating a mixed fleet of fighter jets, much like it did until 1995. Its only been the last two decades or so that this country has relied exclusively on the CF-18 fleet, which actually puts us in a minority of countries. The United States, France, Germany, Australia and many of our other allies run a mixed fighter fleet.

Running an open competition among corporations for the remaining fleet replacement may well keep Canada reliant upon one aircraft  Boeings Super Hornet may well have the winning bid for all we know, in a future competition. If that is the case, at least Canada will have a better understanding of the performance  and limitations of the Super Hornet before plunging forward with a multibillion-dollar purchase.

But a mixed fleet allows commanders more versatility in military operations, and it ensures that were not left defenceless if a crippling fault is found with the new aircraft.

Military and foreign affairs specialist Jonathan Wade recently argued in the Huffington Post that the Super Hornet is better at intercepting incoming aircraft than the F-35, and is also more manoeuvrable at high speed.

The twin engines of the Super Hornet makes it safer for Arctic operations, Wade wrote. The F-35 runs on a single engine and a simple failure could mean disaster.

Obviously, the federal governments announcement is not without its critics. Having already spent billions of dollars in the F-35 program, Opposition members have blamed the Liberals for potentially wasting millions of dollars in investment. But the biggest problem, critics say, is the lack of transparency and openness with respect to the federal decision.

As CBC reported yesterday, some of the components for the F-35 are produced in Winnipeg by Magellan Aerospace, one of 70 Canadian companies that make parts for the jet.

That had Premier Brian Pallister expressing his disdain for the purchase, and suggesting that his government is pursuing a course of action, though he did not clarify what that was.

The Liberals have made a political calculation with their decision to buy 18 Super Hornets, and it could well cost them a lot of goodwill from Canadian firms. But in the long run, it might be the best answer for the country.
The next four years could be devastating to the civil rights of the most marginalized people in this countryunless we fight back. On Friday, Nov. 25, from 5:30-8:30pm learn how to defend your rights for free at a community civil rights workshop hosted by ACLU New Mexico and Planned Parenthood at Gatos y Galletas. Professionals, activists and community members will be present to discuss questions like "What threats to our civil rights should we be expecting?" and to provide counsel and useful legal resources. Bring cash, as donations will be taken for ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Gatos y Galletas  Fri Nov 25  5:30-8:30pm  FREE  View on Alibi calendar
Car owners hit with up to 300% insurance hikes have been thrown to the wolves of the insurance sector by State institutions who are charged with protecting them, a damning report has found.

Insurance companies are heavily criticised by the report which states that a closed mentality and unwillingness to share data is a contributory factor to the recent rise in motor insurance premiums, writes Daniel McConnell of the Irish Examiner.

It may also hinder the entry of new operators into the dysfunctional Irish market, the report concluded.

Tougher laws forcing insurance companies to reveal details of claims, awarding greater powers to the Personal Injuries Board(PIAB) and tougher penalties for drivers caught speeding or on their mobile phone while driving are among some of 76 key recommendations in the report.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance's Report on the Rising Costs of Motor Insurance was launched on Thursday in Leinster House.

The cross-party committee,which is chaired by Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness, expressed serious concerns about the bona fides of the insurance sector in promising to provide such details in the future of its own accord.

The report concluded that on average premiums have increased by 37%, but in some cases premium hikes have been in the order of 200%-300%.

It is apparent that insurance companies in many cases are refusing even to quote insurance. In other instances, insurance companies quote but the amounts sought are so large that the net effect is to prevent people from getting insurance, the draft report states.

It says it is unacceptable that the insurance industry publicly states that certain variables are behind steep increases in motor insurance, yet fail to publicly furnish the supporting evidence. The insurance industry cannot have it both ways, it added.

The Committee is deeply disappointed as to how consumers and citizens have been treated by the bodies mandated to protect them. The Committee is conscious of the roles of both the Competition and Consumer Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) in this respect.

However, it is the consumer and policyholder who has suffered the most in this debacle.

The Insurance industry says it is the result of an increase in legal costs and compensation awards but will not supply supporting evidence for verification.

It would appear, to the Committee, that the Central Bank has abrogated responsibility for protecting

consumers by claiming European Law prevents it from getting involved in pricing and risk.

Thus, it is the opinion of the Committee, that the consumer has been thrown to the wolves, the report states.
Two Irish universities are set to receive major European funding.

University College Cork has secured 100m in lending, while Trinity College Dublin will get 70m from the European Investment Bank.

The money will create significant expansion for both universities, including a new dental hospital in UCC and a new business school in Trinity.

The EIB has made record education lending in Ireland this year following 200m backing for school investment agreed last month.

Ireland is the fifth largest country of operation for European Investment Bank support for universities in the EU.

"These are excellent investment programmes being led by both universities and the European Investment Bank is delighted to the major financing partner of both universities in delivering these investments which will be a great signal that's being sent out to the student population of both cities and the research population of both cities that the EIB intends to support the expansion of both of these esteemed universities," said EIB vice president Andrew McDowell.

UCC president Dr Michael Murphy welcomed the delegation of European Investment Bank senior officials to UCC, announcing that the 100m EIB loan would fuel the most exciting phase of the Universitys expansion to date.

"This is the largest investment in capital projects at UCC in our history," he said.

"The scale and ambition of the infrastructural developments align directly to key focus areas for the future, namely enhancing student experience and building on our innovation and health agenda and facilities.

"We are investing significantly in student accommodation, student ICT services and a new student hub as well as developing the medical, dental, paediatrics research, clinical health, innovation and research facilities to continue to fuel progress and success in these areas.

"This investment by the EIB will have enormous impact not only for University College Cork, but for education and research nationally and internationally.

"The European Investment Bank funding is a real expression of confidence and support in UCC, its staff and students and will greatly assist the university in further improving its teaching and research facilities."

More than 60m will be invested in student accommodation, with additional capital expenditure of several million on a new student hub and student services from ICT to UCC Campus facilities upgrades, extensions and refurbishments.

Dr Patrick Prendergast, provost of Trinity College Dublin said:"We are investing in educational and research facilities for the benefit of all our students and staff.

"This week Trinity joined the League of European Research Universities (LERU) Europes leading network of research intensive universities whose main focus is to build on the research and educational strengths of all its partners.

"Due to the current lack of funding of higher education in Ireland, the financing EIB has provided to Trinity has been crucial in our maintaining current and future standards.

"Without such support, quite frankly we would not have been able to progress with important flagship projects such as the Trinity Business School and Oisin House.

"Their support combined with important philanthropic fundraising are essential in building a better university for the benefit of all."
Bodycam footage has been released of a traffic warden being mown down by an irate motorist in England as he prepared a parking ticket.

The warden had asked the driver to move their car because it was parked on zig zags in High Street, Eastchurch, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, at 2.45pm on July 8.
A former bank employee has been jailed in England for two years after stealing more than 50,000 from the accounts of elderly and vulnerable people.

Natasha Bassi, of Cobden Crescent, Southampton, pleaded guilty to fraud by abusing her position of trust.

Southampton Crown Court heard that between May 2014 and December 2014, the 23-year-old carried out 17 unauthorised transactions on the accounts of 14 customers, totalling 53,219 (62,307).

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: "It was only when two of the customers noticed money missing from their accounts and raised their concerns with Santander that Bassi was caught.

"The bank called police and an investigation got under way which identified the true scale of her crimes."

Detective Constable Hannah Ellis said: "Bassi transferred money from the bank's most vulnerable customers.

"It would have been distressing for her victims when they discovered the money missing from their accounts.

"As well as risking the financial wellbeing of several vulnerable and elderly customers, her actions also had a detrimental effect on Santander.

"We worked alongside Santander throughout this investigation to identify all those affected and the bank ensured all customers were compensated accordingly."
An urgent search is under way in England for the mother of a newborn baby left outside a vicarage in a supermarket bag.

The little boy was pronounced dead after he was discovered by the vicar of St Peter's Church, Bramley, Leeds, on Wednesday morning.

It is not clear whether the baby was still alive when he was found in the Tesco bag-for-life at about 9.15am as the vicar was heading for a morning service.

Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Bryar, of West Yorkshire Police, said her priority was finding the mother as she will need medical care and support.

Speaking outside St Peter's Church, Ms Bryar said: "I really want to appeal for the mother of that baby to come forward. She's our primary concern at the moment.

"We are very concerned for her welfare. We are sure that she'll be in need of medical attention.

"She will certainly need some support."

The detective said police were called by the vicar at 9.18am.

She said she believed the baby, who was found unclothed in the bag with the placenta, was left during the hours of darkness.

Ms Bryar said the vicar's wife came home at 10pm the night before and did not notice the bag then.

She asked for anyone who saw someone carrying a Tesco bag-for-life in the Hough Lane area between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to come forward.

The officer said a post-mortem examination had not found the cause of death. She said the baby was cold to the touch when found by the vicar. Paramedics and doctors at Leeds General Infirmary tried to revive the youngster but without success, she said.

But the pathologist had not been able to determine when the baby died.

She said the baby was white, male and full-term.

Ms Bryar said of the mother: "She's certainly gone through a traumatic ordeal. She's given birth and hasn't sought any medical attention. But it's the support as well."

Tributes including flowers, teddies and poems have been left outside St Peter's Church.

One message said: "Now you have your wings. Fly high into the arms of the Lord. God bless you little angel."
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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Galust Sahakyan received the co-rapporteurs of PACE Monitoring Committee for Armenia Alan Meale and Giuseppe Galati on November 22.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the National Assembly, welcoming the guests, the President of the Armenian parliament thanked them for their work done in cooperation with Armenia and in strengthening of democracy in Armenia. Mr Sahakyan highlighted the co-rapporteurs efforts, which are aimed at supporting Armenia to overcome the problems emerged in the process of reforms.

Galust Sahakyan presented the processes of harmonization of legislation after the Constitutional referendum, noting that works are carried out with the involvement and active support of the Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR, as well as the Council of Europe Yerevan Office. The Head of the Parliament touched upon the discussion and adoption of the Electoral Code, stating that it had been widely discussed in 4+4+4 format, and the representatives of the power, opposition and civil society took part with the principle of equality. By Mr. Sahakyans assessment, as a result of that work an unprecedented resolution of cooperation was called into life.

Galust Sahakyan referred to the new draft law on Human Rights Defender, the draft laws on Local Self-Government Bodies, on Parties and the National Assembly Rules of Procedure, which had been in circulation, also talked about the adoption and the deadlines of the amendments of a number of laws during 2017.

In the context of reforms the President of the National Assembly emphasized the full implementation of Armenia-Council of Europe Action Plan for 2015-2018, by which comprehensive institutional and legislative reforms are designed in numerous spheres. The Head of the Parliament noted that active works are done in the judicial-legal sphere for the implementation of reforms, as well as for fighting corruption.

The goal of the anti-corruption new strategy is the prevention of corruption in the country and the rise of trust of the society towards state bodies, as well as the formation of zero tolerance in the country towards corruption in accordance with international standards, Galust Sahakyan underscored.

The co-rapporteurs of PACE Monitoring Committee for Armenia highly assessed the work of the National Assembly Delegation in PACE both in the Assembly and in the Committees. Alan Meale considered effective the reforms made in Armenia, as a result of which a culture of having dialogue was formed among the political forces. From now on the co-rapporteurs are ready to support Armenia in further reforms within their capabilities and possibilities.

Other issues were also discussed.
When Tara Doyle was old enough to understand cancer and its evil tendency to take people's lives, the seven-year-old took to her street to busk with a blue ukulele.

"I wanted people with cancer to have the best cancer cure medicine ever so that if they are dying they live a bit longer," she said.

The Majura Primary School student also made a poster asking people to help her fight against ''cansa''.

The Majura Primary School student was over the moon when she raised $28 off passersby, which her mother Rebecca donated to the Cancer Council ACT.

But soon after the kind gesture that Tara hoped would help strangers, she discovered her own beloved grandma, her "Juju," had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Sadly, Judith lost the battle to the disease in June.
Aldi: the home of cheap alcohol, the famous "middle aisle," and one of the biggest threats to Australia's supermarket duopoly to date.

Key to the German discount giant's success has been their everyday offerings of popular grocery products, supplied by brands exclusive to Aldi.

From dairy products to cereals, chocolates to soft drinks, even toothpaste and hygiene items, Aldi stocks its own version, often in packaging strikingly similar to that of an original market leading product.

But side by side, how do these products compare?
On January 19, NSW Premier Mike Baird announced his retirement. This comment piece, published on November 24, predicts his downfall.

The end of 2016 cannot come quickly enough for Mike Baird, the NSW Premier who has gone from hero to near-zero in only 12 months.

This time last year Baird was triumphantly announcing the $10.3 billion privatisation of electricity firm Transgrid and detailing the infrastructure gifts with which he would shower the long suffering people of NSW.

On Wednesday, Baird was being accused of political bastardry and setting the cause of fighting corruption in NSW back years after the resignation of Independent Commission Against Corruption chief Megan Latham who was told she must reapply for her job amid a controversial restructure.
The question is whether these changes will allow the ICAC to do its job more effectively and consistently with achieving just outcomes and with important social values such as procedural fairness. I believe the answer to that question is yes.

While the resignation of Commissioner Megan Latham is obviously a legitimate focus for discussion, it has obscured recognition of the benefits of those reforms and sidelined the important discussion about how to ensure the ICAC is best equipped to investigate, expose and prevent corruption.

Much of that commentary has focused on personalities to the detriment of rational discussion of the reforms which the recent amendments to the ICAC legislation introduce.

ICAC commissioner Megan Latham at the parliamentary inquiry. Credit:Peter Rae

The recent reforms passed by the NSW Parliament, based on the recommendations of a parliamentary committee and which I supported in evidence before the committee, will improve the operation of the ICAC and deserve widespread support. They focus on structure and governance, decision-making and oversight, helping to bring the ICAC into line with other modern integrity bodies in NSW and around the country.

Unquestionably, the most significant reform is the change from a single commissioner model to a three-member structure. The restructured ICAC will consist of a full-time chief commissioner and two part-time commissioners. Under the present model, the ICAC is a single person  the commissioner for the ICAC. One of the issues this creates is that the nature of the ICAC is determined by the personality of that single person. Structuring the ICAC as a three-commissioner body brings a greater breadth of experience and knowledge to the task. Critics of this model would do well to consider why we have juries in criminal cases  the obvious reason is that our society believes that a group of people is likely to come to better decisions than just one, the judge. The ICAC is no different.

NSW was the first Australian jurisdiction to establish an independent corruption commission in 1989. Since that time, other integrity institutions that have been established have preferred a structure with multiple commissioners. For example, the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, established in 2001, has five commission members, and the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, established in 2011, has a commissioner and one or more deputy commissioners.

The NSW reforms also bring improvements to the decision-making ahead of commencing a public inquiry. Under the restructured ICAC, public inquiries will need to be authorised by the chief commissioner and at least one other commissioner. While there has been no change to the "test" the commissioners will need to apply to decide whether it is in the public interest to conduct a public inquiry, applying three independent minds to the question can only improve the quality of the ICAC's judgment in exercising this extraordinary power.
Wearing a white ribbon today is a potent symbol marking your opposition to domestic violence but changing our industrial relations system is the practical measure addressing this scourge on society.

Already Queensland employers, with government and union support, are introducing ground-breaking leave provisions to provide meaningful practical help to those suffering violence and abuse.

QCU general secretary Ros McLennan says the union movement is at the forefront of tackling domestic violence, Credit:Harrison Saragossi

Shockingly, 67 women have been killed by gendered violence to date this year.

Women and their children are being physically, sexually and psychologically abused in our streets, suburbs and communities.
Labor frontbencher Terri Butler has lashed out at a "hypocritical" lawsuit commenced against her by a Brisbane law student over her remarks on the ABC's Q&A program.

Ms Butler, the opposition's spokeswoman on equality and universities, was accused of a "racist smear" by a fellow panellist for repeating allegations that Queensland University of Technology student Calum Thwaites used the word "niggers" in a Facebook post about campus facilities.

Mr Thwaites, who was one of the defendants in the racial vilification case that was thrown out of court, has maintained he was not responsible for the post. He is now suing Ms Butler for defamation, accusing her of implying that he is a racist, bigot and perjurer, and seeking $150,000 in damages.

In a statement of claim, obtained by Fairfax Media, lawyer Anthony Morris said his client had been "greatly harmed and injured in his personal reputation" and was liable to be harmed in his pursuit of a career as a lawyer as a result of Ms Butler's remarks.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton's linking of terrorism with past levels of Lebanese Muslim migration will do "immense damage" to the government's attempts to engage Islamic communities in the battle against violent extremism, a leading expert has warned.

Dr Clarke Jones, who worked as a national security official for 17 years, said the minister's remarks risk "creating the terrorists of the future, if I want to be blunt".

"We are certainly not reducing the threat, we are contributing to the threat by those statements. Effective intervention means working with young kids and the only way you can get to young kids is working with communities," he told Fairfax Media.

"The government has taken a 10 or 15-year step backward."
A handful of late wins could rescue the Turnbull government from itself, and from the attendant risk of a fraught, rebellious summer.

But progress and discipline must be maintained if the Coalition is to restore its equilibrium, recover the affections of voters, and make something serious of this term. Recent history tells us, these basics cannot be assumed.

As a calamitous 2014 wound up for the Abbott government, it just was possible, with a degree of squinting, to conclude that the colossal failure of that year's budget had sunk in - that the doctrinaire crash-through-or-crash approach, which had brought such vengeance down on the Coalition, would be replaced with something approximating normal politics.

Remember all that pre-Christmas barnacle clearing? Across the Coalition, hopes swelled. Maybe 2015 offered a new start - a second chance.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan and Regional Head of Microsoft for CIS countries Konstantin Nazarov visited Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia on November 23.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia, the Minister toured in the center accompanied by Konstantin Nazarov, familiarized himself with the ongoing activities of the center.

Located in the premises of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, 60-70% students of the center are from the Polytechnic University, who, after graduation, are able to find a job in the IT sector or establish their own start-ups. Currently, over 250 students attend the center.

Director of Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia Artashes Vardanyan informed that during the last 3 years 35 start-ups were involved in Microsoft Accelerator project, while working upon their projects. Receiving a total of 2 million USD financial aid, they managed to bring their products to a final form and attract investors, Vardanyan said.

The Minister hailed the activities of the center and hoped that this new educational model will be a success and become large-scale, which will help to reduce unemployment and further foster the development of the IT sector in Armenia.

The center has trained over 5000 students during the 4 years of its activities.
But the proliferation and magnification of the kind of online abuse confronting many women journalists globally has pushed her to the edge. In a testimony before the European Commission Colloquium on Media Pluralism and Democracy in Brussels last week, she said she'd been subjected to "... micro aggressions, humiliations. Letters and e-mails not only addressed to me but also to my bosses hoping they would fire me".

Alexandra Pascalidou is a celebrated Swedish broadcaster and author. Of Greek heritage, she's also been the target of racism and graphic misogyny throughout her 20-year career. Even in one of the world's most progressive democracies.

"I've been called a dirty whore, a bloody Gypsy, Jewish, Muslim slut, a Greek parasite, a disgusting migrant, stupid psycho, an ugly liar, a biased hater. They keep telling me to go home, to kill myself or they will shoot me, cut my tongue off, break my fingers one by one. They keep threatening me with gang rapes and sexual torture."

Alexandra Pascalidou is a celebrated Swedish broadcaster and author. Credit:Peter Englund

The intimate nature of these attacks, often received on the personal devices we reach for first thing in the morning and last thing at night, further sharpen the impact. "There are days when I wake up to verbal violence and fall asleep with sexist and racist rage echoing in my ears. It's like a low-intense, constant warfare", Pascalidou said.

"Eventually, you start censoring yourself. You blame and shame yourself. At some point you even start hating yourself  and there is something about the nameless nature of it  when you don't know where a threat is coming from that really poisons your mind."

I was sitting opposite her at the European Commission Colloquium when she gave her testimony. And like many of the diplomats, academics, journalists and lawyers in the room, I felt it like I was kicked in the chest. The powerlessness she described resonated most strongly.

"When I went to the police they said: we can't help, it's anonymous, but keep quiet, mask yourself, change your route to work, move to another apartment, leave the country for a while. I understand it's not easy for them, either. But the problem is you become the problem. The troublemaker. Not the perpetrators," she said.
The forced move of a public service agency from Canberra to northern NSW will rip more than $157 million a year from the capital's economy as well as costing the ACT region 365 jobs.

The shock figures are contained in the long-awaited cost-benefit analysis of the forced move of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority by accounting group Ernst and Young.

The study shreds the economic rationale for the move, finding the benefits to the Australian economy are "modest" and the advantages for the agency itself are "limited".

It was also revealed on Friday that taxpayers were to be hit with a $25.6 million bill just to move the authority from Canberra to the heart of Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce's northern NSW electorate.
The state's former Director of Public Prosecutions, Nick Cowdery, has lashed the Baird government over its "unprincipled" and "unwarranted" attack on the independence of the NSW corruption watchdog after new laws ousted its boss from office.

Independent Commission Against Corruption head Megan Latham announced on Wednesday she would not reapply for her position after her five-year term was cut short by an unprecedented Act of Parliament.

A restructured ICAC will be headed by a chief commissioner and an additional two commissioners under a plan devised by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Ms Latham was "invited" to reapply for a position in the remodelled agency but critics have described the shakeup as a political fix to remove her from office.
A man who allegedly stabbed a popular primary school teacher to death in a random attack at a bus stop in Sydney's inner west told police he "went crazy".

William Rodney Cahill, 28, has been charged with the stabbing murder of Brian Liston, who had just finished an evening German class and was waiting to catch a bus home from Camperdown in December 2015.

Brian Liston was allegedly stabbed to death in Camperdown despite warnings from residents about a halfway house.

From inside a nearby halfway house and boarding facility, Mr Cahill allegedly watched Mr Liston, 51, smoking a cigarette at the bus stop before he emerged from the facility brandishing a kitchen knife.

What unfolded was a frenzied and random attack.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed his government will work with state governments on urban rail projects.

His response in federal parliament Thursday come after Infrastructure Australia's list of key infrastructure projects, revealed in February, rated Cross River Rail as a high priority public transport initiative.

Mr Turnbull said the federal government would support 69 of Infrastructure Australia's 78 recommendations.

"We will agree urban rail plans with willing state governments for our five biggest cities - the mainland state capitals - that will inform our future investment priorities," he told parliament.
Episode 5 of Decoding Genius, a podcast series by General Electric that asks what is a genius and how you become one, is available now for download from decodinggenius.com.au or via iTunes

Zac Tiessen had just turned 13 when a playground accident altered his personality, tastes and intelligence, and led his family and medical professionals to question whether a head injury could turn an average suburban kid into a genius.

In episode five of the podcast Decoding Genius, host Lily Serna speaks to a Canadian family who has not one but two artistic prodigies, with one son acquiring his genius in a very remarkable way.

Josh, left, and Zac Tiessen are a rare example of two geniuses in a single family.

Both Josh and Zac Tiessen have been recognised for their skills; Josh renowned for his paintings and Zac changing the face of music.
That's it from me. Thanks for hanging out this morning and hopefully I'll be back at the helm sometime soon.

Deb Gough will be back at 6am Monday with all your headlines, weather, photos, and transport news.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to settle in with a blanket, some popcorn and a hot chocolate for Gilmore Girls tonight. It hits Australian Netflix screens at 7pm AEST.
"Resilience, personality and a passion to pursue a career in education are more important qualities than a high ATAR score or university results," the organisation's executive director Stephen Elder said.

Victoria's second largest employer of teachers also said a new ATAR threshold of 70 for undergraduate teaching degrees could lead to teacher shortages and larger class sizes.

In a bid to add prestige to the profession and boost students' grades, Education Minister James Merlino announced on Wednesday that only the top 30 per cent of year 12 students would be able to study undergraduate teaching from 2019. They will need a minimum ATAR of 65 in 2018, and 70 the following year.

Before being accepted into courses, every aspiring teacher will have to pass a new non-academic test that will measure skills like problem solving, leadership and empathy.

The reforms have received a lukewarm response from the university sector, with peak group Universities Australia saying that universities were best placed to set their own admissions rules.

"This has the potential to exclude some applicants and may well end up reducing overall supply in the teaching workforce," deputy chief executive Catriona Jackson said.

Universities are scrambling to find out more details about the proposal to work out how the changes will impact enrolments and finances. The Australian Catholic University estimates that 73 per cent of people who enter teaching courses in Victoria via their ATAR do not have a raw rank of 70.
More details have emerged on a drug sting that police claim exposed seven drug dealers, including a 15-year-old Perth boy, who have been supplying huge quantities of methamphetamine in the Northam area.

Following an operation from October and into November 2016, Wheatbelt detectives made a major breakthrough last weekend seizing drugs, weapons and stolen items, claiming the Perth teenager was the kingpin in Northam's drug trade.

The total street value of drugs seized from Friday to Monday was estimated to be $100,000.

At a press conference at the Northam Police Station on Wednesday, it was alleged that a 15-year-old boy was a primary drug supplier in the town.
A drug dealer accused of murdering and dismembering a friend has testified in a Perth court that he had nothing to do with the man's death.

Gary David Jackson, 51, is on trial in the WA Supreme Court accused of murdering 40-year-old Wade Cameron Dunn at the Alexander Heights home of Mark David Corbett in May last year.

Wade Cameron Dunn was killed in May 2015.

Corbett has already pleaded guilty over Mr Dunn's death and gave evidence during the trial.

Jackson testified on Wednesday that he had no involvement in Mr Dunn's death and never told Corbett he wanted to "whack" him.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. All state and interstate highways in Armenia are passable by on November 23 by 20.00, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia.

According to the information received from the Department of Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia the Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles.
A teenager is fighting for his life in hospital after being stabbed as he walked off a bus in Fremantle on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old was allegedly stabbed in the chest by a 35-year-old woman he is related to.

The pair boarded the bus at Fremantle Train Station around 2.15pm, but the bus driver stopped the bus shortly after departing the station due to the conduct of the woman.

A police spokesman said she was then asked to exit the bus.
A territory war has broken out between Trigg Point fishermen and surfers, after board riders criticised anglers for disposing of fish guts and casting out onto breaks.

Trigg Point Beach is a popular swimming and fishing beach north of Perth, and surfers say there has been a long-held understanding between the two groups to respect each other's space.

Surfers were forced to flee the water at Mettams Pool earlier this year. Credit:Rick Knoppert

However, the City of Stirling has now been forced to step in following accusations of poor behaviour by local fishermen from angry surfers.

Trigg Point Junior Boardriders president Bryce D'Raine said fishermen were disregarding their presence in the water, and were choosing to cast out anyway.
Beijing: At least 67 people have died after a platform under construction at a power plant's cooling tower in eastern China's Jiangxi province collapsed on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The accident happened in Fengcheng about 7am local time, and rescuers on the scene were still battling to free a trapped worker late on Thursday, state television reported.

An official surnamed Yuan at the Fengcheng Work Safety Administration confirmed the accident to the Associated Press.

Television footage and photographs from the site show iron pipes and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the cooling tower.
WikiLeaks has blocked me on Twitter and I want to know why. After all, the organisation bills itself as pro-transparency.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Credit:AP

Yet these days rather than opening a window into the workings of governments, its business appears to be the use of information to muddy waters and promote conspiracy theories.

Before I was blocked, WikiLeaks had already threatened my employer Fairfax Media with legal action for my analysis about how the hacktivist organisation and Russia's paths keep crossing. But that moment had passed. So I wondered: was it me pointing out that during the US election WikiLeaks had disseminated- through retweets to its 4 million followers - sometimes wild misinterpretations and misinformation about Hillary Clinton's emails, and even theories that suggested the death of a low-level Democratic Party staffer was part of a cover-up?
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting on November 24 with Christine St-Pierre  Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie of Quebec province, Canada. The meeting was held within the framework of the ministerial conference of the IOF in Antananarivo, Madagascar, the MFA told ARMENPRESS.

The sides discussed the process of implementing the agreements which were reached during the Yerevan meeting last year, and touched upon issues of the International Organization of La Francophonies agenda.

Edward Nalbandian and Christine St-Pierre exchanged views on possibilities of developing cooperation in the fields of education, youth policy, tourism, IT and nature preservation.

The meeting also included international and regional matters, particularly the Syrian Crisis and migrant flows.
The parliamentary inquiry into the major banks has called for a small team to be formed to explore competition within the banking system and barriers to new entrants, the Australian Financial Review reports.The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics highlighted that no recent wholesale review of competition into the banking sector and little competition has "significant adverse consequences for the Australian economy and consumers".It also recommended that all all deposit providers provide open access to customer and small business data by July 2018, which could increase competition."For example, data sharing could increase price transparency with comparison services able to accurately assess how much a product would actually cost a consumer based on their usage and recommend the most appropriate products to them."The committee believes that there is a strong case for increasing access to, what the banks themselves regard as, customers' data."Customer Owned Banking Association CEO Mark Degotardi said on the reports recommendations, It is important to distinguish between measures that are unambiguously pro-competitive and measures that need further evaluation because they could have the perverse impact of harming competition.For example, recommendation 4 would force all banking institutions to embrace open banking in barely 18 months despite concerns that this could be prohibitively expensive.COBAs view is that open banking has tremendous potential to empower consumers but forcing all banking institutions into an unrealistic implementation timetable would just harm competition.In the UK, it is estimated that moving to open banking will cost each institution around $1.7 million. Extrapolated across our sector that would amount to $144 million or nearly a third of our sectors net profit after tax in 2015- 16.The Australian Bankers Association responded to the parliamentary report with chief executive Steven Munchenberg saying the banking industry had consistently supported reasonable measures to enhance competition.Australias financial services industry is competitive. Consumers can choose from 150 APRA-regulated providers, 3,600 home loan products and 190 credit cards.He said Australias banks were committed to protecting consumer interests, increasing transparency and accountability, and building trust and confidence in banks.Consumers are demanding action now, and we are responding, he said. The industry is making major changes that address concerns about how bank staff are rewarded, the protection of whistleblowers, the handling of customer complaints and dealing with poor conduct. We are doing this with independent oversight.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on November 24 had a meeting with Foreign Minister of Madagascar, President of the FMs Council of the International Organization of La Francophonie Beatrice Atallah within the framework of the organizations ministerial conference in Antananarivo, press service of the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

Welcoming the Armenian FM, Minister Atallah said she warmly remembers the Francophonie Ministerial conference held in Yerevan last year and the meeting within the framework of that conference.

The sides attached importance to the efforts aimed at developing the cooperation between the two states, and highlighted the role of the International Organization of La Francophonie in it as a bridge between people of various continents and cultures.

Issues related to the development of bilateral ties were discussed. They put an emphasis on the existing huge potential aimed at intensifying the cooperation. The FMs also discussed the cooperation prospects in educational, cultural sectors. Agreement was reached to intensify the consultations between the two Foreign Ministries.

The FMs also covered agenda issues of the Francophonie Ministerial conference, as well as the summit.

They also exchanged views on regional and international issues.
Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint , from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.) Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives . You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com , Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Maine Becomes First State in Nation to Adopt Ranked Choice Voting System Posted Nov. 23, 2016 Interview with Kyle Bailey, campaign manager with Maines Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, conducted by Melinda Tuhus On Election Day, Maine became the first state in the nation to approve a ballot measure establishing ranked choice voting, also known as instant run-off voting. It's a method that enables citizens to vote for the candidates they really want, and to rank other candidates as their second, third or even fourth choices for any given elected office. A number of cities across the U.S. already use Ranked Choice Voting, including San Francisco, California; Portland, Maine; Takoma Park, Maryland and St. Paul, Minnesota. The ballot measure was organized through a citizen initiative called the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting that collected 62,000 signatures to place the referendum question on the Nov. 8 ballot. The group built a broad-based coalition that includes the League of Women Voters of Maine, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections and other allied organizations. The ranked choice voting system will apply to races for Congress, governor, state house and senate seats, as well as party primary elections. The push for the measure was inspired by the fact that in nine of the last 11 elections for governor in Maine, the candidate who won received less than 50 percent of the vote, with third party candidates often labeled as spoilers. Many Mainers came to believe that the winner-take-all voting system stifled their voices because they felt forced to vote for the lesser of two evils  a familiar refrain across the U.S. Between The Lines Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kyle Bailey, campaign manager with the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Here, he explains how the newly approved voting process works, and how RCV could reduce negative campaigning, which hit new lows in the recent presidential campaign. [Rush transcript.]

KYLE BAILEY: So with ranked choice voting, you no longer have to vote for the lesser of two evils. You have the freedom to vote for the candidate you like best without worrying youll help elect the candidate you like least. So whoever wins is the candidate who does get to a majority. They have to build a coalition beyond their base, reach out, talk to more voters, listen to more voters, ask them to be part of their coalition, so when they do get elected, they also have a mandate to govern, bring people together and get things done. So, an extraordinary grassroots movement that brought people together across the political spectrum to win non-partisan election reform. That is unique in our times, when were so divided by party and so many other ways were fragmented, that this was something that really brought people together across the political spectrum, because putting more power in the hands of voters, giving voters more voice and more choice in our democracy, isnt a liberal or conservative idea, it isnt a Republican or a Democrat thing, its something we can all get behind because it improves our political process, and if we want better outcomes, if we want to break some of the dysfunction and gridlock and hyper-partisanship in our politics, weve got to change the way we elect our leaders, and thats what we did in Maine last week, was deciding to adopt rank choice voting and overhaul our election system, so we get better results.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Kyle Bailey, be very explicit, if you would, about how the process works.

KYLE BAILEY: Sure. So with ranked choice voting, you no longer have to choose one candidate when there are three or four or five or more running. You get a chance to rank them from your favorite to your least favorite. So you have a ballot that gives you an opportunity to rank your first choice, and you fill in the oval next to the candidate you like the best. And you get to say, all right, of these other candidates, who is my second choice? Who could I live with? Who could do an okay job? My second choice, etc. You can rank as many or as few as you like. And on election night we add up all the votes to see who is everybodys first choice. Who do you like the best? Not who is your strategic choice, and voting against someone, but who do you actually think is best for the job. If one candidate gets a majority of first choice rankings, then they win. But if no candidate has an outright majority, then we look to see whos in last place, and theyre eliminated, and we have a run-off between the remaining candidates. So lets say we have a three-way race for governor, and no candidate received 50 percent plus 1 in the first round.

So we look to see which candidates in last place  they had the smallest number of ballots in their favor. That candidate is eliminated. But if you liked that candidate the best, your votes not wasted. We literally look at your ballot to see who was your second choice, pick up your ballot and move it into the pile for the two remaining candidates. So its an instant run-off, and if your favorite candidate advances to the instant run-off, your vote continues to count for them. So ranked choice voting works just like actual run-off elections, without bringing voters back to the polls four weeks later, having four more weeks of negative campaigning, without disenfranchising overseas voters including service men and women for whom its difficult to participate in an actual run-off election, but can fully participate with ranked choice voting. So its simply a better way to conduct run-offs  its more efficient, more cost-effective, and enfranchises more voters.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You said you want to educate candidate about how negative campaigning could backfire. How so?

KYLE BAILEY: Well, when you have what we have in Maine right now, what weve had for the past 40 years, well have a race with three or four or five candidates. The incentives of the candidates is to energize their base, turn them out to vote, and beat the heck out of their opponents, so they can hold onto their 35 or 37 percent of the votes, and knock their opponents just below that. But with ranked choice voting, you cant do that; you need to get to 50 percent plus 1. And most of the time, unless youre wildly popular and a majority of peoples first choice, youve got to be able to get first choice and second choice rankings  and in a really crowded race, potentially third choice rankings to build a majority coalition. So you have to reach out and talk to more voters as a candidate. So, both the current and former mayors of Portland, Maine  where ranked choice voting has been used since 2011  they both won and lost under ranked choice voting, and they talked about their experience running for the legislature years ago and what the experience was like running for mayor of Portland with a ranked choice system. And so, the difference for them was when they were running for the legislature, if they saw a lawn sign for their opponent, theyd skip that door and go to the next one.

But with ranked choice voting running for mayor of Portland, if they saw a lawn sign for their opponent, theyd knock on that door and talk to that voter, and listen to that voter and hear what they had to say and try to find common ground, because if they couldnt be that voters first choice, they wanted to be their second choice, knowing that they might need enough second choice rankings to build a majority coalition. And they also knew if they put out a nasty mail piece or a TV ad that personally attacked one of their opponents, voters who liked that other candidate best would be less likely to rank them as their second choice. So negative campaigning can backfire with a ranked choice system. Rutgers University did a great study in 2014 comparing and contrasting American cities with and without ranked choice voting, and found that voters and candidates in places with ranked choice voting reported, on average, a 40 percent decline in negative campaigning, and thats not just voters, thats candidates saying, I got less mud slung at me with a ranked choice voting system. So I think thats a pretty profound, but hopeful outcome of this system as well.

For more information, visit Yes On 5  Ranked Choice Voting website at rcvmaine.com.

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Agriculture Minister Ignati Arakelyan will join the Republican Party of Armenia, reports Armenpress.

I havent applied for membership yet, but today I will do it. It is not mandatory, but this is a team work, and the RPA ideology is familiar to me, the Minister told reporters after the Cabinets session.

To the question whether he ever voted in favor of the RPA, the Minister said he has always participated in the elections and always voted in favor of the RPA, and during the Presidential elections he voted in favor of Serzh Sargsyan. However, Minister Arakelyan said he has no relations with the RPA members, but becomes the RPAs new member.

Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan applied for membership to the Republican Party of Armenia, the PM said at the Government session on November 24. Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan and Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Vahan Martirosyan also announced about applying for the membership to the RPA. The RPA will discuss the membership applications in the upcoming meeting on November 26.
Yardley Friends Meeting at 65 N. Main Street in Yardley will host the documentary Organic Roots on Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Join director Al Johnson for a showing of this film followed by a discussion of the last 50 years of this movement. Organic foods are part of our life today and a tool in our concern for...
The Considerate Constructors Scheme and the National Federation of Builders (NFB) have formed a partnership to promote best practice and raise standards across construction industry SMEs.

This first, truly ground-breaking collaboration between two construction industry organisations heralds a new way in which like-minded organisations can work effectively together to offer greater benefits to members, at no additional cost.

The partnership will provide NFB members, with a turnover from 500,000 to 3.5m, free company registration with the Considerate Constructors Scheme. This will come into effect from 1 January 2017.

By becoming a registered company, NFB members (in this banding) will have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to improving the image of the industry, says the Scheme. Scheme-registered companies voluntarily agree to abide by its Code of Considerate Practice. The Code commits those registered with the Scheme to care about appearance, respect the community, protect the environment, secure everyones safety and value their workforce.

Edward Hardy, chief executive of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, said: SMEs are a critical part of the construction industrys future success. They have a huge role and responsibility to continually raise their standards and, in doing so, make a valued contribution to improving the image of the industry.

The NFB provides a great platform for the Considerate Constructors Scheme to help support SMEs in championing the principles of considerate construction. We are therefore delighted to establish this partnership with the NFB.

A record number of over 900 company registrations have been made with the Scheme so far this year, with a total of more than 4,100 company registrations taking place since this type of registration was introduced by the Scheme in 2009.

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said: Were delighted to join forces with the Considerate Constructors Scheme to offer added value to our members. NFB members pride themselves on their professionalism and ability to deliver exceptional quality, so its great that their efforts can now be recognised as part of the Scheme.

SMEs often miss out on opportunities simply because they dont have the resources to complete the multitude of registrations and benchmarking initiatives available in the industry. By collaborating in this way, we hope to reduce this burden and improve access to opportunities, working towards achieving a fair playing field for SMEs in construction.
Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) has reached an agreement to acquire Integrity Software, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and its successful suite of products. This acquisition is a key strategic investment for KCS in South Africa.

KCS has acquired Integrity Software as part of its ongoing plans to grow and provide business management solutions to markets across the world. With Integrity Software, the company is adding further solutions and expertise for its core market focus of the distributive trades and strengthening its offering for the retail-orientated distributive trades.

The acquisition of Integrity Software by KCS follows the successful acquisitions of Dancik International in July 2015 and Mincron in June 2016  both in North America.

Integrity Software will continue to maintain and support the existing Integrity Software solutions and, in time, will introduce new benefits to its customers from the KCS portfolio such as advanced e-commerce, mobile commerce and Cloud services as part of an optional upgrade path and optional added functionality. Equally, KCS will introduce modules from the Integrity Software suite to its existing K8 ERP system such as payroll solutions, to further support its existing customers.

Ian Bendelow, KCS Group chief executive, said: This is a key strategic acquisition for us and our first in Africa, which has been an important market for us over many years. It strengthens our presence on the African continent, expands our capability and provides a further platform for growth. Integrity Software aligns with our successful business strategy of focusing on retail, trading and business management solutions for the distributive trades.
'Ghost Hunters' visits Battleship NJ in Camden searching for spirits

Ghost Hunters sent a team of paranormal investigators to Battleship New Jersey to search for lost souls. See the episode Nov. 5 on the Travel Channel.
Supermarket giant Aldi last night defended its plans to build a huge new store on Highbridges Isleport Business Park amid concern about its impact on traffic and existing local businesses.

Two representatives of the German supermarket chain attended a Town Council meeting on Wednesday evening (November 23rd), as pictured here, where they discussed the firms plans for the first time.

Aldi Property Director Rob Jones said: Were really keen to expand into Highbridge, since it currently lacks a discount store, and help to kick-start further investment into the area. We will be creating 40 jobs for local people.

Cllr John Parkes, below, said: I expect to see a full, comprehensive retail assessment on the impact of this store. A store of this size will have an impact on our local shops. We already have discount stores here in the Co-Op and One Stop. We need to carefully consider this before any decision is made.

Mr Jones responded: Aldi only sells 1,500 lines  a fraction of the range of products others offer. We provide a very different offering, so we compliment existing shops.

Mike Murphy from Highbridge Chamber of Trade asked: Is this the start of wider development at the business park. There have been rumours about a drive-through fast food restaurant for a while  is that correct? Mr Jones said: What the land owner does with this site is his business, but we are not aware of any other plans.

Mr Murphy went on to express concerns about road safety at the entrance to the store, which would be close to a busy A38 roundabout onto the business park. The store would be next to an incredibly busy roundabout, which would be a concern. Mr Jones responded that a full traffic report would be prepared with Aldis planning application.

Cllr Louise Parkin, pictured below, said she is really seriously worried about access to the proposed store given the busy traffic flows running past the site  a point that Aldi says it is aware of and considering.

Cllr Parkin went on to ask how Aldi could guarantee local people would get the stores 40 new jobs if the company abides by free and open employment legislation. This is a very misleading message to the general public and I dislike your attitude, she said.

Mr Jones responded: I do apologise for that slip of the tongue and any misconception. We are just keen to provide an investment into the local area.

Alex Turco from Burnham Chamber of Trade also spoke during the meeting, saying: We have an open mind at the moment and need more data and facts about the stores impact. Were not saying no to Aldi  we encourage investment into the area  but we need to understand the opportunity that Aldi sees in the Burnham and Highbridge area. We want to see hard evidence that there is an un-met demand for your service.

Councillors are hoping to secure so-called 106 funding from Aldi for the area to off-set the development of the new store. Cllr Andy Brewer said one possibility could be earmarking funds towards a new safe cycle path through the area.

Aldis planning application is due to be formally submitted in December, the firm said, when the proposals will be outlined in more detail.

An information leaflet is being distributed to 3,000 residents and businesses in the surrounding area this week asking for local views before the company submits its formal application.

Residents who would like further information regarding Aldis proposals should email the project team at ALDIHighbridge@planningpotential.co.uk
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan hasnt yet applied for membership to Armenias ruling party  the RPA. According to the minister, he has time to think about it.

I even said last time that I have time to think about it, he said after the Cabinet meeting.

Regarding the fact that the PM has already applied to join the party, the minister said: Good for him.

PM Karapetyan announced his decision to join the RPA at the Cabinet meeting. Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, minister of transportation, communication and IT Vahan Martirosyan, minister of agriculture Ignati Arakelyan have also announced about joining the party.
The governments plan to attract entrepreneurs to regional aviation has drawn a star participant in G R Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost flying in India who is now considering a comeback in the countrys regional skies.
F C Kohli, the 92-year-old former chief executive and deputy chairman of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has debunked the charges made by ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry that his predecessor Ratan Tata wanted to put on block Indias largest technology services company.
Ahmedabad-based event tech startup has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from 12 angel investors. Aiming to grow its client base from currently 40 to 500 in next two years, plans to use the funds to strengthen its technology platform, sales and marketing.

Operating since February 2016, serves as a single platform that makes events dynamically interactive and empowers event organisers to create, promote, manage and analyse a number of events effortlessly. The event tech startup automates event website, HTML emailers, white label event app, ticketing and networking platform in 20 minutes which otherwise takes months for an event organiser to develop.
Facebook is so keen to return to China that it built a tool that would geographically censor information in the country, according to the New York Times. While that may help the Chinese government get comfortable with Facebook, the companys re-entry may not happen for years, if at all, given licensing restrictions and other regulations that favour locally owned companies. China blocked the worlds largest social network in 2009. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg visits China frequently, and yet the company is no closer to putting employees in a downtown ...
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The official and state language of Armenia is Armenian, the Armenian language is one of the fundamental values of the Armenian independence and the Law of Language is not subject to any change, minister of education and science Levon Mkrtchyan told reporters in response to a question regarding the possibility of adopting the Russian language as second official language. The minister went on to request the reporters not to ask similar questions, saying : Such question cannot exist in the Republic of Armenia.

I would like to note for once and for all. Armenian is the official state language of Armenia, our language is one of the fundamental values of our independence and the Law on Language is not subject to change. The second issue is development of foreign languages, because if we want to have an area having scientific-educational potential, result, the citizens of our country must have knowledge of foreign languages in addition to the excellent knowledge of the mother tongue, he said.

In his words, any foreign official can express any opinion, but Armenia has its own legislation, which functions and isnt subject to change.

There is no issue of giving any status to a foreign language, there is an issue of deepening the knowledge. The Russian language has the same status in Armenia as any other foreign language. In the case of Russian language, we have an important field, since we are located within the EEU, the same military-technical cooperation field, where Russian is the language of intergovernmental communication. This increases the necessity of Russian language knowledge in Armenia. It is necessary to deepen Russian language, but giving it a status is ruled out, he said.

Recently, Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO, Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova announced that Russia must make efforts to give a special status to the Russian language in post-Soviet states.
A flash fire that occurred at around 3 am on Thursday at one of the units of Limited (RIL)'s DTA refinery in Jamnagar injured around eight workers.

The injured were rushed to Jamnagar Civil Hospital, according to police sources.
Harish Manwani (62), chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), is in the reckoning to take on the chairmanship of Tata group where a battle rages between ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Sons, the holding company of the Mumbai-based over $100-billion conglomerate.

According to British channel Sky News, Manwani, the former chief operating officer of the Dove-to-Marmite consumer goods giant, is being lined up as a possible successor to Cyrus Mistry, who was ousted last month.

The emergence of a potential new chairman so soon after Mistry's exit - which sent shockwaves through the Indian corporate establishment - could ease concerns about the management of the group, which also has major interests in power, chemicals and consumer goods, the channel reported.

In a sudden and dramatic turn of events last month, Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the chairman of Tata Sons and replaced by his predecessor Ratan Tata in the interim, triggering a confrontation between the single-largest shareholder and the Tatas.

Returning to Tata Sons after the abrupt removal of Mistry, Tata has moved quickly to consolidate his grip over the USD 103-billion salt-to-software group by seeking to remove the ousted chairman from boards of group firms.

TCS has called an EGM on December 13, Indian Hotels has convened it on December 20 and Tata Chemicals on December 23 to seek Mistry's ouster.

Even after being removed as chairman of Tata Sons  the holding company of the Tata Group  Mistry continues to head the group's several listed firms, including Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.
The government's August 31 directive for state agencies to pay 75% of an arbitral award they wish to dispute into an escrow account is not being implemented, say . No such disbursement (against a margin-free bank guarantee) has taken place, they complain.
Talks between Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Electricite de France (EDF - French public utility) to sign a commercial agreement for the 9,900-Mw Jaitapur nuclear project in Maharashtra are underway. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, EDF's chief negotiator Vakis Ramany speaks on project development strategy.
ShareChat, a Bangalore-based social networking app which is bridging the gap of vernacular content in India, has bagged $4 million in series A funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners. Existing investors  SAIF Partners and India Quotient also participated in this round of funding, which was closed a week ago, the company said.
Tata Sons, the unlisted holding company of the Tata group, is looking at restructuring the chairmans position and role. In a departure from the current practice, the new Tata Sons chairman may not head the boards of the group companies, it is learnt. It is possible that the chairmanship of the Tata group companies may be distributed so that there is no one power centre.
A frozen drop of milk. A newborn baby. The ravages of war and terrorism. The defiance of those who protest and the fear of those entrapped. All are included in a multimedia project featuring Time magazine's most influential images of all time, released Thursday through a new book, videos and a website.


Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, held a special meeting at the Corps Headquarters, Rawalpindi, to review the situation at the Line of Control focusing on Wednesday's civil bus attack which resulted in death of innocent passengers.

Observing that deliberate targeting of innocent civilians is unprofessional and unacceptable, General Sharif directed that any future violations must get an instant and effective response.

The army chief appreciated the high morale of the troop, reports The Times of Islamabad newspaper.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in a 'Yoga session' along with top- ranking police officers during the annual conference here of DGPs from across the country.

Modi is likely to arrive here on Friday evening and after an overnight stay at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Police Academy (SVPNPA), he would take part in the 'Yoga session' on November 26 as part of the conference of Directors General of Police of all states.

"The Prime Minister will also take part in Yoga session, after which he would participate in deliberations with DGPs the whole day on Saturday," a top police official told PTI.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh would inaugurate the three- day conference at SVPNPA on Friday.

Union Ministers of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, besides Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval are among those who would attend the event.

The conference would focus on issues relating to countering terrorism and radicalisation, Naxal problem and cyber crime, besides modernisation of police force, the police official said.

Rajnath Singh would also take part in the valedictory function on Sunday, he added.
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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. On November 24 the regular discussion on the development of Information and communications technology (ICT) sector was held in the Government of Armenia led by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, press service of the Government told Armenpress.

During the discussion, projects related to the reforms in vocational education system and development of the ICT sector workforce were presented to PM Karapetyan. In this context, a number of issues related to the creation of favorable conditions, establishment of technology university and educational incubators, ongoing and prospective engineering educational programs were discussed.

The PM instructed the respective Ministers to jointly work with the ICT sector representatives and submit project proposals with applicable results.
With not budging from its position on India's NSG bid, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has called for a "sensible and pragmatic" conversation between the two sides on how "not accommodating" each other's aspiration was detrimental to the overall relationship.

The Foreign Secretary also observed India should use its soft power and do more in improving its image in as people there do not have a very fair idea about the country.

The Foreign Secretary's comments featured in a report of the Standing Committee on External Affairs on India's soft power which was tabled in Lok Sabha yesterday.

"I do not think we should be in denial of what is the problem that we are having with right now.

"So, at this time what is required with China is a sensible pragmatic conversation about how not accommodating each other's aspirations is not beneficial to the relationship. We need to have the conversation and we will have that conversation," Jaishankar has been quoted as saying in the report.

He was replying to a question on whether soft power can be employed in India's dealings with China.

Referring to the NSG issue, he said soft power has a value but asserted it cannot be substitute for some serious hard power arguments.

"..We cannot find a fix for a terrorism problem or a PoK problem or a NSG problem in soft power engagement per se."



At the same time, the Foreign Secretary said, "I do believe, particularly in China, we need to do more to improve our image there. I did two postings there back to back. I think an average American has an image of India which is much superior to what an average Chinese has of India.

"Therefore, clearly there is work to be done , there is soft power deficiency there which needs to be remedied."



Comparing India's soft power with that of China, the Foreign Secretary said India's pluralism, which does not have sharp edges, and the very lack of assertiveness make people comfortable and less threatened.

"A part of it was also because a democratic country with a culture of tolerance, culture of acceptance seems to be intellectually less domineering than China," he said.

The committee, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, said



Indian diaspora is critical in promoting India's soft power besides Bollywood and Indian popular culture.

The Ministry told the panel that democratic and secular values, peaceful coexistence, friendly relations with neighbours and the strengthening of regional cooperation have been the tenets of Indian culture, political values and foreign policy.

In its comments, the committee felt government has been able to leverage India's soft power only in a fragmented way without the backing of a cohesive policy or commensurate financial resources. It recommended formulating a comprehensive and well structured policy delineating India's soft power resources.

The panel said a study can be done to establish the linkages between India's soft power and tangible outcomes in the field of diplomacy.

"The committee also recommends that India being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, we should propagate his values and philosophy through embassies in all parts of the world in a sustainable manner in the long run. In a world divided by strife and conflict, the path of non-violence and peace lit by Mahatma Gandhi decades ago could awaken nations around the globe to Indian's message once again.

"In addition, Gandhian values of environmental consciousness, 'small is beautiful' and moral living have once again become relevant to global public discourse. There could be no better time to revive interest in the Father of the Nation," it said.

Complimenting the role of Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the Parliamentary panel said budgetary constraints faced by it has a crippling effect on desired outcome. It said financial crunch is the sole reason responsible for decline in the number of activities by the ICCR.
Britain on Thursday asked India and Pakistan to find a "lasting" solution to the Kashmir issue amid an escalation in tension, but made it clear that it was not for the UK to "prescribe a solution or act as a mediator".

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is on his first visit to Islamabad, said "we call for an end to the violence".

"The longstanding position of the UK is that is it for India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people," Johnson told reporters at a joint press conference with Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

But, he added, it was not for Britain to "prescribe a solution or act as a mediator" over the "disputed" region.

Johnson said "we are concerned about recent incidents on both sides of the Line of Control" and called for a solution, taking into account the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

Tension between India and Pakistan have increased after the attack on an Indian Army base in Uri on September 18 and the resultant "surgical strike" on terrorist launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by the army 10 days later. Since then, cross-border firings have increased killing soldiers and civilians on both sides.

Yesterday, 12 people, including three Pakistani soldiers, were killed in alleged Indian cross-border firings. India's response came after the Indian Army warned of "heavy retribution" following the killing of three of its soldiers, with the body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack.

Pakistan denied as "false" and "baseless" its troops were responsible for the mutilation and deaths of Indian soldiers.

However, Aziz on Thursday said Pakistan has briefed the British delegation about increase in tension on the LoC as he stressed the need for dialogue with India "otherwise these issues would become more serious."

Talking about the "incredible" human and economic potential of the region, Johnson said "imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out." He said the "mutual sequestration" of the economies was holding back the region from becoming a "boomzone".

Aziz said Pakistan and the UK have been cooperating under the framework of enhanced strategic dialogue since 2011. "The two sides had already agreed to three new road-maps on trade and investment, culture and education and security," he said.

Johnson said it was important for the UK and Pakistan to work together for security and stability of the entire region. He said there was a "vast potential" to increase the bilateral trade to the mutual benefit of the two countries.

Aziz said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended an invitation to his British counterpart to visit Pakistan next year.

Johnson is on a two-day visit to Pakistan.
Prices of government bonds, finite in supply, are shooting up, as banks are struggling to invest the huge amount of excess deposits coming their way.
The rupee, which hit a record low of 68.86 against the US dollar (USD) in intra-day deals on Thursday, may not boost exports in November, owing to the effects of on domestic industry. After a rebound in exports in October, exporters feel labour intensive sectors hit hard by may push down the export growth rate in November with greater fall in the following months.
As India and Pakistan expel each others diplomats and the two armies trade fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the 2003 ceasefire appears increasingly fragile. Yet, even through this disruption, trade across the continues, making it perhaps the most robust confidence building measure (CBM) between the two sides.
On Saturday, some formidable captains of the information technology (IT) sector will be here for the start of the National Association of Software & Services Companies (Nasscom) conclave of chief executives, a three-day affair.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, said of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was a monumental management failure and organised loot and legalised plunder.
When Bishnu Pandey, a Nepali migrant working in India, returned home two weeks ago, he had hoped to clear a loan taken by his family to rebuild its village home with his savings.

But the 35-year-old New Delhi restaurant worker had his dreams shattered after the bank refused to exchange cash worth $440 because of a crackdown on "black money" ordered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The shock announcement to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee bills  worth $7.50 and $15 - seeks to flush out billions of dollars in unaccounted wealth and hit the finances of militants suspected of using fake currency to fund operations.

"I don't think I am the target but I became a victim," Pandey told Reuters outside a bank branch in Kathmandu, showing stacks of the old Indian notes that are no longer legal tender.

"I have no money now to return to work and I have no way to pay back the family debt," he said, referring to $275 his father borrowed to repair his house damaged in earthquakes last year that killed 9,000 people and destroyed nearly one million homes.

The tall, lanky Pandey, from Naubise village in Dhading district, 24 km (15 miles) from Kathmandu, is one of hundreds of thousands in the desperately poor Himalayan country hit by the currency ban announced two weeks ago.

Families of migrants like Pandey, students seeking admissions in Indian colleges, those seeking medical treatment, pilgrims and those visiting families across the open border have all been hit. Unlike people in India, they can't deposit or swap old notes at banks that will accept them until December 30.

Pashupati Murarka, chief of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), estimates that dud banknotes worth as much as 10 billion Indian rupees ($146 million) may be held by individuals and the informal sector.

Nara Bahadur Thapa, an official at the central bank, said Nepal received 70 billion rupees ($640 million) in remittances from migrant workers in India every year.

Thousands of Gurkha soldiers retired from the Indian army also get their pensions paid in the Indian currency.

Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda, a former Maoist rebel commander, spoke to Modi over phone last week seeking arrangements for the exchange of Indian cash held in Nepal, his aides said.

Modi pledged to resolve the issue, but no arrangements have been made yet, they said.
Mobile wallet entity Paytm pulled back its in-app point of sale feature that was designed for merchants to accept credit or debit card payments, after security concerns were raised by payment networks such as Visa and MasterCard.
With bank currency chests overflowing with old, banned notes, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said these specified bank notes (SBN) could be deposited at their offices.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan on November 24 launched consultations on new draft Constitution submitted to him by the Expert Committee on the Constitutional Reforms under the NKR President, press service of the NKR Presidential administration told Armenpress.

The same day the NKR President held a meeting with a group of Karabakh movement activities, by considering symbolic the launch of such process in such circles.
Onion prices in most retail markets have softened by Rs 1-3 a kg in the past fortnight. Tomatoes have become cheaper by Rs 3-10 a kg since the Centre's disruption.
Annual Conference of DGPs/IGPs 2016 in Hyderabad

Post-Independence, 51st Annual Conference of Directors General / Inspectors General of Police of States and UTs and Heads of Central Police Organisations will be held on November 25-27, 2016 at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad.

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will attend the Conference. Presidents Police Medals and Police Medals will be presented to the officers of the Intelligence Bureau during the conference.

This Conference was being held at Delhi every year till 2013.

In November, 2014, for the first time since its inception in 1920, the Conference was organised out of Delhi and held in Guwahati, Assam. Last year the conference was organized in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. This is the third time that the conference is being organized outside Delhi.
Government Supporting Research on Dengue Vaccine in a Major Way

Department of Biotechnology(DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology has been supporting the research on Dengue vaccine in a major way under the aegis of Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme (VAP) and the Vaccine Grand Challenge Programme (VGCP). Efforts have been supported for the development of safe, efficacious and inexpensive dengue vaccine and continued support will be provided based on review of the programme and the milestones achieved.

A major project on Development of envelope domain III based dengue virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates has been implemented at International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi at a total cost of Rs.429.41 lakhs in March, 2016. Under this promising candidates were developed that elicited protective immune response in mice. The Dengue Subunit Vaccine Tetravalent (DSV) vaccine candidates have been transferred to Industry for further development.

Also the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise of DBT supported project on Optimization and characterization of a Virosome Vaccine for Dengue" with a total cost of Rs.89.19 lakhs for a period of two years, to induce a balanced immunity against all four dengue virus serotypes. The project will go to further studies subsequent to establishment of immunogenicity for the tetravalent vaccine in the present proposal.

As and when the candidates are ready for the dengue vaccine trials, the Government will explore the possibility of supporting the trials through inter-ministerial sources and other international agencies.

This information was given by Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y. S. Chowdhary in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Group of students from Assam call on MoS (Home) Shri Kiren Rijiju

A group of 18 students from Haflong district of Assam attending the National Integration Tour, organised by the 43rd Assam Rifles, called on the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju here today. The tour is being organized from 21st-30th November, 2016 to the National Capital and Agra.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rijiju complimented the Assam Rifles for organizing the National Integration Tour, giving children from the remote region an opportunity to visit the national capital and other historic cities to discover the grandeur of India.

While interacting with the students, Shri Rijiju said that the National Integration Tour is a good initiative taken by the Assam Rifles since this is the first visit outside by the state for all these students. Shri Rijiju said that Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force in the country and it not only provides a safe and secure environment in the North-East Region (NER) but also renders social service.

The Union Government lays special focus on the Development of Infrastructure in the NER, he added.

The aim of the National Integration Tour is to promote harmony and awareness. The tour is aimed at integrating the students with the nation and promoting concept of unity in diversity. The students will visit landmarks like the Red Fort, Rajghat, India Gate, National Museum, Pragati Maidan and Delhi Metro.
Shri Kiren Rijiju addresses at the National Foundation for Communal Harmony programme

The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju addressed at the function organised by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony at the National Police Memorial here today. The programme was organised as a part of activities being organised on the occasion of celebration of Communal Harmony Week" being observed from November 19-25, 2016. The students from various schools representing different religious communities participated in the function. During the function, the students presented various programmes including religious songs, speeches and patriotic songs.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kiren Rijiju said that to assemble at the National Police Memorial is a tribute to the martyrs. He said that the uniform does not differentiate the security forces on the basis of religion. They all are providing security in the border areas.

The MoS said that the students participating in the programme represent the student community of the country. He said that it is very encouraging to see these students here and termed it a harmonious gathering. Appreciating the students for their talent exhibited through their performances at the programme, Shri Rijiju said that this shows that they are getting good education in their schools. He congratulated the institutions for their efforts in nourishing these children.

He said that these days students are fortunate to have many avenues to add to their knowledge, one of the important medium being internet. He said that the students should make every effort to enhance their knowledge by taking advantage of these mediums available to them.

Shri Kiren Rijiju appealed to the students to spread the message of communal harmony to other parts of the country when they go back. He said in future each child will take different course in his life and will get an opportunity to serve the country. He appealed to the students that they should never get swayed by the appeals made by any group to divide them on the basis of religion, caste or region.

Speaking on the occasion, the Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs, Shri Mahesh Kumar Singla said that this is a good initiative taken by the Foundation. He said that the Police Commemoration Day celebrated on 21st October this year was observed for the first time at the National Police Memorial and the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh had participated in the Parade. He also told the children the role of Paramilitary forces in the safety and security of the nation. He said that the National Police Memorial is a sacred place and remembers the supreme sacrifices made by the security forces irrespective of their religions.

On the above occasion, MoS Shri Kiren Rijiju also inaugurated the social media platform of My Nation, My Passion. A pledge was also administered to the participants on the occasion.

The Secretary, National Foundation of Communal Harmony Shri Awadh Kumar Singh, the DG, ITBP Shri Krishna Chaudhary, DG, CISF Shri O. P. Singh and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.
To Make the Income of the Farmers Double, the Centre Trying Tooth & Nail to Enhance the Production of Food Grain, to Reduce the Cost: Shri Radha Mohan Singh 21 States Modified the Acts Related to their Marketing System Inter Alia they also Issued Licenses for the Purchase of their Yields: Agriculture Minister

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh today here said that to make the income of the farmers double, the Government of India is trying tooth and nail to enhance the production of food grain, to reduce the cost, to find out the new means and ways for the incomes related to farmers and to give them better return of their produces in appropriate marketing system. Shri Singh said this in a programme conducted by ASSOCHAM. The subject of the programme was how to link the farmers with the markets.

Shri Singh said that the markets must be within the reach of the farmers and there must not be any middle man between them and the consumers. The prices of the yield should be discovered in a transparent way and the farmers must be paid the price of their yield without any delay. The Agriculture Minister added that the Central Government is raising such an infrastructure throughout the country through which the market will be linked directly with the farmers and the consumers will be capable to buy the agricultural products from the farms of the farmers directly.

Agriculture Minister further said that the farmers can sale their produces through online trading from anywhere and they can obtain better prices of their produces as per its quality. If farmer is not satisfied with the price, he can reject even the highest bid. Option of online payment system is also available to the farmers. The system which is known to us as e-NAM (National Agricultural Market) has been started on 14.04.2016. By the year 2018, total 585 mandis are proposed to be linked with e-NAM portal.

By September, 2016, 250 mandis have been linked with e-NAM against a target of 200 mandis.

The states which have made 3 mandatory amendments to their APMC Act can join the e-NAM platform. The amendments are provision of e-trading, single point levy of mandi fee and single trading license valid throughout the states. Two major states Bihar and Kerala dont have APMC Act at present and are not on the e-NAM portal. Government is persuading these states to create some regulatory mechanism in their states and join the e-NAM platform.

In addition to above, Government is promoting direct purchase/sale of farmers produce from the farm. So far, 22 states have amended their APMC Acts to enable this provision.

Shri Singh said that the organized marketing of agricultural products in the country is carried through by regulated markets whose number is about 6746. As per the recommendations of the National Commission constituted on farmers, there should be a Mandi within the precincts of 80 square kilo meters. In the existing scenario, there is only one mandi within the reach of 580 square kilo meter. The present government is making endeavour to encourage set up of private mandis to improve reach of farmers to markets. So far, 21 states have amended their APMC Acts in this matter.
Two-day All India Conference of CAT to be held on November 26-27

The All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) is being held here from November 26-27, 2016. The Conference will be inaugurated by Shri Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of India and will be presided over by the Union Minister for Law and Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad. Mr Justice J. Chelameswar, Judge, Supreme Court of India will be the Guest of Honour. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will be the Special Guest. The Judges of Supreme Court of India, Judges of High Court, Government officials and Advocates are also likely to attend the conference.

The inaugural function will be followed by the Key Note Address by Shri Justice A. K.

Sikri, Judge Supreme Court of India followed by in-house deliberations.

The Central Administrative Tribunal was established by an Act of Parliament namely Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 as sequel to the 42nd amendment of the Constitution of India inserting Article 323 A.

The Tribunal came into existence on 01.11.1985 for adjudicating disputes and complaints with respect to Recruitment and Conditions of Service of the persons appointed to the Public Services and Posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or any State or of any other Local Authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India. Apart from above the Tribunal also has the jurisdiction on the employees of 208 Public Sector Undertakings/ Organizations notified by the Government.

The Principal seat of Central Administrative Tribunal is at New Delhi and it has 16 Outlying Benches scattered all over the Country. The Tribunal is headed by the Chairman and 65 Members, 33 from Judicial (including Chairman) and 33 from the Administrative stream.

The Chairman is normally a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. During the span of more than 390 years, the Tribunal has fulfilled its objective as it has disposed of 6,90,867 out of 7,32,649 cases leaving a pendency of 41,616 cases as on September, 2016. The cases remain pending mainly due to non-completion of pleadings and non-filling up of the vacancies of Members at various benches of Tribunal and few old cases owing to stay granted by High Courts or because of cases having been remanded.

The Conference is held to discuss and deliberate upon the problems faced by the institution and to bring improvement in the judicial/administrative system so as to achieve higher disposal in the shortest possible time. Justice delivery by the Tribunal has been acclaimed as a better system for resolving the issues because of the time factor and also due to the expertise. It provides effective, inexpensive and speedy justice.

The Minister of State for Law and Justice, Shri P. P. Choudhary will deliver the valedictory session to be held on 27th November, 2016. During the conference, discussion will also be held on important issues of relevance.
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on Wednesday revised down growth forecasts for the British economy for 2017 and 2018.

Hammond told lawmakers in his House of Commons speech that Britain's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2017 would be 1.4%, down from 2.2% predicted seven months ago, Xinhua news agency reported.

That was in his predecessor George Osborne's final budget before he was swept from office in the wake of the vote, and the downward revision in GDP is also in part a reaction to the referendum decision to quit the European Union (EU).

Hammond based his figures on data from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official economic data agency, which lowered the forecast for 2018 too, from 2.1% to 1.7%. However growth for 2019 and 2020 was forecast as the same, at 2.1%.

Britain's public sector net debt is also forecast to be higher, continuing to rise as a share of GDP, peaking at 90.2% in 2017-2018. The March Budget had forecast that debt was to start falling this year, and be down to 81.3% by 2017-2018.

Hammond vowed that spending would "return to balance as early as is practicable in the next parliament".

Britain's productivity has remained stagnant since the financial crisis, and raising productivity was "essential to deliver higher living standards for working people", said Hammond.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Moscow law enforcement agencies identified a man who was shot dead overnight November 24 in the Yasenyevo district of the Russian capital, law enforcement sources told Lenta.ru.

The victim of the shooting is Gevorg Gevorgyan, a citizen of Armenia. He was engaged in construction business in Moscow.

According to the source, the body of Gevorgyan was discovered near his 2006 BMW, which he had purchased on credit.

Earlier it was reported that the murder is likely to have been a contract killing.

Law enforcement agencies said an unknown person has gunned down a man using a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The perpetrator fled the crime scene, leaving behind the murder weapon.

The Moscow Investigative Committee confirmed the reports and clarified that the weapon was discovered 300 meters away from the crime scene. A vehicle was parked near the body, and according to initial reports, it was hit by multiple bullets.

A criminal case is initiated.
In Maine, where Gov. Paul R. LePage backed Donald J. Trumps campaign for the presidency, some political observers are wondering if the state will soon see results from that. Might Mr. Trump lend his support, for instance, to reversing a recent federal parkland designation that Mr. LePage strongly opposed?
More than three quarters of $46 billion of planned Chinese-led investment in Pakistan will be implemented by next year as part of the worlds second-largest economys flagship Silk Road plan. Out of this $46 billion, we have been so far able to energise about $35 billion, Pakistans Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal said in an interview in London. By energising I mean these are projects either in advanced implementation or in a stage of financially closing. Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is seeking ...
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said today he has "no worries" about Donald Trump's election as US president, adding that he expects the businessman will align his future policies with global realities.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner's remarks were his most extensive yet regarding the election of the real estate tycoon and reality television star who has called for putting America's concerns first and shown little interest in Washington's traditional espousal of global democracy and social justice.

Commenting at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said he looks forward to seeing Trump at some point following the January 20 inauguration. Such meetings usually draw protests from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from China.

The 81-year-old monk said he has always regarded the US as the leader of the "free world" and wasn't concerned about remarks made by Trump during the election campaign.

Some of those comments have been cited as offensive to Muslims, Hispanics and other US minority groups.

"I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express. Now once they (are) elected, having the responsibility, then they have to carry their cooperation, their work, according (to) reality," he told reporters in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. "So I have no worries."



Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, spokeswoman for the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said she was not aware of any plans for a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Trump.

She said the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community have enjoyed good relations with successive US presidents and expected that to continue under a Trump administration.

"His holiness has always put great hope in the US as a champion of democracy. He hopes for continued support from the new president and his government," she said in a telephone interview.

China had demanded Mongolia scrap his visit for the sake of the "general picture of a sound and steady development of bilateral ties." Mongolia's fragile economy is heavily dependent on China, and the countries are in talks for a USD 4.2 billion Chinese loan to help pull it out of a recession.

China has apparently delayed talks on the loan in response to the visit by the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959. Mongolian government spokesman Otgonbayar Gombojav said today that China had indefinitely postponed a visit to China next Monday by Mongolian officials to discuss the loan.
The rainforests of Didy in eastern usually ring with the calls of the indri, the islands largest lemur. There is a different noise now: the chopping of trees, digging of gravel, and cheers of encouragement from the thousands of illegal miners who have flooded to these forests since sapphires were discovered in late September.
may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.
A truck bomb today ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with Shiite pilgrims returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in the Iraqi city of Karbala were parked, security officials said.

Several Iranian nationals - the largest contingent of foreigners at the Arbaeen pilgrimage that ended on Monday - were among the victims, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said.

"At least seven buses with pilgrims were inside the petrol station at the time," a police lieutenant colonel told AFP.

The blast struck in the village of Shomali, 120 kilometres southeast of the capital Baghdad and around 80 kilometres from Karbala.



There was no immediate casualty toll but the JOC said "several civilians were killed and wounded, including Iranians".

"Those buses were loaded with Iranians, Bahrainis and Iraqis. Ambulances and civil defence are on their way to the site," a police intelligence source told AFP.

Between 17 and 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen, which is one of the world's largest religious events.
Jr., the older son of the US President-elect, in October participated in a private meeting in Paris at which the possibility of supporting Russian efforts to halt the war in Syria was discussed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The meeting took place on October 11 at the Ritz Hotel in the French capital and included diplomats, politicians and businessmen, some of the participants confirmed.

Among the participants was Randa Kassis, who is a member of one of the Syrian opposition groups that was created in Moscow and which, according to the Journal, is being supported by the Kremlin in the search for a end to the war that erupted in Syria five years ago, EFE news reported.

The meeting was organised by Kassis's husband, Fabien Baussart, the President of the French Centre for Political and Foreign Affairs, a think tank that often organises meetings on subjects on the world agenda.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the younger Trump's participation at the meeting stirred controversy about the role of the now-president-elect's family members in affairs of state and his stated desire to cooperate closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kassis confirmed to the paper that Trump's son had participated in the meeting, saying that he had emphasised the importance of having Russian cooperation in Middle Eastern conflicts such as the one in Syria.

In an earlier message posted on her Facebook page, Kassis had said that the Syrian opposition was sure that Russia and the United States could reach an agreement on the conflict thanks to Trump's presidential victory.

Trump's former campaign chief, Kellyanne Conway, said that Trump Jr. was present only at one roundtable discussion in Paris, adding that Kassis participated in that discussion, and in a group dinner for about 30 people to analyse the prospects for the US election.

Rivalries between Russia and the United States so far have hindered progress on finding a solution for ending the war in Syria despite the efforts being made by the United Nations to get all parties to agree.

Among other issues, the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama and the government in Moscow have not agreed on the role of Syrian President Bashar al Assad in a political solution to the conflict.
Rio Tinto Group said it's prepared to cut iron ore output if that'll improve cashflow, signaling a major step back from the industry's decade-long strategy to keep pumping ever-expanding supply onto the global market. The world's second-biggest iron ore exporter is driven by margins and not by market share, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques told investors during a seminar in Sydney. The company wants to make sure "we maximise free cash flow coming" from its Pilbara iron ore system and "if it means reducing the volume we will do it," he ...
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament adopted the proposal on freezing Turkeys EU membership talks, Anadolu reports.

479 MEPs voted in favor of the proposal, 37 were against. 107 MEPs abstained.

Although this is non-binding proposal, it is an important message to the EU and the leadership of the Unions member states. It is expected Turkeys membership issue will be discussed at EU leaders upcoming summit in December.

The EU lawmakers called on suspending the EU-Turkey talks on membership during the EU-Turkey relations session in the European Parliament on November 22. During the session the political factions recorded regression on democracy, human rights and law in Turkey.

Turkish President Erdogan issued a statement on the voting by stating that the results of it dont have any significance for them.
Tamil Nadu's ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Thursday called on the Centre to stop the closure of cooperative banks in rural areas.

"Our MPs' will meet the finance minister, because all of a sudden, cooperative banks have been closed, and in most villages, there are no or private banks, only cooperative banks are functioning. They (Centre) need to take action immediately," AIADMK leader C.R. Saraswathy told ANI.

She said farmers and the common man are suffering a lot and these banks should be given permission to carry out transactions.

Meanwhile, in a related development, an all-party delegation from Kerala will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today in Delhi to raise their concerns over the prevailing cash crunch.

The Kerala Assembly, which held a special session on Tuesday to discuss the turbulent situation in the state's co-operative sector, passed a resolution stating that the union government should withdraw the restrictions on cooperative banks.

The resolution stated that like commercial banks, co-operative banks should also be given permission to conduct transactions.

Last week, Kerala's cooperative banking sector remained shut in protest against what it called a bid to weaken the sector under guise of demonetisation.

The multi-level cooperative banking network, which has Rs 52,000 crores in deposits, is facing a crisis after the RBI banned district cooperative banks from exchanging scrapped notes.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal state power minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee on Thursday said that due to the poor implementation of demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lost credibility as a leader.

"This decision of demonetisation is affecting the poorest people. Till today they have not managed the distribution of currency to the ATMs. Before taking such a decision, he could have managed everything. The Prime Minister has lost credibility as a leader," said Chatterjee.

He said their party is not against demonetisation, but the Centre should have considered the after effects of the move.

On Wednesday, the Congress Party on took out a anti-demonetisation protest march and alleged that the nation is suffering courtesy Prime Minister Modi's declaration of an economic emergency.

Holding placards, scores of Congress workers and supporters gathered here to vent their ire against the government's move and raised slogans such as "Modi mitra kushal, janata behaal" and "Abki baar janata ki mehnat ki kamai par vaar".

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Ajay Maken, who led the protest march towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, told the media that Prime Minister Modi is least bothered about the poor and lower income groups.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that Prime Minister Modi is following a feudal landlord system, whereby he is snatching the earnings of the poor.

"After coming to power, this government has paid no heed to the grievances of the people. This government has lost its credibility in the eyes of the general public and if credentials are lost then everything is lost. This government has courtesy this move brought in a feudal landlord system whereby the earnings of the poor are being snatched," said Banerjee during the protest at the Jantar Mantar here.

Mamata staged a sit-in protest at the Jantar Mantar at New Delhi pressing Prime Minister Modi to rollback the policy in view of inconvenience caused to the general public.

For the fifth day of the Winter Session, the Parliament could not transact any substantial business due to uproar over demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes as both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments amid allegations and counter-allegation by the members of opposition and treasury benches.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Creative activity on daily basis may lead to an 'upward spiral' of increased wellbeing and creativity in young adults.

In the study by New Zealand's University of Otago, Department of Psychology researchers asked 658 university students to keep a daily diary of their experiences and emotional states over 13 days.

After analysing the diaries the researchers, led by Dr Tamlin Conner, found a pattern of the participants feeling more enthusiasm and higher "flourishing" than usual following days when they were more creative.

Flourishing is a psychological concept that can be described as increasing positive growth in oneself.

While the current study did not specifically ask the university students to record the nature of their creative activity, the researchers had collected such information informally in an earlier study.

They found that the most common examples reported were songwriting; creative writing (poetry, short fiction); knitting and crochet; making new recipes; painting, drawing, and sketching; graphic and digital design; and musical performance.

Dr Conner said that she and her team wanted to find out if engaging in everyday creative acts makes people feel better emotionally.

"There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning. However, most of this work focuses on how emotions benefit or hamper creativity, not whether creativity benefits or hampers emotional wellbeing," Dr Conner said.

The researchers found that "positive affect" (PA) - which encompasses feelings such as pleasurable engagement, happiness, joy, excitement, and enthusiasm - on a particular day did not predict next-day creative activity.

"Our earlier research found that PA appears to increase creativity during the same day, but our latest findings show that there is no cross-day effect. Rather, it is creative activity on the previous day that predicts wellbeing the next," she said.

Even when controlling for next-day creative activity, the previous day's creativity significantly predicted energised PA and flourishing.

Dr Conner and her co-authors wrote, "this finding suggests a particular kind of upward spiral for wellbeing and creativity - engaging in creative behavior leads to increases in wellbeing the next day, and this increased wellbeing is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day."

They concluded, "overall, these findings support the emerging emphasis on everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning".

The study has been published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The opposition parties on Thursday decided not to hold talks with the government over the demonetisation move till November 28 when they will mark the 'Aakrosh Diwas'.

Sources said that the opposition has taken this firm stand as they are extremely unhappy with the manner in which the demonetisation move was implemented and is adamant that the government roll back its decision.

A united opposition has decided to observe a nationwide protest on November 28.

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury earlier said that November 28 would be observed as "Aakrosh Diwas" by all parties across the country.

CPI leader D. Raja said the Left parties would observe a week-long protest from November 24-30.

"The Modi government has not demonetised money, but demonetised the people. Thirteen days have passed, but people are still standing in queues outside banks and ATMs have no money. All Congress units will protest across the country on November 28," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar today said that a 'responsible' government is willing to accommodate the opposition's suggestions over the demonetisation move and added that there was no question of prestige as this decision was taken in interest.

As the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both the Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in the discussion on demonetisation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Faf du Plessis, who has been in the news for the recent 'mintgate' row, on Thursday scored a brilliant hundred to come to rescue of South Africa on the opening day of the third and final Test against Australia here at the Adelaide Oval.

On a day which was dominated by Aussie quicks, Du Plessis remained not out on 118 runs off 167 balls as the visitors declared their first innings on 259 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

Being asked to ball, Australian pacer Hosh Hazlewood prospered with the pink ball, and took 4 for 68 to wreak havoc on the Proteas batting. He got good support from Mitchell Starc and Jackson Bird who both took two-two wickets each.

For South Africa, apart from Du Plessis and opener Stephen Cook, who scored 40 runs, the likes of Dean Edgar, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock and others failed to do the talking with their bat on first day of the pink ball Test match - the first-ever South Africa are competing in.

However, debutant Tabraiz Shamsi filled the shoes of Keshav Maharaj successfully indeed. He was the last man and added 30 runs more along with the Proteas stand-in skipper.

At Stumps on Day One, the host ended at 14 for no loss, trailing by 245 runs. David Warner was away for shoulder treatment that led to Usman Khawaja (3*) and newbie Matt Renshaw (8*) beginning the action for Australia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday confirmed that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had recently interacted with very senior levels of the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump transition team, besides meeting the members of the current administration and the US Congress.

"As I informed you earlier, the Foreign Secretary did visit the United States as part of regular bilateral consultations. He met with the members of the current administration and had meetings in the US Congress. It is also my understanding that Foreign Secretary interacted with very senior levels of the Trump transition team.

Welcoming the appointment of South Carolina Governor Nikki Hailey, an Indian American, as United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Swarup said Governor Hailey is well known and recognised as a very strong and committed advocate of close India-US ties.

"We know Governor Hailey well and recognise her as a very strong and committed advocate of close India-US ties. She had called on Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the United States and had also recently visited India. We warmly welcome her appointment as PR to UN," said Swarup during his weekly media briefing.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Haley as the US ambassador to the United Nations. Though the official announcement is yet to come, two sources familiar with Trump's decision have confirmed the same, reports the Washington Post.

Haley, an Indian-American, was an outspoken Trump critic throughout much of the presidential race. If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the first female and first non-white - Cabinet-level official in the Trump administration.

She is the second Asian-American to serve as a U.S. Governor.

Despite her misgivings about Trump, she met with the President-elect last week at Trump Tower. Haley later said that they had a "very nice" conversation.

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Taking a dig at Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati for daring Prime Minster Narendra Modi to dissolve the Parliament and conduct an election to get the 'real' pulse of the people with regard to the demonetisation move, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister would come to know about her party's fate post next year's state assembly polls.

"She will get to know her party's fate after the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls," Jaitley told the media here.

Maywati earlier today termed the survey on demonetisation

as "bogus" and "sponsored".

"This survey is bogus and a sponsored one which has no truth. The survey may have mentioned that 90 percent people, especially the people from rural areas, supported this issue, but the rural areas have no access to banks, ATMs and internet. How did they support the cause," Mayawati told reporters here.

Earlier expressing his gratitude to the nation for its "historic participation" in a survey on demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said it was satisfying to read insightful views and comments.

"I thank people for the historic participation in the survey. It's satisfying to read the insightful views and comments. ," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi urged the nation to share the first-hand views on the demonetisation move by taking part in the survey on the 'NM' Application.

"I want your first-hand view on the decision taken regarding currency notes. Take part in the survey on the NM App.," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

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The Communist Party Of India(CPI) on Thursday said if the logjam continues in Parliament, then the Centre would be responsible for it.

"It is a legitimate demand of the opposition parties that Prime Minister Modi should come to Parliament and listen to the debate and should explain his rational and logic behind his government's decision. This is not what he is doing and that is why parliament is not working. If the logjam continues then the whole responsibility lies with the government. There is no point in blaming the opposition parties," CPI D. Raja said.

"The government is not prepared to review the decision as they are not open minded to listen to the issues raised by the opposition parties. Centre remains adamant over its stand. The Prime Minister has not come to Parliament to speak on this issue, whereas he goes on making speeches on the very same issue. When the parliament is in session, the Prime Minister is not coming," he added.

Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said , "Logjam is where it was. Adjournment motion to be pushed by Rule 56. and pressing for Rule 193 and somewhere some settlement is to be brought back."

As the government attempts to reach a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in a discussion on demonetisation.

Since the first day of the Winter Session, the opposition leaders are calling for the Prime Minister to speak on the issue in the Rajya Sabha where the government does not enjoy majority.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the abrupt manner in which the ruling dispensation implemented demonetisation as even after third week of the announcement, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks with the people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money, adding the decision has been taken keeping in view the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Australian cyber security delegation is presently in India to seek partnership with Indian IT companies and provide them with modern cyber security capabilities.

The mission features a six member delegation specialising in cyber security and solutions.

The delegation is visiting Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi and includes senior executives from the University of Melbourne, which is amongst Australia's top universities with specialisation in Internet of Things cyber security and the Swinburne University of Technology, which is amongst Australia's leading institutions with focus on digital innovation platform for cyber security with applications in Industry 4.0, smart cities, health, digital services, transport, logistics and supply chains.

The delegation will offer the Indian IT industry access to a portfolio of novel Australian cyber security solutions across platforms, networks, smart devices, mobile and online. They will also offer Australian institutions' research expertise in development of the next generation of cyber security technologies and solutions.

According to John Madew, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, "Australian expertise can help solve cyber security challenges. Many Australian businesses have strong cyber security capabilities developed through home grown Australian technologies and solutions."

Australia has good credentials in terms of innovation and eight of its universities appeared in the top 100 global research university list. That kind of knowledge base can be used in India and other places, said one of the delegation member.

In partnering with India they are looking to scale huge market, something not offered back home because of the population size.

The kind of access Indian companies have is not present with Australian companies and partnering will be a win-win situation as India will get advanced cyber-security capabilities and Australia will get a market.

"Our particular focus is on bringing the physical and digital world together and from a user's perspective that things like physical access control, circuit boards and all those other things being able to talk to one another. So, software hardware and people all are being a part of an ecosystem," said one of the delegation members.

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India has lodged strong protest with Pakistan against repeated ceasefire violations and deliberate targeting of villages along the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistan Army, and deplored continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists to target Indian posts and patrols.

Divulging details at his weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said the MEA called in Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah the last evening and issued a demarche, the fourth one this month, on the continued violation of ceasefire from the other side of the LoC..

"The Government of India stated that despite calls for restraints, Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120mm heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire Agreement of 2003.

"The government conveyed that it strongly deplore the passive support of the Pakistan Army to armed terrorists that came from close to Pakistan Army posts from November 22, targeting an Indian patrol near the LoC in Machhal sector and killing three Indian soldiers, including inhuman mutilation of the body of one of them."

Swarup further said the govt also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan Army of the 18 villages along LoC during the period November 16-21, which has resulted in a non-fatal casualty, besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and displacement of the civilian population

"The government conveyed its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across LoC to target Indian posts and patrols. During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances, where terrorists indulged in various actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts from across the LoC," he added.

Talking about Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, the MEA spokesperson said, "The government also reiterated its concerns about the safety and wellbeing of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed over LoC over seven weeks ago. We expect the earlier repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India.

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. A Moscow court acquitted Gulchekhra Bobokulova (Uzbekistan)  a babysitter accused of killing a 4 year old girl. The court ordered the nanny to undergo compulsory treatment in a mental institution, RIA Novosti reports.

The brutal murder took place in February in Moscow. According to the investigation, the nanny waited for the girls parents to leave the apartment along with their older child, and then killed the girl, set the apartment on fire and exited it. Eyewitnesses say the nanny wandered around the street, holding the killed childs severed head, while muttering and threatening passersby and policemen, until she was apprehended near a metro station.

According to psychological evaluation, the 39 year old nanny is mentally insane. The court acquitted her by reasons of insanity.

The woman was charged with murder, arson, and calling in a false report on an explosion. Her translator said Bobokulova pleaded guilty for the murder.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday objected to former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh speak on the issue of demonetisation in Rajya Sabha and asked the opposition to resume the debate

"If it is on the demonetisation issue let the opposition resume the debate and let Dr. Manmohan Singh speak. If there is no debate, nobody from the opposition is going to be allowed to speak," Jaitley said.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, earlier said that Dr Singh would like to speak something.

Meanwhile, both Houses of Parliament have been adjourned till noon as a united opposition continued its tirade against the government over the demonetisation move.

The opposition in the Rajya Sabha has insisted that it would allow no discussion on the ban on high-value currency without Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence.

The Prime Minister told his Cabinet last evening that a survey conducted on his app saw record participation and proved that people back his effort to crackdown on black money and corruption by removing the old high-denomination notes.

The opposition, however, said the survey excludes lakhs of people, who live in rural India and don't have access to smartphones.

The opposition has also alleged that the questions were framed in a manner to ensure a positive response for the government.

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An all-party delegation from Kerala will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday in Delhi to discuss the prevailing cash crunch emanating from the demonetisation move.

On Tuesday, the Kerala Assembly held a special session to discuss the turbulent situation in the state's co-operative sector in the wake of Centre's demonetisation scheme, and passed a resolution that appealed to the union government to withdraw the restrictions on cooperative banks.

The resolution stated that like commercial banks, co-operative banks should also be given permission to conduct transactions.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the people that those who have deposited their money in co-operative banks need not worry and guaranteed that not even a single penny will be lost.

Vijayan has made his stand on demonetisation quite clear, as on several occasions he has said that the Centre's radical scheme has "inconvenienced" people across the country as there are no "adequate" backup arrangements.

Asserting that people were suffering across the nation because of a lack of planning by the government, the chief minister has emphasised that his government is not against the curbing of black money but against the steps which cause hardship to the common people.

Last week, Vijayan and state Finance Minister Thomas Issac called on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi and conveyed to him the difficult situation on account of spiking of high value currencies.

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The BJP-led NDA Government, which is facing flak post its demonetisation drive, will be holding parleys with the opposition today in an effort to break the deadlock in Parliament.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar will hold discussions with opposition leaders at around 10 a.m. to ensure no further disruption of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money and added that the decision has been taken keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

Emphasizing that this decision will promote cashless transaction in society, Naidu further said that this move has severely damaged the cause of terrorists and separatists.

Naidu's assertion came as the opposition parties questioned Prime Minister Modi's absence in Parliament and alleged that this reflected the latter's "authoritarian" attitude.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi yesterday said that Prime Minister Modi must come to Parliament and address the members of parliament over the government's decision to demonetise high value currency notes.

Asserting that economy has been affected by demonetisation, Gandhi demanded the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the alleged selective leakage of the decision.

He said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian were not even consulted by Prime Minister Modi on the decision.

Parliament was yesterday adjourned for the day following uproar over the demonetisation issue.

When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, the opposition members including Congress, TMC, Left and RJD, demanded a discussion on the issue under a relevant rule which entails voting.

A united opposition yesterday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament against the demonetisation of high value currency notes.

The major parties, which participated in the protest, are Congress, BSP, JD-U, TMC, AIADMK, NCP, Left, RJD and the Samajwadi Party. The MPs raised slogans and displayed posters against demonetisation.

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The family of martyred BSF constable Sambhu Satmura, who reside in Pratapgarh, Tripura, has appealed to the government to take 'stern steps' against and save the precious lives of Indian troopers.

"My request is that our government should take tough steps against so that our brothers in the Indian security forces do not lose their lives," said Moushami Satmura, the younger sister of the deceased.

"My brother was posted in Jammu and Kashmir and while returning from patrolling the incident took place," she added.

Constable Sambhu Satmura of the 107 battalion of the BSF died on Tuesday evening in the Jamia Wali Gali area of Sawjian sector in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Satmura, 28, was the lone earning member of his five member family that included his mother, two younger sisters and his wife.

His father, also a BSF trooper, has been missing for many years.

A pall of gloom has descended on the area. Neighbours and local leaders are extending support to the family of the brave heart.

Bithika Paul, a local councilor, said, "We do not feel he has died, he shall be always alive amongst us because he is an Indian soldier who sacrificed his life for the motherland. The incident took place in Kashmir and he is a martyr who was very popular here. Everyone use to love him."

The martyr's body was supposed to reach Agartala on Wednesday, but due to bad weather, its arrival has been delayed.
The Congress party on Thursday said it could not understand why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is moving away from parliament and is delaying parliament functioning.

Congress leader PC Chacko told ANI, "The more they delay, the more it is harmful of the functioning of the parliament. We are not able to understand why Prime Minister Modi is moving away from parliament. The way he was arguing he thinks that what he did is right,"

"If the Prime Minister Modi is not coming, he thinks that the opposition need not be taken seriously at all. 'Whatever I want to do, I will do,' this is his attitude." he added.

Opposition leaders met in Parliament today to chalk out their strategy on demonetisation.

Union Home Minister Rajnath also convened a separate meeting on the issue with Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar.

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Vodafone India on Thursday announced a unique cash out facility for its 8.4 million plus Vodafone M-Pesa customers who can withdraw cash using their digital wallet from any of the over 120,000 outlets across the country, subject to availability.

To avail the cash withdrawal facility, customers need to carry an identity proof to their nearest Vodafone M-Pesa outlet from where they can withdraw money, subject to availability, in line with RBI guidelines.

"Vodafone M-Pesa customers do not need to stand in long queues outside ATMs and bank branches for cash. We have invested in building a nationwide network of over 120,000 M-Pesa outlets, equivalent to the numbers of bank branches in the country. Over 56 percent of these outlets are located in the rural India, enabling last mile disbursement in the hinterland. Our customers can visit any of these outlets and use the unique cash out feature of Vodafone M-Pesa to withdraw cash from their digital wallet at their convenience," said Business Head, Vodafone M-Pesa, Suresh Sethi.

"Vodafone M-Pesa digital wallet too can be easily digitally loaded via credit or debit card or net banking. Additionally, the Vodafone M-Pesa wallet can also be used to shop online, pay bills and remit money to family and friends. Such comprehensive features, a nationwide distribution and service network and the unique cash out facility make Vodafone M-Pesa the ideal digital wallet for masses," he added.

In addition to enabling financial inclusion and offering the convenience of a digital wallet for easy transactions, its unique cash out feature makes it the ideal for all users, enabling them to digitise cash, remit it to family and friends, pay bills and/or withdraw it at their convenience.

The App welcomes all M-Pesa users (both Vodafone and non-Vodafone customers), intuitively and prompts existing users to login and new users to register for M-Pesa. With the 'M-Pesa App', consumers can very conveniently recharge their mobile and DTH, pay their Post-paid, Electricity, Gas and Landline bills from their mobile with a click of few buttons. As a special gesture, the customers can load their wallets using, debit cards, credit cards and net banking free of cost.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A united opposition parties on Thursday asserted that it is ready for discussion on the Centre's demonetisation move provided Prime Minister Narendra Modi convenes a meeting to discuss the same.

"The Parliamentary Affairs Minister telephoned me yesterday and said that they wanted to meet in Rajnath Singh ji's house. But I told that all the political parties together have taken a decision. Therefore, it is better that all parties should meet together," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, told the media.

Kharge stated that they can arrive at a consensus on the matter only after discussion with the opposition party leaders.

"If the Prime Minister or the Speaker calls for a meeting, we would definitely go. We will first meet the opposition (leaders) and then decide whether we will go to the meeting called by the Home Minister. Let the Prime Minister or the Speaker call for the meeting," he added.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the opposition leaders is currently underway in Parliament to chalk out strategy to end the ongoing logjam over the demonetisation move.

A meeting is also underway at Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's chamber in Parliament.

Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar are among those present in the meeting.

As the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both the Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in the discussion on demonetisation.

Since the first day of the Winter Session, the opposition leaders are calling for the Prime Minister to speak on the issue in Rajya Sabha, where the government does not enjoy majority.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the abrupt manner in which the ruling dispensation implemented demonetisation as even after third week of the announcement, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks with the people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money, adding the decision has been taken keeping in view the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said that the opposition wants to demolish discussion in parliament and does not want to have a debate.

Naqvi told ANI, "First thing is that they should start the discussion. By not starting the discussion and putting conditions, proves that they don't want the discussion to take place and are trying to trap this government,"

He further said the Congress party and other opposition parties can say whatever they want to in parliament. The step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the interest, for the poor and people across the country are appreciating it.

"We are still appealing that we should discuss in parliament and should move forward in an affirmative manner, because, the issue is not related to the government, but connected with the nation's interest, poor people, the weak elements of the nation, linked to the economic growth and we don't think anyone should have problem with it. Opposing it, protesting against it and spreading rumours in the country will not be useful," he added.

The Rajya Sabha earlier witnessed noisy scenes after the opposition demanded that Prime MinisterModi should be present in the House during the resumed discussion.

Leader of the House Arun Jaitley objected to the decision of the Deputy Chairman to allow former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to speak during the Zero Hour. He said if Dr Singh wants to speak on demonetisation, then the House should resume the discussion. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi suggested that the House first take up the discussion and then allow Dr. Singh to participate.

The Lok Sabha too also witnessed uproarious scenes over demonetisation. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge stuck to his party's stand to discuss the demonetisation issue suspending Question Hour. Later, opposition members including Congress, TMC, SP and NCP trooped into the well shouting slogans.

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Leaders of the opposition parties will today meet in the Parliament to chalk out strategy on the government's offer to end the ongoing logjam over demonetisation.

In an attempt to break the deadlock in Parliament over the demonetisation, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar has reached out to the opposition parties.

However, there is no official confirmation about the participation of the opposition party leaders in the discussion on the matter.

As the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both the Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in the discussion on demonetisation.

Since the first day of the ongoing Winter Session, the opposition leaders are calling for the Prime Minister to speak on the issue.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the way it was implemented as even after third week of the announcement on November 8, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks, with people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money and added that the decision has been taken keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that the Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress Party on Thursday said the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz be fruitful only is Islamabad behaves appropriately.

Congress leader P.C. Chacko told ANI, "These are diplomatic moves. The thing is that on one side the attitude and behaviour of Pakistan is highly irresponsible, they should first mend their ways,"

"The visit will only be a visit, it will not have any fruitful affect if Pakistan is not behaving properly," he added.

Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

The visit comes amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC).

The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will see the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.

However, it remains unclear whether there would be bilateral talks on the sidelines of the multilateral conference.

In December last year, the meeting of the HoA was hosted by Pakistan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had attended it after which she had bilateral talks with Aziz.

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Any efforts aimed at supporting Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement are welcome, Armenpress reports official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova announced in a meeting with reporters, commenting on the talks that after Donald Trumps election as the U.S. President the USA may make extra efforts to settle Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

I think there is always something to be strived to in the sidelines of the OSCE Minsk Group. As refers to individual efforts in this process, I have no precise assessment. Of course, considering the complexity of this issue and the fact that it is directly linked with the fate of the people living there, we could wish the Minsk Group to intensify their efforts which would be for the better. It is pity we sometimes hear bad news, Maria Zakharova said.
Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of State for Interior Affairs Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani will visit India on December 3 for bilateral talks.

Ministry of External Affairs' official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said this would be the third high-level bilateral engagement between the two countries in the past two years, which underlined India's growing ties with Qatar.

"Our close and friendly relations with Qatar are based on mutually beneficial commercial exchanges and extensive people-to-people contacts. Qatar is not only an important trading partner for us in the gulf region but is also an important supplier of LNG to us accounting to accounting for 65 percent of our total imports in 2015 and 2016," Swarup added.

Giving details about India's contribution in the progress of Qatar, Swarup said, "Indians form the largest expatriate community in Qatar and their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised. There are over 6,30,000 Indian Nationals working in Qatar.

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The on Thursday will hear the Bihar government's plea challenging the bail granted to rape accused and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav by the Patna High Court.

The apex court yesterday reserved its order in the matter.

Earlier, following the Supreme Court's orders, Raj Ballabh, who is accused of raping a minor, surrendered today before the Bihar Sharif court.

In April, Yadav was named as one of the main accused in a charge-sheet filed by Nalanda Police, after he allegedly raped a minor girl at his residence on February 6th, following which he was immediately suspended by the party.

After absconding for almost one month, Yadav had surrendered in March before a chief magistrate's court in Bihar Sharif in Nalanda and was sent to jail.

However, he was granted bail by the Patna High Court on September 30, which the opposition used to criticise the state government for not placing facts against the RJD MLA before the Patna High Court.

Yadav, an MLA from Nawada assembly constituency, was suspended by the RJD after he was booked in the rape case on February 6.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday confirmed that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will not attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup disclosed the information in this regard.

He, however, did not confirm the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan while stating that talks and terror can't go together.

"It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen," said Swarup.

Amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar.

The conference to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj, who was admitted to All India of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with complaints of kidney failure, is recovering fast, sources told ANI Thursday.

Sources said Swaraj, 64, has been looking after her official business - signing of documents, holding regular meetings with ministry officials among others - from her residence.

Swaraj has not joined office yet in order to avoid infections, as she has to undergo dialysis twice a week.

Swaraj will not be participating in the Heart of Asia Conference to be held in Amritsar on December 3-4.

Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs M.J. Akbar is likely to attend the Conference in her absence, said sources.

Even as Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Conference, Swarup did not confirm the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan, stating that talks and terror can't go together.

"It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen," said Swarup.

The conference to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described U.S. President Elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the .

In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it has issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Donald Trump.

Writing in the Pak-based Al Qalam Weekly (Nov. 18-24, 2016) the JeM ideologues Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif have stated that while the international media has used Trump's victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory was actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the .

They said that the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trump's election as the next president.

Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said that the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of 'bad character', temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam.

He added that while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trump's victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries.

He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which has brought victories against powerful opponents.

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An anxious British government has decided to tell Pakistan that it will have to rein in terror outfits like the LeT and the JuD who have been held responsible for terror attacks in India and elsewhere and that Islamabad would have to do more to reduce threats to the UK and the world from terrorists based on its soil.

This stern message is likely to be conveyed by Prime Minister Theresa May, when she undertakes an official visit to Pakistan sometime in the early part of 2017, and must be seen in the context of the terror strikes launched in the city of Mumbai in the last week of November 2008.

Those series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks by ten terrorists affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which lasted over four days across Mumbai, claimed the lives of 164 people, including one Briton, six Americans and 12 Europeans, and left another 308 injured.

The horrific tragedy also trained global attention on the activities of the LeT, which till then was focused only on Kashmir.

In the eight years since this terror incident, the LeT's ambitions and reach have extended to the UK, as is evident from the speeches of its founder Hafiz Saeed, who now openly threatens the destruction of the UK.

London, according to sources, seems unconvinced about Islamabad's past promises given to then Home Secretary Theresa May of full bilateral cooperation with the UK on counter-terrorism, immigration, serious crimes and narcotics.

There is a view that not much has changed insofar as Islamic extremists spreading their terror mayhem from Pakistan.

In fact, they said, that any honest observer of Pakistan would agree that the situation there has only worsened, with these elements not only increasing their spread and influence within the country, but also outside, particularly in the UK.

They claimed that there is no sense of calm within the UK when it comes to grappling with the unsettling face of Islamic extremism within the country.

Prime Minister May, according to these informed sources, is most likely to flag on priority her government's concerns of LeT fingerprints being discovered in the UK.

British objections to a UN-proscribed terrorist like Hafiz Saeed being allowed by authorities in Pakistan to hold public rallies and openly threaten destruction of the UK and United States are likely to be aggressively asserted, the sources said.

They also claimed that with the help of British Pakistanis, Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its front organisation the Jamat-ut-Dawa, are declared proscribed groups according to the UK Terrorism Act 2000 of the UK.

With them making deep inroads in the country, Prime Minister May can be expected to firmly tell Pakistan to take steps to neutralise these terror elements operating from its soil, or London would be constrained to review engagement with Islamabad.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday highlighted the hardships of farmers in the state due to the cash-crunch triggered by the demonetisation drive, and asked the Centre how long would co-operative banks have to wait to receive funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"The day I got the news about demonetisation, I understood that people would definitely face trouble. At that very moment, I said that people should not face trouble from this decision. I called a meeting of the officers that law and order should be maintained and people of the state should not face trouble from the same," Yadav said.

He added, "Farmers are unhappy and are facing a lot of trouble. This is an appropriate time for to sow seeds, and now when the fertilizers are available, that is why I am asking for to help for the farmers. The Centre has agreed to give money to the co-operative banks, but how many co-operative banks are there and when will the money reach?"

The Chief Minister further said, "In the whole nation, if anybody has opened branches of cooperative banks in the villages, it is the Samajwadi Party-led government. The branches of banks do not have the amount of money that is required. The Centre should come up to find a solution for farmers. It has been more than 15 to 16 days since the announcement of demonetisation."

Meanwhile, theruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu on Thursday called on the Centre to stop the closure of cooperative banks in rural areas.

"Our MPs' will meet the finance minister, because all of a sudden, cooperative banks have been closed, and in most villages, there are no or private banks, only cooperative banks are functioning. They (Centre) need to take action immediately," AIADMK leader C.R. Saraswathy told ANI.

She said farmers and the common man are suffering a lot and these banks should be given permission to carry out transactions.

On Thursday, an all-party delegation from Kerala met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today in Delhi to raise their concerns over the prevailing cash crunch. The Kerala Assembly, which held a special session on Tuesday to discuss the turbulent situation in the state's co-operative sector, passed a resolution stating that the union government should withdraw the restrictions on cooperative banks.

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A2Z Infra Engineering fell 5.43% to Rs 38.30 at 14:46 IST on BSE on profit booking after a recent rally.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 39.40 points, or 0.15%, to 26,012.41.

On BSE, so far 2.17 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 2.62 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 40.05 and a low of Rs 37.55 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 51.65 on 1 November 2016. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 16.50 on 12 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past 30 days till 23 November 2016, falling 2.64% compared with the 7.26% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 4.25% as against Sensex's 6.41% decline.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 129.62 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Shares of A2Z Infra Engineering rose 20.54% in two trading sessions to settle at Rs 40.50 yesterday, 23 November 2016, from its close of Rs 33.60 on 21 November 2016.

Shares of A2Z Infra Engineering rose 6.86% to Rs 40.50 yesterday, 23 November 2016, after the company said its subsidiary A2Z Green Waste Management has agreed with one of its lenders for a settlement of its various debt obligation aggregating to Rs 416.18 crore. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.

The stock surged 12.80% to Rs 37.90 on Tuesday, 22 November 2016, after the company said that a contract has been awarded to the company by Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Company for construction of 132 kilovolt S/S Bijapur and associated EHV Line on turnkey basis. The aggregate value of the contract is Rs 41.33 crore. The announcement was made during market hours on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.

A2Z Infra Engineering reported a net loss of Rs 18.75 crore in Q1 June 2016, lower than net loss of Rs 34.21 crore in Q1 June 2015. Net sales surged 148.5% to Rs 202.70 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

A2Z Infra Engineering (formerly known as A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services) is a fast growing, fully integrated electrical business group (EBG) in India catering to the needs of domestic and international power sector clients in building distribution and transmission infrastructure.

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By ABP News

Advanced Enzyme Technologies announced that the Company has been awarded by ABP for being The Best Nutraceutical Company of the Year. The award has been received by Piyush Rathi, Chief Business Officer of the Company at Healthcare Leadership Awards held at Taj Lands end, Mumbai on 23 November 2016.

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2016 for introducing it in the Parliament.

The Merchant Shipping Bill, 2016 is a revamped version of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. The Bill provides for repealing of Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 as well as for the repealing of the Coasting Vessels Act, 1838.

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 had become a bulky piece of legislation over the years as a result of various amendments carried out in the Act from time to time. It was amended 17 times between 1966 and 2014 resulting in an increase in the number of sections to more than 560 sections. These provisions have been meticulously shortened to 280 sections in the Bill.

The provisions of the Bill will simplify the law governing the merchant shipping in India. Further, certain redundant provisions will be dispensed with and remaining provisions will stand consolidated and simplified so as to promote case of doing business, transparency and effective delivery of services.

The significant reforms that will usher in, upon enactment of the Bill, are:

A.

Augmentation of Indian tonnage promotion/development of coastal shipping in India by:-

a) allowing substantially-owned vessels and vessels on Bare Boat-cum-Demise (BBCD); charter by Indians to be registered as Indian flag vessels;

b) recognising Indian controlled tonnage as a separate category;

c) dispensing with the requirement for issuing of licences to Indian flag vessels for coastal operation and for port clearance by the Customs authorities; and

d) making separate rules for coastal vessels to develop & promote coastal shipping.

B. Introduction of welfare measures for seafarers, such as:-

a) seafarers held in hostage captivity of pirates will receive wages till they are released and reach home back safely;

b) owners of vessels to compulsorily take insurance of crew engaged on vessels including fishing, sailing without mechanical means of propulsion and whose net tonnage is less than 15; and

c) the requirement of signing of articles of agreement by the crew before the Shipping Master will no longer be necessary.

C. Registration of certain residuary category of vessels not covered under any statute and lo make provisions for security-related aspects.

D. Incorporation of all International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Conventions/Protocols in the Indian laws up-to-date (an essential pre-requisite for compliance with the IMO Member-State Audit Scheme that is mandatory since 1/1/2016) by inserting provisions relating to seven different conventions, namely,

a) the Intervention Convention 1969,

b) the Search and Rescue Convention 1979

c) the Protocol for Prevention of Pollution from Ships Annex VI to Marine Pollution Convention,

d) the Convention for Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004,

e) the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention, 2007,

f) the Salvage Convention 1989 and

g) the International Convention for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001.

Besides, the provisions for survey, inspection and certification of vessels which were scattered in various Parts of the existing Act are placed together to provide for a simplified regime for convenience of Indian shipping industry. The Coasting Vessels Act, 1838, which is an archaic legislation of the British era providing for registration of non-mechanically propelled vessels to a limited jurisdiction of Saurashtra and Kutch, is proposed to be repealed since in the Merchant Shipping Bill 2016 provisions have been introduced for registration of all vessels for the whole of India.

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. At the initiative of the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia the opening ceremony of the exhibition of Istanbul-Armenian photographer Nuran Akkaya entitled Armenians in Turkey took place at Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall in Yerevan.

Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan attended the event; Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry.

Greeting the photographer and other compatriots from Istanbul, Minister Hakobyan said that the 60 photos exhibited tell about Armenians living in our historical land and Istanbul, as well as Armenian cultural heritage. Nuran is in Armenia for the first time thank to the presentation of his book and the opening of his exhibition. I am convinced from now on he will visit the Motherland more frequently bringing with him his artist friends. We must do our best to make our talented compatriots in Istanbul more popular in Armenia, she said.

Hranush Hakoyan awarded Nuran Akkaya with ministerial certificate for his contribution to the preservation of the Armenian identity in Istanbul.

Afterwards, a number of intellectuals addressed words of gratitude to the photographer.

At the end of the event the author of the exhibition also made some remarks. I am extremely happy for my first exhibition opened in Armenia. I am thankful to the Ministry of Diaspora for bringing my dream into life. I try to familiarize the Armenian society with our talented by hidden Armenians living in the territory of Turkey through my exhibitions and photo portraits. I am convinced similar events can serve as a bridge between the two Armenian separated segments, Nuran Akkaya said.

The exhibition will be available until November 27.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for diversion of State Highway-149 passing through Naval Land at Kakinada.

In this connection, the following decisions were also taken:-

a) Taking over of 11.25 acres of land of the Government of Andhra Pradesh underneath the existing Highway passing through Naval land at Kakinada.

b) Surrender of 5.23 acres of Naval land at Kakinada to the State Government of Andhra Pradesh.

c) Payment of Rs. 1882.775 Lakhs as compensation to the State Government of Andhra Pradesh to facilitate them for acquisition of land and for associated construction of alternate road.

The re-routing of state highway at Kakinada will provide hindrance free training by reducing accidents and improvement in security of the establishment. It will ensure safety and security of Amphibious Warfare Training Centre alongwith related infrastructure.

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the ratification and entry into force of the third Protocol to the Convention between India and New Zealand for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to (w.r.t) taxes on income (Convention). The Protocol was signed on 26th October, 2016.

The Protocol will stimulate the flow of exchange of information between India and New Zealand for tax purposes which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance. It will also enable assistance in collection of tax revenue claims between both countries.

Article 26 on 'Exchange of Information' of the existing Convention has been replaced with a new Article in the Protocol which is in line with the international standard for exchange of information.

A new Article on 'Assistance on Collection of Taxes' has been added in the Protocol.

The Protocol shall enter into force on the date of notification of completion of the procedures required by the respective laws of the two countries for entry into force of the Protocol.

Background:

The Central Government is authorized under section 90 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to enter into an Agreement with a foreign country or specified territory for exchange of information and recovery of income tax for the prevention of evasion or avoidance of income-tax chargeable under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

The Convention came into force on 3rd December, 1986. The Convention was amended in 1997 through a First Protocol and in 2000 through a Second Protocol. Subsequently, India proposed to further amend the Convention through a Third Protocol to update the Exchange of Information Article as per the international standard and to insert an Article on Assistance in the Collection of taxes. Accordingly, negotiations were entered into with New Zealand and agreement was reached on both the Articles of the Third Protocol.

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Navkar Corporation lost 1.53% to Rs 173.40 at 12:24 IST on BSE after the company informed that its subsidiary has terminated agreement with Kribhco Infrastructure.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 23 November 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 103.55 points or 0.4% at 25,948.26

On BSE, so far 1,339 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 30,270 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 176.15 and low of Rs 171.75 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 223.65 on 29 June 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 151 on 3 March 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 23 November 2016, falling 11.91% compared with the 7.26% decline in the Sensex. The scrip also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 10.54% as against Sensex's 6.41% decline.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 142.61 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

It may be recalled that Navkar Corporation had on 2 June 2016 announced that the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Navkar Terminals, has received contract for operation and management of Kribhco Infrastructure's container freight station (CFS)/ICD and handling of container trains at Hazira Terminal, Gujarat.

On consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 40.86% to Rs 23.51 crore on 8.19% growth in net sales to Rs 87.99 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

Navkar Corporation is a container freight stations (CFSs) operator in India with three CFSs. The company operates in close proximity to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), the largest container port in India. The company's three CFSs and private railway freight terminal (PFT) operations are spread over 3.59 million sq. ft., of which 1.63 million sq. ft. have been notified as a customs area.

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At least eight out of 10 South Koreans support the move for impeachment of President Park Geun-hye after prosecutors identified her as an accomplice to Choi Soon-sil, her longtime confidante indicted for abuse of power and extortion, a survey said on Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, 79.5 per cent of respondents expressed agreement on impeaching the scandal-hit President. Among them, 60.3 per cent strongly favoured the impeachment, Xinhua news agency reported.

Going against it was 14.6 per cent, but the portion of those who want Park to be impeached was up from 73.9 per cent last week when people demanded that she either voluntarily resign or be impeached.

Almost one million protesters rallied on the streets nationwide last Saturday, demanding Park step down. But, the presidential office rejected the demand, saying Park will maintain her presidency to take responsibility for state affairs.

Despite public and parliamentary opposition, the first South Korean female leader pushed a military intelligence accord with Japan, formally signing the deal on Wednesday to directly exchange information on North Korea.

Protesters in front of the South Korean Defence Ministry's headquarters, where the two sides sealed the military agreement, shouted for the President's immediate resignation, saying Park must distance herself from state affairs, including diplomacy and security.

On Sunday, the prosecution office said Park had conspired with her decades-long friend in multiple crimes. Park became the country's first sitting President to be investigated as a criminal suspect.

Prosecutors raided Samsung Group headquarters on Wednesday and searched the headquarters of Lotte and SK, two of the country's top five conglomerates, on Thursday over bribery allegations.

The country's parliament is set to launch a separate investigation into the scandal later this month. The team of a special prosecutor who will probe the case independently is said to launch investigation early next month.

The opposition vowed to put an impeachment motion to vote in the National Assembly by December 9.

--IANS

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The area of sea ice around Antarctica has barely changed in size in the past 100 years, researchers have found.

According to estimates by climate scientists at the University of Reading in London, Antarctic has lost ony 14 per cent summer sea ice since the early 1900s.

It may be because Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.

Since satellite observations began, Antarctic sea ice has increased slightly over the past 30 years, said lead author Jonathan Day from the University of Reading.

"Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new," Day added.

The study revealed that the levels of the continent's sea ice in the early 1900s were in fact similar to the present, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square km.

However, Weddell Sea did have a significantly larger ice cover, the study said.

In the study, the team examined the ice observations recorded in the ships' logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the German Erich von Drygalski to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.

"The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice," Day said.

The study was published in the journal The Cryosphere.

--IANS

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FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid clinched top spots in their Champions League groups, consigning Bayern Munich and Manchester City to the second knockout stage berths from Groups D and C, respectively.

Atletico, playing in front of the home crowd at their Vicente Calderon stadium, beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 here on Wednesday to preserve their perfect record in the 2016-17 Champions group stage, reports Efe.

Kevin Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann scored to bring Atletico to 15 points, six ahead of German champions Bayern Munich, who fell 3-2 to FC Rostov in Wednesday's major upset.

Barcelona's star striker Lionel Messi, who missed Barcelona's last La Liga contest against Malaga, scored both the goals in a 2-0 victory over Celtic in Glasgow that assured the Catalan club of the top spot in Group C with 12 points.

The Argentine's eighth and ninth goals of the 2016-17 Champions League season boosted his scoring total in international club competitions to 100.

England's Manchester City have eight points after managing only a 1-1 draw away to Germany's Borussia Monchengladbach.

In Group B, meanwhile, a pair of draws on Wednesday left everything to be decided in next month's final matches.

While Napoli was held 0-0 at home by Dynamo Kiev, Benfica took a 3-0 lead over Besiktas only to concede three goals in the second half.

Napoli and Benfica each have eight points, one ahead of Besiktas.

Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will advance from Group A, but the order of the finish will remain in suspense until match-day six is in the books.

The two leaders faced each other Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium in London, where the hosts took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Edinson Cavani.

Olivier Giroud converted a penalty to put Arsenal level just before half-time and the hosts looked to have secured the victory when PSG's Marco Verrati gave up an own goal, but Arsenal's Alex Iwobi returned the favour and the contest ended 2-2.

PSG and Arsenal have 11 points each, though the English club enjoy a slight advantage on goal differential.

Basel and Ludogorets played out a 0-0 draw in Wednesday's other Group A match.

--IANS

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The CBI has arrested a Garrison Engineer for accepting new currency notes worth Rs 25,000 as bribe on the pretext of releasing three pending bills of a private construction company worth Rs 26 lakh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths held R.S. Verma, the assistant engineer (Western Command) Chandimandir -- a military cantonment area in Panchkula district in Haryana -- red handed while receiving the first bribery instalment from the complainant, CBI Spokesperson Devpreet Singh told IANS on Thursday.

"It was alleged in the complaint that three bills amounting to Rs 14 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for construction contract carried out at the Western Command Chandimandir by the private construction company were pending with the sub-division Garrison Engineer," Singh said.

"The bills were to be allegedly released by the engineer for which he demanded Rs 60,000 from the complainant. He was arrested while receiving the first instalment of Rs 25,000," he added.

Verma has been booked under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act following a complaint received from the partner of the private construction company.

--IANS

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A notorious criminal was arrested here on Thursday after a gun battle with police which damaged the car of a senior police officer.

Unus alias Kale was caught after a 15-minute "encounter" at Karhera leading to Raj Nagar Extension.

A police team led by Superintendent Salman Taj Patil flagged Kale to stop when he was in a car with an accomplice.

But Kale opened fire at the police while trying to escape. He was nabbed some 15 minutes later.

Two bullets hit Taj Patil's car. The criminal also sustained two bullet wounds in his legs. His accomplice escaped.

Taj Patil told IANS that Kale was "a wanted criminal and was a terror" in the area. He was wanted for multiple murders and carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head.

--IANS

sps/mr/vd

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Will the 10-day International Sangai Tourism Festival which began here on Monday prove to be a damp squib due to demonetisation and other problems? That the question is haunting both officials and participants.

Officials said on Thursday that only a few visitors have come to the festival so far in contrast to heavy rush every year. Indian entrepreneurs as well as those coming from Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia said this time their sales will be slashed by 50 per cent as compared to last year.

"This may be the adverse impact of the demonetisation. Some of us had announced that demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will be accepted. But this failed to impress the people since in the absence of Rs 100 notes and lesser value currencies, they have to spend the entire amounts," said one of the Indian participants.

Besides demonetisation, there was a boycott of the festival by some armed rebel groups. One stall-holder said: "The indefinite economic blockade imposed by the Nagas from November 1 has paralysed the state economy. This has deterred the people from visiting the tourism festival."

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has stated that Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has not put forth any concrete proposals to end the blockade, but Ibobi Singh has denied the claim. Talks between the representatives of the United Naga Council and the central government did not yield any results.

Meanwhile, at least two loaded trucks were torched by the UNC activists along the National Highway Nos. 2 and 37. Hundreds of loaded trucks were stranded along the highways. Armed paramilitary personnel have been able to escort trucks and oil tankers thrice from Assam so far.

Fuel, consumer items and life saving drugs are at low stock in the state. Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam asked the people to be prepared to face the blockade and shortages for some more time.

--IANS

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Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Goa Shantaram Naik filed a breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, for making statements on demonetisation outside Parliament, even when both the Houses are in session.

According to a statement issued by Naik, the notice has been filed under Rule 187 and 188 of Rules Of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).

"It was improper for the Prime Minister to make a statement on demonetisation outside Parliament when both the Houses of Parliament were in session," Naik said.

The lone Rajya Sabha MP from Goa also said that Modi's address at the public rally in Agra on November 19, where he commented on the demonetisation decision, violated the rules of parliamentary business.

"Further, the Prime Minister himself came on television on November 8, to announce the decision despite the fact that the Rajya Sabha debated the issue of demonetisation the whole day," Naik said.

"The Prime Minister did not think it necessary to come and attend the Rajya Sabha and intervene in the debate, thereby committing another breach of privilege of the House," he said.

The Opposition has been demanding a statement from Modi on the demonetisation issue and the Prime Minister is expected to make a statement in Parliament soon.

--IANS

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October 31, 2022 14:54

Armenias 2023 state budget envisages 35% increase in defense spending

According to the 2023 state budget of Armenia, the defense spending will comprise 506 billion drams which is 35% more than that of 2022, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said during the session of the parliamentary standing committees dedicated to the debate of the 2023 state budget draft.
A 20-year-old Delhi University student was critically injured after she fell from the third floor of the college building here on Thursday, police said.

Sujata, a third year B.A. (Prog) student of Vivekananda College in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar, went to sit for an examination at around 9 a.m and fell from the third floor window which did not have a grille around 12.45 p.m, police said.

'The victim had come to give her exam today. She fell down from the third floor window which did not have a grille. She has been admitted to Max hospital in Patparganj. Her condition is said to be critical,' Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishi Pal said.

We are investigating the matter from all possible angles but it appears to be a case of attempted suicide, Pal added.

Prima facie it appears that she may be depressed over not performing well in the exam. No note was found from her possession, police said.

--IANS

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An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 15 supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison over inciting violence and vandalism in Suez province northeast of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The defendants, mostly from Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, have also been accused of assaulting a police officer and a conscript from Suez police station, Xinhua news agency reported.

Suez Criminal Court also acquitted four defendants in the same case that dates back to 2014 when a group of Morsi's supporters held anti-government protests and riots in support of the deposed Islamist President.

Most of Morsi's loyalists, including the ousted President himself, are currently in custody facing various charges varying from inciting violence to espionage.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a 25-year jail term against Morsi in the case of espionage in favour of the Palestinian Hamas movement and ordered the ex-President's retrial. A week earlier, the court overturned the death sentence against Morsi in a 2011 jailbreak case.

Morsi was overthrown by the army in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group. Later crackdown on his supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

--IANS

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Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met members of US President-elect Donald Trump's transition team during a visit to Washington last week, a senior official here confirmed on Thursday.

"Foreign Secretary did visit the United States as part of regular bilateral consultations," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said during his weekly media briefing here.

"He met with the members of the current administration and had meetings in the US Congress. It is also my understanding that Foreign Secretary interacted with very senior levels of the Trump transition team," he said.

The spokesperson also welcomed Trump's naming of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a person of Indian origin, as the new US Permanent Representative to the UN.

"We know Governor Haley well and recognise her as a very strong and committed advocate of close India-US ties," he said.

"She had called on Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the United States and had also recently visited India. We warmly welcome her appointment as PR to UN."

Asked about the role of three-million Indian diaspora in bolstering India-US ties under the new Trump administration, Swarup said that the diaspora in the US constituted "a very vital, a very living bridge" between the two countries.

"Their contribution to the progress and well-being of the United States has been very well appreciated," he said.

"It is a model immigrant community as far as we are concerned and this has been appreciated across the board by all sections of the United States population," he added.

--IANS

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As the Indian government aims to foster innovation through 'Digital India' and 'Make in India', Australian companies can help solve cybersecurity challenges in the country with home-grown technologies and solutions, a senior official said on Thursday.

John Madew, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) visited India with a six-member delegation from November 21-24 to expand linkages between technology and innovation and the Indian IT sector.

"This mission is an excellent opportunity for Indian IT companies to learn more about Australia's advanced capabilities in cybersecurity and how they can integrate novel Australian cybersecurity solutions into their supply chain and offer them for their global clients," Madew told reporters here.

India is Australia's fifth largest export market with Australian merchandise and services exports valued at approximately 13.5 billion (Australian dollars) as of 2015.

The Australia-India bi-lateral trade is valued at $19.8 billion (Australian dollars). In 2015, Indian foreign investment into Australia was valued at $11.6 billion (Australian dollars), with Australian investment in India valued at $1.5 billion (Australian dollars).

"We are working on expanding bilateral trade and investment relationship further. Taking into account India's economic growth imperative, one of the key initiative areas of Austrade in India is on innovation and technology," Madew said.

The delegation visited Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai and met senior representatives from India's leading IT companies.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has extended $10 million as grant-in-aid to Mozambique as part of relief measures to the south African country which is facing a drought, the government said on Thursday.

India's High Commissioner to Mozambique Rudra Gaurav Shresth handed over a cheque of the amount on Wednesday to the country's Minister of Trade and Industry, according to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry here.

"This grant-in-aid was provided in response to a request from the friendly country of Mozambique, which has faced two consecutive years of drought leading to severe difficulties for its people," the statement said.

"The Indian grant will help the Mozambique authorities to urgently purchase wheat from the international market, and thus help ensure availability of food for vulnerable sections of the Mozambique population".

According to the statement, India and Mozambique "have long had warm and multi-faceted relations" and India was among the first countries to open its embassy in Maputo, after Mozambique gained independence in 1975.

"Mozambique is also home to nearly 20,000 persons of Indian origin, who provide a human link between the populations of both countries," it stated.

"Mozambique is also among our most important economic partners in Africa, and accounts for almost 25 percent of India's net FDI into Africa."

The statement said that a closer economic partnership with Mozambique was a vital ingredient in addressing India's future needs of energy and food security.

Mozambique was the first country in mainland Africa that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited in July this year.

During the visit, India signed an agreement for purchase of wheat, which Thursday's statement said was "a gesture of solidarity for a country which we see as one of our most important future partners".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian man was assaulted at a restaurant's bar in the South Hills Village in Pittsburgh because he was mistaken as a Muslim, media reports said.

The police arrived at the Red Robin Restaurant, where Anukur Mehta, directed it to the suspect, Jeffrey Burgess, Wtae-TV reported.

Mehta told the police that Burgess was seated next to him at the bar and began making racial and ethnic slurs. He told Mehta that "things are different now" and "I don't want you sitting next to me. You people", according to the report.

The police said that when 54-year-old Burgess spoke he was staggering and smelled of alcohol. "He launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically," Bethel Park police Chief Timothy O'Connor said.

Witnesses told the police that Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also added that Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgess' impending attack. Burgess struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, said the report.

Mehta was taken to a local hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip. Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, assault, public drunkenness and harassment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, condemned the attack, saying it's the "latest in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian Christian evangelist in New Zealand will be deported despite his claims that "Hindu extremists" in India have threatened to kill him, media reported on Thursday.

Auckland High Court's Justice Peters acknowledged that the situation for Christians in India had "deteriorated" under the new government, which was elected in 2014, but not since the man's initial bid for refugee status was rejected a year ago, Stuff.co.nz reported.

The man, identified only as BD, was detained and jailed in 2012 for overstaying his visa. Since then, the Indian Christian evangelist has been fighting the deportation order on humanitarian grounds.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal in New Zealand turned down his first claim for refugee status in 2015.

He made another claim saying that his stay in jail had strengthened his Christian faith so much, that the preaching he would be compelled to do when back in India would put his life in danger. That claim too, has been turned down by the Auckland High Court.

In a decision earlier this week, Justice Peters said the man had initially been rejected as a refugee because his risk of danger would be low if he returned to India. However, he also noted Indian police's "sometimes lacklustre" response to hostility against Christians, according to the report.

But the man's lawyer said a "rising tide of Hindu extremism" under the India government, coupled with his client's intensified will to "convert heathens", meant circumstances had changed enough for the High Court to reconsider his entitlement to refugee status.

The lawyer urged the High Court to reconsider his client's entitlement to refugee status by saying that his return to the country might land him in deep trouble. The lawyer cited Vishva Hindu Parishad as a threat for minorities, including Christians in India, according to the media report.

Hindu and Christian leaders in Auckland's Indian community, however, labelled BD's religious claims a "baseless" excuse to remain in the country. Veer Khar, a Hindu and the president of the Indian Central Association, said all faiths were tolerated in India.

Justice Peters noted "whether or not (the man's) faith has intensified" did not increase his risk of attack, because he was already a well-known evangeliser.

BD had claimed that his brother in India had received several threatening telephone calls, but Justice Peters dismissed those claims.

Ilamgo Krishna Moorthy, the president of the New Zealand Hindu Temple Association, said "a lot of evangelists" visited India regularly and the man would not be stopped.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
jihadists have publicly beheaded 15 Iraqi soldiers in central Mosul and paraded their corpses along the embattled city's major thoroughfares, local news site Ara News reported on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people witnessed the gruesome executions on Tuesday, the head of the Nineveh Media Centre watchdog, Raafat al-Zarari, was quoted as telling Ara News.

The soldiers were reportedly taken prisoners after clashes last week in southwestern Mosul.

Undeterred, Iraqi forces have continued to advance into Mosul's eastern neighbourhoods, Ara News said.

IS-held areas of the city were entirely surrounded on Wednesday after Shia militias and Kurdish forces cut off a key western supply route to Syria trapping IS fighters in the city for a bloody last stand, security officials were quoted as saying.

The Iraqi army, Kurdish forces and Shia militias launched a US-backed joint operation on October 17 to dislodge IS from Mosul and surrounds but have encountered stiffer-than-expected resistance from IS fighters.

IS overran Mosul  Iraq's second largest city  in June 2014 and declared it the capital of its Islamic 'caliphate' stretching across swathes of territory seized by the group in Iraq and Syria during a lightening offensive.
An Israeli army officer was killed when his tank overturned in the Golan Heights, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.

Three other soldiers were injured in the accident that occurred overnight during "routine training", Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying.

The dead soldier was identified as Sergeant Ido Ben-Ari, a 20-year-old tank commander in the 401st Brigade.

Military authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, and annexed it in 1981, a move not recognised internationally.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday appointed former Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar as the partys state unit chief.

"Brar has been fighting for the cause of the people of Punjab for several years. He will continue to fight against corruption and the drug menace in the state," Trinamool Congress Vice-President Mukul Roy said here.

The Trinamool also said it plans to forge an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Punjab assembly polls.

"The plans for the Punjab polls are being finalised. It is too early to say anything. But we do have a great rapport with the AAP; both want to fulfil the people's wish to get rid of the current SAD-BJP alliance government in the state," said Trinamool MP Sultan Ahmed.

Brar, who was expelled from the Congress in April, is a former member of Parliament and a former Congress Working Committee member.

In the wake of the Congress defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Brar suggested that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical so as to introspect on the worst ever performance of the Congress.

He was eying to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He said his decision to join the Trinamool was in due consultation with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

"My decision to join the Trinamool is part of a larger initiative to form a national alternative and was done after due consultation with the AAP," Brar said.

He said his unconditional support to the AAP will continue so as to rid Punjab of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government.

"Our efforts along with the AAP to rid Punjab of the (Parkash Singh) Badal scourge will continue. There is no scope for difference here," Brar said.

"Our support for the AAP will continue unchanged and unconditionally under the leadership of (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Armenias minister of foreign affairs Edward Nalbandian had a meeting on November 23 with Secretary-General of the International Organization of La Francophonie Michaelle Jean within the framework of the organizations ministerial conference in the capital of Madagascar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed.

November 24, 2016, 10:16 Armenia FM, OIF Secretary-General discuss La Francophonie conference
Defending the demonetisation decision as "correct", Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said maximum black money was generated during the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's rule.

"The steps this government has taken are right and are being implemented in the right manner," the minister told the media in Parliament House here.

Lashing out at the Congress, Jaitley said: "We are not surprised when we hear from those who ran the government between 2004 and 2014 that they do not like these steps against black money."

"The maximum black money was generated in this country between 2004 and 2014. The biggest corruption scandals pertaining to the Commonwealth Games, the 2G spectrum and the coal blocks took place during this period," he added.

Jaitley said people who did not consider these scandals to be blunders were now considering the campaign against black money and corruption to be a blunder.

Jaitley was referring to former Prime Minister and Congress's Rajya Sabha member Manmohan Singh describing the post-dmonetisation chaos as "organised plunder", which he apparently mistook as "blunder".

"This is the exact rational argument that they will put forward in the debate in Parliament as it takes place. But it's obvious that the opposition is uncomfortable with the debate and are inventing ...a ... manufacturing reason to run away from the debate," the minister said.

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday resumed discussion on the government's demonetisation move after facing repeated adjournments for the past five days.

However, the opposition again forced adjournment of the house in the post-lunch session over its demand for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday entered his new official residence, said to be the biggest and expensive residence of any Chief Minister in the country but drew flak from the opposition.

Accompanied by his wife Shobha Rao, son K.T. Rama Rao, a cabinet minister and other family members, the Chief Minister stepped into the dream house at 5.22 a.m., amid the chanting of Vedic hymns by a group of priests.

The new complex over 10 acres of land and about one lakh square feet built-up space has come up close to the existing camp office-cum-residence of the Chief Minister in Begumpet.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, and his wife participated in "Sudarshana Yagnam" conducted under the supervision of seer Chinna Jeeyar Swamy.

As part of the "Griha pravesh" (House warming ceremony), the couple performed "Daiva Pravesam", "Yati Pravesam", "Go pravesam" and "Pravesam" (formally entering) ceremonies as per the holy scriptures.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, his wife Vimala Narasimhan, KCR's daughter and MP K. Kavitha, nephew and state minister Harish Rao and state ministers and top officials attended the ceremony.

Estimated to have been built at a cost of over Rs 40 crore, the complex named "Pragathi Bhavan" comprises the CM's residence, office, conference hall and the two existing buildings.

Soon after forming the first government in newly created Telangana state in 2014, KCR had started work on the new residence.

A firm believer in "vaastu", KCR had reluctantly moved into the existing camp office after removing avaastu defects'.

The "vaastu" advisors of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief had advised him against occupying the existing camp office built in 2004 by then Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy at a cost of Rs.8.10 crore.

KCR considered the building "inauspicious" as Rajasekhara Reddy had reportedly moved in without performing rituals and he died in a helicopter crash a few months after returning to power in 2009. His successor K. Roshaiah also could not complete the term while Kiran Kumar Reddy faced a turbulent time as the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana CM had been using only residential part of the complex both as residence and office but never used the camp office.

KCR, however, is facing flak from the opposition for building a new residence, thus burdening the public exchequer.

Opposition Congress party leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said KCR was doing a Nero. He said the CM moved into a five-star bungalow with bullet-proof toilet and bedrooms at a time when people were suffering due to demonetization of high value currency notes.

Shabbir, who is leader of opposition in state legislative assembly, said KCR moved into posh new house while his poll promise to build 2.6 lakh double-bed room houses for poor remained unfulfilled.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday entered his new official residence, said to be the biggest held by any Chief Minister in the country, drawing flak from the opposition.

Accompanied by his wife Shobha Rao, son K.T. Rama Rao, a cabinet minister, and other family members, KCR stepped into the dream house at 5.22 a.m. amid the chanting of Vedic hymns by priests.

The new complex, spread over 10 acres of land and about one lakh square feet built-up space, has come up close to the existing camp office-cum-residence of the Chief Minister in Begumpet.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, and his wife participated in "Sudarshana Yagnam" conducted under the supervision of seer Chinna Jeeyar Swamy.

As part of the "griha pravesh" (house warming ceremony), the couple performed "Daiva Pravesam", "Yati Pravesam", "Go pravesam" and "Pravesam" (formally entering) ceremonies.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, his wife Vimala Narasimhan, KCR's daughter and MP K. Kavitha, nephew and state minister Harish Rao and state ministers and top officials attended the ceremony.

Estimated to have been built at a cost of over Rs 40 crore, the complex, "Pragathi Bhavan", comprises the CM's residence, office, conference hall and the two existing buildings.

Soon after forming the first government in newly created Telangana state in 2014, KCR had started work on the new residence.

A firm believer in "vaastu", the ancient system of architecture, KCR had reluctantly moved into the existing camp office after removing 'vaastu defects'.

The "vaastu" advisors of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief had advised him against occupying the existing camp office built in 2004 by then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy at a cost of Rs.8.10 crore.

KCR considered the building "inauspicious" as Rajasekhara Reddy had reportedly moved in without performing rituals and he died in a helicopter crash a few months after returning to power in 2009.

His successor K. Roshaiah also could not complete the term while Kiran Kumar Reddy faced a turbulent time as the last Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana CM had been using only residential part of the complex both as residence and office but never used the camp office.

KCR is facing flak from the opposition for what they said was a waste of public money on a new building though the existing residence was in good condition.

Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said KCR was doing a Nero. He said the CM moved into a five-star bungalow with bullet-proof toilet and bedrooms at a time when people were suffering due to demonetization of high value currency.

Shabbir, who is leader of the opposition in the state assembly, said KCR moved into posh new house while his poll promise to build 2.6 lakh double-bedroom houses for poor remained unfulfilled.

Activists of Telugu Nadu Students Federation (TNSF), the youth wing of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), tried to lay siege to the new residence of KCR as a mark of protest.

Police arrested the TNSF activists who raised slogans against the Chief Minister.

The protestors said the government had no money to pay towards arrears for the reimbursement of students' fee but spent huge money on the new residence.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold six rallies over the next four weeks across the nation against the central government's demonetisation move, AAP announced on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also hold demonstrations against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes across all its district headquarters.

"On November 28 across the nation, the AAP will hold demonstrations at all district headquarters against the Rs 8 lakh crore scam," AAP leader Ashish Khetan told the media here.

He said Kejriwal will hold rallies in Meerut, Varanasi and Lucknow on December 1, 7 and 18 respectively.

The AAP convenor will hold rallies in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur on December 20, 22 and 23.

"We will ask seven questions to the public through rallies about demonetisation," Khetan said.

The AAP has strongly opposed the central government's demonetisation move announced on November 8 and demanded its roll back.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold six rallies in the next four weeks, including one in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, against demonetisation, the AAP announced on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party said it will also hold demonstrations against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in all district headquarters in the country on November 28.

"It is a Rs 8 lakh crore scam," AAP leader Ashish Khetan told the media here, referring to the demonetisation announced by Modi on November 8 that has triggered a cash chaos.

Khetan said Kejriwal will hold public rallies in Meerut, Varanasi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on December 1, 7 and 18 respectively and in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur on December 20, 22 and 23 respectively.

"We will ask seven questions to the public through rallies about demonetisation," Khetan said.

"We will ask them if there should be an independent probe into the documents seized during Income Tax raids into Sahara and Birla's offices which revealed that bribes worth crores of rupees paid to Modi and many other leaders," he said.

Kejriwal had earlier this month accused the Prime Minister of receiving bribes while he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and sought a judicial probe into the issue.

Khetan added that AAP will also ask people if it was right to waive off loans of big industrialists worth Rs 1.14 crore.

"Since demonetisation, around seven lakh crore rupees have been deposited in banks. Should this amount be used to waive off further loans of big corporates? Or should the Prime Minister take strong steps to recover loans worth Rs 8 lakh crore?"

He asked if it was right to waive off loans of 63 big industrialists, including Rs 1,200 crore loan given to Vijay Mallya, just a week after the demonetisation.

"The central government has a list of 648 people who have Swiss bank accounts. Should that list be made public?

"Around 80 lakh crore rupees are stashed in offshore accounts according to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Prime Minister's own estimates. Should there be efforts to bring that money back," Khetan asked.

The AAP has strongly opposed the central government's demonetisation move announced on November 8 and demanded its rollback.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aiming to intensify contribution in the field of Nano medicine, India on Thursday launched a first-of-its-kind Indian Society of Nano Medicine (ISNM).

ISNM is an initiative which will bring several Indian nano technology researchers together and use it for slashing high cost of medicines, provide customised treatment and improve diagnostics.

It's biggest advantage to the Indian medicine system is precise cancer treatment, which means nano technology will be used to destroy cancerous cells without harming healthy cells at a less cost.

Members of the new forum will be from various fields, such as eminent health care providers, engineers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and nano science researchers, among others, who have been researching on nano science for almost a decade.

"Apart from providing targeted delivery, nano drugs will also help in lowering the cost as dosage will reduce from milligrams to nanograms with less side effects," Amit Dinda, Secretary of ISNM and Professor of Pathology at AIIMS, told IANS.

The society, launched during an event held at the AIIMS will have Professor Y.K. Gupta of AIIMS as the first President of the new forum.

He said that though India ranks third in terms of publications on Nano Sciences, it was behind several nations in terms of using it in the field of medicine.

"Through this we will be able to use nano medicine, bringing all scientists working in the field of nano medicine on one platform," said Dinda.

The ISNM will also see collaborations in future with American Society of Nano Medicine and similar societies from other countries as well.

"We will solve the challenge of patient treatment in various ways through this initiative," he said.

According to medical science, Nano particles can help deliver drugs directly to the diseased cells, reducing the damage which other methods like chemotherapy do to healthy cells.

"The platform will give members an opportunity to closely interact with peers in the field of nano medicine with particular emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of the contacts between innovators and physicians focusing on clinical application," Dinda noted.

According to the government statistics, Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for research on the use of nano technology.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Philip Lee, the iconic producer of "The Revenant", "Crouching Tiger" and "The Dark Knight", says he does not allow success to overpower his humility as his aim is to keep working hard.

Lee, who visited 10th NFDC Film Bazaar here on Wednesday, told IANS: "I never consider myself as a successful person. I am not being humble but this is true. It is not good for my soul to say that I am successful."

Though Lee is academically explored a lot and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Directing from the College of Arts at Nihon University in Japan, a Diploma in Management of Executive Development from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Master of Fine Arts in Producing from The American Film Institute (AFI) and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, he went through a hard way to reach curve his niche.

"I started off working at the back office of a film company where I used to do paper works... However, one day I went to my boss and asked if I can change the department, as I wanted to get in to the creative process of filmmaking.

"Since then I am doing what I wanted to do. I work hard so that I can continue doing my work passionately. This industry is very challenging!" he shared.

Lee says that he wants to explore Indian films and this is the reason why he is in the country.

"Well, one of the reasons I am here is to get a better exposure of Indian films because I did not watch them so far. The Indian market always fascinates me. Therefore, if I can collaborate, it would be great.

"Film is the very important medium to get expose to the culture of any country. You know, in fact I was trying to make an Indian movie with a friend of mine here eight years ago. However, it did not happen then, it might happen this time," he said.

The producer is going to conduct a Master Class at the NFDC Film Bazaar on Mounting and Positioning the Epic across Cultures.

And he is excited.

"When they told me I have to take a 'Master Class', I was like, hey don't call me a 'Master', I just want to share my journey with youngsters. I learnt from mistakes as I have seen cross-over culture and projects. I just want to share all that in my class," he said.

(The writer's trip to Goa has been sponsored by NFDC Film Bazaar. Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has proposed that November 26 should to be declared as the National Annual Repeal of Laws Day along with the Constitution Day of India, the society said on Thursday.

Currently, November 26 is observed as Constitution Day of India.

"The Constitution Day of India should be attributed as National Annual Repeal of Laws Day to repeal outdated laws," the CCS statement said.

It added that essence of good governance is good laws as the antiquated laws promote red tape and corruption.

The CCS representatives have officially written letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, Chief Justice of India Justice T.S. Thakur, Chairman of Law Commission Justice B.S. Chauhan and Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, Arvind Panagariya in this regard, the statement said.

It has suggested that exercise of repealing laws should be conducted by all state governments and said: "A day in the Parliament and state legislatures should be dedicated and celebrated as 'National Annual Repeal of Laws Day'."

The CCS also appreciated the central government for weeding out about 1,175 obsolete laws in around two years.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Visiting British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday called for an end to violence in Jammu and Kashmir but added that Britain did not want to "prescribe a solution or act as a mediator" in the conflict over the "disputed" region.

"The longstanding position of Britain is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people," Johnson told media.

"Of course we are concerned about recent incidents on both sides of the Line of Control in Kashmir and we call for an end to the violence," he said, urging Pakistan and India to exercise restraint and maintain a dialogue.

Johnson, who is on two-day visit to Pakistan, said the "mutual sequestration" of the India-Pakistan economies was holding back the region from becoming a "boom zone".

Johnson earlier met Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz at the Foreign Office to discuss bilateral ties, FO Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on Twitter.

During the meeting, Johnson said he was excited to be in Pakistan and wants to "further consolidate the rock solid friendship between our two countries".

Johnson's visit comes days after British Prime Minister Theresa May was in India earlier this month.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday assured the Rajya Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the debate on demonetisation.

Replying to the opposition demands that Prime Minister Modi should be present in the House during the debate, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha P.J. Kurien said: "How can the Prime Minister always sit here. He is also a human being."

The Prime Minister was present in the Rajya Sabha to attend the debate on demonetisation till lunch break.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "The Prime Minister should be present in the House for the debate to go on."

Hitting out at Azad, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Jaitley angrily said: "It has become very clear that the opposition doesn't want a debate. Now they are finding different ways to run away from the debate. Now, this is a new method.

"The debate should continue. The Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Keeping in mind the traditions of the House, the PM will come to the House and participate in the debate," he added.

Jaitley added: "There is no tradition that if the debate goes on for 15 hours, he will be there for that long."

Replying to this, Azad said: "When they (NDA) were in opposition they had demanded that the Prime Minister should be in the House during the debate on 2G spectrum."

Following this, the opposition members trooped to the Chairman's podium, only to compel the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman to adjourn the House till 3 p.m.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: They met within the framework of the ongoing OIF ministerial conference in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar, press service of the Armenian MFA told.

Welcoming the Armenian FM, Minister Atallah said she warmly remembers the Francophonie Ministerial conference held in Yerevan last year and the meeting within the framework of that conference.

The sides attached importance to the efforts aimed at developing the cooperation between the two states, and highlighted the role of the International Organization of La Francophonie in it as a bridge between people of various continents and cultures.

Issues related to the development of bilateral ties were discussed. They put an emphasis on the existing huge potential aimed at intensifying the cooperation. The FMs also discussed the cooperation prospects in educational, cultural sectors. Agreement was reached to intensify the consultations between the two Foreign Ministries.

The FMs also covered agenda issues of the Francophonie Ministerial conference, as well as the summit.

They also exchanged views on regional and international issues.
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of Qatar Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani will be visiting India next month, the third high-level visit between the two countries in the last two years.

Al Thani will arrive here on December 3 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry.

The two leaders will hold discussions on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common interest, the statement said.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited India in March 2015 which was followed by the visit of Modi to that Gulf nation in June 2016.

"Our close and friendly relations with Qatar are based on mutually beneficial commercial exchanges and extensive people-to-people contacts. Qatar is not only an important trading partner for us in the Gulf region but is also the largest supplier of LNG to us, accounting for 66 percent of our total imports in 2015-16," the ministry statement said.

"Indians form the largest expatriate community in Qatar and their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised. There are over 630,000 Indian nationals working in Qatar," it added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned for the day after a spate of adjournments as the opposition continued to create ruckus over demonetisation issue and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi sit through the debate on it.

As the house re-assembled post-lunch at 2 p.m., the opposition demanded Modi's continued presence. Modi had come to the house at 12 noon and sat for an hour -- after five days' parliamentary business was washed out by protests over his absence. However, he did not return after the lunch break.

Although Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the house that the Prime Minister will participate in the debate on demonetisation, the opposition was not convinced and kept protesting.

Amidst din, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned the house until 3 p.m. but the situation was no better at 3 p.m. and the house was ultimately adjourned for the day.

Soon after the house met for the day's business at 11 a.m., Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Chair that former Prime Minister and Congress member Manmohan Singh wanted to speak on demonetisation issue.

Kurien, who was presiding, promptly allowed Singh to speak.

But Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley objected to Singh's speaking on the issue, saying a debate on the issue was on and nobody can speak while "holding up the debate".

"There is a debate in continuation. The honourable former Prime Minister is entitled to participate in debate. But you can't say I'll hold up the debate and give the opposition a special opportunity to speak. That is something totally unacceptable."

"You can't devise a new procedure," he said, adding that if there is no debate, nobody from the opposition will be allowed to speak.

Kurien reminded him that it was Zero Hour but Jaitley said that it was not being conducted "in the normal manner of a Zero Hour".

"If it is on the issue of demonetisation or currency issue, the opposition should start the debate. Let Manmohan Singh speak in the debate. We'll answer him," he added.

The opposition members protested noisily against the government's position and amid pandemonium, the house was adjourned till noon.

To the opposition's surprise, Prime Minister Modi arrived in the house at 12 noon and members welcomed him with applause.

The house functioned normally for the next one hour as the Prime Minister sat and patiently heard the opposition members, including Manmohan Singh and Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party.

As soon as the house met after the lunch break, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, who was speaking when the house was adjourned, said she had requested Modi to sit through the debate in the post-lunch sitting as well.

"The entire opposition requested the Prime Minister to sit through the debate. It is sad that he is not in the house after lunch," she said.

The BSP chief was supported by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Azad.

"We had said that if the Prime Minister is here for the debate, the house will run, otherwise it will not run," Azad said.

Kurien, however, countered him by asking how was it possible for the Prime Minister to be present all the time.

Hitting out at opposition, Jaitley said: "I had this doubt and now it is confirmed that the opposition is trying to run away from debate and trying to find reasons for it... Continue the debate, Modi will participate as per the tradition. There is no tradition that the Prime Minister will sit through the whole debate."

Azad, however, said that during the debate on 2G scam, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the whole debate on the opposition's insistence.

As opposition members created a ruckus, the house was adjourned till 3 p.m.

As the house was reconvened, the opposition persisted with its demand for Modi's presence and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into what the members called was a selective leak of the demonetisation decision. Minutes later, the Chair adjourned the house for the day.

--IANS

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said Russia has offered to sell the Philippines rifles in a "buy one, get one free" deal.

Duterte said he can always buy rifles from Russia. He made the comments after he returned from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru.

Duterte said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him during their meeting in Lima that Moscow is willing to sell guns to the Philippines at "buy one, take one free".

"Why should I have to belabour the point with (US Senator Ben) Cardin. If he does not want us to be allies, we'll go to Russia and China," he said.

Duterte was referring to US Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who reportedly threatened to cancel the sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines due to human rights concerns.

--IANS

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Resident doctors at the Central government's Safdarjung Hospital continued their strike for the second day on Thursday, demanding proper security for the doctors on duty at the hospital.

According to the striking doctors, the strike won't be called off until there is a written assurance from the Delhi and Central governments to provide proper security in the hospitals.

The doctors went on strike on Wednesday evening after a female resident doctor was allegedly manhandled while on duty by the attendants of a patient in the emergency ward.

In a similar incident, a senior resident doctor was assaulted by the relatives of a patient. However, police said that they are yet to receive a complaint in this connection.

--IANS

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World's top crude oil producer Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said it made a major advancement in its POWERS technology that will simulate oil migration problems in the Kingdom in a fraction of the time it once took and help discover new oil and gas fields.

Saudi Aramco's Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center - Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC) under the leadership of Ali Dogru, achieved the industry's first trillion cell reservoir simulation run recently, the company said in a statement.

It is the next evolutionary step for the company's parallel oil, gas and water enhanced reservoir simulator (POWERS) technology that advanced from mega-cell to giga-cell (GigaPOWERS achieved in 2010) and now to tera-cell simulation capability this year.

"This is the world's first trillion cell run, as well as a major breakthrough for the global scientific community. Using trillions of cells in a reservoir simulation environment was a long awaited dream for the global petroleum industry and scientific community," said Dogru.

"We simulated an oil migration problem in the Kingdom from the source rock to the trap with millions of years of history in 10 hours using one trillion active computational cells. This achievement opens the door for us to simulate the Saudi Arabian peninsula in its entirety, as one model, using the reservoir simulation grid," Dogru explained.

"This means that we will be able to examine the peninsula under the microscope for new oil and gas fields," Dogru added.

The advancement was achieved using the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Shaheen II super computer.

The simulation of the flow of fluids in the subsurface through and around the reservoir structure requires vast computational power.

The more reservoir engineers know about what is going on in and around the reservoirs, the more effectively they can place wells and manage production of hydrocarbons to optimise resources.

Since the giant reservoirs of Saudi Arabia are among the biggest in the world, the company requires extremely powerful modelling and simulation capability to understand the mysteries of the underground.

"To be able to model the physics of hydrocarbon reservoirs, from their original generation to their final production, and from the tiny pore-scale all the way to the giant field-scale and even to basin scale used to seem impossible. The TeraPOWERS team is a leading example of the pioneering minds at EXPEC ARC that fuel the dreams and deliver the technologies of tomorrow," Nasir K. Al Naimi, Vice President of Petroleum Engineering and Development at Saudi Aramco noted.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted by the Patna High Court to RJD legislaor Rajballav Yadav, who has been accused of raping a minor girl, and ordered to keep him behind bars.

After the bench's query "Has he been released?" was answered in "No", the bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre said: "Let him remain in jail."

The court on November 8 had ordered the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator to surrender for two weeks, so that the victim girl could record her statement before the trial court.

The apex court's order cancelling Rajballav's bail came as it allowed the Bihar government's appeal against the grant of bail to him by the Patna High Court on September 30.

Yadav was named as one of the five accused in the chargesheet filed in April.

Rajballav -- the RJD lawmaker elected from Nawada assembly consitutency -- has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) for raping a minor school-going girl at his residence in Bihar Sharif.

He was suspended from the RJD after allegations became public, but he continues to be a party member in the state assembly.

Rajballav, who was denied anticipatory bail by a local court in Bihar Sharif in February, was on the run but later surrendered in the court.

Besides Rajballav, a woman named Sulekha Devi and those accused of providing women to the RJD lawmaker were named as the accused in the case.

--IANS

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The Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday flayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for criticising those opposing the demonetisation move and asserted the government cannot suppress the voices of the people.

Leading the party's charge against demonetisation in the house, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said: "Anyone who opposes your policy, Mr. Prime Minister, is not anti-national or in favour of black money. Why are you giving us this lecture on corruption and black money?"

"We are opposing you because we believe this will kill the economy. Why do you think that you are some messiah and all of us are demons. Why are you making this an issue?" he added.

Pointing to the opposition parties closing ranks and mounting a united fight against demonetisation, O'Brien said: "All opposition parties are together, it is no more a solo voice. It's a chorus of the people. You cannot suppress the voice of the people."

Charging the government with using central probe agencies to intimidate the opposition, O'Brien even dared Modi to put Trinmaool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in jail.

"Try, as you may, through your agencies to hassle and harass us. That will give us more conviction to fight against you. Put Mamata Di in jail if you want," he said.

Several of Trinamool high-profile leaders, including some members of parliament, have been arrested and interrogated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Saradha Group chit-fund scam in West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have since been up in arms against the Modi government, accusing it of politically using the CBI and the ED.

O'Brien's charges in the house came on a day when Banerjee, for the second time in a week, personally raised the demonetisation issue with President Pranab Mukherjee when she called on him.

--IANS

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Two persons were apprehended with Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes at the Nizamuddin Railway Station here, the police said on Thursday evening.

Ajit Pal Singh, 41, and Rajender Kumar, 51, both residents of Pitampura in Delhi, were arrested by a team of Delhi Police Crime Branch. They worked for an industrialist, Sanjay Malik, who owns a pharmaceutical factory in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.

"They were carrying Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes from Bandra in Mumbai to Nizamuddin Railway Station," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

"The cash which Rajender and Ajit took from Mumbai belonged to Malik. He got his money (old notes) changed and also took commission from acquaintances. So far about Rs 1.5 crore of new currency has been brought from Mumbai," Yadav said.

Both Kumar and Pal told interrogators there are many agents and sub agents dealing in new currency and gold.

The two were apprehended outside the station with the cash, while waiting for a car driven by Malik's employee Rajiv Thapa, the police officer said.

They travelled from Bandra to Delhi in the Sampark Kranti Express without ticket or any other valid identity card. They carried the Rs 27 lakh in new currency in a bag.

Pal works in Malik's company, while Kumar received Rs 5,000 salary from Malik. He used to live in Malik's residence in Pitampura. Both do not have any PAN card, police said.

The Income Tax Department and Intelligence Bureau officials, along with a team of the Crime Branch personnel, are jointly interrogating them, Yadav added.

"The police is looking for Sanjay Malik and other agents in Mumbai who are involved in this syndicate," Yadav said.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A nursing home's owner and a doctor were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal Police in relation with the inter-state child smuggling racket that was busted two days back here, a senior CID official said on Thursday.

"The owner of Sri Krishna Nursing Home on College Street have been arrested along with Dr Santosh Kumar Samanta for their involvement in the racket," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal Police) Bharatlal Meena said.

With these arrests, the total number of people nabbed in the sensational case involving several nursing homes in Kolkata and adjacent districts has shot up to 13.

Eight persons, including a doctor, two quacks and an owner of Sohan Nursing Home - suspected to be the centre of the crime - were arrested from Baduria in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday for allegedly running the racket.

CID sleuths detained one woman from the same nursing home and two more from Behala based South View Nursing Home on Wednesday. They were arrested later.

The arrested people were connected to three nursing homes, a health clinic and a North 24 Parganas-based non government organisation. The number of arrests may go up with the investigators suspecting the involvement of more city based health facilities in the racket.

The matter came to light on Tuesday, when acting on a tip off, CID personnel raided Sohan Nursing Home and Polyclinic in North 24 Parganas district's Baduria on Monday night and recovered three infants who were about to be smuggled out, the officer said.

The culprits used to tell the parents that the newborns have died and then smuggle the infants inside biscuit packages via the NGO, Meena said.

The racket was going on for almost three years and police fear they trafficked around 25-30 infants in that period. Some of the infants were trafficked to other states as well, he said.

The arrested people have been slapped with various charges like kidnapping (IPC 369), exploitation (IPC 370) and criminal conspiracy (IPC 120B).

--IANS

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Vodafone India will allow its 8.4 million-plus Vodafone M-Pesa customers to withdraw cash through their digital wallets from any of its over 120,000 outlets across the country, the company said on Wednesday.

"Vodafone M-Pesa customers do not need to stand in long queues outside ATMs and bank branches for cash. We have invested in building a nationwide network of over 120,000 M-Pesa outlets, equivalent to the numbers of bank branches in the country," said Suresh Sethi, Business Head, Vodafone M-Pesa, in a statement here.

Over 56 per cent of these outlets are located in rural India.

"Our customers can visit any of these outlets and use the unique cash-out feature of Vodafone M-Pesa to withdraw cash from their digital wallets at their own convenience. Further, our digital wallet too can be easily digitally loaded via credit/debit cards or net banking," he added.

Customers need to carry an identity proof to their nearest M-Pesa outlet from where they can withdraw money, subject to availability, in line with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, the statement added.

--IANS

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STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: They met within the framework of the ongoing International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) ministerial conference in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar.

Minister Nalbandian said Armenia attaches importance to the development of relations with African countries and will boost actions in this direction.

The sides discussed the opportunities of developing political and cultural cooperation. In this regard, the ministers highlighted the creation of a corresponding legal-contractual field.

The ministers exchanged views on issues of the IOF agenda and boosting cooperation in international structures.
Pakistan's Air Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman on Thursday said the country's armed forces were not worried about India at all.

Speaking at the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) in Karachi, a day after three Pakistan Army men were killed exchange of fire with Indian troops across the Line of Control (LoC), the chief of air staff said he was "not at all worried about India".

The air chief also called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: "They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve."

The air chief's statement comes as tensions between the two neighbours flared in the aftermath of deadly clashes on the LoC.

--IANS

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Everyday creative activities like writing poetry or making new recipes can boost well-being as well as creativity in young adults, new research has found.

"Engaging in creative behaviour leads to increases in well-being the next day, and this increased wellbeing is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day," said lead researcher Tamlin Conner from University of Otago in New Zealand.

In their study, the researchers asked 658 university students to keep a daily diary of their experiences and emotional states over 13 days.

After analysing the diaries the researchers found a pattern of the participants feeling more enthusiasm and higher "flourishing" than usual following days when they were more creative.

Flourishing is a psychological concept that can be described as increasing positive growth in oneself.

While the current study did not specifically ask the university students to record the nature of their creative activity, the researchers had collected such information informally in an earlier study.

They found that the most common examples reported were songwriting; creative writing (poetry, short fiction); knitting and crochet; making new recipes; painting, drawing, and sketching; graphic and digital design; and musical performance.

"Overall, these findings support the emerging emphasis on everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning," said the study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

--IANS

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Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das (pictured) had to miss the Sebi board meeting held on Wednesday in Mumbai, given his preoccupation with the implementation of demonetisation and the developments on the goods and services tax front. Interestingly, the board meeting had a slim turnout as the market regulator currently has only two whole-time members instead of the usual count of three due to the recent retirement of one member.
With reference to the editorial Don't revive inspector raj (Business Standard, November 24), there cant be two views that doling out of the discretionary powers to the tax officials is fraught with the risk of them being misused. The manner in which the centre is currently threatening the citizens through search and seizures, income-tax notices and even invocation of the legal provisions of sever-year imprisonment in times to come, there are genuine apprehensions among common men as to what lies ahead. One also fails to comprehend why the government is maintaining a stoic silence on the issue of proactively acting against the concealed political funding by various political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Take the case of a rural household woman who has accumulated a saving of Rs 10,000. For conveniences sake, let us assume that it is the accumulated saving from the familys farming income. The nearest bank is about 15 km from her place, and she finds it convenient to do without banking and doesnt have bank account. The government demonetises the currency all of a sudden and mandates that the maximum you are allowed to exchange is Rs 4,000.
Telangana Chief Minister on Thursday moved into his new palatial residence at Begumpet in Hyderabad on Thursday. Estimated to be built at the cost of Rs 35 crore, the final bill is reportedly Rs 50 crore.
A united opposition on Thursday asserted that it is ready for discussion on the Centre's move provided Prime Minister Narendra Modi convenes a meeting to discuss the same.

"The Parliamentary Affairs Minister telephoned me yesterday and said that they wanted to meet at Rajnath Singh ji's house. But I told that all the political parties together have taken a decision. Therefore, it is better that all parties should meet together," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Kharge stated that they can arrive at a consensus on the matter only after discussion with the opposition party leaders.

"If the Prime Minister or the Speaker calls for a meeting, we would definitely go. We will first meet the opposition (leaders) and then decide whether we will go to the meeting called by the Home Minister. Let the Prime Minister or the Speaker call for the meeting," he added.

As the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both the Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the Rajya Sabha on Thursday and participate in the discussion on .

Since the first day of the Winter Session, the opposition leaders are calling for the Prime Minister to speak on the issue in Rajya Sabha, where the government does not enjoy a majority.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the abrupt manner in which the ruling dispensation implemented as even after third week of the announcement, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks with the people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Naidu on Wednesday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money, adding the decision has been taken keeping in view the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.
Twelve minors escaped from a juvenile home at Nagole here after allegedly pushing a watchman and injuring him, police said today.

The incident occurred at around midnight yesterday when the inmates, aged between 15 and 17, managed to break the main door (grill) lock of the juvenile home run by an NGO.

When the watchman tried to stop them, they pushed him aside and ran away, L B Nagar Police Inspector P Kasi Reddy told PTI.

"The watchman, who is an old man, suffered minor injuries during the incident," Reddy said.

Following a complaint, a case under IPC sections 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) was registered, police said.

Further probe is on into the incident.

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As many as 151 pilots and crew members tested positive for alcohol during pre-flight medical examination in the first ten months this year and action has been taken against them, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said today.

A total of 38 pilots and 113 cabin crew have tested alcohol positive during pre-flight medical examination for consumption of alcohol from January 1 to October 31 this year, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Acting against such individuals, aviation regulator DGCA suspended privileges of license of pilots as well as privileges of authorisation of cabin crew.

"Further, the concerned airlines in compliance with DGCA's order, have grounded all these pilots and cabin crew," Raju said.

Aircraft Rules prohibits consumption of intoxicating and psychoactive substances by persons acting as, or carried in aircraft for the purpose of acting as pilot, commander, navigator, engineer, cabin crew or the other operating member of the crew.

In a separate written reply, Raju said 208 irregularities by pilots of various airlines have been reported to DGCA during 2015 and this year.

"A total of 15 irregularities by airlines have been reported to DGCA during last year and the current year 2016... In all the cases, relevant enforcement action has been taken against the pilots and the airlines concerned," he noted.

To a query, the minister said that as per available records, no recent case has been reported to DGCA for taxiing of aircraft by engineer under the influence of alcohol.

Without providing specific details, he said that during a recent surveillance carried out by the regulator, it was found that one of the scheduled airlines was not strictly adhering to the requirements regarding breath analyser check.

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Sixteen Bangladeshis have been arrested by Pakistan's top investigation agency on charges of possessing fake Pakistani identities as part of its crackdown on foreigners living illegally in the country.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 16 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday from Faisalabad district of Punjab, about 150 km from Lahore, for living in the country on fake identities, senior FIA official Ali Imam Zaidi said.

"An FIA team conducted a raid at the house of Muhammad Sraj at Chak 266-RB Jaranwala RoadFaisalabad and arrested 16 Bangladeshi nationals. Most of them had Pakistani CNICs (computerised national identity cards) which were issued on fake documents," Zaidi said, adding that the Bangladeshi nationals had been living here for the last many years.

He said the FIA has also arrested three Pakistanis, including an ex-employee of National Database Registration Authority, for their alleged involvement in preparing fake CNICs of the Bangladeshis.

A case has been registered against the suspects under the the National Database Registration AuthorityOrdinance, 109 PakistanPenalCode and 14 Foreigners Act.

Zaidi said the FIA has launched a crackdown in the countryagainst foreigners living illegally in Pakistan.

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But in the expectation that government income from rising world commodity prices will progressively improve, a mid-year review of pay and conditions can be considered in 2018.

The government will be operating against a deficit budget in 2017 and has had to trim back pay rises for the next two years.

The main three year industrial awards for the public service, the teaching service and the police force expire at the end of 2016.

FOLLOWING the handing down of the 2017 budget, the government has made a number of important decisions relating to the movement of Papua New Guinean public servants pay in the three year period 2017-2019.

If the financial situation has improved sufficiently, a further pay rise could be implemented in 2019.

The government will be requesting that the public sector unions show understanding and reduce their claims against the state in view of these financial difficulties and that they should look forward to a return to better times when commodity prices are higher and growth in the economy improved.

During the period 2009-2014, times were good and the government passed on improving living standards to its public employees. Free education and health services were introduced, benefiting union members.

Substantial pay rises averaging 7.5/o per annum were also awarded in the six years 2011-2016. These increases were structured to favour the lowest paid.

As a result, over the six year period, the average earnings of the lowest paid workers increased by 75% and average public sector pay rose by 55%. Police constables, teachers and nurses all witnessed pay increases of a higher magnitude over this period.

In 2010 the lowest paid public servants were earning K320 a fortnight and today they are earning K600 a fortnight (+72%).

Likewise, the entry salaries of base grade teachers increased from K390-K900 a fortnight (+125%), base grade nurses from K450-K820 a fortnight (+85%) and base grade police constables from K600-to Kl,050 a fortnight (75%).

I want to take this opportunity to remind non-clinical health workers who were threatening to go on strike that they received a significant increase in their pay over the past six years under the awards negotiated by the Public Employees Association.

The government has also had to fund staff increases in the key sectors of health, education and law and order in addition to meeting the cost of pay rises.

Staff numbers will continue to increase over the next three years resulting from the need for more teachers, more nurses, more medical staff together with planned staff increases in the disciplined services.

The government must keep the pay bill at sustainable levels in line with projected revenue. For this reason the government has also directed that there will be a freeze on reorganisation, engagement of non-essential staff and non-essential payments through government payrolls.

A number of agencies will be amalgamated and staff transferred in order to generate cost savings

Industrial peace and harmony across the public service, the health service and the disciplined services is crucial during the election year in 2017 and the international APEC year in 2018.
Two persons died and six others were injured after a fire broke out in the refinery complex of Reliance Industries here today.

"The fire broke out due to gas leak in RIL's Moti Khavdi refinery in Jamnagar early this morning," a police official of Meghpar police station said.

"Total eight persons sustained burn injures and were admitted to the government-run Guru Govindsinh Hospital (G G Hospital) in the city," the official said.

When contacted, G G Hospital superintendent Nandini Desai confirmed the death of two persons.

"All the eight persons who sustained injuries were rushed to the government hospital at Jamnagar. Two of them have succumbed to injuries," Desai said.

The company, meanwhile, said in an official statement, "There was an unfortunate flash fire in one of the units under a planned maintenance shutdown in our DTA (Domestic Tariff Area) in the refinery at Jamnagar."



"While the Reliance fire brigade extinguished the fire swiftly, this has resulted in injuries to some contract workers, who are being provided necessary treatment. All operations of the refinery continue to be normal," it said.

A company official said the exact cause of the fire was being investigated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three Delhi Traffic police personnel have been dismissed after they were booked for allegedly extorting Rs 1.20 lakh, mostly in demonetised Rs 500 notes, from a Janakpuri resident here when he was carrying the money meant for his nephew's wedding.

Head constable Suresh Chand, and constables Manoj and Pradeep have been dismissed, said Vijay Singh, DCP Traffic (outer).

The incident happened on November 22 when Subhash Pahuja was going to Wazirpur via Mukarba Chowk.

"His car was stopped for checking by two traffic policemen near Adarsh Nagar Metro station on some offence. When he (Pahuja) opened dash board to pay the fine Manoj and Pradeep saw stacks of money there. Suresh Chand also joined them," said Milind Dumbere, DCP(north west).

The trio later talked for sometime and then the complainant was asked to drive away.

"The two constables sat in his car and allegedly took his mobile phone and threw out the SIM card. They also threatened him with 7 years of imprisonment while putting pressure on him to hand over the money-- 1 lakh in scrapped Rs 500 notes and Rs 20,000 in Rs 100 notes," he said.

Pahuja urged them to let him go citing the money was for his nephew's marriage on December 9.

The accused policemen roamed around in the car for two hours and finally allowed Pahuja to go allegedly after taking the money, he said.

Later, Pahuja collected marriage card of his nephew and showed it to the accused personnel at Adarsh Nagar, Azadpur Chowk, who then returned his money, said the officer.

Next day, Pahuja lodged a complaint at Adarsh Nagar police station against the three policemen posted in Model Town traffic circle.

A case under Sections 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) has been registered and the trio are yet to be found by the police, he added.

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Thirty per cent of the children aged below five years have been issued Aadhaar cards across the country under government's Integrated Child Development Services Scheme, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

This information was given by the MoS for Women and Child Development Krishna Raj in the Upper House.

Special camps have been organised at various Aanganwadi Centres and all states and union territories have been requested to organise special enrolment drive twice a year, she said.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had also mooted providing birth certificates and Aadhaar cards to street children at a public event in Chennai.

The Aadhaar Act was notified in the Gazette of India in March this year conferring legal status upon the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to issue Aadhaar to the residents of India.

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Police today seized 32 tonne of chili powder, which they suspect is adulterated, from two lorries near Penugolanu village in Krishna district today.

The trucks had taken a detour to escape police check-post, but were eventually intercepted.

"We seized the lorries as their drivers could not produce any relevant documents for the chili powder," said Sub-Inspector P. Sivaramakrishna.

The drivers were taken into custody while the powder and vehicles were handed over to District Food Inspector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
This winter, four mohalla clinics will function out of night shelters in the national capital, as part of the city government's action plan to alleviate the woes of the homeless during the cold.

The clinics, that are likely to be inaugurated in the first week of December, will be located in Yamuna Pushta, Jama Masjid, Sarai Kale Khan and Shakur Basti, areas where night shelters are usually crowded.

"The clinic in Shakur Basti will be inside the night shelter itself while the rest would be housed in the premises of the shelter homes. The government is mulling to open few other such facilities," a senior official said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over opening around 300 mohalla clinics in government schools.

After the meeting, Sisodia told reporters that Jung has "almost agreed" to the proposal, about which he had certain reservations in the past.

Around 107 mohalla clinics are operating in the city presently. These are part of the city's government's "three-tier public health roadmap" with the other two being polyclinics and hospitals.

Free medicines are provided and around 200 tests are done for free in these clinics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nearly 43 per cent of India's rural population defecate in open, according to the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

As per a report published in 2015, 59.43 per cent of the world population defecating in the open live in India, Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

"...As per Online Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, 42.85 per cent of rural population defecate in open as on November 21, 2016," Jigajinagi said.

Poverty and lack of infrastructure are some of the major reasons behind poor sanitation. However, sanitation is primarily a behavioural issue. It involves change of mindset amongst people to stop open defecation and to adopt safe sanitation practices, he said.

The Centre had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2, 2014, which aims at an attaining clean India by October 2019.

The mission is laying more focus on behaviour change and usage of toilets. The focus on capacity building has been increased, the minister said.

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At least five policemen, including a Commanding Officer, were injured when a mob indulged in heavy brick-batting over a petty issue in Rajpura area here.

An argument erupted between the occupants of a truck and a bullock cart over giving way near Kamalpur village. The situation worsened and both the sides came to blows with each other, ASP Ram Surat Yadav said.

Later, the truck carrying pilgrims returning from Ajmer was driven to Chaudhary Sarai in Sambhal Kotwali and the driver parked it in front of the police chowki in protest against the incident. More pilgrims reached the spot, the ASP said.

Police teams from other parts of the district were rushed to the scene to pacify the protesters who started brick-batting and damaged a bus, he said.

Five police men, including Circle officer (City) Abbas Zaidi, were injured in the incident. Police resorted to mild use of force and lobbed teargas shells to control the mob.

SP Balendu Bhushan said Public Armed Constabulary has been deployed in the area and a strict vigil is being kept.

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Only 78 passengers of the ill-fated Indore-Patna Express are eligible to claim insurance money out of whom five died in the mishap, said on Thursday.

According to it, a total of 209 passengers opted for travel insurance while making booking tickets as of November 19. There were 128 passengers eligible for insurance out of which 50 tickets were cancelled, leaving 78 eligible passengers.

Five among these passengers died in the tragedy, in addition to seven cases of injury and hospitalisation and eight minor injuries. 150 people died in the November 20 accident.

The optional insurance scheme offers travellers or their families compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh in the event of death or permanent total disability, Rs 7.5 lakh for permanent partial disability, up to Rs 2 lakh for hospitalisation expenses and Rs 10,000 for transportation of mortal remains in the event of death or injury from a train accident or other untoward incident, including terrorist attacks, dacoity, rioting, shoot-out or arson, as well as for short termination, diverted route and Vikalp trains.

Processing of insurance payouts to survivors and families of the victims of the train eligible to receive compensation under the travel insurance scheme for passengers who booked their tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), are on the fast track, said a release.

The affected passengers are covered under insurance companies - Royal Sundaram (32), Shriram (14) and ICICI Lombard (32).

The claim for the five death cases has been provisionally approved by the insurance companies, and they are in touch with the families to complete the claim settlement formalities.

Only one passenger had filled up the nominee details for the insurance while for the remaining four the claim settlement will be made with the legal heir as soon as the documents are provided. The families have requested time for providing the documents.

For the seven injury cases, insurance companies are getting in touch with the passengers and their families. A few of these cases are for cashless hospitalisations or through TPA (third party administrator).

In case of 36 passengers, the insurance companies are not able to make contact as the phone numbers provided are either switched off or not reachable. In these cases firms have sent emails on the given ID, inquiring about their well-being and providing contact details of the representative of insurance company.

"We have deputed our TPA (third party administrator) to the injured passengers to provide support on the treatment and to ascertain the cost of medical treatment. Once we get TPA report we will settle the claim quickly," managing director Neeraj Prakash said.

The company has reached out to the family of the dead passengers and is working on settlement of claim, he added.

Shriram has received a premium of Rs 87 lakh from around 1 crore train passengers so far, he said, adding, "we expect close to 25 claims in the first year of operations."



Under the scheme, the personal accident policy provides Rs 10 lakh cover for death and permanent total disability, Rs 7.5 lakh for partial disability, up to Rs 2 lakh for medical expenses for hospitalisation due to accident and Rs 10,000 for transportation of victim's body.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his party has adopted zero tolerance against corruption and the time is ripe in Punjab to end the "corrupt regime" of SAD-BJP combine.

"In Delhi we have already shown that AAP has adopted zero tolerance against corruption by throwing out even our own party leaders, who were found indulged in corruption," he said addressing a gathering on the 5th day of his 11-day tour of Punjab.

"When I came to know that one of my ministers was trying to seek Rs six lakh bribe, I immediately threw him out of my cabinet," Kejriwal said, claiming that even the Opposition as well as media did not have any clue about corruption of AAP minister.

On the other hand, Akali ministers Tota Singh and Bikram Majithia have been accused of corruption and drugs, but Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal failed to act against them, he alleged adding similarly it is in common knowledge that Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler were involved in the anti-Sikhs riots in 1984 at Delhi, but Congress failed to act against them.

He also alleged that Badal and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh were the most corrupt politicians of Punjab and "AAP has already proved its mettle as far as its stand against corruption is concerned".

On the demontisation of Rs 500/1000 notes, Kejriwal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was only making fool of the people as it has actually benefitted business tycoons.

"If Modi actually wants to bring black money out, then Badals, who have amassed biggest chunk of black money in Punjab and Amarinder Singh, who stashed black money in the Swiss bank should have been brought back," he said.

"There cannot be any dearth of money with any state governments, if they use every single penny of available fund at its optimistic level," the Delhi Chief Minister said.

Here in Punjab, it was not lack of money, but lack of political will in Badals and Amarinder, that multiplied the woes of state, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Balbir Singh will be the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Patiala Urban constituency and will contest against Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh in the 2017 state Assembly polls, the national convenor of the party, Arvind Kejriwal announced today.

Singh, a medical practitioner and a former associate of suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, had campaigned for the latter before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, before parting ways with him.

He later told reporters, "Now, it is the turn of the 'Maharaja' (Amarinder) to face defeat. Earlier, the AAP had packed the bags of the 'Maharani' (Amarinder's wife Preneet Kaur) in the Parliamentary election."



Attacking the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, Kejriwal alleged that the Badals (Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal) were spending money to ensure that Amarinder formed the government in the state after the polls due early next year.

The Delhi chief minister claimed that the Badals knew that the people were annoyed with the SAD-BJP combine and only Amarinder's victory could ensure its "safety".

Earlier, the police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse Congress workers who had blocked the Patiala-Samana road on Kejriwal's route to the venue of the programme.

Protests were staged by Congress workers against the AAP leader at different places along his route.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
This video takes a look at the delivery process of the National Community Project with New York Institute of Dance & Education. Recently a collaboration with Booker T Washington Community Centers After School Programs in Auburns high school, junior high and an elementary school building, much was witnessed! Using McLeod Technique principles and the 25 year tested process, staff and students learned how to address fears, acceptance, and gathered valuable life lessons that helped counselors, staff, and students all walk away empowered and tangibly capable of starting the work to improve family and school relationships. (Sean McLeod is the president and CEO of NYIDE; this particular program was implemented by NYIDE product director Kierstyn Zaykoski and her team.)
Aditya Birla Financial Services Group (ABFSG) today launched its standalone health insurance arm under brand Aditya Birla Health Insurance (ABHICL).

ABHICL is joint venture between the Aditya Birla Group and diversified financial services in South Africa MMI Holdings (MMI).

"With ABHICL, we want to focus as much on health as on insurance. Through our range of retail and group health insurance offerings, we will look to expand the category as it will find relevance among a wider set of customers...Health conscious and others dealing with the most common chronic lifestyle diseases," ABHICL CEO Mayank Bathwal told reporters.

Despite being a late entrant, the 51:49 per cent JV aims to expand the 27,000 crore category, making it relevant to the young and health conscious, in addition to those dealing with chronic lifestyle conditions.

"We have made Rs 250 crore capital infusion and will initially begin with seven key cities Bangaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune and expand to 100 cities in a couple of years," Bathwal said here.

The company is looking at multiple distribution channels, including bancassurance, agency, online and brokers, he said.

"We are in talks with almost all banks and are getting positive response. We will soon announce our bancassurance partnership," he added.

Aditya Birla Group Chief Executive - Financial Services - Ajay Srinivasan said, "In keeping with our vision of being a well-diversified financial services conglomerate that builds leadership through solving customer problems, ABHICL will seek to grow in a competitive market by making a positive impact on individuals and families.

"We are very bullish on this sector and our business model as health is a core necessity for the ambitious India."



ABHICL already has 1,500 network of hospitals and is currently in the process of adding another 200, he said.

The health insurer, which has two group and one retail offering with multiple variations catering to different needs, is also working on a fixed benefit retail product that is expected to be launched before the end of this financial year depending on regulatory approval, Bathwal said.

ABHICL aims to be the most preferred customer partner by 2020 with significant market share, he said.

"We look forward to extending our health insurance solutions to the Indian market and are excited about the growth potential in India," MMI Holdings Group CEO Nicolaas Kruger said.

"We aim to continually work together with ABHICL, to better understand customer needs and enhance our product offerings in line with what they need the most at any given point of time in their life," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), formerly known as Pantaloons Fashion, today reported 6.97 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 64.89 crore for the September quarter.

It had reported net profit of Rs 60.66 crore in the July- September quarter of last financial year, the company said in a BSE filing.

ABFRL's total income from operations stood at Rs 1,886.73 crore during the quarter under review, up 13.08 per cent as against Rs 1,668.36 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the company signed up a partnership with UK's Ted Baker.

ABFRL stock was trading 0.11 per cent lower at Rs 138.70 apiece on BSE in the afternoon trade.

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A day after DMK termed AIADMK's win in the November 19 polls in three constituencies in Tamil Nadu as an "artificial victory", the ruling party today hit back, saying it showed the main opposition party's obstinacy and tall talk instead of accepting the people's mandate.

"Rather than respecting and accepting it (poll outcome) as a great verdict of people's power and reforming itself," DMK "as usual" has started its blame game and has also hit out at the Election Commission, which showed "DMK's obstinacy and tall talk," AIADMK said.

In its party mouthpiece Dr Namadhu MGR, the ruling party said that by doing so, "DMK was trying to hide its betrayals" and cited the methane exploration project for which an MoU was signed in early 2011 during the Karunanidhi-led party's previous regime.

DMK treasurer M K Stalin, as the then Deputy CM, signed an MoU for a coal bed methane project which was vehemently opposed by farmers of Cauvery Delta region. The AIADMK daily also criticised DMK candidates who contested the November 19 polls.

Yesterday DMK chief M Karunanidhi had said that AIADMK's victory was nothing "new" and dubbed it an "artificial victory." He had also said that "DMK's hard work could not stand before misuse of authority and money power."



He had also blamed the Election Commission for "indirect support," besides claiming "distribution of money," without elaborating much on both counts.

Despite the hospitalisation of party supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, AIADMK continued its winning streak and romped home in Thanjavur and Aravakurichi polls and the Thiruparankundram bypoll.

AIADMK had wrested the Aravakkurichi seat from DMK and retained Thanjavur and Thiruparankundram by margins ranging from more than 20,000 to 42,000 votes, dealing a blow to its Dravidian arch rival.

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Community-driven hospitality company, Airbnb has tied up with an NGO working for women empowerment to provide accommodation to tourists in rural areas of Gujarat through the network of its members.

"We will work with SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association) to help women from rural areas to share their homes in their community and teach people about Gujarat in a really unique and local way," Airbnb's director of policy partnerships, Asia Pacific, Thao Nguyen, told reporters here today.

As per the MoU, Airbnb will help SEWA members in sharing their homes with Airbnb community of international and domestic guests.

"This is the first time we have launched a partnership of this type (aimed at women empowerment). It will inspire women to look at it as an economic opportunity," Nguyen said, adding there has been a 188 per cent on-year rise in listing on Airbnb platform of tourists visiting India.

Airbnb is a peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network that enables people to list or rent short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by the property owner.

SEWA director Reena Nanavaty said the online platform to book homes of SEWA members will open up new economic opportunity for rural women.

"To begin with, we have identified homes in Surendranagar, Patan, and Mehsana districts of Gujarat. We will eventually expand across the state, country and even neighbouring countries using our network.

"We have oriented members about the basic requirements of hospitality, whether they have access to internet, and how to get access to internet. They have been briefed about the kind of history, culture, about the local areas, exchange and dialogues, hygiene requirements and other quality standards," Nanavaty said.

She said the network will expand across the state, country and also in neighbouring countries through SEWA's existing members network.

"Through the partnership, we will help our members become powerful micro-entrepreneurs, best placed to promote sustainable and responsible tourism in India," Nanavaty added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Allegation of adultery levelled by a spouse is most "painful" for a person, the Delhi High Court has observed while granting divorce to a man who was accused by his wife of having illicit relationship with another woman.

A bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Yogesh Khanna said that allegation of adultery was a "serious charge" and would constitute cruelty, if not proved.

The court held it was established that the woman had levelled false allegation of adultery and harassment for dowry against her husband.

"Nothing can be more painful to a spouse other than the allegations of adultery made by the opposite spouse. It is settled law that a charge of adultery is a serious charge and if not proved would constitute cruelty," the bench said.

The court's judgement came on a petition filed by the man who had moved the high court against the trial court's verdict dismissing his plea seeking divorce.

In its verdict, the high court also noted that no one has appeared before it on behalf of the woman.

It granted divorce to the man on the grounds of cruelty and desertion, observing that the couple have not lived together since 1995 and their marriage has "irrevocably broken".

The marriage between them was solemnised in February 1995. In 1996, the man had filed a petition before a trial court seeking divorce on the ground of cruelty, but he withdrew it in 2001 after his wife gave the assurance that she would live amicably with him.

He told the high court that his wife had returned to her parental house in 1995 and despite giving assurance, she never returned to live with him after which he filed a fresh divorce petition before the trial court in 2009.

The woman had contested the plea before the trial court and in her written statement, she had alleged that her husband was having an illicit relationship with another woman.

She had also claimed that her husband was harassing her for dowry after which she had lodged an FIR against him.

However, the man was acquitted by a court in the dowry harassment case.

The trial court had dismissed the divorce plea filed by the man on the ground that he had failed to prove allegations levelled by him against her wife.

The high court noted that "withdrawal from the consortium without a cause would also be an act of cruelty".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rajasthan Congress today accused the Centre of implementing the decision to demonetise high value currency notes without prior preparation and demanded that people should be allowed to pay their utility bills, fees taxes and fuel with Rs 500/1000 denomination notes.

Holding the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre responsible for the inconvenience caused to the people due to demonetisation move, the party staged demonstration 'Jan Akrosh rally' at the Collectorate Circle here.

"The government has implemented the demonetisation decision without prior preparation, due to which it has caused great inconvenience to people. The government has totally ignored the problems of the people," Rajasthan Congress Chief Sachin Pilot said addressing the demonstration.

He demanded that the Centre should extend the last date to make key payments, like utility bills, fees, various types of taxes and fuel using the old notes.

"The government should waive the loans of farmers and provide relief as banks have collected whopping amount," Pilot said.

Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rameshwar Dudi said people from all sections are facing the difficulties as they have no cash.

"Banks are not providing them adequate cash and the move of the Prime Minister has only created problems," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Alleging misuse of official machinery by the ruling Akalis, Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh today demanded immediate imposition of the Model Code of Conduct and early elections, preferably under President's Rule, in Punjab.

Lambasting the Badal government for allegedly misusing public funds and official machinery to put up large hoardings carrying an old Congress advertisement released at the time of the SYL foundation laying ceremony in early 1980s, Amarinder again demanded immediate imposition of the Model Code of Conduct and early elections in the state.

He also demanded holding the Assembly elections in the state under President's Rule.

Accusing the Akalis of unleashing false propaganda over the SYL issue, he warned that they would get caught in their own web of deceit.

"The people of Punjab are tired of your lies and deceptive statements and claims, and are not ready to believe a word of it," said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president in a statement here.

Lashing out at the Badals for spending the precious resources of the state on "fraudulent and misleading campaigns", Amarinder said "the hoardings, that had been put up across Mohali, were clearly in violation of the MC rules as well as the Punjab and Haryana high court directions against putting up hoardings at traffic lights."



Demanding immediate and stringent action by the Election Commission, Amarinder said "the hoardings reflected the twisted mindset of the Badals, who were ready to stoop to any level to divert public attention from their own misdeeds by resorting to all kinds of frauds and falsehoods".

Amarinder accused the Badals of spreading one lie after another to mislead the people of Punjab on the SYL issue, "in which they themselves were the biggest culprits, having shamelessly and brazenly sold off the interests of the state to neighbouring Haryana."



"There is enough documentary evidence on record to show that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had been instrumental in acquiring land for SYL construction in Punjab through a notification dated February 20, 1978," he claimed.

The PPCC president pointed out that Badal issued the notification for land acquisition for the SYL on February 20, 1978 "vide notification nos: 113/5/SYL and 121/5/SYL under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. With this, the process of land acquisition started".

"Having failed to protect the rights of Punjab in the SYL court case all these years, the Badals are now desperate to compensate for their resultant political loss by trying to shift the blame on the Congress," said Amarinder.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Global e-commerce giant Amazon will now ship Amul products to consumers in the US, a move that will help the Indian dairy major to increase its exports.

Under its partnership announced today, Amazon under its Global Selling programme will offer Amul's Ghee and GulabJamun to consumers in America. The range will gradually be increased to add other products like cheese and butter.

"There are 30 lakh Indian NRIs in the US. We have been exporting our dairy products to the US for the last 20 years but it was mostly to local stores with Indian population in the vicinity. With this partnership, we are targetting to reach every nook and corner of the American market," GCMMF (Amul) Managing Director R S Sodhi told PTI.

He added that Amul exports Rs 30-35 crore worth of dairy products to the US market annually.

"We are looking at increasing our export, which is 1-2 per cent of our turnover currently," he said.

GCMMF, which sells its products under the Amul brand, is owned by over 3.6 million milk producers. Its turnover stood at over Rs 23,000 crore in FY2015-16.

Amazon had launched its 'Global Selling Program' in India in May last year. It facilitates access for Indian sellers to sell their products to consumers across the globe.

The programme has witnessed 70 per cent increase in seller base as compared to last year with over 18,000 Indian sellers selling over 25 million products globally across nine of Amazon's global marketplaces.

The programme offers end-to-end solution that includes assisting sellers with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance.

"We are excited to help fuel the brand's growth in the US market by offering unprecedented reach to consumers. Through this programme, we will offer Amul an end-to-end solution and help the brand cater to the growing appetite for quality Indian food products amongst global consumers," Amazon India Director and GM (Seller Services) Gopal Pillai said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid stalemate in Parliament over opposition parties' protest over demonetisation, BJP President Amit Shah tonight held a meeting with party MPs from southern states where they are believed to have discussed the current political situation.

The meeting was held at the residence of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who is a Lok Sabha member from Karnataka, and attended by Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Ramesh Jigajinagi and Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa.

BJP MPs of different states usually hold meetings with ministers during the session, a party leader said, adding that it was one such meeting.

However, the meeting, assumes significance as the opposition is attacking the BJP-led NDA government over demonetisation.

The party has asked its members to aggressively counter the opposition's charge and list benefits of demonetisation, which the government has insisted will help curb black money and corruption.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amnesty International today accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injuring hundreds since August 2015.

The army denied the charge.

"This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the southeast of Nigeria," Amnesty warned in its report.

"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher," said Makmid Kamara, interim director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The watchdog said its report was based on analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eyewitness accounts relating to demonstrations and other gatherings of Biafran activists between August 2015 and August 2016.

The protesters were asking for a separate state for the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria.

Amnesty said the military used live ammunition with little or no warning to disperse the protesters.

In May 2016, it said, at least 60 people were shot dead and 70 injured in two days of events to mark Biafra Remembrance Day.

Amnesty called for an inquiry.

"The Nigerian government's decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed," it said.

"The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book."



Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman dismissed the allegation.

"We wish to debunk the insinuation that our troops perpetrated the killing of defenceless agitators. This is an outright attempt to tarnish the reputation of the security forces," Usman said in a statement.

He said the activists had in fact killed five policeman at a protest in May and attacked military and police vehicles.

"(...) The military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence," he added.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has staged series of demonstrations across the southeast since the arrest in October last year of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been charged with treason and still in detention.

Kanu, who is also head of the banned Radio Biafra, is accused of calling for a separate republic of Biafra, nearly 50 years after a previous declaration of independence sparked a civil war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Almost a year ago, Bruce Sherman contributed an article for this column regarding the importance of global business and the resources available for Cayuga Countys exporters: In todays global business world, it is not just large companies that can increase sales by exporting or shipping their products outside their own borders. ... The ability to export goods helps an economy to grow by selling more overall goods and services, which increases the wealth of our community and region. Bruce went on to describe the consultation services offered by one of our regional partners, the Central New York International Business Alliance.

The CNYIBA continues to provide valuable advice and planning to our communitys businesses, and now, New York state is offering the Global NY Fund. This program, part of the Global NY suite of services, offers three new financial assistance programs to help small- and medium-sized businesses (500 or fewer employees) to increase their export capacity.

First, the Global NY fund includes grant opportunities. Companies can apply for between $10,000 and $25,000 to assist with projects and investments that are directly intended to increase exports. Such projects could include trade missions, translating product packaging, promotional campaigns in foreign markets, product adaptation or any number of other items that could result in new foreign business. These grants can fund up to 50 percent of a total project cost. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed four times each year.

Second, the fund is working with traditional lenders to provide loan guarantees on loans of up to $500,000 for equipment, inventory or working capital needed to deliver on and service foreign contracts. If you are a lender interested in offering Global NY loans, please reach out to our staff for more information.

Finally, for the ever-growing beverage industry, Global NY is offering interest-free loans of up to $50,000 to breweries, wineries and distilleries. These loans can be used to help bring New Yorks distilled and fermented beverages to the global market.

These three opportunities are specifically tied to exports, so only projects aimed at increasing sales internationally will be eligible. More information on these opportunities, as well as applications for the grants and beverage loans, can be found at the Global NY website.

While youre there, check out other Global NY programs as well. The Export Marketing Assistance Service helps businesses connect with sales agents and distributors globally. Furthermore, the Global NY State Trade Expansion Program, offered in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, provides funding, resources, services and networking opportunities to qualifying small businesses that want to begin exporting. The STEP is particularly interested in supporting certified minority and women-owned business enterprises and businesses within strategic industries, including advanced manufacturing, agribusiness and beverages and processed foods.

As Bruce said in his article, Ninety-five percent (95%) of the world market is located outside of the United States. ... The opportunity to expand markets for our manufacturers and agribusinesses in Cayuga County lies not just outside New Yorks borders, but outside the United States. If your business is considering looking to tap into the global market or expand your existing international business, dont hesitate to reach out to CEDA. We can help your business navigate these resources and figure out what will work best for your business. As always, that offer extends well beyond exporting, too. Our staff is here to help with any of your businesss challenges or opportunities.
A 43-year-old Australian woman has been convicted of animal cruelty for abandoning 14 cats inside her house for so long that they resorted to eating each other.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) says in a distressing case of abandonment, the woman left behind her 14 cats when she left her Woodville West property in Australia.

By the time inspectors arrived at the house in September last year, 13 of the cats were dead and the only surviving animal was severely emaciated, the SBS reported.

"The remains of the other 13 cats were spread throughout the house. It was a devastating sight," chief inspector Andrea Lewis said.

The woman was convicted in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court yesterday where she was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and banned from owning animals indefinitely.

The court took into account her mental health issues and the fact she spent two weeks in custody after failing to attend earlier court hearings.

Lewis said the one surviving cat, which had been named Trooper, had recovered and been rehomed.

She said if pet owners could no longer care for their animals they should seek help from family, friends or neighbours, contact their local council or take them to an animal shelter.

"You simply cannot abandon animals. You have a responsibility for their wellbeing," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The deposits of banks grew by Rs 16,595 crore at Rs 3,73,913 crore in Telangana during the quarter ending September, a top official of State Bank of Hyderabad said today.

Total advances of the banks grew by Rs 28,828 crore at Rs 4,18,481 crore, State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) Managing Director Santanu Mukherjee, who is also President of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), said in the Quarterly Review meeting of the Committee.

"CD ratio at 111.92 per cent at the end of September 2016 increased by 287 bps and continues to be one of the highest in the country. Banks have lent Rs 15,205 crore under Kharif during the first quarter achieving 87 per cent of the Kharif targets," SBH release quoted him as saying.

Banks have disbursed Rs 11,126 crore to Micro, Small and Medium enterprises segment during the financial year surpassing the annual targets, he said.

In FY 2016-17, banks have so far disbursed Rs 1,404 crore under Pradhan Manthri Mudra Yojana scheme, achieving about 31.38 per centof annual target, he said.

Observing that demonetisation of high currency notes has had abig impact on the banking sector, Mukherjee said there is a big opportunity for banks in the digital banking area.

The digital transactions are set to increase as the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) has just launched Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform, he said.

In Telangana, banks have so far opened 81.71 lakh accounts under PMJDY. RuPay Cards were issued to 69.79 lakh accounts (85.40 per cent) and 46.01 lakh accounts are active, the release said.

Aadhar seeding has been done for 60.65 lakh accounts (74. 25 per cent).

Telangana Finance Minister E Rajender said the demonetisation had impacted common people in a big way and sought removal of Rs 2,000 notes and quick introduction of new Rs 500 notes.

He urged the bankers to ensure that genuine farmers benefit in the farm loan waiver scheme of the state and to give relief to small entrepreneurs in repayment of loans.

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The Bihar Cabinet today approved nine projects of Road Construction Department worth Rs 1347 crore.

The approval was given at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Out of the nine projects, the maximum expenditure of Rs 1006 crore would be required by construction of approach road on Sone river in Aurangabad and building of a four-lane road there, Principal Secretary Cabinet Coordination Department Brajesh Mehrotra said.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to hand over 3.97 acre of land free to National Highway Authority of India for converting Aurangabad to Barwaada road to a six-lane one.

It also gave its sanction to converting Fatuha Nagar panchayat into nagar parishad.

The state cabinet today approved 22 proposals of various departments at the meeting.

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Congress today stuck to its demand that the Prime Minister hear them out and reply to concerns raised in Rajya Sabha during the demonetisation debate, saying it was only treading the path shown by BJP during discussion on the 2G spectrum scam in August 2013 when it was in opposition.

Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said that just as BJP demanded the Prime Minister's presence in the Upper House in August 2013, the Congress has every right to do so.

"We are adopting the same principle as done by BJP in 2013 when it demanded that the Prime Minister clarifies. We are also demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarifies to concerns raised by opposition," he said.

He said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who strongly criticised demonetisation in Rajya Sabha, was speaking through his rich experience on behalf of farmers and unorganised sector workers.

He said Singh, who has a lot of experience in public life and has held many top positions in the government, chooses his words judiciously and does not resort to theatrics.

"Dr Singh chooses his words judiciously and doesn't resort to theatrics. Singh spoke on behalf of farmers and the informal sector. The Prime Minister should listen to the views of his predecessor. We want the Prime Minister to clarify his position," Ramesh said.

The Congress leader said Singh has warned in his speech that India's GDP growth could be negatively impacted by at least 2 percentage points. He said experts have feared that the GDP growth rate this year will be only 5 per cent.

"Since the decision on demonetisation was taken by the Prime Minister and advocated by the Prime Minister, the Opposition demanded that he be present for the debate. The entire opposition in united in its demand that the Prime Minister be present in the House and listen to the views of all parties and clarify to them," he said.

Insisting that the opposition has decided that if there is "No PM, then no debate", Ramesh said the opposition is well within its rights to demand the Prime Minister's presence.

"We want the Prime Minister to be present as this decision was taken by one man, is being implemented by one man, is being complimented by one man. It is one man's desire for 'Maximum Publicity'. (The slogan of) 'Minimum Government-Maximum Governance' has become 'Minimum Governance - Maximum Publicity' and we want the Prime Minister to be present," he said.

On Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's charge that the opposition was running away from a debate, the Congress leader said they wanted to take the debate further "But BJP and PM keep on running (away) from the debate".

(REOPENS DEL65)



Ramesh said if one looks at the footage of Rajya Sabha proceedings, one finds members of the treasury benches being provoked to shout and come to the Well of the House.

"This is a bizarre situation that MPs of the treasury benches are being provoked by their senior leaders to protest. What does it mean? It means it is the government that does not want the debate. The opposition wants the debate," he said.

Ramesh said, "We want the Prime Minister's presence because it is the Prime Minister who has taken this decision. It is the Prime Minister who is implementing this decision. It is the Prime Minister who must tell us."



"The Prime Minister goes to Japan, he goes to Goa, he goes to Ghazipur, he goes everywhere and he does this big drama about threat on his life when how he has transformed the nation. So, why can't he sit in the House? He should sit, he should listen, he should respond and it will take a maximum of a four hours," he said.

The Congress leader said he refused to believe that the Prime Minister cannot spare four hours for Parliament where he touched the ground the day he became the Prime Minister, and said he is going to a 'sacred temple'.

He said earlier in the day all opposition parties got together and held a meeting in Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad's chamber and decided that there would be no debate in the House till the Prime Minister attends and hears them out and replies to their concerns.
Two people were killed when a car exploded early today outside a government building in the southern Turkish city of Adana, officials said.

"Two people were killed and 16 were wounded," the governor of Adana, Mahmut Demirtas, was quoted as saying by the state-run agency Anadolu.

The blast, which occurred outside the governor's office, is the latest in a wave of violence striking Turkey, whose government is fighting both Kurdish militants and jihadists.

"A vehicle blew up at 8.05am (0505 GMT) at a parking lot next to the entrance of the governor's office," Demirtas said.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a woman, the governor said, without providing further details.

The force of the blast smashed shop windows in the neighbourhood, private NTV broadcaster reported.

Ambulances and fire engine teams were dispatched to the scene, Anadolu reported.

Turkey has been on high alert since 2015 after a series of attacks blamed on Kurdish militants and Islamic State jihadists.

The United States has advised its citizens to carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Global banking major BNP Paribas has completed the acquisition of domestic retail brokerage firm Sharekhan, a move that will help it to expand presence in broking space in the country.

As a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, Sharekhan will be a part of the banking giant's digital banking and investment services business -- Personal Investors. This business segment of the bank caters to 2.9 million individual customers across India, Germany, Austria and Spain.

BNP Paribas is estimated to have acquired Sharekhan for Rs 2,000 crore.

"We have completed the acquisition of Sharekhan, first announced in July 2015," BNP Paribas said in a statement today.

"The transaction has now been finalised after having received approvals from all relevant regulatory authorities," it added.

Sharekhan director Jaideep Arora will takeover as the chief executive of the brokerage with immediate effect.

Tarun Shah, CEO and Director of Sharekhan, has announced his retirement.

Sharekhan is an independent retail brokerage firm in India and offers broking solutions across all asset classes to more than 1.4 million clients via internet and digital solutions.

"With the completion of this acquisition, we are pleased to welcome colleagues and clients of Sharekhan into the BNP Paribas Group," BNP Paribas Global Head (personal investors) Beatrice Cossa Dumurgier said.

"Building on Sharekhan's position of leadership, we will work towards making Sharekhan the preferred savings and investment partner for individual customers in India," Dumurgier added.

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Bodies of soldiers Manoj Kushwaha and Shahshank Singh, who died in an ambush by terrorists in Machhil sector of the Jammu and Kashmir two days ago, were brought here this evening.

A large number of locals assembled at the Andhau airstrip where the bodies were brought by an IAF aircraft.

The two martyrs were given a guard of honour and the bodies were kept for the locals to pay their tributes.

Ever since the martyrdom of Manoj Kushwaha of Badhopur village and Shahshank Singh of Naseeruddinpur village, a pall of gloom has descended on the district.

The last rites will be performed at the Ghazipur cremation ground.

In a cross-LoC attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists, three Indian soldiers were killed on November 22, with body of one of them being mutilated.

The ambush on army patrol took place in Machhil sector of of Kupwara district in north Kashmir.

Of the three soldiers killed in the attack, two--Shashank Kumar Singh and Manoj Kumar Kushwaha of 57 Rashtriya Rifles-- were from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh and one from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

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Gujarati edition of a book on the late RSS leader Lakshmanrao Madhavrao Inamdar, co-authored by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be released here tomorrow.

"The Gujarati edition of the book written jointly by Narendra Modi and (RSS leader) Rajabhai Nene on L M Inamdar, popularly known as "Vakilsaheb", would be released tomorrow," said Rajubhai Dhruv, BJP spokesperson.

Senior RSS leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani would be present for the function, he said.

Hindi edition of the book was published two years ago.

Born at Satara in Maharashtra, Inamdar was jailed for eight months during the freedom struggle. He became RSS pracharak in 1942 and handled various responsibilities in the saffron organisation. He is considered to be Modi's mentor.

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A 5-year-old Muslim kindergarten student was allegedly assaulted by a woman teacher who grabbed him by the neck and began choking him, the latest in a series of hate incidents reported in the US following Donald Trump's win.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country's largest Muslim civil rights group, has called for an investigation into what it said were assaults by a female teacher on the Muslim kindergarten student at a Charlotte- Mecklenburg elementary school in North Carolina.

The assaults at the David Cox Road Elementary School in north Charlotte started at the beginning of the school year, according to CAIR, but the latest incident occurred last week, the Charlotte Observer reported.

"During the first two months of the school year, (the Muslim student) was subjected to relentless bullying and harassment not only by his classmates, but by (the teacher)," Maha Sayed, a civil rights lawyer for the organisation, wrote to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

For example, the teacher routinely singled out the student from his classmates and made him carry a heavy backpack throughout the day, Sayed wrote.

"The backpack contained a large textbook and headphones, which caused (the student) to develop significant back pain," the letter alleged.

The teacher "would also treat (the student) harshly and reportedly called him 'bad Muslim boy' on multiple occasions," it said.

On November 16, according to the letter, the teacher "reportedly approached (the student)...Grabbed him by the neck and began choking him. (Another teacher) then separated the two and began consoling (the student) who was crying and extremely shaken."



The teacher who reportedly discriminated against the student was named by the New York Daily as Alma Simpson.

The group wants the student transferred "to a safe kindergarten classroom free from discrimination and retaliatory actions."



"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is committed to the safety and well-being of all students," CMS spokeswoman Renee McCoy was quoted as saying.

"CMS takes these allegations seriously and is currently investigating," McCoy said.

The reporting of the alleged discrimination comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trump's election.

Many Muslim women have posted on social media describing 'hijab grab' attacks on them.

Also, ahead of the polls, a 7-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim.

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A 25-year-old man, who has escaped from police custody after being arrested for allegedly kidnapping and murdering a seven-year-old boy from Mumbra here, was arrested again today, police said.

The accused, Santosh Ramrut Sharma, was arrested on November 18 on the suspicion of kidnapping the victim, Ranjan Bhagat, but he had escaped from the police custody yesterday.

However, he was once again arrested today, following which he admitted to killing the minor, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said.

The victim's body was today recovered from a room in Mumbra, where the accused had dumped it and locked it from outside. However, the motive of the murder was not yet known.

According to police, the boy, a resident of Kausa of Mumbra was kidnapped on November 12, following which his mother lodged a complaint with police, who registered a case of kidnapping against an unidentified person.

"Later, the boy's mother received several phone calls on her cell, in which the caller told her that her son was kept in a locality named Sri Lanka, located on Kausa Mumbra road, and told her to take him away," police said.

"On November 17, the woman once again got a call stating that her son was kept in a hut and she should come and collect him from there. After this, she approached the police and told them that she suspected that one Santosh Sharma was behind her son's abduction. The next day, police arrested him," police said.

Police got his custody till November 25. During the interrogation, Sharma said he was ready to show the location where he has kept the boy. Accordingly, personnel of the Child Protection Unit accompanied the accused to a hillock at Devripada near Sri Lanka locality at about 6 pm on Wednesday.

"At that time he was handcuffed and the other end of the handcuff was held by a police constable. While the police team and the arrested accused were walking, the accused gave a jolt and pulled the constable. Both of them fell and came sliding down the hillock. In the process, the accused escaped and vanished in the dark," police said.

The accused escaped with the handcuffs on. Despite a search, he could not be traced last night. However, during a search operation, he was arrested this morning from Mumbra bypass.

Following the arrest, he revealed to the police that he has murdered the boy and kept the body inside a room. The police then recovered the body.

Further investigation into the case is on.

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AUBURN  Not everyone may be blood-related, but it's a family affair at the Salvation Army's Thanksgiving Day meal.

Jeanne Hampson, of Auburn, sat at the dinner table inside 18 Genesee St. next to K.J. Deal. Relatives were too far away to celebrate the holiday with, so the two decided to celebrate together. Hampson, whose daughter lives in Florida, said she often thinks of Deal as a second daughter.

"I have someone to pick on right here," she said, laughing.

Deal grinned.

"I pick back," she said.

The two met at the Auburn YMCA where they both were taking a class. Since then, they have become friends and often do things together including playing bingo at the Salvation Army. Thursday, they came for turkey, stuffing, pie, and good company.

"It's been great," Hampson said. "It's been really nice. I came because I didn't have another place to go. I wanted to be around people."

Mary Clifford, a volunteer during the feast, said she used to come to the Salvation Army for meals. Now, she's giving back. She and her husband Terry have been meal prepping for nearly two weeks, and with the help of local restaurants and other volunteers, cooked and served 52 turkeys.

Tim Donovan, chair of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, said last year the organization served 118 dinners. This year, they expect to serve at least that many. That's in addition to about 500 meals that volunteers delivered Thursday morning to senior citizens and those unable to leave their homes.

"As a board member, I love volunteering here," Donovan said. "What the Salvation Army does here for the community is wonderful."

Besides the deliveries and dinner, Donovan said volunteers brought meals to Chapel House, a local homeless shelter, and to the Underground Cafe where some who are homeless have been known to stop by for a Thanksgiving meal. The two delivery stops were a new undertaking for the Salvation Army, and Donovan said it allowed them to reach more people.

Major Karen Smullen, a corps officer who has been with the Salvation Army for about 35 years, said she was amazed by the number of volunteers, too, who donated their time. She said about 100 people helped throughout the day, and that included the Hammersley family. Their first time volunteering at the event, the family of four from Weedsport said they were happy to be able to help and serve others.

The day's youngest volunteer, 13-year-old Madison Mitchell of Auburn, said this was her second year helping out at Thanksgiving. She was inspired to start by her nanna, Robin Mott, who volunteers at the Salvation Army on Sundays.

"I like seeing a lot of people from the community," Mitchell said.

That's what Hamspon and Deal enjoy, too. With a Christmas tree sparkling at the front of the dining room, the smell of turkey in the air, holiday music played by Chris Molloy on the harp, and company around the tables, it was a warm and festive scene.

"This is my home away from home," Deal said, laughing. "I look forward to this. I really do."
The Commerce and Industry Ministry has moved a proposal for the consideration of the Cabinet to completely ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She said the government did not want to encourage foreign investment in this sector.

"We wanted to be sure that for the production of cigarettes or other things (in the sector), we do not want to encourage FDI because we have ratified (a framework of) the WHO (World Health Organization)," the commerce and industry minister told PTI in an interview.

"We want to be sure of that (framework). Keeping consistent with that policy of the government, no encouragement should be given," she added.

However, she said that the move could have a possible impact on farmers who are growing "but we have to look at alternate crops for them which will give them good yield".

Currently, FDI is permitted in technology collaboration in any form, including licensing for franchise, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the tobacco sector.

However, it is prohibited in manufacturing of cigars, cigarettes and tobacco substitutes.

According to the proposal, the ministry has proposed to ban FDI in licensing for franchisee, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the sector, sources said.

It would mean FDI would be totally banned in the tobacco segment in any form.

The ban would also eliminate the possibility of indirect flow of overseas funds to the sector.

The move also assumes significance as India is signatory to WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, under which the country has the responsibility of reducing consumption of tobacco products.

FDI into the country grew by 29 per cent to $40 billion in 2015-16.
The Bombay High Court today said it cannot hear the petitions filed by district co-operative banks on demonetisation issue or grant any relief to them, and asked the banks to get clarification from the Supreme Court on whether the high court can hear the pleas.

The Mumbai, Solapur, Nashik and Pune District Central Co-operative Banks have approached the high court challenging the RBI circular of November 14, restricting them from exchanging or depositing old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, which were declared as illegal tender under the government's demonetisation move on November 8.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh today informed a bench headed by Justice A S Oka that the Supreme Court had yesterday issued notices in the transfer petition filed by the Union government seeking for all matters on the demonetisation issue to be heard either by SC or any one HC.

"The order of the Supreme Court does not mention anything about refusal to stay proceedings in the high court," Singh said.

V M Thorat, counsel for Solapur co-operative bank, argued that the apex court had orally refused to grant interim relief of stay on all the other petitions.

Justice Oka said refusal of relief by way of stay has not been mentioned in the SC order and hence the petitioners here will have to seek clarification on it.

"You (banks) can go get clarification from the apex court. If SC says there is no stay, then we will hear this matter. But till then it would not be proper for us to hear the petitions or grant any relief as the apex court is already seized of the issue," Justice Oka said.

The court noted that the transfer petition is scheduled to come up for hearing before SC on December 2 and posted the banks' petitions on December 5.

The Union government today submitted an order issued by its Joint Secretary clarifying that the government was on the same page as that of RBI.

"The government and RBI are on the same page about restrictions imposed on the district co-operative banks. As per the circulars issued by both RBI and government, only state and urban co-operative banks are permitted to exchange or deposit old currency notes," Singh said.

Thorat argued that the district co-operative banks are



facing a hurdle due to the restriction.

"The Solapur co-operative bank till November 14 collected Rs 246 crores from its account holders. Now it is obliged to remit this amount to SBI but they are not accepting the amount (which is in old currency) due to the RBI circular," he said.

Anil Sakhre, counsel for Pune co-operative bank, argued that it has collected Rs 600 crore from its account holders.

Thorat said while the RBI circular of November 8 included the co-operative banks and permitted them to accept and exchange old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, another circular issued on November 14 prohibited the co-operative banks from exchanging or depositing the old currency notes.
More than 560 people have been prosecuted and another 53 convicted in China for telecom fraud in cases involving a "huge amount" of assets, leading to the death of at least one student, officials said today.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said that 564 individuals have been prosecuted in nine cases and another 53 were convicted in four cases.

In the first batch of 21 cases handled by the SPP and the Ministry of Public Security, 481 persons were arrested.

The cases involved a huge amount of assets, along with serious social effects, and included student victims, cross-border fraud, the SPP said.

One case reportedly led to the death of Xu Yuyu, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Linyi City in east China's Shandong Province. Xu was reported to have lost USD 1,400 meant for university tuition fees to fraudsters.

She died of cardiac arrest on August 19.

An unidentified official from the SPP said the progress in the 21 cases have contained the increase in telecom fraud, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

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More than 500 employees of a Coca-Cola plant in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have resorted to protests following the multinational firm's move to sell bottling operations to two local companies.

The employees fear that they may get fired after one of the two companies, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) take over the bottling operations, State-run 'Global Times' quoted them as saying.

The Coca-Cola Company on Saturday announced to restructure its bottling operations in China and concentrate the business in its two franchise partners, COFCO Coca-Cola Beverages Limited (a subsidiary of Chinese State-owned COFCO Corporation) and Swire Beverage Holdings Limited.

COFCO will own and operate 18 bottling plants, while Swire will own and operate 17, Xinhua agency reported.

A worker surnamed Zhou said that the factory had already cut its employees from around 1,000 to 800 this year, and their concerns grew when COFCO sold a chocolate brand to 'Top Properties' due to fierce competition in January, which led to the shutdown of factories and retrenchment of large numbers of employees.

Employees in Chengdu in Sichuan Province and in northeast China also held similar protests, the report said.

Photos posted online showed that protesters held banners in front of the factory's gate which read "[we] worked hard [at here] for over 10 years but were sold secretly in a moment. We demand compensation."



The company said in an email sent to the employees on Tuesday that no changes will be made to employees' labour contracts, Zhou said.

Separately, two weeks after a Chinese firm purchased Sony Electronics Huanan, a Sony plant in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, its workers staged a "peaceful" protest.

Workers were informed about the purchase of the factory by a share-listed company Shenzhen O-film Tech Co. On November 7.

Police were deployed to control agitated workers over renewal of contracts.

Shenzhen O-film Tech Co purchased the plant for USD 234 million on November 8, with the aim of expanding its operations in electronics manufacturing sectors, especially in camera business.

The Sony factory produced in-front camera for companies like Apple Inc.

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Accusing the JD(U) of adopting "double standard" on demonetisation, opposition BJP in Bihar today posed a direct question to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whether his party was in favour of the decision to ban old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes or against it.

"On one hand, Nitish Kumar welcomes the step to end black money. On the other, former JD(U) president and MP Sharad Yadav sits on a dharna with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, demanding rollback of the demonetisation decision," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.

"Nitish Kumar should clarify if he agrees with Sharad Yadav's view that 'notebandi ka wahi harsh hoga jo nasbandi ka hua tha apatkal mein' (demonetisation will meet the same fate as that of forced sterilisation during the Emergency days)," he added.

Immediately after the Centre's announcement of the demonetisation decision, Kumar had supported the step to fight black money and even sought an attack on benami property. But, Yadav was questioning the rationale behind the decision, Modi pointed out.

"Isn't it double standard of the JD(U) on demonetisation? Being the head of the party, Kumar should make it clear whether the JD(U) is in favour of demonetisation or opposed to it," the former deputy chief minister of Bihar said.

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The Enforcement Directorate today conducted searches on the various premises of a Delhi-based firm in connection with its money laundering probe in the coal scam probe case.

Officials said the agency searched various premises of the firm in Delhi, Haryana and Chhattisgarh under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of its investigations.

They said the Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal complaint against the firm in 2014 based on a CBI FIR against it.

However, the CBI had filed a closure report in the case early this year saying they have not found any incriminating evidence against the firm after it booked it for alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks in Chhattisgarh.

They said the agency is looking into the angle of money laundering in the case and is investigating to detect the proceeds of crime.

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Four Kerala fishermen, who were found struggling in sea after their boat capsized, have been rescued by the Coast Guard.

The fishermen, who had put out to sea from nearby Beypore, were spotted struggling in the waters by an Indian Coast Guard Interceptor boat C-144 on patrol duty and brought to the shores last night, a Coast Guard release said.

The fishing boat and the fishermen were found about 2.7 nautical miles off the coast around 7.45 pm yesterday.

All the four were in a dehydrated condition. One of them was injured and given first aid.

The fishermen were in a stable condition and handed over to Marine Enforcement Wing of the fisheries department at Beypore around 10.45 pm yesterday, the release said.

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Congress workers today gheraoed the residence of BJP president Amit Shah here, protesting the Centre's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, prompting the police to briefly detain 70 of them.

A large number of Congress workers gathered outside Shah's old house in Naranpura locality, which is now used as his office as he has shifted to a new house, and shouted slogans against him.

They even tried to burn the BJP president's effigy but were stopped by the police who were deployed in large number.

"Farmers are not getting money from cooperative banks, people are facing difficulties withdrawing their own money from banks and ATMs, and on the other hand, black money holders are exchanging their money by paying 30 per cent commission. We have come here to ask Shah to give us our money," said Gujarat Congress vice president Jitu Patel.

"I have come with a bank cheque, to ask Amit Shah to exchange it for cash. I have stood in the queue for hours after which the bank says there is no money. Want to ask Mr Shah how will I get my own money," said Rita Shah, a Congress worker.

Naranpura police said 70 Congress workers were detained for around two hours and then let off.

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A man, accused of indiscriminately firing at two persons, has been let off by a court here which pulled up Delhi Police for allegedly manipulating the case diary.

The court also observed that in the absence of any convincing material on record to hold accused Dinesh guilty, his name in the case appeared to be "an afterthought".

"The manner in which the case diary was manipulated is not in good taste. It is also puzzling as to why spare set of case diary was not sent to VRK (Vulnerable Record Keeping). A copy of this judgment be, therefore, sent to DCP concerned with request to look into said aspects and to fix responsibility of the person concerned," Additional Sessions Judge Manoj Jain said.

"I am of the view that there is no convincing, compelling and persuasive material on record to hold Dinesh guilty. His name seems an afterthought and fabrication of case diary makes the things worse for prosecution and, therefore, I am compelled to give benefit of doubt to him," the judge said.

The court, however, held another accused Ashwani guilty of attempt to murder under IPC, saying the multiple gunshot injuries on the two victims clearly signify his "apparent intention" to eliminate the victims.

Ashwini absconded during the trial, the court noted and initiated a process under secton 82 of CrPC (Proclamation for person absconding) against him returnable on December 12 this year.

According to the prosecution, on May 10, 2011, Ashwani and Dinesh came on a bike and started firing indiscriminately at victims Rajesh and Narender.

Narender recognised Ashwani, who was riding pillion but failed to identify the rider in court.

During the trial, Ashwini claimed he was falsely framed in the case due to previous enimity with the victims.

The court, however, held that the injured would not let their assailants go unpunished merely to implicate a third party.

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Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee today said the party will observe a 'jan akrosh' day in all districts of the state on November 28 to protest the implementation of the Centre's demonetisation move.

All party leaders from the state will participate in the campaign in the districts, MPCC spokesman Sachin Sawant told reporters here.

Farmers, farm labourers, traders and other labourers are devastated with the government's move, he claimed.

Sawant criticised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his tweet recently that the Centre has accepted Maharashtra government's request to allow farmers to buy seeds for Rabi crops with the scrapped notes. The CM had also said that seeds can be purchased from centres and outlets belonging to state seeds corporation.

Sawant said state seeds corporation does not have any outlet in the state. The corporation has appointed distributors for selling seeds. They sell only harbhara (gram seed) and wheat, he said.

"What about sugarcane, jowar, vegetables. Fadnavis should stop praising the Prime Minister and concentrate on the state's interests," he said.

Sawant said the government's lack of trust in district cooperatives banks has hit the farmers hard.

"Government boasts about crores of rupees in collection of taxes in old notes in urban local bodies. All gram panchayats have accounts in district cooperative banks which have been prevented from accepting old notes," he said.

He said 15 days have passed since the scrapping of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, and added that 22 notifications have been issued by the Centre so far, creating confusion and chaos while farmers have been kept away from banks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
YATES-SENECA-SOUTHERN CAYUGA-ONONDAGA-STEUBEN-SCHUYLER-CHEMUNG- TOMPKINS- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PENN YAN...SENECA FALLS...AUBURN... SYRACUSE...CORNING...HORNELL...WATKINS GLEN...ELMIRA...ITHACA 1134 AM EST WED NOV 23 2016 ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM EST THURSDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR A LIGHT WINTRY MIX...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM EST THURSDAY. * LOCATIONS...YATES, SENECA, SOUTHERN CAYUGA, ONONDAGA, STEUBEN, SCHUYLER, CHEMUNG AND TOMPKINS COUNTY. * HAZARD TYPES...LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. * ACCUMULATIONS...A LIGHT GLAZE OF ICE ALONG WITH UP TO AN INCH OF SNOWFALL. * TIMING...A LIGHT WINTRY MIX WILL MOVE IN EARLY THIS EVENING AND END AS RAIN SHOWERS BY MID MORNING ON THANKSGIVING. * IMPACTS...ICE AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY CREATE SLIPPERY ROAD CONDITIONS. * WINDS...SOUTHEAST 5 TO 10 MPH. * TEMPERATURES...IN THE LOWER 30S THEN RISING INTO THE MIDDLE AND UPPER 30S BY LATE MORNING ON THANKSGIVING. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW, SLEET, OR FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES, AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
With CPI(M) deciding to observe November 28 as 'All-India Protest Day,' on the Centre's demonetisation issue, DMK today said it would stage protests outside central government offices in the state on that day.

Party chief M Karunanidhi said 'opposition leaders'-- the Left parties -- had decided to hold countrywide protests against the ruling BJP on the issue and that DMK will protest outside central government offices in Tamil Nadu.

"As far as DMK is concerned, massive protest demonstrations will be held outside central government offices in all the districts with the cooperation of the people," he said in a statement.

He urged good participation by party workers and asked them to voice support against this "anti-people" move of the Centre.

Karunanidhi also lashed out at the Centre, saying the common man was severely suffering.

He criticised Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu for saying that demonetisation will not be rolled back, claiming it had further "complicated" the situation.

(REOPEN MDS 1)



Meanwhile, DMK leader M K Stalin sought extension of today's deadline for acceptance of the now defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for public utility and fuel payment, till March 2017.

"Since the deadline ends today, (government) should go in for a voting in both the Houses of Parliament and extend those sops till March 31, 2017," he said in a statement.

With banks struggling to cope with rush to get alternative currency, the government had on November 11 extended use of the now decommissioned high value currency notes for paying household utility bills, fuel, taxes and fees and purchases from co-operative stores till November 24, i.E., today.

(Reopens MES2)



DMK also staged a state-wide 'human chain' protest this evening against demonetisation and sought a vote in Parliament on the issue.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi should hold deliberations and take appropriate action on this issue," DMK Treasurer Stalin told reporters after inaugurating the human chain here.

He also mooted a "common vote" on demonetisation in both Houses of Parliament.

Stalin travelled in an open autorickshaw for several kilometres, enthusing his party cadres who had formed the chain on the margins of key roads.

Taking a dig at the Centre, he said while the BJP-led regime might claim that the people were on their side on the issue, the people actually "are on the side of banks" (to withdraw money or exchange scrapped notes).

People were enduring untold hardship, he said, claiming that banks did not have enough "change" to dispense.

He sought appropriate action by the Prime Minister to ease the crisis and alleviate people's sufferings.

Noting that the present situation should be set right, he said, "If the Centre had taken steps to ensure adequate circulation of sufficient notes including Rs 100 prior to the demonetisation move, such problems would not have arisen."



"Though the initiative has been done with the idea of rooting out black money, those responsible for it are at peace and only the common man is hit who have no link to hoarded money," he said.

In the neighbouring union territory of Puducherry, workers and functionaries of different wings of DMK took part in the human chain agitation. Carrying banners with slogans criticising demonetisation, they formed a long line on the sides of main roads.

The participants said the demonetisation had landed the traders, daily wage earners, petty vendors, unorganised labourers and others in 'utter disarray'.
Stepping up the opposition tirade against demonetisation, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today castigated the government and the Prime Minister over the move, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."



Singh, who spoke in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha, said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, it being an "under-estimate".

He hoped the Prime Minister will find a practical and pragmatic decision to mitigate the sufferings of the common man and the poor who have been in distress after the decision.

He said agriculture, unorganised sectors and small industry has also been hit hard by it and people were losing faith in the currency and banking system.

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure. And in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," he said in Rajya Sabha as the debate on the issue resumed after Modi came into the House.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad requested Chairman Hamid Ansari and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley that the Question Hour should not be taken up as the Prime Minister was present in the House and the debate be taken up.

Azad's request was readily accepted by the government with Jaitley saying that the debate should start immediately and Modi will certainly participate in it.

Participating in the resumed debate, Singh said it is important to take note of the grievances of the ordinary people who have suffered as a result of this imposition on the country "overnight" by the Prime Minister.

"My own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP of the country, can decline by about 2 percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an under-estimate and not an over-estimate.

"Therefore, I feel the Prime Minister must come with some constructive proposal on how we can implement the scheme and at the same time prevent the distrust that has been caused to the common people," Singh said.

The former Prime Minister did not agree with the Prime



Minister's plea to wait for 50 days for the results of demonetisation to come about, saying no one knows about the final outcome of the decision.

"Well 50 days is a short period, but for those who are poor and deprived sections of the community even 50 days of torture can bring about disastrous effect. And that's why about 60 to 65 people have lost their lives. Maybe more.

"What is more is, what has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency system and in the banking system," he said.

Asking Modi to spell out the names of countries where people have deposited their money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw their money, he said, "this alone I think is enough to condemn what has been done in the name of greater growth."



He said the scheme of demonetisation, the way it is being implemented, will hurt agricultural growth in our country, small industry and all those people who work in the informal sectors of the economy.

Singh, an eminent economist, criticised the government for issuing fresh instructions and modifying the rules every day on the conditions under which people can withdraw their money.

"That reflects very poorly on the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Minister's office and on the Reserve Bank of India. I am very sorry that the Reserve Bank has been exposed to this kind of criticism which I think is fully justified," the former Prime Minister said.

He said though he agreed with the objectives of the scheme to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as spelt out by the Prime Minister, he wished to highlight the problems that the common people and poor have been subjected to by the move.

"But I do want to point out at least that in the process of demonetisation monumental mismanagement has been undertaken about which today there is no two opinions in the country as a whole," he said.

Referring to those saying that the move which was doing harm and creating distrust in the short run was good in the long run, Singh quoted John Maynard Keynes to say that "in the long run, all of us are dead".

"I urge upon the Prime Minister to find practical, pragmatic ways and measures to relieve the distress of the people, who happen to be a great majority of our people. After all 90 per cent of our people were in the informal sector, 55 per cent of our workers in agriculture are feeling distress," he said.

He also noted that the cooperative banking system which served large number of people in rural areas was non-functional and has been prevented from handling cash.

The senior Congress leader said though it is not his intention to pick holes in what this side or other side does, but hoped that the Prime Minister "even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country".
Continuing her attack on the Modi government over demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today met President Pranab Mukherjee again and apprised him about the "critical" condition prevailing in the country.

"Today I met the President. I had met him earlier also. We explained to him about the critical issue going on in the country (after demonetisation)," Banerjee said after meeting the President.

"We told him (the President) about the situation of labourers in the country. In our state, paddy labourers are not getting salary. Many shopkeepers, traders, even salaried employees, are not getting money. Last month, they got salary but this month they will not get any money. We cannot access the money in our accounts," she told reporters.

Narrating an incident at a hospital, she said, "One boy died because of lack of treatment. Old notes are running in petrol pump, airports but states cannot use old notes because of which it will suffer losses."



The Trinamool Congress chief had led a protest march from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhawan on November 16, the first day of the Winter Session, along with members of AAP, Shiv Sena and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference against the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

She had also addressed a rally yesterday at Jantar Mantar along with AAP and Samajwadi Party to step up the pressure on the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Claiming that the Opposition has united in the movement against demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said any movement is bound to succeed if people are involved in a massive way.

"If people are taken along in any movement, it is bound to succeed. Public response is always good. People are supporting our movement against demonetisation by the Centre," Banerjee told reporters at the NSCBI Airport here on her return from Delhi.

Confident of massive public support in her movement against demonetisation, Banerjee, who had rushed to Delhi to meet Opposition leaders, to take part in a demonstration and to meet the President, said the Opposition parties have united in the movement against demonetisation.

"All opposition political parties have now understood that the decision by the Centre is causing hardships to common people and inconveniencing their daily lives," she said.

Coming down heavily on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Chief Minister said her movement would gain more strength with the participation of more people and political parties nationwide.

As part of her nationwide movement, Banerjee said she would also address a public rally in Patna later this month.

Earlier in the day, Banerjee, who has been camping in the national capital since yesterday, met President Pranab Mukherjee for a second time in nine days, to register protest over demonetisation.

"Today, I met the honourable President. We had met him earlier (too). We explained him about the critical issue in the country. We told him about the condition of labourers, who are not getting wages, traders who have no money.

"Last month, the salaried class got their salary, but on the first of next month they will not get any money. We can't access the money in our own accounts. Old notes are being accepted at petrol pumps, for civil aviation, but states can't use old money because of which they will suffer losses," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala today announced 12-hour hartal on November 28 as part of the nation-wide agitation by opposition parties against demonetisation, which the front said has "caused hardship to common man."



"The demonetisation of high value notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 by the Centre without making alternative arrangements has caused untold sufferings to people," LDF Convener Vaikom Viswam said in a statement.

He charged that under the cover of demonetisation, the Centre was trying to wreck the strong c-ooperative sector in the state.

The November 28 hartal would be observed between 6 AM to 6 PM. Banks, newspapers, milk supply, hospitals and marriage functions would be exempted from the shut down, Viswam said.

However, the Congress-led UDF opposition distanced itself from the hartal.

UDF said it would instead hold a picketing in front of the Raj Bhavan here on November 28 as part of the nation-wide stir.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala said the hartal would only further aggravate the hardship faced by common people.

The LDF's hartal announcement comes in line with the CPI(M)'s call to observe November 28 as "All India Protest Day" against the withdrawal of Rs 500/1,000 currency notes.

LDF also asked the Centre to allow the use of demonetised currency till alternative arrangements were made till December 30.

With the Centre not allowing the co-operative banks to exchange old notes, their operation had come to a standstill, pushing ordinary man who depend on the system to various financial difficulties, LDF said.

Commenting on denial of appointment for an all-party



delegation from the state to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the co-operative sector issue, Viswam said it violated all democratic norms and showed "PM's arrogance".

As part of its agitation against the Centre, LDF activists todaybegan a 24-hour day-night state-wide stir on problems faced by the co-operative sector in the state after demonetisation.

LDF members also organised sit-in dharnas at various centres in panchayats, municipalities and corporation levels.

Inaugurating the dharna here, Viswam said the agitation was to "protect" the cooperatives.

An all-party delegation led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had planned to meet Prime Minister today, but the plan got cancelled after the PM's office denied appointment.

Vijayan had dubbed PM's stand as an "insult" to the state.

Meanwhile, state Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac asked the Centre to allow government staff and pensioners to withdraw in cash an amount not exceeding their salary/pension from the banks andtreasuries during the first ten days of December.

In a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, he requested relaxation of the limit of Rs 24,000, which was imposed on cash withdrawals in the first fortnight after the demonetisation.

A special Kerala Assembly session convened on November 22 had passed a resolution asking the Centre to allow co-operatives to exchange old notes and accept deposits in commercial banks.

LDF had also held a dharna, led by the Chief Minister, in front of the RBI office here on the issue on November 18.

Meanwhile, state BJP President Kumanam Rajasekaran said the state government itself was responsible for the present situation in the cooperative sector.

The party has maintained that cooperative banks in the state were not following the 'KYC' norms of RBI and that they were a "hub of black money hoarders.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh today claimed that the demonetisation drive speaks of the Modi government's "failure" and in its bid to target "5 per cent" black money hoarders, it has caused hardship to the remaining population.

He also objected to the "tendency" of branding as "anti-national" those opposing the move to withdraw old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

"The move aimed at tightening the noose around 5 per cent people with black money has put the remaining 95 per cent people in distress. The decision (to decommission high value notes) speaks of the Modi government's failure," Singh said claimed.

The Congress general secretary alleged if anyone protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, a team of BJP leaders and "Modi bhakts" (staunch supporters) instantly brand that person as "anti-national".

"An atmosphere is being created under which if you praise Modi, you will be called a nationalist but if you oppose him you will be labelled as anti-national," he claimed.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said the NDA government has raised the ceiling under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to send dollars abroad from earlier USD 75,000 to USD 2.50 lakh per financial year now.

Under LRS, a huge amount of money has been sent abroad in the current fiscal, he claimed.

"If the Modi Government is honest in tackling the menace of black money, it should make public the names of people who have sent money abroad under LRS in the last one year," Singh said.

He said the demonetisation move has hit the Indian economy hard and forced common people to queue up before banks and wait for hours to get the scrapped currency notes exchanged.

Singh claimed the move to scrap high-value currency notes



will neither check corruption nor put an effective curb on terror financing.

Referring to NIA probes into various bomb blast cases, the Congress leader alleged that efforts are on to get people from right-wing organisations people who are accused of involvement in terror acts absolved.

Alleging that NIA is playing into the hands of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, he claimed, "I have evidence with me and I can say the defence as well as prosecution (NIA) advocates are trying to save the accused of blasts at Malegaon, Modasa (Gujarat), Ajmet, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad and in Samjhauta Express.
Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has said the demonetisation of high-value currency notes is an opportunity to leapfrog into a digital cashless economy, even as she called for a effective monitoring to prevent accumulation of fresh black money.

The CMD of Biocon Ltd, which was rated among the world's top ten employers in the biotechnology industry by an international magazine recently, said she is confident that the demonetised currency would be replaced by the new notes reasonably soon.

"The objectives of flushing out counterfeit currency, illicit funding of businesses and illicit activities including extremism and terrorism and 'havala' transactions will certainly be achieved," Mazumdar-Shaw told PTI.

Demonetisation would also serve to be a deterrent to corruption in the short-term. "However, what remains to be seen is for how long can we stave off the re-emergence of black money," she said.

Stating that certain businesses would be temporarily affected, especially real estate and jewellery, among others, following the move, Mazumdar-Shaw said she is confident that agriculture and SMEs would recover.

"Most importantly, I see this as an opportunity to leapfrog into a digital cashless economy," she said.

On measures needed to prevent accumulation of fresh black money, Mazumdar-Shaw said: "That's really what needs tracking and a strong monitoring strategy."



Asked if she thought the move would make only a limited dent as those who have kept unaccounted money in the form of gold or real estate "escape", Mazumdar-Shaw said she does believe that the sudden and unexpected act of demonetisation would flush out significant illicit cash as not every thing would be invested in real estate and gold.

"However, there is likely to be downward revision in real estate pricing and hopefully gold, which is good for the economy as it will spur purchasing power," she said.

"That's a concern I have as I am not convinced that corruption can be completely weeded out," she responded when asked if she thought corruption can be fully eliminated.

"The mind-set has to shift. It is too deeply engraved in business practices," she added.

On whether cash donations to political parties should stop, Mazumdar-Shaw -- who was recently conferred with the highest French civil distinction 'Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur' (Knight of the Legion of Honour) -- said: "No. In fact, we should make sure there is a complete transparency in political funding," adding, political parties should be brought under the ambit of RTI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari today said development in the state was only visible in "newspaper advertisements".

"Development here can only be seen in the form of advertisements in newspapers...The condition of roads is for everyone to see...We want a government here which actually works...People here have already seen the BSP and the SP," the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways told the gathering at the BJP's 'Parivartan Rally'.

Taking a dig at the opposition parties, Gadkari said although all of them were together in opposing the Centre's demonetisation move in Parliament, they were fighting each other in Uttar Pradesh.

"The poor is not worried over demonetisation. It is only the leaders who are concerned...High value currencies worth Rs 16 lakh crore were printed of which, only Rs 6 lakh crore has come back to the banks...Rs 10 lakh crore is still lying with the big leaders which will become redundant after December 31," he said.

Applauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said his demonetisation move was in favour of the poor.

"He (Modi) comes from a poor family...There has never been any leader in his family and he has worked his way to this position...There are, however, some others who are worried about their families," Gadkari said, claiming that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was worried about getting his son (party vice-president Rahul Gandhi) "a job in politics".

The Union minister said he was laying the foundation stone for the Lucknow-Sultanpur and Sultanpur-Jaunpur four-laning work and upgradation at a cost of over Rs 2,600 crore and claimed that it will last for "200 years".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh has summoned Myanmar's ambassador here to express concerns over a military operation that has forced thousands of Rohingyas to flee their villages and asked it to take urgent measures to ensure that the Muslim minorities are not forced to seek shelter across the border.

The Foreign Ministry summoned Naypyidaw's envoy Myo Myint Than yesterday to express concern over the crisis in Myanmar's Buddhist majority western Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh.

"We expressed our concerns (to the envoy) to be conveyed to the Myanmar authority over the ongoing military actions in Rakhine State 'causing dire consequences to the people (Rohingyas) and implications to Bangladesh," a foreign ministry spokesman told PTI.

He said the envoy was told that thousands of Myanmar citizens continued to make their ways to Bangladesh despite tightened border vigil.

A foreign office statement said Dhaka also urged Myanmar to give "due consideration" to the international community's call for an impartial investigation into the alleged indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force and human rights violation during the military operation in Rakhine.

"Dhaka requested Naypyidaw to initiate urgent measures so that the Muslim minorities are not forced to seek shelter across the border," the statement read.

Witnesses and media reports suggested paramilitary coastguards joined the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to enforce a tighter vigil on the borders with Myanmar to prevent the Rohingya influx.

Myanmar troops poured into the western state of Rakhine along the frontier with Bangladesh in response to coordinated attacks on three border posts on October 9 that killed nine police officers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Skipper Faf du Plessis put his ball tampering controversy behind him to defy Australia's bowlers with a fighting half-century on the opening day of the day-night third Test in Adelaide.

Du Plessis was booed by the crowd as he walked out to bat, following a ball-tampering incident for which he was found guilty and fined, but cleared to play in the match.

But he was his team's lone hope with a determined knock after the loss of seven wickets had the tourists struggling against Steve Smith's revamped team.

At the dinner break ahead of the much-anticipated final evening session with the pink ball under lights, the Proteas were 165 for 7 with du Plessis on 65 and Kyle Abbott one.

Du Plessis was back at the Adelaide ground where four years ago his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 denied Australia victory to earn the Proteas a backs-to-the-wall draw.

John Hazlewood was proving the destroyer with four wickets for 36.

Dashing wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has scores of 84, 64 and 104 in the series, had a failure by comparison, managing just 24 off 33 balls.

De Kock again won his battle with Australia's spinner Nathan Lyon, but perished when he edged Hazlewood to wicketkeeper Matt Wade.

Vernon Philander lost a third umpire review when 'Snicko' detected the faintest of edges off Hazlewood to Wade for four nearing the dinner break.

Wade, recalled to the national side for Peter Nevill, had taken four catches.

Opener Steve Cook had an early reprieve to go on to score 40 before he fell to Mitchell Starc.

Cook had a major let-off on four, when he was struck on the back pad by Starc and given out leg before wicket in the day's third over.

But he was called back to the crease when replays picked up a front-foot no-ball bowled by Starc.

But Cook fell in the fifth over of the middle session when he sparred at Starc and nicked to Smith at second slip.

Temba Bavuma failed to get a start when he edged Jackson Bird for eight as South Africa struggled to 117 for five.

Starc recovered from his early Cook blunder to entice a thick edge from Dean Elgar to Usman Khawaja at third slip for five.

He received ironic cheers from the home crowd when replays confirmed it was a legal delivery.

English-born debutant Matt Renshaw then took his first Test catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for five off Hazlewood.

The 20-year-old opener snapped up an ankle-high catch at first slip to claim the big scalp of Amla.

Hazlewood struck again in the over after drinks, coaxing an inside edge off JP Duminy to give Wade a catch for five.

Australia are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
November is National Home Care and Hospice Month, a time to recognize the many professionals who bring care and compassion to patients in their places of residence. At Kindred at Home, we are incredibly proud of our nurses, therapists, social workers and other professionals who not only deliver outstanding care to our patients and family members, but also provide comfort, inspire hope and ensure dignity is preserved.

National Home Care and Hospice Month is equally important because it brings awareness to services so many in this nation take on themselves, often without knowing there are alternatives.

Today over 57 percent of Americans are providing unpaid care to a friend or loved one, per AARP. This is extremely stressful work and one of the more difficult things most of us will ever undertake in life. And yet there is almost no preparation  and often little knowledge of the resources available to help  when you find yourself in the role of caregiver.

National Home Care and Hospice Month was created to help bridge this information gap. The awareness effort seeks to get the word out that if you are caring for someone, you are not alone. There are resources that can help your loved one and you as a caregiver. Home health, for instance, is one of the fastest growing segments in healthcare, and one of the most cost effective. It is also a Medicare benefit, and using that benefit can make a huge impact in helping an individual transition successfully from a hospital stay and recover in his or her home.

Hospice care might still be better known than home health, but it is commonly underutilized and misunderstood. Yet, it too, is a benefit available to caregivers that can provide enormous physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual help when it matters most.

National Home Care and Hospice Month is a great reminder about the importance of care giving. Please take the time to learn more about the benefits and resources that are out there. If you have any questions, I know my company, Kindred at Home, or another provider can help you. We serve numerous patients each year in the Auburn and Cayuga County area. Another helpful resource  and it is free  is the Kindred Contact Center at 1-866-Kindred.

We are all just one phone call away from becoming a caregiver. The calls you make thereafter  to access the many resources to aid in home health and hospice  can make all the difference in the world for you and the loved one you care for.

Lisa Minnoe and Bernadette Schuffenecker

Minnoe, RN MS, is executive director of Kindred at Home in Auburn; Schuffenecker, RN BS, is area director of operations Upstate New York of Kindred at Home in Oswego.
The European Parliament today voted in favour of a freeze of membership talks with Turkey over its post-coup crackdown, further escalating tensions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has already dismissed the vote as having "no value" as it is non-binding, and as most European Union member states so far want to keep the Turkey talks on track.

But the motion, approved by a big majority, is a fresh blow to ties that have unravelled in the wake of the failed July 15 failed putsch and threatened a key migration deal between Brussels and Ankara.

MEPs voting in Strasbourg, France, said the parliament "strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt".

They said they remained "committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU" but said parliament "calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey."



The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.

A furious Erdogan said yesterday that "I want to say in advance from here and address the whole world watching on their TV screens - this vote has no value at all, no matter what result emerges."



"It is not possible for me to even digest the message that they want to deliver."



Europe's message has however been increasingly clear about its concerns over rights and democracy in Turkey, especially over the coup crackdown that has seen almost 37,000 arrested.

Turkey formally applied to become an EU member in 1987 and accession talks only began in 2005, even though Ankara's aspirations to become part of the bloc dates back to the 1960s.

While the vote will have no concrete effect as EU member states with the exception of Austria so far want to keep the accession process going, it is yet another blow to relations that seemed to be improving just months ago.

Turkey and the EU had agreed to speed up the long-stalled membership talks after both sides reached a deal in March to curb migrant flows towards the European Union.

Brussels agreed to give visa free travel for Turks once it carried out key reforms and give more aid to Turkey, in exchange for Ankara cutting the number of refugees to the Greek islands.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Germany's Martin Schulz said today he would step down as head of the European Parliament and return to national politics, where analysts say he could emerge as a rival to Angela Merkel.

The outspoken former bookseller from Aachen will quit after four years in office, during which he became one of the European Union's most high-profile politicians and gave its assembly sorely-needed visibility.

The bearded 60-year-old did not say if he would run for chancellor against Merkel, although he is widely expected to slot into a prime position for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is currently in coalition with her.

"I will not run as president of the European parliament for a third term next year, I will run for the German Bundestag as the head of the list of my party, the SPD, in North Rhine-Westphalia," an emotional Schulz told reporters in Brussels.

"It was not an easy decision, as it is an honour to be the president of the European parliament."



Schulz is tipped in Berlin as a possible replacement to Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who now leads the party but is behind Schulz in latest polling.

He is also floated as a possible replacement for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, another top socialist who is to become Germany's next president.

Until his announcement, Schulz had been working behind the scenes to stay in the EU parliament job, angering the centre-right European People's Party which said it was promised the role as it is the largest group in the assembly.

Last week Schulz even won the support of his friend Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of European Commission, who went against his own EPP party to back Schulz.

Juncker - who reportedly said he could resign if the German stepped down - told reporters today "I regret it " when asked about Schulz's departure.

With Schulz's exit, the EPP group will now announce their own candidate to head the parliament. Its choice will become a near-certainty for the job.

"We need to concentrate on a consensus candidate," said EPP group leader Manfred Weber of Germany, a close ally of Merkel.

He declined to say whether he would stand himself, with Irish deputy parliament chief Mairead McGuinness having also said she will stand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Exim Bank has provided a loan of over USD 398 million for construction of an 84-km railway line between Tema and Akosombo in Ghana.

"Exim Bank has extended a buyer's credit (BC) under National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) of USD 398.33 mn to the Government of Ghana," Exim Bank said in a statement today.

The loan will be used for the design and construction of the 84-km railway line and railheads between Tema and Akosombo in Ghana.

The agreement to this effect was signed in Accra, Ghana, on November 22, 2016, by Seth E Terkper, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ghana, and Pushpesh Tyagi, Resident Representative in Cote d' Ivoire, on behalf of Exim Bank.

BC-NEIA is a unique financing mechanism that provides a safe mode of non-recourse financing option to Indian exporters and serves as an effective market entry tool to traditional as well as new markets in developing countries, which need deferred credit on a medium- or long-term basis.

Till date, Exim Bank has sanctioned USD 2.84 billion for 22 projects valued USD 3.07 billion under the programme.

Exim Bank said it has also given in-principle commitments to supporting several projects at the behest of leading Indian project exporters to enable these Indian companies to submit bids or negotiate contracts with overseas project authorities.

Besides promoting India's exports, Exim Bank's BC-NEIA programme showcases Indian expertise and project execution capabilities in emerging markets.

It has also extended seven India-supported lines of credit (LOCs) to Ghana aggregating USD 208.26 million for export of railway corridors and agro processing plant.

These funds were also utilised towards equipment and services for rural electrification, construction of presidential office, fish processing and sugar plant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The finance and railways ministries are working on ways to cut logistics costs which make exports uncompetitive, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.

The Minister said that she has discussed the increasing logistics costs with the Finance Minister.

"I have very clearly stated that logistics costs are increasing and therefore, we are becoming less competitive... We have definitely asked different authorities at different levels. We have asked the Railways and the Finance Ministers to look into this. They are working on it," she told PTI in an interview.

"We do not want this kind of a cost which is not due to the inefficiency of the manufacturer," she added.

Worried over slow growth in exports, the Commerce Ministry has pitched to enhance the logistics competitiveness of exporters.

The department of commerce has suggested to the Railways Ministry that it needs to clearly distinguish between consignments for exports, imports and general, in terms of freight rates.

It was also suggested to the railways to work on ways to reduce the delivery time of consignments providing traders more predictability and reliability.

Indian exporters have time and again demanded drastic cuts in freight rates to enhance price competitiveness in the global markets as costs of exports is currently very high in India.

Citing an example, an industry expert said that the time taken for delivery of consignment through Railways from Tughlakabad in Delhi to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) is huge and needs to be reduced to about 36 hours.

In India, the container transport mainly happens through roads due to various reasons like high railway freight rates, unreliable scheduling of freight trains and poor last-mile connectivity.

The Commerce Ministry is also in consultations with the ports for timely handling of cargo.

Currently, traders have to spend a lot of time in off-loading and on-loading their consignments from ports, impacting the country's trade.

FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said that improvement in port infrastructure would help in reducing transaction costs and boost shipments.

A Commerce Ministry strategy paper released in 2010 had emphasised the need to invest billions in improving infrastructure to boost exports. It had asked the government to invest in modernising roads, ports, railways, airports, power and customs stations.

Between December 2014 and May 2016, exports fell for 18 straight months due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices.
Director Denis Villeneuve has praised Forest Whitaker, who stars in his upcoming film "Arrival", saying he is one of the best actors.

The sci-fi film, which also features Amy Adams and Jeremy Rener, is all set to hit theatres in India this Friday.

Whitaker plays Colonel Weber in "Arrival" and Denis said the actor has the toughest part in the movie.

"We all know he is one of the best actors living today. He is a master, and I saw that, because he had the toughest part on this movie. His character Colonel Weber was difficultly written, because he is in scenes as an obstacle, as an abrasive character," Denis said in a statement.

"He didn't have a lot of depth on the page and Forest was able to bring a gravitas, wisdom and dimension to this character in a way that I was very impressed by. It was not an easy process for Forest, there was a lot of work on set and he was very generous.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amidst reports that efforts are on to fix an early meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, government today said Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar interacted with "very senior levels" of the President-elect's transition team during his recent US visit.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also welcomed appointment of South Carolina's Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.

"Foreign Secretary did visit the United States as part of regular bilateral consultations. He met with the members of the current (Obama) administration and had meetings in the US Congress.

"It is also my understanding that Foreign Secretary interacted with very senior levels of the Trump transition team," Swarup said.

Trump is a self-confessed "big fan" of India. Ahead of his election win, he had described India as "a key strategic ally" and said he looked forward to deepening the diplomatic and military cooperation that is in the shared interest of both countries.

On Haley's appointment, Swarup said India knows Governor Hailey well and recognises her as a very strong and committed advocate of close India-US ties.

She had called on Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the United States and also recently visited India, he added. "We warmly welcome her appointment as PR (Permanent Representative) to the UN," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian firms raised Rs 618 crore through rights issue in first six months of the current fiscal, a plunge of 92 per cent from the year-ago level.

The funds have been raised for business expansion plans, refinancing of debt and to meet the working capital requirements.

In the rights issue mode, shares are issued to existing investors at a pre-determined price, normally at a discount, in proportion to their holdings.

Companies garnered Rs 618 crore in the April-September period of 2016-17 as against Rs 7,760 crore raised in the same period a year-ago, according to the latest data available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

In terms of numbers, three issues were witnessed during the period under review as compared to 6 in the first six months of the last fiscal (2015-16).

Market experts said that firms have opted for other fund raising avenues like IPOs and debt markets rather than rights issue in the period under review.

Individually, firms did not raise any capital through the rights issue route in April, June and July, while they raised Rs 75 crore in May, Rs 500 crore in August and Rs 43 crore in September.

In the entire past fiscal, companies mopped-up Rs 9,239 crore, which was the highest fund mobilisation in five financial years. The huge fund-raising was primarily driven by Tata Motors' rights issue, which alone raked in Rs 7,498 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana government to furnish records relating to the constitution of the S N Dhingra Commission of Inquiry for probing the grant of land licences to some companies including that of Robert Vadra's in Gurgaon during former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's tenure.

The division bench of justices A K Mittal and Ramendra Jain yesterday gave the direction on a petition filed by Hooda.

The former chief minister has challenged the constitutional validity of the one-man Commission, alleging that the Manohar Lal Khattar government had issued a notification on May 14, 2015 on the panel's constitution without there being any reference to the state cabinet, which was mandatory in terms of provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.

Hooda alleged that the orders to set up the probe panel were prompted by malice "as Khattar wanted to pursue his party's (BJP) political vendetta".

Former Union minister and advocate Kapil Sibal and former Haryana Advocate General Hawa Singh Hooda argued on behalf of Hooda.

Haryana Advocate General B R Mahajan assured the court that the Dhingra Commission report will not be published till December 8, when the case would come up for another hearing.

Khattar had on November 19 said the report will be made public in the next session of the state Assembly. The Commission had submitted the 182-page report to the Chief Minister on August 31.

The panel was set up to probe issues concerning the grant of license(s) for developing commercial colonies by the Department of Town and Country Planning to some entities in Sector 83, Gurgaon, including mutation of land deal between M/S Skylight Hospitality owned by Robert Vadra, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, and realty major DLF.

The Rs 58-crore deal is related to 3.5 acre land in Gurgaon's Shikohpur village which was sold by Vadra to DLF.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped repeatedly by her minor friend from the same school located in Juhu here, leading to her pregnancy, police said today.

The alleged crime had taken place on the school premises, police said, adding that it came to light on November 21, when the girl was taken to a hospital and was found to be 13-weeks pregnant.

"The victim and the accused, who studied in the same school, knew each other. They had a physical relationship inside the ladies toilet of their school in August," a police officer said.

Thereafter, the accused started calling the victim regularly and forced her to keep sexual relations with him by threatening to reveal their status to their school friends, police said.

"The girl had told her mother about the health issues she had suffered in the past couple of months. The mother took her to hospital, where doctors found the girl to be 13-weeks pregnant," police said.

Shocked parents of the victim and the doctors contacted Juhu Police following which the girl's statement was recorded and based on her complaint, an offence against the accused was registered.

The offence has been registered at Juhu police station under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 376 (rape) and 506 r/w 4, 8 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Further investigation into the case is on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Modi government should waive loans of farmers to ameliorate their sufferings as it has done for corporates, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told a peasants' rally at Jantar Mantar here today.

Slamming the Modi government on the demonetisation issue, Yechury said it is saving the "looters" while "punishing" the poor as "more than 74" people have died in queues outside banks and ATMs.

"In the last two years, the government waived loans of Rs 1.2 lakh crore taken by the capitalists but it is reluctant to waive loans of farmers. Loans of farmers should also be waived by the government," he told the rally organised by the All India Kisan Sabha, the peasant wing of CPI(M).

Citing poor condition of the peasantry in the country, he said the Modi government is "making poor people poorer while helping rich to become richer".

"The government says that it has taught lesson to Pakistan but our jawans are being killed on the border. Farmers are committing suicide. Under the Modi government, the rate of farmer suicides has increased by 26 per cent," he said.

Yechury said the opposition parties would continue to corner the government in Parliament on the issue of demonetisation and other anti-farmer and anti-worker policies.

"We will continue cornering the government in Parliament and you will have to do so outside Parliament," he told the farmers.

Citing the problems being faced by farmers due to demonetisation, he said they were being forced to sell their crop at mandis at "lower" prices.

Yechury promised to raise the 15 demands of AIKS in Parliament and demand its fulfillment by the government.

The rally was also addressed by many AIKS leaders including its president Amra Ram, general secretary Hannan Mollah and social activist Medha Patkar.

The AIKS memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation to kin of farmers who had committed suicide, implementation of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, raise in minimum support price, proper implementation of rural job scheme MGNREGA, and interest-free loans to small and marginal farmers.

Asked how his party could raise the issue if Parliament is



not allowed to function, Yechury preferred to blame the Treasury Bench over disruption of House proceedings.

On demonetisation, the Left leader said the Modi government's decision benefited the card companies and the corporates, not common men.

"There has been a three-fold rise in the use of cards in the monetary transaction. The amount has jumped from Rs 150 crore to Rs 450 crore. The card companies got Rs 12.50 crore at the rate of 2.5 per cent as transaction cost," he said.

He said that demonetisation had not checked black money, terror activities and corruption as claimed by the Prime Minister. Rather, he added, it had helped card companies and corprates. Terror attacks have also increased.

"I understand that the Centre is bringing a bill to make a provision that account holders will get Rs 1 lakh in case of banks collapse," he said adding that the CPI(M) would launch a country-wide campaign on the adverse impact of demonetisation on the youths, farmers, small traders and others.

Yechury claimed that the Centre had waived Rs 1.12 lakh crore in corporate loans in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - With China home to the world's largest automobile market, the country is becoming a more attractive target for foreign manufacturers, with their investments constantly on the rise. Joint ventures remain their most profitable avenue to secure higher profits, with foreign enterprises finding ways to increase their say in the companies. This unfortunately leaves their domestic partners in a more and more embarrassing position, with the fear that the future position for them in JVs may be nothing more than an agent.

News of negotiations between Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz China has been a hot topic of late, with industry speculation that competition between both sides is playing into partner company Daimler's hands. Meanwhile, FAW Group is conducting a large-scale reshuffle of its dealership network, with plans to open its own logistics and sales channels. The decision is believed to have been instigated by FAW's foreign partners.

As early as 2005, the Chinese automobile market surpassed Japan with sales of 5.92 million vehicles, becoming the world's second largest market. 2005 also saw the introduction of the Administration of Automobile Brand Sales Implementing Procedures, which opened the door for foreign-held JVs to take the market by storm.

According to the legislation, foreign enterprises are required to authorize a respective domestic company or dealer to sell vehicles within the country. The legislation has been under constant fire since its introduction, as it has given a green light to foreign JVs entering China.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Volvo, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Ferrari are among those enterprises which set up sales companies in the country, incorporating previously independent dealers. Via this method, foreign companies were able to maximize their share of the profits. Land Rover and Renault set up similar ventures last year, with Aston Martin's new company currently in the planning stages. There are only a handful of companies, including Subaru and Bentley, without such companies.

Restructuring of joint ventures is another method by which foreign enterprises consolidate control. For example, when BMW established the BMW Brilliance venture in 2003, control was split evenly between both Chinese and German companies, with each side retaining 50 percent stock ownership and three seats in the board of directors. However, during the change in the company's executive posts four years later, BMW took control of the market promotion, brand management, advertising and sales management posts. At the time, industry analysts commented that Brilliance had been reduced from an equal partner to an agent for BMW.

Similar events have occurred in other companies since. Volkswagen increased their stock ownership of the FAW-VW JV from 40 to 49 percent, while GM has already set up plans to recover the 1 percent stock share it yielded to partner SAIC a little more than one year ago.

As always, the bottom line behind such moves is maximizing profits. According to statistics, FAW-VW's net profit last year reached 22 billion yuan. Judging from those numbers, about a fourth of VW's total profits this year look to come from China. Shanghai GM, meanwhile, earned 12 billion yuan last year. "From VW's perspective, gaining another percent [of stock control in a JV] is equal to earning hundreds of millions of yuan in returns per year," industry analyst Jia Xinguang commented.

At the same time, FAW-VW is cracking down on unauthorized dealers in an effort to better organize its dealer network. According to statements from the company, FAW-VW is taking the action to help increase its overall sales performance. However, there are those who speculate that the move represents VW's desire to expand its sphere of control to cover sales and aftermarket services.

According to Lang Xuehong, vice president of Beijing based consulting firm and China Automobile Dealers Association partner In4S, when first entering the country, foreign enterprises couldn't invest too much into the country due to lack of experience with the Chinese market. However, following their expansion in the country, it is only natural for these companies to take greater control of their Chinese operations. This leaves their domestic partners in the undesirable position of seeing their own profits cut. To date, Chinese companies have been complacent in handing over control to their partners. Several in the industry have pointed out that, with Chinese companies reliant on their foreign partners in technology and other aspects and without any innovative products of their own, it has been hard for them to resist their partners' demands.

To some extent, the relationship between the both sides does have a sense of fairness, as domestic companies still retain government and local benefits, in addition to keeping half of overall profits. However, with purchasing, sales, planning and other aspects under the control of foreign companies, Chinese companies are essentially unable to create their own products and brands.

When looking at auto part companies working in highly specialized fields such as electronics, engine and gearbox development, the proportion stock controlled by foreign companies can reach as high as 90 percent. According to some analysts, multinational companies control 80 percent of the industry for sedan auto parts in China.

As competition heats up in the market, the problem of uneven Chinese-foreign control has yet to be solved.
Government has slapped safeguard duty on import of certain steel products to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments.

The safeguard duty has been imposed on import of hot rolled flat sheets and plates (excluding hot rolled flat products in coil form) of alloy or non-alloy steel.

The effective duty rate would be calculated after deducting the value of the goods and the anti-dumping duty payable when the import price is below USD 504 per tonne, said a Revenue Department notification.

The duty arrived at would be 10 per cent in the first year and will gradually reduce to 6 per cent by 2019, it said.

A 10 per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty payable will be imposed on imports up to November 22, 2017. This will be lowered to 8 per cent between November 23, 2017 and November 22, 2018.

A "six per cent ad valorem minus anti-dumping duty payable, if any, (will be imposed) when imported during the period from November 23, 2018 to May 22, 2019 (both days inclusive) at an import price below USD 504 per ton on CIF basis," it added.

The Director General (Safeguard), in his final findings on August 2, 2016, "had come to the conclusion that increased imports of subject goods into India has caused and threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic producers of subject goods, thereby necessitating the imposition of safeguard duty on imports of the subject goods into India."



Earlier this month, government had imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China for six months.

An anti-dumping duty equivalent to the difference between the landed value of steel products and USD 499 per tonne will be imposed on products exported by Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co Ltd. In case of other producers, the anti-dumping duty would be the difference between the landed value and USD 538 per tonne, a government notification of November 2 had said.

The 'landed value' of imports was defined as the assessable value as determined by the customs and includes all duties of customs.

India previously slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations, including China and South Korea.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.

India has initiated maximum anti-dumping cases against "below-cost" imports from China.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre is working on a proposal to set up 'production hubs' for cow milk, vegetables, and other agri-produce near metro cities to boost supply, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.

To start with, the agriculture ministry is in talks with the Delhi government as well as neighbouring states on this issue, he said.

"The government is working towards setting up production hubs near metros for milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, flowers and other such things as part of the online trading platform," Singh said while addressing an Assocham event here.

"The Chinese capital has population twice as much that of Delhi, but everything is available within a radius of 150 kilometres, while in Delhi milk comes from Andhra Pradesh and vegetables from Kolkata," a statement quoted him as saying.

The ministry has conducted 3-4 meetings in NCR to make Gurugram, formerly Gurgaon, a hub for flowers while Sonepat and Panipat will be made hub for vegetables and Karnal for indigenous cow milk.

The ministry is also in talks with Uttar Pradesh government on this issue, he added.

On the newly-launched electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), the minister said farm produce worth Rs 3,841 crore has been traded so far in 250 wholesale markets linked to this platform.

In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the e-NAM scheme in 21 mandis of eight states. The government has kept a total target of 585 by March 2018.

"We had started it on a pilot project basis and have tried to remove all the anomalies related to both hardware and software and it is now moving very fast towards empowering farmers to allow them to sell their produce," Singh said.

On steps taken to improve e-NAM, the minister said laboratories are being set up in electronic wholesale markets to check quality of farm produce so that any trader or farmer can purchase or sell the same across India.

"These facilities are already available within the states, but now we are working towards making it feasible inter-state and GST (goods and services tax) will play a significant role in this regard," he asserted.

Singh further mentioned that the government will also work towards improving the mandi laws and try to establish them in the private sector by improving marketing laws.

"We have made amendments in marketing-related laws in about 22 states and licences are being issued to set up mandis in the private sector," he said.

Talking about impact of demonetisation on agriculture sector, he said the Centre's move to ban 500 and 1,000 notes has not affected sowing of rabi crops.

"It is such a huge decision that some inconvenience being caused is quite natural. Opposition to demonetisation is equivalent to supporting black money, terrorism and fake currency as such people should refrain from taking political benefit of this issue," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Group C and D employees can withdraw up to Rs 10,000 in cash against their advance salary for November, the Haryana government said today.

Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu said that this incentive is being given on the pattern of the central government to ease the pressure on banks.

Group C and D employees has been given the option to draw their salary advance up to Rs 10,000 in cash and this amount would be adjusted in their salary for November to be paid in December 2016, the minister said.

He said that the arrears of the revised pay would also be paid within the current financial year. Haryana is the first state to give the benefit of 7th Central Pay Commission to its employees on the pattern of central government, he said in an official release.

Abhimanyu said that the state government is safeguarding the interests of its employees.

"Also, it is always the first state in the country to give to its employees the benefits announced by the Central Government for the employees from time to time," he claimed.

The Haryana government has also decided to give 2 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) to its employees on revised scales of pay with effect from July 1, 2016.

Capt Abhimanyu said that a proposal to this effect has been approved by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

He said that the installment of DA would be paid in cash to all state government employees on the pattern of Central Government. With this revision, the State exchequer would bear an additional burden of Rs 21.92 crore per month.

The salary for the month of November paid in December 2016 would be given as per the revised pay scales, he said, pointing out that the State Government has already implemented the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for all its employees.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Allahabad High Court has directed Uttar Pradesh principal secretary (Agriculture) to get concluded within three months an inquiry on alleged anomalies in purchasing tractors, other agricultural items for providing these on subsidy to farmers of the state and also in the selection of farmers for this purpose.

The order was passed by a division bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Sanjay Harkauli of the bench here on November 22 on a PIL filed by Neelesh Saraswat, seeking directions for proper action into the matter expeditiously.

An inquiry had been conducted by the UP State Agro Industrial Corporation Ltd. Which had been sent to the state government on August 25, 2015.

The petitioner submitted that the tractors, seeds and other agricultural items which had to been provided to the farmers on subsidy were purchased during last BSP government.

He alleged that those farmers who did not fulfil the criteria for subsidy were selected and there were anomalies in purchasing these agricultural items.

The state counsel informed the court that the state government had issued interrogatories on four matters to which a complete reply had not yet been received from the department officials.

He submitted that some appropriate direction be given for concluding the inquiry that had been undertaken by the state government.

"We direct the respondent no 1 (Principal secretary Agriculture department govt. Of UP) to proceed to get the inquiry concluded on the issue raised as expeditiously as possible after collecting such information that may be necessary on this regard from the appropriate officials and concluded the same preferably with in a period of three months from today," the court ordered.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Gauhati High Court today issued a notice of motion returnable for January 4 to Arunachal Pradesh Speaker and all 43 former Congress MLAs switching sides on a petition challenging the validity of the merger of Congress' state unit with People's Party of Arunachal (PPA).

Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Padi Richo filed the writ petition in the high court bench here.

"Let notice of motion be issued calling upon the respondents to show cause as to why a Rule should not be issued as prayed for, and/or why such further orders or other orders should not be passed as to this court may deem fit and proper. The notice is made returnable by January 4, 2017," Justice Michael Zothankhuma said.

After hearing the argument of Congress lawyers including K C Mittal, the bench issued notice to Pema Khandu (present chief minister) and other 42 MLAs who claim to have merged with PPA.

"Also issue notice on the interim prayer," the court said.

It issued notice for consideration on the interim relief for stay of the Speaker's order dated September 16 by which all the MLAs have been shown as PPA members and the bulletin dated September 16 issued by the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly notifying them as PPA's members.

The petitioner submitted that there is no merger of state unit of Congress.

He said the election law also does not permit merger of state unit of the national party to state party, as intimated by the EC, to the president of AICC, as per the election symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

The petitioner also prayed that the order of the Speaker stated has to be without jurisdiction and illegal.

Khandu, who was the chief minister of Congress, changed his party on May 16 and he along with 42 MLAs claimed to have merged with PPA. He was subsequently elected as a leader of PPA Legislative Party.

This was accepted by the Speaker and they were notified as PPA members in "Assembly Bulletin", the petition said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bombay High Court today directed the Mumbai civic body to file its affidavit in reply to petitions filed by stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma and actor Irrfan Khan challenging the notice issued against them directing razing of unauthorised structures allegedly constructed by them at their flats in suburban Goregaon.

A division bench headed by Justice N H Patil directed all parties involved to maintain status quo in the matter, which means the civic body cannot initiate action of demolition of the alleged illegal structure.

On April 28, the civic body issued notice to Sharma and Khan under section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, claiming that certain constructions in the 18-storey residential building 'DLH Enclave' in Goregaon, in which the actors have flats, were illegal and hence will have to be razed.

Apart from Sharma and Khan, another resident and the developer of the building Dev Land and Housing Private Ltd have also petitioned the high court.

The high court today directed the civic body to file its affidavit in response to the petitions and posted them for hearing on December 8.

Sharma, in his petition, claimed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) notice was "bad in law" and issued with "mala fide intentions".

The comedian had kicked up a controversy last month by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon.

"In March and April 2010, the civic body issued commencement certificate to the developer granting permission to construct the 18 floors. On November 6, 2013, the corporation issued Full Occupation Certificate to the building," Sharma said in his petition.

However, on November 14, 2014, BMC's assistant engineer from Building and Factory department issued notice to Sharma claiming that he had made some illegal constructions in his flat in the building, and sought his reply.

Sharma, in his reply to the BMC, said no unauthorised construction was carried out at his flat in the building.

The civic body on December 1, 2014, however, replied refusing to accept the actor's clarification.

Sharma then filed an application in Dindoshi sessions



court against the notice.

On December 28, 2014, the sessions court granted him interim relief and directed the civic body not to initiate any action pending hearing of the application.

"Despite the sessions court order, the corporation issued another notice on April 28 this year directing razing of the building," Sharma said in his petition.

Sharma and Khan sought the BMC notice to be set aside and direction to be issued to the corporation not to act upon the notice pending hearing of this petition.
Hero Cycles today introduced four e-cycles with electric pedal assisted technology under the Lectro brand, priced between Rs 42,000 and Rs 83,000.

The company, which had launched the brand earlier this year in Birmingham, plans to expand the electric pedal assisted technology cycle (EPAC) portfolio in India to over 20 products over the next few months.

"EPAC is a nascent segment in the India bicycle market. Even as the premium bicycle segment has shown strong growth over the past few years, the EPAC segment has only recently started and has huge potential in the country," Hero Cycles Chairman and Managing Director Pankaj Munjal told reporters here.

The electric pedal assisted cycles come with detachable battery which can be charged at home in around 4 hours and can run for over 50 kms.

An electric motor assists the rider to move around on the cycle.

The company plans to introduce the four models in Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and NCR in the fisrt phase and then across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra by the end of the year.

Last year, Hero Cycles had picked up majority stake in UK-based Avocet Sports, thereby acquiring brands like Viking, Coyote, Rooster, Ryedale, Lectro, Concept and Riddick.

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Hundreds of Israelis fled their homes on the outskirts of the country's third city Haifa today with others trapped inside as firefighters struggled to control raging bushfires.

The army called up reservists and hospitals in the Mediterranean port city declared an emergency for fear of a repetition of a 2010 blaze that killed 44 people -- the deadliest in Israeli history.

"We evacuated three neighbourhoods and there are people who are stuck," fire department spokesman Kayed Daher said.

"The fire is still burning and the flames are approaching a gas station."



Flames up to 10 metres (more than 30 feet) high were threatening several multi-storey tower blocks in one Haifa suburb, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.

Haifa university was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

In the affluent Carmel neighbourhood on the heights above the city, residents spoke of a desperate rush to get elderly residents out.

"The fire is out of control and is spreading from one house to the other," the neighbourhood's rescue services chief, Naftali Rottenberg, told public radio.

"The fire is advancing 20-30 metres (yards) in a few minutes.

"Sometimes we are taking residents out against their will."



The scale of the blaze prompted a growing list of countries to send help, including firefighting aircraft. They included Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Russia and Turkey.

The deadly December 2010 fire required the assistance of planes and personnel from more than 16 countries to put out.

Israel has been hit by a spate of bushfires in recent days that officials attribute to an unusually dry autumn and strong winds.

Fires were raging in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told army radio that around half of the recent fires had been started deliberately.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party appeared to blame the arson on members the country's Arab minority.

"Only those to whom the land doesn't belong are able to burn it," he said on Twitter in Hebrew.

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Hungarian National Trading House (HNTH) opened its office in South India here today. The office will facilitate imports trading, sourcing, technical and R&D collaborations and joint ventures, among others, between India and Hungary.

It will cover several sectors including agri-tech and machinery, food processing, advanced engineering, Smart Cities, construction technology, environmental technology, packaging, and electronics, an HNTH release said. Dr.Norbert Revai-Bere, Consul General of Hungary in Mumbai, said recent years have seen the rapid upgradation of India-Hungary cooperation in diverse sectors.

He said India-Hungary bilateral cooperation extends not merely to commercial and investment partnerships but also to the fields of agriculture& food, defence industry, health including Ayurveda, oil exploration, science and technology, and educational and cultural exchanges.

"This cooperation is set to strengthen even further in the future," he said, adding, Hungary's trade with India has been increasing.

In 2014, the total export from Hungary to India was USD 220 million, an increase of 300 per cent in last ten years. The key advantages that India offers to Hungarian export businesses include English as the main business language used in India, common legal and administrative history of the two nations, India's rapidly rising disposable incomes and middle class consumers, and India's location as the perfect gateway to South-East Asian markets, he said.

The Office of the Hungarian National Trading House at Bengaluru is managed by business consulting firm Innoversant Solutions Pvt. Ltd., the release said.

Zoltan Szekeres - Director, Asia Project Directorate, Hungarian National Trading House (HNTH), ZsoltPakozdy, Sr.

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European Union member Hungary will waive fees for long-stay visas for citizens of neighbouring Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today.

EU member states on November 17 approved visa-free travel for Ukrainians but this still has to be approved by the European Parliament.

Orban said after meeting Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Budapest that while waiting for this approval his country would offer long-term visas for free.

"After the three hard years that Ukraine has gone through in the name of European values, the EU has a moral obligation to grant visa-free access to Ukraine," Orban said.

"Unfortunately, as (other EU countries) are blocking this, Hungary has decided from today to grant D type or national visas free of charge to Ukrainian citizens," Orban told a joint conference.

D type visas allow people to stay in the country for longer than 90 days and to travel around Europe's Schengen zone, albeit with certain time restrictions.

Visa-free travel, long sought by Kiev as it battles pro-Russian rebels in the country's industrial east, was part of an EU-Ukraine partnership accord signed in 2014 that angered Moscow.

In return for closer political and economic ties, the EU has demanded civil society reforms to root out corruption and ensure that Ukraine's rights and democratic standards match those in the bloc.

Orban asked his Ukrainian counterpart to examine as soon as possible when the move can be reciprocated for Hungarian citizens travelling to Ukraine.

His announcement came as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met EU officials in Brussels to discuss the reforms demanded by the bloc, as well as the implications of Donald Trump's US election victory.

EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker both expressed optimism that the EU would approve visa-free travel by the end of 2016.

"We are very satisfied with the tempo and the quality of the reform process, Ukraine is delivering," Juncker said.

Groysman thanked Hungary, saying Budapest's move "will be very favourably received in Ukraine".

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The New York Times (Paris) - Swedish carmaker Saab, awaiting investments from companies in China, sought court protection from creditors on Wednesday, heading off a legal challenge from unions that could have forced the breakup of the company.

Saab Automobile and two subsidiaries, Saab Automobile Powertrain and Saab Automobile Tools, filed for "voluntary reorganization" with the District Court in Vanersborg, Sweden, according to a statement from Saab's parent company, Swedish Automobile, which is based in Zeewolde, Netherlands. Overseas units are not affected by the filing.

The companies "are of the opinion that, considering Saab Automobile's current limited financial resources, a voluntary reorganization will entail the best preconditions for using existing resources in the most efficient way," the statement said.

Faced with uncertain prospects for recovery, Saab's employees are growing increasingly anxious. They have not been paid for August, and were paid late for both June and July. Unions have been considering a legal challenge that could have led the company into bankruptcy.

As part of the three-month reorganization plan, Saab's court-appointed administrator will ask the Swedish government to guarantee that all Saab Automobile employees be paid, though the company will have to repay the state. The company also said it hoped to gain the support of creditors for its plan, as it is aiming to fully reimburse them.

Unions said the company's maneuver would forestall their legal action.

"The decision to seek reorganization can be a positive solution for Saab," Stefan Lofven, an IF Metall union spokesman, said in a statement. He called on the court to deal swiftly with the company's application "so union members can get a quick decision on whether they will be paid under the state guarantee."

Saab has signed what it called "binding agreements" with two Chinese partners this year, but said it had not yet received any of the promised investments.

Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile agreed in June to pay 136 million euros ($191 million) for a 29.9 percent stake in Swedish Automobile. Pang Da Automobile Trade said in May that it would pay 109 million euros for 24 percent of Swedish Automobile.

Saab said that the Chinese deals remained "subject to obtaining certain approvals." It did not elaborate, but Chinese companies investing abroad must first obtain the approval of China's National Development and Reform Commission, something that has not yet been forthcoming.

A previous deal with another Chinese company, Hawtai Motor, foundered after it was denied approval.

Both Chinese companies support the filing, Victor Muller, chief executive of both Saab and the parent company, said in the statement.

"We have concluded that a voluntary reorganization process will provide us with the necessary time, protection and stabilization of the business, allowing salary payments to be made, short-term financing to be obtained and an orderly restart of production to be prepared," Mr. Muller said.

A spokeswoman for the company, Gunilla Gustavs, declined to comment on the amount of bridge financing required. She stressed that Saab was not seeking to shed debt in the reorganization, and remains a going concern.

Liu Shibo, a spokesman in the Beijing office of Pang Da, had no immediate comment, but said the company was planning to release a statement later.

Zhejiang Youngman Lotus, part of the China Youngman Automobile Group, had no immediate comment.

Trading in Swedish Automobile shares, which have fallen almost 80 percent this year, was suspended Wednesday on the Amsterdam exchange.

"While the voluntary reorganization process will no doubt present us with a number of tough issues and decisions, I believe that Saab Automobile will emerge stronger from this process," Mr. Muller said in the statement.

He cited "the rejuvenation of our product portfolio, approximately 11,000 orders," and the deals with Pang Da and Youngman, which "will give us access to the Chinese market."

Pang Da has one of the biggest chains of car dealerships in China. The 470,000 cars it sold last year account for nearly 3 percent of the Chinese market.

In a statement, Saab Cars North America said that it was unaffected by the filing and would continue to provide customer service "well into the future."
Separatist Hurriyat Conference today hit out at chief of Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his statement on Kashmir, terming it as "ridiculous and hilarious".

At a peace conference in Jammu yesterday, Sri Sri had said, "The (Kashmir) conflict has become the cash cow for some people. They don't want to put an end to it. This has become a source of earning for them. But the common people are facing the brunt of it. They need to come forward and isolate those people."



Reacting to this, a spokesman of hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "It (Sri Sri's comment) is far from reality and the remarks regarding the present freedom movement and resistance leadership are baseless and illogical."



Advising the spritual guru "to go through the history and equip himself with the facts" before commenting, the spokesman said in a statement that "this deceitful rhetoric has no takers" in the valley.

Referring to Sri Sri's statement regarding the type of "freedom", the Hurriyat spokesman said "before asking this question, he should have gone through the pages of history and resolutions of United Nations and promises made by his own political stalwarts....

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Aditya Chopra may be known as one of the hardest task masters, but his "Befikre" actress Vaani Kapoor says the director is approachable when it comes helping out his team.

Vaani, who made her Bollywood debut with 2013 film "Shuddh Desi Romance," will be seen romancing Ranveer Singh in the movie extensively shot in Paris.

"It was so easy to work with Aditya Chopra. I was very comfortable and wasn't afraid to approach him. I would go and ask him the same questions again and again and he used answer with a lot of patience.

"I genuinely felt carefree while shooting. I was carefree because I knew no one was judging or testing me," the 28-year-old actress told reporters.

The lead pair of the film walked the ramp last night for DIVA'NI at Embassy of France here. Vaani and Ranveer also danced on song "Khulke Dhulke" from the film, which they launched yesterday at Delhi Law Faculty.

The song has been sung by Gippy Grewal and Harshdeep Kaur.

"Befikre" will hit the theatres on December 9.

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Iceland's Left-Green movement has said it had failed in its bid to form a new coalition government, three weeks after snap elections triggered by the Panama Papers scandal.

Allied with the anti-establishment Pirate Party, the Social Democrats and the Bright Future party, the Left-Green had been in talks since Sunday in a bid to forge a governing coalition with the centre-right Reform Party.

"It is evident that not all the parties are convinced to continue these negotiations so I have decided to stop them and I don't think that there is ground to continue," Katrin Jakobsdottir, the leader of the Left-Green movement, the second largest party, told state broadcaster RUV yesterday.

Jakobsdottir said she had informed the president of her decision.

It was not yet known what would happen next.

Asked if she would now return the power to form a government to the president, she replied: "I'm going to sleep on it."



Pirates co-chairman, Birgitta Jonsdottir, had said prior to the start of the talks on Sunday that she was optimistic the five parties would reach consensus on major issues.

"The people want very much to see improvement in both the work in the parliament and the image of the parliament", Jonsdottir said at the time.

Since its independence in 1944, Iceland has only seen one centre-left government, which emerged from the 2009 election after the 2008 financial collapse.

Led by the largest election winner Independence Party, the centre-right coalition failed to find common ground over a range of divisive issues including relations with the European Union, institutional reform and fishing.

The October 29 snap vote, prompted by a massive tax scandal ensnaring several Icelandic officials, saw the Pirates become the third largest party with 10 seats.

The Panama Papers, released in April, fuelled the resignation of former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and prompted the snap vote.

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ICICI Bank today said it has set up special cash exchange camps at defence outposts across the country to facilitate exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.

The bank is also reaching out to residential societies and foreign nationals post ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

The bank has been conducting special camps at various defence bases including cantonments, ordnance factories, battalions & regiments and at a few at border areas near Jaisalmer and Barmer, the bank said in a statement.

Air force stations and a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have also been included under this service to facilitate convenient exchange of old currency, it said.

"The Bank has serviced many thousands of defence personnel through these camps," it said.

Also, the Reserve Bank today directed banks to make cash available sufficiently for the armed forces and pensioners as they would need cash after getting their salaries/pensions electronically.

The private sector lender has also set-up on site camps at large office establishments, equipped residential societies with mobile Point of Sale device and has set up additional counters at branches for foreign nationals.

ICICI Bank said it has also deployed mobile branches to service villages across the country.

"Since the announcement of the new currency regime by the Prime Minister, we have proactively undertaken various customer friendly measures for convenient access to our branches and ATMs," said Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank.

The bank is also taking many innovative measures to provide more avenues to our customers for currency exchange, she added.

While, servicing the armed forces, ICICI Bank said it has undertaken around 300 such camps across the country in the last few days.

In the past few days, The camps included setting up of a specialised desk for exchanging cash and guiding the personnel on the various digital banking services of the bank, it added.

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India has given Mozambique a financial assistance of USD 10 million heeding to a request by the African nation for help to deal with severe drought it was facing.

India's High Commissioner to Mozambique Rudra Gaurav Shresth handed over the amount to Mozambique's Minister of Trade and Industry yesterday, primarily to purchase wheat.

"The gift from India for purchase of wheat is a gesture of solidarity for a country which we see as one of our most important future partners," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

He said the grant-in-aid was provided in response to a request from Mozambique, which has faced two consecutive years of drought leading to severe difficulties for its people.

"The Indian grant will help the Mozambique authorities to urgently purchase wheat from the international market, and thus help ensure availability of food for vulnerable sections of the Mozambique population," he said.

India and Mozambique have strong bilateral ties and the relations are on an upswing in the last few years.

Mozambique is also home to nearly 20,000 people of Indian origin.

Mozambique is also among India's most important economic partners in Africa, and accounts for almost 25 per cent of India's net foreign Direct Investment into Africa.

Mozambique was the first country in mainland Africa that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited earlier this year.

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India and Israel have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of water management and development with desalination being one of the main areas of the collaboration, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

"India and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of water resources management and development in New Delhi on November 11, 2016. Desalination is one of the main areas for collaboration and sharing of experience and expertise in the MoU," Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan said in a written reply.

He said this while replying to a query whether the government plans to expand and incentivise use of desalination technologies to meet growing water needs.

Balyan said the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has supported demonstration plants based on indigenously developed reverse osmosis technology for brackish and sea water desalination.

The DST has also supported solar bio-mass hybrid multi-effect distillation, thermal desalination system at Naripayyur in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathpuram district, the Minister said.

Apart from this, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation envisages installation of desalination plants where availability of surface and ground water is a problem or has hazardous substances like arsenic and fluoride.

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India and Portugal today explored ways to deepen bilateral ties in a range of areas including trade and investment.

Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar and Portugal's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Teresa Ribeiro held extensive talks during which both sides agreed to further expand ties, particularly in the trade sector.

The relations between India and Portugal have seen steady rise over the past few years.

The bilateral trade has been growing steadily. The volume of annual bilateral trade in 2014-15 was USD 692.19 million.

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Dubai Airports today said Indian airlines operate more number of flights than their Dubai-based counterparts between the two countries despite "competitive slot situation".

The remarks come against the backdrop of Indian carriers raising concerns over not getting adequate and right slots at Dubai airport, which is one of the world's busiest aerodromes.

"We welcome the expansion of the flying rights between India and Dubai. Despite the competitive slot situation, Indian carriers continue to grow services, operating more frequencies than Dubai-based airlines between Dubai and India," Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said in a statement.

Noting that there is a clearly demand for more seats, he expressed confidence that the airlines operating on these routes would take up more seat capacity, if agreed by Dubai and India, and reap the benefits of that growth.

Dubai Airports is the operator of Dubai International airport.

"Dubai International is the busiest airport for international passenger traffic in the world, with 90 carriers connecting the airport to more than 240 global destinations with high demand for a limited supply of slots," Griffiths said.

In the statement titled 'Dubai Airports clears the air on slot allocation for Indian airlines', Griffiths said it is important to understand that the assignment of traffic rights via bilateral agreements and slot allocation are two discrete processes.

"Traffic rights are negotiated between governments. Slot allocation is managed separately by an independent organisation at arm's length and in accordance with international guidelines established by the International Air Transport Association.

"Specifically, Dubai International's slots are allocated by an independent slot coordinator, Airport Coordination Ltd (ACL), in accordance with IATA guidelines. ACL conducts slot allocation activities at other major international airports around the world as well," the statement said.

The statement was also released by the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO) -- which implements strategic communication plans for Dubai government.

Meanwhile, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said that airlines of India and the UAE (Dubai) are utilising their full capacity on India- Dubai route.

Currently, these airlines operates 559 flights every week on this route. Between India and the Gulf, around 4.2 lakh seats are available every week, with Dubai leading the chart with over 65,000 seats each per week.

To a query in the Lok Sabha on whether India has recently held talks with the UAE for more slots to Indian airlines to user their full capacity, Sinha replied in the negative.

"However, the bilateral talks between the two countries are held from time to time, as and when both parties agree to discuss," he said.

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Cutting across party lines, Indian-Americans have hailed the nomination of Nikki Haley as the US envoy to the UN, saying this would further strengthen Indo-US ties under the incoming Trump administration.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, a Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Convention.

"This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body. May be in securing India's rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage," Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur.

"She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"It's a proudmoment for all Indian-Americans onPresident-elect Trump's choice of Governor Nikki Haley as USambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haley's appointment -- her Indian and Sikhheritage -- is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trump's nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet level position, has taken my breath away," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

Welcoming the appointment of Haley, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning.

"Governor Haley has done a tremendous work as South Carolina's first female and Indian American Governor and she will surely succeed as the top diplomat at the United Nations," said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC).

USINPAC has been working with the Trump transition team to make sure that qualified Indian Americans have the opportunity to serve in the Trump administration, Puri said.

Last week, USINPAC had hostedCongressman Lou Barletta, and Matt Keelen, a republican strategist and consultant for the Trump campaign, for a google hangout.

In addition to Haley, Keelen had said Trump is also considering the former Indian-origin governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal for a position in his administration.

Keelen said Trump understood the importance of US-India ties, as the two nations share the same values, face the same issues with terrorist attacks on their soil.

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An Indian man was mistaken for a Muslim and brutally hit multiple times on his head and face at a bar in the US, the latest in a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes following Donald Trump's victory.

Ankur Mehta was allegedly attacked at the Red Robin Restaurant in Pennsylvania while he was working on his tablet with earbuds in his ears when the attacker grabbed and punched him with his elbow and fist.

The attacker who was identified as and Jeffrey Burgess also hurled racial and ethnic epithets at Mehta who was taken to a hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip, Pittsburgh's Action 4 reported.

Mehta told police that Burgess said to him that "things are different now" and "I don't want you sitting next to me. You people."



Burgess, 54, spoke with slurred speech and was staggering and smelled of alcohol, police said, adding that he then used an ethnic slur commonly used against those of Middle Eastern descent.

"We believe this is just the latest incident in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections," Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

The criminal complaint says Burgess beat Mehta in the head and face with his elbow and fist, "launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically," Bethel Park police Chief Timothy O'Connor said.

Mehta was oblivious to the comments until Burgess allegedly struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, the officer said.

Witnesses told police Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also said Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgess's impending attack.

Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, simple assault, harassment and public drunkenness.

The incident comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trump's election as US President.

Many Muslim women have posted on social media describing 'hijab grab' attacks on them.

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A Sikh couple from India were gunned down today by two bike-borne assailants in the Philippines' Camarines Sur province, a media report said.

Bahagwant Singh Buttar, 45 and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, 36, residents of Sipocot town in the province, were killed by two gunmen who were riding a bike, Tempo newspaper reported.

The couple were on their way to somewhere when the gunmen struck, killing them on the spot, police said.

Two suspects, Marvin Magdaong and Rodolfo t Gumatay, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident by the police after a chase in Sitio Nabuntog in Bangas Caves.

The motive behind the murder was not immediately known, police said.

Two pistols and live ammunition have been recovered from their possession, police said, adding that a case has been registered.

There have been many attacks on Indians in the Philippines in the past.

The last incident reported in August, when a 26-year-old Indian man, who belonged to Punjab's Phagwara and lived in Santiago city, was shot dead just a couple of months before he was scheduled to get married.

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The inscriptions on the graves of five SIMI activists killed in an alleged encounter in Bhopal last month, which implied at glorifying their acts and described them as martyrs, have been removed, police said today.

"We raised the issue with the elders of Muslim community who got the inscriptions on the graves painted," District Superintendent of Police Mahendrasingh Sikarwar said.

Some inscriptions which tried to portray the deceased as Islamic martyrs and some other things written on the graves in Urdu and Hindi were whitewashed last night, sources said.

Amjad Khan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Salik, Sheikh Mehboob and Aqueel Khilji were among the eight SIMI activists who were killed in an alleged encounter with police after they escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail on the intervening night of October 30-31.

On November 2, they were laid to rest at Bada Cemetery here amid tension and tight security.

Over 2,000 people had taken part in their funeral procession and police had to drive people away at some places, to avoid any stampede-like situation.

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Heritage preservation efforts in Bihar's Darbhanga, a place steeped in history and dotted with iconic monuments, is all set to get a boost with INTACH opening its new chapter in the city tomorrow.

Local history buffs, architecture experts and enthusiasts had been trying for some time to get a chapter of the Delhi-based non-profit organisation opened in the city as many of its heritage buildings are in a state of decay.

"Darbhanga is a historic city, associated with the legendary Darbhanga Raj, the royal family, generations of which built some of the most fabulous forts and palaces over centuries, lending it a deep layer of history. And, so, it is only fitting that we now have a chapter here as well," Convener of INTACH's Patna Chapter, J K Lall told PTI.

The chapter will be formally inaugurated by INTACH Chairman Maj Gen (retd) L K Gupta tomorrow in Darbhanga.

"The chairman is in Patna today to attend an event, where three scholars would present talks on heritage. He would also be taking up a meeting of the Bihar Chapter in Patna, where other conveners would also be present," he said.

Patna Chpater is one of the first chapters set up soon after the constitution of INTACH in 1984. The state also has chapters in Vaishali and Bhagalpur.

"Darbhnaga has a number of palaces and heritage buildings which are in immediate need of conservation and restoration. And, now we carry out a systematic and formal listing of the historical landmarks and work on preservation plans," Lall said.

Darbhanga is situated in the historic Mithila region and is home to several landmarks, many of which were rebuilt after the devastating 1934 earthquake.

Some of the most prominent buildings include Anand Bagh Palace (now a Sanskrit university), the Raj Palace which now houses the Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Nargouna Palace, Zilla School and Hospital and Ram Bagh Qila.

The new chapter brings extra cheer for heritage lovers as the opening day will coinicide with the culmination of the World Heritage Week which began on November 19.

Headquartered in New Delhi, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), besides the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), works on protection, conservation and promotion of tangible and intangible heritage, through its nearly 190 chapters spread across the country in various cities.

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Iraqi forces battled the Islamic State group deep inside Mosul today, piling pressure on jihadists who have no more escape routes but leaving trapped civilians in the crossfire.

Elite forces gained new ground in east Mosul, looking for fresh momentum as stiffer-than-expected IS resistance threatened to bog down the five-week-old offensive against the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP on the front line in Mosul that his forces were battling IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa in Iraq's second city.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices - give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

An old British-era bridge, which cannot be used by heavy vehicles, is the only one still standing in the city.

"The Iraqi advance on the south and southeast of the city has started to pick up some steam, which we think is a really great development," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

"They're going to have to react to that advance. That thins out their defences," he said.

A senior CTS commander said yesterday that 40 percent of eastern Mosul had now been retaken.

"It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them," Dorrian said.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by IS west of Mosul and yesterday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, accused of a potential conflict of interest as she helms her own brand while making frequent appearances with her president-elect father, is separating her business and personal social media accounts.

In a "letter" that appeared Tuesday on her Twitter and Instagram feeds, the businesswoman's team said that her existing @IvankaTrump accounts  which have 2.4 million and 1.9 million followers, respectively  will now be for "personal" use.

All information related to her clothing and jewellery brands, meanwhile, will appear on @IvankaTrumpHQ accounts.

"As a private citizen, with full awareness of her heightened visibility, she will broaden her efforts to take a stance on issues of critical importance to American women and families," the statement said.

"Our company's mission is not political  it never was and it never will be  however, Ivanka, personally, has an increased opportunity to advocate for women and be a positive force for change," it added.

Ivanka Trump, The Trump Organization's vice-president of development and acquisitions, and her two brothers, vice-presidents at the conglomerate, have been called upon to manage their father's fortune and affairs during his tenure at the White House.

She stirred controversy when images released by the Japanese government showed the 35-year-old and her husband, real-estate developer and publisher Jared Kushner, standing and chatting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he met with the president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan last week.

She also participated in a telephone conversation when Argentina's President Mauricio Macri called her father, although the head of Argentine diplomacy has assured that she and the president only exchanged pleasantries.

Donald Trump has also indicated that his son-in-law, Kushner, who is largely absent from social media, could help broker a deal to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kushner is from an Orthodox Jewish family. The businessman and investor was a close adviser to Trump during the election campaign.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asked banks to promote digital banking in "mission mode", saying the principal objective of the government's reform is to curtail the use of physical currency.

After a meeting with heads of banks including private sector, he said a committee under Additional Secretary in the Finance Ministry is being set up to promote digital banking.

Referring to the outcry over in Parliament, Jaitley said the politicians need to accept that habits of the people are changing and they are frequently using cards for payments.

"Some of the banks have already had a lot of success, contrary to argument which is made within the political system that Indians are not well adapted to this mode. I think political life of India has to accept that right under our nose, people are changing as far as their habits are concerned," he said.

Giving out details of digital outlets in the country, the Finance Minister said there are 14 lakh POS machines which are there at retail level and this figure has to be expanded manifold.

These machines are not manufactured in India, they are imported, he added.

"Additionally, with regard to banks' existing customers, debit cards and prepaid cards, e-wallets as well as mobile apps, are going to be utilised by them. They are ready with their infrastructure," he said.

Noting that one startling figure that came out in the course of meeting today is that there are already 80 crore cards in circulation, of which 40 crore are being actively used by people, he said this is a change which is already happening and therefore this has to be used as a great opportunity to further catalyse this change.

"One of the principle single agenda for the meeting was to expand digital banking itself...Objective of this meeting was to appeal to the banking system and prepare them in mission mode for expediting this entire exercise," he said.

Defending the drive, the Finance Minister said one of the principal objectives of the reform that has been undertaken by the government is that physical currency must shrink.

The economy, he added however, has to expand and the trade has to expand and therefore what shrinks has to be substituted and further expanded by the digital mode.
Pop star Lady Gaga is urging her fans to show support for Kanye West following his hospitalisation earlier this week.

The "Stronger" hitmaker was admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center on Monday for a psychiatric evaluation, and is said to be receiving treatment for exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

His medical emergency emerged just hours after his representatives cancelled the remaining dates on his Saint Pablo Tour, and many celebrity friends and fans flocked to social media to send their support and prayers to Kanye.

Now Gaga, 30, has added her thoughts in a candid series of posts on Twitter.

"It's not funny to joke about anyone's possible or not possible mental illness, this is a sensitive time for many," she wrote.

"Let's be kind & loving."While I don't agree with everything he does I hope the public shows compassion and (love) for @kanyewest and each other," she added.

"One love. One Race."



"@kanyewest i support & love u (sic) brother, I see in you bravery & courage to stop this tour & take care of YOU. You are a GREAT artist.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Temples and Shrines Management Board (TSMB) of Kashmir today demanded foolproof security in and around places of worship of minorities in the Valley.

"We demand foolproof security in and around shrines and temples of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley as a confidence building measure for the community", TSMB President B L Bhan told reporters heretoday.

Besides, places of minorities and minority clusters should also be given full security so that a sense of security and protection is felt in the minds of Kashmiri Pandits, he said.

As many as 208 temples in the state suffered damages during past two decades of militancy with Srinagar witnessing highest number of acts of vandalism.

"Of the 438 temples in the Valley, 208 had been damaged over the years," the state government had said in the Assembly in 2012.

57 temples were damaged in Srinagar, while 56 in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, it said.

Zeashta Devi Prabandhak Committee (ZDPC) chief B B Bhat and head of Save Temples of Kashmir Movement (STKM) Ravi Jogi were also present to launch a two-day photo-exhibition on temples and shrines beginning here from tomorrow.

They hit out at the state government for "withdrawal of the security" at the temples and shrines in the wake of the Kashmir unrest.

"We criticise the government for the withdrawal of the security of temples and shrines in Kashmir... Government should take stringent action against those undesirable elements which are hell bent upon to cleanse the KPs in the Valley," ZDPC chief B B Bhat said.

They also requested the management of other temples and shrines to nominate their representatives to the TSMB.

"Till the bill on management of temples and shrines of Kashmir is passed in the State Legislature, all the managing committees should join hands for the proper management of Hindu shrines and temples inthe Valley," Bhat said.

He said the photo-exhibition will showcase rich religious and cultural heritage of Kashmiri Pandits.

"We are holding a two-days long exhibition from November 26-27 in Jammu to showcase the temples of Kashmir," the ZDPC chief said.

ZDPC and TSMB will jointly hold the exhibition at Kala Kendra here.

The photo-exhibition will showcase both ancient and newly rebuilt temples, which were damaged by the militants during the last 26 years in the Kashmir Valley.

On the conclusion day on November 27, an intellectual meet will be held to discuss the issues confronting the community, Bhatt added.

Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country when militancy erupted in the Valley in 1989.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao moved into his new official residential buildings complex at Begumpet here today.

The 'Griha Pravesam' (house warming ceremony) was performed in a traditional way at 5.22 AM, the auspicious 'muhurtham'.

The rituals included 'Vasthu Puja', 'Sudarshana Yagam' and 'Purnahuti'.

Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker S Madhusudanachary, Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, state IT and Municipal Administration Minister and Rao's son K T Rama Rao, Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, who is Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter, and state irrigation minister T Harish Rao were among those present on the occasion.

Religious guru Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamy was also present.

The official buildings complex, including the Chief Minister's residence and office; a conference hall and two existing buildings, has been named as Pragathi Bhavan by the state government.

The conference hall, named 'Janahita', will serve as a meeting place for the Chief Minister.

In 'Janahita', the CM will interact with various sections of the people, including farmers, workers, employees, artisans and a host of others on policy formulation and on their implementation, a state government release said.

Some media reports said the new posh official residential buildings complex came up on a space of over one lakh square feet, with several facilities and measures, including bullet-proofing of bathrooms.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao moved into his new official residential buildings complex at Begumpet here today though main opposition Congress cried foul claiming that "over Rs 40 crore of public money" has been "wasted" on its construction.

On the occasion, the CM performed a string of rituals to mark the event.

Rao, who had been staying in the Chief Minister's Camp Office built during YS Rajasekhara Reddy's regime in undivided Andhra Pradesh, moved into the sprawling new buildings complex after performing a traditional ceremony.

Known to be a religious man, the TRS chief performed 'Griha Pravesam' (house warming ceremony) along with his wife as per traditional practices. The auspicious 'muhurtham' was 5.22 AM.

Under the guidance of seer Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamy, Rao and his wife performed 'Daiva Pravesam', 'Yati Pravesam', 'Go Pravesam' and other rituals. 'Sudarshana Homam' and 'Vastu Homam' were also performed.

Prayers of different religions were also recited on the occasion for the welfare of Telangana people.

Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ESL Narasimhan, Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker S Madhusudanachary, Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, state IT and Municipal Administration Minister and Rao's son K T Rama Rao, Nizamabad MPK Kavitha, who is Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter, and state irrigation minister T Harish Rao were among those present.

Rao assumed office about two-and-half years ago as the first chief minister of the newly-created Telangana.

The official buildings complex, including the CM's residence and office, a conference hall and two existing buildings, has been named as Pragathi Bhavan by government.

The conference hall, named 'Janahita', will serve as a meeting place for the Chief Minister.

In 'Janahita', the CM will interact with various sections of the people, including farmers, workers, employees, artisans and a host of others on policy formulation and on their implementation, a state government release said.

Slamming Rao over his "new posh bungalow", state Congress president and MLA N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged the new buildings complex was built "wasting over Rs 40 crore of public money".

He claimed that the cost of Chief Minister's new house would be nearly Rs 150 crore if land price is also taken into account.

Accusing Rao of "wasting public money to satisfy his Vastu beliefs", Reddy maintained that such "wastage" is not permissible in a socialist and democratic country like India.

According to some media reports, the posh complex came up on a space of over one lakh square feet, with several facilities and measures, including bullet-proof bathrooms.

(Reopens BOM 9)



Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ESL Narasimhan and his wife also attended the 'Griha Pravesam'.

The Chief Minister, who held a meeting with state ministers and officials, wished that the 'Pragathi Bhavan' (the new residential buildings) would be venue for guiding the development of Telangana, a release from his office said.

The conference hall in the complex ('Janahita') would be very useful for policy formulation and to oversee their implementation as it would be venue for meetings of district collectors and for direct interactions with people from various sections of society, Rao said.

Various functions which would be organised by the state government, including 'Iftars', Telugu new year events, would be held in the complex, he added.
Upping the ante on the demonetisation issue, the AAP today announced that it will organise six rallies across the nation, including one in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi, and raise questions on the alleged "Rs 8 lakh crore scam" related to it.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold three rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh starting from December 1 in Meerut, followed by a rally in Varanasi and Lucknow on December 8 and 18 respectively, AAP leader Ashish Khetan said.

Modi has defeated Kejriwal from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in May 2014 by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

The rallies assume significance as UP goes to polls early next year.

On December 20, Kejriwal will hold a rally in Bhopal, followed by two more in Ranchi and Jaipur on December 22 and 23 respectively.

Notably, all three are BJP-ruled states.

"We will raise important questions about demonetisation and Rs 8 lakh crore scam related to it," said Khetan.

Kejriwal is currently in Punjab, campaigning for the party for the Assembly elections scheduled early next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Doctors at Hallet hospital are in a fix as a blood cancer patient, who was injured in the Indore-Patna Express accident, has been insisting on being treated for his injuries as well as for the disease here.

However, according to doctors, he should continue his treatment at AIIMS in New Delhi where he was being treated for leukemia, as the hospital here, which is associated with GSVM Medical College, does not have an oncologist.

Pramod Kumar (49), a resident of Patna, and his family members were injured in the train derailment when they were returning to the Bihar capital in the ill-fated train, GSVM Medical College chief A K Gupta said today.

Kumar suffered fractures in his hip and shoulder bones. When he was admitted to the hospital, he informed the doctors that he has leukemia and has been getting treatment for the disease at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gupta said.

He was told that he should get the operation for the fractures done at AIIMS as the doctors there are aware of his medical history, he said, adding that the medical college was also ready to arrange an ambulance to send him to AIIMS for treatment.

However, Kumar is insisting on getting the operation and treatment for blood cancer conducted at Hallet hospital as he said he was satisfied with the therapy here, he added.

Principal of GSVM Medical College Navneet Kumar said in accordance with Kumar's wishes, he would be treated for his injuries here, but for the treatment of leukemia he would have to go to AIIMS, where he has been treated earlier, as the medical college does not have an oncologist.

Tests are now being carried out so that Kumar can be operated upon by tomorrow, Navneet said.

His wife and son are also being treated here, he added.

He said there are many victims of the train derailment admitted in the medical college and they are being treated for free.

150 people were killed in the train mishap which occurred on November 20 at Pukhrayan in Kanpur Dehat district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra government today set up a committee to look into the demand of raising the retirement age of its employees to 60 years from the current 58.

Central government employees retire at the age of 60 years, while Maharashtra government staff retire at the age of 58. This has prompted the state government staff to demand increase of their retirement age.

In this backdrop, the state government has set up a six-member committee to look into the demand. The panel, headed by retired IAS officer B C Khatua, will have principal secretaries of general administration and finance department.

The two other members will be the Directors of Records and Treasury, while Deputy Secretary of the Services section will be its Member-Secretary, a Government Resolution (GR) issued here said.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within the next six months, the GR added.

There are around 15 lakh employees in more than 35 government departments across the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra government on Thursday took back the land on which the in plush South Mumbai area stands, after it found "grave violations" of the terms set by it while allotting the prime area in 1970.

Mumbai District Collector Ashwini Joshi said that the land was originally allotted to M Visvesvaraya Industrial Research and Development Centre (MVIRDC), which then affiliated itself (sub-leased it) to WTC- New York.

"The land on which the WTC building stands, has been taken back. The land was originally given to MVIRDC, which later affiliated itself to WTC- New York. People running the WTC indulged in several violations of the conditions set by the government," Joshi told PTI.

"The grave violations included disposing of the premises without the sanction of the government, keeping premises under-utilised, not paying dues and opening of subsidiaries without permission to dispose of capital investment received by them," she said.

When the government realised the scope of violations six months back, it asked her to hear out "MVIRDC managing committee and MVIRDC lessees association (that had complained to the government)" and the report was sent to the government in September.

"The violations were of serious nature and against the terms set by government in its GR, under which the land was allotted to them. Thus, after giving several notices to them and resultant unsatisfactory explanations, we passed this order," she said.

Joshi further said that part of the land was already taken back by the government in 1976 and it still had 46,000 sq mt land left with it.
Political feud over demonetisation today showed no signs of ebbing away, with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calling it an "organised loot and legalised plunder" that would cause GDP to slide by 2 per cent, a contention rejected by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who said it will have a positive impact.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, one of the most vocal critics of the measure, decided to take the battle to poll-bound Uttar Pradesh beginning December 1 to expose the "Rs 8 lakh crore scam". He will address three rallies at Meerut, Lucknow and Varanasi, the parliamentary seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he had defeated Kejriwal in the 2014 polls by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was fielded by the Congress to take on the government, called the exercise, which has caused immense hardships to the ordinary people, a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."



In an uncharacteristically hard-hitting speech made in the Rajya Sabha in the presence of Modi, the economist- politician said the drive will result in a decline of 2 per cent in GDP and went ahead to warn that it cound be an "under estimatation".

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure. And, in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," a usually reticent Singh said, attacking the Modi dispensation.

Singh claimed agriculture, the unorganised sector and small industries have been hit hard by demonetisation and people were losing faith in the currency and banking system.

"My own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP of the country, can decline by about 2 percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an under estimate and not an over estimate.

"Therefore, I feel the Prime Minister must come with some constructive proposal on how we can implement the scheme and at the same time prevent the distrust that has been caused to the common people," Singh said.

Finance Minister Aruj Jaitley would, however, not buy the Congress veteran's argument and mounted a counteroffensive, saying it is no surprise that he is unhappy as "maximum blackmoney was generated" under his rule.

Rejecting Singh's contention that GDP growth will plunge by 2 per cent, he said demonetisation will have a positive impact on the economy over medium to long term as the money from shadow economy will find its way into the mainstream.

"Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder," Jaitley told reporters.

Lashing out at Singh, who headed the decade-long UPA



dispensation, Jaitley alleged, "The maximum black money was generated during 2004-14 which was engulfed in various scams like 2G and coal scam. We are not surprised that they did not like the anti-black money measures the government has taken".

Claiming that demonetisation of high-value Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will have a "positive" impact on the economy, he said the measure will increase lending capacity of banks which could extend the money to farmers, social sector and also industry.

Seeking to bring out the contrast between the UPA and the current NDA dispensations, the Minister said the previous government was plagued by "policy paralysis" and could not take "tough decisions" like those being taken under Modi.

NDA ally Shiv Sena, which has been doing a flip-flop on the issue, joining West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Rashtrapati Bhawan march on November 16, but not participating in opposition protest outside Parliament yesterday, still taking digs at the Modi government all the while, today called demonetisation drive "extortion of the common man".

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said Singh's words have to be taken seriously as he was a "renowed economist".

"I will not hesitate in taking a critical stand on the way in which demonetisation was implemented," Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai.

"The way in which a referendum was sought in Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union, a survey is being done here. But seeing people's response, their (UK) Prime Minister chose to step down. Will something similar happen here?" he said, apparently referring to Modi seeking public feedback on the exercise on Narendra Modi App.

"Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a renowned economist. Thus, his words and opinions should be taken seriously. The way in which money is being collected, seems that money is being extorted from common man. You have brought tears in the eyes of people who helped you come to power with a lot of hope," Thackeray said, adding "one person cannot decide for 125 crore people, who should have been taken into confidence".

Mamata Banerjee, who has been camping in the national



capital since yesterday, met President Pranab Mukherjee for a second time in nine days, to register protest over demonetisation.

"Today, I met the honourable President. Whe had met his earlier (too). We explained him about the critical issue in the country. We told him about the condition of labourers, who are not getting wages, traders who have no money.

"Last month, the salaried class got their salary but on the first of next month they will not get any money. We can't access the money in our own accounts. Old notes are being accepted at petrol pumps, for civil aviation, but states can't use old money because of which they will suffer losses," she said.

Kejriwal, who has been attacking Modi over the move, will hold three rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh starting from December 1 in Meerut, followed by a rally in Varanasi and Lucknow on December 8 and 18 respectively, AAP leader Ashish Khetan said. He will hold rallies in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur, capitals of BJP-ruled MP, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, on December 20, 22 and 23 respectively.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for releasing more funds to cooperative banks due to the cash-crunch they are facing due to demonetisation.

After meeting the Prime Minister at Parliament House, Yadav said he also highlighted the hardships of farmers in the state due to the cash-crunch triggered by the demonetisation decision.

"The Prime Minister is aware of the hardships of the people. But farmers are unhappy and are facing a lot of trouble. This is the time for sowing... There are so many co-operative banks...When will they get the money," he said.

Meanwhile, CPI has demanded that the Prime Minister take immediate steps to bring back black money stashed abroad, recover all NPAs and ensure arrest of liquor baron Vijay Mallya in the fight against illegal money.

CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy also asked the government to allow people to deposit and withdraw "any amount of money" after taking a declaration from bank account holders that the money belongs to them. He also pitched for withdrawing Rs 2000 currency note from circulation.

"We urge you to take immediate steps to bring black money stashed abroad, recover all non-performing assets (NPAs) from bank loan defaulters which is about Rs 15 lakh crore. Also, arrest Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi and the likes and confiscate their properties," Reddy said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
Mortal remains of rifleman Prabhu Singh of 57 Rashtriya Rifles, whose body was mutilated by the terrorists during ambush in Macchil sector of Jammu and Kashmir during patrolling, consigned to flames this evening with full military honours at his village Khirjan Khas in the district.

Singh's body arrived here from Jammu and Kashmir this afternoon, where wreath was laid by Brigadier M Bhatnagar, Station Commander, Jodhpur. Thereafter, it was taken to his native village in a helicopter.

Markets around the village remain closed and villagers in large number gathered at the cremation ground to pay tribute to the man of their land. They stood on both sides of the road leading to the cremation ground from the helipad and chanted slogans in his honour.

There was a brief interruption in carrying out the last rites, when one of the members of Singh's family demand that he wanted to see the body and refused to allow the funeral.

"But we explained to them that it would not be right to see the mutilated body. Also it would amount to insult to his martyrdom," Jodhpur MP, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, adding finally he agreed.

There was resentment among people over the absence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who was represented by the Chairman of Seed Corporation, who laid wreath on her behalf.

Apart from them, senior district administration and police officials were present on the occasion.

Singh, along with two others of counter-infiltration patrol party of Indian army, was ambushed by terrorists ahead of the fencing along LoC in forest belt in Machhil sector in Kupwara district.

Terrorists not only killed him but beheaded him and mutilated his body badly before escaping to the other side of the LoC.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The contribution of mobile industry to the country's GDP will increase to 8.2 per cent by 2020, a government report said today.

The joint report, released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the Department of Telecom, said the industry contributes 6.5 per cent to the GDP currently.

"The mobile industry in India, currently contributing 6.5 per cent (USD 140 billion) to country's GDP, and employing over 4 million people (direct and indirect), is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

"By 2020, the industry is expected to contribute 8.2 per cent to country's GDP," the report said.

It attributed the projection to 'The Mobile Economy, India 2016' report of global telecom industry body GSMA.

As per the previous data shared by former telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Parliament in December, revenue generated by the telecom sector in 2014-15 was Rs 2,42,900 crore, accounting for 1.94 per cent of total GDP.

However, the ratio of revenue size and its contribution in terms of percentage to the GDP varies every year due to variation in the growth of economy, the minister had said.

In 2011-12, the telecom sector accounted for 2.1 per cent of GDP with revenue of Rs 1,85,930 crore, while in the next year it stood at Rs 2,07,498 crore (2.07 per cent of GDP).

The DIPP-DoT report said that the mobile industry will add 800,000 more jobs.

"In terms of unique mobile phone subscribers, India is expected to cross the 1 billion mark by 2020. India will see an increase in adoption of 4G services with number of 4G connections estimated to grow to 280 million by 2020 from just 3 million in 2015," the report said.

Total Foreign Direct Investment in telecom sector from April 2014 to March 2016 was around USD 4.19 billion.

Investment in telecom operator Vodafone lead the chart with investment of USD 1,500.79 million followed by Videocon International Electronics with USD 719.76 million, Telenor USD 573.15 million, Sistema Shyam Teleservices USD 451.83 million, Bharti Infratel USD 240.37 million, Idea Cellular USD 123.22 million.

Mobile manufacturing units generated 38,300 new jobs in last two years with Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn being top employer with workforce of 8,000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hailing Manmohan Singh's critical speech on demonetisation in Parliament, Delhi Congress today said the Modi government should have at least consulted the former Prime Minister before taking such a major decision, as he is an "economist of international repute".

"Manmohan Singh is not just a senior politician but also a world-renowned economist, a former RBI Governor and an ex- Finance Secretary. He brought the country out of a difficult economic period and helped usher in liberalisation in 1991. And before taking such a big step, he was not consulted," DPCC chief Ajay Maken told reporters at the Delhi Congress headquarters.

Singh in his speech in the Rajya Sabha castigated the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the move, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder".

The former prime minister, who spoke in the presence of Modi, also said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, it being an "under-estimate".

Maken said the Delhi Congress, taking the lead from Singh, has taken 11 major points from his speech, which would used in pamphlets that would distributed to people tomorrow.

"We will make pamphlets, in English and Hindi, bearing these 11 high-points from his speech. And, these material would then be distributed to people standing in queues at banks and ATMs to educate them," Maken said.

On the sidelines, when asked, if the government had cornered itself as a result of this issue, he said, "The government was already cornered post the demonetisation move, and, now Dr Singh's speech has proved to be the last nail in their coffin."



Singh's words have found currency with NDA ally Shiv Sena, with its chief Uddhav Thackeray, today dubbing the move as "extortion of common man" and asking the BJP to take the former Prime Minister words on the issue seriously as it came from a "renowned economist".

"All parties should rise above party lines and support it, and the PM must consult with Dr Singh to deal with the issue," Maken said.

He said the DPCC will release a white paper on demonetisation -- 'Notes pe Charcha' -- on Saturday.

"For November 28's Jan Akrosh Diwas, we are going to hold a meeting this evening to draw up plans for the protest, as to whether it would be district-level or state-level," he said.

Referring to those saying that the move which was doing harm and creating distrust in the short run was good in the long run, Singh quoted noted economist John Maynard Keynes to say that "in the long run, all of us are dead".

"If Modi had a big heart, or had he done a bit of adjustment instead of taking all decisions by himself alone, he could have consulted Dr Singh, but he lost the opportunity to do so," Maken alleged.

(REOPENS NRG16)



Maken said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi will lead the party's "Jan Aakrosh Diwas" to be held across the country.

He said there was a "tremendous" response to the "Jan Aakrosh March" organised by the Delhi Congress in all 70 Assembly constituencies on November 20.

"Delhi Congress' march to the Prime Minister's residence on November 23 showed the anguish and anger of the poor and middle-class people to the badly executed demonetisation drive, which has created a total chaos across the country," he said.

"The 'deModitisation' hashtag was trending on top on the internet that day, and it shows people are unhappy with the move," he claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Bathinda and Anandpur Sahib tomorrow in Punjab.

Modi will lay the foundation stone for AIIMS in Bathinda and address a gathering, a party spokesman said here today.

Later in the day, the PM will attend a function related to the 350th Parkash Utsav of 10th sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh at Kesargadh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib.

Modi's Punjab visit is likely to set political temperature soaring in the state slated to go for polls early next year.

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Ranveer Singh has always been open about his desire to get married at some point of life and the actor says he would like to tie the knot at an island with all his loved ones around having a blast.

The 31-year-old actor, who along with his "Befikre" co-star Vaani Kapoor launched the Bhangra wedding song, "Khulke Dhukle," from the film yesterday, said he just wants his marriage to be a non-stop party.

"My wedding would be like a non-stop party. I just want people to have a blast. I would like to have my wedding on an island, if I can afford it by then. I would like to have trance party where everybody is tripping out," Ranveer told reporters.

The lead pair of the film walked the ramp last night at the Embassy of France here for DIVA'NI, India's first cinema inspired fashion brand.

The Spring/Summer 2017 collection was all about the free spirit of dressing effortlessly in stylish ensembles that suit the carefree yet elegant bride and groom.

Ranveer and Vaani walked the ramp in golden and beige outfit teamed with golden and white sneakers. The actors are sporting the same ensemble in the song which has been shot at Parisian monument, Sacre Coeur.

"Befikre" is a romantic-comedy directed by Aditya Chopra and Ranveer said working in a romantic movie is way more difficult than a period film.

"One would imagine that a film like 'Befikre' which is a breezy romantic comedy would be easy. But taking from what one of my colleagues said recently, sometimes these films are even more difficult.

"Sometimes, in period films where you have distinctive characters and all their traits are there for you, it is easy to get into those characters. Here (romantic film) you got to put in your own personality and hope that it is good enough to engage people," he said.

"Befikre" will hit the theatres on December 9.

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An Indian evangelist who claimed that "Hindu extremists" in India were threatening to kill him would be deported by New Zealand which has twice rejected his asylum plea, a media report said today.

The Christian evangelist, identified only by his initials BD, was arrested and imprisoned in 2012 for overstaying his visa in New Zealand.

He has been fighting his deportation order on humanitarian grounds ever since and his first claim for refugee status was rejected by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal in 2015.

The man, in his 40s, will be deported from New Zealand despite claiming Hindu extremists in his homeland were threatening to kill him, stuff.Co.Nz reported.

However, he made a subsequent claim on the basis that a stint in jail had strengthened his Christian faith so much that the preaching he would be compelled to do when back in India would put his life in danger, it said.

In a decision released this week, Justice Peters said the man had initially been rejected as a refugee because his risk of danger would be low if he returned to India.

Justice Peters noted "whether or not (the man's) faith has intensified" did not increase his risk of attack, because he was already a well-known evangeliser.

The judgement stemmed from the fact that BD had already "completed many years of work as a religious worker and undertaken paid work as an evangelist in India".

Hindu and Christian leaders in Auckland's Indian community, however, labelled BD's religious claims a "baseless" excuse to remain in the country.

Ilamgo Krishna Moorthy, the president of the New Zealand Hindu Temple Association, said "a lot of evangelists" visited India regularly and the man would not be stopped.

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With a view to assisting farmers in Haryana, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will provide credit support of Rs 880 crore to district central cooperative banks.

"The amount has been made available for the current rabi season. In addition, Nabard has made provision of an additional credit limit of Rs 1,850 crore to ensure that the DCCBs do not face liquidity crunch in fully catering to the rabi season requirement of farmers. This money would be made available on demand to cooperative banks," an official release said today.

It further said, "NABARD is in close touch with the RBI so that sufficient cash could be made available to farmers of Haryana against their credit limits for current rabi crop season."



Notably, the government had decided to step up efforts to aid farmers in the wake of cash-crunch caused by demonetisation.

Nabard yesterday said it has sanctioned an additional Rs 21,000 crore to district cooperative banks to make loans available to farmers amid the winter sowing season.

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A Delhi court has issued a fresh non-bailable warrant against self-proclaimed godman Swami Omji Maharaj, a contestant in reality show Bigg Boss, in connection with a theft case lodged by his brother, saying despite repeated calls he failed to turn up in the court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Satish Kumar Arora issued the arrest warrant, while directing Omji to appear in the court on the next date of hearing on December 3 and also forfeited his bail bond and surety bond.

"Despite repeated calls, the accused has failed to turn up. Perusal of the file reflects that vide order dated October 14, 2016, as the accused remained absent, NBWs were directed to be issued against the accused for November 8, 2016," the CMM said.

The court noted that on November 8, an application seeking his exemption from appearance was allowed and the NBW was stayed with a direction to him to appear "positively" on the next date on November 21, yet he failed to comply with.

"On an application for restoration of surety preferred by Mukesh Jain for the accused, NBWs were stayed vide proceedings dated November 2, with directions to the accused to appear on November 8 again, but he was absent and his surety with counsel appeared and preferred an application seeking exemption from personal appearance which was allowed with cost and with directions to the accused to positively remain present for this day.

"In view of the above and seeing the conduct of the accused, his bail bond and surety bond are forfeited and NBWs are directed to be hereby issued against him with notice to his surety through DCP Crime for December 3," it said.

In November 2008, an FIR was registered against Vinodanand Jha aka Swami Omji on a complaint by his younger brother Pramodh Jha, who accused him of breaking the lock of his bicycle shop in Lodhi Colony here along with three men and stealing 11 bicycles, expensive spare parts, sale deed of the house and important documents.

The self-proclaimed godman also faces charges under the Arms Act, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in other matters.

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Municipal hospitals and other health institutions in north Delhi are set to be stocked with medicine supplies for the next two years, as the decision-making panel of the area's civic body approved a proposal in this regard.

"Procurement of these medicines at cheaper rates will ensure regular supply of drugs and other consumables to the citizens for free. It will also end shortage, if any," Pravesh Wahi, chairman of the Standing Committee of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), said today.

There will be sufficient supply of medicines and drugs of different categories in the medical institutions of the civic body for the next two years as the proposal for procurement has been passed by the standing committee, he said.

NDMC provides free medicines to citizens through its various medical institutions.

"Medicines, which are being provided free of cost by the Union and Delhi governments under its various programmes like TB or AIDS control, have not been included in the list of medicines to be purchased," Wahi was quoted as saying in the NDMC statement.

He said as per the policy approved by the civic body, online tenders were invited under two-bid system for fixing the rate, contract and agency for procuring various medicines and other medical supplies.

"An inventory/drug selection committee was constituted to prepare the inventory for all groups of medicines and as per its recommendations, new drugs were included while the obsolete ones were removed," Wahi said.

He also said, "The north corporation will disburse old-age pension for three months in view of Delhi government's inability to do so."



"All deputy commissioners have been requested to ensure the genuineness of pensioners and their eligibility for the same. An order to this effect has already been issued," Wahi said.

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Nepal, which is rich in biological diversity, should make all efforts to conserve its herbs, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said.

Inaugurating a factory of Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda in southern Nepal's Bara district, Bhandari said the new venture has helped create employment opportunities in the country.

Nepal is rich in biological diversity and it is the need of the hour to conserve herbs that are available within in the country, Bhandari said.

Minister for Agriculture Gaurishankar Chaudhary said Nepal's highland was home to herbs production and insisted on their proper utilisation. Balkrishna also underlined the need for opening a herb research centre in Nepal.

India's Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said Patanjali had helped further strengthen the Nepal-India ties existing on different spheres.

The Patanjali Ayurved factory has an ambitious plan to generate employment for 10,000 Nepalese youths in the next ten years when the factory is expected to manufacture herbal products worth Rs 100 billion.

Established with a total of Rs 1.6 billion joint investment from Non Residents Association of Nepal and Patanjali Yogapeeth and brought into operation eight months ago, the factory produces 55 types of essentials, including food and cosmetic items.

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The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government for alleged medical negligence by a hospital in Chennai in wrongly diagnosing a woman as pregnant.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a November 23 media report about the incident wherein the 28-year-old woman was first wrongly diagnosed as pregnant by Kasturi Bai Government General Maternity Hospital, and after eight months was diagnosed to have a tumour instead.

"Taking a serious view of the reported incident, the Commission has issued notices to the Secretary (Health Department), Government of Tamil Nadu and Director, Kasturi Bai Government General Maternity Hospital, Chennai calling for reports within two weeks," it said in a statement.

As per the media report, the woman, a resident of Kannagi Nagar, had gone to the hospital for pregnancy check-up in April. She was diagnosed as "pregnant" by the hospital authorities.

"The woman was informed that her tentative delivery would be after eight months and the expected date of delivery would be November 8. She was put under necessary medication for the development of a healthy child," the NHRC said quoting from the report.

"As she did not develop any delivery pain even after the due date, she went to the hospital and a scanning was done. She was informed that she was not pregnant and there was a small tumour," it said.

The Commission termed the episode a "classic case of medical negligence" and "failed to understand how the doctors were unable to notice even the physical growth of the baby for eight months, let alone decide from the physical appearance of the woman."



"The above facts show a total callous attitude in the diagnosis of the woman, who was not only given a positive report for the pregnancy, but was also made to consume a number of medicines during the period of eight months," the NHRC said.

The rights body also observed that women were still deprived of the right to get genuine treatment at state-run hospitals.

Correct diagnosis is the human right of a patient. The doctors and other staff involved in the treatment of the woman in question appear to be "negligent", thus had violated human rights of the woman and caused "unimaginable" mental agony to her, the Commission added.

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Demonetisation will "significantly disrupt economic activity" and lead to weaker growth in near-term, though in the long run it can boost tax revenues and translate into faster fiscal consolidation, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

In a report titled 'Indian Credit  Demonetisation Is Beneficial for Indian Government and Banks; Implementation Challenges Will Disrupt Economic Activity', Moody's said the move to ban old Rs 500/1000 notes is affecting all sectors of the economy to various extent, with banks being the key beneficiaries.

"Although the measures in the near term will pressure GDP growth and thereby government revenues, in the longer term they should boost tax revenues and translate into higher government capital expenditure and/or faster fiscal consolidation," Moody's Sovereign Group Associate MD Marie Diron said.

Moody's added there will be a loss of wealth for individuals and corporates with unreported income, as some will choose not to deposit funds back into the formal financial system to avoid disclosing the sources of these funds.

In the immediate period, demonetisation would "significantly disrupt economic activity, resulting in temporarily weaker consumption and GDP growth," it maintained.

Households and businesses will experience liquidity shortages as cash is taken out of the system, with a daily limit on the amount in old notes that can be exchanged into new notes.

"Corporates will see economic activity decline, with lower sales volumes and cash flows, with those directly exposed to retail sales most affected," Moody's Corporate Finance Group MD Laura Acres said.

However, greater formalisation of economic and financial activity would ultimately help broaden the tax base and expand usage of the financial system, which would be credit positive, it added.

In a report, S&P Global Ratings too said demonetisation would be positive in long-term, but will have a transitory impact on growth in the short run and could hurt banks' asset quality.

"Bank deposits would benefit due to demonetisation, though not all inflows will remain in the banking system on a permanent basis," S&P said.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, thereby withdrawing 86 per cent or Rs 14 lakh crore worth currency from circulation.

Moody's said implementation challenges, in addition to affecting growth and government revenues, will impact corporates by lowering sales volumes and cash flows.

In the medium term, the impact on corporates will depend on how quickly liquidity returns to the system and transaction flows are restored, it added.

The US-based agency said the government could prevent the same amount of cash returning into the system, in an effort to increase the use of non-cash transactions and digital payments.

"This would improve the overall operating environment for doing business in India  by improving the ease and speed at which payments reach manufacturers and reducing corruption  but would prolong the economic disruption," it added.

Consumption in India is still largely cash-driven, and a move towards digital payments would require a likely gradual change in consumer habits.

Banks would benefit significantly from a move towards digital payments, given their role as intermediaries for such transactions, Moody's added.

Rising bank deposits  which Moody's expects to increase by 1-2% as a result of the demonetisation  could lower lending rates, a positive for the banks.

In the nearer term, however, Moody's expects asset quality to deteriorate for banks and non-bank finance companies, as the economic disruption will significantly impact the ability of borrowers to repay loans, in particular for the loans against property, commercial vehicles and micro finance sectors.

"A prolonged disruption could also have a more significant impact on asset quality, as both corporate and small-and medium-sized enterprise customers have a limited ability to withstand a sustained period of economic weakness," Moody's added.
It was the experience that a 35-year-old man waiting in a queue outside a bank in Nashik must have wished he never had.

As he was standing outside a bank on Trimbak Road on Monday, the man was spotted by his ex-lover, a 23-year-old woman.

However, what followed was not reunion of estranged lovers, but settling of an old score as the woman claimed that he had walked out of the relationship four years back.

The woman had gone to the bank to exchange old high denomination notes when she noticed a familiar face that of her former boyfriend, who, she later told police, had ditched her.

The woman immediately informed her brother and father who came to the spot and allegedly thrashed him in full view of public and bank staffers, police said, adding later on her complaint a case was registered against the man.

In her complaint with Satpur police station, the girl said they were close till he ditched her four years ago and are not in contact since, till she bumped into him in the bank queue.

"The alleged boyfriend was brought to police station and questioned. He was bruised and we sent him to the civil hospital," an official of the Satpur police station told PTI.

A non-cognisable case has been registered against the man under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC, police said.

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One person was burned alive and two others injured today after two lorries collided on the bypass road at Thondavada in Chandragiri, 20 km from here, police said.

While one lorry was loaded with steel rod rolls, the other vehicle was carrying soda water bottles.

Under the impact of the collision, a fire broke out after the diesel tanks of the lorries exploded, resulting in the death of the driver of the steel laden lorry that overturned.

It was gutted, police said.

The driver and cleaner of the other lorry jumped out and escaped with injuries. They were admitted to the government hospital here where their condition is stated to be out of danger, police said.

The steel laden lorry was proceeding to Bengaluru from Gannavaram in Andhra Pradesh and the other vehicle was on its way to Mangalagiri in AP from Bengaluru, police said.

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A day before the BJP rally here, the opposition Congress today put five questions to the visiting ruling party president Amit Shah.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan in a statement said he had asked five questions expecting reply from BJP president Amit Shah during his rally tomorrow.

Ridiculing the Central government over demonetisation decision, Harichandan wanted to know whether the corporate leaders like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were aware of the demonetisation.

"I also asked Shah to explain the reason behind waiving loans of industrialists by taking common people's money," Harichandan said adding he would also like to know as to what step the central governmet has taken by the NDA government for the kins of victims, who died due to demonetisation?



Will the Union Government waive agriculture loan of farmers? Harichandan wanted to know.

Earlier, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the OPCC president wanted to know as to how much corruption, black money have been removed after 15 days of demonetisation scheme.

Stating that the common people and farmers are facing huge problems, the Congress leader said long lines are still found in front of all the banks and ATMs for withdrawal of cash. "Not a single industrialist or black money hoaders in the queue," Harichandan pointed out.

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A united Opposition today stalled the proceedings in Rajya Sabha as they continued to press for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the debate on currency demonetisation, even as slogan-shouting ruling party members prevented former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from speaking on the issue.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien adjourned the proceedings till noon after the Opposition did not agree to his suggestion of resuming debate on hardships caused by banning of 500 and 1000 rupee notes and the treasury benches refusing to allow Singh to speak.

Soon after listed papers were laid and Zero Hour began, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the former Prime Minister would like to speak, a request that Kurien agreed to.

However, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley strongly objected to Singh being given an opportunity to speak outside the debate on the demonetisation issue.

Singh, he said, can participate after the debate, which started on the opening day of the Winter Session of Parliament on November 16, resumes.

"If there is no debate, nobody from the Opposition should be allowed to speak," he said.

Jaitley said Zero Hour, where members are allowed to raise matters of public importance, cannot be allowed to be used as an opportunity to raise demonetisation issue.

"Let Opposition resume the debate and let Dr Manmohan Singh speak in that debate," he said.

Naresh Agarwal (SP) pressed for admission of his notice under Rule 267 suspension of business to discuss the demonetisation issue, during which Prime Minister should be present and also reply to it.

Kurien said no conditions can be put in this notice and disallowed it, saying it was not drawn in the proper format.

Jaitley cited the rule book to say that the House cannot take up another notice under rule 267 on the subject that has been debated in the House.

Derek O'Brien (TMC) wanted former Prime Minister to be allowed to speak and the Chair should take a sense of the House on the issue, a debate that Jaitley strongly objected saying Singh can speak as part of discussion.

Kurien said he had allowed Singh to speak. "He can speak. I have no problem. It is Zero Hour. I allowed him to speak."



Singh was however not allowed to speak as members of the ruling side shouted slogans for resumption of the debate.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas



Naqvi said the discussion on demonetisation issue can be taken up immediately, while Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked why the Opposition was not willing to resume the debate.

Kurien said though the debate was listed to be taken up after the Question Hour, it was open to allowing it right away.

As the Opposition insisted on former Prime Minister to be allowed to speak, he said, "I have not prevented him. I have allowed Manmohan Singh to speak. He can speak," he said.

Singh, who had at the first instance of his name being called stood up to speak but sat down after BJP members protested, did not rise to speak as the pandemonium continued.

Anand Sharma (Cong) said it was duty of the Prime Minister to respect the privilege of the House once a notice under rule 267 has been admitted on a subject which he had chosen to make public.

"He (Modi) is running away from House," he charged.

Kurien said he had yesterday clarified that the subject concerned the Finance Ministry and he can make sure that the concerned minister is present, but to call Prime Minister was beyond him. "I can't do that".

As the slogan shouting continued, he said he was helpless and the only way left for him was to adjourn the proceedings.

Mayawati (BSP) said the Opposition was united that the Prime Minister should come and listen to the debate as well as reply to it.

As the din continued, Kurien adjourned the proceedings till 1200 hours.
The Orissa High Court today allowed the anticipatory bail applications of SUM Hospital owner Manoj Nayak's wife Saswati Das and his sister Arati Nayak in connection with last month's fire in the private hospital in which at least 30 patients died.

Justice Debabrata Dash allowed the advance bail pleas of Saswati and Arati, who are the members of the Trust that runs the hospital.

Despite repeated summons, when the duo failed to appear before the police, the Twin city Commissionerate police had issued a lookout notice against them.

Manoj Nayak, however, had surrendered before the police. He is now out of jail after a lower court in Bhubaneswar granted him regular bail on October 28.

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32,857 people belonging to 5,413 families have been identified for repatriation after the completion of identification of bona fide residents of Mizoram in six Bru relief camps in North Tripura.

The Brus identified as residents of Mizoram were those enrolled in the Mizoram Voter's lists in 1995 and their descendants, Mizoram-Tripura border Mamit district deputy commissioner Lalbiaksangi told PTI today.

The identification of Brus was completed last night.

Meanwhile, the meeting of Joint Monitoring Group, chaired by Special Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Internal Security) Mahesk Kumar Singla, today in Delhi decided to go ahead with the proposed Bru repatriation scheduled to begin from November 30.

Mizoram Additional Secretary for Home Lalbiakzama said that the MHA agreed to make final decisions on the proposed enhancement of resettlement and rehabilitation package after a few days.

Problem for payment of rehabilitation package to the repatriated Brus in the face of acute scarcity of cash in the wake of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was also deliberated in the meeting, Lalbiakzama said.

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Pakistan Prime Minister today hailed outgoing army chief General Raheel Sharif who is retiring on November 29 after a three-year tenure.

Sharif hosted a dinner for the retiring army chief where senior officials from armed forces and civilian institutions and politician attended.

"We have gathered here today to honour and thank General Raheel Sharif for his many years of dedicated, meritorious and exemplary service to Pakistan and its Armed Forces," Sharif said.
Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, today asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly "abhorrent act" that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis.

The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

Pakistan Army yesterday said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan yesterday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today warned that Pakistan will not tolerate "deliberate" targeting of civilian areas by Indian troops, a day after the Pakistani military claimed 12 people, including soldiers, were killed in alleged cross-border firing.

Sharif, presiding over a meeting with civil and military leaders, said Kashmir was an "unfinished agenda" for Pakistan and the country would not stop pursuing the issue, Geo reported.

He claimed Pakistan has so far exercised restraint in the face of Indian actions at the Line of Control, but would not permit deadly attacks on innocent civilians.

"We will not tolerate the deliberate attack on innocent civilians," Sharif said.

His statement came a day after 12 people, including three soldiers, were killed in alleged Indian cross-border firing. India's response came after the Indian Army warned of "heavy retribution" following the killing of three of its soldiers, with the body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack.

Pakistan denied as "false" and "baseless" its troops were responsible for the mutilition and deaths of Indian soldiers.

Today's meeting with Sharif was attended by Advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Nasser Janjua and ISI chief Gen Rizwan Akhtar.

Aziz, Janjua and Gen Akhtar briefed Sharif regarding the situation across the Line of Control.

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Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and opposition National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullahtoday claimed that the PDP-BJP government in the state was rendered "defunct" and its writ was being questioned on a daily basis by quarters it had tried to first appease and then, suppress.

"Such is the writ of the government in the Valley that business establishments, transport, schools and every other sphere of activity is running as per the weekly protest schedules and calendars," he told an NC rally at Kishtwar.

Abdullah said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should not "misinterpret" the signs of normalcy and activities in the Valley as restoration of normalcy as all such activities were being carried out "in accordance with the weekly schedules being issued by Hurriyat leaders".

"Mehbooba Mufti should see the writing on the wall and understand that the mass discontent is not only due to the complete refusal of the government to acknowledge the Kashmir issue, but also because of the PDP's betrayal to those who had voted for and supported it during the 2014 election," he said, while referring to the "anti-BJP" plank of the PDP during electioneering and its subsequent "U-turns" in the run-up to forging an alliance with the saffron party.

Abdullah alleged that the PDP had instilled a "sense of fear" among the voters regarding the "looming threat and danger" of the BJP making inroads into Kashmir, but ironically, "changed its colours with the sole aim of attaining political power at the cost of its ideology and promises".

He claimed that "political opportunism" and "breach of the people's trust" would have serious implications for the PDP.

In this backdrop, strengthening of the NC "at the grassroots" assumed an "added significance" to meet the challenges faced by the state, said Abdullah.

The veteran leader claimed that the NC was "not guided blindly with the sole aim of attaining power". Its unflinching political philosophy was to safeguard the honour and dignity of the people and uphold the unity and integrity of the state with opportunities of progress for all, irrespective of caste, creed, colour or regional affiliation, he added.

Abdullah reiterated the significance of dialogue between New Delhi and all the stakeholders in Kashmir and externally, with Pakistan, adding that sooner or later, the Centre will have to talk to Islamabad for lasting peace in the region.

He said the solution to the Kashmir problem lied in a "sustained dialogue" and not in the "military might" or "aggression" on the LoC and International Border.

The former chief minister said dissent and discontent in the Valley could not be silenced by "canons on the border or pellet guns in Kashmir", but New Delhi must show "compassion" and try to win the hearts and minds of the people, especially the disillusioned youth.

"Any rigid stance in dealing with the volatile, complex political situation in Kashmir will prove to be counter-productive and have adverse ramifications for the entire region," he cautioned.

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The Karnataka government today told the state Assembly that a post-graduate diploma course for doctors in government service would be started in 11 state-run medical colleges from the next academic year as part of efforts to overcome the shortage of specialist doctors in rural areas.

Stating this, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ramesh Kumar expressed anguish over specialist doctors not willing to work in rural areas.

Replying to a question, he said there were vacancies for about 1,183 specialist doctors and this posed a "huge problem" to the government hospitals in rural areas.

Pointing out that the state had 53 medical colleges, including those run by private organisations, Kumar said 5,000 medical students and 2,000 experts graduated from these colleges every year.

"Still, we have the problem of filling up vacant posts of expert doctors...About a thousand of them is what we need."



The minister, targeting the specialist medical practitioners, called them "ungrateful".

"We are spending public money on their education...They may have education, but they have no culture," he added.

Kumar said to overcome the problem of shortage of expert doctors working in rural areas, the state government has decided to start the post-graduate diploma course from the next academic year in 11 state-run medical colleges for in-service doctors.

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Police today apprehended two men from outside Hazrat Nizammuddin railway station who were allegedly carrying Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes which they received after exchanging old demonetised notes from some agents in Mumbai.

The duo told Crime Branch sleuths about a Delhi-based man who has allegedly exchanged currency worth Rs 1.5 crores till now.

On a tip-off from intelligence agencies, the Crime Branch team apprehended Ajit Pal Singh and Rajender Singh this evening, said a senior police officer.

Singh and Rajender had returned from Mumbai after getting demonetised notes exchanged for new currency. During joint interrogation conducted by police, IT department officials and intelligence officials, they revealed that they were carrying money that belongs to one Sanjay Malik, who has a pharmaceutical company in Baddi.

"We are on the lookout for Malik. It has emerged during investigation that he has got his money changed from Mumbai and he is taking commission from acquaintances for getting their old notes exchanged. He and his accomplices have so far brought Rs 1.5 crore of new currency from Mumbai," said the officer.

The IT department has been informed and police might seek the help of their counterparts in Mumbai for further investigation, said another officer.

"It looks as if some bank officials from Mumbai are involved in the racket. There is a well-oiled machinery of agents and sub-agents dealing in new currency and gold," he said.

Ajit Pal is involved with a firm that is engaged in the business of retail of medicine and is Malik's friend. Rajender works under Malik.

"They were travelling with new currency from Mumbai to Delhi by Sampark Kranti Express and had come out of the Nizammuddin railway station. They were in a car when their vehicle was intercepted outside the railway station by Delhi Police officials," he said.

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A local court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of sitting NCP corporator Shivajirao Chumbhale's son Ajinkya in a case of rape and illegal abortion.

Judge U M Nandeshwar, in his order delivered yesterday, granted five days time to Ajinkya to appeal in the high court.

According to district public prosecutor Ajay Misar, Ajinkya had raped the victim on several occasions between March 2013 and April 2016 by taking her to different hotels in Nashik and Mumbai promising to marry her.

He also made her undergo an illegal abortion at a private hospital in Nashik, Misar further told the court, adding that a case was lodged under relevant IPC sections against Ajinkya on November 17.

Dr Umesh Marathe, who executed the abortion and arrested on November 20in connection with the crime, was remanded in judicial custody yesterday after the end of his three days police custody.

The victim also deposed before the court through in-camera hearing.

Victim's lawyer Jaideep Vaishyampayan told the court that the woman and her daughter have been receiving threats from the accused.

Advocate M Y Kale, on behalf of the accused, told the court that it was consensual sex and the abortion was also done with the woman's permission.

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In order to spice up things in the "Bigg Boss" house four contestants will be entering the show as wild card entries.

Commoner Priyanka Jagga, who was the first contestant to get eliminated from the house, will re-enter with a brand new strategy.

Joining her will be international supermodel Jason Shah, German-Russian model-cum-actor, Elene Kazan and actor Sahil Anand.

The wild card contestants will enter the show, hosted by Salman Khan, over the weekend. The tenth season of "Bigg Boss" is aired on Colors channel.

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Students from various universities today staged a protest here and submitted a memorandum to the Mumbai University vice-chancellor, demanding justice for the missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.

The protest march 'Chalo Mumbai University', was organised by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, from Piperoad Masjid to Kalina campus of Mumbai university.

The committee is a joint front of various Ambedkarite, Muslim and leftist student organisations, democratic and progressive social and political organisations.

Students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), Nirmala Niketan, Siddharth College, Sophia College, and various colleges of Mumbai university participated in the protest.

Members of student groups, including Student Islamic Organisation, Samyak Vidyarthi Andolan, Samata Vidyarthi Aghadi, Radical Study Circle (TISS) and Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (IIT-B), Vidyarthi Bharati, All India Revolutionary Student Organisation also participated in the march.

Students of various universities and groups and former MP Prakash Ambedkar addressed the rally.

The protestors submitted a memorandum to Mumbai University vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh, demanding action against the accused.

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Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani will visit India on December 3 and hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common interest.

With Qatar being the largest supplier of LNG to India, the two leaders are also likely to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the strategic areas of energy.

Announcing the visit, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Sheikh Abdullah, also the country's interior minister, is coming to India at the invitation of Modi and the two leaders will hold discussions "on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common interest".

This is the first visit of Sheikh Abdullah to India and the third high-level bilateral engagement between the two countries in the past two years, which underlines India's growing ties with Qatar.

The visit of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to India in March 2015 was followed by visit of Prime Minister Modi to Qatar this June.

"Our close and friendly relations with Qatar are based on mutually beneficial commercial exchanges and extensive people- to-people contacts.

"Qatar is not only an important trading partner for us in the Gulf region but is also the largest supplier of LNG to us, accounting for 66 per cent of our total imports in 2015-16," Swarup said.

He further said Indians form the largest expatriate community in Qatar and their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised.

There are over 630,000 Indian nationals working in Qatar.

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The Union Ministry of Culture has chosen Tawang, bordering China in Arunachal Pradesh, as the venue for the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, the biggest national cultural festival in the country.

This was today informed to Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu by North East Zonal Cultural Centre (NEZCC) Director Lipokmar Tzudir, who called on him here, said an official release.

Tzudir, along with the officials of the state Art and Culture department, during the brief meeting with Khandu, sought the opinion of the chief minister on finalisation of dates of the festival.

It was decided that the festival, sponsored by the Union Ministry of Culture, would be celebrated at Tawang during March 2-6, 2017.

The objective of the annual festival is to popularise and showcase the cultural diversity of India through arts, artisans, various dance forms, handicrafts, flavours etc. From across the country.

The NEZCC Director informed that more than 600 artistes from all over the country were expected to take part in the five-day festival.

"The event will have at least 80-90 craft stalls, pavilions representing each of the seven zonal cultural centre's of India (east, west, north, south, north central, south central and north east), besides performances by artistes and day-long activities," he said.

The chief minister, who volunteered to head the local coordination committee, assured him of "every possible logistical support" from the state government and the district administration to the event which will be organised by the NEZCC on behalf of the Union Ministry of Culture.

"As the event would coincide with the Lossar festival, it would be an added bonus for the locals," Khandu said.

He expressed gratitude to Union Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma for giving Arunachal Pradesh the opportunity to host such a mega event.

He also thanked Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who has been instrumental from the conceptual level till the selection of Arunachal Pradesh as the venue for the festival.

Tzudir also had a detailed discussion with Khandu as regards the establishment of a regional cultural centre of the NEZCC at Itanagar.

He told him the state Art and Culture department owned a plot of land (measuring approximately 18 acres) near Jote here and had offered it for the purpose.

Tzudir requested the chief minister to call a meeting of the state-level development committee for the project soon and pave way for engaging an experienced architect to prepare a detailed project report (DPR), which would then be submitted to the Union Ministry of Culture for approval and sanction.

Khandu assured him of putting the project on the fast track and lease out the said plot of land, which incidentally is adjacent to the upcoming Film and Television Institute of the NEZCC, to step up the further procedure.

Once completed, the centre would have state-of-the-art facilities such as craft stalls, an open arena, an auditorium, a dormitory, a guest house, a library and a canteen, the release added.

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An adult male Royal Bengal tiger which was terrorising parts of Jorhat district in upper Assam for the past 15 days was hacked to death today after the big cat injured three persons at Baghmora in Namdeouri area.

Jorhat Divisional Forest Officer Sapon Saikia said, angered by the attack on three persons, people hacked to death the tiger suspected to have come out from Molai Kathoni forest.

Eye witnesses said machetes, spears and knives were used in killing the tiger and its tail, skin and paws were taken away by the people.

The three persons injured by the tiger were undergoing treatment at Jorhat Medical College Hospital.

Environmental activist and forestry worker Padmashri Jadav 'Molai' Payeng single handedly created Molai Kathoni forest in Jorhat by planting trees there for a span of over 30 years.

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The Czech Justice Ministry says Russia has joined the United States in seeking the extradition of a Russian man who faces charges in the United States of hacking and stealing information from computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other San Francisco Bay Area companies.

The Justice Ministry said yesterday that Russia wants Yevgeniy Nikulin of Moscow extradited due to a 2009 Internet theft. Russian officials previously had said they were working to prevent his extradition to the US.

Nikulin was arrested in Prague on Oct 5 after Interpol issued an international warrant. Czech officers cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case.

The ministry says the 29-year-old will remain jailed until his extradition hearing at a Prague court. No date has been set for the hearing.

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A group of Resident doctors at Safdarjung Hospital continued their strike for the second day demanding enhancement of on-duty security for the doctors on the hospital premises.

The doctors went on strike yesterday evening after a junior resident doctor was allegedly manhandled by the attendants of a patient at the emergency ward.

An FIR under sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC has also been filed at the Safdarjung Enclave police station against the attendants of the patient for assaulting a doctor and hospital guard.

"A patient was admitted in the emergency ward. He died last evening following which the relatives of the deceased lost their temper and assaulted the doctor on duty.

"However, the family alleged in the afternoon, they requested the doctor to put the patient on saline drip since the patient's condition was worsening. But the doctor declined and went for lunch. In the evening when the patient died, they blamed the doctor for not treating him properly. The deceased's family was also beaten up by the hospital guards. Investigation is underway," said a senior police official.

The Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung hospital, Dr A K Rai today held a meeting with the Health Ministry officials, following which the administration has decided to appoint marshals.

"The matter was discussed at a high level meeting and it has been decided that we will appoint marshals. Also, a review of the entire security arrangement will be done," Dr Rai said.

He however clarified that there was no negligence on the part of the hospital staff in the treatment of the patient.

"The patient had died of Intra-cranial Hemorrhage due to irregular treatment of hypertension. He was properly attended by the doctors on duty," Dr Rai said.

Also, a first-year PG student was allegedly manhandled by the attendants of a patient at the emergency ward of the hospital yesterday.

"Last Friday a female resident doctor was allegedly manhandled while on duty by the attendants of a patient in the paediatric ward. Such instances of violence against doctors are not stopping. We do not have any security," said a junior resident doctor.

With the residents doctors on strike, the services was managed by the faculty.

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Resident doctors at Safdarjung Hospital continued their strike today demanding enhancement of on-duty security for them on the premises.

The doctors said they won't call off the protest unless a written assurance is given from the Delhi and Central governments to provide "proper security" at hospitals.

The doctors went on strike last evening after a junior resident doctor was allegedly manhandled by the attendants of a patient at the emergency ward.

An FIR has also been filed at the Safdarjung Enclave police station.

"A first-year PG student was manhandled by the attendants of a patient at the emergency ward of the hospital as they wanted their patient to be examined before others out of turn.

"Last Friday, a female resident doctor was allegedly manhandled on-duty by attendants of a patient in the paediatric ward. Such instances of violence against doctors are not stopping. We do not have any security," said a junior resident doctor.

With the residents doctors on strike, the services are being managed by the faculty members.

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The Supreme Court today agreed to hear tomorrow a plea seeking a direction to the Centre and the RBI that a Tamil Nadu-based co-operative society be allowed to accept old demonetized currency notes and permit withdrawals.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur listed the plea for hearing tomorrow when the counsel said that it was an urgent matter as the member of the co-operative society has not been able to withdraw and deposit the money.

The plea has been filed by a Villupuram-based N K Kumar that he has not been able to withdraw his money deposited with Gingee Primary Agricultural Society in the area.

The plea said that the co-operative society has been accepting deposits and has been maintaining locker facilities.

It has sought an appropriate direction to respondents including the Centre and RBI to implement the regulation issued on November 8, 2016 which permitted financial institutions to pay to their customers having an account with them.

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Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's son-in-law was today granted bail by a special court here in a case of theft and misappropriation of his wife's property.

The court said that no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody in view of the investigation being complete.

Special Judge Deepak Garg granted the relief to Syed Mohammad Imran on a personal bond of Rs two lakh and a surety of like amount, after noting that the accused was not required for further investigation in any manner.

The court, meanwhile, asked a woman, an accused in the case, to join the probe since she is abroad and fixed her anticipatory bail plea for hearing on December 17, directing that no coercive means be adopted against her till that period.

"At present, it would be suffice to say that nothing has been placed on record by the investigating agency to show that applicant Imran has any previous criminal antecedent ...

"Admittedly, he is not required for further investigation in any manner. No fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody any more... Both the sides (complainant and accused) are related to each other. There is no apprehension that accused may hamper the investigation or tamper with witnesses," the court said.

Imran was arrested on November 10 from Bangalore and brought here on transit remand, and police took his custody. He was later remanded in judicial custody.

Dikshit's daughter Latika and Imran had got married in 1996, but were living separately for the last 10 months.

In her complaint filed in June, Latika had alleged that Imran's attitude had changed towards her and had become aggressive and rude after her mother lost in the Delhi Assembly polls.

Latika had alleged that Imran took away papers of a piece of land owned by her in Nainital, despite having been told not to do so in May.

According to the police, she also alleged that some of the belongings, kept at her Hailey Road house in central Delhi, had gone missing and whenever she asked for these, Imran was evasive. She also alleged that he took away jewellery and other expensive items from there.

Latika alleged that Imran's co-accused, who was one of her female relatives, was "in connivance" with him, they said.

A case was registered against Imran under Sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 120 B (Criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence)and 420 (cheating) of IPC and under 66 of the IT Act.

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A case has been registered against the SHO of Jahangirpuri Police Station and three other police personnel for allegedly extorting Rs 1 crore from a scrap dealer during a raid, a senior police official said today.

SHO Naresh Kumar, two constables and a head constable, who were allegedly involved in extorting the amount, have been sent to the district police line and investigation is on, Milind Dumbere, DCP (northwest) said.

The action was taken after Dumbere received a complaint from a woman, who alleged that on November 14 she informed police about a scrap dealer who was hiding Rs 1 crore inside his home after finding a bag containing it, police said.

Following her information, the beat staff of her area conducted a raid at the scrap dealer's home and he was taken to Jahangirpuri Police Station. The next day, the woman got to know that the dealer was let off after the police officials allegedly took the cash from him.

Rs 1 lakh was given to the scrap dealer to leave the city and he left for West Bengal, his native place, police said.

The woman made a PCR call after which she was detained and taken to Jahangirpuri Police Station where she was allegedly threatened by the SHO who asked her to withdraw the complaint.

She alleged that they offered her Rs 2 lakh to not reveal the incident. The woman then approached Dumbere and complained that the four police officials, including the SHO of Jahangirpuri Police Station had taken the money recovered during the raid.

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A small amount of a day could reduce the risk of the most common type of stroke, Cambridge University researchers claimed on Thursday.

The study of 20,000 adults found that up to three units of a day appeared to reduce the risk of an ischaemic stroke, where the blood supply is stopped due to a blood clot.

These account for 85% of all cases in the UK.

However, the research by scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and University of Cambridge in the UK warned that heavier drinking  of any type of  increased the risks of all types of strokes.

"Previous research has found an association between alcohol consumption and lower levels of fibrinogen  a protein in the body which helps the formation of blood clots.

"While this may explain the association between light to moderate alcohol consumption and lower ischemic stroke risk, the adverse effect of alcohol consumption on blood pressure - a major risk factor for stroke - may increase the risk of haemorrhagic stroke and outweigh any potential benefit," explained Dr Susanna Larsson, lead author of the paper.

According to the latest research, people were 10% less likely to suffer an ischaemic stroke if they had up to one drink a day and eight per cent less likely if they had one or two drinks.

Whether light-to-moderate alcohol consumption, generally defined as one to two drinks per day, is protective against cardiovascular disease remains a controversial topic.

"Alcohol consumption in moderation has been associated with increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved insulin sensitivity, and decreased levels of fibrinogen and inflammatory markers," Dr Larsson at the Karolinska Institutet said.

Heavy drinking is linked with an increased risk, rising from eight per cent higher for two to four drinks a day to 14 per cent higher for more than four, according to the research published in the journal BMC Medicine.
Private airline SpiceJet today said it will launch a direct daily flight on the Hyderabad-Jabalpur route from December 23.

Hyderabad will be the third metro after Delhi and Mumbai that SpiceJet would connect with Jabalpur through a daily direct flight, the low-cost carrier said in a statement.

The fares for the Hyderabad-Jabalpur route would start from Rs 3,613 and from Rs 3,073 in the reverse direction, the company said.

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Islamic State terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria may launch devastating chemical attacks in Europe, an inquiry by the UN's global chemical weapons watchdog has warned.

The fleeing terrorists could carry out mustard gas attacks after learning how to use the toxic substance in battle zones, a senior official from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) global chemical weapons warned at a defence conference in Paris this week.

"It seems that one of the dangers that we need to face and have a response for - since ISIS has learnt how to make mustard gas - is that sadly one of the people who learnt how to do it comes back to one of our countries and helps carry out an attack like this," said Philippe Denier, director at the verification division of the OPCW.

Mustard gas is a powerful irritant that targets the skin, eyes and airways, and can kill in large enough or highly concentratedenough amounts.

Symptoms can take up to 24 hours to appear.

The inquiry, conducted last month, found that ISIS had used the weapon on civilians.

After rockets containing traces of mustard gas were used on US troops in northern Iraq in September, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the US Senate's Armed Services Committee that while ISIS' capabilities are currently "rudimentary" the attack was a "concerning development", the Independent reported.

Last month, the European Union's Security Commissioner, Julian King, had warned that the huge military operation to remove ISIS from its last Iraqi stronghold could spark an exodus of fighters back to European countries, increasing the risk of terror attacks.

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A 24-year-old man and his mother- in-law landed in jail after the former allegedly stole Rs 5 lakh, and jwellery, in demonetised notes from his employer's home in south Delhi's Mehrauli area and went to a bank to deposit the money.

Police said they arrested Johnny Singh and his 35-year-old mother-in-law from their home state Uttar Pradesh on November 22.

"It was found that Johnny had deposited (part of the) cash in his bank account at Kalyanpur Branch, UP on November 18. A team was sent to Kanpur and CCTV footage of the bank was checked where Johnny was seen," said DCP (South) Ishwar Singh.

The police team conducted extensive ground work to developed local intelligence and trace Johny.

"On November 22, police team arrested the accused when he visited the bank (again) to deposit cash. On searching him, Rs 1.72 lakh, five gold rings, one gold chain, and silver articles were recovered from him," said the officer.

Giving the details, the officer said, Rajesh Aggarwal, the accused's employer, approached police on October 12 stating that Rs 5 lakh and jewelry had been stolen from his house.

"After the case was registered, Aggarwal's servant Johnny Singh was untraceable and his mobile phone was switched off. The police team visited Johnny's house here but he was absconding," said the officer.

The police obtained Johnny's bank account number and kept an eye on the transactions.

He said they recovered stolen cash of Rs 55,000 and two gold rings from his mother-in-law Gayatri Devi in Atrauli village in Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh.

During interrogation, Johnny told police since he was working at Aggarwal's cosmetic items shop for the last five years, he had easy access to his employer's house in Mehrauli.

"On October 11, since it was Dushehra, nobody was in the house except Aggarwal's old father. Johnny left the shop on the pretext of his son's illness, reached the house of his employer and committed the theft," the officer said.

When an FIR was lodged and servants were being inquired, he got scared and left for his native place with his family.

"He disclosed since the stolen cash was in the form of demonetised notes, he wanted to deposit the entire cash in his bank account," added the officer.

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Sudanese security agents have arrested four prominent leftist opposition figures, their alliance said, as authorities press a bid to crush protests sparked by fuel price hikes.

The National Intelligence and Security Service has seized several opposition politicians in the past few weeks as part of the crackdown to prevent street protests as seen during deadly demonstrations in 2013.

NISS arrested top leftist leaders Siddig Yousif, Tareq Abdelmajid, Mohamed Diaelddin and Munzier Abumali at its Khartoum office where they had been summoned yesterday, said the National Consensus Forces alliance.

"When they reached the office of NISS today, they were informed that they were under arrest," it said in a statement.

Family members of Yousif and Abumali confirmed their arrests to AFP.

Sudan's opposition groups including the Communist Party, a member of the National Consensus Forces, had called for street protests against President Omar al-Bashir's government after the authorities hiked prices of petrol and diesel by about 30 per cent this month.

Groups of protesters have staged small rallies in parts of Khartoum and some other towns since then, but they were quickly dispersed by anti-riot police.

Several protesters including women have been put on trial for staging rallies in the capital.

Similar fuel subsidy cuts triggered the deadly unrest of 2013 which drew widespread international criticism.

Rights groups say about 200 people were killed in that crackdown, but the government puts the death toll at less than 100.

The government has been forced to progressively reduce fuel subsidies since 2011 when South Sudan seceded and took with it nearly three-quarters of the formerly united country's oil reserves.

Government officials and leaders of the ruling National Congress Party were not immediately available for comment on the latest arrests.

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After taking repeated digs at the Centre over demonetisation, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today dubbed the move as "extortion of common man" and asked the BJP to take former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words on the issue seriously as it came from a "renowned economist".

"I will not hesitate in taking a critical stand on the process in which demonetisation was implemented," Thackeray told reporters here.

"The way in which a referendum was sought in Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union, a survey is being done here. But seeing people's response, their (UK) Prime Minister chose to step down. Will something similar happen here?" he said.

Thackeray was apparently referring to the Prime Minister seeking people's feedback over demonetisation on the Narendra Modi App, where a number of questions have been posed with regard to scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

He said there was no point in Modi becoming emotional at a time when people have tears in their eyes.

"One person cannot take a decision for 125 crore people. Before taking the decision to demonetise the currency, people should have been taken into confidence," he said.

"Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a renowned economist. Thus, his words and opinions should be taken seriously. The way in which money is being collected, seems that money is being extorted from common man. You have brought tears in the eyes of people who made you come to power with a lot of aspirations," Thackeray said.

Coming down heavily on the government over the issue, Singh castigated the government and the Prime Minister over demonetisation during Rajya Sabha debate today, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder".

Referring to the Reserve Bank's decision not to allow district central co-operative (DCC) banks to exchange the old currency, the Sena chief asked if liquor baron Vijay Mallya had taken loans from these banks.

"Did Vijay Mallya take loans from any of the DCC banks? Banks from which he did take loans, how have they been allowed to exchange the old currency?" he questioned.

He said that the government should extend the dates up to December 31, until which defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are accepted at petrol pumps and hospitals.

(REOPENS BOM 11)



Reacting to Uddhav's remarks on demonetisation and the Centre's stand on black money, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said the Shiv Sena should clarify where did it stand on the issue.

"Tell us clearly whether you are for black money or against it," he said.

"If you are for black money, the public will sentence you to 'kala pani'," the BJP leader added.
Shares of Tata Motors declined by nearly 4 per cent today after the company called an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on December 22 to seek shareholders' approval for removing Cyrus Mistry and Nusli Wadia as directors of the firm.

After a weak opening, the stock further lost 3.93 per cent to Rs 452.85 on BSE.

On NSE, it dipped 3.71 per cent to Rs 454.

The stock was the worst performer among the bluechips on both Sensex and Nifty in morning trade.

Ousted from Tata Sons, Mistry continues to be Chairman of group firms like Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals.

Tata Sons, the company's promoter with 26.51 per cent stake, had asked Tata Motors on November 10 to convene an EGM for passing a resolution for removal of Mistry and Wadia as directors.

In a board meeting held on November 14, independent directors of Tata Motors did not offer unanimous support to his leadership and instead backed all decisions taken by the company.

In a filing to the BSE yesterday, Tata Motors said the company's board at its meeting decided to convene an EGM "to consider and if thought fit, to pass an ordinary resolution for removal of C P Mistry and Nusli Wadia as directors of the company".

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Three people including two women were killed and two others injured today when the car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary truck in Ashta area near here, police said.

The deceased were identified as Prakash Kanungo, Chhaya Kanungo and Surbhi, all residents of Indore.

All of them died on the spot, additional superintendent of police A P Singh said.

Abhishek, who was driving, and a child named Akshat, sustained injuries. They were given first aid at civil hospital here and then shifted to Indore.

The injured were pulled out from the wrecked vehicle after much effort, the ASP said.

The victims were returning to Indore after attending a wedding in Satna district when the car hit a stationary truck in Ashta area on Bhopal-Indore road.

Police impounded the truck and were looking for its driver who fled. "We have registered a case and further investigations are on," ASP Singh added.

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Three persons were killed and 24 others injured when a balcony on which several people had collected to witness a religious procession collapsed in Bairamnagar village here, police said today.

Huge crowds had gathered in the village under Shergarh Police Station area last evening to witness 'Chehallum procession' when the balcony of Mobin Khan's house collapsed.

Several people on the balcony and standing underneath suffered injuries of which Sardar Ahmed (40), Mohd Zakir (25), and Taslim (20) were killed, SP Rural Yamuna Prasad said.

The 24 injured were admitted to different hospitals and condition of four were said to be critical, the SP added.

Chehallum is a Shia Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, who was killed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram in 680 AD.

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State Bank of India today said it has started dispensing new Rs 500 currency note from today in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, people thronged banks across the state to exchange their old notes.

The Centre had mandated that old notes Rs 500 and Rs 1000 would be accepted at fuel outlets, and for payment of utility bills including electricity bills till November 24.

As the deadline ended today, people rushed to banks to exchange their old notes.

Apparently owing to currency shortage, customers at some bank branches were requested to deposit money in their accounts and withdraw it later, instead of exchanging the notes. Some other banks allowed exchange of old currencies.

SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said the new Rs 500 notes are being dispensed from today.

"The new Rs 500 notes have just started coming (from RBI). Chennai will be the first to receive...Then we will expand it to other regions," she told reporters in Coimbatore.

Meanwhile, Bank Employees Federation of India said it would take at least five to six months to have the new Rs 500 notes in circulation to meet the current demand.

"The government has set up printing presses in West Bengal and Karnataka for supply of new currencies to the southern region. It will take at least five to six months to have the new Rs 500 notes in circulation to meet the current demand," Federation's Tamil Nadu Unit General Secretary, C P Krishnan told reporters in Chennai.

Yesterday, reports said customers who visited the private sector Karur Vysya Bank's branches in Salem had displayed the new Rs 500 notes to the media that was released to the bank.

Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealer's Association said it had learnt that All India Motor Transport Congress had requested the Centre to provide extension of time to accept old currencies at fuel stations after November 24.

"We are expecting a reply from the Centre on extension of time," Association Vice President K Suresh Kumar told PTI.

To ease the situation, customers coming to fill fuel were being either encouraged to make card payments or give cash in denomination of Rs 100 notes, he added.

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Donald Trump's grandfather was kicked out of Germany in early 1900s for failing to do his mandatory military service, a German historian has claimed amid the US President-elect's rhetoric on immigration.

A local council letter from 1905 informed Friedrich Trump  who had become a US citizen  that he would not be granted his German citizenship back and that he had eight weeks to leave the country or be deported, CNN quoted historian Roland Paul as saying.

It is understood the notice was issued after the German authorities discovered he had never carried out military service before emigrating to America.

He also claimed that Trump had illegally left Germany, failing to notify authorities of his plan to immigrate.

Friedrich Trump, who built up a fortune through restaurants and boarding houses after arriving in America as an immigrant, was born in the Bavarian town of Kallstadt.

The Trump camp did not immediately respond to questions on the research, the network said.

The findings have sparked interest as President-elect Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his election campaign.

"Trump talks against illegal immigration, so I think he should remember his own family story from time to time," Paul said.

Trump proposed a wall be built between the US and Mexico as the centerpiece of his anti-immigration drive. He has also threatened to deport undocumented migrants who have committed crimes in the US.

Since his shock election victory, Trump has vowed to deport three million illegal immigrants from the US.

Paul came across the document on Friedrich Trump's threatened deportation in state archives and also found several letters from him pleading with authorities to allow him to stay.

Paul mused on how this one administrative decision seemed to have changed the course of history.

"I have to say this kind of letter wasn't unusual back then," Paul said.

"But if they had accepted him back at that time in 1905, wouldn't be in the US  in fact, he wouldn't exist," he said.

He said the eight week deadline was extended as Friedrich Trump said that his daughter was ill. But he was finally forced to leave two months later.

Trump's father was born in the US, where he met Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who hailed from Scotland.

Paul, now retired, carried out his research earlier this year when he was Director of the Institute for Palatine History and Folklore in Kaiserslautern, but his research caught public attention on Monday when the tabloid Bild published his findings.
Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties.

During a brutal election campaign, where Trump's rhetoric on foreign partners was overwhelmingly negative, he was largely positive about India, or at least its Hindu majority, and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

When he courted Indian-American voters at a rally in New Jersey in mid-October, he said, "There won't be any relationship more important to us." He praised Modi, savvy in using social media, as a "great man" for championing bureaucratic reforms and economic growth.

There are other hints that Trump is well-disposed toward India.

He has done a lot of business there. A Washington Post analysis of Trump's pre-election financial disclosure found that of his 111 international business deals, the highest number 16 were in India.

He stirred controversy last week over potential conflicts of interest by meeting with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex in the city of Pune.

Yesterday he selected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, to be US ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman tapped for a Cabinet-level post in his administration. Haley has no foreign policy experience.

It remains a matter of conjecture how any of this will shape the approach taken by a Trump administration when he takes office January 20.

But Lisa Curtis at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said it was "easy to envision" the US and India working closer on counter-terrorism.

India hopes that Trump's promise to fight radical Islamic militants will mean more American pressure on Pakistan and less aid for India's historic archrival. Militants based in Pakistan are accused of launching cross-border attacks inside India.

Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the US, said reactions in India to Trump's election victory have ranged from vocal support from right-wingers to shock and disappointment among the liberal intelligentsia.

US-India relations have advanced under President Barack Obama, particularly since Modi's election in 2014.

When Modi addressed Congress this June, he described the US as an "indispensable partner" and said together they could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

Staunch US allies like Japan and South Korea, which host American forces and depend on US nuclear deterrence, have been unnerved by Trump's call for nations to shoulder more of the burden for security in Asia.

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A prominent television anchor, Amr El Leithy, said he was barred from leaving Egypt today, in the third case of authorities imposing a travel ban in less than a week.

Leithy, an employee of the private Al-Hayat channel, was prevented from taking a flight from Cairo to Dubai with his family, an airport official said.

"There is a legal complaint against El Leithy accusing him of incitement to protest against the state and disturbing social peace," a prosecution official said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Leithy in October broadcast an interview with a tuk-tuk taxi driver who harshly criticised the government and state institutions over price increases and a slump in living standards.

"I was shocked by this travel ban, which wasn't relayed to me, and in spite of having no legal investigation against me," Leithy told AFP.

"I will request this decision be investigated, and I will appeal," he said, adding he has already asked for an explanation from the public prosecutor's office.

The prosecutor official said the travel ban was "just an injunction" against Leithy.

Rights lawyer and activist Azza Soliman was prevented from leaving to Jordan on Saturday, and Aida Seif Elldawla, a founder of Al-Nadeem centre for the rehabilitation of victims of violence, was banned from travel to Tunisia yesterday.

Leithy's programme was abruptly cancelled two days after the controversial tuk-tuk interview was aired, officially because he was going on annual leave.

That episode was watched more than five million times on YouTube, and it was shared thousands of times on social network websites.

Egyptian prosecutors have slapped travel bans on several activists, citing investigations against them or complaints to police filed by non-state lawyers.

"The bans are part of a larger campaign to suppress independent, critical voices inside the country," Human Rights Watch said earlier this month.

"The Egyptian authorities should stop imposing travel bans to prevent human rights defenders from leaving the country and speaking out about Egypt's appalling human rights record.

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A man, who has lodged a police complaint about the murder of his wife and their four-year-old adopted son, himself was arrested in connection with the killing, along with another person, the police said.

The complainant Shashi Kumar, manager of a nationalised bank in Kolkata, has turned out to be the conspirator of the twin murder, Senior Superintendent of Police, Anoop T Mathew said.

Kumar's wife Manju (41) and their four-year-old son Dweej were murdered in their residence at Mango under Ulidih police station here on November 15.

The police also arrested Mukesh Kumar Sharma for the twin murders besides another killing - that of Mohan Sharma, who was also an accused in the case.

Mukesh had sought Kumar's help to get bank loan for his sister's marriage but the manager told him it was not possible but made an offer to kill his wife and son in lieu of money, which he accepted.

Mathew told reporters that the bank manager allegedly asked carpenters Mukesh and Mohan to kill the two for Rs five lakh. The couple did not have any issue and they used to fight over this.

Kumar was allegedly planning to marry a cousin with whom he had an affair, he said adding the bank manager had no attachment with the adopted child but Manju was fond of Dweej.

Mathew said the two carpenters entered Manju's house on the pretext of some repair work and killed the woman and the child by slitting their throats.

The duo then stolen jewellery from the house and sold it in Kolkata for Rs 35,000. However, differences between Mukhesh and Mohan cropped up over share of Rs 35,000, which led Mukesh to kill Mohan two days ago at Hata, around 12 km from here, Mathew said.

The police recovered the knife used in killing the woman and son and the blood-stained clothes of the accused.

Mathew said the post-mortem report did not confirm rape of Manju as it was being presumed initially.

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The United Nations have welcomed the nomination of Indian-American Nikki Haley as the next US envoy to the world body, terming it as a good sign for the future.

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary- General, said it is heartening to see an effort to get the position of the Permanent Representative to the UN filled as quickly or named, as quickly as this.

"So that's a good sign for the future," he said in response to a question.

"We are aware of the naming of NikkiHaley, and it's someone with whom officials here are acquainted in terms of being aware of her position on many issues, including the laudable comments she made following the horrifying racist shootings in Charleston, SouthCarolina," Haq said.

Two of the closest American allies, Israel and the United Kingdom, have also welcomed the decision to appoint Haley as the next US envoy to the United Nations.

"I welcome the announcement of the intention to appoint Governor Nikki Haley as the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations," the Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said after Trump nominated Haley as his Ambassador to the UN.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haley would be the first Indian-American to ever serve in a Cabinet position to any presidential administration.

"Haley is a longstanding and true friend of Israel and is an outspoken fighter against the BDS movement in her state, and throughout the US," Danon said.

"I know that we at the Israeli Mission will continue to work in full partnership with our friends in the American Mission, as we further strengthen the special bond and shared values between Israel and the US," he said.

The British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft welcomed Haley's nomination.

"I congratulate her on her nomination and I look forward to working closely with her," the Ambassador told reporters when asked if he had any concerns that Haley has pretty much zero foreign policy experience.

"She will bring to the UN a strong track record of achievement from South Carolina, and I know that the UK-US relationship will continue to go from strength to strength," he said.

"As you know, we sit literally side by side in the Security Council, and we will continue to be shoulder to shoulder," Rycroft said.

Haley, 44, was named as the US envoy to the UN yesterday by President-elect Donald Trump, as she scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration.

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The United Nation's incoming secretary-general has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said his good relations with Russia prove he will excel in his new role.

Antonio Guterres met with Putin in the Kremlin today in one of his first foreign visits after he was elected to lead the UN.

Putin, who first met Guterres in 2000 when he was Portugal's prime minister, said he was hopeful Guterres' tenure will help to make the UN's role more prominent in conflict resolution and global decision-making.

Guterres, who will take over from Ban Ki-moon on January 1, told Putin he is convinced that the world needs plurality in conflict resolution and that he will be of service to the international community because he has enjoyed "constructive" relations with Russia before.

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In a bizarre incident, a 32-year- old woman in the US opened fire at her house guests because they were "too loud" and had overstayed their welcome.

Alana Annette Savell was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida.

Bay County Sheriff's Office said, "The victim (Ms Kirsty Jo Mohr) stated she felt herself get hit in the legs and ran away from the home and got into a vehicle."



"Savell stated that the victim and her friend had come to her home to hang out and began drinking and getting too loud. Savell stated she did not want them in her house and started shooting at their feet," the sheriff's office said.

"The suspect's boyfriend stated to investigators that he has told his girlfriend that once someone is told to leave their property three times, she is to go get the gun and shoot it at the ground. If that does not work, she is to shoot people in the leg," it said.

After firing the gun at the ground, Savell continued shooting as the man and woman left, striking the woman twice in the leg, the Washington Post reported.

Savell later acknowledged to authorities that there was a phone in the house and she could have simply called 911 to make the guests leave.

"The defendant stated that she knew she was wrong for shooting at the victim and Gary, but stated when she started shooting she could not stop," the affidavit read.

Savell's boyfriend was also struck with a round in the leg during the incident that took place on Monday, the sheriff's office said. After the guests left, Savell put the handgun into a garbage can next to the house.

Sheriff's deputies were called around 2 AM to a hospital, where the female gunshot victim was receiving treatment.

Savell was arrested about two hours later and taken to the Bay County Jail, where she is being held on a USD 100,000 bond.

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Digital wallet player Vodafone M-Pesa today said its customers can withdraw cash from its 1.2 lakh outlets across the country.

"Vodafone M-Pesa customers do not need to stand in long queues outside ATMs and bank branches for cash. We have invested in building a nationwide network of over 120,000 M-Pesa outlets, equivalent to the numbers of bank branches in the country.

"Our customers can visit any of these outlets and use the unique cash out feature of Vodafone M-Pesa to withdraw cash from their digital wallet at their convenience," Vodafone M-Pesa Business head Suresh Sethi said in a statement.

Over 56 per cent of these outlets are located in rural parts of the country, the statement said.

Vodafone has over 8.4 million plus Vodafone M-Pesa customers who can withdraw cash using their digital wallet from any of Vodafone M-Pesa outlets across the country, subject to availability.

To avail the cash withdrawal facility, customers need to carry an identity proof to their nearest Vodafone M-Pesa outlet from where they can withdraw money, subject to availability, in line with RBI guidelines, the statement said.

Further, the Vodafone M-Pesa digital wallet too can be easily digitally loaded via credit or debit card or net banking.

The wallet can also be used to shop online, pay bills and remit money to family and friends.

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In the wake of the heightened tension between India and Pakistan on the Line of Control (LOC) and the International Border (IB), the General officer commanding in chief (GOC-in-C) of the western Command Lt Gen Surinder Singh today met with Governor N N Vohra and chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Lt Gen Singh called on the Chief Minister and briefed her about the latest situation on the borders as a result of continuing cross border shelling.

The Chief Minister asked the Army Commander to extend all possible help to the civil administration in border areas in rehabilitation and safety of people living there.

Lt Gen Singh also, called on Governor NN Vohra at the Raj Bhavan and discussed the obtaining security situation and several important issues about the effective management of counter-infiltration and counter-terrorism Grids along the international borders.

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Observing that Dwarka has not been cleaned up despite judicial orders, the Delhi High Court today asked senior officials of the police department, municipal corporation and DDA to show cause why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Jayant Nath asked the officials to file their reply indicating work done by each of them and why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them, saying, "We are giving you a long rope, so either save yourself or hang yourself."



The court gave them four weeks to file their reply and listed the matter for hearing on January 11 next year.

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) urged the court to wait for some time before passing such an order as the officials concerned would be demoralised by it.

The bench, however, refused to heed their pleas and said the officials would be "energised" into action by the order.

Justice Ahmed also said he was "demoralised" after seeing the photographs of lack of cleanliness shown by petitioner and Dwarka resident Ebbani Aggarwal, as pigs were seen to be roaming around in the waste littered at some places.

The court said it felt sorry for the "poor cattle" which would eat the polythene bags to get at the food inside and added, "Our order of today is absolutely right."



At the start of the hearing, DDA told the court it was facing a "serious cash crunch" post demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and was unable to pay its daily wage labourers.

However, despite this problem it was getting work done to clean up the sub-city, DDA said.

To this, the court said that DDA can pay its workers by cheque.

The court had on November 16 voiced dissatisfaction over the civic agencies' efforts to clean up the national capital, saying that the "officialdom" was preventing compliance with its orders to periodically remove rubble and garbage from public areas, especially in Dwarka sub-city.

It had given the civic bodies a final opportunity till November 24 to "come good with their promise" to clean up Dwarka and had sought names of all senior officials of SDMC, DDA and Delhi Police who were responsible for the area.

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Engaging in everyday creative activities such as writing poetry, painting or making new recipes may improve well-being as well as creativity in young adults, a new study suggests.

Researchers at University of Otago in New Zealand asked 658 university students to keep a daily diary of their experiences and emotional states over 13 days.

After analysing the diaries the researchers, led by Dr Tamlin Conner, found a pattern of the participants feeling more enthusiasm and higher "flourishing" than usual following days when they were more creative.

Flourishing is a psychological concept that can be described as increasing positive growth in oneself.

The researchers found that the most common examples reported were songwriting; creative writing (poetry, short fiction); knitting and crochet; making new recipes; painting, drawing, and sketching; graphic and digital design; and musical performance.

Conner and her team wanted to find out if engaging in everyday creative acts makes people feel better emotionally.

"There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning. However, most of this work focuses on how emotions benefit or hamper creativity, not whether creativity benefits or hampers emotional wellbeing," Conner said.

The researchers found that "positive affect" (PA) - which encompasses feelings such as pleasurable engagement, joy, happiness, excitement and enthusiasm - on a particular day did not predict next-day creative activity.

"Our earlier research found that PA appears to increase creativity during the same day, but our latest findings show that there is no cross-day effect. Rather, it is creative activity on the previous day that predicts wellbeing the next," she said.

Even when controlling for next-day creative activity, the previous day's creativity significantly predicted energised PA and flourishing.

"This finding suggests a particular kind of upward spiral for wellbeing and creativity - engaging in creative behaviour leads to increases in wellbeing the next day, and this increased wellbeing is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day," researchers said.

"Overall, these findings support the emerging emphasis on everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning," they said.

The study was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday an OPEC deal to cut output and hike oil prices was "imminent," and dispatched his oil minister to Russia to help bring other producers on board.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in Algeria two months ago to limit supply, with special conditions given to Libya, Nigeria and Iran, whose output has been hit by wars and sanctions.

The details are meant to be finalised when OPEC ministers meet in Vienna on Nov. 30.

"An agreement is imminent by OPEC countries to freeze and reduce production, balance the market, and raise prices in a realistic, fair and responsible manner," Maduro said in a speech to workers of state oil company PDVSA.

"A complete success. I trust in God and his blessings. I trust in the efforts we have made," he added, praising PDVSA President and Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino's efforts to reach an international consensus.

Venezuela depends on oil for about 95 percent of export revenues, so the price fall has contributed to a severe recession along with failing socialist economic policies.

Since oil prices collapsed in 2014, Venezuela has been among the most vocal in pushing both OPEC and non-OPEC countries to slash output.

Its calls were initially ignored by major energy players such as Saudi Arabia, but producers have shown increased interest in coordinating output amid weak crude markets.

Doubts remain over whether OPEC will agree to a proposed cut of 4 percent to 4.5 percent that has been discussed.

That would imply a supply cut of more than 1.2 million barrels per day, according to calculations.

Non-OPEC member Russia has said it would cut production in support of OPEC, but domestic oil companies have not worked out details, muddying the outlook.

"I have given new tasks to comrade Eulogio Del Pino so that in the next few days he goes to Russia to finish the agreement with Russia, the non-OPEC nations and OPEC," Maduro added.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Bill Rigby)

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Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday said he will invest billions of rupees in Nepal to create 20,000 jobs in the country as he jointly inaugurated a new venture to produce organic medicine and other items.

Ramdev, who arrived here on a week-long visit yesterday, inaugurated the new factory of his Patanjali Ayurveda Grama Udyog with Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari in Bara district in southern Nepal.

The factory which was established with an initial capital investment of Rs 1.5 billion will be upgraded to Rs 5 billion in future and will produce organic medicine and other products, Ramdev said during an interaction with officials and members of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry here.

Ramdev said he will invest billions of rupees in Nepal for producing ayurvedic products that would eventually generate employment for 20,000 Nepalese youths.

Ramdev, who was accompanied by his close aid Acharya Balkrishna, also flew to Bara district in southern Nepal, where he will conduct a five-day yoga camp, according to sources close to Patanjali Yoga Ashram of Nepal.

President Bhandrai, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, ministers, leaders and members of the business community are among others who have been invited to attend the function in Birgunj.

Thousands of yoga enthusiasts from Nepal and India have assembled in Birgunj are have been preparing for a month for the event.
With RBI Governor Urjit Patel yet to make any public statement even two weeks after currency demonetisation, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday played down his silence, saying it is irrelevant as to who communicates government policies.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, who has been holding fort since the November 8 decision to ban old 500 and 1000 rupee notes by almost daily announcing measures taken by the government to ease the cash crunch, said more important than who addresses is the issue of communicating and giving information.

"It is not relevant who speaks. I am speaking on behalf of the government, I am not speaking here in my individual capacity. So, therefore, it is irrelevant whether I am speaking or somebody else is speaking," Das told reporters.

He was asked why Patel has not made a single public statement and why Das alone was making announcements on the issue.

"Let's not do these things For communication purposes, it is irrelevant who addresses. The idea is government should communicate and give out all the information," Das said.

Neither Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa nor Anjuly Chib Duggal, Secretary Financial Services - the department in charge of banking operations, have held a press conference on the issue.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is issuer of currency and the management of currency is one of its core central banking functions.

The media-shy Patel, who took over from Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of the central in early September, has not made any statement on the management of cash situation after 86 per cent of the currency in circulation was withdrawn and printing of new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes begun, leaving Das to do all the fire-fighting.

From the banks' side, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya has been doing all the talking on recalibration of ATMs and availability of cash.

The November 8 demonetisation decision had sent public at large scrambling to get hold of valid currency notes as bank and ATMs went out of cash.

The All India Bank Officers Confederation has reportedly called for the resignation of Patel for "utterly failing" in his role and causing havoc to the nation's economy.
The winter parliament session is underway and the opposition has formed a united front againstNarendra Modi's move to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes. Former PrimeMinister Dr. Manmohan Singh made a clear stance against the monumental mismanagement. However, he clarifies that he was not against demonetisation.

Dr. Singh opined that this move will be a huge blow for the people in theinformal sector of the economy which will lead to a depreciated GDP by around 2per cent.

He alsoadded that the move to alter regulations and conditions on withdrawals on a dayto day basis reflects badly on the Prime Minister's office, the FinanceMinister's office and Reserve Bank of India.

PrimeMinister Narendra Modi registered his presence after consistent objection bythe opposition, since the beginning of the winter session of the parliament.
British finance minister Philip Hammond may need to use all the budgetary "headroom" he has reserved for himself in the coming years given the uncertainty around the impact of Brexit, the head of a leading economic think thank said.

Hammond announced on Wednesday new budget rules to cut the budget deficit, once adjusted for swings in the economy, to below 2 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the decade - a goal which Britain's official budget forecasters said he was likely to be meet with room to spare.

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said on Thursday this room could easily run out if the outlook for economic growth disappoints in the next few years.

"Given the still very considerable uncertainties over the direction of the economy, (Hammond) may well find he needs all of the headroom he has left himself," Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said.

Johnson also highlighted a sharp deterioration for living standards in the latest economic outlook drawn up by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility which accompanied Hammond's budget statement.

"On these projections real wages will, remarkably, still be below their 2008 levels in 2021. One cannot stress enough how dreadful that is - more than a decade without real earnings growth," he said in comments he was due to make at a news conference. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
On the 1st of December North Cork based Fermoy Credit Union will officially change its name to Synergy Credit Union.

Fermoy Credit Union opened its doors in November 1965 and today supports over 15,000 members needs in over twelve villages in its common bond area; including Araglen, Ballyduff, Ballyhooly, Castlelyons, Castletownroche, Conna, Glanworth, Glenville, Fermoy, Kilworth, Leamlara, Rathcormac, Watergrasshill.



The Credit Union point out that members savings and loan accounts will be unaffected by this name change and there will be little physical change to the branch offices.

Commenting on the renaming of Fermoy Credit Union, Martina Cotter, Chief Executive Officer, Synergy Credit Union said This name change is a crucial part of our commitment moving forward. We feel strongly that our new name reflects who we are today, while creating opportunities for future growth. We are very grateful to the community and our members for the years of trust and loyalty they have placed with Fermoy Credit Union.



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Trinity College Dublin today announced the details of a 70 million long-term European Investment Bank (EIB) loan.



Teaching, research and student accommodation at Trinity will be transformed over the next two years with the funding.

This will include the new Trinity Business School which is currently under construction, the development of campus student accommodation at Oisin House, and new premises for Trinitys Institute of Population Health in Tallaght.



In addition to Trinitys loan, UCC in Cork is being supported with a 100 million loan.

The EIB has now made record education lending in Ireland this year following a 200 million backing for school investment agreed last month.

This is the second EIB loan received by Trinity, in 2008 it received a 75 million loan for research investment at the Universitys Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.



Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank said: New investment to improve teaching, research and student facilities is essential to unlocking new ideas and scientific discoveries and the European Investment Bank is committed to supporting investment at leading universities across Europe. The loans being announced this week will strengthen research and learning across a broad range of disciplines at Trinity. It will ensure that Irish universities continue to be at the forefront of global research.

Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost of Trinity College Dublin said: We are investing in educational and research facilities for the benefit of all our students and staff. This week Trinity joined the League of European Research Universities (LERU) Europes leading network of research intensive universities whose main focus is to build on the research and educational strengths of all its partners.

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has welcomed the decision by the Central Bank to ease deposit rules for first time buyers, but say more needs to be done on the housing supply side.

Ronan OHara, Chairman of the SCSIs Residential Professional Group praised new rulings from the Central Bank on mortgage lending, which are likely to support first time buyers in the hunt for their first home. This is a well-considered move by the Central Bank and the focus on first time buyers is welcome, particularly in Dublin and other cities. This will give confidence to the market and hopefully will encourage more builders to begin developments. The retention of the Loan to Income ratios will hopefully help to curb price increases."

The SCSI however also pointed out that much more needs to be done on the supply side, with factors such as reducing or even eliminating VAT on affordable housing.

Mr O'Hara also led calls for the "establishment of a Development Finance Agency with expertise in construction lending (that) would ensure the houses that first time buyers so badly need are built in a short time frame."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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China's banking regulator may be getting serious about how lenders provision for the more than 20 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion) of wealth management products (WMPs) that have been issued as non-guaranteed off-balance sheet liabilities.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), in new draft rules released on Wednesday, demanded banks apply a more "comprehensive" approach to cover "substantive risks" related to off-balance sheet activities, or shadow banking.

The guidelines, which would replace 2011 regulations and are awaiting comment, proposed such measures as adding impairment loss allowances and properly calculating risk-weighted assets for off-balance sheet activity.

It was the latest measure announced by CBRC to curb shadow banking risks and address the rapid growth of WMPs, which amounted to 26.28 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) by end-June, data from the Banking Sector Wealth Management Product Registration and Custodian Centre showed. That amounts to around 39 percent of China's GDP in 2015.

About 77 percent, or 20.18 trillion yuan, of the products are non-guaranteed bank WMPs, a major component of shadow banking activity, the data showed.

CBRC Chairman Shang Fulin warned banks in September the rampant growth of their off-balance sheet operations must be curtailed, and represented a "hidden credit risk that potentially threatens financial safety."

The growing volume of opaque shadow banking transactions, and the absence of stricter reporting standards or requirements for capital provisioning, represented a possible systemic risk, analysts have warned.

"The new guidance is good, especially at a time when WMPs are growing too quickly and the problem of inflexible payments cannot be solved," said a general manager in the financial institutions department of a major Chinese bank.

Inflexible payments refer to the widely held expectation that banks will stand behind their products, absorbing investment losses even for non-guaranteed WMPs. It is still rare for a Chinese bank to pass on an investment loss to customers out of concern for reputational risk.

Senior bankers cautioned, however, that even as WMP issuance may slow they don't expect a "disruptive impact" from the new regulations.

"It depends on how the rules will be executed," said the head of risk management at a mid-tier joint-stock bank based in northern China.

China's mid-tier and small lenders, which have raised a greater proportion of their funding using WMPs, are more vulnerable to off-balance sheet liquidity risks.

One important obstacle is capital.

A very strict interpretation of the draft regulations, requiring banks to hold reserves against all off-balance sheet issuance, would require banks to raise as much as 1.7 trillion yuan to maintain current capital levels, said Jack Yuan, a banking analyst at Fitch.

"The incentives for banks to issue more off-balance sheet WMPs still exists," said Yuan. "There's nothing in these rules that disincentivises banks from continuing on with more off-balance sheet activity."

"It's like driving a car," said a risk manager at another mid-size lender. "If you don't follow the rules, there's a mess. But if you follow the rules, that doesn't mean you have to slow down."(Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About Us
Countrywide, Britain's biggest lettings and estate agency firm, warned on Thursday earnings this year would be hit by a slowdown in the property market since the vote to leave the European Union, sending its shares to a record low.

People were holding off buying second homes amid concerns of economic uncertainty over the next 12 to 18 months due to the lack of clarity about what terms Britain would negotiate in its divorce from the EU, Countrywide's finance chief told Reuters.

"The lack of visibility on what leaving the EU means people are delaying making decisions and I don't really think that's going to change in the short term," CFO Jim Clarke said.

The company said it expected transaction levels this year to be 6 percent lower than in 2015, with its retail and London businesses suffering in particular, and transactions could well be lower again in 2017.

Countrywide shares slumped as much as 14 percent to a record low of 165.9 pence and were down 12 percent at 1115 GMT.

While strong demand from first-time buyers has meant most builders have seen housing sales in much of Britain recover from an initial dip after the June 23 vote, estate agents continue to smart from the slowdown in the secondary housing market that Clarke said accounts for close to 90 percent of transactions.

To add to their worries, Britain said on Wednesday it would ban one-off tenant fees to try to bring down the cost of renting and cool a market already hit by a property tax increase in April on houses bought by buy-to-let landlords.



Clarke said it was too early to assess the impact of the changes, but the company did say 2016 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would be around the lower end of the market consensus.

Analysts on an average had expected EBITDA of 85 million to 100 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters. The forecast was lowered after a previous warning in July.

"There's no light at the end of the tunnel here," Peel Hunt analyst Gavin Jago wrote. Jago, who has a "hold" rating on Countrywide, cut his target price to 170 pence from 250 pence.

He estimated that Countrywide gets about 5 million to 10 million pounds of pretax profit, or some 18 percent of expected 2016 group pretax profit, from the upfront lettings fee.

Shares in Belvoir Lettings shares fell after it said the impact of the changes was expected to be less than 8 percent of gross profit. Shares in online agent Purplebricks rose after it said there would no meaningful impact and it could adapt its model swiftly at minimal cost.

Countrywide is also having to invest in digital expansion, close branches and slash headcount to fight back against the growing threat from online agencies that are luring customers by charging lower fees.

It joined London-focused rival Foxtons in noting a continued decline in transactions during the quarter to the end of September, which pushed its revenue down 4.4 percent to 188.5 million pounds. Foxtons had issued its own warning earlier.

Countrywide said the slowdown in transactions had most notably hit its retail and London businesses with forward order books down 16 percent and 26 percent respectively year-on-year at the end of September. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About Us
World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo said on Thursday he had no indictation that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wanted to withdraw the United States from the global trading body.

"I think that at this point in time what we have to do is be ready for a conversation," Azevedo told reporters, adding that he was convinced the United States could be a very important partner in reviving global trade growth.

Trump suggested during his election campaign that he could pull the United States out of the WTO if its rules stopped him renegotiating U.S. terms of trade to his satisfaction.

"I haven't had any indication from anybody that that would be the case," said Azevedo, who added that he had not yet talked to Trump but was ready to do so.

If the United States did pull out, the WTO would continue doing what it does, he said.

Nor would free trade necessarily be damaged if the United States withdrew from existing or new regional trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement or the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Azevedo said, since much depended on what might be put in their place, and regional trade arrangements often failed or were renegotiated.

"Trade is not for amateurs. Trade is tough," he said. "So we should not prejudge and jump to conclusions whenever any iniative is launched."

Trump has said he plans to kill the TPP, an ambitious Asia-Pacific trade pact, on his first day in office, although he appears to be treading more softly in other policy areas after months of combative campaign rhetoric.

Azevedo said every country had concerns about particular aspects of trade policies and trade deals but he would wait for Trump's team to announce its strategy before evaluating it.

"I haven't heard, at this point in time, anybody say trade is bad for the United States."

Trade liberalisation has long been a target of anti-globalisation protests and is often blamed in the United States for jobs and investment moving to Mexico or China.

Azevedo said trade is beneficial overall, and although it can be disruptive, it was wrong to blame it for widespread unemployment, with 8 out of 10 job losses in advanced economies due to domestic-led drives for innovation, automation and productivity.

"If you don't have the right diagnosis you don't have the right medicine. If the medicine is simply protectionism the outcome will be that you will harm the patient," he said, adding that protectionism would hit poorer sections of the population hardest. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Cache County Sheriffs deputies are investigating a dog attack that occurred Tuesday afternoon in Millville.

Sheriff Chad Jensen said 20-year-old Sierra Coe was walking home from the Millville Post Office when she was attacked by a pit bull and a great dane. The pit bull reportedly bit her as she began screaming for help.

A neighbor, 60-year-old Laura Ferguson, witnessed the attack and tried to help Sierra, but was also bitten by the dog.

Deputies report a second witness, 54-year old Kristy Burton, also tried to help the two women and was bitten during the incident.

All three victims had puncture wounds and lacerations from the dogs.

One of the women was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for her injuries. The other two victims were taken by private vehicle to receive medical treatment.

The pit bull was impounded at the Cache Humane Society, and its owner, Casey Allen, was notified of the incident.

Jensen said the case is under investigation by the Animal Control deputies and will be reviewed by the Millville City Attorney for criminal charges.

<hr /><p style=text-align: center;>will@cvradio.com
The technology introduced some five years ago is gaining ground.

ADS







Aqua cultural experts are unanimous that of all 10 Regions, the South West alone weighs over 50 percent on the scale of the Cameroon fish-story. One preponderant fact that accounts for the claim is its generous thrust to the Atlantic Ocean, with the largest marine coast of 420 Kilometres. Apart from Fako and Ndian Administrative Divisions embracing the sea in the South West, the rest of its hinterland is naturally blessed with rivers and streams overrunning the other four Divisions of Lebialem, Manyu, Kupe-Muanenguba and Meme.



According to Dr. Andu Walters Ndi, South West Regional Delegate of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, MINEPIA, while Ndian Division, harbouring the legendary Bakassi zone, champions in open sea fishing followed by Fako, fish farming is common to all other Divisions accounting for the 451,659 tons of fish produced in 2015.



The major species raised and caught remain the clarias and the tilapia. The fingerlings of these cherished species of fish are raised using modern methods of concrete ponds and palette feed. The modern ponds, introduced some five years ago, allow for economic use of recycled water as against the earth ponds formerly practiced in open space. The fish palette-feed made from ordinary sources of protein and other nutrients like maize and soybeans makes it possible to grow more sizeable and more productive fish for the market. It is not artificial.



The major difficulties remain at the industrial level where, trawlers are frequently in tussle with officials of MINEPIA as most fishing companies at sea often engage in scotch-earth fishing either damaging the ecosystem or picking even the fingerlings that ought to reproduce.



As a good-hope perspective, the example of modern fish farming currently demonstrated by Dr. Oumarou in Limbe is worth emulating. He grows and supplies fingerlings in large quantities and teaches whoever wants to learn. Farmers can harvest fingerlings quickly and grow fish much easier than five years before. Experts say the new technology gives fish more weight, faster growth and ample reproduction.



In terms of cost effectiveness people who were just doing fish farming for family nutrition can now become marketers of fish with the right genetic species. For example, you can take the ordinary breed of fowl and give it all your feed, it would not change. It must be the improved specie to adapt to the new technology.



Dr. Andu Walters Ndi says nutrition, and health are principal elements for livestock production. Keeping animals or rearing them is not taken by chance, he says. It is science. Animals need particular nutrients to grow, to reproduce or survive. They always need good feeding regiments. When an animal is well fed normally it may become resilient to diseases.

ADS
| BY Ricki Green |

World Wide Mind has extended a welcoming hand to Russia. Well, to be more accurate, World Wide Mind has welcomed Russian born director and photographer, Alina Gozina to the team.

Gozina has been creating award-winning campaigns for clients in Europe and the USA for the past five years. She has now returned to Australia and will split her time between Sydney and New York City.

Says Michelle Parker, EP, WWM: Alinas passionate nature and uncompromising eye evokes a cinematic European sentiment in the films and photographs she creates. Shes an exciting addition to our like-minded team of storytellers and content creators from all over the world.

Alinas work can communicate the complete story to an audience in a single frame. She thrives on discovering and capturing the essence of the real person and sharing it with the viewer. Shes a really exciting and yet to be discovered talent in this country. We aim to remedy that.

Says Gozina: As the industry continues to change, I cant think of a better place to be than with the guys at World Wide Mind, they think different, theyre change makers and they get me.
| BY Ricki Green |

Sydney animation house Sixty40 director Kyra Bartley was recently approached by IdeaWorks to create a whimsical animated installation experience for Myer as part of its newly launched Wonderland by Myer, a magical retail destination for the entire family.

To carry people from the ground floor up to the Wonderland level, Bartley was asked to re-imagine the department stores lift journey as a rocket ship ride, transporting passengers from the Sydney CBD, up through the clouds, and into the illustrative, steampunk-inspired Wonderland by Myer level.

Designed to whet peoples appetites for Wonderland by Myer, offering them a taste of the characters and style of environment awaiting them, Bartley and her global team of artists (based in Sydney, Paris, Columbia and Phnom Penh) set about creating a series of experiential animated films for the lift that brought to life the hand-illustrated world of Wonderland.

To ensure the lift experience complemented the overall Wonderland by Myer fit out, Bartley took her lead from the illustrations created by Dean Mortensen and imagined how they could be brought to life as animations, adding charming characters, ships and details to flesh out the immersive world that covers a 270 degree view from the lift.

Says Bartley: We wanted to populate our lift world with quirky elements that would really draw people into the space. Theres so much intricately drawn detail included that youd be hard pressed seeing every detail, meaning no ride is ever the same, giving passengers a new experience each and every time.

Says Simon Robson, creative director, Sixty40: As soon as we took the brief it was immediately apparent that it was a quintessential Kyra Bartley job knowing her well and her love for the detailed and eccentric, I had no doubt that she would excel on the treatment and give the job every minute she could.

For the Myer rocket ship lift, IdeaWorks creative director James Griffiths says he wanted to create a grand entrance to the Wonderland by Myer above the clouds, and with the help of Sixty40 and Bartley, believes something truly special was created.

Says Griffiths: From the moment you step in and are greeted by our little critter, you are transported to a retail entrance like nothing else on Earth and really feel like you are being rocketed to another world. It has been a pleasure to work alongside Kyra and the Sixty40 team and craft new ways to tell our Wonderland story.

Client: Myer

Agency: IdeaWorks Sydney

Creative Director: James Griffiths

Copy Lead: Jen Dobbie

Art Lead: Tom Denton

Illustrator, Scenes by Dean, Dean Mortensen

Content Producer: Jay Jenkins

Managing Director: Danny Lattouf

Production Company: Sixty40

Director: Kyra Bartley

ECD: Simon Robson

Executive Producer Sixty40: Will Alexander

Executive Producer Heckler: Bonnie Law

Producer: Charu Menon

Illustration:

Juan Andres Castaneda

Fred Venet

Matt Heath

Tess Simpson

2D Animation:

Aurelien Ressencourt

Paul McNulty

Jo Fong

3D Animation:

Max McMullin

Adrien Girault

Luke Carvell

Marco Chau

Compositing:

Bertrand Polka

Ferry Taswin

Chuong Vu

Shane Miranda

BTS Camera:

Charu Menon

David Collins

BTS Edit:

Mark Dedaj
| BY Lynchy |

The annual Campaign Brief Christmas Legendary Lunch for 100 of Sydneys top creatives ~ and some key agency producers ~ is underway, jointly hosted by our brilliant supporters Heckler , World Wide Mind and Electric Sheep .

This year, for the first time, the Legendary Lunch will be followed by an exclusive twilight cruise aboard the 122ft Ghost II, Australias most luxurious super yacht.
| BY Kim Shaw |

As predicted by Campaign Brief, AdFest has named Ted Royer, chief creative officer at Droga5 New York, as the grand jury president overseeing the 2017 AdFest Lotus Awards at their20th anniversary celebrations next March.

Ranked by Business Insider as #1 of 30 of the most creative people in advertising in 2016, Royer has won more than 100 major awards in a career spanning 20-years. He joined Droga5 in its early days, but has worked all over the globe from Singapore (Saatchi & Saatchi) to Argentina (Ogilvy & Mather), Australia (Publicis Mojo) and New York (Droga5).

Says Jimmy Lam, president, AdFest: AdFest celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2017 so it is fitting to welcome a Grand Jury President who has made such an enduring mark on our industry over the past 20 years. Ted is a true visionary who continually taps into current trends to create the industrys most talked-about campaigns. Its an honor to welcome him to Thailand next year.

Royer has played a pivotal role in growing Droga5 from fledgling start-up to an agency of 600 employees, which last year won both the AdAge and Creativity Agency of the Year accolades. Prior to joining Droga5, he sat on the worldwide creative boards of Ogilvy & Mather and Publicis Groupe.

Says Royer: Im sincerely excited to be joining AdFest in its 20th year. It is a festival that celebrates local cultures, yet demands global standards  I think this will make it a uniquely rewarding show to judge. Im looking forward to seeing the ideas that are shaping the regions future, and meeting some of the creators behind them.

AdFest 2017 celebrates 20 Years of Diversity from Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th March in Pattaya, Thailand.

Says Vinit Suraphongchai, chairman of AdFest: AdFest 2017 will be a true celebration of all that has been accomplished in this rich, colourful region over the past two decades. We are so pleased Ted has accepted our invitation to come along and celebrate in the style AdFest is now famous for.
| BY Lynchy |

The Midas Awards for the Worlds Best Financial Advertising has released the shortlist for the 2016 competition. Asia has scored 19 finalists led by Thailand with eleven finalists all for CJ Worx Bangkok. Singapore has 5 finalists all from McCann Worldgroup. India has two finalists both from Pi Communications and Sri Lanka has one finalist from TBWA.

Says Deb Ryan, executive director, Midas Awards: The Midas Awards recognizes excellence in financial marketing and advertising from entries around the globe, we applaud the innovative and creative financial service campaigns moving forward to the trophy round.

This years Midas Awards grand jury, comprised of international executives from financial and creative marketing disciplines, shortlisted 278 entries showcasing creative excellence submitted from 24 countries around the globe. With an impressive 23% increase this year, prominent brands and international agencies recognize the importance of being honored for creative excellence by the Midas Awards.

Event marketing was utilized by international agencies to champion causes and increase consumer engagement on behalf of prominent brands. This year 8 entries moved forward in the Events Category. McCann Erickson New York saw 4 entries shortlisted, 2 entries moved forward for MasterCard Restroom for All, MasterCards installation at Pride Fest demonstrated their support of global acceptance by installing a restroom that accepts all humans, no matter their gender identity. Additional shortlisted entries utilizing event marketing for McCann Erickson New York include The Optimist Index for Oppenheimer Funds and Stand Up To Cancer EEG Experience. McCann Londons shortlisted entry #44 Days of Crazy Sing For Your Fare for client MasterCard harnessed the spirit of international fans traveling through the city utilizing branded London taxis, riders were challenged to show team passion by singing their nations rugby anthem and see their taxi fare roll down. Publicis North America saw 2 entries shortlisted: Citi Double Cash Card DNCE Activation and Taste of the Nation. Citi sponsored the No Kid Hungrys Taste of the Nation events and donated meals to hungry kids in need, employed social posts to trigger a vending machine distributing fun food-related prizes, and utilized a canopy of social media controlled balloons. Joe Public Pty Ltd South Africa shortlisted entry Twitter Track for client Nedbank Sponsorships incorporated inspiring tweets into an encouraging running track to raise funds for children requiring prosthetics.

Integrated campaigns dominated the shortlist. FP7/DXB Dubai (Part of McCann Worldgroup) saw 3 entries move to on to the next round The Beautiful After and The Fitness Account for Emirates NBD and The Anti-Antibiotics Self-prescription Idea National Health Insurance Company  Daman. McCann Erickson London had 2 entries shortlisted #44 Days of Crazy and Mark Ronson Surprise, both for client MasterCard. Other integrated campaigns moving forward include: McCann Erickson New York World Card Integrated for MasterCard; Fp7 Bey Beirut The Makers for Byblos Bank; Joe Public Pty Ltd., South Africa Twitter Track for client Nedbank Sponsorships; Havas Riverorchid Cambodia Bluebird for Wing Mobile Money Transfer; Factory Detroit, Inc. USA Open The Door: TV / Doors (Radio) / Take One / CD Cover / Banner for client First Citizens Bank; Publicis North America for Dine & Do Good for Citi; Publicis Communications Switzerland UBS Retirement Campaign for UBS; and Zulu Alpha Kilo Toronto. Canada for  Be in the Black for client Interac Association.

The United States led this year with a total of 90 entries shortlisted. Agencies in South Africa moved forward with 37 entries shortlisted; followed by the United Arab Emirates with 32 entries moving on to the trophy round, a robust 68% increase over last year. The United Kingdom moved forward with 28 entries shortlisted and Australia saw 24. In addition, Canada had 19 entries shortlisted, followed by Thailand with 11, Lebanon with 6 entries moving forward and Brazil moved ahead with 5. Agencies from Cambodia, Germany and Switzerland each saw 3 shortlisted entries; India, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Turkey each had 2 entries move on to the trophy round. Colombia, Slovenia, and Sri Lanka each had 1 entry shortlisted.

Each year, agencies from around the globe compete for number one status ranking on The Midas Report. Agencies on track for a spot on the 2016 annual ranking include: The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg, South Africa with 33 entries shortlisted; FP7/DXB (Part of McCann Worldgroup) Dubai, UAE saw 32 entries move on to the trophy round; and McCann Erickson New York, USA had 31 entries shortlisted. Publicis North America, USA saw 13 entries achieve shortlist status; CJWORX, Thailand saw 11 entries move forward; McCann London with 10 and R/GA USA and McCann Worldgroup EMEA United Kingdom with 9. In addition, McCann Canada saw 8 entries shortlisted; and Mercer Bell Australia 7.

The Midas Brand Report, an annual ranking report is based on points earned within the Midas Awards competition and celebrates advertisers performance in elevating the financial advertising industry. Prominent international brands in position to be included in 2016s Midas Brand Report include: Absa / Barclays, BMO, Citi, Emirates NBD, E*TRADE, Krungsri Market, MasterCard, National Health Insurance Company  Daman, Quicken Loans, and Sammons Retirement Solutions Inc.
| BY Lynchy |

BBDO Guerrero Executive Creative Director, Dale Lopez, will take up the role of ECD of BBDO Indonesia. Lopez joined the BBDO Network in 2004, and since then he has consistently delivered award-winning creative work.

Lopez replaces Randi Rinaldi, current ECD of BBDO Indonesia who is leaving the agency to explore new challenges. The move will be effective January 1, 2017.

Intan Mokhnar, Managing Director of BBDO Indonesia commented, We are thrilled to have Dale on board as ECD of BBDO Indonesia, and he will no doubt be a strong partner internally and to our clients. His experience and success at BBDO Guerrero is well known, in particular his work for The Department of Tourism, Its More Fun in the Philippines, the highly awarded Labels Against Women work for Pantene, and Pepsis Liter of Light campaign, among many others.

Lopez (pictured) commented, Im grateful and humbled that I was entrusted with leading the creative team in Manila; the agency where I learnt everything I know. Now, Im really looking forward to taking on this exciting new challenge at BBDO Indonesia. The agency has real momentum and it feels like a great time to get on board.
"The credit card bills start arriving in January and that causes stress and we all see in the advertising that it moves straight from Christmas into back to school, so parents with school-aged children are finding that the stress of Christmas and New Year rolls on because now they have to buy new shoes, new uniforms and everything for children going back to school," Major Masters said.
"I was in denial a lot of the time until basically I hit a brick wall, which was when I went to Karra," he said. "They saved my life. I am eternally grateful to Karralika and the staff there."



CEO Karralika Programs Sharon Tuffin said one in five Canberrans drank at risky levels and there were few people in the community untouched by this significant problem.
Bing Predicts winner: Broncos (53 percent)

Opening line: DEN -3.5

Kickoff time: 8:30 p.m. EST

In a huge game for both teams' playoff aspirations, the Chiefs head to Denver in a battle to keep pace with the first-place Raiders. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. Denver is coming off a bye week and has struggled in its passing game of late. In his past five games, Trevor Siemian has completed just 56.3 percent of his passes with a 77.2 passer rating, though the team is 3-2 in that span.

The Chiefs have had one of the better pass defenses this season, allowing the seventh-lowest opponents' passer rating (83.9) and intercepting a league-best 13 passes. Denver gets the slight edge from Bing Predicts, though, thanks in large part to its defense. The Broncos have allowed 318 yards per game this season, fourth-lowest in the NFL.
The first of these, in Dubai, has started operations this week. The others, in Germany, Australia and Japan, will be functioning by the end of the week in an expansion seen as an attempt by Alibaba to compete with Amazon Web Services.

We want to establish cloud computing as the digital foundation for the new global economy using the opportunities of cloud computing to empower businesses of all sizes across all markets, said Simon Hu, president of Alibaba Cloud, the division of the group responsible for the expansion plans.

Alibaba says it will be the first major global public cloud services provider to offer cloud services from a local data centre in the Middle East. The Dubai data centre is being run in collaboration with Yvolv, a joint venture of Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings, a Dubai-based holding company.

Vodafone is Alibabas partner in Germany, and the project will co-locate the new data centre in the operators Frankfurt site. SoftBank and Alibaba are together setting up the SB Cloud Corporation, a joint venture, which will provide Japanese enterprises with competitive and enhanced public cloud computing services from Alibaba Cloud.SoftBank is a long-term partner of  and investor in  Alibaba.

The Australian data centre in Sydney appears to be an Alibaba-only project, as the group has not named a partner. A dedicated team will be based in Australia, and build up a cloud ecosystem with local technology partners to drive cloud and big-data business in the region, said the company.

Sicheng Yu, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Alibaba Cloud Global, said: The four new data centres will further expand Alibaba Clouds global ecosystem and footprint, allowing us to meet the increasing demand for secure and scalable cloud computing services from businesses and industries worldwide. Alibaba set up its first two data centres outside China in 2015, in California and Singapore.

According to Alibaba, its existing cloud network supported 175,000 transactions a second on 11 November, a day the group named the Global Shopping Festival.

The true potential of data-driven digital transformation will be seen through globalization and the opportunities brought by the new global economy will become a reality, said Yu.
Duterte made his remarks  described as a prepared speech, but not yet officially published by the presidents office  on his return on Wednesday from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru.

The Philippines acknowledges the significant role of more vibrant telecommunications and power industries to be able to participate in the global market with a competitive edge, he said.

If carried out, the move would threaten the dominant position of the two big players in the Philippines telecoms market, Globe Telecom and PLDT.

However, one unconfirmed report, in Update Philippines, said that Duterte partly retracted his remarks after the speech, saying he would withdraw the threat if prices were reduced.

I dont want to have a quarrel with the Ayalas and Pangilinan, Duterte said  a reference to the family that controls the Ayala corporation that owns Globe and to Manuel Pangilinan, the chairman of PLDT.

But in his earlier speech, widely reported in the Philippines media, he said: In the area of telecommunications, we are now finalizing our plans to open up the information and communications technology industry to new players in order to promote competitiveness and improve quality of service.

The only way to make this country move faster to benefit the poor is really to open up the communications, the airwaves and the entire energy sector.

Duterte, who was elected president in May, said his administration is looking at frameworks that would allow the entry of new players.

He warned before the APEC event that his government wanted to bring improvements in doing business through more efficient and responsive governance, massive investments in new infrastructure, a new focus on the rural development, and increased investments in human capital. He said: The Philippines is open for business.
Quoting sources close to the regime of president Bashar al-Assad, Al-Watan claims the Iranian companies want to build a mobile operator to compete directly with locally-owned SyriaTel and MTN, part of the MTN Group.

All fixed line communications in the country are provided by the state-owned operator Syrian Telecom Establishment (STE), which is set to take a stake worth around 20% in the proposed new mobile operation, according to the source. It will launch under a single brand name, although this has yet to be revealed.

Telecommunications in Syria had begun moving towards liberalisation prior to the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, with talk of setting up a third mobile provider rumoured since 2010.

In the mobile market, both SyriaTel and MTN own 20-year operating concessionswhich went live at the start of 2015.

Both networks operate in Syria under build, operate and transfer (BOT) arrangements, which stipulate that the operators must hand over the networks to the regulator at the end of the arrangement period.
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
To the editor:

My husband and I are in our fourth year of living full-time in our RV, exploring this gorgeous country of ours. We come from a small town in Western Massachusetts. This week, we drove to Winslow, Arizona to 'stand on the corner.' It was a fun experience and a great photo opportunity.

After our photos, we thought we would walk a bit around town to get a general feel for the area. As we strolled down Main Street a fellow on a bicycle asked if we were visitors. When we replied in the affirmative, he asked if we had been to the La Posada Hotel. He went on to tell us that the restoration was beautiful and that it was a wonderful place to sit on the back patio and watch the trains.

We were familiar with the work of Mary Colter from our visits to the Grand Canyon National Park so we wandered down to the hotel. What a gem! We spent a couple of hours exploring the paintings by Tina Mion (and I do not usually spend much time in art museums -- I was captivated by the emotions of her work.)

The reason for my letter is to let everyone know how important it is to be an ambassador for your hometown. If it wasn't for the gentleman on the bike and his casual remarks we could have missed out on an experience we will tell others about for years to come.

DEBRA SCHILLING
We Care Northern Arizona is a nonprofit composed of individuals and facilities that focus on suicide prevention and awareness and to spread awareness about the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Anyone in crisis or who knows someone in crisis, can call 800-273-8255 (TALK) and get immediate help. For more info log on to WeCareNAZ.org.

Any individual or business that like to particpate and/or donate can contact Clay McCauslin at Clay.McCauslin@kaff.com
The Flagstaff woman punched on camera by a Flagstaff Police Department officer who was trying to arrest her for warrants that were no longer valid this past week is no longer facing charges in that case.

But Coconino County Attorney David Rozema isnt commenting on whether or when he will refile the case.

And a report by a sheriffs deputy who assisted in the arrest has been filed but not yet released.

The Coconino County Attorneys Office had until this Monday night to file a formal complaint in Flagstaff Justice Court charging Marissa Morris, 30, with aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. As of Tuesday, Flagstaff Justice Court had received no such complaint.

That means Morris is no longer obligated to appear at any court hearings that had been scheduled in the case and will no longer be under the supervision of Coconino County Pretrial Services.

FPD Officer Jeff Bonar contends Morris kicked him and kneed him in the groin while he was attempting to take her into custody.

Morris has denied those accusations and said the punch by the officer was unprovoked. The video footage shows she also told Bonar several times that there were no valid warrants for her arrest.

And officials have not released the report by Sheriffs Deputy Joel Winchester, who is seen in the video standing next to Bonar as he throws the punch.

Morris spent a night in the Coconino County Detention Facility after Bonar arrested her outside a Christmas Tree Estates residence the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 16. Bonar and other officers from the police department and Coconino County Sheriffs Office were at the home on East Blizzard Way to make sure Morris and her boyfriend complied with an eviction notice.

48 HOURS TO FILE CHARGES

When a law enforcement agency arrests a suspect on a felony charge and puts them in jail, an initial hearing must be held in Flagstaff Justice Court within 24 hours. At that time, the judge will inform the defendant of the charges, inform him of his rights, appoint an attorney if appropriate and set release conditions. In Morris case, the judge ordered her to be released to the supervision of Pretrial Services Thursday, Nov. 17.

The criminal charges are considered informal at the initial appearance.

The County Attorneys Office then has 48 hours from the beginning of the business day after the initial appearance to file formal charges with the court. If no formal charges are filed in the 48-hour window, any release conditions set at the initial appearance are vacated. The deadline in Morris case was Monday night.

In many cases where law enforcement arrests someone on informal felony charges, the county attorney will return the police report to the law enforcement agency for additional investigation instead of filing formal charges within 48 hours of the initial appearance. The County Attorneys Office then has seven years to file formal charges in the case.

It is unclear, at this point, whether the county attorney intends to bring formal charges against Morris in the future. Rozema and his office did not respond to repeated requests for comment Tuesday and early Wednesday.

WARRANTS NOT VALID

According to Bonars police report, he attempted to arrest Morris because he believed there were warrants for her arrest. He eventually learned Morris warrants were no longer valid but still booked her into jail on informal charges of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

A few hours later, a cell phone video showing Bonar punching Morris in the face during the arrest after she repeatedly told him there was no longer a warrant for her arrest went viral on Facebook.

The kicks Bonar described in his report are not apparent in the cell phone video, which does not show the bottom halves of their bodies. There was no officer body camera video of the punch or the alleged kicks because Bonar had turned off his body camera just before he approached Morris and did not reactivate it until she was in handcuffs.

The video prompted Police Chief Kevin Treadway to place Bonar on paid administrative leave and launch an internal affairs investigation into both his use of force and his failure to use his body camera.

'VERY MINIMAL FORCE'

In his police report, Bonar said he struck Morris with his fist several times as distraction blows and said he used very minimal force.

Northern Arizona University Police Department has launched an independent criminal investigation into Bonars actions.

On Friday, two Phoenix-based civil rights activists held a press conference in Flagstaff categorizing the incident as police brutality and calling for the Arizona Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. Department of Justice to launch their own investigations.
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Hiking Owl Canyon in southeastern Utah, I reach a dry waterfall too steep to descend, forcing me to explore both sides of the canyon in search of a path down. I find a route that funnels me back into the canyon, which quickly becomes crowded with boulders, blocking my progress again.

Anxious to clear the obstacles, I nearly miss the ruins tucked into an alcove to my right. I climb a large rock and hop down about 10 feet, landing in front of the ruins.

Around 1,000 years old, the three masonry structures are well preserved. A circular building with a small entryway sits in front of two smaller buildings, one of which has a real-life corn cob on it, suggesting it was a granary.

The ruins are all the more remarkable for being unexpected, and they fill me with a sense of discovery. Cedar Mesa, public land supervised by the federal Bureau of Land Management, contains hundreds of similar sites that give visitors the opportunity to see the architectural remains of the Anasazi, ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians. Some people argue that this is the best way to learn about one of the countrys first civilizations, away from the crowds and interpretative displays found at museums or national parks.

Greater Cedar Mesa is an iconic area in North American archeology, according to the lead story in a 2014 edition of Archaeology Southwest Magazine dedicated to the region.

Unfortunately, largely unfettered access to the ruins has also allowed for vandalism and looting, which is why a coalition of five Indian tribes has asked President Barack Obama to turn 1.9 million acres into a national monument. The proposed Bears Ears National Monument, named after a pair of buttes in the area, would be between other federal land  Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Canyonlands National Park  and incorporate existing federal land, including Natural Bridges National Monument and Cedar Mesa.

Worried about mining proposals as well as vandalism and theft, the tribes say monument status will help save Americas most significant unprotected cultural landscape.

The proposal has ignited a virulent debate in Utah focusing on the conflict among the tribes, their supporters and some Utah politicians and residents who want to use some of the land for economic development.

Another question has received less attention: How would the area be protected as a monument? The answer has not come in any detail. While protection of the ruins and the areas tremendous natural beauty may sound like a great idea, some residents and Cedar Mesa enthusiasts worry about what the change would mean for access. The tribes say a management plan would be completed after the monument is designated.

I visited Cedar Mesa just two years ago but wanted to return before any changes are made. Seeing the ruins, the huge Goosenecks  a succession of curved canyons in the San Juan River  and the remarkable rock formations in the Valley of the Gods, I became convinced the area was worthy of protection. But at what cost?

Despite its location near three national parks  Zion, Bryce and Canyonlands  this swath of canyon country has never attracted huge crowds, creating less need for protection. It was in the last blank spot on the map until John Wesley Powell led his expeditions of the Colorado River in 1869 and 1871. While following Powells footsteps nearly a century later, author Wallace Stegner wrote that starting a trip there is to start off into empty space from the end of the world.

The rugged, arid land has deterred population growth, and only a few thousand people live in the towns on the edges of the proposed monument, with the exception of growing Moab on the far eastern end.

Still, interest in the area has increased. Some people, like me, were drawn to Cedar Mesa by a pair of books by best-selling adventure writer David Roberts, In Search of the Old Ones and The Lost World of the Old Ones. Roberts focuses heavily on Cedar Mesa in the books, advancing the idea of former BLM ranger Fred Blackburn that its an outdoor museum where people can understand how geography influenced life there. Blackburn believed that finding the ruins in their natural settings forged a strong connection to the past.

Websites and books have published the GPS coordinates of many of the best-known sites in Cedar Mesa, which has brought challenges such as more than a dozen serious looting cases reported between May 2014 and April 2015, according to the Bears Ears Coalition website.

But looting seems less of a problem than vandalism and other forms of destruction, if only because theres little left to steal. People have been taking pots, jewelry and other items from the ruins since white people found them in the late 1800s. Many of the treasures ended up in museums, while others have been sold on the black market.

On my recent trip, I was horrified to see graffiti scrawled all over the Sand Island petroglyphs, one of the most important rock art sites in the Southwest. On a long panel, pictures of Kokopelli, the humpbacked flute player, and animals stand next to modern markings such as John, 1963 and Custer died for your sins.

High interest in the Moon House ruin forced the BLM to restrict access to 20 people a day through a permit process, even though the site sits on a cliff in a remote and steep canyon. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell visited Moon House during a trip to meet with leaders about the Bears Ears proposal earlier this year.

What I have seen on this trip and especially here is this incredible treasure trove of cultural resources, she said, according to the Deseret News. Its beyond imagination. I am also shocked at the lack of protection for many of these assets.

The Bears Ears proposal calls for the monument to be run by the tribes and federal government. The Bears Ears Coalition website, which includes the proposal given to Obama, does not provide specifics, saying the collaborative management envisioned by this proposal will involve details that are too specific to be covered. The website says visitors will be able to continue to visit the ruins. Messages left with Bears Ears representatives for this story were not returned.

The Anasazi built small villages in the alcoves of canyon walls, now called cliff dwellings. Moon House is unique in Southwest archaeology because it has a masonry facade, behind which stand a number of rooms. Some of them are decorated with pictographs, such as the one with a partial moon giving the place its name. The enormous size and well-preserved condition of Moon House make it a national treasure. When I got my permit to see Moon House, a BLM ranger asked me not to enter the rooms, which he said contained electronic sensors to alert authorities.

Most ruins in Cedar Mesa have no protection whatsoever, except for small signs asking people not to enter the rooms. Visitors are allowed to enter one of the rooms, Perfect Kiva, a ruin in Cedar Mesas Bullet Canyon, where visitors can climb into the main building.

Even though I had GPS coordinates for the site and directions from a ranger, finding Perfect Kiva was no easy task, as is often the case when looking for ruins in Cedar Mesa. The search, however, heightens the reward when finding them.

A top challenge is the rugged terrain of steep canyons with primitive trails. The ruins are also often built in elevated, inconspicuous places, which might have been the intent of inhabitants trying to avoid detection. While most of the Ancestral Puebloans did not live in cliff dwellings, such settings became increasingly common and defense seems to be the only logical explanation for site placement, Stephen Plog writes in his book Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest.

Climbing down the ladder into Perfect Kiva, I noticed the hole and felt a little uneasy. Maybe I was breaching a spiritual code. I also wasnt used to having this kind of access to a ruin. I felt a sense of awe. The kiva can be entered because it was restored by the BLM in the 1970s.

Perfect Kiva is unusual in that it has its original roof. A short distance away sits another well-preserved site, Jailhouse Ruin, so named because of the pieces of wood placed over a window that mimic the bars of a cell. Jailhouse Ruin and Perfect Kiva are two of the best-known ruins in Cedar Mesa, and they have remained intact despite many visits. Theyre especially valuable cultural resources because they can be experienced up close, not from behind a fence.
Ms. Sarah Woolley is the Academic Group Leader at the School of Nursing & Midwifery (Midwifery and Community Based Care) within the Faculty of Health Sciences of Staffordshire University (UK).

Ms. Woolley visited India from 15th - 18th November as a part of British Council Nursing Mission.

During her visit to India, she visited various universities and nursing colleges in Chennai and Kochi, including Sri Ramachandra University (Chennai), SRM University (Chennai), Apollo Nursing College (Chennai), Omayal Achi School of Nursing (Chennai), Samaritan College of Nursing (Kochi), Medical Trust College of Nursing (Kochi), Amrita College of Nursing (Kochi) and Carmel College of Nursing (Kochi) to discuss possible collaborations.

CI: Kindly brief us about the School of Nursing and Midwifery under the Faculty of Health Sciences of Staffordshire University (UK).

Ms. Sarah: Staffordshire University hosts a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses within our School of Nursing and Midwifery. We deliver a BSc in Adult, Child, mental health Nursing and BSc and MSc in Midwifery. These highly popular programmes within our Faculty of Health Science are delivered at our Stafford and Shrewsbury Centres of Excellence in Healthcare educations which have recently undergone an extensive 5.5 million refurbishment.

Our programmes in undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery are three years in duration and include a minimum of 2,300 hours of theory based teaching and 2,300 hours of supported practice experience.

Our clinical placements are within acute hospitals, community care facilities General Practices, private organisations, hospices and industry and offer students an excellent opportunity to gain experience in healthcare in a variety of diverse settings.

CI: What inspired you to take up medication use in elderly and advanced clinical practice as your research topic?

Ms. Sarah: This topic has now changed. I am currently undertaking my professional doctorate and have chosen to explore the decision-making strategies of qualified nurses who are working as a nurse practitioners or advanced nurse practitioners within hospital environments and are utilising their independent/supplementary prescribing qualifications.

As an Independent/ Supplementary myself and the lead for Independent /Supplementary prescribing education within the University, I have a passion for ensuring that advanced practice education is of a high standard and that standards are maintained post qualification to ensure patient safety. I am interested to explore, therefore, how clinicians make decisions about prescribing interventions and what influences these decisions.

CI: What are the undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered at the School of Nursing and Midwifery?

Ms. Sarah: Within the School of Nursing and Midwifery we offer a number of post graduate programs- these include MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice , MSc in Public Health, and MSc in negotiated learning, the latter allows the student to tailor their study to meet the requirements of their clinical and academic needs.

We also offer a suite of continued professional development (CPD) modules which students can access to develop their knowledge and skill in specific aspects of health care, such as Diabetes, Tissue Viability, End of Life Care, and many more.

CI: Brief us regarding the international trends and practices in the field of nursing?

Ms. Sarah: Nursing is an popular choice of study internationally and many countries across the world offer education at either certificate level or undergraduate level as a minimum, although the curriculum content and learning outcomes differs depending on national legislation and professional requirements. Nursing is constantly developing as a profession with clinicians undertaking advanced practice in many areas of clinical practice.

CI: What is the purpose behind looking at tie ups with the nursing institutes in Chennai and Kochi? How will the nursing aspirants from India and UK benefit from these tie ups?

Ms. Sarah: Within Staffordshire University we collaborate successfully with a number of countries throughout the world in areas other than healthcare. We have seen little collaboration with healthcare providers and would welcome a change to this situation.

The purpose of this Nursing mission arranged by the British Council was to explore potential opportunities for development collaborative practice and collaborative research, along with scoping potential opportunities for providing higher education for qualified nurses working within India.

CI: How are the career prospects for those who tread the path of nursing? Please elaborate.

Ms. Sarah: Career prospects for Nursing are excellent with 95% of our graduates in employment or further education on qualification.

CI: Explain nursing as a course and a job from the point of view of UK and India?

Ms. Sarah: Our Staffordshire University Nursing programmes are 45 week in duration have 50% theory and 50% practice, and are focused on either, adult, child, or mental health nursing. This differs from Nursing in India where learning includes all aspects of care across the age spectrum including midwifery care. Midwifery is a separate profession in the UK.

Successful completion of a UK Nursing programme provides an internationally recognised qualification. Employment opportunities for UK graduates are varied and exciting and our graduates find employment within local NHS and independent sectors, whilst other choose to work abroad. Within India many graduates will choose to leave to work abroard with popular destinations including USA, Canada and UK.

CI: How fruitful has been your tour of collaborations in India.?

Ms. Sarah: The tour has been successful in scoping potential collaborations and has allowed the opportunity to understand the needs of Indian Nursing students and future education requirements.
Bangalore 23 November, 2016: The Anita Borg Institute (ABI), a non-profit organization focused on the advancement of women in computing and technology, will be organizing a Student Career Fair, at the largest technical conference for women in India, the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India (GHCI) 2016. The fair is only for women students from computing, IT and engineering backgrounds. The GHCI 2016 Student Career Fair will take place on 8 and 9 December, 2016 at Vivanta by Taj - Yeshwantpur, Bangalore. The Student Career Fair has a free entry.

At the Student Career Fair, young and bright women students from computing, IT and engineering backgrounds can directly interact with leading recruiters from global technology brands. Students can explore internships and full-time job opportunities and also network with peers from the world of technology. Click here to see the organizations that will be at the Student Career Fair during GHCI 2016.

To attend the career fair students need to complete the Student Career Fair registration form and submit their resume to the Resume Database: http://apps.anitaborg.org/~abi/prod/resumes/web/index.php/GHCI/site/login

"The Student Career Fair at GHCI 2016 has representation from leading technology companies from across the globe. The first few years of anyone's career are as important as any other stage. We encourage women students from technical backgrounds to come, be a part of the career fair and leverage this opportunity to start a rewarding and long-term career in technology," said Geetha Kannan, Managing Director, Anita Borg Institute India.

Even if students cannot attend the fair, they can leverage this opportunity by submitting their resume in the Resume Database . The organizations will directly get in touch with the candidates with suitable jobs.

For more information please visit: http://ghcindia.anitaborg.org/ghci-2016-student-career-fair/

About The Grace Hopper Celebration India (GHCI)

The Grace Hopper Celebration India (GHCI) is the largest gathering of women technologists in the country. ABI India has been successfully organizing this annual conference since 2010. GHCI focuses on the career, research and entrepreneur interests of women in computing and technology. Presenters at the conference are leaders in their respective fields from industry, academia and government. GHCI 2015 drew 2,258 attendees (41% growth over 2014) from 11 countries and had 450 volunteers.

The key highlights of the conference are various Tracks covering topics such as Technology, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Management, Back to Work, Early Career and more. Event participants can also look forward to the Hands on Lab, Student Career Fair, Poster Session and the Women Entrepreneur Quest.

About the Anita Borg Institute (ABI)

The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) connects, inspires and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, our reach extends to more than 67 countries. We believe technology innovation powers the global economy, and that women are crucial to building technology the world needs.

ABI is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization in the US and a non-profit organization registered as a section-8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013 in India. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.

Grace Hopper Celebration India 2016, Call for Submissions is Now Open
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) today opened a museum comprising rare details of examinations conducted to select the country's bureaucrats during pre-to-post independence period.

The museum was inaugurated by UPSC Chairperson Alka Sirohi at the Commission's office in New Delhi. Archival material like original pamphlets, documents, reports and other records are part of the collections.

The material on display, covers the period since the founding of the Commission in 1916 till 2015. Museum timing is from 10 am to 2 pm (Monday to Saturday).

This collection covers the interest of a wide cross section of people. The items would be displayed in the museum on a rotational basis. Currently 147 such articles have been displayed aesthetically, under one roof.

During the inauguration, Sirohi said that the museum showcases rare reports, files, photographs, pamphlets and maps. "I hope that this will be a unique opportunity for students of history and candidates appearing for the various examinations conducted by the Commission. The museum also shows the history, development and growth of administration in India," Sirohi said.

Prof David R Syiemlieh, Member, UPSC also said that he hoped the museum will inspire students and civil service aspirants and appreciate the history of this great institution.

The objects on display at present are pamphlets of the civil service of India, 1916 and 1918 examination, Indian Imperial Police Service Examination, 1926, Combined Competitive Examination 1938 and pamphlets of various other examinations.

It also has on display, books authored by bureaucrats, mementos received from different organisations and panels showing lists of the toppers of civil services examination, engineering services examination, Indian Forest Services examination, Indian Statistical Services examination, Geologist examination, and Combined Defence Services examination.

"In the Museum, state-of-art technology has been leveraged for displaying several documents of archival value digitally, through e-kiosks. Braille Panel has been fixed to facilitate the visits of visually impaired," a press release issued today by Personnel Ministry said.

Amaravathi Museum Education Centre Opens Culture Education Course
Sometimes its good to be reminded of just how good a car is by giving it go once more. In the case of the Mitsubishi Xpander, its the smal...
The Belfast Baking Company has invested 100k to fund a second bakery outlet in the Northern Irish capital.

The new bakery will be 800 sq ft and will officially launch after the Christmas/New Year break.

The company opened its first store last autumn with an investment of 350k  employing 30 members of staff at the Titanic Quarter.

It expects to take on eight new members of staff and has a five-year growth plan, which will see multiple units open over that period.

The new site is designed to operate as a patisserie/home bakery, whereas our flagship store at Titanic Quarter is the main unit with a 55-seater restaurant, co-owner Paul McDonald told British Baker.

The new store will allow us to offer some more traditional products to the local community while throwing some new products into the mix.

McDonald added that the new outlet would offer customers traditional artisan breads, patisseries and bespoke cakes to order, as well as take-out sandwiches and hot food options.

In April, The Belfast Baking Company created a 6ft cake model of the RMS Titanic to mark the 104th anniversary of its sinking.
International tech company Continental and the University of Oxford have joined forces in conducting research in the field of artificial intelligence.



Their partnership will focus on the possible uses of AI algorithms, which can potentially enhance future mobility applications by optimizing visual detection and human-machine dialogue moving forward.

Continental expects this partnership to give the areas of automated and autonomous driving a boost going forward, while also improving future vehicle access systems, accident minimization (via intelligent warning systems) as well as the sensitive dialogue that will take place in the future before a driver and his vehicle.

Our vision is a world in which the transportation of people and goods is fully automated and seamless, freeing up time and mental resources for other tasks, said Demetrio Aiello, head of Artificial Intelligence & Robotics at Continental. Continental will contribute its deep technological understanding and competence in the mobility world, while Oxford offers best-in-class algorithmic competence and an extremely innovative environment. With their help, we can transform our vision into reality; with our help, Oxford can see how their research is translated into new products and services for mobility of a future world.

Andrea Vedaldi, a principal investigator in the Visual Geometry Group stated that advances in artificial intelligence can revolutionize key areas such as transportation.

We believe that, due to the extensive presence of Continentals technology in the automotive sector, incorporating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence systems in their products has a significant transformative potential for this area.

PHOTO GALLERY
The writing is on the wall for the signature crosshair front grille that has adorned Ram pickup trucks for the last 35 years.



The Detroit News reports that, since the 2015 NAIAS, a number of new Ram products have been revealed, including the Rebel and Limited, with a new type of grille. According to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles itself, this has been part of an experiment to test the waters for a new face to Rams range of pickups.

Im watching this space very carefully. Its been an experiment, and its working. People have responded to it. We like it. But its something were consciously doing gradually, FCA head of global design Ralph Gilles said at the Los Angeles Auto Show. I love what the company has done by differentiating each brand  from the marketing to the materials  and its inspired us as designers to make sure we do that with cars themselves.

According to Ram boss Mike Manley, theres a possibility that the brand could offer the crosshair-styled grille alongside the new one, ensuring that it doesnt turn away supportive pickup customers: Youre already seeing progressive moves in terms of the grille. I would never say that something would ever completely move away from things because theres always opportunity, I think, when youve established two different styles of grilles to use them.

Based on recently leaked images of the next-generation Ram 1500, it seems that the company will indeed offer two different grille designs. In those images snatched from a dealer presentation (pictured below), the new 1500 pickup was pictured with an overhauled design, but still sporting a crosshair grille.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Four school districts in the Southern Interior will receive a combined $80,000 in funding for the Youth Work in Trades program to boost training for young people.

"By investing in high school trades programs in our region and throughout B.C., we are giving students a boost on their journey to a rewarding career," said MLA Linda Larson. "Providing our students with more choices and more information earlier in their school years helps pave their pathway to the workforce."

Youth Work in Trades, formerly Secondary School Apprenticeship (SSA), is a dual credit program that provides an opportunity for B.C. students in grades 10, 11 and 12 to begin their apprenticeship journey.

The funds support school districts in placing students with local employers to attain practical experience.

Students will earn a paycheque while gaining credit toward their high school diploma and the apprenticeship portion of their trades training.

Local school districts will receive the following funding:

SD 20 Kootenay-Columbia: $20,000

SD 53 Okanagan Similkameen: $20,000

SD 58 Nicola-Similkameen: $20,000

SD 67 Okanagan-Skaha: $20,000

These funding opportunities directly support the goals of B.C.'s Skills for Jobs Blueprint to realign training investments to better prepare the province's youth for a successful career in skilled trades.

The funding helps districts cover staffing costs to support and guide youth in securing jobs and employer sponsorship required to enter the trades apprenticeship system.

It will also help youth transition from technical training to work-based training, and build further awareness of opportunities in the skilled trades among youth, parents, educators and employers in their communities.
Photo: Castanet

It's been sitting vacant for more than a decade, after two proposed hotel projects fell apart.

Now, if all goes well at city hall, a piece of property across from Prospera Place, could become a 16-storey mixed use development.

Council approved the property at 1187 Sunset Drive for a 358-room hotel in 2002. When that fell through, a second development was approved in 2005 for a $150 million, 20-storey Westin Hotel.

The developers got as far as pre-loading the site with dirt before financing ran dry.

The dirt-covered property has become a haven for the homeless ever since.

That may be about to change.

North American Development Group has an offer pending on the property and a rezoning application in the hands of the city's planning department.

Jeff Hudson, with HM Commercial Group which is selling the property, said it's not unusual for a developer to test the waters at city hall before finalizing a purchase.

Plans presented to the city show two 16-storey towers on the north and south ends of the property as well as 36 townhouses along Ellis Street and on the northern edge.

Plans call for 151 rental units in the south tower and 132 for-sale units in the north tower. Units are a mix of micro, one and two-bedroom suites.

City planner Ryan Roycroft says plans are for the south rental tower to be constructed first.

Several commercial spaces are also shown at ground level including one for a possible restaurant.

The proposal has yet to come before council.

There's no word on the sale price, but the property was listed at $9.5 million.
Photo: Contributed

RCMP are investigating a fatal accident near Spences Bridge that shut down Highway 1 for several hours Tuesday.

Just before 3 p.m., RCMP from Lytton and Ashcroft as well as other emergency first responders, were dispatched to a two-vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Highway five kilometres southwest of Spences Bridge.

RCMP investigators are able to confirm that a northbound Ford pickup collided head on with a southbound commercial vehicle hauling a load of lumber. It is unknown at this time why the pickup crossed into the path of the commercial vehicle, said Sgt. Mike Pears.

The male driver, lone occupant of the pickup, died at the scene, while the driver of the commercial vehicle was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

As a result of the collision, a fire started in the commercial vehicle and spread to nearby hydro poles.

Weather and road conditions are not considered a factor in the collision.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact Cpl. Andrew West at 250-453-2216.
Photo: Contributed

TEDx Penticton returns to the city for a fourth year this weekend.

The event is themed 'The Young. The Wise. The Transitional.' It will take place Friday night at the Cleland Theatre.

Brian Hughes, the founder, will serve as co-curator along with Grant Mansiere, a 16-year-old Summerland Secondary School student.

"TED events are something of the sort that need to happen a little more often, so that people who are of the same mindset that want to question things can come together in a safe environment to do so," said Mansiere.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

Mansiere joined forces with Hughes after the latter did an interview saying he was looking for people to get involved.

Speakers, this year, will include Bob McDonald, host of CBC's Quirks and Quarks, who was lined up to speak by Mansiere.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity in which gravitational waves were predicted, McDonald will explain why these waves are important and how they were detected earlier this year.

Harry McWatters, a pioneer of the Canadian wine industry headed into his 40th grape growing season, is speaking on uncharted waters in the wine industry.

Looking to the future, McWatters will share what he sees ahead for wine, both local and global.

Other presenters are Dr. Dick Jones, who will demonstrate the importance of smell when wine is tasted and how even a favourite white wine can be lot better.

Jones has created an Okanagan invention that could revolutionize wine and beer making and enhance Pentictons reputation for innovation



Faith Steele, a 16-year-old poet from Summerland will present "Words Can Kill, They Have and They Will."

Steele is known for her passion to improve the mental well being of youth.

The event is at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $30 and are still available.

For more information on all the presenters, go here.
Photo: National Capital Commission

A report from iPolitics says restoration and repairs to the prime minister's residence at 24 Sussex Drive, including building a new annex with private quarters and a pool, could cost almost $38 million.

The online news site says documents provided mainly by development consultants Marshall & Murray Inc., and Ottawa-based KWC Architects, with numbers up to date as of last February, suggest renovations to the main building to replace the electrical system, install new exterior windows and doors and build a new sun room, among other things, are projected to cost $13.49 million.

The report says there is also a proposal to spend another $11.99 million to erect a new building on the site, replacing a pool house built for Pierre Trudeau in 1975.

It says the existing pool house would be demolished and replaced by new living quarters for the prime minister, leaving the existing residence to accommodate state and support functions.

The report does not detail all the costs involved.

The National Capital Commission, which is working on plans for the future of the 24 Sussex building, says no decisions have been made.

After his election last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to move into the decrepit mansion and, instead, set up his household at Rideau Cottage on the grounds of the Governor General's residence.

The 24 Sussex building, which was completed in 1868, was expropriated by the federal government in 1943. Seven years later, it was decided to use it as a home for the prime minister and Louis St. Laurent was the first to live there, starting in 1951.
A series of homeless encampments and illegal dumping sites in a popular greenspace near Mount Baldy has frustrated a group of Dilworth residents.

Judi Lebsack has been walking the trails along Mill Creek for decades. But recently, a number of camps have popped up bringing a mess to an area that already has challenges with illegal dumping.

The piles have been growing since October even though we have been talking to the city. From when we first started talking in October it was two piles, now it is three.

Lebsack is hoping the city will be able to get someone down to clean up the site before winter arrives. In the spring, Mill Creek floods its banks and could swallow the swaths of dumped clothing.

She says she has heard from the city that some of the impacted property is privately owned, leading to a back and forth between the city and the owners who Lebsack says are based in Alberta.

City spokesman Tom Wilson confirms they have received a trio of complaints, one in October and two in November, but notes that the city deals with hundreds of similar cases a year - many in the same area.

Meanwhile Lebsack says residents have been told by RCMP to avoid approaching the people living in the area, leading to anxiety for those who frequent the trails.

Everybody that goes onto these walking trails here in this area, its an idyllic place because its wilderness in your urban environment and we care about it and go in, if there is garbage we take it and pack it out.

I guess do private people have to come down here and take this into their own hands?

The City of Kelowna says they will be looking into the situation.
Photo: Contributed

Seven potential pot dispensary operators will make their case for opening up shop in Penticton at city council's next meeting.

The seven applicants have filed for temporary use permits, which would allow the stores to open up for a year, without the city having to create new bylaws to accommodate the stores before the federal government legalizes marijuana for recreational use.

Four of the applicants already ran pot shops in the city, with three of them currently in operation. Those include the Herbal Green Apothecary, which previously was run out of the Rush in and Finish Cafe; Okanagan Cannabinoid Therapy, formerly known as Starbudz; and Green Essence.

Avitas had previously been in operation, but has shut down until council hears its case in early December.

The three additions would all be downtown, with two on Main Street's 400 and 500 blocks and another on Westminster Avenue.

That would make six dispensaries in the downtown area alone, with one outlier, Avitas, farther south in Main Street's commercial area.

City planner Blake Laven said staff will recommend council approve all but one of the shops, but he noted two of them could be of issue to council.

One of those is the potential new shop on Westminster Avenue, which he said could be problematic in terms of density, with its proximity to Okanagan Canabinoid Therapy and the Herbal Green Apothecary.

Staff is still recommending in favour of the new shop, however, because council didn't previously provide any direction to staff to create rules around density.

"No other uses in the city do we separate out like that," Laven said. "Normally, you'd just let the market dictate through competition where these things are going to be and how close together and how many in a community our size."

The provincial government does have limitations on how far apart liquor store have to be, which he said could also come about from higher levels of governments for pot shops or dispensaries.

But with seven dispensaries in the city, that would put Penticton's per-capita density of shops at one per 4,800 people. Comparatively, that would be lower density than some other communities, including Vernon, which, at nine shops, sits at a density of one per 4,400 residents.

Vancouver  which put restrictions on proximity of pot shops to one another and to schools this year  is home to one dispensary per 3,400 residents, while Victoria, with 24 dispensaries, holds one per 3,300.

But the one staff won't be making any recommendation on is Avitas, which is within 200 metres of Carmi Elementary School. Laven said staff will be leaving it to council to decide.

The city will be providing residents and adjacent storeowners an opportunity to speak at the meeting to voice their support or concerns for the shops, which will be dealt with on a case-by-case-basis.

That meeting will be held on Dec. 5.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

The Penticton RCMP arrested one man in a possible stolen truck on Eastside Road on Wednesday.

Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says the suspect is well known to police, however a second person managed to escape after being identified.

The truck was uninsured and had Yukon plates. The driver also has a suspended license. Officers seized an undetermined amount of drugs.

Officers found two women in the area trying to pick the men up.

One female was released without charges while the second, a 43-year-old Summerland resident, was booked on charges of driving while prohibited and possession of a controlled substance.

Castanet will provide more details as they become available.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Lawren Harris painting "Mountain Forms" has set a new Canadian art record selling for $9.5 million at auction in Toronto.

Heffel Fine Art Auction House had estimated the 1926 oil canvas could fetch between $3 million and $5 million.

Last fall, "Mountain and Glacier" set a new high for a Harris painting when it sold for $4.6 million. The sale of the Harris piece has shattered the record set in 2002 when Paul Kane's 1845 oil canvas "Scene in the Northwest - Portrait" sold for just over $5 million, after including the buyer's premium.

Wednesday's sale of "Mountain Forms," which depicts Mount Ishbel in the Sawback Range in the Rocky Mountains, includes an 18 per cent buyer's premium.

The Harris painting was one of the works featured in an exhibit of the late landscape artist that was co-curated by American actor-comedian Steve Martin.

The exhibit was presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario earlier this year, as well as the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Six lanes 'needed now' New Westminster - 7:43 am
Photo: The Canadian Press

A not-for-profit think-tank founded by Liberals with close personal ties to Justin Trudeau is trying to insulate itself from the cash-for-access inferno that is scorching the federal government.

Canada 2020 recently introduced a new donor agreement that must be signed by any company or group that gives it money, making it clear that the donation won't buy access to the prime minister, his cabinet ministers or anyone else who attends the organization's events.

It has also recently implemented a new policy prohibiting active lobbyists from sitting on its board of directors.

Trudeau has attended at least three events organized by Canada 2020  two exclusive events with the prime minister during his first official visit to Washington last March and an "after party" last June at a swank Ottawa restaurant following the North American Leaders' Summit.

His cabinet ministers are also regular attendees and speakers at Canada 2020's policy conferences and related receptions.

The think-tank relies on contributions from companies, unions, trade associations, lobbying firms and others  what it calls "sustaining partners," including TD Bank, Manulife, Suncor, Enbridge, RioTinto, Telus and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, many of whom lobby the federal government  to finance its day-to-day operations. And it also relies on sponsors to help finance specific conferences and other events.

Canada 2020 spokesman Alex Paterson refused to disclose how much money such partners and sponsors pay and, as a not-for-profit organization, the think-tank is not obligated to make its financial statements public. But attendees at past events privately say a contribution can run to tens of thousands of dollars.

Paterson confirmed that donors are entitled to attend Canada 2020 events to which they've contributed  where they could easily wind up rubbing shoulders with cabinet ministers or even Trudeau himself. But he said the organization has taken steps to ensure donors understand what they're paying for.

"In accepting that (financial) support, our job is to be clear about what that does and does not entail," he said in an email exchange with The Canadian Press.

"We have recently introduced a strict donor agreement which makes clear the limits of partnership."
Photo: Twitter Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

The Saskatchewan economy has dominated debate in the Saskatchewan legislature for a second day.

Opposition critic Warren McCall said Wednesday the billion-dollar deficit is due to mismanagement by the Saskatchewan Party government.

He said the government has no plans to get finances back on track, noting the government of Premier Brad Wall is cutting education spending and job training at a time when there are 11,000 more people looking for work.

Economy Minister Jeremy Harrison countered that adult basic education has jumped 53 per cent and apprenticeship training funding has risen 76 per cent since 2007.

Wall said lower commodity prices have taken a toll but he opposes NDP-style tax hikes and program cuts.

Wall defended his record, saying tax cuts have reached $6 billion and there has been a $9 billion hike in infrastructure funding.

Wall said the province has added 150,000 more people since 2007 and the province has the second best job creation record in Canada.

The fiscal update released Tuesday by Finance Minister Kevin Doherty showed the deficit is far higher than the $434 million the government projected when it introduced the budget in June.
Photo: Getty Images

The Canadian Paediatric Society is urging the federal government to take steps to protect children and youth should it follow through on its plan to legalize recreational marijuana next year.

In a position statement released Thursday, the CPS is recommending there be an age restriction for the purchase of pot and that the ingredient in cannabis that causes people to get high be restricted in products sold to young people.

"We want to ensure that sales of cannabis products are prohibited to all youth under the legal age for buying tobacco and alcohol, so 18 or 19, depending on their location in Canada," said Dr. Christine Grant, an adolescent medicine specialist at McMaster University who co-authored the CPS position paper.

"And importantly, we want the government to strongly consider limiting the concentration of THC in cannabis that 18- to 25-year-olds can purchase legally."

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive component of marijuana.

"Young adults frequently experiment with marijuana," she said. "By aligning the legal age for cannabis use with that for other legally controlled substances, young adults will have access to a regulated product, with a known potency. They'll also be less likely to engage in high-risk illegal activities to access cannabis."

Grant said there are many risks for young people associated with the recreational use of marijuana, including deleterious effects on the developing brain.

"We know that our brains develop well into our 20s and also from science that cannabis has an effect both structurally and functionally on our brains and that when our brains are developing we're most vulnerable," Grant said Wednesday from Hamilton.

"So by limiting concentrations of THC up until 25, we're hoping we can mitigate some of the risks."
Dustin Godfrey

Castanet is introducing a new video segment: Mayor's Minute.

Mayor's Minute will feature an interview with Mayor Andrew Jakubeit on what's happening in city hall each week.

This week starts off with a look at the infrastructure deficit. The city has been engaging with both the public and the business community on how to resolve the issue.

Jakubeit also talks about the city's deal with Trio Marine Group for Skaha Lake Park. Following an announcement that removed the waterslide earlier this month, the city announced some new revisions on Monday.

Finally, a look at the new -2 C threshold for opening up the extreme weather shelter in Penticton.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Thousands of people were surrounded by tight security Thursday as they lined the streets for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Charlie Brown led the signature large inflatable balloons as the parade kicked off with the spraying of confetti and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Costumes characters mingled with revelries and crowds cheered as clowns on bicycles rode by carrying bundles of balloons.

Crowds, some as many as 10 deep, lined the parade route, which starts on Manhattan's Upper West Side and makes its way down to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street.

The Charlie Brown balloon was one of three new giant character inflatables in this year's parade, and joined returning favourites including Thomas the Tank Engine, Hello Kitty and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Among the celebrities expected to attend were Tony Bennett, Aloe Blacc, Sarah McLachlan and Olympic gold medallists Laurie Hernandez, Claressa Shields and Michelle Carter.

But attendees also saw some sombre sights, like the more than 80 sanitation trucks filled with sand placed at intersections and other places as barriers against any kind of attack. There was a heavy police presence, including bomb-sniffing dogs and officers in uniform with assault weapons and portable radiation detectors. Officers in plainclothes were among the crowds of people.

Authorities said there was no confirmation of any credible threat and urged spectators to come out for the parade.

One prominent person who wasn't in New York City is President-elect Donald Trump, who is spending the holiday at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Photo: The Canadian Press

UPDATE: 11:55 a.m.

A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes as the country's leaders raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the blaze.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifa's northern neighbourhoods, sending panicked residents fleeing from the area.

While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. In a rare move, Israel called up hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and was making use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by a slew of countries.

The Haifa blaze was the most serious in a series of fires that have erupted across the country in recent days. On a visit to the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said anyone implicated in setting the fires would be punished severely.

"It's a crime for all intents and purposes and in our opinion it is terror for all intents and purposes," he said. He said incitement to arson was also playing a role in spreading the fires.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity or motives of the suspected arsonists, but Israeli officials typically use the term "terror" to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity.

Israel has been on edge during more than a year of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, that have tapered off, but not halted, in recent months. Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for fueling those attacks.

Netanyahu's accusations could test already brittle relations between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, which has long suffered discrimination in Israel and says it has been slighted by rhetoric from Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the past.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 10 TV news that eight people had been arrested and that authorities had found "flammable materials and liquids poured in certain areas," a find that pointed to arson. He said arson was suspected in about half of the fires.

ORIGINAL: 7:40 a.m.

A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters.

Authorities speculated the blaze may have been set by politically-motivated arsonists.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifa's northern neighbourhoods. While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Police and firefighters were deployed throughout the city, as people loaded up supermarket carts with belongings and fled their homes. Some people connected hoses together from apartment buildings to help battle the fires, while residents held cloth over their faces.

Israeli's police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters that arsonists were suspected of setting some of the fires.

"It's safe to assume that whoever is setting the fires isn't doing it only out of pyromania," he said. "It's safe to assume that if it is arson it is politically-motivated."
Photo: The Canadian Press

UPDATE: 11:15 a.m.

Interior Health says residents in Kelowna and Kamloops will have an opportunity to give their opinion on the proposed safe injection sites  including Leon Avenue in Kelowna.

The health authority has created a supervised consumption webpage where feedback can be submitted until Dec. 15.

"Following the completion of this phase of engagement, a decision will be made on whether to apply to Health Canada for an exemption to operate supervised consumption services and, if so, at which locations," said a statement Thursday.

"The decision will be based on the outcome of engagement, a review of overdose data and operational considerations."

IH said proposed locations and service models were chosen based on a operational considerations, feedback from stakeholders, data on drug injection locations, and proximity to facilities where harm reduction and/or treatment services are already being provided.

UPDATE: 10:15 a.m.

Interior Health has released its proposed Kelowna location for a safe injection site.

The health authority suggests the supervised consumption site be located at 477 Leon Ave  a space owned by the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society.

It's also considering a mobile unit instead of a firm space, which moves between locations based on overdose and drug use info and feedback from those using the service.

In a statment released Thursday morning, IH stressed "no decisions have been made at this time."

"This next phase of engagement involves consulting with stakeholders about the proposed locations, including people who use drugs, community partners, and the public," said the statement.

No specific location is recommended for Kamloops, just a mobile unit.

ORIGINAL: 8:25 a.m.

In the midst of an unprecedented overdose crisis in B.C., Interior Health will release more information this morning on planned safe injection sites in Kelowna and Kamloops.

IH has been working with Health Canada to open supervised consumption sites in the cities.

A statement is expected this morning.

The B.C. Coroners Service said this month that there have been 622 fatal drug overdoses in the first 10 months of 2016  a 56.7 per cent jump from the same time period in 2015.

So far this year, 37 fatal overdoses have been recorded in Kelowna, with at least 20 attributed to fentanyl. Compare that to last year, when there were 20 fatal overdoses in the city, with six connected to fentanyl.

Earlier this year, IH chief medical health officer Dr. Trevor Corneil said the sites provide an entry point for drug users to get treatment services.

We believe they are a valuable harm-reduction tool to help reduce the risk for those living with substance abuse problems, said Corneil.
Photo: The Canadian Press

His cabinet beginning to take shape, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is offering a Thanksgiving prayer for unity after "a long and bruising" campaign season.

"Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," the incoming president said in a video message released on the eve of the national holiday. He continued, "It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve."

Trump, who was gathered with family on Thursday at his Palm Beach estate, was expected to pause for a day after a two-week scramble to shape his nascent administration from scratch.

He injected the first signs of diversity into his cabinet-to-be the day before, tapping South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. They are the first women selected for top-level administration posts. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants, so she also would be his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men.

The South Carolina governor has little foreign policy experience, yet Trump praised her as "a proven dealmaker." DeVos, like Trump, is new to government but has spent decades working to change America's system of public education.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on Wednesday said "an announcement is forthcoming" on his role, which would make him the first black choice  possibly as secretary of Housing and Urban Development  but he also suggested he'd be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone," Carson wrote on his Facebook page.

Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said Wednesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the adviser was not authorized to disclose internal deliberations. The 78-year-old Ross, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., which has specialized in buying failing companies.

Wednesday's picks came as Trump worked to distance himself from the "alt-right," a movement of white supremacists who continue to cheer his election. His first appointments included chief counsellor Steve Bannon, who previously led a website popular among the alt-right.

Trump on Thursday was with his family behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate. He's spending the Thanksgiving holiday there after a week of interviewing potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team.

"It's time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens, because when America is unified there is nothing beyond our reach," the president-elect said in his Thanksgiving message, which was posted on social media.
This fall it appeared that a Clinton win was a shoo-in. Our Prime Minister Trudeau jumped on the Democratic band wagon and made many a tongue in cheek comment about Donald Trump. In jest, and supposedly funny.

The polls were wrong and Trump is the President Elect.

Mr. Trudeau, if you ever had a real job you would have known that you never pull the lions tail because you may get bit in the a**. America is a huge trading partner of Canada, and as such, a mature political leader would have remained 100% neutral.

Lastly, many in the USA believe that Hilary Clinton lost the election because of the shady donations made to the Clinton Foundation. Now we have Justin Trudeau following the same path with the $1,000,000 donation to the Trudeau Foundation.

Nice work!

Kenneth Warren
Photo: BC gov't

Change is coming to Highway 97 in West Kelowna.

Among the changes announced Thursday by the province are a redesigned interchange at Highway 97 and Boucherie Road and a possible alternate route around West Kelowna.

"The public feedback expressed strong support for the ministry's conceptual layout to improve safety and traffic flow at the Boucherie Road intersection, and our next step will be to initiate preliminary design at that location," said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone.

Stone said the ministry has also started looking into an alternative route around West Kelowna.

"The City of West Kelowna's mayor and council have expressed a desire for an alternate route around the city and changes to Highway 97 through the Westbank Town Centre," Stone added.

There are also other planned safety improvements, including:

Installing about six kilometres of continuous lighting on Highway 97 from the William R. Bennett Bridge to Ross Road

Installing about four kilometres of median barrier on Highway 97 from Daimler Drive to Gossett Road

"As the economy and population of the Okanagan both continue to grow, infrastructure needs to keep pace," said Premier Christy Clark, MLA for Westside-Kelowna.
Archived Results for Thursday, November 24th, 2016

Older Page 1
Pakistan: cement industry export revenue falls in 4MFY16-17

ICR Newsroom By 24 November 2016

Pakistan cement manufacturers earned revenues of US$28.3m on 543,674t of cement exports in October 2016, compared to US$24.52m on 476,170t of exports in the previous month. These figures represent a MoM rise in dollar value and volumes of 15.42t and 14.18 per cent, respectively.



However, when compared with October 2015 (544,797t with a value of US$29.72m), volumes slipped by 4.78 per cent and the value was down by 0.2 per cent, according to the country's Federal Bureau of Statistics.



In the first four months of the 2016-17 financial year (July-October 2016), exports also saw a YoY contraction both in terms of value (-2.12 per cent) and volume (-10.07 per cent). Pakistani cement producers exported 2.03Mt of cement at a total value of US$105.6m in 4MFY16.17, compared with 2.074Mt in the equivalent period of the previous year.



A spokesman for All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that during the month of October 2016, exports to Afghanistan decreased from 0.252Mt in October 2015 to 0.193Mt in October 2016, showing a decline of 23.4 per cent. However, exports to India registered a healthy increase from 0.086Mt in October last year to 0.11Mt during the same month this year, representing an expansion of 27 per cent. Exports to India are mainly through Wahga border and southern coast of India.



APCMA also expressed concerns over falling exports to Afghanistan, which have declined in the first four months of this financial year by 11.74 per cent. The organisation said cement exports to India have registered an increase of 101.88 per cent during July-October 2016 period from a very low base, but looking forward continued tension between the two countries continues to cloud the outlook. The export to the rest of the world by sea also declined by over 12 per cent during this period.



Manufacturers have appealed to the government to take steps to boost the housing sector as currently the cement industry is mostly depending on infrastructure projects. They said that sustained growth in housing construction is essential to absorb the additional capacities that would be operational in two years.

Published under
Margaret H. Hamilton led the team that created the on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo command modules and lunar modules. A mathematician and computer scientist who started her own software company, Hamilton contributed to concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design and engineering.

We choose to go to the Moon! . We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.

Reference Links:

Behind every successful man is a woman, or perhaps many women.I have had this in my stack of things to research for quite a while. I use Pinterest to clip pictures and ideas that interest me for additional review later. When I saw this picture in preparation for a recent trip to the Space Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, I saved it to my space folder.As I have written about before, I have been fascinated with space since I was a 12 year old boy in 1957 when the Russian launched Sputnik. I followed the space race with avid curiosity and admiration. I have read numerous books about the people and the culture that existed in the early days of NASA before it became a bureaucracy. It is truly a lesson in accomplishment with a team effort.Early software was written in machine language or machine code. That is the long version of computer processing that is written in instruction set represented by numerical code. It was a quite long a labor intensive process that required absolute precision.In 1969, a young girl in a short skirt was one of the main programmers for the space effort. Her name was Margaret Hamilton. This picture of her standing next to the printed version of the code should give you an indication of the complexity of the space effort.This may be as close as she ever got to going into space but I will be willing to bet that she knew exactly what happened when one of those switches was flipped or a number entered into the keypad of that now antiquated capsule.Imagine my surprise when I was watching the awards of the Presidential Medal of Freedom yesterday to see her among the 21 people honored by President Obama. I won't quibble with any of the selections as they all represent a spectrum of American society. She is now eighty years old and deserves the respect and admiration of the American people no less than Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin who would most likely still be earth bound without her efforts.As is usually the case the behind the scenes personnel are the ones who make things work. That was true about going to space or feeding an infantry unit in the field. Without them, nothing will succeed or last for long. Most successful things in life are a team effort. We are now engaged in the short span of time between the past election and the start of the next election. We are watching the new president elect assemble his team. It will no doubt cause debate and disappointment from many including some of his most staunch supporters. One thing is for sure, he will not succeed without the support of the people in the background who the actually make the country function.Our experience with the space exploration is an example of what people can accomplish with a common goal and a dedication to accomplishing the goal. There were many back in the 1960's who wondered why we were spending so much money to get to the moon when there was so much work needed here on earth. Perhaps they had a point but the leadership of JFK carried the day when he said:
With the 2022 midterms just around the corner, Democrat lawmakers have formed the "United States House Select Committee to Investigate Who Did All Those Lockdowns and Vaccine Mandates" in hopes of finding out just who was behind all of those school closures, mask mandates, arrests
WASHINGTON, NC Residents of the Cypress Landing neighborhood held a reception on November 7 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Cypress Landing Scholarship endowment through the Beaufort County Community College Foundation. The reception included representatives from BCCC's administration, scholarship recipients, BCCC ambassadors and Cypress Landing residents.Eight students have been awarded Cypress Landing Scholarships since inception of the endowment. The goal of the current fundraising drive, which began with the recent reception and concurrent solicitations from residents, is to increase the endowment to approximately $50,000 to celebrate BCCC's 50th anniversary in 2017. Endowments are invested by the foundation and the interest they produce is used to fund scholarships to eligible students. This will allow the foundation to award additional scholarships each semester.Dennis Pelletier, a board member for the BCCC Foundation and a resident of the Cypress Landing neighborhood, wrote,Homeowners in the neighborhood joined forces in 2007 to create this first-of-its-kind endowment at BCCC. Helen Sommerkamp-Inman and Chris Harris lead the effort to organize the campaign and within a few months, this small community of 500 homes met a big goal of $10,000. The scholarship is awarded to a BCCC student residing in Beaufort County and who demonstrates need.The endowment is one of many managed by the BCCC Foundation to provide financial support to students attending the community college. For information about setting up an endowment on behalf of your neighborhood, church or civic organization, contact Serena Sullivan at 252-940-6326 or serena.sullivan@beaufortccc.edu.
Some of the shine has worn off the glow of the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, according to a number of former police officers. The announcement on Tuesday that he doesn't intend to have his Attorney General appoint a special prosecutor to investigate - and prosecute - Hillary Clinton over her email shenanigans and the suspicious activities surrounding the pseudo-charity known as the Clinton Foundation has triggered an outcry.Trump's former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Tuesday that a President Trump administration won't initiate investigations of Hillary Clinton regarding her private email server. She also said there would be no investigation of the Clinton Foundation, which was one of his key campaign promises.Conway said during MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show with Joe Scarborough.The news surprised many of Trump's supporters who believe the Clintons were being treated differently than other Americans by the criminal justice system.said former police detective and U.S. Marine, Sid Franes.said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy.noted the retired federal prosecutor who investigated and tried the case of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center in 1994, killing six and injuring over 100 workers.Mrs. Clinton appears overall to have turned the office of secretary of state - a vital function - into a racketeering enterprise. This would be a violation of the RICO law - the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1971 (codified in the U.S. penal code at sections 1961 et seq.).Earlier in Hillary Clinton's march to the White House's Oval Officer, another former Department of Justice prosecutor, now heading a public-interest watchdog group, filed a RICO-related civil lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and their lucrative family foundation. The lawsuit filed on March 24 before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleges that the Clintons and their foundation committed criminal violations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).The attorney, Larry Klayman, reported that the RICO lawsuit accuses the Clintons of engaging in a criminal enterprise during the last 10 years with the goal of enriching themselves personally. Klayman and his organization Freedom Watch alleges that the Clintons - through mail and wire fraud, and various fraudulent statements - misappropriated government documents to which Klayman and Freedom Watch were lawfully entitled to receive and possess under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Specifically, the documents sought involve allegations that Hillary Clinton released Israeli war and cyber-warfare plans and practices.Klayman's complaint accuses then Secretary Hillary Clinton of being behind the release of documents to a reporter in order to thwart Israel's secret military plans to preemptively attack Iranian nuclear sites to stop the Islamic nation's march to producing atomic weapons.Another Klayman/Freedom Watch FOIA request was submitted for Mrs. Clinton's and her underling's records linked in any way to the "granting of waivers for persons, companies, countries and other interests to do business with Iran. In essence, they allegation is that Hillary Clinton knowingly undermined U.S. economic sanctions on the terrorist-sponsoring, nuclear-weapons-seeking nation of Iran.Klayman alleges that these acts are the result of the Clintons and their foundationIt's also alleged that the Clintons were paid exorbitant speaking fees and money was transferred to them by other means.Klayman maintains that the current EmailGate scandal was basically a part of the scheme to cover up evidence of these and other related crimes by hiding emails that would incriminate the Clintons and their foundation.said the former DOJ attorney.
Robin Earles is an observer.

The newest resident artist at the Yellowstone Art Museums Visible Vault, Earles will have 12 months of observing and being the observed.

Im here to dialogue with people. The work Im doing now is about this place and my experiences here, she said.

Don't be shy when you visit, ask questions or just stop to watch her work. Check on Earles' work schedule at www.artmuseum.org or by calling the museum at 256-6804..

The spacious artist studio dwarfs Earles' compact figure and her small painting studies, but shes got plenty of big ideas.

During an hourlong interview, Earles roughed in four different paintings of me, one using multiple lines to show how much I move my hands when I talk.

Wow, you move around a lot, she said.

Earles and her husband Steve Kuennen founded the Buffalo Art Press and Studio in downtown Billings and operated it for several years. The business was well-respected and the art classes Earles taught were popular. But over the summer, Earles and Kuennen decided to close the downtown business and move their studio to their home.

Earles and Kuennen met in graduate school at California State University at Long Beach. Everybody called him "Cowboy Steve," so that's what she called him.

Kuennen eventually lured Earles to Montana to run a mowing business together so they could mow all morning and paint in the afternoon.

"I loved the mowing, but we ended up mowing all day and ran out of time to paint," she said.

After finishing her MFA, Earles moved permanently to Montana to be with "Cowboy Steve."

Earles said getting away from operating a business and back to the core of her art has both liberated and challenged her. She moved into the Visible Vault in mid-October and will be there until October 2017.

Most of what Ive been doing is studies. Im exploring how I think about this space, Earles aid.

Earles is painting on small wooden boxes, building up layers of acrylic paint to give each piece depth and perspective. The process also gives Earles a chance to more closely examine her subjects to decide how she can showcase them best. Sometimes that means lines etched into paint and other times it becomes blocks of color with shapes painted on top.

Earles has taken trips out to the Heights Gainans and Wal-Mart to make 5-minute sketches. At Gainans she drew sketches and then turned them into a painting of rows of young poinsettias, still bright green, creating a sharp contrast to the industrial look of the greenhouse. At Wal-Mart, she tried to be more discreet.

I would put the sketchbook behind the toilet paper in the cart and draw as fast as I could, Earles said.

Taking a photo and then returning to the studio to draw from it doesnt work because she said she has to be in the moment.

I am fascinated with how my eye moves and how I get the viewer in turn to follow the line of the shape.

Stop in, chat, observe Earles at work. Then stop back later this year to see if you wind up in one of her paintings. I know I'll be back.
More than 2,100 participants came out Thursday morning for the Sixth Annual Run! Turkey! Run!, a fundraiser for Billings nonprofit groups that provide food in the community.

"It is really becoming a family tradition," said Cris Hernandez, race co-chair.

The warm weather encouraged more race day sign ups, delaying the start of the race by about five minutes, said Cathy Cullen, race co-chair. The event consists of a 5K race as well as a mile dash.

"We want to make some extra time for all these people who came out," Cullen said. Signups increased by more than 100 over 2015's event.

The cost of same-day registration was about $50, with the majority of the proceeds donated to the Meals on Wheels, Family Service Inc. and the Billings Backpack Meals Program. The race raised more than $125,000 last year and each race averages about $20,000 in donations.

"We want to give to the people who work to feed Billings all year round," Cullen said.

She encouraged people to come out and run to make room for more turkey later in the day.

"It's sort of a 'rah-rah-rah' to Billings for stepping up and coming out," Hernandez said.

Many families have made the race a family tradition. Cynthia Brewer and her two daughters, 9-year-old Ava Arbogast and 7-year-old Nora Arbogast have done the race for almost six years, with Nora having a more supervisory role when the race began. Joining the family this year was Chinese exchange student Yiyi Sha, 16, who sported a turkey headband. Her first Thanksgiving, Sha said it was too early to have decided whether she liked the holiday.

Ava and Nora's friend Keatin Hertz, 11, also joined the family for the race. A runner during the school year, Hertz said he was excited for the chance to run.

The family wanted to spend the morning outdoors, Brewer said.

Gordon Jackson and Marian Scofield, along with their 20-year-old son Parker Jackson, came out to the race because Scofield collects the souvenir glasses.

"We've got six between us," Scofield said.

"Almost a complete set!" Gordon Jackson said.

The couple's son, Parker Jackson was a new father to a 2-week-old boy, and said he'd be spending the rest of the day changing diapers. While his parents joked about collecting cups, Parker Jackson said he and his father have been running more together. The duo completed the Color Me Rad race this year.

Gordon Jackson planned to spend the rest of the holiday eating, but Scofield was already planning her discount shopping for Thursday night. Scofield was hoping to get herself a new sewing machine.

While animals are not allowed to participate, 14-year-old Alex Mayer brought along his family's cat, Zamboni, who perched on Mayer's shoulders before the race. Mayer was there to cheer on his parents, Taylor and Christian Mayer, along with his older sister and brother-in-law Hilary and Levi Hunt.

There are nine Thanksgiving runs in Montana, the oldest in Helena, which celebrated its 35 year this Thanksgiving. The majority of races donate funds to help feed the hungry in local communities.
With nearly 50 years of combined experience at the job, Bonnie Herminghaus and Kay Latta's weekly volunteer sessions at St. Vincent Healthcare have become much more than a hobby for the duo, each 95.

"It's been like a second home," Latta said.

Each has volunteered in a number roles in their time at the hospital  Herminghaus began there in 1986, while Latta has been consistently volunteering since the 1990s after occasional stints throughout the decades before  and have spent the last 15 years or so helping out in the chapel.

It's a fitting place for the women, who've attended the same church together for years and have become close friends while taking joy in helping out when and where they can.

They each put in about 10 hours a week, helping with setup and hospital-wide mass broadcasts in the chapel and spending time with staff and chapel visitors alike.

"They bring love," said Linda Adams, St. Vincent's director of volunteer and guest services. "That's the first thing that comes to mind whenever I see them. They bring grace and kindness. They amaze me."

Herminghaus has been involved with St. Vincent, or its founding organization Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, in one way or another for most of her life. She attended the Catholic school set up by the sisters in Billings and later attended a nursing school through the hospital in the years leading up to World War II.

A retired registered nurse, she said it just made sense to get involved at the hospital, especially with her family living outside of Billings.

"I love what I do," she said. "I always want to be a doting grandmother, and none of my children or grandchildren live here, so this lets me do that more. This is just home."

For Latta, the volunteer work started in the 1960s when she was a cosmetics saleswoman and a customer recommended she give it a try at St. Vincent. She did just that and continued giving her time on and off until her retirement from a job at Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University Billings, in the late 1980s.

Both women said that having sisters from SCL, as well as priests from the Catholic church, around when they first began to volunteer played a key role in developing their attitude and approach toward the effort.

"It helps to keep us busy," Herminghaus said. "I always loved working with the sisters, and they were all here then. And now, the chaplains and the spiritual office are wonderful. They've been so great."

Both are now associate sisters through SCL.

Along the way, they've become close friends. They attend regular physical rehabilitation classes for seniors at the hospital, occasionally help each other get around town and break out into joking, friendly banter about who's the youngest.

Latta said they've also gotten to know the staff and other volunteers at the hospital while being able to help people visiting through tough times. She recalled recently having friendly chats with one young woman who visited the chapel for several days, and likened it to the way staff treated her during a recent trip to the emergency department for a minor medical issue.

She also noted that it's important to try to help people at the hospital in what are often trying times.

"It's nice to be able to go up and ask what you can do for them, and pray for them," Latta said. "It's a privilege."

Both women said it also gives them something to look forward to many days, getting them up and ready to go on mornings they'd otherwise spend around the house.

Adams said volunteers like Herminghaus and Latta serve in every area of St. Vincent and "provide that extra dimension of care and service to our patients and staff."

"You are just so endearing to everyone you serve here," she told the women on Tuesday.

The feeling is mutual.

"We're grateful to have an opportunity to be in a place with so much love," Herminghaus said.
WASHINGTON  At this shank end of a shabby year, Americans still can be thankful: They do not have the problem of nothing to grumble about. As we steel ourselves for Thanksgiving's obligatory routs and revels  does anyone really like turkey? or Uncle Ralph, who keeps turning up, like a bad penny?  Americans are cudgeling their brains for reasons to feel gratitude. So, herewith a call for everyone to temper gloom with lucidity. Things could be worse. And they often have been while Americans nevertheless were giving thanks.

In her new book "Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience," Melanie Kirkpatrick traces the evolution of this celebration from the Pilgrims' 1621 feast with members of the Wampanoag tribe. Congress urged George Washington to "recommend" to the people a day of thanksgiving, which he did. Thomas Jefferson, however, did not feel "authorized" to promote this "intermeddling" of government with religious observance.

On Oct. 3, 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed that henceforth the last Thursday in November would be an official national holiday. He did so to thank God  and His instrument, the Union army  for the nation's improving fortunes of war. And specifically for the victory at Gettysburg, where 47 days later Lincoln gave a short speech dedicating a cemetery. Thankfulness did not seem, and was not, inappropriate even in a context of American deaths in hitherto unimaginable numbers. Exactly 100 years later (53 years ago) Thanksgiving fell six days after the murder of a president.

In 1939, the New Deal having failed to banish the Depression (unemployment was 17.2 percent) Franklin Roosevelt unlimbered the heavy artillery, the plucky American shopper. Happy days would be here again because FDR was moving Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the third. In 1933, his first year in office, November had five Thursdays and Thanksgiving was on the 30th, and in 1939 it was again set to land on that day, to the horror of the nation's biggest retailers, who coveted more post-Thanksgiving shopping days.

But a Brooklyn haberdasher wanted the later date: "If the large department stores are overcrowded during the shorter shopping period before Christmas, the overflow will come, naturally, to the neighborhood store."

Generally, the nationwide reaction was, Kirkpatrick writes, "swift and vociferous." The pastor at the Church of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth, Massachusetts, lamented that "the sacred has given way to the secular forces of life." Alf Landon, the losing Republican candidate against FDR in 1936, said the president has announced this change "to an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler." Twenty-two of the 48 states adopted what Republicans cheekily called Franksgiving on Nov. 23, another 23 stayed with Nov. 30, and three states celebrated both days.

Like much of the rest of the New Deal, moving Thanksgiving earlier failed to be an economic blessing. Nineteen days after Pearl Harbor, FDR signed a joint congressional resolution making the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving.
People do stupid things with money. Its a fact of life. Between sending money to a Nigerian Prince and paying extra for a metal Starbucks gift card, sometimes you have to wonder if there is any hope for responsible spending. A new observation with legal marijuana in one particular state isnt encouraging either.

Like a teenager getting into their parents liquor cabinet for the first time, tourists are not gracefully handling their newfound marijuana freedom. People visiting Colorado, one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana and enjoy a boon in tax revenue, are increasingly paying a visit to the emergency room, according to recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The number of tourists with marijuana-related medical problems ending up in the ER of the University of Colorado Hospital doubled from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014.

Though marijuana critics may be quick to use this study as evidence that marijuana is harming society, it appears to be a case of overzealous consumers not doing their due diligence. The rate of ER visits due to related cannabis use among Colorado residents was almost unchanged during the same period, only increasing from 106 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 112 per 10,000 visits in 2014. Unlike ill-informed tourists, Colorado residents are no stranger to Mary Jane. Voters approved the legalization of medical marijuana in 2000, and retail marijuana in 2012.

People in Colorado are becoming more experienced with use of these products, explains study co-author Dr. Andrew Monte, to MedlinePlus. Sometimes visitors to the state, its more difficult to get the educational information in their hands. They may be less experienced with the particular products in the state. They havent been exposed to the deluge of public health messaging. Monte notes tourists most often wind up in the ER because marijuana has exacerbated existing medical conditions. Overindulging in edible pot products also accounts for a fair number of ER visits.

How much can naivety and no self control cost you? Its not cheap, especially considering the savings crisis in America. The average trip to the ER costs $1,200, nearly one and a half times the average monthly rent in the United States. Furthermore, a quarter of Americans have more medical debt than savings. Two in three Americans cant even afford a $500 emergency. An expensive trip to the ER due to irresponsible pot use is the last thing our wallets need. Like with any consumer decision, you need to make sure you educate yourself ahead of time.

If youre willing to spend money traveling to beautiful Colorado and indulge in the states flourishing marijuana industry, why not do a little research to better prepare for the experience? Similar to making other purchases, doing your homework before spending money can help you make better financial choices. Perhaps youll discover that 10 milligrams of THC is the recommended serving size, and you should start slow by waiting at least 45 minutes to two hours after you take it so you can see how marijuana affects your body. Overindulging may feel like fun in the beginning, but the painful side effects will be felt in your bank account.

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Images produced from computer simulations show the response of a graphene surface as a silicon tip slides over it. Relative forces of atomic friction on the surface are shown by colors: Red points are pushing sites that help propel the tip along the surface, while blue points are pinning sites of greater friction that inhibit the tips motion.

Graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon in sheets just one atom in thick, has been the subject of widespread research, in large part because of its unique combination of strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical stability. But despite many years of study, some of graphenes fundamental properties are still not well-understood, including the way it behaves when something slides along its surface.

Now, using powerful computer simulations, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have made significant strides in understanding that process, including why the friction varies as the object sliding on it moves forward, instead of remaining constant as it does with most other known materials.

The findings are presented by Ju Li, professor of nuclear science and engineering and of materials science and engineering at MIT, and seven others at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and universities in China and Germany.

Graphite, a bulk material composed of many layers of graphene, is a well-known solid lubricant. (In other words, like oil, it can be added in between contacting materials to reduce friction.) Recent research suggests that even one or a few layers of graphene can also provide effective lubrication. This may be used in small-scale thermal and electrical contacts and other nanoscale devices. In such cases, an understanding of the friction between two pieces of graphene, or between graphene and another material, is important for maintaining a good electrical, thermal, and mechanical connection. Researchers had previously found that while one layer of graphene on a surface reduces friction, having a few more was even better. However, the reason for this was not well-explained before, Li says.

There is this broad notion in tribology that friction depends on the true contact area, Li says  that is, the area where two materials are really in contact, down to the atomic level. The true contact area is often substantially smaller than it would otherwise appear to be if observed at larger size scales. Determining the true contact area is important for understanding not only the degree of friction between the pieces, but also other characteristics such as the electrical conduction or heat transfer.

For example, explains co-author Robert Carpick of the University of Pennsylvania, When two parts in a machine make contact, like two teeth of steel gears, the actual amount of steel in contact is much smaller than it appears, because the gear teeth are rough, and contact only occurs at the topmost protruding points on the surfaces. If the surfaces were polished to be flatter so that twice as much area was in contact, the friction would then be twice as high. In other words, the friction force doubles if the true area of direct contact doubles.

But it turns out that the situation is even more complex than scientists had thought. Li and his colleagues found that there are also other aspects of the contact that influence how friction force gets transferred across it. We call this the quality of contact, as opposed to the quantity of contact measured by the true contact area, Li explains.

Experimental observations had shown that when a nanoscale object slides along a single layer of graphene, the friction force actually increases at first, before eventually leveling off. This effect lessens and the leveled-off friction force decreases when sliding on more and more graphene sheets. This phenomenon was also seen in other layered materials including molybdenum disulfide. Previous attempts to explain this variation in friction, not seen in anything other than these two-dimensional materials, had fallen short.

To determine the quality of contact, it is necessary to know the exact position of each atom on each of the two surfaces. The quality of contact depends on how well-aligned the atomic configurations are in the two surfaces in contact, and on the synchrony of these alignments. According to the computer simulations, these factors turned out to be more important than the traditional measure in explaining the materials frictional behavior, according to Li.

You cannot explain the increase in friction as the material begins to slide by just the contact area, Li says. Most of the change in friction is actually due to change in the quality of contact, not the true contact area. The researchers found that the act of sliding causes graphene atoms to make better contact with the object sliding along it; this increase in the quality of contact leads to the increase in friction as sliding proceeds and eventually levels off. The effect is strong for a single layer of graphene because the graphene is so flexible that the atoms can move to locations of better contact with the tip.

A number of factors can affect the quality of contact, including rigidity of the surfaces, slight curvatures, and gas molecules that get in between the two solid layers, Li says. But by understanding the way the process works, engineers can now take specific steps to alter that frictional behavior to match a particular intended use of the material. For example, prewrinkling of the graphene material can give it more flexibility and improve the quality of contact. We can use that to vary the friction by a factor of three, while the true contact area barely changes, he says.

In other words, its not just the material itself that determines how it slides, but also its boundary condition  including whether it is loose and wrinkled or flat and stretched tight, he says. And these principles apply not just to graphene but also to other two-dimensional materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, boron nitride, or other single-atom or single-molecule-thick materials.

Potentially, a moving mechanical contact could be used as a way to make very good power switches in small electronic devices, Li says. But that is still some ways off; while graphene is a promising material being widely studied, were still waiting to see graphene electronics and 2-D electronics take off. Its an emerging field.

Researchers have studied the unique frictional behavior of graphene for many years, but the complex mechanisms underlying these observations are still not fully understood, says Ashlie Martini, an associate professor of engineering at the University of California at Merced, who was not involved in this work. This paper tackles the challenge head on and provides new insights into the origins of friction on graphene that I anticipate will be applicable to two-dimensional materials in general.

Martini adds: The authors of the paper correctly suggest that their work could be used as a foundation for tuning friction on graphene. Actually implementing this tuning has the potential for significant impact, and an exciting next step based on this research would be to implement the proposed tuning as a first step toward controllable friction in scientific and engineering applications.

Besides Li and Carpick, the research team included former MIT and University of Pennsylvania visiting student Suzhi Li, now a Humboldt Research Fellow in Germany; Qunyang Li at Tsinghua University in China; Xin Liu at the University of Pennsylvania and now at Intel; Peter Gumbsch at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany; and Xiangdong Ding and Jun Sun at Xian Jiaotong University in China.
The Billings Gazette invites nonprofit and helping agencies in our region to send letters of thanks to be printed on Christmas Day.

As in years past, we will print brief letters that graciously thank the community, all volunteers or all donors. We cannot print letters that thank a list of specific donors or supporters. Please thank everybody and remind readers of the work your organization is able to do with that support. Organizations that serve people in central or eastern Montana or northern Wyoming are encouraged to write.

Letters may be submitted by a representative or leader of the organization and should conform to the usual letter guidelines: Not more than 250 words, include the author's first and last names, address and a daytime phone number for verification. The author's name and city will be printed with the letter.

Letters of thanks must be received no later than Dec. 16 to be published on Christmas Day. They may be emailed to speakup@billingsgazette.com, faxed to 406-657-1208, mailed to Pat Bellinghausen, Billings Gazette, P.O. Box 36300, Billings, MT 59107 or dropped off at the Gazette, 401 N. Broadway. For emailed letters, please type "Christmas thanks" in the subject line.
Anthony Kern tends bar at Blackbird on Nov. 10, 2016. One Off Hospitality, which owns the restaurant, is moving forward with major changes in its pay rules despite a court ruling that puts new Labor Department overtime standards on hold. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Employers that have been preparing for months to comply with a major change to overtime regulations  raising salaries, implementing time-tracking tools, restructuring promotion ladders  find themselves in an awkward limbo after a federal judge on Tuesday blocked the change a week before it was to take effect.

"I feel like a student who studied every day only to see the test canceled at the last minute," said Michael Santoro, president of Walker Sands, a Chicago-based public relations and digital marketing firm.

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The rule is delayed while a Texas federal judge considers whether to overturn a signature initiative of the Obama administration meant to put more money in middle-class pockets and prevent employers from overworking employees for free.

Under the Labor Department's new overtime rule, finalized in May and scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, employers wouldn't be able to exempt workers who earn less than about $47,500 a year from overtime pay, a big change from the $23,660 threshold that has been in effect since 2004. That would make an estimated 4.2 million salaried U.S. employees newly eligible to get time-and-half for hours worked beyond 40 a week. The threshold would readjust every three years to reflect changes in average wages.

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On Tuesday, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction to block the rule's implementation until he decides whether the rule is unlawful. The injunction is a victory for the 21 states that sued the Labor Department arguing the rule is unconstitutional and, because it also applies to government workers, could deplete state budgets. No timeline was given for the judge's final decision.

The Labor Department under President-elect Donald Trump could rescind the overtime rule  no congressional approval is required  but that wouldn't happen immediately because the agency would have to go through a rule-making process and public comment period that could take a long time.

All of this might not matter to frustrated employers that already have made changes, as taking back an employee's raise is no good for morale.

"It's kind of hard to unring a bell," said Antonio Caldarone, a partner at Laner Muchin who represents management in wage and hour litigation. "I don't see (employers) rolling it back or even delaying it."

Walker Sands had started operating as though the new rule was in effect on Sept. 1, to ensure it was prepared, Santoro said. About a third of his 80 employees are affected by the new rule, most of them entry-level salaried public relations professionals who start at $38,000.

Blackbird General Manager David Barriball, center, helps servers bring food to lunch patrons on Nov. 10, 2016, at the Chicago restaurant. One Off Hospitality, which owns the restaurant, is making changes that were instigated by a new Labor Department rule that has been put on hold. Some hourly workers may have their wages raised while other workers may move from salaried to hourly positions. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

"When (the rule) was announced, it was a huge deal, it was like the apocalypse happened," Santoro said.

As the company reviewed its employees' hours it realized the impact wouldn't be as severe as feared, because they weren't working too much overtime on a regular basis.

Still, he took pains to comply, upgrading the time-tracking system so that managers got daily input on how many hours employees were working, instead of weekly as it had before. It allowed them to more easily offset long Mondays with short Fridays to keep people to 40 hours a week.

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Santoro, who didn't adjust anyone's salary and planned to pay overtime when the work warranted it, said the changes forced everyone to be more cognizant of time. The company is holding slightly fewer meetings as a result, and the meetings that do happen seem more productive, Santoro said.

Still, the uncertainty of the overtime rule's fate bothers him.

"The majority of good businesses are ready for the change," Santoro said. "We should reward those who properly prepared."

One Off Hospitality, which owns popular Chicago restaurants including Big Star, Blackbird and Publican, plans to move forward with changes it scheduled to go into effect Monday.

"We could not think for a moment to go back on our word," said Kimberly Galban, managing partner and vice president of operations. "We firmly believe if it will help take better care of our team, we are all-in."

One Off started evaluating its affected positions a year ago to determine who should be paid more in order to maintain exempt status and whose responsibilities could be trimmed to 40 hours a week. The group, which has 900 employees, counts about 66 salaried managers who earn below the new salary threshold, Galban said.

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One Off plans to raise the wages of some hourly workers, likely restaurant hosts, who have space in their schedules to take on some supervisory duties, creating a new supervisory tier, Galban said. That gives them a chance to grow toward management while relieving the pressure on the assistant managers who would be moved from salaried to hourly positions and kept to 40 hours a week. The intention was to not shift those responsibilities to exempt employees and overburden them.

The cost will be significant, Galban said, and the company intends to offset it by cutting costs elsewhere, as it did when it added nearly half of its 900 employees to its health care plan. To offset those health care costs, One Off evaluated its vendors to ensure it was getting the best price on linens, paper goods and other equipment. It also decided to open some locations, such as Blackbird in the West Loop, on Sundays to boost revenue.

Though she anticipates a hit to the bottom line  there are no plans to raise menu prices  Galban considers the new overtime standards "a compliment" to the restaurant industry as it becomes a more stable career choice for people wishing to save money and raise families.

Still, she worries how it could affect smaller businesses that are facing mounting operating costs with less wiggle room in their budgets.

"I hope it doesn't de-benefit the smaller mom-and-pop restaurants that, really, we once all were at some point," she said. "Because that would be incredibly sad to this industry."

Not all employers can afford to boost wages.

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Midge Seltzer, president of Engage PEO, which provides human resources solutions to small and midsized businesses, said many of her clients planned to "back into" employees' current salaries, making tweaks to their base pay so their paychecks will be the same even if they earn overtime for long hours. Some employers were guaranteeing those employees a certain number of hours of work to ensure they don't end up earning less on slower weeks, Seltzer said.

Morale was the biggest concern employers were facing as they told workers who haven't clocked in and out in years that they will have to track their hours, Seltzer said.

But at companies that could afford raises, some workers under the new rule would be in for a treat.

At Boka Restaurant Group, which owns the Girl and the Goat, Swift & Sons and a dozen other Chicago restaurants, co-owner Kevin Boehm planned to make the new $47,500 threshold the minimum salary for most managers. That would result in significant raises for some workers in order to maintain their status as exempt from overtime.

Boka held off on implementing some of the major changes as it waited to see if the rule would be delayed, and it plans more modest raises while it's in a holding pattern. The company employs 1,400 people, among them many managers and midlevel chefs who work long hours at pay below the new overtime threshold.

As a rough estimate, the change could cost the company $200,000 a year, Boehm said, which he hoped to absorb with other cost efficiencies but not menu price hikes.

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Despite the hit to the bottom line, Boehm praised the overtime measure for helping close the gap between the earnings of workers in the front and back of house.

"It's a positive thing for the culture of cooking," Boehm said.

But he also had concerns about the long-term impact. While the pay bumps could give an initial morale boost, they also could weaken the meritocracy that gives workers incentive to climb up the ranks, Boehm said.

Specifically, the climb from junior sous chef, to sous chef, to executive sous chef, to chef de cuisine, will come with markedly smaller pay increases since the starting salary will already be so high, he said. The company planned to compensate by adding other perks, such as dining incentives and gym memberships.

With the rule delayed, Boehm said he still plans to raise salaries a bit but will keep a wider gap between tiers to maintain the financial incentive.

Nonprofits, whose mission-driven employees often work long hours on modest salaries, have been navigating not only potential cost increases but cultural change.

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At New Moms, a Chicago nonprofit that serves young mothers at risk of homelessness, CEO Laura Zumdahl supports the spirit of the new overtime guidelines and the potential for protecting employees from burnout. But she worries the scrutiny on employees' time could have a demotivating effect if people feel they can't give their all.

The organization has been having "to push and push" employees to diligently use a new online platform it implemented for tracking hours that includes a smartphone app so they can report time worked on the go, Zumdahl said.

"Even if they check email for a few minutes at home, they have to track that," she said. "The feedback is just annoyance and the feeling that I just want to do the job."

The changes also squeeze its tight budget, raising concerns it may might have to curtail services. New Moms' $3 million budget is half private money and half public, including three state contracts that have suffered uncertainty and delayed payments due to the state's budget crisis.

New Moms, which has 47 employees, not only increased the salaries of some employees to exceed the new threshold and keep them exempt, but during a rigorous internal review with its legal counsel it found that some higher-paid doulas, who help women give birth, had been improperly classified as exempt and should be subject to overtime pay because they don't pass the "duties test."

In addition to the salary threshold, exemptions from overtime require that a position entail certain managerial or professional duties.

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Given the unpredictable timing of births and other crises, New Moms is trying to be strategic about how it schedules doulas and be prepared to pay them overtime if needed.

"Does it change the number of people we can serve, or how well we can serve them, if the staff can't stay that extra hour?" Zumdahl said.

Despite the rule's delay, New Moms won't feel relief. The organization implemented the new procedures and salary increases earlier this year so that it wouldn't be scrambling at the last minute.

"No turning back now!" Zumdahl said.

aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @alexiaer
Aaron Newman and Joana Tejada noticed something different as they left their Streeterville neighborhood home Thursday morning and headed to the downtown Thanksgiving Day parade.

The crowds descending on the Loop weren't solely Cubs fans celebrating the World Series  though there was some of that  or even political protests, the latter a regular occurrence in the wake of the election.

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Instead, a steady stream of families and groups of friends were bound for State Street to catch a glimpse of the gigantic balloons, equestrian units and marching bands performing in the parade.

Dancers from the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center perform hiplet dance Nov. 24, 2016, at the Thanksgiving Day parade in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

"It's a reminder of normalcy," said Newman, 30. "Things are still OK. The good stuff is still happening." Despite having lived in the Chicago area his whole life, Newman had never been to any city parade until he started dating Tejada. The Thanksgiving parade has become a tradition for the couple, who have attended for three years running. It "brings the holiday spirit to life," said Tejada, 28.

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On a crisp fall Chicago morning, hundreds lined State Street to take in the sights and sounds of the parade: from a 450-member marching band to a fresh dance troupe showing off their hiplet (pronounced hip-lay) moves  a fusion of hip-hop and classical ballet, or "ballet with flavor," as dance instructor Cheryl Taylor called it.

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Appearing for the first time at the annual parade, 10 dancers who train at the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center might have introduced some spectators who haven't seen the viral videos, to the modern dance style performed Thursday to the song "Everything Is Alright."

The Georgia Bridgemen, the marching band of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Ga., perform Nov. 24, 2016, in the Thanksgiving Day parade in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

"It's just kind of about how (things) can get you down but everything is all right in the end," dancer Lela Matthews, 14, said about the song. "I think that goes with whole hiplet theme too, because it's hard work. Sometimes your feet  when they hurt really bad you just want to be done with it. But then when you get on stage and do things like this, it really shows you that everything's OK."

Many spectators carried young children on their shoulders and others tried to get as close as they could to the parade route on State to see the performances and floats. Sandra Martinez and a few others who couldn't get a clear view at Randolph and State streets watched the parade's live stream on their phones.

Martinez traveled from Valparaiso, Ind., to start a new tradition with her husband, daughter and three grandsons. The parade was set to be the highlight of their three-day trip, beating a Blue Man Group show, Black Friday shopping and not having to cook a big Thanksgiving meal, she said.

"This is what you want them to remember as opposed to what they hear on the news," she said, referring to the presidential election rhetoric. "This is what really matters, making memories with family."

lvivanco@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lvivanco
Without revealing too much: The crucial moment in Kenneth Lonergan's third feature, "Manchester by the Sea," arrives in a scene set in the police station of the Massachusetts coastal town of the title.

Lee, played by a rivetingly contained Casey Affleck, is relaying the details of the incident that has changed his life. When he comes to the point in the interrogation when he reveals the small, horribly plausible human error at the heart of his tragedy, the one alluded to by various other characters in Lonergan's movie for nearly an hour before we get the full story, Affleck pauses for several seconds. The weight of what has happened, and his role in it, seems to physically shrink Lee.

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Grief is a subject toyed with constantly in the movies, usually in ways that get resolved quickly and swept under the nearest rug. Not here. Lonergan does not let Lee, or the audience, off the hook. The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful.

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We first meet Lee in the present day, long after he has fled Manchester-by-the-Sea for a monkish existence working as a handyman for a string of apartment complexes closer to Boston. Then his brother dies (we learn this early on) and Lee is forced to return home to deal with who will become guardian of Lee's 16-year-old nephew, Patrick, played by the inspired young actor Lucas Hedges.

Of course "Manchester by the Sea" is sorrowful; its events ensure as much. But as was the case in Lonergan's two previous features, "You Can Count on Me" (2000) with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo and "Margaret" (2011) with Anna Paquin, random, fatal bad luck exists side by side with a bracing amount of humor, and the tones and colors ebb and flow throughout.

A wry realist, Lonergan does exactly what Hollywood hardly ever does. Think back to "Terms of Endearment": Boisterous, funny, then BOOM: cancer, tragedy, tragedy, tragedy, crying, crying, tearful farewells, catharsis, Oscars. This movie works another way; true to Lonergan's stage work, it's more like Anton Chekhov in its bittersweet comic and dramatic strategy, where it's all mixed up together.

(L-r) Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges in "Manchester By the Sea." (Amazon Studios-Roadside Attraction)

For much of the movie, we simply hang with Lee and watch, rapt, as he gets through the days and deals with his guilt and drunken outbursts. Then Lonergan sets the narrative in its ultimate direction, when Lee re-enters his nephew's life. "Manchester by the Sea" finds its buoyancy in Patrick's hectic love life, his band practice with one of his two girlfriends, his wary but increasingly loving relationship with his uncle. The way Affleck and Hedges work together, busting each other's chops, lashing out, shutting down, reaching out again, it's one of the peak acting partnerships of the movie year.

Lonergan jumps back and forth from present day to flashbacks, focused on Lee's brother (Kyle Chandler, just right in his gruff naturalism), and Lee's marriage to Randi in its lived-in detail. The story structure's tricky, and with less astute editing the whole thing might have dissolved into mournful chaos. But editor Jennifer Lame has done amazing work in collaboration with Lonergan. (The writer-director shows up on screen, in a huge winter parka, for a brief, testy comic cameo as a passer-by.)

Michelle Williams plays Randi, who drops in and out of the story as a vibrant reminder of Lee's defining tragedy. She's as marvelous as ever, but everyone's good in "Manchester by the Sea." I'm not sure what to make of the subtle but distinct (and, I think, limiting) gender issues here; the female characters are shown as nags or spoilsports or noble backbones without their fair share of complexity. From first to last this is a story of male behavior and masculine codes of living, however flawed. Lee's hometown hasn't changed a lot over the decades. Yet after all the violent Massachusetts-set fairy tales we've had in the movies in recent years, coming from Dennis Lehane stories or thereabouts, it's refreshing to sit with a movie that's more like a novel or a beautiful short story, one that stays true, tough and honest to the end.

As a protagonist Lee is stuck, boxed-in, and while I love the way and the degree to which "Manchester by the Sea" finds a measure of peace for this character, it won't be enough for some people. I can't do anything about those people. This is one of the year's highlights, and it's unclassifiable, really. And that's a serious achievement.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

"Manchester by the Sea"  4 stars

MPAA rating: R (for language throughout and some sexual content)

Running time: 2:17

Opens: Friday

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Steve Bannon, who was named as a chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump, waits as Trump walks toward him after he spoke during a campaign rally at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater on November 2, 2016 in Miami, Fla. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

I took the first steps toward becoming a professor of history while learning Chicago's story at Bateman Elementary School on the Northwest Side.

I learned that the city's first permanent resident was Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. The teacher pronounced the name slowly, giving each syllable equal stress, as the French do. DuSable built a cabin on the north bank of the Chicago River, not far from where I'm writing. His wife's refined tastes were reflected in the fine rugs on the cabin floor, the teacher said.

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I wasn't told that DuSable was black.

Cleo, the Greek muse of history, was selective in the 1940s. I loved field trips to the Chicago Historical Society, as the museum was then known, but I don't remember learning much about ethnic neighborhoods like Albany Park, where I lived.

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There's a link between what school children read and what they aim for in life. I never dreamed of growing up to be president. That was for boys who lived on Astor Street.

Since then, Cleo has grown more expansive. Such developments as the study of women's history, ethnic studies and the commemoration of Black History Month enabled more children to dream big.

Yet I fear that might not continue under President Donald Trump, who courted the vote of resentful white men, advertising his ideas as "not politically correct."

His White House policy advisor Stephen Bannon called feminist leaders "a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England." Is he likely to whisper in Trump's ear: "Don't forget a line item in the education budget for Women's History."

I'd hate to see the arc of history close, having witnessed its slow, painful expansion. Raul Hilberg, one of the top scholars of the Holocaust, once explained to me why I didn't see myself reflected in the history museum or in 1950s textbooks. Jewish history wasn't something that gentlemen scholars then did.

Himself a survivor, Hilberg wanted to write a PhD dissertation on the Holocaust. Only one Columbia University professor was willing to sponsor the project, and he warned: "I hope you understand it could be your academic funeral."

It took six years to find a teaching job, a temporary position on a pittance of a salary. "I lived in a tiny apartment, empty of furniture except for a bed," Hilberg said.

In the 1960s, I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago where the history of teaching history could be traced through the staff directory. Newly listed was John Hope Franklin, the author of "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes."

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"When I began to write in 1945 there were few courses in black history and hardly any material," Franklin later recalled. "Now it's a respectable area of intellectual inquiry."

Franklin's book marked a turning point. Some years ago, I was at the Douglas branch library when a librarian told two African-American boys that to borrow books they had to fill out an application and have a parent sign it.

"But when can we take out books?" they asked. "Just as soon as you bring back the applications," she said.

Overjoyed, they ran out the door. Now, if they'd returned before Franklin's book became a best seller, they would have found books on lots of subjects  except life as they knew it.

But Franklin's book spawned others  from ponderous tomes to children's books  by the time the boys got library cards. So they could find books through which to discover that they, too, were part of history.

In the '60s and '70s, schoolchildren from immigrant and blue-collar families got to see themselves in America's group portrait. History from the bottom up was hot; Chronicles of big shots were passe.

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This was a good thing. But eventually, the pendulum's swing went beyond my comfort zone.

In 1988 Stanford University killed its Western Civilization course, which I cherished. It allowed me to compare Plato's and John Locke's take on life with what I saw looking out a window at 4341 N. Sacramento Ave.

So I went to Stanford to ask why. Students said they didn't want to read books by "dead white men." A professor explained she was uncomfortable at the American Historical Association's convention.

"As a feminist, it made me uncomfortable," Carolyn Lougee said, "getting up in front of professional colleagues from across the nation and defending our Great Books approach."

Now, the pendulum may be swinging the other way.

As the recent election demonstrated, white men don't like being made fall guys. Even before that, publishers were being pressured by conservative school boards to sanitize history by substituting "Atlantic triangular trade" for the slave trade.

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So far, they've resisted. But I recall something Finley Peter Dunne, the dean of Chicago columnists, said: "The Supreme Court follows the election returns." So, too, do textbook publishers.

Accordingly, I'm haunted by a nagging question when I pass the Bateman School.

Seventy years ago, I sat at a desk there and learned history, though not the whole story of Du Sable. Will these children discover that other images have been airbrushed out of our nation's group portrait?

rgrossman@chicagotribune.com
My family has much to be thankful for this holiday season. But there is one thing, in particular, that stands out.

We are thankful for Obamacare.

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Had it not been for the Affordable Care Act, my sister-in-law, Sharon, likely would not be here this year to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas.

In the summer of 2015, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. By the time doctors figured it out, the tumors had metastasized to her spine. The pain was so unbearable that she couldn't sit or stand.

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"It was like I was between the clutches of a lion's teeth and I couldn't get out," Sharon said recently. "I don't think many people come back from stage 4. I never told my family, but I was preparing to die."

Her family never told her, either. But this time last year, we were preparing to say goodbye.

Just a few months before her diagnosis, neither Sharon nor my brother, Winston, had health insurance. She owns a children's day care facility and he owns a small trucking business. With so many expenses, there was no money left for medical coverage.

So like many Americans who work hard every day to make a living, they placed health insurance on the back burner. But in late 2014, as soon as they were eligible, both of them signed up for Obamacare.

Though Sharon's cancer has been in remission since March, our family has another concern now. Will she be able to continue the medical treatments that are keeping her alive?

For many people with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart conditions and even depression, Obamacare has meant the difference between life and death. Prior to health care reform, people like them would have been uninsurable and would not have had access to needed medical treatments.

You can bet that these folks followed the presidential campaign closely. And now, their greatest fear is that Donald Trump is going to take their health care away.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to repeal and replace Obamacare. And the Republican-led Congress is overcome with joy that their next attempt to repeal the law  something they've tried more than 50 times over the last six years  could finally be successful.

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The only hope for Sharon and some 20 million other Americans with Obamacare is that Trump will have a change of heart.

Recently, the president-elect has given us reason to be hopeful. In interviews since the election, Trump said that after meeting with President Barack Obama, he is considering saving some aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Vows to "repeal and replace" have been softened with "amend."

During their first meeting in the Oval Office two days after the election, Obama urged Trump to at least try to preserve some aspects of the law. Afterward, Trump said he would like to keep the provision forbidding insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. He said he also favors allowing young people to remain on their parents' health care plans until the age of 26.

"I told him I will look at his suggestions, and out of respect, I will do that," he told The Wall Street Journal.

We can only hope that he listens to Obama, because so far, Trump hasn't come up with anything better.

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No one ever claimed that Obamacare was perfect, not even Obama.

Insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Insurance companies are pulling out, leaving consumers with fewer coverage choices. And in some parts of the country, the poorest people are ineligible for Obamacare.

Some would argue that Obamacare is failing because of people like Sharon. Namely, she's a 64-year-old Baby Boomer who needs expensive medical care.

I would argue, though, that the program was specifically designed for people like her. Access to affordable health care should be the right of every American.

Through the insurance exchange, Sharon, who lives in Georgia, was able to get an affordable policy with Humana. After chemotherapy failed, she was given the opportunity to try a new immunotherapy drug called Opdivo, which received FDA approval to treat advanced lung cancer in October 2015.

It's extremely expensive, about $12,000 a month. Her insurance has paid almost all of the costs.

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Dr. Wassim Mchayleh, her oncologist, described it as a form of targeted therapy that has proved to be very promising in trials.

"It's different from chemotherapy, which kills the cancer cells but also the good cells at the same time," said Mchayleh, medical director at West Georgia Oncology in LaGrange, Ga. "This drug targets a specific group of cells that carry a specific mutation.

"It's changing the way we treat cancer," he said. "We have patients who have been on Sharon's drug over a year now, and they're still in remission."

What Mchayleh doesn't don't know yet, though, is what would happen if the treatments stopped. Sharon hates to think about that.

"If I didn't have Obamacare, I would just be waiting my time. There's no way I would have gotten proper care," said Sharon, who has gone back to work full time. "I don't have any medical bills that aren't paid. And that's one less thing I have to worry about."

That's a problem, though, for Obamacare.

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The program was supposed to entice enough younger, healthier people to sign up and offset the insurance companies' costs for covering the nation's aging baby boomers. But that didn't happen.

Young people weren't convinced that they even needed health care. So they opted to pay the penalties, which in many cases were lower than the price of the premiums.

As a result, Obamacare became a money grinder for insurance companies unable to make a profit. So they did what most companies would do in similar situations  they walked away. And with costs rising and competition dwindling within the health care exchange, insurance companies in some cases quadrupled their rates.

Humana, in fact, withdrew from the exchange, forcing Sharon and Winston to find another provider. They signed up with Blue Cross Blue Shield, the only insurer available to them, and will pay a much higher premium next year. And at this point, they still don't know how much, if any, of Sharon's treatments will be covered.

For people like Sharon, living without Obamacare is not an option. They shouldn't have to pay the price for selfish politicians who'd rather take their health insurance away than figure out how to fix it.

dglanton@chicagotribune.com

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Chicago Public Schools will host two public hearings Monday at its headquarters on a revised annual operating budget. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Public Schools will host two public hearings Monday on a revised annual operating budget that includes tens of millions of dollars in new expenses.

The school board approved a budget in August, but an additional round of hearings is needed because of the financial provisions in a new contract for teachers reached in October, moments before a strike deadline set by the Chicago Teachers Union. The school board will also take another budget vote.

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According to CPS officials, the teachers contract will cost the district an additional $55 million this year  still barely a blip in a budget that now surpasses $5.5 billion. CPS officials have said about 85 percent of the $55 million in extra spending comes from new "step-and-lane" pay increases for teachers based on their experience and education.

The district is relying on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's promise of a new infusion of money from special city taxing districts to pay for the increase. CPS now is expecting to get $87.5 million in tax increment financing dollars, a vast increase from the roughly $32 million of surplus TIF district money the district initially budgeted.

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CPS has said the teachers contract would cost slightly more than $2.3 billion in the district's current budget year. The annual cost increases next year, to $2.4 billion, and by 2019, the district's annual expenses on the deal would stretch slightly past $2.4 billion, the district said.

Both the union and CPS have praised the deal.

The CTU says the contract contains hundreds of millions of dollars worth of upgrades compared with a deal the union rejected in January. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool described the deal as "the most cost-effective contract in history," while citing lower across-the-board pay increases and changes to union health care plans and contributions.

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Much of the year's remaining operating budget still continues to rely on assumptions and plans the district included when it proposed a spending plan earlier this year.

CPS continues to await $215 million in state assistance that has yet to arrive, while the district continues to work on nailing down $300 million in savings it needs to make its budget work.

CPS will also make changes to its capital budget plans for the year, to make room for up to nearly $1 billion in projects the district has yet to secure financing for. CPS recently delayed a massive bond sale, saying it would wait for better market conditions sometime in 2017.

Word of the delayed sale came as financial analysts at Standard & Poor's said familiar financial concerns prompted the agency to drop the school system's credit rating deeper into junk territory.

Monday's budget hearings will take place at the district's downtown headquarters and are scheduled to run 3:30-5:30 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. The Chicago Board of Education is expected to take up the revised budget and the new teachers contract next month.

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jjperez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @PerezJr
Marcus Wright takes part in a group discussion about violence in Chicago during the SAVE program in Division 2 of the Cook County Jail on Oct. 3, 2016. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Shawntrell Pierce picked an address off a list of weekend shootings in Chicago.

Harvard Avenue, a few blocks from 102nd and State streets where he's from. A 14-year-old was hit.

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"Maybe not even over gangbanging, but an argument," said Pierce, who knew what would follow. "Then someone dies. Then we got a situation. 'RIP him. Free him.' Now everybody feels some type of way."

On a recent dreary Monday morning in Division 2 at Cook County Jail, Pierce and a few dozen other inmates talked through the weekend's shootings. They sat on steel stools at steel tables a few feet from their bunk beds. Their voices echoed off cinder block walls and the steel furniture bolted to walls and floors.

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They weren't surprised by most of the addresses. Some recognized the blocks. Two men and a woman shot on Emerald Avenue in Englewood. Two on Sacramento Avenue, just a block north of the jail. Two on Fulton Boulevard in Garfield Park.

On the flip side of the list was a chart showing the neighborhoods with the most homicides this year.

"Austin," one of the young men said. "Sixty-two f------ bodies."

A Cook County Jail program tries to counsel inmates about violence and how to curb destructive behavior. The program is called SAVE, for Sheriffs Anti-Violence Effort. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago has seen the worst violence in decades this year, with more than 600 people killed and more than 3,000 shot. Blamed in part on gangs, access to guns, poverty and distrust of policing, the violence has seemed intractable.

This past spring, officials launched a small pilot program they hope will get at one of the roots of that problem  changing attitudes toward violence. The program is called SAVE, for Sheriff's Anti-Violence Effort. Months into the effort, officials say it's too early to say whether it will live up to its name.

The inmates, 18 to 24, live in an open dorm setting, away from the general jail tiers, and are in class or therapy six to eight hours a day. Most of them come from Chicago's most violent neighborhoods  Austin, Lawndale, Englewood  and many have been on the giving and receiving end of violence. They all are awaiting trial or sentencing for felonies.

Pierce hit a 3-year-old with a belt, according to police. You can hardly tell it's him from looking at his mug shot. Gone are the bags under his eyes. And the wound over his left eye from a car crash has scarred over since he's been locked up.

The talk on this day was fast, sometimes loud, usually respectful. The men policed themselves to make sure everyone followed the rules: no put-downs. No sidebars. One person speaks at a time. Be respectful. No fighting. No gangbanging. No glorifying. Occasionally, gentle prodding from staff was needed to get the conversation back on course.

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"Monday's the hardest because they've just gone through the whole weekend, they've seen all the violence that happens," said Elli Montgomery, director of mental health policy and advocacy for the sheriff's office. "It's like you open Pandora's wounded box and all their s--- comes out.

"They're directly impacted by that violence, someone they know or a friend of a friend who's been killed. It hits home because a lot of them are suffering from symptoms, not necessarily full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder, but they've been shot, they've witnessed people getting shot, so it triggers them."

"It's depressing in here and it's depressing out there," she continued. "They'll say on one hand, 'I'm glad I'm in here.' Who says that? Who says I'm glad to be in jail? Because they're afraid they'll be killed."

Keeping score

The conversation hits on several issues: How the media constantly keep count of the wounded and how that encourages guys to "get their numbers up"; the easy access to guns and the feeling that some guys need them to survive. Some talked about the demolition of housing projects altering gang territory. Guys shook their heads when someone said they had to come to prison for a program like this.

Armontye Alexander noted that Chicago's homicide count has grown since the city closed dozens of schools in 2013 and dispersed hundreds of schoolchildren across gang boundaries. "If they don't care about your education, they don't care about you," he said. "What else is you pushing 'em to? The corner."

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Ruben Barajas pointed to the list of shootings that was passed out, along with a summary of the weekend violence from a local TV station.

Ruben Barajas packs his belongings after deciding to opt out of the SAVE program in Cook County Jail on Oct. 3, 2016. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

"If anything, to me, my opinion would be this is really what's making the murder rate go up," he said. "Everything that y'all keep showing on media and everything, it really makes people want to keep doing it. It's like a scoreboard.  People are glorifying this."

Barajas was arrested after a traffic stop near Pershing Road and Racine Avenue just south of the Bridgeport neighborhood. There were two guns in the car, and he was charged with firearms and drug possession along with traffic violations, according to police.

"The way I look, even though I'm trying to change my life for something, the way I look at it is, like man, my guys really ain't doing much compared to Austin and Englewood," Barajas said. "Where my guys doing wrong?

"I mean that's how I look at it 'cause we gangbanging. We gangbang," he said. "We're out there. We're busting out on the nighttime, we don't do most stuff that the West Side does to get money and stuff like that. We don't sell dope, we don't sell heroin, we don't do none of that. We gangbang."

Guys shook their heads while he spoke. A few muttered that he was glorifying, which was against the rules. He was trying to make the point that gang violence is different from drug violence, but it didn't resonate.

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"I'm saying, bro, we gangbang bro. And we doing something wrong if our numbers ain't up," Barajas said.

Barajas had waited to speak until he was called on, but side conversations started while he gave his opinion.

Montgomery tried to quiet the talk. "You can agree to disagree. Let's hear the different points." She called on Pierce, who said he was still stuck on a statistic that showed the average time between killings.

It had dropped from every 14 hours or so, in early June, to less than 12 hours. At some point, while these guys were locked up, the city started averaging two killings a day.

"So what does that mean?" one of the teachers asked.

The class answered almost in unison.

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"They're killing people faster."

"The murder rate's going up."

The discussion moved to guns. Police had announced they took 6,500 guns off the street, a number that everyone in the room had opinions about.

"Think about it. If y'all took 6,500 guns off the street, they still people getting killed, at least 45 shot ..." Pierce said.

Barajas tried to jump in, but Pierce was allowed to keep talking. Finally, Barajas was able to have his say, arguing that gun turn-ins may be inflating the number of guns really taken off the street.

Toward the end, a few inmates who have been in the program for more than 90 days tried to make the point that people are making a choice when they shoot someone. These longer-tenured participants are in Phase 2, the part of the program that includes more challenging counseling and the leading of discussions.

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One of them is Alexander, arrested on a gun charge at Madison Street and Kilpatrick Avenue in West Garfield Park earlier this year. He came to jail with an anger problem that he said the program has helped him keep in check. He spoke to the group about taking responsibility.

"That's still us, though, at the end of the day, that's still us," he said. "You got millions of other people out there in the world who ain't been to this program, who ain't have this type of learned abilities.

"You can't say it's gonna change because of what we learned in here. At the end of the day, I still say it comes down to a choice. Everybody got their own choice at the end of the day."

He sounded incredulous as he spoke, aware of how he had behaved in the past, and how he tries to behave now. He took pride in checking his anger and in not having "run-ins" with correctional officers.

'Aggressive planning'

After the discussion ended, Barajas asked to "bunk out" and leave the program and go back to a cell on a tier. He put his things in a clear plastic bag and walked out of the room.

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He was the only participant in the program who wasn't black. Montgomery tried to talk with him in the hallway while the rest ate their lunches. She said he had a good attitude and had begged to be let into the program. They sat together against the hall wall like a teacher and student would.

Afterward, she said Barajas wasn't feeling the benefits. He wasn't comfortable with the noise in the dorm setting. He felt hypervigilant, like he couldn't sleep or let his guard down, she said. Because enrollment is voluntary, he was free to go back to a tier.

A few days later, Alexander was removed from class for "disrespecting" correctional officers.

As of early October, 17 of the 85 detainees who participated for at least two weeks had been removed from the program, either for not participating or bad behavior.

Some of the other participants were sentenced to time in the Department of Corrections and left the program. About 20 others left the county jail by posting bond, getting released on electronic monitoring, being sentenced to probation or time served, or seeing their cases dismissed.

Counselors try to plan for the participants' eventual return to society. But job training isn't easy because the inmates can't line up jobs from jail, and some are awaiting sentencing and don't know when they'll be back in the workplace. But they can still be taught some life skills, like how to act during an interview, how not to disrespect a supervisor.

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Montgomery said the SAVE program doesn't end when someone leaves jail.

Elli Petacque Montgomery guides a group discussion about violence for a program in Cook County Jail on Oct. 3, 2016. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

"For everyone who gets discharged, they don't really leave the program," Montgomery said. "We're gonna stay with them, and if we have to unfortunately follow them to the morgue, we're going to do that. If they get reincarcerated, we're going to follow them here. If hopefully they continue to work, stay on a positive track, get their GED, get their associate's degree, we're going to help them do that."

The staff calls it "aggressive discharge planning." The list includes where they can't go, who they can't talk to and the names of three friends not involved in the street life that brought them to jail. The goal is to make the men less inclined to resort to violence, or at least not commit the kind of crimes that put them in jail.

The program can't be mandated like probation, but inmates can get "program credit" that a judge can consider when imposing a sentence.

'I was 5 or 6, hearing gunshots'

On another recent weekday, in a vacant jail division used for programming, counselors separated Phase 2 participants from the rest of the group to make discussions more manageable. When the time came to bring the groups together for a group reading, correctional officers marched the Phase 2 guys down the hall.

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Montgomery had them stand for a group photo in the hallway before the class began. "And Darryl's smiling! It took him three months to smile," she said.

Inside the tier, guys took turns reading "How Long Will I Cry," a collection of essays on youth violence. They sat on stairs and steel cafeteria tables surrounded by two levels of empty cells around the common area.

Marquis Tucker read aloud as the others followed along. Tucker is one of the earliest participants and persuaded his younger brother, locked up on gun charges, to give the program a try. His brother missed Wednesday's group because he was in court.

Guys nodded along when something rang true. Tucker raised his eyebrows at a passage about hearing sirens from all directions, and nodded when the author spoke of volleys of gunfire on New Year's Eve.

Vanessa Barajas, a behavioral health specialist (no relation to Ruben Barajas), used the story to elicit anecdotes from the men.

"I was 5 or 6, sitting in the house hearing gunshots. Didn't grasp the seriousness of it," Tucker said. "I wasn't scared, I was a kid, I wasn't grasping it."

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For a lot of the men, they started fearing gunfire  and recognizing its cadence  when their friends were shot. They all wanted to talk about it, and there was no reluctance to admit fear.

Pierce said the last time he took a bus was 2013. It's not worth the risk.

Anthony Walker, 24, who sat in a corner of the room, said there's a difference between understanding and knowing. "That was the main thing ... at 4 or 5, who understands it? But you know what it is," he said.

Martino Dickson shared the moment when he felt he could understand violence. "We standing there together and he gets killt, that's when it got real for me," he said.

Dickson has been locked up before. His father was shot to death and his grandfather was locked up. He credited the program for opening his eyes to what his son will grow into if he doesn't change.

A correctional officer standing behind Walker jumped in. "So you didn't understand till someone you knew ..."

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The guys cut him off.

He tried again. "The reality of death came when someone you knew ..."

They cut him off again: It wasn't just that someone they knew died. It was that a close friend had died a violent death, or that they were close enough to see a person shot.

Barajas closed the class asking everyone to offer one word about what they have to live for. She started on one side of the room, and the young men sounded off.

Family came up a lot. Children and fatherhood. Safety and change. Careers. Some just wanted to live for themselves.

Dickson spoke of his child. "To show my son it's a better way."

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pnickeas@chicagotribune.com
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and activist Ja'Mal Green speak to the media Nov. 24, 2016, about the fatal shooting by police of a 19-year-old man. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

A 19-year-old man who was fatally wounded late Wednesday after a police sergeant said he pointed a gun in his direction died of a gunshot wound to the back, officials said.

An autopsy Friday determined that Kajuan Raye, of south suburban Dolton, died of a gunshot wound to the back, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

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Raye's death was ruled a homicide, the office said.

During a Thanksgiving Day news conference, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said a grid search failed to uncover a gun.

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"We were not able to locate a weapon as of yet," said Johnson, who briefly made remarks at police headquarters on the South Side. "We have some missing information in our timeline.

"There are still many unanswered questions."

Police, including an Englewood District police sergeant, responded at 11:07 p.m. to a battery in progress in the 1400 block of West 65th Street, Johnson said.

The sergeant spotted a man that "matched the description of the offender" in the battery, Johnson said. The sergeant identified himself as an officer and approached the man but he began running away. The sergeant gave chase.

At some point during the pursuit the man "turned and pointed" a weapon at the sergeant two separate times, causing the sergeant to shoot him, Johnson said.

Raye was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was later pronounced dead at 11:51 p.m. He lived in the 1400 block of East 156th Street in Dolton, according to the medical examiner's office.

"Unfortunately, we still don't have a complete synopsis of exactly how and what transpired," Johnson told reporters.

"There is still a lot of investigating going on."

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Ahkeya White describes the events after her cousin was fatally shot Nov. 23, 2016, by Chicago police in the 6500 block of Marshfield Avenue in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

A grid search for ballistics evidence of the area was completed overnight, but no gun was found, Johnson said.

There weren't any officers injured during the incident.

Early Thursday, police blocked off the intersection of 65th Street and Marshfield Avenue along with surrounding alleys. Officers searched vacant lots using rakes and flashlights. An officer with a police dog could be seen searching a parking lot near the intersection.

The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the shooting.

IPRA spokeswoman Mia Sissac said the Englewood District does not have body cameras, so investigators are looking for witnesses that may have seen the incident or may have captured it on video.

"We would hope that people would allow for some time. As we continue to go through the process we will learn more about the case," Sissac said.

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The sergeant will be placed on administrative duties for 30 days pending the outcome of the investigation.

Community activists also spoke to reporters outside police headquarters, and decried what they said was a lack of transparency in the Police Department.

"I'm sickened," said Ja'Mal Green. "It does not take a day to find a gun. They (cops) messed up.

"Right now the city has to pay for what it has done," Green said.

Ald. Raymond Lopez, who represents the 15th Ward, where the shooting occurred, was also at police headquarters.

"It's just sad," Lopez said.

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 20 Chicago police block off intersections near 65th Street and Marshfield Avenue on Nov. 24, 2016, while in search of a suspect's gun after a fatal police-involved shooting the night before. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

According to Cook County court records, Raye had pleaded guilty to a theft charge in September 2015, and he was given one year of court supervision. In 2016, records show Raye violated supervision and an arrest warrant was issued in his name July 25.

Standing outside of a family home in the Brainerd neighborhood Thursday morning, Ahkeya White said the family was told that her cousin, Raye, had been standing with a friend at a bus stop near the intersection of 64th Street and Ashland Avenue just before the shooting happened.

The bus stop is less than half a mile away from where police said the sergeant had responded for the battery call.

After spending time at a home of a friend's mother, White said, her cousin was waiting for a bus to return to Dolton when the officer approached him.

"They are saying that it was, you know, a battery, but if that's the case, the police officer showed up, it was only one person in the car," she said. "If they are responding to a call, why is it only one person in the car? Then you pull up to the bus stop. So something is off and we need answers."

She said the officer got out of his car and told his cousin and friend to go to the police car. That's when her cousin and friend ran from the officer, prompting the sergeant to run after her cousin.

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Raye was shot once in the abdomen, White said.

She disputes that her cousin was armed during the incident, saying she is sure Raye didn't have a gun.

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"There was no gun," she said.

Family members identified Kajuan Raye, 19, of Dolton, as the man who was fatally shot by police in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood on Nov. 23, 2016. (Provided by Kajuan Raye's family)

As news began spreading about the shooting and relatives gathered at the hospital, White said she wondered why the shooting happened.

"Why, because I know he didn't do anything to deserve it," she said. "We want answers, but there's really no explanation for what happened other than this is what's been going on, and it seems, you know, that this is the norm. But it's unacceptable, it's unacceptable."

She described her cousin as a typical 19-year-old who was figuring out what he wanted to do. The family had been urging him to return to school to get his GED.

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"Tears are flowing and we are praying," she said. "We'll miss him greatly."

Wednesday's shooting happened about a mile from where officers last Friday fatally shot a man after seeing him shoot and wound another man, according to officials.

Chicago Tribune's Grace Wong contributed.
Gov. Bruce Rauner granted clemency to eight people while denying 152 other requests, his office said Friday.

Rauner said the 160 clemency petitions acted upon by the governor date back to April 2012 and that this is the ninth set of petitions he has reviewed since taking office. Each person granted clemency has recently undergone a criminal background check through the Illinois State Police.

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A granted clemency request for a pardon with expungement allows the petitioner to seek expungement of their conviction through the court system.

gwong@tribpub.com

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Campers set structures on fire in preparation of the deadline to leave the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on Feb. 22, 2017 in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Stephen Yang / Getty Images)

MANDAN, N.D.  About 300 opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline demonstrated in a North Dakota city on Thanksgiving Day, while protesters near the construction site where hundreds of demonstrators have camped out for months attempted to build a wooden bridge to reach what they say are tribal burial sites.

The protesters blocked traffic at an intersection and other streets in Mandan shouting "Shame on you, North Dakota!" and carrying a banner that read "No pilgrims, no pipeline," the Bismarck Tribune reported. About 50 officers stood across from the protesters, and the crowd eventually dispersed.

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Morton County sheriff's office spokesman Rob Keller said officers near the campsites about 50 miles south of Mandan observed protesters attempting to build a wooden bridge over a body of water Thursday morning in an effort to reach Turtle Island, a hill where protesters claim burial sites are located. Keller said between 350 and 400 protesters eventually gathered at Turtle Island.

Keller said one protester told officers they were "ready to die today." Another said, "Remember '73?" referring to Wounded Knee.

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In Portland, Oregon, hundreds of people rallied in the rain Thursday to show their solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others who have spent months protesting the pipeline's construction.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that more than 350 people took part in the demonstration at the city's Pioneer Courthouse Square. Attendees chanted, "Stop the pipeline" and "Water rights are human rights."

Shannon Berger-Hammond co-founded a group called Families for Peaceful Protest, which organized the Portland rally. She said Thanksgiving is "meant to highlight peace and thanks and community and to celebrate indigenous nations, and the indigenous nations are suffering right now."

The Standing Rock Sioux and others oppose the 1 ,200-mile, four-state pipeline being built to carry oil from western North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois because they say it threatens drinking water on the nearby reservation and cultural sites. Pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners has said no sites have been disturbed and that the $3.8 billion pipeline will be safe.

The pipeline is largely complete except for the section under a Missouri River reservoir in southern North Dakota, and ETP Chief Executive Kelcy Warren has said the company is unwilling to reroute the project.

Protests against the pipeline have intensified in recent weeks, with arrests since August totaling more than 520.

Actress Shailene Woodley, who was among 27 activists arrested Oct. 10, was at one of the campsites Thursday. She live-streamed activities and was expected to help serve Thanksgiving dinner to protesters later in the day.

At least one person was arrested during Thursday's demonstration in Mandan, a community adjacent to the capital city of Bismarck. When protesters blocked the intersection, they set up several folding tables with pumpkins and a pig head. They also passed out food.

"They come at us with violence, we come back with prayer," Jamey Reil, of Virginia, said referring to a clash between police and protesters Sunday night near the campsites that sent at least 17 demonstrators to the hospital.

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Law enforcement authorities in Burleigh County and Bismarck issued a phone alert Thursday morning warning residents about the presence of protesters. The recording urged people traveling to Burleigh and Morton counties during the Thanksgiving weekend to be on "alert to their surroundings."

Authorities also urged people to report any "suspicious activity." Authorities say "rioters" in the area intend "to create an unsafe environment for the public."

Associated Press
East African nations have launched some of the world's most vicious campaigns against gay men and women, outlawing same-sex liaisons and threatening to punish these with years in jail.

But in a move that has alarmed health workers, Tanzania is turning its anti-homosexual fury in a new direction - targeting HIV/AIDS programs that have helped tame a disease that once ravaged the region.

Last month, the minister of health announced that Tanzania will ban HIV/AIDS outreach projects aimed at gay men, pending a review. That forced the closure, at least temporarily, of U.S.-funded programs that provide testing, condoms and medical care to gays. About 30 percent of gay men in Tanzania are HIV-positive; now health workers say that figure could rise.

Tanzania's actions appear to mark the first time that a country has suspended parts of the United States' hugely successful foreign HIV/AIDS initiative in an attempt to crack down on the gay community. The U.S. PEPFAR campaign, backed by $65 billion since it was founded in 2003, has been credited with saving millions of lives.

The ban comes after months of bitter speeches and threats from Tanzanian officials aimed at the gay community and at organizations treating its HIV/AIDS patients. This year, police raided two U.S.-funded HIV/AIDS organizations and seized confidential patient information and supplies, officials said. In September, the deputy minister of health, Hamisi Kigwangalla, accused HIV treatment organizations of "promoting homosexuality."

"Any attempt to commit unnatural offenses is illegal and severely punished by law," Kigwangalla said in the statement. People convicted of same-sex liaisons in Tanzania can be jailed for up to 30 years.

The health minister, Ummy Mwalimu, explained in a statement last month that officials had suspended HIV/AIDS outreach programs for gay patients to review whether they promoted same-sex relationships.

The move has sent a shock wave through a community still grappling with the virus, even as modern medicine and treatment have dramatically improved victims' chances of survival.

"In the short term, there are people who won't go to [health] service centers, and if they aren't on antiretrovirals, what happens? It's a major concern," said Warren Naamara, a doctor who is the director of the U.N. program on HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, referring to the drugs that suppress the virus.

PEPFAR, or the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, launched by George W. Bush with bipartisan support, has become one of the most important U.S. assistance programs ever in Africa. Tanzania is an example of its success. Since 2002, the overall HIV/AIDS rate in the country has declined from 12 percent to 5 percent. The number of people receiving treatment has grown in the past five years from 289,000 to over 700,000.

Other organizations, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, also have spent billions of dollars on HIV treatment on the continent.

But even as assistance programs have sharply reduced the death toll from AIDS, some countries in eastern Africa have been escalating their campaigns against homosexuality.

In 2014, Uganda's parliament passed a law, later annulled, that imposed the death penalty on those found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality." This year, a Kenyan high court ruled that "anal tests" aimed at determining people's sexual orientation were legal.

Even though Tanzania's penal code refers to homosexuality as a "gross indecency," the government had long permitted organizations to help gay men who had AIDS or who were at risk of contracting it.

But since John Magufuli was elected president last year, the government's tolerance on the issue has disintegrated. Although Magufuli has not said anything publicly about homosexuality, a number of his appointees have made harsh remarks. Critics of gay rights say this nation - which has large numbers of Muslims and Christians - must protect traditional values.

In an August speech, Paul Makonda, the regional commissioner of Dar es Salaam, the capital, threatened to arrest people who were linked to gay men on social-networking sites.

"If there's a homosexual who has a Facebook account, or with an Instagram account, all those who 'follow' him - it is very clear that they are just as guilty as the homosexual," said Makonda, who is the equivalent of a governor.

The government also banned the distribution of lubricants that help ensure that condoms do not tear. Condoms are considered highly effective in preventing HIV transmission.

The U.S. government has hired health organizations such as Jhpiego, which is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, to provide HIV tests, condoms and doctor referrals for gay men, sex workers and other vulnerable Tanzanians who are afraid to visit a public hospital. Those visits often take place in homes and informal community centers. The Jhpiego project was awarded $73 million over five years beginning in 2015. But such groups have had to cease their outreach efforts in gay communities.

"PEPFAR recognizes the importance of these key populations," said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive situation in Tanzania. "And in order to reach many of them, you have to go where they are."

Without access to those vulnerable communities, "it prolongs the epidemic in the end," the official said.

U.S. officials said they are hopeful that the outreach programs will soon be restored, noting that the health minister has said the government is considering which HIV services would be appropriate for the gay community. But members of that community are pessimistic.

"It's clear that the government doesn't care whether we live or die," said one 22-year-old gay man who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of punishment.

A 29-year-old gay man in Dar es Salaam who is HIV-positive said that he was diagnosed four years ago. Since then, antiretroviral drugs have helped him stay relatively healthy and health workers have provided him with condoms, lubricants and information about safe sex so he does not infect his partners.

But now he had gone two weeks without medication. To get it, he would have to go to a public hospital, and he said he fears retribution.

"In this environment, it's not safe to be a known gay man in the open," he said.

Each week a patient is off his antiretroviral drugs, the virus grows more crippling - what doctors call a "viral rebound."

"These interruptions in treatment are very dangerous," said Naamara of the U.N. program, known as UNAIDS.

Boris Dittrich, the advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's LGBT division, said that "homophobic rhetoric from government officials will only drive already vulnerable populations underground. The government should reassure all Tanzanians they are protected from harm."

Homosexuality is criminalized in at least 76 countries, and at least 33 of them are in Africa, according to the U.N. Free & Equal campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. In many African countries, homosexuality is seen as a Western phenomenon, imported by aid groups. The U.S. government has dissuaded political leaders from interfering with HIV/AIDS treatment, but American condemnation of anti-gay practices often has fallen on deaf ears.

In Tanzania, the 29-year-old man recalled his first thought when he received his AIDS diagnosis: "This is the end of me." But medical treatment subsequently restored his health.

In recent weeks, however, he has returned to a sense of doom, he said. "Under this pressure, what can we do now?"
Kathryn "Kay" Clement, 88, was an advocate for city parks and an open lakefront. (Family photo)

Kathryn "Kay" Clement was a quintessential Hyde Park resident who was concerned about her community and her city, especially its parks and politicians.

Clement was an advocate for city parks and an open lakefront even before Friends of the Parks was created. She was active in Democratic politics from local races to presidential campaigns that stretched from Adlai Stevenson to Walter Mondale.

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"She was an activist for her community and the city, politically and environmentally," said Erma Tranter, who led Friends of the Parks from 1981 to 2014.

In the 1960s, Clement and others opposed a plan by then-mayor Richard J. Daley to reroute Lake Shore Drive through Jackson Park and across Wooded Island to connect to the Chicago Skyway, Tranter said.

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"Kay and others literally tied themselves to trees," Tranter said. "They were out there for days and days."

Clement, 88, died of natural causes Nov. 15 at home in Hyde Park, where she had lived for 67 years, according to her son John.

Born Kathryn Gosseye in Bellaire, Ohio, she grew up in Steubenville, Ohio. She attended what was then Our Lady of Cincinnati College in Cincinnati, but left before graduating after her mother became ill.

After working for a short time as a reporter for the Herald-Star newspaper in Steubenville, she came to Chicago in 1949 for a job as a flight attendant with United Airlines.

"It was sort of a glamour job back then," her son said. "She was a small-town girl trying to get to the big city."

She met James Clement on a blind date and the two were married in 1952. Clement, who died in 2002, was an adviser to Adlai Stevenson when Stevenson was governor of Illinois. Kay Clement's first involvement in presidential politics began with her work on Stevenson's 1956 run for president.

Her involvement with presidential campaigns continued as chair of Illinois volunteers for John Kennedy in the 1960s, and in 1968 for Robert Kennedy. In 1972, her son said she was part of the Illinois delegation for George McGovern at the Democratic National Convention, where her delegation unseated Daley and his delegates.

She was active in local campaigns, including all of longtime Illinois politician Dawn Clark Netsch's campaigns, Dan Walker's gubernatorial run and Carol Moseley Braun's campaigns, from her first run for state representative in 1978 to her 1992 election as the first African-American woman to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

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Closer to home, she was a strong supporter of 5th Ward Chicago Ald. Leslie Hairston.

"She was active in my first campaign and every campaign after that," said Hairston, now in her fourth term. "She taught me about the parks, introduced me to the Park District and Friends of the Parks and all the issues people care about."

Hairston said the two would sometimes get together over glasses of wine. "She did it all," Hairston said. "She raised money, she knocked on doors, she wrote letters and made phone calls."

Her devotion to protecting Chicago parks and beaches was unwavering, Tranter said. Those early efforts by Clement and others in Jackson Park eventually led to a lakefront protection ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council in 1973.

Clement was a longtime member and board member of Friends of the Parks, begun in 1975, and also did some development work for the organization, Tranter said.

In 1993, Clement was one of 100 women who were recognized through a public arts project that placed 100 3-foot limestone rocks throughout downtown, identifying the contribution each woman had made to Chicago's history, according to her son. In 2003, she was presented the Community Service Award by the South East Chicago Commission "in recognition of and with gratitude for exemplary service to the people of the Hyde Park-Kenwood community."

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"She was quite amazing," Tranter said, "a force for good in Chicago."

In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter, Kim; her other sons Adam and Peter; a brother, Marvin Gosseye; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Another daughter, Jill, died in 1992.

A celebration of her life is planned for spring.

Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
The attorney general has banned Elite Supplies from doing business in North Dakota.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued a cease and desist order against Krystle Lester and her Anaheim, Calif.,- based business due to alleged violations of consumer fraud law.

Lester is believed to have been involved in an invoice scam, deceiving businesses into overpaying for copier toner that they never ordered or received. The scheme involves sending unsolicited invoices to businesses requesting payment.

Based on complaints, Lester is believed to have targeted libraries, but may have also targeted care facilities and professional offices.

When contacted, Lester allegedly told the Consumer Protection Division she had deleted all records pertaining to the North Dakota businesses.

Any suspicious incidents should be reported to the Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Division at 800-472-2600 or 701-328-3404.
Katie Flaherty, pictured here with her creation "Good Things Come In Green Boxes," won first place in the business category at the Arlington Historical Museum's 2016 Festival of the Wreaths. (Karen Ann Cullotta / Pioneer Press)

A beloved east coast tradition has traveled to the village for the second year in a row, as the Arlington Heights Historical Museum celebrates its 2016 Festival of the Wreaths.

The friendly, artistic competition, which raises money for the museum through a silent auction bidding on the wreaths and sponsorships, kicked off in September with an array of wreath-making workshops for residents offered at the museum, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library and local retailer Lucky Junk, Festival of the Wreaths Chairwoman Betsy Kmiecik said.

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While a panel of judges has already awarded winners in several categories, Kmiecik said residents can cast ballots on their favorite wreaths for the People's Choice Awards between 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the museum at 110 W. Fremont St.

"Last year, of the 78 wreaths we received, 73 were made by adults, and five were made by kids, but this year, the kids gave it the full-court press with 44 kids participating, and about 70 adults, Kmiecik said.

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Silent auction bidding and viewing of the wreaths will continue through Dec. 4, Kmiecik said, with all proceeds used to support the museum's collections and programs.

Arlington Heights resident Josephine Perez, 80, an artist and community volunteer, was awarded second place in two categories, including a wreath titled, "Thank You China," which she assembled from repurposed pages plucked from old books.

"I'm not getting into any international stuff here, but I found it interesting to learn that paper was invented in China," said Perez, an avid reader and former chairwoman of the Friends of the Library.

Katie Flaherty, the owner of Flaherty's Jewelers in downtown Arlington Heights, won first prize in the business category for her wreath carrying the theme, "Good Things Come in Green Boxes."

"My grandmother started the family business in 1947, so my wreath is trying to explain how a gift purchased at Flaherty Jewelers has been a presence at so many special occasions in town over the years," Flaherty said, pointing out boxes on the wreath holding a "Sweet 16" charm, a pair of pearl earrings and an engagement ring.

While Flaherty said the various pieces of jewelry displayed in the trademark green boxes embellishing the wreath she crafted are sterling silver with cubic zirconia, rather than diamonds, she said the estimated value of the collection is around $300, all of which will be delivered to the highest bidder.

"Making this wreath was a tribute to all of the customers who have been a part of families' lives for so long," Flaherty said.

For more details on the Festival of the Wreaths, visit:

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kcullotta@tribpub.com

Twitter @kcullotta
Arlington Heights police are urging residents to park their cars in their garages overnight after a string of random vandalism in recent weeks targeting vehicles in neighborhoods throughout the village. Surveillance footage from an Oct. 26 incident in the 2400 block of North Evergreen Avenue shows a car driving past a home. (Arlington Heights Police Department / Handout)

Arlington Heights police are urging residents to park their cars in their garages overnight after a string of random vandalism in recent weeks targeting vehicles in neighborhoods throughout the village.

Police are investigating several criminal damage to vehicle and property reports from multiple locations throughout the village involving incidents in which unknown individuals shattered windows and caused body damage on vehicles, as well as damaging windows to residences with BB gun pellets, Crime Prevention Officer Brandi Romag said Wednesday.

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"At this time, it appears property is being damaged at random," Romag said, adding that police have surveillance photos from an Oct. 26 incident in the 2400 block of North Evergreen Avenue.

In the photographs, a car can be seen in the street, driving past a home.

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"The (police department) recommends parking vehicles in a garage, if available, or moving your vehicle as far up your driveway as possible," Romag said, adding residents should report any suspicious vehicles, people or activity immediately by calling 911.

Eight reports of cars damaged by BB gun pellets were also reported to police between Nov. 13 and Nov. 14, with the incidents taking place across the village, running from south of Euclid Avenue, in the 300 block of north Gibbons Avenue, and north of Palatine Road, Romag said.

In all of the reports, residents woke up in the morning and discovered their cars had been damaged by BB gun pellets, either late at night or early in the morning, Romag said.

Anyone with information about this or any other serious crime in Arlington Heights should submit an anonymous text tip by texting the keyword 847AHPD and your message to 847411(tip411) or call Arlington Heights Crime Stoppers at 847-590-STOP. Callers are guaranteed anonymity and may qualify for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

kcullotta@tribpub.com

Twitter @kcullotta
The state historic tax credit program could be used to aid redevelopment of the Terminal Building at Galena Boulevard and Broadway in Aurora. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

Aurora alderman unanimously approved a resolution urging the General Assembly to continue a program that gives tax credits for redeveloping older and historic properties.

The City Council urged the legislature to take this last chance, during the veto session, to pass House Bill 3566 and Senate Bill 1642, which would reauthorize the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Program through 2022.

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The original program was designed for older Illinois cities with substantial parts of their downtowns along rivers: Aurora, Elgin, Rockford, East St. Louis and Peoria.

It allows those cities to create redevelopment zones along the river and throughout the downtown where state tax credits are available for redevelopment of historic properties.

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Both Democrats and Republicans have supported legislation to reauthorize the program, and have pushed for it throughout the year. The program expires at the end of the year.

From this area, state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, has signed onto the Senate bill, as has state Sen. Karen McConnaughay, R-St. Charles. On the House side, state Reps. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, and Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, are supporting the reauthorization.

Aurora was one of the first cities to take advantage of the program and was the first city to seek and receive an expansion of its original zone.

Expansion of the redevelopment zone is what allowed Aurora to use the program for the $25 million renovation of the former St. Charles Hospital on Galena Boulevard near Lincoln Avenue on the Near East Side.

The project, spearheaded by VeriGreen Residential Development of Chicago, provides independent senior living apartments in a restored historic building.

It includes $18 million in private funding but could not have been done without federal and state historic tax credits and loans from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, and the city of Aurora, using the city's authority provided by another federal program, city officials said.

The building has begun pre-leasing its renovated apartments already and is due to open in December.

Rick Guzman, Aurora assistant chief of staff, pointed out to the council that the St. Charles project had about a $3 million gap in financing, and filled that with the tax credits available through the redevelopment zone program.

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"It would not have been possible without state tax credits," he said.

Other cities that are part of the redevelopment zone program have had similar stories to tell the legislature. In Rockford, the state tax credits contributed to renovation of the historic Peacock Brewery on the Rock River, which created 110 construction jobs. The brewery now contributes $341,419 in income tax to the community, officials said.

In Aurora, Guzman said the tax credits could help redevelop such downtown buildings as the Hobbs Building at Galena Boulevard and River Street, the Terminal Building at Galena and Broadway, the Galena Hotel on Galena, and the former West Aurora School District building at River and Benton Street.

Alderman Rick Mervine, 8th Ward, said support for the program has to come from more than a council resolution.

"This is one of those residents need to get behind," he said. "A phone call, an e-mail  this is something we can benefit from a lot."

slord@tribpub.com
From left to right, Aurora Fire Department Battallion Chief Dan Osman, Lt. Jason Equi, Firefighter/Paramedic Jeff Kerley, Firefighter/Paramedic Matt Acuff and Firefighter Dan Murphy, five of the six named 2016 Firefighters of the Year in Aurora. At right is Aurora Deputy Fire Chief John Gilbert. (Aurora Fire Department)

A group of Aurora firefighters has been honored for a water rescue after a car went into a retention pond over the summer.

The Aurora Exchange Club has named Battalion Chief Dan Osman, Lt. Jason Equi, Firefighter Dan Murphy and Firefighter-Paramedics Jeff Kerley, Matt Acuff and Matrin Valenzula as the Firefighters of the Year in Aurora for 2016 for their actions during the water rescue in June.

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The award winners are chosen after the Exchange Club solicits nominations from the fire department for firefighters who demonstrated exemplary service during the previous year, according to a news release from the fire department.

At 8 a.m. June 19, Aurora firefighters responded to an industrial area on the 300 block of Marshall Avenue for an occupied vehicle in a retention pond. They found Aurora police officers and a civilian in the pond, trying to turn a Nissan Maxima upright so they could get to two men trapped inside, officials said.

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They got the car turned over. Osman, Murphy, Acuff and Kerley entered the water "without hesitation and regard for their personal safety" and started trying to free the two men, according to the news release.

Although the car was upright again, the front end and passenger compartment were still completely submerged, making it impossible to see the two men inside, officials said.

"The firefighters had to rely on their sense of touch in the extremely murky water in order to locate the trapped men," according to the news release.

Murphy on the driver's side and Osman on the passenger side reached through the windows and used knives to cut the seat belts, freeing the men, according to the news release. Both were unconscious and not breathing.

Murphy and Osman passed the men off to waiting firefighters and paramedics on the shore. Equi and Valenzuela assisted on the call, according to the news release.

The passenger, Dawa Tamang, 48, of the 300 block of Westpark Avenue, Aurora, died that night, police said. He was apparently teaching a 33-year-old relative, who survived, how to drive in a parking lot, the Beacon-News previously reported.

The younger man was apparently trying to park in a spot near the pond at 7:55 a.m. when the car suddenly accelerated, drove over some bushes and into the pond, police previously said. The two men were trapped in the car in about four to eight feet of water for about 10 minutes, according to police.

A 50-year-old Aurora man who witnessed the crash was already in the pond when Aurora police got there. Three officers jumped in and tried several times to open the car's doors or break its windows, police said. When those efforts failed, the officers and witness worked together to flip the car upright, according to police.

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Then the Aurora Fire Department's Dive Team arrived.

"The firefighters and paramedics on scene worked under tremendous pressure to save the lives of the two men," Aurora Fire Chief Gary Krienitz said in the fire department's news release. "Because of their efforts, one victim survived with minimal long-term effects. Unfortunately, the other man passed away and our condolences go out to his family. While the efforts of everyone were truly heroic, Dan Osman, Jason Equi, Dan Murphy, Matt Acuff, Jeff Kerley, and Martin Valenzuela clearly demonstrated courage and dedication in the face of danger under adverse conditions without concern for their personal safety."

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
With Michael Luciano's sentencing hearing concluding on its third day Wednesday, Kane County Judge Linda Abrahamson announced she would rule in February on the convicted murderer's sentence for a second killing in Aurora.

Abrahamson, who is among a handful of judges to oversee Luciano's case since he was indicted in 2007 on murder charges in two slayings, made it clear she would need time to sort through numerous pages of trial and other transcripts, as well as information provided during the sentencing hearing. Her ruling is scheduled for Feb. 8.

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Luciano, who turned 44 on Saturday, is serving 38 years in prison for the 1989 shooting death of Willie Arce. He was subsequently convicted for his part in the Halloween 1990 death of rival gang member Albert "Psycho" Gonzalez. Luciano was arrested in both cases as part of the Operation First Degree Burn sweep nearly a decade ago that nabbed multiple suspected gang members in several cold-case killings.

Luciano's conviction for ordering Gonzalez's killing initially earned him an automatic life sentence under Illinois law covering defendants found guilty of two murders. However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law unconstitutional in cases involving juveniles. Luciano was only 16 when he shot Arce and was less than a month from his 18th birthday when Gonzalez died of gunshot wounds fired into his home by gang members on orders from Luciano. The Second District Appellate Court vacated Luciano's sentence in the Gonzalez case and ordered a new hearing in Kane County.

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Prosecutors argued for Luciano to remain behind bars for life, dismissing the notion he had become a changed man in the 10 years before his arrests. They featured the testimony from an Illinois Department of Corrections official who detailed Luciano's continued gang involvement as an enforcer for prison chapters of the organization.

Luciano's attorney, in court and in supporting documents, contends a difficult upbringing put Luciano on a path to trouble as a youth. His father, Angel "Doc" Luciano, led a gang during the late 1980s and early '90s, which landed Michael Luciano in the middle of a violent gang culture. On Tuesday, Luciano's mother spoke of how she tried to make life better for all her children by moving out of Aurora but that her son ultimately decided he wanted to live with his father during his teen years.

Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
At times over the past 10 years, Imperial stormtroopers have been sighted in the prairie on Fermilab's Batavia campus.

Aliens have been spotted sitting around a Fermilab conference room-turned-cantina, and visitors to the physics lab's weekend public talks might have run into characters straight out of a "Star Wars" movie.

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In fact, they were straight out of a "Star Wars" movie. Darren Crawford, an engineering physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, has been working on his fan film since January 2006, filming parts on Fermilab's campus and in the Fox Valley and working with actors and crew drawn partly from among lab employees.

Now complete, Crawford's 58-minute movie, "Forgotten Realm," will premiere at Fermilab days before the latest official movie, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," is released.

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Fermilab Accelerator Operator Duane Newhart gets into character as a member of the Empire in a scene from the fan film Star Wars: Forgotten Realm. (Fermilab / Handout)

"I hope they're entertained," Crawford, 49, said. "I hope 'Star Wars' fans will see this and it will remind them of when they first saw 'Star Wars.'"

Crawford, who lives in Yorkville, describes himself as a "huge" fan of "Star Wars." "Episode IV," the beginning of the franchise, came out on his 10th birthday, and he's been hooked ever since.

He began working on the film when his wife suggested he find a hobby. When he started, he didn't know new official "Star Wars" movies would eventually be released. He also didn't think it would take him 10 years to finish the project.

Crawford's movie takes place between episodes three and four in the series, 10 years after the beginning of the clone wars. A young rebellion has started, and the Empire is trying to quash it.

The cast and crew filmed scenes in Fermilab's prairie, underground spaces and old service buildings. Fermilab's central building, Wilson Hall, became the Imperial Palace.

Some scenes were filmed on Waubonsee Community College's Sugar Grove campus, and the crew used filming and editing equipment at the Fox Valley Television studios on Waubonsee's campus. Fermilab employees work rotating weekend shifts, and they had to line up their off weekends to film, Crawford said.

Cast and crew members work on Darren Crawford's Star Wars fan film, "Forgotten Realm." (Fermilab / The Beacon-News)

About half of Crawford's volunteer cast of 88 were from Fermilab, he said. The Midwest Garrison, the Illinois chapter of a Star Wars costuming club, also participated, and an R2-D2 operator  with an R2-D2 robot  heard about the filming and volunteered the robot, Crawford said. The cast and crew put together other costumes from thrift-store purchases, and pulled what Crawford said were authentic "Star Wars" sound effects from a website.

Crawford's wife, who he said is not a "Star Wars" fan, and two daughters are also in the movie, along with other volunteers' children, he said. One daughter, now 15, played a young Princess Leia when she was 5.

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To film one scene, about a dozen stormtroopers took to a Fermilab prairie. As the crew filmed, drivers stopped along a nearby road to watch, Crawford said.

"Everybody loves 'Star Wars,'" he said. "It's part of the American lexicon."

The Walt Disney Studios, which owns many of the rights to the "Star Wars" franchise, did not return a request for comment.

The Dec. 10 movie premiere will include a talk from a Fermilab scientist, who will discuss the science behind light sabers and the Death Star, and a talk from a Fermilab astrophysicist about the possibility in our universe of hyperspace, the "Star Wars" alternate dimension through which starships cross space faster than the speed of light. The event is full.

An Imperial stormtrooper works the desk in Fermilab's Wilson Hall. (Fermilab / The Beacon-News)

"It's just fun," Fermilab spokesman Andre Salles said.

Afterward, Crawford said he is considering taking the movie to festivals or conventions, and it will be available on Facebook.

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This might not be the end of Crawford's filmmaking career. He said his production company, Liquid Quiche Productions, could work on original movies next, he said.

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

Twitter @srfreish
Three people were injured after a crash involving three vehicles early Wednesday in Crete Township, according to Will County sheriff's office officials.

Apostles F. Collaros, 52, of Dyer, was traveling westbound about 12:45 a.m. on Exchange Street when the incident happened, the statement said.

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Collaros was driving a 2007 Chevy Silverado, which allegedly hit a 2003 Ford Explorer, then struck a Ford Excursion, according to the statement.

Collaros was transported to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights and later airlifted to another hospital in critical condition where he underwent surgery, the statement said.

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"Crete fire personnel advised deputies that he sustained a head injury and internal bleeding," the statement said.

The 61-year-old Cedar Lake, Ind., man driving the Explorer was uninjured, even though his vehicle rolled over after the crash, according to Kathy Hoffmeyer, spokeswoman for the Will County sheriff.

Two men in the Excursion were transported to St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee, she said. The driver, a 31-year-old man from Crete, had a broken wrist, and the passenger, a 27-year-old man from Riverdale, had pains in his chest, the statement said.

Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Kirkwood Mall wont open its main area to Thanksgiving Day shoppers, though several of its tenants will continue the trend.

J.C. Penney customers can get Turkey Day deals starting at 3 p.m.

General Manager Thomas Dennis said he doesnt know of any other big-box stores in Bismarck-Mandan that will be closed, with the exception of Scheels.

It would be kind of a miss for our customers, and at the end of the day we do what works best for customers, said Dennis, adding that if the store were to close, customers would likely make their purchases somewhere else.

J.C. Penney compensates employees for their time spent away from family with double pay and tries to fill the schedule on a volunteer basis, making extra scheduling accommodations, including more flexible shifts.

Dennis expects deals on small appliances, a home theater system and other electronics, including drones and virtual reality glasses, to be popular at J.C. Penney this year.

Mall owner CBL & Associates Properties Inc. announced it wont open the main mall doors until 6 a.m. on Black Friday at its shopping centers nationwide. Anchor stores, such as Target, have external doors and will be able to open whenever they choose.

CEO Stephen Lebovitz told CNBC that many CBL tenants have realized opening on Thanksgiving Day only spreads sales over another day rather than adding to total sales.

Dennis said J.C. Penney is not one of those experiencing the spread in spending. The store has seen additional sales by being open a day early and response has been positive, with customers lining up outside ready to shop. He said he knows of other retailers within the mall that would have liked to be open for Thanksgiving, too.

In 2015, 47 of Kirkwood Malls retailers opened their doors. Among the handful that stayed closed were two anchor stores: Scheels and I. Keating Furniture World.

Menards is another that wont open its doors until 6 a.m. Friday, something general manager Brian Frank said he and his employees appreciate.

Im happy were closed so employees can take time to spend with family. Well be busy enough through the holiday season, he said.

Frank said Menards stays busy every year with a line extending beyond the wooden fence of the lumberyard. He said rather than trying to cram all of their shopping into one day, customers seem to have spread it out over several.

This year, Frank decided to display some of the stores big-ticket items early, such as a gun safe and a tool bench, giving people a chance to look at them before the mad panic of Black Friday.
A holiday in the hospital can deaden one's soul.

It doesn't matter if you're a patient or a visitor. It doesn't matter how kind and caring the nurses are. The fluorescent lights, the dry air, the hushed conversations and the specter of suffering are oppressive.

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That's how it felt to be with my grandfather in a Springfield hospital for a weekend earlier this year. As he drifted to sleep, I realized I should probably find a place to do the same. The thought of staying in a similarly sterile hotel made me nauseous.

So, I pulled out my phone.

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The Airbnb app helped me find a cheap room in a house nearby. I was greeted by a woman who told me of her own struggles with sick family members. She reassured me that things would be OK and then made me some tea.

The next morning I woke up ready to be a good grandson.

Home-sharing services such as Airbnb can be a great way for consumers to find boarding on short notice and for homeowners to make extra money. But like so much else in Illinois, government is getting in the way.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel thought he knew what was best for city visitors and homeowners when he signed a 58-page ordinance severely limiting home-sharing in June.

The hotel industry shelled out thousands of dollars to city officials to secure their support for the measure.

The ordinance slaps a new tax on homeowners who home-share, forces a new limit on the number of units per building where hosts can rent through home-sharing services, and sets a new mandate dictating that hosts keep records on guests.

Those are just the parts that are understandable. Many aspects of the ordinance are so vague or dense that no average homeowner could grasp the meaning without a lawyer. Even then, a lawyer could only guess.

The new regulations pose a serious problem for Chicagoans, such as Alonso Zaragoza. The 37-year-old Windy City librarian purchased his first piece of property in April, a three-flat on Chicago's southwest side. Zaragoza wants to rent out the first floor apartment on Airbnb.

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Why? To help pay for a spike in his property-tax bill.

Emanuel's record-breaking property tax hike is costing Zaragoza an additional $250 a month. But since Zaragoza doesn't live in the building he owns, he won't be able to rent out the room under the new ordinance.

"If [the city] doesn't give us the legal option to do things the right way, people are going to try to find other ways to survive," Zaragoza said.

He stressed the value of bringing tourists to the whole city, not just its commercial core, as well as the flexibility and affordability of home-sharing services.

"There are a lot of hotels but they are not affordable," he said. "And they're all downtown. When you're traveling it's nice to be able to see the city as it is. Downtown is not the city. It's just downtown."

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Zaragoza is one of a few homeowners fighting the city for the right to rent. The Liberty Justice Center, or LJC, and the Goldwater Institute are helping Zaragoza and others sue the city to strike down the ordinance. The LJC is the litigation partner of the Illinois Policy Institute. Goldwater is an Arizona-based nonprofit that focuses on protecting constitutional rights.

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The home-sharing crackdown in Chicago might not seem like a problem for the rest of the state. But history indicates Chicago is a testing ground for statewide stupidity when it comes to innovative new services.

A bill pushed by the Chicago taxi lobby nearly killed ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft statewide in 2014.

Illinois lawmakers should ensure local bureaucrats quit meddling with basic property rights. They can take a page from Arizona. State politicians there passed a law in May that stops local governments from banning short-term rentals.

Just another reason Illinoisans should look south for the winter.

As I learned in Springfield with my grandfather, home is where the heart is. Even if it's not your own.

Austin Berg is a writer for the Illinois Policy Institute. He wrote this column for the Illinois News Network, a project of the Institute.
Mary Pierce says she and co-owner Krissy Palermo see a big boost in sales at their Soulful Sparrow boutique in downtown Elgin on Small Business Saturday. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

Holiday gift-buying at local merchants is the mantra for Small Business Saturday this weekend in Elgin, the Dundee area and pretty much anywhere there are mom-and-pop shops to be found.

Facing the blurring timeframes of big retailers offering Thursday-into-Black Friday specials and web businesses having Cyber Monday (or other day) deals for Christmas season shopping, since 2010, in conjunction with a promotional effort started by credit card company American Express, towns across the country have been working to draw consumers to small, independent neighborhood stores on the Saturday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. According to the American Express website, last year 95 million people went to shop at small businesses on that Saturday to visit about 1.3 million participating merchants.

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Small businesses are revitalizing Elgin, Jason Pawlowski, director of marketing and special events for the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce, said.

To promote Small Business Saturday in Elgin's downtown, Downtown Neighborhood Association Executive Director Deirdre White noted the organization held an open house Nov. 10 to tout the event. The DNA's "Shop Small Business Saturday in Elgin" Facebook page holds posts from city merchants, White said.

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Those postings include Gail's Sales  the volunteer run book shop at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave.  having all books marked at half-price that day. The Martini Room, 161 E. Chicago St., will be giving patrons 15 percent off their bar tabs Saturday, while Dog's Paw Brewing, 74 S. Grove Ave., will be taking 20 percent off meal and drink purchases.

While grateful for and participating in Small Business Saturday, Rediscover Records, 9 S. Spring St., owner Rich Wagner said the day, "is not that big of deal, but the day before (Small Business Saturday) is Black Friday Record Store Day. That is a big deal."

Wagner said Black Friday Record Store Day is not as busy as the Record Store Day in April, "but it is a modified version of the April event. We'll open at 8 a.m. with some exclusive releases, which should be up on our website and Facebook pages by Thursday."

While the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is very big for bars, Friday also is expected to bring out revelers recovering from big meals and family feuds. As one example, Shirley Bassett co-owner of the I.C.E nightclub, 30 DuPage Court, has posted an online video for a dance step-off contest with a $500 prize for the winners Friday night at the downtown Elgin establishment, which is geared toward a 30-and-older crowd.

Outside of downtown, other Elgin businesses also are taking part in the promotion.

Kay Morrisroe, owner of the HospitaliTea Shop in the State Street Market, 701 N. State St. (Route 31), said the day is about "connecting with the community on a personal level. Small businesses offer customized care. I'm able to provide what the customers want and not what I think they should need."

Several Dundee area stores are offering promotions in honor of Small Business Saturday, too.

Clare Srajer, who runs Around the Corner Candy, 99 W. Main St. in West Dundee, with her cousin, Austin Arendt, said they will be offering discounts such as 20 to 30 percent off of snow globes and other select merchandise.

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They have also been promoting the small business shopping holiday on the candy store's Facebook page.

"As far as shopping small goes, you're helping your community come together and building relationships with your clients," Srajer said. "You aren't supporting just a big corporate business. You're creating jobs and supporting families. The interaction is more personable and small businesses often give back to the community."

Small businesses can also contribute to a healthy local economy.

"It's more money staying in the community rather than going into a corporate guy's pocket," Srajer said.

West Dundee's The Fox and the Filly boutique, 125 W. Main St., will celebrate by offering 20 percent off all outerwear, sweaters, cardigans, coats, ponchos and capes.

"Plus light refreshments and double points for our five-star rewards customers," said owner Hanan Hall.

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Lisa Opfer, owner of The Uncommon Palate in downtown East Dundee, will ring in Small Business Saturday with candy cane hot chocolate and in-store specials. The upscale specialty food and gift shop opened last spring at 316 River St.

Opfer said a movement in recent years has taken consumers away from impersonal big box retailers and introduced them to the people doing business in their very own cities.

"These are farmers, craftsmen, antiques dealers, gift shops and other product providers, with items made locally and sold on a small scale," she said.

Patrons to The Uncommon Palate will find wine by the glass, bottled craft beer, specialty hot and cold beverages, infused olive oils, honey, gourmet mustards, sea salt, pasta sauces, noodles, tapenades and spreads, as well as other grab and go gourmet snacks.

Opfer said there are other benefits to spending money locally besides the convenience.

"When you support local business, you get a better level of service as well as helping make your community a better place to live," she said. "This is in addition to the health benefits and access to unique products that you usually can't find with chain locations."

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Lael Miller and his wife, Connie, owners of Midwest Retro in East Dundee, rely on their customers to keep them going. Their store, 207 Barrington Ave., features vintage and shabby chic decor, antiques, furniture, lighting and artwork.

"Small businesses don't have a million locations," said Lael Miller, who also is East Dundee's village president. "Without the local community and the surrounding communities to support those types of businesses we dry up and go away."

Midwest Retro will celebrate Small Business Saturday by giving patrons 10 percent off on gift card purchases "which they can use as a gift or save 10 percent on a gift card and turn around and spend it on themselves," Miller said.

Erin Sauder and Gloria Casas are freelance reporters for The Courier-News.

mdanahey@tribpub.com
Comment about Kaepernick: Isn't it refreshing that Colin Kaepernick, the guy who wouldn't stand for the national anthem, didn't bother to vote? This guy doesn't like the way the country is run, but he didn't bother to vote.

Flawed candidate: This is about the presidential election. I think the reason why Donald Trump won, and I am a Trump supporter, is because Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate. The media is shell-shocked, and they deserve to be shell-shocked. The Clintons had to go, and I think the American public told them so. I think Trump will do a good job.

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Acceptance needed: Regarding the protests in Chicago and other cities, the election is over. Donald Trump is our president-elect. We need to accept that along with hoping and praying that it will work out well for us.

Deceptive justification: Medical marijuana is just a ploy to legalize pot for recreational purposes. It's just like when abortion became legal in 1973 with the stipulation that it would only be practiced in cases of rape, incest and a woman's health crisis. Sixty million abortion cases later, the truth is spoken. It is a woman's right to choose.

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Holy days and holidays: Would it be a shock or a welcome surprise if The Beacon-News put in a politically incorrect news story about Christmas? It would blow my mind. They should begin the article by separating holidays from holy days. Christmas is a holy day. It glorifies the birth of Christ over 2,000 years ago. The country honors it by closing shops nationwide, and businesses profit by it.

Roused about rioting: I want to talk about the people who are rioting. When President Obama was elected, I did not riot. This is a democratic country. If the people who elected Obama got their way last time, why can't they let somebody else get their way this time? What's with the rioting? Will they change things? I don't think so. They will just wreck their own neighborhood.

A note about the vote: Hillary Clinton would be the president today if the groups that felt intimidated by a Donald Trump administration had voted. The majority would vote only if they had been paid to do so.

Turned off by Trump: I'm so upset about the presidential election. I don't know how people could be so dumb to vote for a demagogue like Donald Trump. He doesn't know anything and won't do anything. There are so many people, including relatives, I will never speak to again because they pushed for him. The churches said vote for Trump because he will do away with Roe vs. Wade. It doesn't work that way. He won't do anything about it. He will surround himself with people in the Cabinet who don't care about anything but themselves. The animals will especially suffer. Trump's kids kill animals for sport. Trump is wrong for this country. Hillary Clinton was better than this crazy fool.

Refine instead of redo: Donald Trump needs to realize he doesn't need to redo everything that President Obama did. There are some things that can just be refined. Think positive and accept Trump as our president.

Life without Obamacare: The Democrats and President Obama will do all they can in the upcoming months to scare Americans, especially Obamacare enrollees. Do people think that Donald Trump will suddenly make 20 million people go without insurance? He will give people competitive rates and cross state lines. It will be much better. Be patient. It still hurts a lot that he won. Please give him a chance.

Move forward: People of America, we need to stop hating one another because of the election. I did not vote for Donald Trump, but at the end of the day, he will become my president. I will try to be optimistic about what he does. The wrong thing is try to hurt someone because they voted for Trump. If we go that way, we take a giant step backward.

End sanctuary cities: I would like to know why Donald Trump cannot cut sanctuary cities like Chicago. All sanctuary cities should be let go. People need to know they must cross the borders legally.

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Election was rigged: Donald Trump had it right. The election was rigged. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Trump was declared the president. That sounds rigged to me.

Find common ground: This is about the caller who said people should have gotten off their butts and voted. That caller is right. We should accept who won, and you do have the right to protest but protest peacefully. We're not a Third World country. I will accept Donald Trump as my president. We need to move forward and find common ground. We don't want to destroy our country with all this dissension.

Correction on comment: I would like to correct a caller's comment. Money is not the root of all evil. Love of money is the root of all evil. It brings out greed and crime, but it cannot do anything on its own. Our reaction to money is where the problem lies.

Call for action: Donald Trump won, and protesters are still protesting. Where is our president? It's time for President Obama to act presidential. His silence is deafening.

Musing about city manager: Here goes the city of Elgin again. No mention in local publications regarding the big news program on Channel 2 about the Elgin city manager with his high salary and benefits. Now he wants to raise taxes. I think there should also be an investigation on the high salaries and benefits that are paid to the city employees.

Motive for migration: We never hear of people who immigrate to America from the Orient or India complain about being disadvantaged minorities. They did not come here for handouts. They came for education and careers. They take pride in being self-sufficient.

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Need for change: Hillary Clinton promised to carry on what President Obama did. That's why she lost the election. We might be better off with Donald Trump. Clinton did not see the need for change, but the American voters did.

Takers and givers: In America, the people who are bent on destroying our system are the takers and not the givers. That is why the Republican Party is hated. The takers want to see the Democrats in power forever. They are the tax-and-spend party. Illinois is a good example.

High hospital costs: I recently had a procedure done in an area hospital. To what we hear about what funerals cost, the hospital charged enough for 40 funerals. Here I sit with a stack of bills and not enough money left for a cremation.

Editor's note

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.
Former Naperville Central High School students Shelly and Sheal Patel drove out from Chicago Thursday morning to participate in the 19th annual Naperville Noon Lions Club Turkey Trot. (David Sharos / Naperville Sun)

Batavia resident Justin Basi and his wife, Laura, have a long-standing tradition on Thanksgiving Day. While others might be taking the turkey out of the fridge to get it up to room temperature or perhaps setting the table, the Basi couple elect to get out and burn a few calories first in Naperville.

"Going for a run in the morning gets the circulation going and makes for a guilt-free Thanksgiving," Justin Basi said. "Once this is over, you're ready to tackle whatever the day brings."

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A record number of 7,800 people registered to participate Thursday in the 19th annual Naperville Noon Lions Club Turkey Trot  a 5-kilometer walk and run that Bob Hull, publicity chairman, said was expected to net about $195,000 this year as the organization's largest fundraiser.

"This continues to be a family tradition for hundreds of people, and I think it has grown as the word has gotten out that it's a well-run, fun event," Hull said. "A lot of kids from college come back and want to go out for a run before the big meal."

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Hull said that about 80 percent of those in the Turkey Trot "belong to a family" that is running together and that two-thirds are repeat participants.

This year's race was again sponsored by Naperville Running Co., which picked up a new partner, Brooks, maker of running performance gear.

Sarah Velasco, of Lombard, said she came to the event for the first time Thursday and was planning to work as a volunteer.

"I used to like to run, but I blew my knee out, and now I'm working here to prevent people from cheating," Velasco said, adding that she and others were going to watch a corner of the course where some runners cut across and shave off time. "I don't mind that I'm not running. I'm happy just to be a cop."

Sisters Anne Marie Carpico, of Skippack, Pa., and Theresa Herrera, of Naperville, each said this was the first time running in the Turkey Trot, and both saw it as a good way to start the day.

"We have runs like this out in Pennsylvania where I live, but not as big as this one," Carpico said.

"I'm not good at running at all, but I still want to keep up with my racing," Herrera said. "I like to race, and 5K races are my favorite, but this is just something I thought would be fun to do."

Families  like Russell Swanson; his wife, Yadi; and their two sons, Leo, 3, and Eli, 1 1/2  came to the race. The couple from Homer Glen were armed with a stroller and said they did have to wake sleeping children Thursday morning.

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"We wanted to start a tradition of doing this every year," Yadi Swanson said. "We talked about whether we would do this and get the boys up if it was really cold, and decided we would unless there was rain or snow."

"I'm an avid runner, and I also like the idea of us establishing a tradition," Russell Swanson added.

Runners included those going solo as well as others pushing kids in strollers. For the second year, a costume contest was held with many electing to don eclectic Thanksgiving apparel ranging from turkey hats to dressing up as various side dishes that appear on a traditional Thanksgiving table.

Sheal and Shelly Patel, former students at Naperville Central High School now living in Chicago, said they were back in town to meet up with friends and family and didn't mind getting up around 5 a.m. to drive out from the city. Sheal Patel was sporting a holiday hat.

"This is my first Turkey Trot race, and I heard there was a costume contest, so why not wear something festive?" Sheal Patel said. "I'm going to be cooking the turkey later, so I'm going to wear this as my chef's hat."

Joe Grinnip, of Bolingbrook, had his entire family decked out in turkey hats.

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"I thought it would be fun just to have everyone dress up," Grinnip said as one of his daughters, 11-year old Madeline, grimaced. "I saw these at Target and got one for everybody. Costumes are part of the fun."

Organizers also honored Lions member Dick Griffith, 91, of Naperville, for his service in the Army in World War II. Griffith said he was surprised about the recognition and reflected on Thanksgivings he spent while in the service.

"The food then was pretty good if the kitchen caught up with the line," Griffith said. "Often the front lines were so far ahead, and the kitchen crew didn't always catch up."

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

Turkey Trot winners

Male: Dominic Dina, Naperville, first place, 15:29; Mitch Gilbert, Naperville, second place, 15:35; Omar Gomez, Aurora, third place, 15:36.

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Female: Judy Pendergast, Naperville, first place, 17:57; Lisa Tertsch, Naperville, second place, 17:57; Kinber Meyer, Naperville, third place, 18:26.
In 35 years on the job with the North Shore's principal fire/emergency medical services dispatching system, 14 at the helm, Jim Clausen's seen some major changes. They're continuing in his last month before he retires from Regional Emergency Dispatch at the end of November.

The network, which has served North Shore communities since 1977, could have started unraveling under a 2015 state law that requires communities under 25,000 to have all their emergency dispatching done by consolidated services by Jan. 1. That means those towns now served by RED for emergency medical services and fire, but still doing their own police calls, might be tempted to move their entire systems into a consolidating operation handing both police and fire calls.

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But that's not happening so far.

This month, three of those towns moved their police dispatching systems to Glenview Public Safety Dispatch, while keeping their fire/EMS in Northbrook-based RED.

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The reason, said A.C. Buehler, who leads the board of municipal officials that govern RED, is that RED is the best in the state at filling that niche.

RED's coverage, Buehler said, is a lot harder to replicate than police dispatching. Suburban police, he said, roll on many prosaic missions, including car break-ins and house lock-outs.

Fire departments, however, "usually deal with your worst day, ever, from a heart attack to a fire."

And there's not much reason to move on from RED, Clausen said, "probably due to the fact that we dispatch for statewide EMS and fire, and specialized teams, for tornadoes, and flooding throughout the state."

RED also has been the headquarters for rescue missions that Illinois has sent beyond its borders, including the ones that went to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

"The process went on for six weeks, with three different deployments down to Katrina," Clausen remembered. "We mobilized over 900 firefighter/paramedics and over 200 pieces of equipment, that all traveled down to New Orleans."

Clausen, hired in 1981 as a dispatcher, was the senior man on the job when elevated to director about 20 years later. The former director, Jim Tuma, had quit to run the Glenview dispatch operation. RED was displaced from the old Glenview Road fire station where it had operated for decades, but had planned an eventual move to expand and update. Clausen was promoted to lead RED in a new building attached to Northbrook's Fire Station 12 at 1840 Shermer Road.

The RED plans were excoriated by some in the new Glenview system for unnecessary spending, but the cost of the building wound up being covered by $1.8 million in Illinois First Funds in 2002.

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RED now handles the fire and EMS for Northbrook, Deerfield, Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Northfield, Des Plaines, Park Ridge and Wheeling, plus the Deerfield-Bannockburn, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Long Grove, North Maine, and Prospect Heights fire protection districts, on a budget of $3.7 million, according to Clausen.

Glenview has since moved part of its operations to Highland Park, and last year handled police/fire/EMS dispatching of Grayslake, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Morton Grove and Niles on a budget of $5.7 million, covered by the member agencies, according to Glenview documents.

"We run pretty lean and mean," Clausen said.

Clausen has guided RED through various technological changes, including advances in computer-aided-dispatching and global positioning systems. He said the dispatchers and call-takers among his 26-person crew all know how to dispatch without any software, just in case of breakdowns.

The system carries three levels of electric power backups, he added: "We're very belt-and-suspenders around here."

Buehler, a Northbrook trustee, praised Clausen's work.

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"Losing Jim, I knew it was coming eventually, but I really didn't want to have to replace one of the best people at doing what he does," he said.

The Joint Chiefs  the fire chiefs of each RED town  will lead the search for Clausen's successor, Buehler said. That group will make a recommendation to Buehler's group of elected town representatives. Clausen's assistant, Chris Lienhardt, will serve as interim director, he said.

Clausen said he wanted to finally leave a job that has felt like 24-7, and, at 56, he wants to be a grandfather and "go out and play."

He remembers, as a dispatcher, guiding people through various emergencies, including home births.

"I remember one where the guy told me the baby had come out, and I told him, 'Tap it on the feet to get it to cry,'" Clausen recalled.

"But then the guy said, 'The head is still in.'

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"I said, 'Then don't do that.'"

ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @IrvLeavitt
East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland speaks to residents and concerned citizens during meeting Wednesday about the USS Lead Superfund site. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland told residents Wednesday the only way progress can be made to address contamination issues in the Calumet section of the city is by working together.

"We are family and we are in the same boat," Copeland said.

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Copeland met with residents at City Hall after scheduling a session with them when they went to his office last week asking to see him. The residents, organized as the Community Strategy Group, prepared a list of demands they saw the city should meet to aid those who live around the U.S.S. Lead Superfund site.

The mayor and residents struck a conciliatory tone by the end of the session, and Copeland said both the city and those affected by lead and arsenic contamination can collaborate to put pressure on state and federal agencies to provide assistance for East Chicago.

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The mayor said it's apparent the city and residents must come together and fight.

Copeland said his administration has put in thousands of hours dealing with the contamination situation and remained in contact with state and federal officials to help find resources to meet the needs of residents.

East Chicago officials listen on Wednesday as residents and concerned citizens bring up their list of demands about the USS Lead Superfund site. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

"The city of East Chicago alone can't solve this," Copeland said. "This is not easy. It's not going to be done with a wave of hand."

Copeland said he's had a number of conversations with Gov. Mike Pence's staff and Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb to discuss the challenges around the Superfund site and how the state can step in to help get federal money to assist residents.

During the meeting, city staff distributed a 12-page list of meetings Copeland has had with state and federal officials.

There's now been a change of administration at both the state and federal level, Copeland said, and that could bring in new people who will look at the city's needs with new eyes and hear concerns with new ears.

East Chicago officials listen on Wednesday as resident Melissa Lopez speaks about a list of demands concerning the USS Lead Superfund site. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

The Rev. Cheryl Rivera, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, said the residents are seeking Copeland as an ally and he's the best ally they could have.

"We know we're stronger together," Rivera said.

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The Community Strategy Group demanded last week that the Copeland declare a state of emergency for residents at the Superfund site; use the demolition money for the West Calumet Housing Complex to provide relocation services for residents; provide a means for residents to cover their health care costs; give homeowners the ability to relocate and recoup the value of their homes; make support available for senior, disabled and vulnerable residents; and give residents mental health assistance.

"The good thing is a lot of these issues are being addressed as we speak," Copeland said.

Copeland said the money being sought for demolition cannot be diverted to another program. He said that pot of federal money is strictly for demolition and the city is competing with other municipalities to get those funds.

East Chicago resident Ray Moseley speaks on Wednesday during a meeting concerning the USS Lead Superfund site. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

The mayor said, after listening to residents go through their demands, he heard them cite situations where the federal government has stepped up to fund the relief they are asking for.

Akeeshae Daniels said she thinks people were happy to meet with Copeland in person and share their concerns. She said she plans to do what she can so residents work with the mayor and city to address the issues in the Calumet section.

"I'm willing to work with him," Daniels said.

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clyons@post-trib.com

Twitter: @craigalyons
Do not play in the dirt or around the mulch signage in the West Calumet Complex housing units, in East Chicago, Ind., on Sept. 8, 2016. Residents of the West Calumet Complex must move out due to dangerously high lead level readings. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

As some East Chicago residents grapple with living on a large swath of toxic land, contaminated with high levels of lead and arsenic left behind by massive industrial factories, many also have turned to the courts seeking help and answers.

Frustrated by a relocation process that some feel has crept along too slowly, and a perceived lack of transparency, some East Chicago residents have filed a wave of litigation aimed at government agencies and the private companies they blame for the heavy pollution underneath their homes, court records show. The lawsuits are seeking monetary damages and to assign culpability, while others are aimed at giving residents a voice in their relocation and the clean-up process, court records show.

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To date, three lawsuits have been filed in federal court and one in Lake County Superior Court. The city has received six tort claim notices, a legal filing required before filing a lawsuit against a governmental agency.

"The governmental agencies and personnel, including mayors and governors, knew that more than 1,000 people were being exposed to these chemicals every day, but they did absolutely nothing about it," attorney Eric Pavlack, who is representing more than 250 residents, said in a statement. "Now, these families will be left to deal with the profound consequences of these officials' inaction and negligence the rest of their lives."

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While it's been common knowledge that effected areas, including the West Calumet Housing Complex, are on or near a federal Superfund site, the degree of contamination wasn't divulged to the public until last spring. That's when East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency test results found dangerously high levels of lead and arsenic in the soil. Copeland declared the more than 1,000 residents in the public housing complex would have to move.

Barely a month after Copeland told residents they would be relocated, the first lawsuit against city officials arrived at federal court, and claimed the city was negligent in not notifying West Calumet residents sooner of the lead issues at the site.

More than 250 individuals have submitted tort claim notices, legal filings required before submitting a lawsuit to a court, to the City of East Chicago, the city's Department of Public Health, Copeland, the East Chicago Housing Authority, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the State Department of Health, Gov. Mike Pence, and the Carrie Gosch Elementary School, according to court documents.

The pending lawsuits claim officials knew about the high levels of lead and arsenic in the ground but didn't properly inform residents. Each plaintiff is seeking the maximum of $700,000 in damages.

East Chicago officials had no comment on pending litigation.

Another class action suit claims government officials should have known about contamination at the former U.S.S. Lead site, according to court documents, and the city's plans to demolish the complex and relocate the tenants is discriminatory, according to court documents.

"Whenever there is some sort of disaster, there is inevitably a whole host of lawsuits about it," said Antony Page, professor and vice dean of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

City and state officials aren't alone in the litigation.

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A class action lawsuit filed by LeRithea Rolan and Lamottca Brooks, on behalf of the housing complex's residents, claims that Atlantic Richfield Company, DuPont and the Chemours Company should be responsible for the costs residents have incurred by being forced from their homes because of the lead and arsenic the now-demolished factories left in the ground.

The most recent filing, submitted last week to Lake County Superior Court, asked the court to award $100 million in damages to the residents because of decades of "negligent, recklessness and intentional release of dangerously large amounts of toxins into the environment."

Some lawsuits may be filed in hopes of forcing someone to take responsibility, Page said, and some litigants may want an apology and acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

"It isn't necessarily just money," Page said.

Beyond residents' claims of negligence, other filings have sought answers from the EPA and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to smooth the relocation and clean-up process.

Disasters affect where people live and their communities, Page said, and the legal system can help spur action from government agencies.

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"Using the legal system to have a voice in that absolutely makes sense," Page said.

Debbie Chizewer, of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law's Environmental Advocacy Clinic, which is assisting the residents, saidexternal pressurecan get a party to take action.

In the relocation's early stages, a group of residents, through the Shriver Center, complained to HUD that the process was broken, and not giving residents enough time or resources to find proper alternative housing outside of West Calumet.

HUD agreed to ensure all eligible West Calumet residents have access to relocation benefits, including housing vouchers; waiving any rent owed by residents from July 22 to March 31, or until their tenancy ends; and reimbursing rent paid for November.

A second filing, in the U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana, asked the court to give Calumet neighborhood residents a more effective voice in ongoing discussions between the EPA, the U.S. Justice Department and the two companies previously held responsible for contamination at the Superfund site. The motion said residents previously had been left out of the process, which has a tremendous effect on their daily lives, according to court documents.

David Chizewer, of Goldberg Kohn Ltd., which is representing the residents at no charge, said the court system is extremely powerful and open to people and it can be used to compel a large company or government agency to take action. Courts may require clean up oraward financial damages, he said.

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"The power of that legal system is brought to bear," Chizewer said.

clyons@post-trib.com

Twitter: @craigalyons
Remonstrators against a planned car lot and repair shop at the intersection of 117th Avenue and U.S. 41 helped sway the Lake County Council to deny approval of the requested zoning change despite a positive recommendation from county planners.

Paul Banter, with BBC Custom Homes Inc., had proposed the zoning change from R3 to B2 at 11703 Wicker Blvd. in Hanover Township so he could develop the site for a car lot and auto service center.

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"I have a potential tenant," Banter said in an appearance before the council for final approval of the zoning change.

Planners agreed 5-2 the county's comprehensive plan calls for the site to be commercial and the surrounding area has commercial uses included auto-related uses nearby. Councilman Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, who sits on the Plan Commission for the council, was one of the nay votes. He disagreed the project would fit the area.

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"I went out to this location and looked. I have definite concerns with this intersection," Strong said. "I think a business here could cause serious problems."

The site is at the southeast corner of the intersection with 117th Avenue and U.S. 41. An extended stay hotel is at the opposite corner.

Nearby property owners who appeared before the county council to oppose the plan said the intersection already is dangerous with multiple accidents occurring at the site.

Ed Prendergrast, whose home abuts the property, said he moved to Indiana to raise his family in a rural setting.

"I'm afraid this will ruin my area and bring my property values down. I will look out my window and have a car lot there," Prendergrast said.

Ray Hutchinson, who owns the neighboring extended stay motel, said the business has operated there for 80 years and the traffic situation has been horrible. He said another business on 117th Avenue that close to U.S. 41 also would be horrible.

Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, said the council is only being asked to approve the zone change, not the business itself. Any business would have to go through site plan approval. She questioned whether the council could deny the zone change because the comprehensive plan calls for the area to be commercial.

Ned Kovachevich, the county's planning director, said the petition has 30 days from the Nov. 15 meeting to appear the decision by the council with the courts. Because the council denied the zone change, the petitioner cannot appear before the plan commission with the same change request for a year. The petitioner can, however, request a different zone change for the site.

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Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Bill Jensen, big game management biologist for North Dakota Game and Fish Department, has some advice for hunters heading out for the deer opener.

Be ready to walk.

The department issued 49,000 licenses for this season. While thats 5,725 more than last year, its a far cry from the more than 100,000 that were issued annually from 2001 to 2011.

There are going to be fewer people walking and moving deer around, Jensen said. So, if you dont see deer, its not that they are not there. You are going to have to get out and walk. Some people try and road hunt. That can be effective, but, when you have fewer hunters on the landscape, it doesnt work so well.

Deer gun season begins Friday at noon and runs until Nov. 20. Bow season began in September and runs through January.

Jeremy Doan, one of the owners of Rolling Plains Adventures near Sterling, concurs with Jensens assessment of what it will take to get a deer this year. With about half of the corn crop still standing, along with high grass from a rainy summer, deer have plenty of places to hide, Doan said.

If theyre not out walking around, theyre not going to be successful, he said. Walking is whats going to give you a harvest. Put in the time, and youll be successful.

As hunters head into the fields, Jensen said its always an important reminder for hunters to know what their targets are and what lies beyond the targets.

Weve been lucky in North Dakota that we have had few deer hunting accidents in recent years, but everyone needs to remain vigilant, he said.

The forecast for this weekend calls for good walking conditions, but probably not ideal hunting conditions, said Patrick Ayd, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Temperatures Friday, Saturday and Sunday are expected to be in the upper 50s to low 60s  well above normal and probably the opposite of what hunters want, he said. No precipitation is expected.

Ayd said mild conditions will settle in for at least the first week of hunting season but could continue beyond that. The weather service has no indication at this point of a change in weather pattern for the coming weeks.

The bad part of those warmer temperatures is that deer tend to be less active, Doan said.

My forecast is its going to be slow the first week, then start picking up throughout the rifle season, he said.

Thanks to mild winters the past few years, Jensen expects hunters who are willing to put in the time to find success. While deer populations havent quite recovered from difficult winters past, he said there should be plenty of opportunities

Generally, deer numbers are up throughout the state, he said.

But Jensen expects this winter to be a good test of the new landscape of North Dakota.

Im anticipating a snowier and colder winter than last year, he said. And, in one respect, thats good, because there are better conditions for aerial surveys. On the other hand, it creates harder conditions for wildlife, particularly where there is reduced cover.

As the number of acres across the state enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program have gone down, the amount of cover available may have gone away, too, Jensen said. In the past few relatively mild winters, it likely didnt play much of a role. Past aerial surveys in snowy winters showed deer bedded down in places with enough standing vegetation to block wind from their bodies, he said.

Thats probably going to be more of an issue now, in areas particularly where weve lost a lot of CRP, Jensen said.
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The year 2016 is expected to be a record film production year, Csaba Domotor, Hungarian state secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, told wire service MTI on Wednesday.

The official made the comments after parliament discussed a bill intended to offer enhanced educational opportunities for motion picture industry professionals.

Spending on international and domestic films in 2016 looks to reach a record high of 85 billion forints (about 292 million dollars), a number that can easily grow to 170 billion forints next year, he said.

In 2011 the number was only 33 billion forints, Domotor added.

The system of subsidies for film-making was overhauled in 2010, he said.

The National Film Foundation was established in 2011, and since then Hungarian motion pictures have won over 100 top international awards including a 2016 Oscar for best foreign language film, won by "Son of Saul" and its director, Laszlo Nemes.

Hungary is encouraging its motion picture industry to portray issues of key significance in processing its history which has also resulted in growing audiences in the movie theaters, Domotor said.

Hungary has been a motion picture producer for the past 120 years, Domotor said, which obliges us to treat the industry as part of our national wealth. (1 U.S. dollar = 291.13 Hungarian forints)
China and the United States on Wednesday concluded an annual high-level dialogue with "productive" results, expecting more cooperation through the talks in the next U.S. administration.

China and the United States have "reached agreements on a number of issues with positive outcomes," said Zhang Xiangchen, China's deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce.

He made the remarks at the closing press briefings of the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the last high-level economic dialogue between the two countries under the (Barack) Obama administration.

"In the meeting both China and the United States spoke highly of the important and indispensable role of the JCCT mechanism in expanding two-way trade and economic cooperation," said Zhang.

"The role of the JCCT is to expand this (U.S.-China) relationship by addressing commercial challenges head on and producing concrete results for both our countries," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

"We have had a productive day," she said.

"Now and into the future, the JCCT is an opportunity for us to build a legacy of cooperation, respect, and stronger U.S.-China economic ties," said Pritzker.

"JCCT is the oldest economic forum between our two countries and remains a cornerstone of our economic engagement with China. It is a meaningful tool for stronger and better relationships between our two countries," said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

"Today's outcome is just one step in the path forward to a stronger, more fair, more open trade and investment relationship with China and we are looking forward to that work continuing in the month in a year ahead," he said.

During this year's JCCT, representatives from government delegations and business community of both countries had close contact on 12 important issues related to bilateral economic relation in a series of activities, making outcomes on a number of areas including innovation policies, two-way investment, intellectual property rights protection and enforcement, as well as digital economy and food safety.

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the United States, and plays an important role in China-U.S. economic cooperation and addressing their economic and trade frictions.
Peng Qiongxian, a Communist Party of China (CPC) village chief, sneaked his son's family on to a list of households entitled to poverty relief funds thinking the anti-corruption watchdog would never find it.

But he was wrong.

A cluster of new databases set up earlier this year by disciplinary authorities in Shiyan City, central China's Hubei Province, put paid to Peng's underhand behavior.

Analysts also found that three other "poverty-stricken households" in Yueriwan, Peng's village, had used fake documents to obtain the status.

"Lax supervision prevents good policies from benefiting those in need," said Hu Chaowen, head of Shiyan CPC commission for discipline inspection.

China has the ambitious goal of lifting 55.75 million rural residents out of poverty by 2020. To achieve this, public funds have been allocated to provide living allowances, medical aid, and housing renovation subsidies.

A five-year campaign to eliminate corruption in poverty relief was launched this year to address the growing number of officials implicated in the misuse or embezzlement of funds.

Prosecutors investigated 658 officials responsible for poverty alleviation in the first five months of 2016, an increase of 53.7 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Investigations by the procuratorate revealed that local-level officials were most likely to be involved in bribery, embezzlement, speculation and dereliction of duty.

The databases hold information on those responsible for poverty relief funds since 2014 and their background information, including family, as well as house and vehicle ownership. Previously, data was neither unified or available to all governmental organs.

The databases allow disciplinary staff to check whether funds were assigned to qualified receivers. There are also regulations in place that bans the relatives of governmental workers, or those who own an urban house or a car, from being classed as "those in need."

So far, the databases have helped uncover thousands of violations.

In Shiyan, a village committee returned over 6,000 yuan (870 U.S. dollars) in embezzled funds, which should have gone to villagers, to the state coffers.

Following the footsteps of Shiyan, other regions in Hubei have also rolled out their own systems to supervise poverty relief funds.

"'Big data' helps us find a way to strictly govern the Party, as our top leadership requires us to do," Hu said.
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China has held more than 3,000 governmental officials accountable for lazy environmental protection efforts, the latest move in fighting pollution and environmental degradation.

In total, 3,287 officials in eight provincial areas, including Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Henan and Yunnan, had been held accountable by the end of September following inspections by the central government, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said Wednesday.

Punishments included some being removed from their posts, said the ministry.

Fines totalling 198 million yuan (about 29 million U.S. dollars) have been slapped on violators, it added.

The results were released after central government inspection teams were despatched, starting in July.

The officials were held accountable for activities including using land in natural reserves for city construction purposes, as well as worsening air and water quality.

A second round of inspections will begin soon, said the ministry.
More than 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) in illicit assets has been recovered since police launched an investigation into a high-profile fraud case, according to Beijing public security bureau on Wednesday.

Ezubao, an online peer-to-peer lending platform, had been in operation for 18 months before it was shut down by police in December 2015. Police said almost all the investment projects on the company website were fake.

According to the police, Ding Ning, chairman of Ezubao's parent company Yucheng Global, and other suspects had faked financial lease products on Ezubao to trick over 900,000 investors out of more than 58 billion yuan since July 2014.

The company defaulted on loans worth nearly 37 billion yuan, sparking the official investigation, which revealed another Ponzi scheme that had cheated over 210,000 investors out of 1.2 billion yuan since February 2015.

Beijing police finished their investigation and transferred the case to the procuratorate for review and prosecution in August.

Of the 26 suspects, 11 will stand trial for fraud. Fifteen others have been charged with illegal fundraising.

Police departments in various provinces have seized nearly 300 million yuan in cash, 187,000 grams of gold, as well as real estate, jewelry, stock equities, luxury cars, and helicopters.

Police said they would continue to recover any assets and they would try to return investors' losses.
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French President Francois Hollande will make known on Dec. 10 whether he will seek a second five-year term in next year's presidential election, officials said Tuesday.

"The president said he would give his response (on a possible presidential bid) on Dec. 10," Didier Guillaume, head of the Socialist group in the senate and a close ally of Hollande, told Public Senat television late on Tuesday.

Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Wednesday in an interview with news channel BFMTV that there is no doubt Hollande will launch a presidential bid, but declined to give a date for the announcement.

"It's he who will announce the date and the decision," he said.

During a recent prime-time interview, Hollande had said he would announce his decision by the end of 2016.

Traditionally, the incumbent head of state represents his party in an election, without a contest. But prospects of a primary have been raised due to Hollande's record-low approval ratings.

French pollsters predicted the Socialist leader would lose in the first round of the upcoming elections if he sought re-election.

Opinions polls also showed Hollande, who is trying to improve the country's employment rate, would lose to his former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who has declared his candidacy.

With his economic credibility already on the line, Hollande has set reversing jobless claims as a condition to extend his stay at the Elysee Palace, betting on a better business climate and various devices he implemented to encourage hiring.

France's jobless claims dropped by 1.9 percent at the end of September compared to a month earlier, reaching the lowest level since 1996, according to labor ministry data.

France's left-wing parties are scheduled to hold primaries on Jan. 22 and 29.
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China and Chile agreed to begin negotiations on deepening a free trade agreement signed in 2005, as President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to the Latin American country.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd L) and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (3rd R) witness the signing of cooperation agreements on trade and economy, agriculture, quality control, culture, education, e-commerce, information communication and finance, after their talks in Santiago, capital of Chile, Nov. 22, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The agreement was among the 12 cooperative documents signed on Tuesday to enhance cooperation in areas including astronomy, finance, education, agriculture and trade.

"An upgrade of the FTA between Chile and China will give two-way economic and trade cooperation a strong boost," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday while meeting with Xi.

Chile welcomes Chinese enterprises to increase their investments in the Latin American country, she said, adding that her country is willing to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as soon as possible.

The agreements also include jointly establishing and operating an astronomy base in Chile and setting up a Chinese culture center in Santiago.

Xi said after the signing ceremony that he had invited Bachelet to make a state visit to China next year, as the two countries move forward to boost mutual political trust and enhance high-level exchanges.

"Chile is close to China in the countries' alphabetic rank, and we are true neighbors," he said.

China has never changed its confidence in the potential for Latin America's development, Xi said, adding that Beijing firmly supports Latin American countries' efforts to safeguard regional peace and unity.

Bachelet said the agreements will bring more practical cooperation to the two countries.

Thanks to the FTA, as much as 97 percent of Chile's exports to China are free of tariffs now, she said.

In June, China Construction Bank, one of China's largest banking institutions, opened a branch in Santiago, which is the first clearing bank for renminbi transactions in South America.

The bank will facilitate Chinese financing for Chilean projects, Bachelet said.

Chile was the first Latin American country to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China. In 2014, bilateral trade volume reached $34.15 billion, almost five times the amount at the time the agreement was signed.

China, which was Chile's 25th-largest trading partner before the FTA agreement, is now its biggest trade partner.

Last year, although overall trade volume declined to $31.9 billion because of the global economic downturn, Chile's exports to China still accounted for more than one-fourth of its total.

Liu Rutao, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Chile, highlighted the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

A new level of free trade will introduce e-commerce, trade in services and more scientific inspection and quarantine into the traditionally commodity-heavy trade, Liu said.

Xu Shicheng, a senior researcher of Latin American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Chinese and Chilean economies are highly complementary, providing much opportunity for bilateral cooperation.

China has advantages in such areas as infrastructure construction capacity, manufacturing, steel production and equipment, which are needed in many Latin American countries, including Chile, he said.
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The Republic of Korea and Japan signed a long-delayed agreement on sharing military intelligence on Wednesday, despite public opposition in Seoul, ensuring the free exchange of information among the two countries and their ally the United States.

South Korea and Japan on Wednesday formally sign a military intelligence pact in Seoul, Nov. 23, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Experts said the move, together with other recent activities by Seoul, reflects a spreading Cold War mentality that could heighten tension on the Korean Peninsula and test Seoul's relationship with Beijing, since the sharing of intelligence could relate to China.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement, signed on Wednesday, allows the ROK and Japan to directly share information about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea without first going through US intelligence.

Seoul and Tokyo currently use Washington as an intermediary when sharing military intelligence on Pyongyang under a deal signed in 2014.

The signing came less than a month after discussions resumed on Oct 27, following a suspension of four years due to public opposition in the ROK.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang criticized the agreement at a daily news conference on Wednesday.

"Related countries' adherence to the Cold War mentality and strengthened military intelligence cooperation will aggravate antagonism and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula," Geng said, adding that this will bring more insecurity and uncertainty to Northeast Asia.

The DPRK has slammed the military pact, calling it "a dangerous act" that would further raise tensions on the peninsula and open a door to Japan's "re-invasion", Agence France-Presse reported.

Su Hao, a professor of Asia-Pacific studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said, "There will be a growing risk of military confrontation in the region, which is advocated by a Cold War mentality."

Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said the pact was signed at a time when the ROK government needs something to distract the public from ROK President Park Geun-hye's scandal involving a close adviser.

The intelligence deal could also cover information the ROK detects through the anti-missile system that the US plans to deploy in the ROK, Da said.
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The Arab League (AL) warned against the explosion of the situation in Syria's war-torn Aleppo city that it described as facing "a war crime," the pan-Arab body said in a statement Wednesday.

"The continuous besiege of Aleppo for more than four months is a war crime that is openly committed in front of the whole world," AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said in the statement, stressing the situation in Aleppo is "on the verge of a crisis"

Aboul-Gheit condemned the recent raids launched by the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, assisted by Syrian military, against Aleppo.

"Targeting hospitals seems to be an implementation of a deliberate policy that represents a horrible crime against the residents," the AL chief added.

The top Arab diplomat recommended a ceasefire in Aleppo as "urgent priority," noting a ceasefire does not mean displacing Aleppo people under death threat.

"Whoever imagines that he can impose a solution in this way is only illusioned, pushing his country for more division and fragmentation," Aboul-Gheit continued in the statement.

The fighting and bombardment have recently escalated in Aleppo, which is divided between the Assad's troops controlling the western part and the armed rebels in the east, leaving tens of people killed and wounded.

Since it erupted in March 2011, the Syrian crisis has claimed the lives of about 500,000 people and displaced more than 10 million.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping left the Chilean capital of Santiago Wednesday morning after wrapping up his state visits to Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and attendance at the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru.

It was the third and fourth time for Xi, respectively, to visit Latin America and attend the APEC meeting since his taking office in 2013, through which analysts see a bigger role of China in regional and global affairs.

Comprehensive strategic partnerships

During his week-long trip, President Xi held talks with his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa and Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet, and they decided to lift China's relationship with Ecuador and Chile respectively to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Xi also met his Peruvian counterpart Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and they agreed to further enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries, which was established in 2013.

Although there is no clear definition of the "comprehensive strategic partnership," it is usually regarded the highest level in China's diplomatic intimacy with other countries.

Political willingness and the need for economic cooperation are often two pillars, among others, of the partnership, said Zhang Lili, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University.

Ecuador is an important country in Latin America, said Xi, on the first visit by a Chinese president to Ecuador over the past 36 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Echoing Xi, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa believed that China, as the world's second-largest economy with a high speed of growth, can play a very important role in bolstering Ecuador's development, especially against the backdrop of low oil prices.

Since President Correa came into power in 2007, Ecuador has focused on deepening ties with China. The Ecuadorian president's first official trip to Beijing took place in the same year.

In 2015, on Correa's second China visit, he and Xi agreed to elevate the bilateral ties to the level of strategic partnership, only one year before the upgrade to the latest level.

Economic cooperation grew fast as well. Despite the long distance, China has become Ecuador's third largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching 4.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, quadrupling in just 10 years.

And Ecuador is now a major destination for Chinese investment and financing in Latin America. Chinese investment and financing in Ecuador has exceeded 10 billion dollars, supporting hundreds of projects including major infrastructure projects such as the Coca Codo Sinclair hydropower plant, seven other hydropower plants and a dozen of highways.

On Thursday, President Correa himself went to the Quito airport to welcome the Chinese president. On Friday, Correa saw Xi off at the airport.

Situations may vary in Peru and Chile, but the willingness for cooperation is alike.

Peruvian President Kuczynski visited China in September this year, only six weeks after his inauguration, and two months before Xi's visit to Peru.

During Xi's visit to Chile, China and the Latin American country decided to initiate negotiations on upgrading their free trade agreement (FTA) as soon as possible.

The two countries signed their FTA in 2005. Bilateral trade volume has grown four-fold since the FTA went into effect in 2006. China is now Chile's largest trading partner, its largest export destination and the largest buyer of its copper products.

On Tuesday, Chilean President Bachelet also expressed her country's intention of joining the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"The elevation of the bilateral relationships shows the growing willingness for bilateral cooperation between China and these countries,"said Wu Hongying, director of the Latin America office of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

China-LatAm community of common destiny

While addressing the Peruvian Congress on Monday, Xi called on China and Latin American countries to strengthen dialogue on global issues and boost cooperation on domestic development, in a bid to better build their community of common destiny on a new starting point in history.

The natural sense of recognition to each other and the shared sense of mission have made us look at our relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, Xi said, noting that China and Latin American countries can understand and support each other on core interests and major concerns.

Xi proposed that China and Latin America and the Caribbean hold high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation, seek synergy between their development strategies, speed up and upgrade practical cooperation and bring benefits to both peoples.

Xi noted that China will firmly support Latin American countries in seeking development paths suited to their national conditions, gaining greater strength and prosperity through unity, and playing a bigger role in regional and international affairs.

The Chinese president also announced that in the next three years, China will increase the number of training opportunities of various kinds for Latin America and the Caribbean to 10,000.
 Flash

South African President Jacob Zuma met visiting Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on Tuesday, with both vowing to further advance the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa (R) shakes hands with visiting Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao during their meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 22, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Zuma said that South Africa and China are best friends and comrades who are dear to each other like brothers. He said the two countries hold the same or similar views on many issues and maintain frequent high-level exchanges.

Bilateral cooperation is strong in various fields and full of potential, said Zuma. China's investment in the COEGA Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape Province and other major cooperative projects have helped create jobs in South Africa and contributed to the nation's development, he said.

Zuma, who is also president of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), said that the ANC enjoys a deep friendship with the Communist Party of China (CPC), and is willing to conduct exchanges concerning state governance with the CPC.

He added that the CPC's adherence to the strict governance of the Party is worth learning from by the ANC.

For his part, Li said Chinese President Xi Jinping and Zuma have met eight times since 2013 and conducted profound exchanges concerning development of bilateral relations and major issues of mutual concern.

Li said that China always regards its relations with South Africa from a strategic and long-term perspective, and will actively adhere to its Africa policy based on the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith, and strike a right balance between upholding principles and pursuing benefits.

He said China will comprehensively implement the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries and the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit held last December in Johannesburg, South Africa so as to advance the development of the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.

He added that the CPC is willing to deepen cooperation and strengthen exchanges on state governance with the ANC so as to serve the development of state-to-state relations.
Hundreds of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters staged demonstrations on Thanksgiving Day in multiple locations in Mandan and near the main Oceti Sakowin protest camp.

Early Thursday morning, protesters began building a bridge, made of foam board and plywood bound together with rope, across Cantapeta Creek to gain access to a hill known as Turtle Hill, which some protesters have said contained burial sites. Throughout the day protesters said they were there to "reclaim" the hill, which they had attempted to reach earlier this month by building a similar bridge.

About 400 protesters gathered near Turtle Hill, and at one point a group started crossing the makeshift bridge and stood at the bottom of the hill. They didn't attempt to climb the hill, and police warned them to retreat or they would be arrested. Around 4:30 p.m., most had left the hill. No arrests were made.

Avery Lohman hung back after most protesters had returned to camp and watched the few remaining officers on the hill.

"Today's been very peaceful," said Lohman, who traveled to the camp from Kansas.

Some protesters wore rain ponchos to repel water, goggles and gas masks. Before leaving the bottom of the hill, the group formed a large circle near the shoreline. Hand-in-hand, they stood in silence, interspersed with moments of cheering and waiving at the line of officers who stood atop the hill.

A drone quietly flew above the protesters and the officers holding a line on the hill. The sheriff's department said one drone was "flying so low that an officer was able to knock it out of the sky with his hand." The drone is now in evidence, and it will be used to determine possible charges against the operator.

Another demonstration was held at Backwater Bridge on Thursday. A group of protesters gathered around 10:30 a.m. at the bridge, where there was an hour-long confrontation Sunday between protesters and police. On Thursday, protesters had backed a semi-trailer onto the bridge and about 150 to 200 protesters gathered there, according to Rob Keller, a spokesman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department.

A demonstration was also held on busy East Main Street in downtown Mandan. More than 170 vehicles and a school bus arrived around 10 a.m. at the Burger King parking lot and began preparing "materials" for the protest, according to Keller.

Protesters filled the intersection of East Main Street and Mandan Avenue, which had been blocked off from traffic. An alert was sent out to Mandan and Bismarck residents around 10 a.m. to inform them of the protest activity.

Law enforcement had been informed that the protesters were heading to Mandan, Keller said. While some protesters were constructing the bridge to cross to Turtle Hill, they had told officers they were planning to come into town. One protester reportedly told officers he was "ready to die today," and another had said, "Remember '73?" referring to Wounded Knee in 1973.

We had every option at that time to prepare, Keller said, also noting that law enforcement took the protesters statements seriously.

Pipeline opponents carried signs and banners, one which read "No pilgrims, no pipeline." Some protesters shouted, "Shame on you, North Dakota!"

"They come at us with violence, we come back with prayer," said Jamey Reil, of Virginia, who was referring to the clash between police and protesters Sunday night at Backwater Bridge.

At the center of the intersection, protesters had set up several folding tables with pumpkins and a pig head. They also brought sandwiches and drinks.

Officers formed a line on the street across from the protesters. Around 11:15 a.m., officers told the protesters to leave the area or be arrested, and they began backing the protesters down the street. By 11:30 a.m., most of the protesters had dispersed. Two people were arrested for refusing to leave, according to the sheriff's department.
Wooden sleepboxes for two people are pictured in Sleepbox Hotel Tverskaya in Moscow, on January 28, 2013. [Photo/IC]

Home Inns and Hotels Management Inc, China's leading budget hotel chain group, said it will launch a new sub-brand, with hotel rooms composed of containers, tents, touring cars and log cabins.

The first such hotel complex, will be built in suburban Shanghai, and the company is currently in the process of site selection.

The group has taken the step in a bid to reduce operational costs. Next spring, the first hotel under the new sub-brand is expected to start operation, said the firm, adding that it costs 150,000 yuan ($21,740) and 45 days to build a container hotel.

The concept of container hotels is not new abroad, but in China it is still in its infancy. These low-cost hotels are expected to be produced on modular batch assembly lines.

"The costs of building such hotel rooms is much lower than building regular hotel rooms. Currently, our research and development work has come to an end. We still need to figure out problems such as sewage and container stacking," said Sun Jian, chief executive of Home Inns.

"So far, about 30 franchisees have already proposed their intention to cooperate with us. The launch of the new brand signals that Home Inns plans to expand to cover casual travel, in addition to business travel."

The hotel group said it initially planned to build mobile hotels to satisfy the different demand in busy and slack seasons, and it later found that mobile hotels can become complexes with more functions, and can even become tourism destinations.

The new complexes will cover accommodation, catering, convenience stores, parking and other comprehensive services such as electronic car rentals, to fulfill the needs of self-driving tourists, Home Inns said.

The pricing of such hotels will be higher than regular budget hotels, as the brand positions itself as a resort and it will be equipped with more comprehensive functions. Still, the price is likely to become lower as the products mature and are standardized.

Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy, a think tank under the China National Tourism Administration, said such a hotel business model is expected to be popularized with the rapid growth of traveling in rural China, the fastest-growing sector of tourism in China.

"The development of rural traveling has driven a huge demand in the rural village home stay markets. But the business is still immature and cannot adequately fulfill demand," he said.
Visitors show interest in bottled water on display at an international natural drinking water expo in Tongren, Guizhou province, which ended on Monday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Guizhou's rich reserves of water are helping the southwestern province attract investors from both home and abroad.

A total of 266 beverage companies such as San Benedetto from Italy and Chinese brand Wahaha participated in the 1st Guizhou (Tongren) International Natural Drinking Water Expo 2016, which ended on Monday.

The local government signed 49 business promotion projects with companies, with a total investment of more than 11.8 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), and agreements were signed for 14 trade projects worth around 3.18 billion yuan.

Ao Hong, deputy director of the province's economic and information commission, said there are 727 bottled water production companies in Guizhou, producing more than 3.28 million metric tons of bottled water last year. With this, Guizhou has risen to be the seventh-largest bottled water supplier in China.

"Drinking water is an industry larger than what we have expected. Connecting with the healthcare industry, it can also help the development of agriculture and service industries in Guizhou. We will make greater efforts to introduce strategic investors," he said.

Established in Fujian province 22 years ago, Haocaitou set up its Guizhou branch last year, thanks to the province's potential in water resources, according to Chen Zhongshi, chairman of Haocaitou Fujian Food Co Ltd.

Its first facility in the province was put into operation in February, producing yogurt, pastries and candies.

"A new plant is under construction, which we expect to be put into operation in 2017, creating 2,000 jobs," he said.

Yang Jianguo, deputy director of the All-China Private Enterprise Federation, said that the drinking water industry in Guizhou should expand further.

"The local government can help set up a water theme industrial park, an incubator, a core platform and an industry fund," he said.

Contact the writers at shijing@chinadaily.com.cn and yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn
Airbnb Inc is in talks to acquire Xiaozhu.com to expand in China's home rental sharing market, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The companies have held multiple meetings and the discussions are advanced in nature, the person said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. A deal is likely, the person said.

Airbnb and Xiaozhu declined to comment.

While Airbnb is the biggest global platform for people to rent their homes to travelers, it's grappling with more established local rivals Xiaozhu and Tujia.com in China.

The San Francisco-based company already has about 75,000 properties listed in the world's most populous nation and plans to increase staffing 10-fold, to 300 full-time workers.

The company had also recently inked a partnership agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd, whose messaging service WeChat has more than 800 million active monthly users and provided 60 to 70 percent of Airbnb China's logins.

Xiaozhu would give Airbnb an instant boost in the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese startup, which was founded in 2012, said this month that it has raised $65 million of new funding.

The company said it has 10 million active users and more than 100,000 listings in 301 cities across the country. Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Chen Chi said, at the time of the funding announcement, that Xiaozhu expects to deliver 500 percent organic growth in 2016.

A deal for Xiaozhu would also help Airbnb reduce the risk of a costly battle for market share.

BLOOMBERG
Chinese don't really celebrate Thanksgiving Day, but Amazon.com Inc plans to make Black Friday, which kicks off the day after this Western holiday, a big thing in China by offering Chinese online shoppers free cross-border shipping.

In late October, Amazon launched its membership program in China in an attempt to use a tailor-made free cross-border shipping service to lure the rising number of Chinese who seek for high-quality products overseas.

The membership program, Amazon Prime China, makes Chinese subscribers the first in the world to enjoy free cross-border shipping directly from the United States and the United Kingdom. With an annual subscription fee of 388 yuan ($57.23), the prime package offers unlimited free cross-border shipping on more than four million authentic overseas products and unlimited free shipping with no minimum purchase on more than nine million domestic products.

Elaine Chang, vice president of Amazon China, said in an early interview that the Nov 11 shopping festival in China and the Black Friday put together mark the annual shopping peak for many customers in China.

"We have launched Amazon Prime in China in late October because we want our users to be able to enjoy free, fast delivery and have a better shopping experience when the big shopping season comes," she said.

According to Amazon China, pricy cross-border shipping has stopped many online shoppers from purchasing overseas. With the Amazon Prime service, more consumption power is expected to be seen during Black Friday, which has been the top sales event in the US and UK, attracting a large number of bargain hunters.

Created in 2005, Amazon Prime has attracted more than 65 million members in the US and acts as an effective catalyst to increase customer royal and boost sales.

Lu Zhenwang, an internet expert and chief executive of Wanqing Consultancy in Shanghai, said that the newly launched Amazon Prime China is expected to help the company boost sales among its existing customers in the country.

"As soon as you join the membership, you will want to buy more because of the free shipping policy. And it is also likely to help the company gain new customers," he said.

However, whether or not Amazon can reshape the market landscape with its Prime service still remains to be seen, analysts said.

Chen Tao, an analyst with the Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys, said that Black Friday has been gaining growing popularity in China but cross-border shopping accounts for less than 10 percent of China's e-commerce transaction volume. "Compared with other cross-border e-commerce companies, Amazon enjoys many perks, including a much wider selection of overseas products, to attract customers in China," he said.

"But it would be difficult for it to significantly boost its market share in e-commerce in China with merely a new shipping service. Plus many of its competitors also provide free shipping or low-price shipping. Whether or not Chinese users can accept the model of paying an annual subscription fee and enjoying unlimited free shipping during a year remains to be seen," he said.
LONDON - A senior British Treasury official on Wednesday reiterated the importance his country attaches to trade and economic ties with China.

Britain remained confident of its economic prospect and is willing to work closely with all its long-term trade partners with China included, said Simon Kirby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, at a briefing on the government's annual autumn financial statement.

With the celebration of the eighth China-Britain Economic and Financial Dialogue in London on Nov 10, the golden era of the bilateral relations has been reaffirmed by British government with the commitment to further developing trade ties.

Britain remained "open for business" and committed to maintain the "Golden Era" relations with China, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Nov 9 during her meeting with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai in London.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in a statement that the China-Britain ties will continue to deepen with complementary bilateral trade ties, adding that China and Britain will remain natural partners and build on this relationship.

Besides the further development of the bilateral ties, some experts told Xinhua that they also believed that China and Britain should take the opportunity of "golden era" to strengthen their economic and financial cooperation in third party markets, which is important for the two countries and world economic recovery.

Professor Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London, said in an interview with Xinhua that there are opportunities for Chinese companies to work with British companies in third party markets because they are quite complementary.

Brown said the two countries will see a lot more of this sort of cooperation, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East in the future where China knows it needs partnerships.

"I think the UK would bring analysis and local knowledge to the table, and the fact that it has got very very internationalized companies that have been out foraging overseas for a long long time. So there is a lot of knowledge," said the professor.

"China would bring capital to the table, and the ability to get things done, some of it new technology; and the fact that it is politically welcomed in a lot of these places, whereas the UK may have more political inhibitions in the way it operates," he said.

Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club in Britain, highlights China's Belt and Road Initiative and believed the two countries could cooperate more in the markets along this road.

"The Chinese imagination demonstrated by Belt and Road Initiative is exactly what the world needs to get out of QE and dull growth. By opening a whole new region to major development many nations can experience development, and many nations invest in and sell to the new areas," he said.

He pointed out that Britain has a lot of experience of dealing in many unusual economies in various stages of development, in which the two countries can benefit from it in jointly developing third party markets.

"If the UK decides to prioritize the new areas of Belt and Road Initiative and Africa, then China and the UK can, indeed, have a golden era ahead. If we limit ourselves to bilateral trade and investment there will be a silver era. But it is the addition of third party work that heralds a golden era," he said.

Keith Bennett, vice chairman of the 48 Group Club, also considers that China and Britain have great and increasing potential to cooperate in third markets, as this potential and possibility rests on a number of solid foundations.

China is now a major player in the global economy and Chinese companies, both state and private, are being encouraged by the government to go out. In many cases, they are looking to investing and doing business in countries, territories, industries and economic sectors where Britain has a long-standing presence, as well as deep connections and experience, sometimes dating back centuries, he said.

Bennett told Xinhua that Chinese and British companies have already worked well together in some of Africa, which proves that the two countries will have more potential in further advancing cooperation in other third party markets.

"I have seen this for myself, for example when I accompanied a Chinese business delegation to South Sudan four years ago. The skills, possibilities and synergies of British and Chinese enterprises are therefore highly complementary not only in a bilateral sense but also for third markets and can deliver benefits not only to each other but also to local enterprises, people and economies," he said.

Professor Xiong Yu, chair of technology and operations management of Newcastle business school at Northumbria university, believed that the stable partnership between the two countries is particularly important in the current volatile international environment.

Xiong said Britain's Northern Powerhouse strategy will form a win-win relationship with China's Belt and Road Initiative in the "golden era" of China-Britain relationship, which will not only benefit the two countries, but also leave positive impact on the whole world.

"The close cooperation between China and Britain will go beyond the scope of the two countries to influence the world. The two countries will bring other countries of the same values to participate actively in this cooperation mechanism and form a sound platform for economic and trade cooperation in third party markets," he said.
WELLINGTON - Producers of organic food can expect a boost in exports with the signing of a certification agreement between New Zealand and China, New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said Thursday.

The Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Certified Organic Products would support the growth of the organics industry in New Zealand and provided greater assurance for consumers, MPI director plants food and environment Peter Thomson said in a statement.

"New Zealand consumers can have increased confidence in organic food imported from China because MPI has assessed the Chinese system and found it to be robust," said Thomson.

"This new arrangement and the assessment required to conclude it, provides MPI with knowledge and confidence in the supply of organic produce from China."

Exports of organic produce to China were worth NZ$27 million ($18.89 million) and were likely to grow with the reduction in compliance costs and the certainty the arrangement provided New Zealand exporters of organic products.

"Our organic sectors should experience growth, not only with increased export and import opportunities but also a wider range of organic ingredients available for processed foods that would be available for sale domestically and for export," he said.

The arrangement, which takes effect from mid-2017, excluded aquaculture, apiculture, and textiles.
China is willing to work with all parties to complete the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as soon as possible to boost regional trade, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Shen Danyang, the ministry's spokesman, said the country will continue to deepen reform and actively participate in all talks of constructive multilateral and bilateral free trade arrangements with related countries, regardless of the direction the Trans-Pacific Partnership takes.

His comment came after US President-elect Donald Trump said he would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on his first day in the White House as one of six immediate steps aimed at "putting America first".

Wang Huiyao, director of the Center for China and Globalization, said this move may provide "great opportunities" for China to work out a wider trade agreement as a better alternative.
A Chinese mobile phone user uses the ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing on his smartphone in Jinan, East China's Shandong province, Feb 22, 2015.[Photo/IC]

In ancient mythology, Chinese unicorns are lucky, rare creatures that appear to mark the arrival or death of a great leader, like Confucius. Today, China's tech unicornsprivate companies valued at $1 billion or moreare far more commonplace and look increasingly cursed.

Four of the world's seven most valuable private companies are now Chinese, all founded in the past seven years. Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing app, and Xiaomi, the smartphone manufacturer, for instance, both have valuations topping Airbnb and Snapchat. Five Chinese companies have valuations of at least $10 billion, and 37 are valued at $1 billion or more, according to research firm CB Insights.

The pace of unicorn births has accelerated dramatically over the past three years. From 2010 to 2013, investors valued no more than one Chinese company each year at $1 billion or more. Then China saw five new companies deemed unicorns in 2014and an eye-popping 19 foaled in 2015. In the first 10 months of 2016, investors crowned another 10 new unicorns.

Chinese companies are now often viewed as potential global conquerors. But, there's growing skepticism about how valid some of their sky-high valuations are.

Investors and analysts are whispering doubts about startups' ability to maintain such lofty numbers when they try to raise future funding or go public. Some fret the waves of cash pouring into China's technology industry may sometimes swamp innovation, not stir it.

"A paper unicorn is just a paper unicorn," said Jenny Lee, Shanghai-based managing partner at GGV Capital. "It's nothing until you can show the value you're providing to customers, and that consumers are willing to pay for it."

Gary Rieschel, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, said startups are quietly beginning to accept lower valuationsand more unpublicized down rounds are on the way. "Gravity will eventually take hold."

After Jack Ma-led Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's blockbuster IPO in the US raised $25 billion in 2014, investors rushed to find the next Ma. Between 2012 and 2015, the amount of venture funding invested in Chinese internet companies quintupled, reaching $20.3 billion last yeareclipsing the $16.3 billion invested in US internet companies in the same period, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

An employee (left) assists a customer as she looks at a Xiaomi smartphone inside one of the company's stores in Beijing. [Photo/Agencies]

Xiaomi, the Beijing-based smartphone maker founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun, was market leader for several months in late 2014 and early 2015. Three months after Alibaba's IPO, Xiaomi raised funding that valued it at $46 billion.

But, its position in China tumbled from first to fourth. Its current value may be $4 billion to $10 billion if it tried to raise more money now, estimated Clay Shirky, an associate professor at NYU Shanghai and author of a book about the company.

China's Lenovo Group Ltd, for example, holds about the same share of the Chinese smartphone market as Xiaomi and is valued at about $7 billion. Lenovo is also the biggest PC maker in the world. "Xiaomi shouldn't be six times Lenovo," Shirky said. Xiaomi declined to comment.

Vancl, an online fashion retailer, became a unicorn in December 2010 and commanded 7.7 percent of China's online apparel and footwear market in 2011, second only to Alibaba, according to the research firm Euromonitor. Its valuation hit $3 billion. But the company stumbled in its expansion and struggled to manage inventory.

By 2015, Vancl's market share had dropped to 2 percent. Its valuation is well below its peak. A recapitalization a couple years ago valued Vancl at about $200 million. Vancl declined to comment on its current valuation.

The Beijing startup Wandoujia hit the magical $1 billion valuation in 2014, amidst the euphoria over China's fast growing smartphone market. The lead investor was Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, the same company that made a fortune from its stake in Alibaba.

But Wandoujia's business of selling Android apps proved vulnerable to competition and the online store struggled to stand out. In July, Alibaba acquired Wandoujia for less than half its peak valuation, according to a person familiar with the deal. SoftBank and Alibaba declined to comment.

Even some of China's most valuable unicorns have seen their plans for world domination interrupted. Lu.com is a peer-to-peer lender valued at $18.5 billion and backed by some of the country's most powerful investors, including the finance giant Ping An Insurance Group.

CEO Gregory Gibb had said in January that he planned to take the company public this year to raise additional capital. But those plans are off the table after months of tumult in the online lending market.

China has no real precedent for dealing with the bust of a high-flying startup, or several at once. Most domestic venture firms were founded after the last major downturn 15 years ago. There's no history of publicly disclosing down rounds, or the decrease in a startup's valuationalthough investors may privately write down struggling companies.

Provincial governments have been wary after they had to reluctantly let some failed businesses go under. They may be even more fearful of tech startup failures, which would eliminate jobs and threaten future investments.

China venture capital investments surged from $6.6 billion in 2013 to more than $50 billion in the first nine months of this year, according to researcher Preqin. But in the third quarter, investments fell almost 50 percent from a year earlier. Maybe that's a relief, at least a few investors said.

"Some entrepreneurs say they need all the money," said Anna Fang, Shanghai-based CEO of Zhen Fund. "But some people say, if you have too much money, you make mistakes, or you make mistakes for longer."

Duncan Clark, founder of Beijing-based consultancy BDA China, said: "How many of those 30-some unicorns are really worth a billion? Probably a few. The problem is that when people appear to be successful, everyone comes out of the woodwork to back them. That happens in the US. But it's more extreme in China."
The local Wreaths Across America program has met its goal to fund 6,000 wreaths, which cost $15 apiece, to place on every headstone at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery for next month's ceremony.

Lt. Col. Kevin Iverson, of the Civil Air Patrol Bismarck Composite Squadron, said funding has exceeded the needs for this year's ceremony set for 11 a.m. Dec. 17. Any future funds collected will be placed in a reserve account to fund next year's wreaths, he said.

About a week ago, concerns were raised as only half the money needed for this year had been raised.

"People of Bismarck and Mandan are big supporters of this," said Iverson, noting numerous cards and letters come after last year's ceremony, especially from thankful widows. "Some are very heartfelt and very touching when you read them."

Iverson said in the past, the adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard has attended. The pastor presiding over the ceremony will travel from Devils Lake.

He thanked the hundreds of volunteers who place the wreaths on the gravesites, as it would be too large of a task for the 25 members of the Civil Air Patrol to do themselves. He said many of the volunteers are veterans and family members.

About 1,100 similar ceremonies will be held around the country simultaneously, according to Iverson.

The Bismarck Civil Air Patrol is accepting nominations for veterans to participate in the WAA ceremony. Anyone is welcome to nominate veterans from all four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as the Merchant Marines, to place the wreath of their service during the ceremony. One veteran from each branch of service will be selected by a random drawing.

There also is a wreath for prisoners of war or those missing in action.

To nominate a veteran, go to bismarckcap.com/nominate, where a form can be found.

For more information about Wreaths Across America, Civil Air Patrol and wreath sponsorship, call 701-390-9593, or email bismarckcap30@gmail.com or www.bismarckcap.com.
Olympic athlete Dong Li (right) and Cui Yahan. [Photo/IC]

A popular Chinese reality show featuring fake father-daughter pairs has been accused of showing inappropriate relationships between adults and children.

The fourth season of reality show Dad, Where Are We Going? pairs "intern" fathers, all celebrities, with children who are not their own. In previous seasons, the show only featured celebrity dads and their real children, but a government ban on the "overuse" of celebrities' children has forced the show to change.

In this season, 23-year-old Olympic athlete Dong Li is designated as "father" to 4-year-old Cui Yahan. He takes care of the little girl several days a week, eats and sleeps with her, and is present when she bathes.

The pair has spawned thousands of so-called "CP" or "couple" fans -- people who believe certain TV characters are meant to be together romantically.

They point to one scene in which Yahan tells Dong that when she grows up, she wants to marry him, as well as to an interview in which Dong says his dream girl is Arale, Yahan's nickname.

The show's production company, Mango TV, fanned the flames by posting an online video clip set to a love song and captioned "Dong and Arale's interpretation of 'Let's Fall in Love,'" referring to a famous Chinese dating show. Mango TV is the online division of Hunan TV, one of China's largest television channels.

However, the pair's popularity has triggered worries among parents and experts. Some have claimed that the popularity of the show may mislead the public about appropriate adult-child relationships and make children vulnerable.

A mother-to-be published an open letter on China's microblog service Sina Weibo, expressing her anger that the show's producers have edited the show to make the pair look like a couple.

"If she were your daughter, would you ever let her stay with a strange man wearing only underwear? Would you ever allow a 23-year-old man to tell the media that his ideal type for a girlfriend is your 3-year-old daughter?" the woman wrote.

The woman is also a volunteer with Girl Protection, a public welfare program under the Children's Safety Fund of the China Social Assistance Foundation.

Statistics from Girl Protection indicate that in 2015, the media exposed 314 cases of sexual abuse against children in China, and 85 percent of these sexual abuse cases were perpetrated by someone the child knows.

Others are quick to defend the show against the accusations.

"I don't think the pair is creepy. They are so adorable. Please don't exaggerate just to scare the public," said Weibo user "Guaishoupitaohezuoshe."

The program Dad, Where Are We Going? responded via its official account on Weibo, saying the criticisms are "over-interpreting."

"The clips of Dong's words were intended to show his paternal love, but these clips were distorted and interpreted out of context, misleading netizens and causing invisible harm to children," according to the statement.

The statement added that Dong never stays alone with the girl. Cameras are placed everywhere, and the girl has a female director to help her change her clothes and bathe, it said.

"We hope more people can focus on the innocence of the children and the paternal love of their 'intern' fathers," the statement said.

The explanation, however, has irritated some experts in the girl protection field. People took to the keyboard to demand the issue be taken seriously.

Jiang Jing, procurator at the Jinniu District Procuratorate in Chengdu city in Southwest China's Sichuan province, wrote an article on the official Minors Procuratorate account on WeChat.

To Jiang, the show sets a bad example for sex education and is too flippant in its treatment of the safety risks girls face.

"As a reality show that has been viewed up to 350 million times on the Internet, the program should have done better," Jiang said, urging the show to thoroughly weigh its influence on children and consult experts in education and child psychology.

"Child protection should be the priority when showing the intimacy and the 'love' between the 'intern' father-daughter pair," said Jiang.
GUIYANG - Gong Weiying, 41, has just had an operation on her left kidney in a private hospital in southwest China's Guizhou Province. She had never dreamed of such a thing because her family live in abject poverty.



Gong from Miaoba Village, Wuchuan Gelao and Miao Autonomous County, suffered severe hydronephrosis and ureteral calculus. Her 20-year-old daughter was disabled in a traffic accident. With an annual family income of no more than 20,000 yuan (2,900 U.S. dollars), she could only spare 2,000 yuan on medical treatment.



Had she not had the operation, her left kidney would have lost all function in six months, said Liao Lei, deputy director of the first surgical department of Shenghui Hospital.



"The hospital has made it easy for me and the procedure cost much less than I expected. Otherwise, I would have given up and let it go," she said.



When the hospital learned Gong's difficulties, she was offered a micro-invasive procedure that only cost 3,000 yuan. The hospital helped her raised the 1,000 yuan shortfall.



Shenghui Hospital is the largest private hospital in the province. The non-profit hospital is a center for the treatment of severe and difficult diseases, attracting patients from as far away as Chongqing.



China still has over 55 million rural people living in poverty. The 2016-2020 Five-Year Plan sets the target of reducing that number to zero by 2020, through a targeted action program. By analyzing the local economic and social conditions, the government supports private companies, individuals, NGOs and even the military in carrying out relief plans.



As part of the program, Wuchuan County government offered grants and subsidies to Shenghui Hospital, helping with financing, land acquisition and recruitment of personnel, according to hospital president Fang Bo. The hospital now spends 50,000 to 100,000 yuan each year helping local families in need.



"In the case of patients like Gong Weiying, we simply reduce their costs," said Fang.



Since it opened to the public in June, Shenghui has helped three patients with serious ailments save about 90,000 yuan. Another 20 have had their medical expenses cut by a total of 20,000 yuan.



To reach more rural people, the hospital organizes medical teams to visit villages and provide regular free clinics. It also built two helicopter pads on the top of the building for emergency rescue.



Candidates from poor families are also favored in staff recruitment, with the hospital providing jobs for 68 people from poor households.



The hospital also helps local farmers, providing 30,000 yuan to help buy supplies last spring, and buying their produce. It will provide grants of 200,000 yuan each year to help the poor students pursue higher education.



Jiang Xiaodong is one such student. He entered Chongqing Medical University in September, but his mother's illness used up all the family savings and Jiang was close to giving up college. Shenghui Hospital agreed to give Jiang a bursary of 5,000 yuan each year until he graduates and his future is now secure.
When a deadly disease emerged in South China's Guangdong province in late 2002, and patients began to die, there was no definite diagnosis as to the cause of death. An epidemic quickly spread nationwide and then to other countries and regions.

It wasn't until five months later, after 774 deaths in 37 countries, that scientists in Canada identified the SARS virus as the source of the infection.

To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, scientists began looking into unknown viruses.

Now an international team led by Chinese virologists has reported, in an article scheduled to be published by Nature magazine on Thursday, the discovery of 1,445 new virus species.

"In the past, we have discovered new viruses only after an outbreak. Some viruses have even remained unknown for decades," Zhang Yongzhen, a researcher at the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, said on Wednesday.

The institute is part of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"With the lesson learned from SARS, we started to wonder how many unknown diseases are waiting for us. And that is the starting point of this research - to learn of viruses before an epidemic happens," said Zhang.

Starting in 2011, the scientists studied more than 220 invertebrate species - a wide range of creatures such as insects that account for 95 percent of the world's animals - and found the new viruses.

"The discovery of a new virus was slow in the past because most scientists were concentrating on vertebrates such as birds, pigs and dogs, since it was natural for people to inspect livestock first when an epidemic emerged," Zhang said.

"Based on our study, invertebrates, which are much greater in number, carry far more viruses than we were aware of. Also, many vertebrate viruses may have originated from invertebrates."

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses began to devise and implement rules for the naming and classification of viruses early in the 1970s, an effort that continues today. In the latest classification, published in 2011, only 2,284 species of viruses were defined.

"The enormous diversity of lineages and genome structures they describe (in the article) undoubtedly revolutionize our understanding of the virosphere," said one peer review provided to Nature that was shared with China Daily.
A worker drills a tunnel for the Lhasa-Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway in March. The section is expected to be finished by 2020.Cao Ning / Xinhua

More than 20 new highways will be built in the Tibet autonomous region next year, with a total investment of more than 33 billion yuan ($5 billion), according to a senior transportation official.

Included in the plans are new routes from Lhasa to Nakqu; Dege to Qamdo; Qamdo to Jaka; Lhasa to Xigaze Airport; and Gongkar Airport to Tsethang as well as the Nyima-Aso section of National Highway 317.

Ge Yutao, head of the regional transportation authority, said more than 54 billion yuan in State funds and loans were spent on Tibet's transport infrastructure this year.

"The total length of roads has reached 82,000 kilometers, and it's expected to reach 89,000 km next year," he said last week during the ninth regional Party congress. "Next year, we will finish constructing 864 km of highways and 5,500 km of rural roads, and reconstruct 4,310 km of national and provincial trunk highways."

The authority said the region aims to spend 15 billion yuan in State funding and 40 billion yuan in bank loans next year on improving Tibet's transportation network.

Wu Yingjie, the autonomous region's Party chief, highlighted planned improvements to road, rail and aviation networks over the next five years when delivering a congress work report on Nov 15.

Tibet will speed up construction of its second "Sky Road", the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, according to the work report.

Stretching 1,838 km, the railway will run from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, to Lhasa, capital of Tibet. It comes after the first "Sky Road", the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, went into full service in 2006.

Construction of the new line's first section, from Chengdu to Ya'an, began in 2014, while the second section, from Lhasa to Nyingchi, began construction in 2014.

"The section inside Tibet is expected to be finished by 2020," Wu said, adding that preliminary work on the Yunnan-Tibet Railway and flights between Ngari and Purung, in the region's Ngari prefecture, will get underway in the next five years.

Tibet has plans to build airports in densely populated and developed cities and prefectures, according to the work report.

"The progress of an elaborate transportation system of highways, railways and air routes in the coming years will lay a foundation for Tibet to blend in with the Belt and Road Initiative," Wu said, referring to China's plan to improve global connectivity.

The report said Tibet has witnessed rapid development in transportation construction in the past five years, with the total length of the highways increasing by 33 percent. In that time, the 300-km Lhasa-Nyingchi Highway was completed, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was expanded and the Lhasa-Xigaze Railway went fully operational.

Xu Ance, an engineer with Qinghai-Tibet Railway Co, said the line has led to a boom in the region's social economic development.

"Over the past 10 years, the number of tourists visiting Tibet has increased every year, while our passenger and cargo flow has grown annually, too," Xu said, adding that the line has made transporting basic goods, coal, cement and construction materials far more convenient.
The country will build 20 centers around the world this year, including clinics and workshops

Traditional Chinese Medicine can play a greater international role in preventing chronic diseases and avoiding soaring medical costs, Wang Guoqiang, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said on Wednesday.

"Not only is TCM the treasure of the nation, it's also one of China's contributions to the world," said Wang, who is also director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. "We hope to extend the scope of cooperation so that TCM can play a greater role in cooperation with other countries," Wang said.

Chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease account for 70 percent of deaths in China, according to Chen Kaixian, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who addressed delegates at the Ninth Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai.

"Modern medical research has found that the top pathogenic factor (in chronic diseases) is an unhealthy lifestyle and behavior, rather than disease," he said. "Therefore, it's necessary to fundamentally change the medical goal to disease prevention and health maintenance, which should be the core of sustainable medicine."

Zhang Boli from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences suggested that other countries adopt a "China-style" approach, which is to develop traditional and complementary medicine and Western medicine with equal importance.

"We should shift emphasis from disease to quality of life and from physical illness to psychological balance," he said.

Such shifts have received the backing of major organizations such as the World Health Organization, which in 2013 released the Traditional Medicine Strategy (2014-23) aimed at harnessing the potential contribution of traditional and complementary medicine to health, wellness and people-centered care.

However, the development of traditional and complementary medicine is not unique to China.

"In South Africa, nonconventional medicine is also used, but it is referred to as complimentary medicine," said Precious Matsoso, the session's moderator, and director-general of health policy and planning for South Africa's Ministry of Health.

The Chinese government has promoted cooperation and communication between other countries in the TCM sector by including it in an action plan for the Belt and Road Initiative released last year.

This year, it plans to build 20 TCM centers around the world, which will include clinics and areas to learn about TCM, and provide workshops for medical professionals.

Seeing TCM's clear benefits as a preventive approach to chronic disease and its cost effectiveness, other countries are beginning to follow China's lead.

"One-hundred percent of health centers will be able to provide traditional medicine services by 2020," said Zhang Qi, director of the WHO's department of traditional and complimentary medicine. "Thailand plans to achieve the same."

Shan Juan contributed to this story.
The following is the full text of the speech delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the opening ceremony of the Ninth Global Conference on Health Promotion

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

Good morning.

Health is a cornerstone for the comprehensive development and well-being of the people, and a hallmark of national prosperity and social progress. On the occasion of the Ninth Global Conference on Health Promotion, I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government, warm congratulations on the opening of the conference and a sincere welcome to all the distinguished guests.

This conference coincides with the 30th anniversary of the first International Conference on Health Promotion. Three decades ago, the Ottawa Charter introduced the concept of "health promotion", which has since guided the development of the health cause worldwide. Three decades on, thanks to the joint efforts of countries around the world and the hard work of the World Health Organization, the world average life expectancy has increased by over eight years. Maternal and infant mortality rate and that of children under five have been lowered by 50 percent on average, which is a big milestone in the history of human health.

At the same time, we should be aware that we are still confronted with daunting global health challenges. While traditional diseases, health issues and inequality in health remain acute, a faster aging population, greater trans-border flows of people, the evolving spectrum of disease and the changing environment and lifestyles are creating new problems. The threat of multiple diseases and our vulnerability to health risks have both risen. The sluggish world economic recovery and divergent trends of economic growth have added to the difficulty of ensuring the effective supply and the balanced and reasonable allocation of health resources. Promoting health remains an arduous task and nothing short of concerted international efforts is required for truly delivering the goal of "health for all".

This year marks the start of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The theme of this conference "health promotion in the sustainable development goals" highlights the important role of health promotion in global sustainable development endeavor. Discussions around this theme will go a long way to promoting consensus building and synergy for the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this connection, I would like to put forward the following suggestions.

We should enhance policy dialogue and build a platform for health governance cooperation. Health promotion is the common endeavor of mankind. We should together build a community of shared future and take concrete actions to advance cooperation. We need to build a multilevel and wide-ranging institutional platform for dialogue and cooperation and support the WHO's efforts to lead, coordinate and implement global health programs. Efforts should also be made to improve health legislation in our respective countries and tighten regulation on health-impairing investment and trading activities through fiscal, taxation and financial policy tools.

At the same time, we need to uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and increase the representation and voice of developing countries. Developed countries should shoulder more responsibility and support developing countries. We should work together to make global health governance fairer and more reasonable.

We should put in place an inclusive and interconnected system for the prevention and control of global public health hazards. No country can stay immune to major public health challenges. Countries need to better coordinate health emergency practices, improve global mechanisms for disease surveillance, early-warning and emergency response, strengthen notification, information sharing and personnel training, and further improve global capacity to address public health emergencies. The Chinese government supports the WHO in putting together its global health emergency task force and contingency fund. We urge developed countries to step up support to developing countries in improving their public health systems, and together build up stronger lines of defense for global health.

We should enhance the capacity for health supply and services through cooperation on innovation. Scientific and technological innovation is the golden key to health. Countries need to enhance research and development of health technologies, actively conduct bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including joint research on frontier and innovative technologies, and tackle common health hazards facing mankind together. We need to expand the network for exchange and cooperation in such areas as the prevention and control of antimicrobial resistance, advanced health technologies, drug research and development, energy-saving, emissions reduction and the treatment of pollution, and build platforms for entrepreneurship and innovation. There should be wider application and sharing of scientific and technological progress to bring greater benefits to more people.

We should encourage mutual learning and promote greater integration between traditional and modern medical sciences. Throughout history, different countries and nations have developed their own views of health and acquired distinct strengths in the form of traditional medicine. Differences in medical practices should be embraced with equality and open-mindedness, and cultural exchanges be encouraged as a useful way to promote health cooperation. We should encourage mutual learning on the views and culture of health. We need to better promote traditional medicine, make better use of their strengths in preventing and treating diseases, and actively develop services trade in traditional medicine. By leveraging the complementarity between traditional and modern medical sciences, we will make new contributions to human health.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

China has been a strong advocate and firm practitioner of health promotion. Since the founding of the People's Republic, in particular since reform and opening-up, China has vigorously expanded healthcare services despite a relatively underdeveloped economy. We have significantly improved the health of our people, and found a path of health development consistent with China's national conditions. In 2009, China started a new round of healthcare reform. We identified a core objective, which is to offer basic healthcare services to all people as a public good, and outlined the principle of ensuring basic levels of healthcare, strengthening community health services and building up healthcare networks.

Important progress has been made in this direction. We put in place a system of basic medical insurance that covers the entire population of over 1.3 billion people, offering an institutional guarantee for universal access. We improved the basic rural health service network at county, township and village levels and the system of urban community health services, making such services more convenient and accessible for our people. We took vigorous measures to promote equal access to public health services and offered basic public health services for all urban and rural residents for free. Our spending on public health services has been growing year by year and will continue to grow. We worked out a Chinese solution to advance healthcare reform, which is a worldwide challenge.

China's average life expectancy now stands at 76.3 years. Maternal mortality rate has been reduced to 20.1 per 100,000 and infant mortality rate to 8.1 per 1,000, generally better than the average level in middle- and high-income countries. For the largest developing country with over 1.3 billion people, such accomplishments are no mean feat.

China is at a decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. At the recently held National Health Conference, the first in the new century, President Xi Jinping outlined in an important speech the overall guidelines, targets and tasks for building a healthy China from a strategic and overarching perspective and proposed principles for health-related work. We will focus on the grassroots, pursue reform and innovation as a driving force and disease prevention as the priority, give importance to both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, incorporate health into all policy-making, and strive for participation by all and benefits to all. We promulgated the Outline of Healthy China 2030 Plan with the aim to provide all-dimensional, whole-of-the-life-cycle health services for all by 2030, increase average life expectancy to 79 years, and reach high-income countries' level in main health indicators. With this in mind, we will make relentless efforts in the following areas:

We will take health as a strategic priority to advance health in tandem with economic and social progress. We will prioritize health in development planning, highlight health targets in economic and social programs, give more weight to health in drafting and implementing public policies, and meet health demand in fiscal spending, with a view to providing basic health services for all.

We will build a whole-process health promotion system to protect people's health throughout the life cycle. There are many factors affecting people's health from the beginning to the end of life. We need to provide whole-of-the-life-cycle health services for the people. Effective measures will be taken for prevention, healthcare and greater intervention to make people healthier and less vulnerable. We will enhance health education, spread health knowledge and skills, deepen fitness campaigns for all, raise people's health awareness and sense of responsibility, and foster a new health system in which all people will participate, contribute and benefit. We will strengthen prevention and control of major diseases, improve prevention and treatment practices, enforce cross-agency holistic measures at all levels, and reduce damage to people's health from major diseases. We will intensify pollution treatment and foster a sound environment for people's health.

We will work hard to improve community-level healthcare and strengthen weak links to increase fairness and accessibility of health services. The biggest weak link in China's health system lies at the community level, in rural and poor areas in particular. We will coordinate urban and rural development and pursue a new type of urbanization, make more resources available for community-level health programs. Communities must be equipped with greater capacity of disease prevention and control through cultivating general physicians and providing long-distance medical treatment and paired-up assistance. The advantages of traditional Chinese medicine must be harnessed to widen the availability of medical care and health services. We will implement health-related poverty-alleviation programs, intensify support for poor areas in insurance for major diseases and medical assistance, prevent disease-induced poverty, and narrow the gap in basic health services between urban and rural areas and among different regions and groups of people.

We will continue to deepen healthcare reform and set up basic healthcare systems that cover urban and rural areas. Our reform in this area is now in a deep-water zone, which calls for greater courage and wisdom. We will further deepen public hospital reform, quicken the development of tiered medical services, cut red tape and enhance coordination among medical and healthcare institutions at various levels and of different categories. This way, we hope to provide high-quality medical services to our people, and help community-level medical institutions improve their performances. Progress has been made in encouraging big, medium-sized and small hospitals and township hospitals to establish the Health Care Alliance, which would make medical services more accessible and affordable for the people.

We will build up a nationwide basic medical insurance system, reform the way of making medical insurance payouts, merge the basic medical insurance systems for rural and non-working urban residents, and establish a nationwide information network for medical insurance to improve quality and efficiency. We will also reform the supply system of pharmaceuticals to deliver safe and effective medicines to our people. We will advance coordinated reform of medical services, medical insurance and the medicine industry, motivate medical practitioners, including by making their jobs even more dignified, and enhance the vitality and sustainability of medical and healthcare systems.

We will vigorously develop the health sector to better meet people's increasingly diverse health needs. With higher standards of living and greater awareness about health, our people expect more multi-tiered, diversified and individualized products and services. To respond to their demands, government and the market both have a role to play. The government needs to ensure basic supply, especially for the most vulnerable groups, while the market can be more active in providing non-basic and more diversified health services. We will encourage increased supply of health products and services from nongovernmental sources, and the setting-up of privately run hospitals, thus making it easier for people to get more affordable medical treatment. We will support innovation in medical science and boost integrated development between the health sector and old-age care, tourism, the internet, fitness and recreation and food industries. We will also promote mass innovation and entrepreneurship in the health sector and practice the "Internet Plus Health" action plan, so that new industries, new businesses and new models will thrive in this sector.

China has been actively calling for and contributing to global health cooperation, and has fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations. During the past half century, China has sent over 20,000 medical staff to 67 countries and regions, treating patients over 260 million times. China has contributed its share to the fight against the ebola epidemic that broke out in West Africa in 2014. China moved promptly to dispatch over 1,200 medical staff and public health experts, who fought against the disease side by side with the people in the affected countries. China highly appreciates the prominent role that the WHO has played over the years in curbing communicable diseases and coordinating global health affairs. Under the framework of the UN and the WHO, China will continue to actively participate in global health promotion efforts and do its best to provide assistance to other developing countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

Health is an eternal pursuit of mankind, and health promotion is the shared responsibility of the international community. Let us work together to make our world a better and healthier place!

In conclusion, I wish this conference full success.

Thank you.
As a vital element for Shanghai's ambition to build itself into a global science and technology hub, Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone is working to improve healthcare services through innovation in the medical and pharmaceutical fields.

The pharmaceutical industry in Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone has been on the rise in recent years, becoming an engine for the further development of Shanghai's pharmaceutical industry.

Over the years, a large number of pharmaceutical companies have settled in Zhangjiang, and many of them have been looking for innovative development with a strategic path.

For example, Shanghai Green Valley (Group) Co Ltd is an innovation-driven medical investment group focusing on innovative drugs' research and development, production and sales, as well as modern traditional Chinese medicine health diagnostics and management services. It has explored new medicines R&D by using sugar-based drugs to treat complex diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

The Green Valley Research Institute, with a team of high-level professionals and overseas talents, was established to set up R&D centers in Beijing, Benxi of Liaoning province and Changchun of Jilin province. It also established manufacturing bases in Shanghai Qingpu, and Liaoning province's Benxi Green Valley Industry Park.

Green Valley also initiated and formed the standard of salvianolate, which has been formally written into the national pharmacopoeia. It also established Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceutical Co Ltd through its partnership with the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The company specializes in the exploration and development of innovative, natural medicine through modern biopharmaceutical methods.

With the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory, it has researched and developed natural medicine by carrying out scientific testing, selection and transformation on traditional prescriptions.

The company has accumulated intellectual property rights for a series of innovative drug product lines with confirmed efficacy to meet international standards. Salvianolic acid salt for injection, one of the company's core products, is a kind of natural medicine for which China and the United States have authorized patents.

According to the company, it is now developing a drug, GV-971, for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. GV-971 prevents the aggregation and deposition of amyloid peptide. The phase III clinical trial is expected to be finished in the end of 2017. So far, drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's are symptomatic relief and fail to effectively prevent the progress of the disease. GV-971 is expected to bring a new hope for the treatment of the disease, according to the company.

Green Valley said it is still working to enhance the connection between lab research and the industry to build a world-class company through constant innovation.
Enchanted Power Technology Co Ltd, based in Shanghai's Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, wants to strengthen the development of ionized water technology to provide more health solutions to consumers.

Ionized water technology aims to extract more than 70 mineral ions from seawater and the earth, and to stabilize them in certain types of liquid.

This method is proven to have strong development potential and can be used in a broad range of areas to support industries and social development, according to the company.

Enchanted Power has been recognized as a high-tech company in Shanghai and obtained funding support from the city government for its innovative projects, as it is becoming a gathering platform for global leading researchers from countries such as Japan and South Korea.

The company was responsible for vehicle interior air quality control during the G20 meetings in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, between Sept 4 and 5 this year.

It has also partnered with the College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University and Donghua University to ensure its products are developed based on real market demand.

The company has registered many national patents and obtained several awards from Shanghai authorities.

Aiming to reduce Chinese families' concerns about air quality, the company said it would focus on developing purifying products with ionized water technology in the coming years.

It will also strengthen its competitiveness in personal care, food, healthcare and agriculture sectors.

Tang Xiaohui, managing director of Enchanted Power, said that ionized water technology has mainly been used in air purifying sectors in recent years.

In the air-purifying sector, the technology can help solve air pollution problems in buildings and vehicles.

Compared with traditional air-purifying products, Enchanted Power's products are easier to apply and have longer-lasting effects.

The ionized water technology-based air-purifying products also have relatively lower costs.

"We think demand for air-purification products will boom in the next few years because the Chinese are paying more attention to their health," Tang said.

"There are increasing numbers of air-purifying products, but there are no industrial standards to regulate the market."

Statistics from market and consumer information agency GfK SE show that sales of air purifiers in China reached 3.52 million units last year, with revenue of nearly 7.5 billion yuan ($1.08 billion), up 10 percent year-on-year.

This growth rate is much higher than that of other home appliances.

Tang said the company has aims to become a market leader.

It plans to expand brand awareness and market share in the next two to three years.

It will also set industrial standards for the air-purifying products market.

Enchanted Power has been an active supporter of charity programs in China.

It has joined hands with the China Charity Federation to launch the Enchanted Fund. It has also participated in projects launched by Shanghai Charity Foundation.

"High-tech companies need to develop a good company culture to support long-term development. Enchanted Power has identified health and love as its core values," Tang said.

"We hope we can be a professional, high-tech-driven healthcare products maker, while expressing our sense of social responsibility to clients."
China Stem Cell Group in Zhangjiang ready to save lives with groundbreaking treatment options

To promote scientific innovation and biomedicine technology, the Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone in Shanghai aims to become a hot spot for the bioengineering and pharmaceutical industries, with research into stem cell technology forming a vital part of their operations.

China Stem Cell Group is one leader in China's stem cell industry.

Stem cell therapy refers to the usage of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition.

Bone marrow transplant is today the most widely used form of stem cell therapy. Other types of stem cell therapy include those involving umbilical cord blood.

Research into the development of sources of stem cells and the application of stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and other conditions are currently being conducted as well.

Established in 2004, the group has the largest repository of stem cell resources, as well as the highest number of transplantation cases in China.

It aims to provide safe and effective stem cell therapy to patients suffering from blood diseases with other illnesses.

The group has already performed more than 2,200 cases of clinical transplantation, more than any other institution in the country.

Wang Lei, general manger of the group, said that the group has thus far achieved a 100 percent match-rate among Chinese patients.

However, Wang said that China is still far from meeting the current demand for such treatments.

"China has about 5 million patients with various blood diseases and there are about 80,000 new cases each year.

"Unfortunately, only 3,000 to 4,000 of them are suitable to undergo transplantation treatment.

"There is still a large number of patients on the waiting list," said Wang.

"If more people are willing to store or donate their cord blood hematopoietic stem cells, more patients could be helped."

Over the years, the group has established partnerships with more than 100 hospitals across the country, mainly providing cord blood storage and clinical transplantation services.

It has also worked with the Shanghai Cord Blood Bank to establish an integrated medical platform covering regular storage, research and treatment.

During the early years following the group's establishment, the number of transplantation cases each year was very low.

But thanks to the rise of public awareness, the number increased to nearly 1,000 in 2016. The group has also been expanding its operations across the nation.

One such project is the stem cell hospital project in Hainan province, which will be the country's first and largest hospital of its kind.

It is expected to begin operations in 2017.

More than 1,000 transplants are expected to be performed at the facility annually.

The group is also planning to build the world's largest blood disease hospital in Jiading district, which is expected to provide more than 1,000 transplant surgeries annually. The project has been listed into the district's development plan during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.

Due to a shortage of related medical facilities, 95 percent of patients lack access to effective stem cell treatment.

Wang said a number of leading hospitals and blood disease institutes have signed agreements to provide technological support for the new hospital in Jiading.

Industry researchers said that by 2020, the industry scale of global stem cell industry will exceed $400 billion.

In China, a complete industrial chain, from storage to clinical use, has already formed.

Over the next five years, the value of stem cell industry in China is expected to grow from its current 2 billion yuan ($289 million) to 30 billion yuan annually.

Throughout the rapid development of stem cell and translational medicines, regulations are also needed to better guide the industry's healthy development, Wang said.

"These guidances will not only serve to regulate the industry' development and promote its technology, but also allow more people to benefit, shortening the gap between China and developed countries," Wang said.
Li Rong stands amid the woods he grew and watches the trees in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province, on September 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

Li Rong, 56, returned to his hometown of Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province, to plant trees on contracted mountains in 1989 after giving up his lucrative gold mining business.

Over 26 years, he spent all his savings and planted 500,000 pine and elm trees on the contracted barren mountains covering 307 hectares. In order to save on costs, Li seldom hired help, built the roads, dug the holes and planted and watered the trees by himself.

In order to watch all the trees, Li built a small shelter on top of the mountain, and lived there by himself. He patrolled the mountains every day, even on holidays, to prevent trees from being cut down.

In 2000, Li became the first Chinese farmer to be awarded with the environmental protection prize of Ford Motors.
McKenzie County Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger was removed from office at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday by agents with the Attorney Generals Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The removal was confirmed by County Commissioner Vawnita Best.

No other details are yet available.

The sheriff was under investigation by the attorney general after the McKenzie County Commission voted to seek his removal from office. The county sent a petition asking Gov. Jack Dalrymple to start the process last month, which triggered an investigation by the state.

The petition for removal was based on an independent investigation hired by the county to look into complaints about Schwartzenberger from his employees. The independent investigation found reason to remove the sheriff for harassment and intimidation amid concerns that he was creating a quasi-military environment in the department.

The sheriff immediately went to court and asked for a writ of prohibition, alleging the county was exceeding its jurisdiction by seeking his removal. On Nov. 18, South Central Court Judge David Reich said the county has authority to start the process of removal. After the ruling, Schwartzenberger told the McKenzie County Farmer newspaper he would continue to do whatever it takes to get the commission and states attorney to stop interfering with the administration of my office.

As part of its efforts to create a better working environment in the sheriffs department, the commission had placed Lt. Michael Schmitz on unpaid administrative leave. The sheriff had refused to do so and kept Schmitz on duty.
The fifth generation of cellular networks, 5G, may be put into commercial use as early as 2020, according to a regulatory body's roadmap and the business plans of several companies. Insiders from IMT-2020(5G) promotion group, which is dedicated to boosting the systematic promotion of 5G, said second-phase testing will be launched in 2017.

Authoritative insiders also disclosed that the experimental stage of 5G will last three years, from 2016 to 2018. The construction of a 5G network will begin in 2019, with a total budget of 500 billion RMB ($73 billion).

Huang Yuhong, deputy general manager of China Mobile's research institute, said that the three biggest operators in China will cooperate with equipment manufacturers for testing, adding that the first standard for 5G will be announced in 2018.

Industry analysts believe that the commercialization of a 5G network will not only bolster the telecommunications industry, but will also drive other emerging sectors, such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and more.

Currently, 42 domestic companies are working with the 5G Joint Innovation Center, researching the development of Internet of Things, car networking, industrial Internet and other areas. Some projects have reportedly entered the commercial operation phase, ready to be tested and promoted in the future.

In addition to Chinese firms, foreign telecom firms including Qualcomm, Ericsson and Nokia are likely to be among the first companies to launch large-scale commercial use of 5G services. Media reports note that those firms have certain advantages in specific 5G applications, such as car networking, drones and smart homes.
Women train with toy babies at a maternity matron school in Beijing in October, 2016. The school provides a training program incluing childcare, early education, housekeeping, and other domestic skills. Trainees can get their vocational qualification certificates and become postnatal attendants after an eight-day course which costs 1,700 yuan ($246.6). As Chinese couples are now allowed to have two children, the demand for the service usually exceeds supply.[Photo/VCG]
BEIJING - The Chinese government has promised more spending on transport improvements in poor regions for the next few years in the latest effort to realize its ambitious poverty reduction goals.



Vice Minister of Transport Dai Dongchang said Thursday that over half of vehicle purchase tax funds, estimated at more than 840 billion yuan (about 120 billion U.S. dollars), will be earmarked for rural road construction during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).



The figure marks a huge increase from the 550 billion yuan of tax funds used in the area during the past five years.



"In fact, there has been a fund shortage due to shrinking tax incomes after we cut or exempted purchase duties on compact and new energy sedans. But we will manage to guarantee the investment despite all the difficulties," Dai said at a press conference.



Besides central government spending, Dai expects support from banks and private investors. "We have inked agreements with policy banks for financial aid. ... We will encourage local authorities to explore new financing channels, such as public-private-partnership projects," he said.



Nearly 2 trillion yuan of private investment was used for highway construction in poor areas during 2010 to 2015, according to an official white paper issued last month.



Transport difficulties have become a major hurdle impeding the development of impoverished villages, mainly scattered in central and western China.



To address the issue, China has accelerated transport improvements in impoverished areas.



A total of 236,000 km of rural roads were built or renovated in the first ten months of the year, outnumbering the full-year target, Dai said, adding that he expects more progress in the remainder of the year.



Analysts said improved transport facilities will lead to effective development and utilization of mineral resources, energy and tourist resources in poor areas, accelerating the pace of poverty eradication.



Poverty relief is high on China's 2016-2020 agenda, and the government has vowed to lift everybody out of poverty by 2020. By the end of 2015, China still had 55.75 million people living below the national poverty line of 2,800 yuan per year.
The bags storing students' phones at the library of Southwest University in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality. [Photo from Sina Weibo]

A university in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality set up a reading room as part of a campaign that barred students from taking their mobile phones with them in case the device distracted them from concentrating on their studies, cqcb.com reported.

Reportedly a student named Hu Xiaopeng participating in the campaign studied 530 minutes without using his mobile phone even once. Unlike Hu, another one picked up his mobile phone in less than 20 minutes.

"Having seen many students use their mobile phones in the library, a habit that shortens their study time and negatively impacts their learning, we decided to open this reading room," said Zhang Shuran, the person responsible for the project at the university.

Zhang added that students can keep their phones in designated bags with numbers on them. The bags are placed on a desk near the door of the reading room.

"Staff members at the reading room will check the phones when there's a call," said Zhang, adding that they will inform students when their parents or teachers call them, but will not tell students if an unknown person is calling or when there's a text message.

Based on the time students hand in their phones when they come to the reading room and the time they get it back when they leave the room, Hu Xiaopeng from College of Animal Science and Technology of the university set the longest time. Hu spent 530 minutes studying without using his phone.

Though feeling somewhat surprised, Hu said: "It's bad to keep mobile phone with you when you are reading or studying."

Hu used to take his phone with him when he went to classes or read books in the library. He would spend considerable time answering the calls or messages. He admitted that it took much time. So Hu decided not to take it with him when he began preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam.

Hu said: "I will still take my phone to classes, but I will not use it. I might miss some information by not having it beside me, but it helps me focus on studying. I will keep studying in libraries without using my phone."

However, some students find it very challenging and difficult to study without mobile phones.

"I want to focus on studies, but I always want to see whether someone has sent me a text message on WeChat," said a girl who went out of the reading room and took back her phone twice after making some excuse in 30 minutes.

Another student surnamed Liu, a mobile game enthusiast, said: "It's very difficult for me to study without my phone. This activity really tests one's self-control."

Liu plays mobile games more than eight hours each day. He took part in the activity after his roommate asked him to. However, he could not resist the separation and gave up the challenge within 20 minutes.

However, Liu said he will participate in the activity later to free himself from the addictive phone.

The campaign has attracted nearly 200 students since it was launched a week ago.

Some internet users praised the campaign. One user named Liujingc said: "It's good. I don't bring my phone when going to library in case I get distracted."
19 punished for fatal gypsum mine collapse in E China

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-11-24 15:43

JINAN - Nineteen people were punished for misconduct in a fatal gypsum mine collapse in east China's Shandong Province last December, which killed one worker and left 13 unaccounted for.



The gypsum mine collapsed on Dec. 25, 2015 in Baotai Town, Pingyi County, when 29 miners were working underground.



The accident resulted in a direct economic loss of 41.3 million yuan (5.96 million U.S. dollars).



Fifteen miners who were rescued after the collapse were discharged from hospital in February this year.



Strong tremors triggered by the sudden fracture of limestone on the roof of a severely weathered neighboring gypsum goaf caused the mine to collapse, according to an investigation by Shandong work safety supervision bureau earlier this week.



Yurong Company, owner of the collapsed mine, bears the principal responsibility, for failing to monitor and safely maintain the mine.



Poor risk awareness and safety control, as well as inadequate regard for possible dangers in room-and-pillar mining, a method used to develop gypsum mines, were also causes the of the collapse, the report said.



Three people in control of the mine, believed to be liable for the fatal accident, have been arrested by local police.



Two officials from the local land and resources bureau were found guilty of dereliction of duty, while 14 other local officials were punished for violating the Party's political discipline.



Ma Congbo, president of Yurong, who committed suicide a few days after the accident, will not be subject to criminal liabilities, investigators said.



Yurong Company was also ordered to pay a fine of 3 million yuan (433,500 U.S. dollars).
BEIJING -- Chinese poets have often employed the cuckoo's arrival as a symbol for a call to return home, but few knew where the bird had come from.

Technology now has the answer. Satellite tracking has shown the common cuckoo can travel up to 12,000 km between winter grounds as far away as east Africa and its summer home in Beijing.

Chinese and British ornithologists and bird lovers caught 16 cuckoos in three Beijing wetland parks in May, and fitted satellite tags to five birds.

Data showed that a male bird named "Skybomb Bolt" had completed a 3,700-km non-stop flight from central India, across the Arabian Sea, to Somalia earlier November, while two had flown to northern India, and the other two were lost.

It is thought to be the longest migration route known for any cuckoo and is much longer than that of the European cuckoo. "Before leaving India, he had already travelled nearly as far as some UK cuckoos do on their entire migration," says Chris Hewson, a researcher and member of British Trust for Ornithology.

"Watching how it has made the world look small is a fantastic and humbling experience."

Beijing cuckoos fly south in October and return in April. Though well-known for their distinctive call, the birds are very secretive. Shi Yang, a bird watcher for 10 years, says cuckoos usually perch in the dense tree canopy: "They are rarely seen unless they fly." As such, they are very difficult to study, confounding ornithologists who speculate on their flight paths. The population, breeding seasons and threats they face are still unknown.

Only in recent years have tracking devices become small enough for the birds to carry. In the past, satellite technology was only able to track bigger birds, such as red-crowned cranes and whooper swans.

"In the future, when technology advances, we hope to track different, smaller birds too," says Terry Townshend, an organizer of the project and founder of the Birding Beijing NGO.

Townshend, a Briton who has been bird-watching in Beijing for five years, boasts how schools have participated in the project, broadening its impact beyond traditional science circles.

He frequently visits schools, gives lectures and leads school bird-watching trips. Students can follow the cuckoos' progress and learn more about their habitat.

In August, Beijing middle school students, who were studying the Olympics at the time, named "Skybomb Bolt" after the champion sprinter Usain Bolt.

Illegal netting of migratory birds has been frequently reported in China this year, reinforcing the importance of public engagement.

"People want to protect what they love, but they can only love what they know. It's important to tell more people about the incredible journeys. When people learn about the cuckoo, they want to protect it."
Academics at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, have described a new property of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon in sheets just one atom thick that has been the subject of widespread research.

Li Suzhi, Ding Xiangdong and Sun Jun from the university worked alongside Li Ju from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Li Qunyang from Tsinghua University, Robert W. Carpick from University of Pennsylvania and Peter Gumbsch from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on a paper, entitled The Evolving Quality of Frictional Contact with Graphene, which was published in Nature magazine on Nov 24.

For the first time, their research describes a fundamental property of graphene, namely how it behaves when something slides along its surface.

Using powerful computer simulations, the team reproduced all the core phenomena related to friction on the material and proposed a new control mechanism for two-dimensional materials.

Since they were first produced in 2004, two-dimensional materials such as graphene have become the focus of much academic study due to their unique electrical, magnetic, thermal and mechanical properties.
A 26-minute audio clip of an emergency hotline operator informing a panicked woman how to give her husband first aid went viral on Chinese microblog service Sina Weibo on Wednesday.

The incident happened during the National Day holiday in Wuhan, Hubei province, when the 43-year-old husband, surnamed Peng, collapsed at home.

His wife, who called the local emergency center, can be heard to repeat the phrase "please do not hang up, I am so scared" several times in the recording.

The hotline operator, 33-year-old Liu Qing, told the woman how to perform chest compression on her husband while she waited for an ambulance to arrive.

After three days in hospital, Peng recovered and his life is not longer in danger.

The audio clip was first released by Yangtze River Daily on Saturday via its WeChat account, but it did not start to go viral until Wednesday.

By Thursday morning, the audio clip had been reposted by more than 40 media outlets and read by some 2 million netizens, many of whom said it "deeply moved" them.

"Emergency call operators given more than just technical advice, they also provide psychological comfort," said Liu, the hotline operator, adding that the call was the longest in her nine-year career.

Chen Manli, director of the cardiovascular department at the hospital where Peng was treated, said: "The survival rate for sudden cardiac arrest outside hospital is below 1 percent. The wife played a vital role by performing chest compression within what we call the 'golden four minutes'."
Rescuers work at the accident site at the Fengcheng power plant in east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 24, 2016. Sixty-seven people have been confirmed dead after the platform of the Fengcheng power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed on Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Seventy-four people have been confirmed dead as a platform of a power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed in east China's Jiangxi Province Thursday, rescuers said.

The accident occurred at about 7 a.m. Five injured workers are receiving medical treatment in a local hospital.

Premier Li Keqiang urged the rescue workers to put lives first, saving trapped people and treating the wounded.

He also urged setting up a State Council team to help the rescue work, investigate the cause of the accident and punish those accountable according to laws.
Rescuers work at the accident site at the Fengcheng power plant in east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 24, 2016. At least 67 people have been confirmed dead after the platform of the Fengcheng power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed on Thursday.[Photo/Xinhua]

Premier Li Keqiang on Nov 24 urged rescue workers to spare no efforts after an accident at a construction site in Yichun, East Chinas Jiangxi province, left 67 people dead when a platform of a power plants cooling tower collapsed.

Premier Li urged the rescue workers to put lives first, saving trapped people and treating the wounded.

He also urged setting up a State Council team to help the rescue work, investigate the cause of the accident and punish those accountable according to laws.

The accident occurred about 7 a.m. on Nov 24, leaving at least 40 people dead and others trapped in the debris, according to Xinhua News Agency.

He also urged local authorities to conduct more effective supervision and precaution work to prevent fatal incidents in the future.
FARGO -- North Dakotas governor and congressional delegates are urging President Barack Obama to make a speedy decision on the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kevin Cramer, all Republicans, signed a letter Wednesday calling on the president to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow the completion of the controversial pipeline, which would cross the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The project has been at the center of protests in south-central North Dakota, with opponents calling for the pipelines rejection by the corps and Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the project.

The pipeline would take oil pulled from the Bakken formation in western North Dakota and ship it 1,172 miles to Patoka, Ill.

The letter signed by the states top Republicans also called on the White House to provide federal assistance to law enforcement "in order to maintain public safety, which has been threatened by ongoing  and oftentimes violent  protest activity."

"Your inaction on the pending easement has created undue hardship and uncertainty for area residents, private landowners, tribal members, construction workers and law enforcement personnel," the letter reads.

Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp did not sign the letter, but said in a statement issued Wednesday that she discussed the project with White House Senior Adviser Brian Deese this week, calling on Obama to make a speedy decision on the project or let the corps make that decision immediately. Though she acknowledged protesters have the right to exercise their First Amendment rights peacefully, she said that is not the case in many instances. She said continued delays have brought no justice or peace, but instead has put lives at risk.

Despite my continued meetings with the White House, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of the Interior, it is apparent that the White House either does not understand, or will not respect the severity of the situation on the ground -- which I told them increases my fear that their failure to act will lead to an escalation of violence, she said in the statement.

Her statement also said the White House promised Heitkamp to consult the corps on the matter.
Rescuers work at the accident site at the Fengcheng power plant in east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 24, 2016. At least 67 people have been confirmed dead after the platform of the Fengcheng power plant's cooling tower under construction collapsed on Thursday.[Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered a thorough investigation after the collapse of a platform under construction at a power plant killed at least 67 people on Thursday.

Xi, who is in Chile on a state visit to the Latin American country, also said rescue efforts would continue and demanded all necessary precautions be taken to avoid further accidents.

Premier Li Keqiang also told rescue workers to put lives first, save trapped people and treat the wounded immediately.

Seventy people were working at the site at 7 am when the platform collapsed at the Fengcheng Power Plant in the city of Yichun, East Chinas Jiangxi province.

Two people were injured, and their conditions remain unknown.
Xi, Li urge stepped-up efforts after builders' platform gives way

Rescuers search for trapped workers after the deadly collapse of a construction platform at a cooling tower at Fengcheng Power Plant in Yichun, Jiangxi province, on Thursday morning. WAN XIANG / XINHUA

Seventy-four workers have been confirmed dead and and another two injured after a working platform within a power plant's unfinished cooling tower collapsed on Thursday morning in Jiangxi province.

President Xi Jinping urged local authorities early on Thursday to step up rescue, treatment and follow-up efforts. The country has seen several recent work accidents, and the central government should take steps to thoroughly root out work safety hazards, he said.

Premier Li Keqiang called on rescue workers to put lives first by saving anyone who was trapped and by treating the injured. He urged setting up a State Council team to help investigate the cause of the accident and punish anyone accountable according to laws.

The collapse occurred at around 7 am on Thursday when a tower crane's collapse triggered the collapse of the entire construction platform within the cooling tower of the Fengcheng Power Plant in Yichun, Jiangxi.

One of the three injured workers was in critical condition, according to a statement from the provincial government.

The two other workers were in stable condition at a hospital, China Central Television reported. They were migrant workers from Gansu province, the report said, adding that the work crew also included workers from Cheng'an county, Hebei province.

Li Yihuang, the vice-governor of Jiangxi who is heading a provincial-level investigation team, said at a news briefing that workers from the night shift were being relieved by the morning shift when the collapse occurred.

"We will conduct a serious investigation into the cause of the accident and hold those who are responsible accountable," he said.

Local authorities sent more than 500 rescuers to the collapse site after the incident took place.

The construction of two 1 million-kilowatt, coal-fired power units at the plant began in July last year and was expected to be completed by early 2018, local authorities said.

The power plant, which is owned by Jiangxi Ganneng Co, launched a 100-day campaign on Sept 13 to speed up construction of the plant, according to a statement released by the company in September.

In the statement, the company had said its administrative staff should go to the construction site to supervise the construction units to increase the number of workers, speed up progress on the projects and take advantage of days with "fine weather", the statement said.

Li Yihuang, the vice-governor, said construction of the cooling tower started in April. The height of the tower will be 160 meters when completed. So far, workers have completed the construction of 70 meters.

The accident in Jiangxi is the country's third major work accident in the past three months.

On Sept 28, a gas explosion at a coal mine in Shizuishan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, killed 19 people and left one person missing. On Oct 31, a gas explosion at a coal mine in Yongchuan district of Chongqing killed 33 miners.

Contact the writer at xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn
Colonia, starring Daniel Bruhl and Emma Watson, is based on real incidents in a settlement in Chile. [Photo provided to China Daily]

German director Florian Gallenberger was angry when he heard about Colonia Dignidad, a notorious settlement in Chile. It was 1981 and he was 9 years old.

"Seven years ago, I found that the compound was still there and it's a much bigger story than I'd ever have known," Gallenberger tells China Daily in Beijing.

Chinese moviegoers know the director for his Nanjing Massacre-themed film John Rabe (2009).

His new film, Colonia, is based on activities of a cult in the Chilean settlement. It was screened as the opening film at the 4th Festival of German Cinema, which is touring Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

The annual festival is held by German Films, an organization promoting the country's cinematic culture worldwide, and Goethe-Institut China.

Gallenberger, 44, who is the China-based festival's honorary patron, is promoting his film with events in the three cities.

While similar to John Rabe in the way that it revolves around a German during a turbulent time, Colonia shows things from the perspective of two loversa flight attendant, played by British actress Emma Watson, and a German supporter of Chile's deposed president Salvador Allende, played by German actor Daniel Bruhl.

In the fictionalized story based on real incidents, the attendant risks her life to rescue her lover, who is jailed in Colonia Dignidad after military dictator Augusto Pinochet launches a coup in 1973.

Founded by the German missionary Paul Schafer in 1961, Colonia Dignidad was an isolated location in southern Chile.

Schafer was also charged with sexually abusing children.

To obtain firsthand information, Gallenberger visited Colonia Dignidad many times between 2009 and 2013.
The upcoming film Nezha features an international production team including (from left) Stephen Castor, Gabriella Cristiani, Ethan van der Ryn and Jim Rygiel. [Photo provided to China Daily]

What can one expect when three Oscar winners join hands for a Chinese film? Perhaps, a company in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province, has the answer.

Film Carnival, which last year moved from financing to filmmaking, announced last week that its first feature film has brought some of the people behind Middle-earth on board.

Jim Rygiel, the visual effects supervisor of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Ethan van der Ryn, who was in charge of sound editing in the second installment of the trilogy, Two Towers, will lead the visual effects and sound editing teams, respectively, for Film Carnival's upcoming fantasy comedy Nezha.

Nezha is based on the legends surrounding a Chinese folk deity by the same name.

The film, which is scheduled for release in 2017, features A-list actor Zhang Fengyi and Malaysian-Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh. It is directed by Jeffrey Lau, well known for his film A Chinese Odyssey.

The Lord of the Rings films that Rygiel and Van der Ryn worked won Oscars, and Van der Ryn won another Oscar for King Kong (2005) in addition to nominations for the Transformers series and Argo (2012).

Nevertheless, the industry veterans say that the Hangzhou firm's offer was a challenge for them.

"I had not heard of the Nezha story before I got the script," says Rygiel. "I am grateful to my Chinese colleagues in the art department who helped me."

Van der Ryn says that working on Chinese films is a good way to learn Chinese culture and history. He recently did sound editing for a Chinese film on the Chongqing Bombing, an atrocity committed by Japan during World War II, which is not well known in the West.

"I will use sound to show darkness and light, loudness and quietness (in Nezha)," he says.

Compared to them, however, Gabriella Cristiani, an Italian film editor who won an Oscar for The Last Emperor (1987), seemed more prepared when joining the Nezha production team.

Recalling her work on the film on Puyi, the last Chinese monarch, Cristiani, who once studied Taoism, says: "When I was editing the film images then, I felt like I was making a sculpture.

"You have to bring emotion and dynamism to your work. And, I think we are now prepared to produce the most exquisite scenes from China."

Though many Chinese film studios have worked with Hollywood in recent years, the Hollywood professionals working on Nezha sounded a note of caution.

"Some people (in Hollywood) get a little nervous about this (situation) and don't accept and embrace it," says Stephen Castor, a Hollywood veteran of motion-capture technology, who is the postproduction producer of Nezha. "But the collaboration can produce opportunities."

Castor says China now has more talent and advanced technology for cinema, but he also cautions the Chinese industry to learn from Hollywood's mistakes and not to waste money.

"It's important to learn how to plan properly and efficiently, and not to go for too large a crew," he says.

Rygiel also tells China Daily that film technology should serve the storytelling part.

"When we use the footage and tell a story, it has to be a compelling story," he says.

"I always hope that I can do as little work as possible, because the best way to tell a story is to make it as real as possible, rather than making everything blow up."

Probably, this is why Film Carnival does not want to make its films an extravaganza of dazzling visual effects, though its first three films are all fantasy fare.

"Creative efforts will be made, and all of them are to take traditional Chinese stories abroad," says Huang Xiaofeng, vice-president of Film Carnival.

"The introduction of Hollywood technology is one channel, but it needs many more ways."

Separately, the company has signed Kim Ki-duk, an art-house film guru from South Korea, for the upcoming film Who Is God?
[Photo/Official Weibo account of Zhonghua Book Company]

China has published a collection of rare ancient medical books that were once thought lost in China until they were discovered overseas.

The collection, published by Zhonghua Book Company, incorporates 427 ancient traditional Chinese medical books into 403 volumes.

At the launch event Tuesday, Zheng Jinsheng, editor-in-chief of the collection, said that since the 1990's, he and his team had traveled to Japan, Germany, France, Britain and other countries to collect the books.

China has developed unique medicine theories and practices, and a great deal of books and works have been published on the subject, some of which ended up in other countries while some of them have been lost.

The publication is a milestone in traditional Chinese medicine literature research and has been welcomed by researchers.

Related:

China's commitment to health affirmed
Cast and crew of Battle of Memories [Photo provided to China Daily]

What will happen if your brain locates a memory that doesn't belong to you?

Huang Bo, one of China's most famous actors, may have the answer thanks to his new sci-fi thriller, Battle of Memories.

Set in 2019, the tale fictionalizes a memory-manipulation operation popular across the world. Jiang Feng, a prestigious novelist played by Huang, deletes the memory of his failed marriage but accidentally uploads a bloody memory from a serial killer.

Huang said the acting, featuring a number of mental scenarios, was much more challenging than in his previous roles, during a Beijing press event Wednesday.

Taiwan director Leste Chen, known for the 2014 thriller, The Great Hypnotist, said he got the idea of an inner-brain expedition abouttwo years ago.

"There are many Hollywood films revolving on memory manipulation. But I wanted to make Battle of Memories an unlikely thriller, featuring more Chinese elements," Chen said.

Despite his reluctance to reveal more details, Chen said the film will try to examine the struggle in pursuit of freedom in a human being's inner world.

The star-studded cast also include veteran actresses Xu Jinglei and Yang Zishan and actor Duan Yihong.

The feature-length film is set to open in Chinese mainland theaters on April 28.
Paul Stebbings and Martyn Roper exchange ideas. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Most people think that tragedies are superior to comedies. And I need to dispel that view by giving comedy a status because it is a complex humanist art," said Paul Stebbings, founder of TNT Theatre Britain.

To make the general public know more about Shakespeare, his comedies in particular, Paul delivered an interesting speech at the 9 Theater in Beijing on Nov. 23, attracting hundreds of visitors.

Paul began the speech by raising the question "What makes humor" and then combined the humorous elements together with Shakespeare's comedies.

According to him, TNT Theatre Britain has been touring in China for 11 years. It is currently touring the country with The Taming of the Shrew and will return to China early next year with Twelfth Night.

"Twelfth Night represents the classic works of Shakespeare's comedies because of language, plot and role characters. We are about to put the drama on the stage next year," Paul said.

When asked about whether they will add some Chinese elements in their performance, Paul said that the humorous elements in Shakespeare's comedies are universal and they can make people laugh and enjoy the show despite the cultural differences. And they would keep the drama in its original form.

Paul's speech was only a small part of the Shakespeare Lives campaign. To mark the 400 anniversary of William Shakespeare, the British Embassy Beijing has announced a series of special events in nine cities across China over the next month. Working together with some of the UK's top industry experts, these events will bring the creativity inherent in Shakespeare to local creative communities from Xi'an to Wuhan, showcasing the universal nature and relevance of Shakespeare's themes today.

Martyn Roper, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy Beijing, said: "It is fantastic to see the way that so many diverse audiences across China have embraced the works of Shakespeare this year. This really shows us how the richness of the UK's cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed by all today. I hope that through these special events we can inspire even further greater cultural exchange between the UK and China. "

This year saw the launch of the Shakespeare Lives campaign, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare. A major program of events and activities has been organized across China throughout the year to spark cultural, educational and economic exchange, through the shared language of Shakespeare.

The campaign has been an invitation to the world to join in the celebrations and experience the works of Shakespeare on stage, through film, exhibitions and in schools.
China and Sweden to cooperate on innovation and entrepreneurship

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2016-11-24

The First Sino-Swedish Innovation and Entrepreneur Forum was held on Nov 11 in Beijing.

The forum was intended to promote economic trade between China and Sweden and build an exchange platform for the two countries on culture, technology and talent.

The event also helped high-technological talents, internationally leading investors and senior managers in various companies to learn more about each other.

During the forum, Anna Lindstedt, Sweden's ambassador to China, said Sweden was the first west European country to start a relationship with China. The two countries have enjoyed 66 years of friendship and nearly 700 Swedish companies have established branches in China.

Swedish people are good at innovating -- zips, adjustable spanners, explosive materials and cardiac pacemakers were all invented by them.

Anna Lindstedt wished that the forum could be a platform for the exchange and cooperation between China and Sweden, particularly in technological development and innovation.

Zhongguancun is one of the most energetic entrepreneurial centers in China, with more than 40 unicorn companies -- newly founded companies with more than one billion dollars' market assessment -- settling in the zone.

Hou Yun, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park, said Zhongguancun is willing to cooperate in innovation and entrepreneurship with Swedish enterprises, sharing technological information and encouraging Swedish companies to settle in the park.

Establishment of the Sino-Sweden Innovation and Entrepreneur Base, sponsored by Zhongguancun Yonghe Hangxing Science Park, the Sweden Alumni Network in China and the Young Professionals, was announced during the event.

The base is intended to build a platform for development of innovative cooperation between China and Sweden and accelerate the flow of talents and capital.

The base will focus on researching cutting-edge information technologies, exploring high-end manufacturing and attracting innovative programs to settle in Zhognguancun Science Park, and will offer newly entered firms localized services.

More than 300 enterprise representatives, staff at the Swedish Embassy and returned entrepreneurs attended the forum.
Updated : 2016-11-22

(chinadaily.com.cn)

"You see, they are noisy now, but when they're on stage they are quite serious!" says Xu Yuntong with a kind smile on her face.

The room in Yushan Town No 1 Primary School in Kunshan is full of excited children, all here to attend Xu's Kunqu Opera class.

The former music teacher has sparked quite a revival in Kunqu Opera in the city where it was first created.

She now has more than 100 children in her club, and several of her students have even won the Little Plum Blossom Award, China's top award for stage performers under 14 years of age.

Xu's class for young Kunqu Opera performers now boasts a group of more than 100 students. [Photo from WeChat account kslydjq]

Kunqu developed from traditional Kunshan folk music during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and it quickly became one of Chinas dominant art forms during the 16th to 18th centuries, influencing many other genres of opera including Peking Opera.

But Kunqu fell out of favor during the last hundred years, and Xu was worried that the great art form was in danger of dying out.

She began working on setting up a class to train young children in the traditional art form in 2001, the year Kunqu Opera was added to UNESCO's world intangible cultural heritage list.

Learning Kunqu Opera must start from a young age, according to Xu.

However, creating the opera club was a daunting task, both in terms of finding a location and ensuring her students received excellent teaching.

"I was once just a Kunqu Opera enthusiast, but the kids need professional training, so I had to delve into traditional singing methods myself," says Xu.

"I also invited professional opera teachers to help the kids shape-figure [the stylized movements and gestures that form a crucial part of Chinese opera]."

Thanks to her hard work, her dream finally came true in 2004 when the first Kunqu Opera class took place at No 1 Primary School in Yunshan, and her club has been expanding ever since.

Some of Xu's earliest group of students are now teachers at Yushan Town No 1 Primary School, and help Xu teach Kunqu Opera there. [Photo from WeChat account kslydjq]

Some of her earliest group of students even joined Xu's class as teachers after graduating from college. "I'm very proud of them. It's just like bringing up chickens, as they will carry forward my work," says the veteran teacher.

When asked about her favorite students, Xu can't wait to introduce Li Miao and Yang Huiying: Two lovely, lively girls who were once very shy.

"Teachers' praise and my parents' recognition, as well as all the things Kunqu Opera have taught me are my driving force. Im confident to keep going," says Li Miao.

"I want to introduce Kunqu Opera to foreigners, as its beauty is worth appreciation all over the world," says Yang Huiying proudly.
Wuyue Sanren has just managed to offend a large swath of China's fair sex - not by a single post as much as a casual phrase in the post. He says "old men" like him can easily "get" good-looking women of a much younger age.

Well, he does not use "get", but a much more explicit word.

Wuyue Sanren, which is an online handle or pen name for Yao Bo, is a very influential blogger and social commentator. He used to work for China Daily's website, so we were technically colleagues. But I met him only a few times while he was working for the opinion section of the Chinese language side of the site. He never mentioned his day job to his followers, and the closest thing he came to reveal this part of his identity was the occasional word that his co-workers had a much higher mastery of the English language than he did.

I must admit he is a top-notch pundit even though I may not agree with him on every topic. Most of the times, he is fair and balanced. At least that was the impression I got when I was still following his writing. He later branched off to other jobs such as opening an upscale restaurant and an online store. After his wife died, he emigrated to Japan.

It is quite natural for a person to have multiple jobs or hobbies. But it never fails to amaze me when someone is able to develop a fan base so loyal they are willing to go wherever their idol points to.

A dozen young women might have come under his charm in a given period, but that does not mean all such women would have fallen for him. It is the same logic that terrorists within a certain period were more likely to be from one ethnicity, but it would be horribly wrong to conclude that everyone from that ethnicity is a (potential) terrorist. As an opinion leader, Sanren should have known the difference.

His seemingly casual remark flaunting his sex appeal came as a shock to many who read only his opinions. I feel it was calculated. Beneath the facade of a commentator who should pride himself on objectivity, there lies an artist type who wants to express himself in a more brazen manner.

Good as he is as a commentator, he is more cut out to be, say, a filmmaker. If he had made a film such as Leon the Professional, Natalie Portman's 1994 movie debut, which struck me as a fantasy by "older men" in terms of attracting teenage girls, he might get kudos even from women.

I don't know whether he intended to offend women, especially feminists, but his way of ego-massaging was not really subtle. It is a sign that the Apollonian instinct, which should illuminate his critical writing, is being hijacked by his Dionysian instinct.

Contact the writer at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
by Ruth Clara Viegas

KUWAIT, NOV 24, 2016: Fifty eight boys were inducted as new altar servers and one hundred and thirty six boys renewed their pledge to continue in the ministry at St Therese parish, Kuwait on November 17.

After receiving their First Holy Communion in May 2016, the parish announced the registration for the new Altar servers. The boys that had registered were then trained by coordinators, Pascal Fernandes and James Sequeira, who charted out a schedule for eleven Saturdays. They were assisted by four senior altar servers since September.



Ninety per cent attendance was mandatory for the altar servers to be inducted. The boys received a hands-on training on how to serve at the altar and were given an opportunity to get acquainted with the sacred liturgical books and articles used for the Holy Mass.

A written test was conducted to check the knowledge of the altar servers with regards to the articles used for the liturgy. Out of the total number registered, only 58 boys qualified to join the Altar Servers ministry.

On November 17, Father Derek Misquitta celebrated Holy Mass and Father Blany Pinto, Father Johnson Nedumpurath were concelebrants at a well-attended induction. In the introduction, Father Misquitta referred to St. John Berchmans, the patron of altar servers. He also shared his personal experience as an altar server, of how he was inspired to be a priest.



In his homily, Father Pinto made the altar boys aware that it is God who has called them to serve at the altar. He asked them to be open to God's calling to be a priest or a religious. The boys took their pledge to commit themselves to the altar server's ministry while the existing altar servers renewed their pledge.

Towards the end of Holy Mass, certificates were distributed to the new boys. Trophies and certificates were awarded to the three best altar servers (three juniors and three seniors) for the year September 2015  August 2016.



"It was worth sending my son for the weekly training. He has learnt a lot and is now ready to serve at Holy Mass," Roselyn D'cruz, a parent, said.

"I have not seen such a grand ceremony of inducting new altar servers in any parish till date. Even the invitation card that we received was so artistic that we want to preserve it and cherish the memories," Alex D'souza, another parent, added.
Chen Shu's upcoming role is that of a queen in a lavish costume drama. Photos provided to China Daily

As the quintessential 'woman in cheongsam', television royalty Chen Shu wants to be known for her versatility, writes Raymond Zhou.

Chen Shu is hailed by many in China as "the most beautiful woman in cheongsam". Over the past decade, she has been associated with roles in television hits that required her to wear the Mandarin gown popularized in early 20th-century Shanghai.

Chen, 39, could well rest on her laurels of period drama set in that recent past, where her beauty and elegance are guaranteed to impress, but her versatility easily transcends that retro style.

She has surprised many by venturing into contemporary drama, playing Huang Lei's first love in the latest hit drama A Love for Separation.

"Can you imagine I have never played in costume dramas set in ancient times?" she asks. With her dance background, she can bring something special to fantasy tales popular with today's youth.

Her upcoming role in such a series is that of a queen, and she projects at once grandness and subtlety with sometimes a mere look and at other times with slow, dancelike movements. She is mesmerizing in a way Turandot casts her spell over Calaf in the classic opera story.

The production has wrapped up recently. "I can't wait for audience reaction," she enthuses. "It will hit the screen in summer 2017."
A corporate feud between two of China's biggest names in the film industry has bubbled to the surface as director Feng Xiaogang posted an open letter to Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, on Friday.

In the letter, the top-selling filmmaker accused Wanda, which owns the country's largest cinema chain, of allocating only 10 percent of its screens for his new release I Am Not Madame Bovary, while other chains gave it 40 percent.

The reason, he said, was executive Ye Ning's job-hopping early this year from Wanda to Huayi, the film company that has produced most of Feng's films. Wanda, with 13 percent of the country's screens, earlier targeted two other Huayi releases for similar treatment, he said in a later interview.

"The third slap has fallen on my face, and I'm not afraid. Such practices can damage the industry when a corporate feud ends up penalizing the filmmakers."

In response to Feng's accusation, Wang Sicong, son of Wang Jianlin and a stockholder in Wanda Cinema Line, mentioned in his blog that there was a noncompete clause in Ye's contract and, in addition, Wanda has a right to allocate limited screen slots as it chooses based on its expectations of market performance.

Feng, in turn, accused Wang and Wanda of acting irresponsibly for their equity holders because the film exhibition arm of Wanda is a public company.

"With 40 percent of screens nationwide, our film achieved 62 percent of total box-office receipts on its opening day. At Wanda, we got 13 percent of screens, but accounted for 30 percent of its receipts," Feng said on Saturday.

What could have been merely a corporate spat spilled from the financial section over to the mainstream, mainly because of the two larger-than-life personalities involved. Feng is known as a loose cannon who targets anything he sees as unfair. (He also said Huayi had apologized to Wanda for the Ye incident, but the latter wasn't forgiving.) Wang Sicong is big news online, not only because of his father, one of the wealthiest people in China, but because of his brazenness. The single tweet he sent had "the power of a public relations army", according to a netizen.

Most netizens sided with Wang because they agreed with him in thinking Feng's letter was "too acidic and pretentious". For his letter, Feng took on the persona of Pan Jinlian, the Madame Bovary equivalent in the title. The problem is, the female lead spent the whole movie arguing she is not that type of woman. This made the tie-in with the movie plot a moot point, critics said.

"You say I'm in a position of strength and meddling with a film exhibitor's work. But I'm the victim here, and Huayi is indeed a small company compared with Wanda," Feng said.

I Am Not Madame Bovary registered 146 million yuan ($21.2 million) in its first two days of release, a significant sum for a drama film with a mostly circular format. The movie, a gentle satire of the country's bureaucracy, has been widely lauded as Feng's best in a decade.

raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 11/21/2016 page4)
The ongoing dance festival at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing includes Israel's Batsheva Dance Company's DecaDance, Zhang Jigang's dance drama Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva, Jin Xing's Shanghai Tango and New York-based Shen Wei's modern dance piece Folding (above). [Photo provided to China Daily]

A dance festival that started on Oct 9 and runs through Dec 11, is in full swing at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. It has been held annually for several years now and is surprisingly popular, says Jiang Dong, despite research showing dance generally trailing concerts and theater in attendance at the iconic egg-shaped venue.

"The choice of repertory is important," says Jiang, vice-president of the dance institute, a branch of the Chinese National Academy of Arts. "Audience acceptance is top priority." Two calling cards have been Yang Liping with her Yunnan folk dance and Lin Hwai-min with his Taiwan-based modern dance. The two are absent from this year's lineup, though.
LIU XINYI/CHINA DAILY

The attempt of some dog lovers to rescue 320 dogs by forcibly stopping the truck carrying them on an expressway in North China's Hebei province and thus causing a massive traffic jam has sparked a heated public debate. Despite their good intention of saving the dogs, the dog lovers' action seriously endangered public safety and has been severely criticized by netizens.

According to the announcement made by traffic police of Langfang, Hebei, on its official microblog site, on Saturday a truck carrying 320 dogs from Central China's Henan province to Northeast China's Jilin province was forcibly stopped on the highway by three vehicles driven by the dog lovers. The two parties came to blows and even defied the traffic police's order, causing the massive traffic jam on the highway.

This is not the first time dog lovers in China have used extreme or violent means to save dogs. Even on some previous occasions, they have forcibly stopped trucks carrying dogs on highways.

As pets, dogs are loved by many Chinese people with many regarding them as members of their families. Support for animal rights and animal protection is increasing in China, and the public respects dog lovers' feelings and many of their appeals.

The problem is that the Law of Protection of Wildlife provides protection to only wild animals, which means dogs, as common pets, are not protected by the law in China. And that is the reason why we see so many conflicts between dog lovers and other people.

But there can be no justification for dog lovers to use extreme and violent means, especially violating the Law on Road Traffic Safety and endangering other people's lives.

The use of extreme means by dog lovers reflects two major problems with safeguarding individual rights. The first is the assumption that personal interests and rights are above all other established norms and laws.

It is good that Chinese people's sense of safeguarding their rights and interests is strengthening. Unfortunately, some of them forget that these rights and interests have to be protected "in a legal way".

Dog lovers' feelings are understandable, but their extreme behavior causing harm to others, for example, stopping vehicles on a highway should not be condoned because it endangers not only their own lives but also those of others. How can dog lovers assume that dogs' safety is more valuable than people's safety?

Moreover, if dog lovers' extreme actions on highways cause any traffic accidents and result in human casualties, they should bear legal responsibility. They should know that personal interests and rights can be protected and respected only under the legal framework, which does not allow them to violate other people's rights and interests.

The second problem is ignoring procedural justice. Many people pursue so-called justice in a way that violates the law, which cannot be tolerated.

The lack of a specific dog protection regulation in China makes it difficult for dog lovers to provide full protection to their pets through legal means. So instead of resorting to extreme means to achieve their goals, dog lovers should appeal to the legislation to enact a specific law on domestic animals, because efforts to stop a truck carrying dogs, even if successful, can only save a limited number of dogs, but a sound law on domestic animal protection will not only protect all dogs but also save other animals from being abused or slaughtered.

To succeed, animal protection work requires wide public support. But the illegal methods used by dog lovers to save dogs actually tarnish their public image, and therefore they lose public support to achieve their final goal.

Ignoring procedural justice to achieve personal goals is not the correct way to deal with a problem in modern society ruled by law. "Doing the right thing" is important, but it is also important to "do things right".

The author is a writer with China Daily.

wangyiqing@chinadaily.com.cn
M yanmar Rohingyas are doing odhu before evening prayer at Leda Unregistered Rohingya Refugee Camp near Bangladesh, November 22, 2016.[Photo/IC]

An alliance of some ethnic groups in the border area of northern Myanmar's Shan state launched a series of surprise attacks on Myanmar military outposts and police stations on Sunday morning. The clash between the armed attackers and security personnel has killed at least eight people and injured 29nine policemen, two customs officers and 18 civilians.

Lodging representations with Myanmar after a Chinese national was hit by a stray bullet, China has urged all parties in the conflict to exercise restraint to prevent the situation from escalating further.

Judging by their combat capabilities and weapons in their possession, neither the government troops nor the ethnic armies seem capable of winning this conflict. They are more likely to be locked in a long-drawn confrontation. The new round of intense fighting points to a sore point in Myanmar's political dilemmaethnic problems are far from being settled even after Aung San Suu Kyi's party assumed the highest office.

For years, the Myanmar government has sought to impose effective control on its resource-rich northern area, where local ethnic forces have also maintained an enduring presence. Fearing their interests would be infringed upon if they give up control over their territories, the ethnic forces including the Kachin Independence Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army have little faith in the central government.

Racial hostility passed down from generation to generation, widening economic gap, and cultural isolation, too, have fueled the local armed groups' anti-government sentiment. And the Myanmar government has failed to effectively communicate and interact with the minority forces, some of which are non-signatories to the nationwide accord to end ethnic and other conflicts. That, to a point, explains why both sides have often misread each other's intentions.

The constant clashes in northern Myanmar also suggest that some ethnic armed groups still depend on the use of military tactics and separatism to defend their economic gains and political rights. The lack of communication has only worsened following the latest attacks, which the local forces said were launched to resist the government's recent military oppression in the affected areas.

In fact, both sides seem to wrongly assume that victories in armed conflicts will give them an advantageous position in peaceful negotiations. That has pushed a constructive consensus further off the table, adding more fuel to the longstanding hostility.

As a result, the national reconciliation process, which initially made good progress under the new government, has come to a halt with another round of finger-pointing under way. Besides, the conflicts have almost always spilled over into neighboring countries like China. Not only are Chinese nationals' security and assets under threat, but also cross-border trade exchanges face trouble. As of now, fleeing Myanmar people who have crossed the border and sought asylum in China have been taken care of, but China could be overburdened if they keep coming in.

As a key transit point for China-Myanmar commodity exchanges, the border trade zone in the affected Muse township is expected to play a bigger role in China's Belt and Road Initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road). Home to at least 70 percent of Myanmar's border trade, the township's trade volume reportedly was about $5.4 billion last year, a fourfold increase since 2011.

Endorsed by the China National Petroleum Corp, a crude oil pipeline linking the country's southwest and Myanmar's coastal city of Kyaukpyu is already in operation. These projects can be easily exposed to the volatile situation in northern Myanmar. So all parties involved should get back to the negotiation table as soon as possible and avoid causing unnecessary damage to Myanmar and neighboring countries.

The author is a researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Beautiful Turkmenistan. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

Formation of modern road and transport infrastructure is one of the priority directions of the policy of Turkmenistan, and is aimed at progressive social and economic development and the establishment of broad regional and international cooperation.

Turkmenistan is at the crossroad of Europe and Asia, with convenient geographical location, on the new Silk Road. Rich natural oil and gas reserves and a stable political climate allow our country to implement national transport resources for ensuring the Euro-Asian links.

Turkmenistan was the first among the countries of the region to demonstrate at the end of the last century qualitative new approaches for the revival of the ancient Silk Road. The striking example is commissioning of an international railway (Tedjen-Serahs-Meshed) in May 1996, which opened for the countries of Central Asia the shortest way to the transport networks of Iran, Turkey, the Middle East and the Far East.

At present, being a full-bodied member of the international system of cargo traffic, Turkmenistan provides reliable transport and transit connection throughout its territory. Great attention is paid to the development of all types of transport, including automobile, railroad, air and maritime. During the 25 years of independence, new airports, national and transnational railways and autobahns have been built. Grandiose in scale and importance Turkmenbashy Sea Port and bridges connecting Turkmenistan with neighboring countries are under construction; maritime, air fleets and railroad parks are being regularly supplemented with new means.

At the same time, Turkmenistan is developing international cooperation in the transport sphere and initiating the establishment of interstate transport corridors, becoming an important link of transcontinental routes.

Today, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has developed his own concept of cooperation with the international community in the field of transport and thereby made a worthy contribution to the revival of the Silk Road. The main purpose of the concept of the Turkmen leader is to promote on the world stage, evidence-based and effective from a practical point of view, models of multi-stakeholder partnerships in this area, creating a set of appropriate conditions necessary for the intensification and increase of efficiency of the international transport-transit messages.

In this context, the Silk Road initiative of China envisages a common path for our countries in order to forge closer regional cooperation and transport connectivity. China's Silk Road concept is fully compatible with the transport and communications initiatives of Turkmenistan. In turn, as a reliable regional transit node, Turkmenistan is ready to strengthen cooperation with China on various levels and to play an active role in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road).

A significant role in the implementation of these tasks came into play in December 2014 with the opening of the final link in the transnational railway corridor (Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran), which aims to provide convenient and cost-effective delivery of cargoes from Europe to Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. Commissioning of this railway is also relevant given its connection to the East-West transport network, that is, the transcontinental route (China-Central Asia-Caucasus-Europe), which runs through our country and the Caspian Sea.

Today, Turkmenistan is in the global market with its own products and services for the transportation of goods of neighboring countries, including China. In February 2016, the first freight train, carrying 32 containers of commercial products from East China's Zhejiang province, took 14 days to make the 10,000-kilometer journey through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, compared with around 45 days by sea. This cost-effective railway route to stimulate the strengthening of regional cooperation in the field of trade contributes to the realization of the transit potential of Turkmenistan.

An important role in connecting the two countries can be played by an under-construction Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway, which will have access to an extensive rail network of China and, through it, to the rapidly developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The construction of a new railway from the Turkmen town of Atamyrat to the Afghan settlement of Aqina is already complete. The opening ceremony of the railway will be held on Nov 28 this year with the participation of the heads of the three countries in the framework of the upcoming global conference on transport in Ashgabat.

The basis for the UN decision to hold the first ever global conference on sustainable transport in Ashgabat is the constructive initiative of the president of Turkmenistan, which has been recognized and approved by the world community.

The relevance of the First Global Conference for Sustainable Transport System is confirmed by the timing itself and will be a vivid evidence of the demand for creative initiatives of the Turkmen president in the development of international transport cooperation.

The author is ambassador of Turkmenistan to China.
Among the ASEAN nations, balancing maritime security and relations with China remains a challenge of great importance. Despite strong military capabilities, China still requires further strategic action to ensure its regional influence by enhancing partnership in the ASEAN neighborhood.

Thailand, a member of ASEAN without territorial claims in the South China Sea, will benefit greatly from Chinese strategy in the region. Tighter Sino-Thai Security cooperation will increase Chinese dominance while offset the hostile actions in the ASEAN against Beijing.

Recently, Thailand stepped up its cooperation with China especially on the military field. In February 2015, at the 40th anniversary celebration of Sino-Thai bilateral relationship, both China and Thailand agreed to expand into significant new areas of cooperation, notably in the military arena. The agreement included comprehensive joint training programs for the army, navy, and air force, strengthening military education, and exchanging experts on counter-terrorism and transnational crimes. Thailand also hopes for Chinese support in its technological development of defense industry.

Additionally, at the July 2016 ASEAN Defense Ministers' meeting in Laos, Chinese Defense Minister and State Councilor General Chang Wanquan and Minister of Defense of Thailand and the Deputy Prime Minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, held talks on the sideline to confirm their countries' commitments to broadening military cooperation.

Not until 1975, the People's Republic of China and Thailand re-established formal diplomatic relations. Facing the regional hegemony, China and Thailand started their brotherhood security cooperation in 1979. Bangkok got support like armed forces training and weapons from Beijing. At present, the two countries' ties have grown even closer economically and culturally.

On July 4th, 2016, Defense Minister Prawit Wonsuwon also confirmed that the Thai navy would buy a S26T Yuan Class submarine for 12,000 million THB or 2.33 billion yuan from China, taking advantage of a generous price and 10-year payment period offered by China.

This deal signals Thailand's intentions to increase involvement in its territorial waters in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. The purchase also indicates possible increased involvement with its maritime neighbors, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Myanmar, who also recently purchased new submarines.

The Thai military government's pivot to China has therefore ensured a reliable solution to Thailand's security and military needs. Since 2014, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has also held several top-level talks with China to strengthen security cooperation. The purchase of arms from China also demonstrates a relative decrease in dependence on its traditional ally, the United States.

The US has provided large amounts of military support for Thailand during US involvement in Vietnam since 1950s. Thailand is located at a strategic access point from which the US military could detain Vietnamese forces. However, the military coup in May 2014 disrupted regular joint military exercises between both countries. And the numbers of US personnel for the drill have dropped from 9,500 in 2013 to 3,600 this year.

For Washington, the return of democracy in Thailand would release tensions, reviving the two states' long-lost friendship, cooperation, and security relationship. However, with a Trump presidency, the future trajectory of US-Thai security cooperation will remain unclear at present. Analysts from either country cannot readily predict how drastically the Trump administration's policy approach toward Southeast Asian security will change, or whether the US will 'pivot' its attention away from Asia altogether.

Thai foreign policy under the current administration has shift demonstrably toward China with its increased purchases of arms and frequent cooperative dialogues in arenas of economic and security cooperation.

Coupled with the waning interest of American cooperation under the current government, Sino-Thai cooperation will not entirely change the neutrality of the maritime security game in Southeast Asia, but it will affect other neighbors in the region.

Undoubtedly, a closer Sino-Thai relationship will compel ASEAN to reconsider its entire security strategy and cooperative framework in order to continue to provide regional stability to all of its members.

The author is a master's student in international relations at Peking University, with a focus on the ASEAN.
The cast of Half a Sixpence surprise Cameron Mackintosh on his 70th Birthday at the first rehearsal in Noel Coward Theatre, London Featuring: Cameron Mackintosh, Birthday cake Where: London, United Kingdom When: 17 Oct 2016.[Photo/IC]

Another year gone, another year to reflect! (That's what old people do on their birthdays, or so I was told when I was younger. Ha!)

As I lay in bed last night thinking about my birthday today, I thought about the past year, and all its highs and lows, and what my birthday will bring to it now that I am entering my 39th year.

Yes, my birthday is today, and I just thought I would share what I do on a typical birthday in China.

I woke up in our spare bedroom and had my wife come in and kiss me good morning to say "happy birthday". I then went into our main bedroom to snuggle up with our 5-year-old for 20 minutes before I actually had to "get up". My mother-in-law wished me a happy birthday as well which was a nice surprise and I kissed her and our youngest 1 year old and was off on my scooter to school. On my way, I noticed how blue the sky is today and how crisp and clean the air seems.

I arrived at school and will most likely go through my five classes scheduled and return home about 4:30pm. I like listening to some of my favorite songs always on my birthday and just listened to Cat Stevens' 'Father and Son'.

I had a good discussion with my Senior 2 students in a session I call "Real Talk" (modelled on Real Time with Bill Maher for those of you familiar). For lunch, I'm hoping the cafeteria has something to my liking. (La zi ji would be great!) Anyway, I'll get home about 4:30pm and pick up my son from Kung Fu a little later. In between, I'll most likely read a book and maybe meditate afterwards. I asked my wife to bring home a cheesecake (my favorite) and not to worry too much about dinner tonight. I'll ask my mother-in-law to make noodles which is a must-eat birthday food in China. I have a friend arriving in Beijing tomorrow so I will be celebrating with him and other friends and colleagues on Friday night in San Li Tun.

I received an iPhone 6 as my gift (as per my request) from my wife and have been playing with that all day. I've been getting messages on WeChat and Facebook wishing me happy birthday. It's true family and friends really make life worth living and happiness is not so much found in what you get, it's what you give.

As my son's birthday is on Friday, we usually celebrate our birthdays together as a family. For the first time we are going to have an actual party at a restaurant (Kro's Nest) for him with his friends, so I'm excited as a father about that!

I think it's impossible not to feel good on your birthday, so I just wanted to share some good vibes with all the Forum readers here. Thirty-eight years today, 12 of them in China. And I'm a pretty happy guy these days, I must be doing something right!

Have a great day all! :)
NAIROBI - The Kenyan government said Tuesday that it will partner with private investors to roll out new training and mentorship program for youth aspiring to work in the hospitality sector.

Cabinet Secretary for Tourism Najib Balala said that skills development will be key to reinventing the tourism industry that currently contributes 12 percent to Kenya's GDP.

"The country requires a critical mass of trained and motivated personnel to work in the rapidly evolving hospitality industry. We still have a skills gap in a sector that has attracted huge foreign direct investments lately," Balala said.

He spoke in Nairobi during a review of the impact of a training and mentorship program for high school students keen on pursuing careers in the tourism sector.

Kenya's ministry of tourism has partnered with the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership (GTTP) regional office to train and expose young adults to vast opportunities in hospitality industry.

Balala said Kenya aims to become a training hub for professionals in tourism sector through establishment of additional learning facilities alongside curriculum reforms.

"The second largest tertiary institution for training workers in the hospitality sector will be completed soon. Several public universities have also rolled out courses in tourism and travel to help meet a growing demand," said Balala.

He disclosed that three major international hotel brands will soon open branches in Nairobi thanks to availability of abundant skilled workforce alongside improved investment climate.
BUENOS AIRES - An Argentine Spanish language learning program for Chinese speakers marked its 10th anniversary here on Tuesday.

As an initiative of the University Language Center (CUI) in the capital Buenos Aires, the program was established to promote closer cultural ties between the Argentine and Chinese people.

At a commemorative event at the CUI's headquarters, the director general of the language center, Roberto Villarruel, said: "We are celebrating the program's 10th anniversary (and) we are very pleased, because when we started it, it was quite a challenge."

"I saw the potential it had, the potential for growth the Spanish language was going to have in China," said Villarruel, who made a trip to China a decade ago.

Since then, the program has drawn Chinese students who "have completed their university degrees here and have stayed on to work. Others returned to China or went to other countries with their degrees, and are working in culture or arts," said Villarruel.

"We have learned about the new needs and demands of students in China... because we are interested in seeing the expansion of ties between our countries, of bilateral exchange," he added.

Today, "Argentina is in China's sightline, and China is in Argentina's sightline, and it is an honor to accompany this development" in bilateral ties, he said.

The CUI also helps to teach personnel of Chinese companies with operations in Argentina, such as ICBC, Huawei and Sinopec, said Villarruel, adding "diversification is very important."

Zhai Peng, 20, has studied at the CUI for eight months to improve his job prospects. During this time, he has also discovered he likes many things about Argentina.

"I like Argentina a lot: the landscapes, the food -- like pizza, barbecues and choripan (a popular sausage sandwich) -- and the discos," said Zhai, smiling.

"In addition, the teachers are really nice," he added. "I want to stay in Argentina and look for work at one of the Chinese companies."

Currently, 50 Chinese students are enrolled in the program, whose annual average is 70 to 80 students. The program has taught more than 1,000 students so far.
Ding Lizhi, a Chinese debutante, accompanied by her father, makes her way to the Queen Charlotte's Ball at the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London in September. [Photo/China Daily]

Queen Charlotte's Ball is the highlight of what for more than two centuries has been known as the London Season, an annual cornucopia of high fashion and etiquette once restricted to English aristocrats back from hunting on their country estates.

In these more egalitarian times, the yearly ball exerts a wider appeal among the international rich and famous, and this year boasted not just one but three prominent Chinese participants.

"It was a once in a lifetime experience," said Ding Lizhi, daughter of Ding Shuibo, who founded Chinese sportswear brand Xtep. "We all dressed up like princesses with beautiful white gowns and tiaras to celebrate this amazing night with friends and family."

The others from the Chinese elite who shared the limelight with her were Sabrina Ho, daughter of Macao business magnate Stanley Ho, and Ye Wanqing, also the daughter of a successful Chinese businessman.

Debutante balls were once seen as part of a uniquely British tradition, dating back to the days of King George III. Named after his wife, Queen Charlotte's Ball became as occasion for young ladies from upper class or aristocratic families, who had come of age, to be presented to the monarch to mark their formal entry into high society.

It was a tradition that began in 1780 and lasted in its pure form until 1958.

Even though the emphasis upon home-grown aristocracy has changed since then, it is still the only event of its type with such regal origins, according to Jennie Hallam-Peel, a former deb and the chairwoman of the annual program of events that comprise the London Season.

She said it is also the only such event today with charity as its focus. This year's ball was in aid of SOS Children.

Many wealthy Chinese families are attracted to the ball because of its exclusivity and the kudos it bestows upon the debutantes, according to Luo Ziwei, executive director at the London Season Selection Committee.

"The selection of these Chinese debutantes was not just because of the size of the fortune they possess, but also the contribution that the family has made to society," Luo said.

Any girl aged between 16 and 20 who is interested in becoming a debutante is able to apply by email for an interview. The competition is very intense and the girls selected must have exceptional CVs and come from families that are invariably high achievers.

Debs must attend a pre-ball etiquette course to learn the correct forms of address, and be able to walk properly and master formal table manners.

They must also be adept at aristocratic protocol.

The experience this year included visits to the stately homes of the Duke of Somerset and Princess Olga Romanoff.

Hallem-Peel believes taking part in the London Season and Queen Charlotte's Ball has exceptional benefits in terms of networking, gaining social confidence, social skills and training for life.

To contact the reporter: wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com
Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, Nov 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Germany's flagship carrier, Lufthansa, canceled nearly 900 flights on Wednesday because of a strike by pilots, causing travel disruption for tens of thousands of passengers in the latest escalation of a long-simmering pay dispute.

The stoppage, called by the pilots' union Cockpit, affected Lufthansa flights at airports across Germany.

Out of its roughly 3,000 scheduled flights, 876 were canceled due to the strike, "affecting some 100,000 passengers", the airline said.

"Lufthansa has taken note, with complete incomprehension, of the announcement that the Cockpit pilots' union will continue its strike on Thursday, even before its start on Wednesday," the company said in a statement.

It is the union's 14th strike since April 2014.

Cockpit had initially called for a 24-hour stoppage but said late Tuesday that the strike would continue into Thursday for both long- and short-haul flights leaving Germany.

Meanwhile, a separate walkout by cabin crews at Lufthansa's low-cost airline Eurowings led to the cancellation of more than 60 flights at airports in Hamburg and Duesseldorf on Tuesday.

The Lufthansa group's other airlines were not affected by the strike.

The industrial action was called by Germany's biggest services union, Verdi, in a row over pay and working conditions.

The striking Lufthansa pilots are demanding a pay raise of an average of 3.66 percent per year, retroactive for the past five years.

The union said pilots have endured a wage freeze over that time while Lufthansa has made billions in profits.

The company had offered a 2.5 percent wage increase.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos speaks during a presidential address in Bogota, Colombia, November 22, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BOGOTA - The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have announced they will sign a revised peace agreement on Thursday, local media reported Tuesday.

The signing ceremony will be held at 11 am local time (1300 GMT) at Bogota's Colon Theater, the Caracol news network reported, adding the two sides agreed that the Congress will be tasked with implementing the agreement.

The text of the new agreement will be presented to the Congress on Wednesday "to explain to lawmakers the changes made to the original draft," the report said.

The initial peace agreement was rejected by a slight margin in an Oct 2 referendum vote, after the conservative opposition led by former hardline President Alvaro Uribe said it did not go far enough to hold the rebels accountable for past crimes.

The vote sent both sides back to the negotiating table, with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos insisting a new deal be ready as quickly as possible to maintain the momentum of the negotiations, which lasted nearly four years.

Santos' government says the new treaty takes into account the opposition's concerns. But in response to Tuesday's news, the opposition camp called for "civic resistance" to scuttle the deal.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, US September 2, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina and a former critic, as his choice for US ambassador to the United Nations.

"Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country," said Trump in a statement.

"She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," the statement said.

It will be a Cabinet-level position, and Haley has accepted, Trump said in the statement.

Haley supported Trump's rival Senator Marco Rubio of Florida during the Republican nomination race, and she was one of the most vocal critics of Trump early in his run.

During the presidential campaign, Haley frequently called out Trump for his hard-line immigration policy, and also criticized Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.

Only till the end of October did Haley announce that she would vote for Trump despite reservations about his character.

Born to Indian immigrants in South Carolina in 1972, Haley is the first woman and visible minority to serve as governor of South Carolina. She is also the youngest current governor in the country.

According to South Carolina's local daily The Post and Courier, Haley had little diplomatic experience before her nomination as one of the country's top diplomats.
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter walks in the tunnel once used by the Islamic State (IS) militants at the Bashiqa frontline northeast of Mosul in northern Iraq, Nov 22, 2016. Supported by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Iraqi troops kicked off operations last month to take back Mosul. The military operations slowed down as the IS militants used the civilians as human shields. [Photo/Xinhua]

MOSUL, Iraq - The Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, on Wednesday completely encircled the city of Mosul, while the troops continued operations to clear the Islamic State (IS) militants in and out of Mosul after more than a month since a major offensive was launched, the Iraqi military said.

The predominantly Shiite Hashd Shaabi units advanced to west of the IS-held town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, recapturing six villages and seizing the main road between Tal Afar and nearby town of Sinjar, according to a statement issued by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC).

The latest advance allowed the Hashd Shaabi units to cut off the IS supply routes from the west side of Mosul, and enabling both the paramilitary units and other Iraqi and Kurdish security forces to entirely isolate and surround the city Mosul, preventing IS militants from moving outside Mosul, the statement said.

The paramilitary units started their advance on Tuesday morning when they moved to encircle the town of Tal Afar, preparing for the next stage to free it from the IS militants.

The units' presence in the whole area in west of Mosul would also enable them to secure the border areas between Iraq and neighboring Syria and would cut off the IS supply routes between Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of IS self-declared caliphate.

On Nov 16, the paramilitary troops recaptured a strategic airbase near the town of Tal Afar, which also located some 80 km from the border with Syria.
YANGON - Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday urged armed groups in northern Myanmar to join the government's peace process by signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) to immediately end the conflicts.

Suu Kyi, in the capacity of chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, made the call in her first remarks after military conflicts broke out in the border areas four days ago.

She extended sympathy and condolences to victims who had lost their lives and those who had been wounded.

"At a time when people of Myanmar are in the process of striving for national reconciliation and peace that had remained elusive to them in the past, it is extremely disappointing and saddening that these incidents are instigated," she said.

"Mining of bridges and attacks on border posts by these armed groups also cut off flow of trade, transport and communication, thus deterimently affecting the socio-economic lives of civilian population in the area," she said.

She stressed that taking up arms would not bring about any desired goals of the people but only lead to protracted armed conflicts.
Beijing supports the United Nations Security Council in "making a further response" to the latest and largest nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in September, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

"China is resolutely opposed to the DPRK's nuclear tests," Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing. Geng reiterated China's stance on realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, safeguarding its peace and stability and resolving issues through dialogue and negotiation.

Geng made the comments in response to foreign news agencies' reports on Wednesday that the United States and China had agreed on new UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

"It is our understanding that the Security Council members are now in consultation on a relevant draft resolution," Geng said.

On Wednesday, an unnamed senior Security Council diplomat was quoted by Reuters as saying that the proposed resolution was recently given to the remaining three permanent council members with veto powers  Britain, France and Russia.

Wang Junsheng, a researcher of Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he believed the latest resolution will be tougher than previous resolutions that the body has approved in an effort to curb the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs.

It will probably include new items for sanctions, Wang added.

The 15-nation council has adopted five resolutions after nuclear tests conducted by the DPRK.

In the most recent resolution on March 2, the Security Council pledged to take "further significant measures" if the DPRK conducted another nuclear test.

Wang added that if the new resolution is approved, "the move will show that the international community is taking a united stance against the DPRK developing nuclear weapons and will help deter such efforts".

The proposed resolution would close loopholes from the council's March measures, both Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported.

Both reports speculated that coal exports from the DPRK would be targeted.

Contact the writers at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn
By An Baijie and May Zhou in Lima, Peru | China Daily | Updated: 2016-11-23 07:09

Xi says the nations should explore new areas like environmental protection and clean energy

China and Peru signed a range of agreements on Monday as the two countries agreed to begin joint research on ways to upgrade their free-trade agreement.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by President Xi Jinping, on a three-nation Latin American visit, and his Peruvian counterpart Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. They agreed to work more closely on areas like energy, trade, minerals, finance, industrial parks and infrastructure.

China also agreed to help provide equipment for an archaeological museum in Lima.

Xi said the Chinese government will continue to encourage Chinese business giants to invest in Peru, adding that the two countries should explore new cooperative areas such as environmental protection, clean energy and information technology.

Kuczynski said that Peru welcomes China's investments. He mentioned that Peru would like to see joint efforts to upgrade the nations' bilateral free-trade agreement.

The two countries signed a free-trade agreement in 2009. Since its launch in 2010, the agreement has achieved remarkable results, China's Ministry of Commerce said in a news release on Tuesday. Upgrading the agreement could inject new vitality in the two countries' trade relations, the ministry said.

China-Peru bilateral trade reached $16 billion in 2015 - more than double the amount of trade before the deal's initiation.

China is now Peru's biggest trade partner, export market and source of imports, while Peru is China's fifth-largest trade partner in Latin America, according to the ministry.

Margaret Myers, director of the China and Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue based in Washington, noted China and Peru have a longstanding relationship based on Chinese immigration to the South American country, which goes back to the mid-19th century.

"Chinese trade has been evident in Peru for many decades, but the economic relationship developed especially rapidly over the past two decades. Chinese companies have been primarily interested in Peru's mining sector. Their copper mining investments have achieved varying degrees of success," Myers said.

Chinese exports, including high-tech equipment, are increasingly prominent in Peru, as are investments in infrastructure, Myers said.

Peru also has sought to export agricultural products, such as fruits and fish meal.

Myers says Peru needs to work toward attracting more diverse Chinese investments. "China's investment and trade with Peru remain focused on primary commodities," she said.

"Peruvian officials must work to attract Chinese investment, while ensuring that it is increasingly diversified, sustainable, and promoting long-term growth," Myers said.

Myers said that China already has shown some interest in investing in a wider variety of sectors not only in Peru, but across the region.

Zhang Zhihao in Beijing contributed to the story.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
China and Chile will start to negotiate the deepening of their free-trade agreement during President Xi Jinping's state visit, which starts on Tuesday, according to Chile's ambassador to China.

"We hope to initiate the negotiations for strengthening and deepening the existing FTA, to include areas that were not included in the past, like e-commerce and financial services," Ambassador Jorge Heine told China Daily recently.

The two countries also plan to upgrade bilateral ties, hold talks to expand market access, and enhance scientific and technological cooperation during Xi's visit, he said.

The two countries signed an FTA in November 2005. Since then, China has become Chile's largest trade partner, and Chile is now China's third-largest trade partner in Latin America. Bilateral trade has risen from $8 billion in 2005 to $31 billion in 2015.

"The 2005 FTA is largely an agreement to facilitate trading goods, but more and more, services are center stage in international trade. So we will adapt this FTA to the new environment," Heine said.

They will work together to diversify their trade, which is weighted toward copper, he said. Chile is the world's leading producer and exporter of copper and has the world's largest reserves at 39 percent.

"About 75 percent of our $16 billion in exports to China in 2015 was made up of copper, so that is significant," he said. "But $4 billion was not copper. What we have seen is the diversification of our export basket to China."

Chile attaches great importance to China's huge food market - the nation is the second-largest exporter of fresh food to China, after Thailand, Heine said.

Chile is the third-largest exporter of wine and the seventh-largest exporter of marine products to China. Last year, Chile also exported $400 million worth of cherries to China.

Apart from trade, the two countries will focus on cooperation in areas such as scientific research, Heine said.

"Chile is a country with the world's largest number of astronomical observatories. There are three Chile-China astronomical centers," he said, adding that 14 Chinese space scientists work full time in Chile.

"We would like to see that kind of cooperation extend to other areas, for example, in Antarctic studies," he said.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
SANTIAGO - Chinese President Xi Jinping urged here Tuesday Chinese and Latin American media agencies to jointly expand their influence and introduce to the world a more realistic image of China and Latin America.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives in Chile's capital Santiago on Tuesday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi, accompanied by his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, made the remarks while delivering a speech at a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives in Chile's capital Santiago.Media exchanges constitute an important part of the China-Latin America relationship, and Chinese and Latin American media agencies can do a lot in carrying on and advancing the friendship between their peoples, Xi said.The Chinese president noted that Chinese and Latin American media agencies should jointly speak up on major issues such as world peace and development.He said media agencies should also help boost pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America, enhance the enthusiasm for and confidence in bilateral cooperation, and promote innovative cooperation models.Xi said Chinese and Latin American media should learn from each other and take bilateral media exchanges and cooperation to higher levels.China has already announced to set up a center for Chinese and Latin American media exchanges and invite some Latin American journalists to work and study in China, he said.Over the next five years, China is also going to train 500 media staff for Latin American and Caribbean countries, Xi announced.
Media leaders and workers from China and Latin American and Caribbean countries put their heads together on Tuesday at a media summit to discuss how they could join hands to help facilitate closer and stronger relationships.

At the first China-Latin America Media Summit, held in Chile's capital of Santiago on Tuesday, some 27 media representatives from Latin American and Caribbean countries sat with their Chinese counterparts from more than 30 mainstream Chinese media outlets.

They exchanged views and thoughts on a range of common concerns, from free trade, business development, cultural exchanges and climate change to social inequality, education, and women's and children's rights.

Speaking at the media summit, Juan Paulo Iglesias, chief editor of Santiago-based newspaper La Tercera, said he would devote his efforts to covering business and trade developments between China and Latin America.

"It's very important for people in Latin America to hear more news about Asia, about China," said Iglesias, a journalist since 1999.

"The stories, not necessarily all political, can be cultural, human interest stories and side topics," he said, adding that there is tremendous room for media on both sides to improve their coverage, to expand the depth and breadth of their stories.

Chinese media have begun covering Latin America more vigorously, motivated by President Xi Jinping's three visits to the region.

"These visits have generated good opportunities and topics for the media to produce stories around the theme of friendship and good relations," said Alejandro Ramos Esquivel, president of Notimex, Mexico's official news agency, adding that his agency has had extensive cooperation with Chinese media over the years, "principally with Xinhua and CCTV in terms of content sharing."

Aside from the extensive range of topics available for media on both sides to work on, there are many formats and channels through which outlets can deepen their professional cooperation, Esquivel said.

junechang@chinadailyusa.com
Xi asks agencies to join forces to help provide fuller image to the world as they bolster relations

President Xi Jinping urged Chinese and Latin American media agencies to jointly expand their influence and introduce a more realistic image of China and Latin America to the world.

Xi and his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, gave speeches Tuesday at a meeting of Chinese and Latin American media executives in Chile's capital, Santiago.

"The success of this first ever summit is a breakthrough in the history of professional exchanges between Chinese and Latin American media," said Xi, adding media cooperation and communication are important to the China-Latin America relationship.

"Media on both sides can play an important role in inheriting and pushing forward the course of China-Latin America friendship," Xi said.

Media in China and Latin America should consolidate and expand existing projects and join efforts to increase the authority and power of their influence, Xi said.

"A more vivid image of China and Latin America then could be unfolded in front of the world," he said.

The Chinese president said that the agencies should jointly speak up on major issues such as world peace and development.

He said they should also help boost pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America, enhance the enthusiasm for and confidence in cooperation, and promote innovative cooperation models.

Xi said Chinese and Latin American media should learn from each other and take media exchanges and cooperation to higher levels.

China has already announced it will set up a center for Chinese and Latin American media exchanges and invite some Latin American journalists to work and study in China, he said.

Over the next five years, China is also going to train 500 media workers from Latin American countries, Xi announced.

Huang Kunming, executive deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also urged media circles in China and Latin America to work together and help to push China-Latin American relations into a new era.

Xi has visited Latin America three times, has had frequent meetings and close contact with Latin American leaders at major international conferences and occasions, and has reached a large number of consensuses on a range of issues of common concern, Huang said.

Xinhua contributed to the story.

junechang@chinadailyusa.com
In the past few months, a replica Forbidden City has taken shape at the foot of Andes.

The cultural center of the Chilean presidential palace in Santiago has been dressed up in red since Sept 2 to host national treasures from the Palace Museum in Beijing.

About 120 cultural relics from the museum, also known as the Forbidden City, illustrate two themes - the emperors' dignity and empresses' secret chambers.

The Forbidden City was China's imperial palace from 1420 to 1911, and more than 1.8 million cultural relics are now housed there. This is the first time that pieces from the museum have been exhibited in South America.

The artifacts include paintings, porcelain, textiles, bronze ware and jade, according to Ding Meng, curator of the exhibition. Nine sections were created to showcase different aspects of the daily life of the imperial families, including learning, banquets and religious beliefs.

"Replicas of the rooms of the palace, like the throne room and the emperors' study, are also on display," Ding said.

"Traditional Chinese musical instruments are played at the venue as visitors travel through time and experience life at the imperial court."

More than 200,000 visitors have seen the exhibition, according to Yang Changqing, the first secretary of the cultural division of the Chinese embassy in Chile.

Lectures, folk art performances and interactive games for children are also part of the event.

The last major Chinese cultural relics exhibition in Chile was in 2010, when a display of the Terracotta Warriors was in the country. That display attracted over 330,000 visitors.

"The Chileans are enthusiastic about Chinese culture," she said.

"And (with this exhibition) we can expect another wave of enthusiasm for Chinese culture."

The exhibition, which will run until Sunday, is a key event marking 2016 as the Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange.

The enthusiasm for ancient Chinese culture also goes beyond Chile.

In Lima, Peru, an exhibition comprising 121 cultural relics from China takes visitors on a tour of ancient Chinese history up through the end of the empire with the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The two-month display kicked off at the Peruvian National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology, and History on Oct 8. It is Peru's first comprehensive exhibition of cultural relics on loan from China.

Speaking about the links between the two countries, Li Tiankai, curator of the exhibition, says: "Communication between China and Peru can be dated back to the 16th century via the Maritime Silk Road. And the earliest Chinese immigrants arrived in the country in 1849, which shows the long history of friendship between the two countries."

wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn
David Wolf at The Silicon Hutong blog is just out with a superb post riffing on the meaning of guanxi. The post A Few Notes on Guanxi does more accurately and concisely defines guanxi than anything Ive seen. It is so good and so important, I feel I have no choice but to post it wholesale and suggest you read it. Twice.

First, to translate guanxi as simply relationships is a dangerous oversimplification, particularly when proffered to someone unfamiliar with Chinese culture. First, guanxi are tiered, based on a Confucian hierarchy: familial relationships, long-term friends, classmates, and schoolmates are the nearest ranks, and to those no stranger  Chinese or foreign  will ever have access. At best we [foreigners] are relegated to outer rings like colleague, in-law, business partner, or acquaintance. There are exceptions, like Sidney Rittenberg, but he is the rara avis that proves the rule.

Second, guanxi are personal and non-transferable, they are not enterprise. There is no way to hire someone and have him hand over his guanxi to the company. You want the guanxi, you keep the employee. Thats why Chinas princelings, the offspring of senior Party cadres, have sinecure. Consultants who hawk guanxi are simply renting their relationships, they know it, and from such realities are retainers made.

Third, guanxi involve mutual obligation. If you use someone in your company with guanxi to get assistance from an official, there is an implicit quid pro-quo, hence  concerns about the coziness of guanxi and corruption. Further, few westerners understand that there are complex social obligations involved in such relationships, your average Chinese executive would sooner burn his employer than his close connections.

Fourth, guanxi die. Or get sacked. Or retire. Or get transferred. Or quit and go into business. They are ethereal, fleeting, and in constant need of regeneration, repair, and re-creation. They are not forever.

Fifth is the hammer-nail problem: the people your employee or partner knows may not be the exact right people to get things done, but thats who they know, so thats who they use. When that happens, watch the oversold connection drop the ball, or get smacked. I have watched it happen, and it is not pretty.

Or they may just limit you. I know of a western media company with no special unique advantage in the market that is doing well in exactly one province: the place they have guanxi. Theyre happy with how theyre doing in that one province, but they have been utterly unable to scale their business: theyve been hemmed in by their relationships.

Finally, it is worthwhile noting that guanxi today are of declining importance for most businesses. The scope of industries in which it is necessary to cultivate exclusive ties at a high level is declining over time.

Business fundamentals first, second, and third. Special relationships only to the extent necessary.

This is not a comprehensive discussion of guanxi, and Ive simplified it with the sole goal of underscoring how misunderstood the concept is in the west. But it gives you an idea of why misunderstandings around guanxi are so common as to make the whole issue a litmus test of an individuals level of understanding of Chinese business.

One nota bene that must be emphasized. Though guanxi is taking a back seat to market fundamentals in many industries, and policy changes are drawing away the value even the best connections in others, there are some businesses in which it is absolutely essential to hire, retain, or otherwise acquire high-level influence. On that list I would include banking, investment banking, and infrastructure.
In deleting old emails this past weekend I came across one from one of our international litigators to a client that was contemplating pursuing litigation in a tiny emerging market country. This client wanted our lawyers to help it figure out whether to pursue litigation in this small country and also determine what law firm to use there. The email consisted of questions we thought should be asked of the law firms with which we would be communicating.

In re-reading that email today, I realize it provides a good basic list of questions companies should be asking when seeking to decide whether to sue in a foreign country and the lawyers to use when doing so.

Here are those questions:

1. Would a jury or a judge hear a case like ours?

2. Does the prevailing party get its attorneys fees? Its costs?

3. Will we know before trial what evidence the other side will likely to present in court? Will the other side have to produce relevant documents? If so, how does that work?

4. When will the other side be required to tell us what witnesses they will be producing in court? Is there any mechanism that will allow us to put the other sides witnesses under oath to learn before trial what their trial testimony likely will be? If so, what does that look like?

5. What do we need to do to get evidence from the other side? From third parties?

6. Is it possible to get a lawsuit resolved via a motion before trial? If so, when will we have those opportunities and what sort of standards do the courts apply?

7. How likely is it that our judge will be corrupt?

8. Are we likely to encounter (negatively) prejudicial treatment as a foreign company suing a domestic company?

9. If we prevail, how do we collect? Is collection effective? Do we get back any fees and costs incurred in collection? What happens if the other side hides its assets after we sue?

10. Do judges care much about live witnesses or are documents everything/nearly everything?

11. How long from filing until trial?

12. Do cases usually settle before trial? Any idea on the percentage?

13. What do you charge? Can lawyers take cases on a contingency fee basis?

14. Can you please talk about the cases you have handled similar to ours? What happened in those cases?

15. What percent of your practice is litigation?

16. How often do you represent foreign companies in litigation?

17. What do we need to do to make sure we win this case?

Anything we should add to this?

Oh, and for a very good and relatively short analysis of what United States litigation looks like for foreign companies, I would urge you to read A Brief Guide to U.S. Litigation here.
(Photo : Facebook) Trump leaving the New York Times Building after his meeting with group of people of New York Times.

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Hours after President-elect Donald Trump ranted on his Twitter about cancelling his Tuesday morning meeting with New York Times due to sudden changes of the newspaper's terms and conditions, Trump met with the newspaper's reporters and editors at the news agency's headquarters in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday lunchtime.



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New York Times reporters fed the Twitter with a live update of the on going meeting with Trump.



The meeting began with Trump's declaration of having a tremendous respect for the New York Times and it lasted for 75 minute meeting- parrying, debating and, at times, joking.



Why the meeting cancelled and restored?



Trump tweeted about cancelling his New York Times meeting at 6:31 a.m. local time on his Twitter account, then hours later, Trump followed a tweet about the possibility of setting up a new meeting with the newspaper.



According to Eileen Murphy, the Time's head of communication, they only learned that its meeting with Trump has been cancelled after seeing the president-elect's tweet. And then, after the meeting was restored, Murphy announced that Trump will meet with their publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. off the record and then with reporters and columnists on the record.



Murphy clarifies on her statement on the meeting that "We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to."



Murphy said Trump's team attempted to make the entire meeting off the record on Monday, after the two sides had already agreed to do part of it off the record and part of it on the record, which would make some parts of the discussion public. Murphy said the New York Times "refused to agree" to that proposal and the two sides agreed to go back to the original plan.



In a report in New York Times, three people with knowledge about the issue said that the incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had tried to scuttle the meeting at newspaper by allegedly telling Trump that The Times was shifting its terms. They also added that Priebus had been among those urging the president-elect to cancel his interview because he could face questions he might not be prepared to answer.



Spokesman for Trump declined to comment on the role of Priebus.



The restored meeting was attended by 23 people from New York Times team and five people from Trump's team, including the president-elect Donald Trump.



Meanwhile, when Trump left the meeting, it can be noted that a crowd assembled inside the New York Times building was making audible boos and cheers.



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TagsDonald Trumph, New York Times, Twitter, Cancelled Meeting, President-elect Donald Trump
(Photo : Getty Images ) Duterte arrived in Auckland on Tuesday on a brief stopover.

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The controversial issue of the South China Sea was raised during an informal bilateral meeting between Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and New Zealand's foreign minister.



The Kiwi foreign minister Murray McCully on Tuesday met with Duterte in Auckland and reportedly discussed the issue of South China Sea. "We talked about everything. I don't want to talk publicly about what was a private discussion but we discussed the full range of issues," McCully said after the meeting.



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McCully also described Duterte as a 'tough guy' who does not beat around the bush. "He is a tough guy but he was warm, courteous and actually quite charming," McCully said. "He doesn't beat around the bush. He has got quite firm views and he expresses them, and very colorfully."



The Philippine leader spent one night in Auckland after he arrived in New Zealand on a short stopover. Duterte was on transit in New Zealand's largest city after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in a Latin American country.



In July, the Hague-based International Court of Arbitration had ruled in favor of Philippines in its long standing territorial dispute with China over the ownership of South China Sea. Beijing had dismissed the ruling and questioned the authority of the tribunal 'illegal'.



New Zealand, on the other hand, urged China to respect the ruling on maritime rights. Beijing, however, slammed New Zealand over its stance on the issue and warned the Pacific Ocean country against the interference. Chinese leadership continues to maintain that country's territorial dispute with Philippines and Vietnam should be resolved bilaterally.



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TagsSouth China Sea, South China Sea Dispute, Philippines, china, new zealand
(Photo : Getty Images) Robbers in Paris stole goods worth over $5.29 million from two Qatari women.

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Two Qatari sisters are the latest victims to be robbed and manhandled in Paris in what is now becoming a growing trend in the French Capital on Monday night.



According to CNN news, the two sisters were being driven from Paris-Le Bourget Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport when they were ambushed by two men and robbed items estimated to be worth over 5 million euros ($5.29 million).



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"Two masked men intercepted their car," Bobigny prosecutor, general secretary (name withheld) said. "They sprayed tear gas to the driver and manhandled the women before taking their suitcases containing their valuables."



Investigations in regard to the incident kicked off officially on Tuesday after the driver contacted French authorities to report the incident.



The two Paris airport destinations have been a great target for criminal minds. The thieves are usually from the northern sub-urban regions of Paris, and they usually fish for vehicles that have left the airport through motorways.



The identification of the two women is to remain private as investigations continue. A news source, however, places the women's ages in their early 60s.



Bollywood star Mallika Sherawat has also been a victim of such an incident just this month. The star together with her boyfriend was attacked by robbers as they were heading to actress' Paris apartment following a night out.



In a report by the Telegraph, reality TV star Kim Kardashian West was also in a similar predicament last October. Masked robbers posed as police officers to gain access to her room, tied her up, and locked her in her bathroom. The robbers allegedly stole millions worth of jewelry.



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TagsParis, Armed Robbery, Kim Kardashian, Manhandling
(Photo : Getty Images) Yang Xiuzhu being escorted by Chinese police.

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The United States government said that it will not bow down to pressure from the Chinese government in the latter's efforts to expartriate fugitives hiding in the US.



However, they cannot offer assurances that some of the refugees have not been coerced to surrender.



Yang Xiuzhu, China's most wanted corruption suspect, surrendered and returned to China a week ago, in what is seen as a major victory for the ruling Communist Party in its quest to capture fugitive officials.



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Beijing has embarked on a search operation called "Operation Fox Hunt" for corrupt former government officials and business moguls who are hiding abroad with their assets.



The operation is being touted as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's single minded efforts to fight graft.



Speaking under the conditions of anonymity, a US official in Beijing said that they had been clear with Beijing that they will not bow down to pressure.



"We have made it clear that we will not tolerate any pressure being placed on family members or otherwise as a basis for return, but we can't always ascertain that that's been adhered to," he said.



Upon Yang's return, the Chinese government revealed that her family members had convinced her to surrender after senior members of the Chinese community in the United States also lobbied them.



Queried if the US government had any concerns over Yang's case, the official said that if they had any proof that Chinese authorities had violated the rules set, the US would have not allowed the expatriation to go forward.



In April last year, China released a list of its most wanted corruption suspects.



The country has irked western countries by sending undercover agents to try and pressure suspects to surrender, although the government says they quit the method after receiving complaints.



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(Photo : Getty Images) Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Chile on Tuesday has taken bilateral relationship between the two countries to the next level. Leaders of both countries signed 12 agreements.

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China and Chile have agreed to deepen their diplomatic ties further as both countries signed several bilateral agreements during Chinese President Xi Jinping's official visit to the Latin American country on Tuesday.



The brief visit is latest effort by China to improve its ties with Latin American countries as it seeks to capitalize the region's abundant natural resources and enhance its influence in the predominately US-dominated region.



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Xi was welcomed by Chile's President Michelle Bachelet in La Moneda Palace, the headquarters of the Chilean government. In the hour-long meeting that ensued in the palace, both leaders signed 12 agreements to deepen bilateral cooperation in host of important areas.



Among these, the most important agreement was the memorandum of understanding to upgrade the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to the new level of Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).



The trade between Beijing and Santiago has grown fourfold since the signing of FTA. As a result, China is now Chile's largest trading partner. Today, Santiago's annual export to the communist giant stands in billions of dollars, predominately exporting items such as cherries, blueberries, apples, grapes, and a variety of seafood.



The high quality Chinese cars, on other hand, have made substantial dent in the domestic auto market of the Latin American country.



Xi had visited the South American nation twice as vice president. But this was his first visit to the country as a president.



"We have decided to elevate the bilateral ties and open a new chapter in China-Chile relations. We agreed to further deepen our bilateral economic cooperation and political coordination," Xi said in a statement.



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(Photo : Getty Images) Three Australian employees from Crown Resort officially arrested are among the 18 individuals who have been detained over gambling issues in China.

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Three Australian employees from Crown Resorts have officially been arrested by the Chinese government and are set to be charged over failure to observe China's gambling regulations.



The three are among the 18 individuals who were detained by the Chinese government on suspicion of gambling, according to a statement issued by China's foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.



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"Beijing will handle this case in accordance with the law," said Shuang.



Gambling and any activity that promote it are illegal in the second world power. The Chinese law clearly states that anyone found to be running a gambling house or having gambling as a career choice is at risk of facing a jail-time of nearly three years.



According to ABC news, officials from Australia have met with those arrested and advised them on what they should do. The officials also served as middlemen in communication with their families.



Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop is quoted saying that they have a good legal team representing them.



"They are in good health, they are all represented by lawyers and we are able to provide advice and support messages from their families," said Julie.



She is also quoted in other news explaining that gambling is one of the areas that have been scrutinized thoroughly by President Xi Jinping's governing body.



Crown Resorts senior executive Jason O' Conor was among those arrested. Of the 18 detained suspects, 15 are yet to confirm their nationalism. However, so far, only one of them has been bailed out.



In a BBC report, the overall head of Crown Resorts is yet to comment with regard to the matter. According to the report, Australian casinos are among the target places to crackdown on corrupt officials.



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Tagschina, Crown Resorts, Crown Resort China, gambling, China Gambling Regulations
(Photo : Getty Images) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a backlash for his close ties with China.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been forced to defend his party's fundraising methods in the House of Commons after press reports revealed that he attended a fundraiser with Chinese business tycoons, who later donated 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) to the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation.



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"The Prime Minister was the star attraction at this exclusive cash for access event with Chinese billionaires," Tory MP Blaine Casking said during a questioning period in the House.



According to the media, Trudeau attended the fundraiser in May at the Toronto home of Chinese tycoon Zhang Bin, who is also a political advisor to the Chinese government.



"We know the Prime Minister's love for the Chinese dictatorship, so what exactly did he promise the Chinese for their million dollar donation?" Calkins wondered.



In his defense, Trudeau said that meeting with business executives in Canada and abroad is an effort to sell the country as a viable investment hub.



He cited projects such as the Bell Helicopter, which has created an additional 1,000 jobs, and the GM research lab in Markham as some of the best examples of foreign investments.



"We know that drawing in global investment is a great way to grow the economy and create jobs," Prime Minister Trudeau said.



Also present at the fundraiser was Shnglin Xian who was waiting for his bank to be approved by Canadian federal regulators. His Wealth One Bank of Canada was given final approval a few months after the function, according to media reports.



When asked about this, Trudeau dismissed suggestions that anything inappropriate was done.



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Tagschina, Justin Trudeau, China and Canada
(Photo : Getty Images) Walmart workers in China are organizing protests through social media networking site WeChat.

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Walmart workers in China have taken a stand against the company to demand for better pay and working conditions. The protests have gained momentum as the workers in Shenzhen have filed lawsuit against the company for back pay.



The workers are said to be using WeChat for the purpose of organizing their protests. It is reported that a laid-off worker Wang Shishu is the main person orchestrating the stand-off. The WeChat group has nearly 20,000 Walmart workers participating.



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Wang said, "We want a snowball effect. We want everybody to know what to do next." He is a former customer service representative who has been fired twice by Walmart. Wang said that he wants Walmart to go back to its sympathetic ways.



Keegan Elmer, a researcher at the Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Labour Bulletin, said "We can only expect that online organizing will continue to break down local barriers."



Low wages and a new scheduling systems are considered to be the main reasons behind the unrest. Several employees have complained that Walmart has failed to keep up with growing price level and has not set its compensation accordingly.



The US company's new scheduling system has also been blamed for leaving the employees exhausted. The new system was designed to help further reduce the costs.



Walmart bucked its global trend of resisting unionizations in 2006 when it agreed to establish Communist party-controlled trade unions in the country. Such unions are generally under the control of store managers. However, owing to their ineffectiveness, these unions are being bypassed by the workers.



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TagsWalmart, china, Wang Shishu
(Photo : Getty Images) US President-elect Donald Trump appoints South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as the new US ambassador to the United Nations.

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South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has been named as the new US ambassador to the UN.



She becomes the first non-white female cabinet-level official to be appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump. Haley, who is daughter of Indian immigrants, was one of Trump's most vocal critics during the campaigns.



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"Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country," Trump said in a press release.



Trump added that Haley is a proven deal maker and that his administration is looking forward to making a lot of deals.



"She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage," Trump added.



In a statement, Haley said she was "moved" to accept the appointment. She had put her weight behind Florida Governor Marco Rubio and then Texas Senator Ted Cruz during the Republican primaries.



She eventually voted for Trump in the elections, although she did admit that she was not a fan of either him or his democratic rival Hillary Clinton.



Haley has been vocal in her opposition to Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigrants, terming it "un-American." She was also opposed to his decision not to release his tax records.



On his part, Trump had accused her of being "very weak on illegal immigration," saying that she had made South Carolinas feel "embarrassed."



She has very little experience in foreign policy, although she is reported to have taken at least eight trips abroad since becoming governor mostly on the hunt for economic deals for her state.



She made history by becoming the first minority governor of South Carolina, a feat that was made more impressive by the fact that the state is deeply conservative and has a long history of racial tensions.



In 2015, she received acclamation from both sides of the political divide when she ordered the confederate flag to be removed from the state capitol grounds.



The 44-year-old is also the youngest governor in the United States.



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Tagsdonald trump, US, United Nations, niki hailey
(Photo : Ministry of National Defense) South Korea's Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine sign the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) at the defense ministry in Seoul.

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South Korea and Japan have agreed to speed-up the sharing of military intelligence about North Korea, especially about that rogue nation's nuclear and missile tests, in an agreement signed in Seoul Nov. 23.



The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) caps four years of on and off negotiations that were given a definitive final push by North Korea's rash of missile tests and the detonation of a nuclear bomb (it's fifth and largest so far) last September.



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It was signed by South Korean Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo and Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul.



"The pact will allow South Korea to directly share information on Pyongyang obtained by Japan without having to go through the United States. It will help restrain Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs," said Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun.



South Korean President Park Geun-hye approved GSOMIA after it was passed by the Cabinet. South Korea maintains pacts with 32 countries on sharing military information.



Under GSOMIA, Japan and South Korea will share information about North Korea's nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, and the communist regime's military activities.



On the other hand, the pact does not allow either Japan or South Korea to pass information obtained from the other to any third party such as the United States without permission of either party. All military information sharing will be made under the principle of reciprocity.



"The foreign ministry will send a written notice about the final signing to Japan today. If Japan responds with its own written notice, the agreement will go into effect immediately," said Moon.



Ambassador Nagamine said GSOMIA will strengthen South Korea's defense capabilities against the North's persistent threats.



Japanese spy satellite photos of North Korea and its information on submarine-launched ballistic missiles will especially enhance South Korea defense capabilities.



Japan's Ministry of Defense said the country's information-gathering assets include five surveillance satellites, six Aegis-class guided missile destroyers, four radar systems with a detection range of over 1,000 kilometers, early warning aircraft and 77 maritime patrol aircraft.



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TagsJapan, South Korea, General Security of Military Information Agreement, GSOMIA, President Park Geun-Hye, North Korea, Nuclear Tests, missile tests
(Photo : Kalashnikov Israel) AK Alpha by Kalashnikov Israel.

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Rearming the Indian Armed Forces with modern infantry small arms that inspire fear instead of ridicule is a process that might take over a decade and exceed the $870 million (Rs 6,000 crore) initially budgeted for this purpose.



But any overrun in time and money will be worth it if the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force and the Border Security Force (BSF) get the weapons on time, especially with deadly clashes against the Pakistan Army occurring almost daily along the Line of Control (LoC).



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Delhi believes the three armed services and the BSF will need two million small arms, a classification that includes assault rifles such as the hated INSAS, which is being replaced. It estimates this project will cost some $870 million (Rs 6,000 crore) and take 10 years to complete, that is, without bureaucratic bungling.



Delhi reckons 80 percent of this two million total (or 1.6 million small arms) will consist of assault rifles and assault carbines. The rest will consist of machine guns, pistols and other infantry weapons.



Most of these small arms are expected to be bought from Indian companies to support the Make in India campaign.



The much maligned licensing committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs will grant licenses for small arms and ammunition to private sector companies. The licensing process could take well over six months to complete at its most optimistic.



The move to upgun the armed services and the BSF is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $250 billion push to modernize the armed forces. The downtrodden jawan, as usual, is bleeding from combat deaths to keep the Pakistan Army and its Muslim militant Kashmiri allies from destabilizing and conquering Indian-administered Kashmir while armed with weapons he really doesn't like.



One of companies vying to supply these small arms is Reliance Defense and Engineering Ltd (RDEL), India's largest shipbuilding and heavy industry company headquartered in Mumbai, but which is now into small arms production.



Media reports say RDEL and Israeli company Kalashnikov Israel will soon establish a joint venture company to produce the "AK Alpha," a sleek and evil-looking 7.6239 assault rifle that began being marketed in the United States early this year.



One of the reasons why Kalashnikovs remain popular is its low cost of production that translates into a low unit cost per weapon. That edge might be to RDEL's advantage.



AK Alpha (AK Alfa in Russian) is a project begun by Kalashnikov Israel, which says the rifle was produced with inputs from snipers of the Israel Defense Force.



It features an AK-style action, but upgrades the weapon to provide a rifle with more modern features and utility than the standard AK-74 used by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.



Two models will be available: the AKL with a 16.338 inch barrel and the AKS with a 12.362 inch barrel.



AK Alpha is chambered in the iconic AK cartridge: the 7.6239 and fed by standard 30-round AK magazines. It features a Picatinny rail for mounting optics and other accessories.



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TagsIndian Armed Forces, infantry small arms, rearmament, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Border Security Force, Pakistan Army, jawan, AK Alpha, Kalashnikov, Reliance Defense and Engineering Ltd
(Photo : Kanka News) Wu Jianping signs documents by holding a pen in his mouth.

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A man in China's Henan province was ready to have his own house through a mortgage-until his housing loan was denied by two banks because he couldn't provide a fingerprint. Why? Because he has no arms.



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Wu Jianping, now 26, hails from Zhengzhou, Henan province. He was on the receiving end of severe electric shocks when he was five years old, therefore losing both of his arms. He can write his signature by holding a pen in his mouth, but he could not provide a fingerprint - apparently one of the most important identity verification - because of his disability.



"Fingerprinting is a common practice because signatures can be imitated, but there is no way to copy a fingerprint," a bank employee involved in the case told local media.



Wu has already paid the housing deposit of 55,000 to the real estate sales center on November 13, but later that day when he was scheduled to sign the documents for the real estate sale and mortgage loan, two banks, whose names were undisclosed, rejected the loan.



The incident drew the ire of netizens because of the insensitivity and inconsideration of the banks. After the media attention, other banks where Wu applied before that rejected him for the same reason reversed their decisions.



Furthermore, Zhengzhou's housing management department opened a "green channel" for Wu that aims to help him complete the legal documents needed for his housing loan, this time with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.



Under China's Protection Law for the Disabled, institutions are mandated to help people with disability process their bank loans and housing contracts.



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Tagsarmless man, Wu Jianping, Denied, loan, housing loan, mortgage loan, Fingerprint, electrocute, Henan Province, disabled man, Disability, Zhengzhou, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(Photo : Getty Images) A report by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) claims that China filed most numbers of patent applications in 2015, outpacing traditional powerhouse like US and Japan.

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The latest figures on China's patent registration suggest that last year it was the most innovative country in the world, outpacing technically advanced countries such the US, Japan, and Canada. These figures were brought forth by a new report by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).



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The Geneva-based organization claimed that China filed a total of 1,010,406 patent applications, which was more than the applications filed by the next three following countries: United States, Japan, and South Korea. The large number of applications also make China the first country to reach the million-patent mark in a single calendar year.



However, many experts have expressed doubt over whether these figures are truly indicative about China's progress in innovation. This is mainly because China has filed most of its patent application locally, or within the geography of its own country.



Margaret Dalziel, associate professor at the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre at the University of Waterloo, said that if Chinese patents were truly innovative then their innovators would have chosen to file them in commercially viable markets like the US and Europe.



WIPO's report said that out of the total Chinese application, only 4 percent were filed abroad. This stands starkly in contrast to the impressive 45 percent application filed by Japan and the United States in abroad.



Chinese telecom major Huawei and ZTE led the way in intellectual property filings overseas.



Many local analysts suggest that the government's incentives and subsidies partly lead to such a huge number of local filings. These incentives were part of Chinese government's long-term goal to build strong culture of innovation within the country.



As far as the status of global innovation is concerned, the WIPO report claimed that a total 2.9 million patent applications were filed globally in 2015. This is 7.8 percent increase than the previous year.



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Tagschina patent, Patent, World Intellectual Property Organization, Wipo
(Photo : Getty Images. ) Top U.N diplomats claim that the United States and China have agreed to impose new set of UN sanctions on North Korea. But the move is facing considerable opposition from Russia.

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The United States and China have agreed to impose a new set of United Nations sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in September. The nuclear test was apparently the most powerful conducted by the isolated communist country till date.



The U.S. and China, however, are facing opposition from Russia, a top diplomat said on the condition of anonymity.



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"They (permanent five members) are getting very close to agreement on a draft resolution," the diplomat said. "The key thing is that China and the U.S., who have led this, have got to a position that they agree on. So the issue now is Russia."



"The Russians are trying to hold it up but the Chinese are comfortable with it in terms of content," he added.



Two other UN diplomats have also confirmed that Russia has expressed reservations over the new set of sanctions against North Korea, without elaborating further.



The diplomats claim that the new set of sanctions would cover loopholes in UN sanctions that were passed in March, following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in January. They revealed that new set of sanctions would target coal exports that were exempted from previous sanctions for "livelihood purposes."



North Korea annually exports millions of tons of coal to China.This is supposedly one of its main sources of revenue. Analysts fear that Pyongyang uses the fund generated by coal export to finance its controversial nuclear and missile program.



Diplomats claim that the new sanctions would list new names of firms to impose sanctions including a global travel ban and asset freeze.



The proposed sanctions as well as the ones that were passed recently mainly focuses on financial crackdown, with the sole aim to squeeze funding to North Korea's nuclear program.



There were doubts over whether China would implement these sanctions sincerely, given that Beijing is the closest ally of North Korea. However, China has said that it would sincerely implement UN Security Council sanctions irrespective of ITS close ties with its communist neighbor.



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TagsNorth Korea, North Korea Sanctions, China and North Korea, North Korea nuclear program
(Photo : KnAAPO) Sukhoi Su-35S.

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Russia said China will definitely receive its first four Sukhoi Su-35S supermaneuverable air superiority fighters this December with the remaining 20 to be delivered before 2020.



China is the first foreign customer for the Su-35S, whose fame lies in the incredible supermaneuverability conferred by its twin izdeliye (Product) Saturn 117S (AL-41F1S) thrust vectoring turbofan engines that each produce 142 kN (32,000 lb) of thrust in afterburner and gives it a maximum speed at altitude of Mach 2.25 (2,390 km/h).



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Russia will honor its pledge to supply the first Su-35S fighters to China this year under a military-technical deal between the two countries signed in November 2015, said Vyacheslav Shport, Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory where the fighter will be produced.



The Su-35 (an upgraded version of the Su-27) is only made at Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO), part of the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company. The largest aircraft manufacturing company in Russia, KnAAPO is located at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a city in Khabarovsk Territory.



"I can say that today, all issues of supplying aircraft equipment as part of military-technical cooperation are proceeding strictly on schedule at the aviation enterprise located on the Khabarovsk Territory, and will be complete before the deadline specified in the contract. It's under my supervision," said Shport.



The deal will cost China over $2 billion and also includes the delivery of ground support equipment and reserve aircraft engines.



It's long been known China's main interest isn't the Su-35S itself but the jet's thrust vectoring Saturn 117S engines. Chinese technology in the production of first-class fighter jets lags seriously behind the United States and Russia, and the acquisition of the Su-35S will jump start China's own plans to produce engines of similar performance.



Indicative of this aim is that China won't be buying any more Su-35s after this initial order, said Russian sources. China will focus on its domestic fighter programs, especially engines for its grossly underpowered fifth generation fighters, the Chengdu J-20 and the Shenyang J-31.



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TagsSukhoi Su-35S, supermaneuverable air superiority fighters, china, Russia, Saturn 117S, Vyacheslav Shport, Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association, KnAAPO
(Photo : Russian Army) T-72B3, the best Russian Army tank, is an upgraded version of the T-72 fielded in 1973.

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It won't be the heavily hyped "super tank," the T-14 Armata that will lead any Russian offensive against NATO over the next few years, but the latest version of the 40 year-old T-72 main battle tank (MBT), said the commander of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation or the Russian Army.



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The Russian Army doesn't have a single combat worthy T-14 Armata in its inventory since it was only this September the Ministry of Defense signed an order for a pilot batch of more than 100 Armatas that will all be used in field trials.



The deal with Uralvagonzavod, Russia's leading tank maker and builder of the T-14, will see the first pilot batch take part in comprehensive military tests simulating combat situations.



The program to supply the Russian Ground Forces with T-14s was initially planned to begin by 2020, but has been extended to 2025 due to logistics and technical problems and funding shortfalls. The Russian Army plans to order 2,300 T-14s.



Om the other hand, the army has 2,600 operational main battle tanks, of which 1,900 are various models of the T-72 that formed the armored backbone of the defunct Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. The T-72 entered service with the Soviet Army in 1973.



Colonel General Oleg Salyukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, admitted his army's best tank is the T-72B3, a heavily upgraded version of the outdated T-72.



"Modernized tanks, (the) T-72B3, are currently arriving for the troops," said Gen. Salyukov.



"Following the results of works that have been carried out, the Ground Forces have received actually a new tank with the basic characteristics close to the characteristics of modern foreign tanks and considerably surpassing them by the cost-efficiency criteria."



The efficiency and reliability of the upgraded T-72B3 was demonstrated at the Tank Biathlon contest during the 2016 International Army Games held this July to August in Russia, said Gen. Salyukov. Russia, which fielded T-72Bs, won the Tank Biathlon, a tank versus tank contest against tanks from friendly countries such as China, Kazakhstan and Serbia.



The Russian Army, however, only has some 600 T-72B3 MBTs in service. It's still receiving the T-72B3, its best tank.



The T-72B3 is an upgrade of old stocks of T-72Bs held in reserve. Modernization of the T-72B to the T-72B3 began in 2010 and included improving the tank's firepower by installing a new fire control system; overhauling each of these old tanks and replacing their outdated engines.



Most T-72B3s mount the same 125 mm smoothbore main gun that arm older T-72Bs. An upgraded version of this gun, the A46M5, is reportedly equivalent to the old Rheinmetall 120 mm L/44 gun that armed earlier version of the German Leopard 2 MBT. Current versions of the Leopard carry the L/55 model of this gun.



The T-72B3 saw combat against the Ukrainian Army in Russia's attempt to conquer eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.



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TagsT-72B3, T-72, T-14 Armata, Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov
For the past four years, Young Nak Celebration Church (YNCC) has taken the opportunity presented by the Thanksgiving holiday to reach out to international students at the University of Southern California.

This year was no exception. YNCCs Thanksgiving Luncheon for International Students took place on Saturday (November 19) at YNCCs Jefferson site, located about one mile away from the USC campus. About 60 students and volunteers gathered and played games, learned about the American Thanksgiving tradition, and shared traditions of gratitude in their respective cultures. Volunteers from YNCC stay connected with students and keep in touch throughout the year, according to Yana Ahn, the missions pastor at YNCC.

USC hosts the second largest population of international students, Ahn said. This fall semester, over 10,000 international students were enrolled at USC. Most of them come from restricted areas where the Gospel is not easily accessible in their own country. Thus, it is the world coming to us, and we want to share the love of Christ with them while they are here. Thats how the ministry for international students began.

The Thanksgiving Luncheon is one of several events that YNCC hosts during the school year specifically for international students, as they partner with other campus ministries specific to international students, including All Nations, Worldwide Friends, and LA International. During the beginning of the school year, they host a Free Goods Day, providing household necessities donated by YNCCs members. The church also hosts barbecues, hiking events, and other events to continually build friendships with the students.

[International students] are open to new ideas and they are here from restricted and unreached areas, and will be the future leaders of their countries, Ahn said, emphasizing the need for churches to become more deeply involved in ministry towards international students.

According to the Open Doors Report released earlier this month by the Institute of International Education, hundreds of thousands of new international students are enrolled in U.S. universities each year. In the 2015 - 2016 school year, over one million international students were enrolled in U.S. universities. Most students come from China (31.5 percent), India (15.9 percent), and Saudi Arabia (5.9 percent).

We have one missionary locally and two other missionaries who partner with YNCC in other parts of the U.S. who are very willing to go and help other churches to be involved in this ministry, Ahn said.

Those who are interested in reaching out to international students could contact internationals@jeffersonla.org.
Students, alumni, and faculty at Fuller Theological seminary are petitioning for the administration to designate the campus as a sanctuary campus.

Sanctuary campus is a term that reflects the schools willingness to protect students, staff, or faculty who are undocumented immigrants and to protect their information from federal immigration officials.

As of Wednesday evening, over 700 students, faculty, and alumni had signed the petition that was sent on Monday. The petition requested for the school to make public its support for and commitment to protect undocumented students, staff, faculty, and their families; to refuse to release the immigration status of students, staff, and faculty; and to refuse to submit to immigration officials.

Jesus Christ commanded us to love God and neighborthus as Christians we are called to seek the wellbeing of all people, particularly those who are poor, marginalized, discriminated against, and mistreated. Furthermore, Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that however we treat the least of these among us, we have treated him, the letter reads.

This move comes in the wake of President elect Donald Trumps vow to deport up to 11 million immigrants and to end a program by the Obama administration called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants temporary relief from deportation to young people who were brought to the United States as children.

President Barack Obama says he will urge the President-elect and the incoming administration to think long and hard before they are endangering that status of what for all practical purposes are American kids.

These are kids who were brought here by their parents. They did nothing wrong. They've gone to school. They have pledged allegiance to the flag. Some of them have joined the military. They've enrolled in school. By definition, if they're part of this program, they are solid, wonderful young people of good character, Obama said in a statement on Monday.

Should Fuller establish itself as a sanctuary campus, it will join schools like Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Reed College in Oregon that have already designated themselves as sanctuary campuses. Similar petitions are circulating in college campuses across the country, like Harvard, Yale, Emory, Columbia, University of Minnesota, and numerous others.
Continuous advancements in technology and hyperbolic cloud growth is straining all networks at carrier central offices and data centers alike. Virtually all aspects of the data center have evolved  from Ethernet speeds to software defined networks and even SD-WAN. In corporate networks weve seen the rise of virtualization become table stakes for companies of more than about 25 people. Carriers have been moving towards NFV to gain similar benefits in their central offices.

Yet there hasnt been the same evolution in fiber management and connectivity and its the reason we interviewed Farshid Mohammadi of Go!Foton to learn more about his companys efforts in this area.

Tell us about your company, Go!Foton

Go!Foton was established in 2009 as a result of a management buyout of NSG Groups Telecom Devices Business worldwide. We have been focused on providing innovative solutions around passive and active optical components and lately we are providing next generation fiber management systems.

Go!Foton is a co-creation and ecosystem orchestration driven company. Our vision is to change the Fiber Management Systems into an open best-of-breed solutions much like what we have seen with Open Source software and the Open Compute project

What is the problem your company is trying to solve?

For the past 20+ years we have seen significant improvement and innovations in the area of Equipment and Fiber Cable. However, fiber management and connectivity within COs & DCs have not seen much innovation and have not kept up with advances in the Equipment & Fiber Cables domains. This has resulted in significant operational cost that service providers could avoid.

Do you believe there is a transformation happening in data centers?

We are in the midst of a pivot in our industry. Given the adoption of Cloud for both IT and Telecom applications, we will continue to see an expedited path toward faster and denser deployments at COs & DCs. To meet these new challenges, we believe that the Fiber Management & Connectivity vendor community would need to change its current thinking and redesign its products to meet the following requirements below:

How will your company help it along?

At Go!Foton we have a patented fixture fan-out solution that allows field technicians to install fiber terminations without impacting the adjacent fibers/connectors in a 24 LC connector tray configuration. Other vendors solutions either provide fully stacked or offset LC connector configuration which is cumbersome and error prone or as such have prevented the industry from truly capitalizing on the high fiber density that LC connectors can achieve. Recall LC connectors are half the size of SC connectors, provide better performance than SC connectors, and are more secure and safer since they provide a latch-on mechanism rather than SCs Push/Pull mechanism.

Tell me more about your PEACOC High Density Platform

PEACOC is a High Density Fiber Management Platform that:

Supports 144 simplex (72 duplex) LC ports in 1RU; MPO fanouts (8F/12F/24F)

Provides easy & efficient craft access to both front and back plane connectors

Installs in standard 19 and 23 existing frames

Offers scalable pay-as-you grow fiber interconnect capacity in 1 RU increments

Supports traditional as well as next generation applications by accommodating Integrated optical modules & Splicing with a removable flexible tray design





Why should carriers and companies choose to use it?

We are an innovative co-creation driven company that looks to partner with carries toward co-developing a solution that provides carriers desired technical and commercial outcomes. Some of our salient design parameters for our solutions are:

At least 40% TCO for savings for carriers

Open system architecture allowing competitive sourcing

Modular chassis & cassette design for true pay-as-you-grow implementation

Universal fiber connectivity and cable management

High port density with reduced footprint

What else can we expect from your organization?

We are committed to transforming the CO & DC fiber management and connectivity technical and financial disposition to ensure innovation in this domain not only keeps pace with those of Equipment & Fiber cables but exceeds.
Besty DeVos, Billionaire Christian Philanthropist, To Head Education For Donald Trump

Donald Trump has chosen an influential conservative Christian woman who is a highly respected billionaire and philanthropist as his Education Secretary.

He is to nominate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the United States Department of Education.

Trump pledged that her appointment will "break the bureaucracy" that is holding children back and guarantee choice for all young people.

The announcement was made on the Presidential transition team website which described her as a "highly successful education advocate, businesswoman, and philanthropist".

DeVos is a former chairman of the Republican Party in Michigan and a passionate advocate of the school voucher scheme, which allows parents to use publicly-funded vouchers to pay for education at a private school of their choice, including religious schools.

She is chairman of the technology and clean energy Windquest Group which she founded with her husband in 1989.

Trump said: "Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate. Under her leadership we will reform the US education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families. I am pleased to nominate Betsy as Secretary of the Department of Education."

DeVos said: "I am honored to accept this responsibility to work with the President-Elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in education is not acceptable. Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."

DeVos, from Michigan, is chairman of the American Federation for Children whose mission is to "improve our nation's K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families, to choose the education they determine is best for their children." She has also served on national and local charitable and civic boards, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, American Enterprise Institute, The Philanthropy Roundtable, Kids Hope USA and has been a member and elder at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, formerly led by prominent Christian author and speaker Rob Bell.

The Washington Post said she is "hardly a household name" but has quietly helped change the education landscape in many states, spending millions of dollars expanding the school voucher programs to give families access to private and religious schools.

The Post reports: "Trump's pick has intensified what already was a polarized debate about school choice. Advocates for such choice see in the Trump administration an extraordinary opportunity to advance their cause on a national scale, whereas teachers unions and many Democrats fear an unprecedented and catastrophic attack on public schools, which they see as one of the nation's bedrock civic institutions."

Former president of Fuller Seminary Rich Mouw told the Washington Post he had served on a committee with DeVos to replace Bell, and said DeVos is heavily influenced by Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch writer and Calvinist theologian.

He said: "I wouldn't consider her to be right wing. She's a classic free-enterprise conservative. She takes public life, art and politics very seriously."

Tennesseee Sentator Lamar Alexander tweeted that she was an "excellent choice":

On the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education pic.twitter.com/TyJDrcTQqv  Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) November 23, 2016

Speaker Paul Ryna said he was "thrilled" by the choice of DeVos and also of his friend Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the UN:

Thrilled that @BetsyDeVos will be next Sec of Education. She's a true reformer, committed to #SchoolChoice & more opportunity for children.  Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) November 24, 2016
Biblical 'Thinker' Dug Up In Israel Dates From The Time Of Abraham And Isaac

This little "thinker" from the time of the first books of the Bible would have had a lot to ponder.

He was carved roughly 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, in Yehud, an ancient city in Israel.

At about the same time this jug and its detailed little carving were being made, according to the Bible, Abraham and Sarah were having their son, Isaac.

When he grew up, Isaac married Rebekah and they had Jacob and his brother Esau.

The 4,000-year-old jug was unveiled this week by the Israel Antiquities Authority in a student archaeological dig in the contemporary city of Yehud.

The Middle Bronze Age sculpture was discovered alongside daggers, arrowheads, an axe head, sheep bones and what are thought to be the bones of a donkey.

Excavation director Gilad Itach said in a press released issued by the authority: "It seems that these objects are funerary offerings that were buried in honour of an important member of the ancient community.

"It was customary in antiquity to believe that the objects that were interred alongside the individual continued with him into the next world. To the best of my knowledge such a rich funerary assemblage that also includes such a unique pottery vessel has never before been discovered in the country".

He said the ceramic pot, about 18 cm high, was unlike anything previously discovered. The pot was made first and then the figure added.

"The level of precision and attention to detail in creating this almost 4,000 year old sculpture is extremely impressive. The neck of the jug served as a base for forming the upper portion of the figure, after which the arms, legs and a face were added to the sculpture. One can see that the face of the figure seems to be resting on its hand as if in a state of reflection. It is unclear if the figure was made by the potter who prepared the jug or by another craftsman."

The high school students also found a churn used in the Chalcolithic period for making butter.

Efrat Zilber, supervisor responsible for the Land of Israel and Archaeology matriculation stream, said: "The archaeological excavations provide an opportunity for an intensive and direct experience that connects the pupils with our country's past. An experiential learning experience involving research methods employed in archaeology takes place while revealing the artifacts. The pupils meet experts in a variety of fields who share their knowledge with them, enrich the pupils while also enriching their world."

Ronnie Krisher, a pupil from Roeh religious girls high school in Ramat Gan, said: "Suddenly I saw many archaeologists and important people arriving who were examining and admiring something that was uncovered in the ground.

"They immediately called all of us to look at the amazing statuette and explained to us that this is an extremely rare discovery and one that is not encountered every day. It is exciting to be part of an excavation whose artefacts will be displayed in the museum."
Catholic Apology For Genocide In Rwanda Is Profoundly Inadequate, Says Government

The government of Rwanda has issued a stinging rebuke to the country's Catholic bishops over their recent apology for the part played by church members in the 1994 genocide.

Christian churches were "deeply implicated" in the slaughter of the Tutsi population, with churches being sites for many massacres, and church members and administrators actually taking part.

Yesterday the Rwanda government welcomed the attempt to express remorse, but said the apology was profoundly inadequate.

The government said in its statement: "Its profound inadequacy only serves to highlight how far the Catholic Church still remains from a full and honest reckoning with its moral and legal responsibilities."

In apologising on behalf of a few unnamed individuals, the bishops appear to take the "extraordinary step" of exonerating the Catholic Church as a whole for any culpability in connection with the genocide, the statement said.

"Everything in the historical record contradicts this divisive claim," it added.

The government also notes that it is "regrettable" that some priests declined to read the bishops' message to parishioners as intended, thus disassociating themselves from even this mild expression of regret.

The Rwandan government called for a full apology from the Vatican and pledged to continue to encourage the Catholic Church "to face up to its own past" without excuses or fear, just as Rwandans themselves have been doing over the past two decades.
Christian Convert From Islam Is Released After Nearly 7 Years in Jail

A jailed Christian convert has been released six years into his 10-year sentence by Uzbek authorities.

According to World Watch Monitor, Tohar Haydarov, 33, was released on parole after serving six years and 10 months of his prison term. He has returned to his home in Gulistan, eastern Uzbekistan.

"God heard the prayers of many Christians," the Council of Churches Baptists told the Oslo-based Forum 18 News Service. "We are thankful to everybody who prayed for him and sent letters to him while in prison."

One member of the Baptist community, Gleb Serin, told Forum 18 that "Tohar was amnestied for his good behaviour, and because he had already served more than half of his prison term".

Uzbekistan is officially secular but religious freedom, especially of minority groups, is severely restricted.

Haydarov, a convert from Islam, was found guilty in March 2010 of drugs charges, which local Baptists insist were fabricated. According to the charity Release International, his arrest followed a request by some of his relatives that local police help them force Haydarov to return to Islam.

A spokesman for the Council of Baptist Churches told Forum 18 that Haydarov's release did not signal a change in government policy towards Protestants. He said the "attitude to Christians in Uzbekistan is as before. Therefore it is possible that Tohar will encounter problems. We continue praying for Tohar."

A spokesperson for the religious persecution charity Open Doors said that Haydarov's release was surprising because he had been denied amnesty while many other prisoners were granted it in May.

"We are very grateful Tohar has been granted parole: we have prayed for him for years and we need to continue our prayers. After six years in such difficult circumstances, he needs to be restored and re-establish his relationship with his loved ones. We know from other ex-prisoners that the process can be hard," the spokesperson said.

Uzbekistan is ranked 15th on the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to be a Christian. It has one of the harshest dictatorships in Central Asia.
Christian Students Plead For Prestigious College To Become 'Sanctuary' To Prevent Deportations

Students at a leading Christian college in the United States are calling for it to become a "sanctuary" to prevent foreign students from being identified to the Trump administration.

Students, alumni and others at Fuller Theological Seminary have signed a petition to the president, the provost and the dean of students expressing concern for the "safety and dignity" of all students and workers. They want the seminary to declare itself a sanctuary, or safe place, for all those without the right documents.

Signing themselves off "In Christ", they say: "We request that Fuller begins the necessary process to declare every campus a sanctuary for undocumented students and workers."

They say they are "dismayed and disoriented" by the election result.

They also say they are "fearful" of the hatred that has spread across the country, and report xenophobic chants directed at Latin youth, the bullying of Muslim and LGBT individuals, incendiary graffiti and vandalism.

"As you know, our own Pasadena campus and its students of color have not been exempt from the hostility that this election season has provoked," the students say.

They refer to President-Elect Trump's pre-election pledge to deport undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States as well as repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which provides relief from deportation and work benefits to hundreds of thousands of young people in the US, including Fuller students and staff.

The Fuller students warn: "If these policies are enacted they will prove devastating, subjecting students and workers who are integral to our community to punitive measures, and in contrast to Fuller's stated commitment to work for the good of human society."

They ask the seminary to guarantee privacy by refusing to release information regarding the immigration status of students and staff and to refuse to comply with immigration authorities on deportations or raids.

Other institutions have already declared themselves as sanctuaries, including All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington DC.

Fuller has been invited to comment on this article.
Church Pastors Launch Expletive-Filled Advent Devotional

Two justice-campaigning Lutheran ministers have launched an online advent resource with a title and tone which many Christians might find problematic. Baltimore-based Jason Chesnut and California-based Tuhina Verma Rasche have joined forces to create "F*** This S***", a very 'alternative' devotional for the advent period. Driven by their shock and dismay at recent world events, the pair have chosen to use language not usually associated with pastors or their Bible, in order to create an unsettling connection with the divine pursuit of justice.

Although many readers won't make it past the title, Chesnut and Rasche insist they're not trying to shock people or be unnecessarily 'cool', but merely using language that is appropriate for the level of lament and righteous anger many are feeling at the current state of the world. The free resource takes users through a 28-day series of readings, starting on November 27th and running through until Christmas eve, and is designed to inspire creative collaboration through social media. The link to download the readings is here (although it comes with a language warning, obviously), while those taking part will be asked to follow along using the suitably unprintable Twitter hashtag.

In a post on Medium.com, Chesnut explains that "to convey a visceral gospel, we must sometimes use visceral language". He says that the devotional isn't meant to offend, but rather to "tap into the real pain and anguish named by the Biblical prophets in their cry for justice  a central theme in advent, a traditional liturgical time focused on a visceral yearning for the Christ child to come again into our messy and messed-up lives."

In a companion piece on the same site, Rasche talks of her deep despair at the recent spate of police shootings involving black men in America, and the desire to find appropriate language of lament. She argues: "communicating such a deep emotion cannot be accompanied by flowery and polite language; if anything the language that accompanies such emotions communicates a rawness and a sense of being both literally and figuratively torn open. There is a desire for God to rend the heavens, to have things torn open to enter into the world."

Chesnut and Rasche want the devotional to inspire users to contribute to an ongoing conversation with further writing, artwork, music and more. And while they're bound to cause all kinds of offence as a result, they hope that as Chesnut puts it, it will "translate the Good News of Jesus" to today's culture." He continues: "I am convinced that to reach people with the radical love of God, we need to employ somewhat radical methods. This devotional aims to stay true to the life-giving Holy Spirit by recognising the presence of God in the death-dealing realities in which we live, breathe and have our being."

A "PG-rated" version of the devotional, entitled 'Rend the Heavens', is available here.

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
Five People Sentenced To Death By Hanging For 'Brick Kiln' Murders Of Pakistani Christian Couple

Five people in Pakistan have been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging over the brutal 'brick kiln' murders of Shahzad and Shama Bibi in Pakistan more than two years ago.

The two illiterate Christians were seized by a mob and burned to death in the brick kiln where they worked in Kot Radha Kishen near Lahore.

They were falsely accused of desecrating pages of the Quran when they disposed of some rubbish.

The mob of about 3,000 people decided to exact its own revenge without recourse to Pakistan's brutal blasphemy laws. The mob beat them savagely before throwing their battered bodies in the kiln furnace.

It was later suggested that there could have been a financial motive for their killing.

The deaths of the couple, who were married and expecting their fourth child, caused international outrage.

Originally, 106 people were charged with murder but soon after that 90 were acquitted, including the owner of the brick kiln.

The couple's eldest son Suleman, just six at the time, described in television interviews after the attack how he saw his mother and father twitching in the flames of the fire that slowly consumed them.

The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) said: "His chilling words, that should never have been aired, give the impression the couple were still alive as they burned."

According to Riaz Anjum, the lawyer representing the family, the couple had been locked in a room after they asked to leave the premises to escape a mob worked up by the blasphmey allegation.

The Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore has now convicted five men to death by hanging and imposed large fines which will have to be paid by their families. Eight others involved in the burnings have been sentenced to two years in jail.

Anjum said: "The five people awarded the death sentence were involved in dragging, beating and burning the couple while the other eight played a supportive role according to the judgement."

Mukhtar Masih, father of Shama Masih, said: "We were unable today to attend the court today due to the risk to our safety. I am disappointed with today's result as my eldest daughter Yasmeen, who saw the whole incident, witnessed at least 15 men involved in the brutal violence against my daughter Shama and her husband Shahzad. Only five of those men have been convicted with a death sentence yet the others poured kerosene over Shama and Shahzad and were also violent. Two years imprisonment for those who were involved in a lesser capacity for a crime that led to two deaths seems to lenient."

He said his life and those of the children, Suleman, Sonia and Poonam, had been devastated. "We are now starting to receive death threats from all the families of those accused and fear for our lives. This small justice could still end up costing us even more."

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA, said: "These convictions are a watershed moment for the Pakistani Christians. It is rare for perpetrators of violence against Christians to receive a conviction, for the sentencing to be so strong in this court case sends out a firm message that violence will be met with the full weight of the law. The perceived impunity for mob attacks on Christians has been countered and now hopefully will reduce such crime.

"The family of Shama and Shahzad now need a time for solace and healing. The ongoing case and the constant death threats on the family have had a heavvy toll on the surviving children. They often question why they and their parents were hated so much and Suleman is showing signs of post-traumatic stress. The government of Pakistan must ensure that they work with us and other groups to ensure the protection of this family which is now of paramount importance. Quite frankly the family have suffered enough."

Thanks to donations, the association has been able to repaint the family's home and buy the children comfortable beds, other furniture, and school supplies. However, they may all have to be relocated soon because of death threats.

"We are committed to Shama and Shahzad's children and we will continue to do all that we can to provide for them but we need your help to do it," said Chowdhry. "Please give what you can afford, no matter how small, and join with us in showing them the daily love and care that they need."
'Han Solo' release date, news: Spin-off film will have a 'heist or Western type feel'

The "Han Solo" spin-off film won't be coming out for a while, but a lot of details have already been revealed. The film doesn't even have an official name yet, but rumors about the plot have been circulating online. But it doesn't really take a genius to guess that the Millennium Falcon is going to be involved.

In an interview with Variety, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had more to share and she said the film was going to have a "heist or Western type feel."

"We've talked about [Frederic] Remington and those primary colors that are used in his paintings defining the look and feel of the film," she added. Remington happens to be a painter, illustrator, and sculptor of the Old American West.

It looks like directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are really going to try something different with the "Han Solo" spin-off film. In an interview with Collider last month, cinematographer Bradford Young said the directing duo was planning to break some rules and bring their own unique vision to the film. It sounds like the studio is backing them every step of the way.

Well, the Han Solo played by Harrison Ford does act like one of those cowboys in the Wild West. He's the type of guy who will shoot first, and ask questions later. Greedo (Paul Blake) will surely agree with that assessment if he's still alive.

With Alden Ehrenreich portraying the young scruffy-looking nerf herder for this film, and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) also in the mix, fans can expect them to be up to no good. They are smugglers after all. These are not the typical heroes.

Chewbacca is also going to appear in the film, and "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke has joined the cast for an undisclosed role.

The "Han Solo" spin-off movie is set to premiere on May 25, 2018.
Hundreds Of Pentecostal Christians To Gather In London For Landmark Meeting

Hundreds will mark the UK's first ever National Pentecostal Symposium in London on Saturday.

As estimated 250,000 Christians will be represented by 20 organisations from across the UK at the celebration in Kensington Temple, West London.

Pentecostalism is the fastest growing Christian movement worldwide according to academics such as Alan Anderson and frequently offsets the decline seen in the Church of England and other more traditional expressions. There are currently an estimated 280 million pentecostals around the world, three times more than the 85 million-strong Anglican Communion.

The symposium on Saturday will combine sung worship and preaching with academic discussion. Four papers will be published from the day on areas such as Pentecostal history and diversity and Pentecostal relationship with ecumenism, social, economic and political relations.

Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, Churches Together in England's (CTE) Pentecostal and multicultural relations secretary, said the growth showed "decline is not inevitable, even in a post-Christendom world".

He told Christian Today: "In an age of scepticism where faith is deemed by many people to be something that only the non-smart engage in, it is important that we resist the temptation to gravitate towards the emotional, the sensational and only appeal to the wilder side of human nature.

"While we need to give some vent to emotion I think it is important that we spend time reflecting on our faith and discussing it and appealing to the mind."

He added: "We must use heart and head, God-given emotion and intellect, to explore how we improve Christian mission in the world; deepening our understanding of the legitimate differences we have; embracing the dynamism the Holy Spirit brings."

The Revd Dr David Cornick, CTE general secretary said: "Pentecostalism's roots lie deep in the holiness traditions of the 19th century, and their presence in Britain dates back to a series of revivals which rippled through these isles in the early years of the 20th century. One of the remarkable features of 20th century Christianity was the growth of the Pentecostal churches and the emergence of the charismatic movement.

"We are delighted that the churches of these traditions are coming together to celebrate the gifts God has given them and to share their insights with their Christians friends from other traditions."

Current CTE Pentecostal president, Bishop Eric Brown, said: "We live in a world and a country where human difference is difficult to manage and so it has been heart-warming to be a part of a project that shows that with the right spirit our God-given diversity can be a strength, not a weakness."
Iraqi Christians Revisit Historic Town Abandoned By ISIS

Just weeks after their town was liberated from Islamic State, Iraqi Christians have begun to return to Bartella to see what is left of their homes and belongings.

Though ISIS has now been pushed out, devastation remains in the jihadis' wake.

For Said Shaba, who fled ISIS when they overran the town two and a half years ago, all that is left is a CD from his daughter's wedding and a picture of Jesus, desacrated by militants.

Jihadis stole a safe with his savings and set Shaba's two-storey house ablaze before Iraqi forces pushed them out a month ago from the northern town of Bartella as part of a campaign to retake nearby Mosul, the group's last stronghold in Iraq.

With the jihadists using suicide car bombers to stop an army advance on Mosul located just 12 miles away, Bartella remains a tense ghost town.

Black army Humvees patrol the potholed streets where Islamic State fighters set homes on fire, while rows of shops and restaurants have been flattened during fighting.

But tired of living with his seven-member family in a rented house in nearby Erbil, Shaba and other Christians came to check on their houses for the first time since fleeing Bartella in 2014 when Islamic State seized Mosul and much of Iraq's north.

"They destroyed and stole everything. They even took away our safe," the 59-year-old told Reuters, pointing to a wardrobe in his bedroom where a safe containing $1,400 in local currency and dollars once stood.

When rumors of an Islamic State offensive in August 2014 spread, Shaba drove his family to the safety of Erbil one morning, planning to return to take cash and documents. But he never made it back as the jihadists were already in control of Bartella by the afternoon.

His petrol storage facility, the family's main source of income, a few blocks from his modest house, was destroyed during fighting, he said.

Luckily, among the debris on the house's floor a picture of Jesus survived though militants tore out parts of the face. His wife Nidhal kissed the painting and put it on a wall in the ransacked reception room.

A CD containing pictures of their daughter's wedding also made it through the occupation.

"They have left nothing intact including windows, doors and walls," said Milano Yousuf, Shaba's daughter. "This CD is more important to me than all the furniture. It is irreplaceable."

The Mart Shmony Syriac Orthodox Church in Bartella has also been seriously damaged. Left charred by a fire, inside the church pews were overturned by militants, and hymn books and Bibles torn apart and thrown on the floor.

According to the Telegraph's Josie Ensor, graffiti scrawled on the walls of the church read: "Our God is higher than the cross".

Hussam Matteh, a member of the Nineveh Plains Forces  a Christian militia fighting ISIS  helped raise the cross on the roof of the church after liberation.

"We're feeling something you can't describe  that's how happy we are," he told the Financial Times. "We are now back home in the land of our ancestors, our churches and our heritage."

He added: "I want to tell my people: don't go. Stay. There is no reason to flee Iraq and go abroad. This our land, we have it  and from now on, we will be the ones who defend it."

But returning for good to Bartella and other nearby towns is not an option for now for thousands of civilians  Christians and Muslims alike  as the battle for Mosul drags on.

The army has closed Bartella and other towns and villages, using them as forward base. Special forces commanders and US officers, who have been backing the army campaign, met in the town on Wednesday.

The Iraqis and the Americans arriving in Humvees declined to discuss the meeting, which took place amid heightened security. Dozens of army vehicles with mounted guns were parked on an unpaved square in the town.

The army only lets in civilians selectively to inspect their houses and take some belongings, officers say. Still, many hope they can stay.

Hundreds were queuing at a checkpoint, where officers sent many back for lack of paperwork. Shaba, the Christian entrepreneur, said he got his army permit to go home only through "wasta", or personal connections.

"We need to make sure the places are safe, that Daesh left no bombs," said an Iraqi officer, using a derogatory Arabic term for Islamic State.

Apart from Christians, there were also many Shi'ites, seen by Islamic State as heretics, trying to head home.

"We are trying to see our house for the first time since we fled in August 2014," said 28-year-old Ahmed Ali, a Shi'ite who escaped with his 17-member family from their Bartella home when the militants approached. His cousin was killed by the Sunni fighters, he said.

"Life has become very difficult, paying rents in Erbil with very little work," he said, standing with a veiled relative near the checkpoint where soldiers told civilians without permits go back. "We don't know whether our house still stands but we hope to go back soon, God willing."

Additional reporting by Reuters
Man Shot Dead During Mass As Violence Against Christians Continues In Colombia

Violence against Christians in Colombia continues to rise after a man was shot dead during mass in the south western city of Cali on Tuesday.

Fernando Padilla, 35, was killed after a gunman entered the packed Santa Cecilia Catholic church while the Archbishop of Cali celebrated mass, according to Fides.

The Archbishop of Cali, His Excellency Dario de Jesus Monsalve Mejia, denounced the shooting. He said: "Taking advantage of the gathering in churches to kill a parishioner and create terror among the faithful, goes beyond any rational consideration.

"Unfortunately not even the fear of God stops the absolute disregard for human life that has roots in the soul of vast sectors of our Colombian society."

It comes two years after a shooting in the same church killed two people and is typical of systematic violence against Christians in the war torn South American state.

Colombia voted to reject a peace deal with Marxist guerilla group FARC in October, members of which have murdered priests, destroyed churches and kidnapped missionaries.

In a country-wide referendum, Colombia turned down the proposed deal largely because it was seen as too lenient on the insurgents.

Now the longest running civil war in the Western hemisphere, it has left around 220,000 dead and nearly seven million displaced.

The persecution charity Open Doors put Colombia within the worst 50 countries for Christians to live in, largely because of organised crime which FARC is a main exponent of.

The charity's Latin American analyst Dennis Petri said: "Colombia is a country with multiple realities. Formally, it's a modern democratic country where the rule of law is established and religious freedom guaranteed. However, large areas of the country are under the control of criminal organisations, drug cartels, revolutionaries and paramilitary groups."

He added: "Many Christians continue to be targeted because of their individual activities as influential pastors, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates, indigenous rights advocates or environmental protection advocates.

"In community life, criminal organisations or guerrillas obstruct Christians in their daily lives, monitoring their activities and impeding anything that goes against their interests. Christians particularly experience hindrances with regard to access to education, health and other social services.

"In national life, criminal groups often take over the traditional roles of the state, which in practice means there is no rule of law and harm inflicted to Christians is left unpunished.

"In church life, organised crime reduces the freedom of Christians to gather, as church services are constantly monitored and sermons censored."
Pakistan brick kiln workers could have been murdered for financial reasons, not religious

The Pakistan Supreme Court has stepped in to the case of the Christian couple murdered by a mob and burnt in a brick kiln.

Shama Bibi and her husband, Shahbaz Masih, were accused of blasphemy and killed by villagers incited by local imams. It later emerged that the motive for the killing may have been financial rather than religious, as the couple, who were bonded labourers in a system that has been described as modern-day slavery, were alleged to have contracted a debt they could not pay.

Now the Supreme Court has directed the provincial government of Punjab to submit a report into the case. It also directed the federal government to submit a report on the implementation of the June 19 verdict of the Supreme Court regarding the protection of minorities' rights.

The move was welcomed by the director of CLAAS-UK, which works for minorities' rights in Pakistan. Nasir Saeed said that it was important to set an example and punish those who had been involved in the killing. "We cannot avoid future such incidents unless the government takes stringent measures to stop the growing hatred and punish those who have been involved in such crimes," he said. "Unfortunately he government always been hesitant to take action and bring those responsible for church attacks, the burning of Christian towns and villages, and the killing and burning of Christians alive, to justice."

Reports vary as to whether the couple were dead before their bodies were burnt, or whether they were burnt alive. An employee of human rights charity Release International who visited the village immediately after the murders told the Evangelical Alliance: "I was given a bag in my hand, and when I looked into it, I discovered that it was their bones. They were completely burnt. I was holding the hands of two Christians that had been burnt alive for their faith."

He said he spent time with the family following the murder, but that for the first time in his life that he did not know how to pray. The couple's brother was weeping and sobbing, while their grandmother "had no more tears to cry", he said. "She was drained, there was complete sadness in her face."

An unnamed Christian spoke to the village to urge that the situation would not cause hatred between Muslims and Christians. "We must have peace," he said.

The Release International representative was asked to pray over the two coffins before the funeral, which was attended by both police and the local Muslim politician. "There was a really sombre feeling, I think a lot of the people were in shock," he said. He added that the faith of the Christian community in Pakistan was "unbelievable".

The British Pakistani Christian Association, which has called for foreign aid to Pakistan to cease, held a demonstration outside 10 Downing Street on Saturday.

The Evangelical Alliance's director of advocacy, Dr Dave Landrum, said the latest incident was a clear misuse of the country's blasphemy law to persecute Christians.

"This barbaric act represents the latest in a long line of brutal acts of religious intolerance against Christians in a country which is set to receive more than 400 million in aid from taxpayers in the UK.

"The Evangelical Alliance call on the UK government to unequivocally condemn this execution of an innocent Christian couple and use its influence to persuade Pakistan to bring the full weight of the law against the perpetrators. There needs to be an acknowledgement that such barbarous attacks are no different in seriousness than the barbarous attacks of IS in the name of Islam.

"The world is watching and waiting for the Pakistani government to act fast and decisively to halt this persecution."
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) release date, specs rumors: New iteration will be unavailable in Europe?

While a global launch seems imminent for the 2017 Samsung Galaxy A series, it seems that the new releases will still be region-exclusive.

While a global launch seems imminent for the 2017 Samsung Galaxy A series, it seems that the new releases will still be region-exclusive.

According to speculations, the 2017 Galaxy A7 will likely be released in the regions that have gotten the current-gen Galaxy A7. Should this happen, it is highly possible that Europe will not be getting the upcoming follow-up.

Supposed listing from the website of Samsung Austria has given a hint on this non-release. Allegedly, the listing features some of the compatible devices for the newly-launched Gear S3, Samsung's new flagship wearable. The smartwatch is already released in Europe, and based on its devices list, the 2017 editions of the Samsung Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 are included in compatible smartphones.

However, the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) is not in the list. As an upcoming release and the step-up variant in the series, the upcoming Galaxy A7 should've been included in the compatible devices list. Its absence is a hint that the release will likely be unavailable in the region. When the current 2016 edition of the Samsung Galaxy A7 released late last year, it was only launched in select markets and Europe was not included in the list.

As to when fans can expect the new 2017 Samsung Galaxy A7, the South Korea-based tech giant has yet to come out with confirmed details on the release date. However, since the devices under the lineup have already gotten certifications, and with the amount of supposed leaks already available, it is said that the new Samsung Galaxy A series will come out soon. Should Samsung stick to its yearly cycle refresh, the upcoming iterations are likely to come out next month at the earliest, since the 2016 editions of the lineup came out in December last year.

The 2017 edition of the Galaxy A7 is expected to come out with upgrades and improvements, such as a newer Exynos 7780 chipset, 3 GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with full HD resolution.
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) release date, specs rumors: smartphone won't be available in Europe

Even though there's a lot of hype for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017), those who reside in Europe will definitely be disappointed with the recent rumor that the device won't be available on the continent, at least for the first few months after the midrange smartphone is released.

The speculation started when Samsung's website in Austria listed several devices that are compatible to be used with its Gear S3 smartwatch, and quite interestingly, the Galaxy A7 (2017) wasn't included in it, while the likes of the Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A3 (2017) were listed.

According to GSM Arena, the South Korean electronics giant actually has not confirmed any further information about the upcoming phone or any of the Galaxy A series phones that are rumored to be given their respective updates next year. Nonetheless, it is pretty confusing why the Austrian official site listed both the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 without including the Galaxy A7. It actually might just be a typo or something like it, so for the moment, it's just way too early to arrive at a conclusion.

Based on earlier reports, the Galaxy A7 (2017) will be sporting either a 5.5 or 5.7-inch screen with touchscreen technology and full high-definition screen resolution. The premium resolution is made possible due to the presence of the company's own processor, the Exynos 7870 chipset. Furthermore, the upcoming smartphone is expected to be equipped with at least 3 GB of random access memory (RAM), something that's almost a standard for the majority of smartphone devices next year. As for internal storage, there could be 32 GB and 64 GB variants.

Next year's lineup of Galaxy smartphones will have some big shoes to fill and challenges to overcome, more particularly the effect of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. But with one less unit to be sold in Europe for the Galaxy A series, Samsung's sales in the region for next year will definitely be affected. But to what extent; that's anyone's guess right now.
Shocking Rise In Religious Persecution Fuelled By 'Islamist Hyper-Extremism'  Report

The emergence of "Islamist hyper-extremism" is primarily responsible for a shocking rise in religious persecution across the world, according to a new report released on Thursday.

Violent terror attacks inspired by Islamist ideology have now taken place in one in five countries, the report found, highlighting that most religious persecution is from militant organisations and not governments.

"A virulent and extremist form of Islam emerged as the number-one threat to religious freedom," according to the report, Religious Freedom in the World, by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Researchers examined 196 countries across the globe and of these, 38 showed "unmistakable evidence of significant religious freedom violations".

Out of the 11 countries that had worsening levels of persecution, "nine were under extreme pressure from Islamist violence", the report found. And out of the 11 countries with consistent levels of persecution, seven faced huge problems relating to Islamism both from non-state militant groups and and state-sponsored oppression.

The report was launched in Parliament on Thursday morning and came after iconic landmarks across London were lit up red on Wednesday evening to mark the suffering of those persecuted for their faith.

The report defined "hyper-extremism" as a radical creed combined with systematic attempts to drive out groups not like them. The tactics go beyond suicide attacks to include mass killings "glorying in the brutality inflicted on its victims, which is paraded on social media".

"It emerged that a massive upsurge in violence and instability linked to Islamism had played a significant role in creating an explosion in the number of refugees," the report said. It found a "key objective" of Islamist hyper-extremism is to eliminate other religious communities from land, which has resulted in a mass exodus from the Middle East.

"The frequency and intensity of atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, Baha'is, Jews and Ahmaddiyya Muslims is on the rise," wrote John Pontifex, editor of the report.

"The atrocities committed by these aggressive Islamist groups in Syria, Iraq, Libya and by their affiliates elsewhere have arguably been one of the greatest setbacks for religious freedom since the Second World War," he added. "What has properly been described as genocide, according to a UN convention which uses that term, is a phenomenon of religious extremism almost beyond compare."

As well as non-state militant groups, the report also criticised countries such as India, Pakistan and Burma which have a state religion. In these countries "steps have been taken to defend the rights of that faith as opposed to the rights of individual believers," the report found.

But it also found that the threat of religious extremism was used as a justification for a crackdown on freedom of speech or belief. This is particularly the case with the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, whom the report described as the "most persecuted minority in the world".

It added: "An upsurge in arrests, legislation restricting religious freedom, state rhetoric against religious plurality and sporadic acts of government-inspired violence have put renewed pressure on faith groups."
'Star Wars: Episode 8' spoilers, plot news update: Rey, Kylo Ren to be main focus of upcoming film

After the scavenger from Jakku handed over the lightsaber to the last living Jedi, a spate of fan theories have been circulating among the franchise faithful as to what will transpire in "Star Wars: Episode 8." One of the viable speculations is that the protagonist Rey (Daisy Ridley) and the dark side's pawn, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), are the ones to be heavily featured in the next installment.

If one were to base it on the final scene of "The Force Awakens," it is now anticipated by avid followers of the "Star Wars" lore that Rey will most likely become Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) apprentice. The theory also suggests that her training will be way longer as compared to her mentor as it is estimated to run for a couple of months. However, the rumored training sequences in the upcoming film are said to be showcased in less than 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, it is also speculated that Luke will be in search of the galactic smuggler and con man Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) who will be a key figure in pinpointing the whereabouts of Kylo Ren.

That being said, Kylo Ren's past is also rumored to be focused on "Episode 8." Reports say that his childhood will be featured in the next main installment including the time when he still proudly carried the name, Ben Solo.

Furthermore, his childhood scenes are said to come via episodic flashbacks that could have resulted from murdering his own father, Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Those vivid memories might also include the time when he trained alongside a number of padawans that would, later on, be called as "Knights of Ren."

"Star Wars: Episode 8" has yet to gain an official title but it will be released to theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.
'Wonder Woman' release date, news: Gal Gadot recalls putting on superhero costume for the first time

The DC Extended Universe is following up this year's slate of ensemble movies with an origins movie next year in "Wonder Woman." While the movie will be one of the many firsts not just in the DCEU but in the superhero genre as a whole, there are already a lot of hopes for the film especially with the impressive trailers and a tidbit of what Gal Gadot has to offer in her first standalone film.

Arguably, the Israeli model and actress was one of the bright spots in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" which premiered earlier this year. Despite having limited screen time, she exuded power and grace getting people sold on her as the contemporary incarnation of Wonder Woman. But Gadot recently revealed that it was hard work for her especially in maneuvering her character's battle armor.

Making an appearance at the recently held Rhode Island Comic Con, the "Fast and Furious" alum detailed her initial experience in putting on her costume, describing it as "very, very, very, very tight"

"The very-very first time I tried the costume on was three days after I got cast. And they flew me to Michigan, and I got into this huge hangar," she recalled. "And then, when they wanted me to try on the costume  because I was so excited that they cast me for the role  I couldn't say anything; I couldn't breathe, but I was like, 'That's okay. That's fine.' It was really-really tight, and we adjusted it. And I love the costume. I think, it complements Wonder Woman very much so, as being the greatest warrior out there. And now it's much more comfortable."

Obviously, the costume adjustment went great if how she conducted herself wearing her battle armor is any indication. Thankfully, the timing worked well as filming for both "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League Part 1" have been completed as the bombshell is now expecting baby No. 2 with her husband of almost 10 years, Yaron Versano. Otherwise, fans can imagine just how difficult it would be for her to move in Diana Prince's very medieval suit knowing that she is pregnant.

"Wonder Woman" is directed by Patty Jenkins and will be out on June 2, 2017. "Justice League Part 1," on the other hand, will follow a couple months after on Nov. 17.
'Wonder Woman' release date, news: Gal Gadot talks about the honor and responsibility of playing the iconic heroine

Almost any superhero universe is dominated by bulky men taking the helm and dishing hurt one film after the other. Although there are female heroes, men usually take the lead as the main characters. Perhaps that's the reason that when Wonder Woman plunged into "Batman vs Superman," the whole world was stunned, so much so that there was a silent excitement brewing everywhere.

Wonder Woman has been a symbol of feminism and power, thus the casting search was very exhaustive. It wasn't until the beautiful Israeli actress Gal Gadot stepped in that made producers decide she's the one.

Her fierce character onscreen is coupled by an equally fiery passion behind the scenes. According to Hollywood Outbreak, Gadot feels deeply honored to portray such an epic heroine. Knowing that a lot of people look up to her character, she understands the big responsibility of making her relatable and ensuring she does justice to the role, thus she takes things seriously.

It seems she takes it to heart that she endures everything the role throws at her. During the Rhode Island Comic Con last Nov. 13, she talked about how challenging it was to fit into her Wonder Woman costume for the first time, but that it's all part of the job.

"The very-very first time I tried the costume on was three days after I got cast. And they flew me to Michigan, and I got into this huge hangar. Huge, with tons of white walls covered with posters of me as Wonder Woman. I got into the room and I couldn't stop looking at the posters. And then, when they wanted me to try on the costumebecause I was so excited that they cast me for the roleI couldn't say anything; I couldn't breathe, but I was like, 'That's okay. That's fine,'" Comic Book reports.

The film takes the audience back to Wonder Woman's origins, where she was first the princess of the Amazons known as Diana. Living on an uncharted island, she was trained to be a formidable warrior until an American pilot, played by Chris Pine, crashes onto their shores. He explains that there is a war in the outside world. Convinced she can make a difference, Diana ventures out to save mankind.

"Wonder Woman" is scheduled to premiere on June 2, 2017.
For many Americans, the weeks following the 2016 presidential election have been a wild ride. Republican Donald Trumps win after most pollsters predicted a victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton has been followed by more than the usual amount of post-election polarization, turmoil , and uncertainty . Thats trickled into schools, where some students have led protests as others have celebrated the new president, and where teachers on both sides of the political spectrum have been disciplined for how theyve chosen to teach about the election .

But in one Maryland school, teachers report that the social and academic work they have done before and since Election Day has helped their school navigate the weeks after the election and hold productive conversations about the results.

Education Week spoke to staff at North East High School in Maryland about whats happened at their school since Nov. 8. Education Week had visited North East High School earlier this year to do a piece for PBS NewsHour about how schools were teaching about Election 2016 in the run-up to the election. In that video story, we found social studies teacher Bruce Fox teaching a lesson in sorting out scandals, lies, and incivility in the presidential election.

Education Week checked back with Fox in the weeks after the election. He said that he has focused on encouraging his students to examine the multiple perspectives voters might have had. As teachers, I think its part of our job to help them pop that bubble they might be living in, Fox said.

Video: North East High School teacher Bruce Fox talks about teachers roles in helping students understand the 2016 election.

Sharon Thomas, an English/language Arts teacher at North East, brought in print copies of the speeches each candidate gave after the election.

Thomas said that there was some tension between student supporters of the different candidates as the lesson began, but that students calmed down as they began to work on an analytical activity rooted in the text of the speeches.

Video: North East High School teacher Sharon Thomas discusses a lesson on Hillary Clintons concession speech and Donald Trumps victory speech that she taught the day after the 2016 election.

David Foye, the schools principal, said that teachers who addressed the election head on and encouraged students to back up opinions with facts are helping students process the events as they unfurl.

Video: North East High School principal David Foye discusses how the school approached the election.

Proponents of civics education have long argued that schools need to prioritize teaching young people about the workings of government and their civic duties. The Civics Education Initiative , a project of the Joe Foss Institute in Arizona, is aiming to require all students to take a test on U.S. government in order to graduate, while the state of Illinois recently began requiring a civics course for high schoolers. Secretary of Education John King recently spoke about the civic mission of schools.

The election catalyzed many teachers to search for productive ways to help students understand a political landscape full of polarizing rhetoric and events, as my colleague Madeline Will reported earlier this year. For more on teaching during the days after the presidential election, check out this story from the Teaching Now blog.

Related stories:
Ivory C. Pantallion III, 36, of Beaumont has been identified as the suspect who was shot and killed by police on Tuesday after not stopping his car for police and displaying a firearm.

The incident began Tuesday at about 8:53 a.m., after Jefferson County deputies attempted a traffic stop on westbound I-10 near the Goodyear plant, but he failed to stop.
Terrie Peacock wiped away tears streaming down her face Tuesday as she recalled the distress and shock she felt when a San Mateo pet groomer emerged from an appointment with her year-old puppy, Henry, with blood foaming from the poochs mouth.

After their beloved dachshund died, suffering from two broken ribs and a punctured lung in what was supposed to be a routine nail-trimming at PetSmart, the owners are hitting the national pet retailer with a lawsuit.

Its been a living nightmare. We treat our pets like children, Peacock said as she held her other dachshund, Bella, in her lawyers Burlingame office. PetSmart knew that there were others that believed that their pets had been harmed and they did nothing about it. And as a result, our son died.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 1 of 6 Terrie Peacock and Stefan Zier / Terrie Peacock and Stefan Zier Show More Show Less 2 of 6 Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle / Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 6 4 of 6 Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle / Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of 6 Stefan Zier and Terrie Peacock / Stefan Zier and Terrie Peacock Show More Show Less 6 of 6











Peacock and Stefan Zier, her partner, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday against PetSmart and the company groomer arrested on suspicion of killing Henry, citing an alarming number of serious injuries and sometimes deaths after appointments at PetSmart offices across the nation.

I was helpless. He was dying right in front of us, Zier said of the moment when he saw Henry struggling to breathe in the lobby of the PetSmart offices in San Mateo. What we want from this is there to be systematic change. We want these people (groomers) to be trained.

Juan Zarate, a 38-year-old San Francisco resident, was arrested in mid-May at the store in the 3500 block of South El Camino Real after it became evident that deliberate actions committed by Zarate likely contributed to the animals death, said Sgt. Richard Decker of the San Mateo Police Department.

Zarate was charged with felony animal cruelty. He pleaded not guilty, posted bail and is awaiting trial, said Alison Cordova, the attorney representing the couple.

POPULAR ON SFGATE: CNN anchor cuts interview short after guest drops the n-word

Peacock and Zier said they were never given an explanation by Zarate or PetSmart as to how Henry suffered the extensive injuries that led to his death, Cordova added.

A PetSmart representative declined to answer questions about the case, saying in a statement, As a practice, PetSmart does not comment on pending litigation.

The bereaved couple say the lawsuit isnt about money. They dont want anyone else to have to deal with the trauma theyve experienced since Henrys death, Zier said.

The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals receives complaints about incidents in which pets are killed or injured during grooming at PetSmart all the time, said Rachel Bellis, a manager of local affairs for PETAs cruelty investigations department.

Pet grooming is an unregulated industry and many groomers dont actually have a license, Bellis added.

Cordova noted that 42 complaints filed by PetSmart customers with the website Consumer Affairs since 2010 cited animal injuries and sometimes death caused by the companys grooming services.

A lot of the grooming incidents where animals have died  been strangled to death by collars, died from heatstroke from being left in the drying chambers  they happen so often at these stores so we are always pushing for states to have stricter laws on (grooming) practices, Bellis said.

Zier and Peacocks lawsuit against PetSmart details the litany of complaints against the retailer. In May 2016, a customer reported that a PetSmart groomer cut his dogs genitalia during a grooming session. Days later, another report was filed that said a PetSmart groomer scalped a dog, leaving it without any fur. The dog died from its injuries.

We never had children together, Zier said. I hope people can understand, these are our children. We pray he doesnt die in vain.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twiter: @SarRavani
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When it comes to criminals involved in drugs and money laundering, two of the biggest names are Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Pablo Escobar. But criminal empires aren't exclusive to men.

Mexico's attorney general is offering rewards for information leading to the arrests of eight women linked to multiple crimes.

EXTRADITION BATTLE: 'El Chapo' could see death penalty if sent to U.S., attorneys say

According to the Spanish-language newspaperEl Pais and the online Mexican news outlet Narcotrafico en Mexico, the women are accused of such crimes as human trafficking, drug trafficking and murder.

Mayra Elizabeth and two other women known as "The Kitty" and "La Beba" are suspected members of the Los Zetas Cartel and are believed to have played a part in the 2011 attack on the Monterrey Casino Royale. The fire bombing killed 52 people. Los Zetas were in a battle with the Gulf Cartel at the time, according to reports.

Kenia Rocio Priego Alarcon is accused of organized crime and trafficking minors. The Mexican government is offering $500,000 for information about her whereabouts.

DRUG WAR: What Trump's presidency might mean for drug cartels

Patricia Murguia Ibarra and Rain Eunice Hernandez Mata are wanted for child trafficking crimes. El Pais reports Ibarra is the former director of the Center for Adaptation and Family Integration, a hostel in Nuevo Leon. In 2009, three children disappeared during her time as director. Authorities believe the children became victims of human trafficking. The newspaper reports both women fled to unknown locations after the case went public.

In 2012, a recovered child told authorities that Ibarra and Mata kept him hidden at family members' houses. Authorities are still searching for the two women.

EXOTIC PETS: What happens to lions and tigers when their cartel owners get raided?

Since 2010, Erkia Valenzuela Dynora Obeso has been one of Mexico's most wanted criminals. She's accused of laundering drugs from Colombia to Mexico. Narcotrafico en Mexico reports that authorities believe she launders her drug money into real estate and cars.

Maria Beatriz Rendon Corona is part of Los Granados, an international organization known for human trafficking, according to El Pais. Corona is accused of pimping, trafficking and organized crime in Mexico and the United States. While two of her alleged accomplices have been arrested, she has evaded capture.
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Residents will have the opportunity to get their holiday season started off on the right foot with two upcoming events held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kingwood and the second annual Northeast Houston Holiday Concert at Summer Creek High School.

The 19th annual Nativity Exhibit and Music Festival will be held Dec. 2-3 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kingwood. Hundreds of nativity sets from around the world will be featured with live music, poinsettias trees on display and an Old Bethlehem setting in an event that has become a community tradition.

Local members of the church donate hundreds of hours planning and coordinating the nativity exhibit while choirs and performers from the community prepare Christmas music to help set a festive, reverent tone for the event.

Visitors are welcome to bring family and friends and start the Christmas season with a focus on the birth of the Savior. In addition to the exquisite nativity sets, you can expect to see children's activities, era costumes and a holiday photo opportunity near a life-sized stable background, Christmas quilts and more.

The Nativity Exhibit and Music Festival is open to the community from 1-9 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 3 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kingwood, located at 4021 Deerbrook Drive.

All events are free and children are welcome. More details about the exhibit are available at http://tinyurl.com/kwnativityandmusic.

Additionally, community members are invited to attend the second Annual Northeast Houston Holiday Concert at Summer Creek High School located at 14000 Weckford Blvd. Houston, 77044 Saturday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.

This event is family-friendly and free, although non-perishable food donations for Humble Area Assistance Ministries will be accepted and appreciated at the event.

Performance ensembles include both community and religious groups, including New Hope Outreach Ministries, Lakeside United Methodist Church, Consono Choral Ensemble, Summerwood Elementary Shining Stars, Summer Creek High School Marimba Quartet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Artistic Celebrations of Life. Performers from all the groups will join together in singing a special musical number called "This Is My Wish" at the end of the concert.

Organized by the Northeast Interfaith Council, this holiday concert unites people of diverse backgrounds and faiths.

"We hope the community will feel a sense of unity as they came together to start the holiday season and witness the different ways we all celebrate at this time," Jennifer Davis, director of community outreach in the Summerwood Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a member of the council, said.

The music and messages at the concert are meant to uplift people of all faiths and promote respectful dialogue about religion. All are welcome to come and celebrate this holiday season at the concert.
A Cypress woman is suing Harris County after a sheriff's sergeant allegedly hit her with his patrol car in 2014 as she walked across the street.

Now, Gabriela Valencia is asking for up to $100,000 for personal injuries and mental anguish, according to documents filed Monday in Harris County court.
As the parents of two young victims killed in a drunk-driving wreck more than four years ago cope with the loss of their children through church, work and community service, they expect more from the driver who recently walked free with minimal time served.

Brian Drew Goetz, 22, served only 62 days in jail stemming from the Oct. 26, 2012, crash on Nichols Sawmill Road near Magnolia that killed Tori Nichole Tabor, 19, and Kevin Wayne Hansen, 20.

Goetz originally faced two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault, as a third passenger in the vehicle survived the crash that involved Goetz driving off the road and rolling the pickup truck before it struck a tree.

He originally faced up to 50 years in prison on the three felony charges. However, on Nov. 9, a Montgomery County jury in the 435th state District Court found him guilty on three counts of a lesser charge of driving while intoxicated. The jury came to the conclusion after eight days of trial and almost 1,500 days after the fatal accident. Prosecutors and Goetz agreed to the maximum six-month sentences for each of the three Class B misdemeanor DWI charges. However, those misdemeanors had to be service concurrently; they could not be stacked.

It is unclear how much credit or commuted days Goetz received for time served; or whether the time previously spent in jail for violating terms of his bond release counted toward that six-month sentence. The Courier submitted an Open Records request to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office regarding Goetz's time in jail and how his time served was calculated. However, there has been no response yet with that information.

Tabor's parents on Sunday echoed what they told Goetz at the conclusion of the trial: They hope he learns from the crash.

Though Goetz's actions took a daughter from Russel and Catherine Tabor, as well as a sister from Aubree Tabor, the family has learned to cope together. They have found the silver lining in different ways, whether it's talking to local youths groups about the dangers of drinking and driving or starting a successful construction business.

"I would like to do what we've asked Brian to do, which is to step up more and talk to people," Catherine Tabor said. "I haven't been wanting to tell the story. We got real involved in the church after the accident, which was fantastic for us. Reaching out to the youth groups and talking to them more is definitely something I want to do."

The same can be said for Hansen's father Wayne Hansen. He is going to be working with a company in San Antonio that counsels convicted drunk drivers about the dangers of their actions.

Although Wayne Hansen is also able to find something good coming out of his son's death, he still has plenty of frustration with the way Goetz's trial came out.

"What does this verdict say to the kids in Magnolia?" Hansen said Sunday. "It says, 'We can go out and get plastered drunk, kill or hurt somebody, and it's not going to matter. We can walk.' It still irritates me beyond belief.

"It's to the point now where there's nothing we can do. Absolutely nothing. He's got a second chance. This was his get-out-of-jail-free card. Hopefully he won't do this again. But from what we learned in the trial, it's going to happen again."

The jury was not able to hear about Goetz's indiscretions while he was out on bond for the four years leading up to his trial. He was out on bond for the past four years, except for the 1-1/2 months he spent in jail for having alcohol in his system as he tried to start his truck in July 2014. As a condition of his bond, Goetz was forced to blow into a breathalyzer before driving. On multiple occasions, the breathalyzer picked up traces of alcohol in his system, according to court documents, including one where his breath-alcohol concentration was reportedly 0.199  more than twice the legal limit of .08 and more than what he blew the night of the crash, court documents show.

"The verdict would have been very different had they been able to know he's tried to drink and drive multiple times again," Catherine Tabor said. "If (the jury) had known his driving record before this happened, I think it would have been very different.

"I know there are people who change. They go to trial because they've done something bad before, and they've truly changed and all their other stuff shouldn't be brought up. But in this case, I feel like he hasn't changed. I feel like it was important information."

However, the 12-person jury, in Judge Patty Maginnis' 435th state District Court, could not unanimously agree that Goetz's intoxication caused the fatal crash, which is the legal definition of the charge. However, the jury did agree Goetz was driving while intoxicated at the time of the crash, which is how he got the three DWI convictions.

A person commits intoxication manslaughter if he or she operates a motor vehicle while intoxication and "by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake," according to state law. Goetz's attorney Sam Cammack argued that his client's intoxication had nothing to do with the crash, and that it was the condition of the road.

Even after a "slap in the face" as a result of the trial's conclusion, Russel Tabor and his family still feel at ease with what transpired.

"As far as the trial, I think everything went well," Russel Tabor said. "We're not upset about any of it. It was a shock, yes. But it is what it is. We hope he learns from it and changes."

Russel Tabor founded Four Tabors Construction in Tomball months after the crash as a way to cope with his loss.

"It's helped," Tabor said. "It gives me something else to think about. My mind's constantly running about work."

With the trial concluded, and Goetz having waived his right to appeal, there is little more to do for the surviving families but to move on and make something good come out of their own tragedy.
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When Tanya Raines applied for a housing voucher in September, she was already in a tight spot hunting for a home for herself and her three children.

Then in October, a hit-and-run driver totaled her vehicle. And just last week, an out-of-control car crashed through her family's apartment, destroying almost everything the family owns.

Now, with no plans in the works for Thanksgiving, she's trying to figure out how to tell her kids there won't be a Christmas this year.

"I still have no idea what to do," Raines said this week. "I'm still in shock. I'm still trying to comprehend what happens next."

It's been a tough string of bad luck for the struggling family, but the one thing that might have been the light at the end of tunnel could be years away: subsidized housing.

Back in September, 29-year-old mother told the Chronicle about her plans to apply for the Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly known as Section 8.

At the time, Raines, her 2-year-old twins and 5-year-old son were all crammed into a tiny one-bedroom apartment with her children's father. But the relationship was starting to fracture and the apartment was too small - and Raines wanted out.

Living on less than $800 a month in disability, her options were limited.

Fortunately, the Houston Housing Authority had finally cleared out its years-long waitlist and opened it up for a lottery. About 60,000 people applied, but only 30,000 made it onto the list.

Raines was lucky enough to make the cut - but with a lottery number in the 29,000s and no expedited emergency lists, it could be three or four years before she's actually able to get housing.

And right now, she's stuck.

"The car destroyed the whole apartment, there's nothing left. We lost everything," she said.

Raines was asleep in the bedroom Friday morning when the out-of-control vehicle came crashing through the wall, strewing bricks around the room.

"I couldn't even comprehend what had happened for a minute," she said.

Then she started to hunt for her children. Her 5-year-old was at school and she easily located one of the twins, but the other was eerily silent.

She panicked for a minute, thinking her son was dead - and then came the flood of relief when she heard him cry.

The children's father came out unscathed, while Raines and two of her children headed to the hospital for a quick examination.

They were all released later that day, but the scars still linger.

"My kids wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying," she said.

Since a hit-and-run driver T-boned her vehicle at the end of October, she doesn't even have a reliable way to get her children to doctors.

But she's trying to move on.

In the aftermath of the house crash, Raines and her children's father have parted ways. For now, the shell-shocked mother is staying with a relative in an overcrowded home with a slew of other children.

Unfortunately for Raines, HHA said there's nothing they can do to fast-track her voucher application.

Housing authorities can publicly adopt preferences for their waiting list, which could include those with children or disabilities or emergency needs. But currently HHA's only preference is homeless Houstonians who've gone through the Coordinated Access placement program, according to housing authority senior policy adviser Brian Gage.

In the meantime, Raines is hoping to scrape by with whatever funds her mother can dredge up from a GoFundMe page. As of Tuesday evening, the campaign had raised no money at all.

"Basically," Raines said, "I just have to start from the bottom."
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Fetene Yezengaw is used to helping the children at Harvard Elementary School in the Heights cross the street safely every morning and afternoon.

He's not used to being the one receiving help.

But a girl's club at the school and the students' parents decided it was his turn after watching him struggle to walk back and forth along the crosswalk, a feat that's become increasingly difficult for him over the last 10 years he's worked at the school.

He hasn't had the funds to replace the nine-year-old prosthetic leg he uses to walk.

"It was not comfortable to me," he said recently. "I kept falling. The last time I nearly hit the edge of the street. A couple of people picked me up."

Alison Schmieder, the mother of Harvard third-grader Hannah, said Harvard parents didn't hesitate to step in to help.

With a big smile, Yezengaw high-fives every grade-schooler as he escorts them across the street, and even attempts his limited Spanish with some of them. They often stop and hug him.

"He's just so positive and happy," said Karen Johnson, mother of Mira, a third-grader. "He radiates this positive energy that the kids just absorb."

Johnson started a GoFundMe page for the 40-year-old with the goal of raising $5,500, the cost of replacing the prosthetic leg. But the outpouring of support from families in the neighborhood exceeded their expectations.

The account has more than $10,000 in it, and soon will be transferred to Yezengaw's bank account.

Until August of this year Yezengaw was working two jobs, first as a school crossing guard at the school, and then, starting in 2013, in a position sandblasting metal and other materials used in oil refineries.

Even with two jobs, however, he couldn't afford health insurance or the cost to replace his prosthetic leg. Then he was laid off from his second job over the summer.

With the loss of income he expects that his Medicaid coverage will be reinstated, but he's waiting.

Yezengaw's leg was blown off when he stepped on a land mine at age 17 in Ethiopia, where he was born and forced into the army at 15.

While in the hospital recovering, the Ethiopian government that conscripted him fell. All of the soldiers were free from the mandatory service, but he had to flee his home country with the new regime. He slept in bushes, hitched rides and hobbled on crutches across Ethiopia until he reached Kenya, where he was accepted into a refugee camp.

He spent 12 years in the camps in Kenya and Uganda. He never receiving proper treatment for his injury, and said camp life took a toll on his normally high spirits.

"You don't have anything to do, you don't have work, you don't have anything," said Yezengaw. "You wait on corn to come to you."

Yezengaw eventually made it to the U.S. as a political refugee around 2004, he become a citizen in 2009 and now lives in southwest Houston, near Bellaire, with a roommate.

The girls club at the school wanted to help him as a service project. They held a bake sale and raised over $800.

People handed the girls $100 bills and told them to keep the change; others gave money without even buying anything, said Schmieder.

The web-funding initiative was started later when the group decided they needed to help him fully cover his medical costs.

After word got out that Yezengaw needed help, people started showing up and offering free services. A Cypress-area doctor specializing in amputee rehabilitation has offered to treat him at no cost until Medicaid kicks in.

He may even get the new prosthetic free through charitable organizations. Even if he does, he says the money the parents raised will go to cover other medical problems, including damage to his shoulders from years on crutches.

All the help and attention has not easy for him.

"Even though I want to get help, I feel I am going to be (a) burden to people," he said. "So I was fighting in my mind ... If I say no, 100 percent I will get no help and I will live like that, limping and falling down everywhere."

With better mobility he hopes to find another full-time job that will still allow him to work at the school. The kids give him hope, he said. Their bright faces are always happy.

"Life is hard, but God is great," he said. "I am still alive and I'm here."
Michigans largest teachers union is gearing up for a blockbuster fight over the future of the states teacher retirement system. The next speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, Republican Tom Leonard, announced shortly after his election to that position that one of his top priorities is overhauling the states broken teacher retirement system . While Republican Governor Rick Snyder has expressed concern that moving teachers over to 401(k) plans could be too costly for the state upfront, Republicans in the state legislature are preparing to push through a bill that would require all new teachers to enroll in 401(k) plans instead of more traditional state-backed pension plans. But the state teachers union argues that the current system, which requires new teachers to enroll in hybrid pension/401(k) plans, is already helping solve the problem.

This provides a solution to a problem that does not exist, Michigan Education Association spokesman David Crim told MLive.com , an online consortium of eight Michigan newspapers. This seems like another political attack on school employees that we will fight vigorously.

Since 2010, new teachers in Michigan have been enrolled into hybrid plans. Under traditional pension plans, the state guarantees teachers a specific amount of monthly retirement income. Under 401(k) plans, while states still contribute to teachers retirement funds, teachers make their own investment decisions and arent guaranteed any funds for retirement.

While state Republicans will maintain a healthy legislative majority and control over the governors office, it appears that lawmakers plan to push through pension reforms during the current lame duck session, which runs through next month. Republican lawmakers say the move is necessary to slash the $26.7 billion in unfunded liabilities facing the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System. But union leaders point to a 2012 independent study that found that moving all new teachers to 401(k) plans would only make the problem worse, since without new teachers in the system there would be fewer members contributing to cover the existing pension bill. The researchers estimated the move would cost the state an additional $4.5 billion over the first ten years .

The state board of education, which is controlled by Democrats, struck a similar note.

A 2012 study determined that the transition costs to place public school employees into the same defined contribution plan as other state employees would cost an additional $13.6 billion over 30 years, plus an additional $4.5 billion in short-term costs, the board declared in a statement. In addition, according to the Office of Retirement Services, transitioning new employees will not address the existing defined benefit legacy liability, but will most likely enhance it. Therefore, the State Board of Education urges caution in making these changes, and supports maintaining the current hybrid plan, which is fully funded.

Union spokesman Crim also argues that the move would make the profession less attractive, but Republican state Representative Tim Kelly disputes that point.

Most people dont have pensions anymore. I think pensions are a relic of the past, he told MLive.com. A pension or lack thereof shouldnt be why someone becomes a teacher.

Moving states away from traditional pension plans, which tend to be far more expensive than 401(k) plans, has long been a cause for conservatives around the country. Back in September, Doug DeVosscion of the DeVos family, who are major donors to Republicans in Michigan and around the countrysaid that he considered restructuring pensions as the number one priority for Michigan lawmakers . His sister-in-law Betsy DeVos has been nominated by president-elect Donald Trump to be the next education secretary.
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Happy Thanksgiving Day, Houston!

Bright and early Thursday morning, a crowd of more than 20,000 Houstonians and visitors gathered in the Galleria area to participate in the 2016 TXU Energy Houston Turkey Trot. The annual fun run has been a family tradition for many for the past 25 years and is the second largest foot race in Houston.

STAY HYDRATED: Bars open on Thanksgiving Day 2016

The event supports Neighborhood Centers - the largest community development organization in Texas. Participants help raise money for donations to the organization prior to the run.

Runners suited up in their best Thanksgiving-themed runners gear in order to make their way through the 5K and 10K courses. Many were all smiles during the fun run as beautiful cool and clear weather hosted them on Houston's streets.

Just an hour later at 10 a.m. both the Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Parade in downtown and the Big Super Feast at George R. Brown Convention Center kicked off. The parade featured Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles (USA gymnastics) and Simone Manuel (USA swimming) as the grand marshals of the festive parade.

At the same time, the 38th Annual Big Super Feast welcomed over 20,000 people for the Thanksgiving meal. This super feast goes way beyond just a simple meal. Guests of the feast can also receive donated clothing, medical care, legal services and even a haircut.

"I'm so glad to live in a city that respects each other for our differences...," said Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee during the feast, "but who also come together as one big family."

Click through the gallery above to see the Thanksgiving festivities in and around the Houston area.
The Denver Guardian looked enough like a real news site to convince legions of Facebookers that its fake news about Hillary Clinton was worth sharing. The anonymous creator reused an old handle in an early posting there, though, allowing NPR to track him down to the LA suburbs.

Jestin Coler, 40, weasels at first, claiming it's all an attempt to "highlight the extremism" and show "how easily fake news spreads." But he's soon boasting of a business operation that brings in five figures a month from ads.

Coler's company, Disinfomedia, owns many faux news sites  he won't say how many. But he says his is one of the biggest fake-news businesses out there, which makes him a sort of godfather of the industry. At any given time, Coler says, he has between 20 and 25 writers. And it was one of them who wrote the story in the Denver Guardian that an FBI agent who leaked Clinton emails was killed. Coler says that over 10 days the site got 1.6 million views. He says stories like this work because they fit into existing right-wing conspiracy theories. "The people wanted to hear this," he says. "So all it took was to write that story. Everything about it was fictional: the town, the people, the sheriff, the FBI guy. And then  our social media guys kind of go out and do a little dropping it throughout Trump groups and Trump forums and boy it spread like wildfire."

As with other fake news hucksters, Coler says he also targeted liberals and lefties too, but found that they didn't fall for it the way others do. He is a registered Democrat. Now the election's over and Google and Facebook are done with fake news, he's thinking of getting out of the businessbut insists that there are now so many ad tech options that alternative revenue sources are easily found.
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.
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Join Attorney David Cohen for an Exclusive Express Entry Webinar CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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In the wake of these changes, Attorney David Cohen is holding an exclusive free webinar on the topic of the revised system, and how potential immigrants to Canada can take advantage of the improvements that have been made.

The Changes to Express Entry: A Summary

The improvements to the Express Entry system include a reform of the allocation of points in certain areas under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), and an extension of the time period during which a candidate may submit an application after receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA). Some of the highlights of these changes include:

A reform of the allocation of points for a qualifying job offer, from 600 points to 200 or 50 points, depending on the position;

The introduction of points for a qualifying job offer for certain candidates working in Canada on an LMIA-exempt, employer-specific (closed) work permit;

The introduction of additional points for eligible candidates who have completed a Canadian post-secondary educational in Canada; and,

The extension of the submission deadline after receiving an ITA, from 60 days to 90 days.

For more information on how the new points for Canadian education may improve the pathway to Canadian permanent residence for current and potential international students, please consult Attorney David Cohens article for the WES Student Advisor blog.

The Webinar

For anyone who is in the Express Entry pool, has received an ITA, or is thinking about starting the immigration process, this webinar is not to be missed. Join us on Tuesday, November 29 or Wednesday, November 30, for an exclusive online information session. During the webinar, Attorney David Cohen will outline the changes to Express Entry, and what they mean for individuals who are considering immigrating to Canada. In a Question and Answer session, Attorney David Cohen will answer questions from individuals around the world about the changes, and about immigration to Canada.

Four sessions of this Webinar will be held. Interested individuals only need to sign up for one session, as the content will remain the same across the four sessions. The Webinar will take place at the following times:

Tuesday, November 29, 2016, 11 a.m. EST (Montreal/Toronto time)

Tuesday, November 29, 2016, 3 p.m. EST (Montreal/Toronto time)

Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 11 a.m. EST (Montreal/Toronto time)

Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 3 p.m. EST (Montreal/Toronto time)

Send us your questions on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #CVwebinar. You can also submit questions during the live Q&A session.

These recent changes could improve the chances of people around the world to come to Canada, and it is crucial that these individuals remain up to date with the new situation. I am excited by the prospect of using this technology to engage with a wide audience online, says Attorney David Cohen. I hope that you will join me for an informative and interactive experience.

I particularly encourage current and potential international students and temporary workers in Canada, and skilled workers around the world, to join this webinar. It is important for these individuals to understand the shift in the dynamics of the Express Entry pool since November 19, and how it may improve their chances of receiving an ITA.

Save your spot for the Webinar today  there are limited spaces available.

To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form.

 2016 CICnews All Rights Reserved
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

CAPACITY utilisation in the manufacturing sector has risen by 13,1 percentage points to 47,4 percent, buoyed by an import ban imposed to protect the beleaguered industrial sector, a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Manufacturing Sector Survey for 2016 has revealed.Capacity utilisation was at 34,3 percent in 2015.The survey unveiled by CZI in the capital yesterday, showed that the rise in weighted capacity utilisation was largely due to an increase in production by companies whose products were placed under Statutory Instrument SI 64 of 2016.It observed that foodstuffs, drinks, tobacco and beverages, wood and furniture, as well as paper, printing and packaging, helped to drive the country's manufacturing sector."The gains of Statutory Instrument 64 (SI 64) of 2016 are beginning to be realised (as) capacity utilisation has jumped significantly by 13,1 percentage points from 34,3 percent in 2015 to 47,4 percent in 2016," said CZI.The survey, now a key barometer of the state of the country's manufacturing industry, polled 250 chief executive officers and directors from industry."This is a very positive development largely resulting from the moves on the part of government to protect local industry and the import priority list. Fifty four respondents recorded capacity below 50 percent, while seven percent of the respondents recorded capacity utilisation of 100 percent," the survey noted.The priority list gives guidelines to banks on how they should allocate the scarce foreign currency.It was drawn by the central bank this year after the country lurched into a cash crunch characterised by the depletion of nostro accounts, used by banks to settle foreign obligations and payment of imports.The most performing sub-sector, wood and furniture products, was operating at 57,8 percent of its combined installed capacity, followed by non-metallic mineral products at 57,5 percent and foodstuffs at 56,5 percent.Drinks, tobacco and beverages sub-sectors were operating at 52,4 percent.The worst performing sub-sector, the metal and metal products, was operating at 37,5 percent of its combined installed capacity.Although there have been improvements, the survey conducted annually by the country's largest industrial lobby group has noted that the manufacturing sector was still in a precarious position and that a number of concerns needed to be addressed.The concerns include low demand for domestic products, the liquidity crisis, policy inconsistencies, a deteriorating power generation, a weak banking sector, a fall in foreign direct investment, antiquated machinery, capital constraints, corruption and competition from imports, especially from South Africa, as well as China which are dumping inferior products into Zimbabwe."In order for the gains not to be reversed, the underlying challenges should be addressed," CZI said.The report indicated that 20,7 percent of respondents viewed SI 64 as positive."The mutual understanding is that SI 64 is not in perpetuity, but a temporary measure aimed at nurturing and incubating the manufacturing sector to allow it to reach competitiveness in the wake of weakening regional currencies and an apparent technological lag in the manufacturing sector."Common constraints that respondents stated as inhibiting capacity are premised around low demand for domestic products, liquidity crisis, and competition from imports, domestic competition and capital constraints."In 2016, 21,7 percent of all respondents reported low demand for domestic products as the major inhibitor to capacity, followed by liquidity related issues. Respondents who reported low demand said capacity utilisation has declined from 28 percent in the previous survey."Respondents also indicated a generally low level of retooling by companies in Zimbabwe, the survey said."The Midlands region is lagging in terms of retooling as evidenced by 70 percent of respondents with equipment older than 20 years. This is followed by Bulawayo with 50 percent of respondents indicating that their equipment is older than 20 years."In light of power cuts, respondents were asked to state their source of back up energy. The results point to the need to consider green energy as the use of solar among industrialists is very minimal. Twenty five percent of respondents indicated that they have no back up energy source. This has a direct impact on production given the level of power outages."The report said the banking sector has not been supporting the manufacturing sector."Close to 14 percent indicated that banks provide a wide variety of financial services. More than 50 percent of the respondents indicated that it is not easy to access funding or loans from the local banks, while another 44 percent indicated that the financial sector is unresponsive to industry needs."A number of industrialists were concerned by the uncertain macroeconomic environment. The survey said about 77,1 percent of respondents rated policy instability as negative to very negative for the economy.CZI has called on government and the private sector to accelerate the already existing initiatives for broad- based macro-economic stabilisation.These, the report said, include the elimination of the budget deficit via cash budgeting and supporting measures; continued growth in local manufacturing via import substitution and alleviation of constraints on productivity.The report said government should also adopt the South African rand as the reference currency within the multi-currency system to ensure sustained competitiveness.Zimbabwe's economy continues to operate under pressure, resulting in low confidence, which is hurting investments."The Zimbabwe economy continues to operate under pressure. Confidence remains low amongst both business and consumers. Among other things, we are seeing delays in foreign payments, cash shortages, a significant imbalance between the Real Time Gross Settlement account and the underlying dollars backing the account and people trying to withdraw every last dollar they have from banks. The postponed introduction of bond notes has worsened the situation in that the uncertainty has increased levels of cash withdrawals from the banking system," the survey reads in part.CZI warned that the current trajectory, "if not arrested and changed, will lead to a significant economic recession".The worsening liquidity crisis has also seen the cash-strapped government battling to raise monthly salaries for its workers."Government wage bill continues to constitute a disproportionate share of total resources, implying the need to strike a balance on the demand of the economy with a combination of rationalisation, as well as enhancing the supply side measures in order to grow the economy. The current scenario has a crowding out effect and has led to shelving and postponing implementation of a number of projects and programmes," said CZI.Most respondents felt that the economic conditions are poor or deteriorating and are not conducive for business growth and development.Most producers continue highlighting the challenge of informal imports. Despite import restrictions, some of the restricted products have started flooding the informal market.Fifty seven percent of the respondents are pessimistic of the future as they indicated that the economy will be in recession.The country has been hit by the closure of companies in the manufacturing sector, throwing thousands of workers on the streets. The few that are still in production, the survey indicated, have changed working hours due to a drop in aggregate demand."Twenty six percent of the respondents indicated that they changed their working hours. Of the respondents that had indicated having changed working hours, seven percent increased their working hours to cater for increased production. Seventy four percent cited that the changes were due to a drop in aggregate demand, which necessitated reduction in output hence the change."Twenty two percent of the respondents cited changing working hours directly to reduce labour costs to enhance viability and also due to inability to pay."In terms of retrenchment, 24 percent retrenched permanent employees while 76 percent did not retrench. Of the companies that retrenched, 54 percent highlighted declining business, 31 percent indicated cost cutting, while 13 percent indicated restructuring."
The United States of Beer: A Freewheeling History of the All-American Drink by Dane Huckelbridge (William Morrow, 289 pp., $25.99)

Not long ago, my wife and I found ourselves in the tiny hamlet of Ellis, Kansas (human population: 2,012; cattle and calf population: 26,932). Ellis consists of two grain elevators, a railroad track, a four-block downtown, scattered houses, and a Days Inn catering mostly to truckers. We planned for an ice-cooler-provided dinner in our room, and asked the young man at the desk if there was anywhere nearby to buy beer. He directed us to the Red Brick liquor store, easy to find since it was on the fourthand lastblock of downtown.

Our hopes for some decent suds faded as we approached the building, which was about the size of a double-wide trailer. How looks can deceive: the shabby place had a big rack of craft beers and included my wifes favorite: Lagunitass A Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale. Amazed, we left with a six-pack of this fine example of American brew-dog artistry. That haute-biere can be found in the most improbable places is a testament to just how far Americas beer culture has come in the last few decades.

Earlier this year, in an unsubtle swipe at the craft-beer revolution, Anheuser-Busch announced that the word America would replace Budweiser on its cans for the remainder of 2016; the slogan King of Beers would similarly be replaced by E Pluribus Unum. The point was meant to be both simple and patriotic: Budweiser is the real American suds for real Americans. A Budweiser executive told the New York Times that the campaign is resonating because the timing is rightfrom the Olympics and Copa America to the U.S. Presidential race, celebrations of patriotism will be at an all-time high this summer.

In a Super Bowl commercial last year, Bud made cruel fun of foppish hipsters sniffing and drooling over a beer infused with pumpkin and peaches, though just two weeks later Bud bought (for a reported $165 million) the Seattle-based Elysian Brewery that made the concoction. Perhaps Bud really thinks craft beer drinkers are snobby and unpatriotic elites whove made our country weak. But as Dane Huckelbridge tells us in his new and wonderful book, The United States of Beer, American craft beer sales exceeded sales of Bud in 2013. Anheuser-Busch (owned entirely by an even more giganticand foreignconglomerate) has to answer to shareholders. How better to nudge slipping sales than by appealing to love of country?

In rich and full detail, Huckelbridge tells the story of Americas love affair with beer. Even before Europeans set foot on the new continent, Native Americans made beer for fun and religious purposes from a wide variety of vegetable matter. Our Dutch and English forbears brought their beerand their beer preferenceswith them. In 1620, the Mayflower landed in Plymouth, at least in part for want of enough beer for both passengers and crew. When the Arbella sailed into Boston Harbor in 1630, it was laden not just with Puritans but also with 10,000 gallons of beer and 120 hogsheads of malt. The English in New England drank dark and cloudy ales made from fire-roasted malt and top-fermenting yeast. The Dutch in New Netherlands preferred drafts lighter in body and mouthfeel; they added rye, wheat, and oats to the barley. The English put an end to New Netherlands in 1664, but that didnt end the waras it would eventually prove to becomebetween the light and the dark worlds of beer. Huckelbridge approaches his subject from a regional point of view. National tastes sprang from regional ones. Beer tides flowed North to South, turned westward to California, and then doubled back East in the late twentieth century.

Our English forbears came relatively late to the use of hops in beer, as was done on the European Continent in the ninth century. As late as the early sixteenth century, hops were thought of in England as a wicked and pernicious weed. In Europe, brewing was done by large, organized monasteries, while in England it remained largely a household craft. The larger European producers had to worry more about consistency and spoilage than did the home-brewing English; the hop, though essential to the taste of beer as we know it, was originally used as a preservative, with the appreciation of bitterness following on the utility of anti-sepsis. As English brewing took on a more industrial tone, the uses of the hop became clear, and so the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower could drink safe beer rather than brackish and polluted water. By the time of the revolutionary crisis, English economic policy and regulation had increased the price of barley and hops so much that cider and rum began to edge out beer as the preferred drink of New Englanders. The Sons of Libertyincluding Samuel Adams and John Hancockrebelled for beer as much as for independence.

In New York and the Mid-Atlantic, the Dutch taste for lighter beer outlasted the demise of New Netherlands. By the mid-eighteenth century, Philadelphia had become the center for the production of English-style, extra-dark porters. In 1769, the brewers of the city united to reject a cargo of malt sent from Yarmouth, England. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was preceded by a demonstration on behalf of American beer. The devastations of war crippled the mid-Atlantic beer industry, but once the British yolk was lifted, Philadelphia porter once again became the patriots beer of choice. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the city provided beer to almost all American cities and the Caribbean. Of the 132 major breweries in America in 1810, 48 were in Pennsylvania and 42 were in New York.

The beer blast didnt last long, however. By 1820, the American beer industry was again in crisis, caused this time not by British policy but rather by a new immigrant group taming the rough edges of the South. These were the Irish and Scots who brought their taste for whiskey to modern-day Kentucky and Tennessee. These folks, Huckelbridge tells us, knew a thing or two about turning bad beer into barrel-aged whiskeyand that the hard stuff could travel where perishable brew couldnt go. By 1810, per capita annual consumption of whiskey had skyrocketed to five gallons, while that of beer collapsed to just a single gallon.

When American beer recovered, it did so in the Midwest, and in a new form: lager. What we now think of as American beer (Budweiser, Busch, Pabst, Miller, etc.) sprang from the habits and tastes of German immigrants in Midwestern cities. Their lager beers were rich and full-flavored, but were somewhat lighter and milder than the darker and more fragrant British-style ales they eventually displaced. Huckelbridge describes in some detail the history of German brewing from Roman times through the sixteenth century, when lager yeast was discovered as an alternative to ale yeast. This new yeast strain originated in the cold forests of Patagonia and made its way by accident to Europeand especially to Bavaria.

Bavarian brewers had long practiced the lagering of beer in cold underground storage. By serendipity, the immigrant lager yeast mated with and produced a hybrid form of the local ale yeast. This new hybrid fermented at the bottom of the beer rather than at the top, and at much lower temperatures than the traditional ale yeast. Traditional ales were often inconsistent and contaminated by bacteria and wild yeast, but the cooler temperatures of the new lager solved these problems. At the same time, the beer was lighter (with less alcohol), more carbonated, and easier to store and transport. And so began the big beer dichotomy in German brewing: the line wasnt between hops or no hops as happened in England; it was between darker, stronger, cloudier, and fruitier ales and lighter, crisp lagers.

Well before the discovery of lager yeast, the German beer tradition had been unified and standardized by the Rheinheitsgebot (purity law) passed in Munich in 1447 and again in Bavaria in 1487. In 1551, laws were passed in Munich that recognized the making of cold-fermented lager. By 1750, there were almost 4,000 lager-producing breweries in Bavaria, though consolidation vastly shrank that number. By the middle of the nineteenth century, regional German ales (though not the profitable wheat beers) had disappeared. The lagersbocks, doppelbocks, Marzens, and pilsnerswon the day because they were artisanal, sophisticated, and of consistently high-quality. As the wind brought lager yeast from the Americas to Europe, so German immigrants brought the flowering of that lager to the United States of Beer.

The oldest existing brand of beer in America was started by a German immigrant in 1829. David Gottlob Yungling started out producing ale, not lager. The German Revolution of 1848 produced such a flood of well-educated and well-heeled German immigrants that by1861, 1,350,000 of them lived in the German Triangle of Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. All these Germans drank and produced lager beer of the rich and still-relatively dark tradition of their birthplace. Indeed, it was so dark that in 1881 a drilling company that by accident breached the lager of Grossmans brewery in Pennsylvania thought the stuff they discovered was oil, at least until they tasted it.

From the German Triangle came the huge breweries such as Busch, Pabst, Miller (formerly Muller), and Schlitz. By 1866, Milwaukee brewers sold 68,000 barrels of lager annually, compared with a paltry 3,600 barrels of ale. The Civil War years saw the creation of the first brewers association. It was so dominated by Germans (and so anti-ale) that it made German its official language. Ale for all practical purposes disappeared. By 1900, American beer production swelled to 40 million barrels, and average per capita annual consumption ballooned to a whopping 20 gallons. Almost all of it was lager brewed in the German Triangle of the Midwest.

Huckelbridge reminds us repeatedly that lager in the second half of the nineteenth century was much darker and richer than the mass-market lagers of today. So what happened? How did American beer gain its reputation for being weak, watery, and tasteless?

In the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, two forces converged to transform our national drink: technological innovation and Prohibition. Before the Volstead Act went into effect in January 1920, technological and economic changes had been at work degrading the quality of American beer. New kiln technology made it possible to roast malts with no direct contact with the heat, which made for fewer notes of smoke and slag. Likewise, temperature controls made it possible to make lighter and crispier brews. The use of American six-row barley, which is higher in enzymes than German two-row barley, enabled brewers to employ cheaper, adjunct grains such as corn, wheat, and riceall of which made for a sweeter and flimsier beer. Pasteurization increased shelf life, lessening the need for preservative alcohol and hops. Artificial carbonation replaced the traditional practice of adding live yeast to the finished brew, which improved taste but was less consistent than artificial carbonation. Add to this the advent of advertising and refrigerated rail transportation, and we were on the verge of becoming the United States of Bland Beer. Prohibition delivered the death blow.

After the Volstead Acts repeal, America was in the grip of the Great Depression. Beer drinkersand brewersfocused on the cheap and not the good. The result was a pale and watery brew served up in cans across the county . . . and the final product bore only a passing resemblance to the rich and hoppy lagers that German immigrants had first brought to this country. Prohibition ruined the beer industry nationwide and drove alcohol underground, producing a significant change in American tastes: speakeasies learned to disguise low-quality whiskey and gin in sweet cocktails. As a result, a generation of Americans came of age with sweet-tooth tongues allergic to the bitter hop or the malty malt. By the 1950s, America was the land of the macrobrew: thin and flaccid sweet suds, distinguishable only by the brand names on the can.

Americas beer salvation happened in San Francisco. Back in 1965, my wife and I were just married and still undergraduates at Berkeley. From time to time we would cross the bay to have some fun in North Beachthen home to beatniks and bookstores, jazz clubs, cheap eats, and exotic nightclubs. One of these restaurant-clubs was the Old Spaghetti Factory, known among other things for a strange brew on tap called Anchor Steam, which Huckelbridge rightly identifies as the first microbrew of the revolution.

The story by itself is worth the price of the book. German immigrants in the Bay Area brewed beer in flat vats with lager yeast, but the fermentation occurred at the warmer temperature of ale. The brew was then cooled on foggy San Francisco roofs. The resulting steamlegend has itgave the beer its name. Huckelbridge suggests that the more likely source of the moniker was that the beer was krausened in the barrels which, when tapped, let off the built up carbonation. Whatever the source of the name, the lager wasnt lagered. It was quick to make, rich and full flavored, and ready to drink.

In 1965, Fritz Maytagscion of the washing machine familybought the Anchor Steam brewery for less than the price of a used car. By 1971, Maytag and his brilliant brewmaster Mark Carpenter were bottling the stuff that would redeem American beer culture. In 1976, Jack McAuliffe founded New Albion Brewing Company in nearby Sonoma, and after Jimmy Carters deregulation of home brewing in 1978, the two amateurs Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi opened the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in nearby Chico. The center of Americas beer action then moved back east. In 1984, Jim Koch created Samuel Adams Boston Lager, which soon became the first national craft beer.

Huckelbridge ends his American beer saga with some figures to illustrate the turning beer tide. In the late-twentieth century, the number of American breweries numbered only in the dozens; by the turn of the twenty-first century, there were more than 1,500. The rest, he says, is history.

Recent history is actually more impressive than Huckelbridge acknowledges. According to the Craft Beer Association, the low point in American beer occurred in 1977, when there were a mere 50 companies and 96 brewing facilities from coast to coast. By 1986, the number of facilities rose to 124, but by the end of 2015 it had skyrocketed to 4,269, of which 4,225 were craft breweries of varying size and reach. Craft beer now accounts for 12.2 percent of the American beer market.

Theres no doubt that beer geeks and snobs can get under ones skin (the same is true for wine). At the end of the day it doesnt matter if most people still drink crummy beer fit only for beer-pong: its a free country, after all. What does matter is that a miracle of free enterprise has made varied and fabulous beer available to just about anyone. Good beer costs a bit more than bad beer, but for what you get its a cheap luxury.

And you can get it anywhere: even in Ellis, Kansas.

Photo by joshuaraineyphotography/iStock
MORELAND HILLS, Ohio -- Car-deer crash, Chagrin Boulevard: Police requested a tow truck at mid-afternoon on Nov. 22 for a four-point buck that had collided with an oncoming Honda Insight hybrid near Murwood Drive.

The driver was not injured and the car looked functional, police said, except for the way it kept getting pushed upward by the deer wedged into the front undercarriage.

A tow truck was called in to lift the car up off of the deer and reopen all lanes of traffic.

While most "car vs. deer" crashes occur around dusk and dawn, police cited a prolonged "rut," or mating season this year that has increased the number of accidents at all times of the day.

Follow-up crash investigation, SOM Center Road: While no citations have been issued in the Nov. 8 accident involving the police department's patrol motorcycle and a village garbage truck, officials have still been trying to sort out who may be at fault -- for insurance purposes.

That was one of the reasons they were initially reluctant to part with information about the accident south of Jackson Road near the village complex -- including the fact that it also involved a municipal garbage packer.

Suspicion, Mill Hollow Drive: A caller reported late on Nov. 19 that a car had pulled into the driveway that the family did not recognize. The compact was last seen heading toward Hickory Lane.

Departmental information, South Chagrin Reservation: Police were notified of an open burn with permits obtained late in the morning on Nov. 18. Chagrin Falls firefighters were also aware of the burn, which took place north of Jackson Road.

Animal (miscellaneous), Basswood Lane: Police responded to at least two calls to a residence where a dog would not stop barking or come back in the house. The first call came around 11 p.m. on Nov. 17, and while police did not catch the dog, it did quiet down while hiding under the deck.

When it resumed barking after 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 18, police managed to corral it and place it inside the residence.

Noise complaint, Wiltshire Road: When a caller reported at 3 a.m. on Nov. 18 that a neighbor's dog had been outside barking for an hour, dispatchers called the owner, who said she had fallen asleep, letting the dog back inside while still on the phone.

Notification, SOM Center Road: Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies arrived at the police station on the afternoon of Nov. 17 to drop off a Protection Order at the clerk's window.

Mutual aid given, Harper and Miles roads: Police assisted unsuccessfully about 4 p.m. on Nov. 17 in trying to locate an older man who had been driving very slowly before stopping at the traffic light, exiting on the passenger side of his blue mini-van, and walking eastbound on Miles, possibly near Lander. He was wearing a hat and dress clothes.

Threats, Chagrin Boulevard: Police took information for a report that is still being completed after an assistant principal at Brady Middle School called on Nov. 16 regarding threats.

Traffic stop, SOM Center Road: A driver was stopped on the afternoon of Nov. 16 across from Deep Creek Lane, where he was ultimately advised about his Romanian driver's license.

Fire call, Fairway Trail: Police and firefighters responded to a report of burning mulch in the front yard of a home about 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 14. The mulch was extinguished by 12:20 p.m. with the cause believed to be a landscaping light that malfunctioned.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
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Donald Trump nominates one of his critics, Nikki Haley, to be UN Ambassador

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- President-elect Donald Trump began to form his version of Lincoln's 'team of rivals' with his nomination of South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

During the presidential campaign, Haley had criticized Trump's tone and supported Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. However Haley ultimately announced that she had voted for Trump.

As governor, Haley supported removing the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina capitol grounds. She joins a Trump administration that includes Steve Bannon as Trump's chief strategist. Under Bannon's direction, Brietbart News opposed the removal of the flag and became a platform for white nationalists.

Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India. Both Bannon and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions have been strident immigration opponents. They'll now have to reluctantly cross Haley's parents off any list of potential deportation candidates.

Nikki Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India. This is the alternate version of the cartoon above.

The presence of Bannon and Sessions are just two reasons Haley is a welcomed addition to Trump's administration and her nomination should be applauded. As a woman and member of a minority group, Haley adds a needed voice to a Trump White House that was becoming too white and male.

Questions are being raised about Haley's experience level for the new position. Haley is a sitting governor who has demonstrated an ability to bring people together. Was Hillary Clinton really that much more experienced when she was named Secretary of State? She had been a Senator from New York. She hadn't run New York as a governor. You can ask the families of Benghazi victims and the Libyans what Clinton's experience ended up being worth. What exactly was President Obama's foreign policy experience before becoming president? Was it that much more than Haley's experience or even less ?

Trump was elected because he was an outsider and unconventional. Haley's nomination is in keeping with the spirit of Trump's election.

Haley's the future UN ambassador and that appointment will only increase the chances she may one day be the future first female President of the United States.

On this Thanksgiving I'm thankful Haley is joining Trump's team. I'm also thankful to readers of this blog for taking time out your day to share your thoughts on my drawn and written commentary on the topics of the day.

Here's extra helpings of cartoon stuffing. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Alternative Thanksgiving cartoon idea sketch drawn up before Obama pardoned the Turkey's named Tatter and tot.

In a meeting with network news bosses and anchors, Donald Trump bashed coverage of his presidential campaign.

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MUSIC-NOONE

Musician Peter Noone, who fronted Herman's Hermits, one of the British Invasion bands, is touring with a new group of Hermits.

(Courtesy of Peter Noone)

British musician Peter Noone began his career in show business as a child actor on such British television shows as "Coronation Street." But he has been known for more than 50 years as the Herman fronting the U.K. pop group Herman's Hermits, which churned out nearly a dozen top-10 hits from 1964 to 1967, briefly knocking the Beatles off the charts.

At 69, Noone continues singing those popular songs, including "I'm Into Something Good," "Wonderful World," "A Must to Avoid" and "Listen People," and he's now touring with a new group of Hermits, including Cleveland natives Rich Spina and Billy Sullivan.

We spoke to Noone recently from his home in California about the band's secret ingredients.

Q: Amid the blizzard of British bands in the 1960s, how did Herman's Hermits build a following?

A: We did odd songs. Every band was playing the same songs. We had these weird, outside songs, so we were kind of a novelty.

Q: By odd things, does that include those old British music-hall songs you revived like "I'm Henry VIII, I Am"?

A: Yeah, those kind of things. Like, we'd do "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter." We did "Mashed Potato"; nobody did that. ... We had this fun, amusing, don't-take-ourselves-serious (attitude). It was like self-deprecation music. We knew that we were not sexy, so we couldn't go "Since my baby left me," so we did "My Boy Lollipop." People got the joke. And we'd sing "Mother-in-Law," because a 15-year-old singing "Mother-in-Law" is a really great joke.

Q: But those old music-hall songs, which date to 1910 ...

A: Well, if you're from a musical family, you got access to those songs. They weren't recordings, they were songs. So they weren't exactly the same. If you listen to the original "Henry the VIII," it's nothing like my version.

When I do a concert in England, there isn't a single person in the audience who doesn't know every single word to "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter." ... It's overplayed in England, but I always sing it there because the audience likes it. And "Henry the VIII," it's just part of everybody. Everybody in England knows that song, so I always do that one. I cut it short, because I think people in England are sick of going H-E-N-R-Y. They're just sick of it. Because it's been going for 100 years now.

Q: When you were discovered by producer Mickie Most, things went rather quickly, right?

A: We went into the studio and we recorded this song called "I'm Into Something Good." Two of us were 16, one was 17, one was 18, and we had this old guy in the band who was 20. We thought we were in the competition. If the music business was competition, we didn't think it was ridiculous to try and compete with people like the Beatles and the Shadows. We were all in, and you could hear it on the record.

Q: What happened once it became a hit?

A: When it gets on the radio, then you connect to all the people who have never heard of you. We had a following, but immediately it became 1,000 times bigger just overnight. So now we were on tour with Dusty Springfield and played to 2,800 people every night, and then we went to America and played to 28,000 people a night - whoosh, just like that. We never thought about it, we just said yes to everything.

Q: Was part of your appeal just being so British at a time when British music and fashion were so popular?

A: Oh, we played on that. Because right from the beginning I said I refuse to sing with an American accent, like all of the others. We've got to be different. I'm always going to sing with my accent. And sometimes I'll change accents.

English people will know "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" is from Yorkshire or maybe Manchester. "Leaning on the Lamppost," I'm definitely from Yorkshire. "Henry the VIII," I'm from London.

Q: What were the other factors to your success?

A: We were the biggest act in America in 1965 because the Beatles were deciding not to tour, and they were going to go into the studio and make "Sgt. Pepper" and whatever they were doing. We would see them in the studio, we didn't know what they were up to, we just knew that they weren't touring.

Q: In addition to covering songs by Sam Cooke and the Rays, you had hits from a lot of great songwriters of the day. Were they all pitched to you?

A: That's what happens. And then the Monkees came along, and they got all the songs pitched to them that would have come to us. But we knew that would be the case. We knew right behind Bobby Rydell would be Fabian, and right behind Fabian would be someone else. We knew there was an order to things. We had a good run. I think we had about 20 hits when we got to "There's a Kind of Hush."

Q: Why do you close your set with "There's a Kind of Hush"?

A: You know, for some reason it touches people. I say, "There's a kind of hush," and they all sing, "all over the world." And we do "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (by Gerry and the Pacemakers), and for some reason that touches people. There's this line in it - "we don't care what your name is boy, we'll never turn you away." Because in Liverpool they have the Liver Building, which is like the Statue of Liberty, which says welcome. So you know, that's pretty poignant right now.

Roger Catlin, Special To The Washington Post
News / Health

by Staff Reporter

There are reports that government has failed to pay some workers in the health sector today as scheduled.Nurses around Plumtree got the shock of their lives when the bank told them that their accounts had no money this morning.The health workers were seen milling around Cabs and Zb banks from early morning to mid morning.A nurse who spoke to Bulawayo24.com said: "We went to the bank this morning only find that we were not yet paid our salaries"More to follow...
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Police are asking for the public's help identifying the driver of a vehicle involved in a Wednesday hit-and-run that left a 10-year-old boy hospitalized.

The boy was struck about 5:40 p.m. at Lee Road and Kensington Road, just south of Cedar Avenue, police said in a news release.

The boy and his 12-year-old brother were crossing the street in a crosswalk when someone driving a dark red, older-model PT Cruiser struck the boy.

The driver did not stop after hitting the boy, police said. The car kept heading south and Lee Road, and witnesses saw it turn west onto Essex Road.

The boy suffered injuries to his head and legs, police said. He was listed in stable condition Thursday, the release said.

The PT Cruiser will likely have front-end damage and is possibly missing the front driver's side hub cap, police said. Cleveland Heights police released pictures of the car, captured at nearby businesses, hoping the public could help them identify the driver.

Police ask anyone with information about the car or the driver to call 216-321-1234, or send a text message to a tip-line at 216-291-5010.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
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The Society for St. Vincent de Paul is one of the numerous organizations participating in the first Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Cleveland crowdfunding event, #weGiveCatholic, on Tuesday, Nov. 29.This photo, taken in 2015, is of the society represented in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Plain Dealer file photo

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- #GivingTuesday, an annual and global online day devoted to giving to those in need, is Tuesday and the Northeast Ohio Catholic community plans to participate in a big way.

The Catholic Community Foundation of the Diocese Cleveland will host its inaugural crowdfunding event #weGiveCatholic. More than 140 schools, parishes, ministries, Catholic Charities sites and programs and other Catholic nonprofits will participate in the online fundraising effort. During the 24-hour window on November 29, people can go to #weGiveCatholic.org and donate to their favorite participating organizations.

Participants include Catholic Youth Organization, Society for St. Vincent de Paul, West Side Catholic Center, Camp Christopher and St. Augustine Health Ministries. John Carroll University, Ursuline College and Notre Dame College will join in with many Catholic elementary and high schools, as well as parishes throughout the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland.

"We believe in the generosity of Catholics through the Diocese of Cleveland," Patrick Grace, executive director of the Catholic Community Foundation, said in a release. "The goal of #weGiveCatholic Giving Day is to inspire our Catholic community to come together by leveraging collective support for organizations that shape our souls: our parishes, Catholic Charities and nonprofit organizations."

Along with the website, people can follow #weGiveCatholic on Twitter, and @weGiveCatholic on Facebook.

On the heels of days devoted to shopping, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, in its fifth year, is meant to focus on charitable giving. To learn more go to givingTuesday.org.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Rocky River father charged with killing his adult daughter was caught on surveillance video loading a revolver inside his gas station the day before the killing, according to court records.

The video pulled from the Chardon gas station owned by Jamal Mansour is evidence that Mansour had a "calculated plan" to use the gun a day before he shot his 27-year-old daughter Tahani Mansour, Cuyahoga County prosecutors said in court documents.

Mansour, 64, is charged with aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault in the Sept. 27 killing inside Mansour's Vine Court home. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mansour shot his daughter three times in the head, including one shot that was fired from less than a foot away, prosecutors wrote in court records. Police found the woman in her bed.

Rocky River Prosecutor Michael O'Shea called the killing "an execution" at Mansour's Sept. 29 arraignment.

Police recovered three bullet casings from Tahani Mansour's bedroom and a revolver.

Investigators have not released a motive for the killing, but court records say Mansour said on scene that he shot his daughter "out of anger."

Police obtained surveillance video in October that showed Mansour taking a revolver out of a safe in his gas station and loading it on Sept. 26, the day before the shooting, court records show.

Police said that an investigation revealed that Mansour rarely took the gun home.

Prosecutors did not say in the court filing that the revolver shown on the gas station video was the same one used in the killing.

Tahani Mansour was a clinical instructor at the University of Findlay, and until September worked as a pharmacist at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center.

Her father came to the United States from Jordan in 1978, and became a U.S. citizen in 1982, defense attorney Justin Withrow said at a previous arraignment hearing.

Jamal Mansour and other members of his family own several stores across Northeast Ohio, lawyers said.

To comment on this story, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost Ohio and the general election, but won Cuyahoga County with 398,271 votes, according to the final, official count for the Nov. 8 presidential election, released Wednesday by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Clinton carried 65.41 percent of the vote here, to President-elect Donald Trump's 30.25 percent. She led Trump here by 214,060 votes, up 9,980 votes from a 204,080 advantage before the Board of Elections released the official count.

The Board of Elections reported a total of 19,396 provisional ballots cast, 16,159 of which were tabulated. Voters are offered provisional ballots when their eligibility is questioned at the polls.

The Clinton campaign hoped that Cuyahoga County, a longtime Democratic stronghold, would turn out to vote, and counteract Trump's strength in more rural regions of the state.

But data suggest Trump owes his statewide win over Clinton - by 8.5 points - to huge gains in rural and blue collar areas.

Trump piled up votes in Appalachia. The president-elect picked up a lot of votes with huge victories in small counties. In fact, he carried 70 percent of the vote or more in 30 of Ohio's 88 counties.

Clinton fell short of President Barack Obama's 2012 margin in Cuyahoga County, the state's most populous. Clinton also failed to substantially expand her base, despite speculation that Trump's inflammatory rhetoric would cost him in cities and suburbs.

In Cuyahoga County in 2012, 645,212 people cast ballots. Obama defeated his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, in a lopsided victory, 447,237 to 190,660. That's a margin of more than 250,000.

Obama had 69.4 percent in 2012 in Cuyahoga County.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State and Michigan both have national recruiting presences, so there are far less head-to-head recruiting battles between Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer than you'd think.

But there are a few.

Ohio State still in the midst of putting together what could be its deepest recruiting class in program history, but whether it gets a few remaining prospects will determine whether it's possible. And the Buckeyes will have to beat the Wolverines to accomplish that.

So let's look at some of those battles:

* Five-star WR Donovan Peoples-Jones of Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech: Rated the No. 1 receiver in the country, Peoples-Jones is considered a Michigan lean. Peoples-Jones, who has a top five that consists of Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Florida State and Michigan State, insists he doesn't know where he's going to school.

He took an official visit to Ohio State in October. To catch up on his recruitment, read the two links below:

1. Donovan Peoples-Jones got Ohio State's royal treatment during official visit: A peek inside

2. Donovan Peoples-Jones really has no idea where he's going: He and his coach have proof

* Four-star DT Jay Tufele of South Jordan (Utah) Bingham: Rated the No. 3 defensive tackle in the 2017 class, Tufele once named Ohio State the leader in his recruitment. Tufele is most closely considering Michigan, Ohio State and Utah and the Wolverines have gained some momentum after the 6-foot-3, 297-pounder took an official visit to Ann Arbor.

Tufele is taking an official visit to Ohio State this weekend for the Michigan game.

Can't wait to be in Columbus Ohio! pic.twitter.com/XzMYNGS5PA  jay Tufele (@tufele123) November 24, 2016

* Five-star LB Baron Browning of Kennedale, Texas: Rated the No. 2 outside linebacker in the 2017 class, Browning is taking an official visit to Ohio State this weekend and is expected to make a decision next week. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder has taken officials to Michigan, Alabama, Florida State and UCLA, but Ohio State is reportedly in really good position with the linebacker.

* Five-star CB Darnay Holmes of Calabasas, Calif.: Though Holmes is taking an official visit to Ohio State on Saturday, the Buckeyes have seemingly fallen behind in his recruitment. Holmes is also considering Michigan, Nebraska, UCLA and Washington. The Buckeyes may be ahead of Michigan, though, because Holmes has never taken an official to Ann Arbor.

* Five-star RB Najee Harris of Antioch, Calif.: Harris unofficially visited Ohio State in the spring, but the Buckeyes have been a non-factor in the pursuit of the No. 1-rated running back in the country. Harris is committed to Alabama, but Michigan is making a late push for the 6-foot-3, 226-pounder. Harris will officially visit Michigan on Dec. 10.
Thanasak Wanichpan | Getty Images

Distractions at work threaten your every deadline, and nobody is safe. About 75 percent of employers say two or more hours of productivity are lost due to employees getting distracted, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey; 43 percent report that at least three hours a day are nonproductive. What are the biggest productivity killers you need to watch out for? One is likely in the palm of your hand. More than half of employers blame people's mobile phones and texting for lowering their output. Other reported culprits  the internet, social media and email  might also be attributed to smartphone usage while on the clock.

Of course, you might argue that your phone and other potentially distracting technologies actually help improve your productivity and keep you connected to work around the clock. "If you're appropriately focused and clear on your priorities, it's a great time to be alive," said David Allen, author of "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity." "The 24/7, global, transparent world of work can be highly productive and is tremendously helped by technologies," Allen said. The key to harnessing that kind of productive power, though, is to know how and when to use what tools appropriately. For example, "you can't deny that there are huge productivity gains from email," said Jocelyn Glei, author of "Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done." "But you also can't deny that email is one of the most distracting tools that you use on a daily basis. Almost every technology is a double-edged sword," she said.

Indeed, even if you feel you're being useful with your phone, the tasks that you may be accomplishing  such as checking email or social media accounts  might not amount to actually meaningful work. While you might succeed at keeping your number of unread emails down to zero, clearing your inbox likely has taken time away from tackling bigger and more important projects. "We like to check things off our to-do lists," Glei said. "That really skews us toward doing short-term, easier tasks that we can complete quickly as opposed to pulling up to our more creative, longer-term tasks that can be agonizing to complete sometimes." In order to maximize the advantages you get from email and other technologies and minimize their potential for unwanted distraction, Glei recommends scheduling specific times to use them. For example, she suggests setting aside two or three 30- to 45-minutes blocks of time to process your email. And do not check it at any other time of the day. "People are happier at the end of the day, less stressed and more productive, when they're doing that as opposed to regularly checking your email throughout the day whenever it occurs to you," Glei said.

Block time off for yourself to do some of the work that really is meaningful for you. Jocelyn Glei author

Applying this kind of proactive stance works to combat nontech distractions, as well. Your fellow employees, for example, can often derail your productivity. Employers say gossip, co-workers dropping by and noisy co-workers are among some of the biggest time killers, according to CareerBuilder. The social interactions may be friendly and well-intended, but they are distracting all the same. Even quick chats can turn into big disruptions. Every time you get pulled away from work, it takes about 25 minutes, on average, to regain focus, according to Glei. Skip the distractions by scheduling your me-time. "Block time off for yourself to do some of the work that really is meaningful for you, that is really going to move the needle for you in your career," Glei said. "And you have to honor that time like you would a meeting; it's just a meeting with yourself." Most people tend to be highly productive first thing in the morning, so getting to the office early for on-the-job alone time might work well, Glei said. This is an especially good idea if your workplace has an open floor plan, which can easily invite distractions when your colleagues start filling the cubes. If you're more of a night owl, perhaps planning to stay later would work best.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

Mthwakazi Liberation Front members back in Zimbabwe and those in South Africa have clashed over the Mosi-OA-Tunya (AMOT) alliance of all Mthwakazi parties with the SA leaders distancing themselves from the said deal, while those back home say the party is in talks with other Mthwakazi parties on the deal.The South African based MLF Secretary General Andrea Sibanda said MLF is disheartened to learn through the social media that they will be taking part in a so called coalition: alliance Mosi-OA-Tunya-AMOT.He said as MLF, poised and determined to lead Mthwakazi to self-determination and its inherent independence, freedom and nationhood which was vanquished in 1893 by BSAC, they would like to distance ourselves hugely from the alliance, dubbed, Mosi-Oa-Tunya which never was in any day relayed to the movement.He said they are shocked by the said alliance which unashamedly includes, among its partners, the name MLF.But the Bulawayo based MLF SG Bonhomie Ndlovu indicated that MLF was part of the deal saying they were still engaged into talks with other groups and they have not yet signed it."We are in talks over Mosi-Oa-Tunya alliance, we have not yet signed any thing," he said. "We may sign, we may not sign the deal, but the truth is we are still in talks. Those who say we are dragging the party into the mud through such moves are lost, instead they are the ones who are dragging the party into the mud by playing big brother mentality. Why don't they want to unit with other Mthwakazi groups for one cause?"Ndlovu said they still consider David Magagula as a senior party official and he is the one who is trying by all means to unit the party with other various Mthwakazi groups."Those guys claim to be MLF but when they come home here we do not see them. What they are able to do is to insult other groups which does not help the party any how," Ndlovu said.Ndlovu said MLF back home is getting to know other groups and it was encouraging to work with other groups with the same cause that of Mthwakazi restoration."As we talk with other groups, we are getting to know each other. For the SA based guys to start insulting Mthwakazi Republic Party for saying it will be involved in elections is not right. We have not talked about the issue of elections with the MRP but we want to warn the MLF led by Churchill Guduza to stop play a big brother mentality to other groups, that will definitely fail our cause," Ndlovu said.Magagula was party of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya meeting that took place in SA over the weekend and the MLF leaders back in Zimbabwe say he represented them while those in SA say Magagula was fired from the party and must not claim to represent the party.The SA based SG Sibanda had said MLF leadership has always been and remains pro-unity of Mthwakazi movements, however the concern is seeing its name being peddled as part of AMOT without it participating or having been earlier courted before the announcement that was splashed on social media networks.He said it therefore wants to put the record straight that it is not part of that arrangement and is concerned about imposters who claim to be MLF.He said there are lessons to cite from the Chitawa declaration where the movements that were present, minus/plus ten of them, only one refused to sign-remember it was the first attempt to bring the pro-Mthwakazi movements into some alliance which will have seen some positive pronouncements and actions made. Sibanda said it was not the best though, but the best attempt towards the right direction."As MLF, we see no reason whatsoever to rush for alliances now as there should be clarity first on some aspects that seem to divide us-the pro-Mthwakazi movements, which saw others not in agreement with the Chitawa declaration. It is for this reason primarily that MLF will not make any alliance with organisations or groups whose perception on how to restore is sometimes subject to speculation," he said."MLF will be working with like-minded organizations that take the position of non-participation in Zimbabwean elections. If Mthwakazi nationals are not careful, some actions may be endorsing the Rule by Conquest which was bequeathed to acrimonious Zimbabwean rulers by their British masters at Zimbabwean independence in 1980 who are still supported by the proxy (the current Zimbabwean Regime)."Sibanda said as MLF, we stand firm as we loyally hold onto our founding objectives, chief of which is the restoration of our lost state without ever partaking in the Zimbabwean elections whose results will definitely be used to crush the restoration agenda and be rendered rejected by the electorate."MLF is destined to lead Mthwakazi nation out of Zimbabwean shona hegemony without fear or favour and most of the issues will be delivered to Mthwakazi peoples during the rallies that we will be holding come 2018," said Sibanda."MLF will not purposely confuse, mislead and divert the besieged nation from its core objectives. We will stand firm on the pursuits and needs of our nation by not seeking populism which is distant from the actual goal but by dwelling on the real issues that are practical and implementable.""It therefore needs to be understood by all and sundry that MLF is not in that kind of league or alliance which has totally derailed from the cause. We implore and urge whoever are the proponents of such a perceived alliance to desist from using MLF for their political mileage in order to placate their handlers. MLF stills stands firmly on its founding objectives and pursuant of the restoration of Mthwakazi to its former glory and form that existed prior to colonisation," he added.
South Korean pop music is emerging as a surprise victim of the worsening geopolitical feud between Seoul and Beijing.

Since October, not one K-pop artist has been granted approval to perform in the world's No. 2 economy, according to reports in Korean and Chinese media over the past week. The Korea Times and Yonhap News suggested on Tuesday that the snub was a sign of intensified anti-Korea sentiment on the mainland.

July 18, 2016: Korean idol group sistar attend TV show Best Women's Group on 18th July, 2016 in Beijing, China TPG / Getty Images

China has been one of the top consumers of hallyu, or Korean pop culture, but a recent policy move by South Korean President Park Geun-hye looks set to change that.

In July, Seoul agreed to host a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD)advanced American missile defense technologyto better defend itself against North Korea's constant military threats. Beijing has long voiced opposition to THAAD, saying its deployment on the Korean Peninsula threatened Chinese national security interests. In retaliation to the July decision, China banned the airing of Korean television content, media widely reported in August. At the time, sources at TV stations in Guangdong told the South China Morning Post that new approvals for programs featuring Korean stars would not be granted in the near future. Yonhap News reported on Tuesday that coverage of Korean celebrities and reviews of Korean films have virtually disappeared from mainland media, adding that a Chinese company was fined $14,500 for trying to push a K-pop performance without gaining government approval. Beijing has yet to confirm the K-pop freeze however. At a press conference on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said he had not heard about any television restrictions regarding Korean pop stars and did not mention the apparent ban on performances.

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Ctrip.com International , China's biggest online travel company, said on Wednesday it agreed to buy travel search website Skyscanner Holdings in a deal valuing the Scotland-based company at about 1.4 billion pounds. ($1.74 billion).

Ctrip's shares were up 9.2 percent at $44.75 in extended trading.

Skyscanner, a result of CEO and co-founder Gareth Williams' frustration with finding cheap flights, enables users to compare prices from different travel sites when searching for flights, hotels, and rental cars.

The website currently serves 60 million monthly active users and is available in over 30 languages.

Skyscanner was reported to be exploring a sale or an initial public offering.

The company was valued at $1.6 billion in a funding round in January, when it raised 128 million from a group of investors that included Malaysia's sovereign fund, Khazanah Nasional, and Yahoo Japan .

Skyscanner's current management team will continue to manage its operations independently after the close of the deal by the end of 2016, Ctrip said.

The deal will mainly consist of cash, with the rest consisting of Ctrip ordinary shares and loan notes.

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China's largest ride-sharing company, Didi Chuxing, announced on Wednesday that its app will double up as a broadcasting platform to notify riders to look out for missing children.

Didi Chuxing said that when law enforcement agencies uploaded information about a missing child onto the official "Tuan Yuan" platform, which translates as "reunion" in English, the Didi app would flash an alert with key information on the case to its users, including the child's name, gender, age, last seen location and the contact for the local police.



Tuan Yuan was modeled on the America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER), which started in the U.S. in 1996 in response to the abduction and murder that year in Texas of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman.

The aim of these so-called "AMBER alerts" is to make the public aware as quickly as possible of an abduction so they can report any sightings or other information to authorities.



Didi's nearly-400 million users in more than 400 Chinese cities will be part of a virtual volunteer network to help missing children reunite with their families. By tracking a Didi rider's GPS location, those within a 100 kilometer (62 miles) radius of a child's last known location will receive the alert first, and the radius would expand subsequently.

China's Ministry of Public Security and technology giant Alibaba launched the Tuan Yuan platform in May.

The system is staffed by more than 5,000 police officers, according to state-owned media the Global Times. The newspaper reported that 260 missing children were located within six months of the system's launch; of the 260, 18 were kidnapped, 152 left home deliberately and 52 were found dead.

The Global Times reported on Nov. 16 that the Tuan Yuan platform would partner with social media platforms Alipay, Tencent QQ and Didi Chuxing; existing partners of the system included social network Sina Weibo and online mapping service Amap.



Child trafficking is a notable problem in China. The Financial Times reported in December 2015 that thousands of children were trafficked in the country; some were given away by impoverished rural families and other were kidnapped and sold by criminal gangs.



In a media statement, Didi said it believed "the new initiative highlights the potential to harness the power of mobile internet technology to create a stronger and broader social fabric."

In June, Didi closed a financing round worth $7.3 billion, including a $1 billion investment from Apple. It then went on to acquire rival Uber's China business in August.

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A Facebook spokeswoman said the company had "not made any decision on our approach to China", but it would not confirm or deny whether it was developing censorship software.

Facebook would not conduct the censorship itself, but would offer the software to a third party for it to monitor posts and take full control to decide what should show up in users' feeds, the report said. The third party was most likely to be a partner Chinese firm, and there was no indication that Facebook had offered the tool to Chinese authorities, it said.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Facebook had quietly built software that could suppress posts from news feeds in specific geographic areas, igniting concerns over privacy and human rights.

Facebook might still struggle to get back into the Chinese market even if it develops a censorship tool to screen content from users' feeds, an analyst said on Wednesday.

Facebook, the world's biggest social media network, has long sought to return to the world's largest market of internet users since it was banned on the mainland after the deadly Uygur riots in Xinjiang in 2009.



William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said the idea of handling off the authority to a Chinese partner company to monitor stories across the network and suppress certain news was "incredibly worrying".



More from the South China Morning Post :

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg meets China's propaganda chief in Beijing

Facebook acquires social analytics site CrowdTangle

Facebook-owned Instagram keeps pressure on Snapchat

"This would not only blatantly violate the right to freedom of expression, but it should also be seen in the context of a country in which people are being given heavy prison terms for expressing their political views on social media and in which the government has openly expressed interest in using big data to control the actions of its own citizens," Nee said.

Beijing Foreign Studies University communications professor Qiao Mu said that even with the censorship tool Facebook might still find it hard to get back into the mainland because the software might not live up to the government's standard.

"There is a limit to how much censorship you can do and the effectiveness varies. All Chinese social media and websites have censorship, but users can often find ways around it, and the government is already having a hard time dealing with that," Qiao said.

"There is so much to censor that it is not something software alone can solve  it needs a massive amount of manpower."

With Facebook eager to expand its user base beyond its existing markets, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has launched a series of charm offensives to try to win over Chinese authorities, including learning Putonghua and meeting the country's internet tycoons, and regulators.
A jury in Texas unanimously decided to award in excess of $140 million to oil magnate T. Boone Pickens and his Mesa Petroleum Partners.

Pickens had accused J. Cleo Thompson and Delaware Basin Resources of attempting to cheat him out of profits and ownership interests regarding more than 160 wells in Texas' Reeves and Pecos counties.

A spokesman for Pickens said in a statement that he is "very grateful to the jury for their time in reaching a fair conclusion to this case."

"We have maintained from the beginning that Mesa's oil and gas interests were taken illegally. The Red Bull is part of what is now one of the biggest resource plays in the world, and we are hopeful that the jury's decision here will mean that the long history of fair dealings in the oil industry continues. This case emphasizes and validates important legal rights, and we are proud to have been a part of it," the spokesman said in a statement.

J. Cleo Thompson CFO Paul Rudnicki said in a statement that the company is "gratified" that the "jury's award against J. Cleo Thompson of approximately $6 million is a fraction of what Mr. Pickens and his lawyers originally sought."

"This verdict also followed the court's dismissal of most of Mesa's other claims before trial. We believe the evidence does not support the verdict that J. Cleo Thompson breached the joint operating agreement. For example, J. Cleo Thompson did not even drill the wells at issue in the verdict. We plan to ask the judge to enter judgment in our favor on those points. We thank the jury and the court for their service and hard work in this case," Rudnicki said in a statement.

CORRECTION

This report has been updated to reflect that there was a finding of breach of contract in the judgment, not conspiracy.
Black Friday this week will feature cut-throat deals, but how can this be profitable for retailers?

Rock bottom freight rates are contributing to the offers.

A deep slump in shipping volumes spurred by weaker demand for commodities and slower global trade has a silver lining in sending bulk and container rates to record lows, allowing good to be shipped at low costs, according to real-time freight rate database Freightos.

Figured pulled from the database by Freightos highlighted a few key products that may fill holiday season shopping baskets at lower costs because of shipping rates, noting for example than a $2,000 Apple MacBook Pro costs $1.50 to import into the U.S. by freighter.



At the same time, it costs 2.5 times more for overnight delivery from New Jersey to New York via trucks for a 55-inch television set than it does sending by ocean freight from the South Korea to the U.S. The largest ocean liners can hold over 1.2 million TV sets, underscoring the economy of scale.

According to a Friday report from IHS Markit, which runs a maritime information service, the spot Asia-U.S. West Coast ocean freight rate fell 18 percent from a week ago to $1,687 per 40-foot-equivalent unit.


Mareen Fischinger | Westend61 | Getty Images

How did Malaysia's central bank manage to simultaneously meddle in markets to support its currency and increase its foreign exchange reserves? That's a $500 million question. Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), said last week it was intervening in the market to support the ringgit, which was particularly hard hit in the "Trump tantrum" of emerging market fund outflows in the wake of Donald Trump's surprise U.S. election win on Nov. 8. That intervention should have showed up in the country's foreign-exchange reserves as a decline because the central bank would usually need to sell foreign currencies to purchase ringgit. Instead, the central bank said on Tuesday that its international reserves amounted to 407.8 billion ringgit, equivalent to $98.3 billion, as of Nov. 15. That compared with the 405.5 billion ringgit, or $97.8 billion, it had as of October 31, according to a November 7 statement. At least one analyst noted the seeming discrepancy in the figures.

"A surprise increase in foreign-exchange reserves and BNM reassuring investors that capital markets and the banking system is deep and liquid in their policy statement leaves more questions than answers," Jason Daw, a foreign-exchange analyst at Societe Generale, said in a note on Thursday. "Valuation effects alone should have caused reserves to fall and it is unlikely that dollar buying occurred in the November 1-15 period," he said, speculating that Malaysia's swap line with China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), may have been tapped for dollar liquidity. The swap arrangement allows the two central banks to provide liquidity in each other's currencies, primarily aimed at supporting trade and investment. Daw noted that Malaysia has "significant resources" to manage any stress from outflows, such as the PBOC swap line, a Chang Mai swap line and IMF credit facilities. But he added that "sentiment has been damaged and the ringgit should remain on edge." "Reassuring words alone will be insufficient to change the trend," he added.


Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Wednesday to open up the economy to new corporations to halt graft and protectionism, telling the country's oligarchs he owed them no favors and to be content with their billions.

The outspoken, populist leader said it was high time to change regulations and liberalize sectors like energy, power and telecoms to make the country more competitive, and give Filipinos better services and a share of the wealth.

Duterte, who was swept to office in May by a huge margin on a platform tilted towards the poor, said he had consciously shut powerful tycoons out of his election campaign and where his reform plan was concerned, they would have to like it or lump it.

"The only way for deliverance of this country is to remove it from the clutches of the few people who hold the power and money," he told a news conference.

"I do not owe you anything, that's precisely why I was avoiding you during the last election. I am not trying to destroy you. You have the advantage, you're here already, be content with that. But let us open everything."
Oil prices have fluctuated on comments that OPEC countries might agree to an output cut next week. However, the historic meeting might not be enough to revamp oil prices. Libya and Nigeria aren't expected to sign the deal and the full-backing from two key countries  Iraq and Iran  is not guaranteed. CNBC takes a look at what might happen in Austria next Wednesday.



Why is the OPEC meeting on Wednesday important?

Ryad Kramdi | AFP | Getty Images

"It's the first time since November 2014 that OPEC members meet to try to control oil prices," Colin Smith, head of oil research at Panmure, told CNBC over the phone. Oil prices have been trading at historic lows given an oversupply in the market. Brent crude started this year trading at $35 a barrel and though they have rebounded to about $45, the oversupply is expected to remain a drag throughout 2017. The production of shale oil in the U.S., Iran's attempt to increase oil exports, and sluggish growth in advanced economies are the main factors bringing oil prices down.



What are the chances of a deal?

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said Wednesday that a deal to cut output was "imminent" and asked his oil minister to talk to Russia in an attempt to bring non-OPEC members to support he deal. But analysts have doubts whether, and to what extent, an output cut will be agreed upon. "We believe there is a 70 percent chance that OPEC could announce a 1 million barrel of oil per day production cut on next Wednesday, 30 November, during the cartel's formal meeting in Vienna," Nomura said in a research note. However, research from Societe Generale is less optimistic. "Our view is that it is a 50-50 tossup, and it is not currently factored into our balances," the French bank said in a note. Smith from Panmure told CNBC that "while reaching agreement looks tricky, it would be surprising if there was not some kind of firm commitment from Saudi and its key Gulf allies, given all the issues were clearly visible at the Algeria meeting, yet Saudi was willing to sign up to a revised OPEC target." Reuters reported that OPEC members will debate an output cut of 1.2 million barrels a day, but Iran, Iraq and Indonesia have shown reservations to such proposal. "There is likely to be some level of action to cut output but it may not be clear whether that will be sufficient to meet the new 32.5  33 million barrels a day target," Smith added.



Whats the role of Russia?

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images

Russia is not part of the OPEC group but its troubled economy would benefit from an increase in oil prices. But the solution advocated by Moscow is an output freeze and not an output cut. The country's energy minister, Alexander Novak, said Thursday that Russia could cut down its oil production plans in 2017 if a global output freeze pact is applied, Reuters reported. Though Russia's involvement is seen as market positive, it's unlikely that the final deal would require a formal backing by non-OPEC members, Smith explained.



What is the worst possible scenario if the OPEC doesnt reach an agreement?

"If no OPEC agreement is reached, we would probably revise our 2017 price forecast significantly downward, because we would be left with our current neutral fundamental outlook. Without an OPEC cut, the global rebalancing will progress much more slowly than previously expected and be pushed beyond next year," Societe Generale said. The French bank is expecting Brent to reach $52.50 in the first quarter of next year, $55.00 in the second quarter. WTI is forecast at $51.00 in the first quarter and at $53.50 the second quarter.



How will markets react?

"Trust is a one-time gift. OPEC proposed this production cut (of 1 million barrels per day) in September during the informal meeting in Algeria. Failure to ratify this production cut in Vienna could risk losing the trust of the market, triggering further oil price weakness," Nomura warned in a note.



What will happen to oil prices?

Excess gas is burnt off at a pipeline at Rumaila oilfield in Basra, Iraq. Essam Al-Sudani | Reuters
News / National

by Staff reporter

A Gweru man has been arrested for allegedly raping and infecting his 17-year-old step daughter with HIV.The man (33) allegedly forced his step-daughter to wash his privates after raping her.The accused, who resides in Mtapa suburb, Gweru appeared before magistrate Mr Solomon Jenya facing rape charges.The man pleaded not guilty and the magistrate remanded him in custody to tomorrow.It is the State's case that on October 26 last year at around 10PM, the complainant was coming from church with her friends when she met the accused.Its os alleged that the accused dragged the complainant towards a railway line that is near Gafa ground and started to fondle her breasts and buttocks. The prosecutor further alleged that the accused person removed the complainant's skirt and pants before he forced her to lie down and raped her once.The matter came to light when the man threatened to assault the complainant contrary to the promise he had made to her saying he would not assault her.The complainant was sent to Gweru General Hospital for a medical examination and the complainant tested positive to HIV.
For musicians, the tour bus becomes a second home. So if you can afford to go all out, you might as well.

Country music megastar Brad Paisley can afford to. And he has.

"Well, we wanted it to be fun," he says.

Paisley, whose career has included 32 top ten singles, of which 19 have reached the top of the charts, is one of the biggest names in American music. And he's a car guy. That's why he customized his $1.74 million 2012 Prevost as a tribute to his favorite vehicle: a 1958 Corvette.
Supporters for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein have raised enough money to request a recount in the key swing state of Wisconsin, her campaign website announced on Thursday morning.



"Congratulations on meeting the recount costs for Wisconsin," the website said. "Raising money to pay for the first round so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing." Wisconsin was a key battleground for President-elect Donald Trump in his victory in the U.S. presidential elections on November 8.



Stein's campaign, which has now reached its first goal of $2.5 million out of a total target of $4.5 million, also wants to request recounts in two other states where voting anomalies have been alleged: Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Workers search through the remains of a collapsed platform in a cooling tower at a power station at Fengcheng, in China's Jiangxi province on November 24, 2016. At least 40 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed on November 24, the official Xinhua news agency reported, the latest industrial accident in a country with a dismal safety record.

At least 67 Chinese workers were killed after scaffolding collapsed at the Fengcheng Power Plant in eastern China on Thursday, state media outlet Xinhua reported.

The scaffolding was on a cooling tower being built at the power plant in the the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province, with Xinhua reporting that more than 60 people were working on the platform and another dozen were on the ground waiting for their shift to start at 7 a.m. when the collapse occurred.

Three workers were injured and are being treated in hospital, one in critical condition.

Wang Yaosheng, who was waiting to begin his shift, ran away when he saw the falling platform but was slightly injured, he told Xinhua.

"Several elevators collapsed. All those on the platform fell and were crushed by the steel bars and other materials," he said to the Chinese news outlet. "I was shocked."
Start-up companies in Southeast Asia should recognize unique talents as they scurry to gain momentum in a rough-and-tumble world of competition, and overcome obstacles from logistics and timing to localization, entrepreneurs told CNBC.

Entrepreneurs need to know their core strengths and "it has to be something that only they can be good at," said Maximilian Bittner, CEO of e-commerce firm Lazada, majority owned by China's Alibaba Group Holding after a $1 billion investment in April.

Bittner, speaking at a CNBC Exchange panel discussion in Jakarta, said that for the Southeast Asian e-commerce marketplace, getting the logistics right was a key part of its success.

For example in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, Lazada had to build a logistics network that could cater to the needs of the market.

Another disruptive start-up in the region shared that getting the right mix of personalization was vital.

"We started by wanting to become the Netflix of Asia, but then we learned that we had to adjust greatly to make it compatible with each of the target Asian markets," said David Goldstein, head of Asia at iFlix and CNBC Exchange panellist.


It's Thanksgiving, so let's find something on which we can all agree: President-elect Donald Trump should stop with all the tweeting. I mean it's so undisciplined, raw, and now that he's going to be the leader of the free world, it's just not becoming the office of the presidency. Right?

Well so much for something that can bring us together, because there are actually a lot of good reasons why Mr. Trump should once again ignore all the experts and keep on tweeting like it's going out of style. Here are the top 3:

1) Let's get real

Just look at the way President Obama's supporters talk about the man. Even after eight years in office, many of them still talk about him and act like he's a cross between a savior and an Olympian hero. We caught a glimpse of similar god-like hero worship of Hillary Clinton over the last few years too. Republicans were guilty of it with President Reagan. This just isn't healthy. Americans of all political stripes seem to be backsliding lately into an inherent human monarchist tendency. And that's bad for our republic and democracy in general.

Along comes Trump, and even most of his more ardent supporters seem to not only see his human flaws but revel in them. And in case you forget about those flaws, his Twitter feed will provide you with evidence of his all-too-real humanity on a daily basis.

Most presidents seem to come into office hoping the country will treat them with some kind of reverence. But that's been a silly pipe dream at least since President Nixon left office in disgrace.

And what precedent for the unnecessary "dignity" of the office has President Obama set exactly? This is the POTUS who slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon, read the mean tweets with Jimmy Kimmel, appeared on "Between Two Ferns," and "Funny or Die," and did an interview with that YouTube celebrity who once ate her way out of a bathtub filled with breakfast cereal! And guess what? President Obama was smart to do all of those things as they burnished his persuasive "cool" brand while in office. Let's face it folks, the curtain on the presidency has been pulled back already. And that fact has often helped the man in the Oval Office rather than harmed him.

The best Trump can do is get people to see him as a regular guy, and Twitter helps him do that. Think of it like a four-to-eight-year-long episode of "Stuff My President Says."

2) It's Trump on his own terms

President Jimmy Carter tried to look more like a man of the people by sometimes carrying his own luggage on foreign trips. That actually made him look like a poor schlub. Trump's tweeting of his thoughts and opinions on his own terms projects an image of a guy who doesn't care about the polite rules. That's an alluring and persuasive image for a lot of people who want to believe the president and the presidency is strong. To them, you don't get there by consulting Emily Post. If we want a nice friend, maybe we should get a dog. But if we want an effective president, the kind of person who doesn't care if you're offended by a few random tweets might be just what the doctor ordered.

3) What's the alternative?

How many times have those "open government access" advocates complained about too-infrequent White House news conferences and the generally restricted access to the president? Well, here we have a president who's giving us access on steroids.

And why are taxpayer-funded White House speechwriters and image handlers somehow better for America? The public can see through that stuff more and more these days, and it doesn't seem to like it. I mean, was there ever a presidential candidate who looked and sounded more like he came out of central casting for the role of "handsome, dignified president" than Mitt Romney? And we all know how that worked out for him.

With that hair and that voice and of course, the tweeting, Donald Trump doesn't look the part at all. And not even the best Hollywood makeover magic could change that. So why would we think he's suddenly going to be more respectful and restrained once he gets into office? That's not really what his upset-the-establishment supporters want and it's not likely to work for him even if he tries.

Twitter or no Twitter, the only restraints on President Trump that we should rely on are the checks and balances in the U. S. Constitution. Maybe the best result of this election is that Trump's fans and haters alike will stop looking to hero worship the president, and instead find new reasons to revere and revive the Founders' very wise warnings and safeguards, not against uncouth behavior, but against actually dangerous tyranny. President-elect Trump's tweeting isn't either of those things, and we'd all do better to focus our time indignation elsewhere.
A handsome brass medal depicts Christopher Columbus on the obverse while the reverse has a long-necked eagle atop a shield with the words WORLDS HYGIENIC EXPOSITION CHICAGO 1893 circling the rim.

The obverse of this medal depicts the famed Ferris wheel while the reverse has a more functional depiction of a loaf of bread, identifying the merchant who issued the medal.

The Worlds Columbian Exposition medals obverse designed by Saint-Gaudens is gorgeous, while Charles Barbers reverse is more functional. This medal was awarded to parish schools and sold for just over $200 at a 2014 Heritage auction.

Acquiring medals that tell the story of an event, such as the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, is an effective approach to medal collecting.

The following is the fifth in a multi-part series from our Dec. 5, 2016, issue of Coin World about collecting medals:

As we explained last week, medals can be a?daunting area to collect.

In this month's Coin World cover feature, we're outlining four ways that one can organize a collection of medals. From building a set, to collecting the work of a single artist; from collecting medals depicting a person to those celebrating an event  breaking down a large field like medallic art into segments provides a manageable entry point into the wide field of medal collecting.

We've already covered how one can build a set, collect an artist they admire, or focus on an individual subject that fascinates them. We're wrapping up our series with an event-based approach.

Approach #4: Tell the story of an event

A rich collection of medals can be assembled around an event. Some collectors collect the beautiful and artistic Art Nouveau inspired medals of World War I, while others prefer International Exhibitions and Worlds Fairs. Adding related material, like postcards or advertising memorabilia only enhances ones collection. The Worlds Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893, provides rich collecting opportunities, both medallic and otherwise.

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The event celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and a centerpiece of the fair was a large pool. The layout was a prototype of a city and covered 690 acres, using mostly white finishings on the buildings that gave the fair the nickname the White City.

The grounds included nearly 200 temporary buildings, mostly in the Neoclassical style, and 14 great buildings. It served both as a show of national strength and as a testament to the fortitude of Chicagos people, who had lost much of their city in the great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The fair opened to the public May 1, 1893, and millions were drawn to its magnificent buildings lit with electricity, gorgeous art, the original 264-foot-tall Ferris Wheel and various national and state exhibition buildings. Attendance exceeded expectations, and Oct. 9, named Chicago Day, drew more than 750,000 people. In total, more than 27 million people attended the fair, and while few of the buildings remain today, the Palace of Fine Arts was reopened several decades later as Chicagos Museum of Science and Industry.

Among the most popular collectibles of the fair  beyond the 1892 and 1893 Worlds Columbian Expo commemorative half dollars  were the large bronze official award medals designed by famed American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Saint-Gaudens served as an adviser for the Fairs sculpture program, and he completed the medal design prior to the fairs closing in November 1893.

The obverse of the medal met with near-universal acclaim. It shows Columbus arriving triumphantly on the shores of the New World. Three male figures are seen at the lower right, one bearing an unfurling banner, and above them are the symbolic Pillars of Hercules with the three Spanish caravels and the inscription PLUS ULTRA (Spains national motto).

However, the United States Senate Quadro-Centennial Committee took issue with the artists initial reverse depiction of a nude male youth. Variant designs that covered up the nude were presented, but ultimately U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber was tasked with the creation of a less offensive replacement design. The artistic result is that the two sides dont necessarily match, but that inconsistency has done little to dampen the popularity of the medal with collectors today.

The medals have a line where the recipients name could be incorporated, and while the hubs and dies were produced at the Philadelphia Mint, the medals were produced by the Scoville Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Conn. Today, average examples sell for $225 to $275 and those in their original boxes may sell for $275 to $350. Exceptional examples or those awarded to significant individuals can sell for even more.

The diversity of medals issued related to the Columbian Exposition is staggering and many depict the highlights of the fair. Medals with intricate Ferris wheels, exact depictions of buildings, and heroic depictions of Columbus are most often seen and these are reasonably priced with even the most beautiful medals of larger sizes available for $100 to $200 and hundreds of smaller medals that can be found for $15 to $50 each.

So, next time youre at a coin show, ask a dealer what medals he or she might have in inventory. Picking out what speaks to you could be the start of a new and rewarding collecting adventure.

Enjoy our entire series on how to collect medals:

Approach #1: Build a set

Approach #2: Collect an artist

Approach #3: Focus on an individual subject

Approach #4: Profile an event
News / National

by Staff reporter

The High Court reserved judgment on Tuesday in a case in which Harare businessman Mr Frederick Mutanda was challenging the planned introduction of bond notes arguing that the move by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was unconstitutional and an infringement of his fundamental rights.Judge President Justice George Chiweshe said he wanted to go through submissions made by the parties.In his submission, Mr Mutanda's lawyer, Advocate Firoz Girach, said the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act that was used to promulgate a Statutory Instrument for the introduction of the bond notes was unconstitutional in that it violated Parliament's primary law-making role thereby encroaching on the doctrine of separation of powers.He said the issuance of legal tender in the form of bond notes and coins was unlawful as it fell outside recognised legal tender and currencies as provided for by the RBZ Act.In his response, RBZ lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu raised several issues, including submission that the application was not urgent and that no evidence had been placed before the court to demonstrate urgency.He said the bond notes were supported by the RBZ Act hence their issuance was lawful and slammed the applicant for the manner he challenged the Presidential Powers.He said promulgation of a Statutory Instrument did not constitute usurping of Parliament's primary lawmaking process which, in any case was subject to review by Parliament.Presidential Powers, he said, had a life span of six months.Adv Mpofu submitted that by challenging the issuance of bond notes, the applicant was questioning the policymaking role of the Executive.He said issues like export incentives and measures aimed at curbing foreign currency leakages were policy decisions which rested with the Executive."The applicant might not love the policies of the Government but it is the Government in power," said Adv Mpofu.
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The Ubiquiti AmpliFi router is one of the recent wave of consumer friendly mesh router systems. You can think of these mesh systems as routers that come with pre-matched, easy to use, Wi-Fi extenders.

AmpliFi competes with Eero, Luma, the Netgear Orbi and the soon-to-be-released Google Wi-Fi. Google's previous OnHub routers were a single device. I recently griped that AmpliFi does not support remote access, but it has other things going for it.

One is price, AmpliFi starts at $200 for a three unit system, making it the cheapest mesh option. Another is privacy. Eero, Luma and Google routers (at least the OnHub) require you to have an account with the company. AmpliFi and the Netgear Orbi let you be anonymous.

Their anonymity extends to network traffic too. A few days ago, it was all over the news that Eero updated their firmware. In covering the story, Ron Amadeo at Ars Technica wrote that "anonymized performance and diagnostic data is collected from all Eero customers and used to make the performance of the system better." No thanks, I prefer privacy even if the cost is slightly worse performance.

All these mesh router systems are new products. Eero and Luma are new companies. Wi-Fi routers are a relatively new thing for Google. But Netgear and Ubiquiti have a long history of Wi-Fi products.

So, sight unseen, my initial preference among the mesh routers would be either the Netgear Orbi or the Ubiquiti AmpliFi.

The Ubiquiti AmpliFi router

There are three AmpliFi models, ranging in price from $200 (roughly) to $350. Each is a three unit system consisting of a router and two antenna sticks that Ubiquiti calls "mesh points". There is one Orbi model, and it costs $400.

Most every AmpliFi review is of the high end model that was lent to the reviewer by the company. This article is about the low end model that I paid for myself.

My hope is that even a bottom-of-the-line mesh router system will be a big step up from a single device router.

I know someone whose Internet connection comes into their house in the basement on the south side. The bedrooms, however, are on the north side of the house on the second floor. It's a worst case scenario, the Wi-Fi signal has to travel diagonally through the entire house to reach the bedrooms.

This article is based on my setting up the AmpliFi at home in preparation for installing at the just-described house. Time will tell how much AmpliFi can improve the Wi-Fi signal.

INITIAL SETUP

The setup instructions for the AmpliFi are typical, and wrong. The setup instructions for all routers are wrong. The common mistake is connecting a new router to the Internet first thing. It is much safer to make some initial configuration changes off-line, then put the router online, behind the firewall of another router, while downloading the inevitable firmware updates.

So, I connected the WAN port of the AmpliFi to a LAN port of an existing router and powered the thing up. You can do the initial setup without involving the mesh points.

One great feature of the AmpliFi is its screen. It's small and thus can't display a ton of data, but I really came to like it. Almond and Starry routers also have screens, none of the other mesh router systems has one.

Frustration started immediately; there is no documentation on how long it takes the router to start up, what the display shows while its booting and how you know when its ready to go. For the record, there are dots on the display while its booting.

When its ready, the screen prompts you to install either the Android or iOS app. I did neither, instead I used a web browser for the initial setup.

This required connecting to a temporary open, unsecured Wi-Fi network created by the AmpliFi. While this network exists, anyone nearby can connect to it, which is why its great that the initial setup (picking an SSID and password) can be performed off-line. As far as I know, the Netgear Orbi is the only other mesh router that can be configured off-line.

The name (SSID) of the temporary network was "AFi-R-802AA896F247 Setup" but it fooled me at first. The name is displayed on the router screen but "Setup" was on a second line and I thought it just meant we were in the setup phase. Duh. The middle section of the SSID is, as you may have guessed, one of the many MAC addresses of the router.

You can't help but notice, at this point, a bright white light on the bottom of the router. No doubt the color means something, but what? The Quick Start Guide doesn't say. The full User Manual confusingly uses the term "LED" to refer both to this light and the small blue dots on the mesh points.

Turns out, this light does not change color, it just blinks sometimes. The manual says that while the router is being configured the light will flash slowly. That was not my experience.

I connected a Chromebook to this temporary Wi-Fi network and it warned that it "may require you to visit its login page" which I took to mean that the Chromebook thought it was connecting to a captive portal.

The instructions say to start a web browser and wait, that router setup pages should magically appear in the browser. They did not. Thinking it was a captive portal, I tried to go to a website and, sure enough, that triggered the router startup wizard.

Interestingly, the browser was directed to amplifi.lan. I mention this just as an FYI, I had never seen a ".lan" domain name before.

You are required to pick a name and password for your Wi-Fi network. This is a great security feature, it is time to retire all default passwords and SSIDs.

All routers have, at least, two passwords, one for administering the router itself and one for Wi-Fi. The AmpliFi defaults to using the Wi-Fi password as the router password ("Use the same password for administration"), but I opted for the more secure option, setting a different password for the router.

Entering the router password is an accident waiting to happen. There is no option to see the password as you type it and you only have to type it once. Make a typo, and you have to reset the router.

After the initial configuration, I tried to log back into the router for more advanced tweaking, but it rejected the password. Or at least I think it did, the router wasn't polite enough to actually display an error message. Perhaps I had made a typo when setting the router password?

The router was, otherwise, working fine. It had picked up the correct date and time and was displaying them on its round screen. I've seen uglier clocks.

A scan with the Android WiFi Analyzer app showed that the AmpliFi network was not using WPS. Great.

On the 2.4GHz band, it was on channel 1, which I found to be a strange choice. The router was in the same room as another router that was also using channel 1. The ability to force a specific channel is one of the advanced options I was looking for. Time to start all over.

Resetting the router was easy enough, it has the usual pinhole and a paper clip did the trick. The screen says "rebooting" while it's rebooting, which is more informative than the dots it displays during a cold boot.

Initially, the router assigned itself to the 192.168.187.x network, a nice change from the customary 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x. This time, it defaulted to 192.168.199.x. Not only does the AmpliFi not use the common subnets, but it seems to be randomly choosing one. Another example of avoiding defaults. Well done Ubiquiti. If you don't like this subnet, you can change it in the app.

However, Ubiquiti left one default that you can't change - the router is always computer number 1 on the LAN. The first time around, the router was 192.168.187.1, the second time it was 192.168.199.1. Some router attacks assume the router is computer number 1, so I always make a point of assigning it to a different number.

This time again, after the initial setup, I could not login to the router from a web browser. So, I reset the router a second time, and chose the short "xxxx" as the password, hoping it would be typo-resistant. That the router let me pick a 4 character password shows that although Ubiquiti is an enterprise oriented company, the AmpliFi is clearly targeted at consumers.

And, typical of consumer products, the AmpliFi seems to have been rushed out the door. I could not logon with my 4 character password either. This was not a typo issue.

I guessed that there might be a bug in the code that sets the router password. So, yet another router reset, and this time I kept the two passwords the same. Bingo. Now I can logon to the router.

All this trouble turned out to be for nothing. After the initial out-of-the-box configuration, the web interface does only one thing. It lets you change the type of Internet connection: DHCP, Static or PPPoE. Nothing more. It's an app world.

The current version of the Android app is 1.0.4, released November 3, 2016. The app has been installed between 1,000 and 5,000 times, has 62 reviews and 4.2 rating. On iOS, it's at version 1.0.5 , from November 2nd and has only 6 reviews.

Ubiquiti says the iOS app requires Bluetooth, while the Android app does not. I ran the iOS app on two devices, each with Bluetooth disabled and the app seemed fully functional.

In general, I found both the Android and iOS apps confusing to use. Some icons are there for display purposes only, but other icons are clickable. It takes trial and error to figure this out. And, rather than a standard OK, SAVE or APPLY button, you tell it to make the changes you just entered using a check in the top right corner. Except, for the changes that take effect immediately.

The Guest network defaults to open, so, of course, I tried to set a password. It has to be entered twice and initially they did not match. Correcting them, did not remove the error message about their not matching.

Speaking of passwords, nowhere in the app or the User Guide does it say if passwords are case sensitive, how long they can be or whether certain characters are not allowed.

UPDATING FIRMWARE

The first thing I set out to do in the app is update the firmware. This is the one area where AmpliFi significantly lags it competitors, firmware updates remain a manual endeavor.

The router shipped with firmware version 1.2.1, the latest (as of Nov. 19, 2016) is 1.4.2. My first roadblock was immediate, a warning that it is not recommended to update the firmware in the router without also updating the mesh points. I had not yet dealt with the mesh points.

I played it safe, plugged in the mesh points, made sure they were online, then updated all the firmware. The process was opaque, you can't see the different phases (download, install and reboot) and there is no progress bar and no time estimate. Still, the mesh points and the router were all upgraded to version 1.4.2.

Immediately afterwards, the app complained that it was "unable to locate device". What device? It didn't say.

While the router was re-booting, my Android tablet had connected to another Wi-Fi network. I made a note of this, went back to the app, and all was well. The tablet was again connected to the AmpliFi network. Strange.

Any router that depends on humans to upgrade the firmware needs some help.

It would be great if Ubiquiti offered a mailing list to tell their customers about newly released firmware, but they don't.

Some routers can automatically check for new firmware, even if it has to be manually installed. It would be helpful if the AmpliFi put a notice on its very visible round screen that new firmware is available, but I read all the documentation I could find, and it doesn't seem to do this. It is not clear if the mobile app automatically notifies you of new firmware or if you have to look for it yourself.

Then too, some of us like to know what changes are being made. I looked for a history of firmware releases but there doesn't seem to be one. All, I found was a question in the FAQ, What are the updates in the latest firmware release?

On iOS, the app has a release history in the app store, but the description of the changes is minimal. The Android Play store does not keep a release history.

POKING AROUND

This being my first mesh router, I did some poking around into how things are setup. Initially, I wanted to get the lay of the land, to see signal strengths and what's connected to what.

The home page of the AmpliFi app

Both the router and the mesh points indicate the strength of the signal between them. On the mesh point, there are five blue dots. If all five are lit, the signal strength is excellent. Fewer lights, mean a weaker signal. The app shows the signal strength to each mesh point with a bar graph on its home page, as shown above. In this case, the bedroom mesh point has a strong signal and the kitchen mesh point has a weak one. If you click on the picture of a mesh point from this screen, you can see the signal strength as a percentage.

The client section of the app shows all the devices communicating with the router. Clicking on a client, offers details, including its signal strength, both as a percentage and as a bar graph. It also shows which device the client is communicating with. Confusingly, this field is labeled "Access Point," a term that means something else to most networking folks.

I did not test how well the AmpliFi handles switching a mobile device between the router and the mesh points as the device moves around. But, it's good to know that such testing is possible.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya said yesterday said RBZ will unveil specimen for the bond notes just before their release to minimise the risk of counterfeits notes."You do not put in the paper today then release them at the end of the month. If you do that then you give room for counterfeits."We do not want people to be duped. This is the standard for any note which is given out throughout the world so that you minimise counterfeits," said Dr Mangudya.The bond notes are being introduced into the economy as an incentive for exporters. It is also envisaged they will help ease the biting cash shortages that have been prevailing in the country since early this year.Meawhile, RBZ boss Dr John Mangudya has blasted demands for cash payments by certain retailers as an unscrupulous business practice meant to externalise foreign exchange.The central bank governor is on record saying the country lost an estimated $1,8 billion in 2015 alone through the smuggling of foreign currency or illicit financial flows.In line with the growth in the card based transactions, the value of POS purchases increased by 38,7 percent to $190 million in October from $137 million a month earlier, reflecting gradual rise from $36 million since March. And Mangudya said that there was no justification for retailers, service stations and other businesses in Zimbabwe to decline electronic payments for goods and services or offer incentives such as discounts to entice the public to pay in cash.This comes as some reputable retailers are demanding cash payments for cooking oil purchases arguing that manufacturers were demanding hard cash as well, as "required" by banks to facilitate foreign payments for unprocessed edible oil.
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It took me a while to wrap my brain around the fact that its Thanksgiving t-o-d-a-y. We flew home from our month-long adventure in Australia and New Zealand right on the heals of the holidays, and before I knew it I was standing in line (a very long line) at the grocery store with my annual cheese plate and salad essentials in hand. I have yet to host a Thanksgiving all on my own, so being in charge of a few dishes and a gift for the hostess with the mostest has been my longest to-do list. And boy am I good at nailing the hostess thank-you. Today Im kicking off this years series of gift guides on Could I Have That with the category that rings true to my Thanksgiving M.O.For The Hostess.

Above are some finds that are beautiful and neutral for the gal who loves sharing her home and entertaining on the regular. Click on the little black boxes to shop!
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A study suggests that how pregnant women lie down may have an effect on the health of their babies. Women lying on their back during the third trimester of their pregnancy have been found to increase the risk of stillbirth as compared to women who lie on their left side.

A recent study has found a link between maternal positions and fetal health. Researchers say that there may also be a link between maternal positions and stillbirth.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has never fully explained the cause of stillbirth because of several contributing factors at play. Stillbirth may be brought by birth defects, issues with the placenta or umbilical cord and health problems of the mother.

Stillbirth occurs in 1 percent of American pregnancies, which may seem minimal but not when totaled to 24,000 cases each year as reported in Medical Daily. A group of researchers led by Professor Peter Stone of the University of Auckland in New Zealand conducted a study with the aim of understanding stillbirths by studying maternal positions.

The New Zealand researchers studied 29 pregnant women in their third trimester by asking them to lie down using different kinds of positions for 30 minutes. The results revealed that there is a difference in the fetus' activity and heart rate as reported in Medical News Today.

When women lie down on their backs, the fetus heart rate slows down and the activity is described as being in a sleep-state. When women lie on their left, heart rate is fast and normal with the fetus more actively kicking and moving.

The findings suggest that maternal positions do have an effect on the babies. When the mother lies down on her back, her position compresses the veins in her heart that could minimize blood circulation and oxygen flow to the fetus. When lying on the left side, oxygen is at its optimal level and not obstructed.

Researchers say that oxygen flow may be a vital element in understanding the primary cause of stillbirth. Stone admits that they need more thorough research since the subjects were awake when tested. He wants to look at sleeping positions of pregnant women and its effect on fetal health in subsequent studies.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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The rappers, 50 Cent and Kanye West, one-time rivals who seemed to have made amends in the past, are back at it again. Earlier this week, Kanye reportedly had a complete breakdown during one of his concerts in which he criticized Jay-Z and Beyonce. He even canceled the remainder of his Saint Pablo Tour as a result of his breakdown.

Kris Jenner, Kanye's mother-in-law, explained that Kanye was exhausted because of the grueling tour. He was reportedly taken to a hospital in Los Angeles.

Reports surfaced about Kanye's hospitalization in TMZ which said that according to law enforcement sources, cops responded to a welfare check on Kanye, who was at his trainer's house. He was 'acting erratically.' The police then called L.A Fire and by the time paramedics arrived, Kanye seemed much calmer but still resistant to going to the hospital. However, his management and law enforcement convinced Kanye, who was then restrained by handcuffs to a gurney during transport to the hospital.

Just after TMZ's report, 50 Cent took to Instagram and posted a screenshot of TMZ's report with the headline reading, 'Kanye West Hospitalized Handcuffed In Ambulance.' He captioned the image, "Damn [curious emoji] what the f**k is going on [bandaged head emoji]." He then hashtagged it with his vodka brand #EFFENVODKA ending the message with a "LOL."

50 Cent's post on Kanye is being read as rude by some people claiming that he should be supportive of Kanye getting medical help and not making fun of his condition. Other celebs and rest of the internet meanwhile have been pouring out their kindness on Kanye via Twitter, wishing him all the best. The post on Kanye by 50 Cent on Instagram now appears deleted.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
News / National

by Ndou Paul

MVURWI - A 7 year old boy who was mauled by six dogs in Earling farm Mvurwi last month is recovering well at Parirenyatwa in Harare.Bulawayo24.com visited the boy at the hospital and saw the boy playing with his mother.According to doctors the boy is expected to be discharged from the hospital anytime soon.The owner of the dogs Nhapata is said to be footing the bills, although villagers are calling for the gunning down of the dogs.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo has slapped four editors and three reporters from various publications falling under the Zimpapers stable with a US$9 million lawsuit for allegedly publishing defamatory articles against him relating to the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) saga.In papers filed at the High Court this Wednesday, Professor Moyo cites Sunday Mail Investigations Editor Brian Chitemba, Sunday Mail Editor Mabasa Sasa, Sunday News Editor Limukani Ncube, Herald Editor Caesar Zvayi, Chronicle Acting Editor Innocent Madonko, Herald Senior Reporter Zvamaida Murwira and Herald reporter Lloyd Gumbo as respondents in the case.Professor Moyo alleges that 'several false, misleading and defamatory articles published at the instance of the respondents tainted his reputation as a cabinet minister, a member of parliament and a respected academic.'He cited identical articles which were published in the Sunday Mail and Sunday News on the 9th of October 2016 headlined: 'Probe into Prof Moyo,' 'Dr Gandawa the Details,' respectively and alleged that both gave misleading allegations that he diverted fuel coupons meant for the Zimbabwe Youth Council and employed middle men to sell them on the black market.He cited another article of the same day published under the headline: 'Minister Funded Graduation Protests,' which allegedly defamed him as it insinuated that he siphoned funds from ZIMDEF to fund students protests against President Robert Mugabe at the last University of Graduation (UZ) graduation ceremony.He additionally cited a Herald article of the 10th of October 2016, which had the headline: 'Moyo Likens Self to Robin Hood' and another titled: 'Moyo Admits Funds Abuse,' which insinuated that he admitted abusing public funds.Professor Moyo argues that all these articles were false and defamatory and is seeking compensation to the tune of US$9 million.
We tend to idealize holidays, but human depravity doesnt go into hibernation between Thanksgiving and New Years. One thing that will hit most Christians, sooner or later, are tensions within extended families at holiday time. Some of you will be visiting family members who are contemptuous of the Christian faith and downright hostile to the whole thing.

Others are empty nest couples who now have sons- or daughters-in-law to get adjusted to, maybe even grandchildren who are being reared, well, not exactly the way the grandparents would do it. Still others are young couples who are figuring out how to keep from offending family members who are watching the calendar, to see which side of the family gets more time on the ledger. And others are new parents, trying to figure out how to parent their child when its Mammonpalooza at Aunt Judies house this year.

And, of course, theres just always the kind of thing that happens when sinful people come into contact with one another. Somebody asks When is the baby due? to an unpregnant woman or somebody blasts your favorite political figure or well, you know.

Here are a few quick thoughts on what followers of Jesus ought to remember, especially if youve got a difficult extended family situation.

1. Peace

Yes, Jesus tells us that his gospel brings a sword of division, and that sometimes this splits up families (Matt. 10:34-37). But theres a difference between gospel division and carnal division (see 1 Cor. 1, e.g.). The Spirit brings peace (Gal. 5:22), and the sons of God are peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). Since thats so, we ought to strive for peace with everyone (Heb. 12:14).

Often, the divisiveness that happens at extended family dinner tables is not because an unbelieving family member decides to persecute a Christian. Its instead because a Christian decides to go ahead and sort the wheat from the weeds right now, rather than waiting for Judgment Day (Matt. 13:29-30). Yes, the gospel exposes sin, but the gospel does so strategically, in order to point to Christ. Antagonizing unbelievers at a family dinner table because they think or feel like unbelievers isnt the way of Christ.

Some Christians think their belligerence is actually a sign of holiness. They leave the Christmas table saying, See, if youre not being opposed, then youre not with Christ! Sometimes, of course, divisions must come. But think of the qualifications Jesus gives for his churchs pastors. They must not be quarrelsome and they must be well thought of by outsiders (1 Tim. 3:3,7). Thats in the same list as not being a heretic or a drunk.

Your presence should be one of peace and tranquility. The gospel you believe ought to be what disrupts. Theres a big difference.

2. Honor

The Scripture tells us to fear God, to obey the king, and to honor (notice this) everyone (1 Pet. 2:17). If your parents are high-priests in the Church of Satan, they are still your parents. If cousin Betty V. does Jello shots in her car, just to take the edge off the cocaine, well, she still bears the imprint of the God you adore.

You cannot do the will of God by opposing the will of God. That is, you cant evangelize by dishonoring father and mother, or by disrespecting the image-bearers of God. Pray for God to show you the ways those in your life are worthy of honor, and teach your children to follow you in showing respect and gratitude.

3. Humility

Part of the reason some Christians have such difficulty with unbelieving or nominally believing extended family members is right at this point. They see differences over Jesus as being of the same kind (just of a different degree) as our differences over, say, the war in Afghanistan or the future of Sarah Palin or the Saints winning streak this year.

Often the frustration comes not because of how much Christians love their family members as much as how much these Christians want to be right. The professional Left and Right cable-TV and talk-radio pontificators may value the last word, but we cant.

Jesus never, not once, seeks to prove he is right, and he was accused of being everything from a wino to a demoniac. He rejects Satans temptation to force a visible vindication, waiting instead for God to vindicate him at the empty tomb.

Often Christians veer toward Satanism at holiday time because we, deep down, pride ourselves on knowing the truth of the gospel. The rage you feel when Uncle Happy says why many roads lead to God might be more about the fact that you want to be right than that you want him to be resurrected.

Plus, we often forget just how it is that we came to be in Christ in the first place. This wasnt some act of brilliance, like being accepted into Harvard or some exertion of the will, like learning to put a Rubiks cube together in 20 seconds. What do you have that you did not receive, the Apostle Paul asks us, And if you received it, then why do you boast as though you didnt receive it? (1 Cor. 4:6-7)

Satan wants to destroy you through his primal flaw, pride (1 Pet. 5:7-9; 1 Tim. 3:6). He doesnt care if that pride comes through looking around the family table and figuring out how much more money you make than your second cousin-in-law or whether it comes by your looking around the table and saying, Thank you Lord that I am not like these publicans. The end result is the same (Prov. 29:23).

Unless youre in an exceptionally sanctified family, youre going to see failing marriages, parenting crises, and a thousand other shards of the curse. If your response is to puff up as you look at your own situation, theres a Satanist at your family gathering, and youre it.

4. Maturity

The Scripture tells us that if we follow Jesus well follow the path he took: thats through temptation, to suffering, and ultimately to glory. Often we think these testings are big, monumental things, but they rarely are.

God will allow you to be tested. Hell refine you, bring you to the fullness of maturity in Christ. He probably wont do it by your fighting lions before the emperor or standing with a John 3:16 sign before a tank in the streets of Beijing. More likely, it will be through those seemingly little places of temptationlike whether youll love the belching brother-in-law at the other end of the table who wants to talk about how the Cubans killed JFK and how to make $100,000 a year selling herbal laxatives on the Internet.

Some of the tensions Christians face at holiday time have nothing to do with outside oppression as much as internal immaturity on the part of the Christians themselves.

Ive had young men who tell me they feel treated like children when they go home to see their extended families. Their parents or parents-in-law are dictating to them where to go, when, and for how much time. Their parents or parent-in-law are hijacking the rearing of their children (Oh, come on! He can watch Die Harder! Dont be so strict!). Some of these men just give in, and then seethe in frustration.

Sometimes thats because the extended family is particularly obstinate. But sometimes the extended family treats the young man like a child because thats how he acts the rest of the year. Dont live financially and emotionally dependent on your parents or in-laws, passively dithering in your decisions about your familys future, and then expect them to see you as the head of your house.

Be a man (if you are one). Make decisions (including decisions about where, and for how long, youll spend the holidays). Teach and discipline your children.Your extended family might not like it at first, but theyll come to respect the fact that youre leaving and cleaving, taking responsibility for that which has been entrusted to you.

5. Perspective

Remember that youll give an account at the resurrection for every idle (that means seemingly tiny, insignificant, unmemorable) thought, word, and deed. At the Judgment Seat of the Lord Christ, youll be responsible for living out the gospel in every arena to which the Spirit has led you including Aunt Flossies dining room table.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: November 23, 2016
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A leading trade union official has voiced concerns about the hours tram drivers are working, and questioned whether some are working more shifts in a row than is advisable before getting a rest day.

Finn Brennan, district organiser for ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen), which represents members of staff working on the trams, has queried whether their employer, FirstGroup, is adhering to guidelines on the maximum number of consecutive shifts and amount of overtime tram drivers should work.

However, Tram Operations Limited which runs Tramlink on behalf of Transport for London and is owned by FirstGroup, says it supports drivers who say they are too tired.

Mr Brennan's comments come on the back of a video which emerged on Saturday (November 19) showing a tram driver appearing to fall asleep at the controls in April.

The footage appears to show the tram travelling between Gravel Hill and Coombe Lane  about two miles away from Sandilands Junction where a tram derailed on November 9 killing seven people and injuring 51.

The driver in the footage has since been suspended by FirstGroup , pending an investigation.

The British Transport Police (BTP) have confirmed meanwhile that they will be questioning "some tram drivers" as part of their probe into what cause the tram crash earlier this month.

Alfred Dorris, the 42-year-old driver of the overturned tram, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and bailed until May. It is alleged that he told a passenger immediately after the derailment that he thought he had blacked out.

Both the crash and the emergence of the video have led to questions being asked about the working conditions for drivers.

According to Mr Brennan, representatives from ASLEF have previously raised concerns about whether guidelines set out by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) are being adhered to over shift patterns and overtime.

These fatigue management guidelines are designed for train operators, but do also apply to tram operators.

Mr Brennan said: "Our representatives on Tramlink have previously raised concerns about rosters and shift patterns. We do not believe that they are in line with the guidelines set out by the RSSB for managing fatigue.

"The investigation into the tragic derailment and other incidents is continuing but it is clear that, as the Rail Accident Investigation Branch interim report pointed out, 'management issues' will need to be considered when looking at the underlying causes of this terrible event.

"We have concerns about the number of consecutive shifts and the level of overtime being worked."

Mr Brennan did not give examples of how much overtime some drivers are working or how many consecutive shifts they were working.

According to the RSSB guidelines, shift patterns must include a minimum rest period of 12 hours between consecutive shifts or 14 hours between consecutive night shifts.

Sometimes where a consecutive night shift is worked a single rest day may not provide adequate recovery. For example, following a night shift that ends at 6am, there will be a requirement for more than a single day off to ensure complete recovery.

The latest set of guidelines published by the RSSB in 2012 say: "It is essential to minimise the build-up of fatigue by restricting the number of long shift sequences, in particular consecutive nights and very early starts.

"For example, it has been estimated that an individual may lose two hours sleep for each night shift worked.

"Research has also shown an increase in SPAD (signal passed at danger) risk after six consecutive shifts. This risk is further compounded over consecutive early or night shifts.

"Whilst people may prefer to work more consecutive shifts in order to take a block of days off at the end, this needs to be balanced against the risks associated with the effects of cumulative fatigue.

"It is advisable to set a limit of say six consecutive duties, with a lower shift duration limit (e.g. 10 hours) on duties that impinge significantly on normal hours of sleep (e.g. consecutive nights and early shifts).

"RSSB research recommends setting a limit of five consecutive duties for early shifts. Where night shifts exceed eight hours, it is recommended consecutive shifts be limited to a maximum of three before a rest day."

FirstGroup has defended its shift patterns, however, saying it does not "recognise the picture painted" by the union representative and said it follows the RSSB guidelines.

A spokesman for FirstGroup said: "We have constructive engagement with our trade unions at Tramlink on a wide variety of topics and any concerns raised by the local representatives have been satisfactorily addressed.

"Tramlink roster planning is very similar in nature to that across the rail industry. We have procedures in place for driver support and welfare including monitoring for possible fatigue.

"Rosters and shift patterns are discussed in consultation with drivers and implemented with the full agreement of local union representatives, and in the past these discussions have led directly to roster changes."

When asked what a standard roster looked like, the spokesman said: "Rostered hours vary.

"There is a mix of shift patterns available, as is standard in the transport industry.

"Shifts are arranged in consultation with drivers and the process is agreed with the relevant trade unions."
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The investigation into the tram crash that left seven people dead and more than 50 others hurt will consider whether the type of glass used for the vehicle's windows exacerbated their injuries.

The Advertiser understands the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), one of several agencies investigating the cause of the disaster, will explore whether lives could have been saved if the tram had been fitted with shatterproof safety glass.

One survivor, Rui De Sa, has questioned whether the type of glass had a role in the number of casualties and the seriousness of some injuries.

"The only thing that could have avoided these deaths is if the windows didn't break," he said.

(Image: Grant Melton)

"They [those who died] pretty much would be injured, but [there would not have been] fatalities. If those windows were holding up all the people inside the tram would maybe [just have been] injured [or suffered] broken bones but this was serious."

An interim report published last week found the tram was travelling at 43.5mph, more than three times the speed limit, before it derailed.

Passengers suffered horrific injuries after being showered with glass during the collision on November 9. Some were hurled from the vehicle by the force of the collision while others were left trapped under the frame of the tram.

Transport for London (TfL) declined to comment on the type of glass used on the derailed tram but confirmed to the Advertiser that it would form part of the investigation.

Croydon University Hospital treated more than 30 people following the crash. A source working at the hospital that morning said many of the victims had suffered "terrible" lacerations all over their bodies.

Another survivor, Taiye Ajibola, told the Advertiser last week how he suffered deep cuts after his face hit gravel on the ground after side windows smashed in the crash and the tram slid on its side for 25 metres before coming to a halt.

"I had a cut on my face and a bruise on my head. I had broken glass in my hands. My shirt was soaking wet with the rain and blood," he said.

(Image: Grant Melton)

Medics at Croydon University Hospital had to put Mr Ajibola under anaesthetic as they operated to reattach his skin to his face.

A spokesman for Croydon Health Services, which runs the hospital, said: "Many of those whom we treated here at Croydon University Hospital following last week's tram derailment had injuries consistent with being caused by broken glass."

Guidance issued by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), which regulates tram networks, says that windscreens and other forward-facing windows "should be able to resist impact from projectiles and other objects" while other tram windows "should conform to the current standards for passenger-carrying vehicles on the highway ".

While the exact makeup of the tram involved in the disaster has not been confirmed, we have observed since the crash that several vehicles on the network have safety laminated glass around the driver's cab but tempered glass on the sides next to passengers.

Laminated glass can crack on impact, but will stay in place as a barrier thanks to plastic layers in the middle of the sheet. Tempered glass, most commonly used on the side and rear windows of cars and buses, can withstand a greater impact than normal glass but will shatter into small pieces when subjected to a large impact.

The senior detective leading the British Transport Police investigation into the crash told the Advertiser there was a view that "train glass would be much stronger and tougher".

Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson said: "All I will say about that at this moment in time is that train glass is different to tram glass, because tram glass is more consistent with bus glass.

"There is a view that train glass would be much stronger and tougher. The RAIB may say this may have had an impact on injuries, but I don't want to second guess the ologists [specialists] around that stuff."

The ORR also declined to comment when asked whether the derailed tram was fitted with laminated safety glass, saying that it was unable to do so because of the RAIB's investigation. A spokesman did say, however, that trams "broadly" conform to the safety standards of other public service vehicles.

According to the Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB), which does not cover trams but accepted following the crash that "they are clearly part of the extended railway family", the mandatory standard for windows next to passengers on trains is that they "must have at least one pane of laminated safety glass, or material with equivalent or superior structural properties" .

A report on potential safety improvements to the rail network , published by the RSSB in 2009, recommended the use of laminated safety glass on trains. It said that while all trains built since 1993 have mostly laminated windows, the best approach was to dispense with the use of toughened glass, which the report refers to as "escape" windows, entirely.

Analysis of train accidents across a ten-year period found that 20 per cent of fatalities occurred through people being ejected through breakable windows, usually when a carriage had been turned onto its side, said the report.

"If windows are strong or tough enough they can prevent people being ejected from trains during an accident. However, if breakable, windows can be used to escape after accidents," the report added.

"The analysis showed that if breakable windows are replaced with essentially unbreakable windows (using laminated glass) then more people would be expected to survive accidents."

The report acknowledged using laminated windows would make it harder for passengers to escape without the help of the emergency services, but concluded that "further exploration of the accidents database and consideration of an extensive review of emergencies on trains overseas, found no examples where a life has been lost, or would have been lost, because of an inability to get out through a window".

It added that a "number of significant injuries have been sustained by people escaping from derailed trains through windows" and that, where fires occur during crashes, the majority start outside the carriages and safety glass would help protect passengers inside.

The report concluded: "The analysis supported an industry approach that passengers should be contained in a rail vehicle in the event of an accident, particularly when they overturn, and should not be encouraged to escape through windows at all."

It said that all body-side windows in passenger and crew areas should be fitted with laminated glass and have a high degree of containment and that windows in trains already in service should gradually be replaced with safety glass.

The industry position at the time favoured the "use of all laminated glass in future rolling stock and the progressive upgrading of existing long-life rolling stock (a position which was adopted in 2007)".

(Image: Grant Melton)

Toughened glass, also referred to as tempered, is glass strengthened through a combination of heat and chemical treatments which can withstand a greater impact than regular glass.

Experts say it can withstand an impact between three and seven times that of normal pane glass, though when it is subject to a large force it will shatter into hundreds or thousands of small pieces.

Laminated glass, however, is manufactured with one or several plastic layers between two panes of glass so that when it is shattered, it holds together in one piece.

Crucially, laminated glass will usually stay in place when it is broken, thanks to the plastic layer that helps it keep its structural integrity.

That means that in the event of a rail derailment it is far less likely that passengers will fall out of or be thrown from the vehicle.

Pictures taken after the crash of the driver's windscreen on tram 2551, the one which derailed, show that it appeared to be laminated glass, and survivors reported that firefighters had to cut it from the front of the vehicle to get in, while pictures taken while the tram was removed showed that the glass in several side passenger windows had broken.

Survivors told the Advertiser how several panes of the passenger area glass on the right hand side of the tram smashed as the tram tipped over.

Bombardier, the company which built the 24 original CR4000 trams between 1998 and 2000, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the type of glass used in the vehicles, while TfL did not respond to a specific request asking for the type of glass in the tram, beyond confirming the glass would form part of the investigation.

Several trams running on the network this week, including both the CR4000 model and the newer Stadler Rail Variobahn trams were seen to have laminated glass around the driver's cab, with tempered glass on the passenger windows.

Additional reporting by Gareth Davies
Norwegian Cruise Line announced its Black Friday Bonus and Cyber Monday Special.

During this limited time event, Norwegian is only requiring a $50 per person deposit on all sailings fleetwide in Studio, inside, oceanview, balcony, and min-suite staterooms, according to a press release.

From now through November 30, 2016, guests have the opportunity to snag the best combined offer of the year with reduced deposits, along with Norwegians Free at Sea promotion where guests choose from five free offers when they book a new cruise vacation.

With Norwegians Free at Sea, guests who book a new three-day or longer sailing in an oceanview, balcony or mini-suite category stateroom can select their preference of two free choices from five onboard amenity offers only available through the end of the month, including free unlimited open bar, free Specialty Dining package, free prepaid service charges for the first and second guest in the stateroom, a free 250 minute WiFi package, or Norwegians Friends & Family Sail Free offer which allows third and fourth guests to sail for free on select dates.

Inside staterooms, as well as Norwegians Studio staterooms for solo travelers, can choose one free offer. Guests who book a sailing in a suite or The Haven by Norwegian will enjoy all five free amenities, providing up to $2,800 in added value to their cruise.
Fathom is ceasing operation by June 2017, according to Carnival Corporation spokesman Roger Frizzell, who was quoted in various media outlets.

He could not be reached for comment at press time and no official statement was available from Carnival or Fathom.

The so-called social impact brand Fathom only launched operations last April with the former Adonia of P&O Cruises offering alternating sailings to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The Adonia will head back to service under P&O.

The brand, however, will remain, offering social impact shore excursions to other Carnival Corp. brands.
Opinion / Columnist

"Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo yesterday fumed at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) as his image is being battered in a sprawling inquiry by the State anti-graft body," reported the Daily News. "This comes after Zacc indicated that they are still pursuing several other corruption cases that threaten his political survival. "Moyo is already under investigation in connection with fraud involving the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef)."If anyone was to ask Professor Jonathan Moyo a simple but direct question whether he condemns corruption. He would answer without a moment's hesitation that he does, loud and clear. So will all his colleagues in Zanu PF, former Zanu PF colleagues like Mai Mujuru and even opposition leaders like Tsvangirai and Ncube. Yet most of these leaders if not all of them have all used their positions in office to enrich themselves, when they got a chance.Zimbabwe politics has often been called a "dirty game" as those vying for office have used all manner of dirty tricks including buying the people lots of meat and beer to buy votes right up to the other end of the scale of murdering political opponents.President Mugabe has corrupted all the state's institutions; the Police, CIO, ZEC, Judiciary, etc.; to create a ruthless vote rigging juggernaut that has left over 30 000 dead in its wake in his 36 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule. Having used all these devilish tricks to get into office, these politicians have all looked for ways to recoup on their investment as much as possible and as quickly as possible and corruption was the one sure way of delivering of the two counts! We live in a country where corruption has been institutionalised and all powerful. The Mafia rule the roost, unlike Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone in the 1930s America who settled for bribing state officials, the Godfather of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, has his thugs running every state institution and facade of human life down to the village headman.When Mugabe boasts of "My Zimbabwe!" he means it literally and in every other sense of the word. He owns Zimbabwe, its land, minerals and all who live there. He has never been phased in anyway about rigging elections and even murdering so many innocent souls to impose his corrupt and autocratic one-party cum one-man dictatorship. Why should he, when the wealth and people are his own person property to do with as he alone sees fit!President Mugabe and his growing extended family are among some of the richest people in the world and all from looting. For years he has stubbornly refused to admit that there was corruption in Zimbabwe.When the evidence of corruption has come out in the open as happened with the Willowvale Motors scandal, dubbed Willowgate, he allowed his some of those involved to face the music but only as a damage limiting exercise. The corrupt officials were never punished but were quickly rehabilitated and promoted. Speaker of the House of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda is a convicted Willowgate scandal.It was Geoffrey Nyarota, the Chronicle Editor, who dared to expose the Willowgate scandal who punished; he was demoted and ever since the regime has persecuted him wherever he went.President Mugabe is himself on public record condemning corruption, each time he was forced to admit there is corruption. But he has never followed this up and stamp it out because he never condemned corruption per se but rather that the public ever got to hear of it! He condemned corruption with a snake's forked tongue, he did not mean a word he said. It is no surprise that those below him have too developed a forked tongue and to speak in riddles!The snake's forked tongue message on corruption is simple: loot as much as you can just be careful to cover your tracks and not be caught, especially when the Mafia brotherhood cannot protect you!So President Mugabe and all his Zanu PF cronies and minions and opposition leaders like Tsvangirai and Biti, during the GNU gravy train days, have all been feeding like pig on the trough. Just like the 1980s Willowgate scandal once in a while the spotlight is turned on to reveal some pig still feeding. This time the spotlight has caught the warily weasel, political-turn coat and the Macavity the Mystery Cat of Zimbabwe political intrigue, Professor Jonathan Nathaniel Moyo, Minister of Higher Education, not just with his hand in the cookie jar but cover to his eye balls in crumbs!"Moyo yesterday slated Zacc and warned of unnamed impending consequences," continued the Daily News. "Zacc will be taken to the cleaners after this 2nd presser by (Zacc commissioner) Robert Smart Goodson Nguni!" Moyo tweeted.Whilst Professor Moyo has joined every other corrupt public figure out there in condemning corruption; now that he is found to be corrupt himself his line of defence is he is not the only one. By all means, Professor name all the other corrupt leaders but when all is said and done you too will still be guilty as charged!Professor Moyo can turn himself State witness but his offer to take ZACC Nguni et al "to the cleaners" is not near enough to get him off the hook. The wary Macavity will have to turn in some really big fish if his offer is to be given serious consideration.By denying there was no corruption and/or sweeping it under the carpet President Mugabe has allowed corruption to grow and spread to the monstrous cancer it is today. He admitted in February this year that $15 billions of diamond revenue was "swindled". No one has ever been arrested and so the looting is still going on.No country on earth can sustain $15 billion haemorrhage much less a country like Zimbabwe whose GDP is $14 billion. Corruption is killing Zimbabwe and we must deal with it now and decisively!
STAMFORD  No one in her family has served in the military, but photographer Rose DeSiano has been entrenched in war for four years.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., resident has been working on a series of tapestries that essentially are her re-enactment of re-enactments of scenes from World War II and the Vietnam War. The vividly descriptive War Tapestries  on room-sized jacquard weaves  are on display at the University of Connecticut Stamford Art Gallery through Dec. 22.

The entire body of work is three-pronged, she said, and part of what Im looking at is the way we visualize and re-create mythologies of American culture. My background is in photography and Im fascinated by how much of world history or American history we know or dont know accurately through photographs.

DeSiano received a master of fine arts degree from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and a bachelor of fine arts from New York Universitys Tisch School of Arts. She is an associate professor of photography at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

About her work, she added, Im looking at the way in which cameras recorded those scenes  optics changed, cameras changed  so we the way we saw the war changed. So Ive always been interested in that dialogue between how we remember something having a lot to do with how they were recorded at the time and how photo history drives a lot of our understanding of history.

Her concentration on the war tapestries began innocently enough. She was engaged in an artist-in-residency program in Wyoming and photographed a re-enactment of Custards Last Stand. After she developed the images, she left them on her desk at Kutztown University not sure what she would do with them. One day, the facilities director saw them and invited her to see a World War II re-enactment in which he was involved.

More Information FACT BOX UConn Stamford Art Gallery, Broad Street Concourse or Washington Boulevard, is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.artgallery.stamford.uconn.edu or call 203-251-8450. See More Collapse

After pre-dawn drive to Fort Indian Gap in Pennsylvania, DeSiano witnessed 200 to 300 men dressed up in period uniforms, some of them as Nazi officers, re-enacting the Battle of the Bulge. She rode in a motorcycle sidecar as she toured the field at the event, which involved at least 1,000 people.

DeSiano didnt do anything with those images for three years, but she wondered about the myth and glorification of war, which led her to examine how it has been represented through visual arts. She needed to see more. With the attention to detail and accuracy paramount to the re-enacters, she said, she wasnt allowed to photograph as an outsider, so she dressed as a man in period costume and took the role of war correspondent.

As I started pursuing this and wanted to see more and more what was happening at these events  theres a great pageantry to it and I wanted to see that and photograph that  I had to go dressed, she said of participating in some of the re-enactments.

DeSiano has 15 completed tapestries, which she said are heavily composited in Photoshop to add dramatization and detail, with more in the works, in particular the merging of animals into the images for the segment Heroes and Beasts. The exhibit at the UConn Art Gallery introduces the series beast part, which emerged from the whole idea of re-enactments, exploring the question of why icons that represent our culture are perfected.

Why do we need to re-create these dioramas of these animals that we perceive as very American? she asked, then drew parallels with war. Animals do kill each other and people do fight for their ground even if atrocities come from it.

As she works on perfecting the Heroes and Beasts segment, DeSiano also is looking to develop a series on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
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The privileged, ethically challenged son of a longtime Democratic insider is now facing 20 years in prison.

Known for behind-the-scenes work as a utility lobbyist, Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr., 53, of Canterbury in eastern Connecticut, has been charged with bribery and fraud felonies over his alleged role in an upstate New York scandal that has ensnared two former top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with six others.

Kelly, observers say, is an occasionally condescending political schmoozer, who may have gotten in over his head amid the ethical loopholes that the Cuomo confidantes tried to exploit during the governors effort to kick-start the sputtering economy of New Yorks northern tier.

Kelly allegedly funneled about $300,000 in payoffs aimed at reaping $100 million toward the completion of a gas-fired power plant in Orange County, N.Y., for his employer, Maryland-based Competitive Power Ventures Holdings, LLC, federal prosecutors say.

The 79-page criminal complaint in September that led to Kellys arrest, and his formal indictment on Tuesday, charge that Kelly even lied to his company executives, allegedly claiming that he obtained an ethics ruling in New York that allowed CPV to hire the wife of Joseph Percoco, Cuomos former close adviser who is at the center of the scandal.

A Hearst Connecticut Media investigation shows Kelly  known as Braith in a shortening of his middle name  aggressively pursued Connecticut regulators for meetings with CPV Towantic  a similar electric-generating facility now under construction in Oxford.

Ethics lapses

Kelly, senior vice president of external affairs for CPV, ran afoul of Connecticut ethics regulators and paid a multithousand-dollar fine after the Democratic National Convention that nominated President Barack Obama for a second term.

Records released under Connecticuts Freedom of Information Act show Kelly was persistent in seeking meetings with Katie Dykes, then-deputy commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Braith Kelly from CPV Towantic had planned to be on vacation but would like to meet with Katie ASAP, said a July 9, 2015, email from fellow lobbyist John C. Larkin to DEEP staff. Braith would like to give an over-status report.

Dykes, now chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, and DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee, in a joint interview, said recently that the meetings and phone calls with Kelly were strictly routine.

From time to time, developers who are looking to build new power plants for the state ask to come in and talk with our energy team about their plans, Dykes said at a table in Klees third-floor office overlooking Bushnell Park in Hartford. Its of interest to us, tracking how much power generation we will have potentially built-out in our state as it relates to a policy we have focused on over the last couple of years, particularly for gas power plants.

Klee said that the last meeting with Kelly and CPV Towantic officials occurred in February.

From the environment side, we have developers of all types, not just in the energy space, but who are doing waste facilities, folks who are looking at landfills, folks who are doing large commercial developments or whatnot, Klee said. Particularly large products that hit multiple pieces of our agency are encouraged to come in early and often in order to figure out how to navigate through our permit system.

Klee and Dykes said that since Connecticuts restructuring of the electric market in 1998, traditional utilities are no longer building power plants and there is no ratepayer or taxpayer money available for developing these projects, which depend on an annual New England regional energy auction.

Larkin, whose lobbying clients include environmental advocates, insurers, firearms manufacturers and energy companies, agreed last week that the conferences with Klee and Dykes were pro forma.

They were routine meetings where we talked about where we saw the project going, where it would fit into the energy needs of Connecticut, Larkin said.

Kellys father, Peter G. Kelly, is a founding partner of the Hartford law firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy. The elder Kelly was a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1976 to 1992, Kelly also served as the partys national treasurer and national finance chairman. He has contributed more than $35,000 to Democrats since 2001, according to federal and state finance records.

Competitive Power Ventures, which fired Braith Kelly, disavowed his actions.

We are extremely disappointed in the alleged conduct, which is in direct contradiction to CPVs core values and expectations of our staff, said Tom Ramsey, the companys vice president for external affairs, in a statement.

Kelly is out on $50,000 bond and his travel is restricted, although he has been allowed to travel within the United States, particularly to North Carolina, where he owns a charter fishing boat.

Kelly on Wednesday, during a brief phone conversation, declined to comment. Mr. Kelly is innocent and will be exonerated, said his attorney, Daniel Gitner.

Also arrested in the wide-ranging probe was Louis P. Ciminelli, a Buffalo builder who had been involved in the consortium picked by the Connecticut Department of Transportation in 2013 to create a half-billion-dollar mixed-use development around the Stamford train station that recently fell apart in protracted negotiations.

Quiet Corner connection

State and local officials and friends describe Kelly, a lawyer, as working in support of CPVs engineers, environmental experts and planners, who eventually amended the Oxford plan to use a lot less water as a coolant than originally proposed.

Still, some remember him as arrogant and sarcastic. Others said they thought that New Yorks relatively few ethics rules, which have resulted in the arrest of major political figures in recent years, might have created a false sense of legality for Kelly as he got sucked further and further into alleged bribes, conspiracy and fraud in Cuomos Buffalo Billion development.

Back in 2012, Kelly was fined $5,230 by Connecticuts Office of State Ethics for failing to report he hosted a breakfast for Connecticut delegates during the 2012 Democratic National Convention in a Charlotte.

According to OSE records, reviewed under the FOI Act, the breakfast bill was $2,976.81, for a spread that included muffins, Danish, fluffy scrambled eggs with fresh chives & sour cream, bacon and turkey sausage.

The meal, a daily convention event sponsored by different corporations, was attended by 86 Connecticut delegates and guests, including Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew and Ted Kennedy Jr., who was elected to the state Senate in 2014.

The keynote speaker was Benjamin Todd Jealous, then-president of the NAACP. Kelly co-hosted the breakfast event with a group called Quiet Corner Democrats, which was started by fellow Canterbury resident Christopher Pitts.

New York scam

While Pitts was not among those named in the criminal complaint that led to the September arrests, the Wall Street Journal this year identified Pitts as Consultant 1 who allegedly acted as a conduit for payments from CPV to Lisa Toscano-Percoco. Pitts did not return requests for comment this week.

In October 2012, Kelly told CPV executives who were skeptical of hiring the wife of a senior Cuomo staffer he had obtained an ethics opinion from Cuomos office approving it.

I learned that no such ethics opinion was ever provided to the Energy Company and there is no evidence to suggest that one was ever sought or prepared, wrote Deleassa Penland, criminal investigator for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York.

Kellys alleged creation of a $90,000-a-year low-show job for Toscano-Percoco was part of an effort to gain $100 million in state support to build a $900 million plant under construction near Interstate 84 in Orange County. Percoco allegedly strung Kelly along and the $100 million deal for CPV never came through.

Kelly also was the front man and the public face of CPV Towantic LLC, which overcame extensive local opposition for approval for a 785-megawatt gas-fired power plant, which is now being built in Oxford and is nearly identical to the 650-megawatt unit in Wawayanda, N.Y.

According to the charges filed by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Kelly orchestrated more than $287,000 in payments to Percoco and his wife, who live in an $800,000 house in Westchester Countys Lewisboro.

kdixon@ctpost.com;
Cuba and South Africa sign cooperation agreement in Basic Education

Submitted by: Juana

Africa

Education

Politics and Government

11 / 24 / 2016



Cuba and South Africa signed a cooperation agreement in Basic Education in Pretoria City which joins to the existing ones in health, water resources, human settlements and professional training in Cuba, PL news agency reported.

The current agreement provides, among other objectives, for sharing the experiences of the Caribbean nation in teaching mathematics and science to strengthen training and qualification in the South African public education system.

The document was signed by Angie Motshekga, South African Minister of Basic Education, and Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuban Ambassador to South Africa.

The agreement is reached in the context of the 20th anniversary of the official start of the cooperation between the two countries, which began when the first group of Cuban doctors arrived in South Africa on February 1996.

The ceremony was attended by officials from the South Africas Department of International Relations and Cooperation and the Cuban diplomatic legation.

Currently, more than 600 Cuban cooperators are providing their services in that African nation, and 424 are medical professionals. (acn)
Cuba expects to receive over four million tourists in 2017





The growing number of international visitors to Cuba, reported at over 3.1 million by the end of October, has sparked predictions of some 4.1 million in 2017.

Tourism Ministry marketing director Maria del Carmen Orellana told reporters on Wednesday that the three million 193 thousand and 109 tourist arrivals in October announce a favorable results as the country still expects to receive 175 thousand tourists more than in 2015.

Orellana said that among major tourist sources growing this year is Canada despite the difficulties faced in that country due to the devaluation of the Canadian dollar. Other growing markets are the United States, whose citizens can only travel to Cuba under 12 general licenses approved by the Obama administration; European countries, Mexico and Argentina.

The official stressed the opening of new air connections by Austrian Airlines, Rusias Pegas, and Frances Virgin Atlantic and recalled that US regular flights will now come to Havana, after having opened itineraries to other provinces.

At present the Cuban tourist sector offers 65 thousand hotel rooms and over 17 thousand capacities in private homes, while projects up to 2030 include the construction of 108 thousand new hotel rooms, with 30 thousand of them being built with foreign capital. (acn)




Emir of Qatar reiterates willingness to expand cooperation with Cuba

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani reiterated his willingness to consolidate and expand cooperation relations with Cuba during a meeting in the capital Doha with visiting Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, who is on a tour of Middle East countries up to November 28.

According to PL news agency, Al-Thani the talks focused on exploring new opportunities for bilateral exchange, particularly in the health sector.

Foreign minister Rodriguez will conclude his visit to Qatar on Friday after touring projects of cultural, social, scientific and economic interest and following a meeting with the Cuban medical brigade working in a Cuban Hospital in Qatar, which was opened in January 2012.

The Middle East visit, which includes the United Arab Emirates, aims at consolidating political exchange and considering ways to strengthen cooperation between that part of the world and Cuba. (acn)
Somerset County Treasurer will 'do what it takes' for best returns
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A hillside home disguised with a grass roof, a fortress made from 90 tonnes of Jersey stone and a building 'brought back from the dead' for 5,000 are among the astonishing properties competing to be named Britain's House of the Year.

A special series of Grand Designs explores the contemporary builds created by UK architects that have made the Royal Institute of British Architects' long list.

Also in the running are a collection of farmhouses transformed into a light-flooded family home and a California-style villa in the Cornish countryside.

Here, we take a look at the unique homes explored by the show's presenter Kevin McCloud with its architect to understand what it takes to build a truly modern masterpiece.

THE OUTHOUSE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

The 'Outhouse' is nestled in a forest hillside, camouflaged by a low sloping grass roof and glass windows

The former outbuildings are now a courtyard, and the roof is topped with grass to keep it camouflaged from sight

The house has a 45-foot long hallway that is the original driveway leading up to the former farmhouse that was surrounded by outbuildings

The views are spectacular and ever-changing as the forest changes colour, owners Michael and Jean can drink in the landscape from inside their home

Michael and Jean are artists who live in 490 square metres of concrete tucked into a Gloucestershire hillside, known as the Outhouse.

Their spectacular home is eye-catching for one reason - that it isn't. It's extremely low and a grass covered ensures it goes virtually unnoticed - the very thing that persuaded the RIBA judges to place the Outhouse on the long list.

The three-bedroom building was created by architect Chris Loyn, who employed a trick of the trade when coming up with the concept - flipping everything inside out.

I came up with the idea that you anchor it with its history. We left the footprints of the buildings where they were and scooped the meadow over the top,' he explains to Kevin.

The sunken house has three courtyards each the exact shape of a previous outbuilding that once surrounded the original house

The owners prefer to get around on scooters, which Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud is only too happy to join in on (left). Owner Michael sits painting in his peaceful studio (right)

Demolishing the former stone farmhouse and it's adjoining outbuildings Loyn used them as as the basis of his plan - the pig sty became an outline of a courtyard, the long driveway leading up to the home became the 'interior road' - a 45-foot long hallway - and the former courtyards are the new building wrapped around them.

The owners get around the vast concrete space - which has a huge kitchen, dining room, living room, and two bedrooms all next to each other in a row - with the help of nifty scooters.

ANSTY PLUM, WILTSHIRE

RIBA judges are also extremely fond of the resurrected Ansty Plum in Wiltshire, a house built for 5,000 in 1962 by original architect David Levitt.

Architect Bev Dockray and owners Sarah and Nico brought the 165 square metre sloped structure 'back from the dead' to make it fit for the 21st Century, breathing new life into the dilapidated structure.

It's Sarah's dream to get the house listed, but for now the 54-year-old c lassic mid-century modern style with natural brick, exposed structural timbers, and unique sloping roof are her pride and joy.

The 50-year-old Ansty Plum in Wiltshire was restored to its former glory by architect Bev Dockray and owners Sarah and Nico, who wanted to resurrect the architectural masterpiece

The family see the home as a retreat away from the hustle of city living - they kept the original layout of the building including the narrow staircases

One of the most striking features of the structure is the exposed wood, which the architect chose to keep from the original building

THE ZINC HOUSE, ANGUS

The Zinc House in Angus, Scotland, borrows the nearby look of agricultural buildings to blend in with the rural country landscape.

Forged from a collection of old farmhouses, the 525 square metre four-bedroom house is the brainchild of architect Graeme Hutton.

The Zinc House was built from a collection of old farmhouses, filled with light streaming in from the copious amount of glass windows

What appears to be a standard farmhouse is actually an 'invisible' house crafted to fit in with the rural country landscape

The glass windows light up the kitchen, which has a floating island in the centre and staggering views

While it looks like a metal shed on the outside it is so much more on the inside for owners Richard and Jacky, who enjoy rooms filled with light streaming in from huge glass windows.

Hutton considers it a prototype for future rural housing schemes, and says: ' We wanted to build something that situated itself into the landscape almost invisibly but made a very modern house.

'Its sometimes quite difficult in big open spaces to actually ground buildings in their place.'

LE PETIT FORT, JERSEY

Using original granite from a 1920s folly situated on the coast of the Jersey shoreline, Le Petit Fort is unusual in the way it protects itself from the surrounding landscape.

The 472 square metre, t hree-storey house has a low roof covered in tough corten steel and set behind granite walls.

This Jersey home is built like a fortress, using granite from an original 1920s folly it is three-storeys high with sweeping views of the coastline

The low set windows leave Kevin baffled as he wanders around unable to see out of them - only when he sits down does he see the unobstructed views of the thrashing sea

The house comes with a swimming pool and a sauna as well as a lookout point - now a study and a guest bedroom

It may look tough on the outside, but inside Le Petit Fort is full of glamour and luxury, with five bedrooms, a media room, sauna, swimming pool and a winding spiral staircase

The hidden home leaves Kevin baffled as he wanders around unable to see out of the windows - it's only when he sits down that he notices the unobstructed views of the thrashing sea.

This is a house for sitting down in. I call that a treat actually,' he comments of the fortress, which was built from 90 tonnes of Jersey stone.

Inside its walls there is an outdoor swimming pool, a sauna, five bedrooms, a media room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, snug, a spiral staircase and a study on the third floor which looks out to the coast.

Architect Anthony Hudson explains how he came up with the concept: You wouldnt normally build something like this right next to the sea because you would want to see the sea.

'But its just a fantastic enclosure protecting you from the westerly gales. Its all about the defence protecting you from the rain and the weather and referring to the history of the defence of Jersey.'

THE CALIFORNIAN VILLA, CORNWALL

Re-imagining the Californian villa in the Cornish countryside is exactly what owners Helen and Paul had in mind for their unique build.

Their 282 square metre, four bedroom house is laid out in an L-shape over two floors that capture the best of the surrounding views.

The 11 and a half foot cantilever is the most striking aspect of this Californian style villa situated in the Cornish countryside

The most striking aspect of their home is an 11 and a half metre long cantilever that juts right over edge of the site.

Completely scrapping the original house they spent 15 months and used 12 tonnes of steel and timber to carefully craft and build the frame with the help of architect John Hardy.

He drew inspiration from another famous build just below their new home, Creek Vean, a famous house created in 1966 by architects Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Wendy Foster and Su Rogers.

I was intimidated because Creek Vean is just below it and that is one of the great houses in the UK. I thought Oh crikey I am going to be compared to that.

It was very angular, very simple and beautifully detailed it was very inspiring for any architect. Its a great house that transcends its time. I wanted to pay homage to it, in no way did I want to copy it,' he says.

As presenter Kevin explains, they 'extracted the maximum juice from the site', which benefits from magnificent views .
When TV shopping channel QVC started selling Le Creuset casserole dishes, it caused consternation.

The iconic French cookware beloved of everyone from Samantha Cameron to Sarah Jessica Parker  isnt just la creme de la creme of cookware, its quintessentially middle class. So how on earth has it ended up on a shopping channel?

And Le Creuset is far from the only posh brand to appear on QVC in recent months. So much so that shoppers, who normally cant be prised out of John Lewis and Harvey Nichols, are stampeding to switch on the television to shop. Tessa Cunningham has the low-down.

When TV shopping channel QVC started selling Le Creuset casserole dishes, it caused consternation

WHAT EXACTLY IS QVC?

There may be plenty of other channels snapping at its heels. But QVC (Quality, Value, Convenience) is Britains oldest dedicated TV shopping channel with 65 per cent of the market.

An offshoot of the American QVC channel, it launched in 1993 to appeal to women who wanted to shop from their sofas.

Last year, consumer champions Which? named QVC the best online shop for Furnishing and Homeware, while it came fifth for Electricals and seventh for Cosmetics and Toiletries.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You can switch on the TV and shop round the clock. The Live channel (16 if youre watching on Freeview) broadcasts from 9am to 1am. The busiest shopping time is midnight.

Live is backed up by Style and Beauty channels, which broadcast pre-recorded material.

Every programme follows the same cosy format. The camera zooms in on the product. The chirpy presenter (a cast of 27 includes former BBC childrens presenter Andi Peters and model and TV presenter Claire Sutton) talks exhaustively through the selling points with a company rep.

Presenters discuss the merits of the Smeg retro wallmounted electric fireplace with remote control: 299.88. Usual price: 348

WHAT'S THE APPEAL?

Fans says they love the approach, as they get to see the pros and cons of every item.

We honestly do point out exactly what every product does, says QVCs merchandising vice president, Jo Lee.

When we feature a skincare product for example, the presenters are scrupulous about explaining why it might not suit everyone.

And companies love to explain the nitty gritty of their products  like how you can use the Le Creuset lid as a baking tin.

That went down a treat with our 27 million viewers, says Jo.

Emma Bridgewater portable radio, wallflower print: 121. Usual price: 135

WHAT CAN I BUY?

Its true that once upon a time QVC was stuffed with dodgy animal print fleeces and kitchen utensils. But no longer.

The Le Creuset Signature Cast Iron Round Chefs pan (priced from 131 for a 24 cm dish), is just the latest high-end product. If you fancy a Smeg kettle, a KitchenAid mixer, or even an Emma Bridgewater designed radio, look no further. Molton Brown, Bobbi Brown and LOccitane  you can buy them all on QVC.

Liz Earle also launched her skin care range on the channel in 1996 (she sold out in 20 minutes). QVC customers have so far bought 75,000 gallons of her hero Cleanse & Polish lotion.

Kelly Hoppen 800 thread count Egyptian cotton six-piece duvet set: 117 to 157.20. Exclusive to QVC

And if you still need convincing of just how posh QVC is, Theresa Mays favourite designer, Amanda Wakeley, launched her Monogram range of handbags on the channel in September with prices ranging from 68 to 275.

We havent been selling them at knock-down prices. We really arent a discount parade, says Jo. The exciting thing is that Amanda is also designing exclusively for us later in the year.

HOW DO I SHOP?

Everything featured on TV also appears online and is available until stock runs out. Traditional QVC shoppers, dubbed the Golden Girls, prefer to phone the free order line (based in Knowsley, Liverpool).

Amanda Wakeley, the Mini Cooper small metallic leather crossbody bag: 183. Exclusive to QVC

Sales staff answer up to 168,000 calls a day. Newer customers  nicknamed the Designer Housewives and Mainstream Mums  prefer to shop online at qvcuk.com.

For energy company manager, Nicola Mayling, 50, from Aylesbury, convenience is key. I pop QVC on my iPad while Im getting ready for work, she says. Its common for me to buy some face cream or a handbag with a quick tap on the app before Ive even had breakfast.

On high-ticket items such as TVs or jewellery, the channel offers phased no-interest payments. Theres also a no-quibble 30-day money-back guarantee. Its another plus, says Nicola.

ANY BARGAINS?

Elemis six-piece collection of skin and body products: 72. Usual price: 150

Youll pay about the same as on the High Street for most items. But its QVCs hot daily deals that get shoppers excited. At midnight every day, the Todays Special Value deal (TSV) is revealed. Prices are driven right down and stock is often limited.

Fans also like to buy goods that arent easily available on the High Street . . . such as award-winning pies from the Real Pie Company. The artisan company, based in Sussex, baked 30,000 mince pies for QVC last year.

It may seem odd to buy food from a TV shopping channel, but gourmet food is actually our biggest growth area, says Jo Lee. Were now looking at branching into wines from boutique English vineyards.

THIS WEEK'S DEALS

Smeg retro wallmounted electric fireplace with remote control: 299.88. Usual price: 348

Emma Bridgewater portable radio, wallflower print: 121. Usual price: 135

Kelly Hoppen 800 thread count Egyptian cotton six-piece duvet set: 117 to 157.20. Exclusive to QVC

Amanda Wakeley, the Mini Cooper small metallic leather crossbody bag: 183. Exclusive to QVC
Cubby houses are the latest trend for children this Christmas

Forget inflatable doughnuts, flamingos and last year's proliferation of hoverboards.

Christmas 2016 is only about one thing.

The cubby house - basically a granny annexe for your kids - takes all of the best parts of play houses, and amplifies them into something many adults wouldn't mind living in themselves.

From sandpits to bunting, awnings and original vintage features, the new cubby homes come complete with a whole host of natty features.

But before you rush out to invest, it's worth keeping one thing in mind - these cute cubbies don't come cheap.

Cubby houses (pictured) are the latest hot trend when it comes to toys for children - they come in all sorts of forms, both as homes and shops

One Melbourne-based business, Castle and Cubby, is doing a roaring trade in the cubby homes

From sandpits to bunting, awnings and original vintage features, the new cubby houses come complete with a whole host of natty features (pictured)

Starting at AUD $850, the eco-friendly, vintage-sourced homes go all the way up to AUD $2650 for individual houses, upon which point you can continue to add to your collection with other pricey additions.

Speaking to FEMAIL, the creator and business mind behind Castle and Cubby, a cubby house business based in Melbourne, Kellie Macpherson, said there's a clear reason why such homes are on the rise.

'There's a move towards that handmade, recycled aesthetic,' she said.

However, the homes, milk bars (left) and cafes (right) don't come cheap - prices start at around AUD $850 and go right the way up to $2,650

Speaking to FEMAIL, the CEO of Castle and Cubby said there is a reason why such cubby houses are on the rise - they are nostalgic, eco-friendly and handmade (pictured)

'Speaking from personal experience, myself and my husband realised that we were buying and throwing out so much plastic from our first child.

OIur products will look the same - if not better - in 10 years time

'It's such a waste. I think other people are starting to think this too, and so we launched Castle and Cubby with that in mind - though initially it was just as a labour of love.

'The good thing about our products is that they will look the same - if not better - in 10 years time.'

Creator, Ms Macpherson, said that she was sick of throwing out so much plastic with her first child, and so they made their first cubby house

Soon afterwards, she and her partner launched a business - predominantly as a labour of love

At Castle and Cubby, you can get all sorts of homes and shops for your children.

From post offices complete with original-sourced post boxes, to milk bars, ice cream vendors and even a bespoke farmer's market model, according to Ms Macpherson, it's all about 'engaging with the child's imagination'.

'I spend the whole time scouring vintage shops looking for things for the houses,' Ms Macpherson said.

'The farmers' markets are proving the most popular at the moment, but if someone rings up and says: "I want a bakery", then we can do that, too.'

The business later took off - and now, Ms Macpherson says that if they are rung up in advance, they can make anything - from bakeries to milk bars (pictured)

Recently, media personality Zoe Foster Blake uploaded one of the Castle and Cubby houses to her Instagram profile (pictured)

Recently, media personality Zoe Foster Blake uploaded one of the Castle and Cubby houses to her Instagram profile, which Ms Macpherson said, meant some of the Little Houses (priced at $850) flew off the shelves.

'The Little ($850) and Midi ($1,650) houses are the most popular because they're more affordable, but we do sell some Large ($2,650) homes, too,' she said.

Indeed, within the cubby home market, the products are on a par with many others - and do include delivery and installation, too.

'People want rustic and raw now, and that's what Castle and Cubby offers. A vintage spin on a toy for your children.'
They say an Englishmans home is his castle. But try telling that to Paul OCarroll. Last month, at his wifes behest, he packed up his belongings and moved from their modern London apartment to an old-fashioned bungalow almost 100 miles away in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

This wasnt a typical relocation in search of a better quality of life or bigger property. Paul and wife Rosie, along with their three-year-old daughter Ava, were moving for one reason only. To become full-time carers of his mother-in-law, Janet, by moving into her home.

As well as adjusting to life in a new house and a new town, Paul is slowly coming to terms with the reality of sharing his home with his wifes 81-year-old mother and all the challenges of caring for an elderly, frail person.

Pictured above: Rosie & Paul O'Carroll From Bury St. Edmonds with their young daughter Ava. They have recently become full-time carers of Rosie's mother, Janet, by moving into her home

The plight of the sandwich generation has been much publicised. The adult children  more often than not women  who are shouldering the responsibility for their own families and their ageing parents, often while also working full-time.

However, behind every woman desperately juggling her roles as wife, mother and daughter is a man whos had to accept that his needs have sunk to the bottom of the pile.

The forgotten casualties of this modern trend, these are the sandwich spouses, forced to play second fiddle to the demands of their elderly and infirm in-laws.

For Rosie and Paul, a series of events over the course of the past year led to their recent relocation.

They packed up their belongings and moved from their modern London apartment to an old-fashioned bungalow almost 100 miles away in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

The plight of the sandwich generation has been much publicised. The adult children (Rosie, above with her mother Janet)  more often than not women  who are shouldering the responsibility for their own families and their ageing parents, often while also working full-time

My father died last year, aged 76, but my older brother was still living at home, so he was able to help care for Mum, who is house-bound, along with occasional visits from private carers, says Rosie, a 43-year-old marketing manager

At least every three weeks I would spend the weekend here to help and give him a break. It was exhausting. I would work all week, then travel for three hours with a toddler in tow by myself because Paul chose to stay in London.

I felt guilty taking Ava away from Paul and not having weekends as a family and being a normal couple, she says.

When my brother got married earlier this year and moved to Bournemouth with his new wife, I knew something drastic would have to happen. Mum doesnt want to go into a care home  not that we could afford one anyway  and she would never have agreed to moving to London.

She needed me here, but I couldnt be in two places at once and realised the only option was for us to move in with her.

Behind every woman desperately juggling her roles as wife, mother and daughter is a man (Paul, pictured above) whos had to accept that his needs have sunk to the bottom of the pile

Rosie says: I love my mum and want to do everything I can for her, but I realise shes not Pauls mother. He doesnt have the same sense of responsibility to her, yet I was basically going to impose that on him'

Rosie, tormented by guilt, worried endlessly if such a move could damage her marriage. Pauls a very laid-back and understanding husband, but I worried he could end up miserable and resenting me for making him give up his life in London.

I love my mum and want to do everything I can for her, but I realise shes not Pauls mother. He doesnt have the same sense of responsibility to her, yet I was basically going to impose that on him.

My parents cared for my maternal grandparents, and my grandfather lived with us. I saw it put a strain on my parents marriage, my dad found it very difficult at times and it caused arguments.

I desperately didnt want history to repeat itself, but also felt I had no other choice.

Before the couple moved, Paul, 55, took voluntary redundancy from his job as a procurement and facilities manager, and is on a career break.

Rosie, meanwhile, has agreed with her employer to work three days from home and two in London, so the couple have kept their flat in the capital as a base for her.

Paul admits that when Rosie raised the idea of moving in with her mother, he had reservations. I knew Rosie was torn between her mum and our family life, and I had a lot of empathy having cared for my own mother, who died six years ago.

Despite his concerns, Paul (pictured above with Rosie and daughter Ava) agreed to the move, realising it was too important to Rosie for him to stand in the way. I tried to look at the positives; less stress for Rosie and more time together as a family, he says

I could see the toll the commuting was taking on her and her constant worry about her mum when she was in London.

But I couldnt pretend I wasnt worried about moving in with Janet. Rosies mum is a hoarder and I didnt really want to be living in a house that didnt feel like my home, camping out among someone elses belongings.

The decor is old-fashioned and having always felt like a visitor when I came here before, it wasnt a house I was desperate to move into.

The lack of privacy was also a concern, and feeling restricted. I love to play guitar and listen to music  would that be possible when living with an older person?

And how could Rosie and I have a normal married relationship when sharing a house with her mother?

With an ageing population and care home costs rising, this isnt a problem thats going to go away

I have two teenage children from a previous relationship who live in London, and all my friends and family are there, too. Id be leaving all that behind to move to a town where I knew no one.

Despite his concerns, Paul agreed to the move, realising it was too important to Rosie for him to stand in the way.

I tried to look at the positives; less stress for Rosie and more time together as a family, he says.

A month in, its not proving to be an easy transition. It doesnt feel like my home and were going to have to re-decorate extensively.

But whats been hardest is realising how difficult it is to have 24/7 responsibility for a person who needs so much care.

Every time I go out of the house, my mother-in-law asks me where Im going, who with, when Ill be back and who is going to make her dinner.

At times I feel like a teenager again. At other times I feel as if we have a second child to care for.

Paul says of living with Janet, 81: Every time I go out of the house, my mother-in-law asks me where Im going, who with, when Ill be back and who is going to make her dinner. At times I feel like a teenager again. At other times I feel as if we have a second child to care for.

Id thought the move would mean less time apart from one another, but now Rosie is away two days and one night a week, so Im left in sole charge at home

Yes, its tough, but Im hopeful well settle into this new life soon.

Julia Cole is a counsellor and senior psychotherapist at Priory Wellbeing Centre in Southampton. She agrees that the husbands and partners of the women of the sandwich generation are often overlooked.

Men in these situations can experience very complex emotions. They may feel neglected, envious of their in-law and resentful that their wife has little time or attention for them, while they have to manage as a single parent. And these are understandable emotions  this isnt about being self-centred.

Then, of course, they will feel guilty and upset for feeling like that and not being more sympathetic to their wifes position.

If they vocalise how theyre feeling, that can cause a lot of upset, placing more pressure on the carer. If they bottle up their emotions thats not healthy for a relationship.

Paul says of his marriage to Rosie (pictured above): We have reached boiling point occasionally. Ive felt angry at times and I know Rosie feels stressed and panicked. Were trying to focus on the fact were in it together, and support each other, rather than turn on one another'

Paul says: The other night we had to laugh when, midway through a marital squabble, we could hear Rosies mum calling for one of us to help her with something. Its hard when you cant even have an argument in peace'

With an ageing population and care home costs rising, this isnt a problem thats going to go away.

So, what can couples do to protect their relationships in the face of so many competing demands?

While its important for husbands to have empathy and realise the challenges facing their wife, the carer must also take measures to preserve her relationship, says Julia.

Set aside time to be alone as a couple and try to make your partner feel he is on an equal footing in terms of your time and emotions.

Explore all possible options of help, from private care if you can afford it to OAP clubs and family and friends. Shouldering all of the burden is detrimental to your own family life.

And the husband shouldnt be afraid to insist on some boundaries.

Pictured above: Mars Webb with her Husband Patrick and Daughter Poppy at her home in Carryduff, Northern Ireland. Mars and Patrick live with Mar's parents so she can care for her mum

One man who did just that is Patrick Jones. Seven years ago, the 51-year-old agreed to give up his career as a male model, his stylish London home and busy social life to move to Northern Ireland so his wife, Mars, could care for her mother, who had been diagnosed with dementia.

Last year, they went a step farther and the couple moved both in-laws in with them  with conditions attached.

We were constantly driving back and forth from their house or Mars was staying there several nights a week to give her dad some respite.

But I also wanted to preserve my familys space and privacy. I arranged for an extension to be built on our house with a connecting corridor, so were not living in one anothers pockets.

A more understanding man of his wifes predicament would be hard to find.

Marss parents Maeve, 78, and John, 74, moved from West London to their native Northern Ireland when she was 21.

Seven years ago, 51-year-old Patrick agreed to give up his career as a male model, his stylish London home and busy social life to move to Northern Ireland so his wife, Mars, could care for her mother, who had been diagnosed with dementia

When Mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia eight years ago, I began commuting back and forth every other weekend, taking my youngest daughter Poppy, now 13, with me, says Mars.

Id leave Patrick with the elder two, Tess, 18, and Thomas, 16. All this after working all week running my PR consultancy business.

I knew enough about dementia to realise this was, sadly, a one-way journey for my mum and she was going to need me more and more, as was my dad, who had always relied on her to run the house and take care of things.

Im an only child so it fell to me to help them, but more than that, I wanted to.

I knew it was going to be an enormous upheaval. But I felt I had to put my parents first.

Last year, they went a step farther and the couple moved both in-laws in with them  with conditions attached. Marss parents Maeve, 78, and John, 74, moved from West London to their native Northern Ireland when she was 21. (Mars Webb pictured with her parents)

Maybe I didnt give much thought to whether Patrick could end up resenting me. I was blinkered about how it might impact on our relationship. And as I am the main breadwinner, I felt I had the right to make the decision that was going to make things easier for me.

Marss parents moved in February this year and the couple look after her mum, alongside a team of carers, while Mars runs her business from home.

She says she feels so much more content now, but what of Patrick?

When we first moved I was lonely, he says. I knew no one, I wasnt working and my wife was often at her parents house, leaving me to run our home and juggle the childrens needs. But as time has passed Ive settled into our new life.

Ive made a lot of sacrifices, but I couldnt stand by and watch my wife run herself ragged trying to be in two places at once.

I could see the toll it was taking  the anxiety about her mum and the guilt about being away from our children.

Some men would refuse to live with their in-laws, but for us this is the best way to preserve our familys happiness.

Marss parents moved in February this year and the couple look after her mum, alongside a team of carers, while Mars runs her business from home. She says she feels so much more content now, but what of Patrick?

While Patrick and Mars have had time to adjust to their new life, for Paul and Rosie that journey is only beginning and Paul acknowledges its put a strain on their marriage.

We have reached boiling point occasionally. Ive felt angry at times and I know Rosie feels stressed and panicked.

Were trying to focus on the fact were in it together, and support each other, rather than turn on one another. And weve agreed to get a babysitter so we can go out as a couple.

The other night we had to laugh when, midway through a marital squabble, we could hear Rosies mum calling for one of us to help her with something.
Ms Robinson uploaded the clip to her YouTube channel this week

Via contouring and an array of eyeshadows, she recreates it perfectly

In the clip, Ms Robinson recreated Gigi Hadid's look from the AMAs

Gigi Hadid is high up on many women's lists as someone they'd like to look like.

And now you can, thanks to the Australian beauty blogger and YouTube star, Sammy Robinson, who not only bears a striking resemblance to the American model, but also knows how to pull off her sultry look.

Tackling Gigi Hadid's make-up at this week's American Music Awards, Sammy Robinson uploaded a video to her YouTube page in which she perfectly attains Gigi's flawless look.

Scroll down for video

Australian YouTube star, Sammy Robinson, recently recreated American model, Gigi Hadid's, look at the American Music Awards (pictured)

Gigi Hadid (pictured) attended the awards ceremony with brightly-coloured lips, heavily-contoured skin and eyeshadows

Via some extreme contouring, an array of different-coloured eyeshadows and impeccable attention to detail, in just under eight minutes the 20-year-old from Sydney transforms her face into a doppelganger for Ms Hadid.

She [Gigi] had a lot of contouring and bronzer going on

But how? Ms Robinson begins the video with a freshly-cleansed and moisturised face.

Applying a primer by Laura Mercier and foundation by Becca with a sponge, Ms Robinson then conceals her face and explains: 'Gigi was very contoured.

'She had a lot of contouring and bronzer going on. I wanted to make sure I highlighted the centre of my face.'

Via contouring, an array of eyeshadows and impeccable attention to detail, in just under eight minutes the 20-year-old from Sydney transforms her face into a doppelganger for Ms Hadid

Beginning with freshly-cleansed and moisturised skin, Ms Robinson starts contouring her face with primers, foundations, highlighters and more (pictured)

She later brushes her eyebrows upwards so that they look like Gigi's, explaining: 'Gigi tends to keep them [her eyebrows] quite natural and fluffy'

Ms Robinson later applies a Clinique Chubby stick and highlighter by Benefit.

After 'baking' - or setting - her under eyes with translucent powder, Ms Robinson tackles her eyebrows, brushing them upwards:

'Gigi tends to keep them [her eyebrows] quite natural and fluffy,' she said.

Following this, Ms Robinson applies a whole host of different-coloured eyeshadows, winging them outwards so that they elongated her eyes in the Hadid style.

Explaining that her eyes were not nearly as 'sultry' as Gigi's, Ms Robinson then said she wanted to 'recreate it [the look] with make-up'.

After adding mascara, a few separate false eyelashes and three different lipsticks, the job was done.

Sammy Robinson (pictured) posts countless make-up vlogs and Instagram posts, in which she does make-up tutorials and recreates various looks

Comments on her most recent video post were overwhelmingly positive, with many people saying she and Gigi look somewhat like 'sisters'

Comments on both Ms Robinson's YouTube page and Instagram profile have been overwhlemingly positive since she posted the vlog.

Many people have commented on how the two look like 'sisters'.

'Your skin looks soooo [sic] beautiful,' one person wrote.

'You really look like Gigi. The only thing is Gigi's eyes are more elongated than yours,' another commenter added.
Look whos here! Millionaire conservationist Damian Aspinall was showing off new wife Victoria Fisher at the Animal Ball for the Elephant Family charity and bumped into his ex, Donna Air.

Donna was with her bearded boyfriend James Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridges brother.

Aspinall was all smiles as he laid a proprietorial hand on Victoria, who at 30 is seven years younger than Air.

Damian Aspinall, right, with new wife Victoria Fisher,bumped into his ex, Donna Air and her boyfriend James Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridges brother, left

Damian, father of Donnas daughter Freya, 13, dated her for six years, but they never wed.

Damian is still friends with Donna and Im very friendly with her as well, insists Victoria, a dead ringer for a younger Donna. Shes really, really lovely.

I am sure the feeling is mutual.

A-listers including Anna Friel and Lily Cole attended Tuesday night's highly-glamorous Animal Ball at Victoria House, Bloomsbury.

Damian Aspinall with wife Victoria Fisher at the Animal Ball

The annual fundraiser ball is held in aid of saving Asian and African Elephants, Lowland Gorillas, Lions and Blue Whales from extinction.

The Animal Ball featured an exhibit of animal-themed masks designed by designers including Chloe, Missoni, Matthew Williamson, Alice Temperley and Christian Dior.

The greatest fashion houses have collaborated to dress a host of stars from all corners of British society to celebrate and protect some of the planet's greatest creatures.

Leonard Cohen has passed on, but his mournfulness lives on within James Purnell, the former Labour Cabinet minister who now runs BBC Radio. Describing his policy wonk role negotiating a new BBC Royal Charter, Purnell quotes a line from the crooner: They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom for trying to change the system from within.

At least Purnell, who was speaking at BBC Radios early Christmas drinks party, didnt break into Cohens Im Your Man.

Surprise! Vogue boss's girl gets VIP treatment

Film producer Bee Shaffer, 29, is pleased as punch she has been asked to join Vogue VIP, an exclusive club that allows members to hold live Facebook Q&As with Vogue editors and privileged access to the magazines inner world.

Boasting of the news on social media, she also posted the invitation from her pal, Vogue accessories boss Selby Drummond. When your best friend invites you to experience their world as an insider, Bee captioned the pic.

However, she failed to mention her own mother is U.S. Vogue editor Anna Wintour. She immediately came under fire from friends, with one agonised chum commenting: Please, Anna Wintour would have probably decapitated somebody if you werent invited.

Film producer Bee Shaffer, 29, right, with her mother, US Vogue editor Anna Wintour

Reformed party girl Leah Wood, 38-year-old daughter of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, hosts a meditation workshop for 25 a pop next month. The two-hour event will include: Grounding meditation and yogic stretching, meditation to dissolve fear, aura meditation, raising your vibration, and Nidric relaxation: deep subconscious re-programming for your brightest self. Surely Ronnie will be first in the queue.

Actress Diana Quick and her former partner Bill Nighy have won their planning battle to chop down a protected tree they claim was putting their 2 million London property at risk with its sprawling roots. They won an appeal to lift a protection order covering a 60ft horse chestnut in their neighbours garden. Quick, 70, said wranglings over the tree had gone on for three years and had been extremely distressing. She and Nighy, 66, separated in 2008, but filed their appeal as joint property owners. Lets hope they can all turn over a new leaf.

Hurd's boy gets married - by accident

Mock wedding: Max Hurd and Eleanor Calder

The flamboyant grandson of Douglas Hurd may have accidentally married his best friend during their recent trip to India.

Style blogger Max, whose father Nick is the Climate Change Secretary, shared this picture online in which he and Eleanor Calder, ex-girlfriend of One Directions Louis Tomlinson, dressed up for a mock wedding.

Max, 25, explains: We experienced the very best India had to offer and then a mock Indian wedding! All of which we greatly enjoyed (even if we are not sure if we actually got married or not ha!).

Prince Charless Dorset model town of Poundbury is turning into a homage to the women in his life. After opening the Duchess of Cornwall pub and asking the Queen to unveil a statue of her mother, hes naming his next project  an Italianate palazzo  after one of the Queen Mums racehorses, Royal Pavilion. Architect Ben Pentreath says: Hes been very involved.

Parky's secret to happiness? A little bit of what you fancy

Sir Michael Parkinson once asked a young Helen Mirren whether having large breasts hindered her pursuit of being a serious actress.

At the age of 81, the broadcaster admits hes mindful of his own looks, too. I go to the gym once a week and I try to walk everywhere, he tells me at the launch of his book, Muhammad Ali: A Memoir, at Fortnum & Mason in Londons Piccadilly. I dont drink like I used to, but I dont diet. I dont think when you get to my age you should worry about dieting because it shows on your face.

If you allow yourself a little bit of what you fancy, youre a happier person and that shows on the outside.

Prince Andrew does seem to have found an ally in Boris Johnson.

Yesterday, I revealed the Foreign Secretary had been summoned to Buckingham Palace for talks with Air Miles Andy, who stepped down from his role as a trade envoy in 2011. Now, the Foreign Office has confirmed the pair were discussing the Duke of Yorks trips abroad.
A sexual fetish where men encourage their partner to have sex with others is on the rise in Australia.

Historically a disparaging term that described men who had been cheated on, cuckoldry is increasingly becoming a popular and sought-out fetish.

It has boomed over the past decade as attitudes towards sex have changed and Australia has been no exception.

Booming: Australians have been joining in the increasingly popular 'cuckold' fetish (stock image)

Since 2004, the number of people searching for the fetish online has almost doubled, Google Trends revealed.

This has been mirrored in internet forums, where fellow 'cucks' swap stories, share photos and even look for other men to have sex with their partners.

Social news website Reddit has an enormous cuckold community, complete with threads such as 'Cuck wannabe who is curious' and 'My girlfriend wants me to be a cuck'.

Other forums promoted the 'cuckold lifestyle' and encouraged users to share photos and videos of their cuckolding exploits.

Forbidden fantasy: Part of the allure of cuckoldry was the feeling of doing something seen as taboo (stock image)

Describing her polyamorous relationship earlier this month, a middle-aged woman told Fairfax Media how sleeping with other men had liberated herself and her husband.

'He held my hand. He told me he loved me. He told me he still loved having sex with me,' she said.

'And then he dropped the most extraordinary bombshell of all - He wanted to open our marriage and bring other lovers into it.

'Not just him but me as well.'

The excitement and desire that came from having other lovers made their marriage more intimate than ever, the woman said.

'There are no binding promises or years of commitment but there is fun and startling honesty. I've found my own vulnerability and it still terrifies me.'

Exciting: One woman who was encouraged to sleep with other men said she felt excited but terrified (stock image)

Psychologist Dr David Ley said the appeal of being cuckolded could lie in the desire to indulge one's 'forbidden fantasies'.

'Its essential to grasp that what might be humiliating about imagining ones wife having sex with another male is, in its idealized formulation, transformed into something not humiliating at all but engrossingly erotic,' he told Psychology Today.

The desire could also lie in thrill of participating in something so blatantly taboo, Dr Ley said.

'When an otherwise well-controlled heterosexual male dares to visually create his wifes violating her marital vows, and possibly his even encouraging her to do so, hes playing a vital role in what we might call a ''double transgression'' of societys norms.

'Voluntarily fantasizing himself as a cuckold, yet fully in charge of his cuckoldry, his ''forbidden fantasies'' may be particularly gratifying.'
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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended Westminster Abbey in London today for a service to mark the 60th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme.

The Queen wore a purple crepe coat and matching hat by Angela Kelly with an amethyst shield brooch for the service in front of the 2,000-strong congregation.

The Earl of Wessex told the service how he encouraged a Duke of Edinburgh's Award participant to take up pole dancing, during the service of thanksgiving.

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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arriving at Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award

The Queen was wearing a purple crepe coat and matching hat by Angela Kelly with an amethyst shield brooch for the celebration in central London today

Prince Edward (right) and his wife Sophie Wessex (left) were also seen arriving at the London ceremony earlier today

The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award is available to all 14-24 year olds and is said to be the world's leading youth achievement award

Sophie Wessex was seen wearing a dark navy embroidered blue outfit by Bruce Oldfield and a Jane Taylor hat with a matching purse

Edward said he was having lunch with a group of Gold Award participants when one girl told him she really wanted to learn pole dancing.

He told the congregation that it 'seemed to me at the time, if that's what this young person wanted to do, then why not?'

'So I told her to go for it; isn't that what the Duke of Edinburgh's Award is all about?'

He went on to say that he received a letter some time later from the same girl, who did go on to learn to pole dance, thanking him for inspiring her to 'fulfil my goal and to overcome my doubts'.

The Earl also praised his father during his address at the 60th anniversary service for his 'concern for the welfare of young people and desire to encourage their development'.

Philip, who launched the scheme in 1956, inspired by his time at Gordonstoun school, appeared to laugh off the praise as Edward said his father was 'probably the most self-effacing and modest person I know'.

Westminster Abbey officials chatted with the Queen and Prince Philip as they were led into the diamond anniversary service

The Earl and Countess of Wessex also attended. Over the past 60 years, more than 5.6 million young people have started the programme, and almost 2.5 million have achieved awards

She was greeted by the Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend Dr John Hall (right), as she arrived at Westminster Abbey

Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft and comedian Jon Culshaw also took part in the service in front of a 2,000-strong congregation

Pictured, the Earl and Countess of Wessex waiting for the service of celebration to begin at Westminster Abbey

In a message posted to social media TV presenter Phillip Schofield said: 'A little bit nerve wrecking, but a real privilege to be at such a fantastic celebration for the #DofE 's 60th anniversary'

The Queen was pictured meeting Paralympian wheelchair racer Hannah Cockcroft at Westminster Abbey in London

Cockcroft holds the Paralympic and world records for the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres in her classification

Edward said: 'The few who are gathered here today in this magnificent Abbey represent the millions who want to say thank you; thank you for believing in us, encouraging us and giving us the chance to savour that sense of satisfaction through achievement.'

He added that he hoped the Duke felt an 'immense sense of satisfaction in how the values instilled by your award are inspiring young people to step forward: prepared to serve, prepared to lead and prepared to make a difference in their communities'.

During the service impressionist Jon Culshaw gave a reading and Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft told how the award had given her 'independence' in using a wheelchair.

The Paralympian said the award taught her 'not to give up' and encouraged her to reach her potential.

Television presenter Phillip Schofield, who was one of those who read a prayer during the service, said he took on the Diamond Challenge because he had not had the opportunity to do the award when he was younger.

The Queen seen smiling in her royal vehicle outside Westminster Abbey for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award celebration

The young persons' scheme equips young people for life regardless of background, culture, physical ability, skills and interests

In a foreword for the service, the Duke of Edinburgh said: 'The growth of the scheme owes everything to the untold numbers of volunteers who have given their time and enthusiasm'

He decided to do a wing ride on a biplane and has raised more than 1,000 for the scheme.

He said: 'It amazed the Duke no end. He told me I was mad.'

The award's anniversary year has been marked with several events including the Countess of Wessex's cycling challenge from Edinburgh to London which saw her raise more than 250,000 for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Speaking at the service on Thursday Peter Westgarth, chief executive of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, said it was 'wonderful to have 2,000 of our network of volunteers and young people who have achieved their award here and it's spectacular to have the royal family here'.

He said the core of the award was the same as when it was founded and praised the Duke, adding: 'There are not many people who can say that they have created something 60 years ago that's rock solid today.'

In a foreword for the service, the Duke of Edinburgh said: 'The growth of the scheme owes everything to the untold numbers of volunteers who have given their time and enthusiasm to bring its benefits to a constantly growing number of young people all over the world.'

In a statement, a spokesman said: 'Doing the Award is a personal challenge and not a competition against others'

The DoE award is comprised of three levels and four sections. Participants complete all four sections at each level in order to achieve their award

At the highest level of the personal development scheme, Gold, participants are also made to complete a residential project

The Queen was greeted by the Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend Dr John Hall.

She was also joined by the Earl and Countess of Wessex, who wore an outfit by by Bruce Oldfield and a Jane Taylor hat.

The Queen is presented with flowers by Duke of Edinburgh's Award holder Chantelle Day.

The youth achievement programme, which allows participants to win bronze, silver and gold awards, was launched in 1956.

Over the past 60 years, more than 5.6 million young people have started the programme, and almost 2.5 million have achieved awards.

The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award is available to all 14-24 year olds and is said to be the world's leading youth achievement award.

It equips young people for life regardless of background, culture, physical ability, skills and interests.

In a statement, a spokesman said: 'Doing the Award is a personal challenge and not a competition against others - it pushes young people to their personal limits and recognises their achievements.'

Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft and comedian Jon Culshaw also took part in the service.

Celebrities Fiona Phillips, Fern Britton and Charley and Olivia Boorman were spotted at the event.

Stand-up comedian Stephen K Amos and television presenter Julia Bradbury turned up to celebrate the occasion

Also seen at the event were TV presenter and travel writer Charley Boorman (left) as well as his wife Olivia (right)

Charley Boorman was seen on crutches after sustaining a serious injury after he was involved in a car crash overseas in February
A domestic abuse victim has transformed her home into a fortress and is 'living like a prisoner' - while her ex enjoys his freedom.

Sonya Conn, 42, has been forced to live with a safe room, CCTV, and a panic button at her Plymouth home, along with a GPS tracker that tells police where she is at all times.

She says she lives in fear of returning home to find her husband Matthew Conn, 47 - who was jailed for 22 weeks after admitting to assaulting her - 'sitting on my sofa'.

Domestic abuse victim Sonya Conn, 42, from Plymouth, installed a string of security measures in her home following her violent ex's release from prison

Conn attacked Sonja in February following an argument over a Chinese takeaway, and the 42-year-old hid under a car to dial 999 after running into the street to get away.

The attack was captured by CCTV cameras, and Conn pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault and was jailed for 22 weeks on May 9 this year.

He was also handed a lifetime restraining order which banned him from contacting his former partner and from certain areas.

But he breached the order shortly after being released and appeared in court last week accused of breaching it again.

He denied the offence and was found not guilty.

Terrified Sonya, who is on anti-depressants and sleeping pills, said: 'I am the victim, yet I have never once been allowed to speak, to tell the magistrates or judge my story of what he did to me.

'The police have been amazing. They check on me regularly. They know where I am thanks to a GPS tracker. I have a safe room in my home and panic buttons.

'They have picked him up from areas he knows he should not be because of the restraining order.

'But the courts have not been as good. They have not given me a voice at all. I feel like I am unimportant to them.

Sonya says she is terrified that one day she will come home to find him 'sitting on my sofa'

'I have had locks installed. I'm on anti depressants and sleeping pills. I'm afraid that I will come home one day and he'll be there, sitting on my sofa.

'I'm the prisoner. He's not even on [an electronic] tag. In court they said he has human rights, but what about my human rights to live without fear?'

Matthew Conn attacked Sonya outside her home following an argument in February. The incident was captured by CCTV cameras

Sonya told how the former couple's relationship started to crumble shortly after their wedding, during their honeymoon in Malta in November last year.

She said: 'It was five days of hell, but I thought I would make a go of it as we'd just got married.'

By the following February he had become violent and attacked her in a social club after they had a row over a Chinese takeaway.

She said: 'I was at the bar and he turned up. He just flew at me, grabbed me with both hands.

'A couple of lads pulled him off me and threw him out. Then they put me in a taxi to go to be with a friend.'

Sonya said she stayed with a friend for a while but later got a taxi home, arriving at her place at around 2am.

She said: 'He was hid in an alcove at my entrance. As I got to my front door he jumped out and grabbed me.'

Conn pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault and was jailed for 22 weeks in May this year for an attack on Sonya

What followed was a lengthy attack, which saw Sonya repeatedly assaulted.

Fortunately, a relative of hers had installed CCTV in the area and much of the incident was captured on video.

Sonya claimed that Conn appeared to calm down and convinced her to open the front door.

However, the assault continued inside the property until Sonya managed to escape and fled down the street, hammering on doors for help.

When there was no answer she scrambled underneath a parked car and phoned 999, whispering to the call handler as Conn strode up and down the street looking for her.

She said: 'I slid under a car to hide. I was in fear of my life.

'I could hear footsteps and at first I didn't talk, I was too scared. The call handler was brilliant, whispering back to me. They were saying 'we're on our way, stay still' and they kept on the line.

'Then the police turned up and I waved my phone so they knew where I was.

'They put me in the police car to keep me safe and searched my place but he had gone. Then they took me to hospital for treatment and took pictures of my bruising.'

Sonya said: 'What upsets me is each and every time he appears in court, I never get to speak.

'They will listen to him, they will listen to his excuses, they will listen to what he has to say.

I was in fear of my life Sonya Conn

'Why was it okay for me to have to hide, terrified, under a car?

'I look back now and see my relationship with him was one where I was slowly controlled bit by bit.'

Sonya said she had spoken out to let other women and men know that there is support out there and people should take it.

She said: 'It's domestic abuse awareness week and I want others who are in the same situation to know there is help out there.

'The police have been incredible and I cannot thank them enough.'

Pc Kathy Harris of Plymouth police's Sexual Offences and Domestic Abuse Investigation Team said the attack on Sonya was a serious one.

She said: 'We supported Sonya throughout this process and she took the brave step to not only give a statement but to have her day in court.

'I have known Sonya for some time and it has been sad to see a woman who was so confident, to watch her decline and lives her life in fear.

'This is the most sinister and worrying case I've ever dealt with. His persistence in trying to contact her is a concern. He wrote to her from prison, but addressed it to her daughter, who was nine at the time.'
The Duchess of Cornwall met brave young patients as she opened a children's cancer unit today.

Camilla, 69, crouched down to chat to children as they played and drew pictures in the Piam Brown Unit at Southampton Children's Hospital, which has just undergone a 1.7million refurbishment.

The Duchess mingled with nurses and families before taking in Piam Brown's brightly painted day wards and games room, and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the opening of the new look unit.

Camilla played with children on the ward as she opened the refurbished Piam Brown cancer unit at Southampton Children's Hospital

The Duchess of Cornwall opened the Piam Brown cancer unit following a seven month long refurbishment project

Camilla wore a smart black winter coat for today's visit to the children's hospital, with little decoration other than a red and black scarf and a brooch pinned to her lapel.

As she toured the colourful playroom and wards at Piam Brown, the Duchess stopped to meet young patients and admire their artwork.

The Duchess was also presented with a framed picture by Alisia Cole, the winner of the Southampton Hospital Charity's drawing competition.

A hospital spokesman said: 'The unit, which sees more than 120 new patients a year from across the south of England, was originally opened in 1988.

'Since then it has become a national and European centre of excellence for neuroblastoma and the development of immunotherapy treatments, with Dr Juliet Gray, a consultant in paediatric oncology, the UK's representative on the European Neuroblastoma Research Group.

Dressed in a smart black winter coat with a red and black scarf, Camilla stopped to chat to children as they drew pictures on the ward today

Camilla met patient Phelan Jordan during her visit to Southampton Children's Hospital today

Phelan appeared to be showing the Duchess some of his colouring in work today

She took a tour of the brightly painted playroom before unveiling a plaque at the unit

'The additional beds provided by the refurbishment offer the potential for the unit to take part in more clinical studies and the opportunity for children from outside the region to come to the hospital for novel immunotherapy trials which are not available in other centres.'

The Duchess of Cornwall stopped to meet patient Zachery Giles, 13, during her visit to Southampton Children's Hospital today

Alisia Cole, the winner of Southampton Hospital Charity's drawing competition, presented the Duchess of Cornwall with a framed picture

A smiling Duchess of Cornwall at the Piam Brown cancer unit in Southampton today

Camilla, who was seen crouching down to chat to young patients at Southampton Children's Hospital, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the opening

The Duchess met the Southampton Children's Hospital Charity's first charity champion, former Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo

Camilla chatted to staff during her visit today to officially open the new-look cancer unit

Camilla unveiled a plaque to commemorate the official opening of the new look children's unit

Earlier today Camilla visited Normandy Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, where she placed a posy on the 4 Rifles Memorial Wall, which includes the names of those killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 4th Battalion the Rifles (4 Rifles), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Carl Boswell, currently has 250 Riflemen based at Al Asad Air Base, 100 miles west of Baghdad, providing training support to the Iraqi army.

Camilla's tour of the Piam Brown Unit followed a visit to Normandy Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, earlier today

The Duchess met the families of soldiers who have recently been deployed to Iraq today

Camilla was welcomed by a fanfare by buglers before attending a reception in the Serjeants Mess with families, soldiers, battalion veterans and injured servicemen.

She also presented five long-service medals and a meritorious service medal to serving Riflemen before signing a visitors' book.

The Duchess wished everyone a happy Christmas and said: 'What a pleasure it has been to come to these new barracks, everyone seems to be very settled here.

'The partners of those serving abroad are doing a great job of supporting each other.'

Camilla posed for a photograph with serving Riflemen at the barracks in Hampshire

Joanna Metcalf, attended with her daughters, Ruby, 11, and Florence, four, while her husband, Serjeant Major Stephen Metcalf, is on deployment in Iraq.

The 36-year-old from Church Crookham, Hampshire, said: 'It was really nice to meet the Duchess, it's nice to know that people do support us and it's nice for the children to meet someone important as it gives them an idea of the importance of their father's role.'

She said: 'My husband is away until February, it's the first time he's been away for Christmas so we're not looking forward to it and Florence is starting to miss him.'

Ruby said: 'It was really good to meet her, it makes me feel really proud of my dad.'

Warrant Officer Richard Brown, 46, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was presented with his Meritorious Service Medal by the Duchess.
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A new book celebrating the history of Butlin's has been released - complete with dozens of never-before-seen photos.

The first of the park's holiday camps was opened in 1936 by Billy Butlin in Skegness.

Today, his legacy lives on as Butlin's celebrates its 80th year as an iconic British institution.

A new book celebrating the history of Butlin's has been released complete with dozens of nostalgic photos. Pictured, Butlin's Clacton swimming gala

The first of the park's holiday camps was opened in 1936 by Billy Butlin in Skegness. Pictured, the horse riding stables in Skegness

Today, his legacy lives on as Butlin's celebrates its 80th year as an iconic British institution. Pictured, a bar in Filey

This new book by historian Kathryn Ferry looks back at the holiday chain's rise from its founding in a British society struggling after the economic downturn of the 1920s

Punters could take a drink at the exotic Beachcomber Bar at the Butlin's camp in Ayr complete with waitresses in grass skirts

This new book by historian Kathryn Ferry looks back at the holiday chain's rise from its founding in a British society struggling after the economic downturn of the 1920s.

The camps saw their heyday in the middle of the twentieth century but declined in popularity as the nation's tastes turned towards packaged overseas holidays.

The book is illustrated with black-and-white and coloured images, many of which have never been shown before, from the Butlin's archive.

Evocative photos show early campers taking part in health and recreation activities.

The camps saw their heyday in the middle of the twentieth century but declined in popularity as the nation's tastes turned towards packaged overseas holidays. Pictured, Billy Butlin and a pool in Skegness

A classic British holiday scene as families dine in one of Butlin's Golden Grill restaurants

Signs on the walls of Butlin's Minehead's Exmoor Bar advertise Black Label and snowballs in a scene straight out of the '70s

The book is illustrated with black-and-white and coloured images, many of which have never been shown before, from the Butlin's archive

Evocative photos show early campers taking part in health and recreation activities. The 1960s saw the emergence of the 'Carousel Bar' - seen here in Minehead Butlin's

Campers having fun with their family members at the self-service Holiday Fayre restaurant in Butlin's Ayr holiday camp

Punters taking a rest on the comfortable seats in the Quiet Lounge of the camp in Mosney

This image reads: 'Laughs galore in the men's knobbly knees competition at Butlin's Skegness'

Two young girls (seen left) win first prize at Butlin's Bognor Regis - most likely in the resorts Junior Miss competition, and (right), the introduction of 'added luxury' in the shape of private bathrooms

Other stills show holiday-makers dancing in in the Rock and Twist Ballroom at Clacton-on-Sea.

Colourful Butlin's chalets, including those at Filey, are also seen as happy campers stroll by.

More modern accommodation can also be seen including the new Lakeview village in Minehead.

The book's author Kathryn Ferry is an renowned historian with a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

She specialises in seaside history, design and culture.

Holidaymakers flocked to the dance floor at the Empress Ballroom in Butlin's Skegness, where live bands would play

People enjoying a break could take time out at The South Seas Bar at the camp in Clacton. Totem poles can be seen in the South Seas Bar

Or they might decide to take a relaxing walk in the rock gardens of Butlin's Pwllheli. The Rock Gardens became an attraction in their own right

In this still image children are seen having a whale of a time on a slide in a holiday camp. All under-5s were registered witht he Camp Nurse and wore a name badge

Happy punters and holidaymakers strolled by the chalets on Main Avenue at the Butlin's camp in Filey

A scene from the Blinking Owl Bar in Butlin's Pwllheli, in the Gwynedd, north west Wales

Also at the Filey holiday park, campers could try the menu in the Grill Room restaurant. This scene is from the 1970s

In this image we see the infant feeding centre where rows of high chairs made feeding time convenient for holidaying parents

Holiday snap of a family sunbathing on Butlin's lawns wearing sombreros - the hats a hint at the growing allure toward foreign holiday destinations

With the 1960s came the introduction of fairground rides and amusement parks at Butlin's resorts around the country

Windows underwater let those in the cafe watch swimmers at Skegness heated swimming pool

Radio Butlin's broadcast studio, keeping camp on track from the Wakey-Wakey and announcements all day
It's a secret guarded more fiercely than the ending of one of her smash hit books.

But one business journalist has attempted to tot up the Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's fortune - and he thinks she's worth more than she's letting on.

The writer denied being a billionaire in her last public comment on her finances over a decade ago, but after assessing her income from books, films, theatre and theme parks, the New York Times writer arrived at a figure of $1.2billion (963.5million).

Rowling, seen with the star of the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Eddie Redmayne, is likely to have negotiated a deal that entitles her to a percentage of the film's gross revenue

The Scottish writer featured on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires for eight years, but slipped off in 2012, with the magazine citing a combination of high taxation in Britain and Rowling's generous contributions to charity as possible reasons.

Now New York Times business journalist James B. Stewart, using 'informed speculation', has said he believes J.K. Rowling should be back on the prestigious list.

He says: 'I set out to assess the size and scope of her fortune, not to invade her privacy but because shes that all-too-rare commodity in the ranks of the ultra-wealthy - a role model.

'Not only has she made her fortune largely through her own wits and imagination, but she pays taxes and gives generously to charity.'

J.K. Rowling launched a two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with writers Jack Thorne and John Tiffany this summer

The New York Times business journalist James B Stewart estimated the author's net worth at around $1.2billion

Even allowing for a 'margin of error' the journalist believes she is easily a dollar billionaire, having assessed her earnings using help from inside sources who have dealt directly with the author: 'Some of them have negotiated with Ms. Rowlings representatives and knew what terms they were seeking,' he writes.

Stewart starts from the very beginning of Rowling's success story with the seven Harry Potter books - which have sold around 450million copies worldwide and still fly off shelves today.

They have generated an estimated total revenue of $7.7billion (6.2billion) which the journalist suggests would have netted the author $1.15billion (923.5million) assuming a 15 per cent royalty.

The eight Harry Potter films, starring Daniel Radcliffe (above with Evanna Lynch) grossed a collective $7.9billion (6.3billion) worldwide

Further book deals under her pen name Robert Galbraith and Harry Potter spin-offs could even add a further $50million (40.1million), he suggests.

Stewart also factors in Rowling's film deals with Warner Bros. - including selling the rights to the first four Harry Potter films for $2million (1.6million), a deal he says likely included a percentage of net profits.

The first four grossed nearly $3.5billion (2.8billion) with an estimated $2.5billion (2billion) profit, which could have landed Rowling $250million (200million) with a 10 per cent net profit participation deal.

The next four films grossed even more, and with a similar deal the author could have netted another $400million (321million).

Rowling's latest film spin-off from the Harry Potter world, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, could see Rowling earn another $50million (40.1million) depending on its success, according to Stewart.

The author is thought to earn a percentage of ticket fees, merchandise, food and drink beverages at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter launched by NBCUniversal

The Wizarding World opened in 2010 and since then visitor numbers are thought to have doubled - potentially earning Rowling millions

Rowling could be sitting on around 562.7million thanks to film franchises alone, the piece suggests.

Add to that the Wizarding World theme parks established by NBCUniversal - from which Rowling is thought to take a percentage of ticket fees, merchandise and food and drink sales - she could be adding another $100million (80.2million) to her bank balance.

NBCUniversal also bought the television rights to Harry Potter in a deal worth $250million (200million), which Stewart suggests could have earned the author a potential $125million (100million).

Between book deals, film franchises and theme parks worth an estimated $2.2billion (1.7billion), plus earnings from the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Potter-related merchandise, not to mention substantial income from investments, Stewart suggests Rowling's spot on the Forbes list should be secure.

After factoring in Rowling's generous charitable donations and Britain's 45 per cent top individual tax rate of 45 per cent, Stewart arrives at an estimated fortune of $1.2billion (963.5million).
Prince Harry is enjoying his time on a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker ship during his Caribbean tour - but a lack of phone signal means he may not be able to phone his girlfriend Meghan Markle.

Harry spent ten years as an Army officer and being on board RFA Wave Knight, which is ferrying him between islands, has brought back happy memories of his time as a serving soldier, sources have said.

But while he is out at sea he is largely cut off from the outside world - including his American actress girlfriend - as there is no internet or mobile phone signal, with only the ship's radio available for essential communications.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker ship Wave Knight is ferrying the prince between islands on his Caribbean tour, but gets no phone or internet signal out at sea

Prince Harry's girlfriend, the actress Meghan Markle, is in Canada filming her TV show Suits

Prince Harry boarded the ship in St Kitts and Nevis last night for a 20-hour overnight voyage to St Lucia.

Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving today, and Ms Markle, one of the stars of hit show Suits, has posted a picture of herself with a large cooked Thanksgiving turkey on her Instagram account.

As a member of the royal family the prince has not been allocated simple quarters on the tanker ship but given the honour of staying in the captain's cabin.

All members of the monarchy or senior naval figures are given the captain's quarters as a gesture of respect and hospitality, though the spartan room is very similar to the other billets in the officers' corridor.

The 32-year-old prince heard about turtle conservation efforts on a visit to an idyllic spot known as Lovers Beach on the island of Nevis yesterday

Harry embarked from St Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday night for the overnight voyage to St Lucia, which will have given him plenty of time to get to know most of the 72 crew members.

The prince will be spending six nights on board Wave Knight, which has been moored a mile or so out to sea during his visits so far to Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis.

A source said: 'He is really liking life on board, he took to it immediately and he is enjoying getting to know the crew and talking to everyone he meets. It is a reminder of his days as a serving officer in the Armed Forces.

'He is eating his meals with the team and the officers on the ship, in the mess with the other sailors.

'It is very traditional fare, a standard English breakfast and good, no-frills food for other meals when he is on board.

'The prince does not get any special treatment and nor would he ever want any from the crew.

'He has, though, been given the captain's cabin, in line with standard protocol when the ship hosts a member of the royal family or a senior naval figure, and he is incredibly grateful for that.'

Prince Harry, seen releasing turtles at a Nevis beach, is on an official tour of the Caribbean

All officers' cabins have a bed, a desk and chair, a closet, sink and a small TV with news and sport provided by the British Forces Broadcasting Services, so the crew are kept up to date.

The source said: 'The crew of the ship take very seriously the business of having a member of the royal family on board, but they are being very relaxed and easy with him. He isn't someone that would want a fuss made of him.'

The prince, who conducted two tours of Afghanistan during his decade as an Army officer, retired from his operational role in June 2015, though he officially remains an unpaid Army officer for life.

The prince is on a 15-day tour of the Caribbean at the personal request of the Queen, who is no longer able to accept invitations to visit countries so far away, and his performance is being 'monitored closely' by Buckingham Palace, a source said, though it is not known whether he has spoken personally to the Queen.
Other styles featured include a bright printed head scarf in the 1930s, a 1950s hair decoration and voluminous hair for the Eighties

For 1910, Sage wears a natural look accessorized with turquoise jewelry and for the present day she is a Dakota Access Pipeline protester

The shoot, featuring model Sage Honga, who is of Navajo descent, showcases the styles of each decade

A video celebrating the Navajo Nation, also known as Dine, documents the evolution of style and beauty of the tribe during the last 100 years

A video celebrating the Navajo Nation documents the evolution of style and beauty of the Native American tribe during the last century.

The shoot, which is the latest episode of Cut.com's 100 Years of Beauty series, features model Sage Honga who is of Navajo, also known as Dine, descent.

Starting with a natural look from 1910 accessorized with turquoise jewelry, the student models a look for each decade up to the present day as a Dakota Access Pipeline protester.

Evolution: Sage Honga, left in 1910 style and right in the look of the present day, celebrated her Navajo Nation roots by modeling looks of the Native American tribe through time

Contrast: A video celebrating the Navajo Nation, also known as Dine, documents the evolution of style and beauty of the tribe during the last 100 years

Other styles featured in the video include a bright printed head scarf in the 1930s, elegant hair decoration in the 1950s and voluminous hair with a center parting for the 1980s.

For her Nineties look, Sage wears braids and does a peace sign, while for the current decade she wears bright red lipstick and the words 'No DAPL' emblazoned on her arm.

In an interview about the project, Sage said her mother Charlotte, who assisted with styling, 'proudly' spoke the Navajo language with her when she was growing up.

'When I hear her talk to me in Navajo it's just so comforting to me, it makes me feel at home and it makes me feel closer to her and my grandmothers, the women in my family, it reminds me of who I am,' she said.

Sage said she struggles with the appropriation of Navajo design - such as the recently settled legal battle between Urban Outfitters and Navajo Nation over the brand's use of the tribe's name and patterns on underwear and other garments - and costumes.

Elegant: The student, who is of Navajo descent, showcases the styles of each decade, including 1920s, pictured

Bright: For 1930s style she wears a colorful printed headscarf, pictured

'I always have a hard time around Halloween, Columbus Day and I guess Thanksgiving. It's always the hardest for a lot of native people.

'Anything that Native Americans wear, there's a process, it's done with prayer, song. That kind of stuff with the costumes, panties, it's just everything against our tradition.

'It's everything against that we stand for and it doesn't represent us in any way, shape or form,' she said.

In the shoot Sage wears some of her own pieces, others sourced by Cut and items from the Heard Museum.

She said: 'The video focuses mainly on the jewelry and how it went from just turquoise like the rocks to adding metal to adding the different shapes to it.

Connection: Sage, pictured in 1940s style, said her mother Charlotte, who assisted with styling, 'proudly' spoke the Navajo language with her when she was growing up

Personal touch: In the shoot Sage, pictured in 1950s style, wears some of her own pieces

Imitation: Sage, modelling a Sixties look, said she struggles with the appropriation of Navajo design

'Make-up wasn't really our thing and when I was in school going to middle school my mom she told me, "don't wear too much."

'She always told me "wear as little as possible" because you have natural beauty, embrace it.

'I feel weird, I feel like I look weird with a lot of make-up on, like I feel like it doesn't look like me.'

She said she would like to go to Standing Rock in North Dakota to join the No DAPL protest but she cannot take the time out from school.

Sage: 'It's very powerful even just watching it, it's very powerful. My heart and my spirit is calling me up there but it's just I can't drop school right now.'

Natural look: Sage, modelling Seventies style, said she was encouraged to wear minimal make-up when she was growing up

Glamorous: Sage, pictured in Eighties style, said she feels 'weird' when she wears a lot of make-up

Making a stand: Sage, pictured left in Nineties style and right in Noughties, said she would like to go to Standing Rock in North Dakota to join the No DAPL protes

Charlotte added: 'I really would like to go up there and feel the spirit, hear the prayers, hear the songs.'

When asked what Navajo means to them, Sage said: 'It's everything. It's so powerful, it's strong, it's tough.'

Charlotte added: 'It's how you carry yourself every day to me, I was taught.

'There's a saying in Navajo. We're always taught to walk in beauty and it's about the way we think, the way we talk, our behavior, that should all be in a positive way.
Dark as My Heart by Antti Tuomainen (Vintage 8.99)

Dark as My Heart

by Antti Tuomainen

(Vintage 8.99)

Inevitably dubbed the king of Helsinki Noir, Tuomainen is a much-feted Finnish crime author who is also a poet.

His novel The Healer made waves over here, and this is set to do the same. Like The Healer, it is a quest novel in which the narrator, Aleksi Kivi, sets out to hunt down the man he believes was responsible for murdering his mother, leaving him an orphan at the age of 13.

Her body was never found and the police case went cold. To this end, he inveigles himself into the household of the suspect, millionaire Henrik Saarinen, as a maintenance man.

What he doesnt expect is to become involved with Henriks damaged daughter, Amanda, who, it seems, also has cause to hate her charismatic father.

A novel as icy as Helsinki itself, Tuomainen delivers a dark, chilly and evocatively written novel of obsession and twisted emotion. Now out in paperback, I suspect its only a matter of time before we see it unfold on our screens.

A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone (Orenda Books 8.99)

A Suitable Lie

by Michael J. Malone

(Orenda Books 8.99)

The inside story of a marriage that is not all it seems is perfect crime fiction fodder  which Malone uses to advantage. Set in his native Ayrshire (where he is also a prize-winning poet), it tells the story of Andy Boyd, a grieving young widower whose wife died giving birth to his son, Pat.

Certain that he will never again find true love, Andy is completely bowled over when he meets the delightful Anna in a pub.

Brave, funny and beautiful, Anna is also smitten and their relationship swiftly develops, particularly as Anna loves Pat, too, who is in desperate need of a new mummy.

But Andy wants the perfect wife so much that he ignores all the warning signs of Annas ferocious temper, even when he ends up in hospital on his wedding night. Malone tackles the taboo subject of female violence against men with insight and compassion (for Anna is no one-dimensional witch), while creating all the hallmarks of a fine, page-turning psychological thriller.

Crash Land by Doug Johnstone (Faber 12.99)

Crash Land

by Doug Johnstone

(Faber 12.99)

Another outing for Scottish crime writer Doug Johnstone this time to Orkney, a remote setting well suited to the genre, where everyone knows everyone elses business.

Student Finn has been visiting his grandmother, Ingrid, but is now heading home to Dundee to his girlfriend. Waiting at Kirkwall Airport (plane delayed by fog: entirely plausible), he gets chatted up by a glamorous older woman, Maddie, who is desperate to get off the island  but we dont know why.

Several gin and tonics later, they board the small plane, where Finn gets into a fight with an oil worker who is trying to paw Maddie (also plausible).

Inevitably, what with the fight and the weather, the plane crashes, killing almost everyone except for Finn and Maddie (implausible), who promptly disappears (more implausible).

Finn, who is now in lust with Maddie, searches for her and gets swept up in a very dangerous scenario (deeply implausible). Personally, I dont like to have to keep suspending belief in crime novels, so this didnt work for me.
The Wangs vs the World by Jade Chang (Fig Tree 14.99)

The Wangs vs the World

by Jade Chang

(Fig Tree 14.99)

The 2007-08 financial meltdown is a disaster for California businessman Charles Wang who loses everything. Determined to reclaim his familys ancestral property in China, lost during the communist takeover, he first fires the maid, then appropriates the car he gave her.

He drives his second wife Barbra (who married him for his money), his son (a would-be stand-up) and his youngest daughter (teen fashion blogger) across the States to stay with his eldest daughter, a conceptual artist whose own life seems on the skids, too.

Told from their different points of view, this wacky road-trip of a novel unpicks the lives of all the characters before and after the Crash.

Full on, fast and funny  sometimes, the effect can be a tad overwhelming  this is a sassy, riches-to-rags story that skewers contemporary America in the most entertaining way.

Midwinter by Fiona Melrose (Corsair 16.99)

Midwinter

by Fiona Melrose

(Corsair 16.99)

Father and son Landyn and Vale Midwinter are Suffolk farmers living together and still grieving after the violent death of Vales mother in Zambia some years earlier. Communication between them has all but broken down.

When Vale and his best friend are involved in an accident at sea, emotions that have been pent up for years begin to find their expression, and both parent and son are forced to confront both the past and present.

Vale is angry and hasty, making often regrettable on-the-spot decisions, while Landyn turns in on himself, finding solace in his farm and his animals, particularly a vixen that patrols the land.

The descriptions of the natural world, both in Suffolk and Zambia, are impressive, but its the portrayal of human despair that hits hardest.

The novel is a penetrating study of grief and guilt as the two men struggle to come to terms with what has shaped them.

The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church (4th Estate 12.99)

The Atomic Weight of Love

by Elizabeth J. Church

(4th Estate 12.99)

Meridian Wallace, a keen student of ornithology in Chicago in the Forties, falls in love with a physics professor 20 years her senior. They fetch up in Los Alamos, where Alden, by now her husband, is engaged in the top secret scientific work of the Manhattan Project.

Her chances of further academic advancement effectively stymied, Meridian adapts to life, despite her increasing disillusionment in her marriage and the frustrating narrow-mindedness of many of her fellow Los Alamos wives. It is Clay, a young Vietnam veteran and geologist, who introduces her to real passion and forces her to re-evaluate her choices.

But the fight to be free is not easy, and it will be an unexpected illness that forces Meridian to make a decision.
Christmas Carols by Andrew Gant (Profile 8.99)

Christmas Carols

by Andrew Gant

(Profile 8.99)

Every time we venture out over the next few weeks, we will be met by a festive cacophony as shops, restaurants and cafes are filled with the sound of carols and Christmas chart-toppers.

But what are the stories behind our best-loved Christmas carols?

In his intriguing history, Andrew Gant suggests that Christmas carols are perhaps the nearest thing we still have to a folk tradition.

From the surreal collection of gifts catalogued in The Twelve Days of Christmas, to the miserable family life of Good King Wenceslas, there is more to the familiar verses than meets the eye.

So, if you want to know which Christmas song was supposedly dictated by angels, or which was the only carol that could legally be sung in English churches for most of the 18th century, youll find the answer here.

Aliens Edited by Jim Al-Khalili (Profile 8.99)

Aliens

Edited by Jim Al-Khalili

(Profile 8.99)

In this challenging collection of essays, Professor Jim Al-Khalili draws together fellow-scientists from many different discipiines to answer the question: Where is everybody?

The universe is so vast, he points out, that it should be seething with life, including intelligent species advanced enough to have the knowledge and technology necessary for space travel.

So why do we never make contact with our distant neighbours, especially since we have been radiating our electromagnetic chatter into space ever since the invention of radio (and listening in our turn for signals)?

Led by the astronomer royal, Lord [Martin] Rees, a distinguished company of scientists debates such questions as What makes a planet habitable?, and Are they out there?  An overview of the search for extraterrestrials. With a handsome cover sprinkled with green glitter, and pages wittily edged in matching green, this is an ideal stocking-filler for keen alien-fanciers.

The Greeks Had A Word For It by Andrew Taylor (Corgi 7.99)

The Greeks Had A Word For It

by Andrew Taylor

(Corgi 7.99)

English is a gloriously expressive language, with a vocabulary that encompasses a wealth of different linguistic influences.

Yet as Andrew Taylor reveals in this light-hearted survey, there are some ideas for which we have no word at all, and must fall back on cumbersome phrases, while other languages have them neatly wrapped up in a single word.

Take lagom, for example  the deeply satisfying Swedish word for not too much, not too little, but exactly the right amount. Or shemomechama, the Georgian expression for the embarrassing sudden realisation that youve somehow eaten it all.

Not to mention iktsuarpok, an Inuit word meaning the anxious and irresistible need to check whether who, or what, youre waiting for has yet arrived.
History

MAD TOFFS

by Patrick Scrivenor (Blake 9.99)

The 8th Duke of Devonshire, in the days when he was still merely Lord Hartington, once took aim at a pheasant flying low through a gateway at Chatsworth, the familys estate in Derbyshire.

He not only managed to kill the retriever that was pursuing it, but also peppered the dogs owner and injured a chef whod come down from the main house to watch.

Asked if he regretted his risky shot, Hartington replied: Of course. If I had killed the chef, wed have had no dinner.

The British upper classes are like the best sitcom characters: theyre funny precisely because they dont know theyre funny (silent film still)

The British upper classes are like the best sitcom characters: theyre funny precisely because they dont know theyre funny. Del Boy doesnt realise were laughing at him. Neither does David Brent.

And for centuries now, the nations aristocracy have gone about their business in the same way, showing a joyful ignorance of how the rest of the country, indeed the rest of the world, perceives them.

Only someone called Osborne de Vere Beauclerk, the 12th Duke of St Albans (known to friends as Obby), could entreat the porter at Brookss, his gentlemens club: Wind my watch for me, theres a good fellow. Lord Glasgow threw a waiter at his club through a window, telling staff to put him on the bill.

The 6th Duke of Somerset (1662-1748) invented a special sign language so he wouldnt actually have to converse with his servants. He also disinherited his daughter for the crime of sitting down in his presence.

These toffs displayed arrogance, but others simply gloried in the opportunity to be different. Thats different as in barking mad. The 14th Lord Berners used to dye the pigeons at his house different colours.

Sir George Reresby Sitwell became similarly bored with the cows on his vast estates, so stencilled them with the Chinese Willow pattern.

He also corrected Einstein on several errors hed spotted in the General Theory Of Relativity, and wrote many books of his own, hardly any of which were published. They included Wool-Gathering In Medieval Times And Since; Lepers Squints; Domestic Manners In Sheffield In The Year 1250; and The History Of The Fork.

Sometimes, the madness produced results. Orde Charles Wingate (1903-44) was a military genius, whose guerilla tactics greatly helped the Army in several conflicts. But he was also  how shall we put this  unconventional. He conducted briefings in the nude, save for a string of onions and garlic around his neck, on which he would frequently snack.

MAD TOFFS by Patrick Scrivenor (Blake 9.99)

He disliked taking baths, scrubbing himself instead with a toothbrush, often during meetings.

A similar figure was Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Churchill (no relation to Winston), who liked to go into battle armed with a set of bagpipes. He was the last British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow, taking out a German NCO in 1940.

As Patrick Scrivenor points out: It must have been the one eventuality for which the mighty Panzer divisions had not been trained.

Sometimes, however, the upper classes prove less capable. Randolph Churchill (who was related to Winston: he was his father) once had the decimal system explained to him, then commented: I never could make out what those damned dots meant. He was at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer.

And Alexander Douglas, the 10th Duke of Hamilton, once paid 11,000 for an Egyptian sarcophagus in which he could be buried.

But he forgot that, at 6 ft 6 in, he was much taller than the Egyptian for whom it had been made.

His last words when he died in 1862 were: Double me up! Double me up! They tried, but still couldnt get him into the thing. Eventually, they had to cut off his feet.

Sex features strongly in the book. There is Jane Digby who, after divorcing Lord Ellenborough, lived a very full life. The diary entry for her 70th birthday reads: It is now some three days since the Sheikh graced my bed. What can be the matter?

There is the 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938), whose footmens duties went far beyond the normal requirements. They were rewarded with diamond jewellery, so much of it that, as they served dinner, they clinked. And there is Lord Charles Beresford who, during a country house weekend, burst into what he thought was the bedroom of the woman he was having an affair with.

He leaped on to the bed, beating his chest and crying: Cock-a-doodle-doo! This came as something of a surprise to the beds actual occupants  the Bishop of Chester and his wife.
Sophie Wessex arrived at Buck's Club in London with Prince Edward

Sophie Wessex was a vision in black as she arrived at a members' club in London tonight.

Proving she's as adept at elegant evening wear as she is formal daytime dressing, Sophie swapped the embroidered navy dress and jacket she chose for a service at Westminster Abbey earlier today for a show-stopping floor-length gown.

Sophie, 51, looked every inch the A-lister as she arrived at Buck's Club with her husband Prince Edward, ahead of a dinner to mark the 60th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme.

Sophie Wessex looked stunning in a long black dress with a matching fur jacket, as she arrived at the John Adie exhibition at Buck's Club with her husband Prince Edward

The couple, who attended a service marking the 60th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme earlier today, had changed into all black evening attire

The Countess of Wessex paired her floor-skimming black dress with a co-ordinating fur jacket and a sparkling clutch.

Her dazzling handbag was echoed by a glittering necklace and earrings, and her blonde hair was swept into a low up-do.

Sophie and Prince Edward were at Buck's Club to view an exhibition of the opal collection of the late John Adie, who founded the Two Moors classical music festival.

The couple were due to move on to a dinner to mark the 60th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which was celebrated with a service at Westminster Abbey earlier today.

Sophie and Edward had joined the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in marking the special occasion, with Sophie looking regal in a dark navy outfit by Bruce Oldfield and a Jane Taylor hat.

The Queen wore a purple crepe coat and matching hat by Angela Kelly, with an amethyst shield brooch, to attend the service in front of the 2,000-strong congregation.

The Earl of Wessex told the service how he encouraged a Duke of Edinburgh's Award participant to take up pole dancing, during the service of thanksgiving.

Sophie Wessex was seen wearing a dark navy embroidered blue outfit by Bruce Oldfield and a Jane Taylor hat with a matching purse

Over the past 60 years, more than 5.6 million young people have started the programme, and almost 2.5 million have gained awards

The youth achievement programme was launched in 1956.

Over the past 60 years, more than 5.6 million young people have started the programme, and almost 2.5 million have achieved awards.

The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award is available to all 14-24 year olds and is said to be the world's leading youth achievement award.
Photo of large meal was posted to Reddit and was slated for inauthenticity

Unknown eatery serves US breakfast of a fry-up with pancakes and waffles

There are some things the British do very well, and breakfast is one of them.

But one English diner has proved that the UK is not always able to recreate morning meals from other countries to quite the same standard.

A photo of a so-called 'American' breakfast at a roadside restaurant somewhere in England has gone viral for not remotely resembling what Americans eat in the morning.

The picture, posted on Reddit by JeffSergeant, outraged Americans for pairing items in a traditional English fry-up with pancakes and waffles.

This picture of a so-called 'American' breakfast outraged Americans who said it didn't remotely resemble something they would eat in the morning as it contained beans and tomatoes with pancakes and waffles

Many said beans and tomatoes had 'no place' on an American breakfast, while others had no clue what hash browns were.

Reddit users were also disturbed by combining pancakes and waffles with fried mushrooms, tomato and beans at the unknown diner.

PlausibleBadAdvice wrote: 'I have never remotely eaten anything like that for breakfast. Beans belong in a breakfast burrito if they are to be for breakfast.

'An example of a true American breakfast: black coffee, bacon and egg sandwich, freedom.'

Many said beans and tomatoes had 'no place' on an American breakfast, while others had no clue what hash browns were

Wilc8650 said: 'As an American, I've never eaten that much variety on a breakfast plate...

'Essentially, this isn't an American breakfast. It's likely what an English person thinks is an American breakfast.'

Sebpoop said: 'It looks like they tried their hardest to make an American breakfast, but they just broke down and threw the beans mushroom and tomato in there.'

Sergntpepper111 was even blunter, and asked: 'Who the **** has tomatoes and beans for breakfast?'

Americans were outraged at the unknown English diner's attempt at an American breakfast

Heruuna said it was more of an Australian breakfast than an American one, while Autonomoose could not identify the hash browns on the plate, guessing that they were 'chicken nuggets'.

He continued: 'The traditional breakfast is much smaller than English/Irish. Usually just 2 eggs, hash browns, and only one side of meat. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you also get a pancake, but it's usually extra.

'Beans, mushrooms, and tomatoes? No. That's all lunch or dinner materials. Never on an American breakfast menu, as it should be.'

Others said the so-called American breakfast was just an English fry-up with pancakes and waffles attached.

Little_cosmos joked: 'To be truly American it needs less veggies and more guns.'

The major complaint about the English diner's dish was the inclusion of baked beans

MyronNGaines was kinder on the diner and wrote: 'I don't think it's supposed to be an American breakfast, just an "Americanized" English Breakfast.'

ZodiacMan423 agreed and observed: 'Yeah, they basically took an English breakfast and put some American stuff in it. Also needs more grits.'

The most common complaint about the English diner's dish was the inclusion of baked beans.

Dr_King_Schultz commented: 'Close, but Americans don't eat beans for breakfast.'

For Cefgjerlgjw, it was among many errors in the meal. He said: 'Beans are wrong. Tomato's wrong. Mushrooms are wrong. The sausages and bacon aren't even the right styles. And if that's brown sauce and not maple (fake or real) syrup in the middle, that's wrong too.'

HaveaManhattan had a suggestion for the diner. He said: 'Yeah beans and tomatoes need to be substituted for something corn-based, and there's a serious lack of syrup and sausage gravy.'

And Seriously_nopenope advised: 'Replace the beans tomatoes and mushrooms with more meat, make sure the entire base layer of the plate is hash browns and move the waffles and pancakes to a separate plate because there is no room for them on the main plate. Now you have an American breakfast.'

Others took exception to the inclusion of pancakes and waffles together.

910to610 commented: 'Pancakes and waffles is also not done.'

r0botdevil added: 'Yep. One or the other, but you never get both in America.'

Tackslock also had a problem with the type of bacon used, as American bacon tends to be the streaky kind, and is usually served crispy.
A premature baby was left to die alone in a sluice room rather than in their mother's arms, a damning report reveals.

Staff members involved in the care of the newborn failed to find a quiet place to sit with her to nurse her as she passed away.

A secret medical review of the Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust outlines a string of avoidable deaths and long-term injuries caused by failures over many years.

Chronic staff shortages, clinical errors and bad staff attitude led to 'high levels of harm for babies in particular'.

While repeated warnings at both North Manchester General and the Royal Oldham hospitals over the years had not led to improvements.

A secret medical review of the Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust outlines a string of avoidable deaths and long-term injuries caused by failures over many years

The internal review only came to light following a Freedom of Information request by the Manchester Evening News.

The paper said the trust tried to suppress the report and even claimed it did not exist.

'Worrying repetitive themes' were cited across the hospital, including failures to monitor basic vital signs, poor documentation and a 'rigid mindset' among staff.

It also showed a 'clear evidence of poor decision-making which has resulted in significant harm to women'.

MOTHER DIES WITHIN HOURS OF GIVING BIRTH A father has been left shocked and devastated after his fiancee died within hours of giving birth at North Manchester General Hospital. Lianne Hindle, 37, died from a cardiac arrest three hours after having Poppy, leaving her partner Cris Barnes, 40, who has cerebral palsy, to look after their four children. But because Ms Hindle died last December, she fell out of the scope of the Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust's investigation. Mr Barnes said: ' Something has to be done. It isnt right. This is still happening. Maternity units are supposed to be the safest places to have babies. 'Lianne had always dreamed of a little girl. She was a strong character and loved her family. Her death has shocked and devastated us. It doesnt seem real that she isnt here.' Advertisement

Hospital staff were also responsible for a woman dying of a catastrophic haemorrhage after her symptoms were put down to a mental illness.

Medics believed she had mental health issues and overlooked the fact she showed signs of hypoxia, a condition caused by lack of oxygen.

In a separate case, a baby died because antenatal staff were unable to identify their mother's rare blood type.

The trust received more legal claims and paid out more in damages than any other between 2010 and 2015.

Nearly half of them relating to mothers and babies - payouts which totaled more than 25million.

Last night the trust said more staff had been taken on and progress was being made to improve care.

Professor Matthew Makin, medical director at the trust, said: 'The priority is for all of the trust's services to meet the high standards that patients expect and deserve.

'We are steadily making the necessary improvements so that patients can receive reliable, high quality care across all of our services.

'We have fully reviewed our risk and governance arrangements including learning from incidents and complaints, and are making progress in improving the way we listen and involve our staff to address the long standing problems and challenges facing our teams.'

He added that 31 new midwives have started working across their two maternity units to help deal with the staffing shortage.
Even two drinks a day found to decrease the risk by 8%

A glass of wine a day can reduce the risk of the most common type of stroke by 10 per cent, researchers say.

Moderate drinking was found to help protect against the condition, in a study which the scientists admit is controversial.

A small glass of red wine, or any drink of less than 1.5 units, is thought to cut levels of a protein that forms blood clots.

A small glass or red wine, or other drinks under 1.5 units, are thought to reduce the risk of an ischaemic stroke by cutting levels of a protein that form blood clots

Those who drank this amount were 10 per cent less likely to have an ischaemic stroke, where a clot cuts off oxygen and blood to the brain, forcing many sufferers to re-learn how to walk and talk.

Even up to two drinks a day, which could include almost two bottles of beer, was found by researchers in Cambridge and Sweden to cut the risk by 8 per cent.

More than 150,000 Britons a year suffer a stroke. Of these, 85 per cent are ischaemic.

The scientists, who examined 27 studies, involving more than 21,000 stroke victims, pointed out drinking heavily still raises stroke risk. But they said small amounts may improve health by increasing good cholesterol.

The studies pointed out that drinking to excess leads to higher blood pressure, raising the risk of both strokes and cancer

Author Dr Susanna Larsson, of the Karolinska Institute near Stockholm, said: Previous research has found an association between alcohol and lower levels of fibrinogen  a protein which helps the formation of blood clots.

PORRIDGE 'LOWERED RISK IN BABY BOOMERS' BABY boomers risk of a stroke has fallen  while it has doubled for those in their thirties and forties. A US study suggests breakfast may be key, with those born from 1945 to 1954 more likely to have eaten oatmeal or eggs growing up. Later generations, more likely to have eaten sugary cereal, have become fatter and less healthy. For 15 years to 2014, scientists at Rutgers University, New Jersey, found rates of ischaemic stroke more than doubled in those aged between 35-39. It doubled in the 40-44 age group. But for baby boomers, now in their sixties, it fell by almost 20 per cent. Author Dr Joel Swerdel said obesity was less common in this group than in those born later. The study adjusted for the fact older people are more likely to have a stroke. Advertisement

While this may explain the association between light to moderate alcohol consumption and lower ischaemic stroke risk, the adverse effect  on blood pressure, a major risk factor for stroke, may increase the risk of haemorrhagic stroke and outweigh any potential benefit.

The review, in the journal BMC Medicine, counts one drink as 1.5 units. Anything less, such as a 125ml daily glass of wine, cut the risk of ischaemic stroke by 10 per cent.

One to two drinks a day  three units or just over two measures of gin  lowered risk by 8 per cent. Alcohol increases good high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Bad cholesterol forms fatty deposits causing heart disease and stroke.

Alcohol in large amounts raises blood pressure, increasing the risk of stroke, and can cause cancer. Scientists say more research is needed on whether different types of alcohol affect stroke risk.
A mother has described how quick thinking medics saved her baby son who was seconds away from death after contracting a horrific illness.

Andrea Henderson, 32, from Northumberland, contracted a bacterial infection during her pregnancy called Strep B which is usually harmless to babies - but when little Coby was born he was blue and could not breathe.

He had contracted the infection, which then developed into sepsis and pneumonia.

Andrea Henderson and her partner Brett with their son Coby, who contracted Strep B which developed into sepsis and pneumonia

Ms Henderson said if it wasn't for Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary staff deciding to screen for the condition in the first place her baby might not be here today.

She said: 'I had a normal pregnancy, but at about 32 weeks I developed pains and cramps in my lower pelvis.

'They tested me for urine infections, but the swabs came back saying I had Strep B, so I was given antibiotics to stop it spreading further.'

Strep B is a type of bacteria that can develop in the womb and is usually harmless to the baby - but in rare cases it can cause miscarriage or stillbirth.

Only one out of 2,000 babies will go on to contract the infection from the womb, but if they do it can be lethal - resulting in infections like pneumonia or sepsis - both of which Coby developed.

Medical staff quickly realised Coby had contracted Strep B and he was taken to intensive care where doctors looked after him as he battled the condition

Sepsis is a condition where the body tries to fight infection, but in doing so attacks vital organs.

Eventually Coby recovered enough to be taken off the full ventilator and was soon gently weaned off breathing support

Because a newborn has a weakened immune system, it's a race against the clock to save a baby who develops Strep B and even more serious if it develops into different infections.

'I carried on my pregnancy but started feeling really poorly,' said Ms Henderson.

She was also suffering from Hyperemesis, a complication which causes severe nausea and sickness, so the hospital decided to induce her early.

Ms Henderson, who has two other children, said: 'They induced me early and gave me two sets of antibiotics to try and prevent Coby getting an infection.'

'Everything was going fine and then he was born and placed on my chest. I knew immediately something was wrong.

'He was making grunting noises and was really blue. I said to the midwife that I thought something was wrong and they took him away straight away.

Coby is now a gorgeous 'thriving' baby and is developing really well, according to his mother

DEADLY INFECTION THAT KILLS UP TO 340 BABIES A YEAR GBS infection in newborn babies can cause serious complications that can be life threatening. Extremely rarely, GBS infection during pregnancy can also cause miscarriage, early (premature) labour or stillbirth. If a baby develops GBS infection less than seven days after birth, its known as early-onset GBS infection. Most babies who become infected develop symptoms within 12 hours of birth. Symptoms include: being floppy and unresponsive

not feeding well

grunting

high or low temperature

fast or slow heart rates

fast or slow breathing rates

irritability Its estimated that about 1 in 2,000 babies born in the UK and Ireland develops early-onset GBS infection. This means that every year in the UK (with 680,000 births a year) around 340 babies will develop early-onset GBS infection. Most babies who become infected can be treated successfully and will make a full recovery. However, even with the best medical care the infection can cause life-threatening complications, such as blood poisoning (septicaemia); infection of the lung (pneumonia); infection of the lining of the brain (meningitis). However, 2 in 10 babies with GBS infection will recover with some level of disability, and 1 in 10 infected babies will die, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Early-onset GBS infection can cause problems such as cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness and serious learning difficulties. Source: NHS Choices and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Advertisement

'They acted so quickly - if I wasn't in the RVI, he probably wouldn't have made it.

Medical staff quickly realised Coby had contracted Strep B and he was taken to intensive care where doctors looked after him as he battled the condition.

Ms Henderson, who lives with her partner Brett Mate, 41, said: 'The hospital said to get family to come and meet him if they wanted to. We didn't know if we would ever be taking him home.

'It was four days before I could even hold him because of all the tubes and ventilator. It was so difficult and so frightening.

'I got my two other children, Kurt, six, and Flynn, four, to come to the hospital. I wanted them to understand Coby was poorly.

'We were all really concerned. We were told he might not make it. Kurt asked if he was going to die - we couldn't really say no.

'They both knew we were upset. You try and hide it but they pick up on it.'

Eventually Coby recovered enough to be taken off the full ventilator and was soon gently weaned off breathing support.

He was taken out of intensive care and placed on a ward to ensure he could feed properly before being allowed home.

'He's completely thriving now,' said Ms Henderson. 'He's developing really well, he's a really content baby apart from when he's hungry.

'I don't know what would have happened if the RVI didn't test me for Strep B. It's not usually tested for but if I wasn't induced and given antibiotics it could have been far worse - Coby could have been stillborn.

'I got information and leaflets about Strep B and read them all, so when Coby was born I knew the signs.

'I would recommend all pregnant mothers ask to be screened for it in their pregnancy. It can come on throughout pregnancy and knowing about it and knowing the signs could save a life.
Cooking a meal from scratch or knitting a jumper can ward off depression in students, new research suggests.

While painting, drawing and writing also helps to boost a sense of wellbeing to keep spirits high.

Experts say these 'old-fashioned activities' that are favoured by the Women's Institute may lead to an upward spiral of emotions in young adults.

Rising stress levels have been linked to a host of serious illness including heart disease and cancer.

Scientists from the University of Otago, New Zealand, claim cooking a meal from scratch or knitting a jumper can ward off depression in students

Researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, wanted to find out if engaging in normal creative acts make people feel better.

They asked 658 students to keep a daily diary of their experiences and emotional states over 13 days.

An analysis of the information found a pattern of more enthusiasm and higher 'flourishing' following days when the undergraduates were more creative.

Flourishing is a psychological concept that can be described as increasing positive growth.

While painting, drawing and writing also helps to boost a sense of wellbeing to keep spirits high, new research suggests

Study author Dr Tamlin Conner said: 'There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning.

'However, most of this work focuses on how emotions benefit or hamper creativity, not whether creativity benefits or hampers emotional wellbeing.

'Eengaging in creative behaviour leads to increases in wellbeing the next day, and this increased wellbeing is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day.

'Overall, these findings support the emerging emphasis on everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning.'

However, feelings of happiness, joy and excitement did not predict creative activity the next day.
Dr Marc Levine did a study on competitive eaters, and saw how their stomachs make room - like during a pregnancy - for excessive amounts

A gastrointestinal radiologist explains that that is entirely possible if you have trained your stomach ahead of time, like competitive eaters

Thanksgiving has arrived, and millions of families are sitting down to enjoy the main event: dinner.

As is custom, most will consume three days' worth of calories in one sitting.

But how do our stomachs handle such a shock to the system?

According to Dr Marc Levine, a gastrointestinal radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, our stomachs can have extraordinary flexibility - if we train them.

'Literally the entire abdomen  [becomes] this giant flaccid sack that can take phenomenal volumes of food,' he explained to STAT.

Indeed, professional eating competitors do this regularly.

Dr Levine conducted a study that involved two competitive hot dog eaters.

One was 29 and had spent months stretching his stomach by gradually increasing his calorie intake.

The other, 35 years old, had not trained ahead of the study and had a normal appetite.

Dr Levine gave them both stacks of hot dogs - with a twist.

Each hot dog was doused beforehand in barium sulfate, a chemical typically used in x-rays to highlight certain organs.

Then, as the men ate, Dr Levine watched what was happening inside their stomachs via live x-ray.

After eating seven hot dogs, the 35-year-old man's stomach was the same size as when he started.

However, the 29-year-old's stomach stretched to fit 36 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

'It looked like he was carrying a full-term pregnancy,' Dr Levine told STAT.

Uniquely, his stomach had not broken down the food, merely expanded to allow room for it.

While the normal human stomach can hold about one liter of nourishment, competitive eaters stretch theirs to nearly 10 times that amount by binge eating and then starving.

Many competitive eaters say they do not eat in the run up to the event.

New York's Miki Sudo, 30, says she only has one meal a day - a salad - when she is not competing, saving her appetite for a sitting of 192 chicken wings in ten minutes, for example.

However, New Zealand eating star Nela Zisser, 23, revealed this year that she eats as much as she can, in order to stretch her stomach.

'Basically you just need to eat enough the day before to kind of get your stomach stretched, and then you just go into it with a good technique and hope you win,' she said on The Morning Show.
Banks will waive transaction charges on debit cards until December 31 as part of a government policy aimed at easing the currency crisis.

It's hoped that encouraging digital payments will help ease demand on cash after high value notes were scrapped in a bid to crackdown on black money.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said: 'All public sector banks and some private sector ones have agreed to waive the transaction cost for all payments made through debit cards.'

All public sector banks will waive debit card charges until December 31, with some private banks and switching services also implementing the scheme

Some of the service providers who provide switching services have also agreed to waive the service charges on the use of debit cards up to December 31, Das said.

As of now, Rupay debit cards have already waived the switching charges. However, companies like Mastercard and Visa, currently charge transaction costs.

So far, customers bear the transaction cost commonly known as merchant discount rate (MDR) on payments made to the government.

It follows a currency crunch in India which followed Modi's decision to scrap high value notes

The MDR charges on use of debit cards, the charges being levied by banks and the switching charges will be completely waived. So, there will be no charge on use of debit cards, Das explained.

'I take this opportunity to appreciate the gesture of public sector banks, and some of the private sector banks who have already agreed. And others are expected to agree and issue their own circulars,' Das said.

He said the intention behind this decision is to ensure that more and more people migrate towards digital transactions.

There have been huge queues outside ATMs as people have struggled to get access to money

The Reserve Bank in 2012 had capped the MDR for debit card transaction at 0.75 per cent for transaction values up to Rs 2,000 and at one per cent for transaction values above Rs 2,000. However, there is no RBI cap on MDR on credit card payments.

In order to move towards 'less-cash' society by developing a card acceptance infrastructure, the RBI had in March come out with a concept paper to encourage card transactions and sought public opinion.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the Railways has already waived service charges on the online booking of tickets and telecom operators have agreed to make mobile banking services in feature phones free of cost until December 31.
The Opposition parties have laid their differences aside and come together as one to protest against the demonetisation move of the Modi government outside Parliament

The opposition parties have laid their differences aside and come together as one to protest against the demonetisation move of the Modi government outside Parliament.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi described it as the world's biggest impromptu financial experiment and said they are firm on their demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 'scam'.

A united opposition protested and almost 200 members of Parliament from various parties participated in the discussion, seeking an explanation from the Prime Minister as to why he took such a decision and 'why he leaked the decision to his industrialist friends and BJP leaders'.

The Opposition MPs included those from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist who protested near the Gandhi statue outside Parliament.

'What the Prime Minister has done is the biggest impromptu financial experiment in the world. He did not ask anyone. The Union Finance Minister did not know. The Chief Economic adviser did not know. This decision is not that of the finance minister. This is the prime minister's decision,' the Congress Vice-President alleged.

'This Prime Minister can give lectures at pop concerts where 'naach gaana' is going on. But we are demanding that he tells the nation why he took this decision.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi described it as the world's biggest impromptu financial experiment and said they are firm on their demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 'scam'

'The PM does not want to come to Parliament. Why is he afraid of going inside? He is obviously anxious about something,' Gandhi added.

The opposition MPs demanded that prime minister should speak inside the House on the demonetisation.

'He represents the country and he should come to Parliament and sit through the entire debate and hear us out. We feel there is a scam behind this decision. We feel he informed his own people before and the Opposition is firm that it wants a JPC,' Gandhi said, said, adding that all the Opposition parties are fighting corruption and black money.

However, soon the BJP hit back at Gandhi and invited him for a debate in Parliament on demonetisation.

'The government is eager to hear his scholarly arguments on demonetisation as it wants to know the Congress vice-president's stand on the issue of black money,' Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
India should scrap the sexual potency testing of rape accused as it's ineffective, a group of the country's top forensic experts has urged.

The examination, which every rape accused in India undergoes, is meant to establish that the accused is physically capable of committing the alleged sexual acts.

Well-known people who underwent it include spiritual leaders Asaram Bapu and Swami Nithyananda, journalist Tarun Tejpal and actor Shiney Ahuja.

However, experts say Indian laws are ambiguous on what exactly constitutes 'potency' and how to determine it - because it depends on various anatomical, physiological, pathological and psychological factors.

The findings, in an international journal, underscore a crucial legal contention in a nation where violence against women is common.

As per the changed definition of rape after Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, the potency test stands irrelevant in rape cases.

The report underscores a crucial legal contention in a nation where violence against women is common

Therefore, medical experts are of the opinion that the test should be scrapped, especially since a potency test does not even exist in medical literature anywhere else in the world.

Forensic experts (Prof) Dr Sudhir Gupta, (Add Prof) Dr Abhishek Yadav from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Dr Shashank Pooniya from Lady Hardinge Medical College and Dr Md Shadab Raheel from FH Medical College in Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh) have said in the article that unlike sterility, potency is not permanent and it depends on various factors.

Besides organic causes, diseases and psychological causes are also responsible for impotence.

The article has been published in the International Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences.

One of the authors, Prof (Dr) Sudhir Gupta, head of the forensic department at AIIMS, told Mail Today: 'Whenever an accused is apprehended on charges of sexual assaults, he should be subjected to necessary medico-legal examination for collection of trace evidences without any reference to potency testing.'

He added that if the accused is apprehended for committing rape under clause a, b, c and d of section 375 IPC, the person should be exempted from undergoing a potency test.

Another author, (Add Prof) Dr Abhishek Yadav, said: 'When a person has been apprehended for committing rape under clause a, of section 375 IPC and he does not claim impotency, then there should be no reason to believe that the man is impotent and should be exempted from undergoing potency test.

There have been many protests across India against rape (photo for representation only)

'If the accused claims to be impotent, only then should he be subjected to potency test by a court order when the magistrate has assessed the necessity of the potency test.'

Experts have argued that in a developing country like India where the health sector is already struggling due to the lack of funds and manpower, there is no need for spending huge resources on such an issue which ultimately does not have any substantial impact over the fate of a case in a court of law.

In civil courts, questions of potency arise in cases like adoption, disputed paternity, nullity of marriage and divorce.

Recently, a fast-track Court in Delhi raised objections to the manner in which potency examination of an accused is done and 'double negative' opinion is given after the test.

The court also asked the Union Health Ministry to frame guidelines for potency tests of accused, if necessary.
US President Barack Obama's strategic 'pivot' toward Asia attracted a lot of international attention but did little to tame China's muscular approach to territorial, maritime and trade disputes.

Indeed, with the United States focused on the Islamic world, Obama's much-touted pivot got lost somewhere in the arc between Iraq and Libya.

Will President-elect Donald Trump's approach to Asia be different?

Far from retreating from Asia, the US under Trump is likely to bolster alliances and partnerships with states around China's periphery

Challenge

Concern that Trump could undo Obama's pivot to Asia by exhibiting an isolationist streak ignores the fact that the pivot has remained more rhetorical than real.

Even as Obama prepares to leave office, the pivot has not acquired any concrete strategic content.

If anything, the coining of a catchy term, pivot, helped obscure the key challenge the US confronts to remain the principal security anchor in Asia - a relentless push by a revisionist China to expand its frontiers and sphere of influence.

Trump could face an early test of will from China.

With Obama having increasingly ceded ground to China in Asia during his tenure, Beijing feels emboldened, as attested by its incremental expansionism in the South China Sea and its dual Silk Road projects under the 'one belt, one road' banner.

Indeed, boosting naval prowess and projecting power far from its shores are at the centre of China's ambition to fashion a strongly Sino-centric Asia.

Boasting one of the world's fastest-growing undersea fleets, China this month announced that its first aircraft carrier is ready for combat.

Its revanchist moves will inevitably test the new US administration's limits. Trump, in keeping with his 'tough guy' image, could permit the US navy and air force to initiate more aggressive reconnaissance and freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea.

He could also invite China's wrath by getting Japan to join US air and sea patrols in the South China Sea.

Trump is also expected to be more assertive diplomatically than Obama, who refused to speak up even when China occupied the Scarborough Shoal, located well within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

Trump: Great for India?

The 2012 takeover occurred despite a US-brokered deal under which both Beijing and Manila agreed to withdraw their vessels from the area.

Yet the US did nothing in response to the capture, in spite of its mutual-defence treaty with the Philippines.

That inaction spurred China's frenzied creation of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

In late 2013, when China unilaterally declared an air defence identification zone covering territories that it claims but does not control in the East China Sea, Obama again hesitated. In effect, the US condoned China's ADIZ establishment.

Background

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's much-flayed action in cutting his own deal with China should be seen against this background.

The deal, however, is likely to hold only until the next major Chinese incursion.

The paradox is that the more assertive China has become in pressing its territorial and maritime claims - from the East China Sea to the Himalayas - the more reluctant the Obama administration has been to take sides in Asia's territorial disputes, although they centre on Beijing's efforts to change the status quo with America's strategic allies or partners.

No less significant is the fact that Obama failed to provide strategic heft to his pivot to Asia.

Even the modest measure to permanently rotate up to 2,500 US Marines through Darwin, Australia, is yet to be fully implemented.

To countries bearing the brunt of China's recidivist policies, this lack of clarity has not only raised doubts about the US commitment, but also left them effectively at the mercy of a regional predator.

That, in turn, has forced several of them to be more mindful of Chinese concerns and interests.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror Charity event

Retreat

Far from retreating from Asia, the US under Trump is likely to bolster alliances and partnerships with states around China's periphery.

His administration may even support constitutional and nationalsecurity reforms in Japan, on the assumption that a Japan that does more for its own defence will help to forestall the emergence of a destabilising power imbalance in East Asia - with far-reaching benefits for Asia and the rest of the world.

Such support will also fit well with Trump's top priority to arrest the erosion in America's relative power through comprehensive domestic renewal, including reining in the mounting US budget deficit.

Trump's election, however, has dimmed prospects of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership entering into force.

Trade is one area where Trump must deliver on his campaign promises or risk losing his credibility with the blue-collar constituency that helped to propel him to victory.

At a time when the very future of the Asian order looks uncertain, Trump could pivot to Asia in a way Obama didn't.

But today no single power, not even the US, can shape developments on its own in Asia, including ensuring a rulesbased order.

His administration will have to work closely with like-minded states - from Japan and Australia to India and Vietnam - to build a stable balance of power in Asia.
Santa and Banta's humour is based on negative stereotypes

Anti-Sikh jokes are no laughing matter. In fact, students found cracking them may soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

The apex body representing the Sikh community has demanded in the Supreme Court that 'racial slurs' and 'racial profiling' be included in the definition of ragging that is banned in educational institutions.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) approached the SC this week regarding a possible ban on jokes or negative remarks about Sikhs.

The community has over the years been at the receiving end of a large number of gags and wisecracks, which typically portray its members as dim-witted.

Most of them feature two fictional characters, Santa and Banta. But many believe Sikh jokes, like all jokes playing on stereotypes and jesting about one's race, are harmless fun.

The apex body representing the Sikh community has demanded in the Supreme Court that 'racial slurs' and 'racial profiling' be included in the definition of ragging that is banned in educational institutions

Holding that the stringent measures will 'bolster the pride and self-esteem of youngsters belonging to the Sardar community, and preserve the Sikh identity', the SGPC said, 'since curbing of such jokes and comments on the basis of appearance alone, would reduce the number of young Sikh boys who otherwise under peer pressure and to save themselves from such objectification choose the route of getting their hair cut, which ultimately results in loss of identity of the Sikh religion in the very country of its origin.'

More and more youngsters belonging to the community are now cutting their hair in order to be accepted by their peer group or to escape derision, said the committee.

Pointing out that it does not want Sikhs to be ridiculed, the top court had in March for the first time asked the community to come out with suggestions as to what can be done within the permitted jurisdiction of the judiciary to impose a limited ban on Sardar jokes.

'Of course we do not want you to be ridiculed, but please tell us in what way we can do something. You come out with suggestions,' a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur had told lawyers who represented the SGPC, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and main petitioner and advocate Harvinder Chowdhury.

The Sikh community has over the years been on the receiving end of a large number of gags and wisecracks, which typically portray its members as dim-witted

The brunt of the situation is faced by youngsters going to school and college, who are at an impressionable age, the SGPC told the court.

'The same holds especially true for Sikh boys who have physical unshorn hair, and tie patkas (mini headscarf), or turbans, and just by virtue of adorning the symbols of their religion become the victims of mean jokes and insinuations which can emotionally scar them for life,' it said.

DSGMC's lawyer RS Suri however said he is not for any penal provision, but primarily wants sensitisation of the public, especially school students, on the issue.

While Chowdhury demanded a ban on websites spreading jokes portraying the Sardar community as 'persons of low intellect, stupid and foolish' and equated this to 'racial abuse', the DSGMC sought 'framing the guidelines to curb the menace of the social, racial, religious, ethnic remarks abuses or jokes and direction to the state to implement some guidelines through their law-enforcing agencies at all the public places'.

'Certain types of jokes going viral after the advent of the social media, WhatsApp, some of which are in very bad taste, are hurting us,' Suri argued.

'It is not only against the Sikhs. There is a wider canvas like Biharis, people from the Northeast also are the butt of many jokes. We may be enjoying jokes and also cracking jokes ourselves. But we do not want to become jokes ourselves.'

Telling of her personal embarrassment on account of such jokes, Chowdhury had said during the last hearing: 'I know the petition is strange. But I am on something else... the kids in the community are thoroughly demoralised.

'I am married to a Hindu family. My daughter and son do not want the 'Kaur' and 'Singh' tag with their names. Their friends make fun of them.'

She said she found it strange that when certain communities and castes are targeted, there's always much 'hue and cry', but when Sikhs are made the butt of jokes, there is not a single word of protest.

The reflection on the ceiling shows Indian Sikh devotees gathering to pay respects as a 'Jalau' ritual takes place inside the Sikh Shrine Golden Temple in Amritsar

On the first day of hearing on October 31 last year, initially the court was in a mood to dismiss the petition until Chowdhury primafacie convinced the bench that it was a matter worth serious hearing and the issue was related to the prestige of the community.

She argued that such jokes amounted to humiliating and insulting the Sikh community.
A media poll showed 62 per cent of people would vote for Gou

Striking similarities have been spotted between the two tycoons

Gou, who is the third richest person in Taiwan, is worth $6.6 billion

A self-made billionaire whose factory makes Apple products has been described as 'the Donald Trump of Taiwan'.

A recent media poll showed that Terry Gou, the boss of Foxconn which makes iPhones and iPads, has a 62 per cent approval rating in Taiwan - while the popularity of the current President Tsai Ing-wen dropped to a record low this week.

66-year-old Gou, worth $6.6 billion (5.3 billion), is the third richest man of Taiwan and owns three private jets, a fairy-tale castle in Czech Republic and several properties at Taiwan's most luxurious residential complex.

Self-made billionaire Terry Gou (left) whose factory makes Apple products has been described as the Donald Trump (right) of Taiwan by media

Terry Gou is estimated to be worth $6.6 billion by Forbes. He is the third richest man in Taiwan

According to Taiwan-based Next Magazine, Gou had expressed interests in running for presidency.

Quoting an insider, the magazine claimed on November 16 that Gou had asked his top executives during a recent company meeting: 'What are your views on me running for presidency in 2020?'

However, Foxconn Technology Group has denied the allegations.

In a statement issued to MailOnline on November 22, the company said: 'We are aware of recent media reports regarding our Founder and CEO Terry Gou.'

'We would like to clarify that there is absolutely no truth to the statements made about Mr Gou in those reports.'

However, the Taiwanese media have made various comparisons between their home-grown billionaire and the U.S. President-elect, suggesting that Gou could well be the Taiwanese Donald Trump.

Ironically, Donald Trump vowed to force Apple to keep its production lines inside U.S. borders during his election campaign.

Billionaire Gou was rumoured to have different girlfriends, including Taiwanese top model Chiling Lin (left) and Hong Kong actress Cally Kwong (right)

Gou married his second wife (left), choreographer Delia Tsang, in 2008. The couple have the same age difference as Donald Trump and Melania Trump (right): 24 years

Gou owns three private jets, including the recently purchased G650ER (same model as above)

Unlike Trump, who also owns a luxurious Boeing 757 (above), Gou uses his private jets to show off his wealth as well as his political power

Taiwanese media, such as SETN, spotted striking similarities between Gou and Trump, such as their immense wealth, influential business empires, number of marriages as well as young wives.

Both Trump and Gou are powerful businessmen of their respective nations.

While Trump sat on larger wealth of $26.5 billion (21.2 billion), Gou's personal worth of $6.6 billion (5.3 billion) are accompanied by his influential presence across the Taiwan Strait, making him arguably the most powerful man in Taiwan's business community.

They were both political outsiders. While Trump is not considered as a 'mainstream Republican' by many, Gou is neither a member of Kuomintang nor Democratic Progressive Party, the two dominant parties in Taiwan, according to China Post.

Like Donald Trump, Gou has never been shy to share his personal views publicly.

For instance, Gou made a jaw-dropping proposal in 2012 to purchase the politically sensitive Senkaku Islands, known in China as Diaoyu islands, to solve the long-standing territorial dispute between mainland China, Taiwan and Japan.

Their similarities had even run through their private lives.

They both married more than once and they both have five children. More co-incidentally, they are both 24 years older than their current wife.

The reports had triggered speculation over the possibility of the tycoon becoming Taiwan's next leader.

A poll showed that 62 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Gou, compared to 24.3 percent that would pick Tsai.

The poll interviewed 519 people and was conducted by Apple Daily.

On the other hand, the popularity of the current President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, dropped to a record low of 26 per cent according to a poll released on Monday by TVBS, reported China Post.

Gou is the chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry, which owns Foxconn, a major supplier of Apple. Above, a picture taken in 2010 showed the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China

Workers were seen inside a Foxconn factory in the township of Longhua in the southern Guangdong province, in this file picture taken May 26, 2010

Terry Gou's company produces both iPhone and iPad for Apple. Above, a new iPhone 7 was seen at an Apple store in Beijing

Terry Gou, also known as Guo Taiming in Chinese, is estimated to be worth $6.6 billion (5.3 billion) by Forbes. He is the third richest man in Taiwan.

Unlike Donald Trump, who started his career working alongside his father Fred Trump, who was also a successful real estate developer, Gou is a self-made billionaire rising from poverty.

The son of a Taiwanese policeman, Gou started his own company in 1974 with a capital of $7,500 (6,018), partly funded by his mother-in-law, according to People's Daily.

The man worked 16 hours a day to turn his small firm into the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer.

It recently acquired a controlling stake in Sharp for 389 billion yen (3.5 billion) as the first foreign takeover of a major Japanese electronics company.

Foxconn operates assembling factories in mainland China to make Apple's signature products, including iPhone and iPad, according to Apple website.

However the factories were once widely criticised for their poor working conditions after at least 14 workers had killed themselves around 2010, according to a previous report.

Hon Hai Precision Industry chairman Terry Gou (centre), Vice President Tai Jeng-wu (left) and Sharp President Kozo Takahashi (right) shook hands during the signing ceremony in April

Journalists (in foreground) watched a large video screen showing Terry Gou of the Hon Hai group as he spoke during a shareholders conference at the company's headquarters in Tucheng in New Taipei City on June 22, 2016

Gou owns three private jets, including his latest purchase - a 148 million G650ER.

Unlike Trump, who also owns a luxurious Boeing 757, Gou uses his private jets to show off his wealth as well as his political power.

His Gulfstream G550 plane is the first private jet which has been allowed to fly across Taiwan Strait, a politically sensitive area, to mainland China, reported CRNTT.

Gou was given a hand-shake by the Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting between the Chinese and Taiwanese officials in 2014.

Gou (left) shook hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) accompanied by Lian Zhan (middle), a former leader of pro-China Kuomintang at a meeting in 2014

Other than the business success, Gou also is renowned for being outspoken.

The entrepreneur once described the labour rights organisations in as 'running dogs', according to Apple Daily.

Last year, he was caught in a video yelling at two factory workers 'you're fired' after they had failed to recognise the tycoon and swore at him for interrupting their cigarette break, according to an earlier report.

Gou married his first wife Serena Lin, who comes from a relatively wealthy Taiwanese family at the age of 24. The couple had a daughter and a son.

In 2005, Lin died of breast cancer.

Afterwards, Gou was rumoured to have different girlfriends, including Taiwanese top model Chiling Lin and Hong Kong actress Cally Kwong.

Gou married his second wife Delia Tsang, a choreographer who is 24 years younger than him, in 2008.
She might be the most famous baby in the world - and she just turned 90.

The baby food maker says Ann Turner Cook celebrated her 90th birthday on Sunday.

Cook was about four months old in 1927 when her image was sketched in charcoal by a family friend.

The drawing was submitted to Gerber a year later when Gerber put out a call for images to be used in its new baby food advertisements. Cook's picture became the company's official trademark in 1931.

Ann Turner Cook, poses at her Tampa home with a copy of her photo that is used on all Gerber baby food products

Cook's big blue eyes, blond curls and slack-jawed expression became world famous

Cook, middle, said her mouth was always hanging open in a 'quizzical' expression, just like the one in the famous sketch. For years, rumors abounded that Liz Taylor was the Gerber baby

Cook became a mother of four and taught literature and writing in Tampa, Florida, for 26 years before retiring in 1989.

It took Turner Cook over two decades to get paid for her iconic face.

In 1931, Gerber trademarked the picture, and in the early 1950s the company paid her a lump sum - 'enough to make a down payment on a modest house and to buy a first car,' she says - for her role in the company, according to CBS News.

CEO Marilyn Knox said there is 'little doubt' that Mrs Cook's face played an instrumental role in the company's success.

Cook, above, didn't get paid until the 1950s, when she received a lump sum for contributing her face to make Gerber one of the most well-known companies in the world

'You don't even have to have the word Gerber on it. That face is honored as we're doing the best for our child,' she explained.

Indeed, the drawing adorns a flag at the company headquarters in Fremont, Michigan, and is etched in stone near the main entrance to the building.

Gerber kept Mrs Cook's identity a secret until 1978, allowing myths to circulate that the sketch depicted Humphrey Bogart as a baby, or Elizabeth Taylor.

Dimpled and smiling Isla from Troy, Michigan was the winner of the 2015 Gerber baby contest - but no one has taken over the iconic status from Ann Turner Cook

Gerber has yearly contests for its new baby and 2015's winner was a dark-haired seven-month old Isla from Troy, Michigan.

TuernCook remains on all products, but the new babies get an ad and a $50,000 prize.
It may look like something you would find in a chemist's lab report, but this is the homework faced by a six-year-old child prodigy.

Ras Monroe has been attending year 12 chemistry and physics classes at Kenmore State High School in Brisbane after growing frustrated with the work at primary school.

Examples from the Queensland Year 12 chemistry syllabus 2015 show mind-boggling questions on electron quantities and electric field strength measurements.

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This is a straightforward Year 12 chemistry question for six year-old Ras Monroe, but not so much for the rest of us. The answer is B: Metallic

But the gifted six-year-old told the 7:30 report that learning about dark matter, the string theory and quantum physics is the first time he has been challenged.

One example of a question Ras can handle easily in year 12 chemistry is: A pure substance is found to be a good conductor of electricity in both its solid and liquid phases. What is the bonding in the substance? The answer is metallic.

Another is: Which contains the same number of electrons? The answer is C1, Ar, K+ as all have 16.

'It's been awesome. It's not the boring stuff I do at [primary school] school but it's fun stuff,' Ras said. 'Sometimes I learn stuff that I wasn't supposed to learn and then I can research that stuff.'

Ras (centre) explained on the 7.30 report how he now was challenge by his new homework

Ras now does year 12 chemistry homework like this. The answer is C

However, Ras's gifts were not always recognised as his boredom and disruption of other kids was often misplaced.

He was even thought to have autism or global development delay by one of his teacher's.

His mother, Margaret Monroe, said the high school workshops changed the course of his learning.

'When he first started at prep he was running away, he was not staying in the classroom, he was bouncing off walls, he was disrupting the other kids' learning. But these workshops changed all that,' she said.

The High School science teacher running the workshops, Ian Stuart, said he sometimes finds himself turning to Ras for advice.

Ras's gifts were not always recognised as his boredom and disruption of other kids confused his teachers

'If I want to understand about particle physics, sometimes I ask Ras to explain it to me,' he said.

Margaret says the advice she was given about Ras from the education system completely missed the mark.

'I was told that the important thing was to concentrate on his social development and just worry about taking him to parks and doing a lot of those sorts of things,' she said.

'That's just completely and utterly the wrong advice.'

She is fighting to get better opportunities for gifted students such as her son.
The man who ambushed and fatally shot one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions was given a more lenient sentence of at least 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Scott Roeder had his term for killing Dr George Tiller in 2009 reduced at a surprise resentening hearing in Wichita, Kansas, on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old was convicted in January 2010 of premeditated first-degree murder for slaying Tiller as he was serving as an usher in the foyer of the doctor's church.

Roeder also was sentenced to an additional two years for aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers as he fled.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said that the decision not to seek the added time was reached by prosecutors after examining Roeder's health, his expected life span and the likelihood of whether he would ever be released from prison alive.

Roeder will be 76 before he will see a parole board.

Scott Roeder had his term for murdering late-term abortion doctor Dr George Tiller in 2009 reduced at a surprise resentening hearing in Wichita, Kansas. Roeder is pictured at a court hearing in July

Video courtesy of KSN

The family of victim Dr Tiller also was consulted, he said.

Tiller's murder was among the most notorious acts of violence since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide in 1973. It alarmed the abortion rights community and came as numerous conservative states, including Kansas, passed restrictions making it harder for women to obtain abortions.

The hearing Wednesday came just days before Roeder was set to go before a jury on Monday for what had been anticipated to be a two-week sentencing hearing.

Roeder's original life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether to increase punishment.

'I was really shocked about today,' Roeder said in a prison phone call to The Associated Press after the hearing. 'I was glad obviously to hear the sentence reduced, but I was looking forward to being another voice for the unborn  so I was disappointed in that respect.'

He said he knew the consequences of his actions going in and has 'no regrets' because children have been saved because of him.

Roeder, who suffers from prostate problems, looked much thinner than at his initial sentencing in 2010 and was subdued throughout the proceeding. He chose not to make a courtroom statement before the judge pronounced his sentence.

That was in contrast to the previous sentencing hearing that Roeder used as a forum to espouse at length his anti-abortion views in an effort to justify his killing the doctor to save unborn babies.

Roeder was convicted in January 2010 of premeditated first-degree murder for slaying Tiller (pictured) as he was serving as an usher in the foyer of the doctor's church

Bennett told reporters after the hearing that 'rather than putting the community and the victim's family and witnesses through another contested hearing' in order to extend a 58-year-old inmate's parole eligibility from 25 to 50 years, the state decided to withdraw the request.

He cited Roeder's declining health and doubts he would live long enough to ever get out of prison. Bennett said the decision was made 'in the best interest' of the community and Tiller's family.

Bennett also read a statement from Tiller's family saying nothing will change the fact Tiller was assassinated, and the family continues to grieve his loss. The family cited the 'very difficult and emotionally draining trial' in which Roeder was found guilty, and thanked those involved for ensuring it was a fair trial.

Roeder's original life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether to increase punishment

Tiller's family said they had decided to support the sentence of a minimum 25 years in prison without parole.

'With this legal closure, the Dr. George Tiller family will continue to heal and thrive and live fully in our communities,' their statement said.

The abortion rights group Trust Women, which opened a clinic in 2013 in the same facility where Tiller once practiced, said in a statement its staff is grateful the doctor's family has some measure of closure and healing. Its founder, Julie Burkhart, said Roeder deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law.

'Dr. Tiller's assassination most certainly left a hole in the reproductive rights movement, but we remain committed to this critical work in his honor and memory,' Burkhart said.

Defense attorney Mark Rudy said after the hearing that he thinks his client is relieved it is over, and no appeal is planned. The defense has already lost on every other appeal issue and this is the minimum sentence Roeder could hope to receive, he said.
One man gave new meaning to the term hot pants when his e-cigarette exploded in his pocket, setting off a fireworks-like display of bright bursts.

The man was standing behind the counter at a wine store where he worked in New York's Grand Central Terminal when the e-cigarette ignited in his pocket, causing him to suffer leg and hand burns.

His name was not released.

The victim (top right) stands unaware that his pocket is about to explode from his e-cig

Smoke begins coming from the man's pants as his friends make a run for it

Soon flames are shooting out of the man's pants as the e-cigarette catches fire

Central Cellars assistant manager John Lee says it looked like fireworks exploding when the vaporizer pen suddenly blew up in the man's pants Wednesday morning.

Surveillance video footage caught the employees scattering as the man's pants began flashing white explosions of fire and spewing gray smoke.

'I saw fireworks coming out of his pocket and I thought, He brought fireworks to work,' Lee told the New York Daily News.

'He went to pull the cigarette out of his pocket and burned his hand, his nail. There were some some projectiles during the explosion - I ducked out and we all evacuated...I guess these e-cigarettes are a dangerous thing,' Lee told NBC.

Another employee said the explosions looked like the man had fireworks in his pocket

The man was seen dancing frantically and hitting at his pocket, trying to put out the fire

He said the victim began frantically dancing around, trying to put out the flames.

'Then I saw a projectile fly... the explosion ripped a hole in his pants,' he said. 'He went to take it out and his hand burned. I saw his nails burn, right down to the root.' He added that the man's hand was was charred and blackened.

The victim suffered third degree burns on his leg and hands, according to NBC.

Another employee, Bryon Gonzales, 26, said the exploding device took them all by surprise.

'We were just having a conversation about the daily routine and all of a sudden his pocket caught on fire,' he told the Daily News. 'I jumped behind a wall because I didn't want to get burned.'

The firemen checked out the scene and then left with the victim on a stretcher (above right)

At least 25 explosions of e-cigarettes in the US were reported between 2009 and 2014

Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan says the man was taken by a private ambulance service to a hospital. He says the injuries appeared minor.

Donovan says train service at the transit hub wasn't affected.

Electronic cigarettes and other battery-operated electronic smoking devices occasionally do catch fire. There were 25 reports of e-cigarettes exploding between 2009 and 2014, according to the US Fire Administration.

The problem with e-cigarettes seems to be their lithium battery, according to one report, which stores a great deal of energy in a small space. Eighty percent of them explode while charging.

In 2014, a man in Scotland died when his e-cig exploded near his oxygen tank, according to The Scotsman.
A North Carolina elementary school teacher allegedly singled out and harassed a five-year-old student because he is Muslim.

Charlotte's public school system is investigating allegations that the teacher at David Cox Road Elementary School has assaulted the student since the beginning of the school year.

The teacher at one point grabbed the student by the neck and called him a 'bad Muslim boy' multiple times over several weeks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said on Wednesday.

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Charlotte's public school system is investigating allegations that a kindergarten teacher singled out a five-year-old student for harassment because he's Muslim

'During the first two months of the school year, (the Muslim student) was subjected to relentless bullying and harassment not only by his classmates, but by (the teacher), a letter detailing the allegations written by CAIR lawyer Maha Sayed, said.

The harsh treatment by the teacher made the boy fearful of coming to school, the letter dated Monday said.

'For example, she would routinely single out (the student) from his classmates and require him to carry a heavy backpack throughout the day... which caused (the student) to develop significant back pain,' Sayed wrote in the letter.

The boy's mother had a meeting about his treatment with the principal and guidance counselor, and the principal placed him in another teacher's classroom in October, according to the letter.

The boy continued to encounter the teacher he had complained about, Sayed said.

On November 16, the teacher in the complaint approached the boy in his new classroom, 'grabbed him by the neck and began choking him,' Sayed writes, noting that the boy was 'crying and extremely shaken' afterward.

The teacher at one point grabbed the student by the neck and called him a 'bad Muslim boy' multiple times over several weeks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said on Wednesday

The boy's new teacher had to separate him from the teacher who grabbed him, the letter said.

The district is investigating and takes the allegations detailed by CAIR in the letter seriously, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokeswoman Renee McCoy said.

She said she could not comment further, partly because many employees are out for Thanksgiving.

CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, seeks to have the student transferred to a safe classroom 'free from discrimination and retaliatory actions'.

It also wants a comprehensive investigation of the allegations, disciplinary actions against all those involved found guilty of misconduct and cultural and religious diversity training for all of the school's staff.

Sayed's letter was addressed to Rebecca Garland, North Carolina's deputy superintendent of public instruction.

It asks for an investigation and disciplinary action against the teacher, possibly including termination or rescinding her teaching license.

Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte (pictured), said the allegations are all the more shocking because they involve someone in a leadership role over children.

Garland said in an email on Wednesday that she received the letter, which is being reviewed by a staff attorney for the Department of Public Instruction.

A Charlotte police spokesman said the department did not have any reports on the allegations.

The teacher accused in CAIR's letter did not immediately respond to email or phone messages.

The Associated Press is not naming her partly because she has not been charged with a crime.

Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, said the allegations are all the more shocking because they involve someone in a leadership role over children.
A prison officer's ear was 'bitten off' by a 'mentally unstable' inmate in a brutal attack at the crisis-hit Wormword Scrubs jail.

The officer was rushed to hospital after the assault at 10am yesterday morning.

A source told the Mail the prisoner was moved to the west London penitentiary after a number of attacks on guards at Pentonville prison.

They added: 'The prisoner is clearly mentally unstable and should not be held in a prison.

A prison officer's ear was 'bitten off' by an inmate in a brutal attack at the crisis hit Wormword Scrubs jail (pictured) yesterday

According to top-secret security reports seen by The Mail on Sunday, a staggering 125 serious incidents took place in prisons in a single week this month, including riots, hostage-taking, fights and drug-smuggling

'He was moved here because he was attacking officers in Pentonville. This is happening far too often.'

The 31-year-old inmate allegedly refused to take his medication before assaulting the officer.

The guard was taken to hospital and his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

The attack comes just days after the Prison Officers Association, led by National Chairman Mike Rolfe, held resumed talks with the Prison Service about health and safety in British jails.

In 2006 staff at Wormwood Scrubs in west London staged a walk out over safety fears (pictured)

Mr Rolfe said: 'Once again we have an officer assaulted by an inmate who is clearly unstable and should not be in a prison.

'He should be in a mental hospital. He was moved to the Scrubs because he carried out a number of assaults on staff at Pentonville'.

He added : 'This was a very nasty attack on an officer. Head-butted twice, punched, and then had his ear bitten off. It is outrageous what is happening to staff in prisons throughout the country. Something has got to be done. And soon.'

In May this year staff at Wormwood Scrubs staged a walk out over safety fears.

The protest was a result of health and safety concerns after a report published by the HM Inspectorate described the facility as 'overwhelmed' and 'rat-infested'.

According to top-secret security reports seen by The Mail on Sunday, a staggering 125 serious incidents took place in prisons in a single week in November.

These included riots, hostage-taking, fights, escapes and drug-smuggling.

In the report jail chiefs detailed that weeks most high-profile events, included 300 inmates rioting at Bedford jail, causing 1 million of damage, and two prisoners escaping from Pentonville and going on the run.

This month high-profile events in British jails, included 300 inmates rioting at Bedford jail (pictured) and two prisoners escaping from Pentonville

Footage from inside the Bedford jail riot earlier this month showed prisoners celebrating victoriously on the wing after taking over parts of the jail

Nine guards were injured in fights, and 29 criminals were reported for fighting. Two inmates were released by mistake and three were taken hostage by cellmates. Weapons, mobile phones and drugs were all found, while one prisoner was filmed live for a Facebook video.

The revelations show the depth of the crisis facing the Prison Service, which is struggling to keep control of jails after losing nearly 7,000 officers since 2010.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that officers attended Wormwood Scubs prison yesterday morning and arrested a 31-year-old prisoner on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice would not say how serious the injuries the officer sustained were.

She added: 'We do not tolerate any violence against the dedicated staff who work with our offenders.
Mr McConnell led police to a 35-year-old man who has been charged

The driver collided with a fish and chip shop owned by his friend's mother

He was in nothing but his underwear when he chased an unlicensed

Social media users have slammed Sunrise after a 'disrespectful' reporter joked about an Aussie hero having a criminal history before suggesting he expected a reward for chasing an unlicensed driver who damaged his friend's fish and chip shop.

Daniel McConnell charmed the Australian public with a story about mateship and community spirit during a candid interview with The Today Show on Thursday.

The father-of-four was hailed an everyday hero for pursing a man who allegedly fled the scene after losing control and colliding with a local corner shop in Brisbane's north-east owned by his friend's mother in the early hours of the morning.

But social media users picked up on Mr McConnell's change in demeanour when Sunrise reporter Michelle Tapper suggested the 'fair dinkum Aussie bloke' had committed a crime and expected a reward for his good deed.

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Daniel McConnell was all smiles during an interview with the Today Show (left) but lost his positive demeanour after being asked on Sunrise (right) if he expected a reward for chasing a man who allegedly hit his friend's fish and chip shop

Those impressed with the father-of-four's efforts have slammed Sunrise for their coverage

'Now, I am not going to ask you if you've committed any crimes,' Ms Tapper said to Mr McConnell's disbelief.

But are you expecting a reward for your amazing neighbourhood watch work here this morning?' the reporter added.

The hero's face instantly dropped, but he hit back saying he had already received the only reward he expected.

'Yeah, a handshake from my mate and I got it this morning.'

Mr McConnell then corrected Ms Tapper when she said he had been given a cup of coffee from the damaged shop to thank him for his efforts.

'You got a handshake and a cup of coffee because the shop is still operating isn't it?' Ms Tapper asked.

'Ahh, no not at the moment,' he said looking at the extensive damage.

'The coffee has all come from my house. I made everyone a coffee this morning,' he added.

Sunrise reporter Michelle Tapper has been slammed for suggesting Mr McConnell had previously committed a crime and expected a reward for his good deed

Social media instantly erupted with criticism from viewers impressed with Mr McConnell's efforts who felt he had been discriminated against during the interview

Social media instantly erupted with criticism from viewers impressed with Mr McConnell's efforts who felt he had been discriminated against during the interview.

'Won't ask if you've committed any crimes! Are u for real Sunrise? You just rained on his parade. He's a hero and you just mocked him!' one user wrote.

'Hope you're proud of yourself Tapper for mocking this guy based purely on his appearance... At least The Today show granted him dignity in their interview with him. Shame on you!'

'Pretty disgusted watching this interview taking the piss out of this bloke on live TV. He may not be like all of you sitting behind your desk so stop being judgemental.'

'Why are you laughing? That was an appalling interview from that reporter. The Today Show took this man seriously. All you can hear from the Sunrise crew was laughing in the background.'

'Hope you're proud of yourself Tapper for mocking this guy based purely on his appearance... At least the Today show granted him dignity in their interview with him,' one user wrote

He said the driver told him not to 'be a hero' but the good Samaritan knew the police would be there shortly after seeing his friend's shop looking 'beyond a mess' he decided to follow him

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Sunrise for comment.

Mr McConnell earlier told The Today Show about how he did not let a lack of clothing stop him from pursuing the man who smashed the local shop in Hendra, a suburb in Brisbane's north east, at about 2am on Thursday.

The unsuspecting hero said it was instinctual to chase down the allegedly unlicensed driver out of loyalty to his friend after giving him some unsolicited legal advice, with his half naked pursuit leading to an arrest.

'It's really quite funny. I was in bed sleeping at 2am this morning and my wife comes in and says someone's ran into the shops,' he told The Today Show.

'You look after your mates and your mates will always look after you,' Mr McConnell said

'I jumped out of bed and all I had on was my undies and I've walked out the front and I've seen the car smashed and the bloke walking back to the car.

'I've said 'What are you doing, mate? You can't be leaving the scene'.'

The father-of-four told Sunrise the driver said he had fallen asleep and told him not to 'be a hero'.

But the good Samaritan, who has lived in the area for four years, knew the police would be there shortly after seeing his friend's shop looking 'beyond a mess' he decided to follow him.

'He decided he is going to scoot up the road and I said 'nah, it's not going on like that' so I just jumped in my car.

Despite his heroic efforts toward bringing the person responsible to justice, Mr McConnell was modest when asked if he felt like a hero and said he was simply looking after his community

'All I had was me jocks on and I was chasing him up the street and I was just like, mate,' the animated hero said.

Mr McConnell said the driver darted into a side street but he had him cornered and pointed police in the right direction when the arrived.

He was blown away by the damage done to the local fish and chip shop during the late night crash.

'My mate's mum had this shop for like 40-odd years and look at it. Look at it... Words can't explain how it is.'

Despite his heroic efforts toward bringing the person responsible to justice, Mr McConnell was modest when asked if he felt like a hero and said he was simply looking after his community.

A 35-year-old man has been charged with over the early morning crash in Hendra

'My mate's mum had this shop for like 40-odd years and look at it. Look at it... Words can't explain how it is,' the father-of-four said

'You look after your mates and your mates will always look after you.'

Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson hailed Mr McConnell as 'Aussie of the day' and 'Australian of the year, with Lisa commenting 'all good super heroes wear their jocks on the outside, so it fits the brief'.

'Yeah, but I had nothing on bar me jocks,' Mr McConnell responded.

Police said they were able to find a 35-year-old man from Redcliffe thanks to Mr McConnell's efforts.
A 'train surfer' who boasted that he was not afraid of death has given up his stunts after he almost died jumping off a speeding carriage and into a river.

Matt Archer, 20, was left seriously injured after throwing himself off a train that was passing over a rail bridge in Melbourne and landing in the Yarra River.

The daredevil, who was part of a gang calling themselves the Sky High Idiots, was left coughing up blood, struggling to breathe and was rushed to hospital in a serious condition.

Mr Archer - who had previously hidden his identity - unmasked himself to admit he was wrong to risk his life for the sake of a few YouTube hits.

'Train surfer' Matt Archer, who boasted that he was not afraid of death, has given up his idiotic stunts after he almost died jumping off a speeding carriage and into a river

Matt Archer, 20, was left fighting for his life after throwing himself off a train that was passing over a rail bridge in Melbourne and landing in the Yarra River. His injuries are pictured

Previously he and other members of the group claimed they were not afraid of death and had accepted that they were going to die one day anyway.

But a changed Mr Archer told 7 News that his near-death experience had given him 'a new value for life'.

'It's easy to say "everyone's going to die" but when you're so close to it, it really hits home,' he admitted.

Mr Archer had a GoPro camera attached to him when he threw himself off the 50km/h train, but it was lost in the river.

He went into shock as soon as he hit the water and found himself unable to breathe as he spluttered up blood.

Describing the impact with the water as like 'hitting some very solid glass', Mr Archer said he panicked as he came back up for hair.

'The second I hit the water, I couldn't breathe any longer and i was in the middle of the river. I was all alone, there was no one there. I just needed help.

'I couldn't breathe. I got to the river bank. I was just spitting up blood.'

Mr Archer had a GoPro camera attached to him when he threw himself off the 50km/h train, but it was lost in the river (pictured)

Another member of the group, Scarlett Hudson, said she thought Mr Archer was going to die

The foolish young man says he is fortunate that a passer-by saw him and phoned for help.

Meanwhile another member of the group, Scarlett Hudson, said she thought Mr Archer was going to die.

'I was extremely scared,' she said. 'I thought I'd lose him. It was a very painful sight'.

Mr Archer believes Victoria Police picked up his camera and now expects to be charged.

The gang, who call themselves the Sky High Idiots, have posted a series of videos of teenagers hanging onto trains and taking posing for pictures

The accident comes after a string of videos of daredevils clinging onto the outside of trains were posted online by a group of teenage daredevils

Recent footage uploaded by the group include a video of a young woman - thought to be Miss Hudson hanging onto the outside of a train in her underwear, and a man - Possibly Mr Archer - clambering onto the roof of a carriage before it speeds through a tunnel.

Other videos of the group show them travelling through packed stations without commuters noticing.

The Sky High Idiots were already under investigation by the police before Mr Archer was injured jumping into the river.

The gang recently said that they have no intention of stopping their dangerous stunts.

'It's completely our decision and if we want to risk our lives doing that then it's what we're going to do,' one of the gang told 9 News earlier this month.

Recent footage uploaded by the group includes a man clambering onto the roof of a carriage before it speeds through a tunnel

Other videos of the group show them travelling through packed stations without commuters noticing

A male member of the group, who refused to be identified, added: '[Our] parents aren't really too thrilled about it but it's not going to stop us.'

Asked if anything could stop the group from clinging onto speeding trains, he replied: 'Not really unless it's death'.

Three teenagers have died in the last four years while riding the outside of the trains, but the irresponsible group say they are not afraid of death.

Joshua Greene, Jordan Porter and James Wilkinson all died in the last four years while riding on top of or on the side of trains.

Despite the apparently burgeoning craze, just 10 people have been fined for train surfing in the last year.
New fund will spend 23bn on innovation and infrastructure

Productivity in the UK is also lower than in France and Italy

Philip Hammond said UK lags behind US and Germany by 30 per cent

Productivity in Britain is so poor that it takes UK workers five days to produce what Germans make in four, the Chancellor admitted yesterday.

Announcing billions of pounds to tackle the issue, Philip Hammond said Britains productivity gap was well known, but shocking nonetheless.

Mr Hammond told the House of Commons that the UK lags behind the US and Germany by 30 per cent  meaning workers are nearly one-third less productive than their counterparts in those countries. UK productivity is also lower than in France and Italy.

Productivity in Britain is so poor that it takes UK workers five days to produce what Germans make in four, the Chancellor admitted yesterday

Mr Hammond said he wanted to improve productivity  so workers were paid more and living standards improve.

We lag behind the US and Germany by some 30 percentage points. But we also lag France by over 20 and Italy by 8, he said.

Which means in the real world, it takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five, which means, in turn, that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts.

That has to change if we are to build an economy that works for everyone.

Announcing billions of pounds to tackle the issue, Philip Hammond said Britains productivity gap was well known, but shocking nonetheless

Raising productivity is essential for the high-wage, high-skill economy that will deliver higher living standards for working people.

Mr Hammond announced a new National Productivity Investment Fund will spend 23billion on innovation and infrastructure over the next five years.

Its spending will be split between different areas deemed critical for productivity.

The boost in funding will take total spending in these areas to 1.7 per cent of GDP by 2021-22.

It includes 4.7billion for science and innovation projects, 700million on ultra-fast 5G mobile networks, 400million to help innovative start-up firms make the transition to global leaders, as well as billions more for new homes and transport.

TREASURY TIGHT-LIPPED OVER WHAT IT OFFERED NISSAN Ministers refused to disclose what, if any, promises they made to try to keep Nissan in the UK, it emerged last night. In documents published yesterday the Office for Budget Responsibility revealed it had asked the Treasury whether letters sent by ministers to the Japanese car maker created any contingent liabilities. But ministers refused to reveal the letters or spell out in detail the Governments plans for Brexit. Ministers refused to disclose what, if any, promises they made to try to keep Nissan in the UK, it emerged last night Instead it directed OBR officials to copies of Theresa Mays speeches setting out the broad principles of what she wants to achieve. Last night the revelation prompted bitter complaints from Remain campaigners. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: The Government are making secret deals behind closed doors with businesses. How can they give assurances to businesses based in Japan but not tell the British public their plans? This is an utter farce. Last month Nissan said it was extending production of two new vehicles  the Qashqai and X-Trail models  at its plant in Sunderland. The move secured 7,000 jobs in the city, but prompted a volley of questions over whether the Government has struck a so-called sweetheart deal with the car maker. It later emerged Business Secretary Greg Clark had written several letters to the firm  but copies of the documents were not released. Yesterday, in its economic outlook report, released alongside the Autumn Statement, the OBR revealed it asked specifically whether any contingent liabilities had been created in respect of assurances provided to Nissan and the Treasury declined to say. Ministers have strongly denied suggestions they offered the firm a sweetheart deal. Advertisement

Productivity will be further improved by public investment in improving current technologies or developing new ones, Mr Hammond said.

He also said he was investing today for the economy of the future. The money will be used for research, development and innovation the Chancellor said.

As the pace of technology advances and competition from the rest of the world increases, we must build on our strengths in science and tech innovation to ensure the next generation of discoveries is made, developed and produced in Britain, he said.

BUDGET MOVED TO AUTUMN The Budget is to be moved to the autumn for the first time in two decades in order to give changes more time to bed in before the end of the tax year. In a surprise move, Philip Hammond announced that the Autumn Statement on the economy is to be ditched, with the Budget returning to the autumn next year. The Chancellor will continue to provide an update on the economy in the spring, but Treasury sources said this will be a modest affair, rather than a full scale fiscal event involving tax and spending decisions. Mr Hammond said the move, which will mean a Spring Budget and an Autumn Budget in 2017, would offer greater certainty. Advertisement

Mr Hammond added that he wanted to ensure the economy was match fit for the new chapter ahead.

He also announced that he had told the National Infrastructure Commission to make plans on the assumption that the Government would invest between 1 per cent and 1.2 per cent of GDP in economic infrastructure every year from 2020.

In order to help pay for the measures, Mr Hammond set out a range of tax hikes.

These include a crackdown on unfair salary sacrifice schemes, a rise from 10 per cent to 12 per cent in insurance premium tax and a crackdown on tax dodges aimed at raising 2billion over five years.

Official government papers published yesterday say raising productivity is the central long-term economic challenge facing the UK.

The papers say: Productivity determines living standards in the long term and improving it is the key to increasing wages.

They also point out that if the UK raised productivity by 1 per cent a year it would add 240billion to the size of the economy within a decade  or 9,000 for every household in Britain.

1billion to unblock our congested roads

The most congested roads will be targeted as part of a 1.3billion initiative to grease the wheels of the economy.

Ministers are worried the amount of time Britons spend in traffic jams is costing the economy billions  making it less productive than America, Germany and France.

The most congested roads will be targeted as part of a 1.3billion initiative to grease the wheels of the economy

The Autumn Statement included 1.1billion for reducing congestion and upgrading local roads and 220million to tackle pinch points on Englands motorways and major A-roads.

LOWEST BUSINESS TAX IN THE G20 BRITAIN will have the lowest corporation tax in the G20 after the Chancellor stuck by planned cuts. Philip Hammond confirmed previously announced aims to reduce corporation tax from 20 per cent to 17 per cent by 2020. However, hopes were dashed that he would go further and match pledges by US President-elect Donald Trump of a cut to 15 per cent. Stella Amiss, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: The door is open for further cuts in the Budget, allowing a bargaining chip with the EU and time to see how the US plays its tax cards. The Government has already cut the rate of corporation tax from 28 per cent to 20 per cent since 2010. Advertisement

Pinch points include busy junctions, roundabouts, and slip roads off motorways which can often be gridlocked.

Some of the other cash could be spent on widening roads, filling potholes, improving road surfaces and making road markings clearer.

Philip Hammond gave the go-ahead for a major road scheme in the North to develop the so-called Northern Powerhouse  a phrase coined by his predecessor George Osborne.

This will include converting the A66 from Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire to Penrith in Cumbria into a dual carriageway.

In total Mr Hammond said 23billion would be spent over the next five years on improving transport links in the North.

Among other road projects given the green light yesterday was a 27million expressway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

The Chancellor also announced 110million of funding for the planned East-West rail line, which would also link Oxford and Cambridge.

PS: HERE'S WHAT THE CHANCELLOR DIDN'T DO There was disappointment from campaigners yesterday as Philip Hammond refused to bow to pressure and lavish cash on some sectors. JACK DOYLE examines where the Chancellor stood firm: AIR PASSENGER DUTY British Airways boss Willie Walsh said this week it would be suicidal if the UK does not reduce the duty, which adds 73 to the cost of a long haul economy flight and is due to rise to 75 from April. First class passengers will pay an extra 150. Mr Walsh said Britains was the highest taxed aviation market in the world, and post-Brexit it was essential to cut the duty to encourage trade. English airports also fear the Scottish government will halve air passenger duty north of the border  giving them a huge advantage over rivals. But with the tax due to raise 3.8billion by 2020/1, the Treasury decided it was too expensive to cut. NHS Opposition politicians and health unions have been demanding ever higher sums for the NHS and social care in recent days. Dr Mark Porter, of the British Medical Association, claimed the service was in the grip of crippling financial restraint as he asked Mr Hammond for a funding increase in a letter this week. Last night Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said healthcare was in financial crisis and claimed it was unthinkable for Mr Hammond not to address it. Ministers say the NHS asked for 8billion more  but was given 10billion  and now needs to find efficiency savings. Sources told the Mail this week the NHS needed to learn financial discipline, adding: If you just keep offering more money, then where is the incentive to get their house in order? STAMP DUTY Two years ago George Osborne ramped up stamp duty on homes worth more than 1million, which critics say has caused lasting damage to the housing market. Although it raises nearly 14billion former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson has argued that levels are crazy and surveys suggest the Osborne reforms slowed the housing market and raised half as much money as predicted. Critics say the rates are damaging at the top end of the property market  where buyers face a duty of up to 12 per cent  and further down the scale. But cutting the duty would have been expensive and hard to justify as it would have handed a tax break to people who are already wealthy. SOCIAL CARE Demands to pump billions of pounds more into social care were faced down by the Chancellor. Council bosses had clamoured for extra cash to help the elderly and sick at home, which they insisted would ease pressure on the NHS. But it was not mentioned in the Chancellors statement  triggering howls of protest. The Local Government Association said it left social care in crisis and pushed care providers into the private sector. It added: Tragically, the human cost of this will be elderly and vulnerable people continuing to face an ever uncertain future. Advertisement

Both projects were recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission in a report last week.

Mr Hammond said they could create a transformational tech-corridor, drawing on the world-class research strengths of our two best-known universities.

The Government has been criticised by some MPs for spending billions on high-profile infrastructure projects such as the HS2 rail line, and a third runway at Heathrow.

Critics have argued public money would be better spent on improving Britains existing roads and railways. Mr Hammond said small investments in local infrastructure can offer big wins.

265M CHILD TAX CREDIT BLUNDER Almost 30,000 families have been deprived of child tax credits by a Government mix-up. HM Revenue and Customs automatically pays a tax credit worth up to 3,140 a year to families who have a disabled child, if the child is registered for Disability Living Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions. But papers have revealed that between 2011 and 2014 this information was not passed between the two departments  meaning 28,000 families missed out on the extra payment. The blunder means the Government will have to cough up an extra 95million this year  and an extra 265million over the next five years. Advertisement

According to the Treasury, road congestion costs the UK 13billion every year.

It claims the equivalent of more than 100million working days could be lost by 2040 unless action is taken now.

Tory MP Will Quince, of the Commons transport committee said: We all know investment in transport infrastructure is key to unlocking business and economic growth.

'If we get it right productivity will increase as people can get to and from work more quickly.

The AAs Luke Bosdet said: 220million on pinch points  will make life and journeys more easy and bearable for millions of drivers, but I wonder how far this money will go.
The international departure tax is likely to be frozen for five years if the government can get the Senate to agree to a second vote on its plan to increase the impost by $5.

Legislation increasing the tax to $60 was defeated in the upper house on Wednesday night after Queensland One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and a colleague missed a crucial vote in Parliament.

The government will seek to recommit its bill for a vote on Thursday.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wants stop the international departure tax from increasing for the next five years to $60

Senator Hanson and NSW colleague Brian Burston were absent for the crucial vote in Parliament on Wednesday night

Senator Hanson says she will help the government provided it agrees to a five-year freeze on further hikes.

'Although the vote was unsuccessful last night I am hopeful that once it is reintroduced into the (upper) house it will pass with our amendment,' Senator Hanson said in a statement.

'All we want is for the tax to remain steady for five years so the travel and tourism industry has some certainty.'

Senator Hanson is working with the government on her proposed amendment.

The government plans to use the departure tax hike to help pay for its compromise backpacker tax.

Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie and David Leyonhjelm joined forces to kill off the departure tax.

Crossbencher senator David Leyonhjelm (pictured), alongside Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie joined forces to kill off departure tax

Senator Derryn Hinch (pictured) voted with the government who plan to use the departure tax hike to help pay for its compromise backpacker tax

The three Nick Xenophon Team senators, Derryn Hinch and two One Nation senators voted with the government but Senator Hanson and her NSW colleague Brian Burston were absent from the chamber.

It's unclear whether their absence was deliberate or inadvertent.

'They thought they had the numbers,' Senator Hinch said of the government.

Senator Xenophon said the vote was a departure from the orderly business of the Senate.

'It was a bit messy,' he told reporters.

But government minister Zed Seselja was talking it down.

'Obviously we can't determine when cross benchers show up for votes,' he said.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen accused the government of being bloody-minded over the issue, saying the government had failed to talk compromise with Labor.

'This has been a debacle from beginning to end,' he told ABC radio.

The government will ask the Senate to rehold the vote on Thursday, saying longstanding conventions support doing so.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the government failed to talk compromise with Labor. He said 'this has been a debacle from beginning to end'

Ms Hanson said she will help the government if they agree to a five-year freeze on further hikes on the international departure tax. 'All we want is for the tax to remain steady for five years so the travel and tourism industry has some certainty,' she said (stock image)

But if the move is rejected, the government won't be able to return the defeated legislation to the Senate for three months.

It will have to wait until late February or introduce a new, different bill, incorporating the One Nation amendment.

Senator Leyonhjelm said the One Nation senators may have been confused because just before the vote the bells rang for a quorum.

'That's a government problem and not us so we don't pay any attention to that,' he told Sky News.
A 54-year-old American man is accused of beating his wife to death in Tonga and then sailing 300 miles on a boat after telling officers he needed to use the toilet.

Dean Fletcher is accused of kicking and punching his wife, Patricia Kearney, to death on a dinghy at the Neiafu Port of Refuge, on the south coast of Vava'u.

Three diving operators saw Fletcher attacking his wife as the couple arrived at another boat named 'Sea Oak', according to provisional arrest documents.

One witness claimed Fletcher grabbed his wife's head while she was in the dinghy and 'slammed his knee into her neck and punch her in the head'.

Dean Fletcher, 54, is accused of kicking and punching his wife, Patricia Kearney, to death

The following day, on July 7, Fletcher went to the Neiafu Police Station to report his wife had died when she slipped and fell down stairs on their yacht.

Fletcher allegedly told a friend his wife had a nerve disease and had been drunk.

A witness reported seeing a blood-stained bed sheet in the dinghy, while another claimed Fletcher dropped the sheet into the sea, the documents said.

Dean Fletcher is accused of kicking and punching his wife, Patricia Kearney, to death on a dinghy at the Neiafu Port of Refuge, on the south coast of Vava'u (pictured)

Fletcher sailed 300 miles from Tonga to American Samoa after escaping from police

While in police custody on July 11, Fletcher asked a detective for permission to use the toilet and then escaped from the police station.

He was captured after a brief foot chase.

However he fled from the station again in September and officers failed to stop him.

He traveled 300 miles north to American Samoa, where he was arrested.

Fletcher was taken to Honolulu on Tuesday because there is no federal court in American Samoa.

Fletcher fled the police station in Tonga and sailed 300 miles to Pago Pago in American Samoa (pictured) on his boat, the 'Sea Oak'

American Samoa authorities were tipped off about Fletcher's arrival by a woman who told police he entered Pago Pago harbor on his 'Sea Oak' sailboat.

The woman told police she recognized Fletcher as a man she knew six years ago and she had read news accounts that he was wanted by police in Tonga.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday in Honolulu.

Tonga officials have two months to provide authorities in Honolulu with extradition documents.

It will be up to the U.S. Department of State to determine if he is extradited, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick said.

The Sea Oak is still moored in Pago Pago, police said.

Murder can be punished by the death penalty in Tonga, although the last execution was carried out in 1982.
criticised after thousands of drug dealers were killed in his 'war on drugs'

Controversial Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has mistaken New Zealand for Australia and asked a female reporter if she was married on a visit to Auckland.

Mr Duterte, who has earned the nickname 'The Punisher' for his ruthless crackdown on drugs, looked to be confused as to which country he was in, with video footage capturing the awkward moment he thanked his Australian hosts in Auckland.

'I'd like to extend my warm wishes to all Filipinos and of course to all the Australians who are hosting us here,' he accidentally said during an interview with the New Zealand Herald.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte posed for selfies while visiting Auckland

The president made a brief stop in New Zealand on his way back from the APEC summit in Peru and the whirlwind trip clearly confused him as he yet again confused Australia and New Zealand.

'Firstly I'd like to thank the Australian Government, sorry the New Zealand Government, and the people and the citizens for hosting us in manner that befits brother Asian,' Mr Duterte said.

Mr Duterte also attempted to flirt with a reporter who was interviewing him.

The journalist asked the president whether he would return to New Zealand, to which Duterte replied, 'Pag niyaya mo ako [if you invite me]... are you married?', the New Zealand Herald reported.

The Philippine President was only in New Zealand briefly on his way back from the APEC summit

The President twice confused New Zealand with Australia, thanking the Australian government for hosting him in Auckland

The Philippine president came under fire in September when he called United States President Barack Obama a 'son of a whore' after his ongoing criticism of tough tactics to curb drug dealing on the streets of the Philippines.

He also told President Obama to 'go to hell' after the US had refused to sell weapons to the Philippines.

Since being elected in June Duterte's war on drugs has seen thousands of drug dealers killed across the country.

Duterte called United States President Barack Obama a 'son of a whore' after his ongoing criticism of his war on drugs

At least 3,700 suspected drug dealers have been killed and thousands more have turned themselves in out of fear of being killed.

At least 3,700 suspected drug dealers have been killed and thousands more have turned themselves in out of fear of being killed.

Duterte's drug raids come after he said at least 3.7 million Filipinos have become addicted to methamphetamine, known locally as shabu.
Bullies broke an eight-year-old boy's arm in a 'racist' attack after telling him to 'go back to the cotton farm', his family claim.

Jordan Jackson was hospitalized after he was 'pushed to the ground and assaulted' by a 13-year-old outside Spanish Lake Primary School in Geismar, Louisiana, on November 14.

The youngster had been attempting to protect his four-year-old sister J'Niaha at the time of the attack, the boy's uncle Cris Colbert wrote on a GoFundMe page.

Jordan Jackson was hospitalized after he was 'pushed to the ground and assaulted' by bullies while protecting his sister J'Niaha (pictured with him)

Colbert writes that the siblings had been waiting to be collected from school when he got into an argument with a classmate whose friend began flinging mulch at him, the Huffington Post reports.

'Jordan asked the child to stop to no avail. At that point, the other child's 13-year-old brother approached Jordan and pushed him to the ground.'

Colbert says that Jordan had attempted to remove himself from the situation but returned when the boys began throwing mulch at his sister.

A fourth grader yelled at Jordan to 'go back to the cotton farm', his family claim.

'My son, who understands the connotation of that statement because we've had those conversations before, was appalled, so he said 'that's racist, his furious mother Alana Jackson said.

'The child responded 'why do you think it's so racist? You do need to go back to the cotton farm.' So at that point my son began to try to defend himself because the 13-year-old was pushing him down and calling him a baby.'

His furious mother Alana Jackson (pictured) says she is giving up her job to home school him

The boy's uncle said that Jordan was body slammed twice and pushed into the ground multiple times during the attack.

He suffered a fractured right arm and was later diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.

His mother, who also is a teacher in the community, was called to the school the following day. Colbert says the principal apologized to Alana Jackson but the school refused to accept liability for the incident - or Jordan's medical bills - as it took place off school property.

Jackson also reported the racial incident to the local police who said it was the school's responsibility. However, a spokesman said that they are now looking into the incident and reviewing surveillance footage.

'I am disappointed that our culture has exhibited the behavior that makes our children believe that this type of behavior is acceptable,' she said.

Attack occurred outside Spanish Lake Primary School in Geismar, Louisiana, (pictured)

'I am saddened that we have come so far yet are still so far away. I am discouraged that many have given up even though we are so far from finished.'

While Jackson has a masters degree in education leadership, she says she has now decided to leave her role in the school district to home-school her children. She says that since coming forward about her son's attack, she has also suffered backlash from her colleagues.

The family say the other boys involved in the incident have not been reprimanded.

Meanwhile, her son is slowly recovering. Today his double vision finally subsided for the first time, while he has now gone his first 24 hours without a headache, his family report.

A GoFundMe page set up to help towards medical expenses has already raised more than $28,000.


On the eve of Thanksgiving, president-elect Donald Trump released a new message to Americans asking that the country 'begin to heal our divisions'.

In the new video released on Wednesday, Trump called on the nation to become unified once more amid weeks of protests and petitions to the Electoral College.

'We are very blessed to call this nation our home, and thats what America is  it is our home,' Trump began in the clip, which was posted on YouTube.

'Its where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams,' he continued.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, president-elect Donald Trump released a new message to Americans to ask that the country 'begin to heal our divisions' and unite behind him

'Its my prayer that on this Thanksgiving that we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.'

Trump then quoted Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, in which he declared the national holiday in the midst of America's Civil War in 1864.

'President Lincoln called upon Americans to speak with one voice and one heart,' Trump said, 'That's just what we have to do.'

Trump then referenced the country's 'long and bruising political campaign'.

'Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight,' he said, seemingly alluding to protests that erupted all over the nation after he was elected.

'It doesn't go quickly, unfortunately,' he continued. 'But we have before us the chance to make history together.'

'To bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities - including our inner-cities, so important to me and so important to our country.'

But, Trump continued, the only way America would succeed was if it enlisted the effort 'of our entire nation'.

Trump's emphasis on restoring the 'promise of America' for 'all' of its citizens may be linked to the recent controversy and protests (pictured) surrounding his hiring of Steve Bannon

Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, has been linked to the controversial alt-right movement, supported by many white supremacists

'Now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and to restore the full promise of America for all our people,' he said.

'I'm asking you to join me in this effort. It's time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens.'

'Because when America is unified there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing.'

'Let us give thanks for all that we have and let us boldly face the new frontiers that lie ahead.'

Trump's pleas for the country to rally behind him come off the heels of a new petition asking the Electoral College to give Hillary Clinton the presidency.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Clinton won 2 million more individual ballots in the national popular vote than Trump on election night.

But Trump is on track to win 306 Electoral College votes, if Michigan is called for him, compared to Clinton's 232 electors.

Clinton backers are circulating a Change.org petition urging electors to mind the national popular vote and mark Clinton's name down on December 15.

It has already received more than 4.5million signatures.

Trump's pleas for the country to rally behind him come off the heels of petition signed by 4.5million people asking the Electoral College to give Hillary Clinton the presidency

'Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic,' the petition reads.

'Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.'

Trump's emphasis on restoring the 'promise of America' for 'all' of its citizens may also be linked to the recent controversy surrounding his hiring of Steve Bannon.

The president-elect defended his chief strategist and senior adviser, saying Bannon has been unfairly portrayed as a vehicle for white supremacists to influence the incoming administration.

'I've known Steve Bannon a long time. If I thought he was a racist, or "alt-right" or any of the things, the terms we could use, I wouldn't even think about hiring him,' Trump told a room of New York Times journalists on Tuesday.
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Family and friends of murder victim Joseph Comunale clung to one another in grief Wednesday as they laid the 26-year-old to rest at St Leo's Church in Stamford, Connecticut.

Comunale disappeared after visiting the Manhattan apartment of party-boy James Rackover, surrogate 'son' of celebrity jeweler Jeffrey Rackover. It's believed he was stabbed to death there, early in the morning of November 13.

James Rackover and another man have been arrested in connection with the death. But that was precious little condolence for Comunale's father, Pat, who spoke at the funeral, according to the New York Post.

'Well, Joeyd be mad at me for crying, because he never cried,' he said.

'He loved his friends. That's a testament to what kind of kid he was. And he shared everything with his friends, I can assure you.

'My Marriott miles, my credit cards,' he joked. 'I'm sure I paid for some of your meals. If I had the opportunity, I would do it all over again.'

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Emotional: Mourners gather at the funeral of Joseph Comunale, 26, who was stabbed to death on November 12. His father, Pat Comunale (pictured, fifth from left in light-blue shirt) said: 'Well, Joeyd be mad at me for crying, because he never cried'

Killed: Joseph was allegedly stabbed in the home of party-boy James Rackover, 25, who lived as the surrogate 'son' of celeb jeweler Jeffrey Rackover. James Rackover and another man have been arrested in connection with the death

Grief: Joseph's mom, Lisa, and dad, Pat (both at front of photo), were seen walking to the family car after the standing-room-only service at St Leo's Church in Stamford, Connecticut

Loved: Mourners, including Todd Greene (left), one of Joseph's closest pals, were visibly moved at the funeral of the much-loved young man. His father told the congregation that the young man 'loved his friends'

Missing: Comunale (pictured), who goes by the name Joey, was reported missing at 8am on November 15 by his father. His body was discovered on November 16

Arrested: James Rackover (left) has been arrested, as has Lawrence Dilione (right), 28. Both appeared in court on November 17. Rackover says he is innocent and never even knew Comunale

'Father': Jeffrey Rackover (left) took in James as his surrogate 'son' last year - James even changed his surname away from Beaudoin to match his 'dad'. But their neighbors believe the pair were actually in a sexual relationship

Comunale's friend Mike said Joseph 'loved his family dearly and would always put them before anything else. He also loved his friends and would do anything for them.

'Joey pretty much got every one of his friends a job at his fathers company. Because he never wanted to see you stressed out about money or even finding a job. I even think he got satisfaction for saying that we worked for him.'

The funeral Mass ran for more than an hour, and was held in the same church that Joseph was baptized in as a baby.

Many of the hundreds in attendance were moved to tears during the Mass, and some continued weeping as they left the church.

One such person was Comunale's Hofstra University roommate, Todd Green.

'You couldnt have come across a more fun-loving person,' he said, according to the New York Daily News. 'The reason he was loved by so many is because he was loved by you guys.'

'Joey didn't just live life, he loved life. And I know hes watching down on all of us.'

Comfort: Mr Comunale took time to thank and comfort friends and family who had attended the hour-long service

Solidarity: Mourners helped one another as they left the service. Police believe that Joseph went with a number of other people to Rackover's apartment, and was killed there. Rackover denies even meeting Joseph

Missed: The awful loss was visible on the faces of all of the mourners at St Leo's Church

Condolences: Funeral-goers bid farewell to Joseph and to each other before they departed the church

Departed: With Joseph laid to rest, his friends and family were free to leave the church and collect their thoughts

In an interview from jail on Monday, Rackover denied killing Comunale.

'I've never seen this kid,' he told the New York Daily News. 'I dont even know who he is. I only found out about the real charges through my lawyer on Thursday before the arraignment.'

Both he and Dilione have been charged with concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

Rackover claims Dilione brought a group of people from a club to his swanky Manhattan apartment at around 4am on November 13, and Comunale was among them.

He said there were no arguments and everyone left around 7am and he went to bed shortly after.

But police believe Comunale was stabbed to death in the apartment, and claimed last week that the walls had been splattered with blood and that bleach had been used to clean the scene.

Comunale's bloodied clothing, sheets and towels were found in plastic bags that had been thrown down the apartment block's garbage chute, and his body was later burned with gasoline, according to police.

Mr Comunale contacted police about his son going missing on November 15, and Joseph's body was found November 16.

Gathering: Many mourners gathered outside the church to draw strength from, and support, each other

Clasped: Some mourners clasped hands (left) as they left the church; others (right) talked a while before departing

Hearse: The coffin was loaded into a hearse by pallbearers

Moving on: The hearse

Police: Representatives of a number of police forces were also present outside the funeral

James 'Jimmy' Rackover, was born James Beaudoin in Florida but adopted the Rackover name after he moved in with celebrity jeweler Jeffrey Rackover, 56, around a year ago.

Jeffrey would introduce him as his surrogate son, neighbors in their swanky apartment say.

The pair had met at a health club around three years previously, according to private investigator Bo Dietl, who is the founder and CEO of Beau Dietl & Associates and has been a friend of Jeffrey's for around 30 years.

Beaudoin had been arrested multiple times in Florida for burglary, armed robbery, and drug possession, but was taken in by unmarried, childless Jeffrey as a surrogate son figure. Jeffrey found him a job at Willis Towers Watson insurance company and an an apartment in the same building he lives in.

However, neighbors in that building said they were surprised to hear that the pair had a father-and-son relationship, and in fact believed that the pair were lovers.

'I have seen them working out together in the gym and there is no way they were father and son,' one neighbor told the DailyMail.com.

'Another friend saw them at a wedding and that was definitely not an appropriate father-son relationship.

'The kid moved in about a year ago - Jeffrey decorated it to his liking - and apparently told people he was Jeffrey's long-lost son.

'And Jeffrey introduced me to him in the elevator as his son. The kid is covered in tattoos. No one thought he was Jeffrey's son.'

On Monday Samantha Grimm, 26, a Florida ex-girlfriend of Beaudoin's, said that the handsome young man was not gay, but added: 'Did he travel to New York to turn tricks with older gay men? For the right amount of money, Jimmy would definitely do something like that.'
Shocking video has emerged of the terrifying moment a police officer and three people were mauled by a pack of ferocious dogs last night.

The horrifying CCTV footage shows three American Staffordshire-pitbull terrier crosses viciously attacking two women and a man outside a home in Sydney.

Police arrived as the trio desperately tried to fend off the hounds - only for a female officer to get bitten too.

The police officer involved suffered a serious leg wound and a dislocated shoulder and will undergo surgery today.

Shocking video has emerged of the terrifying moment a police officer and three people were mauled by a pack of ferocious dogs last night. Pictured, a woman fends off one of the dogs

Police arrived as the trio desperately tried to fend off the hounds - only for a female officer to get bitten too. Pictured, an officer is bitten by one of the dogs

The footage shows a woman being attacked by the dogs as she checked her mail, being bitten twice.

After hearing his wife's screams, the woman's husband charged outside and used a plank of wood to defend himself from the dogs - but was also bitten.

Their neighbour, Marie, also heard the commotion and ran out to help, but the dogs got her too.

The video shows the police arriving, only for the pack to attack a 27-year-old female police officer.

She falls to the ground uncomfortably and badly injures her shoulder before the dogs bite a chunk out of her leg.

Officers were able to subdue the dogs using a Taser and pepper spray and they are now expected to be put down.

One of the dogs believed to be behind the Wednesday night attack, leaving three people seriously injured

The 48-year-old husband suffered serious bite wounds to his legs and arms and his 43-year-old wife was left with wounds on her leg and hip. Both required stitches.

The owner of the dogs, a 29-year-old man, has been arrested and charged with intimidation.

A 31-year-old woman from the same house, believed to be the man's partner, was also later charged.

Police told Daily Mail Australia she was allegedly intimidating people in neighbouring properties shortly after the gruesome attack. She has also been charged with breaching bail.

The woman was refused bail and was due in Penrith Local Court today alongside her partner.

Marie, who lives next door to the couple, told 7 News that she was 'scared' of her neighbours.
A racehorse has found a winning formula - refusing to be ridden by men.

Actinpieces beat the odds-on favourite Zeroshadesofgrey in the Novice Chase at Wetherby in Yorkshire today in her return to action this season, building on her three wins over the hurdles last year.

On her back was jockey Gina Andrews, who is one of only two people to be allowed to ride her - the second being her little sister Bridget.

Actinpieces ridden by Gina Andrews wins racinguk.com/daypass Novice Chase during the afternoon race meeting at Wetherby Racecourse, Wetherby

The British-trained filly refuses to be ridden by men, and when the girls' brother Jack chanced his arm, Actinpieces tried to buck him off straight away and even tried to bite him.

'She's not too keen on men,' trainer Pamela Sly told CNN.

'I've never had a horse who's been like this before.'

Initially, Sly had asked a male jockey to try the horse out last season in her debut season over the hurdles, but claims no men wanted to ride her as she was 'lethal'.

Initially, trainer Pamela Sly (pictured with another horse Speciosa) had asked a male jockey to try the horse out last season in her debut season over the hurdles, but claims no men wanted to ride her as she was 'lethal'.

The next step was to ask Anderson to give her a go, Sly told CNN, adding: 'Gina has been riding for me since she was 16 and I asked her if she wanted to ride her and she said "course I will".

'When Gina goes out to get on her she always puts out her hand to let her have a sniff before she gets on.'

The only man in Actinpieces' life is Bryan Drabner, who grooms and looks after her everyday, but her stable is certain that is because he has long hair.
Middle class workers face a billion-pound tax raid on job perks including mobile phones, company cars and health care.

Employees who give up part of their salary in exchange for such benefits will be penalised from next year.

A shake-up means they could pay hundreds of pounds more in tax and national insurance to continue receiving the perks. Others could have their benefits scrapped altogether because companies can no longer afford to offer them.

CASE STUDY: FINANCIAL SERVICES MANAGER IN BATH Married father-of-three Tom Birch says the removal of middle class tax perks is an attack on company loyalty Married father-of-three Tom Birch says the removal of middle class tax perks is an attack on company loyalty. The 43-year-old, a 100,000-a-year senior manager in financial services, has been with his employer for a decade and believes there should be advantages for those who stick with their firm. He receives a 4.5 per cent pension contribution, extra life insurance, dental cover, and critical illness cover through a salary sacrifice scheme of 370 a month. Mr Birch, who has used the private medical insurance this year for back problems, said: I feel very strongly about employers that want to reward their staff for long-term service and looking after them and their family. To remove them will make some people not take up the benefits. Its not all about the salary nowadays, its about the extra benefits that companies provide. And that tends to be for loyalty and retention, and I think if companies are less able to do that itll potentially have a big effect. Mr Birch, pictured with wife Erika, 34, at their 550,000 home in Bath with children, Jackson, six, Maddie, five, and one-year-old Harry, said he will continue with the scheme after the Chancellors shake-up. But he said he resents the idea of paying more tax. He added: Theyre things that are important to me as a family man, but I will have to work out how much extra a month its going to cost me. I think these things had a limited term anyway really, so it was just a case of making hay while the sun shines. Advertisement

Critics said the move would hit millions of modestly-paid workers who rely on work perks to make ends meet.

According to accountancy firm Deloitte, those on 30,000 a year who give up 30 a month for a gym membership face an annual extra of 115 in tax and national insurance.

Tina Riches, partner at accountants Smith and Williamson, said: This is a stealth raid on ordinary workers. A lot of companies will have a salary sacrifice scheme. Its not tax avoidance. Its a way of offering more choice to employees.

When workers see their perks being stripped away or find themselves having to pay more tax for them they could become disgruntled.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said the current system is unfair and will scrap the tax perks from April

Under current rules, employees can opt to give up a chunk of their salary in exchange for a benefit such as a company car, mobile phone or gym membership. As well as receiving the perk, both worker and their employer cut the amount of tax and national insurance on which they are liable.

500m more to tackle violence and drugs in jail The Ministry of Justice was handed an extra 500million to crack down on chaos in prisons after the Mail highlighted the extent of the problem. Philip Hammonds announcement was hailed a triumph for Justice Secretary Liz Truss, as her department secured new cash to tackle spiralling violence, drug abuse and riots in overcrowded jails. The additional 104million a year will fund 2,500 extra frontline prison officers following years of complaints from unions about dwindling numbers. Rising attacks, lax security and the scourge of legal highs, have been highlighted by a series of scandals in prisons in England and Wales. Photos published in the Mail showed convicts at HMP Guys Marsh, Dorset, enjoying steak, alcohol and drugs. And yesterday it was revealed an officer had an ear bitten off in an assault by an inmate at Wormwood Scrubs, west London. Mr Hammond said he had exceptionally agreed to give the MoJ up to 500million more to tackle urgent prison safety issues and also fund wider reforms to the justice system. It comes after George Osbornes March Budget forced the MoJ to swallow cuts of 15 per cent over the next five years. Advertisement

Many perks offered through such schemes are not taxed at all or at a level far lower than a workers typical income tax rate. Employers also escape paying national insurance on the sacrificed pay.

Under the scheme, a basic rate taxpayer who gave up 700 for a phone contract provided by their employer would be able to save 224 in income tax and national insurance on their pay. Their employer saves 97 in National Insurance. But ministers fear the rules are being exploited and deprives the Treasury of about 235million a year.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said the current system is unfair and will scrap the tax perks from April. The Government will save 85million from the measure next year, rising to 260million in 2021 to 2022. Ultra-low emission company cars, pension contributions and bicycles used for commuting will be exempt.

Salary sacrifice arrangements for cars, accommodation and school fees will also be protected until 2021.

Sue Robinson, of accountancy firm Ernst and Young, said: These benefits are portrayed as perks for the higher paid but many lower paid workers will also be affected.

Chas Roy Chowdhury, of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, added: This could end up costing the Government millions more in the long run because of the cost of NHS treatment if workers end up giving up on the gym or stop having health care checks as a result of this policy.

Fuel duty frozen for 7th year

By James Salmon

Fuel duty will be frozen for the seventh consecutive year in an effort to control spiralling prices at the pumps.

The Chancellor said it would help millions of hardworking people and represents a 850million tax cut next year  when compared with the rises that were due to take place under the fuel duty escalator.

In total he said the freeze since the March 2011 Budget has saved 130 a year for car drivers and 350 a year for van drivers.

Fuel duty will be frozen for the seventh consecutive year in an effort to control spiralling prices at the pumps

The move will cost the Treasury more than 4.3billion over the next five years.

But motoring campaigners expressed disappointment that the Chancellor had not gone further by cutting fuel duty.

They added that the saving would also be more than wiped out by an increase in insurance premium tax.

Extra 50m to build modern grammars Grammar schools will get an extra 50million per year to expand, the Government confirmed yesterday. The cash pledged for the next four years will mean existing good selective schools can build annexes in neighbouring towns to meet demand from parents. Ministers also pledged 10million for education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Government wants to create more grammar schools and allow existing ones to expand to help more pupils receive a rigorous academic education. After new grammars were banned by Tony Blair in 1998, the schools can only expand locally. The Government is consulting on whether to overturn the ban. Theresa May believes re-introducing selective education could especially help bright underprivileged pupils. Advertisement

The cost of filling up a family car has risen by almost 5 since January as oil prices have doubled from a low of around $26 a barrel to just under $50.

During the same period the pound has fallen by 15 per cent against the dollar  the currency used for oil.

Mr Hammond said these factors created significant pressure on prices at the pump here in Britain.

So today we stand on the side of the millions of hardworking people in our country by cancelling the fuel duty rise for the seventh successive year, he added.

This is a tax cut worth 850million next year, and means the current fuel duty freeze is the longest for 40 years.

Petrol has risen from 102.69p per litre to 114.77p, while diesel has gone up from 105.99p to 116.8p. Fuel duty has been frozen at 57.95p  more than half of the cost of petrol and diesel  since the March 2011 budget. Motorists also pay 20 per cent VAT on fuel.

Campaigners said the Chancellor should have gone further.

Quentin Willson, a motoring journalist and lead campaigner for FairFuelUK, said: Im disappointed that the Chancellor didnt instantly put money into everyones pockets by cutting duty.

Theres an immediate benefit to the economy. This is a lost opportunity from a government still afraid of supporting drivers and roads.

Edmund King, president of the AA, added: The Chancellor has created the illusion of being the motorists friend with a freeze on fuel duty whilst pickpocketing drivers on insurance premium tax.
A young woman has shared intimate family photos from inside a refugee camp in response to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's comments on asylum seekers.

Chad Chan was born inside the Cambodian refugee camp Khao-I-Dang, in what was formerly the Prachinburi Province in eastern Thailand.

Her family were granted asylum in Australia in the 1980s, but Ms Chan wrote alongside the image that many people are no longer that fortunate.

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A young woman has shared this photo from inside the refugee camp she was born in - before her family was granted asylum in Australia in the 1980s

'Many children and their families now are not so lucky, and Australia is in breach of many of the articles of the UNCRC, which we are a signatory to, as well as other fundamental human rights,' Ms Chan posted to Instagram.

'Children have the right to live free from violence, to family life, education, play, to not be discriminated against because their families are fleeing persecution and conflict, and to have their views heard,' she added.

The young woman also shared the picture, which shows her sitting at a table with a pencil and paper, to Twitter, tagging Mr Dutton in it.

'Hi @PeterDutton_MP. This is me when I lived in a refugee camp. Now I'm a social worker,' Ms Chan wrote.

Chad Chan is pictured here with her mother some time in the 80s, in what looks to be the same refugee camp

The image quickly went viral earlier this week, with hundreds of social media users liking and retweeting the photograph.

It was just a day before Mr Dutton's controversial comments in parliament, where he stated that former prime minister Malcolm Fraser made a 'mistake' by allowing Lebanese-Muslim people into Australia.

He further fuelled the comments by saying 22 of the past 33 people charged with terrorism-related offences in Australia were from second and third generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds.

Australia's first female Muslim MP Anne Aly fired up at Mr Dutton during the exchange and subsequently received death threats.

Mr Dutton's said in parliament this week that former prime minister Malcolm Fraser made a 'mistake' by allowing Lebanese-Muslim people into Australia
A police officer had his swimming skills put to the test when he jumped into a river to catch a fleeing suspect after a high-speed car chase.

A video posted to the Western Australian Police Facebook page shows a man speeding through traffic in Perth on Tuesday as he tried to escape a patrol car.

When the man ran into a dead end on a dirt road near Liege Street in Cannington, he left the vehicle and jumped into the Canning River, attempting to swim to the other side.

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A video posted to the Western Australian Police Facebook page shows a man speeding through traffic in Perth on Tuesday as he tried to escape a chopper and patrol car

A police officer had his swimming skills put to the test when he jumped into a river to catch a fleeing suspect after a high-speed car chase

The officer in pursuit knew what to do.

'One of our officers flew into the water at a speed which would outswim Michael Klim and arrested the 26-year-old man,' WA Police wrote on Facebook.

The video shows the suspect ditching his vehicle before leaping into the river. A police officer jumps in after him and following a short swim apprehends the man.

Soon after other police cars arrived at the scene and took the man back into custody.

'He has subsequently been returned to prison and will face further charges regarding his manner of driving,' WA Police said.

The man had been issued with a return to prison warrant and when he found out police were after him he fled, leading to the chase.

He is expected to be charged with failing to stop for police and reckless driving.
The 7.8-magnitude that rocked New Zealand last week wreaked devastation across South Island - but also created an astonishing natural phenomenon.

Matt Foy, owner of Kaikoura Kayaks, based near the quake's epicentre, was paddling off Whalers Bay when he spotted a plume of bubbles rising from the sea floor.

He and a colleague lowered a camera under the surface of the water to find a rapid stream of air bubbles flowing out of the rock below.

Bubbles have begun pluming out of the sea floor near where the epicenter of the earthquake that hit New Zealand earlier this month

Kayaker Matt Foy was paddling off Whalers Bay when he spotted a plume of bubbles rising from the sea floor

Mr Foy told 1 News that the sea temperature rose and the water seemed 'really sulphury' around the bubbles.

'Both of us looked at each other and had no idea what it was... this 100m-long line of warm bubbles coming from the sea floor,' he said.

Geohazard expert and Dr William Hughes, from the University of Canterbury, said the bubbles were 'quite enchanting and quite beautiful'.

'What we are seeing here is something of extreme scientific value, and also a really interesting place for tourists to come ... and see some of the impact of the earthquake,' he told Stuff.

He believes the bubbles are carbon dioxide that has been released from rock that fractured during the huge earthquake on November 14.

'It needs to be preserved and cared for. As long as this phenomenon persists it could be really valuable for Kaikoura,' Dr Hughes said.

The kayakers lowered a camera under the surface of the water to find a rapid stream of air bubbles flowing out of the rock below

Devastation: New Zealand 's 7.8 magnitude earthquake lifted the seabed two metres - and exploded through the sand - north of Kaikoura

But while Mr Foy and Dr Hughes are astounded by the natural phenomenon, others are less interested.

A seal caught in the footage of the bubbles posted online by the kayaker swam over to investigate, but was quickly distracted by an octopus, which it gobbled up.

The earthquake that struck Kaikoura earlier this month killed two and toppled several buildings.
The strength of the British economy has confounded Remain doom-mongers, Philip Hammond declared yesterday.

Promising help for hardworking families, a surprisingly upbeat Chancellor said UK output would grow faster than in most EU countries  creating half a million jobs.

In his first Autumn Statement Mr Hammond vowed to spend billions to boost productivity, build homes and improve transport and broadband networks.

The strength of the British economy has confounded Remain doom-mongers, Philip Hammond declared yesterday

But national debt by the end of parliament in 2020 will have soared to nearly 2trillion, with the middle classes hit with tax hikes on work benefits and insurance policies.

And the Office for Budget Responsibility said that  five months to the day after the Brexit vote  the decision to leave the EU would force almost 60billion of extra borrowing by 2020.

One senior minister said the OBRs figures, which the quango admits are highly uncertain, were both ridiculous and wrong.

Mr Hammond, who has been criticised by this newspaper for his gloomy tone, struck a markedly different note yesterday.

Mr Hammond, who has been criticised for his gloomy tone, struck a markedly different note yesterday

He said the economy had confounded commentators at home and abroad with its strength and its resilience since the British people decided to leave the European Union and chart a new future for our country.

He told MPs: It is a privilege to report today on an economy which the IMF predicts will be the fastest growing major advanced economy in the world this year.

The OBR said state finances would be 122billion worse off than previously expected by 2020. It claimed exports to countries outside the EU will be hit for a decade  despite the UK finally being free to negotiate its own trade deals.

The debt to GDP ratio will rise to 90.2 per cent in 2017-18, the highest level in half a century. National debt by the end of parliament will be 1.945trillion.

The Chancellor said: It is worth noting that the OBR very specifically says there is an unusually high level of uncertainty in the forecasts it is making because of the unusual circumstances.

There was good news for hard working families and so called JAMs  people who are just about managing. Theresa May had ordered the Chancellor to find extra help for this group.

But Mr Hammond unveiled a raft of stealth taxes in a 51-minute statement that included:

A 4billion hike in insurance costs;

A crackdown on so-called salary sacrifice benefits;

A review into whether the triple lock on pensions should be scrapped;

23billion of borrowing to fund infrastructure projects;

An investment bond paying 2.2 per cent to help savers;

Cancelling the fuel duty rise for the seventh year running;

3.7billion for housing projects in England;

A multi-billion-pound productivity fund to bring workers up to German levels;

Increasing the income tax threshold from 11,000 to 11,500 in April; the 40p threshold will rise to 50,000 by 2020;

700million cut in Universal credit cancelled and the National Living Wage to increase from 7.20 to 7.50.

Mr Hammond loosened the Government purse strings  borrowing an extra 23billion to fund infrastructure projects and boost productivity.

In a decisive break with the George Osborne era, he also ditched the pledge to get Britain in the black by 2020 and effectively scrapped the cap on welfare spending. He declined to put a new date on when the deficit will be eliminated  though it will not be before 2023.

Mr Hammond was under pressure from No 10 and Tory MPs to emphasise the opportunities provided by Brexit.

And he delivered a far more positive analysis. The central OBR forecast is for growth to be 2.1 per cent in 2016  higher than predicted when Mr Osborne was in charge in March.

In 2017 the OBR forecasts growth to slow to 1.4 per cent, which it attributes to lower investment and weaker consumer demand, driven in part by the referendum

Mr Hammond said: Thats slower, of course, than we would wish, but still equivalent to the IMFs forecast for Germany, and higher than the forecast for growth in many of our European neighbours, including France and Italy.

The Chancellor added that, as the effects of uncertainty diminish, the OBR forecasts growth recovering to 1.7 per cent in 2018, 2.1 per cent in 2019 and 2020, and 2 per cent in 2021.

This is in dramatic contrast to the doom-mongering forecasts made by the Treasury at the height of Project Fear. Mr Osborne had warned that unemployment would rise by 500,000 following a Brexit vote and there would be an immediate recession. At no point does the Treasury or OBR now predict the country will slide into recession.

The OBRs forecasts show Britain will stop sending any money to EU institutions by 2019/20  taking back full control of its money. It also predicts that, if Britain had voted to remain inside the EU, there would have been 80,000 more migrants a year.

Mr Hammond said the Brexit vote would change the course of Britains history and had thrown into sharp relief the fundamental strengths of the British economy that will ensure our future success.

He said the task now was to prepare our country to seize the opportunities ahead and make it match-fit for the transition that will follow.

Former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont said the OBR was wrong to be so gloomy. No one can forecast precisely what the impact will be until we have had the negotiations  you cannot tell, he said. But I believe we will benefit from Brexit.

Patrick Minford, chairman of the Economists for Brexit group, said the OBR was in danger of becoming the Jehovahs Witnesses of economic forecasting.

He said the OBR report was packed with assumptions that simply follow the path of countless other establishment bodies that have proved to be wrong.

He added: Because they have not worked out yet why they got it so wrong before and after the referendum, they will continue to have to make humiliating U-turns.
Shoppers snapping up Black Friday bargain gifts have been warned they may find it difficult to return them after Christmas.

The returns deadline rules, which ensure people are legally entitled to an immediate and full refund on faulty goods, run for 30 days.

But, with Black Friday falling on November 25, this means this automatic refund guarantee will lapse on Christmas Day.

Shoppers buying Black Friday bargain gifts have been warned they may find it difficult to return them after Christmas

As a result, the parents of a child who finds their expensive toy does not work when the wrapping comes off may be hit with red tape rules when they try to sort it out.

The law covering the right to return goods and the legal obligations of retailers are covered by the Consumer Rights Act of 2015.

It states that where people discover an item is faulty more than 30 days after purchase, the retailer can choose to offer a repair or replacement. And it is only after a repair fails that a customer can then insist on getting all their money back.

With Black Friday falling on November 25, the automatic refund guarantee will lapse on Christmas Day

The situation is complicated by the fact that many retailers voluntarily offer a longer returns period with a guarantee of a full refund than is required by the law, particularly around Christmas.

WHY STORES HATE THEIR BUSIEST DAY Two in three retailers hate Black Friday despite it being the busiest online shopping day of the year. The sales event, imported from America, has proved to be a headache for many businesses. They are forced to slash prices to compete, sometimes selling items at a loss. And it disrupts the traditional Christmas shopping season by bringing a huge share of festive spending forward to the end of November. At the same time, it generates huge costs and staffing problems around the need to deal with dispatching products and handling returns. One firm of analysts, LCP Consulting, estimates retailers will have to deal with as many as five million items being returned. Many shoppers also dislike the way this American tradition has been foisted on Britain. Ironically, Asda, which is owned by the American chain Walmart and was at the forefront of efforts to bring Black Friday to Britain, has since stepped back from taking part. This may be related to the negative publicity it suffered two years ago after shoppers fought over cheap flatscreen TVs. Advertisement

The Consumer Rights Act applies equally to items bought online and in bricks and mortar stores.

But, significantly, people who use web stores do get some extra protection, which can make shopping online more attractive.

This is because, under European law, any item bought online can be returned up to 14 days after it has arrived without the customer having to give a reason.

This is a useful protection in normal circumstances. However, the online returns deadline will lapse on December 9  well before Christmas gifts are opened.

The difficulties around returns have been highlighted by retail industry experts at the parcels and courier business Fastlane International.

Its head of consumer research, David Jinks, said: Consumers must examine retailers returns policies over Christmas. Its no use your kids opening a Black Friday bargain present on Christmas day to find it wont work. It is likely to be out of the returns period.

And counting down from Black Friday, the 14 calendar days online no quibbles guarantee for returns will run out around December 9.

Mr Jinks said a number of retailers offer an extended returns period around Christmas and the Black Friday sales to help shoppers.

But he stressed people need to check before they press the buy button or hand over cash at the till.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says he has evidence on his side linking Lebanese Muslims with terror offences, as a result of 1970s immigration policies.

He is standing by his assertion that the children and grandchildren of those migrants were being radicalised in greater numbers after Australia's first female Muslim MP, Anne Aly, said she had received death threats as a result of his comments.

'The facts here are indisputable, which is why I feel comfortable where I am,' Mr Dutton told Sydney radio 2GB's Ray Hadley on Thursday.

'I'm on safe ground because I've relied on the facts.

'If people don't understand the history, then they will make the same mistakes into the future.

'The point that I was making is that we should call out the small number within the community  within the Lebanese community  who are doing the wrong thing.'

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) has accused Labor leader Bill Shorten of whipping up hysteria after a female Muslim MP Anne Aly received death threats

Egyptian-born counter-terrorism expert turned Labor MP Anne Aly (pictured), who is Muslim, said she had received death threats since Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's comments

The immigration minister also accused Labor leader Bill Shorten of stirring up hysteria to score political points.

'The question she should be asking is of Bill Shorten, why did he seek to whip this up into an issue of political advantage for himself?,' Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

'Why did he seek to misrepresent my words?'

Dr Aly, an Egpytian-born counter-terrorism expert, said she had received threatening emails since Mr Dutton told parliament last week two-thirds of people recently charged with terrorism offences were of Muslim-Lebanese descent.

He was answering questions about Sudanese migrants last week when he blamed the immigration policies of Malcolm Fraser's coalition government, following the start of Lebanon's civil war in the mid-1970s, for creating modern-day problems with radicalisation and gang violence.

He doubled down in parliament this week, saying that 22 of the 33 people most recently charged with terrorism offences were from 'second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslim background'.

'I'm not going to step back from this,' Mr Dutton said.

'I'm not going to be intimidated or misrepresented by somebody like Bill Shorten.'

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (pictured) has been accused of stirring up hysteria about anti-Muslim hate to score political points

Greens immigration spokesman Nick McKim said the advice the minister had about the background of people facing charges was undoubtedly correct.

'But just because something is fact doesn't mean that it's reasonable or productive to talk about it,' he told Sky News, accusing the minister of harming national security interests.

'What we've got is a deliberate attack from Mr Dutton by quoting these numbers on a particular subsection of the Australian community, in this case Lebanese Muslim-Australians.'

The Senate on Thursday debated a private bill proposed by One Nation and Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm to liberalise section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
A doctor that saw Caboolture toddler Mason Jet Lee said the child's injuries were 'more severe than anything I had seen in 40 years'.

Dr Brian Patten first saw Mason in February at Caboolture Hospital, north of Brisbane, and again in March, which is when he raised the alarm to child safety authorities.

'I expressed to her my high level of concern regarding the decision made by [the Department of Child Safety] to allow Mason to be sent home,' Dr Patten said.

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Caboolture, Queensland toddler Mason Jet Lee (pictured) died on June 10, 2016

In June, the 21-month-old toddler was found dead at the home of his stepfather with injuries all over his body.

Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman announced on Wednesday three Queensland child safety staff had been stood down over 'serious errors of judgement' after an investigation into the handling of the case.

A further nine employees were facing disciplinary action for their involvement in the case, 9News reported.



Ambulance and police were called to William O'Sullivan's house after a visitor rang 000 on June 11.

Paramedics soon discovered the tiny boy.

Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman announced that three Queensland child safety staff had been stood down over 'serious errors of judgement'

Mason's mother, Ann Maree Lee (pictured left) is also facing a manslaughter charge over her son's death

The findings of the 300-page report showed multiple flaws in the procedure taken by Queensland Child Safety.

' This report highlights that there were serious errors of judgment and legislation policy and practice was not followed,' Ms Fentiman said.

'The allegations against those three staff are serious enough for them to be stood down immediately,' she said.

William Andrew O'Sullivan, 36 (pictured), has been charged with manslaughter over the death of toddler Mason Jet Lee

It is believed Mason suffered a fatal blow to his stomach between two and four days before he died on June 10, 2016

Ms Fentiman denied any findings that indicated a systemic failure in the department, but admitted there were 'serious local flaws' at the Caboolture centre.

Earlier this week the stepfather charged with killing Mason Jet Lee was denied bail.
During his last Budget speech in March, the then Chancellor George Osborne infuriated Eurosceptic Tory MPs when he suggested the supposedly impartial Office for Budget Responsibility was in favour of remaining in the EU.

Osborne was accused of politicising the so-called independent OBR when he declared it backed his view that leaving the EU would wreck Britains economy.

The OBR, under its chairman Robert Chote, made no effort to contradict the Chancellor.

Last night, as the political row intensified over the OBRs gloomy forecasts, there was a growing view on the Tory benches that Chote is still fighting Osbornes battles on the EU.

The OBR, under its chairman Robert Chote, made no effort to contradict the Chancellor

Tory MPs have always been suspicious of Chote, 48, who was hand-picked by Osborne to be the chairman of the OBR which was set up in 2010 to restore public faith in official economic and fiscal forecasting.

It is not just that he is seen as Osbornes creature but that he is also a Lib-Dem sympathiser.

The party supports closer political and economic union with Brussels, and many Lib Dems, including former leader Nick Clegg, wanted us to join the euro.

At one time, a forecast from Chote was held in high regard. But since he moved from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank to the OBR, his reputation has taken a ferocious battering.

In his first three years his forecasts unravelled and had to be revised.

Chote was so inaccurate in 2012 that his forecasting was branded appalling and a disaster by Doug McWilliams, the chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Last night, as the political row intensified over the OBRs gloomy forecasts, there was a growing view on the Tory benches that Chote is still fighting Osbornes battles on the EU

Last year, the OBR was criticised for appearing to be too close to the Treasury after emails came to light from Osborne officials which showed they had tried to persuade the OBR to tone down descriptions of the Governments spending cuts.

The episode reinforced the impression that Chote was in Osbornes pocket.

After the Autumn Statement last year, Chote hit the headlines again.

He had backed Osbornes apparent discovery of an extra 27 billion in the economy  money that had been described as found down the back of a sofa  and adjusted the OBRs growth forecasts accordingly.

But by the Budget in March, the OBR had lowered those growth forecasts by a staggering 56 billion.

The massive miscalculation further undermined Chotes standing among MPs from both sides of the Commons.

In 1997, Chote married Sharon White, who last year became the first female head of media regulator Ofcom.

She had worked in Tony Blairs policy unit in Downing Street and, between 2013 and 2015, was Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury where the couple were nicknamed Mr and Mrs Treasury.

Of his work at the OBR, Chote has said: We cant guarantee our forecasts will be accurate.
A Texas judge has come under fire for making a racially insensitive comment on Facebook about the suspect arrested in the shooting death of San Antonio police officer Detective Benjamin Marconi.

Burnet County Judge James Oakley of Spicewood wrote on the San Antonio police department's Facebook wall under a mug shot of suspect Otis Tyrone McKane, according to a screenshot, 'Time for a tree and a rope.'

Several people 'liked' the comment, but others were outraged.

Burnet County, Texas Judge James Oakley is being criticized over a Facebook remark under the photo of a suspect in the killing of a San Antonio police officer

Under a mug shot of suspect in the Det. Benjamin Marconi killing, Oakley wrote 'Time for a tree and a rope...' but says the remark was not racist

'Very inappropriate remark,' wrote on commenter. 'I am as angry as anyone but for you to use FB to Lost my further support.'

Oakley apologized and said his language was 'unfortunate' but denied it was racist.

'I never made that connection but I do see how somebody could make that connection and be offended towards that. That was not my intent,' he told The Huffington Post on the phone. 'Maybe I watched too many Westerns when I was little.'

'What I should have posted, if anything, is a comment that more clearly reflects my opinion on the cowardly crime of the senseless murder of a law enforcement officer. My view of the suspect, whom has admitted to the murder, is the same regardless of ethnicity or gender,' he added.

Oakley said he supports the death penalty but doesn't work in a criminal court.

Judge Oakley, top, with wife Julie (right) and the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott

He sits on the board of Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, appointed by former Governor Rick Perry. The agency grants or denies licenses to Texas peace officers, county jailers, and public security officers.

He was elected Burnet County Commissioner in 1998 and sits on several other boards. He is married with five children, according to his TCOLE bio.

Oakley told The Statesman that he deleted the comment soon after writing it, and that it was 'curt and harsh.'

The judge also sits on the board of directors of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), a non-profit which distributes utilities and electrical power to rural areas of Texas.

The cooperative issued a statement on Wednesday condemning his remarks, according to The Statesman.

'PEC does not condone any type of offensive language. Comments such as these are not a reflection of our cooperative values,' it said.

Larry Landaker, who used to sit on the board of PEC and now writes a blog critical of it, said, 'What Mr. Oakley suggested was racist. A sitting County Judge in Texas has suggested that a black man accused of a crime in Houston, TX should be lynched.'

Landaker called for Oakley to resign his position as a judge and as a board member of PEC if he did not apologize.

Oakley has a picture of President-Elect Donald Trump as his Facebook cover photo. Trump has been criticized for stirring up racial tension with his comments regarding Mexicans and Muslims during the election campaign.

White supremacists were recently seen giving the Nazi salute at an 'alt-right' conference in Washington DC after founder Richard Spencer said 'Hail Trump!'
Pauline Hanson claims she is the victim of 'reverse racism' and says she is fed up with being called a racist herself.

Speaking to the Senate in Canberra on Thursday, Hanson said: 'I am fed up with people... calling me a racist if they cannot define one word I have ever said in policy which is racist.

'It's come down to reverse racism. That's why Australians are fed up with it,' The Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying.

She insisted she had been subjected to racist slurs like 'white trash', and Greek and Italian immigrants had a 'good sense of humour' about being called 'wogs'.

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One Nation Party leader Pauline Hanson speaks during a debate on 18C changes in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday

Hanson made the comments while the Racial Discrimination Act was being debated.

I am fed up with people... calling me a racist One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson

She also said her fish and chip shop manager was from Laos - and that she supported anyone who came to Australia to embrace the country's way of life.

Senator Hanson, along with Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, has proposed a private bill that seeks to decimate race-hate laws.

Unlike the bill proposed by Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi to remove the words 'offend' and 'insult' from section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, this bill seeks to remove the entire part of the law dealing with prohibition of offensive behaviour based on racial hatred.

Indigenous Labor senator Pat Dodson was scathing of the proposed changes, declaring bigotry was back in favour.

Senator Hanson, along with Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm (right), has proposed a private bill that seeks to decimate race-hate laws

He spoke about his own fight for freedom, having been born before the 1967 referendum, when indigenous Australians were not counted in the census.

There was a hell of a lot wrong with freedom if you had to fight to experience it, Senator Dodson said.

Racism is something that isn't growing wild out there in the fields - it's actually tendered in a flowerbox sitting on the windowsills of flats and houses Labor Senator Pat Dodson

'If this nation cannot stand up for the weakest and the poorest and those who are most vulnerable because of their race, their ethnicity, or their beliefs, then we have become a very sad replication of what democracy is about.

'Racism is something that isn't growing wild out there in the fields - it's actually tendered in a flowerbox sitting on the windowsills of flats and houses.'

Senator Hanson also said Australians had lost their sense of humour, adding the country had become so 'precious' they couldn't 'do or say anything'.

'Is it really going too far that we have an opinion that offends, insults, humiliates someone?' she said.
The hunt is on for a man who exposed his genitals to a mother and her young child at a Melbourne park.

The 23-year-old mother was with her four-year-old child at the Pickett Reserve in Ferntree Gully, east of Melbourne, on November 16 about 4.30pm when she noticed a man walking in the area.

The man allegedly stood behind the her and the child, exposed his genitals and made indecent gestures.

Detectives have released a composite of a man, aged in his late 40s to early 50s, who allegedly exposed his genitals to a 23-year-old mother and her four-year-old child

Detectives are appealing for witnesses to the indecent act to come forward.

They have released a composite of the man who is described as Caucasian with light stubble across his jawline.

He is believed to be in his late 40s or early 50s, and wearing an orange T-shirt, blue track pants and white running shoes.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Sir Philip Green has been asked to pay extra to help BHS pensioners

Former BHS workers who have retired since the retailer collapsed have endured swingeing cuts to their pensions, a senior regulator revealed yesterday.

They have lost around 10 per cent of their retirement income.

The revelation prompted furious MPs to demand more compensation from Sir Philip Green, having already asked regulators to explore seizing his assets including his fleet of super yachts and private jet.

The tycoon  dubbed Sir Shifty  has been accused of failing to put forward a credible and comprehensive offer to rescue the giant pension scheme even though he promised over the summer that he would sort it. The scheme, which is relied on by around 20,000 former workers, has been administered by the Pensions Protection Fund since BHS collapsed in April.

In evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee, Pensions Regulator boss Lesley Titcomb said the pension scheme is paying out in full to the vast majority of members who have retired.

But she told MPs that former staff who have retired since the High Street chain collapsed in April have received a haircut to their pension.

This will equate to a cut of 10 per cent to their retirement income.

Yesterday committee chairman and Labour MP Frank Field raised concerns this would create two tiers of BHS pensioners.

Tory committee member Richard Graham suggested Sir Philip should be forced to reimburse these former workers as part of any settlement. He said: That certainly would seem to be in the spirit of any commitment to sort the pension fund.

Mrs Titcomb said she would look at this as part of any potential deal, but said this would be easier in a simpler situation where Sir Philip offered a sum of money upfront to bail out the pension scheme.

Sir Philip spent much of the summer on his new 100million super yacht Lionheart

The Topshop tycoon  branded the unacceptable face of capitalism by MPs  sold BHS for 1 to thrice bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell in March 2015. The retail chain collapsed 13 months later with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a 571million black hole in its pension fund.

Sir Philip, who spent much of the summer on his new 100million super yacht Lionheart, has insisted his top priority is ensuring pensioners do not lose out.

In the face of mounting criticism for being slow to step in, Sir Philip complained the negotiations are complex and time consuming. But asked by Mr Field whether Sir Philip could simply write a cheque, Mrs Titcomb said this was one of the options available to him.

The Pensions Regulator boss admitted it is powerless to seize assets from Sir Philip Green such as his yachts. It can, however, use its powers to issue an order to Sir Philip to pay up.
Businesses face an increase in their national insurance bill as part of a 750million tax grab by the Treasury.

Under the current system, national insurance kicks in at a slightly different level for employers and their staff.

The national insurance threshold for employees is 155 a week and 156 for employers.

The employer threshold was due to increase by 2 next year to 158 next April. Instead the Chancellor said the thresholds will be aligned at 157.

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS OWNER Ed Reeves, who co-founded a call answering company, said his business will take a big hit from the raid on national insurance Ed Reeves, pictured, who co-founded a call answering company, said his business will take a big hit from the raid on national insurance. With firms having to pay an extra 7.18 per worker, his 500 full-time employees will cost him more than 3,500 a year from next April. Mr Reeves, 48, is the co-founder of Moneypenny, a company based in north Wales with international offices, which answers incoming phone calls for 8,000 companies. He said that the national insurance hit on emloyers had come as a shock. Mr Reeves, a married father of two, said: Its a painful trend which is something thats carrying over from George Osbornes legacy, which is placing the onus back on to the employers. It means we have less money to pile on to wages and salaries. Between the national insurance and the pensions contributions, there is increasingly a heavier burden for employers. He added: In post-Brexit Britain, the Chancellors goal is to make the UK the most attractive place to do business, but as long as that burden keeps increasing it puts us out of favour. It just reduces the available funds for business development. Its costs thatll go back to the customer, or itll hurt the employees, or the business performance overall. Mr Reeves welcomed the cuts to corporation tax, however, saying: I think this downward trend is a brilliant thing. If he hadnt done that Id be distraught. For businesses like ourselves, based in the US and the UK, its a major consideration. He also said the rise in the national living wage to 7.50 an hour was a positive step. Nobody on earth should be earning less than that, he said. Everybody gets paid above that in this company. Advertisement

Philip Hammond said that the rise will cost firms a maximum of 7.18 extra per employee per year, while workers will pay the same.

The move will raise 750million for the Treasury over the next five years, including 170million in the tax year beginning in April.

The national insurance rates will remain the same  12 per cent for employees and 13.8 per cent for employers.

Mr Hammond told the Commons: In return for our competitive rates, the tax base must be sustainable.

But experts said that the rise in national insurance will be a blow to struggling small firms which also face a spiralling wage bill.

Yesterday the Chancellor also confirmed that the national living wage will rise by 30p an hour from 7.20 to 7.50 from next April.

Philip Hammond said that the rise will cost firms a maximum of 7.18 extra per employee per year, while workers will pay the same

The living wage, introduced in April this year, represented a 50p pay rise from the minimum wage it replaced.

It has been welcomed by campaigners but has created a huge extra burden on businesses, particularly smaller firms. Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: There will be some disappointment in the business community that firms will face higher national insurance contributions, coming at a time when they are facing a number of upfront taxes that they have to pay before turning over a single pound.

From insurance premium tax and business rates to the change in the NIC threshold, these costs will weigh heavily no matter the stage of the economic cycle.

The Chancellor said the Government will press ahead with existing plans to cut corporation tax from 20 per cent to 17 per cent by 2020.

David Hicks, a director of tax at accountancy giant Deloitte, said this would help cushion the blow of the national insurance hike, but added: This is an additional employer cost, and will be multiplied depending on the number of employees above the threshold.

There had been speculation that Mr Hammond would match US President-elect Donald Trumps commitment to cut corporation tax to 15 per cent.

Fears of tax hikes for self employed

By Louise Eccles

The self-employed fear a raft of tax increases after the Chancellor said the rise of entrepreneurs was denting Treasury coffers.

Philip Hammond said a rapidly rising number of limited companies and self-employment had eroded tax revenues because many paid lower rates.

He vowed to examine if they were paying their fair share and also crack down on aggressive tax avoidance among the self-employed.

The self-employed fear a raft of tax increases after the Chancellor said the rise of entrepreneurs was denting Treasury coffers (file photo)

Last night critics suggested the countrys 4.6million self-employed workers were under attack and that Mr Hammond had unfairly suggested many willingly avoided what was owed.

The Chancellor said he would begin a consultation which would examine whether self-employed people who registered as limited companies are paying enough tax.

Figures suggest the Treasury will lose out on 3.5billion in tax over the next five years as a result of a rising number of people opting to become incorporated. This allows them to pay lower rates of corporation tax rather than income tax and national insurance.

Mr Hammond highlighted the growing cost to the Exchequer of incorporation, saying: The Government will consider how we can ensure that the taxation of different ways of working is fair between different individuals, and sustains the tax base as the economy undergoes rapid change.

The Federation of Small Businesses said this was a signal that the Government is looking at options to increase the revenue they collect from the self-employed, many of whom struggle to get by.

Mr Hammond will also crack down on self-employed who used complex tax avoidance schemes.
Labour hit out at the Chancellors failure to pledge extra cash for social care as town halls warned it could leave services for the elderly at breaking point.

Social care for older people is the responsibility of local councils, and its leaders say that savage cuts have already had to be made due to lower funding from Whitehall.

The Autumn Statement also said there would be no extra money for the NHS beyond the 10billion already announced  despite rising hospital deficits.

Lack of social care has a damaging effect on the NHS, because if there are not care home places  or enough home helps  elderly people cannot be moved, blocking hospital beds.

Delayed discharges, where patients are medically fit to leave hospital but there is no appropriate social care for them, are at their highest level.

Labour hit out at the Chancellors failure to pledge extra cash for social care as town halls warned it could leave services for the elderly at breaking point

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell predicted a crisis in funding and care over Christmas.

He told the Commons: Councillors from all political parties are reporting that they are at a tipping point in the provision of social care.

'Our social care system will not be secure without long-term funding.

Tonight, many elderly people will remain trapped in their homes, isolated and lonely  lacking the care they need because of continuing cuts to social care, and social care cannot be cut without also hitting the NHS.

This is the first time that healthcare spending per head has declined since the NHS was created, and I fear there will be a crisis in funding and care over this Christmas.

The NHS cares for us, and we should care for the NHS.

He added: The social care cuts mean that the number of elderly people deemed eligible for state help are also falling year on year.

It means more and more are having to pay for home helps and other assistance  or are simply doing without.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell predicted a crisis in funding and care over Christmas

The Left-winger accused the Tories of six wasted years.

Todays statement... offers no hope for the future, he said.

Weve heard today therell be more taxes, more debt and more borrowing.

'The verdict could not be clearer: the so-called long-term economic plan has failed.

We now face Brexit, the greatest economic challenge of a generation, and we face it unprepared and ill-equipped.

On social care, Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: Councils, the NHS, charities and care providers have been clear about the desperate need for the Chancellor to take action to tackle the funding crisis.

'It is unacceptable that this has not been addressed in the Autumn Statement.

'The Government must take urgent action to properly fund social care if councils are to stand any chance of protecting the services which care for the elderly and vulnerable.

Services supporting our elderly and vulnerable are at breaking point now.

Labour MP Luciana Berger accused Mr Hammond of forgetting the NHS in his Autumn Statement

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said it saw at first-hand the devastating effects of a lack of social care funding, with people falling and not being found for days, people not being washed because there is no carer there to help them.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said the lack of extra cash spells deepening misery for many older people.

She added: More family members  including many in their 80s and 90s  will have to shoulder the care of a loved one alone, more care staff will quit for less stressful jobs elsewhere, and all the good people working in social care battling to sustain good standards of care will face an even tougher job than they do today.

Stephen Dalton, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents trusts, said: The Treasury has missed a golden opportunity to ease the strain on the NHS. Relying on a political rhetoric that promises to protect the NHS, but fails to acknowledge that a cut in social care results in a cost to the NHS, is an economic deception.

Labour MP Luciana Berger accused Mr Hammond of forgetting the NHS in his Autumn Statement. The NHS, social care, mental health and public health are not mentioned once in the 72-page document outlining the Governments spending plans, she said.
Teenage inmates held a sex offender hostage and threatened to kill him after learning about his criminal history from confidential files stolen from a secure wing of the prison during a riot.

Juvenile offenders used a stolen angle grinder to gain access to the roof of Parkville Youth Justice Centre, in Melbourne's north, before they trapped an inmate and threatened his life during a two-day riot last week, the Herald Sun reported.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Victoria Police will be investigating Parkville after it was alleged the inmates had gotten a hold of their victim's criminal history during another violent rampage through the centre earlier this year.

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Juvenile offenders used a stolen angle grinder to gain access to the roof of Parkville Youth Justice Centre before they trapped an inmate and threatened his life (Pictured: riot damage)

The incident became the topic of discussion in parliament after tactical police in heavily armoured riot gear and the dog squad were forced to subdue dozens of offenders following two consecutive nights of rioting.

Teenage inmates caused significant damage on Saturday night when around 20 young offenders trashed their cells, smashed security cameras and tore down the walls and ceilings.

Another disturbance broke out on Sunday, with reports around a dozen young offenders had barricaded themselves inside a unit while others lit fires.

According to the Herald Sun, Youth Affairs Minister Jenny Mikakos initially said there were no hostages taken but Opposition Leader Matthew Guy refuted those claims in parliament on Wednesday.

Tactical police in heavily armoured riot gear and the dog squad have been called in numerous times to subdue dozens of offenders during riots at Parkville (pictured)

Inmates were pictured on the roof of the prison armed with metal bars during a riot earlier this year

Parkville Youth Justice Centre became the topic of discussion in parliament this week following numerous riots

Ms Mikakos earlier condemned the behaviour and said the government was developing a range of tougher measures to put a stop to the violence.

Opposition spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said rioting at the two youth justice centres in Victoria has become commonplace and called for greater action to reduce violence.

'They (the government) need to step in and fix this mess because there is riot after riot nearly every weekend,' she told 3AW on Monday.

The Victorian government were also criticised after moving to have 40 inmates from Parkville transferred to Barwon's maximum-security facility where they would be detained separately from its adult population until the damage was fixed.

'They (the government) need to step in and fix this mess because there is riot after riot nearly every weekend,' Opposition spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said (stock photo)

Youth Affairs Minister Jenny Mikakos (left) initially said there were no hostages taken but Opposition Leader Matthew Guy (right) refuted those claims in parliament on Wednesday

Heavily armed police in riot squad gear are seen entering the prison during a riot

The Human Rights Law Centre immediately launched a legal bid to have this decision overturned claiming it contravened the inmate's basic rights.

Greg Barns of the Australian Lawyers Alliance said it was a violation of international law to 'arbitrarily' put children in adult prisons, particularly as there is an increased risk they will become victims of physical and sexual violence.

'This is a breach of our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which explicitly prohibits housing children and adults in prison together,' he said.

Barwon Prison houses notorious criminals including murderer Matthew Johnson.

Johnson killed gangland boss Carl Williams by bashing him with a metal bar from an exercise bike at the jail in 2010, and is now serving a life sentence behind bars.

Barwon Prison (pictured) houses notorious criminals including murderer Matthew Johnson
A rare handwritten poem signed by Anne Frank has sold at auction for 140,000 euro (120,000).

In a sign of the enduring popularity of the Jewish diarist who became a symbol for Holocaust victims, the sale price, which does not include the auctioneer's commission, was nearly three times the upper limit of the Dutch auction house's pre-sale estimate.

The eight-line poem, half of which was copied from a Dutch book of verse, is dated March 28 1942, shortly before Anne and her family went into hiding from wartime Nazi occupiers in a secret apartment in an Amsterdam canal house.

It was sold to an online bidder, whose identity was not released.

The poem (pictured, left), was written in Dutch, and was found in the school book of Anne Frank's best friend's sister. Anne (right) was a keen writer and more than 30 million copies of her diary have been sold since 1947

The poem was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the seller, Anne's former school friend, Jacqueline van Maarsen.

The poem is addressed to her late sister, Christiane.

Ms van Maarsen also has a poem written by Anne that was addressed to her.

'I know that my sister was not as attached to this verse from Anne to her as I am to the verse Anne addressed to me, and that is the reason that I am now putting it up for sale,' she said in a letter accompanying the poem.

Auction house Bubb Kuyper put a pre-sale estimate of between 30,000 and 50,000 euro (25,000 to 42,000) on the poem.

Anne Frank Foundation spokeswoman Maatje Mostart said there is no doubt about the poem's authenticity.

'Jacqueline was an important person for Anne,' Ms Mostart said.

Ms Mostart said it is 'very special' for a piece of Anne's handwriting to come up for auction, but added that the foundation did not plan to bid for the poem.

Anne was born in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany but her family fled the Nazis in 1933, moving to Amsterdam where her father worked in the fruit extract business.

But in 1940 Holland was occupied by the Nazis and the family were once again under threat because they were Jews.

Thirteen weeks after the poem was written, Anne, her sister Margot and their parents went into hiding, along with four other families, in an annexe above the offices of their business.

Otto Frank (pictured) was the only survivor of the family and made it his life's work to get his daughter's diary published so that people could know what Jewish families like his went through during the Holocaust

The entrance to the annexe was concealed by a bookcase.

The family were sustained by friends who kept their secret and brought them food and anything else they needed.

But Anne and her family were betrayed and captured late in the war and deported.

Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp aged 15, shortly before it was liberated by Allied forces.

But her father Otto, who survived the camps, returned to the house in Amsterdam and found Anne's diary, which had been kept by a Dutch friend, Miep Gies.

Anne Frank's diary, an account of her life in hiding, was published in 1947 and became a global sensation, being translated into 67 languages.
Theres nothing like terrible weather for bringing the British together. We always relish the camaraderie of a collective grumble against a common foe.

Tsk! So what sort of weather is this?

Tsk! Tsk! Terrible! Its pelting down! And they say its going to get worse!

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Yes, I heard theres snow on the way! And ice! Probably black ice, too! Its treacherous out there!

Bad weather gives us all a lovely warm feeling. Storms and floods make us feel good about ourselves. They have kept us going for the past 2,000 years.

Craig Brown feels his West Highland Terrier, Pip, would be the unity candidate for the Presidency (file pic)

I came, I saw, I complained about the weather, said Julius Caesar, or words to that effect.

But in the early hours of November 9, along came something to take the place of weather as our chief conversational topic, something thats infinitely more random and variable, something guaranteed to bring us all together in a spirit of greater harmony.

I am talking, of course, about Donald Trump. Every day, the President- elect issues a new thunderbolt and lets loose a new storm, and all of us  young or old, optimist or pessimist, black or white, gay or straight, rustic or townie, Left or Right, trendy or traditional  then join together in shouting a collective Boo!

Small wonder that the British weather is in such a frightful mood. For once, it is not the centre of attention.

For the next four years, it will have to learn to play second fiddle to Donald Trump.

Nowadays, hes all anyone talks about. The wind and the rain are old hat. Brooding behind its dark clouds, the weather must be kicking itself and asking itself where it all went wrong.

How long will Trump continue to dominate our conversation? When he won the election, know-it-all commentators, fresh from predicting a Hillary Clinton victory, switched to predicting that Trump was bound to grow less brash and chippy, and start becoming far more calm and statesman-like.

President-Elect Donald Trump (right) with Vice President-Elect Mike Pence (left)

But this simply hasnt happened. Every day, he issues a fresh bombshell  here a crackpot appointment, there a loopy tweet  and, once again, the talk turns to Trump.

Did you hear what he said about Farage?! Did you see who hes just appointed?! Can you believe he just did that?!

If only we could find a way to generate electricity from the thrust of the nations eyebrows going up and down, then the future of Britains energy would be assured.

On the other hand, we shouldnt forget the old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.

For a few weeks, we may experience a warm, cosy feeling complaining about Trump. But after four years, we will be yearning for the days when the weather was all we had to complain about.

To this end, we will need a new, duller, more dependable American President: a President who will a) be welcomed by one and all; b) say nothing; c) do nothing.

Examining all the possible candidates, I feel that there is only one choice: my West Highland terrier, Pip.

Pip would be the unity candidate. After four years of strife, of state set against state and family set against family, he would bring the American people together in a great show of unity. Everyone loves a Westie.

Of course, there may be one or two sceptics at first. They will argue that at 13 (or 91, in doggy years), Pip is too old for the job. But I think America would benefit from his serenity, his maturity, his vast experience of the real world.

With that objection out of the way, Pip ticks all the right boxes for the U.S. presidency:

1. He is extremely photogenic, particularly in his new tartan winter coat. Whenever he goes out in public, people of all shades of opinion gather round him and purr approvingly.

2. He sleeps most of the day, which means that, as President, he will have very limited time at his disposal to mess things up.

3. Yes, he barks a little  but a good deal less than President- elect Trump.

4. He doesnt own a mobile phone, and he is too ham-pawed to tweet intemperately, even when he is steamed up about something.

5. He is an enthusiast, but, unlike Trump, never lets his enthusiasm get in the way of a good doze.

6. Also unlike Trump, Pip believes strongly in keeping things just as they are. He is the no-change candidate, the consolidator.

This all means Pip would insist on keeping legislation to a bare minimum.
For two centuries, this was the original Northern powerhouse. Its former residents include a prime minister and an earl who ran off with the sister of future U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Its visitors books are peppered with royal signatures, including those of King George V and Queen Mary.

Like many who came to stay here, they may have had trouble finding their way around a stately home so large that the front is considerably wider than Buckingham Palace, while house-party guests would be issued with confetti to lay a trail down to dinner  to help one find ones way back to ones room at bedtime.

All of which raises the question of why the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, should use his Autumn Statement to announce that he is lobbing 7.6 million of public money at this, Britains largest private house. After all, yesterdays speech included the news that the number of British households qualifying as homeless has risen to 50,000.

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Georgian palace with a room for every day of the year, almost all of them unoccupied

Wentworth Woodhouse, in contrast, is a Georgian palace with a room for every day of the year, almost all of them unoccupied. In recent times, the only resident has been a reclusive London property developer and his wife. According to Mr Hammond, the money announced yesterday will save this great house for the nation and make amends for the cultural vandalism of a previous Labour government.

But after so many false starts, false promises and murky deals surrounding the future of this pile, we taxpayers are entitled to ask whether the Chancellor has done the nation a favour, or simply bailed out a desperate vendor and saddled us with a restoration project that will be begging for handouts for years, if it hasnt collapsed in the meantime.

I have looked round it and seen the cracks, the wonky doors and floors and the decay. This is a house which has been undermined  quite literally  by an act of such spiteful Socialist class warfare that it will certainly consume many times what Mr Hammond has pledged.

On the other hand, it is a piece of history with a hell of a story to tell. And it is a house which also has the potential to regenerate an entire region where most people remain devoted to the old place.

For Wentworth Woodhouse sits in the old coal belt of South Yorkshire, near Rotherham. It was the coal industry that raised it to great glory and the coal industry that reduced it to a peeling wreck. Now the coal industry is dead, might the house rise again on the back of tourism?

After all, Castle Howard, up in North Yorkshire, is a great money-spinner for the local economy, while to the south, Chatsworth, seat of the dukes of Devonshire, is the largest private-sector employer in that part of Derbyshire.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that he is lobbing 7.6 million of public money at Britains largest private house

And Wentworth Woodhouse is not just one great house. It is actually five great houses bolted together.

Out in the grounds, the stable block  decorated with the insignia of the Most Noble Order of the Garter  is much grander than many mid-range British stately homes. The first noble pile on this spot was a Jacobean mansion built by Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford.

It was inherited by a cousin with big political ambitions who would become the first Marquess of Rockingham and who added a baroque house on the back (made of red brick, it looks completely different to the dull yellow, coal-stained front).

This being the 18th-century heyday of architectural showing-off, he also added a socking great Palladian facade to the eastern front, plus two mighty wings. Not to be outdone, the 2nd Marquess  who served twice as prime minister  raised it all up by another floor.

He left it to a nephew, the Earl Fitzwilliam, who is said to have been the model for one of English literatures great heart-throbs, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Ditto his house. As Mr Hammond  an unlikely fan of romantic fiction, it must be said  informed the Commons: It is said to be the inspiration for Pemberley (Mr Darcys home) in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice.

According to Mr Hammond, the money announced yesterday will save this great house for the nation and make amends for the cultural vandalism of a previous Labour government

The Fitzwilliams hit the jackpot, arriving as the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. And it was fuelled by the great asset beneath their feet  coal  which would sustain the family fortunes through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

The family mines employed thousands of Yorkshiremen and their efforts made the Fitzwilliams billionaires by todays standards.

There were few complaints from the workforce. Compared with rival operations, the Fitzwilliam mines were considerably safer and came with superior housing to boot.

Industrial relations were such that with the General Strike looming in 1926, the miners leader told the Earl they were not in favour of taking action. You must, the Earl replied, or youll let the others down.

At the height of Britains imperial power, Wentworth Woodhouse employed 85 indoor staff including nine housemaids, two butlers, two under-butlers, two brewers and a clockman. A further 300 outdoor staff included deer-keepers, gamekeepers and even a bear-keeper. The last bear-keeper was finally pensioned off as King Edward VII came to the throne. Asked what he would like as a retirement present, he opted for the bear.

Wentworth Woodhouse is not just one great house. It is actually five great houses bolted together

While World War I marked the end of country house opulence for many dynasties, the Fitzwilliams just kept on partying. To mark the 21st birthday of the son and heir in 1931, 15,000 guests were invited to various balls and receptions.

With so much wealth, the family feuds were poisonous. The aunt of Billy Fitzwilliam, the 7th Earl, tried to scupper her nephews inheritance by claiming he was a changeling  an infant male substituted for a baby girl. The scheme failed and the aunt was banished.

Billy went on to pull off a great coup. In 1912, the King and Queen used Wentworth Woodhouse as de facto royal headquarters for their tour of the North of England.

Peter Fitzwilliam, the 8th Earl, was a much-decorated member of Churchills SOE (Special Operations Executive) during World War II but in peacetime he faced a different enemy. The angrier elements within Clement Attlees Labour government had scores to settle.

Manny Shinwell, Minister for Fuel, hated the old brigade and, after the nationalisation of the coal industry, ordered that the grounds of Wentworth Woodhouse should become an open-cast mine, right up to the doorstep.

The first noble pile on this spot was a Jacobean mansion built by Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford. It was inherited by a cousin with big political ambitions who would become the first Marquess of Rockingham and who added a baroque house on the back

The miners themselves tried to intervene. The park had always been regarded as a space for the whole community. The president of the local branch of the NUM attacked Shinwell for sacrilege on sacred ground but the minister persisted. Peter hastily leased the house to the local authority as a teacher-training centre.

The houses fate was sealed in 1948 when Peter abandoned his wife and child and set off for the South of France to pursue his affair with Kathleen Kick Kennedy, the sister of John F. Kennedy. His chartered plane crashed in a storm, killing the two lovers. To this day, his death is mourned by older locals as the end of an era.

The treasures went to his widow and daughter, while the title and property passed from one distant, childless cousin to another before the line fizzled out.

In the Eighties, Wentworth Woodhouse was bought by entrepreneur Wensley Haydon-Baillie, who briefly revived the good times before his business collapsed. Thereafter, it was snapped up for 1.5 million by London developer Clifford Newbold, who talked of restoration plans.

But the ravages of Shinwells mining operations had caused serious subsidence. Newbold and his sons embarked on a prolonged legal battle with the Coal Authority for compensation and, having secured a modest ruling in their favour in 2013, decided to sell.

The stately home in 82 acres near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, took 25 years to build in the early 1700s and its 606ft-wide facade hides five miles of corridors, sketched here in 1780

King George V and Queen Mary stayed in 1912, pictured centre, with 76 bedrooms required for the visit

A few interested parties came and went with plans for a hotel/flats/conference centre. Time and again, they were frightened off by the twin prospects of massive repairs (the estimate currently stands at 42 million) and a legal quagmire.

At the same time, a determined consortium of heritage and conservation experts formed a trust. Between them, they have devoted the past three years to a rescue bid.

Last year, following the death of Clifford Newbold, his family were ready to accept an offer of 7 million but the trust still had to produce the money. Pledges had come from several charitable foundations, with the caveat that there had to be extra millions for repairs before cheques could be signed. But three of those pledges were due to expire at the end of this month. With no money and the clock counting down, the trustees were desperate.

In recent months, two MPs, one Labour and one Tory, have clearly done a good job of lobbying the Chancellor. And yesterday, the Treasurys very own Mr Darcy rode to the rescue, albeit without the frilly shirt and tousled locks.

But is this a happy ending? Or is it just another chapter in a long, sad tale of decline for which, ultimately, the taxpayer will foot the bill?

At least, from now on, the public can see for themselves.
Few can defend the way that letting agents hit tenants with rip-off administrative fees. These firms cash in every time someone rents a new home or reaches the end of a tenancy agreement.

We all know it doesnt cost hundreds of pounds to print out a few documents.

Yet the big agencies charge tenants as much as 300 on a bog-standard contract, even though they use the same templates for the majority of their properties.

Many firms charge these fees even when theyre merely renewing a tenancy agreement. Thats a nice little earner for putting a new date on a document.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, pictured in the Commons, announced a blanket ban on the fees, which average 340, in his first Autumn Statement

The rip-off doesnt end there, either. Tenants face a baffling array of other levies, such as 60 for a credit check that costs the firm doing it around 5.

And thats before you factor in fees with unintelligible names such as non-returnable holding deposit.

In the worst cases, the total can come to around 500. Most people who rent a home dont have that sort of cash lying around.

Many homeowners have looked on aghast as their children and grandchildren have been held hostage by the lettings sharks. So understandably, plenty of people will be raising a glass today at the prospect of a crackdown. But as ever, this type of big stick approach from the Government looks good on paper but is fatally flawed in practice.

When you delve into the detail, you can see it threatens to cause some serious collateral damage to the wrong people. The problem with the Governments proposal is that it forgets who the real villains are.

In his speech yesterday the Chancellor said: Landlords appoint letting agents and landlords should meet their fees. So landlords are taking the blame for something that is not their fault at all. Its the letting agents who collect these rip-off fees that make a fat profit for little work, not property owners.

In fact, most agencies already force private landlords, as well as tenants, to contribute towards the cost of putting together a tenancy contract.

Buy-to-let investors know full well that a desk clerk will simply change a few lines on a standard document and press print on their computer  but theres not much they can about it. Yet under the Governments proposals, landlords may well face a sharp rise in their own costs.

Even if letting agents scrap up-front admin fees, many are likely to recover the money by hiking the commissions they charge landlords for advertising properties and collecting monthly rents.

The larger agents already charge around 15 per cent for this type of service. If those rates go up, landlords will either have to pass on the extra costs to tenants or accept lower profits.

the big agencies charge tenants as much as 300 on a bog-standard contract, even though they use the same templates for the majority of their properties

In other words, by banning letting agent fees the Government could inadvertently end up making tenants worse off.

While charging tenants more will be an option in some places, rents are already at so high in areas such as London and the South-East that it may be impossible.

That deals yet another blow to landlords who have turned to buy-to-let to boost their retirement incomes.

Since April, anyone buying a second property has had to pay an extra 3 per cent stamp duty, adding 7,500 to the cost of buying a 250,000 home.

And from next April, landlords will start to lose the higher-rate tax relief they get on their mortgage interest payments.

Amid concerns about a bubble in the market, the City regulator is also trying to make it harder for all landlords to get a mortgage in future.

Now investors are facing another poorly disguised government attack, and many may sell up for good.

Either that was Philip Hammonds intention all along, or the Government has once again hit the wrong target with a policy that promised so much.

Letting agents' shares tumble over fees ban

By James Burton for the Daily Mail

Millions were wiped off the value of the biggest letting agents yesterday as Philip Hammond announced the end of fees for tenants.

The Chancellor revealed agencies would be banned from charging renters for services when they move house, meaning landlords will have to foot the bill instead.

The move is aimed at helping 4.3million households in private rental housing.

Letting agents are currently able to charge unregulated fees to tenants, Mr Hammond said. We have seen these fees spiral, often to hundreds of pounds. This is wrong.

Foxtons' share price was down 13 per cent and Countrywide slid 6 per cent following news that letting agency fees would be banned.

Landlords appoint letting agents and landlords should meet their fees. So I can announce that we will ban fees to tenants as soon as possible.

Mr Hammond also pledged to spend 1.4billion on building 40,000 affordable homes and launched a 2.3billion fund to create infrastructure for up to 100,000 houses in high-demand areas. The measures are intended to ease the housing crisis.

The letting fees crackdown was welcomed by charities and tenants rights groups but attacked by industry figures.

And in a sign that traders feared it would hit the industry, shares in the agents Foxtons, Savills and Countrywide fell. The drop wiped more than 90million from their value.

But Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said: Millions of renters in England have felt the financial strain of unfair letting agent fees for far too long, so were delighted with the Governments decision to ban them.

This will make a huge difference to all those scraping by in our expensive, unstable renting market.

The charity said it had carried out a survey that found nearly half of renters felt they were being charged fees that were too high, and many had to borrow money every time they moved.

CASE STUDY: LANDLORD SAYS HE CANNOT SEE ANYONE WINNING FROM SCRAPPING OF LETTING AGENT FEES Russell Short, who has a property portfolio worth 6.5million, says he cannot see anyone winning from the scrapping of letting agent fees for tenants Russell Short, who has a property portfolio worth 6.5million, says he cannot see anyone winning from the scrapping of letting agent fees for tenants. The father-of-two from Sheffield owns 53 homes as part of his business Property Partners and has an income of 80,000. He sold his lettings agency a few months ago and is pleased he got out when he did. He thinks landlords will push rents up to cover the extra costs to lettings agencies that will be inevitably levied on them, as was the case in Scotland, where tenants fees have already been banned. Mr Short, 40, who himself rents a house for 825 a month, said: The agencies will find loopholes to get round it and inevitably rents will go up to cover the costs. He added: Theyve gone around it incorrectly. There is some justification for some fees  there is a lot of administration. But I dont agree with some of the fees. It should have been capped at a certain amount. Theyve swiped it with a hard ball and itll backfire in the next year or two. Landlords are going to feel aggrieved  theyre going to put the rent up. Tenants are going to feel aggrieved because rents are going up. I just dont see any winner. Mr Short, who has a son Spencer, 11, and daughter Lola, nine, also runs a boiler installation business. Advertisement

However, industry insiders warned the decision was a backward step that would force landlords to raise rents to cover their costs.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has said that the country needs 1.8million more rental homes if it is to keep pace with demand, as first-time buyers are increasingly unable to get on the property ladder because of surging prices.

Head of policy Jeremy Blackburn said: The private rented sector became a scapegoat under the previous chancellor, and because of that it suffered.

The Chancellor should avoid the pitfalls made by his predecessors. Britains landlords have the potential to be the solution to our housing crisis, not the problem.

It is simplistic to suggest they must pick up the letting agencies charges and a disincentive when we are in urgent need of more landlords entering the market  a little like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

David Cox, of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said: This decision is a crowd-pleaser, which will not help renters in the long term. All of the implications need to be taken into account

Mr Hammond also committed to bringing forward a Housing White Paper to address long-term challenges in the sector.

In the shorter term, the Government will launch a 2.3billion Housing Infrastructure Fund to deliver up to 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand. It will invest a further 1.4billion to deliver 40,000 extra affordable homes and relax restrictions on government grants to allow a wider range of housing types.

The lettings fees ban is a fresh setback for landlords after a wave of tax changes announced by former chancellor George Osborne.
A young high-flying couple have decided to have another baby even though they know that the father is dying from a cancerous brain tumour.

When they were just 26-years-old Pete and Christina Moreton's lives changed forever after they were told he had an incurable brain tumour.

The couple, who are both now 33, met when they were students at Oxford University, received the devastating news that Pete had a brain tumour in September 2009 after he suffered a seizure.

The diagnosis led to long discussions between the two as to whether they should have children, but the couple decided to live as much as possible in the present, and they are now expecting their second child.

Pete Moreton, who has an incurable brain tumour, is expecting his second child with wife Christina. The couple decided to have children despite knowing that he was dying

'The dilemma was profound,' Pete told the Telegraph. 'We had to think long and hard and talk very honestly about it. My main worry was for Christina, as I think it's tougher on her. She faces years of bringing up our children alone.'

Pete, a project manager at Royal Bank of Scotland, proposed to Christina, and they married in 2010. She suffered a miscarriage in 2012 when she was three months pregnant, but gave birth to a healthy girl, Bella, in 2014.

Christina Moreton is expecting the couple's second daughter in February

In April last year, a scan revealed his grade two tumour had turned cancerous, and he was told he had between 12 and 15 months to live.

The deterioration in his condition has led to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but it has also encouraged the couple, who live in London, to look to the positives.

Christina, head of strategy at London and Partners, the promotional company for London, is expecting their second child, conceived after Pete had sperm frozen before starting chemotherapy.

She underwent IVF, and they were successful on their first attempt.

They are expecting another girl, who will be born in February. 'I know I won't see her go to university,' Pete said. 'But I don't have time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. Bella is running around, looking for something to do, a place to go.'
Rowdy Schoolies have been caught on camera forcing a friend to down bong water, making him vomit over a hotel balcony before passing out covered in his own sick.

In the shocking Instagram video, a teenage boy is seen holding a bottle used to smoke cannabis up to a 17-year-old's face as he chugs the water inside.

His friends cheer him on - including the teenage girl filming - as he swallows all of the water and staggers outside onto their hotel room balcony in Gold Coast.

Rowdy Schoolies have been caught on camera forcing a friend to down bong water, making him vomit over a hotel balcony before passing out covered in his own sick

In the shocking Instagram video, a teenage boy is seen holding a bottle used to smoke cannabis up to a 17-year-old's face as he chugs the water inside

The boy splutters and coughs some of the water up over the edge of the balcony, and appears to be in a booze-fuelled daze as he grins to the camera.

'He's going to fall off the balcony!' the girl recording the disgusting stunt shouts as the boy stumbles around and leans on the railing.

A friend tries to help the teenager to his feet but he falls to the ground and lays down instead.

The friend is heard shouting: 'You're too charged, brother!'

Out of nowhere the teenager jumps back to his feet and dashes inside, before grabbing a bottle of what appears to be whisky.

Knocking it back, he downs a considerable amount of the liquor before the girl persuades him to put the bottle down.

The boy splutters and coughs some of the water up over the edge of the balcony, and appears to be in a booze-fuelled daze as he grins to the camera

'He's going to fall off the balcony!': The girl recording the disgusting stunt shouts as the boy stumbles around and leans on the railing

A friend tries to help the teenager to his feet but he falls to the ground and lays down instead

According to an Instagram post which included the video, the boy was 'f***ing munted'.

'He passed out in a shower with vomit all over him 20 minutes after this video,' the girl filming wrote.

She added that she and her fellow Schoolies 'didn't come to survive'.

The incident is just the latest in a string of debauchery to take place on this year's Schoolies.

Out of nowhere the teenager jumps back to his feet and dashes inside, before grabbing a bottle of what appears to be whisky

According to an Instagram post which included the video, the boy was 'f***ing munted'. The teenager who downed the bong water is pictured here holding a bottle of cheap booze

Teenager Jamie Murphy spent two days behind bars in Bali after nightclub security found a bag containing a white powder in his bag.

But after extensive forensic testing, police conceded that the powder was in fact a mixture of four materials including caffeine and headache tablets, and Mr Murphy has since been freed.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of Thursday morning, a 17-year-old fractured their hip after falling two stories from a balcony at Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast while trying to retrieve a lost item from a ledge.

On Monday night, a huge brawl broke out after an Australian man mocked a group of New Zealanders performing the haka.

Also earlier in the week, a young woman was booted out of her accommodation for climbing over the edge of the balcony onto a ledge.
A teenager charged with making hoax radio transmission to aircraft at Melbourne airports was an aspiring pilot and understood to have worked at Virgin Australia.

Paul Sant, 19, was arrested by Australian Federal Police and faced court on Tuesday charged with five offences - including four counts of endangering the safety of aircraft and one count of interference like to endanger safety, cause loss or damage.

The Rockbank man had allegedly made 16 unauthorised radio transmissions between September 5 and November 3 to Melbourne and Avalon airports.

Daily Mail Australia understands he had worked for Virgin Australia at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne for about 12 months but was sacked in September.

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Paul Sant (pictured), 19, was charged with making hoax transmission calls to aircraft and was an aspiring pilot who understood to have worked at Virgin Australia

It is unclear why he was sacked.

Mr Sant had regularly posted photos with aircrafts to Facebook and appears to have sat in the cockpit of aircrafts alongside pilots.

Loved ones wrote in the comment section of his posts and photos he could achieve his dream of becoming a pilot one day.

On Tuesday, his defence lawyer Pern Chaya told Melbourne Magistrates Court Mr Sant has been diagnosed with autism and depression but is not on any medication.

Mr Sant worked for Virgin Australia at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne but was sacked in September

'He's 19, so he's a young prisoner,' Ms Chaya said.

It is Sant's first time in custody.

He was remanded in custody and is expected to apply for bail on Monday.

Each of the five offences he faces could see him jailed for 20 years.

Australian Federal Police's head of crime operations, acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Sheehan, said the travelling public should be reassured they were treating this matter appropriately.

The 19-year-old was arrested on Monday by Australian Federal Police (pictured)

Airservices Australia says there is no current threat to the safety and security of the travelling public as a result of the alleged transmissions.

A spokesperson for Virgin Australia said the airline was 'pleased' an arrest had been made on the matter.

'Safety is our number one priority and we worked closely with the AFP and other relevant authorities throughout the investigation,' the spokesperson said.
Vet nurse Alex Baker said it would take a 'pretty horrible person' to do this

The mum was shot, left to die by a tree on a roadside in rural Queensland

Puppies dumped in a skip bin next to where their dead mother was found

Litter of puppies dumped in skip bin near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane

Seven puppies were dumped in a skip bin after their mother was shot dead and left next to a nearby tree.

The border collie-cattle dog puppies were rescued from the side of the road near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on Sunday - just one day before bin collection.

Their mother was found dead with a bullet wound, as her three-week old offspring fended for themselves without any food.

Vet nurse Alex Baker said the puppies would have been crushed in a garbage truck if a woman hadn't rescued them, hitting out at whoever dumped them.

'It's a pretty horrible person. I can't imagine anybody who would do that,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

'They would have been crushed. It wouldn't be nice at all.'



This adorable border collie cross puppy (pictured) was almost crushed in a garbage truck with its six siblings, but was saved when a woman saw the puppies in a skip bin

This border collie-cattle dog puppy was dumped in a skip bin north-west of Toowoomba

It appeared the puppies were left without any food for at least a day.

Their 27-year-old carer sheltered the puppies in her apartment for three days, with her two cats, after they were rescued from Jondaryan, north-west of Toowoomba.

'They're actually in quite good condition and they're much older than we were expecting,' Ms Baker said.

'A couple of them have little skin infections but nothing major.'

The puppies were old enough to be fed dog biscuits soaked in milk formula.

'They're on the verge of being weaned. They didn't end up needing to be bottle fed,' Ms Baker said.

'They were able to start eating soft food as well.'

This litter of seven puppies would have been crushed in a garbage truck if they weren't found

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to leave a border-collie cross puppy in a skip bin

This puppy is one of four boys and three girls who were rescued a day before bin collection

The puppies have since been transferred to Off The Chain K9 Rescue, a non-profit group in Toowoomba that is finding new homes for the furry animals.

Their new permanent foster carers will be given the honour of naming them.

Despite making a mess in her apartment Ms Baker, a vet nurse at Herriot House Veterinary Surgery in Toowoomba, misses them.

'You form an attachment to every animal you look after,' she said.

But at least her cats are glad the puppies are gone.

'No chewing but they're pretty messy, especially with seven of them,' Ms Baker said.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may never be allowed to run for president, but the former California governor finally got the chance to sit behind the desk at the Oval Office.

It may have just been a replica, but Schwarzenegger was still excited as he took a Snapchat at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday.

'Finally,' he wrote as the caption for the picture, even holding up some papers as he tried to look his most presidential behind Nixon's desk.

The former Terminator star excitedly took his Snapchat followers along for the ride as he toured the new exhibits at the Yorba Linda, California museum.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger finally got the chance to sit behind the desk at the Oval Office, but it was merely a replica at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

First stop was none other than a picture of Schwarzenegger himself with the former president.

'This is where I saw President Nixon for the last timer in 1991,' he told his followers in the video.

Schwarzenegger then took a picture of a Nixon quote from 1969, making sure to proudly point at the words as he implored his followers to read them.

'In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words,' the quote, painted on a wall in the museum, read.

'We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another.'

Schwarzenegger then gave his fans a quick tour of the Oval Office replica, before moving onto an exhibit about the Vietnam War.

'When Nixon became president there were 550,000 troops in Vietnam,' Schwarzenegger told his followers.

The former Terminator star excitedly took his Snapchat followers along for the ride as he toured the new exhibits at the Yorba Linda, California museum on Wednesday

Schwarzenegger then gave his fans a quick tour of the Oval Office replica (left), before moving onto exhibits about the Vietnam War and the Cold War (right)

'Literally, when he left office, there were zero.'

Schwarzenegger also showed off the new space display at the museum, giving his followers a glimpse of a 'cool bunch of astronaut' statues on view.

The former governor then went into an exhibit dedicated to Nixon's domestic policy vision, citing the fact that Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.

'President Nixon was also a great environmentalist who was very adamant about keeping the water, the air, the ground clean,' Schwarzenegger said on the clip.

Schwarzenegger then posed for a picture with cut-outs of Nixon and his wife Pat behind a backdrop of the Great Wall of China.

Although his political career has come to an end, Schwarzenegger has remained outspoken about the state of the US government.

In October he joined the growing list of Republicans who denounced Donald Trump, explicitly writing on Instagram that he would not vote for the Republican candidate for president.

Schwarzenegger then took a picture of a Nixon quote from 1969, making sure to proudly point at the words as he implored his followers to read them

Schwarzenegger then posed for a picture with cut-outs of Nixon and his wife Pat behind a backdrop of the Great Wall of China

Schwarzenegger told his followers that it was the first time since he became an American citizen in 1983 that he would not be casting a ballot for the GOP.

He revealed that he joined the Republican party when he first moved to America in 1968 and 'heard Nixon's words about getting the government off our backs, free trade, and defending our liberty with a strong military'.

But the day after Trump was elected president, Schwarzenegger pleaded for unity.

The campaign is over the election is over and we are not enemies,' he said in a video message to his Twitter followers.

'We are neighbors, we are friends, and most importantly we are all Americans and we have a lot of work to do to keep America great.'

'So lets do it, and lets do it together.
Johnthony Walker (pictured), the school bus driver charged after a crash that killed five children, did not have alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the accident

Authorities have confirmed a sixth child has died after their school bus crashed in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Monday.

Shattered family members confirmed eight-year-old Keyonte Wilson passed away on Wednesday after his school bus slammed into a tree on Monday.

Wilson is the sixth student from Woodmore Elementary to have been killed in the crash, CNN reports.

Kevin McClendon, Keyonte's brother, said the eight-year-old was a 'tough little boy' who is now 'in a better place'.

It comes as tales of incredible bravery from some of the young students on board the doomed bus began to emerge.

Ten-year-old Zacaureea Brown was on the bus with her two sisters when the crash took place.

She was able to heroically carry one of her sisters to safety in the aftermath of the accident, before returning to look for her other sister, according to WTVF.

Tragically, Zacaureea's sister, six-year-old Zyaira Mateen, died.

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Eight-year-old Keyonte Wilson has been identified as the sixth person to have died in the horrible bus crash in Tennessee

Ten-year-old Zacaureea Brown (right) was on the bus when it crashed, and heroically managed to carry one of her sisters (left) to safety

It comes after it was confirmed the school bus driver charged after a crash that killed five children did not have traces of alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the deadly accident.

Johnthony Walker, 24, was arrested and charged after with vehicular homicide after the collision in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Monday.

Eleven children remain hospitalized, five of them in a critical condition in intensive care.

On Wednesday, Chattanooga Police Sargent Austin Garrett revealed tests did not find any traces of drugs of alcohol in Walker's blood, CNN reports.

The network also reported neighbors heard 'hollering and screaming' after the crash.

Zacaureea Brown (right) went back on to the bus to save her other sister, six-year-old Zyaira Mateen (left), but was unable to do so

'I ain't never heard nothing like that before in my life,' Mary Smith said.

'The wheels were still turning on the bus... They were just hollering and screaming, all of them in a different tone.'

It comes after it earlier emerged Walker had been in an accident involving a school bus as recently as September.

According to the police report, he was heading into a blind curve and hit an SUV when he crossed over into the oncoming lane to maneuver the bus around the bend.

Zyanna Harris (pictured left) and Cordayja Jones (right) were among five children who died

Six-year-old D'Myunn Brown (left) also died in the crash, along with Jasmine Mateen's daughter (right), six-year-old Zyaira Mateen

Walker sideswiped a Kia Seoul after crossing into oncoming traffic, but and the damage to both vehicles was considered minor.

There were no children in the front rows of the bus and no reports of injuries.

The children in the Durham School Services bus  the same kind as in Monday's fatal crash  were sitting in the rear rows of the vehicle,

No charges were filed, but a citation for failure to yield was issued against Walker, ABC News reports.

Zoey (left) died but her brother Zack (right) remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung and a broken arm, according to their sister, DaQuesha Jermichael

A Chattanooga police officer struggles to hold back tears while leaving balloons and a stuffed animal at a makeshift memorial on Wednesday to those killed in the bus crash

Teddy bears, photographs, balloons and other mementos are seen as part of a memorial to the five young students killed in a bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee

During a news conference on Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that Walker got his license to drive a school bus in April.

Previously, Walker's personal license had been suspended for about a month in 2014 for failure to show proof of insurance, according to state commercial driver records.

He appeared to have no criminal record in Tennessee, authorities said.

Police said Walker was driving well over the posted 30mph limit when he lost control of the bus, which was not equipped with seat belts.

Three Chattanooga police officers place balloons and a stuffed animal at a makeshift memorial on Wednesday, November 23

Investigators are pictured examining the road where Monday's deadly bus crash took place in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Jasmine Mateen (above) spoke out about her attempts to report the driver for reckless driving

Mateen broke down crying as she talked about her deceased six-year-old daughter, Zyaira

He was jailed on $107,500 bail for a court appearance on November 29 on charges that also included reckless driving and reckless endangerment.

Meanwhile, the mother of three children who were in the crash, spoke out about her futile attempts to report Walker for reckless driving.

Jasmine Mateen said that since the school year started in August, her children have come home each day complaining about their bus driver.

Her six-year-old daughter, who has not been named, died in the crash.

'I have been calling complaining about this bus driver since August,' she told NBC News.

Bus driver Johnthony Walker (above, with his family) faces charges of vehicular homicide

'IT HAPPENED': DRIVER'S MOM SAYS CRASH WAS 'GOD'S WILL' Gwenevere Cook insists that her son was not speeding and urged people to not judge him The mother of the bus driver charged with vehicular homicide in six children's deaths insists her son was not at fault and that the crash was 'God's will.' Police say Johnthony Walker, 24, was going well above the posted 30mph speed limit when he crashed a bus carrying 35 schoolchildren in Chattanooga on Monday. His mother Gwenevere Cook insists that her son was not speeding and urged people to not judge him. 'My heart of love is going out to all that were in harms way in this horrible accident of Gods will,' she told NBC News. 'I pray we all can just get this some way without judging my son. It happened. God dont make mistakes. We do.' Cook, who is in Atlanta, says her son is a responsible father to a three-year-old boy and has been working two jobs for the past two years. She said he began driving the school bus for Durham School Services in August - and called her in the immediate aftermath of Monday's deadly crash. 'He said "Mama, I love you. I've been in a domestic wreck on the bus",' she recalled. 'He was trying to get the children off the bus. He found blood everywhere.' In an interview with CNN, Cook said: 'He's never been in trouble before. He is a respected young man, grew up in Chattanooga and is liked by everyone.' Advertisement

Mateen said she called the Board of Education and Woodmore Elementary School. She even claimed to have written letters to the school and to Walker.

'Y'all doing what y'all supposed to be doing but my baby laying in a cold freezer,' Mateen said as she broke down into tears.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mateen said that the last words Walker said to the children before he sped around a curb and crashed the bus, were reportedly: 'Are y'all ready to die?'

'My daughter said, right before the bus flipped, that he was speeding around the curb, and asked them, 'are y'all ready to die?'' Mateen told CBS News Radio.

But Hamilton County School District spokeswoman Amy Kutcher declined to say whether the district had received any complaints involving Walker, who was employed by an outside bus contractor, Durham School Services.

Walker was driving well above the 30mph speed limit when the bus carrying 35 Woodmore Elementary students flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree

The school bus is seen being carried away from the site where it crashed on Monday afternoon

People hug as donations are dropped off at Woodmore Elementary School on Tuesday

Flowers, signs and stuffed animals make up a makeshift memorial outside Woodmore Elementary School in Chattanooga

She referred all questions about his performance and that of other Durham drivers to the company.

'Legally, there is no way that we could discipline someone who is not our employee,' Kutcher said.

'We've got 192 Durham bus drivers. Obviously, this is a bad one.'

Durham CEO David A. Duke issued a statement on Twitter saying the company was 'devastated' by the accident and working with police and school officials to investigate.

Company officials did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Based in Warrenville, Illinois, Durham operates about 13,700 vehicles across the U.S. and has nearly as many drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

It had a 'satisfactory' safety rating from the agency in July 2015.

The school bus was towed away from the scene of the crash in Chattanooga on Tuesday

The driver was going well above the 30mph speed limit when the bus carrying students flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree, according to an arrest affidavit

The arrest affidavit says the bus was going at high speed when it left the narrow, winding road and eventually struck a tree

A woman is seen escorting three children who were on the bus at the time of the crash. The children all had cuts, bruises and scratches on them as they were taken away from the scene

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show.

During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.

And as the NTSB investigation got underway, chairman Christopher Hart said the agency will look at such factors as the driver's actions, the condition of the bus and whether seat belts  something the NTSB has been pushing for  would have made a difference.

Craig Harris, a parent of two children who had been on the bus, told ABC's 'Good Morning America' that the bus driver sometimes drove too fast.

'There has been times where I've seen him going a little faster than he probably should be going,' Harris said.

But Walker's mother Gwenevere Cook says the accident was 'God's will' and not her son's fault.

'My heart of love is going out to all that were in harms way in this horrible accident of Gods will,' she told NBC News.

'I pray we all can just get this some way without judging my son. It happened. God dont make mistakes. We do.'

She says her son is a responsible father and called her immediately after the fatal crash to tell her what happened as he helped rescue the children from the wreck.

Students from kindergarten through fifth grade were on board when the bus flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree at 313 Talley Road at around 3.20pm

'Mama, I love you. I have been in a drastic accident,' Cook told CNN she recalled her son saying.

'He texted me minutes later saying the kids are dead. He was trying to get [the children] off the bus - all the bodies were limp.'

She also revealed that Walker, who has a three-year-old son, had been working two jobs for the past two years.

'He's never been in trouble before. He is a respected young man, grew up in Chattanooga and is liked by everyone,' she said.

Thirty-five children had been riding on a bus police said was traveling too fast Monday afternoon when it veered off a narrow, winding road and crashed into a tree on the way home from elementary school.

Authorities haven't released the names of the dead or injured.

But family members confirmed that Zyanna Harris, 10, Cordayja Jones, a girl called Zoey and six-year-old D'Myunn Brown died along with Mateen's daughter.

Doctors said that the injured children were so young that many couldn't spell their names.

A neighbor living on Talley Road near the crash said that the children were escaping from the roof hatch of the bus. Above, two children are pictured on the ground in front of a home with authorities and first-responders

Parents received text message notifying them of the crash. The message said that 'extra counselors and support staff' would be coming in from all over the state to help students process the tragedy

Some couldn't remember their birthdays or their parents' names  just 'Momma' when asked.

As survivors of the crash began to arrive in the pediatric emergency room, Dr. Darvey Koller said he could see the devastation in their eyes.

'Many of them were scared or too dazed to talk to us,' Koller said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The process of identifying the injured moved slowly, Koller said, and Children's Hospital at Erlanger staff resorted to photographing each child for teachers to identify.

Reeling from the tragedy, Chattanoogans lined up to donate blood and created a memorial of flowers and stuffed toys at the crash scene.

Emergency responders needed almost two hours to get all the children off the bus

The students on board ranged from kindergarten through fifth grade. Above, emergency personnel are pictured working the scene of the crash

'The most unnatural thing in the world is for a parent to mourn the loss of a child,' Mayor Andy Berke said.

'There are no words that can bring comfort to a mother or a father. So today, the city is praying for these families.'

At an evening prayer vigil, a local church overflowed and gospel choir boomed out songs. Preachers spoke of grief, strength and faith.

Children the same age as those who died got antsy in the capacity-filled lobby. Reality intruded, though, as an usher walked a tearful woman through the crowd.

'This woman needs a seat,' he said. 'She lost her daughter.'

Parents used to sending their children off to school every day without incident struggled to cope with the news.

'It's real tough,' said Dujuan Butchee, whose daughters, Jamya and Janesa, are eighth-graders who used to go to the same school as the youngsters killed in the wreck.

'It's tough on my kids because they know some of the victims as well.'

Butchee said it wasn't the first time he had heard about a bus speeding.

'I think it should wake up more bus drivers to be more cautious because you're dealing with a lot of kids' lives,' Butchee said.

Blood Assurance released a statement calling for the community to donate blood, above, residents in the area are pictured standing in line to donate blood
Trump won all three states, with his margin of victory in Michigan being just 10,704 votes

She has also raised the $.5million needed for the Pennsylvania filing fee and the $.6million needed in Michigan

Stein said the recount in Wisconsin is on after securing the $1.1million needed for the filing fee

She raised $4.1million in less than a day online and the money will be used to pay for the recounts

Jill Stein has raised enough money for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after experts said it was possible that hackers had artificially lowered Hillary Clinton's counts there.

If all three states were overturned - however unlikely that outcome may be - it could theoretically hand the White House to Clinton.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway criticized those who were calling for a recount on Thursday, writing on Twitter: 'Look who "can't accept the election results."'

She then linked to an article about Clinton supporters calling for a recount.

Stein started the fund-raiser on her website on Wednesday, saying that she needed to raise $2million by Friday - but broke that within hours.

She has now raised the necessary funds for the filing fees in all three states, and announced on Thursday that the recount would be moving forward in Wisconsin.

'Congratulations on meeting the recount costs for Wisconsin,' wrote Stein on her website.

'Raising money to pay for the first round so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing.'

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Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised $3.1million in less than a day online and the money will be used to pay for the recounts

Stein said the recount in Wisconsin is on after securing the $1.1million needed for the filing fee

Stein promised to use the money - which was initially set at $2million - to pay for recounts in the three states.

On Thursday morning, the target was increased again to $4.5millon.

The campaign anticipates eventually needing $6 million to $7 million to cover attorney fees and statewide recount observation costs.

She cited the Green Party's successful 2004 demand for an Ohio recount - which ended in two election officials being convicted of rigging the count - as proof of concept.

On her website, Stein positioned the fundraiser as 'an effort to ensure the integrity of our elections' after experts 'independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where "statistical anomalies" raised concerns.'

'Our effort to recount votes in those states is not intended to help Hillary Clinton,' she said.

The recount may indeed help Clinton, however - if, as experts suggest could be the case, she has been the victim of a cyber-attack on electronic polling stations.

According to New York, the group - which includes computer security and voting law experts - says Clinton performed 7 per cent worse in those Wisconsin counties in which voters input their choice directly into electronic voting machines.

In the other counties, where Clinton did better, voters have a paper ballot that is counted using an optical scanner or (in small numbers, to ensure accuracy) by hand.

That, they say, suggests the electronic voting machines could have been hacked to filter out Clinton votes - something that can't be done when scanning paper ballots.

Their calculations say that proposed hack could have robbed Clinton of 30,000 votes in the state. She lost Wisconsin to Trump by 27,000.

The move theoretically puts Clinton back in play for the Presidency - but the odds are still against her, and the White House reportedly wants to get on with transitioning to Trump

The experts reached out to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta in a conference call on November 17 to try to get Clinton to call for a recount. But Stein could do it herself

They believe that Pennsylvania and Michigan are two other key states that could theoretically have been affected. If Clinton claimed all three in a recount, she would win the Electoral College.

The scientists don't have direct evidence of a hack, they say - if it exists, it would only come if Clinton demands an investigation and recount - but DNC emails were plundered by hackers in the run-up to the election.

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta also had his email account hacked and its contents leaked.

And in August, both Illinois and Arizona election records were breached in a cyber-attack, according to the FBI and state agencies.

No suspects have been named in this potential voting hack, but Russia was fingered as a culprit in all of the attacks by US officials.

The computer experts used a statistical analysis to conclude Clinton did worse in states with electronic voting machines - which they argue could have left the door open to hacking

The experts include J Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society.

In an article for Medium, Halderman admits that Clinton's shock defeats in the states - which went against polling predictions - were 'probably' the fault of the polls being 'systematically wrong' rather than hacked.

But, he said, neither explanation was 'overwhelmingly more likely than the other,' and so it was imperative for 'physical evidence' to be examined.

On November 17, his group contacted Clinton campaign chair John Podesta and general counsel Marc Elias to present them with their findings and push for a recount and investigation, according to New York magazine.

But the White House is reportedly leaning on Clinton not to demand the recount, as it wants to focus on smoothing the transition from the Obama administration to Trump's new Cabinet.

However, if Stein gets her way, neither Clinton nor the White House will have a choice.

Podesta's emails were hacked during the election campaign, as were DNC emails and voter data in Arizona and Illinois. US officials pointed to Russia as a culprit in all three cases

Clinton already conceded to Trump and gave a farewell speech. She faces a recount deadline of just days in the three states, even if a challenge is mounted

The same day, Clinton's lead in the popular vote increased to more than 2million. Millions more are left to be counted, and many are expected to go to Clinton

And Clinton's success in the popular vote may prove more of an impetus to push out the boat anyway.

On Wednesday, as Stein's takings rocketed, it was announced that her lead over Trump had increased to more than 2million, and was expected to keep rising.

David Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Report tweeted the result Wednesday, as her lead increased to 1.5 per cent of the vote.

According to the Cook Report, Clinton's ballot count is now at 64,225,863 -compared with Trump's 62,210,612.

There are still millions more votes to be counted, and it's believed that most of those will be for Clinton.

If Stein or Clinton want to push for the recounts, they'll need to move fast, however.

If they want to file a recount in Wisconsin, the deadline is Friday. In Pennsylvania they have until Monday. And in Michigan the cut-off is November 30.
A father has watched on as his daughter was brutally beaten on a Melbourne tram in broad daylight.

The pair were on their way into the city after visiting the Melbourne Museum when the altercation took place.

The father and daughter were visiting from Queensland and were spending the day sightseeing around Melbourne when the daughter was bashed.

Police want to speak to a woman and a man seen leaving the tram after the alleged asault

They were travelling on the number 86 tram in inner Melbourne at 2pm on Friday, November four when they had a run-in with a group on the tram.

A woman and two men travelling on the tram were allegedly annoying passengers when they got into an argument with the father and daughter.

The daughter, 23, was punched in the face and then held by the two men as the female continue to assault her.

The father attempted to protect his daughter but was thrown down the steps of the tram.

Eventually they let the woman go but they made off with her mobile phone as well as her credit card and cash that were stored in her phone cover.

Police are also looking for this man in relation to the incident that occurred on the number 86 tram in Melbourne

The group jumped off the tram at the intersection of Russell and Bourke and then went on a spending spree with the woman's debit card.

Transit Detective Sergeant Geoff Beams told The Age that such behaviour blights Melbourne's reputation.

'It's unacceptable. People going about their lawful, daily business shouldn't be harassed and for people visiting from interstate like this, it's not the sort of reputation we want Melbourne to achieve,' Detective Sergeant Beams said.
Senator Jacqui Lambie has won Senate support for a 10.5 per cent tax rate on working backpackers after accusing deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce for having an 'unhealthy' obsession with her.

The Senate on Thursday voted in support of her amended income tax rate for travellers on working holiday visa by 37-30.

Ms Lambie voted in support of bringing the backpacker tax down to 10.5 per cent, as opposed to 19 percent rate proposed by the government.

Senator Jacqui Lambie has won Senate support for a 10.5 per cent tax rate on working backpackers after accusing deputy PM Barnaby Joyce of having an 'unhealthy fixation' of her

Senator Lambie said deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce mentioned her name seven times during an interview with Radio National Host Fran Kelly

During the vote Ms Lambie said deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce had mentioned her name seven times during an interview with Radio National Host Fran Kelly.

'All the problems with Australia in the rural sector can be blamed on Jacqui Lambie, Jacqui Lambie, Jacqui Lambie,' she said about deputy prime minister Joyce.

'I think the deputy PM has an unhealthy fixation with Jacqui Lambie. He said Jacqui Lambie seven times, I mean get a life,' she added.

However, it's unclear whether the rate will win support in the House of Representatives with the government still insisting on its 19 per cent rate.

Labor leader Bill Shorten challenged the prime minister in parliament to accept the amended bill.

Malcolm Turnbull said he would be insisting on the 19 per cent rate.

Senator Lambie: 'I think the deputy PM has an unhealthy fixation with Jacqui Lambie. He said Jacqui Lambie seven times, I mean get a life'

Ms Lambie opposed the 19 percent rate proposed by the government, including Mr Joyce

'This is a plain act of economic vandalism by the Labor Party,' Mr Turnbull said.

'A plain act of undermining Australian businesses, Australian horticultural businesses, Australian tourism businesses.'

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said the 19 per cent rate was fair.
Sam Armytage has slammed Waleed Aly for not fulfilling his 'responsibility' as a journalist after Julie Bishop accused him of misquoting Peter Dutton.

The Sunrise host weighed in on a heated exchange between Aly and the Foreign Affairs Minister on Thursday after he asked her if Mr Dutton was wrong to say it was a 'mistake' to let Lebanese-Muslim refugees into Australia in the 1970s.

Ms Armytage accused The Project host of taking Mr Dutton's comments out of context to push his own agenda, as opposed to ensuring the quotes were accurate.

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Sam Armytage (left) has slammed Waleed Aly (right) for not fulfilling his 'responsibility' as a journalist after Julie Bishop accused him of misquoting Peter Dutton

The Sunrise host posted the scathing message to her Twitter account on Thursday

'Journalists have a responsibility to quote correctly. Not just give their opinions,' she tweeted on Thursday.

Ms Bishop took aim at Aly on Wednesday night when he changed the topic of conversation to the Immigration Minister's comments during what should have been an interview about an 18-year-old caught with a bag of white powder in Bali.

'I want to ask you whether or not you think Peter Dutton was wrong to say Malcolm Fraser should not have let Lebanese Muslims into Australia in the 1970s?,' he asked.

'Well that's not what he said. He was talking about the situation years ago where we didn't provide the kind of support and services to people coming in to Australia that we do today, and that can have consequences,' Ms Bishop flatly responded.

In parliament on Monday, Mr Dutton said allowing Lebanese-Muslim refugees into Australia in the 1970s was a 'mistake', and that 22 of the last 33 terrorists in the country were Lebanese

'And that can have consequences.

'The point is that today we provide significant resources, support services, tohelp people integrate, particularly thos ewho come on refugee and humanitarian visas who may have come from very truamatic backgrounds

WALEED ALY AND JULIE BISHOP: THE FULL EXHANGE Waleed Aly: 'I want to ask you whether or not you think Peter Dutton was wrong to say Malcolm Fraser should not have let Lebanese Muslims into Australia in the 1970s?,' Julie Bishop: 'Well that's not what he said. He was talking about the situation years ago where we didn't provide the kind of support and services to people coming in to Australia that we do today, and that can have consequences. 'And that can have consequences. 'The point is that today we provide significant resources, support services, tohelp people integrate, particularly thos ewho come on refugee and humanitarian visas who may have come from very truamatic backgrounds 'We ensure that they have the support so that they can become contributing members to society.' Aly: 'So you would say that absolutely there is no suggestion from anybody in the government in support of a discriminatory immigration policy? Bishop: 'Absolutely not, we have a non discriminatory immigration system,' Ms Bishop replied. 'Peter Dutton and the government have also pointed out time and time again how valuable the contribution that immigrants are. 'We are one of the most successful multicultural nations on earth and that's because we welcome people from all corners of the globe. 'But we also want them to become contributing members to society and I think that's one of Australia's great strengths.' Advertisement

'We ensure that they have the support so that they can become contributing members to society,' Ms Bishop added.

In parliament on Monday, Mr Dutton said allowing Lebanese-Muslim refugees into Australia in the 1970s was a 'mistake' made by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

Mr Dutton further fuelled the comments in parliament on Tuesday by saying 22 of the past 33 people charged with terrorism-related offences in Australia were from second and third generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds.

Australia's first female Muslim MP Anne Aly immediately voiced her outrage while Lebanese MP for Deakin Michael Sukkar reportedly said Mr Dutton was 'spot on.'

Unsatisfied with Ms Bishop's response, Aly pressed her to take a side on Mr Dutton's comments.

'So you would say that absolutely there is no suggestion from anybody in the government in support of a discriminatory immigration policy?,' he asked.

'Absolutely not, we have a non discriminatory immigration system,' Ms Bishop replied.

'Peter Dutton and the government have also pointed out time and time again how valuable the contribution that immigrants are.

'We are one of the most successful multicultural nations on earth and that's because we welcome people from all corners of the globe.

'But we also want them to become contributing members to society and I think that's one of Australia's great strengths.'

Mr Dutton's comments earlier this week have caused widespread controversy, with MPs on both sides of politics weighing in.

Ms Aly first erupted in parliament, gesturing angrily towards Liberal National MP George Christensen, so animatedly that her leather jacket fell off her shoulders.

Ms Bishop said Mr Dutton was actually talking about the levels of support for immigrants coming into the country in the 1970s

Aly probed the Foreign Affairs Minister for a second time about whether she thought Mr Dutton's remarks were of a 'discriminatory' nature

Australia's first female Muslim MP Anne Aly immediately voiced her outrage over Mr Dutton's comments this week

Mr Christensen is known for his hardline stance on immigration, previously suggesting that immigration to Australia should be restricted from countries where violent extremism is prevalent.

Ms Aly has since revealed that she receieved death threats after blowing up about Mr Dutton's comments.

On Wednesday, the counter-terror expert revealed she received threatening emails and negative comments on her Facebook page, including from far-right anti-Islam group United Patriots Front.

'You have a bias toward Islamic extremists and Muslim interests generally,' the Perth UPF leader Dennis Hut wrote.

Another man said: 'I would love to kill you and poison your family'.
Increasing competition with China for trade has been blamed for soaring death rates among white, middle aged Americans.

A silent 'epidemic' of deaths from suicides, drug and alcohol poisoning within that faction was first highlighted last year.

But scientists were baffled as to why white, middle aged Americans were bucking the national trend of decreasing death rates. Now two economists believe they have found the answer.

Justin Pierce and Peter Schott believe they can trace back the uptick in suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related deaths to 2000, when President Bill Clinton decided to relax the rules on major imports.

A silent 'epidemic' of deaths from suicides, drug and alcohol poisoning within that faction was first highlighted last year which the economists believe is due to trade with China

Until then, the potential remained for U.S. lawmakers to reintroduce the onerous 1930s Smoot-Hawley legislation at any time, the Washington Post reports.

The law placed onerous tariffs on imported goods from China and elsewhere to offer more protection to U.S. industries that would be affected by close competition from the country, such as plastic and textile manufacturers.

The legislation had weakened over time but lawmakers retained the ability to reimpose the sky high tariffs, meaning that potential investors were taking a significant risk as Chinese companies had no assurance they could continue trading with the US.

Clinton changed that in 2000 when he wrote the lower tariff into law - something that Pierce and Schott say had a devastating impact on U.S. industry.

American factories, which couldn't compete with China's cheap labor force, shut down in droves, while thousands upon thousands of middle-aged white Americans, without college degrees, were laid off.

Unable to cope, many turned to drugs, alcohol or even took their own lives, according to the research.

Increasing completion with China for trade has been blamed for soaring death rates among white, middle aged Americans

Pierce and Schott estimate that increased Chinese imports were responsible for 1.3 overdose or alcohol-related deaths in 100,000 people and 0.4 suicides in the same number, in counties where the economy was based on industries vulnerable to threat from China.

'I'm in favor of free trade, but I'm also someone who believes that we should be honest about the consequences,' Schott said. 'It doesn't benefit everyone equally.'

The surge in deaths amidst white, middle aged Americans was so significant that Dr Anne Case and Dr Angus Deaton, of Princeton University, compared the 'silent' epidemic to the Aids epidemic in the US.

Case and Deaton were the first to highlight the worrying increase in mortality rates last year in separate research.

Behavioral change, prevention and better treatment has generally brought down mortality rates for those aged 45 to 54, since 1970. These reductions in morbidity have made lives longer and better, the researchers said, adding it is widely assumed these improvements will continue.

Death rates: While death rates for all black and Hispanic people in rural areas has fallen in the past 25 years, death rates among white middle aged people have risen

Overdoses: Heroin and opioid overdoses are among the causes behind the soaring death rate

However, Dr Case and Dr Deaton revealed that presumption does not extend to Americans in midlife. They found 'a marked deterioration' in the morbidity and mortality of middle-aged white non-Hispanics in the US since 1998.

Their research shows this pattern is exclusive to the US, and is not reflected in other rich nations. Nor, they add, is it seen among African Americans or Hispanics within the US.

Between 1978 and 1998, the study reveals the mortality rate for US whites aged 45 to 54 fell by an average of two per cent each year. This was reflected in other rich countries, including France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Sweden.

After 1998, these nations saw mortality rates for this group steadily continue to fall, by two per cent every year.

But, in the US, mortality rates rose by half a per cent a year.

The authors wrote: 'No other rich country saw a similar turnaround.'

They estimate that had the white mortality in the US rate held at its 1998 value, 96,000 lives would have been saved between 1998 and 2013.

And had it continued to fall as it had between 1978 and 1998, 488,500 deaths would have been avoided from 1999 to 2013.

This figure is comparable to the number of deaths caused by the Aids epidemic in the US.

While death rates related to drugs, alcohol and suicides have risen for middle-aged whites across the board, the largest surge are seen among those with the least education.

A shock rise in mortality rates for middle-aged, white Americans has been driven by a rise in suicides, drug and alcohol poisonings and liver disease. In 2011, poisonings overtook lung cancer as a leading cause of death in this group and suicides is poised to do so, Princeton researchers said

For those with a high school degree or less, deaths caused by drug and alcohol poisoning rose four fold, suicides increased by 81 per cent, and deaths caused by liver disease and cirrhosis jumped 50 per cent.

All-cause mortality rose by 22 per cent for this least-educated group.

Among those with some college education, researchers noted little change in overall death rates.

While among those people who achieved a bachelor's degree or higher, death rates fell.

A rise in suicide and drug overdoses in midlife, is a recognised trend across the world.

However, the authors note 'that these upward trends were persistent and large enough to drive up all-cause midlife mortality, has, to our knowledge been overlooked'.

They added that the obesity epidemic has made diabetes a major concern for middle-aged Americans, 'yet, in recent history, death from diabetes has not been an increasing threat'.

Poisonings overtook lung cancer as a cause of death in 2011 in this age group, suicide appears poised to do so Dr Anne Case and Dr Angus Deaton

They said: 'Poisonings overtook lung cancer as a cause of death in 2011 in this age group, suicide appears poised to do so.'

While the sudden turnaround in mortality is only partly understood, the researchers said an increase in the availability of opioids, including heroin, in the late 1990's are a potential reason.

The authors wrote: 'The CDC estimates that for each prescription painkiller death in 2008, there were 10 treatment admissions for abuse, 32 emergency department visits for misuse or abuse, 130 people who were abusers or dependent, and 825 non-medical users.

'In this period (1998-2013), the US saw falling prices and rising quality of heroin, as well as availability in areas where heroin had been previously largely unknown.'

And they said financial stress may have also played a key role.

'Although the epidemic of pain, suicide and drug overdoses preceeded the financial crisis, ties to economic insecurity are possible,' the authors note.

After a slowdown in productivity from the 1970s, and with a widening income inequality, many of the baby-boom generation are 'the first to find, in midlife, that they will not be better off than their parents'.

The graph shows all-cause mortality for those aged 45 to 54 for US white, non-Hispanics (USW) and US Hispanics (USH), compared with six other rich nations, France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia and Sweden. It reveals while mortality rates have fallen in every other nation, for USW they have risen

Growth in earnings has been slow among this group, the study reveals, 'especially those with only a high school education'.

Furthermore, the high death rates were also found to coincide with self-reported declines in health, mental health and the ability to cope with daily living, the researchers note.

More middle-aged whites in 2013 reported chronic pain and displayed poorer liver function than those of the same age in 1999.

Those people who reported being unable to work, also doubled during this period.

The authors added: 'A serious concern is that those currently in midlife will age into Medicare in worse health than the currently elderly.

'This is not automatic; if the epidemic is brought under control, its survivors may have a healthy old age.

'However, addictions are hard to treat and pain is hard to control, so those currently in midlife may be a 'lost generation' whose future is less bright than those who preceded them.'

The study is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For confidential support in the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
A U.S. travel blogger has filmed the moment a Balinese police officer pulls him over and takes money directly from his wallet because he was riding a scooter without a helmet.

'We just got hustled by the police in Bali,' Sawyer Hartman said to camera after the incident.

The 26-year-old has been posting videos of his Bali travels for the last two weeks with his girlfriend.

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Sawyer Hartman claimed this is the moment when the Balinese police officer put his money into his pocket (pictured)

In the video, he claims to have been threatened with arrest by a Balinese police officer.

After getting a tattoo with his girlfriend, Mr Hartman was pulled over by the police officer for not wearing a helmet on his rented scooter.

He did not know initially that he had done anything wrong, but when it became clear that the policeman was trying to extract money from him for the offence, he started to film the encounter.

'I almost just got f---ing arrested in Bali or something,' Mr Sawyer said in the video blog posted on November 18.

Mr Hartman claimed the policeman was trying to extort money from him because he wasn't wearing a helmet (pictured)

'The Bali police pulled me over and said I wasn't wearing a helmet... he tried to take 1.5 million, like, of their dollars from me.'

The currency conversion for 1.5 million Indonesian Rupiah is $150. In the end the police officer settled for taking what he had in his wallet, which was $200,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($20).

Any person driving a motorcycle not wearing a helmet in Indonesia could face one month imprisonment or a fine of 250,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($25).
Ten-year, multiple entry visas for Chinese tourists are set to be trialled soon.

The nearing of the trial comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced 2017 would be a 'year of tourism' between China and Australia.

Trialling the visas was a step towards increasing the competitiveness of the country's visa system, SBS quoted the prime minister as saying.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced 2017 will be a 'year of tourism' between China and Australia (stock image)

Chinese tourists are the second largest group of international visitors to Australia and inject about $8.3 billion to the economy every year (stock image)

The 10-year, multiple entry visas would require holders to leave the country frequently for them to remain valid (stock image)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (stock image)

For the visas to remain valid, holders would have to frequently leave the country.

Mr Turnbull said: 'China is already our number one market by value and it is about to become our number one market by volume'.

'That is no mean feat given the highly competitive nature of the market, with 190 national tourism organisations competing for international visitors.'

Chinese tourists are the second largest group of international visitors to Australia and injected about $8.3 billion into the economy in 2015.

By 2020, that number is predicted to increase to $13bn.

The 2017 year of tourism was agreed upon by Mr Turnbull and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For the visas to remain valid, holders would have to frequently leave the country (stock image)

The visas were first announced in June 2015.

In a statement at the time, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said: 'Australia is a diverse and unique destination for international travellers and the Coalition Government is committed to ensuring we capitalise on our tourism opportunities'.

It was estimated that by 2020, 200 million Chinese tourists would travel to destinations around the world like Australia each year.
An Australian university student is suing Labor MP Terri Butler after she suggested on national television he had used the word n*****s in a Facebook post.

The Queensland University of Technology student has always denied the allegations and had been cleared of racial hate charges, three years after a controversial complaint had been lodged with the human rights commission.

But Ms Butler, a former lawyer, told the ABC's Q&A program and up to one million viewers, he had used the term n*****s in the Facebook post, criticising an indigenous computer lab at the university.

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Terri Butler is being sued for $150,000 in damages by QUT student Calum Thwaites

'This is the situation. And we never found out because it was not determined. I'm saying this is what the allegations were and the matters were not determined,' Ms Butler said on Monday night.

When told the student had always vehemently denied the allegations, Ms Butler responded: 'He would say that, wouldn't he?'

Now Butler is being sued by QUT student Calum Thwaites for $150,000 in damages.

In May of 2013 a Facebook post from an account with the name Calum Thwaites used racially offensive terms while describing QUT campus facilities.

Mr Thwaites always maintained the account was a fake and he had never written a post of that nature.

While on Q&A Ms Butler suggested that QUT student Calum Thwaites had used the word n*****s in a Facebook post

QUT employee Cindy Prior filed a racial hatred case brought under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, but earlier this month Federal Circuit Court judge Michael Jarret dismissed the $250,000 case.

Ms Butler is Labor's shadow assistant minister for equality and also holds the inner-Brsiabne seat of Griffith, which she won in the 2014 byelection after Kevid Rudd retired from politics.
A mystery Labor MP has been heard meowing like a cat during female Coalition MP Sussan Ley's address in parliament's Question Time on Thursday.

The strange noises surfaced from Labor's side of the room, but it has not been revealed which member was responsible.

The meowing happened three times during the Minister for Health and Aged Care's answer shortly after 2pm Thursday.

A mystery Labor MP has been heard meowing like a cat during female Coalition MP Sussan Ley's address in parliament's Question Time

Speaker Tony Smith reportedly expressed his anger at the disruption.

After the offensive noise echoed throughout the room, a staffer reportedly called to explain that the MP making the noise at Sussan Ley was not meowing, instead making the sound of a plane landing.

Regardless of what noise the MP made, it's unclear why they did it and what message they were trying to send to Hon. Ley.

'Mystery Labor MP miaowed three times during a Sussan Ley answer. Tony Smith is very cross,' journalist James Massola said

'MP 'meows' at Sussan Ley in Question Time,' reporter Jane Norman said

'A staffer called to explain that the MP making noises at Sussan Ley wasn't meowing, they were making the sound of a plane landing. Ok then,' writer Stephanie Peatling said

Speaker Tony Smith expressed his anger after the strange behaviour on Thursday afternoon

Since reports of the noises surfaced, the Labor Party has come under fire on social media.

'The unknown person should withdraw,' one woman said.

'And they wonder why voters are disillusioned with the major parties. They are both as bad as each other,' one man said.

'Pretty poor form from Labor. They'd be crying loudly if the boot was on the other foot,' said another.

'And they wonder why voters are disillusioned with the major parties. They are both as bad as each other,' Mr Edwards said

'Let's not make the mistake of thinking only Coalition MPs make sexist remarks/ gestures about Labor MPs,' Stephanie Peatling said

Another man expressed his anger at the immature behaviour claiming he couldn't believe something so childish could happen, especially given 'we pay them'.

Word of the shocking behaviour quickly spread online prompting hordes of people to express their disbelief such things could occur in parliament.

'A disgraceful show by government ministers in question time,' one man said.

'Yelling, screaming and denigrating members of opposition.
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She may have skipped the annual turkey pardoning ceremony, but Sasha Obama made sure to lend her parents a helping hand as they served dinner to veterans on the night before Thanksgiving.

The First Family rang in the holiday early with residents at the Armed Services Retirement Home in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

President Obama seemed to still be in the comedic mood he displayed earlier that day, cracking jokes with the veterans and putting smiles on their faces as he dished out turkey and ladled gravy on to their plates.

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Sasha Obama (circled) was back with her family to lend a helping hand as they served dinner to veterans in Washington DC on the night before Thanksgiving

The First Family rang in the holiday early with residents at the Armed Services Retirement Home on Wednesday night

President Obama seemed to still be in the comedic mood he displayed earlier in the day, cracking jokes with the veterans

Obama was also joined by wife Michelle, although Malia appeared to skip the family's traditional Thanksgiving service project.

Last year both daughters were on hand to help Obama and Michelle serve dinner at the Friendship Place homeless center in Washington DC.

On Wednesday Obama and Michelle were also joined by the First Lady's brother, ESPN analyst Craig Robinson, and his two sons Austin and Aaron.

The boys, aged six and four, got their first taste of the spotlight just that morning at the annual turkey pardoning, when Obama joked that his daughters had skipped the ceremony because they 'couldn't take my jokes anymore'.

Malia and Sasha actually had a 'scheduling conflict', according to their dad, but the president was more than happy to introduce his nephews - who he joked had 'not yet been turned cynical by Washington'.

'They still believe in bad puns, they still appreciate the grandeur of this occasion, they still have hope,' he joked.

Obama was joined by wife Michelle and daughter Sasha, although Malia appeared to skip the family's traditional Thanksgiving service project

Obama was manning the turkey and gravy stations at the end of the line as the hungry veterans came through

He was quick to flash a thumbs up to the veterans and wish them a 'Happy Thanksgiving' after they introduced themselves

For his final turkey pardoning, Obama would be sparing the life of the Iowa-born Tot, whose companion Tater would also get to spend out the rest of his years at a turkey sanctuary at Virginia Tech University, which Obama called 'a bit Hokie,' using the school's mascot to frame one of many bird-themed jokes throughout his remarks.

Explaining the heir and the spare roles of the two large birds, Obama explained that Tater was 'sort of like the vice turkey.'

'We're working on getting him a pair of aviator glasses,' the president joked in a clear reference to Vice President Joe Biden.

Obama continued with the jokes throughout his brief remarks, telling the crowd he wanted to recognize the turkeys who didn't ride the 'gravy train to freedom' like the two at the White House today.

'Who met their fate with courage, sacrifice and proved that they weren't chicken,' Obama said.

President Obama invited his two young nephews to be his turkey pardon helpers today, as Sasha and Malia have gotten too old for the ceremony

President Obama and his nephews Austin and Aaron pet Tot the turkey before the Iowa-based bird is officially pardoned

A bit scared: Four-year-old Aaron doesn't look too keen on the turkey in this snap

President Obama waves his hands to officially pardon Tot, one of two turkeys who will live out the rest of their lives at Virginia Tech University

Getting in a flap: The turkey started to raise its wings as it was surrounded by Obama and his young nephews

The president, who leaves the White House in under two months, spent several minutes touting his record: 'Six straight years of job creation, the longest streak ever. Low unemployment, wages are rising again, inequality is narrowing, the housing market is healing, the stock market has nearly tripled,' Obama said.

'The high school graduation rate is an all-time high and our uninsured rate is at an all time low, thanks to the 20 million more Americans including, including millions of children, who finally know the security of health insurance,' the president continued, tipping his hat to the Affordable Care Act, which President-elect Donald Trump promised supporters he would quickly repeal.

Since then, Trump has wavered a bit on that commitment.

'Proud families, that's worth gobbling about, proud families across the country are finally complete now that marriage equality is the law of the land,' Obama said.

He also noted how many families are now able to celebrate Thanksgiving with their servicemembers, who have returned home from tours abroad.

Tater and Tot were put up in the swanky Willard InterContinental Washington hotel just one block down from the White House for an overnight stay

'Thanksgiving is a chance to gather with loved ones, reflect on our many blessings and, after a long campaign season, turn our attention from polls to poultry,' Obama also said, reassuring Americans that 'we have a lot more in common than what divides us' after the year-and-a-half long cantankerous campaign.

Subtly pushing back on Trump again, Obama said Americans should lend a helping hand to the refugees and the immigrants and 'always show the world that America is a generous and giving country.'

'So later today the Obama family will participate in our traditional Thanksgiving service project and when somebody at your table tells you that you're hogging all the side dishes, you can't have anymore, I hope you respond with a creed that sums up the spirit of a hungry people, "Yes we cran!"' Obama delivered, adding a 'that was good' after sticking the landing on that dad joke.

'I know there are some bad ones in here, but this is the last time we're doing this so we're not leaving any room for leftovers,' Obama added.

As he winds down his White House years, Obama also thanked the American people for the trust they placed in him.

At a young age, Sasha and Malia Obama loved the turkey pardoning ceremony. Here the girls watch their dad's first ever ceremony in 2009

The second year their father was in office, the girls wore matching denims tones to the annual ceremony in 2010

By year three in the White House, in November 2011, Sasha Obama (in blue) was already giving her dad side eye at the ceremony, where he was pardoning Liberty the turkey

The girls were all smiles in 2012, when their father - having just won re-election - pardoned Cobbler the turkey

President Obama brought the girls along again in 2013, but they seemed less and less impressed by the annual White House tradition

'And the incredible kindness you've shown my family,' he said. 'On behalf of Michelle and my mother-in-law and our girls, we want to thank you so very, very much.'

For eight years, Obama has participated in this annual tradition. With the birds coming in the night before and staying at a swanky Washington Hotel.

Yesterday, Tater and Tot made their debut at the Willard.

During the early years, young Sasha and Malia were delighted by the turkeys, but as their dad noted today, they seemed unimpressed in later years.

Two years ago, the Obama girls' behavior  they rolled their eyes through the ceremony like typical teenagers do  compelled a GOP aide to write a Facebook post urging the first daughters to 'show a little class.'

President Obama (left) was accompanied by teens Sasha (middle) and Malia (right) who did not seem to be interested in the 2014 turkey pardoning ceremony

In 2015, Sasha (left) and Malia (right) returned to the turkey pardoning ceremony with their dad President Obama (center) and were all smiles

Malia Obama (right) pumps her fist as her father President Obama (left) pardons his seventh turkey in 2015, named Abe

'Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,' wrote Elizabeth Lauten, the communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher.

Lauten later apologized and resigned.

Last year's turkey pardoning, which again featured the two teens, went off without a hitch.

'Malia and Sasha, by the way, are thankful this is my final presidential turkey pardon,' Obama said today.

'What I haven't told them yet is that we're going to do this every year from now on,' the outgoing president continued.

'No cameras, just us every year,' he said.

And then added a trademark bad pun.
A hairdresser saw how upset Ms Mather was and repaired her hair for free

A woman who slammed a hair salon earlier this week for giving her 'the trailer trash look' has received a free makeover from a kind-hearted hairdresser who saw her dyed hair online and wanted to help.

Nina Mather, a social worker, took to social media on Monday to complain about a trip to a western Sydney hair salon that went horribly wrong and ruined her hair.

Pictures showed her dark hair had been died bleach blonde with a distinct line around the crown of her head.

On Thursday, Ms Mather posted on social media once again, but this time it was to show off her repaired auburn hair looking sleek and healthy and praise hairdresser Simone Seminara-Monardo.

Nina Mather, a social worker who slammed a west Sydney salon on Monday for giving her 'the trailer trash look', has received a free makeover from a hairdresser who wanted to help (pictured before is on the left, the repaired hair colour is on the right)

'It took 3 hours and this is just the first step,' Ms Mather said.

'Ms Simone did a great job taking the patchiness out also. The colour needed to be organic due to the fact that chemicals would damage my hair further. I am unable to use a straightener and will need ongoing treatment.'

Ms Mather said Ms Seminara-Monardo's kind gesture helped renew her faith in people after the hair salon made her pay $200 and then call the police when she refused to pay for the hairstyle disaster.

'I didn't know Nina at all. I saw [Ms Mather's upset post] on the Ryde mums forum, I just though it would be a nice thing and a good deed to help her out,' Ms Seminara-Monardo said.

'I used an organic colour in her hair called Natulique, it's a beautiful organic colour with no ammonia, less chemicals for a better result so I wouldn't damage her hair any further than what it was,' she explained.

'She was really upset so all I wanted to do was help her out.'

Ms Mather (pictured) said she was devastated after the salon caused her hair to become brittle and break during a five-hour-long appointment and then ordered she pay $200

Just three days later Ms Mather (pictured) debuted her repaired auburn hair looking sleek and healthy thanks to hairdresser Simone Seminara-Monardo

Ms Mather told Daily Mail Australia earlier this week that she went to the west Sydney salon wanting a balayage dye technique applied to her hair, which means her hair gradually becomes blonde at the end like it has been bleached by the sun.

But when she realised the hairdresser's work didn't look like the image she had asked for, and her hair was becoming brittle and starting to break, Ms Mather said she became upset and refused to pay the $200 bill.

'I asked for balayage and showed them a photo, then expected to walk out with the finished result,' she wrote on Facebook.

'I complained and said I wouldn't pay, so they tried to fix it with more bleach until I was so upset they called security and the cops.'

Ms Mather said she was so embarrassed by the hairstyle she wore a beanie (pictured) to work on Tuesday

Ms Mather said at this point she was 'extremely upset' but the security officers and police were 'very nice and tried to compromise with the owner and manager'.

The salon said they would remove $60 from the price but Ms Mather continued to refuse to pay the remaining $200 tally.

She said police told her she legally had to pay the bill but could file for a refund to NSW Fair Trading.

'Love the trailer trash look! $200 bucks worth of bottle bleach!' she said on Facebook.

'Worst customer service doesn't even begin. R.I.P my awesome hair.'

Ms Mather (pictured) said she has begin proceedings with NSW Fair Trading to receive the money she spent back

By the time she was finished speaking with police, Ms Mather said she had been at the salon for five hours.

'I have had a consultation with another hairdresser and have been told that my hair needs extensive repair work. The first step of treatment begins tomorrow,' she said.

Ms Mather said she was so embarrassed by the ordeal her son offered her his colourful Jamaican beanie to wear to work on Tuesday.

'I was so distressed yesterday, and even this morning, having to display my horrible hair at work. I was crying and my 10-year-old son gave me his favourite Jamaican beanie to make me feel better,' she said.
A Muslim cleric has been stood down for his anti-semaitic speeches as another cleric refuses to speak to a reporter because she's a woman.

Auckland sheikh, Mohammad Anwar Sahib, is currently under investigation by the Human Rights Commission for sermons during which he claims 'Jews are enemies and want to rule the world'.

Sahib also made claims that women are under their husbands' rule and should not leave their homes without their permission, reportedTVNZ.

Reporter, Yvonne Tahana, attempted to enter the mosque in Manukau in south Auckland to request an interview, but she was turned away due to her gender by a cleric who told her it was 'because it's Islamic law'.

Yvonne Tahana was turned away after requesting an interview because she is a female - her male colleague was instead offered to conduct the interview

The journalist's male colleague was instead offered to conduct the interview.

Sahib was stood down by the Federation of Islamic Associations on Thursday where he worked as secretary of the association's religious advisory board.

'FIANZ condemns and rejects any form of anti-Semitic and hate speech,' federation president Hazim Arafeh said in a statement.

'In addition, FIANZ will not tolerate any derogatory comments and speeches made about women.'

Sheikh Dr Mohammad Anwar Sahib was stood down by the Federation of Islamic Associations for seminars during which is accused of creating hate against the Jews

Sahib has since spoken to Radio New Zealand to defend his sermons.

He said his comments were pulled out of context when posted online and were not a representation of his speeches.

Attendees at the Auckland mosque were also supportive of the Sheikh.

'No way [he was preaching hate]... we believe in the race of humanity first and foremost,' Mohammed Afiz said.
Two people have been killed and 16 wounded after a car bomb explosion in southern Turkey that is believed to have been carried out by a female attacker.

The bomb exploded in the car park of the governor's office for the Adana region, close to the vehicle entrance.

The explosion sparked a fire, and a cloud of dark smoke spewed into the sky.

Two people have been killed and 16 wounded after a car bomb explosion in southern Turkey that is believed to have been carried out by a female attacker

The bomb exploded in the car park of the governor's office for the Adana region, close to the vehicle entrance

A firefighter tries to extinguish burning vehicles after a car bomb exploded in Adana, southern Turkey

The force of the blast caused damage to the governorate itself, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, describing the blast as a 'terror attack'.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a woman, the governor said, without providing further details of the nature of the blast.

There was no immediate indication who could be behind the latest attack.

As has been the case with previous attacks, the Turkish authorities immediately slapped a broadcast ban on footage of the blast.

However, Turkey's EU Affairs minister Omer Celik wrote on Twitter: 'This accursed terror continues to target our people.

The force of the blast caused damage to the governorate itself, with officials describing it as a terror attack

Turkey has already been hit by a bloody year of militant attacks in its two biggest cities that have left dozens of people dead

'We will fight against terror until the very end in the name of humanity.

With a population of almost two million, Adana is one of Turkey's largest cities, lying around 60 miles from the Syrian border.

In September, the US consulate in Adana had warned its citizens of a potential security threat targeting US-branded hotels there.

Incirlik air base, located just outside Adana, is used by American and coalition forces as a hub for air raids against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in neighbouring Syria.

Turkey has already been hit by a bloody year of militant attacks in its two biggest cities that have left dozens of people dead and put the country on a high security alert.

Smoke billows across the sky following a car bomb explosion in the city of Adana earlier this morning

Kurdish militants have twice struck in Ankara in deadly attacks, while suspected ISIS suicide bombers have hit Istanbul on three occasions.

In June, 47 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, with authorities pointing the finger at IS.

Fifty-seven people, 34 of them children, were killed in August in a suicide attack carried out by a bomber linked to IS jihadists at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
Despite a frosty two weeks between the pair One Nation Senator Rod Culleton and party Leader Pauline Hanson looked cosy as they sat together during a senate sitting on Thursday.

Senator Culleton was seen whispering into Hanson's ear at Parliament House in Canberra as the senate discussed the Backpacker Tax bill, which was passed.

The pair sat next to each other and were pictured smiling and sharing a laugh.

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Despite a frosty two weeks between the pair One Nation Senator Rod Culleton and party Leader Pauline Hanson looked cosy as they sat together during a senate sitting on Thursday

Senator Culleton was seen whispering into Hanson's ear at Parliament House in Canberra as the senate discussed the Backpacker Tax bill, which was passed

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson speaks during the Backpacker Tax Bill vote in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday

This comes after a tumultuous two weeks between the two One Nation senators.

Absurd scenes played out at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday as Rod Culleton and Hanson appeared to fall out.

The pair have skipped two scheduled meetings after a letter Culleton wrote was referred to police for an alleged breach of law and perverting the course of justice.

Culleton and Hanson each blamed the other for missing an urgent Tuesday night meeting and Hanson reminded the senator on national television she was party leader.

But she then left him hanging once more at a second meeting on Wednesday.

When asked how their relationship was fairing, Culleton said they were 'fine'.

Hanson sees Culleton arrive at a barbecue hosted by Cure Cancer Australia on Wednesday- They did not speak to each other at the event

One Nation Senator Rodney Culleton arrives at a barbecue at Parliament House on Wednesday

Both have deflected responsibility for missing the meetings.

'Rod, excuse me, I'm party leader. I expect you to come to my office, right?' Hanson told Lateline, straight down the barrel of the television camera on Tuesday night after their first meeting fell through.

'And it's about being a team player, and that's all I expect.

I have the respect from my other senators and I expect the same from Rod Culleton, under the banner of One Nation, Pauline Hanson's One Nation, and hopefully Rod will come to my office in the morning and we'll have a discussion.'

Culleton on Wednesday said Senator Hanson was 'not the boss' of his office.

Asked whether he was happy to remain in One Nation, Culleton said it wasn't a question of whether he was happy or not.

One Nation Senator Rod Culleton and Senator Pauline Hanson are pictured- They had reportedly not spoken for about two weeks

Culleton on Wednesday said Senator Hanson was 'not the boss' of his office (the pair are pictured together in October)

'When Pauline chose me as a candidate and I was committed to running as a senator I did it under the One Nation banner and I have principles,' he said.

'Now whether the going gets tough... I have to serve my team for my constituents because that's how they voted me to parliament.'

Both One Nation senators attended a White Ribbon Day breakfast in Parliament House, but did not speak to each other.

They then avoided each other at a sausage sizzle.

Hanson refused to answer media questions about why she hadn't taken the opportunity to speak with the West Australian.
Hundreds more then joined in and commented about Trump on the post

One of Donald Trump's most vocal and divisive supporter groups appears to be losing faith by the President-elect - long before he even takes office.

The 'alt-right', a group many Trump critics have accused his adviser, Steve Bannon, of being a part of, is home to those on the extreme right-wing who go against mainstream conservatism.

During the election, alt-right groups were particularly fond of some of Trump's more extreme stances - such as jailing his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and building a wall across the US-Mexico border to stop immigrants entering the country.

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Donald Trump (pictured at the New York Times on November 22) appears to be losing some support within the extreme 'alt-right' group

Bannon himself previously labeled his former website, Breitbart, a 'platform for the alt-right'.

However, it appears many of those same people could be starting to become disillusioned with the Trump - based off a lengthy discussion that appeared on Reddit.

The thread was made and commented on after Trump disavowed Richard Spencer and his far-right think-tank the National Policy Institute, in the wake of the emergence of a video showing the group giving the Nazi salute at an event in Washington DC.

'I dont want to energize the group. Im not looking to energize them. I dont want to energize the group, and I disavow the group,' Trump told the New York Times.

Trump (pictured on November 20 with Chris Christie) was backed by the group - which was especially supportive of some of his more extreme policies

'Anyone here feeling bamboozled by the Donald?' a user asked on Reddit after Trump's recent comments

'Anyone here feeling bamboozled by the Donald?' the user who created the post wrote.

Some immediately responded by saying it was expected Trump could not publicly support the group, but he would do so with his actions.

'Bro, what was he gonna say? "I am here to energize racist and secure a future for ourselves and white children! I am the second coming of Adolf Hitler! Heil Me!"' one person wrote.

'He's gonna disavow. The only times he does is when he is pressured to, which is better than any other Republican, who fall over themselves to rebuke before they're even asked.'

The 'alt-right' movement features a think-tank ran by conservative Richard Spencer, who Donald Trump disavowed

Other commenters suggested Trump has never been part of the alt-right, contrary to what people have claimed

Another added: 'Trump can't be non-negative on the alt-right. We support him because he agrees with us on important policy goals, not because he flatters us.'

'Trump is saying exactly what I'd be saying if I were about to be president. I'm not worried about him,' said another.

Meanwhile, some suggested Trump was never part of their group to begin with.

'Trump never has been alt-right, and anyone that actually believed this until now is an alt-lite,' one wrote.

'Not really. Donald isn't alt right, never was. He's a hell of a step in the right direction though,' another said.

Trump walked away from the group after video emerged of Spencer leading supporters in Washington DC in giving the Nazi salute

Some of the users made offensive comments about wanting to 'cleanse' America

'Not at all. Trump's a civic nationalist which is a step in the right direction. His election was all about buying time, securing the Supreme Court and stopping illegal immigration. His victory is important but I hope no one deluded themselves into thinking that he was the second coming,' added another.

Other commenters took the conversation down an even more offensive path, suggesting the 'alt-right' needs to find a new leader who will 'cleanse America'.

'You are fooled if you think Trump was going to give us some sort of permission slip to start cleansing America. He isn't our "man on a white horse"... I didn't quite like the hail Trump part. Maybe hail Richard spencer? Since he actually seems to say what we all feel. I think we need a new leader,' one user, who posted his comments under a racist name, wrote.

Members of the alt-right are seen giving a Nazi salute during a think-tank conference in Washington DC last weekend

It comes after a video taken by The Atlantic inside the conference showed Spencer, leader of the National Policy Institute, shouting, 'Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!' as some of the people in attendance lifted their hands in a Nazi salute.

Spencer 'made several direct and indirect references to Jews and other minorities, often alluding to Nazism,' according to a statement from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

'He spoke in German to quote Nazi propaganda and refer to the mainstream media. He implied that the media was protecting Jewish interests and said, "One wonders if these people are people at all?"'
A former Boston attorney who once made People magazine's list of America's 'Most Eligible Bachelors' is again facing rape charges.

Gary Zerola, 45, was arraigned on Wednesday on two counts of sexual assault following the alleged incident on November 10 in Boston.

He was held on $10,000 cash bail and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, observe a curfew, have no contact with the victim and not consume alcohol.

Zerola (left in August 2016, defending a client in court, and right in 2008, facing charges of raping a 19-year-old - to which he was found not guilty) faced three sexual assault charges between 2006 and 2007, but was never convicted

Video courtesy of NECN:

Authorities say Zerola and the victim were acquainted before the incident.

The 45-year-old former Suffolk County prosecutor faced three sexual assault charges between 2006 and 2007 but was never convicted.

His lawyer tells WCVB-TV the case is 'based on a foundation of lies.'

'Mr. Zerola is nothing more than a target in this case. We vigorously look forward to our day in court,' he said.

Zerola made People Magazine's list of America's Top 50 Bachelors in 2001 for his good looks and work in foster care.

He also had a real rags to riches story; the youngest of seven children he was put in foster care aged three after his parents' relationship broke down and his mother became ill.

Over the next decade, he shuffled between dozens of foster families until he was finally placed with a suburban Boston lawyer and his wife.

Perhaps inspired by his foster parents, Zerola went to Suffolk University where he studied law and in 2000, he opened his own law practice as a criminal defense attorney.

Zerola made People Magazine's list of America's Top 50 Bachelors in 2001 (pictured in a 2008 mug shot)

He quickly became a rising star, known for his flashy suits and his flirty manner which saw him become a regular in the gossip columns, fetched an $800 bid in a charity dating auction and was even named as a finalist in ABC's hit show The Bachelor.

But friends say he never forgot his roots and in his People profile, Zerola spoke of his troubled childhood.

'Statistically speaking, I should be in debt or in jail because of the upbringing I had,' he said.

He came close in 2006 when he was accused of raping two women in his North End apartment, Boston, Fox News reported.

The cases went to court but he was found not guilty by the juries.

While on probation for those charges, he was also accused of raping a woman - who was a virgin - in a Miami hotel but those charges were later dropped.

A week after the charges were dropped, police say the caught him urinating outside in Boston after a Celtics triumph before he hit a cop 'with an open hand.' Once again all charges against him were dropped.
plans are too soon after

A $400 million theme park could open on the Gold Coast, rivaling nearby Dreamworld where four people died on a malfunctioning ride last month.

The 'Australian Legendary Kingdom' is the brain child of China's biggest theme park operator Songcheng Performance Development and will include an 'Aboriginal Cultural Village, 'Mysterious Orient' and a stage performance called 'Wild Australia'.

There is no opening date for the proposed Gold Coast Park which combines Chinese and Australian culture, but it's set to be built on a 40.46 hectare block Nerang, 10km from the Gold Coast's city centre, the Courier Mail reports.

The 'Australian Legendary Kingdom' was developed by Songcheng Performance Development (Pictured: a map of their Hangzhou Songcheng Park)

The $400 million theme park will rival nearby Dreamworld, where four people died on a malfunctioning ride

Songcheng Performance Development runs 30 parks and 10 tourist resorts across China themed around Chinese history and culture attracting 24 million visitors each year.

The Gold Coast is a key area for Queensland tourism and 'one of the biggest tourist cities in Australia', Songcheng told the Shenzen stock exchange.

If built, the 'Australian Legendary Kingdom' will sit alongside fellow them parks Movie World, Sea World, Wet'n'Wild and the recently devastated Dreamworld.

Dreamworld, the Gold Coast's largest theme park, has not reopened since the tragic deaths of Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, 35, his partner Roozi Araghi, 38, and Cindy Low, 42 in October.

They were crushed and drowned to death after a suspected malfunction on the Thunder River Rapids ride flipped their raft on a conveyor belt.

But Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate doesn't believe talks of the new theme park come too soon after the disaster.

Luke Dorsett, 35, is pictured left and his partner Roozi Araghi, 38, is pictured right. Both died on theThunder River Rapids ride

Two mothers, Kate Goodchild (left), 32, and Cindy Low (right), 42, also died in the Dreamworld tragedy

There is no opening date for the proposed Gold Coast Park which will include 'Aboriginal Cultural Village, 'Mysterious Orient' and a stage performance called 'Wild Australia'

Four people were crushed and drowned to death after a suspected malfunction on the Thunder River Rapids ride flipped their raft on a conveyor belt

Dreamworld has not reopened since the tragic deaths of Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, 35, his partner Roozi Araghi, 38, and Cindy Low, 42 in October

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate (pictured) doesn't think proposed plans for the park are too soon after disaster

'It's never a bad time to talk about enhancing our tourism infrastructure,' Mr Tate told the Courier Mail.

'The way we look at it on the Gold Coast, we like to broaden our economy and we want to broaden our tourism economy.

'Back in the day, we were the number one choice for theme parks, and we've got to keep doing that to stay up the top.'

He added that he doesn't believe Australians would be unwilling to go to a theme park themed around Chinese culture.
Ron Hoy Fong, a property investor from New Zealand with a $29million portfolio, insists that everyone can buy a home there

For anyone under the age of 30, it can sometimes seem like the dream of owning a home will always be just that - a dream.

But New Zealand investor Ron Hoy Fong, who owns nine homes valued at $29million, has claimed that anyone can get on the property ladder.

Mr Fong revealed his tricks to the New Zealand Herald - but you'll need to take out a loan on your parents' home to get started.

Speaking about a 52-year-old student of his, named Tony, Mr Fong said: 'He called himself a loser and he was a loser. He lived at mum and dad's house.

'He had something like $7000 which was not enough to cut it. I said "How bad is your relationship with mum and dad who live upstairs?"

'And he said "horrible", they want to kick him out. I said "Do they love you?" and he said "Of course they do." I said "Go and ask them for a loan".'

Mr Fong, who renovates properties before selling them on (pictured), says people should use equity in their parents' homes in order to get a deposit for their own house

Once you have one property, Mr Fong says it is a simple matter of rolling that equity forward to buy more until you have a portfolio (pictured, the house after he had renovated it)

Mr Fong went on to explain that Tony eventually used the equity in his parent's home in order to buy a property himself.

Once you have your first property, according to Mr Fong, you then use the equity increase on that home to buy your next one.

That is how Mr Fong acquired his homes, though he admits he has put himself in $7million of debt in the process.

He then uses the rent on those properties to pay the interest on his loan, and lives on whatever is left over.

But for those whose parents don't own a home, or for those without a job, he admits he doesn't have much advice.

But for those whose parents don't own a home, or those out of a job, Mr Fong admitted he had little advice to give (pictured, another of his renovation projects)

New Zealand is currently going through a housing price boom and has been named the hottest property market in the world, with much of the increase blamed on investors

'Get a job,' he told the Herald.

Mr Fong's advice comes as New Zealand is experiencing a unprecedented housing price boom, thanks largely to investors.

The country was named as the world's hottest property market earlier this year, with 11 per cent year-on-year growth, more than anywhere else in the world.

In Auckland, where Mr Fong invests a large amount of his money, the average house price is now above $1million - having doubled in the last ten years.

Over the course of this year, house prices in New Zealand have shot up 11 per cent (pictured, one of Mr Fong's properties before and after renovation)

The highest price increases have been in Auckland, where Mr Fong has properties (pictured, one of his investments before renovation)
New life? Nigel Farage, pictured at a party in his honour at the Ritz last night, has told friends he could emigrate to the US

Nigel Farage is heaping more pressure on Theresa May by making another trip to the US next month for talks with Trump aides.

The MEP, who steps down from his party leadership role on Monday, is expected to meet the president-elect's team when he travels to Washington DC.

The visit will increase the pressure on the Prime Minister to use Mr Farage in some capacity as a link to Mr Trump - who has publicly called for his friend to be made ambassador to the US.

But Chancellor Philip Hammond ridiculed the idea today - telling Mr Farage not to 'hold your breath' for a phone call.

'It isn't for other countries to decide who we appoint as ambassadors and if I ever need any advice from Nigel Farage, I've got his number, and I'll give him a call,' he told ITV's GMB programme.

He added: 'Tell him not to hold his breath.'

Ukip sources have dismissed reports that Mr Farage is considering emigrating to the US, saying he had only joked about the prospect.

The interim Ukip's leader's latest planned meeting with Trump's 'transition team' is likely to be seen as a fresh embarrassment for the Prime Minister, Theresa May, who has so far only spoken to the Republican by telephone.

Donald Trump met with Nigel Farage at Trump Tower two weeks ago. Mr Farage is planning to visit Washington DC next month to meet with 'the transition team' who are preparing for Mr Trump's move to the White House in January

The President-elect tweeted this week that the interim UKIP leader would do 'a great job' as ambassador, causing a row with Downing Street

Mr Farage has broken down previously over how his children, two sons and two daughters, have been badly bullied because of his job.

In March 2015 protesters stormed the Queen's Head in Downe, Kent, where Mr Farage was having a family Sunday lunch.

His terrifired daughters, then 15 and 10, were chased out of the pub with their parents by a mob who then attacked Mr and Mrs Farage's car.

He admits he loves living in Kent but even going to the shops can take long periods because people want to talk to him about politics. And winding down in the pub is also hard after a series of confrontations.

It follows a turbulent week in which Mr Farage and the President-elect were accused of launching an 'orchestrated plot' to oust the UK ambassador to the US.

Mr Trump caused a storm when he suggested on Twitter that the Ukip leader should replace existing British ambassador Sir Kim Darroch.

Mr Farage last night attended a party at the Ritz in his honour to celebrate his contribution to the battle to take Britain out of the EU. And following the political storm over the wrangling for the job of US ambassador, it seemed fitting when Mr Farage was presented with a pyramid of Ferrero Rocher.

Mr Farage lives with his wife Kirsten (pictured centre) in north Kent but has not been seen out with his family for 18 months

Danger: Protesters attacked their car and chased Mr Farage's two daughters during a family sunday lunch in March 2015 (pictured)

The politician beamed as he held the Italian chocolates  famously served by an ambassador who 'spoils' his guests in the classic TV advertisement  at the party.

Yesterday's party was thrown by Farage allies including the Barclay brothers, who own the Ritz, and millionaire Ukip donor Arron Banks. His speech was heralded by Leave.EU spokesman Andy Wigmore  who joined Mr Farage at Trump Tower after the billionaire tycoon's election win  with a call for attention from 'Ladies, Gents, Lords and ... diplomats'.

Speaking to guests, Mr Farage predicted a 'seismic shock' at the next general election if Brexit was not delivered by 2020.

He said he suspected that the Conservative Government may turn out to be 'not fit for the legacy of Brexit'.

And he said he expected a 'realignment' of politics which could involve old parties disappearing and being replaced with new ones reflecting the new public mood. He told the gathering: 'We've got a problem. In America the revolution is total.

'Not only have the people spoken and won, but the old administration, Obama and all those ghastly people, are out and the Trump people are in.

'In this country, the people have spoken, but the same players have just been shuffled around the chess board and we are still being run by the career professional political class.

'I am not sure what is going to happen over the course of the next couple of years but I suspect there's another big seismic shock in British politics perhaps going to come at the next election.'

Mr Farage complained that he is no longer able to go out in the evening in Britain because he has become such a polarising figure in the wake of the referendum.

A trip to his local butcher in Kent at the weekend is said to have taken more than 20 minutes because of the number of people wanting to speak to him.
Pakistan has warned India against full-scale war after clashes in the disputed Kashmir region killed 12 civilians.

Tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory after the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.

Pakistan said Indian fire killed 12 civilians and three soldiers yesterday as Islamabad's air force Marshal Sohail Aman warned archrival India against escalating the dispute into all-out war.

Aman said that if Indian forces escalate the crisis, Pakistani troops 'know full well how to deal with them.'

Pakistan protesters burn an Indian flag to condemn recent firing at the Line of Control, in Multan. Artillery fire and shelling from India targeted several villages and struck a passenger bus near the dividing line in the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday, killing many civilians wounding more than a dozen others

On a visit to Islamabad, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson held talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz.

Afterward, Johnson expressed concern over the Kashmir escalation and appealed to the two South Asian countries 'to maintain a positive dialogue' to resolve the dispute of the territory, which is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.

The two neighboring countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which remains one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

An Indian farmer loads harvested rice crop for transportation near the India-Pakistan international border in Ranbir Singh Pura

In Wednesday's escalation, Indian artillery and shelling hit several villages along the Line of Control that divides the Pakistan- from India-controlled sector of Kashmir, killing 12 civilians.

Three Pakistani soldiers were later also reported killed in an exchange between the two sides.

The exchange came a day after the mutilated body of an Indian soldier was found in Kashmir. The Indian military did not say whether the soldier was killed by Pakistani soldiers or Kashmiri rebels, who have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

Also Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a high-level security meeting to review the Kashmir situation.
If a ban is approved, it would follow on from bans in Belgium and France

Government says people need to be able to see each other face to face

Holland has become the latest European country to consider banning the burqa following on from Belgium and France.

If it comes into force, Muslim women would be outlawed from wearing the veils in places such as schools, hospitals and on public transport.

Only a few hundred Muslim women in the Netherlands wear concealing niqabs or full-face burqas, but successive governments have still sought to ban the garments.

Holland has become the latest European country to consider banning the burqa following on from Belgium and France (stock picture)

Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said the Dutch proposal did not go as far as the complete bans in those countries.

He called the legislation 'religion-neutral,' but conceded that the debate about people wearing burqas on Dutch streets had played a major role in the proposal.

Mr Plasterk said that in a free country like the Netherlands people should be allowed to appear in public with their faces covered, if they want to.

But he added that in government buildings and in health and education settings such as hospitals and schools, people need to be able to look each other in the face.

It was not immediately clear when lawmakers would vote on the issue.

If the legislation passes Parliament's lower house as expected, it must also be approved by the Senate before becoming law.

If a ban is approved, women could still wear the face veil in the street but not in public buildings such as hospitals or schools

A small group of people wearing full-face veils watched the debate from the public gallery.

Independent lawmaker Jacques Monasch, called the burqa 'a symbol of oppression of women' and objected to the presence of the veiled spectators in the gallery.

But one opponent of the legislation, Fatma Koser Kaya of the centrist D66 party, said the law was unnecessary because many institutions in the Netherlands already have independent authority to stop women from wearing burqas and niqabs in certain situations.
When she found Mr Whitworth she thought 'please God, not another one'

Barbara Denham, 67, pictured today, found the bodies of Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth, in the same churchyard

A dog walker who found two of the victims of serial killer Stephen Port has spoken of how she found both of the bodies sitting upright in the same spot against a churchyard wall.

Barbara Denham, 67, discovered the bodies within a few weeks of each other while walking her dog in St Margaret's Church, Barking, in the summer of 2014.

They were later identified as Gabriel Kovari, 22, and Daniel Whitworth, 21, two of the victims of Stephen Port, 41, who was yesterday convicted of four counts of murder.

Speaking to ITV News after the verdicts, Ms Denham recalled the day of August 20, 2014, when she discovered Mr Kovari while walking her border collie, Max.

She initially thought the man was asleep but shook his leg and could not rouse him.

A month later, she found another young man in the same position.

She said: 'I was thinking to myself, "please God, please no not another one, please let him be just a boy who is drunk or something".

'To have found two young men in exactly the same position... it did upset me a bit.

'And I was a bit concerned over my reaction really because I was trying to keep control of myself. I really did feel sorry for both of them, for the families.'

Today, Ms Denham told MailOnline that she still feels shocked by what she found.

Ms Denham discovered the body Gabriel Kovari, 22, left, in a churchyard near her home in Barking, east London. A month later she found Daniel Whitworth, 21, right, in the same place

She said: You hear about dog walkers finding bodies and I had always wondered if I would ever find one.

I was walking round the church, it was the same walk I have been doing with dogs for the 28 years I have been living here.

I saw what I thought was a man sitting down on the grass, with his head slightly down and his back against the wall.

He had dark glasses slanted over his face and although I have seen homeless people sleeping in the area, I just knew that something wasn't right.

I wondered if he was sleeping so I clapped my hands and went "woohoo" and he just wasn't responding.

He had a blueish pallor and when I saw his eyes had glassed over I knew he was dead. There was no blood, he looked very peaceful.

Ms Denham said that she was calm when she realised she had found a body.

She said: I don't know whether it is watching horror programmes and murder mysteries, but I was quite calm.

I took out my phone and called the emergency services and they came very quickly."

After leaving the scene, Ms Denham assumed she would never have to go through a similar experience again.

Stephen Port, 41, pictured left and right, was yesterday convicted of four counts of murder

But around three weeks later she encountered another body in the same spot as the last. She said: I was with Max, my collie.

I looked and saw another young man sitting in the same place in the same position. I thought: Oh God no, this can't be another one.

I suppose I knew before I went over that he was dead, I just knew. But I touched his ankle where his skin was and felt it was cold.

Then I called the police and said: I'm that lady who found the first body, I have found another young boy.

Ms Denham added: "A third body was found on the other side of the wall by someone else, I don't know how soon after.

TIMELINE OF THE KILLINGS June 2014: First victim Anthony Walgate is found dead. Stephen Port is questioned by police. August 2014: Second victim Gabriel Kovari is found dead. September 2014: Third victim Daniel Whitworth is found dead. March 2015: Port is jailed for submitting a false witness statement after Mr Walgate's death June 2015: Port is released on licence from prison after serving part of his sentence'. September 2015: Fourth victim Jack Taylor is found dead. Advertisement

It was luck that I didn't find that one as well.

Ms Denham went on to give evidence in court at the Old Bailey. She said: It was only when I was in court that I was really forced to think of these bodies as humans. When I saw photos of the bodies again, it was difficult.

When I was giving evidence I was just focussing on the job, I didn't look at Stephen Port in the dock, or the families in the public gallery.

I haven't even followed the story all that much, I was just doing my bit.

Then when I read the part where I described where the bodies were "dumped", the word sounded like trash to me as I read it.

I just started crying and had to pause for a bit, but I kept on giving evidence. I broke down, I just got really upset.

Ms Denham, who lives on her own and has never married, says she has no wish to know the identity of the victims she found.

She said: What would it gain me? I just don't have any interest in knowing. Maybe I should be curious, I just don't know.

Commenting on the guilty verdicts, she said: Of course I'm glad for the families that he has been found guilty.

The men were found dead in the same area over 15 months, but police failed to connect them

And I am glad they have bodies to bury. It would have been a public outrage if Port had not been found guilty. He should be banged up for life.

I am glad I helped the case but I only played a small part, I found the bodies. I obviously wouldn't want to find any more.

Two years later Ms Denham still walks the dog on that same route.

She said: I still use that route, but each time I get to that spot where the bodies were, I remember them. I don't think it's affected me long term in any other way.

But if I see someone even sunbathing there, I have to go over and look at them, to see that they are breathing. It's never going to be the same walk.

The jury convicted Port of a total of 22 offences against 11 men, including the four murders, four rapes, 10 counts of administering a substance, and four sex assaults. He was cleared on three counts of rape.

The men murdered by Port were all in their early 20s, and were given lethal amounts of so-called 'chemsex' drug GHB after meeting the 41-year-old chef.

As Port was convicted of four murders today, Scotland Yard announced 17 of its officers are the subject of a large-scale Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) probe into their handling of the killings.

Seven police officers could face the sack if claims of gross misconduct are proved over the catalogue of failures.

Port was arrested after the first death, but only charged with perverting the course of justice - meaning he carried on killing after a short jail term.
Women with fake breasts will be able to join the German police after a court ruled it was wrong to reject an applicant because of her silicon implants.

The court ruled a 32-year-old nurse from Dortmund, who applied to become a police officer three years ago, could do the job without any 'significant risk' from the implants.

Her application for a job was turned down by a police doctor, although she had passed a medical.

A policewoman stands on duty in Munich. The court's ruling could have big implications for women wanting to join the police in Germany and possibly in other countries

The regulations of the Bundespolizei currently forbid anyone with breast implants joining the force because of the fear that they might tear during a police operation.

But a medical report by the University of Bonn, which was handed to the judge in Gelsenkirchen, said they were perfectly safe and there was no 'significant risk'.

The Local reported her lawyer, Sven Ollmann, who said: 'Even if they were to rip, nothing would happen.'

The woman's lawyer said the implants were designed to go behind the breast muscle and were therefore highly unlikely to tear during a struggle

The police in North Rhine-Westphalia will study the medical report before deciding whether to appeal.

Mr Ollmann said his client was delighted with the ruling: 'She really wants to become a police officer.'
Carlo Troiano has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a 15-year-old pupil

An IT teacher cleared of sex charges after a trial in Britain has been arrested and thrown into jail in Spain over an alleged affair with an under-age student at his new fee-paying school.

Married dad-of-two Carlo Troiano, 39, left for a new life on the Costas after being sacked by his Cheshire school despite being acquitted at a 2010 trial of engaging in sexual activity with a pupil half his age.

Last night he was languishing behind bars after being arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a 15-year-old pupil.

Police stepped in after the youngster's mum accused him of a nine-month affair she said started when the teenager was 14.

St George's British School of Almeria, part of a group of private schools throughout Spain which boasts of providing a world-class education, has already announced it has terminated Mr Troiano's contract.

Headteacher Neil Morris, in an email sent to parents on Tuesday, said: 'Teacher Carlo Troiano ceased working at the school from November 14.

St George's British School of Almeria has already announced it has terminated Mr Troiano's contract

'The school immediately informed he relevant authorities about the events.

'The events are currently part of an ongoing judicial investigation.

'The school management is adopting all necessary measures and cooperating actively in order to make this judicial investigation as fast as efficient as possible.

'The school is currently working to fill the teaching vacancy as soon as possible to minimise disruption and ensure continuity in the academic programme.'

Troiano, from Wirral, was found not guilty in January 2010 of three charges of causing or enticing sexual activity with a 16-year-old pupil in a classroom.

The school's headteacher, Neil Morris, emailed parents to tell them about Troiano's contract being terminated

A jury of seven women and five men unanimously cleared him after a four-day trial at Warrington Crown Court.

They ruled after listening to the evidence that they did not believe the girl, 17 at the time of the trial, had been telling the truth.

She had claimed he had asked her to perform sex acts on him.

University-educated Troiano denied the allegations and his wife Jennifer and relatives sat in the dock as he gave evidence.

Governors at Bankfield High School, terminated his contract despite the acquittal.

It is not known when he started teaching IT at St George's, which is based in the holiday resort of Roquetas de Mar and takes in children aged three to 18.

Headteacher Neil Morris says in an open letter to parents printed on the school website: 'We are proud members of the St George's group of schools that provide a world-class education throughout Spain.

St George's, where Troiano is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old, is based in the holiday resort of Roquetas de Mar and takes in children aged three to 18

'We believe that our success is based on developing a warm, close knit community of students, parents and staff that is always striving for excellence.'

Sister schools operate out of Malaga, Madrid, Barcelona and Seville.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Almeria, which made the arrest, confirmed a 39-year-old teacher in Roquetas de Mar had been held on suspicion of sexually abusing a student.

Court sources confirmed the Brit, who was not formally named by the authorities, had been remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation led by a court in the seaside resort.

He is currently being held at Almeria's provincial prison El Acebuche.

The age of consent was raised in Spain last year from 13 to 16, bringing it into line with several other European countries.

Under current Spanish law adult who engage in consenting sexual relationships with minors can be sentenced to up to six years in jail.

Troiano accused his old school of re-prosecuting him after his UK trial by terminating his contract and announced he would appeal.

The sacking was the result of an internal investigation that followed the court case.

Speaking after his trial acquittal he said: 'I feel very angry that someone could say these things that are not true.
Sir Philip Green's 100million superyacht cannot be seized for years unless he is taken to court, it was revealed today.

Furious MPs have asked if 'assets other than cash' can be used to plug the 570million black hole in the BHS pension fund

This could include the tycoon's super yacht Lionheart, which was branded 'BHS Destroyer' over the summer following the demise of the 88-year-old retail giant.

Pensions Regulator chief executive Lesley Titcomb has said vessel is safe - for now - saying the decision to seize Sir Philip's assets would ultimately lie in court.

The tycoon's super yacht Lionhear was branded 'BHS Destroyer' over the summer, following the demise of the 88-year-old retail giant

Lesley Titcomb, chief executive of the Pensions Regulator, told MPs on the Work an Pensions Committee that the process of pursuing funds from Sir Philip was still at an early stage - and would have to go through the courts

There are also calls to go after the assets of Sir Philip's wife Lady Tina Green, who owns a near-2billion stake in the family retail empire.

This week the head of the Pensions Regulator told the Commons Work and Pensions committee that despite lacking the power to seize their assets, the watchdog would 'relentlessly' pursue the best outcome in order to plug the 571million pensions black hole.

Lesley Titcomb, the chief executive, said the process of pursuing funds from Sir Philip was still at an early stage.

Sir Philip told MPs over the summer that he would 'sort' the pensions crisis

Asked what can be seized from Sir Philip to plug the gap, Ms Titcomb told MPs: 'If we are talking about a contribution notice that creates a normal legally enforceable debt to the scheme, it would be then the scheme trustees of the Pension Protection Fund, with our full support in any way, shape or form that we could offer, would seek to recover that debt through the courts and the court would determine how that would be achieved.'

She told a committee of MPs that the watchdog's determinations panel will decide if it is appropriate to issue a contribution notice on the billionaire.

This would convert the retailer's mammoth pension liability into debt, after which a court would decide if Sir Philip's assets can be seized to help pay it off.

But she said the watchdog did not have the power to freeze assets.

Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, which has investigated the black hole in the BHS retirement scheme, wrote to The Pensions Regulator to find out what can be seized to plug the gap.

Any move to seize his super yacht would lead to further embarrassment for Sir Philip  who has been dubbed 'Sir Shifty' and has faced calls to be stripped of his knighthood.

Labour MP Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, asked if 'assets other than cash' can be seized from Sir Philip Green to help plug the 571million BHS pensions black hole

Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, published a letter asking the Pensions Regulator to find out what assets could be seized.

He said: 'There is now nothing beyond limits as we understand it. Of course the yacht could be targeted.

'I hope The Pensions Regulator will make clear to Sir Philip Green that nothing is off limits in its search for justice for the BHS pensioners  even if it takes the seizure of yachts and private jets to deliver that justice.'

A spokesman for Sir Philip declined to comment.

Sir Philip, who has been branded 'the unacceptable face of capitalism' by MPs, sold BHS for a pound to three times bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell in March last year.

It collapsed just 13 months later with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a 571million black hole in its pension fund  threatening the retirement of 20,000 former workers.

Sir Philip told MPs over the summer that he would 'sort' the pensions crisis.

But earlier this month The Pensions Regulator claimed he had failed to make a 'sufficiently credible and comprehensive offer'.

In an incredibly rare move, it then issued an enforcement notice to compel Sir Philip to strike a deal and warned that it could go after the assets of the businessman and Lady Green.

Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee has written to The Pensions Regulator to find out what assets can be seized to plug the gap

The Greens, who are thought to be worth 3.2billion, spent the summer on their luxury yacht Lionheart cruising the Mediterranean as the final BHS stores closed.

During this time, Sir Philip claimed he was working as the Pensions Regulator tried to thrash a deal to fund the black hole in BHS pensions.

However, last month it was revealed he had failed to put any formal offer on the table.

Days later MPs branded the tycoon a 'billionaire spiv' and voted to strip Sir Philip of his knighthood, although the decision can only be made by a special committee.

In last night's letter, Mr Field asked for further information about what action the regulator can take to recoup money from the Green family and its businesses.

He asked The Pensions Regulator if they it pursue a resident 'overseas', a company 'offshore', and if it can 'acquire assets other than cash from a person or company from which payment is being sought'.

It is thought that the Greens, many of whose assets are based offshore, have three yachts worth a total of 144million.

Sir Philip's wife Lady Tina Green owns a near-2billion stake in the family retail empire

Sir Philip also has a Gulfstream private jet and a helicopter, although it is not clear whether he actually owns them.

Theresa May last month launched a thinly veiled attack on Sir Philip as she took a pop at 'a director who takes out massive dividends while knowing the company pension is about to go bust'.

She hit out at 'people in positions of power have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road, the people they employ, the people they pass on the street'.

Sir Philip and his wife took more than 400million of dividends from BHS between 2002 and 2004, before the huge deficit was allowed to build up.

The Pensions Regulator yesterday also confirmed that it had used its powers to probe more deeply into Sir Philip's retail empire by demanding information about the retirement scheme at Arcadia, which owns high street brands such as Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.

Lady Shifty's stake in Arcadia  which itself has a chunky pension fund deficit pegged at 151million in its latest accounts - is estimated to be worth just under 2billion.
An 87-year-old woman has been left fighting for her life after a terrifying robbery outside her home.

Stella Magarshack was returning to her home in Camden, north London, with her shopping when she was followed into the communal lobby of her flats and mugged.

The retired art teacher is now in a critical condition having suffered a stroke after the thief snatched her handbag and fled the scene.

Stella Magarshack, a talented artist and former head of art at King Alfred's School in Hampstead, is now in a critical condition having suffered a stroke

According to police, Ms Magarshack asked the mugger who he was visiting, but he didn't reply and snatched her bag before sprinting into the street.

Shaken and frightened, Ms Magarshack went upstairs to her flat and told a relative she had been robbed before collapsing in her chair.

Ms Magarshack studied art at St Martin's College and became head of art at King Alfred's School, a private school in Hampstead where fees are up to 18,000 a year.

Orlando Toro, 45, who is married to one of Ms Magarshack's nieces, said: 'She went out for her shopping and to collect some medicine from the pharmacy.

'On the way back we think that someone followed her or was outside the house. It was opportunistic.'

Mr Toro described Ms Magarshack as a 'kind, caring and independent woman'.

He added: 'She is still with us but the stroke, which she had as a result of her bag being snatched, was massive.'

Ms Magarshack remains in hospital in a critical condition with family members around her.

Ms Magarshack was mugged in Albert Street (pictured), in Camden, north London

Mr Toro said according to police, CCTV footage did not suggest Ms Magarshack was followed.

'She went upstairs, because she lives on the top floor, and the panic and the stairs on the way up possibly caused her blood pressure to go up,' Mr Toro said.

'She managed to call the bank apparently and when one of relatives went up there to check on her, she seemed okay.

'Then a few minutes after that her nephew called her and realised she had a funny voice. The other family member went upstairs and found her. She had collapsed in her chair.'

Ms Magarshack has lived in the area her whole life and retired some 20 years ago.

Mr Toro said she never married but helped raise her sister's six children, with many of them living within two Victorian town houses in the street.

He said: 'She was like the second mum and helped bring up the children together.

'She is such an independent woman still for 87. You have to fight with her to try and help her. She is very strong minded.

'She is such a kind person and this is the terrible thing about what has happened.

'They have probably seen her and waited for her to snatch the bag.'

The suspect is described as a tall black male and police have called for anyone with information for come forward.

Detective Inspector Adam Ghaboos, from Camden CID said: 'This was a nasty robbery which has left an elderly lady fighting for her life.

'Our thoughts are with the victim and her family and friends during this difficult time.
Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor considered the 'king of bankruptcy' for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits, is president-elect Donald Trump's choice for commerce secretary, a senior transition official said.

The official isn't authorized to publicly discuss the matter and requested anonymity.

Reputed by Forbes to be worth nearly $3 billion, Ross would represent the interests of U.S. businesses domestically and abroad as the head at Commerce.

His department would be among those tasked with carrying out the Trump administration's stated goal of protecting U.S. workers and challenging decades of globalization that largely benefited multinational corporations.

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Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor considered the 'king of bankruptcy' for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits, is president-elect Donald Trump's choice for commerce secretary

With a Florida home down the road from Trump's Mar-a-Lago retreat, the 78-year-old Ross played a role in crafting and selling the president-elect's tax-cut and infrastructure plans.

Ross has suggested that much of America is disgruntled because the economy has left middle-class workers behind and says Trump represents a shift to a 'less politically correct direction.'

'Part of the reason why I'm supporting Trump is that I think we need a more radical, new approach to government  at least in the U.S.  from what we've had before,' Ross told CNBC in June, referring to Trump's blunt tone and sweeping promises to reinvigorate economic growth.

Wilbur is the head of a lucrative private equity fund that specializes in rescuing failing businesses and turning them around. He'll replace Penny Pritzker - another billionaire - as Commerce secretary if he accepts the job and is confirmed by the Senate.

Pritzker was easily confirmed to the position in 2013, but Ross could face additional scrutiny because of his investments in the steel and natural gas industries, Politico reports.

Ross has suggested that much of America is disgruntled because the economy has left middle-class workers behind

'He might be the second-most complicated person in the administration to vet, behind the president-elect himself,' Brookings Institution visiting fellow Norman Eisen told the news publication.

Eisen was an ethics lawyer in President Barack Obama's administration.

Ross is on the boards of directors for the Bank of Cyprus, EXCO Resources, Sun Bancorp, Nexeo Solutions and DSS Holdings in addition to managing his investment firm, WL Ross and Co., Politico reported.

The SEC fined him $2.3 million in August for charging his investors management fees he improperly disclosed. Ross voluntarily offered to repay the fees, the SEC said, with interest.

Ross is viewed by industry experts as someone who would be a strong defender of U.S. workers and would push for stricter enforcement of U.S. trade laws.

'If Americas trading partners continue to cheat, a President Trump will use all available means to defend American workers and American manufacturing facilities from such cheating, including tariffs,' he said of the Republican's economic plan in a white paper.

Despite his embrace of populist rhetoric, Ross has enjoyed a patrician lifestyle. He frequently commutes between his offices in New York and home in Palm Beach, Florida, according to Haute Living magazine.

He maintains an art collection worth more than $100 million that includes works by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. A graduate of Yale University, he pledged $10 million to help build its management school.

For 24 years as a banker at Rothschild, Ross developed a lucrative specialty in bankruptcy and corporate restructurings.

He founded his own firm, WL Ross, in 2000 and earned part of his fortune from investing in troubled factories in the industrial Midwest and in some instances generating profits by limiting worker benefits.

That region swung hard for Trump in the election on the promise of more manufacturing jobs from renegotiated trade deals and penalties for factories that outsourced their work abroad.

A specialist in corporate turnarounds, Ross buys distressed or bankrupt companies at steep discounts, then seeks to shave costs and generate profits. Some of those cost reductions have come from altering pay and benefits for workers. Since 2000, his firm has invested in more than 178 companies.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence greet Ross as he arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse last Sunday for an interview

Ross most prominently created four companies through mergers and acquisitions that focused on steel, textiles, autos and coal.

In some cases, Ross has sold the companies he packaged to even larger globe-spanning companies. In 2005, he sold the International Steel Group, which included the former Bethlehem Steel, to the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

And while his investments appear to have proved generally lucrative, they have also at times brought troubling publicity.

In early 2006, the Sago coal mine owned by Ross exploded, triggering a collapse that killed a dozen miners. Federal safety inspectors in 2005 had cited the West Virginia mine with 208 violations.

Ross said afterward that he knew about the safety violations but that the mine's management had assured him that it was a 'safe situation.'

'Oh, my God, it's the worst week of my entire life,' Ross told ABC News days after the collapse.

If confirmed by the Senate as commerce secretary, Ross would oversee nearly 47,000 employees and a budget of roughly $8 billion.

Wilbur is the head of a lucrative private equity fund that specializes in rescuing failing businesses and turning them around. He'll replace Penny Pritzker - another billionaire - as Commerce secretary if he accepts the job and is confirmed by the Senate. Pritzker's is seen above on Wednesday in China

Among its responsibilities, the Cabinet department provides data on the economy through the Census Bureau and monitors the environment through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

One former commerce secretary, Donald Evans, noted that a prime responsibility is opening up markets around the world for U.S. companies and workers.

'What you are is ambassador to the world from America,' said Evans, who served under President George W. Bush. 'It's critically important when you go to other countries that, first and foremost, you care about them, the citizens of their country.'

That advice clashes somewhat with the promises made by Trump, who campaigned on the doctrine of putting 'America first.' The president-elect told voters that Mexico, China and other countries had played U.S. trade negotiators for fools.
German authorities say increasing numbers of North African jail inmates awaiting deportation are resorting to 'dirty protests' - smearing their cells with urine, blood and faeces.

Some guards at jails in Bielefeld, Aachen and Dusseldorf have also been attacked with human waste.

Some of the inmates - referred to by police as 'Nafris' for North Africans - were involved in the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne when marauding mobs of immigrants sexually assaulted and robbed hundreds of women.

Guards at Aachen prison (pictured), near the Dutch border, have been targeted with human waste

North Rhine-Westphalia's justice minister Thomas Kutschaty submitted a report on the growing problem to the state parliament's committee on legal affairs this week.

There have been 32 cases of what is termed 'prison space pollution' from people originating in the Maghreb since the beginning of the year.

Those involved have been convicted of criminal offences and are serving their punishment before deportation.

Mr Kutschaty is urging a speeding up of the repatriation system as one way of defusing the situation inside the state's jails.
Jasmine Preciado was stabbed to death in Venice, LA, on Tuesday night

A pregnant woman has been stabbed to death while on a date with her boyfriend.

CCTV footage appears to show the moment Jasmine Preciado was ambushed on Monday night in Venice, Los Angeles.

The 22-year-old was three months pregnant and a mother to a three-year-old daughter, NBC reports.

Police are searching for two Hispanic women and one Hispanic man in connection with the brutal attack.

Footage is believed to show Preciado in dark clothing holding up a mobile phone to a group of people near a black SUV.

A woman dressed in white then lunges at her.

The same woman, a moment later, ducks in front of the car holding what appears to be a knife before jumping into the black SUV.

CCTV footage shows a woman in white clothing duck in front of the car holding what appears to be a knife

The car then reverses out of the parking space.

Preciado's cousin, Christina, said: 'Did you know that by hurting Jasmine, you hurt her daughter? You hurt her family, and you hurt her friends.'

'You need to turn yourself in, no matter what you're going to pay for it,' relative David Preciado told ABC 7.

The 22-year-old was three months pregnant and a mother to a three-year-old daughter

Footage is believed to show Preciado in dark clothing (left) holding up a mobile phone to a group of people near a black SUV

A woman dressed in white appears to lunge at Preciado in the CCTV footage

The suspect appears to be holding a knife in the CCTV footage

Candles and flowers have been laid on the kerb where she died.

The Los Angeles Police Department said they responded to a call about a stabbing around 9.30pm on Tuesday night.

Police said the group fled driving eastbound on Windward Avenue.
A young mother-of-two who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed her car has been jailed for the death of her two-year-old daughter.

Tori Shipman, who is now 21, was driving along the New England Highway towards the Hunter Valley region on August 17, 2015, when she crashed into a concrete pylon, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

The court heard Shipman was slightly drug impaired at the time of the crash and was also driving on a suspended learner's license.

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Mother-of-two Tori Shipman (pictured) who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed her car has been jailed for the death of her two-year-old daughter Jannali in August 2015

Jannali (pictured) was sitting in a child seat in the back of the car, but moved to the front passenger seat. Shipman fell asleep while driving and crashed and Jannali was thrown out of the passenger window

Her daughter Jannali was initially sitting in a child seat the back, but had climbed into the front seat to sit near her mother while she was driving.

Jannali was thrown from her seat out the front passenger window and died.

Shipman's son, who was 11 months old at the time, was also critically injured, while Shipman sustained minor injuries.

Judge Norman Delaney described the case as among the top one per cent of tragedies he had ever encountered.

The court heard Shipman was slightly drug impaired at the time of the crash (pictured) on New England Highway in New South Wales, and was also driving on a suspended learners license

The court heard Shipman had a troubled childhood and had been a chronic cannabis user since the age of 14, then graduated to using ice.

After the incident, Shipman was seen screaming hysterically at the scene of the crash.

Shipman was jailed for a maximum of three years and backdated to include the nearly 13 months she has already spent in custody, she will be eligible for parole in March 2017.

Shipman was sentenced to a maximum of three years in jail and backdated to include the nearly 13 months she has spent in custody, will be eligible for parole in March 2017

Judge Delaney said if the victim had not been her daughter it would have been significantly more.
Angry parents have blasted a school after a teacher forced an entire class of children to stand outside in pouring rain for 20 minutes as a punishment for 'messing around'.

The member of staff is accused of forcing a whole group of 11-year-olds to endure the torrential conditions on Monday as Storm Angus battered Britain - after only 'a couple of pupils misbehaved'.

Furious mothers and fathers have since complained to Landau Forte Academy Queen Elizabeth's Mercian School (QEMS), in Tamworth, Staffordshire, after their children came home in 'soaking wet' uniforms.

Parents have been left furious after pupils at Landau Forte Academy Queen Elizabeth's Mercian School (QEMS), in Tamworth, pictured, said they were forced to stand in torrential rain for 20 minutes

One mother, who did not want to be named, said: 'The teacher was apparently late for class and found a few pupils messing around, so made the whole class stand out in the rain for 20 minutes.

'My son arrived home absolutely soaking wet. I'm still fuming - what a ludicrous punishment - and to punish a whole class for the behaviour of a couple of pupils is just wrong.

'The weather was vile on Monday, the rain was torrential.

'There is nothing negative about the school, I'm all for discipline and I appreciate their discipline, but this was the wrong decision.'

Another parent added: 'How on earth can they think this is a way to punish children in modern Britain - it sounds more like a Guantanamo style torture technique.

'The children could easily have fallen ill, if these allegations are proven this teacher needs to be sacked on the spot and never work again.'

But other parents and former pupils took to social media to defend the punishment and accused modern children of being 'too soft'.

Michael Doherty wrote on Facebook: 'Kids these days are too soft. Can't keep wrapping them up in Cotton wool.

'Punishment is nothing to moan about. Would be a different story if the teachers where dunking each child underwater.'

And Juliette Cheneler added: 'We did cross country in the rain for PE, & walked to school & back, it didn't do us any harm'

Jamie Arnold said: 'On one hand, it's about time that the snowflake kids of today had some discipline.

'On the other hand, they're at school, not in the army.'

Some parents said children in modern Britain are too 'soft' and need toughening up

Others said the punishment was 'abuse' and pupils should be punished with detention at worst

Many people saw the middle ground, looking for balance between properly disciplining children without going too far

Parents have accused a teacher of making all their pupils go out in the rain as 'punishment for a couple of children misbehaving'. Pictured is the school

It is understood parents have since been contacted by the school and pupils have been asked to make statements to senior staff about the allegations.

A spokesman for Landau Forte Academy QEMS said: 'We are aware of complaints relating to a member of staff and are investigating these.

'Whilst we cannot discuss individual cases, were we to find that any member of staff had fallen short of the standards we expect of them we would take the strongest possible action.'
Philip Hammond refused to back gloomy official forecasts of a 60billion bill from Brexit today - insisting no-one knows how the process will play out.

The Chancellor said the government was treating the estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as a 'signal' of what might happen.

The independent watchdog came under heavy fire yesterday when it sharply downgraded growth forecasts for the coming years - blaming lower investment and consumer nerves.

Philip Hammond, pictured on a visit to the Renishaw engineering plant in Wootton, Gloucestershire with Theresa May today, said he was treating the OBR forecasts as a signal of what might happen

Britain's economic growth will be 2.4 per cent lower over the next five years because of Brexit, official forecasts predicted yesterday

It warned government borrowing was set to be 122billion higher than previously expected by 2021, with around half the figure directly related to the decision to cut ties with Brussels.

But leading Brexiteers condemned the forecasts - which accompanied Mr Hammond's Autumn statement - as 'bogus' and pointed out that official predictions for a slump in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum had already been proved wrong.

The OBR itself admitted that there was huge uncertainty around the estimates as ministers had not provided details of their negotiating strategy.

Chairman Robert Chote said there is a 50 per cent chance that the forecast is 'too gloomy'.

In a round of broadcast interviews this morning, Mr Hammond said it was important to regard economic predictions with scepticism.

He said there were a range of risks in the world, including the health of the powerhouse Chinese economy, and he was preparing the economy 'for as wide a range of outcomes as I possibly can'.

'To me it makes sense, given the warning signals from the OBR report, to keep a little bit of firepower in the locker, to build a little bit of a reserve so that if there is a slowdown next year, we've got enough capacity to support the economy, to protect jobs, to ensure that the economy can get through any headwinds it encounters,' he told Sky News's Sunrise.

Mr Hammond went on: 'Until we get to the end of the negotiation we don't know what the outcome will be, so the OBR itself has said there was an unusually high degree of uncertainty around the forecasts they have made in the Autumn Statement.

OBR chairman Robert Chote has admitted that there is only a 50 per cent chance the body's economic forecasts will be right

Mr Hammond and Mrs May chatted with engineers as they toured the Renishaw plant on the day after the Autumn Statement

'They know exactly what direction we are going in, but what none of us know is - when we get into the negotiation next March or April - how it is going to proceed, at what pace and what the discussion is going to be like when we start having negotiations.

'By definition, the negotiation isn't just about what we want, where we want to end up, it is about where we get to in the discussion with the parties on the other side of the table.'

Mr Hammond dismissed suggestions that national debt was spiralling, and insisted the government's track record of fiscal discipline meant Britain had credibility with the financial markets.

'It's not out of control,' he told Radio 4's Today programme.

'It's larger than we would like it to be. But we've set a course, the OBR has forecast yesterday what the deficit levels will be over the next few years and they come down in every year.

'So, we are borrowing 68billion this year, next year it will be 59billion  there's a downward path in borrowing.

'We have to do two things: we have to keep the downward pressure on borrowing by controlling public spending. But we also have to invest in our economy so that the economy is growing to generate the revenues that will allow us to get that deficit down and start paying down the debt.'

Mr Hammond rejected criticism that his package had offered little to the 'just about managing' families - known in Whitehall as the 'Jams' - whom Theresa May has identified as a priority for the Government.

'I don't think that's true at all,' the Chancellor told BBC Breakfast. 'We are facing very significant fiscal challenges. Within the constraints that that imposes, we've tried to focus what firepower we do have on helping those who are ordinary working families who are hard-pressed to get by.

'Stopping the scheduled rise in fuel duty was an important step in that process. Reducing the taper in Universal Credit so that people in work on low wages are able to keep more of their wages.

'Recommitting to raising the personal allowance in the income tax system to 12,500 by the end of this Parliament despite the fiscal challenges will leave everybody in this country better off.

'And of course a rise in the National Living Wage which will put 500 a year in the pockets of somebody over 25 working full-time on the National Living Wage. I think those are important steps forward.'

He added: 'The most important thing for families who are working hard, just managing to get by, is that their jobs are safe.'
The data of 134,000 Navy personnel is at risk after hackers broke into a contractor's laptop.

Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including the names and social security numbers of 134,386 current and former sailors.

A laptop used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services employee working on a US Navy contract was 'compromised', the force said in a statement.

Hewlett Packard told the Navy of the breach on October 27 and the affected sailors will be notified in the coming weeks.

Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including the names and social security numbers of 134,386 current and former sailors

'The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors,' Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke said.

Burke said the probe into the breach was in its early stages.

'At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest misuse of the information that was compromised,' the Navy added.

A Navy official close to the investigation said the personal data came from the Career Waypoints database - known as C-WAY - which sailors use to submit re-enlistment and Navy Occupational Specialty requests.

This is the second major breach of Navy data linked to its contracting activities with Hewlett Packard.

In 2013 the service announced Iran had penetrated its unclassified Navy and Marine Corps Intranet.

In March 2014, it was found the breach was because of a sloppily written contract with Hewlett Packard that didn't require HP to provide security for some of the Navy's unclassified databases.

Hillary Clinton and US officials had blamed Russian hackers for stealing more than 19,000 emails from Democratic party officials during the bitter election campaign

The latest hack also comes after the US government accused Russia of hacking the Democratic party's computer networks and claimed Moscow was attempting to 'interfere' with the US presidential election.

Hillary Clinton and US officials had blamed Russian hackers for stealing more than 19,000 emails from Democratic party officials.

The FBI also began an investigation into allegations Russians had hacked the private email of John Podesta, her campaign chairman, which were published by WikiLeaks.

Vladimir Putin - praised by Donald Trump during the bitter campaign - strenuously denied Russia ever being engaged in cyber attacks to influence the election.

It was announced yesterday US activists had called for a recount in battleground states where Trump defeated Clinton amid fears the ballot was influenced by hackers.

If the three states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Pennsylvania were overturned it would theoretically hand the White House to Clinton.
Three young children have been ambushed and beheaded in a brutal triple murder in Nigeria - and it is believed their heads were taken away to be used in black magic rituals.

The devastated mother of the youngsters - who were aged 10, eight and six - has described the horror of seeing their headless bodies, and called on police to find the brutes responsible.

They were walking home with buckets of water when they were attacked.

Devastated mother Cecilia Emberga Agammbuee has called for the monsters who killed her children to be caught

The monsters pounced on the youngsters - identified as a 10-year-old girl named Terdors, an eight-year-old boy, Terna, and a six-year-old girl, Sulumshima - in the horrifying attack on October 30 in Disol village, in the Gasol local government area of Taraba State.

Their mother Cecilia Emberga Agammbuee, said: 'When they finished swimming, they decided to fetch water with their buckets for use at home.

'On their homeward journey, two men suddenly emerged from a farm and grabbed one of my three children in the group by the neck.

'While the other children in the group threw away the buckets of water and ran for their dear lives, my two other children decided to fight to rescue their sibling.

The beheading happened in the village of Disol in Taraba state in Nigeria

'The escaped children brought the news home. Immediately, my husband, fellow villagers and I ran to the scene of the attack where we found the headless bodies of the three children in the pool of their blood. It was horrifying.

'When I saw their headless bodies, I thought I would die.'

Other items were found at the scene including a cap, substances believed to be hard drugs and a bloodstained shirt.

'I had four children. With three of them killed in cold blood, I am left with only one. It all shows how dangerous the land is,' Cecilia added.
Hero: Harry Arrowsmith, pictured with his wife Joan who died six years ago, served in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War

A courageous Second World War veteran received a heros send off from more than 250 people today after his neighbour urged those on social media to attend his funeral.

Harry Arrowsmith, who flew 18 missions as a Lancaster bomber rear gunner, died on November 8 aged 91, leaving his sister Sheila as his sole surviving relative.

Family friend Steve Warren wrote a plea on Facebook last Saturday for mourners after becoming concerned that only ten people would attend the funeral.

But the post went viral and hundreds of people turned up to the Robin Hood Cemetery in Hall Green, Birmingham, today to pay their respects.

Mr Warren, 39, said: I have known Harry all my life. He was a good friend of my parents and lovely neighbour. He was a true gentleman, and always smartly dressed.

He always had a shirt and tie. When he died it was just going to be Sheila, my family, and a few of the nurses from the home hes lived in for the past year attending.

Coffin: Mr Arrowsmith's funeral today at the Robin Hood Cemetery in Hall Green, Birmingham

Mr Arrowsmith was a rear gunner, beating the odds to do 18 missions in a Lancaster bomber

The 'Tail End Charlie' flew in the Berlin Airlift of 1948, when allied forces flew supplies into West Berlin when the Soviets cut off land access.

But I wanted him to have a proper send-off. With the sacrifice he made, he deserved some respect. Im completely staggered by the response its had.

I put the message out to a couple of veterans groups as they have people who post that they are willing to come to funerals. It just sort of took off from there.

The RAF, Burma Star Association, British Legion and Royal National Lifeboat Institution all sent standard bearers, and RAF Cosford provided pallbearers.

One mourner, fellow veteran Adam Harris, 52, said even though he had never met Mr Arrowsmith, he felt compelled to book a day off work to attend the funeral.

He said: It holds a great significance for me as I also served in the RAF. There are too many of these stories of guys who have made a great contribution and they are not honoured properly.

I've travelled from Warwick and taken the day off work to be here. I feel it's a privilege to be able to give him a fitting send off.

The RAF, Burma Star Association, British Legion and Royal National Lifeboat Institution all sent standard bearers, and RAF Cosford provided pallbearers

Hundreds of mouners turned out for Mr Arrowsmith's funeral today in Hall Green, Birmingham

I saw a post about the funeral on Facebook, and I just knew I had to be here.

Another mourner, David Neale, 88, who used to live on the same street as Mr Arrowsmith, said: I knew Harry and his wife Joan for 55 years.

We used to be neighbours. He was always extremely well turned out and presentable and they were a lovely couple.

After he was in the RAF he worked in the engineering school at Aston University. He was so knowledgeable and I'd wager he knew more than the professors did.

He would be so proud of the number of people here today. It's very sad that he's gone but lovely that he's being honoured like this.

Mr Arrowsmith was just 14 when the war started. Too young to sign up for military service, he began by carrying messages between police stations during air raids.

Survived only by his sister Sheila, it was feared that just a handful of people would attend Mr Arrowsmith's funeral

Mourners: Military veterans turned out for the funeral today as they paid their respects

Bearing the flag: Keen to help keep German aircraft away from Britain, Mr Arrowsmith signed up with the RAF as soon as he could

Keen to help keep German aircraft away from Britain, he signed up with the RAF as soon as he could.

At only 5ft tall he was made a rear gunner on the famous Lancaster bombers, which came with a life expectancy of four missions. He flew 18.

Mr Warren, who served in the Royal Engineers himself for 14 years, said: He always wanted to do his duty. It was as simple as that.

He served even though he knew the risks. Then when he left he did not even bother to collect his medals. He thought he had just done his part.

He was not an Uncle Albert character who went on and on about the war, but he would talk about it if you asked. He always remembered it being freezing cold and terrifying.

He said they used to fly in total darkness, whereas the Germans would have light in the cockpits, so he would just wait until he saw the pilots in that light before opening fire.

War hero: Mr Arrowsmith (second left), who flew 18 missions as a Lancaster bomber rear gunner, died on November 8 aged 91, leaving his sister Sheila as his sole surviving relative

Military days: Mr Arrowsmith once told how he used to fly in total darkness, whereas the Germans would have light in the cockpits

Mr Arrowsmith (far left, with the air crew) was 14 when the war started. Too young to sign up for military service, he began by carrying messages between police stations during air raids

Mr and Mrs Arrowsmith are pictured shortly after the war (left) and 15 years ago (right)

Mr Arrowsmith was made a rear gunner on the famous Lancaster bombers, which came with a life expectancy of four missions - but he flew 18. He is pictured with one of the aircraft

When he did shoot, he said the plane would light up like a Christmas tree and attract all sorts of fire.

The Arrowsmiths were married for more than 60 years until her death six years ago

After the war ended, Mr Arrowsmith continued to serve in the RAF before becoming an engineer.

He flew in the Berlin Airlift of 1948, when allied forces flew supplies into West Berlin when the Soviets cut off land access.

While he was decommissioning one of wartime airfields in Birmingham he met his wife Joan, who worked at Bletchley Park during the war.

They were married for more than 60 years until her death six years ago.

Mr Warren said: Harry and Joan were absolutely lovely people. You were always welcome to pop down to their house at any time of day.

The kettle was always on. Their house was always the stopping point for anyone like the postman or the milkman who was doing their rounds of the area.

Auctioneers left 'staggered' after the medals belonging to one of Britains greatest wartime heroes fail to sell

Captain Eric Winkle Brown died aged 97 and was said to be the worlds greatest aviator

The medals belonging to one of Britains greatest wartime heroes - Captain Eric Winkle Brown - have failed to sell at auction.

They had been put up for sale by his family and expected to fetch 200,000, but not a single bid was lodged.

Leith-born Captain Brown died in February aged 97. He was said to be the worlds greatest aviator.

He held three world records and was present at some of the most significant events of the last century.

His medals and flying log books were auctioned by Bonhams in London yesterday with an estimate of 150,000 to 200,000.

The medals offered included the Distinguished Service Cross, dated 1942, the Air Force Cross, dated 1947 and the CBE awarded in 1970.

The lot also included Winkles flying log books from 1942 to his final flights for the Fleet Air Arm in 1970. There were also log books covering his work on flying boats and his civilian flying career.

But Bonhams head of medals and coins, John Millensted, said he was staggered the medals did not attract a bid.

Captain Brown held three world records and was present at some of the most significant events of the last century

He added: I am still left scratching my head. I am very disappointed they did not sell - they were fairly priced. But maybe some people thought they were overpriced, I just dont know.

I am at a loss to explain why the complete archive of this great man did not sell. I was, and still am, bewildered. The market for medals is very good at the moment.

The medals included the Distinguished Service Cross, dated 1942, the Air Force Cross, dated 1947 and the CBE from 1970

We would welcome anybody interested to enter into discussions over the archive. There are many multi-millionaires out there who could be generous.

Despite fears that the medals could be sold to an overseas buyer, Mr Millensted said there had in fact been very little interest from abroad.

In their description of the lot, Bonhams said: He will be remembered for his records, his personal charm, modesty and above all skill.

In his log books, his feats are faithfully recorded in his neat, steady hand; they dont tell of the drama of being sunk by a U-Boat and make only passing reference to 20 other near-death experiences.

He combined all this with a family life and postings to impart his knowledge to American astronauts, a new breed of German naval pilots and formulating the rules for offshore civilian helicopters.

Cheerful to the last, Eric Brown was unique. There will never be another like him.

Mr Millensted added: Eric Winkle Brown was an extraordinary man. The Royal Navys most decorated flyer, he established records far beyond the reach of pilots today.

Captain Brown (pictured) caught the bug for flying at the age of eight when his father, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, took him up in a biplane

He was regarded with awe by aviators of all kinds - the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong was an admirer and friend - and until his final years he was in great demand, not out of nostalgic respect, but because his vast experience never ceased to be of practical use.

As the most decorated pilot in the Royal Navys Fleet Air Arm, Captain Brown flew 487 different types of aircraft - more than anyone else in history - and performed a record-smashing 2407 aircraft carrier landings.

During World War Two Captain Brown flew fighter aircraft and witnessed the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp.

He died on February 21 at the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill after a short illness and is survived by his son, Glen, and his second wife, Jean Kelly Brown.

Heroic: Captain Brown wrote numerous books of his own and forewords for other authors on the theme of aviation, before and after his retirement

Paying tribute then, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: Eric Brown was a truly extraordinary man, whose life reads like an adventure story and whom Scotland should be very proud of.

Born in Leith on January 21, 1919, he was educated at Fettes College and the University of Edinburgh, where he learned to fly.

He caught the bug for flying at the age of eight when his father, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, took him up in a biplane.

He retired from the Royal Navy in 1970 but became the director general of the British Helicopter Advisory Board and later the president of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1982.

Captain Brown wrote numerous books of his own and forewords for other authors on the theme of aviation, before and after his retirement.
A father is considering transferring his daughter to a different school after teachers refused her time off to be in a TV advert for Cadbury's.

Ruby Lancaster has been acting since she was four and was one of a handful of youngsters picked by the chocolate company, famous for its creative campaigns, for their latest advert.

But she could not take part in the secretive filming in the picturesque village of Cockington, Devon, yesterday because her school said her attendance record was not good enough.

Six-year-old aspiring actress Ruby Lancaster was left 'heartbroken' after missing out her school refused to give her time off to appear in Cadabury's Christmas advert

It would have been her first TV appearance and a chance to appear in something potentially as memorable as the company's famous commercial featuring a drumming gorilla

The company was also seen filming in Lincolnshire earlier this month, when a spokesman suggested what they were doing is bigger than their usual campaigns

Her father, Joe Lancaster, thinks it seems like she is being punished for being ill in the past and is now considering moving his aspiring actress daughter to another school.

He said: 'She's been ill and there have been a couple of unauthorised absences, but all kids get ill. She's been acting since she was four years old and it was her first opportunity and they didn't support her whatsoever. That's what is shocking.

'It wouldn't have made a massive impact on her school work for just half a day, but it would have been a huge opportunity for her to take part. It has had a massive impact on our family. We are all heartbroken for her. I just don't understand.'

'She was so excited and I had to tell her no. We even suggested taking her out for just half the day, but the school still refused.'

Poll Should Ruby have been allowed the day off school? Yes No Should Ruby have been allowed the day off school? Yes 686 votes

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Chloe Gibson, Ruby's mother, added: 'Ruby is heartbroken, absolutely devastated she was trying on the way to school this morning. It is awful sending your child to school in tears.

'The way the school have gone about it is awful, it is not her fault. She has been off on odd days for sickness, but she can't help that.

'I feel so sorry for her. Her attendance in 85 per cent and they like it to be 90 per cent. I feel like the school has stomped all over her dream.

'Just because this is an activity that is taking place outside the classroom, it is still educational. It is a great opportunity for her, and would have a positive impact on her future.

'I feel like the school could have made an exception this once. Joe and I would have been more than happy to go in for a meeting to talk about getting her attendance back up.'

Ruby, who has never been on television before, said: 'I thought that it was really mean to say no because it was my first time and I never did it.'

Ruby (pictured), who has been acting since she was four, was not allowed to take a day off because her attendance was 85 per cent, not 95

In one of the company's previous adverts, two children used their eyebrows to dance to 80s style electro music (pictured)

The six-year-old submitted a video audition to the company, which is famous for its creative and headline grabbing adverts. Memorable commercials in the past include one showing a man dressed as a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight and the Caramel Bunny cartoon from the 1980s.

Filming for the recent campaign took place in Cockington, Devon, yesterday, a picturesque village overrun by film crews who refused to tell residents who they were filming for.

It's the second filming session Cadbury's are believed to be responsible for this month after a purple lorry packed with Christmas treats drove through another quaint village in Lincolnshire.

But the company said it was not part of a Christmas advert but a wider campaign based around the advent calendar, with trucks travelling around the UK to 'bring joy to the nation'.

FROM A GORILLA ON THE DRUM TO DANCING WITH YOUR EYEBROWS: SOME OF CADBURY'S MOST MEMORABLE ADS When children are a among a company's biggest consumers, it can take a slightly obscure approach when marketing its product. As a result, Cadbury's have created some of the most creative and memorable adverts of the last few decades. From the Caramel Bunny of the 80s, and the dancing Fruit and Nut bar of the 90s, the chocolate company is still breaking the mould with its adverts. More recently, it's been the gorilla drumming to Phil Collins and children dancing with their eyebrows that have captivated viewers. But why these unusual adverts are so popular, is much more difficult to explain. Advertisement

Ruby was refused permission to take part in the Cockington campaign by Preston Primary School in Torquay because her attendance was 85 per cent, when it should be 95 per cent.

The school would not comment on Ruby's individual case but said they had followed government advice on allowing time off and that regular attendance is not only a legal duty but essential for children.

A school spokesman said: 'Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly. Regular attendance is essential to ensure uninterrupted progress and to enable children to extend their potential.

'Poor attendance can seriously affect a child's attainment in school, relationships with other children and confidence to attempt new work and work alongside others.

'We follow government advice which states that a leave of absence should only be granted in "exceptional circumstances", taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and context behind the request.

'Previous attendance, particularly where this has been poor, is always a major factor in considering whether to authorise an absence from school.'
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Donald Trump and his wife Melania are spending the Thanksgiving holiday at the business mogul's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump bought the estate for $10million in 1985 for his then wife Ivana. The resort was developed in the 1920s for heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.

After he acquired the resort, Trump redeveloped the main house and created his own private quarters - decked out in gold.

Donald Trump paid $10million for the Mar-a-Lago resort in 1985 which had been built in the 1920s by an heiress

Trump and his wife Melania, pictured here in Mar-a-Lago in February 2011, are spending Thanksgiving at the resort

As expected, Trump's resort in Palm Beach, Florida is decked out in plenty of gold and features antique furniture

Florida's super-wealthy can become members of the club as long as they pay a $100,000 'initiation fee' and $14,000 a year in dues.

In 1973, Merriweather Post died and she willed her resort to the US government as a winter holiday resort for the president and visiting foreign dignitaries, however, it was never used as such and was since sold to Trump.

The tycoon has said he intends spending a great deal of time at the resort, which will cause significant disruption to the nearby Palm Beach International Airport.

Trump has filed several lawsuits against the airport, claiming aircraft noise has been damaging his investment. However, this week, the Federal Aviation Authority have imposed strict restrictions on non-commercial flights operating anywhere near his home.

Also, the coastguard has warned boaters not to approach the estate while the president-elect is in residence.

Only scheduled commuter flights are allowed to approach the main runway in Palm Beach from the direction of Trump's estate which is almost under the flight path.

Any pilots breaching the no-fly-zone face prosecution or even being shot down.

Gold chandeliers hang from the ceiling and unsurprisingly, in the golden marble dining room, the plates have gold leaf

As expected for a Trump residence, the rooms at the Mar-a-Lago resort, are lavishly furnished in a garish fashion

Membership to the exclusive club is available for the public, as long as they can pay $100,000 up front and $14,000 a year

Expensive furniture from around the world was imported during the building's last major renovation.

Oil paintings adorn the walls, and gaudy chandeliers hang from the ceilings.

Unsurprisingly, the property has four posted beds.

The 17-acre country club is described as the center of the Palm Beach social scene.

According to Trump's website: 'Our superb location on Ocean Boulevard offers gentle breezes, towering palm trees and endless sunshine, while an address between Lake Worth and the Atlantic Ocean allows for private yet convenient access.

'The main house and adjacent buildings have been meticulously restored, showcasing the original Spanish style and carved coral architectural details that complement the perfectly manicured lawns and expansive grounds. It is singularly unique, exquisite, and only for the most discerning visitors.

'The world famous Mar-a-Lago is the very best of Palm Beach.'

The hugely ornate bathrooms feature plenty of marble, antique furniture, an open fireplace and gold-plated fittings

A gold lined four poster bed has been installed in one of the resort's bedrooms

Donald Trump has complained about aircraft flying over his resort, but seems to make and exception to his own jet

Initially, Trump had wanted to sub-divide the estate and build 10 mini-mansions before opening his exclusive club - which is thought to be worth $100million.

Yet, when he arrived, wealthy locals did not welcome the brash businessman.

He faced a court battle over an 80ft flagpole at the resort which held a massive American flag. Trump's foundation was ordered to pay $100,000 to veteran charities after installing the pole in 2006 without appropriate permission.

In one reception room in the resort, a portrait of Trump, in a gilded frame hangs from a wood-paneled wall

The resort was originally built for wealthy heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post who gave the estate to the government in 1973

Vehicles passing the Mar-a-Lago estate faced additional security checks after Trump flew in for Thanksgiving
ABC presenter Leigh Sales has launched a scathing attack on the Victorian government over their handling of the deadly 'thunderstorm asthma' crisis.

During an interview on 7.30 on Thursday evening, Ms Sales grilled Victorian health minister Jill Hennessy about the readiness of authorities to deal with major events such as the asthma outbreak.

So far the crisis has killed four people, however the hard line journalist said the government's decision to blame it on a freak 'perfect storm' was a cop out.

Ms Sales claimed the slow response to the crisis was a worrying sign should they ever be faced with a 'terrorist attack'.

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ABC presenter Leigh Sales (pictured) has launched a scathing attack on the Victorian government over their handling of the deadly 'thunderstorm asthma' crisis

'If you had a mass casualty terrorist attack in Victoria you'd be facing many of the same issues (you faced here),' Ms Sales said.

'Can you understand why public confidence may be a little bit rattled?'

'All state governments and the federal governments in this post 9/11 era surely must have planning for sudden catastrophic, mass casualty events. Why does it seem you've been caught a little bit unprepared?'

In response Ms Hennesy said the event was something that had 'never happened before'.

She said the health system and Triple Zero operators had been swamped by the widespread nature of the attacks that occurred throughout Melbourne on Monday evening.

'We've never seen anything like it before in our state or in Australia,' Ms Hennessy said.

'It was like having 150 bombs go off in 150 different places at the same time... never before has anyone seen anything like this.'

It comes as a father-of-two becomes the fourth person to fall victim to the event that overwhelmed emergency services and leaving more than 500 people hospitalised.

In response Ms Hennesy said the event was something that had 'never happened before'

Father-of-two Clarence Leo (left and far right) is the fourth person to fall victim to the freak 'asthma thunderstorm' that wreaked havoc across Melbourne, overwhelming emergency services and leaving more than 500 people hospitalised

Melbourne father Clarence Leo, died on Tuesday morning about 4.30am after a massive asthma attack, reported The Age.

Mr Leo suffered chest pains on Tuesday morning and after he ran out of Ventolin, he was rushed to his mother-in-law's house, who also suffers from asthma.

His wife, Amanda Leo, said Mr Leo was unconscious by the time she pulled into the driveway, where she performed CPR for 45 minutes until an ambulance arrived.

Ms Leo said she and her 'beautiful' daughters, Layla, 9, and Eve, 7, were devastated.

'Im just dealing with it hour by hour,' she said.

Mr Leo was well known in Melbourne's nightclub scene and ran a private security company.

Mr Leo (left) has been described as a 'gentle giant' and a person who treated others with a lot of respect by his former business partner Andrew Christodoulou

Paramedics spent almost an hour trying to revive Apollo Papadopoulos, 35, after he suffered a serious asthma attack believed to be caused by an intense storm system that swept past his Epping home, in Melbourne's north, on Monday

His business partner Andrew Christodoulou described Mr Leo as a 'gentle giant' and said he always treated people with a lot of respect.

Manager of South Melbourne venue Club Pandora, Danny Saddoo, said Mr Leo was 'a really lovely, kind-hearted man'.

Paramedics spent almost an hour trying to revive Apollo Papadopoulos, 35, after he suffered a serious asthma attack believed to be caused by an intense storm system that swept past his Epping home, in Melbourne's north, on Monday.

The engineer was the third person to suffer a fatal asthma attack when the storm disturbed deadly pollen and distributed it throughout the city, which combined with high temperatures caused thousands to suffer respiratory problems.

Law student Hope Carnevali, 20, died in the arms of her devastated family as they desperately attempted CPR on her front lawn while waiting over half an hour for an ambulance to arrive.

Omar Moujalled, 18, also fell victim to the freak weather event only weeks after he finished his year 12 exams.

On Monday hospitals declared a 'major disaster' after receiving more than 1,900 triple-0 calls and almost depleting their Ventolin supplies from 6pm on Monday night, with police and fire brigades pitching in to help transport patients.

A spokesperson for Victoria Ambulance said they were aware of the third death and have expressed their condolences to Mr Papadopoulos' family.

Hope Carnevali, a 20-year-old law student, is one of at least two people who died as a result of a freak 'asthma thunderstorm'

Omar Moujalled, 18, who had just finished his year 12 exams, was the second victim of the freak 'asthma thunderstorm'

The Inspector General for Emergency Management will be conducting an investigation into Ambulance Victoria after the emergency response team struggled to keep up with the vast number of calls from affected members of the public.

Ambulance Victoria welcomes the review by the Inspector General for Emergency Management into the circumstances surrounding the response to Monday nights increase in triple zero calls due to thunderstorm asthma,' Tony Walker, CEO of Ambulance Victoria, said.

Ambulance Victoria is also conducting an internal review and debrief as is done after major incidents,' he said, adding they will be working closely with the Inspector General during the review.

Mr Papadopoulos' shocked friends have remembered the engineer for his 'beautiful smile and sense of humour'.

'We were unstoppable on the dance floor Apollo, hopefully we will have a reunion in the after life. I cherish the moments we had, god bless your soul my friend!' a friend who goes by Dee Kay posted on Facebook.

He earlier revealed that Mr Papadopoulos 'passed away from an asthma attack' after paramedics spent 50 minutes trying to revive him 'with no luck'.

Mr Papadopoulos' shocked friends have remembered the engineer for his 'beautiful smile and sense of humour'

A massive thunderstorm has caused an outbreak of asthma so severe emergency services in Melbourne ran out of ambulances to help those in need

Others expressed their disbelief in the young man being struck down in the prime of his life.

'I can't believe you're gone. What am I going to do without you? Who else is going be there for me the way you always were when I was at my worst and at times when I needed it most. There's no one like you.'

Ms Carnevali was a life-long asthma sufferer but her aunt and uncle - Melissa and John - said they were having difficulty accepting the loss of their niece knowing that a quicker ambulance response time may have been the difference between life or death.

'J ust knowing that if they had of got there a little bit earlier the situation might be different is very hard to deal with,' Ms Carnevali told Seven News.

'Maybe they can let you know how long they might be, just an idea and maybe it will save some lives,' Mr Carnevali added.

Ms Carnevali, a lifelong sufferer of asthma, was one of thousands of people across Melbourne triggered by the rare storm

'(Hope) was just so kind-hearted.'

Friends and family lamented the loss of a 'beautiful angel' online, remembering Hope for her 'infectious smile' and 'kind heart'. A fundraising page to assist with funeral costs raised almost $8,000 in just three hours.

Omar's school, the Australian International Academy - MSC, announced his untimely death on Tuesday, asking people to 'remember him in your thoughts and prayers'.

'Omar was an exemplary student, role-model and principled, who was previously part of the captaincy team and a much loved, respected student.'

The teenager's close friend, Shubaru Talic, remembered his mate's 'positive character',' goofy laugh', and described him as 'my rock'.

'He spent the entire year nervous about exams, cracking jokes about our eventual ATAR results ...then as soon as we were done he was taken from this world,' Shubaru said.

'We were planning road trips, outings, gaming sesh's (sessions) on that very day - yet when he stopped reading messages, and the news slowly poured in, our hearts all sunk.'

A sand storm at St Kilda in Melbourne during the thunderstorm on Monday night which saw an unprecedented spike in asthma problems across the Victorian capital

Hope's auntie and uncle Melissa and John (pictured) told 7 News it was hard to swallow the loss of their niece knowing that a quicker ambulance response time may have been the difference between life or death

Hospitals declared a 'major disaster' after receiving more than 1,900 triple-0 calls and almost depleting their Ventolin supplies from 6pm

Earlier, a spokesman for Ambulance Victoria told Daily Mail Australia it was aware of two cases 'where patients with respiratory symptoms were unable to be revived by paramedic crews'.

He said ambulances arrived to the patients in 31 minutes and 15 minutes respectively, but paramedics were unable to save their lives.

WHAT IS 'THUNDERSTORM ASTHMA'? - 'Thunderstorm asthma' is caused when a large storm sweeps pollen and irritants into the atmosphere. - The irritants cause asthma sufferers to have an attack. - Rain and humidity can also stir irritants that affect asthma. -The elderly and young children are the most vulnerable. Source: Allergy Society Australia Advertisement

At least 30 people, including two children, remain in intensive care on Tuesday evening and one anonymous intensive care paramedic told Fairfax he suspected 'a lot more than two people died.'

The Australian Medical Association described the spike in respiratory illnesses during the storm 'unprecedented'.

The AMA's federal vice-president Tony Bartone, a general practitioner based in Melbourne's west, said he had never seen Victorian hospital resources so stretched in his 30-year medical career.

'I would describe it as extremely unusual as it's been a long time since we've seen anything like this in terms of presentation of patients with asthma on the one day,' Dr Bartone told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr Bartone said every ambulance was on call, with emergency departments preparing to set up makeshift wards in hospital foyers.

'Completely unprecedented,' he said.

'Even patients who haven't had asthma for a fair time have found the need to present today.

'We've never had the occasion to predict such a volume overload.'

A man breathing in Ventolin as thunderstorms across Melbourne stretched hospital and ambulance resources

About 400 calls were made to the SES overnight after roof tiles were ripped off homes and garage doors were destroyed from flying debris (pictured)

'The hospitals are all at breaking point,' a Melbourne doctor, who chose to remain unnamed, told The Age.

'A number of hospitals came very close to running out of Ventolin altogether.'

Emergency services were also tied up with 400 calls to the State Emergency Service after roof tiles were ripped off houses, cars were damaged and trees came crashing down.

About 600 of the 1,900 calls to hospital were asthma-related and came from residents in Melbourne's west.

'We essentially had a day's workload within five hours,' Ambulance Victoria's Executive Director Emergency Operations Mick Stephenson said.

'Whether or not they (the deaths) are related to this phenomenon we just don't know ... we will have to review each incident,' Mr Stephenson told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The enormous storm caused damage to homes in Melbourne's west, including this car, and left thousands without power

Dust was seen shrouding North Melbourne (pictured) by 6pm on Monday and asthma sufferers quickly declined

On Monday afternoon, people were seen fleeing Melbourne's iconic St Kilda Beach as the unexpected wind caused a huge sandstorm

Pete James snapped this photo in the southwest of incredible lightning strikes overnight

Emergency services were also tied up with 400 calls for assistance to the SES after roof tiles were ripped off houses, cars were damaged and trees came crashing down (pictured)

A major clean-up commenced on Tuesday morning and hospitals were warned to remain on 'disaster alert' following the storm

Roof tiles were ripped of house and the SES commenced a major clean-up on Tuesday morning

A massive thunderstorm caused an outbreak of asthma so severe emergency services in Melbourne ran out of ambulances to help those in need

Dust was seen flying off the roof of homes across the state, causing asthma sufferers to struggle

The enormous storm, which hit at around 6pm on Monday, is believed to have led to a large occurrence of 'thunderstorm asthma' - where irritants are thrown into the air by the storm

Tuesday will be wet in Melbourne, with rain persisting for most of the day, the bureau predicts

A sandstorm engulfed St Kilda beach in Melbourne's south and people were seen running from the water's edge
Former chancellor George Osborne (pictured in the Commons yesterday) has been raking in large sums from speeches

George Osborne raked in more than 220,000 for just three speeches to bankers last month.

The former chancellor, who was brutally sacked by Theresa May in July, has declared the big paydays in the Commons register.

They come on top of some 100,000 he had previously disclosed from giving two talks, one to traders in New York and at Stanford University.

The scale of Mr Osborne's earnings on the corporate circuit are likely to cause anger after warnings yesterday that the national debt could hit 2trillion by 2021.

Mr Osborne and David Cameron - who has also been giving highly lucrative speeches - have been accused of leaving the public finances in a woeful state before being swept out of office by the Brexit vote.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday predicted that government debt will be 122billion higher than previously thought by 2021 - blaming half the increase on the decision to cut ties with Brussels.

Tatton MP Mr Osborne was in the House of Commons to hear his successor as Chancellor, Philip Hammond, tear up his fiscal rules.

The government had promised to record a surplus by 2019-20, but Mr Hammond said that would now only happen as soon as 'practicable'. He made clear that will not be until well into the 2020s.

According to the Commons register of interests, Mr Osborne gave two speeches for JP Morgan on October 4 and 5.

He was paid 81,174 and 60,578 respectively for a total of seven hours' work, plus having his travel and accommodation costs met.

A speech for Palmex Derivatives in New York on October 27 brought in 80,240, with travel and accommodation again on top.

Together with the two previously declared speeches, it means that since September Mr Osborne has earned more than double his entire annual salary when he was in No11.

Mr Osborne has registered with the Washington Speakers' Bureau to maximise his potential activity on the circuit.

But he does not appear to have the same pull as Mr Cameron, who was paid 120,000 for giving a one-hour talk to Wall Street financiers earlier this month.

The ex-PM resigned as an MP and so does not have to declare details of his income any more.

Former justice secretary Michael Gove has also signed up with an agency as he looks for new earning streams after being ejected from government.

National debt is forecast to peak at more than 90 per cent of GDP next year, and could reach 2trillion by 2021
A mother who killed her teenage daughter after crashing her car while drunk has had her appeal for a shorter sentence rejected.

Janet Louise Kirby, 48, was jailed for four and a half years last month after admitting driving while drunk and causing the crash that killed 15-year-old daughter Lois.

Kirby had been appealing for that sentence to be reduced, arguing she was serving a 'life sentence' of guilt over Lois's death, but that bid was rejected on Thursday.

Janet Louise Kirby, 48 (right), who killed 15-year-old daughter Lois (left) while driving drunk in March last year has had her appeal for a more lenient sentence rejected

Kirby admitted playing drinking games with her daughter and five of her friends before attempting to drive them to a party when she crashed (pictured)

Kirby previously admitted playing drinking games with Lois and several of her friends at her home in Merriwa, Western Australia, back in March last year.

After consuming several alcoholic drinks, Kirby agreed to drive the six young people, aged between 15 and 20, to a nearby party.

In order to cram themselves into her five-seater SUV, Lois agreed to get into the boot.

During the journey the group encouraged Kirby to scare a moped driver and their passenger, so she overtook them.

But while moving back into her lane she over-corrected, causing the car to come off the road and roll over, before coming to rest in some trees.

Lois, who was not wearing any restraints, was thrown from the boot and later died of her injuries. Several other passengers were injured but survived.

Lois's friends had encouraged Kirby to scare a moped rider and their passenger when she lost control, rolling the vehicle several times

Lois (left ) had climbed into the boot of her mother's car because there were not enough seats and was thrown clear in the wreck (pictured right, Kirby appears in court)

When police arrived at the scene, Kirby blew a blood alcohol reading of 0.11, more than double the legal limit.

The mother admitted causing death by reckless driving and was jailed in October this year. She was ordered to serve at least two and a half years before she could be considered for parole.

Kirby was also fined $650 and banned from driving for three years, though she launched an appeal shortly after.

Her lawyers had argued that 'there will be an ongoing punishment when she finishes her parole... because she knows she killed her own daughter' but judges on Thursday rejected their argument.

In their ruling, judges at the Court of Appeal said: 'Having considered all of the relevant sentencing factors in the present case, we have not been persuaded that it was outside the range of a sound sentencing discretion.
Inquiry: Diana Brittan with her late husband Leon in 2013 - the former Home Secretary was investigated over rape allegations the following year but was never told he had been cleared before he died

Lord Brittan's widow today revealed the turbulent final months of her husband's life and her anger that the Met failed to tell him he had been cleared of rape before he died.

The former Home Secretary was investigated over claims he attacked 19-year-old 'Jane' in 1967 after Scotland Yard called him as he lay in a hospital bed recovering from a cancer operation in 2014.

The baseless rape claim was made against the peer by a mentally ill Labour activist - but police failed to inform him before his death from cancer in January last year that he was innocent.

His wife of 35 years has spoken publicly for the first time today and revealed she only found out he was cleared from a report in a Sunday newspaper.

She said: 'I only found that out, really, because of the press stories. I'm never entirely sure when the case was dropped and certainly Leon was never told.

'I felt let down. I think he should have known that he was innocent of the charges before he died, but that didn't happen,' she said in an interview due to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this evening.

'I think, particularly for him, he should have known that he was innocent of the charges before he died, but that didn't happen.

It seemed to me during the course of this particular inquiry that Leon was worse treated than had he been an ordinary citizen and that, I felt, was wrong. The presumption of innocence had been set aside.

Asked how he dealt with the situation, Lady Brittan said: 'I think he kept it very much to himself because his major objective during those last few months was to get better, get well, do everything that he could to get well.'

Lady Brittan said her husband was in hospital when she first learned he was under investigation.

Failed: Lady Brittan said she found out her husband had no case to answer from a newspaper and that the Met - led by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - only let her know a month after that

'I went to see him one afternoon and he said 'I've just been just been rung by the police'. I said 'What's it about?' He said 'I'm not terribly sure, but I've just said to them I'll ring my lawyers'.

'And then the lawyers rang me, and then they said to me this is an old rape allegation, 47 years old, against Leon.

'And then, about a couple of weeks later, he was interviewed under caution. And at the end of it he felt absolutely assured in his own mind that would be the end of the matter.'

Lady Brittan said she found out from a newspaper report that the police had decided not to pursue the matter.

'I learnt, it must have been in July of the following year after he died, from the Independent on Sunday, there was a press report, that no further action would have been taken.

'I then got my lawyers to write to the police saying 'Was this story true?' because they hadn't bothered to inform me, and I suppose, about a month later, I got a reply.'

Lady Brittan said the reply stated: '"Um, we wouldn't have continued it, not enough evidence, um, sorry we've caused you distress."

Lady Brittan, who had been married to the Tory peer since 1980, said the rape claim  made by a mentally ill Labour activist  had a turbulent effect on the last few months of life.

She said: He got iller and iller and iller, and of course he died in the beginning of 2015... he would never say anything to me, but I cannot believe from what he said to my daughters that he was not affected by it all.

He was a strong man and he was a very moral man, and I think the last thing he wanted  because I think we both knew what was coming  was to upset me even further.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Settle, whose original decision not to interview Lord Brittan was overturned by senior Metropolitan Police officers, condemned the way the family was treated.

He told the BBC: 'I think they were treated absolutely atrociously, and my view was that he never need know that somebody had made a spurious allegation against him.'

Harvey Proctor, pictured at a press conference last year, also revealed the 'agony' of facing repeated unfounded allegations

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Settle's career has been ruined - he says that the Brittans were treated 'attrociously'

Mr Settle also said the Met had tried to stop him giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee on the matter last year.

Lady Brittan saluted the bravery of Mr Settle  who closed the investigation before Labour MP Tom Watson intervened and the inquiry was controversially reopened.

She said: Its become clear that DCI Settles original decision was the correct one. Its made me very saddened because I realised that the last year that Leon was alive would have been very different [if the case had been dropped].

One of Scotland Yards most senior officers is being investigated for alleged misconduct in its shambolic VIP child sex abuse inquiry.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, gold commander in Operation Midland, was officially informed he is under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He is one of five Met officers whose conduct in the disgraced inquiry is being probed by the IPCC.

Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe offered to see Diana Brittan but she declined earlier this month

Operation Midland was triggered by a fantasist known as Nick who falsely claimed to have witnessed three murders by an Establishment paedophile ring including ex PM Edward Heath and former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan.

The other officers being investigated by the IPCC include Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who described Nicks bogus evidence as credible and true at the outset of the inquiry.

The conduct of Detective Chief Inspector Diane Tudway, the senior investigating officer in Operation Midland, is also being probed by the police watchdog.

All five were referred to the IPCC this month after a damning review of the 16-month investigation by retired High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques found there had been numerous errors in the inquiry, and that the sole alleged victim, known as Nick, had been too readily believed.

Sir Richard accused the Met of misleading a judge into granting search warrants to raid the homes of three VIPs accused by Nick: the late Lord Brittan, ex Army chief Lord Bramall and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor.

Sir Richard, who was called in to review the forces handling of sex crime claims against high profile suspects, said the trios reputations were shattered by the word of a single, uncorroborated complainant.

In addition to the Operation Midland probe, the IPCC is also investigating alleged misconduct by Mr Rodhouse in a separate, bungled rape inquiry into Lord Brittan. He denies any wrongdoing.

Nick is now facing investigation for allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Bending down to give their sister one last kiss, this is the heartbreaking moment a family bid farewell to their relative before her organs were removed following a fatal ski crash.

Suzanne Harris, 45, from Taunton in Somerset has bravely released the image of her daughter Kayleigh with her three sisters just moments before she was taken to surgery to have her organs removed, which have since helped three people needing transplants.

Kayleigh, 23, died in April after an accident, which saw a skier slam into her head after she fell to the ground while snowboarding in the French Alps.

The mother of Kayleigh Harris, who was fatally injured in a skiing accident in the French Alps has released the last picture of all her daughters together before her organs were removed to help people needing transplants

Ms Harris, who works as a nurse, was left grief-stricken by her daughter's sudden death, but immediately knew she would have wanted her organs donated.

It came after Kayleigh's best friend Liana Tolland, battled to survive organ failure and received a kidney donation in 2014  but sadly died a year later.

And Ms Harris explained: 'I read stories about organ donation and I'm so happy that Kayleigh was able to help people who were like Liana.

'I'm really comforted by it. But sometimes, when I'm home alone, I sit and I cry and cry.

Kayleigh, centre, before the accident with her mother and sisters. From left are Abbie, mother Suzanne, Kayleigh, Lauren, Paige and Jaide

'Still, I have to compose myself and be strong for my girls.'

The devastating accident happened earlier this year, when Kayleigh was working as a holiday rep in the French Alps.

Ms Harris, who also has four other daughters, and her partner of eight years Anita Currie, 45, were on a cruise in the Caribbean, when Kayleigh messaged saying she had banged her head.

Kayleigh on holiday with her mother. Ms Harris, 45, who works as a nurse, was left grief-stricken by her daughter's sudden death, but immediately knew she would have wanted her organs donated

She explained: 'I had a message from her saying, 'Fell over, someone skied into my head, wrote off my goggles, wrote off my helmet, and my head is killing'.

'That was the last ever message I ever received from her.'

The next day, when she had docked in Cozumel, Mexico, she received a devastating phone call from Kayleigh's boss in France, informing her that her daughter was being airlifted to the hospital, a two hour drive away from her ski lodge.

Distraught, Suzanne called her daughter Lauren, who phoned their father, Sean Cummins, sister Paige and Kayleigh's uncle  all of whom flew out to France.

Meanwhile, Ms Harris and her partner embarked on a nightmare journey from Cozumel to Mexico City, enduring a 10 hour wait in the airport, before flying first to Heathrow and then on to Geneva, Switzerland  then driving to Grenoble University Hospital, at the foot of the mountains.

She explained: 'During out 10 hour wait in Mexico City, my brother told me Kayleigh had no brain activity and had suffered a lack of oxygen to her brain.'

They made it to her eldest child's side two days later, only for doctors to tell her Kayleigh was being kept alive by machines. They then asked if she would donate her daughter's organs.

Kayleigh's devastating accident happened earlier this year, when Kayleigh was working as a holiday rep in the French Alps. She is pictured in the Alps last year

Kayleigh, 23, died in April after an accident, which saw a skier slam into her head after she fell to the ground while snowboarding in the French Alps. She has been a snowboarded for several years

The heartbroken mother said: 'In the morning they took me and her dad into the office and said she's being kept alive by machines, because of organ donation.

'To me, there was no conversation needed, it was 'where do I sign'.'

Ms Harris knew her daughter was passionate about organ donation, because of the close friendship with Liana.

The pair had met at Yeovil Hospital, Somerset, in early 2011, when Kayleigh was diagnosed with an irregular heart rate that caused her to faint.

Liana, 22, became seriously ill after a reaction to malaria medicine on her gap year in Uganda in 2010.

Kayleigh had always been passionate about organ donation since her friend Liana, pictured, needed a new kidney but passed away due to complications with the transplant

Once her fainting spells resolved themselves a year later, Kayleigh started working as a holiday rep in the French Alps during the winter and in the south of France in the summer.

But, sadly, Liana's health continued to deteriorate and she needed a new kidney.

She received the organ in January 2014, but passed away a year later due to complications.

Kayleigh had returned to France when Liana sadly passed away.

Ms Harris said: 'She found it difficult to come to terms with Liana's death and became really passionate about organ donation. She wouldn't talk to people who didn't agree with it.

'She'd say, 'What do you need your organs for when you're gone?''

And after Kayleigh's death, despite her grief Ms Harris knew donating her organs was what she would have wanted.

Pallbearers including Kayleigh's father, stepdad, uncles and friends carry her coffin into her funeral

Mourners at Kayleigh's funeral were asked to come in fancy dress to reflect her 'contagious personality'

She had one last photo taken of all of her daughters in the same room, before Kayleigh was taken away.

And she says knowing that her eldest child's kidneys and liver were used to save the lives of three people, was a great comfort.

She added: 'Kayleigh's funeral was the best day ever, it was such a shame she wasn't physically there.

'People from all over the world came in fancy dress. There were pink flamingos, men in pink tights and tutus, and one little Harry Potter.

'I still get messages from people from all over the world - Kayleigh had such a contagious personality.'

An inquest into Kayleigh's death has opened in France.
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Jacqueline Carmichael, pictured left with husband Jayson earlier this month after a hearing, in a case which cost the Government almost 500,000

The Government has spent almost 500,000 on legal fees fighting families who appealed over the controversial so-called 'bedroom tax', new figures show.

The total cost of legal proceedings in the landmark cases at the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court was 484,000, according to figures released to Parliament by Work and Pensions minister Caroline Nokes.

The data also reveals Government lawyers spent around 1,365 hours working on these cases - the equivalent of 57 days.

The legal cases came as a number families challenged the Government over its spare room subsidy, where housing benefit is withdrawn from tenants judged to have an extra bedroom they do not need.

Earlier this month the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Jacqueline Carmichael, saying she could not share a bedroom with her husband because of her disabilities, and Sue and Paul Rutherford, the grandparents of a severely disabled child who need an additional room for the child's overnight carer.

The Government's removal of the spare room subsidy, known commonly as the bedroom tax, was found to discriminate against their disabilities under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The five other cases that were appealed to the Supreme Court went in the Government's favour.

Labour MP Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) said: 'I wish I could say that I'm surprised by how much money the Government spent on legal action in respect to the bedroom tax cases that were before the Supreme Court.

'But, given that this is the same Tory party that introduced the cruel and unfair bedroom tax in the first place, it is no surprise at all.

Kevin Brennan, pictured in the Commons earlier this month, said the legal fees proved the Tory government was more willing to defend 'vindictive' policies than the 'rights and well being' of the public

'This is further confirmation of what we already know - this Tory Government is more willing to defend its own vindictive policies than the rights and wellbeing of the British public.'

Responding to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen), Ms Nokes said the 484,000 figure included counsel's fees, Government legal department litigation fees and other disbursements, as well as VAT where payable.

This includes legal fees totalling 207,000 that were spent specifically when seven cases reached the Supreme Court.

Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green is implementing changes to the 'spare room subsidy' after the Supreme Court found against the Government on two cases

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: 'It is wrong that under the old system the taxpayer had to subsidise benefit claimants to live in houses which were larger than they needed.

'Removing the spare room subsidy has restored fairness to the system, and is saving around half a billion pounds of taxpayers' money every year.

'It is welcome that the court found in our favour in five out of the seven cases. The court also agreed with our view that discretionary housing payments are generally an appropriate and lawful way to provide assistance to those who need extra help.
Hayley Elton, pictured, has been left furious after being overcharged by mobile phone firm EE by 1,000 and then only being offered a 65 refund

A woman who was wrongly overcharged on her mobile phone bill by 1,000 has been left furious after she was offered a refund of just 65.

Hayley Elton, 43, said she agreed a tariff with EE which allowed her to call her 75-year-old mother Naomi in Spain for just 1p per minute.

But she claims the firm placed her on a new plan in October 2015 without telling her, raising the charge to 1 per minute.

Ms Elton has spent a year battling to get her money back, asking the mobile phone giant for 1,410 to cover the incorrect charges and her legal costs after taking the matter to the small claims court.

A talented pianist, she would ring her mother every day to chat and talk about piano concerts her son Curtis, 13, described as a 'child prodigy', might be interested in.

Ms Elton, of Barnet, north London, carried on calling her mother every day because she didn't realise that her 37-a-month phone bill had skyrocketed to more than 400.

This continued throughout October and November until she was shocked to discover how much money was going out of her account.

Ms Elton said: 'I didn't know until about two months later.

'I couldn't understand what was going on. When I first contacted them they wouldn't apologise and wouldn't put anything in writing.

'After a while they apologised but they were very rude. EE say they care about people but they don't.

'I was a loyal customer and was with Orange before EE existed. I'm never going with them again, not after they treated me like that.'

When Ms Elton initially contacted EE she claims they initially blamed her and refused to return the money.

She was finally put back on her old tariff but not before her December bill was much larger than it would have otherwise have been.

Ms Elton complained to her bank and was able to get around 500 of the money back.

However she was still around 500 short of the money she claims she was due and so contacted the communications ombudsman to complain in January.

Unfortunately they made some errors in the investigation, something they later admitted in April.

In a letter to the mother-of-two, its deputy chief executive Simon Morris said: 'I am disappointed to see that our service has fallen short of our usual high standards in your case and I can appreciate how disappointed and frustrated you are.'

Ms Elton finally decided to have one last go and applied to a small claims court to recoup the money.

The ombudsman sent Ms Elton a letter, pictured, claiming 65 was a 'fair' payment for the 'inconvenience and frustration' she endured

Representing herself in June at a hearing at Edmonton county court and family court on October 19 she applied for the rest of the money back.

But as she was representing herself she accidentally didn't fill the forms out correctly and the judge gave her 10 days to correct it before the case would be reheard.

During this time EE contacted her and agreed out of court to pay her the remaining cash.

She received a 450 cheque from them earlier this month which has now cleared.

Speaking at her hard-fought victory Ms Elton said: 'EE want people to think that they care about their customers but they don't.

'They could have sorted this problem out straight away but they don't care and probably thought I wouldn't take it further.

'At times I thought about giving up but I didn't want them to win.'

Ms Elton now has a contact with network provider 3.
The Swedish student at the centre of Romes homeless woman mystery removed every picture of herself from the family home before she vanished, her heartbroken father told MailOnline.

Embla Jauhojarvi disappeared in Sweden six months ago and was found sleeping rough on the streets of the Italian capital this week.

Despite being reunited with her parents on Wednesday - who flew to Rome after seeing her picture online - the 21-year-old still does not want to go home.

She refuses to speak her native language and will only talk in English or Italian.

She is now being held in a secure unit at a hospital in the city where she is being kept under close medical observation.

Embla is in hospital. She cannot leave, her distraught father Tahvo Jauhojarvi told MailOnline.

'Embla took all of the photographs of her from the family albums and off the walls before she disappeared. She cut up her library card into pieces.

I don't know what is wrong with her or whether something happened to her. She was so dirty.'

Hospitalised: The Swedish studenty found sleeping rough in Rome has been taken to a secure unit in an Italian hospital after being reunited with her estranged parents on Wednesday. She was pictured arriving at the meeting in the Italian capital

Desperate: Embla's distraught father Tahvo Jauhojarviher said she would only speak to her family in Italian or English and does not want to go back to Sweden. He retraced her steps around Rome (above) to thank those who had been feeding her and looking after her

Homeless: Embla, from Stockholm, in Sweden, suffers from Asperger's and had been sleeping rough in Rome for months. A worried passer-by uploaded pictures of her, which went viral

Concern: Embla's mother Ilona Kapp, 51, a bank clerk from Sweden, told of her relief at seeing her daughter for the first time since May. She told MailOnline: 'I have been so worried I did not sleep at all last night.'

Embla's parents hope to see their daughter this afternoon and her father has been thanking workers in a local restaurant (above) for giving their 'vulnerable' child food

Anguish: Embla's father Mr Jauhojarvi, pictured right in Rome, said after the meeting that his daughter (pictured before their reunion) was 'filthy', not having washed at the hostel where she was staying. He saw photos of his daughter on MailOnline and immediately contacted the website to identify her

Mr Jauhojarvi and his ex-wife Ilona Kapp met Embla at the Swedish Embassy in Rome and today he described how his daughter was filthy when she arrived, not having washed at the hostel where she spent the previous night.

'She would not talk to us in Swedish, only English or Italian,' he said.

Embla, who suffers from Aspergers syndrome, was taken from there to hospital where she was kept overnight as doctors assessed her condition.

Her anxious parents are expected to visit their daughter later today.

They rushed to Italy on Wednesday after learning their daughter had been living on the streets of Rome having vanished from her home in Stockholm, Sweden, six months ago.

Mr Jauhojarvi said she removed every photograph of herself from her home before she left.

'Embla took all of the photographs of her from the family albums and off the walls before she disappeared, he said.

Embla took all of the photographs of her from the family albums and off the walls before she disappeared. Tahvo Jauhojarvi

'She cut up her library card into pieces.'

After their emotional reunion, Mr Jauhojarvi said: 'She's a wreck. Embla is not herself. She is a different person. She barely talked to us.

'She wants to go back to living on the street. She doesn't want to come home.

'We want to take her back to Sweden but it is so difficult. If she were in Sweden it would be so much better.'

Embla, who suffers from Asperger's, sparked international concern when pictures of her sleeping rough in Rome were posted online by a worried passer-by and went viral.

Missing persons charities suggested that she could be one of the abducted children on their database, and possibly even missing British child Madeleine McCann, who vanished on holiday in Praia da Luz aged four in 2007.

In an exclusive interview, her father said before the meeting that she disappeared in May and he began a frantic search to find her.

'It has been such a long time I have been looking for her, six months,' he said before the meeting.

'I just want to hold her and make sure she is safe. I want to take her home.'

Resemblance: Embla, 21, (right) was spotted sleeping rough on the streets of Rome. Missing persons charities said she looks like several abducted children, including Madeleine McCann (left) who vanished on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007

Temporary home: Adriano Banchetti, owner of a nearby sports clothing store in the Piazza della Torretta said he saw Embla often and said she had been sleeping rough for months

Mr Jauhojarvi, pictured arriving at the meeting with Embla his estranged wife Ilona Kapp, said their daughter was filthy as she had not washed when staying at a hostel the previous night

The businessman, who divorced Embla's mother 13 years ago, added: 'She is vulnerable. She has Asperger's syndrome. She finds it difficult to communicate. She is shy and does like to speak to people she doesn't know.

'Embla went to Rome last year for one week. She must have fallen in love with the city.

'When she got home she started to learn Italian. She would study for five six hours a night.

'She has never had any friends, not even one. When she went to secondary school I told her she would make friends. But after three years she told me i was wrong. 'She asked me; 'Dad, how do I make friends?''

Embla went missing six months ago while her father was abroad.

She had secretly left Sweden and travelled to Italy to take a language course in the south of the country.

When the course finished at the end of the summer she boarded a train to the capital Rome but failed to return home to Stockholm.

Mr Jauhojarvi explained: 'When I got home from South Africa I found Embla had vanished. She did not tell me she was going away. She did not leave a note. I didn't know what had become of her.

'After a couple of weeks I contacted the police and asked for help to find her. But they said she was over 18 was very little she could do.

'I contacted everyone I could think of  her school, her university, banks, everyone. I discovered she had signed up to an Italian language course in the south of Italy.

Facing her family: Embla arrives at the Swedish Embassy on Wednesday afternoon for talks with her family. Her dreadlocks can be seen beneath a black hat she is wearing

Search: Mr Jauhojarvi never stopped looking for his daughter but he simply ran out of leads. The father of two was just desperate to see her again and never gave up hope

No contact: Her family say Embla removed every picture of herself from the family album had not been in contact since she left Sweden to study Italian in May. She was found by Italian police with no belongings and has reportedly been wearing the same long tan skirt, rain jacket, red scarf and black male trainers for weeks

Homeless: Embla, who lived with her father for eight years after her parents separated, has been staying around Piazza della Torretta in central Rome, pictured

Mystery: Her family said she suffers from Asperger's and that she is vulnerable. Her case appeared on the Italian TV show Chi l'ha Visto (Who Has Seen) and got worldwide attention

'I contacted the language school but they told me they had put her on a train to Rome and had not heard anything more from her.'

Mr Jauhojarvi, who saw the pictures of Embla living rough and contacted MailOnline, said he never stopped looking for his daughter but he simply ran out of leads.

He explained: 'I contacted Interpol and the Swedish Embassy in Rome and asked for help to find my daughter but again they said because she is an adult there is very little they could do.

'This is what I have heard for six months  excuses from the people who should be helping me to find my daughter.'

However Mr Jauhojarvi made a dramatic break-through on Wednesday when he was alerted to a story on MailOnline.

He explained: 'I had a call from Embla's cousin to say that he has seen her picture on the internet. I saw the picture and I knew it was Embla.

'I could not sleep. I have been awake all night. I booked the first flight to Rome. I just want to find my daughter.'

Resemblance: Although some commentators have said that she looks similar to missing British girl Madeleine McCann, a spokesman from Rome's military police told MailOnline Embla, whom they picked up last week, was too old to be Maddie and immediately ruled it out

Search: Kate and Gerry McCann have been desperately searching for their missing daughter Maddie since she disappeared on holiday with them in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007

Mr Jauhojarvi was met with further frustration when he learned Embla had returned to the streets following a night under the care of the Rome Social Services  her first proper night's sleep in months.

But his optimism returned when Rome Police told him the blonde girl had been spotted and had again been taken into protective care.

Mr Jauhojarvi added: 'I've had so many messages of support. People from Sweden, Finland, all over the world have told me they have seen Embla in Rome.

'One person told me he had seen on the streets since the end of the summer. It is heart-breaking.

'And I had some nasty messages as well. One person accused me of being a bad father. It is upsetting.'
The Victorian justice system is cracking down on the dangerous criminals involved in violent home invasions across Melbourne - starting with a member of the notorious Mongol motorcycle club by increasing his jail sentence from three to four years.

The landmark decision made by the court of appeal to increase Shane Bowden's sentence by 12 months serves as a warning to the teenage thugs including the now notorious African Apex gang, as well as career criminals and members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

police have recorded a whopping 13 per cent increase in recorded offences over the past 12 months.

Bowden slipped on a pair of night vision goggles and armed himself with a hunting knife last year before invading a South Yarra home and fighting with the people inside.

Mongol biker Shane Bowden, left, was jailed for three years for aggravated burglary after he robbed a South Yarra home with his model girlfriend - his sentence has been increased

The Mongol biker stole $700 during the aggravated attack and was initially sentenced to just three years behind bars, the Herald Sun reports.

This decision was overturned this week by Justices Chris Maxwell, Robert Redlich and Emilios Kyrou in favour of a heavier sentence in an attempt to curb the violent crime wave currently crashing down on the city and suburbs.

'The objective gravity of Bowden's conduct called for a sentence that would adequately denounce and deter this type of criminality and provide community protection,' a court of appeal judge said.

The court would have increased the biker's sentence to six years and six months but couldn't because the sentence had to have parity with that of his co-accused, model girlfriend Aysen Unlu.

'In (earlier) decisions, the Court stated very clearly that sentencing practice for this type of offending needed to change, so that sentences would properly reflect the gravity of the offending and the guidance provided by the maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment,' the judgment said.

The recent spate of violent crimes committed by children in the state's capital have prompted an urgent conversation over the amount of time violent offenders need to spend behind bars.

The biker who will now be behind bars for four years will serve as an example to the young thugs terrorising Melbourne's suburbs

African Apex gang members are one of the most recogniseable players in the recent spate of home invasions

Many victims and crime workers on the front line have voiced their concern over young offenders being released on bail with a slap on the wrist despite repeatedly involving themselves in violent criminal activities.

Victims of Crime Commissioner Greg Davies spoke to Daily Mail Australia recently about the notorious Apex gang and said it is 'impossible' for a person to rehabilitate behind bars unless they serve at least two-years.

Earlier this year, Apex thug Issac Gatkuoth, 18, was sentenced to 14 months after pointing a shotgun at a motorist in Frankston during an ice-fuelled rampage that later led to the death of mother Amanda Matheson.

'He's likely to be out before the first anniversary of this woman's death,' Commissioner Davies told Daily Mail Australia.

'Someone died and a court thinks the value of human life is 14 months of this person's time'.

A Daily Mail Australia source told the publication 50 of 450 members of the Apex street gang were behind bars in November

Commissioner Davies said it is difficult for police to determine exactly how many Apex thugs are behind bars, but gang members often out themselves, wearing prison as a badge of honour.

'Claiming responsibility for criminal acts by a ragtag mob of moronic teenagers is more likely a measure of their IQ than of any achievement,' he said.

'A lot of them want to go to jail and it becomes part of their 'CV'.'
A reverend known for displaying eye-catching slogans outside his church is facing legal action because the council has classed it as advertising.

Reverend Bob Marshall has been erecting signs outside the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel in Buckey, North Wales which he hopes inspires churchgoers.

The Reverend recently caused a stir after he used the phrase'forgiveness is swallowing when you want to spit' on an A-board outside the church.

But he didn't realise the risque connotations of the term and removed the slogan when he found out.

Reverend Bob Marshall has been erecting signs outside the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel in Buckey, North Wales which he hopes inspires churchgoers

Another saying which sparked a few laughs, but also had an important message, said: 'Honk if you love Jesus: Text while driveing (sic) if you want to meet him.'

He has been told by Flintshire council's chief of planning, Andrew Farrow, he has to apply for advertisement consent for the sign, or the local authority could take action

He later joked: 'The Lord helped me take it down because the wind blew it over.'

Another saying which sparked a few laughs, but also had an important message, said: 'Honk if you love Jesus: Text while driveing (sic) if you want to meet him.'

But now he has been told by Flintshire council's chief of planning, Andrew Farrow, he has to apply for advertisement consent for the sign, or the local authority could take action.

Originally from Indiana in the United States, the 71 year-old pastor says he rotates the messages on the board every couple of weeks to make people think and smile, and has been doing it for the past few years.

Currently it says 'Too many people have a strong will and a weak will not'.

Rev Marshall insists the slogans are not a business and the sayings are not adverts.

A letter from Mr Farrow to Rev Marshall, dated November 14, said: 'I can confirm that advertisement consent would be required and having checked the planning records it would appear no consent has been sought or granted.

'In the circumstances, you will need to apply for advertisement consent.'

The Reverend recently caused a stir after he used the phrase'forgiveness is swallowing when you want to spit' on an A-board outside the church

Mr Farrow ordered the sign to be removed withing seven days of receipt of the letter.

He added the reverend could face enforcement action if he fails to comply.

Rev Marshall said: 'They are saying we have to have permission for an advertisement.

'We are a church, not a business, and these are not adverts and it is on our property.

'They are sayings to make people smile and think which I change just about every week. It's a community sign.

'I've had scores of people come up to me say thanks. I don't understand why the council has asked me to do this now, I have been doing it for a few years.

'It just seems a bit petty and its like as though they are trying to show whose in charge.'

Reverend Bob Marshall (pictured), 58, has now apologised to parishioners and said it never occurred to him that the words had another meaning

The sign was put up outside the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel in Buckey, North Wales (pictured)

Rev Marshall, who has lived in Buckley for 30 years, said he may have to comply if the council wont change its mind.

The Reverend and his wife Janice are members of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, based in Missouri.

The organisation has around 5,000 ministries in approximately 110 countries.

Since taking over the dilapidated chapel, the organisation has spent more than 10,000 restoring and renovating it, with the help of volunteers within the congregation.
Sales are a financial boost after he

He launched his Yeezy Boost shoe line for Adidas Originals in February 2015 and its become one of his proudest achievements.

As he recovers from exhaustion in hospital, Kanye West has received some good news with the latest version of his trainer flying off shelves around the world.

But thrifty entrepreneurs have wasted no time in spotting an opportunity to make a quick buck by selling them for thousands of pounds on eBay.

Thousands of people have lined up outside stores for the rappers new Yeezy Boost 350 V2 sneakers after they went on sale this week.

It is a much-needed financial boost for West after he dramatically cancelled 21 U.S. concerts last weekend, losing out on merchandising sales.

This year he also went on Twitter to complain he was $53 million in debt.

Scroll down for video

Thrifty entrepreneurs have wasted no time in spotting an opportunity to make a quick buck by selling them for four times the RRP on eBay

A huge crowd of people lined up in front of the CL20 shoe store to buy new Yeezy Boost 350 trainers in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday

In London police were called when up to 500 people tried to get their hands on the trainers at an Offspring store in Shoreditch

A Korean dealing in fashion in New York posted a photo of this line outside a store

In London, on Tuesday, police were called when up to 500 people tried to get their hands on the trainers at an Offspring store in Shoreditch.

Fashion lovers waited for a wristband, which would allow them into the store, but after a couple of hours 'it all got a bit out of hand'.

One shopper told the Evening Standard: 'Lots of people started pushing in. Then police came in a large van.

'I saw people get into rows with each other and getting pushed back out of the line again.

Shoppers started shouting when four men reportedly jumped out of a Range Rover and tried to push in the front of the line.

On Thursday, the trainers, which come in three colour variations, had already sold out on Adidas.com, where they are priced $220 USD (150 GBP).

Punters were left to battle it out on eBay, where the trainers were going for a huge amount of cash.

Signed pairs were going for up to 4,999 on the auction site, while regular versions of the trainer were being bid for at up to four times the RRP.

Kanye West's launched his Yeezy Boost shoe line for Adidas Originals in February 2015 and its become one of his proudest achievements

In Warsaw, Poland, a shop worker used a megaphone to control the huge crowds shopping for the shoes

The Yeezy Boost 350 trainers by Kanye West come in three different colour variations

A man purchases a pair of the Yeezy Boost trainers in Warsaw on Wednesday

However, hundreds of people who snapped up a pair are reselling them on social media for around $500 in a bid to make a quick profit.

In Warsaw, Poland, a huge crowd of people gathered in front of the CL20 shoe store to buy the Yeezy Boosts on Wednesday.

A store worker was forced to use a megaphone to control the crowds.

In Malaysia, a raffle for a chance to buy a pair of the kicks went haywire.

The Adidas store in the Pavilion shopping centre in the capital Kuala Lumpur had the bright idea of holding an open-air raffle to decide who would be allowed to buy the sneakers.

A video uploaded to social media by Wyss Wong shows the chaos that ensued.

Impatient buyers frustrated at queuing in the hot sun forced their way past a barricade of security guards and stormed the registration table where raffle tickets were being issued.

Some people shouted at the event organiser in the video as the crowd became unruly.

Outnumbered staff did their best to contain the crowd, with potential shoppers pushing and shoving each other.

In New York, Vancouver and Ottawa photos of emerged of crowds in and outside stores marveling over the new shoes.

The official description of the trainers on the Adidas website says they are redesigned yet true to their roots.

The Adidas store in the Pavilion shopping centre in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur had the bright idea of holding an open-air raffle to decide who would be allowed to buy the sneakers

In a video from Kuala Lumpur, impatient buyers frustrated at queuing in the hot sun force their way past a barricade of security guards and storm the registration table where raffle tickets are being issued for the trainers

A fashion lover with the blog Beccasbags.ca posted this shot while she waited for the trainers in Vancouver

In Ottawa, Canada, John Crupi posted a photo of the 'huge lineup' for the trainers

In Malaysia a backpackers hostel shard a photo of all three colour versions of the trainer

The Yeezy Boost 350 V2 is crafted with beautiful, premium materials that infuse Adidas' technology with Kanye West's unmistakable aesthetic, the blurb says.

The trainers feature a coloured streak that bears the mark 'SPLY-350' and have a semi-translucent rubber outsole.

On Thursday, Kanye West's condition was reported to be far worse than first feared according to new reports.

Although he was initially reported to be suffering from a temporary psychosis brought on by sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration, TMZ suggest that the rapper's problems 'go deeper'.

The 39-year-old was rushed to UCLA Medical Center after a reported breakdown on Monday and is currently being assessed with wife Kim Kardashian by his side.

The website reports Kanye is in such a 'bad mental state' that his insurance policy for his 21 cancelled U.S. concerts is likely to cover him for lost profits due to illness.

On Saturday the music artist had walked off stage 30 minutes into his performance following an incoherent political and personal rant.

West took aim at Hillary Clinton, close friends Beyonce and Jay Z and Mark Zuckerberg in the bizarre outburst while on stage in Sacramento.




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Raging bushfires forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from parts of Israel's third city Haifa on Thursday as firefighters struggled to control blazes across the country.

Some residents were trapped in their homes as the army called up reservists to help cope with a third day of fires which authorities speculated could have been started deliberately.

Haifa municipality spokeswoman Or Doron told AFP that 50,000 of the city's roughly 250,000 residents had been evacuated.

Haim Outmezgine has volunteered with the Zaka rescue and medical service for 22 years but said, 'I've never seen an incident like this.' He was in Haifa, helping locals to evacuate and deal with the shock.

Though not a firefighter, he was dousing the small fires, to free up the fire trucks for the major blazes. 'Everywhere we go we see flames,' he said.

Flames more than 30 feet high were threatening several multi-storey tower blocks in Israel's third city of Haifa

An emergency personnel member evacuates a woman as a wildfire burns in the northern Israeli city of Haifa

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said residents in eight neighbourhoods had been told to leave due to six separate fires, with four evacuation centres set up.

'It is suspicious that they started at the same time in six different areas in Haifa,' he said. 'We received reports and found it suspicious enough to believe that someone was behind the incidents.'

He said that people were seen running away from fire scenes, further increasing suspicions, and stated that four people have been questioned in connection with a blaze near Jerusalem.

Rosenfeld said that more that 60 people have been taken to hospital as a result of smoke inhalation, with all bar one were classed as not seriously injured.

Residents spoke of a desperate rush to get elderly residents out.

'The fire is out of control and is spreading from one house to the other,' the rescue services chief in the Carmel neighbourhood, Naftali Rottenberg, told public radio.

'Sometimes we are taking residents out against their will.'

Yael Hame, a Haifa resident who fled her house, said it was 'very frightening'.

Israeli volunteers help extinguish a fire in the northern port city. The fires have already burned for three days

'The fire was up over the skyscrapers. It came up to 20 stories high.'

Hame said she thought the fire was 'much more dangerous' than a blaze in 2010 in Haifa that killed 44 people -- the deadliest in Israeli history.

British-born Gabi Oster, 19, has been on the front line in the Haifa area. She is part of a Haifa-based student volunteering programme, which has been helping some of the tens of thousands of residents who have been told to evacuate their homes.

On Thursday evening she was volunteering in Zichron Yaakov just south of Haifa, where one of the first fires covered the whole town with smoke on Tuesday, forced many people to evacuate, damaged dozens of homes and left around 10 families with empty shells.

Recalling the initial chaos as flames made their way from the forest towards entire neighbourhoods she said: 'A lot of people needed help. There were people who left everything, whose homes burned down, which was awful to see.'

A car drives past burning trees as a wildfire rages in Haifa. The city's streets were largely empty, with remaining residents leaving by foot or car

Nursery schools in the town have been closed, as staff have scraped ash off toys and games. Oster helped to evacuate a nursery, which has since been closed. The town's elderly are in a daze, and have welcomed the help of her group.

'Some of the old people have been very shaken up -- they didn't know at first what happened to their homes and were very concerned,' said Oster.

As Zichron Yaakov residents discussed their town's trauma on Thursday, the smell of burning in nearby Haifa hung thick over the streets. Avran Michael, a 30-year-old pizza delivery man, said his eyes were itching and he was having difficulty breathing.

Israelis drive past a fire, as areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by strong dry winds

He took his motorcycle past the homes of regular customers whose houses have been badly damaged or destroyed. The sight left him 'very very sad.'

Ido Tito, a 19-year-old who works in an off-license was feeling 'very angry' that arson is suspected. He said that the fire was 'one of the worst experiences of my life.'

Tito said: 'It was really scary. I went to help families get out of their homes and saw people running and screaming. Someone was trying to find their little sister. I ran around, looking for her, and then raced around knocking on doors, telling people to get out.'

A huge red cloud fills the sky as an Israeli firefighter plane helps extinguish the bushfire, which authorities believe could have been started deliberately

Around 30 people were hospitalised with mild injuries, according to the city's Ramban Hospital. Haifa University was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

A number of countries made immediate pledges of support including planes, as meteorologists said conditions meant fires were likely to continue for the coming days.

Areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by the strong dry winds, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Planes dropping water and powder swooped over the Romema neighbourhood every few minutes, trying to keep the flames from spreading to a nearby gas station.

Firefighting aircraft were sent to Israel from countries including Greece, Italy and Turkey as 50,000 of the city's 250,000 residents have been forced to flee

The streets were largely empty, with remaining residents leaving by foot or car, some holding surgical masks to their faces.

Dozens of soldiers, police, medics and firefighters were huddled in an impromptu command centre in a nearby parking lot.

Daher said a number of residents remained stuck in their homes.

Amit, a 27-year-old from a nearby neighbourhood, was volunteering with firefighters to help calm the blaze.

'There were places that needed help, we went and put out some fires,' he said.

Israeli authorities have evacuated up to 20 percent of Haifa's 250,000 residents, as people living in eight neighbourhoods had been told to leave due to six separate fires, with four evacuation centres set up

The emergency prompted a growing list of countries to send help, including firefighting aircraft. They included Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

Russian President Putin told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Moscow 'would immediately send two giant Beriev be-200 firefighting aircraft,' a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

The 2010 fire required the assistance of planes and personnel from more than 16 countries to put out.

Israel has been hit by a spate of bushfires in recent days across the country that officials attribute to an unusually dry autumn and strong winds.

Areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by the strong dry winds, as firefighters battled to control the flames

Elsewhere, fires were raging in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Noah Wolfson, head of the Meteo-Tech meteorology website, said the conditions were perfect for fires to be sparked -- whether by accident or on purpose.

'This November is extremely dry. So far we didn't have any rain,' he said.

'The extreme dryness -- relative humidity below 10 percent -- coupled with very strong winds, enhance and encourage any small fire to expand and be horrendous.'

Flames blazed in the woods around Haifa, as elsewhere, fires were raging in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank

He said the forecast for the coming days was not optimistic, with winds due to slow somewhat but no rain expected until early next week.

Speculation in Israel quickly turned to the source of the fires.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told army radio that around half of the recent fires had been started deliberately.

Israelis flee their homes as a fire rages - with many people believing them to have been deliberately started. Officials have also attributed the fires to an unusually dry autumn and strong winds

Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party appeared to blame the arson on members the country's Arab minority.

'Only those to whom the land doesn't belong are able to burn it,' he said on Twitter in Hebrew.

One of Haifa's most prominent Arab residents, Ayman Odeh, leader of the main Arab party in Israel's parliament, the Joint List, said that acts of arson are 'terrible crimes.'

He said in a TV interview: 'Whoever did this is an enemy of all of us.'

Odeh wrote on Facebook in Arabic and Hebrew: 'Now time to pull together and volunteer, Arabs and Jews, and to help to evacuate the elderly and anyone who need help.

Experts say that the fires follow the trend of terror conducted without conventional weapons. The fatal wave of terror against Israeli targets that has been going on for the last year has often involved items as simple as knives and even scissors.
He avoids hitting the lamppost but it falls on his head instead, leaving him with serious injuries

Clipping the edge of the vehicle sent him flying and his bike into lamppost

Daniel Rumao, 21, was knocked off his motorbike by a car in Fortim, Brazil

A motorcyclist who thanked his lucky stars for dodging a major crash may have ended up seeing them seconds later - when the lamppost he hit landed on his head.

The bizarre crash - filmed by CCTV in Fortim, in the eastern Brazilian state of Ceara - began when biker Daniel Joventino Rumao, 21, was knocked from his motorcycle by a driver.

The video shows the car turning across the path of the motorbike and clipping Daniel's bike, sending him flying off.

In the video, Daniel can be seen throwing himself off his motorbike when he clips the corner of a car which is preparing to turn into a road

His riderless bike flies into the lamppost and he stands up, thinking he has avoided the worst

As Daniel slides, his riderless bike slams into a lamppost.

Then as the biker gets up, the lamppost falls over, hitting him right on the top of the head.

Daniel, who is a local city councillor, said: 'When I saw that I was going to crash against the lamppost, I jumped from the motorbike.'

After surviving the fall with barely a scratch, he stood up just at the moment when the post was falling down.

But he is only knocked back down to the ground as the lamppost topples with the impact of the motorbike. He sustained serious injuries

Daniel explained: 'It hit me in the head and then in the legs.

'During the first few seconds I saw stars.

'Then I looked at my legs and I noticed that I was badly injured. The pain was very strong but I was conscious all the time.'

Surgeons had to piece his shattered bones back together with steel pins and he is recovering in hospital.

Daniel said: 'The lucky thing was to have survived. There is no greater victory than that.

'I was born again.'

Now police are hunting for the driver, who fled following the crash.

Daniel said: 'He got out of the car, looked at me and then left.
A photograph has emerged, showing what appears to be the face of Jesus Christ projected on a surface next to a Catholic priest in Argentina.

The picture, which was published in local media and has gone viral online, was taken during a Catholic ceremony in the town of Caucete.

Worshippers had gathered in the town, not far from the Chilean border, to perform the novena, a ritual which consists of conducting religious prayers in public for nine successive days.

The photograph was apparently taken by a man called Favio Garay, who shared it online

The photo was shared online by a local man named Favio Garay, who took part in the event.

The image shows a priest sitting at a table and apparently addressing people with a microphone.

To his left, there is a religious statue but to his right is an image which looks similar to the face of Jesus Christ as seen in numerous paintings and religious icons.

Several sceptics online said the image was caused by random shadows.

Holy doubletake: The 'face of Jesus' (pictured, left) is similarly to the numerous paintings and icons of the Messiah around the world

But many others believed it was a miracle, possibly brought about by the power of prayer.

Silvia Yacanto commented on social media: 'This is incredible!'

Lili Peralta added: 'This is it, friends, we need to share what's good. It's worth it!'
Tony Blair yesterday declared that Brexit 'can be stopped' amid plans to build a movement to overturn the decision.

The former prime minister said many Leave supporters would change their minds once they realised the economic case 'doesn't stack up'.

His comments came as it emerged he has held secret talks with former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to draw up plans aimed at keeping Britain in the EU.

Tony Blair said he thought it was a 'very open question' whether he could have won a referendum on the EU in 2005

Describing himself as an 'insurgent', Mr Blair told the New Statesman that the economic 'pain' from cutting ties with Brussels would be sizeable and could last a decade.

He acknowledged his calls for a second referendum have been described as treason.

The former Labour leader now wants to pour some of the millions he has made since leaving office in 2007 into building a movement aimed at wooing the 'politically homeless' and overturn the June 23 result.

Mr Blair even suggested the Brexit process could be slowed down in Parliament to give voters time to change their minds. 'It can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain cost-benefit analysis doesn't stack up,' he said.

'I'm not saying it will, by the way, but it could.'

Mr Blair said he would not have promised to hold an EU referendum, as David Cameron did in the 2015 Tory manifesto

He added: 'In the end, for a large number of people, even those who voted Leave, they will look at this in a practical way, not an ideological way.

'I think in the end, it's going to be about Parliament and the country scrutinising the deal.' Mr Blair insisted he did not intend to return directly to front-line politics because of 'too much hostility'.

Instead, he plans to build a new political 'movement', which is likely to have opposition to Brexit at its heart. He said his new organisation would work to revive the 'progressive centre or centre-Left'.

Mr Blair is said to have met former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg for talks earlier this month

Yesterday it emerged he has held secret talks on his initiative with Mr Clegg, who is a leading figure in Parliamentary attempts to block the decision to leave the EU. Eurosceptic Tory MP Peter Bone said Mr Blair had 'let the cat out of the bag' about the true agenda of die-hard Remainers like Mr Clegg and Ed Miliband.

'There are efforts by Establishment politicians to delay and frustrate Brexit at every step  we see it in Parliament, in the courts and in parts of the media,' he said.

'All the same people who campaigned to remain are now trying to keep us in the EU by the back door  it is palpable and real. The British people will not put up with it, which is why it is vital that we get on and leave.'

Mr Blair also admitted for the first time that he broke his pledge to hold a referendum on the EU constitution in 2004 because he feared he would lose it. He said it was a 'very, very open question as to whether we were going to win or not'.

But Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: 'By denying people what they wanted he allowed frustration to build up for another ten years to the point where they have voted to leave altogether.' Downing Street rejected Mr Blair's call to block Brexit.
ISIS tyrant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is thought to have executed one of his closest confidants, for fear that he would give away crucial secrets if captured in the battle for Mosul.

Baghdadi ruthlessly ordered Abu Abdullah be killed along with this wife and three children at a house to the west of the city.

As Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters close in, the ISIS leader is reportedly sleeping in tunnels under Mosul with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest team.

ISIS tyrant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) is sleeping in tunnels with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest team, it has been claimed

An Iraqi soldier stands guard today in front of men rounded up by the Iraqi army in the Gogjali neighbourhood of Mosul and urged to offer information about ISIS fighters in their midst

Iraqi News reported that a source told Alsumaria News: 'Abu Abdullah was Baghdadi's box of secrets and a close confidant who organized his personal mails and arranged his meetings with field commanders.'

Abu Abdullah and his family reportedly vanished two weeks ago, as the Iraqi Army threw a noose around the city, and they had been hiding in a dilapidated house.

Baghdadi is reportedly sleeping in tunnels with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest advisers.

As paranoia continues to grow within the top ranks of the group, dozens have been executed after being accused of spying. More than 50 were reportedly drowned in cages after SIM cards showed they had been contacting coalition forces.

Baghdadi 'has become intemperate,' said the early November message, written

ISIS forces have pulled back into Mosul as the noose tightens around the city

Baghdadi, who declared himself the caliph of a huge swathe of Iraq and Syria two years ago, had become especially suspicious of people close to him.

The military coalition is making slow but steady progress against ISIS.

The Kurds believe the military assault on Mosul, which began on October 17, is fuelling ISIS's sense of fear and mistrust.

An Iraqi soldier wearing a balaclava watches as his colleagues speak to residents of Gogjali, a neighbourhood in Mosul where ISIS fighters opened fire on coalition troops recently

The group has turned inwards right as it faces the most serious threat to its existence in Iraq since seizing around a third of the country's territory in the summer of 2014.

The number of executions is a clear sign ISIS is beginning to hurt, said Karim Sinjari, interior minister and acting defence minister with the KRG, which controls the Kurdish area in northern Iraq.

As well, he said, many of the group's local Iraqi fighters lack the 'strong belief in martyrdom that the jihadis have.'

The terror mastermind is cowering beneath besieged Mosul while continuing to send jihadists to their death in the battle for the city, according to an informant

'Most of the die-hard Islamists who are fighting to the death are foreign fighters, but their numbers at the frontline are less than before because they are getting killed in battle and in suicide attacks,' he said.

Barzani said the growing paranoia has pushed Baghdadi and his top lieutenants to move around a lot, further hurting the group's ability to defend the city.

Baghdadi, Barzani said, 'is using all the different tactics to hide and protect himself: changing positions, using different ways of traveling, living in different locations, using different communications.'

ISIS leaders are reportedly racked with paranoia as Iraqi and Kurdish troops campaign to retake the group's northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul

If the military coalition does push ISIS from Mosul, the Kurdish officials said, the group is likely to flee to Syria, from where it will pose a nagging threat to Iraq through regular suicide attacks and other guerrilla tactics.

ISIS has always been paranoid. Its rule in Syria and Iraq has relied in large part on a vast intelligence network that uses everyone from children to battle-hardened former Baathists to spy on both subjects and its own officials.

That paranoia appears to have reached new levels as ISIS's enemies advance. Suspicion grew in the weeks before government troops began to encircle Mosul in mid October.

Kurds believe that the military assault on Mosul, which began on October 17, is fuelling ISIS's sense of fear and mistrust. Iraqi army soldiers fire mortars towards ISIS positions

Early last month, ISIS leaders uncovered an internal plot against Baghdadi, according to Mosul residents and Iraqi security officials.

Hatched by a leading ISIS commander, the plot was foiled when an ISIS security official found a telephone SIM card that contained the names of the plotters and showed their links to US and Kurdish intelligence officers.

Retribution was brutal. SIS killed 58 suspected plotters by placing them in cages and drowning them, according to residents and Iraqi officials.

Since then, ISIS has executed another 42 people from local tribes, Iraqi intelligence officers said. Those people were also caught with SIM cards.

Possession of SIMs or any form of electronic communication now amounts to an automatic death sentence, according to residents in ISIS areas.

An Iraqi special forces soldier aims his sniper rifle during gunfight with ISIS fighters in the Tahrir neighbourhood of Mosul, Iraq

The group has set up checkpoints where its militants search people, and regularly mount raids on areas hit by US air strikes because ISIS officials assume locals have helped to identify targets.

ISIS relies on a network of child informers, the so called ashbal al khilafa or 'cubs of the caliphate.'
Video shows the teen, 17, kowtowing towards the

Video footage has caught the moment a burglar in China stops and bows to a surveillance camera.

The footage was taken in October in Quanzhou, China's Fujian province.

According to reports, the 17-year-old teenager is addicted to video games and squandered most of the money he had stolen in internet gaming cafes.

Apologetic? The thief kneels on the floor and kotwows looking right at the CCTV camera

Easy to get in: The teenager manages to use tools and get access to the room

In the footage, the teenager can be seen using tools to gain access to a room.

After some time he eventually manages to open the front door of the property.

The video then cuts to him walking down the corridor and upon seeing the surveillance camera, he kowtows.

The video is from a handbag factory who reported a robbery to police.

At the time they suspected it was Lai, a former factory member of staff who was fired for theft last year.

Police arrested him in early April this year after the door of the treasury room was damaged again. He was put on a list of fugitives.

Knows what he's doing: The thief can be seen pushing the door to gain access to the room

Surprising action: The teenager can then be seen kneeling and bowing on the floor

The teenager stole from a handbag factory where he was fired from a year ago

According to a report by Strait Daobao, the 17-year-old teenager surnamed Lai broke into the room several times again.

It was then that he was filmed kowtowing to the camera.

Lai was later tracked down by police and arrested.

Following his arrest, he told officers that he kowtowed to the camera in order to persuade them not to catch him.

It is understood that the 17-year-old had become addicted to online games and did not want to work.
Two twins who have spent a century within a few miles of each other have now celebrated their 100th birthdays with a joint party.

Irene Crump and Phyllis Jones were born 25 minutes apart on November 20 1916 and went to the same schools, had the same first job at a porcelain company and live together today.

They have now celebrated their hundreds with a Sunday roast and 48 friends and members of their family, crediting 'hard work and good food' as the secret behind their long lives.

Irene Crump (right) and Phyllis Jones have spent a century within a few miles of each other and have now celebrated their 100th birthdays with a joint party

were born 25 minutes apart on November 20 1916 today and went to the same schools, had the same first job at a porcelain company

Irene Crump and Phyllis Jones aged 4 with their older sister Dorothy, who lived into her 90s but died a few years ago

Irene Crump (second from right) and Phyllis Jones (third from left) on their older sister Dorothy's (centre) wedding day with their father (3rd one from the right)

Irene, the younger of the twins, who aren't identical but look remarkably similar, said: 'We often celebrate our special birthdays together, and we had a lovely day.

'We celebrated our 90th together, and last year we celebrated our 99th birthday too. Hard work and good food is our secret, that's all I can put it down to.'

The twins have each other's first name for their middle name and say they have always been close, currently living together in Stourport, Worcestershire.

Irene added: 'We've always been close and we live together now, Phyllis moved in with me five years ago. I can't walk very far now but Phyllis walks around the block every day.'

The pair can't remember how much they weighed when they were born, but Irene - or Auntie Rene as she's affectionately known - says she's always been 'plump'.

Irene (right), the younger of the twins, who aren't identical but look remarkably similar, said: 'We often celebrate our special birthdays together, and we had a lovely day.

They have now celebrated their hundreds with a Sunday roast and 48 friends and members of their family

Irene (left) joked that her sister Phyllis (right, both pictured in their 20s) was always the thin one, while she was a farmer's wife and more 'portly'

She said: 'I've always been heavier. I'm not fat, more plump, but Phyllis is the thin one. I was a farmer's wife.'

The twins had an elder sister, Dorothy, who died in 2006 aged 92. Dorothy was also a twin, but her sibling passed away during childbirth.

Both Irene and Phyllis married. Irene's husband Samuel died in 1999 and lived well into his 90s, and Phyllis' husband, Ray Jones, died aged 91 in 2006.

Irene (left) and her sister on Phyllis' diamond wedding anniversary

Although Irene never had any children, Phyllis' only son, Carl Jones, helps care for them both, especially now Phyllis has vascular dementia.

Carl, 58, said: 'My wife Patricia and I are here every day and we phone them at least once. They live independently and they're doing great, and if there's an emergency they'll ring me.

'They get on well but they do have their moments - but that's going to happen whether they're 100 or 20!'

Carl, who's now retired, added: 'Mum and Auntie Rene, as most people call her, have always lived a few miles apart, and now they live together.

'They're totally different though - Auntie Rene has always been very methodical and careful, but Mum always races around doing things.'

The pair are thought to be one of just six sets of 'centenarian' twins in the UK and go out for lunch most Fridays at the Lenchford Inn, where they celebrated their birthday.

They didn't ask for presents to mark their special day, instead requesting donations for the air ambulance. Irene said: 'We didn't want presents, we just wanted donations.
This is the shocking moment a gang of bullies chased a terrified student through a packed school corridor and attacked him.

Video showing the youngsters ganging up on Drew Breton, 13, has attracted more than 4.3 million views on Facebook.

He can be seen trying to walk away as another student continues to shove and punch him at Semmes Middle School, in Alabama.

Drew's mother Kimberly told FOX10 News that the bullying had been going on for a month and she has taken him out of school until the situation is resolved.

This is the shocking moment a gang of bullies chased terrified student Drew Benton, 13, through a packed school corridor and attacked him

She revealed how she found out about the incident after her son was suspended from school for fighting.

But when her son showed her the video online she realized that he was in fact the victim of bullying.

In the video, the thugs can be heard encouraging other pupils to hit Drew as he tries to run away down the hallway.

He tries to get into a classroom to tell a teacher but the door is locked leaving him backed into a corner as the yobs continue to hit him.

Drew's brother Corbin, who shared the footage online, posted: 'These kids have no idea who they are messing with and what he has been through already in his life.

'I can't even believe this is happening and there will be repercussions. This is not over, I'm sorry Drew, we love you.'

Drew can be seen trying to walk away as another student continues to shove and punch him at Semmes Middle School, in Alabama, USA.

In a later update, he revealed: 'My mum talked to the school. Please everyone learn from this, if you see someone getting bullied then step in and help put a stop to it by whatever means necessary.

'It may take some courage, maybe even selflessness, but it's infinitely more effective rather than remaining only a bystander.

'It only takes one person, be that person and make a difference. Drew hasn't gone to school for a week.

'This is about getting people to stand up against bullying nationwide so kids like Drew never again get bullied at schools like this.'

Mobile County School Superintendent Martha Peek said more than one student had been suspended and it was 'more severe than just an in-school suspension', according to FOX10 News.

In a statement on Saturday, the school's governing board said: 'Disciplinary actions were taken when the incident took place.

In the video, the thugs can be heard encouraging other pupils to hit Drew as he tries to run away down the hallway

'Matters like this are very serious and unacceptable in our schools. We urge everyone to report bullying and threats of bullying.'

The video has gathered hundreds of comments online, including pictures of an alleged bully and his parents.

LaTonya Stone posted: 'And that's the reason kids show up to school with a gun. This is utterly disgusting.'

Sammy Jo said: 'How can kids be so cruel when the poor kid didn't even provoke them. I'd be ashamed if my son ever became a bully.'

And Sheila Riddle messaged: 'Where the heck are the adults through this? Walking down hallways and not one adult hears the screaming?
Dr Matthew Puncher, pictured, killed himself with self-inflicted stab wounds, an inquest has ruled, although the possibility of someone else being involved in his death was 'not excluded'

A radiation expert who investigated the 'assassination' of Alexander Litvinenko was found dead five months after a trip to Russia, an inquest heard.

Matthew Puncher, 46, bled to death at his home from multiple stab wounds inflicted by two knives.

A pathologist said he could not ' exclude' the possibility that someone else was involved in the death - but concluded the injuries were self-inflicted.

It led a coroner to record that Dr Puncher - who discovered the amount of toxic polonium inside ex-KGB agent Litvinenko after he drank poisoned tea in London in 2006 - committed suicide.

The inquest also heard the father-of-three had 'become obsessed' with a coding error he made in his research which he feared could 'land him in prison' for breaking a contract with the US Government, while his wife said his mood had 'completely changed' following a trip to Russia.

Dr Puncher was found dead at his home in Drayton, Oxfordshire, in May with stab wounds to his arms, neck and upper abdomen.

He was an expert in radiation protection dosimetry and worked for Public Health England at the UK's Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire.

He had been given sole responsibility over a contract with the US Federal Government for a programme measuring polonium levels inside people who previously worked on the USSR's nuclear weapons.

Head of department at Harwell, George Etherington, described Dr Puncher's concerns that his 'miscalculation' of the effects of the radiation on the workers would land him prison as 'irrational'.

The inquest also heard that redundancies and restructuring at Public Health England's premises in Harwell, near Didcot, had resulted in Mr Puncher receiving a much greater workload.

Colleague George Etherington said in a statement that Dr Puncher was a senior scientist working in the area of radiation exposure.

He said: 'About three to five years ago we began to carry out contractual work for the American Federal Government working on risks of exposure to plutonium.

'About two to three years ago Matt was asked to take the lead and in April 2015 the restructuring was completed,' he said.

Dr Matthew Puncher, who investigated the 'assassination' of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, pictured, committed suicide, an inquest ruled

'In February 2016 he attended a meeting in Russia and when he returned he appeared to be quiet and more confined and people told me mistakes made in mathematical analysis came to light during this meeting.

'On April 27 I could see Matt was stressed and he said he had made a mistake and he thought he could be prosecuted for not meeting the contractual commitment.

'He said it was having an effect on his marriage but said his wife was very supportive but he had been having thoughts of suicide. I told him his fears were groundless and he would look back and wonder why he worried so much.'

The inquest heard Dr Puncher had told other workers about the error in his paper which was rectified in an addendum but that was something he believed was a way of 'fudging it.'

He also told colleagues he thought he was having a nervous breakdown and his brain was not working. It was also revealed during the inquest that his work had been evaluated as excellent and he was in line for a bonus.

However the bonus was blocked by the Human Resources department due to only a certain amount of employees being entitled to the bonus payments. He also raised concerns about the travel conditions for his journey to Russia.

Detective Constable Rachel Clarke, who investigated the death, said: 'His injuries were so extensive, I didn't know how he could have inflicted them on himself without becoming unconscious so we looked at the wider circumstances.'

DC Clarke said there was no evidence of a disturbance or a struggle and no evidence of anyone else's blood.

Dr Puncher worked at the UK's Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire, ringed, but the inquest heard he feared a 'coding error' he made could land him 'in prison'

She added: 'It was very unusual. All the information told us he was very depressed and no-one in his family seemed particularly surprised he had taken his own life.'

His post mortem was carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt, who said it was possible for a person to self-inflict the number of wounds he did before becoming unconscious

Dr Hunt also conducted the post mortem on weapons expert Dr David Kelly in 2003, who was found dead in Oxfordshire woodland around 10 miles from where Dr Puncher lived.

The Hutton Inquiry concluded that Dr Kelly had committed suicide.

Dr Puncher's wife Kathryn, who was married to him for 16 years, told Oxford Coroner's Court his mood 'completely changed' after the visit to Russia before Christmas.

She said: 'He was always an upbeat and sensitive man.

'He was brilliant with the children as he was so intelligent and enjoyed helping them with their homework.

BATTLE FOR JUSTICE: THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER LITVINENKO A public inquiry concluded earlier this year that the killing of Mr Litvinenko - an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin - who died in 2006 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 - had 'probably' been carried out with the approval of the Russian president. The inquiry headed by the former high court judge Sir Robert Owen found two Russian men - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun - had deliberately poisoned Mr Litvinenko by putting polonium-210 into his drink at a London hotel, leading to an agonising death. It said the use of the radioactive substance - which could only have come from a nuclear reactor - was a 'strong indicator' of state involvement and that the two men had probably been acting under the direction of the FSB. A UK public inquiry found Andrei Lugovoi, pictured, was one of two men who 'deliberately poisoned' Mr Litvinenko by putting polonium in his drink at a London hotel Possible motives included Mr Litvinenko's work for British intelligence agencies, his criticism of the FSB, and his association with other Russian dissidents, while it said there was also a 'personal dimension' to the antagonism between him and Mr Putin. International arrest warrants issued for Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun remain in force although Russia continues to refuse their extradition. In a statement to mark the 10th anniversary of his death, Marina Litvinenko said her husband - who she called Sasha - had been an 'extraordinary man' whose courage in speaking out against the Russian security service, the FSB, had left an enduring legacy. While she acknowledged Mr Putin had refused to accept the inquiry's findings, she said it remained open for other world leaders to take action against the Russian state and that she hoped her struggle to find the truth had not been in vain. Dmitry Kovtun, pictured, was also found responsible for the death by the inquiry 'It has taken 10 long years for the truth to be established and for Sasha's dying words that President Putin was responsible for his death to be proved to be true,' she said. 'I know that Mr Putin's Russia does not accept the findings of the British public inquiry and will continue to deny the truth in the face of overwhelming evidence. 'But those findings are now part of history and the rest of the world understands the difference between truth and propaganda. And that is what matters to me. 'What action world leaders will take against the ever vengeful Russian state in these dramatic times remains to be seen. I hope and pray that my struggle has not been in vain.' Advertisement

'After Christmas he changed completely. He just lost interest and I had to prompt him to do things like getting dressed and washing up, things he did without thinking before.

'He used to cook all the meals but he just stopped. He seemed to stop caring about anything.'

Dr Puncher and a colleague calculated the amount of polonimum-210 found inside Alexander Litvinenko's body following his death in 2006.

Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian FSB secret service who specialised in tackling organised crime.

He fled with his family to London and was granted asylum in 2000 and worked as a journalist, writer and consultant for the British intelligence services.

In January 2016 a UK public inquiry concluded the defector was probably murdered on the direct orders of the Russian security service FSB, approved by President Putin.

Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Graham recorded a verdict of suicide.
A former US Marine whose penis was chopped off by his then wife has admitted he was not immediately aware that he had been severely injured.

John Wayne Bobbitt, 49, was attacked by his then-wife Lorena, 46, at their home in Virginia in 1993.

In an interview with Scandal Made Me Famous: Lorena Bobbitt on Reelz, Bobbitt admitted: 'I didn't know she cut it off. She did it so fast and ran so fast  I thought maybe I saw a little bit of her in my peripheral running out the bedroom door.'

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John Wayne Bobbitt, pictured, admitted he did not realize his wife had chopped off his penis

Following his injury, Bobbitt, pictured with Playboy Playmates in Las Vegas in 1994, appeared in several pornographic movies and claims he has managed to sleep with more than 70 women

Lorena Bobbitt, left, was later acquitted of attacking her then-husband by reason of insanity

He continued: 'But I looked down and there was blood everywhere. I applied pressure  I get up and try to put my pants on, and tried to get to the hospital as fast as I could.'

After chopping off the tip of Bobbitt's penis, his wife took the section and threw it into a field after she ran from the house.

Bobbitt called his friend to drive him to the hospital. Luckily the missing section was recovered and officers were able to reattach it.

Following his recovery, Bobbitt even managed to appear in some pornographic movies.

Dr John T Sehn, pictured, showed jurors an image of Bobbitt's severed penis during his wife's trial. Dr Sehn led a team of surgeons who spent nine hours reattaching the detached section

Lorna Bobbitt used a large knife to chop off her then-husband's penis during the 1993 attack

John Bobbitt will appear on Saturday on Scandal Made Me Famous on Reelz at 9pm ET

He also claims he slept with more than 70 women.

The couple divorced in 1995, although Lorena Bobbitt was acquitted of attacking her husband by reason of insanity.

He was cleared of assaulting his wife earlier that same night.
Having raked in 120,000 for just one speech earlier this month, one would assume David Cameron wouldn't need to go bargain hunting.

But this morning the former Prime Minister was spotted taking advantage of Black Friday discounts in PC World on the high street in Kensington, south west London.

With a shopping list in one hand and his phone in his other, he looked to be making the most of the Christmas bargains.

The former Prime Minister was seen shopping in PC World and Maplin on the high street in Kensington, south west London

It was a world away from his successor Theresa May, who was today visiting a factory in Bedfordshire answering questions about yesterday's Autumn Statement, which unveiled a 30billion spending spree that confirmed the end of Cameron and George Osborne's austerity agenda.

Mr Cameron's search for bargains is even more surprising considering his recent earnings.

Since quitting as an MP in September, he has signed onto the lucrative speaking circuit.

He was paid an eye-catching 120,000 for a speech to Wall Street financiers earlier this month, which was understood to have lasted little more than an hour - a rate that would work out at 2,000 a minute.

The astonishing amount is around two thirds the salary he earned in a whole year in Downing Street.

He is also penning his memoirs, which is expected to rival the 4.6million Tony Blair earned for the advance of his autobiography.

With a shopping list in one hand and his phone in his other, Mr Cameron looked to be making the most of the Christmas bargains

David Cameron was also seen peering into Maplin for bargains in Kensington this morning

His close friend and former Chancellor George Osborne has also been raking in cash since leaving government.

The latest Commons register showed he earned 220,000 for just three speeches to bankers last month.

They come on top of some 100,000 he had previously disclosed from giving two talks, one to traders in New York and at Stanford University.

The scale of Mr Osborne's earnings on the corporate circuit are likely to cause anger after warnings yesterday that the national debt could hit 2trillion by 2021.

Mr Osborne and David Cameron - who has also been giving highly lucrative speeches - have been accused of leaving the public finances in a woeful state before being swept out of office by the Brexit vote.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday predicted that government debt will be 122billion higher than previously thought by 2021 - blaming half the increase on the decision to cut ties with Brussels.

Tatton MP Mr Osborne was in the House of Commons to hear his successor as Chancellor, Philip Hammond, tear up his fiscal rules.

The government had promised to record a surplus by 2019-20, but Mr Hammond said that would now only happen as soon as 'practicable'. He made clear that will not be until well into the 2020s.
An argument over a pack of cigarettes led to the murder of a Connecticut man according to law-enforcement sources who spoke with the New York Post.

Joseph Comunale, 26, was allegedly stabbed to death by party boy and con man James Rackover, 25, after telling him he was leaving his late-night afterparty to go grab some smokes.

The other man who has been arrested in connection with Rackover's death, 28-year-old Lawrence Dillione, reportedly told police that after Rackover refused to let Comunale leave, the young man said to his host: 'What are you going to do about it?'

It is unclear what happened after this, or if this is possibly why Comunale could be seen leaving the apartment and then reentering around 7:30am on the day he was killed.

Both Rackover and Dilione are being held in connection with Communale's death, but neither has been charged with murder at this time.

Rackover has called the charges 'bulls***' while Dilione was released on a $300,000 bond on Wednesday according to the New York Department of Corrections.

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A law-enforcement source claims that the murder of Joseph Comunale (above) close to two weeks ago was over a pack of cigarettes

Comunale, 26, was at the apartment of James Rackover with Lawrence Dilione (pair above), when he told his host he was going to get smokes

Comunale was laid to rest in Stamford, Connecticut Wednesday in front of 800 friends and family members

Comunale was laid to rest on Wednesday in Stamford, Connecticut, at St Leo's Church, where over 800 heartbroken friends and family members turned up to pay their final respects.

His father Pat broke down in tears as he spoke to those in attendance, saying: 'Well, Joeyd be mad at me for crying, because he never cried.

'He loved his friends. That's a testament to what kind of kid he was. And he shared everything with his friends, I can assure you.'

Family members and friends outside the church said that all they want now is for justice to be served, and for Dilione and Rackover to go to prison for killing the caring young man with a 'big heart.'

Rackover and Dilione both appeared in a Manhattan courtroom last Thursday evening where a judge set their bond at $3million each.

They were each initially charged with concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence after one or both of them allegedly stabbed Comunale 15 times and then tried to burn his body with gasoline on Sunday.

Dilione is also facing an additional charge for hindering prosecution.

Rackover was also indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Monday, with those charges set to be revealed at his first court appearance next month.

The body of Comunale, who goes by the name Joey, was discovered in a wooded stretch on the Jersey shore early Wednesday.

The area is just minutes from Dilione's workplace, Shore Point Roofing.

Comunale's heartbroken friends are comforted at his funeral on Wednesday

Both Dilione (above) and Rackhouse (above) are being held in connection with Comunale's death but neither has been charged with murder

Rackhouse (above) was indicted by a grand jury on Monday and has called claims that he murdered Comunale 'bulls***'

Comunale's partially-burned remains were found inside a suitcase that had been buried behind Foggia's Florist in the town of Oceanport. There were multiple stab wounds on the victim's body while he also suffered a broken pelvis.

Comunale was reported missing at 8am on Tuesday by his father after he never returned home from his weekend trip to New York City.

He reportedly met Rackover and Dilione at Gilded Lily, a club on West 14th Street, and that at the end of the evening they headed back to Rackover's apartment on 59th Street with three women.

The three women then left early that morning, and Comunale was seen reentering the building around 7:30am.

Some time after he returned the men reportedly got into a fight and Comunale was stabbed multiple times.

Then at some point a person inside called the front desk to request a luggage cart.

Not long after that, a man was recorded on surveillance video using the cart to transport two pieces of luggage out of the building.

A building employee was also reportedly asked by an individual in the building how long video surveillance was kept before it gets erased.

Dilione (left), 28, reportedly told police that after Rackhouse (right) refused to let Comunale leave, Comnunale said to the host: 'What are you going to do?'

Racjhouse changed his name in March of last year after moving in with Jeffrey Rackhouse (pair above in May 2014)

Rackover was born James Arthur Beaudoin Jr. in Florida, and was arrested multiple times for burglary, armed robbery, and drug possession.

Then, in January of 2009 he was charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, again in Broward County.

For that arrest he was also charged with violating his probation.

He left Broward County and his criminal past behind however to travel north to New York, where he found a new home in Jeffrey Rackover's multimillion dollar apartment.

James was later given his own apartment in the same building, which is where police believe the grizzly murder of Comunale occurred this weekend.

Jeffrey treated James as the son he never had and allowed him to formally use his name.
Andrew Berry, 48, embarked on a year-long relationship with the besotted teenager

A teacher seduced a pupil after she developed a teenage crush on him, a court was told.

Andrew Berry, 48, embarked on a year-long relationship with the besotted teenager after inviting her to his home.

He had asked her to tutor his own daughter in maths at his flat and the pair would meet regularly and talk.

During the summer school holidays the infatuated teenager made a pass at him and kissed him.

He seduced her and over a period of a year the divorced teacher, a father of two teenage children, and the girl would meet up for sex.

The pair were eventually rumbled when the girl called off the relationship and a school friend told her father.

Berry, who was head of the English department at Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove, East Sussex, stormed round to her house and banged on the door with his fists.

Police were called and he was arrested and later charged with two counts of having sexual activity with someone while in a position of trust.

Lewes Crown Court heard that Berry met and had sex with the young pupil at least 15 times between July 2014 and June 2015. She was 17 when Berry started having sex with her.

Tim Forster, prosecuting, said Berry, a teacher at the school for more than 20 years, had first taught the girl when she was 12 years old.

He said: 'When she was 14 she developed a teenage crush on him and she would speak to him at break time and in the corridors around the school.

Berry (right), who was head of the English department at Cardinal Newman Catholic School (pictured left) in Hove, stormed round to her house and banged on the door with his fists

'He invited her to tutor his own daughter in maths and invited her round to his flat. It was an unwise thing to have done knowing that she had a crush on him.

'During the school holidays she kissed him and the relationship became sexual shortly after that.'

Mr Forster said the pair would meet at his flat on a Wednesday and Saturday and would have sex.

The girl ended the relationship after about a year last June and he was later arrested and charged with the offences.

The court heard that although the relationship between the pair was consensual it was illegal because he was a teacher at the girl's school and was therefore in position of trust.

Their relationship was uncovered and Berry was immediately suspended from the school.

Berry wept as he sentenced to handed an eight month sentence for each offence suspended for two years.

Judge Anthony told Berry: 'You were in a position of trust, she was a pupil. This case represents a tragedy for you and for her.'

After the offence was discovered an investigation was launched and a team from Ofsted was sent into the school amid safeguarding fears.

The girl ended the relationship after about a year last June and he was later arrested and charged with the offences

They found the quality of the school had slumped from being 'good' in 2012 to 'requires improvement' last year.

Simon Hughes, who compiled the report, said: 'The inspection was scheduled in response to qualifying complaints of a child protection nature, and that these had been investigated by the appropriate authorities.

'Inspectors observed some boisterous behaviour when pupils were moving between lessons.

'The school provided inspectors with extremely detailed information which showed a high incidence of low-level disruption.

'It also showed several examples of more serious breaches of discipline, including truancy, failing to attend detention, verbal abuse and physical assaults.'

Last year Cardinal Newman also faced criticism when it banned students from wearing coats because they posed a security threat.

They brought in the ban in a week when temperatures plummeted below freezing.
Turkey's bid to join the EU looks doomed after the European Parliament demanded that membership talks with Ankara are frozen.

The demand was made amid growing unease over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 'increasingly authoritarian regime' in the country.

It comes after the Turkish government launched a heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July.

The demand was made amid growing unease over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 'increasingly authoritarian regime' in the country

The European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution today by a 479-37 margin with 107 abstentions and said the freeze should last until Ankara's 'disproportionate measures' under the state of emergency are lifted.

Despite the parliamentary vote, EU officials have said that longstanding but unsuccessful talks should not immediately be halted.

Some EU nations have called for the suspension of the talks.

But the bloc is struggling to reach a common stance that would balance EU nations' need for Ankara's continued help to stop hundreds of thousands of refugees heading to Europe with their concerns about rights abuses.

'By continuing the illusion of accession talks with an increasingly authoritarian regime, the EU is losing credibility, is fooling our citizens, and also betraying those Turkish citizens who look to Europe as their future,' said Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal ALDE group.

It comes after the Turkish government launched a heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July. Supporters of Erdogan are pictured staging a rally in Istanbul in July

Anticipating the vote, Erdogan had already said that his country's 'struggle for its stability and future won't be interrupted by (European legislators) raising and lowering their hands.'

Although the vote carries no immediate consequences, it underscores the increasing unease in Europe over Erdogan's tightening grip on power in the wake of the coup attempt.

Tens of thousands of people, including teachers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, have been arrested or fired. As reports of more detentions and repression came in, the EU's stance has steadily hardened.

'We can no longer remain silent in the face of Erdogan's outrage and the evident breaches of the rule of law and human rights,' said S&D socialist leader Gianni Pittella.

In Ankara on Thursday, The minister in charge of negotiations with the EU criticized EU nations for not standing in solidarity with Turkey at a time when it is dealing with a spate of violent attacks.
A serial armed robber, who left a brave Flying Squad officer with serious head injuries in a foiled smash-and-grab raid, said a judge was 'taking the p***' as he was jailed for life.

Charlie Kavanagh, 26, was part of a gang of armed robbers who wielded axes and machetes in a terrifying raid on a luxury watch store in London.

Det Con Richard Watson was left with a fractured skull and four other officers were hurt tackling the raiders as they arrived at the Chronext shop in Piccadilly on August 3.

This is the moment serial armed robber Charlie Kavanagh, 26, on a moped mowed down a Flying Squad officer leaving him brain damaged in a foiled smash-and-grab raid

Members of the gang are arrested outside the Chronext jewellery shop in Piccadilly

Det Con Richard Watson was left with a fractured skull and four other officers were hurt tackling the raiders as they arrived at the Chronext shop

Kavanagh admitted causing serious injuries to DC Watson by dangerous driving after running him over on a moped.

He had been let out of jail on licence when he drove directly for DC Watson, who was looking the other way, as he tried to escape.

Kavanagh has three previous convictions for conspiracy to rob and today Judge Sally Cahill QC said he posed a 'serious risk to the public'.

Stephen Hopkins, 29, who was also on licence at the time, left one of DC Watson's colleagues, Det Con Will Roscoe, with a gaping wound to his leg after slashing him with a machete.

Hopkins received a 14-and-a-half year prison sentence, with ten and a half of that to be spend behind bars and the rest on extended licence.

Charlie Kavanagh, 26, was part of a gang of armed robbers who wielded axes and machetes in a terrifying raid on a luxury watch store

Balding James Symes, 30, was handed the same sentence. Johnny Kyriacou, 25, wearing a black t-shirt, was sent to prison for 10 and a half years.

The men were laughing, messing around in the dock and waving to family members throughout the hearing at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Judge Sally Cahill QC told Kavanagh: 'I am satisfied you pose a risk to members of the public of serious harm and that you will commit further specified offences.

'For the offence of conspiracy to commit robbery and dangerous driving the sentence in your case is a sentence for life.

'This was not only a robbery but also you caused serious injury in your attempts to escape. The sentence is a life sentence of imprisonment.'

Judge Cahill told him if she had not passed a life sentence he would have received 13 and a half years in prison. He was also banned from driving for 10 years.

As the sentence was passed family members in the packed public gallery weeped and called out while Kavanagh said: 'You're taking the piss'.

Machete-wielding thieves were dramatically stopped by plain-clothed police officers as they tried to rob a luxury jewellery shop in the capital

Turning to Hopkins Judge Cahill said she was worried about the escalation in his offending and his criminal and drug connections and extended his sentence.

'You posed risk of significant harm to members of the public and committing further specified offences,' she said.

'The sentence will be one of 10 years and six months extended for four years.

'10-and a-half years imprisonment and four years in extended licence.

'I pass a sentence of 12 months for the unlawful wounding to run concurrently.'

Det Con Richard Watson was left with a fractured skull and four other officers were hurt tackling the raiders as they arrived at the Chronext shop in Piccadilly on August 3

Kavanagh admitted causing serious injuries to DC Watson by dangerous driving after running him over on a moped

Hopkins shook his head as he was led from the dock and a family member stormed from the courtroom.

Judge Cahill passed the exact same sentence for Symes who saluted his family who in turn shouted 'stay strong' as he was led away.

Finally turning to Kyriacou the judge accepted that he had not struggled with police, unlike the rest of the gang, and passed a sentence of 10-and-a half-years but did not extend it. His family looked on weeping.

Kavanagh, from Islington, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and conspiracy to rob. He was sent to prison for life.

Hopkins (left), from Islington, admitted conspiracy to rob and was given a 14 and a half year sentence with ten and a half of that to be served in prison and four on licence. Symes (right), of no fixed address, admitted conspiracy to rob and received the same length sentence as Hopkins

He will be eligible for parole after just under seven years, half of his sentence had judge Cahill not passed one of life.

Hopkins, from Islington, admitted conspiracy to rob and was given a 14-and-a-half year sentence with ten and a half of that to be served in prison and four on licence.

He was given 12 months for unlawful wounding to run concurrently.

Symes, of no fixed address, admitted conspiracy to rob and received the same length sentence as Hopkins.

Kyriacou, also from Islington, was sent to prison for 10-and-a-half years

Kyriacou, also from Islington, was sent to prison for 10-and-a-half years.

They will be eligible for release after five years.

Judge Cahill said all the officers involved in the case 'deserved to be commended' for their efforts before the event and on the day.

Speaking after DC Watson was left seriously injured, Det Supt Craig Turner said: 'Our officers are absolutely committed to keeping London safe and target the criminals who pose a danger to Londoners and our city businesses day in, day out.

'They know that this work carries with it very real risks and dangers but take this in their stride as part of serving the public.
An Indiana mother has been arrested for allegedly injecting feces into her 15-year-old son's IV bag while he was undergoing cancer treatment.

Tiffany Alberts, 41, of Wolcott has been charged with six counts of aggravated battery and one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury.

Alberts' son, who is not named, was being treated at Riley Hospital for Children for leukemia and officers were called to the facility for possible child abuse last Thursday, according to WXIN.

Tiffany Alberts, 41, (left) has been charged with aggravated battery and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. The mother-of-five is accused of injecting feces into her 15-year-old son's IV bag while he was undergoing cancer treatment (boy shown right)

After the teen had several unexplained infections that were delaying his treatment, hospital staff placed a surveillance camera in his room, court documents state.

The surveillance video allegedly showed the mother-of-five injecting an unknown substance with a syringe into her son's IV bag on several different occasions.

Hospital staff told investigators the teen had received his first round of chemotherapy in September and was sent home.

However, he returned days later with a fever and was experiencing diarrhea and vomiting, according to court documents.

Alberts' son was being treated at Riley Hospital for Children (pictured) for leukemia and officers were called to the facility for possible child abuse last Thursday after the teen had several unexplained infections that were delaying his treatment

Staff noted his symptoms had not improved and he subsequently had to undergo several surgeries and spent 18 days in the intensive care unit, documents show.

Doctors told investigators the boy tested positive for blood cultures with organisms normally found in feces and that he could have died from any of the septic shock episodes caused from the fecal matter in his blood.

In a police interview, Alberts initially told investigators she had injected water into her son's IV bag to 'flush the line' because the medicine he was given 'burned.'

However, she later confessed she had injected fecal matter into the IV bag in the hopes of getting her son moved to another unit that had better treatment, according to court documents.

Once Alberts was removed from her son's hospital room, his health improved, documents state.

Alberts pictured left and with one of her children, right. Alberts allegedly confessed she had injected fecal matter into the IV bag in the hopes of getting her son moved to another unit that had better treatment

Alberts, who is listed as a special education teacher on her Facebook page, and her family has suffered several tragedies over the years including the loss of her husband Jason (pictured)

However, doctors expressed concern they may have missed their window to keep the boy's leukemia in remission and that he could die from leukemia due to the prolonged delay in treatment, according to court documents.

Alberts, who is listed as a special education teacher on her Facebook page, and her family has suffered several tragedies over the years.

In May, she lost her husband Jason Alberts before her teen son, who has a mild form of autism, was diagnosed with leukemia in July.

He has been in treatment at Riley Hospital for Children since July 26, according to the Herald Journal.

Alberts' 13-year-old daughter was diagnosed with follicular adnexal carcinoma cancer that was removed this spring.

She is back to normal after her surgery was a success.
Stephen Ports alleged dealer appeared in court today accused of supplying him with the date rape drugs he used to murder four young gay men.

Gerald Matovu, 23, from London, is alleged to have supplied the former escort and bus garage cook with party drug mephedrone, known as Miaow Miaow, and GHB.

They are dubbed date-rape' drugs because of their stupefying effects in high doses, and Port, now one of Britain's worst serial killers used it to knock out his victims.

He is facing a whole life sentence for the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, who were abused and killed between June 2014 and September last year.

Gerald Matovu, 23, left today, from London, is alleged to have supplied serial killer Stephen Port, right, with 'date rape' drugs he used in four murders

The 41-year-old lured them to his one-bedroom flat in Barking, east London after meeting them on gay dating sites such as Grindr before plying them with lethal doses of the Class C drug.

Matovu appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today, speaking only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

Prosecutor Katie Bryan said: Mr Stephen Port, whose name appears throughout these charges, was arrested and remanded in relation to the murder of four men in October 2015.

His mobile phone was seized and sent for analysis and data extraction. The examination of the mobile phone showed messages between Stephen Port and his then sexual partner and between Mr Port and the defendant.

Messages between Mr Port and his partner showed them making arrangements to engage in a sexual practice known as slamming, involving the injection of drugs directly into the arm.

Mr Port describes the defendant as his drug dealer in the messages to his then partner and states the defendant is a nurse who is able to inject him and his partner.

Port was questioned over the death of Anthony Walgate (left). He was eventually jailed for perverting the course of justice, but not before Gabriel Kovari (right) was also found dead

Port made the death of Daniel Whitworth (left) look like it was connected to that of Mr Kovari. His final victim was Jack Taylor, whose family were angry at the police's investigation

Matovu, of Southwark, is yet to enter pleas to charges of supplying Class B drug mephedrone, Class C drug GHB, and offering to supply GHB.

Chair of the bench Carolyn Mishon granted Matovu unconditional bail ahead of a preliminary hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 22 December.
A new batch of fighters have graduated from a Taliban training camp, and a set of photographs has been released to celebrate.

One image shows soon-to-be mujahideen militants at what appears to be a 'passing out' ceremony standing not on the shoulders of giants, but of other brainwashed fundamentalists.

The image, released by the Taliban, features a blurred mountaintop - presumably to make it difficult to find their location through satellite technology.

The image, released by the Taliban, has a blurred mountaintop - presumably to make it difficult to find their identity through satellite technology

Fundamentalist fighters were pictured brandishing rifles after graduating from the training camp

The pictures, in which faces of Taliban members are blurred, show graduates from the Khalid Bin Walid Training Camp

The graduates, all with their faces covered, completed a 45-day training course

The pictures, which also show members brandishing weapons and taking part in target practise, show recent graduates from the Khalid Bin Walid Training Camp, which operates across several sites in Afghanistan.

The camp is part of the Taliban's Commission for Military Camps and Martyrdom Battalions, and students underwent a 45-day training course, learning military skills and Islamic creed.

A statement on a pro-Taliban website in Afghanistan said the 150 graduates had 'shone brightly on the battlefields and have been touted by military commanders for their military skill'.

The masked gunmen were among 150 soon-to-be militants to graduate from the training camp

The graduating students 'shone brightly on the battlefields' according to a pro-Taliban website

The trainee Taliban members were pictured doing target practise during their training

The Taliban says 150 recruits completed the training course, in which they learn military techniques and Islamic theory

All the recruits' faces were hidden in the pictures, released by the Taliban

The recruits were pictured firing on a mountainside range, in pictures released by the Taliban
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The NYPD put on an unprecedented show of force with 3,000 officers deployed to protect the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from attack as millions of spectators lined the route to watch the spectacle.

Charlie Brown, one of three new giant character inflatables in this year's parade, led the signature balloons as the parade kicked off on Thursday morning with the spraying of confetti and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.

Costumes characters mingled with revelries and crowds cheered as clowns on bicycles rode by carrying bundles of balloons.

Officials expected 3.5million people to converge for the nationally televised ritual that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season with giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters, including Thomas the Tank Engine and SpongeBob SquarePants. Another 50million watch the celebration from home.

Crowds, some as many as ten deep, lined the 2.5-mile parade route, which starts on Manhattan's Upper West Side and makes its way down to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street.

But attendees also saw some somber sights, like the 82 trucks from the Sanitation Department filled with sand that were placed at intersections and other places as barriers against any kind of attack.

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Charlie Brown, one of three new giant character inflatables in this year's parade, led the signature balloons in the parade

Scrat, the squirrel from the Ice Age movie franchise, is pictured left, and right, The Elf on the Shelf balloon in the parade

The Tap Dancing Christmas Trees perform with the Spongebob Squarepants float during the Thanksgiving Day parade

A balloon of Eruptor, a lava monster in the Skylanders video games, is pictured during the parade along Central Par

The NYPD is putting on an unprecedented show of force with 3,000 officers deployed to protect the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from attack

An NYC Department of Sanitation truck filled with sand blocks the street at Central Park South as people gather for the event

Police used sand-filled trucks, radiation detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and heavily armed officers on Thursday to defend the parade, which ISIS has called an 'excellent target.'

There was a heavy police presence, with officers in uniform carrying assault weapons and portable radiation detectors. Officers in plainclothes were also among the crowds of people.

Authorities said there is no confirmation of any credible threat and urged spectators to come out for the parade.

But ISIS has encouraged readers of its online magazine Rumiyah to use motor vehicles to kill and injure people, similar to the way a Tunisian-born assailant killed more than 80 people at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France.

ISIS, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria and seeks to inspire attacks by others abroad, claimed responsibility for the July 14 attack in Nice.

As a result, the NYPD stepped up security levels from last year, when 2,500 officers were stationed along the route, and placed all its counter-terrorism officers on duty.

The sand trucks used on Thursday weigh 16 tons (14.5 metric tonnes) and twice that when filled with sand, making them difficult to move even if rammed by large vehicles.

The Charlie Brown balloon is seen making its way down the Thanksgiving Day Parade route while police are seen on duty

People use a security dump truck as a viewing stand during the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Macy's Elf balloons float above a Christmas float on 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

A Santa Claus makes its way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan

A Happy Dragon novelty balloon is pictured making its way down the 2.5mile-long Thanksgiving Day Parade route

Charlie Brown, one of three new giant inflatables in this year's parade, l led the signature balloons as the parade kicked off

Charlie Brown (right) floats above Central Park West and Felix the Cat (left), which was the parade's first character balloon

Poppy, Branch and Guy Diamond from the animated film Trolls fly down the parade route. Brand new this year, each Troll is more than two stories tall with 12 to 14 feet of hair

Scrat from 'Ice Age' balloon, which is as high as a four-story building and as wide as six taxi cabs, floats above 6th Avenue

An Angry Bird float makes its way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Charlie Brown balloon (left) made its debut this year, but returning favorites included Thomas the Tank Engine (right)

A marching band makes its way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan

The Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger (pictured above) balloon is five stories tall and requires 90 handlers

Returning favorites include Ronald McDonald (above) pictured moving along Central Park West on Thursday morning

A balloon of Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is as high as a five-story building, floats along the parade route

The Paddington Bear balloon was a returning balloon in this year's parade and required 90 handlers to control

A Pikachu balloon makes its way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday morning

A Hello Kitty float, which is as high as a three story building, makes its way down 6th Avenue during the parade

A character with balloons marches in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade amid a heavy police presence in Manhattan

THANKSGIVING DAY BY THE NUMBERS The NYPD's marching band in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade consisted of 50 members of the force, led this year by Lt. Tony Giorgio. The parade also feature 1,000 clowns - including costumed jesters from the Funny Fire Brigade and the Keystone Cop Clowns. The average American will consume 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day - for just dinner. With drinks, dessert and appetizers, the total calorie count could be as much as 4,500, the Calorie Control Council says. The National Turkey Foundation estimates that 46million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving - and 22 per cent of them come from Minnesota. But many Americans prefer mashed potatoes, with 31 per cent saying its their favorite side dish during the holiday in a 2013 survey. Thanksgiving is always a chaotic travel period, but this year is set to be the busiest in almost a decade. The American Automobile Association forecast that 48.7million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles between Wednesday and Sunday, the most since 2007. Advertisement

Security at the parade was also bolstered during the one that came two months after the September 11 attacks.

Although exact figures were not given, authorities said the police presence was 10 to 15 per cent higher than in the past, according to a 2001 report in the New York Times.

'We are aware of some of the reports that have been out there, but I want to assure all New Yorkers there's no credible and specific information of any specific threat directed toward this parade,' New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference on Wednesday.

De Blasio estimated that 250,000 people came out on Wednesday to watch the giant balloons being inflated.

Spectators take pictures as a float carrying Santa Clause goes by during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York

Santa Claus, Mrs Claus and his elves waves from his float as he passes along Sixth Avenue during the Macy's Parade

Crowds, sometimes ten people deep, lined Central Park West during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York

Tony Bennett waves from a float during the Parade. The singer almost tumbled from the float but was saved by Miss Piggy

Spectators watch from behind New York Police vehicles as Santa Claus passes by along Sixth Avenue during the parade

New York City police officers join spectators taking pictures as a float carrying Santa Claus passes by during the parade

People crowd a New York City Police cruiser to get a photograph of Santa Claus during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

Clowns dressed in pajamas and carrying teddy bears wander down the parade route ahead of the Spongebob float

Spectators are seen settled in with blankets to keep warm behind the security barriers while an NYPD dog goes by

People watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade near Sixth Avenue in Manhattan on Thursday morning

Spectators watch from behind New York Police vehicles as Santa Claus passes by along Sixth Avenue

A New York police officer greets a young spectator in the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday

SpongeBob SquarePants' Balloon floats behind a crowd of clowns during Macy's 90th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade

Officials said they expected 3.5million spectators to line the parade route while another 50million watched from home

People react to a float carrying Santa Clause during the nationally televised Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday

Spectators lean over a barrier as a marching band approaches along Central Park South during the Thanksgiving Day parade

The SpongeBob Square Pants balloon moves down Sixth Avenue during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Officers carrying assault rifles and bomb-sniffing dogs lined the parade route, along with plainclothes officers in the crowd

The Ronald McDonald balloon makes its way across Sixth Avenue during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

people watch from balconies along Central Park South as the Pillsbury Doughboy balloon floats by during the parade

Cheerleaders make their way across Sixth Avenue during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in New York, on Thursday

People watch from their windows as the NYPD balloon floats during Macy's 90th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade

A balloon inspired by the Elf on the Shelf, a character from the beloved children's book, floats among the city's skyscrapers

The Skylanders Eruptor balloon floats above Central Park South in the parade with its 90 handles seen below

Dressed as a candy cane, Ellie Steingraeber, left, talks with Maelya Kakou, three, in pink jacket, and her mother Maeva Lefebvre during the parade. Right, a balloon of popular Pokemon Pikachu

The popular SpongeBob SqaurePants' balloon, which needs 90 handlers, is seen moving down the parade route

The Power Ranger's balloon made another appearance during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year

A child watches the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as a float featuring Mr Peanut passes down the street

Costumes characters mingled with revelries and crowds cheered as clowns on bicycles rode by carrying bundles of balloons

Members of the Hendrickson High School band from Pflugerville, Texas, march on Central Park West during the parade

Cheerleaders from Spirit of America perform along the parade route near Central Park in Manhattan on Thursday

Spectators, all wrapped up warm for the parade. smile as floats pass during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Ronald McDonald's balloon floats during Macy's 90th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City

The annual parade, which began in 1924, features giant balloons of characters from popular culture floating above the streets

'The NYPD is ready,' de Blasio said. Police have been preparing 'literally since the end of last year's parade,' he added.

This year, police banned vehicle traffic from crossing the parade route, unlike in past years when a few cross streets were open, requiring the trucks and 114 smaller blocker cars.

'We get paid to keep people safe and we'll keep people safe tomorrow,' Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.

Among the celebrities in attendance were Tony Bennett, Aloe Blacc, Sarah McLachlan and Olympic gold medalists Laurie Hernandez, Claressa Shields and Michelle Carter.

The opening number included Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and other Muppets.

Miss Piggy proved to be the heroine of the day when she caught Bennett before the legendary singer nearly tumbled from a float after the pair wrapped up a duet of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town.'

Another winner from the parade was Mr Peanut, who 'dabbed' - where the dancer simultaneously drops the head while raising an arm and the elbow - from atop his float during his ride through the city.

Spirit of America dance stars make their way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The red Power Ranger float makes its way down 6th Avenue during the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

People inside buildings on 6th Avenue watch the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from indoors on Thursday

Sarah McLachlan is pictured with Al Roker (left) and Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez (right) at the parade

A marching band leads the Thanksgiving Day Parade ahead of Tom Turkey and the new Charlie Brown balloon

Trixie the Dog is seen floating along the parade route led by cheerleaders from Spirit of America Cheer

The Tough Guy and Bulldog Trycaloon, two of this year's balloonicles, are seen making their way along the parade route

Thousands of police officers lined the parade route during the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

But one prominent person who wasn't in his hometown for the parade is Donald Trump, who is spending the holiday at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police also used the sand trucks to protect nearby Trump Tower, the President-elect's home and campaign headquarters.

The parade draws millions of spectators every year as it makes its way through the streets of Manhattan before finishing up at Macy's flagship store.

The event, which began at 9am EST, started in Central Park and ran down Sixth Avenue, one block from Fifth Avenue where Trump Tower is located, and ended near the Macy's department store on 34th Street.

There is a heavy police presence, with officers in uniform with assault weapons and portable radiation detectors

Officers in plainclothes will be among the crowds while some officers in uniform will be accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs

Some spectators are seen holding up signs protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline as a clown skates by

People gathered along the 2.5mile parade route to protest the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline with signs and banners

The New York Fire Department take part in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday morning

Police officers in a marching band take part in the parade with a balloon of Harold the Policeman pictured floating behind

Young girls participating in the Thanksgiving Day Parade are pictured in their costumes during the annual spectacular

Members of a marching band greet other participants as they await the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

People in colorful costumes pose as they arrive to take part during the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Performers are seen skating along Central Park South before the start of the beloved parade on Thursday morning

A dancer with the Chengdu (China) Panda float is assisted by a fellow dancer before the start of the Thanksgiving Day Parade

Participants line up on Central Park West before the start of the popular Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday

A BELOVED TRADITION: A HISTORY OF MACY'S ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE For nine decades, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has signaled the official start of the holiday season. Every year, the tradition is witnessed by millions in person as well as more than 50million people at home, who tune in to witness the spectacle of the giant balloons and one-of-a-kind floats as well as a number of incredible performances. In 1924, the beloved tradition was started by Macy's employees and was known as the as Macy's Christmas Parade - and even featured animals from Central Park Zoo. It was branded such a success that the store announced it would become an annual event. The iconic giant balloons debuted to great fanfare in 1927 - with Felix the Cat as the first ever character balloon. Between 1942 and 1944, World War Two brought the parade to a halt for the first time in its history. Rubber and helium shortages meant the balloons were deflated and donated to the government. The parade starting line moved to 77th Street and Central Park West in 1946, drawing in a record-breaking two million spectators that year. It was also televised locally for the first time that year and nationally the year after. The spirit of the small group of employees in 1924 has led to the parade becoming the most spectacular holiday celebration in the world, requiring the help of more than 8,000 volunteers every year. The beloved Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (above, in 1931) was started by Macy's employees in 1924 Advertisement

The parade starts at Central Park West and makes its way through the streets of Manhattan before finishing up at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square

A balloon of Ronald McDonald is seen inflated and ready for the start of the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Some NYPD officers pose for a picture in front of a parade balloon ahead of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
By Amanda Williams for MailOnline

He was raised in a modest terraced home in inner-city 1940s Liverpool.

Now John Hargreaves, the man who built the Matalan empire after leaving school at 14, is a billionaire tax exile living in Monaco, a business genius credited with starting the low cost retailing revolution.

But the life of luxury he enjoys today is a far cry from his humble beginnings born in Everton close to the docks where his father worked as a labourer.

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John Hargreaves, the man who built Matalan after leaving school at 14, is a billionaire tax exile living in Monaco, a business genius credited with starting the low cost retailing revolution

The Hargreaves family pictured together. From left, Jamey, Jason, Matalan founder John Hargreaves and his daughter Maxine. Matalan has also made millionaires of Hargreaves' three children, all of whom hold a berth - and a substantial financial stake - in the empire

Jamey Hargreaves once dated socialite Tara Palmer Tomkinson. The couple are pictured in 2004

Maxine Hargreaves pictured with Tara Palmer Tomkinson at the National Portrait Gallery in 2007

Tara Palmer Tomkinson's most serious relationship was said to have been Hargreaves junior. They split after he was due to collect her in his private jet for a holiday, but rang instead to call off their affair

Born in 1944 at the tail end of the Second World War, Mr Hargreaves is the middle of eight children raised in a small two-up, two-down terrace house.

He left school at 14 with dreams of joining the Merchant Navy, envious of the exotic items his friends brought home from their overseas travels.

Instead the savvy young fashion lover started working on a market stall on Liverpool's Great Homer Street, selling seconds from Marks & Spencer at a huge discount.

With his knack for sales and eye for a bargain, he built up a network of market stalls throughout the 60s before launching his flagship shop Jaymax (named after his beloved children Jason, Jamey and Maxine) in 1976.

Come the early 1980s, the chain had more than 30 outlets and was turning over more than 10 million.

Maxine Hargreaves- Adams last year relaunched fashion brand Fenn Wright Manson using the design team behind clothing label Damsel in a Dress

But it wasn't until 1985 on a trip to America that he stumbled across the idea that would eventually make him a multi-millionaire.

Inspired by a visit to a Wal-Mart store in the States, Hargreaves established the first Matalan shop in Lancashire, mimicking the American giant's 'pile it high, sell it cheap', philosophy.

The chain expanded rapidly, and by the 1990s had become a household name with over 90 stores across the country. It now has 217 stores and employs 16,000 people after expanding overseas and has transformed the Scouser son of a docker into a multimillionaire tax exile.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Hargreaves is now the country's 84th wealthiest person with an estimated fortune of 1bn.

And with the wealth comes the trappings to match. It has been said that when he is needed at the company's head offices, he travels by private jet from the Monaco home he shares with his wife, and owns his own 200-ft super-yacht called My Lady Christina, and a Dassault Falcon jet.

Matalan has also made millionaires of Hargreaves' three children, all of whom hold a berth - and a substantial financial stake - in the empire.

Jason Hargreaves runs Matalan, having taken over in the early part of the millennium, while Mr Hargreaves Sr stepped back from Matalan's daily operations in 2006.

Jamey and Maxine are also in charge of a number of family investments, Jamey in Wolsey and Julien Macdonald, and Maxine in Nicole Farhi and Fenn Wright Manson.

Despite his wealth, Mr Hargreaves is said to remain determinedly down to earth, giving generously to the NSPCC and Alder Hey children's hospital in his hometown of Liverpool.

Notoriously publicity shy, and still speaking with a soft Scouse accent, one of his only interview has been with Drapers magazine, who last year gave him a lifetime achievement award.

He attributed his success to his drive as a youngster to succeed - but admitted he has never known anything about business.

'I've just learnt as I've gone along. But I've always had good people around me and I think that is critical.'

He added: 'I was a very ambitious kid. I always felt that if you're having one, you may as well have two  and if you're having two, why don't you have four?'
Suspect: Mohamed Abrini became known as the man in the hat after his suspected involvement in March's Brussels terror attack

A British national has admitted giving 3,000 to the Brussels terror attack suspect known as man in the hat, it was revealed today.

Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 27, and Belgian Zakaria Boufassil, 26, allegedly both handed the cash to Mohamed Abrini in Birmingham to fund terrorist acts.

Ahmed has admitted giving the money to Abrini, while Boufassil denies one count of preparing for acts of terrorism, the jury at Kingston Crown Court in South West London was told today.

Abrini, who is of Moroccan heritage, became known as the man in the hat following his suspected involvement in March's attack that left 32 people dead.

Ahmed and Boufassil, from Birmingham, are accused of handing over 3,000 in cash to Abrini in July 2015 when he travelled to the Midlands from abroad.

Prosecutor Max Hill QC told jurors Ahmed had pleaded guilty to the same charge on November 8 and said this would become relevant to them when determining if the case against Boufassil had been established.

He told the court: There is no doubt that the money was handed over with the intention of assisting acts of terrorism.

Trial: Zakaria Boufassil (sketched at Kingston Crown Court today), together with Mohammed Ali Ahmed, supplied a quantity of sterling currency to Abrini, it was claimed

After telling jurors Boufassil denied sharing Ahmed's intention, Mr Hill said: We suggest he was clearly acting together with Ahmed when the money was handed to Abrini.

We suggest that Mr Boufassil committed this offence together with Ahmed, and he is as guilty as his co-defendant Ahmed.

That will be for you to decide when you've heard all of the evidence.

Mr Hill said Abrini was also wanted by the French authorities over his suspected involvement in the Paris attacks of November 2015.

The 31-year-old Belgian citizen's brother had been killed fighting for the so-called Islamic State in Syria, he added.

Mr Hill said telecommunications evidence suggested there was a convergence of the three men near Small Heath Park in Birmingham on July 10 last year.

He said jurors would have to consider why the trio had been in proximity but did not meet.

One explanation for that which you may want to consider is that Ahmed and Mr Boufassil watched Abrini, he told the jury.

Plane passengers are evacuated from Brussels Airport in March following the terrorist attack

He suggested it was possible the pair wanted to check Abrini was alone and not being followed.

Mr Hill alleged that July 11 was the day of the pre-arranged cash handover meeting and the phones being used by the men converged at around 3.30pm at the same park.

You can be sure that Ahmed, Abrini and the defendant Mr Boufassil met that day. That was the handover of the money by Ahmed and Mr Boufassil to Abrini, he told the jury.

The court heard Abrini was interviewed by Belgian investigators on April 20 and 21 this year and told them he had travelled to Syria via Istanbul, Turkey, to visit his brother's grave.

Mr Hill said that while there, Abrini recalled meeting a man called Abaaoud who asked him to collect some money in the UK and supplied him with phone numbers.

Abrini was instructed to travel to Birmingham the day after he arrived in London, the court heard.

He was told to go to Small Heath Park several times only to find no one there, but on his third day in Birmingham was led to a forest to collect the money.

Policemen and soldiers stand outside Brussels Airport a week after the terror attack in March

The jury was told Abrini described Ahmed as the man who guided him to the location and Boufassil as the one who handed over the money in a bag.

During the meeting, Zakaria told him that it had taken so long to meet him because he had to verify with Syria that he was not an imposter and that he was the person that had been sent by Abaaoud from Syria to pick up the money, Mr Hill told the court.

The money was withdrawn from a bank account held by Anwar Haddouchi, who previously lived in Birmingham, he said.

Mr Hill said Haddouchi was an associate of Ahmed who had left the UK before July 2015 and travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State (Daesh).

He told the court: This is the money which was handed over to Abrini by Ahmed and Mr Boufassil.

The intention could not be more clear. Haddouchi had left the UK to fight for Daesh in Syria.

Abrini had come to collect the money in the UK. The destination of the money would certainly include Syria - it would appear Daesh, also known as Islamic State - either to Haddouchi himself or to other fighters.
Ministers are facing demands to outlaw the Britain First extremist group in the wake of the Jo Cox killing.

Labour MP Louise Haigh has called for the House of Commons to debate designating the far-right movement as a 'terrorist' organisation.

Thomas Mair, 53 was given a whole life sentence for the murder of Mrs Cox yesterday after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Labour Louise Haigh called for a Commons debate on whether Britain First should be banned as tributes were paid to Mrs Cox today

The Nazi sympathiser was said to have shouted 'Britain first' before he shot and stabbed the MP in June.

Britain First has denied any links with Mair, and condemned his actions.

But Ms Haigh urged the government to consider proscribing the group after tributes were paid to Mrs Cox in the Commons today.

Thanking the Leader of the House David Lidington for his warm tribute to Mrs Cox, the Labour frontbencher said: 'Given those words, can we have a debate about whether Britain First should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation and banned from standing in democratic elections?'

Proscription orders make it a criminal offence for people to belong to a group, encourage support for it, arrange meetings in support of them or wear clothing or carry articles that arouse suspicion an individual is in favour of them.

Mr Lidington replied he could not call a debate as the Home Office was responsible for bringing forward banning orders.

'As you probably know, the Home Office brings forward orders for the proscription of particular organisations but must do so on the basis of evidence,' he said.

Thomas Mair, 53, was found guilty of murdering Mrs Cox and sentenced to life in prison at the Old Bailey yesterday

Ms Haigh was told by Leader of the House David Lidington that the Home Office was responsible for proposing bans on 'terrorist' groups

'There have been cases in the past where organisations have been so proscribed have gone to the courts and successfully won a judicial review to say that the evidence on which that action had been taken was not sufficient.

'So, I'll make sure that your proposal is reported to the Home Secretary but there has to be clear evidence of terrorist involvement for the terrorist proscription to be applied.'

Mother-of-two Mrs Cox, 41, was arriving for a surgery in Birstall, in her West Yorkshire constituency of Batley and Spen, when she was attacked.
The number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) has increased by 14,000 to 857,000, new figures show.

Nearly half of the youngsters were unemployed, while the rest were not actively looking for work.

It represents the first rise in the proportion of 16-24 year-olds who are NEETs after years of decline.

The Office for National Statistics says the NEET total is up by 3,000 on a year ago.

The percentage of young people in the UK who were NEET in the quarter to September was 11.9 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from April to June 2016 and by the same figure from a year earlier. It represents the first increase after years of decline

The percentage of young people in the UK who were NEET in the quarter to September was 11.9 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from April to June 2016 and by the same figure from a year earlier.

Nearly half of all young people in the UK who were NEET were looking for work and available for work and so were classed as unemployed.

The rest were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.

Shadow employment and inequalities minister Margaret Greenwood said the figures were another warning sign of Tory 'mismanagement' of the economy.

Shadow employment and inequalities minister Margaret Greenwood, pictured, said the figures were another warning sign of Tory 'mismanagement' of the economy

'These figures are the direct result of years of Tory cuts to employment support for young people, including the Connexions service, replaced with a policy of punitive sanctions.

'Work, education and training are important in developing young people's confidence and opportunities. Only Labour can be trusted to give our young people the support they need to realise their potential.'

A Department for Education spokesman said: 'These figures show that the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training in England remains broadly stable and the proportion of 16 to 18 year olds who are NEET is continuing to fall.
The former Health Secretary - who was forced to quit after he was caught flouting his own Covid lockdown rules with his married aide Gina Coladangelo - has sparked a storm which has seen him ridiculed and even booted out of the parliamentary Tory party. Justifying his decision to fly Down Under, landing in Brisbane this morning, Mr Hancock denied he had 'lost his marbles'. He insisted it was so he can 'go to where the people are - not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster' - and claimed that he will 'promote his dyslexia campaign' and make a donation to a hospice - although not his entire estimated 350,000 pay deal from ITV. But millions are set to punish him for his decision, including MPs. One former minister has threatened 'to vote for him to eat armadillo c**k every night'. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said today that he should 'step down' and didn't deny he would also vote for Hancock to face Bushtucker Trials, smiling as he said: 'That will be between me and my phone'. In Mr Hancock's West Suffolk constituency, Andy Drummond, the cheesed off deputy chairman of the local Conservative Association, said: 'I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo's penis'. Incredibly the now independent MP insists that he will still be doing his job as an MP, meaning he will not forego his taxpayer-funded salary for the duration of his trip. He said: 'As an MP, my first priority is to my constituents. I have agreed with the show's producers that I can be reached at any point on any urgent constituency matters'. Yesterday the Prime Minister said he was doing the opposite. The former health secretary also revealed he had twice asked to appear on the show before but accepted the third offer because the government is now 'stable'. Many have pondered whether he made up his mind when he was snubbed by new PM Rishi Sunak at his victory rally last week, which was tacit confirmation his career as a senior MP is over.
A team that has been assembled to give Donald Trump daily intelligence briefings since he won the election over two weeks ago has only twice met with the President-elect.

Trump also has not met with Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. or any other top intelligence officials since he was elected earlier this month.

The number is much lower than that of his predecessors, according to The Washington Post.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence on the other hand has been receiving briefings almost every day since the election.

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Donald Trump (above on Saturday) has only received two intelligence briefings since winning the election over two weeks ago

Vice President-elect Mike Pence (above) has received daily briefings

It was reported back in July by The New York Times Magazine that Donald Trump Jr. had told Governor John Kasich that the vice president would be in charge of 'domestic and foreign policy' when seeing if he had any interest in the position.

That could explain why Pence has been making a point to find out what is happening on a daily basis.

Representative Devin Nunes, who is both chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and on Trumps transition team, hit back at the suggestion that Trump's lack of briefings meant anything.

'National security is Donald Trumps No. 1 priority and I think hes taking it very seriously,' said Representative Nunes.

'Look how many leaders hes met with, how many phone calls hes done, positions hes filled. People who are being critical need to get a life.'

Trump received his first briefing a few days after the election, and his second one on Tuesday.

The Presidents Daily Brief is given to the commander-in-chief and president-elect every day at 7:45am and provides updates and information from the 16 intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the FBI and the NSA.

President Obama received daily briefings and asked for further 'deep dives' into some of the subjects presented to him after being elected back in 2008.

President Clinton waited until 10 days after he was elected, but then received near-daily briefings until his inauguration.
Fled: Dakota King, 24, led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car in Fayetteville

Police footage has been released showing a 24-year-old Arkansas man leading police on a dangerous high-speed chase, before finally crashing into a parked car and being arrested.

The incident occurred on November 18 in Fayetteville. A police officer in an unmarked car spotted a blue El Camino that had recently been reported as stolen.

The report states that police attempted to stop the vehicle with emergency lights.

However the driver, Dakota King, refused to stop, running stop signs and traveling in the wrong lanes at oncoming traffic.

The dramatic footage shows King running up curbs and driving down sidewalks in an attempt to evade police.

Jumping the curb: Police footage shows King jumping the curb and driving down sidewalks in his attempt to evade police

The chase continued through a garden area of the University of Arkansas. Smoke can be seen coming from the stolen car after two tires blew

At this point in the video, King is seen pulling out in front of the cop and smashing through the nearby fence

The vehicle blew two tires and continued driving on the rims of the car at Martin Luther King and Razorback Road, 5 News Online reported.

The video shows smoke rising from the car as the pursuit continues through a part of the University of Arkansas campus, which was damaged during the chase.

Finally King crashed the car in one of the college's parking lots, after smashing into a parked car.

Police boxed in the car and pulled their guns on King, who kept ignoring orders.

He is seen as looking panicked and confused behind the wheel.

Caught: The chase ended on the University of Arkansas campus at the intersection of Razorback Road and Nettleship Street

Hands up: King looked panicked and confused inside the car and would not follow orders

Police finally used a flashlight to smash the window (left) and drag King out (right

When police couldn't get through the door to get King out of the car, an officer is seen on the video using a torch to smash the drivers-side window.

Officers then dragged King out of the car and handcuffed him on the ground.

Capt. Gary Crain told the Arkansas Traveller that King appeared to be under the influence of drugs, but it's unclear what kind.

He also said King had no affiliation with the university.

King was arrested on charges of theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree criminal mischief, fleeing and reckless driving. He is being held without bond.

King was arrested earlier this year after running from police in a stolen truck and driving onto the Drake Field airport.
says children will have to 'reconceptualise everything'

Dr Kathy McKay says the truth about

The myth surrounding Santa Claus is doing children more harm than good according to one expert.

Australian social scientist Dr Kathy McKay claims children can be traumatised upon discovering the magical Christmas figure is not real, and have to 'reconceptualise everything',The Daily Telegraph reports.

'Morally, making children believe in myths such as this has to be questioned,' the NSW woman wrote in the Lancet psychiatry journal.

The myth surrounding Santa Claus is doing children more harm than good according to one expert

Apparently children will be 'traumatised' upon discovering the magical Christmas figure is not real

Dr McKay further criticised the idea of a judgmental, gift-giving man assessing the behaviour of children around the world.

The article, co-authored by psychology professor Christopher Boyle, also suggested parents are motivated to maintain the myth of the festive figure out of a selfish desire to relive their childhood.

Dr McKay says the children she works with on Nauru are perfectly happy not having the Santa tradition.

'I think it's easy to get that tradition to change, the Santa tradition is a relatively new one,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

'It's not about necessarily getting rid of Santa but understanding why you're choosing to have Santa and why that's important to you and having those really important conversations about lying.'

But Michel Carr-Gregg, a child psychologist, said Santa Claus was an important part of Australian culture and makes Christmas magic.

'For many families the excitement of leaving stuff out for Santa, watching through the window at night, they're just lovely traditions,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

'Morally, making children believe in myths such as this has to be questioned,' says Dr Kathy McKay (pictured)
An ambitious 32billion project to save the world's fastest sinking city - Jakarta - by building a giant sea wall and a 'buffer lake' is waiting to get the green light from Indonesia's President Joko Widodo.

Greater Jakarta, one of the world's most densely populated cities, sits on a swampy plain and is sinking at a faster rate than any other city in the world.

Gijs van den Boomen, director of civil engineers Kuiper Compagnons, said: 'It is sinking at a staggering rate - around 20-25cm a year.'

That figure is much worse than Venice, which is sinking at a rate of around 2mm a year.

Mr van den Boomen said the main reason for this was that extraction of drinking water had led to the gradual collapse of the peaty soil under the city.

President Joko Widodo is expected to decide in the next year whether to go ahead with the most ambitious aspect of the project (pictured)

Many people live in bamboo or wooden huts built on stilts above water in northern Jakarta and these people are most affected by the sinking city

His firm is part of a consortium of Dutch companies which has come up with an ingenious design which would create a giant sea wall - in the shape of Indonesia's national symbol, the garuda bird - and a 'buffer lake' which would be lower than sea level.

Mr van den Boomen said the project would allow the rivers to empty into the lake, without backing up into the city, as they do currently, creating regular flooding of water and sewage in poorer districts in northern Jakarta.

Indonesia has agreed to build a 15-mile sea wall across Jakarta Bay but the more expensive and controversial parts of the project will only go ahead if President Widodo gives the go-ahead next year.

But Mr van den Boomen told Mail Online: 'Time is not on the side of the inhabitants of Jakarta. Around 4.5 million people are under threat from this and they are not the wealthiest people in Jakarta either.'

Thirteen rivers run into Jakarta Bay but as the city sinks it becomes harder for them to empty into the sea. The master plan (pictured) would create a 'buffer lake', lower than the sea, which would allow the rivers to be emptied

Only two percent of people in Jakarta are connected to a sewer, and most waste is simply dumped into the rivers.

Mr van den Boomen said the masterplan therefore had to be linked up with a viable short term strategy to improve the water quality, so it can serve as a new source of drinking water for the city in the future.

The Indonesian government decided in September to allow work to continue on a key phase of the Giant Sea Wall, which aims to shore up northern Jakarta while revamping the capital's image into a Singapore-like waterfront city.

Jakarta (pictured) has a population of 10 million, although Greater Jakarta is sometimes estimated to have 30 million people living in it

'If this Giant Sea Wall is not done, that will create a big impact on Jakarta with regards to salt water penetration,' said Coordinating Maritime Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.

The master plan includes building 17 artificial islands off Jakarta's northern coast, where property developers plan to build shopping malls and attractions similar to Singapore's Sentosa Island.

These luxury developments would help pay for the creation of the lake and sea wall, which would help to reduce water levels and slow down the sinking, which is affecting mainly the poor people of north Jakarta.

Mr van den Boomen said: 'Although we have made some nice looking pictures of a beautiful city the main goal is not real estate development, it is to create a safe future for the 4.5 million people who live in north Jakarta. We are effectively building for the rich to help the poor.'

Most of Jakarta is flat and at sea level, or even lower. Even the city's international airport (pictured, on the right of the map) is on slightly higher ground but will soon be under threat of flooding as the land sinks

The Guardian spoke to Sukaesih, a 60-year-old grandmother, in the seaside neighbourhood of Muara Baru and she told them: 'We live with this reality every day. Water comes in through the wall all the time, and it comes over the top whenever there's a high tide.'

Some fishermen have protested against the reclamation project, saying it would reduce their catch.

But the government plans to offer them fishing permits in waters near the Natuna Islands.
First it was Walid Ahmed, gunned down in a shopping centre; then it was Hamad Assaad, shot in front of his 12-year-old son at his Sydney home; and finally Pasquale Barbaro, executed in the street and left for the country to see.

Three gang slayings in four months that police now think could have been carried out on the orders of bikie gangs operating overseas with networks still in Australia.

And sources have also told the Daily Telegraph that the gangs could be using 'fly-in' assassins, brought to this country for the express purpose of murder.

Police are investigating the deaths of eight gangland figures, including hitmen Pasquale Barbaro (left) and Hamad Assaad (right), for possible connections

Investigators are believe to be looking into the involvement of bikie gangs based overseas and the possibility they are using 'fly-in' hitmen (pictured, Walid Ahmed, who was also killed)

Officers from New South Wales are now investigating the deaths of Ahmed, Assaad and Barbaro alongside the deaths of five other reputed gangsters to die in recent months amid fears the violence is linked.

Dubbed Task Force Osprey, the officers are probing bikie gangs such as the Hells Angels and Comancheros which they believe have links to Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries.

Home-grown networks such as the Rebels and are also being probed over their connection to the violence.

The trail of bloodshed being probed by police began back in June 2015 with the murder of rebels bikie Mark Easter (left) and continued in March with the killing of Michael Davey (right)

The bloodshed began in June last year, when bikie enforcer Mark Easter's bullet-riddled body was found near a highway to the north of Sydney.

That was followed by the death of fellow Rebels member Michael Davey who was executed in the driveway of his home in Kingswood in March.

Safwan Chabaji, 31, was then killed by bullet wounds to the chest and head during a fight between two Middle-Eastern gangs.

Less than a month later, gangland kingpin Walid 'Wally' Ahmed was cut down in a shopping mall outside a Bankstown cafe.

Horrified shoppers watched on as a man dressed all in black ran up to Ahmed's table before emptying an entire clip into his body and fleeing the scene.

Safwan Chabaji was the next to die, gunned down in April just 20 days before Ahmed was executed in broad daylight in a shopping mall

Adrian Buxton (right), a member of the Nomad bikie gang, was shot dead while putting out the bins in May and is also being investigated by the police task force

Nomad bikie Adrian Buxton was then killed in Clayton while putting out the bins, before Mehmet Yilmaz was gunned down in front of his fiancee outside a known Comanchero gang handout.

Assaad, who was a suspect in Buxton and Ahmed's killings, was then shot dead on the driveway of his Sydney home in October, before Pasquale Barbaro met a gruesome end on Sydney's streets.

While investigators are not linking the killings into a single spree, they are searching for connections between them.

One such connection could be the presence of hitmen flown in from overseas, while others could have been killed by local enforcers.
An 'evil teacher' has been accused of plotting to sell a 13 year old student to potential human organ traders.

Relatives say Galina Kovalenko, 52, who lost her own daughter in a car crash and is married to an ex-policeman, was ready to trade the girl from a poor family to dealers for 8,050.

It is claimed that she planned to used the money to pay off debts.

The grandmother now faces between eight and 15 years in jail after seeking to sell the child, who was a pupil at the boarding school where she works

Galina Kovalenko (centre) pictured with pupils at the school, where she planned to sell a child to criminal organ traffickers

The grandmother now faces between eight and 15 years in jail after seeking to hand over the child - a student at the boarding school for gifted children where she worked - to police posing as criminal organ harvesters.

Prosecutor's official in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Vita Dubovik, said: 'Galina did not care at all about this child.

'She did not mind if it was adoption or slavery or the removal of organs.'

The Ukrainian girl would have been sold for 8,000 if the teacher's plan had come to fruition

Ukrainian interior minister Arsen Avakov said: 'A teacher tried to sell a 13 year old girl for 10,000 USD. She is not human - she was caught but she stays calm.'

Police evidence indicates she told the student, Olga, 13, in the evening on 21 November: 'Get dressed, your elder sister came to see you.'

But after walking out of the school, called Divosvit, the unsuspecting child was instead bundled into a car which the teacher believed to belong to dealers who would pay her 8,050 for the teenagers, according to police

Galina Kovalenko bundled the girl into a car which she thought belonged to dealers, who were due to pay for the young girl

In fact, cops were playing the role of the alleged child traffickers.

'Olga did not suspect anything and went out with her teacher,' said one report.

'But as soon as the teacher demanded the money, she was arrested by police. She had been watched for four months.'

Avakov said: 'She tried to sell her student for 10,000 USD. She chose the buyer, negotiated the price. She suggested bringing the girl to a place fixed by the buyer and to put her into his car.

'When the buyer said he was interested in the girl's health, hinting that it is about taking her organs, she agreed to bring photographs of the girl and her medical papers for 1,000 Hryvina (31).'

The teacher faces up to 15 years in jail if she is convicted of trying to sell the young girl to police posing as organ traffickers

Kovalenko is an ex-policeman's wife who was also a highly respected teacher, and people who know her say they are astonished at her alleged actions.

Her distraught husband Leonid admitted he and his wife were in financial trouble, and that the family urgently needed money, but claimed the teacher was framed by his ex-police colleagues.

'I had to sell my car to pay back loans taken by my wife,' he confessed.

'We don't have money to pay back other debts, and we can't borrow anywhere.

'But why did they need to make her a criminal when they could have prevented a crime?

'They should have told me and I would have put her head back on her shoulders.'

Galina Kovalenko being interviewed by police after her 'evil' plan was discovered

He admitted: 'According to their paperwork, my wife is guilty.

'But why did they bring it that far, when they could have prevented the crime?'

Fighting back tears, Vera Sivitskaya, the school director, said of the teacher: 'She was a normal person, kind and sympathetic, a true professional.

'Nobody would say a bad word about her.

'All what we know is what we can read about her now on Facebook.

'It is so hard for us, we are so shocked. We just cannot believe it.'

Her husband Leonid (pictured with her) claimed the teacher was framed by his ex-police colleagues

Kovalenko - now held in detention - had worked at the school for six years but had an unblemished 22 year teaching career, teaching the Ukrainian language.

An ex-student said: 'She is an absolutely normal woman.

'When I was a student, she was an example for all the girls. Always looking great, always helping.'

Former pupil Anastansiya said that the teacher's life had been hit by tragedy when her daughter was fatally struck by a car in September 2003.

'A car hit her girl. I suppose it was a trauma for her, she was angry about all,' she said.

'This could be a revenge. Brains can be an horrific thing.'

Galina Kovalenko's life was hit by tragedy when her daughter was killed by a car in 2003

Another student Dmitry dissented saying: 'This teacher was always keen on money, from my first years in school. Nothing surprises me but selling people is just too much.'

Another ex-student Yulia posted: 'She always wore expensive jewellery and clothes....she changed accessories and clothes very often.

'Surely she could not buy them with her teachers wages.'

Leonid revealed that his wife had enrolled Olga at the state-run boarding school where she works, which specialises in educating gifted children.

'I got to know that my wife was arrested at 8pm,' he said.

'I am not allowed to talk to her. I can only guess what happened.

'I know this girl who my wife is suspected to have sold, and I know her family too, they live not far from us. They are a very poor family.'

Her husband said he knows the family of the girl his wife attempted to sell

He said: 'This is the youngest girl. They are so poor, they don't have money to buy logs. My wife sympathized with them, and offered to finda place for the girl in the boarding school....

'I know she is not cooperating with investigators, she refused to give evidence.

'I am looking for a lawyer for her, I am not allowed to see her.

'Thinking that she could sell her for organs? This is nonsense, I don't have words to explain it! A mother who lost her only beloved child ~ could she do harm to another child? She was simply trapped.'

The Ukrainian interior minister said: 'As a man and as a father, I think that this inhuman being must get a life sentence for her crime.

'But this article of the Crime Code offers imprisonment from three to 12 years.
Stanley Streeter (seen above in an undated family photo), 36, died while in police custody in Staten Island on March 16, 2010

New York City has agreed to pay $1.5million to settle a lawsuit brought by the fiance of a man who died while in police custody, the New York Daily News reported on Thursday.

Stanley Streeter suffocated to death while handcuffed and lying face down on the side of a road in Staten Island on March 16, 2010.

The incident took place less than a mile away from the spot where Eric Garner would die four years later while being held by police in a chokehold.

Streeters case did not attract nearly the attention that Garners did because there are no pictures or video footage of the incident.

Garners arrest was caught on film by cell phones nearby and went viral on social media, sparking a widespread backlash.

Garner was filmed saying I cant breathe as he was placed in a chokehold by a New York police officer. Streeter was heard saying the same thing just moments before his death.

Last year, Garners family was paid $5.9million by the city in an out-of-court settlement.

Streeters fiance took the city to federal court, filing a lawsuit alleging that the police used excessive force.

"Like Garner, Stanley screamed that he couldn't breathe when multiple police officers held him on the ground in a face down position for 30 minutes while they waited for the Emergency Services Unit," the familys attorney, Brett Klein, told the Daily News.

"While the police department did not mete out any punishment whatsoever for the misconduct in this case, the settlement reflects a small measure of justice and closure for Mr. Streeter's grieving family," Klein said.

Streeter's death occurred less than a mile from where Eric Garner (seen bottom left and right), a father of six, died after being held in a chokehold by an NYPD officer

The chain of events that led to Streeters death is in dispute.

On March 16, 2010, Streeter, 36, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to a mental breakdown, was being rushed to another hospital after he was suffering from high blood pressure.

During the ambulance ride, he had freed himself from the gurney and stepped out of the vehicle.

Police said that it took an immense struggle for them to subdue Streeter, but a witness says that two officers were holding him face down to the ground as he was pleading with them, saying: I cant breathe, man, I cant breathe, I cant breathe.

"There were two police over him; one had his knee on (Streeter's) lower back and the other one had the knee on his neck, the witness, Marvin Liverman, testified in a sworn deposition.

An autopsy report showed that Streeter had suffered a broken tooth and other blunt impact injuries.

Soil and dirt was also found between his teeth and eyes as well as other areas of his face.

The medical examiner, however, ruled the death accidental, blaming it on hypertensive cardiovascular disease complicated by paranoid schizophrenia, agitation, and delusions.
An Alabama couple planted a fake bomb at a suburban elementary school hoping to shoot officers arriving at the scene or using the confusion to rob a bank.

Zachary Edwards, 35, and Raphel Dilligard, 34, of Birmingham face charges that include making terrorist threats, rendering a false alarm and possessing a hoax destructive device, said police Captain Jeff Bridges of Trussville, Alabama.

A hoax bomb was found outside Magnolia Elementary School on November 16, prompting a response that included agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Zachary Edwards, left, and Raphel Dilligard, right, of Birmingham, Alabama, are accused of attempting to lure police officers into an ambush by planting a fake bomb outside a school

The couple left the device, which looked realistic, outside Magnolia Elementary School

Authorities said it contained gunpowder, modeling clay and a timer, but no detonator. Experts examined the device and then detonated it at the scene.

Bridges said: 'It looked real enough that it concerned us.'

Arrested afterward, the couple told investigators what they had planned, according to Bridges.

The couple, who share an address, wanted to shoot officers at the school or rob a bank while police were busy dealing with the bogus bomb, he said.

Authorities determined that a stopwatch used as a timer in the fake bomb was sold at Walmart and they began searching stores where it may have been purchased.

Authorities said that search led to video surveillance images of Dilligard and, in turn, Edwards.

The man told police he was part of the Black Panthers and the Black Mafia, Bridges said, but it was unclear whether he was actually affiliated with any group.

Court records weren't yet available to show whether Edwards or Dilligard had a lawyer who could speak on their behalf.

Otis Tyrone McKane is accused of killing Detective Benjamin Marconi in San Antonio, Texas

On Tuesday, Wayne State University police officer Collin Rose, 29, was shot dead at 6.45pm in an ambush-style attack in Detroit.

In San Antonio, Texas, Otis Tyrone McKane shot and killed Detective Benjamin Marconi as he sat in his car.

McKane told officers after the attack: 'I've been through several custody battles, and I was upset at the situation I was in, and I lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it.'

He said he wanted to apologize to the officer's family.

Police officer Collin Rose, pictured, was shot dead following an attack on Monday

In Missouri, a St. Louis police sergeant was shot twice in the face Sunday evening while he sat in traffic in a marked police vehicle. He was released from a hospital Monday.

Law enforcement officials say there's been an alarming spike in ambush-style attacks.

Sixty officers, including the San Antonio detective, were shot to death on the job this year, compared with 41 in all of 2015, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Of the 60 killed, 20 were purposely targeted by their assailant compared with eight last year, the group said.

Police officers also were shot and injured during traffic stops in Sanibel, Florida, and Gladstone, Missouri, on Sunday night, but authorities have not suggested those were targeted attacks.

All the shootings come less than five months after a black military veteran killed five white officers at a protest in Dallas  the deadliest day for American law enforcement since September 11, 2001.

Race was a factor in the Dallas attack, but police have not said if race played a part in any of the attacks on Sunday.

In San Antonio, the suspect is black and the officer was white.

In St. Louis, the suspect was black, but police have not released the officer's race. Most killings of police officers are carried out by white men, and most people shot and killed by police are white, said Craig W. Floyd, president of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Chief McManus said McKane was arrested without incident after the car he was riding in was stopped Monday afternoon on an interstate.

Surveillance video shows the suspect at San Antonio police headquarters about four hours before the 50-year-old Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the force, was shot.

On July 7, Micah Johnson shot and killed five law enforcement officers who had been working to keep the peace at a protest in downtown Dallas over the fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Ten days after that attack, a man wearing a ski mask and armed with two rifles and a pistol killed three officers near a gas station and convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
A Russian nanny who beheaded a four year old girl and paraded her severed head in the streets while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' has been sentenced to compulsory psychiatric hospital.

Burka-clad babysitter Gyulchehra Bobokulova, 39, strode around the city waving the child's bloody head in the air, and threatening to blow herself up along with bystanders.

'The court has ruled to release Bobokulova from criminal prosecution and subject her to compulsory medical measures,' said the judge in Moscow.

Burka-clad babysitter Gyulchehra Bobokulova, 39, strode around the city waving the child's bloody head in the air, and threatening to blow herself up along with bystanders

The killer nanny was seen waving the child's head as she walked around the city

The move means the Uzbekistan-born nanny - who indicated in the aftermath of the killing of Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova that she had political motives in wanting to avenge Vladimir Putin for bombing Muslims - will not face criminal charges over the child's death.

In a message from the courtroom to the child's mother, the nanny said: 'Forgive me, Katya. I'm gravely ill.'

She could be released in future if psychiatrists recommend to a judge that she has been 'cured'.

Tragic: Four-year-old Nastya Mescheryakova was killed by a nanny, who claimed she had heard 'the voice of Allah'

Bobokulova strangled the child who she cared for after hearing 'the voice of Allah' urging her to kill the child, a month before the brutal act, the court was told.

'It was a male voice that was ordering her to kill the girl,' the court heard.

After killing the girl, who suffered from cerebral palsy, she sharpened a knife and severed the head of the child.

She then set the flat ablaze and walked into the city brandishing the severed head of the child at Oktyabrskoye Pol metro station in central Moscow.

She also threatened to ignite an explosion, shouting to bystanders: 'I am a terrorist.'

The Russian court decided that Bobobulova had serious psychiatric problems and was not responsible for her actions

The Russian court decided that Bobobulova had serious psychiatric problems and was not responsible for her actions.

She has a 'chronic psychiatric disorder', the court was told.

She will undergo undergo 'forced compulsory medical measures'.

Investigators had sought to link her to radical Islamic groups but decided there was no evidence for such a connection.

After the 29 February killing, major state-run TV channels refused to cover the killing as 'probably too monstrous to be shown on television' .

'I TOOK REVENGE': WHAT THE KILLER NANNY TOLD POLICE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE HORROR BEHEADING Bobokulova (B) told an unnamed police investigator (P) that she had a clear motive. B: I took revenge. P: On whom? B: He spilled the blood. P: Who is he? B: Who spilled the blood? P: So who spilled the blood? B: Putin spilled, he bombed with planes. Why on Muslim people? Why are you bombing? Nobody says anything. They want to live too. Ah? They want to live too. Just look - a little little child. P: (interrupts her) So this is why you killed the child? B: Yes, I took a revenge on him. Advertisement

Yet in testimony soon after the horrific killing she appeared to say cogently that he act was to avenge Putin.

She also claimed to have watched beheadings by militant groups on her computer.

'I saw online how they were cutting off heads. This hatred.

'There was a voice in my head: 'Do it to the girl'. '

She said: 'I saw how they cut off heads and I did it.

'The voices - I killed the girl, yes.

'But I don't need treatment.'

Anti-Putin campaigner and lawyer Alexei Navalny claimed that Bobokulova looked lucid and 'not very crazy'.

But Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: 'I'm not an expert or a judge but it is obvious that we are definitely talking about a woman who is mentally unsound.

'You need to regard anything that such a deranged woman says accordingly.'

The court heard that she became upset because she found out that her Tajik lover, Mamur Dzhurakulov, who she married under Sharia Law, already had a wife.

This fact 'pushed her towards the crime'.

Her teenage son Rakhmatillo that his mother became radicalised after meeting 48 year old Dzhurakulov .

She told him of her plans to go to Syria and to join ISIS, the son said.

The court heard that she became upset because she found out that her Tajik lover, Mamur Dzhurakulov, who she married under Sharia Law, already had a wife

'She told me that she wanted to do the Hajj and move to Syria because she would be able to wear a hijab, live in line with Sharia Law, study Islamic law,' he said in March.

'Once I'd trained in a militant camp, I could become a mujahedin fighter and do jihad.'

Media reports that contacts of extremists were found on her mobile were denied by the Investigative Committee, equivalent of the FBI.

Detectives scoured 500 pages of transcripts from her social media conversations but found no evidence of terror links, it was reported.

Investigators had sought to link her to radical Islamic groups but decided there was no evidence for such a connection

The nanny is a citizen of Uzbekistan.

Earlier she boasted that being sent to a psychiatric hospital was an easier option than prison where she might have served 25 years.

'I know everything,' she said.

'I have to undergo compulsory treatment for three years and then they will let me go.'

A psychiatrist working with her said: 'She has not attacked anybody (in jail) during the last three months.

'But this is thanks to intensive therapy only.
A model accused of performing a sex act on a man in an upmarket area of London will not stand trial after the Crown Prosecution Service suddenly dropped the case.

Nasai Forna, 34, previously a finalist in the 2008 Top Model of Colour competition, was said to have given Lamont Gordon, 33, oral sex in Highgate, north London.

Miss Forna, who is currently taking part in the Mr and Mrs Sierra Leone joint beauty pageant, denied the charges, but the CPS pursued the case.

Nasai Forna (left), 34, previously a finalist in the 2008 Top Model of Colour competition, was said to have given Lamont Gordon (right), 33, oral sex in Highgate, north London.

However the CPS has now dropped all the charges against her and Gordon, who were due to stand trial at Highbury Magistrates Court today.

The pair denied outraging public decency in Shepherds Hill on May 22 this year and further charges of threatening behaviour towards two members of the public.

Gordon was also charged with common assault and criminal damage after causing 183.55 worth of damage to the holding cell in Wood Green.

The duo were due to stand trial at Highbury Magistrates Court today but the CPS decided to discontinue the case and dropped all four charges earlier this week.

Forna, from Wood Green, denied outraging public decency and using threatening words.
He had a strained relationship with his father, who founded the Sex Pistols

Corre will set the haul on fire in protest over an event celebrating punk

Joe Corre, 48, is the son of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren

The son of designer Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren has announced he will burn his entire collection of punk memorabilia.

Businessman Joe Corre's 5million punk haul includes personal items belonging to his father and vintage clothing designed by his mother.

The 48-year-old is setting the haul on fire in protest over an event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols debut single, Anarchy in the UK.

Businessman Joe Corre, 48, pictured at a press conference today, announced he will burn his entire collection of punk memorabilia, including items belonging to his parents

The 5million punk haul includes personal items belonging to his father (right) and vintage clothing designed by his mother, designer Vivienne Westwood (pictured left in 2000)

This string net long-sleeved top is one of the items that will be set on fire on Saturday

He today gave a press conference and said that his father would have been 'proud' of him burning the collection and would have found it 'hilarious'.

Explaining why he was doing it, Corre added that 'Punk is Dead' before saying that the genre has 'lost all of its bite'.

Speaking at Bloomsbury House, London ,he said: ' Punk has been castrated and neutered by the corporate sector and the state. Hung, drawn and quartered.'

He gave his views two days before the 40th anniversary of the release of Anarchy in the UK, which signified the launch of punk.

Corre added: 'Young people today, angry youth, need real solutions not the now conformist, sanitised and sterilised uniform of punk. It has no currency any more. Punk has lost all of its bite.'

He told the press conference today that he will keep a tiny handful of his collection - mostly what both he and his mother together in the 1970s.

Corre revealed that he will be burning a pair of bondage trousers that were made especially for him when he was 10 and a pair of Johnny Rotten's trousers. Rare one of a kind posters. Rare bootleg live recordings.

He will also burn rare posters and bootleg live recordings.

Corre said he once sold his punk collection to raise money to start Agent Provocateur, only to later buy it all back again when he sold the business.

He pointed out he gives a lot of charity namely youth, and 80 per cent of the proceeds of a documentary about his 5 million punk burn will be going to charity.

Corre was asked what his father would think of him burning his punk collection and replied: 'He would probably have been proud of me and think it's hilarious.'

Independent experts valued his collection being worth between 5million to 10 million.

A vintage tartan jacket is among the items in Corre's personal collection that will burn

This pink, white and green Sex Pistols t-shirt is a nod to Corre's father's notorious career

Fastened with clips, this ripped long-sleeved shirt is another in Corre's 5million collection

However he stated museums would not display most of the graphics associated with punk due to their extremity including gay sex, Nazi swastikas, and pedophilia.

In a post on his personal website in June, Corre wrote: 'I Hear there is this PUNK LONDON celebration of forty years since the release of ANARCHY IN THE UK!...

'First of all why forty years? Funny number really, feels just like someone thought it might drum a bit of trade when theres no Royal wedding to distract us.

He added: 'Whos really behind this thing?...Where is all this money going?'

The post also suggests the event will be held outside Buckingham Palace.

However Corre, who co-founded lingerie brand Agent Provocateur in 1994, also had a dysfunctional relationship with his father and McLaren left his son nothing in his will when he died of mesothelioma  a rare form of cancer  in 2010.

Instead McLaren left everything to his long-time girlfriend, Young Kim.

And it seems Corre and his father had a strained relationship.

This controversial doll is seen wearing a t-shire with a Swastika and a heavy chain metal belt

Another item from the collection, which will be destroyed on Saturday, is this annotated fabric

Just months after his father died, Corre launched a bitter legal battle over his will after he left his fortune to his young girlfriend.

At the time, Corre argued his father - famed for founding the Sex Pistols - was too ill to sign.

But the pair had a complicated friendship and had fallen out which resulted in them not speaking for a while.

McLaren said in 2008: 'My son and his family don't like me.' He suggested this was because Corre knew he should have been aborted after McLaren and Westwood met.

Corre added: 'He (my father) would have taken this opportunity to say something about it. Whether he would agree with burning it all or not, I think he would have done.'

The event comes after Corre tried to sell his original acetate version of Anarchy in the UK on eBay for 1milllion to raise money for charity.
Miami police have arrested a man on charges of animal cruelty after he was found riding a horse from his home in South Carolina nearly 700 miles away.

Christopher Emerson, a 36-year-old from Greenwood, South Carolina, was arrested Wednesday after several passersby in South Florida noticed that Trigger, the horse on which he was riding, appeared to be in bad health.

Witnesses had called local animal rights advocates and complained about Emerson, ABC News reported.

Emerson embarked on his horseback journey over four months ago after having experienced 'a rough patch with my wife, a divorce, and a wrecked truck.'

Christopher Emerson (above), 36, of Greenwood, South Carolina, was arrested on a Florida highway after passersby noticed the horse he was riding on was in poor health

The horse, Trigger (above), was found to be emaciated after a journey that stretched nearly 700 miles long

Upon reaching South Florida, Emerson was eventually picked up by police, and Trigger was found to be emaciated from the arduous journey.

The horse was discovered severely underweight and malnourished, according to WPLG-TV.

When questioned by police, Emerson said that 'he did not have any money to feed his horse or himself.'

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was outraged by Emerson's actions.

'The horse isn't in any condition to travel that far,' SPCA spokeswoman Laurie Waggoner told WPLG.

Emerson said the final destination of his journey was Key West, Florida, which is 724 miles from where he began - his hometown of Greenwood, South Carolina - by foot

When asked by police why Trigger was so thin, Emerson said that he did not have the money to buy food for either the horse or himself. Here the horse is seen on an SPCA horse farm

'He is almost completing lacking in subcutaneous body fat.'

'He has very little muscle. You can see the skeletal structure. You can feel all of his ribs. You can see the individual vertebrae, his hip bones and all the bones on the horse. His back is very sensitive. He gets very mad if you touch it because it is very sensitive for him.'
A 13-year-old boy has taken his life after he was

A gay 13-year-old boy with a love for makeup and fashion has taken his own life after being the target of cruel schoolyard bullies.

Tyrone Unsworth, from Brisbane, suffered through two years of cruel homophobic taunts and physical abuse from his peers before his death on Monday.

His devastated mother, Amanda Unsworth, told The Courier Mail people bullied her son because he was gay.

Tyrone Unsworth, 13, took his own life on Monday after copping years of abuse from bullies

Tyrone has been remembered for his huge smile and curly hair. He is pictured here, in photoscirculated by his family, when he was younger

'He was a really feminine male, he loved fashion, he loved make-up and the boys always picked on him, calling him gay-boy, f****t, fairy; it was a constant thing from Year 5,' she was quoted saying.

Amanda went on to say the bullies pushed her son 'to the edge' and she believes they are the reason he took his own life.

After seeing her son's lifeless body, she wrote online: 'I know your pain free now son and they cant pick on you anymore, but this shouldn't of had to happen (sic).'

'I just wanted him to wake up and come home with me.

'All of this Because of BULLIES thinking there tough hero's. now i dont have my SON never will i ever get to see my beautiful boy alive (sic).'

His mum, Amanda, right, said his son was bullied because he was gay

He was also allegedly assaulted by school bullies. Tyrone wanted to be a fashion designer

Tyrone's grandmother shared a tribute on her Facebook page

The young boy was hospitalised recently after he was hit in the jaw with a fence paling, Amanda said.

Her son did not want to go back to school once he recovered.

Queensland Police last night confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into the alleged assault.

The adolescent, who had a huge smile and beautiful curly hair, was found by a relative.

He will be laid to to rest on December 1 and his parents are determined to fight bullying in their boy's name.

His mother has asked all his friends, family and supporters to wear bright colours as they say goodbye to her 'happy-go-lucky' son.

'NATIONAL DISGRACE': THE TRAGIC TOLL OF YOUTH AND LGBTIQ SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA Thirty-seven boys aged five to 14 died by suicide from 2009 to 2013, statistics show. And LGBTIQ kids are up to six times more likely to consider suicide because of bullying - which community members have branded a 'national disgrace'. 'Being a teenager is hard enough, but being a gay teenager is that much harder because of the stigma, bullying and fear of not fitting in,' said human rights advocate Rodney Croome. '(These rates are) a national disgrace and it requires a national response, starting with training for all teachers in how to recognise and respond to the kind of homophobic bullying that took Tyrone Unsworth's life.' Mr Croome said it was a 'tragedy' education programs like Safe Schools had become so controversial. The program, which has become consumed by political debate, aims to 'create safe and supportive environments' for gay kids at Australian schools. Advertisement

His mother shared this picture of her boy with wild hair when he was younger, saying 'love and missing you son'

Aspley State High School principal Jacquita Miller told media she did not know about the bullying but she was 'sympathetic to all' who had been touched by the teen's sudden death.

The young boy wanted to be a vet or a fashion designer.

His mother said her son kept in touch with the latest fashion trends and would advise her on what to wear.

Tyrone's death sparked a wave of compassionate messages on social media.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800
U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith has ruled him competent for trial

He has tried to circulate his 'Message to America' call for others to 'fight against the disbelieving people of America'

Prosecutors now say he has continued while in jail to promote violence

gun shop, where he bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition

Inciting in jail: Prosecutors say Christopher Cornell is promoting violence behind bars

An Ohio man who plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol during Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address kept urging others to commit violence in support of ISIS while he was behind bars, according to authorities.

Prosecutors described 22-year-old Christopher Lee Cornell's jail activities in a sentencing memorandum filed this week ahead of a December 5 sentencing hearing. They want a judge to sentence him to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to three charges.

'This case is unusual in the amount of post-arrest conduct and misconduct by the defendant ... his persistence in trying to incite violence and his efforts to obstruct justice through witness intimidation,' the filing by U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman's office stated.

'These events reflect a profound lack of remorse, or at least, a very lengthy delay in the appearance of remorse by Cornell.'

Cornell's attorneys plan to state their recommendations on sentencing next week to U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith.

Christopher Lee Cornell, of Ohio, plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol during President Obama's 2015 State of the Union address. He was arrested one week earlier, in January 2015

'The entire issue is much more complex than what is noted in the government memo,' attorney Martin Pinales said.

The defense Wednesday filed a mental health report for Cornell under seal, and stated they plan to have psychologist Scott Bresler, who has met repeatedly with Cornell, testify at the sentencing hearing.

His attorneys filed a motion last year saying there was 'reasonable cause to believe' Cornell was mentally incompetent. However, Beckwith ruled in April he was competent for trial after hearing testimony.

The FBI arrested Cornell on January 14, 2015, in a gun shop parking lot in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition.

He was arrested less than a week before Obama's scheduled address in Washington; federal authorities say Cornell wanted to shoot the president, members of Congress and others at the speech.

After his arrest, Cornell told a Cincinnati TV station he intended to shoot Obama in the head during the 2015 State of the Union Address and was a supporter of the Islamic State group

Prosecutors said Cornell continued while in jail to promote violence, trying to circulate his 'Message to America' call for others to 'fight against the disbelieving people of America.'

He told WXIX-TV in an interview that he wanted to shoot Obama in the head, and U.S. authorities said he was able to circumvent a security program on a jail computer terminal meant for legal research to make internet posts about his Capitol attack plan and call for others to wage 'violent jihad.'

They said he also was 'fixated' on learning the true identity of a confidential informant and had numerous discussions with his father about him.

After his arrest, his father, John Cornell, had said his son was misled and coerced by 'a snitch.' Cornell's attorneys have said they will highlight the role of a government confidential informant at the sentencing hearing.

Federal investigators said Cornell made an internet post after his arrest in which he identified the man he believed he was the informant and gave personal details about him.

After Cornell's arrest, his father, John Cornell (left), said his son was misled and coerced by 'a snitch'. Cornell is seen, right, in a high school photo

U.S. authorities have expressed deep concern over Islamic State militant efforts to recruit homegrown terrorists.

A federal judge Wednesday sentenced another suburban Cincinnati man, Munir Abdulkader, 22, of West Chester Township, to 20 years in prison for an alleged plot involving a planned beheading of a military veteran followed by an attack on a police department in support of the Islamic State group.

He was arrested four months after Cornell and pleaded guilty to three charges last March.

Pinales was in the courtroom to watch the Abdulkader sentencing.

'This case had a plot that was doable,' Pinales said. 'My case had a plot that was impossible.'
Johnthony Walker (pictured), the school bus driver charged after a crash that killed five children, did not have alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the accident

A Tennessee school bus that crashed and killed six children and injured dozens more was not traveling on its designated route at the time.

Police say the bus was traveling too fast when it veered off a narrow, winding road and crashed into a tree in Chattanooga on Monday afternoon, carrying 37 students.

Federal investigators said it was unclear why 24-year-old driver Johnthony Walker had taken the bus down the road, given it was not the normal route.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart said investigators also don't know whether he had taken the same route before.

Hart said the NTSB was bringing in a specialist to analyze video and audio recordings made on interior cameras that were damaged in Monday's wreck.

Investigators are facing similar challenges in retrieving speed and braking information from the engine control module that was removed from the bus.

Walker was arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide following the crash before a sixth child was confirmed to have died on Wednesday.

The school bus is seen being carried away from the site where it crashed on Monday afternoon

Eight-year-old Keyonte Wilson has been identified as the sixth person to have died in the horrible bus crash in Tennessee

Zacaureea Brown (right) had rescued one of her sisters from the bus and tried to go back to save her other sister, six-year-old Zyaira Mateen (left), but was unable to do so

Walker was driving well above the 30mph speed limit when the bus carrying 35 Woodmore Elementary students flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree

Police said toxicology reports on the driver showed no trace of drugs or alcohol.

Authorities say Walker was driving well over the posted 30-mph speed limit when he lost control of the bus.

Eight-year-old Keyonte Wilson was the sixth child from Woodmore Elementary to die in hospital following the crash.

Kevin McClendon, Keyonte's brother, said the eight-year-old was a 'tough little boy' who is now 'in a better place', CNN reports.

Cordayja Jones, 9, D'Myunn Brown, 6, Zyaira Mateen, 6, Zoie Nash, 9, and Zyanna Harris, 10, have been identified as the other students who died.

Zyanna Harris (left) and Cordayja Jones (right) were among five children who died

D'Myunn Brown, 6, (left) also died in the crash, along with six-year-old Zyaira Mateen (right)

Zoey (left) died but her brother Zack (right) remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung and a broken arm, according to their sister, DaQuesha Jermichael

It comes as tales of incredible bravery from some of the young students on board the doomed bus began to emerge.

Ten-year-old Zacaureea Brown was on the bus with her two sisters when the crash took place.

She was able to heroically carry one of her sisters to safety in the aftermath of the accident, before returning to look for her other sister, according to WTVF.

Tragically, Zacaureea's sister, six-year-old Zyaira Mateen, died.

Police are continuing to interview witnesses and review video footage of the crash.

Police say the bus was traveling too fast when it veered off a narrow, winding road and crashed into a tree in Chattanooga on Monday
Almost 12,000 people in Britain die early each year because of pollution from diesel petrol, a study has found

Almost 12,000 people in Britain die early each year because of diesel pollution, a study has found.

The rate is the second highest in Europe, behind only Italy, according to the European Environment Agency.

Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is primarily produced by diesel engines, is above EU limits in 40 per cent of England's 169 council areas.

High Court judges earlier this month ordered the Government to draw up plans for tackling NO2 pollution in cities by July next year.

NO2 inflames the lung lining and causes respiratory diseases such as asthma. It has also been linked to a raised risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

The biggest cause of premature deaths was fine particles, 30 times smaller than a grain of sand, that are inhaled deep into lungs and can enter the bloodstream.

In the report, revealed by The Times, Hans Bruyninckx, EEA's executive director, said: 'We need to tackle the root causes of air pollution, which calls for a fundamental and innovative transformation of our mobility, energy and food systems. This process of change requires action from us all.'

Alan Andrews, a lawyer for ClientEarth, which brought this month's High Court action against the government, said: 'The UK has a major problem with nitrogen dioxide pollution, with 37 out of 43 UK zones in breach of limits that came into force in 2010.

'The EEA report demonstrates the grave health effects that result from our government's failure to protect us from deadly diesel fumes.

'We need a national network of clean air zones to keep dirty diesel vehicles out of our town and city centres.'

The Government has begun unwinding years of advice to motorists to buy diesel vehicles on the grounds they produce less carbon dioxide and were more economical to drive (file picture of Farringdon Street, London)

The Government has begun unwinding years of advice to motorists to buy diesel vehicles on the grounds they produce less carbon dioxide and were more economical to drive.

In June, then-transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said Gordon Brown had made a mistake when as Labour Chancellor he slashed tax on diesel in 2001 to encourage motorists to switch from petrol cars.

The aim was to reduce the risk of climate change because diesels produce much lower carbon dioxide emissions than petrol cars.
A will drafted by Walt Disney in 1941 pledged half of his personal Disney stock to his two children and the other half to an 'employees bonus pool' will go on sale at auction.

The will, penned in August 1941, was the first of three Disney drafted before he died in 1966.

It will go under the hammer on December 10, organised by Profiles of History. It has been priced at $60,000.

This will, drafted by Walt Disney in 1941, will go under the hammer at auction and is available for $60,000

Walt Disney, pictured in 1945, four years after he signed the will now available at auction

This was the first will drafted by Disney - he wrote two more before his death in 1966

Other items up for sale include original 'peanuts' comic strips signed by Charles Schultz and a signed historical legal licence by Walt Disney, TMZ reported.

That was signed in Burbank, in California, in April 1953 at a time when Disney had released his animated feature 'Peter Pan'.

With plans to expand the Disney empire into TV and theme parks, the document of licensing was penned.

Last week, more than 1,000 Disneyland artifacts were sold at a 'Souvenirs of Disneyland' auction.

It feature numerous items devoted to the 60-plus-year history of Disneyland, including early park items, an original painting used in the 'Haunted Mansion' attraction, an an original 'Devil Prop' from 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' and other memorabilia from the first days of Disneyland.

Other items up for sale include original 'peanuts' comic strips signed by Charles Schultz

Charles Schultz' original drawings of 'snoopy' are among the items available for sale

This illustrated handwritten letter from Mickey Mouse is available to buy between $8,000 and $12,000
There has been much renewed interest in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the impact it had on the First Lady as the tragedy is set to be revisited once again in the new film Jackie, starring Natalie Portman.

In his 2016 book Five Presidents, Jackie's Secret Service agent Clint Hill wrote about that horrible day in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot, and his wife's demand two days later that she see her husband one last time in in his casket.

'Weeping, Mrs. Kennedy turned to me, and asked if I would bring her a pair of scissors,' wrote Hill.

'I quickly found some in the drawer of the usher's office across the hall, and after placing them in her hands, I turned away to give her some privacy.

'With my back to the casket, I heard the sound of the scissors, beneath the painful cries, as she clipped a few locks of her husband's hair.'

Jackie then rode the short distance with her children as the casket was delivered to the US Capitol, as tens of thousands lined the street in Washington DC.

Around this same time Hill learned that the man who assassinated President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, had been shot dead.

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Jackie Kennedy lays flowers on the grave of President Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery

Members of the Kennedy family at the funeral of President Kennedy (l t r: Senator Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, Jackie, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and John John)

President Kennedy and Jackie riding through the streets of Dallas moments before he was shot

Hill was also the Secret Service agent who could be seen jumping on the back on the convertible carrying President Kennedy and the First Lady after he was shot.

Speaking on Today back in 2012, Hill, now 80, recounted his determination to throw himself between the Kennedys and the bullets as parts of the president's brain and skull splattered over his shirt.

When a third bullet hit the president's head and the motorcade sped to hospital, Hill said the First Lady refused to leave the car, fearful that onlookers would see her husband's horrific injuries.

'I recognized that the problem was she didn't want anyone to see him,' Hill told the Today show. 'It was a gory situation. And so I took my jacket off and I covered his head and upper back. Then she let go.'

The heartbreaking scene came just minutes after President Kennedy was hit in the neck and head by accused gunman Lee Harvey Oswald while driving through Dallas, Texas in November 1963.

In his memoir, Mrs Kennedy and Me, Hill recalled the crowds cheering for the motorcade and the moment he heard an explosion. He looked around and saw the president grab his throat.

'Somebody had fired a shot at the President, and I had to get myself between the shooter and the President and Mrs. Kennedy,' he wrote. 'Nothing else mattered.'

President Kennedy and his wife playing with their children Caroline and John John

Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent who jumped on the car after Kennedy was shot

As he moved towards Mrs Kennedy, he watched her reaction: 'Her eyes were filled with terror,' he wrote. 'She was reaching for something. She was reaching for a piece of the President's head.'

Before he could reach them, two more bullets were shot - the final one hitting the president in the head, just above his right ear.

'The impact was like the sound of a melon shattering onto cement,' he remembered, adding that the President's blood and parts of his skull splattered over his clothes, face and hair.

Pulling Mrs Kennedy, as he always called her, into her seat, the president's body fell into her arms with his eyes open. 'Jack, Jack, what have they done to you?' she wailed.

He added on Today: 'That's the one thing that I can't get out of my mind - the picture of him lying in her lap with his head exposed to me, looking into the back of his head.'

Hill, who has previously said he could have taken the third bullet had he moved a second sooner, said he then had the thought: 'How did I let this happen to her?'

He continued to work as Jackie Kennedy's agent for a further year after the death. During his time working with the family, he had grown close to the former first lady, which he admits was unusual.

He recalled stories of sneaking cigarettes together in the back of the car during drives, and offering her advice ahead of the trip to Dallas after she expressed fears about their safety.

'I admired her a great deal,' he said. 'We shared a lot of things together. We had a very deep, deep bond between the two of us.'

Hill detailed his time working with the Kennedys in his two books, Mrs. Kennedy and Me (left) and Five Presidents (right)

A year after the assassination, he went to work for Lyndon Johnson. But he quit in 1975 after guilt he felt from the shooting made him turn towards alcohol.

'I had problems sleeping,' he told Today. 'I had nightmares, I went into a very deep depression, I cut myself off from friends and family.'

He kept in touch with Jackie Kennedy for a few years after he stopped working for her but when he heard about her struggle with cancer in 1994, he could not bring himself to lift the phone.

'I knew that the mere sound of my voice would take her back to that day that changed everything,' he wrote. 'And the sound of her voice would do the same to me.'
He may not have made each residents of the of village he grew up an overnight millionaire but the man behind Corona beer has left a lasting legacy in his birthplace.

Antonio Fernandez, who went on to become the CEO of Grupo Modelo, the brewery company who make the popular beer died a billionaire aged 99 in August.

The 77 residents in the tiny Spanish village of Cerezales del Condado were left perplexed by news articles claiming the billionaire had left each of them a share of his enormous fortune for living in his birthplace.

Villagers confirmed the fairy tale was not entirely accurate, as he had left the money to his family in his will.

Fernandez (pictured) was responsible for the construction of the giant brewery in Guadalajara which is where Corona is still brewed

Antonino Fernandez (pictured in Cerezales del Condado) remained faithful to the village he grew up in

'It's simply not true, unfortunately,' Lucia Alaejos from the Fundacion Cerezales Antonino y Cinia told The Local in Spain.

'It seems someone got the wrong end of the stick and the story has just grown and grown.

'It's got completely out of hand.'

Although the beer tycoon had no children of his own, he was one of 13 siblings and his fortune has been handed to his extended family.

'Many of them still visit for some months each summer, so it is great for the village and keeps it alive,' Alaejos said, according to The Local.

'But the villagers won't be sharing in that inheritance directly.'

So, villagers may not be rolling in cash overnight, but Fernandez's impact on the place he grew up has outlived him.

Every summer he would visit, and he paid for the restoration of the church and square, brought running water to every home in the town, funded the resurfacing of roads and founded a cultural centre for the village.

Fernandez was honoured by the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, for his charitable deeds

Fernandez married Cinia Gonzalez Diez, whose uncle owned the Grupo Modelo brewery

Maximino Sanchez, owner of the village's only bar - which only stocks Grupo Modelo beers - told local newspaper Diario de Leon: 'I do not know what we would have done without Antonino. We used to have no money.'

Fernandez' fortune was believed to be the equivalent to each villager inheriting roughly 2million.

Fernandez was born in 1917 into grinding poverty and at the age of 14 he had to leave school because his parents could not afford the fees.

His nephew Carlos Fernandez Gonzalez took over as CEO of Modelo

After the Spanish Civil War he moved to Northern Spain, where he married his wife Cinia Gonzalez Diez.

In 1949, his wife's uncle, who owned Grupo Modelo, invited the couple to move to Mexico, where Fernandez began working for the brewery, as a warehouse employee.

He worked his way up through the ranks, and by 1971 he had risen to CEO and he helped make Corona not only Mexico's most popular beer but also a huge export phenomenon, including in his native Spain where it is sold under the Coronita brand.

He maintained his position as CEO until 1997 and as Chairman of the Board until 2005, with both roles later taken over by his nephew Carlos Fernandez Gonzalez.

He also remained as the Honorary Life Chairman of Grupo Modelo until his death.

Corona Extra is the second most imported bottled beer in the United States, with annual sales of $693million (556million).

Every summer he would visit Cerezales del Condado and he paid for the restoration of the church and square, brought running water to every home in the town, funded the resurfacing of roads and founded a cultural centre for the village

Antonino Fernandez, right, with Justino Compean, left, President of Mexican Soccer Federation, and Angel Maria Villar, centre, of the Spanish Royal Soccer Federation. A friendly match was held between the national teams at Grupo Modelo

Fernandez was also a well-known philanthropist who never forgot his motherland and was honoured by the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, for his charitable deeds, including his work with disabled young people.

He established an organisation in Leon called Soltra, which offers employments opportunities to disabled people, as well as a similar company named after his wife, Cinia, which operates in Mexico.

He also set up the 'Cerezales Antonino y Cinia' Foundation in his hometown in 2009, to support rural initiatives in the area.

His death was reported by the local paper Diario de Leon, stating he would leave his fortune for to family.
Attacks on drivers and fraud cases have prompted a German delivery service to stop taking packages to a Berlin neighbourhood, which has been branded a 'no-go' area.

DHL said people who live in the central district of Wedding now have to collect their orders because of crime fears.

A district in Berlin has been dubbed as a 'no-go' area after delivery men were targeted by gangs

Romanian gangs have been linked to the spate.

Newspaper Berliner Kurier reports that the gangs have targeted delivery drivers in the build-up to Christmas.

As well as violent attacks, identity fraud has prompted the move.

DHL spokesman Markus Wohnsmann said: 'There were a few cases where we were suspected of fraud by means of false identities.'

Items including laptops and smartphones are believed to have been stolen during deliveries to Wedding, Tagesspiegel reports.

DHL said people who live in the central district of Wedding now have to collect their orders because of crime fears

Florian Graf, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Group, told the Kurier that it is a 'frightening signal that city society can not tolerate'.

Police have declined to reveal crime figures for the neighbourhood, but dismissed claims that it has become a 'no-go' area.
An ex-Royal Marine who was devastated by rare fever he caught in Afghanistan will be in line for up to 8million after a judge handed him victory against the MoD

Phillip Eaglesham caught Q Fever - also known as Helmand Fever - on a tour in 2010 and suffered serious health problems including chronic fatigue and depression.

He sued the MoD for clinical negligence, claiming it did not offer service personnel adequate protection from the disease, which has left him wheelchair-bound.

Phillip Eaglesham caught Q Fever - also known as Helmand Fever - on a tour in 2010 and suffered serious health problems including chronic fatigue and depression

Today Mrs Justice Andrews handed him victory, slamming the MoD for their handling of the case, saying she was 'unimpressed by the litany of excuses'.

Damages have been assessed at 6-8million by his legal team, and it could mean more huge payouts with a number of similar cases against the MoD currently in the pipeline.

Mr Eaglesham, 35, was a corporal in the Royal Marines when he contracted the disease in October 2010, falling ill on his way home.

The virulent illness, which in extreme cases causes irreparable damage to vital organs, is picked up by exposure to bacteria from animals.

The former soldier was flown home to the UK via a medical 'decompression' base in Cyprus, London's High Court heard.

But the illness took a heavy toll after his return to England, resulting in symptoms of complete exhaustion.

His QC, Theo Huckle claimed the MoD was to blame in failing to treat him with antibiotic, Doxycycline, either during his tour of duty, or after he fell ill.

The MoD, he said, 'failed to be prepared for and prevent Q fever infection of service personnel in Afghanistan.'

RARE FEVER THAT TURNED EX-MARINE'S LIFE UPSIDE DOWN Q Fever affects only 50 people in the UK every year and for most causes flu-like symptoms. The disease is a bacterial infection spread by livestock and insects, but can spread between humans via sexual intercourse. Symptoms usually include coughing, severe headaches and a temperature, and last only a few weeks. They can be treated with a does of antibiotics. However, in some rare cases, the symptoms can last for months and be life-changing. People can suffer serious fatigue for months on end and can even lead to damage to the lining of the heart. Treatment requires a course of antibiotics lasting up to 18 months, but sometimes curing the disease can be even more complicated. However, instead of finding a cure, taking regular antibiotics in foreign countries were people are particularly at risk from the disease can help prevent it. Advertisement

Mr Eaglesham, originally from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, described how the ill-effects left him so powerless he could scarcely pick up his youngest child.

The father-of-three, now living in Plymouth, said he was 'so weak he can barely move'- to the point where even brushing his teeth was 'shattering'.

The disease has left him wheelchair-bound most of the time and after losing his purpose in life, he was even driven to a suicide attempt.

'Just over a year ago I tried to take my own life. I'd just had enough of the deterioration and the impact it was having on my wife, the kids, others around me. It's difficult to talk about it, but it's good to talk about it,' he said in a previous interview.

But he found purpose again, taking up shooting and winning a place on the Irish team for the Paralympics in Rio this year.

He now speaks openly about the disease and tries to inspire others with disabilities but has been forced to live with the long-term impact of the disease, which he fears are permanent.

The judge said Mr Eaglesham had a 'poor prognosis' and his claim had been valued by his lawyers at 'in the order of 6-8 million'.

The MoD had agreed to a timetable for disclosure of evidence in the case but had come nowhere near keeping to it.

As a result, the claim issued by Mr Eaglesham's lawyers in November 2013 was still not even close to being read for trial.

The MoD explained that it had been overwhelmed by the sheer number and potential sensitivity of documents involved.

Despite suffering from depression and chronic exhaustion that left him wheel-chair bound, he later went on to compete in the Rio 2016 Paralympics in the shooting

Mr Eaglesham, who now campaigns for Help For Heroes, admitted that he even attempted to take his own life after losing his sense of purpose when he contracted the disease

It insisted it had 'made every effort' to keep to the timetable and comply with orders of the court.

However, Adam Heppinstall, for the MoD accepted that there had been a substantial and serious breach' of the orders.

The volume of documents involved could easily have been foreseen and the judge was 'not persuaded that the MoD went about the searches in a sufficiently thorough manner'.

And she was 'highly sceptical' about whether the disclosure timetable was 'realistic' in the first place.

She added: 'Mr Eaglesham is suffering from a depressive disorder and has a poor prognosis.

'He faces the prospect of having the claim hanging over him for at least another year, for reasons which are not his fault. Quantum is estimated to be in the order of 6-8 million'.
A Donald Trump supporter got out of his seat and started yelling out screams of praise for the president-elect on a recent flight, much to the shock of other passengers.

A video taken on the Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Allentown shows the man mid-rant, goading other passengers over whether they too were Trump supporters or if they voted for Hillary Clinton.

'Donald Trump baby!' We got some Hillary b****es on here?' the man is heard saying in the clip, which has quickly spread on Facebook since it was posted on Tuesday.

'Donald Trump is your President. Every god damn one of you. If you don't like it, too bad,' the man says in the bizarre mid-flight rant

The man continues: 'Come on baby, Trump! Donald Trump is your President. Every god damn one of you. If you don't like it, too bad.'

The video was taken by a yoga teacher named Emma Baum and has been shared over 4,000 times on Facebook.

As the man sits down and the camera pans back through the cabin, numerous passengers appeared annoyed or in shock that the man decided to get up and speak in the first place.

Baum said that the man was taken away by flight attendants for 'at least 15 minutes' before being returned to his seat.

Upon sitting back down, Baum said the man remarked: 'This is what you get for being a patriot.'

The moment was similar to an incident on an United Airlines flight straight after the election. The pilot of the flight - going from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - had to intervene over the intercom after an argument broke out between passengers.

According to other people on the flight, a man made some racist comments to an African-American woman about how he was 'glad to have kept his guns'.

Epic rant: The Donald Trump supporter got out of his seat and started yelling out screams of praise for the president-elect on a recent flight, much to the shock of other passengers

The two passengers were separated before the pilot made the announcement.

'I understand everybody has their opinions; that's fine,' said the captain.

'If you support him (referring to Donald Trump), great. If you don't, I understand. However, we're out here to go to Puerto Vallarta, supposed to be having a good time, and what I do ask is that as people we have the common decency to respect each others' decisions and to get along on this three hour and thirteen minute flight so that we can have a good time when we get down there.'

During the announcement, the captain added: 'Nobody wants to argue, nobody is going to change their minds by arguing.

'And let's keep our opinions to ourselves on this particular matter at this particular time.'
This Thanksgiving, it appears many people are thankful for Hillary Clinton - and she herself could have a great reason to celebration as calls for an election recount gather steam.

Clinton appeared in great spirits as she was was spotted shopping for Thanksgiving supplies at a supermarket in Chappaqua, where she and husband Bill have a home, by a number of fans on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old happily took selfies with a number of women who approached her as she shopped.

And on Thursday, she took to Twitter to share a picture of the many messages of thanks left at the end of her street for her.

Alongside the picture, she wrote: 'I was greeted by this heartwarming display on the corner of my street today. Thank you to all of you who did this. Happy Thanksgiving.'

It comes as Dr Jill Stein managed to raise more than $3.5 million in a day - enough to fund recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - after experts said it was possible that hackers had artificially lowered Clinton's counts there.

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Hillary Clinton shared a picture of the messages of thanks left on the street of her her home in Chappaqua, New York, where she and her family are spending Thanksgiving

Hillary Clinton spotted shopping for Thanksgiving supplies at a supermarket in Chappaqua, by a number of fans on Wednesday

Meanwhile, Brittany Valente shared a picture with the former Secretary of State after bumping into her with her husband and grandson Aiden.

'Ran into Hill and Bill at the local market. Met their grandson Aiden, cutest little guy ever. #hillaryclinton,' Valente captioned the image on Instagram.

Bill was 'busy looking at cheese' while his wife took pictures with everyone who asked for one, Valente said.

'They were so relaxed and shopping for Thanksgiving dinner at the local village market,' she told NBC News.

'They were so nice talking to everyone, wishing them happy holidays and at one point Hillary said 'We must stay strong together no matter what. Thank you for your support.''

'When you go pick up your pie and the entire Clinton family is shopping 2,' wrote Linda Bosco on Twitter alongside a picture with the Democratic candidate for president.

'She was very happy, relaxed-looking. She was with Bill, Chelsea, Marc, and her two grandchildren,' Bosco, who also lives in Chappaqua, told The Telegraph.

'The store was crowded with people picking up their Thanksgiving orders.

'She was very cordial, talking to people and taking a few photos, but was concentrating on her grandchildren as the store got more crowded.'

Brittany Valente shared this picture with the former Secretary of State after bumping into her with her husband and grandson Aiden

'When you go pick up your pie and the entire Clinton family is shopping 2,' wrote Linda Bosco (above) on Twitter alongside a picture with the Democratic candidate for president

The deadlines for petitioning for a recount in all three states are in the coming days, with Wisconsin's on Friday.

Dr Stein, the Green Party candidate, announced a fundraising effort on Wednesday to pay for such recounts. She surpassed her $2million target in hours.

Meanwhile, a group of election lawyers and data experts has asked Clinton's campaign to call for a recount of the vote totals in the three battleground states - to ensure that a cyberattack was not committed to manipulate the totals.

There is no evidence that the results were hacked or that electronic voting machines were compromised. The Clinton campaign on Wednesday did not respond to a request for comment as to whether it would petition for a recount before the three states' fast-approaching deadlines to ask for one.

President-elect Donald Trump won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by razor-thin margins and has a small lead in Michigan. But all three states had been reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections.

The group, led by voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, contacted the Clinton campaign this week.

Dr Stein, the Green Party candidate, announced a fundraising effort on Wednesday

Dr Stein surpassed her $2million target in hours and has raised more than $3.5million by Thursday morning

That call, which was first reported by New York Magazine, raised the possibility that Clinton may have received fewer votes than expected in some counties that rely on electronic voting machines.

But Halderman, in an article posted on Medium on Wednesday, stressed that the group has no evidence of a cyberattack or voting irregularities.

He urged that a recount be ordered just to eliminate the possibility.

'The only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence - paper ballots and voting equipment in critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,' Halderman wrote.

Recounts, which are often costly and time-intensive efforts, would likely only be initiated if the Clinton camp pushed for one, though Wisconsin independently announced that it would conduct an audit of its vote.

A call for a recount, particularly coming on the heels of a fiercely contested and sharply partisan election, would likely be cheered by Democrats but denounced by Republicans eager to focus on governing.

A request to the Trump transition team for comment was not immediately returned.

Computer experts used a statistical analysis to conclude Clinton did worse in states with electronic voting machines - which they argue could have left the door open to hacking

Trump's campaign had long believed that his message of economic populism would resonate in the Rust Belt.

He frequently campaigned in Pennsylvania and made a late push in both Wisconsin and Michigan, successfully turning out white working-class voters whom pollsters may have missed.

Many pre-election polls showed Clinton with slight leads. While advocating for the recounts, Halderman writes that 'the most likely explanation' for Trump's surprise win 'is that the polls were systematically wrong.'

The focal point of any possible electoral cyberattack presumably would have been electronic voting machines that, whether or not they are connected to the internet, could be infected with malware that could change vote totals.

But many of those machines produce a paper record of the vote that could be checked to see if the vote tabulations are accurate.

Pennsylvania is considered one of the states most susceptible to hacking because 96 percent of its voting machines have no paper trail.

Margot Gerster shared a picture with Clinton after she bumped into her and Bill walking their dog near their Chappaqua home the day after Election Day

Wisconsin is far less vulnerable because it uses electronic machines with voter-verifiable paper trails in most counties. Michigan is considered the safest of the three because it uses paper ballots.

Officials in the three states confirmed that no recounts have been ordered.

A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department says it is not tallying the number of voting complaints to determine whether federal action is warranted.

Many election experts have called for routine post-election audits designed to boost public confidence in vote outcomes, by guarding against both tampering and natural vote-counting mistakes.

These could involve spot-checks of the voting records and ballots, typically in randomly selected precincts, to make sure that votes were accurately recorded.

In many states, audits involve hand-counting the votes on paper ballots and comparing the results to the totals stored in the state's electronic voting system.

Such audits do sometimes turn up mistakes that reverse an election. That happened in Florida's Palm Beach County in 2012, when a post-election audit determined that the 'winners' in two city council races were actually losers.

President-elect Donald Trump won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by razor-thin margins and has a small lead in Michigan. Above, Clinton is pictured on November 16

Routine audits also make it possible to confirm the accuracy of elections without putting the onus on losing candidates to call for a recount.

In states without regular audits, a candidate who questions the results gets 'painted as a sore loser,' Pamela Smith, president of the nonprofit Verified Voting, said in an interview earlier this year.

'If you do a regular audit, you often don't need a recount. It either shows the count was right or you find something.'

Any attempted hack to swing the results in three states would have been a massive and unprecedented undertaking.

But electoral security was an issue that loomed large in many Americans' minds this year as the Democratic National Committee and several Clinton staffers had their emails breached and later released.
A French ISIS chief referred to as the 'blood judge' has reportedly been killed on the outskirts of Mosul.

The executioner was given the name because of his fearsome reputation for beheading rebels and depriving them of a burial.

ISIS militants have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with sick photos and videos circulated online.

A French ISIS chief referred to as the 'blood judge' has reportedly been killed in Nineveh

The campaign to drive ISIS from Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the extremists' last major urban stronghold, began on October 17

A source told Alsumaria News: 'The ISIS summary court judge, a French national, was killed by armed attackers boarding a car at the eastern coast of the province.

'The judge was known among the people of Nineveh as the "blood judge", having sentenced any violator of the group's directives to beheading and deprivation of burial.'

ISIS reportedly put its terrorists on alert to try and track down those responsible, the source claimed.

ISIS bulldozed the gates and parts of Nineveh's historic city walls in April as part of its cultural campaign against historical artefacts.

About 50,000 Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by US-led coalition airstrikes are currently involved in the major military operation to try and force ISIS from nearby Mosul.

The campaign to drive them from Iraq's second-largest city and the extremists' last major urban stronghold, began on October 17.

However their progress has been halted by ISIS militants sending suicide bombers in explosives-packed vehicles against advancing forces.

More than a million people are believed to be in Mosul.

A member of the Iraqi Special Forces, seen behind a reinforced windshield, bearing the bullet marks, in a street of Mosul today

Elsewhere today it was reported ISIS tyrant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had executed one of his closest confidants, Abu Abdullah, for fear he would give away crucial secrets if captured in the battle for Mosul.

Baghdadi ruthlessly ordered Abu Abdullah be killed along with this wife and three children at a house to the west of the city, a source told Alsumaria News.

A source said: 'Abu Abdullah was Baghdadi's box of secrets and a close confidant who organized his personal mails and arranged his meetings with field commanders.'

Abu Abdullah and his family reportedly vanished two weeks ago, as the Iraqi Army threw a noose around the city, and they had been hiding in a dilapidated house.

Baghdadi is reportedly sleeping in tunnels with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest advisers.

As paranoia continues to grow within the top ranks of the murderous organisation, dozens have been executed after being accused of spying.
A boy racer who killed a father of three while speeding down a bus lane in a hired white Mercedes has been jailed for four years and eight months.

Usman Anwar, 25, of Folkestone Road in East Ham, was driving with two friends in the motor when he hit 55-year-old Parmjit Singh Karir as he crossed Barking Road, East Ham, east London.

Anwar had accelerated from 13mph to 56.66mph in just 8 seconds in a 30mph zone, and only braked 0.8 seconds before impact, reducing his speed to 45mph when he hit Mr Karir.

The father-of-three suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at around 5.30pm on January 19 this year.

The victim, who had moved to the UK from India in 1975 and had worked for BT for almost 35 years, had been on his way to the gym at the time of the crash.

Parmjit Singh Karir (above) died after being hit by Usman Anwar who was speeding down a bus lane

One driver in the main lane thought Anwar was going to drive into the back of him before he pulled into the bus lane because he was going so fast.

In the days before the tragedy the hire Mercedess tracking device had variously clocked the vehicle travelling at 85.8mph in a 30 zone, 85.7 in a 50 zone, 65 miles in a 30 zone and 81 mph in a 30 zone.

Anwar admitted causing death by dangerous driving at the Old Bailey.

Jailing Anwar for four years and eight months, Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said: This was a very bad case, you were speeding in a built up and busy area, you were using a prohibited bus lane under taking vehicles.

I do take into account as I must your guilty plea, youve acknowledged what youve done publicly and before the grieving family of Mr Karir.

Prosecutor Jonathon Polnay said: The picture we get from the tracker is someone repeatedly driving at excessive speed.

Assistance was given by members of the public and an off-duty police officer - a helicopter and and emergency medical services were on the scene shortly.

They did everything they could but it was to no avail and life was pronounced extinct at the scene.

This defendant stopped at the scene, he did not try and make off as others do. He stayed and he spoke to police.

He immediately said he was the driver of the vehicle, he told police He came out of nowhere and there was nothing I could do.

He was interviewed under caution, he confirmed he had rented the vehicle and he had all the documentation.

He said he didnt drink or take drugs and indeed that was not a factor in the collision.

Mr Anwar said he was driving in the normal traffic lane and because it was slow moving he went into the bus lane - he said he didnt go into the bus lane until the last minute.

He said the man ran out between two parked cars and he didnt have time to react.

Anwar refused to answer questions at his second interview when he was confronted with CCTV footage of the collision.

Anwar admitted causing death by dangerous driving at the Old Bailey

He has previous convictions for possession of cannabis and cocaine, and was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in 2010 for dealing heroin.

Anwar also has a conviction for doing 104mph on the north circular and for undertaking at speed, although Anwar insists it was only 50mph.

Richard Elliott, for Anwar, said: After the accident he was in shock.

Hes clearly remorseful. In relation to the victim one of the first questions he asked was does he have any children?

Straight away he was thinking about the victim and his family - this matter has been on his mind throughout.

He hasnt been to see a doctor, he doesnt want sympathy, he doesnt think he deserves it and he doesnt.

He added that since the death, Anwar had researched the victim and made a donation to one of the charities he supported.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Karirs son Kuljit told the court: Knowing that his life is finished is like a tree thats been cut down in his prime.

My mother and father had so many plans together that arent going to happen. Theres an emptiness, a void that is never going to be filled.

What my mother has lost can be described in three words: Her whole world.

Mr Karir jr said his sister had learned of her fathers death on her honeymoon.

My sister got married last year and I remember dads happiness, his joy at the whole family being together to join in celebration, him dancing with her at the wedding.

My brother and I will never see dad again, he wont there to dance at our weddings.

He continued: He believed in making things work, being good to everyone and helping everyone he could.

Mr Karir had run a music class for the last 17 years and organised an annual charity bike ride in east London, the court heard.
A psychology professor is facing life in prison after he tortured his wife of ten years by strangling her during a brutal attack, officials said.

Michael Lamar Vanderwood, 52, from the University of California, Riverside, was convicted on Tuesday of torture, domestic violence causing great bodily injury and making criminal threats.

The conviction is believed to be the first in California, and possibly in the U.S., in which a victim was tortured by strangulation without losing consciousness or receiving broken bones, the Riverside County District Attorney's office said.

University of California, Riverside professor Michael L. Vanderwood, 52, is facing life in prison after he tortured his wife of ten years by strangling her during a 2014 attack, officials said

On August 23, 2014, Vanderwood launched a 'lengthy verbal attack' on his wife after she returned home from a trip to Temecula with some girlfriends, prosecutors said.

Vanderwood, who is an associated professor at the university, yelled, cursed and threatened his wife during the verbal attack, according to officials.

She then went upstairs and turned on her smartphone's recording device when she heard Vanderwood coming up because she was 'scared to death,' prosecutors said.

The recording was later used as evidence in trial and was reviewed by a forensic medical expert in strangulation.

During the attack that lasted more than 20 minutes, Vanderwood forced the victim's face into a pillow, strangled her by alternating between one and both hands, plugged her nose and placed her in a chokehold, prosecutors said.

Vanderwood pictured while teaching above. He is listed as an associate professor and the program director for the Graduate School of Education, School Psychology Program

The victim told investigators that when Vanderwood strangled her while she was lying down, she could not breathe, felt her eyes roll into the back of her head and that everything became 'foggy.'

She also said she became dizzy, lightheaded and suffered from blurred vision when he placed her in a chokehold.

Vanderwood also threatened to break her bones and bent her fingers back, causing what she described as 'tortuous pain,' prosecutors said.

The wife was able to eventually flee the home and hid outside behind a neighbor's trash cans while Vanderwood drove the neighborhood in search of her.

Vanderwood pictured left in a Facebook photo. He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 28

She was able to contact a friend who helped her call 911 and get to a nearby hospital where she was treated for bruising and swelling to the left side of her face and eye.

Her injuries from the assault lasted nearly a month, according to prosecutors.

The victim also could not eat for a week, had difficulty swallowing and breathing, experienced severe headaches and voice changes and had trouble with her memory as a result of the strangling, officials said.

On Tuesday, it took a jury less than two hours to find Vanderwood guilty on all counts.

Vanderwood is listed as an associate professor and the program director for the Graduate School of Education, School Psychology Program on the university's website.

Vanderwood has been at the university (shown above) since July 2001 and was placed administrative leave without pay on Wednesday

He is 'nationally known' for his research about the multi-tiered systems to support English learners and has been involved in developing and implementing systems to support students at risk for behavioral and academic challenges for the last 20 years, the website states.

He has been at the university since July 2001 and was placed administrative leave without pay on Wednesday, according to The Desert Sun.

Vanderwood could face termination, but there are 'policies and practices' in place for that process, a university spokesman told The Press Enterprise.

The spokesman said on behalf of the faculty, they 'condemn the alleged behavior and any act of violence in the strongest terms.'

Vanderwood is scheduled to be sentenced on December 28.
Paul Price, the stepfather of Katie Price, is accompanied by her mother Amy Price as he arrives at Chichester Crown Court

A woman who claims she was raped by glamour model Katie Price's stepfather today told a court she tried to stop the attack by pretending she had a microchip on her which alerted the notorious gang, the Richardsons.

The alleged victim said she became so scared when Paul Price, 52, attacked her in two separate woods 'she thought she was going to die'.

She said she also shrugged off an uninvited kiss from Price moments before he raped her as she thought he was just being 'an opportunist who had too much to drink'.

Price is accused of attacking the woman, in her 50s, after she vomited following a drunken group night out in coastal town Worthing, West Sussex.

And the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that she told Price the Richardson Gang - a crime organisation based in south London during the 1960s - would turn up if she pressed her microchip.

They had a reputation as being some of the capital's most brutal gangs and were rivals with the Kray twins.

The married woman today told jurors at Chichester Crown Court, West Sussex, she was raped twice by the fencing company director.

She told the court that, prior to the attack in March of last year, she and Price had never had any 'sexual banter'.

The 53-year-old fence erector, pictured arriving at court today with his family, was charged last November in connection with the alleged attack in March 2015

Katie's (left) stepfather Paul Price (right), from West Sussex, allegedly carried out the attack

The alleged victim said Price kissed her moments after she threw up, and she 'didn't think much of it' because he 'had too much to drink'.

Abigail Penny, defending Price, quizzed the complainant on the dock, stating that she was drunk at a Chinese restaurant they had visited earlier in the evening.

Ms Penny asked her: 'Do you remember telling everyone that you had a microchip and when it's pressed the Richardson's turn up?'

She said she told Price this lie about the former Kray gang rivals when he attacked her in an attempt to scare him off.

The woman told the court: 'I told Paul that. At the time intuition told me when something was not right so I thought that if I think on my feet and tell him this it would scare him off.

'I didn't say that to everyone earlier in the night. It might sound a bit crazy but I was in a dark pace with Paul and I wanted to scare him off.

'I tried to get rid of him by making things up. We all say stupid things in certain circumstances but I don't regret saying it.'

Price married Katie's mother Amy in 1988 when she split from the star's biological father Ray Infield.

Katie has always considered him her 'real dad' after he came into her life when she was just six.

The court heard days after the attack Price, of Angmering, West Sussex, tried to call the victim. She at first ignored the calls but later phoned him back.

She told jurors: 'I rang him back and said that he's disgusting and never to contact me again.'

The alleged victim also recalled the events of the first alleged attack that night.

She said: 'I said I'm going to be sick as I needed to get out the taxi. I rushed over towards the beach huts to be sick.

Paul (left) and Katie Price (second right) enjoy a family holiday when Katie was a teenager

Katie Price (pictured) took her stepfather's name after he married her mother Amy in 1988

'Paul said [to the others] we will get a taxi back and I had no reason to think that it was going to be an issue.

'I went to where the huts were to get onto the pebbles, that's when I was sick.

'As I was sick and lifted my head up he kissed me and I said "leave it out, I've just been sick and Amy (Price's wife) wouldn't be very happy".

Katie took her stepfather's name after he married Amy in 1988. She wrote on her website: 'Paul, my stepdad, became part of my life when I was just a little girl aged six. He has supported me all along and I feel as though, basically, he's my real Dad.' The pair were pictured together in a photo of a party in 2011 which Katie tweeted with the caption: 'Me and my dad chillaxing'. Katie has not commented on the allegations but sources say she was 'very upset' after his arrest. Her mother Amy split from Katie's biological father Ray Infield when she was four and went on to marry Paul in 1988. Advertisement

'He was an opportunist who had too much to drink, that's what I thought at that point. I didn't think anything was going to happen at that point.

'We carried on walking and he tried to hold my hand and I thought he was just being daft, we had never had any sexual banter or innuendos before ever.

'The area we were was really dark and there were no cars in sight.

'When he grabbed me I was shocked because of how forceful it was, I thought he was going to kill me.

'He had his hands around my throat. I wasn't touching him, I wasn't touching his penis even though he wanted me to.

'He pushed me forward and pulled my trousers down, my neck was against the trees and I have still got the mark now, 18 months later.

'I ran off as he was zipping off and tried to get help, I was scared and wanted to get away from him'
and affected telephone wires on the street

West Midlands Fire Service confirmed the car destroyed an electricity pole and also damaged a

The high speed supercar was in a

A supercar worth around 137,000 was smashed to pieces after a road traffic collision on a country road.

The metallic blue V10 Audi R8 collided with a Land Rover on Tanworth Lane, in Shirley, West Midlands, yesterday morning.

Dramatic pictures have emerged that show the true extent of the damage to the two door supercar that can reach speeds of up to 205 miles per hour.

Metallic blue V10 Audi R8 destroyed after crash with a Land Rover on Tanworth Lane, in Shirley, West Midlands, yesterday

The Audi hit a wooden electricity pole and damaged a lamppost which also lead to issues on a telegraph wire.

A spokesman from West Midlands Fire Service confirmed that Billesley Community Fire Station attended the scene at around 8.45am on Wednesday.

Billesley Fire station shared these pictures show the destruction caused by the two vehicles on the country lane at around 8.45am

He added: The fire service were called to two cars in collision and one of the vehicles had collided with a wooden electricity pole.

There were no casualties and no one was trapped but as a precaution the three people involved were treated by paramedics.

The vehicles were made safe and an electrician was in attendance to check the supply and isolate the police.

An electricity pole, lampost and telephone wires were all affected in the incident

A street light is also being assess by the council.

Telecom visited its telephone wire following concerns the electricity pole had been leaning on it.

The owners of the vehicles arranged their own recovery.

Sharing the pictures on its Twitter page Billesley Fire stressed that the road was wet and slippy and people need to take car when driving. They also used #killyourspeed.

Last week another supercar driver had a visit from the emergency services but this time the police.

The Lamborghini driver paid a high price for staring at his phone behind the wheel and seized his supercar.

Officers were on patrol in Hendon, north London, as part of a national crackdown on mobile phone use behind the wheel when they saw the 42-year-old man driving along Queens Road last Wednesday.
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A senior Iraqi commander says his troops have driven Islamic State militants from three more neighbourhoods in the northern city of Mosul as the net closes on their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The ISIS tyrant is thought to have executed one of his closest confidants, for fear that he would give away crucial secrets if captured in the battle for the Iraqi city.

Baghdadi ruthlessly ordered Abu Abdullah be killed along with this wife and three children at a house to the west of the city.

As Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters close in, the ISIS leader is reportedly sleeping in tunnels under Mosul with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest team.

Coalition forces' snipers have been picking off terrorists one by one in the fight to liberate Mosul.

Members of the Iraqi Special Forces fire towards a position of the Islamic State group from a rooftop in a northeastern district of the Iraqi ciy of Mosul

A member of the Iraqi Special Forces stands wearing a skull mask stands guard in a northeastern district of the city of Mosul on November 24, 2016

Elite forces gained new ground in east Mosul, looking for fresh momentum as stiffer-than-expected IS resistance threatened to bog down the five-week-old offensive against the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq

ISIS tyrant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) is sleeping in tunnels with a suicide vest after becoming increasingly paranoid about his closest team, it has been claimed

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces said his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all in the eastern sector of Mosul, east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government's campaign to liberate the city began just over a month ago.

Government troops are backed by US-led coalition airstrikes against ISIS positions in the city.

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban center still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces said his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour

Government troops are backed by US-led coalition airstrikes against ISIS positions in the city

A member of the Iraqi Special Forces is seen behind the reinforced windshield of an Iraqi Special Forces armoured vehicle, bearing the bullet marks, in a street of a district of Northeastern Mosul

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban center still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq

A member of the Iraqi Special Forces stands guard in a street, as Islamic State (IS) group fighters clash with government forces, in a northeastern district of the city of Mosul

But ISIS are not taking the offensive by the coalition troops (pictured) lying down. A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad Thursday, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul

But ISIS are not taking the offensive lying down.

A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad Thursday, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.

Most of the victims were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

ISIS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, IS said a bomber 'blew up his vehicle amidst their assembly, inflicting among them more than 200 killed and wounded, including Iranians.'

Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said it had targeted several buses.

'A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack,' he said.

'There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians.'

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said

Most of the victims were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Baghdad

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

'There are completely charred corpses at the scene,' said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year.

According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.

Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city, which lies southwest of Baghdad, to protect the pilgrims from a feared ISIS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul Thursday, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.

'They cannot flee. They have two choices - give up or die,' he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

'The Iraqi advance on the south and southeast of the city has started to pick up some steam, which we think is a really great development,' coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

'It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them,' he said.

A face covered Iraqi soldier sits on his humvee in front of scores of Iraqi male residents who were rounded up by Iraqi forces, in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq

An Iraqi soldier passes scores of Iraqi male residents rounded up in hopes of offering information on any Islamic State members among them, in the Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since October 17

ISIS fighters moving in an intricate network of tunnels have also used snipers, booby traps and a seemingly endless supply of suicide car bombers to stop Iraqi forces.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive but fighters have admitted being surprised by how fierce ISIS resistance has been.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi - Popular Mobilisation - an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by ISIS west of Mosul and on Wednesday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

That will make it very long and dangerous for IS if it attempts to move fighters and equipment between Mosul and Raqa, the last two bastions of their crumbling 'state'.

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since October 17.
A mother and father were left stunned and overwhelmed when their six-week-old daughter said "hello" when she saw them.

The couple from Salisbury, Wiltshire, have shared an amazing video that shows the moment their little chatter box says her first word.

Baby Charlotte Wheeler-Osman, now eight-weeks-old, shocked parents Samantha and Dave, when she greeted them with the word.

Baby Charlotte Wheeler-Osman (pictured), shocked parents Samantha and Dave, from Wiltshire, when she greeted them with a "hello"

The couple now have high hopes for their third child - who they think is destined to be a wordsmith.

'I literally walked past her one day while she was in her bouncy chair and she said "hello",' said Samantha, 28.

The couple now have high hopes for their third child, who they think is destined to be a wordsmith

'She says it all the time now - I couldn't believe it.

'Everyone says 'hiya' to her but she is obviously posher.

'She's my third child - they say they get quicker as they go on but I didn't think she would be this quick!'

Husband Dave, 30, a refuse collector, heard his little one say the word and immediately grabbed his camera.

After spurring their daughter on with a few more 'hellos' she came out with it again, and it is now her favourite word.

He added: 'It was quite a shock.

'Our other two took a lot longer but she just came out with it after six weeks.

'I think she'll be a quick learner.'

The couple have two other children - Gerrard, four, and Alfie, three.

Charlotte was born on September 24, weighing 6lbs 11oz, at Salisbury District Hospital.

The amazing video shows their little chatterbox repeating the word to her father and she now says it all the time

Samantha, a full-time mother, said she wanted to share the video after seeing other baby videos and realising that Charlotte was by far the cleverest.

'She's definitely going to be a chatty one,' she added.

Babies are not expected to start saying proper words till at least six months, after they have experimented with sounds. Some develop later and on average it is not until at least 18 months that a child say short sentences.
A Royal Navy warship had to be towed back into port with 'technical issues' just two days after leaving.

HMS Duncan was among a group of four NATO ships that visited HM Naval Base Devonport at the weekend.

The fleet left on Monday and had been due to set sail to a European port after it completed its training exercises off the Plymouth coast.

A Royal Navy warship had to be be towed back into port with 'technical issues' just two days after leaving

But local residents spotted the Type 45 frigate being towed across the Sound at about 11.30am on Wednesday.

Raymond Wergan, 85, of Plymouth, Devon, who captured these pictures of the vessel, said it appeared entirely powerless.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Defence said the ship had experienced 'technical issues' and was being brought back to the base so the problem could be assessed.

HMS Duncan was among a group of four NATO ships that visited HM Naval Base Devonport at the weekend

Raymond Wergan, 85, of Plymouth, Devon, who captured these pictures of the vessel, said it appeared entirely powerless

The Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, comprising ships from the Royal Navy, the Spanish and Portuguese navies and a German auxiliary tanker, berthed in Devonport last Friday.

The ships, which included HMS Duncan, FGS Rhoen (German Navy), NRP Alvares Cabral (Portugese Navy) and the flagship ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbon (Spanish Navy), were also planning a Christmas break, while remaining on short-notice for tasking.

As the MailOnline previously reported, the Royal Navy's 6 billion fleet of Type 45 destroyers was spending more time berthed in UK military ports than on active duty defending the nation, official figures revealed after a Freedom of Information Request.

The six vessels notched up a staggering 1,515 days in our harbours in the year between April 2015 and 2016 - and four of the state-of-the-art ships were stationary for more than 300 days each.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Defence said the Type 45 frigate had experienced 'technical issues'

The figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, have angered a former head of the Royal Navy, who has called for urgent action by Theresa May to resolve the problem.

The Navy's Type 45s, also known as the D or Daring class, are an advanced class of six guided missile destroyers built - at a cost of around 1bn each.

The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare, and the first to be built - HMS Daring - was commissioned in 2009.

The fleet left on Monday and had been due to set sail to a European port after it completed its training exercises off the Plymouth coast

They replaced the Type 42 destroyers that had served during the Falklands War, with the last of their class being decommissioned in 2013.

On the launch of HMS Daring, the Royal Navy proclaimed it was the world's best air-defence ship.

During an attack a single Type 45 could simultaneously track, engage and destroy more targets than five Type 42 destroyers operating together.


Evil James King, 31, who changed his name from Robin Hollyson, was jailed for 24 years for filming himself raping a three month-old baby he was babysitting after gaining parent's trust

One of Britain's vilest paedophiles who was part of a gang that raped drugged babies killed himself after inmates took out "contracts" to hurt him.

Evil James King, 31, who changed his name from Robin Hollyson, was jailed for 24 years for filming himself raping a three month-old.

Prisoner John Denham told an inquest that fellow inmates at HMP Bristol quickly took out contracts on King to burn him or give him a "black eye or two".

King's mother Deborah Wyatt added that a fellow gang member had been 'sugared' - burned with sugar-filled water - in an attack he feared was intended for him.

Just four months into his sentence he was found hanging in his cell and died two days later in hospital on January 17.

King was part of a gang jailed in September 2015 by a judge who described them as 'evil beyond rational understanding'.

Judge Julian Lambert said the case was one of the most horrific abuse cases on record.

He said: 'In the worst nightmare, from the very deepest recesses of the mind, at the darkest hour of the night, few can have imagined the terrifying depravity which you men admit.'

Just four months into his sentence he was found hanging in his cell and died two days later in hospital on January 17

A four-day inquest before a jury at Flax Bourton, near Bristol, heard how King had anxiety and depression which got worse around the time of his sentencing.

He had tried to kill himself before arriving at Bristol prison and was three times placed on special observation amid fears he would self-harm or take his own life.

His mother said she last saw him shortly after Christmas and was concerned for his safety.

She said: 'During that visit James informed us of an incident in which a fellow prisoner had been sugared. That incident involved one of his co-defendants, Matthew.

'James suggested to us that the attack on Matthew was intended for him. I believe he was concerned and I believe he was told about the attack by another prisoner.'

In a statement to police, inmate Denham said people had taken contracts out on Mr King inside prison to hurt him.

An inquest has heard how King feared he was going to be attacked by fellow inmates who had just attacked another member of his paedophile gang in HMP Bristol

He also said that King may have been upset on the day of his death because he received a letter from an old friend who no longer wanted contact with him.

Prison workers were called to King's cell around 9.20pm on January 15 after his cellmate sounded the call button.

Operational support worker Francesca Sage was the first to arrive but she did not open the cell door fearing it was a staged attack.

Within ten minutes she was joined by three other prison workers and two nurses who performed CPR on King.

He was taken to Southmead Hospital but died two days later.

Prison officer Mike Simmonds said there was "a lot of suspicion" because his cellmate Cona Ellis was found covered in blood and wearing King's watch.

But when forensic officers examined the cell and found two suicide notes police decided there was "no foul play", it was said.

Pathologist Amanda Jeffery said King died as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain caused by hanging.

After more than four hours of deliberation the jury of ten people returned a conclusion of suicide.

King, originally from Luton, Bedfordhsire, had admitted raping a baby and filming himself doing it before and sending a video of the abuse to other paedophiles.
Home: Sherri Papini, 34, was found bound by the side of the road on Thursday after being missing for three weeks

Mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young mother deepened on Thursday as she was found alive, bound by the side of the road, after being held captive for three weeks.

Sherri Papini vanished while out jogging near her home in Redding, California, on November 2.

The 34-year-old reappeared on Thanksgiving morning when she flagged down a passing motorist on I-5 in Woodland near Sacramento, some 150 miles way.

Now police are hunting for two Hispanic women armed with handguns and a dark SUV as Papini, a mother-of-two is returned to her family.

Details surrounding her kidnapping were scarce on Thursday as Shasta County Sheriff's Office made the announcement she had been found alive.

It is not clear whether any money was exchanged before her return.

An anonymous donor, operating outside the family and without police help, had offered a $50,000 ransom to her captor for her safe return. The amount was upped to $100,000 and then withdrawn a day before she reappeared.

It is not known if Papini knew her captors, was harmed by them or what their motives may have been.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told a press conference that specific pieces of information were being withheld as investigations continued but that officers were confident an arrest for Sherri's kidnapping would be made.

Sherri has also been reunited with her husband Keith (above with their Tyler, four, and Violet, two), who was ruled out as a suspect in her disappearance by a lie detector test

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko (above right) said police are hunting for two armed Hispanic women. Sherri (left during a family trip) was treated for non life-threatening injuries at hospital

Papini was reported missing by her husband when she failed to collect their two young children from daycare

'We are very ecstatic to report that Sherri Papini has been located and has been reunited with her husband and family on this day of Thanksgiving,' Sheriff Tom Bosenko told KRON4.

'I'm happy to say that Sherri is now safe and she has been treated at an area hospital for non-life threatening injuries,' he said.

There was no word from Sherri's husband Keith on Thursday as he was reunited with her at a hospital near where she was found.

The couple's two children spend the holiday with his father Ken who took to Facebook to describe it as a 'great Thanksgiving', sharing his gratitude for all those who helped in the search for his daughter-in-law.

The 34-year-old resurfaced three weeks after she vanished some 150 miles from her home in Redding (above)

Sherri flagged down a passing motorist at the intersection of County Road 17 and I-5 in Woodland near Sacramento (above)

Keith Papini reported his young, active wife missing on November 2 when she failed to pick up their children from daycare.

TIMELINE OF SHERRI PAPINI'S KIDNAPPING November 2: Sherri Papini fails to pick up her two children from daycare and is reported missing by her husband Keith November 10: Keith Papini is ruled out as a suspect after passing a lie detector test November 18: The FBI joins the search for Sherri as an anonymous donor offers $50,000 for her return November 23: Cameron Gamble, a local 'negotiator', appears in a video on behalf of the anonymous donor to inform Sherri's captors the ransom was now 'off the table' November 24: Sherri flags down a passing motorist at the intersection of I-5 and County Road 17 and is taken to hospital Advertisement

He traced her discarded iPhone to the side of the road about a mile from their home where he found it tossed on the ground with her running 'ear buds'.

A frantic missing person's appeal was launched, with posters littering the local town of Mountain Gate and scores of social media pleas for Sherri's return.

Keith was later named as a potential person of interest in the case but ruled out when he passed a lie detector test.

An initial ransom was offered to her kidnappers of $50,000. It was announced in a video featuring Cameron Gamble, an apparent negotiator hired by the anonymous donor.

He claimed the money had been put up by a private citizen but that it would expire if Sherri's kidnappers did not come forward.

On Wednesday, after upping the money to $100,000, he withdrew the offer, instead turning it into a reward for anyone with information on the young mother's whereabouts.

Sherri's family said they had no involvement in the ransom but shared information about it on social media.

They however pleaded with well-wishers to give money to a GoFundMe account which has raised $49,080 for search efforts.

Almost exactly 24 hours after the ransom offer was withdrawn, Sherri flagged down a passing driver on a road between County Road 17 and I-5 in Woodland, near Sacramento.

A news conference will be held this afternoon to update the public about what happened to the young mother

Sherri's family maintained a highly publicized missing person's appeal after she vanished form Sunrise Drive near Mountain Gate in Redding, California, on November 2 (above)

Sherri's family shared photographs of the running outfit they believed she was wearing (left) before she went missing and others in a frantic bid to find her

A $50,000 ransom offer for Sherri's return was upped to $100,000 but then withdrawn from her captor before she was found

She was taken to a hospital to be treated for non life-threatening injuries and interviewed by detectives.

'At about 4.30 this morning, Shasta County Sheriff's Office was notified that Sherri Papini had been located.

'We learned she had been released by her captor on a road near I-5 in Yolo County.

'She was bound by restraints but was able to summon help from a passing motorist,' said Sheriff Bosenko.

He added police were looking for 'two Hispanic females armed with a handgun' and a dark SUV.

The department has received more than 400 tips about her disappearance, he said.

On Thursday after she reappeared, a website dedicated to Sherri's return had been dismantled.
President-elect Donald Trump's proposed 'temporary' ban on Muslims entering the United States apparently didn't prevent him from improving on the Republican presidential candidate's share of the Islamic vote for the third presidential election in a row.

Trump garnered 13 per cent of the Muslim vote, according to an exit poll released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations reveals. He got badly beaten among Muslims by Hillary Clinton, who got 74 per cent.

Clinton campaigned with Khizr Khan, the gold star father of slain Army Capt. Humayan Khan, and regularly stressed inculsion of Muslims in her 'stronger together' platform.

Trump's vote share, however, was nearly triple the 4.4 per cent Republican Mitt Romney got in 2012, according to a survey relased by CAIR that year.

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President-elect Donald Trump won 13 per cent of the Muslim vote, according to an exit poll  badly losing the group to Hillary Clinton, but still improving on Mitt Romney's performance in 2012

Republican John McCain got just 2 per cent of the Muslim vote against President Obama. Obama got 89 per cent then.

'Muslims were more energized and engaged this election than ever before, turning out in record numbers, said CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert McCaw in an official release, which offered no mention of Trump's Muslim ban and didn't try to explain the result.

Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. brought a wave of criticism from civil liberties groups. He kept the proposal on his website throughout the campaign. Later, the candidate modified his rhetoric to call for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants from countries with high levels of terrorism, but never explained precisely how it would work.

He also criticized President Obama for admitting thousands of refugees from the Syrian civil war into the country, and claimed Hillary Clinton would let in far more.

Trump improved on Mitt Romney's performance from 2012 even as he called for a Muslim ban and later 'extreme vetting' of immigrants
A health worker given 30 stitches after a vicious dog attack has been left stunned by police who blamed her pet.

Julie McKechnie had a two hour operation to stitch a gaping wound to her knee, spent four days in hospital and was off work for four months.

She reported the incident to police and gave names and contact details of other witnesses including the owner of the dog she says attacked her near her home in Falkirk.

But Julie, 45, was left dumbfounded when police told her no crime had been committed and no action was going to be taken.

Health care worker Julie McKechnie had a two hour operation to stitch a gaping wound to her knee, spent four days in hospital and was off work for four months

A woman given 30 stitches after a vicious dog attack has been left stunned by police who blamed her pet

She reported the incident to police and gave names and contact details of other witnesses including the owner of the dog she says attacked her

When she protested she said a senior officer then visited her home to say statements from witnesses had led them to conclude she had been bitten by her own dog.

Angry Julie has now written to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner demanding an investigation into the decision by Police Scotland.

She said: 'To suggest that is what happened is ludicrous.

'The police have to be taken to task on this. They have handled it all very badly and now seem to have closed ranks to protect their own.

'Out of nowhere this man's dog mauled me in a public park and left with a severe injury.

'I'm a dog lover, my parents bred German Shepherds, but this dog was out of control and poses a threat to the public.

'Its owner has to be prosecuted and the future of the dog decided under the terms of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act.'

When she protested she said a senior officer then visited her home to say statements from witnesses had led them to conclude she had been bitten by her own dog

Julie said the vicious attack happened as she walking her dog Cody, a three-year-old dalmatian cross, near her home in Falkirk with her sister.

They stopped to chat with two other dog walkers, including a man who had two dogs running free off the lead.

But when one lunged towards Cody Julie was telling the owner to put a lead on it when the second charged and sank its teeth into her leg.

Police Scotland said: 'Police in Falkirk investigated the circumstances and concluded no crime had been committed.

'A complaint was made to the Professional Standards Department regarding the level of investigation and the outcome and it was determined the level of enquiry conducted was reasonable, proportionate and thorough.'

Julie added that the owner of the dog that bit her and his friend gave statements telling police her own pet was to blame.

Angry Julie has now written to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner demanding an investigation into the decision by Police Scotland

She said: 'The owner of the labrador was talking to a woman. Both of those people in their statements said it was my dog that bit me. She took his side.

'But I wouldn't report my own dog - it's ludicrous. I wouldn't have gone any further with it.

'I've done it because I know it's not my dog.'

She added: 'My dog was on a lead. All the dogs had a sniff at each other. We stood blethering for 10 minutes.

'The black lab looked at Cody and started walking towards him and the went for him.

'Having Cody on a lead, I pulled him back beside me. The other owner did not intervene.

'I shouted at him to put his dog on a lead and he did it eventually.

'The golden lab then came out of nowhere. It came at me, grabbed my left leg and it shook it and shook it and then I went down.'

In the days following the attack Julie said she received a voicemail and a message from the labrador owner apologising, but claims the police did not want it.

Julie said the vicious attack happened as she walking her dog Cody, a three-year-old dalmatian cross, near her home in Falkirk with her sister

She said: 'I got a voicemail from the owner to apologise. The police said they didn't want it.

'They could take my clothes which have the dog's DNA all over them. They're refusing forensic evidence.

'The only way I can prove it is if they take the voicemail and message and take the clothing for forensic analysis but they said it was not part of the investigation.
This is the horrific moment that a lorry driver drove through a red light and smashed into a car at full speed.

Car driver Kerem Ali Bakacak was seriously injured in the accident in Istanbul, Turkey.

The incident was captured on CCTV cameras and quickly went viral after it was uploaded to video-sharing websites.

Mr Bakacak had just left a motorway in the Tuzla Orhanli area of the city and was attempting to cross a major junction.

But the lorry, whose driver was named by police only as Afer D, failed to stop for a red traffic light and smashed into the car from the side.

The truck was travelling at such a speed that the car was almost smashed in two and the wreckage was shunted along the road for some distance before crashing into a factory wall.

The driver was badly hurt when the lorry smashed into his car and shunted it up the road

Other motorists parked and jumped out of their vehicles to rush to the scene of the accident

Other motorists who witnessed the horrific crash last month parked their vehicles by the side of the road and ran to the scene to see if they could help.

Eyewitnesses called the emergency services and an ambulance quickly arrived to rush Mr Bakacak to hospital. According to local media reports, he suffered multiple fractures.
The official county-by county of Michigan is in, and it shows President-elect Donald Trump did what he set out to do, picking off the battleground prize and winning it by nearly 11,000 votes.

Earlier counts had the Republican ahead by about 13,000 votes. But in final county-by-county votes posted by state election officials Wednesday, Trump's official lead narrowed to 10,704, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Clinton picked up her biggest share of votes in the canvass in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, gaining 565 votes.

Trump won with 47.59 per cent of the vote, compared to Clinton's 47.35 per cent of the vote.

The narrow win vindicates Trump's claims throughout the race that he could compete in rust belt Democratic strongholds like Michigan. Trump made it his mission, stressing trade and job losses to overseas competitors, to bring back some of the 'Reagan Democrats' in Macomb County and other working class areas.

President-elect Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes, according to final results posted by the Michigan secretary of state

Democrats mostly dismissed the idea throughout the general election, although in the final days of the campaign Clinton rushed to Grand Rapids and Detroit, and dispatched President Obama to Ann Arbor in a futile effort to stave off the upset.

With Michigan in his column, Trump won 306 electoral votes, to Clinton's 232, a convincing electoral win. But Clinton has amassed a 2 million vote lead in the popular vote  the second time since 2000 where the Democrat got more votes but lost the White House anyway.

Trump also seized two other Democratic prizes by winning Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is raising funds to call for a recount in the three states.

PHOTO FINISH: Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by just 10,704 votes, according to the final tally released by the secretary of state

The official loss of Michigan doesn't change the outcome. Hillary Clinton was already trailing there, and Trump had amassed enough electoral votes to win without he state

Green Party candidate Jill Stein has raised enough funds to seek a recount in three states, including Michigan

She announced that she has raised the necessary $2 million to pay for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after experts said it was possible that hackers had artificially lowered Hillary Clinton's counts there.

She had reached $3.5 million by Thursday.

'We deserve elections we can trust,' said Stein's campaign said, adding that the effort was not intended to help Clinton.

Computer scientists including J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, have conducted an analysis of the vote.

That vote showed that Clinton performed 7 per cent worse in Wisconsin counties that have electronic voting machines than in counties that relied on paper ballots that are logged with an optical scanner.

The group have contacted high level Clinton staffers, including campaign chair John Podesta and general counsel Marc Elias, and made their case in a conference call, according to New York Magazine.

The Clinton camp hadn't provided comment about the activists' push to call for a recount of the vote.

Although the scientists provide no evidence of a hack, they note that computer vote tallying machines in closely contested states could be susceptible to hacking  in an election that featured hacks of the Democratic National Committee and of Podesta's private email account.
Jasmine Preciado, 22, was stabbed to death in Venice, Los Angeles, on Monday night

Police are hunting for three suspects in the stabbing death of a pregnant woman in Los Angeles.

Jasmine Preciado, 22, was ambushed and stabbed in a parking lot while on a date with her boyfriend in Venice on Monday night.

Authorities say she was killed after getting into a fight near the corner of Pacific and Windward Avenues.

Three people believed to have been involved in the fight left the scene in a black SUV.

Police are searching for two Hispanic women and one Hispanic man in connection with the brutal attack.

Detectives examined the SUV for evidence on Tuesday in relation to Preciado's murder, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Preciado was three months pregnant and a mother to a three-year-old daughter.

CCTV footage shows a woman in white clothing duck in front of the car holding what appears to be a knife

Security camera footage appears to show the moment Preciado was ambushed.

The footage is believed to show Preciado in dark clothing holding up a mobile phone to a group of people near a black SUV.

A woman dressed in white then lunges at her.

The same woman, a moment later, ducks in front of the car holding what appears to be a knife before jumping into the black SUV.

The car then reverses out of the parking space.

The 22-year-old was three months pregnant and a mother to a three-year-old daughter

Footage is believed to show Preciado in dark clothing (left) holding up a mobile phone to a group of people near a black SUV

Preciado's cousin, Christina, said: 'Did you know that by hurting Jasmine, you hurt her daughter? You hurt her family, and you hurt her friends.'

'You need to turn yourself in, no matter what you're going to pay for it,' relative David Preciado told ABC 7.

Candles and flowers have been laid on the kerb where she died.

The Los Angeles Police Department said they responded to a call about a stabbing around 9.30pm on Tuesday night.

No arrests have yet been made.

A woman dressed in white appears to lunge at Preciado in the CCTV footage
President Vladimir Putin told budding geography students that Russia's borders 'don't end anywhere'.

Putin was speaking at a televised awards ceremony held by the Russian Geographical Society amid growing tensions with the West and NATO.

On stage Putin questioned Miroslav Oskirko, a nine-year-old prodigy who said he knew the borders of every country in the world.

President Vladimir Putin told budding geography students that Russia's borders 'don't end anywhere'

Putin was speaking at a televised awards ceremony held by the Russian Geographical Society amid growing tensions with the West and NATO

Putin asked the boy where Russia's borders ended, with Oskirko saying 'Russia's borders end at the Bering Strait with the United States'.

Hugging the boy by the shoulder, Putin corrected him: 'Russia's borders don't end anywhere,' before adding: 'That is a joke.'

His remarks prompted laughter in the audience, which included Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who heads the geographical society.

'An update from Putin: Russia's borders don't end anywhere!' wrote Interfax news agency on Twitter.

'Are we talking about culture here or the S-400?' Twitter user Dmitry Kasatkin wrote, referring to Russia's most sophisticated air defence system, which has been deployed to Syria.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 by sending in thousands of special forces to take control of Ukrainian bases and holding a hastily organised referendum that was rejected by the international community.

Three months later he spelled out his doctrine, saying: 'I would like to make it clear to all: our country will continue to actively defend the rights of Russians, our compatriots abroad, using the entire range of available means - from political and economic to operations under international humanitarian law and the right of self-defence,' according to the BBC.
A 16-year-old girl has been killed after she was caught in a gunman's crossfire as she drove home from church with her family.

The teenager, identified as Danah Rojo-Rivas, was fatally shot on Wednesday at about 9.30pm in Lynwood, Los Angeles.

She was sitting in the back seat of her family's car with her pet poodle in her lap. Her mother was driving and her 18-year-old brother was in the front passenger seat.

Danah Rojo-Rivas, 16, was struck by a gunman's stray bullet in Lynwood, Los Angeles on Wednesday night as she drove home from church with her family in this car

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department believe the girl may have been caught in between a possible car-to-car gang-related shooting.

Authorities say a burgundy Saturn SUV was the intended target but it got stuck at a set of traffic lights. A male suspect in another car got out and fired multiple shots at the vehicle.

One of the rounds hit the car Rojo-Rivas was in as her mother was making a right-hand turn at the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and Euclid Avenue.

The sheriff's department said the bullet struck her in the upper torso.

The shooting suspect fled in his vehicle, while the two men in the intended target's car fled the scene on foot.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department believe the girl may have been caught in between a possible car-to-car gang-related shooting at an intersection in Lynwood, Los Angeles

Rojo-Rivas's mother pulled over after realizing she had been shot, but paramedics were unable to save her.

The girl's mother and brother were not injured but the dog sitting on her lap ran into the street and was fatally struck by a car.

'My heart goes out to the family,' Sergeant Robert Gray of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

'They were supposed to be celebrating a day of thanks and today they are going to be in mourning.'
A group of pedestrians were rushed to hospital after being hit by a car whilst crossing a busy London street.

The four men were crossing a busy road when the Audi A3 hit them, leaving one in a critical condition and the others with non-life threatening injuries.

The crash happened shortly before 6:45pm yesterday in North End Road, West Kensington and witnesses described it as sounding as if a bomb had gone off as the victims were strewn across the street.

A group of pedestrians were rushed to hospital after being hit by a car whilst crossing the road

The four men were crossing a busy road when the Audi A3 hit them, leaving one in a critical condition and the others with non-life threatening injuries

Srivinas Namilikonda, 32, told the Evening Standard she and three medical studentw who happened to be passing helped give first aid to the four men until paramedics arrived.

The IT worker from Hounslow described the scene as 'horrific' and that the men 'flew' in different directions leaving witnesses crying.

A woman who lives in North End Road told the paper the sound of the car hitting the victims 'sounded like a bomb going off'.

A 56-year-old man and two men aged in their twenties are in a non-life threatening condition.

A fourth man, in his twenties, remains in a critical condition in hospital.

The car stopped at the scene, and the 19-year-old female driver remains in custody after being arrested on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving.

A female passenger who was in the vehicle involved received treatment at the scene for minor injuries.
A man charged with shooting dead a black 15-year-old on a West Virginia street said he felt his 'life was in danger' because the teenager flashed a gun at him first.

William Ronald Pulliam, 62, allegedly shot James Means twice in the abdomen on a street near a Dollar General store in Charleston, West Virginia on Monday night.

Police said Pulliam showed no remorse after his arrest and allegedly said: 'The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street.'

But in an interview with WCHS from South Central Regional Jail, Pulliam denied making such a claim to police and claimed the shooting had nothing to do with race.

It comes as family and friends held vigils for the slain teenager on Wednesday night.

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William Ronald Pulliam, 62, was charged with shooting dead James Means, 15, in Charleston, West Virginia on Monday. He claims he felt his life was in danger and that Means had a gun

James Means, 15, was shot dead allegedly by William Ronald Pulliam, 62, on a street near a general store in Charleston, West Virginia on Monday night

Witnesses say the pair exchanged words near the store at the corner of Washington and Nancy streets at about 8.45pm when they accidentally bumped into each other.

Pulliam claims Means was with two other boys on the porch of a nearby house and one of them cursed at him as he walked by. He said Means then flashed a gun at him.

When Pulliam came out of the store a short time later, he said he walked on the opposite side the street but claims Means came towards him.

'I just shot him. I felt my life was in danger,' Pulliam said.

Police said Pulliam used a .380 caliber revolver to fatally shoot the teenager and he later died at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

Pulliam said it was not racially motivated.

'I don't care if they're white or black. Nobody is going to do me like that. It doesn't make any difference if he's black. My God, everybody I live around over there is black. I get along with all of them, ask them,' Pulliam said.

Pulliam has been charged with first degree murder but police said he showed no remorse and allegedly said: 'The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street'

Witnesses say Means and Pulliam exchanged words outside the store when they accidentally bumped into each other

Scene of the crime: The shooting happened outside a general store in Charleston, West Virginia on Monday night

It comes as friends and family held vigils for the slain teenager on Wednesday night, remembering him as a 'funny, smart and a good friend', the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.

Obi Henderson, director of the nonprofit Dreams Community Development Corporation, said that James had attended weekly meetings with a youth group called the Dream Chasers to learn about communication skills and career development tools.

'James' name is not something that should be forgotten. His life was stolen from him,' Henderson said.

'It's important that we come together and unify people, and ensure that these young people do not continue to see their friends killed in the streets. Not only by their elders, like this gentleman, but each other.'

Penni Padget, who called Means' smile 'infectious,' said steps need to be taken to avoid similar incidents in the future.

'We've got to do something different, because it might be James today, but it (could) be somebody else tomorrow. His life mattered to us,' Padgett said.

Thirteen-year-old James Cooper witnessed the shooting on Monday.

'James was a good friend to me,' he said. 'He always came up with ideas of what to do and how to make it fun.'

Friends and family held vigils for the slain teenager on Wednesday night, remembering him as a 'funny, smart and a good friend'

During his arraignment via video from South Central Regional Jail on Tuesday (pictured), Pulliam was shocked to learn he would have to remain in jail

Police said Pulliam allegedly left Means to die and went home to eat dinner before hanging out at a female friend's house.

Due to a prior domestic violence conviction in 2013, Pulliam was not supposed to have a gun, the West Virginia Gazette reports.

Pulliam was arrested on Tuesday and charged with first degree murder.

During his arraignment via video from South Central Regional Jail, Pulliam was shocked to learn he would have to remain in jail.

'I'm going to be in here til December?' he asked the judge. 'I'm going to lose my job and everything.'
store worker scared off robber by throwing lollies at them

A convince store worker has successfully scared off a masked robber by throwing lollies at him.

The brazen bandit attempted to hold up BP service station in Aberdare, in NSW's Hunter Region on Sunday morning, Newcastle Herald reported.

Armed with a metal bar the thief rushed at the convince store worker only to cop a face full of lollies.

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A convince store worker has successfully scared off a masked robber by throwing lollies at him (pictured)

Armed with a metal bar the thief rushed at the convince store worker only to cop a face full of lollies (pictured)

CCTV footage shows a black Hyundai i30 speeding up to the entrance at the service station, before a balaclava-clad offender gets out and tries to enter the store.

The convince store worker, who is standing at the entrance reaches for a small bag of confectionery and as the intruder approaches, pelts the lollies at them.

The video shows the offender fleeing in a getaway car, where a driver and another passenger were waiting.

The car was later found burnt out in Bellbird, about 10 kilometres away.

An employee told police the driver had his face covered with something similar to a bandanna.

The offender with the metal bar was wearing a balaclava, black jumper and track pants, the employee said.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

The brazen bandit attempted to hold up BP service station in Aberdare, in NSW's Hunter Region (pictured) on Sunday morning
Supermarket Asda has pulled out of Black Friday for the second year in a row claiming it will concentrate on low prices throughout the festive period.

Their decision comes just two years after customers were photographed tussling over items which had been dramatically reduced in store.

The supermarket made Black Friday famous in the UK due to its connections with America as its owners are one of the country's biggest retailers, Walmart.

But it has justified the decision to refrain from taking part in the popular sale on Friday because their customers 'did not want the pressure of a flash sale'.

Many queued for hours for the discounted sets at supermarkets such as Asda superstore in Wembley in 2014 (pictured)

Instead, the supermarket said that their customers preferred to know they were 'offering low prices throughout the festive season'.

Russell Craig, Media Relations Director for Asda, said: 'Last year we said that we were stepping away from Black Friday.

'As much as we had developed a well organised and executed event, the feedback from our customers was clear that they didn't want the pressure of a "flash sale" and preferred to know we were offering low prices throughout the festive season.'

In 2014 - the last time the store held a Black Friday sale - customers were seen fighting over 40 inch Polaroid TVs, which had been reduced by 80 at stores around the country.

Customers were desperate to get their hands on the reduced items at the store in northwest London

Meanwhile, others bargain hunters were seen brawling over the 50 inch Blaupunkt HD TV in Tesco stores, where they were reduced by 150 from 399 to 249.
A murder probe has been launched after a five-year-old boy died from head injuries suffered in a south east London park.

Detectives are investigating the boy's death after reports of 'an incident involving a man in the company of a child' which left the youngster with fatal injuries having been at Mountsfield Park, Catford.

The boy suffered the injuries in the early evening of Sunday and was admitted to a south London hospital eight hours later in the early hours of Monday, but died the following afternoon.

Marvin Iheanacho, 38, from Wesley Avenue, Hounslow, was arrested on Monday and appeared at Bromley Magistrates Court the following day charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Woolwich Crown Court on December 20.

Scotland Yard said: 'A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a five-year-old boy.

'On Monday, November 21 police were called at around 1.45am to a south London hospital after a five-year-old child was admitted with critical head injuries.

'A man was arrested and subsequently charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, and is currently remanded in custody to appear at crown court.

'The boy died on the afternoon of Tuesday at a hospital and the investigation was passed to the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

'The result of a post-mortem examination held on Thursday is awaited by officers.'

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Lynes said: 'We are appealing to find any witnesses who were in, or near to, Mountsfield Park, Catford between approximately 5.15pm and 6.45pm on Sunday, 20 November, and are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard anything regarding an incident involving a man in the company of a child.'
A man has pleaded guilty to scaring his partner into jumping out of his ute while he was driving at 100km/h.

Shane Archibald Dickson, 36, was convicted for the manslaughter of his 44-year-old partner, Rinabel Tiglao Blackmore, on December 31, 2014, The Courier Mail reported.

The Brisbane mother-of-four swore at Dickson when the fuel light came on, and he swore and yelled back saying he was going to dump her on the side of the road, the Rockhampton Supreme Court heard.

Shane Archibald Dickson, 36, has been convicted for the manslaughter of his partner Rinabel Tiglao Blackmore, 44 (pictured). Ms Blackmore threw herself out of Dickson's Nissan Navara after an fight with Dickson escalated

She was in a critical condition and later died at Townsville Hospital where her son had to turn off her life support machine

Ms Blackmore threw herself out of Dickson's Nissan Navara, which was he was driving at high speed on Fitzroy Development Road in Middlemount, in central Queensland.

She was in a critical condition when she was taken to Dysart Hospital then airlifted to Townsville Hospital where she died.

The court accepted their fight was a result of domestic abuse she suffered throughout their relationship and she was terrified to leave him.

Dickson, who has a history of domestic violence, was sentenced to seven and a half years jail.

He can apply for bail in July 2017, having already spent almost two years in custody.

In a victim impact statement read in court, her eldest son, Renzy Libao, described the heartbreak of turning off his mother's life support and how she could not escape the relationship.

The Rockhampton Supreme Court accepted their fight was a result of domestic abuse, that she suffered throughout their relationship and was terrified to leave him

Dickson, who has a history of domestic violence, was sentenced to seven and a half years jail. He is eligible for bail in July 2017

'In an attempt to escape from one domestic violence situation and reclaim her life and freedom for herself, she was stripped of this opportunity and her life stolen from her by the same act of violence,' Mr Libao said.

Mr Libao said his mother was a strong, hardworking, independent woman and mother.
Professor Alexis Jay announced an independent legal expert with now examine the child abuse inquiry

The chairman of the beleaguered child abuse inquiry was forced to call in an independent legal expert last night to examine its cover-up of sexual assault and bullying claims against its top lawyer.

Professor Alexis Jay announced that a senior legal figure will carry out a review after a scathing report by MPs said the inquirys response to sexual abuse claims had been wholly inadequate.

The announcement raises the farcical prospect of lawyers investigating lawyers in an independent review into an independent inquiry. The humiliating climbdown for the fourth chairman of Britains biggest inquiry came as furious MPs and victims groups said the 100 million probe was acting as a law unto itself.

Solicitor Imran Khan, who represents the Whiteflowers Alba survivors group, said: Given the damning indictment of her leadership, Prof Jay owes it to the victims of child sexual abuse to resign. MP Chuku Umunna also said she should quit.

As the crisis engulfing the inquiry turned to farce, it was revealed that:

Prof Jay faced a secrecy row as it was revealed lawyers who have resigned from the probe have been blocked from speaking out;

The inquiry solicitor tried to stop MPs scrutinising its work, saying that its child abuse investigations would be compromised;

One lawyer has defied the inquirys gagging order, suggesting staff had been put at risk as reputational advantage was put ahead of a duty to investigate;

n Home Secretary Amber Rudd faced criticism for her regrettable failure to provide MPs with information about the resignation of the previous chairman, Dame Lowell Goddard;

Dame Lowell was blasted for her disgraceful refusal to give evidence to MPs;

The inquiry was told to split its work into two sections  looking at past abuse and current child protection  amid concerns about its mammoth scope.

In its report last night, the home affairs select committee delivered a devastating verdict on the work of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and its handling of allegations against Ben Emmerson, QC.

Whiteflowers Alba survivors group, said given the damning indictment of her leadership, Prof Jay owes it to the victims of child sexual abuse to resign'

Mr Emmerson, the inquirys top lawyer, resigned on September 29 following a claim, which he categorically denies, that he sexually assaulted a female inquiry worker in the lift at its offices. By the time he quit, he had already been suspended by the inquiry after Prof Jay expressed concerns about his leadership. But when he walked out, she dropped the investigation and gave him a glowing reference.

A source close to the inquiry has told the Mail that Prof Jay knew of the alleged sexual assault in early September, even though the victim did not make an official complaint. But the inquiry chairman has refused to act until now, despite Mr Emmerson facing an inquiry by his own chambers.

The committees report said: On the basis of the evidence we have seen, we do not believe that IICSA has taken seriously enough its responsibility to pursue allegations of bullying or disclosures of sexual assault within the inquiry. Nor do we believe it has done enough to demonstrate publicly that it has a robust approach to such matters.

The committee has written to seven lawyers  including Mr Emmerson  who have been leaving the probe at an alarming rate. But the four who have responded so far say they have been banned from speaking out under contractual rules.

The inquiry has refused to waive legal privilege, which prevents all communications between a lawyer and their client from being disclosed without the permission of the client, which in the case is the inquiry.

Resignation: Ben Emmerson the inquiry's top lawyer, resigned on September 29 following a claim that he sexually assaulted a female inquiry worker in the lift at its offices

IICSA solicitor Martin Smith also wrote to committee chairman Yvette Cooper, saying MPs ran the risk of compromising the inquirys investigations with their interference.

But one lawyer, Hugh Davies, QC, who was junior counsel to the inquiry until he quit last December, defied the gagging order yesterday, saying there was an exceptional public interest in tackling reports of different forms of bullying and alleged sexual abuse within IICSAs premises.

He warned that the inquiry had failed to protect its staff, saying: History demonstrates that where bullying or other abuse reflects an imbalance of power between individuals, it is more likely to be repeated.

As matters stand, however, there is an impression that rather than investigating the disclosures to meet these safeguarding objectives, IICSA has reached a de facto compromise agreement with the subject of the disclosures, and ended the investigation.

There is no evidence of consideration having been given to either the possibility of recurrence within the inquiry; or what investigation was required, even if the person making disclosure did not wish to pursue a formal complaint; or to the risk to future employees who may work with the subject of complaint in the future (whether at IICSA or elsewhere).

Miss Cooper said: The response from the current inquiry team to allegations of bullying or sexual assault within the inquiry itself has been wholly inadequate. Given that the inquiry was set up to challenge institutions for covering up internal problems or ignoring abuses of power, it is crucial that the inquiry shows it has a robust and transparent approach to dealing with problems of its own.

This is a cover-up of a cover-up

Committee member Mr Umunna, the constituency MP to the largest survivors group who are boycotting the inquiry after branding it an unpalatable circus, said: I do not see how Professor Alexis Jay can carry on in the role. There must be sufficient transparency to deal with the perception that this is being swept under the carpet in a cover-up.

Andrew Lavery of Whiteflowers Alba said: This is a disgrace. The inquirys instructions to these lawyers amount to a cover-up of a cover-up. If we cant find out what happened in a lift, what hope is there of getting to the truth of how children were abused.

Last night Prof Jay said: We recognise that the past few months have been difficult for the inquiry and for the victims and survivors who have placed their trust in it.

I am personally sorry for any unnecessary anxiety the inquiry may have caused to victims and survivors during this transitional period. The inquiry will invite an external senior legal figure to review some of the issues raised in the committees report.
A man who suffered third-degree burns after an e-cigarette exploded several times in his pocket is recovering in hospital.

Gruesome pictures show the injuries Otis Gooding, 31, of New York, sustained during the blast in Grand Central Terminal.

He was working as a clerk in a wine store when the device suddenly exploded, causing panic at one of the world's busiest train stations.

Gooding's lawyer Samford Reubenstein told Dailymail.com that he has in a stable condition and has already had operations on his hands.

He is surrounded by his parents and brother on the Thanksgiving holiday and is expected to undergo major skin grafting surgery on his thigh and leg on Tuesday.

Otis Gooding, 31, of New York, is recovering in in hospital with horrific burns after an e-cigarette exploded in his pocket at Grand Central Terminal

Gruesome photos show skin on his leg melted away. His hands were also charred as he frantically tried to put out the fire in his pants

Gruesome photos show skin on his leg melted away, exposing raw skin, to his charred hands that were injured as he frantically tried to put out the fire in his pants.

In one of the photos, skin is seen completely removed from a portion of his thigh exposing raw, pink membrane.

His badly burned hand also has portions of skin removed, revealing flesh on the palm of his hand and his index finger.

Another photo shows Gooding, who has a seven-year-old son, lying in his hospital bed with bandages on his right leg and right hand.

Gooding's family are now concerned about his future. There are fears he may lose the use of his right hand and could struggle to walk

Reubenstein said Gooding is in a lot of pain and is concerned about ever being able to fully use his right hand.

His e-cigarette exploded in his pocket on Wednesday in New York's Grand Central Terminal, setting off a fireworks-like display of bright bursts.

He was standing behind the counter at Central Cellars, the wine store where he works as a clerk, when the e-cigarette ignited in his pocket.

Surveillance video footage caught the employees scattering as the man's pants began flashing white explosions of fire and spewing gray smoke.

'It exploded multiple times almost like fireworks,' Reubenstein told Dailymail.com.

Central Cellars assistant manager John Lee says it looked like fireworks exploding when the vaporizer pen suddenly blew up in the man's pants Wednesday morning.

'I saw fireworks coming out of his pocket and I thought, He brought fireworks to work,' Lee told the New York Daily News.

'He went to pull the cigarette out of his pocket and burned his hand, his nail. There were some some projectiles during the explosion - I ducked out and we all evacuated...I guess these e-cigarettes are a dangerous thing,' Lee told NBC.

He said the victim began frantically dancing around, trying to put out the flames.

'Then I saw a projectile fly... the explosion ripped a hole in his pants,' he said. 'He went to take it out and his hand burned. I saw his nails burn, right down to the root.' He added that the man's hand was was charred and blackened.

Gooding was admitted to hospital on Wednesday and his family is now speaking out because they do not what this to happen to anyone else, Reubenstein said.

'This is very dangerous and the public needs to know about the dangers of e-cigarettes,' Reubenstein told Dailymail.com.

'The government needs to look at risks of e-cigarettes and needs to consider banning them until manufactures determine what causes them to explode and corrects the defect.'

The victim (top right) stands unaware that his pocket is about to explode from his e-cig

Smoke starts billowing from Gooding's pants as his friends make a run for it

Soon flames are shooting out of the man's pants as the e-cigarette catches fire

Reubenstein was the only one injured in the incident at the store on Wednesday, but the lawyer said there have been about 25 reported cases of explosions in the past, 'so this is not an isolated incident.'

Gooding, who is from Jamaica Queens and lives with his family, was disappointed to have to spend Thanksgiving in hospital on Thursday, Reubenstein said.

At this time, it is not clear how long he will be hospitalized and they are taking it day-to-day to determine if he will have more surgeries or procedures.

His family is now worried about Gooding's future. They are particularly concerned that he could lose the use of his right hand.

The family is also worried about how he will recover after the skin grafts. There are fears he could struggle to walk in the future.

The New York City fire department is investigating the incident and the remains of the e-cigarette are in possession of the New York Police Department

Another employee said the explosions looked like the store clerk had fireworks in his pocket

Employee Bryon Gonzales, 26, said Gooding's exploding device took them all by surprise on Wednesday.

'We were just having a conversation about the daily routine and all of a sudden his pocket caught on fire,' he told the Daily News. 'I jumped behind a wall because I didn't want to get burned.'

Electronic cigarettes and other battery-operated electronic smoking devices occasionally do catch fire. There were 25 reports of e-cigarettes exploding between 2009 and 2014, according to the US Fire Administration.

The problem with e-cigarettes seems to be their lithium battery, according to one report, which stores a great deal of energy in a small space. Eighty percent of them explode while charging.

In 2014, a man in Scotland died when his e-cig exploded near his oxygen tank, according to The Scotsman.
Her father marked the holiday at a quiet dinner with friends in Mar-a-Lago after asking the country to embrace his election win.

And Ivanka Trump shared her own Thanksgiving message on Thursday, taking to Instagram to tell fans how grateful she is for her life.

The president-elect's daughter posed for a portrait with her husband Jared, their three children and her maternal grandmother, captioning the image: 'I feel incredibly blessed and thankful on this Thanksgiving day.

'Wishing you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving!'

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Ivanka Trump posed with her husband Jared, their three children Arabella, Joseph and Theodore, and her maternal grandmother Marie Zelnickova for a Thanksgiving portrait

Earlier, she shared a photograph of her husband and three-year-old son Joseph as they took in the traditional Macy's parade.

After dinner, she shared a rosy-cheeked selfie asking jokingly: 'Is it too early for seconds?'

The 35-year-old's upbeat messages came as her father retreated to his Florida mansion to spend the holiday with his wife Melania and their son Barron.

They were seen enjoying dinner on Wednesday night as he enjoys a break from putting together his administration.

Trump had been holed up at Trump Tower, his Manhattan bolthole, since winning the election on November 9.

He has been assembling his cabinet from his sprawling penthouse apartment in the building.

Ivanka and her husband have been a constant fixture there, taking part in some of her father's meetings including one with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Later, the mother-of-three shared a rosy-cheeked selfie. She earlier posted a photograph of her husband Jared and their three-year-old son Joseph snuggled up on the couch

Donald Trump is spending the holiday in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He was seen enjoying dinner with his wife Melania, their ten-year-old son Barron (above) and another couple on Wednesday night

Their presence at the meeting sparked controversy and criticism over President-elect Trump's style of leadership.

On Wednesday, 70-year-old Trump issued a Thanksgiving address, asking the country to 'come together' and move forward after his polarizing election win.

' We are very blessed to call this nation our home, and thats what America is  it is our home,' he said in a video posted on YouTube.

'Its where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams.

On Wednesday, Trump pleaded with voters to 'come together' in a YouTube video to mark the holiday

'Its my prayer that on this Thanksgiving that we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve,' he continued.

He acknowledged emotions are 'raw' since his win, adding: 'tensions just don't heal overnight.'

Ivanka has seen her own business suffer since her father's election victory.

Democrats have boycotted her fashion and accessories label in protest against his win.

The public swerve from her business prompted her to issue a statement on Wednesday insisting the brand had nothing to do with her father's political stance.

'Our companys message is not political  it never was and it never will be  however, Ivanka, personally, has an increased opportunity to advocate for woman and be a positive force for change.

'As a private citizen, with full awareness of her heightened visibility, she will broaden her efforts to take a stance on issues of critical important to American women and families,' it said.

She was earlier blasted for using a 60 Minutes interview with the rest of her family to promote a bracelet from her jewelry range.
A 27-year-old man has been convicted of secretly filming his girlfriend's 13-year-old stepsister in the shower.

The New Zealand man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, hid his mobile phone in the bathroom upon learning the teenage girl was going to shower, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The 12-minute recording, which was made on New Year's Day this year, was only discovered when the man's girlfriend stumbled upon it while using his phone a month later, Auckland District Court heard on Thursday.

A 27-year-old New Zealand man was convicted at Auckland District Court (above) on Thursday of secretly filming his girlfriend's 13-year-old stepsister in the shower.

The footage showed the girl walking naked to the shower, showering and getting dressed.

Upon discovering the disturbing footage the woman contacted police but remained in a relationship with the man who she is still dating.

The teenager is unaware the video footage exists.

Judge Nicola Mathers told the court 'the invasion of the child's privacy was totally unacceptable' and children need protection.

'This was a premeditated act. It required the placing and hiding of the cellphone,' Judge Mathers said.

'It required getting the victim to take a shower and it led to a twelve-minute recording of a 13-year-old girl preparing to shower, showering then dressing.'

The man pleaded guilty to making an intimate visual recording, a conviction was recorded and he was ordered to pay court costs of $135.

The 12-minute recording which was made on New Year's Day this year, was only discovered when the man's girlfriend stumbled upon it while using his phone a month later
Manhunt launched after the killer escaped police capture and is on the run

Armed police arrived within minutes after supervisor sent out alert

A former French paratrooper has been arrested and charged for murder after a female care worker was killed and 70 monks held hostage at a retirement village in France.

The victim, known only as 54-year-old Catherine, was killed when a masked gunman stormed the nursing home in Monferrier-sur-Lez.

The alleged murderer, a 47-year-old father-of-two, was arrested close to his home following a tip-off after the incident near Montpellier sparked a huge manhunt for the killer.

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The manhunt continued this morning as armed police stood guard on the road leading to the retirement home

A gendarme stands outside the care home. Investigators so far had no evidence to suggest the attack was terror-related at a time when France remains under a state of emergency

The bloodbath unfolded at the Green Oaks care home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of Montpellier, soon after 9.30pm last night.

Shots were heard as the unidentified intruder, who used to work at the care home, attacked members of staff and those belonging to an elderly religious community belonging to the Society of African Missions.

Police put up roadblocks around the area to try and detain the killer, who went on the run.

This morning, a bar of military medals and a fake machine gun were found in an abandoned car close to the retirement home.

The fake machine gun is of the kind used the practice of Airsoft - a game in which replica military weapons are used.

'He'd left the army, and was pottering round doing odd jobs like mending bicycles while drawing unemployment benefit,' said a source close to the case.

Now the husband of the dead woman warned that the care home was completely unguarded at the time of her murder

This morning, a bar of military medals and a fake machine gun were found in an abandoned car close to the retirement home, pictured

A source close to the case said: The car was parked up around 150 meters from the home. It is clearly of huge significance to the investigation.

It is also thought that police had been talking to the attacker's partner and son in a bid to get them to convince him to give himself up.

The prosecutor in the case has said there appears to be no link to 'Islamist terror'.

Armed gendarmes stand guard on the road outside the care home in the South of France, where a care worker was murdered and 70 monks were taken hostage

Shots were heard as the unidentified intruder attacked member of staff and members of an elderly religious community belonging to the Society of African Missions

A helicopter hovers above Montferrier-sur-Lez as the search for an armed man who murdered a a care worker at a missionary continues

A helicopter has been seen flying over a security area near the retirement home for Catholic missionaries

Earlier today Christophe Barret said the suspect, who lived in the town, had a link with the retirement home without revealing any more details about his profile.

He said the suspect, thought to be around 47, was armed and extremely dangerous and insisted that everything was being done to try and find him.

Mr Barret explained: 'We rapidly found his vehicle next to the establishment, adding an air rifle used for firing soft pellets was found inside, together with other evidence.

One warden is said to have discreetly raised the alarm, before being bound and gagged by the man, who was armed with a sawn off shotgun and a knife, but was unharmed. All of the monks were too unharmed and later released.

The murdered victim, is said to be a 54-year-old female care worker, who was tied up, and then stabbed three times.

Early fears that a man was also killed alongside her have not been confirmed.

Masked gunman stormed retirement home in Montepellier, France, and is now on the run

Police remain at the scene and it has not yet been confirmed if there was a second victim

The murdered victim, is said to be a female care worker, who was tied up, and then stabbed three times

And now the husband of the dead woman warned that the care home was completely unguarded.

The man, only identified as Georges, told RTL radio station that his wife worked night shifts as a care worker, from 8pm to 6.30am.

He explained: 'The home was unprotected. Anyone at all could go inside. There was no protection, no alarm and no security guard.'

He added that his wife was a woman of 'extraordinary kindness' who 'never had any kind of problem with anyone.'

Local prosecutor Christophe Barret holds a news conference close to a retirement home for monks in Montpellier

Nothing has yet indicated if the incident is a terror attack and delegates were paying tribute to the victim

Residents said they heard shots and saw the man entered the building at around 9.45pm

He said: 'How can you hurt someone like that? She is dead, and me, I'm left destroyed.'

Gendarmes arrived within minutes of the alarm being raised, and they were soon followed by a unit of the GIGN tactical support group.

They soon found the corpse of an elderly woman who had been tied up and then stabbed repeatedly with a knife.

A supervisor inside the building raised the alarm very discreetly, said a local police source, who confirmed that the siege ended soon after midnight.

The nursing home for monks and priests (pictured) was established since 1994 run by an association Les Chenes Verts

Monks, who have served as missionaries in Africa, reside in the home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of the city (pictured)

Some fifty monks were evacuated from the building after gendarmes searched all floors, and then gave the all clear.

The gunman, believed to be wearing a mask and dark clothing including a hoodie, was nowhere to be seen, however, and a manhunt started.

'An individual, who was masked and armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun came into the retirement home where 70 monks live,' one source said, adding that the man's motivations were unknown.

Montferrier-sur-Lez is surrounded by thick forests, and today police helicopters could be seen flying above them.

Emergency services remain at the scene whilst police search for the man wearing dark clothing, a hoodie, and a balaclava

Local news sources say the woman was butchered by her killer who stabbed her in the throat and body

Search parties including sniffer dogs were also searching the surrounding countryside.

The nursing home for monks and priests was established since 1994 run by an association Les Chenes Verts.

Speaking at a press conference, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Montpellier (Herault) Wayne Bodkin said: 'It's a shock, it is unclear why such a tragedy, we have no idea of the intrusion pattern in this religious retreat house that welcomes former missionary in Africa. It is in the countryside, very quiet.

'Most of the residents are over 70 years old.'

Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret told AFP: 'For the time being, there is only one victim.

'For the moment there is no particular evidence about the motive for this crime.'

The man's motivations are unknown and it is claimed he was not known to police

Police searched all the rooms and it is believed now all those inside are accounted for

The quiet area is well known for being the home of the religious retirement home who have enjoyed mingling in the community

The man was not known to authorities.

Residents of the home 'are very elderly with an average age of 75 although some are more than 90,' said Alain Berthet, a local councillor in Montferrier-sur-Luz.

Many of the residents require assistance to walk, he said.

The secretary general of the French Bishops' Conference, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, said in a Twitter message: 'Our prayers tonight go to the woman who lost her life in this attack on a retirement home.'

People in the surrounding areas have been told to stay inside, lock their doors and turn off their lights.

Montferrier is 20 miles from the town of Lunel, where police suspect a jihadi network may be based.

Police helped many of the residents who have mobility difficulties and are in their 70s and older

The secretary general of the French Bishops' Conference, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, said in a Twitter message: 'Our prayers tonight go to the woman who lost her life in this attack on a retirement home'

France is currently under a state of emergency following a series of terror attacks.

One of the most recent was in July when an 84-year-old Catholic priest was murdered during morning mass at the parish church in Saint Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen.

The two attackers, who said they were from Islamic State, slit Father Jacques Hamel's throat before themselves being shot dead by police.

Many churches, mosques and synagogues around France are now guarded 24 hours a day by police and army patrols, but the authorities have acknowledged that full security for every building in the country is an impossibility.

Concern about further attacks in France rose earlier this week with news of a series of arrests in the cities of Strasbourg and Marseille which the government said had averted more bloodshed.
A secondary school has sparked outcry in China after awarding its top pupils with wads of cash.

A total of eight million yuan (930,000) was given away during an award ceremony held at the Shuren Middle School in Zhejiang province on November 20, reported Huanqiu, a publication affiliated to People's Daily.

Chinese web users are debating whether or not cash is an appropriate reward for teenage pupils.

Eight million yuan (930,000) was given away during an award ceremony by a school in China

The cash was presented to students, aged around 15, in the form of scholarships.

These pupils are thought to have passed China's high school entrance examination with flying colours, and chosen to study at the privately owned Shuren Middle School.

As a result, the school hoped to award them, according to the report.

Known as Zhongkao, the annual high school entrance examination is held in mainland China for students who have finished their last year of junior high school.

The exam will determine whether a student would enter vocational and technical schools or pursue further study in high school.

A total of 239 pupils were awarded, according to a report on Qianjiang Evening News.

The principal, surnamed Lin, told reporters that cash gifts could help attract teenagers with good academic performance to enrol in Shuren Middle School.

Lin said he sold his personal property in Shanghai to fund the scholarships.

Bundles of bank notes stacked up on the table at the ceremony hall of Shuren Middle School

Pictures from the award ceremony, which have been widely shared on Chinese social media, show piles of 100 yuan bank notes stacking up on the table in the middle of the school hall.

Pupils received different scholarships worth 100,000 yuan (11,579), 50,000 yuan (5,789) or 40,000 yuan (4,631).

In comparison, the school's tuition fee is 30,000 yuan (3,482) a year.

The scholarship amount was linked to the recipient's scores in the senior high school entrance exam and 'other performances'.

About 2.8 million yuan (324,000) worth of scholarship has been given away in cash, while the rest will be deposited to students' bank accounts.

The principal said that cash gifts could help attract outstanding pupils to enrol in the school

The news attracted tens of thousand comments on QQ.com, China's major internet portal site.

Most web users questioned if the school's practice would encourage materialism.

'Students' focus will be shifted to money, these students might end up being corrupted officials,' one commented.

'They now study to earn money. It is hard for them to concentrate on academic study in the future,' another noted.

'Why not spending eight million yuan to build a school in rural area?' one wondered.
Three school bullies have been sentenced months in prison by a Chinese court after they ganged up and beat a schoolmate, according to Chinese media.

The three students, all aged 18, repeatedly slapped a female student in the face, as a video dated from April, 2015, showed.

The teenagers are from the Number 105 Middle School in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

Violent: Three school bullies have been sentenced months in prison by a Chinese court. One of the attackers, 18, can be seen slapping the victim in the face

Shocking: The attackers ganged up and beat a school mate, according to Chinese media. A second bully also slapped the victim

The three students, two female and one male, were given imprisonment ranging from six to eight months by the Beijing Haidian District Court on November 23, reported Huanqiu.com, citing Xinhua News Agency.

They have been named Liu, Wu and Jia.

A video of the gang beating the 15-year-old victim was first uploaded to the internet in April, 2015, and it later became widely shared.

In the video, a teenage girl wearing a denim top can be seen slapping another student who was wearing a school uniform with blue sleeves.

A crowd of students can be seen cheering in the background.

Horrifying: The three bullies gathered a group of underage students and beat up the victim in Beijing in April, 2015

Afterwards, another teenage girl wearing a school uniform with yellow sleeves stepped in to carry on beating the victim.

The Beijing Haidian District Court released a statement yesterday.

The statement said Liu, Wu Jia had been convicted of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles.

Under China's Criminal Law, offenders of the crime 'shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years'.

The three students were given imprisonment ranging from six to eight months by the court

The statement also said that the attacked had been caused by a quarrel between underage students at the school.

The disagreement later escalated, prompting Liu, Wu and Jia to gather a group of underage students and beat up the victim, named Xiao Li, near the Haidian Aquarium at 5pm on April 16, 2015.

The three attackers also arranged to have the beating filmed and shared to the internet.

Liu Wu and Jia turned themselves in on April 18. They also apologised and provided financial compensation to the victim during the police investigation, according to the court.

Liu, Wu and Jia were sentenced to eight months, six months and seven months in prison respectively.
More than 5,000 pieces of ancient rock art have been uncovered in Jordan's Black Desert.

The 2,000-year-old markings are in Safaitic, an alphabet used by ancient nomads in Syria, Jordan and Arabia.

The findings suggest that the now barren landscape was once teeming with greenery, wildlife and a human population.

Thousands of pieces of ancient rock art have been uncovered in Jordan's Black Desert. The 200-year-old markings were made in Safaitic, an alphabet used by ancient nomads in Syria, Jordan and Arabia

Along with ancient script, the rock markings, also known as petroglyphs, show various animals including lions, gazelles, horses and what appear to be ostriches and were found during an extensive search between 2012 and 2016.

The find was made in the Jebel Qurma region of Jordan's Black Desert by the Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project, which seeks to study Jordan's extensive basalt-strewn northeastern desert.

The area is one of the least explored in the region, partly due to the inhospitable habitat.

The Project includes an international team of researchers, led by Professor Peter Akkermans of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The rock art suggests that the now barren landscape was once teeming with greenery, wildlife and a human population.

The find was made in the Jebel Qurma region of Jordan's Black Desert by the Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project, which seeks to study Jordan's extensive basalt-strewn northeastern desert

'There are literally many thousands of Safaitic inscriptions and petroglyphs in the Jebel Qurma region, which suggests that people intensively used the area,' Professor Akkermans told LiveScience.

Much of the text represents names of people, while some gives more detailed hints of how the ancient population spent their time.

'We have systematically documented more than 5,000 petroglyphs and inscriptions in the Jebel Qurma region, something which has never been done before in this structural, systematic way,' Professor Akkermans told MailOnline.

The find was made in the Jebel Qurma region of Jordan's Black Desert by researchers on the Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project, which seeks to study Jordan's extensive basalt-strewn northeastern desert

Along with ancient script, the rock markings, also known as petroglyphs, show various animals including lions, gazelles, horses and what appear to be ostriche

The research team is currently examining all of the inscriptions to gain a better understanding of the area's history

The research team is currently examining all of the inscriptions to gain a better understanding of the area's history.

One of the inscriptions reads 'I am on the lookout for the Nabataeans,' reports LiveScience, suggesting that the ancient nomads may have engaged in conflicts with the Nabataeans, who constructed the city of Petra.

As well as the rock art, the archaeologists also found evidence of camps, shelter and tombs.

The team is combing the area for more evidence of the ancient settlement to find out how it transformed into the barren landscape that it is today.

The researchers expect to find thousands more petroglyphs in the region in the coming years, as they have not yet surveyed the entire area, Professor Akkermans told MailOnline.

A study detailing the find is published in the American Journal of Archaeology.
Egypt has unearthed a more than 7,000-year-old city and cemetery dating back to its First Dynasty in the southern province of Sohag, the Antiquities Ministry said on Wednesday.

The find could be a boon for Egypt's ailing tourism industry, which has suffered endless setbacks since an uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but remains a vital source of foreign currency.

The city likely housed high-ranking officials and grave builders, experts believe - and contained huge graves design to show off their skills.

Egypt has unearthed a more than 7,000-year-old city and cemetery dating back to its First Dynasty in the southern province of Sohag, the Antiquities Ministry said on Wednesday. Pictured, one of the graves believed to belong to a high ranking city official.

Its discovery may yield new insights on Abydos, one of the oldest cities in Ancient Egypt, the ministry said in a statement.

Experts say Abydos was Egypt's capital towards the end of the Predynastic Period and during the rule of the first four dynasties.

The discovery was made 400 metres away from the temple of Seti I, a New Kingdom period memorial across the Nile from present day Luxor.

EGYPT'S ANCIENT CAPITAL: THE HISTORY OF ABYDOS Experts say Abydos was Egypt's capital towards the end of the Predynastic Period and during the rule of the first four dynasties. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the thirtieth dynasty, and the cemetery was used continuously. The pharaohs of the first dynasty were buried in Abydos, including Narmer, who is regarded as founder of the first dynasty, and his successor, Aha. Facade of the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, which was founded in honor of the ancestral pharaohs of the early dynasties. Seti I, in the nineteenth dynasty, founded a temple to the south of the town in honor of the ancestral pharaohs of the early dynasties; this was finished by Ramesses II, who also built a lesser temple of his own. The latest discovery was made 400 metres away from the temple of Seti I, a New Kingdom period memorial across the Nile from present day Luxor. Ahmose II in the twenty-sixth dynasty rebuilt the temple again, and placed in it a large monolith shrine of red granite, finely wrought. The latest building was a new temple of Nectanebo I, built in the thirtieth dynasty. From the Ptolemaic times of the Greek occupancy of Egypt, that began three hundred years before the Roman occupancy that followed, the structure began to decay and no later works are known. Advertisement

Archaeologists have so far uncovered huts, pottery remains and iron tools as well as 15 huge graves, some of which were larger than the graves of kings in Abydos, the ministry said in a statement.

'The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,' the ministry said.

Archaeologists have so far uncovered huts, pottery remains and iron tools as well as 15 huge graves

Some of the graves found were larger than the graves of kings in Abydos, the ministry said in a statement.

Egypt's tourism industry has struggled to recover since the bombing of a Russian plane carrying 224 people from a Red Sea resort in October 2015.

More than 14.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, dropping to 9.8 million in 2011.

In the first quarter of 2016 just 1.2 million tourists travelled to Egypt, down from 2.2 million a year earlier.
It involves just eight coins, but this tricky brainteaser is anything but easy to solve.

The Water Puzzle was first devised by Henry Ernest Dudeney in the 1920s, but almost 100 years on, it is still leaving people stumped.

The puzzle requires you to convert a H shape of coins to an O shape in just four moves - each of which consists of sliding a coin to a position in which it touches two other coins.

Scroll down for the answer

The puzzle requires you to convert an H shape of coins to an O shape in just four moves - each of which consists of sliding a coin to a position in which it touches two other coins

HENRY ERNEST DUDENEY Henry Ernest Dudeney was an English writer and puzzle-maker who became one of the greatest puzzle innovators of his time. Dudeney was captivated by chess from an early age and he was only nine when he started contributing puzzles to a local newspaper. His education was limited and he started work as a clerk in the civil service at the age of 13. However, he kept up his interest in maths and chess, wrote articles for magazines under the pseudonym 'Sphinx,' and joined a literary circle that included Arthur Conan Doyle. Dudeney was a columnist for the Strand Magazine for over 30 years and wrote six books. Advertisement

It may require some trial and error to complete, but the puzzle is designed to test your ability to think laterally and mathematically.

The answer involves keeping all coins on the left hand side in the same place.

The left-hand coin of the two that make up the horizontal line in the H is first moved to the top right of the formation.

Next, the coin to the right of this new position is moved to the space in the middle of the top row.

Then there are two coins left to move, both on the bottom right of the formation.

First, move the coin on the top of the very bottom right coin to the left hand side of it, then move the coin left hanging over the right to the middle, to complete the O.

And for those feeling ambitious, you can try to go back from the H to the O again in six moves.

The puzzle comes from a new book, 'Can You Solve My Problems?' by Alex Bellos, which is a compendium of 125 of the best puzzles from the last 2,000 years.

Mr Bellos told MailOnline: 'The level is varied. There are some very simple ones that a primary school child could solve and there are ones that I couldn't even solve.

It may require some trial and error to complete in four moves, but the puzzle is designed to test your ability to think laterally and mathematically

The puzzle comes from a new book, 'Can You Solve My Problems?' by Alex Bellos

'The idea was to tell the amazing history of puzzles by selecting the most interesting ones.'

Henry Ernest Dudeney, who devised The Water Puzzle, was one of Britain's greatest puzzle innovators.

In a forty-year career writing for newspapers and magazines, he devised more classic recreational mathematics problems than anyone else.

Mr Bellos said: 'Puzzles are a wonderful but often neglected part of our cultural heritage.

'Britain especially has a rich history of puzzles, from Alcuin of York in the ninth century to Lewis Carroll in the nineteenth and Henry Ernest Dudeney and Hubert Phillips in the twentieth.

'Puzzles are often refined and updated for each new generation. In the book I have rewritten many classics and given my own twist.'
China may be behind in the smart home industry, but research shows it will be a $22.8 billion business by 2018.

However, one firm is getting a head start with a voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker that does something the leading devices can't - it speaks Cantonese and Mandarin.

The speaker, from Chinese firm LingLong and known as the DingDong, has an AI with a music library of 3 million songs, can take memos and share updates regarding news, traffic and weather in what the firm calls 'cinema-like sound quality'.

Scroll down for videos

LingLong DingDong is a a voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker designed with a music library of 3 million songs, can take memos and share updates about news, traffic and weather in what the firm calls 'cinema-like sound quality'

MEET LINGLONG DINGDONG LingLong DingDong is China's voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker that speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin that costs $118. It takes memos, organize schedules and share updates about news, traffic and weather. The device also answers questions, gives directions and plays music for its library of nearly 3 million songs - songs are available in high-quality 320Kbps format . The device comes in four colors: red for prosperity, white for purity, traditional black and purple. Advertisement

Amazon is currently one of the top leaders in this space, which released its Echo in 2014 - smart speaker powered by Alexa.

Users can ask Alexa to do a range of activities such as request an Uber or order their usually from Dominos  and there is more than 3 million units in the world.

After watching its success, China doesn't want to be left behind as more and more people are looking to virtual assistants for help around the house and knowns that getting to the market first will introduce millions of people to the technology.

Although the new product may sound bizarre to Western ears, Beijing-based firm LingLong has invested heavily in the DingDong, reports Joshua Bateman withWired.

According to LingLong, its device is able to communicate with 95% of Chinas population, despite the fact that in China the Mandarin and Cantonese languages are spoken in different tones and accents.

DingDong for short, the smart speaker costs the equivalent of $118, but it is designed with all of the features one would expected in a voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker.

It answers questions, coordinates schedules, gives directions and plays music and audiobooks, in addition to sharing updates about news, weather and traffic.

Although the new product may sound like a gimmick, LingLong DingDong is in fact a real device from Beijing-based firm LingLong Co. Pictured is YouTuber HardYun reviewing one of the smart speakers in a video

China doesn't want to be left behind as more and more people are looking to virtual assistants like Amazon's Echo (pictured). DingDong for short, the smart speaker costs the equivalent of $118 and does a majority of the things the Echo can do

The device comes in four colors: red for prosperity, white for purity, traditional black and purple.

And the design of the 'peerless high-quality speaker' is part of the Chinese culture as well  it symbolizes tianyuan difangthe notion that 'heaven is round, Earth is square,' a concept that Charlie Liu, LingLong's senior marketing manager, says is central to LingLong's design language, reports Bateman.

The device comes in four colors: red for prosperity, white for purity, black and purple (pictured). And the design of the 'peerless high-quality speaker' is part of the Chinese culture as well  it symbolizes tianyuan difangthe notion that 'heaven is round, Earth is square'

AMAZON ECHO VS GOOGLE HOME Google's $1230 Home speaker is triggered by the phrase 'Hey Google' while Amazon's Echo uses Alexa. Amazon's smart speaker is available in two versions - the full sized $180 Echo shown here, and a smaller, $50 version called the Echo Dot. LingLong DingDong can answers questions, coordinates schedules, gives directions and plays music and audiobooks, in addition to sharing updates about news, weather and traffic - similar to that of Google Home (left) and Amazon's Echo (right) Advertisement

There is also three commands to wake the device - DingDong DingDong,Xiaowei Xiaowei (a girl's nickname), and BaiLing BaiLing (skylark).

A majority of DingDong owners use the technology as a music player, which offers a library of about 3 million songs.

Songs are available in high-quality 320Kbps format and are be played using the simple command 'DingDong, play a song'.

Although many feel this may be an Echo copycat, Liu said the firm did pull their inspiration from Amazon's device.

HOW DO WE REALLY FEEL ABOUT VOICE ASSISTANTS? Creative Strategies, a service that tracks trends and develops deeper insight into key industry topics, released their findings that looked at how consumers are using these virtual assistants and how they really feel about them. The firm ran two studies: Once looked at Alexa that covered 1,300 early adopters across the US and the UK. And the other focused on 500 mainstream consumers and their use of smartphones based digital assistants. Creative Strategies revealed that 21% of its panel never used Siri, 43% never touched OK Google and 72% have never asked Cortana anything. They also found that 2% of iPhone owners have never used Siri and only 4% of Android owners have never used OK Google, which suggests those who own the phone do indeed call on the powers of the digital personas. Approximately 395 of consumers use their voice assistant in their home, 51 percent in the car, but only 1.3 percent at work and 6 percent in public. Creative Strategies explains that the reason most usage is in the car is due to the hands-free law that regulates driving and texting. Those who have never used a voice assistant reported feeling uncomfortable with talking to their technology  particularly in public. Advertisement

When it hit the market, everyone in China wanted one, but was unable to purchase one because of the language barrier.

A Chinese tech news portal found that many of the residents are more than happy to welcome technology like DingDong.
Experts foresee a harsher winter for much of the nation, including a return of the dreaded polar vortex

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The United States could be in for a long, cold winter as snow cover in Siberia reaches its highest point for this time of year in decades, the father of the Siberian Snow Theory has warned.

Snow cover in Siberia is sometimes used to predict winter weather in the US, and MIT climatologist Judah Cohen claims this years conditions are a textbook situation, Bloomberg reports.

Its thought that more snow in northern Eurasia signals the frigid temperatures set to hit the regions below.

And while the cold blast could strike anywhere among North America, Asia, or Europe, the expert warns the US may get hit harder than forecasters are expecting.

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Snow cover in Siberia is sometimes used to predict winter weather in the US, and MIT climatologist Judah Cohen claims this years conditions are a textbook situation of frigid temperatures to come.

WINTER IS COMING: HOW POLAR VORTEX WILL HIT U.S. For more than 30 years, the polar vortex has been weakening because of this sea-ice loss in the Arctic, which is linked to human induced climate change. When this happens, a piece of the vortex can surge to the southern part of the globe, which it then pushes Arctic cold into areas of North America and Europe. This is the event that happened in early 2014 and 2015, and some experts say the polar vortex is already on the move this year  which could be very troubling later on. According to the study, North America is expected to experience bitter temperatures beginning in the late winter and lasting until the early spring - from February to Mach. Advertisement

Adding to the claims, giant-sized snowballs have appeared along the Siberian coastline - which experts warn could have freezing consequences for the United States.

The frozen balls, which each measure almost three feet across, stretch across an 11-mile section of coastline near the village of Nyda which sits above the Arctic Circle, according to Russian media.

A village administrator told The Siberian Times that the snowballs formed in late October when the Gulf of Ob rose up onto land and covered the beach in ice.

As the water retreated, the remaining ice chunks rolled over creating snowballs which grew and grew in size until they hit gigantic proportions.

Siberia is near record cold for this time of year, and snow cover is at around the highest level for this time of year since at least 1998.

And the bizarre weather in the freezing Russian region could have consequences for the US, Mashable reports.

Some meteorologists use Siberian snow cover levels in October to forecast how weather patterns will form across the United States.

They believe the heavy early snow, could indicate heavier snowfall in parts of North America and Western Europe this winter.

Private weather forecasters foresee a harsher winter for much of the nation, including a return of the dreaded polar vortex, which funnels cold Arctic air into the US.

Judah Cohen of Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, Massachusetts, forecasts an unusually cold winter for the eastern and middle two-thirds of the nation, especially raw east of the Mississippi River.

Giant-sized snowballs have appeared along the Siberian coastline - which could have freezing consequences for the United States

Cohen, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation and closely followed by meteorologists, links North America's winter weather to Siberian snow cover in October.

He warns that the Polar Vortex is on the move unusually early this year, could strike the US in January.

However, he believes Maine will escape the Arctic conditions with a warmer winter than normal. He also predicts a warm Southwest.

The private Accuweather of State College, Pennsylvania, calls for frequent storms in the Northeast, early snow in the Great Lakes, bitter cold in the northern tier and occasional cold in the middle.

Like other forecasters, it predicts a warm and dry southwest, with some hope for rain and snow from San Francisco northward.

A recent study claimed Arctic sea-ice loss is causing the Polar Vortex to shift and as a result, winters are expected to get longer and more bitter. Now, forecasters say it is 'unprecedentedly early'.

The Polar Vortex hit the US hardest in 2014 , affecting 200 million people and causing billions of dollars in damages, but climatologists told DailyMail.com that, thankfully, it won't be as severe this time around.

'The winter of 2014 was a really extreme case, as the cold was so persistent and it was focused on one area, which makes it very hard to reproduce,' Cohen told DailyMail.com.

'Normally when a vortex stretches it eventually bursts, but in 2014 it just kept stretching and bouncing back.'

'That event was highly unique and very hard to duplicate, Im not saying it is impossible, but there are no signs that we are going to get a repeat.'

A village administrator told The Siberian Times that the snowballs formed in late October when the Gulf of Ob rose up onto land and covered the beach in ice

The huge snowballs have been left sitting on the beach in Siberia which has hit record snow cover

A young girls sits behind a snow ball which is almost as big as she is as temperatures in Siberia dropped

The frozen orbs, which each measure almost three feet across, stretch across an 11-mile section of coastline near the village of Nyda

Experts say the polar vortex is already on the move this year  which could be very troubling later on.

'There has been an unusual weakening, but it is unprecedentedly early and if we look at it chronologically it should hit in January,' said Cohen.

'Researchers are attributing the weakening in the study it to see-ice, which is contributing to the shift.'

'But whats unique is snow cover is also increasing and the combination of the two at the same time is what makes me think it will happen in January and not February.'

AccuWeather's data seems to agree with Cohen's prediction, as David Samuhel, senior meteorologist, told DailyMail.com that if the polar vortex hits it would be in January.

'We see the most below average temperatures in the north east during January, but they will only be about 1 or 2 degrees Fahrenheit below normal,' he said.

The bizarre weather in the freezing Russian region could have icy consequences for the US

Some meteorologists use Siberian snow cover levels in October to forecast how weather patterns will form across the United States. They believe the heavy early snow, could indicate heavier snowfall in parts of North America and Western Europe this winter

Other forecaster predict a warm and dry southwest, and colder temperatures along the northeast

For more than 30 years, the polar vortex has been weakening because of this sea-ice loss in the Arctic, which is linked to human induced climate change, reports Think Progress.

And when this happens, a piece of the vortex can surge to the southern part of the globe, which it then pushes Arctic cold into areas of North America and Europe, reports The Weather Channel.

'The coldest areas this winter are expect to be in the Great Lakes near the northern plains,' Samuhel told DailyMail.com.

'But it looks like the south should have a pretty warm winter, especially the south central states.'

Samuhel also predicts that there will be a major difference between the northern and southern areas of the US, which will result in severe storms across the board.

Two years ago, this bitter shift caused the US economy some $5 billion in fights and infrastructure repairs.
For most young children, it is an essential part of the magic of Christmas. But letting them believe in Santa Claus could do more harm than good, two academics claim.

The psychologists insist the myth could cause long-term damage to families.

That is because when a child discovers the truth, they will no longer trust their parents, the pair claim in the respected medical journal Lancet Psychiatry.

When a child discovers the truth about Father Christmas, they will no longer trust their parents, claim two academics

Professor Christopher Boyle, a psychologist at the University of Exeter, and researcher Dr Kathy McKay from the University of New England in Australia, say the fib seems not only acceptable, but also necessary  woe betide the person who tells a child that Santa is a lie before the child works it out for themselves.

They add: All children will eventually find out theyve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies theyve been told.

If [parents] are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?

Last night Professor Boyle, who does not have children, defended the claims, made in an essay titled A Wonderful Lie.

The morality of making children believe in such myths has to be questioned, he said. Its also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered.

But he admitted it would be difficult to bring up children without using the Santa myth.

And he stressed that it can have a positive effect  including bringing parents and children together.

The point is that it is based on a myth, it is based on a lie. There comes a point where the child is going to ask you Is Santa real? and at that point you have to decide what to tell them. He stressed the essay was not based on his observation of patients, but was theoretical.

'Do your parents still believe in Nigel Farage?'

The authors say the idea that Santa judges you as naughty or nice is terrifying and suggest parents may be motivated by a selfish desire to relive their own childhood. Dr McKay said: The persistence of fandom in stories like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Doctor Who well into adulthood demonstrates this desire to briefly re-enter childhood.

In the essay, they write: Perhaps the biggest moral breach of the Christmas lie comes with the fact that one day, the truth comes out.

Children must all find out eventually that their parents have blatantly and consistently carried on a lie for a number of years.

Children may find out from a third party, or through their parents getting bored of the make-believe and making a mistake; both might affect the trust that exists between child and parent.

If adults have been lying about Santa, even though it has usually been well-intentioned, what else is a lie? If Santa isnt real, are fairies real? Is magic? Is God?

Their view echoes that of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who has previously criticised parents for reading children fairy tales because they instil a false world view. Professor Dawkins, whose controversial 2006 book The God Delusion took aim at religion, claims he was just 21 months when he saw through the myth of Santa.

The Oxford University academic said in a speech two years ago: Is it a good thing to go along with the fantasies of childhood, magical as they are? Or should we be fostering a spirit of scepticism? I think its rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism  we get enough of that anyway.




While space agencies busy themselves with the technology to take humans to Mars and beyond, it seems the simplest of issues need to be addressed.

One of the biggest concerns is how astronauts will deal with the call of nature extended spacewalks.

Nasa has launched a new competition for designs address the issue of human waste in space suits, which could mean the difference between life and death in emergency situations.

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Nasa has launched a competition to deal with the issue of human waste in space suits. The agency hopes the winning designs will be able to keep astronauts alive and well for more than 144 hours, removing solid and liquid waste and keeping crew free from infection and sepsis

Crew members aboard the International Space Station are strapped into their space suits for take-off, landing and work outside the station.

On spacewalks, if they need to go, going back inside for a quick bathroom break is not an option.

The current solution using absorbent pads, which are a form of giant space nappy.

However, while effective, they are only designed for short stints outside of the space station.

In an emergency, crewmembers could be forced to stay suited up for days, rendering the pads useless and potentially leading to infection and even sepsis as waste builds up.

THE COMPETITION Nasa's call for designs would address a serious issue - how astronauts can avoid infection and even sepsis caused by extended stints in a space suit with their own waste. It will need to conform to similar size limitations, so can not be too bulky and must also deal with the G-forces of lift-off and re-entry. Winning designs for the global competition must be a pressurised suit able to keep astronauts alive and healthy for more than 144 hours. The suit's design will need to be able to deal with 1 L of urine a day per crew member. For more solid waste, it will need to remove 75 mL by volume and 75 g by weight. In addition, it will be required to remove up to 80 mL of menstrual fluid over the six days. Inventors have until 20 December to get their submissions in and the designs will be tested on Nasa mission over the next three to four year Advertisement

With sights set on long-haul missions to Mars and beyond this issue will prove critical beyond the relative safety of Earths orbit.

To address the issue, Nasa has opened up the challenge to the public, offering a $30,000 (24,000) prize for the winning design.

This in-suit waste management system would ensure astronauts were able to remain in their pressurised suits on extended spacewalks or emergency situations, clearing the waste until they were able to reach safety or return to the a pressurised environment and a toilet.

Explaining the unique challenges of reduced gravity, Nasa gives an overview of how fluids and solids move differently in space,where things can move around more freely, before sticking to surfaces.

The agency says: 'You dont want any of these solids and fluids stuck to your body for sic days.

'If you have ever taken care of a baby, you know how easy it is to get diaper rash.

'Left untreated, that can turn into a dangerous infection.'

An accompanying video spells out the basics of the challenge, in which the suits design will need to keep crew members alive and healthy for more than 144 hours.

Nasa astronaut Rick Mastracchio, who has spent time on the International Space Station, explains: As humans push beyond low Earth orbit and travel to the moon and Mars, we will have many problems to solve, most of them very complex technical problems.

But some are as simple as how do we go to the bathroom in space. It isnt glamorous, but it is necessary for survival.

Currently, crew members on the ISS (pictured) go to the bathroom using a suction system, with absorbent diapers for space walks and extended periods in their space suits

The technology could be deployed back on Earth as well, like other Nasa advances which have found use beyond the space station  including the compact cameras in our smartphones.

One possible example could be efficiently removing waste from bed-bound patients, helping to prevent infection.

Inventors have until 20 December to get their submissions in and the designs will be tested on Nasa mission over the next three to four years.

Currently, crew members on the ISS go to the bathroom using a suction system.

They use restraints to hold themselves to the seat, which ensures that no waste can escape while they sit down and go.

Some waste is reused on the for life-essential systems, while the rest is jettisoned to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
People with the genes for top school grades are likely to marry one another

New research shows that this trend stretches to educational achievement

There are countless reasons we may fall in love - from looks, to social status, to a good sense of humour.

But new research has found that people with the DNA for top grades in school are more likely to marry - and have children with - a partner with the same genes.

Humans rarely choose partners randomly, tending to pick people with similar genetic traits.

New research has found that people with the genes for top grades in school are more likely to marry, and have children, with a partner with similar DNA. Scientists warn that this trend could escalate genetic and social inequality in the future ( stock image)

THE ASTHMA MYSTERY This is not the first piece of research to suggest that we are more likely to choose partners who have similar genes. Researchers at the University of California studied children in Mexico and Puerto Rico last year to investigate assortative mating - where people with similar genetic traits pair up. They discovered that the children's parents tended to share similar genes, even though they weren't related. In fact, the average mix was so alike that in some cases, the couples were as genetically similar as third or fourth cousins. This degree of closeness could increase the chances of genetic diseases by two to 14 per cent after 10 generations of mixing, and may point to why asthma is so common among Puerto Ricans. Advertisement

The researchers, a mixture of economists and psychologists from the University of East Anglia and VU University in The Netherlands, warn that the trend could escalate genetic and social inequality in the future.

Humans rarely choose partners randomly, tending to mate 'assortatively', meaning we pick people with similar genetic traits.

But previous research has shown that a society will become socially unequal if too many couples are brought together by genetics instead of pure chance.

It has been known for some time that couples are drawn together based on education and intelligence.

But this is the first study to show that this romantic desire is hard-wired into our DNA.

'The consequences of assortative mating on education and cognitive abilities are relevant for society,' economics expert and lead author of the study Dr David Hugh-Jones said.

'They are also relevant for the genetic make-up and therefore the evolutionary development of subsequent generations.

'Assortative mating on inheritable traits that are indicative of socio-economic status, such as educational achievement, increases the genetic variance of characteristics in the population.

'This may increase social inequality, for example with respect to education or income,' he said.

This is not the first piece of research to suggest that we choose partners with similar genes.

Researchers at the University of California studied children in Mexico and Puerto Rico to investigate assortative mating.

They discovered that the children's parents tended to share similar genes, even though they weren't related.

Humans rarely choose partners randomly, tending to pick people with similar genetic traits. But a society will become socially unequal if too many couples are brought together by genetics instead of pure chance

MIXED RACE RELATIONSHIPS ARE MAKING US SMARTER A recent study found humans today are taller and more intelligent than their ancestors, and the cause has been linked to the rise in more genetically diverse populations. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh analysed health and genetic information from 100 studies carried out around the world. These included details on more than 350,000 people from urban and rural communities. They pinpointed instances in which people had inherited identical copies of genes from both their mother and their father - an indicator their ancestors were related. Where few instances of this occur in a person's genes, it indicates greater genetic diversity in their heritage and the two sides of their family are unlikely to be distantly related. It had been thought that close family ties would raise a person's risk of complex diseases, but the researchers found this not to be the case. The only traits they found to be affected by genetic diversity were height and intelligence. It is also associated with better cognitive skills, as well as higher levels of education. Advertisement

In fact, the average mix was so alike in some cases, the couples were as genetically similar as third or fourth cousins.

This degree of closeness could increase the chances of genetic diseases by two to 14 per cent after 10 generations of mixing, and may point to why so many Puerto Ricans have asthma.

The new study analysed the DNA of 1600 married or cohabiting couples.

The team used genetic scores that predict educational achievement.

They found that genetic scores for educational achievement almost always matched up between couples.

Those with a strong genetic makeup for top grades were far more likely to marry and have children with someone blessed with similar genes.

'Our findings show strong evidence for the presence of genetic assortative mating for education in the UK,' Dr Hugh-Jones said.

'When growing social inequality is, partly, driven by a growing biological inequality, inequalities in society may be harder to overcome and the effects of assortative mating may accumulate with each generation.'

The researchers tested whether their results emerged from other factors, such as partners meeting simply because they lived in the same place.

They re-matched individuals with random partners within the same educational levels and locales.

But the scientists found that the genetic scores of random couples were far lower than those of the originals.

This, the researchers say, lends strong support for their theory: two people genetically hardwired for good grades are drawn to one another, regardless of where they are from.
The government has been urged to bring in a full ban on plastic microbeads in all household and beauty products that are washed down the drain.

Environmental groups called for a comprehensive ban just as Tesco announced microbeads would be removed from all own brand cosmetic and household products by the end of 2016.

The tiny particles add to plastic pollution in oceans and were the subject of the Daily Mail's successful 'Ban the Beads Now' campaign which called for Government action on the industrial use of microbeads.

Microbeads, which are added to products ranging from face scrubs and toothpastes to kitchen cleaners, are washed down the drain into the seas where they can be swallowed by fish and crustaceans with potentially harmful effects

MICROBEADS 'WERE DESIGNED TO BE FLUSHED DOWN THE DRAIN' Microbeads were designed specifically to flush down the drain A patent filed almost 50 years ago shows the plastic poison being feted for its ability to wash away without clogging pipes. The patent, which was filed in the US in 1967 and granted in 1972, describes a skin cleaner packed with tiny plastic particles designed to scrub the skin without damaging it. It raises questions about how long cosmetic companies have known about microbeads ability to pollute  and why they have taken so long to act. Advertisement

Speaking at an event on Greenpeace's ship Esperanza, Tesco's group quality director Tim Smith said the company had contacted the brands it sells to ask them what was in their products and what their plans were to remove them.

Microbeads, which are added to products ranging from face scrubs and toothpastes to kitchen cleaners, are washed down the drain into the seas where they can be swallowed by fish and crustaceans with potentially harmful effects.

The Government has announced plans to ban microbeads from cosmetic and beauty products, with a consultation expected shortly, but campaigners want the legislation to avoid any loopholes.

The 'microbeads coalition', made up of the Environmental Investigation Agency, Greenpeace, Fauna and Flora International and the Marine Conservation Society, wants the ban to include all solid micro-plastics, with no lower size limit, as they can be much smaller than a millimetre.

It should cover all products commonly washed down the drain, including household cleaners as well as personal care products.

'Biodegradable' plastics should not be used instead as they do not degrade in the seas, they said.

Speaking on the Esperanza, which is moored near Tower Bridge in London, Dr Erik van Sebille, from Imperial College London, said there was evidence of small plastic pieces causing harm to sea creatures, such as preventing oysters from reproducing.

The Government has been urged to bring in a full ban on plastic microbeads in all household and beauty products that are washed down the drain. Pictured are some of the products that have been found to contain microbeads in the past

The Government has announced plans to ban microbeads from cosmetic and beauty products, with a consultation expected shortly, but campaigners want the legislation to avoid any loopholes. Pictured are some of the product containing microplastics

He said smaller plastic pieces were more harmful as they could get further into tissues.

While large plastic waste could break down into small pieces, that largely happened far out in the ocean, while most marine life was near the coasts, he explained.

Microbeads were especially harmful because they were already small when they reached the sea and travelled through the coastal zone where people fished and wildlife such as seabirds and turtles lived.

'Of all the plastic around, the small bits that flow through our sewage treatment plants are probably the most harmful, which is one of the reasons a ban on microbeads would be helpful,' he said.

Dr David Santillo from the Greenpeace science unit, based at Exeter University, said testing showed most microbeads were polyethylene, which was 'particularly good as a plastic at absorbing contaminants from the environment'.

THE MAIL'S VICTORIOUS CAMPAIGN In August, the Daily Mail launched a campaign calling for a ban on the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetic products, scrubs, gels and toothpaste. The move followed a report from MPs on the Commons environmental audit committee, which warned that trillions of the beads are being flushed into sewers, rivers and seas where they become a threat to wildlife and human health. The Mail highlighted how the EU appears to have dragged its feet on implementing a legal ban, instead leaving manufacturers to voluntarily introduce measures. It called on Theresa Mays Government to take the lead and introduce a UK ban. Just one day later, the campaign won the support of MPs, MEPs, academics and environmental campaigners, as well as leading sporting and showbusiness figures. On the same day, the Mail published evidence from a Greenpeace study highlighting the danger microbeads pose to the British food chain. Last Saturday, we reported that Mrs May faced growing pressure to introduce a ban, after the European Commission signalled it would allow a UK ban on beads if it showed they were a danger to human health or the sea. Then we revealed talks had begun between ministers and environmental groups over a ban. Ministers were urged not to let cosmetics firms off the hook with a partial ban and a campaign group revealed the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050. More than 350,000 people have signed a petition calling for a ban on microbeads, and Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons announced on Tuesday that they were aiming to remove them from their own-label products. Advertisement

Putting the tiny particles into the oceans in such numbers - with hundreds of thousands in each tube of face scrub - could be adding to the problem of plastic pollution but also the uptake of other chemicals, he warned.

Mr Smith said Tesco had asked its suppliers to effectively 'turn back the clock' to before microbeads, as there were other exfoliants which could be used, such as ground-down coconut shells, or they could simply be removed with no effect.

He said there were around 10 Tesco personal care products and 10 household products affected by the move, which the company would have undertaken even without the prospect of a government ban, he said.

'We felt it would be serving our customers better if we were leading on something as significant as removing microbeads from products.'

Elisabeth Whitebread, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, said: 'Marine life doesn't distinguish between plastic from a face wash and plastic from a detergent.
Advertisement

The limestone slab where Jesus' body was said to have been laid out after his crucifixion was revealed last month for the first time since at least 1555 AD.

After removing the slab that encased the tomb, scientists were stunned to find the burial shelf intact and a second marble slab with a cross carved into its surface.

The tomb was opened and resealed within 60 hours during work being done at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Now, new images have emerged revealing the restoration work on the stones that cover the outside of the tomb as well as an 18th century shrine known as the 'Edicule'.

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A view of the tomb and its shrine, surrounded by construction works. The burial slab was enclosed in an 18th century shrine structure known as the Edicule  a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house'. These steel girders supporting the Edicule will be removed when restoration work is finished next spring

RESTORATION WORKS The shrine is being carefully restored. Its marble slabs have weakened over centuries, with the weight of thousands of daily visitors adding to the strain. Broken or fragile pieces will be replaced and those sections which can be preserved will be cleaned, and the support structures reinforced. Advertisement

The Edicule - a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house' - was last reconstructed after a fire in the early 1800s.

The Greek Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Orthodox Church agreed in 1958 that conservation of the Edicule was needed.

But it's taken almost 50 years to get the $4 million (3.2 million) of funding needed to restore it.

In the 1940s, iron bars were installed to keep the Edicule structure upright until the project started.

Now a team of engineers is injecting mortar around the marble slabs that make up the Edicule so that supports will no longer be needed.

Researchers were given the unprecedented access to the inside of the tomb within the Edicule as part of restoration work that started in October this year.

The team was shocked to find portions of the tomb are still intact today, having survived centuries of damage.

Until then, marble had encased the slab since at least 1555 AD, and likely centuries earlier.

A view of the restoration work of stones from the Jesus tomb at the lab in the Franciscan Church at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Edicule - a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house' - was last reconstructed after a fire in the early 1800s

Greek orthodox clergy stand next to the tomb of Jesus Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the old city of Jerusalem. The tomb has now been resealed and will probably not be opened again for hundreds, possibly even thousands, of years

When work first began, the conservation team from the National Technical University of Athens showed only a layer of material underneath the marble slab.

But as researchers continued their work over the course of 60 hours - and with just a few hours left before the tomb was to be resealed, another marble slab with a cross carved into its surface was exposed.

The team cut a window into the southern interior wall of the Edicule, exposing one of the cave walls.

The tomb has now been resealed and will probably not be opened again for hundreds, possibly even thousands, of years. But before it was resealed, the surface of the rock was extensively catalogued.

Work on restoration of the Edicule is expected to continue for at least the next five months.

A view of the restoration works at the north wall of the tomb. The large archaeologist operation started on October as part of the conservation work in what believed to be the tomb of Jesus Christ

According to Christian tradition, Jesus body was laid on a shelf in a limestone cave following his crucifixion by the Romans in AD 30

The restoration work of stones from the Jesus tomb. The team cut a window into the southern interior wall of the Edicule, exposing one of the cave walls

Antonia Moropoulou, professor at the National Technical University of Athens and the Chief Scientific Coordinator of the restoration project, shown left. A Christian pilgrim praying outside the Church, shown right

Christian pilgrims pray outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans

'I'm absolutely amazed. My knees are shaking a little bit because I wasn't expecting this,' said Fredrik Hiebert, archaeologist-in-residence at National Geographic, after opening up the tomb.

'We can't say 100 per cent, but it appears to be visible proof that the location of the tomb has not shifted through time, something that scientists and historians have wondered for decades.'

'This is the Holy Rock that has been revered for centuries, but only now can actually be seen,' said Antonia Moropoulou of the National Technical University of Athens, who is leading the restoration of the Edicule.

'The architectural conservation which we are implementing is intended to last forever,' says Moropoulou.

National Geographic has been filming the work being done at the church, which is considered the most sacred site in Christianity.

Work on restoration of the Edicule is expected to continue for at least the next five months. Broken or fragile pieces will be replaced and those sections which can be preserved will be cleaned, and the support structures reinforced

The shrine is being carefully restored. Its marble slabs have weakened over centuries, with the weight of thousands of daily visitors adding to the strain

Christian pilgrims pass next to the tomb. National Geographic has been filming the work being done at the church, which is considered the most sacred site in Christianity

A view of the tomb of Jesus Christ. The researchers were shocked to find the second marble slab still intact when they opened up the tomb

Antonia Moropoulou, professor at Athen's National Technical University of Athens and the Chief Scientific Coordinator of the restoration project (shown right) stands next to ancient stone

Stones taken from the tomb, pictured. The tomb has now been resealed and will probably not be opened again for hundreds, possibly even thousands, of years

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

The tomb where Jesus Christ's body is said to have been rested was unveiled last month for the first time in centuries. As researchers continued their work over the course of 60 hours, another marble slab with a cross carved into its surface was exposed (pictured). Inscribed with a Christian cross, this broken marble slab may date to the Crusader era

A restorer removes debris beneath a broken marble slab to expose the original rock surface of what is considered the burial place of Jesus. The original surface was exposed during the restoration work being done at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. Until then, marble had encased the slab since at least 1555 AD.

THE ASTONISHING HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago, shown in this painting by Friedrich Overbeck Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule  a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house'. 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. Jewish tradition forbade burial within the walls of a city, and the Gospels specify that Jesus was buried outside of Jerusalem, near the site of his crucifixion on Golgotha, also known as 'the place of skulls'. However, soon after the burial, the walls of Jerusalem were expanded, putting Golgotha and the nearby tomb within the city itself. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried, and assert the dominance of Roman state religion. The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in 325 that the temple be replaced by a church. When his representatives arrived in Jerusalem to attempt to locate the tomb, they were sent to the temple built by Hadrian 200 years earlier. The Roman temple was razed and excavations beneath it revealed a rock-cut tomb. This picture shows workers removing the top of the tomb of Jesus Christ in the Church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule  a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house The top of the cave was sheared off to expose the interior, and a church was built around it to enclose the tomb. During the building of the Church, Constantine's mother Helena claimed to have rediscovered the 'true cross'. It is claimed that she found three crosses she tested each by having it held over a corpse and when the corpse rose up under one, that was the true cross. The church was then completely destroyed by in 1009 by the Fatmid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, known as the 'mad Caliph' or 'Nero of Islam' in a bid to destroy Christian sites. It was then rebuilt once again in the mid-11th century, when an agreement was reached between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 10278. The rebuilding was finally completed with the financing at a huge expense by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048. The rebuilt church site consisted of 'a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it'. A floor plan of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the Edicule chamber marked in red on the left A 12th-century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy Sepulchre its current appearance, while in 1808 a fire all but destroyed the Edicule. In 1852, the Ottoman authorities then governing the Holy Land provided a framework for resolving disputes inside the church. It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it but repairs are long overdue as the structure was damaged in an earthquake in 1927. Excavations inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the 20th century revealed remains of what is believed to be Hadrian's temple and walls from Constantine's original church. Archaeologists also found an ancient limestone quarry and at least half a dozen other rock-cut tombs, some of which can be seen today. Advertisement

Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans.

He was resurrected three days after his death, according to scripture, and the women who came to anoint his body said no remains were found.

The evidence for this is not definitive, however, according to Dan Bahat, a former district archaeologist in Jerusalem and in Galilee.

'We may not be absolutely certain that the site of the Holy Sepulchre Church is the site of Jesus burial, but we certainly have no other site that can lay a claim nearly as weighty, and we really have no reason to reject the authenticity of the site,' Bahat said.

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 from the supposed site of Jesus' crucifixion.

The burial slab (pictured being revealed from its marble case last month) many Christians believe once held the body of Jesus Christ has been uncovered by scientists for the first time in centuries. The original surface, partially shown in this picture, was exposed during restoration work at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem

Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago. This slab had been encased in marble since at least 1555 AD. Worshippers are pictured praying to the slab underneath the marble casing, before it was uncovered

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. With its stone staircases, gilded ornamentation and many dark chambers, the church is one of Christianity's holiest shrines

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.

The Edicule and the tomb are currently being restored by scientists from the National Technical University of Athens.

The university's chief scientific supervisor Professor Antonia Moropoulou told National Geographic that it is 'the critical moment' for restoring the Edicule.

The original surface was exposed during the restoration work being done at the Church (left, in June, and right, in May)

This photo shows what the tomb of Jesus in the Holy Sepulchre church has looked like for the past 200 years. It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it. But repairs were long overdue as the structure it was damaged in an earthquake in 1927

It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it.

But repairs are long overdue as the structure was damaged in an earthquake in 1927.

Earlier this year, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as well as the the Roman Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church (the three main out of six Christian sects that have custody of the church) invited the NTU to lead the restoration project.

The Edicule and the tomb are currently being restored by scientists from the National Technical University of Athens. Using cotton swabs dipped into a solution of liquid soap and water, centuries-old layers of wax and carbon dioxide are scrubbed away by a restoration expert

The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches are responsible for maintaining separate sections, and each denomination jealously guards its domain

Work is expected to be complete in the spring of 2017.

The church, one of the world's oldest, was built in 325 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Constantine.

That structure was destroyed in 1009 by Muslim Caliph al-Hakim. A 12th-century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy Sepulchre its current appearance, while in 1808 a fire all but destroyed the Edicule.

In 1852, the Ottoman authorities then governing the Holy Land provided a framework for resolving disputes inside the church.

They put into effect the 'status quo,' a set of historic laws and power-sharing arrangements that rigidly regulates the denominations' activities inside the Holy Sepulchre.

Christian nuns watch as renovations of Jesus' tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's old city began earlier this year

Earlier this year, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as well as the the Roman Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church (the three main out of six Christian sects that have custody of the church) invited the NTU to lead the restoration project.

While the tomb is stable, it needs urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke

More than two centuries have past since the last time any restoration work was done in the chamber, partly because it is a holy site for many branches of Christianity

The Rev. Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan monk who represents the Catholics at the inter-church commission that negotiates disputes at the Holy Sepulchre, said the renovation might have been more ambitious if not for the status quo rules.

'I personally would have liked to maybe contemplate some alternative to simply restoring the current structure. But because the status quo is so conservative in its nature.

'We had to more or less accept the fact that there would be no change whatsoever to the current structure, and it would be restored as it is now,' he said.

Still, for pilgrims like Italian Claudio Pardini, the restoration is 'an important sign' that all of the Christian churches are getting together to preserve their faith's traditions.

'It's good to take care of our churches so that we can leave the next generations a sign, something to visit,' he said. 'Because Christ isn't an idea. He's a story.'

An ornate marble carving of Jesus Christ decorates the tomb where his body is believed to have been laid

A Franciscan friar peers into the exposed tomb during the conservation work done by a team of Greek team of preservation experts in Jerusalem
Canada is home to some of the world's most magnificent and awe-inspiring wildlife, from orcas to grizzly bears.

What's more, it's perfectly possible for tourists to see the country's wonderful animals up close in award-winning zoos and in their magical natural habitats.

Here MailOnline Travel reveals 15 amazing animal experiences visitors need to have in Canada, including snorkelling with belugas, seeing polar bears from a buggy and dogsledding with huskies.

Snorkel with belugas in Hudson Bay

Belugas are among the friendliest of whales species, just as curious about us as we are about them. With Churchill Wild you can hang out with them in Hudson Bay (pictured)

The water may be chilly, but this is one of the most heart-warming experiences you'll ever have.

Thousands of beluga whales gather in Hudson Bay in the summer and, kitted out with snorkel gear and a dry suit, you can jump in and hang out with them.

Belugas are among the friendliest of whales species, just as curious about us as we are about them.

You'll marvel as the snow-white giants swim gently around you in the waters. Unforgettable.

And your accommodation? The superb Seal River Heritage Lodge  recently added to the prestigious National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World list.

Visit www.churchillwild.com/adventures/birds-bears-belugas/ for more information.

See polar bears from a tundra buggy in Manitoba

Frontiers North Adventures operates buggy safaris (pictured) across polar bears' breath-taking frozen habitat

The polar bear is one of the most magnificent, stirring creatures on earth and in Churchill, Manitoba  the polar bear capital of the world  one company offers a sensational way of seeing them.

Frontiers North Adventures operates buggy safaris across the bears' breath-taking frozen habitat.

The huge buggies afford visitors a brilliant view  and the bears sometimes come right up to the vehicles for a closer inspection.

The company offers buggy day trips and the chance to spend several nights deep in polar bear country, in the Tundra Buggy Lodge.

This is a hotel on wheels consisting of inter-connected accommodation units, a lounge car, dining car, staff quarters and outdoor viewing platforms at each end.

Visit frontiersnorth.com for more information.

Howl with wolves in Algonquin Provincial Park

Algonquin Provincial Park is home to between 150 and 170 endangered Eastern Canadian wolves (pictured) and rangers there conduct public howling sessions, where the predators respond to humans mimicking their cries

In Algonquin Provincial Park communing with nature takes on a whole new meaning  with wolf howling events.

The park is home to between 150 and 170 endangered Eastern Canadian wolves and rangers there hold communal howling sessions with them. Their calls to the predators are very often answered from deep within the dark forest around.

The event is a goose-bump inducing way of connecting with the animals.

The park's staff, in an open-air amphitheatre, also offer insight on the wolves' way of life  how they hunt, what they eat and how they interact with their surroundings.

Whether you attend a howl session or not, the park  Ontario's largest - is well worth including in your itinerary, as it's simply stunning, with 3,000sq miles of pine forests and thousands of lakes.

Have a fin-tastic time whale watching in the Bay of Fundy

All manner of whales visit the Bay of Fundy, including hump backs (pictured), blue and rare North Atlantic right whales

The whale watching in the Bay of Fundy, between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is top drawer.

Nutrient-rich waters are stirred up by immense tides and so attract a huge variety of marine life including several whale species  finback, minke, humpback, blue and rare North Atlantic right whales.

It really is a marine wonderland, with visitors also regularly sighting dolphins, puffins, albatross and herons.

It's possible to go whale watching in the bay on sail boats, catamarans, cruisers, high-speed zodiacs and even kayaks.

Click here for more information.

Wonderful wildlife watching at Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

Gros Morne National Park is a huge lure for wildlife lovers as moose (pictured), caribou, Arctic hares and a staggering 239 species of bird can all be seen there

This Unesco World Heritage National Park is a superb place for wildlife watching.

Moose, caribou and Arctic hares all roam its stunning landscape  and it's also home to a staggering 239 species of bird, including ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-bellied flycatchers and black-throated green warblers.

Spending the night in Gros Morne is easily arranged with visitors able to choose from four serviced campgrounds within its borders, several backcountry campsites, plus hotels and cabins, and quaint cottages and B&Bs.

Click here for more information.

See Grizzly bears in their rainforest environment, British Columbia

A lone grizzly bear walks along a riverbank in the Great Bear Rainforest - 27,000 square miles of pristine

The 27,000-square-mile Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia is one of the best places in the world to see the magnificent grizzly.

With Great Bear Nature Tours, visitors set out from Port Hardy by seaplane  an amazing experience in itself - on viewing excursions in the wilderness where these immense animals can be seen wandering among ancient 250ft-tall western red cedars and hunting for salmon.

The virtually roadless land here is rugged and mountainous, with archipelagos and fjords, and so populations of various other animal subspecies have thrived in isolation, such as the coastal grey wolf and rare spirit bear. About one tenth of these animals have white fur, just like polar bears.

Truly, a wildlife-lover's paradise.

The Great Bear tours run from May to October. Click here for more information.

See the bison roam at Wood Buffalo National Park

Bison inhabit Wood Buffalo National Park in huge numbers. There are around 10,000 of them in the Unesco heritage site

Wood Buffalo is Canada's largest national park  it's the size of Switzerland  and is home to 10,000 free-roaming wild bison.

These powerful animals meander over immense peaty plains, land they share with moose, wolves and 200 rare whooping cranes, plus a huge number of migratory birds.

A great way of exploring this Unesco World Heritage site, which lays across northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is by motorhome, which can be rented in Edmonton. From there it's also possible to fly into the park, to Fort Chipewyan or Fort Smith.

Click here for more information.

Kayak with orcas off Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures offers tourists the chance to kayak with orcas off the coast of Vancouver Island (pictured)

The orca is one of nature's most impressive animals  a creature that inspires awe and fascination in equal measure.

With Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures it's possible to see them up close in their natural habitat, swimming in Johnstone Strait off the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island,

The company offers the unforgettable experience of kayaking in these waters, where sightings are all but guaranteed.

What's more, it's a good bet that during the tour, which uses an island campsite in the Broughton Archipelago as a base, other amazing animals will be spotted, such as humpback whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals, sea lions, bald eagles and more.

Click here for more information.

Paddle with sea otters, Vancouver Island

The sea otter is one of nature's cutest and most cunning animals - and with West Coast Expeditions visitors can paddle around the kelp beds near Spring Island (pictured) that they like to hunt in

West Coast Expeditions offers five-day kayaking tours to see the remarkable sea otter in its natural environment, in waters on a remote edge of Vancouver Island.

The sea otter spends most of its time in the ocean and is one of the few mammal species able to use tools  they are known to use rocks to break open shells.

And the tour, which is based at a camp called Wilderness Retreat on Spring Island, gives guests the chance to paddle out to nearby kelp beds in calm waters to see them hunting and playing.

Visitors are also likely to see leaping salmon, sea lions and whales during their daily expeditions, too.

Click here for more information

Have a paw-some time at Assiniboine Park Zoo, Manitoba  home of the world's best polar bear exhibit

Assiniboine Park Zoo won an Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Exhibit Award for its Journey to Churchill exhibit, which features a stunning viewing tunnel (pictured)

Assiniboine Park Zoo, spread over 80 acres, is home to 200 animal species and makes for a great family day out.

One of its biggest draws is the stunning Journey to Churchill exhibit and its resident polar bears.

It's a stunning recreation of the Arctic environment, with visitors able to watch the bears roaming their rugged den and swimming below the surface of their pool by stepping into a viewing tunnel called the Sea Ice Passage.

This passage also runs past the neighbouring seal pool  so there's always plenty of animal action to observe.

The attraction, which in 2015 won 'Top Honours' in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Exhibit Award, is also home to muskoxen, Arctic foxes and wolves.

For more information click here.

Snorkel with salmon, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Campbell River is the 'salmon capital of the world' - and it's possible to leap into the river and swim with them thanks to Destiny River Adventures

Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, is known as the salmon capital of the world, because every year millions of migrating salmon spawn here - and visitors can jump in and snorkel with them.

The extraordinary experience is run by Destiny River Adventures.

It runs three-hour tours where visitors raft along the river then don a wetsuit and dive into rock pools teeming with Pacific salmon.

Other animals regularly seen on the tour include deer, beaver, weasel, eagles, mergansers, kingfishers and seals, the tour company says.

For more information click here.

Watch bald eagles soar at Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park, British Columbia

The magnificent bald eagle (pictured) can be seen swooping around Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park

The bald eagle is one of the most impressive birds of prey in the world  and they gather in huge numbers at the Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park.

The largest of these magnificent creatures have a seven-foot wing span and they can reach an incredible 100mph when diving for prey.

In cruise mode they can reach around 40mph and heights of 10,000 feet.

And with their white heads and tail feathers and huge powerful beaks and claws, they are breathtaking to behold.

The best spot around Brackendale to see them is actually just outside the park near the Easter Seal Camp on Government Road.

From here visitors can see these birds in all their glory in a magnificent setting.

For more information click here.

Vancouver Aquarium - guaranteed to make a splash

Vancouver Aquarium is a fishy, fascinating and fun-filled family attraction, with sharks, sea otters, beluga whales and sea lions among the residents. Pictured are two children there, gazing at jellyfish

There are a remarkable 50,000 creatures at the gigantic Vancouver Aquarium, including sharks, sea otters, bright jellyfish and beluga whales.

Plus there are several rescued residents to say hello to - Chester the young false killer whale, Helen the white-sided dolphin, three sea otters, two harbour porpoises, harbour seals and sea lions.

And an amazing underwater viewing area allows visitors to see the dolphins' swimming prowess up close.

A behind-the-scenes tour, meanwhile, provides a fascinating insight into the work needed to care for all the creatures at the centre.

The aquarium is definitely a must-see Vancouver attraction.

Click here for more information.

Let the excitement soar with heli-dogsledding in an Ontario winter wonderland

Dogsledding is always a thrilling experience, but with Winterdance Dogsled Tours visitors can do it in style - with an arrival and departure by helicopter

Exploring a magical winter wonderland on a sled towed by purebred Siberian huskies is a quite fantastic experience - but why not put some icing on the cake and arrive by helicopter?

That's one incredible option offered by Winterdance Dogsled Tours, which flies guests from Toronto by private helicopter to the spectacular Haliburton Highlands, where they embark on a guided dogsled tour along rugged trails and beside breathtaking cliffs.

Lunch is cooked on a campfire and tales of life in the wilderness told by the guides are always on the menu.

Afterwards it's back to the buzz of the big city by helicopter.

For more information click here.

Wildlife tracking in the wilds of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island

Strathcona Provincial Park (pictured) is the stunning setting for visitors to experience the wonder of wildlife tracking

The stunning Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island is the setting for visitors to connect with Canada's wildlife in a deeper way and get back to nature.

Strathcona Park Lodge offers a fascinating expedition through the park's pristine environment - which features alpine meadows, ancient forests, glacial lakes and rugged peaks - with guides showing guests how to follow the tracks of the big and small animals and birds that live there.

Resident animal species include Roosevelt elk, the Vancouver Island marmot, the Vancouver Island wolf, coastal black-tailed deer and cougars. Notable birds guests might see include the chestnut-backed chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, winter wren and blue grouse.

Accommodation includes a chalet room looking out across the majestic Upper Campbell Lake.

For more information click here.

Black bear watching in Quebec's beautiful Reserve Faunique des Laurentides

The majestic black bear roams Quebec's Reserve Faunique des Laurentides (pictured) - and visitors can go on expertly guided tours to see them in this amazing environment

The magnificent black bear can be found in the 3,000-square-mile Reserve Faunique des Laurentides in Quebec and seeing them in this incredible environment is an unforgettable experience.

The bears hunt and play in and around the park's 2,000 lakes - they are strong swimmers - and guides are on hand to teach visitors all about these amazing creatures on day trips and as part of packages that include overnight stays in rustic cabins.

The best time to see the bears is between June and September, with sightings all but guaranteed in July and August.
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Standing at the back of the high speed ferry and watching Rhodes dip below the horizon, it was easy to see why locals call the sea the 'endless blue'.

For any voyage between the Greek islands and across the vast Aegean somehow feels like its own mystical odyssey.

We were off on our own mini-adventure, leaving the bustling Old Town of Rhodes for a lesser-known destination - the tiny island of Tilos.

Our brief was to experience the merits of a holiday in Greece in early autumn, when the searing summer temperatures have subsided and when the huge tourist crowds of July and August have long gone.

Peaceful: The Avalon Boutique Hotel in the heart of Rhodes Old Town is a haven of tranquility in the bustling tourist hotspot

Luxury: The hotel, just minutes from some of the town's main historical sites, is a cool retreat in the heat of the day and features tasteful furniture

Room with a view: The Old Town is a site of extraordinary historical interest where Byzantines, Greeks, Venetians, and Turks all left their mark over hundreds of years

The endless blue: Lindos, to the south of Rhodes town, features an awe-inspiring acropolis overlooking St Peter's Bay - a wonderful swimming spot with crystal clear water

It was early October and the temperature was a heavenly 27 degrees Celsius as we set off from Kolona harbour.

My wife and I had just spent four days on Rhodes, the largest of Greeces Dodecanese islands and one of the country's premier tourist destinations.

After a comfortable flight with Aegean Airlines, with a short transfer via Athens, we had arrived on the island and rented our car for the week from Rodos Cars - Rent A Car.

From the airport it was a simple enough drive to Rhodes Old Town, one of the best preserved medieval settlements in the world and now a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Since most cars are banned from the cobbled streets, we found a parking spot in a slightly chaotic car park along the city walls before walking up to our accommodation for the next four days, the Avalon Hotel - a hidden boutique hotel with comfortable rooms set around a peaceful courtyard serving traditional Greek breakfasts of yoghurt, honey, fresh fruit and pastries.

Antiquity: The stunning acropolis of Lindos is high up above the town - a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans

Sundowner: Villa di Mare is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Rhodes and enjoys breathtaking views of Turkey away on the horizon

The hotel has exquisite drinking and dining options with a huge award-winning cocktail list and dinner served up by expert waiters

Despite its serene setting, the hotel is right in the heart of the town and a short stroll from some of the area's best known landmarks.

The Old Town itself is a site of extraordinary historical interest where Byzantines, Greeks, Venetians, and Turks all left their mark over hundreds of years.

A guided tour reveals hidden delights around every corner from ancient statues and marble crests to fountains, mosques and hammams.

The eerie Street of the Knights is just a few steps away from the hotel while the Palace of the Grand Masters and the town's splendid Clock Tower are a short walk.

It's little wonder tourist bosses describe the imposing walled town as a boundary between past and present and 'the island's coat of arms'.

But while the area's historical riches can easily take up days of exploration, the island has a wealth of other activities.

We spent a day in the popular tourist town of Lindos to the south, visiting its awe-inspiring acropolis overlooking St Peter's Bay - a wonderful swimming spot with crystal clear water and a beach-side taverna serving sumptuous grilled octopus and Greek salads.

Peaceful: From being on a bustling island with a seemingly endless number of holiday opportunities, the contrast with little Tilos could not have been greater. The sunset views from the Ilidi Rock hotel were breathtaking

Ilidi Rock is a magnificent hotel built into the cliffs with its own small beach and is just a short stroll from the heart of the community

On another day we took a boat trip down the coast with Yacht Charter Rhodes to enjoy some snorkelling and swimming in hard-to-reach coves.

In a third excursion we made our way up to the island's mountainous interior, past orchards full of pomegranate trees, endless vineyards and quiet olive groves in a truly spectacular drive.

Back in Rhodes Old Town, we enjoyed some of the fabulous island produce at the Dinoris restaurant. The friendly staff treated us to a feast of fresh fish, beautiful salads, traditional deserts and local wines.

We also enjoyed a night's stay at Villa di Mare, one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Rhodes. With breathtaking views of Turkey away on the horizon, the hotel has exquisite dining options. I had fresh sea bass filleted at the table by an expert waiter - washed down with a dry white wine from Santorini.

From being on a bustling island with a seemingly endless number of holiday opportunities, the contrast with little Tilos could not have been greater.

After a swift transfer with Dodekanisos Seaways, we docked in the village of Livadia and met our representative from Ilidi Rock, a magnificent hotel built into the cliffs with its own small beach that's a short stroll from the heart of the community.

Remote: Agios Panteleimonas monastery is in an area of exceptional natural beauty on Tilos with steep mountains on one side and nothing but the endless blue Aegean on the other

Secluded: Tilos is dotted with hard-to-find beaches with many only accessible on foot down long winding paths

Sheltered: The view from the hotel room was nothing short of breathtaking, looking out across a vast bay protected by a crescent of towering mountains

On arrival, the cheerful hotel owner confidently told us he could guarantee it would not be the last time we'd visit.

And no wonder.

The view from the hotel room was nothing short of breathtaking, looking out across a vast bay protected by a crescent of towering mountains.

In contrast to Rhodes, all that could be heard was the lapping of water down below and the chink of glasses and cutlery being laid out in the hotel's cafe.

In classic Greek style, the hotel is painted bright white while the steps leading all the way down to the in-house cafe and beach are lined with colourful flowers.

Although the village is small there are a good number of restaurants to choose from - the best of them showcasing their offerings of lamb and fresh fish on wood-fuelled barbecues.

We were lucky enough to have the use of one of the few cars on the island and set off to explore some of its hidden treasures.

One afternoon we parked up and walked for what seemed an eternity down dusty tracks lined with wild herbs towards the sea. On arrival, there were no sun loungers, hotels or tavernas to shatter the peace - just the occasional bleat of a goat sitting in the shade and the gentle splash of waves.

On display: Another beach called Plaka, down a long winding track, was populated - bizarrely - by peacocks parading around showing off their colourful plumage

Adventure: Some beaches on Tilos are only accessible on foot or by boat, making for excellent snorkelling and swimming

The hills and valleys of Tilos are filled with the heady aroma of wild herbs and flowers, the remote coastline is a haven for birds and sea life while its stunning beaches are places of rare tranquillity

It was the perfect spot for some more snorkelling and swimming before we set off again.

Our travels took in the village of Agios Antonios, a tiny hamlet that looked like it had not changed in appearance for generations.

Another beach called Plaka, down a long winding track, was populated - bizarrely - by peacocks parading around showing off their colourful plumage.

We also drove up a hair-raising coastal road, dodging the occasional goat darting into the middle of the road and creeping around terrifying hairpin bends with steep drops to the sea below.

At the top we explored the stunning Agios Panteleimonas monastery - a remote compound in an area of exceptional natural beauty with steep mountains on one side and nothing but the endless blue Aegean on the other.

It was easy to see why the island has been a steady source of inspiration for poets and painters over the years.

Its hills and valleys are filled with the heady aroma of wild herbs and flowers, the remote coastline is a haven for birds and sea life while its stunning beaches are places of rare tranquillity - especially in the autumn when we were visiting.

As we sailed off - with a heavy heart - for our return flight from Rhodes, it felt like we had experienced a true taste of the Dodecanese in this 'Little Emerald in the Aegean'.

'See, discover, share' is apparently the motto here, urging visitors to 'free their senses, escape routine and enjoy the generosity of nature'.

The hotel owner was right - we already knew we'd be back.
Bristol has been named the fourth most inspiring city to visit in the world by a top travel operator.

The birthplace of Banksy was praised for its vibrant arts scene and museums.

The West Country town was beaten to the top spot by the bustling coastal city of Miami, with Bruges and San Francisco coming in second and third place respectively.

Bristol beauty: The 12th century cathedral is a popular place with tourists

Popular spot: Bristol has been named the fourth most inspiring city to visit in the world by a top travel operator. Above, the city's Clifton Suspension bridge, designed by Isambard Brunel

Reykjavik came in at fifth place followed by Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Salzburg, Zurich, Heidelberg and Florence.

London, Paris and New York failed to make the top ten.

The 2016 Inspiring Cities Ranking - run by TravelBird - graded 85 cities on eight criteria based on innovation and creativity.

Historical site: The Hippodrome theatre in Bristol opened in December 1912

THE 2016 INSPIRING CITIES RANKING 1 Miami, USA 2 Bruges, Belgium 3 San Francisco, USA 4 Bristol, UK 5 Reykjavik, Iceland 6 Santiago de Compostela, Spain 7 Salzburg, Austria 8 Zurich, Switzerland 9 Heidelberg, Germany 10 Florence, Italy Advertisement

Overall, Bristol's abundance of art galleries, museums and performing art companies gave it a score of 70 out of 100.

It also scored 31 out of 100 on the romance front.

The level of romance was based on how many romance-focused keywords were used in Google searches.

Commenting on the outcome, Bristol's mayor, Marvin Rees, told the Bristol Magazine: Bristol is a great place to live and work.

'We are a diverse, talented and outward looking city with a world-class annual calendar of events that inspire residents and visitors alike.

Im pleased that our efforts and those of everyone who is contributing to the citys success are recognised in this survey.'

Popular spots in Bristol include the Hippodrome theatre, the city's 12th century cathedral and the Clifton Suspension bridge, designed by Isambard Brunel.

In 2015 Bristol won the European Green Capital Award after focusing energy on eco-friendly initiatives.

Arty: Bristol was beaten to the top spot by the bustling coastal city of Miami (seen above)
She revealing this week that her fiance proposed to her when she was naked.

However, Emmy Rossum was fully wrapped up and ready to go as she served up food for the homeless in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old actress joined forces at the L.A. Mission ahead of Thanksgiving day, to offer food to those in need.

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Volunteering: Emmy Rossum was fully wrapped up and ready to go as she served up food for the homeless in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The Shameless beauty got ready for action by wearing a bright red apron and chef's hat.

A natural beauty, she kept her make-up minimal, showcasing her flawless skin and stunning smile.

Her brunette tresses were expertly coiffured, although covered by her hat for much of the time she was volunteering on Skid Row.

Important job: The 30-year-old actress joined forces at the L.A. Mission ahead of Thanksgiving day, to offer food to those in need

The star was a hands on help as she dished out hot food in the area, which is home to the nation's largest concentration of homeless people.

There are an estimated 46,874 homeless people in Los Angeles county, an increase of 2,515 year on year, according to October 2016 figures.

Meanwhile, Emmy revealed some very interesting news on Chelsea Handler's Netflix talk show.

Good deed: The star was a hands on help as she dished out hot food in the area, which is home to the nation's largest concentration of homeless people

Looking good: A natural beauty, she kept her make-up minimal, showcasing her flawless skin and stunning smile

Hands-on: The Shameless beauty got ready for action by wearing a bright red apron and chef's hat

Big reveal: Emmy was accompanied by her fiance Sam Esmail, after she revealed he proposed to her when she was naked

Close: Her brunette tresses were expertly coiffured, although covered by her hat for much of the time she was volunteering on Skid Row, as she chatted to her husband-to-be

Giving back: Sam and Emmy were helping out, alongside Rachel Boston, on the day before Thanksgiving

She told the story of her proposal to her fiance Sam Esmail, which took place in August 2015.

The star revealed that he popped the question while she was in the bathtub.

The talented actress told the news, which will air on Chelsea's show on Netflix on Thursday.

'I happened to be in the bathtub when it happened,' Rossum told Handler.

'And then I realized that it was happening. And then I got out of the bathtub because I didn't want the story to be that I was in the bathtub when it was happening.

'And then I got cold as it was still going on, got back in the bathtub. It was a comedy of errors but it all worked out.'

He put a ring on it: The 30-year-old brunette beauty revealed that he popped the question while she was in the bathtub

The actress said she believed her husband-to-be wanted to surprise her.

'I really was not expecting it in the bathtub,' she continued.

Handler then asked her if this was a lifelong dream of hers but apparently Rossum had never thought of the romantic proposal like that.

She said she instead was always focused on marriage itself: 'I was more excited by the idea, the concept of marriage and togetherness with the person and unity,' she explains.

Rossum and Esmail, who created the series Mr. Robot, had been dating for two years before he proposed.
Geordie Shore new boy Dan Clark reportedly sent threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend, threatening to throw acid in her face is she was unfaithful.

The aspiring reality star is part of the show's huge cast overhaul for the upcoming series 14, which is currently being filmed in Newcastle.

Lucy Noble spoke to the Daily Mirror about her experiences with Dan, 23, when she showed the publication messages she claimed to be from the upcoming MTV star, which showed furious threats made.

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Lost love: Geordie Shore new boy Dan Clark reportedly sent threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend, threatening to throw acid in her face is she was unfaithful

Dan, who is said to have dated show stalwart Marnie Simpson, is one of many new faces to join the cast following the departure of long-running stars Holly Hagan and Charlotte Crosby.

As his star is on the rise ahead of the launch of the new series, Lucy came forward with claims about her ex-boyfriend, who she met in September last year.

In the texts shown to the publication, Dan reportedly penned: ' You dare get with any lad and I'll kill them and you'll get some acid thrown in your face sl***.'

Lucy responded: 'I'll show my dad all these messages you vile piece of s***. You cheated on me.' MTV declined to comment on the messages.

Lost love: The aspiring reality star is part of the show's huge cast overhaul for the upcoming series 14, which is currently being filmed in Newcastle

She explained about the acid attack threat: 'I've seen the horror stories in the newspapers of victims.'

Of his upcoming career move, Lucy seemed convinced he will not set the show alight, as she explained: 'I don't even think he'll do that well on it and I want everyone to know what he's really like.

'He goes around saying he's the fittest guy in the north east, he's not. I want nothing to do with him.I just want to get on with my life.'

Geordie Shore stars have previously run into troubles in the past leading to ejections, dismissals and firm hands from production.

Opening up: Dan, who is said to have dated show stalwart Marnie Simpson, is one of many new faces to join the cast following the departure of long-running stars Holly Hagan and Charlotte Crosby

One of the most stand out scandals occured three years ago, when Sophie Kasaei is reported to have been heard saying: 'I hate n****s', after which she was immediately removed from the house.

An MTV and Lime Pictures representative released a statement in 2013, reading: 'Sophie Kasaei was removed from Geordie Shore pending further investigation into alleged offensive behaviour.

'MTV and Lime Pictures have now taken the decision that it is inappropriate for Sophie to return to the show. We will be reiterating to the remaining cast members that offensive behaviour will not be tolerated.'

Way back when: One of the most stand out scandals occured three years ago, when Sophie Kasaei is reported to have been heard saying: 'I hate n****s', after which she was immediately removed from the house

Previously arguments have raged within the house in which the show's officials have been forced to send cast members for cooling off periods, including an argument between Ricci Guarnaccio and Gary 'Gaz' Beadle in the second series in 2012.

The biggest blow out in the first series saw a fight erupt between Vicky Pattison and her then-love interest Jay Gardner which culminated in the I'm A Celeb winner spitting in the fitness fanatic's face.

At the end of the episode a note was aired insisting producers had spoken to the duo and explained that the behaviour is unacceptable.
She's the slender blonde beauty who is fast becoming a rising star in the world of international modelling.

And Bridget Malcolm appears to have taken her exercise regime up a notch as she prepares to walk in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the second year running.

The 25-year-old showed off her very slender frame and extreme stomach muscles as she posed in lingerie in an Instagram video on Thursday.

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Who's excited for Paris? Australia model Bridget Malcolm can barely contain her eagerness for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in this cheeky video posted to Instagram on Thursday

In the revealing short video, the grinning blonde holds up a book dedicated to iconic French designer Coco Chanel.

Her long blonde locks slicked back into a ponytail, Bridget goes fresh faced with no make up.

Perhaps in a dress rehearsal for Victoria's Secret, the Perth-born model was wearing a black bra with matching knickers.

Her porcelain skin contrasts with the lingerie's dark colour and her slender frame is on full display.

Little black bra: Holding a book dedicated to iconic designer Coco Chanel, Bridget smiles and does a thumbs up for the camera

Returning: The blonde vegan made her show debut in 2015 after being rejected twice before

Hip jutted to one side, the blonde beauty smiles and gives a thumbs-up to the camera.

Bridget captions the video: 'Who's excited for PARIS?!!! Meeee!!! Under a week to go'.

With less than a week until she heads to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the petite model hasn't been shy on social media about the work she has put in to become catwalk ready.

A bientot: Bridget blows a kiss while walking the runway at last year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Exercise time: Ahead of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Bridget has not been shy about working out more

Busting out: The model has said she works out all year but does more ahead of the show

The vegan has posted countless selfies and videos of her working out on Instagram.

But despite the model's commitment to exercise, Bridget has faced a fair share of backlash for her frame.

Earlier this month, the blonde spoke candidly about the experience in an interview with Stellar.



Leggy: Bridget attended the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show call backs in New York last month

'It's irrelevant': Bridget has blasted both fat and skinny-shaming in the past

'Whether its fat or skinny-shaming, its such a superfluous thing to do to someone,' said the Seafolly model.

When it comes to people's size and weight, Bridget added: 'Its so irrelevant to who they are as a person.'

She made headlines last year after responding to social media trolls who claimed she had an eating disorder.

Rising star: The Perth-born beauty has also modelled for swimwear brands Seafolly and Tigerlily

'Can we STOP with the skinny shaming please?' she wrote at the time.

'I am extremely fit and healthy and am not in the slightest way anorexic.'

She explained: 'I have worked hard to look like this and am proud of my body.

'I may not be the curviest but I am a woman who has every right to look the way I do.

Hit back: The 25-year-old has faced attacks over her slender figure and claims online that she has an eating disorder

'Maybe today take a look inside yourself and wonder why you feel the need to shame strangers over the Internet about their bodies. Peace and love to you all - let's change the conversation.'

Bridget previously spoke to Daily Mail Australia about trolls, saying: 'I know that those people are hurting inside and I hope that they find some happiness really.'
She's no stranger to making waves with controversial social media snaps.

And Australian model Catherine 'Cat' McNeil, 27, once again pushed boundaries by taking to social media with a daring photo of what, at first glance, seems to be her bare breasts.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the Vogue Australia cover-girl left fans confused as they tried to decipher whether Cat was flashing her nipples or simply wearing a shirt emblazoned with the image of a woman's breasts.

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An optical illusion? Catherine 'Cat' McNiel, 27, once again pushed boundaries by taking to social media with a daring photo of what, at first glance, seems to be her bare breasts

She accompanied the the racy image with the caption: 'This game i like to play', alongside the devil emoji.

Cat's post comes just weeks after she uploaded a photo of herself completely topless during a trip to Miami beach with two model pals, Soo Joo and Jacob Morton.

The image, which has since been removed from Cat's page, depicted the runway siren proudly posing in nothing but black bikini bottoms.

She's not shy! Cat's post comes just weeks after she uploaded a photo of herself completely topless during a trip to Miami beach with two model pals, Soo Joo (left) and Jacob Morton (right)

'I know its gonna get taken down ...but f*** it !!! Miami pit stop (sic),' the brunette captioned the photo.

She also narrowly avoided revealing her breasts in a photo uploaded three weeks ago, in which she is seen posing for a selfie wearing nothing but diaphanous lingerie and black nipple tape.

Cat, who is a former flame of Australian actress and DJ Ruby Rose, first began her modelling career when she won the Girlfriend model search competition at just 14 years old.

Racy: Catherine McNeil covered her nipples with black tape as she stripped down to her sheer lace lingerie and hot pants in a recent social media post

Starting young: The Brisbane-born beauty began modelling after winning the Girlfriend model search at just 14

Throughout her career, she has modelled for the likes of Valentino, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

She famously took a short break from modelling in 2010 - shortly after her split with Ruby Rose - but returned by 2012.

In 2013, she made a splash on the runway by opening seven catwalk shows and becoming the first ever face of FashionTV.
She's best known for playing Ann Perkins in comedy Parks and Recreation.

But Rashida Jones revealed that she failed to see the funny side of being bitten by Michael Jackson's pet chimp Bubbles, as a youngster.

The 40-year-old actress - whose father Quincy Jones produced Jackson's Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad albums - explained to Vice that the famed pet once sank his teeth into her hand.

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Monkey business: Rashida Jones said she was bitten by Michael Jackson's pet chimp Bubbles, as a youngster

Pet: Bubbles was renowned for living at Neverland Ranch with Michael Jackson, where he slept in a crib in his bedroom and shared his bathroom

Recounting the harrowing encounter, the beauty told hosts Desus & Mero that they had picked a pertinent question, when they explained they had a segment about being bitten by a monkey.

'That's a crazy coincidence. I'm the right person for this segment.' she joked.

With her brunette tresses in a neat bob with bangs, the stylish beauty relived her horror.

'I got attacked. By Bubbles. Bubbles. Michael Jackson...' she sighed.

Chat: The beauty recounting the harrowing encounter to hosts Desus & Mero

'You can see still,' she added, pointing at a scar on her hand.

'He was wearing a little full - like a little - overall jumpsuit and a striped shirt. To pretend he was a human,' she told them.

'He also looked me dead in my eye. While he was biting me. I was trying to punish him because he threw something at me. And I like hit him on the head and say 'no. Because I had seen Michael [Jackson] trying to punish him before.

Wounded: 'You can see still,' she added, pointing at a scar on her hand

Bite me: With her brunette tresses in a neat bob with bangs, the stylish beauty explained the attack

Brutal: She added that Bubbles had no regrets about his encounter: 'He was like, 'I'm the man', she concluded

'And he looked me dead in the eye and went [motions biting her hand]. It was like white for ten minutes. It was pouring blood.

She added that Bubbles had no regrets about his encounter: 'He was like, "I'm the man",' she concluded.

Bubbles was renowned for living at Neverland Ranch with Jackson, where he slept in a crib in his bedroom and shared his bathroom.

pals: The 40-year-old actress's father Quincy Jones produced Jackson's Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad albums (pictured 1984)

Cheeky monkey: In 2003 Bubbles matured into a large and aggressive adult chimp unsuitable as a companion animal so was sent to a California animal trainer - however, before that, he hung out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel (pic 1987)

However, in 2003, like many captive chimpanzees, Bubbles had matured into a large and aggressive adult chimp unsuitable as a companion animal so was sent to a California animal trainer.

Bubbles was later moved to the Center for Great Apes, a sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida, where he has lived since 2005.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in relation to his death.

Rashida has written the screenplay for Toy Story 4 which is currently in production, and set to be released on June 21, 2019.
It was reported on Monday that Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell are headed for the wedding aisle, with mother Terri worrying her daughter would fall pregnant too soon.

And after a representative from Australia Zoo shut down the claims, the 18-year-old has now spoken out in an interview with Today Extra, on Thursday.

'[There are] no wedding bells just yet,' Bindi shared with hosts Richard Wilkins and Sonia Kruger.

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'No wedding bells just yet': Bindi Irwin, 18, denied on Thursday's Today Extra, that she's tying the knot with beau Chandler Powell, 20

Speaking with the Channel Nine breakfast program, Bindi appeared keen to quiet down the rumours.

'I'm very lucky. I have a wonderful boyfriend. I'm so glad that Chandler is here in Australia, to celebrate his 20th birthday,' the daughter of the late Steve Irwin said.

'We're just enjoying our time together. No wedding bells just yet....I'm happy. I'm 18,' Bindi continued.

Rumours: A representative from Australia Zoo denied claims earlier this week that Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell are headed for the wedding aisle, after nearly three years of dating

The comments come after a spokesperson from Australia Zoo told Daily Mail Australia that reports that the young couple were tying the knot were simply 'untrue', and they arent planning to wed or have a family of their own any time soon.

I dont even know how anyone would have a clue about Bindis health but that claim is also entirely untrue, the spokesperson said when asked if the Wildlife Warrior was hoping to become a mother soon.

New Idea claimed that the couple will declare their love for one another in front of the same pastor who married her parents Terri and Steve in 1992.

The magazine also alleged that Bindi and Chandler have made several 'secret visits' to the church, which is located in Eugene, US, to prepare for the big day.

No truth: A spokesperson from Australia Zoo told Daily Mail Australia the reports were simply untrue and that the couple of nearly three years arent planning to wed or have a family any time soon

Pastor Dan Hallgrimson told the publication he will 'come out of retirement for Bindi' and her sportsman boyfriend.

'I would do whatever she needed to help her,' he added.

An insider went on to explain to the magazine that the couple were 'keen' to take their long distance romance to the next stage.

The past: The statement comes after New Idea claimed that the couple will declare their love for one another in front of the same pastor who married her parents Terri and Steve in 1992

'They're young, but they're keen to make their love official in the eyes of God,' they stated.

Last December, Bindi told Daily Mail Australia a wedding between her and her beau was 'a long way off.'

'It is really interesting [rumours she is getting married] but I think that's a long way off,' she said.

'I'm just really happy and just enjoying every day that I have with him and just enjoying being young, so it's great.'

Worried: Meanwhile, Woman's Day also claimed Terri is worried they may become parents themselves sooner than later

Meanwhile, Woman's Day also claimed on Monday that Terri is worried the couple may become parents at a young age, despite them staying in separate beds when together.

'A couple of weeks ago, Bindi was under the weather and it flashed through Terri's mind she could be pregnant,' a source told.

'But it turned out to be a bug and Terri breathed a huge sigh of relief.'

The source also explained that despite the pair staying 'in separate rooms' when with each other, 'Chandler has become very much part of the family'.
She's never afraid to experiment with her look.

And Wednesday evening was no exception for Ashley James, who sported a stylish yet sexy ensemble to party at the Converse Winter Social in London.

The former Made in Chelsea star, 29, displayed her lean legs in a thigh-skimming burgundy miniskirt.

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Standing out from the crowd: Ashley James sported a stylish yet sexy ensemble to party at the Converse Winter Social in London on Wednesday night

The PVC number was given a sex appeal boost thanks to a pair of velour over-the-knee boots.

Ashley covered up in a daring patchwork coat in a faux fur style, with a pale pink mohair trim.

The model and DJ posed with her close pal Charlotte de Carle at the bash, which was also attended by the likes of Rafferty Law.

Funky fur: Ashley covered up in a daring patchwork coat in a faux fur style, with a pale pink mohair trim

Glamorous edge: The PVC number was given a sex appeal boost thanks to a pair of velour over-the-knee boots

Ashley has decided to give herself a break over the last few weeks, indulging in as many carbs as she wants and slobbing on the sofa instead of exercising.

She reflected on her transformation in her blog, explaining that she was surprised to learn that confidence is what makes her feel sexy, not how toned and muscular she is.

The blonde beauty let herself indulge in whatever foods she fancied, saying: 'I have gained a little weight, but I still feel sexy'.

Taking a break: The blonde beauty recently revealed she had relaxed her regime, saying, 'I have gained a little weight, but I still feel sexy'

Party pals: The star joined forces with Arlissa as they celebrated at the footwear brand bash

Daring to bare: Model Munroe Bergdorf sported a flesh-hued bralet and unicorn print skirt

Ashley was shocked to find she was actually getting more compliments than before.

However, she admitted that not exercising was having a negative effect on her mental health and she was looking forward to returning to her gym sessions.

Musing about what she had learned, the star wrote on AshleyLouiseJames.com: 'Some people will look at my photo and think I look fat, and some people will think I am skinny and shouldnt have any insecurities  and that would happen whether I was in the gym everyday and eating only salads, or sat at home eating pizza.

'The point is, and what Im learning  if we are happy in ourselves people will think we are sexy anyway, because confidence is the real thing thats beautiful.'

Dressed down: Pop star Conor Maynard put in an appearance at the event

Wrapped up for winter: Presenter Pips Taylor paired crushed velvet with a fluffy stole
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He made his mark on Hollywood last year after appearing in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Finn, the stormtropper.

And now, John Boyega is set to return to the big screen in director Guillermo del Toro's forthcoming sci-fi film - Pacific Rim: Maelstrom.

The 24-year-old British actor, who stars alongside Idris Elba in the blockbuster, was pictured getting into character last week while filming in Cronulla, south of Sydney, Australia.

He's back: John Boyega is set to return to the big screen in the up-and-coming Pacific Rim: Maelstrom film, which is currently being filmed in Sydney, Australia

The actor looked downcast as he leaped over wreckage, while surrounded by tents and sheeted shelter.

He rugged up for the shoot, dressing in black jeans and a grey-toned jacket, which he wore over-the-top of a black woollen jumper.

The scruffy look was complete with sued boots, a scarf and fingerless gloves.

Getting into it: While filming scenes over the weekend in Cronulla, south of Sydney, the 24-year-old was seen getting into charached and jumping over wreckage

Costume: He rugged up for the shoot, dressing in black jeans and a grey-toned jacket, which he wore over-the-top of a black woollen jumper. John finished pff his character's attire with high sued boots, a scarf and a set of gloves

Special affects: During filming, crew members let off a number of smoke machines, which made the filming frame portray a dusty, olden-day affect

Lights, camera, action: The actors were also surrounded by multiple cameras, lighting panels and crew members

The Hollywood star portrays the son of Idris' character, who sacrificed himself at the end of the first Pacific Rim movie and will also co-produce the flick.

The cast also includes Scott Eastwood, Ron Perlman and Max Martini.

Pacific Rim: Maelstorm was scheduled to shoot in Toronto, Canada, back in 2015 but was forced to postpone.

Going to extra lengths: Despite being set by the sea side, crew have transformed the coastline into a destructed area, including fallen walls, tents and sheeted shelter

Real life: Pet dogs, who had dirt rubbed into their fear to make them look abandoned also wondered around on set

Stepping into character: The Hollywood star will play the son of Idris Elba's character, who sacrificed himself at the end of the first Pacific Rim movie

Tough gig: While acting in the movie, he will also co-produce the product, which will be released globally in 2018

It will now film in Sydney's Fox Studios as well as varies locations in Queensland.

The upcoming film, which is due to be released in early 2018, will reportedly cost an estimate of AUD$257 million.

Earlier this year, NSW Deputy Premier and Arts Minister Troy Grant welcomed the filming of the movie, saying: 'This is the latest big production to be secured by the NSW Government's new $20 million Made In NSW Fund.

'The production will inject more than $54 million into the NSW economy and employ around 400 local crew.'

Moving location: Pacific Rim: Maelstorm was scheduled to shoot in Toronto, Canada, back in 2015 but was forced to postpone. It will now film in Sydney's Fox Studios as well as varies locations in Queensland
At 5ft 11in, Renee Stewart clearly took after her mother in the height department.

The youngest of Rod and Rachel Hunter's children, aspiring model and dancer Renee, was statuesque like her mother at The Dayrooms launch in London.

She looked leggy in a minidress, which featured a criss-cross on the neckline to match her lace-up shoes.

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Model credentials: Renee Stewart cut a slick figure at The Dayrooms launch in west London on Wednesday night

The pretty evening dress was decorated with white blooms and skimmed off high on the leg to show off her model proportions.

Renee made her debut on the cover of high society bible Tatler in December 2014, stating her intention to follow in her mother's model footsteps.

Clearly a natural in front of the camera, Renee was even daringly minimal on the make-up front as she made the red carpet appearance in support of The Dayrooms.

Model figure: She looked leggy in a minidress and caged heels that strapped up her ankles

The brand is a concept store selling a hand-picked selection of the best Australian brands.

And the event drew attendance from Amber Le Bon, as well Made In Chelsea's A;lex Mytton with model girlfriend Lottie Moss.

While her mother is a New Zealand supermodel, Renee is signed to Australian modelling agency Chadwick as well as London's Storm Model Management.

She is the youngest female in the Stewart brood, counting Kimberly, Sean and Liam as siblings.

It runs in the family: Her mother Rachel Hunter is obviously a dead ringer for the dancer

Family memories: Renee's (centre) siblings include (from left) Kimberly, Sean and Liam, seen here with dad Rod, and now-wife Penny Lancaster

Renees parents - who were together between 1990 and 2006 - separated when she was seven, but they have remained close, with Rod marrying once more to Penny Lancaster.

She now has step-brothers Aiden and Alastair from Rod and Penny's marriage, which is the crooner's third.

Renee's graduated from the London Contemporary Dance School in July, and puts dancing before her aspirations as a model.

Together again: Lottie Moss and Alex Mytton were out together again, celebrating the fashion launch

Couples who dress together: The duo wore matching bomber jackets out on the town

Dating: They have been virtually inseparable since striking up a relationship through mutual friends

Booty-ful: Lottie wore a cute camel-coloured dress with over-the-knee boots

Pose perfect: She posed on arrival, smouldering down the lens

Also in attendance: Amber Le Bon was looking glam in a waterfall coat and a little black dress

Joining the party: The blonde bombshell wore glittering heels with her dress

Making her arrival: She seemed to carry a change of clothes on her arrival

Taking to the decks: Amber was in her element as she mixed the music

Blonde beauties: Amber was no doubt at hand to offer modelling advice to newcomer Lottie

Frilly fancy: Olivia Grant looked lovely in a baby blue number with sheer sleeves

Keeping it simple: Renee Stewart (L) and Olivia Inge (R) sported all black ensembles
She's a true English rose and 36th in line to the throne.

But Lady Amelia Windsor embraced some American culture as she attended Annabel's Thanksgiving Dinner in London on Wednesday.

Proving just why Tatler magazine dubbed her 'the world's hottest royal', the 21-year-old granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent oozed glamour at the event in her daring ensemble.

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Across the pond: Lady Amelia Windsor embraced some American culture as she attended Annabel's Thanksgiving Dinner in London on Wednesday

Flashing a hint of cleavage, the aristocrat pulled off a fashion risk in a plunging black gown that was adorned with large gold disks.

Semi-sheer in design, the garment's sleeves offered a look at her toned arms and taut stomach.

Flaring out to ankle length, the daughter of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews and Sylvana Windsor, finished off the look with a pair of heeled black ankle boots.

Ravishing royal: Proving why she's been dubbed 'the world's hottest royal', the 21-year-old granddaughter of Prince Edward oozed glamour at the event in her daring ensemble

Glamorous: Flashing a hint of cleavage, the aristocrat pulled off a fashion risk in a plunging black gown that was adorned with large gold disks (pictured with designer Patrick Grant)

Royal rumble: Earlier this year, Lady Amelia (pictured with a friend) was deemed 'the world's hottest royal by' Tatler magazine and now looks set for a career in the fashion industry

Earlier this year, Lady Amelia was deemed 'the world's hottest royal by' Tatler magazine.

The stylish star, who is studying French and Italian at Edinburgh University, shot to global fame in April, when she appeared on the cover of the fashion bible, who hailed her 'the world's most beautiful royal', and has since become the darling of high society.

Amelia studied art history, French and Latin for A-level, but that Windsor love for glamour kicked in at an early age.

Actor Douglas Booth was also in attendance and looked handsome in a fitted beige blazer, white shirt and black trousers

Hungry: The Worried About The Boy star cleared his plate

Glam duo: Douglas cosied up to his pal Martha Ward

Racy lady: Martha oozed sex appeal in a dark blue velvet jumpsuit which showed off her ample assets

As a teenager at St Mary's Ascot  the Berkshire boarding school that educated Princess Caroline of Monaco and Lady Antonia Fraser  Amelia had already announced her fervour for fashion.

She now looks set for a career in the industry, with a bit of modelling thrown in, and she's happy to earn her keep along the way.

Meanwhile, Vogue recently described the starlet as 'one of the most eligible Windsors.'

Actor Douglas Booth was also in attendance and looked handsome in a fitted beige blazer, white shirt and black trousers.

Martha Ward, Riccardo Lanza, Lexi Bowes-Lyon and Alexander Gilke also stepped out in style.

Making an impact: (L to R) Riccardo Lanza, Lexi Bowes-Lyon and Alexander Gilkes were all dressed to the nines for the event

Mingling: Martha posed inbetween Alexander Gilkes and Patrick Grant

Night out: Michaela de Pury (L) and Simon de Pury looked incredible

Beauties: India Whalley and Tess Ward put on an incredibly glamorous display
They're the rumoured real-life couple who also play lovers on Home And Away.

And while neither have spoken publicly about their alleged relationship, James Stewart and Isabella Giovinazzo's chemistry was palpable while filming scenes for the soap recently.

The scantily-clad actors were pictured running into each others' arm and kissing in a series of steamy embraces.

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Just for the cameras? Home And Away actors and rumoured real life couple Isabella Giovinazzo filmed a steamy embrace for the soap recently

The closeness of the pair on set is sure to increase speculation that art is certainly imitating life.

In the new scenes, James is seen barefoot in black board shorts.

Wet from the ocean, a surfboard and towel lie on the ground near the actor.

Filming: The Summer Bay babe's toned legs were on display as she kissed her on-screen love

Boho babe: The 26-year-old's wrists were adorned with bracelets while filming the scene

Running: Isabella looks every bit the Summer Bay babe with her gorgeous brown locks loose over her shoulders

Happy: James, 41, couldn't contain his enthusiasm when his on-screen lady love came bounding towards him

The 41-year-old couldn't contain his enthusiasm when his on-screen lady love came bounding towards him.

Isabella looked every bit the Summer Bay babe with her gorgeous brown locks loose over her shoulders.

Her toned bottom and legs were on full display as she became locked in a steamy embrace with James.

Do they know people are watching? Isabella's toned bottom and legs were on full display as she became locked in a steamy embrace with James

Wardrobe malfunction? Legs wrapped around her on-screen love interest, the 26-year-old's derriere was almost entirely exposed

Doesn't notice: Isabella couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she gazed lovingly into her co-star's eyes

The 26-year-old's underwear was also momentarily exposed as James lifted her off the ground.

The actress wore a casual fluoro orange jumpsuit which was paired with mid-calf lace up boots.

Clutching her phone in hand, Isabella's boho look was completed by a scattering of beaded bracelets around her wrists.

Summer Bay casual: The actress wore a fluorescent orange jumpsuit which was paired with mid-calf lace up boots

Don't drop the phone: Isabella caressed James' face and hugged him tightly for the scene

Hey you: The 41-year-old actor couldn't hide his enthusiasm as his co-star moved towards him

The actors broke away each other's lips momentarily as James hoisted Isabella up for a closer embrace.

Legs wrapped around her on-screen love interest, the 26-year-old's derriere was almost entirely exposed.

But Isabella didn't seem to mind as she touched James's face lovingly and stared into his eyes.

The actors then kissed again.

Happy to see you: Isabella had an equally big smile on her face

Kissing in the rain: It's just the latest steamy scene to come out of Summer Bay

Real life? On Monday, Woman's Day reported the rumoured couple had been given the green light by James' ex Jessica Marais

The latest steamy scene to come out of Summer Bay comes after Woman's Day reported the rumoured couple had been given the green light by James' ex Jessica Marais.

According to the publication, The Wrong Girl actress is happy for her ex-fiancee's new start after their own engagement ended 18 months ago.

The former couple met on the set of Packed To The Rafters and share a child together, four-year-old Scout.

Moon sighting! James seemed unaware he was exposing Isabella's derriere while they filmed scenes for the soap

Just for the show? The two gazed into each other's eyes affectionately

Heated moment: James and Isabella's chemistry was palpable

'Jess and James finally made peace earlier this year when they agreed o work together for the sake of Scout,' the source said.

'That's all Jess has ever wanted, what's best for Scout.

'She couldn't be more relieved James is moving on with his life and it's in a different direction to hers.'

No umbrella here: The pair continued to shoot scenes even as it rained
They welcomed their third child earlier this year and their relationship seems rock solid.

And Emma Willis was enjoying a welcome date night with husband Matt as they attended a VIP screening of Lion, hosted by Harvey Weinstein at One Aldwych in London on Wednesday night.

The 40-year-old presenter looked lovely as ever, proving that less is more in her understated look.

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Cinema date: Emma Willis was enjoying a welcome date night with husband Matt as they attended a VIP screening of Lion, hosted by Harvey Weinstein at One Aldwych in London on Wednesday night

Emma opted for minimal make-up, showcasing her flawless complexion with barely-there foundation and a slick of pink lip gloss.

She wore her pixie crop slicked back from her face and kept her ensemble simple, opting for a dark shirt and blue jeans.

Busted rocker Matt also kept to a sombre colour palette, flashing a proud smile as he posed alongside his stunning wife.

Natural beauty: The 40-year-old presenter looked lovely as ever, proving that less is more in her understated look

Meanwhile, as rumours continue to swirl about the new Celebrity Big Brother line-up for January 2017, the official CBB account shared a picture of Emma and spin-off show host Rylan Clark showcasing their excitement.

'Get excited!! Celebrity Big Brother is returning very soon... #CBB', the caption read.

It has been reported that the likes of Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt and Charlotte Crosby could be heading back into the most famous residence in Britain as part of a reported 'All-Star' series.

He's a fan! Matt certainly seemed to have enjoyed the screening, with the rocker taking to his Twitter page to heap praise on the movie

Coming soon! As rumours continue to swirl about the new Celebrity Big Brother line-up for January 2017, the official CBB account shared a picture of Emma and spin-off show host Rylan Clark showcasing their excitement

In honour of the 20th Celebrity Big Brother series next year, the Borehamwood house will reportedly be filled with legendary contestants from the past, with a line-up that could include the likes of Perez Hilton, Katie Hopkins and Denise Welch.

A source told The Sun: 'Usually celebrity housemates brag about how controversial and confrontational theyll be while being screened by producers before going in, but then nothing happens.

'This way theyll be no dull moments as they know wholl be worth their fee. Itll be the perfect celebration of how far the show has come.'
With millions in the bank and a spot at the top of the A-list, Brad Pitt's got plenty of reasons to be thankful - but this year will be a tough one, nonetheless.

The 52-year-old actor will not be present when estranged wife Angelina Jolie and their six children celebrate Thanksgiving Thursday, according to multiple reports.

'Angelina did not invite Brad to spend Thanksgiving with their kids,' a source close to the couple told US Weekly, noting that the Se7en star is 'crushed' as the holiday season rolls in.

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Holiday hell: Brad Pitt, 52, will not be spending Thanksgiving with his six kids and estranged wife Angelina Jolie, according to multiple reports. The actor was snapped earlier this month at an event in Los Angeles

Tough turkey: Jolie 'did not invite Brad to spend Thanksgiving with their kids,' a source told US Weekly

Pitt, who has been exonerated by both the FBI and Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services amid abuse accusations, 'has been deferential on whats best for [the kids] and limits their stress,' a source told the magazine.

While Pitt is currently on the international promotional trail in support of his upcoming film Allied, the family has been keeping a low profile in Malibu.

Jolie, 41, currently has temporary physical custody of the six kids - Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, eight.

Better times: Pitt, seen here with Jolie and five of his six kids in 2014 at LAX, 'has been deferential on whats best for' the children since the Oscar-winning beauty filed for divorce, an insider told the outlet

Dark days: Pitt 'has been very unhappy with the arrangement' in which he sees his kids on monitored visits, sources told People

A source close to the Maleficent beauty said that the children didn't 'warm up to' the Fight Club star during three monitored visits in the two months since the Oscar-winning star's September 19 divorce filing in Los Angeles.

The Inglourious Basterds star 'has been very unhappy with the arrangement,' as he 'wants to spend more time with' the children, according to People; the outlet also reported Pitt would not be present for Thanksgiving with the family.

Last year, the Moneyball star, speaking with Extra, described the familial atmosphere around the Pitt-Jolie homestead come holiday time: 'We've got Thanksgiving, man - I'm all over that turkey ... Ill get in there, Ill mess it up a little bit.'

Absolved: FBI officials on Tuesday cleared the actor of any wrongdoing in an incident that took place on a plane involving son Maddox, seen here in 2014 at LAX with his parents

Moving forward: Pitt and Jolie have been in the early stages of determining custody in the wake of their split. The celebs were pictured with Maddox (left) and Zahara (right) in LA in 2014

In the custody battle between Pitt and Jolie - who famously began their romance filming 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, while Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston - Pitt has asked officials with the Los Angeles Superior Court that he and Jolie share joint physical and legal custody of the six kids, while Jolie wants sole physical custody, with Pitt receiving scheduled visits.

The Legends of the Fall actor said in a statement at the time of his split with Jolie, 'I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids. I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Pitt's reps for comment.
Brooke Mueller's boyfriend of five months has called things off with the troubled socialite.

Peter Thomas Roth, a skincare mogul who had been dating Charlie Sheen's 39-year-old ex-wife since the summer, has taken a step back from the relationship after Mueller had a meltdown that resulted in her two sons being taken away while she was hospitalized in Utah for a psychiatric evaluation.

Roth - who told the New York Post he and Mueller 'were just dating and having fun' - opened up to the newspaper Wednesday about Brooke's latest turn for the worse.

It's over: Brooke Mueller's relationship with skincare mogul Peter Thomas Roth has ended amid her latest personal crisis, a meltdown in Utah that saw her twin sons removed from her custody while she was hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation

Taking the high road: Roth, seen here in the Hamptons this past summer, praised Mueller's character, but told the New York Post that 'the last time I spoke to her, some things were off'

'When I met her in June, she was wonderful - she was fun, interesting and totally together,' said Roth, adding that he hasn't seen her since last month, at which time 'she seemed like she was in a good space.

'But the last time I spoke to her, some things were off.'

Roth said that Mueller told him that 'she didnt feel comfortable being home in a big house - she was scared, so they got into the car and tried checking into several hotels.'

Last week, things fell apart for Brooke, who's mother to Sheen's seven-year-old twins Max and Bob, when she purportedly took them into a Salt Lake City bar with a nanny, who she was witnessed arguing with.

Troubled times: Onlookers in Utah reported that Mueller, 39, looked out of sorts while with her twins Max and Bob, seven. The socialite was seen here in August of 2014 with the boys at LAX

The next day, a bystander called 911 to report that a woman fitting Mueller's description had been seen beating the twin boys, TMZ reported.

Early on November 16, Utah police said that in responding to a welfare check initiated on Mueller, they caught up with her 'on Interstate 15 near Nephi, Utah,' at which point they took the children from her and took her to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Roth told the paper that 'a lot of what was reported about her being checked into the hospital and the police search was incorrect.

Summer love: Roth (left) and Mueller began dating in June. He said Mueller 'was wonderful - she was fun, interesting and totally together' when they initially met

'When the police finally saw her, there were no drugs [or] alcohol' involved, Roth told the paper. 'And from what I understand, she was ready to' be checked into a hospital.

Roth had hoped Mueller would accompany him to Monday's swanky Angel Ball in New York City, but plans changed in the wake of Brooke's latest setback.

Brooke, who was married to the Two and a Half Men star from 2008 until 2011, gets a bad rap, according to Roth.

Winning: Sheen and Mueller both looked in peak form at this 2008 event in Los Angeles

'A lot of people like to put her in this nasty light, but she is a very smart, nice and clever person. Being sober is a super-high priority for her, and she likes being clean. Its her goal ... she wants to be 100 percent clean all the time.'

Mueller is back in rehab - reportedly for the 20th time - in the wake of the incident, and Max and Bob are in the care of her mother, Moira Wolofsky Fiore.

'She is now in rehab getting the help she wants,' Roth said, adding that last week's strange sequence of events 'may have been a good thing' in opening Mueller's eyes to the consequences of her self-destructive habits.

Devoted: Sheen, seen here with Brooke and his boys in 2011, speaks to his sons every night, according to Mueller's mother

'There are 20 million people struggling with addiction,' he said, 'and she tries very hard to keep it together.'

Fiore told People on Monday that the twin boys 'are doing great' and 'are both in school here in Utah.'
She's hardly left the beach since returning to Australia.

And bikini blogger Natasha Oakley was back to doing what she knows best on Thursday, posing for yet another swimsuit shoot.

The 26-year-old, who posts endless idyllic bikini snaps of herself on Instagram on a weekly basis, flaunted her natural figure in a series of two-piece swimsuits as she dipped in and out of the pool at Bronte baths in Sydney, Australia.

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No filter! Natasha Oakley flaunted her natural curves during a photo shoot at the Bronte Baths in Sydney on Thursday

Wearing a multi-coloured two piece featuring a plunging top and brief bottoms, Tash comfortably flaunted her curves for the photographer

The blonde was clearly in her element, beaming as she climbed up and down a set of stairs that lead to the ocean water.

Wearing a multi-coloured two piece featuring a plunging top and brief bottoms, Tash comfortably flaunted her curves for the photographer.

Showing off her bronzed skin, the social media star wore barely any makeup as posed under the spotlight.

In her element: Natasha beamed as she climbed in and out of the pool during the shoot, clearly enjoying her time under the sun and by the sea

Tash and fellow blogger Devin Brugman have mastered the art of Instagram and getting the perfect angles to showcase their swimwear and figures.

They post an array of bikini snaps on the social media site almost every day.

Earlier this month, Tash revealed a campaign partnership with Seafolly Australia.

'So excited to announce that my reason for being home in Sydney is because of my collaboration with @seafollyaustralia to celebrate the beginning of the Australian summer,' she captioned the picture.

Adjustment: The blonde beauty was seen adjusting her bikini bottoms at times during the shoot

Au natural: Showing off her bronzed skin, the social media star wore barely any makeup as posed under the spotlight.

Blissful: Tash posed on the ladder out of an ocean pool with one foot pointed in front of the other

'I will be hosting two really exciting events within Australia that I can't wait to share with you! Stay tuned!'

Her appearance in Bronte on Thursday could be part of a campaign for the Australian swimwear brand, as she is seen posing in a bikini similar to those from their Ocean Rose collection.

The shots were taken on the stairs to an ocean pool in Bronte, and the model was seen posing on the ladder for the photographer.

When she reached the top, an assistant was seen applying what appeared to be a cream to the model's cleavage, as she stood there and waited patiently

Well practiced: The beach babe pulled out one of her more well rehearsed poses for the shoot, which she has used to promote her own bikini line

All smiles! Tash was seen beaming while she flicked her blonde tresses in the wind

Tousling her locks: The 25-year-old played with her hair as she strutted her stuff for the camera

With one foot pointed, she was seen clutching at the bikini bottoms, which she readjusted as she climbed up the ladder.

After she was finished on the ladder, the 25-year-old moved to dry land and finished up the shoot for that bikini on cement near a white wall.

She was seen playing with her blonde locks and cut a relaxed figure.

Variations on a theme: Tash again showed off a variation on a tried and tested pose as she spent her Thursday modelling

Been for a dip? Tash appeared to have been swimming between shoots, as she posed with a head of wet hair in a skimpy canary yellow bikini

Showing off her assets: The model appeared confident in the brightly coloured cheeky-cut swimwear bottoms, which showed off her curvaceous derriere

The model was also seen posing up a storm in a cheeky-cut canary yellow two piece.

In the shots, her hair appeared wet, suggesting she may have been for a quick dip in the ocean to prepare for the shoot.

Tash pulled out some of her signature poses, which have been seen as she promotes her own bikini line through social media.

Making friends! While she wasn't shooting, Tash relaxed with a group of older admirers

All smiles: The bikini model and social media influencer laughed along with the three men, who appeared to be soaking up the warm Sydney sun

As she changed in to a third bikini, Tash took a moment to spend time with a small group of fans.

The model was seen sitting on a bench with three older men and laughing along with them as they soaked up the Sydney sun.

Afterwards, she relaxed on to a half wall, and posed with an arched back and her legs half bent.

Getting tired: Tash relaxed back along a half-wall in a third, navy blue bikini

Working it: The model stretched out as she showed off her ample bust in the swimwear

Covering up: Tash held a pink and white striped towel to cover her lower half as she moved between shots

Tash and her friend Devin recently flew into Sydney from their LA homes to take part in a special pop-up event for their website A Bikini A Day.

The pair rose to fame through their blog filled with bikini-clad snaps and recently launched an activewear line following on from the success of their swimwear line.

Their first swimwear collection sold out over a couple of months and they now share a combined following of three million followers on Instagram alone.

Bikini fiends! The Instagram accounts of Tash and her friend and business partner Devin are littered with imaged of the girls posing in swimwear

Speaking of how she keeps in shape, Tash told Women's Health devices often worn by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, are 'extremely unhealthy'.

'I would never in a million years endorse something like waist-trainers,' she said emphatically.

She also told the magazine she exercises a minimum of four times a week, for between an hour and 90 minutes at a time.

But she also emphasised that sometimes the minimum is more than okay.

'If I can't do more than that, I don't beat myself up,' she explained.

Not one for cheating: Tash told Women's health she believed devices such as waist trainers were 'extremely unhealthy', and she preferred her method of exercising four times a week to achieve her frame




It's just one week until she will be sashaying down a catwalk in Paris while filming the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

And Alessandra Ambrosio looked ready for the big event when she was spotted running errands in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old works hard to stay in shape and she certainly looked in fine form as she stepped out in a semi-sheer black and white striped top with long sleeves.

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Coming soon: Alessandra Ambrosio was spotted in Los Angeles on Wednesday, a week before the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Paris

Alessandra also highlighted her long and slender legs in skinny jeans and added chunky heeled black ankle boots and a matching handbag.

The model wore her chestnut brown hair down and sported sunglasses over her minimally made-up face.

Alessandra was glued to her mobile phone while strolling down the street and enjoying the autumnal weather.

Stunning star: The 35-year-old works hard to stay in shape and she certainly looked in fine form

Earning her fashion stripes: Alessandra stepped out in a semi-sheer black and white striped top with long sleeves

Leggy lady: The model also highlighted her long and slender legs in skinny jeans

The Brazilian beauty also shared some Snapchat videos that day as she spent time with her daughter Anja, eight, and son Noah, four.

The family were seen painting nails and eating marshmallows before going to visit Santa.

No doubt Alessandra is excited for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which this year is taking place in the French capital for the very first time.

Natural beauty: Alessandra wore her chestnut brown hair down and sported sunglasses over her minimally made-up face

Finishing touches: The Brazilian beauty added chunky heeled black ankle boots and a matching handbag

Family fun: Alesssandra also shared some Snapchat videos that day as she spent time with her daughter Anja and son Noah

The mother-of-two has been walking in the show since 2000, and modelled alongside the likes of Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bundchen in her first year.

This year, Bella Hadid and Irina Shayk will be making their debuts in the show, while Jasmine Tookes will sport the $3million Fantasy Bra.

Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and The Weeknd will be performing during the show, which airs on December 5.

Happy holidays: The family were seen painting nails and eating marshmallows before going to visit Santa
She's been hailed as the voice of her generation - and that voice will not be coming from up north anytime soon.

Lena Dunham on Wednesday explained in detail why she's not making good on a previous vow to move to Canada if Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in this month's historic U.S. election.

The Girls creator and star, 30, posted a block-quote telling her 2.8 million Instagram followers why she decided not to relocate after the Celebrity Apprentice host's shocking victory November 8, and how she's been dealing with the trolls razzing her about the unfulfilled promise.

Staying put: Lena Dunham on Wednesday said she's staying the United States despite a vow in April to move to Canada if Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton in the U.S. election

For the record: The Girls creator opened up about her decision to stay in the states after her candidate lost

'Today I received a letter (yes, on paper) that read "dont let the door hit you on the ass when you cross the border into Canada." This is actually one of the more polite notes Ive gotten recently, and Ill survive it just fine,' wrote Lena, who often takes to her Lenny Letter website to vent about social and political issues.

'And you know what else Ive realized I can survive, as a Jewish pro-choice sexual assault survivor with a queer family member and a belief that we are all exactly & beautifully equal?'

The outspoken HBO star, who was among the many Hollywood stars to lend her support to the Democratic nominee over the past year-and-a-half, said she's holding steadfast amid Trump's endless stream of controversial soundbites and political appointments.

'I can survive staying in this country, MY country, to fight and live and use my embarrassment of blessings to do whats right,' the Golden Globe winner.

Gearing up: The entertainer, who leans left in her political views, says she will use her 'embarrassment of blessings to do whats right' in the battle for hearts and minds

Headed for a heartbreak: Lena and her boyfriend, musician Jack Antonoff, looked to be in great spirits after voting November 8, but the smiles would fade as results trickled in

She said that while her initial vow was essentially a throwaway line made in jest, she can still move the needle using her immense influence to fight future battles.

'Its easy to joke about moving to Canada,' the Emmy-nominated star said. 'Its harder to see, and to love, the people who fill your mailbox with hate. Its harder to see what needs to be done and do it.

'Its harder to live, fully and painfully aware of the injustice surrounding us, to cherish and fear your country all at once.'

Agony of defeat: Dunham said on her Lenny Letter website November 11 that both cried, and Antonoff had difficulty breathing, as states kept coming up red for the celebrity businessman

Lena ended the impassioned note in saying that she's 'willing to try,' asking her followers, 'Will you try with me?'

Dunham, who authored the tome Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned, made the remark about relocating in April as she attended an award ceremony aimed at honoring female standouts working in communications.

'I know a lovely place in Vancouver, and I can get my work done from there,' she said at the event, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 'I know a lot of people have been threatening to do this, but I really will.'

Lena's show Girls returns to HBO for its final season February 10.
Rocco Ritchie has been pictured talking to police following the news that he was arrested for possessing cannabis.

The 16-year-old son of pop star Madonna and director Guy Ritchie, was caught with cannabis in his rucksack after neighbours were said to have reported him.

In the images, taken on September 28, the teenager has a white sweater on with the hood pulled up over his head.

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PICTURED: Rocco Ritchie, 16, was seen with police officers in a car park in Camden on September 28 where he was arrested for possession of cannabis

Tough time: Rocco, whose mother is Madonna, was caught after neighbours reportedly saw him 'smoking or doing drugs' and called the police

His head his bowed as he he talks to two police officers in a car park in Steeles Mews North, Camden.

The images come after his mother spoke out publicly about her son, to say that she loves and supports him.

Madonna released a statement on Wednesday calling the arrest 'a family matter.'

She said: 'I love my son very much. I will do whatever I can to give him the support that he needs, and I ask that you respect our privacy at this time.'

Troubled: Rocco wore his hood up over his head for the tense looking conversation - the pictures come as his mother offered her love and support to the teen

Rocco's father Guy Ritchie is yet to comment on the arrest. However, he was seen looking stern as he stepped out in Primrose Hill the morning after the news broke.

On Wednesday a police spokesperson also confirmed the news saying: 'A 16-year-old youth has been arrested for possession of cannabis.

'The arrest follows a stop and search by officers from Camden borough at around 5.15pm on Wednesday, September 28 at Steeles Mews North.

'The youth was taken to a north London police station. He was subsequently bailed and dealt with by Camden borough's Youth Offending Team.

Shock: Rocco was searched by cops after he was seen sitting on a wall with a friend in Steele's Mews North in Primrose Hill, where properties sell for up to 1.9m

'He was dealt with by way of Triage, which uses multiple strands to engage and educate young people in order to prevent re-offending.'

The youth was caught after neighbours reportedly saw him 'smoking or doing drugs' and called the police.

Rocco was searched by cops after he was seen sitting on a wall with a friend in Steele's Mews North in Primrose Hill, where properties sell for up to 1.9m.

On Wednesday, someone living nearby said that Rocco has been seen in a local pub with young people from a local council estate trying to get served alcohol.

The Guy for the job? Stony-faced Ritchie stepped out in London on Wednesday after it was revealed his son Rocco, 16, was arrested for possessing cannabis in September

The man, who did not wish to be named, said: 'He is a polite boy, but he hangs around with boys from an estate who are not so polite.

'Of course he smokes weed. They are young boys and we were all like that once.

'Around the time he was arrested I used to see him in the local pub. I don't think they ever served him because they know who he is and he's 16.

'Some of the boys from the local estate, they are the ones who used to scale the walls to get into the pub.

'He goes to a school nearby here for wealthy children who are maybe not as intellectual.'

The teenager and girlfriend Kim Turnbull were pictured together earlier this week socialising with Brooklyn Beckham. Rocco was arrested for possession of cannabis on September 28. He was bailed and dealt with by Camden borough's Youth Offending Team

Asked if Rocco ever smelt of cannabis of if he was ever seen holding a joint, the man said: 'They are young boys.'

The man added: 'Rocco is a polite boy, I wouldn't want to get him in trouble.

'With his mum in the US he must worry about getting in trouble in case he gets sent over there.'

Rocco Ritchie was spotted smoking a and drinking what looks to be an alcoholic drink with friends under a bridge in central London in April

An arrest could potentially cause problems when visiting the US because British citizens are no longer eligible for automatic entry and must apply for a visa.

However, it is highly likely that Rocco has dual nationality and is a citizen of the UK - where his father is from - and his mother's native United States.

US citizens would never be denied entry and even if he holds only a British passport, it is likely that his visa application would be accepted because the crime is so minor.

The teenage has been at the centre of a bitter custody dispute between his director father and pop icon mother

But immediate neighbours to where the boy was arrested said they had never seen him there.

And none were shocked by Guy Ritchie's son's scandalous antics, with one saying: 'Nothing surprises me anymore.'

Sources told The Sun that Rocco was seen tossing something away as police approached him in Steeles Mews North, Camden, on September 28.

When officers noticed traces of cannabis on his clothes they searched him and found a small quantity of the drug.

Earlier this year the teenager was at the centre of a bitter custody dispute between his director father and pop icon mother.

He refused to travel with Madonna and she launched legal action in the US and UK demanding custody of her son. Website TMZ claimed that Madonna thought Guy 'had poisoned her son against her' and, 'as the disciplinarian [parent], she felt Guy was way too permissive

The disagreement began in December 2015 during a falling out between Rocco and his musician mother when he abandoned her Rebel Hearts tour.

He refused to travel with his mother and she launched legal action in the US and UK demanding custody of her son.

Guy Richie's lawyers argued Rocco was settled in school in London and, in September, he won the bitter nine month battle over where their son should live.

The Sherlock Holmes director reached a settlement with the pop star hours before they were due in court in New York and it was agreed the teenager would continue to live in London.

Website TMZ claimed that Madonna thought Guy 'had poisoned her son against her' and, 'as the disciplinarian [parent], she felt Guy was way too permissive'.

The terms of the custody agreement remain confidential, but it is understood Rocco is schooled in London, with regular visits from his mother.

The recent arrest was made near his home in Primrose Hill, but a number of neighbours told MailOnline they had never even seen him in the area.

One man, who didn't wish to be named, said: 'I am often in the South of France, so I'm not always here to be honest.

'I know of Rocco, I know who he is, but I haven't seen him here. I'm surprised he is meant to have been hanging around here.

'I haven't heard anyone speak about it at all. I haven't seen any young teenagers hang around here or sit on any wall.

'There aren't a whole load of young people who live here. There's a guy in his twenties, a chartered surveyor, but he just seems young because the last couple in that property were in their eighties.'

Another resident, who also didn't wish to be named, said: 'I haven't ever seen this boy, nor has my wife. Young people don't tend to hang around here.'

Reacting to the news, he added: 'Nothing surprises me.'

Another neighbour said: 'I usually don't get back til 8pm. I've never seen him or any teenagers sitting on that wall.
A prominent role in regal drama The Crown has won Matt Smith a new legion of fans  but the actor admits his portrayal of a young Prince Philip is not without its fair share of risks.

The ambitious, lavishly budgeted Netflix realisation of Queen Elizabeths early years as head of the British monarchy has won Matt and his co-star, Claire Foy, universal praise from fans and critics alike.

But as attention shifts to its eagerly anticipated second series and location shoots across South Africa and the United Kingdom, the dashing actor, 34, has recalled a terrifying incident during a day off in Cape Town.

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Looking back: A prominent role in lavish regal drama The Crown has won Matt Smith a new legion of fans  but the actor admits his portrayal of a young Prince Philip is not without its fair share of risks

Speaking to MR. PORTER The Journal, Matt admits he was almost threatened at gun point by a crazed local after visiting a bar in a less salubrious part of the city.

This guy came up to us and said, What are you looking at? he said. We were drunk. We said, Nothing, mate. No worries. He was like, I'll f***ing shoot you, bru! He had a gun!

Really stupidly, we just went to the bar across the street. I don't know why we didn't just leave altogether. He came up to the window, and went (tap, tap, tap on the glass), no word of a lie, he had a Crocodile Dundee knife in his hand. A bouncer came up and was like, Get out of here!

High praise: The ambitious, lavishly budgeted Netflix realisation of Queen Elizabeths early years as head of the British monarchy has won Matt universal praise from fans and critics

Looking back: As attention shifts to its eagerly anticipated second series and location shoots across South Africa and the United Kingdom, the dashing actor, 34, has recalled a terrifying incident during a day off in Cape Town

The star, already a household name thanks to his role as Doctor Who, has won further accolades for his accurate portrayal of a young, dashing Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown's ten episode first season.

And Matt admits he was awarded his greatest compliment by a rather well placed source, shortly after signing up for the challenging role.

He recalled: 'I met Prince William at an event and someone said, "Matts going to play Prince Philip." And I thought, "Oh God, no, no don't say that. Whats he going to think? This is going to be awful." And he just went: "Legend."'

Strike a pose: The stylish actor was speaking to MR PORTER The Journal after reinforcing his modelling credentials with a glossy fashion shoot

Thoughtful: Matt gazed off camera while reinforcing his modelling credentials in a series if new shots

The stylish actor was speaking to the publication after reinforcing his modelling credentials with a glossy fashion shoot.

A first image finds Matt looking typically suave in a hounds-tooth blazer and chinos while gazing reflectively off-camera.

The contemporary look is later traded for a vintage, seventies themed suede jacket and roll neck sweater while idling next to a car taken from the same decade.

Overnight success: Matt also looked back at the moment BBC drama Doctor Who transformed him from relative unknown to international star

But while Matt reinforces his modelling credentials, acting will always be his first love - and he remembers vividly the moment BBC drama Doctor Who transformed him from relative unknown to international star.

'Every single part of my life was affected,' he said. 'You have to be hyper-aware, because (Doctor Who) is a children's show ultimately, and you have to behave accordingly, I suppose.

'I went from being an actor doing theatre and stuff, to overnight being on the front page of every newspaper. Theres journalists going to my granddads house offering him 40,000 (for stories). Nothing can prepare you for that.'
Since hitting the big time as Strawberry Fields in 2008 Bond film Quantum Of Solace, Gemma Arterton has usually favoured a longer hair style in her natural brunette colour.

But now the 30-year-old actress has shaken things up, debuting her new shorter hairdo on The Graham Norton show.

The star, who is currently starring in low budget flick The Streets with Idris Elba, looked smart and sophisticated with her new style.

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Top of the crops: Gemma Arterton sports a new short hairdo during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show to air on BBC1 on Friday

Sporting a low cut black dress and subtle make-up, the actress shared the couch with fellow Tom Hanks and Joseph Gordon Levitt and athlete Mo Farah, while Olly Murs provided the music.

Tom is currently promoting his new film Sully where he plays Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, the pilot who back in 2009, tries to make an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River after US Airways Flight 1549 strikes a flock of geese.

100 Streets is directed by Jim OHanlon, and follows the interconnected stories of several Londoners including an ex rugby star played by Idris and his wife (played by Gemma).

Now and then: Gemma, with her new cropped hair and last month pictured with her older, more familiar shoulder length style

Famous couch: Gemma appears on the show alongside Tom Hanks and Joseph Gordon- Levitt

Proud: Gemma showed off her new style on her Instagram account

It's been a busy year for the actress who has recently appeared in dystopian drama The Girl With All The Gifts and will soon be seen in British dramedy Their Finest alongside Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin, Jeremy Irons and Richard E Grant.

Set during World War I, the film follows a group of inspiring filmmakers who try to make a patriotic film that will boost morale of the British army during The Blitz.

She'll also provide the voice of Clover in a forthcoming TV mini series of Watership Down.

She's got the look: Gemma is more familiar to fans for a longer style

'I think that its going to be beautiful,' she told website Den Of Geek. 'The script is excellent, and its not going to be 2D animation. Its sort of like a painting, Ive seen some of the artwork.

'They are obviously animating it with CGI, but they are still having that sort of hand drawn quality.

' Its got a really incredible cast of actors voicing it. From what Ive seen, its going to be fantastic.'
They rushed to marry just two weeks after getting engaged.

But despite the short notice, it looks like Corey Feldman and his new wife Courtney Anne pulled out all the stops as photos emerge from their Las Vegas wedding on Tuesday.

The Goonies star, 45, and the 27-year-old model said 'I do' at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, following their engagement in Palm Springs, California, earlier this month.

I do! Photos have emerged from Corey Feldman and Courtney Anne's Las Vegas wedding ceremony on Tuesday, with the couple exchanging vows at Caesar's Palace

Courtney Anne chose a full length veil and a dazzling Shail K dress for her big day with the bodice featuring gold embroidery that showed off her thanks to a sheer panel.

Corey meanwhile was dapper in a black tux as he exchanged vows with his bride in the intimate ceremony, surrounded by their family and friends.

Corey was seen slipping the ring onto Courtney Anne's finger after reading his vows in the glam Fizz Lounge at Caesar's Palace.

Put a ring on it: Courtney Anne chose a full length veil and a dazzling Shail K dress for her big day, while Corey was dapper in a black tux

Courtney Anne's bridesmaids matched her in glam gold dresses, while one friend was in a blush pink maxi.

The ceremony was captured on camera with a crew seen filming and snapping pictures

The couple, who feared President-elect Donald Trump's new stance on immigration could separate them, announced the news on toofab.

Husband and wife: The couple, who feared President-elect Donald Trump's new stance on immigration could separate them, announced the news on toofab

Speaking to the website, Corey described himself as a'very excited and happy' man after marrying his Canadian partner.

The Lost Boys star and his new wife had joint bachelor and bachelorette parties at Vegas' Chateau Nightclub over the weekend.

He hinted at the nuptials on on Twitter earlier on in the day, writing: 'Happy 222 Day I Hav a feeling 2DAY is gonna B super special [sic]!'

Not wasting any time: The Lost Boys star and his new wife had joint bachelor and bachelorette parties at Vegas' Chateau Nightclub over the weekend

Earlier on this month the actor and musician proposed to Courtney Anne - citing fears his girlfriend will be deported as the reason why.

As they celebrated their fourth anniversary in Palm Springs, the actor - who admitted he was so nervous about popping the question - popped the question with a simple note instead.

He said: 'I was of course a bit nervous, as any man will admit, you never truly know what a woman is thinking. So as much as I assumed she would be happy and say "yes," there's always that insecure part of my brain that regresses immediately to my childhood and thought maybe not.'

'So I kinda chickened out and did a written proposal by writing a note with two check boxes, one for yes and the other for no.'

We did it! He hinted at the nuptials on on Twitter earlier on in the day, writing: 'Happy 222 Day I Hav a feeling 2DAY is gonna B super special [sic]!'

However, it looks like it was all good news: 'Of course there was a ring in there with the note. Luckily she said "yes!" '

The Goonies star admitted the modelwas very surprised by his proposal as they had previously both been 'anti-marriage'.

However, he felt it was important to legalize their relationship following the election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to tighten up immigration when he takes the presidential office in January.

Corey told People magazine: 'She was very surprised, excited and started crying. She was surprised because we had both been so anti-marriage since we met.

'But seeing as she's Canadian and with Trump coming in, we didn't want to risk being separated by new immigration laws.'

She's staying put: Earlier on this month the actor and musician proposed to Courtney Anne - citing fears his girlfriend will be deported as the reason why

'We both know that we make a good team, and don't want to be separated for any reason. So this is the best decision to protect our relationship.'

And the Stand By Me actor - who has 12-year-old son Zen with ex-wife Susie Sprague - will be tying the knot sooner rather than later.

He said: 'We are planning a small, secret wedding just for family, very soon.

'We will likely have a big public wedding for friends and media to attend within a year.'

But one thing the couple won't be rushing into is having children together.

Old times: The Goonies star (pictured second from left in The Goonies) admitted the model was very surprised by his proposal as they had previously both been 'anti-marriage'

He said: 'I have always said I wanna make sure I get it right the first time, and [that] Zen comes out perfectly, well balanced, before I even think about taking on any more responsibility.

'Courtney is young and she has a career in modeling and music, she would rather keep her body in good shape for now. She's getting good practice with Zen.'

Meanwhile, the child actor recently performed on the Today Show, which received mixed reviews.

According to People, the actor took to Facebook Live to defend himself, chatting with Courtney Anne, one of the Angels in his band, and now fiance, though he later deleted the video.

'We just wanted to tell everybody that, like, its been really painful. We put ourselves out there and we did the best that we could. And, like, Ive never had such mean things said about me. Like constantly.'
She celebrated her milestone 40th birthday a month ago.

And Lady Victoria Hervey showed just how hard she works to keep in tip top shape - hitting a park in Palm Springs for an al fresco yoga session.

The model suffered an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction as she opted to go braless under her skimpy workout gear.

Namaste: Lady Victoria Hervey showed just how hard she works to keep in tip top shape - hitting a park in Palm Springs for an al fresco yoga session

Lady Victoria chose a hot pink vest for her workout, with the flimsy mesh number flashing some skin as well as her cleavage.

As the socialite got stuck into her moves, her decision to go braless backfired as her assets popped out of her top.

Perhaps noticing her nip slip, Victoria - who is the daughter of the late 6th Marquess of Bristol - was also seen stretching out in a bright green t-shirt.

Oops: The model suffered an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction as she opted to go braless under her skimpy workout gear

Braless: Lady Victoria's choice of top was perhaps not the wisest considering her moves

She added a pair of loose army green trousers and accessorised with plenty of jewellery.

Silver necklaces were layered around her neck while a stack of colourful bracelets adorned her wrists.

She left her locks loose and added a dash of natural makeup.

All in: Lady Victoria chose a hot pink vest for her workout, with the flimsy mesh number flashing some skin as well as her cleavage

She's got moves: As the socialite got stuck into her moves, her decision to go braless backfired as her assets popped out of her top

Solo workout: The blonde chose a shady spot for her al fresco session

Careful! Victoria seemed oblivious to her wardrobe malfunction

She works out: The socialite works hard on maintaining her trim figure

Victoria concentrated hard on her moves, showing off her impressive flexibility in the California sunshine before rolling up her mat and heading off across the grass barefoot.

Lady Victoria, who is known for her glamorous sense of style, recently told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare that English women struggle to be sexy.

'Women in London are too conservative and dont have the courage to wear sexy outfits. Its an English thing,' she said.

Covering up: Perhaps noticing her nip slip, Victoriawas also seen stretching out in a bright green t-shirt

Stretch it: Victoria concentrated hard on her moves, showing off her impressive flexibility in the California sunshine

Work out style: She added a pair of loose army green trousers and accessorised with plenty of jewellery

Changing perceptions: Lady Victoria, who is known for her glamorous sense of style, recently told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare that English women struggle to be sexy

Confidence: 'Women in London are too conservative and dont have the courage to wear sexy outfits. Its an English thing,' she said

'I grew up in the South of France so I have a much more international approach.'

Victoria added that she still leads by example, sporting an array of sheer ensembles at parties recently, she said: 'Its empowering to dress provocatively'.

Her body confidence put her in good stead during her modelling career, which saw her work for the likes of Christian Dior.

Heading home: As her workout drew to a close the blonde rolled up her mat and headed across the grass barefoot
She recently dramatically stripped off on the subway to protest against body shaming.

And on Wednesday, curvy model Iskra Lawrence was back in her underwear - using a social media snapshot to hit out against photoshopping images.

The 26-year-old star shows off her figure in a white bra and pink pants with a checked shirt placed over her shoulder.

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Hitting back: Iskra Lawrence posted a snapshot showing her again in her underwear as she hit back at photoshopping images

'If you follow me, you already know I just want you to believe there is no such thing as perfect,' she wrote alongside the snapshot in a long accompanying caption.

'I used to see photoshopped images and think well if they think I'm more beautiful with no lil rolls, cellulite or my thread veins then those are flaws, and I shouldn't have them. WTFFFFFF??? there's nothing wrong with any of those things.

'I refuse to airbrush my own body on social media cus I know my beauty is more than skin deep - that my worth and value isn't based on how "perfect" I am.

'This body makes me proud because it's healthy and all mine that it allows me to do so much.'

The blonde beauty then goes on to thank fans for their support over her 13 year modelling career.

One brave lady: Iskra addressed commuters on a subway train in New York. When she has their attention she launches into a impassioned speech about body shaming

'I'm grateful I have all of you to connect w & create images I'm proud of cus (sic) they are real / not retouched,' she wrote.

The new snap comes after Iskra's dramatic strip on a New York subway train leaving commuters more than a little surprised.

The curvaceous beauty took off her dress to deliver a powerful speech about body shaming, leaving those close by not knowing quite where to look.

And after the model had passionately implored them to 'celebrate difference', they gathered themselves long enough to break out in applause.

Delivering a speech: The model arrived on the train in a black dress before stripping off

Bemusing: Soon, Iskra begins stripping down to her bra and pants

The British model, who divides her time between the Big Apple and London, began her soul-stirring delivery only to be interrupted by an announcement on the train.

Looking a little flustered Lawrence, who has 2.8million followers on Instagram, started again, telling those on the train: 'This is bad timing!'

Wearing a black dress, she then launched into her speech, telling those around her she wanted to 'make herself vulnerable' to show how far she'd come on her 'journey' of self-acceptance.

Not what they were expecting: Commuters looked surprised and bemused to see the near naked model on their ride to work

Calling her body a 'vessel', Lawrence revealed how she grew up 'hating' herself because she didn't fit to the 'small standards of beauty' put on society by the media.

The video, created the day after America's election, sees her strip down to her underwear.

After posting the video last night, Lawrence wrote: 'I strip down to share my voice and use my power to start a conversation about the relationship with ourselves and each other.

They're still not looking! Most of the people on the train continue to look at the floor

Backlash: Some thought stripping off wasn't the best way to engage people

'We all have our own unique power and sharing it with the world is something really special and hopefully the more we can listen and learn from each other we become more open minded and less judgmental.'

She added: 'At the end of the day we are all one race, the human race and we are all equal.'

The feedback to her video is largely positive, with many applauding the star for making a stand against body-shaming.

p.barthova wrote: 'How great! Love this and your message so much! You're such an role model an inspiration!'

Lawrence, who has 2.8million followers on Instagram, has frequently used her position in the public eye to celebrate different body sizes

...while others praised the British model for taking a stand against body shaming

@brittanyviar penned: '@iskralawrence In love with this. Thank you for changing my perspective.'

However, some of the feedback suggested that the speech hadn't quite delivered the impact Lawrence might have hoped for.

Ironmonkey1978 wrote: 'I don't think those people on the tube give two hoots what she saying.'

rudeboi_mj added: 'Didn't have to dress like that to give your speech. You're just doing exactly what you're telling them not to do.'

itadowI said: 'Can see she did not grow up riding on the subway. As a teen and young woman I came across many a pervert. The subway is not a place to be undressed. Hope she has a body guard.'
They're the toddlers who are documented at A-list events and own luxury goods, such as Gucci purses.

But, PR maven Roxy Jacenko's cute youngsters tucked down on a regular family dinner on Thursday.

The 36-year-old appeared to take the photo of the siblings eating a large plate of greasy fish and chips with a HUGE side of vegetables in their Sydney home's kitchen.

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Tuck in! Roxy Jacenko feeds adorable children Hunter, 2, and Pixie, 5, a large plate of veggies with fish and chips as they wear matching bow bibs in their Sydney home's kitchen on Thursday

The children appeared happy with their meal, as they began to eat without any cutlery in sight.

Roxy has previously set up both Hunter, 2, and Pixie, 5, with their own Instagram accounts that she helps manage.

The siblings wore matching white bibs with colourful bows printed on them as they sat at the table.

It was soon made apparent as to why, as both children posted to Instagram explaining the wardrobe choice was for charity.

Pixie, who owns company Pixie Bows, collaborated with Red Nose to create a signature bib design for their Bibs4Bubs campaign.

'Have always been partial to a print' The five-year-old revealed she was wearing a bib because she had designed it with her company Pixie Bows in collaboration with the Red Nose charity

The budding designer posted, in part: 'Have always been partial to a print, especially when there's a hair bow involved!'

The bow can be purchased for $15, while Pixie says '$5 from the sale of each bib will be donated to @rednosedayaustralia to help save the lives of babies and children.'

While her brother captioned his image of the pair: 'She insists this looks good on me... but I'm happy to support for a good cause!'

It's not the first time the pair have kidded around on social media.

In a recent photograph shared to two-year-old Hunter's Instagram account, the siblings are seen preparing to destroy a gingerbread house.

Wham! Pixie and Hunter Curtis let off some steam as they destroyed a gingerbread house on Thursday afternoon

Pictured in the family kitchen, Pixie, 5, gritted her teeth as she pulled back a wooden rolling pin, ready to make the fatal blow.

Hunter appeared to be enthusiastically cheering her on as he readied himself for the delicious treats within.

The brother-sister duo received the delicious looking house from Shangri-La pastry chef Anna Polyviou.

It's all about balance! Mum Roxy Jacenko served up bits of the crushed house alongside cut up pieces of fruit

She was quick to express her delight at the photo, commenting with an invitation to a kids cooking class.

'That is the BESTEST lol...  it, doing mini Xmas workshops for kids have to bring Pixie & Hunter - I'll wear a bow,' she wrote.

In the interest of balance, their mother, Sweaty Betty founder Roxy Jacenko, appeared to serve parts of the delicious house with cut up strawberries and banana.

Family fun time! Pixie, 5, and Hunter, 2, have been spending lots of time as a family this week, as they attend dinners, ride on trains and hang out at the beach

Pixie seemed quite happy with the arrangement as she posed with a pout, forming a peace sign with her hands and flaunting her signature bows, which adorned her pigtails.

She looked relaxed in an Ariel T-shirt, and Hunter matched the theme in a red cotton T-shirt.

It follows what appears to be a week of fun for the Sydney-based family, who have shared pictures of themselves on a train, on their way to dinner and beachside.
The couple have not resisted the urge to share their relaxed honeymoon snaps with social media followers.

And Thursday was no different, as Jesinta and Buddy Franklin shared yet another photo of them spending time in their picturesque surrounds.

An image shared with Jesinta's 381,000 strong Instagram following shows her AFL player husband leaning out of a brand new Jaguar in what appears to be a paddock.

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New ride! Jesinta Campbell shared a picture of her new husband, AFL player Buddy Franklin, as he got into a new Jaguar F Pace as they continued to honeymoon with friends in Queensland

The model's caption, 'Epic Hinterland adventures in the new Jaguar F Pace', suggests the couple and their friends were about to go exploring through the Byron Bay Hinterland.

The car, worth between $80,000 and $160,000, is not the first flashy 4WD the couple have used as they enjoy married life.

Two weeks ago, Buddy was seen sitting in a Range Rover which was parked on the beach.

Adventure car! Two weeks ago, Buddy was seen sitting in a Range Rover which was parked on the beach

Making a splash: On Wednesday both Jesinta and Buddy posted snaps of them sitting by a lake

On Wednesday both Jesinta and Buddy posted snaps of them sitting by a lake.

Jesinta posted one of herself sitting in the lake with Buddy wearing a string bikini.

While Buddy posted one of himself sitting with a male friend and possibly fishing.

The pictures come just a day after the happy couple drove up from their idyllic Byron Bay resort this week to catch up with Jesinta's parents beachside, posting a snap to Instagram.

Going fishing? Buddy posted one of himself sitting with a male friend and possibly fishing

The pair have been staying at Byron Bay's luxury resort Rae's on Wategos after tying the knot two weeks ago.

It's believed the couple have been using a rental car to get around in the sunny state, and may have driven to where Jesinta's family reside for a catch up.

Buddy wore floral speedos for the family outing, while Jesinta stunned in a white bikini with a blue button-up T-shirt as a shawl.

Sharing the love? Jesinta Campbell and Buddy Franklin continue to post loved-up honeymoon snaps to Instagram stories, as they seemingly share the romantic moments with friends and family

'Love': Jesinta has been sharing her honeymoon moments to her social media followers in a series of short videos and image uploads to Instagram

Adorable! Buddy uploaded the loved-up image to his Instagram story, as he hugged his new wife from behind and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek

Buddy uploaded the loved-up image to his Instagram story, as he hugged his new wife from behind and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek.

Jesinta accessorized her beach luxe look with large circular sunglasses and a double-roped choker.

It's believed they shared the heavenly day near the clear blue waters with Jesinta's mother, father and sister.

Honeymoon location! The newlyweds have shared they have been staying at Byron Bay's Rae's On Wategos after tying the knot two weeks ago

However, it wasn't the first time the couple documented sharing their intimate time away with others.

On the weekend, the pair had some of their close friends crash their honeymoon.

Buddy took to Instagram on Monday to share a snap of himself with his new wife and West Coast Eagles player Sharrod Wellingham and his partner Tory.

'La mia famiglia': Jesinta Campbell and Buddy Franklin (L) had friends Sharrod Wellingham and his partner Tory crash their Gold Coast honeymoon this week

Buddy captioned the happy snap: 'La mia famiglia.'

Tory meanwhile shared the same image to her public Instagram account, writing: 'honeymoon crashers.'

In the image, Tory holds the camera as Sharrod sits next to her, with Buddy going shirtless and Jesinta wearing a bikini and a white throw over as they sit by the water.

Life's a beach! Tory also shared a shot of herself on a main beach on the Gold Coast, having gone for a swim with a fresh-faced Jesinta and her pal Elliot Garnaut

The former pageant queen had her locks pulled back into double buns and she covered her face with a dark pair of sunglasses.

Tory also shared a shot of herself on a main beach on the Gold Coast, having gone for a swim with a fresh-faced Jesinta and her pal Elliot Garnaut.

Elliot also shared to Instagram a shot of himself sunbathing in a modern-style house as Jesinta shows off her flawless bikini body lying near him.

In another image, he takes a selfie as Jesinta and Buddy and Sharrod and Tory stand behind them.

Basking in the sun: Elliot also shared to Instagram a shot of himself sunbathing in a modern-style house as Jesinta shows off her flawless bikini body lying near him

Selfie! In another image, he takes a selfie as Jesinta and Buddy and Sharrod and Tory stand behind them

Jesinta and Buddy kept their honeymoon location a secret since getting married in the Blue Mountains earlier this month.

But their luxury beach destination was recently revealed as Queensland's Gold Coast.

The Sunday Telegraph reported the couple have spent the last 10 days at the tourist hotspot - right in the middle of Schoolies.

Jesinta and Buddy's wedding two weeks ago was kept secret from the public and media until after the ceremony.

And the couple took an equally low-key approach to the honeymoon by offering fans just a few glimpses of coastline in their Instagram photos.

Newlyweds: Jesinta and Buddy kept their honeymoon location a secret since getting married in the Blue Mountains earlier this month

But it has now been confirmed they are celebrating their first days as husband and wife in Australia's Schoolies capital.

Jesinta and Buddy's holiday destination was revealed after Queensland socialite Judy Brine shared a photo of herself with the couple on Instagram.

She notably declined to comment when approached by the News Corp publication about their 'chance' meeting.

Meanwhile, a Range Rover dealer in Southport confirmed to The Sunday Telegraph they was using one of their vehicles during the trip.

She's a fan! Jesinta and Buddy's holiday destination was revealed after Queensland socialite Judy Brine shared a photo of herself with the couple on Instagram

But the Gold Coast may not be the most idyllic of destinations for a newly-married couple this week.

Because thousands of teenagers have flown to Queensland to celebrate the end of their final year of high school.
They spent 55 days on an abandoned island in Samoa, living off rations.

But Survivor contestants Lee Carseldine and El Rowland decided to do something a little more luxurious on their first holiday as a couple.

The couple departed for their four day holiday to Darwin on Thursday, and were quick to share loved up photographs on social media as they cooled off in the pool.

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Pucker up! Australian Survivor's Lee Carseldine says his girlfriend El Rowland was 'all over' him as they enjoyed the first night of their romantic getaway

Lee took a humorous approach as he shared a photo of himself pulling a face while his lady love kissed him on the cheek.

'15 minutes into our NT trip and already @elerowland_ is all over me like a pitbull on a poodle. A classic case of first night fever me thinks,' he captioned the picture.

El took her first post more seriously, advising her followers to 'love passionately, adventure often'.

Build up: While El was more serious in her social media captioning, she acknowledged she was looking forward to spending time with her hunky boyfriend and said there was 'build up'

The couple both seemed to acknowledge a yet-to-be-addressed tension between them, as Lee joked about first night fever and El hashtagged the term 'build up' under her post.

Both single parents, the reality television contestants are not always able to see each other.

El has clearly been looking forward to the trip, for the location as much as the company.

Loved up! Lee and El got together on the reality survival show, and continued their relationship off screen

On Tuesday, she shared a photograph of her last trip to the Northern Territory, where she was seen making a thumbs up sign in front of a truck.

'I have left my heart in so many places and the Northern Territory is one of them,' she wrote.

'In two sleeps @leecarseldine and I are heading north to collect some moments and adventures as we wrestle with crocs, fish for barra and dance with the Darwin sunset.'
They both appeared on The Bachelor and Bachelorette respectively and earlier this month caused rumours to fly that they may be dating.

And on Thursday evening, Faith Williams and Jake Ellis stepped out together at Cirque Du Soleil's Kooza opening night in Brisbane.

Faith showed off her trim pins in a chic playsuit, while Jake looked smart in a shirt and trousers as they joined the likes of Lisa Curry and new fiance Mark Tabone at the event.

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Rubbing shoulders! On Thursday evening, Faith Williams and Jake Ellis stepped out together at the Kooza opening night in Brisbane, spurring rumours they've found love

Faith showed off a golden tan and had her long locks out in loose tousled curls over her shoulders.

Her playsuit featured a strapless design and a tie up on the arms.

The hairdresser teamed the look with strappy nude heels.

All dolled up: Faith showed off a golden tan and had her long locks out in loose tousled curls over her shoulders

Date night: Newly engaged couple Lisa Curry and Mark Tabone also made an appearance, with Lisa showing off her fit figure in a white floral maxi dress

Jake meanwhile wore jeans and a beige striped shirt.

It comes after the pair enjoyed the races together in Brisbane earlier this month, where he was seen with his arm around Faith's waist in a social media snap from the day.

Newly engaged couple Lisa Curry and Mark Tabone also made an appearance, with Lisa showing off her fit figure in a white floral maxi dress.

She had her blonde hair pulled off her face and into a high bun, while Elvis impersonator Mark wore casual pants with a white shirt and blue blazer.

Dressed up! She had her blonde hair pulled off her face and into a high bun, while Elvis impersonator Mark wore casual pants with a white shirt and blue blazer

Loved-up! Earlier this month, Lisa revealed details of her engagement to Today Extra , saying Mark proposed in July and it was 'pretty hard' to keep it a secret

Earlier this month, Lisa revealed details of her engagement to Today Extra, saying Mark proposed in July and it was 'pretty hard' to keep it a secret.

The sporting star mentioned to the hosts the pair were overseas in Canada while Mark was performing and he changed plans to go to Malta - where he has family.

'He hired a yacht and had his friend play guitar. It was at sunset with roses and music playing,' the golden girl described the setting.

'He held my hand, told me how he felt, got down on one knee and popped the question,' she said while wearing her new engagement ring.

Night on the town: Also stepping out was The Block's winners Karlie and Will

They scrub up alright: Karlie looked casual in black jeans and a cream camisole while Will looked smart in a white T-shirt and a grey jacket and black jeans

Also stepping out was The Block's winners Karlie and Will.

Karlie looked casual in black jeans and a cream camisole while Will looked smart in a white T-shirt and a grey jacket and black jeans.

Former My Kitchen Rules stars Zana Pali also attended alongside her lawyer husband Gianni Romano.

The couple put on a very loved-up display as they kissed and cuddles on the red carpet, with Zana wearing black jeans and a gorgeous off-the-shoulder beige top and heels.

Also there was former Home and Away star Lincoln Lewis, who appeared to fly solo at the Cirque Du Soleil event.

Fancy seeing you here! Former My Kitchen Rules stars Zana Pali also attended alongside her lawyer husband Gianni Romano

Sweet: The couple put on a very loved-up display as they kissed and cuddles on the red carpet, with Zana wearing black jeans and a gorgeous off-the-shoulder beige top and heels

Those shoes: The designer lover completed her look with Valentino heels

Familiar face: Also there was former Home and Away star Lincoln Lewis
The Little Mix girls are known for being feisty, having thrown a DJ's interview papers across the room after he questioned Jesy Nelson's love life earlier this month.

And Perrie Edwards was not afraid to shoot another presenter down on Thursday morning, when he admitted he had dumped his ex-girlfriend by text.

The 23-year-old, who has confirmed in the past that her ex Zayn Malik did the same to her, naturally did not take well to the admission - and responded by slapping the French DJ clean around the face.

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Feisty mix! Perrie Edwards, 23, slapped a presenter round the face on Thursday when he admitted he had dumped his ex via text message - like her own ex Zayn Malik

The Shout Out To My Ex singer had headed to radio station NRJ to appear on the C'Cauet show with her fellow bandmates as part of promotion for their new album Glory Days in Europe.

However, things soon became awkward for the blonde beauty when host Cauet admitted he had ended things with his ex by a single text message, in French.

Upon hearing the translation in English, the South Shields native turned to the presenter in shock before reaching up and slapping him on the cheek.

Can't believe it: Things soon became awkward for the blonde beauty when the radio host admitted he had ended things with his ex by a single text message, in French

The act was met with cheers and chanting of her name from the crowds, while Perrie giggled second after and turned back around to answer more questions, proving it had only been a joke.

However the comment was still a bold shot from the DJ, after Perrie confirmed in the Little Mix autobiography Our World that her fiance of two years Zayn Malik had broken up with her via text.

In the passage from the tome, she writes: 'It was horrible, the worst time in my life. A four-year relationship, two year engagement ended by a simple text message. Just like that.

You go girl: Upon hearing the translation in English, the South Shields native turned to the presenter in shock before reaching up and slapping him on the cheek

'Even though things in my career were going really well, it was incredibly difficult for me.'

She later revealed to Heart Radio that the event had happened in an airport, which left her helplessly screaming and crying in heartbreak.

Speaking about her worst incident with an ex, she told the show: 'I was at the airport and I got an awful phone call, erm, from someone. And then I just what did I? I just remember screaming in the airport.'

History: Perrie had previously confirmed in the Little Mix autobiography Our World that her former fiance Zayn Malik had also broken up with her via text

Helping her recall the incident, band mate Jade Thirlwall confirmed: 'She had a little mini breakdown in the airport. And it was in the security line and so we thought "oh God.'

Known for their feisty natures, it is also not the first time that the Little Mix girls have hit back at pressing interview questions.

In an interview with Nova 969's radio hosts Fitzy & Wippa earlier this month, Perrie and Jade lost their temper in spectacular fashion after being asked why Jesy Nelson hasn't been wearing her engagement ring recently.

Heartbroken: In the passage from the book, she called it: 'The worst time in my life. A four-year relationship, two year engagement ended by a simple text message. Just like that'

Taken aback by the blunt line of questioning, Jade, 23, screeched: 'That's brutal that!' whilst Perrie agreed: 'That's brutal, you just came out with that.'

As the host floundered and claimed: 'I didn't write the questions!' Jade snatched the paper out of his hand and threw it away.

Giggling at her pal's actions, Perrie cackled: 'Next question, sir. What are you going to do without your paper now, smart-a**e?'

The question came after rumours began to swirl that Jesy and her fiance Jake Roche had called an end to their romance.

Moving on: She later revealed to Heart Radio that the event had happened in an airport, which left her helplessly screaming and crying in heartbreak

Sources tell The Sun that the duo have been broken up for weeks - despite Jesy wearing her ring during a TV appearance on Sunday.

Insiders tell the paper the couple have split already, saying: 'Their relationship became strained and they grew apart. They started rowing and it became too much.'

Yet another insider revealed: 'Its over as far as Jesys concerned and theres no going back. The wedding is off and her engagement ring wont be going back on. Jesys so busy with her career and shes throwing herself into work.'

Despire the ring returning to her finger over the last week, Jesy did not seem to wear it during the band's tour of Sydney, where the interview took place - and eagle-eyed fans spotted that she no longer follows Jake on Instagram.

The couple have been engaged for 18 months after the 24-year-old hunk, who is the son of Coleen Nolan and Shane Richie, employed the help of Ed Sheeran to propose to Jesy last July, on stage at the Manchester Arena.
It's the latest viral trend that countless people are trying on for size.

But not even Amy Schumer, 35, could coax a few restaurant workers from doing her Mannequin Challenge.

The comedienne's challenge was in for a reality check during dinner at Schwa restaurant in Chicago, where she convinced everyone to freeze, except for a few employees.

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Reality check: Amy Schumer's Mannequin Challenge was given a reality check by several moving restaurant employees

'Welcome to the mannequin challenge,' Amy told her Instagram followers at the start of the video.

Amy showed everyone in her dinner party, completely suspended in motion, as she panned her camera from left to right.

However the illusion was broken by several restaurant employees, who were all seen in the background, cleaning up the kitchen.

Amy walked inside the kitchen, jokingly confronting the workers: 'You guys, remember we said we were going to do the mannequin challenge, and everybody was going to stop moving?'

Suspended in animation! The star's friends were completely frozen in place

Hold still! The illusion was broken by several moving kitchen employees

The kitchen workers don't even acknowledge Amy, who then adds, 'Mannequins don't play by the rules!'

Amy captioned the hilarious video, 'Best Mannequin challenge #mannequinchallenge #schwa #bestmealever.'

The star's boyfriend, Ben Hasich, could be seen also playing along with the challenge in the video.

Doing his part: The star's boyfriend, Ben Hasich, could be seen also playing along with the challenge in the video

Hard at work! The kitchen workers don't even acknowledge Amy when she walked into the kitchen

'Mannequins don't play by the rules!' The Trainwreck actress confronted the restaurant employees

Amy, who is scheduled to next appear in the drama Thank You For Your Service, described her relationship with Ben back in August as 'just really easy.'

'There were no games, no waiting three days. It was clear and easy. He was so sweet. He didnt know who I was. Hed heard my name,' she told People.

Although they've been together since November 19, 2015, it wasn't until January that the two went public with their romance.

Their connection was nearly instant, Amy wrote in her book, The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo.

Writing of their first meeting, she explained in her memoir, 'We smiled at each other and in that moment, everything felt right.'

Let's do dinner: The actress shared a photo from her dinner that evening with her boyfriend Ben Hasich and several of their friends
He's known for being one of the most gracious people in showbiz.

And Tom Hanks made sure to keep his title when he surprised a fan with a gift on Wednesday.

The actor, who has a well-documented love for typewriters, thoughtfully sent one to fan Denise Esposito - who posted it to Reddit.

Gift: Tom Hanks surprised fan Denise Esposito with a typewriter on Wednesday

Tom included a personal note to the artist, which read: 'For your lovely book of sketches of - all - those MOVIES...Here is a typewriter to do with whatever you need... Make more art! And many thanks. Tom Hanks.'

Esposito told the LAist she met the Sully actor - who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House earlier this week - at the Rome Film Festival in October.

She had managed to present his publicist with a sketchbook she put together depicting him in his movies.

Gracious: The thoughtful star thanked the artist for a book of sketches of him

She explained: 'I managed to give my gift to him in person. He's my favorite actor, and I wanted to make a special present for him so I worked hard on all those drawings for 3 weeks and kept my fingers crossed.

'I was like "Okay, at least I'm sure he'll receive it." And a few minutes later a guy called me saying that Tom Hanks just saw my sketchbook and wanted to meet me! I couldn't believe it and nearly started to cry.'

She said that Hanks told her, 'I will send you a typewriter! I've got many and I'd love for you to have one.'

True to his word, he did exactly that.

Artist: Denise had sketched him in every role and made sure the book got to him

She said that Hanks told her, 'I will send you a typewriter! I've got many and I'd love for you to have one' - and then he did

Awarded: The Sully actor received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House earlier this week

In September the actor crashed a wedding in Central Park while out jogging and posed for selfies with the happy couple.

Also, in 2012, a set of photos emerged showing Hanks posing with a fan who was pretending to be passed out drunk in a North Dakota restaurant.

Hanks also proved he is the nicest man in Hollywood last year, when he found a college student's ID in Central Park and posted a photo of it on Twitter, in hopes of tracking down and returning the ID to the student.

The bid worked and Fordham University student Lauren Whitmore was reunited with the ID after her professor saw the tweet and informed her.

He will next be seen on the big screen in the U.S in Circle, alongside Emma Watson, which is due for released on April 28, 2017.

Surprise! In September the actor crashed a wedding in Central Park while out jogging and posed for selfies with the happy couple

Joker: In 2012, a set of photos emerged showing Hanks posing with a fan who was pretending to be passed out drunk in a North Dakota restaurant
She's as sexy and slender at 58 as she was 20 years earlier.

But the thing that Andie MacDowell is most grateful for this Thanksgiving is her beautiful booty.

'Im thankful that my a** still looks good at 58!' she said when the New York Daily News asked her, and a number of other celebrities, to 'think outside the box' about what they are thankful for this holiday season.

Fabulous at 58: Andie MacDowell, seen at the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills on November 6, is most thankful 'that my a** still looks good at 58!' this Thanksgiving Day

'Im thankful that Im still strong and I can still hike as well as any young person,' the Four Weddings And A Funeral star said in an interview published on Wednesday.

The beautiful mother-of-three added that the reason her rear end stays in shape is 'because I'm still climbing.'

Andie revealed her secret for a pert posterior after speaking at the L'Oreal Paris Women Of Worth Gala at New York's Pierre Hotel last Thursday.

Meanwhile, the petite brunette, who starred in Hallmark's Cedar Grove from 2013 to 2015, is as busy as ever.

Rear-ly great exercise: Andie puts her perfect booty down to hiking. She shared this Instagram video of herself and her pooch in the Santa Monica Mountains, captioned, 'Ava walked the whole two hours, I saved her and she's saving me please #adoptdobtshop'

Ava walked the whole two hours I saved her and she's saving me please #adoptdobtshop A video posted by Andie Macdowell (@andiemacdowell) on May 9, 2016 at 7:48am PDT

She has a new ABC TV series, Model Woman, in pre-production.

Set in the late 1970s, the show is centered on Bertie Geiss, played by Andie, a tempestuous matriarch and uncompromising businesswoman at the helm of an internationally renowned modeling agency.

She also has three film projects lined up for next year.

Riding her butt into shape: She captioned this summer snap, 'Granite Mountain will help people see the sacrifice forest firefighters make to protect our forest & homes. Great cast!'

Granite Mountain, co starring Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Connelly, is a drama based on the crew of men who battled a wildfire in Prescott, Arizona in June 2013 that claimed the lives of 19 of their members. It's due out on September 22.

Paper Moon, about newlyweds encountering challenges during the first year of their marriage, is still filming and has yet to set a release date.

Finally, she co-stars with Chris O'Dowd in Love After Love that follows the relationship between a mother and her two grown sons over the course of several years.
She's eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first child in January.

And Stephanie Davis has been making the most of her last months of freedom before motherhood, stepping out in style to attend the Beauty Awards in association with OK! and Debenhams at the Banqueting House in London on Thursday night.

The ex-Hollyoaks star, 23, proudly cradled her sizable bump as she walked the red carpet.

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Not long to go! Stephanie Davis cradled her bump at the Beauty Awards in association with OK! and Debenhams at the Banqueting House in London on Thursday night

Bumping along: The pregnant star was in great spirits as she made her way into the star-studded event

Stephanie opted for a comfy yet stylish maternity dress, donning a beige turtleneck number that showcasing her blossoming bump.

The winter weather-friendly number sported gold eyelets and lace-up detailing running up one side and along the shoulders.

The TV personality, who fell pregnant with now ex-boyfriend Jeremy McConnell following a whirlwind romance on CBB back in January, completed her attire with a pair of glittery heels.

Finishing touches: The winter weather-friendly number sported gold eyelets and lace-up detailing running up one side and along the shoulders

Red carpet ready! The star, who is expecting her first child in January, was enjoying a rare night out on the town

Cosy: Stephanie opted for a comfy yet stylish maternity dress, donning a beige turtleneck number that showcasing her blossoming bump

Slick and sexy: TOWIE star Megan McKenna sported a wine hued number with a teardrop shaped cut-out at the bust

Strike a pose: The brunette was sure to showcase her pert posterior in her clingy dress

Sister, sister: Megan ditched Pete Wicks for the evening in favour of her sister Millie

She wore her dark locks in a loose updo and kept her make-up palette neutral for her awards show appearance.

Stephanie was joined by a number of famous faces at the event, including TOWIE beauty Megan McKenna.

The ever-glamorous brunette sported a wine-hued frock with a teardrop shaped cut-out at the bust.

Here come the girls! Meghan arrived hand-in-hand with Millie, while Amber Dowding strolled along beside the sisters

Perfect pose: Megan looked every inch the beauty queen in her flattering ensemble

Risque: Tyga's rumoured former flame Demi Rose went underwear free in her daring dress

Date night: Great British Bake Off champion Candice Brown was flanked by her supportive boyfriend Liam Macaulay

Think pink: The lipstick queen plumped for a fuchsia shade to complement her look

Walk on the wild side: Candice complemented her off-the-shoulders dress with coordinating leopard print accessories

Glamorous as ever: Casey Batchelor sizzled in a plunging black dress that accentuated her voluptuous cleavage

Great British Bake Off champion Candice Brown was clad in a vintage inspired off the shoulder number with cute leopard print accessories.

The lipstick queen, who plumped for a fuchsia shade, was flanked by her supportive boyfriend Liam Macaulay, following on from her recent denial that they had got engaged.

Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osbourne put in an appearance, leaving their children at home to enjoy a rare date night.

The EastEnders actress kept it simple in a black frock, while ex-TOWIE hunk Dan was dapper in a bow tie.

Working her angles: The revealing dress featured sheer sleeves with abstract embroidery

Cute couple: Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osbourne put in an appearance, leaving their children at home to enjoy a rare date night

Classy: The EastEnders actress kept it simple in a black frock with an A-line skirt

Casey Batchelor sizzled in a plunging black dress that accentuated her voluptuous cleavage.

The revealing dress featured sheer sleeves with abstract embroidery and was matching with strappy heels.

Becky Vardy also enjoyed a night out at the bash, displaying her growing baby bump in a cut-out blue dress.

The pregnant WAG was stylish from head-to-toe, donning some towering sparkly platform shoes.

Going for gold: Zara Holland made a statement in a sequinned, low-cut minidress

Brunette beauty: The former Love Island star certainly suited her darker locks

Bumping along: Becky Vardy also enjoyed a night out at the bash, displaying her growing baby bump in a cut-out blue dress

Fancy: The pregnant WAG wore her brunette locks swept back in a glamorous upo

Working it: TOWIE star Nicole Bass (L) and Lizzie Cundy (R) were in their element

Smitten: Vanessa Feltz and her fiance of nine years Ben Ofoedu cuddled up on the red carpet

LBD! Ferne McCann also put in an appearance in a strapless black dress

Chic: The reality star vamped it up with a gothic manicure and pedicure
Kim and Khloe Kardashian have teamed up for a booty battle royale.

The siblings star in a just-released fashion shoot for Yeezy Season 3 in 032c, a German bi-annual 'contemporary culture' magazine.

The pair are picture wearing very revealing body suits while rolling around in the dirt.

Kanye 'conceptilzed' the shoot and it was taken in the construction zone of the huge Casabas compound he has been renovating with his wife.

The photographs were taken by esteemed fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

Peachy pair: Kim and Khloe Kardashian model Yeezy outfits in a new shoot for German publication 032c

Kim, 36, and Khloe, 32, also posed for a second shot, which was also shared on 032c's Instagram page.

The pair are wearing sheer Yeezy body suits and boots while holding hands in the shower.

It's unclear exactly when the photo shoot took place; Kim has retreated from the spotlight since the Paris robbery in October and Kanye is currently in hospital after suffering a breakdown on Monday.

Kim spent several hours on Thanksgiving morning visiting her husband at UCLA Medical Center.

She then headed to her sister Kylie Jenner's home in Calabasas, where her family are celebrating the holiday.

Making a splash: The siblings teamed up again, this time for a shower in sheer body suits

Khloe also attended and shared Snapchats of meal preparations with her fans on Thursday morning. Earlier this week she volunteered at a Thanksgiving turkey drive with her new boyfriend Tristan Thompson.

The designer and Famous hitmaker - who has children North, three, and Saint, 11 months, with Kim - was hospitalised after he reportedly lashed out at a member of staff at his trainer Harley Pasternak's home in Los Angeles at 1:20pm on Monday.

Racing home: Kim left New York on Monday night after her husband Kanye West was hospitalized in LA after a breakdown. She spent several hours on Thanksgiving morning with him at the UCLA Medical Center

A private doctor was called to the scene as the rapper was believed to be acting 'erratically' and claimed people were telling him they wanted to 'kill' him.

The medical professional sectioned him with a 5150 hold, which authorises a qualified officer to involuntarily confine a person suspected to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to themselves or a threat to others, and enlisted the help of paramedics to transport him to hospital.

The 39-year-old rapper was said to be suffering temporary psychosis brought on by sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration, but sources told TMZ his issues 'go much deeper'.

Sweet charity: Khloe Kardashian volunteered at a Thanksgiving turkey drive with her new boyfriend Tristan Thompson earlier this week

And the insider claimed Kanye's psychological problems are 'significant enough' that his insurance policy will 'almost certainly' cover the losses for the 21 tour dates he cancelled shortly before his admission to hospital.

Kim - who has retreated from the limelight after she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris last month - was supposed to make her first official public appearance since her attack on Monday at Denise Rich's Angel Ball.

But, after she learnt of Kanye's disturbing mental state, she cancelled her highly-awaited appearance in New York with her family and rushed to his bedside.
She's due back on ITV with a second season of crime thriller Marcella.

So actress Anna Friel was a pretty special guest when it came to the red carpet for Thursday night's ITV Gala.

The stunning star turned Bardot-babe in a blue velvet dress which sat glamorously off her shoulders as she oozed glamour on arrival.

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Busty babe: Anna Friel was the ultimate Bardot babe on Thursday night, as she upped the glamour for the ITV Gala in London

Anna left her neckline bare as she crossed her arms and teased her cleavage in the glamorous Bardot-style garment.

It hugged seductively to her figure as she entered in perfectly-matching blue velvet heels.

She offset the look with a striking red lipstick, but otherwise minimal make-up was needed to accentuate her pretty features.

Playful: With her arms crossed, the stunning actress teased her cleavage into an off-the-shoulder neckline

Velvet dream: She wore blue velvet from top-to-toe on the night

British-born Anna, now aged 40, has been acting on British television since the age of 13.

She's lent her star power to a number of ITV dramas over the years, including 2011's Without You as well as Watermelon.

She returned in 2015 with a drama from acclaimed writer of The Bridge, Hans Rosenfeldt.

Is it chilly Anna? The star seemed to wrap herself up against the chill

Flirty: Anna played with the camera, leaning forward to show off the neckline of her dress

The eight part drama series, also starring Downton Abbeys Laura Carmichael, saw Anna take on the role of British Metropolitan Police Detective, Marcella.

At the start of the drama, Marcella's husband Jason leaves her unexpectedly, prompting her return to the Mets Murder Squad.

She follows up on a serial killer case she first worked on in 2005 since shes got a hunch she wants to follow up on.

The drama was recommissioned in August after achieving rave reviews and sending social media into meltdown with the dramatic plotlines.

Glorious: With minimal make-up, the stunner looked fresh-faced and beautiful
They are preparing for the imminent arrival of a little boy or girl.

And Phoebe and Sam Burgess have almost finished decorating their baby's nursery.

The 27-year-old journalist posted an Instagram video of the gender neutral room on Thursday.

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Not long to go! Phoebe Burgess has revealed her unborn baby's nursery on Instagram

Gender neutral: The couple have decorated the room in neutral tones - including white, grey and beige

Phoebe and Sam have not yet found out the sex of their baby because the South Sydney Rabbitohs player wants to keep it a secret.

The couple have therefore used neutral tones - including white, grey and beige hues - for the room.

All the necessaries are contained in the room, including a crib, change table and rocking chair.

The nursery also has an incredible view of the ocean and has white and grey patterned wallpaper throughout.

Expectant mother Phoebe welcomed back her NRL star husband earlier this week after his trip overseas.

And Sam Burgess could hardly believe how much his wife's body had changed since he left for his native UK over a month ago.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs star shared an excited Instagram post about Phoebe's growing baby bump on Saturday.

Room with a view: The nursery has a view of the beach

'Missed my Wifey and her bigger belly than when I left. She looks bloody stunning,' he wrote.

In the photo, Sam and Phoebe are standing on a boardwalk, beaming as the 27-year-old places a hand on his wife's stomach.

Sam has been away for five weeks to captain the England team in the Four Nations, though the host country did not make it to the final.

All the necessities: An obligatory change table has also been placed in the room

While he was overseas, she posted a screenshot of the couple talking over FaceTime.

Phoebe, also 27, recently shared a wedding photograph of herself and Sam while reflecting on their special day.

Though the baby is just over two months away, Phoebe and Sam are yet to reveal if the child is a boy or a girl.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph in September, the blonde revealed it wasn't her choice.

'Sam is making me wait for the surprise,' she said. 'I would love to know.'

The couple say they've chosen a name for each possible outcome, but refused to confirm them.
She shot to fame as the one-time flame of Kylie Jenner's boyfriend Tyga.

But Demi Rose was giving the Kardashian reality star a real run for her money on Thursday night as she stepped out in a see-through dress.

The British born beauty left her lingerie at home and plumped for a completely under-wear free display at the OK! Beauty Awards in London.

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Hourglass: Demi Rose looked jaw-dropping in a see-through dress on Thursday night as she turned out for the OK! beauty awards

All out: Demi left her lingerie at home and plumped for a completely under-wear free display in the dress, which featured semi-sheer panels on each side

Demi wore a dress that zipped right down her middle, from a plunging neckline to a centre-split.

It featured seductive semi panels either side of the centre seam to tease the fact that she was not wearing any pants.

And on the bust, the beauty served up a gratuitous eyeful of her cleavage while the dress skimmed over her hourglass shape.

Figure-hugging: The dress clung to her hourglass figure before flowing out into a fishtail skirt

Peek-a-boob! The number plunged far below her chest to flash ample amounts of her plentiful cleavage

Flash of skin: The dress zipped right down her middle, from the plunging neckline to a centre-split

Sizzling: The brunette beauty is famous for her links to Kylie Jenner's boyfriend Tyga

The social media favourite became the talk of the globe this summer after being pictured with Tyga on several occasions, including during a trip to the Cannes Film Festival.

But things moved on at a whirlwind pace after the Ayo hitmaker got back together with his ex Kylie Jenner, with the pair even sparking engagement rumours after she showcased a giant diamond on her ring finger on social media.

Following her sudden rise to fame, Demi's parents Barrie, 78, a former bank manager, and Christine, 61, said she is a very different person at home and insisted they were proud of her.

Just like Kylie: Tyga and his girlfriend Kylie reunited after a short break

Her mother said: 'We're right behind her. She's such a beautiful girl, why shouldn't she? If you've got it, flaunt it.

'She's very kind and a really down-to-earth girl  nothing like what we are seeing in the press.'

The brunette joined a whole host of stars for the event on Thursday night, including reality TV royalty Megan McKenna as well as Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown.

Not long to go! Stephanie Davis graced the red carpet at the Beauty Awards, too

Cosy: Stephanie opted for a comfy yet stylish maternity dress, donning a beige turtleneck number that showcasing her blossoming bump

Also on the red carpet, Stephanie Davis has been making the most of her last months of freedom before motherhood.

The ex-Hollyoaks star, 23, proudly cradled her sizable bump as she walked the red carpet.

Stephanie opted for a comfy yet stylish maternity dress, donning a beige turtleneck number that showcasing her blossoming bump.

The winter weather-friendly number sported gold eyelets and lace-up detailing running up one side and along the shoulders.

The TV personality, who fell pregnant with now ex-boyfriend Jeremy McConnell following a whirlwind romance on CBB back in January, completed her attire with a pair of glittery heels.

Slick and sexy: TOWIE star Megan McKenna sported a wine hued number with a teardrop shaped cut-out at the bust

Strike a pose: The brunette was sure to showcase her pert posterior in her clingy dress

Sister, sister: Megan ditched Pete Wicks for the evening in favour of her sister Millie

She wore her dark locks in a loose updo and kept her make-up palette neutral for her awards show appearance.

Stephanie was joined by a number of famous faces at the event, including TOWIE beauty Megan McKenna.

The ever-glamorous brunette sported a wine-hued frock with a teardrop shaped cut-out at the bust.

Date night: Great British Bake Off champion Candice Brown was flanked by her supportive boyfriend Liam Macaulay

Think pink: The lipstick queen plumped for a fuchsia shade to complement her look

Walk on the wild side: Candice complemented her off-the-shoulders dress with coordinating leopard print accessories

Glamorous as ever: Casey Batchelor sizzled in a plunging black dress that accentuated her voluptuous cleavage

Great British Bake Off champion Candice Brown was clad in a vintage inspired off the shoulder number with cute leopard print accessories.

The lipstick queen, who plumped for a fuchsia shade, was flanked by her supportive boyfriend Liam Macaulay, following on from her recent denial that they had got engaged.

Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osbourne put in an appearance, leaving their children at home to enjoy a rare date night.

The EastEnders actress kept it simple in a black frock, while ex-TOWIE hunk Dan was dapper in a bow tie.

Working her angles: The revealing dress featured sheer sleeves with abstract embroidery

Cute couple: Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osbourne put in an appearance, leaving their children at home to enjoy a rare date night

Classy: The EastEnders actress kept it simple in a black frock with an A-line skirt

Casey Batchelor sizzled in a plunging black dress that accentuated her voluptuous cleavage.

The revealing dress featured sheer sleeves with abstract embroidery and was matching with strappy heels.

Becky Vardy also enjoyed a night out at the bash, displaying her growing baby bump in a cut-out blue dress.

The pregnant WAG was stylish from head-to-toe, donning some towering sparkly platform shoes.

Bumping along: Becky Vardy also enjoyed a night out at the bash, displaying her growing baby bump in a cut-out blue dress

Fancy: The pregnant WAG wore her brunette locks swept back in a glamorous upo

Glamour: Going for statement eyeshadow and bold lashes, she went for all out glitz

Chic: The reality star vamped it up with a gothic manicure and pedicure
Campmates were accused of bullying Martin Roberts when the star was left in tears earlier this week.

And I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! viewers were again divided over the treatment of the Homes Under The Hammer star on Thursday when he was told by his campmates that he couldn't have a treat.

After camp royals, Ola Jordan, Wayne Bridge, Adam Thomas and Sam Quek earned themselves a bar of milk chocolate from a Dingo Dollar challenge they decided to ration out the winnings with the other celebs, before telling Martin he wasn't allowed to enjoy the treat as it was payback.

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Divisive: I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! viewers were once again divided over the treatment of Homes Under The Hammer star Martin Roberts on Thursday

The trick was played after Martin attempted to sabotage the Royals camp after losing his place as a King to Ola in the ongoing Claim Of Thrones challenge.

Earlier that day Adam had asked servant Martin to fetch him some water, but the star deliberately tripped spilling it all over Adams bed and soaking it.

Vowing revenge, Adam joked: 'He got me, he is in for itMartin  run and hide!'

Later that evening he got his chance, and after sharing out his chocolate with the other celebrities, he then called Martin up to get a piece before shoving it in his mouth.

Sharing is caring: When camp royals, Ola Jordan Adam Thomas and Sam Quek earned themselves a bar of milk chocolate from a Dingo Dollar challenge they decided to ration it out

However, viewers were divided as to whether Adam's payback was too cruel, with some questioning if banning the star from eating chocolate was too much.

'Just wishing people would leave Martin alone. It's bullying! #ImACeleb,' one viewer tweeted, whilst another added: 'This is f**king bullying poor Martin #ImACeleb.'

Other fans claimed they weren't a fan of the star but did not approve of his treatment, with one posting: 'annoying though Martin is, singling him out like this is tantamount to bullying #uncomfortable #imaceleb.'

None left: Adam Thomas shared out the chocolate between all the celebrities before telling Martin he wasn't allowed to enjoy the treat as it was payback

Another tweeted: 'Not a fan of Martin, but the way he's being treated by everyone else on the show is awful, it's bullying #ImACeleb.'

One viewer called on producers to intervene, commenting: 'We get that you hate Martin, but come on? Bullying? That's a low and to see #ImACeleb endorse this? It's sickening.'

A spokesperson for ITV told MailOnline: 'The welfare of our celebrities is of utmost importance.

'We constantly monitor and talk to them to check on their welfare and have procedures in place to address any unacceptable behaviour.'

Uneasy: Viewers were divided as to whether Adam's payback was too cruel, with some questioning if banning the star from eating chocolate was too much

Not fair: Other fans claimed they weren't a fan of the star but did not approve of his treatment

Upsetting: Some viewers were certain the behaviour was unacceptable

Seen enough: One viewer called on producers to intervene

No accident: The trick was played after Martin attempted to sabotage the Royals camp after losing his place as a King by throwing water over Adam's head

Other viewers were firmly on team Adam, however, with one fan posting: Martin getting no chocolate serves him right for throwing water over Adam.'

Another wrote: 'Adam shoving that bit of chocolate in his mouth when Martin went to get it, I'm crying that's brilliant #ImACeleb.'

One particularly enthusiastic fan was extremely thrilled by the scenes, posting: 'Adam eating that chocolate in front of Martin was theeeee best and most satisfying moment seen on TV in years!! #ImACeleb.'

Tasty treat: The celebrities all seemed delighted to nibble on a sweet snack

Comeuppance: Some fans were firmly on team Adam

Strong reactions: Other viewers thought the actions were well justified

TV Gold: One particularly enthusiastic fan was extremely thrilled by the scenes

However, other fans were less impressed with Martin's use of the V sign towards presenters Ant & Dec during his participation in the Bush Brewery task where he was forced to down a nasty concoction of blended flies.

As he attempted to swig back the brew, he didn't take too kindly to Ant telling him 'It gets thicker towards the bottom,' and made the offensive signal.

'Did Martin just swear at the legends Ant and Dec?!!??!!?,' I'm A Celebrity fan Arina tweeted, while viewer John Gibson tweeted: 'Martin sticking his fingers up at Ant! Getting too big for his boots.'

Inappropriate: Martin flicked the V sign at Ant as the presenter tried to encourage him in the Bush Brewery Task

Fan shock: Viewers were upset at Martin's rude antics towards the presenters

Upset: Fans weren't happy at Martin's behaviour on the show and took to Twitter to voice their disapproval

Martin has been the topic of many a tweet over the past few nights, thanks to his spats with Danny Baker and refusal to eat beans.

Then on Tuesday night, whilst going about his jungle chores, he 'came out' as a tree hugger whilst baring his soul in the Bush Telegraph.

Meanwhile, Martin's wife Kirsty recently told Good Morning Britain that producers called her ahead of his dramatic scenes out of courtesy.

No regrets: Viewers were divided as to whether Adam's payback was too cruel

The mother of their children, Scott, nine and Megan, six, told the show: 'To be fair, I had a call from one of the producers from Australia.

'They did give me the heads up to say that hes been upset as they knew the children would be watching.

'But even so, it was quite emotional.'
Cross-Africa rally teams released in Ethiopia: organisers

Nearly 60 people taking part in a vintage air rally from Europe to South Africa were released on Thursday after being detained by authorities in Ethiopia, organisers of the journey said.

Pilots of a dozen biplanes and their teams were allowed to leave the airport in Gambella, two days after arriving at the outpost in western Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan.

"They have been released. We hope to leave Ethiopia.

A Waco YMF-5D biplane sits on the runway on November 20, 2016 in Khartoum airport during the Vintage Air Rally Ashraf Shazly (AFP/File)

"They have a hotel because they cannot fly when it's dark. So they have to wait, so they should leave at first light tomorrow," a spokesman for organisers Vintage Air Rally told AFP.

The reason for their detention at the airport was unclear and the organisers were not expected to give more detail before the planes were air-bound and out of the country.

The teams included participants from France, Germany, the US and Britain, whose foreign ministry said it had been involved in the Gambella incident.

"We are providing assistance to a group of British nationals in Ethiopia who are taking part in the Vintage Air Rally. We will remain in contact with the local authorities," a spokeswoman for the UK's foreign ministry told AFP.

Dating from the 1920s and 1930s, the biplanes set off from the Greek island of Crete on November 12.

The first few days of their journey saw them touch down in Egypt, where they were the first group of aircraft to land at the country's famous Giza pyramids for 80 years.

The group had arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday and had been due to travel onwards to Kenya after the stop in Ethiopia.

A British pilot who joined the tour on Sunday, 72-year-old Maurice Kirk, was reported missing during the flight from Sudan to Ethiopia. Vintage Air Rally said on Wednesday that he had been found and had joined the other pilots at Gambella airport.
Nigeria's peace talks with oil rebels deadlocked

Just weeks ago, Nigeria's junior oil minister said output was almost back to normal after a year of devastating attacks against the major African oil producer.

But now it seems Emmanuel Kachikwu spoke way too soon about the 2.1 million barrel per day figure.

Hours after President Muhammadu Buhari held talks with representatives from the oil-producing Niger delta in the capital Abuja on November 1, the attacks resumed in spectacular fashion.

Since the start of the year, several militant groups have bombed pipelines and facilities operated by oil companies in Nigeria, slashing the country's oil output Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)

A blast on the Trans-Forcado pipeline just 48 hours after it reopened was a brazen provocation, casting doubt on the Nigerian government's ability to secure peace in the region.

Forcados produces 215,000 barrels per day.

Then on November 5, the major pipeline was hit again by the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, a group that has stepped up its attacks in recent months.

In the middle of the month, the Niger Delta Avengers, the main group in the restive region, claimed to have bombed three Nembe creek trunk lines.

The Avengers said the ongoing sabotage was in response to the Nigerian navy's "Operation Sharkbite" in the region aimed at stopping attacks by militants and pirates.

"We are determined to continue this war by all means necessary," the Avengers said.

- 'Constant invasion' -

The Nigerian army launched "Operation Crocodile Smile" in the oil hub of Warri earlier this year in an attempt to stop the pipeline sabotage hammering the economy.

But regional leaders say that the presence of the troops is stoking tension in a frustrated region, caught between violent militants and heavy-handed soldiers.

Shootouts here have led to high-profile casualties.

In October, a Nigeria Premier League defender Izu Joseph was accidentally shot dead when soldiers raided his hometown of Okaki in southern Bayelsa state.

Last week, Nigerian newspaper Premium Times said that soldiers had killed a kidnapped pastor in August mistaking him for a militant.

Fed up with the violence, women have started protesting.

"Only some days back, they (soldiers) invaded Oporoza community with two gunboats," Godspower Gbenekama from Gbaramatu community, near Warri, told AFP.

"Angered by the constant invasion, women from the community mobilised in protest, met the soldiers and told them that they were tired of their frequent invasion of their community."

- No trust -

There is a deep-rooted distrust of President Buhari, a northerner, in an impoverished region where people are cynical about politicians after years of broken promises.

Some feel they are being punished after not voting for Buhari's ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party in 2015.

"There is no desire to achieve anything through the deceit called peace talks," Niger delta activist Annkio Briggs told AFP.

"The Niger delta not voting for APC in 2015 was unforgivable and the people are being punished today."

Others feel that Buhari's pledge to create a $10 billion Niger delta infrastructure fund is nearly impossible to achieve given Nigeria's economic crisis.

"I don't think that they really feel a sense of trust in the government," said Dolapo Oni, energy researcher at Ecobank.

"Unfortunately there's not much that government can do, I think the disruptions will likely continue," Oni said.

Charles Swabey, oil and gas analyst for BMI Research, echoed Oni, saying the attacks were pressure tactics that played havoc with production and showed the government the militants "have the capability to carry on."

The wave of attacks began in early 2016, tipping the West African country into a recession in August.

Nigeria depends on oil for 70 percent of its government revenue and the bulk of its export earnings.

The militants want more energy wealth to go back to the communities it is taken from and are calling for more development and a clean-up of the polluted environment.

President Muhammadu Buhari held talks with representatives from the oil-producing Niger delta in the capital Abuja on November 1 John MacDougall (AFP/File)
South Korean MPs could vote as early as next week on impeaching the country's President Park Geun-Hye, who has been embroiled in a scandal involving a friend and a religious cult.

Prosecutors said at the weekend that President Park had colluded with Choi Soon-Sil, who used their friendship to persuade several Korean companies to hand over cash.

Park has issued public apologies and promised to co-operate with state prosecutors and an independent special prosecutor set to be appointed by parliament.

Protesters hold candles and banners calling for the resignation of South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye during an anti-government rally in the capital, Seoul

Woo Sang-Ho, parliamentary leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said: 'We will seek to vote on the impeachment motion as early as December 2, and no later than December 9.'

Many MPs in Park's own Saenuri Party have accepted she should be impeached for her conduct while in office.

The party's former head, Kim Moo-Sung, declared yesterday she must be impeached for breaching the constitution.

A growing number of ruling party politicians have endorsed the opposition-led campaign to oust President Park Geun-Hye (pictured, left) over the scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-Sil (right)

More than 30 Saenuri MPs support Park's impeachment, with 29 needed to cross party lines for the motion to be passed.

It emerged this week that the president's office, known as the Blue House, had paid for 364 Viagra pills while preparing for her trip to Africa earlier this year.

But Park has insisted they were to treat altitude sickness, not erectile dysfunction.

Park's lawyer has dismissed the investigation into 'Choigate' as a 'house of cards' built on 'imagination and guesswork' and claimed prosecutors were 'politically-biased'.

Even if she is impeached by parliament there is no guarantee the country's conservative Constitutional Court will approve it.

Prosecutors today raided the finance ministry and the headquarters of two of the country's most powerful companies - SK and Lotte, who allegedly made huge donations to foundations linked with Choi in return for lucrative state licences for duty-free businesses.

SK, which runs the country's biggest mobile phone network, donated 11.1 billion won (7.6million) and Lotte, a retail and food giant, gave 4.9 billion won (3.2million).

President Park's father Park Chung-Hee (pictured, right), a former General, was assassinated in 1979, five years after her mother, Yook Young-soo (left) was shot dead by a North Korean sympathiser.

The raid came a day after prosecutors searched the headquarters of Samsung Group over allegations it had bribed Choi to win state approval for a controversial merger it sought last year.

Park faces allegations that her government offered policy favours to the firms that offered contributions to Choi's foundations.

Several heads of the country's top firms, including Samsung and Hyundai, have been interviewed by prosecutors, shedding light on the unhealthy ties between the government and conglomerates that have endured for decades.

Public anger towards Park escalated earlier this month at one of the largest anti-government protests the country had ever witnessed, with more than a million people on the streets.

Park Chung-Hee (pictured, right) seized power in 1960 and ruled until his death in 1979. He was heavily influenced by Choi Tae-min, father of Choi Soon-sil

There are echoes of the past in the scandals involving Park and Choi.

Choi's father, Choi Tae-min, founded a cult called the Yongsae-gyo (Church of Eternal Life) in the 1960s.

In 2007 US diplomatic cables, revealed by Wikileaks, described him as a 'Korean Rasputin' who had heavily influenced the young Park.

Choi Tae-min also held a svengali-like influence over her father, Park Chung-Hee, a former General, who seized power after a military coup in 1960.

He was elected President in 1963 but his wife, Park's mother, was assassinated in 1974 by a North Korean sympathiser.
Lost 4-year-old migrant from Africa finds mother in Italy

A lost four year-old who made the perilous boat journey from Northern Africa to Italy alone will be reunited with her mother from Ivory Coast thanks to an extraordinary coincidence.

Oumoh, who had been taken from her father's family by her mother under the threat of female genital mutilation, was rescued at sea and brought to the Italian island of Lampedusa on November 5, along with around 15 other migrants.

But not one of the other passengers -- mostly women and children -- seemed to know who she was, according to police inspector Maria Volpe, who is charged with looking after migrant minors arriving in Sicily.

Police officer Maria Volpe takes care of Oumoh in Lampedusa on November 5

"Mamma Maria", as she is known, went to the island off the coast of Africa to retrieve the youngster and on November 9 Oumoh was entrusted to a children's community in Palermo.

"She had arrived a few days earlier, she seemed quite calm," Volpe, who has 20 years' experience with child migrants, told AFP.

Fate then intervened in the guise of Nassade, an eight year-old rescued last week off the coast of Libya and brought to Lampedusa along with her mother and baby brother.

At the island's reception centre, a police officer who wanted a chance to speak to Nassade's mother without interruption let the child look through the photographs on her mobile phone to distract her.

"It's Oumoh, it's Oumoh!" she suddenly exclaimed.

- Set sail without her -

It appears Nassade had met the young girl from Ivory Coast in a reception centre in Tunis. And to the police officer's astonishment, Nassade's mother was able to provide the phone number for Oumoh's mother.

Through her tears, the four year-old's mother said she had taken Oumoh away from home after her husband's family insisted the little girl must undergo female circumcision.

They had travelled to Tunis, where she had left Oumoh with a friend while she returned to the Ivory Coast to collect some belongings.

But the friend had had the chance to set sail for Italy and had taken Oumoh with her, though she kept her distance on their arrival.

"The mother may have be planning to embark too, but she was detained in the Ivory Coast longer than expected and when she returned to Tunis, her daughter was gone," says Volpe, who spoke to the mother several times by telephone.

Rome and Tunis are now arranging to re-unite mother and child, "probably via a family reunification visa for the mother", she said.

A DNA test will be carried out as soon as possible to confirm their relationship.

During her years of service, "Mamma Maria", 56, has seen thousands and thousands of unaccompanied adolescent migrants, but only about 20 of them have been young children.

"It touches your heart when you see the eyes of the children, who are so small. They cling to you quickly, you become their reference point. But it is an honour to be able to do this work with love and humanity," she said.

At the start of November, Italian President Sergio Mattarella included "Mamma Maria" among the 40 everyday heroes who will be awarded the order of merit this year.

Another immigrant child enabled police to find Oumoh's mother Polizia di Stato (Polizia di Stato/AFP)
S. African police nab Chinese man with 18 rhino horns

South African police Thursday said they had arrested a Hong Kong-bound Chinese man found with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage.

He was detained on Wednesday at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport after an anonymous tip-off.

"The 28-year-old male, who was in transit from Namibia to board a South African Airways flight to Hong Kong, was immediately arrested," the organised crime police unit said in a statement.

Rhinos at the Kahya Ndlovu Lodge in Hoedspruit, Limpopo province Mujahid Safodien (AFP/File)

The horns, weighing 43 kilograms (95 pounds), were valued at around 6.6 million rand ($467,000, 441,000 euros).

He is due to appear in court on Friday.

Southern African countries are battling increased poaching levels. The trade is fuelled by organised syndicates mainly from Asian countries.

South Africa, which has the largest rhino population worldwide, has been hit the hardest, with 1,200 slaughtered last year alone.

Most of them were killed at the Kruger National Park, the country's premier safari destination.

The illegal trade is driven by huge demand in Vietnam and China, where it is believed to have medicinal powers curing everything from hangovers to cancer.

The belief has been scientifically proven to be false.

The horn is also crafted into prized ornaments.
UK's Johnson calls for end to Kashmir violence in Pakistan visit

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone".

Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-held Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire.

The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond".

Boris Johnson (centre) speaks at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad on November 24, 2016 Aamir Qureshi (AFP)

Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over the Himalayan region, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution".

He voiced concern over incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC).

"We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said.

Johnson also lamented the "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies.

"Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours... and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be."

Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers.

India said it had responded by carrying out "surgical strikes" across the heavily militarised border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place.

There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths including of civilians.

After Wednesday's shooting Pakistani authorities closed the road leading to the scenic Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination near the LoC, for security reasons.

Residents told AFP they had fled the valley fearing for their lives after repeated shellings, seeking shelter in the region's main city Muzaffarabad.

"I along with my wife and six children travelled by foot through the night," said resident Tasawar Shah.

The Indian foreign ministry Thursday also accused Pakistan of targeting civilians in villages along the LoC, and of supporting "armed terrorists" it said had crossed the border earlier in the week and killed three Indian soldiers.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British rule ended in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

Rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.

Johnson, in Pakistan for a two-day visit, also spoke about US President-elect Donald Trump's campaign threats to reconsider defending NATO allies unless they up defence spending.

"We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," he said.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz (left) shakes hands with Boris Johnson prior to their meeting at the Foreign Ministry
IS truck bomb in Iraq sows carnage among Shiite pilgrims

A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad, as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from the jihadists.

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where packed buses returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.

Most of the dead were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.

Iraqi forces inspect the scene of a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group that targeted Shiite pilgrims returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala Haidar Hamdani (AFP)

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

IS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said several buses were targeted.

"A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack," he told AFP. "There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians."

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

"There are completely charred corpses at the scene," said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

- Diversionary attacks -

Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi condemned the "brutal and inhumane" attack, the IRNA news agency said.

US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price also strongly condemned the attack, saying it was "clearly intended to stoke sectarian tensions".

"The United States remains steadfast in its partnership with the Iraqi people and government, and this attack only serves to strengthen our resolve in defeating ISIL," he said, using another name for IS.

Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul Thursday, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

- 'Brutal' fighting -

"It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian told AFP.

IS fighters moving in an intricate network of tunnels have used snipers, booby traps and a seemingly endless supply of suicide car bombers to stop Iraqi forces.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by IS west of Mosul and on Wednesday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

That will make it very long and dangerous for IS if it attempts to move fighters and equipment between Mosul and Raqa, their last two bastions.

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since October 17.

A few of them have returned to their homes in retaken areas already but Iraqi forces on Thursday slapped a curfew on neighbourhoods of eastern Mosul under their control.

Iraq suicide truck bomb Iris de Vericourt (AFP)

Around 20 million Shiite Muslim pilgrims visited Karbala for the Arbaeen religious festival this year Haider Hamdani (AFP/File)

Iraq deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces to protect Shiite Muslim pilgrims during the Arbaeen commemorations Sabah Arar (AFP)

Iraqi forces in Mosul Thomas SAINT-CRICQ, Sabrina BLANCHARD, Simon MALFATTO (AFP)
Netanyahu says any deliberate Israel fires acts of 'terror'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday if proof was discovered that any of the fires across Israel were deliberately sparked they would be treated as acts of "terror."

Netanyahu did not say whether he believed the six fires in the northern city of Haifa and others were caused by arsonists, but said his government had noticed "encouragement to arson" on social media.

"Every fire caused by arson or incitement to arson is terror and will be treated as such accordingly," he told reporters in Haifa near the scene of the fires.

Israeli firefighters help extinguish a fire in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa on November 24, 2016 Jack Guez (AFP)

More than 60,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Haifa, its municipality said, while other fires broke out occurred up near Jerusalem and other parts of Israel.

Meteorologists say the dry weather and strong winds mean conditions are perfect for fires to spread -- whether sparked by accident or on purpose.

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said up to 50 percent of the fires in recent days had been deliberate, labelling it "arson terror."
Egypt suspends sentence of writer convicted of insulting religion

An Egyptian appeals court on Thursday reduced and suspended the prison sentence of author Fatima Naoot who was convicted on charges of insulting religion, a judicial official said.

Naoot had been sentenced to three years in jail in January after she criticised in a Facebook post the slaughter of cattle and sheep for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

She had left the country and returned last month as she appealed the ruling.

A picture taken on September 25, 2008 shows Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot posing in the capital Cairo Mohamed Mossad (AFP/File)

Naoot told AFP she intended to also appeal against Thursday's ruling, a suspended six-month sentence.

"We will appeal it to have a final acquittal," she said.

"It is a clear signal that Egypt supports freedom of belief and expression," she added.

Earlier this month, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 82 prisoners, many of them activists, including an Islamic reform advocate sentenced to jail for criticising religious texts.
UN dismisses rumours that Syria envoy has quit

The United Nations on Thursday dismissed rumours that its special envoy for the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, had resigned.

"Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the UN said in a statement.

Arabic media had reported earlier Thursday that de Mistura had handed in his resignation for personal reasons.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura speaks during a press conference in Damascus on November 20, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP/File)

The 69-year-old was named to the post in July 2014, charged with the daunting task of trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has torn Syria apart since 2011, killing 300,000 people.

Two other special envoys had previously held the post before resigning: former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, and former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi.

De Mistura, a Swedish-Italian career diplomat, told Swiss public TV network RTS last month that he had no plans to quit the job, despite the difficulty of the task.

"If I did it, it would only be if I thought there was no use for our work and if my family asked it of me," he said.
Syria regime bombardment kills 32 civilians in Aleppo: monitor

At least 32 civilians, including five children, were killed Thursday in Syrian regime air strikes and artillery bombardment on rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, a monitor said citing a new toll.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday's toll, up from an earlier figure of 16 killed, was one of the heaviest since the regime launched an offensive on eastern Aleppo on November 15.

"There was an escalation in the evening, with successive bombardments," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding that many people were trapped under rubble.
Affluent shoplifter arrested ahead of expected sentencing

OLATHE, Kan. (AP)  An affluent suburban Kansas City woman who admitted shoplifting truckloads of clothing from area retailers last year has been arrested again  this time on suspicion of stealing bras.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/2gBGPNA ) reports 47-year-old Kelli Bauer of Overland Park, Kansas, is accused of stealing an unknown number of bras on Nov. 15 from a Kohl's store.

Police searched Bauer's $900,000 home in an exclusive Johnson County neighborhood in April 2015 and found more than 1,000 stolen items, some of which she was trying to sell.

She was scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday on a felony theft conviction, but that was pushed back to January after Johnson County prosecutors filed a motion seeking to be released from her plea bargain.

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'Most Eligible Bachelor' again facing sexual assault charges

BOSTON (AP)  A former Massachusetts prosecutor once named one of People Magazine's most eligible bachelors is again facing sexual assault allegations.

Gary Zerola was arraigned Wednesday on two counts of sexual assault following an incident that authorities say happened Nov. 10 in Boston.

He was held on $10,000 cash bail and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, observe a curfew, have no contact with the victim and not consume alcohol.

Authorities say Zerola and the victim were acquainted before the incident.

The 45-year-old former Suffolk County prosecutor faced three sexual assault charges between 2006 and 2007, but was never convicted.

Zerola made People Magazine's list of America's Top 50 Bachelors in 2001.
Aaron Hernandez's friend sues CNN for airing hospital photos

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A friend of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is suing CNN for airing images of him recovering in a hospital from a gunshot wound to the face he says was inflicted by Hernandez.

The Hartford Courant reports (http://cour.at/2g5FE5Q) Alexander Bradley filed the lawsuit in Connecticut federal court Tuesday.

Bradley says CNN invaded his privacy because he never provided it photos or authorized it to take photos of him.

Images of Bradley in a Florida hospital in 2013 were shown during a CNN special report on Hernandez last year.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. CNN has declined to comment.

Hernandez grew up in Bristol. He's serving a life sentence for the 2013 Massachusetts killing of a man who was dating his fiancee's sister and faces two other murder charges. He has denied the accusations against him.

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Evidence testing agreement filed in 'Making a Murderer' case

MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP)  The lawyer for a Wisconsin man convicted in a case profiled in the "Making a Murderer" Netflix series says an agreement to start independent scientific testing on several critical pieces of evidence has been signed.

USA Today Network-Wisconsin reports (http://htrne.ws/2gCC3zC ) the agreement was filed Wednesday with Angela Sutkiewicz, the special judge appointed to oversee Steven Avery's appeal. It comes nearly three months after Avery's lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, pledged she had a plan to overturn his 2007 conviction.

Zellner said it's encouraging that the attorney general's office was "helpful in expediting these tests."

Avery was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the 2005 death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County.

Evidence to be tested includes a vial of blood said to be a sample of Avery's blood from 1996, a spare key for Halbach's sport utility vehicle found in Avery's bedroom by sheriff's deputies, and the swab from the hood latch of Halbach's vehicle that later generated a DNA profile for Avery.

Zellner has said she wants to determine if the hood latch DNA swab was fabricated from other known DNA samples that law enforcement officers had in their possession.

Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also sentenced to life in prison in Halbach's death. He confessed to detectives that he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach in the Avery family's salvage yard.

But in August, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin ruled that investigators coerced Dassey, who was 16 years old at the time and suffered from cognitive problems, into confessing and overturned his conviction. State attorneys are appealing the decision.

Avery and Dassey contend they were framed by law enforcement angry with Avery for filing a lawsuit against Manitowoc County over his wrongful imprisonment for a sexual assault he didn't commit.
Indianapolis police: Woman injected son with fecal matter

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indianapolis police say they arrested a woman after she told them she injected fecal matter into her son's IV tube while he was hospitalized for leukemia.

The Indianapolis Star reports Wednesday (http://indy.st/2gCAv8F ) the woman faces charges of aggravated battery and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court documents.

The documents say staff at Riley Hospital for Children contacted police after the 15-year-old boy developed several infections and a nurse observed video surveillance of the mother injecting his IV bag with an unknown substance. Police say the mother told them she began injecting her son with fecal matter on Nov. 13 to get him moved from the intensive care unit to another hospital floor where she thought he would receive better treatment.

The newspaper did not identify the mother.

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Otto weakens to tropical storm as it moves across Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP)  Hurricane Otto weakened rapidly as it moved across southern Nicaragua on Thursday after making landfall on that country's Caribbean coast as a dangerous Category 2 storm. It was the southernmost hurricane on record to hit Central America.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Otto had faded to a tropical storm by Thursday night and was expected to emerge off of Central America's Pacific coast early Friday.

Authorities in Nicaragua said Otto had damaged houses and toppled trees, but so far there were no reports of casualties. Earlier, heavy rains from the storm were blamed for three deaths in Panama.

Workers cut a tree that fell and killed a boy outside a school in Panama City, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. Civil defense officials in Panama say the country has already seen three deaths blamed on late-season Tropical Storm Otto. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

Otto battered Nicaragua's Corn Islands with 3.5-meter waves and damaged houses but residents were all safe in refuges, said the archipelago's mayor, Cleveland Rolando Webster.

"There is a lot of rain, the sea is rough and the wind is strong. We have been in danger all night, getting cold and wet," said Alicia Lampson, 21, as she arrived at a shelter with a group of people from the village of Monkey Point, south of Bluefields, Nicaragua.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the unusually strong late-season hurricane hit land just north of the Costa Rican border with winds of 110 mph (175 kph). Otto's winds later weakened to 70 mph (110 kph) as it moved inland near the border with Costa Rica. By Thursday night, it was located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Liberia, Costa Rica.

The Nicaraguan government declared a state of emergency, and said evacuations would continue because of the continued risk of flooding.

In Bluefields  the nearest major town on the Nicaraguan coast  residents rode out the hurricane.

"In our house, we have packed up some things in plastic bags and we went out to buy some provisions, just in case," said resident Jean Hodgson.

Further south  and closer to where Otto hit  residents in the smaller town of Punta Gorda said they were planning to ride out the hurricane.

"There is fear, because these kinds of things are scary, but we are praying and doing what the authorities have told us to do," said Punta Gorda resident Sara Pantin.

Nicaragua closed schools and was evacuating more than 10,000 people from communities in the storm's path. Heavy rains were expected to affect the entire country, raising the possibility of flooding and landslides.

Officials in Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast and called off school nationwide for the rest of the week. Heavy rain was already causing flooding in some areas and the president announced that public employees would not have to work Thursday or Friday.

By Thursday afternoon, Costa Rica's Emergencies Commission said that 231 communities in the country's center-north had been affected, of which 23 were isolated because of damages to roads and highways.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said Otto could damage the country's important coffee and agriculture sectors.

Nicaragua also feared damage for impoverished farmers and to coffee crops that are almost ready for harvest.
A look at what Colombia's peace deal may mean

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos is signing, for the second time in under two months, a historic peace accord with leftist rebels. The original accord was defeated in a referendum. Here's a look at how we got here and what lies ahead:

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REFERENDUM LOSS

FILE - In this April 28, 2000, file photo, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, rebels stand in formation during a practice ceremony for the Boliviarian Movement, a new clandestine political party for the rebels, outside of San Vicente del Caguan in the FARC controlled zone of Colombia. Colombians fear that the peace following the new Nov. 24, 2016 accord, could trigger more bloodshed, as it did following a previous peace process with the FARC in the 1980s when thousands of former guerrillas, labor activists and communist militants were gunned down by right-wing militias, sometimes in collaboration with state agents. (AP Photo/Scott Dalton, File)

President Santos signed an initial peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on Sept. 26 in an elaborate ceremony attended by several heads of state, but voters rejected the deal a week later in a referendum by a razor-thin margin of just 57,000 out of 13 million ballots cast. The defeat came as shock as opinion polls had predicted the "yes" vote would win by an almost two-to-one margin.

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CHANGES TO ACCORD

Following defeat, Santos returned to the negotiating table to wrest some 50-plus concessions from the FARC ranging from a ban on foreign judges in special tribunals that will judge combatants' crimes to a commitment by the FARC to forfeit assets obtained through drug-trafficking and other criminal activity. He received a boost in his efforts by being awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

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WHAT'S NEXT?

Once signed, the accord will be sent to congress where a solid pro-peace majority is expected to easily ratify it in the coming days. After that, the FARC's 8,000-some fighters will begin concentrating in rural areas where they will turn over their weapons to United Nations-sponsored monitors over the next six months.

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OPPOSITION

Opponents of the accord, led by powerful former President Alvaro Uribe, consider the changes cosmetic. They are threatening to boycott congress and take to the streets to protest what they consider a major blow to Colombia's democracy. They had been pushing for jail time and stronger limits on the political participation of FARC leaders who committed atrocities. Both Santos and the FARC say the accord is the best one possible for Colombia.

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PROSPECTS FOR PEACE:
Chinese rights activist who lobbied for lawyers is missing

BEIJING (AP)  The wife of one of China's most prominent human rights campaigners said Thursday that he had disappeared during a trip to visit relatives of a detained rights lawyer.

Jiang Tianyong, a legal activist, has not been heard from since Monday, when he was due to board a train to return to Beijing, according to his wife, Jin Bianling.

Jiang's defense work involved some of China's most politically sensitive figures in recent years, including the dissident lawyer Gao Zhisheng and blind activist Chen Guangcheng.

FILE - In this May 2, 2012 file photo, Human rights activist Jiang Tianyong speaks to journalists outside a hospital after his failed attempt to see blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who is believed to be seeking treatment in Beijing, China. The wife of one of China's most prominent human rights campaigners says he has disappeared during a trip to visit relatives of a detained rights lawyer. Jin Bianling said Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, that her husband Jiang Tianyong, a legal activist, has not been heard from since Monday, when he was due to board a train to return to Beijing.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Jiang was disbarred in 2009 but has continued his activism, recently helping to publicize the plight of nearly two dozen lawyers arrested as part of a sweeping 2015 government crackdown. Jiang met with relatives of one of the jailed lawyers in Changsha in central China shortly before going missing.

He could not be reached on Thursday by his mobile phone, which was turned off.

Jiang told the Associated Press in June that he feared he could be detained at any moment and rarely spent more than a few nights in one place.

Speaking by telephone from California, Jin said her husband's family sought to file a missing person report in his city of registered residence, Zhengzhou, in central China but police turned them away and told to seek information in Beijing instead.
For an Egyptian author, examining torture is her mission

CAIRO (AP)  As torture and abuse by police in Egypt becomes more common, one of Basma Abdel-Aziz's worries is that people now see it as normal or as part of the tough hand needed to keep stability.

A psychiatrist who has treated victims of torture for a decade, Abdel-Aziz says families sometimes greet it with a shrug. If a loved one has been beaten by police but not killed, their response is often, "Good that that's all it was," she said.

The effects of autocracy on people and society has long been the focus of research for Abdel-Aziz, an author and activist who is one of Egypt's keenest observers of torture's decades-old legacy in the country. She's one of the generation of activists in their 20s, 30s and 40s who chipped away at autocracy before the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak and are back doing the same again now after the failure of their hopes for democracy.

In this Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 photo, Basma Abdel-Aziz poses for a photograph at an old bookshop in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The effects of autocracy on people and society has long been the focus of research for Abdel-Aziz, an author and activist who is one of Egypt's keenest observers of torture's decades-old legacy in the country. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Her work has gained greater relevance at a time when rights activists say police abuses have risen as the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi cracks down on Islamist opponents and other dissenters and fights an insurgency by Islamic militants.

The author of eight books, the 40-year-old Abdel-Aziz's one novel, "The Queue," was published this year in English translation in the United States, an Orwellian tale of a man living in an imaginary country under an authoritarian regime.

She says now people in Egypt are only moved to anger over the most extreme abuse that leads to death or maiming.

"What I fear the most is the day when we even find tolerance in our hearts for death as a result of torture," she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The roots of acceptance are in a patriarchal culture, she believes.

"People accept mild forms of abuse of children and wives," she said  and from there, other forms become seen as reasonable.

The latest controversy came last week when a 53-year-old street vendor died in police custody. His lawyer and family said he was beaten to death after an argument with a police officer, and photos emerged of his bloodied body. Prosecution officials say they are investigating.

The Interior Ministry, in charge of security forces, denies torture is systemic among police and says cases of abuse are isolated acts that are investigated. Last week, a police officer was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a street vendor earlier this year in an argument over a cup of tea. Many similarly convicted policemen in the past have been acquitted on appeal.

"There is no place for torture in the prisons," el-Sissi said in an interview this week with the Portuguese TV network RTP. "If it happens, then it is illegal and anyone who commits this in Egypt will be held accountable."

Rights groups say abuse is on the rise. The Nadeem Center, Egypt's top NGO for the rehabilitation of violence victims, said it documented 600 cases of police torture in 2015  ranging from beatings to use of electrical shocks  and that 100 people died in police custody. In the first five months of this year, it tracked 349 cases of torture, 12 deaths from torture, 32 deaths in prison from medical neglect and 18 people killed by police in street arguments.

Abdel-Aziz said abuse has become worse even than the days of Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the charismatic strongman of the 1950s and 1960s whose security agencies were notorious for torturing dissidents. Furthermore, supporters of el-Sissi and pro-government media urge an even heavier crackdown, which they say is needed to prevent Egypt from falling into chaos like other Mideast nations.

"The police and security agencies are not at all concerned about their image," said Abdel-Aziz, who worked at the Nadeem Center between 2002 and 2012.

"There is a message to the public too: it will never be just a couple of slaps after which you are sent home," she said.

Abdel-Aziz drew often on her work with patients at the Nadeem Center for her books examining the mechanisms of police power and the effect of torture on its victims.

In her 2014 book, "The Memory of Oppression," she also interviewed police officers, who described how they were sucked into abusing detainees after initial reluctance. Senior officers pressured them and ridiculed them as weak if they refused. After a time, she said, they became numb or even enjoyed it, rationalizing it as part of protecting the nation.

"They confirmed to me the notion that most people, under specific circumstances and in a specific environment, can become torturers," she said.

Abdel-Aziz was politically attuned from a young age, reading leftist newspapers and often rebelling at the Catholic school she attended in Cairo. She would also blow off class to play the piano or visit art exhibits. Today, she still sculpts and paints, holding several successful shows.

At Cairo's Ein Shams University Medical School in the 1990s, she was active in student movements. As a result, she was denied a teaching position after graduation because security officials  who review university appointments  did not clear her.

Instead, she joined the Nadeem Center. She was in part inspired by a case reported by the center: an elderly farmer who died after police set him on fire, trying to make him confess to stealing a goat.

And she turned to writing. In 2008, her "What Lies Behind Torture" studied the mindset of torturers.

Her next book, "The Temptation of Absolute Power," tracking the history of police abuses, hit the bookshops on Jan. 28, 2011, three days into the uprising against Mubarak. The revolt was prompted in part by anger over police abuses, and Abdel-Aziz was among the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

After Mubarak's fall, it became clear that abuse continued.

Abdel-Aziz recounted how, later in 2011, she treated a man who, bloodied and weeping, showed up at a protesters' field clinic in Tahrir. He had been sodomized with a stick and had cigarette burns on his body. The man told her he'd been detained as he left a wedding and was interrogated by police who believed he knew the whereabouts of a wanted man.

Abdel-Aziz currently works in the Health Ministry department that oversees mental hospitals. She has published two collections of short stories and is working on a new novel.

In her most recent book, "The Domination of Text," she directed rare criticism at Egypt's foremost seat of Islamic learning, Al-Azhar, exploring how it has used its revered status to manipulate public opinion for the benefit of the government.

"Her writings represent literature of the post-January revolution, which opened the door for tackling topics that had not been acceptable or available, like oppression by society or the regime," said Sonallah Ibrahim, one of Egypt's best known novelists.

Abdel-Aziz's 2013 novel "The Queue" provided a look into autocracy's numbing effects.

In it, the protagonist struggles in a fruitless quest to prove he was shot by police during a protest. He seeks redress at "the Gate," where thousands stand in line hoping to meet someone in authority. The gate never opens.

When a friend tries to help him, she is detained and tortured in a graphic scene aimed at showing how abuse crushes a person's identity.

"She wished they would beat her, she said she was ready to be tortured," the scene reads. She "bit her lips to feel her own blood inside her mouth, but she tasted nothing. Nothing, again. Maybe she really was nothing, had never existed."

In this Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 photo, Basma Abdel-Aziz poses for a photograph at an old bookshop in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The effects of autocracy on people and society has long been the focus of research for Abdel-Aziz, an author and activist who is one of Egypt's keenest observers of torture's decades-old legacy in the country. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
Japanese ex-militant gets 12 years for 1986 Indonesia attack

TOKYO (AP)  A member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for an unsuccessful 1986 mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, the Tokyo District Court said.

Former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki had been accused of conspiring with another person to fire two rounds at the embassy from a hotel room in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, according to Japan's Kyodo News service. Neither exploded.

The 68-year-old Shirosaki was imprisoned in the United States for more than a decade for a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta the same year. He was released in 2015, and Japanese authorities re-arrested him upon his return home.

This undated photo shows former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki. The member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group was sentenced Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 to 12 years in prison for an unsuccessful 1986 mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, the Tokyo District Court said. (Kyodo News via AP)
Duterte's anti-US rhetoric not enough for communist rebels

SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, Philippines (AP)  Communist guerrillas warned that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely to be reached if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist foreign control by other countries he's trying to befriend, like China and Russia.

In a clandestine news conference in a New People's Army guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla outlined the advantages and downside of talking with Duterte to end one of the world's longest-running Marxist insurgencies.

The dozens of mostly young guerrillas in muddy boots in their rain-soaked encampment on a wooded plateau reflected their resiliency but also showed the tough conditions that have long hampered their insurgency. Young rebels cooked rice, pork and chicken in soot-covered pots over wood fire while others gingerly puffed cigarettes while watching the peripheries. The nearest army camp lies just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away. When an air force Huey helicopter flew overhead, rebels at the news conference briefly paused and watched the passing aircraft.

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, a 24-year-old New People's Army guerrilla, who uses the nom de guerre Comrade Katryn, smiles as she talks to reporters at a rebel encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Founded in 1968, the rebels' communist party has held peace talks with six Philippine presidents, including Duterte, whose rise to power in June sparked rebel optimism due to his searing anti-U.S. rhetoric, populist pro-poor stance and appointments of at least two left-wing Cabinet members.

But the guerrillas have also found themselves in a dilemma due to Duterte's moves they find reprehensible, including the killings of large number of poor drug users that sparked accusations of massive human rights violations against him, a recent decision to allow dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in a heroes' cemetery and threats to shift to dictatorial rule if rival politicians derail his anti-drug crackdown and try to impeach him.

While the president has gotten attention with his angry threats to end the presence of American forces in the country, stop joint combat exercises with U.S. troops and terminate a defense accord with Washington, Padilla said Duterte has, so far, not formalized these utterances and instead has walked back on many publicly-stated policies.

"While the Duterte government hasn't abrogated all these treaties, the New People's Army will have no reason to enter into a friendship or alliance with him," Padilla, 69, told a small group of journalists escorted into an encampment ringed by mostly young rifle-wielding guerrillas.

"That's not negotiable because as long as the U.S. military has a presence, the imperialist influence on Duterte's government will remain," said the bespectacled Padilla, who wore a Mao cap with his 9mm pistol within reach on a wooden table.

Other rebels echoed Padilla's remarks. "We support Duterte but not 100 percent," said a 24-year-old rebel who identified himself as Guiller. "He's projecting himself as anti-U.S. and pro-poor but that's still mostly rhetoric. If the problems persist, the revolution will go on."

Duterte's reaching out to China and Russia also disturbs the communists. "They hide behind what we call a communist (facade) or socialism but essentially, and in their core, they are imperialist nations, which control parts of the world," Padilla said. "Even if it's China that controls us, we're not free, and we should fight their control on us."

Coinciding with the rebel warning, the Philippine armed forces chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya announced Wednesday that most joint exercises with the U.S. military would proceed next year, including the largescale Balikatan maneuvers. Most would be refocused, though, on disaster-response, humanitarian missions and counterterrorism from previous maneuvers centered on territorial defense that Duterte worries may offend China.

Visaya's statement came after he met U.S. Pacific Command in an annual defense meeting on Tuesday.

Despite thorny issues, Padilla said Maoist guerrillas remain committed to pursue talks with Duterte while criticizing his wrong moves, like allowing Marcos's heroes' burial and carrying out the bloody anti-drugs crackdown.

Philippine police should target drug lords and syndicate leaders and not poor addicts, who the rebels consider victims and not criminals," he said, adding they have targeted big drug dealers in the past.

"We are sincere with the peace talks, we are honest and we want to end 47 years of armed struggle," Padilla said when asked if the rebels were just trying to extract concessions from a president with whom they may not likely forge a peace deal.

The guerrillas, he said, would not simply surrender their firearms unless their major demands are not met, including social and economic reforms, land reform and an industrialization program that favor the poor, who make up about a fourth of more than 100 million Filipinos.

"If he remains in the right direction, he will be with us," Padilla said. "But if he veers off from the direction that we seek, we will break away from him."

Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting have weakened the rebel group, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the United States. A confidential government assessment obtained by The Associated Press says the guerrillas have declined to 3,800 fighters with more than 4,500 firearms in the first half of the year, with about 700 of the country's 42,000 villages affected by the insurgency.

The insurgent group "remains as a threat to national security due to its stance of not abandoning the armed struggle," the report said. "Although the communist movement had been weakened ... it continues to pursue recovery efforts nationwide."

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, a member of the New People's Army communist rebels with face painted to conceal his identity, stands in formation during ceremonies held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, New People's Army new regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla, who uses the nom de guerre Comrade Diego, raises his clenched fists after a clandestine news conference in a encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels march during the entry of colors as part of ceremonies before a clandestine news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels with face painted to conceal their identities, hold their weapons during ceremonies before a clandestine news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels with face painted to conceal their identities, reads a local paper at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels, with face painted to conceal their identities, stand in formation during ceremonies before a news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels with face painted to conceal their identities, march with their firearms before a news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines. Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist control by other countries. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Turkey says 3 troops killed in Syrian government airstrike

ISTANBUL (AP)  Three Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Syria in what the Turkish military said was a pre-dawn Syrian airstrike on Thursday, an account disputed by Syrian activists, who said the soldiers were killed by an Islamic State suicide attack the day before.

The Turkish military said in a statement on its website that the attack took place at 3:30 a.m., but did not provide an exact location. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said the airstrike took place near the town of al-Bab, which Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces are trying to take back from the Islamic State group.

However, a Syrian monitoring group that tracks the conflict through a network of activists on the ground said the Turkish soldiers were killed by an IS suicide attack on Wednesday.

Medical officers carry one of wounded Turkish soldiers at the emergency service of a local hospital in Gaziantep, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Three Turkish soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in northern Syria on Thursday in what the Turkish military said was a pre-dawn airstrike believed to have been carried out by Syrian government forces. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Syria attack within Turkey. (IHA via AP )

Rami Abdurrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the suicide attack occurred outside al-Bab, near a village called Waqqah. He dismissed reports that it was an airstrike.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. There was no comment from Damascus, but the IS-run Aamaq news agency reported a suicide attack against Turkish troops in a village near al-Bab on Wednesday.

The Turkish military said 10 other soldiers were wounded in the attack, with one in critical condition.

If the attack is confirmed to be a Syrian government airstrike, it would escalate tensions with Turkey, which is a leading supporter of the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

Turkey sent ground troops into northern Syria in August to help Syrian opposition fighters battle both IS and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish troops are not fighting Syrian government forces, and have not been attacked by them, though Damascus has strongly objected to the military intervention.

"It is clear that there are some who are not pleased with Turkey's fight against Daesh," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to the Arabic acronym for IS. "But of course these attacks will be responded to in kind."

Turkey's main opposition party leader urged the government to act "with common sense" and not escalate tensions.

"This (issue) could drag Turkey toward a very dangerous process," Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.

Citing national security considerations, Turkish authorities imposed a temporary media ban on coverage of the attack, barring media outlets from reports that "foster fear, panic and chaos," and contain images of the deceased or the wounded, or exaggerated accounts.

Turkish warplanes meanwhile struck IS positions in al-Bab and other northern Syrian towns, destroying a building reportedly used as an IS headquarters and seven defensive positions, Anadolu reported, citing unnamed Turkish military officials.

Elsewhere in Syria, U.S. officials said Thursday that an American service member died from wounds suffered in a blast from an improvised explosive device.

A statement released Thursday by the public affairs office of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve said the explosion took place in the vicinity of Ayn Issa in northern Syria. No other information about the explosion or the victim was released. U.S. troops are part of a multinational effort to fight the Islamic State group in the region.

Meanwhile, senior U.N. official said his team has received written approval from Syrian rebels in the besieged parts of the northern city of Aleppo to allow aid in and evacuate the wounded.

Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva that the U.N. also has "verbal support" from Russia, a close ally of the Syrian government, for a four-point plan reached earlier this month on Aleppo, the epicenter of the civil war.

Egeland said the team is still waiting for approval from the Syrian government, adding that trucks carrying aid could start entering east Aleppo within hours. East Aleppo is home to some 275,000 people and has been besieged by government forces since July.

The U.N. official said there are currently more than 900,000 people in besieged areas around Syria, more "than at any time I can remember in this war." The conflict began in 2011 with an Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad.

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Asia is nervous about Trump, but US-India ties could improve

WASHINGTON (AP)  Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties.

During a brutal election campaign, where Trump's rhetoric on foreign partners was overwhelmingly negative, he was largely positive about India  or at least its Hindu majority  and its nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi.

When Trump courted Indian-American voters at a rally in New Jersey in mid-October, he said, "There won't be any relationship more important to us." He praised Modi  another populist who is savvy in using social media  as a "great man" for championing bureaucratic reforms and economic growth.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, delivers a speech after the awards ceremony of National Awards for Excellence in Journalism in New Delhi, India. Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties. During an election campaign, Trump was largely positive about India and its nationalist Modi. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)

There are other hints that Trump is well-disposed toward India.

He has done a lot of business there. A Washington Post analysis of Trump's pre-election financial disclosure found that of his 111 international business deals, the highest number  16  were in India. He stirred controversy last week over potential conflicts of interest by meeting with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex in the city of Pune.

On Wednesday he selected South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations  the first woman tapped for a Cabinet-level post in his administration. Haley has no foreign policy experience.

It remains a matter of conjecture how any of this will shape the approach taken by a Trump administration when he takes office Jan. 20. But Lisa Curtis at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said it was "easy to envision" the U.S. and India working closer on counter-terrorism.

India hopes that Trump's promise to fight radical Islamic militants will mean more American pressure on Pakistan and less aid for India's historic archrival. Militants based in Pakistan are accused of launching cross-border attacks inside India.

Neelam Deo, who heads the Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, said India would also welcome it if Trump builds a working relationship with Russia in fighting the Islamic State group.

But Deo predicted U.S.-India friction if Trump restricts non-immigrant visas for Indians to try to protect American workers. She said that 60 percent of India's information technology experts who work abroad go to the U.S.

Biswajit Dhar, an economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said that how Trump approaches immigration is a major concern in India and tough action "is going to rattle quite a lot here."

Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the U.S., said reactions in India to Trump's election victory have ranged from vocal support from right-wingers to shock and disappointment among the liberal intelligentsia. He said people had noticed that Trump had attended election campaign events with Hindus rather than the broader Indian-American community.

India is 80 percent Hindu, but 14 percent of its 1.3 billion people are Muslims.

U.S.-India relations have advanced under President Barack Obama, particularly since Modi's election in 2014. When Modi addressed Congress this June, he described the U.S. as an "indispensable partner" and said together they could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

Staunch U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea, which host American forces and depend on U.S. nuclear deterrence, have been unnerved by Trump's call for nations to shoulder more of the burden for security in Asia.

But that is less of a concern for India, which is not a formal ally of the U.S. It has expanded its military cooperation with Washington and purchased American hardware as it modernizes its armed forces. But it prizes having an independent foreign policy, as it did during the Cold War.

"India's interest in taking on a larger role fits in with Mr. Trump's view of U.S. friends and partners doing more in their own regions," said C. Raja Mohan, director of the Carnegie India think tank.

Trump plans to take an ax to the main economic element of Obama's Asia policy  the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said this week that he will end U.S. participation in the 12-nation trade pact. India is not involved in the agreement.

But India would be concerned if Trump adopted an isolationist stance and dialed back the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific.

"India is worried about China's dominance in this region," Dhar said.

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Daigle contributed to this report from New Delhi.
IS car bomb kills 56, including 20 Iranians, in Iraq

HILLA, Iraq (AP)  A car bomb tore through a gas station south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 56 people, including 20 Iranians, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Police and hospital officials confirmed the toll and said another 45 people were wounded in the attack, which almost completely destroyed the gas station, several nearby stores and set several cars on fire. The station is located on a major highway.

The blast knocked out power at the station, forcing relatives looking for the remains of loved ones to use the glare of their mobile phones to guide them. Body parts that remained unclaimed were gathered in a blue bag and placed on the sidewalk outside the station. Large sections of the station were covered in blood.

A civilian searches for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred.

The Shiite observance marks the 40th day after the death anniversary of a much revered, 7th century imam. It routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, including many Iranians who travel overland into Iraq for the occasion.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Thursday's attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on IS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove IS militants from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the country's second largest city, where U.S.-backed offensive has been underway for more than six weeks.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support the troops.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya television network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.

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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran contributed.

Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian civil defense personnel search for survivors in the rubble, at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian civil defense personnel search for survivors in the rubble, at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian civil defense personnel search for survivors in the rubble, at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Turkish minister blasts EU body for vote on membership talks

BRUSSELS (AP)  Underscoring growing unease, the European Union's legislature on Thursday demanded that the bloc freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the government's heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July.

The European Parliament voted 479-37 margin with 107 abstentions to approve a non-binding resolution that seeks "to initiate a temporary freeze" on talks with Ankara until "disproportionate measures under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted."

Despite the parliamentary vote, EU officials have said that the longstanding but unsuccessful talks on having Turkey join the EU should not immediately be halted.

In this Oct. 29, 2016 file photo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, follows a military honour guard walking to the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Republic Day in Ankara, Turkey. Since quashing a July coup attempt, Turkeys president has used extraordinary powers from a state of emergency to arrest and purge thousands of opponents. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also vowed to back public demands to reinstate the death penalty and suggested submitting Turkey's long-sought goal of European Union membership to a referendum. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici/File)

Some EU nations have called for the suspension of the talks, but the 28-member bloc is struggling to develop a position that would balance concerns about rights abuses with the need for Ankara's help in preventing refugees and migrants from reaching Europe.

"By continuing the illusion of accession talks with an increasingly authoritarian regime, the EU is losing credibility, is fooling our citizens, and also betraying those Turkish citizens who look to Europe as their future," said Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Anticipating the vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had already said that his country's "struggle for its stability and future won't be interrupted by (European legislators) raising and lowering their hands."

The minister in charge of Turkey's negotiations with the EU condemned the resolution after the vote, calling it unnecessary and a measure "that can't be taken seriously."

Speaking at a news conference in southern Turkey where a car bomb killed two people Thursday, Minister for European Union Affairs Omer Celik accused the EU of supporting Kurdish militants and applying a double standard when it comes to his country.

"Groups that remain silent as Europe is besieged by the extreme right and xenophobia are trying today to give Turkey a message," Celik said.

Although the vote carries no immediate consequences, it underscores the increasing unease in Europe over Erdogan's tightening grip on power in the wake of the coup attempt.

Tens of thousands of people, including teachers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, have been arrested or fired. As reports of more detentions and repression came in, the EU's stance has steadily hardened.

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Cinar Kiper contributed reporting from Istanbul.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a NATO parliamentary assembly meeting in Istanbul, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Erdogan has called on the United States and other nations to re-assess his country's proposal for the creation of a no-fly zone in northern Syria. Addressing the NATO meeting, Erdogan again criticized allies' reliance on Syrian Kurdish fighters to battle the Islamic State group.(Kayhan Ozer, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP)
Indonesian army helicopter reported missing in Borneo

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesia's military said it lost contact Thursday with an army helicopter carrying four soldiers in Indonesia's part of Borneo.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Sabrar Fadhilah said the Bell 412 EP helicopter lost contact with the base three minutes after taking off from Tarakan town in North Kalimantan province.

He said the aircraft was carrying four soldiers and about 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of supplies to Long Bawan, a remote town near the border with Malaysia.

Fadhilah said rescuers are searching for the helicopter in Malinau district in the same province, where it was believed to have gone down.
Principals in Danish celebrity-snooping case sentenced

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  When Denmark's main gossip magazine in 2008 reported that newlywed Prince Joachim and his second wife were in Canada on their honeymoon, the magazine credited good sourcing.

A court called it a crime.

On Thursday, Judge Mette Lyster Knudsen sentenced a former employee of a payment-processing company for providing the glossy weekly with information on credit card payments of 135 Danish royals and other celebrities, enabling them to track people at home and abroad.

Peter Bo Henriksen, who got information through his previous job with the Nets company, was sentenced to 18 months. The judge said that over four years, Henriksen "systematically and under aggravating circumstances had unlawfully obtained information on a wide range of publicly known persons' credit card transactions."

Henrik Qvortrup, the magazine's former chief editor, was sentenced to 15 months, of which 12 were converted to 200 hours' community service. Qvortrup had made the deal with Henriksen and paid him 10,000 kroner ($1,400) every month for sending text messages with credit card transactions.

Lyster Knudsen of the Glostrup city court also handed down suspended sentences to another chief editor and two reporters, ranging from four to 12 months. A third, temporary chief editor was acquitted. All have since left the weekly.

One of the reporters, Ken B. Rasmussen, related in a 2014 book how reporters at Se og Hoer used information from a secret source with access to a card-payment company's computers. That sparked a criminal investigation.

Between 2008 and 2012, Henriksen provided the magazine with details about the credit-card purchases made by Danish singers, actors, celebrities and royals.

Henriksen appealed the ruling immediately while the others said they would consider an appeal. The other defendants had pleaded innocent, claiming they didn't know Henriksen was obtaining the information illegally.

Lars Werge, head of Denmark's Union of Journalists, said it was "serious and unique case in Danish press history," adding "we need to rebuild the journalistic credibility that has suffered a shatter."

British tabloid News of the World was shut down in 2011 after the revelation that it had eavesdropped on the mobile-phone voicemails of people in the public eye, including a 13-year-old murder victim. Several journalists were later convicted, and owner Rupert Murdoch's company paid out millions in compensation to hacking victims.

___
Close to 20,000 protest Belgian health, welfare cuts

BRUSSELS (AP)  Thousands of demonstrators who work in Belgium's health and welfare sector have protested government plans for austerity measures and demanded more jobs and better pay.

Close to 20,000 protesters from the non-profit sector took to the streets on Thursday, their anger centered on plans to limit days off for veteran workers in the future. Unions say that if the tapering-off of hours is abandoned, pressure at work will only increase and keep youngsters from reinforcing the health sector. Burdened by high debt the government is looking to cut costs, in sectors as far apart as culture and hospital services.
Winter poses new dangers for migrants stranded in Balkans

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Mohammad Yassin says there are no words to describe the horror of migrant life in an abandoned warehouse in central Belgrade, home to hundreds of people trapped in Serbia en route to the European Union.

The 28-year-old former news reporter from Afghanistan has been squatting for days in the socialist-era concrete hall in the capital city, waiting for a chance to cross the heavily guarded borders of neighboring EU member states Hungary or Croatia.

About 1,000 migrants have occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling building seeking protection from cold and rain. But the crumbling warehouse with no plumbing, wide glassless windows and gaping holes in the towering wooden roof has offered little shelter.

A migrant stands in the doorway of an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

"We don't have (a) proper place to sleep or to eat or to drink water, we don't have warm water to take bath," Yassin said. "We are suffering too much hardship ... too much."

Aid groups have warned that thousands of people like Yassin are scattered throughout the Balkans and in Greece, living in unheated tents, overcrowded camps and other substandard conditions that are becoming more inappropriate with the rapid advance of winter.

"Children, the elderly and other vulnerable people may die on European soil this winter unless urgent action is taken," the International Rescue Committee said in a statement this week.

Many of the homeless migrants set out hoping to get to EU countries, but remain stuck along the former Balkans route  leading from Turkey through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia  after nations closed their borders one after another in March.

While the sealed borders have reduced the influx, new migrants still have been pouring in illegally, guided along hidden paths by people smugglers to avoid border patrols. It usually takes weeks, or even months, before they manage to move on to their destinations in the EU.

Rados Djurovic, executive director of Serbia's Asylum Protection Center, said up to 2,000 migrants have been living in parks and abandoned houses, in addition to several thousand  mostly families with children  staying in overcrowded refugee camps.

Djurovic said harsh living conditions and lack of hope have taken their toll on the migrants, who have become exhausted and irritable. They sometimes fight among themselves  one such clash in central Belgrade left one person dead and one injured this week.

"Bad weather and bad conditions have weakened them both psychologically and physically, they are stressed out and disoriented," he said. "People feel abandoned and neglected, so tensions are rising."

Earlier this month, a 9-year-old boy was rushed to intensive care from a warehouse in northern Greece after a cooking stove being used as for heating in his family's tent caught fire, , IRC Country Director in Greece Panos Navrozidis said.

"Unless conditions improve, it is only a matter of time before another needless tragedy strikes," Navrozidis warned.

Inside the Belgrade warehouse choking smells of urine and smoke mixed as groups of migrants sat by several small fires lit for warmth and cooking. Dozens of dusty blankets lined the concrete floor along with personal belongings in rucksacks or plastic bags.

Migrants have used old furniture or cardboard to divide the space for some privacy. Trousers, shirts and other laundry dry on ropes. Old shelves and drawers now are filled with the migrants' meager property.

Some men were sleeping wrapped in blankets, wearing jackets, woolen caps and gloves. Others listened to music on cellphones or chatted, spreading food from a nearby supermarket on the blankets while trying to create a semblance of a meal in the decrepit space.

One migrant stripped half-naked, shivering as he washed himself with freezing water, a widening pool forming under his feet. Others lined up to wash dishes.

Many have become sick, infected with lice or skin allergies. Their condition has worsened further after government recently instructed aid groups to halt food deliveries outside official camps, hoping migrants would pull away from the streets.

Yet the building's occupants have refused government offers to move to refugee camps where they could apply for asylum legally, fearing possible deportation or being sent to a camp that would push them even farther away from the EU's borders.

"Camps are far from here, we can't go there, we want to go to foreign countries," said Najebullah from Afghanistan, who gave only his first name.

By one of the fires, 16-year-old Zabir Zahid said he has eaten nothing but potato and bread for weeks. He said he tried once to cross into Hungary, but was pushed back by the Hungarian police.

Still, Zahid said he is determined to reach Austria and never return to Afghanistan.

"In Afghanistan is fighting, I don't like fighting," he said. "I want a life, I don't want to die."

A migrant walks inside an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A migrant walks inside of an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A migrant walks inside an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A migrant enters in an abandoned warehouse, in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Migrants prepare rug inside an abandoned warehouse, in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Migrants rest at a park in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A migrant rests at a park in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A migrant enters in an abandoned warehouse, in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. About 1,000 migrants occupied the rubbish-strewn sprawling complex in search for protection from cold and rain. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ethiopia detains foreign pilots in a vintage air rally

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP)  Ethiopian authorities have detained several foreign pilots, including Americans, who were participating in a trans-Africa air rally, the United States Embassy said Thursday.

Embassy officials are working with Ethiopian authorities to secure consular access to see the American pilots, the embassy said in a statement.

The Vintage Air Rally billed itself as a "flying rally across Africa, from Crete to Cape Town," for planes built in the early 20th century.

Wossenyelah Hunegnawm, the head of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, said the pilots entered Ethiopian airspace illegally Tuesday and are under investigation.

"This group entered into Ethiopia without getting permission to access our airspace," he said.

He said the pilots are in Gambella town in Western Ethiopia, where they landed their aircraft during their journey as part of the air event.

One of the pilots in detention is Briton Maurice Kirk, who had earlier been reported missing.
The Latest: Toll from IS-claimed bombing in Iraq rises to 56

BAGHDAD (AP)  The Latest on the conflict in Iraq (all times local):

7:20 p.m.

Iraqi officials say the death toll from a car bomb south of Baghdad claimed by the Islamic State group has risen to 56, including 20 Iranians.

Scores of Iraqi male residents are rounded up by the Iraqi army in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hospital and police officials say Thursday's attack at a gas station near the city of Hilla wounded another 45 people.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The officials say the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

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6 p.m.

The Islamic State group has claimed a car bomb south of Baghdad that Iraqi officials now say killed at least 28 people, including 10 Iranian pilgrims.

Hospital and police officials say Thursday's parked car bomb, which wounded 35 others, exploded at a gas station near the city of Hilla. They say the gas station was almost completely destroyed and that scores of cars were burned.

The officials say the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite holiday in the holy city of Karbala.

The officials, who earlier gave a death toll of 21, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

IS claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It said the attack was carried out by a suicide truck bomb.

___

5:15 p.m.

Iraqi officials say a car bomb south of Baghdad has killed at least 21 people, including 10 Iranian pilgrims.

Hospital and police officials say Thursday's attack, which wounded 32 others, took place at a gas station near the city of Hilla.

The officials say the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite holiday in the holy city of Karbala.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

___

1 p.m.

A senior Iraqi commander says his troops have driven Islamic State militants from three more neighborhoods in the northern city of Mosul.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press on Thursday his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all in the eastern sector of Mosul, east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government's campaign to liberate the city began Oct. 17.

Government troops are backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against IS positions in the city.

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban center still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq.

Iraqi soldiers search scores of Iraqi male residents who were rounded up by Iraqi forces in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Scores of Iraqi male residents are rounded up by the Iraqi forces in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier, right, searches shoes as Iraqi male residents who were rounded up by Iraqi forces in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraqi special forces soldiers sit on their tank as they pass by the Samah front line neighborhood in Mosul city, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier, foreground, asks a man to sit on the ground next of scores of Iraqi male residents who are rounded up by Iraqi forces and urged to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them in Gogjali neighborhood in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier questions scores of Iraqi male residents rounded up in hopes of offering information on any Islamic State members among them, in the Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A face covered Iraqi soldier sits on his humvee in front of scores of Iraqi male residents who were rounded up by Iraqi forces, in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraqi special forces soldiers sit on their tank as they pass by the Samah front line neighborhood in Mosul city, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier passes scores of Iraqi male residents rounded up in hopes of offering information on any Islamic State members among them, in the Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier stands guard in front of scores of male residents rounded up by the Iraqi army and urged to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An Iraqi soldier stand guard over scores of Iraqi male residents rounded up in hopes of offering information on any Islamic State members among them, in the Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Scores of Iraqi male residents rounded up by the Iraqi army and urged to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them sit on the ground in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Navy: Sailors' personal info hacked on contractor's laptop

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Navy says the names, Social Security numbers and other sensitive details of 134,386 current and former sailors have been breached on a contractor's laptop.

Investigators determined this week that the information had been accessed by unknown people, and the Navy has begun notifying affected sailors.

On Oct. 27, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services told the Navy that one laptop operated by an employee working on a Navy contract had been compromised.

Vice Adm. Robert Burke says the Navy is in the early stages of investigating and "working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach." He's chief of naval personnel.
UN's incoming secretary-general meets Russia's Putin

MOSCOW (AP)  The United Nation's incoming secretary-general has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said his good relations with Russia prove he will excel in his new role.

Antonio Guterres met with Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday in one of his first foreign visits after he was elected to lead the U.N.

Putin, who first met Guterres in 2000 when he was Portugal's prime minister, said he was hopeful Guterres' tenure will help to make the U.N.'s role more prominent in conflict resolution and global decision-making.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with UN Secretary-General designate Antonio Guterres during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (Sergei Chirikov/Pool Photo via AP)

Guterres, who will take over from Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, told Putin he is convinced that the world needs plurality in conflict resolution and that he will be of service to the international community because he has enjoyed "constructive" relations with Russia before.
Prosecutors allege 2 UK men gave cash to bombing suspect

LONDON (AP)  Prosecutors allege that two British men gave money to a key suspect in the Brussels and Paris bombings.

Prosecutor Max Hill says Zakaria Boufassil and Mohammed Ali Ahmed both from Birmingham  assisted suspect Mohamed Abrini, handing him 3,000 pounds ($3,700) between July 9 and July 16, 2015, when he traveled to England from abroad.

Abrini is the "man in the hat" seen on video footage moments before the deadly March 22 bombings at Brussels airport that killed 16 people. He is also wanted in the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks on Paris.

The British men are on trial at Kingston Crown Court, charged with supplying money with the intention of committing or assisting another to commit acts of terrorism.
NY's Cuomo finds common ground with Trump on infrastructure

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  President-elect Donald Trump has made big promises when it comes to building new highways, tunnels, bridges and airports in America  and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hoping he makes good on his word.

Cuomo has embarked on projects to rebuild Penn Station and LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, and to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. There are also plans to invest billions of dollars into upstate highways, modernize New York City's subways and build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

Federal support could be critical to getting the work done. And while they disagree on immigration, abortion and many other issues, the Democrat Cuomo is hoping a fondness for building things can be the common ground with the Republican Trump. Cuomo said he spoke to Trump the day after the election and specifically mentioned the importance of infrastructure.

FILE- In this Jan. 14, 2016 file photo, construction continues on the new Tappan Zee Bridge as it is seen from Tarrytown, N.Y. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has launched efforts to rebuild Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, remodel and expand Penn Station, and replace the Tappan Zee Bridge. Federal support could be critical to getting the work done, and Cuomo, a Democrat, says he hopes Republican president-elect Donald Trump understands the need to help. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

"He is a New Yorker," Cuomo said. "Mr. Trump is very much a private sector builder. ... So, he has a natural orientation toward the needs of this type of urban area. I think that's a good thing."

Trump has bemoaned the state of American infrastructure, saying some of it reminds him of the Third World. He has called for a massive push to rebuild roads, airports, the power grid and other infrastructure. One plan would cost as much as $1 trillion, to be funded primarily through private investment encouraged by big tax incentives.

"We will build the roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, airports and the railways of tomorrow," Trump said in his speech at the Republican National Convention. "This, in turn, will create millions more jobs."

Messages left with the Trump transition team regarding specific investments in New York state projects were not returned.

Trump and Cuomo have known each other for decades as the two Queens natives built professional lives in New York City. Trump had a cordial relationship with former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Andrew's late father, that turned sour in the'90s. Trump was briefly mentioned as a possible challenger to Cuomo in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

Any cooperation on infrastructure between Trump and Cuomo could be undermined, however, by their sharp disagreements on most other issues. Cuomo has taken a harder line since their postelection phone call, expressing concerns about what Trump's election has meant for racial tolerance and immigration. His name was also added to the list of Democrats seen as possible contenders for the White House in 2020.

"That could impact the interaction between the president-elect and the governor," said Larry Bridwell, international business professor at Pace University. But he added that supporting infrastructure in and around New York City would have one other added benefit for Trump: "It would obviously increase the real estate value of the Trump Organization."

Several of the projects on New York state's to-do-list can't be accomplished without significant federal investment. The Hudson Rail tunnel, which would ease congestion on busy commuter rail lines coming from New Jersey, is expected to cost $20 billion. New York and New Jersey have agreed to pay for half of the work, with the federal government on the hook for the remaining $10 billion.

Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman said Wednesday at a packed Penn Station that he is hopeful about Trump's talk on infrastructure, especially because of the need for another Hudson River tunnel.

"We have two. They're a hundred-plus years old. They have to be rehabilitated. We're out of space in the station, we're out of space in the tunnels, we have hundred-year-old bridges on both sides of Manhattan," he said. "So there're huge projects like that and we're very optimistic that if there's money for infrastructure a lot of these basic needs are going to be addressed."

Federal support is also vital to maintaining the state's drinking water and sewer systems, which will need an estimated $80 billion in repairs, replacements and upgrades over the next two decades.

FILE - This April 17, 2014 file photo shows ongoing construction of a rail tunnel, left, at the Hudson Yards redevelopment site on Manhattan's west side in New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and hopes the President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his promises to improve the nation's aging infrastructure. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE- In this May 13, 2016 file photo, a tarp conceals a construction area for workers beneath the new Moynihan Station where stairs lead to an Amtrak platform in New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has launched efforts to rebuild the city's airports, the Tappan Zee Bridge plus remodel and expand Penn Station. Federal support could be critical to getting the work done. Cuomo says he hopes President-elect Donald Trump understands the need to help. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 22, 2011 file photo, a construction worker, also known as a sandhog, sprays water on the tunnel boring machine as it bores through a solid rock wall while digging a tunnel for the Second Avenue Subway in New York. Presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to build new highways, tunnels, bridges and airports in America, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hoping President Trump makes good on his word. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Spanish police arrest Colombian armed group suspect

MADRID (AP)  Spanish police say they have arrested a senior member of a Colombian armed group suspected of being behind several car bombs over a decade ago.

The National Police said in a statement Thursday that the woman, Nibea Aurora Cano, was wanted for her role in three bombings in 2002 and 2003 that killed five police officers and three civilians in Colombia.

The National Court says Cano was a member of the Carlos German Velasco Villamizar Urban Front, which is part of Colombia's No. 2 rebel group, the National Liberation Army.

She was arrested in Ourense. Police say she had been living in Spain since 2004, but still worked for the group.
Wild turkeys that vanished in 1800s return to New England

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  Wild turkeys, once common across New England, are back after disappearing from the region in the 19th century and are now regularly spotted in rural fields, suburban neighborhoods and even the airspace above interstate highways.

The revival is considered one of the major wildlife restoration success stories, even making it into wildlife management textbooks, said Mark Scott, director of wildlife for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The revival of the birds in Vermont grew from the release of turkeys in Rutland County during the winters of 1969-70 and 1970-71. A total of 31 were released during that time. The state now has a population estimated at 45,000 to 50,000 birds, from one end of the state to the other, Scott said.

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2009, file photo, wild turkeys walk through a snowy farm yard in Williamstown, Vt. Nearly a half century earlier, the wild birds that have come to symbolize Thanksgiving in the United States, were almost gone from the Vermont countryside. In 2016, they number in the tens of thousands...a success story of wildlife restoration. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

Vermont has also helped other states in the region and beyond restore or build their populations, sending turkeys to places including Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Canada and Germany.

"I think people like to see turkeys whether they hunt them or not," said Scott, whose agency oversees Vermont's spring and fall turkey hunting seasons.

The turkey revival is not just a New England phenomenon.

Wild turkeys are now found in all U.S. states except Alaska, said Pete Muller, public relations manager for the National Wild Turkey Federation, which is trying to maintain and expand turkey habitats across the country.

"When you think about this particular time of year, Thanksgiving, most people will think of turkeys," said Muller, who estimates the national turkey population is around 6 million.

He said it's unclear whether turkeys were actually part of the original Thanksgiving held by the Pilgrims in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.

"Whether there were actually turkeys there or not, the American wild turkey is cemented into this country's history," Muller said.

Now, not far from the site of that original Thanksgiving, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, turkeys are so common some have turned aggressive toward people who feed them. In Vermont, flocks of 200 or 300 turkeys can damage farmers' grain bunkers by eating the feed intended for cattle and fouling the rest with their droppings, Scott said.

Vermont's native turkey population was wiped out in the 19th century because of habitat loss caused by farming practices that clear cut forests from much of the state. In the 1850s, only about 25 percent of Vermont was forested.

Unsuccessful efforts to restore partially domesticated turkeys were made in the middle of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, a Vermont biologist who once worked in New York developed a program that brought the 31 turkeys that had been trapped in New York's Alleghany and Steuben counties to Pawlet and Hubbardton, according to a history of the program provided by Vermont Fish and Wildlife. The area was considered ideal because of the combination of forests and farm fields littered with cow corn.

Within a year, the population was estimated at 150. By 1973, the population had rebounded enough for a limited hunting season in the area where they were first released.

In 1977 and 1978, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife released 41 birds from Vermont in the towns of York and Eliot as part of a yearslong restoration effort. Within a few years, Maine biologists were catching and releasing their birds in other parts of the state. Now they're found in all 16 Maine counties.

New Hampshire began its turkey restoration in the 1970s. Now there are an estimated 35,000 to 45,000 statewide.

"There are no empty spaces in the state that need wild turkeys," said Ted Walski, a turkey project biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
Guyana: $45M loan from China will widen main coastal highway

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  Guyana says it will use a$45 million loan from China to widen the main road linking the capital of the South American country with neighboring Suriname.

Guyanese Finance Minister Winson Jordan said Thursday that the money will be used to convert much of the country's coastal highway to four lanes to accommodate traffic between Georgetown and rural farming districts.

Jordan says deals to lengthen the country's main airport runway and build a new terminal with Chinese loans are also under way.
The Latest: France sending planes to help Israel fight fires

JERUSALEM (AP)  The Latest on the wildfires in Israel (all times local):

8 p.m.

France says it is sending firefighting planes to Israel to help battle a series of wildfires across the country.

A firefighting plane from Greece fights a wildfire over Haifa, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A raging wildfire ripped through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters. Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire quickly spread through Haifa's northern neighborhoods. While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The French presidency said Thursday that President Francois Hollande had instructed his interior minister to dispatch three aircraft.

It says the planes will depart "as soon as possible." They will join a multinational firefighting effort that has also included assistance from Russia, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Croatia.

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7:45 p.m.

The Palestinian Authority has offered Israel assistance in combatting raging wildfires across the country.

The offer comes as Israeli leaders are implying that Arab arsonists are behind some of the fires.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Thursday that the Palestinians offered teams of firefighters to help join an international effort to extinguish the fires.

Yousef Nassar, the director general of the Palestinian Civil Defense, said the offer was "a humanitarian message." The Palestinians assisted Israel during a deadly wildfire in 2010.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said some of the fires roaring around the country were the result of "terror," an apparent reference to Arab or Palestinian assailants.

Some 50,000 people have been evacuated from Israel's third-largest city Haifa, the site of the largest fires.

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7 p.m.

Israel's prime minister is blaming "arsonists' terror" for some of the fires raging across the country.

Speaking to reporters Thursday in Haifa, where the largest of several wildfires around the country has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, Benjamin Netanyahu said those setting the fires would be "punished severely."

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity of the suspected arsonists or their motives, but Israeli officials typically use "terror" to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity.

Earlier, Israel's police chief said arrests have been made, without elaborating.

Some 50,000 people have been evacuated from Haifa, Israel's third largest city. Fires have been sparked around the country for several days, with dry, windy weather spreading the flames quickly.

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10:30 a.m.

Israeli police have arrested four Palestinians in connection with one of several large fires that damaged homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people over the past few days.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Thursday that police are investigating all possible causes, including arson. Windy and hot weather have helped fan the flames.

He says the blazes started three days ago at the Neve Shalom community near Jerusalem where Israelis and Arabs live together.

Later, fires erupted in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov and elsewhere near Jerusalem. In all, hundreds of homes have been damaged and thousands of people have been evacuated. About a dozen were treated for smoke inhalation.

Cyprus, Russia, Italy and other countries are assisting the Israeli firefighters with equipment as the fires continue.

Firefighters work in Haifa, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A raging wildfire ripped through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters. Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire quickly spread through Haifa's northern neighborhoods. While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli fire fighters work in a home in Haifa, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters. Authorities speculated the blaze may have been set by politically-motivated arsonists. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli fire fighters work in a home in Haifa, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters. Authorities speculated the blaze may have been set by politically-motivated arsonists. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Canada PM Trudeau criticized for fundraising event

TORONTO (AP)  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is distancing himself from a growing opposition furor over a private Liberal fundraiser where one Chinese attendee subsequently donated $1 million to his late father's foundation.

Trudeau said while on a trip to Monrovia, Liberia on Thursday that he has not been associated with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in any way since he was first elected to Parliament.

Trudeau says there is "tremendous separation" between himself and the foundation.

Liberal lawmakers have dismissed concerns about Trudeau's appearance at the $1,500-a-ticket private fundraiser in May, labelling as conspiracy theory any links between the party and the $1 million donation.

Opposition lawmakers say Trudeau broke this own ethical standards set out to cabinet ministers that they must avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
WADA suspends anti-doping work at testing lab in Mexico City

MONTREAL (AP)  The anti-doping laboratory in Mexico City has been shut down for up to six months for falling below international testing standards.

The World Anti-Doping Agency says the lab could be asked to review test results and re-analyze samples that recently tested positive.

It is the sixth of 34 WADA-accredited labs worldwide to be currently suspended from working.

The others are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Lisbon, Portugal; Doha, Qatar; Madrid; and Bloemfontein, South Africa.
After the turkey, some hit the shops to start holiday season

NEW YORK (AP)  After enjoying the Thanksgiving turkey, some Americans hit the stores for what retailers hope will be a new tradition to start the holiday shopping season.

Throngs of shoppers lined up at Macy's Herald Square in Manhattan for its evening opening, looking for deals, and Target estimated hundreds were waiting outside a store in Jersey City, New Jersey. The competition to grab customers first is keen.

"It's manic. It's crazy, but it is fun," said Maria Elfes of Sydney, Australia, who was at Macy's. It was her seventh visit to New York but her first time shopping on Thanksgiving.

Lourdes Landa, 32, left, assists Ivan Marcano, 27, and his girlfriend, Barbara Moreno, 27, as they shop for clothes for their dog, Luna, at Dolphins Mall on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)

Lots of stores are offering the same deals as in previous years, like $19.99 boots that remain a big attraction, cashmere sweaters, and sheets. For some shoppers, electronics at a big discount was the draw.

"Televisions, man, televisions. Beautiful big screens so I can watch sports," said William Junkin, a recently retired longshoreman shopping at Best Buy in Howell, New Jersey. "I'm hoping to buy two of them, and I saw they had some real good prices, so maybe I'll splurge on some other stuff as well."

Martin McDuffie, 34, came to a Walmart in suburban Columbia, South Carolina, for just one thing  a 60-inch television for $398. He's been saving to replace his 32-inch TV.

"This is going to be a big upgrade," McDuffie said.

Other items that drew crowds at the store were cellphones, bargain DVDs and video games and Hatchimals  eggs with a small, animated animal inside that hatch when given attention.

As the beginning of the holiday season creeps ever earlier, retailers have been offering discounts on holiday merchandise since late October. The start used to be the day after Thanksgiving, but many mall operators and the big stores that anchor them are sticking with going earlier.

"Most of the time Black Friday deals start the day of: Thanksgiving," said Ashley Shelton of Columbia, Missouri, who was as Kohl's with her boyfriend after dinner with family and then going to Walmart for a Roku and security cameras. "So tomorrow we're not really going to do as much shopping. Shopping starts on Thursday."

Target CEO Brian Cornell, who was at the store in Jersey City, told The Associated Press he's encouraged by early reports from stores around the country, and cited lower food and fuel prices and a solid job market as reasons to be optimistic. "It's really a good time to be a consumer," said Cornell.

Hot items online and in the stores were sleepwear, Apple products and board games. Shoppers also filled their carts with items besides doorbusters, like holiday trees and high-end chocolates.

"They were up and down the aisles," Cornell said. "They took time to shop."

Leslie Lopez, a project coordinator from Jersey City, was pushing a cart of "Star Wars" and "Frozen" toys. Her friend Bariah Watt bought a Samsung TV for $247, slashed from about $400, but had no luck finding the white-hot Nintendo NES Classic system, originally priced at $60.

Watt says she would have paid several hundred dollars on eBay or other sites to get her hands on it. "I'm a Nintendo kid," she said. "It takes me back to my childhood."

But many workers complain that stores are putting profits over workers' time to be with their families, and some shoppers vow never to shop on the holiday.

At the Walmart in suburban Columbia, Tonjua Calhoun had studied the 36-page ad carefully and planned to buy a pressure cooker, some sheets, and a portable DVD player. Calhoun, 52, also planned to go to J.C. Penney and maybe Target. But she wishes they were after-Thanksgiving sales.

"I think they ought to give everyone a whole day with their families," Calhoun said. "It was a lot more fun when you woke up Friday, grabbed an early breakfast and went all day."

Some stores believe it's not worth opening on Thanksgiving since the sales are spread out. Consumer electronics chain hhgregg Inc. and the Mall of America in Minnesota are closed on Thanksgiving after opening on the holiday in the past.

The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail group, expects holiday sales to rise 3.6 percent for November and December, better than the 3 percent growth seen for those months last year. That excludes car sales, gas and restaurant receipts but includes online spending and other non-store sales like catalog spending.

This weekend is crucial to set the tone for the season. Around 137 million people plan to or are considering doing their shopping during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to a survey conducted for the NRF. That includes online and store shopping. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, vies with the Saturday before Christmas as the busiest shopping day of the year.

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Associated Press writers Bruce Shipkowski in Howell, New Jersey, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri, contributed to this report.

Lourdes Landa, 32, left, assists Ivan Marcano, 27, and his girlfriend, Barbara Moreno, 27, as they shop for clothes for their dog, Luna, at Dolphins Mall on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)

Shoppers walk by signage advertising Black Friday sales at Dolphins Mall in Doral, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)

Shoppers look at store windows advertising Black Friday sales at Dolphins Mall in Doral, Fla., on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)
Friends and family hold vigil for slain West Virginia teen

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  A black teenager fatally shot after police say he bumped into a 62-year-old white man is being remembered as a funny, smart and a good friend.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports (http://bit.ly/2fJq3Is) vigils have been held for 15-year-old James Means. Police say he was shot in Charleston by William Pulliam who showed no remorse.

Pulliam in a jail interview with WCHS-TV said he shot the teenager in self-defense because he felt threatened.

Thirteen-year-old James Cooper witnessed the shooting. He called James a good friend who "always came up with ideas of what to do and how to make it fun."

City police say the teen was shot Monday evening at an intersection and was taken by ambulance to a Charleston hospital, where he was pronounced dead from two gunshot wounds.

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No holiday for political talk, social media posts suggest

As Americans feasted on turkey Thursday during the nation's first major post-election holiday, some took to social media to describe the political gloating, loathing and subject avoiding they experienced around the Thanksgiving table.

Facebook and Twitter posts, many even before dinner was served, revealed some people still struggling to come to grips with Donald Trump's victory and others expressing relief that his rival, Hillary Clinton, didn't win.

Some explained through posts and interviews that celebrating a holiday centered on gratitude and sustenance provided some healing of divisions, even if just temporarily.

Ivan, one of the lead horses in the Budweiser Clydesdales, smiles for the camera as Lisa Carroll takes a selfie after the team paraded down Atlantic Blvd. to the circle near the beach access, during Pete's Thanksgiving Block Party, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Neptune Beach, Fla. People jammed First Street in front of Pete's Bar enjoying beverages and some wearing festive hats and outfits. (Bob Mack /The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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CRISIS AVERTED

Sarah Littlefield feared the worst as she processed the election results and looked ahead to Thanksgiving dinner.

"If Trump wins b/c of Michigan, thanksgiving with my Marxist Michigander grandparents is going to be so painful," she posted on Twitter earlier this month.

But on Thursday, Littlefield said things were going more smoothly than feared when her liberal grandmother and partner visited the home of her independent but conservative parents in Alexandria, Virginia.

"There is a lot of common ground  no one here found a perfect candidate," said Littlefield, a 21-year-old who is studying American government and global studies as a senior at the University of Virginia.

Littlefield said she voted for Clinton but doesn't know how her parents voted "because I don't want to open that can of worms." Her grandmother and partner said they opted for Clinton, but Littlefield said they don't seem "most enthusiastic."

Littlefield said the real concerns have involved dinner itself. Her family discovered Wednesday that the oven was broken, so they bought a turkey roaster. This is also Littlefield's first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian, so, she said, "I'm making rice for myself."

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TURNING THE TABLES

Mike Mower considered setting up three tables at the Thanksgiving lunch he and his wife were hosting for a large group in Salt Lake City, Utah: one for Trump supporters, one for Clinton supporters and one for backers of independent candidate Evan McMullin.

But Mower, a longtime Republican and deputy chief of staff for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, tweeted that there were too many Clinton supporters to go forward with that plan.

His wife overruled the plans for separate seating anyway, declaring that people would mix despite political affiliations. They did, however, intentionally put their eldest daughter, a 23-year-old liberal who lives in Brooklyn, far from her grandfather, an 86-year-old Trump supporter.

One son, a political science major and Clinton supporter, wanted to make the pie a representative chart showing Clinton won more of the popular vote.

"I told him 'We're not using dessert for political posturing,'" said Mower, laughing.

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THE KIDS ARE LISTENING

In the run-up to the holiday, Bernadeia Johnson took to Twitter with some advice: "Thanksgiving is the first holiday after the election. children may not be at the adult table but they hear your convo. Model civility"

On Thanksgiving Day, the Minneapolis grandmother and educator acknowledged there still could be some "talking smack" around the dinner table at her cousin's house.

"It'll be loud and lively at our table," said Johnson, former Minneapolis schools' administrator who is now an assistant professor of education leadership at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

"We will argue and there will be conflict  in good fun," she said. "Even if there wasn't something going on, we'd have to find something for people to get riled up about."

Johnson said she believes everyone at the gathering generally agree on political topics, and "we will make Trump the turkey." However, if one cousin who predicted a Trump victory attempts to underscore that point, "We'll just look at each other and roll our eyes," she said.

She said it's important for children to see people coming together  even in disagreement.

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HOLD THE ANGER

With relatives scattered across the country, photographer Meri Bond was celebrating Thanksgiving with like-minded friends at a home on the Massachusetts coast outside Boston.

The political conversation among the Clinton supporters was largely an election post-mortem, not angry condemnation of the other side, she said.

That morning, Bond took to Facebook to encourage both sides to listen to each other, writing "Let's celebrate our shared humanity. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone."

At her recent 50th high school reunion, she was struck by how difficult it can be for people with differing ideologies to do that.

"Even though I tried really hard to be upbeat on my posts, it's pretty bruising try to communicate with people who don't watch the same news, they don't hear things the same way, they see Hillary in a completely different way than I do," she said.

Still, she remains optimistic.

"Part of me is really curious to give (Trump) a shot and see where it goes," she said.

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IN HOT WATER? HERE'S A HOTLINE

White people who want to talk race issues at Thanksgiving can lean on a text hotline set up by an organization that wants people to seek out such conversations, not steer clear of them. The group, called Showing up for Racial Justice, says the idea was spurred after hearing from "newly politicized" people from around the country nervous about the holiday.

The hotline is designed to help people who get stuck in tough spots during racial conversations. They can text "SOS" and choose from a menu of options to get helpful facts or talking points so they can have respectful conversations without alienating family members, said Heather Cronk, co-founder of a group formed in 2009 amid backlash to election of President Barack Obama.

"I would liken it to the Butterball hotline, but it's not about turkeys, it's about your racist uncle," said Cronk from her home in Washington, D.C.

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Associated Press writer Brady McCombs contributed from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/jeff-karoub.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his family, wife Cecilia and daughter Audrey serve a hot holiday meal to Hermona Surita, right, a client of Meals on Wheels and More who lives in East Austin, Texas on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Meals on Wheels and More served over 450 Thanksgiving Day meals to clients Thursday morning for those that didn't have family or friends to share the holiday. (Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A sea of people gather in front of Pete's Bar and Neptune Beach City Hall during Pete's Thanksgiving Block Party, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 in Neptune Beach, Fla. (Bob Mack /The Florida Times-Union via AP)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his family, wife Cecilia, left, and daughter Audrey, center, serve a hot holiday meal to Hermona Surita, right, a client of Meals on Wheels and More who lives in East Austin, Texas on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Meals on Wheels and More served over 450 Thanksgiving Day meals to clients Thursday morning for those that didn't have family or friends to share the holiday. (Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Vicki Tompkins wears turkey sunglasses to Pete's Thanksgiving Block Party on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Neptune Beach, Fla. People jammed First Street in front of Pete's Bar enjoying beverages and some wearing festive hats and outfits. (Bob Mack/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

Cheryl Plankey of West Bend smiles as she adds gravy to the plate of Dan Walk of Germantown during the community Thanksgiving Day meal Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 at Faith Lutheran Church in Germantown, Wis. (John Ehlke/The Daily Tribune via AP)

Volunteers prepare food at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church to be delivered to low-income and elderly residents during Thanksgiving in Athens, Ga., Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. (John Roark/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)
8 soldiers killed in suicide car bombing in Egypt's Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP)  Egypt's military spokesman says Islamic militants have exploded a suicide car bomb at a checkpoint in northern Sinai and clashed with troops, leaving eight dead.

Mohammed Samir said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page that the militants late Thursday also blew up an armored vehicle at the checkpoint near the restive city of el-Arish. At least 12 troops were injured.

Samir said three of the militants were killed and the rest are on the run. He also said the car bomb was laden with a large amount of explosives.

No group claimed responsibility.
Police urge dating apps to do more to prevent crime, after Stephen Port case

Dating apps must take greater responsibility for protecting their users' safety, police chiefs said as Scotland Yard faced allegations it missed opportunities to stop serial killer Stephen Port.

The 41-year-old chef drugged and murdered four young men and raped several others he had lured to his flat after meeting them via web dating services.

The Metropolitan Police, which has come under fierce criticism for its handling of the case, said it was working with charities to raise awareness among users.

The picture profile of Stephen Port on social media site Gaydar (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The force is also re-examining dozens of unexplained deaths involving the drug GHB in recent years to make sure that foul play has not been missed.

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said that apps could do more to help prevent their users becoming victims of sexual predators.

Chief Constable Jane Sawyers, police lead for LGBT issues at the NPCC, told the BBC that while apps have a role in referring victims on to police "they could do more to prevent the offences in the first place".

She also suggested apps could tell users to "get to know the person, not the profile" and carry warnings of the many fake accounts on the various apps and sites.

Ms Sawyers admitted there was still a "stigma" surrounding the reporting of crimes stemming from gay dating apps, the BBC said.

She added: "There shouldn't be any concerns about gay people reporting things to police ... we're not there to judge, what we're interested in is justice for the individual."

Port met his victims online and invited them to his flat in Dagenham, East London, where he poisoned them with the party drug GHB, raped them and dumped their bodies within 400 metres of his flat.

His first victim, Anthony Walgate, 23, was found dead in the communal hall of Port's apartment block in the early hours of June 19 2014.

When police tracked him down, Port lied to officers to distance himself from the fashion student and occasional male escort.

He was later jailed for perverting the course of justice but continued to claim Mr Walgate died from taking his own drugs.

Slovakian 22-year-old Gabriel Kovari was staying on Port's sofa as a temporary flatmate.

Three weeks after Mr Kovari was found dead, the same dog walker stumbled across the body of Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, on September 20, 2014.

In his hand, was a suicide note taking the blame for Mr Kovari's death, saying he gave him too much GHB at a party.

Police treated Mr Whitworth's death "at face value" and no efforts were made to verify the sham note which turned out to be in Port's handwriting, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.

Some of the victims' loved ones, members of the Met's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) independent advisory group and journalists from website Pink News all raised concerns that a serial killer was at large, and were all told that there was no link between the deaths.

Jack Taylor, 25, died within hours of hooking up with Port through a dating app in the early hours of September 13 2015.

Initially, his death was treated as "non-suspicious", the Old Bailey was told.

His mother, Donna Taylor, said police "should be held accountable for Jack's death" and they planned to sue after Port was convicted at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said a public appeal and investigation would have been far swifter and more comprehensive had the victims been "four well-off young women from Mayfair".

He accused the police of "class, gender and sexuality bias" and suggested lives may have been saved had they acted sooner.

Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Met's Specialist Crime and Operations command, said: "We have held community meetings and worked alongside organisations such as anti-violence charity Galop to issue safety advice for those who use online dating sites and apps or are affected by any of the issues raised."

An Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry is being carried out into the force's handling of the case and 17 officers are facing investigation into possible misconduct.

The Met is also reassessing 58 unexplained deaths involving GHB from a four-year period across London to make sure that foul play has not been missed in any other cases.

It is not known if Port has been linked to any of them.

In total Port was found guilty of a total of 22 offences against 11 men including the four murders, four rapes, 10 counts of administering a substance and four sex assaults.
US speeches made George Osborne 320,000 in weeks

George Osborne made 320,000 in a matter of weeks from delivering speeches in America, official figures show.

The former chancellor, sacked from the Government by Theresa May when she became Prime Minister in July, has been paid more than 80,000 a go for some of his recent speaking engagements.

The figures, revealed in the latest register of MPs' financial interests, show Mr Osborne expects to receive payments of 81,174 and 60,578 from JP Morgan for two speeches delivered at the start of October - a total of seven hours work.

Former chancellor George Osborne made a number of speeches in the US

Mr Osborne signed up to the Washington Speakers' Bureau after he left Government and he is due to be paid 80,240 from Palmex Derivatives for a speech in New York he gave on October 27 - which he recorded as a total of two hours work.

Mr Osborne also expects to be paid 69,992 by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in return for a speech on September 27 and October 18.

Meanwhile, the former chancellor is due to be paid 28,454 for a speech on October 17 from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The latest register of interests also show Michael Bloomberg paid for Mr Osborne and his wife to attend a dinner for the former mayor of New York City in Paris.

The value of the travel, accommodation and dinner in the middle of October was estimated at 4,086.
Bruce Springsteen should be next US ambassador to UK - John Mann

Bruce Springsteen should become the next US ambassador to the UK, according to an MP.

Labour's John Mann said he would welcome the musician, nicknamed "The Boss", taking on the role and praised him for writing "many of the anthems of America".

The suggestion comes after US President-elect Donald Trump called for interim Ukip leader Nigel Farage to be appointed Britain's ambassador to the United States.

Bruce Springsteen has been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is a Labour MP's pick for US ambassador to the UK (AP)

Number 10 was forced to insist there was "no vacancy" and offered praise to Britain's incumbent ambassador Sir Kim Darroch after Mr Trump's late-night tweet.

Mr Mann (Bassetlaw) has now tabled a motion in Parliament offering a suggestion to Mr Trump about who the US should send to the UK to aid diplomatic relations.

Mr Mann's early day motion (EDM) states: " That this House recognises the importance of the city of Youngstown in Ohio to the US.

"(It) notes that Bruce Springsteen recently received the US's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"(It) believes that Bruce Springsteen has written and performed many of the anthems of America and would welcome Bruce Springsteen as the next US Ambassador to the UK."

Matthew Barzun has been the US ambassador to the UK since 2013.
Wales boss Rob Howley sees "X-factor" and versatility in Liam Williams

Wales boss Rob Howley has described Liam Williams as "probably a left-wing who can play full-back" after making another switch of positions with Toulon star Leigh Halfpenny.

Many pundits view full-back as the best role for Williams, who looks set to join English and European champions Saracens next season and is rated as a British and Irish Lions certainty in New Zealand next summer.

He started in the number 15 shirt when Wales claimed a tense 33-30 victory over Japan last weekend, with Halfpenny on the wing, but those roles have been reversed for South Africa's Principality Stadium visit on Saturday.

Wales interim head coach Rob Hawley sees "X-factor" and versatility in Liam Williams

"Liam was very disappointed with his performance (against Japan)," interim head coach Howley said.

"I spoke to him about being a connection in the back field. Liam is a very intuitive player, there is an X-factor about Liam and he has that ability to add value in the wider channels.

"But Leigh is equally important. The way we defend, Leigh Halfpenny does a lot of work on and off the ball.

"For me, at the moment, that is the best back-three (George North is the other wing). Liam is probably a left-wing who can play full-back, where I think Leigh can play both."

Captain Sam Warburton, meanwhile, has been ruled out of Wales' autumn finale after suffering a stinger injury during training on Tuesday. Stinger-type injuries normally impact on the shoulder and neck area.

Prop Gethin Jenkins will skipper the side, with Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty forming Wales' back-row against the Springboks.

Centre Jamie Roberts is dropped to the bench for a second time in three Tests - Scott Williams again replaces him - while Howley recalls several players who sat out last weekend's tense victory over Japan, including North, fly-half Dan Biggar and lock Luke Charteris.

And Bath number eight Taulupe Faletau, who has played less than an hour of competitive rugby since he suffered a knee ligament injury in early September, joins Roberts among the replacements, where Sam Davies - Wales' drop-goal matchwinner against Japan - also features.

Reflecting on Warburton's absence, Howley added: "It's the same injury he had while training with Cardiff Blues before the autumn internationals.

"He felt he would get through the next 24-48 hours, but the medical staff saw him this morning and decided he wouldn't be fit."

And reflecting on 85 times-capped Roberts' omission, Howley said: "I thought Jamie did well against Japan. Jamie doesn't deserve to be dropped, but Scott played particularly well against Argentina and didn't deserve to be dropped (for Japan).

"Against Japan, when we were very direct, we were okay. International rugby is about the gain-line and the speed of ball at the breakdown. This week is about Scott doing what he did against Argentina.

"Look at the side we have picked, it's a sign of confidence from the coaches in the performance against Argentina. Dan Lydiate (for Warburton) is the only change from that."

Wales' style of play has come under the microscope this month during an autumn campaign that began with a crushing 32-8 defeat against Australia, before narrow victories were posted over Argentina and Japan.

And if they beat South Africa for only the third time in 32 meetings, it would give them a best autumn Tests winning return since they claimed three successes from four starts 14 years ago.

"We want to play, but there has to be a sensibility about when," Howley added. "We have always encouraged our squad to play because we feel we have X-factor players.

"Against Japan, we hurt ourselves. The three tries Japan scored came from us having had the ball. It was disappointing because we were in control of the ball.

"I wouldn't stop the players playing. We want to play. That is the modern game, and it's important the players and the coaches know that.

"We always look at ourselves and how we have performed. We won the game (against Japan), but the performance and the expectation of the players and coaches came up short.
Boy, 17, arrested after two students stabbed outside college campus

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two students were stabbed outside a college campus.

Police were called to the scene at Manchester College at about 11.10am on Thursday.

A 17-year-old boy suffered a stab wound to his chest and an 18-year-old man was stabbed in the back in Chorlton Street in the city centre.

Police forensic officers outside Manchester College after a 17-year-old boy suffered a stab wound to his chest and an 18-year-old man was stabbed in the back

Both are in a stable condition in hospital after they received treatment for their injuries.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers recovered a knife from the scene and a 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He is currently in police custody for questioning.

"Police are continuing to appeal for any witnesses to come forward."

Detective Inspector Rebecca Boyce added: "We currently have one person in custody but we are still in the early stages of the investigation and need those who witnessed the incident to get in contact with us.

"There were a lot of people in the area at that time so I'm encouraging anyone who has any information, no matter how small, to call police.

"I'd like to re-emphasise that we have a team of highly skilled officers working on this investigation and we are following each line of enquiry extremely seriously."

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting reference number 757 of 24/11/16 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Chorlton Street was cordoned off by police between Fairfield Street and Canal Street as investigations took place.

Forensic officers were at the scene and evidence markers could be seen on the pavement outside the college gates.

Lisa O'Loughlin, principal of Manchester College, said: "An incident occurred this morning outside our Shena Simon campus in which two of our students were injured.
Garry Ringrose set for Ireland start against Australia

Garry Ringrose will make his first senior start at inside centre to solve injury-hit Ireland's midfield dilemma against Australia in Dublin on Saturday.

The 21-year-old has not started a game at 12 since turning out for Leinster's under-20s last season but acquitted himself admirably in the role off the bench against New Zealand last weekend.

Robbie Henshaw's absence through concussion and Johnny Sexton's hamstring problem has forced Ireland into several midfield reshuffles to take on the Wallabies.

Garry Ringrose will start for Ireland against Australia

Paddy Jackson slots in at fly-half with British and Irish Lions fly-half Sexton sidelined, while Rob Kearney and CJ Stander have overcome concussion issues to start.

Ireland had drafted Ulster centre Stuart Olding into their squad in midweek while releasing midfielder Luke Marshall back to the Belfast province.

But Ireland boss Joe Schmidt has opted to give highly-rated Ringrose his head at inside centre, even though he has not even started a PRO12 match for Leinster in the role.

Ringrose coped well enough at 12 off the bench to replace the concussed Henshaw in Ireland's 21-9 loss to the All Blacks in Dublin last weekend.

Ireland lost their midfield attacking shape however, with Ringrose in unfamiliar territory at inside centre and Paddy Jackson also thrust into action prematurely after Sexton's hamstring problem.

Keith Earls has stepped up to start on the wing, with Simon Zebo dropping to the bench after missing training in the early part of the week.
Court of Appeals of Kentucky. HOMESTEAD FAMILY FARM APPELLANT v. DAVID PERRY; UNINSURED EMPLOYERS' FUND; JONATHAN R. WETHERBY, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD APPELLEES NO. 2015-CA-001988-WC Decided: November 23, 2016

BEFORE: KRAMER, CHIEF JUDGE; DIXON AND TAYLOR, JUDGES. BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: Jackson W. Watts Versailles, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEE David Perry: Peter J. Naake Louisville, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEE Uninsured Employers' Fund: Paul D. Adams Frankfort, Kentucky AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF ON BEHALF OF Kentucky Department of Agriculture: Clint R. Quarles Frankfort, Kentucky

OPINION REVERSING AND REMANDING

Homestead Family Farm seeks review of a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board that reversed the ALJ's dismissal of David Perry's claim for benefits. The sole issue presented concerns whether the agriculture exemption applies to Perry's claim.

Pursuant to KRS 342.630(1), an employer engaged solely in agriculture does not have to comply with the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act. Similarly, KRS 342.650(5) provides that a person employed in agriculture is not covered by the Act. The term agriculture

means the operation of farm premises, including the planting, cultivation, producing, growing, harvesting, and preparation for market of agricultural or horticultural commodities thereon, the raising of livestock for food products and for racing purposes, and poultry thereon, and any work performed as an incident to or in conjunction with the farm operations, including the sale of produce at on-site markets and the processing of produce for sale at on-site markets. It shall not include the commercial processing, packing, drying, storing, or canning of such commodities for market, or making cheese or butter or other dairy products for market;

KRS 342.0011(18).

Homestead's farming business includes 25,000 acres of corn, soybeans, and winter wheat that are harvested and eventually sold to grain elevators or distilleries. Perry was employed by Homestead as a truck driver and operations laborer for approximately two weeks when he injured his back on December 28, 2013. That day, Perry picked up a load of soybeans at one of Homestead's farms in Boyle County and hauled them to Homestead's grain bins in Springfield. While using an auger to move the soybeans from the truck to the grain bin, Perry fell backward and injured his back. Perry filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits, which was bifurcated to address the applicability of the agriculture exemption. Perry's deposition testimony indicated he believed his job was primarily to transport grain and soybeans, but also included performing other tasks during the farm's slow times. Ashley Reding, a general partner with Homestead, also testified by deposition. According to Reding, the sale of crops was Homestead's sole source of income. She indicated Perry's other job duties included cleaning out grain bins, building repairs, and possibly running a tractor or sprayer. Reding also explained the harvested crops were typically taken to one of Homestead's storage bins because the crops had to be dried and dehumidified (to prevent mold) before the crops could go to market.

The ALJ concluded both Homestead and Perry were engaged in agricultural work pursuant to KRS 342.630(1) and KRS 342.650(5) and dismissed Perry's claim pursuant to the agriculture exemption. Perry filed a petition for reconsideration, asking the ALJ to make additional findings regarding whether his activities as a truck driver engaged in drying and storing grain were excluded from the statutory definition of agriculture. The ALJ made the following additional findings on reconsideration:

1. The Defendant provided testimony from Ashley Reding, who stated that the Defendant's activities consist exclusively of growing corn, soybeans, and winter wheat for sale either to grain elevators or distilleries. She further testified that the farm has no other income other than from the sale of grain and the Plaintiff was injured while hauling grain that was grown on the farm to a bin at one of the other properties that is owned or leased by the Defendant.

2. The Plaintiff testified that he was in the process of pulling a grain auger, which shoots grain out of the truck and into a grain bin. He stated that he had taken the grain from one property owned by the Defendant to another that was either leased or owned by the Defendant.

3. The ALJ finds that the activities of the Plaintiff fall squarely within the plain meaning of the definition of Agriculture found in KRS 342.0011(18) as follows in relevant part:

the operation of farm premises, including the planting, cultivation, producing, growing, harvesting, and preparation for market of agricultural or horticultural commodities thereon,  and any work performed as an incident to or in conjunction with the farm operations 

4. The work being performed by the Plaintiff was part of the preparation for market of agricultural commodities or at the very least part of work performed as an incident to or in conjunction with the farm operations. The ALJ therefore declines to disturb the Opinion and Order dated May 26, 2015.

Perry appealed the ALJ's dismissal of his claim to the Board, asserting that, at the time of his injury, he was engaged in the commercial drying and storing of grain, an activity excluded from the definition of agriculture. The Board concluded the ALJ erred by finding Perry was an agricultural employee at the time of his injury. The Board stated, in relevant part:

In this case, the testimony is largely uncontested regarding Homestead's operation, and the activity Perry was engaged in at the time of his injury. To facilitate their farming operation, Homestead transferred grain to bins in various locations where it was dried and stored until delivery to distilleries and elevators. Reding testified the grain bins were a part of the farm's business. The grain was dried in order to prevent mold and mildew. Reding testified all land used by Homestead was either leased or owned by it, including that upon which the bins were located. She confirmed Homestead's income is derived solely from the sale of grain, and it only hauled grain it grew.

Perry was primarily hired to haul grain to the various bins at the Springfield and Howardstown locations, as well as to an elevator located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. His job as a driver included the loading and unloading of the grain with assistance of farming equipment. Perry testified on the day of the accident, he had been at a Homestead farm in Boyle County to load harvested soybeans which he hauled to Springfield to unload into grain bins. He was injured while unloading grain with an auger into one of the bins.

Agriculture does not include the commercial processing, packing, drying, storing or canning of such commodities for market  KRS 342.0011(18). Perry testified he was injured while unloading soybeans at the Springfield facility for the purposes of drying them prior to sale. There was no evidence presented to dispute this testimony. Based on the plain meaning of the statute, to which we must confine our analysis, we conclude Perry's activities at the time of his injury do not fall within the agricultural exemption as defined by KRS 342.0011(18).

The Board reversed the ALJ, finding the statutory agricultural exemption did not apply to Perry because he was engaged in the commercial drying and storing of agricultural commodities when he was injured. Homestead now seeks review of the Board's decision.

When this Court reviews a decision of the Board, we correct the Board only where the Court perceives the Board has overlooked or misconstrued controlling statutes or precedent, or committed an error in assessing the evidence so flagrant as to cause gross injustice. Western Baptist Hosp. v. Kelly, 827 S.W.2d 685, 687-88 (Ky. 1992).

Homestead argues the Board misconstrued the statutory definition of agriculture by concluding Perry was engaged in commercial drying and storing when he was injured unloading soybeans at Homestead's grain bin. Homestead opines the plain meaning of commercial as used in the statute would be a facility that generates revenue by drying and storing crops for customers as a business enterprise. In contrast, Perry contends the Board's interpretation of commercial is correct because he was drying and storing Homestead's grain for future sale, which is a commercial activity.

In the case at bar, the Board relied on the enumerated exclusions from the general definition of agriculture - the commercial processing, packing, drying, storing, or canning of such commodities for market  [,] KRS 342.0011(18), to reach its conclusion that the agriculture exemption did not apply to Perry. After careful review, we are convinced the Board misconstrued the definition of agriculture found in KRS 342.0011(18).

In Fitzpatrick v. Crestfield Farm, Inc., 582 S.W.2d 44, 45 (Ky. App. 1978), the Court addressed the applicability of the agriculture exemption to a farm that raised tobacco, hay, and thoroughbred horses, as well as boarded horses owned by others. The Board determined that boarding horses did not constitute an agricultural activity and found the injured employee was entitled to workers' compensation benefits. Id. The Court reversed and concluded the agriculture exemption applied, noting in its analysis that

it was not just the nature of the work which the employee was doing at the time of the injury that determined coverage, but that the whole character of the employment should be considered in determining whether a person was employed in agriculture.

Id. at 46. The Court rejected the Board's reasoning that boarding horses belonging to someone else would change the nature of the work from farming activities to the operation of a hortel giving the operation a commercial rather than agricultural connotation. Id.

We believe the reasoning of Fitzpatrick is instructive in the case at bar. The Court's analysis implies the term commercial means providing a service to customers for a fee, as in boarding horses belonging to other people. See id. Here, there is absolutely no evidence to support the Board's conclusion that Perry was engaged in a commercial drying and storing activity. It was undisputed that Perry was tasked with hauling the harvested crops and unloading them at Homestead's storage silos. Reding's testimony established that Homestead only harvested and stored its own crops, and the farm's sole source of income was from the eventual sale of those crops at market. Perry's activities fit within the statutory definition of agriculture, i.e., the harvesting, and preparation for market of agricultural  commodities  and any work performed as an incident to or in conjunction with the farm operations, KRS 342.0011(18); consequently, Perry was a person employed in agriculture and not covered by the Act pursuant to KRS 342.650(5). Because we conclude Perry was employed in agriculture and exempt from coverage, the Board's decision to the contrary was erroneous as a matter of law.

For the reasons stated herein, we reverse the Board's opinion and remand this case to the Board with instructions to reinstate the ALJ's opinion and order dismissing Perry's claim.

DIXON, JUDGE:

ALL CONCUR.
Jeremy Corbyn: Spend more on hospitals, social care and mental health

Jeremy Corbyn has called for more money to be spent on hospitals, social care and mental health, claiming the Government is "under-funding" key services.

The Labour leader claimed there was a mental health "crisis" and it needed to be funded properly, while he said Government cuts to local authority budgets were having a knock-on effect on social care.

Speaking ahead of the party's NHS campaign day on Saturday, he was setting out Labour's vision on health policy.

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn talks to union staff during a visit to George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton

After meeting Midlands health officials from Unison in Birmingham on Thursday, Mr Corbyn said: "There's three elements.

"One - hospital provision, under-funding of hospitals, waiting times and STP - sustainability and transformation plans, which are putting at risk a lot of A&E departments all around the country.

He added: "The second element is social care, under-funding of social care, the need to improve social care and improve the way in which we treat care workers.

"They're vital, valuable, very responsible and very well experienced people. They should be treated better and paid better.

"Third, there is a mental health crisis across the country.

"I feel very passionately about this, that's why I have appointed a shadow minister at cabinet level just for dealing with mental health because I think as a country we have to face up to the crisis we're in, fund it properly, but above all change the mood music as well.

"The biggest killer of under-50-year-old men is suicide from mental health conditions - that's terrible."

Mr Corbyn earlier met staff at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which has just come out of special measures.

Speaking of the visit, he said: "Well done all those that work in that hospital but they are under-funded, they have problems releasing elderly patients who need social care because the social care facilities are over-stretched and not available to them."

He added: "The concerns there are frail, elderly patients who've had the necessary hospital treatment then need to go home, or go into a care facility of some sort.

"It's not available, there isn't anyone to care for them because the local authority's budget is so stretched, so they stay in hospital longer.

"It costs the hospital 1,500 to 2,000 per week.

"It stops somebody else going into hospital, it may delay an operation for sombody else and it increases the cost and misery for everybody."

Mr Corbyn said: "It's not the fault fo the older person who is stuck in hospital, it's the fault of a Government that under-funds local authorities who want to provide the social care that is necessary.

"It's a social care problem across the whole of Britain."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The Government has committed to a 10 billion funding increase each year by 2020/2021 for the NHS, which is dealing with more patients than ever before whilst improving care.

"This includes 4 billion extra this year, as well as more money for building new hospitals.
Canadian artist searching for best van Gogh lookalike finds subject in Dorset

A Canadian artist scouring the planet for Vincent van Gogh's closest lookalike has found his subject in the UK.

Douglas Coupland will now use Daniel Baker, from Christchurch, Dorset, as the source material for a large bronze sculpture of the Dutch artist, which will be the first in a series of outdoor works entitled Redheads.

He used van Gogh's self-portraits, which he describes as "the selfies of their era" to choose Mr Baker from the 1,250 entrants from 37 countries who submitted photos hoping to be chosen as his subject.

A self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh

Mr Baker has already undergone a 3D-photogrammetry scanning process using hundreds of cameras to generate a wealth of multidimensional facial data so that that Coupland can create a likeness of van Gogh's head.

Coupland said: " Meeting Dan was a very strange experience because I'd spent months looking at Vincent lookalikes on a computer screen and then suddenly there was this man - my Vincent van Gogh - hopping out of a taxi looking like he'd just stepped out of the year 1889."

Coupland's sculpture has been commissioned by Anthony von Mandl for his Martin's Lane winery in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.
Britain's FTSE ends little changed, housebuilders skid

By Alistair Smout

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index ended flat on Wednesday after a choppy day, with individual sectors diverging as finance minister Philip Hammond delivered the biggest economic update since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union.

The FTSE 100 index ended flat, after rising 0.6 percent in the previous session.

Housebuilders, which first benefited from government plans to boost housing and infrastructure spending, turned lower. Shares in Barratt Developments fell 1.9 percent, while Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey both dropped over 1.5 percent.

Analysts said the early gain was not sustained as the extra funding had been anticipated. There was also a lack of detail about how the new housing would be delivered, and the sector was also caught in the poor global market sentiment.

Estate agents Foxtons and Countrywide tumbled 14 percent and 5.2 percent respectively on a government plan to ban one-off tenant fees.

Centrica and SSE were also volatile after the so-called Autumn Statement, rising sharply as Hammond said that a carbon price support scheme would be capped until 2020.

Both stocks gave up most gains, and Hammond said he was looking into whether pricing practices were fair in the sector. However, he unveiled no new regulations.

"Given a number of the utility stocks - most notably Centrica and SSE - were discounting some risk of adverse policy changes, especially with respect to carbon pricing and retail energy policy, we consider the Autumn Statement to be 'no news is good news' for now," analysts at Barclays said in a note.

Elsewhere in the sector, United Utilities rose on the back of its results after it posted slightly higher first-half profit, helped by new pricing regulations and lower spending on infrastructure improvements.

It rose 0.7 percent, off highs, as did sector peer Severn Trent, which reports results on Thursday.

Among mid caps, Thomas Cook surged 7.4 percent after it posted profits slightly ahead of expectations.

It rose to its highest level since May, when it cautioned that security concerns were dampening summer demand - an update which sent shares down 19 percent.

"It was a tough year for the tourist industry, with instability in Turkey and a spate of terror attacks taking their toll," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"But Thomas Cook's swift action to shift its holiday programme into the Western Mediterranean and long haul, together with the benefits of a stronger euro, helped it to maintain revenue, and bookings for next summer in its key markets are encouraging."
Trump fills top jobs on security, UN, education

Nov 24 (Reuters) - Republican President-elect Donald Trump continued to fill top jobs in his administration this week after his victory in the Nov. 8 U.S. election.

The following are details about his selections so far. Trump will take office on Jan. 20 and all but the national security adviser post require U.S. Senate confirmation:

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY

Haley, a 44-year-old Republican, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman.

EDUCATION SECRETARY: BETSY DEVOS

DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools.

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: U.S. SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS

Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN

Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy.

CIA DIRECTOR: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MIKE POMPEO

Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.
U.S. says troubled over arrest of Malaysian activist under security law

WASHINGTON/KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday said it was troubled by the arrest of a Malaysian activist and critic of Prime Minister Najib Razak under a security law.

Maria Chin Abdullah, the chair of pro-democracy group Bersih, was detained on Friday under Malaysia's Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or SOSMA, a law that was introduced in 2012 to fight security and extremist threats.

She was arrested a day before a demonstration that Bersih had organised for Saturday, when tens of thousands of Malaysians marched in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, demanding that Najib step down over his alleged involvement in a financial scandal .

"We are troubled by the ongoing detention and solitary confinement of Maria Chin Abdullah under national security laws," Alicia Edwards, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The U.S. is also concerned about the Malaysian authorities' arrest of a number of other organizers, activists and politicians ahead of and during the demonstration, she said.

Nearly a dozen activists and opposition leaders were arrested a day before the rally but they have all been released except Maria. Several were also detained on the day of the rally.

"The United States remains committed to the strong and growing partnership we have with Malaysia. In the spirit of that partnership, U.S. officials routinely and strongly voice our concerns about the rule of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms with the Government of Malaysia, and we will continue to do so," Edwards said.

Maria, who is 60 years old, is being held in solitary confinement in a cell 15 feet by 8 feet, where two light bulbs are turned on 24 hours, Bersih has said, adding that the cell does not have a window or a bed.

Under SOSMA, she can be detained for 28 days without trial.

The Malaysian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said the arrest under SOSMA was unjustified.

Several other rights groups have said the use of SOSMA for an organizer of a peaceful rally is abuse of power and that the Malaysian government is trying to suppress dissent by using draconian laws.

Najib has faced criticism since the Wall Street Journal reported last year that around $700 million from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was diverted into the personal bank account of the prime minister.

Lawsuits filed by the U.S. Justice Department in July said over $3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, which was founded by Najib, and that some of those funds flowed into the accounts of "Malaysian Official 1", whom U.S. and Malaysian officials have identified as Najib.
Taylor recognises risk of playing with eye condition

Nov 24 (Reuters) - New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor is aware that another cheap dismissal in the second test against Pakistan could give rise to questions about his eye condition and whether it has affected his performance.

The 32-year-old was cleared to play the match at Seddon Park, which starts on Friday, but has been told he would need surgery next week to remove a growth, or pterygium, on his left eye that has affected his vision.

Taylor said on Thursday he would have the surgery on Wednesday and would be sidelined for up to six weeks. New Zealand play a one-day series in Australia in early December before hosting Bangladesh for a full tour after Christmas.

The former captain has struggled with the bat in recent test matches, scoring a combined 103 runs in his last 10 innings, with a top score of 36.

"I'm sure that will probably be the case if that happens - I can't worry about it," Taylor told reporters in Hamilton on Thursday when asked about the decision to play despite the condition worsening.

"I'm going out there to bat and give my best with the bat and in the slip cordon - I can't really worry about 'what if.'"

Taylor said he had some problems with his vision during the first test against Pakistan -- he scored 11 in his only innings -- but after visiting specialists and receiving medication he felt that it was more mental.

"When you play and miss your first couple of balls after seeing an optometrist, there's some interesting things that go through your mind," he said.

"My eyesight is still pretty good but there's a medical reason it needs to be done and hopefully the recovery is as short as possible.

"I hope I can get them sorted and come back and get back to the form that I was (in) a few years ago."

Taylor said he had had the pterygium for about five years but it really only flared up during New Zealand's tour of Australia last year.

It had deteriorated since then.

"It gets irritated when it's windy. I go down to breakfast, the eye's a bit red and the team think you've been out all night," Taylor said.

"The only thing you can do is wear sunglasses and put eyedrops in.
Peru slams UN agency for hiring former first lady under investigation

LIMA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Peru rebuked the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on Wednesday for hiring former first lady Nadine Heredia as a Geneva-based director while she is a suspect in a money laundering inquiry.

The South American country's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement expressing its "displeasure and protest" over the appointment, which comes amid allegations by public prosecutors that Heredia and her husband, former President Ollanta Humala, took illicit funds from the government of Venezuela and Brazilian construction companies.

"We see this as interference in a public investigation of enormous national sensitivity," Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Luna said on local broadcaster RPP.

Earlier this year a judge barred Heredia from leaving Peru while her finances were probed, but prosecutors have yet to press charges against her or Humala in the high-profile case.

Peru's objections come as current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has sought to shore up his anti-corruption credentials after his adviser was ousted for appearing to plot corrupt acts in leaked audio.

The FAO defended its decision to hire Heredia as director of the agency's liaison office in Geneva, saying travel restrictions for her expired in October and were not extended.

"The appointment of Ms. Heredia was transparent applying ordinary competitive procedures and based on a rigorous selection process," the FAO said in a statement. "The case in Peru does not pose any impediments to her performing her new role."

Heredia was a FAO special ambassador in 2013, tasked with promoting the consumption of quinoa, a protein-rich Andean seed grown by Quechua-speaking farmers in Peru and Bolivia.

Heredia's attorney, Roy Gates, asked the government to respect Heredia's right to due process and said prosecutors should carry out their work free from political pressure.

Heredia traveled to Europe this week, worrying some in Peru who remember authoritarian President Alberto Fujimori fleeing the Andean country in 2000 before eventually facing extradition and jailtime for human rights violations and corruption.

Heredia, the co-founder and president of Humala's Nationalist Party of Peru, was once widely seen as having a bright political future, possibly as president. But she faced constant criticism for playing an influential role in Humala's government, which left office in July with low approval ratings.

Earlier this month a judge ordered Humala to deposit a bail bond to ensure he cooperates with the investigation after prosecutors said they have evidence to convict him of money laundering. He has denied the allegations.
Taiwan stocks fall on profit-taking in tech shares

TAIPEI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell slightly on Thursday on profit-taking in technology stocks, but trading was mixed as major airlines advanced on business opportunities following TransAsia Airways' decision to shut operations earlier this week. As of 0339 GMT, the main TAIEX index fell 0.1 percent to 9,168.97, after closing 0.5 percent higher in the previous session, its highest closing level in over two weeks and posting a sixth straight session of gains. The electronics subindex dipped 0.5 percent, after marking gains of more than 3 percent over the last six sessions. Big-capped tech stocks Hon Hai Precision and TSMC were down around 0.8 percent each. The financials subindex gained 1.3 percent. The transportation subindex was 1.2 percent higher with China Airlines and EVA Airways, Taiwan's two biggest airline firms, up more than 6 percent and 2 percent, respectively. China Airlines will support routes that were operated by TransAsia Airways from the start of December, Taiwan's cabinet said Wednesday, in the aftermath of its smaller rival's move to shut operations on Tuesday. Shares in TransAsia were trading near their lower limit of 10 percent for a second straight session after it was suspended from trading on Tuesday pending its announcement. The Taiwan dollar softened T$0.065 to T$31.945 per U.S. dollar. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
Slovak Republic - Factors To Watch on Nov 24

BRATISLAVA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases.................. Summary of economic data and forecasts......... Recently released economic data................ Previous stories on Slovak data.......... **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/1C/events-overview ===================EVENTS====================================== BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's central bank will release a report on the financial stability of the banking sector. Related stories: ====================NEWS====================================== TAXATION: Slovakia's parliament approved tax reforms on Wednesday that will cut the corporate tax rate by one percentage point to 21 percent while hiking taxes on regulated industries. Story: Related stories: MEDIA: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told journalists they were "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes" on Wednesday when asked about allegations that public procurement rules had been broken for cultural events marking Slovakia's European Union presidency. Story: Related stories: WAGES: The Slovak government has agreed with labour unions to raise public sector workers' wage tariffs by 4 percent from January, the government said on Wednesday. Story: Related stories: MOTORWAY CONSTRUCTION: A consortium around Strabag will build a section of D3 motorway in Slovakia worth 239 million euros ($252.00 million). Story: Related stories: =================PRESS DIGEST================================== FDI: A Japanese parts manufacturer Minebea is looking at Slovakia to build a factory in eastern Slovak town Kosice that could employ 1,000 people, the daily said. The economy ministry confirmed in a statement it is in talks with the firm. Hospodarske Noviny, page 1 (Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy.) For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Main currency report TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets News editor of the day: Jason Hovet on +420 224 190 476 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Nov 24

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- More than half of Russians are expecting an improvement of bilateral relations with the United States after the election of Donald Trump as president. Sixty-three percent of them have explained their optimism with Trump's "friendly attitude towards Russia", the daily says.

- Russia's state property agency Rosimushchestvo is considering ways to revise laws regulating privatisation of state assets. Ninety percent of auctions on sales of state property did not take place and only half of the amount of assets that were put up for sale were sold, a Rosimushchestvo official says.

- The agricultural firm controlled by the family of Russia's Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev is set to become the second-biggest landowner in Russia after it acquires Parus Agro Group with 97,500 hectares of land in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- At least 11 state officials could lose their jobs in the Cabinet if they continue moonlighting as academics, the daily quotes President Vladimir Putin as saying on Wednesday.

- Russia's Central Election Commision has accepted four out of 26 violations discovered by the opposition Yabloko party during the September parliamentary elections. Those four facts of election violations would not alter the results of the voting, election officials said.

IZVESTIA

www.izvestia.ru

- Russia's Investigative Committee has filed a case against officials of the Krunichev State Research and Production Space Centre on charges of stealing at least 300 million roubles ($4.64 million) from the budget of a state-funded project to be implemented by 2020.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA

www.ng.ru

- The daily criticises official reports on the achievements of Russia's agriculture industry this year and claims that in reality this year showed lower results compared to the average figures of the last 17 years.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JARVIS WASHINGTON, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-2656 Decided: November 21, 2016

Before, DIANE P. WOOD, Chief Judge, FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge, DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge

ORDER

Jarvis Washington was convicted by a jury of two separate counts under 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1) for being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition. He complains on appeal that the district court failed to instruct the jury that it could not return separate convictions unless it concluded that Washington stored the gun and ammunition at different times or in different places. No such evidence exists, according to Washington; without it, he says, the convictions should merge. Our review, however, is for plain error only, because Washington forfeited this point in the district court. We find no such problem with the conviction and thus we affirm.

Washington was being sought for outstanding warrants when, on the morning of September 24, 2013, someone from the Winnebago County Sheriff's Police noticed his car parked outside his ex-girlfriend's apartment. Police surrounded the apartment, got consent from the woman to enter, and found Washington hiding in a bedroom closet. On the bedroom floor they spotted a box of plastic sandwich bags and another box with 25 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition. Plastic bags with crack cocaine and heroin were stashed in the dresser. A backpack near the bed contained marijuana and 13 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition. Police later took a closer look at Washington's car and noticed through a window the handle of a handgun protruding from under the driver's seat. After obtaining a warrant to search the car, they found a .45 caliber handgun with 12 rounds of ammunition in its magazine.

A grand jury indicted Washington for (1) possession with intent to distribute heroin and crack cocaine, 18 U.S.C.  841(a)(1), (2) possession with intent to distribute marijuana, id., (3) being a felon in possession of ammunition, 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1), (4) being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, id., and (5) possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, 21 U.S.C.  924(c)(1). The third of these counts charged Washington with possessing ammunition on or about September 24, 2013, and referred to the items found in the bedroom; the fourth charged him with possessing a gun and ammunition on or about the same date and referred to the car.

Without objection from Washington, the district court used the government's proposed jury instructions for the two charges under section 922(g)(1). The court instructed the jury that the government had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) Washington knowingly possessed the charged items, (2) had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year, and (3) the possession affected interstate commerce. The court did not instruct the jury that it had to find that Washington separately stored or acquired the charged items in order to convict on both section 922(g) counts.

The jury convicted him of the first four charges and acquitted him of the fifth. The district court sentenced Washington to concurrent sentences of 132 months' imprisonment for the first count, 60 months for the second, and 120 months each for the third and fourth. The court ordered four years' supervised release for the first two counts and three years' supervised release for the third and fourth, also to run concurrently. Washington did not argue at sentencing that his section 922(g)(1) convictions should merge.

Washington now contends that his separate section 922(g)(1) convictions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause and should merge into one because he simultaneously possessed the gun and ammunition found in the car and the apartment. We review this issue for plain error because Washington raises it for the first time on appeal. United States v. Parker, 508 F.3d 434, 440 (7th Cir. 2007).

Multiple section 922(g) convictions are justified if the government can produce evidence demonstrating that the firearms were stored or acquired separately and at different times or places. United States v. Conley, 291 F.3d 464, 470 (7th Cir. 2002) (quoting United States v. Buchmeier, 255 F.3d 415, 423 (7th Cir. 2001)). But only one conviction is permitted when the defendant's possession of multiple firearms is simultaneous and undifferentiated.  United States v. Cureton, 739 F.3d 1032, 1041 (7th Cir. 2014) (quoting Buchmeier, 255 F.3d at 422). Acquisition and storage are factual questions for the jury, but no plain error exists if the undisputed record demonstrates separate possession. See United States v. Woolsey, 759 F.3d 905, 90809 (8th Cir. 2014); United States v. Ankeny, 502 F.3d 829, 838 (9th Cir. 2007).

Washington contends that his dual convictions cannot stand because the jury was not asked to determine if he acquired or stored the charged items separately and at different times or places. As he puts it: [W]hile some of the ammunition was found inside the duplex while the gun and additional ammunition was [sic] found in the car, that does not amount to storing the gun and ammunition in different places. He develops the point further in his reply brief, suggesting that most likely the ammunition found in the apartment had been in his backpack, which he had grabbedas if in afterthoughtto take inside with him.

Logically, however, storing some weapons in a vehicle and others in a building represent separate acts of possession. Both the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have affirmed separate convictions for weapons stored in a house and a vehicle. See United States v. Hutching, 75 F.3d 1453, 1460 (10th Cir. 1996) (guns in bedroom, car, and truck were in scattered locations); United States v. Gann, 732 F.2d 714, 717, 721 (9th Cir. 1984) (shotgun and ammunition in defendant's car and rifle and ammunition in his house were stored separately); see also United States v. Kennedy, 682 F.3d 244, 256 (3rd Cir. 2012) (affirming two convictions for guns hidden in secret compartments of two cars); United States v. Verrecchia, 196 F.3d 294, 296, 298 (1st Cir. 1999) (approving of indictment that grouped firearms into counts based on the place of possession; defendant properly charged separately for possessing some guns in crate in barn and others while driving them to officers conducting sting operation).

Washington relies entirely on cases where all of the defendant's weapons were stored within a single structure, whether a car or a building. Ankeny, 502 F.3d at 83334; United States v. Dunford, 148 F.3d 385, 390 (4th Cir. 1998); United States v. Oliver, 683 F.2d 224, 226, 23233 (7th Cir. 1982). Those defendants were armed only inside that structure. See also United States v. Guice, 238 F. App'x 167, 170 (7th Cir. 2007) (possession simultaneous when the defendant controlled different areas of the same apartment or vehicle). But Washington separated his gun and ammunition between a car and an apartment building. The car allowed Washington easily to drive away with the gun, and the presence of the weapons in different places allowed him to take shelter in different structures and still be armed. See Kennedy, 682 F.3d at 256 (weapons stored in two cars were separated while defendant was driving). Treating Washington's actions as a single act of possession could, as other circuits have observed, allow him to establish an armory and also travel armed while risking only one section 922(g) conviction. See United States v. Olmeda, 461 F.3d 271, 280 (2nd Cir. 2006); United States v. Buchmeier, 255 F.3d 415, 423 (7th Cir. 2001).

Finally, we note that, just as in Ray v. United States, 481 U.S. 736 (1987), we are not faced with any question under the concurrent sentence doctrine. Each count of conviction carried its own special assessment, and that is enough to warrant separate review. Parker, 508 F.3d at 441. Accordingly, we conclude that it was not plain error to enter judgment against Washington for two separate section 922(g)(1) convictions.

AFFIRMED.

Frederick J. Kapala, Judge.
Turkey to retaliate after suspected Syrian air strike kills soldiers

By Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay

ANKARA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Turkey said it would retaliate after three of its soldiers were killed in what the military said was a suspected Syrian air strike, the first such deaths at the hands of Syrian government forces since Ankara launched a cross-border incursion in August.

The attack occurred at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) on Thursday during a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel operation in northern Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement.

It said 10 other soldiers were wounded in the air strike that it "assessed to have been carried out by Syrian regime forces". It gave no details on the exact location.

"It is clear that some people are not happy with this battle Turkey has been fighting against Daesh (Islamic State). This attack will surely have a retaliation," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in the capital Ankara.

Seven more Turkish soldiers were wounded in a second attack in Syria later on Thursday and were evacuated to the Turkish border town of Kilis for medical treatment, the privately-owned Dogan news agency said. It was not clear who was responsible.

Direct confrontation between NATO-member Turkey and Syrian government forces, which are backed by allies including Russia, would mark a serious escalation in an already messy battlefield in northern Syria.

Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, but Washington has said it is not providing support for the three-month-old Turkish offensive in Syria as it moves towards the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military on Thursday's incidents. But in October it said the presence of Turkish troops on Syrian soil was a "flagrant breach of Syria's sovereignty" and warned it would bring down Turkish warplanes entering its air space.

Earlier on Thursday security and hospital sources in Turkey had blamed Islamic State fighters for the first attack and said it was in the al-Bab region. The wounded soldiers from that attack were transferred to hospitals in the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep, they said.

WARNING FROM ASSAD ALLIES

Turkey sent tanks, special forces and jets into Syria on Aug. 24 in support of largely Turkmen and Arab rebels in an offensive dubbed "Euphrates Shield" meant to push Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters from its border.

President Tayyip Erdogan said last week that the Turkish-backed rebels were close to taking the city of al-Bab, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in the northern Aleppo countryside.

Forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Turkey last month against making any advance towards their positions to the north and east of Aleppo, saying any such move would be met "decisively and with force".

The Turkish-backed rebels have clashed with Syrian government forces before, including in late October, when a suspected Syrian government helicopter bombed their positions near Dabiq, a former Islamic State stronghold.

But the overnight clash was the first time the Turkish military has said its own soldiers were killed by Syrian forces since Euphrates Shield began.
EU's Schulz steps down, fuelling German, EU reshuffles

By Alastair Macdonald and Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - European Parliament President Martin Schulz is returning to German politics, raising the prospect he may challenge Angela Merkel as chancellor and prompting speculation of a reshuffle in European Union institutions.

Schulz told a news conference he would not stand for re-election as speaker of the EU legislature and would instead campaign for a seat in Germany's federal parliament next year.

He made no comment on suggestions he may succeed departing Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier or become the Social Democrat candidate to challenge the conservative Merkel's bid for a fourth term in September's parliamentary election.

Schulz, 60, had been pushing for a third 30-month term as EU parliament president in defiance of a deal that he make way for a speaker from the centre-right, the chamber's biggest group.

Should the conservatives, who have formed an effective grand coalition in Brussels with Schulz's centre-left, secure the presidency in January, all three main EU political bodies would be headed by the centre-right -- a possibility that has raised talk of change at the European Commission and European Council.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had pressed his fellow conservatives in Parliament to let Schulz stay on in the interests of stability following Britain's vote in June to leave the bloc. He denied threatening to resign if Schulz were forced out but said on Thursday he "regretted" him leaving.

Juncker, from Luxembourg, has a five-year mandate running until October 2019. Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair Brexit negotiations, has a mandate expiring in May.

At an unrelated news conference, Juncker and Tusk brushed off a question about whether either of them might resign.

Tusk has support among EU states for a second term, though not from his native Poland, where opponents now hold power.

CONSERVATIVE AMBITIONS

The conservative leader in Parliament, Manfred Weber from Merkel's Bavarian allies, said his group would choose a nominee for speaker next month. Frenchman Alain Lamassoure and Mairead McGuinness of Ireland declared their candidacies.

Weber, 44, has been cited himself as Schulz's successor, a position that could raise his profile for a future career in Germany and something Schulz also used to his advantage.

Weber did not, however, rule out that his group might back a "consensus candidate" from another of the mainstream, pro-EU blocs in the chamber, which include liberals and greens. That could dampen complaints of a centre-right lock on institutions while, as Weber said, maintaining a centrist front against the chamber's vocal minority of eurosceptic and extremist parties.

Weber's centre-left counterpart said he would resist a conservative sweep of EU jobs.

"A right-wing monopoly on the EU institutions would be unacceptable," said Italian Gianni Pittella. "Political balance must be ensured."

Speculation that Schulz would return to German politics grew after Merkel's grand coalition with the Social Democrat SPD backed Schulz's party ally Steinmeier to take over in February as Germany's figurehead president. Senior SPD members see Schulz as the party's clear favourite to succeed Steinmeier.

Whoever takes over the role will have an overflowing in-tray as the EU's powerhouse tries to unite a divided post-Brexit Union, contain an assertive Russia and forge a new relationship with Washington under incoming President Donald Trump.

Opinion polls favour Merkel to win again. The SPD trails badly but could end up in a new grand coalition under her.

A member of the SPD leadership said it would decide by January whether Schulz or party leader Sigmar Gabriel would be its candidate for chancellor. One poll this week showed Germans thought Schulz has a somewhat stronger chance of ousting Merkel.
Britain and Pakistan to increase trade, security ties

By Asad Hashim and Drazen Jorgic

ISLAMABAD, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Britain is in talks to boost trade and security cooperation with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday, part of London's efforts to improve trade links with emerging market countries.

Britain has been seeking to bolster global trade ties following its June referendum vote to leave the European Union, with the government seeking to broaden relations with fast-growing economies outside Europe.

On a visit to Pakistan, Johnson said talks were progressing on plans to increase annual trade beyond 2.5 billion pounds ($3.11 billion) per year.

"Consider the size of the Pakistan economy, how fast it's growing, look at the size of the UK economy, we could do so much better," Johnson said in Islamabad before meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The two countries have had strong cultural ties since Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, with more than one million people of Pakistani origin currently residing in Britain.

Pakistan's sputtering economy has rebounded in recent years, helped by improved security in the country, and growth is expected at just over 5 percent this fiscal year, the highest rate since 2008.

Economic expansion is set to increase due to a $54 billion investment from China in a network of road, rail and energy projects that will form an economic corridor linking western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea port at Gwadar.

However, despite improved security Islamist militant groups continue to pose a threat and have carried out several large-scale attacks in recent months.

Britain has also long been concerned about radicalised Islamists with links or training in Pakistan carrying out attacks on British soil.

Three of the four bombers who carried out the attacks on London transport network in July 2005 that killed 52 people were of Pakistani origin and the fourth had travelled to Pakistan before the attacks.

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's top foreign policy official, said the two nations were discussing how to improve security cooperation.

Aziz said Prime Minister Sharif has invited his British counterpart Theresa May, who visited India this month, to travel to Pakistan next year to further boost ties.

Johnson also said the United States' President-elect Donald Trump was right to urge members of NATO to pay more towards the military alliance, which is heavily reliant on the United States.

Johnson urged other member nations to pay 2 percent of their budget towards defence spending.

"We need a strong NATO alliance, and I think that the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," Johnson said.
U.N. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY

Nov 24 (Reuters) - UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND LOOKS TO FUTURE

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Vienna (21-25 November 2016) as government representatives, policy-makers and experts from across the world gather in Austria to mark the occasion and discuss the organization's future.

UNIDO's Director General, LI Yong, says the United Nations specialized agency has achieved so much since it formed in 1966, with a focus on promoting and accelerating industrial development in developing countries.

Looking to the future, LI added that UNIDO can help to create jobs and conditions which might prevent future refugee crises, "Our piloting programme, Programme for Country Partnership, supporting African countries, Ethiopia, Senegal, to focus on the industrial park, special economic zones and agro-industrial parks those are really generating thousands of jobs which will help resolve the issue of the refugees, migrations and at the same time in the long run supporting poverty elevation in the region."

Attendees included the Crown Prince of Bahrain, the Chairman of the Bank of China TIAN Guoli, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank JIN Liqun, and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.

Liqun said his bank, along with UNIDO, would continue to push for industrial development whilst also improving the environment.

"First of all, we embrace the noble cause and great cause of inclusive and sustainable development and this is, in my view, crucially important for so many developing countries on the way to industrialization and development for all. What's most important most of all is that we are not going to follow the beaten track of the western countries in the previous centuries. We aim at industrialization at a high level, which means we will improve environment and development at the same time" he said.

Gatilov also spoke on how UNIDO's work can help prevent the conditions in which terrorism can arise and said he hoped the new incoming U.S. government would also devote more attention to organisations like the UN and UNIDO.

Another major topic on the day was female economic empowerment and the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, said women need equal rights, equal opportunities and should be given every opportunity to contribute to the economic sphere.

To improve quality of life for the world's poor UNIDO focuses on the following themes: creating shared prosperity and ensuring environmental sustainability.

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Bomb attack in Turkey's Adana targeted provincial governor - minister

ANKARA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A bomb attack which killed two people outside local government offices in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Thursday had targeted the provincial governor, Turkey' EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik, who is also a lawmaker for the province, said.

The explosion outside the governor's office in Adana, about 10 miles (16 km) from the Incirlik Air Base used by the U.S. military, came weeks after the United States warned of attacks by what it called extremist groups.
In India's Punjab, Haley relatives cheer appointment as UN envoy

By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to Amritsar - home to the Golden Temple that is the most holy place of the Sikh religion - before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s.

Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina - she was called "Nikki" as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.

Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, told Reuters family and friends were delighted by Haley's appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

"It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success," Randhawa told Reuters by telephone.

Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikki's father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

India's foreign ministry said it was happy to hear news of Haley's appointment, describing her as a supporter of closer U.S.-India ties who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June.

"We know Governor Haley very well," said spokesman Vikas Swarup. India's foreign secretary visited the United States earlier this month and interacted with "very senior levels" of the Trump transition team, he also said.

HOMECOMING

Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child, doesn't speak Punjabi and has converted to Christianity.

But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called "an emotional and very personal day".

"I always yearned to see Punjab - my motherland - and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years," she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with nips from a water bottle.

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first U.S. ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the United States into a Punjabi family but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favourable views towards India, where he has real estate interests. The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.

Trump's stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York and Haley's appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

India, the world's largest democracy, is also lobbying to be made a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council, although it's doubtful this would be a priority for Trump.

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post.
Airbus's largest A350 jet carries out its maiden flight

By Tim Hepher and Johanna Decosse

TOULOUSE, France, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Europe's largest twin-engined passenger jet, the Airbus A350-1000, took to the skies for the first time on Thursday, seeking to grab the spotlight from Boeing's popular 777.

The lightweight carbon-fibre plane, 7 metres longer and able to carry 40 more people than A350s already in service, began a three-hour debut flight at 0942 GMT, watched by some of the airline bosses who have invested in the $356 million jet.

It later returned to base after a 4 hour and 20 minute flight during which co-pilot Frank Chapman said it had performed "smoothly", similar to its sister plane the A350-900.

The 366-seat A350-1000 is designed to break Boeing's virtual monopoly in the lucrative "mini-jumbo" segment, typically involving large twin-engined jets carrying 350 people.

It is larger than the new-generation A350-900, which entered service last year. Both are built from similar advanced materials to Boeing's mid-sized 787 Dreamliner in a race between planemakers for fuel savings and better passenger comfort.

The aircraft involved in Thursday's Toulouse debut is one of three test planes facing 1,600 hours of intensive flight testing before the A350-1000 enters service in the second half of 2017.

Fabrice Bregier, chief executive of the planemaking division of Airbus Group, told Reuters he was confident the A350-1000 would be delivered on time to launch customer Qatar Airways.

"It makes me very happy and very proud. We are flying according to the timetable we had planned," he said moments after the jet, weighing 230 tonnes, took off under leaden skies to applause from factory workers.

GRAPPLING WITH OTHER DELAYS

Bregier added he had grown more confident of reaching this year's target of at least 50 A350-900 deliveries. 11

While the first flight of its latest model took place on time, Airbus is grappling with delivery delays to the A350-900, clusters of which remain dotted around the airport in Toulouse, France, due to shortages of cabin equipment.

Smaller A320neo jets are also parked with missing engines, due to delays in supplies from Pratt & Whitney, highlighting the strain on the industry of adding new technology while securing record production targets.

Airbus programmes chief Didier Evrard said the planemaker continued to scrutinise its suppliers, notably France's Zodiac Aerospace, which said this week it was on a path to recovery following a production crisis at its factories.

Asked about the progress displayed by cabin and other suppliers for the A350 family, Evrard told Reuters: "It has improved, but it is not where it should be and we are watching them very carefully."

He said the planemaker was working hard to achieve the target of 50 A350-900 deliveries this year, having reached 34 so far, with a further plane due to be delivered later on Thursday.

"I have already cancelled my holidays," he added.

Airbus says the A350-1000 will be 25 percent cheaper to operate than the competing Boeing 777-300ER, an older aircraft which weighs more but which has more seats in some layouts.

Boeing has responded to the A350-1000 by developing an even larger version of 777 able to seat over 400 people, making it the largest twin-engined jet when it enters service in 2020.

Airbus is also considering whether to go up in size with a further stretch of the A350, but senior marketing vice president Francois Caudron said it did not currently deem this necessary.

Industry sources say Airbus is nonetheless offering the potential "A350-2000" to influential buyers including Singapore Airlines and British Airways.

Such a jet would need an enhancement of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine that powers the A350-1000, already one of the industry's largest with a fan case large enough to swallow the fuselage of the now defunct Concorde.

Chris Young, programmes director at the embattled UK engine manufacturer, which is in the midst of restructuring, said it would always be ready if needed to upgrade its engines or add new ones according to the needs of airplane manufacturers.
Ethiopia says it will free vintage plane aviators soon

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Aviators detained in Ethiopia while retracing a historic flight route along the length of Africa in 24 vintage planes and support aircraft should be freed in a few days, an Ethiopian aviation official said on Thursday.

The Vintage Air Rally crew, flying aircraft that include biplanes built in the 1920s and 1930s, are being held in Gambela, western Ethiopia, after traversing neighbouring Sudan.

They have already flown from Europe and through Egypt and plan to end the tour in South Africa. The oldest plane taking part dates to 1928; the oldest pilot is 72.

"They did not have proper authorisation," Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

"They are not under arrest. They are safe and will remain in Ethiopia until the review (of their situation) is concluded," he said, adding the group had requested permission to overfly Ethiopia but had not followed rules and had stopped in Gambela without authorisation.

When asked if that review would be completed within the next few days, he said: "Of course" but did not give further details.

The rally organisers said in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday that it was not clear why Ethiopian authorities had kept the aviators at Gambela airport rather than let them stay at a hotel where they had made bookings.

"Still detained," the rally organiser, Sam Rutherford, said in a brief text message to Reuters when asked about their situation, adding that one member of the group needed "urgent hospital treatment" but an ambulance request had been refused.

He did not give more details.

The aviators' aim was to cross 10 countries, making 37 stops in a little more than a month. They had been due to fly to Kenya after Ethiopia.

The organisers said in Wednesday's statement that the British Foreign Ministry was aware of the situation.
Storm Otto moves out to sea after slamming Nicaragua, Costa Rica

By Ivan Castro

BLUEFIELDS, Nicaragua, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Tropical storm Otto moved out to sea on Friday after battering Nicaragua and Costa Rica with hurricane-force winds and torrential rains, killing at least three people and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Otto landed as a hurricane but weakened rapidly after hitting the southeastern coast of Nicaragua and became a tropical storm by early Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, as dangerous flooding thrashed both countries.

In Costa Rica, President Luis Guillermo Solis said on Twitter that at least 3 people had died and some 2,500 people had been evacuated. He said rescue efforts continued.

Otto, the seventh Atlantic hurricane of the season, landed north of the town of San Juan de Nicaragua as a Category 2 storm on the five-rating Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

By Friday morning the storm was heading out to the Pacific Ocean with top sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and located about 115 miles (190 km) west southwest of Santa Elena, Costa Rica.

Soon after the storm had landed on Thursday, a 7.0 magnitude quake struck 93 miles (149 km) southwest of Puerto Triunfo, El Salvador, at a depth of 6.4 miles (10.3 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

There were no reports of major damage from the quake, but local emergency services ordered the coastal population to withdraw up to 0.6 mile (1 km) from the shore.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared a state of emergency because of the storm and the quake, said spokeswoman Rosario Murillo, who is also his wife.

Nicaraguan civil protection officials said the hurricane, which was moving west at 14 mph ( 22 kph), damaged homes and telephone lines but had not claimed any victims as of early Friday morning.

'WE DON'T WANT TO DIE'

In Bluefields, a city in Nicaragua's southeastern Mosquito Coast, rainfall began early in the morning. Hundreds had moved to storm shelters by Thursday evening.

"We left because we don't want to die. We love our lives," said 53-year-old Carmen Alvarado, who was hunkering down in a school in Bluefields. She was among the 206 people evacuated from the coastal community of El Bluff.

"The fear there is that we were surrounded by water," said Senelia Aragon, 42, standing next to Alvarado, preparing a breakfast of flour tortillas with beans.

Bluefields, once an infamous pirate haunt, was smashed by Hurricane Joan in 1988, a devastating Category 4 storm that destroyed many of the town's 19th century wooden houses.

On the Corn Islands, which face Bluefields and are popular with tourists, 1,400 people were evacuated to shelters, emergency services officials said. Another 1,000 people more moved from Punta Gorda, which lies south along the coast from Bluefields.

Government officials said people along the country's southeast coast had refused to evacuate but declined to say how many.
Aviators in vintage planes allowed to fly on from Ethiopia

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Aviators who were detained in Ethiopia while retracing a historic flight route along the length of Africa in 24 vintage planes and support aircraft are now free to continue their journey, the group organiser said on Thursday.

The Vintage Air Rally crew, flying aircraft that include biplanes built in the 1920s and 1930s, were held at the airport in Gambela, western Ethiopia, after they landed following their arrival from neighbouring Sudan.

They have already flown from Europe and through Egypt and plan to end the tour in South Africa. The oldest plane taking part dates to 1928; the oldest pilot is 72.

"Just been resolved now," rally organiser Sam Rutherford told Reuters in a brief text message when asked for an update on their situation. "In hotel, Kenya tomorrow!"

The group of 47 people had been held in a building at the airport and had not been allowed to stay at a hotel they were booked at, the group had said in an earlier Facebook statement.

Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), had told a news conference in Addis Ababa that the group lacked proper authorisation for their trip and had made an unauthorised stop in Gambela.

There was no immediate official comment about a resolution.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Coleman Carpenter Defendant - Appellant No. 15-3563 Decided: November 23, 2016

Before WOLLMAN, BRIGHT, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

The government charged Coleman Carpenter with mail and wire fraud arising from a scheme in which he overpaid for commodities to the benefit of certain customers while managing a grain elevator for Bunge of North America (Bunge). After Carpenter pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, the district court sentenced him to twelve months and one day in prison. The district court also ordered him to pay $1,561,516.25 in restitution to Bunge, which included $87,536.65 in attorney's fees and expenses Bunge paid to an outside counsel during the investigation of Carpenter's fraudulent scheme and his prosecution.

Carpenter appeals arguing the district court erred in calculating the amount of restitution, and by including the attorney's fees from Bunge's outside counsel in the restitution award. We affirm the portion of the district court's restitution award which does not include attorney's fees ($1,473,980.00), but vacate the portion awarding attorney's fees and expenses ($87,536.65), and remand to the district court for further proceedings.

I

Bunge, a global agriculture commodities business, employed Carpenter as the manager of a grain elevator in Hickman, Kentucky. Bunge authorized Carpenter to purchase agricultural commodities, which included corn, wheat and soybeans, from producers and merchants on the spot. In addition, Carpenter could enter into futures contracts for commodities to be delivered at a later date.

Futures contracts had two components: the futures price and the basis. The first component  the futures price  was set by commodities markets. Bunge provided Carpenter access to the current futures prices electronically and through a commercial trading desk (hedge desk) located at its St. Louis, Missouri headquarters. Carpenter was authorized to establish the futures price component of the per bushel price for a particular futures contract based upon the current futures price as determined by the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

The second component  the basis  was set by Bunge and depended on various market conditions, such as location of a point of purchase, operational needs of Bunge, and prices offered by a competitor. Bunge gave Carpenter the authority to push the basis in order to respond to changing market conditions or the operational needs of Bunge, but limited this authority to $.08 per bushel at the most. So, for example, if the basis at a given time was $-.15, Carpenter had the authority to push it to $-.07.

Between 2009 and 2013, Carpenter frequently entered into futures contracts in excess of the combination of the CBOT current futures price and Bunge's basis, and his limited authority to push the basis. In fact, on some occasions Carpenter increased the price Bunge paid for commodities by $.30, $.40, or .$50 per bushel. For example, on August 1, 2013, Carpenter entered into a futures contract for 60,000 bushels of corn at $5.25 per bushel. Carpenter utilized a futures price of $5.63 per bushel with a basis of $-.38, despite the fact that the hedge desk provided him with a CBOT current futures price of only $4.9075, and the highest price paid on the CBOT that day for corn was $4.9975.

Thus, Carpenter inflated the futures price component of the contract by $.7225 per bushel based on the CBOT current futures prices, or by $.6325 per bushel based on the CBOT high price of the day. After adjusting for the basis, the amount Bunge lost on this single contract was $43,350, as measured by the difference between the $5.63 futures price utilized by Carpenter and the approved CBOT current futures price of $4.9075 (60,000 bushels x $.7225). Carpenter then misrepresented these unauthorized transactions in mailings to Bunge headquarters.

During the scheme, Carpenter received large payments of money from some of the grain elevator customers. For example, in consecutive years in March 2009 and 2010, Carpenter received $10,000 checks from Ronnie Bates Farms, one of the grain elevator's customers. Carpenter's bank account also showed large cash deposits made between 2009 and 2013 totaling over $38,000. Carpenter denies the cash deposits he made to his bank account during that time were related to the fraud scheme.

In 2013, Bunge discovered Carpenter's fraud during an internal audit. Bunge asked the Thompson Coburn law firm in St. Louis to assist in reviewing and assessing Carpenter's unauthorized transactions, while at the same time providing information to the government for potential criminal charges against Carpenter. Thompson Coburn assisted Bunge and the government in reviewing the transactions both before and after a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Carpenter on June 25, 2014. After being charged, Carpenter pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1341.

Prior to sentencing, a probation officer prepared a Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) which, in part, calculated the amount of loss that resulted from Carpenter's fraud pursuant to United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.)  2B1.1. The PSR determined loss using a one-day Chicago Board of Trade high price as the number to be subtracted from the inflated price paid by Carpenter. For its part, the government recommended loss should be calculated by comparing a two-day CBOT high price to the price of Carpenter's unauthorized transactions, which was more conservative than the method recommended by the PSR and resulted in a lower loss amount. Using this two-day method of calculation, the government determined Bunge overpaid its customers approximately $937,000 as the result of Carpenter's unauthorized transactions. In Carpenter's plea agreement, he admitted his fraud scheme resulted in approximately $937,000 in overpayments by Bunge to various customers.

At sentencing, the district court adopted the parties' agreement as to amount of loss to calculate Carpenter's advisory guidelines range, and then turned to the separate issue of determining the amount of loss for purposes of restitution. The district court agreed the precise amount of restitution was difficult to calculate because the market price at the exact time of day Carpenter entered into each of his fraudulent transactions was unknown. The district court ultimately adopted the PSR's one-day method to determine restitution, however, because Bunge's losses would be underestimated using either the one- or two-day method based on the CBOT high price of the day. Under the one-day method of calculation, the district court set the amount of Bunge's loss for restitution purposes at $1,473,980.00.

Bunge also sought restitution for the attorney's fees it paid to outside counsel prior to and during the government's investigation. Carpenter objected to the attorney's fees arguing, in part, that fees incurred after the government started its investigation were not necessary. See 18 U.S.C.  3663A(b)(4) (The order of restitution shall require that such defendantin any case, reimburse the victim for  necessary  expenses incurred during participation in the investigation or prosecution of the offense.). The district court reviewed the billing statements provided by Bunge's counsel and then awarded 90% of the claimed fees, reflecting a 10% reduction for specific fees associated with a press release, reproduction charges, punitive damages issues, correspondence, and courier services, to which Carpenter had also objected. After the reduction, the fees and associated expenses totaled $87,536.65. Including the attorney's fees, the total restitution the district court awarded to Bunge was $1,561,516.25. Bunge filed this timely appeal challenging the amount of restitution.

II

We review the district court's decision to award restitution for abuse of discretion, but any fact findings as to the amount are reviewed for clear error. United States v. Chalupnik, 514 F.3d 748, 752 (8th Cir. 2008). The government bears the burden of proving the amount of restitution based on a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Frazier, 651 F.3d 899, 903 (8th Cir. 2011).

A. The Overpayments

Carpenter contends the district court erred in awarding the initial $1,473,980.00 in restitution (the amount less the attorney's fees) for two reasons. First, Carpenter contends the amount of restitution is difficult, if not impossible, to determine and is not warranted. See 18 U.S.C.  3663A(c)(3)(B) (This section shall not apply  if the court finds  that determining complex issues of fact related to the  amount of the victim's losses would complicate or prolong the sentencing process to a degree that the need to provide restitution to any victim is outweighed by the burden on the sentencing process). Second, Carpenter argues that Bunge did not sustain a loss because Bunge factored in his overpayments when it ultimately sold the commodities he purchased.

With respect to Carpenter's first argument, we have consistently held that the district court has wide discretion in ordering restitution. United States v. DeRosier, 501 F.3d 888, 897 (8th Cir. 2007). When determining restitution, the district court need make only a reasonable estimate of the loss, and we accord particular deference to the loss determination because of the district court's unique ability to assess the evidence and estimate the loss. Id. at 895 (quoting United States v. Scott, 448 F.3d 1040, 1044 (8th Cir. 2006)). In cases where the amount of loss (and by extension the amount of restitution) caused by fraud is difficult to calculate, a district court is charged only with making a reasonable estimate of the loss. United States v. Parish, 565 F.3d 528, 534 (8th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

Carpenter's claim that the loss was impossible to calculate is belied by his own admission in the plea agreement that his fraud scheme resulted in approximately $937,000 in overpayments by Bunge to various customers using the government's more conservative two-day CBOT high price method of calculating the loss. Thus, the real issue presented in this appeal is limited to whether the district court erred by choosing the one-day method over the two-day method when calculating loss and restitution. The two-day method assumed that some of Carpenter's fraudulent transactions were actually agreed to at the high price of one day, but due to administrative delays at the Hickman facility, may not have been completed until the next day. Using this method, the highest price over any given two-day period was used to compute loss. In contrast, the one-day method used the CBOT high price of the day a commodity purchase was made. Carpenter objects to the district court's use of the one-day method because it resulted in a higher loss than that calculated under the two-day method.

We see no grounds for reversing the district court's decision to choose the one-day method over the two-day method. As we previously stated, exact precision is not necessary when determining loss, only a reasonable estimate. Either method the district court would have chosen here would have been reasonable, as both methods underestimated Bunge's actual loss. The times when Carpenter made unauthorized transactions occurred throughout each day, not necessarily every time the CBOT price was at its highest. For example, in the August 2013 purchase of corn discussed above, the CBOT current futures price provided to Carpenter at the time of sale was $4.9075, while the highest price paid on the CBOT that day for corn was $4.9975, a difference of $.09 per bushel, or a total of $5400 for the 60,000 bushel sale. The one-day method used by the district court did not capture the additional $5400 Bunge lost on this particular sale (as reflected in the PSR at  20, which only reported a loss of $37,950 on this particular transaction rather than the $43,350 Bunge actually lost), or the similar amounts Bunge lost on Carpenter's many other fraudulent transactions. Because the exact times of the unauthorized trades could not be determined, the use of the CBOT daily high price automatically ensured that Bunge's actual loss would be underestimated under both methods of calculation.

Carpenter next argues that Bunge did not sustain a loss (and by extension was not entitled to restitution) because Bunge recouped his overpayments at the time of its sale. The district court used the correct standard of lost profits to determine Bunge's loss. See United States v. Chalupnik, 514 F.3d 748, 755 (8th Cir. 2008). Here, Bunge's lost profits were based on the difference between the authorized purchase price and the amount of Carpenter's unauthorized purchases. The lost profits remained constant regardless of the resale price. Finally, Bunge does not have exclusive control over the sale price as Carpenter seems to contend. The commodities market is a global market that dictates the sale price. The district court properly determined that the loss sustained by Bunge was the total amount of lost profits and that the lost profits remain constant regardless of the sale price.

B. The Attorney's Fees

Carpenter contends that attorney's fees incurred by Bunge's outside counsel after the government took over the investigation were not necessary under 18 U.S.C.  3663A(b)(4). Carpenter relies primarily upon United States v. Papagno, 639 F.3d 1093 (D.C. Cir. 2011), which reversed a restitution order awarding expenses incurred by a victim during its own internal investigation of an employee's fraud where there was no evidence the investigation was ever requested by criminal investigators or prosecutors, holding that under those circumstances the victim's 'participation in the investigation or prosecution of the offense' was not 'necessary.' Id. at 1095 (quoting 18 U.S.C.  3663A(b)(4)).

Our circuit has taken a somewhat broader view of the loss that can be included in a restitution award, and have specifically approved of the inclusion of attorney's fees and investigative costs in a restitution award when these losses were caused by the fraudulent conduct. DeRosier, 501 F.3d at 897 (citing United States v. Akbani, 151 F.3d 774, 780 (8th Cir. 1998); United States v. Piggie, 303 F.3d 923, 928 (8th Cir. 2002)). As Carpenter contends, however, the fact that there is no per se prohibition on awarding restitution for attorney's fees or investigative costs does not relieve the government from satisfying the statutory requirement of showing such costs were necessary  expenses incurred during participation in the investigation or prosecution of the offense. 18 U.S.C.  3663A(b)(4).

Carpenter's specific objection in the district court was that outside attorney's fees incurred by Bunge after the government initiated its own investigation were unnecessary. The record does not show the district court ever directly addressed that claim, or made a specific finding that the fees were necessary. Instead, the district court only appears to have addressed Carpenter's other objections to the attorney's fees submitted by outside counsel. We therefore vacate the district court's award of attorney's fees and expenses and remand to the district court to specifically address whether the attorney's fees incurred after the government initiated its own investigation were necessary under  3663A(b)(4). If the district court determines that any portion of the fees were not necessary, those fees should not be included in the restitution award.

III

We affirm that portion of the district court's restitution order awarding $1,473,980.00. We vacate the portion of the district court's restitution order awarding attorney's fees and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FOOTNOTES

. Examples in the record report the basis as a negative number, such as $-.38. In other words, the final price of any particular futures contract for the selling farmer  after combining the CBOT current futures price and Bunge's basis  would likely be below the CBOT current futures price to reflect Bunge's operating costs.

. If read liberally, Carpenter's objection to the attorney's fees in the district court also raised a claim that he should be entitled to a set off from the total amount of restitution awarded if Bunge's insurance company pays for any claim related to Carpenter's fraudulent conduct. To the extent Carpenter renews that claim on appeal, we reject it. When an insurer makes payments for a victim's loss, a defendant is required to pay restitution back to the insurance provider under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act, and is not entitled to a set off. United States v. Mancini, 624 F.3d 879, 882 (8th Cir. 2010).

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.
Gunmen kill at least 3 policemen in Egypt's Sinai

CAIRO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least three policemen and injured seven in an attack on a checkpoint in the restive northern Sinai on Thursday, Egyptian security sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

In Thursday's incident, assailants fired two rocket propelled grenades at the checkpoint south of the city of al-Arish, and three pick-up trucks carrying masked men then drove by and opened fire, security sources said.

The militant group staging the insurgency in Sinai pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and policemen since then.

In its weekly online magazine Al-Nabaa released on Thursday, Islamic State urged members to join other branches of the group active in areas like the Sinai, Libya, Yemen and West Africa if unable to reach its self-declared "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

Islamic State had previously called on members to carry out attacks in their home countries if unable to enter Iraq or Syria because of tougher security measures in the region aimed at cutting off jihadist supply lines.
Tunisia's UGTT union threatens public sector general strike for Dec. 8

TUNIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Tunisia's UGTT labour union said on Thursday it would call a public sector general strike for Dec. 8 if the government does not drop a freeze on wages included in next year's draft budget.

The UGTT, Tunisia's main union and a powerful political force in the country, also said it had decided to call a private sector strike over what it said were delays in salary negotiations by the UTICA industry and business employers' association.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed's government proposed the public sector salary freeze and other austerity measures as it faces pressure from international lenders to reduce spending and cut the deficit.

Tunisia has been praised for its democratic progress since a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, but its economy has struggled and unemployment is high, especially among the young. Many Tunisians fear that new austerity measures will add to their economic woes.

The UGTT says the government should stick to a deal it signed last year with a previous administration for public sector wage increases in 2016-2017.

The strike will go ahead "if the agreement on public sector salary increases is not applied", the union said in a statement. The date for the private sector strike would be announced at a later date, it said.

The 2017 budget is currently being discussed in parliament, and resistance to austerity measures has been building.

Lawyers have already held two strikes, and teachers and taxi drivers are expected to strike next week to coincide with an international investment conference being held in Tunis.
Central Americans surge north, hoping to reach US before Trump inauguration

By Gustavo Palencia and Sofia Menchu

TEGUCIGALPA/GUATEMALA CITY, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Central American countries warned on Thursday that large numbers of migrants have fled their poor, violent homes since Donald Trump's surprise election win, hoping to reach the United States before he takes office next year.

Trump won the Nov. 8 vote by taking a hard line on immigration, threatening to deport millions of people living illegally in the United States and to erect a wall along the Mexican border.

Trump's tough campaign rhetoric sent tremors through the slums of Central America and the close-knit migrant communities in U.S. cities, with many choosing to fast-forward their plans and migrate north before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

During fiscal year 2016, the United States detained nearly 410,000 people along the southwest border with Mexico, up about a quarter from the previous year. The vast majority hail from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Since Trump's victory, the number of people flocking north has surged, Central American officials say, contributing to a growing logjam along the southern U.S. border.

"We're worried because we're seeing a rise in the flow of migrants leaving the country, who have been urged to leave by coyotes telling them that they have to reach the United States before Trump takes office," Maria Andrea Matamoros, Honduras' deputy foreign minister, told Reuters, referring to people smugglers.

Carlos Raul Morales, Guatemala's foreign minister, told Reuters people were also leaving Guatemala en masse before Trump becomes president.

"The coyotes are leaving people in debt, and taking their property as payment for the journey," he said in an interview.

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a temporary holding facility for up to 500 people near the Texan border with Mexico, in what it said was a response to a marked uptick in illegal border crossings.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said earlier this month immigration detention facilities were holding about 10,000 more individuals than usual, after a spike in October of migrants including unaccompanied children, families and asylum seekers.

GANG VIOLENCE

Unemployed and sick of the lack of opportunities and endemic gang violence that blight his poor neighborhood in the town of San Marcos, south of San Salvador, Carlos Garcia, 25, said he was looking to enter the United States before Trump assumes power.

"There's one thing I'm very clear about," he said. "I want to get out of here."

Guatemalan Fares Revolorio, 27, arrived in the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana on Wednesday after a grueling 4,200-kilometer (2,610-mile), week-long trek by bus. She was waiting to cross into the United States, where she hoped to apply for asylum.

Accompanied by her three children and her husband, she said she left Guatemala as it had become too dangerous. Her husband's brother was killed two months ago, and local gangs, known as "maras," had assaulted her son.

"They tell us the new president doesn't like illegal immigrants, but we have to take the chance," she said, as she struggled to hold back tears. "Nobody wants to die in a horrible way, and we can't be in Guatemala any longer. My children are growing up in fear."

During the campaign, Trump set out plans to impound billions of dollars of remittances so Mexico ends up paying for his proposed wall on the southern U.S. border. It remains unclear if he will stick to the proposal.

Humberto Roque Villanueva, Mexico's deputy interior minister for migration, told Reuters the day after the U.S. election that Mexico stands ready to lobby the U.S. Congress and use all legal means against Trump's plan for blocking remittances.

Victoria Cordova, who was deported from the United States in 2014, said Trump's victory had sown fear in her poor hillside slum in the capital Tegucigalpa.

"People are very worried because many of them have family over there in the United States, and they live off the remittances they send," she said.

The foreign ministers of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala met on Monday to formulate a strategy to protect their migrants in the United States, in a show of regional solidarity.
Workers search for survivors in the debris of a collapsed platform in a cooling tower at a power station at Fengcheng, in China's Jiangxi province today. At least 40 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed.
Ayurvedic treatments and services are provided in numerous clinics in and around Colombo. However, with the intention of delivering them free of charge, the Colombo Municipal Council has established several clinics around Colombo for the convenience of patients. One of them is the Ayurveda clinic in Slave Island which is frequented by patients from not only Colombo-2 but from afar as well. Yet with time, the clinic has become an unhygienic place for patients as well as the staff who are unable to carry out their day-to-day activities.



CMC Free Ayurveda Clinic  Slave Island

The CMC Free Ayurveda clinic was established in the 1980s and had been a public toilet before being converted into a clinic. When the visited the CMC Free Ayurveda clinic at Slave Island, the situation was quite unpleasant. Patients were queuing up to get tokens to see one of the three doctors present at the premises. With only limited space available to move around, it was often packed with patients and staff. The learned that there was a rat issue in the area and added to that, these rats could be seen during the day as well as the night.



The treatment room too was in poor condition with water dripping along the walls and several patches of algae developing on them. The DM learned that this water was leaking from the washrooms on the upper floor. Adding to this inconvenience, the residents upstairs had to walk through the clinic to exit or enter the premises, because they did not have a separate entrance. The washrooms too were unpleasant till they were refurbished recently with the involvement of the doctors.



The clinic offers Orthopaedic, Panchakarma and various other treatments. Due to the limited availability of space, patients cannot be housed in the premises. Therefore, seriously ill patients are admitted to other hospitals.



Many requests were made to restore facilities: Arshad Nizamdeen

According to Colombo Provincial Council member, Arshad Nizamdeen, no action has been taken to restore the facilities although many requests were being made. We have written to the relevant authorities including the Chief Minister Isura Devapriya on many occasions but so far there has been no response. The advisory committee was supposed to meet this month but it was postponed.



I will attend to the request: Isura Devapriya

When the contacted Colombo CM IsuraDevapriya, he said the request could be granted without hesitation.



I deny all allegations against the CMC : CMC Commissioner

Speaking to the , CMC Commissioner V.K.A. Anura said the staff members working in this clinic had hidden agendas. Currently a repair is underway and Im sure that anybody who visits the place would see it. Also I deny all allegations vested upon the CMC because there have been repairs done from time to time.
Catwalk Textile Palace of Matara has taken the history of Sri Lankas social service activities to an entirely new dimension. It has made the necessary arrangements to donate a whole plethora of gifts to low-income families with more than five children.

Catwalk Textile Palace will donate to those families a whole range of domestic necessities to the weight of the mother of such a family. These lavish gifts include domestic appliances, clothes and dresses and dry rations. This unprecedented treat will occur on November 26, 2016.

Parallel to this super-gift scheme, clothes and school requirements will be donated to 200 children selected from low-income families. These children will be selected from 40 schools in the Matara District. Five children will be selected from each of those 40 chosen schools. A special feature of this gift scheme is the conferring of educational scholarships to exceptionally gifted children, until they complete their Advance levels.

Thats not all. Parallel to this social welfare programme, a whole series of projects will be initiated for the well-being of war heroes, who have been disabled due to combat.

Describing this welfare scheme, Catwalk Fashion House Head Eric Janaka stated, From the time we initiated our business enterprise, we contributed towards social welfare activities on all occasions we could. We continued this welfare scheme over several years at a well-organised level, elevating it to a project of national importance.

We have launched this social service project under the title Reaching humanity beyond cash along with our staff of employees. These welfare activities are directed towards the well-being of little children, low-income families and towards those disabled war heroes who sacrificed their lives to the country and the nation. We deem this social welfare service as a great duty.

Continuing Janaka said, There is something that should be invariably stated here. We set aside part of our business profits for these welfare activities. In consequence, all the clients linked to this institution automatically become subscribers to this noble welfare scheme. It is a great act of merit. I make this opportunity to thank all those who are linked to our project. I thank them, because we could have never got the opportunity to launch such a massive welfare scheme without our clients.

In conclusion, I invite all Sri Lankans to visit Catwalk Fashion House located at Kumaratunga Mawatha, Matara, in the morning of November 26, 2016. I invite them to join hands with us in this Body weight donation.
Mohammed Bilal (Managing Director, HiEnergy Services), Hanif Yusoof (Group CEO of Expolanka Holdings) and Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Ajith P. Perera open EFLs solar power plant in Wellampitiya

Continuing to deliver on a longstanding commitment to sustainability, EFL opened a solar power plant in Wellampitiya on 16th November.

The occasion was marked by a special ceremony attended by Deputy Minister of Power and Energy, Ajith P. Perera as chief guest alongside top management of EFL and Expolanka Holdings PLC Group CEO Hanif Yusoof.

The Minister inaugurated the grid-connected solar PV power plant and commended EFL for taking early steps as a private sector player bringing solutions to Sri Lankas energy dilemma.

With 2326 solar panels installed, the plant is expected to deliver 78,154 kilowatt hours of energy per month. It has an energy production capacity of 651.28 kWp and has been recognized as the second largest rooftop solar power plant in the country.

This solar power plant connected to the national electrical grid will contribute to reducing Sri Lankas dependence on other countries for a consistent supply of petroleum and coal to produce electricity, thus also easing the outflow of foreign exchange from the country. This is among the few such large scale corporate contributions to the countrys energy sector and supports the logistics providers bid to instill sustainable practices in both enviroment and operational activities. It will also contribute significantly to reducing the companys Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

The state of the art fashion and general cargo warehouse located at the EFL logistics campus is also the first LEED Gold Accredited facility of its kind and follows an ISO 14062 certification which the company obtained for developing a framework to quantify and report on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For the community, the company recently completed its yearly Bulb for a Bulb campaign that replaces incandescent lights in households with LED bulbs free-of-charge.

Our contribution to solar energy generation is a step forward in what we believe is the direction of the future, said Saif Yusoof, Managing Director of EFL. This project ticks all the boxes in our vision for sustainability. Were also very positive on the outlook for renewable energy in Sri Lanka-as a country were very well positioned to harness natural resources for our energy needs.

Expolanka partnered with HiEnergy Services in delivering the system. HiEnergy is a provider of solar energy solutions with a strong commitment to reducing the electricity dependency of the country on fossil fuels.

For EFL, the partnership meant that it had first hand insight into the energy concerns of the country and areas that could benefit from a private sector player.

It was also responding to a call by the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy for the private sector to contribute to solar power generation in Sri Lanka. Known as Soorya Bala Sangramaya, this project envisions a solar electricity-powered Sri Lanka in the future.
Today is the international day for the elimination of violence against women and it is significant that the Avissawella High Court will today deliver the much awaited verdict on the alleged horrors in the Noori village where a gang, reportedly backed by an area politician, allegedly tortured and raped scores of women and girls.



According to first hand reports from the area the agony of villagers in Noori for the past decade would have been difficult to understand with newly carpeted roads and a booming town. But we now know that for most people in the village it was real life and not a horror movie. A gang alleged to be operating with the backing of an area politician, ran a rape centre and torture chamber. They allegedly burnt peoples houses and businesses. Parents were forced to hide their daughters, brothers were protecting their sisters: praying that they would not be the next victims, while the Police allegedly did not take notice of their complaints.



The whole horror drama was exposed when the Noori Estate superintendent Nihal Perera was killed after refusing to bow to the demands allegedly made by the Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabhas former chairman Anil Champika, also known as Atha Kota, and his gang. Mr. Perera was attacked by a gang of about 20. They were allegedly dealing in illicit liquor and drugs. Those who dared to challenge them were stripped and beaten in public or raped. The gang that allegedly killed Mr. Perera came in a luxury jeep on July 5, 2013. They are alleged to have cut his mouth, beaten him with poles and dragged him on a rope tied to a vehicle. The American company running the estate, announced it was pulling out while thousands of villagers signed a petition accusing the police of aiding and abetting the alleged killers and rapists.



The United Nation in a statement to mark this day says violence against women or girls is a human rights violation, a consequence of discrimination against women, in law and also in practice, and of persisting inequalities between men and women. Violence against women impacts on and impedes progress in many areas, including poverty eradication, combating HIV/AIDS, and peace and security. The UN says violence against women and girls is not inevitable, prevention is possible and essential but violence against women continues to be a global pandemic.



UN Women, an organisation set up by the General Assembly to work for gender equality and the Empowerment of Women, says that around the world one in three women experiences violence in her lifetime, often at the hands of someone they know, love and trust. Of all women who were victims of homicide globally in 2012, almost half were killed by intimate partners or family members. It says violence against women and girls, devastates lives, causes untold pain, suffering and illness.



Beyond the direct medical and judicial costs, violence against women takes a toll on household and national budgets through lost income and productivity. In Vietnam, for example, expenditure and lost earnings resulting from domestic violence was estimated at 1.4 per cent of GDP in 2010. In Britain, the cost of domestic violence in 2009, including service-related costs, lost economic output and human and emotional costs, amounted to GBP 16 billion.



In Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a special Task Force headed by womens rights activist Prof. Savithri Gunasekara to work out a stable legal mechanism towards the creation of a safe environment, free from violence for women and girls.



The Task Force has handed over its report to the Prime Minister outlining the tasks allocated to each ministry. We hope this is implemented effectively because women and girls, comprising more than 51 percent of our population, need to be in the centre and frontline of the eco-friendly, all-inclusive development strategy in the coming years. We also hope that horrors like those in Noori will never

be repeated.
Sri Lanka is a strange country. One Minister says that dozens of Sri Lankan Muslims have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria(ISIS), one of the worlds most brutal terrorist organisations while another says there are no intelligence reports about such links between Sri Lankan Muslims and the said outfit.



How serious is it if there was a trend among the Sri Lankan Muslims to join the outfit that is on a killing spree in many countries in the Middle East? Why cannot the ministers talk in one voice if their utterances are based on intelligence reports which should in turn be based on facts?



After a 10 month gap, stories about Sri Lankan Muslims joining the ISIS are making headlines again. Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi under whom the State intelligence arms are functioning told media last January that 36 Sri Lankan Muslims had travelled to Syria and some of them had already joined the terrorists. Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksha told Parliament last Friday that 32 Sri Lankan Muslims had gone to Syria to team up with the ISIS.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senarathna told the media on Wednesday that Defence authorities had confirmed to him that no Sri Lankan Muslims had been recruited by the Islamic State terrorists, except for four persons who had left the country a long time back.



While accusing that mischievous elements were attempting to create psychosis among the people saying the government was trying to downgrade the status given to Buddhism in the Constitution, Minister Rajapaksha also said during the budget debate in Parliament that certain foreigners were spreading extremist ideas among students in Muslim international schools in certain areas in the country. Minister Senarathna denied any involvement of foreign preachers in Muslim international schools as well, citing the absence of intelligence reports to that effect.



It is interesting to note that the media reported the statement made by Minister Rajapaksha on the ISIS recruiting Sri Lankans, as if breaking a new story, though they had reported the same matter quoting the Defence Secretary ten months ago, with a slight difference in numbers.



The Bodu Bala Sena(BBS) which always attempts to demonize the Muslims had welcomed Minister Rajapakshas remarks claiming that all that the minister had said was nothing but what they had been saying for the past several years. In fact the BBS has been tying up the Sri Lankan Muslims with all sorts of armed groups in the Muslim world. They have also been accusing the madrasas that are teaching children the basics of Islam and equivalent to the Dhamma schools, for breeding terrorists, in spite of the fact that no one has ever been arrested for any of those allegations.



Muslin organizations such as the Muslims Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) and the Shoora Council had expressed dismay over the remarks made by Rajapaksha and viewed them as a moral boost to the anti-Muslim extremist groups. They had demanded an investigation into the allegations made by the Minister.



Demonizing Sri Lankan Muslims through fear-mongering by certain Sinhalese and Tamil leaders as well as the media has a long history, dating back to the mid 1980s. It all started in 1986 when the government of President J.R.Jayawardene decided to recruit Muslim youth as home guards following attacks on Muslim villages and individuals by the Tamil armed groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Eelam National Democratic Liberation front (ENDLF) in 1985 and 1986.



The LTTE set fire to more than 500 houses belonging to Muslims in Kalmunaikudi and the adjacent Sainthamaruthu and Maruthamunai in the East in two days in 1985, an incident which largely contributed to the formation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). The incident prompted the government to recruit Muslim youths to the Home Guard units. Then Tamil armed groups started to spread stories - true as well as perceived - on the brutality of Muslim home guards, and on alleged connections between Muslim armed groups and Muslim countries.



In an article published in Janahanda, a newspaper published for a short period during the early years of 1990s byWimal Wickramsinghe, the State Minister for Finance during President Ranasinghe Premadasas tenure, it had been claimed that a Muslim Terrorist organization called Thableeg was recruiting members through a house to house campaign. The Thableeg movement which was mentioned in Minister Rajapakshas last week speech as well, is a voluntary movement without permanent members that exists for about a century in India and Sri Lanka propagating basic religious values at the grass root level. Hence, the Muslim leaders contested the article carried in the Janahanda but the paper was not in a position to substantiate its claim. So the matter ended there.

During the same period some newspapers carried stories about an organization called Jihad operating in the Eastern Province. The organization fighting for a separate State for Muslims had links with Muslim countries, according to those stories. The stories were so unfounded that while one newspaper carried the stories, others ignored them. Sometimes Sinhala newspapers published such stories while Tamil and English papers ignored them. Some newspapers while fear mongering about a possible separate Muslim State, ludicrously linked the organization to the LTTE as well. The stories were attributed to the police and the security forces, but never in the history was a Jihad hideout raided. Interestingly, the newspapers that carried such serious stories forgot the organization in weeks or months.



A few years later again in the late 1990s, the Jihad bogey was brought forth by the newspapers attributing to politicians and defence authorities. However, there was no consistency between new stories and those published years ago. They were again breaking news. However, this time they published the pictures of handwritten threatening letters in Tamil and sent by the Jihad outfit to various government officials including police officers. Once, a newspaper had linked the so-called Jihad organization and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). SLMC leader M.H.M.Ashraff took legal action against the paper as it did not accept his denials. After Ashraff was killed in a helicopter crash in September, 2000 Jihad as well as its connection to the SLMC was also buried with him.

One would be amused to note that the LTTE and the Tamil media too spread the stories about Muslim armed organizations such as Jihad, Osama, Muttur Jetty group and Knox group linking them to the army intelligence units. While the Sinhala newspapers linked the Muslim armed groups to the LTTE and the Middle Eastern countries, the LTTE linked them to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the intelligence agency of Pakistan, apart from the army. For instance, quoting Anton Balasingham, the LTTE advisor and Bahukutumbi Raman, the former head of the counter-terrorism division of Indias external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Tamil Guardian reported on April 5, 2006 about the links between the army backed Muslim armed groups and the ISI. Also the Tamil Net on June 29, 2009 reported that 18 Muslim armed groups were functioning only in Kattankudi, in the Batticaloa District.



The sources provided information to the Sinhala newspapers did not see any ISI link, as Pakistan had been the regular supporter to the government during the war while the LTTE wanted to team up with India showing an ISI threat in Sri Lanka.



There are some common features in these fear mongering stories. No leader or leaders of these so-called Muslim armed groups were identified for the past 20 years.Not a single specific crime committed by those groups was reported. No hideouts or officers were located. No weapons were captured. No raids were carried out by the police or the armed forces despite hundreds of newspaper reports being published about these groups. But still the fear mongering is going on.
Despite the challenging market conditions with pressures rising on disposable incomes and the need of an insurance policy becomes less of a priority, life insurer, Union Assurance PLC (UAL), increased both its gross written premiums (GWPs) and profits during its recent quarter ended September.

UAL posted a net profit of Rs.70.8 million recording an increase of 39 percent on year but the profits did not include a surplus from the life business, which is actuarially valued

at year-end.

The earnings per share jumped to Rs.1.20 from 59 cents a year ago as the company repurchased shares during the period.

Meanwhile, for the nine months ended September 30, the company made an earning of Rs.3.22 a share or Rs.189.8 million, which is a decrease of 87 percent from a year ago as the corresponding last years profit included a one-off gain of Rs.1.22 billion from the sale of its general insurance subsidiary.

Upon regulatory-driven segregation of the business into life and non-life, Union Assurance sold 78 percent of its general insurance subsidiary for a consideration of Rs.3.66 billion to Fairfax Asia Limited, which resulted in a capital gain of Rs.1.22 billion.

However, even after excluding this transaction, the profit for the period was lower than the previous period due to a decrease in interest income as a result of reduction in funds available due to the share repurchase effected in September 2015, the company said in a statement.

Union Assurance General Limited, now a 22 percent-owned associate company, during the nine-month period contributed with a Rs.85.5 million profit.

Sri Lankas overcrowded insurance industry is now seeing some form of consolidation, mostly to concentrate on profitable long-term insurance business than general insurance.

As of March 31, 2016, there were 28 insurers  12 long-term (life) insurers, 13 general insurers and another three, which engage in both forms of the business.

Meanwhile, UALs GWP rose by 20 percent to Rs.6.0 billion on year. The net investment income grew by 9.0 percent to Rs.2.2 billion.

By the end of September 30, the life fund stood at Rs.30.3 billion. The company paid claims and benefits of Rs.1.1 billion, up by only 3 percent.

As of September 30, John Keells Holdings PLC held a 86.51 percent stake in the company.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Jose David Sumba-Loja Defendant - Appellant No. 16-1267 Decided: November 23, 2016

Before MURPHY, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

Appellant Jose David Sumba-Loja pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to illegally re-entering the United States after removal, in violation of 6 U.S.C.  202 and 557; 8 U.S.C.  1326(a) and (b)(2); and failing to register as a sex offender, pursuant to 18 U.S.C.  2250(a). The district court sentenced the appellant to 51 months imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release. The appellant appeals, arguing that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1291 and affirm.

I.

Sumba-Loja is a citizen of Equador who unlawfully entered the United States. In 2012, he was convicted in Hennepin County District Court of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with respect to the sexual assault of his girlfriend's daughter. He was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment and was required to register as a sex offender for life. His prison term was stayed, and he was removed to Equador on January 22, 2012. Sumba-Loja subsequently illegally re-entered the United States but failed to register as a sex offender. The appellant was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on November 19, 2012, as he was about to leave to return to Equador.

In the plea agreement, the parties agreed that the applicable Guidelines section for the offense of illegally re-entering the United States after removal was U.S.S.G.  2L1.2 and that a 16-level enhancement for having been deported after conviction for a felony that is a crime of violence applied. See U.S.S.G.  2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). The parties further agreed that a one-level increase should be applied for grouping, Sumba-Loja should receive a three-level decrease for acceptance of responsibility, and the criminal history level was III. The applicable Guidelines range was 51-63 months.

At sentencing, Sumba-Loja requested a downward variance to a sentence of 30 months. In support of this request Sumba-Loja noted that he was not a chronic immigration violator; he followed the example of siblings in originally entering the United States; he had a good employment record in this country; he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident after his return to Equador which left him with the loss of vision in one eye and loss of the sense of smell, headaches, and the loss of short- and long-term memory; and he only returned to the United States to address financial distress which resulted from his accident and to avoid being a burden on his family. He further asserted that he did not understand his obligation to register as a sex offender. Sumba-Loja also argued that, prior to his apprehension, he had no contacts with law enforcement in the United States, he does not constitute a danger to the community, punishment is needed primarily to deter him from future violations of the immigration laws of the United States, and he did not intend to return.

The United States recommended a sentence of 60 months. In support of its recommendation, the government argued that Sumba-Loja constitutes a grave danger to very young children, and that, by entering the United States illegally without registering as a sex offender, Sumba-Loja made monitoring of his presence and activities impossible. The government also pointed to Sumba-Loja's history of minor infractions including traffic offenses and failure to file tax returns. The United States argued that the requested 60-month sentence was necessary to protect the public in the United States and in Equador.

II.

Sumba-Loja claims that his sentence was substantively unreasonable in that the district court failed to properly consider the 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) factors. Specifically, he contends that the district court did not adequately take into account his physical and mental impairments and his motivation for re-entering the United States, namely his desire to aid his family financially under the strain of his medical expenses. He also argues the district court placed too much weight on public welfare concerns and deterrence.

The substantive reasonableness of a defendant's sentence is reviewed applying a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (citing Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007)). A district court abuses its discretion when it fails to consider a relevant and significant factor, gives significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, or considers the appropriate factors but commits a clear error of judgment in weighing those factors.  United States v. Stong, 773 F.3d 920, 926 (8th Cir. 2014) (quoting United States v. Robison, 759 F.3d 947, 950-51 (8th Cir. 2014)). We typically accord a presumption of reasonableness to a sentence that falls within the advisory Guidelines range. United States v. Kobriger, 825 F.3d 495, 498 (8th Cir. 2016) (citing United States v. Scales, 735 F.3d 1048, 1052 (8th Cir. 2013)). That we might have reasonably concluded that a different sentence was appropriate is insufficient to justify reversal of the district court. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.

The district court sentenced Sumba-Loja to 51 months imprisonmentat the bottom of the advisory Guidelines range. The court considered pre-sentence position statements submitted by the parties wherein the factors referred to by Sumba-Loja in this appeal were thoroughly presented. Comprehensive arguments were made by counsel for the parties at sentencing. In explaining the reasons for the sentence imposed, the district court acknowledged Sumba-Loja's significant medical change since [he] was last sentenced, and its impact on his memory. The court concluded that the sentence imposed was appropriate to protect the public, to provide treatment and rehabilitation for Sumba-Loja, and to deter future violations of the law. We are satisfied that the district court considered all of the relevant and significant factors and afforded each factor appropriate weight. See United States v. Gasaway, 684 F.3d 804, 808 (8th Cir. 2012) (holding that, despite defendant's argument that the district court afforded too much weight to some  3553(a) factors and too little weight to others, it is within the district court's discretion to determine the weight given to each factor); United States v. Townsend, 617 F.3d 991, 994 (8th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) (The district court may give some factors less weight than a defendant prefers or more to other factors, but that alone does not justify reversal. (citation omitted)).

Finally, Sumba-Loja argues that the district court gave too much weight to U.S.S.G.  2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). Specifically, he asserts that the Guidelines section is the product of flawed development and the 16-level increase it provides is excessive. Because Sumba-Loja did not present this argument to the district court we review the same for plain error. United States v. Phelps, 536 F.3d 862, 866 (8th Cir. 2008). After conducting such review, we find no error in the district court's consideration and application of the Guidelines offense level increase specified in U.S.S.G.  2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii).

III.

Accordingly, we affirm the sentence.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Joan N. Ericksen, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

PER CURIAM.
Indira Gandhi declared political emergency to save the politics of domination. Similarly, Narendra Modi declared an unexpected emergency on financial transactions in the country.

According to government sources, it is an attempt to save the economy from black income. The verve in declaring the emergency gives an impression that it is the first time the government is taking action on currency transaction.

It is a fact that the PM has to declare such a decision with utmost care and take people into confidence. So such verve is necessary to a great extent.

Demonetisation gives hope to the people who support it. People have been told this is going to bring them fortune. There is support for this project at the cost of national security. However, fulfilling the expectations of people is going to put the project under chaos.

One is the flow of money to banks and the other is the expected welfare of the huge deposits and reduction in public consumption. How is this going to benefit the common man?

Black money and its politics

The fact of the matter is that no government can unearth the black income in the country. It is expected that black money constitutes more than 20 per cent of India's GDP. In 2013, the volume of black money was estimated as 75 per cent of GDP, however the report was not officially tabled. Some newspapers reported it.

Apart from that, whatever the claims of the government may be, Indias informal sector contributes 93 per cent of the total economy. It includes informal markets and transactions. Such informal and non-banking financial transactions are supporting livelihoods of millions of people. Demonetisation has badly hit these people and their livelihood.

One can also argue that the black economy is an integral part of economic process in the country. Wealth creation and distribution are more active in the black economy, which operates in the informal sector. It tells that a conventional rhetorical action does not save the economy.

In fact, millions of Indians are desperately engaged with black economy for even basic livelihood. Indias mining sector is an example of this. The Justice MB Shah Commission report on illegal mining estimated that illegal mining operations account for Rs 59,000 crore.

No action has been taken on the report. Where is this money going? It is going into the mainstream economy and added to the capital assets of private mining sectors. The poor workers are dependent on these illegal mines for livelihood. They are earning and spending in the local economy. The profit from these illegal mines is added to the profit of big mining companies and hence becomes part of the mainstream economy.

However, poor workers' incomes are now subject to government scrutiny. They have to open bank accounts for future earnings! This is just a glimpse of the Indian black economy operation.

Election spending alone proves how black income is connected with Indian politics. (Photo: Reuters)

Black Money or Black Capital

All previous attempts to unearth black money were never made compulsory. The Congress government introduced the voluntary disclose of income scheme in 1997 and about Rs 33,339 core got declared voluntarily by paying 35 per cent tax. The BJP government did the same in 2016 and collected Rs 65,250 crore by paying 40 per cent tax. However, compared to the economic change and the amount of financial transactions, Rs 65,250 crore is significantly less.

Black money is a byproduct of bureaucratised capitalism, wherein corruption predominantly determines capital transactions. The root cause of holding money in India is the nature of the Indian political economy. Corruption is linked with politics in India, and hence politics is built over corrupt deals.

The public also believes that our politics and bureaucracy are corrupt. So dismantling the corrupt network provides political gain. There were many attempts made in the past as well to incarcerate black income, and as said before, those were half successful.

The Aam Aadmi Party came to power by giving hope to the people that it would take action against corruption. Modi offered to bring all black income located abroad. And it has been proved that it is beyond the reach of the government and now the ruling party wants to avoid any reference to this.

The fact is that Indian political parties desperately wanted to avoid serious public debate on corruption and politics. Election spending alone proves how black income is connected with Indian politics. Indian capitalism does not prefer to have a transparent system, and hence corruption is an integral part of the everyday state.

So the honesty of bursting the root of black income is dependent on disowning the influence of private capital on politics. The honesty of the BJP government to save the economy needs to be looked at in this perspective as well.

Banning currency notes

Banning currency notes also means restricting the spending of unaccounted money. It is not necessarily fake currency. The Indian corporate sector has the mechanism to keep unaccounted money in subsidiary companies. Apart from that, many support systems extend to private corporate sectors to dodge tax pay.

So the proposed currency ban is going to affect those who do not practice banking or hold unaccounted income. The last one week's results proved that the common mans unbanked income is coming to government notification and not much heavy cash declarations. It also proved how ineffective the banking infrastructure is in the country. Public sector banking system proves its success and institutional failure as well. Success is its capacity to meet such an emergency and the failure is the lack of preparation to anticipate the circulating money.

The poor mass of the country does not have unaccounted money; however, it does not mean that their wage earnings are safe. Their earned savings need to be ratified. Informal moneylending and cooperatives have to stop the operation or link their operation through the banking system.

It would be huge support for the Jan Dhan Yojana banking system. The operating bank account becomes a necessity for the poor and success depends on the operation of the public sector banking system. The positive impact of the present declaration is flow of money to the banking system. Theoretically, it leads to accumulation of money in public sources and it should lead to capital formation in the economy. It could be private or public sector capital formation. The coming days will prove this.

It also helps to see how much volume of black income exists in the country. However, this alone does not resolve the issue of black income. The concern is black economy. The black economy is well connected with mainstream economic operations as well.

Land is the most attractive sector, which connects black with white economy. It is the most manipulated sectors. If the government is committed to snooping into the network, it has to take a list of big land-holdings in the country. It is evident from the huge arable land ownerships of private corporate and individuals.
While the beginning of the Climate Change Conference in Marrakech was marked with apprehension post the US election results, it concluded with optimism and promise on climate action post the 2015 Climate Agreement.

Supporting speedy action for climate change mitigation and to facilitate countries for their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, the forum on Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) brings together more than 30 countries to facilitate country-to-country exchange and knowledge sharing; fostering domestic action such as carbon pricing and other innovative instruments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cost effectively.

As many as 40 countries, including seven out of the ten largest global economies, and over 20 cities, states, and provinces have a price on carbon.

Though the global climate meet is led and dominated by governments, it is the business community that would play a significant role in realising the promise to action.

Leading businesses foreseeing the future are building a carbon price into their business operations as a way to prepare for a low-carbon economy.

Internationally, a growing number of companies with varied business interests such as Microsoft, Cemex, Braskem and Ben & Jerry are working to adapt carbon pricing for their strategic objectives.

Leading businesses foreseeing the future are building a carbon price into their business operations as a way to prepare for a low-carbon economy. (Photo: Reuters)

In India, there are a few policy instruments that prompt business actions which include the tax on coal to fund clean energy, the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme that has helped accelerate energy efficiency in large energy-intensive industries, and the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) mandating a certain percentage of electricity to be generated from renewable sources.

To gauge the preparedness within Indian businesses in undertaking internal carbon pricing, TERI along with its Business Council (a consortium of Indian industries) and with support from the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) of the World Bank, undertook a study on "Valuation of Energy Costs in the Indian Context".

The study included extensive corporate consultations and deliberations, with 100-plus business leaders on internal carbon pricing, its challenges and opportunities.

These companies represented cement, oil and gas, chemical, automobile, textile, construction, IT, banking, power, manufacturing and mining sectors. It was interesting to find that about 17 per cent were already pricing carbon internally and another 40 per cent were planning to do so in the next 1-2 years.

Six Indian companies (TATA, Dalmia Cement, Yes Bank, Arvind, HCC and Mahindra) are signatories to the CPLC and currently preparing for a future price on carbon. Recently, Mahindra & Mahindra publicly announced a price on carbon of $10 per tonne, committing to reduce specific emissions by 25 per cent in the next three years.

The momentum on internal carbon pricing is rising among Indian businesses as they see it as a good tool and an accelerated push to become carbon neutral. However, it would be necessary for businesses to get it right, and more importantly, to include their entire value chain while attempting to reduce environmental risk and their carbon footprint.

This would require improved technical understanding and adoption of the carbon pricing process.
When Gandhiji fasted, thousands from Kashmir to Kanyakumari fasted with him in their homes. They did so anonymously. They felt an instinctive solidarity with him. They knew he stood and struggled for them. In truth.

The one thing that the British could not do, was to fight the might of sincerity. The Raj - like all power structures - was a Leviathan of hypocrisy. Like political parties today, the British too claimed to rule us only for our own good. Winston Churchill believed sincerely that it would be irresponsible for the British to abandon India to Indians.

Narendra Modi too is fighting heroically to save us from black moneyed Indians! (Thats why money stashed overseas doesnt matter). The opposition parties are fighting to save us from Modi! We are fighting for dear life for trickles of our own hard-earned money. The police are fighting to protect the bank-wallahs from us.

Gandhi is our model of resistance. Many of the opposition parties, I understand, profess allegiance to him. But they dont seem to have learned anything from him.

To Gandhi, strength was not in numbers. It was in truth. Truth has no margin for calculating side-gains and lateral benefits.

As I survey the opposition phalanx, study their sound bytes, the puerile hide-and-seek they call strategy, I am amused. They call it opposition unity! They might as well call a heap of mangled compartments a superfast train.

To add insult to injury, they claim to be united to protect the interests of the poor! Of course, they look poor: poor in clarity, poorer in motivation and poorest in unity.

Not surprisingly, they have succeeded so far in eliciting only derisive dismissal from Modi and Co. They are seen as a bunch of kindergarten children who play Mahabharata on the sand dunes of Jaisalmer.

Not surprisingly, they have succeeded so far in eliciting only derisive dismissal from Narendra Modi and Co.

Not only the BJP, even the common man refuses to take them seriously. Dont blame him. What has come through to us so far is as follows:

- Ten opposition parties are absolutely on the same page on the demonetisation issue.

- They want to put up a determined, united front against Modi out of a heroic commitment to the poor.

- But they dont want to be seen hobnobbing with each other in public. How can the Left stand with TMC; or AAP with Shiv Sena; BSP with SP; or Congress with TMC?

- Anxieties are rife, apparently, that if they get mixed up with each other, there is no knowing which leader would walk away with the credit for opposing Modi.

- All parties are carefully calibrating their vocabulary so that the fish can be caught without wetting ones fingers.

All this is very pathetic. Surely, these parties cannot claim to be so beef-headed (as BJP would say) that they still do not understand the gravity of what they pretend to have undertaken or the might of their antagonist.

The one thing no one can hide for long in public is lack of sincerity. As regards the opposition parties, going by what we have seen so far, it stands out in lurid colours. I do not know in which fools paradise they are living. They have to be mighty blind to not see that their credibility is fast declining.

Give up, folks, the old and profitless habit of being in denial. The results of the just concluded by-elections are the writing on the wall. Those who have eyes to read, let them read.

The loudest proof that your credibility with the common man is at an all-time low is that people are willing to put up with any hardship and misery. What they are saying is simple, What else can we do? People find it difficult to trust you; and the sorry figure you are currently cutting in the public sphere will erode what little is left of your credibility.

It is suicidal for the opposition parties to stall both houses of Parliament, on the pretext of fighting the common mans battle and still remain obnoxiously disunited. History will condemn you for your deviousness.

Do you need primary schoolchildren to tell you that the country is going through the grimmest crisis ever? Is this the time to count your chickens? Cant you, for gods sake, cast your stupid quarrels into the Arabian Sea and bridge the yawning gulf between what you say and how you conduct yourselves?

If your house is on fire, would you first check on the ideological itch of your neighbour before you let him join you in fire-fighting?

If your child is in dengue delirium, would you check the creed of the doctor before you buy the medicines he prescribes? Would you keep the ailing child waiting, if you love her?

If your pocket is picked and you spot the pickpocket running away with your purse (an apologetic metaphor for demonetisation), would you check the colour of the constables boots before you ask him for help?

We, the harried, hapless people of India, have a humble request. Please dont insult us any more with your hypocrisy. If you cannot forget your petty squabbles, your soulless electoral calculations, and unite in truth to fight for a cause, please shut up and let Parliament transact its business.

Do not try to convert our misery into your credit card. For seven decades we have lived cheated. We are sick and tired of it. There must be an end. We may forgive the trauma of this botched up demonetisation. But we will not forgive, if you add insult to our injury.

If you continue the way you are at the moment, all youd do is to prolong our misery. Look, the options are simple and stark...

Either this demonetisation is going through. Or, it is not.

If it is going through, we would have it go through as smoothly and quickly as possible. We dont want our misery to be prolonged by a minute, let alone by a day.

If it is not to go through, we doubt if the quality of your present unity and motivation - ten stones cast in twenty directions - is anywhere near that mark.

Sorry, I have to tell you the truth. I dont know if you are used to it. You better be. It is a matter of life-and-death for us.
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Ltd., Iron Mountain Deutschland GmbH, Iron Mountain Do Brasil Ltda, Iron Mountain Document Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Document Storage Services LLC, Iron Mountain EES Holdings Ltd., Iron Mountain Enterprises Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Espana SA, Iron Mountain Eswatini (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Europe (Group) Limited, Iron Mountain Europe Ltd., Iron Mountain FZ-LLC, Iron Mountain Finland OY, Iron Mountain France S.A.S., Iron Mountain Fulfillment Services Inc., Iron Mountain Global Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Global LLC, Iron Mountain Group (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Hellas SA, Iron Mountain Holdings (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Holdings (France) SNC, Iron Mountain Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Hong Kong Ltd., Iron Mountain Incorporated, Iron Mountain India Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Information Management LLC, Iron Mountain Information Management Services Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Information Management Services Inc., Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management Inc., Iron Mountain International (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain International Holdings BV, Iron Mountain Ireland Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Ireland Limited, Iron Mountain Korea Limited, Iron Mountain Latin America Holdings Sociedad Limitada, Iron Mountain Lesotho (Proprietry) Limited, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Sarl, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Services S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain MDM Limited, Iron Mountain Macau Limited, Iron Mountain Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft., Iron Mountain Management Services GmbH, Iron Mountain Mayflower Limited, Iron Mountain Mexico Holding S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Iron Mountain Mexico Servicios S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance Holdings LLC, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance I LLC, Iron Mountain Nederland B.V., Iron Mountain Nederland Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain New Zealand Limited, Iron Mountain Norge AS, Iron Mountain Participations SA, Iron Mountain Peru S.A., Iron Mountain Philippines Inc., Iron Mountain Poland Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Polska Services Sp z.o.o., Iron Mountain Polska Sp. z.o.o., Iron Mountain Receivables QRS LLC, Iron Mountain Receivables TRS LLC, Iron Mountain Records Management (Puerto Rico) Inc, Iron Mountain Records Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain SRL, Iron Mountain Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Inc., Iron Mountain Services Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Services S.A.S., Iron Mountain Shanghai Co Ltd, Iron Mountain Singapore Pte. Ltd., Iron Mountain Slovakia s.r.o., Iron Mountain South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Information Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Records Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South America Sarl, Iron Mountain Southeast Asia Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Taiwan Ltd., Iron Mountain UK Services (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain US Holdings Inc, Iron Mountain Vietnam Company Limited, Iron Mountain d.o.o. Novi Banovci, Jigsaw Freight Limited, Jigsaw Pieces Limited, Jin Shan Limited, KDM Spectrumdata Pty Ltd, KH Data Capital Development Land LLC, Lane Archives Technologies Corporation, Livevault, Marshgate Morangis Sarl, Mimosa Systems, Nettlebed Acquisition Corp., Novo Group Limited, Novo Holdings Limited, Novo Overseas Limited, NxtGen Data Center & Cloud Services, OEC Records Management Company Private Limited, OSG Records Management (Europe) Limited, OSG Records Management Center LLC, OSG Records Management Centre LLC, OSG Records Management Crypto LLC, OSG Records Management Foreign LLC, OSG Records Management LLC, OSG Records Management LLC (Ukraine), OSG Records Management LLP, OSG Services sp. zoo, Oda International Management Corporation NV, Osrecki d.o.o., PT Iron Mountain Indonesia, Preferred Media Ltd, Prism Integrated Sdn Bhd, Recall, Recall (London) Limited, Recall (Shanghai) Ltd., Recall Europe Finance Ltd., Recall Europe Limited, Recall GQ Ltd, Recall Holdings, Recall Holdings Limited, Recall India Information Management Pvt. Ltd., Recall International Pty Limited, Recall Italy SRL, Recall Limited, Recall Overseas Holdings Pty Limited, Recall Shredding Limited, Recall Technology Pty. Ltd., Recall Total Information Management India Pvt. Ltd., Record Data Limited, Royal Seal S.R.O., SIA RIATech, Saracen Datastore Limited, Shanghai Iron Mountain Data Storage Co. Ltd., Shuttle SRL, Startify, Superior Storage Limited, UAB Confidento, and Xepa Digital.

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Total Energy Services Inc. provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry primarily in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Contract Drilling Services, Rentals and Transportation Services, Compression and Process Services and Well Servicing. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers contract drilling services to oil and gas exploration and development companies. As of December 31, 2021, it operated a total fleet of 95 drilling rigs. The Rentals and Transportation Services segment provides drilling, completion and production rental equipment, and oilfield transportation services in western Canada and in the United States. This segment owned and operated a fleet of 79 heavy trucks. The Compression and Process Services segment offers gas compression services; and designs and packages skid style compressors and proprietary trailer-mounted compressors under the NOMAD brand in Canada and the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Mexico. It had 53,800 horsepower of compression in its rental fleet. The Well Servicing segment offers well services. This segment operated a total fleet of 83 well servicing rigs across Western Canada, mid-western United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.

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National Bank of Canada provides various financial products and services to retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services comprise credit, and deposit and investment solutions, as well as international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment comprises investment solutions, trust services, banking services, lending services, and other wealth management solutions. The Financial Markets segment offers corporate banking, advisory, and capital markets services; and project financing, debt, and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance products; financial products and services to individuals and businesses in Cambodia; and investment solutions, guaranteed investment certificates, mutual funds, notes, structured products, and monetization. It provides its services through a network of 384 branches and 927 banking machines. National Bank of Canada was founded in 1859 and is based in Montreal, Canada.
Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. operates as a seaborne shipping and logistics company in North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, South America, and internationally. It focuses on the transportation and transshipment of dry bulk commodities, including iron ores, coal, and grains. The company operates in two segments, Dry Bulk Vessel Operations and Logistics Business. The Dry Bulk Vessel Operations segment engages in the transportation and handling of bulk cargoes through the ownership, operation, and trading of vessels and freight. This segment charters its vessels to trading houses, producers, and government-owned entities. The Logistics Business segment operates ports and transfer station terminals, as well as upriver transport facilities in the Hidrovia region; and handles vessels, barges, push boats, and cabotage business. This segment provides its integrated transportation, storage, and related services through its port facilities, cargo barges, and product tankers to mineral and grain commodity providers, as well as to users of refined petroleum products. As of December 31, 2021, the company's fleet consisted of 36 vessels totaling 3.9 million deadweight tons. Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1954 and is headquartered in Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company offers general purpose servers for multi-workload computing and workload-optimized servers; HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers; HPE BladeSystem and HPE Synergy; and solutions for secondary workloads and traditional tape, storage networking, and disk products, such as HPE Modular Storage Arrays and HPE XP. It also offers HPE Apollo and Cray products; and HPE Superdome Flex, HPE Nonstop, HPE Integrity, and HPE Edgeline products. In addition, the company provides HPE Aruba product portfolio that includes wired and wireless local area network hardware products, such as Wi-Fi access points, switches, routers, and sensors; HPE Aruba software and services comprising cloud-based management, network management, network access control, analytics and assurance, and location; and professional and support services, as well as as-a-service and consumption models for the intelligent edge portfolio of products. Further, it offers various leasing, financing, IT consumption, and utility programs and asset management services for customers to facilitate technology deployment models and the acquisition of complete IT solutions, including hardware, software, and services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Additionally, the company invests in communications and media solutions. It has a partnership with Striim, Inc. to offer high performance and mission-critical solutions with real-time analytics. It serves commercial and large enterprise groups, such as business and public sector enterprises; and through various partners comprising resellers, distribution partners, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and advisory firms. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Lee University honored Dr. Jamie Carter with the 2016 Department of History, Humanities, and Political Science Distinguished Alumna Award during Homecoming at a department breakfast.

I remember Jamie as being engaged, passionate, and ambitious in her dedication to pursue a career in law, said Dr. Robert Barnett, distinguished professor of history at Lee. What I think most impressed me about her, though, was that she wanted to be a lawyer because she wanted to make a difference. While many go to law school because they believe it is the path to a lucrative future, Jamies motivation reflected her belief that a life well-lived was about service to others.

Dr. Carter works as the Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.

She has recently been instrumental in establishing a good-faith exception in Tennessee, allowing unconstitutionally-submitted evidence, which was obtained by law enforcement performing their duties conscientiously and in good faith, to be permissible in court.

Dr. Carter graduated from Lee with a bachelors degree in history in 2007 before earning her Juris Doctor from the College of Law at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

While at Lee, Dr. Carter was involved with the Mock Trial Team as team captain, the Society for Law and Justice as president, Phi Alpha Theta Honors Society as president, and Enlightenment: A Journal of the Arts & Sciences as editor-in-chief.

Jamie went from doing the impossible while at Lee (digging up funds to pay for the publication of a student journal, Enlightenment) to doing the impossible in her career (arguing a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court that ultimately changed how law and law enforcement work in this state), said Dr. Jason Ward, associate professor of history. In both cases, she does the impossible with ease and confidence. We are very proud of her.

Dr. Carter has also held positions as Knox County assistant district attorney and acting assistant district attorney in Tennessees Davidson County.




The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that Metro Daltons unemployment rate was unchanged at 6 percent from September to October. The rate in October 2015 was 6.2 percent.

While the rate was unchanged, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, declined by 38, or 3.8 percent, to 965 in October. Most of the decrease came in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were down by 162, or 14.4 percent, from 1,127 in October 2015.

The number of employed residents declined by 399 to 57,454, while the number unemployed decreased by 15 to 3,646. The labor force, which consists of employed residents and those who are unemployed but actively looking for jobs, declined by 414 to 61,100.

The number of jobs decreased by 300, or 0.4 percent, to 68,200. Most of the job losses came in textile manufacturing.

Over the year, the area lost 400 jobs, a 0.6 percent job loss rate. Most of the job losses came in textile manufacturing.

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.4 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgias seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 5.2 percent, up from 5.1 percent in September. It was 5.5 percent in October 2015.

Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use the GDOLs online job listing service, www.employgeorgia.com to search for jobs or recruit new employers. In October, 589 new job openings in Dalton were posted on Employ Georgia. Throughout the state, 70,200 new job openings were posted.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.georgia.gov

To learn more about career opportunities, Employ Georgia and other GDOL services for job seekers and employers, and to connect with us on social media, visit www.dol.georgia.gov




The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the unemployment rate in the Northwest Georgia region in October was 5.1 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 5.3 percent in September. The rate in October 2015 was 5.5 percent.



As the rate declined, there were more employed workers and fewer new layoffs, officials said.



The number of employed residents increased by 902 to 386,532, while the number of unemployed decreased by 595 to 20,895. The labor force, which consists of employed residents and those who are unemployed but actively looking for jobs, rose by 307 to 407,427.



Initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, declined by 253, or 9.2 percent, to 2,511 in October. Most of the decrease came in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were down by 780, or 23.7 percent, from 3,291 in October 2015.



Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.4 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7 percent.



Meanwhile, Georgias seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 5.2 percent, up from 5.1 percent in September. It was 5.5 percent in October 2015.



Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use the GDOLs online job listing service, www.employgeorgia.com, to search for jobs or recruit new employers. In October, 3,181 new job openings in the Northeast Georgia region were posted on Employ Georgia. Throughout the state, 70,200 new job openings were posted.



Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.georgia.gov.



To learn more about career opportunities, Employ Georgia and other GDOL services for job seekers and employers, and to connect on social media, visit www.dol.georgia.gov.
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Brand New China is the brainchild of Chinese media celebrity Hong Huang, which devotes to promoting Chinese designers' clothing, furniture and household articles. It will launch a new store in Beijing's Qianmen area in March 2017.

Brand New China will launch a new store in Beijing's Qianmen area in March 2017. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In 2010, Hong opened the first store of BNC, which gathered more than 150 Chinese designers, at Beijing's Sanlitun area, a popular place for young people in the capital. For the new store, BNC will be transformed into a venue that combines a store, restaurants and exhibition halls.

On Nov 12 and 13, Hong joined hands with an enterprise called Norlha, which is from Zorgey Ritoma, a village situated in Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Gansu province.

Not just presenting designers' products, BNC has expanded into introducing the knowledge and philosophy behind the brand.

During the runway shows held at BNC's store of Sanlitun, models displayed clothes and accessories made of yak wool.

"Since BNC advocates China's local fashion designers, we want to tell the story from a more diversified angle," said Hong.
Shoppers will have longer to take advantage of Small Business Saturday deals in downtown Fredericksburg this year.

Fredericksburg VA Main Street Inc. has extended the Early Bird Riser event this Saturday by an hour, and there will be other special promotions throughout the day. A number of stores also will be staying open later, and some restaurants will give discounts to people who provide receipts showing that they shopped downtown that day.

"We saw a strong weekend last year," said Ann Glave, Fredericksburg VA Main Street's executive director. "For the first time, Friday and Saturday and Sunday were all strong last year. Were hoping that well see the same thing this year."

American Express designated the Saturday after Black Friday in 2010 as a day to rally communities to support their locally owned businesses. For many small businesses, the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are a crucial period that could determine whether they are profitable for the year.

Last year, 95 million Americans reported shopping at small businesses on Small Business Saturday, and they spent more than $16 billion, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year, according to the post-holiday survey released by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and American Express.

Fredericksburg VA Main Street has been involved in organizing the event downtown since 2014, and it has grown each year. This year, more than 50 businesses along the city's streets will be sporting the Small Business Saturday blue and white balloons and welcome mats. That's up from about 40 two years ago.

"Its a way to get downtown visitors to think differently, that you really should be shopping downtown all year round," said Glave. "Hopefully it will become a quality of life to shop local."

She said that $68 out of every $100 spent locally goes back into the community. Owners of small businesses also contribute to community life in a number of ways, including support for local nonprofits.

Small Business Saturday will kick off downtown with the Early Bird Riser at 8 a.m. Participating businesses will offer special deals and hand out special shopping bags and paper crowns until 11 a.m. Glave said the hours were extended because shoppers complained last year that they hadn't been able to get to all the stores on their list before the promotions were over.

Individual videos about a number of the businesses and their promotions are on Fredericksburg VA Main Street's website, fredericksburgmainstreet.org/.

The city's Economic Development and Tourism office will again offer free coffee and pastries during the Early Bird Riser until they run out. They'll be given out in front of be two locations: the Visitor Center at 706 Caroline St. and Raven Hi Fi at 214 William St.

Other events this year include downtown cafes and restaurants offering "refuel specials" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and spas, salons and exercise studios offering "enjoy and relax specials" from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, WGRQ (FM 95.9) will be broadcasting live from noon to 3 p.m. in front of Raven Hi Fi; and Medical Imaging of Fredericksburg has begun running a social media contest promoting Fredericksburg VA Main Street's #lovefxbg that will end Sunday.

To enter Medical Imaging's contest, people must pick up a #LoveFXBG postcard at a downtown store, the Visitor Center, Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters or Medical Imaging's office at 1201-A Sam Perry Blvd., Suite 101; and upload a picture or videos at mifimaging.com/contest/ that shows them and the #LoveFXBG Card in a downtown Fredericksburg location via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or computer by midnight Sunday.

The Central Rappahannock Regional Library will also be involved in Small Business Saturday at all its locations this year. Patrons can go to the library's website, librarypoint.org and fill out a form that asks for their first name, the small business in the region that they supported on Saturday and what shopping local means to them. They'll then be eligible to print out a fine-free coupon.

Culpeper Renaissance and the Orange County Chamber of Commerce are also supporting Small Business Saturday.

Many downtown Culpeper stores will open around 10 a.m. and some will offer store specials, discounts and complementary refreshments. A list of specials will be available on Culpeper Renaissance's Facebook page.

"This is the fourth year that we've participated in downtown Culpeper," said Melissa Vesuna, Culpeper Renaissance's events coordinator. "We've seen that event grow every year since we've participated."

The Orange County Chamber of Commerce has helped promote Small Business Saturday since 2014. It has put a huge sign on Main Street in the town of Orange that urges people to shop local on Saturday, and has distributed promotional kits provided by American Express that include balloons and signs to about 20 downtown shops, restaurants and other businesses.

"We believe it has a great impact," said Deanne Marshall, the chamber's interim executive director. "American Express also supports Small Business Saturday with a lot of commercials. People start looking for the American Express signs and the balloons and colors."
When Gov. Terry McAuliffe stepped out of the Virginia Executive Mansion on Wednesday morning, he couldnt help but make an observation about the two deer lying in his front driveway.

Theyre both beautiful, but someones is much bigger, McAuliffe said, prompting laughter from the crowd packed around the trussed animals. Ill let the chiefs figure that out.

The Pamunkey and Mattaponi tribes presented the governor with gifts at a ceremony to kick off Thanksgiving, an annual tradition that dates back 339 years to a treaty signed in 1677 between colonial Gov. Herbert Jeffreys and several Native American leaders.

The peace treaty, meant to preserve territorial rights and codify the tribes status as subjects of the English king, originally called for a tribute of 20 beaver skins and three arrows, McAuliffe said, adding weve obviously upgraded.

Mattaponi Chief Mark Custalow went first, presenting McAuliffe with a piece of pottery made with clay from the Mattaponi River.

At this time, I would like to present you with our 8-point buck, Custalow said.

So its your 8-pointer, McAuliffe said. I didnt want to say anything.

Next up was Pamunkey Chief Robert Gray, whose tribe recently became the first federally recognized tribe in Virginia.

Were here with our smaller deer, Gray said. But what we figure is, you cant eat the antlers.

Gray also presented the governor with three turkey feathers and a walking stick topped with a deer skull.

He was telling me earlier he just got back from Australia, and I wondered if he did a walkabout, Gray said of the governor.

McAuliffe just returned from a 10-day overseas trade mission to Asia and Australia.

The deer presented to the governor will be given to homeless shelters for Thanksgiving meals with the help of the Hunters for the Hungry group.

Weve got a lot to be thankful for here in the commonwealth of Virginia. We are just blessed with so many riches, McAuliffe said. And we always have to remind ourselves that there are many people today who are going to have trouble putting food on the table tomorrow.

Before the ceremony concluded, McAuliffe invited parents in the crowd to take photos of their children with the deer, opened the mansion for tours and yielded the podium for some tribal dancing.

Happy Thanksgiving, McAuliffe said. Lets light it up.
The sand-colored colt bounded on wobbly legs to greet Jerry Hatton and nuzzle his owners hand. Running around his mother, the curious little horse poked his nose into the water bucket before galloping off after a farm dog.

Just two weeks ago, Hatton was not sure the 4-week-old coltnamed Thomas Jeffersonwould be walking, much less running, after, he said, an Albemarle County police dog attacked the horse through a pasture fence at his Augusta County farm.

On Nov. 7, an Albemarle police officer was running laps around Hattons farm, where she recently lived, with her K9 partner off leash. When the two ran near a pasture containing the mother and baby horses, the dog allegedly ran at the colt and bit down on its hind leg, leaving a long bloody gash.

The dog came running up to the fence and attacked him, Hatton said. He didnt attack to just bite him, he attacked to kill.

Despite a shock collar on the dog, it took the officer a while to get it under control and away from the horse, Hattons wife, Mary, said. Immediately running for help, the officer found Mary, who put the colt in a stable and called a veterinarian.

When he came in, he put some wound dressing on him and gave him all of the shots he should need, Jerry Hatton said. But he said there was nothing he could do for him herehe had to be on the table.

So, the next morning, the Hattons took Thomas Jefferson in for surgery. Two hoursand several thousand dollarslater, the colts wound was cleaned and stitched up, and he was sent home in a cone of shame to rest and recuperate, Hatton said.

The Albemarle County Police Department is conducting an internal investigation of the incident, according to a department spokeswoman, and would not comment on the active investigation.

In cases of dogs killing or injuring livestock, a district court can order that the dog be (i) killed or euthanized immediately by the animal control officer or other officer designated by the court or (ii) removed to another state that does not border on the Commonwealth and is prohibited from returning to the Commonwealth, according to Virginia Code.

According to Hatton, the department has made steps to cover the colts medical expenses, but he said it has been a rocky process.

Its just a horrible thing that happened, and the Albemarle County Police Department is not really doing what they should do, Hatton said. They wont talk to me on the phone; they wont put me in contact with their insurance company.They tell me to send them the bills and theyll pay for the bills, but they dont want to talk about the value of this animal, he said. Its pretty stressful.

For years, Hatton and his wife have bred and shown world-champion Rocky Mountain horses, an even-tempered breed known for its chocolate-colored coat and white mane and tail. The horses are preferred for beginner riders and trail riding because of their gentle nature and affinity for humans. When Thomas Jefferson was born, Hatton and his wife were sure they had another champion on their hands, but after the attack, the colt will be forever marked.Hes doing pretty well, but it will be long termyou just dont know, Mary Hatton said. He will never be a registered Rocky Mountain because hell have a white scar. Rockies cannot have white above the knee.

His value drops drastically, Jerry Hatton added. And if somebody comes out to look at him, theyll see a big scar and think, Well, maybe hell go lame later on. Anyone who looks at him with that scar is going to see a discount coupon.

As they wait to see how the little horse recuperates, Hatton said he just wants some communication from the police department and said he has not even received a formal apology. A spokeswoman for the police department said the county and department have been in contact with the couple, but would not elaborate on the departments role in the investigation.

Jody Saunders, a spokeswoman for Albemarle County, said the county has a well-established process for addressing such incidents. Once the county receives written documentation from the affected party, she said the county will submit the claim to their insurance provider, which will then review the request. Though she was unable to discuss damage payments until the formal claim has been made, Saunders said the police department has been in touch with Hatton and gave him contact information for the countys risk management and attorneys offices.

Self-described animal lovers, the Hattons said they dont want to see the dog put down, but wish the handler had had better control of her K9 partner.

I dont believe its the dogs fault; I believe its the handlers fault, said Mary Hatton. And I believe it was her place to make sure she was in control of her dog.

I hope the dog does not get put down, she said. I hope they can rehabilitate him.
During the decades after the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce compiled his Devils Dictionary, a compendium of definitions more true and useful than many found in other dictionaries.

For example, here is how he defined president: The leading figure in a small group of men of whom ... it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.

Exactly.

Yet however excellent Bierces dictionary might be, like all dictionaries it requires occasional updating to keep it current. To that end, here are some suggested additions.ALT-RIGHT (1) A loose confederation of bigots, anti-Semites, and white nationalists who make up a small fringe of the American conservative movement. (Obsolete.) (2) The American conservative movement.

BERNIE BROS The alt-left.

BIPARTISANSHIP A spirit of cooperation and conciliation that is insufficiently displayed by those in the opposing party.BUDGET, FEDERAL A dense and inscrutable fiscal document used to buy Smiths vote with Smiths money.

CONGRESS A repository for individuals who want the glory of public office without the responsibility.

CONSERVATIVE One who believes any change from the current appalling state of affairs will only make things worse, and is probably right.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY A political organization that uses superdelegates to prevent the tainting of its presidential nominating process by an excess of democracy, then complains about the Electoral College.

DISSENT (1) Under the current president, evidence of racism. (2) Under his predecessor and successor, the highest form of patriotism.DIRTY TRICK Bringing up an opponents voting record.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE A system designed to thwart the will of the majority.

FAIR ELECTION One in which your side wins.

FBI A nonpartisan law-enforcement agency whose enforcement of the law changes the partisan landscape.

GOOGLE The primary means by which Americans confronted with a discomfiting fact set out to disprove it.

GOVERNMENT A collective endeavor, through which some citizens require other citizens to do what they are not willing to do themselves.

HEARTLAND (1) That portion of the United States epitomizing the quintessence of the American ethos and in which resides the Platonic ideal of the good citizen. (2) Any similar mythical place.

INCUMBENT A person incapable of solving problems, and determined to defeat anyone who can.

INVESTMENT The incontinent appropriation of public funds for dubious purposes.

JOURNALIST (See: INCUMBENT)K STREET The natural habitat of the retired politician.

LEAK An admission which, because it is true, must be prevented at all costs.

LIBERAL One who, convinced the nation stands on a cliffs edge, urges it to take a bold step forward.

LIBERTARIAN One who believes in a society based on mutually beneficial cooperation, and related fables.

MANDATE Rightful authority to govern, which can be conferred by the electorate upon your political party but not theirs.

MY GOOD FRIEND (1) A member of the same party one has never met. (2) A member of the opposing party one thoroughly hates.NETROOTS That portion of a political movement whose principal contribution consists of typing in all capital letters.

OVERREACH In the view of the party that has just lost an election, what the party that has just won an election does the moment it takes any action whatsoever.

POLL Like a horoscope, but less accurate.

PROMISE A lie told by politicians.

QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT Quoted accurately.

REACTIONARY One who would like to return to a time when things were much worse, but not for him.

REPUBLICAN One who ascribes to the theory that government doesnt work, and upon taking office proves it.

SATIRE A literary device that exposes stupidity through the use of exaggeration and hyperbole. (Obsolete.)

SEXTING An extremely efficient means of committing political suicide. (See: WEINER, ANTHONY.)

TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK To return the nation to an imaginary status quo ante.

TWO-PARTY SYSTEM A longstanding political tradition in the United States, in which one party goes to work wrecking the country while the other catches its breath.

UN-AMERICAN Any idea or expression that calls into question the speakers own settled prejudices.

VOTE The franchise through which a citizen maintains the delusion that he has influence.

WONK One who labors under the delusion that he knows what he is talking about.

XENOPHOBIA The fear that other countries might be harboring more people just like you.
Video clip shows a woman is dragged off by a tiger after exiting the car when touring the tiger zone in Beijing Badaling Wildlife Park on July 23, 2016. [Photo/ the Beijing Times]

The woman who was severely injured by a Siberian tiger at a Beijing wildlife park has now filed a civil suit against the park, claiming 1.55 million yuan (US$224,800) in compensation.

On July 23, the young woman stepped out of a car while touring inside the Badaling Wildlife World to talk to the driver, her husband. A tiger then captured her from behind. Her husband and her mother ran out of the car to rescue her, but she and her mother were attacked by more tigers.

In the end, her mother died and she was seriously injured. After monitoring footage, a striking image was put online which went viral. Many condemned the woman with comments like "she asked for it."

The local government organized a team to investigate the incident but found that the park was clear of responsibility since the park had warned visitors of possible danger in advance and asked them to sign the safety accord.

But the woman, surnamed Zhao, and three relatives of her deceased mother filed a lawsuit on Nov. 15 against the park asking for compensation for damages.

Zhao admitted her faults of stepping out of the car, but she argued that the park has more faults, including allegedly not having the government safety evaluation and approval to run the safari; not training the visitors and not having protection or precautionary measures, nor neccessary first-aid equipment.

According to the lawsuit, the family said they have a full length video, which shows that after the tiger attacks, no staff of the park actually came to the rescue. They just stayed in the patrol jeeps and watched on, fearing for their own life. About 20 minutes after the attack, she and her mother were loaded onto an ambulance and rushed to hospital.

Therefore she argued that the park didn't train its staff and didn't take effective care of the injured. "My mother was so brave to save me from the tiger. She has no fault and the park was fully responsible for her death," she said.

The woman also dismissed online speculation as to why she stepped outside of the car. "I didn't quarrel with my husband on that day. I just felt dizzy due to carsickness since my husband is a new driver, so I decided to switch with my husband to drive for myself so I will feel better. The park has a complex and confusing structure so I thought I was in the safe zone and stepped out of the car," she said.

The family said the 1.55-million-yuan compensation they claim is calculated by their lawyers according to relevant laws, including funeral expenses for her mother, her own plastic surgery, nutrition fees, mental damage and more. Zhao said they had previously negotiated with the park regarding the damage, but after the government investigation report came out on Aug. 24, the park felt they had no responsibility and would not talk to them.

Cao Zhijie, who is in charge of the park, responded that the park doesnt have responsibility according to the report and can only offer a humanitarian fund rather than damage compensation. "As the legal procedure has now been initiated, we will respect the court's verdict, and will implement the court's decision in the future," Cao said.

The local court of Beijing Yanqing District stated on Wednesday that they have accepted the woman's lawuit, while the woman's family also applied to upgrade the jurisdiction from the local court to the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court or the Beijing Municipal Superior Peoples Court, in case the Yanqing local court has local protectionism for the park and bias against her family.
At Sinobioway, the buildings are built in the shape of letters over a site spanning 31 square km. [Photo/anhuisinobioway.com.cn]

"Capital controls the world. Life determines capital. Genes dictate life," is the people-centered philosophy behind the world's first bio-economy zone.

Located in an obscure location about an hour's drive from Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, is Sinobioway. The site spans 31 square kilometers, employs over a 1,000 staff members and, when finished, will have cost over US$3 billion to build.

It encompasses a huge array of research buildings, campuses and accommodation buildings for its staff. Many of the buildings have already been constructed and are at the stage of interior decoration. Its scientists are busy working away in the laboratories, while the construction of the project has included and benefitted the local inhabitants.

Dr. Wang Qunwei, who studied at Nottingham University in the U.K. and is now a Director at Sinobioway, gave foreign visitors a tour of his laboratory on Nov. 18. In cooperation with the U.S.-based Baylor College of Medicine., Dr. Wang's team was actively involved in the research and testing of CAR-T (Chimeric Antegen Receptor T-cell). The research focused on treating blood cancers like leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma as well as other diseases. He detailed the case of a Russian woman who had not found success with other cancer treatments. Having received two doses of the T-cell infusion, she is now free from cancer.

While the scale and pioneering technology behind the program is fascinating, the philosophy behind the project, based on many years of work by Dr. Pan Aihua, chairman of the board at Sinobioway, is even more intriguing. In 1995, he first proposed the concept of the bioeconomy, subsequently publishing 10 theories on bioeconomics in 2003 based on three main aspects: bioeconomic theories, bioeconomic model and the bioeconomic industry. .

In addition to high-tech research facilities and industries, Sinobioway has established the "health internet of things" (iHealth) by integrating life information transducers, a satellite navigation system, an information processing center and a health service system to produce an all-day online health monitoring system.

Dr. Pan contends that human society will enter an era of bioeconomy in 2020. At the new exhibition hall, boards on the wall illustrate the politico-economic background of development:

"The basic reality of today's world, that mankind is controlled by capital, does not confirm to the origins of life. Gene differences among individual are usually minor. Life should be equal."

The project seeks to build the highest form of society  a communist society, in-line with Marx's law of social development which proceeds from a: Primitive Society; Slave-owning Society; Feudalist Society; Capitalist Society (Capital controls the world); Socialist Society (Life determines capital); to a Communist Society (Genes dictate life).
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The graft trial of Yang Dongliang, former head of the State Administration of Work Safety, began Thursday in Beijing.

Yang stands accused of accepting bribes and embezzling public funds.

The prosecution allege that Yang took advantage of his various posts such as Tianjin vice mayor and head of the State Administration of Work Safety during the 2002-2015 period to seek undue benefits for others and accepted bribes.

Yang was indicted as having accepted bribes worth over 28 million yuan (4 million U.S. dollars).

Moreover, Yang allegedly kept real estate worth 270,800 yuan bought with public money in 1999 as his own, according to the indictment.

Yang pleaded guilty and expressed regret for his crime.

The ruling will be announced at a later date.
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China has prosecuted 564 individuals for telecom fraud in nine cases and convicted another 53 in four cases, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Thursday.

In the first batch 21 cases handled by the SPP and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), 481 persons were arrested, the SPP said.

The cases involve a huge amount of assets, along with serious social effects, the SPP said.

The cases come in three types: student victims, cross-border fraud and the high-profile cases handled by the MPS.

One case reputedly led to the death of Xu Yuyu, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Linyi City in east China's Shandong Province. Xu was reported to have lost 9,900 yuan (1,400 U.S. dollars) meant for university tuition fees to fraudsters. She died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 19.

An unidentified official from the SPP said the progress in the 21 cases have contained the increase in telecom fraud.
It was September 6, 1943 and Winston Churchill was delivering an important speech at Harvard University upon the occasion of his being awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Two points emerged from that speech which are of great significance in today's world. The first is Churchill's reflection on the British Empire of past centuries, upon which the sun never set, but which would not be the empire of the future. He noted that in contrast: "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."

Thus, in an Information Age, wealth is less likely to be found in real estate and more often to be in the form of various types of intellectual property. This is a world shaped and ruled by patents, trademarks and domain names, designs, computer chips, nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, gnomes, plant variety species, and many other new forms. The U.S. and China have both invested heavily in and actively promoted this new form of economic wealth.

The second major point raised by Churchill, and one that is as relevant today as it was in 1943, was that in this environment major economic powers cannot choose to be disengaged in the world. In order for the new economic and social order to work, the leading powers must lead and be actively engaged. Interestingly, after WWI, the U.S. rejected President Wilson's League of Nations and retreated into isolationism. Then over the next several decades, tensions and conflict escalated resulting in the devastation and destruction of WWII.

Churchill also observed with his wonderful wit, that: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing  after they've tried everything else." Let us hope that President-elect Trump will not adopt such a strategy.

Our 21st Century world is a very small, crowded and interconnected place. Challenges such as global warming, rising population, disparity between rich and poor and a shortage of resources require, more than ever before, international cooperation. In contrast to the inward looking view expressed by President-elect Trump, world leaders need to be stepping up and arguing the case for enhanced globalization and internationalization.

By internationalization, I mean the move towards harmonization of national laws so that a common international law emerges. Globalization refers to the growing interdependence of economies; specifically and generally the trend to take a world or global view of issues rather than a narrow sectarian or purely nationalistic view.

International trade benefits everyone by ensuring that goods and services are produced at the lowest possible cost and with the greatest efficiency by those who are best placed to carry out this activity. This results in a win-win for both the producer/supplier of such goods and services and for the consumer. Internationalization facilitates world trade, maximizes efficiency and provides a process by which nations may both partner for success and resolve differences, thus promoting peaceful development from which all benefit.

President Xi Jinping, at the APEC Economic Leaders' Summit in Peru, spoke out against protectionism and in favor of globalization. He signaled China's commitment to lead by opening up its economy. While this statement is both welcomed and applauded, it will need to be followed-up by concrete actions that make the intention a reality.

Indeed, the world needs more than ever all leaders to work together so that we avoid unnecessary trade wars and the resultant rising tensions that endanger peaceful development, spawn distrust and result in wasteful activity such as heightened arms races. It is now time for other world leaders similarly to advocate a global approach that is genuinely win-win and not resort to a win-loss context characterized by short-term gains for one country won at the expense of another.

Finally, Churchill also stated in his 1943 speech, that "the price of greatness is responsibility." I remain optimistic that the world's leaders will take that responsibility seriously in the decades ahead.

Eugene Clark is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/eugeneclark.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Dayton Ohio - Annual Great Turkey Burn-Off at Always Ballroom

Past Event - Sunday, November 27, 2016

This page may be updated if the event is repeated

3 Canned Goods - to be donated to a local food bank

Support a local food bank while you Burn-Off the Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, and other goodies from your Thanksgiving Feast.

Annual Great Turkey Burn-Off at Always Ballroom





Burn-Off Thanksgiving calories by moving to your favorite dance music. Overflow parking available across the street. Please call 937-256-2626 with any questions.

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After the discontinuation of the Tucson in India, the only SUV from Hyundai on offer in the Indian market was the Santa Fe. Although the mighty SUV was appreciated for its looks and road presence, thanks to its Rs 30 lakh price tag, it was out of reach for most of the general customers. Acknowledging the ever-increasing compact SUV market in India, Hyundai introduced the Creta. This compact SUV became popular quickly and has been clocking good sales numbers since its launch. The Creta and Santa Fe belong to totally different segments and have a massive price difference of Rs 14 lakh. To fill this void, Hyundai has reintroduced its premium five-seater SUV, the Tucson.

Being placed approximately Rs 4 lakh apart (top variant to base variant) from each other, how different or similar are these three offerings to one another? Let's have a close look and find out.

Looks And Dimensions

Creta Vs Tucson

First off, the Creta and the Tuscon. Looks wise, apart from the fact that these SUVs belong to the same design family, they do not really look alike. The Creta is a more conventional squared-off SUV whereas the Tucson is curvy and looks modern. They both get a rising shoulder line with a sloping roof line. But the extra 205mm in length, compared to just 30mm of height gained by the Tucson, accentuate these design elements. At the front, both the SUVs get a three-slat chrome grille but the one on the Tucson is a lot taller, making it look more aggressive. Also, the headlamp units in the Tucson are slim double-barrel units, adding sleekness to the look. In terms of width, the Tucson gains 70mm on the Creta.

Tucson Vs Santa Fe

This is where the design similarities really come to light. Both these cars have almost identical shoulder line, roof line and A, B and C-pillars. Where the difference really lies is the size of these SUVs. The Santa Fe is 215mm longer, 30mm wider and 30mm taller than the Tucson. At the front, rather than being similar to the Tucson, the Santa Fe is a lot like the Creta. The grille and the headlamps both hark back to the baby SUV. But, considering the size, the Tucson, on the whole, looks a lot more like the Santa Fe.

Mechanics and Features

None of the three SUVs from Hyundai share an engine between them. The Creta comes with two diesel and one petrol engine option. The biggest and the most powerful engine in the Creta is the 1.6-litre CRDi diesel producing 128PS of power and 260Nm of torque. The Tucson borrows its petrol engine from the all-new Elantra. Which means, it gets a 2.0-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre diesel engine. Of these two, the diesel engine is significantly more powerful than the petrol and produces 185PS of power and 400Nm of torque.

Coming to the big-boy SUV from Hyundai, the Santa Fe has only one, a 2.2-litre diesel engine. This unit produces 197PS of power and 420Nm (AT) / 436Nm (AT) of torque. These figures are slightly higher than the Tucson's diesel variants but, the biggest mechanical change here is the addition of a 4-wheel drive system.

Al the three SUVs, apart from the 1.4-litre diesel Creta (which comes with just a 6-speed manual), come with an option of either a 6-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual gearbox. But, while the Creta and Tucson are only available in 2-wheel drive, the Santa Fe gives the customers an option to choose a 4-wheel drive option.

In terms of features, the three are well equipped for their respective price brackets. For example, where the Creta gets projector headlamps, the Tucson gets dual barrel LED projector units and the Santa Fe gets xenon headlamps. All the three get LED DRLs. Inside, all the SUVs come with touchscreen infotainment systems, with navigation and steering wheel mounted controls for audio and telephone. Apart from the Creta, both the bigger SUVs get cruise control and 8-inch infotainment displays (7-incher for the Creta).

Price (Ex-Showroom, Delhi)

All the three SUVs have a jump of about Rs 4 lakh from the top end trim of one to the base variant of the next one. This Rs 4 lakh difference makes you miss out on a lot of features but gives you a larger and better looking SUV. The Creta and the Tucson are both five seaters but, moving from the Tucson to the Santa Fe add another two seats in the back.

So, as it turns out, the three SUVs are a lot different from one another. Apart from their looks and design philosophy, the three SUV don't really share a lot of features and are targeted at three different type of buyers. For someone looking for a compact SUV, the Creta is a perfect fit. For someone looking for a good looking premium SUV for long distance journeys, the Tucson fits the bill, and for someone with a larger family or who makes occasional off-road trips, the Santa Fe is the right companion.

Source: CarDekho.com
A recent announcement from Toyota stated that the Japanese automobile manufacturer will be introducing an in-house venture for the development of electric vehicles. This segment has been dominated by cars like the Model S and X from the popular all-electric American automaker, Tesla.

The in-house venture will be introduced next month and, interestingly, will consist of just four people initially. We guess Japanese automakers have an obsession with numbers; for example, the four master craftsmen  Takumi  are responsible for hand-building every twin-turbocharged V-6 engine of the Nissan GT-R on this planet. In Toyotas case, every member of this new endeavour will come from different subsidiaries of the Japanese automaker, such as Toyota Industries Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Denso Corporation, and Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota has been a leader in hybrid vehicles for quite a long time. For the uninitiated, Toyota is the worlds first automaker to mass-produce hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles  the Prius and the Mirai, respectively. Both the green vehicles were also showcased at the 2016 Indian Auto Expo. That said, electric vehicles are the need of the hour and Toyota  the worlds largest automaker  doesnt want to be left behind when it comes to the new segment that's rapidly gaining popularity. Many other leading manufacturers have revealed their plans to go all-electric, including Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.

No timeline has been set for the introduction of the debutant vehicle from this new venture as of now, neither have the Japanese revealed the name of the new sub-brand. Things might get clearer next month. Stay tuned to CarDekho.

Source: CarDekho.com
Mumbai: Global banking major BNP Paribas has completed the acquisition of domestic retail brokerage firm Sharekhan, a move that will help it to expand presence in broking space in the country.

As a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, Sharekhan will be a part of the banking giant's digital banking and investment services business  Personal Investors. This business segment of the bank caters to 2.9 million individual customers across India, Germany, Austria and Spain.

BNP Paribas is estimated to have acquired Sharekhan for Rs 2,000 crore. "We have completed the acquisition of Sharekhan, first announced in July 2015," BNP Paribas said in a statement today.

"The transaction has now been finalised after having received approvals from all relevant regulatory authorities," it added.

Sharekhan director Jaideep Arora will takeover as the chief executive of the brokerage with immediate effect. Tarun Shah, CEO and Director of Sharekhan, has announced his retirement.

Sharekhan is an independent retail brokerage firm in India and offers broking solutions across all asset classes to more than 1.4 million clients via internet and digital solutions.

"With the completion of this acquisition, we are pleased to welcome colleagues and clients of Sharekhan into the BNP Paribas Group," BNP Paribas Global Head (personal investors) Beatrice Cossa Dumurgier said.

"Building on Sharekhan's position of leadership, we will work towards making Sharekhan the preferred savings and investment partner for individual customers in India," Dumurgier added.
New Delhi: The Commerce and Industry Ministry has moved a proposal for the consideration of the Cabinet to completely ban foreign direct investment in the tobacco sector, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She said the government did not want to encourage foreign investment in this sector. "We wanted to be sure that for the production of cigarettes or other things (in the tobacco sector), we do not want to encourage FDI because we have ratified (a framework of) the WHO," the Commerce and Industry Minister told PTI in an interview.

"We want to be sure of that (framework). Keeping consistent with that policy of the government, no encouragement should be given," she added. However, she said that the move could have a possible impact on farmers who are growing tobacco "but we have to look at alternate crops for them which will give them good yield".

Currently, FDI is permitted in technology collaboration in any form, including licensing for franchise, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the tobacco sector.

However, it is prohibited in manufacturing of cigars, cigarettes and tobacco substitutes. As per the proposal, the ministry has proposed to ban FDI in licensing for franchisee, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the sector, sources said.

It would mean FDI would be totally banned in the tobacco segment in any form. The ban would also eliminate the possibility of indirect flow of overseas funds to the sector.

The move also assumes significance as India is signatory to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, under which the country has the responsibility of reducing consumption of tobacco products. FDI into the country grew by 29 per cent to USD 40 billion in 2015-16.
Amazon had launched its 'Global Selling Program' in India in May last year.

New Delhi: Global e-commerce giant Amazon will now ship Amul products to consumers in the US, a move that will help the Indian dairy major to increase its exports.

Under its partnership announced today, Amazon under its Global Selling programme will offer Amul's Ghee and GulabJamun to consumers in America. The range will gradually be increased to add other products like cheese and butter.

"There are 30 lakh Indian NRIs in the US. We have been exporting our dairy products to the US for the last 20 years but it was mostly to local stores with Indian population in the vicinity.

With this partnership, we are targetting to reach every nook and corner of the American market," GCMMF (Amul) Managing Director R S Sodhi told PTI. He added that Amul exports Rs 30-35 crore worth of dairy products to the US market annually.

"We are looking at increasing our export, which is 1-2 per cent of our turnover currently," he said. GCMMF, which sells its products under the Amul brand, is owned by over 3.6 million milk producers.

Its turnover stood at over Rs 23,000 crore in FY2015-16. Amazon had launched its 'Global Selling Program' in India in May last year. It facilitates access for Indian sellers to sell their products to consumers across the globe.

The programme has witnessed 70 per cent increase in seller base as compared to last year with over 18,000 Indian sellers selling over 25 million products globally across nine of Amazon's global marketplaces.

The programme offers end-to-end solution that includes assisting sellers with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance. "We are excited to help fuel the brand's growth in the US market by offering unprecedented reach to consumers. Through this programme, we will offer Amul an end-to-end solution and help the brand cater to the growing appetite for quality Indian food products amongst global consumers," Amazon India Director and GM (Seller Services) Gopal Pillai said.
The camps included setting up of a specialised desk for exchanging cash and guiding the personnel on the various digital banking services of the bank

New Delhi: ICICI Bank today said it has setup special cash exchange camps at defence outposts across the country to facilitate exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.

The bank is also reaching out to residential societies and foreign nationals post ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. The bank has been conducting special camps at various defence bases including cantonments, ordnance factories, battalions & regiments and at a few at border areas near Jaisalmer and Barmer, the bank said in a statement.

Air force stations and a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have also been included under this service to facilitate convenient exchange of old currency, it said.

"The Bank has serviced many thousands of defence personnel through these camps," it said. Also, the Reserve Bank today directed banks to make cash available sufficiently for the armed forces and pensioners as they would need cash after getting their salaries/pensions electronically.

The private sector lender has also set-up on site camps at large office establishments, equipped residential societies with mobile Point of Sale device and has set up additional counters at branches for foreign nationals.

ICICI Bank said it has also deployed mobile branches to service villages across the country. "Since the announcement of the new currency regime by the Prime Minister, we have proactively undertaken various customer friendly measures for convenient access to our branches and ATMs," said Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank.

The bank is also taking many innovative measures to provide more avenues to our customers for currency exchange, she added.

While, servicing the armed forces, ICICI Bank said it has undertaken around 300 such camps across the country in the last few days. In the past few days, The camps included setting up of a specialised desk for exchanging cash and guiding the personnel on the various digital banking services of the bank, it added.
MUMBAI: State Bank of India on Thursday said the government should incentivise consumers for moving towards a cashless economy. Apart from making it mandatory to install point of sales machines at all merchant outlets and making PAN mandatory for any cash transactions above a certain limit, the public sector lender said Centre should also consider allowing individuals to deduct a certain portion of the amount spent on digital transaction from their total tax payable.

In a special report on demonetisation, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, SBIs chief economic adviser highlighted the need for ramping up the digital infrastructure in India. The government may also look at specifying a certain limit for digital transactions for individuals that could be available for a tax deduction These may be akin to tax rebates given under section 80C, Mr Ghosh said. The current size of digital banking including credit card and debit card transaction through PoS terminals, transaction through Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) like m-Wallet, PPI cards and mobile banking is around Rs 1.2 lakh crores.

According to SBI, this size has to increase from the current level to at least Rs 3 lakh crores. Keeping the share of each digital channels same at the current level and assuming that the size of digital banking increases to Rs 3 lakh crores, then it is estimated that we may require around 20 million extra PoS terminals, Mr Ghosh added. He said banks should focus on mobile wallets.
Harshvardhan Kapoor has been avoiding paparazzi for quite someitme now.

Mumbai: Lately, the Mirzya debutant has been making headlines and for all the wrong reasons a newbie should never be in the news for. Yes, the promising fresher is walking down what we call is a starry tantrums lane.

It so happened that recently Harsh was coming out of a movie hall and refused to get clicked. In fact, upon sensing medias presence outside the theatre, baby Kapoor took a different exit.

It is not the first time that the actor has grabbed attention for throwing his weight around.

As per reports, on the sets of Vikramaditya Motwanes film, Bhavesh Joshi, Harsh was acting pricey and his diva-like behaviour compelled the makers to ask him to get his own makeup artist and hairstylists.

A slow-motion torture of a debut and this attitude, we doubt if this is the ideal way of going about things Mr. Kapoor!
As the entire film industry is trying to recover from the tragic death of one of the most celebrated directors and screenwriters, K Subash, choreographer-actor-director Prabhudeva is still shocked with the passing away of his friend.

Recalling his moments with the Chennai Express writer, Prabhudheva says, I knew Subash even before entering the industry. He served as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam and my father (Sundaram) worked with him closely during those days. I shared a special equation with Subash, and I am still finding it hard to digest the fact that he is no more. In my acting career, he has given me two gems  Ninaivirukkum Varai and Eazhaiyin Sirippil, which established the performer in me.

He adds, Subash was working on the script of my next film starring Vishal and Karthi. Last month, he was rigorously fine-tuning the script and today he is no more. But, he always knew that he wouldnt live long. I met his family today and I have no words to explain my sorrow.
Despite being a force to reckon with, it is interesting how Ram Charan hasnt had a major hit at the US box-office in a long time. And it looks like he and his team are counting on his next, Dhruva, to give him the much needed boost.

We hear the actor is set to attend the films US premiers in a bid to connect with the audiences there. He will watch the movie with his fans and will also personally interact with some of them, shares a source.

Directed by Surender Reddy, the film has Rakul Preet Singh as the female lead and is a remake of the blockbuster Tamil film Thani Oruvan. Set to release on December 9, the film is jointly produced by Allu Aravind and N.V. Prasad.
America Maria Hernandez, 99, holds an American flag after being administered the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance in the Queens borough of New York. (Photo: AP)

New York: At age 99, a woman named America has become a US citizen.

America Maria Hernandez, who was born in Colombia in 1917 and was brought to the US by one of her daughters in 1988, signed her naturalization certificate and took the oath of allegiance during a ceremony yesterday in her living room.

Surrounded by family members, she smiled and said she was very happy. "I live in New York, the capital of the world," she said while waiving a small American flag. Hernandez was born in October 1917 in Cordoba, Colombia, but mostly lived in Barranquilla. She had 12 children and now has 22 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

Hernandez's daughter Hortensia Martinez, 69, said she brought Hernandez to the US so she could help her take care of her son. Hernandez arrived with a green card arranged by her daughter, who had married a US citizen. Instead of renewing the card, the family asked Hernandez if she wanted to become a

US citizen, and she said yes.

Hernandez walks with a cane, likes to watch TV and enjoys attending activities at a local senior center at least once a week. Asked yesterday what her secret for a long life is, she responded, "Being well, with my children. They all work. They

are all good."

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, 730,000 people became US citizens in the government's 2015 fiscal year. About 84,000 of those naturalizations were in the New York area.
ANANTAPUR: In a major breakthrough, the Kadapa police on Wednesday nabbed 53 Tamil Nadu-based woodcutters and smugglers after intercepting three vehicles at a police check post on Muddanur-Yerraguntla Road and seized about 1 tonne of red sanders logs from their possession.

Of the 53 woodcutters/ smugglers, 31 were from Salem district, 20 from Villupuram district while each from Nammakkal and Tiruvannamalai districts.

Cases were registered against them at Muddanur, Yerraguntla and Kondapuram police stations.

Kadapa OSD B. Satya Yesubabu said on a tip-off, police teams were alerted at all check posts over entry of woodcutters from Tamil Nadu. They were heading towards Bengaluru with 63 red sanders logs. Three vehicles, along with 26 mobile phones, were also seized from their possession, the OSD said.

We got credible information regarding illicit transportation of red sanders logs. Based on that, we alerted all the police stations and check posts and start vehicle checking. Most of the woodcutters are aged between 20 and 40 years, he said. He appreciated the staff for playing a pivotal role in arresting the smugglers.
Small businessmen, housewives, artisans and workers who had some cash lying as their savings at home should not be worried. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Further dangling the stick, government on Wednesday night warned that cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh threshold under the 50-day window could attract tax plus a 200 per cent penalty in case of income mismatch.

"We would be getting reports of all cash deposited during the period of November 10 to December 30, 2016, above a threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh in every account.

"The (tax) department would do matching of this with income returns filed by the depositors. And suitable action may follow," Revenue Secretary Hashmukh Adhia said tonight.

Any mismatch with income declared by the account holder will be treated as a case of tax evasion.

"This would be treated as a case of tax evasion and the tax amount plus a penalty of 200 per cent of the tax payable would be levied as per the Section 270(A) of the Income Tax Act," he said.

The government has allowed citizens to deposit in their bank accounts old currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations, which had been declared invalid in the nation's biggest crackdown on blackmoney, corruption and counterfeit notes, between November 10 and December 30.

Adhia said small businessmen, housewives, artisans and workers who had some cash lying as their savings at home should not be worried about any tax department scrutiny.

"Such group of people... need not worry about such small amount of deposits up to Rs 1.5 or 2 lakh since it would be below the taxable income. There will be no harassment by the Income Tax Department for such small deposits made," he said.

On people resorting to buying of jewelery, he said persons buying jewelery has to provide the PAN number.

"We are issuing instructions to the field authorities to check with all the jewellers to ensure this requirement is not compromised.

"Action will be taken against those jewellers who fail to take PAN numbers from such buyers. When the cash deposits of the jewellers would be scrutinised against the sales made, whether they have taken the PAN number of the buyer or not will also be checked," he added.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court warned the Centre that we will have riots in the streets if the difficulties experienced by people in obtaining currencies are not addressed.

This is very serious. This will require great consideration. People have become frantic for money, people are affected. We will have riots in the streets observed Chief Justice T.S. Thakur sitting with Justice Anil R. Dave. The bench refused to stay the petitions pending in High Courts challenging demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

Moving cash is difficult, says A-G

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, submitted to the court that there was no such tense situation prev-ailing in the country. That is completely wro-ng. People are patiently st-anding in lines, he said.

Chief Justice T.S. Thakur told Mr Rohatgi: People are frantic. From newspaper reports we know the inconvenience and the difficulty faced by public. Please dont dispute it. We also get to know that the old currency exchange limit you have reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 4,500. We had asked you to give them relief but you have squeezed them further. Dont you have sufficient notes? Is the difficulty in the printing part?

The AG acknowledged that there is a shortage of Rs 100 notes as the now defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes had formed 86 per cent of the currency in circulation before November 8. He said the difficulty was not just printing part but movement of notes to banks and post offices, its transportation and calibration of ATMs.

Explaining the measures taken by the government, Mr Rohatgi said withdrawal limit has been enhanced to Rs 2.50 lakhs for weddings and farmers will get Rs 50,000. He said we have started measures where people can swipe their cards at petrol pumps and withdraw Rs 2,000.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday lashed out at the Modi government, saying that it should take former PM Manmohan Singh's words on demonetisation seriously.

Former PM Manmohan Singh is an eminent economist. PM Modi must take his point of view seriously, Thackeray said.

In a sharp jibe, Thackeray questioned whether the government had some black motive in its supposed fight to eradicate black money.

If your intention behind this is good, why such poor implementation, he asked.

There is no meaning of getting emotional and shedding tears during speeches. PM must make an effort to wipe tears of people instead. PM should have taken into confidence the people of the country as it was they who voted for him, the Sena chief added.

The Sena had earlier this week supported demonetisation after a meeting between the PM and Uddhav Thackeray, but questioned the efficacy of its implementation.
The fire which broke out at 3 am was immediately extinguished and there was no impact on production, the company said in a statement. (Photo: Representational Image/Videograb)

New Delhi: Two persons died and six others were injured after a fire broke out in the refinery complex of Reliance Industries in Jamnagar on Thursday.

"The fire broke out due to gas leak in RIL's Moti Khavdi refinery in Jamnagar early this morning," a police official ofMeghpar police station said.

"Total eight persons sustained burn injures and were admitted to the government-run Guru Govindsinh Hospital (G G Hospital) in the city," the official said.

When contacted, G G Hospital superintendent Nandini Desai confirmed the death of two persons.

"All the eight persons who sustained injuries were rushed to the government hospital at Jamnagar. Two of them have succumbed to injuries," Desai said.

The company, meanwhile, said in an official statement, "There was an unfortunate flash fire in one of the units under a planned maintenance shutdown in our DTA (Domestic Tariff Area) in the refinery at Jamnagar."

"While the Reliance fire brigade extinguished the fire swiftly, this has resulted in injuries to some contract workers, who are being provided necessary treatment. All operations of the refinery continue to be normal," it said.

A company official said the exact cause of the fire was being investigated.
Srinagar: Separatist Hurriyat Conference on Thursday hit out at chief of Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his statement on Kashmir, terming it as "ridiculous and hilarious".

At a peace conference in Jammu yesterday, Sri Sri had said, "The (Kashmir) conflict has become the cash cow for some people. They don't want to put an end to it. This has become a source of earning for them. But the common people are facing the brunt of it. They need to come forward and isolate those people."

Reacting to this, a spokesman of hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "It (Sri Sri's comment) is far from reality and the remarks regarding the present freedom movement and resistance leadership are baseless and illogical."

Advising the spiritual guru "to go through the history and equip himself with the facts" before commenting, the spokesman said in a statement that "this deceitful rhetoric has no takers" in the valley.

Referring to Sri Sri's statement regarding the type of "freedom", the Hurriyat spokesman said "before asking this question, he should have gone through the pages of history and resolutions of United Nations and promises made by his own political stalwarts...."
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao moved into his new official residential buildings complex at Begumpet in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The 'Griha Pravesam' (house warming ceremony) was performed in a traditional way at 5.22 AM, the auspicious 'muhurtham'.

The rituals included 'Vasthu Puja', 'Sudarshana Yagam' and 'Purnahuti'.

Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker S Madhusudanachary, Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, state IT and Municipal Administration Minister and Rao's son K T Rama Rao, Nizamabad

MP K Kavitha, who is Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter, and state irrigation minister T Harish Rao were among those present on the occasion.

Religious guru Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamy was also present.

The official buildings complex, including the Chief Minister's residence and office; a conference hall and two existing buildings, has been named as Pragathi Bhavan by the state government.

The conference hall, named 'Janahita', will serve as a meeting place for the Chief Minister. In 'Janahita', the CM will interact with various sections of the people, including farmers, workers, employees, artisans and a host of others on policy formulation and on their implementation, a state government release said.

Some media reports said the new posh official residential buildings complex came up on a space of over one lakh square feet, with several facilities and measures, including bullet-proofing of bathrooms.
New Delhi: India and Israel have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of water management and development with desalination being one of the main areas of the collaboration, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

"India and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of water resources management and development in New Delhi on November 11, 2016.

Desalination is one of the main areas for collaboration and sharing of experience and expertise in the MoU," Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan said in a written reply.

He said this while replying to a query whether the government plans to expand and incentivise use of desalination technologies to meet growing water needs.

Balyan said the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has supported demonstration plants based on indigenously developed reverse osmosis technology for brackish and sea water desalination.

The DST has also supported solar bio-mass hybrid multi-effect distillation, thermal desalination system at Naripayyur in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathpuram district, the Minister said.

Apart from this, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation envisages installation of desalination plants where availability of surface and ground water is a problem or has hazardous substances like arsenic and fluoride.
SRINAGAR: The Army launched on Wednesday a massive counter-offensive against Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after three soldiers were killed and one of the bodies was mutilated.

Pakistans authorities said three of its soldiers and 10 others were killed in firing from the Indian side. They also said seven Indian soldiers were killed in retaliation, a claim the Indian Army strongly refuted.

Intense exchanges of artillery fire between the facing troops have caused panic in bordering areas in the state. At many places, people have started fleeing to safety.

Defence sources said India retaliated with full force to Tuesdays incursion and brutality in the Machil sector of Kupwara district by targeting Pakistans military posts in several sectors  from Gurez in the Valley to Jammus Rajouri district  with artillery fire and machine guns. The Army also responded strongly and befittingly to renewed firing and shelling from across the de facto border in Bhimber Gali, Krishna Ghati and Nowshera sectors of Poonch and Rajouri districts, officials said.

Authorities in Islamabad said that three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Indias troops near the LoC on Wednesday.

Attack, a strong message to Pakistan

The media wing of Pakistans Army said three of its soldiers died in the attack and identified them as Captain Taimoor Ali Khan, Havaldar Mushtaq Hussain and Lance Naik Ghulam Hussain.

Government officials in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, said that Indian troops targeted a passenger bus in Lawat area near the LoC, killing nine people and injuring 11 others.

They also said that in a separate incident of Indian shelling in Nakyal and Tatta Pani areas close to the de facto border, one person was killed and seven others injured.

The BSF said in Jammu that two of its jawans were injured in the latest ceasefire violation by Pakistani along the LoC in Rajouri district on Wednesday.

A report from Jammu said that the BSF jawans were injured when a mortar shell landed on their post. The Army said that its offensive is a direct message to Pakistan that mutilation of its soldiers is not acceptable and Indias response will be quick and massive.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing tussle between the judiciary and the government over appointment of judges, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said appointments taking place today are not happening as envisaged originally.

"You cannot interpret the Constitution to give it some purpose by giving a possible meaning which is different from language, but you cannot say exactly the opposite.

"That is why the appointments made today are happening differently than originally envisaged," he said delivering a lecture on 'Separation of power among organs of state' at a workshop on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha Library.

He said though the Constitution says the President will appoint the judges in consultation with the Chief Justice, the same has been interpreted in different ways.

This, Jaitley said, has been interpreted as Chief Justice recommending and government appointing, the Collegium recommending the names and thirdly, as whatever said, it will be binding on the President and government has no role in appointments.

"You cannot interpret the basic structure of Constitution as just the opposite," he said.

Jaitley, however, said the three organs of democracy have their powers separated and no one institution can be superior to the other and the judiciary cannot become either the executive or the legislature.

He said he has been a critic of the apex court judgement on NJAC and has disagreed with it publicly, adding though it is right on the basic principle on maintaining independence of judiciary as part of basic structure of Constitution, it cannot be superior to the other organ.

"An elected Parliament is also a part of the basic structure, an elected government is also a part of basic structure and a Minister and the Leader of Opposition are also part of basic structure.

"In order to protect and defend the primacy of one basic structure, one cannot allowed to steaoll on the other parts. It is this lack of balance can upset this whole theory of separation of powers," he said.

A former Law Minister, Jaitley said courts can review an executive order and strike down the action of executive or legislature, but it can neither become the executive nor the legislature.

"It can't discharge their functions. It has a power to quash, it does not have the power to direct the legislature," he said, adding that the power to quash has to be based on conventional principles. "It cannot quash on the ground that I think the alternative proposition is a better one," he said.

"In terms of laying down judicial guidelines, you are actually having a judicial legislation," he said, taking a dig at judicial overreach.

He said though the court is entitled to review of executive orders, "The court has the authority to tell the executive to act as per law, but court is not entitled to tell the Executive that now I will discharge your functions."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Rajya Sabha session on Thursday following repeated demands of the Opposition that he be present for the debate on the issue of demonetisation. He however did not turn up in the House after a brief lunch break, leading to a ruckus by Opposition leaders.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Upper House that Modi would attend the debate but cannot be expected to sit through the entire discussion.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had opened the debate on demonetisation and said the move will hurt the informal sector and lead to a decline in GDP.

Watch Manmohan Singh's full speech in Rajya Sabha on demonetisation

Following are updates from Parliament:

Hitting out at Modi after the adjournment, CPI leader Sitaram Yechury said that the Opposition had moved a motion of contempt against the PM for not showing up in the House. He claimed that 4 lakh people had lost their jobs as a result of demonetisation and that 31.9 million people employed in textile and govt sectors are not getting their wages.

Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for the day, will resume on Friday at 11 am, after the Opposition continued to protest against the absence of the Prime Minister in the Upper House.

Congress leader Anand Sharma pointed out to the BJP that when they were in Opposition, they had demanded that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sit through the entire debate on 2G scam. Why the double-speak now?, Anand asked.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accuses Opposition of finding excuses to stall the Parliament.

Rajya Sabha resumed at 3 pm and the speaker requested the Opposition to start the debate as the leader of the House assured that the Prime Minister will attend the discussion.

Opposition leaders started chanting slogans like "Where is PM" in Rajya Sabha, the ensuing chaos forced the speaker to adjourn the House till 3 pm.

"Opposition is devising ways to avoid the debate, these actions just prove it. Which Prime Minister has sat through an entire debate? It has never happened," Jaitley said.

Arun Jaitley hit out at Ghulam Nabi Azad and said that the Prime Minister would be joining the debate on note ban but he cannot be expected to sit through the discussion for 'fifteen hours'.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the speaker if Modi would be joining the debate, if not, he said they would not let the House function.

"I had requested the honourable PM to be present in the House to listen to what the Opposition had to say on the issue of demonetisation which has affected whole nation but it is very sad that the PM is not in the House now," BSP chief Mayawati said.

Rajya Sabha resumed at 2 pm after a brief lunch break, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not come back to attend the session, leading to protests and sloganeering by Opposition leaders.

"Only 2% people hold black money, then why other 98% people are suffering due to demonetizaton," asked TMC's Derek OBrien.

We are opposing you because we believe the people are suffering, we are opposing you because the economy will be killed, TMC leader Derek OBrien told Modi in Rajya Sabha.

"I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering. Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation," Manmohan Singh said.

I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it. PM said wait for 50 days but for the poor section even 50 days can be detrimental, Manmohan Singh said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began the debate in Rajya Sabha and urged Modi to rethink the decision to demonetise Rs 500, 1000 notes in order to 'relieve' the pain faced by the common man.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the Rajya Sabha when the session resumed at 12 pm. Arun Jaitley asked the Opposition to not cause any further delay and begin the debate on note ban.

"Whenever a big decision is taken by the government, where the whole nation is affected, the honourable Prime Minister explains the move by taking the Parliament into confidence, but this is the first time that the PM is not explaining his decision," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Following continued ruckus, Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 12 pm.

On demands of the Opposition that Modi attend the session, Rajya Sabha speaker P J Kurien asked leaders to ask questions to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as the issue of demonetisation fell under his domain.

"PM should come in the house and participate in the debate. Why is he running away?" asked BSP Chief Mayawati in Rajya Sabha.

"There is financial chaos after the decision taken by PM Modi, opposition is right in asking PM to explain and clarify," said Congress leader Anand Sharma.

Congress leader Anand Sharma told the Rajya Sabha that Congress members have already moved the breach of privileged motion against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Oppn is very clear that PM has to come, If PM is running away from the debate then what is the point of meeting Home Minister," Sharma said.

Ruckus breaks out in the house over demonetisation even as Speaker gives permission to Manmohan Singh to speak.

"If it is on demonetisation issue, let opposition resume the debate and Dr Manmohan Singh speak," Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha after Congress indicated Singh wanted to address the House.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said ex prime Minister Manmohan Singh would like to speak something in the House.

Top BJP leaders held a meeting at Rajnath Singh's chamber in Parliament on Thursday as the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition just before the session began. Another round of meeting was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chamber who was expected to attend the Rajya Sabha.

Since the first day of the ongoing Winter Session, the opposition leaders have been demanding that the Prime Minister speak on the issue.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the way it was implemented as even after third week of the announcement on November 8, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks, with people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money and added that the decision has been taken keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.
Madurai: The Madras High court on Wednesday voiced concern over the conditions in government hospitals and directed the state health secretary to file a report on programmes, to be taken up in a phased manner, for improving it.

It also expressed 'pain' and dissatisfaction over a report of health department officials while hearing a PIL on hospitals functioning with insufficient doctors and paramedical staff.

The report merely talked about deputation of doctors. No reason was attributed for en masse deputation of doctors,and what steps had been taken to fill vacancies at hospitals from where doctors had been deputed, a division bench of the court's Madurai bench, comprising, Justice S.Nagamuthu and Justice M.V.Muralidharan, said.

On the one hand, the government was trying to fill the vacancies of doctors as per the Medical Council of India norms, and on the other, the MCI norms were not followed for other paramedical staff including nurses.

There was shortage of equipment for dialysis at hospitals also.

Not agreeing with the view of officials that doctors were being deputed on the basis of requirements, the court said there were enough doctors and trained paramedical staff and technicians in the state who were unemployed,and they could be provided jobs at the government hospitals.

The situation in dental care wing was worse..If there were doctors..There were no lab technicians, if there were technicians,there were not laboratories, if there were laboratories there were no raw materials for filling teeth etc, the court said.

"From the report presently submitted one can see only deputation of specialists from one place to the other creating vacancy in another place.This is the state of affairs in the state which was duty bound to provide health care,a fundamental right," the court said.

The court did not expect government to provide adequate doctors, specialists and paramedical staff overnight.

"But the government should have a programme for doing the same in the years to come.Instead the officials are talking about deputation in the hospitals."

"Our heart is paining that the conditions in the government hospitals are not good and facilities inadequate and people are not getting proper health care even after the nation got independence 69 years ago," the court said. The court directed that the government should set up a

full-fledged dental unit in every district hospital. It directed the official to submit a detailed report on the programmes for improving the health service in the state.

The court had earlier directed the state principal health secretary to file a report on the present strength of doctors, nurses,and paramedical staff in government hospitals.

The PIL was filed by one C Anand Raj.

Submitting data obtained under the Right to Information Act, the petitioner said Virudhunagar district headquarters hospital and nine taluk hospitals in the district were functioning with only 99 doctors, against the sanctioned strength of 139 doctors.
Chennai: Madras high court on Wednesday came down heavily on mayors and councilors of Chennai corporation for their failure to revise the property tax once in four years from 1998.

It is disheartening to note that the trust and faith reposed by the voters in their councilors have been frustrated by the conduct of the elected councillors, said Justice N. Kirubakaran.

Successive ruling parties, which have been controlling the Chennai Corporation from 1996 onwards is to be squarely blamed for this lapse. The judge was passing interim orders on petitions from K. Kulasekaran and K. Padhmanabhan, who challenged the property tax demand on their shops in Koyambedu, from 1996 onwards until 2015.

After noticing that the revision of property tax should be done once in four years, he noted the revision would be 25 per cent for residential buildings and 100 per cent for commercial buildings.

The last revision was made in 1998. The judge said successive corporation councils have failed to make any revision in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, whereas property tax revision have been made by all other local bodies in Tamil Nadu.

After impleading the state government as a party in the case, the judge directed the authorities to answer 1) Why the property tax payable in respect of city properties have not been revised? 2) What would be the total amount, that would be payable to the corporation, in case, the property tax had been revised during the years 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014? 3) What would be the enhancement amount alone for the above years, which would be the total loss caused, due to non-revision, for the above years, and the same has to be given separately. 4) When is the corporation likely to revise property tax and what is the time limit required? 5) Whether steps are properly taken to recover the existing property tax? 6) Whether lease amount payable in respect of properties of corporation are revised promptly and levied?,

Chennai city corporation council has not passed a resolution on the revision of property tax. Persons responsible for this kind of negligence were those elected as councilors and mayors, the judge said.
New Delhi: BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold fresh elections to know the people's view on demonetisation.

"I want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if you really are an honest man and want a correct survey and if you have guts, then dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections," she said over the demonetisation issue.

Her remarks came a day after the PMO said that more than 93 per cent of the five lakh people who participated in a survey on Narendra Modi App have supported demonetisation.

The issue of demonetisation has rocked both the Houses since the commencement of the winter session.

Blaming BJP for the disruption, Mayawati said the entire Opposition is seeking PM's presence in Parliament.

"The ruling party does not want Parliament to function as all the Opposition parties are demanding PM's presence in Parliament," she said outside Parliament.
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday alleged that the survey, conducted via an official app of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to gauge public opinion on demonetisation comprised "manufactured questions and pre-fabricated answers by blind bhakts".

"Modi Govt manufactures yet another lie through self serving survey on Demonetisation. You can't fool people of India through such gimmicks (sic)," party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

"A trumped up survey, manufactured questions & pre-fabricated answers by blind bhakts. Who cares for pain of common Indian?(sic)" he said in another tweet and alleged that only "rhetorical questions which left no room for us to disagree!" were asked in the survey.

These figures were tweeted by the PMO.

A day after the Prime Minister sought public feedback on the issue, the PMO said more than 93 per cent of the five lakh people who participated in a survey on Narendra Modi App have supported demonetisation.

"Modi Ji has not demonetised the Indian currency; Modi Ji has demonetised the people of India," the Congress leader later said in a statement.

He said the government has failed to apologise for the deaths due to demonetisation.

"The government is so arrogant that it is not ready to acknowledge and express regrets over the deaths in the wake of demonetisation. For the Prime Minister, his position has become important," Mr Surjewala said.

"Even though 70 people have died due to the decision, Modiji is not ready to address Parliament," he said, adding that the entire opposition is united against demonetisation and will participate in the 'Aakrosh Diwas' protest on November 28.

Mr Surjwala said even after 13 days since the announcement of

the decision to scrap Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes, people in towns and villages continue to face severe cash crunch.

Attacking the Modi government over cross-border firing by Pakistani troops, he said that after a-month-and-a-half after the surgical strikes in PoK, India has lost 16 army men, six BSF jawans and 10 civilians in firing.

"Despite these casualties, we are being told that we have a strong Prime Minister. We are still waiting to see strength of the 56 inch chest," he said in the statement.
New Delhi: Top BJP leaders held a meeting at Rajnath Singh's chamber in Parliament on Thursday as the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition. Another round of meeting was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chamber as he will attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in the discussion on demonetisation.

The Opposition too went into a huddle just before Thurday's session was about to begin and sources indicated that they decided to not hold talks with the Government till 28th November.

Since the first day of the ongoing Winter Session, the opposition leaders have been demanding that the Prime Minister speak on the issue.

Even though most of them support the government's move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the way it was implemented as even after third week of the announcement on November 8, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks, with people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money and added that the decision has been taken keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

For the fifth day yesterday, Parliament could not transact any substantial business due to uproar on demonetisation issue as both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments amid allegations and counter-allegations by the members of opposition and treasury benches.

Earlier, Congress's Anand Sharma alleged that the government has created financial anarchy in the country by demonetisation.

Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) reiterated his demand for payment of compensation to the kith and kin of those who have reportedly died of trauma while queuing outside banks and ATMs.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the situation in the country is grim and the absence of the Prime Minister in the House is an "insult".

Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the government is answerable to the House and Parliament is answerable to the people.
Kochi: The warden of Ladies Hostel at National Institute of Technology Calicut stirred a controversy by issuing a notice (Warning Notice) restricting boys and girls from mingling inside residential campus.

If any girl is found along with a boy student inside residential campus, severe action will be taken against her including suspension and expulsion from hostel(sic). After protests from various corners, the college authorities took down the notice on Wednesday evening.

The notice issued on November 22 said, Inmates of the Ladies Hostel and Mega Ladies Hostel are strictly instructed not to roam with boy students inside residential campus. We get lot of complaints in this regard. The notice drew the ire of students and they registered their protest. Many took to social media while the Students Affairs Council revealed their anxiety to the college authorities. Students pointed out to the discrimination and asked why there is no action against the boy who was caught with the girl.

Kozhikode district Collector Prasanth N. criticised the notice put up by the authorities on his personal Facebook account. Pathetic! Hope better sense prevails and that we wont have to discipline those who enforce 'discipline' this way, the Collector wrote.

A member of the Students Affairs Council said, We held discussions with the students as well as the teachers. The notice was put up after a recent incident inside the residential campus. Few members of the faculty complained that a few students are disturbing the tranquility inside the campus.

The Students Affairs Council in its Facebook post said, The notice imposing restrictions on students' movement in the residential campus has been taken down. As soon as the issue came to the notice of the SAC, it was taken up to the chief warden and the concerned authority. The issue was addressed urgently and the authorities have been asked to release a statement regarding the same.

Even after repeated attempts the college authorities refused to comment on the issue. Sources close to the teachers claimed that the chief warden was not aware of the incident and they will look into it.

There are two hostels, Ladies Hostel with four blocks and Mega Hostel (Ladies), in NIT Calicut to accommodate girl students. These hostels are located within the residential area of the campus.
The Modi government is expected to announce on Thursday evening further extensions on exemptions of old notes for accessing essential services. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: In view of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the government on Thursday extended the exemption of toll tax on highways till midnight of December 2.

The Transport Ministry also said that scrapped notes of Rs 500 will be accepted as toll charge on National Highways between December 3 and December 15.

The Modi government is expected to announce on Thursday evening further extensions on exemptions of old notes for accessing essential services, said an ANI report.

After rolling out the ban on high-value currency notes on November 8, the Centre had permitted exchange of old notes at a host of places including petrol pumps, Mother Dairy and government milk booths, government hospitals, railway ticketing and crematoria and burial grounds for 72 hours. After two more extensions on November 11 and November 14, the concessions for accepting banned notes ends on Thursday night at petrol pumps, hospitals, pharmacies, railway stations, airports and some other places.

The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it may give yet another extension if it thinks it was required.

The old high value notes were banned on November 8 with an aim to eradicate black money from circulation and stop spread of fake currency notes in the banking system.
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asked banks to promote digital banking in "mission mode", saying the principal objective of the government's reform is to curtail the use of physical currency.

After a meeting with heads of banks including private sector, he said a committee under Additional Secretary in the Finance Ministry is being set up to promote digital banking.

Referring to the outcry over demonetisation in Parliament, Jaitley said the politicians need to accept that habits of the people are changing and they are frequently using cards for payments.

"Some of the banks have already had a lot of success, contrary to argument which is made within the political system that Indians are not well adapted to this mode. I think political life of India has to accept that right under our nose, people are changing as far as their habits are concerned," he said.

Giving out details of digital outlets in the country, the Finance Minister said there are 14 lakh POS machines which are there at retail level and this figure has to be expanded manifold.

These machines are not manufactured in India, they are imported, he added.

"Additionally, with regard to banks' existing customers, debit cards and prepaid cards, e-wallets as well as mobile apps, are going to be utilised by them. They are ready with their infrastructure," he said.

Noting that one startling figure that came out in the course of meeting on Wednesday is that there are already 80 crore cards in circulation, of which 40 crore are being actively used by people, he said this is a change which is already happening and therefore this has to be used as a great opportunity to further catalyse this change.

"One of the principle single agenda for the meeting was to expand digital banking itself...objective of this meeting was to appeal to the banking system and prepare them in mission mode for expediting this entire exercise," he said.

Defending the demonetisation drive, the Finance Minister said one of the principal objectives of the reform that has been undertaken by the government is that physical currency must shrink.

The economy, he added however, has to expand and the trade has to expand and therefore what shrinks has to be substituted and further expanded by the digital mode.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers will meet the lawmakers of their party in the coming days to brief them about the government's demonetisation drive.

Around 12 ministers, who will be meeting the BJP MPs in batches, will give them tips with regard to what is to be told to the people of their respective constituencies on this move. They will meet in groups of 40.

The meeting will be held on Thursday at Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar's residence. Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu , Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu , Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Health Minister J.P. Nadda will brief these groups of MPs.

The schedule of meeting is as follows: November 24 at Anant Kumar's residence, November 28 at Nadda's residence, November 29 at Jaitley's residence, November 30 at Naidu's residence, December 6 at Parrikar's residence, December 8 at Prabhu's residence, December 12 at Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari's residence, December 13 at Minister of State for Food Processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's residence and December 14 at Rajnath's residence.

The meeting assumes significance as a united opposition is leaving no stone unturned in taking potshots at the BJP-led NDA regime in Parliament post this decision which they dub as against the common man of the nation.
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will not attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup disclosed the information in this regard, in his weekly press conference.

He also brushed aside the possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan while stating that talks and terror can't go together.

"It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen," said Swarup.

India has also lodged strong protest with Pakistan against repeated ceasefire violations and deliberate targeting of villages along the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistan Army, and deplored continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists to target Indian posts and patrols, said Swarup.

Swarup said the MEA called in Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah the last evening and issued a demarche, the fourth one this month, on the continued violation of ceasefire from the other side of the LoC..

"The Government of India stated that despite calls for restraints, Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120mm heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire Agreement of 2003.

"The government conveyed that it strongly deplore the passive support of the Pakistan Army to armed terrorists that came from close to Pakistan Army posts from November 22, targeting an Indian patrol near the LoC in Machhal sector and killing three Indian soldiers, including inhuman mutilation of the body of one of them."

Swarup further said the government also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan Army of the 18 villages along LoC during the period November 16-21, which has resulted in a non-fatal casualty, besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and displacement of the civilian population.

"The government conveyed its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across LoC to target Indian posts and patrols. During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances, where terrorists indulged in various actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts from across the LoC," he added.

Talking about Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, the MEA spokesperson said, "The government also reiterated its concerns about the safety and wellbeing of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed over LoC over seven weeks ago. We expect the earlier repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India."

Amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar.

The Conference to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will witness the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.
Saudi authorities are also facilitating transfer of sponsorship, wherever possible. (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi: Saudi Arabia has assured India of addressing difficulties being faced by retrenched Indians who were employed with construction giant Saudi Oger and Saad Group, the Gulf country's leading conglomerate.

Replying to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said Saudi Arabia has also conveyed to the government that it will extend exit visas to Indian workers, one way return ticket to India and will waive fines on resident permit.

"The Saudi authorities have assured us all possible assistance to the affected Indian workers of these companies including waiver of fines on Iqama (resident permit) related violations, providing exit visas and one way return tickets to India. The process of repatriation has already begun and 4,358 Indian workers have returned so far," Mr Singh said.

Hundreds of Indian workers, employed with Saudi Oger and Saad Group, have lost their jobs primarily due to slowdown in Saudi economy, triggered by low oil prices and cut in spending by the government.

Singh said the Saudi authorities are also facilitating transfer of sponsorship, wherever possible, of the affected workers from their present company to other companies on gratis basis.

"A significant number of affected workers have also availed transfer of sponsorship to other companies," he said.

In reply to a separate question, Mr Singh said an Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) in Gurgaon and an Indian Workers Resource Centre in Dubai have been helping the Indians intending to go abroad for livelihood as well as the overseas workers on all aspects of overseas employment.

"In addition, five Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs) have been set up in Kochi, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Chennai and Lucknow to provide information and counselling for intending migrants about the procedure for legal migration and precautions to be taken while migrating," he said.

Singh said the Ministry has also approved setting up four such facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah, Sharjah and Kuala Lumpur.
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress activists on Thursday took to the streets across West Bengal for the second consecutive day, demanding roll back of the demonetisation move, as party chief Mamata Banerjee trained her guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Banerjee met President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi during the day, while TMC workers took out marches in different parts of West Bengal accusing the Centre of causing immense hardship to the common people by demonetising high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

"We are mobilising people against the Centre's decision. Our movement will continue," state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who participated in the march, said.

Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and city mayor and minister Sovan Chatterjee also participated among others in the march.

TMC said that it would organise similar protests in all blocks in the state on Friday.

The party would also organise a rally in the city on November 28, with Mamata Banerjee expected to be present in it.

The TMC supremo is scheduled to address a meeting in Lucknow on November 29 and in Patna the next day.

Banerjee on Wednesday took part in a demonstration in the national capital against demonetisation and attacked the Prime Minister, saying the government must go because the country was not safe in his hands.
Bhaderwah: National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said autonomy to both sides of Jammu and Kashmir was the only viable solution to the nearly seven-decade old problem.

"Borders cannot be changed but these can be made irrelevant and soft for people to people exchange and opening new vistas of trade and commerce for overall economic prosperity of the region.

"We bat for autonomy to both sides of Kashmir and converting LoC-IB as soft border", the National Conference President said while addressing a public meeting here.

Abdullah said that issues between India and Pakistan cannot be resolved by guns or cannons, which have even been proven by four wars, but these can definitely be deliberated upon for amicable solution through a sustained process of dialogue.

He said the reality of LoC and International Border between the two nations cannot be challenged at the strength of military power and therefore the two parts of the state should be granted maximum autonomy.

In the context of Indo-Pak dialogue, he referred to the speech of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Tanghdar, emphasising that friends can be changed but not the neighbours.

He said the intermittent skirmishes on borders have only aggravated the problems of the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC President cautioned New Delhi against delaying the resolution of political issue of Kashmir, saying restoration of the commitments made in the Instrument of Accession is the only way forward in wriggling out the state from prevailing crisis.

He said the state of Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India on three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communication, which has been re-emphasised by the former Sadr-e-Riyasat, Karan Singh in Parliament recently.

He said the genesis of discontent among people in Kashmir was due to breaking of promises and said that mistrust among youth is deep-rooted.

"The alienation is growing among youth, who cannot be won over by brute force or the notes of Rs 500 or Rs 1000", he said, adding that a meaningful engagement with all the stake holders had assumed immense significance.

Warning RSS against furthering divisive agenda across the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular, Abdullah said that the state had not acceded to Hindu India but a secular nation, a proud abode for all faiths and communities.

"Nobody has right to undermine the sacrifices of Muslims in independence struggle of India", hesaid and asked the BJP to refrain from practicing the British legacy of 'divide and rule'.
New Delhi: After former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh described the management of demonetisation as a monumental failure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back, saying "It is disappointing to hear from people who were in charge of the government when the most black money was generated, most corruption scandals came to the fore."

Jaitley also claimed that the Opposition was taken by surprise when it was informed that Prime Minister Modi will speak in Parliament about his sudden decision to cancel high-denomination notes.

"We were not surprised when we heard from those who ran the government between 2004 and 2014 that they didn't like these anti-black money steps. The maximum black money was generated in the country between 2004 and 2014. Commonwealth Games scandal, the 2G corruption scandal, the coal block scandal all took place during this period," he said.

"Those who didn't consider these scandals to be a blunder are now considering this campaign against corruption and black money to be a blunder," he added.

Jaitley said that instead of engaging with the government in a debate over demonetisation, the Congress is "manufacturing reasons" to run away from the debate.

Responding to Dr. Singh claims that the demonetisation will weaken the Indian economy and adversely impact the GDP of the country, Jaitley said, ""as far as the medium and long term impact on the economy is concerned, including on India's GDP, it is going to be a positive impact. Lot of money that operates in the shadow economy will now be a part of banking structure. The banks will have a lot more to support the economy. The private sector investment which was so far lacking will now be back into the economy."

He said that the banks which were hitherto struggling because of the NPA problem would have a lot more money to lend for agriculture, infrastructure, social sector and the possibility of banks lending at lower cost would also rise.

"Additionally, when more and more transactions comes into the banking network in the long run, you will find taxation, both direct and indirect, improving therefore in the medium and long term, it will have a positive impact," he said.

However, following Manmohans speech, Modi walked up to the ex-PM and shook hands with him, reported NDTV.

The Prime Minister, accompanied Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, was also seen talking to senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma along with other Opposition members.

Stepping up the opposition tirade against demonetisation, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday castigated the government and the Prime Minister over the move, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."

Singh, who spoke in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha, said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, it being an "under-estimate".

He hoped the Prime Minister will find a practical and pragmatic decision to mitigate the sufferings of the common man and the poor who have been in distress after the decision.

He said agriculture, unorganised sectors and small industry has also been hit hard by it and people were losing faith in the currency and banking system.

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure. And in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," he said in Rajya Sabha as the debate on the issue resumed after Modi came into the House.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad requested Chairman Hamid Ansari and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley that the Question Hour should not be taken up as the Prime Minister was present in the House and the debate be taken up.

Azad's request was readily accepted by the government with Jaitley saying that the debate should start immediately and Modi will certainly participate in it.

Participating in the resumed debate, Singh said it is important to take note of the grievances of the ordinary people who have suffered as a result of this imposition on the country "overnight" by the Prime Minister.

"My own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP of the country, can decline by about 2 percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an under-estimate and not an over-estimate.

"Therefore, I feel the Prime Minister must come with some constructive proposal on how we can implement the scheme and at the same time prevent the distrust that has been caused to the common people," Singh said.
Hyderabad: Petitioners who questioned the decision of the Centre to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes on Thursday told the Hyderabad High Court that the decision was contrary to Section 26 (2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankar Narayana was hearing petitions moved by K. Srinivas, a practicing advocate and S. Venkateswara Rao, a resident of the city, challenging the demonetisation decision.

Vedula Venkata Ramana, senior counsel appearing for Mr Venkateswara Rao contended that the decision of the Centre infringes upon the Rights guaranteed to the people under Article 300 (A) of the Constitution.

While telling the court that Article 300 (A) defined the currency as a property, senior counsel said that Section 26 (2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act gives power to the Centre to demonetise currency of a specific series that too when the RBI recommends so.

He said that the Centre unilaterally took the decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, without reference to the series. Explaining the severe hardships being faced by the people for the past two weeks after the demonetisation notification on November 8, senior counsel questioned the point in bringing Rs 2,000 note when the Government of India claimed that it was demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb black money and also stop circulation of counterfeit currency.

Maintaining that Rs 2,000 notes gives more scope for black money, he said the currency has no expiry period like medicine and the decision of demonetisation was nothing but infringing upon the right of the citizens to protect and save their earnings. The arguments will continue on Friday.
Hyderabad: The TS government has expressed displeasure over RBIs failure to ensure adequate availability of cash in the state 15 days after demonetisation announcement, which has been causing severe hardships to one and all.

Speaking at the State-Level Bankers' Committee meeting here, finance minister Etela Rajender said that currency worth Rs 80,000 crore was in circulation in TS prior to demonetisation, but the RBI could supply just Rs 11,000 crore after demonetisation leading to huge currency shortage.

He said that meagre supplies comprised of new Rs 2,000 notes that served no purpose due to shortage of change. Mr Rajender said that the demonetisation was causing more problems to the common man than tax evaders.

The minister urged the Centre to withdraw the Rs 2000 notes and supply Rs 100 and Rs 500 notes instead, which will be more useful for the people. He also sought immediate supply of currency worth Rs 5,000 crore to the state.
BELAGAVI: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah repeatedly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a debate in the Legislative Assembly, saying no support was forthcoming though the state was reeling under a severe drought.

He said lack of support from Mr Modi not withstanding, the state government waived farm loans. Soon after revenue minister Mr Kagodu Thimmappa replied to the debate on drought conditions, leader of Opposition, Mr Jagadish Shettar, slammed the government saying it was only capable of making statements about money earmarked for drought relief.

However, over Rs 700 crores released by the Union government remained unspent. He also criticised the government on the power situation, alleging that rural areas withnessed unscheduled power cuts though the government maintained there wss no shortage of power.

While talking about farmers, the government files cases against them and later speaks about withdrawing these cases, he added. A visibly upset CM retorted that cases could be withdrawn only after filing of charge sheets.

The charge sheet with respect to cases against farmers in Mahadayi and Cauvery agitations were filed recently and the issue was pending with the committee for withdrawal of cases.

Once the committee submits its report, the cases would be withdrawn. I had one and a half hour discussion with Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and explained to him drought situation in the state. We did not get single paise from the Union government. Due to recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State has lost over Rs 61000 crore, which is the state's share. While neighboring Maharashtra and Rajastan received major chunks, Karnataka received only Rs 1061 crore, Mr Siddaramaiah added.

Stating that Mr Modi was the luckiest Prime Minister, Mr Siddaramaiah said crude oil prices crashed after he took over and the Union government accumulated over Rs 2 lakh crore. Now, with demonetisation, Delhi would net another Rs 5 lakh crore. He took a dig at JD(S) leaders saying he would not have become CM had he remained in the party and also that JD(S) would never come to power.
Security personnel march through a locality in the vicinity of the National Police Academy in Hyderabad on Thursday. Security has been heightened in view of the Prime Ministers visit to the NPA that begins on Friday. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in a yoga session along with top police officials on Saturday during the three-day annual conference of DGPs of all states to be held at National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

The PM will arrive at Shamshabad airport in the city by a special flight at around 7 pm on Friday. He will leave for NPA later. After an overnight stay at NPA, he will take part in the yoga session on November 26.

The PM will take part in yoga session, after which he would participate in deliberations with DGPs the whole of Saturday, official sources at NPA told.

The PM will leave for Delhi on Saturday evening.

Home minister Rajnath Singh would inaugurate the conference on Saturday.

Union ministers of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju and Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, besides National Security Adviser Ajit Doval are among those who will attend the event.

The conference will focus on issues relating to countering terrorism and radicalisation, Naxal problem and cyber crime, besides modernisation of police force. Mr Singh would also take part in the valedictory function on Sunday.
On the issue of talks with Pakistan, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, Our position on it (talks) is clear. We are for a dialogue with Pakistan. But talks and terror cannot happen together." (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A day after India yet again issued a demarche to Pakistan after summoning the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner on Wednesday over continued cross-border violations, New Delhi said it did not rule in or rule out any bilateral meeting with the Pakistan PMs advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz who will be visiting India for the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar in the first week of December.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will be inaugurating the conference. On reports that Pakistan is forming a special group for propaganda against India on the Kashmir issue and Mr Sartaj Azizs reported statement of Pakistan intending to woo Indians opposed to Prime Minister Modi, the MEA said, He (Aziz) would be well-advised to rather woo Pakistanis to end his governments policy of state sponsorship of terrorism... Pakistans efforts have not gathered any traction on the international stage. Pakistan would be well-advised to focus its energies on stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath in making baseless allegations.

The MEA also said the Pakistani Army had committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21, by resorting to artillery and heavy mortars against Indian posts. New Delhi had informed Islamabad that it (India) strongly deplored the tacit support of the Pakistan Army to armed terrorists who targeted an Indian patrol near the LoC in Machhal sector, killing three Indian soldiers, including inhuman mutilation of the body of one of them.

On the issue of talks with Pakistan, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, Our position on it (talks) is clear. We are for a dialogue with Pakistan. But talks and terror cannot happen together. It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen.
Chennai: Just a few months after two medicos flung a dog off the terrace in Chennai, another such crime has come to light raising a question about very integrity of medical students. A team of four medical students from the Christian Medical College, Vellore killed a 14-month-old female monkey in a brutal way  by tying the animal's hands and neck with a telephone wire.

The magnitude of the abuse resulted in suspicions being aroused as to whether those involved were under the influence of alcohol. The incident came to light after some students tipped off animal activists in Chennai.

According to the FIR copy, the students are identified as Jasper Samuel Sahoo, Rohit Kumar Yenukotti, Arun Loui Sasi Kumar and Alex Chekalayil. According to wildlife conversationalist Nishanth Ravi, the animal succumbed to the torture after suffering multiple fractures all over the body. The animal was allegedly attacked with belts and rods on the hostel terrace. The animals stomach was cut open and the intestine and organs were out. I cannot imagine the plight the monkey went through, said Nishanth.

As the incident had happened in around 12.30 pm, the cries of the animal were heard by students who complained to a Mumbai based activist. We rushed to Vellore on Monday, after learning about it. With the information received through an insider, we exhumed the carcass in the presence of tahsildar, village administrative officer and veterinary officer, said another activist, Shravan Krishnan.

Deccan Chronicle contacted the college administration which could not disclose the identity of the youth. Promising to conduct a thorough investigation, the Principal of the college said, Monkey menace is a serious issue here. There have been instances of monkey entering the rooms and being aggressive with students.

Belonging to bonnet macaque, the monkey endemic to South Indian habitat is protected under schedule 2 of Wild Life Conservation act, 1972. According to the sub-inspector of Bagayam police station, a case has been registered in Bagayam police station under section 429 of the Indian Penal Code for mischief by killing or maiming animals which entails a punishment or a fine or both. The report of the autopsy conducted in CMC would be released on Thursday.
Though the nightmare of water scarcity has already begun to haunt the Chennai residents, Chennai Metro Water officials are confident that the situation will not go out of hand.

Chennai: If the lean monsoon extends for a few more days, the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) will take a call on reducing the daily supply of water to the city.

We will take a call after a few days on seeing what the realisation from Krishna water and the monsoon rains is, a top official from Chennai Metro Water told Deccan Chronicle on the sidelines of a function here.

Though the nightmare of water scarcity has already begun to haunt the Chennai residents, Chennai Metro Water officials are confident that the situation will not go out of hand.

I don't think the city will suffer like previous times. Right now, there is no need to launch any contingency plans. We will able to maintain the current level of water supply till the end of the monsoon season, a top official from Chennai Metro Water said. We are hoping for the revival of monsoon rains. Krishna water supply has also started. We are working with the Andhra Pradesh government to see that required quantity of the water is realised, he said. Taking into account the combined storage as of now, the water will last for another month.

Talking about contingency plans, he said, if worst comes to worst, we have a plan in place, according to which we may have to reduce the number of hours of water supply and there may be some difficulties in some tail end areas as pressure may not be there. We will supplement it by providing extra lorries of water.

At present, the realisation of Krishna water is very low because the tapping of water is happening on the Andhra Pradesh side. Tamil Nadu has taken the issue to the Andhra Pradesh government. There is water in the Kandaleru reservoir. If we receive a minimum of 4 tmcft water during this season, then, we should be able to maintain the current supply of water even if the rains do not materialise fully, he explained.

As per the agreement, Chennai should receive 8 tmcft from July to October. But we are yet to receive o.5 tmcft of water, he added. Chennai Metro Water is currently drawing water from Veeranam lake. The lake is having about 0.6 tmcft water currently.

The weather department says the rains will be normal. If there is a deficit in November, it will be made up in December. If we get adequate rains there may not be any need for going to the contingency plans, he said.
Kochi: The Customs air intelligence unit seized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currencies worth Rs 10 lakh at Kochi International Airport on Thursday. The sleuths arrested Abdul Salam of Panoor in Kannur on his arrival from Dubai at 9 a.m. The Customs registered a case against the accused for carrying undeclared currencies above the permitted level. Customs Commissioner K.N. Raghavan said that the arrested was a carrier who got Rs 20,000 for bringing the money.

According to him, the unaccounted money had got stuck abroad owing to demonetisation. The authorities found the currencies concealed in toilet napkin package, tissue paper boxes and soap powder boxes. There was Rs 7 lakh in Rs 1000 currency notes and Rs 3 lakh in Rs 500 notes. The Customs suspect that Salam, a frequent traveller to Dubai, is a smuggler. As per reports, he left for Dubai from Kozhikode airport on November 20. On verification of his passport it was revealed that he travelled to Dubai multiple times.

Customs officials claimed that hawala channels were behind the currency smuggling. The authorities have launched a probe into the deal and are on the lookout for the contact waiting for Salam. Customs department has alerted the Reserve Bank of India, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate about the seizure. Passengers arriving from abroad should make a declaration at the airport if the amount they carry exceeds Rs 25,000.
Around 10 am, neighbours who came to her house found Nandini hanging from the ceiling. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Troubled after being scolded by her principal for not completing her homework and later, by her mother for being irregular to school, a class VIII student committed suicide in Hayathnagar on Thursday.

Megavath Nandini allegedly hanged herself in her home. Meanwhile, the Balala Hakkula Sangham has called for a magisterial inquiry into the incident alleging the girl took the extreme step after she was sexually harassed by relatives. Hayathnagar Inspector

J. Narender Goud said the Sri Chaitanya High School, Hayathnagar, student was irregular to school for the past few days and could not complete her homework.

On Wednesday, school principal, Ms Pallavi, scolded her and on Thursday morning, when she was not willing to go to school, her mother Kala, a daily-wage earner, scolded her. Around 10am, neighbours who came to her house found Nandini hanging from the ceiling.
We are now well into the third week of yet another surgical strike (as described by BJP chief Amit Shah) by the Prime Ministers magic wand attempt to cleanse the national economy of black money by demonetising two high-value currency notes. But by demonetising the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the government sucked out almost 87 per cent of the money in the market. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this demonetisation to rid the nation of black money  which really means income and financial transactions that didnt realise for the state its rightful share of taxes  the entire nation welcomed it. The other reasons the government gave for this is that it wanted to purge the system of counterfeit notes and break the terror finance network. With the benefit of cold hindsight, and with the comfort of not having to go against the now clearly-waning popular sentiment for demonetisation, its evident the government was clearly unprepared to embark on such a major reform. The nation has now witnessed the breakdown of the financial system and the severe pain it has inflicted on the hundreds of millions who sustain themselves as daily wage earners, small retailers of perishable goods and farmers who have to invest now to sow fresh crops and reap harvests of foodgrains and fruits and vegetables.

The nation has thus belaboured the Prime Minister severely, and the PM, proud of his broad chest, has been reduced to tears at least twice in the past fortnight. What went wrong? The first is very obvious. It should have had enough of the new currency notes for transfusion to replace the withdrawn lifeblood. It also didnt build up meaningful stocks of the existing `100 and smaller denomination notes to make everyday transactions possible without much dislocation. That was not the case. It is now clear that the RBI will take many months just to replace the high-value notes. Till then the anemia will persist. There is bound to be economic costs for this prolonged anemia. On Thursday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, less of a politician and more of a top-notch economist, estimated the consequential contraction of GDP to be around two per cent. Recently, I was in a discussion with several senior economists and the most conservative estimate was a drop in GDP by at least 2.2 per cent. That kind of sudden contraction, at about the halfway point of the financial year, will mean that the immediate contraction is going to be much more painful.

Consider this. Almost 40 per cent of the GDP is in cash transactions. As much as 31 per cent of adults do not have bank accounts. The Jan Dhan drive has indeed substantially added to the number of bank accounts. But nearly half of the additional bank accounts are zero balance accounts. Creative optical solutions being this governments forte, all these accounts have now been credited with `1 each to take them out of this column. With this looming contraction in the immediate future, one would not be surprised if the government will once again resort to creative optical solutions by improving national income accounting by putting new values to unrecorded production and services. For instance, by re-estimating the value of chappals made by village cobblers or the value addition of panwallahs. But then dont compare it with earlier growth rates. The last such tweak gave this government an additional 2.2 per cent GDP boost, but was misused by it to suggest the train was moving faster.

Now look at the scale of damage caused. India has a workforce of close to 450 million. Of these, only seven per cent are in the organised sector. Out of this 31 million, about 24 million are employed by the state or state-owned enterprises, the rest being in private sector employment. Of this vast reservoir of over 415 million employed in the unorganised sector, about half are engaged in the farm sector, another 10 per cent each in construction, small-scale manufacture and retail. These are mostly daily wage workers and mostly earning less than the officially-decreed minimum wages. Thus, a good part of this so-called black money which the government has choked off  held in `500 and `1,000 notes  is actually money in flow. What the government is seeking to unearth is a smaller part of the money in stock, which is held by business people, politicians and bureaucrats. But in its professed anxiety to unearth this, the government has effectively thrown out the baby with the bathwater. The economy may not have ground to a complete halt, but in hundreds of million homes the cooking fires are not being lit. This is because most daily-wage earners are not getting paid in full or even in part. And even if they are paid with the old notes, and even if they can enter banks, where are the smaller notes or even new notes for the banks to exchange them with?

The amount of black money held as cash is only about five per cent of the total tax evaded income. The rest is held in cash abroad, land and property, and jewellery and gold. Unearthing this will take some doing and in doing so officialdom and its political masters will only generate more black money. And consider this: as much as 55 per cent of FDI investment coming in (about $44 billon last year) is actually Indian-owned money round tripping its way back from the economy it fled from. Is the government now going to look at this gift horse in the mouth by asking these ECBs to declare their origins? So after not anticipating the scope of the economic devastation visiting the nation, Mr Modi has taken a new tack. He is now hollering that he is fighting for the vast mass of the poor who have been looted all these decades by the upper classes.

He has thus demonised the upper classes and has fired the starting gun for class warfare that would have made Lenin and Mao proud. He has even started saying startling things like meri jaan ko khatra hai due to his newly-donned mantle of the class warrior. His claim of death threats to him supposedly due to this has generated much consequential mirth in the social media, with a play on the word jaan. Till now Mr Modi has been largely immune from this. He enjoyed huge support, even without the bot armies and professional social media manipulators, while he has also been hugely vilified. But, of late, he has become a cause of mirth. With that he has entered politically dangerous waters. Will Mr Modi now retrace his steps somewhat and extend the deadline for the exchange of high-value notes? Will he now order the massive buildup of Rs 100 and smaller notes to relieve the monetary anemia? This will no doubt mean some loss of face. But that is still better than loss of head.
Reports regarding Microsoft removing their Lumia series from Microsoft Stores surfaced recently. Rumours added to the fuel suggesting the company will stop selling Lumia altogether in December. This didnt come across as a surprise as since early 2016, we havent seen any new revisions of the Lumia line-up. Windows Central also exclusively revealed a few months ago that Lumia 650 would be the last Lumia to be released by Microsoft.

However, it doesnt look like the company is given up on hopes of building a new smartphone. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was recently quoted by the Australian Financial Review as saying that the company will continue to be a part of the phone market. Not as defined by todays market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device, he added.

The report further goes on to talk about Microsofts plans to offer something unique instead of competing with others in the market. With this aim in mind, the company isnt afraid of taking risks and is ready to enter newer segments while also redefining the older ones.

Nadella even spoke about Microsoft Surface. He went on to explain how the company jumped into the 2-in-1 factor with the Microsoft Surface three years ago, pointing towards Microsofts intentions to offer something unique to its customers.

If reports are believed to be true, Microsoft plans on launching a Surface smartphone soon. The company will be targeting three different user groups including consumers, business users and enthusiasts.

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Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for 134,386 current and former US sailors. (Representational image)

Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for 134,386 current and former US sailors, the US Navy said on Wednesday.

It said a laptop used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services employee working on a US Navy contract was hacked. Hewlett Packard informed the Navy of the breach on October 27 and the affected sailors will be notified in the coming weeks, the Navy said.

"The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke said in a statement.

Burke said the investigation of the breach was in its early stages.

"At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest misuse of the information that was compromised," the Navy said.

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A 5-year-old Muslim kindergarten student was allegedly assaulted by a woman teacher who grabbed him by the neck and began choking him. (Representational Image)

Washington: A 5-year-old Muslim kindergarten student was allegedly assaulted by a woman teacher who grabbed him by the neck and began choking him, the latest in a series of hate incidents reported in the US following Donald Trump's win.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country's largest Muslim civil rights group, has called for an investigation into what it said were assaults by a female teacher on the Muslim kindergarten student at a Charlotte-Mecklenburg elementary school in North Carolina.

The assaults at the David Cox Road Elementary School in north Charlotte started at the beginning of the school year, according to CAIR, but the latest incident occurred last week, the Charlotte Observer reported.

"During the first two months of the school year, (the Muslim student) was subjected to relentless bullying and harassment not only by his classmates, but by (the teacher),"

Maha Sayed, a civil rights lawyer for the organisation, wrote to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

For example, the teacher routinely singled out the student from his classmates and made him carry a heavy backpack throughout the day, Sayed wrote.

"The backpack contained a large textbook and headphones, which caused (the student) to develop significant back pain," the letter alleged.

The teacher "would also treat (the student) harshly and reportedly called him 'bad Muslim boy' on multiple occasions," it said.

On November 16, according to the letter, the teacher "reportedly approached (the student)...grabbed him by the neck and began choking him. (Another teacher) then separated the two and began consoling (the student) who was crying and extremely shaken."

The teacher who reportedly discriminated against the student was named by the New York Daily News as Alma Simpson. The group wants the student transferred "to a safe kindergarten classroom free from discrimination and retaliatory actions."

"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is committed to the safety and well-being of all students," CMS spokeswoman Renee McCoy was quoted as saying.

"CMS takes these allegations seriously and is currently investigating," McCoy said.

The reporting of the alleged discrimination comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trump's election.

Many Muslim women have posted on social media describing 'hijab grab' attacks on them.

Also, ahead of the polls, a 7-year-old Pakistani-origin boy was allegedly beaten up by five classmates on a school bus in the US for being a Muslim.
A Border Security Force (BSF) person during a night patrol near the fence at the India-Pakistan International Border at the outpost of Akhnoor sector, about 40 km from Jammu. (Photo: PTI)

New York: Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan on Thursday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly "abhorrent act" that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis.

The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's air force chief has warned India against escalating the Kashmir issue into full-scale war.

Marshal Sohail Aman's warning on Thursday comes as tensions soared between

Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory after a day of violent exchanges.

Aman told reporters in the port city of Karachi that "it is better if India shows restraint."

If New Delhi escalates the crisis, he says Pakistani troops will "know full well how to deal with them."
A UN statement said the group would be removed from a list of parties accused of child recruitment in its annual report on children and armed conflict upon completion of all steps agreed to in the action plan. (Photo: Representational Image/AP)

New York: One of Sudan's largest rebel groups, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), signed an accord on Wednesday with the United Nations to end the use of child soldiers, a UN representative said.

There has been fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, when adjacent South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum.

Talks to secure a lasting ceasefire in the three warring regions under a road map for peace collapsed earlier this year, less than a week after they began.

SPLM-North chairman Malik Agar signed an action plan at a ceremony in Geneva outlining measures to end recruitment of children under the age of 18 and release those currently in the group's ranks.

"SPLM-N is firmly committed to the protection of children in conflict and today's signing is a continuity of that commitment," Agar said following the ceremony.

Neither Agar nor UN officials present at the ceremony provided figures on the number of child soldiers involved in the conflict.

A UN statement said the group would be removed from a list of parties accused of child recruitment in its annual report on children and armed conflict upon completion of all steps agreed to in the action plan.

UN officials said they signed a similar agreement with Khartoum in March 2016 and hoped to complete more with the country's other major rebel groups.
Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described US President-elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world. (Photo: AFP)

Islamabad: Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described US President-elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world.

In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it has issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Donald Trump.

Writing in the Pak-based Al Qalam Weekly (Nov. 18-24, 2016) the JeM ideologues Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif have stated that while the international media has used Trump's victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory was actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the world.

They said that the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trump's election as the next president.

Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said that the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of 'bad character', temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam.

He added that while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trump's victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries.

He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which has brought victories against powerful opponents.
Washington: Republican US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named the first women to his team of top officials: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for UN ambassador, and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for education secretary.

The following are details about his selections so far. All but the national security adviser post require US Senate confirmation:

US ambassador to the United Nations: Governor Nikki Haley

Haley, a 44-year-old Republican and the daughter of Indian immigrants, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. She led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman.

Education secretary: Betsy DeVos

DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatisation of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools.

US Attorney General: US Senator Jeff Sessions

Sessions, 69, was the first US senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

National security adviser: Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn

Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defence Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy.

CIA Director: US representative Mike Pompeo

Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer, West Point and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.
A photograph of Donald Trump is displayed by activists belonging to 'Hindu Sena' in New Delhi. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties.

During a brutal election campaign, where Trumps rhetoric on foreign partners was overwhelmingly negative, he was largely positive about India - or at least its Hindu majority - and its nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

When he courted Indian-American voters at a rally in New Jersey in mid-October, he said, There wont be any relationship more important to us. He praised Modi - another populist, savvy in using social media - as a great man for championing bureaucratic reforms and economic growth.

There are other hints that Trump is well-disposed toward India.

He has done a lot of business there. A Washington Post analysis of Trumps pre-election financial disclosure found that of his 111 international business deals, the highest number - 16 - were in India. He stirred controversy last week over potential conflicts of interest by meeting with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex in the city of Pune.

On Wednesday he selected South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - the first woman tapped for a Cabinet-level post in his administration. Haley has no foreign policy experience.

It remains a matter of conjecture how any of this will shape the approach taken by a Trump administration when he takes office Jan. 20. But Lisa Curtis at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said it was easy to envision the U.S. and India working closer on counter-terrorism.

India hopes that Trumps promise to fight radical Islamic militants will mean more American pressure on Pakistan and less aid for Indias historic archrival. Militants based in Pakistan are accused of launching cross-border attacks inside India.

Neelam Deo, who heads the Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, said India would also welcome it if Trump builds a working relationship with Russia in fighting the Islamic State group.

But Deo predicted U.S.-India friction if Trump restricts non-immigrant visas for Indians to try to protect American workers. She said that 60 percent of Indias information technology experts who work abroad go to the U.S.

Biswajit Dhar, an economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said that how Trump approaches immigration is a major concern in India and tough action is going to rattle quite a lot here.

Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the U.S., said reactions in India to Trumps election victory have ranged from vocal support from right-wingers to shock and disappointment among the liberal intelligentsia. He said people had noticed that Trump had attended election campaign events with Hindus rather than the broader Indian-American community.

India is 80 percent Hindu, but 14 percent of its 1.3 billion people are Muslims.

US-India relations have advanced under President Barack Obama, particularly since Modis election in 2014. When Modi addressed Congress this June, he described the U.S. as an indispensable partner and said together they could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

Staunch U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea, which host American forces and depend on U.S. nuclear deterrence, have been unnerved by Trumps call for nations to shoulder more of the burden for security in Asia.

But that is less of a concern for India, which is not a formal ally of the U.S. It has expanded its military cooperation with Washington and purchased American hardware as it modernizes its armed forces. But it prizes having an independent foreign policy, as it did during the Cold War.

Indias interest in taking on a larger role fits in with Mr. Trumps view of U.S. friends and partners doing more in their own regions, said C. Raja Mohan, director of the Carnegie India think tank.

Trump plans to take an ax to the main economic element of Obamas Asia policy - the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said this week that he will end U.S. participation in the 12-nation trade pact. India is not involved in the agreement.

But India would be concerned if Trump adopted an isolationist stance and dialed back the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific.

India is worried about Chinas dominance in this region, Dhar said.
Alana Annette Savell was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida. (Photo: Bay County Sheriffs Office/ Facebook page)

Washington: In a bizarre incident, a 32-year-old woman in the US opened fire at her house guests because they were "too loud" and had overstayed their welcome.

Alana Annette Savell was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida.

Bay County Sheriff's Office said, "The victim (Ms Kirsty Jo Mohr) stated she felt herself get hit in the legs and ran away from the home and got into a vehicle."

"Savell stated that the victim and her friend had come to her home to hang out and began drinking and getting too loud.

Savell stated she did not want them in her house and started shooting at their feet," the sheriff's office said.

"The suspect's boyfriend stated to investigators that he has told his girlfriend that once someone is told to leave their property three times, she is to go get the gun and shoot it at the ground. If that does not work, she is to shoot people in the leg," it said.

After firing the gun at the ground, Savell continued shooting as the man and woman left, striking the woman twice in the leg, the Washington Post reported.

Savell later acknowledged to authorities that there was a phone in the house and she could have simply called 911 to make the guests leave.

"The defendant stated that she knew she was wrong for shooting at the victim and Gary, but stated when she started shooting she could not stop," the affidavit read. Savell's boyfriend was also struck with a round in the leg during the incident that took place on Monday, the sheriff's office said. After the guests left, Savell put the handgun into a garbage can next to the house.

Sheriff's deputies were called around 2 AM to a hospital, where the female gunshot victim was receiving treatment. Savell was arrested about two hours later and taken to the Bay County Jail, where she is being held on a USD 100,000 bond.
Two pistols and live ammunition have been recovered from their possession, police said, adding that a case has been registered. (Photo: Representational Image)

Manila: A Sikh couple from India were gunned down on Thursday by two bike-borne assailants in the Philippines' Camarines Sur province, a media report said.

Bahagwant Singh Buttar, 45 and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, 36, residents of Sipocot town in the province, were killed by two gunmen who were riding a bike, Tempo newspaper reported.

The couple were on their way to somewhere when the gunmen struck, killing them on the spot, police said.

Two suspects, Marvin Magdaong and Rodolfo t Gumatay, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident by the police after a chase in Sitio Nabuntog in Bangas Caves.

The motive behind the murder was not immediately known, police said.

Two pistols and live ammunition have been recovered from their possession, police said, adding that a case has been registered.

There have been many attacks on Indians in the Philippines in the past.

The last incident reported in August, when a 26-year-old Indian man, who belonged to Punjab's Phagwara and lived in Santiago city, was shot dead just a couple of months before he was scheduled to get married.
A growing number of ruling party politicians have endorsed the opposition-led campaign to oust President Park Geun-Hye over the scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-Sil, who leveraged their mysterious ties in milking business companies for cash and peddling influence.

Seoul, South Korea: A vote to impeach South Korea's scandal-hit president could take place as early as next week, lawmakers said on Thursday.

A growing number of ruling party politicians have endorsed the opposition-led campaign to oust President Park Geun-Hye over the scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-Sil, who leveraged their mysterious ties in milking business companies for cash and peddling influence.

"We will seek to vote on the impeachment motion as early as December 2, and no later than December 9," Woo Sang-Ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

A senior ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker also said the impeachment move would be put to a parliamentary vote by December 9.

Opposition parties had been hesitant in pushing through an impeachment motion that requires two-thirds support, although they enjoy a combined working majority at the 300-seat parliament.

But the move gathered steam when former head of the ruling party Kim Moo-Sung jumped into the fray Wednesday, declaring Park must be impeached for breaching the constitution.

More than 30 Saenuri lawmakers support Park's impeachment, with 29 needed to cross party lines for the motion to be passed.

If the vote is successful it would be the first time in 12 years that South Korea's parliament has impeached a president.

Park has issued public apologies and also promised to submit herself to an expanding probe by state prosecutors, as well as a separate investigation by an independent special prosecutor to be appointed by parliament.

'Co-culprit'

Prosecutors said on Sunday Park had colluded with Choi, branding the president a "co-culprit".

They said Park would be probed as a suspect, pushing to interrogate her directly -- a move which would make her the first sitting South Korean president to be quizzed by prosecutors.

Park's lawyer has dismissed the probe's findings as a "house of cards" built on "imagination and guesswork", declaring she would not submit herself to the "politically-biased" prosecutors' questioning.

Even if the impeachment vote gets two-thirds support at parliament there is no guarantee the country's conservative Constitutional Court will approve it, even as the snowballing scandal continues to hit South Korean household names.

Prosecutors on Thursday raided the finance ministry and the headquarters of two of the country's most powerful companies.

SK and Lotte have been accused of making huge donations to foundations linked with Choi in return for lucrative state licences for duty-free businesses.

The raid came a day after prosecutors searched the headquarters of Samsung Group over allegations it had bribed Choi to win state approval for a controversial merger it sought last year.

Park faces allegations that her government offered policy favours to the firms that offered contributions to Choi's foundations.

Several heads of the country's top firms, including Samsung and Hyundai, have been interviewed by prosecutors, shedding light on the unhealthy ties between the government and conglomerates that have endured for decades.

Public anger towards Park escalated earlier this month at one of the largest -- and loudest -- anti-government protests the country had ever witnessed.
The man, in his 40s, will be deported from New Zealand despite claiming Hindu extremists in his homeland were threatening to kill him, stuff.co.nz reported. (Photo: Pixabay)

Melbourne: An Indian evangelist who claimed that "Hindu extremists" in India were threatening to kill him would be deported by New Zealand which has twice rejected his asylum plea, a media report said on Thursday.

The Christian evangelist, identified only by his initials BD, was arrested and imprisoned in 2012 for overstaying his visa in New Zealand.

He has been fighting his deportation order on humanitarian grounds ever since and his first claim for refugee status was rejected by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal in 2015.

The man, in his 40s, will be deported from New Zealand despite claiming Hindu extremists in his homeland were threatening to kill him, stuff.co.nz reported.

However, he made a subsequent claim on the basis that a stint in jail had strengthened his Christian faith so much that the preaching he would be compelled to do when back in India would put his life in danger, it said.

In a decision released this week, Justice Peters said the man had initially been rejected as a refugee because his risk of danger would be low if he returned to India.

Justice Peters noted "whether or not (the man's) faith has intensified" did not increase his risk of attack, because he was already a well-known evangeliser.

The judgement stemmed from the fact that BD had already "completed many years of work as a religious worker and undertaken paid work as an evangelist in India".

Hindu and Christian leaders in Auckland's Indian community, however, labelled BD's religious claims a "baseless" excuse to remain in the country.

Ilamgo Krishna Moorthy, the president of the New Zealand Hindu Temple Association, said "a lot of evangelists" visited India regularly and the man would not be stopped.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says in a distressing case of abandonment, the woman left behind her 14 cats when she left her Woodville West property in Australia. (Representational image)

Melbourne: A 43-year-old Australian woman has been convicted of animal cruelty for abandoning 14 cats inside her house for so long that they resorted to eating each other.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says in a distressing case of abandonment, the woman left behind her 14 cats when she left her Woodville West property in Australia.

By the time inspectors arrived at the house in September last year, 13 of the cats were dead and the only surviving animal was severely emaciated, according to a report.

The remains of the other 13 cats were spread throughout the house. It was a devastating sight, chief inspector Andrea Lewis said.

The woman was convicted in a court on Wednesday where she was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and banned from owning animals indefinitely.
Erdogan has already dismissed the vote as having "no value" as it is non-binding, and as most European Union member states so far want to keep the Turkey talks on track. (Photo: AP)

Strasbourg, France: The European Parliament on Thursday voted in favour of a freeze of membership talks with Turkey over its post-coup crackdown, further escalating tensions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has already dismissed the vote as having "no value" as it is non-binding, and as most European Union member states so far want to keep the Turkey talks on track.

But the motion, approved by a big majority, is a fresh blow to ties that have unravelled in the wake of the failed July 15 failed putsch and threatened a key migration deal between Brussels and Ankara.

MEPs voting in Strasbourg, France, said the parliament "strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt".

They said they remained "committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU" but said parliament "calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey."

The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.

A furious Erdogan said on Wednesday that "I want to say in advance from here and address the whole world watching on their TV screens -- this vote has no value at all, no matter what result emerges."

"It is not possible for me to even digest the message that they want to deliver."

Europe's message has however been increasingly clear about its concerns over rights and democracy in Turkey, especially over the coup crackdown that has seen almost 37,000 arrested.

Erdogan lashes out

Turkey formally applied to become an EU member in 1987 and accession talks only began in 2005, even though Ankara's aspirations to become part of the bloc dates back to the 1960s.

While the vote will have no concrete effect as EU member states with the exception of Austria so far want to keep the accession process going, it is yet another blow to relations that seemed to be improving just months ago.

Turkey and the EU had agreed to speed up the long-stalled membership talks after both sides reached a deal in March to curb migrant flows towards the European Union.

Brussels agreed to give visa free travel for Turks once it carried out key reforms and give more aid to Turkey, in exchange for Ankara cutting the number of refugees to the Greek islands.

But the process has stalled in any case after the failed bid by a rogue group in the army to bring down the Turkish government -- making the call for a freeze largely symbolic.

The mass arrests and job dismissals as well as measures against Turkish media in the ensuing crackdown triggered a sharp reaction from EU politicians and rights watchdogs.

Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out at what he called a "lack of concrete support" from the EU and urged Islamic countries to join their forces to end the West's "double standards".

He said the vote was an indicator of the fact that the EU took the side of "terror organisations" -- meaning Kurdish groups that the Turkish state is fighting against.

The Turkish strongman also noted that Donald Trump was also being accused of being a dictator after his election as US president, denouncing protests against his impending assumption of power.
Disputes over the South China Sea should be resolved bilaterally, according to China's President Xi Jinping during his separate meeting with the leaders of the Philippines and Vietnam.

The comments emphasize Beijing's opposition to involving other countries or international organizations in the maritime territorial dispute, where claimants to the waters also include Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

According to some experts, China prefers a 'divide and conquer' tactic over allowing its opponents to group together.

To recall, United States were continually blamed by Beijing for worsening the trouble in the South China Sea, and opposes an arbitration tribunal's July ruling in favor of the Philippines, rejecting China's claims to economic rights across large swathes of the waters.

Chinese President Xi told Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to actively mull maritime cooperation and promote positive interactions on the sea during a meeting on Peru by converting South China Sea into "an opportunity for bilateral friendly cooperation, according the official Xinhua news agency.

Moreover, The Philippines is willing to properly address maritime issues with China through dialogue and consultation, Xinhua added.

Xi made the same proposal to Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang while attending a summit of Asia-Pacific countries in Lima.
Strasbourg: European Union lawmakers called on Thursday for a temporary halt to EU membership talks with Turkey because of Ankara's "disproportionate" reaction to July's failed coup, although EU governments are unlikely to take heed.

Members of the European Parliament voted 479 to 37 in favour of a non-binding motion urging the European Commission and national governments to institute what lawmakers acknowledge would be a largely symbolic freeze in negotiations that have been going on for 11 years but have long been stalled.

Neither side expects Turkey to be in a position to join the EU for very many years to come.

"The European Parliament ... strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt in July," the motion read, although added that it remained committed to keeping Turkey "anchored" to the EU.

Austria has led calls to stop Turkey's membership talks. Germany, France and most other EU states for now back continued engagement and fear putting at risk Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's collaboration on migration.

EU leaders are due to discuss Turkey again when they meet in Brussels at a regular summit on Dec. 15-16.

Lawmakers debated EU-Turkey relations on Tuesday, with the main parties backing a freeze.

However, the EU executive's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, urged caution during the debate, saying an end to the accession process would result in a lose-lose situation.

Erdogan accuses the EU of failing to understand the gravity of threats to Turkey. He said the bloc would have to "live with the consequences" if it stopped the talks and that Ankara could instead join an security alliance run by Russia and China.

Turkey still hopes to win visa-free travel for its citizens to the EU, part of an EU promise in Ankara's exchange for its help in keeping migrants away from Europe, although the chances of it earning that right by the end of this year seem distant.

As part of the same deal with the EU in March, Brussels agreed to reinvigorate accession talks.
London: Islamic State terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria may launch devastating chemical attacks in Europe, an inquiry by the UN's global chemical weapons watchdog has warned.

The fleeing terrorists could carry out mustard gas attacks after learning how to use the toxic substance in battle zones, a senior official from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) global chemical weapons warned at a defence conference in Paris this week.

"It seems that one of the dangers that we need to face and have a response for since ISIS has learnt how to make mustard gas is that sadly one of the people who learnt how to do it comes back to one of our countries and helps carry out an attack like this," said Philippe Denier, director at the verification division of the OPCW.

Mustard gas is a powerful irritant that targets the skin, eyes and airways, and can kill in large enough or highly concentrated enough amounts. Symptoms can take up to 24 hours to appear.

The inquiry, conducted last month, found that ISIS had used the weapon on civilians.

After rockets containing traces of mustard gas were used on US troops in northern Iraq in September, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the US Senate's Armed Services Committee that while ISIS' capabilities are currently "rudimentary" the attack was a "concerning development", the Independent reported.

Last month, the European Union's Security Commissioner, Julian King, had warned that the huge military operation to remove ISIS from its last Iraqi stronghold could spark an exodus of fighters back to European countries, increasing the risk of terror attacks.
Geneva: The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday he had had no indication the United States would move to leave the WTO under Donald Trump's administration.

"I haven't had any indication from anybody that that could be the case," WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told reporters.

During his campaign, which repeatedly attacked global trade deals, President-elect Trump called the WTO a "disaster" and said the US could quit the Geneva-based body.

Azevedo stressed it was premature to speculate on what Trump may do in office.

"I just don't know what the trade policies are," Azevedo said of the incoming administration.

"I haven't talked to him," he added, when asked if he had spoken to Trump directly since the November 8 US vote.

"What we have to do is be ready for a conversation" with Trump's economic team, the Brazilian national added.

Azevedo conceded that swathes of people worldwide had come to see global trade as a job killer even though such perceptions were not supported by evidence.

He said any fixes to the broader globalisation project must not include reactionary, protectionist measures.

"If the medicine is simply protectionism, the outcome will be that you harm the patient," Azevedo said.
London: UK's Metropolitan Police Service department has come under scanner after being slammed for failing to spot a potential serial killer who drugged and murdered four young men he met on gay networking sites.

Met police had found four bodies at a distance from the accused, Stephen Port's home in East London. Port, 41, had invited the victims to his flat and spiked their drinks or injected them with drugs so he could have sex with them while they were unconscious, and later killed them.

Four of his victims died of overdoses and Port was accused of dragging their bodies outside, planting bottles of the party drug GHB on some of them and writing a fake suicide note for another.

Detectives are now probing 58 more cases in which victims were killed in similar ways and they are now investigating Port's possible involvement in those murders.

Seven police officials could face suspension if they are found guilty of failing to investigate the murders.

Port was arrested after the death of his first victim. However, he was only handed a short jail term. He attacked his second victim soon after his release.

He was also accused of sexually assaulting or raping another eight victims who survived.

Port faces 29 charges relating to 12 men between February 2012 and October 2015, including the murders of four men in their 20s.

All four died in "strikingly similar" circumstances, and in each case, Port was accused of lying to police about his involvement with the victims.

The court had heard how Port was attracted to smaller men with boyish looks, known as "twinks", who he met on social networking sites such as Grindr.

He also allegedly used the sites to buy a range of drugs, including poppers, Viagra, Meow Meow -- a synthetic stimulant -- and GHB and GBL, chemically similar substances which can induce euphoria but can also have strong sedative effects.
The incident took place at the couple's home in Hull, East Yorkshire in England. (Photo: AP/ Representational)

Hull, East Yorkshire: UK cops arrested a man in Hull city of England for allegedly raping his pregnant girlfriend while she was in labour because he was horny.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the accused violently attacked his partner while she sat on her knees, trying to relieve herself from the pain of contractions after going into labour.

The incident took place at the couple's home in Hull, East Yorkshire in England.

While the case was under trial at the Hull Crown Court, prosecutors argued that the accused continued to rape his partner even as she cried out in pain. They also told the court that the victim repeatedly begged him to stop, but he refused to listen.

Hours after the incident, the woman gave birth to their son in the hospital.

During the proceedings of the court, the judge was told that the victim went into advanced stage labour while she was sleeping and was naked at the time of the attack.

In order to relieve herself from the pain arising due to the contractions, she got on to her knees. When the accused woke up and saw the victim naked on the bed, he told her, "I feel horny" attacking her.

The court was also told that after the attack, the accused behaved as if nothing had happened and even offered the victim a bath.

The case is currently undergoing a trial.
The incident took place in one of the villas in Al Ain city, nearly 145 kms from Abu Dhabi on Wednesday when the Emirati children, aged three to four years, were playing. (Photo: Representational Image)

Dubai: Three minor boys were killed and a girl was severely injured when they fell into a deep water well while chasing a cat in the UAE, media reports said on Thursday.

The incident took place in one of the villas in Al Ain city, nearly 145 kms from Abu Dhabi on Wednesday when the Emirati children, aged three to four years, were playing.

The children reached over the wooden cover of the well while chasing the cat when the lid suddenly collapsed and they fell inside, Gulf News reported.

Police and Civil Defence officials reached the spot and recovered the bodies of the three boys. The girl was injured and rushed to a nearby hospital where she was battling for her life.
Kurdish, Islamist and leftist militants have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in recent years. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Istanbul: An explosion killed two people and wounded more than a dozen outside the governor's office in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Thursday, state media said, weeks after the United States warned extremist groups were planning attacks.

Video footage showed a vehicle ablaze in the car park outside the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky in the city, 40 km (25 miles) from Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Windows were blown out and parts of the facade of the building, roughly six floors high, were torn off.

Adana is about 10 miles (16 km) from Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. military uses to launch attacks against Islamic State militants in Syria. Families of U.S. military personnel were ordered to leave Adana and some other parts of Turkey in March over security concerns.

"Damned terror continues to target our people. We will fight with this terror to the end in the name of humanity," Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik wrote on Twitter, saying he had spoken to the Adana governor.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Kurdish PKK, Islamic State and leftist militants have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in recent years.

The state-run Anadolu agency quoted provincial governor Mahmut Demirtas as saying two people were killed and 16 wounded. Anadolu said the blast, which occurred shortly after 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), came from a vehicle in front of the building.

The U.S. Consulate General in Adana warned three weeks ago that extremist groups "continue aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens and other foreigners in Adana". The State Department has warned U.S. citizens to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey.
The incident came to light after a passerby spotted the body and informed police in Al Sajja area, Gulf News reported. (Representational Image)

Dubai: A 46-year-old Indian man was found hanging from a tree in the UAE's Sharjah city, media reports said on Thursday.

The incident came to light after a passerby spotted the body and informed police in Al Sajja area, Gulf News reported.

Sharjah Police said they were investigating to see whether the man, whose identity was not made public, committed suicide.

The man worked in a factory in Sajjah area. Officials from the Criminal Investigation Department and forensic experts inspected the scene of the incident.

The body was transferred to the forensic laboratory for an autopsy.
A flag bearing a portrait of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, flutters above an Iraqi Special Forces vehicle patrolling a northeastern district of the city of Mosul. (Photo: AFP)

Baghdad: A suicide truck bomb killed more than 80 people, most of them Iranian Shia pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shia to be apostates, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shia holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a US-backed military offensive launched on Octber 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.
Dubai: Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimis production company says he has begun serving a year-long prison sentence handed down over footage authorities deemed insulting.

Paris-based production company Les Films de lApres-Midi confirmed on Thursday that Karimi went to prison the previous day. He was found guilty on charges of insulting sanctities in Iran in October 2015 and initially sentenced to six years behind bars.

He and his lawyer have said the charges stemmed from an unspecified video clip and a film he directed called Writing on the City that focuses on political graffiti in Iran from its 1979 Islamic Revolution to the contested 2009 election.

In February, an appeals court reduced Karimis sentence to one year but kept the requirement that he endure 223 lashes as stipulated in his original sentence.
MADISON  President Barack Obamas reaction to Donald Trumps election could have gone something like this:

My fellow Americans, we have made a grave mistake. That enough of us voted to elect a darling of white nationalists and an admitted sexual abuser, among other things, is a low point for American democracy.

Nevertheless, as an American committed to a government of laws, I will do everything in my power to ensure President-elect Trumps smooth transition into the White House. As a Christian who believes God can change the human heart, I will remain hopeful that Mr. Trumps presidency can be a force for good.

That Obamas response to Trump has been significantly less judgmental and significantly more conciliatory is just one more reason to fear a spike in hate speech of the kind allegedly directed at a local multiracial family last week.

A handwritten letter left at a Fitchburg home touts Trumps victory, uses the N-word and calls the family race traitors. Its one of hundreds of racially charged incidents  some verified, some debunked  reported since Trumps election.

Their implication is clear: Trump ran a divisive, and arguably sexist and racist campaign and won, so now its OK for us regular folk to be divisive, sexist and racist.

Usually, I wouldnt take that implication or the Fitchburg letter all that seriously. Hate speech is horrible and frightening for victims, but there have always been racist morons with bad handwriting  no matter who the president is. They arent deserving of the public platform our outrage provides them.

People also have the free will to reject their leaders bad examples. Bill Clinton engaging in sexual activity with an intern in the Oval Office doesnt give license to other married men to carry on extramarital affairs. Nor did Trumps public ridiculing of a disabled reporter mean everyones going to start feeling comfortable making fun of the disabled.

And yet there are numerous studies suggesting that the behavior of leaders influences other people, said Markus Brauer, a UW-Madison psychology professor who studies behavior modification.  Prescriptive norms tell people what is the right thing to do. And there are many studies suggesting that peoples perceptions of prescriptive norms are heavily influenced by the leadership, in the positive and in the negative direction.

If theres any difference between the dangers to prescriptive norms posed by Clintons behavior and by Trumps behavior, it might be that at least Clinton knew his behavior was wrong enough to lie about and, when caught, apologize for it.

By contrast, Trumps response to being caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women was to apologize while simultaneously dismissing it as locker room talk. Asked recently if he regretted anything hed said in the campaign  calling immigrants rapists, for example, or criticizing women as too unattractive to have sex with  he said: No. I won.

Its disappointing enough that all the moral reservations Republicans such as U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke and Gov. Scott Walker had about Trump before the election vanished after he won the election. Worse is that the election results have convinced a squeaky clean politician like Obama to gloss over Trumps awfulness.

Whether they know it or not, theyre going about the task of defining deviancy down  especially when the connections between Trumps rhetoric in the campaign and the current level of hate in the Madison area or anywhere else could be much more than incidental.

Trumps behavior was considered unacceptable by many people, including Trump voters, Brauer said. But now that he is elected, he has national legitimacy. Therefore, his behavior is legitimate as well.

Rev. Franz Rigert didnt think people were altering their sense of right and wrong to align with Trumps. But the leader of the Wisconsin conference of the United Church of Christ (which is, full disclosure, my denomination) said Trump can be blamed for a groundswell right now in those who are belligerent.

He may not be the origin of it in our culture, he said of Trumps trafficking in sexism and racism, but hes normalized it.

Perhaps even in places as previously normal as the Madison area.
Pictures of the scene in Fengcheng, in the central province of Jiangxi, showed a grey mass of concrete slabs and steel girders splayed in a heap on the ground. (Photo: Representational Image)

Beijing: At least 67 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, the latest industrial accident in a country with a dismal safety record.

A cooling tower platform plunged to the ground in the early hours, trapping an unknown number of people beneath it, Xinhua said.

Pictures of the scene in Fengcheng, in the central province of Jiangxi, showed a grey mass of concrete slabs, steel girders and twisted metal splayed in a heap on the ground inside a large round structure.

Hard-hatted rescue workers in neon jumpsuits carried bodies out from the site on stretchers wrapped in orange sheeting.

Rescue work was underway, and a total of 32 firetrucks and 212 military personnel had been deployed to the scene, the Jiangxi provincial fire department said on a verified social media account. Five injured workers were being treated in hospital, it said.

Around 68 people were on site when the collapse occurred, according to local state media outlet China Jiangxi Online.

The construction of two 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power units at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station began last July and were expected to be completed by early 2018, the local Yichun city government said on a verified social media account last year.

The expansion project cost a total of 7.67 billion yuan (now $1.1 billion), it added. Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often laxly enforced.

In August a pipeline explosion at a coal-fired power plant in the neighbouring province of Hubei killed 21.

Earlier this summer more than 130 people were taken to hospital after chemicals leaked from a plant in eastern China.

In April a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to quell the flames.
Up to 30,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee their homes according to the United Nations, which is urging Bangladesh to open its border to them. (Photo: AP)

Teknaf: Dhaka has called on Myanmar to take "urgent measures" to protect its Rohingya minority after thousands crossed into Bangladesh in just a few days, some saying the military was burning villages and raping young girls.

Troops have poured into a strip of land along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh that is largely home to the stateless Muslim Rohingya minority since a series of coordinated and deadly attacks on police border posts last month.

Up to 30,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee their homes according to the United Nations, which is urging Bangladesh to open its border to them.

Bangladesh said thousands had already entered the country and thousands more were reported to be gathering at the border.

It said the foreign ministry had summoned the Myanmar ambassador late Wednesday to express "deep concern" at the humanitarian situation in western Rakhine state.

"Despite our border guards' sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border in to Bangladesh," it said.

"Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing," it said, calling for "urgent appropriate measures so that Muslim minorities... are not forced to seek shelter across the border."

Many of those seeking refuge in Bangladesh say they have walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into the neighbouring country, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh's secular government has been under intense pressure to open its border to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

Instead, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP.

"They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

The Myanmar military has denied burning villages, but Human Rights Watch said Monday that by using satellite imagery it had identified 820 more structures destroyed in five Rohingya villages between November 10-18.
Kathmandu: Nepal Rastra Bank on Thursday banned the use of India's new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination, terming them "unauthorised and illegal".

These two currency notes were issued by the Reserve Bank of India recently after old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes were withdrawn.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has called the new currency notes "unauthorised and illegal".

NRB spokesperson Narayan Poudel said these new currency notes are not yet legal in Nepal, according to Onlinekhabar.com.

Poudel said these notes will be legal in Nepal only when India issues a FEMA notification as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

India is likely to issue a FEMA notification, allowing people in Nepal and India to possess certain amount of Indian currency.

Earlier, a ban was in effect in Nepal till last year against the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations notes.

Authorities had lifted this ban after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal.

Nepal last year allowed people to carry Indian Rupees of higher denominations upto Indian Rs 25,000.

The Reserve Bank of India had formed a task force to ease currency exchange facility in Nepal for non-Indians who possess the now-defunct notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.
Johnson spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire. (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad on Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone".

Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire.

The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond".

Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over Kashmir, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution" that allows for Kashmiri self-determination.

He also voiced concern over recent incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC).

"We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said, framing the issue as a matter of economy as well as security.

"Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours... and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be."

The "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies was holding the region back from fulfilling this potential, he warned.

Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers.

India said it had responded by carrying out "surgical strikes" across the heavily militarised border, sparking a furious reaction from Islamabad, which denied they took place.

There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians.

After Wednesday's shooting Pakistani authorities closed the road leading to the scenic Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination near the LoC, for security reasons.

Residents said they had fled the valley fearing for their lives after repeated shellings, seeking shelter in the region's main city Muzaffarabad.

"I along with my wife and six children travelled by foot through the night," said resident Tasawar Shah.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British rule ended in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

Rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.

Johnson, who is in Pakistan for a two-day visit, also spoke about US President-elect Donald Trump's campaign threats to reconsider defending NATO allies unless they up defence spending.

"We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," he told reporters.
Police arrested a woman who tried to impersonate as sister of a man killed in Sundays Indore-Patna Express accident with an intention to receive the compensation announced for victims.





Police sources said the woman, a resident of Varanasi, identified a dead man at the post-mortem house on Monday as her brother and sought his body.



Sources also said the woman threw up a tantrum before the post-mortem house when officials asked her to come the next day to collect the remains and spent the night at the premises.



As the officials prepared to hand over the body to the woman, they received a phone call from Dinanath Vishwakarma belonging to Chandauli district who said the dead man was his 20-year-old son Rishu Vishwakarma. He said he saw his sons dead body on social media.



Officials immediately informed the police, who arrested the woman. Dinanath later arrived at the hospital, showed us the proof about his claim and the body was handed over to him , said a senior district official in Akbarpur.



Police suspected the woman to be a member of a criminal racket that made false claims on railway deaths. We are investigating the matter, a senior police official said.



While the central government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 3.5 lakh for the next of kin of those killed in the accident, the UP and MP governments have respectively declared Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for the dead.
Around 60 per cent people in Delhi do not feel safe in the city while 64 per cent while commuting in the national capital, according to a survey by an NGO.





According to a whitepaper on State of Policing and Law and Order in Delhi, released by NGO Praja Foundation, about 67 per cent people do not feel secure for women, children and senior citizens in their own locality here while 25 per cent people do not inform police after an incident.



A total of 2075 cases of rape were reported in 2014 which increased to 2338 in 2015 even as the survey stated that six rapes happen in the capital everyday.Also, in about 40 per cent rape cases, reported in 2015, the victims were minors, it said.



While there were 12,913 complaints registered against Delhi Police personnel in 2015 there were only seven cases in which the police personnel were chargesheeted, claimed the survey.



It also said, disciplinary action was initiated against 1057 police personnel during the year. A total of 13,577 burglary cases were reported in 2015.



According to it, 67 per cent of the people did not feel safe for women, children and senior citizens in their own locality as compared to Mumbai where 33 per cent people echoed similar sentiments. In old Delhis Chandni Chowk area, almost 75 per cent people do not feel safe for women, children and senior citizens in Chandni Chowk, claimed the survey.



According to the data collected by the NGO through survey of over 29,950 households, 60 per cent of the population doesnt feel safe in Delhi and 64 per cent of people do not feel safe while commuting in Delhi.



These results present a stark contrast to Mumbai where the survey claimed that 29 per cent population didnt feel safe there and 31 per cent of the people dont feel secure while commuting within the city.



The maximum number of people felt unsafe while travelling in South Delhi, according to the findings.



lose to 25 per cent of people who have been victims have not approached police as they dont have any faith in the police/legal system as compared to Mumbai where 13 per cent of the people had similar thoughts.
Pakistan is not worried at all about any threat from India and its "battle hardened" military is capable of responding to aggression, air force chief Marshal Sohail Aman said today.





"We are not worried about India at all," the Air Chief said, speaking at the ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS).



He said it is better if India showed restraint and solved the Kashmir issue to prevent escalation of tension.



"India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them," he was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.



Aman said that Pakistan does not want war but cannot ignore this kind of pressure. "We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression," he asserted.

He said Pakistan had "readied all of its (battle) plans following threats from India" after the terror attack in Uri sector.

The Air chief asserted that Pakistan, engaged in Operation Zarb-e-Azab, has a "battle hardened military" to respond to threats.

The air chief's remarks came a day after Pakistan claimed that Indian forces targeted a passenger bus in PoK killing at least nine people and wounding another nine.



It also claimed that seven Indian troops were killed in retaliatory fire when India opened fire on the Line of Control (LoC) and killed three Pakistani soldiers.



Indian Army yesterday launched a counter offensive against Pakistan along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed, with body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack, even as Pakistani troops continued to shell Indian positions, injuring six jawans.



Earlier today, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate "deliberate targeting" of innocent civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport.



"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC," he added.
India today reacted strongly to reports of Pakistan setting up a special group to "expose" New Delhi's alleged atrocities in Kashmir, saying it should focus its energies on "stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath" in making baseless charges.





External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also took a dig at Pakistan Prime Minister's foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz for his remarks that Islamabad would reach out to Indians who are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "extremist policies", saying probably he has not anticipated the kind of reception he may recieve from them.



"Pakistan would be well advised to focus its energies on stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath in making baseless allegations. He (Aziz) would be well advised to rather woo Pakistanis to end his governments policy of state sponsorship of terrorism," Swarup said.



He was reacting to reports quoting Aziz as saying that Pakistan has set up a high-level committee to formulate "a doable and sustainable" policy to highlight the Kashmir issue globally and is reaching out to Indians who are opposed to Modi's "extremist policies".



Swarup also gave details of the demarche issued to Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner yesterday over the killing of its three soldiers.



He said India strongly deplored the tacit support of the Pakistani army to armed terrorists that came from close to that country's army posts on 22 November, 2016, and targeted an Indian patrol near the Line of Control in Machhal Sector opposite Pakistans Kel Sector. Three Indian soldiers were killed in the ambush and the body of one of them was inhumanly mutilitated, the MEA spokesperson said.



The government also conveyed its grave concern at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the LoC to target Indian posts and patrols.



"During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani army posts across the Line of Control," he said, adding Pakistan forces have committed 27 ceasefire violations between 16 and 21 November, 2016 which constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003.



Swarup also rejected Islamabad's allegation that India was not giving overflight clearance to Pakistan which is in violation of a 1991 agreement.



"Yes, we are aware of what Pakistan has claimed but we categorically reject these allegations.



Asserting that as per the 1991 agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required to be furnished in respect of military aircraft, Swarup said requests for overflight clearance from the Government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without that.



"Despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Joint Secretary (in-charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) in New Delhi on 9 November 2016, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect the requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements," he said.



He also noted that in another recent case, when Pakistan had provided all necessary information for Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back the overflight permission was provided expeditiously.



On ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Swarup said when the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner was summoned yesterday, he was told that despite calls for restraint, Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between 16 and 21 November, 2016, by employing artillery and 120 millimetre heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003, he said.



"The government also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan army of 18 villages along the Line of Control during the period 16 to 21 November, 2016 which has resulted in a non-fatal casualty besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and the displacement of civilian population," he added.



The government reaffirmed its concerns about the safety and well-being of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan who had inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistani side more than seven weeks back, Swarup said.



"We expect early repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India," he said.
MADISON  Rural America was thrown a Depression lifeline in the 1930s when the federal government rallied to spread electric power across farm country. Not long after came affordable rural telephone service, even if it was delivered through a black party line phone hanging on the kitchen wall.

The modern equivalent is broadband, generally described as high-speed connections to the internet. After lagging in broadband capacity for years, rural Wisconsin may finally be poised to catch up.

The breakthrough is largely a result of the second Connect America Fund, which tasked the Federal Communications Commission to work directly with major providers who promised to deliver high-quality service in underserved  mostly rural  areas.

For the latest Connect America Fund program to work, however, communities and governments must collaborate on the technically gritty details of deployment, staging and cost.

That is happening in Vilas County, a northern Wisconsin vacation hub that aims to boost its economy, its schools and its quality of life through a stubbornly conceived plan to deliver high-quality broadband over the next 18 months.

The Vilas County story combines persistent leadership, local buy-in and enough guidance from state government to provide some necessary glue.

That story also begins with the second Connect America Fund money. Only California among the 50 states will receive more federal dollars than Wisconsin between now and 2020 to enhance broadband downloads and uploads in places that are isolated and otherwise underserved. About $570 million will be allotted over six years to three providers  CenturyLink, Frontier and AT&T, in order of competitive grant size  to augment private investments in broadband by those same companies.

About 40 percent of the money must be spent by the end of 2017 and 20 percent per year must be put to work in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The goal is to efficiently bring broadband at a market price to about 230,000 Wisconsin homes that dont have solid access today.

The federal rules lay down minimum download and upload speeds  essentially, how fast a computer receives and sends data  as well as price points for service that must include reasonable data caps, or limits on monthly use that can force people to ration how much they use the internet.

Led by Carl Ruedebusch, a long-time Wisconsin businessman and chairman of the Vilas County Economic Development Corp., a group of educators, state technology experts and legislators such as Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, and Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, met with Frontiers tech team in May to map a plan to provide broadband to about 5,000 new locations.

The staged plan will weigh a number of factors, including how to reach homes most likely to have school-aged children or other students. That demographic data came from three Vilas County school districts and Nicolet Technical College. At the May meeting, Vilas County educators agreed connected schools and laptops dont do as much good if a child cant work at home.

In Vilas County and elsewhere, a likely result of the second Connect America Fund build-out in Wisconsin will be more fixed wireless broadband. Thats an alternative to much more expensive optical fiber systems.

The costs of installing optical fiber over large geographic areas has given pause even to companies such as Google, which is rethinking several of its U.S. broadband initiatives or trials. Those costs are more daunting in rural communities, where fixed wireless systems offer tower-to-building connections that meet standards set by the Federal Communications Commission as a part of CAF2. For the most part, fixed wireless can use existing towers.

Whatever the delivery mode, broadband is essential to the economic and cultural health of rural Wisconsin.

Adequate broadband connections can help stem the loss of rural population and jobs. It can enhance eCommerce for businesses large and small; bolster public safety; improve health through telemedicine; boost tourism by encouraging visitors to stay longer; entice millennials to stay put and connected; and improve education for kids who otherwise lose their internet connections once they leave the school grounds.

State officials say the Vilas County template should help other communities work with providers to speed deployment of the second Connect America Fund dollars. With accurate data from local sources, providers can better engineer broadband rollouts  and with more local champions such as Ruedebusch, rural Wisconsin can better leverage the second Connect America Fund to its advantage.

Whatever the delivery mode, broadband is essential to the economic and cultural health of rural Wisconsin.
An Indian man was mistaken for a Muslim and brutally hit multiple times on his head and face at a bar in the US, the latest in a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes following Donald Trump's victory.





Ankur Mehta was allegedly attacked at the Red Robin Restaurant in Pennsylvania while he was working on his tablet with earbuds in his ears when the attacker grabbed and punched him with his elbow and fist.



The attacker who was identified as and Jeffrey Burgess also hurled racial and ethnic epithets at Mehta who was taken to a hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip, Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reported.



Mehta told police that Burgess said to him that "things are different now" and "I don't want you sitting next to me. You people."



Burgess, 54, spoke with slurred speech and was staggering and smelled of alcohol, police said, adding that he then used an ethnic slur commonly used against those of Middle Eastern descent.



"We believe this is just the latest incident in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections," Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.



The criminal complaint says Burgess beat Mehta in the head and face with his elbow and fist, "launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically," Bethel Park police Chief Timothy O'Connor said.



Mehta was oblivious to the comments until Burgess allegedly struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, the officer said.



Witnesses told police Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also said Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgess's impending attack.



Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, simple assault, harassment and public drunkenness.



The incident comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trump's election as US President.



Many Muslim women have posted on social media describing 'hijab grab' attacks on them.
A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad today, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.





The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.



Most of the victims were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.



The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.



IS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.



In a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, IS said a bomber "blew up his vehicle amidst their assembly, inflicting among them more than 200 killed and wounded, including Iranians."



Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said it had targeted several buses.



"A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack," he told AFP. "There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians."



Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.



"There are completely charred corpses at the scene," said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.



The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.



Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.



Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city, which lies southwest of Baghdad, to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.



The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.



Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul today, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.



Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.



"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.



Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.



The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front


I was pursuing an MBA at Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, and just around that time, the campaign #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines was gaining momentum. I can vouch that it is a completely justified promise! What I love about the Filipinos is that they are very happy people. Despite numerous natural calamities like typhoons and earthquakes that have struck the country and posed problems, the people there have a pleasant disposition.



Six of us from our MBA class went on a 10-day trip across the Palawan Islands which houses wonders like El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa. We set out on a student budget of Rs 20,000 per head (apart from the flight cost). We took a budget flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa, which has a tiny airport that immediately makes you fall in love with it! After landing, we were taken to our accommodation, Ysabelle Mansion, by the friendly owner of the cottages. We had lunch at Imas  one of the top 10 vegetarian restaurants in the Philippines  run by an old friendly couple.



The next morning, we set out early for the world famous Subterranean River National Park which houses caverns as high as 300 metres at certain points! The bats make the boat ride inside the caves smelly, but its one of the seven new natural wonders of the world and worth a visit once in your lifetime. On the return path, we took the zipline, which is one of the longest in the world and is set very high at over 200 feet above the sea. We were all screaming with delight as we zipped across the open seas.



Later in the evening, we went to the Iwahig river that flows through mangrove forests. The night air was silent and dark, being a new moon day, and just as the guide in the boat shone his IR torch on a bunch of bushes on the riverside, it lit up with millions of fireflies! It glowed like a Christmas tree with millions of lights strung all over.



The next day, we left for the famous El Nido. This place has numerous restaurants on the beach with a view of the sea.



Island hopping tours organised by local operators took us on an experience that spanned snorkeling, beach barbecue, scuba diving, lagoon swimming and a lake within a volcanic crater! One of the best experiences on this tour was the Twin Lagoon where you dive under a rocky wall that connects the two lagoons. However, when you emerge on the other side of the underwater entrance, you feel warm water on one side and cold water on the other  an inexplicable phenomenon!



The next morning, we went for open sea kayaking and suddenly, in the middle of

the sea, we saw a school of flying fish emerge from our left and go over us onto the other side within a matter of seconds. Our next destination was Coron, a lesser-known jewel that offers wonderful scuba diving spots. A couple of American marines have set up a scuba diving operation and a wonderful World War II themed restaurant.



It has World War II junk collected from the seabed where numerous world war boats of the Japanese were sunk by the Americans. In the evening, we sat on the deck over the sea, sipping drinks and savouring potato wedges, and watched the sun set across the sea over the hills. This moment defines the entire experience at Coron  a blissful escape!



We welcomed the new year at the Coron harbour, where the naval boats fire crackers into the night sky and a huge Christmas tree lights up the centre of the place, with everyone cheering and dancing. It seemed like a perfect adieu to us, after a 10-day magical experience.



Madhuranath R

(The author can be contacted at madhuranath.r@gmail.com)





How to get there

The round trip cost for an AirAsia flight from Bengaluru to Manila is around Rs 20,000 per person. From Manila to Puerto Princesa, the round trip flight cost is around Rs 10,000 per person.



Places to stay

Every place in Philippines offers a range of accommodation options from budget to luxury. We stayed at Ysabelle Mansion in Puerto Princesa for which the tariff was around Rs 1,200 per night for a twin-sharing room. In the other places, we stayed in homestays that can be easily found online.


By the time little Amira, just a year old, reached the field clinic near the front line in Mosul, she was already dead. All her father could do was bundle her up in a golden blanket, carry her to a nearby mosque and bury her. When a Humvee pulled up to the door of the clinic, a young boy in the back was draped over a mans body. My father, answer me! he cried. My father, answer me! Dont die! But he, too, was already dead.





It was barely noon on Wednesday, and eight bodies had already arrived at the clinic, an abandoned house where medics provide a minimum of treatment, just enough to keep the lucky ones alive long enough for the hourlong drive to a trauma centre.



The battle for Mosul, which started six weeks ago, aims to evict the Islamic State (IS) from its last major stronghold in Iraq. But civilians are paying a growing price, with more and more dead flowing out of the dense, urban combat zones each day.



The carnage, along with significant military casualties, has prompted some military officials to second-guess their initial strategy, which asked residents to stay in their homes and rise up against the IS. There has been no uprising, and civilians are dying at home, all of which is fueling concern that the campaign could become a quagmire.

Iraqi authorities are also considering greater firepower. But introducing new weapons that may be more effective against IS fighters, like artillery and tanks, also risks putting civilians in even greater danger.



For now, most of the civilians killed are casualties of IS artillery and snipers, soldiers say. The rising civilian toll has ground the fight to a crawl, as Iraqi forces are unable to make substantial progress and protect civilians at the same time. The government is considering a mass evacuation, but even that might make civilians more vulnerable if the Iraqi military were to change its tactics.



In a bid to regain some momentum, the US-led coalition on Wednesday bombed another bridge over the Tigris River in Mosul, leaving only one intact. The goal is to prevent the IS from resupplying its forces in east Mosul, where Iraqi forces have bogged down.



Humanitarian workers, already fearing a siege of Mosuls city centre that could drag on until spring, are drawing up plans for airdrops or sending food into the city on boats up the Tigris.



What were seeing is terrifying, said Lise Grande, the top United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. The IS is intentionally targeting civilians, firing directly at them. Scores of people, including young children and women, are arriving daily in hospitals. Their injuries are horrific. The wounded are traveling for hours to reach proper care.



She said that if the Iraqi security forces start using heavy artillery, there is no doubt civilian casualties will increase exponentially. We cannot rule out that Daesh (IS) will push people into the firing zone, she added. The result would be catastrophic.



Many are questioning the wisdom of the Iraqi governments decision, before the battle began, to drop millions of leaflets over the city imploring civilians to remain in their homes. The objective was to avert a humanitarian crisis set off by hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing, but instead civilians are dying as they are caught in the crossfire while soldiers make their way, house by house, through densely populated neighbourhoods.



The problem is all the civilians, Brigadier General Fadhil Barwari, a special forces commander, said in an interview. I cant use my tanks, I cant use my artillery.



Amid the chaos on Wednesday, as the bodies were flowing into the field clinic, Lt General Stephen J Townsend, the top US military commander in Iraq, landed in a helicopter to meet with the Iraqi officers leading the battle. One, Brigadier General Sami al-Aridhi, said that at the emergency meeting, the Iraqis implored the US to do more to target IS artillery positions and car bombs from the air. The Americans promised us they would send more drones, he said.



He also said the government should shift tactics and order civilians to leave their homes, even though in some neighbourhoods where Iraqi forces have tried to evacuate families, the civilians have refused, saying they do not want to live in tent camps. We have tried so hard not to harm them, he said.



At the field clinic in Mosul on Wednesday morning, trucks and Humvees arrived one after the other, carrying the wounded and dead. Medics said they needed more of everything  bandages, antibiotics, fluids for IV drips.



It gets worse every day, said an Iraqi colonel who gave only his first name, Khalil. There are lost legs, chest wounds, head wounds. IS has begun to target the people.



Adding to the chaos, groups of civilians fleeing the fighting are constantly approaching the clinic, setting the soldiers scrambling to keep them away, rifles raised, out of fear of suicide bombers. On Wednesday, one man, insistent on reaching the soldiers, stopped in the distance and raised his gown to show that he was not strapped with explosives.



Financial crisis

After a first stop at the field clinic, many of the wounded go to Irbil, the Kurdish capital, where trauma centres and hospitals are overwhelmed and running low on medicine and other supplies. There are also not enough doctors, and those working have not been paid for months because of a financial crisis brought on by low oil prices.



Its 24 hours a day, said Dr Hassan Mercalose, 29, who works at West Hospital in Irbil. The last time he was paid was in August, and that was only 30% of his salary. With fighting intensifying in Mosul, he said, the situation is going to get worse. I know that.



On Tuesday night, nearly every room was full of civilians who had been hurt in Mosul. The halls were filled with patients on gurneys, awaiting surgery. In one room was Khalid Majid, 40, whose 5-year-old son, Hamoudi, was killed that morning in an explosion in Mosul and whose wife, with back wounds from the same explosion, was lying on her stomach and crying out for her son.



This is the problem with the government, Majid said. They asked us to stay home and this is the result. Its not just me. There are so many families.



Upstairs in Room 218 was Rahma Idriss, a 16-year-old girl who had just lost both of her legs. Down the hall was her brother Farris, 42, who lost his left leg in the same attack that wounded her. He had a smile on his face and warmly welcomed a visitor, which is normal for Iraqis. Even under the saddest of circumstances, the hospitality they are famous for shines through. He said had he showed up in just his underwear, and had no pillow until a friend gave him one.



We were brought up in great families, he said. This forced us to be generous, and to deal with people in a good way. He said that even the foreign IS fighters who lived in his neighborhood were surprised when they saw our traditions.

International New York Times
An ambitious plan to boost sub-regional travel and trade has suffered a setback with Bhutans National Council, the countrys upper House, voting against the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) motor vehicles agreement (MVA). The BBIN MVA envisages seamless travel between the four countries, but to become operational, it requires all four to ratify it. India, Bangladesh and Nepal have done so already. Although Bhutans National Assembly, the lower House of Parliament, endorsed the sub-regional pact some months ago, the upper Houses vote against it stands in the way of the countrys participation in the MVA, an agreement that promises to bring Bhutan significant economic returns through improving its connectivity with its neighbours and beyond. It is also a setback to Indias Act East policy, which envisages accelerating its trade with countries to its east. Following Pakistans refusal to endorse a South Asian MVA, India pressed ahead with a similar sub-regional pact. That effort has been dealt a blow by Bhutans upper House.



However, the obstacle in the way of the MVAs operationalisation that Bhutans upper House has imposed can be overcome should a joint sitting of both houses of the Bhutanese Parliament votes in favour of the BBIN MVA. Additionally, the MVAs member states need to address concerns raised by the Bhutanese upper House, which has drawn attention to the harmful impact that increased vehicular traffic is likely to have on the mountainous countrys sensitive environment. Some perceive the Bhutan upper House vote against the MVA as a move driven by elitist concerns.



Concern for the environment cannot be dismissed as elitist since pollution, a degraded environment etc impact the lives and livelihoods of all sections of the population, particularly the poor. As a close friend of India, Bhutan was not expected to reject the India-led MVA. That it has done so is unlikely to go down well with sections of the Indian foreign policy establishment, which expect Bhutan to endorse without question any and every foreign policy move. These sections can be expected to push Bhutan to fall in line on the MVA issue, too. India must avoid pressuring Bhutan even if the MVA is in Bhutans long-term economic interest as these are decisions that sovereign nations must make on their own. At a time when Chinas influence in Indias neighbourhood is growing rapidly, the possibility of Bhutan turning to China, as Nepal has done, cannot be ruled out. At best, India and the other signatories to MVA can seek to convince Bhutans parliamentarians and people. In the event of Bhutan remaining unconvinced, Bangladesh, India and Nepal must amend the MVA to permit them to go ahead with their plans for sub-regional trade.
A fortnight after a journalist from a vernacular daily was gunned down in Sasaram, the police have arrested sharpshooter Amod Kumar in connection with the case.





Kumar has confessed to his involvement in the crime, but said it was his colleague, Sujeet Singh, who actually fired at Dharmendra Singh on November 12 and shot him dead.



IG (Patna zone) Nayyar Hasnain Khan, who is supervising the investigation, said five people have been arrested so far in the case.



Kumar was named as one of the accused in the FIR lodged by Dharmendras brother-in-law Ravindra Singh.



During interrogation, Kumar told the Special Investigation Team probing the case that Sujeet committed the crime at the behest of his relative and jailed gangster Pappu Singh, who was unhappy with the slain journalist over some issue.



Sujeet had reportedly been given the contract to eliminate the journalist, who had written a series of articles on the stone and mining mafia. The contract was reportedly given by don Pappu Singh, who is presently lodged in a Gaya jail, a source said, adding that a hunt is on to apprehend Sujeet.



Second killing

Dharmendra is the second journalist to have been gunned down in recent months in

Bihar.



Earlier, senior journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, the bureau chief of leading Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead in Siwan in May. He was returning home on his two-wheeler when some assailants fired at him near the Siwan railway station.



Ranjan, who sustained bullet injuries in his head, succumbed en route to the hospital.


Bangladesh, seen as the closest Indian ally in South Asia, was under the economic offensive of China when its President Xi Jinping recently visited that country.





Through this economic offensive, China tried to change the complexion of the bilateral relationship by elevating it to the level of a strategic partnership. Bangladesh, which has been growing at a fast pace in recent times, grabbed this opportunity to expedite the growth rate of its economy.



This was the first visit of a Chinese president to Bangladesh after nearly 30 years. Before this, then Chinese President Li Xiannian had visited Bangladesh in March 1986. Things have dramatically changed since then and now China is a major global power in the quest of becoming a superpower. Bangladesh, too, has improved its economic condition and is no longer seen as the basket case.



The economy of the country has been growing rapidly at 6-7% per year for over a decade. This development has changed the contours of China-Bangla-desh economic relationship. For the last several years, China has emerged as the largest trading partner of Bangladesh. The bilateral trade has grown from US $900 million in 2000 to US $14.7 billion in 2014. It is expected to reach US $30 billion in 2021. In South Asia, Bangla-desh is the third largest trading partner of China and also the third largest project contracting market for China.



This economic relationship is, however, heavily skewed in favour of China. Bangladesh faces a huge trade deficit which is continuously growing. Still, it does not seem to be grudging this situation. There is a bipartisan consensus in the country with regard to its relationship with China. China is seen as a trusted partner for development finance and the most important supplier of military hardware. This helps the Sheikh Hasina government keep development projects afloat and its army happy.



China has immensely benefitted from the booming garment industry of Bangladesh, which sources most of its raw material from China. Now, Bangla-desh hopes that China would help it become the largest exporter of readymade garments by offering it the Chinese domestic market of low-end garments.



The huge growth of the Bangladeshi garment industry and the remittances sent by its 10 million expatriates working in foreign countries has allowed the country to build a large foreign exchange reserve. However, the continuous growth of its economy has also made the country realise the bottlenecks that exist in the field of infrastructure. Nearly 13 million Bangladeshi households go without electricity. The country has to generate three times more power to meet its requirements. It also has to modernise its existing power plants.



This is where China fits in the Bangladeshi requirements. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. Also known as the Belt Road Initiative, it intends to bring together countries in Asia, Europe and Africa via overland and maritime networks.



Xi has been visiting a number of countries to lobby support for the OBOR project. According to the Chinese state media, the main objective of his Bangladesh visit was to promote OBOR as well. In this effort, he has been successful.



Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, hailing the Belt Road Initiative, stated that the country was now working to connect its growth centres with the rest of the region in South Asia and create a single economic contiguity between South Asia and Southeast Asia. She also hoped that Bangladesh would then connect this region through its port to the world. This development is not surprising. Bangladesh sees the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM) as having the potential to change the economy of the less developed regions. And BCIM, like other economic corridors promoted by China, is part of OBOR.



Ambitious and confident

The fast growth rate of last decade has also made Bangladesh ambitious now. Though, so far the country has been careful in utilising foreign loan, it seems to be overcoming this inhibition now. Bangladeshi Finance Minister A M A Muhith has stated that the country is now scouting for loan for mega projects at even higher costs. He thinks that repayment of these loans is no longer a problem if the country continues to grow at the current pace.



The Chinese could not have asked for anything better. They have given Bangladesh a $24 billion credit line  the highest it has received from any foreign country. This leaves Indias credit line of $2 billion far behind. Bangladesh and Chinese firms also signed trade and investment deals worth $13.6 billion. China has offered loans at the rate of 2-3%.



During his visit, Xi Jinping also wanted the two countries relevant departments to provide a sound legal guarantee for the political, economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges. Possibly, through this measure, China wants to avoid any future disruption in the relationship.



The continuous economic growth in Bangladesh in the last few years has aroused the interest of many extra-regional powers. The prominent ones are China, Japan, the United States and Russia. The country, however, wants to follow a pragmatic policy whereby it benefits from China as much as possible without annoying its next door neighbour, India.



Bangladesh sees Chinese funding of projects as a way to break free from the clutches of low-level equilibrium trap. Hasina thinks that cooperation from China will help Bangladesh reach its goal to become a middle-income country by 2021. China, on the other hand, hopes to achieve a breakthrough in BCIM by increasing cooperation in infrastructural development with Bangladesh.



India will have to closely watch this emerging economic relationship between Bangladesh and China which will have important geo-political implications after a point.



(The writer is Associate Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi)
Police have registered a case against four students of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, who reportedly tortured and killed a monkey and buried her on their college premises a few days ago.





The inhuman treatment to the macaque came to light after animal activists lodged a complaint with the police after getting a tip-off from the CMC students.



Accordingly, with the help of forest authorities and veterinarians, local animal protection activists led by Shravan Krishnan exhumed the monkeys body, which was buried near the college canteen.



Quoting eyewitnesses, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India on Thursday said the female bonnet macaque wandered into the college hostel on November 19, and the four medical students caught her using a blanket.



A study of her body shows that they tied her by the hands, legs, and neck. They also thrashed her with sticks and belts, impaled her with a sharp object, broke her legs and jaw and killed her, it said.



Shravan Krishnan also said: Students inserted a rod up her (monkey's) anal canal before killing it.



The activists worked with the police to file an FIR at Bagayam Police Station. A case was registered under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; Section 429 of The Indian Penal Code; and relevant sections of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.



Meanwhile, after conducting a separate enquiry, CMC authorities suspended the students from the institution.



This is the second incident of animal cruelty in Tamil Nadu, after two students in a college near Kundrathur on Chennai outskirts threw a dog from the terrace of a building, for which they were later arrested.


Safeguarding health and culture will help in building a healthy society, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade has said.





Addressing thousands of devotees who had assembled at Dharmasthala on the first day of Lakshadeepotsava on Thursday, Heggade said that daily walk helps strengthening immune system.



Model taluk

He said that a number of programmes had been chalked out to develop Belthangady as a model taluk.



Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu, who inaugurated the state-level exhibition on the occasion, lauded the contribution of the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala for nourishing art, literature and culture. She said Dharmadhikari had been instrumental in providing guidance and inspiration to people of the district. The expo has 198 stalls and would be open from 9 am to 9 pm for the next seven days. There is no entry fee to the expo.



As part of Lakshadeepotsava, cultural programmes will be held every evening.  Utsav was held on Thursday night.




Former prime minister Manmohan Singhs reality check on demonetisation has raised the spirits of the Congress which was finding it difficult to match the pace set by the Trinamool Congress and the AAP in countering the Modi government on the issue.





The messaging was terrific and the impact was greater than the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, a senior Congress leader said, unable to hide his glee over the discomfiture caused to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present when Singh fired his salvo in the Rajya Sabha.



A man of few words, the 84-year-old Singh was nudged to speak on the issue by party leaders to make his second speech in Parliament since he demitted office on May 26, 2014. Such interventions are part of strategy, another senior leader said.



The Congress did not lose the opportunity to point out the contrasts between Singh and incumbent Modi. Manmohan Singh chooses his words with caution, without being pompous like the present prime minister, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters here.



He (Singh) speaks his mind, he speaks very carefully, there is no drama, no shedding of tears, Ramesh said, adding that the former prime minister had used the words monumental mismanagement, organised loot and legalised plunder after being convinced that demonetisation was a wrong decision.



A Congress leader couldnt stop from drawing comparison between Singhs demeanour on Thursday and the great flourish that Modi had utilised in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections putting the UPA government through the shredder.



It was a meek voice, but very strong words. Something has really gone wrong; otherwise Manmohan Singh would not have used such harsh words, an AICC general secretary said.



The Congress has supported the decision of demonetisation but taken strong exception to the manner in which it was implemented.


Thankful: Late-term Abortionist Carhart Calls it Quits in Maryland info.operationrescue@gmail.com Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-683-6790 ext. 111; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue

GERMANTOWN, Md., Nov. 24, 2016 /



According to local sources, Carhart's last abortions in Maryland took place during the week of October 30, 2016. He returned to GRHS on November 8, but stayed only a few hours, sending several very late-term patients home without abortions. He left later in the afternoon and never returned.



"The fact that Carhart will no longer be aborting babies in Maryland is something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We congratulate our co-laborers at the Maryland Coalition for Life for their hard work that has made this day a reality," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Carhart's brand of very late-term abortions are morally reprehensible and very dangerous, having taken the lives of countless viable babies and two of this patients. We have worked for years to end this atrocity, and today, Maryland is free from the dangers posed by Carhart."



GRHS, once among the few abortion facilities that would openly do the expensive third-trimester abortions, now offers them up to 19 weeks.



Carhart located his extremely late-term abortion business to Germantown in December 2010. This move was prompted by the 2009 closure of Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, where he also worked conducting third-trimester abortions. His plan to move his late-term business to Nebraska was thwarted by the passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - the first of its kind - by the Nebraska Legislature in April 2010, which banned abortions at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy.



While in Maryland, Carhart's risky abortions were responsible for the emergency transport of at least



Earlier this year, a



Carhart continues to operate an abortion facility in his home town of Bellevue, Nebraska, where he still does abortions up to 20 weeks.



"At age 75 and not in the best of health, we believe it is a great time for Carhart to retire," said Newman. "We pray that before next Thanksgiving, he will make the decision to quit the killing business for good."

GERMANTOWN, Md., Nov. 24, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Abortionist LeRoy Carhart will no longer be conducting abortions at Germantown Reproductive Health Services (GRHS), an abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland, that has until now provided abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.According to local sources, Carhart's last abortions in Maryland took place during the week of October 30, 2016. He returned to GRHS on November 8, but stayed only a few hours, sending several very late-term patients home without abortions. He left later in the afternoon and never returned."The fact that Carhart will no longer be aborting babies in Maryland is something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We congratulate our co-laborers at the Maryland Coalition for Life for their hard work that has made this day a reality," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Carhart's brand of very late-term abortions are morally reprehensible and very dangerous, having taken the lives of countless viable babies and two of this patients. We have worked for years to end this atrocity, and today, Maryland is free from the dangers posed by Carhart."GRHS, once among the few abortion facilities that would openly do the expensive third-trimester abortions, now offers them up to 19 weeks.Carhart located his extremely late-term abortion business to Germantown in December 2010. This move was prompted by the 2009 closure of Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, where he also worked conducting third-trimester abortions. His plan to move his late-term business to Nebraska was thwarted by the passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - the first of its kind - by the Nebraska Legislature in April 2010, which banned abortions at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy.While in Maryland, Carhart's risky abortions were responsible for the emergency transport of at least eight women to hospital emergency rooms . In addition, one of his third-trimester patients, Jennifer Morbelli , died in 2013 from complications to her procedure.Earlier this year, a Federal lawsuit was filed against Carhart for a seriously botched late-term abortion that came close to costing the life of another one of his patients. He also faced the scrutiny of the House Select Panel on Infant Lives, which issued subpoenas to him and GRHS for documents related to the suspected trafficking of aborted baby remains and the deaths of babies who may have been born alive during abortions at the Germantown facility.Carhart continues to operate an abortion facility in his home town of Bellevue, Nebraska, where he still does abortions up to 20 weeks."At age 75 and not in the best of health, we believe it is a great time for Carhart to retire," said Newman. "We pray that before next Thanksgiving, he will make the decision to quit the killing business for good." About Operation Rescue Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Click here to support Operation Rescue.

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The use of pellet guns continues in Kashmir despite a drastic decrease in incidents of protests and stone pelting.





While SMHS Hospitals Ophthalmology department is now frequented by pellet victims visiting for follow-up check ups and surgeries, a few fresh pellet injuries are the norm even after improved situation in the Valley. Teenager Danish Habib of Sopore is one of those fresh victims.



Danish (18) has suffered pellet injuries to both eyes. While one eye was hit in the sclera (the white part of eyes), sparing his vital visual organs, the other eye is bloody, inside and outside.



His left eye has vitreous haemorrhage. The injury seems to be bad, but it is too early to comment about his vision, doctors at SMHS Hospital said.



Danish feels devastated by the injury. I have lost my eye. I know for sure because I cannot see anything with it, he said.



The son of a poor labourer, Mohammad Habib Changa, Danish had dropped out of studies after Class X to help his father earn for the family. In the past one week, three pellet-hit youths have been admitted at SMHS Hospital with injuries in their eyes.



These youths, all from Sopore, were injured when forces fired pellets on them, while a handful of people were pelting stones last Friday after prayers, according to the victims.



Doctors said though the number of pellet victims admitted to the hospital had decreased drastically over the last one month, it has not stopped. They questioned the necessity of using pellet guns when protests were minimal and situation under control according to the police.


Protesting against the governments failure to curb the killing of RSS workers in the state, BJP members in the Legislative Council staged a walkout on Thursday.





Stating that the modus operandi had been the same in the cases reported in Mysuru, Shivamogga, Bengaluru and Mangaluru, Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa said there was involvement of national or international organisations behind the killings. Though RSS workers were being systematically eliminated, the police had failed to apprehend assailants, he said.



Home Minister G Parameshwara, who was replying to a question raised by Bhanuprakash (BJP), said that his department is making concerted efforts to arrest the culprits as early as possible. Two cases of murder have been solved within days, using CCTV footage he said. Activities of certain organisations were being monitored, and action was being taken against those involved in criminal activities.



Eshwarappa was however irked when V S Ugrappa (Congress) intervened when he raised the issue of the gang-rape of a minor in Shivamogga. Arguing that it was not a gang-rape, Ugrappa said that Eshwarappa was misleading the House.



Accusing Ugrappa of interfering into every subject, the BJP members took objection to it. Pandemonium prevailed when they got into a heated debate with the Congress MLC. Subsequently, the BJP members staged a walkout raising slogans against the government saying it has failed to check crimes in the state.

DH News Service


The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to suspended RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav by the Patna High Court in a rape case involving a minor girl.





A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Abhay Manohar Sapre allowed the Bihar governments appeal against the September 30 order of the high court, noting, among other materials, that threats were extended to the family members of the minor victim. Raj Ballabh, who had surrendered following the apex courts direction on November 8, would remain in jail.



Prime consideration before us is to protect the fair trial and ensure that justice is done.

This may happen only if the witnesses are able to depose without fear, freely and truthfully, and this court is convinced that in the present case that can be ensured only if the respondent is not enlarged on bail, the bench said.
The state government on Wednesday tabled five bills in the Legislative Assembly, including one to incorporate the altered name of Bangalore and 11 others cities in various legislations.





The revenue department had altered the names of 12 cities of Karnataka and a no-objection from the Union government for this alteration was obtained in 2014.



However, names of the cities remained unaltered in various laws in force in the state. The Karnataka Alteration of Names of Certain Places Bill, 2016 proposes to replace the old names with the altered one in all legislations.



The cities whose names were altered are Bangalore to Bengaluru, Mangalore to Mangaluru, Bellary to Ballari, Bijapur to Vijayapura, Belgaum to Belagavi, Chikmagalur to Chikkamagaluru, Gulbarga to Kalaburagi, Mysore to Mysuru, Hospet to Hosapete, Shimoga to Shivamogga, Hubli to Hubballi and Tumkur to Tumakuru.



The Karnataka Ayurvedic, Naturopathy, Siddha, Unani and Yoga Practitioners Registration and Medical Practitioners Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016 proposes to provide for the provisional registration of Ayush practitioners.



Renaming varsity

The Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2016 proposes to rename the Karnataka State Womens University as Karnataka State Akkamahadevi Women University in honour of 12th century Kannada saint poet Akkamahadevi.



The Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer and Postings of Forest Officers and Other Officials) Bill, 2016 is aimed at regulating transfer and posting of Deputy Range Forest Officers, Forest Guards and Forest Watchers of the Forest Department.

DH News Service
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, is looking for private accommodations in its vicinity to provide affordable lodging facility to outstation students.





The premier technical institute is gearing up for hiking intake by at least 20% at the MTech and PhD levels over the next three years, starting from the 2017-18 academic session.



Student accommodation

The premier technical institute has embarked upon a room-for-rent search after the council recently accepted the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry's proposal for increasing student intake to 1 lakh from the current intake by 2020.



This step was also a result of IIT-Delhi and six other older IITs making efforts to increase their research output, improve the student-faculty ratio and take other measures in a bid to figure in the list of top 100 higher educational institutions in international ratings of repute. For this, the government has assured financial support to these IITs.



We will increase our intake by 20% over the next three years and start admitting more students to our Masters and PhD programmes from next year. There are many private residential accommodations available in this locality and we are in talks with their owners to offer affordable lodging facility to students beyond the existing capacity of our hostels in the campus, IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said.



When asked if the institute will also increase the intake for the BTech programmes, he said that all the seven older IITs were now moving towards becoming research institutes and increasing the under-graduate programme would not help them make it to the list of top 100 international higher educational institutions.



When we analysed as to why we are not able to figure in the list, we found that low research output, as compared to other top institutions in the world, was one of the reasons. Perceptions about the institution and the faculty-student ratio are other factors coming in our way, he said. Hence, increasing the intake in research programmes, particularly at the PhD level, becomes a necessity for the IITs, not only to make it to the coveted list, but also to contribute to the development of the nation, he added.



We have planned to introduce a degree programme in design next year. This will increase the seats in our BTech programme, a senior faculty of the institute said.


A draft Non-Resident Kannadigas (NRKs) policy looks at fostering closer ties with Kannadigas living abroad and to connect socially and economically with them.



The policy, approved by the state Cabinet in Belagavi on Wednesday, is drafted by the Department of Industries and Commerce and seeks to take measures to meet the aspirations and requirements of Non-Resident Kannadigas, official source said.



To draw investment, the policy proposes to encourage NRKs with an early seed

capital fund.



It also proposes to create a platform for them to share their expertise and knowledge for the development of the state, the sources said. It proposes to provide angel funding for start ups in collaboration with NRI companies and organisations.



The policy proposes to set up an exclusive NRK investment promotion cell to facilitate early clearance of proposals, priority in land allotment among others.



The policy proposes to create a database of Kannadigas living abroad. According to officials in the industries department, at present there is no count of the NRKs.



At the social level, the policy will open NRK Cells at various cities across the world which have a large number of residents who are Kannadigas.



It also proposes to work out a scheme to provide assistance to those involved in calamities abroad and if required, bring them back to their native place, the sources added.



The officials said the policy is being brought out at a time when Bengaluru will play host to the next edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (Non-Resident Indian Day) in January next.



The event will be held between January 7 and 9 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the key-note address.



The Karnataka government is expecting a large number of non-resident Kannadigas to attend the event.

DH News Service

*Assistance to Kannadigas in distress abroad

*Early seed capital to encourage Non-Resident Kannadigas (NRKs) to invest in state

*NRK Cells in various cities across the world

*Database of NRKs to be developed
The state government will urge the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to vacate the stay on the construction of the steel flyover in Bengaluru when the hearing resumes on Friday.





Advocate General Madhusudhan R Naik said they would ask for vacating the stay and dismissing the petition on the grounds that environmental clearance was not required for the project. A BDA official said that if the NGT refused to lift the stay, it would be urged to give more time for filing a response.



We may seek more time citing the ongoing winter session of the legislature at Belagavi, the official said.



The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which is one of the respondents in the case, had given an oral undertaking to the High Court of Karnataka on November 3, 2016, that construction on the steel flyover would be stayed as per the NGT order.



The petition against the flyover before the NGT (South Zone), Chennai, was filed by the NGO Citizens Action Forum and former additional chief secretary V Balasubramanian, on October 28, 2016, on the grounds that the project didnt have the required environmental clearance. The tribunal issued a four-week injunction barring the BDA from going ahead with construction, and sought details on the environmental clearance for the flyover.



The petitioners also submitted to the tribunal that the project should not be allowed because other alternative routes to the airport were available, which the government should explore. Balasubramanian said they would chalk out their future course of action based on the BDAs response.



Meanwhile, there is speculation that the BDA is planning to approach the Supreme Court, arguing that the NGT has no jurisdiction to hear the petition against the flyover. Srinivas Alavilli, who is associated with another NGO Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), said, We have faith in the judiciary. But if the government decides to go ahead with the flyover without following the due procedure, we will intensify the agitation.



CfB has been arguing that the BDA failed to conduct proper public consultation on the project. We just hope the government gets cold feet and abandons the project, he said.


Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said on Thursday that he had directed Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (Bescom) to disconnect power supply to all unauthorised outdoor advertisement hoardings in the city. This was being done to curb the advertisement mafia, he said.





Replying to a query by T A Saravana (JD-S) in the Council on Thursday, George said BBMP had identified 5,420 illegal hoardings across the city and notices had been served on the offenders to pay Rs 326 crore as advertisement cess and penalty. The minister, however, said that it was not feasible to prevent hoardings from being erected as the BBMP bylaw allowed display of advertisement hoardings against a prescribed fee.



George dismissed charges that IAS officer Rashmi Mahesh had been asked to go on leave for initiating action on illegal hoardings. He said that the officer had taken two months leave to take care of her mother. The officer was free to report for duty whenever she wanted, the minister said. George appealed to all parties not to deface the city by putting up flex banners of their party leaders or by pasting posters on the walls of buildings.



The minister said that the legal heirs of the Bangalore Palace had agreed to opt for the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to enable road widening works from Mehkri Circle-BDA Junction and Mehkri Circle-Cantonment.



Responding to a query by JD(S) member S M Aagha, George said that this had become possible after the Supreme Court allowed BBMP to acquire a piece of land of the Bangalore Palace through TDR, in its order dated November 11. The High Court has also directed the state government to take up widening works on Jayamahal Road to ease the traffic. Following this, BBMP has acquired the required land, he said. The BBMP has proposed to acquire 38,400 sq mt of land to widen Jayamahal Road, from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment Railway Station.
home World Sudanese Christian jailed for apostasy secretly read the Bible in prison

A woman who was imprisoned and sentenced to death in Sudan in 2014 for marrying a Christian man said that she was able to read the Bible secretly while she was incarcerated with the help of a trusted Muslim inmate.

The case of Mariam Ibraheem gained international attention in May 2014 when she was sentenced to death for apostasy after she married an American Christian named Daniel Wani. Although she was raised by her Christian mother, she was considered as a Muslim by the Sudanese court because her father was a Muslim.

She was imprisoned along with her 20-month-old son, Martin, and was forced to give birth to another baby while she was in shackles.

She was released in June 2014 by the order of a Sudanese appeals court due to the outcry from human rights groups and international politicians.

Ibraheem told The Christian Post that she did not have much sleep at night while she was incarcerated because she had to watch over her son. She added that she was only able to read the Bible at night when there were no guards around. She revealed that she had to pay off one of the guards to acquire the scriptures for her.

She said that her cellmate, who was arrested for being in Sudan illegally, helped her keep the Bible from the prison guards.

"She was an inmate. She is from Ethiopia. She is a Muslim but she had to keep [the Bible] for me," she said.

Ibraheem said that her cellmate also helped her look after her son when she had to go to the bathroom. She recalled that she once explained to her cellmate that the Bible was the reason for her incarceration.

"She understood. And, when her time [in jail] ended and she had to pay to get out, she asked me for help," she said.

Ibraheem said that she kept in touch with her former cellmate and she was told that she had converted to Christianity.

"She went somewhere with some people I know. She later told me that she became a Christian and married someone I know. I sent her to those people because she needed someone to take care of her," she narrated.

Ibraheem recalled that when she was dealing with labor pains, the head of the prison repeatedly asked her to recite the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, so that she could be released from prison and taken to a hospital.

"I didn't want to say that. I am not going to lie. My kids are not going to respect their mom if I did something like that," she said.

Ibraheem eventually gave birth to her daughter Maya at the medical clinic in the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison while she was in shackles. After her release, she met with Pope Francis who prayed over her daughter when she was just one-and-a-half month old.

She has launched her own charity organization, known as Mariam Ibraheem Charitable Foundation, to provide assistance to women and raise awareness about the persecution around the world.
A bumper crop is not always a boon. Farmers in Karnataka are realising this as they are unable to get reasonable prices for perishable commodities given the liquidity crunch.





Trade in the farming sector happens mainly in cash. Given the cash shortage, farmers are forced to either accept the scrapped notes or sell the produce on credit without any documentation. This makes them vulnerable to cheating. The first few days after demonetisation were particularly bad. Vegetables were sold at throwaway prices as cash-strapped traders stayed away.



Take onion, for instance, which can be stored for up to 60 days. There has been a bumper crop in Karnataka this year and APMC yards across the state have been flooded with the produce. The minimum support price (MSP) offered by the government for a quintal of onion is Rs 624, according to farmers.



The APMC yard at Yeshwantpur was a picture of utter chaos from November 9 to 12. Onion was sold for as low as Rs 100 and Rs 200 per quintal. Krishnappa, who brought a truckload of onions from Bagalkot, said he saw the commodity being sold at Rs 200 per quintal at the Yeshwantpur yard. Kumar, a farmer from Chitradurga and district secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), said demonetisation badly affected the business in the first week.



Things are now looking up, he said. Ironically, the BKS is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJPs ideological parent.



Bharat Shah, a wholesale merchant, said that at least Rs 1.5 crore worth of vegetables and fruits were destroyed in Bengaluru in the last one week because of the liquidity crunch.



Both farmers and traders have incurred huge losses. We could not sell these commodities because people didnt have money to even buy them at the lowest possible prices. This is a rare phenomenon, Shah added.



N Manjunath, a coconut wholesale dealer, said, Low-denomination notes are either unavailable or soiled. Farmers accept them unwillingly. The day they reject these notes, we will also discard them.



Aware of the distress in the farming sector, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has directed all states to assess the impact of demonetisation on farmers. Karnatakas Department of Agricultural Marketing has started the work accordingly, a senior officer said.


The state government on Thursday temporarily withdrew a government order which stipulates a basic minimum educational qualification of SSLC for recruiting anganwadi cooks.





Home Minister G Parameshwara made this announcement in the Legislative Council, after the Opposition members demanded withdrawal of the order by trooping into the well of the House.



MLCs Motamma (Congress) and K B Shanappa (BJP) had come down heavily upon the government for mandating basic minimum qualification for cooks. The members contended that this would deprive several rural and poor women from earning a decent living.



The government however yielded after the members staged a protest.


There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. So said legendary painter Pablo Picasso.





The young artists taking part in the inter-school painting competition organised by Deccan Herald in Education (DHiE) brought alive the proverb by infusing life into their paintings. The plain-white drawing papers turned into colourful masterpieces as little Van Goghs and Leonardo da Vincis wove their magic with their brushes.



Surrounded by the beauty of nature and chirping birds, the young artists painted magic on their canvasses. While some brought alive the burning issues of corruption and demonetisation, others highlighted the perils global warming and terrorism. The serene surroundings and beauty of Cubbon Park inspired the participants to reflect the same on their papers.



While one student showcased how demonetisation had impacted the rich and the poor, another highlighted the Cauvery issue, represented as a river praying not to be torn between two states.



The freedom to paint anything of their choice brought out their hidden potential. While the children brainstormed with each other to discuss what to draw, there were others who helped each other by sharing colours and brushes.



The venue was a riot of colours as children breathed life into their imagination. While some felt that it was difficult to draw without a topic, others felt that the lack of a topic helped them express their emotions and concerns. One could see and feel the sheer excitement and passion flowing through little fingers as they went about choosing the brightest of colours.



When asked why she chose to draw the image of a young girl and a bright lotus, Chaitanya Kambanor of Bunts Sangha RNS Vidyaniketan said that the painting gave out the message: Respect and protect the girl child as she is like the lotus that can bloom even in the most difficult surroundings. Yogeesh, a participant from Varin International School, showcased a happy vegetable seller and a sad rich businessman in his painting.



When asked what his painting expressed, Yogeesh said that demonetisation, the daily wage earners in villages were happy with their meagre savings in small denominations, while the rich businessmen were depressed and finding ways to get rid of their black money.



Prarthana Nityanand and Mridula K from North Hills International School painted the ocean to drive home the message that oceans are treasures to be protected. Save the oceans and the oceans will protect you, said the message in their painting. A feeling of patriotism filled the air as many students drew the beauty of India, its heritage and monuments.



This is a wonderful opportunity and I bring my son to the competition every year. Events like this help a child showcase his or her creativity, said Vinatha B, mother of Ashwin from Swargarani School, who had chosen Warli art for the contest. It is at events like these that our students get a chance to bring out their talent, said Venkatesh, an art teacher from Varin International School. In the senior category, BGS World School won the coveted first prize followed by the second prize that went to Apollo National Public School. The third prize was bagged by JSS Public School.



In the junior section, the first place went to Bunts Sangha RNS Vidyaniketan followed by the second prize that was won by Rashtrotthana Vidya Kendra. The third place went to Kensri School. The event ended on a note of excitement with parents, teachers and children congratulating each other.


The Opposition BJP and JD(S) on Thursday charged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with betraying farmers, by repeatedly blaming the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, instead of coming to the rescue of those in distress due to drought.





Participating in a discussion on the drought situation, the legislators from the two Opposition parties sought that the government announce waiver of crop loan availed of by farmers, announce crop loss compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare and also release Rs 5 crore per Assembly constituency for relief works.



The BJP and the JD(S) legislators staged a walkout shouting slogans against the government, when the treasury benches did not respond to the demands. However, suspended JD(S) MLA H C Balakrishna decided to remain in his seat.



Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said 20% of farmers have availed loans from cooperative banks totalling Rs 10,000 crore. At the same time, 80% of farmers have secured loans from nationalised banks totalling Rs 35,000 crore.



It is obvious that only a small section of farmers will benefit if the state decides to waive of crop loans. The initiative should be taken by the Centre to waive loans secured from nationalised banks and we will follow suit, he said.



The debate witnessed exchange of words between Siddaramaiah and the Opposition legislators. However, Siddaramaiahs senior ministerial colleagues present in the House, including R V Deshpande, Kagodu Thimmappa, T B Jayachandra and H K Patil, chose not come to his support during the heated arguments.



Later, replying to the debate on drought, Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa said the government has geared up to take remedial measures. As many as 132 goshalas and 212 fodder banks will be set up soon, he informed.



He said a 24x7 call centre has been opened to receive complaints on drinking water scarcity.


The van driven away on Wednesday with Rs 1.37 crore was found in Vasanth Nagar.

A senior police officer said, The High Grounds police, on night patrol, found the vehicle abandoned on I Cross.





Police recovered Rs 45 lakh that had remained in the van.



Driver Dominic Roy, employed by a cash logistics company, fled from K G Road when his colleagues were inside a Bank of India branch, according to a complaint.



Later on Wednesday, the Upparpet police rushed to Vasanth Nagar and confirmed it was the same van Roy had driven away, taking with him Rs 1.37 crore, mostly in new Rs 2,000 notes.



When police, assisted by staff from the logistics and security companies, opened the van, they found Rs 45 lakh in cash and a single barrel breech (SBB) gun with three rounds of live cartridges.



Roys wife and son are missing. We are trying to find out if they have fled with him or are hiding, the police officer said.



The drivers parents and relatives were questioned. They had no idea about the heist, police said.



Roys wife Elwyn had gone home on Wednesday evening. It is possible Roy picked up his wife and son and went to Vasanth Nagar, where he abandoned the vehicle and fled with two cash boxes, police said.



The driver left the third box untouched as it was under a seat, he presumably did not notice it.




IAS officer D K Ravi committed suicide, and was not murdered as suspected, the Central Bureau of Investigation has concluded.





The CBI handed over a 90-page closure report to Assistant Commissioner Bengaluru (South) D T Natesh on Wednesday, a source told DH. He will now have to pass an order accepting or rejecting the report. Ravis death on March 16, 2015 had triggered protests across the state, with the Opposition charging he had been murdered for acting against the rich and powerful.



The CBI believes Ravis suicide was prompted by multiple personal reasons. It does not pin-point a reason, though.



A senior police officer said in any case relating to unnatural death, the closure report is submitted to the executive magistrate.



In this case, the assistant commissioner, who has conducted the inquest, is the official who comes into the picture.



Usually, the assistant commissioner takes the closure report on record, he said.



Widespread protests

A 2009 batch IAS officer, Ravi (34) was found hanging from the ceiling of his house in Koramangala on March 16, 2016. He was then serving as Additional Commissioner of Commercial Tax (Enforcement), Bengaluru.



The state government handed over the probe to the CBI when the impression spread that he had been murdered for his tough action against tax evaders, especially realtors.



People had protested across Karnataka, seeking a CBI inquiry.



The CBI eventually examined the post-mortem report and recorded the statements of Ravi's friends and relatives.



The post mortem had said the death was caused by asphyxiation from hanging. This was confirmed by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Chennai and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. The viscera test had also established that no toxic substance had entered the body, a source said.



Earlier, the Criminal Investigation Department had submitted before the Karnataka High Court that a series of WhatsApp messages, extracted from Ravis mobile phone, had established the death as a suicide. Ravi had messaged a woman batchmate.



Ravi was worried about a land development project in Chikkaballapur district he was involved in. His father-in-law Hanumantharayappa, besides his friends and batchmates, had invested in it. Ravi's efforts to convert the SC/ST land for non-agricultural use had not materialised.



Speaking to DH, Hanumantharayappa said it wasnt likely problems related to the project had pushed Ravi to suicide.



Yes, it is true I had invested some money in his project on his request. The money has not gone anywhere and it is still a viable project. He had not lost any money on it. I am sure there was no reason for him to end his life thinking it cant be revived, he said.


The film speaks of colouring the world in monochrome through the pressure that gender creates on individuals to conform to its norms, filmmaker Ananya Kasaravalli tells Metrolife on her Kannada debut feature Harikatha Prasanga (Chronicles of Hari).





The film which is competing for the coveted Centenary Award for Best Debut Feature of a Director at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa 2016 traces the story of a performing artiste as he struggles with societal rhetoric of gender and identity. Harikatha Prasanga is essentially a human story about the metamorphosis of Harishchandra who remains unloved, unaccepted but never untrue, adds Ananya, who belongs to a film family  her father Girish Kasaravalli is considered to be one of the pioneers of parallel Kannada cinema, and her late mother was a notable actor, costume designer and tele-serial director.



Who am I? I play the role of a woman at night and sleep the entire day. When am I supposed to be a man? questions the eponymous character of Harishchandra in the film, as he plays a role of a woman in Yakshagana (the song of the demigods)  a folk theatre form of Karnataka  which though brings him popularity, also raises questions on his identity as a man.



Set in a coastal town of southern India, the story of Haris life unfolds through different perspectives captured in three episodes across four audio-visual interviews conducted by documentary filmmakers Sharmila and Sundar, primarily interested in investigating and documenting on his whereabouts. My film is based on a short story called Beladi Harishchandra by Kannada writer Gopalakrishna Pai. It was Haris character that fascinated me in the story, mentions Bengaluru-based Ananya.



During the course of the interviews in the film, it is revealed that inspite of immense fame, Hari shares a troubled relationship with his brother.



Haris personal life also faces an emotional turmoil. Plans of his marriage fail due to the very reason of him playing female roles in Yakshagana. A prostitute, whom he visits, with affection, refers to him as sister. As a result of these incidents, an inner conflict arises and the question about the real self starts to haunt him. His requests for male roles get refused and feeling dejected, Hari quits his troupe. He also shifts his gender role in real and embraces partial cross-dressing much to the embarrassment of his brother and his family. To make things worse his cross-dressing affair becomes the cause for the fall of his brothers marriage. This leads to a fight between the siblings forcing Hari to leave his house.



And, one day he vanishes from the village. While some members of his troupe feel that he committed suicide, others disagree with the theory. Elaborating on what is the underlying meaning of the multiple references to Haris character in the film, she says,In a world which sees (every) individual as Kumar, Chandru, Beladi or Babu how is one supposed to find Hari? If finding Hari is nearly impossible, how difficult it should be for Hari to be Hari? Though also a commentary and critique of the world in its spirit, it is Haris story of not being a transgender. He is a human being who is comfortable both as a man and a woman.



The character of Hari is played by Bengaluru-based theatre actor Shrunga Vasudevan. Ask Ananya, who has a masters degree in filmmaking from L V Prasad Film and TV academy, Chennai, about the research undertaken for the film, and she says, The film talks about a person who has a gender conflict. I wanted to understand that conflict, so my research was centered towards understanding such people. Im not from the coastal belt of Karnataka where the film is shot. So my research had to start from understanding the culture of that place  I had to know how they behaved and talked, or even thought, which took one year of research and I stayed there for over three months. The writer is from the same place so it helped a lot.



On her films nomination At IFFI among seven films including One Week and a Day, Rara, Tramontane, Two Birds, One Stone, Wolf and Sheep to compete for the prestigious Silver Peacock, along with a certificate and cash prize of Rs10 lakh, she says, It was premiered in Busan, from there we went to MAMI, now Indian Panorama, then Kerala and New York. It feels really nice. Its an overwhelming feeling that my first film is appreciated so much.


By Liz Jones 23 November 2016 (KUOW)  A few Seattle doctors returned this week from a rotation in Standing Rock, North Dakota. Thats where an estimated 2,000 protesters are demonstrating against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. We talked with one doctor, who was part of triage team as the standoff escalated Sunday night. Dr. Robie Sterling finished his residency at Swedish Medical Center a few months ago. Not long after, he traveled to North Dakota with two other doctors from Swedish. But he was alone in the medic tent when the radio call came in Sunday evening. There was a confrontation happening at the front line. Sterling: Police were starting to shoot the rubber bullets. Police also used water sprays and tear gas. It was dark, below freezing, and injured people started to pour in. Sterling: The initial ones were nearly all head shots. Pretty much everyone had a concussion. Some of them had lacerations to the head. One woman had an eye injury. [ more ]

Seattle doctor at Standing Rock: People had sheets of ice hanging off them

24 November 2016 (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)  The arm of a Jewish woman was mostly torn off while she was protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Sophia Wilansky, 21, of New York City, was taken on Monday to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, according to Reuters, where she is undergoing surgery to save her hand. She arrived in serious condition. Protesters allege that Wilansky was injured by a police concussion grenade used for crowd control. Law enforcement officials say that the protesters were making explosives out of propane bottles and that is what exploded and injured the woman. Over the weekend, law enforcement had used water cannons to disperse the protesters, despite sub-freezing temperatures. [] Her father told a Minneapolis television station that most of her radius bone is missing, her arteries are gone, and the main nerve and about 80 percent of the muscle on her forearm were blown away. He told reporters at the hospital that doctors said she will need as many as 20 surgeries in the coming months in an attempt to save her arm and her hand. It is reported to be the most serious injury since the protests began. [more]
NINGBO, China, Nov. 23, 2016 -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in Mainland China, announced the official inauguration of Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation, "NSI". On the afternoon of November 19th, Dr. Zixue Zhou, the Chairman of SMIC, Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, the CEO and Executive Director of SMIC, Hongyi Yu, the Deputy Secretary of the Ningbo Municipal Committee, Zhongchao Chen, the Vice Mayor of Ningbo, and other officials attended the inauguration ceremony together with guests from the IC industry.

NSI is jointly established by China IC Capital (a wholly owned investment fund of SMIC), Ningbo Senson Electronics, and Hua Capital. Through acquisition, adoption, enhancement and development of intellectual property and technology, NSI will develop analog and specialty semiconductor technology platforms in the areas of high-voltage analog, radio frequency, and optoelectronics. These developments will support customers in IC design and product development for applications in smart home, industrial, and automotive electronics, new generations of radio communications, AR/VR/MR, and other specialty systems.

The Chairman of SMIC, Dr. Zixue Zhou, said: "High-voltage analog, radio frequency and other specialty semiconductor technologies are not only widely adopted by China's everyday consumers, but are also indispensable and important to the IC industry. Ningbo has unique geographical and economic advantages as well as a robust industrial environment. The establishment of NSI will help SMIC to expand its business in this field and strategically enhance the cooperation throughout China's IC ecosystem."

The Vice Mayor of Ningbo Zhongchao Chen said: "The IC industry is one of the key areas of focus for the city of Ningbo at the current period. We are pleased by the establishment of NSI and expect to achieve a win-win situation through our full cooperation."

About SMIC

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China. SMIC provides integrated circuit (IC) foundry and technology services on process nodes from 0.35 micron to 28 nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has an international manufacturing and service base. In China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-fab and a majority-owned 300mm fab for advanced nodes in Beijing; 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen; and a majority-owned joint-venture 300mm bumping facility in Jiangyin; additionally, in Italy SMIC has a majority-owned 200mm fab. SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.smics.com.






Geneva -- November 23, 2016 -- Innovators in China powered global patent applications to a new record in 2015, filing more than a million applications for the first time ever within a single year amid rising worldwide demand for intellectual property rights that undergird economic activity.

In total, innovators around the world lodged some 2.9 million patent applications in 2015, representing a 7.8% increase over 2014 and the sixth straight year of rising demand for patent protection, according to WIPOs annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report. Trademark applications jumped by 15.3% to about 6 million in 2015, as worldwide industrial design applications grew by 2.3% to 872,800.

While Chinese innovators filed the most patent applications (1,010,406) in 2015, followed by those from the United States of America (526,296) and Japan (454,285), they are comparatively home-focused: Innovators based in China filed 42,154 applications for patents outside their own borders, while U.S.-based innovators were the most outward-looking, with 237,961 patent applications filed abroad.

As policy-makers seek to invigorate growth around the world, it is encouraging to report that intellectual property filing activity saw healthy progression in 2015, said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. While China continues to drive global increases, IP use grew in most countries in 2015, reflecting its increasing importance in a globalized knowledge economy.

2014 2015 Growth (%) Patent applications 2,680,900 2,888,800 7.8 Trademark applications 5,187,900 5,983,000 15.3 Industrial design applications 853,500 872,800 2.3

Patents

In total, innovators filed some 2.9 million patent applications worldwide in 2015, up 7.8% from 2014, higher than the 4.5% growth rate in 2014. Resident filings, where innovators filed for protection in their home economy, accounted for around two-thirds of the 2015 total.

Chinas patent office received 1,101,864 filings in 2015, making it the first office to receive more than a million applications in a single year  including both filings from residents in China as well as from overseas innovators seeking patent protection inside China. This totaled almost as many applications as the next three offices combined: the U.S. (589,410), Japan (318,721) and the Republic of Korea (213,694).

Together with the European Patent Office (EPO; 160,028), the top five offices accounted for a combined share of 82.5% of global filings. Among the top five offices, China (+18.7%) had the fastest growth, followed by the EPO (+4.8%), the U.S. (+1.8%) and the Republic of Korea (+1.6%). In contrast, Japans patent office saw a 2.2% decrease. This continues a downward trend that started in 2005 and mainly reflects decline in resident filings.

U.S. applicants filed the most applications abroad (237,961), marking a 6% increase, followed by those from Japan, which decreased 2.3 % to 195,446, and Germany, which saw a 3.6% drop to 101,892.

Though innovators based in China filed comparatively fewer overseas applications (42,154), that figure has risen steadily over the past two decades and now nearly equals the total of France (46,581).

Computer technology (7.9% of the total) saw the highest percentage of published patent applications worldwide, followed by electrical machinery (7.3%) and digital communication (4.9%).

Around 1.24 million patents were granted worldwide in 2015, up 5.2% on 2014 and the fastest growth rate since 2012. This was due mainly to an increase of grants in China, which issued 359,316 patents in 2015 to surpass the U.S. (298,407) as the largest patent issuing office.

An estimated 10.6 million patents were in force around the globe in 2015. About a quarter of these were in the US (24.9% of the total), followed by 18.3% in Japan and 13.9% in China.

Trademarks

An estimated 6 million trademark applications covering 8.4 million classes were filed globally in 2015.1 Largely driven by China, applications increased by 15.3%, which represents the highest growth since 2000. Around 78% of global filing activity can be attributed to resident applicants that filed for protection in their own country.

China  with a class count of 2.83 million  saw by far the highest trademark filing activity in 2015. It was followed by the U.S. (517,297), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO; 366,383), Japan (345,070) and India (289,843). Among the top 20 offices, Japan (+43%), Italy (+32.6%), China (+27.4%), India (+21.9%) and the Republic of Korea (+13.9%) reported double-digit growth in 2015.

Around 4.4 million trademark registrations covering 6.2 million classes were recorded worldwide in 2015. This was a 26.6% increase on 2014 and the fastest growth in over 15 years.

Industrial Designs

Global industrial design applications filed in 2015 grew by 2.3%, rebounding from a sharp decrease recorded in 2014 when there was a large drop-off in filings in China. Designers across the world filed 872,800 applications containing 1.1 million designs.2 Growth was mainly due to increases in applications filed in China, the Republic of Korea and the U.S.

Chinas office received applications containing 569,059 designs, accounting for half of the world total. It was followed by the EUIPO (98,162), and the offices of the Republic of Korea (72,458), Germany (56,499) and Turkey (45,852). Among them, the Republic of Korea (+5.9%) and China (+0.8%) saw growth, while Germany (-7.5%), Turkey (-6%) and the EUIPO (-0.1%) saw lower filing activity in 2015 than in 2014.

Designs related to furnishings accounted for 9.4% of all filings, followed by those related to clothing (8.3%) and to packages and containers (7%).

The total number of industrial designs registered worldwide increased by 21.3% in 2015, mainly due to strong growth in registrations in China.

Footnotes

1 Class count is the total number of classes specified in trademark applications. Some IP offices have a single-class filing system, which requires applicants to file a separate application for each class in which the goods or services to which the mark is applied are classified. Other offices follow a multi-class filing system, which enables applicants to file a single application in which goods or services belonging to a number of classes can be specified.

2 Design count is the total number of designs contained in industrial design applications. Some IP offices allow applications to contain more than one design, while other IP offices allow only one design per application.

About WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 189 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.
China's Huawei was the second most profitable brand with 2.4 percent share in the operating profit

Apple has always been the most profitable smartphone maker since it first started selling iPhone way back in 2007. During third quarter of 2016, Apple made 91 percent of the total smartphone profits - a new record for the Cupertino company.

Apple generated $8.5 billion of the worldwide smartphone market's profits this quarter. According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the worldwide smartphone market's operating profit came in at $9.4 billion this quarter. China's Huawei was the second most profitable brand with 2.4 percent share in the operating profit. Vivo and Oppo were the two other companies to manage profits this quarter.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "We estimate Huawei generated $0.2 billion of smartphone operating profit worldwide in Q3 2016. Huawei captured 2 percent share of all smartphone profits, taking second spot overall, and becoming the worlds most profitable Android vendor for the first time ever. An efficient supply chain, sleek products and effective marketing have been among the main drivers of Huaweis robust profitability. Vivo and OPPO followed in third and fourth place and each took 2 percent global profit share. Vivo and OPPO delivered relatively healthy profitability due to disciplined pricing and soaring shipments across Asia.

Apple's record profits came partly due to the successful launch of its iPhone 7 in September. However, the iPhone 7 was available only for a few weeks in this quarter, which also means Apple's record profits could have included strong sales of iPhone 6s and iPhone SE.

Apple's profits got bolstered after Samsung failed to deliver a stellar product with its Galaxy Note7. After Galaxy Note7 started burning and the company issued a worldwide recall, iPhone 7 became the obvious option for Note7 buyers. Samsung didn't even make it to Strategy Analytics' list of top smartphone makers generating profit. In the previous quarter, Apple and Samsung were the leading smartphone makers in terms of profits.

"Three of the worlds top four most profitable smartphone vendors are currently Chinese. Huawei, Vivo and OPPO have not only improved their smartphone product lineups this year, they have also enhanced their operational abilities and kept a tight lid on expanding distribution costs," added Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics.

The Strategy Analytics' report notes the rise of Chinese smartphone vendors as dominant force in the mobile industry but it doesn't discuss Samsung's woes this quarter. The biggest takeaway is the fact that Apple is way ahead of Android OEMs in terms of profit despite the decline in sales.
HP will announce a Windows Phone next year that will compete against Google Pixel and iPhone 7

HP is reportedly working on a new Windows Phone targeted towards consumers. HP's Elite x3 is the most recent Windows 10 Mobile handset and it packs a lot of punch. HP Elite x3 with its 5.96-inch display and Continuum makes it the perfect business friendly smartphone.

According to report from German Windows site Dr Windows, HP is closely with Microsoft for its next Windows flagship. The report claims the device will inherit the best of Lumia technologies like ClearBlack screens and Glance feature. The report also claims that the device could arrive at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the device could be jointly announced by Microsoft and HP.

Windows 10 Mobile with its negligible 1 percent market share is nearly dead and there is little or no activity around the platform from app developers. While the platform looks lucrative to business users thanks to the Windows ecosystem and apps like Salesforce make a compelling option to enterprise users.

Microsoft recently announced plans to bring an x86 emulator to ARM platform and we could see a glimpse of that with HP's next Windows Mobile device. The most important question for consumers would be whether they are willing to spend $600-800 (price equivalent to iPhone 7 and Google Pixel) for a smartphone running Windows 10 Mobile.
Earlier reports had suggested that the company was working on a smaller variant of the Mi Mix

It seems like there may not be a smaller version of Xiaomis Mi Mix smartphone. According to a report by Chinese website, MyDrivers, Xiaomis Marketing Director, Zang Zhiyuan said on Weibo that the company was not working on a product called the Mi Mix Nano. This would come as a disappointment to some users who were hoping for a smaller version of the Mi Mix. However, it should be noted that Zhiyuan has since removed the post from his Weibo account.

While Xiaomi has done an admirable job of creating a 6.4-inch device that about as large as an iPhone 7 Plus. However, its still a pretty large device. A few days ago, it was reported that images of a device purported to be the Mi Mix Nano were posted online. The device was tipped to sport a smaller 5.5-inch display with a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix is a powerful device with a Snapdragon 821 SoC with 4GB and 6GB RAM variants. However, the highlight of the phone was the design. The phone has a 91.3 percent screen to body ratio and has not bezel on top. Instead, the earpiece and sensors are located below the display, while the front camera has been relocated to the bottom of the device.
AIM-listed Belvoir Lettings said it could not predict the impact from not charging fees to tenants, as outlined in the Autumn Statement.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Philip Hammond said there would be a ban on letting fees as soon as possible, in a bid to help the just about managing, which would save 4.3m households hundreds of pounds a year.

There is to be a consultation period, but Belvoir said at the moment it could not predict the likely impact for the year ended December 2017 and beyond.

The company said that based on experiences following a similar proposal in Scotland in 2012, it anticipates that mitigating action should be possible over time" and that no franchisees were lost in Scotland as a consequence of the decision.

Fess account for around 10% of revenue for the company's franchisees, but due to the broader revenue streams the impact on gross profit is expected to be less than 8%.

It added that the impact may well be far greater for many of the large number of independent letting agents.

Neil Wilson, markets analyst at ETX Capital, said that announcement in the Autumn Statement could not come at a worse time for the property sector. Countrywide has said that its was affected by the uncertainty arisen in the wake of Brexit and changes in stamp duty.

Shares in letting agents fell on Wednesday as Foxtons, which mainly focuses on London, was down 10.6% at 110p per share, Countrywide shares were down about 5% and LSL Property also fell around 5% to 207p.

Shares in Belvoir Lettings were down 5.83% to 113p at 0948 GMT.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has lashed out at the government, saying it is not fit for the legacy of Brexit.

In remarks made at a reception in London to mark his contribution to the 'Leave' campaign's victory in June's EU referendum, Farage said a seismic shock" could hit British politics at the next election if Brexit is not delivered by 2020.

The Times reported that the interim Ukip leader, who is due to hand over the reins to a permanent replacement on Monday, had told friends that he is preparing to emigrate to the US with his wife, Kirsten.

The newspaper said the friends spoke of Farages intentions after Donald Trump, the president-elect, tweeted that he would do a great job as British ambassador to the US, riling the government, which has repeatedly insisted that he would not be handed a formal role.

Farage was the first British politician to congratulate Trump in person last week, with the pair posing outside a golden door at Trump Tower in New York .

"We've got a problem. In America the revolution is total. Not only have the people spoken and won, but the old administration, Obama and all those ghastly people, are out and the Trump people are in, Trump told the gathering at the Ritz hotel on Wednesday night.

"In this country, the people have spoken, but the same players have just been shuffled around the chess board and we are still being run by the career professional political class.

I suspect there is going to be a genuine realignment of British politics over the course of the next three or four years. It is unfinished business - the people have spoken but the establishment don't want to listen. There are great battles to be fought and I'm going to go on fighting those battles."
Barclays upgraded Thomas Cook to overweight from equalweight and upped the price target to 90p from 75p following the companys full-year results on Wednesday.

It said the absence of any earnings per share downgrades, the re-introduction of the dividend and proactive actions to improve Condor profits suggest Thomas Cook may have reached an inflection point.

The bank has been cautious on the stock for two and a half years but noted that margins and cash have improved, with the full-year 2016 results reassuring, while the valuation is attractive.

Barclays said the results were a bit stronger than expected, with a beat in terms of underlying earnings before interest and tax, which came in at 308m versus company consensus of 296m and the banks estimate of 297m.

Barclays said that now that the dividend has been reintroduced, there is scope to materially up the payout ratio over the coming years.

It pointed out that there are a number of risks to its overweight rating. It highlighted low earnings visibility, with heightened geopolitical risks, intense competition, seasonal cash flow and low margins. In addition, it said UK volumes could soften given sterling weakness and Brexit concerns.

Risks are elevated. However, TCG could surprise with resilient margins in FY17.

At 0905 GMT, the shares were up 1.8% to 80.45p.
Funding outlined in the Autumn Statement could be good for alternative housing providers, contractors, but potentially problematic for mainstream housebuilders, and bad for letting agents, according to broker Stockdale.

In the mini-budget on Wednesday, Chancellor Philip Hammond said there will be an additional 3.7bn in funding to build new housing and 1.1bn for roads, which could boost contractors and housing providers.

But the ban on letting agents charging fees to tenants put estate agents on the back foot on Wednesday as he announced the proposal. This would save 4.3m households hundreds of pounds a year.

The Chancellor set out a 2.3bn housing infrastructure fund to build 100,000 homes and an 1.4bn grant for 40,000 affordable homes in areas in need. Before the statement, the government also set out a 3bn home building fund and a 2bn accelerated construction scheme, in addition to the new measures.

The broker said housebuilders Galliford Try and Kier could benefit as well as material producers, especially brick makers, such as Forterra.

Whereas the letting fee ban could affect estate agent Foxtons, whose share price fell 14% on Wednesday, and Countrywide, which dipped 6%, while M Winkworth would only have a modest exposure to the policy.

AIM-listed Belvoir Lettings said on Thursday that it could not predict the effect of not charging letting fees yet, but it anticipates that mitigating action should be possible over time.

Stockdale said there was also a lift for roads, rail and telecommunication firms with 1.1bn for roadbuilding, 140m for the Oxford-Cambridge link and 290m for an acceleration of broadband roll-out across the UK.

Roads focused contractors such as Kier and Costain could stand to gain.
A coal power plant in China has collapsed, killing 67 people and leaving many others injured as a platform which was under construction gave way on Thursday.

The accident took pace at a plant in Fengcheng in the eastern province of Jiangxi, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday morning. One person remained trapped among the devastation at the factory.

Safety at industrial sites in China has become a growing concern, with lax safety standards and a high numbers of accidents being reported every year.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters in the country that there would be an investigation into the incident, which he implied could have been avoided.

"Strengthen supervision and preventive measures, prevent such a major accident from happening again," Li is cited as saying on a government website, according to Reuters.

170 people were killed last year in an explosion in the city of Tianjin, with the former secretary with responsibility for workers' safety being dismissed and charged with corruption. This week Yang Yang Dongliang admitted to taking bribes to the tune of $4.12m during his time working for the government.
President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz will step down at the beginning of next year and run in the German elections, with many suggesting that he will attempt to deny Angela Merkel a fourth successive term as chancellor.

Schulz has served in the legislative chamber of the EU for the last 22 years, but will return to German politics in 2017, potentially taking the top job at the Social Democratic Party, which will pose the biggest threat to Merkel's conservatives.

In his statement following the news that he would be stepping down, Schulz recognised that Germany had a very important role to play in the development of the European project.

"My commitment to the European project is unwavering. From now on I will be fighting for this project from the national level, but my values don't change," Schulz said.

Schulz's long-time friend and current leader of the SPD Sigmar Gabriel would have to yield in order for the former to run against Merkel.

He has been president of the European Parliament since 2012, with the bloc coming under increasing pressure during the last decade as euro-sceptic right wing groups gained a foothold throughout the continent.

Schulz has also been a member of the SPD for more than 40 years.
Russia reiterated that it was willing to freeze its oil production in 2017, but cast a degree of doubt on its willingness to actually cut output ahead of a technical meeting between OPEC and non-member countries to try and reach an agreement.

According to Russias Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, a freeze would mean that the country would in fact be pumping between 200,000 to 300,000 barrels less than it had originally planned to do so in 2017.

In parallel, Azerbaijans Energy Minister Natig Aliyev reportedly told a newspaper that the oil cartel had asked non-members to slash their production by up to 880,000 barrels a day.

For their part, OPEC countries themselves were expected to try and reach a deal to reduce their own combined output to between 32.5m to 33.0m b/d from its current level in a meeting scheduled for 30 November in Vienna.

In October, the cartels average production stood at 33.64m b/d, according to secondary sources cited by OPEC.

Two days before the meeting in the Austrian capital, several non-OPEC countries, including Russia, Azerbaijan and Mexico were due to meet with experts from the cartel to try and reach a deal on production cuts.

As of 1130 GMT, front month Brent crude futures were edging higher by 0.18% to $49.04 per barrel on the ICE.
Donald Trump has given an address to mark the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States, calling on citizens in the country to come together after a "long and bruising political campaign".

The president-elect released the video message on Wednesday before making his way to Florida to celebrate the American holiday.

Trump gained a convincing victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton two weeks ago to set himself up to become the 45th president of the US, after not being given a chance by most commentators in the run up to the election.

"It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by a shared purpose and very common resolve," Trump said in the video.

He made reference to a bitterly divisive election campaign fought by the campaigns of both himself and Clinton, and stressed the importance of putting that to one side in the interests of making America a better place.

"We've just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw," Trump added.

"But we have before us the chance now to make history together  I'm asking you to join me in this effort."

The Republican has been busy this week making appointments to his transition team, who will support him when he takes over the White House on January 20 next year.

On Wednesday he confirmed his latest appointment of billionaire activist Betsy DeVos as his new education secretary.
Turkeys central bank hiked its main policy rates by more than was expected in a bid to defend its currency which was trading at multi-year lows versus the US dollar.

The monetary authority in Ankara unexpectedly increased the countrys overnight lending rate from 8.25% to 8.50%, versus forecasts for no change.

In parallel, the repurchase rate was lifted from 7.5% to 8.0% (consensus: 7.75%).

The overnight borrowing rate was kept at 7.25%, as expected.

As of 1203 GMT the US dollar was down by 0.07% to 3.3928 against the Turkis lira, having hit 3.3711 immediately following the announcement.
The US Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is ramping up to request recounts of the election results in three key states after raising $2m through an online fundraising page.

Stein set up the page with the aim of raising enough money to request reviews of the results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which her campaign estimated was around $6 to $7m.

Before midnight on Wednesday the drive had already raised more than the $2m necessary to file for a recount in Wisconsin where the deadline to do so is on Friday. By 5am EST it had reached $2.5m.

The party leader said she was acting due to compelling evidence of voting anomalies and that data analysis had indicated significant discrepancies in vote totals that were released by state authorities.

These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified, she said in a statement. We deserve elections we can trust.

The move comes after academics and activists raised concerns over foreign hackers interfering with electronic election systems.

Shortly after Clintons defeat, US intelligence agencies of public assessments released a statement saying Russian hackers were behind intrusions into regional electoral computer systems and the theft of emails from Democratic officials before the election.

Donald Trump had narrowly won against Clinton in Pennsylvania by 1.2% and Wisconsin by 0.3% earlier this month and may win Michigan, where the final result has not been declared yet.

Steins campaign made it clear that they were acting to ensure the election results were authentic and not because they thought she had one any of the states.

Voting machines are banned in states like California after security analysts showed they can easily be hacked into.

Dozens of professors specialising in cybersecurity, defense and election have signed an open letter to congressional leaders requesting action from lawmakers on trying to stop foreign interference.

Our country needs a thorough, public congressional investigation into the role that foreign powers played in the months leading up to November, said academics.
UK-based travel website Skyscanner is to be bought over by Chinese travel company Ctrip , valuing the business at around 1.4bn.

The company allows users to compare prices for a variety of travel services, such as flights and hotels, and has around 60m active users per month.

Skyscanner said it would continue to be run by the same management team without any overbearing influence from the Chinese company.

Ctrip, which was set up in 1999 and has grown to become one of the biggest travel businesses in China, said that the merger would "strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies".

"Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale and Ctrip will leverage our experience, technology and booking capabilities to Skyscanner's," said co-founder of Ctrip James Jianzhang Liang.

Skyscanner co-founder and executive chairman Gareth Williams said that the acquisition would make its service easier to use for consumers.

"Ctrip and Skyscanner share a common view - that organising travel has a long way to go to being solved. To do so requires powerful technology and a traveller-first approach," Mr Williams said.

The move comes after Theresa May promised more legislation to stop British companies being acquired by larger global businesses.
Stocks in London were set for a muted open on Thursday, with volumes likely to be lower than usual as traders across the pond celebrate Thanksgiving.

The FTSE 100 was called to open two points lower than Wednesdays close at 6,815.

CMC Markets Michael Hewson pointed out that the Dow posted new record highs on Wednesday, while European markets ended in the red.

He said: This divergence between the almost irrational exuberance being displayed by investors towards US assets and the US dollar is in stark contrast to the reluctance to push money into European stocks, which is more than likely being driven over ongoing concerns about a procession of political worries, starting with next months Italian referendum on the 4th December."

There are no major UK data releases due.

In corporate news, Legal & General is to sell its Netherlands business to London-listed pensions firm Chesnara for 160m, the latest disposal in order to consolidate its overseas companies.

The sale of the Dutch arm is expected to improve coverage ratio for the FTSE 100 company and to gain a small profit.

Water company Severn Trent reported interim profits before interest and tax of 299.4m, a rise of 10.8%.

Turnover rose 3.2% to 906.8m. The interim dividend rose 32.6p a share from 32.26p a share.

Turnover for the Regulated Water and Waste Water segment was 765.2m, up from 754.4m and underlying profit before interest and tax rose slightly to 268.9m from 265.4m.

Tying in with Chancellor Philip Hammond's quest to boost British productivity, Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said the mining giant can boost cash flow by $5m over the next five years by a new "productivity drive".

As well as its existing $2bn cost cutting target for the end of next year, Jacques told investors at an seminar in Sydney the company would prioritise "value over volume" and would drive productivity by "focusing on operational excellence to generate superior shareholder returns through the cycle".
Legal & General has agreed to sell its Netherlands business to London-listed pensions firm Chesnara for 160m (135.6m), the latest disposal from the insurer as it looks to consolidate its overseas operations.

The sale of the Dutch arm is expected to improve the FTSE 100 company's coverage ratio and result in a small profit.

Mark Gregory, L&Gs chief financial officer, said the company is focused on having "scalable businesses in growth markets" and has sold a number of operations it no longer regards as core over the last two years, including its Irish, French, Egyptian and Gulf businesses.

The company has also sold the Suffolk Life self-invested personal pension plan business in the UK and has agreed to sell Cofunds, a UK investment platform, to Aegon for 140m.

Chesnara said the purchase price of 160m represents a 33% discount to Legal & General Nederlands economic value of 239m and roughly a 27% discount to the own funds of 220m.

Chesnara will fund the cash consideration via a combination of a 70m of equity via a placing and open offer at 300p, with 71m of new debt facilities used to partially fund the transaction and 40m to refinance part of the existing debt facilities of 52.6m, with the balance from its own cash resources.

Chesnaras chief executive, John Deane, said: "As with our Swedish subsidiary Movestic, we will be writing protection and pension policies. This will complement our closed block consolidation business Waard. We see great opportunities for both organisations within the Chesnara group to deliver value to our customers, their advisors and our shareholders."

The company said the acquisition would enhance its long-term cash generation and supported its dividend strategy.

Legal & General Netherlands' works council has been asked for advice on the transaction, which is required under Dutch law, and the sale is subject to regulatory approval.
The UK government has been forced to defend growth forecasts in Wednesday's Autumn Statement after leading pro-Brexit Conservative MPs attacked them as too pessimistic.

The independent Office for Budgetary Responsibility said the UK would have to borrow 122bn more than planned over the next five years and cut growth forecasts to 1.4% for next year.

Other economists pointed out that the cut in growth was actually above consensus forecasts.

However, former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith described the OBR forecast as "another utter doom and gloom scenario" by an organisation "that simply hasn't got anything right".

"The key thing is that the OBR has been wrong in every single forecast they've made so far. On the deficit, on growth, on jobs, they've pretty much been wrong on everything."

Fervent Eurosceptic and Conservative MP John Redwood was almost apoplectic with rage in parliament on Wednesday after Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his statement.

"The OBR is probably still quite wrong about 2017 - their forecast is too low, their borrowing forecast is too high, and we will get good access to the single market once we are out of the EU."

However, Hammond defended the OBR, telling the BBC forecasting was "not a precise science".

"We should think of it as one of the possible range of outcomes we need to plan for."

Economist Paul Hollingsworth at Capital Economics pointed out that the OBR's economic forecasts were more upbeat than expected, with the GDP growth of 1.4% next year above the consensus forecast and growth throughout the rest of the forecast period expected to exceed both the consensus expectation and the Bank of England's more optimistic forecast.

He noted that the weaker growth forecasts is bad news for debt and borrowing, and therefore limited the potential for fiscal boosts to the economy to 8bn per annum by 2019/20.

"Although the Chancellors package of measures gave a bit of money away, there is still set to be a fiscal tightening (proxied by the change in the cyclically-adjusted budget balance as a percentage of GDP) equivalent to just under 1% of GDP per year over the next three years. That said, his new fiscal rules still give him some room to scale back the pace of tightening if the economy were to take a bigger-than-expected hit over the next few years," said.
Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn Statement bearing the scars of Brexit, but determined not to submit meekly to projections of a weaker economy and public finances. The chancellors strategy raised four important economic questions. What is the likely cost of Brexit? How much headroom has Mr Hammond created for the years ahead? Will he achieve his ambition to improve housing, productivity and regional imbalances? And what is the lasting effect of the vote to leave the EU?  Financial Times

Insurers have hit out at plans to increase insurance premium tax for the third time in 18 months, a move that is expected to raise more than 4bn for the Treasury but which was branded a hammer blow for the hard pressed by critics. IPT is added to about 50m car, home, private medical insurance and pet policies every year.  Telegraph

The travel search website Skyscanner has been bought by Chinese counterpart Ctrip.com in a deal worth 1.4bn (US$1.74bn). Ctrip.com International, Chinas biggest online travel company, said it had agreed to buy Scotland-based Skyscanner Holdings.  Guardian

As the clock ticks down to Black Friday, aggressive promotions on everything from 4K TVs to tablet computers and winter coats could be the last hurrah for shoppers before price hikes in 2017. After bargain-hunting consumers went on the rampage on Black Friday in 2014, fighting in the aisles for cut-price widescreen televisions, last year it was a much tamer affair, as shoppers retreated to the safety of seeking the best bargains online.  Guardian

A top Barclays financier was dismissed after an interview he gave to the Serious Fraud Office as part of a criminal investigation into the banks Qatari capital-raising was passed to the lender, a London tribunal has been told. Richard Boath, former chairman of financial institutions at Barclays, is set to claim at an employment tribunal that he was dismissed as a direct result of the SFOs decision to hand over a transcript of the interview from 2014 to the bank, his lawyer said.  The Times



EDF has delayed the restart of two nuclear reactors in France after a safety investigation that has thrown the countrys state-controlled nuclear industry into crisis. French electricity prices surged by 9 per cent yesterday after the French energy company said that the restart of its 900 megawatt Dampierre 3 and 1,500 megawatt Civaux 2 reactors had been postponed until December 31, a time when electricity demand is close to its annual peak.  The Times
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To some extent, the construction of the European community has always been beset by doubts and crises. There is no need to go back as far as the empty chair crisis (1965-1966) ; 2003 was an emblematic year. Using fallacious pretexts, the US knowingly split the NATO and EU candidate and member countries over the issue of support for US strategy in Iraq. France and Germany found themselves isolated in their attempt to stay level-headed. This led French President, Jacques Chirac, to declare on February 17 2003 on the subject of EU candidates wishing to align their policy on Washington : [] it is not very responsible behaviour. In any case, it is childish. They missed a good opportunity to shut up. An outburst that remained lodged in the memories of Baltic and central and Eastern European nations for some time afterwards. This posterity was mirrored in France by the enduring depiction of the then foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, in the comic book Quai dOrsay by Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac (nom de plume of diplomat Antonin Baudry), a behind-the-scenes look at French foreign affairs published by Dargaud in 2010 and 2011, and then made into an eponymous film in 2013 by director Bertrand Tavernier.

The year 2005 was marked by a relatively clean break, and it is legitimate to wonder whether, coming on the heels of a major enlargement, this was the start of a downturn in European optimism.

I. 2005-2007 : from the thunderbolt no to the relaunch of the institutional process

After the projected Constitutional Treaty was stopped dead in its tracks, why is it that a largely similar text was adopted just a few years later ?

2005 : the French and Dutch block the process to adopt the proposed treaty for a European Constitution

Declaration 23 annexed to the Treaty of Nice, ratified on February 26 2001, provides for a Conference for a deeper and wider debate about the future of the EU. On December 14 and 15 2001, the European Council at Laeken called a Convention the outcome of which was to be a Constitution for European citizens, just as the Philadelphia Convention had yielded the American Constitution in 1787. Working by consensus, from February 28 2002 to July 18 2003, the Convention wrote the first draught of a Constitution for the enlarged Europe. On October 4 2003 an inter-governmental Conference set about the arduous task of amending and finalizing the June 18 2004 version of the text. The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed by the heads of state or government on October 29 2004. It then had to be ratified by all the Member states according to their constitutional rules.

On July 14 2004, the French President, Jacques Chirac, on the back of opinion polls indicating a comfortable majority of yes votes, took the gamble of announcing a referendum on the draught constitutional treaty. Another option would have been to seek ratification by the Assemblies united in a Congress, thereby preferring representative to direct democracy. The 1992 referendum on the issue of the Maastricht Treaty had already shown how quickly a lead could collapse. European issues do indeed have a habit of splitting opinion across party lines, as much on the right as on the left. The draught Treaty, long and abstruse, was off-putting for even the most diligent members of a French electorate that received through the post a document in small print on Bible-thin paper. While partisans of the Yes vote dallied instead of throwing themselves body and soul into the campaign, opponents were particularly dynamic and pugnacious, notably on the Internet. Early in 2005, a map of the Web produced for Touteleurope.fr showed that Web sites and blogs proffering negative explanations and arguments were already in a majority. Virtual space is a global leveller : a secondary school teacher claiming to be an expert on the draught treaty and denouncing the risks of federalism or the free market weighed as much as, if not more than  because more easily identified  a pro-yes professor of constitutional law or a European Member of Parliament. The TV broadcast by the French President appeared clumsy, especially when he gave the impression of suddenly discovering unemployment among the young With a turnout of nearly 70%, the referendum on May 29 2005 delivered a clear 54.7% majority of no votes. France, a founder member of the European community had just slammed the brakes on the European process.

There were many reasons. The referendum may first have been a way of answering a question that had not been asked a year earlier : Are you in favour of an enlargement of the EU ? It was at this time that commentators began to talk about enlargement fatigue in some of the senior EU countries. On the domestic front, the vote may also have been a way of indicating a degree of lassitude towards Jacques Chirac, president since 1995.

The blow delivered by France was emulated three days later on June 1 2005 when a second EEC founder country, the Netherlands, returned a 61.6% vote against the treaty in a consultative referendum. The two referenda placed a big question mark against the wisdom of pursuing a ratification process on the European scale. They suggested that public opinion doubted or was only mildly enthusiastic about the European building process. So what happened next ?

The EU entered a light coma

French journalist Jean Quatremer had a box seat from which to observe events, having been covering European affairs for French daily Liberation since September 1990. When he spoke to Diploweb.com in the autumn of 2005 he was able to draw on fifteen years of contacts in the corridors of power at Brussels :

Since May 29 2005, date on which the French rejected the draught constitutional treaty, followed three days later by the no vote in the Netherlands, the EU has been in a coma. [] In Brussels, the nerve centre of European institutions, the French and Dutch referenda were interpreted as a rejection, not only of the text under scrutiny, deemed, rightly or wrongly unsatisfactory, but of the masters of Europe as a whole : governments, Commission, European Parliament. All were stunned and have still not found the way to bounce back, assuming, that is, that such a way exists ; and that is quite a big assumption. []

What matters are not so much the reasons for the vote as what it means. When we try to explain to our European partners that the French referendum should be seen as a rejection of a certain Europe, a sanction by the pro-European left, their answer goes something like this : Are you joking ? From the far right to the far left, a majority of French voters said no and the pro-European section of the vote, assuming it exists, is very much a minority. Moreover, opinion polls (even if they should be viewed with the greatest circumspection) show a real surge of euroscepticism : the percentage of French people who felt that their country has benefitted from the building of Europe is smaller than in the UK  []

The organisation Attac, in particular, that has distinguished itself by its virulence, verging often on xenophobia, has scrupulously kept itself apart from the Constitution drafting process, almost certainly in order to subsequently reject it. Today [November 2005], it is nowhere to be seen. Through irresponsibility or political cynicism, the leaders of the left-wing no have left behind them a Europe in ruins. It is my belief that we have entered a new historic cycle, for better or for worse, more likely the latter. []

The Franco-German couple that originally pushed the idea of a constitution, has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of its partners and will only regain it, at best, after the French elections in 2007. However, within the couple, France is the defaulting party for failing to get its people to ratify a treaty negotiated by its government. [] Since May 29 2005, the Germans have no longer felt duty-bound to France, especially since the departure of Chancellor Schroder : the French having been at fault, it is now down to them to clarify what they want in Europe and for Europe. []

Not everyone has lost out in the operation. The partisans of a vaguely organised free trade zone have come out stronger : the British Presidency of the UE in the second half of 2005, characterized by an unprecedented lack of activity, has made the most of it. The Commission resembles the new Europe for which the no voters have sadly cleared the path : it is pro-free trade and deregulation. The relaunch proposed in September 2005 by the Commission under the Presidency of Jose Manuel Durao Barroso thus had nothing whatsoever to do with the idea of a constitution : the Commission announced that it would now be legislating less to avoid inconveniencing the general public and would withdraw directives judged incompatible with the need for businesses to be competitive []

The EU will remain in this light coma until at least 2007, date of the [French presidential elections] that will at least enable some political clarification.

Despite the institutional roadblocks, the European bicycle maintained enough momentum to continue on one point. On October 3 2005 it was decided to open negotiations on EU membership for Turkey : the Council adopted a negotiation framework, followed by the official opening of negotiations. This was the cue for the communitys analytical examination (or screening of acquis) process to determine how far Turkey complied with the accession criteria. On June 1 2006, Chapter 25 (Science and Research) was considered closed (accepted), a measure that appeared to throw down a political gauntlet. Yet, there were already tensions between the EU and Ankara. On December 1 2006, Turkey had not yet applied to Cyprus the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement ; and the Council decided against opening eight chapters. In other words, Turkeys ongoing occupation of the north of Cyprus quickly blocked negotiations on Turkish accession to the EU.

2007 : Franco-German relaunch soon led to the Treaty of Lisbon

The year 2007 saw an apparent revival of the European construction process, firstly with the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, then with a new institutional compromise.

On January 1 2007, in a strange climate of indifference, Bulgaria and Romania became the 26th and 27th member states of the EU. This was the sixth enlargement. Available seven weeks before their accession, the Corruption Perceptions Index, defined and published by the organisation Transparency International, awarded a score of 3.1 out of 10 for Romania and 4 for Bulgaria, i.e. significantly below the world average (5), not to mention Finland (9.6) ! In 2007, according to Eurostat, Bulgaria and Romanias GDP in purchasing power parity per capita (UE-27=100) was respectively 40 and 42, i.e. light years from the average of the member countries (100), and even further from Luxembourgs record of 275 !

When it comes to adopting the acquis communautaire there is still a gulf between theory and reality, and, on these grounds, this accession could have been deferred, had this not meant paying a heavy political price, given that both countries had already been rejected by the EU on May 1 2004, despite already being members of NATO. The EU had the possibility of backstabbing both governments by applying controls on the most sensitive issues, namely rule of law and corruption. Yet, the post-accession years brought scandal after scandal as organised crime prospered, notably by making hay with European funds.

Finally, 2007 saw the completion of the lengthy treaty revision process that had been ongoing since the mid-1990s. Much energy and political credit had been pulverised by the French and Dutch no votes in 2005. With a Presidential election due in France, there seemed to be an opportunity to revive the institutional process. On January 26 2007, the eighteen countries that had voted yes to the Constitutional Treaty met in Madrid, without France and the Netherlands. During the French electoral campaign, the candidate Nicolas Sarkozy announced that, if elected, he would use the Congressional route to ratify a simplified treaty. When he duly took up his functions on May 16 2007 he paid a visit, that very evening, to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose country at that time held the six-monthly Presidency of the EU. A consensus emerged to symbolically abandon the draught constitutional treaty and open negotiations on an amended version. A political agreement was signed on June 23 2007 at the European Council meeting in Brussels giving a mandate for a new intergovernmental conference to draught a new treaty as quickly as possible. This provided an opportunity to amputate a few articles considered too federalist, notably by the United Kingdom. The term Constitution and the EU symbols were dropped. The position of European Foreign Affairs Minister was abandoned in favour of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy  a title so hard to remember that it did little to enhance EU communication. Apart from these symbolic details, the nub of the provisions of the treaty to establish a Constitution for Europe reappeared in an amended treaty that was in no way simplified. The European heads of state or governments signed it on December 13 2007 in the Portuguese capital, and it became known as the Lisbon Treaty. This time, as far as possible, the member states avoided the referendum path to ratification, including France, which took the parliamentary route. Paris became the third capital to depose its ratification instrument on February 14 2008. Only Ireland held a referendum on July 12 2008 resulting in a 53.4% no vote, necessitating a second referendum on October 2 2009. This time 67.13% came out in favour. Thus, as for the Treaty of Nice, the Irish had to vote twice before doing what they were supposed to.

The Lisbon Treaty was phased in as from December 1 2009. Unlike the previous treaties signed by the E.U.s member states it was to be implemented over a ten-year period. This therefore meant a lengthy intermediary phase on the institutional level before the treaty could take its final form, with the apportionment of competency being very uncertain until stability could be achieved. Since December 1 2009, the use of the epithet community to distinguish that part of Europe from geographical Europe was proscribed, as the Community was now to be a Union. It remained however acceptable to refer to the community method, distinguished from intergovernmental cooperation by a number of principles : the Commission had the monopoly when it came to formulating proposals ; qualified majority voting was required in the Council on some issues ; and the tendency was to involve the European Parliament in decision making.

Ignoring these semantic subtleties, the effects of the economic crisis were biting deeper.

II. Since 2008, the crisis has bitten deeper

Forgery, confidence tricks, fraud and abuse of vulnerable persons were the starting point for the collapse of the housing bubble that hit the USA in 2007, snowballing into the credit crisis of 2008. Its economic and political impacts revealed the inadequacies of EU member countries.

Economic impacts

The EUs economy was already far from homogeneous, and the 2004 and 2007 enlargements made it even less so. The GDP per capita in purchasing power standards of the twelve new member countries fell below the EU average, dragging the latter down by 11%. The enlargements also increased the wealth gap between the EU and the USA. The inclusion of countries with workforce productivity still way below the EU average could only contribute to making the zone still less competitive. Finally, economic governance continued to vary from country to country, each trying to hold on to its habits, good or bad.

The financial crisis that started in the USA at the end of 2007 sent cracks racing through the financial systems as from 2008, before biting the real economy. In 2008, the real GDP volume growth rate of the EU fell to 0.4%. By 2009 the figure was down to -4.5%. The slide was almost twice as pronounced as in the US. In 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, the EU failed to truly revive economic growth, as testified by these respective estimated results : 2.0% ; 1.6% ; -0.4% and 0.1%. Here again, we are talking about averages, suggesting that some member countries were experiencing even greater difficulty. Meanwhile, for a few years, so-called emerging countries were publishing results that were often far better, before their performance started to level off again.

The crisis in the real economy was soon reflected by an increase in the number of unemployed. Across the EU, according to Eurostat data, unemployment rises regularly : 7.6% of the active population in 2008 ; 8.9% (2009) ; 9.6% (2010) ; 9.8% (2011) ; 10.5% (2012) ; 9.9% in October 2014. The picture varies greatly from country to country, from Austria with 4.9% unemployed in January 2014 to Greece with the record (28%). To these geographical differences can be added generational differences : the young are generally worse hit, a situation that at last drew a response from the European Council in June 2013. Europe is in danger of having a lost generation, declared Pier Carlo Padoan, Italian Minister of Finance (Le Monde, December 14 2014). Spanish film-maker Jaime Rosales made a bold statement in a feature entitled Beautiful Youth depicting the crisis that is ravaging the EU.

After being forced to bail out the banks, the European States had to contribute to reducing the effects of rising unemployment despite diminishing income from taxation. This led to a manifestly problematic explosion of public debt. The pact of stability demanded that public debt, defined in the Treaty of Maastricht as total gross debt at nominal value outstanding at the end of the year and consolidated between and within the sectors of general government, was to be kept below 60% of GDP. Yet the public debt in most of the longest-serving member States was way above this threshold. The 2012 figures for consolidated public debt as a % of GDP looked like this for six of the worst strugglers, from the highest downwards : Greece (156.9%), Italy (127%), Portugal (124.1%), Ireland (117.4%), Belgium (99.8%) and France (90.2%). Even Germany, regularly upheld as exemplary, did not abide by the Maastricht criterion, with public debt attaining 81% of PIB. Only 14 EU countries were actually holding to the Maastricht criterion at this time, though not all were in the eurozone.

It should however be noted that, in spite of the economic crisis, most of the countries to have joined the EU since 2004 were managing to close the gap in GDP in purchasing power parity per capita. They owed this firstly to the work they were doing, but also to European funding that brought financial aid, welcome in times of duress.

Nonetheless, the significant new affluence of some of the new member States  including Poland  was no longer enough to limit the damage to the EUs economic image. This was causing concern for the market and other economic powers, pushing the institutions and European governments to take measures.

 and political impacts

The economic crisis made considerable inroads into the permissive consensus enjoyed for a long time by the European construction process. The European Community had indeed been built in the aftermath of World War II, skirting around political debate to avoid nationalist tendencies, in the generally positive context of the post-war boom years, the Trente Glorieuses. For political leaders European construction had more than ever become a practical means of externalizing economic and even political constraint. It had become convenient to claim : Its not me thats enforcing this. Its Brussels ! A device that the new members have since learned from their seniors.

The financial crisis also accentuated a dynamic that was already developing in the power play between France and Germany. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, gained the upper hand over the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Berlin set the tempo and decided the scope of the measures undertaken to stem the explosion of public debt. The 2012 intergovernmental treaties dictated the response to the euro crisis : these were the treaty introducing the Mechanism for European Stability (MES) and the Treaty on the Stability Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG). Signed on February 2 2012 by 27 member States, the MES entered force on September 27 2012. Signed on March 2 2012 by 25 member States (excluding the UK and the Czech Republic), the TSCG entered force on January 1 2013. The treaty implemented an intergovernmental solution to improve the coordination of budgetary policies, thus introducing an obligation to budgetary discipline. As from 2013, the European Commission (appointed and not elected) was authorised to give its opinion on the 2014 draught budget of the member countries before the latters own Parliament was consulted. In other words, the economic crisis has led to another change in the nature of the EU. Under the cover of emergency, the EU has shifted from monetary federalism  via the eurozone  to the premises of budgetary federalism and a tighter coordination of economic policy. All this has been backed by the threat of financial sanctions against countries failing to comply with the Commissions desiderata.

It is in this climate that political parties advocating a lesser involvement in the EU, an exit from the euro and even from the EU, appear to have the wind in their sails, notably in Greece, the Netherlands, the UK and France. An exit from the EU is presented as the best way for a country to retake control of its own destiny, counter the effects of the crisis, and absorb unemployment. Predicators make themselves popular by demanding the return of customs barriers, preference for the employment of nationals, reinforced immigration control and the reallocation of funds from EU to domestic use.

All of this points to a breakthrough for populism of a rhetorical rather than ideological nature, cutting across domestic political divides and traditional politics. The right-wing flavour of populism is xenophobic, while on both left and right it is protectionist. Both are nationalistic, anti-European and anti-globalisation. They lambast the political class and the elite, expressing both suffering and a sort or inverted utopia in which fear has taken the place of hope. It has to be said that the EU is primarily a historical construction by elites.

Populism has been fed since 2008 by the excessively technical bias of the policies announced in an attempt to address the economic crisis. The elites solution to the crisis is presented as the only choice, with no political deliberation in a context of media-hyped dramatisation of the European Council, while budgetary restraint is enforced at the risk of suffocating economic growth. Renegade members run the risk of sanctions.

Populism enjoys the advantage of suggesting the existence of simple solutions to complex problems. It denies that a countrys  real  economic difficulties primarily have their origin in the country itself. In this sense it is a sort of compensatory magical thinking.

After several decades of making Brussels the scapegoat for austerity, it is scarcely surprising that the EU is perceived as the origin of all evils.

Is the European Parliament badly elected ?

Between 1979 and 2009, without exception, the seven European Parliamentary elections were characterised by a gradual rise in abstention from 38.01% of registered voters in 1979 to 56.92% in 2009. It should however be noted that in the space of three decades, the European Parliament has evolved from the status of a purely consultative body to that of a key co-legislative institution. At the same time, the number of voting countries has risen, but the downward trend at the urns has continued, thus weakening the political basis of the project.

When was the tipping point ?



While the overall trend is clear enough, there was nonetheless a tipping point. Contrary to received wisdom, this did not occur in 2004, after the enlargement to ten new countries, but dates back to 1999, with the election that followed the 1995 accession of Sweden, Austria and Finland. The turnout in 1999 was down by 7.16% compared with the 1994 election. Austria and Finland were able to join as a result of the end of the Cold War (1990) and the implosion of the Soviet Union (1991) that would not have tolerated their accession to the European Community. In 1999, voting in the two countries was to different degrees lower than in the other Community countries.



In other words, it is inaccurate to the lay the blame for the rise in abstention at European Parliamentary elections on 2004 and 2007. It is however true that the trend dates back to the 1980s and that the post-Cold War geopolitical reconfiguration accelerated the process via the 1995, 2004 and 2007 enlargements.

Less than half of Europes citizens turn out for the European Parliamentary election



It is important to note that, as from 1999, successive European Parliamentary elections have distinguished themselves by a lower than 50% turnout. In other words more than half the electorate has voted with its feet. In June 2009, participation fell to 43.08% of registered voters, down by 2.39% from 2004, legitimating the claim by the Touteleurope.fr Web site that : [] this is the worst elected Parliament since the first MEPs were designated by direct universal suffrage. At the 2009 elections, two thirds of the new Member States recorded turnouts below the EU average, including the six lowest scores : Slovenia (28.2%) ; Czech Republic (28.2%) ; Romania (277%) ; Poland (24.5%) ; Lithuania (21.0%) and Slovakia (19.6%).



The May 2014 European Parliamentary election put a halt to the downward trend with a turnout of 43.09%, i.e. an abstention rate of 56.91%. In other words, the European Parliament elected in 2014 is the fourth in a row to have been elected since 1999 by less than half of the registered voters, but for the first time since 1979, without a rise in abstention.



The election was nonetheless marked by a breakthrough for the Eurosceptic, and even Europhobic parties, notably in the UK, Denmark, France and Italy.

III.  and cast a shadow over the eurozone enlargements

Weakened by the crisis, the euro has lost its sheen and finds itself on the horns of several dilemmas.

Sorry, why did you say we needed the euro ?

The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone betrayed a real lack of trust between the members of the zone and the growing shortage of credibility enjoyed by the States and community institutions in the public eye.

The euro had not delivered the promised convergence of the zones economies, in fact engendering perverse effects by enabling the member States to pursue divergent structural and budgetary policies, some taking advantage of the protection afforded by the euro to over-indebt themselves. Consequently, the euro revealed structural divergences between the zones two main economic blocs : the North and the South. For example, the financial markets concern about Spain and Greece was reflected by higher rates for the funding of their public debt.

While the eurozone crisis had economic dimensions, the roots were mainly political. Until these have been addressed in a way that re-establishes the credibility of the members States policies, the litany of economic gadgets will simply add noise to confusion. The bottom line is that, collectively, the participants in the eurozone still do not know why they made the economic and monetary Union... and this is undoubtedly why, since 2005, they have stopped complying with the 1997 rulings (pact of stability and growth). In these conditions, the ensuing crisis in the eurozone was predictable.

Consultant for a French institution, Patrick Allard adds :

The eurozone nations still face an existential challenge : how can they restructure the pact that binds them to the common currency in a way that is realistic and complies with the method used for the construction of Europe, namely the avoidance of federalism ?

Towards a 25-strong eurozone ?

On January 1 2015, Lithuania became the nineteenth member of the eurozone. Thus the three former Baltic Soviet Republics are now members. With the exception of the UK and Denmark, who each have an opt-out clause, and Sweden, who refused to adopt the euro by referendum in 2003, all the EU member states have undertaken by treaty to join the eurozone, including six within a reasonably near future : Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Croatia, which joined the EU on July 1 2013. Enlargement is thus squarely on the agenda  the only problem being an apparent lack of enthusiasm on the part of the countries concerned ! The dates we hear spoken about often lie beyond 2016. Even though these countries are taking their time, while observing how the crisis will unfold, the monetary project remains attractive for the Central and Eastern European nations as, for them, it holds the promise of greater credibility.

They probably under-estimate the price they will have to pay. The adoption of the euro is not just a political choice ; there are innumerable economic consequences. The elimination of risk related to the exchange rate should not cloud the fact that the adoption of the single currency also means forgoing an independent monetary policy and the option to devaluate. Macroeconomic disparities, like differences in levels of indebtedness and competitiveness, can only be corrected by internal devaluation that carries a particularly high social and political cost, as testified by the examples of Spain and Ireland. The eurozone is not, however, an optimal monetary zone ; asymmetrical shocks are scarcely offset by flows of capital or labour : adjustments, as testified by examples that have occurred outside the eurozone and indeed across the Atlantic, namely Sweden and Canada, have been achieved by better governance improving the use of public funds, limiting public debt, dynamising foreign trade and innovation and lowering production-related costs, thereby reducing the tax burden that hampers employment, and reforming social welfare systems. What we are witnessing instead is a reduction of salaries and other income, escalating unemployment, and consequently reduced purchasing power. Furthermore, because of the coordination of the budgetary policies of the eurozone member States, a monetary project comes with a political project, even though the European Central Bank (ECB) can hardly take account of the specific characteristics of each struggling economy.

In this context, enlarging the eurozone weakens it by reducing the probability of the implementation of a veritable political policy based on mechanisms to foster solidarity or a body of standards. For the new economies, the most peripheral and least integrated, this would increase the exposure to asymmetrical shocks and drag the euro back into the storm zone.

Towards institutional divorce ?

Philippe Conde and Frederic Lecoeur posted this analysis of the eurozone dilemma on the Diploweb.com Web site :

Europe is faced by the need to choose between two political projects. The first is that of the Common Market. Its vocation is to open frontiers and encourage trade. The projected free trade treaty between the USA and Europe is a new example. The Cotonou agreement (June 23 2000), with the countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, is another. The project seeks to strike a balance between an internal economic union and an external free-exchange zone, but, a priori is not duty-bound to lie within predefined frontiers. The second project is the eurozone. Initially purely economic, it aims to integrate the different financial systems and coordinate monetary policies. Yet the project needs internal regulation mechanisms to withstand the centripetal effects of integration and counter the resulting imbalances. Without a political project, the eurozone is unstable. With geographical extension making consensus on a political project even more improbable, the eurozone project will necessarily lie within a set of frontiers.



The problem is that the two projects are not distinct, as both are controlled by the EU. Well aware of this, the UK has brandished the threat of a referendum : leaving aside the internal political issues, this decision nonetheless raises the question of how the two projects fit together. For example, the UK is an EU member, but does not directly take part in the eurozone member states Banking Union project, even though it is liable to be hit by fallout from it ; notably as regards its own financial and banking system. So what position should the UK occupy in the framework of the Banking Union ? Should it simply be consulted, like Switzerland  not an EU member  or should it be fully associated with the project, as an EU member ? In other words, should eurozone projects be necessarily pursued with all EU members, taking into account all their interests ; or should we be envisaging an institutional divorce in favour of reinforced cooperation projects for which the other member States are simply consulted, on a par with other European countries like Norway or Switzerland ?



The project to tax financial transactions, within frontiers that do not match those of the two above-mentioned projects, raises questions about the risk of fragmenting the European ideal. A two-speed Europe, a Europe pursuing two projects, perhaps, but most certainly a Europe with a thousand projects and a thousand ideals, is itself, a major political problem.



The idea has been mooted of creating a commission dedicated to the eurozone within the European Parliament. Yet MEPs are supposed to represent European citizens regardless of national distinctions. So how do you legitimate the existence of an entity in which only the eurozone countries are represented ? This sort of partitioning of a democratic institution would be a de facto death knell for European unity.



Maybe it would be better to move towards an institutional divorce between the common market project and that of economic, monetary and political integration. The former could stretch to Turkey and the Balkans and maintain close relations with the US and Norway, whereas the latter could focus on deeper economic and political bonding. However, the second project can only have a chance of completely succeeding if it enjoys the unconditional support of all the participating states, especially those who, by virtue of their stature and history, might act as leaders, namely France and Germany. The current and foreseeable macroeconomic disparities between these two countries are factors of divergence when it comes to defining a joint strategy and are an obstacle to greater solidarity. For example, in the long term, demographic trends differ between the two countries. The German population is ageing and will need to encourage immigration and have a stable currency with which to secure pension payments, while this is not necessarily the case in France.



This institutional separation would nonetheless put an end to the confusion about whether the EU member states are expected to, one day, join the eurozone. Stripped of this ongoing uncertainty about borders and, working on the principle that you need a small team to build a top-down project, the eurozone could become the true continental European project.

One of the collateral effects of the May 2014 European Parliamentary election has been to place the deepening of the eurozone on the European Council agenda, alongside three other major areas : growth and employment ; energy and climate change ; diplomacy and common defence. Whatever the outcome, the convalescence of the eurozone is likely to be a long drawn-out process, hamstrung by atonic economic growth and household consumption.

Over and above the questions about the enlargement of the eurozone, it is the whole of the EU enlargement process that is undermined by political doubt, amplified by the economic crisis. The fact that Brussels does a good impression of a bulldozer advancing inexorably without addressing the questions that preoccupy the man in the street does not help. Quite the contrary.

*

So was 2005 a turning point for European optimism ? The institutional difficulties, the European Councils March 2005 U-turn on the stability pact, the headlong rush into opening negotiations with a country whose nationalism is barely compatible with the EUs supra-nationality, followed by economic crisis, have all created a sense of uncertainty. The EU prided itself on being a model of harmonious regional integration but, in the eye of the storm, it is seen by many European citizens as ill-adapted. Worse, the EU is a source of concern among the worlds geopolitical big hitters for its incapacity to decide and enforce the necessary efforts to rebound. According to P.C. Padoan, the Italian Minister of Finance, in 2014, the European Union is characterised by three criteria : recession, fragmentation and lack of trust between States. French journalist Arnaud Le Parmentier even wrote of a European suicide (Le Monde, October 30). Even the EUs trademark multilateralism finds itself shaken by the return of the major powers, for example on climate change.

The ultimate geopolitical consequences of the different facets of the crisis that began between 2005 and 2008 are anybodys guess, but what is sure is that the EU is now a different animal. Once again, we might add that historical perspective shows that the European construction process has from the outset been subject to vicissitudes and has never ceased to change, if only through the accession of new members.

2 - Europe from Division to Reunification (1947-2004). The Story and the Sub-text



4  The European Union, an Original Multipolar system

Manuscrit clos en 2015.

Gerard-Francois Dumont, Pierre Verluise,  The Geopolitics of Europe. From the Atlantic to the Urals , (translation Alan Fell), Diploweb.com 2016-2017. ISBN : 979-10-92676-09-9.

Copyright 2016-2017-Dumont-Verluise/Diploweb.


6 Columbus restaurants to custom-design, cook your own meals

Several cook-it-yourself restaurants, following long-standing customs in Asia and Europe, have found a place in central Ohio.
A postgraduate Pharmacy student has broadened her horizons and boosted her skills on a "life-changing" #DMUglobal trip to The Gambia.

Baguiasri Mandane was one of a group of students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) who helped build a library, learned more about West African culture and undertook a placement.

She is now promoting the benefits of DMU's international experience programme to her fellow postgraduate students.

Baguiasri said: "Education is not just about learning and passing exams, it's about being a good human and learning to help others on this lifelong journey of self-development.

"The humanitarian work was life changing and I would encourage others to do something similar.

"The highlight of my trip was to see how, even today, we have such wide variations between different countries."

Accompanied by lecturers and Global Hands, a non-profit organisation that aims to tackle global inequality, the students took part in various humanitarian activities, helping to build a library in the village of Manduar.

Baguiasri also spent two days at one of the biggest healthcare facilities in the region, the Faji Kunda Community Hospital in Serrekunda, which at the time had only two doctors available and no pharmacists.

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She said: "I was given an opportunity to help with various clinical tasks in the outpatient clinics, including taking patients' blood pressure measurements.

"It was clear that, despite having few resources, the nurse practitioners were determined to provide the best clinical service for all their patients.

"I was directly able to compare the healthcare facilities in The Gambia to the ones we have here. Having that placement really helped me to appreciate even more what we have.

"I've also grown as a person. I would 100 per cent recommend a #DMUglobal experience to other postgraduate students too."

Baguiasri is now promoting the benefits of #DMUglobal as part of her role as Student Representative Co-ordinator, with a key aim to help improve the overall postgraduate student experience.

She is combining this with studying for the PG Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy (Hospital) and her job as a Clinical Pharmacist at the University of Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust.

Baguiasri landed the role, which includes providing a clinical service to hospital wards and an out-of-hours pharmacy service, after graduating with a First in Pharmacy in summer 2014.

The 25-year-old, who was born in Portugal, said: "I originally chose DMU because of the course structure and opportunities. It really stood out for me.

"I decided to further improve my clinical knowledge and aid my clinical real-life practice by enrolling on the postgraduate course."
Pakistan, which has so far focused its nefarious activities to Jammu and Kashmir, is reported to have set up a high-level committee to reach out to opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi en masse across India to seek support for ''a doable and sustainable'' policy to highlight the Kashmir issue globally. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawas Sharief's advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz announced the formation of the committee in the Senate on Wednesday. The committee will consist of senior officials from the ministries of defence, interior and information, Military Operations Directorate, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB). The committee will reach out to Indians who are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ''extremist policies'', according to a report in the Dawn newspaper. The committee, to be headed by foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, could co-opt other members if required, Aziz said while speaking about the status of the implementation of policy guidelines. He said another committee, chaired by the information secretary, has been formed to prepare fact sheets ''to counter India's propaganda campaign and design a media strategy to continuously highlight the Kashmiri freedom struggle''. This committee also includes representatives from the ministries of defence, foreign affairs and information technology, as well as members of the Military Operations Directorate, ISI and IB. Aziz said that the ministry of information technology has been asked to prepare a comprehensive strategy to highlight the Kashmir issue via social media. He said that ''steps were being taken to highlight Indian interference in Pakistan's internal affairs, as well as its support for subversive activities and human rights violations in held Kashmir'', the report said. Aziz said that steps were already being taken to reach out to segments of the Indian public that were opposed to Modi's extremist policies. ''Our missions abroad, including in New Delhi, are making outreach efforts to emphasise the extremist Indian policies,'' he remarked. On measures to counter India's efforts to isolate Pakistan in the region, Aziz said, Pakistan was doing its utmost to engage the international community, including regional partners. He said Pakistan was supportive of all initiatives for peace and stability in the region, adding that this commitment to regional peace and stability was evident from the decision to participate in the Heart of Asia ministerial conference in Amritsar, despite the postponement of SAARC summit in Islamabad because of India. Pakistan's nuclear doctrine, he said, was clearly spelt out and due restraint was being exercised. ''Pakistan continues to exhibit maturity and statesmanship despite provocative statements by Indian leadership and the continued ceasefire violations across the LoC and working boundary having resulted in civilian casualties,'' he said. He said there was a need for a positive response from India to move forward. While Pakistan always conveyed a desire to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue, India had chosen to attach conditions to the talks, he said.










New Indian Rs500 and Rs2,000 notes not legal tender in Nepal

Nepal has banned the use of the new Indian Rs500 and Rs2,000 notes although Indian currency is widely accepted in Nepal and many people have been facing problems in exchanging the old Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes.

The Nepal Rastra Bank, the country's central bank, on Thursday banned the exchange of India's new Rs500 and Rs2,000 currency notes, saying the new Indian notes cannot be exchanged until the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues a new notification under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Such a notification allows citizens of foreign countries to hold a certain amount in Indian currency, Ramu Poudel, Nepal Rastra Bank's chief for the eastern region, told members of the business community in Biratnagar.

According to him, the new Indian rupees are considered ''illegal'' and cannot be exchanged until new arrangements are made by the Indian side.

''As of now, our understanding with the Reserve Bank of India is that a Nepali citizen can hold up to Indian Rs25,000, ie, the old Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes. Since the fate of those old notes is uncertain, how can these new Indian notes coming into the market be considered as legal?" Poudel asked.

The new Indian notes have entered areas along the border with India and Indian currency is widely accepted in Nepal. But, with people facing problems in exchanging the old Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, Nepal will wait till the RBI intervenes to solve the issue.

Nepal and India are yet to reach an agreement on modalities for the exchange of the withdrawn notes held by Nepalese citizens. Poudel said the two central banks are in close contact to address this issue but no way out has been found as yet.

The Nepal Rastra Bank set up a task force to prepare guidelines for exchanging the withdrawn Indian currency notes. It handed over some guidelines to the Indian side through the Indian embassy of Kathmandu. Officials said the Nepalese side had suggested that authorities could collect the withdrawn Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes from Nepalese citizens and send them to the RBI for verification and exchange into Nepali currency.

Nepal's central bank has also made it clear it will not provide over-the-counter exchange facilities to Nepalese citizens holding the withdrawn Indian currency because it lacks the expertise and technology to identify counterfeit currency.

India, however, is cautious about providing exchange facilities to citizens of a foreign country as it fears it could be misused as '' a clearing house'' to convert counterfeit currency.

The Nepali side also suggested that Nepalese citizens would have to open accounts at banks and financial institutions and deposit the demonetised Indian currency to receive the equivalent amount directly in their accounts.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ''Prachanda'' and finance minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara have already urged their Indian counterparts to arrange exchange facilities for Nepalese citizens.

The Nepal Rastra Bank has said the country's financial system holds Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes worth Indian Rs3.36 crore. This amount includes cash in bank vaults, financial institutions and the central bank. However, the actual amount is believed to be much higher.


European regulator conditionally approves Hapag-Lloyd- United Arab Shipping merger

The European regulator yesterday conditionally approved the merger between German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd AG and the United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).



"Both companies operate in the container liner shipping sector," the European Commission (EC) said in a statement. "The clearance is conditional on the withdrawal of UASC from a consortium on the trade routes between Northern Europe and North America, where the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive constraint."

In June, Hapag-Lloyd agreed to a merger with Dubai's UASC in order to create the world's fifth-largest container shipping line with an estimated value of 8.2 billion. (See: Germany's Hapag-Lloyd to merge with Dubai's United Arab Shipping Company)

UASC is owned by several Middle East sovereign wealth funds, including Qatar Investment Authority, which holds 51 per cent, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holds 36 per cent, while Kuwait and United Arab Emirates hold minority stakes.

Hapag-Lloyd, the world's sixth-biggest container operator, has a fleet of 175 vessels, while UASC is the tenth-biggest, has 55 vessels.

The merged company would have a fleet of around 230 vessels with a capacity of around 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units and hold a 7.4 per cent global market share.

The merged company will join The Alliance of Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, ''K'' Line, MOL, NYK Line and Yang Ming Line, which would have benefitted from UASC's fleet of mega-ships, and increase its competitiveness on major east-west trades.

The Alliance partners include Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., Nippon Yusen KK, South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co. and Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp and Hapag-Lloyd.

The Alliance controls 18 per cent of the world's container shipping fleet with more than 620 vessels and a combined capacity of 3.5 million standard twenty-foot containers, or TEU.

The EC said that like several other carriers, UASC and Hapag-Lloyd offer their services on trade routes mainly through cooperation agreements with other shipping companies, known as "consortia" or "alliances".

Consortia and alliance members decide jointly on capacity setting, scheduling and ports of call, which are all important parameters of competition. The EC said that it examined the effects of the merger on competition in the market for container liner shipping on thirteen trade routes connecting Europe with the Americas, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and West Africa, as well as Northern Europe with the Mediterranean.

The EC found that the merger would have created links on the Northern Europe  North America trade routes between the consortia and alliances in which Hapag-Lloyd is a member and the NEU1 (ex-Pendulum) consortium, in which UASC is a member. As a result, through the consortia and alliances it would belong to, the merged entity could have influenced capacity and prices on a very large part of those markets, to the detriment of customers and, ultimately, consumers.

The EC had concerns that on those routes, the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive constraint from rival companies.

In order to address the EC's concerns, Hapag-Lloyd offered to terminate the participation of UASC in the NEU1 consortium. This will entirely remove the additional link between Hapag-Lloyd's and UASC's consortia, that the transaction would have created on the Northern Europe  North America trade routes.


Indian-Americans hail Nikki Haley as UN envoy

Indian-Americans today hailed the nomination of Nikki Haley as the US envoy to the UN, saying this would further strengthen Indo-US ties under the incoming Trump administration.

Haley, 44, would be the first ever cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, a Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Conventions.

"This is a masterstroke,'' he told PTI. ''Now India has a friend at the highest world body. Maybe in securing India's rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage." Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur.

"She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"It's a proud moment for all Indian-Americans on President-elect Trump's choice of Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haley's appointment - her Indian and Sikh heritage - is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trump's nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet level position, has taken my breath away," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

"Governor Haley has done a tremendous work as South Carolina's first female and Indian American Governor and she will surely succeed as the top diplomat at the United Nations," said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC).

USINPAC has been working with the Trump transition team to make sure that qualified Indian Americans have the opportunity to serve in the Trump administration, Puri said.

Last week, USINPAC had hosted Congressman Lou Barletta, and Matt Keelen, a republican strategist and consultant for the Trump campaign, for a google hangout.

In addition to Haley, Keelen had said Trump is also considering the former Indian-origin governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal for a position in his administration.

Keelen said Trump understood the importance of US-India ties, as the two nations share the same values, face the same issues with terrorist attacks on their soil.
Trump chooses Indian-American Nikki Haley as UN envoy

US president-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa) as United Nations ambassador and has offered the job of education secretary to Betsy DeVos, an advocate for school choice, while the post of housing secretary will go to former political rival Ben Carson.

Haley, 44, the daughter of Indian immigrants -and the first woman to be elected governor of South Carolina, backed two of Trump's opponents during the Republican primary campaign.

Trump's transition office on Wednesday morning announced his plan to nominate her and on a subsequent call with reporters said another Cabinet-level pick could be coming later in the day.

Haley and the president-elect had "a natural chemistry" when they met in the days after the election, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said. "It was a pretty easy pick."

DeVos, 58, has been active in Republican Party politics for decades in her home state of Michigan and in education advocacy. She's chairwoman of the American Federation for Children, which backs vouchers and tax credits to give parents choices for schools. She's on the board of directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

After Trump and vice president-elect Mike Pence met with DeVos in New Jersey on Saturday, their transition office said in a statement that the discussion "was focused on the Common Core mission, and setting higher national standards and promoting the growth of school choice across the nation."

Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who sought the 2016 Republican presidential nomination before becoming an informal adviser to Trump. He's never held elected office. Two people familiar with the matter confirmed to Bloomberg that Trump had offered Carson the job, after Carson said Tuesday on Fox News that it was one of several options he would consider over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone," Carson said in a Facebook posting, adding that "an announcement is forthcoming about my role".

Trump is in Florida for Thanksgiving as he and his team work to fill thousands of administration jobs before his January inauguration. He has already announced his choices for national security adviser, attorney general, and CIA director, while other major posts including secretaries of state, defence and the treasury remain unfilled.

Limited experience

Haley has limited foreign policy experience. The daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, Haley won a seat in South Carolina's House of Representatives in 2004. During her first run for governor, in 2010, she won an endorsement from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. She was re-elected in 2014.

In a statement, Haley said she was accepting Trump's offer out of a "sense of duty".

"When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that's important to heed," she said.

Haley took at least eight trips abroad as governor, including to Germany, Sweden, France, the UK, Japan, Canada, and India, mostly to attend trade shows and seek economic development opportunities in the automotive and aerospace industries, according to the Post and Courier newspaper, which first reported her nomination.

Matthew Rycroft, the UK's ambassador to the UN, praised Haley in a statement on Wednesday.

"She will bring to the UN a strong track record of achievement from South Carolina, and I know that the UK-US relationship will continue to go from strength to strength," Rycroft said.

The governor's national profile rose in 2015, when she had to deal with the aftermath of the killing of nine people at Charleston's historically black Emanuel AME church in a racially motivated attack. A month later, her decision to support legislation ordering the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds won bipartisan praise nationally, though it was more controversial at home.

"That flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future," Haley said. "By removing a symbol that divides us, we can move forward as a state in harmony."

Six months later she again took the national spotlight, delivering the Republican response to President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address.

In the 2016 presidential race, Haley supported Florida Sen Marco Rubio and urged Trump to release his tax returns, a move he has yet to make. After Trump tweeted, "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley," she responded with a tweet of her own to Trump: "Bless your heart." After Rubio dropped out, Haley switched her support to Sen Ted Cruz.

Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, according to her official biography. At 13, her first job was keeping the books for her family's clothing store. She earned a degree in accounting from Clemson University.

Her nomination will require Senate confirmation. As US ambassador to the UN, she would have to champion a Trump foreign policy that has at times been enigmatic if not contradictory. Trump has suggested the US should have a better working relationship with Russia to fight terrorism in Syria, said he might recognize Moscow's annexation of Crimea and warned that Washington might not defend NATO allies who don't "pay their fair share".

She would succeed Samantha Power, who won a Pulitzer Prize for a book citing a moral duty to prevent genocide but had to defend before the world body Obama's reluctance to intervene in Syria's deadly civil war.

Trump last week announced he'd chosen Alabama Sen Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Rep Mike Pompeo of Kansas for Central Intelligence Agency director, and former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn for national security adviser. He's named Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff and campaign chief executive Stephen Bannon, formerly of Breitbart News, as his chief strategist and senior counsellor.


Donegal Town could have a new 1m civic centre in the near future, thanks to the local credit union.

A proposal for the project, which would house the library, Family Resource Centre and Foroige, is being put to members of Donegal Town Credit Union at their Annual General Meeting next Monday night.

The meeting takes place at 8pm in the St John Bosco Centre.

The new building, which would be community-owned, members have been told, would be built in the heart of the town, next to the credit union's new premises which were opened just over a year ago.

Architect Declan McCabe told the Democrat that, although the project is at a very preliminary stage, the new building will cost in excess of 1 million.

This is a significant project, a two and a half storey building with a footprint of around 10,000 sq. ft. Thats approximately twice the footprint of Aldi.

If it goes ahead, it will be done to a high standard. We are looking at a long term sustainable development, in keeping with the quality and specifications of the credit union premises.

The front elevation features an elegant mixture of stone and glass, which will add to the amenities of the area, he continued. The design of the building was inspired by the shape of the Bluestack Mountains, such a stunning feature of the landscape around Donegal Town. By integrating the building into the landscape of Miller's Hill, it will evoke a mountain range.

The building will also house a public cafe and there will be meeting/exhibitions spaces both inside and in front of the premises.

In addition, there while there will be plenty of additional parking off Sene Lane, Mr McCabe stated.

If members vote in favour of the project, a trust will be set up, made up of local people.

The credit union will donate 600,000 toward the cost of buying the site and starting construction. The trust will then borrow, at a special low rate of interest, the rest of the funds needed from the credit union.

Space will then be leased out by Donegal County Council for the library, and Tusla Child and Family agency for the FRC and Foroige. Income from the leases will be used to repay the credit union loan.

The idea is the brainchild of the credit union's CEO, Liam Kelly and Cllrs Tom Conaghan and John Campbell.

The credit union has been in discussions with the county librarian Eileen Burgess, members of Donegal County Council as well Foroige and Donegal Family Resource Centre (FRC).

The credit unions board decided that this was something that was worth pursuing as the Credit Union 50th anniversary is in 2017, the spokesperson explained.

They felt that this was a great way of giving something back to the community and its members who have supported the Credit Union over the 50 years.It is also a strong part of the ethos of the Credit Union.

So far, the response from members has been very positive, with more than 600 putting their signatures to the plan.

The credit unions members will be asked at the AGM for approval to donate 600,000 toward the construction of the building and for the credit union to apply to the Central Bank for permission to finance the project.

This project is for the community and will be owned by the community, the spokesperson emphasises. This is all dependent on us getting final approval from the Central Bank.

If the project goes ahead, the credit union hopes that, as far as possible, all associated works and materials will be provided by local businesses.

Donegal Town Credit Union has grown from humble beginnings in 1967 to being one of the biggest organisations in the town, with a membership of more than 7,300.

In keeping with the credit union ethos, Donegal Town Credit Union is owned and run by its members, with its focus firmly on benefiting the entire community.
The Health Service Executive has been accused of not having a long-term plan for dealing with the overcrowding at Letterkenny University Hospital, after plans were revealed to provide portacabins at the hospital.

The overcrowding has been described as a crisis in recent days by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INO).

The number of patients waiting for beds at Letterkenny University Hospital reached 45 last week and numbers have remained high this week with 31 patients waiting for beds on Tuesday.

Letterkenny councillor Gerry McMonagle said he was very disappointed with the responses he received at the Regional Health Forum meeting in Galway on Tuesday.

Cllr Mc Monagle said it is quite clear that the Saolta Group, that manages the hospital, does not have a long term plan for dealing with the overcrowding situation.

The Sinn Fein councillor said the measures being taken are putting patients and staff at risk.

They are in total denial to what is actually happening across their board area with knee-jerk solutions being implemented by management to get them over the latest crisis, he said.

Its quite clear the model of management they have adopted is failing and putting patients and staff at risk. Their confirmation today that they were looking at providing portacabins as a short term means to address the trolley crisis speaks volumes of the lack of a long term strategy.

This week Fianna Fail councillor Patrick McGowan called for community hospitals to be used to alleviate the pressure in the hospital.

Cllr McMonagle said what is needed to address the crisis is extra long term beds, extra home care packages and increased investment in community hospitals.

The dignity of patients and protection of staff must be paramount. nurses and doctors are working in very difficult circumstances and must be protected. The minister must intervene and see that LUH gets the funding it requires to help it eradicate the crisis that sees patients continually on trolleys and operations being cancelled.
Home Two wheelers This Is What You Get When Austrians Rebuild A German Motorcycle  The BMW K100 Xaver Scrambler oi-Rajkamal

German motorcycle maker BMW Motorrad makes good motorcycles without doubt, but so do the Austrians. Here is one classic example of a classic BMW 1986 BMW K100 LT turned into a scrambler by Titan Motorcycles, a custom motorcycle building firm from Austria.

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My good friend Charlie McCarthy has sent me a timely reminder that the RNLI Lifeboat service are holding their annual Flag Day in North Louth on Saturday December 3 next with collections in Dundalk, Blackrock, Carlingford and Omeath.

I am sure my readers will be very happy to support an excellent cause!

The Dundalk Democrat has always supported the Lifeboat service since it came to the County Louth coast in the wake of the Mary Stoddard disaster in 1858. Some of the reports in the newspaper in the nineteen century are quite stirring to read, as evidenced in the article published in last week's Democrat about the Connemara disaster 100 years ago this month.

The Shipwrecks Inventory of Ireland, compiled by Karl Brady of the Irish Underwater Archaeological Unit, is another great source of information about shipwrecks off the coast of Louth and Meath. In it I spotted an entry about a forgotten shipwreck in Dundalk Bay at this time of year in 1875. Strangely the story seems to have remarkable similarities to the wrecking of the Mary Stoddard 27 years earlier except that, on this occasion, only two lives were lost, compared to 11 who died in April 1858. The rescue of the Captain and six crew of a sailing vessel called the William Nelson seems to have been greatly assisted by the availability of steam tug belonging to the Dundalk Harbour Commissioners. Sadly, however, the Captain's wife and another member of the crew were lost.

The entry in Shipwreck Inventory reveals the vessel was a 10 year old brigantine, built in Canada, registered at Dundalk Port and owned by two Dundalk businessmen, J. Oakes and T. Williamson. She was carrying a 318/400 ton cargo of coal from Troon in Scotland to Dundalk on November 13 when stuck by South East force 8 gale (this was a Fresh Gale on the Beaufort scale, with winds up to 50 m.p.h., the wind at the time of the Mary Stoddard wreck was stated to have reached Foce 12). The Inventory report states ---

'Failed to get pilot, Master navigated into harbour, struck the Bar, anchored in dangerous berth. Anchors failed, driven ashore near Blackrock. Vessel filled quickly. Crew and Master's wife took to the rigging. Master's wife and one crewman washed away. Dundalk steam tug Michael Kelly rescued remaining crew. Vessel became a total wreck.'

The Master was called Owen Jones but I have been unable to find out if he or his wife had any connection with Dundalk. Women did not usually travel on cargo vessels in the nineteenth century but, apparently, this did not apply to the captain's wife and there are many reports of young women travelling with their husbands, even if they were pregnant.

An interesting addition to the report states  'Some material, anchors, ropes and chains, auctioned in 1876.' There is no mention of the cargo of coal but I understand that quite a lot of this fuel was salvaged from Dundalk Bay, much of it washed up on the shore.

On this day

On this day, Friday November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated shortly after noon in Dallas, Texas. An event that changed world history!

We did not get to hear about it in Dundalk until around 7 pm G.M.T. (a couple of hours after the event), but even this was pretty quick compared to the spread of news only a year earlier because of the advent of satellite television in July 1962.
There was widespread shock in Dundalk last weekend at the sudden passing of local Labour representative Vanessa Ryan at the age of just 34.

The young mother of three from Fr. Murray Park in the town died suddenly on Friday evening at her home.

The daughter of former local councillor Jim Ryan, Vanessa had just last week been announced by the Labour Party as one of their Local Area Representatives for the Dundalk/North Louth area.

Vanessa was described by friend and colleague Senator Mary Moran as a dotting mother who adored her two children Isabella and Ayda.

"She was one of the most genuine, kind hearted people that I have ever met," Senator Moran told the Dundalk Democrat. "She was a very, very good friend. She was extremely popular with everybody and every age group, and she will be missed dreadfully by the whole community.

"She was extremely talented in everything she did. My heart goes out to her two beautiful wee girls, Isabella and Ayda; and her mum and her sister and two brothers. "She was someone who you could always talk. I just felt numb when I heard it. I just thought 'no', it couldn't be. It goes to show just how fragile life is.

"I taught her and her sister. I was delighted when she came back to Dundalk there a few years. She was a great friend and help to me.

"Vanessa was brilliant in the radio station (Dundalk FM). She always had time for the younger ones. She took my own little fellow in on Christmas eve and they did a gorgeous programme.

"She absolutely idolised her two girls. Her whole life revolved around those two wee girls and her parents and siblings. She really had a bright future ahead of her."

Senator Gerald Nash described Vanessa's passing as a 'dreadful tragedy'.

"I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the Ryan family on the sad and tragic passing of Vanessa.

"In recent times, Vanessa became a valued and committed member of the Labour team in Louth. Just last week, she was appointed as our Local Area Representative for the Dundalk-Carlingford Electoral Area.

"On a visit to Dundalk, Brendan Howlin, at Vanessas request, met with residents of OHanlon Park and Father Murray Park to discuss issues of concern with them. It was clear to all of us present that Vanessa was committed to making her community a better place. She had the same love for her community and passion for social justice, equality and fairness which was exemplified by her dad Jim on Dundalk Town Council and Louth County Council and throughout his life.

"It was an honour and privilege to call Vanessa a friend and colleague, and our hearts go out to her Dad and Mam Jim and Ann, her two beautiful girls Isabella and Ayda, her sister Carol, brothers John and Stephen and everyone whos lives she has touched."

Dundalk FM paid tribute to an esteemed employee and colleague.

Vanessa joined Dundalk FM as a volunteer in 2003 and presented a weekly programme entitled 'Time Detectives' each Saturday lunchtime at 12pm. Vanessa joined the station as Advertising Manager in June 2015.

Her value as a friend among her colleagues was obvious to all and the staff were heartbroken when they heard of her unexpected passing. Vanessa had also contributed many hours as a researcher for well documented articles from an early age.

Her education shone through like a beacon and any project she was associated with was flawless , indeed such was her professionalism and pursuit of excellence that many projects were enhanced greatly by her contributions as a researcher , producer or presenter.

She had an excellent rapport with the many constituents served by Dundalk F.M including clients, Directors , Volunteers other staff members and also with all our listeners.

While we here in Dundalk F.M will miss her presence terribly her family will have to continue on without that smiling face greeting them on a daily basis.

She is survived by her daughters , Isabella and Ayda , her parents Jim and Ann, sister Carol, brothers John and partner Ciara and Stephen and partner Stephanie, husband Florian, mother-in-law Myrian, father-in-law Didier, brother-in-law Stephen, nieces Rosie and Phoebe, aunts, uncles, relatives and friends.
Crash & Burn, which tells the story of Dundalk-born Tommy Byrne, will have a Formula 3 race car present for its Dundalk Premiere, at the Omniplex Cinema Dundalk on December 1st. The Dundalk Premiere of Crash and Burn will take place at 7pm on Thursday December 1st at the Omniplex Cinema Dundalk, with arrivals from 6.30pm. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Tommy Byrne.

The motor racing equivalent of George Best and Muhammad Ali all rolled into one, Tommy Byrne went from driving a Mini Cooper in stock-car racing to the big-time in Formula One in a little over four years and was a serious rival of Ayrton Senna.

Eddie Jordan the former team-owner, who worked with both Senna and Michael Schumacher has said: Forget Schumacher and Senna. Tommy Byrne was the best of them all.

Tommys rise was meteoric and his fall spectacular. He was a cocky, aggressive driver from humble roots and the F1 glitterati simply didn't like the mix. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Sean O Cualain, the documentary shines a light on one of professional racings most dashing and charismatic talents and a glittering career that was doomed before it ever began. It is the story of the greatest F1 driver never to emerge.

Crash and Burn shines a light on one of professional racings most dashing and charismatic talents and a glittering career that was doomed before it ever began. It is the story of the greatest F1 driver youve probably never heard of.

Crash & Burn (cert 15a), released by Wildcard Distribution, will go full throttle in cinemas on December 2nd.

The film was produced by David Burke of Dot TV & Film with funding from the Irish Film Board, RTE and BBC Northern Ireland.
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A Dutch delegation led by Prime minister Mark Rutte officially opened the outfall pumping station of the new constructed Banger polder in Semarang, Indonesia.

The Banger polder protects 84.000 people in the low lying parts of the city from the regular floods.

The ceremony took place on 23 November and was also attended by Indonesian Minister Mochamad Basoeki Hadimoeljono of Public works and housing, Mayor Hendrar Prihadi of Semarang, Dutch Minister Melanie Schultz-Van Haegen of Infrastructure and the Environment and representative of the Dutch Regional water authorities Hans Oosters.

Impression of the whole complex with the drainage channel (left), storage facility, pumping station and outfall channel (right) to the sea.

Banger polder

Dutch regional water authority Schieland and the Krimpenerwaard and the city of Semarang has spent the last nine years to realize a 570 ha polder at the mouth of the Banger river with a drainage channel and an outfall pumping station.

The reason for the Dutch-Indonesian cooperation is the regular flooding in the low-lying districts of Semarang on the island of Java.

Polder board

The cooperation also included the assistance in setting up a polder board based on the Dutch model. This includes the collection of a small fee for the maintenance of the infrastructure. The board is also tasked to keep the drainage canals clean from garbage.

The board consists of eight people, including three residents of the area, three professors and two people from the government.

The technical design was done by Dutch consultancy firm Witteveen + Bos, financed by the Dutch programme Partners for Water.

The institutional part of the project was managed by Regional Water authority Schieland and the Krimpenerwaard and was financed by VNG international and the NWB-Waterfund.

This news item is based on an original publication on the website of the Dutch Water Authorities (Dutch only).

Read also on this website

 Royal HaskoningDHV signs contracts for development new Kuala Tanjung port, Indonesia, 23 November 2016

 Wetlands International reports first sediment build-up behind permeable coastal dam on Java, Indonesia, 3 March 2016

 Country: Indonesia

 Project: Banger Pilot Polder Semarang



More information

Dutch Water Authorities

The Hague, the Netherlands

+31 70 351 97 51

www.dutchwaterauthorities.com

Badan Pengelola Polder Banger

Semarang, Indonesia

+62 24 3569033

www.bpp-sima.org

Witteveen+Bos

Deventer, the Netherlands

+31 570 69 79 11

www.witteveenbos.com

Report of the ceremony by Indonesian news station Tribun Jateng.


Driver charged after chase

A 20-year-old Omaha man led several law enforcement agencies on a high-speed chase Tuesday morning before he was apprehended in Madison County.

Columbus Police started tailing the 1999 Volkswagen Cabrio convertible driven by Francisco Moreno around 9:15 a.m. after receiving a traffic complaint about the reckless motorist traveling along U.S. Highway 30.

Moreno led local police on a pursuit along 23rd Street through Columbus before pushing the accelerator to more than 100 mph on U.S. Highway 81 northwest of the city. The local officers ended their pursuit before reaching the Loup Canal bridge.

A Madison County Sheriffs deputy spotted the speeding two-door convertible along Highway 81 south of Madison a short time later and attempted to pull the driver over. Another pursuit ensued, reaching speeds of 95 mph before the deputy ended the chase near Norfolk.

The Norfolk Police Department shut down busy intersections as the Volkswagen continued through that city, and the Nebraska State Patrol joined the effort to stop Moreno.

He was finally taken into custody just north of Norfolk and charged with flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving and possession of a controlled substance.

Detention Center

The inmate count at the Platte County Detention Facility today is 83, with 50 from Platte County and 33 from out of county.

Police

June 15

Time unavailable  At 1305 Eighth St., No. 309, Benjamin King, 20, 1305 Eighth St., No. 309, was cited for first-degree sexual assault and enticement by electronic communications device.

July 8

Time unavailable  At 304 23rd St., Jessica Smith, 29, 110 42nd Road, No. 1, was cited for theft by deception.

Nov. 6

2:35 a.m.  In the 6100 block of Lost Creek Parkway, Andrew Rosno, 28, 26172 190th St., was cited for flight to avoid arrest and willful reckless driving.

Nov. 15

1:48 p.m.  At the intersection of 15th Street and 17th Avenue, Flora Mendez, 36, 3082 E. 26th St., was cited for speeding, 43 mph in a 30 mph zone, and no operators license on person.

Nov. 18

7:25 p.m.  At the intersection of East Third Avenue and East 23rd Street, Benancio Davalos, 45, 862 26th Ave., was cited for failure to maintain control.

Nov. 19

2:40 p.m.  In the 3100 block of 13th Street, Tyler Emerson, 20, 2415 18th St., was cited for negligent driving and no proof of ownership.

9:43 p.m.  At 3105 Seventh St., Pedro Luna, 19, 371 22nd Ave., was cited for a protection order violation.

Nov. 21

11:30 a.m.  In the 4200 block of Wilderness Road, traffic accident. Couch debris fell out of a vehicle driven by Chase Lambert, 27, 3308 87th St., and struck a vehicle driven by Angela Swanson, 33, 3407 50th St.

Nov. 22

12:42 p.m.  Theft at Caseys General Store, 3821 Howard Blvd., gas drive-off, $16.28 loss.

4:23 p.m.  Theft at Hy-Vee, 3010 23rd St., groceries stolen, $230 loss.

Sheriff

Nov. 22

10:50 a.m.  Wanted person at 3309 Brunken St., No. 1, Cody Korth of Columbus jailed on a Platte County warrant.

Fire

Nov. 21

9:05 a.m.  In the 2000 block of 25th Street, medical.

11:26 a.m.  In the 3300 block of 23rd Street, medical.

12:06 p.m.  In the 4000 block of 38th Street, medical.

Nov. 22

3:34 a.m.  In the 3800 block of 25th Street, medical.

7:48 a.m.  In the 100 block of S Road, no transport.

12:46 p.m.  In the 4500 block of 38th Street, medical.
102 million loan for municipality of Amman

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting Jordan as the continuing influx of refugees from Syria is putting a massive strain on the countrys resources.

A 102 million loan to the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) will finance solid waste infrastructure that is urgently needed in the countrys capital. The loan will be provided in two tranches and will include the refinancing of existing debt as well as financing for the most pressing investment needs, given the rapidly increasing volume of waste.

A 5 million investment grant from the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) will co-finance the first committed tranche, worth 50 million. The second uncommitted instalment of up to 50 million is expected to be supplemented by an additional amount of up to 50 million co-financed by several donors including DFID, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and others.

Jordan hosts around 1.3 million refugees from Syria who have fled their homes, of whom more than 400,000 are living in Amman alone. This is creating enormous pressure on municipal services in Jordans capital. The EBRD financing will increase the capacity of the city and the municipality to address the most urgent needs as well as to strengthen long-term resilience.

Development of solid waste infrastructure is urgently required to address a 25 per cent increase in the levels of waste generation. This modernisation will lead to improved services and reduce the environmental and social impact of a sharp rise in the number of people living in and around Amman.

The financing is linked to a comprehensive programme to reform the solid waste sector in the city, with a focus on increasing its operational and financial sustainability and its efficiency. The project will be complemented by a comprehensive technical cooperation package to support GAM in further enhancing its financial management capacity and auditing skills and ensuring successful procurement and implementation of the investment components.

EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said: We are very pleased to partner once again with the city authorities of Amman. Our target is to strengthen the city in the face of a serious challenge. Jordan is highly exposed to a huge humanitarian crisis, which has an impact on the country. In this situation it is imperative that the international community supports Jordan as it deals with the consequences of the crisis.

Akel Biltaji, Mayor of Greater Amman Municipality, commented: We are planning to develop with the EBRD a sustainable and eco-friendly plan to enhance our response to the refugee crisis. This will also include the creation of jobs for the whole population and make Amman an inclusive city that cares about the environment.

In 2015, the EBRD provided a US$ 18 million loan to the Greater Amman Municipality to help manage solid waste, generate electricity and reduce CO 2 emissions, all of which have substantial environmental impacts.

Jordan became an EBRD shareholder in 2012 and to date the Bank has committed US$ 738 million across 32 projects in various sectors of the economy, in addition to US$ 120 million of trade facilitation credit lines with local banks.

The EBRDs strategic plan for the period 2016-18 has three priorities: strengthening economic resilience, addressing global challenges and supporting regional integration. In the context of the EBRDs focus on Green Economy Transition since late 2015, the Bank expects to more than triple the volume of renewable energy financed in Jordan in the near future.
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COLUMBUS  Pushing a tray full of freshly cooked stuffing aside, Dawn Purdy pulled out two turkey breasts.

She sliced open the plastic wrapping and removed the string netting on the meat, getting it ready to pop in the oven. Purdy was going to have to wait a few moments until another dish was finished cooking.

The delay wasnt going to throw Purdy off course, though. She completed plenty of prep work, whipping up green bean casserole and stuffing ahead of time to fulfill orders for pre-made Thanksgiving dinners.

Its getting down to the wire, said Purdy, the deli manager at Super Saver.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, a time that's always busy for grocery stores with a steady stream of customers making purchases for their own holiday cooking. The deli workers at Super Saver were not only getting ready for the afternoon rush of customers stopping by to purchase lunch on Wednesday, but also preparing carryout boxes for Thanksgiving.

Purdy said there are 15 orders for Thanksgiving meals this year, the most shes had to make in her three years at the store.

Stacked on top of each other in the kitchen were empty boxes that would soon be full of cooked turkey or ham, rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing.

Something similar was taking place at Hy-Vee, but on a much larger scale. That store expected to prepare 80-100 meals.

Its a little bit more than last year, said Ernie Menchaca, kitchen manager. It just continues to grow and grow the more exposure it gets.

The packages are designed to feed four to 20 people and contain meat like turkey, ham or prime rib and a choice of 15 different side dishes, from the traditional sweet potatoes to quinoa.

Meal preparation starts three days in advance. It can be a whirlwind of activity leading up to the holiday, making the dinners and tending to other kitchen duties, including a Community Thanksgiving Day meal at the store sponsored by Hy-Vee, Columbus Rescue Mission and other businesses.

Menchaca said the pre-ordered meal service is popular because it's convenient and gives families more time to spend together on the holiday rather than cooking.

Calls come in each year from people living in other states wanting to purchase pre-made dinners for their loved ones.

Its bringing families together. We get calls from Florida, from California, and they want to pay for their familys meal because they cant be here, Menchaca said.
Sophia Wilansky, a water protector from New York, was seriously injured and could lose her left arm following Sunday evenings standoff with police over the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

According to a GoFundMe page launched on her behalf, the 21-year-old was handing out bottles of water to fellow protestors when she was allegedly shot with a concussion grenade by authorities.

This was the response of police and DAPL mercenaries as she and other brave protectors attempted to hold the line against the black snake in service of protecting our water, the GoFundMe description states.

Medical Fund for Sophia Wilansky GoFundMe

Photos of Wilanskys graphic injury have surfaced on social media. She was one of the hundreds who were injured at the Standing Rock encampments on Sunday. Eyewitnesses say that law enforcement used tear gas, pepper spray, a Long Range Acoustic Device, stinger grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons to blast away pipeline protestors in freezing temperatures.

In a statement, the Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council has called Sundays clash a mass casualty incident with approximately 300 injuries identified, triaged, assessed and treated by our physicians, nurses, paramedics and integrative healers working in collaboration with local emergency response.

The council says the 300 injuries were the direct result of excessive force by police over the course of 10 hours and at least 26 people were taken to three area hospitals, with many patients needing treatment for hypothermia.

According to the council, the injured people include:

 An elder who lost consciousness and was revived on scene

 A young man with a grand mal seizure

 A woman shot in the face by a rubber bullet with subsequent eye injury and compromised vision

 A young man with internal bleeding who was vomiting blood after a rubber bullet injury to his abdomen

 A man shot in the back near his spine by a rubber bullet causing blunt force trauma and a severe head laceration

 Multiple fractures secondary to projectiles fired by police

The council has condemned the excessive police violence and has urged law enforcement to cease and desist these nearly lethal actions and specifically the use of water cannons in subfreezing temperatures.

But at a press conference on Monday, officials defended their use of fire hoses against a crowd of 400 protesters.

Some of the water was used to repel some of the protest activities that were occurring, and it was used at a time where they were aggressive towards the officers, said Morton County sheriff, Kyle Kirchmeier.

Wilansky was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis and underwent extensive surgery from injuries sustained from the blast on Monday.

The best-case scenario is no pain and 10-20 percent functionality, Sophias father, Wayne Wilansky, told the Guardian, adding that arteries, medial nerve, muscle and bone in her arm had been blown away.

She will require additional surgery and may have to have her arm amputated. Shes devastated. She looks at her arm and she cries, he said.

However, spokeswoman Maxine Herr of the Morton County Sheriffs Department denies accusations that local authorities used concussion grenades during the protest.

It wasnt from our law enforcement, because we didnt deploy anything that should have caused that type of damage to her arm, Herr told the Los Angeles Times.

She said that medics first encountered Wilansky at a casino near the protests and suggested her injury might have been sustained while protesters were rigging up their own explosives to be thrown at police.

The only explosion the officers heard was on the protesters side, Herr said.

Wilansky is part of the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice. She left New York City several weeks ago to join her fellow Water Protectors at Standing Rock, North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux and their supporters say the $3.8 billion, 1,100-mile pipeline which crosses the Missouri River and sacred sites threatens their access to clean water and violates Native American treaty rights. Protests against the construction of the pipeline have been ongoingand escalating in violencesince April. Heavily armed authorities from various states have descended upon the protest sites.

Online donations have been pouring in following news of Wilanskys horrific injury. Roughly 5,000 people have already donated about $135,000 for her medical funds in 12 hours. The goal is to raise $180,000.

Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance, her GoFundMe page states. Please consider donating to help pay for her treatment. We must to support our comrades when they need us the most. She needs all of us right now. After all she is our family. #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife.
By Clara Chaisson

Since April, thousands of demonstrators have been camping out at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. These peaceful water protectorsrepresenting more than 200 Native-American tribes, plus many nonnative alliesare demanding a halt to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatens the water and sacred land of the Standing Rock Sioux. Tensions are escalatingon the night of Nov. 20, North Dakota law enforcement deployed water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets against the unarmed group in subfreezing temperatures.

On a hill above the Sacred Stone camp, a metal and concrete statue of a seated man surveys it allthe camp, the rivers, the impending construction, the often intense conflicthis expression calm but resolute. Not Afraid to Look, completed in October, is the work of Charles Rencountre, a Lakota artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Originally from South Dakota, Rencountre got his start as an artist 30 years ago by teaching himself to carve traditional, effigy-style Lakota pipes, as his grandfather did before him. Today Rencountre still focuses on effigies, though on a different scale, transforming the tiny carvings his ancestors made into monumental sculptures.

Friends of Not Afraid to Look

The statue at Standing Rock is based on one such effigy, a mid-19th-century Lakota pipe titled Not Afraid to Look the Whiteman in the Face. The piece features a bowl shaped like a white mans head; on the stem, an American Indian man sits looking directly at him. The pipe was made during a time of intense conflict between indigenous tribes and the U.S. government.

It was a really difficult time for our people. Wed pretty much lost everything we knew, Rencountre said. Some man out there in that world, that reality, was carving a pipeit was a political piece that was saying, Were not afraid.'

The Dakota Access Pipeline represents a modern-day threat to native rights. If completed, the $3.7 billion pipeline would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil every day across four states from North Dakotas Bakken region to a production facility in Illinois. Its path threatens sacred American Indian sites, including ancient burial grounds and the rivers confluence, and endangers the Standing Rock Siouxs primary source of drinking water, Lake Oahe.

When Rencountre saw the movement happening at Standing Rock, he knew Not Afraid to Look belonged there. Seeing that so many native tribes from across the nation had shown up at Standing Rock to support these folks that were protesting the pipeline  That was extremely powerful to me, he said. Rencountre and his wife, fellow artist Alicia Marie Rencountre-Da Silva, decided to retain just the first half of the namesake pipes title to reflect the more diverse nature of todays many environmental threats.

Rencountre and Da Silva are interested in creating art that builds community and this piece was no exception. Many at the Sacred Stone Camp pitched in, lending a hand with their carpentry and welding skills. With their help, Rencountre spent 30 days working from sunup to sundown.

Friends of Not Afraid to Look

This isnt the first time Rencountre has sculpted Not Afraid to Look. Another version of the statue sits outside the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The husband-and-wife team envisions Not Afraid to Look becoming a symbol of strength for people fighting to protect natural resources around the world.

On Nov. 14, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted construction of the pipeline pending further environmental review and consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. The CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of the Dakota Access Pipeline, however, then stated: If [protesters] want to stick around and continue doing what theyre doing, great, but were building the pipeline.

Whatever happens next, Not Afraid to Look will be there for years to come as a concrete symbol of peoples power to stare down injustice.

Reposted with permission from our media associate onEarth.
By Nika Knight

President-elect Donald Trump plans to entirely eliminate all climate research at NASA, a move that climate scientists warn will send us back to the dark ages. Trump instead plans to devote more funds toward exploring deep space.

NASA launched its Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, project in 2002. It was designed to gauge global temperatures, greenhouse gases and cloud cover. Creative Commons

The proposal to totally eliminate climate research falls in line with previous GOP efforts to gut NASAs Earth sciences program, and takes those attempts even further. In 2015 and earlier this year, Republican members of Congress also sought deep cuts to climate research while favoring space exploration in its stead, as Common Dreams reported.

It also lends credence to the charge that Trumps apparent reversal of his anti-climate statements in a recent New York Times interview was nothing but a bunch of empty rhetoric.

The Guardian reports on this latest move:

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for NASA to do what he has previously described as politically correct environmental monitoring.

We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research, Walker told the Guardian. Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.

My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing NASA programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr. Trumps decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.

Scrapping NASAs Earth sciences program could put us back into the dark ages of almost the pre-satellite era. It would be extremely short sighted, Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told the Guardian.

Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, also commented to the newspaper: Without the support of NASA, not only the U.S. but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change.

The gutting of the climate program, which expanded under President Barack Obama, appears unfortunately likely to pass, observes Scientific American:

Now set to hold majorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans appear likely to support forthcoming Trump administration proposals to pare back NASAs Earth science budget, which grew by some 50 percent under the Obama administration. That boost, which gave Earth science the lions share of NASAs science funding, has sustained a growing fleet of satellites that collect data demonstrating climate changes reality: rising surface temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions, retreating glaciers and ice sheets, and shifting patterns of rainfall and vegetation growth, to name a few.

Earth sciences preferred growth under Obamathe fact that it has grown over all of NASAs other sciencehas created a big political target on its back and validated, in a sense, Republican interpretations of its partisan nature, says Casey Dreier, director of space policy for The Planetary Society. And this is taking place in a new political dynamic of strong, near-universal condemnation and skepticism of climate change by the Republican Party, without a Democratic president and key members of Congress that used to push back. Thats a bad double whammy for Earth science.

And its not only American scientists who are deeply concerned by Trumps proposed cuts.

While deep space exploration enables us to have big dreams, understanding planet earth enables us to live better lives and actually save lives, Malte Meinshausen, director of the Climate & Energy College at Melbourne University, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The NASA Aqua satellite now delivers unprecedented detail about the water cycle, and the patterns of carbon-dioxide concentrations. Those satellites are what the X-ray instrument is in any hospitalvital to our understanding where the patient planet Earth is sick and what the root causes are, Meinshausan noted.

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, also told the Sydney Morning Herald that slashing the NASA program would be a shockingly stupid move that would deal a very severe blow to global research on environmental change across the world.

Stopping all funding would, for instance, mean abandoning satellites that monitor the Earths surface, Ward said, and would be an enormous waste of billions of dollars of scientific research.

But Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist and the head of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies, believes that Trump wont be able to fulfill his promise to make such drastic cuts. The federal bureaucracys size and complexity makes it impossible to change course so swiftly and radically, Schmidt argues.

When I first started working for the federal government I got frustrated, Schmidt toldBusiness Insider, like why are we stuck in this pattern? Why are decisions that are made so difficult to reverse? Why is it so hard to shift anything? And its hard because theres a lot of people and theres a lot of moving parts and theres a huge amount of money. But now Im thinking, Oh, you know what, its a good thing that that things cant be changed on a dime.'

Chopping off science just to prevent people from talking about climate change wont work, Schmidt also noted. You need science for hazards, for weather forecasting, and climate comes along for the ride.

During the [George W.] Bush administration we had climate skeptics rewriting reports and trying to control whats said to the media, the climate scientist added. But the planet kept warming. We kept reporting on it. We kept improving the science that underlies our understanding of why its changing. And we will work to continue to do so.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
European Investment Bank (EIB) funding for the Italian Government's programme for safety and modernisation in schools will be increased by 50%. In addition to the EUR 940m already allocated in 2015, a further EUR 530m will be provided by virtue of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Rome this morning by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) Minister Stefania Giannini, EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco and Fabio Gallia, CEO of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Cdp), the institution responsible for directing the EIB funds to local authorities. The Memorandum was signed on the first National School Safety Day mandated by the Buona Scuola (Good School) law.

The loan will cover restructuring operations, compliance with safety and seismic standards, energy efficiency and the construction of new school buildings. The funds will be provided to municipalities, provinces and metropolitan cities on the basis of priority rank by the Regions. Depreciation costs will be borne by the State and, thanks to new disbursement arrangements, the beneficiaries will be able to use the funds without impacting their internal stability pact.
To the editor:

Lions Clubs International will be 100 years old next year. Today, there are over 1.4 million members in over 200 countries and geographic areas. LCIs vision is To be the global leader in community and humanitarian service.

The Columbus Noon Lions is 50 members strong and has been serving the community for over 95 years. Just in the past couple of months, they have assisted Keep Columbus Beautiful with the Electronics Collection Event, cleaned litter from a 2-mile stretch of the Lost Creek Parkway, hosted the Nebraska Lions Foundation Mobile Screening Unit for the City of Columbus employees health fair, assisted Hy-Vee in serving a free breakfast to approximately 450 veterans on Veterans Day, recognized area youth as Lion Students of the Month, and provided a free marshmallow roast during the Columbus Holiday Downtown Stroll.

The Lions are reaching out to anyone interested in helping make our community and world a better place. If you are interested in becoming a Lion, contact one of the following Lions: Cal Riley, Jean Karnik, Sandie Fischer or Bob Arp.

The Lions motto is We Serve.

Bob Arp

Columbus
Mount Murray roofer found guilty of health and safety breach



The Mount Murray Hotel was devastated by the fire in 2013.

A roofer from Santon has been found guilty of breaching health and safety laws resulting in the fire at the Mount Murray Hotel in 2013.

64-year-old Roy Cross was working on the now-closed facility when it caught fire three years ago, resulting in half of the hotel being destroyed.

The trial, which got underway last week, heard Cross used a blow torch in a bid to dry out damp roof timbers while replacing leadwork,resulting in the fire.

The defence claimed the tiles were flammable, but tests showed they would not have caught alight after 10 minutes under a blowlamp.

The jury took two hours to return guilty verdicts on all three counts of breaching health and safety legislation.

Deemster Main-Thompson warned Cross he could be facing a custodial sentence when he returns to court for sentencing in the New Year.
Abortion reform group wants new Down's syndrome test scrapped

A group campaigning for changes to the Island's abortion law is backing calls for new prenatal tests for Down's syndrome not to be introduced on the Island.

Disability rights activists on the Island and British group Don't Screen Us Out have both appealed for Health Minister Kate Beecroft to rethink the decision to bring in non-invasive prenatal testing.

The Humanity and Equality in Abortion Reform campaign believes the new tests will result in more abortions and a 13% drop in the population of people with Down's syndrome.

HEAR also claims more prenatal testing will lead to an increase in pressure on pregnant women.

One UK study claims up to 90% of pregnancies where Down's syndrome is detected end in terminations.

The test, which is expected to be rolled out in 2018, carries a lower risk of miscarriage than the current procedure.
This Thursday is Thanksgiving, the holiday each year where we honor tradition and family togetherness by sitting down to big dinners and being thankful for the things we have in our lives.

Because the day is a holiday, several businesses, offices, and other places may have altered hours as a result. Below is a list of expected hours for various places:

OPEN:



National Parks: This varies by location, with some potentially being open on the holiday, but others are expected to be closed. For example, Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim will be open, as it is every day of the year, but the North Rim is closed. Visit your specific park's website to learn what their operating hours may be.

Private Businesses: Check with local establishments to see what hours they may have. Some may be closed entirely, operate on a normal schedule, or may have reduced hours.

Restaurants: Some chain restaurants will be closed, while others will operate with either normal or reduced hours. Ones that may be open include Applebee's, Bob Evans, Buca Di Beppo and Cracker Barrel, but hours may vary at individual locations.

Retail Stores: Some establishments will be open with Thanksgiving hours during the day, like pharmacies, dollar stores, Kmart and grocery stores. Major retail establishments like Walmart, Target, Kohl's and Macy's are going to remain closed until later at night, when they open for Black Friday sales. See when each individual place is opening here.

Transportation Services: While transportation services should be open, the levels of service may be altered to reflect a holiday schedule. Check locally, but some of the more major transit services across the U.S. have the following schedules:

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA): From Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, there will be modified bus and rail service.

Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA): Red, Orange, Blue, Green B C D E and Silver Line Subways, all Commuter Rail lines, all Bus Routes and THE RIDE will operate on a Sunday Schedule on Thanksgiving Day. F1 Hingham, F2H Hull, and F4 Charlestown Service boats will not operate.

Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA): New York City Subways and Buses will operate on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving Day, and the Staten Island Railway will operate on a Saturday schedule. Both Metro-North and LIRR trains will provide extra inbound service to the city for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and extra outbound service after it ends, but the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines of Metro-North will operate on a regular holiday weekend schedule.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA): MetroRail and MetroBus will operate on a Sunday schedule

CLOSED:



Banks: Most, it not all banks are expected to be closed, though you should check with your specific financial institution to be sure

Courts: State and local courts are closed

Department of Motor Vehicles: All DMV offices are closed

Federal Offices: All federal offices (like IRS etc.) are closed

Libraries: Check with your local establishment, but all are expected to be closed

Municipal Offices: Municipal offices are expected to be closed

Post Office: All U.S. Post Offices are closed, and mail service is suspended for the day

Sanitation Department: Sanitation services and garbage collection is suspended

Schools: All schools are closed

State Offices: State offices are closed

U.S. Stock Market: Financial markets are closed
Samsung is doing what it can do to surpass the loss it had faced due to the failure of recall Galaxy Note 7. The South Korean Tech giant has already made much impact over the smartphone market with its Galaxy S7. Now the company is getting ready to bring a glossy edition of the same. As per reports, this edition will be much glossier than its existing black version.

According to cnet, Samsung's upcoming contribution can turn out to be a potential competition to the Jet Black and Matte Black model of Apple's iPhone 7 line up. Some earlier reports even suggested that Apple was planning to launch a 'Jet White' model to give a tough race to Samsung's magnetic Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

But the rumors now seem to lack verification as there are no signs of any such announcement declared or hinted by Apple's end. However, Samsung's approach to the new glossy concept of Galaxy S7 seems to be much relevant as many potential sources indicate the same thing. There are fair chances of Samsung's launching the new edition by the beiginning of December this year.

As per a report by Indian Express, the sales of Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus has abruptly gone down currently. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that iPhone 7 saw an unimaginable sales segment during the time of its launch and a month after that. But currently the smartphone's demand has fallen down.

Therefore, this can be a great opportunity for Samsung to grab up the craze with its upcoming glossy variant. The new variant is said to be glossier than any other versions of Samsung's smartphones. However, Samsung has not clarified anything whether this version will have any advanced specifications or not. Interested buyers need to wait to for a while till any more information revealed from the company's end about this masterpiece.
The Earth is considered as the only planet in the solar system that is capable of nurturing life. However, astronomers and scientists around the world believe that one day they would discover life elsewhere. The challenge to them is to discover where to find it. That's where Hawaii comes in the scene.

The search for Martian life took NASA to the unexpected and secluded rocky landscape which could be found in Ulu, Hawaii. According to Canadian Space Agency, scientist Allyson Brady and Greg Slater from the McMaster University are working together with the international researchers for any signs of life on Mars.

The team is traversing the slopes of the Kilauea Volcano which is located in Hawaii to determine where future astronauts should look for the past and present signs of life in planet Mars. This research is a part of the NASA's Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT) program.

Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's Moon Europa are the best candidates in search of for life because both of them have water which could be a source of life in the future.

"The whole reason for going to Mars is to see if there's life there. There's a lot of great geology. But are we alone?" said John Hamilton, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

According to CBCNews, project BASALT will be administered through the University of Hawaii. This project will assign researchers to Mauna Ulu for two weeks to do some research. Also, biologists and Geologists will work hand and hand to search a new way of preventing the contamination of rocks which could be a breeding ground for living bacteria.

Astronauts have also tried doing research in Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, and they have endured a year-long isolation missions for NASA's HI-SEAS project which was designed to test astronaut's psychological limits. BASALT project, on the other hand, will try to improve the quality of Martian research.
LINCOLN  The price of adding a single full-time job under Nebraska's largest business tax incentive program ranges from $24,500 to a whopping $320,000, according to new review of the program.

Job creation is a major goal of the decade-old Nebraska Advantage Act, which provides tax perks to companies that meet specific requirements. Another aim is bringing more financial investments to the state, including new businesses.

Yet a review by the Legislative Audit Office showed just nine of 78 companies with Advantage Act projects as of 2014 were new to Nebraska.

Those findings were included in an 80-page audit report released to the public Wednesday.

"Maybe we didn't create the jobs that we thought, but we certainly invested in the state of Nebraska and infrastructure," said Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, chairman of the Legislature's Performance Audit Committee, which oversees the audit office.

The 78 incentivized companies as of 2014 had earned nearly $736 million in benefits through the Advantage Act, according to to the report. Nearly two-thirds of those benefits were tax credits on investments such as new construction, while 16 percent were credits on pay for new workers.

Incentives play a "key role in Nebraska's ability to grow its economy," said Barry Kennedy, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"We still think the Advantage Act is working well," he said. "Does it need to be reviewed? Of course it does."

Renee Fry, executive director of the OpenSky Policy Institute think tank, said the report raises questions about whether tax dollars are being used as efficiently as possible.

"This is especially true as we face a large budget shortfall that will make it difficult to maintain investments in schools, public safety and other state priorities," she said.

Omaha Sen. Burke Harr said lawmakers need to decide: "What do we want the Advantage Act to be?"

That might include limiting its scope or narrowing the window of time for businesses to receive incentives once a project is complete.

"If you're still receiving Advantage Act money nine years later, it's no longer being used to pay for that project," Harr said. "It's just lining people's pockets."

One overarching theme of the report  and a frequent complaint by some lawmakers  is lack of usable data on the incentives, and ways to measure it.

Auditors were unable to answer key questions about the Advantage Act due to discrepancies in the way state agencies maintain data. And the law itself doesn't include any specific measures for assessing its performance.

As a result, auditors said they were unable to make "'yes' or 'no' judgments" about whether the program works.

In estimating the cost of each job created under the Advantage Act, auditors gave a wide range because some things were unclear  including how many new positions should be attributed to the Advantage Act versus natural growth, and what share of the program's benefits were aimed at creating jobs versus other investments.

"We'll have to do a lot of explaining about what that really means," Watermeier said.

Other job growth measures offered mixed results.

Incentivized companies saw higher-than-average growth in full-time workers in 10 of 15 industry sectors, and workers at those companies saw higher average wages in 12 of 15 sectors.

And in seven sectors, incentivized companies also appeared to be doing better at bringing new people into the workforce  hiring more workers who had previously filed for unemployment benefits.

Data for all 78 companies wasn't available, but auditors estimated 68 of the incentivized businesses added a combined 2,968 full-time workers between 2008 and 2014, boosting their workforce by 11 percent.

Auditors stressed that those numbers are estimates, however.

Much of the data available from the state departments of Revenue and Labor lists full-time equivalents, which can include multiple part-time workers doing the work of a single full-time employee.

"We don't know if they're actually hiring full-time people or not," Watermeier said.
24 November 2016

The European Patent Office and the Principality of Monaco have signed an agreement under which the EPO will carry out searches for national patent applications on behalf of the Monegasque patent office.

Monegasque Minister Castellini and EPO President Battistelli at the signing (Direction de la Communication/Charly Gallo)

The agreement, which will take effect on 1 April 2017, was signed by EPO President Benoit Battistelli and Monaco's Finance and Economy Minister Jean Castellini today in Monte Carlo, where the EPO was holding its Online Services User Day.

"Thanks to our partnership, Monegasque companies and inventors will have a new service available to them - the EPO's fast, high-quality search," said President Battistelli. "On request, the EPO will provide applicants for national patents with a search report and written opinion about the patentability of their invention, within six months of filing. This search can then be used if they subsequently file a European or international application. This is another example of how co-operation with our member states is making the patent system more accessible for businesses and inventors."

"The signature of this agreement not only shows our will to support companies' growth and innovation by providing a powerful new legal instrument," said Minister Castellini. "It also demonstrates our efforts to continue the process  initiated in 2010  of modernising the legal framework of our national industrial property office."

Under similar agreements the EPO already conducts searches on national patent applications for several other member states. Since 2007, the Administrative Council has adopted agreements for eight states: Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Lithuania and Latvia, in addition to the searches the EPO has historically performed for Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Turkey as member countries of the erstwhile International Patent Institute (IIB), the precursor to the EPO.

The EPO and Monaco have intensified their co-operation in recent years, signing a bilateral co-operation plan in November 2015. Monaco has been a member state of the European Patent Organisation since 1 December 1991.

Further information
Daksha Vallabh joined the Sandton Convention Centre team as Exhibition Sales Manager in October 2016 bringing with her many years of experience in the industry, as well as in other sectors.

Born and raised on both the East and West Rand, her initial tertiary training was a scholarship diploma in radiography from Witwatersrand Technikon. She worked as a radiographer for several years in Johannesburg before moving to a new field and working as a supervisor for Trade Information Systems for six years.

It was while there that Vallabh was approached by Kagiso Exhibitions and Events to be an event organiser and run their exhibitions, and she took up the challenge. I quickly fell in love with the excitement and vibe at exhibitions  and when I was offered a position at one of our leading exhibition companies I immediately accepted, and I havent looked back since.

Her interest in the exhibition industry grew from there. She studied further and achieved a national diploma in Exhibitions, Events and Conference Management from Damelin in 2006 and a certificate in Project Management from Wits University in 2009.

Since then Vallabh has worked at several other reputable exhibition companies including the Creative Axis, the Business Revolution Group, Events on Show, Scan on Show, and more recently for Sun International, before joining Sandton Convention Centre.

She identifies highlights in her career as planning and project managing Meetings Africa, one of the biggest business tourism exhibitions in Africa; the exhilarating opportunity to travel abroad to manage the South African Tourism Pavilion at various international exhibitions; my position as Key Accounts Manager for Associations at Sun International; and more recently, my new position at Sandton Convention Centre. I have always admired the culture at SCC and I regard this position as a major highlight in my career.

Vallabhs position at SCC entails maintaining good relationships with exhibition organisers whose exhibitions are hosted by the SCC, while also sourcing new exhibitions. Its exciting to promote the SCC as a venue because it is ideal with all the world-class facilities necessary for exhibitions, as well as its location in the heart of Sandton, the business hub of South Africa, and close to many reputable hotels, including several Tsogo Sun hotels.

She adds that her years of varied experience in the industry, the relationships she has built up over the years, as well as her passion for the industry, have prepared her well for her position at SCC. Meeting her clients needs and working side-by-side with a great and highly efficient team of people in such a prestigious venue makes her new role even more appealing and exciting.

Vallabh recently attended Green Forum training and believes the South African exhibition industry needs to work harder to be compatible with international standards, particularly in respect of greening. I believe it will benefit the industry as a whole if organisers are educated on making their exhibitors responsible for off-setting their carbon footprints by reducing the fancy bells and whistles on their stands. We should also be using recyclable and biodegradable material for stands if they are for one-off use; use more natural light and air conditioning only if necessary; use soft copy rather than hard copy collateral on stands; and reduce travelling time as far as possible.

Vallabh acknowledges that the industry in South Africa does face the challenges of overcoming international perceptions of safety and security issues here as well as a turbulent political climate, but we have a very dynamic team that has fresh and innovative ideas on how to grow our respective portfolios  and I have no doubt that the SCC will continue to be a leading host venue for major international events.

On a personal note, Vallabh is married and has two children  a son who is completing his B.Com IT degree and a daughter who is studying psychology. Her family is a source of inspiration for her, as is working with enthusiastic, positive and hard-working people, and exploring her creative side with drawing, painting, crafts and mosaics. A lot more travel features on her bucket list: I have travelled extensively both for work and in my personal capacity, but I still have so much of the world to explore!

Shaun Bird, GM of SCC confidently welcomes Daksha: We are delighted that Daksha has joined our dynamic team. Her experience is extensive and ideally suited to the SCC systems along with her deep understanding of the needs of the industry, as well as her consummate skills, not least of which her people skills, will add great value to our line-up. We look forward to many productive and enjoyable years with Daksha in our staff arsenal.
LG to Give Tesla's PowerWall a Run For Its Money ROY, MI.--( eSolarEnergyNews )--LG Chem Ltd., a global leader in lithium-ion batteries for automotive, stationary and consumer application...

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IKEA Installs the Largest Rooftop Solar in Memphis,Tennessee MEMPHIS, TN--( eSolarEnergyNews )--IKEA, the worlds leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that solar panel installation is com...

IKEA to Install Washingtons Largest Rooftop Solar Array in Renton, WA RENTON, WA.--(eSolarEnergyNews)--IKEA, the worlds leading home furnishings retailer, today announced plans to install solar panels atop t...

Sunnova and PetersenDean Partner to Deliver Integrated Solar Solutions to California Homebuilders HOUSTON, TX--( eSolarEnergyNews )--Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NYSE: NOVA), one of the leading U.S. residential solar and battery sto...

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SolarCraft Completes Rooftop Solar Installation for Appellation Trading Company Novato, CA, December 07, 2021 --( eSolarEnergyNews.com )-- The solar photovoltaic system is roof mounted and consists of 153 high-efficienc...
Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella credited his team's seamers for holding their nerve against a big-hitting West Indian lower order after Sri Lanka pulled off a one-run win to secure their place in the final of the Zimbabwe tri-series. Dickwella was one of two Sri Lankans to reach the 90s in a total of 330 for 7 before Sri Lanka held West Indies to 329 for 9 in reply.

"Our bowlers held their nerve, and our fast bowlers did really well," Dickwella said. "Suranga [Lakmal], [Nuwan] Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep - they were the key players in defending this total. We were confident of defending the score, with our bowling attack. We missed some opportunities that we should have capitalized on, but fortunately we were on the winning side on the end."

Evin Lewis, the West Indies opener, survived two early lbw shouts and was also dropped twice during the first Powerplay in an uncharacteristically sloppy fielding effort by Sri Lanka. Lewis was dropped again off a tough chance at mid-on before he had reached fifty, and he went on to score a maiden hundred. He might have been run out shortly thereafter, but Dickwella disturbed the stumps with his glove before collecting the ball.

That was one of his few lapses in the field or with the bat - after his 94 in the morning he eventually ran Lewis out for 148 - to increase Sri Lanka's advantage at the death. Dickwella then held on to an awkward inside edge off Ashley Nurse's bat in the penultimate over of the match.

"It is kind of a challenge [batting up the order and keeping wicket], but you just have to adapt to the situation, and play according to that," Dickwella said. "I'm a wicketkeeper-batsman, and when I score runs when we're batting first, I still have to keep wicket for 50 overs. Obviously I have to do that, for my team."

Batting at No. 3, Dickwella was at the crease in the third over of the match and fell 36 overs later just six runs short of what would have been a maiden ODI hundred in his fifth match.

"It was a good track," he said. "Since the morning, it was a flat track. There was a bit of grass, but it was dead grass, so we didn't expect it to move a lot. We thought it would move a bit, but that didn't happen.

"It was coming on to the bat. It was a pretty easy wicket to bat on, compared to the previous games. I could have got a hundred, and scored some more runs for the team, but I'm really happy with my performance today."

Performances such as these will help Dickwella state his claim for a spot in Sri Lanka's touring party for their trip to South Africa in December. He is one of a number of fringe players who have come in to Sri Lanka's squad in the absence of injured senior players such as Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.
The European Union has commented on the recent developments in Yemen following the 48-hour ceasefire brokered by the US Secretary of State John Kerry. Although the ceasefire is very fragile, the EU praised it as a step in the right direction. It is crucial that all the parties urgently agree on its unconditional extension which would include the commitment to unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to all parts of Yemen and pave the way to a the resumption of talks on the basis of the Road Map presented by the UN Special Envoy to the parties, the EUs foreign service published on its website.

We have seen in the past that the breakdown of ceasefires leads only to further killing and suffering for the civilian population, to the advantage of no-one, the statement continued. Therefore, Brussels urges all the warring parties to make the necessary compromises and commitments in the interest of alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people. The EU promised full support to the ongoing efforts to broker a peace deal under the UN-led negotiations and it remains committed to contribute to a negotiated settlement. Brussels has also provided assistance to capacity building for the De-escalation and Coordination Committee and the local De-escalation Committees, which is key for a long-term cessation of the hostilities.

Yemens civil war has devastated much of the country. The conflict is led between forces loyal to the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement. The Houthis is a Shia-led religious-political movement that emerged in northern Yemen in the 1990s and has fought against the government of Yemens longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, on and off since 2004. The conflict escalated in 2011 as a result of the failure of the political transition that was supposed to bring stability to Yemen following the toppling of Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to Mr Hadi.

The Houthis took advantage of the new presidents weakness by seizing northern Saada province and neighboring areas. In 2015, the rebels reinforced their control of the capital Sanaa forcing President Hadi to flee abroad. Alarmed by the Houthi advances, Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states launched a military campaign in the belief that the Houthi rebels are backed by Iran. The conflict is regarded as a proxy war between two regional powers: Saudi Arabia and Iran. Since March 2015, more than 6,800 people have been killed and 35,000 injured. The conflict brought about a humanitarian disaster, leaving 80 percent of the population in need of aid.
Written by ACM











*Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- A sudden and strange Break-Down of UN sponsored Top Level InterCommunal Talks on the complex but Important, long overdue issue of Cyprus' ReUnification, still Pending since the 1974 Military Invasion and Occupation of a great part of the Strategically located Island, has not yet been clearly Explained, at least not at this Early moment.



Since Both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots had said that these Talks of almost 10 Days at the superb Top of "Pilgrim Mountain"'s Swiss ressort had Earlier helped to make some Serious Progress, (Despite several Remaining Disagreements to Bridge), in a quite Good overall Ambiance, as it was also attested by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's Envoy for Cyprus, Espen B. Eide from Norway.



But, suddenly, an Official UN Anouncement reveals that, "Despite their best efforts, they have Not been able to achieve the Necessary further Convergences on criteria for Territorial adjustment, that would have paved the way for the Last Phase of talks". *

What does it Mean : "Convergences on Criteria for Territorial Adjustment", and "Necessary ...for the Last Phase" ?



In Fact, the 1st Point concerned, Mainly (but not only) the Human Rights of about 200.000 Greek Cypriot Refugees/Displaced persons, (more than 23% of the Total Population of that small Country - almost as big as Luxembourg- at the moment of the Turkish Invasion of 1974), who had been notoriously Obliged to Flee the Foreign Military Invasion and Occupation of the Northern Part of the Country by Ankara's Troops since 1974, and are still Hindered to Return Back to their Familiy Homes, Private Properties and Ancestral Land, until Today (2016), Despite a series of ECHR Judgements clearly Condeming Turkey for such "Continuing" Violations, after relevant Both Individual and/or Inter-State Applications lodged by the Victims, already as early as since 1996 and 2001, etc., but also, more Recently, a landmark ECHR's Great Chamber's Decision, of May 2014, (etc).



Indeed, as it had been already known, the Greek Cypriot Community had Agreed to Discuss "Territorial" issues on the Basis of "Criteria", which included, not only the Extension of Each Future Federated State's Land, as well as of its Coastline, (where f.ex. the Territories Occupied by Ankara's Military extend, since the 1974 Invasion up to More than 38% of Cyprus' Total Land, for Only 18% of its original Total Population, which, in Addition, has got since then, about 55% of the Island's Coastline), but Also the Number of Refugees/Displaced persons that would become able to Return Back Home, and their Family Homes/Private Properties, that they would recuperate, etc.



This was the Only Way to try to Safeguard Refugees/Displaced Persons' Human Rights, who will play an Important Role also in the Popular Referendum for the Endorsement, or not, of any eventualy Agreed Draft Plan for the Solution of Cyprus' Issue. At any case, it's also obvious that even the very Notion of "Territory" and its Equal Value, canNot Ignore the Fact that a given Piece of Land might, perhaps, be Only an Empty Wasteland, Lost somewhere at an insignificant point, or, on the Contrary, a well Populated and Fertile Area, located at a Strategic crossroads, etc.



=> That's why it had been clearly Agreed, between the two parties and the UN, that the Main Focus of the Talks on the "Pilgrim Mountain" would precisely be to Obrtain a Basic Agreement on the "Criteria" for Territory share, included at a Map, as a "Necessary" Condition, which would Open the Way to Advance, shortly Afterwards, to the Next, and probably Final Stage, of a Multilateral International Summit, due to Focus, on the Contrary, to the Differend, Security and Guarantees Issues.



But, at this, Crucial Point, various Converging, factual Indications started to emerge, which clearly showed that, somewhere at the Turkish Side, most Probably, there was a lot of Reluctance to Complete a Full Deal on Territory through InterCommunal Talks, before Starting to Deal with Security/Guarantees at a Final Multilateral International Summit, with the participation of the Turkish Government, Greece and the UK, (as well as, probably the EU, and UNO Security Council's Permanent Members, etc).



F.ex., among others, Turkey's President Erdogan reportedly made some Ambiguous Statements including an apparent suggestion for Ankara to alleviate, if not even entirely Skip, its Controversial Insistance for the Turkish Military to always have a "Right" to Unilateraly Invade Cyprus, also at Any Other Time in the Future, on Pretext of any (eventually Provoked) so called "Security" Risk, imaginable for Turkish Cypriots, on the Condition that Greek Cypriots make certain Important Concessions on Territorial Issues. Almost at the Same Time, some Felt that, amidst Turkish Cypriots, somewhere Started to Emerge a more or less obvious Reluctance to really Conclude a Deal on Territory Before any susbequent Summit, so that they appeared, at some point, to either drag their feet, stop exchanging constructive ideas for possible compromise, and/or even somehow Back-pedal from certain Earlier positions, which had initialy appeared as quite promissing, (etc).



Astonishingly, while the Greek Cypriot side had notoriously Limited its own Demands to the Return, under G/C Administration, of Only about Less than the Half of G/C Refugees/Displaced Persons to their Family Homes, Properties and Ancestral Land, (i.e. around 90.000 out of a Total of some 200.000), and, later-on, would even have accepted to discuss also a much Lower Number, (80.000 ), on the Contrary, some, reportedly pushed through the Turkish Cypriot side to Request to Drop deeply Down, even Lower and Lower, for Tens or even -20.000 to -30.000 Refugees Less than that... One of the Consequences may be also to Exclude any notable City (f.ex. Morphou) from being Restituted to its Original; predominantly Greek Cypriot, Lawful Inhabuitants)...



To the point that one Turkish Cypriot participant would have even Betrayed a quite Horrible Intent, eventualy Hidden behind 42 Years of Time-Consuming Obstructions against Human Rights' respect, by daring Claim that, in fact, the Greek Cypriots would Not Realize that, Meanwhile, ...Many Greek Cypriot Refugees/Displaced persons would have ... "Died" (sic !!!), vainly Waiting for Justice to be done...



(Comp. Experienced, former ECHR President, Luzius Wildhaber's sincere "Excuses", transmitted via "Eurofora"s co-Founder, then Published at "TCWeekly", for the 1st Tragic Case of a Woman Refugee from Cyprus who had really Died, by Old Age, while Waiting for Strasbourg's EuroJudges, and the CoE in general, to, at last, do Justice to her Family's complaint to the Court against Turkey's Refusal to let her Return back to her Home and ancestral Land, in the Occupied Territiories of Cyprus controlled by Ankara's Military).



+ In Addition, suddenly at this Same Crucial Point, attempts to Hastily Push towards an Immediate Multilateral Final Summit, even withOut having yet Settled any comprehensive Agreement on Territory, (i.e. Contrary to the previously Agreed overall Method of proceeding : Comp. Supra), became more and more Obvious and Frequent than ever before...



=> In Other Words, to put it in a Nutshell, Turkey appeared (either to Speculate on a possible Failure of such a Hasty and Unprepared Summit, or) to Push for an Exchange between Security and Territorial Issues, i.e., in Fact, between Foreign Military Intervention and Refugees' Human Rights, (Comp. Supra) !...



>>> To put it Harshly but Clearly, such a Slipery Slope could even lead in a situation where the Greek Cypriot People might be, in Fact, asked by Turkey to Either Abandon all or most Refugees/Displaced Persons' Human Rights, or Submit to even More Risks of Foreign Military Invasions and Occupations by Ankara's Army !...



I.e., in substance, a sort of "Blackmail" situation, Ordering to "Choose" EITHER Human Rights OR Peace, Between Freedom OR Life !...



Precisely that kind of "Schyla or Charibdi" Tragic Dillema, that Greek Cypriots, in Agreemeent with the UNO, (and, at least Initialy, and officially, also with the Turkish Cypriot side), had desperatedly Tried to Prevent, by Clearly Distinguishing, in real Practice, betweein the Different Issues of "Territory" and those concerning "Security" and/or "Guarantees", etc, (Comp. Supra).



Otherwise, he above mentioned Tragic Dillemas could become, more of less Inevitable, and even Dangerously Vicious...



An obviously Unacceptable Threat against Freedom and Peace, which, at any case, looks Absolutely Contrary to ECHR's well established Case-Law, (initialy Forged, precisely, though such Greek Cypriot Refugees/IDP cases : Comp. Supra), which was, later-on, notoriously Endorsed also by the UNO's Human Rights Council at Nearby Geneva, from 1997-2005, 2007, etc, and even Officialy Systematized, compiled, Declared and Disseminated accross the whole World, at a landmark, Historic Set of "Principles", (the World Famous "Pinheiro Principles" : Comp. Professor Pinheiro's 1997 Drafted initial Report, which became an International Reference UNO Booklet, later-on, and his own Statements to "Eurofora"s co-Founder, then Published at "TCWeekly"), issued by UNO's High Commissioners for Refugees, for Human Rights, and UN's Secretary General, in the recent Past,



=> calling for Real Refugees/Displaced People to have an elementary Right to voluntarily Return Back to their Family Homes, with their Belongings, at their Ancestral Land, in basic Conditions of Human Dignity, Freedom and Safety.



-------------------------------------------



All this, and the Current sudden Standstill in the InterCommunal UN sponsored Talks for a Peaceful ReUnification of Cyprus, (despite some recently achieved Advances, at least in certain points), in Fact, clearly shows that, in Substance :



- Human Rights must Never be Abandoned to mere Political Bargaining !



>>> Political Deals may, eventualy, Facilitate the Implementation of ECHR Judgements, and/or Alleviate the various repercussions that this might, perhaps, have for some.



But they should Never Replace an Objective, Competent, Impartial and Independent body's mission to simply Impose at least an elementary Respect of certain Basic Legal Principles concerning Serious, Massive and Persisting Violations of Human Rights !



=> Thus, among others, a Controversial Decision of the Past, pushed by some inside CoE's Committee of Ministers, (even Contrary to a Crystal-Clear Appeal by ECHR's Great Chamber, just a few years ago : since 2014, to practicaly Act, as a matter of Urgency, in order to put, at last, a Stop to Turkey's persisting illegal Confiscation and even Exploitation of Greek Cypriot Refugees/Displaced Persons' Homes and Properties), rather to ... "Postpone" any real Pressure on Ankara, on the Pretext that a Solution might be found through those "Inter-Communal" Talks, (in fact between what remains from a Free Cyprus' Republic, and an Area meanwhile Filled up with illegal Settlers from Turkey's Anatolia, and still Controlled by Abnkara's Foreign Invasion Military), has Now obviously Proved to be Dangerously Unsubstantiated.



Apparantly, the Time has come for EU and CoE's PanEuropean Organisation of Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, to Either Actively and Efficiently UpHold, at last, its own, Officialy Proclaimed Principles, in Real Practice,



or Openly Acknowledge that, in fact, it has Droped them Down, like a Fake "Castle" made only out of Cards or Sand, (instead of Rock-Solid Principles)...



-------------------------------------



Personaly, we Hardly Resisted, (with Luggage Ready to Move at any moment, among Many Rapidly Evolving Political Developments, from the USA to France, Berlin, etc., up at this Last Minute !), to a Strong Temptation to Get Back, (almost 20 Years After : 1997 - 2016...) to that Symbolic Location, at the Other Side of Geneva Lake, near Montreux's UNO-sponsored Top Level Talks on Cyprus, between f. President Glafkos Clerides and T/C Leader Rauf Denktash, hosted by f. UN SG Boutros-Ghali, now on the "Pilgrim Mountain"'s, present Cyprus' Talks, between new President Nicos Anastassiades and T/C Leader Mustafa Akintzi, hosted by UN SG Ban Ki Moon.



But, from the most Tragic Human Rights' issue of Cyprus' "MISSING" People, set aside then, officialy far from crude Political Deals, (while, at the Same Time a Hope for an Emerging Strong Role of the EU had Started to Rise : Comp. EU Council's Representative at Montreux/Glyon Statements that he gave us then, on 1997, Published at "MPAgency"), and the Wide-spread and Multi-facet "Refugees/Displaced persons" Drama, still remaining, now, on 2016, even "Hotter" than ever, at least from the point of view of Principles, (applicable, mutatis-mutandis, unfortunately, also in too Many Other Areas of Europe and the World nowadays), what really Remains Today ?



>>> Perhaps only the Firm Belief, based on even More Solid Proof now, that serious Human Rights issues must Never be Totalu Abandoned to mere Political Bargaining !



--------------------------



20 Years After, as (by another Timely Coincidence), already the 1997 World Famous "PILGRIM" Song by Eric Clapton, had Warned :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOTFxF6dpR0



- "Where to Draw the Line, between Truth and ...Pain ?" in such Dramatic and massive Human Rights issues, which seriously Affect many Thousands of People's Lives ?



- "Where (could we) Get (the) Belief that Things Will be all-Right again ?", and "What Words (should we) Use to Try to Explain, to those who have Witnessed, (many in) Tears ?"



- "What does it Mean to Know all these things",

"When... All these Years" "'have been Wasted" ?



- "It's like living in a Nightmare,

Like looking in the Blackest hole,

Like standing on the Edge of nothing",

.....

"Now, where have (we all -and mainly Europe) been All these Years ?

"And How come (they) just couldN't See?"

"Like a Blind man walking 'round, In Darkness"...



Whoever were "Standing in the Shadows",

"With (their) Heart right in (their) Hand",



as simple, naive "Pilgrim"(s) for (the) Love" of Human Rights, (and what Europe could and should have become),



=> Did they merely ... "Wasted all these (20) Years" ?



Or, Will, perhaps, Emerge, at last, in one way or another, at least Now, through a lot of Hard Political and other Struggles and Changes, in Europe and elsewhere in the World, a kind of "SPRING 2017" ???



+ By another more "Coincidence", meanwhile, Small (but notoriously Strategic) Cyprus will be Chairing Big PanEuropean CoE's powerful Committee of Ministers then, (Starting right from this very Morning whose Sun sould Arise from one Moment to anOther, Now in Strasbourg)...



Without illussions, could this, perhaps, Help, at least get some things positively Moving, a little bit ?





+ In Addition, Parallel, but Wider Developments in the EU Parliament, (convening this Week in Strasbourg to a Full Plenary Session, near the CoE), have just Anounced even mainstream, Big Political Groups' Intention, (just after that of Many Other, emerging MEPs' Trends from the Further Right side of the Political Spectrum, which had suprisingly Succeeded, however, to Attract even .. Leftist and/or Centrist mainstream MEPs from almost All Groups - See, f.ex. : ...), to, if not fully "Stop" (as the Latter wanted), at least "Suspend" Turkey's controversial and UnPopular EU bid, (with the natural subsequent Restrictions in EU Funds Wasted Each Year for Ankara)...



That -still Emerging- EU Move, (Exceptionaly Supported by almost All EU Parliament's Political Groups, at various degrees), significantly comes just after a Growing Series of fresh, and more Massive than ever, Human Rights Violations inside Turkey itself, added to Turkish Military Invasions/Occupations or Threats around almost All its Borders, inside Iraq and Syria, as in Cyprus, and now even Threatening Greece, particularly with Repeated Negative Claims against the Lausanne Peace Treaty, (withOut, However, Daring even Think at the Previous, "Sevres" Peace Treaty of 1919)...







***
HAMILTON, Bermuda, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



- London announced as first European city to host immersive art and music event

following sell-out shows in Miami and the Bronx

- By the artists. For the artists. For the people. 100% of profits direct to artist.

- Featured artists include: D Face, Conor Harrington, Hassan Hajjaj and Faile

- Live music to be announced. Past performances from Alicia Keys, A$AP Rocky, Pusha T,

Wiz Khalifa, A-TRAK and Young Thug

The worlds of visual art and music will collide when The Dean Collection x BACARDI(R) bring their innovative, experiential platform No Commission to London from 8-10 December, 2016. Following sell out shows in Miami and the Bronx, the UK will play host to the iconic rum brand's first event in Europe featuring work from some of the world's most celebrated street and fine artists, live music acts, and DJ's.

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No Commission is a contemporary art fair, curated by music producer Swizz Beatz and The Dean Collection, to forge a direct link between artists' practices and art patronage. The platform is designed specifically to support both new and established artists. All artists are given their exhibition space for free and 100% of the sale of each artwork goes directly to the artists. The injection of immersive music performances from event collaborator BACARDI, shakes up the traditional art fair, creating a unique, cultural experience for visitors.

"Our theme for No Commission: London is 'Juxtaposition' and celebrates the journey from street art to fine art. Visitors will experience art and music, street art and fine art, street culture and high culture, a bit of grit, a bit of glamour," explains Swizz Beatz, music producer and global chief creative of culture for family-owned Bacardi. "It's great to be in the UK. London in particular has a strong connection with graffiti and contemporary art. But it doesn't stop here. We want to take No Commission around the world!"

The "we" Swizz refers to is rum brand BACARDI, who has been a committed partner in bringing No Commission to life from the on-set. The brand has a deep heritage in art and music dating back to the early 1900's - from hosting prohibition parties in Cuba to commissioning artworks for their offices around the world.

Zara Mirza, Head of Creative Excellence at Bacardi added, "This isn't just about slapping a logo on an event. This is about creating a global movement and cultural experience that artists and fans genuinely want to be part of. We don't just bring the music and the cocktails. BACARDI provides the platform for artists and lifts the night-time experience, taking it to a whole other level."

The Dean Collection X BACARDI present No Commission: London 8-10 December, 2016 at The Arches in Southwark, London (Ewer Street entrance, SE1 0NR, off Union St.). Tickets are FREE but there is limited availability. Visit http://nocommission.BACARDI.com for more information. Visitors must be 18 years of age or older.

Full list of artists displaying at No Commission: London are:



Ricardo Cavolo Fanakapan Miss Van

Sandra Chevrier Hassan Hajjaj Jaybo Monk

DANK (Dan Kitchener) HANDIEDAN Oker

D*Face Conor Harrington Felipe Pantone

Ben Fine Paul Insect Lucy Sparrow

Jamie Evans Kai and Sunny Matthew Stone

FAILE Tomokazu Matsuyama Gary Stranger

Jason Woodside

About BACARDI Rum - The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste - BACARDI. The unique taste of BACARDI rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDI Mojito, the BACARDI Daiquiri, the BACARDI Cuba Libre, the BACARDI Pina Colada and the BACARDI Presidente. BACARDI rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 674 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDI rum is made in Puerto Rico and Mexico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. http://www.bacardi.com

The BACARDI(R) brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

BACARDI, BACARDI UNTAMEABLE AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED

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CONTACT: Laura Hinchelwood, Ogilvy Public Relations, +44 (0)7799587691 /Laura.hinchelwood@ogilvy.com
No, not that bird, much as a prime Thanksgiving turkey done right can seem like a work of genius. Did you enjoy Illustras Flight: The Genius of Birds? Then youll appreciate this material from recent science news that could easily fill up an hour or two of documentary filmmaking, once you are done with your feasting tonight.

Brain power : Watch the video from New Scientist of Figaro, a cockatoo, fashioning a tool to get a treat.

First, Figaro makes one out of wood. The scientists in Vienna thought that might be too easy, since the wood splits into a narrow strip along the grain, so they gave him cardboard instead. Figaro quickly chewed the cardboard into a similar tool he could use to poke through a hole and get the treat. Science Daily says the researchers were surprised:

Studying tool-making in species like the Goffins cockatoo, which does not make tools naturally, is especially revealing, as these birds cannot do it by following pre-programmed instructions evolved to solve this specific problem. These cockatoos, like other parrots, offer wonderful research opportunities: their intelligence is flexible and powerful, they can solve physical and logical problems, they can learn from watching the behaviour of others, they can learn about the surrounding objects by playing  and now it seems plausible that they can imagine which object would allow them to solve a new problem and go on to build it. I am sure that they will keep surprising us. [Emphasis added.]

Flight endurance : You may remember from Illustras film the Arctic terns that fly almost nonstop from pole to pole. With the aid of geolocators again, another endurance champion was recently measured doing something astonishing: staying airborne for 10 months at a time. Its the common swift. National Geographic says, They feed in the air, they mate in the air, they get nest material in the air. They must take midair naps, too, running on automatic pilot somehow. These birds are among natures greatest aeronauts, superbly adapted for a life spent largely in the skies. The research from Lund University was published in Current Biology. A report at Science Daily shares more gee-whiz facts about these birds:

Despite the high energetic costs associated with all that flight, common swifts also manage to live surprisingly long lives, contrary to popular notions about living hard and dying young. There are documented cases of common swifts living to the age of 20. In that time, the accumulated flight distance equals seven round-trip journeys to the moon, Hedenstrom says. And that, he says, means there are many more intriguing questions to ask and answer about the birds physiology.

Sahara crossers : Scientists outfitted thirty Great Reed Warblers with geolocators to monitor their migration from Turkey to sub-Saharan Africa. Phys.org reports that the songbirds managed to cross the Sahara desert by using a corridor that minimized their time over sand and water. Their annual route of 11,000 km is like the distance from Alaska to Chile. Like the scientists in Flight, these researchers had to recapture the birds to get the data loggers. They recovered five of the geolocators at the end of the study, enough to reconstruct the migration route.

Fat hummingbirds : Despite their tiny size, ruby-throated hummingbirds also migrate long distances, from North America to Central America. Science Daily says that they were observed to fatten up four days before leaving to fly south, bulking up about 35 to 40 percent of their body weight. How did scientists figure out a way to weigh these little guys? Each bird had a microchip and [they] were weighed each time they landed on a balance attached to the feeder.

High divers : Theres a short clip in Flight of a diving bird folding its wings and entering the water like an arrow. Despite their slender necks, gannets and boobies can drop from 130 feet and plunge into the water at 50 miles an hour to surprise fish. Humans trying that kind of dive would sustain serious injuries, Science Daily says.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jung and his coworkers investigate the biomechanics of gannets dives. They found that the birds head shape, neck length and musculature, and diving speeds work in concert to ensure that the force of the water doesnt buckle their slim necks.

The researchers also learned some things about human anatomy. Considering the popular recreational sport of diving, we also find a diving speed limit for humans to avoid injury, they say. In the paper, they compare us to the birds:

From a mechanics standpoint, an axial force acting on a slender body may lead to mechanical failure on the body, otherwise known as buckling. Therefore, under compressive loads, the neck is potentially the weakest part of the northern gannet due to its long and slender geometry. Still, northern gannets impact the water at up to 24 m/s without injuries. The only reported injuries from plunge-diving occur from bird-on-bird collisions. However, for humans, diving into water at speeds greater than 26 m/s risks severe fractures in the cervical or thoracic vertebrae and speeds greater than 30 m/s risk death, regardless of impact orientation. Understanding the bird plunge-dive may further explain methods of injury prevention in human diving.

For the humans, though, they only considered feet-first dives. If a stunt diver tried it the gannet way (head-first), what would happen? At a diving speed of 24 m/s, the compressive force that a human would experience is about 14 kN, which well exceeds a range of maximum compressive forces (0.3-17 kN) to cause neck injury. Somehow the birds do it every day for their entire lives.

How did birds arrive at such an effective design for diving? The authors speculate, the birds structure and behavior have presumably evolved to withstand a variety of high dynamic stresses, because no injuries have been reported in plunge-diving seabirds. A lot of birds must have died of broken necks for millions of years until the right random mutations showed up.

Starling picnic : The clip in Flight about starlings has gotten over a million views on YouTube.

Now, New Scientist reports that Australian starlings host an annual party to benefit all kinds of other animals. The birds tend to roost together in the same trees in certain nesting hotspots. Their droppings nourish the roots and organisms in the soil, increasing insect diversity enormously. These, in turn, pull in the highest number and diversity of species by far, including wallabies, bandicoots, brush turkeys, cockatoos, brown tree snakes and white-lipped tree frogs as well as introduced species  about 42 species in all. The continuous animal chaos around starlings nesting trees is nature at its glorious abundant best, one conservationist remarks.

Beak airful: Bird beaks are better designed than scientists realized. Phys.org tells about some scientists who decided to put some beaks under a CT scanner with contrast enhancement. To their surprise, they found elaborate passageways that they think serve as air conditioners: the insides of birds bills are filled with complex structures that help them meet the demands of hot climates. The response got emotional:

I remember the entire team assembled for the first time, huddled around a computer and looking in amazement at the first scans. The high resolution scans revealed many structures that we as experienced ornithologists had never seen or even imagined, and we were immediately struck by the beauty of the ornately structured anterior conchae and the neatly scrolled middle conchae. This study highlights the remarkable complexity of the rostral conchae in songbirds. This complexity has gone largely unnoticed due to the ways in which most birds are collected and preserved, according to Jason Bourke, a researcher from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences who was not involved in the research. Thanks to the use of innovative techniques like diceCT, we are now able to really appreciate just how complicated bird noses can be.

These articles make it clear that our friends at Illustra only scratched the surface of avian wonders. With ten thousand species of birds in the world, the genius of birds designs could easily keep scientists busy for many lifetimes to come, coaxing them to look in amazement at beautiful things they had never seen or even imagined.

Photo credit: alex grichenko via Public Domain Pictures.
The latest Autumn Statement left currency investors in two minds, ensuring Pound Sterling to Euro and US Dollar exchange rates remained mixed recently.

Pound Sterling Exchange Rate News: Approach of GDP figures keeps Sterling weak

Approach of GDP figures keeps Sterling weak Euro Recovering on Eased German Fears: No downside revision to German GDP figures

No downside revision to German GDP figures USD Softens: Election result in key battleground states could be challenged

Election result in key battleground states could be challenged GBP exchange rate forecast: Pound sterling investors await Q3 GDP

The Pound Euro conversion rate continued to be sold from its best weekly levels as the Pounds bullishness ran low despite the mornings growth stats coming in as expected.

Traders took profit from the Pounds highs, selling it against many major rivals, while the Euro benefitted from negative correlation with the US Dollar which plunged on Friday afternoon.

The Pound has found itself a low-demand currency during trading today, having dipped on fears about EU single market access.

The Pounds latest dip against the Euro and US Dollar has been a symptom of recent EU developments, which have originated from Malta.

Warning the UK Government against trying to keep single market access without allowing free movement of people, Maltese PM Joseph Muscat declared that the EU was not bluffing about blocking attempts to obtain this outcome.

The Pound to Euro exchange-rate trends within a slight downward bias on Black Friday Sales day as the third quarter UK GDP was confirmed as 0.5%.

region on Thursday afternoon, easily holding onto Wednesdays gains but struggling to move much higher as GBP/EUR faced key psychological resistance on the 1.18 level.

The Pound to US Dollar rate, on the other hand, edged higher throughout the day. Sterling was able to take advantage of quiet USD trade as US markets were closed for Thanksgiving.

A lacklustre Autumn Statement, delivered by Chancellor Philip Hammond, left Pound Sterling exchange rates on an uneven footing recently.

While there were no bold stimulus measures to threaten massively inflating the national debt, there were forecasts that the next five years will see borrowing increase by 59 billion over the next five years as a direct consequence of Brexit.

Investors were still weighing up the balance of positive spending to boost business infrastructure with the negatives of rising borrowing on Thursday, leaving GBP/EUR negative and GBP/USD stuck around opening levels.

Also keeping markets on hold was the approach of the latest Q3 GDP estimates, which will give a better indication of how the UK economy performed in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The latest Pound Sterling exchange rates are displayed below;

On Wednesday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.861

The live inter-bank GBP-EUR spot rate is quoted as 1.161 today.

At time of writing the pound to us dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.146.

Please note: the FX rates above, updated 2nd Nov 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.

After weakening on Wednesday as poor German PMIs heightened fears of a slowdown in the Eurozones powerhouse, the Euro (EUR) was recovering on Thursday.

The German PMIs may have weakened, but news that the finalised German Q3 GDP figures were not revised lower on initial estimates cheered investors again.

Government spending slowed by significantly less-than-expected; a cheering sign considering Germanys refusal to plough its huge budget surplus back into the economy has been the source of much tension between Eurozone leaders and policymakers.

German IFO business climate and expectations survey results may have disappointed forecasts, but with the US Dollar weakening the Euro has been afforded some breathing room, keeping GBP/EUR on the decline.

After surging recently on the back of strong Fed hike bets, the US Dollar (USD) weakened on Thursday on the news key election battleground states could be forced to recount their votes.

A group of lawyers and computer scientists claim to have found evidence that electronic voting terminals had been hacked during the US election.

While Democrat Hillary Clinton has yet to comment on the suggestions, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has already raised US$2 million - which will fund a recount in Wisconsin - and intends to raise a further US$4-US$5 million to contest Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Clinton unexpectedly lost all three states, giving Donald Trump a majority share of Electoral College votes - despite Clinton having a 2 million (1.5%) lead in the popular vote.

Should evidence of tampering be found the election result is likely to be contested, causing a significant period of volatility in the markets.

Pound Sterling (GBP) Rate Forecast to Remain Muted Ahead of Q3 GDP Figures

With the second estimate of Q3 GDP figures just around the corner, Pound Sterling exchange rates are likely to remain weak as traders await the figures.

Strong PMIs so far have indicated that the economy performed well; forecasts are for initial quarter-on-quarter estimates to be revised down from 0.7% to 0.5%, but year-on-year figures to be increased from 2.1% to 2.3%.

The US advance goods trade balance for October could see Federal Reserve rate hike bets edging lower again as an increase in the deficit from -$56.1 billion to -$58.0 billion is predicted.

While the GBP EUR and GBP USD exchange rates have risen today, the Pounds gains have been tentative on the whole

The Autumn Statement has been a high-impact event for the UK and its economic outlook, although as the latest GBP movements have shown, investors remain on the fence about whether the net message was good or bad.

The most worrying figures have concerned UK debt forecasts, which estimate an alarming rise to 2trn worth of debt in the 2020s and a 90% debt-to-GDP ratio.
The GBP/CAD has been tight during trading today, but could well fall over the course of the afternoon

The Euro to Canadian Dollar exchange rate today (25/11/16): +0.5pct at 1.43189.

The Canadian Dollar to Euro exchange rate today: -0.5% at 0.69838.

The Pound to Canadian Dollar exchange rate today (25/11/16): +0.2pct at 1.6833.

The Canadian Dollar to Pound exchange rate today: -0.2% at 0.59407.

The US Dollar to Canadian Dollar exchange rate today (25/11/16): +0.22pct at 1.35214.

The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate today: -0.22% at 0.73957.

Following on from the UKs second estimates for GDP growth in Q3 meeting forecasts and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) November trades figure rising, the Pound has been tight against the Canadian Dollar.

This tenuous position for the Pound may well be unsettled over the course of the afternoon, given that the Canadian budget balance deficit for September is expected to reduce from 2.7bn to -1.1bn.

GBP/CAD struggled to hold its weekly best levels on Thursday afternoon as oil prices began to improve once again.

Despite doubts that OPEC would be able to satisfy oil traders, excitement towards the meeting rose with just under a week to go until oil producing nations meet to potentially procure a detailed plan on cutting oil output.

"We expect CAD to weaken against USD but outperform other commodity currencies" says Morgan Stanley FX Research in a note on Friday 25th November.

"CAD is not as vulnerable as MXN to trade protectionism given a prior free trade agreement which would take effect if the US backs out of NAFTA, though this still remains a risk."

"However, a better US economic outlook (from other policies like fiscal stimulus) should benefit Canada."

"We expect growth to remain weak but the bar for easing from the BoC is high given its downgraded forecasts and moderate worries around the housing market."

"We would need to see BoC easing for CAD to underperform the rest of the commodity complex."

Latest Pound/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rates

On Wednesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1

The pound conversion rate (against pound) is quoted at 1 GBP/GBP.

The pound conversion rate (against euro) is quoted at 1.161 EUR/GBP.

At time of writing the pound to us dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.146.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 2nd Nov 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

The Pound has risen slightly against the Canadian Dollar today, but may suffer from waning investor demand tomorrow.

This is likely on account of the latest forecasts made for UK GDP growth rate results, concerning second estimates for Q3.

On the quarter, a slight drop from 0.7% to 0.5% is expected, while the converse annual printing has an increase from 2.1% to 2.3% on the cards.

Pound Sterling (GBP) managed a number of tentative gains against peers during Thursdays European trading session and rose to 1.68 against the Canadian Dollar.

Overall, demand for the Pound has been limited, in the wake of Wednesdays much-anticipated Autumn Statement, which was supposedly Chancellor Philip Hammonds last.

As well as abolishing the Statement itself, Hammond abandoned attempting to reach a surplus in 2020 amid Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that the UK would be in 2trn worth of debt by the 2020s.

Pound Sterling (GBP) Turbulence ahead on Trade Data and GDP Stats

The Pound is expected to be unsettled considerably against the Canadian Dollar in the near-term, given the latest forecasts for Fridays UK economic announcements.

The greatest shift is expected to come from the mornings Q3 second estimates for the GDP growth rate, which is predicted to fall on the quarter but rise on the year.

For the later Confederation of British Industry (CBI) distributive trades in November, a slide from 21 points to 15 is expected.

Canadian Dollar (CAD) Slides as Trump Trade Talk Hits Home

The Canadian Dollar has dipped to 0.53 against the Pound (CAD GBP) today and been in low demand elsewhere; this comes in the wake of earlier concerning pledges made by US President-Elect Donald Trump.

Issuing an alarming update on his previous pro-US trade intentions, Trump announced earlier in the week that he would be withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), potentially scuppering the multinational agreement.

With some arguing that without the US, the deal is useless, this attitude from the future President has done little to instil confidence in those looking to invest in Canada or buy into the Canadian Dollar.

Canadian Dollar vs Pound Exchange Rate to be Shifted by Commodity Price Movement

As today is expected to have no major Canadian data releases, the strongest source of movement is likely to be any shifts in global commodity prices.

The cost of both crude oil and gold has dropped off of late, though any sudden rises triggered by OPEC news could well send costs and the Canadian Dollar back up as a result.

Looking further ahead, Friday afternoon will see the announcement of the September budget balance, which is expected to show a considerable deficit reduction from -2.7bn to -1.1bn.

Canadian Dollar Focus: Will Trump Administration Harm Canadas Economy?

The future for Canada may be testing, at least when it comes to trade with the neighbouring US.

Commenting on recent pro-protectionism rhetoric by President-Elect Trump has been Business Council of Canada President John Manley, who has warned that;

This [trade threat] is existential for Canada. This is the heart that beats (in) our economy so we just can't get this wrong. We have to see it as the same [...] almost existential threat that 9/11 was.
The impact of Brexit on British expats based in European Union, particularly their rights to live and work, has been a major worry for many, but now it looks as if they will be allowed to remain without too much change.Many had feared they would have to move back to the UK when Brexit is finally enacted sometime in 2019, but officials have hinted that deals with each of the 27 EU member states have been given the go ahead.  It means that negotiators will have to agree deals with each member state but all but a handful have already signalled that they are ready to strike a reciprocal deal regarding living and working rights.Senior UK Government figures are understood to have told business leaders that outlines of a reciprocal rights agreement for Britons in the EU, and EU nationals living in the UK will be done.Earlier this week David Davies, the UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, travelled to Brussels to begin laying the groundwork for negotiations before Britain formally triggers the Brexit process which is due to happen by the end of March 2017.It was the first meeting between Davies and Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, and working and living rights are set to become a major point of discussion as it is estimated that there are 3.3 million EU nationals living in Britain and 1.2 million Britons living in the 27 EU countries.Poland has the most EU nationals living in the UK at around 883,000, followed by Germany with 297,000 and Romania with 229,000, while Spain is the most popular EU country with British expats where they number round 309,000, followed by Ireland with 255,000 and France with 185,000.I want an early agreement on the status of UK nationals in Europe and EU nationals here, so that you and they can plan with certainty, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a speech earlier this week.British expats have voiced their unease and feel they are being left in limbo in terms of what their living and working right will be in a post Brexit Europe. They also have concerns about health care, insurance and pensions.
Hi All,



I have been on a work visa for a year, so now my agent tells me my South African qualifications are not level 4, which is needed for the 40 points on the points test. I want to get permanent residency. So does anyone know what course in NZ would give me the recognized qualifications for the 40 points? I really hope I dont need to qualify as a full blown electrician just to be an aircon installer. I also find it strange that they would grant me a work visa on those same South African qualifications (ACRA), but when it comes to PR, they are not good enough?



Johan
Hi there,



I've used the search function but I'm just striking out. I'm sorry in advance for asking what is surely a redundant question...



I live in America, and I'd like to bring a car I found in Spain over here. It's an older American model and, as far as Customs goes, I'm OK (I looked into this in detail, because of the adventures that various people have had trying to bring in e.g. Skylines) - it was made with US emissions and safety standards and I have the letter from Ford confirming this.



My question is this: how do I actually go about exporting it from Spain? It sounds like there's a ton of paperwork when you buy a car there. I know in Germany there are companies that do car import/export - i.e. you send your money to the company, they take care of the transaction with the seller and stick the car on the boat, and when it arrives in US then you do the rest. I'm pretty much looking for the Spanish equivalent of that.



Also looking for good shop for pre-purchase inspection (in northern Spain, Sasamon region). It's OK if the results are in Spanish, I speak enough to get by (lived in Texas for 4 years, so...) and have a friend from Peru who can walk me through the rest.



Any advice would be most appreciated, thanks!
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Early this year, a disabled former automobile body worker named Greg Vialpando explained to lawmakers in New Mexico how medical marijuana helped his chronic back pain.

State legislators were considering a bill backed by workers compensation insurers that would have exempted them from paying for medical marijuana. But Vialpando and another patient described how smoking the drug let them escape years of stupor caused by powerful prescription narcotic drugs known as opioids.

The lawmakers ended up dropping the bill, and Vialpandos expenses for buying marijuana are being covered by insurance.

I would recommend that people use medical marijuana over opioids any day, Vialpando, 58, said in a telephone interview.

For businesses and insurers, a string of ballot victories this month for marijuana advocates are adding to an intensifying conundrum about the drug and issues such as insurance coverage, employee drug testing and workplace safety.

Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada approved initiatives legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, while voters in Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota passed proposals for its medical use. In total, 28 states now permit or will soon permit medical use of marijuana while eight states have approved recreational use.

We are entering this conflict between a social policy decision and a workplace that is highly regulated, said Alex Swedlow, the chief executive of the California Workers Compensation Institute, a research organization.

A major part of the predicament centers on unclear science about the benefits of marijuana or the dozens of compounds, known as cannabinoids, that are found in the plant.

For its part, the Food and Drug Administration has approved only a synthetic version of a cannabinoid and a similar drug for narrow uses, such as to treat nausea in chemotherapy patients or to stimulate the appetites of patients with AIDS. Typically, health insurers will pay for marijuana-related drugs only for FDA-approved uses.

But state medical marijuana laws usually give doctors permission to recommend marijuana to a patient with a debilitating condition, a phrase that can encompass problems including glaucoma, cancer and chronic pain.

Usually, patients pay for the drug themselves. Several states have explicitly exempted workplace compensation insurers for covering such costs.

But as a result of recent state court rulings in New Mexico, workplace insurers there are required to pay for marijuana-based treatments if they are recommended by a doctor. And lower courts in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan have issued rulings directing workplace insurers to do so.

The number of patients receiving such coverage is small. And because marijuana is illegal under federal law, insurers paying for the drug must use a financial workaround to avoid violations. One strategy is to reimburse patients for their costs rather than make a direct payment to a marijuana dispensary.

The legality of this has not been tested in court, said Ellen Sims Langille, the general counsel of the California Workers Compensation Institute.

State marijuana laws vary. But broadly speaking, in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, it is not a crime for residents to possess small quantities of the drug and it is legal for licensed dispensaries to sell it. Patients approved to use the drug and dispensaries enjoy similar protections in states with medical marijuana laws.

However, all states have retained laws that protect the right of employers to have a drug-free workplace. An employer can withdraw a job offer to a candidate who tests positive for marijuana on a pre-employment drug screening or fire an employee who tests positive.

But several states with medical marijuana laws contain provisions that bar an employer from making an adverse employment-related decision in cases where an employee approved to use the drug shows evidence of it on a screening test, said Barry Sample, a senior executive at Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest drug-testing companies in the United States.

Those same protections extend to a person who qualifies as a patients caregiver.

Somebody cant be fired for testing positive in such states, said Sample, who is the director of science and technology for the employer solutions unit of Quest.

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Despite the push toward legalization, few employers have dropped marijuana from the list of drugs for which employees are tested, compounds that typically include opioids, amphetamines and cocaine, Sample said. One exception is a hotel operator in Colorado, a state where recreational use of marijuana has been legal for several years, he added.

They were having problems finding people, Sample said.

As marijuana legalization expands, there are also concerns about its effect on workplace safety. Some studies suggest that marijuana use can impair a persons judgment, though little data exists to compare the effect with that of other drugs such as opioids.

In states where recreational use is allowed, the problem for employers becomes one of determining when an employee used marijuana because detectable levels of it remain in the body for days afterward.

As a result, employers must use more subjective observations to judge whether an employee has become impaired from using marijuana while at work, said Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports legalization.

As for Vialpando, the disabled worker in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he and his wife say they have all the evidence they need that medical marijuana works.

Vialpando said that during the decade he used opioids, he withdrew from his family and friends, preferring to spend time by himself, watching television. He lost interest in food and developed sleep apnea  his wife used to wake up terrified at night because it appeared that he was dying.

These days, he smokes about four marijuana cigarettes daily. He said he had gained weight, enjoyed talking again and had resumed working on hobbies at home. His wife, Margaret, said that she hoped President-elect Donald Trump, when he takes office, will make marijuana a legal drug by changing how it is regulated.

I feel like Ive gotten my husband back, she said. His personality has come back to the person that he used to be.
The former comptroller of a bankrupt San Antonio frac sand company linked to state Sen. Carlos Uresti is the latest company official charged in an alleged scheme to defraud investors.

Laura Jacobs is the third FourWinds Logistics official charged in an information with a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a felony.

Jacobs emailed an investor a spreadsheet which falsely showed that the investors investment went to purchase fracking sand, according to the charging document filed Tuesday. Chris K. Gober, Jacobs lawyer, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The document didnt detail how the investors money was spent, but investors have alleged in court papers that FourWinds CEO Stan Bates wasted their money on personal expenses, expensive gifts, exotic car rentals and lavish vacations. Bates has disputed the allegations.

FourWinds  which traded frac sand, used in fracking to extract oil and gas from shale rock  filed for bankruptcy in August 2014. Creditors claims in the bankruptcy top $14 million. The San Antonio Express-News reported on FourWinds demise in August.

Uresti provided legal services for FourWinds and served as its outside general counsel for four or five months in 2014. He received FourWinds shares, as well as a $40,000 loans from the company that he initially failed to disclose in his state financial disclosures. He also was paid a $27,000 commission on Harlingen investor Denise Cantus $900,000 investment in a joint venture with FourWinds.

Cantu ended up losing about $800,000. Ron Smeberg, an attorney for investor Richard Thum, during a December court hearing called FourWinds a Ponzi scheme because he said some of Cantus money went to pay another investor.

Uresti previously has said he has been contacted by the FBI as a witness in an investigation of FourWinds and Bates.

According to people familiar with the probe, Uresti is the target of a grand jury investigation weighing possible public corruption charges related to his various roles at FourWinds.

The criminal case against Jacobs follows similar actions brought against Eric Nelson, FourWinds e-commerce and marketing director, and company co-owner Shannon Smith.

Nelson pleaded guilty Nov. 16 to using photo software to alter a bank statement to make it appear that the company had more money than it actually did. He faces up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and as much as a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Feb. 6.

Smith is expected to plead guilty on Dec. 5, according to court records. An unnamed co-conspirator is alleged to have transferred or wired from FourWinds bank accounts a total of $74,0000 to Smith in 2014 and 2015. Another $10,000 allegedly was transferred to a bank account controlled by Smiths wife.

Jacobs has said she served as FourWinds comptroller from May 2014 through October 2015.

During a January court proceeding in Bates personal bankruptcy, Nelson said he was asked by Bates to change the balance shown on a Chase bank statement. The document showed the company had more than $18.8 million in the bank in May 2014, San Antonio businessman Richard Thum, who invested with FourWinds, told the Express-News earlier this year. Subpoenaed bank records in Bates bankruptcy, however, show FourWinds never had more than $1.4 million at any one time during that month.

Thum later contacted the FBI about FourWinds activities, sparking an investigation.

Jacobs also testified in the bankruptcy proceeding, saying she prepared a FourWinds balance sheet showing it had more than $17 million in receivables, which are amounts owed to the business, as of June 30, 2014.

But when asked if FourWinds actually had that much in receivables at that time, Jacobs wasnt certain.

I cant answer that question without seeing further information, she said, according to a court transcript. Its possible there was an invoice for that much.

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A profit and loss statement also presented as evidence in the court proceeding showed the company generated $17.4 million in sales and nearly $2.7 million in gross profit in the first half of 2014.

Jacobs said she paid Bates personal bills, including car payments, with FourWinds money and recorded them as owners draws.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Joseph Blackwell and Mark Roomberg are prosecuting the FourWinds cases.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD
NEW YORK  If youre looking to save a few bucks at the mall while holiday shopping, charge up the smartphone and bring these apps with you. The four apps can help find coupons, compare prices or price match. All are available for Apple and Android devices and are free to download:

Amazon: Youll need the Amazon app to try to make sure youre not paying more than you have to. While in a store, you can scan the barcodes of items you want to buy and see how much they cost on Amazon. This is handy because many stores, including Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us and Walmart, will match prices if an item sold and shipped by Amazon is cheaper. Youll need to show the cashier the app with the price of the item. And make sure to check each stores price-matching rules, which are posted online. Many, for example, wont allow you to price-match from Thanksgiving Day through the following Monday.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Those who habitually put items in their recycling bins that don't belong there are the target of the ordinance amendment, not those who make an occasional, accidental mistake, said Public Works Director Jeff Demers.
There was a time when Sean Brack would encounter a sticky floor and be transported back to war. He would peel his foot up from the floor of a movie theater, and it would remind him of standing in a pool of blood, and walking through that blood to get to a wounded friend.

The flashbacks happened in 2010, when Brack thought of killing himself. After three tours to Iraq, Brack, a sergeant first class, had problems sleeping, isolated himself, and was on his way to becoming an alcoholic, he recalled. He was due to deploy to Afghanistan with the 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade from Fort Hood.

Then, Brack, 47, entered part of what would become a series of studies at Fort Hood on a type of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, called cognitive processing therapy.

Studies have been done on CPTs effectiveness on civilians and veterans, but a paper published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry included results of the largest study on the treatments effectiveness on active duty soldiers to date.

Over the course of 12 sessions at Fort Hood, nearly half of active duty soldiers in one-on-one therapy and 40 percent in group therapy recovered from PTSD, the study found.

More Information Demographics of CPT study Total: 268 service members Average age: 33. Time in service: 10.9 years No. of deployments: 2.3 Suicide ideation: 17.5 percent Married or cohabiting: 67.9 percent Ethnicity or race: Black: 28 percent Hispanic: 23 percent White: 40 percent Other: 8 percent Source: JAMA Psychiatry See More Collapse

The results, however, show CPTs effectiveness among military members lags behind its effectiveness among civilians, according to one of the studys authors.

CPT examines how someone thinks about a traumatic event and how that affects their emotions, said Patricia Resick, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University who developed CPT in 1988. CPT, along with prolonged exposure therapy, are the two primary talk therapy methods used to treat PTSD.

In a small room with 10 people, some in uniform and some not, Brack attended group sessions of CPT over 12 afternoons, twice a week for six weeks. What you focus on is what you're feeling now, and trying to find out what are the triggers for those things, Brack said.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about 11 to 20 out of every 100 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD in a given year.

When a trauma happens later, you revert to old thinking, Resick said.

When bad things happen, many people believe its because they are bad people or did something wrong, she said. Control issues, either going out of control or becoming a control freak, was something Resick observed both in soldiers with PTSD and also in the rape victims for whom the therapy was originally developed.

In Bracks case, he became a control freak. He was a platoon sergeant, responsible for keeping his soldiers safe. He would plan endlessly for every possible contingency on missions. When he came home, he was unable to turn away from this kind of thinking. Even for small decisions hed stay up at night, thinking about contingencies.

CPT, Brack said, helped him learn what he could control. I put down the problem, he said. I totally shut myself off from it and tell myself this is not life or death now, this is not something that has to be solved before I sleep tonight.

He likened his problems to a Gordian knot. "It's never just one problem." he said. "It was like a big ball of tangled string, and there was no telling where the ends were or how to get through it."

The problem of how to treat PTSD may be another Gordian knot.

CPTs effectiveness on active duty soldiers with PTSD is not as strong as among civilians, which researchers said is a point of ongoing research.

The study included 268 soldiers, with 135 in individual therapy and 133 in group therapy. It began in 2012 and finished in 2014 as part of the mufti-institutional STRONG STAR Consortium, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and based at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Alan Peterson, director of the consortium and one of the authors of the study, said about 80 percent of civilians can be treated to the point where they dont have PTSD within 12 sessions of CPT.

With veterans, the results have not been as good: 40-50 percent, said Peterson, a professor of psychiatry at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

Among active duty soldiers, results from the most recent study found CPTs effectiveness also to be around 40 to 50 percent.

Our hope is if we intervene early, we might be able to get more promising results, Peterson said. As it turns out, we didnt get that. We didnt get the same kinds of results with civilians. Its closer to the results we get with veterans.

The study also found that individual CPT sessions had better results than group sessions, such as the one Brack attended.

Our hypothesis was that it would be equal, Peterson said.

In an editorial in JAMA Psychiatry to accompany the study, three authors, Charles Hoge, Daniel Lee and Carl Castro, called the CPT study at Fort Hood one of the most important clinical trials to emerge from the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs (DOD/VA) research portfolio. They noted, however, that much still needs to be done in the field of treating PTSD

Unfortunately, this state-of-the-art clinical trial demonstrated group CPT to be only half as effective as individual CPT two weeks after treatment, the authors wrote.

The editorial also noted the high number of soldiers who did not complete 12 CPT sessions. Only 155 of the 268 soldiers completed nine of 12 sessions.

Resick said the dropout rate in most of her other CPT studies was very low. Many of those who failed to finish CPT at Fort Hood left due to the unique transitory nature of the Army, either to being discharged or moving to another duty location or deploying, she said.

When you're dealing with active military they're moving around, Resick said. Our intentional dropouts is a low percentage.

Peterson said there are five current studies to dive deeper into the results of the most current study. Future studies may measure whether military PTSD could require additional sessions of CPT, which is normally 12 sessions.

Theres nothing magic about 12, Resick said, adding that some patients will be allowed to have up to 24 sessions.

These questions, and others on treating PTSD, are to be explored in future research, Peterson said.

Brack said he got better after completing CPT, and that on his next deployment to Afghanistan he had better strategies for handling his emotions. The father of two retired in 2014 and now lives in Lampasas.

He said he realizes his symptoms will never be completely gone. Memories still ooze out. Still, he said hes learned how to think about what he thinks about when he encounters triggers like sticky floors.

It's not a closed box that you're afraid to open, you already know what it is that you're trying to do, that you're trying to look at it, Brack said. It's easier to take it out and talk about what you've discovered.

jlawrence@express-news.net
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SAN ANTONIO  Animal Care Services has uncovered a cat hoarding case involving more than 20 abandoned cats forced to eat the remains of several deceased cats on the Northwest Side.

According to ACS field investigation supervisor, Joel Skidmore, ACS received a 311 call from the apartment manager at the Wellington Estates, located at 6626 Callaghan, for abandoned cats.

When the investigators went to an upstairs corner and entered Apartment 102, they walked into an empty space and found more than 20 cats running from room to room. During the welfare check they found four to six deceased cats with signs of being eaten by the living cats.

Skidmore said there was an excess amount of feces and urine throughout the apartment.

The cats were underweight from being without food and water for at least two weeks and suffered from upper respiratory infections. ACS officers transported the cats to the ACS clinic, where veterinarians were treating them, many in critical condition.

RELATED: ACS investigators seize about 80 chickens, many of them roosters, from home on West Side

Right now were gathering information and have a good idea on who the person is, Skidmore said. And if warranted, we will turn this over to the district attorney and get justice for the animals. Obviously, this is an open criminal investigation and were going to do everything to hold this person accountable.

Skidmore said that the tenant faces a charge of unreasonable abandonment. If investigators can prove that the cats died in a manner that seems cruel, the charge could rise to felony torture. The charge could result in two to 10 years in prison and fines up to $5,000.

Skidmore said the renter of the apartment was in the process of being evicted by management and had been cooperating. He was given a timeline to remove his belongings and when it became apparent the renter wasnt going to return for the cats, the apartment manager called ACS.

ACS spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said a judge can deem that a defendant found guilty can be assessed to pay for the care of the animals from the time they were brought to ACS custody to time the case is completed.

She said every crime scene of cruelty that ACS goes to has its own level of horror and its own level of tragedy.

This particular scene was very bad, Norwood said. There were decorations out on the balcony, and it looked like someone tried to make that apartment their home, but when you walked through the door, the only thing you saw was suffering and death.

Additional information will be added to this story as it becomes available.

Text "Breaking" to 48421 to sign up for breaking news from mySA

vtdavis@express-news.net
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After a contentious election that seemingly left the country sliced in half, chances are a four-hour feast filled with food, drink and extended family may not be everyones ideal situation to bring up politics.

If youre unsure of how to handle both the lingering effects of the election along with the typical stress of the holidays, experts suggest borrowing some techniques from couples therapy along with a dose of self care to make the most out of the holiday season.

I think what happened to most of us, especially this election, is that it hurt a lot of feelings, said Mary McNaughton-Cassill, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas-San Antonio. While some who supported Hillary Clinton are left feeling anxious about the future, others who supported Donald Trump may feel vindicated, after what they felt were eight anxious years, she said.

Before going into a gathering, she suggests considering what the purpose of engaging in a political discussion would be.

The evidence is that extreme arguing didnt change anybodys mind, she said. If the goal is to go there and gloat, then probably youre going to alienate some family members. Or if you want to treat everyone as if theyre crazy, youre also going to alienate family members.

Be an active listener

Instead, McNaughton-Cassill recommends people approach their Thanksgiving meal in exploratory mode, with the goal to better understand the factors behind someones decision, rather than assume that person fits some blanket stereotype.

Even though were talking about politics, were all unique individuals and we have multiple different opinions, so we should handle this the same way, said Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert and owner of The Protocol School of Texas.

Our tendency as people is to look at other folks, and if they do things we dont like, we blame it on trait characteristics, McNaughton-Cassill said. But our own behaviors are very situational.

So if you end up discussing politics or the election with someone you disagree with, McNaughton-Cassill advocates for active listening, a technique found in couples therapy where people pay attention and ask follow-up questions.

Instead of feeling like you just have to wait until they shut up so you can say your piece, really focus on what people are saying, she said.

For example, a Clinton supporter could follow up with a Trump supporter on what he thinks the president-elect will do to change the Affordable Care Act.

Try to move it forward to try to see what they see happening, she said.

Manage your expectations

But this doesnt mean you should expect to convince someone to change their mind in the span of four hours, McNaughton-Cassill said, nor do you need anyone to validate your position, either.

I argue with my clients that it comes down to mind over matter, she said. You cant change how the election turned out, but you can manage your responses to it.

And if a person would rather skip the uncertainty of an extended family gathering, thats fine, too.

If there are people in your family who are going to push an agenda or thoughts that are stressful to you, or invalidate things you care about, you always have the right not to go, she said.

Besides, the holiday season is stressful enough on its own. Almost 40 percent of Americans said their stress level rises around this time, according to a survey from the American Psychological Association survey.

Find other outlets

For those who align politically with their families but are fatigued from discussing the ramifications of a Trump presidency, McNaughton-Cassill advises action. It could be through volunteering or making a donation to a group that addresses a topic of concern, whether its womens health, refugee services or something else.

If youre all worried or scared about some particular event or situation, then I say, look around, and find ways to solve that. Its moving beyond the Oh this is terrible, to I can make it better, she said.

Pamela Allen, founder and president of Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach, a nonprofit for special needs children, plans to adopt a two-tiered approach Thanksgiving Day for people still stressed from the election. After going to her family lunch of about 75, she hosts her own dinner for about 20 people, including her immediate family and other colleagues, some of whom she met doing refugee resettlement work in San Antonio.

The second meal is more relaxed, she said, where one can unbutton the first button.

Since the election, Allen has heard many in her circle say theyre afraid of what to expect once Trump becomes president. On Thursday, along with the turkey, mashed potatoes, biryani courtesy of her Iraqi colleague and her homemade Mexican wedding cookies, Allen wants to serve up hope.

I think thats a big word were going to have at our table, she said. She plans to listen to peoples concerns, so people can process and deal with it, instead of keeping it bottled in.

Thats the first approach, she explained. After actively listening, Allen wants to follow up with a positive reminder.

Secondly, she added, theres hope in tomorrow.

frahman@express-news.net
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Its finally over for the women dubbed the San Antonio Four.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals exonerated them, asserting in plain but forceful language Wednesday that they did not sexually assault two young girls in 1994, for which they spent years in prison.

It was an outcome experts called rare and momentous, though it came years after lower courts and prosecutors had acknowledged serious doubts about their convictions and allowed them to be released.

Seven of the nine appellate judges heard the case. All agreed the women should get a new trial, and five said the women actually are innocent, a move that paves the way for them to seek state compensation for their imprisonment.

Elizabeth Ramirez, now 42; Cassandra Rivera, 41; Kristie Mayhugh, 42 and Anna Vasquez, 41, consistently maintained their innocence from the day more than 22 years ago when Ramirezs nieces, ages 7 and 9, accused the women of brutalizing them while on a weekend visit with their aunt.

The girls said at the time that they were bound and raped, guns pointed at their heads, and threatened with death if they told  though their stories changed significantly every time they described what happened during the investigation and two trials. Jurors heard horrific accounts of orgy-like sexual predation. A prosecution expert witness speculated about links to Satanism.

But major questions about the cases, including the forensic evidence on which prosecutors had leaned heavily, were spotlighted in a San Antonio Express-News report in 2010. The womens fight for exoneration eventually garnered national and international media attention. Because the four defendants are lesbians, they became a rallying point for LGBTQ activists.

In 2012, the younger accuser recanted her story. Vasquez was released from prison on parole that year, having become eligible after serving 12 years. The other three were released on bond in 2013 pending the outcome of legal efforts to overturn the convictions. Ramirez had been in prison the longest  16 years.

It all ended the day before Thanksgiving of 2016. The four had won the right to proclaim to the citizens of Texas that they did not commit a crime. That they are innocent. That they deserve to be exonerated, said the opinion by Judge David Newell, joined by two other judges on the states highest criminal court.

These women have carried that burden. They are innocent. And they are exonerated.

Ramirez, Rivera and Vasquez expressed shock and relief in an interview hours after the ruling was issued.

Being known as a child molester is the worst thing you can possibly imagine, Rivera said through tears, with her longtime friends at her side. We always thought wed never see the end, and we prayed.

We were just in limbo, Vasquez said.

It really makes us thankful, Ramirez said. We can finally move on.

Vasquez said the entire experience has steered her toward a career as an advocate to help others who are wrongfully convicted, Vasquez said.

Mayhugh was working and could not be reached for comment.

This is certainly a momentous case, said their attorney, Mike Ware, director of the Innocence Project of Texas and a former Dallas County prosecutor. The appeals panel carefully read the record and did the right thing. Its a courageous opinion.

Ware said he would file a motion to expedite sending the case back to Bexar County, and that he expected District Attorney Nico LaHood to file a motion to dismiss the case.

LaHood had said he had serious reservations about the convictions last February, when Senior District Judge Pat Priest recommended the women receive new trials because the new evidence they offered after their release hadnt sufficiently proven their innocence.

Lahood said then that he did not believe pursuing the cases would be in the interest of justice. On Wednesday, he commended the appeals panel for having a moral compass to do the right thing.

This is not a common occurrence, LaHood said of the ruling. They made a finding of actual innocence. This is better than an acquittal  its as if it never happened.

Its extraordinary, agreed state District Judge Ron Rangel, who was not involved in the appeals and who teaches court systems and processes at Northwest Vista College. The highest court in Texas is not saying theyre not guilty, they are saying they are innocent. Its very rare.

Ramirez was convicted in 1997 and the other three in 1998 of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Stephanie Limon Martinez, when she recanted her testimony in 2012, told the Express-News, Whatever it takes to get them out, Im going to do. I cant live my life knowing that four women are sleeping in a cage because of me. Her older sister maintained the assaults occurred.

Pediatrician Nancy Kelloggs examination of the girls and trial testimony were key advantages for prosecutors, who argued the girls changing stories were a result of their youth and fear. Ware said Kellogg recanted that testimony, acknowledging the physical evidence she presented no longer is accepted as indicating abuse.

The case was the subject of a documentary film that opened in San Antonio in September, Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four.

The women told the Express-News when the documentary was released that the toughest part of prison was serving time in solitary for refusing to take part in the sex offender program in their prisons. Attending it was a condition for early parole, but it required inmates to admit deviant behavior, which they couldnt do.

How are we going to admit to something that never occurred? Mayhugh said then.

The women, facing trial and possible lengthy prison sentences when they were in their early 20s, similarly had refused to plead guilty in exchange for lighter punishment. All that time away from their families was painful and difficult, Vasquez said, but they were not guilty and fighting to prove it was the right thing to do.

Im still in shock, but glad the state and people responsible came to their senses, said Michael Rivera, 25, Cassandra Riveras son. He was 9 when his mother went to prison.

Ive always supported my mom, same thing with the rest of the girls, he said, adding that hed be alongside his mother when she weds her longtime partner on New Years Eve.

Staff Writer Peggy Fikac contributed to this report from Austin, and News Researcher Misty Harris contributed from San Antonio.

ezavala@express-news.net

Twitter: @elizabeth2863
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S ince its start in 2008, the contemporary arts festival known as Luminaria has evolved from a one-night event downtown to a multiple-night extravaganza at diverse sites that showcases local artists along with notable talent from across the nation and world.

Liz Tullis, a San Antonio business consultant who has served on the board for the past six years, deserves a large part of the credit for this evolution, say her fans, thanks to the financial prowess she has brought to the table as well as a deep commitment to see Luminaria grow and prosper in the years to come.

President of the board since 2013, Tullis first became involved in 2010 at the behest of her friend former Mayor Phil Hardberger, who was the driving force behind the festivals creation. At the time, she was the senior vice president in business support at the Bank of America, one of the festivals initial sponsors and one of its biggest donors.

It was the multidisciplinary nature of Luminaria that intrigued Tullis, she said, the way it brought together different aspects of the art world, from dance and visual art to song and poetry.

That was something  unique when you look at other well-known festivals across the nation, she said.

From the beginning, Tullis strove to make the festival really become a part of San Antonio, and to use it to put the spotlight on the city, both nationally and internationally.

This year, Luminaria, held Nov. 9-12, took place for the first time on the East Side, with the Carver Community Cultural Center as the hub. More than 50 projects featured local, national and international artists using a range of media and included community events, such as open studios, open houses and jazz concerts. Most events were free.

For the first three years, Tullis focused on getting Luminarias finances in order. A mostly volunteer event from the start, there was a lack of structure that could sometimes be problematic, she said  artists not getting paid until several weeks after the event, for example.

But the greatest need Tullis saw was creating the supports that could sustain Luminaria from year to year, combatting volunteer fatigue and inculcating momentum. Shed done volunteer work with other arts groups and knew a strategic plan could be part of the answer.

And there were lots of questions. Where was the best place to have Luminaria? (It started in the area along Houston Street up to the Alamo.) What time of year? For how long? Should artists be invited, or should there be a call for submissions? Should the focus remain strictly on local artists? What was the best way to raise funds?

Tullis, who now runs her own consulting company, and other board members presented a pitch to the city on the need to hire consultants. The city now funds about half of the cost of Luminaria, which has an overall budget of about $600,000. Tullis also approached the 80/20 Foundation, the charitable arm of Rackspace Hosting, one of Luminarias major sponsors.

A goal of the plan was to look at how to use the glow of Luminaria to complement efforts by the city to increase economic development, attract the right kind of workers and make San Antonio a desirable destination, she said.

Tullis got a green light. One of the first big decisions was to take the Luminaria foot print and align it to the areas of town that the city was highlighting. Thus, Luminaria 2014 was held in and around the Tobin Center area. The next year, it took place in and around the Pearl and the San Antonio Museum of Art.

This years move to the East Side piggybacked on ongoing urban renewal efforts, especially the Promise Zone, an area where three federal anti-poverty grants seek to address everything from job training to housing to public safety in what had become a neglected part of the city.

Another big decision was to create a permanent executive director position, in an effort to sustain forward momentum. Kathy Armstrong, whod served as volunteer artistic director, took over the helm in 2015. When rain canceled some Luminaria events that year, she was on hand to oversee and organize rescheduling two events at a later date, Tullis said.

Through it all, Tullis has sought to balance the desire to keep Luminaria a grassroots event while at the same time cultivating the national cachet that brings a larger spotlight. Thats why the festival continues to draw well-known outside talent but also invites all artists to submit their work for consideration.

Her steady hand has shaped Luminaria for the future, said Felix Padron, former director of the citys department of culture and creative development who served on the board with Tullis for years.

Liz has been a stellar board member and chair, he said. Shes helped steer Luminaria to the point where its finding its place in San Antonio in a really big way. Shes just been terrific at maintaining the overarching mission.

Tullis said its personal for her. She lives here, and so does her family.

We want to create something that doesnt fade away, she said.

mstoeltje@express-news.net
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Brexit and the future of dairy exports report

Dairy UK examined the potential impacts of leaving the European Union and highlighted the importance of maintaining access to the EU market, avoiding border issues with Ireland and developing new free trade agreements abroad.
A 15,000 pig development in Northern Ireland has been given the green light by planners, ending months of high-profile opposition against it.

Derek Hall, the farmer concerned, wanted to construct a unit for up to 30,000 pigs - but revised plans have now been passed for a unit half that size, an adjustment which has now gained planning permission from Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council Planning Committee.

Slurry and smell were among the concerns raised by nearby residents in Newtownabbey, and 200,000 people signed an online petition against the development.

Famous voices also joined in on the opposition, with celebrities including Queen guitarist and animal welfare campaigner Brian May, as well as actors Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove, having publicly opposed the pig unit.

Ulster Unionist Party politician Roderick Swann backed the proposal. He said: Im a farmer myself who supports the agri-industry and I was quite satisfied that all the necessary welfare issues were addressed.

The planning case officer and all the consultees were quite happy with everything that was proposed.

Asked if he understood the strong opposition, both from locals and those not so local, Mr Swann said: I can and I cant. There was an awful lot of not in my backyard.

A lot of these animal rights folks, theyre entitled to their opinion, but I think theyre on the wrong track sometimes. This will be the most modern pig farm, not only in Ireland, but also Great Britain.
With global demand for dairy products expected to grow over the next ten years, the UK has a good opportunity to unlock new markets post-Brexit, according to a new report.

Dairy UK examined the potential impacts of leaving the European Union and highlighted the importance of maintaining access to the EU market, avoiding border issues with Ireland and developing new free trade agreements abroad.

"In our strategy, our members shared an aspiration to grow their exports by value and volume by 20 to 30% over the next five years," the report said.

Global demand for dairy products is predicted to increase by 2% per annum over the next ten years

"To meet our goals, we need to take stock of and showcase how well the UK dairy industry is doing in terms of innovation and promotion, skilling our industry for the future, food safety and environmental credentials. Getting all of these elements right is essential in a highly competitive export market."

Over the past five years, UK exports of dairy products have been increasing to the EU and also globally, with the volume of global exports increasing by 91% during that period.

"In spite of the uncertainty created by the Brexit negotiations, the UK dairy industry is ready to rise to the challenge and strengthen its position as a global dairy player. Our ability to innovate and invest in the future is second to none and our resilience is legendary."

'80% of dairy exports from UK goes to EU'

80% of dairy exports from the UK go to EU countries, Dairy UK said continued access to the market 'without any tariff' barriers were needed to ensure the industry thrives.

"Clarifying our relationship with the EU must be an utmost priority and dealt with swiftly before negotiating any other trade agreements," the report said.

"Our industry is a key player in the European market. At 14.8 billion litres of milk output per annum, the UK is the third-largest milk producer in the EU after Germany and France and a major contributor to trade cows within and outside the EU."

Once the EU relationship was clarified, the UK had to focus on unlocking new markets and developing 'far-reaching' free trade agreements.

Global demand for dairy products is predicted to increase by 2% per annum over the next ten years and the report said that the British dairy industry can take advantage of developing markets through continuing innovation.

"This could be enhanced by working with the Great British Food Unit to specifically promote British dairy products, alongside generic British food marketing. Free Trade Agreements can effectively remove trade barriers and boost exports of dairy products to growing markets such as the United States, Japan, South-East Asia, North Africa and the Gulf States.

"This means removing barriers such as tariffs and quotas as well as non-tariff barriers such as environmental regulations, labelling, food safety and sanitary regulations.

"As the Brexit negotiations start, it is important to remember that free two way movement of raw material milk and finished product is mission critical to align processing capacity and product capability across the milk field to optimise efficiency and competitiveness," the report said.
American Thanksgiving is being celebrated across the pond today (24 November), and British turkey producer KellyBronze has achieved a major breakthrough with official go-ahead to market throughout the United States.

Kelly Turkeys has been testing the US Thanksgiving market in Virginia over the last six years and has built a pilot processing plant on a small farm near the Blue Ridge Mountains to establish whether they can develop a niche market for a top quality traditional turkey in a market dominated by cheap frozen product.

Ironically, the KellyBronze is produced just like the Americans used to  in the style of New York dressed turkeys. The turkeys are dry plucked and hung for 10 to 14 days before evisceration  just like they were in the MidWest before transport to the East Coast markets in the era before refrigeration.

Getting the US Department of Agriculture to approve our dry process has taken huge amounts of time and effort with meetings in Washington and translating our UK legislation for dry processing so it would meet USDA criteria, said Paul Kelly, managing director of Kelly Turkeys. I have to say the USDA has been brilliant and really supportive on getting our unique process approved. Theyve been a pleasure to work with.

'Getting the US Department of Agriculture to approve our dry process has taken huge amounts of time and effort'

Selling our turkeys in the USA is rather like selling coals to Newcastle since the New York dressed process is one that the UK imported early in the last century and has become standard for our traditional Christmas market here. Across in the US this process has become almost unknown.

For the first three years Kelly Turkeys worked with a small organic farmer in Appomattox, Virginia, to grow 160 of its bronze turkeys to test the Thanksgiving market.

The few butchers we supplied were very pleased and the KellyBronze has made up around one third of their sales in three years at a price over twice that of the premium bird they were selling.

$2 million investment

This gave the Kelly family the confidence to buy a small farm of 120 acres and homestead in May 2014 and then build a new processing facility - investing over $2 million in total. The permit for planning permission came through in just seven days from applying to build the plant.

We just had to confirm that we would not build it within 40 feet of the river that runs through the farm. A bit different to the UK! he commented.

Carrie Culver is looking after the farm while her husband Judd has past experience in a Butterball turkey plant, and so he gives lots of help and advice.

Predators have been an eye opener for me! said Paul Kelly, In the UK we have the fox and the occasional traveller to contend with. In the US we have coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, bears, possums, rattle snakes, rat snakes and numerous birds of prey.

Over the past 15 years since Ive been looking at the US market. Everyone tells me that turkeys are sold at 1$/lb and that no way would people pay the premium needed to grow the birds to full maturity and then dry pluck and hang them.

I find it strange that in a country where the sales of fine wines and champagne go through the roof at Thanksgiving, its inconceivable there are not enough discerning customers who can afford to have the very best for us not to take a small part of the market. I believe 45 million turkeys are sold at Thanksgiving - our challenge is to get discerning customers among them to try our turkey.

I am aware the US has been a graveyard for many UK food companies, but we have done the groundwork. I think weve made a very calculated decision and am optimistic about developing a very worthwhile niche market there.
The National Farmers Union has today renewed its call for new dairy Producer Organisations (POs) after the release of an EU Commission report into the impact of the 2009 Milk Package.

NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes said the UK must develop a 'collaborative dairy industry' that can compete effectively in the UK and on the world markets.

The focus of the Commission report is the important role POs can play in increasing farmer bargaining power, it lines up with the NFU dairy boards asks including its calls for fairer, more balanced milk contracts and stronger producer representation.

'Its a shame that many UK milk buyers, both large and small, see POs as a threat,' NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes said

The report reveals that in some EU countries, which have fully adopted the measures within the package, the dairy farmers position in the supply chain has been improved.

In 2009 the NFU, NFU Scotland and DairyUK agreed a voluntary code of conduct on contractual relationships as a preferred route to the type of regulation Defra was contemplating at the time. The voluntary approach has led to some improvements, but not a wholesale change of behaviour from milk buyers.

The three organisations said many farmers continue to be treated unfairly, with contract terms changed with little or no notice, and verbal assurances offered by milk buyers but then withdrawn.

'Vital part of developing new relationships'

Mr Oakes said the thrust of the EU Commission report is on the role of dairy Producer Organisations.

This is something the NFU has always promoted and encouraged," Mr Oakes said, its a shame that many UK milk buyers, both large and small, see POs as a threat and have publically said that they will not work with farmers who are part of a PO. Today in the dairy farming sector, collaboration is the key and the NFU sees POs as a vital part of developing new relationships in the UK dairy sector.

While this report concludes that the EU milk package must continue post 2020, I would urge the UK government to read the report carefully and ensure that many of the recommendations are implemented here to the benefit of UK dairy farmers. It would be extremely unfair if the Commission supports EU farmers to collaborate and increase their bargaining power in the supply chain but the same support isnt offered here in the UK.

I was encouraged to hear farming minister George Eustice supporting the NFUs approach during Defra questions in the House of Commons today, saying that he was reviewing the option of bringing the voluntary code under the remit of the Grocery Code Adjudicator and also promoting role of POs, Mr Oakes concluded.
News that Wales is to benefit from an additional 400 million to its capital budget has been welcomed by the Farmers Union of Wales, but 'urgent attention' remains in some areas.

The union stresses the Welsh government should focus their support on rural communities and improving living standards, with broadband being an area that requires 'urgent attention.'

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond said: The investments I have outlined today will have benefits right across the Union. Research and development funding will benefit the United Kingdom as a whole and where responsibility for infrastructure investment rests with the devolved administration in Wales, they will receive the appropriate funding share.

It is also great news that today I can also confirm wider investments for Wales including working towards new city deals, better broadband and more money for research and development.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said the extra 400 million for the Welsh economy is 'welcome news'

'Urgent improvement to our rural areas'

Commenting on the news, FUW President Glyn Roberts said the extra 400 million for the Welsh economy is 'welcome news', but stresses that the Welsh government should ensure the money is used to make 'urgent improvements' to rural areas, including broadband available for rural businesses and communities.

Our rural towns and villages have been left behind in the race for better and faster connectivity and it is critical for the sake of rural businesses and the economy, that tangible improvements are made now. 2% of our population produce around 60% of our food. Yet there is a significant part of that 2% who remain unable to connect to the internet from their farms, Mr Roberts said.

The FUW has stressed that those without a connection cannot diversify their businesses, that they cannot support children with homework and that they cannot connect readily with government programmes for advice and support payments 'as they are mandated to do'.

Government talks about future proofing our economy in light of Brexit and investment in broadband should therefore be a top priority for the Welsh administration, given the wider economic benefits it will bring to our rural communities, added Mr Roberts.
A case of high risk H5N8 bird flu has been confirmed in the German state of Lower Saxony and about 16,000 turkeys have been culled, authorities say.

Some 16,000 turkeys had been ordered killed in a farm on the outside of Cloppenburg as a precaution, it was confirmed the flu was of the H5 strain. A prohibited zone has been set up with a radius of at least 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) around the farm and further birds within one kilometer may also have to be killed.

"Due to the new risk situation, we have immediately decided that poultry must be kept in their sheds, however, exceptions are possible in some individual cases," Environment Minister for Saxony-Anhalt Claudia Dalbert said.

Last Friday (18 November), following the discovery of cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 in several European countries, France decided to raise the level of risk of disease from "negligible" to "moderate".

So far, most cases of the contagious strain of flu have been found in wild birds, but there have been outbreaks on farms in Austria, Denmark, Hungary and elsewhere in northern Germany.

British bird keepers have been urged to remain alert for any signs of the disease, and have been told by the government to immediately contact local vets if they suspect birds have avian influenza.
Farmers are urging shoppers to keep their Christmas shopping local to show support for rural and local businesses.

When it comes to food, the UK is incredibly lucky to have the capacity to produce a wide variety of quality food. Today, British farmers' produce totals about 62% of Brits food supply, and unions and farmers stress that by backing British farming, the country can become a more food secure nation.

Farmers Union of Wales President Glyn Roberts said: As we speed towards Christmas, I would like to urge you to think about your rural businesses and see if you can buy local, either for the upcoming Christmas dinner or even gifts for family and friends.

Speak to your local butcher about meat for the Christmas period and see what your local farm shop has to offer  I promise you will find many of the ingredients you need for your Christmas dinner right on your doorstep.

There are also plenty of small shops around that offer British and Welsh craft and locally designed gifts and of course the choice for local food gifts is aplenty. It really is worth having a look. These are small decisions we can make that will have a big impact on our rural economy.

A pound spent locally will go much further than a pound spent in a chain store and it keeps our rural economies going. By supporting our local businesses we dont help a CEO buy a third holiday home but we help a local mum and dad put food on the table, a family pay their mortgage, a little girl get those dance lessons and a little boy get his favourite team shirt.

Minette Batters, National Farmers Union deputy president, said consumers 'must get behind British farming'.

"One of the easiest ways this can be achieved is in buying produce displaying the Red Tractor logo, which also provides a guarantee of traceability, environmental protection, food safety and hygiene and welfare standards.

The festive season is a time when British produce such as roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and traditional turkey are treasured. And while Christmas dinner is the cornerstone of Christmas Day, British agriculture has a far wider part to play this time of year with the provision of British trees, plants and beers, to name but a few, Miss Batters concluded.
Rural landowners should be playing a more crucial role in solving England's housing crisis, according to a new report.

Rural communities are particularly hard-hit by dwindling affordable housing stock: 8% of rural housing is classed as affordable compared to 20% in urban areas. This has seen the average age in rural communities rise as young people are priced out, and services like post offices, pubs and shops have closed.

"The rural housing crisis in acute. There is less affordable housing in rural areas than in urban settings," the report by Campaign to Protect Rural England said.

"Landowners can either work with a housing association to bring forward rural housing developments or, alternatively, develop and manage the housing themselves. Yet there are barriers that are preventing landowners from making development happen.

'Landowners understand the pressures facing rural communities, and they are uniquely placed to help keep these towns and villages thriving'

"For a scheme to be attractive to a landowner and acceptable to the local community, an alternative lettings system prioritising local tenants may be sought."

"Two key amendments should be made to the taxation system to create incentives for landowners to invest in rural affordable housing: income tax relief for excess of expenditure over income earned and capital gains tax rollover relief."

The paper proposed fewer tax barriers that discourage landowners from providing affordable housing.

"The current tax system is unfavourable to landowners who let their land to housing associations or directly to tenants. The paper suggests measures that would see landowners paying reduced tax on profits from providing affordable housing, and being able to offset losses from these investments against other taxable income."

Government 'must do more'

Trinley Walker, policy and research adviser at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, comments: "Landowners understand the pressures facing rural communities, and they are uniquely placed to help keep these towns and villages thriving. There is a clear appetite among landowners to help create affordable housing for local people, but the current system discourages them from doing so.

"Government must do more to address the lack of affordable housing in rural areas. Removing some of the obstacles preventing landowners from providing land is a straightforward way to get more houses built for those who need them."

CLA President Ross Murray said landowners have 'strong multi-generational ties' to their communities and are often local employers.

"Landowners are well-placed to help increase the supply of affordable homes. We want life in our villages  to support young families, local workers and those in the community who are ready to downsize. At a time when housing costs are spiralling, providing more affordable housing is an excellent way to sustain rural communities for future generations and ensure people have the opportunity to live and work in the countryside."

To support rural landowners in providing land for affordable housing, the new paper proposes giving landowners power to ensure that their land will benefit people with local connections.

"Landowners would be more inclined to provide land for affordable housing if they had more confidence that this would directly benefit those in their local community. The paper suggests changes to letting systems, many of which currently dont allow for prioritising local tenants," Mr Murray said.
A Wiltshire farmer has been fined 9000 for providing unsafe drinking water to residents.

Wiltshire Council took the case to court at Salisbury Magistrates to prosecute farmer David Hobbs for refusing to comply with health regulations.

Water storage tanks lacked vermin proof lids and bacteria was contaminating the water.

Jerry Wickham, Wiltshire Council cabinet member said their priority was always to protect the health and wellbeing of residents and was 'pleased' appropriate action was taken.

"We take incidents of this nature very seriously. Our priority is always to protect the health and wellbeing of our residents and we address any risks which may compromise that. Im pleased the appropriate action has been taken. This case highlights how important it is to keep private water supplies clean and the need to inspect the supply regularly," he told the Wiltshire Times.

The council said it will continue to monitor the water supply to ensure it is safe to drink.
'Brexit barrier': Sheep sector slams new rule for meat exports to EU
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High schooler arrested in fatal pedestrian hit-and-run in Fayetteville

An 18 year old was charged Monday in the death of Mark E. Morris after she allegedly hit him with her car Oct. 28 and fled the scene.
Lena Dunham has admitted she won't be moving to Canada following Donald Trump's election.

Lena Dunham

The 'Girls' creator was among a number of stars - including Brian Cranston and Chelsea Handler - who claimed they would be leaving the US if the former 'Apprentice' star was voted in as president, but she has now insisted she will be staying in America and doing her best to "fight and live" and do "what's right".

Lena also admitted she has received a number of hostile messages since the election.

She wrote on Instagram: "Today I received a letter (yes, on paper) that read 'don't let the door hit you on the ass when you cross the border into Canada.'

"This is actually one of the more polite notes I've gotten recently, and I'll survive it just fine.

"And you know what else I've realized I can survive, as a Jewish pro-choice sexual assault survivor with a queer family member and a belief that we are all exactly & beautifully equal?

"I can survive staying in this country, MY country, to fight and live and use my embarrassment of blessings to do what's right."

Lena admitted it is "hard" to live amongst injustice but urged her fans to follow her lead and "try".

She added: "It's easy to joke about moving to Canada. It's harder to see, and to love, the people who fill your mailbox with hate. It's harder to see what needs to be done and do it. It's harder to live, fully and painfully aware of the injustice surrounding us, to cherish and fear your country all at once. But I'm willing to try. Will you try with me?"
Matt Smith was threatened by a gun-carrying man in a bar in South Africa.

Matt Smith

The 34-year-old actor was in a bar in Cape Town during time off from filming 'The Crown' - in which he plays a young Prince Philip - and admits he regrets not going home sooner as things could easily have got out of hand.

Speaking to MR. PORTER The Journal, he said: "This guy came up to us and said, 'What are you looking at?'

"We were drunk. We said, 'Nothing, mate. No worries.' He was like, 'I'll f***ing shoot you, bru!' He had a gun!

"Really stupidly, we just went to the bar across the street. I don't know why we didn't just leave altogether. He came up to the window, and went (tap, tap, tap on the glass), no word of a lie, he had a Crocodile Dundee knife in his hand.

"A bouncer came up and was like, 'Get out of here!' "

Shortly after signing up for the Netflix drama, Matt was left feeling awkward when someone told Philip's grandson, Prince William, about his new role.

But thankfully for the British star, the young royal approved of his casting.

He recalled "I met Prince William at an event and someone said, 'Matt's going to play Prince Philip.' And I thought, 'Oh God, no, no don't say that. What's he going to think? This is going to be awful.'

"And he just went, 'Legend.' "

Matt - who is dating Lily James - became a household name when he took on the lead role in 'Doctor Who' and he admits nothing could have prepared him for the attention the sci-fi drama brought.

He said: "Every single part of my life was affected. You have to be hyper-aware, because ['Doctor Who'] is a children's show ultimately, and you have to behave accordingly, I suppose.

"I went from being an actor doing theatre and stuff, to overnight being on the front page of every newspaper. There's journalists going to my granddad's house offering him 40,000 [for stories]. Nothing can prepare you for that."
J.J. Abrams regrets not signing up to direct 'Star Wars: Episode VIII'.

J.J. Abrams

The 50-year-old filmmaker is best known for his directorial roles on sci-fi productions such as 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' and 'Star Trek', and, although he is producing the next movie in the blockbuster franchise, he's going to miss working directly with the likes of Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill.

He told Variety: "I'd be lying if I said there genre't pangs of regret.

"Particularly when I realise I won't get to say 'Action!' to Daisy Ridley, or get to work with Mark Hamill in a scene where he gets to speak."

Meanwhile, Abrams has turned his talents to co-producing a comedy play for Broadway.

'The Play That Goes Wrong' was originally made for audiences in London's West End, and is now being transferred over to New York City where it will land a spot on Broadway.

Abrams will be joining a team of producers led by New York stage veteran Kevin McCollum, along with London producer Kenny Wax, who led the play to success on the West End.

The play centres around an amateur actors group who attempt to perform a 1920s murder mystery play with disastrous - and hilarious - consequences.

Having ran in the West End since 2014, the play has also spawned two more titles in the franchise, 'The Comedy About a Bank Robbery', and 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong'.

On Broadway, the play is expected to open in April at the Lyceum Theatre and will star the original West End cast, including co-writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields.

Previews for 'The Play That Goes Wrong' begin on March 9 2017, just under a month before the April 2 opening date.
Prince Harry has thanked the people of St Kitts and Nevis for committing the Central Forest Reserve to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy.

Prince Harry

The 32-year-old royal made the heartfelt speech on behalf of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and said how "lucky" he was to visit the Caribbean and meet with locals, especially the young people of the country.

He said: "I feel so lucky to be visiting St Kitts and Nevis on behalf of The Queen. Her Majesty sends her best wishes to you all and is sorry not to be able to come personally.

"On trips like this, I have the great privilege of meeting leaders and dignitaries from many fields. But what is most important to me, is having the chance to meet the young people of the countries I visit.

"There is no better way to judge the future of a country than by spending time with its youth; taking the time to listen to what they have to say; and understanding their vision for the nation they will inherit.

"I am really pleased to have the opportunity to thank the people of St Kitts and Nevis for committing the Central Forest Reserve to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy.

"My grandmother launched the Canopy project last year. All members of the Commonwealth have agreed to donate forested lands to this international environmental network."

The flame-haired hunk says he has made memories that will "stay with him" for a lifetime on his two-week tour of the Caribbean.

He added: "Your contribution is incredibly generous. Not only will it encourage more visitors to this beautiful place, but will also give people around the Commonwealth the opportunity to learn about your forests and the ways you protect them. The forests we see behind us are truly amazing - thank you so much for contributing them to this project in the year of The Queen's 90th birthday - and wow what a present.

"Thank you again for your friendly Caribbean welcome. I am only here for a short time, but can safely say that the beauty and people of St Kitts and Nevis will stay with me for a very long time."
Oludeniz is one of Turkeys most beautiful resorts. With its long, curved beach, crisp clear turquoise water (its not called the Turquoise Coast for nothing), mountainous scenery and famous blue lagoon it isnt surprising that holidaymakers of all types flock here in large numbers.

Some come for a lazy beach holiday, some are more adventurous and want to take advantage of the many hiking trails in the area, including the Lycian Way which starts in Oludeniz. Paragliders travel from all over the world for the experience of taking off from Babadag and can be seen soaring over the beach from early morning until dusk.

There are bars and restaurants to suit all types and budgets, shops selling an eclectic mix of goods and in the summer the resort is a hive of activity.

But what happens when the holidaymakers go home?

Following our theme of winter life, Fethiye Times went to have a look at what is happening in Oludeniz and what changes are taking place.

Here is what we found

Empty streets

Deserted beaches

Were closed for the winter

Were open!

There are a few cafes and bars that remain open throughout the winter serving drinks and a reduced menu, usually sandwiches and snacks

Paragliders still soar above

There are some things that will be different the future

Help Bar will be under new management in the 2017 season

But the biggest change of all

Buzz Bar has gone!

The old Buzz Bar has been completely demolished and will reopen as Ecclesia (date tbc)

If you want to know more youll have to keep coming back for updates!

That brings us to the end of our wander around Oludenizbut just look at the fabulous sight that we left behind us!
The top five markets for e-commerce sales are likely to start witnessing a decline in the growth rate by the year 2020, even as e-commerce sales across the world reach 1.5 trillion in the same year, according to a recent report . The 5 markets that are expected to make the largest contribution to this number are China, US, UK, Japan and Germany.

The report titled 'Top 5 Country B2C E-commerce Sales Forecasts: 2016 to 2020' by yStats states that China is likely to remain the largest and the fastest growing market in the e-commerce sector. It is also expected to be the only country among the top 5 nations to have a growth rate of over 20 per cent over the forecast period.

Besides China, double-digit growth rates of online retail sales are also expected in Japan, the world's fourth and Asia-Pacific's second largest e-retail market. The UK is the leader among the top 5 in B2C e-commerce's share of total retail sales, and is thus projected to see some of the lowest growth rates through 2020, says the report. A common trend predicted by the majority of primary sources cited in the report is declining year-on-year growth rates as these markets mature.

The top five markets for e-commerce sales are likely to start witnessing a decline in the growth rate by the year 2020, even as e-commerce sales across the world reach 1.5 trillion in the same year, according to a recent report. The 5 markets that are expected to make the largest contribution to this number are China, US, UK, Japan and Germany.#

The yStats report also lists the factors that will influence the development of the e-retail sector in these countries in the near future, which include the rise of m-commerce sales, omni-channel features and cross-border online shopping. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Ralph Lauren will receive the Outstanding Achievement Award in fashion at the Fashion Awards 2016, announced the British Fashion Council. Ralph Lauren, who has established himself as a pillar of the global fashion community, will be honoured for his invaluable contribution to the industry on December 5, 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

The Fashion Awards 2016 will be organised by the British Fashion Council in association with Swarovski to celebrate the best talent from the fashion industry. The event will be the inaugural annual fundraiser gala for the British Fashion Council Education Foundation charity. The education foundation offers scholarships to talented young people to study BAs and MAs and offers funding for apprenticeships to develop much needed industry skills. The British Fashion Council aims to raise 10million over the next ten years for the charity.

Ralph Lauren is an exemplary designer and businessman. He has helped to define an era in both American and global fashion with his singular vision; I know that most of us would say he has inspired us immeasurably. He has built an outstanding legacy and I look forward to celebrating him for years to come, said Dame Natalie Massenet, chairman of British Fashion Council.

Over the past 50 years, Ralph Lauren and his iconic brand have helped shape and define the American fashion identity in a unique and resonant way. Ralph Lauren had introduced his tie and menswear business in 1967. Five years later, he was presenting a full line of Polo by Ralph Lauren menswear at New York Fashion Week in 1972, the same year he launched a womenswear line. The Ralph Lauren family of brands has since shaped the contemporary image of quintessential Americana, encompassing Laurens realisation of an aspirational lifestyle with glamour, sophistication and integrity. Ralph Lauren has been responsible for countless cultural moments that have shaped the fashion world, from iconic and cinematic advertising imagery, early adoption and integration of technology, and a long-lasting romance with Hollywoods story-telling and glamour. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion.com  India
Delegates from five COMESA countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia participated in a one week study tour to learn and first hand experience biotechnology cotton farming, regulation and commercialisation in India. The tour helped delegates gain knowledge and experience to better understand biotechnology for informed decision-making.The study tour included visits to public and private biotech research development facilities, insect resistant genetically modified cotton farms, seed processing facilities and relevant cotton sub-sector players in various parts of India.

Delegates from five COMESA countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia participated in a one week study tour to learn and first hand experience biotechnology cotton farming, regulation and commercialisation in India. The tour helped delegates gain knowledge and experience to better understand biotechnology for informed decision-making.#

India was chosen due to its long experience of over 14 years of cultivating Bt- cotton, with an adoption rate of 95 per cent and also since the introduction of Bt-cotton, India has transformed itlsef from a net importer to net exporter of cotton.The study tour is one of the strategic objectives of COMESA Biotechnology and Biosafety Implementation Plan (COMBIP) to support experience-sharing through peer-learning platforms within COMESA member States and beyond.This initiative will help build the necessary confidence among the African stakeholders on regulatory and commercialisation processes, biosafety communications and trade issues of biotech crops, founder director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, Bhagirath Choudhary said. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
MEGlobal, a manufacturer of monoethylene glycol ( MEG ) has awarded a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) manufacturing facility near Freeport, Texas. This award follows Jacobs' successful delivery of the facility's front end engineering package.Our global MEG and local chemical project experience combined with our thorough understanding of the engineering package will contribute significant value and an efficient, high-quality approach to this important project, Jacobs senior vice president, petroleum and chemicals , Manuel Junco said.

MEGlobal, a manufacturer of monoethylene glycol (MEG) has awarded a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) manufacturing facility near Freeport, Texas. This award follows Jacobs' successful delivery of the facility's front end engineering package.#

Jacobs' chemical industry expertise and proven track record were key factors in the selection process, Ramesh Ramachandran, president at MEGlobal International FZE also said. The completion of this complex project will help MEGlobal establish a U.S. Gulf Coast presence and expand its position in the MEG market.Jacobs is a provider of full-spectrum technical, professional and construction services for industrial, commercial and government organisations globally and employs 50,000 people in more than 30 countries around the world. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Rotorcraft, an innovator in spinning technology, is set to show new Swiss machines for spinning which embody the operating principles of efficiency, simplicity, and sustainability , at India ITME 2016, the international textile machinery expo, to be held at the Bombay exhibition and convention centre, in Mumbai, from December 3 to 8, 2016, booth H1b A5.For the first time in India, a revolutionary ring spinning frame will be introduced: Next Generation Spinning (NGS). This frame meets all the requirements of a 21st century mill. Its' features and benefits include avoiding setting errors of any kind, omitting all setting screws, setting the drafting systems by using exchangeable elements in different colours, the distance between the drafting system and the spinning ring remains constant, bottom aprons are replaceable individually while the frame is running, a low-pressure channel is built in between the working elements of both sides of the frame, the channel is large enough to fit the suction tubes as well as the low-pressure elements for pneumatic compact spinning, the two sides of the frame work independently, and all bearings of the working elements are sealed for life.

Rotorcraft, an innovator in spinning technology, is set to show new Swiss machines for spinning which embody the operating principles of efficiency, simplicity, and sustainability, at India ITME 2016, the international textile machinery expo, to be held at the Bombay exhibition and convention centre, in Mumbai, from December 3 to 8, 2016, booth H1b A5.#

Ring frames with 2'000 spindles without the use of an additional drive for bottom rollers at the midpoint of the frame become possible. Equalised tension and evenness of yarn at a constant production speed go along with either better quality or a higher overall output.The company will also show the next generation of compact spinning systems, Green Compact (pat. pend.), that attains the yarn quality improvements introduced by the first generation of compacting systems, while saving 6-8  per spindle per year. It therefore performs considerably more economically and sustainably compared to old generation compacting systems. The new top arm RT3 (pat. pend.) has been optimised in its design and performance. It offers spinning mills the benefit of eliminating all possible sources of operating errors. This is achieved by adjusting settings in defined steps using saddle inserts of different colour; literally in a few seconds. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Turkey's general directorate of imports has decided to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 34.81 per cent to 72.56 per cent on polyester textured yarn items imported from Vietnam. Turkey had initiated anti-dumping investigation on polyester textured yarn imported from Vietnam in May this year, following a complaint by Korteks Mensucat Sanayive Tic. A.S.

Varying anti-dumping duty rates will be applied to different Vietnamese companies. Rates ranging between 34.81 per cent and 68.98 per cent will be imposed on companies like Hualon Corporation Vietnam, Formosa Industries Corporation, Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation, and PetroVietnam Petrochemical and Textile Fiber JSC. All the remaining companies will be subject to anti-dumping duty of 72.56 per cent, Vietnamese media reported.

However, Turkey is yet to announce the date from which the duties will take effect.

Turkey's general directorate of imports has decided to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 34.81 per cent to 72.56 per cent on polyester textured yarn items imported from Vietnam. Turkey had initiated anti-dumping investigation on polyester textured yarn imported from Vietnam in May this year, following a complaint by Korteks Mensucat Sanayive Tic. A.S.#

Turkey is one of the most important markets for Vietnamese yarn manufacturers as the country imports a third of Vietnamese exports. Owing to the high anti-dumping duties, a number of Vietnamese companies have shifted their attention to other nations such as China and South Korea, said the Vietnam competition authority and the Vietnam cotton and spinning association.

Turkey has also imposed similar duties on man-made and synthetic yarns and artificial staple fibres on various countries like Malaysia, Greece, Pakistan and Thailand, apart from Vietnam. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Centric Software, the leading product lifecycle management (PLM) solution for fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods, has announced the release of version 3.0 of its market-driven PLM Connector for Adobe Illustrator CC, the industry-standard vector graphics app for sketching, illustration, logo, icon, and typography design.Centric's updated Adobe Illustrator Connector allows brands, retailers, and manufacturers to centralise all information pertinent to the product development cycle such as creative, technical and production related details. This information can be accessed directly through Illustrator.

Centric Software, the leading product lifecycle management (PLM) solution for fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods, has announced the release of version 3.0 of its market-driven PLM Connector for Adobe Illustrator CC, the industry-standard vector graphics app for sketching, illustration, logo, icon, and typography design.#

Centric's integration with Adobe Illustrator CC allows designers to sketch new designs within the familiar app interface and access the same textile , fabric, and colour information that is also used by the rest of the product development team as well as suppliers. From Centric's Adobe Illustrator Connector, designers can share final sketches, line sheets, and other designs directly in Centric PLM for better collaboration with brand managers and merchandisers. Centralised information creates one actionable version of the truth and results in a faster time to market.Ron Watson, VP product development, Centric Software said, Our goal is to make designers feel at home by bringing the essential elements of PLM, such as a BOM Builder for creating or modifying Bills of Material, into the familiar Adobe Illustrator workspace; the same workspace as flat and technical sketches, fabrics and colours.Anubhav Rohatgi, group product manager for Illustrator and InDesign at Adobe said, Adobe is committed to providing seamless, collaborative experiences that address the needs of businesses today. The updated Illustrator CC integration with Centric Software gives designers full creative flexibility to manage ideas from concept to production, and collaborate with sales and production teams within Adobe Illustrator CC.Chris Groves, president and CEO of Centric Software said, With version 3.0 of the Centric Adobe Connector, we have built a comprehensive, cohesive link between Centric PLM and Adobe Illustrator so that designers can contribute their expertise, both creative and technical, as it best suits them. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Given the Herculean success the Fast and Furious 7 achieved -- an eighth installment to the series was always on the cards. With due consideration to Paul Walker's unfortunate demise,it is now up to the rest of the team to carry out the good work.

But will Vin Diesel be able to keep his family together in absence of Paul aka Brian O'Conner ? Will it be a tribute to the late Paul Walker (Brian O'Conner), who was an important part of Dominic Toretto's family?

Read these 8 things you must know about Fast 8

1. The First Official Trailer Drops On December 11

According to Vin Diesel, the first official trailer for the eighth installment of Fast and Furious 8 will be released on December 11th, 2016.

2. F Gary Gray Helming The Direction

After rumours like Vin Diesel himself directing the Fast 8 movie, it is now confirmed that the renowned director and film-maker of Straight Outta Compton fame, will be helming the direction of Fast 8.

3. Be Thrilled For The Locations

Fast and Furious has always been admired for its locations. After drifting in the heart of Tokyo, drag racing in Brazil, jumping buildings around Abu Dhabi, and destroying L.A. streets, Dominic Toretto and his team now come to places like the New York City, Cuba and Iceland to set the tracks on fire in Fast 8.

4. Inspired By Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The Fast 8 Director, F Gary Gray made it all clear that he has been highly inspired by the style of JJ Abrams's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And he is going to implement all that in the Fast and Furious 8.

5. Who All Are Featuring In The Movie?

Well, this is going to excite the Fast and Furious fans. As Dominic Toretto has always said, it is his family. Most of the members will be back, which includes Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty 'Ortiz' Toretto, Ludacris as Tej Parker, Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, and Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody.

With that, newcomers like - Scott Eastwood, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren will also feature in the upcoming series.

6. When Is The Movie Going To Release ?

According to the reports, the eighth installment of Fast and Furious movies is slated to release worldwide on April 14, 2017.

7. More Villains To Show Up

The bad brothers Owen and Deckard Shaw are not what Dominic Toretto and his team have to deal with this time. There are more villains to show up, thanks to Charlize Theron, who will be portraying the character of Cipher.A She will prove hazardous for the good guys in the movie. The list absolutely does not end here.

8. Lucas Black To Play Larger Part

Remember that cowboy guy from Tokyo Drift? He had also appeared for a cameo in the later stage of the series in Fast 7. Well, now when Brian O'Conner won't be there by Toretto's side, Lucas Black aka Sean Boswell will be Toretto's go-to man in Fast 8.

And that apart, Lucas Black has some old business to sort with Deckard Shaw regarding Han. He will be definitely looking for revenge.
Just when we thought Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar would start shooting for Pavan Wadeyar's film after Raajkumara, the Power Star has surprised one and all by giving a 'go ahead' for a different film, which will go on the sets from December.

Appu has given his call sheet to choreographer turned director A Harsha. Harsha has been entrusted with the responsibility of remaking Tamil hit Poojai which had Vishal and Shruthi Hassan playing the lead roles.

MN Kumar and Jayashri Devi, who are basking in the success of Upendra and Sudeep starrer Mukunda Murari, will be bankrolling this project which has already created a huge buzz just with the formal announcement.

Harsha has choreographed a number of hit songs for Appu, but this is the first time he will be directing the star. He has only done 'swamakes' so far and he usually stays away from remakes.

But he accepted a remake film because he did not want to let go off the opportunity to direct Appu. In the past he had rejected the offer to direct the remake of Telugu film Kick, for the same producer MN Kumar.

The makers intend to shoot the major portions of the film in Rajasthan and Bangalore. The director is also looking to cast actors, who have not worked with Appu in the past, as he feels this will give a new look to the film.

Puneeth has a few more days of shoot left for Raajkumara. He will be completing the work for the film by December, and after a brief break he will join the sets of Harsha's film.

More details about the cast and crew are yet to be revealed. Th team has already begun the pre-production work as producers are looking forward to start shoot of the film in January 2017.
Mohanlal's recently released movie Pulimurugan, has been hailed as the best ever action thriller in the history of Malayalam cinema. Rightly, the film has many stylish action sequences in it, that are of Hollywood standards.

The action sequences of the film were choreographed by renowned action director Peter Hein. It was reported that Mohanlal did all the risky action sequences on his own without the help of any dupes.

But, certain sections of the audiences did belittle the actor's effort and hard work by stating that the actor had used the help of dupes for shooting such sequences.

Now, a video has surfaced in the online circuits, which has silenced all the critics. The video, which was taken during the filming of Pulimurugan, shows the actor doing a very risky stunt without the help of any ropes and dupes.

The footage is from the thrilling action sequence during the climax portion of the film. The video has already gone viral on Facebook. All the fans and admirers of Mohanlal have shared it on Facebook.

Take a look at the post shared by one of the fan pages of Mohanlal..

Well, it has to be said that it is a commendable effort from the actor. This again shows the amount of hard work that he puts in for each movie. Hats off Mohanlal!
The upcoming Nivin Pauly starring Tamil-Malayalam bilingual, directed by debutant Gautham Ramachandran, has finally got a title. As per the reports, the team has decided to change the initial title Santa Maria, into Avargal.

But, according to the sources, the Malayalam version of the movie which stars Nivin Pauly and cinematographer-actor Natarajan Subramanian aka Natty in the lead roles, will remain under the title Santa Maria.

It is the second Tamil feature film outing of Nivin Pauly, who entered Kollywood with the Alphonse Puthren directed bilingual Neram. The actor was also a part of Alphonse's highly acclaimed Tamil short film, titled Eli.

Nivin Pauly created a strong fan base among the Tamil audiences, with the exceptional success of his 2015 movie Premam. The movie, which brought back the Alphonse-Nivin duo together, was a huge hit in Tamil Nadu as well.

It was followed by the release of Nivin Pauly's first production venture Action Hero Biju, which also went on to become a whopping success. Later, the actor started receiving several offers from the prominent banners of Kollywood.

Now, Nivin is planning to equally concentrate inMalayalam and Tamil industries, and has some promising projects in his kitty. Reportedly, he will soon sign the upcoming Gautham Menon movie, which is a remake of Pelli Choopulu.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/23/16 -- AlarmForce Industries Inc. (TSX: AF) (AlarmForce or the Company) today provides an update on its review of its revenue recognition practices for the periods starting fiscal Q4 2013 for revenue generated from customer contracts after a customer had requested cancellation of services as described in the Company's August 24, 2016 news release.

The Company reports that it has substantially completed its review of customer contracts and accounts. However, further analysis is required before it can be determined whether any restatement of AlarmForce's historical financial statements will be required and when it will be in a position to file its financial statements for the third quarter of fiscal 2016.

The Company continues to engage with the Ontario Ministry of Finance regarding the Ministry's proposed Employer Health Tax (EHT) assessment of incremental taxes and penalties driven by its conclusion that the Company's independent contractors should be classified as employees for the purposes of the Employer Health Tax Act. AlarmForce is working with its legal and accounting advisors in evaluating its response to the proposed EHT assessment and the ongoing IRS and Florida payroll audits. As well, it is evaluating the impact, if any, of this assessment and the other possible employee tax liabilities in connection with the classification of its independent contractors (including the significance of certain information that the Company received recently relating to such classification) upon Q3 2016 and/or prior period reported financial results, including the appropriate accounting treatment of any taxes and other amounts that may be found owing which may require a restatement of the Company's historical financial statements.

The Company anticipates that a decision regarding whether a restatement will be required will be made by the end of the second week of December 2016.

This status update is provided pursuant to the alternative information guidelines in National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders (NP 12-203), which require the Company to provide bi-weekly updates on its affairs until such time as the Company is current with its filing obligations under Canadian securities laws. In accordance with those requirements, the Company advises that: (i) there has not been any material changes to the information contained in our August 24, September 14, September 28, October 12, October 26, and November 9, 2016 news releases; (ii) there has not been any failure by the Company to fulfill its publicly disclosed intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines of NP 12-203; (iii) there are no subsequent specified defaults (actual or anticipated) within the meaning of NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the Company and its affairs that has not been generally disclosed as of the date of this press release.

About AlarmForce

AlarmForce provides security alarm monitoring, personal emergency response monitoring, video surveillance and related services to residential and commercial subscribers throughout Canada and the United States. More information about AlarmForce's products and services can be found at alarmforce.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements or information (collectively forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "intend", "plan", "potential", "continue" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained or referred to in this press release includes, but may not be limited to: the Company's intention to complete its review of customer accounts, determine whether any restatement of historical financial statements is required and file its financial statements for the third quarter of fiscal 2016, the Company's expectation that it will have completed its review of a sufficient number of customer contracts and accounts and its assessment of the impact of the ongoing payroll audits and the other possible employee tax liabilities by the end of the second week of December, 2016 to allow the Company to provide additional information on whether a restatement of historical financial statements will be required, and the proposed EHT assessment.

The forward-looking statements in this press release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of AlarmForce about future events based on information currently available to AlarmForce. In connection with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, AlarmForce has made assumptions about, among other things: no significant events occur outside of AlarmForce's normal course of business; that the Company ought not to have continued charging monitoring fees in some jurisdictions for the period following certain residential customers' subscription cancellations; the quantum of refunds to be made to customers; that the cancelled subscription revenue should not have been recognized; the scope and work necessary to assess any required restatement and for the reporting of its quarterly financial results.

Although AlarmForce believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this press release, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, liabilities and financial results in future periods to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the possibility that the final results of the review identify additional issues or different impacts not identified in the results of the review to date; that the quantum of refunds to be made to customers is significantly different than preliminarily determined; that the consumer law, tax and any other possible consequences relating to the Company's past and current treatment of cancellations is significantly different than preliminarily determined, and the possibility that the continued review of customer contracts and accounts and/or the consideration of the impact on the Company's prior period financial statements of the EHT assessment audits, the other possible employee tax liabilities and/or the ongoing IRS and Florida payroll audits take longer than anticipated, any of which may adversely impact the timing of completing the review, and the possibility that the taxes and penalties payable by the Company are significantly different than proposed by the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, AlarmForce disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Contacts:

News Media: Hugh Mansfield

(416) 599-0024 ext 237

(212) 370-5045 ext 237

hugh@mansfieldinc.com




STOCKHOLM, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

US$5 million offered for bold ideas to remodel global governance for 21st century

A US$5 million prize competition is seeking to identify new models of global co-operation capable of handling the most serious threats to humanity including climate change, weapons of mass destruction and extreme poverty.

The Global Challenges Prize 2017: A New Shape was launched today by the Stockholm-based Global Challenges Foundation, set up in 2012 with the aim of deepening understanding of global risks and galvanizing more effective responses to them.

The prize competition is based on the premise that the current system of global governance that has evolved since World War II is no longer equipped to deal with 21st century risks that transcend national borders and can affect populations anywhere in the world.

"Today's risks are so dangerous and so global in their nature they've outrun the international system's ability to deal with them," said Global Challenges Foundation founder Laszlo Szombatfalvy, an investor, author and philanthropist who built his career in Sweden through the successful analysis of financial risk.

"We're trying to solve today's problems with yesterday's tools. We believe a new shape of collaboration is needed to address the most critical challenges in our globalised world."

The New Shape Prize will ask entrants to design frameworks for international decision-making equipped to address today's global challenges with a focus on climate change, major environmental damage, violent conflict (including nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction) and extreme poverty. "Entrants are also asked to consider the implications of a rising world population, forecast by the United Nations to reach 11bn by 2100. The prize is open to anyone - individuals, groups and organisations - anywhere in the world.

"We believe that the human ingenuity that has allowed us to eradicate diseases, bring down poverty levels and stabilize the hole in the ozone layer, can, if properly channeled, play a role in averting the greatest risks to our survival," said Mr Szombatfalvy. "If we can tap this creativity and apply it to designing a better decision-making system for the world community, then we will have a chance of preserving our world for future generations."

The Global Challenges Foundation is publicizing its New Shape Prize worldwide, partnering with respected institutions on multiple continents in an effort to reach the brightest minds and most visionary thinkers whether they come from academia, policy-making, civil society, business, technology or law. This outreach effort includes collaborating closely with experts and practitioners currently working within existing global governance institutions such as the United Nations.

The Global Challenges Foundation emphasized the prize competition was not seeking solutions to the individual risks in question, but for the global decision-making structures that would allow the world community to tackle them more effectively.

The competition is open until May 24, 2017. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of academic experts. The best proposals will then be judged by a high level international jury comprised of respected figures of global stature. Final awards will be made in November 2017.

The Global Challenges Foundation said it was committed to promoting the winning ideas following their announcement in order to generate debate around how they could be implemented and to support promising entrants to develop their ideas where appropriate.

Through its New Shape Prize, the Global Challenges Foundation hopes to stimulate urgent global debate at the highest levels about how the world community manages global risks and to contribute to the re-shaping of global governance in order to safeguard future generations.

Notes to Editors:

For more information about The Global Challenges Prize 2017: A New Shape, see: http://globalchallenges.org

About The Global Challenges Foundation

The Global Challenges Foundation aims to incite deeper understanding of the most pressing global risks to humanity - and to catalyse new ways of tackling them. Founded in 2012 by the Swedish investor and author Laszlo Szombatfalvy, the Foundation is based on the belief that global challenges require global solutions and new forms of international cooperation are urgently needed in order to safeguard future generations. The Foundation's mission is to act as a convening platform to draw together the brightest minds from academia, politics, business and civil society to discuss how these risks might be better managed by the world community in the interests of all citizens. More information can be found at: http://www.globalchallenges.org/




NastyDressand DressLily, two sister sites, recently rehashed their commitment toward their customers by launching 24/7 customer service.

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --NastyDress and DressLily, twoe-commerce sites that offer trendy apparel for fashionable women, recently launched their round-the-clock customer service for their valued customers. NastyDress offers seductive dresses while DressLily is known for offering elegant dresses. They aim to increase the customer retention rate and both launched their respective 24/7 customer service departments to rehash their commitment towards their customers.

Running under the same leadership, DressLily and NastyDress can now ensure that none of their customers go back with a heavy heart after shopping as their customer care representatives are always ready and willing to assist their customers during the shopping sessions. While both the brands attempting to popularize latest trends at the global level, round-the-clock customer service would be helpful for their customers in taking informed decisions. The Live chat support centerfor DressLily and NastyDressis now able to address sizing questions and refund and return related queries. The customer support members of both the e-commerce stores are thoroughly trained to make sure that the constantly evolving standards of the e-stores are met.

NastyDress and DressLily customer service makes it easier for their buyers to return products purchased. The support staff members are now trained to listen to customer grievances and to attempt resolving the complaints through chat-based communication. However, if the issues are not resolved, the staff members are authorized and instructed to initiate the return process. Customers also have the option to return the product for a full refund and for exchanging the products. Return requests should be made within 30 days from the date of purchase.

A recentcustomer named Taniya Wrightencounteredthe newcustomer service. She ordered a sweater from NastyDress andhoodie from its sister site, DressLily. The customer was not fully satisfied with the product size and contacted customer support. Bothe-commerce stores offered her a complete refund or a store credit. They also advised the customer to donate the products to charity instead of returning the products. Such examples are aplenty.

DressLily and NastyDress will continue to provide superior service and also added that customers can get in touch with the support teams through phone or live chat or bysubmitting a support ticket.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Rio Tinto (RIO.L, RTPPF.PK) announced that it is committed to generating $5 billion of additional free cash flow over the next five years from a productivity drive unveiled today as part of its long-term strategy. Rio Tinto intends to raise productivity across its $50 billion portfolio of assets and to generate a total $5 billion of further free cash flow by the end of 2021 in addition to the cash cost reduction target of $2 billion across 2016 and 2017. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques, in a presentation at an investor seminar in Sydney, said, 'We are well on track to meet our target of $2 billion of cash cost savings by the end of next year. We are also taking advantage of any opportunity to generate value from mine through to market.' In addition, Rio Tinto expects total cash returns to shareholders over the longer term to be in a range of 40 to 60 per cent of underlying earnings in aggregate through the cycle. Rio Tinto now expects capital expenditure to be less than $3.5 billion in 2016, around $5 billion in 2017 and around $5.5 billion in 2018, unchanged from previous estimates. Guidance for 2019 is $5.5 billion. The 2017 production forecasts generate operating cash flow of around $10 billion based on third quarter 2016 average prices. 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.
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) said that, Howard Schultz, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, will be appointed executive chairman, effective April 3, 2017. In this new role Schultz will continue to serve as chairman of the Board. The company announced that Kevin Johnson, president and chief operating officer and a 7-year member of the Starbucks Board of Directors, will expand his responsibilities and assume the role and responsibilities of president and chief executive officer, effective April 3, 2017. Johnson's career spans 33 years in the technology industry which included a 16-year career at Microsoft and a five-year tour as CEO of Juniper Networks. At Microsoft, he led worldwide sales and marketing and became the president of the Platforms Division. In 2008, he was appointed to the National Security Telecommunication Advisory Committee where he served Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He joined the Starbucks board in 2009 and the management team in 2015. 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.
HAMILTON, Bermuda, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

London announced as first Europe an city to host immersive art and music event following sell-out shows in Miami and the Bronx

By the artists. For the artists. For the people. 100% of profits direct to artist.

Featured art ists include: D Face, Conor Harrington , Hassan Hajj a j and Faile

Live music to be announced. Past performances from Alicia Keys , A$AP Rocky, Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa , A-TRAK and Young Thug

The worlds of visual art and music will collide when The Dean Collection x BACARDA bring their innovative, experiential platform No Commission to London from 8-10 December, 2016. Following sell out shows in Miami and the Bronx, the UK will play host to the iconic rum brand's first event in Europe featuring work from some of the world's most celebrated street and fine artists, live music acts, and DJ's.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442706 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442707 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442708 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442709 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442710 )

No Commission is a contemporary art fair, curated by music producer Swizz Beatz and The Dean Collection, to forge a direct link between artists' practices and art patronage. The platform is designed specifically to support both new and established artists. All artists are given their exhibition space for free and 100% of the sale of each artwork goes directly to the artists. The injection of immersive music performances from event collaborator BACARDA, shakes up the traditional art fair, creating a unique, cultural experience for visitors.

"Our theme for No Commission: London is 'Juxtaposition' and celebrates the journey from street art to fine art. Visitors will experience art and music, street art and fine art, street culture and high culture, a bit of grit, a bit of glamour," explains Swizz Beatz, music producer and global chief creative of culture for family-owned Bacardi. "It's great to be in the UK. London in particular has a strong connection with graffiti and contemporary art. But it doesn't stop here. We want to take No Commission around the world!"

The "we" Swizz refers to is rum brand BACARDA, who has been a committed partner in bringing No Commission to life from the on-set. The brand has a deep heritage in art and music dating back to the early 1900's - from hosting prohibition parties in Cuba to commissioning artworks for their offices around the world.

Zara Mirza, Head of Creative Excellence at Bacardi added, "This isn't just about slapping a logo on an event.This is about creating a global movement and cultural experience that artists and fans genuinely want to be part of. We don't just bring the music and the cocktails. BACARDA provides the platform for artists and lifts the night-time experience, taking it to a whole other level."

The Dean Collection X BACARDA present No Commission: London 8-10 December, 2016 at The Arches in Southwark, London (Ewer Street entrance, SE1 0NR, off Union St.). Tickets are FREE but there is limited availability.Visit http://nocommission.BACARDI.com for more information. Visitors must be 18 years of age or older.

Full list of artists displaying at No Commission: London are:

Ricardo Cavolo Fanakapan Miss Van Sandra Chevrier Hassan Hajjaj Jaybo Monk DANK (Dan Kitchener) HANDIEDAN Oker D*Face Conor Harrington Felipe Pantone Ben Fine Paul Insect Lucy Sparrow Jamie Evans Kai and Sunny Matthew Stone FAILE Tomokazu Matsuyama Gary Stranger Jason Woodside

About BACARDA Rum - The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste - BACARDA. The unique taste of BACARDA rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDA Mojito, the BACARDA Daiquiri, the BACARDA Cuba Libre, the BACARDA Pina Colada and the BACARDA Presidente. BACARDA rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 674 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDA rum is made in Puerto Rico and Mexico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. http://www.bacardi.com

The BACARDA brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

BACARDA, BACARDA UNTAMEABLE AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED
HELSINKI (dpa-AFX) - Finland's producer prices continued to decline in October, albeit slightly, figures from Statistics Finland showed Thursday. Producer prices fell 0.3 percent year-over-year in October, slower than the 1.4 percent drop in September. The measure has been falling since August 2013. The fall in the producer prices for manufactured products was particularly caused by reductions in the prices of pulp, electronic appliances and chemicals and chemical products from October 2015, the agency said. Both domestic and foreign market prices decreased by 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively in October. At the same time, import prices grew 0.5 percent on year, while export prices slid by 0.7 percent. Month-on-month, producer prices rose 0.8 percent from September, when it climbed by 0.3 percent. It was the third month of increase in a row. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Big Switch Networks, the leader in bringing hyperscale-inspired networking to datacentres worldwide, today announced its expansion into the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and that it has appointed Julian Demurjian as Head of Sales. Susheel Chitre has also joined the SDN leader as global VP of Business Development. The company's EMEA HQ will be based in London, United Kingdom.

"We are thrilled to add Susheel and Julian to our growing team, with each bringing to Big Switch years of domain expertise to assist in the next chapter of the company's growth," said Douglas Murray, CEO, Big Switch Networks. "We are pleased to have a dedicated sales and support team in the EMEA region to further serve our rapidly growing customer base."

Chitre comes to Big Switch with more than 20 years of business development and sales experience in the networking and datacentre industry. His focus at Big Switch will be to manage existing strategic relationships with Dell Technologies and Accton, and to build out the company's ecosystem of OEM, Channel and Technology partnerships. Most recently, Susheel was the VP of Business Development at Embrane, which was acquired by Cisco in 2015. Prior to that, Susheel was Director of Worldwide Channels at Cisco, where he was responsible for Cisco's global OEM business development and their Cloud Go-to-Market partner strategy and programs. Prior to Cisco, Susheel was at Andiamo Systems driving their partnership and business development efforts with all major storage vendors and technology and ISV partners. He has held various roles from systems engineering, sales and strategic alliances in the data center space with Cray Research, Silicon Graphics and Brocade.

"As a longtime veteran of the datacentre networking space I'm thrilled to be joining a company with not only innovative vision, but mature products ready for production deployment," said Susheel Chitre, VP of Business Development, Big Switch Networks. "As someone who has been in this space for a long time, I see the demand from customers for open technologies that offers more choice, flexibility and operational simplicity."

Demurjian will lead the company's expansion efforts in the EMEA region. His extensive expertise spans market entry, emerging markets, channel and partner program development. Previously, Demurjian was VP of EMEA Sales at Datiphy and prior to that he spent six years at Gigamon, where he was the Regional Sales Director for The Nordics, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. While at Gigamon, Demurjian managed a team of sales and sales-engineering resources who collectively owned a significant territory. Under Demurjian's leadership, Gigamon's revenue grew at more than 50% YoY in the aforementioned regions, where he and his teams consistently exceeded sales goals and also penetrated many key accounts within the telco and enterprise verticals.

"I am excited to join the company and expand our rapidly growing EMEA business practice. Big Switch Networks is at the forefront of next-generation networking and a leading vendor with a proven, differentiated, ready to deploy SDN solution," said Julian Demurjian, Head of Sales, EMEA, Big Switch Networks, "BSN's Monitoring Fabric is the only SDN-based network packet broker solution in the market and is leading the transformation of the traffic visibility space."

Big Monitoring Fabric

Big Monitoring Fabric (BMF) is a next-generation network packet broker (NPB) that leverages SDN principles, Open Networking switches and an x86-based DPDK service node to provide feature-rich, scale-out datacentre monitoring. BMF supports 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G for the most demanding and high volume network monitoring environments.

Popular customer use cases for Big Monitoring Fabric include: multi-tenant security monitoring, 10G / 40G/ 100G datacentre visibility, mobile/LTE monitoring and remote DC monitoring and DMZ/Extranet Inline security tool chaining. Inline monitoring, which is driven by cybersecurity needs, is one of the fastest growing use cases for Big Monitoring Fabric. The inline mode radically simplifies software-based policy tool chaining for dramatically hardened inline network security, and scalable load balancing. Benefits include:

Scale-out security tool chaining

Operational simplicity throughout its life-cycle of deploy, provision and maintain

Deployment flexibility leading to infrastructure efficiency and CAPEX reduction

Big Cloud Fabric

Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) delivers next-generation datacentre networking -- the promise of hyper-scale agility, economics and operational simplicity delivered to OpenStack Platform clouds or VMware virtualization environments. BCF is the industry's first leaf/spine SDN fabric to support open networking switches. In OpenStack environments, the BCF controller acts as a single pane of glass for network provisioning, troubleshooting, visibility and analytics of the entire physical and virtual network environment, delivering tremendous improvements in network agility, automation and operational efficiency. In VMware environments, BCF connects with vCenter APIs to provide physical network automation and visibility for vSphere, and can serve as a network fabric underlay for VMware NSX network virtualization deployments.

Customer Adoption

Big Switch continues to grow its global footprint, currently working with customers across the US, APAC and EMEA regions, in verticals including: tech, financial services, government, telecom, media, and higher education. Customers include Verizon, the U.S. Federal Government, Intuit, Clemson University, U2 Cloud, 10 of the 15 largest telcos in the world, multiple global financial services firms, media companies, and a Fortune 5 oil & gas company.

CleanSafeCloud, one of the world's most secure and environmentally friendly cloud service providers, based in Switzerland, has been a long-time Big Switch customer. CleanSafeCloud deployed Big Cloud Fabric because it was an ideal solution to integrate with OpenStack, it is easy to manage, highly resilient and scalable. The cloud service provider's objectives for deploying Big Cloud Fabric were threefold: to set up a highly reliable, cloud based Object Storage infrastructure, to reduce networking TCO by leveraging open networking switch hardware and open SDN software to avoid vendor lock-in, and to enable easy scale-up and adoption of new technologies addressing the needs of current and future cloud service offerings.

"CleanSafeCloud Ltd has been operating Big Cloud Fabric as the backbone of its cloud infrastructure with 100% uptime in production throughout the past year," said Christian Sarrasin, CEO & Founder, CleanSafeCloud. "We couldn't be happier with the stability and quality of the product, the next-generation technology and last but not least the CapEx and OpEx savings it affords, which are critical advantages for a growing company such as ours."

Digita Oy is the leading broadcasting network operator and media service provider in Finland. Digita delivers TV and radio programs to terrestrial networks, other service providers and internet delivery. Digita uses Big Switch's Big Monitoring Fabric for video quality monitoring in its critical, real-time broadcasting environment. When Digita was reviewing monitoring solutions it first looked at traditional NPBs, but ultimately selected BMF because the solution was scalable, pay as you grow, integrated with known open hardware options, and was easy to operate, even for non-network staff. Because of the environment, which Digita is using BMF to monitor, it was incredibly important that the solution it selected would enable the broadcast network operator to tap any delivery point in the network and monitor the traffic transparently. With BMF, Digita has a centralized monitoring point to the distributed network, which helps its real-time video service operations and speeds up troubleshooting on the network side.

"We wanted to build a dedicated Ethernet monitoring network for critical video delivery services and to easily tap various measurement points around the network. First we looked at traditional Network Packet Brokers (NPBs) but soon realized that we needed a more flexible and scalable solution. BMF offers simplicity and scalability, and allows us to start small and grow as needed and it is easy to use and deploy, and offers all the features we need," said Leimio Antti, System Designer, IP Networks, Digita Oy. "We can easily tap any fiber connection in the network and quickly see if we have problems in video quality. BMF can aggregate monitoring traffic and forward it to centralized measurement devices. This simplifies and speeds up our operations and troubleshooting. We can also add inline security monitoring on the same system and troubleshoot network issues effectively with BMF."

Company Momentum

In early 2016 Big Switch announced its Series C funding for $48.5MM, which included participation from both new and existing investors and brings the company's total funding to $94MM. In the latest quarter, the company experienced more than double YoY growth and recently announced several key hires including Wendell Laidley, CFO, Mike Hoffman, CRO & Head of Worldwide Sales and Greg Orr, VP of Sales, Americas. Big Switch's BSN Labs, which enables instant access to its products via an online, hands-on testbed demo environment in the cloud, now has more than 4,000 active users since its release in 2015. To test BSN Labs: http://labs.bigswitch.com/users/login

Global Technology Partners and Support for Open Networking Hardware

Through its longstanding partnership with Dell EMC, Big Switch has already developed a strong customer base, which spans across the entire EMEA geographical region. Additionally, the company has technology partnerships with A10, BlueCoat, Dell EMC, Edgecore Networks, ExtraHop, F5, FireEye, Palo Alto Networks, Red Hat, Riverbed, VMware and more to offer EMEA customers a broad range of deployment options to drive business agility, flexibility and reduced cost of ownership of network operations.

Open networking switches offer an innovative disaggregated-hardware/software solution for datacentre networking. These joint solutions give customers the power to transform their networks and accelerate datacentre innovation with simplified, high-capacity network fabrics. Designed to ease network fabric orchestration and automation, open networking switch solutions are cost-effective, easy to deploy and provide a clear path to SDN via Big Switch Networks. Both Big Monitoring Fabric and Big Cloud Fabric support the latest Broadcom Trident-II+ and Tomahawk based Open Networking switches from Dell EMC and Edgecore Networks.

Supporting Materials

Datasheet: Big Cloud Fabric

Datasheet: Big Monitoring Fabric

Gartner Research Report: How to Make a Path to SDN Success

Gartner Research Report: Scrutinize Next-Generation Technology Before Buying Another Network Management Tool

Hands on environment: BSN Labs

Customer use case: CleanSafeCloud

About Big Switch Networks

Big Switch Networks is the market leader in bringing hyperscale-inspired datacentre networking technologies to a mainstream datacentre audience. The company is taking three key hyperscale technologies -- OEM/ODM bare metal and open Ethernet switch hardware, sophisticated SDN control software, and core-and-pod datacentre designs -- and leveraging them in fit-for-purpose products designed for use in enterprises, cloud providers, and service providers. The company's Big Monitoring Fabric is a feature-rich next-generation Network Packet Broker to monitor and protect existing networks, Inline Mode is the industry's first security DMZ service chaining solution, and Big Cloud Fabric is the industry's most advanced open networking switching fabric intended for new datacentre pods such as OpenStack private cloud, VMware VSAN, NSX, big data, and VDI. For additional information: email info@bigswitch.com, follow @bigswitch, or visit www.bigswitch.com.

Big Switch Networks, Big Cloud Fabric, Big Monitoring Fabric, the Big Switch Networks logo, Switch Light OS, and Switch Light are trademarks or registered trademarks of Big Switch Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Media & Analyst Contact

A3 Communications for Big Switch Networks

fred.monsone@a3communications.co.uk




LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Over the next four months, 11 exclusive business events will take place across Europe, where the continent's best businesses will be honoured as 'National Champions' in this year's European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM.

At the events, business leaders from 20 countries will come together to celebrate their success and network with their peers.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards, the continent's largest cross sector business competition, said: "These events not only celebrate the success of our dynamic National Champions in the competition but also the key role they play in Europe's strong business community."

Lead sponsor RSM, is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms worldwide, and has supported the European Business Awards since its inception.

Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM said: "The National Champions are stand-out leaders, demonstrating businesses tenacity and commercial excellence. These companies will lead the way forward bringing growth and prosperity across the continent and beyond. I would like to congratulate them all and wish them luck in the coming rounds".

A panel of independent judges, including senior business and academic leaders, selected 636 National Champions from 34 European countries this year, after the European Business Awards engaged with over 33,000 companies at the entry stage of the competition.

In the next round, the National Champions will put forward a video telling their unique story and explaining their business success. In February, the judges will choose the top ten National Champions in each of the competition's 11 categories, and the overall category winners will be announced at the Gala Final in May 2017.

Separately the videos will be hosted on the European Business Awards' website http://www.businessawardseurope.com for a public vote. The company with the most votes from each country will be named 'National Public Champion'; and after a second vote, one overall 'European Public Champion' will be announced at the Gala Final. Last year over 227,000 votes were cast as companies were supported globally by their clients, staff and peers, as well as the general public.

Details of the National Champions for each country and further information can be found at http://www.businessawardseurope.com and http://www.rsm.global.

About the European Business Awards:

The European Business Awards' primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe.

For all citizens of Europe, prosperity, social and healthcare systems are reliant on businesses creating an even stronger, more innovative, successful, international and ethical business community - one that forms the beating heart of an increasingly globalised economy.

The European Business Awards programme serves the European business community in three ways:

It celebrates and endorses individuals' and organisations' success

It provides and promotes examples of excellence for the business community to aspire to

It engages with the European business community to create debate on key issues

The European Business Awards is now in its 10th year. This year it engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries. Last year's public vote generated over 227,000 votes from across Europe. Sponsors and partners include RSM, ELITE and PR Newswire.

http://www.businessawardseurope.com.

About RSM

RSM is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing over 120 countries, 760 offices and more than 38,000 people internationally. The network's total fee income is US$4.64 billion.

RSM is the lead sponsor and corporate champion of the European Business Awards promoting commercial excellence and recognition of entrepreneurial brilliance.

RSM is a member of the Forum of Firms, with the shared objective to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial and auditing practices worldwide.

RSM is the brand used by a network of independent accounting and advisory firms each of which practices in its own right. RSM International Limited does not itself provide any accounting and advisory services. Member firms are driven by a common vision of providing high quality professional services, both in their domestic markets and in serving the international professional service needs of their client base. http://www.rsm.global

About ELITE:

ELITE is an innovative programme that offers mentoring, advice and access to finance to help fast growing companies on their way. ELITE is dedicated to the most exciting and ambitious firms, having a sound business model, clear growth strategy and a desire to obtain funding in the future.

ELITE companies can access a vibrant community which facilitates structured engagement between inspiring businesses, industry experts and the investor and corporate advisory community.

The long term objective of ELITE is to improve access to more sophisticated skill-sets, network and a diversified capital pool in order to prepare and structure for the next stage of growth and support for scale up challenges.

The programme has supported more than 400 ambitious firms since its launch in 2012. Inspiring, high-growth companies from 23 different countries are part of the programme today, which promotes relationships and creates opportunities with potential investors, as well as supporting management best practice and entrepreneurship.

For more information on ELITE please contact elite@lseg.com or visit http://www.elite-growth.com.

About PR Newswire:

PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring.

Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region.

For more information on PR Newswire please visit http://www.prnewswire.co.uk
ST HELIER, Jersey, May 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

All figures in accordance with IFRS and in United States Dollars, unless otherwise stated Consmin, a leading manganese ore producer with mining operations in Australia and Ghana, announces its quarterly results for the period ended 31 March 2017.

Acquisition Update

On 15 November 2016 the Company announced that its ultimate beneficial and legal owners ("Sellers") had entered into a share purchase agreement ("SPA") with China Tian Yuan Manganese Limited ("CTYML"), a subsidiary of Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd. ("TMI") pursuant to which the Sellers agreed to sell and transfer to CTYML all of their respective right and title to both the entire issued share capital of the Company and the shareholders funding given by them to the Company (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is conditional upon a number of conditions which are set out in the SPA, including, but not limited to, certain government consents and certain consents from the holders of the then outstanding US$400,000,000 Senior Secured Notes due 2020 (the "Notes").

the Company announced that its ultimate beneficial and legal owners ("Sellers") had entered into a share purchase agreement ("SPA") with China Tian Yuan Manganese Limited ("CTYML"), a subsidiary of Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd. ("TMI") pursuant to which the Sellers agreed to sell and transfer to CTYML all of their respective right and title to both the entire issued share capital of the Company and the shareholders funding given by them to the Company (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is conditional upon a number of conditions which are set out in the SPA, including, but not limited to, certain government consents and certain consents from the holders of the then outstanding Senior Secured Notes due 2020 (the "Notes"). On 4 April 2017 , the Company announced that holders of 89.84% of the Notes (the "Consenting Noteholders") had locked up to tender their notes to and provide certain consents in relation to the Transaction, pursuant to the terms of a lock-up agreement between, amongst others, CTYML, the Company and the Consenting Noteholders (the "Lock-up Deed"). Pursuant to the Lock-up Deed, CTYML launched a tender offer and consent solicitation in respect of the Notes (the "Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation") the terms of which were set out in an offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement dated 4 April 2017 (the "Statement"). The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation is open to acceptance by all holders of the Notes. In order to become effective, the holders of at least 90% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes must tender into the Tender Offer and provide their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes.

, the Company announced that holders of 89.84% of the Notes (the "Consenting Noteholders") had locked up to tender their notes to and provide certain consents in relation to the Transaction, pursuant to the terms of a lock-up agreement between, amongst others, CTYML, the Company and the Consenting Noteholders (the "Lock-up Deed"). Pursuant to the Lock-up Deed, CTYML launched a tender offer and consent solicitation in respect of the Notes (the "Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation") the terms of which were set out in an offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement dated (the "Statement"). The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation is open to acceptance by all holders of the Notes. In order to become effective, the holders of at least 90% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes must tender into the Tender Offer and provide their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes. On 21 April 2017 , the Company announced that CTYML was extending the expiration date set out in the Statement to 11:59pm (EST) on May 31, 2017 pending the approval of the Ghanaian government (the "Ghana Consent Condition").

, the Company announced that CTYML was extending the expiration date set out in the Statement to on pending the approval of the Ghanaian government (the "Ghana Consent Condition"). On 8 May 2017 , the Company announced that the Ghana Consent Condition had been satisfied and that CTYML was exercising its right to bring forward the Expiration Date of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. CTYML gave notice that the Expiration Date should be brought forward to 11:59 pm EST on May 19, 2017 with the payment date expected to occur on or before May 24, 2017 . It was further noted that in connection with the payment of interest on the Notes due on May 15, 2017 and in compliance with the terms of the Notes, the Company had elected to pay interest on the Notes for the May 2017 Interest Period entirely in cash at a rate equal to 8.000% per annum.

, the Company announced that the Ghana Consent Condition had been satisfied and that CTYML was exercising its right to bring forward the Expiration Date of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. CTYML gave notice that the Expiration Date should be brought forward to on with the payment date expected to occur on or before . It was further noted that in connection with the payment of interest on the Notes due on and in compliance with the terms of the Notes, the Company had elected to pay interest on the Notes for the Interest Period entirely in cash at a rate equal to 8.000% per annum. On 22 May 2017 the Company announced that the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation launched by CTYML had successfully concluded with holders of 99.94% of the Notes having tendered their Notes and provided their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes. On 25 May the Company announced that the Transaction had successfully closed with CTYML becoming the 100% legal and beneficial owner of the Company.

Key highlights

Total tonnes of manganese ore production for Q1 2017 increased 109% compared to Q1 2016. Australian manganese ore production increased 74% and Ghanaian manganese ore production increased 117% compared to Q1 2016.

Manganese C1 cash cost1 for Q1 2017 was $1.25 /dmtu compared to $1.74 /dmtu in Q1 2016, a decrease of 28%.

Manganese C1 cash cost1 for Q1 2017 was /dmtu compared to /dmtu in Q1 2016, a decrease of 28%. Total manganese sales tonnes increased 77% in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016. Australian manganese tonnes sold decreased 37% but Ghanaian manganese tonnes sold increased 97%.

Average manganese FOB sales price achieved increase 70% from $1.44 in Q1 2016 to $2.45 in Q1 2017.

in Q1 2016 to in Q1 2017. The quarterly average price for manganese lump (CRU, 44%Mn CIF China) in Q1 2017 was $5.78 /dmtu, an increase of 180% compared to $2.07 /dmtu in Q1 2016 but was down 26% from $7.76 /dmtu in Q4 2016..

/dmtu, an increase of 180% compared to /dmtu in Q1 2016 but was down 26% from /dmtu in Q4 2016.. Adjusted EBITDA[2] for Q1 2017 was a $18 million profit, an increase of $27 million from $9 million loss in Q1 2016. This increase is principally due to higher revenues as a result of higher pricing and increased volumes sold. Cash EBITDA for Q1 2017 was a profit of $18 million , increased from $11 million loss in Q1 2016.

profit, an increase of from loss in Q1 2016. This increase is principally due to higher revenues as a result of higher pricing and increased volumes sold. Cash EBITDA for Q1 2017 was a profit of , increased from loss in Q1 2016. The Group recorded a profit for the period of $5 million compared to a loss of $33 million in Q1 2016.

compared to a loss of in Q1 2016. During the quarter the group had an operating cash inflow of $13 million compared to an outflow of $33 million in Q1 2016.

compared to an outflow of in Q1 2016. Cash and cash equivalents net of overdrafts increased in Q1 2017 by $3 million to $43 million on 31 March 2017 .

on . Total capital expenditure for the group in Q1 2017 was $7 million , 393% higher than in Q1 2016. Total capital expenditure included payments for major components ordered and delivered in 2016 but settled in 2017.

Key Performance Indicators



Quarter ended 31 March 31 March Unaudited 2017 2016 % change Manganese ore produced (dry kt) 814.0 389.7 108.9% Manganese ore sales (dry kt) 868.9 490.2 77.3% Average C1 manganese unit cash cost ($/dmtu)[1] 1.25 1.74 (28.2%) Average manganese FOB Sales price ($/dmtu) 2.45 1.44 70.1% Revenue ($ million) 59.2 21.4 176.6% Adjusted EBITDA ($ million)[2] 18.0 (8.9) (302.2%) 'Cash' EBITDA ($ million)[2] 17.6 (11.2) (257.1%) Profit / (loss) for the period from continuing operations 4.8 (33.2) (114.5%) At At 31 March 31 December 2017 2016 % change Cash and cash equivalents ($ million) 43.3 40.0 8.2% Gross debt ($ million) (414.5) (414.9) 0.1% Gross debt excluding high yield bonds ($ million) (6.0) (7.1) 15.5% Net debt ($ million) (371.2) (374.9) 1.0%

[1] Average C1 manganese unit cash cost represents the cash cost incurred at each processing stage from mining through to shiploading, divided by the total manganese dmtus produced. Included within the C1 manganese cash costs are an allocation of offsite, non-corporate and support services. Depreciation, government royalty payments, deferred stripping adjustments and stockpile movements are not included in the calculation.

[2] "Adjusted EBITDA" is defined as operating profit before depreciation and amortisation, impairment write-back/expense, net foreign exchange gain/loss and exceptional items[3]. 'Cash' EBITDA is defined as Adjusted EBITDA after removing the impact of the non-cash items of deferred stripping and net movement in inventories. Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA are the key profitability measures used across the business and reflect performance in a consistent manner and in line with how the business is managed and measured on a day to day basis. Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA are not uniformly or legally defined measures and are not recognised under IFRS or any other generally accepted accounting principles. Other companies in the mining industry may calculate these measures differently and consequently, our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA items may not be readily comparable to other companies' figures.

[3] Exceptional items are material or non-recurring items excluded from management's assessment of profits because by their nature they could distort the Group's underlying quality of earnings. These are excluded to reflect performance in a consistent manner and in line with how the business is managed and measured on a day to day basis.

Commenting on the results, David Slater (CFO of Consmin) said:

"The acquisition of Consmin by TMI represents the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of the Company. TMI and Consmin are jointly building a strong multinational conglomerate with the ability to develop and grow its production and processing capabilities. Management expect to continue operating Consmin in the interests of all stakeholders and look forward to implementing TMI's growth plans for the Company.

During the quarter Consmin's operational performance improved with a 109% increase in Group production compared to the corresponding period in 2016.This was driven by a 117% increase in Ghanaian ore production following a ramp-up of output to meet the strong demand for this product. Australian ore production also increased by 74% compared with production in the first quarter of 2016 following the decision in November 2016 to process selective stockpiles of low grade ore which commenced in January 2017. Australian production in Q1 2016 was limited as a result of the Company's decision to suspend operations at the Woodie Woodie mine with effect from 2nd February 2016 and commence the transition into care and maintenance.

The manganese C1 unit cash cost for the quarter was $1.25/dmtu, an improvement of 20% from $1.74/dmtu for Q1 2016.

The company's manganese ore shipments totalled 869k dry tonnes during Q1 2017, an increase of 77% compared to Q1 2016. Sales of Ghanaian manganese ore rose 97% to 823k dry tonnes, a record for quarterly shipments from the Nsuta mine, compared to 418k dry tonnes in Q1 2016. During the quarter the Ghanaian customer base was reasonably well diversified, and included sales to our long-term customers TMI and Ukraine and also to buyers from the Chinese alloy and EMM/EMD sectors. Shipments of Australian manganese were only 46k dry tonnes in Q1 2017, a decrease of 37% compared to Q1 2016 with the Woodie Woodie mine remaining on care and maintenance with sales during the Q1 2017 being from the processing of lower grade stockpiles.

The benchmark quarterly average price for manganese ore (CRU, 44%Mn CIF China) in Q1 2017 was $5.78/dmtu, an increase of 180% year on year from $2.07/dmtu in Q1 2016, but down 26% from an average of $7.76/dmtu in the previous quarter (Q4 2016). By the end of March, however, manganese prices for high grade ores fell to circa $4.00/dmtu but rose again in April and May as traders in China decided to hold back port stockpile sales.

Although much improved from Q1 2016, the manganese ore market still remains fragile as China's ore imports have averaged 2.0 million tonnes per month in the first quarter and port stocks have remained at over 3.0 million tonnes. Manganese ore supply has been abundant and should demand for ore begin to soften, ore prices are likely to come under renewed downward pressure, unless new shipments from global suppliers are cut significantly and port stocks are reduced. As a result of these uncertain factors, volatility in manganese ore pricing is expected to persist throughout the remainder of 2017, with much depending on the performance of China's steel industry and supplier response to any negative changes in the Chinese steel market.

The Company ended 2016 with net cash and cash equivalents of $40 million and has maintained liquidity at similar levels during Q1 2017 with net cash and cash equivalents having increased to $43 million at 31 March 2017.

About Consolidated Minerals Limited

Consmin is a leading manganese ore producer with mining operations in Australia and Ghana. The principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") are the exploration, mining, processing and sale of manganese products. The Group's operations are primarily conducted through four major operating/trading subsidiaries: Pilbara Manganese Pty Limited (Australia), Ghana Manganese Company Limited (Ghana), Manganese Trading Limited (Jersey) and Pilbara Trading Limited (Jersey).

Consolidated Minerals Limited is headquartered in Jersey and the address of its office is Commercial House, 3 Commercial Street, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE2 3RU.

Conference Call

There will be a conference call for analysts and bondholders, the details of which will be released on the Company website http://www.consmin.com.

Market, Economic and Industry Data

Market, economic and industry data used throughout this report has been derived from various industry and other independent sources. Industry publications, surveys and forecasts generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but that the accuracy and completeness of such information is not guaranteed and such industry forecasts may not have been updated. Forecasts and other forward-looking information obtained from these sources are subject to the same qualifications and uncertainties as the other forward looking statements contained in this report.

Forward looking statements

This report includes "forward-looking statements" that express or imply expectations of future events or results. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include, without limitation, financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future production, operations, costs, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words 'plans,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'believes,' 'intends,' 'estimates' and other similar expressions.

All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Although Consmin's management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Consmin, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements contained in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences between the actual results, performance and achievements of Consmin include, but are not limited to, political, economic and business conditions, industry trends, competition, commodity prices, changes in regulation, currency fluctuations (including the Australian dollar and US dollar exchange rates), Consmin's ability to recover its reserves or develop new reserves, including its ability to convert its resources into reserves and its mineral potential into resources or reserves, and to process its mineral reserves successfully and on a timely basis. Consmin is also exposed to the risk of trespass, theft and vandalism, changes in its business strategy, as well as risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development, mining and production. Accordingly, investors should not place reliance on forward looking statements contained in this report.

The forward-looking statements in this report reflect information available at the time of preparing this report. Subject to the requirements of the applicable law, Consmin explicitly disclaims any obligation or undertaking publicly to release the result of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this report that may occur due to any change in Consmin's expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report. No statements made in this report regarding expectations of future profits are profit forecasts or estimates, and no statements made in this report should be interpreted to mean that Consmin's profits for any future period will necessarily match or exceed the historical published profits of Consmin or any other level.

Marketing Review

Global steel production in Q1 2017 rose by 5.6% compared to the same quarter of the prior year to 414 million tonnes and by 1.4% compared to Q4 2016. China accounted for 49% of global production in Q1 2017, with its production rising by 4.4% compared to the same quarter of the prior year to 201 million tonnes but its output was down 0.6% from the previous quarter (Q4 2016). As a result of rising steel production imports of manganese ore to China rose by 96% compared to the same quarter of the prior year to 5.9 million tonnes in the quarter (23.5 million tonnes annualised), and grew by 25% from the previous quarter (Q4 2016). It is important to note that imports during the comparative period of Q1 2016 were substantially lower than normal quarterly average imports exaggerating the quarterly growth compared to the prior year (2.99 million tonnes in Q1 2016 vs. quarterly average for full year 2016 of 4.26 million tonnes), due to major global cutbacks implemented in early 2016 by major miners. However, imports were still up substantially compared to normal levels of imports into China, leading to a port stocks rise from 2.2 million at the start of 2017 to over 3.5 million tonnes by the end of March 2017.

The company's manganese ore shipments totalled 869k dry tonnes during Q1 2017, an increase of 77% compared to Q1 2016 where 490k dry tonnes were shipped. Shipments of Australian manganese were only 46k dry tonnes in Q1, a decrease of 37% compared to Q1 2016, as the Woodie Woodie mine remained on care and maintenance with sales during the quarter only from lower grade stockpiles. Sales from Ghana rose 97% to 823k dry tonnes, a record high quarterly shipments from the Nsuta mine, compared to 418k dry tonnes in Q1 2016. The Ghanaian customer base was reasonably well diversified during the quarter, including sales to our long-term customers TMI and Ukraine and also to buyers from the Chinese alloy and EMM/EMD sectors.

The benchmark quarterly average price for manganese lump (CRU, 44%Mn CIF China) in Q1 2017 was $5.78/dmtu, an increase of 180% compared to the same quarter of the prior year from $2.07/dmtu in Q1 2016 but was down 26% from $7.76/dmtu in the previous quarter (Q4 2016). By the end of March however manganese prices for high grade ores fell to circa $4.00/dmtu but rose again in April and May as traders and financing companies, who bought manganese ore at the higher prices between December 2016 and February 2017, decided to hold back port stockpile sales in order to avoid significant losses. Stocks at China ports have risen substantially as a result of trader holdouts.

Although very much improved from a year earlier, the manganese ore market still remains fragile as China's ore imports have averaged 2.0 million tonnes per month in the first quarter and port stocks have remained at over 3.0 million tonnes. Manganese ore supply has been abundant and should demand for ore begin to soften, ore prices are likely to come under renewed downward pressure, unless new shipments from global suppliers are cut significantly and port stocks are reduced. As a result of these uncertain factors, volatility in manganese ore pricing is likely to persist throughout 2017, with much depending on the performance of China's steel industry and supplier response to any negative changes in the Chinese steel market.

Operational Review

Quarter ended 31 March 31 March Summary Overview (Unaudited) 2017 2016 % change Total mined (mBCM) 2.4 1.9 26.3% Manganese ore produced (dry kt) 814.0 389.7 108.9% Australia 130.9 75.3 73.8% Ghana 683.1 314.4 117.3% Manganese ore produced (mdmtu) 23.2 11.9 95.0% Australia 4.3 3.0 43.3% Ghana 18.9 8.9 112.4% Manganese ore sales (dry kt) 868.9 490.2 77.3% Australia 45.5 72.4 (37.2%) Ghana 823.4 417.8 97.1% Manganese ore sales (mdmtu) 24.4 14.9 63.8% Australia 1.6 3.3 (51.5%) Ghana 22.8 11.6 96.6% Total capex - including exploration ($ million) 6.9 1.4 392.9% Average unit cash cost ($/dmtu) 1.25 1.74 28.2%

Australia: Woodie Woodie

Care and maintenance

Following the decision taken in January 2016 to place the mine on care and maintenance, mining operations ceased in early February 2016 with the mine being safely transitioned into care and maintenance during Q1 2016. The mine has remained on care and maintenance with no mining activity since then.

Production and sales

Although no mining has taken place since February 2016, in November 2016 a decision was made to process selective stockpiles of low grade ore, which commenced in January 2017. Production in Q1 2017 totalled 131k tonnes of manganese ore (4.3 million dmtu). The sales in Q1 2017 sales totalled 46k tonnes of manganese ore (1.6 million dmtu).

Capital expenditure

No capital projects were conducted in Q1 2017.

Exploration

A modest 1.2km tenement maintenance drilling program has been planned for 2017 and is scheduled to commence in April 2017. No drilling or other ground activities took place in Q1 2017.

Ghana: Ghana Manganese Company Limited ('GMC')

Safety

As indicated in our 2016 annual operational review, GMC regrettably suffered a fatality involving one of our employees, who was performing scheduled maintenance work on an 11kV electricity transmission line at the mine in February 2017. Local regulating authorities have concluded the incident investigations and disciplinary sanctions have been issued to all those involved or in a position of responsibility. Further, the Company has been issued and has settled a fine of US$10,000 to the Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Division. We have reiterated to staff and stakeholders that any loss of life at our operations is unacceptable. We will continue to work relentlessly to build and improve the health and safety standards of our organisation.

Production and sales

Production at GMC totalled 683k tonnes of manganese ore (18.9 million dmtu) during the first quarter of 2017, representing a 117% increase in tonnes (112% increase in dmtu) compared to the same quarter in 2016. In Q1 2017 GMC sold 823k tonnes of manganese ore (22.8 million dmtu) representing a 97% increase in both tonnes and dmtus compared to the first quarter of 2016.

Capital Expenditure

The capital expenditure in Q1 2017 was $5.9 million, with the vast majority spent on main components ordered and delivered in 2016 but paid for in 2017 $0.7 million spent on light vehicles and a wheel loader with a further $0.2 million spent on civil projects.

In the first quarter of 2016 a total of $0.4 million was spent on capital expenditure projects, all of which was spent on critical spares and components for the mobile and fixed equipment.

Exploration

There were no exploration expenditure during Q1 2017. During the first quarter of 2016 we spent $0.5 million on infill drilling focused on the continued resource development of our main Pit C.

Projects

Port Development Project:

Following earlier reported managerial changes at Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA), GMC is still awaiting an official update on the tender selection process in respect of the Takoradi bulk terminal operator. A formal update should be received during Q2 2017. During Q1 2017 there was no significant infra-structural work at the Takoradi port. It is therefore expected that these delays could potentially impact the timing of the final commissioning of the Takoradi port project (previously scheduled by early 2019).

Pit C-North Development:

Good progress has been made with the earthwork development phase of the resettlement programme. GMC has reached the final stage of selecting the building contractors. In total $1.1 million has been spent on the Pit C North resettlement project in Q1 2017 (budget was $2.2 million).The GMC technical team had another follow-up meeting with GRIDCO (a public utility provider) in March 2017. Parties have investigated options to divert and re-route the powerline on GMC's concession to accommodate the concerns expressed by GMC. A survey on the alternative line is expected to take place in May 2017.

Hotopo Exploration Project:

Following the presentation of the first 2016 drilling results, which clearly showed the complexity of the Mn geological area explored, GMC has drafted the next phase exploration proposal for Hotopo Resources Limited (HRL). It is planned to undertake this program after the rainy season in 2017.

Other

Mindy Mindy

Consmin has a significant interest in the Mindy Mindy iron ore tenements through its 50% shareholding in Pilbara Iron Ore Pty Ltd ('PIO'). PIO's claim that it has earned an 80% ownership interest in one of the tenements is subject to court determination. A decision adverse to PIO was handed down in the Warden's Court on 16 September 2014. PIO lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court of Western Australia against the Warden's decision. The hearing of that appeal concluded on 31 March 2016, with the Judge reserving his decision. A decision is expected to be handed down in Q2 of 2017.

OM Holdings Limited ('OM Holdings')

OM Holdings is, primarily, a vertically integrated manganese mining, processing and marketing company listed on the ASX (ticker: OMH). At 31 March 2017, the Company's holding in OM Holdings remained at 8.0%, consistent with 31 December 2016. During the quarter the market value of the Company's holding in OM Holdings decreased by $1.9 million to $4.9 million as at 31 March 2017.

People

The operational management decisions of the Group are made by the Group Executive Committee ('GEC'). The GEC members are Mark Camaj (General Manager: Marketing), Jurgen Eijgendaal (Managing Director: Ghana), Oleg Sheyko (CEO of Metals Solutions) and David Slater (Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer).

Financial Review

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

Quarter ended $m 31 March 2017 31 March 2016 Revenue 59.2 21.4 Cost of sales (24.6) (29.4) Gross profit / (loss) 34.6 (8.0) Selling and distribution costs (11.2) (5.6) General and administrative costs (9.9) (9.1) Other operating income - net 0.3 0.4 Impairment expense - (2.4) Net foreign exchange gain 4.6 0.6 Operating profit / (loss) 18.4 (24.1) Presented as: Adjusted EBITDA 18.0 (8.9) Depreciation and amortisation (4.2) (2.9) Impairment expense - (2.4) Restructuring costs - (10.5) Net foreign exchange gain / (loss) 4.6 0.6 Operating profit / (loss) 18.4 (24.1) Net financing costs (11.5) (8.8) Profit / (loss) before tax 6.9 (32.9) Income tax charge (2.1) (0.3) Profit / (loss) for the period 4.8 (33.2)

Revenue

The consolidated revenue for the Group increased by 177% from $21 million in Q1 2016 to $59 million in Q1 2017 as a result of the combination of both higher volumes sold and higher pricing. Manganese volumes sold (in tonnes) increased by 77% in Q1 2017 and volumes sold in dmtus increased by 64% (due to the majority of sales being of the relatively lower grade manganese ore). Sales tonnes from Ghana were 97% higher than in Q1 2016 and sales tonnes from Australia were 37% lower than Q1 2016.

The average price of our manganese ore sold increased by 70% from $1.44/dmtu FOB in Q1 2016 to $2.45/dmtu FOB in Q1 2017 due to improved ore pricing in the first quarter of the year.

The graph below summarises the increase in revenue compared to Q1 2017:

Cost of Sales

The cost of sales for the Group decreased by 16% from $29 million in Q1 2016 to $25 million in Q1 2017. An analysis of the cost of sales is as follows:

Quarter ended $m 31 March 2017 31 March 2016 Movement Mining and production expenses 17.9 27.1 (33.9%) Depreciation and amortisation 4.2 2.9 44.8% Royalties and other taxes 2.5 1.7 47.1% Deferred stripping (0.2) (0.4) 50.0% Net movement in inventories (0.2) (1.9) 89.5% Other 0.4 - 100.0% Total cost of sales 24.6 29.4 (16.3%)

The principal factors driving this $5 million reduction are as follows:

A $9 million benefit from reduced mining and production costs following the decision to place the Australian operations into care and maintenance with effect from 2 February 2016 . Q1 2016 included $11 million of redundancy cost following this transition.



offset by:

A $2 million adverse change in net movement in inventories;

adverse change in net movement in inventories; A $1 million increased cost of depreciation and amortisation as a result of higher production volumes;

increased cost of depreciation and amortisation as a result of higher production volumes; A $1 million increase of royalties payments as a result of higher revenues.

The Company uses the 'C1 cash cost' as a measure of average unit cost. The C1 unit cash cost represents the cash cost incurred at each processing stage from mining through to ship loading, divided by the total manganese dmtu produced. The average C1 unit cost of manganese production, on a "fully expensed" mining cost basis, was $1.25 for Q1 2017, a decrease of 28% from $1.74/dmtu for Q1 2016. The Group C1 cash unit cost for Q1 2017 relates only to C1 unit costs from Ghana whereas Q1 2016 includes Australian C1 cash unit costs for the period up to 2nd February 2016 when the mine was placed on care and maintenance.



Gross Profit / Loss

Gross profit for the Group was $35 million in Q1 2017, an increase of $43 million from $8 million gross loss in Q1 2016. The gross margin in Q1 2017 was 58% compared to a minus 37% gross profit margin in Q1 2016. The increase in both gross profit and gross profit margin has been driven by higher manganese ore prices, higher sales volumes and reduced mining costs.

Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA are calculated as follows:

Quarter ended $m 31 March 2017 31 March 2016 Operating profit / (loss) 18.4 (24.1) Depreciation and amortisation 4.2 2.9 Impairment of available for sale financial assets - 2.4 Restructuring costs - 10.5 Net foreign exchange gain (4.6) (0.6) Adjusted EBITDA 18.0 (8.9) Deferred stripping (0.2) (0.4) Net movement in inventories (0.2) (1.9) 'Cash' EBITDA 17.6 (11.2)

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating profit before depreciation and amortisation, impairment expense, net foreign exchange gain or loss and exceptional items. Cash EBITDA is defined as Adjusted EBITDA after removing the impact of the non-cash items of deferred stripping and net movement in inventories. Adjusted EBITDA and Cash EBITDA are the key profitability measures used across the whole business and reflect the performance in a consistent manner and in line with how the business is managed and measured on a day to day basis.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2017 was a profit of $18 million, an increase of $27 million from a loss of $9 million in Q1 2016, as a result of the following key movements:

An increase in revenues of $38 million due to higher pricing and volumes sold;

offset by:



An increase in mining and production expenses (excluding restructuring costs) by $1 million

An increase in mining and production expenses (excluding restructuring costs) by A $6 million increase in selling and distribution costs reflecting increased volumes hauled and shipped;

increase in selling and distribution costs reflecting increased volumes hauled and shipped; An increase in royalties of $1 million due to higher revenues;

due to higher revenues; A $2 million adverse change in the net movement in inventories;

Cash EBITDA has increased by $29 million from $11 million loss in Q1 2016 to a profit of $18 million in Q1 2017 due to the reasons outlined for adjusted EBITDA above net of adverse change in the net movement in inventories of $2 million.

Other Key Items

Selling and distribution expenses increased from $6 million in Q1 2016 to $11 million in Q1 2017. This is a result of the 97% increase in volumes shipped from Ghana in the quarter compared to Q1 2016, partially offset by decreased volumes shipped from Australia. General and administrative expenses for Q1 2017 were slightly higher than in Q1 2016.

The Group is subject to taxation in the jurisdictions in which it operates; primarily Australia and Ghana. The parent company is domiciled in Jersey and is subject to a corporate tax rate of 0%. The Group recognised an income tax charge of $2.1 million in Q1 2017 compared to a charge of $0.3 million in Q1 2016.

Net financing costs for the quarter are $12 million which was $3 million higher than in Q1 2016. This resulted from the combination of an increase in the overall interest rate on the Senior Secured Notes and increase in the principle outstanding resulting from the PIK element of previous interest costs.

Loss / profit for the Period

The Group has recognised a profit for Q1 2017 of $5 million compared to a loss of $33 million in Q1 2016.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

As at $m 31 March 2017 31 December 2016 Cash and cash equivalents 43.3 40.0 Other current assets 72.5 61.2 Non-current assets 209.4 211.3 Total assets 325.2 312.5 Current borrowings (3.7) (3.6) Non-current borrowings (410.8) (411.3) Other current liabilities (59.2) (45.0) Other non-current liabilities (84.7) (83.7) Total liabilities (558.4) (543.6) Net (liabilities) / assets (233.2) (231.1)

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2017 were $43 million, an increase of $3 million from $40 million at 31 December 2016.

Borrowings

Current borrowings at 31 December 2017 are in line with the amounts due at 31 December 2016.

Guarantor Group

During the three months ended 31 March 2017, the Guarantors of the senior secured notes represented 100% (31 March 2016: 100%) of our consolidated revenues and 42% (31 March 2016: 140%) of our consolidated EBITDA. As of 31 March 2017, the Guarantors represented 64% of our consolidated total assets (31 March 2016: 28%). As of 31 March 2017, the non-guarantor subsidiaries have $Nil indebtedness outstanding (31 March 2016: $2 million). The unrestricted subsidiaries are not significant subsidiaries and therefore not material to the Group. As a result, separate financial details have not been disclosed.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

Quarter ended $m 31 March 2017 31 March 2016 Cash inflow / (outflow) from operating activities 12.6 (33.2) Cash outflow from investing activities (6.9) (1.3) Cash outflow from financing activities (0.9) (1.8) Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 4.8 (36.3) Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 40.0 75.9 Exchange losses on cash and cash equivalents (1.5) (0.5) Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 43.3 39.1

Cash Flows and Liquidity

Net cash inflow from operating activities amounted to $13 million in Q1 2017 compared to outflow of $33 million in Q1 2016, an increase of $46 million. This increase in operating cash flow was a result of increase revenue from higher pricing for manganese and increased volumes sold from the Ghanaian operations.

The net cash outflow from investing activities was $7 million in Q1 2017 compared to a cash outflow of $1 million in Q1 2016, an increase of $6 million due to higher payments for capital expenditure in the current period.

The net cash outflow from financing activities was $1 million in Q1 2017 compared to a net cash outflow of $2 million in Q1 2016 and in both periods relates to repayment of hire purchase borrowings.

As a result total cash and cash equivalents net of overdrafts increased to $43 million at 31 March 2017 from $40 million at 31

Consolidated Minerals Limited

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

For the Three Months Ended 31 March 2017

Unaudited consolidated statement of comprehensive income for three months ended 31 March 2017

Three months ended 31 March $m Note 2017 2016 Revenue 6 59.2 21.4 Cost of sales 7 (24.6) (29.4) Gross profit / (loss) 34.6 (8.0) Selling and distribution costs (11.2) (5.6) General and administrative costs (9.9) (9.1) Other operating income - net 0.3 0.4 Impairment expense - (2.4) Net foreign exchange gain 4.6 0.6 Operating profit / (loss) 18.4 (24.1) Presented as: Adjusted EBITDA 18.0 (8.9) Depreciation and amortisation (4.2) (2.9) Impairment of available-for-sale financial assets - (2.4) Restructuring costs - (10.5) Net foreign exchange gain 4.6 0.6 Operating profit / (loss) 18.4 (24.1) Finance income - 0.1 Financing costs (11.5) (8.9) Net financing costs (11.5) (8.8) Profit / (loss) before tax 6.9 (32.9) Income tax charge (2.1) (0.3) Profit / (loss) for the period 4.8 (33.2) Other comprehensive income / (expense) Items that may be subsequently reclassified to profit or loss: Revaluation of available-for-sale financial assets (2.2) 0.2 Net foreign currency translation differences (4.7) (0.2) Income tax charge on other comprehensive income - (0.1) Other comprehensive expense for the period, net of tax (6.9) (0.1) Total comprehensive expense for the period (2.1) (33.3) Profit / (loss) attributable to: Owners of the parent company 4.2 (33.3) Non-controlling interest 0.6 0.1 Profit / (loss) for the period 4.8 (33.2) Total comprehensive expense attributable to: Owners of the parent company (2.7) (33.4) Non-controlling interest 0.6 0.1 Total comprehensive expense for the period (2.1) (33.3)

The notes on pages 17 to 21 are an integral part of this unaudited Consolidated Interim Financial Information.

Unaudited consolidated statement of financial position

As at 31 31 March December $m Note 2017 2016 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 167.1 167.3 Intangible assets 7.0 6.9 Goodwill 28.9 28.9 Available-for-sale financial assets 4.9 6.8 Investment in associate 1.4 1.3 Trade and other receivable 0.1 0.1 209.4 211.3 Current assets Inventories 26.3 24.8 Trade and other receivables 46.2 36.4 Cash and cash equivalents 8 43.3 40.0 115.8 101.2 Current liabilities Borrowings 9 (3.7) (3.6) Trade and other payables (50.9) (35.7) Provisions (8.3) (9.3) (62.9) (48.6) Net current assets 52.9 52.6 Non-current liabilities Borrowings 9 (410.8) (411.3) Provisions (53.7) (52.1) Deferred tax liabilities (31.0) (31.6) (495.5) (495.0) Net liabilities (233.2) (231.1) Attributable to the equity shareholders of the parent company Share capital 10.0 10.0 Share premium 194.7 194.7 Subordinated shareholder loans treated as equity 737.5 737.5 Reserves (17.4) (10.5) Accumulated losses (1,171.9) (1,176.1) Total equity attributable to equity holders of the parent company (247.1) (244.4) Non-controlling interests 13.9 13.3 Total equity (233.2) (231.1)

The notes on pages 17 to 21 are an integral part of this unaudited Consolidated Interim Financial Information.

Unaudited consolidated statement of changes in equity





Attributable to equity owners of the parent Company Non- controlling Share Share interests capital premium Shareholder Accumulated Total $m equity Reserves losses Total equity Balance at 1 January 2017 10.0 194.7 737.5 (10.5) (1,176.1) (244.4) 13.3 (231.1) Profit for the period - - - - 4.2 4.2 0.6 4.8 Revaluation of available- for-sale financial assets - - - (2.2) - (2.2) - (2.2) Foreign currency translation differences - - - (4.7) - (4.7) - (4.7) Income tax on other comprehensive income - - - - - - - - Balance at 31 March 2017 10.0 194.7 737.5 (17.4) (1,171.9) (247.1) 13.9 (233.2)







Attributable to equity owners of the parent Company Non- controlling Share Share interests capital premium Shareholder Accumulated Total $m equity Reserves losses Total equity Balance at 1 January 2016 10.0 194.7 737.5 (13.3) (1,098.8) (169.9) 12.8 (157.1) Loss for the period - - - - (33.3) (33.3) 0.1 (33.2) Revaluation of available- for-sale financial assets - - - 0.2 - 0.2 - 0.2 Foreign currency translation differences - - - (0.2) - (0.2) - (0.2) Income tax on other comprehensive income - - - (0.1) - (0.1) - (0.1) Balance at 31 March 2016 10.0 194.7 737.5 (13.4) (1,132.1) (203.3) 12.9 (190.4)



The notes on pages 17 to 21 are an integral part of this unaudited Consolidated Interim Financial Information.

Unaudited condensed consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended 31 March 2017

Three months ended 31 March $m Note 2017 2016 Cash flow from operating activities Profit / (loss) before tax 6.9 (32.9) Adjustments to add / (deduct) non-cash items: Depreciation and amortisation 4.2 2.9 Impairment of available-for-sale financial assets - 2.4 Deferred stripping (0.2) (0.4) Net foreign exchange gain (4.6) (0.6) Net financing costs 11.5 8.8 Working capital adjustments: (Increase) / decrease in inventories (1.4) 2.6 Increase in receivables (9.7) (3.3) Increase / (decrease) in payables 6.3 (12.7) Net movement in working capital (4.8) (13.4) Income taxes paid (0.4) - Net cash inflow / (outflow) generated from operating activities 12.6 (33.2) Cash flow from investing activities Payments for mineral exploration and evaluation expenditure - (0.3) Purchase of property, plant and equipment (6.9) (1.1) Interest received - 0.1 Net cash outflow from investing activities (6.9) (1.3) Cash flow from financing activities Interest paid (0.1) (0.2) Repayment of hire purchase borrowings (0.8) (1.6) Net cash outflow from financing activities (0.9) (1.8) Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 4.8 (36.3) Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 8 40.0 75.9 Exchange losses on cash and cash equivalents (1.5) (0.5) Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 8 43.3 39.1

>

The notes on pages 17 to 21 are an integral part of this unaudited Consolidated Interim Financial Information.

Notes to the unaudited consolidated financial statements

1. General information

Consolidated Minerals Limited (formerly Palmary Enterprises Limited) ('the Company') was incorporated in Belize in 2004 and redomiciled to Jersey in 2008. The address of its registered office is Commercial House, 3 Commercial Street, St Helier, Jersey JE2 3RU.

Consmin is a leading manganese ore producer with mining operations in Australia and Ghana. The principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') are the exploration, mining, processing and sale of manganese ore. The Group's operations are primarily conducted through four major operating/trading subsidiaries: Pilbara Manganese Pty Limited (Australia), Ghana Manganese Company Limited, Manganese Trading Limited (Jersey) and Pilbara Trading Limited (Jersey).

2. Basis of preparation of interim report

This condensed consolidated interim financial information for the three months ended 31 March 2017 has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 "Interim financial reporting". The condensed consolidated interim financial information should be read in conjunction with the annual financial information for the year ended 31 December 2016, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRS.

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 but comparative information is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2016 have been filed with the Jersey registrar of companies and the auditors have issued an unqualified audit opinion on these accounts.

(a) New and amended standards mandatory for the first time for the financial year beginning 1 January 2017 relevant to the Group

IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers: In May 2014, the IASB issued IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which covers principles that an entity shall apply to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from a contract with a customer. Application of the standard is mandatory for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2017 with earlier application permitted. We are currently assessing the impact of adopting IFRS 9 on our consolidated financial statements.

There are no other new or amended accounting standards mandatory for the first time for the financial year beginning 1 January 2017, or new standards and revisions to existing standards that are not yet effective and have not been early adopted that are relevant to the Group other than those disclosed in the Company's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016.

(b) Comparatives

Comparatives have been prepared on the same basis as current period figures.

(c) Changes in accounting policies

There have been no material changes in accounting policies since the presentation of the annual report for the year ended 31 December 2016 and all accounting policies have been consistently applied in the preparation of these interim financial statements.

(d) Foreign currency translation

The following foreign exchange rate against the USD has been used in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements:

Average 3 Average 3 months to months to 31 March 31 March 31 December 31 March March 2016 2017 2017 2016 2016 Australian dollar 0.7644 0.7574 0.7197 0.7668 0.7500

3. Critical accounting judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty

There have been no material changes in critical accounting judgements since the presentation of the annual report for the year ended 31 December 2016.

4. Going Concern

The group financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016 have been prepared on a going concern basis. Analysis of the cash flows during the first quarter of 2017 supports assumption of the group operating on a going concern basis.

5. Segment analysis

Management considers the business from a product perspective and has determined the operating segments based on the reports reviewed by the Group Executive Committee, who are the Chief Operating Decision Makers. The primary products of the Group are processed manganese ores. The "Other" segment consists of iron ore projects and administration and head office functions.

The segment information provided for the three month periods ended 31 March 2017 and 31 March 2016 is as follows:

31 March 2017 $m Manganese Other Total Revenue from external customers 59.2 - 59.2 Cost of goods sold (24.6) - (24.6) Gross profit 34.6 - 34.6 Adjusted EBITDA 23.0 (5.0) 18.0 Depreciation (4.2) - (4.2) Net foreign exchange gain 3.6 1.0 4.6 Financing costs (0.5) (11.0) (11.5) Profit / (loss) before tax 21.9 (15.0) 6.9 Income tax charge* (2.1) Profit for the period 4.8 Total assets 311.0 14.2 325.2 Total liabilities (106.3) (452.1) (558.4)

31 March 2016 $m Manganese Other Total Revenue from external customers 21.4 - 21.4 Cost of goods sold (29.4) - (29.4) Gross loss (8.0) - (8.0) Adjusted EBITDA (5.2) (3.7) (8.9) Depreciation (2.9) - (2.9) Impairment of available-for-sale financial assets - (2.4) (2.4) Restructuring costs (10.3) (0.2) (10.5) Net foreign exchange gain 3.4 (2.8) 0.6 Finance income - 0.1 0.1 Financing costs (0.5) (8.4) (8.9) Loss before tax (15.5) (17.4) (32.9) Income tax charge* (0.3) Loss for the period (33.2) Total assets 288.7 30.2 318.9 Total liabilities (91.0) (418.4) (509.4)

* Income tax is not allocated to segments as tax is managed on a group basis.

A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to loss before tax is provided as follows:

Three months ended 31 March $m 2017 2016 Adjusted EBITDA 18.0 (8.9) Depreciation (4.2) (2.9) Impairment expense - (2.4) Restructuring costs - (10.5) Net foreign exchange gain / (loss) 4.6 0.6 Net financing costs (11.5) (8.8) Profit / (loss) before tax 6.9 (32.9)

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating profit before depreciation and amortisation, impairment write-back/expense, net foreign exchange gain/loss and exceptional items.

The information provided to management with respect to total assets is measured in a manner consistent with that of the financial statements. These assets are allocated based on the operations of the segment.

6. Revenue

Revenue from the sale of ore by geographic destination was as follows:

Three months ended 31 March $m 2017 2016 China 43.0 14.4 Ukraine* 13.8 5.2 Australia - 1.8 Vietnam 2.4 - Total revenue by geographic destination 59.2 21.4

*Sales to related parties

7. Cost of sales

Three months ended 31 March $m 2017 2016 Mining and production expenses 17.9 27.1 Depreciation and amortisation 4.2 2.9 Royalties and other taxes 2.5 1.7 Deferred stripping (0.2) (0.4) Net movement in inventories (0.2) (1.9) Other 0.4 - Total cost of sales 24.6 29.4

8. Cash and cash equivalents

As at As at 31 31 March December $m 2017 2016 Cash at bank and in hand 43.3 40.0 Short-term bank deposits - - Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 43.3 40.0 Less: bank overdrafts (see note 9) - - Net cash and cash equivalents per the cash flow statement 43.3 40.0

9. Borrowings

As at As at 31 March 31 December $m 2017 2016 Non-current Senior secured high yield notes 408.5 407.8 Finance lease liabilities - hire purchase loans 2.3 3.5 410.8 411.3 Current Finance lease liabilities - hire purchase loans 3.7 3.6 3.7 3.6 Total borrowings 414.5 414.9

The senior secured high yield notes are stated net of unamortised restructuring costs of $8.0 million.

Finance lease liabilities are secured by charges over each respective leased asset.

The carrying value of borrowings approximates their fair value.

The exposure of the Group's borrowings to interest rate changes and the contractual re-pricing dates at the statement of financial position date:

As at As at 31 March 31 December $m 2017 2016 Repayable on demand - - 6 months or less - - 6 - 12 months - - 1 - 5 years - - Over 5 years - - - - Borrowings not exposed to changes in interest rates 414.5 414.9 414.5 414.9

10. Contingent liabilities and contingent assets

There has been no change in circumstances relating to contingent liabilities already disclosed in the 31 December 2016 financial information other than those mentioned below:

Group entities have pledged $1.1m (31 December 2016: $1.4 million) relating to bank guarantees provided to lessors of business premises.

11. Related party transactions

Transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries, which are related parties of the Company, have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note.

Management considers that the Group has appropriate procedures in place to identify and properly disclose transactions with related parties and has disclosed all of the relationships identified and which it deemed to be significant.

The following table provides the total amount of transactions which have been entered into with related parties for the relevant financial year:

Sales to Finance related Purchases income Charges Amounts Amounts parties from from from owed by owed to related related related related related $m parties parties parties parties parties Trading companies related to the ultimate shareholder 3 months to 31 March 2017 13.8 - - - 3 months to 31 March 2016 5.2 - - - At 31 March 2017 18.7 0.1 At 31 December 2016 22.6 - Other companies related to the ultimate shareholder 3 months to 31 March 2017 - 1.3 - - 3 months to 31 March 2016 - 0.8 - - At 31 March 2017 0.2 - At 31 December 2016 - 0.1

Trading companies related to the ultimate shareholder

During 2017 and 2016, Manganese Trading Limited (Jersey) and Pilbara Trading Limited (Jersey) traded with other trading companies related to the ultimate shareholder.

Ore sold to related parties is shipped to Ukraine. The sales prices for transactions with related parties have been determined by reference to the published indices or the sales prices of Australian and Ghanaian ore sold to China, adjusted for the freight differential for shipping to the country of the related party, the end use application for the ores and adjusted for manganese content.

Finance companies related to the ultimate shareholder

As at 31 March 2017, a related party loan balance of $737.5 million (31 December 2016: $737.5 million) was recognised in equity.

Other companies related to the ultimate shareholder

Transactions with other companies related to the ultimate shareholder primarily relate to the provision of goods and services with companies providing management services to the Company.

12. Events after the reporting period

On 4 April 2017 the Company announced that holders of 89.84% of its 8.000% Senior Secured Notes due 15 May 2020 have locked up to tender their notes to and provide certain consents in relation to the proposed acquisition of Consmin by China Tian Yuan Manganese Limited, a subsidiary of Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd. ("TMI"). Pursuant to the Lock-up Deed, the Purchaser has launched the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation on 4 April 2017. The Tender Offer is open to acceptance by all holders of the Notes. In order to become effective, the holders of at least 90% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes must tender into the Tender Offer and provide their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes.

On 4 April 2017, the Company announced that holders of 89.84% of the Notes (the "Consenting Noteholders") had locked up to tender their notes to and provide certain consents in relation to the Transaction, pursuant to the terms of a lock-up agreement between, amongst others, CTYML, the Company and the Consenting Noteholders (the "Lock-up Deed"). Pursuant to the Lock-up Deed, CTYML launched a tender offer and consent solicitation in respect of the Notes (the "Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation") the terms of which were set out in an offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement dated 4 April 2017 (the "Statement"). The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation is open to acceptance by all holders of the Notes. In order to become effective, the holders of at least 90% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes must tender into the Tender Offer and provide their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes.

On 21 April 2017, the Company announced that CTYML was extending the expiration date set out in the Statement to 11:59pm (EST) on May 31, 2017 pending the approval of the Ghanaian government (the "Ghana Consent Condition"). On 8 May 2017, the Company announced that the Ghana Consent Condition had been satisfied and that CTYML was exercising its right to bring forward the Expiration Date of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. CTYML gave notice that the Expiration Date should be brought forward to 11:59 pm EST on May 19, 2017 with the payment date expected to occur on or before May 24, 2017. It was further noted that in connection with the payment of interest on the Notes due on May 15, 2017 and in compliance with the terms of the Notes, the Company had elected to pay interest on the Notes for the May 2017 Interest Period entirely in cash at a rate equal to 8.000% per annum.

On 22 May 2017 the Company announced that the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation launched by CTYML had successfully concluded with holders of 99.94% of the Notes having tendered their Notes and provided their consent to certain amendments to the terms of the Notes. On 25 May the Company announced that the Transaction had successfully closed with CTYML becoming the 100% legal and beneficial owner of the Company.

Glossary of Defined Terms

The Australian Securities Exchange, operated by ASX "ASX" Limited (ABN 98 008 624 691). Bank cubic meter, being one cubic meter of undisturbed (in situ) material before it is drilled, blasted or "BCM" mined. The act or process of increasing the concentration of valuable material (e.g., manganese) contained in ore as it naturally occurs in the environment on a per unit basis, and, at the same time, reducing the concentration of some of the non-valuable substances (e.g., iron and "beneficiation" silica). A process in which manganese ores of varying grades are mixed together to produce ores or products with an "blending" average grade according to the product specification. International commercial term meaning "Cost and Freight," whereby the quoted price includes all costs and freight to bring the goods to the port of destination from the port of departure, but does not require the seller to procure marine insurance against the risk of loss or "CFR" damage to the goods during transit. International commercial term meaning "Cost, Insurance and Freight," whereby the quoted price includes all costs, insurance and freight to bring the goods to the "CIF" port of destination from the port of departure. A mining concession as defined in the Minerals and Mining "concession" Act. CRU International Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 00940750. CRU is an independent business analysis and consultancy group, focused on the mining, metals, power, cables, fertiliser "CRU" and chemical sectors. A "dry metric tonne unit," which corresponds to one 10 kilogram unit of manganese. By way of example, the price in $ of a consignment of manganese ore is calculated by multiplying the U.S. dollar per dmtu price by the units of manganese of the ore in that shipment. For instance, if manganese ore with a manganese content of 48% is priced at $5.00/dmtu, the price for three tonnes of such "dmtu" ore will be $720, calculated as follows: 48% cross 3,000kg = 1,440 kg of manganese 1,440kg / 10kg = 144 dmtu of manganese 144 dmtu cross $5.00 per dmtu = $720 A tonne, being a metric unit of weight equivalent to 1,000 kilograms, measured excluding the weight of any "dry tonne" or "dt" water content. "EMM" Electrolytic manganese metal. "Fe" Chemical symbol for Iron, based on the periodic table A metal product, usually containing iron and other metals, that is commonly used as a raw material feed in steelmaking to add strength or to aid various stages of the steelmaking process such as deoxidisation and desulphurisation. Examples include ferrochrome, "ferroalloy" ferromanganese and ferrosilicon. Manganese ore with the majority of individual particles measuring less than a specified size. While there is no industry standard measurement, the Group's Australian and Ghanaian operations specify ores with particles measuring "fines" or "ore fines" or between 1 and 12.5 millimeters and less than 25 "fine ore" millimeters, respectively, as fines. International commercial term meaning "Free On Board," whereby the quoted price includes all activities needed to deliver the product to the port of departure, with the last cost included in the price being ship loading. As such, it excludes the cost of marine freight transport and insurance as well as unloading and transportation "FOB" from the arrival port to the final destination. Each of GMC, CMAL, Stratford Sun Limited, Consolidated Minerals (Hong Kong) Limited, PTL, MTL, Consolidated Minerals (Belgium) Limited, Consolidated Minerals Holdings (Australia) Pty Limited, CMPL, PMPL, Pilbara Chromite Pty Limited, Pilbara Contracting Pty Limited and "Guarantor" Pilbara Trucking Pty Limited. A measure of the manganese content of manganese ore. There is generally no agreed industry definition of "high grade." Our Australian operations consider ore with an average manganese content above 44% to be "high grade." Unless otherwise specified, references to "high grade" "high grade" are to the definition used by our Australian operations. International Financial Reporting Standards of the "IFRS" International Accounting Standards Board. "JORC" The Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee. 1,000 bank cubic meters, being 1,000 cubic meter of undisturbed (in situ) material before it is drilled, "kBCM" blasted or mined. Kilo tonne. A unit of weight or capacity equal to 1,000 "kt" tonnes. A measure of the manganese content of manganese ore. There is generally no agreed industry definition of "low grade." Our Australian operations consider ore with an average manganese content of less than 44% to be "low grade." Unless otherwise specified, references to "low grade" are to the definition used by our Australian "low grade" operations. A work-related injury or illness resulting in the employee or contractor being unable to attend work for a "LTI" full working day after an injury or illness has occurred. Manganese ore with the majority of individual particles measuring more than a specified size. While there is no industry standard measurement, the Group specifies ore "lump" or "lump ore" with particles measuring 6.3 millimeters or more as lump. Chromite ore has lump particle size measuring 6.3 millimeters or more. "mdmtu" One million dry metric tonne units. Chemical symbol for Manganese, based on the periodic "Mn" table. A method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by stripping away the top soil and the earth above the rock or minerals creating a pit from which the rock or minerals are removed. This method of mining can be contrasted with mining using extractive methods that require tunneling into the earth (i.e., underground "open pit mining" mining). A mineral or an aggregate of minerals (containing valuable constituents, including metals) of sufficient "ore" value to be mined or extracted. The material that lies above the mining area of economic interest, i.e., the rock and soil that lies above a "overburden" manganese or chromite ore body. Solid fuel added to a furnace to remove oxygen from the "reductant" manganese ore fed into the furnace. The part of the manganese ore market that is composed of "seaborne market" exported manganese ore. "Shareholder" Means Ultimate Beneficial Owner of the Company "sinter" The product of sintering. The process of combining or fusing metals, usually with pressure and temperature, by exposing them to a "sintering" temperature just below their melting point. The price at which a physical commodity for immediate "spot price" sale is selling at a given time and place. The ratio of the volume of overburden waste material to the volume of ore in an open pit mine. For instance, a stripping ratio of "5" means that five BCM of waste rock "stripping ratio" must be removed for every one BCM of ore mined. An excavation made in a pit (generally at the lowest point) to collect water, which can then be pumped to the "sump" surface or to another sump nearer the surface. Finely ground waste rock from which the majority of "tailings" valuable minerals or metals have been extracted. "tenement" A mining tenement as defined in the Mining Act. A tonne, being a unit of weight equivalent to 1,000 kilograms, measured including the weight of any water "wet tonne" content. The approximately 100 square kilometer area inside the Woodie Woodie tenement package within which all of our current Australian manganese mining operations take "Woodie Woodie corridor" place. The approximately 1,250 square kilometers of land in and around the Woodie Woodie mine in the Pilbara region of "Woodie Woodie region" Western Australia, excluding the Woodie Woodie corridor.

Company Information

For further information, please visit our website http://www.consmin.com or contact:

Consmin: +44(0)1534-513-300

Mark Camaj, General Manager, Marketing

Jurgen Eijgendaal, Managing Director, Ghana

David Slater, Executive Director and CFO
PUNE, India, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "Pico Projector Market by Type (Embedded, Non-embedded), Technology (DLP, LCoS, LBS), Specification (Brightness, Resolution, Power Source), Application (Consumer Electronics, Business & Education), Components, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market was valued at USD 1.28 Billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 3.44 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 14.52% between 2016 and 2022.

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The factors that are driving the growth of the pico projector market include the integration of projection technologies with portable electronic devices and the development of pico projectors with superior specifications.

"Non-embedded (standalone) pico projectors to hold the largest share of the pico projector market"

Non-embedded (standalone) pico projectors would lead the global pico projector market between 2016 and 2022. The growth of the pico projector market is driven by factors, such as ease of connectivity, high resolution output, greater display size, and improved brightness level. Moreover, some other factors such as the small-form and convenience makes the non-embedded (standalone) pico projector popular among end users.

"DLP technology market for pico projector is expected to hold the largest share, whereas LBS technology is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2016 and 2022"

Digital light processing (DLP) is a renowned projection technology pioneered by Texas Instruments, Inc. (U.S.). DLP is one of the best technologies in the field of projection engineering and is also widely adopted in pico projectors. DLP technology is being used in cinema and conventional projector, hence this technology also offers excellent results in the pico projector. Laser beam steering (LBS) is an emerging technology in the field of projection and is patented by MicroVision, Inc. (U.S.). LBS provides focus-free operation, and vivid and clear picture as compared to other technologies at equivalent brightness level.

"Asia-Pacific (APAC) is expected to lead the growth in the pico projector market between 2016 and 2022"

The growth of the Pico Projector Market in APAC is expected owing to the huge demand of pico projectors from consumer electronics, and business and education segment. Moreover, per capita disposable income and economic activities are increasing in APAC. Many emerging companies in APAC are engaging in the development of pico projectors. Furthermore, strategies like new product launches are also driving the growth of the pico projectors in APAC.

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The major players involved in the pico projector market, include Aaxa Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), LG Electronics, Inc. (South Korea), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), Sony Corporation (Japan), Lenovo Group Ltd. (China), along with other emerging companies, such as RIF6, LLC (U.S.), Cremotech Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), and Celluon, Inc. (South Korea). Texas Instruments, Inc. (U.S.) and MicroVision, Inc. (U.S.) are considered as the key suppliers of the projection technology in the pico projector market.

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CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Touchstone Exploration Inc. ("Touchstone" or the "Company") (TSX: TXP) advises that the conditions precedent have been satisfied in respect of its previously announced $15 million, five-year term loan agreement (the "Term Loan") and the Term Loan became effective on November 23, 2016. The Term Loan replaces Touchstone's former credit facility with The Bank of Nova Scotia. The terms upon which the Company may access the Term Loan are as disclosed in our news release dated November 10, 2016 relating to our third quarter 2016 results. The Company has used a portion of the Term Loan to cash collateralize its US$6 million letter of credit that provides credit support in respect of its East Brighton offshore property future work commitments.

About Touchstone

Touchstone Exploration Inc. is a Calgary based company engaged in the business of acquiring interests in petroleum and natural gas rights, and the exploration, development, production and sale of petroleum and natural gas. Touchstone is currently active in onshore properties located in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Touchstone is one of the largest independent onshore oil producers in Trinidad, with assets in several large, high-quality reservoirs that have significant total petroleum initially-in-place and an extensive inventory of low-risk development opportunities. The Company currently has interests in over 59,000 working interest acres of exploration and development rights on 22 properties, 11 of which are currently producing. The Company's common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "TXP".

Contacts:

Mr. Paul Baay

President and Chief Executive Officer

403.750.4487



Mr. Scott Budau

Chief Financial Officer

403.750.4487



Mr. James Shipka

Chief Operating Officer

403.750.4487

www.touchstoneexploration.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NHK) is pleased to announce the latest results from its 2016 drill program on its Indin Lake Gold Property in the Northwest Territories ("NWT") (Figure 1 / Table 1 and 2). Nighthawk previously reported on the discovery and delineation of high-grade gold Zone 1.5 (September 13, 2016; October 12, 2016), highlighted by intersections of 52.07 metres ("m") of 7.72 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold (uncut), and 72.65 m of 5.58 g/t gold (uncut), including 17.80 m of 17.72 g/t gold (uncut / Figure 2). The Company is now broadening its exploration targeting and drill testing other potential high-grade prospects along the seven kilometre Colomac sill and parallel Goldcrest sill 400 m to the west. Results are presented for Zones 1.0 and 2.5, two new Colomac high-grade gold zone candidates, as well as near surface resource expansion targets at Zone 3.5 and Goldcrest (Figure 1). From drill start-up (July 5, 2016 news release) to program conclusion in late September, 34 drillholes (8,400 m) were completed. Results from 12 of those holes (2,852 m) are presented in Tables 1 and 2 below.

"The current results strengthen our long held belief that Colomac offers immense opportunities for discovery of new zones, the expansion of known zones, and for continued success in unearthing additional high-grade domains," said Dr. Michael Byron, President and CEO. "In particular, the latest Zone 2.5 results not only reinforce our position that high-grade gold zones exist that were previously overlooked, but also speaks to the vast near-surface resource expansion potential at Colomac. In addition, our continued positive Zone 1.0 drill results reaffirm its capacity to host higher grade mineralization similar to Zone 1.5, effectively opening up a previously untested and under-explored two kilometre section of the sill. We remain convinced that we are on the right track to continue to unlock Colomac's high grade opportunities. These distinct zones are a new reality and as such will positively impact resource growth, and as we continue to advance Colomac's evolving high-grade nature, we in turn escalate the significance and value of our many satellite deposits and prospects within our regional land package," added Dr. Byron.

Highlights: (uncut gold assays reported):

Colomac Zone 2.5

-- C16-07B intersected 57.00 m (37.00 m true width) of 1.47 g/t gold, including 34.65 m of 1.88 g/t gold and an internal 13.50 m of 2.82 g/t gold, while hole C16-07, intersected 44.00 m (33.00 m true width) of 1.29 g/t gold, including 16.80 m of 1.92 g/t gold; extends the zone to the north; -- Reported true widths intersected at Zone 2.5 are consistent with those of known high-grade zones; additional drilling required to test for the existence of a discrete higher grade core;

Colomac Zone 1.0

-- Hole C16-06B intersected 55.95 m (40.00 m true width) of 1.09 g/t gold, including 24.55 m of 1.48 g/t gold and 9.00 m of 2.36 g/t gold; C16-06 intersected 27.22 m (20.00 m true width) of 1.06 g/t gold, including 8.45 m of 1.67 g/t gold; -- Current results have extended Zone 1.0 by 30 m to the south, and confirms the presence of a broad zone of near surface gold mineralization in excess of 90 m along strike; reported true widths are consistent with those of known high-grade zones, but additional drilling is required to test for the existence of a discrete higher grade core; -- Zone 1.0 results highlight the potential for discovery of other higher grade gold domains within the Colomac sill, and in particular, within the 2 kilometre section between Zone 1.0 and the high-grade Zone 1.5 to the south, which has to date only seen sparse, shallow, historical drilling;

Goldcrest North

-- Hole G16-03 intersected 6.34 m (4.50 m true width) of 2.22 g/t gold, and the undercut hole, G16-03B, intersected 4.26 m of 2.10 g/t gold, including 3.00 m of 2.84 g/t gold; -- Hole G16-05 (located approximately 36 m north of G16-03) intersected 12.25 m (9.00 m true width) of 1.48 g/t gold, and 25.25 m (16.00 m true width) of 0.67 g/t gold.

Table 1. Colomac Sill Drill Results (uncut)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Core Length Hole ID From (m) To (m) (m)(i) Gold gpt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colomac Zone 1.0 C16-06 159.25 186.47 27.22 1.06 including 159.25 167.70 8.45 1.67 including 159.25 163.55 4.30 2.34 including 183.35 186.47 3.12 1.79 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C16-06B 120.00 175.95 55.95 1.09 including 121.00 125.50 4.50 2.36 including 151.40 175.95 24.55 1.48 including 158.95 175.95 17.00 1.70 including 166.95 175.95 9.00 2.36 220.95 225.80 4.85 1.62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colomac Zone 2.5 C16-07 149.00 193.00 44.00 1.29 including 149.00 178.50 29.50 1.69 including 149.00 155.00 6.00 2.26 including 153.50 170.30 16.80 1.92 including 164.75 170.30 5.55 2.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C16-07B 172.50 229.50 57.00 1.47 including 178.35 213.00 34.65 1.88 including 185.25 198.75 13.50 2.82 including 189.55 198.75 9.20 3.09 including 204.95 213.00 8.05 2.10 including 204.95 206.95 2.00 5.36 including 227.60 229.50 1.90 4.36 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colomac Zone 3.5 C16-08 106.00 108.00 2.00 1.31 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C16-08B 143.95 144.95 1.00 2.29 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C16-09 69.85 73.50 3.65 1.98 including 71.60 73.50 1.90 3.47 87.40 100.45 13.05 1.44 including 94.85 100.45 5.60 2.22 including 96.90 99.05 2.15 3.83 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C16-9B 128.30 137.30 9.00 0.94 including 128.30 133.55 5.25 1.30 155.70 158.25 2.55 1.30 188.95 193.20 4.25 1.64 190.45 192.20 1.75 3.30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 2. Goldcrest North Drill Results (uncut)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Core Length Hole ID From (m) To (m) (m)(i) Gold gpt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goldcrest North Zone G16-03 155.00 161.34 6.34 2.22 including 159.60 161.34 1.74 5.61 168.75 170.25 1.50 5.24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- G16-03B 189.75 192.75 3.00 0.99 210.00 214.26 4.26 2.10 including 210.75 213.75 3.00 2.84 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- G16-04 88.00 119.27 31.27 0.62 including 88.00 95.75 7.75 0.98 116.50 119.27 2.77 1.68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- G16-05 71.50 86.75 15.25 1.30 including 72.25 84.50 12.25 1.48 including 72.25 76.75 4.50 2.31 124.50 149.75 25.25 0.67 including 124.50 127.50 3.00 1.27 including 131.00 134.75 3.75 1.96 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Lengths are reported as core lengths. True widths vary depending on drill hole dip; most holes are laid out to intersect the sill close to perpendicular therefore true widths are approximately 80% of core lengths

Colomac Zones

Results for eight Colomac holes are presented in Table 1, highlighting Colomac's capacity to host broad zones of gold mineralization of strong continuity from surface and open to depth, representing tremendous opportunities to extend known gold zones.

Colomac Zone 2.5

Holes C16-07 and C16-07B tested a potential higher grade gold target located between Zone 2.5 and Zone 2.0 (Figure 1), that also corresponds to an untested gap in mineralization. C16-07 intersected a broad area of mineralization, returning 44.00 m (33.00 m true width) of 1.29 g/t gold that included 29.50 m (22.00 m true width) of 1.69 g/t gold, and including 16.80 m of 1.92 g/t gold. Hole C16-07B, drilled from the same setup but at a steeper angle, intersected better values (Figure 3) including 57.00 m (37.00 m true width) of 1.47 g/t gold, including 34.65 m of 1.88 g/t gold, and 13.50 m of 2.82 g/t gold. These reported true widths are consistent with widths of known high-grade zones such as Zone 1.5; however additional drilling is required to test for the existence of a discrete higher grade core. Given that Colomac high-grade zones may be upwards of 125 m in strike length, tighter spaced drilling is being considered as holes C16-07 and C16-07B may lie lateral to higher-grade shoots. Detailed geological models are currently being updated to help define future drilling in the area.

Colomac Zone 1.0

Holes C16-06 and C16-06B (Figure 4) tested the near-surface, southern extension, of a wide mineralized zone at high-grade candidate Zone 1.0, located 2 kilometres north along the sill from Zone 1.5, that was previously intersected by hole C15-03 (October 26, 2015 news release). The latter reported 43.10 m of 1.13 g/t gold, including 8.45 m of 2.23 g/t gold, and 13.80 m of 1.50 g/t gold, including 4.55 m of 3.67 g/t gold. C16-06 was collared 27 m south of C15-03, and intersected 27.22 m (20.00 m true width) of 1.06 g/t gold, including 8.45 m of 1.67 g/t gold. C16-06B, the steeper hole from the same setup, encountered broader mineralization, of 55.95 m (40.00 m true width) of 1.09 g/t gold, including 24.55 m of 1.48 g/t gold, and an internal 17.00 m of 1.70 g/t gold.

Current drilling has extended Zone 1.0 by an additional 30 m to the south, and confirmed the existence of a broad zone of near surface mineralization, open to depth, and extending over a surface strike length in excess of 90 m. Current modelling appears to indicate that better mineralization, and the potential for a high-grade zone, may occur with depth and south of the current hole. Targets generated from that work will be drilled in the upcoming 2017 campaign. Nighthawk has yet to explore the 2.0 kilometres of sill between Zone 1.0 and high-grade Zone 1.5, a region that remains relatively open and untested, with only sparse, shallow, and widely spaced historical holes.

Colomac Zone 3.5

Four holes were drilled to test the southern extension of high-grade Zone 3.5, to better constrain its southern boundary, and to infill a near surface resource gap. Hole C16-08 encountered a narrowing of the host quartz diorite, and along with steeper hole C16-08B, returned narrow cuts of weak mineralization, indicating that the southern boundary of the high-grade portion of the zone lies immediately north.

Hole C16-09, collared 33 m south of C16-08, intersected a near surface intercept of 13.05 m of 1.44 g/t gold including 5.60 m of 2.22 g/t gold, grades more typical of Colomac mineralization lateral to high-grade shoots. Hole C16-09B, a steeper hole from the same setup, intersected 9.00 m of 0.94 g/t gold. Both holes intersected mineralization at fairly shallow depths of 57 m and 102 m, respectively. The better mineralization reported for C16-09 over holes C16-08 and C16-08B is a possible indication that a continuation of Zone 3.5, or another north plunging gold zone, lies to the south. Additional modelling is underway to detail a vector direction for follow-up drilling.

The core of Zone 3.5 is known to extend to a vertical depth in excess of 800 m, as determined by a 1997 historical hole that intersected 4.57 m of 7.63 g/t gold and 12.19 m of 3.24 g/t gold (Figure 2). Given that the sill appears uninterrupted to depth, it is believed that Colomac high-grade zones remain open to depth and follow a steeply plunging trajectory to the northeast.

Goldcrest North

Goldcrest North appears to be a detached portion of the main 2.5 kilometre long Goldcrest sill located 600 m to the southwest. Nighthawk's 2016 drill program was its first campaign at Goldcrest North in which eight holes were laid out to test the downdip and lateral extensions of mineralization intersected by historical drilling, to probe for the presence of higher grade domains, and to gather much needed information to more effectively model sill geometry. Four holes were reported in an October 12, 2016 news release, and Table 2 herein contains results for the remaining four holes. The area is of particular interest as Goldcrest contributes the highest average grade in the current resource estimate at 2.19 g/t gold (June 17, 2013 news release), yet it remains largely underexplored off its flanks and to depth.

Nighthawk's 2016 Goldcrest North holes all intersected gold mineralization over a strike length of approximately 110 m. Although gold values typical of Colomac-type high-grade zones were not encountered, better values do occur within a central 55 m section bracketed by holes G16-02-02B and G16-03, -03B, and highlighted by hole G16-05 (Figure 5), which intersected 12.25 m (8.00 m true width) of 1.49 g/t gold, and a separate broad low-grade zone of 25.25 m (16.00 m true width) of 0.67 g/t gold. Geological models are currently being updated to help visualize additional target opportunities, and to better understand the geochemical results, character, and significance of noted cross-cutting dykes similar to the host quartz diorite.

Exploration Overview

Nighthawk commenced its summer campaign on July 5, 2016 with two drills focused on high-grade zone delineation, exploration for new higher grade domains, and resource expansion. By the end of the program in late September the Company had drilled 34 holes for 8,400 m, of which 25 holes (5,960 m) have now been reported. Results for the remaining nine holes will be released once assay results are compiled and processed. Outside of Colomac, ongoing data compilation and syntheses continues as part of Nighthawk's regional prospecting and mapping programs. Results from that work will be summarized in upcoming news releases.

2017 Exploration Program

The Company is currently planning its most active exploration program to date, scheduled to commence in early 2017 and extend through to early October. Exploration activities will not only focus on its Colomac Gold Project but span throughout its highly prospective Indin Lake Gold Property land package, consisting of extensive diamond drilling, ground geophysics, detailed geological mapping and prospecting.

To view Figures 1-5 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1077691.pdf

Technical Information

Nighthawk has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses at ALS Chemex Assay Laboratory in Vancouver, BC ("ALS Chemex"). ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000 certified laboratory. Pulp and metallics assaying for gold was conducted on the entire pulverized sample.

As part of its QA/QC program, Nighthawk inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to the standards, blanks, and pulp duplicates inserted by ALS Chemex.

About Nighthawk(i)

Nighthawk is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on acquiring and developing gold mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Including the mineral claims and leases of the Colomac Gold Project, Nighthawk's Indin Lake Gold Property comprises a total land package of 222,203 acres in the Indin Lake Greenstone Belt, located approximately 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and includes an Inferred Mineral Resource estimate, prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), of 39.815 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.64 g/t gold for 2.101 million ounces gold using a cut-off grade of 0.6 g/t gold. Nighthawk also holds a 100% interest in the property known as the Superior Project, which covers 39,015 acres approximately 85 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

The technical aspects of this press release have been reviewed by Dr. Michael J. Byron, Ph.D., P.Geo., President & Chief Executive Officer of Nighthawk, who is the "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 for this project. Dr. Byron has supervised all work programs carried out by the Company within their Indin Lake Project since inception, visited the Colomac property on multiple occasions, examined the drill core from the holes summarized in this release, reviewed project progress and results with geological staff, and examined available analytical and quality control results.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the timing of future drilling, the expansion of the mineralization, and the remediation of historic reclamation sites. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Nighthawk, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, currency fluctuations, dependency upon regulatory approvals, the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. 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.

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:

Nighthawk Gold Corp.

Dr. Michael J. Byron

President and Chief Executive Officer

(705) 560-2382

mbyron@nighthawkgold.com




DUBLIN, Nov 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Animal Wound Care Market by Product, Animal & End User - Global Forecast to 2021" report to their offering.

The animal wound care market is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The global market is projected to reach USD 1.1 Billion by 2021 from USD 818.8 Million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2016 to 2021.



Factors such as growing population of companion as well as livestock animals; rising demand for pet insurance along with increasing animal healthcare expenditure; and increasing number of veterinary practitioners and their income levels in developed regions are the major drivers for the growth of the market. However, increasing pet care costs are expected to restrain the growth of this market. Emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil offer significant growth opportunities for the growth of market. Low adoption of advanced wound care products and shortage of vet practitioners in emerging markets are the major market challenges for this industry.



The report analyzes the animal wound care market by product, animal type, end user, and region. On the basis of products, the global market is further segmented into surgical wound care products, advanced wound care products, traditional wound care products, and therapy devices. On the basis of animal type, the global market is segmented into companion animals and livestock animals. Based on the type of end-users, this market is further segmented into hospitals & clinics, and home care.

In 2015, North America dominated the market followed by Europe, Asia-pacific, and Rest of the World. Increasing adoption of pet animals, growing pet insurance industry, and rising veterinary healthcare expenditure are factors driving the growth of this market. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period. This can be mainly attributed to the presence of huge number of domesticated animals, increasing pet adoption due to progressive urbanization, increasing awareness about animal health, and growing per capita animal health expenditure in this region.

Companies Mentioned:



3M Company

Acelity L.P. Inc.

Advancis Veterinary Ltd.

B Braun Melsungen AG

Bayer AG

Ethicon, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)

Joergen Kruuse A/S

Medtronic PLC

Neogen Corporation

Robinson Healthcare Ltd.

Virbac



Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview



6 Animal Wound Care Market, by Product



7 Animal Wound Care Market, by Animal Type



8 Global Animal Wound Care Market, by End User



9 Global Animal Wound Care Market, by Region



10 Competitive Landscape



11 Company Profiles



12 Appendix



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/jdj645/animal_wound_care

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716






DUBLIN, Nov 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Hard Coatings Market - Global Forecast to 2026" report to their offering.

The global market size for hard coatings is projected to reach USD 1.3 Billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period. The market is driven by rise in demand in the Asia-Pacific region, increase in awareness about the benefits of hard coatings, and emerging automotive and healthcare sectors. General manufacturing is one of the major markets for hard coatings in developing as well as developed economies.

The various material types discussed in the report are nitrides, oxides, carbides, carbon-based, borides, and multi-component coatings. The borides segment is the largest material type segment of the hard coatings market, in terms of value, owing to the material's unique combination of properties making it useful for a number of industries.

By application, the report segments the hard coatings market into cutting tools, decorative coatings, optics, gears, bearings, cams, cylinders, hydraulic/pneumatic component, and other applications, such as firearm, implants, and injection molding dies. Cutting tools is the fastest-growing application segment of the hard coatings markets in countries such as India, China, and Malaysia.

Asia-Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are the major hard coatings markets. The Asia-Pacific region dominates the global hard coatings market. The market in Asia-Pacific is estimated to record high growth owing to increasing demand from the automotive sector. The demand for hard coatings in North America and Western Europe is comparatively lower than that of Asia-Pacific due to the economic slowdown in these regions.

Companies Mentioned:



ASB Industries, Inc.

Cemecon AG

Dhake Industries Inc.

Diarc-Technology OY

Duralar Technologies

Exxene Corporation

Gencoa Ltd

Hardcoatings, Inc.

IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V.

IHI Ionbond AG

Kobelco

MBI Coatings

Momentive Performance Materials Inc.

OC Oerlikon Corporation AG

Platit AG

SDC Technologies, Inc.

Sulzer Ltd.

The Eifeler Group

Ultra Optics

Zeiss Group



Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview



6 Industry Trends



7 Hard Coatings Market, by Material Type



8 Hard Coatings Market, by Deposition Technique



9 Hard Coatings Market, by Application



10 Hard Coatings Market, by End Use



11 Hard Coatings Market, by Region



12 Competitive Landscape



13 Company Profiles



14 Appendix



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cgqxxd/hard_coatings

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
BERLIN, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The President of the Andalusia region, Susana Diaz, inaugurated on November 3rd the new operating rooms (O.R.) for general and digestive surgery at the University Hospital Virgen del Rocio in Seville, Spain. Established in 1955, the University Hospital Virgen del Rocio is one of the most important hospital of the South of Spain. Each year, it hosts more than 285,000 emergencies, 57,000 surgeries and 1 million doctor appointments.

The global renewal, led by Medtronic, increased the number of operating rooms from 4 to 5 and renovated them according to the latest standards and technological advancements. More than 1.2 million euros were invested by the public healthcare service of Andalusia as they decided to partner with Medtronic.

Due to its high capacity utilization, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio wanted to improve operational efficiency in the operating rooms by automating workflows and removing paper-based documentation. SCAPE offered a complete solution: each O.R. is equipped with advanced visualization capabilities and procedure recording. Thanks to the caresyntax HUB, documentation acquired during the procedure can be easily exported to the PACS system. Monitors with quadview for each room camera allow to review remotely O.R. room status from the break room.

Additionally, a multimedia room is connected in real-time to O.R.s allowing surgeons to stream the procedure to students. A teleconferencing cart allows on-demand collaboration with remote colleagues. This holds great value as the hospital hosts medical classes with the award-winning Seville University and international congresses.

About Medtronic plc

Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is among the world's largest medical technology, services and solutions companies - alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic employs more than 88,000 people worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals and patients in more than 160 countries. The company is focused on collaborating with stakeholders around the world to take healthcare Further, Together.

About S-CAPE GmbH

Founded in 1991 in Germany, SCAPE  has a long and esteemed track record of solving the digital integration needs of the world's most reputable medical facilities. By specializing in making operating theatres and other acute care areas more efficient. We are currently frontrunners in medical technology, proud of the experience and technical expertise which make us the reliable partners of almost 1,000 hospitals worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Maria Trenzado

Communication Manager Medtronic Spain

Tel: +34 (0) 65 3304720 - E-Mail: maria.trenzado@medtronic.com

http://www.medtronic.es



Marie Loubiere

Head of Marketing and Product Management SCAPE

Tel: +49 (0) 30 7130297-0 - E-mail: info@s-cape.com

http://www.s-cape.com


HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- ORI Healthcare Fund L.P. ("ORI Fund") announces that it has led a US$100 million Series-C investment in Kymab Group Limited (the "Company" or "Kymab"), a UK Cambridge-based company focusing on generating high-quality, fully humanized antibodies to treat challenging diseases based on the proprietary Kymouse antibody platform. ORI Fund is the lead investor in the series, other investors include Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Malin Corporation plc; CF Woodford Equity Income Fund and Woodford Patient Capital plc.

Kymab's Kymouse platform is widely regarded as the most exquisitely engineered antibody discovery platform developed to date. Kymouse contains the entire repertoire of human antibodies. The platform has the capability to discover antibodies that are difficult to develop and produce as it naturally matures these molecules to highly potent drugs obviating the need for further time-consuming modifications.

The Company currently has 12 pre-clinical programs under development that are with a strong focus on immuno-oncology while also covering hematology, autoimmune disease and infectious disease. The scientific and research efforts are led by teams of world-class scientists and industry veterans. The Company will continue to build a strong pipeline of antibody candidates.

The transaction is consistent with ORI Fund's investment philosophy to invest in innovative platform companies that can continuously innovate and produce important life-saving drugs. "We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to invest in Kymab which has a world class technology platform, world class pipeline, world class management team and world class investor base. We will contribute to the growth of Kymab by supporting Kymab's China strategies and execution leveraging our expertise and network in China", commented Ms. Simone Song, Senior Partner of ORI Fund.

About ORI Healthcare Fund

ORI Fund is a US$200 million venture capital fund focused on investing in innovative companies with disruptive technologies in the healthcare industry globally. The fund is founded by Ms. Simone (Hong Fang) Song, former investment banker and head of China Healthcare at Goldman Sachs. The team consists mostly of former Goldman Sachs bankers and healthcare scientists. The Fund is supported by a network of most renowned scientists, practitioners and entrepreneurs.

Contact

James Yan

Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SGN) is pleased to announce its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016 ("Q3"). This press release should be read in conjunction with the Company's condensed interim consolidated financial statements for Q3 of 2016 and Management Discussion & Analysis for the same period, available on the Company's website at www.scorpiogold.com and under the Company's name on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All monetary amounts are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise specified.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS: Nine Nine Months Months Q3 2016 Q3 2015 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- $ $ $ $ Revenue (000's) 13,328 9,333 35,190 33,759 Mine operating earnings (000's) 3,177 1,766 8,109 6,239 Net earnings (loss) (000's) 2,331 (15,823) 4,609 (13,321) Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share 0.01 (0.11) 0.02 (0.10) Adjusted net earnings(1) (000's) 2,484 1,128 5,768 3,879 Adjusted basic and diluted net earnings per share(1) 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.02 Adjusted EBITDA(1) (000's) 3,508 3,208 7,893 7,946 Adjusted basic and diluted EBITDA per share(1) 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.04 Cash flow from operating activities (000's) 5,906 2,271 10,418 11,223 Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold(1) 956 732 883 779 Gold ounces sold 10,000 8,516 28,315 29,141 Gold ounces produced 9,981 9,497 28,578 30,187 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) This is a non-IFRS measure; refer to Non-IFRS Measures section of this press release and the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis for Q3 of 2016 for a complete definition and reconciliation to the IFRS results reported in the Company's financial statements for Q3 of 2016.

Brian Lock, Interim CEO, comments: "We are very pleased to report strong financial results for Q3 and for the first nine months of 2016. These favorable financial results largely result from the sale of 17% more ounces of gold in Q3 of 2016 compared to Q3 of 2015 at a realized price which was 22% higher during Q3 of 2016 compared to Q3 of 2015. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2016, the realized gold price was 7% higher compared to same period of 2015. Production for the third quarter of 2016 remained high at 9,981 ounces of gold compared to 9,497 for Q3 of 2015.

"With 28,578 ounces of gold produced for the nine month period ended September 30, 2016, at a total cash cost of $883 per ounce, the Company expects to be at the higher end of the 30,000-35,000 ounces of gold produced range, and in the lower end of $900-$950 for estimated total cash cost per ounce of gold sold as per the previous revised guidance for the 2016 year."

Highlights for the Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2016:

-- 9,981 ounces of gold produced at the Mineral Ridge mine, compared to 9,497 produced during Q3 of 2015. -- 10,000 ounces of gold sold, compared to 8,516 ounces sold during Q3 of 2015. -- Revenue of $13.3 million compared to $9.3 million during Q3 of 2015. -- Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold(1) of $956 compared to $732 during Q3 of 2015. -- Mine operating earnings of $3.2 million compared to $1.8 million during Q3 of 2015. -- Net earnings of $2.3 million ($0.01 basic and diluted per share), compared to net loss of $ 15.8 million ($0.11 basic and diluted per share) during Q3 of 2015. -- Adjusted net earnings(1) of $2.5 million ($0.01 basic and diluted per share) compared to $1.1 million ($0.01 basic and diluted per share) during Q3 of 2015. -- Adjusted EBITDA(1)of $3.5 million ($0.02 basic and diluted per share) compared to $3.2 million ($0.02 basic and diluted per share) during Q3 of 2015. -- Cash flow from operating activities of $5.9 million compared to $2.3 million during Q3 of 2015. -- On August 10, 2016 the Company announced the resignation of Peter J. Hawley from the position of president, effective on that date, for personal reasons. Mr. Hawley also retired from the position of CEO of the Company on November 1, 2016. Mr. Hawley remains as Chairman and a Director of the Company. The Company also announced the promotion of Chris Zerga to the position of President effective August 10, 2016. Brian Lock, a current Director of the Company, was appointed as Interim CEO effective November 2, 2016.

(1) This is a non-IFRS measure; please see Non-IFRS performance measures section.

Highlights for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016

-- 28,578 ounces of gold produced at the Mineral Ridge mine, compared to 30,187 during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- 28,315 ounces of gold sold, compared to 29,141 ounces sold during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Revenue of $35.2 million compared to $33.8 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold(1) of $883 compared to $779 during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Mine operating earnings of $8.1 million compared to $6.2 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Net earnings of $4.6 million ($0.02 basic and diluted per share) compared to net loss of $13.3 million ($0.10 basic and diluted per share) during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Adjusted net earnings(1) of $5.8 million ($0.03 basic and diluted per share) compared to $3.9 million ($0.02 basic and diluted per share) during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $7.9 million ($0.04 basic and diluted per share) compared to $7.9 million ($0.04 basic and diluted per share) during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. -- Cash flow from operating activities of $10.4 million, compared to $11.2 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2015.

(1) This is a non-IFRS measure; please see Non-IFRS performance measures section.

Non-IFRS Measures

The discussion of financial results in this press release includes reference to Adjusted EBITDA, Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold and Adjusted Net Earnings, which are non-IFRS measures. The Company provides these measures as additional information regarding the Company's financial results and performance. Please refer to the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis for Q3 of 2016 for definitions of these terms and a reconciliation of these measures to reported IFRS results.

About Scorpio Gold Corporation

Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted immediately when needed.

Scorpio Gold's Chairman, Peter J. Hawley, P.Geo., is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION

Brian Lock, Interim CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The Company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the exploration, development and exploitation of its Mineral Ridge project, including any forecasts regarding future production or costs related thereto. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks relating to operation of a gold mine, including unanticipated changes in the mineral content of materials being mined; unanticipated changes in recovery rates; changes in project parameters; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; availability of skilled labour and the impact of labour disputes; obtaining the required permits to expand and extend mining activities; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; changes in metals prices; the availability of cash flows or financing to meet the Company's ongoing financial obligations; unanticipated changes in key management personnel; changes in general economic conditions; obtaining the required permits to expand and extend mining activities; the outcome of the litigation with National and other risks of the mining industry and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.

Contacts:

Chris Zerga

President

(819) 825-7618

czerga@scorpiogold.com

www.scorpiogold.com



Investor Relations:

Jag Sandhu

JNS Capital Corp.

(778) 218-9638

jagjns@outlook.com




Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

24 November 2016

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company')

Sale of Interest in Wressle Discovery to Upland Resources

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the UK & Ireland focussed oil and gas exploration, development and production company, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") in relation to a 10% interest in Europa's PEDL180 and PEDL182 ('the Licences') in North Lincolnshire with Upland Resources (UK Onshore) Limited ("Upland"). The Licences cover the Wressle discovery (PEDL180) and the Broughton North prospect (PEDL182).

Upland to acquire a 10% working interest in the Licences from Europa for a consideration of 1.85 million comprising an initial consideration of 1.6 million and a contingent consideration of 0.25 million.

The initial consideration will be met via a payment of 1.3 million in cash and the issue to Europa of 23,076,923 new ordinary Upland Resources Limited shares ("Upland Shares") to the value of 0.3m (at the issue price of 1.3p per share).

The contingent consideration is subject to certain production milestones being met by June 2025 and will be met by the issue of 19,230,769 new ordinary Upland Shares to the value of 0.25m (at the issue price of 1.3p per share).

Completion of the SPA is conditional upon inter alia approval from the Oil & Gas Authority and approval of the Wressle Field Development Plan

Wressle is anticipated to commence production at a gross rate of 500 bopd in early 2017

Post completion of the transaction, Europa's anticipated net 100 bopd from Wressle combined with existing UK onshore production is expected to increase the Company's overall production to around 220 bopd

At 220 bopd it is expected that Europa will have a positive cash flow from operating activities at oil prices above US$30 per barrel.

Europa CEO Hugh Mackay said, "Europa is delivering on its strategy to actively manage its portfolio and realise value for shareholders. So far this year we have farmed out part of our interest in PEDL143 (Holmwood) to Union Jack Oil; consolidated our position at PEDL299 (Hardstoft) through deals with Shale Petroleum and Upland; acquired an increased interest in PEDL346 (Cloughton) from Shale Petroleum; and sold portions of our interest in PEDL180/182 (Wressle) to Union Jack Oil and now Upland. The 1.3 million cash consideration from this transaction together with the 0.6 million cash consideration received from the previous sale of Wressle to Union Jack will be used to fund ongoing exploration in the UK and Ireland including drilling the Holmwood well during 2017, which we rate as one of the best undrilled conventional prospects onshore UK. Following this transaction we value our remaining 20% interest in Wressle at 3.7 million.

"Europa holds a portfolio of high quality exploration licences in both onshore UK and offshore Ireland. We continue to advance and monetise our multistage portfolio of licences, and in the process generate value for our shareholders. It is public knowledge that we are in the process of farming out in Ireland where any one of our seven licences and licensing options has the potential to be a company maker for Europa. Whilst we do not provide running commentaries on farmout activity the market should feel assured that we are talking to the right parties and seeing strong interest. The recent series of transactions in the UK demonstrates that we are both active in the market and capable of closing deals on attractive terms."

Terms of the SPA

Under the term of the SPA, Upland will acquire a 10% working interest in the Licences from Europa Oil & Gas Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Europa, for a total initial consideration of 1.6 million and a contingent consideration of 0.25 million. The initial consideration will be satisfied through the immediate payment of 160,000 in cash, a further 1.14 million cash and 0.3 million in new Upland Shares (at a price of 1.3p per new Upland Share) is to be received on completion. Completion of the SPA is conditional inter alia upon approval from the Oil & Gas Authority and approval of the Wressle Field Development Plan.

Contingent on certain production milestones being met by June 2025, Europa will be issued a further 0.25 million in new Upland Shares, giving total consideration of 1.85 million.

Europa can elect to dispose of the Upland Shares following the later of six months from completion of the transaction and the date of first export of oil from the Wressle site (subject to a long-stop date of 1 September 2017).

Europa will retain a 20% interest in the Licences alongside Egdon Resources UK Limited (25%), Celtique Energie Petroleum Limited (33.33%), Union Jack Oil plc (11.67%) and Upland Resources (UK Onshore) Limited (10%).

Europa's Net Interests

Europa's post completion share of the Licences' 2P proved reserves is 0.13 mmboe, 2C contingent resources is 0.37 mmboe and net mean un-risked prospective resources is 0.2 mmobe (based on a Competent Persons Report compiled by ERC Equipoise Limited ('ERCE') on 26 September 2016).

Europa's net interests following this transaction are tabulated below:

Table summarising gross volumes at Wressle and Broughton North along with net volumes attributed to Europa's interests before and after transaction

Gross Volumes Net Volumes attributable to Europa before transaction Oil MMstb Gas

Bscf Oil and Gas* MMboe Oil MMstb Gas

Bscf Oil and Gas* MMboe Wressle

2P Ashover Grit and Wingfield Flags

0.62

0.20

0.65

0.21

0.07

0.22 2C Penistone Flags 1.53 2.00 1.86 0.51 0.67 0.62 Broughton North

Mean Unrisked Prospective Resources

0.51

0.51

0.60

0.17

0.17

0.20

Gross Volumes Net Volumes attributable to Europa after transaction Oil MMstb Gas

Bscf Oil and Gas* MMboe Oil MMstb Gas

Bscf Oil and Gas* MMboe Wressle

2P Ashover Grit and Wingfield Flags

0.62

0.20

0.65

0.124

0.04

0.13 2C Penistone Flags 1.53 2.00 1.86 0.301 0.40 0.37 Broughton North

Mean Unrisked Prospective Resources

0.51

0.51

0.60

0.10

0.10

0.12

*Gas converted to oil equivalent using 6 Bscf/MMboe conversion and added to oil volume

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact:

Hugh Mackay Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Phil Greenhalgh Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Matt Goode finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Simon Hicks finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and development interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer attractive terms. In 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd. Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development (targeting production start-up in early 2017 at up to 500 bopd gross) in the UK and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas across all seven licences.

Qualified Person Review

This release has been reviewed by Hugh Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, who is a petroleum geologist with 30 years' experience in petroleum exploration and a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Fellow of the Geological Society. Mr Mackay has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.

Glossary:

Some of the terms used in this announcement are defined below. A more exhaustive glossary is contained in ERCE's letter to Europa's Board of Directors summarising the findings of their CPR has been published on the Company's website (www.europaoil.com).

Proved Reserves

Proved Reserves are those quantities of petroleum, which by analysis of geoscience and engineering data, can be estimated with reasonable certainty to be commercially recoverable, from a given date forward, from known reservoirs and under defined economic conditions, operating methods, and government regulations.

If deterministic methods are used, the term reasonable certainty is intended to express a high degree of confidence that the quantities will be recovered. If probabilistic methods are used, there should be at least a 90% probability that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the estimate. The area of the reservoir considered as Proved includes:

the area delineated by drilling and defined by fluid contacts, if any, and

adjacent undrilled portions of the reservoir that can reasonably be judged as continuous with it and commercially productive on the basis of available geoscience and engineering data

In the absence of data on fluid contacts, Proved quantities in a reservoir are limited by the lowest known hydrocarbon (LKH) as seen in a well penetration unless otherwise indicated by definitive geoscience, engineering, or performance data. Such definitive information may include pressure gradient analysis and seismic indicators. Seismic data alone may not be sufficient to define fluid contacts for Proved Reserves (see "2001 Supplemental Guidelines," Chapter 8). Reserves in undeveloped locations may be classified as Proved provided that the locations are in undrilled areas of the reservoir that can be judged with reasonable certainty to be commercially productive and interpretations of available geoscience and engineering data indicate with reasonable certainty that the objective formation is laterally continuous with drilled Proved locations. For Proved Reserves, the recovery efficiency applied to these reservoirs should be defined based on a range of possibilities supported by analogues and sound engineering judgment considering the characteristics of the Proved area and the applied development programme.

2P

Proved + Probable, a best estimate category of Reserves.

Contingent Resources

Contingent Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations by application of development projects, but which are not currently considered to be commercially recoverable due to one or more contingencies.

Contingent Resources may include, for example, projects for which there are currently no viable markets, or where commercial recovery is dependent on technology under development, or where evaluation of the accumulation is insufficient to clearly assess commerciality. Contingent Resources are further categorized in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the estimates and may be sub?classified based on project maturity and/or characterized by their economic status.

2C

A best estimate category of Contingent Resources.

Prospective Resources

Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum which are estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations. Potential accumulations are evaluated according to their chance of discovery and, assuming a discovery, the estimated quantities that would be recoverable under defined development projects. It is recognized that the development programs will be of significantly less detail and depend more heavily on analog developments in the earlier phases of exploration.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - November 24, 2016) - Sarama Resources Ltd. ("Sarama" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SWA) advises that aircore ("AC") and diamond drilling has commenced at the South Hounde Project (the "Project") in south-western Burkina Faso. The program is designed to build on encouraging results from the last drilling campaign and to test for strike and down-dip extensions to grow the current 2.1Moz 1,2 gold inferred mineral resource to advance the Project.

Highlights

Encouraging intersections from previous drill programs and review of geophysical survey data have generated new targets that could add to the current 2.1Moz1,2 gold mineral resource at the South Hounde Project.

1,200m diamond drill program planned to target down-dip extensions of a high-grade lens at the MM Prospect to a vertical depth of 450m.

4,000m AC program planned to test for oxide mineralisation at the Djimbake Prospect, located a further 3.2km along strike from the southerly extent of the eastern horizon of the mineral resource.

2,200m AC program planned to test for oxide mineralisation along cross-structures inferred to link the MM-MC and Phantom East-MM Prospects.

USD$3.5M (CAD$4.7M) exploration program, funded by Acacia Mining plc, is budgeted for 2017 including geochemical and geophysical surveys and drill programs.

Sarama's President and CEO, Andrew Dinning, commented:

"After a phase of drilling in close proximity to the established mineral resource, we look forward to conducting step-out drilling to test for extensions to the strike of the mineral resource and also test down-dip of high-grade zones that have the potential to support underground mining.

This drilling is expected to yield valuable geological information to further develop the geologic model and enhance targeting and, if successful, will highlight the potential for extensions to the mineral resource that will be followed-up in 2017.

We firmly believe that the South Hounde Project has the potential to be an open pit and underground mining complex. The Project will play a key role in the development of the southern part of the Hounde Belt where Sarama has significant interests across three projects that collectively host a sizeable gold mineral resource."

Diamond Drilling

Depth Extension of High-Grade Lens -- MM Prospect

A high-grade lens within the MM Prospect that is defined by intersections including 10.2m @ 14.85g/t Au from 109.3m in DDH025, 15.5m @ 9.36g/t Au from 176.5m in DDH045, and 19.1m @ 4.06g/t Au from 263.5m in DDH050 will be tested for down-dip extensions.

The lens is centred at 1176800mN and two 600m-long diamond core holes are planned to target the down-plunge extension approximately 120m below the last significant drill intersection and to a vertical depth of 450m (Figure 1). The drilling will assist in resolving the plunge orientation of this lens and will lead to better targeting of the high-grade lenses within the mineralized zones which have potential to be amenable to underground mining.

Aircore Drilling

South-Western Corridor Extension -- Djimbake Prospect

A 4,000m AC drill program has commenced along the south-western extension of the Tankoro Corridor, a 10.2km-long zone of structurally emplaced porphyry dykes and associated gold mineralization. Mineralization is open to the north-east and to the south-west along this mineralized corridor.

The objective of the reconnaissance drill program at the Djimbake Prospect (Figure 1) is to test for oxide mineralisation potentially hosted in two parallel horizons up to 3.2km along strike from the limit of the current mineral resource. The drilling is guided by gold-in-soil and geophysical anomalies and an interpreted 070-striking cross fault that is part of the mineralized structural geometry.

Linking Structures -- MC, MM and Phantom East Prospects

A 2,200m AC program is planned to test for oxide mineralisation in near-surface expressions of cross-structures that are interpreted to link north-north-easterly striking mineralised lodes at the MM-MC Prospects and the Phantom East-MM Prospects. The reconnaissance-level targets were generated from geophysical surveys and the geological concept is supported by the presence of high-grade mineralisation in other areas of the mineralised system with a strike direction that is oblique to the main trend (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Drill Plan Showing Location of Planned Drilling

ABOUT SARAMA RESOURCES LTD

Sarama Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SWA) is a West African focused gold explorer with substantial landholdings in Burkina Faso. Sarama is focused on consolidating under-explored landholdings in Burkina Faso and other established mining jurisdictions.

Sarama's flagship properties are situated within the Company's South Hounde Project area in south-west Burkina Faso. Located within the prolific Hounde Greenstone Belt, Sarama's exploration programs have built on significant early success to deliver an inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.1 Moz gold 1,2 . Acacia Mining plc is earning up to a 70% interest in the South Hounde Project by satisfying certain conditions, including funding earn-in expenditures of up to US$14 million, over a 4-year earn-in period and may acquire an additional 5% interest, for an aggregate 75% interest in the Project, upon declaration of a minimum mineral reserve of 1.6 million ounces of gold.

Sarama holds a 31% participating interest in the Karankasso Project Joint Venture ("JV") which is situated adjacent to the Company's South Hounde Project in Burkina Faso and is a JV between Sarama and Savary Gold Corp. ("Savary"). Savary is the operator of the JV and in October 2015, declared a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 671,000 ounces of contained gold 3,4 at the Karankasso Project JV.

Sarama has also agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Bondi Deposit from Orezone Gold Corporation (refer news release May 24, 2016). Bondi has a historical estimate of mineral resources of 0.3Moz Au (measured and indicated) and 0.1Moz Au (inferred) 5,6 .

Together, the South Hounde Project, Bondi Deposit and the Karankasso Project form a cluster of advanced gold deposits, within trucking distance of one another, which potentially offers a development option for a multi-source fed central processing facility in the southern Hounde Belt region of Burkina Faso.

Incorporated in 2010, the Company's Board and management team have a proven track record in Africa and a strong history in the discovery and development of large-scale gold deposits. Sarama is well positioned to build on its current success with a sound exploration strategy across its property portfolio.

43.0 Mt @ 1.5 g/t Au (reported above cut-off grades ranging 0.3-2.2 g/t Au, reflecting the mining methods and processing flowsheets assumed to assess the likelihood of the inferred mineral resources having reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction) The effective date of the Company's inferred mineral resource estimate is February 4, 2016. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report South Hounde Project Update, Bougouriba and Ioba Provinces, Burkina Faso", dated March 31, 2016. The technical report is available under Sarama Resources Ltd.'s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 9.2 Mt @ 2.3 g/t Au (at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off) The effective date of the Karankasso Project JV mineral resource estimate is October 7, 2015. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Karankasso Project, Burkina Faso", dated October 7, 2015. The technical report is available under Savary Gold Corp's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Sarama has not independently verified Savary's mineral resource estimate and takes no responsibility for its accuracy. 4.1Mt @ 2.1g/t Au for 282,000 oz Au (measured and indicated) and 2.5Mt @ 1.8g/t Au for 149,700 oz Au (inferred), reported at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off The effective date of the historical estimate of the Bondi Deposit mineral resource estimate is February 20, 2009. For further information regarding the mineral resource estimate please refer to the technical report titled "Technical Report on the Mineral Resource of the Bondigui Gold Project", dated February 20, 2009. The technical report is available under Orezone Gold Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the Company's plans for drilling and geochemical and geophysical surveys at the South Hounde Project, the results of such drilling, the Earn-In Agreement with Acacia, including the amounts that may be spent on exploration and interests in the South Hounde Project that may be earned by Acacia upon making certain expenditures and estimating a minimum reserve, the potential to expand the present oxide component of the Company's existing estimated mineral resources, and future exploration plans. Actual results, performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors include, among others, that the business of exploration for gold and other precious minerals involves a high degree of risk and is highly speculative in nature; Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves, they do not have demonstrated economic viability, and there is no certainty that they can be upgraded to Mineral Reserves through continued exploration; few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. There can be no assurance that any mineralisation that is discovered will be proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing or approvals will be obtained. However, the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, Acacia's continued funding of exploration activities, the Company's ability to carry on its exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold and other precious metals, that the Company will not be affected by adverse political events, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Sarama does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable 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.

NOTES -- DRILLING

The following applies only to the Company's South Hounde Project and not to its indirect interest in the Karankasso Project Joint Venture or the Bondi gold deposit which it has agreed to acquire.

Drilling results are quoted as downhole intersections. True widths of mineralisation are estimated to be approximately 70% to 80% of reported downhole intersection lengths, except as otherwise noted. The orientation of some of the mineralised units is not yet well understood.

The reported composites for the drilling were determined using a cut-off grade of 0.30g/t Au to select significant and anomalous intersections, with a maximum of 2m internal dilution being incorporated into the composite where appropriate. No top-cuts were applied to assay grades. Isolated mineralised intersections less than 2m in length have not been reported.

Gold assays for the drilling were undertaken by several internationally owned laboratories in Burkina Faso and Mali. Assays are determined by fire assay methods using a 50 gram charge, lead collection and an AAS finish with lower detection limits of 0.01g/t A.

The drilling was generally designed using a range of azimuths, according to program aims and mineralization orientation, dipping at -50-55 and were of variable length. Holes were spaced at 25-50m intervals along drill lines. All AC and RC holes were sampled at regular 1m downhole intervals. All diamond holes were sampled according to geological intervals but were generally <1m.

Intersection oxidation state classification is based on visual logging of the drillholes.

Sarama undertakes geological sampling and assays in accordance with its quality assurance/quality control program which includes the use of certified reference materials for AC, RC and diamond drilling as well as field duplicates in the case of AC and RC drilling.

For further information regarding the Company's QAQC protocols please refer to the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report, South Hounde Project Update, Bougouriba and Ioba Provinces, Burkina Faso", dated March 31, 2016. The technical report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

QUALIFIED PERSONS' STATEMENT

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the Company's exploration activities in Burkina Faso is based on information compiled or approved by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Guy Scherrer consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the preparation of the Company's mineral resource estimate is based on information compiled or approved by Adrian Shepherd. Adrian Shepherd is an employee of Cube Consulting Pty Ltd and is considered to be independent of Sarama Resources Ltd. Adrian Shepherd is a Chartered Professional Member in good standing of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Adrian Shepherd consents to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the preparation of the Karankasso Project's mineral resource estimate is based on information compiled or approved by Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa are employees of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and are considered to be independent of Savary Gold Corp. and Sarama Resources Ltd. Antoine Yassa is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and Eugene Puritch is a member in good standing of Professional Engineers Ontario. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa have sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which they are undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Eugene Puritch and Antoine Yassa consent to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Sarama has not independently verified Savary's mineral resource estimate and takes no responsibility for its accuracy.

Scientific or technical information in this news release, in respect of the Bondi Deposit relating to mineral resource and exploration information drawn from the Technical Report prepared for Orezone on that deposit has been approved by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Guy Scherrer consents to the inclusion in this report of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Andrew Dinning or Paul Schmiede

e: info@saramaresources.com

t: +61 (0) 8 9363 7600
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Select Sands Corp. ("Select Sands" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SNS)(OTC: CLICF) is pleased to announce that it has exercised the option to acquire and has now completed the acquisition of a 100% undivided right, title, and interest in its approximately 520-acre frac sand property (the "Property") located in northeast Arkansas, USA.

The option agreement was entered into with an arm's length landowner in October 2014 (See press release dated October 9, 2014) providing the Company with the option to acquire the Property for US$936,000 at any time on or before the 18 month anniversary of the agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement an initial payment of US$200,000 was paid by the Company to the vendors with a final payment of US$736,000, to be paid on closing.

The Company extended the term of the option by paying US$4,000 per month to the vendors, US$2,000 of which was credited against the US$736,000 purchase price. To date US$32,000 of extension payments have been paid with US$16,000 being credited against the US$736,000 purchase price bringing the aggregate amount paid to the vendors (inclusive of extension payments) to US$952,000.

An aggregate finder's fee of US$65,520 (equal to 7% of the transaction value) was paid in respect of this transaction to two separate finders. One-half of this finder's fee was satisfied through the issuance of 46,191 common shares in the capital of the Company. The number of common shares was based on the 20-day volume weighted average price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (for the 20 days preceding the closing date) with Canadian dollars converted to U.S. dollars at the noon rate of Exchange for Cdn/U.S. dollars on the closing date as posted on the Bank of Canada's website.

About Select Sands Corp.

1,500 tons per day (see August 23, 2016 News Release). The wet processing plant includes feed hopper, conveyor, classifiers, cyclones, and control building and is optimized to increase its daily capacity at minimal cost as needed. The Company Select Sands' Sandtown property, located in northeast Arkansas, USA, is underlain by the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation, which is a major source of Northern White Silica Sand. Compared to competitive sand mines located in Wisconsin owned by the largest US frac sand producers, Sandtown has a competitive location advantage as it is approximately 650 rail miles closer to the Texas/Louisiana oil/gas plays as well as the Houston port and industrial hub.

The Company has acquired a wet processing plant to produce Northern White 40/70 and 100 mesh silica sand products with daily capacity of up to continues to seek additional opportunities in the region to secure strategic assets that will continue to optimize production.

The Company has acquired 20 million common shares of Comstock Metals Ltd. pursuant to its sale of its gold assets to Comstock as set forth in the Company's press release issued on Sept. 14, 2016. The 20 million shares were issued at a deemed price of 29 cents per share for total deemed consideration of $5.8-million. After giving effect to the acquisition by the Company of the 20 million common shares, the Company has ownership or control over approximately 35.4 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Comstock.

As per the June 2015 PEA report by Tetra Tech of Golden, Colorado, USA and Vancouver, BC, Canada, the Sandtown property has a pre-tax net present value of US $160 million and a post-tax net present value of US$92 million. The PEA was completed on a portion of the current silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands' June 10, 2015 News Release). Select Sands would like to remind investors that mineral resources for the Sandtown Property are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no certainty that this PEA will be realized. The PEA is preliminary in nature that it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the resources development, production, and economic forecasts on which this PEA is based will be realized. Subsequent to the completion of the 2015 PEA, Select Sands announced an updated mineral resource estimate for the Sandtown property totaling 41.98 Million Tons of Indicated silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands February 10, 2016 news release).

Mark Horan, P.Eng. of Tetra Tech, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this News Release.

Forward Looking Statements

This News Release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Such statements include statements regarding targets and future exploration on the Company's properties. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For more information about Select Sands Corp., please visit www.selectsandscorp.com.

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:

Rasool Mohammad, B.Sc. (Mining)

President & CEO

Phone: (604) 639-4533



Investor Relations

Arlen Hansen

SNS@kincommunications.com

Phone: (604) 684-6730




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CGP)(FRANKFURT: GWN)(BERLIN: GWN)(OTCBB: CTNXF) announces the following project update for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador, in which the Company has a 15% interest financed through to completion of a feasibility study. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.

HIGHLIGHTS:

-- Drill Hole CSD-16-018 ("Hole 18"), is intersecting visible copper mineralization from 903.9m depth to current depth 1304.5m. Intensity of veining and copper mineralization is increasing with depth, as drilling continues towards a planned depth of 2300m into the rich lower portions of the Alpala Central deposit. -- Intense veining up to 45%. -- Drill Hole CSD-16-019 ("Hole 19"), is at a current depth of 108.8m, targeting extensions of the upper portions of the Alpala deposit above Hole 16. -- Drill Hole CSD-16-020R ("Hole 20R"), is at a current depth of 239.5m, and will act as the parent hole of at least 7 directional drilling "daughter" holes, testing up to 650m below the thickest, richest part of the Alpala deposit. -- Access road to Alpala completed with vehicle access to Alpala Base Camp now fully operational and three drilling rigs operational.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The Cascabel Project is located on the gold-rich northern section of the prolific Andean Copper belt renowned as the production base for nearly half of the world's copper (Figure 1). The project area hosts mineralization of Eocene age, the same age as numerous Tier 1 deposits along the Andean Copper Belt in Chile and Peru to the south. The project base is located at Rocafuerte, in northwestern Ecuador just west of the City of Ibarra, approximately 3 hours drive north of Quito and close to water, power supply and Pacific Ports (Figure 2). SolGold holds an 85% interest in ENSA (Exploraciones Novomining S.A.) which holds the Cascabel concession.

Fourteen different targets have been defined at Cascabel and only one of these, the Alpala deposit has been drilled to date. The deposit at Alpala continues to grow with each new drill hole. Drilling has focussed on defining the geometry of the Alpala deposit, which is open in all directions. Over 25,342m of drilling has been completed to date (Figure 3).

Hole 18 is currently at a depth of 1304.5m within veined and mineralized quartz diorite porphyry. Intensity of veining and copper mineralization is increasing with depth with up to 45% veining observed recently at 1250m. Hole 18 continues towards a planned depth of 2300m into the untested lower projections of the Alpala Central deposit down plunge from drill holes 5, 8, 12 and 16.

Examples of drill core intersected to date in Hole 18 show intense porphyry style veining and associated visual copper mineralization (Figures 4 and 5). Traditionally copper mineralization at Alpala has been accompanied by gold on an approximate 1g/t Au to 1% Cu ratio which increases to 2:1 at high copper grades.

Hole 19 is at a current depth of 108.8m, and is being drilled to extend the upper portions of the deposit above Hole 16. Hole 19 is being drilled from the same site as Hole 17, and is targeting upper extensions of strong copper and gold mineralization intersected in Hole 16, which returned a high grade intersection of 1145.6m grading 0.63 % copper and 0.78 g/t gold from 430m, including a high-grade core of 373.6m grading 1% copper and 1.34 g/t gold.

Hole 20R, is at a current depth of 299.5m, and will act as the parent hole for up to 7 directional drilling "daughter" holes, testing up to 650m below the thickest, richest part of the Alpala Deposit (Figure 6). Both drill holes 19 & 20R are still above the expected top of the deposit in that position.

The original Hole 20 was replaced with Hole 20R at 160m and the completion of the Alpala to Carmen Road as far as the Alpala Camp now enables SolGold to operate efficiently having overcome operational difficulties in delay in regards to completion of the road.

About Cascabel:

SolGold Plc owns 85% of the equity of Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean company that holds 100% of the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador. Cornerstone owns the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project. Cornerstone's 15% interest is financed through completion of a feasibility study.

Cascabel is located in northwestern Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Llurimaga copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.

Plans:

To date SolGold has completed geological mapping and soil sampling over 25 km2, along with and an additional 9km2 of Induced Polarisation and 14km2 Magnetotelluric "Orion" surveys over the Alpala cluster and Aguinaga targets. SolGold has completed over 25,000m of drilling and expended over USD 35M on the program, corporate costs and investments into Cornerstone. Intense diamond drilling is planned for the next 12 months with multiple drill rigs.

The Alpala deposit is open at depth and in the upper extensions, as well as to the north, north-east, south-east and south-west. The mineralized zone at Alpala and Moran is closely modelled by magnetic signatures and currently encompasses over 10Bt of magnetic rock expected to be mineralized with copper and gold.

SolGold is focussing on extending the dimensions of Alpala before completing a resource statement and drill testing the other key targets within the Cascabel concession at Alpala Southeast, Aguinaga, Trivino, Moran, Alpala Northwest, Hematite Hill, Cristal, Parambas, Carmen, Tandayama-America and Chinambicito. SolGold is planning further metallurgical testing and completion of a conceptual early stage mine and plant design and a scoping study for an economic development at Cascabel. SolGold is investigating both high tonnage / low-medium grade open cut and underground block caving operations, and a high grade / low tonnage underground development.

Qualified Person:

Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone's Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.

Logging, sampling and assaying

Holes referred to in this release were or are being drilled using HTW, NTW, NQ and BQ core sizes (respectively 7.1, 5.6, 4.8 and 3.7 cm diameter). Geotechnical measurements such as core recovery, fracturing, rock quality designations (RQDs), specific density and photographic logging are performed systematically prior to assaying. The core is logged, magnetic susceptibility measured and key alteration minerals identified using an on-site portable spectrometer. Core is then sawed in half at the ENSA core logging facility, and half of the core is delivered by ENSA employees for preparation at LAC y Asociados ISO 9001-2008 certified sample preparation facility in Cuenca. Core samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (MSA code PRP-910). Prepared samples are then shipped to MS Analytical Services (MSA), an ISO 9001-2008 laboratory in Langley, BC, Canada where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (MSA code IMS-230, 0.2g split, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES/MS finish). Over limit results for Cu (greater than 1%) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code ICF-6Cu, 0.2 g, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AAS finish (MSA code FAS 111). Over limit results for Au (greater than 10 g/t) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code FAS-415, FA, 30g., gravimetric finish).

Drill hole intercepts from the Cascabel Property are calculated using a data aggregation method, defined by copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Copper equivalent grades are calculated using a gold conversion factor of 0.89, determined using copper price of US$2.20/pound and gold price of US$1350/ounce. Copper equivalent calculation assumes 100% recoveries of copper and gold.

All reported drill core intervals from the Cascabel Property are core lengths, unless otherwise indicated. At present the true thicknesses of all of the holes has not been calculated by SolGold. Low-grade intersections, where applicable, are expressed as average true widths (utilizing the "B-vein greater than 0.5%" shell orientations). High-grade intersections are better constrained for holes 1, 5, 8 and 9, and these intersections are also expressed as average true widths (utilizing the "B-veins greater than 20%" shell orientations).

Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)

The MSA Analytical Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 15-20 samples) as part of Cornerstone's QA/QC program. Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each core sample and the remaining half-core are stored for future use and controls.

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit. The company's business model is based on generating exploration projects whose subsequent development is funded primarily through partnerships.

Further information is available on Cornerstone's website www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter.

Cautionary Notice:

This news release may contain 'Forward-Looking Statements' that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstone's plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words "potential," "anticipate," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "plan," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify 'Forward-Looking Statements.' Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these 'Forward-Looking Statements' are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views subsequent to the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Brooke Macdonald, President and CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view Figures 1 to 6, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cgp1124figures.pdf.

Contacts:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc.

Investor Relations

(613) 421-6923

ir@cornerstoneresources.ca

www.cornerstoneresources.com




AS Tallinna Vesi hereby informs its shareholders of the hearing held by the Tallinn Circuit Court on 23rd November 2016, concerning the ongoing tariff dispute between AS Tallinna Vesi and the Estonian Competition Authority. The Tallinn Circuit Court, will make a ruling with respect to AS Tallinna Vesi's appeal, on the 22nd December 2016. The Court is entitled to extend this date if deemed necessary.



Since 2011, the Estonian Competition Authority has so far refused to approve AS Tallinna Vesi's water and sewerage tariff applications. In October 2011, Estonian Competition Authority issued a precept to AS Tallinna Vesi to reduce tariffs. The Estonian Competition Authority has not changed its opinion, irrespective of the fact that the Estonian Courts have previously declared the tariffs' part of the Services Agreement, which was entered into between AS Tallinna Vesi and the City of Tallinn back in 2001, to be a public law contract. AS Tallinna Vesi's belief is, that under the Administrative Procedure Act, the state is obliged to comply with a public law contract until amendment or repeal thereof.



By its ruling of 5th June 2015, Tallinn Administrative Court dismissed the company's complaint (the Court published the reasoning of the ruling on 12 October 2015). AS Tallinna Vesi disagreed with the ruling made by Tallinn Administrative Court, because AS Tallinna Vesi's is of the opinion that the Court had incorrectly applied the Law, and had wrongly assessed the submitted evidence.



International Arbitration Proceedings, are running separately and in parallel to the Local Court dispute. The hearings of the International Arbitration were held in November 2016, with a decision expected from the Arbitration Panel in the first half of 2017. Information about the publicly available documents as regards to the International Arbitration can be found on the ICSID webpage.



Riina Kai AS Tallinna Vesi Chief Financial Officer Ph: (+372) 62 62 262 riina.kai@tvesi.ee

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BRIDGEWATER, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Silver Spruce Resources Inc. ("Silver Spruce" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SSE)(FRANKFURT: S6Q) is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Karl J. Boltz as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Boltz has also been appointed by the Board to serve as a Director of Silver Spruce.

"On behalf of fellow Board members, I congratulate Karl on his new leadership role as President and CEO and welcome him to the Board of Directors of Silver Spruce Resources Inc.," stated Chairman, Dr. Brian Penney. "I would also like to thank Mr. Stephan Jedynak for his leadership during the restructuring and turnaround process that has helped to position the Company to pursue opportunities that can enhance value for our shareholders."

Mr. Boltz was the co-founding President, CEO and Director of EXMIN Resources Inc. (since merged with Sierra Metals). Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Boltz has worked for and with numerous public and private mining companies in Mexico, in various management capacities. He has over fifteen years leading and managing mining project activities with the most recent ten years concentrating on public company creation, project acquisition, funding, market development and administrative management. Mr. Boltz has provided services to the Company as the General Manager of Mexico Operations, since June 2015.

About Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

Silver Spruce Resources Inc. is a well-positioned Canadian junior exploration company pursuing development of the Pino de Plata epithermal silver/base metal/gold project located in the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental region of Western Chihuahua State in Mexico. The company has recently completed an exploration assessment on the property and is preparing for its maiden drill program. Silver Spruce also retains a portfolio of uranium and rare earth element properties in Labrador.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The company seeks Safe Harbour.

Contacts:

Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

Gordon Barnhill, CFO/Director

902-527-5700

902-527 5711 (FAX)

gbarnhill@silverspruceresources.com

www.silverspruceresources.com




24 November 2016

Andalas Energy and Power Plc

('Andalas', or the 'Company')

Result of Annual General Meeting

Andalas Energy and Power Plc, the AIM listed Indonesian focused upstream oil and gas and power company (AIM: ADL) is pleased to announce that all resolutions were passed at its annual general meeting held today.

The following statement from Chairman, Paul Warwick, was given at the meeting:

"Since our readmission to AIM earlier this year, much progress has been made towards delivering on our strategy to deliver gas to power projects on discovered but stranded gas fields in Indonesia. We have progressed activities at Tuba Obi East, our first stand-alone project, where we have received approval to complete a workover of the existing TOE-1 well to test the ABF formation, and we continue to work with PT Akar Golindo, the operator, to assess the details of the work programme.

"In tandem with this, the recent MOU with Pertamina represents a major achievement for any company, let alone one of Andalas' size, and it is testament to the experience and contacts of the management team. We believe that as we convert the MOU into projects, the inherent value in Andalas' gas to power proposition will be progressively delivered with the first project being the template for subsequent projects providing scale and sustainability to the Andalas investment proposition.

"We have focussed on gas to power as a concept that offers very attractive economic returns that are not as affected by international commodity price volatility. Furthermore, in order to minimise the time from inception of a project to its first revenues, we target discovered resources, which removes the expensive and time consuming exploration phase normally encountered by upstream oil and gas companies. Furthermore, by focussing on a region where we have real knowledge, specifically on the Indonesian gas market, which we are experts in, we have real scope to grow Andalas into a significant Indonesian energy company.

"Nevertheless, despite our expertise and stringent selection criteria we cannot avoid the fact that our projects, in common with similar projects in our industry have a cycle time that must be measured in many months not in many weeks. The Andalas team are experts at identifying projects, screening them, securing them and then progressing them by developing a plan, obtaining approvals and awarding contracts etc. These processes are important in ensuring that we build proper foundations from which to grow Andalas' business.

"Much progress has been made since the IPO and especially since the signing of the MOU with Pertamina in September. Shareholders can rest assured much activity is taking place behind the scenes to ensure that Andalas fully capitalises on the excellent opportunities it has identified. We very much believe that we offer a unique value proposition that provides real value in all phases of the life cycle for our shareholders."

**ENDS**

For further information, please contact:
In the coming months, Turkey is expected to reach 1 GW of installed solar PV. The majority of these PV installations come from the so-called unlicensed fragment of the market, which incorporates installations up to 1 MW. And it is a market that picked up pace in 2016, after the sector saw cumulative installations of just 70 MW and 150 MW in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In October, however, Turkey connected an 8 MW solar farm to the grid in the Elazig region. This is a critical development. Firstly, the project in Elazig, as well as a 5 MW PV project in the eastern region of Erzurum, was tendered in May 2014. Secondly, in December 2014, they became the first two tendered projects to be given final installation approval by the Turkish institutions. What is particularly interesting about the 8 MW project in Elazig, however, is that it was tendered for a very high license fee - tenders are subject to a one-time variable license fee. So, the Elazig project had to pay TRY 827,000 (USD 241,195) per MW, while the Erzurum project is only contracted to pay TRY 68,000 (USD 19 852) per MW. Many analysts had feared that projects, like the PV farm at Elazig, with such high license fees would not materialize. Given that a risky project like the 8 MW plant in Elazig was installed, ...

Den vollstandigen Artikel lesen ...
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dilek Ince announced this week that she is behind the production of the world's first virtual reality feature film in 3D. The news happens as VR centers such as the Crytek and Bahcesehir center are opening in Turkey. The project, called NanoEden, started filming in the second half of October in Hollywood and will be about 65 minutes long.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442766

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442767

The film, which will be launched on the second half of 2017, is directed by Daniel Bydlowski, director who studies and researches VR at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is being made in partnership with Synaptic VFX, the American company responsible for the visual effects of many famous movies such as Now You See Me 2, Iron Man, Hancock, and Alice in Wonderland in 3D.

"Virtual Reality (VR) allows us to see and experience the world in a way that no other technology is capable of. It is becoming the next big thing in Hollywood and it is important to explore it as a storytelling and cinema device, not only as a video-game experience" explains Ince.

About the film:

Today, technology is advancing in an unimaginable speed. Some surprisingly say that they believe in Cryogenics, a technology that freezes the human body after death with the hopes that the science of the future will allow it to come to life once more. The film produced by Dilek tells the story of a married couple, Harriet and Peter, who signed a contract to upload their memories to a computer after they die. The film is a critique on the complete belief in technology. The couple, who do not remember they have died, will need to find a way out of their present situation of forgetfulness and pain in the digital world.

Scott Allen Rinker, known for Star Trek Enterprise, and Jerome Charvet, who worked with Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno, are part of cast. The cinematography and visual effects are in the hands Shant Jordan, the talented artist behind the visual effects of "Day After Tomorrow." Dilek expects the project to be completed on the second quarter of 2017.

danielbydlowski.com

Lilian Comunica - Press Office

+55 11 2275 6787

assessoria@liliancomunica.com.br




DURHAM/SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- The Ontario Health Coalition expressed outrage in reaction to news that the Minister of Health is forcing through massive hospital mergers in Scarborough and Durham affecting more than a million residents in the region.

The Coalition is holding a "Day of Action" at Ontario's Legislature on Monday to bring the message directly to politicians at Queen's Park. It is more important than ever, Coalition spokespeople said, to continue the fight. Local residents are invited to get on buses and join car pools to travel into Toronto for the events. The Coalition will continue to advocate to ensure that local hospital services are protected and that local hospitals cannot simply be dismantled by the stroke of a pen by the Wynne government.

Yesterday the Minister of Health issued an order that will force mega-mergers of the Scarborough and Durham hospitals that were already merged in earlier rounds of hospital restructuring. Under the Minister's edict, the Centenary hospital will be merged into the Scarborough Hospital (Scarborough General and Scarborough Grace - Birchmount site). The Ajax-Pickering Hospital will be taken over by Lakeridge Health (which covers the hospitals in Port Perry, Bowmanville and Oshawa). Three already-very-large hospital corporations will be merged into two giant hospital corporations.

This marks the first time the Minister of Health has used the extraordinary powers that the Liberal government gave itself in its LHINs legislation to order, by fiat, the dismantling of a local public hospital corporation against the will of the community. Rouge Valley Health (Ajax-Pickering and Centenary hospitals) recently cancelled a special meeting of its membership at which the members would have had the right to vote on the transfer of the hospitals and all their assets. The Ajax-Pickering community has fundraised for and built its hospital since 1958. The Minister's order will force the dismantling of the hospital corporation and the transfer of the ownership of the assets to Scarborough and Lakeridge.

Calling it hospital restructuring "on steroids" with precious few procedural safeguards and no proper health planning, the coalition warned that Ontarians will pay for the bad decisions that are being made now for decades to come if they are not stopped.

The mergers will cost almost $50 million according to the hospitals' own documents filed with the government. There are almost no "efficiencies" to be found, and, according to the hospitals' own financial projections the mergers will take up to 62 years to be paid off, if ever. The $50 million in costs will come out of the hospitals operating budgets. In virtually every instance, the government and hospital executives have responded to questions about the high costs of the mergers and the impacts on operating budgets by putting out manipulative propaganda about capital (renovations and bricks and mortar) projects that were already announced multiple times, have nothing to do with the current operational budgets of the hospitals, and will not offset the $50 million in merger costs to be paid out of funds for current hospital services.

In context, a $17 million cut to the operational budget of the Scarborough Hospital in 2013 meant the closure of 20 surgical beds and 2 entire operating rooms, cuts to 22 hospital departments, closures of entire outpatient clinics including the arthritis clinic that thousands of patients, and the elimination of 200 full-time nurses, health professionals and support staff positions. The $50 million in costs for the mergers amounts to almost 3 times the $17 million cut that Scarborough just went through.

To add insult to injury, according to the hospitals' own documents, those $50 million in costs are going to merger "management teams", consultants, lawyers, millions for laying off and cutting hospital staff, PR and advertising to sell the merger to the public, and to merging telephone and email systems, among others.

The Coalition noted that there been no proper process through Ontario's Legislature, including no legislative debate and no public hearings to support a policy of hospital mega-mergers. It warns that hospital consolidations are accelerating without any proper public policy process and without any attention being paid to the extraordinary costs of such restructuring that will take tens millions away from actual health care services. The last round of hospital restructuring cost more than $3.8 billion, according to Ontario's Auditor General and has never delivered on promised administrative savings, but it did result in devastating losses of local hospitals and services across the province.

Quotes:

"We are outraged at the undemocratic, manipulative process," said Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. "If towns with hospitals that serve 200,000 people are no longer allowed to have their own hospital, then Ontarians are in real trouble. Current policy requires merged hospitals to eliminate so-called 'duplication.' This means that patients have to travel to one hospital for diagnostics, to another hospital for chronic care, another for palliative care and so on. Mergers mean that patients and families are forced to travel further, and for the increased hardship, Ontario residents are on the hook for $50 million more in merger costs. Plainly put, this is a bad deal."

"This government should not be so high-handed in their treatment of the public hospitals that Ontarians have built over the last hundred years in our hometowns," noted Trish McAuliffe, co chair of the Durham Health Coalition. "If the government wants to adopt a policy of unprecedented massive hospital restructuring affecting vital services for millions of Ontarians, it has to seek a mandate from the Ontario Legislature to do so. The way this has happened is just wrong."

"A new wave of mega-hospital consolidation is being pushed by a tier of hospital executives and consultants through backroom agreements," warned William Courneyea, co chair of the Durham Health Coalition. "They are the prime beneficiaries of hospital restructuring and always have been, at the expense of patients and communities. As long as they are the only ones with any real input, restructuring will be forged in their interests and they will continue to make a fortune at the expense of patients and community residents."

Contacts:

Ontario Health Coalition

(416) 441-2502 office

(416) 230-6402 (cell)




DETROIT, MI--(Marketwired - November 24, 2016) - The Michigan job market is revitalized and thousands of employers are hiring in Metro Detroit cities.

Join us at the Wayne County Job Revival meet with over 50 employers ready to hire top notch candidates on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at the Sheraton Hotel in Romulus, Michigan.

JobFairGiant.com, producer of Detroit Job Revival has partnered with Sion Recruitment and GetHiredinDetroit.com to connect area employers with experienced candidates, veterans, interns, blue-collar workers, college graduates and entry-level job seekers.

Hiring employers included the following: Goodman Manufacturing/Daikin, Quicken Loans, Formel D, Metro Machine Works Inc, MacDermott Roofing, Eby-Brown, World Duty Free / Hudson Group, Compact Power Equipment, Impact Management, ASIG, Universal Truckload, Executive Car Rental, Global Information Technology, AT&T / DIRECTV Installation, International Trucking School, New Horizon Computer Learning, Sion Recruitment, Michigan State Police, Michigan Department of Corrections, Michigan Civil Service Commission, Midwest Mobility Services, Trinity Services Group, U.S. Army Recruiting, Goodman Networks, PSCU, Securitas Security USA, IMPACT Management, Indian Trails, Walgreens, United Road Services, Colonial Life, Datamatics Global Services, Village Green, Trinity Transportation, Arrow Strategies, Life Center, Maratha T. Berry Medical Care Facility, Foundation Systems of Michigan, Rainbow Rehabilitation Center, Sweetland Transport, Advanced Staffing Solutions, Workbox Staffing, MPS Group, Advanced Home Care, NITS Solutions, Tri-County Breast Cervical Cancer Control Program, NAPA Auto Parts, Paradies Lagardere. And many other companies...

Targeted career fields: Engineering, Information Technology, Skilled Trades, Manufacturing, Blue-collar Labor, Production, Industrial, General Labor, Customer Services, Retail, Management, Restaurant, Accounting, Banking, Office Support, Clerical, Seasonal, Holiday Jobs, Data Entry, Call Center, Installation, Technical, Machining, Electrical, Mortgage, Financial Planning, Insurance, Education, Truck Driving, Real Estate, Nursing, Rehabilitation, Human Services, and other career fields.

Candidates should prepare to interview with recruiters onsite, bring 50 resume copies and dress for success.

The Wayne County Job Revival is "free" for all job seekers to attend, bring plenty of resumes and dress for success. Several job workshops will take place throughout the day for job seekers that need assistance finding jobs.

For information visit our website at www.detroitjobrevival.com

Workshops Include:

10:15 AM - 10:30 AM, How To Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring

2:00 PM - 2:15 PM, How To Discover Transferable Job Skills

2:15 PM - 2:30 PM, Mystery Shopping the New Part-time Career.

Recap: Wayne County Job Revival

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Sheraton Hotel - 8000 Merriman Road, Romulus, Michigan

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/11/24/11G123204/Images/NOV-30-NEWS-80dc87c5e456b824a55bc3b6ae61f50c.jpg

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/11/24/11G123204/Images/FB-1-ac14f4895e84b073850c1b58a3e0e6e5.jpg

Media Contact:

Maria Westwood

JobFairGiant.com

maria@jobfairgiant.com

734-956-4550 ext1
DUBLIN, Nov 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Automotive Human Machine Interface Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The report forecasts the global automotive human machine interface market to grow at a CAGR of 7.59% during the period 2016-2020.

The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

One of latest trends in the market is adoption of HMI in mass segment vehicles. Another major trend witnessed by the market is the growing focus on reducing prices of HMI systems to cater to the needs of low-end vehicle manufacturers. Consumers are changing their preferences to shift to low-cost, compact cars because of the increasing traffic jams and their tendency to quickly switch between car options for newest models. Additionally, we expect compact and low-cost segment cars equipped with the automated manual transmission (AMT) and advanced HMI systems to account for nearly half of the sales in the segment during the forecast period.

According to the report, one of the primary drivers in the market is government intervention to increase in-vehicle safety will push demand for HMI system. Governments worldwide have increased their efforts to improve safety standards and environmental conditions. Hence, telematics services such as e-call and emergency road assistance- global navigation satellite system (ERA-GLONASS) are increasingly being adopted, which in turn is leading to increased adoption of HMI systems. Government agencies are increasingly placing more focus on preventing distracted driving, so regulation of the automotive industry and its output has increased.

Key vendors:

Alpine Electronics

Continental

Delphi

Denso

Valeo

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive summary

Part 02: Scope of the report

Part 03: Market research methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market landscape

Part 06: Market segmentation by category

Part 07: Geographical segmentation

Part 08: Key leading countries

Part 09: Market drivers

Part 10: Market challenges

Part 11: Market trends

Part 12: Vendor landscape

Part 13: Key vendor analysis

Part 14: Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/z6kcwb/global_automotive

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
This Is Why CEO of Canopy Growth Corp. Believes It Can Be World Leader in PotCanopy Growth Corp. (CVE:CGC, TSE:CGC) CEO Bruce Linton says that the volatility of the company's stock is no reason to doubt its value. Linton told CBC in an interview:Most of the world . . . recognizes [Canada has] the best policy," Linton told CBC's Peter Armstrong. "The first place on the planet we're going to have true recreationally organized [cannabis] is Canada. There's a lot of 'when, if' but there's no question about how much value is going to be created.(Source: "Pot stock.

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.
AUGA Group, AB has received Decision No. 241-246 of 21 November 2016 of the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania, under which it has been obliged to publish a notice containing the following information:



1. To impose a penalty of EUR 3,000 (three thousand) on AUGA Group, AB, for the failure to comply with the mandatory instruction of the Bank of Lithuania.



2. To obligate AUGA Group, AB, to ensure that the fair value of 100% block of shares of UAB eTime Invest, which was used as the payment for a part of the authorised capital of AUGA Group, AB, is re-estimated in compliance with the provisions of the Law on Companies and the Law on the Bases of Property and Business Valuation, with due consideration to the significant circumstances existing prior to the date of using the shares of UAB eTime Invest as the payment for the shares of AUGA Group, AB, so that the fair value of UAB eTime Invest complies with the requirements of IFRS 3. Should it be established that the shares of AUGA Group, AB, are not fully paid up, to ensure that this situation is rectified retrospectively according to the requirements of the law by and before 1 March 2017.



To meet the criteria of transparency and access to information, where necessary, the Company will inform about its subsequent actions in connection with the decision of the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania.



Vladas Bagavicius Member of the Board +370 5 233 53 40

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GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLORADO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- AZARGA URANIUM CORP. (TSX: AZZ)(FRANKFURT: P8AA)(OTC PINK: PWURF) ("Azarga Uranium" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Ng Kim Huatt from the Company's Board of Directors.

"The Board of Directors would like to express their sincere appreciation for the contributions made by Mr. Kim Huatt during his tenure as a director of the Company and wishes him well on his future endeavors," said Richard Clement, the Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Kim Huatt resigned subsequent to Blumont Group Ltd.'s ("Blumont") extraordinary general meeting on 22 November 2016, where Blumont's shareholders voted in favor of the debt settlement agreement between Blumont and Wintercrest advisers LLC ("Wintercrest"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund L.P. The debt settlement agreement contemplates a number of transactions, including the transfer of 18,053,810 Azarga Uranium shares held by Powerlite Ventures Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blumont to Wintercrest or its nominee.

About Azarga Uranium Corp.

Azarga Uranium is a mineral development company that controls six uranium projects, deposits and prospects in the United States of America (South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado) and the Kyrgyz Republic. The Dewey Burdock Project in South Dakota (the "Project"), which is the Company's initial development priority, has received its Nuclear Regulatory Commission License and the Company is in the process of completing other major regulatory permit approvals necessary for development of the Project, including those from the Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information please visit www.azargauranium.com.

Follow us on Twitter at @AzargaUranium.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management regarding its disclosure and amendments thereto. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's continued efforts to obtain major regulatory permit approvals necessary for development of the Project. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation: (1) the risk that such statements may prove to be inaccurate and (2) other factors beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional information about these and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties are set out in the "Risks and Uncertainties" section in the Company's most recent MD&A filed with Canadian security regulators.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this News Release.

Contacts:

Azarga Uranium Corp.

Blake Steele

President and CFO

+1 303 790-7528

info@azargauranium.com

www.azargauranium.com




PORT HARDY, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- On September 20, 2016, Sointula, B.C. resident David Charles Kaufman pleaded guilty to three violations of the Fisheries Act in Port Hardy Provincial Court. Justice Ted Gouge ordered Mr. Kaufman, commercial fishing master of the vessel Silver Mine, to pay a fine of $3,000.

For commercial Area D Gill Net fishery openings on October 2 to 4, October 16 to 18, and October 25 to 27, Mr. Kaufman failed to abide by the conditions of his Salmon Gill Net Licence for Area D by not recording daily catch report confirmation numbers within six hours following the completion of a fishery opening.

Quick Facts

-- Timely Fishing Reports, including Start Fishing, Daily Catch, Pause Fishing, and End Fishing Reports, submitted by fishers, are essential to proper management and control of commercial salmon fisheries.

The Government of Canada is committed to safeguarding the long-term health and productivity of Canada's fisheries resources, and the habitat that supports them, for generations to come. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a mandate to protect and conserve marine resources and to prosecute offenders under the Fisheries Act. It ensures and promotes compliance with the Act and other laws and regulations through a combination of land, air, and sea patrols, as well as education and awareness activities. As part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's work to end illegal activity, the Department asks the public for information on activities of this nature or any contravention of the Fisheries Act and Regulations. Anyone with information can call the toll-free violation reporting line at 1-800-465-4336.

Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO

Contacts:

Leri Davies

Strategic Media Relations Advisor

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region

604-666-8675 or Cell: 604-612-6837

www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca




Bigg Boss 10 house is about to get a lot more happening.

Four wild card entries are scheduled to enter the house this weekend making sure that the dynamics of the house and the strategies of the present contestants go for a toss.

The first wild card entry is former housemate Priyanka Jagga. One of the Indiawale, Jagga gained immediate recognition through her rowdy ways and fights with several contestants of the house. However, she was evicted from the house in the very first week, leaving her fans shocked. She is now all set to return to the show and cause mayhem in the house again.

Joining her will be German-Russian actor Elena Kazan. She has appeared in films like Agent Vinod and John Day along with various German movies.

Another international celebrity who will join Kazan and others in the house is supermodel Jason Shah, who is sure to take the house by storm with his impeccable physique and charming looks.

The fourth wild card entry will be Sahil Anand, a Bollywood actor, whose most popular role till date is of Varun Dhawans sidekick in Karan Johars Student of the Year. He was also a participant in Season 4 of MTV Roadies along with Bani J, who is going to be his fellow Bigg Boss 10 contestant.

Since these four wild card entries are about to enter the house in a few days, the tension is set to skyrocket and Bigg Boss will make for an even more interesting watch.
Television actor Aparna Tilak is all set to enter the Bigg Boss house as the first wild card entry of the show. After charming the audience with her acts in shows like Jeet and Left Right Left, Tilak will return to the small screen yet again, this time as a reality show contestant.

The makers of Bigg Boss 10 adopted a new format in this season pitting the celebrity contestants against the commoners. However, DNA reports that the format is not gaining traction with the viewers who have been accustomed to the format on the last nine seasons.

As a coping mechanism, the makers are planning to resort to the wild card entry trick. The first wild card entry of the show is none other than Aparna Talik, a familiar face on the television in the 90s, as per a report by Mid Day.

She started her career with the comedy show Family Number One as a child artiste. Then her essaying of the role opposite Ankur Nayyar in Jeet shot her to fame. She went on to deliver arguably the most widely recognized performances of her career  as Dr. Shalini in Left Right Left. She has also appeared in the show Koi Apna Sa.

Apart from dominating the small screen, she has also had an appearance on the silver screen. She played an English professor in filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkars Footpath. She has been married to Dr. Amod, a badminton player.

Tilak has stayed away from the small screen for years now. However, an offer as enticing as a Bigg Boss 10 contestant has lured her to return to the television.

The former TV star is sure to add a new dimension to the Bigg Boss house and the audience eagerly awaits her arrival and consequent mingling with the present contestants.
There seems to be no let up in the ongoing corporate tussle between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry. A day after Mistry, who was sacked as Tata Sons chairman, sent a missive saying Tata had in 1990s planned to sell TCS, the Tata camp has rebuked the charges. TCS is the group's most profitable company.

In order to prove Mistry's charges wrong, the Tatas have roped in retired bosses, including the 92-year-old former chief executive and deputy chairman of Tata Consultancy Services F C Kohli. Kohli refuted Mistry's charges that Tata was seeking to sell TCS to IBM, its joint venture partner in 1991-92.

Cyrus Mistrys comments regarding the sale of TCS to IBM at some unspecified point in time are not correct. I was actively involved in the decision to bring IBM to India. A joint venture (JV) for hardware manufacturing and support in India, Tata IBM, was set up in 1991-92. This JV was undertaken to promote the computer hardware industry in India, which was non-existent at that time, the Business Standard report said quoting Kohli.

Kohli further added that the group never had any intention of selling TCS to IBM, the BS report added.

In his reaction, Mistry said the Tata group was never in favour of selling TCS and it was Ratan Tata's intention to exit the software company.

A day before, Mistry in his letter had described the episode as a near-death experience for TCS at the hands of Mr Ratan Tata, the Economic Times report said.

Mistry had alleged that Ratan Tata had then approached J R D Tata following a proposal from IBM to buy out TCS. This was when Kohli was hospitalised with a cardiac condition. However, Kohli clarified that his bypass surgery had taken place in 1984 and not in 1990s as mentioned by Cyrus.

Mistry had also alleged that Tata's decision to acquire European steel maker Corus at a considerably high price of $12 billion in 2007 was reckless. According to Cyrus, Corus was available at half the price just a year back, but Tata went ahead despite differences and reservations over the deal.

Countering Mistry's claims, B Muthuraman, former vice-chairman and managing director of Tata Steel, termed the allegations frivolous and unconsidered. He said the Corus acquisition was based on Tata Steel's long-term strategy to grow through capacity expansion in India and through acquisitions overseas, the BS report said.

The long-term strategy of Tata Steel was well thought out after a lot of deliberation to grow the company through capacity expansion in India and internationally through inorganic growth, the ET report said quoting Muthuraman.

Following the successful acquisition of NatSteel in Singapore and Millennium Steel in Thailand, Corus Group plc provided a natural fit for the portfolio especially since the Netherlands facilities which is the gold standard in competitive positioning were part of the asset perimeter." Muthuraman said.

Even as Mistry continues to allege several wrongdoings in the group and during Ratan Tata's tenure as chairman, the holding company Tata Sons has called for EGMs of several group company including TCS, Tata Chemicals and Indian Hotels Corp to seek shareholder votes to evict Mistry from their boards, the ET report added.
By Gopal Sharma

| KATHMANDU

KATHMANDU When Bishnu Pandey, a Nepali migrant working in India, returned home two weeks ago, he had hoped to clear a loan taken by his family to rebuild its village home with his savings.But the 35-year-old New Delhi restaurant worker had his dreams shattered after the bank refused to exchange cash worth $440 because of a crackdown on "black money" ordered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The shock announcement to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee bills - worth $7.50 and $15 - seeks to flush out billions of dollars in unaccounted wealth and hit the finances of militants suspected of using fake currency to fund operations."I don't think I am the target but I became a victim," Pandey told Reuters outside a bank branch in Kathmandu, showing stacks of the old Indian notes that are no longer legal tender."I have no money now to return to work and I have no way to pay back the family debt," he said, referring to $275 his father borrowed to repair his house damaged in earthquakes last year that killed 9,000 people and destroyed nearly one million homes.

The tall, lanky Pandey, from Naubise village in Dhading district, 24 km (15 miles) from Kathmandu, is one of hundreds of thousands in the desperately poor Himalayan country hit by the currency ban announced two weeks ago.Families of migrants like Pandey, students seeking admissions in Indian colleges, those seeking medical treatment, pilgrims and those visiting families across the open border have all been hit. Unlike people in India, they can't deposit or swap old notes at banks that will accept them until Dec. 30.Pashupati Murarka, chief of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), estimates that dud banknotes worth as much as 10 billion Indian rupees ($146 million) may be held by individuals and the informal sector.

Nara Bahadur Thapa, an official at the central bank, said Nepal received 70 billion rupees ($640 million) in remittances from migrant workers in India every year. Thousands of Gurkha soldiers retired from the Indian army also get their pensions paid in the Indian currency.Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda, a former Maoist rebel commander, spoke to Modi over phone last week seeking arrangements for the exchange of Indian cash held in Nepal, his aides said.

Modi pledged to resolve the issue, but no arrangements have been made yet, they said. ($1=109 Nepali rupees) ($1 = 68.725 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Nick Macfie)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ahmad Ghaddar

| LONDON

LONDON Oil prices were slightly higher on Thursday ahead of next week's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to discuss implementation of its proposed cap on production.Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 12 cents at $49.07 a barrel at 1501 GMT (10:01 a.m. ET). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 9 cents to $48.05. Traders said market activity was low because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and there was a reluctance to take on big price bets amid uncertainty about the planned OPEC-led production cut.OPEC is due to meet on Nov. 30 to coordinate the cut agreed in Algiers in September, potentially with the cooperation of Russia, which is not a member of the group.Russia could revise down its 2017 oil production plans if a global output freeze comes into force, effectively cutting output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day (bpd), Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

OPEC will probably propose that other producers cut production by 880,000 bpd for six months starting from Jan. 1, Azerbaijan Energy Minister Natig Aliyev was reported as saying in Azeri newspaper Respublika on Thursday.But an OPEC source told Reuters that OPEC has yet to make a final proposal to non-OPEC countries on joint production cuts, which will be discussed on Nov. 28 in Vienna.Novak also disputed the 880,000 bpd figure and said that OPEC had earlier proposed that non-OPEC countries cut output by 500,000 bpd.

Meanwhile, Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouterfa will meet his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh in Tehran on Saturday in an effort to ensure that OPEC's third-largest producer is on board, a source told Reuters on Thursday. "Despite 13 countries participating, an Iranian rejection to chip in would be more than enough to kill the deal," Tamas Varga, at oil brokerage PVM Oil, said in a note.

Most analysts believe that some form of cut will be agreed, but it is uncertain whether it will be enough to prop up a market that has been dogged by a supply overhang for more than two years, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)."We expect OPEC will reach an agreement at next week's biannual meeting in Vienna ... If OPEC does successfully reach an agreement, prices are likely to test the year high in Brent of $53 per barrel," ANZ bank said in a note to clients on Thursday.IEA Director Fatih Birol told Reuters on Thursday that even if production is cut, higher prices could prompt U.S. shale oil drillers to massively increase their own output. (Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and David Goodman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday slammed the investigation agencies over slow probe of murders of the rationalists Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, and sought progress reports by 16 December.

Division bench headed by Justice SC Dharmadhikari, after perusing the probe reports submitted by CBI which is handling Dabholkar case and Maharashtra police's SIT which is investigating Pansare case, said the investigation in both cases was not satisfactory.

"We gave you (CBI) sufficient time to probe but not sufficient progress has been made. We are not satisfied with your statement that you are doing your best."

"We feel you are not serious about investigation. This case is very prestigious and the (slow) progress of probe reflects adversely on the image of the state," court said.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for CBI, said forensic evidence had been sent to the Scotland Yard (London police) for an opinion, so as to find out whether these two cases as well as the murder of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, also known for his rationalist views, were linked.

The agency also wanted to know whether same weapons were used in these three murders. But the forensic opinion was still awaited, so the court may give six weeks' time, he said.

But the High Court gave time to CBI only till 16 December and said a Joint Director of the Central agency should submit a progress report by then.

The court also asked Union Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry to coordinate to obtain the opinion from Scotland Yard quickly.

Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh, appearing for police's special investigation team which is probing the Pansare murder, said the agency was very close to cracking the case, and was expecting big leads in 7 to 8 days.

SIT cannot disclose in the open court what steps it was going to take in near future, she said, adding that special teams had been formed to track down some absconding suspects.

However, the HC expressed dissatisfaction over the progress made so far.

"It seems no one is secure in the state, not even police," the bench observed.

Well-known anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune in August 2013, while Pansare, a CPI leader and a rationalist, was killed in February 2015.

The High Court is hearing petitions filed by the families of the two activists regarding the probe.
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Wednesday strongly condemned the Pakistani action in killing three Indian soldiers, one of whose body was mutilated in Machhil sector of North Kashmir.

"We strongly condemned the cowardly act of Pakistan in mutilating an army soldier and killing of two other jawans in an ambush by in Machhail sector of North Kashmir", JKPCC Chief Gulam Ahmed Mir said.

Pakistan by undertaking such a cowardly and barbaric action has given a big provocation, he said, adding that violation of all international norms and worst human rights violations cannot be tolerated.

He saluted the martyrs and expressed sympathies with their family members.

He also expressed sympathies with the border residents who are facing Pakistani shelling.

Mir said escalation of situation on the border and LoC by Pakistan in the aftermath of surgical strikes since 29 September is a matter of great concern as over 300 ceasefire violations have taken place since then and repeated incidence of killing and mutilation of the body of over soldiers.
New Delhi: Police on Thursday apprehended two men from outside Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station who were allegedly carrying Rs 27 lakh in new currency notes which they received after exchanging old demonetised notes from some agents in Mumbai.

The duo told Crime Branch sleuths about a Delhi-based man who has allegedly exchanged currency worth Rs 1.5 crores till now.

On a tip-off from intelligence agencies, the Crime Branch team apprehended Ajit Pal Singh and Rajender Singh this evening, said a senior police officer.

Delhi crime branch apprehended two persons carrying Rs 27 Lakh of new currency notes at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. pic.twitter.com/7OjQSd0jfK  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

Singh and Rajender had returned from Mumbai after getting demonetised notes exchanged for new currency. During joint interrogation conducted by police, I-T department officials and intelligence officials, they revealed that they were carrying money that belongs to one Sanjay Malik, who has a pharmaceutical company in Baddi.

"We are on the lookout for Malik. It has emerged during an investigation that he has got his money changed from Mumbai and he is taking commission from acquaintances for getting their old notes exchanged. He and his accomplices have so far brought Rs 1.5 crore of new currency from Mumbai," said the officer.

The IT department has been informed and police might seek the help of their counterparts in Mumbai for further investigation, said another officer.

"It looks as if some bank officials from Mumbai are involved in the racket. There is a well-oiled machinery of agents and sub-agents dealing in new currency and gold," he said.

Ajit Pal is involved with a firm that is engaged in the business of retail of medicine and is Malik's friend. Rajender works under Malik.

"They were travelling with new currency from Mumbai to Delhi by Sampark Kranti Express and had come out of the Nizamuddin railway station. They were in a car when their vehicle was intercepted outside the railway station by Delhi Police officials," he said.
In Parliament on Thursday, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said that the demonetisation move by the government has caused the common man and small businesses much hardship, dubbing its implementation as 'monumental' mismanagement. The former prime minister further said that what has been done can weaken and erode people's confidence in the currency and banking system.

The news updates on the 15th day since the demonetisation of higher denomination notes, show how the people involved might cause hardships, as compared to the scheme itself.

Three-year-old death

A three-year-old girl allegedly died wile her labourer father waited in a queue to withdraw money from a bank in Uttar Pradesh, for her treatment, according to a Hindustan Times report.

Dharmendra was standing in line at the Allahabad UP Grameen Bank in Tindwari in Banda to get money to treat his three-year-old daughter, Ankita's high fever. He got her to the bank with him on Monday and wanted Rs 2,500 from his account, and had even filled the form. Though, people let him go ahead in the queue, he alleged that the bank manager refused to give him cash. And by the time he stepped out of the bank his daughter passed. Some angry villagers blocked the Banda-Fatehpur road, demanding action against the manager but it was lifted when police promised to take action.

Nine-year old's death

An unwell nine-year-old died, before his father could rush him into the nearest medical facility in Mansar on Thursday, according to a report by The Indian Express. Mohammad Haroon, the father, said he had to walk for 30 kilometres through hills and forests in from Doonga village, in Jammu and Kashmir, because he did not have any currency notes to pay for travel. He possesed Rs 29,000 in scrapped notes but could not get it exchanged in two Jammu and Kashmir Bank branches. However the managers of both branches have said that he should have approached them and conveyed the urgency of the situation.

Samba district magistrate Sheetal Nanda has sought a report over the incident, however she feels that Haroon's bank visits have not led to the child's death.

Driver flees with Rs 1.37 crore cash

Giving a slip to the security guard and two bank employees, a contract driver of a logistics firm fled with Rs 1.37 crore in cash in a van from a busy road in the city centre on Wednesday in Bengaluru, according to an IANS report.

The incident occurred between 2-3 pm when the accused Domnic, 45, drove away with the cash and vanished after the two employees went inside Bank of India's KG Road branch, while the guard got down from the vehicle to attend nature's call, Deputy Commissioner of Police MN Anucheth. The cash in the form of Rs 2,000 new notes and Rs 100 notes were part of the amount the logistics firm (Logi-Cash) collected from two other banks in the city earlier in the day.

Rs 60 lakh found in RKM

Two unclaimed bags with Rs 60 lakh in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currencies were recovered from Laitumkhrah premises of Ramkrishna Mission in the Shillong, near the temple, and handed over to the Income tax officials, police said on Wednesday.

Allegedly the bags were actually found on 12 November but the RKM officials at Laitumkhrah took time to report since they had waited for a nod from their headquarters in Kolkata. Since the RKM cannot accept donations from anonymous donors and that they had to put the same in the book of accounts, the matter was reported to the police days after. The identity of the person who kept the huge cash at the premises also remained untraced since the organisation installs CCTVs only during pujas.

Pig in the row

A piglet queued up in front of an ATM in Hyderabad, says a report by The Times of India.

'Bunty', the white piglet who plays a lead role in the upcoming Telegu film Adhugo, was in the arms of the film director Ravi Babu who had stopped to withdraw some money. Allegedly, Bunty felt uncomfortable in the car, and the director decided to bring him out for some air. His assistant director clicked the picture that is now going viral.

Indian film star Ravi Babu takes piggy to bank https://t.co/Cp4xYd5Ta9 pic.twitter.com/YvGIVSpb4l  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 24, 2016

With inputs from agencies
Kerala is one of the few states where demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes generated so much heat. The state witnessed a rare phenomenon of the entire state Cabinet sitting on a day-long dharna with the mutually acrimonious ruling party and the Opposition joining hands against the Union Government over the issue.

Economic experts are wondering why the demonetisation move aimed at flushing out black money has met with so much protest in Kerala, which incidentally is the countrys first total banking and completely digitised state. They feel it could be because of pressure from the black money lobbies.

Firstpost spoke to a cross-section of experts to get a dispassionate view of the situation. This is the final part of the series. You can read the first, second and third part here.

Experts in Kerala are divided over the long-term gains of the demonetisation drive launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the objective of flushing out fake currency and seizing black money.

While a section of the experts believe that it will bring acche din that Modi promised, others think that the introduction of Rs 2,000 notes in place of the defunct Rs 1,000 notes may help the unscrupulous elements targeted by the prime minister to bounce back in the longer run.

A major target of the prime minister is terror originating from Pakistan. Terrorists from the neighbouring country do not need much Indian currency to strike in India since they are sponsored by agencies in Pakistan, said PK Hormis Tharakan, former chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

He told Firstpost that Pakistani terrorists involved in various strikes in India in the recent times did not carry much Indian money with them. He pointed out that the terrorists who carried out a major strike in the country recently had just Rs 25,000 with them.

Fake currency printed and circulated by Pakistan is the biggest threat posed to India. Demonetisation will only check the fake currency now under circulation in the market. It may not prevent Pakistan from printing the new currencies since the equipment used by India to print the currency is also available to Pakistan, said Tharakan.

Tharakan, who was also a member of the National Security Council and was also chief advisor of strategic affairs, said the introduction of Rs 2,000 note in place of Rs 1,000 note may make matters easy for Pakistan. Dismantling of financial sources may have some effect in the short-run but it would need a comprehensive mechanism to check external terrorism in the long-run, he said

Tharakan, who had also served as director general of Kerala police, said that it was not possible to check internal terrorism through measures like this. He said that a different approach was required to combat domestic terrorism.

Domestic terrorism mostly arise from misunderstandings and a feeling of injustice. They cannot be curbed through strong-arm tactics. We can solve this only through dialogues. We need to take all the parties concerned into confidence to address this issue, he said.

However, he said that demonetisation may check the flow of hawala money to extremist organisations within the country. Most of the outfits engaged in subversive activities are getting black money through hawala, he added.

S Irudaya Rajan, head of the research unit on international migration at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram does not think that hawala money could be held under check for a long time. He said that it will stay strong as long as migration continues.

Demonetisation will have only a temporary effect on the hawala operators. They will always devise methods to overcome the present state. The operations will become easier when Rs 2,000 notes will come to the market in a big way, said Irudayarajan.

Leading economist Mary George is, however, very optimistic that demonetisation will cleanse the economy and make life easier for people. She said that the hawala money that came with the migration had made life tough for the common man in Kerala.

The illegal money pumped into real estate sector by the Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) pushed up prices of land, construction materials and labour. It has made not only shelter costlier but also rendered agriculture unremunerative, said Mary, former head of the department of economics in Kerala University.

She is hopeful that the demonetisation will bring down the price of land that skyrocketed following the flight of migrants to the West Asia in the 1970s and make home affordable to the common man.

Builders agree with her partly. They concede that it may bring down the price of land and houses built by the unorganised developers. The latter may be forced to reduce the price due to distress selling, said a leading builder at Kochi.

Abdul Azeez, a member of the executive committee of Kochi chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), believes that demonetisation will not affect the construction industry in the organised sector since cash component in their business is almost zero.

Nearly 90 percent of Keralites, whether local or NRI, buy homes with the help of bank loans. The cash component in these deals is only very less. This is very good news for us, because we have very little to change in this new, more transparent economy, said Azeez, who is also the chairman and managing director of Skyline Builders.

Banking experts feel that the demonetisation may benefit the state in the long run if the government make use of the opportunity to adapt to the cashless economy

While various agencies have predicted a 30 percent fall in the price of land at national level, real estate agents in Kochi say it need not be true in the case of Kerala since there is acute scarcity of land in the state.

The demonetisation may bring down land sales. But the lull may not continue for long since majority of Keralites prefer to have their own homes, said Benoy Varghese, a leading real estate agent at Kochi.

State Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, who himself is an economist, does not share the optimism of the pro-demonetisation sections that the withdrawal of high denomination notes would unearth black money and rejuvenate the economy.

The prime minister may have embarked on the demonetisation drive thinking that large amount of currency under circulation in India is black money. This is not right. The black money available in the market in the form of currency is only 5 percent. An operation of this sort was not necessary to capture this black money, said Isaac.

He said that the demonetisation would hurt states like Kerala deeply. Though the current restrictions will be in force only till 31 December, the adverse effect of it on the economy of the state will linger on much longer. Isaac said that he may need at least four months to put the economy back on track.

However, banking experts feel that the demonetisation may benefit the state in the long run if the government make use of the opportunity to adapt to the cashless economy. They believe that it was easy for Kerala to switch over to cashless economy since it is one of the best banked states in the country today.

Apart from 100 percent bank account coverage for all households that the state achieved way back in 2011, Kerala has also attained complete digitisation. The state now has one bank branch for every 5,900 customers as against all India average of 11,000.

Kerala was declared as Indias first complete digital state in 2015 after it achieved 100 percent mobile density, 75 percent e-literacy, highest digital banking rate and broadband connection up to panchayat level. Apart from this the state has implemented e-district programmes in all districts and has linked Aadhaar card with bank accounts.

Experts consider this as strong foundation for switching over to cashless economy. But the finance minister does not think this sufficient. Isaac said that it would not be easy to change the mindset of people who are used to cash transactions.

We cannot change the mindset of people overnight. It needs lot of efforts. The economy will move only if people have currency in their hands. Demonetisation has messed up the economy. It will take a lot of time to clear the mess, says Isaac.

Part One: Hawala, fake notes play big role in state's economic growth

Part Two: Curbs on cooperative banks are hurting Non-Resident Keralites

Part Three: Terror outfits use contraband money to indoctrinate youths
New Delhi: The Modi government on Thursday asserted in the Supreme Court that the "bold move" of demonetisation would eradicate black money and slush funds operating since Independence which cast a "parallel economy" hitting the poor and the middle class.

The Centre, which filed an affidavit on demonetisation, said the decision on which a total secrecy was maintained, would now help in proper implementation of the ambitious 'Jan Dhan Yojana' under which around 22 crore bank accounts for poor people have been opened as reports of unscrupulous elements using these accounts to convert their black money into white surfaced.

Further, demonetisation is seen as a check on the real estate sector where prices get pushed up artificially, reducing the availability of affordable housing for the poor and the middle class.

Elaborating on several measures including the "thrust" given for increasing digital payments in the economy through credit and debit cards, internet banking, mobile apps and e-wallets, the Centre said their use has seen a jump of nearly 300 percent in the last 10 days.

In its affidavit, the Centre also gave reasons for maintaining secrecy about the move which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just after 8pm on 8 November and came into force from the midnight.

"The gigantic dimensions and possibilities of compromising on secrecy were taken into consideration. If elaborate prior arrangement for distribution of new currency notes were made prior to the announcement of the scheme, the very objective of the scheme would have been defeated.

Further, the scheme impacts several sectors in the short-term but promises large benefits in the economy in the medium-term," the affidavit said.

The affidavit, filed a day before a crucial hearing, contended that "no serious attempt at this scale has been attempted in the past" and in the "two attempts made in 1946 and 1978, the scale of operation was not as expansive due to the sheer size of the cash component in the economy".

Justifying the decision to do away with Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes which constituted 80 to 85 percent of the cash flow, the affidavit, settled by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, said, "The withdrawal of existing high denomination banknotes will curb funding of terrorists with the proceeds of FICN (fake Indian currency notes) and use of existing FICN network for subversive activities."

"It will eliminate black money which casts long shadow of the parallel economy on our real economy. The poor and middle class, who are worst sufferers due to black money, will be benefited. It will reduce tax avoidance and bring more transactions into the formal economy," it said.

"Information has been received that there is sudden spurt in the quantum of deposit in several Jan Dhan accounts. There are also reports of unscrupulous elements using Jan Dhan accounts of poor and innocent persons to convert their black money into white.

"Such spurt in deposits will be looked into closely. Jan Dhan account holders are requested not to allow their accounts to be misused by anyone," it said.

Claiming that removal of high denomination currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 would lead to decline in real estate prices making affordable housing available to all, the affidavit said, "At present, there is excessive use of cash in real estate sector due to large cash transactions in areas

such as purchase of land and housing property. The real estate prices get pushed up artificially.

"This reduces the availability of affordable housing for the poor and middle class. Greater over-the-board transaction will lead to a decline in real estate prices making affordable housing available to all."

The government said all necessary steps are being taken to reach every nook and corner of the country with new currency notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 and accordingly ATMs are being recalibrated and emphasis was laid on printing more number of new legal tenders of greater value.

The Modi dispensation said the decision on demonetisation was in line with successive actions it has taken since coming to power in May 2014 after which an SIT was formed to go into the black money issue.

"The decision was taken keeping in view the need for continuous pressure for the eradication of black money, in line with successive action being taken since the last two years, starting with formation of SIT in June 2014, provisions for declaration of undisclosed foreign income in June 2015, the approval of the measures to incentivise digital payments and move towards a less cash economy in February 2016 and the introduction of the income declaration scheme in July 2016," the affidavit said.

While seeking dismissal of the petitions challenging the 8 November notification on demonetisation, it said the scheme was in coherence with the legal provisions and such actions

can only be interfered by the courts if they are shown to be "arbitrary", "unreasonable" and "illegal".

Further, the demonetisation action fall in the realm of fiscal/economic policy and it is well-settled that there is a limited scope of judicial review over such actions, it said.

Elaborating the steps taken for better convenience of the public, the government said it was closely monitoring the implementation of the decision and to avoid inconvenience to the public, old high-denomination banknotes will continue to be accepted in carrying out emergent and urgent transactions.

It said old currency notes would be allowed for making payments in government hospitals and pharmacies in government hospitals, at railway ticketing counters, purchase at consumer cooperative stores and milk booths operated under authorisation of the central and state governments.

It would also be used for purchase of petrol, diesel and gas at stations operated by PSUs, for making payments to all toll plaza in the states and national highways, for payment on purchases of LPG gas cylinders, entry tickets for monuments maintained by the ASI, payments towards court fees and also for making payments towards utility charges including water and electricity.
Zakir Naik's banned Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) might have funded at least 300 people, some of whom travelled to the Islamic State areas of Syria and Iraq, according to The New Indian Express.

This came into light after the NIA had carried out searches for three days at 20 premises during which records related to bank accounts and other financial activities linked with Naik and IRF were seized. The NIA on Wednesday asked three banks to freeze 25 accounts of controversial preacher Zakir Naik, his family members and IRF, which has been banned under anti-terror law.

NIA is also planning to prepare a thorough list of IRF members not based in India to obtain more information about the funding, reports DNA.

In addition to it, NIA has handed over a list of over 12 people, including Naik, his family members, close friends and organisations, to all 72 scheduled commercial banks to check whether these people had any account in these financial institutions. Official sources said NIA has sent a notices to three private banks to freeze the accounts of Naik and others, which were found to be in operation during the three-day search by it that ended last night, till further orders.

In both the letters, NIA has cited Section 43 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for executing such action. The agency has booked Naik, IRF and unnamed office bearers of his organisation under IPC section 153-A relating to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, besides various sections of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The agency has claimed to have found documents showing that IS recruit Abu Anas had received Rs 80,000 from the IRF as scholarship in October 2015. After these documents were analysed by NIA, it had moved to block his bank accounts. A Tonk resident, Anas who is an engineer by profession, was arrested by the NIA in January for allegedly planning to carry out a terror strike ahead of Republic Day.

The NIA has also written to Union Home Ministry for banning the website run by the IRF and as well as suspending its online activities, which includes videos of speeches on social networking sites, the sources said, adding that the request will be forwarded to Information Technology ministry.

With inputs from PTI
Since 9 November, boards have been hung outside chicken and mutton shops of Hyderabad and other smaller towns of Telangana. These boards scream in Telugu  "No Change".

In Hyderabad, customers of Bawarchi at RTC Cross Road and the famous Paradise restaurant in Secunderabad, renowned for their biryani and kebabs, were in for a shock. The managements of these hotels issued tokens instead of change. "Bring change for better service," said boards at Paradise. These tokens could be exchanged at any of their outlets in Hyderabad itself. Other popular biryani restaurants  like Minerva, Shadab Bahar and Madina  soon followed suit with the token system.

"We used to sell over 1.5 lakh biryani packets on weekdays and about 2.5 lakhs on weekends, but since 8 November, our sales have gone down by over 50 percent," lamented Mohammed Azeezuddin, owner of Bawarchi restaurant. "We are underpricing our products to meet the running costs," he added. Bawarchi, which is usually open from 11.30am to 11.30pm, was open for only a few hours in the first few days following the announcement of demonetisation.

Poultry farmers on the roads

The sudden cash crunch and change crisis left many roadside enterprises wringing their hands. With buyers on the decline, poultry farmers put up their own retail stalls on highways and offered the meat at almost 50 percent of the market cost. "Just like the tomato glut scene in Andhra Pradesh, it was tragic that poultry farmers of Medak, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda, along with their families, lined up on highways to dispose of their stocks daily," said Telangana Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav.

Demonetisation has been disastrous to the poultry industry whose products are perishable. Distress sales of their products across the Maharashtra  Chhattisgarh and Karnataka border has only led to high transport costs, but returns are minimal. There are no takers for eggs, even when offered at rock bottom prices of Rs 2.90 per egg as against the market rate of Rs 4.10 per egg since 8 November. Out of a daily production of 1.5 crore eggs in the state, only 50 lakhs were sold and the rest either thrown away or given away as charity to old age homes, orphanages and social welfare hostels to students. "For poultry, November to February is the peak demand season in view of festivals. The change crunch in this season has brought disaster. To reduce losses, the only way is to cull the birds which will impact on our investment and manpower," said V Harshavardhan Reddy, vice-president of the Telangana Poultry Breeders Association.

"We have just sold one crore kilograms of chicken meat in the last 20 days as against our monthly sale of 3.5 crore kilograms," said D Sudhakar, Telangana Poultry Federation leader. Poultry farms are crucial to Telangana, a semi-arid area, where crops fail often and water is scarce. Chicken and eggs business here is a predominantly cash-driven enterprise, bringing in important parallel income for marginal and big farmers who raise only one crop a year.

Many farmers in Telangana take high-cost loans from microfinance companies to start small poultry businesses, mortgaging their dry lands in the hope of quick returns. We ventured into poultry last year and made good profits until now, but the currency ban has hit us like a thunderbolt and is driving us to bankruptcy," said Banti Mahipal, a small poultry farmer based in Govindapet, Armoor mandal of Nizamabad district.

It was nightmarish for us as almost 90 percent of our enterprise is made in cash and not through bank transactions," said Sammaiah, a big egg and chicken dealer of Lakshminarayanpet in Jangoan district

The poultry industry, recently hit by high cost of finance and bird feed besides bird flu, had begun to show signs of coming out of the red in Telangana. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government had, in 2015, given the poultry industry the much sought-after 'agriculture' recognition and thereby made it eligible for easy loans from cooperatives and banks and also made possible claims for input subsidies from the government. "By recognising poultry as an agricultural activity, KCR (Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao) had also given us relief from Income Tax issues," said Errballi Pradeep Rao, president of Telangana Poultry Farmers Federation.

Poultry retailers take a hit

From the farmers, the crisis trickled down to the small vendors in Hyderabad city, the biggest market in Telangana for poultry products. Once the vendors refused to accept demonetised notes, the queues vanished. "We were losing Rs 41 for every kilo of chicken and 95 paisa on every egg we sold, but we had to keep selling even at these rates, as the product would be garbage by nightfall," said Mohammed Osman of Osman Chicken Stalls at Yakutpura.

When demand dropped, vendors tried innovations. 'Chicken Melas' were organised in Old City and Secunderabad, offering biryani, fried chicken, chicken kebabs and tangdi kebabs at very nominal rates. Prominent political leaders were invited to participate in these melas in order to get publicity. The NECC (National Egg Coordination Committee) also organised exhibition-cumsale outlets across Hyderabad and Secunderabad, hoping to lure customers with omelettes, boiled egg, egg curry and grilled egg sandwiches. "Such gimmicks are good for a few days only but the daily chicken eater was still left high and dry," said S Sailaja Rangachari, a school teacher of Nallakunta in Hyderabad.

Poultry: Crucial industry in Telangana

The Indian poultry industry employs over 25 million people and feeds millions more. Telanganas 31 districts account for one-third of the Rs 95,000 crores industry in the country. Telangana has nearly 10,000 recognised poultry farms and along with the unrecognised small farms, accounts for almost 100 million broiler birds (70 million in the recognised sector). Poultry Federation sources said that almost 70 percent of the sector is dominated by small and medium farmers. Big corporate names in the poultry industry like Venkateswara Hatcheries, Sneha, Ram Reddy and Arunodaya have already diversified into the fast food retail market and put up agencies for poultry equipment. These big businesses, therefore, did not feel the pinch of the change crisis.

The high cost of soya and maize  bird feed  had hit the industry in 2013 but since 2015, after recognition of poultry as an agricultural activity, the state government has provided input subsidy as well as free power.

"We should also get all concessions in deposits and also withdrawals just like the farmers," demanded Tirupati Verma, a poultry farmer in Ranga Reddy district who has 25,000 birds . He wants the Centre to also declare a moratorium on loans from microfinance groups and other NBFCs as well for the poultry sector in Telangana.

Poultry farmers and chicken retail vendors of Hyderabad say that normalcy would not return to their trade unless the new Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are issued. "We are having difficulty in giving change for Rs 2,000 notes as we do not have enough Rs 100 notes," said Mohammed Shafiullah, another chicken and egg retailer at Masab tank in Hyderabad.
The opposition parties have joined hands to organise a nation-wide protest on 28 November against Narendra Modi government's move that demonetised old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

The opposition parties including Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) announced the decision to hold the 'All India Protest', called Aakrosh Diwas, on Wednesday, after more than 200 MPs joined together to form a human chain in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue outside the Rajya Sabha to protest demonetisation.

Where will the protests take place

Based on the comments of the various parties who form the Opposition, the protests are likely to take place in all central government offices in districts and state capitals as well as outside banks.

United in stand, divided in methods

Though the Opposition remains united in its stand to protest against demonetisation, the parties have decided to adopt their own methods. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) released a statement on Wednesday stating that it would take part in "mass demonstrations, dharnas, picketing of RBI and Central government offices, rasta rokos, rail rokos, commercial and general hartal etc".

DMK party chief, M Karunanidhi told PTI that the party will organise "massive protest demonstrations outside central government offices in all the districts" of Tamil Nadu. Congress, on the other hand, plans to organise protests in not only districts and state capitals but also in front of banks, NDTV reported.

Similar methods are expected to be used by other parties as well.

Why not protest as a united group?

During the meeting on Wednesday when the nationwide protest was announced, differences emerged on whether and when to meet President Pranab Mukherjee, The Indian Express reported. Incidentally, the Left is not very keen on meeting the President.

As a result of which the Opposition parties have decided to organise the nationwide protest in their own way, but on the same day. They would be marching separately and striking together, said CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury quoting Mao, the report said.

What's the goal?

So, far different opposition parties have given different statements on their principal demands, but what is clear so far is none are happy with PM's demonetisation move. Here's what some of the main demands are:

 Allow old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for all white transactions: In a statement released on Wednesday, the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said that the principal demand for the party is that "the Rs 1000 and Rs 500 rupee notes should be allowed for all legal transactions, payments and settlements .... till alternative arrangements of making new currency notes available is put in place or till 30 December". Yechury on Thursday also said that in three sectors associated with exports, around 4 lakh people have lost their jobs since the move was announced.

 Joint Parliamentary committee investigation on alleged leaks on the move: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the Oppostion wants a joint parliamentary committee investigation on alleged selective leak about the demonetisation announcement. "Ahead of this decision, bank deposits surged drastically. BJP's organisation in Bengal and other states knew of it. FM did not know but the BJP organisation knew. BJP's industrialist friends knew," the Congress leader said on Wendesday, as reported by News18.

 PM should address the Parliament, and name those who died due to demonetisation: Another major demand of the opposition was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should address the parliament in both houses on the issue of demonetisation and offer a condolence of those who died. According to News18, a condolence was offered on first day of the Parliament but since the names were not mentioned, the Opposition has refused to accept it.

 A debate on demonetisation: The Opposition on Wednesday said that it want a debate on both houses of the Parliament, and that Prime Miniser Narendra Modi should be present during it. While BJP has agreed for a debate, Congress has alleged that the opposition leaders are not allowed to speak.

However, on Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that that the government is ready for any debate in both houses, and alleged that it's the opposition that is running away from it by adding new conditions to the debate. "We are ready for any debate on both the houses. The steps which we have taken are the right steps, and they were taken in the right manner," he said, adding that the opposition just want to disrupt and not debate.

 TMC leader Mamata Banerjee wants a total rollback of the demonetisation move, which the BJP government has denied. Speaking at the Jantar-Mantar on Wednesday, she said, "Power me rehne se aankhen or kaan bandh hojate hain. Itni badi akad hai inme. (The government has closed its eyes and ears since gaining power. They have a lot of attitude)," International Business Times reported.

Should you be concerned?

Yes, very much. As if the problems due to demonetisation weren't enough, a nationwide protest which also includes (rasta rokos and rail rokos) would mean more public inconvenience.

The queues outside banks and ATMs have not shortened, if protesters join in, the problem may only increased further. India has very poor track record of peaceful protests. The anger and frustration in the public could be further fuelled by protesters with mostly political voertones. And the fact that Road and rail blockades are also part of the CPI(M) agenda, it may affect transportation.

With inputs from PTI
Islamabad: Pakistan summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh for the third consecutive day on Wednesday to condemn "unprovoked ceasefire violations" at the LoC and claimed Indian troops were "intentionally" targeting civilian areas.

Director-General (South Asia and SAARC) Mohammad Faisal summoned Singh and strongly condemned the ceasefire violations by Indian troops in Dhudnial sector "by intentionally targeting a civilian bus", resulting in the death of nine civilians and injuries to another nine, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

This was the third time Singh was called in by Pakistan to lodge a protest over the ceasefire violations at the LoC. On Monday  and then on Tuesday  he was summoned.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Army said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan yesterday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Nafees Zakaria in a series of tweets had said the reports about the mutilation were aimed at maligning Pakistan.

Indian and Pakistani DGMOs also talked today in an "unscheduled" hotline interaction during which the "unethical" act of mutilation of bodies of Indian soldiers by "terrorists" was raised. The interaction between the military officers was requested by Pakistan after the Indian action at the LoC.
New Delhi: Demonetisation and its impact on Indias economy have been discussed in detail over the last fortnight, after the shock announcement by PM Modi on 8 November. Based on their political affiliations, economists have differed widely on the impact of this step but most are unanimous on at least one point: This single move will contract one of the worlds fastest growing economies in the short run. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also an economist, said in Parliament today that demonetisation could contract the GDP by as much a 2 percent though he did not give a timeframe for this prognosis. Brokerage Ambit Capital has already created shock waves by predicting that GDP growth will fall to 5.8 percent in 2017-18 from 7.3 percent estimated earlier.

It follows then that job creation, which has been Modi governments biggest headache even before the demonetisation move, will slow down further as economic growth tapers off. The clearest indication of a direct link between job losses and demonetisation came from CPIMs Sitaram Yechury, who claimed in Parliament today that since 8 November, four lakh jobs have vanished.

And more than 31.9 million people employed in the textile sector or government sectors have not been getting wages. It is quite evident that at least for the short term, jobs will be vanishing in many sectors directly impacted by the cash crunch. Construction and allied sectors, jewellery, textiles and real estate are some sectors where job losses, if not already happening, are imminent.

Yechury has not said what is the basis of his analysis on number of jobs lost but B N Rai, President of the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (affiliated to the BJP) also echoed similar sentiments on job losses. Workers who are employed as contract labour, those working in construction and other infrastructure sectors, daily wagers and those getting wages weekly are definitely affected by this demonetisation drive. I do not have estimates but many jobs have vanished in these sectors, Rai told Firstpost.

The government is already in bind over the extremely slow pace of job creation under the Modi rule, parrying frequent allegations of the NDA governments alleged belief in jobless economic growth. Just last week, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in Lok Sabha that the unemployment rate increased significantly last fiscal. He said as per findings of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), during 2011-12 the unemployment rate on usual status basis was 2.2 percent. This has increased to 3.7 percent in 2015-16.

Dattareya went on to say that employment generation was a key priority of the government and the 12th Five Year Plan projects five crore new job opportunities to be generated in the non-farm sector besides also providing skill certification to an equivalent number of people. What has been the governments job creation record so far? In calendar 2015, only 1.35 lakh new jobs were created in the eight labour intensive sectors, the Labour Bureau study for its quarterly estimates. This compares quite poorly with even the 2014 stats when close to five lakh new jobs were created, and belied the election promised or crores of new jobs being created each year.

In a paper titled Demonetisation: Impact on the Economy, NIPFP has said that if the extinguished cash (through demonetisation) was used as a medium of exchange in financing unaccounted income generation or income in the informal sector, demonetisation would result in these activities closing down and a corresponding reduction in the incomes and employment associated with these activities. The spillover effect would be felt by the organised sector as well since the consumption from the incomes generated would extend to the formal sector as well.

Economist Pronob Sen has also warned that a virtual shutdown of Indias informal sector could spell doom for employment. Sen has said the fact that the informal sector in India accounts for about 45 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and nearly 80 percent of the employment, disruption of this liquidity can be very costly indeed, both in terms of growth and equity.

The NIPFP study quoted earlier cites the example of the real estate sector which is sure to be impacted by demonetistaion. With contraction in demand from one set of agents  say agents who have earned unaccounted incomes and placed them within the real estate space  either prices within this segment would fall or transactions would cease to happen. While of itself, this would be considered a positive development and evidence of a correction in the unaccounted incomes, it could lead to a compression in investments in the construction sector which can have adverse income and employment consequences for the economy.

This Financial Express piece speaks of roughly a fifth of the almost 32 million people employed in the textile and garment sector (who are paid wages either daily or weekly) being hit. While some of them have already lost their jobs, many are apprehensive of such a fate. A majority of garment industry workers, especially in hubs like Tirupur, do not have a savings bank account as 70 percent of them are migrant workers from the north and northeastern parts of the country.

Similarly, 20-25 percent of the roughly 2.5 lakh workers in the leather industry have been adversely affected as they are daily wage workers. The industry has been hit particularly hard as 90 percent of the units are small and medium enterprises. In the jewellery sector, 15-20 percent of workers, who are paid daily, too, have been affected.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala had viewed the poor response of people to the protests staged by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) as an indication of their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation drive.

Modi, however, seems to have frittered away the support of the common man by refusing to meet an-all party delegation from the state to brief him about the crisis inflicted by the demonetisation on the cooperative sector that holds deposits worth Rs 1.27 lakh crores.

The delegation was to meet Modi on Thursday and submit a resolution adopted by the Kerala Assembly on the crisis. Rejecting the appointment, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) informed the state government that the delegation could meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley instead.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan refused to meet Jaitley and turned the heat against Modi by comparing him with the biggest dictators like Hitler and Mussolini that the world saw. He has also sought to use the opportunity to turn people against Modi and his party in the state.

Pinarayi said Modis office had turned down the state request for an appointment after a delegation of the state BJP leaders met the prime minister in New Delhi on Wednesday. The state BJP leadership has been running a campaign against the cooperative banks saying they were a den for black money.

The LDF registered its protest against Modi's rebuff by observing Thursday as a 'Black Day'. The front also kicked off a 24-hour agitation in the three-tier local bodies against the discriminatory approach shown by the central government towards the cooperative sector. Black flag demonstrations were taken out in all important areas across the state as part of the agitation.

VS Achuthanandan, former chief minister and veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), viewed the prime ministers action as an open declaration that he and the BJP were enemies of Kerala. Modi has donned the role of a hardcore RSS activist to work against the interest of the state, he added.

The Congress-led Opposition, which is divided over sharing the platform with the ruling front, sought to evoke Kerala pride by accusing Modi of insulting the people of the state. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said Modi had insulted the people because the all-party delegation proposed to highlight their miseries.

Modi is a globe trotter but he has no time to listen to a state. He has behaved rudely to the people of Kerala. This is against the very grain of the federal structure of the county. Modi is trying to be the biggest dictator in the history, Ramesh said.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and former defence minister AK Antony termed Modi's stand unwarranted and an insult to all Keralites. He pointed out that this was the first time that a PM had refused to meet a delegation from the state.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president VM Sudheeran described Modis action as a challenge to the countrys federal system. The country feels ashamed of the PM. He has behaved with narrow-mindedness and arrogance and insulted the people," Sudheeran added.

Social media users, who did not give much significance to the political agitation against demonetisation, seem to have turned against Modi after his rebuff to the state. Many flayed the PMs stand on social networking sites saying it is tantamount to insulting the people. Political observers blame the central government for this.

Public opinion was not in favour of the ruling and Opposition fronts in Kerala when they took to the streets against the restrictions in the cooperative banks. This was because they suspected several shady deals in the sector. They started doubting the central government after it refused to remove the restrictions even after the chief minister agreed to subject the deposits in the cooperative banks to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Income Tax department verification, says NN Pearson, a political analyst in Kochi.

He said that the PMs refusal to meet the delegation from the state had confirmed the doubts in the minds of the people, who felt it was unfair to deny the services of a sector to the people as a whole just because some indulged in wrong doings.

Many have questioned the restrictions imposed on the district cooperative banks, which function mostly in accordance with RBI norms. With a deposit base of Rs 62,000 crore and advances totaling Rs 33,000 crore, the DCBs play a very important role in the Kerala economy.

State leaders of the BJP have defended Modi saying that the ruling and the Opposition fronts in Kerala were trying to play politics with the demonetisation. BJP state spokesperson J Padmakumar said the state government had announced the visit of the delegation to Delhi without taking prior appointment of the prime minister.

How can anybody expect a prime minister to meet him at the time of his choice? Modi has many programmes. The state government should have waited for the PMs convenience. Instead they have taken the PMOs suggestion to meet the finance minister to the media, Padmaukumar said.

Party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan said that the delegation could meet the finance minister if their intention was to find a solution to the problem. He said that the central government had started taking measures to address the problems in the cooperative sector.

Demonetisation is not limited to Kerala alone. All states have different problems related to the issue. The central government is trying to sort them out one by one. The Kerala government wanted to send the delegation to tarnish the image of the BJP, he said.

Senior CPM leader MV Govindan said there was no point in the delegation meeting Jaitley since the chief minister and state finance minister had met him before but he had no solutions to the problems faced by the cooperative sector in the state.

On the contrary, the restrictions on the transactions in state cooperative bank and district cooperative banks were tightened after the chief minister and the finance minister met Jaitley. There is no point in meeting him again. It is not going to serve any purpose, he said.

The central government is acting on the presumption that the entire cooperative sector in Kerala is steeped in black money. This is wrong. More than 90 percent customers of the cooperative sector are poor farmers, small traders and workers in the unorganised sector. The government cannot punish them in the name of minority wrong doers, Govindan said adding that the government should allow the cooperative banks to serve the majority by taking action against the others.
On the evening of 15 November, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa made an appearance at the wedding venue of Gali Janardhana Reddy's daughter. The marriage was scheduled for the next morning, the day Parliament was meeting for the Winter Session. Everyone thought Yeddyurappa merely wanted to show the courtesy of blessing the bride and the groom and tell Reddy that he would not attend the wedding as he would be in Delhi.

However, the following morning, Yeddyurappa landed up for the nuptials. That took everyone by surprise because public opinion in the times of long queues in front of banks and ATMs and a severe cash crunch post-demonetisation was against such a vulgar display of personal wealth. Reddy had converted the palace grounds in Bengaluru into a replica of the Vijayanagara empire kingdom and clearly no expense had been spared in the bargain. Estimates ranged from Rs 150 crore to Rs 500 crore.

What's on Yeddyurappa's mind? Does it mean that the BJP under his leadership in Karnataka is looking to once again repair its relationship with the expelled Reddy?

Given that another former chief minister Jagdish Shettar and Shobha Karandlaje also attended the wedding means there is a fair bit of political backing for Reddy from the state BJP leadership.

But is it so simple? Reddy, thanks to his illegal mining cases, should ideally be a persona non grata for the BJP. But in the complicated political theatre of Karnataka, what seems to be is not necessarily is.

One of the reasons Yeddyurappa attended the wedding and posed for shutterbugs is that he has known the Reddy brothers for over two decades and Brahmani (the bride) from the time she was born. More significantly, he cannot possibly forget the role played by them in helping his government in 2008 get a majority in the Karnataka Assembly. Operation Kamala had the 'blessings' of the Reddy brothers.

Even though Reddy had used the big fat wedding to make a political statement that he is back, the BJP may not be quite ready to embrace him yet. It is a catch-22 situation for the saffron party.

Signing up Reddy to be part of the BJP star cast in Karnataka would be giving an issue to the Congress on a platter and lose the moral high ground just about everywhere in India. That would be anathema to the BJP way of political posturing.

"The BJP on most issues always weaves in the moralistic argument. It has a self-righteous way of political positioning,'' says political analyst Sugata Raju. "Even in the demonetisation issue, that is the way it is argued.''

But making a clean break also comes with its share of challenges. Yeddyurappa knows the ground situation is that just the Lingayat vote and the anti-incumbency against Siddaramaiah may not prove enough to get past the half mark at 112. He is aware that even in 2008, when he was at the peak of his popularity, he fell short of the half way mark by a whisker and had to form the government with the support of Independents. He also knows that despite his acquittal, he has enough enemies within the Karnataka BJP who would be quite happy to see him fail. It is possibly this insecurity that is driving him to seek an insurance policy from Reddy.

Reddy's close associate Bellary MP B Sriramulu belongs to the Valmiki community, that has a presence in the central Karnataka region. Yeddyurappa's attempt has been to woo the OBC communities and he would like Sriramulu to be on his right side.

The arrangement then is likely to be with Sriramulu. While there will be officially no contact with Reddy, the closeness between Sriramulu and Reddy is a give away.

"It was Reddy who inaugurated the palatial home of Sriramulu in Bellary this month,'' says anti-corruption activist SR Hiremath. "As far as BJP is concerned, there is some degree of ambivalence. The party does not seem to see Reddy as a mining mafia don.''

But the BJP leadership in Delhi reportedly is not happy with Yeddyurappa's overtures to Reddy. It knows the wedding expenditure was milked by the Opposition to embarrass the BJP over the demonetisation issue. Yeddyurappa's presence at the wedding only strengthened the public perception that the BJP was not walking the talk. That while the poor suffered to get even Rs 2,000 in its hand from their bank accounts, the rich were not affected by it at all.

The presence of two senior Congress ministers  G Parameshwara and DK Shivakumar  at the event was a pointer that if the BJP acts like a touch-me-not with Reddy, he could do business with someone else. Every party has its share of mining barons and every leader knows the resources they bring to the election chest.

That adds to the BJP dilemma. Yeddyurappa in particular would remember how the Reddy brothers arm-twisted his government to grant many concessions in their favour. Even Yeddyurappa got sucked into the corruption tangle, landing him in jail and ouster as chief minister. He would be well advised to think before he confirms the friendship request once again from Reddy.

The Income Tax department has sent a questionnaire to Reddy, asking him to produce evidence of all expenditure. The idea is to get a sense of how he funded this extravaganza. Social activists suspect that the investigating agencies seized only the assets in India while his overseas accounts remained untouched. How they proceed against him in the next few months will give an idea to whether Reddy will be helped reconstruct the Republic of Bellary once again.
DHAKA A Bangladesh delegation will visit the Philippines to speed up recovery of the rest of some $81 million stolen from its account in the New York Federal Reserve in February, two officials said on Thursday, after recovering a fifth of the funds.The five-member team, led by Law Minister Anisul Haq, will hold talks with Philippines authorities on Nov. 28 to Dec. 1."We are hoping it will help expedite the recovery of the rest of stolen funds," a member of the team told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.Unknown cyber criminals used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from its Fed account in early February, one of the biggest bank frauds ever.They succeeded in transferring some $81 million via an account at the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. Most of the money was laundered through casinos in Manila and remains missing.

Only $15.25 million has been recovered. It was returned to Bangladesh earlier this month [nL4N1DD09Y].A senior central bank official told Reuters the team will also try to meet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier pledged the stolen money would be returned.

The team also included Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Abdur Razzaq, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry; and Eunusur Rahman, secretary of the Finance Ministry's bank and financial institutions division. This week, an anti-money laundering body in the Philippines filed charges against five officials of RCBC bank and a former treasurer who "wilfully ignored" suspicious activity that led to the money vanishing after the cyber theft [nL4N1DO0X].

No arrests have been made, despite investigations by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and authorities in the Philippines. (Reporting by Ruma Paul, editing by Larry King)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: Donald Trump has received just two classified intelligence briefings since winning the presidency earlier this month, far less than his immediate predecessors, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Republican's limited engagement with his team of intelligence analysts has some officials questioning the real estate mogul's commitment to national security or international affairs, arenas in which he has no significant experience.

The Trump transition team has brushed off those concerns, saying the president-elect has simply been busy appointing his administration members.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, in contrast, has received intelligence briefings nearly every day since the 8 November vote, the paper reported.

Within days of his win Trump received his initial briefing, and met once more with top US intelligence analysts before heading to Florida for the US Thanksgiving holiday.

The billionaire has turned away other opportunities to meet with intelligence officials, according to the Post.

Trump's last three predecessors regularly received intelligence briefings during their transitions, often on a daily basis. President Barack Obama took regular briefings as well as scheduled "deep dives" on major security issues such as Iran's nuclear program.

As a candidate Trump had voiced skepticism of the US intelligence community, and brushed off intelligence findings throughout the campaign.

Prior to his first classified intelligence briefing  a privilege reserved for presidential candidates from the two main political parties  Trump told Fox News he had scant trust in the experts he was slated to meet with.

"Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country. Look what's happened over the last 10 years. Look what's happened over the years. It's been catastrophic," he told Fox News.

Following Trump's shock victory, the White House had said in a fact sheet on the transition process that "the president-elect and other senior officials will begin receiving daily intelligence briefings from the intelligence community".
Palm Beach: US President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate Betsy DeVos, a wealthy Republican campaigner for alternatives to public schools, as his education secretary.

DeVos is the second woman Trump has tapped to fill a cabinet position. He earlier named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to be US ambassador to the United Nations.

DeVos is a Republican megadonor from Michigan who has been active in promoting school choice, a movement that advocates the use of tax credits and vouchers to allow parents to opt out of the public school system.

"Under her leadership we will reform the US education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," Trump said.

DeVos is chairman of the Windquest Group, an investment group with a clean energy focus; the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation; and the American Federation for Children, a group that describes itself as dedicated to "breaking down barriers to educational choice," particularly for low income families.

She is the sister of Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA, a security firm whose operations in Iraq aroused controversy. Her father was the founder of an automobile parts supplier.

Her husband's father Richard DeVos was ranked Number 88 on Forbes' list of US billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $5.4 billion.

Trump's views on education have been inconsistent, but during the campaign he promised a $20 billion dollar federal program to allow low income students to attend private or charter schools.

"The status quo in education is not acceptable," DeVos said in a statement accepting the offer of the education secretary position.

"Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, voiced distress at Trump's choice.

"DeVos pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize & undermine PublicEd for our students," she said on Twitter.

"Nominating Betsy DeVos shows just how out of touch @realdonaldtrump is with what works best for students, parents, educators & communities."
New York: Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's Nina Con Collar, an early painting whose whereabouts had been a mystery for 60 years, has sold for $1.81 million at a Sotheby's Latin American art auction.

Works by Mexican Rufino Tamayo and Colombia's Fernando Botero topped sales at the auction.

"We saw a series of exceptional prices for the giants of Latin American modern art," said Axel Stein, Sothebys Latin American art chief, commenting on the $16.84 million in total sales on Tuesday evening in New York.

Leading the sale was Tamayo's Sandias Y Naranja (Watermelons And Orange), a 1957 oil and sand on canvas once owned by film star Audrey Hepburn, Sotheby's said. It sold for $2.29 million.

A Botero bronze sculpture, Man On A Horse, fetched $1.82 million, and his Homage To Bonnard, a large-scale nude painting, went for $1.39 million.

Kahlo's Nina Con Collar, (Girl With Necklace), which had not been seen publicly for six decades, went to an unidentified European buyer. The 1929 oil on canvas is among the first 20 of the Mexican artist's 143 paintings, Stein said.

The work, whose subject is about 13 or 14, prefigures hallmarks of Kahlo's self-portraits, including winged eyebrows and a full frontal gaze.

Kahlo died at age 47 in 1954. The following year, her widower, the muralist Diego Rivera, gave Nina Con Collar to one of her studio assistants, who hung it in her California home for 60 years, according to Stein.

The work came to light when the unidentified former studio assistant, now in her mid-90s, contacted Sotheby's last summer, Stein said.

In international art markets, works by Kahlo have fetched more than any other Latin American artist, according to Stein.

Last May, Christie's sold a 1939 Kahlo painting for $8 million, an auction record for her work.

Sotheby's has privately sold Kahlo works for more than $15 million each, said Dan Abernethy, an auction house spokesman.

One reason Kahlo's works are so valued in the international market is that Mexico barred their export for several decades under laws to conserve the country's cultural heritage, Stein said.
Indonesia: Hundreds of Indonesians, angered over the persecution of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar, have protested outside the Myanmar Embassy in the Indonesian capital.

Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said at least 200 people joined the demonstration Thursday. They marched in three groups to the embassy, which was guarded by dozens of police, and staged a noisy but peaceful protest.

The protesters, many of whom wore traditional white robes, held big banners reading, "Stop genocide against Muslims in Myanmar," and shouted "Save Rohingya."

High-definition satellite images analyzed by Human Rights Watch show the destruction of some 1,250 buildings in five Rohingya villages in Rakhine state, where the military is carrying out counter-insurgency operations.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is a strong supporter of the Rohingya cause.
By Mirwais Harooni and Qiamuddin Shams

| BAGRAM, Afghanistan

BAGRAM, Afghanistan In the year before Qari Naib blew himself up on Nov. 12 inside a NATO base near Kabul killing four Americans, Afghan intelligence warned the U.S. military at least twice that a worker could be planning an attack, government and security officials said.The Afghan officials also said they repeatedly asked Western forces to share information about local employees at the vast Bagram air base in order to check for "suspicious people among them", but were refused.When asked about the information sharing, NATO spokesman Captain William Salvin said NATO forces "routinely partner with ANDSF (Afghan National Defence and Security Forces) on all elements of security, to include information sharing."We maintain a strong, day-to-day working relationship with our Afghan counterparts but due to operational security we do not get into specifics about what is shared."According to Afghan authorities, the U.S. military was cooperating closely now."After this attack, American forces have agreed to share that information about their Afghan workers with us," said Wahid Sediqqi, the governor's spokesman for Parwan province where the sprawling, heavily fortified base is located.Authorities subsequently discovered that Naib, a known Taliban militant before undergoing a government de-radicalisation programme, was using a fake name, Qari Enayat, at work.Many intelligence leads turn out to be false and it is not clear whether better coordination would have unearthed Naib's true intentions in time to prevent him killing two U.S. soldiers and two contractors and wounding at least 15 others, in one of the worst assaults on U.S. forces for years.But the first attack inside one of NATO's most secure bases has raised questions about Western forces' screening of local workers and about programmes designed to reintegrate insurgents into society.The insider attack has also further complicated operations in a country where the Afghan Taliban, al Qaeda and, more recently, a local offshoot of Islamic State, are inflicting heavy casualties and making more territory unsafe.Since the Bagram attack, the base has been in near-lockdown, with few Afghan workers now permitted inside.Only 200 of an estimated 3,000 Afghans are believed to be allowed to return to work for now, police in Bagram said.SUCCESS STORY

Until Nov. 12, Naib would have been seen as a success story for Afghanistan, which has tried to turn militants away from the stubborn insurgency that is bent on toppling the government and ridding the country of foreign troops.

"He was a former Taliban ... working inside the base for a long time, gained their trust, and based on that trust he carried out this attack," said Sediqqi.In early 2012, after signing up for the reintegration programme, Naib enrolled in a nine-month course at the Korean Vocational Training Center inside Bagram base, learning English, computer skills and how to fix cars.Like most students at the centre, Naib was offered a job straight away.After going through security checks, including finger prints and biometrics to make sure he was not involved in past crimes, Naib started working for Texas-based Fluor Corp (FLR.N) as a car mechanic at the base, members of his family told Reuters on a recent visit to his modest home a short walk from the base.Fluor Corp. said he was hired by one of its subcontractors."Fluor does not directly employ Afghans at Bagram," the company said. "Furthermore, screening and vetting of employees follows a process prescribed by the U.S. government. We follow this process and require our subcontractors to do the same."Naib, who was in his mid-20s, worked the night shift from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m., originally earning around 20,000 afghanis ($300) a month. In March, he received a pay rise bringing his monthly salary to 30,000, his mother, Gulalai, said.According to his family, his supervisor was "very happy" with Naib and trusted him, giving him food and drinks to take home to his parents and four siblings, whom he alone supported.

On Nov. 11, the evening before the attack, Naib left the house for work at 4 p.m. as usual, and "a loud explosion" was heard the next morning, Gulalai recalled, speaking in her dead son's room.She also urged authorities to release his body so that he could be buried.U.S. and NATO officials are investigating how Naib was able to breach the base's rings of security, which include numerous checkpoints and body scanners.Afghan police have detained Naib's father and a cousin as part of their investigation into the attack.PREVIOUS SUSPECT

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility soon after the bombing, saying the assailant was one of their fighters and that they had been planning it for four months. A spokesman declined to discuss Naib's case further.

It is not known why or when the soft-spoken mechanic rejoined the Taliban, or if he ever really left.Bagram base, protected by concrete barriers and barbed wire fences and home to around 14,000 coalition soldiers and contractors, has come under attack before, mainly from rockets launched by militants outside, but never from within.Five years ago, Naib had been a suspect in one of those rocket attacks, Afghan security officials said, forcing him to go into hiding for days to avoid arrest.But the authorities never found any evidence linking him to the crime, and his mother said he was innocent."My son was an angel at heart. He was not guilty at all," Gulalai said.To clear his name and prevent future police harassment, village elders recommended that Naib join a reintegration programme that promised education and jobs.Around 11,000 militants have joined such schemes, but it is unclear how many remain peaceful. A U.S. government watchdog recently said the programmes had not led to a "significant diminishment of the military capacity of armed opposition."The government has documented 154 participants that have returned to fighting, but officials privately say the actual number is much higher.Some Afghans remain wary of American involvement in their country, and, while opposing militant violence, see foreign troops as a part of the problem, not a solution to it."Even if he has blown himself up, he has killed and wounded Americans," said a relative of Naib, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter."He has not hurt any Afghans." ($1 = 66.8500 afghanis) (Additional reporting and writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ulf Laessing

| BARTELLA, Iraq

BARTELLA, Iraq A damaged picture of Jesus and a CD from his daughter's wedding were pretty much all Iraqi Christian Said Shaba found when he returned to the ransacked house he had to flee when Islamic State arrived two and a half years ago.The militants stole a safe with his savings and set the two-storey house ablaze before Iraqi forces pushed them out a month ago from the northern town of Bartella as part of a campaign to retake nearby Mosul, the group's last stronghold in Iraq.With the jihadists using suicide car bombers to stop an army advance on Mosul located just 20 km (12 miles) away, Bartella remains a tense ghost town.Black army Humvees patrol the potholed streets where Islamic State fighters set homes on fire, while rows of shops and restaurants have been flattened during fighting.But tired of living with his seven-member family in a rented house in nearby Erbil, Shaba and other Christians came to check on their houses for the first time since fleeing Bartella in 2014 when Islamic State seized Mosul and much of Iraq's north."They destroyed and stole everything. They even took away our safe," the 59-year-old said, pointing to a wardrobe in his bedroom where a safe containing $1,400 in local currency and dollars once stood.When rumours of an Islamic State offensive in August 2014 spread, Shaba drove his family to the safety of Erbil one morning, planning to return to take cash and documents. But he never made it back as the jihadists were already in control of Bartella by the afternoon.His petrol storage facility, the family's main source of income, a few blocks from his modest house, was destroyed during fighting, he said.

Luckily, among the debris on the house's floor a picture of Jesus survived though militants tore out parts of the face. His wife Nidhal kissed the painting and put it on a wall in the ransacked reception room.A CD containing pictures of their daughter's wedding also made it through the occupation."They have left nothing intact including windows, doors and walls," said Milano Yousuf, the daughter. "This CD is more important to me than all the furniture. It is irreplaceable."

SHI'ITES

Returning for good to Bartella and other nearby towns is not option for now for thousands of civilians -- Christians and Muslims alike -- as the battle for Mosul drags on.The army has closed Bartella and other towns and villages, using them as forward base. Special forces commanders and U.S. officers, who have been backing the army campaign, met in the town on Wednesday.The Iraqis and the Americans arriving in Humvees declined to discuss the meeting, which took place amid heightened security. Dozens of army vehicles with mounted guns were parked on an unpaved square in the town.

The army only lets in civilians selectively to inspect their houses and take some belongings, officers say. Still, many hope they can stay.Hundreds were queuing at a checkpoint, where officers sent many back for lack of paperwork. Shaba, the Christian entrepreneur, said he got his army permit to go home only through "wasta", or personal connections."We need to make sure the places are safe, that Daesh left no bombs," said an Iraqi officer, using a derogatory Arabic term for Islamic State.Apart from Christians, there were also many Shi'ites, seen by Islamic State as heretics, trying to head home."We are trying to see our house for the first time since we fled in August 2014," said 28-year-old Ahmed Ali, a Shi'ite who escaped with his 17-member family from their Bartella home when the militants approached. His cousin was killed by the Sunni fighters, he said."Life has become very difficult, paying rents in Erbil with very little work," he said, standing with a veiled relative near the checkpoint where soldiers told civilians without permits go back. "We don't know whether our house still stands but we hope to go back soon, God willing." (Editing by Patrick Markey and Giles Elgood)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States, but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to North America in the early 1960s.

Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina  she was called 'Nikki' as a child, and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.

Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, told Reuters that Haley's family and friends were delighted by her appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

"It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success," Randhawa told Reuters by telephone.

Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikki's father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

India's foreign ministry said it was happy to hear news of Haley's appointment, describing her as a supporter of closer US-India ties, who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June.

"We know Governor Haley very well," said spokesman Vikas Swarup. India's foreign secretary visited the US earlier this month and interacted with "very senior levels" of the Trump transition team, he also said.

Haley has only once come to India, as a four-year-old child, doesn't speak Punjabi, and has converted to Christianity. But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called "an emotional and very personal day".

"I always yearned to see Punjab  my motherland  and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years," she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with sips from a water bottle.

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first US ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the US into a Punjabi family, but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favourable views towards India, where he has real estate interests. The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.

Trump's stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York, and Haley's appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

India, the world's largest democracy, is also lobbying to be made a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council, although it's doubtful this would be a priority for Trump.

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post. "We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success," said Randhawa. "And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days."
Muslims have earned a bad rap through no fault of their own. Yes, there are extremists among them, as there are extremists among people of all cultures and religions; people whove done terrible things.

Our prejudices and media portrayal are very much to blame for this sorry state of affairs, and it doesnt help that politicians like US president-elect Donald Trump feed these prejudices and seem to benefit from the chaos that follows.

Photographer Mark Bennington decided to do something about peoples perceptions and prejudices by doing what he does best: Shoot portraits.

My newest body of work is in direct response to the politicized images of American Muslims depicted as a plagued foreign diaspora, said Bennington. Bennington believes that these people are a vibrant and integral part of the American community. His latest project, titled America 2.0, aims to capture this aspect of them.

Against a neutral grey background, the vibrancy of each subject stands out in sharp relief, symbolising clarity in the midst of political noise, he mentioned.

Bennington has picked his subjects well. The portraits capture that vibrancy that Bennington sees in the American Muslim community, but even more than the portraits, its their stories that catch the eye.

A photo posted by MARK BENNINGTON (@markbennington) on Nov 7, 2016 at 2:40pm PST

The very first portrait in the series is of NYU Dental Student, Hanan. Dubbed Happy Panda by her friends, Hanans views on American politics are and life are more rational than that of many an average citizen. They are both horrible people  one is fake and the other one is pretty out there and blunt and his mind set is pretty badand hers is conniving, said Hanan while referring to Trump and Hillary Clinton. Sometimes Im surprised at people, at who theyre voting for but I dont push my views on anyone else, she added. Mosammet, a high school student, grins happily at the camera while holding up two V for victory signs. She is, however, a little disappointed in America. I will not stand my father and brother being called 'terrorists'. I LOVE LIFE, but as an American citizen, I have never been so disappointed in America, she said.

A photo posted by MARK BENNINGTON (@markbennington) on Sep 15, 2016 at 8:45am PDT

Others like Syeda and Jiniya talk about their hopes and dreams. Some of the people portrayed want to be pilots, musicians and doctors. They talk about their fears, the changing atmosphere in a country thats coming to grips with Islamophobia and racism. They talk about the fear of losing friends and the desire to be treated as normal people.

Why must we be portrayed as either good or bad, the moderate or the extremists? Why is my headscarf the first thing that you recognise about me? said one.

The one thing that stands out in this entire series is that these are just people. Normal human beings.

Bennington is a photographer and based in New York. He is considered by many to be among the best in his country and is best known for his portrait photography. Bennington has also spent a great many years in India, particularly Mumbai, which he considers to be his second home.
By Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay

| ANKARA

ANKARA Turkey said it would retaliate after three of its soldiers were killed in what the military said was a suspected Syrian air strike, the first such deaths at the hands of Syrian government forces since Ankara launched a cross-border incursion in August.The attack occurred at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) on Thursday during a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel operation in northern Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement. It said 10 other soldiers were wounded in the air strike that it "assessed to have been carried out by Syrian regime forces". It gave no details on the exact location."It is clear that some people are not happy with this battle Turkey has been fighting against Daesh (Islamic State). This attack will surely have a retaliation," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in the capital Ankara.Seven more Turkish soldiers were wounded in a second attack in Syria later on Thursday and were evacuated to the Turkish border town of Kilis for medical treatment, the privately-owned Dogan news agency said. It was not clear who was responsible.Direct confrontation between NATO-member Turkey and Syrian government forces, which are backed by allies including Russia, would mark a serious escalation in an already messy battlefield in northern Syria.

Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, but Washington has said it is not providing support for the three-month-old Turkish offensive in Syria as it moves towards the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab.There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military on Thursday's incidents. But in October it said the presence of Turkish troops on Syrian soil was a "flagrant breach of Syria's sovereignty" and warned it would bring down Turkish warplanes entering its air space.Earlier on Thursday security and hospital sources in Turkey had blamed Islamic State fighters for the first attack and said it was in the al-Bab region. The wounded soldiers from that attack were transferred to hospitals in the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep, they said.

WARNING FROM ASSAD ALLIES

Turkey sent tanks, special forces and jets into Syria on Aug. 24 in support of largely Turkmen and Arab rebels in an offensive dubbed "Euphrates Shield" meant to push Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters from its border.President Tayyip Erdogan said last week that the Turkish-backed rebels were close to taking the city of al-Bab, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in the northern Aleppo countryside.

Forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Turkey last month against making any advance towards their positions to the north and east of Aleppo, saying any such move would be met "decisively and with force".The Turkish-backed rebels have clashed with Syrian government forces before, including in late October, when a suspected Syrian government helicopter bombed their positions near Dabiq, a former Islamic State stronghold.But the overnight clash was the first time the Turkish military has said its own soldiers were killed by Syrian forces since Euphrates Shield began. The attack came on the first anniversary of Turkey shooting down a Russian warplane over Syria, which prompted a lengthy diplomatic rift between Moscow and Ankara which ended in August. (Additional reporting by Ercan Gurses and Tom Perry in Beirut; Writing by Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Janet Lawrence)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
After teasing the smartphone, Lenovo today sent out invites for the launch of K6 Power in India on November 29th. The smartphone was introduced at the IFA back in September, packs a 5-inch 1080p display, is powered by an Octa-Core Snapdragon 430 processor and has a huge 4000mAh battery. It also has a unibody metal design and a fingerprint sensor on the back.

Lenovo K6 Power specifications

5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display

Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 ( 4 x 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit processor with Adreno 505 GPU

2GB RAM with 16GB storage / 3GB RAM with 32GB storage, expandable memory with microSD

Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)

Dual SIM

13MP rear camera with LED Flash, PDAF

8MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint sensor

3.5mm audio jack, Dolby Atmos, FM radio

Dimensions: 141.9 x 70.3 x 9.3 mm; Weight: 145g

4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS

4000mAh built-in battery

The Lenovo K6 Power comes in Dark gray, Gold and Silver colors. It is not clear if the company is planning to launch both the 2GB and 3GB RAM variants of the phone. We should know all the details, including the price next Tuesday.
Photos courtesy of Jocelyn Delk Adams

Grandbaby Cakes spotlights on the seminal dishes of her upbringing. She's on a quest to make sure the traditions that originate in our kitchens aren't lost. We talked to Jocelyn about her work. She even shared one of her favorite recipes with us. spotlights on the seminal dishes of her upbringing. She's on a quest to make sure the traditions that originate in our kitchens aren't lost. We talked to Jocelyn about her work. She even shared one of her favorite recipes with us.

Grandbaby Cakes





Mamas 7UP Pound Cake SERVES 1216

This is a vintage recipe that has been in my family for decades. It was actually the very first cake I ever learned to bake, which I suspect is not only because it is my mothers absolute favorite cake but also because it was an unintimidating induction into the baking world, with results that even a nine-year-old girl could master. If you are a beginner baker, this is an excellent recipe to start your journey with. You may even get bitten by the baking bug like I did. Mamas 7UP Pound Cake is a classic and decadent treat complemented by the subtle flavor of citrus soda. The juxtaposition of the crunchy crust to the moist inner texture makes this cake simply irresistible. It melts as soon as you taste it.

GRANDBABY NOTES This recipe doesnt have a leavening agent, but it doesnt need one. A significantly longer creaming process adds more air to the batter, giving it the lift it needs. Dont skip this step. The results are a golden-brown, perfectly filled-out cake, no leavening necessary. My mother has always been adamant about using the original 7UP and nothing else. She says you can really taste the difference. While I have used other lemon-lime soda brands ranging from Sprite to Sierra Mist, I try my best to follow my mothers advice.

INGREDIENTS

CAKE 1 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 large eggs, room temperature

3 cups sifted cake flour

 cup 7UP soda, room temperature

1 tablespoon lemon extract

GLAZE 1 cup confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons 7UP soda

 teaspoon lemon extract

FOR THE CAKE

Preheat your oven to 315F. Prepare a 10-cup Bundt pan with the nonstick method of your choice.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 2 minutes on high speed. Slowly add the sugar and salt. Cream together for an additional 7 minutes, until very pale yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed and slowly add the flour in 2 batches. Be careful not to overbeat. Pour in the 7UP and lemon extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix the batter until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 75 to 85 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Let cool to room temperature. Lightly cover the cake with foil or plastic wrap so it does not dry out.

FOR THE GLAZE

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until the mixture is pourable. When the cake is completely cool, spoon the glaze over the cake and allow it to harden. Serve at room temperature.

Reprinted with permission from Grandbaby Cakes by Jocelyn Delk Adams, Agate Surrey, 2015.
In the shadows of Samsung Electronics' <005930.KS> Note 7 smartphone crisis, affiliate Samsung SDI <006400.KS> is quietly reassuring anxious clients including Apple Inc that its batteries are safe.

But potential new customers may prove harder to convince as Samsung's biggest in-house parts supplier grapples with the reputational fallout from the Note 7 debacle.

Created as a joint venture with Japan's NEC <6701.T> to make vacuum tubes in 1970, Samsung SDI's TV and smartphone screens and batteries were key to Samsung Electronics' rapid growth.

But it now faces a tougher challenge than its biggest customer and shareholder as it looks to add new customers and extend into electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage systems.

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of smartphones, was quick to blame the battery for causing some Note 7 devices to catch fire. It has since widened its investigation into the exact cause of the fires in its near-900,000 won ($780) phones after replacement phones using batteries from China's Amperex Technology also caught fire. But for Samsung SDI the damage was already done, analysts said.

SDI, the main supplier of Note 7 batteries, has lost around a fifth of its market value since the problem first emerged, and its third-quarter operating loss was more than double that of a year earlier.

Shares of Samsung Electronics, however, are little changed over the same period, and a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll on Sunday showed the Note 7 recall has had little impact on the willingness of users in the United States to buy the company's phones.

"Since the first recall, we've had many inquiries from our clients, including Apple, asking whether batteries used in their products are safe," said a person at SDI who was involved in developing the Note 7 battery.

"We are also asking ourselves whether we should have done it (the Note 7 battery) this way, or whether there could have been other ways," the person said, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

LASTING IMPACT?

SDI has said the battery issue was limited to the Note 7, and it has carried out reliability checks on products with major customers and found no problems. It has set up teams to improve product safety, and allowed customers to check batteries, which, it says, meant temporary shipment delays for a couple of customers.

"We put the utmost priority on battery reliability, and will use this opportunity to further enhance customer trust," Kim Hong-gyeong, SDI's chief financial officer, said on a conference call with analysts.

Some analysts say the impact could be lasting for SDI.

"This will have more of an impact on new customers than on existing customers," said S.R. Kwon, at Dongbu Securities. "SDI can assure existing customers ... but this could be a minus factor for SDI when it tries to attract new customers."

"The affected (Note 7) battery is totally different to the product we use so the issue doesn't really impact us," said an official at one of SDI's automotive customers. "But we're not happy," the person added, declining to say whether that may change its relationship with SDI.

SDI, which has around a 25 percent market share in small device batteries according to market research firm B3, is already battling a slowing smartphone market, and its diversification push hasn't been helped by a failure to win Chinese certification for subsidies on its electric vehicle batteries in the world's biggest autos market.

CLOSE TIES

Close ties to Samsung Electronics have helped SDI build scale and reputation, and secure orders from the likes of Apple. Close to a third of its revenue in the first half year came from other Samsung companies.

For Samsung Electronics, having in-house suppliers helped it beat rivals to cutting-edge technologies - from curved screens to faster chips and higher-density batteries.

But the Note 7 crisis has raised doubts about whether that in-house supply chain can handle the growing strains on capacity as Samsung Electronics transitions from fast-follower to trend-setter.

Calling the Note 7 problem "very embarrassing," a second person at SDI said: "It's a matter of our capability ... We thought we had control (over all aspects of manufacturing), but it turned out there were some aspects we weren't able to govern."

SDI had to incorporate new materials and technology to meet Samsung's request for bigger battery capacity for the Note 7, which increased by a sixth from the previous model, the SDI insiders told Reuters.

"We focused on boosting battery capacity, but this could have been disadvantageous to reliability," said the engineer who worked on the Note 7 battery.

Samsung Electronics said its focus is on looking at all possibilities to find the root cause of the Note 7 problem.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Se Young Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Ian Geoghegan)
Its true that food nourishes the body, and thats why its key for a holiday like Thanksgiving  both as a reason for gratitude and good health. But theres also such a thing as food for the soul.

In the aftermath of a contentious presidential election, thats something our country needs right now. Bombarded with headlines like Theres No Such Thing as a Good Trump Voter from Slate or Anti-Trump protests, some violent, erupt from USA Today, Americans are starving for hope.

And the proof is in the pudding.

When a grandmother mistakenly texted a Thanksgiving dinner invitation to Phoenix high-school senior Jamal Hinton instead of her grandson, Hinton suspected someone had either used the wrong number or his grandmother had finally learned how to text.

After he confirmed the mix-up, Hinton asked if he, a stranger, could still join. Of course you can, she responded, thats what grandmas [sic] do. He accepted  along with his whole family.

That story went viral. BuzzFeed originally reported it and media outlets from NBC News to the Huffington Post quickly snatched up the story. Hundreds of thousands of Americans shared it on social media.

It filled them with hope.

There are also little-known stories, like the Milwaukee police officers who joined forces with high school and college students to prepare a Thanksgiving meal for those less fortunate. Theres Cyd Jokisch, from Kansas City, who  together with the help of her family, friends and neighbors  donates hundreds of turkeys to the Salvation Army each year.

These stories show that our partisan differences can be set aside to strive for something greater. Faced with a political monster too big to tame on our own, we must do what we can to better the world  even if we arent the president or the queen. Because, in the end, the big battles are won with the little. It was a pebble that downed Goliath and a hobbit that destroyed The Ring.

Thanksgiving is meant to be a time for thanking God and others in our lives for the blessings bestowed on us. Yes, thats done with prayer. Yes, thats done with words of gratitude. But its also done with action  and these stories illustrate the significance of giving thanks by giving others a reason to be thankful.

We already know whats most important. According to a recent survey cited by Christian Today, Americans are most thankful for family (88 percent), followed by health (77 percent), personal freedom (72 percent) and friends (71 percent). Wealth and achievements made the list, but they didnt come close in comparison.

So at this time of year when we count our own blessings, lets not forget to be someone elses blessing too.

With that in mind, heres the most timeless Thanksgiving recipe  used since Americas very first holiday of giving thanks:

1 cup family

? cup friends and good company

2 quarts prayer

1 quart smiles and laughter

1 pinch putting aside differences

2 tablespoons gratitude for what we have and whom we love

1 tablespoons sharing what we have with those in need

1 smidgen hugs and kisses

3 teaspoons remembering whats most important

1 dash respect for the freedoms our country enjoys

Directions: Mix together for a Happy Thanksgiving. (If so desired, adding a turkey and pumpkin pie to the mix never hurt anyone either.)

Perhaps no custom reveals our character as a Nation so clearly as our celebration of Thanksgiving Day. ~Ronald Reagan
Thanksgiving is a time for rejoicing and healing, for celebrating our freedom. It couldnt come at a better time this year then after such a fractious and polarizing election. But as Melanie Kirkpatrick points out in her new evocative and comprehensive history of the holiday, even Thanksgiving has been a source of controversy for centuries.

There is a lack of consensus over where our Thanksgiving first originated, and there are other legitimate claims besides the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Whether it was the Spanish colony of San Elizario, Texas in 1598 or the French protestants in Fort Caroline, Florida in 1564 or the Spanish colony at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas all the way back in 1541, in each case there was a religious theme and often a celebration of a successful harvest.

Survival wasnt a given, making a ceremony to give thanks more important. The Pilgrims landed in Cape Cod in 1621 and many died during those first brutal winters. They hunted wild turkeys and fished for cod and bass. They didnt celebrate their first day of thanksgiving until two years later. Connecticut was the first colony to establish it as an annual event in September 1639.

After the Revolutionary War, there was controversy and a dispute over whether Thanksgiving should be a national holiday or whether it was really a subject for the states or the church. George Washington resolved the matter by issuing his very first presidential proclamation designating Thursday, November 26th 1789 as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. According to Kirkpatrick, this proclamation was well heeded even though it did not carry the force of law.

The Civil War was marked by thanksgiving proclamations by both Presidents Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln to celebrate military victories and inspire the troops, ending with the Battle of Gettysburg in August 1863. Afterward Lincoln followed Washingtons example and once again set Thanksgiving Day for the last Thursday of November. In so doing he was transforming the holiday from military strategy back to something far more transcendent as he attempted to bring the country back together to heal. It was a profoundly hopeful message, Kirkpatrick writes, Reminding the American people of the nations capacity for renewal.

The controversies surrounding Thanksgiving continued into more modern times. When Franklin Roosevelt decided to move it up a week in 1939 to increase the length of shopping time until Christmas during the Great Depression, he unleashed a firestorm of protest.

Ultimately Thanksgiving represents progress and unity, often following a period of profound disparity. It is meaningful that since 1845 the holiday has followed Election Day, where we also celebrate our freedom. In 2016 we are currently experiencing protests and demonstrations following one of the most divisive and disturbing national elections in American history. There was a clear separation among voters and little acknowledgment of others point of view. The national blood pressure and heart rate rose precipitously, and everyones stress hormones were at an all time high.

But now is the time to heal our wounds. Conservatives and liberals need to be able to sit and break bread together at the same table. Thanksgiving is a very good time to offer charity to those who are homeless or cant afford a meal. Those of us who feast do so because we can, (please go easy on the desserts and wine and potatoes eat plenty of green vegetables and salads).

We are a country of disparate ideas that emanate from many different backgrounds and cultures. We need to respect and honor each other and defend our right to free speech. We need to come together behind our new president, just as we have come together behind previous presidents, beginning with Washington.

Thanksgiving is the place to start, and Melanie Kirkpatrick has set the right tone. This is a day to overcome our differences in order to celebrate America.
Maligned pollsters made at least one correct prediction this year -- combative, high-profile California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa would in November have the reelection challenge of his political career.

More than two weeks after Election Day, Issas race, in once-reliable GOP territory, is the only remaining congressional contest still too close to call.

The states election board reported Tuesday night, after counting additional ballots, that Issa now leads Democratic challenger Doug Applegate 50.5-to-49.5 percent, or by 3,234 votes.

Though the race remains officially undecided, Issas campaign says Applegate would need to win 75 percent of the roughly 6,000 remaining votes and has declaring victory.

I am pleased that Congressman Issa will continue to be a watchdog for the taxpayers, campaign manager Phil Paule told the Orange County Register on Wednesday.

The Issa campaign could not be reached for comment, and Applegate told FoxNews.com that a comment would be forthcoming. (The only other outstanding November congressional races are two House contests in Louisiana now going to runoffs.)

Pollsters and other political observers began raising red flags about Californias 49th Congressional District race even before this summers open primary, in which Issa slipped by Applegate 51-to-46 percent, sending the top finishers to a head-to-head November contest.

Issa, the wealthiest member of Congress, had essentially never won by less than 16 points since getting elected to Congress in 2000, even winning reelection two years later by as many as 55 points.

The pollsters and others attribted the outcome in large part to the changing political landscape of Issa's Southern California district -- composed of Orange and San Diego counties.

Though Republicans still have a roughly still 6-point edge in registered voters, more and more Hispanic and other Democratic-leaning residents in the region are increasingly being added to voter rolls.

In addition, Applegate, a retired Marine colonel, was expected to do well with the regions military and retired-military population -- especially in places like San Diegos sprawling Camp Pendleton, home to roughly 38,000 families.

And Washington Democrats and other supporters, inspired by Applegates close primary finish, poured millions into the race, in hopes of knocking off a high-profile political foe.

Meanwhile, some of Issas challenges this election cycle appeared self-induced.

Democrats and fellow Republicans alike accused him of putting his Washington profile ahead of the concerns of district voters.

And they argued that his efforts as chairman of the GOP-led House Oversight committee to get to the bottom of the Benghazi terror attacks, the IRS targeted scandal and other Obama administration issues were attention grabbing did little damage to the Obama White House.

As the 2016 White House race stretched through the summer and into early fall, pollsters continued to predict that Trump, the eventual winner, could create big problems for Issa and other Republicans seeking office or reelection.

That prediction largely came true, but not to the expected extent.

Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton handily won California. But Issa survived, at least for now, despite Clinton winning Orange County, 51-to-43 percent, after GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney defeat President Obama there in 2012, 52-to-46 percent.

The Trump downdraft did not affect congressional races as much as some Democrats had hoped, Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, told The Register.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, President-elect Donald Trump continued stocking his cabinet on Wednesday, naming two new nominees as his one-time rival Dr. Ben Carson said he is still "thinking about" options to serve in the new administration.

In an exclusive interview on "The Kelly File," Carson, who is rumored to head the department of Housing and Urban Development, said "the offer was on the table," but that news should come out "in the next few days."

"There are a lot of things that were put on the table, and I am thinking about them," Carson said, referring to if he plans to serve in a role in or outside the government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump announced the choices of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. All three cabinet positions require Senate confirmation before they become official.

The retired pediatric neurosurgeon, who had previously been rumored to be a contender for a job heading Veterans Affairs, Education or Health and Human Services, could appear at first glance as an odd choice for HUD. However, Carson wrote and spoke about the department and issues affected by its actions numerous times during his time as a primary candidate, and he also addressed some of what may soon face him in a Wednesday Facebook post that hinted at a HUD job offer from Trump.

After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone, Carson wrote. We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical infrastructure and our spiritual infrastructure is solid. An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.

On Tuesday, Carson told Fox News Channels Your World with Neil Cavuto that the HUD position was "one of the offers [from Trump] that is on the table."

"Our inner cities are in terrible shape," Carson said. "And they definitely need some real attention. There have been so many promises made over the last several decades and nothing has been done, so it certainly is something that has been a long-term interest of mine."

Minutes after Carson left a meeting with Trump at Trump Tower Tuesday, the billionaire mogul tweeted: I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. Ive gotten to know him wellhes a greatly talented person who loves people!

Carson ran against Trump during the Republican primary battle. But after he dropped out of the White House race in March, the subdued doctor quickly endorsed the boisterous businessman and became one of Trumps most visible surrogates.

The path to a secretary nomination was far different for Haley, who often critiqued Trump during the campaign, though she eventually  and somewhat begrudgingly  said she would vote for him for president.

"This is no longer a choice for me on personalities because Im not a fan of either one," Haley said in October. "What it is about is policy."

Born in South Carolina and of Indian descent, Haley is the third Asian-American to serve as U.S. governor. She drew praise for her handling of the aftermath of a racially-charged mass shooting at a black Charleston church and also presided over the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds.

Haley was beginning to earn buzz as a possible vice presidential pick in January when she delivered the Republican response to President Obama's final State of the Union address. Parts of her speech, however, were viewed as a rebuke not only of Obama, but also of Trump.

But her past criticism  and support of Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz  were apparently set to the side during a Thursday meeting with Trump. A Trump spokesperson said Wednesday that Trump and Haley had "natural chemistry" and her selection as UN ambassador was an easy choice.

DeVos, from Michigan, is a longtime advocate for charter schools and school vouchers. She currently leads the advocacy group, American Federation for Children, and sits on the board of the Jeb Bush-led Foundation for Excellence in Education. Bush, another fierce critic of Trump prior to the election, praised the decision to choose DeVos.

The status quo in education is not acceptable," DeVos said in a Wednesday statement.

The DeVos family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors to GOP candidates and the Republican Party. DeVos' husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company. The couple gave $22.5 million to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 2010, at the time the largest private donation in the center's history.

Hours before the DeVos pick was announced, conservative policy leader Frank Cannon, president of American Principles Project, called her "an establishment, pro-Common Core secretary of education."

Asked about DeVos' support for the Common Core standards, Trump spokesman Jason Miller noted that "the president-elect has been consistent and very clear in his opposition to Common Core."

"Anybody joining the administration is signing on to the president-elect's platform and vision for moving America forward," Miller said.
So 2017 is probably going to be a lot like 1995 on Capitol Hill.

Republicans in the House and Senate are practically exuberant that they now have control of both bodies of Congress and President-elect Trump coming into the White House. They have a chance to legislate and promulgate GOP and conservative policies which registered merely as messaging bills under President Obama.

The election of Trump grants Republicans agency to truly legislate. Many Republicans in Congress have never served under a GOP President. Eight years of a Democratic administration wore them down. Some grew tired of always working against something rather than striving for something.

Some Congressional Republicans grew disheartened. Uninspired. Exasperated. More years of investigations and inquiries awaited them in what many anticipated was the incoming Clinton Administration. So some Republicans turned on themselves. They went after former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Chatter began that maybe House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., wasnt good enough, either. Maybe Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,was the problem  so say nothing of all of those weird Senate rules.

And now, Republicans hit the jackpot. Or at least think they have. Theyre anxious to get started. Energized. Confident. And expectations from the public are off the chart.

What is past is prologue.

Republicans seized control of both the House and Senate in the fabled 1994 midterm elections. Republicans lost the Senate in 1986. So it had only been eight years in the wilderness there. But the House was another enterprise altogether. Republicans wandered aimlessly in the minority for 42 years in the House of Representatives. So entrenched were the Democrats in the House, many observers believed the party may have marshaled a permanent majority. In fact, Democrats ran the House for all but four of the previous 62 years.

That was until Republicans captured an astonishing 54 seats in 1994 and flipped the House to GOP control. They beat then-House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash. Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., christened the incoming freshmen majority makers and was determined to show the public how the GOP could run the House better. Gingrich planned to advance his 10-point Contract with America through the House during the first hundred days. Gingrich encouraged the public to watch Congressional proceedings on C-SPAN. And in a maneuver which would appear practically archaic today, Republicans took out an ad in TV Guide which listed the ten Contract with America points. Gingrich hoped voters would follow along at home and then check off each item as they advanced through the House.

The parameters of the opportunity ahead for Congressional Republicans now are different compared to 1994. But much like GOPers 22 years ago, this crowd is ready to legislate, buoyed by the opportunity to work with the Trump Administration. Their parliamentary muscles atrophied over the past few years. So Republicans are marking an ambitious agenda which features the prospective repeal and replacement of Obamacare, a new tax structure, a robust infrastructure program, a crackdown on the Obama Administrations immigration policy and a planned rollback of various executive branch rules.

The House and Senate conducted a minimalist schedule over the past few years. McConnell promised full work weeks when the GOP earned control of the Senate two years ago. But the Senate rarely met for a full five days. The House adhered mostly to the classic four-day schedule. But recesses were long. Both bodies skipped town from mid-July until almost mid-September this year. Lawmakers gave back days which leaders scheduled for legislative work. The compact schedule produced harried lawmakers and aides as everyone maximized their time in Washington. GOP leaders defended the skeletal approach. They argued it was important for lawmakers to escape the Beltway and be in touch with their constituents.

Now those sentiments are out the window. Republican lawmakers will want to be in Washington. Five-day weeks (or more) are expected in both chambers. Trump and Republicans have to have something to show the publicand soon. Theyll need to make a point or voters may presume President-elect Trump and Republicans sold them a bag of goods.

You think the public is apoplectic now?

Expect a breakneck pace on Capitol Hill in 2017. It might be an approach not seen since 1995.

The first 100 days of 1995 were an exhaustive slog for House Republicans. Things were tough in the Senate, too. But much of the onus fell on the House and Gingrich.

Long days. Long nights. Epic floor fights with the Democrats. Barbs on the floor. Contentious press conferences with Gingrich. It was a wild, wild time.

Its not the 100 days that are killing us, said the late-Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., at the time. Its the 100 nights.

Legislative sessions often started promptly at 9 am (or earlier in some instances) and bled well into the night with few respites. Fourteen and 15 hour days were the norm. Republicans logged an astonishing 486 hours in session over the first 100 days compared to a meager 189 hours over the same time period in the previous Congress. The House conducted 252 roll call votes by mid-March. Lawmakers voted a scant 73 times two years prior.

Republicans found themselves exhilarated at the opportunity to legislate and flex their policy bona fides. But there was a cost. A big one.

Everyone was tired. Sleep deprived. Fuses were short. Lawmakers snapped at each other, aides and journalists. They devoured takeout constantly from Armands Chicago Pizzeria and the recently-burned Hunan Dynasty on Capitol Hill. The House even ordered several of the Capitols cafeterias to remain open into the evening to serve famished lawmakers and staff. Waistlines expanded. Some shrank from the stress.

Lawmakers dozed on the floor during debates and caught catnaps in their offices. Even one of the barbers in the House barber shop remarked how the anxiety was palpable.

Right now people are more uptight than any time Ive been here, said veteran House barber Nurney Mason to The Wall Street Journal. Theyre always in such a rush to get out. No time for a blow dry.

People fell sick thanks to the grueling, frantic pace. Lawmakers trafficked the Capitol passageway leading to the Office of the Attending Physician as heavily as the corridors leading to the House floor. Dozens of lawmakers came down with some weird bronchial crud. They promptly passed it around to everyone else because no one ever left the building and many lawmakers slept in their offices and showered in the House gym.

But Gingrich tried to keep his troops in line and maintain esprit de corps. He often psyched up his members, suggesting they were revolutionaries and that this was an appointment with history.

Its unclear if Republicans now in the House and Senate view themselves as having an appointment with history in the 115th Congress which starts in January. But they do think they have the chance to get some big things done. And appointment with history or not, it appears theyre willing to endure a long slog over the next few months  even if that also means an appointment with the Office of the Attending Physician.
Fault lines inside the corporate world are emerging over a proposed rewrite of the U.S. tax code, pitting importers against exporters.

At the heart of the fight is a Republican plan in Congress that would impose corporate taxes on imports while eliminating them from exports, a move that would upend decades of tax policy.

The proposed shift in effect would curtail existing incentives for U.S. companies to move profits and operations abroad, but it would also pose new challenges for some global businesses. Retailers selling imported products and refiners using imported oil could be hardest hit, while some exporters could see their tax bills vanish.

Youre going to have the big importers fighting the big exporters, said Lisa Zarlenga, a former U.S. Treasury official and now a partner at international law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

The proposal is part of House Republicans blueprint for overhauling the entire U.S. tax code and has been around since June. While still not legislation, it has gained fresh momentumand scrutiny from corporationssince the November election sweep gave the GOP the chance to advance its ideas with its newfound one-party control of Congress and the White House.

Lawmakers must now weigh competing business interests to achieve the countrys first major tax revamp since 1986. Tax reform always hits different industries differently, said Republican economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Its the ability to rise above those differences that makes tax reform hard.

Other crucial elements of the business-tax plan would also be a major departure for the U.S. and include dropping the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%. Companies would also be able to write off capital expenses immediately but couldnt deduct net interest.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Voters chose Donald Trump, but now he hopes to return the favor with a looming far-reaching decision that could impact the lives of Americans on a range of hot-button issues for another generation.

No longer a question of if, but whom and when, the next member of the U.S. Supreme Court will almost certainly be a conservative, and perhaps the first of several nominees who could cement this bench's current shaky right-leaning majority. Let the political parlor games begin.

As the Trump transition team moves to first fill key cabinet and White House staff positions, parallel post-election focus on the high court vacancy has now started to coalesce, according to legal sources close to the vetting process.

Some conservative advocacy groups have quietly suggested Trump signal before his inauguration who his pick would be, to jump-start the Senate confirmation process, and allow the president-to-be to turn his attention to other "First 100 Days" agenda items like immigration and the budget.

But sources suggest a formal announcement only after Jan. 20, when full input from the White House Counsel's office and the attorney general would occur, including FBI background checks of the finalists and eventual nominee.

Trump has taken the unusual step of months ago publicly naming 21 individuals as potential nominees-- all but one sitting state or federal judges.

"I will pick only from that list, because they were a little concerned, because I was never a politician so maybe he'll go out and pick a liberal, OK?" Trump told Fox News. "That's not happening. Only from that list I'm going to pick, only. We're not going outside that list."

Two names getting early attention from conservative legal activists are federal appeals court judges Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and William Pryor of Alabama.

While the timing of the announcement is unclear, court watchers say whoever is chosen, will have a proven judicial record to please the right.

"This election is a massive game changer, as far as the Supreme Court is concerned," Thomas Dupree, a former Bush 43 Justice Department official, and a top appellate attorney told Fox News. "When you look at the list of 21 individuals-- that is a great list, you're not going to go too far wrong choosing someone from that list."

First of Many?

Liberal legal advocates had hoped a Hillary Clinton presidency would move the Supreme Court solidly to the left for the first time since the 1970s, but now admit the ideological status quo is preserved, likely to be strengthened.

"It does mean an entrenched conservative majority. but the real impact will be if there are more vacancies opening up in the next few years-- possibly Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg, [Justice Stephen] Breyer or [Justice Anthony] Kennedy," Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, told Fox News Chief Legal Correspondent Shannon Bream. "That majority could do things like overturn Roe v. Wade," the 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

Those three justices will all be in their 80s by the end of the new president's first term.

Short-handed and evenly split ideologically since the sudden death in February of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court has moved gently into its new term, putting off consideration of some high-profile cases, presumably until its newest member is sworn in, something that may not happen until spring.

Exit polls show 70-percent voters rated Supreme Court appointments as the most important or a major factor in their decision. And of those who identified it as a priority-- 56-percent voted in favor of Trump versus 41-percent for Clinton.

Since Trump would be replacing one conservative with another, the needle does not move much ideologically, but that confirmation could serve as a template for bitter fights to come, if liberals Ginsburg and Breyer, and the moderate-conservative "swing" vote Kennedy step down. Then all bets would be off.

Proven Records and Reliability

The "21"-- as the list of potentials are known inside the Trump campaign-- are qualified jurists, but many were not on the political radar of the legal establishment, perhaps reflecting the GOP nominee's "outsider" persona. The list was culled with the aid of the conservative Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation, but no one has yet emerged publicly as a favorite.

Several of the judges have said they were not notified beforehand of their placement on the list. And one federal appeals court judge on the original Trump list told Fox News that since his name first appeared months ago, he has never been contacted for vetting nor has any of his colleagues who are also on the list.

All eight current justices attended Harvard of Yale Law School and were seen as politically connected within Democratic or Republican legal circles.

But as usual, "reliable" will be the benchmark for any finalist for the high court under a Trump presidency, following the blueprint of President George W. Bush. No surprises in the mold of Justices David Souter and John Paul Stevens, chosen by Republicans, but who carved a mostly liberal record.

Conservative legal advocates advising the Trump forces have privately touted their favorites, and divided the selection scenarios into three categories:

-- Proven conservatives who have been through a rigorous Senate confirmation, such as federal appeals court judges Neil Gorsuch, Raymond Kethledge, Steven Colloton, and Thomas Hardiman. Federal Judge Amul Thapar of Kentucky, who is of Indian descent, is also being discussed, perhaps for a future vacancy.

-- State supreme court judges that would also offer a measure of geographic diversity: Joan Larsen (from Michigan, who clerked for Scalia), Allison Eid (Colorado), David Stras (Minnesota), and Don Willett (Texas).

-- A "wildcard" like U.S. senators Kelly Ayotte (who lost her New Hampshire re-election race) or Mike Lee (of Utah, who had backed Ted Cruz and revealed a "protest" presidential vote for Evan McMullin).

The most intriguing surprise could be Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Trump's bitter primary opponent, who has only recently came around in his support of the nominee. Cruz, who clerked for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, met privately with Trump on Tuesday.

Other names not on the Trump list but long touted by Republicans include federal Judges Brett Kavanaugh, Jeffrey Sutton, and Jennifer Elrod; and former Solicitor General Paul Clement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has some names he would offer the president-elect in coming days.

A "Fantasy SCOTUS" crowdsourcing poll launched this week to predict the nominee has Gorsuch and Pryor at the top, along with Cruz, Sykes and Kethledge.

"All of those people are individuals who care very deeply about the rule of law and preservation of our Constitution," said Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalists Society, who met personally Wednesday with Trump about the vacancy. "He's looking for someone who's independent, courageous, smart, very high quality."

Beyond the names, Trump himself campaigned with few specific criteria, but told CBS' "60 Minutes" in recent days he would appoint "pro-life judges." And during one of the presidential debates he promised his picks will "respect the Second Amendment and what it stands for, what it represents."

About eight of the judges on the "List of 21" appeared appearing at the Federalist Society's annual convention in Washington last week, appearing on panels and affirming their conservative bonafides.

Several told Fox News they were flattered to be considered for any high court vacancy, but refused to talk specifics about their qualifications or any vetting from the transition team. The convention mood was upbeat, as court-watchers are all too aware Trump has the potential to remake the entire federal judiciary, as his two predecessors did. Notably, Presidents Bush and Obama placed two justices each on the high court.

Options and Obstacles

Senate Democrats, still stung by the unprecedented failure of the majority to allow a vote Obama's choice of DC-based federal Judge Merrick Garland to the high court, have some options to thwart the new president's pick.

In 2013 while in the majority, they created the so-called "nuclear" option to block minority-led filibusters for any nominations-- except notably for the Supreme Court.

Days before the 2016 election, when a Clinton victory looked promising, vice presidential candidate and senator Tim Kaine suggested a Democratic Senate majority could expand the "nuclear" option to push through any Clinton high court nominee.

But with the scenarios switched, Democrats will now have to decide if they can or want to filibuster, and Republicans will have to decide how to respond.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the next minority leader, was cautious over parliamentary ploys, saying just after the election, "I hope we won't get to that."

Such filibuster threats have rarely succeeded in recent years. Then-senator Obama supported a nascent effort to block the 2006 confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito.

Yet some determined progressives say another option is in play, one that Obama himself controls: name Garland now to the Supreme Court in a "recess" appointment, arguing the Senate has abdicated its "advice and consent" constitutional authority by refusing to act on the pending nomination.

Among supporters of this option: entertainer and liberal activist Barbra Streisand, who wrote on her Facebook page, "If you are concerned about the Supreme Court, please consider going to this website and signing a petition asking President Obama to 'appoint' Merrick Garland."

And to add to the mischief, some progressives suggest a President Trump name his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a federal appeals court judge in Philadelphia on senior or semi-retired status. Her age (79) and lack of over-arching political philosophy have kept her out of the spotlight, something the intensely private judge probably appreciates.

As for the short-handed high court, Justice Ginsburg is the only member to comment publicly on the election results.

"There is an existing vacancy, and President Trump will fill it," she told a DC audience this week. "Then, perhaps, Congress will do some work. One of the reasons why the court hasn't had as many petitions as usual is that there hasn't been any legislative activity."
For all their infamous raiding and plundering, the Vikings who attacked from Scandinavia might have been just a bunch of lonely-hearted bachelors, new research suggests.

During the Viking Age, which archaeological discoveries and written texts suggested lasted from about A.D. 750 to 1050, shipborne crews from Scandinavia went "viking"  that is, they started raiding. However, the causes of these invasions remain uncertain.

Previous research suggested a wide range of potential triggers for the Viking Age. One scenario hinted that warm climates led to better harvests and thus larger populations, and that such big groups felt compelled to raid. Another cited innovations in sailing technology, such as the additions of keels and sails to Scandinavian longships. [Fierce Fighters: 7 Secrets of Viking Culture]

However, scientists have argued that such explanations are not especially convincing because they raised questions as to why Scandinavians did not respond in other ways to such triggers. For example, if the trigger for the raids was "innovations in sailing technology, why did Scandinavians elect to go raiding rather than focusing their efforts on peaceful trade?" said senior study author Mark Collard, a biological anthropologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Now, researchers suggest a new twist on an ancient explanation: Scandinavian practices that led powerful men to monopolize women also might have led to significant pools of unwed men. Many of these single men, looking for marriage, might have gone on raids to gain status, wealth and captives, and thus go on to secure brides and concubines of their own.

Looking for love

The idea that an excess of single young men led to Viking raiding is one of the oldest explanations for the Viking Age, put forward about 1,000 years ago by historian Dudo of St. Quentin in his tome "History of the Normans."

"We were able to reinvigorate an explanation for Viking raiding that has been around for nearly 1,000 years," Collard told Live Science.

The new model links this older idea with the customs of polygyny, or having multiple wives, and concubinage, or the keeping of concubines, that ancient texts such as the "Sagas of Icelanders," medieval German chronicles, and reports by travelers such as the 10th-century Arab envoy Ahmad Ibn Fadln suggested that Scandinavians once practiced, the researchers said.

Polygyny and concubinage would have limited the number of women eligible for single men to marry. Evolutionary biology suggests that such an imbalance would have then boosted competition for mates among unmarried men. Indeed, prior work has suggested that, on average, men die in warfare more often in polygynous societies than in monogamous ones, the researchers said.

This resulted in volatile societies in Scandinavia in which men were moved to engage in risky behavior, such as raiding expeditions to gain wealth and status to attract brides and to secure female slaves. One consequence of this was a surge in raiding that is linked with the start of the Viking Age, the researchers suggested.

Viking bachelors

Archaeological Viking finds discoveries and historical records suggest that loot and captives were main targets of raiders, and that most Vikings were men, although there is evidence that some raiders may have been women. For instance, the Irish text "War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill" recorded that one fleet belonged to a woman dubbed the Inghen Ruaidh, or "Red Girl," in Ireland during the 10th century A.D., the researchers said. [Photos: 10th-Century Viking Tomb Unearthed in Denmark]

This model suggests that most Viking raiders would have been young men. Ancient mass graves and Icelandic sagas support this explanation, the researchers said. Other possibilities the model presents include that the Vikings were hypersensitive to insults, that they viewed risk taking positively and that there was intense competition among men. Icelandic sagas also revealed that these characteristics were common in Viking societies, the scientists added.

"I'd like people to keep in mind that the Vikings weren't particularly unusual in engaging in concubinage and polygyny or in going raiding," Collard said. "Plenty of societies in the past approved of polygynous relationships  indeed, some still do in the present day. Similarly, raiding was not unusual in the past and remains fairly common today in certain places. So, while the Vikings can seem exotic, it's a mistake to view them that way. They weren't outliers when it comes to human behavior."

Men of low status might not have been the only members of Viking cultures seeking to go on raids. Powerful men would likely want to support, fund and lead raids to acquire plunder, in order to develop and keep their reputations and further their ambitions, the researchers said.

"We're not saying that every Viking went raiding," Collard said. "Many did; others didn't. Social life in the Viking Age would have been as complicated as social life in the present day."

It remains uncertain why Viking raids began when they did. The researchers suggested that one trigger of this raiding "might have been an influx of Abbasid coinage into eastern Scandinavia via Russian and Baltic trade routes in the last decades of the eighth century [A.D.]," Collard said. "That's plausible, because it likely would have increased the amount of inequality and, therefore, the level of competition among men. But I'm sure there are other potential proximate triggers that we haven't considered."

The scientists detailed their findings online Oct. 30 the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Much has been made of the new ultra-cheap routes flown by Norwegian Air, a low-cost carrier that, starting next year, hopes to get you from the U.S. to Europe for a paltry $69.

In the meantime, the airline has been offering seriously discounted transatlantic flights, the kind of irresistible fares that will make you consider going to Scandinavia in the middle of February. (But its only $250! Round-trip!) Branding helps: With its all-red background, friendly lower-case font, and onboard pop soundtrack (surely Justin Timberlake can dull the edge of an eight-hour, back-of-the-plane flight), its not a huge leap to think of the Virgin Group as inspiration.

IT'S NOT SHOCKINGLY CHEAP TO FLY TO EUROPE

Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic line made its debut in 1984; the Norway-based carrier followed in 1993, and it has certainly captured Virgin's attention. Theyre someone we compete with aggressively, Virgin Atlantic CEO Craig Kreeger said in an interview, regarding the transatlantic routes. We need toand we dotake them very seriously.

Also to Norwegians credit: Its long-haul planes are Boeing 787 Dreamliners, once considered unreliable but now emerging as the Great Carbon Fiber Hope of modern aircraft. The 291- and 344-seat jets are built using composite materials meant to improve fuel efficiency (and drop ticket prices) in addition to mitigating the effects of jet lagthink mood lighting, higher humidity in cabins, and lower pressurization.

VIDEO REVIEW: NORWEGIAN AIR | PREMIUM CLASS 787-9 | LONDON TO FORT LAUDERDALE https://t.co/72KEEhBY7n pic.twitter.com/JF0tzUZLko  Aviation Source (@aviationsource) November 5, 2016

To borrow one of Norwegians lines from the introductory video we watched on our seat-back screens: Its more jet. Less lag.

The planes feel comfortable and new, with average legroom in economy (31-32 inches) and video on demand at your seat. You can always buy more comfort: In the spirit of the Spirit-style fee model, the Norwegian experience is customizableeverything from headphones ($3) to a travel blanket ($5) to coffee ($4 for a Nescafe) can be ordered a la carte from your screen; meals are also pre-ordered or bought mid-flight, though many travelers pack their own, even on transatlantic trips. Which is all well and good, if you know the rules, and are willing to play. Spirits Ill-fly-my-way model has its loyalists; so does Norwegians.

How can they not, when passengers are paying half the normal airfare? But in Spirits case, the fee-for-all also inspires wraththe kind that prompts headlines like The Most Hated U.S. Airline Is Also the Most Profitable.

In this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index travel report, Spirit Airlines had the lowest score, a 62 out of 100, of domestic airlines; budget carriers like Norwegian and Ryanair have been an easier sell internationally, but now that they plan to break into the U.S. market (with gusto), they need to account for American travelers' habitsand their vocal distaste for the rigid rules set by fee-style flying.

Can any flight look rosy when you're getting from New York City to Europe for under $500? Are those cost savings really worth it?

Just ask the pregnant woman27 weeks alongsitting next to me at the back of economy; shes been waiting for three hours to order some food on our recent Norwegian flight from London-Gatwick to New York-JFK. She's borne it patiently. Me, not so much. Im hangry (hungry-angry, for those who are blessedly unfamiliar). While we wait for the a la carte snack bar to open, we watch as people who pre-ordered their meals (a trick I learned the hard waytoo late) are served hot food, tea and coffee, cocktails.

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We can do nothing but stare down the flight attendants as our stomachs growl. A drink cart goes around offering soft drinks and juices, but no crackers, no pretzels. No booze to stave off the hunger. I feel like a plebe at the back of the banquet hall, watching the royals feast sloppily, greedily, on ham and roast duck while I gnaw on some day-old shortbread I've stashed in my purse.

When did I miss the chance to pre-order? I wonder. I booked tickets through a secondary agent, kiwi.com, so I go back and read the fine print on my confirmationand discover, way down at the bottom of my three-page ticket reservation, the words: "Go to Manage My Booking to order a meal in advance." By not going through Norwegian.coma common habit for travelers accustomed to checking Cheapflights and Momondo and Kiwi for the best deals possibleI had missed my chance to truly customize my experience before boarding. Which was the whole point of flying on this airline.

This isn't necessarily the way of all low-cost, long-haul carriers. I had also recently flown from Paris to New York on XL Airways, a French airline that offers seriously discounted flights without deferring to a fee modelwhich means a ticket still includes a blanket, hot meal, free movies, and all the water you can drink on a red-eye. You don't realize how blissful those pleasures are until they're withheld, or itemized.

Back on our Norwegian flight, the call attendant buttons start going off more aggressively. Credit cards tap on armrests. Knees bounce. Jaws grind. Its a cacophony borne of abject hunger. I dont envy the attendants, but I also dont feel sympathy. We're not their priority, that much is clear. Basic customer service must be purchased as well.

Somehow, the pregnant woman next to me is still hoping for the bestnot knowing what the hot meal will be, only that its hot. The menu offers few details, just generic photos touting sandwiches, some kind of vegetarian option, and a hot dish. I watch as people stare at the food menu like its a free movie, waiting, willing some Pringles to break free. When the snack bar does open up with a satisfying onscreen pop, the hot meals are already sold out, served to those who pre-ordered or bought as soon as we took off. That means well take what we can get. The hot snack is a ham and cheese sandwich. Serviceable. The vegetarian option is a wrap of mixed grilled vegetables in BBQ sauce. No napkin. No water. Just a damp wrap in plastic, like I could have bought at the airport and eaten two hours ago at my seat along with everyone else.

As I manhandle my Crunchy Vegan Veg Wrap, headache starting to abate, I wonder what I'm paying for, ultimately. An increased opportunity to go abroad, on a Dreamliner? Definitely. An average-sized seat and a flight that arrived on time? I shouldn't get excited about that, but I do.

LOOKING FOR A CHEAP FLIGHT? FLY HUNGRY AND TIRED

But uninspired customer service? That's partly why fee-model airlines inspire "hate" and their own Twitter feeds for complaints: "Never have I ever experienced such frustration, mediocrity, and terrible CSR," says Lucas Aguiar on @HateSpiritAir. Norwegian benefits from more modern planes and fewer complaints, yet it could stand to improve its communication on these transatlantic flightswhen you're at the mercy of the staff, hangry, pregnant, or otherwise, for going on half a day.

Yes, it's great value to travel more than 3,000 miles for less than it costs to buy a nice suitcase, but if it's a Bolt Bus in the sky, it's something to endure rather than enjoy. And that $3.50 water can be hard to swallow.

THE LONGEST (AND SHORTEST) FLIGHTS IN THE WORLD
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A U.S. citizen is being held in Honolulu for extradition to Tonga, where he's accused of beating his wife to death, escaping police and sailing more than 300 miles to American Samoa.

Tonga officials told U.S. prosecutors that 54-year-old Dean Fletcher was indicted on a murder charge in the July death of his wife, Patricia Linne Kearney.

Court documents say witnesses saw Fletcher assaulting Kearney on a dinghy. The next day, Fletcher told police his wife fell down stairs on their yacht.

The documents say Fletcher fled in September and was last seen sailing away in a boat.

He traveled some 300 miles north to American Samoa, where he was arrested. He arrived in Honolulu Tuesday with U.S. marshals.

His federal public defender didn't immediately respond to messages for comment.
A school bus driver had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he careened off a road and smashed into a tree, killing six elementary schoolchildren, police said Wednesday.

Chattanooga Police Sgt. Austin Garrett said a toxicology test was performed on Johnthony Walker, 24, the bus driver now in jail on five vehicular homicide charges.

Later Wednesday, the police department said in a statement that a sixth child had died of injuries from the crash and another vehicular homicide charge would be added.

Federal authorities said Walker left the designated bus route and had driven onto a curvy road while carrying 37 children on their way home from Woodmore Elementary School.

Police said he was driving well over the posted 30 mph limit when he lost control of the bus and slammed into a tree. Five children remain in the hospital.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart says it's unclear why driver Walker left the designated route and drove the bus down Talley Road.

"One of the things we're exploring is A, has he done it before, and B, if so, why?" Hart said.

He said Walker, who has no criminal record in the state, had taken on a second job at an Amazon Fulfillment Center, and part of the agency's investigation will look at whether fatigue played a role in the wreck.

The NTSB will also bring in a specialist to analyze video and audio recordings from the bus's interior cameras that were damaged in Monday's wreck.

Police disputed one woman's claim that the driver asked the children if they were "prepared to die" just before the wreck. Jasmine Mateen, whose 6-year-old daughter was among the dead, said one of her two surviving children who were on the bus told her about the driver's remarks.

Garrett, however, said at a Wednesday press conference: "I want to be very clear on this. No witness we have spoken with has that information or provided it directly to our investigators."

He added that investigators have not yet interviewed the children on the bus and asked anyone with additional information to bring it to police.

Three of the children killed were in fourth grade, one in first grade and another in kindergarten, said Kirk Kelly, interim superintendent of Hamilton County schools. The age and identity of the sixth child wasn't immediately released. A makeshift memorial to them grew up around a telephone pole, with stuffed bears, flowers and dozens of balloons.

Their families remembered them as fun, happy children taken much too soon.

D'Myunn Brown liked to play little tricks on grown-ups. The 6-year-old would snatch a cellphone, hide it, then giggle and bat his big brown eyes.

"That's what made him so pretty, and he was as sweet as he could be," said his great-grandmother, Winifred Bray. "I'm still numb. I still can't believe he's gone."

LaFrederick Thirkill remembered his 9-year-old cousin, Cordayja Jones, as a girly-girl who liked dressing up and giving hugs.

Thirkill is the principal at Orchard Knob Elementary, where Cordayja attended before changing schools to Woodmore Elementary.

She was a polite little girl, he said. Even though he was her cousin, she called him "Mr. Thirkill" when she saw him in the hallways.

"I remember her as just a kid who always smiles," he said.

School officials repeatedly declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether they received complaints about the driver. School Principal Brenda Adamson-Cothran said their focus is on "giving our families and students the support that they need in this tragedy."

Walker was involved in another bus accident only two months ago, police said. In September, he was driving the bus into a blind curve when he crossed over the center line and hit an SUV, according to a police report. No one was injured, and the damage to both vehicles was minor. He was not cited for any violations.

Hamilton County School District spokeswoman Amy Katcher referred all questions about his performance and that of other drivers to the company that manages them, Durham School Services.

The bus company did not respond to questions about its safety record or Walker's employment history. Durham CEO David A. Duke released a video statement expressing condolences to the families and pledging to work with investigators.

A mother and 8-year-old son, who was injured in the crash, filed a lawsuit against Durham on Wednesday, attorney Herbert Thornbury confirmed. He said the boy suffered minor injuries, watched his best friend die and has been crying uncontrollably ever since. The lawsuit contends the boy may be permanently injured, sustained pain and suffering and will incur medical and other expenses as a result of the wreck.

Based in Warrenville, Illinois, Durham operates about 13,700 vehicles across the U.S. and has nearly as many drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.
Indianapolis police say they arrested a woman after she told them she injected fecal matter into her son's IV tube while he was hospitalized for leukemia.

The Indianapolis Star reports Wednesday (http://indy.st/2gCAv8F ) the woman faces charges of aggravated battery and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court documents.

The documents say staff at Riley Hospital for Children contacted police after the 15-year-old boy developed several infections and a nurse observed video surveillance of the mother injecting his IV bag with an unknown substance. Police say the mother told them she began injecting her son with fecal matter on Nov. 13 to get him moved from the intensive care unit to another hospital floor where she thought he would receive better treatment.

The newspaper did not identify the mother.

___

Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
Fans of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade who come to see the soaring SpongeBob and Snoopy balloons may get a far less heartwarming sight this year: giant dump trucks filled with sand.

More than 80 city sanitation trucks will be used at intersections and other strategic spots along the 2  mile parade route to create an imposing physical barrier to terror. The trucks weigh about 16 tons empty and up to twice that with sand.

"You can ram a New York City Sanitation Department sand truck with a lot of things, but you're not going to move it," said John Miller, the New York Police Department's top counterterrorism official.

While the trucks have been used like this before  most recently to protect Trump Tower  the New York Police Department says they will play a bigger role at this year's parade in the wake of the cargo truck attack in Nice, France, that killed more than 80 people and a recent posting in an English-language Islamic State magazine that called the parade "an excellent target."

As scary as that sounds, authorities say there's no confirmation of a credible threat and they have repeatedly urged spectators to not stay away.

Miller said that while such postings are psychological warfare intended to spread a message of fear, "We never accede to that." A front-page headline in Tuesday's Daily News creatively paraphrased the message the NYPD seeks to send: "Truck You, ISIS!"

Aside from the trucks, security for the parade includes teams of officers armed with assault weapons, bomb-sniffing dogs and portable radiation detectors. Plainclothes officers will blend in with the crowd, and other officers will be posted on rooftops along the parade route.

The effort comes at a time when the nation's largest police department already is stretching its resources to protect the midtown Manhattan home of President-elect Donald Trump. On Election Day, at least a half-dozen dump trucks walled off Trump Tower's entrance on Fifth Avenue, making for photos that went viral on the internet.

There was a similar dump truck spectacle with Ronald Reagan as president in 1983, when the Secret Service stationed them at the White House. Officials at the time indicated it was a response to unspecified threats in the wake of the truck bomb attack on a Marine compound in Beirut that killed 239 American soldiers.

In recent years, authorities also have used the trucks to help safeguard the United Nations General Assembly and President Barack Obama's motorcades when he visits the city  an instant formula for epic gridlock. They also were deployed last year for the visit of Pope Francis.

Authorities say the Islamic State group is trying to incite followers to rent trucks of their own to ram into crowds. In response, the NYPD has stayed in touch with rental companies and urged them to report anything suspicious.

Paperwork filed on Monday in a federal case was yet another reminder of the truck threat. It quoted the man charged with seeking to join the terror group saying it wanted someone to commandeer a garbage truck for a "Times Square operation."
The Wayne State University police officer shot Tuesday night while on partol near the Detroit campus died from his injuries, university police told Fox2Detroit.com.

The #WayneState community grieves the loss of Officer Collin Rose https://t.co/dieO5uraTa pic.twitter.com/fzw7SasjgF  Wayne State Univ (@waynestate) November 23, 2016

Canine officer Collin Rose, 29, was reportedly surrounded by friends, family and more than 100 other police officers when he died shortly before 6 p.m. at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Rose was on life support following surgery late last night. He was in critical condition since he was shot on the job at about 6:45 p.m.

I dont believe he was specifically targeted because of his uniform, Wayne State Police Chief Anthony Holt said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Holt said a suspect is being interrogated for the attack. A weapon has not been recovered and the suspect in custody has not been charged.

"We're trying to put the pieces together," he added.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig Rose was on duty around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike.

When other officers arrived on the scene, they found Rose injured on the ground.

After the shooting, several dozen armed officers combed the area surrounding the campus hunting for a suspect.

According to a statement posted on the university's website, police were searching for an African-American man in his 40s with a full beard. It said he was wearing a white T-shirt with white and black lettering, a skull cap and a brown jacket.

According to Fox 2 Detroit, DeAngelo Davis was named a person of interest in the shooting and was arrested three blocks from the shooting but it wasnt immediately clear whether he was the gunman.

Authorites have not identified the suspect.

JUST IN: Wayne St officer shooting person of interest has been arrested, per @NewsDSpencerFox https://t.co/zzFlmi7BLX pic.twitter.com/NETC98s9DC  FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) November 23, 2016

The station reported that a $5,000 reward was being offered for the recovery of the gun used in the shooting. Deputy Detroit police Chief Steve Dolunt said the officer was not shot with his own gun.

Holt said the suspect has had several run-ins with police before.

Wayne State police Sgt. Cary Glazer told The Associated Press he had a physical run-in with the suspect five years ago. Glazer said he was patrolling the campus in 2011 when the man walking in the street swore at him and told the sergeant to get out of the way.

Glazer said he got out of his car and the pair struggled until other officers arrived.

"He wanted to fight  he wanted to fight an officer," Glazer told The Associated Press.

Wilson said they still don't know what the motive was for the shooting, "whether it was an ambush or something different."

He cited four recent incidents around the country in which law enforcement officers were shot, adding, "That's something that's crossed our minds."

Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit. Wilson said the school employs around 65 officers, some of whom help patrol areas around the campus.

The Associated Press contributed this report.

Click for more from Fox 2 Detroit.
Three men hanging Christmas lights were shot Wednesday night after getting into an argument with a passing motorist, police in Philadelphia said.

The victims told police that they were outside decorating their homes in the city's Juanita neighborhood with Christmas lights when a dark grey Chevy Impala with tinted windows drove down their block, Fox 29 reported.

The vehicle initially drove past the victims, before backing up while a passenger asked the victims if they had a problem and if they had hit his car.

At that time, another man who was standing outside with the victims asked the front passenger if he had a problem. The front passenger then took out a handgun and fired at the victims, police told Fox 29.

The vehicle then pulled off down the block and as it did, the front passenger fired 4-5 more time at the victims, striking them.

The victims are 28, 34 and 36. They were transported to area hospitals and listed in stable condition.

The shooter is described as a black male in his 20s wearing a light grey knitted cap, brown complexion, armed with a dark grey semi-automatic handgun, Fox 29 reported.

The second suspect is described by police as a black male in his 20s with a darker complexion and shoulder length hair that is possibly dreadlocks.

Click for more from Fox29.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man trying to ride his horse from South Carolina to Key West following his divorce is now facing an animal cruelty charge.

The Miami-Herald reported that 36-year-old Chris Emerson left his Greenwood, South Carolina home about five months after getting divorced and crashing his truck. He wanted to relocate to Key West and decided to ride his horse Trigger down.

You can meet the most interesting people on The Underline. Chris Emerson and Trigger, on their way to Key West pic.twitter.com/9J41qdYSpw  Doug Hanks (@doug_hanks) November 22, 2016

I was married. Had a truck, he told the newspaper, adding that hes had Trigger for about eight years. Got a divorce. Wrecked my truck.

Miami-Dade police stopped Emerson on Wednesday and determined that Trigger was dangerously malnourished. He has been charged with an animal cruelty charge.

Officials said Emerson, who was barefoot when he was stopped, had two plastic bags stuffed with lawn trimmings for the horse to eat.

He likes the fresh stuff, Emerson told the Herald. He likes the green grass  Hes a good horse.

However, its not enough for the horse of his size, Laurie Waggoner told the newspaper.

Waggoner runs the rescue stable where Trigger was taken and said Emerson was misguided in caring for the horse.

BREAKING: Man riding horse from SC to Keys arrested in Miami for #AnimalCruelty , @HelpTheHorses taking "Trigger" to its ranch now. pic.twitter.com/Kn60xZaICq  South Florida SPCA (@HelpTheHorses) November 23, 2016

She told the Herald that a horse his size needs about 25 pounds of hay and quality grains a day.

Grass down here has little to no nutritional value, Waggoner added.

She said a veterinarian determined Trigger was about 20 years old and blind in one eye.

The vet said the horse was not in any condition to be ridden, much less from South Carolina all the way down to Miami, she said.

Authorities said Emerson appeared homeless when they stopped him and had depended on the help of others to feed himself and Trigger.

Emerson has been charge with animal cruelty and violating an animals health requirement, the Herald reported.

Emerson said he has not had not been in touch with his family and lost track of time while on his trek. He added that he didnt really have plans once he arrived to Key West.

Im thankful to be where I am now, he told the Herald. I rode a horse from South Carolina to Miami, Florida. The things Ive seen between here and there are priceless. Its more than Ive done in my whole entire life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Prospective college students in the country illegally are now eligible for consideration at two Georgia state universities that have prohibited their admission in recent years.

The Board of Regents, which governs the University System of Georgia, adopted a policy in 2010 that prohibited any of its schools that has rejected academically qualified applicants in the previous two years from accepting people in the country illegally. That has barred them from the state's five most competitive schools.

That policy remains in place, but two of those schools  Georgia State University and Augusta University  have effectively become less competitive, having admitted all academically qualified applicants through general admissions for the last two years. As a result, people without lawful status may be admitted to those schools, though they would have to pay the out-of-state tuition rate even if they live in Georgia.

People not in the country illegally will be eligible to attend the two schools beginning with the spring 2017 semester. They still cannot gain admission to the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech or Georgia College and State University.

The October 2010 policy came amid public concerns that the state's colleges and universities were being flooded by people in the country illegally, that taxpayers were subsidizing their education and that legal residents were being displaced. It was implemented in spite of a study conducted by the Regents that found that less than 1 percent of the state's public college students were not legally present, and that students who pay out-of-state tuition, as people in the country illegally are required to do, more than pay for their education.

Three immigrant students who are beneficiaries of a 2012 Obama administration policy that granted temporary permission to live and work in the U.S. to young people brought to the country as children and are living here illegally but who meet certain criteria filed a lawsuit in September challenging the policy. The Regents have said students with temporary permission to stay under that program  known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA  do not meet the requirement of "lawful presence" in the U.S.

The lawsuit says the university system policy is pre-empted by federal immigration law and therefore violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The university system recently conducted a review of its general admission requirements relating to its policy on admission of people in the country illegally as a result of that litigation, according to a university system statement.

Burth Lopez, one of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund lawyers who filed the lawsuit, said the change is a step in the right direction.

"Overall, it's better that there are less schools that are unconstitutionally discriminating against Georgia residents," he said. But he added that the university system's policy still "continues to harm Georgia students that are trying to either go to those schools or who would have been able to apply but didn't apply on the basis of this classification."
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A Wayne State University police officer has died a day after he was shot in the head while on patrol near the campus.

Detroit police say 29-year-old Collin Rose died Wednesday about 5:45 p.m. at a hospital.

Rose was on duty Tuesday evening when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike. Officers who arrived on the scene found Rose injured on the ground.

Police say a suspect in the shooting was arrested late Tuesday night a few blocks from where Rose was shot, but no charges have been filed.

Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson says Rose, a five-year veteran of the university's police force, is the only Wayne State officer killed in the line of duty.
A U.S. citizen was being held Wednesday in Honolulu for extradition to Tonga, where he's accused of beating his wife to death, escaping police and sailing some 300 miles to American Samoa.

Kingdom of Tonga officials said Dean Jay Fletcher, 54, was indicted on murder and other charges in the July death of his wife, Patricia Linne Kearney.

Three diving operators saw Fletcher assaulting his wife on a dinghy after she picked him up July 6 at the Neiafu Port of Refuge, according to provisional arrest documents filed in federal court in Honolulu.

Fletcher kept kicking and punching Kearney as the couple arrived at another boat, named Sea Oak, which was moored about 100 meters from shore, Tonga officials told U.S. prosecutors.

One witness reported that he saw Fletcher grab his wife's head while she was in the dinghy, "slam his knee into her neck and punch her in the head," the documents state.

The next day, Fletcher went to the Neiafu Police Station to report his wife had died when she slipped and fell down stairs on their yacht.

Fletcher allegedly told an acquaintance that his wife had a nerve disease and had been drunk. The person reported seeing a blood-stained bed sheet in the dinghy, and another person said Fletcher dropped the sheet into the sea, the documents state.

While in police custody on July 11, Fletcher asked a detective for permission to use the toilet then ran out of the police station and was caught after a brief foot chase, authorities said.

The records say officers couldn't catch him when he fled again in September and was last seen sailing away in a boat.

He traveled some 300 miles north to American Samoa, where he was arrested.

U.S. marshals escorted him to Honolulu Tuesday because there's no federal court in American Samoa.

American Samoa authorities were tipped off about Fletcher's arrival by a woman who told police he entered Pago Pago harbor aboard his sailboat.

The woman told police she recognized Fletcher as a man she knew six years ago and that she had read news accounts that he was wanted by police in Tonga, according to court documents.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday in Honolulu.

Tonga officials have two months to provide authorities in Honolulu with extradition documents. It will be up to the U.S. Department of State to determine if he'll be extradited, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick.

Fletcher's federal public defender in Honolulu didn't immediately respond to messages for comment. The Sea Oak remained moored in Pago Pago Wednesday, police said.
China's biggest online travel service Ctrip.com says it has agreed to buy Skyscanner in a deal that values the British travel search site at 1.4 billion pounds ($1.7 billion).

The deal announced Thursday adds to a string of global acquisitions by Chinese companies in search of technology, brands and access to foreign markets.

Ctrip.com International Ltd. said the management of Skyscanner Holdings Ltd., which allows users to compare prices of air tickets, hotels and rental cars on hundreds of travel sites, will remain in place and operate the company independently.
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Hundreds of Indonesians angered over the persecution of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar have protested outside the Myanmar Embassy in the Indonesian capital.

Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono said at least 200 people joined the demonstration Thursday. They marched in three groups to the embassy, which was guarded by dozens of police, and staged a noisy but peaceful protest.

The protesters, many of whom wore traditional white robes, held big banners reading, "Stop genocide against Muslims in Myanmar," and shouted "Save Rohingya."

High-definition satellite images analyzed by Human Rights Watch show the destruction of some 1,250 buildings in five Rohingya villages in Rakhine state, where the military is carrying out counter-insurgency operations.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is a strong supporter of the Rohingya cause.
A charge against Bahraini political activist Ebrahim Sharif accusing him of "inciting hatred" in the Gulf island kingdom has been dropped, a rights group and the British Embassy said Thursday.

Sharif, a leader in the secular, leftist Waad Party, was questioned and charged earlier this month after giving an interview to The Associated Press about a visit to the kingdom by Britain's Prince Charles.

In his interview, Sharif expressed concern that a visit to the kingdom by Britain's Prince Charles could "whitewash" a crackdown on dissent. He also said that the government, which is dominated by the ruling family and its supporters, should work with opposition groups.

Bahrain is an important Mideast ally of the United States and Britain that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

It was rocked by widespread protests during the 2011 Arab Spring, with majority Shiites and others demanding greater political freedoms from the Sunni monarchy. The protests were soon put down with help from nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, though low-level unrest continues. Prominent opposition leaders and human rights activists remain behind bars or, in some cases, have fled the country.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the London-based director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Sharif confirmed to him that the charges have been dropped, citing a call by the public prosecution to his lawyers.

"If it wasn't a big embarrassment for Prince Charles we might have seen a different result," Alwadaei said. "The U.K. must use its leverage to call for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Bahrain."

The British Embassy to Bahrain separately said on Twitter that the case against Sharif is closed and charges have been dropped. It said Britain welcomed the "positive outcome on this case."

Sharif and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bahrain's government did not confirm that charges had formally been dropped, but said in a statement that Sharif was never arrested or detained and "voluntarily attended questioning following allegations that he had incited hatred."

It added that no one in Bahrain can be detained for expressing "peaceful political views, as citizens' right to freedom of opinion and expression is fully protected by Bahrain's laws and constitution."
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Environmentalists are displaying hundreds of colorful origami birds outside the Spanish Parliament to demand greater government action to protect a national park that provides habitat for migrating birds.

The World Wildlife Fund says excessive water extraction is putting Donana National Park, one of Europe's most celebrated conservation wetlands, at grave risk. Proposals for dredging, mining and gas storage nearby are also threatening it.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has given the government until Dec. 1 to explain its plans for the park, which receives around 6 million migratory birds annually. The site is currently a candidate for UNESCO's list of endangered world heritage sites.

The protest Thursday featured a large display of paper birds sent by some of the 130,000 people backing the World Wildlife Fund campaign.
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is pressing top European Union officials to keep sanctions pressure up on Russia while the EU seeks reassurance that Ukraine is doing its utmost to battle corruption.

Poroshenko and the leaders of the EU's main institutions began a summit in Brussels Thursday aimed at underlining the strength of EU-Ukraine ties and addressing sectors like democracy, energy, trade and security.

The EU has committed almost 3.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to Ukraine over the past two years. It also launched a mission aimed at chaperoning the former Soviet Republic toward democracy.

But endemic corruption has undermined progress. Two high-profile reformist politicians resigned early this month in frustration.

Meanwhile Russia-Ukraine ties are deadlocked over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes as the country's leaders raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the blaze.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifa's northern neighborhoods, sending panicked residents fleeing from the area.

While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. In a rare move, Israel called up hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and was making use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by a slew of countries.

The Haifa blaze was the most serious in a series of fires that have erupted across the country in recent days. On a visit to the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said anyone implicated in setting the fires would be punished severely.

"It's a crime for all intents and purposes and in our opinion it is terror for all intents and purposes," he said. He said incitement to arson was also playing a role in spreading the fires.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity or motives of the suspected arsonists, but Israeli officials typically use the term "terror" to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity.

Israel has been on edge during more than a year of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, that have tapered off, but not halted, in recent months. Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for fueling those attacks.

Netanyahu's accusations could test already brittle relations between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, which has long suffered discrimination in Israel and says it has been slighted by rhetoric from Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the past.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 10 TV news that eight people had been arrested and that authorities had found "flammable materials and liquids poured in certain areas," a find that pointed to arson. He said arson was suspected in about half of the fires.

Israeli media said the Shin Bet internal security agency was helping search for perpetrators, while Erdan said "we need to be prepared for a new type of terror."

"It's safe to assume that whoever is setting the fires isn't doing it only out of pyromania," Israel's police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters. "It's safe to assume that if it is arson it is politically motivated."

Ayman Odeh, the head of a joint Arab bloc of parties in Israel's parliament and a Haifa native, appealed to Israelis to come together and abandon "politics" during the trying time.

"This is something that harms all of us. This is not a story of Arab or Jew. Whoever did this is an enemy of all of us," he told Israeli Channel 2 TV news.

The Palestinians meanwhile offered to send firefighting teams to help combat the flames, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Yousef Nassar, the director general of the Palestinian Civil Defense, said the offer of assistance was "a humanitarian message." The Palestinians assisted Israelduring a deadly wildfire in 2010. Israel's response to the offer was not immediately known.

The rash of fires is the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history. That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft arrived from as far away as the United States.

Israel has strengthened its firefighting capabilities since then, buying special planes that can drop large quantities of water on affected areas. Several countries, including Russia, France, Cyprus, Turkey, Croatia, Greece and Italy were also sending assistance to battle this week's blazes.

Residents of eight neighborhoods in the northern city of Haifa were told to evacuate their homes on Thursday afternoon, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Or Doron, a spokeswoman for the city of Haifa, said some 50,000 people had been evacuated.

Police and firefighters were deployed throughout the city, as people loaded up supermarket carts with belongings and fled their homes. Some people connected hoses together from apartment buildings to help battle the fires, while residents held cloth over their faces.

Guy Catlan, who runs a gas station in Haifa, told Channel 10 TV that workers turned the power off and were helping firefighters to prevent the flames from reaching it. "There is a very large quantity of fuel here," he said. "It is very dangerous to the entire area, it could be a big catastrophe."

Michal Schanin, a professor at the University of Haifa, was in the middle of a lecture when she received word that she and her 70 students would need to evacuate. She said that while the evacuation was orderly, the flood of cars fleeing the area caused a traffic jam.

"We couldn't move. If, God forbid, there would have been fire there it would have been one huge trap," she said.

The military said it deployed two search and rescue battalions in order to assist civilian efforts. It also called up about 500 reserve soldiers to back up the police and fire departments.

Police said the blazes started early Tuesday morning at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Jews and Arabs live together. Fires later erupted elsewhere near Jerusalem and in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov.
Kagame refuses his political opponents to fly back home

Leaders of the Rwandan political party Ishema were on Wednesday 23/11 on their way back home, but instead found themselves blocked in transit at Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya. Rwandan authorities demanded Kenya Airways not to allow them onboard on the flight they were meant to take from Nairobi to Kigali.

http://therisingcontinent.com/2016/11/23/kagame-refuses-his-political-opponents-to-fly-back-home
CertExams.com Revises CCNP Switch Exam Simulator

CertExams.com, a leading Netsim software developer, revised it's CCNP Switch practice tests.

November 23, 2016 (FPRC) -- CertExams.com released CCNP Switch exams conforming the to latest 300 115 exam objectives. As you might be knowing, CCNP is the professional level certification offered by Cisco and is widely recognized in the computer networking industry. The CCNA (Short for Cisco Certified Network Associate) is the basic requirement for appearing for CCNP. As the name implies, CCNA/CCNP are focused towards developing professional networking engineers, especially having knowledge about Cisco networking products.



The practice tests offered by CertExams.com include 300+ highly relevant questions with answers and flash card explanations. The question bank conforms to the exam objectives as given below:



1.0 Layer 2 Technologies 65%

2.0 Infrastructure Security 20%

3.0 Infrastructure Services 15%



The topics had been thoroughly revised in comparison with the previous exam. Our practice tests simulate actual exam environment closely, so that candidates are better equipped to take the actual exam with confidence with thorough preparation.



About CCNP: CCNP (Short for Cisco Certified Network Professional) is the mid-level certification offered by Cisco, and one needs to pass the following to obtain CCNP certification:

1. CCNP Route (300-101)

2. CCNP Switch (300-115), and

3. CCNP TShoot



Pre-requisites: You need to pass CCNA certification to appear for CCNP exams. The certifications are valid for 3 years, and a candidate needs to re-qualify for validity extension.



Disclaimer: SimulationExams.com is a group website of Anand Software and Training, a privately held company, based in Bangalore, India. Simulationexams.com is not related to Cisco Systems (R) or any other company. All trademarks are duly acknowledged. CCNP, CCNA, and CCENT are trademarks of Cisco and duly acknowledged.









Send an email to Vijay of r

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Gray & Sons Jewelers To Open On Weekends

Acclaimed Miami Beach watchmaker and jewelry dealer expands store hours to accommodate customers during busy holiday season.

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The management of Gray & Sons Jewelers announced today that the fine watchmaker and luxury jewelry dealer will offer expanded service hours to its clients during the upcoming winter holiday season.

Starting with Thanksgiving weekend (November 26 and 27) and through the end of December, Gray & Sons' storefront location in Miami Beach will be open to customers on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Gray & Sons' new weekend availability is on top of its regular weekday hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"With the holiday gift-giving season nearly upon us, we understand how busy our clients are," said Keith Gray, founder and president of Gray & Sons Jewelers. "That's why we're taking the unusual step of opening our store on the weekends. We want to ensure that all our clients receive prompt, professional service on their watches and jewelry pieces so they may enjoy the holidays to their fullest."

With six Swiss-trained master watchmakers on staff, Gray & Sons specializes in luxury watches and watch repair. The company proudly offers its clients the world's top brands, including Patek Philippe, Piaget, Cartier, Bvlgari, Omega, Panerai, Corum, Harry Winston, Ulysse Nardin and Rolex, of all price ranges, for both men and women.

More than watches, Gray & Sons sells and buys estate diamond jewelry such as rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces, with diamonds certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

About Gray & Sons Jewelers: Inspired fine jewelers and luxury watch specialists since 1980, Gray & Sons produces a monthly catalog, and maintains a fully responsive website complete with videos and their daily updated inventory of the world's most elegant and sought-after timepieces- both vintage and modern, plus new and estate jewelry. You can also visit their newly renovated showroom.

Gray & Sons is located across from the famous Bal Harbour Shops at 9595 Harding Avenue in Surfside (Miami Beach), Florida, 33154. Gray & Sons maintains a virtual showroom at www.GrayAndSons.com. Contact Gray & Sons via telephone at 305-865-0999 or 1-800-705-1112, via e-mail at info@grayandsons.com and on social media at Facebook.com/grayandsonsjewelers.

For more information, please visit https://www.grayandsons.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Media Contact

Email: info@grayandsons.com

Organization: Gray & Sons Jewelers

Address: 9595 Harding Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33154

Phone: (305) 865-0999

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/gray-sons-jewelers-to-open-on-weekends/149212

Release ID: 149212

For more information visit r



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Gospel Wire Rebrands to Spread the Good News

Website Now Focuses on Helping People with Their Walk with Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Wire has officially announced their re-brand into a more complete resource for Christians. Launched in 2002 the website focused on Gospel Music helping artists and fans connect via articles, interviews, press releases, and more. Moving forward Gospel Wire broadens their scope to provide inspirational Biblical scriptures, reviews of Christian based products / services, and to build a community of Christians who spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Technology has become the leading tool to find information related to a wide range of topics. Gospel Wire is poised to assist people in finding information related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "As was the case in Gospel Music, Christian resources are slightly behind the times when it comes to integrating technology into the industry" says the founder. "Our goal is to adopt technology and effectively allow people to find the Gospel, learn the Gospel, live the Gospel, and share the Gospel just how God tells us Christians to do".

The website recently received a face-lift and the new features are already being integrated into the new look. Christians who come to the website can expect to find the following:

o Simple reminders of God's word through Bible verses on a wide range of topics.

o Devotionals & study guides that add perspective to God's word helping Christians integrate the principles into their lives.

o Community of Christians who strive to live their destiny and the life God has planned for them.

o Christian related resources that are curated and showcased helping Ministries get the exposure to Christians in their community.

With new content and features being added frequently, you can keep up to date on the latest and become part of the active community who help Spread The Good News: http://www.gospelwire.com

About Gospel Wire

Founded 2002, Gospel Wire has helped hundreds of thousands of Christians stay up to date on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through community, the website makes it easier for Christians to stay connected to what is available online and spread the good news of the Gospel.

For more information, please visit http://www.gospelwire.com

Contact Info:

Name: D. Dear

Organization: Gospel Wire



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/gospel-wire-rebrands-to-spread-the-good-news/148980

Release ID: 148980

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Hair Accessory Brand Pony-O Launches New Ecommerce Website Just In Time For Black Friday

Hair accessory company Pony-O has launched a new ecommerce website to sell all three of its brands, Pony-O, Bun Barz and Bling Ringz, online. The new site makes ordering the accessories easy with just a few clicks. Guests can pay using credit card or PayPal.

--

Just in time for the Black Friday Christmas shopping bonanza, hair accessory company Pony-O has launched a new ecommerce store for all three of its brands: Pony-O, Bun Barz and Bling Rings. Located at ponyo.com, the site has been completely redesigned with a focus on making it easier than ever for people to order Pony-O hair accessories from the comfort of their own home.

Although Pony-O has been sold online for years, the company's old site was convoluted and not user friendly. The newly redesigned site has a cleaner look and is much easier for Pony-O fans to navigate and order from.

Founder of Pony-O Nicol Harvie says the new site and ecommerce store are simple to use and she is looking forward to supplementing her trade-show orders with online orders in the runup to Christmas.

"I know a lot of people were searching for Pony-O online and not having much success before," Harvie said. "A big part of that was because the old Pony-O site was just kind of tossed together and forgotten about. There were three different ways to order depending on where you lived and it was just a bit of a mess in general. So, launching this new site is like having a grand opening of a new store for me. I want people to visit it and see how good it looks and see how easy everything is now, particularly the shopping aspect. We worked long and hard to get it done in time for Black Friday, so I'm glad it's up now."

Having mostly relied on trade shows to sell her hair accessories over the last few years, the Pony-O inventor admits she has ignored the ecommerce side of her business, but is now ready to embrace online selling.

Developed by Engage Marketing, the new Pony-O ecommerce site features detailed descriptions about all of the products on offer, a look at why and how Harvie invented the hair accessories, video instructions and demonstrations on how to use Pony-O, Bun Barz and Bling Rings and simple ordering that can be done in just a few clicks. Payments on the new site can be processed via credit card or PayPal.

To celebrate both the launch of Pony-O's site and Black Friday, the hair accessory company is offering customers 20 percent off the already discounted price of $16.95 for a total price of $13.56 on Pony-O, Bun Barz and Bling Rings on Black Friday. Customers can get the discount by using the code BFCM20 on Black Friday.

Future plans for Pony-O include selling the products on Amazon.

For more information, please visit https://www.ponyo.com

Contact Info:

Name: Nicol Harvie

Email: theponyo@yahoo.com

Organization: Pony-O Hair Accessories



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/hair-accessory-brand-pony-o-launches-new-ecommerce-website-just-in-time-for-black-friday/149095

Release ID: 149095

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IC Media Direct - Reputation Management Experts Attend CSEW 2016 Conference

Search Engine Watch has been providing search engine and search marketing news, advice, and commentary for over 20 years.

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Online reputation management and public relations leader, IC Media Direct was in attendance at the Connect conference in Miami, hosted by Search Engine Watch. Speaking at the conference were some of the foremost thought leaders and innovators in the online marketing industry, offering their expertise on SEO, digital acquisition, brand development, and various other topics. IC Media Direct met with several keynote speakers over the course of the two-day conference, establishing their public relations prowess while determining how to apply new, inventive strategies to their proven marketing formula.

In a world dominated by its online sector and the power of social media, maintaining a positive online image is more pertinent than ever. The unimaginable growth of mobile, smarter search tactics, and ever-changing user behavior have ushered in a new era of search marketing, one where it is essential to stay ahead of its current trends. Search Engine Watch has been providing search engine and search marketing news, advice, and commentary for over 20 years, and through the CSEW conference explained how to excel in this new era, providing a two-track educational agenda designed to lead the discussion in the latest strategies and technologies.

IC Media Direct's exceptional depth of knowledge regarding online brand management and search engine tendencies contributed to the topics at hand, specifically when discussing organic search. A renewed emphasis was placed upon engaging with organic search at CSEW, with the full service public relations company presenting trendsetting SEO tools and diagnostics for the skilled search mechanic. The international brand managers also displayed proficiency in link building and next generation search techniques, providing competitive, sector-leading data.

Founded in 1996, IC Media Direct has become a relentless force in the industry with offices in New York City and Washington, DC, and provides its unparalleled services worldwide. Advertisement and online reputation packages are customized for each individual or company and their specific needs, and have vastly improved the Internet presence of professional athletes, politicians, executive-level bankers, fortune top 500 CEOs, top motivational speakers, high-end celebrity jewelers, music agents, artists, and many more. Major marketing conferences and events frequently benefit from IC Media Direct's participation and sponsorships, amongst them Affiliate Summit, Leadscon, SES, and the ad:tech conference in New York, where companies and individuals from the advertising and technology worlds come together to exchange ideas, listen to keynote speeches on current topics. and contribute to industry trends and initiatives.

IC Media Direct - PR and Marketing News: http://icmediadirectnews.com

IC Media Direct (@ICMediaDirectCo) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/icmediadirectco

ICMediaDirect.com - Google Reputation Management - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/icmediadirect

For more information, please visit http://www.ICMediaDirect.com

Contact Info:

Name: ICMD

Email: pr@icmediadirect.com

Organization: ICMediaDirect.com

Phone: 800-595-0821

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QHOeY8qAM

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/ic-media-direct-reputation-management-experts-attend-csew-2016-conference/147990

Release ID: 147990

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Custom Carton Design Protective Packaging Labels Bags For Businesses Released

SmartShield Packaging, a custom packaging company based in Canada, has released their Custom Packaging solutions for Canadian businesses. The custom designed packaging creates a professional, branded appearance for businesses shipping their products and are guaranteed to provide durable delivery options.

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SmartShield Packaging has announced the release of their Custom Packaging solutions for Canadian businesses. The high quality custom created packaging and cases are designed to provide durable branded delivery options for businesses shipping their products to consumers.

More information on SmartShield Packaging and their Custom Packaging services is available on their website at: http://smartshieldpackaging.com.

Forty percent of Connected Consumers said that the post-purchase experiences with a company's products and services can have the biggest impact in creating the most memorable brand experience according to My Loud Speaker's recent survey.

With the onset of social media branding is changing, My Loud Speaker reports. The only thing a company can control is what they do as a brand. If they are professional in their products and services, they won't need to spend resources controlling what audiences share with their friends, family and everyone else online.

SmartShield Packaging helps businesses take a step forward in their professional branding with Custom Packaging. When a customer orders a product that needs to be shipped, the packaging is the first impression the customer gets of the company. SmartShield has a team of experienced designers using the latest technology to accurately and efficiently design packaging tailored to each company's brand image needs.

The company's team of designers create custom packaging solutions for any size and shape of product ensuring a safe arrival in its packaging. It designs packaging to constantly bring the latest and most efficient, innovative ideas for its customers' product to save time and money by packing smarter.

SmartShield Packaging is a Canadian distributor for Gemstar and Pelican and Clydesdale, all manufacturers of high quality, durable cases with endless custom options. They provide the ultimate protection for fragile parts traveling in rough conditions and are guaranteed for life.

Other products the company has available include cartons, strapping equipment, janitorial supplies, protective packaging, bags, labels, shrink systems and heat sealers and stretchwrap.

More information about SmartShield Packaging and their Custom Packaging solutions is available at the website listed above.

For more information, please visit http://www.smartshieldpackaging.com

Contact Info:

Name: Sam Botterill

Organization: SmartShield Packaging

Address: 200 Shoemaker St, Kitchener, Ontario N2E 3E1

Phone: (800) 224-2109

Release ID: 149345

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Khoisan Monarch Supports March Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children

A children's rights march held Saturday outside the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) where the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) International Congress was being held, was supported by King Thomas Edgar Brown, Monarch of the National Khoisan Kingdom in South Africa.

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King Thomas Edgar Brown, Monarch of the National Khoisan Kingdom in South Africa supported a children's rights march held Saturday outside the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) where the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) International Congress was being held. The march, organized by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog group, protested increasing psychiatric labeling and drugging of South Africa's children. The rate of children being prescribed stimulants, which experts say are more potent than cocaine, is astoundingly greater than that even in the United States.

The King issued a heartfelt message, "We need to stop the senseless maiming of people, including children, by psychiatry. CCHR will take the lead and I will direct my people to be alert to this."

Rev. Fred Shaw, Jr., a former Los Angeles Sheriff and past president of the Compton, California branch of the NAACP (U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) applauded King Brown's concern. As an international spokesperson for CCHR, Rev. Shaw flew to Cape Town to warn South Africans about Western psychiatric trends, labeling children with "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD) and prescribing stimulants like Ritalin or antidepressants for "depression." Despite a 2005 "Drug Alert" from South Africa's Medicines Control Council about SSRI antidepressants putting adolescents at increased risk of suicide, children and adolescents are still prescribed the drugs.

Rev. Shaw, who helped CCHR present written testimony in 1997 to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hearing about psychiatry's role in apartheid, warned then of the risks of South Africa adopting psychotropic (mind-altering drugs) in the post-apartheid era. He said, "Few parents are aware that psychiatrists admit they do not have any medical test to confirm ADHD or any mental disorder, nor do they have any cures. However, the drugs they prescribe have been linked to suicide, violence, heart conditions, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, and psychosis."[1]

A psychiatrist, Anchy Asher Ivanis from Switzerland, who was attending the WPA Congress admitted to the marchers that he'd "never" cured any of his patients. Protestors included traditional healers, concerned doctors, nurses, teachers, parents and more than 60 children.

Psychiatric Harm of Children Exhibit

The Children's Rights march culminated in the opening of CCHR's world acclaimed free Traveling Exhibit: Psychiatry: An Industry of Death at the Castle of Good Hope. The exhibit includes a section on psychiatry's role in apartheid as well as a contemporary section on psychotropic drugs and children's rights.

King Thomas Edgar Brown addressed the opening, telling South Africans, "Come and see for yourself the devastating facts that CCHR has."

Rev. Shaw added, "Parents should be alert to students abusing prescription drugs like Ritalin, which children snort and swallow to get high. Ritalin is known as 'smarties,' 'rit' or 'kiddie cocaine.'"

He also warned about South African psychiatrists prescribing antipsychotics such as Risperdal (risperidone). There are about 13,000 lawsuits currently against its manufacturer in the U.S. over the drug causing gynecomastia (female breast growth) in boys prescribed it. The pharmaceutical company has paid out over $2.2 billion (Rand 31.5 billion) to settle criminal and civil charges of illegal marketing of Risperdal. [2] In July 2016, a massive $70 million (Rand 1 billion) was also awarded a Tennessee, U.S. teenager who blamed Risperdal for causing him to grow female breasts. [3]

The WPA Congress is financially supported, in part, by Risperdal's manufacturer and other psychotropic drug companies.

VISIT THE FREE EXHIBIT AT:

Castle of Good Hope, 14-26 November, 9 am - 6 pm

CCHR's website, www.cchrint.org, provides a public service for concerned parents and individuals where they can find out for themselves the side effects of psychiatric drugs. Click here: https://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/

CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas Szasz as an independent mental health rights group. It has been responsible for obtaining more than 180 laws worldwide to protect individuals from coercive psychiatric practices, including a Federal U.S. law that prohibits schools from forcing children to take psychiatric drugs as a requisite for their education.

[1] webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-9475/ritalin-oral/details/list-sideeffects

[2] prnewswire.com/news-releases/risperdal-lawsuit-news-johnson-johnson-facing-at-least-13000-product-liability-claims-over-atypical-antipsychotic-medication-bernstein-liebhard-llp-reports-300351710.html

[3] bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-01/j-j-faces-record-70-million-verdict-over-male-breasts

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Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida

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Girl Meets World Season 4 News & Update: Teasers Revealed Sabrina Carpenter, Rowan Blanchard In Big Apple; Disney Affirms Renewal?

Recent news and updates regarding "Girl Meets World" Season 4 are filled with much speculations and uncertainty. Claims have surfaced that New York is the place where Maya and Riley would begin their new journey and new challenges.

Despite the rumors coming about, there has been no word that "Girl Meets World" Season 4 has been given a go signal by Disney. Moreover, there has been no indicator that Sabrina Carpenter and Rowan Blanchard are moving on to New York.

Even Disney has not rendered any confirmation that the new place for "Girl Meets World" Season 4 is the Big Apple. Also, this is not the first time that the segment has faced numerous speculations and rumors.

In a former report from GamenGuide, it relayed that the recent reports for "Girl Meets World" Season 4 centers on the possibility that the series might return this coming 2017 and that the rumors have surfaced that the renewal has finally been confirmed.

The rumors are skyrocketing that after a long period of silence for Rowan Blanchard, Sabrina Carpenter and their segment, "Girl Meets World" Season 4, the return is finally confirmed, but despite the rumors on the horizon, the truth of the matter has never been given and contrary to the report, there are no details that state that Disney has finally given the segment a go signal and a renewal, as noted by the same post.

The original 3 year old Joshua Matthews. pic.twitter.com/eXgAo7d1wl  Girl Meets Writers (@GMWWriters) July 25, 2016

For the fans and followers of "Girl Meets World" Season 4, the claims regarding the segment should be taken with a grain of salt in mind.
Beatles News & Update: A Furious Break-Up Letter For Beatle Paul McCartney & Wife Linda, From John Lennon Sells For $30,000! What Does It Contain?

A furious letter written by John Lennon addressed to Paul and Linda McCartney has been sold in an auction at almost $30,000. The letter was written shortly after The Beatles split in 1970.

John Lennon-Paul McCartney was a creative tandem that molded The Beatles. The same partners were responsible for the band's fall. Paul publicly admitted that it was the business part that tore them apart.

The Daily Mail reported that the letter showed how much John Lennon and Paul McCartney's egos had clashed. The letter was written on a draft paper with a John And Yoko Bags Production Inc. letterhead, typewritten with John Lennon handwritings scribbling in between to add more messages.

The letter was believed to be written by John Lennon in 1971, a year after The Beatles split. Boston based RR Auction sold the letter to an anonymous buyer for almost $30,000. In that same year, Paul McCartney pulled together a band and called it Wings.

According to the auctioneers, John Lennon's angry letter was written as a response to Linda McCartney's complaint. Linda complained about Lennon's verdict to keep his exit from The Beatles known from the public. Vanit Fair reported that the letter addresses Paul and Linda but he obviously was truly furious at Linda.

John Lennon wasn't just furious about Linda's meddling with his decisions. He was also mad that Linda, not Paul, wrote the letter herself.

He opened the letter rhetorically asking which middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote the letter. Whether it was the queen, Stuart's mother, Clive Epstein's wife, Alan Williams, but it was just Linda. He added that if she doesn't care what he says, she has to keep quiet and let Paul write.

According to the book "The John Lennon Letters", Linda rebuked Lennon for a lot of things. It includes the fact that Lennon wanted to keep his departure from the band a secret.

In his defense, John Lennon kept his departure a secret because Paul McCartney and the band's manager Allen Klein convinced him not to speak to the press. They fear it will damage the image of the Beatles. Lennon wanted Linda to understand his decision without meddling in the situation.
Rise of the Tomb Raider Latest News & Update: Bags Xbox Game of the Year Award

Lara Croft has taken on perilous adventures, angry wildlife and even ancient cities and organizations for more than a decade, but Lara Croft has managed to persevere through it all. And now, aside from the fame and glory of being the most famous tomb raider around the world, "Rise of the Tomb Raider" has just bagged the most recent 2016 Golden Joystick Awards for the Xbox Game of the Year.

Lara had some serious competition for the coveted award which includes "Inside", "Killer Instinct Season 3", "Ark: Survival Evolved", "Elite: Dangerous", "Quantum Break", "Forza Motorsport 6", "Forza Horizon 3", "Halo 5: Guardians", and "ReCore". Aside from the "Rise of the Tomb Raider", other games who garnered a lot of recognition from the 34th Golden Joystick Wards were "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" and "Overwatch" who was even nominated for the top 5 awards. "Overwatch" bagged the Best Original Game, PC Game of the Year, Competitive Game of the Year, Best Gaming Moment, and Best Multiplayer Game.

Meanwhile, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt-Blood and Wine" received the Best Storytelling and the Best Visual Design, Movie News Guide reports. Other highlights of the event went to "Firewatch" who received the Best Indie Game Award and "Pokemon GO" who received the Most Innovative Game of the Year award and the Best Mobile/Handheld Game.

According to Games Radar, "Dark Souls 3", also received a recognition for the Ultimate Game of the Year award which was coveted to be the most important award for the night. Eiji Aonuma, a famous Japanese video game designer for Nintendo, also received the Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to the gaming industry, "Legend of Zelda".

The Golden Joystick Awards is an award-giving body that recognizes that best video games of the year. It has recently celebrated its 34th year and is considered as the second- oldest video game award giving ceremony just after the Arcade Awards. "Rise of the Tomb Raider" was released on November 10, 2015.
Malware Causes ATM To Spit Out Cash; FBI Links Russian Cybercrime Gang In Similar ATM Attacks Worldwide

Besides giving us easier ways to perform several activities, technology has also facilitated several scams. The latest one recorded is the hacking of ATM via malware as reported by a Russian cybersecurity firm.

Russian Cybersecurity Firm Explains Malware ATM Attacks

Group IB said that some ATMs have been spitting cash out without any physical tampering of the machines. There has been no change in the settings or configuration of the machines as observed. The firm claimed that the centralized systems are being affected by malware called "touchless jackpotting." This way, the groups of machines start issuing cash at the same time, leading to a huge cash flow.

Although Group IB did not specifically mention the names of the banks suffering from the loss of cash through ATMs, it has named the nations that have been affected by the malware ATM hack. These include Estonia, the Netherlands, Armenia, Poland, Spain, Russia and Britain.

FBI On Malware ATM Attacks Worldwide; Russian Gang Buhtrap To Blame?

Apart from the nations mentioned, Taiwan and Thailand have also reportedly suffered from the ATM hacking issues, according to Fortune. The cybercriminals there have been able to grab millions of dollars in early 2016. The FBI has issued a warning about the possible similar attacks in the US and other countries. The bureau believes that the hacking of the cash machines might have links with Russian gang Buhtrap.

The gang members possibly used malicious software to hack personal details of the users and release cash in huge amounts. The FBI said in October that it was inspecting the malware ATM hacking cases along with the cyber criminals who were targeting other nations, including the US.

Meanwhile, Group IB Dmitry Volkov told the BBC that the malware attack on the cash machines, if successfully conducted, can lead to grabbing of up to $400,000 at one time. He said that Russia was not experiencing such attacks only recently but that it has been witnessing this since 2013. "The threat is critical. Attackers get access to an internal bank's network and critical information systems. That allows them to rob the bank," he said.
Metallicas Hardwired To Self-Destruct Is Gaining International Clamor By Trending Number 1 In 57 Countries.

Metallica is currently dominating rock and roll competition by trending numero uno in 57 countries. According to industry experts, the band is on its way to global domination, the 6th time in the band's illustrious career.

After giving a tribute for rock legend Lemmy Kilmister on their latest Murder One music video. The iconic rock band is seen to exceed expectations for the 10th album, "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct". The new album is currently projected to sell 300,000 units in the U.S. and is trending to attain the number one spot in the American market.

According to Billboard, the album that was released during their "Blackened Friday Event," is currently enjoying international clamor. "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct," is trending to debut at number one in 57 countries; it is also included in the top 3 list for 75 countries and in the top 5 for 105 countries.

"We Are Stunned," Says Metallica At Album's Early Success

In post by Loudwire, the band was stunned at the early success of their 10th album, they are beyond grateful for the album's success and are looking forward to play at their November 29 gig at the Toronto Opera house. Metallica hinted on a special 5th member that will join them on stage during the concert.

TORONTO! Were going to be playing a small gig at the historic Opera House on November 29th. More info: https://t.co/CH5Y81SEm9 pic.twitter.com/uq9R2DdusV  Metallica (@Metallica) November 21, 2016

'Hardwired... to Self-Destruct' Reception

Metallica's new album has received favorable reviews from music critics and fans are surely delighted to hear fresh content from one of history's most influential rock icons. The album's tracks include well acclaimed titles like "Murder One," "Hardwired," "Atlas, Rise," and "Moth Into Flame".

The songs were written by the band's guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. This is the first album since 1983 not to feature Kirk Hammett in writing of the songs. The band claims that he lost his phone back in 2014 at the Copenhagen airport. The phone stored 250 riff ideas that could have been used for the album.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Early 2017 Launching Alongside Note 8? Better Than Google Pixel C

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will run on the company's Exynos 8890 processor and it is expected to dominate the tablet market once it becomes available. According to reports, the new tablet from the South Korean tech giant is more powerful than Google Pixel C.

The new leaked information suggests that Samsung latest entry in the tablet world will be the main focus of the company following the disappointment release of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The new Exynos 8890 chipset will be paired with advanced specs under the hood and speculations are rife that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will also carry impressive features.

According to GSM Arena, the current Google Pixel C runs on Quad-core Nvidia Tegra X1, which clocks at 1.9 GHz. It also has the Nvidia Maxwell GPU for better graphics technology and 3 GB RAM for multitasking purposes. On the other hand, the Exynos 8890 processor of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is said to have more power than the current Snapdragon 820 mobile CPU from Qualcomm.

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 has recently been spotted at Zauba and it appears that the device will be shipped for evaluation in India. According to the report, the new tablet will arrive in multiple variations and the one spotted carries a SM-825 codename, which many predict as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 LTE variant. Several tech observers also suggest that the new tablet might arrive in the global market carrying a $500 to $550 price tag.

Although Samsung has continued to stay silent with regard to the development and release date of its upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, several reports suggest that the new tablet will sport an OLED panel. There are also speculations saying that it may arrive in the first quarter of 2017 alongside the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Stay tuned for more news and updates about Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.
James Corden News & Update: Jolly Host of The Late Late Show Replaced LL Cool J at Grammy Awards 2017?

Actor-host James Corden announced on his show "The Late Late Show" Tuesday night that he will be the new host of upcoming 59th Grammy Awards 2017.

James Corden has replaced the five-year run of hip-hop artist and "NCIS: Los Angeles" star LL Cool J as Grammy's host. The comedian actor-host said that he was truly honored to become the person in the house of the biggest and most prestigious award show in music. Even the Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow is also excited to welcome James Corden's passion and enthusiasm for music, both as an entertainer and a fan of the mentioned show. Being a commanding and dynamic showman makes him a perfect fit to host the Grammy Awards.

Aside from his next big host gig, James Corden had already plenty of experience at awards shows. He presented at the Brit Awards (UK's version of Grammy Awards) five times. In 2009, he was with Mathew Horne and Kylie Minogue and from 2009-2014, James Corden handled the show alone very well. In addition with that, James Corden has been in musical theater and performing on stage when he was only 18 years old. Fans got to see his amazing voice in the 2014 musical film "Into the Woods".

James Corden is a broadway, television and film star famouse for his 'Carpool Karaoke' segment singing with guest celebrities and along with game Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts. The show becomes phenomenal as his skits were always clever, creative and of course, hilarious. Also, he takes over host Craig Ferguson on its "The Late Late Show" last March 2015, which is another big opportunity to advance his hosting career.

With his musical and hosting experiences, there's no doubt that James Corden could do an incredible hosting job in Grammy Awards which will be held on Feb. 12 at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California.
AMD RX 490 Release Date, Specs, Features, News & Update: Launching Moved to 2017; GPU Better Than NVIDIA GTX 1080? More Details

AMD RX 490 is one of the most anticipated video cards in the market today; however, reports are circulating that the release of the powerful GPU might be delayed. Although the company has yet to provide specific details with regard to its release date, new reports suggest that the upcoming graphics hardware unit will arrive in the middle of 2017.

According to the latest report, the new AMD Radeon RX 490 was already scheduled to come out in 2016 by both the AMD and Sapphire websites. Despite the recent disappointing delay, fans are hoping that the company will focus on making the GPU more powerful than ever as they expect it to be launched next year.

The AMD Radeon RX 490 will feature the company's latest graphics card technology called Vega 10 architecture. It is expected to arrive in the market as a direct competition against NVIDIA's newest releases, the GTX 1070 or GTX 1080. According to Videocardz, the new GPU has the capability to support 4K display output and virtual reality. The card has a GPU base clock of 1,200 MHz and a memory clock of up to 350 (1400) MHz.

One of the reasons experts are predicting why the new AMD Radeon RX 490 will be delayed is its Vega 10 architecture usage. The current GPUs in the AMD RX Series were all made from Polaris architecture, and the decision to use the Vega 10 for AMD Radeon RX 490 may have caused the company to put more time on its development.

Meanwhile, According to Wccftech, the AMD Radeon RX 490 will carry a power of 9,830 GigaFlops with more than 256bit memory interface. There are reports suggesting that the new graphics card from AMD will be available with a lesser price than NVIDIA GTX 1080, which is currently in the market for $700. If rumors prove to be true, the new AMD Radeon RX 490 will immediately become a hit once it hits the shelves.
LG V30 Release Date, News & Update: Secondary Display Ditched, Not Functional? V20 With Android 7.0 Never To Come In Europe?

LG V30 will no longer come with a secondary display. Reports suggest that the company's next V series phone secondary display has been ditched due to complaints received from the LG V20 users. The V20 owners are claiming that the phone's secondary display is more of a gimmick than a functionality.

According to a leaker named Evan Blass, the phone manufacturer plans to drop the secondary display for LG V30. Based on reports, despite the company's attempt to implement a different feature to make the LG V30 stand out from other high-end smartphones in the market, it appears that not everyone is excited about a secondary display.

However, since the LG V30 is rumored to unveil next year in the fall, there are speculations that the South Korean company may still change some of its plans on LG V30. Meantime, the leaker also claims to have some early LG V30 renders that he has not posted yet.

In other news, LG has introduced the LG V20, which is the first smartphone to ship with Android 7.0 Nougat in the market. However, reports indicate that the company will not roll out the mobile device worldwide. Instead, the smartphone will only be available in South Korea and the United States. This was due to the fact that LG believes that their current flagship will not be able to compete other smartphones in Europe, Softpedia reported.

Meanwhile, LG has reportedly been a bit different with the V series smartphones, given the fact that V10 was launched in South Korea and later in the US. However, the phone was not launched in any other countries. In fact, it was only made available in three of the four US carriers.

Later, LG V20 was revealed in September and was launched by the end of October. However, the smartphone is only launching in a few markets, and Europe is not included. Nevertheless, the company has reportedly trademarked "V20 S" in Europe, which prompts everyone to ask if the V20 variant is finally heading to European market, Android Headlines reported. Watch LG V30 Will Not Feature A Secondary Display
Huawei Latest News & Update: 10nm Huawei Kirin 970 Processor Coming? Support For Global Cat. 12 LTE?

Huawei recently launched its Kirin 960 flagship mobile processor and there are already rumors that the company has now started developing its next-generation device. Given the stride at which the Chinese giant is rising in the mobile market and the ambitions that it has, it won't be surprising to find out if it certainly has.

Word on the street is that Huawei's next-generation processor will be known as Kirin 970 and that it will be grounded on the 10nanometer process. One of the major features of the new chip is backing for global Cat. 12 LTE, which will allow the chip to support more of the bands set up in niche markets like the United States, and faster LTE across the board worldwide.

Huawei Latest News: Enormous Spike In Performance May Be Anticipated

As cited in AndroidHeadlines, the 10nm process apparently being used for the Kirin 970 is about 30 percent more efficient than the 16nm process that was on the Kirin 960. This means that up to 30 percent more transistors can fit on the board.

This could explain an enormous spike in performance, although the risk of having closely-packed components is overheating, as seen in the Snapdragon 810. The chip will possibly be of the typical octa-core persuasion. Add that to an an expansive quad-core Cortex-A73 setup running alongside a less power-hungry cluster of Cortex-A53 cores and paired with an equally powerful Mali-G71 octa-core GPU for pixel pushing.

Huawei's Flagship Devices Comparable With Samsung's Exynos 8895?

Recently, Samsung affiliated up with Qualcomm to create a 10 nm manufacturing process for mobile system-on-a-chip units. TSMC, a direct competitor, has also produced a 10nm process. One of the first to use this technology is rumored to be Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 835 mobile processor, along with Samsung's own Exynos 8895 chipset. However, it appears that other manufacturers, like the 29-year-old company Huawei, won't be too far behind the curve.

According to Ubergizmo, no further specifics are available right now about the Huawei Kirin 970's specifications. That's rational since this processor won't really be put into service until next year. Anticipate it to power the Chinese multinational company's flagship devices in 2017.
Android 7.0 Nougat Latest News & Update: Upgrade For Galaxy S6 Will Be Release Sooner Than Later?

Samsung is running a beta program for Android 7.0 Nougat on the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge in a few districts, which implies that clients ought to hope to experience the most recent Android working framework (OS) soon. Samsung has not declared Android Nougat's release date for the Galaxy S6, however, it appears that the cell phone will likewise get a product upgrade sooner than later.

Android 7.0 Nougat is the most recent Android versatile OS accessible in the market. Despite the fact that android gadget proprietors are willingly sitting tight for it, just a modest bunch of gadgets have gotten the new OS.

On the off chance that bits of gossip are to be trusted, it may not be much sooner than Galaxy S6 clients begin getting Android 7.0 Nougat overhaul. The Galaxy S6 was spotted at GFXBench running on Android 7.0 Nougat, which proposes Samsung is in the last phases of testing the new working framework for the leader gadget of 2015.

Reports likewise point that the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge could be the primary Samsung gadgets to experience Android Nougat took after by gadgets in the Galaxy S6 arrangement and Galaxy Note 5.Android 7.0 Nougat brings various new elements, bug fixes and execution upgrades. Android gadget proprietors will show signs of improvement battery administration, more quick-witted warnings, customized settings and more with Android 7.0 Nougat.

Samsung has not uncovered a course of events for the arrival of Android 7.0 Nougat for its handsets however clients will plan to get the overhaul at the earliest opportunity. Clients ought to likewise take note of that individual bearers may even now require some serious energy before releasing a product upgrade to their variations of the Galaxy S6, which implies a few clients may need to hold up longer than other to get the product redesign.
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Relationship Updates: Lovestruck Kate Middletons Brother-in-Law Caused Suits Actress Breakup With Cory Vitiello? Royal Prince Stole His Girl

Prince Harry of Wales is said to be so head over heels with American actress Meghan Markle, that he didn't stop wooing her through text, until she went out with him. According to reports, the British Royalty "became obssessed with her. He bombarded her with texts, begging her to go out with him - even though she was living with Cory."

The two lovebirds, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, first met in Toronto, Canada last May during the kick off countdown for the 2017 Invictus game. The Invictus Game is a paralympic-style of event pioneered by the British Prince Harry of Wales to honor the wounded soldier from the war. Meghan Markle was still living with celebrity chef Cory Vitiello, a restaurateur and owner of rotisseries called Flock, at that time.

A few weeks after Cory Vitiello publicized his official break up with Meghan Markle in July, rumors surfaced that the actress is spending some serious time with Prince Harry. The source shared that Meghan Markle is staying at Kensington Palace two months later.

Prince Harry and the "Suits" actress Meghan Markle is said to be seriously dating for months now. Keeping the relationship under wraps for months is surely a feat for people of this caliber but they did it really well. It was just recently that reports of the affair went out to the public. Rumors are out that Prince Harry has plans of marrying and having kids, and Meghan Markle is dubbed as "the one." It is noted by the source that both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are humanitarians and they have great chemistry together.

Now that the relationship is out in the open, negative feedback is thrown left and right. Camilla, Prince Harry's stepmother, allegedly does not approve of his relationship with Meghan Markle. Until now, no official announcement has been made by the royal family.
FC Barcelona Neymar: Spanish Prosecutors Want 2-Year Jail Term & $10M Fine In Fraud Case For Barcelona Striker

Spanish public prosecution led by Judge Jose Perals called for a two-year prison sentence and a $10.6M fine on Wednesday to Barcelona striker Neymar for his involvement in a fraud case regarding his move from Santos to Barca. The Spanish prosecution also called for a 8.4M ($8.8M) fine to the club, as per The Independent. Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell is also involved, with prosecutors recommending a five-year sentence for his role in the affair as per beIN Sports.

The charges to the Barcelona striker stems from a case against Neymar, his father (who acted as his agent) and Rosell in a complaint filed by DIS, a Brazilian investment fund, which held 40 percent of Neymar's transfer rights. DIS claims that it received less money than it was entitled to from the transfer as Barca allegedly concealed the real transfer fee, as per Reuters. In addition, DIS seeks heavier sanctions against Barca and Neymar such as a 195M ($200M) fine to the club and 5-year sentences to Neymar and his father, as per beIN Sports.

The club has been immersed in legal troubles since Neymar transferred in 2013. Rosell resigned in 2014 for his involvement and testified in court in February, along with Neymar and his father. FC Barcelona struck a deal with prosecutors in June to settle a separate case and paid a $6.2M fine, as per Reuters. The case was archived by Judge Jose de la Mata but it was successfully overruled by the Spanish public prosecutor's office in September, which reopened the case.

But even if the Barcelona striker has been sentenced, prison terms for two years and under can be suspended under the Spanish legal system, per BBC News. This means that Neymar might not spend time in prison, and will most likely appeal for his case.
Fast & Furious 8 Release Date, News & Update: Dwayne Johnson Made Chicken Ass Remark To Promote Wrestlemania Match Vs. Vin Diesel?

Are Fast & Furious 8 stars Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel really feuding or do they  like many showbiz celebrities  use alleged feuds to promote a future event involving them? In the case of the two actors, speculation is that Dwayne Johnsons calling Vin Diesel a few months ago a candy ass could be actually to drum up public interest in a future Wrestlemania clash between two superstars.

Opptrends writes that their feud began as a real clash. Common Hollywood PR tactics would exploit those differences between actors of an upcoming movie, such as Fast & Furious 8, to have more moviegoers watch the movie when it premieres on April 2, 2017.

Unnamed Male Co-Stars

The feud began with Dwayne Johnson using the term chicken s**t to describe some of his male co-actors in Fast & Furious 8. However, while he did not identify the involved stars, observers concluded Dwayne Johnson was referring to Vin Diesel. Months after the incident, which Dwayne Johnson said Universal Pictures preferred had not occurred, The Rock said he is not sorry for calling some of his male co-stars in Fast & Furious 8 candy asses, Digital Spy reports.

Feud Creates More Interest In Movie

Dwayne Johnson added that he and Universal Pictures had talked about his remarks made while shooting Fast & Furious 8. He pointed out that it is ironic that after the producer had tracked and analyzed the incident, public interest in the movie even grew further.

However, Digital Spy notes that Fast & Furious 8 does not need negative publicity to promote the franchise film  which includes Charlize Theron as Cipher, the villain, and Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones as Ramsey, a hacker. After all, Fast & Furious 7 is the sixth-highest grossing movie which earned for Universal Pictures box-office receipt of $1.5 billion in worldwide exhibition in 2015.
Play Station VR News & Update: Play Station VR Named One Of The Best Invention Of The Year By Time Magazine. How Did The Technology Deserve The Title?

Time magazine annually filters through several inventions to make their list of the best inventions for the year. This year, Sony's Play Station VR made it to the prestigious list.

According to Time Magazine, Play Station VR made the list because it allows access to ground breaking virtual reality technology to more people. People do not need to shell out thousands of dollars for a computer system powerful enough to support virtual reality technology.

Play Station VR has a relatively affordable price tag making it readily available at $400 compared to the $800 HTC Vive. Play Station VR's compatibility to the Play Station 4 console, which millions of gamers already own, makes it not as exclusive as other virtual reality technologies.

The Play Station VR is priced at $400, works with a Play Station 4, which also tags at least $300 and a Play Station camera. The Play Station camera comes in a bundle with the Play Station VR Worlds and two Move controllers at $499.99. Play Station VR was launched October and according to Sony, sales are on track.

According to a review by Gamespot's Jimmy Thang, he cannot wholeheartedly recommend Play Station VR at this point. He is a fan of virtual reality technology but Play Station VR has too many faults.

Some Play Station VR designed game title makes people nauseated. Jimmy Thang recommends holding out purchasing a Play Station VR until better titles come out or a better technology comes in.

He added that Play Station VR is affordable but not as immersive or as crisp as the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift. Play Station VR also uses a PS4 instead of a very pricey PC gaming system which is a positive point for the gadget.

Some game titles available for Play Station VR are Rocksteady's "Batman: Arkham VR," the "Job Simulator," "Wayward Sky" and "Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood." "Batman: Arkham" VR was said to be exciting but short, the "Job Simulator" was hilarious, tear-jerking "Wayward Sky" did it's job and "Until Dawn: Rush of Blood" is a horror game that is truly horrifying.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday News & Update: Security Experts Warn The Public For A Possible Hack Threat; Don't Purchase Online?

Everyone is excited about the things they have been eyeing to purchase this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, one thing is for sure, hackers are more excited than you are.

Security experts have warned the public to be careful this Black Friday and on Cyber Monday. The reason is that this holiday season will be the perfect timing for the hackers to hack your account. The vulnerability of mobile security and online platforms are the target of this hack threat.

According to CIO, two security firms warned Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers on using their smartphone with their purchases. The hack threat is possible to start when consumers have accessed fake Wi-Fi hotspots inside the malls and the use of fake commerce applications.

An enterprise security firm Skycure warned the public to not access public Wi-Fi hotspots using a mobile phone to purchase online. It will only increase the risk of retrieving the user's account information. Skycure mobility strategist Brian Duckering said, "cyber criminals are increasing our risk of using mobile devices while shopping, whether it is Black Friday or Cyber Monday."

Another cyber security company RiskIQ said that some hackers are acting like they are associated with a brand and will lure shoppers with fake promo offers to steal shopper's personal information. RiskIQ also conducted a research that there are 8.4 percent to 16 percent of bogus apps that are linked to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Network World reported.

In addition, RiskIQ added to do not install apps unless they are sure its legitimate applications. "Some fake apps contain malware that can steal personal information," the company added. RiskIQ also warned Black Friday or Cyber Monday shoppers of avoiding doubtful links on social media accounts or email accounts.

Meanwhile, RiskIQ has predicted that an average of 31 percent shoppers on Black Friday or Cyber Monday will use their mobile devices. On the other hand, Skycure analysts said that this year will have three times as many mobile payments than last year.
Kanye West News & Update: Rapper Improving Under Kim Kardashian's Care, Couple To Spend Thanksgiving Holidays In Hospital

After the recent set of incidents happened in Kanye West's life, ultimately landing him inside a hospital, things seem to be on an improving stage, Kanye's wife Kim Kardashian was spotted leaving UCLA Medical Center recently. The 39 year old artist Kanye West was admitted under critical condition. After he lost it while performing during November 19th concert, things have not been good so far, this further leads to cancellation of his Saint Pablo tour. However, the rapper is likely to spend his thanksgiving in the hospital.

Some sources contended that the rapper believed it to be everyone else's responsibility for his own breakdown. Tickets of the cancelled show will be fully refunded once things go well with Kanye. During the day of the show, while fans were eagerly waiting for their star's performance where he arrived 90 minutes later, then performed on-stage for only 15 minutes. What followed ahead is beyond description! Kanye lost his cool on Jay Z and Beyonce. He went on criticizing badly his former friend for not calling up and showing any interest after Kim Kardashian's robbery case, happened in October.

Since his hospitalization, he has been advised to take proper rest and help himself avoiding any kind of exhaustion. An insider added, "They are taking it day by day. He understands that getting help at the hospital was necessary." Till now Kim has not left her husband for a single second since he has been hospitalized. She has even missed the Angel Ball in New York City, where she had to give her first public appearance after she was robbed of millions of Jewellery on Gunpoint, in Paris.

She was spotted flying out of New York to head back to Los Angeles shortly following news of Kanye's hospitalization. Now since family and friends are around Kanye and Kim, she has been getting good support from them.
iPhone 7 Plus Latest News & Updates: Apples Latest Phone vs $1600-Camera Kit; Which Takes Better Photos?

There are quite good reasons why one would be tempted to go for iPhone 7 Plus when picking their new phone. Aside from its larger screen with remarkable higher resolution and noticeably longer-lasting battery, its camera is superb.

iPhone 7 Plus brags of its dual-camera setup at the back. This set up allows it to pull off some notable tricks when shooting images. Not only that, its second camera has a 2X zoom advantage, thus taking objects closer without compromising details. Because of its bokeh feature, it can take impressive portraits by adding background blur to the images. This makes the people in the photo stand out and gives the image a distinctive look as if it was taken by an expensive camera kit.

An experiment has been recently made; iPhone 7 Plus' camera is compared to a dedicated camera. The challenger was a popular mirrorless camera, the Panasonic Lumix GH4. This camera setup today, however, costs around $1600, that is around about two times iPhone 7 Plus' cost.

Instead of using the stock lens, it was equipped it with an Olympus 25mm F/1.8 lens, which yields a view similar to that of the iPhone 7 Plus' 2X zoom camera. It also produces a good bokeh effect at wider aperture settings.

The results were remarkable. Sure, the camera's image looks better overall thanks to its genuine bokeh. The image looks catchy and the results are much more pleasing. Although it can't always calculate the edges of the blurred area accurately, which produces blur where there shouldn't be, iPhone 7 Plus' overall camera image looks pretty noteworthy.

iPhone 7 Plus may still a bit rough around the edges, yet it produces the best bokeh effect we've seen out of a phone. And with all those outstanding features, it sure is a great choice for a new phone.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Release Date, News & Update: Company Clear Galaxy Note 7 Negative Air Via New Smartphone? Foldable Device Possible?

There are ones who spread rumors and there are ones who believe them. This is somewhat the case with Samsung currently, with many believing it would abandon the "Note" series altogether after the Galaxy Note 7 disaster. Then, there are some who swear by faith and believe that Samsung will pounce back right into the competition with a brand new Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung is surely in damage-control mode and even established a Note 7 Exchange Program, giving a chance to sufferers to upgrade to Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge. If some tech experts are to be believed, the company is already developing the Galaxy Note 8 and the handset could be released in the first quarter of 2017.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may also be offered at great discounts to Note 7 buyers once the smartphone is released. An October story by GSMArena surprised everybody as the site reported Samsung is seriously considering discontinuing the Note series, and this was apparently reported by a Russian site Hi Tech Mail.ru.

As per the report, a survey showed that 50 percent of the participants agreed to the fact that the "Note" brand carries a negative connotation. Thus, a rebranding seemed inevitable. However, the South Korean tech giant has not made any announcement on this regard, which is a bit surprising, considering the gravity of the situation and the decision.

This has led many to believe that Samsung is not going to just sit tight and let the tide pass. Instead, it would come back with a bang with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with a probable relinquishment of the Home button. The screen size may be increased.

Fans do want to see a 4K Display, a 6GB RAM and an Exynos 8895 chipset in the device. Needless to say, this time, fans also want a removable battery in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to avoid misfortune.

To add a twist to the tale, Samsung could also make the Galaxy Note 8 foldable, but that's stretching the imagination out of control. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more Samsung Galaxy Note 8 news and updates!
iOS 10 Jailbreak Release Date, Latest News & Update: Pangu Makes Stand, Plans To Roll Out Crack This Yuletide Season, Details Here!

Pangu has been slowly rising to the occasion recently as the wait for a working iOS 10 jailbreak continues. The latest on that is a crack will be out anytime between December 2016 and January 2017, perhaps the closest anyone has gotten with regards to an iOS 10 jailbreak breakthrough.

The wait for an iOS 10 jailbreak continues but various reports are suggesting that one will be rolling out soon. Pangu has come out to claim that they have finally come up with a working iOS 10 jailbreak and now many are expecting the crack to be out by December.

That said, Pangu is allegedly waiting for Apple to release iOS 10.2. The next Apple mobile operating system is already in the third beta and the final version could be rolling out soon, Mac Rumors reported. A reason for the quick rollout is that iOS 10 continues to be plagued with issued tied up to device compatibility and security.

Despite the discovery of security flaws, many are flabbergasted by the fact that Pangu or even TaiG have not come up with a working iOS 10 jailbreak. Some individual hackers have shown off videos achieving the crack but their inability to make it public places them in the circle of hoaxes.

As far as an iOS 10 jailbreak is concerned, it may not just be an iOS 10 jailbreak coming out in the open. With iOS 10.2 betas, out in the open, Pangu has allegedly started working on an iOS 10.2 jailbreak as well.

Sweetening the claims of an iOS 10 jailbreaks imminent coming is the Chinese hacking groups claim of adding more functionalities to the rumored hack, Neurogadget reported. If so, this would make the alleged iOS 10 jailbreak cover most Apple devices out in the market.

The last time Pangu was able to release a crack was with iOS 9.3.3. Nothing followed after that and the wait seems to be an eternity. If Pangu is indeed ready with one, an iOS 10 jailbreak could be a fitting Christmas present to the Apple Jailbreaking Community.
A second route, which will service downtown to Alamitos Beach, will launch on Nov. 10.
County officials are warning residents about a scam in which a caller pretends to be a representative with the Benton County District Attorneys Office looking for money.

The DA's office received several reports Wednesday of people receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be "Sergeant Kemp" or "Alex Kemp" with the DA's office or Benton County courthouse. According to the reports, the caller instructs the victim to put money on a pre-paid card or risk being arrested or put in jail.

"The Benton County District Attorneys office will never call demanding money in lieu of arrest," officials said in a press release. "Please do not respond by sending money at any time. Please do not provide any personal information to the caller."

Those receiving a suspected scam phone call are asked to call the Benton County Sheriff's Office at 541-766-6858.
A group of Oregon State University students delivered a 6-foot-long personal message to President Ed Ray at his office Tuesday in the hopes that the university would renew efforts to support fair trade apparel.

Sweatshop Free OSU, a coalition of several campus groups looking for increased transparency and accountability of OSU apparel, delivered the hand-print petition featuring dozens of signatures and painted hand-prints symbolizing the plight of sweatshop workers toiling to make OSU apparel.

The group is calling on the university to create an affiliation with the Worker Rights Consortium and source ethically made apparel from Alta Gracia, a factory in the Dominican Republic known for high wages and good working conditions.

Founder and apparel design student Marie Recine said Sweatshop Free OSU had sent several letters requesting meetings with Ray, but had yet to meet with him personally before Tuesday.

We wanted to remind him that were here, were interested in this cause and its something thats not going to go away because the human rights violations arent going away, Recine said.

She added that the group is requesting to meet with Ray, Book Store management and university officials to discuss steps the school could take toward carrying fair trade apparel.

The Book Store might be able to do something directly, but OSU is still under the president and its still the Oregon State logo, Recine said. Its a friendly way to show youre persistent. I think (Ray) being able to see the faces of people who are interested means a lot more than emailing him.

Ray commended the students for pursuing the issue.

They obviously care about these things and theyre engaged in pursuing politics that benefit other people and not just themselves. Thats the kind of qualities we like our students to have, Ray said. Were in the process of gathering information about the workers rights groups. One of the things I want to make sure we do is act in a way consistent with policies and practices consistent with the university board and how we would react to any request of action.

Recine said she was neither encouraged nor discouraged by Rays reaction Wednesday.

Its always good to hear someone is glad we care about something, Recine said. But the words dont mean anything until there is action behind them.

Sweatshop Free OSU is looking to reignite actions started by previous OSU student activist groups such as the Chicano student group MEChA and the OSU chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops.

OSU alumna and former MEChA student leader Nicthe Verdugo said in a press release that the group and other affiliated organizations requested action on the issue about 18 months ago.

The administration is playing dumb, when really, they are actively avoiding meeting with students around this pressing human rights issue, Verdugo said in the release. Its extremely discouraging that generations of students have taken up the cause of human rights in the garment industry, and the OSU administration still ignores them, at garment workers expense.
Currently under the Electoral College system, 48 states choose to cast all of their Electoral College votes for the presidential candidate who gets the most popular votes in that particular state. This method means a candidate can get the most popular votes nationwide but still lose the election.

This actually happened three times in the 1800s and now it has happened twice in the last 16 years. This is wrong. The Constitution established an Electoral College but allows each state to decide how that state's Electoral College votes are distributed. Thus each state can choose to cast all of its Electoral College votes for the candidate who gets the greatest number of national popular votes if that state decides to do so.

Ten states (New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois and California) as well as the District of Columbia (representing 165 Electoral College votes) have approved changing to the national popular vote. Since a candidate must have 270 (or more) Electoral College votes to be elected president, when states representing 270 or more Electoral College votes choose this change the candidate with the greatest number of national popular votes will be elected in every subsequent election even if no other states decide to change.

To learn more, to find out what Oregon is doing, and to find out what you can do go to www.nationalpopularvote.com and open the boxes labeled, "Myths About Constitutionality" and "Progress in the States." Merely complaining to your friends won't help. Take action.

Michael Brantley

Corvallis (Nov. 15)
The Nov. 2 Gazette-Times carried a fine article by McClatchy's Anna Douglas on the current Supreme Court vacancy. To review, she focused on how disunited the United States could become if certain Republicans continue their opposition to confirming any nominee of a Democratic president. I'm confident that recently-deceased Justice Antonin Scalia, a strict adherent of the Constitution in its original meaning, would wince over today's misinterpretations of that document's charge to the president in Article II that: "he shall nominate, and by and with Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme court."

The eight-justice court that we have had since Justice Scalia's death already has split evenly on a case. The decision "affirmed by an equally divided court" means that it applies only within the lower court's jurisdiction. Douglas referenced comments on this by Pamela Karlan a former Department of Justice official and now a law professor at Stanford University  and Neil Siegel, law professor at Duke University and a former clerk at the Supreme Court. Karlan stated that such a decision discourages the court's consideration of cases having this likely outcome, for it is counter to ensuring that "constitutional rights are uniformly recognized and that federal law is consistently applied across state lines."

Neil Siegel stated: "This is going down a very dangerous road," because "It means that the same issue can be decided differently in different parts of the nation." He asks, "Do we really want a system in which the head of one of the three branches of government is rendered dysfunctional?"

Presumably so, for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina stated " if Hillary becomes president, I'm going to do everything I can do to make sure that four years from now, we're still going to have an opening on the Supreme Court. Even Sen. John McCain stated: "I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton would put up."

Will the Supreme Court return to full strength under the Trump administration, if no action toward confirmation of the recent nomination of Merrick B. Garland is taken before President Obama leaves office? When "the shoe is on the other foot," will opposition to hearings on presidential appointments continue, or will the standoff be resolved so that the constitutional protections are returned under a fully functional judicial branch of the federal government? The political battles between the executive and legislative branches and within the legislative branch to influence the third branch prerogatives must end and the nine-justice court restored. A suggested approach is presented.

Upon notification of the death or potentially long-term incapacity of a Supreme Court justice, the president would fill that seat without delay by appointing the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as interim justice. He or she, of course, would already have been confirmed by the Senate for the Court of Appeals. Anticipating a need for replacement, a candidate search would be initiated concurrently. With regard to that search, I argued in the Feb. 19 Gazette-Times that the eight sitting justices are best qualified to recommend a ninth, and it would serve the president well to seek their recommendation. Thus, the new member would have been vetted by all three branches prior to his or her appointment.
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Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Austrian rail offers night service : From Bonn to the snow by sleeper train

Dusseldorf/Bonn Climb aboard at night in Bonn and wake up in Innsbruck. The new service being offered by Austrian rail is a dream for skiers. But the train will only stop in Koblenz or Cologne on the way back.

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Osterreichische Bundesbahnen (OBB)  the Austrian national rail company - is taking over night train routes in Germany from Deutsche Bahn and is offering additional services.

From 11 December, OBB will offer a new proper night train with sleeper and couchette cars between Dusseldorf and Innsbruck. Passengers will also be able to join the Nightjet in Bonn as it heads south via Munich.

It will leave Bonn daily at 9.43pm and arrive the next morning in Innsbruck at 9.14am. It is an ideal service for skiers wanting to go the Tyrol. The only snag is that on the return journey the train will not stop in Bonn. Passengers from the region who joined the train at 8.44pm in Innsbruck must alight either in Koblenz at 7.05am or in Cologne at 8.15am.

OBB said Deutsche Bahn had not offered them an appropriate stop within their desired time slot because of renovation works at Bonn main station. An OBB spokesman said it was hoped this would change once the works were finished. They are scheduled to continue until the end of 2019. The night train between Dusseldorf and Vienna, which the OBB is also taking over from Deutsche Bahn, will also not stop in Bonn.

Deutsche Bahn is withdrawing completely from sleeper and couchette trains after many years of multi-million euro losses. OBB is taking over several routes under the Nightjet brand and will offer daily sleeper trains from Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich to Vienna, Zurich, Innsbruck, Venice, Rome and Milan. Cars and motorbikes will be accepted on the Dusseldorf-Vienna route (four times per week) and the Dusseldorf-Munich-Innsbruck route (three times per week).

OBB said it was buying 42 sleeper cars and 15 couchettes from Deutsche Bahn. The cars will have new beds, a new outer design and will later be remodelled inside.

A private travel company also offers a train connection between Cologne and Bonn and the Austrian winter resorts on 13 dates in the peak winter season. The Snow Express offered by the Muller-Touristik group also has couchettes: www.schnee-express.com
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
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.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has asked President Muhammadu Buhari focus on solving Nigeria's problems instead of portioning blames on past administrations.

Obasanjo stated this on Wednesday, November 23 while speaking at the first Akintola Williams Annual Lecture in Lagos.He said it is uncharitable for Buharis administration needs to evolve policies that will take Nigeria out of the current economic recession.He said:

Quote

"The blanket adverse comments or castigation of all democratic administrations from 1999 by the present administration is uncharitable, fussy and uninstructive.

"Politics apart, I strongly believe that there is a distinction between the three previous administrations that it would be unfair to lump them all together. I understand President Buharis frustration on the state of the economy inherited by him. It was the same reason and situation that brought about the cry for change, otherwise, there would be no need for change if it was all nice and rosy.

"No administration can or should be comfortable with the excruciating pain of debilitating and crushing economy. Businesses are closing, jobs are being lost and people are suffering.

"I know that President Buhari has always expressed concern for the plight of the common people but that concern must be translated to workable and result-oriented socio-economic policy and programme that will turn the economy around at the shortest time possible.

"We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect things to change."



The former president also criticised Buhari's plans to take about $30 billion loan.

He said: "I am sure that such a comprehensive policy and programme (that will move Nigeria forward) will not support borrowing US$30 billion in less than three years. It will give us the short-, medium- and long-term picture.

"Adhocry is not the answer but cold, hard headed planning that evinces confidence and trust is the answer. Economy neither obeys orders nor does it work according to wishes. It must be worked upon with all factors considered and most stakeholders involved.

"The investors, domestic and foreign, are no fools and they know what is going on with the management of the economy including the foreign exchange and they are not amused. The Central Bank must be restored to its independence and integrity. We must be careful and watchful of the danger of shortermism.

"Short-term may be the enemy of medium- and long-term. We must also make allowance for the lessons that most of us in democratic dispensation have learned and which the present administration seems to be just learning."

Obasanjo also criticised the National Assembly and the Nigerian military, saying it needs to be purged.
Samuel Eto Maybe Imprisoned for 10 Years in Spain Over Tax Evasion

bayonel3 at 24-11-2016 01:00 PM (5 years ago) (m)

Cameroonian legend and Antalyaspor of Turkey player, Samuel Etoo could be jailed for 10 years and fined 14m for tax evasion crimes committed while playing in Spain. A Spanish paper, El Pais, Etoo defrauded the Spanish government of 3.5 million euros while playing for Barcelona between 2006 and 2009. It was gathered that the Cameroonian started two companies, Bulte in Spain and Tradesport in Hungary which he reportedly used to divert his image rights and avoid paying for tax . He also avoided paying tax from 1.5 million euros and 3 million euros a season he received from his sponsorship with sportswear giants, Puma. Spanish prosecutors are demanding Etoo be fined around 12m (14m), as well a 10 year imprisonment term. Cameroonian legend and Antalyaspor of Turkey player, Samuel Etoo could be jailed for 10 years and fined 14m for tax evasion crimes committed while playing in Spain. A Spanish paper, El Pais, Etoo defrauded the Spanish government of 3.5 million euros while playing for Barcelona between 2006 and 2009. It was gathered that the Cameroonian started two companies, Bulte in Spain and Tradesport in Hungary which he reportedly used to divert his image rights and avoid paying for tax . He also avoided paying tax from 1.5 million euros and 3 million euros a season he received from his sponsorship with sportswear giants, Puma. Spanish prosecutors are demanding Etoo be fined around 12m (14m), as well a 10 year imprisonment term.

Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. +2348055557203 Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:00 PM (5 years ago) | Hero

1marviz at 24-11-2016 01:05 PM (5 years ago)

(m) ehen.we haf hear u poster. Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:05 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac ehen.we haf hear u poster. Reply

gogoman at 24-11-2016 01:06 PM (5 years ago)

(m) spinard are insane!! they like to tarnish people imagine too much on this yeye tax.. so why una no collect it while he dey play for una country Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:06 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero spinard are insane!! they like to tarnish people imagine too much on this yeye tax.. so why una no collect it while he dey play for una country Reply

concentrate at 24-11-2016 01:07 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Let them jail Lionel Messi first. Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:07 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Let them jail Lionel Messi first. Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 24-11-2016 01:39 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Dem nor serious, yeye people Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:39 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Dem nor serious, yeye people Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 24-11-2016 01:40 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Et Et mind them . So them dey do Posted: at 24-11-2016 01:40 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Et Et mind them . So them dey do Reply

emytex74 at 24-11-2016 02:56 PM (5 years ago)

(m) This is not tru Posted: at 24-11-2016 02:56 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac This is not tru Reply

emma4love3 at 24-11-2016 03:01 PM (5 years ago)

(m) ok why them no remind am since self nah.....yeye country Posted: at 24-11-2016 03:01 PM (5 years ago) | Hero ok why them no remind am since self nah.....yeye country Reply

Novic at 24-11-2016 03:14 PM (5 years ago)

(m) This is serious ooooooo, why this guys doing this now, I don't knw why dey are doing this to there self Posted: at 24-11-2016 03:14 PM (5 years ago) | Hero This is serious ooooooo, why this guys doing this now, I don't knw why dey are doing this to there self Reply

barackderay at 24-11-2016 04:01 PM (5 years ago)

(m) barca and tax fraud sha. nawa ooo Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:01 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming barca and tax fraud sha. nawa ooo Reply

sweetestdude at 24-11-2016 04:07 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Story o! Until I get d facts b4 I say anytin. Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:07 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming Story o! Until I get d facts b4 I say anytin. Reply

Trueyarn at 24-11-2016 04:40 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Spain own too much for this their tax palaver,Ok Eto go clear yourself before it's too late. Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:40 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Spain own too much for this their tax palaver,Ok Eto go clear yourself before it's too late. Reply

Trueyarn at 24-11-2016 04:44 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: concentrate on 24-11-2016 01:07 PM Let them jail Lionel Messi first.

Yes yes make them jail Messi first. Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:44 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Reply

christianity at 24-11-2016 04:45 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: gogoman on 24-11-2016 01:06 PM

spinard are insane!! they like to tarnish people imagine too much on this yeye tax.. so why una no collect it while he dey play for una country



my friend,they are not ternishing the image of anyone unless u want to tarnish it urself.the law here does not beg anyone living and working here to pay dat by force.cos every year here everyone recieves his or his quota of what to pay or to be paid,but if u overlook it,then they will also overlook u till when their government summons u.talking out of xperienx Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:45 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac my friend,they are not ternishing the image of anyone unless u want to tarnish it urself.the law here does not beg anyone living and working here to pay dat by force.cos every year here everyone recieves his or his quota of what to pay or to be paid,but if u overlook it,then they will also overlook u till when their government summons u.talking out of xperienx Reply

Trueyarn at 24-11-2016 04:45 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Quote from: EDDYPRINCE on 24-11-2016 01:39 PM Dem nor serious, yeye people

Real yeye people to the call,racist country. Posted: at 24-11-2016 04:45 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Reply

nametalkam at 24-11-2016 06:51 PM (5 years ago)

(m) Barcelona players dont pay their taxes, even on the pitch they still cheat! I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 24-11-2016 06:51 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero Barcelona players dont pay their taxes, even on the pitch they still cheat! Reply

AmazingMarie at 24-11-2016 06:53 PM (5 years ago)

(f) Spanish government and taxes hmmmm. Posted: at 24-11-2016 06:53 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Spanish government and taxes hmmmm. Reply

kacylee at 24-11-2016 07:55 PM (5 years ago)

(f) GBEGE!!!!, RUN BACK HOME JARE THEY CANT JAIL U IN UR FATHER'S LAND I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 24-11-2016 07:55 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero GBEGE!!!!, RUN BACK HOME JARE THEY CANT JAIL U IN UR FATHER'S LAND Reply

CHRISETTE at 25-11-2016 12:20 AM (5 years ago)

(f) Extortion things Posted: at 25-11-2016 12:20 AM (5 years ago) | Hero Extortion things Reply
clarajancita at 24-11-2016 02:24 PM (5 years ago) (f)

It has been revealed that the highly controversial and secretive Asian nation of North Korea might be launching a terrific nuke test soon. Security experts have warned that North Korea could launch another devastating nuclear test on the same day Donald Trump is inaugurated into the White House in a chilling show of strength.

It has been revealed that the highly controversial and secretive Asian nation of North Korea might be launching a terrific nuke test soon. Security experts have warned that North Korea could launch another devastating nuclear test on the same day Donald Trump is inaugurated into the White House in a chilling show of strength.

According to reporters, the secretive state has launched 20 missiles this year alone as it aims to develop a long-range weapon, capable of hitting the US mainland.

In a military forum held in Seoul on Wednesday, Lee Su-seok, director of the Center for Unification Strategy at the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy, said:

According to reporters, the secretive state has launched 20 missiles this year alone as it aims to develop a long-range weapon, capable of hitting the US mainland.In a military forum held in Seoul on Wednesday, Lee Su-seok, director of the Center for Unification Strategy at the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy, said: Quote "North Korea may seek negotiations with the U.S. when it completes nuclear tests and reaches the stage of deploying a long-range nuclear-tipped missile.

"In early 2017, it is highly likely that Pyongyang will detonate another nuclear device and launch a long-range ballistic missile to reiterate its status as a nuclear power."

With President-elect Trump set to be inaugurated on January 20 next year, these latest claims have sparked fears the ceremony could become a target.



Trump is not believed to consider the communist state a high priority at the moment, but this recent speculation about the country's nuclear capabilities could spark increased efforts for dialogue and negotiations between the two countries.



The hermit states leader Kim Jong-un is reportedly keen to speak to Trump, after years of declining relations with Barack Obama's administration. During the military forum, Lee Su-seok also expressed fears about the declining relations between North and South Korea.



He said: With President-elect Trump set to be inaugurated on January 20 next year, these latest claims have sparked fears the ceremony could become a target.Trump is not believed to consider the communist state a high priority at the moment, but this recent speculation about the country's nuclear capabilities could spark increased efforts for dialogue and negotiations between the two countries.The hermit states leader Kim Jong-un is reportedly keen to speak to Trump, after years of declining relations with Barack Obama's administration. During the military forum, Lee Su-seok also expressed fears about the declining relations between North and South Korea.He said: Quote Inter-Korean relations will remain frosty and strained until the first half of 2017 due to the North's continued military provocations.

"Any dialogue with North Korea, if any, will be possible some time after Trump takes office in January."

The director said: "The Kim Jong-un regime will continue its verbal and military threats in efforts to urge the nearly paralysed Seoul government to change the current strict policies toward Pyongyang".



South Korea's scandal-plagued president Park Geun-hye has recently been caught up in a corruption case involving her longtime confidant, Choi Soon-sill, who has been accused of using high-ranking connections to wield inappropriate influence inside the government.

As a result, Kim Jong-un's loyal followers are expected to exploit the unrest in South Korea and create internal conflicts within the country. South Korea's scandal-plagued president Park Geun-hye has recently been caught up in a corruption case involving her longtime confidant, Choi Soon-sill, who has been accused of using high-ranking connections to wield inappropriate influence inside the government.As a result, Kim Jong-un's loyal followers are expected to exploit the unrest in South Korea and create internal conflicts within the country.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 24-11-2016 02:24 PM (5 years ago) | Hero
Xiaomi Launches Internet Speaker With Voice Control and 8 GB Storage Features oi -Sneha Xiaomi has recently unveiled a set of Internet Speakers, priced at Rs. 3,900. Here's everything you should know about the device.

Xiaomi has recently unveiled a set of Internet Speakers that allow the users to listen to their favorite tracks directly from the internet, priced at nearly Rs. 3,900 and yet to launch in India.

Built on vented bass duct technology, the newly launched Xiaomi Internet Speaker is as heavy as 1.6 kilograms, and is stuffed with two 2.5-inch subwoofers to provide the user with extra bass.

SEE ALSO: Airtel Successfully Acquired Aircel's 4G Spectrum in 8 Circles to Combat Reliance Jio

This rectangular shaped speaker is built with a polycarbonate body, on top of which are functional keys that help the user operate the Internet Speakers.

As far as the specifications are concerned, the Internet speaker comes with an Amlogc 8726M3 Cortex A9 processor, 8GB of built-in storage that would allow the user to play and store as many as 20 million songs in their database and also functions pretty efficiently even without internet connection.

SEE ALSO: Buy Google Pixel from Flipkart and Grab a Whopping Rs. 33,000 Discount

On the connectivity front, this Xiaomi speaker supports dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1., USB 2.0 port, and also has a 3.5mm jack, with which the users can plug a flash drive and store their favorite tracks on their PC and phones as well.

The users can also customize their audio preferences with this Xiaomi Internet Speakers, and can also be operated via Mi Home App.

Xiaomi asserted that the speaker has the ability to access more than 1,500 radio stations spread over 31 provinces, 200,000 storytelling stations and a database of 120 million audio books inbuilt for the users. However, out so many features, one big disadvantage about the speaker is that it lacks batteries and has to be connected to a power socket all the time.

The speaker is, for now, has been launched in China, and is soon expected to unveil in the Indian market as well, after which the company might partner with Hungama to stream music through the speakers in a much better manner.

Apart from playing music, the Xiaomi speaker also allows the user to use it as an alarm clock, along with the ability to pre-set it with their favorite song, similar to that of the Mi Alarm Clock.

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Supports Daydream Feature

With the Android 7.0 update, both Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be the first non-Google smartphones to support Daydream feature. The Daydream feature enables high-quality mobile VR on high-resolution displays on the go.

As stated by Motorola, Daydream offers an unprecedented opportunity to dive into a kaleidoscope of experiences. With Daydream, users can explore new worlds, attend a sporting event or concert, enjoy their own personal cinema and could do much more.

Google VR Important

However, users need to purchase the Google VR headset with Daydream View controller in order to experience the unique features. As such, the headset and controller can be purchased via Verizon, Google Play Store or Best Buy in the US.

As of now, there is no word on the availability or the launch of the Google DaydreamVR headset in India.

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Check for Notification

Basically, all Moto Z device users should start receiving the notification for the forthcoming Nougat update soon. On the other hand, those who fail to get the notification on their handset for some reason may go ahead and install the same manually by going to Settings >About Phone >System updates and then tapping on Check for System Updates.

Some Pre-requisites

If you want to install the new update then, firstly, you need to ensure that your Moto Z or Moto Z Force device is connected to a Wi-Fi network before downloading the new Nougat update, which might be both time-consuming and resource hungry.

Secondly, users need to verify that their handset has at least 80% battery power. The installation of the Nougat OTA is estimated to take roughly around 20 minutes.

When can You Expect the Android 7.0 Nougat Update

Thus, by visiting Motorola's global portal, all the curious Moto Z handset users can get information on when their phone might be upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat.

Besides, the rollout dates may vary depending on the carrier partner and the phones model number.

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Samsung S7/S7 Edge Glossy Black Variant to be Launched in December Features oi -Samden Sherpa While the competition between major smartphone players continues to heat up, Samsung has plans to launch a new glossy black variant of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones.

In what might be assumed as a response to Apple's Jet black iPhone 7, Samsung the South Korean multinational conglomerate is now looking forward to launching a glossy black variant of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones.

While it has been in rumours for the past few days, it now appears that customers may not have to wait for long as Samsung has revealed images of the new colour variant through their official Chinese Weibo account.

SEE ALSO: Why I Still Consider Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as The Ultimate Flagship Smartphone

In addition, the new smartphone is expected to feature 128 GB storage capacity and will probably hit the stores by next month.

While observing the images, the glossy black variant kind of looks similar to the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge 'black onyx' version which is available on the market. Nonetheless, we also noticed that instead of the matte finish, it is coated with shiny layer paint.

In essence, the most distinct difference of the glossy black color can be seen in the metal frame on the edges. They are now black instead of being silver.

More importantly, the smartphone now looks more appealing and elegant.

SEE ALSO: OnePlus 3 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: 7 Reasons to buy the mid-range Flagship smartphone!

On the contrary, by introducing new colors the South Korean company might be trying to promote and boost the demand for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in the market. In another case, the company might be trying to fill the gap left by the discontinuation of the "exploding" Galaxy Note 7 which had a negative impact on Samsung's reputation.

Samsung has already introduced a Coral Blue Galaxy S7 in Canada for $1000 CAD (almost Rs. 51,083). With this move, it seems like Samsung is hoping to maintain sales of its high-profile devices.

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OnePlus 3T smartphone in India soon News oi -GizBot Bureau

After the success of its OnePlus 3 this year, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus will soon launch a new flagship device OnePlus 3T in India.

"Getting the OnePlus 3T to India has been a top priority for us and we are delighted to announce that we are all set to release the OnePlus 3T in India shortly! The next big question on everyone's mind would be the announcement of the launch date," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: OnePlus 3T vs Google Pixel XL: Would You Prefer the Half-Priced Competitor?

Meanwhile, fans can play a "Truth or Dare" where they can choose to either "ask the company anything" or challenge it to an "adventurous dare".

"We'll put out a Facebook 'Truth or Dare' poll, allowing our fans to determine how we should reveal the big date, which you all have awaited eagerly and in doing so will make history for being a community which truly owns its brand and not the other way around," the company added.

SEE ALSO: OnePlus 3T is Official: Here are 10 Highlighted Features of the Phone

The launch date is expected to be announced soon.

Source IANS

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What About Airtel 4G?

Bharti Airtel, recently has been busy advertising to bring the best 4G network in the country, with the aim to make India go digital. However, the telecom operator experiences no good news about the improved network connection rather it has been accused of creating trouble for the users with the rise in the call drop incidents.

Airtel Users Unhappy With the 4G Network

Claimed to the best telecom network in the country, Airtel recently started off with its testing of their new 4G network in New Delhi and NCR regions since the past one month now. The users seem to be extremely disappointed with Airtel 4G and have complained of major call drop incidents across all over social media.

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3G Users Face Call Drop Incidents

It's not only with the 4G network users, the 3G users are also facing similar issues. Some tweets by a few Airtel users claimed that they are using a 3G network and are facing similar issues of call drop and poor internet speed and network.

Call Drop Problem Across the Country

Well, there have been complaints filed for the Delhi and NCR regions, however, Airtel users across Kolkata and Bangalore are also suffering similar incidents of call drop. The users on Twitter claimed that the connection dropped nearly 10 times in a 20-minute call.

No Initiative By Customer Service

Airtel users across the country have filed complaints of frequent call drop incidents with the customer service provider, however, there have not been any initiative taken by the telecom operator to resolve these issues.

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Overall, Double XL is a well-made film that might be liked by gentry in all shapes, sizes, and age too. By the way, do not miss the interval!!
November 2016 by

The decision taken yesterday by the Swedish legislator lowers the electricity tax rate for data centers in Sweden to 0.005 SEK or USD 0.00054 per kWh. This 97% tax cut will come into effect by January 1st, 2017 and will be applicable to both existing and new data centers exceeding 0.5 MW capacity.

The issue of lowering tax rates for data centers has been under political scrutiny for several years. The initiative has had a strong consensus across political aisles and has undergone an analysis by the Government to assure that it gives a long-term incentive for the industry. Yesterday the Swedish Parliament decided upon the proposed tax legislation which lowers the tax rate.

The new tax rate for data centers will correspond to the same rate as for other industrial sectors in Sweden. The changed tax rate from todays 0.194-0.295 SEK or USD 0.02-0.03 per kWh to 0.005 SEK or USD 0.0006 per kWh, will result in a 97% electricity tax cut for data centers. The new tax scheme applies to both existing and forthcoming actors and is applicable for data centers exceeding at least a 0.5 MW capacity, measured as installed effect excluding cooling facilities.

This Parliamentary decision sends a clear message that Sweden is serious about becoming the green home of the internet and taking global cloud service leadership over the short and long term, comments Peter Ericson, Chairman of The Node Pole.

The decision has been expected from a global marketplace perspective, according to The Node Pole.

The combination of low electricity prices, a competitive tax rate and the abundance of renewable energy provides a case for a long-term investment climate that is extremely competitive. Peter Ericson adds. Effectively, Sweden as of January 2017 provides a 3.5-4.5 /kWh market case with close to zero carbon emissions and favorable conditions for long-term cloud industry development.

Data center investors are now looking at a total running electricity cost  which is the cost of energy, grid and tax - somewhere between 3.5 to 4.5 cents (USD) per kWh, which is a very strong case, most likely the strongest in the world compared to average total electricity prices for running data centers comment Rick Abrahamsson, Industry Expert at the Swedish energy company Vattenfall. In order to facilitate sector wide investments for energy intensive industries under these favorable conditions, two Swedish energy companies, Vattenfall and Skelleftea Kraft, were earlier this fall announced as new owners of The Node Pole and are expected to attain the formal ownership of the organization by February 2017.
Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months.
CALGARY, Nov. 23, 2016 - Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. ("Connacher" or the "Company") announces its financial and operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 ("Q3 2016") (all amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted).

Financial

Q3 2016 and YTD 2016 revenue, net of royalties, decreased 45% to $31.7 million (Q3 2015 - $58.1 million) and 64% to $66.3 million (YTD 2015 - $183.2 million), respectively, due to the decline in crude oil benchmark pricing; an increase in plant-gate sales; and lower sales volumes associated with the Company's strategic decision to reduce production in the low commodity price environment





Q3 2016 adjusted EBITDA deficit decreased to $4.1 million (Q3 2015  deficit of $14.1 million) due to lower input costs, partially offset by lower revenue, net of royalties





YTD 2016 adjusted EBITDA deficit increased to $45.5 million (YTD 2015  deficit of $30.3 million) due to lower revenue, net of royalties, partially offset by lower input costs





Q3 2016 funds used decreased to $13.1 million (Q3 2015 - funds used of $19.3 million) due to an improved adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by higher interest associated with the DIP





YTD 2016 funds used decreased to $70.7 million (YTD 2015 - funds used of $74.0 million) due to lower interest on long-term debt as the 2018 and 2019 secured second lien notes (the "Notes") were exchanged for common shares as part of the recapitalization transaction which closed on May 8, 2015 (the "Recapitalization"), partially offset by an increased adjusted EBITDA deficit





Q3 2016 net loss decreased to $34.3 million (Q3 2015 - net loss of $289.2 million) due to a higher adjusted EBITDA and lower depletion, depreciation, amortization, and impairment costs. Q3 2015 included an impairment charge of $242.4 million on property, plant, and equipment ("PP&E")





YTD 2016 net loss increased to $447.1 million (YTD 2015 - net income of $13.7 million) due to a lower adjusted EBITDA and higher depletion, depreciation, amortization, and impairment costs associated with an impairment charge of $335.5 million. YTD 2015 net income included significant accounting gains associated with the Company's Recapitalization





In Q3 2016 and YTD 2016, capital expenditures totaled $0.1 million (Q3 2015 - $1.0 million) and $2.0 million (YTD 2015 - $12.0 million), respectively, and were focused on non-discretionary maintenance capital





Connacher closed Q3 2016 with a cash balance of $17.3 million (including restricted cash of $7.1 million) (Q4 2015 - $47.2 million)

Operational

Q3 2016 and YTD 2016 production decreased 30% to 9,947 bbl/d (Q3 2015 - 14,258 bbl/d) and 45% to 8,095 bbl/d (YTD 2015 - 14,759 bbl/d), respectively, due to the Company's strategic decision to reduce production





In Q3 2016 and YTD 2016, transportation and handling costs decreased 82% to $4.8 million (Q3 2015 - $26.9 million) and 66% to $23.2 million (YTD 2015 - $68.1 million), respectively, primarily due to a reduction in sales to rail-based destinations and an increase in plant-gate sales. For YTD 2016, decreased transportation and handling costs were partially offset by penalties for non-delivery incurred in the first half of 2016





Q3 2016 and YTD 2016 blending costs decreased 44% to $9.6 million (Q3 2015 - $17.3 million) and 58% to $23.9 million (YTD 2015 - $57.5 million), respectively, primarily due to the decrease in diluent volumes required resulting from lower production volumes and reduced diluent purchase prices for both periods





Q3 2016 and YTD 2016 production and operating expenses decreased 29% to $16.5 million (Q3 2015 - $23.4 million) and 26% to $48.7 million (YTD 2015 - $65.8 million), respectively, primarily due to lower natural gas costs and realization of operating cost reductions

Q3 2016 Financial Highlights











FINANCIAL (1) Q3 2016 Q3 2015 YTD 2016 YTD 2015 Revenue, net of royalties $31,711 $58,097 $66,292 $183,220 Adjusted EBITDA (2) (4,061) (14,115) (45,539) (30,300) Net earnings (loss) (34,296) (289,175) (447,088) 13,737

Basic per share (3) (1.21) (10.21) (15.78) 0.89

Diluted per share (3) (1.21) (10.21) (15.78) 0.19 Funds used (4) (13,051) (19,346) (70,708) (74,036) Capital expenditures 116 953 1,950 12,004 Cash on hand (5) 17,336 72,898



Working capital surplus (deficiency) (269,969) 94,883



Long-term debt - 249,948



Shareholders' equity 77,442 580,110





(1) Canadian dollars in thousands except per share amounts (2) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the MD&A and is reconciled to net earnings (loss) under "Reconciliations of Net Earnings (Loss) to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Bitumen Netback" (3) Basic and diluted earnings per share amounts reflect the 800:1 share consolidation associated with the Company's recapitalization transaction dated May 8, 2015 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 (4) Funds used is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the MD&A and is reconciled to cash flow from operating activities under "Reconciliations of Cash Flow From (Used in) Operating Activities to Funds Used" (5) Balance includes restricted cash of $7.1 million

Q3 2016 Operational Highlights











OPERATIONAL Q3 2016 Q3 2015 YTD 2016 YTD 2015 Average benchmark prices







WTI (US$/bbl) 44.94 46.43 41.33 51.00 WTI ($/bbl) 58.85 61.39 54.42 64.96 Heavy oil differential (US$/bbl) (13.50) (13.47) (13.68) (13.26) WCS ($/bbl) 41.17 43.59 36.41 48.07 $/US$ exchange rate 1.31 1.32 1.32 1.27 Production and sales volumes (1)







Daily bitumen production (bbl/d) 9,947 14,258 8,095 14,759 Daily bitumen sales (bbl/d) 9,904 14,477 8,306 14,483 Bitumen netback ($/bbl) (2)(3)







Dilbit sales $29.98 $36.84 $24.83 $38.41 Blending of products sold (5.39) (5.86) (6.02) (6.31) Realized bitumen sales price 24.59 30.98 18.81 32.10 Transportation and handling costs (5.32) (20.16) (10.17) (17.22) Net realized bitumen sales price 19.27 10.82 8.64 14.88 Royalties (0.31) (0.33) (0.18) (0.30) Net bitumen revenue price 18.96 10.49 8.46 14.58 Production and operating expenses (18.17) (17.57) (21.42) (16.63) Bitumen netback $0.79 $(7.08) $(12.96) $(2.05)

(1) The Company's bitumen sales and production volumes differ due to changes in inventory and product losses (2) A non-GAAP measure which is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the MD&A. Bitumen netback is reconciled to net loss under "Reconciliations of Net Earnings (Loss) to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Bitumen Netback". Bitumen netbacks per barrel amounts are calculated by dividing the total amounts presented in the "Bitumen Netback" table on page 9 by bitumen sold volumes as presented in the "Production and Sales Volumes" table on page 8, with the exception of dilbit sales (presented as dilbit sales divided by dilbit sales volume) and diluent costs (presented as the cost of diluent in excess of the dilbit selling price) (3) Before risk management contract gains or losses

Operations

Based on field estimates, October 2016 production was approximately 9,750 bbl/d.

Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA") Announcement and Status

On March 31, 2016, the Company entered into a forbearance agreement (the "Forbearance Agreement") with Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent, and certain lenders constituting the "Required Lenders" in respect of US$155.4 million of loans made by the lenders (the "Lenders") under the credit agreement dated as of May 23, 2014 (as amended, restated, supplemented, or otherwise modified from time to time, including as amended pursuant to the Amendment No. 1 dated May 8, 2015) (the "Amended Term Loan Facility"). Under the terms of the Forbearance Agreement, the Lenders agreed to, among other things, forbear from exercising enforcement rights and remedies arising from the Company's failure to pay the cash interest and principal payments due on March 31, 2016 until the earlier of April 30, 2016; the occurrence of an event of default under the Amended Term Loan Facility, unrelated to the failure to pay principal and interest due on March 31, 2016; or the occurrence of a default or breach of representation by the Company under the Forbearance Agreement.

On April 30, 2016, the Company entered into a second forbearance agreement (the "Second Forbearance Agreement") which extended the forbearance period until May 16, 2016.

On May 17, 2016, the Company sought and obtained creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA") pursuant to an order (the "Initial Order") granted by the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, Judicial Centre of Calgary (the "Court"). The Court granted CCAA protection for an initial period expiring on June 16, 2016. Since the Initial Order, four Court-ordered extensions have been obtained, with the most recent extending the stay of proceedings until and including January 13, 2017 (the "CCAA Stay Period").

Under the Initial Order, Ernst & Young Inc. was appointed by the Court as the monitor (the "Monitor").

The CCAA is a federal insolvency statute that allows an insolvent company which owes creditors in excess of $5 million to restructure its business and financial affairs and stays creditors and others from enforcing rights against the insolvent company.

As authorized and approved by the Initial Order, the Company secured interim financing in the form of a senior secured debtor-in-possession credit facility (the "Interim Financing Credit Facility" or "DIP") from certain existing lenders (the "Interim Lenders") for up to US$20 million, with initial commitments of up to US$11.5 million (the "Initial Commitments").

The Initial Order also approved and authorized the Company and the Monitor to conduct a sale and investment solicitation process (the "SISP") as set out in Schedule "A" to the Initial Order, to identify one or more purchasers and/or investors in the Company's business and/or property. The SISP continued through Q3 2016.

Subsequent to September 30, 2016, the Company entered into a Waiver, Approval, and Modification Agreement (the "Agreement") with its Interim Lenders related to the DIP. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Interim Lenders agreed to waive certain limited defaults under the DIP related to the CCAA SISP timelines and have committed to provide the Company with access to an additional amount of approximately US$5.0 million of the US$20 million DIP initially authorized by the Court to support the Company's continuing operations.

As at September 30, 2016, in connection with the CCAA proceeding, the Company identified the following obligations subject to potential compromise:







(Canadian dollars in thousands)



Current and long-term portions of Amended Term Loan Facility

$203,822 Interest payable on Amended Term Loan Facility



14,864 Convertible Notes



44,000 Interest payable on Convertible Notes



8,613 Trade and accrued liabilities



21,025 Total liabilities subject to compromise



$292,324

The aforementioned obligations, subject to potential compromise, represent the amounts expected to be resolved through the CCAA proceeding and remain subject to future, potentially material, adjustments. On August 24, 2016, the Court granted a claims procedure order establishing a process for the filing of claims against the Company and its directors and officers by September 26, 2016 (the "Claims Bar Date"). The Company received 89 claims by the Claims Bar Date.

The liabilities that are not subject to the CCAA proceeding are excluded from the liabilities subject to potential compromise and include certain non-restructuring liabilities incurred subsequent to May 17, 2016.

About Connacher

Connacher is a Calgary-based in situ oil sands developer, producer, and marketer of bitumen. The Company holds a 100 per cent interest in approximately 435 million barrels of proved and probable bitumen reserves and operates two steam-assisted gravity drainage facilities located on the Company's Great Divide oil sands leases near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward looking information including but not limited to the implementation and status of the CCAA proceeding and the SISP, the Company's ability to manage its liquidity position and deploy the capital required to maintain existing reserve and production bases, fund maintenance capital, fund working capital requirements and meet contractual and other commitments; expectations regarding future commodity prices, foreign exchange rates, diluent blend ratio, transportation costs, rail costs, rail usage, and production and operating costs in future periods; expectations regarding sales and production, bitumen netback, G&A expenses, and capital expenditures in future periods; the Company's reserves; and general operational and financial performance in future periods.

Forward looking information is based on management's expectations regarding the Company's future financial position; the Company's future growth, results of operations and production, future commodity prices and foreign exchange rates; future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature, and sources of funding thereof), plans for and results of drilling activity; environmental matters; business prospects and opportunities; and future economic conditions. Forward looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that the SISP process may not result in a sale of the Company or its assets, the risk that the CCAA Stay Period will not be extended past January 13, 2017 and that as a result creditors will be entitled to exercise their various rights and remedies against the Company, the level of indebtedness of the Company, the implementation and impact of any reorganization or restructuring on the assets, business and financial affairs of the Company, future co-operation of the creditors of the Company, the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or to obtain adequate financing to fund capital expenditures and working capital needs and to maintain the Company's ongoing obligations during the CCAA process and thereafter, the ability to maintain relationships with suppliers, customers, employees, shareholders and other third parties in light of the Company's current liquidity situation and the CCAA proceeding, as well as the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; the uncertainty of geological interpretations; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses; and health, safety and environmental risks), risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, risks associated with the impact of general economic conditions, risks and uncertainties associated with maintaining the necessary regulatory approvals and securing the financing to continue operations and increase production to levels previously achieved.

Reported average production levels may not be reflective of sustainable production rates and future production rates may differ materially from the production rates reflected in this press release due to, among other factors, difficulties or interruptions encountered during the production of bitumen.

Additional risks and uncertainties affecting Connacher and its business and affairs are described in further detail in Connacher's AIF for the year ended December 31, 2015. Although Connacher believes that the expectations in such forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations shall prove to be correct. Any forward looking information included in this press release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Any forward looking information included herein is made as of the date of this press release and Connacher assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd.







Contact

Merle Johnson, Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Beeston, Vice President of Finance and Interim Chief Financial Officer; Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd., Phone: (403) 538-6201, Fax: (403) 538-6225, Suite 1040, 640 - 5th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 3G4, inquiries@connacheroil.com, www.connacheroil.com


ST. HELIER - Consmin, a leading manganese ore producer with mining operations in Australia and Ghana, announces its third quarter results for the period ending 30 September 2016.

Commenting on the results, David Slater (CFO of Consmin) said:

"Production in the quarter from our Nsuta mine in Ghana increased 29% compared to the corresponding period in 2015 underpinned by continuing improved demand for the Company's Ghanaian ore. Total production for the Consmin Group however decreased 17% during the third quarter of 2016 compared to the corresponding period in 2015. This reduction was due to the Australian Woodie Woodie being on care and maintenance since Q1 2016. As a result production from Australia was 91% lower in the quarter with production only relating to limited processing of remaining ROM stockpiles.

The manganese C1 cash cost for the quarter was $1.22/dmtu, an improvement of 45% from $2.20/dmtu for Q3 2015. The C1 cash cost for Q3 2016 does not include any costs or production from the Australian operations which were on care and maintenance.

Sales tonnes from Ghana were nearly 700k dry tonnes, being 36% higher than in Q3 2015. There were no shipments of Australian manganese ore during the quarter.

The quarterly average 44% benchmark CIF price for manganese lump in Q3 2016 was $4.00/dmtu, up 32% from $3.03/dmtu in Q2 2016. Manganese ore prices in 2016 started the year at multi year lows and then rose in the second and early third quarter on the back of supply curtailments and reduced imports into China. Price rises were also supported by better than expected steel performance in China, however increased imports in Q2, causing prices to decline in August and September. However, due to recent logistical issues in South Africa (the biggest manganese ore exporting country), prices have surged since October and are now on track to finish the year at multi-year highs of over $6.00/dmtu. Other factors driving prices to these high levels are stockpiling prior to the Chinese New Year holiday, which begins on January 28th 2017, and accumulating and holding of spot material by traders at China ports leveraging supply disruptions.

The company is positive towards the better performance of manganese ore prices in late 2016 but remains cautious on the ensuing volatility. Such high prices are attracting an increase of supply of non-mainstream ores, both domestically in China and from abroad, which are attractive as lower grade cheaper options to mainstream ores. As a result, prices will likely lose momentum once stockpiling is completed and more ore arrives in China, assuming South Africa solves its logistical issues in the near term. Although we expect prices to soften, we feel they should not return to the lows experienced at the beginning of 2016 but rather find a new sustainable price range, supported by market fundamentals.

As noted in the previous quarter's result, on 15 August the Company announced the successful conclusion to the consent solicitation process, having received consents from 96.43% of the Noteholders. The Company would like to thank the majority of Holders for their support and notes the beneficial effect that these amendments will have in providing the Company with significant additional liquidity during the current period of low and volatile manganese prices.

On 15 November the Company announced that its ultimate beneficial owner and direct shareholders ("Sellers") had entered into a share purchase agreement ("SPA") with China Tian Yuan Manganese Limited ("Purchaser"), a subsidiary of Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd. ("TMI") pursuant to which the Sellers agreed to sell and transfer to the Purchaser all of their respective right and title to both the entire share capital of the Company and the shareholders funding given by them to the Company (the "Transaction").

The Transaction is conditional upon a number of conditions which are set out in the SPA, including, but not limited to certain government consents, certain consents from the holders of the then outstanding US$400,000,000 8% Senior Secured Notes due 2020 (the "Notes") and the execution of an offtake agreement between Manganese Trading Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, and Grizal Enterprises Limited (a "Seller" in the Transaction) ("Grizal") which will become effective simultaneously with completion of the Transaction (the "Offtake Agreement"). The Offtake Agreement provides that Grizal may, in its absolute discretion, purchase from MTL, in any calendar year, up to 600kt of Ghanaian Manganese Ore for a period of ten years from completion of the Transaction". If the conditions to the Transaction are not satisfied or waived within the period of six months from the signing, the SPA shall terminate and the Transaction will not complete."

About Consolidated Minerals Limited

Consmin is a leading manganese ore producer within mining operations in Australia and Ghana. The principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") are the exploration, mining, processing and sale of manganese products. The Group's operations are primarily conducted through four major operating/trading subsidiaries; Consolidated Minerals Pty Limited (Australia), Ghana Manganese Company Limited (Ghana), Manganese Trading Limited (Jersey) and Pilbara Trading Limited (Jersey).





Consolidated Minerals Ltd. is headquartered in Jersey and the address of its office is Commercial House, 3 Commercial Street, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE2 3RU.



Company Information

For further information, please visit our website http://www.consmin.com



Contact

David Slater, dslater@consmin.com, Tel: +44-07797-719863


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Nov 24, 2016) - Select Sands Corp. ("Select Sands" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SNS)(OTC:CLICF) is pleased to announce that it has exercised the option to acquire and has now completed the acquisition of a 100% undivided right, title, and interest in its approximately 520-acre frac sand property (the "Property") located in northeast Arkansas, USA.

The option agreement was entered into with an arm's length landowner in October 2014 (See press release dated October 9, 2014) providing the Company with the option to acquire the Property for US$936,000 at any time on or before the 18 month anniversary of the agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement an initial payment of US$200,000 was paid by the Company to the vendors with a final payment of US$736,000, to be paid on closing.

The Company extended the term of the option by paying US$4,000 per month to the vendors, US$2,000 of which was credited against the US$736,000 purchase price. To date US$32,000 of extension payments have been paid with US$16,000 being credited against the US$736,000 purchase price bringing the aggregate amount paid to the vendors (inclusive of extension payments) to US$952,000.

An aggregate finder's fee of US$65,520 (equal to 7% of the transaction value) was paid in respect of this transaction to two separate finders. One-half of this finder's fee was satisfied through the issuance of 46,191 common shares in the capital of the Company. The number of common shares was based on the 20-day volume weighted average price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (for the 20 days preceding the closing date) with Canadian dollars converted to U.S. dollars at the noon rate of Exchange for Cdn/U.S. dollars on the closing date as posted on the Bank of Canada's website.

About Select Sands Corp.

1,500 tons per day (see August 23, 2016 News Release). The wet processing plant includes feed hopper, conveyor, classifiers, cyclones, and control building and is optimized to increase its daily capacity at minimal cost as needed. The Company Select Sands' Sandtown property, located in northeast Arkansas, USA, is underlain by the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation, which is a major source of Northern White Silica Sand. Compared to competitive sand mines located in Wisconsin owned by the largest US frac sand producers, Sandtown has a competitive location advantage as it is approximately 650 rail miles closer to the Texas/Louisiana oil/gas plays as well as the Houston port and industrial hub.

The Company has acquired a wet processing plant to produce Northern White 40/70 and 100 mesh silica sand products with daily capacity of up to continues to seek additional opportunities in the region to secure strategic assets that will continue to optimize production.

The Company has acquired 20 million common shares of Comstock Metals Ltd. pursuant to its sale of its gold assets to Comstock as set forth in the Company's press release issued on Sept. 14, 2016. The 20 million shares were issued at a deemed price of 29 cents per share for total deemed consideration of $5.8-million. After giving effect to the acquisition by the Company of the 20 million common shares, the Company has ownership or control over approximately 35.4 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Comstock.

As per the June 2015 PEA report by Tetra Tech of Golden, Colorado, USA and Vancouver, BC, Canada, the Sandtown property has a pre-tax net present value of US $160 million and a post-tax net present value of US$92 million. The PEA was completed on a portion of the current silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands' June 10, 2015 News Release). Select Sands would like to remind investors that mineral resources for the Sandtown Property are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no certainty that this PEA will be realized. The PEA is preliminary in nature that it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the resources development, production, and economic forecasts on which this PEA is based will be realized. Subsequent to the completion of the 2015 PEA, Select Sands announced an updated mineral resource estimate for the Sandtown property totaling 41.98 Million Tons of Indicated silica sand mineral resources (see the Select Sands February 10, 2016 news release).

Mark Horan, P.Eng. of Tetra Tech, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this News Release.

Forward Looking Statements

This News Release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Such statements include statements regarding targets and future exploration on the Company's properties. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

For more information about Select Sands Corp., please visit www.selectsandscorp.com.

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.
Description

GIS - 24 November, 2016: The Programme for the Payment of Annual Grant was officially launched this morning in Rose Hill by the Senior Citizens Council, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions. Some 150 Senior Citizens Associations of the Lower Plaines Wilhems Ward have been allocated their Grant for the year 2016. The Programme for the Payment of Annual Grant was officially launched this morning in Rose Hill by the Senior Citizens Council, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions. Some 150 Senior Citizens Associations of the Lower Plaines Wilhems Ward have been allocated their Grant for the year 2016.

In her address, the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions, Mrs F. Daureeawoo, stated that a total of Rs 1.4 Million has been allocated to the 800 Senior Citizens Associations of Mauritius.

The Minister underlined that her Ministry will continue to work in close collaboration with the Council and different Associations to promote the well-being of our elders, as they have contributed to the progress and development Mauritius .She lauded the good work undertaken by the Senior Citizens Council and the Senior Citizens Associations.

Minister Daureeawoo recalled that as at date, there are about 200,000 persons aged 60 years or more and that it is the duty of the concerned Ministry and the Senior Citizens Council to provide all the required facilities and mentor our elderly. She strongly condemned all forms of abuse and ill-treatment against the elderly and the illegal operations of retirement homes.

A fourth recreational centre is currently under construction at Riambel and is expected to be ready by 2017, said the Social Security Minister and pointed out that the booking system for the recreational centres has been computerised for more transparency.

T he Programme for the Payment of Annual Grant is being carried out differently this year. Instead of gathering all the Senior Citizens Associations for the remittance of cheques, the exercise will be done throughout the different districts around the island over three days.
Description

GIS - 24 November, 2016: A portion of land to an extent of 23 acres has already been identified at Cote DOr and procedures for its acquisition have already been initiated in relation to the Police Academy Project. The project will be carried out in a phased manner over a period of four years and an amount of Rs 3 million has been provided in the 2016/2017 budget for consultancy services for the design of the project.

This reply was given by the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, in the National Assembly on 22 November 2016, to a question pertaining to training of Police Service Officers and their continuous professional development.

The Prime Minister explained that on joining the Police Force, new recruits undergo a foundation course of two years duration during which they are exposed to Police duties, law and procedures, map reading, navigation, public order policing and weapon handling, amongst others. The programme also includes intensive physical training.

Furthermore, he added that at the end of the foundation course, they have to complete two top-up modules of 120 hours at the University of Mauritius, leading to the award of a Certificate in Police Duties. The new recruits benefit from a total amount of 5,330 hours of training, in all, underlined the Prime Minister.

Once these Officers are posted to different units, they undergo on-the-job training, he further added. They also benefit from refresher courses workshops and seminars by the Police Training School with a view to keeping abreast of new legislations, procedures and other administrative and operational matters.

Moreover, the Prime Minister pointed out that many Police Officers regularly attend overseas courses, workshops/seminars and symposiums organised by friendly countries and international organisations. He stressed on the fact that participation in overseas training contributes to the self-development of the officers and enhances capacity building. In turn, these officers share their knowledge and experience with their counterparts, the Prime Minister added.
New app looks to connect constituents to representatives, minus the hassle

ADL launches hate crime map using policing data

Fairfield becomes latest Bay Area city to look for a CIO

Professor raises $11,000 on Kickstarter for civic tech guidebook

Type in an address, get the phone number of the congressional representative who speaks for that district.Thats the entire process used in Call to Action , a new civic engagement application launched this week online. Along with the phone number, users get some basic information about their representative, a guideline for how to introduce themselves and a write-up on what to expect once they connect with somebody in their representatives office.As of right now, thats it  no email address, no bio listing all the offices the representative has previously held, no senators. Thats on purpose.Calling the district office of your congressional rep is the most effective way to get government to listen to you, according to political staffers, a boilerplate on the website reads. Calls are taken more seriously and make a greater impact than emails or written letters. Because your congressional rep serves fewer constituents than a senator, a call to your rep is more likely to be answered and carries more relative weight.The whole project was thrown together during the weekend, according to TechCrunch . Zack Shapiro, an iOS developer, pulled a team of coders together via Twitter. Since then, the website has been viewed thousands of times and some big names like Jon Favreau, former Barack Obama speechwriter, have shared the app on social media.This is the election season where the Internet was introduced to the concept of the triple parentheses , a textual code anti-Semites used to denote social media users who appear to be Jewish. It was also the election where Jewish people began appropriating the symbol, adorning their own profiles with parentheses in a statement of pride.Amid a renewed racist vigor, one organization is using open data to fight back. On Nov. 17, the Anti-Defamation League launched a hate crime map pulling from FBI data sets.One piece of the project shows cities that reported no hate crimes in 2015, some of which are in states with high rates of hate crimes per capita.According to the project, the top jurisdiction for hate crimes reported in 2015  not necessarily all hate crimes  is Washington, D.C., with nearly 100 such crimes per million people. Next on the list are Massachusetts, North Dakota, Montana and Kentucky. The bottom five were, in order, Hawaii, Mississippi, Arkansas, Iowa and Alabama.The bureau collects hate crime data from local police jurisdictions, though the ADL project also highlights the states that dont track hate crimes  Wyoming, Indiana, Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina. The project links users back to original data sources, including .csv, .pdf and .png files.Oakland, Calif., has been without a permanent chief information officer since Bryan Sastokas left to take on the same role in Long Beach in June 2015. San Francisco is searching for a CIO since Miguel Gamino announced plans last month to become chief technology officer for New York City.Now a third city in the San Francisco Bay Area  or the outskirts , anyway  is in search of a CIO. Fairfield, population 105,000, is taking applications for the position until Dec. 5.The previous CIO, Steve Garrison, retired in June, according to city staff. The city posted the job opening on Nov. 1.The salary range for the position is $10,186 to $12,381 per month.Andrew Schrock, a professor who has taught communications and technology at the University of Southern California, California State University Dominguez Hills and Woodbury University, is working on a guidebook for civic tech.Schrock has raised more than $11,000 toward publishing the book on Kickstarter , where he described it as the first guidebook to the big ideas behind the civic tech movement." The 128-page work will explore concepts such as user-centered design, open government and community infrastructure, according to the Kickstarter page.Over the last five years I've been collecting stories and strategies to make communities stronger and government more responsive, Schrock wrote on the page. These are stories of geeks banding together with government and local leaders to help solve our biggest social problems. The book is about about community organizers like Tiffani Bell, who created The Human Utility for Detroit residents who couldnt pay their water bills. It is about civil servants like Mark Headd who use data to drive participation. It is about how government teams like Bostons New Urban Mechanics experiment with city life and reform government from the inside.The book is titled, and Schrock estimates that hell ship the first copies to Kickstarter contributors in April. Six months after that, he said, he plans to release the entire work under a creative commons license. The free version will be available as a PDF download, while hard copies will be available for purchase.The Kickstarter campaign is closed, but preorders are available here
Earlier this year, Denvergov.org took first place for city websites in the Center for Digital Governments Best of the Web competition. Denvers dedication to service delivery is what most impressed judges, and its that focus on the customer and connecting people with pertinent information thats driving the city forward online.At the Colorado Digital Government Summit in October, Denver CIO Scott Cardenas discussed how the city prioritizes Web features and what the next generation of mobile delivery will look like.
The only question mark is how McLaren will respond to the new aerodynamic regulations for 2017, according to Fernando Alonso.

Next year is the last in the famous Spaniard's three year deal with the Anglo-Japanese outfit, and he told Auto Motor und Sport that he has no doubt Honda is up to the engine challenge.

"Mercedes will be hard to beat," he told the German magazine when pondering next year's regulations.

"Not just for us -- for everyone," added Alonso. "But I think we can be close enough to fight.

"I am 100 per cent convinced that Honda will find the performance we need. On the aerodynamics side, there are bigger questions. You have to have some luck.

"Who knows what car philosophy will be the right one: who will interpret the rules correctly, and who does not? It may well be that one goes to the left, one goes to the right, and after four races you realise you went the wrong way," he said.

But although the media has constantly pressed Alonso on his decision to leave Ferrari for the struggling McLaren-Honda project, the 35-year-old insists he was right.

"Every day I say that to myself," he said.

"I am happy. I drive in the best team of my career," Alonso explained. "The level of knowledge, the focus on detail, the analysis, the organisation, I have not experienced anywhere else.

"All we need is a fast car. I spent five years with Ferrari, and if I had spent two more years there, I would probably be sad and frustrated now.

"When I was there, I fought at least twice for the title, but today I would be sixth instead of second," said Alonso.

Finally, when asked about the ambition of the 2017 rules, Alonso backed the goal of making F1 faster and more spectacular by speeding up the cars next year.

"I am hopeful," he said. "All the drivers, all the bosses, all the organisers, all the TV stations agreed that something must change."

And he also agreed that the physical challenge will be significantly tougher for the drivers in 2017.

"It will be harder, no question," said Alonso. "We'll have to train more.

"When you get tired, you make mistakes. This year, we were about five seconds per lap faster in Malaysia because of the new asphalt, and it was by far the most physically demanding race. In 2017, all the races will be like that."

(GMM)
Why KCR Family Is Running Around Delhi?

First it was Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who rushed to Delhi to discuss the fallout of demonetisation on the economy of the state.

Even as KCR was in Delhi, his son and IT Minister K T Rama Rao also went to the national capital in the name of talking to various Central ministers.

And within few hours of KCR and KTR returning from Delhi, Irrigation minister T Harish Rao, nephew of KCR, went to Delhi in the name of meetings with central ministers. In any case, KCRs daughter K Kavitha is already in Delhi for attending the ongoing Parliament sessions.

Naturally, KCRs family trip to Delhi almost at the same time has raised many an eyebrow. His critics say there is something fishy in the whole trip.

Some critics say KCR and family had gone to Delhi to get their black money converted into white, while others say KCR was trying to take advantage of the crisis in the NDA on account of demonetisation and extend support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

May be in the coming days, TRS will be a friendly part of the NDA and Kavitha might get her ambition of getting into the Modi cabinet fulfilled.

In any case, these are all political speculations. And anything may happen anytime in politics!
Get into the holiday spirit by attending Green Rivers tree lighting ceremony.

Green River residents are encouraged to join Mayor Pete Rust at the Mayors Tree Lighting ceremony Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the clock tower downtown.

URA/Main Street administrator Jennie Melvin said groups in the community are coming together to help out with this event.

The American Legion is providing the hot chocolate for all of those who attend, while Sweetwater County Library employees are handing out free books to the first 100 children.

Three smores stations will be set up throughout the clock-tower area, so residents can make their own smores after Rust lights the tree.

It will allow people to hang out a little longer, she said.

Children will also have the chance to see Santa Claus as he works his way through the area handing out goodies. Melvin said the children will not have time to sit on his lap, but they will have the chance to see him.

The tree-lighting ceremony is a tradition the city has been doing for years and acts as a kick off to the holiday season.

I think it should be fun, she said. I am excited.

This event is also acting as a gateway to raising food for the Green River Food Bank. Melvin said those attending the tree lighting are encouraged to bring a nonperishable food item to the event.

We are looking for side dishes to a turkey dinner, Melvin said.

Those who bring a nonperishable food item to the ceremony will receive a raffle ticket at no cost to them.

Raffle prizes include a $25 Green River Chamber of Commerce gift certificate and tickets to A Country Christmas show at the Broadway Theater in Rock Springs.
A fugitive on the run out of Utah has been captured in Green River.

Sheriff Mike Lowell said Kayla Briane Porreca, 26, was wanted by Salt Lake County authorities on at least five separate warrants for a multitude of charges including aggravated assault, assault, driving while suspended, driving without interlock, fail to stop for police, joyriding, hit and run and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Earlier this week, detectives assigned to the Sheriffs Narcotics and Arrest Group (SNAAG), a specialized unit of county detectives dedicated to drug enforcement and fugitive...
With the holiday season gearing up this week, many seniors should remember to be weary of potential scams targeting them.

The Green River Police Department receives calls from residents each week who are targeted by scammers attempting to call or use the internet as a means to fool people into giving up their personal account information or purchase gift cards to pay for a supposed service or fine.

According to the FBIs website regarding scams and safety, seniors are common targets for criminals as they tend to have a nest egg, own their home and have excellent credit.

Theyre also eas...
Traffic shift at Smithland Bridge construction zone A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) plans a traffic shift and an traffic diversion near the U.S. 60 Cumberland River...

Local businesses prepare for Trick or Treat on Main Click Image to Enlarge About 45 local businesses and entities are participating in Trick or Treat on Main Monday. Children can pass through ...

Young seeks Crittenden Sheriff's post Click Image to Enlarge Don Young asks for your vote as Crittenden County Sheriff. Young has been a constable and worked with the sheriff'...

Fredonia Party in Park is Sunday Fredonia will host a Party in the Park on Sunday, Oct. 30 at Buddy Rogers Park. There will be a Family 5K to kick off the party. Registrati...
In what is the latest confusing branding move from Google, third party devices that support its Cast standard will no longer actually promote the Google Cast name to consumers. Instead, what you'll see on the box of that new TV or speaker will be that it has "Chromecast built-in".

In a way, this makes sense, since the Chromecast name has a lot more brand recognition than Google Cast ever had, so it will be easier for people to tell what such TVs and speakers can do - given the success of the Chromecast line of devices.

On the other hand, Google should probably stop changing the names of its products and services so often. Even in the Chromecast realm, we went from Chromecast (the device and the app) to Google Cast (the protocol, the new name of the app, and branding for third parties), to the situation we have now - where Chromecast is the standalone streaming stick, and third party devices come with "Chromecast built-in". All OK and pretty logical, right? Well, not really, if you consider that the app formerly known as Google Cast (and Chromecast before that) is now called Google Home. This is the app you need to set up your Chromecast or "Chromecast built-in" device, and it's called Google Home. Which is also a standalone product, by the way. See why we think this is confusing?

Anyway, expect all traces of "Google Cast" to be wiped from the company's pages detailing third party integration with its streaming tech, but remember that the protocol itself is still Google Cast. That probably won't make it to any marketing materials, thankfully. Hardware partners like Vizio, Toshiba, and Philips have already started to use the "Chromecast built-in" wording, while Google has renamed the Google Cast Twitter account to Chromecast.

Source
Back in September Samsung sold its printer business to HP, and a shocking revelation from South Korea today claims it might do the same with its PC division. According to a report from a local news source in Samsung's home country, the company has been in secret talks with Lenovo for the past few months, with the aim of selling its PC business to the Chinese company.

Some Korean analysts peg the sales value at 1 trillion won (around $850 million), but the final number can obviously be wildly different.

The printer business was sold because through its most recent reorganization Samsung wants to focus more on its core divisions, but also for the fact that printers aren't really breaking sales records anymore. Similarly, the PC market has been slowly shrinking over the past few years, and for the long run it might not be worth it for Samsung to invest in this area anymore. The company has chosen not to comment on this matter.

Source (in Korean) | Via 1 | Via 2
If you're the tinkering type, you know what unlocking your bootloader is (and if you don't, this probably isn't for you). And you also know how few Android smartphone manufacturers provide easy and official ways to unlock their bootloaders, especially in the US. If so, prepare to be surprised by the latest move from LG.

The company has added support for one V20 model to its official bootloader unlock tool for phones. The version in question has the model number US996.USA, and it's apparently the one meant "for the US open market". Although the wording is peculiar, we assume this means we're talking about those V20 handsets officially sold in the US in unlocked form, and not through carriers.

So if you do have such a V20 and want to go down the bootloader unlocking route, you can now do so. Keep in mind that making this step will void your warranty. Also note that you can't re-lock the bootloader - once the unlocking is done, it's done forever. This could interfere with the functions of certain services that rely on DRM protection, such as those that offer music and movie download and streaming. Don't forget to backup all your data before doing this, since it might get deleted.

The V20 is only the fourth LG device to be supported by the company's official bootloader unlocking tool, so this is quite big for its developer-focused efforts. It's also the first one sold in the US to be on the list - joining the V10 for Europe (except France), the G5 for Europe, and the G4 for Europe. The full details regarding the unlocking procedure can be found at the Source link below.

Source | Via
We've seen plenty of deals for the Huawei Watch in the US in the last few months, and now it's finally the UK's turn to be able to grab the smartwatch for less. The Android Wear device is currently being sold by Amazon for just 167.99, in silver with a black leather strap. That's down from the 289 launch price for this particular version of the wearable, so you're saving 121, which is no insignificant amount.

Of course, the Huawei Watch is getting quite long in the tooth at the moment, but it is still one of the best Android Wear devices ever made, and at this new price might become interesting for more people. That said, if you're looking for the latest specs in your smartwatch, then the Asus Zenwatch 3 is powered by the newer Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, while next spring Google should unveil two Pixel watches of its own alongside Android Wear 2.0. So waiting is still an option (whether that's for the Zenwatch 3 to hit the UK or Google's watches to be out), unless the Huawei Watch has really caught your eye.

If you do want to buy it, do so as soon as possible because there's simply no telling how long this deal will last.

Via
These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.
Samsung might be looking for a new fingerprint sensor supplier

Fingerprint readers have become a wide-spread feature in smartphones, with even the lower-end reaching towards it.

Previously we heard whispers of a widespread fingerprint reader roll-out across Samsung's device family and now industry sources are claiming that the Korean giant has begun to actively source reader modules.

Currently this particular part of the biometric security market is more or less split up between FPC out of Sweden and the US-based Synaptics. However, there are other smaller vendors out there and sources now say Samsung might be in talks with a local Korean company to procure as many as 2 million units.

This could potentially shift things around in the fingerprint hardware niche. Not to mention, it will lessen Samsung's dependability on the aforementioned major vendors.

Source
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Haiti - USA : Towards a considerable increase in the removals of illegal Haitians





Statement by US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson on the resumption of removals to Haiti :



"[...] On September 22, I announced we would resume removals of Haitian nationals https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html in accordance with our existing enforcement priorities. This includes those apprehended at the border attempting to enter the country illegally. In light of Hurricane Matthew, which struck Haiti on October 4, removal flights to Haiti were briefly suspended. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18905-haiti-flash-usa-temporary-suspension-of-deportations-of-haitians.html



Removal flights from the United States to Haiti have now resumed https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19178-haiti-flash-deportation-flights-of-haitians-from-usa-resumed.html In the last several weeks ICE has removed over 200 Haitian nationals and plans to significantly expand removal operations in the coming weeks.



Haitian nationals currently covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are unaffected by the resumption of flights to Haiti. Specifically, those Haitian nationals who have been continuously residing in the United States since January 12, 2011 and currently hold TPS may remain in the United States and are not subject to removal. These beneficiaries also remain eligible for employment authorization. TPS for Haitian nationals has been extended through July 22, 2017.



Recently, we have seen an increase in the numbers of those apprehended on the southern border. I have instructed our border security and immigration enforcement personnel to take steps to keep pace with this increase. As a result, there are currently about 41,000 individuals in our immigration detention facilities, including over 4,400 Haitians. Typically, the number in immigration detention is about 31,000 to 34,000.



I have authorized ICE to acquire additional detention space so that those apprehended at the border and not eligible for humanitarian relief can be detained and sent home as soon as possible.



We must enforce the immigration laws consistent with our priorities. Those who attempt to enter our country illegally must know that, consistent with our laws and our values, we must and we will send you back."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19178-haiti-flash-deportation-flights-of-haitians-from-usa-resumed.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18943-haiti-usa-deportations-of-haitians-congresswoman-wilson-continues-the-struggle.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18928-haiti-usa-deportations-of-haitians-the-secretary-jeh-johnson-specifies.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Obtaining information on Haitian migrants detained in the USA





In light of the recent decision taken by the United States Government to deport Haitian nationals apprehended at U.S. ports of entry who are deemed to have unlawfully entered U.S. soil, an increasing number of Haitians have been placed in detention centers and are facing immediate removal https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19323-haiti-usa-towards-a-considerable-increase-in-the-removals-of-illegal-haitians.html .



Given the circumstances, the Embassy of Haiti in Washington DC understand that the families of detainees will be seeking information about the status of their relatives. The Consular Section at the Embassy of Haiti has activated a hotline to provide updates on the status of detainees as it is in communication with U.S. authorities.



Family members who are seeking information on their detained relatives to contact the Embassys hotline : (202) 549-8712



An email can also be sent to : amb.washington@diplomatie.ht



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19323-haiti-usa-towards-a-considerable-increase-in-the-removals-of-illegal-haitians.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19178-haiti-flash-deportation-flights-of-haitians-from-usa-resumed.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18943-haiti-usa-deportations-of-haitians-congresswoman-wilson-continues-the-struggle.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18905-haiti-flash-usa-temporary-suspension-of-deportations-of-haitians.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18928-haiti-usa-deportations-of-haitians-the-secretary-jeh-johnson-specifies.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : Towards a Challenge of Results ?





Tuesday, at the Votes Tabulation Cenrte (CTV), former Senator Yvon Feuille, one of the two representatives of Famni Lavalas expressed concern and did not understand the delay in the delivery of the minutes of the Pooling stations of West 1 and 2, that would be arrived at CTV according to him, only on Tuesday morning around 11:00 am MondayContradicting the statements on Monday of Robinson Cherilus the Director Genral of CTV , who had claimed to have received them Monday...



Yvon Feuille does not understand that PVs coming from remote regions arrived Monday and that it takes 48 hours for the department of the West... A concern shared by Denis Pascalnord, one of the two representatives of the "Alternative League For Haitian Progress and Emancipation" (LAPEH).



Alex Joseph, a representative of LAPEH, qualifies the tabulation "of organized electoral theft" affirming as Yvon Feuille, that the minutes have been counted in violation of the electoral decree.



The representative of Famni Lavalas also refers to the difficulty of carrying out a real control work, while only 2 representatives per party are authorized in the zone where the 200 operators of seizure work...



In response to these allegations, Robinson Cherilus, he DG of CTV asserts that the tabulation process is in full compliance with CEP regulations on the operation of the CTV.



In addition, the Executive Committee of Fanmi Lavalas wrote to Leopold Berlanger, the President of the CEP, to share with him a cluster of clues which, according to Lavalas, suggests that an electoral Coup is being prepared.In its letter Famin Lavalas writes "[...] The electoral day of 20 November 2016 appeared, for a short time, to benefit from a satisfactory of all the actors involved. But the relocation of polling stations at the last minute, voters displaced from their commune and / or department of residence to another commune and / or another department, voters whose names appear on the voters list and not on the list of 'emargement' of the same polling station, the difficulties for voters to locate their polling stations on certain non-functional telephone numbers provided by the CEP, an untimely cut of power at the national level; a pernicious intoxication of certain press agents around the results recalling the maneuvers of Antonio Sola and the suspected fire of a market in Petion-Ville, project the clues of an electoral Coup..."



If so far none of the parties has suggested that they would contest the results of the elections https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19321-haiti-flash-more-than-60-of-presidential-minutes-already-processed.html , the beginnings of a possible contestation begin to take shape. An attitude far from that of party, confident to win the elections.



PI/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : CARICOM observers satisfied





After having observed over 300 polling stations during Haitis presidential and legislative elections Sunday last, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Election Observer Mission (CEOM) has declared general satisfaction with the conduct of the poll.



The 300 polling stations it visited were situated in three districts in and neighbouring the capital city Port-au-Prince, including areas affected by Hurricane Matthew.



The Mission stated in its initial assessments that "staff were trained, committed and dedicated to effectively conduct the elections for president and senators [...]



The overall considered opinion is that compared with the 25 October 2015 poll, on this occasion the CEP officers at the Polling Stations not only displayed an improved competence, but a uniform execution of their duties. The team attributed this noticeable amelioration to the training of poll staff conducted by the CEP. With few exceptions the poll staff treated CEOM members with the utmost respect, and demonstrated a genuine willingness to accommodate queries."



The CEOM said it will specify and recommend new improvements in its final report, but noted that many of the lapses observed were "not of any great consequence or of the nature to disturb the electoral results."



It should be noted that many of the suggestions documented by CEOM after the 25 October 2015 elections were incorporated into the CEP training program and were used on 20 November 2016.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





Lavalas protesters threaten

Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, on the second demonstation day of upporters of Fanmi Lavalas, the police had to use tear gas several times to disperse them and restore order. In reaction, some protesters threatened to take up arms and uttered serious threats against the CEP, the media and the journalists... https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19319-haiti-elections-demonstrations-the-minister-of-justice-condemns-with-force.html



No candidate wins the first round according to  Pitit Dessalin 

According to the platform "Pitit Dessalin" no candidate would have won the elections of 20 November in the first round. Reverend Father Amos Georges, Spokesman for the Platform, called on the population to be calm while awaiting the results of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19321-haiti-flash-more-than-60-of-presidential-minutes-already-processed.html



Passing away of rector Paquiot

The Ministry of National Education welcomes the memory of Professor Pierre Marie Paquiot, honored in May 2016 by the Ministry during the tribute ceremony for teachers. The Ministry bows to this emeritus professor who has devoted 41 years of his life to teaching. Sincere condolences to the tried family, to his colleagues, friends and all his students.



Declining attendance of representatives

Regarding the election day, the Citizen Observatory for the Institutionalization of Democracy (OCID) indicated "Observers have noted a smaller presence of representatives at the polling station level compared to the last elections. Indeed, there were at least 3 representatives of different parties and political groupings in 62.7% of the polling stations (versus 95% in October 2015) and 5 or more representatives of different political parties in 14.4% of polling stations (compared with 83.2% in October 2015). 10.2% of the polling stations had only one representative and 3.7% had none (against 1.1% and 1.3% respectively in October 2015). Among the parties most strongly represented at the polling stations were PHTK (71.6%), Fanmi Lavalas (54.4%), Pitit Dessalines (39.9%), LAPEH (39.1%), Renmen Ayiti (14.2%) and others (62%).



Elections : Declaration of France

On Wednesday at the press briefing, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development made the following statement: " France welcomes the smooth conduct of voting on November 20 and the efforts of the Haitian authorities to ensure that the entire population, including in the regions affected by Hurricane Matthew, were able to go the polls in a calm and transparent manner. Pending the publication of the results, France calls on all political actors to comply with electoral law."



Consulate of Miami closed

The Consulate General of the Republic of Haiti in Miami informs the public in general and the Haitian community in particular that the Consulate will be closed from Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 November 2016 on the occasion of Thanksgiving, holidays in the United States. Activities at the Consulate will normally resume on Monday 28 November from 8:00 a.m.



In case of emergency call : (305) 793-1665



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/11/23 | Source

Just a couple of weeks ago, Gong Hyo-jin was 'Gongbli' in the SBS drama "Incarnation of Jealousy". She was adored by two men at the same time and she was a weather forecaster with a strong will of living. She was feisty and sophisticated.

Advertisement

However, in the upcoming movie called "Missing Woman", Gong Hyo-jin is unfamiliar and even creepy. She plays Han-mae, a Chinese babysitter who works for a single working mom and disappears one day with the baby. Everything about her turns out to be a lie and her true story unravels.

After reading the scenario, Gong Hyo-jin couldn't forget about Han-mae and decided she would do it. It is almost a supporting role but she didn't need to think more about it. "I wish the movie comes out the way it should regardless of my character and quality". She dotted her face with about 30 or so dots, redid her eyelashes and even wore a wig for the character.

The story is about a mother who finds truth after truth while looking for her baby and a mysterious woman. The Gong Hyo-jin we know isn't here. We discover a new side of the actress we know as 'Gongbli'.

Q: The movie is finally out. How is it?

Gong Hyo-jin: I think the order of the movie and the scenario changed a little bit. We tried many different things during the editing and this is the result.

At first when I read the scenario, the character didn't speak Korean. She was Chinese and she had a lot of lines. We even thought about making her a Chinese-Korean but the script said she needed to be Chinese. I read the script thinking she would be better off Chinese. I forgot what I was feeling because that was a year ago, but I felt really sorry for Han-mae. I thought about her for 2~3 months. She was already settled with me. I felt the same way when I watched "Interstellar". I just felt weird and I didn't know if I was sadness or what. I just decided to do it and even speak Chinese. I memorized everything except the ones I didn't think were necessary. It was almost a disguise.

Q: Do you feel you made the right choice?

Gong Hyo-jin: I wished the movie turned out to be everything like the scenario says it is regardless of my performance or quality. The producer asked me if I wanted to expand some scenes but I told him it was just appropriate. I had broken my leg during "It's Okay, That's Love" so it was impossible for me to run about in just a year. The Chinese lines were difficult too. I didn't seem desperate enough no matter what I said. Maybe I could have done more but right now I'm satisfied with my choice.

Q: Han-mae is attractive but we are used to 'Gongbli'. Were you worried?

Gong Hyo-jin: Not really. I am always looking for new characters in dramas or movies. My last movie was "Aging Family" and I didn't play an ordinary role and we didn't get that many viewers. I'm disappointed when my drama doesn't come out successful, but it's not like that for movies. I just tell myself I tried and I tried for something new. Uhm Ji-won once said it's all about 'wo-mance' and not 'bro-mance' and it's the same thing for 'Gongbli'. It's too boring.

Q: Ma Dong-seok is the new 'Ma-bli', do you feel threatened?

Gong Hyo-jin: I felt competition for the first time since 'Choo-bli' (Choo Sa-rang). I think his movie "Derailed" is coming out on the same day. It's two men against two women. I am a fan of Choi Minho and I asked him to come to my premiere but he said he had a premiere of his own (laughs). I worked with 'Ma-bli' in "Heaven's Soldiers" and I remember worrying about freezing to death in the icy river. This generation is all about us 3 'Bli's'. I watched "Train to Busan" the other day and cried a lot, but I only saw 'Ma-bli'.

Q: You have a different standard when it comes to choosing movie and drama.

Gong Hyo-jin: Not really, but I think that's just a method of how I deal with it. In romantic comedies there are lovable female characters. I want my heart to thump even while I'm watching it. I wish the bubbly female character shines a ray of light in the exhausting reality. However, being the same character for 5 months makes me want to cut my hair or do something provocative. So I let it out in movies. There are diverse characters in movies and I didn't intentionally do it like that, but I figured, enough of 'Gongbli'.
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Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

09:44, 30 OCT 2022
Luncheon: Micronesians and Homelessness in Hawaii

From Grassroot Institute

Thursday, December 1st | 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

1132 Bishop Street, Room 611*

Featuring...

Neil Mellen

Neil Mellen is a Grassroot Institute Scholar and former Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia. Currently, he leads Habele, an all-volunteer nonprofit in Columbia, SC, serving low income and rural K-12 students within Micronesia.

As homelessness continues to rise in Hawaii, there is a need to examine the programs within Micronesia that seem to be causing people to leave - and in some cases, are forcing them out. Join us for this luncheon as Neil Mellen discusses the relationship between the structure of government programs in Micronesia and the rise of homelessness in Hawaii.

Don't miss this event!

Limited Space! Register today!

*No Parking Validation Provided

(Premium parking in building or in nearby public parking, see below)

Most convenient & affordable parking: Beretania & Nuuanu Lot

From H1, take the Pali Hwy exit towards downtown. Continue until you reach S. Beretania, and turn right onto S. Beretania. Then turn left on Nuuanu at New Hope Church. Turn left immediately into the lot, park and then use the pay station. Our building can be accessed by either Fort Street Mall or Union Mall off of Bishop St.

If that lot is full, continue on Nuuanu and then make the first left into Mark's Garage. The Chinatown Municipal Lots are also good parking lots.

---30---

Background:
A former employee of the information services and compliance company SAI Global has been found to have accessed the company's database and made copies with a USB device before joining their competitor Infotrack.



The Federal Court has found the business development manager Liam Johnstone breached his employment contract with SAI Global, his employment duties under the Corporations Act and the company's copyright through his

unauthorised use of the data.



SAI Global sued Johnstone for just over $9231 in damages and returned wages as well $275,469 in costs after discovering his unauthorised access after he left the company in November 2015.



Three days before his resignation from SAI, Mr Johnstone copied two computer files from the laptop he used for work onto a USB device he owned, Justice Moshinsky said.



The two reports which were stolen contained information about SAI Globals customers.



The court found he made copies or accessed the SAI documents in the period from 2 November to 4 December 2015 on a number of occasions.



Justice Moshinsky said Johnstone used the copied document to assist him in his new job.



Indeed, Johnstone had used the information on the files to ascertain which customers of SAI were also customers of the new employer, Justice Moshinsky said.



He did this of his own volition; there is no suggestion that the new employer knew of or sanctioned his conduct, he added.



HC contacted SAI Global for comment and were provided with the following comment:



SAI Global has not and will not be issuing any statements regarding the litigation other than to confirm the matter involved claims against a former employee concerning copyright infringement, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and breach of duties under the Corporations Act.



Legal proceedings began by SAI Global after the company became suspicious and they had Johnstones former laptop forensically examined.



Johnstone was ordered to pay $196,416 in SAI Global's costs on top of the $9431 damages and repaid wages bill.




Our basic social security system is a patchwork and we cannot afford the constantly rising social security costs. Various benefits should be brought together into larger wholes both for the sake of customers and for the sake of sensible administration and the public economy, she writes in a blog on Sosiaalivakuutus.fi .

Liisa Hyssala, the director general at the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), has reiterated her concerns about the sustainability of the country's social security system.

The majority of social security benefits were intended as temporary means of support, but they have become part of permanent basic security.

Hyssala estimates that a well-designed basic income scheme would be able to generate well-being more cost-efficiently than the current social security system and provide security in times of change. She also calls for a debate on the distribution of responsibilities between the individual and the society.

Hyssala will retire as the director general of Kela at year-end and will be replaced by Elli Aaltonen, a long-term member of the board of directors at Kela and the director general of the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) for Eastern Finland.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The package, which is scheduled for publication next week, can have far-reaching consequences for the domestic bio-economy and forest industry, and thus for the economy at large.

The European Commission's so-called winter package, a package of proposals designed to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon, secure and competitive economy, has stirred up unrest within the forest industry in Finland.

The European Commission is expected to propose the adoption of union-wide sustainability criteria for the use of biomass in energy production  a prospect that is not enticing for a country that has launched a number of major investments in the bio-economy and for which wood energy is an integral aspect of the bio-economy and renewable energy strategy.

It would also be already the second blow to the bio-economy and forest industry in Finland in 2016.

The European Commission's earlier proposal for new land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) rules would define the country's forests as a source of carbon dioxide emissions rather than a carbon sink, according to calculations made by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). The commission's own calculations, by contrast, would define the forests as a carbon sink, reports Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, the official mouthpiece of the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK).

Riikka Pakarinen, the director of government relations at the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, says both of the proposals stir up concerns about the future of bio-economy and forestry in Finland.

How do we guarantee that forests can still be used in Finland, sustainably, for the needs of the bio-economy, in accordance with existing plans? she says to Uusi Suomi. Both [proposals] entail the risk that [] forest use in Finland will be limited heavily by the commission.

The European Union and the European Commission are seemingly taking a more active role in forest policy-making in Europe, a policy area that has traditionally been left to national-level decision-makers.

Pakarinen, an ex-Member of the European Commission for the Centre Party, reminds that both of the proposals remain on the drawing board. The LULUCF rules are to be presented to the European Parliament in January, while the proposal for sustainability criteria has yet to be finalised.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Source: Uusi Suomi
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President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Enda Kenny and may follow Pope Francis in visiting Ireland

He may have faced criticism in the Dail, but Donald Trump is still planning a visit to Ireland.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed yesterday that the president-elect told him he is planning a trip.

The Fine Gael leader is also due to meet with the Pope next week and will extend an invitation to him to visit Ireland as well.

Mr Kenny has been forced to backtrack on previous remarks during the presidential election when he said that comments made by Mr Trump were "racist" and "dangerous".

In the wake of the election result, he rolled back, insisting the comments were made in "the heat of battle".

Now he has revealed further details about his 10-minute call with the president-elect.

"He actually said himself that he hoped to visit Ireland some time, so let's see when the administration takes up office what his schedule might be," he said.

"I don't have any indication of his coming at an early date."

Mr Kenny was also chall- enged on why he did not criticise some of the rhetoric from Mr Trump during the bitter US presidential campaign.

He said that was not the purpose of the call.

"This is the reality of dealing with a new regime and new administration taking up office in the United States," he said. "My conversation, both with the president-elect and the vice president-elect, was on the basis of the relationship of this country with the United States."

Mr Kenny confirmed he is to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican on Monday.

He will tell the Pontiff of his support for the Irish Catholic bishops' invitation for Pope Francis to visit Ireland in 2018 for the World Meeting of Families which is to be held in Dublin.

Mr Kenny and the Pope are also expected to discuss the Euro- pean Union and migration, among other topics.

Support

The Taoiseach will tell Francis that all the courtesies of a state visit would be accorded, should he come here.

"The Taoiseach will also take the opportunity to personally welcome the decision by Pope Francis to hold the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in August 2018," a government official said.

"He will express the full support of the Government for the invitation by the Irish Bishops Conference to Pope Francis to visit Ireland in the context of that meeting, and assure the Pope that the normal state courtesies and support will be extended to him if he decides to come to Ireland."

Mr Kenny said yesterday that he hopes to still be Taoiseach when the Pope visits.
There was 5,000 worth of damage to the vehicle and the owner, a carpenter, was unable to work for two weeks while it was being repaired. (Stock image)

A teenager who had no recollection of lighting a fire in a car has been given a three-year suspended sentence.

Jamie Cox (19) of Monksfield Downs, Clondalkin pleaded guilty to arson at Rathfarnham Shopping Centre.

Gda Shane McGrath told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Cox and another man had been thrown out of a nearby pub on October 18 last year.

They were then spotted smashing the windows of the Mercedes SUV and lighting a fire in it.

Staff from the pub who put out the fire saw the men running off in the direction of a nearby housing estate.

They were arrested a short time later.

Carpenter

There was 5,000 worth of damage to the vehicle and the owner, a carpenter, was unable to work for two weeks while it was being repaired.

Cox told gardai he did not remember the fire and had "a vague recollection" of being arrested.

"I was crazy drunk, off my head in a different world," he said.

He identified himself on CCTV footage but said he had no idea why he did it.

Ann Sheridan, defending, said Cox's accomplice, who has yet to be dealt with by the court, was 20 years his senior and a negative influence on him.

She said Cox accepted full responsibility.
The Central Bank has made a dramatic change to its mortgage lending rules for first-time buyers, sparking fears that property prices will be pushed even higher.

Under current rules first-time-buyers must have a 20pc deposit for houses valued at more than 220,000, affecting buyers in the capital especially.

The relaxing of the rules is expected to lead to a surge in home building but there are also fears that the loosening of the lending limits will lead to even higher property price rises.

First-time buyers will now be able to borrow any amount with a deposit of 10pc, if they meet other lending criteria.

Up to now, new borrowers could have been approved for a mortgage with a deposit of 10pc for borrowings up to 220,000.

They needed a 20pc deposit for all amounts over that. The changes will take effect from January.

At the moment a first-time buyer purchasing a home for 300,000 needs a deposit of 38,000.

From next year, the new buyer should qualify for mortgage approval with a deposit of 30,000.

This will give the buyer an extra 8,000.

Rebate

If the buyer qualifies for the Government's help-to-buy scheme for new homes they will get a tax rebate of 15,000.

This means they will be able to buy with an effective deposit of 95pc of the property's value.

However, the Central Bank also said it is restricting the exemptions to the deposit rules to just 5pc of first-time buyers mortgages issued by banks. It was 15pc.

For second-time buyers, such as movers, there will still be a 20pc deposit needed.

The deposit limits do not apply to those in negative equity.

Banks will now be able to offer exemptions for up to 20pc of the value of second-time buyer mortgages. This should help some of those who bought in the boom and now want to move.

"The 90pc loan-to-value ratio limit for all first-time buyers simplifies the overall framework, with only 5pc of lending permitted above this level," Governor Philip Lane said.

The altering of the rules was welcomed by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, along with the Housing Agency, the Construction Industry Federation and estate agents.

He added that most new buyers had larger deposits than the minimums set by the rules up to now.

He insisted the rules are working well, and are needed.

"In Ireland, we know only too well the painful problems caused by reckless lending," he said.

But the rules needed to be adjusted because they are too complicated, Prof Lane said.

He also justified the change on the basis that first-time buyers were less likely to default, according to recent data.

The Central Bank boss denied he had buckled to political pressure and fierce criticism from vested interests when altering the lending limits.

New buyers are still restricted on the amount they can borrow relative to their income, Prof Lane said.

The Central Bank said that the 3.5 times ceiling on the loan-to-income ratio remains unchanged. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland welcomed the easing of the deposit rules.

Broker group PIBA said it was disappointing that non-first-time buyers do not benefit from the changes.

Fianna Fail's finance spokesman Michael McGrath gave a cautious welcome to the changes.

"The reality is there is a very limited supply of new homes on the market and so, first-time buyers are now in a much stronger position," he said.
The Colonial Park United Church of Christ really knows how to put Christ in Christmas.

For the past 15 years, the Lower Paxton Township church has hosted a Creche Festival featuring hundreds of nativity sets from around the world. The creches, mostly from private collections, are made of pottery, straw, wax, wood, fabric and more. All depict the birth of Jesus Christ. Many area Christians launch their Christmas season by visiting the festival.

This years festival will be held at the church at 5000 Devonshire Road, Lower Paxton Township, from 1 to 7 p.m. Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 3 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 4. Admission and parking are free although a free will offering will be taken for Christian Churches United Ministries.

Pat Greenawald, festival coordinator, said that the festival will feature more than 500 creches from about 60 exhibitors. She said the festival, which usually attracts more than 300 visitors, grows more popular each year.

People like,creches so much because they help them get into the Christmas mood, she said. They are meaningful to Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Greenawald called creches a beloved tradition in a changing world. People grow up with them and give them to their children, she said. They are a personal expression of our Christian faith.

The creches will be displayed on tables in the church social hall. Creches from around the world show how the holy family reflects various cultures  some wearing hooded robes, some wearing sombreros, some donned in Eskimo garb. Theres no such thing as a typical creche.

The Rev. Frances Whitehurst of Enola will display 15 of her creches at the festival. Whitehurst has been collecting creches since 2005.

I get my creches here and there, the United Church of Christ minister said. I especially like the childrens creches. Many are whimsical. I have one with Jesus, Mary and Joseph as teddy bears and another one based on The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever with children dressed as Mary, Joseph, a donkey, camel and more.

She said that creches help people visualize the birth of Christ.

Molly Wirick of Colonial Park has been collecting creches for 50 years and plans to display about 70 of her collection. She said she especially enjoys international creches.

People from different countries make nativities that reflect their countries, she said. The first one I got was made of olive wood from Israel. I also have a metal sculptured nativity set made from an oil drum in Haiti and a felted wool nativity set from Nepal. I am in awe of the many unique ways that the nativity is seen by people. Creches bring people together.
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The Borough of Carlisle really came together on Thanksgiving, and it wasn't for the holiday meal.

The 15th annual CenturyLink Turkey Trot exemplified the support and gratitude many in Carlisle are capable of. Participants in the 5K race were urged on by spectators from their porches or lining the sidewalks, who cheered, whistled and even rang bells.

As in past years, the Turkey Trot had a 9 a.m. start, and participants could choose either to run or walk the race, which starts and finishes at the Carlisle Family YMCA, 311 S. West Street.

Rod Benner has lived across from the YMCA for about 15 years and as things were ramping up Thursday morning, he was out on the front steps of his home, admiring the preparation of the staff helping make the race happen and of those getting set to run or walk.

We enjoy it, he said. Its just a pleasure to see the support the Y gets and the kinds of people we have participating in this event.

Benners son lives in Washington, D.C., and his sister and her husband live in New York, yet in past Thanksgivings theyd make it a point to participate in the race when they would make the trip to Carlisle to visit.

I admire them, Benner said.

Jay Cattron, physical director of the Carlisle Family YMCA and race director of the past four Turkey Trots, told The Sentinel earlier in the week that he expected 3,000 runners and walkers to participate in the 5K with hundreds more lining the streets. So while one might spot local business owners, teachers and friends at the race, Benners family arent the only out-of-towners to come to Carlisle for the Turkey Trot.

Martin Schroeder made the short trip from Biglerville, but along with him were 19 other friends and family members.

Years ago when his oldest son got married, the Schroeders learned that their sons wife had always participated in Turkey Trots in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. During their first Thanksgiving about seven years ago, the family researched local races and found Carlisles Turkey Trot to be just the thing they needed to start something new.

Weve kept the tradition going and this year we have about 30 coming for Thanksgiving dinner, so we invited everyone that wanted to, to come up. Some are running, and some of us old folks are walking with grandkids, Schroeder joked, nodding down to the stroller he pushed.

The CenturyLink Turkey Trot works with Project SHARE, an interfaith, nonprofit cooperative effort that has been serving the (Carlisle) community since 1985, according to its website, and thats why event attendees were encouraged to bring hams or turkeys that do not need to be refrigerated to the Carlisle Family YMCA ahead of the race to be donated families in the Carlisle community.
Andhra Pradesh Government launches water distribution monitoring portal

Published: November 24, 2016

Andhra Pradesh Government has launched the Smart Water Distribution Monitoring web interface. The monitoring portal is a part of ourvmc.org from where it can be accessed.

It was formally launched by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Using this portal people can check the status of drinking water in the water tanks nearby.

The portal has Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. This system helps in reduction of water wastage as well as ensures seamless supply to the households.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Andhra Pradesh  States  water management

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Defence Ministry to relook at defence blacklist guidelines

Published: November 23, 2016

The Union Defence Ministry is planning to relook at defence blacklist guidelines for dealing with global defence firms engaged in corruption in arms deals.

Thus, under recently released new policy called Guidelines of the Ministry of Defence for penalties in business dealings with entities the Union Defence Ministry will re-ascertain the list of companies banned from doing business in India.

The blacklisting policy was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on November 7, 2016 and the policy was released by the Ministry on 21 November 2016.

Key Facts

The new policy has moved away from blanket banning of blacklisted firms which has adversely affected defence preparedness. Instead of ban, it imposes heavy penalties.

It has reduced the period of blanket ban to 5 years from 10 years. However the upper limit of the ban period has not been specified.

It allows doing business with a blacklisted firm for support of critical spares and maintenance in view of national security.

However, it will be through prior approval from the Defence Minister, i.e. the designated competent authority.

Why there is need to relook?

Many global defence firms have been banned from doing business in India because of allegations of corruption against them. However, blacklisting such firms has skewed the competition, with the Indian military not able to access many of the global products.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Business  Corruption  Defence  Defence Ministry  Economy  National  National security

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After a long wait of seven years the Army has finally begun to get the first lot of the bulletproof jackets (BPJs) that it has urgently been in need of. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar informed Parliament that 50,000 BPJs have been procured.

The defence acquisition council (DAC) headed by then defence minister AK Antony had accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN), that is, approval in principle to the procurement in October 2009. Of the Armys total requirement of 353,765 BPJs for counter-insurgency operations, 186,138 were to be procured during the 11th Defence Plan (2007-12) and the remainder during the 12th Plan.

Read | Its not anti-national: Time to assess impact of surgical strikes

According to Parrikars statement, The Request for Proposal (RfP) was issued to 36 vendors on March 3, 2011, but had to be retracted on December 8, 2011 because the models offered by the vendors who had been shortlisted failed to meet the qualitative requirements set by the Army. The Army requires modern, lightweight, modular bulletproof jackets that protect the torso of soldiers. The BPJs currently held by the Army are bulky and are on the verge of obsolescence.

The case for the procurement of BPJs reflects the state of military modernisation, in general, and that of the modernisation of infantry battalions of the Army, in particular. The inadequacy of funds, prolonged delays in decision-making, bureaucratic red tape, the blacklisting of vendors and, occasionally, changes in the qualitative requirements have been plaguing military modernisation.

Read | India test-fires nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missile

Surprisingly, even the Armys plans to replace the basic weapons of an infantryman, the assault rifle, the carbine and the light machine gun, continue to remain in the doldrums. It defies credulity that a nation that can launch a mission to Mars and can fire ballistic missiles up to a range of 5,000 km with precision, cannot produce an assault rifle to match an AK-47 Kalashnikov.

The modernisation plans of infantry battalions are aimed at enhancing their capability for surveillance and target acquisition at night and boosting their firepower for precise retaliation against infiltrating columns and terrorists hiding in built-up areas. The Army has initiated a project to equip all its infantry battalions with an integrated system called the Future Infantry Soldier as a System (F-INSAS) that will be a force multiplier. It will include a modular weapon with a thermal imaging sight for use at night, an under-barrel grenade launcher (UBGL) and Laser range finder that will replace the INSAS rifle.

Read | We know how to deal with them: Pakistani air force chiefs warning to India

It will also have a combat helmet equipped with a head-up display and communications head set, a smart vest with a body monitoring system, a back-pack with integrated GPS and radio and protective footwear. Plans also include the acquisition of hand-held battlefield surveillance radars (BFSRs), and thermal imaging devices (HHTIs) for surveillance at night. Stand-alone infrared, seismic and acoustic sensors need to be acquired in large numbers to enable infantrymen to dominate the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and detect infiltration of Pakistan-sponsored terrorists at stand-off ranges.

It must be noted that while many modernisation projects have been given AoN approval by the DAC, these approvals merely amount to the first step in the acquisition process. It can take anything from three to five years before a contract is signed after a request for proposal (RfP) is issued, the responses evaluated, JVs formed and technical and user trials of the prototypes are carried out.

Parrikar has done much to put military modernisation back on the rails. With tensions with Pakistan mounting by the day, he needs to ensure that the modernisation of the Armys infantry battalions is completed quickly.

Gurmeet Kanwal is distinguished fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi

The views expressed are personal
If you take the train to the northeast from Delhi or back, dont be surprised to find beautiful patterns of threads on your trains window frame. The threads, woven in different patterns, are a part of the project, Yarn Yatra.

Executed by two Delhi-based artists, Pankaj Saroj and Rahul Chaudhary, this four-month-long project is inspired from the concept of Yarn bombing  a street art that has colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre.

Artists Pankaj Saroj and Rahul Chaudhary.

As part of this project, the duo are covering 13,000 kilometers through the eastern and western coasts of India, mostly by train. We started from Delhi and made some yarn artworks in Mandi House with combinations of red, white and blue. That was part of our first track. Presently, we are in Uttar Pradesh, our second track, which will end in Assam. Each time we finish a yatra (journey), we head back to Delhi, says Chaudhary.

What made them take up this street art, which is popular in the West? I didnt know that what I had been doing for so many years was already known as Yarn bombing in the West, says Saroj, whose work is inspired from his upbringing in a village near Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. As a child I used to see my father, a farmer by profession, knitting the charpoy. In fact, in villages, most daily chores use the knitting technique, he adds.

Yarn wrapped on plastic pipes at Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad.

Saroj and Chaudhary have used the same process to create street art on trees and even at the stalls of local chaiwallahs. We opted for trains, because theres no bigger connector than the Indian Railways, and our art, which uses yarn, is also based on the idea of connecting people. Its the same reason why we have made artworks at tea stalls in different cities, says Chaudhary.

A yarn bombing on the window of a train in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

From knitting a headgear for a scrap dealer to creating a crocheted installation for a gallery, the duo have been experimenting with the yarn. It isnt easy though. When we were creating a pattern on a train window in Ujjain, the security police fined us for vandalism, even though we proved them that what we are doing is part of our art project, says Chaudhary.

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Expressing concern over illegal sand mining endangering survival of gharials, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Madhya Pradesh government to take strong measures and report the progress made on February 6.

Nityanand Mishra had filed a petition in the NGT claiming illegal sand mining along Son river in Sidhi district had confined the water body into pools. Located in Sidhi district, Son Gharial Sanctuary was established to save gharials from extinction.

The gharial lives in deep and fast-moving rivers.

Recently, there has been a report that villagers particularly women in some of areas resorted to hunger strike against the illegal sand mining and trespassing by transporters through their agricultural fields. These issues need to be addressed at an urgent basis, a two-member NGT central bench said in its order on Tuesday.

The tribunal stated that the matter be listed on February 6 for reporting the progress made so for on its earlier directives to the government.

It also stated that the government counsel submitted a report on estimation of ecological flows in the Son sanctuary with focus on gharials. The green panel added the report has acknowledged the fact that the illegal sand mining and depletion of sand deposit was adversely affecting the sanctuary.

After the Central Water Commission pointed out that inadequate water release was being released from Bansagar dam, the NGT had directed the state government to file details about how much water could be saved due to implementation of micro irrigation scheme for maintaining minimum continuous water flow to the sanctuary area.
She began her journey in showbiz with no starry links and has won global recognition due to her talent. Actress Priyanka Chopra says she is grateful to fans for putting her in a position where she is used to being the face on a poster. But she wants to do more.

Priyanka also said that whatever she has achieved is due to her own hard work, without the help and support of anybody else.

Priyanka Chopra appears at the Empire State Building on Friday, November 11 in New York. (AP)

I started with nothing, no support. A complete newcomer to even Mumbai city, not even the movie industry. I didnt even know anyone. So I kind of did all that I did on my own without the help and support of anybody, Priyanka said.

The love and affection I have got from audiences around the world kind of gave me the strength to do that. They have put me in a position where I am used to being the face on a poster. I dont want to settle for that.

Priyanka talked about her career in an interview with CBC channel when she flew down to Toronto to unveil the trailer of production venture Sarvann.

Priyanka Chopra attends the 2nd Annual InStyle Awards at The Getty Center on Monday, October 24, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Priyanka was crowned Miss India and went on to win the Miss World title at age 17. Her Bollywood debut came in 2003 with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy.

After that there was no looking back.

The actor made waves with international singles like In my city and Exotic before heading to the international TV space as Alex Parrish in Quantico, which launched in 2015.

The actor is currently seen in Quantico Season 2, which is aired in India on Star World and Star World. She will soon make her Hollywood debut with Baywatch.

Sarvann , a Punjabi film, is Priyankas second production venture under her banner Purple Pebble Pictures. Her first was Ventilator -- which released on November 4.

Sarvann is co-produced by Vashu Bhagnani and stars Amrinder Gill.

Talking about her decision to launch the trailer in Toronto, Priyanka said: I have always got a lot of love and affection whenever Ive come to Toronto. Ive come here for a lot of my Hindi films, Ive come here for Quantico before, specially coming here for a Punjabi film which has such a strong Punjabi community, just seems like the ideal place to launch it.

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And Bollywood chooses to keep mum. Again.

It is not every day that we see an actor take a stand for what s/he thinks is wrong. Our film industry is known to play safe. It lives by the proverb: Silence is Golden, especially on issues that need raising the voice most.

Remember Salman Khans comment on how he felt like a raped woman because he had trained too hard for his role in Sultan? Our otherwise extremely opinionated celebrities neither had anything to say about their beloved Bhai nor did they find his casual remark as offensive as the rest of the country did.

Deepika Padukones star-studded campaign My Choice for Vogue went a little too far in its portrayal of women empowerment. Though Twitter had reacted furiously to Deepikas brave attempt, the biggest of Bollywood stars had come out in her support. Not one of them could see the campaign for what it was. While there were several notions that were stretched a bit too thin in the video, Bollywood hailed it as a new feminist wave and stuck together  as it always does.

http://t.co/7MSprJKAlN superb video my choice. Its a must watch  Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) March 29, 2015

T 1815 - Homi Adajania makes a pertinent 2 min film 'My Choice' ..http://t.co/SUJowJG8Vw .. Women Empowerment .. !!  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) March 28, 2015

99 women unite in delivering a powerful & relevant statement --> My Choice.

Watch. Share. http://t.co/Ox0NalYY0x @homiadajania @VOGUEIndia  Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) March 28, 2015

This time, it is Ranveer Singh who has struck a storm with a Jack and Jones ad. The billboard, that was put up in 12 Indian cities, shows Ranveer urging men to take work  a female secretary in this case  home. Clad in a sharp office shirt, he is seen standing in front of an elevator holding a woman, dressed in casual western office wear, on his shoulder. The elevator operator smirks as Singh winks while the woman on his shoulder is laughing, as the board shouts out, Dont hold back. Take your work home.

A billboard displaying the ad. (Twitter/Siddharth)

Twitter took Singhs word. It did not hold back at all. Users attacked the campaign for being extremely sexist and offensive. The furore forced Jack and Jones to withdraw the ad on November 21 and send individual tweets apologising to people for causing them distress.

However, not one Bollywood actor has commented on Singhs faux pas yet. Except for Tamil/Telugu actor Siddharth  who we north Indians know best as Karan Singhania in Rang De Basanti.

He took to the micro-blogging site and called the ad A new low for womens rights in the workplace in India. But he is the only one who has said anything so far on the issue.

A new low for women's rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? #Fail pic.twitter.com/3PW5mMaKOt  Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) November 20, 2016

Dont Hold Back isnt the first sexist campaign that weve seen on TV, web or on a billboard. We are used to seeing our leading heroes and heroines sell fairness creams, jewellery, and household products in advertisements with sexist undertones, but rarely are they as evidently misogynist as in this instance.

Ranveers ad does not leave much to imagination. It is like him: in-your-face brash.

Since Bollywood has nothing to defend, or worse, appreciate in this case, its doing what it does best  keep mum; not take a stand and let things be.

Urging our actors to be mindful of what they endorse  considering millions readily lap up all that they do  and call out when they see something unbecoming or distasteful done by their lot, will be a plea too cliched. Whether they realise it or not, they are responsible for propagating stereotypes, consumerism, sexism and a mad race to be photo-ready.

Fortunately, there are a few fish in the sea who are trying to swim against the current. Although small, they are creating ripples. Though hopeful, it isnt enough, for we need a tsunami.

The author tweets @sneha_bengani

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Eight people were injured in a fire that broke out at the refinery site of Reliance Industries in Gujarat but there was no hit to the production, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The fire broke out early Thursday morning at the companys fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), a gasoline-making unit, at the 660,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery, which was under maintenance, said a company source under condition of anonymity.

Reliance, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has two advanced refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat that can jointly process 1.2 million bpd of crude oil.

The part of the refinery where the fire broke out was in the domestic tariff area (DTA) of the refinery site. The second 540,000 bpd refinery is located in the special economic zone of the refinery site.

Reliance confirmed the there was a flash fire in one of its units which was under planned maintenance in the DTA refinery.

While the Reliance fire brigade extinguished the fire swiftly, this has resulted in injuries to 8 contract workers, who are being provided necessary medical treatment, the statement said, and added that all operations of the refinery continue to be normal.
Malini Subramaniam honoured with International Press Freedom Award

Published: November 24, 2016

Indian journalist Malini Subramaniam was conferred with the 2016 International Press Freedom Award. She has been honored for her reporting from the Naxal-infested Bastar area and for the commitment to a free press.

She is among the four journalists selected by the Committee to Protect Journalists for this years award. Others are Oscar Martinez (El Salvador), Can Dundar (Turkey) and Abou Zeid (Egypt).

Malini Subramaniam is a contributor to the news website Scroll.in. She has reported on abuses by security forces and police, jailing of minors, sexual violence against women, shutdown of schools, extrajudicial killings, and threats against journalists in Bastar region in Chattisgarh.

About International Press Freedom Award (IPFA)

The IPFA honors journalists or their publications around the world for showing courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats or imprisonment.

The award was established in 1991 and is administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent NGO based in New York, US.

In addition to recognizing individuals, CPJ seeks to focus local and international media coverage on countries where violations of press freedom are particularly serious.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016

Topics: Awards  Chattisgarh  Journalism  Malini Subramaniam  Naxalism  Persons in News

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The Commerce and Industry Ministry has moved a proposal for the consideration of the Cabinet to completely ban foreign direct investment in the tobacco sector, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She said the government did not want to encourage foreign investment in this sector.

We wanted to be sure that for the production of cigarettes or other things (in the tobacco sector), we do not want to encourage FDI because we have ratified (a framework of) the WHO, the Commerce and Industry Minister told PTI in an interview.

We want to be sure of that (framework). Keeping consistent with that policy of the government, no encouragement should be given, she added.

However, she said that the move could have a possible impact on farmers who are growing tobacco but we have to look at alternate crops for them which will give them good yield.

Currently, FDI is permitted in technology collaboration in any form, including licensing for franchise, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the tobacco sector.

However, it is prohibited in manufacturing of cigars, cigarettes and tobacco substitutes.

As per the proposal, the ministry has proposed to ban FDI in licensing for franchisee, trademark, brand name and management contracts in the sector, sources said.

It would mean FDI would be totally banned in the tobacco segment in any form.

The ban would also eliminate the possibility of indirect flow of overseas funds to the sector.

The move also assumes significance as India is signatory to the World Health Organisations (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, under which the country has the responsibility of reducing consumption of tobacco products.

FDI into the country grew by 29 per cent to USD 40 billion in 2015-16.
A large number of the 80 million people working in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are likely to lose their jobs due to the cash crunch in the economy following the governments move to stop the circulation of 500 and 1,000 notes.

The MSME sector, which has already been hit by a slowdown in exports and costlier credit from banks, are feeling the biggest pinch of the cash squeeze. Sources said several of these small units have no cash in hand and could resort to large-scale retrenchment.

Paper mills, leather, apparel, re-rolling of steel mills, pottery, woollen, brass are among those that have been worst affected.

In fact, the companies are planning to take up the demonetisation issue with finance minister Arun Jaitley in the pre-budget meeting.

The sector, which transacts mostly in cash accounts for about 20% of the countrys GDP, and 40% of overall exports.

SMEs are already struggling with multiple problems -- there was cash crunch as banks were reluctant to lend and the cost of loans was high, exports have been down and even Brexit (Britains exit from the European Union) had its own impact... Now with the announcement of the demonetisation drive, small businesses are left with very limited money and there could be many who may lose their jobs, Anil Bhardwaj, secretary general, Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME), told HT.

While the Reserve bank of India has allowed small businesses to withdraw up to R50,000 in cash every week from their overdraft and cash-credit accounts besides current accounts,sources said the amount was grossly insufficient, especially since most transactions happen through cash. The central bank has also given an additional 60-day repayment window for loans. It applies to dues payable between November 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

A senior government official said the Centre was reviewing the situation. We will take steps that are necessary to ease the cash supply.

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Core engineering and data analytics firms will offer most jobs during the final placements across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), scheduled to start from December. Graduates at these premier institutes can also expect better salaries, compared to last year.

Data analysts, financial management, business analytics, core engineering, and core research and development are among the most sought-after profiles. At IIT Roorkee, 50% of the companies are looking for software engineer, while 10% are offering data analytics roles, said professor NP Padhy, in charge of training and placement.

At IIT Guwahati, the demand is high for software developers and coders. More than 160 companies have registered at IIT Guwahati so far, out of which 60% are offering software development roles. They hire students with expertise in coding, said professor Kaustubha Mohanty, head, Centre for Career Development.

While at IIT Kharagpur, most profiles on offer are in machine learning, information technology, data analytics and software profiles. At IIT Bombay, core engineering profiles are popular among recruiters.

At a few IITs, more data analytics firms have signed up this year. Data analytics roles on offer this year are almost three times more than last year, said professor Padhy.

Without disclosing any details, professor Deb, too, said that data analytics vacancies had come up in all major companies.

Students across IITs, are looking for stable jobs, they are ready to join established traditional companies even if the package is slightly low as compared to fairly new companies, said professor Mohanty, who is also the convener of the All IIT Placement Committee, the panel responsible for campus hiring at all IITs. The salary on offer has gone up marginally, by about five to 10% this year.

IIT officials are also expecting PSUs to roll out offers this year as the Madras HC dismissed the plea in September 2015 that prevented public sector undertakings to recruit candidates directly from IITs.

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Currency notes of varying denominations, especially those of a specific series, being sold online is nothing new. But the trend seems to have pick up with the governments demonetisation exercise.

While websites, including eBay and OLX, are listing notes of varied denominations for sale, a simple Google search throws up an aggregator website, for-sale-in, which gives information about all deals available online on the sale of currency notes. Indian Currency Note for sale in India | View 52 bargains, is what the search shows up.

Last week, eBay went live with a listing of R2,000 notes at a premium price of R1.5 lakh. On offer was five new R2,000 notes and a free R500 note. The site still lists R100, 50 and old 1,000 notes, at high prices.

Most of the listings are for special properties of the note, which might include a religious set of numbers like the 786 series made famous by actor Amitabh Bachan after his movie Deewar. In the movie, the actor wears badge number 786 as a dock worker.

However, not everything that is up for sale on the sites are prized catches.

Some people are putting up these listings online in an attempt to dupe customers, Girish Veera, proprietor of Mumbai-based Oswal Antiques, told HT. Most government-licensed auction houses dont put up such listings. What we sell have some antique value in them and they have some retail value too.

There are no RBI guidelines on such online sale. It is not under RBIs purview to hold anyone criminally for selling any currency notes at a premium, a senior RBI official said, adding, it is a service between two people and if someone wants to pay premium for a note, RBI cant do much.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had sent out notices to several online marketplaces, including eBay, in July last year for alleged online trading of Indian currency carrying unique numbers.

When contacted, an EBay India spokesperson said it has always asked independent sellers to follow provisions of applicable laws for their listings on its website.
The sudden removal of Cyrus Mistry as Tata group chairman and the subsequent daily saga of charges and counter charges will make it difficult for the group to find another Parsi to come in as chairman, says Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer and executive director of the Serum Institute of India, Asias largest vaccine maker, and a strong voice in the Parsi community.

It is sad that Cyrus, who had been putting in so much of good work to improve the Tata group, had to take this flak. It is a big loss to the Tatas. While we dont know the reasons for his ouster, the takeaway from all this, I think, is that it will be very difficult (for the Tatas) to find another person with similar experience and credentials, Poonawalla told HT from his office in Pune. I dont know if they can find another Parsi, he added.

Adar Poonawalla, heir to the $12 billion Serum Institute, is being groomed to take over from his father, Cyrus Poonawalla, Indias seventh richest man with a fortune of $9.7 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires index. This is the first time that a prominent Parsi industrialist has come out openly in support of Mistry.

The boardroom battle for control at the Tata Group caught most members of the community by surprise after Tata Sons board voted out Mistry on October 24. Subsequent developments, including a defamation notice against the Tatas by Wadia group chairman Nusli Wadia, another well-known Parsi industrialist, has added to the disappointment.

Mistry takes a U-turn as Tata Steel, TCS veterans defend Ratan Tata

Known to be quiet and peace-loving, the Parsis are equally famous for their hard work and philanthropic nature. They should have found a better way of addressing the issue, says Jehangir Patel, editor of the community magazine Parsiana, adding that it would be difficult to bring in an independent person to resolve the dispute which has dented the Parsi business reputation. The community looks up to these two business families (Tatas, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry). They are very prominent people and at the same time very private. Who can come in to mediate?

Incidentally, growth of Indian business has been parallel to the rise of Parsi businesses, which relied on close-knit relationships among families. For example, the relationship between the Wadia and the Tata families dates back to the nineteenth century when Indian businesses grew in the form of clusters via close relationships among large Parsi families such as the Tatas, Wadia, the Godrejs, Cama, Jeejeebhoys, Dadabhoys, Readymoney, Petit.

Parsianas Patel feels that the lack of adequate community representation on the board of the Tatas could also be a factor for the delay in addressing the issue. But this was expected. With the actual number of Parsis overall fast dwindling, it isnt unusual for the board to lack Parsis. We are very few in number. Now there are only 57,000 Parsis left, he added.

A leader must command trust: Lessons for India Inc from Tata-Mistry fight

In an editorial in his magazine, Patel says many believe that while Ratan (Tata) and Cyrus may have had their differences, Ratan should have handled the situation more tactfully, not let it become an unseemly, public spat. If there is one thing both Tata Sons and Shapoorji Pallonji have had in common, its their ability to settle disputes out of the public glare. What lessons can one draw from the imbroglio? Well never know unless the people closely involved tell us the story. Right now it remains a tragic enigma.

Other Parsi industrialists have been non-committal, while agreeing that the public spat could have been avoided. I am quite saddened to see something like this happen at Indias most renowned business group. It is not good for Indian business, Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej had said immediately after the announcement of Mistrys ouster.

Read: Mistry Vs Tata: Duel of dikras has Parsi community shaken and stirred

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Elated after President-elect Donald Trump named South Carolinas Indian-American governor Nikki Haley as the US ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday, her extended family in Punjab says the development has not only elevated her political status but also made India proud.

Busy receiving congratulatory calls and visitors at his house in Verka near Amritsar on Thursday, 70-year-old Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, who is Nikkis cousin, said: Its a great achievement (for Nikki), and it has made the entire nation proud. We had never imagined she will bring so much name and fame to the family.

Nikkis father and Randhawas paternal uncle Ajit Singh Randhawa, a professor in agriculture, moved to Canada for pursuing PhD in 1964 before shifting to the US. The family originally hails from Pandori Ran Singh village in Tarn Taran, 23 km from Amritsar, said Randhawa, a retired lecturer. Nikki, 44, was born in the US and named Nimrata, he said.

Haleys cousin Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa and family celebrating her getting picked as US ambassador to the United Nations, at their residence in Verka, Amritsar, on Thursday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo)

Haleys relatives with her family photos at their residence in Verka, Amritsar, on Thursday.. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo)

Randhawa, who is in constant touch with his uncle, said: He (Nikkis father) told me she always wanted to be a politician. The first big milestone for her was the election to the post of South Carolina governor in 2011. Now, this (US ambassador to UN) is even bigger. It proves she has become a very credible politician in the US and the government has full faith in her.

For Randhawa, Nikkis elevated position may translate into a big boon for India in the UN. At such a young age, she (Nikki) will be representing the US in the UN . She will obviously work in the US interests, but I feel as she has a soft corner for India, she may also help India in the UN in a big way, he said.

Randhawas daughter-in-law Manjot Kaur shared his elation. We are really excited that someone from our family has achieved so much. Everyone who is calling us to congratulate is asking when is Nikki coming to India, she said.

On Nikkis second visit to India in 2014  nearly four decades after she first came here at an age of three  Randhawa didnt get an opportunity to spend much time with her. I got very little time to meet her (Nikki) when she came to Amritsar in 2014. I went to the hotel where she was staying but had to leave early due to security reasons, he said, adding that his wife and he plan to visit Nikki in June next year.

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For those still surprised by Prime Minister Narendra Modis audacious demonetisation gamble, the past maybe a useful guide. In 2007, just ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, Modi kickstarted power reforms in the state as chief minister, including a hike in rates and police action against farmers involved in power theft. When an angry RSS-backed farmers delegation met the chief minister, Modis response was reportedly defiant: I will step down as chief minister but not back down. You can always replace me if you wish. In the elections that followed, Modi won the day and silenced his critics.

In a sense, the 2007 power reform battle in Gujarat, much like todays demonetisation challenge, is typical Modi: He is a leader whose self-belief, bordering on narcissism, leads him to short circuit political systems and reject sectional interests in the confidence that he has the answers to all likely pitfalls. It is both a strength and weakness: The lack of self-doubt makes him a consummate risk-taker, but also someone who can at times act impulsively without due consultation.

Read | Demonetisation is organised loot, legalised plunder, says Manmohan Singh

Is Gujarat a mini-India then, and will Modi triumph yet again? When almost the entire Opposition protests against you within and outside Parliament, there is reason to believe that demonetisation has provided fresh impetus to a potential grand anti-Modi alliance. When even your own allies, like the Shiv Sena, speak out and BJP MPs express reservations, then the disquiet has to be taken on board.

When rising anger in queues outside banks over a cash crunch can no longer be masked as temporary inconvenience, the political leadership should be worried. Nor can the growing concerns of leading economists and global research groups warning of an economic slowdown and job losses be wished away. Indeed, on the face of it, it appears that the prime minister who has chosen to even stay away from a Parliament debate on the issue is being pushed on the defensive: What else explains the rather bizarre app-based poll conducted by the PMO  a classic self-simulation exercise designed to sway public opinion.

Read | Nagaland cash mystery solved, 3.5 crore flown in jet handed over to owner

The truth though is that the prime minister has already won round one of the demonetisation battle. First, he has successfully pitched his political opposition as a coalition of the corrupt. A number of his political opponents are tainted by sleaze: Can a Mulayam Singh or a Mayawati, both of whom have faced disproportionate assets cases, take the moral high ground on corruption? Can Mamata Banerjee completely erase the blot of the Saradha chit fund scam or the Congress of the 2G and coal muddles? The fact that no corruption scandal has yet stuck to Modi gives him the moral edge in his battle with the Opposition.

Second, Modi has mastered the art of shaping the media narrative to his advantage through populist nationalism. By positioning demonetisation as a sharp weapon in the war on black money and terror funding, he has created a post-truth dialogue where even an intelligent argument as to why demonetisation will have limited impact on the black economy is lost in the cacophony of treating any dissent as anti-national. Any criticism of the prime ministers move is instantly identified with being an apologist for corrupt forces, thereby preventing any sane debate on the issue.

Read | Hours before wedding, bride in MP makes a dash to bank for 1.74 lakh

Third, the prime minister has successfully projected himself as an agent of change, someone who wants to wipe away decades of sloth and dishonesty in the political system. The spectacular Modi victory in 2014 was predicated on the promise of achhe din, of dramatic change that would end the Congress era of slow-moving governance once and for all. By taking a tough decision, Modi has cemented his image as a strong leader with a self-proclaimed chhappan inch ki chhati (56-inch chest).

Finally, Modi has without doubt built a personal connect with millions of Indians who are inclined to trust him. The jumla tag may have been used by his critics to brand him as a leader who promises more than he delivers, but on the ground he still enjoys enormous goodwill, especially among youth and the urban middle class. For them, Modi still symbolises an aspirational India, one that wants to break free of the status quo. Which is why even amidst mounting public anger over restrictions on withdrawing your own hard-earned money, there is a willingness to give the prime minister the benefit of the doubt.

Read | Dialysis centre wont accept old notes, woman dies in Bihar hospital

The key question is, of course, for how long will Modi ride on individual charisma without ushering in greater legal and institutional reform? If the queues dont shorten because of a creaking banking system, if the cash crunch extends beyond the 50-day mark, if small and medium enterprises begin to lay off employees, if farmers struggle with rural credit, if a tax bureaucracy becomes oppressive, then public support can easily turn into rage at being taken for granted by the leadership. Which is why the chest-thumping Modi cheerleaders need to be careful in projecting demonetisation as a magic bullet that will make their leader invincible. In the short run, it is highly likely that Modi has scored a political slam-dunk over his rivals ahead of crucial assembly elections but if an economic slowdown begins to hurt the aam aadmi, then todays triumphalism may become tomorrows self-goal.

Post-script: A senior minister in the Modi government claimed in Parliaments central hall that the pain of demonetisation will last for only two quarters. Now, 180 days may seem a short span in the life of a nation, but for millions dependent on a cash-driven informal sector, six months can seem an eternity. As a cash-strapped fisherman living by Goas River Mandovi told me, In this country, the big fish get away, the small are always trapped.

Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and an author

The views expressed are personal

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Residents of the national capital do not feel as safe in their city as Mumbaikars do in the financial capital. Delhiites also have less faith in their police compared to what Mumbaikars have in theirs.

Praja Foundation, a Mumbai-based non-partisan organisation, released the findings on Wednesday.

For its second annual report on crime in Delhi, the foundation surveyed 29,950 respondents.

Up to 60% participants said they did not feel secure in Delhi, compared to 29% in Mumbai. The sample size in Mumbai was 25,250 people.

Delhis population is 1.87 crore and Mumbais 1.83 crore, according to the 2011 Census.

67% Delhi respondents said they did not feel secure for women, children and senior citizens in their neighbourhood. In Mumbai, only 33% felt their neighbourhood was unsafe for relatives.

The survey, claimed to have been conducted in seven of out 12 police districts in Delhi, showed that the number of people feeling unsafe was the highest in the south district.

At least 26% respondents in Delhi claimed to have witnessed crime in the city, but did not inform the police. In Mumbai, only 13% respondents said they did not have faith in the police.

The report pointed out that in the 12, 913 complaints against Delhi Police personnel in 2015, chargesheet was filed only in 7 cases. Conviction rate in cases of heinous crimes is 37% in 2015. It was 3% in 2014.

Praja managing trustee, Nitai Mehta, said crimes against women continued to increase in 2015 over 2014.

Joint commissioner of police (south west), Dependra Pathak, said official records show heinous street crimes declined. We do not know on what parameters the findings were published. It is bereft of any truth. Perception is different from reality. An organisation taking a small size of people and asking questions does not show the real picture. We will, however, be glad to study their findings, he said.

Foundation director Milind Mhaske said they will share the report with the Delhi Police and that the findings were based on replies to Right to Information Act pleas.

Read: No let-up in number of rape cases against children in Delhi

The report mentioned that west Delhi Lok Sabha constituency MP Parvesh Singh Sahib reportedly raised only one question on crime in Parliament, despite his constituency reporting over 22,679 cases. Singh has reportedly asked a total of 47 questions since the 2014 Budget Session.

Only 20 questions are selected for each MP. There are over 500 MPs. I have always sent questions about the crimes in my area. I do not think only one was selected. I will have to check, but prima facie I think this is wrong, Singh told HT.

The report also mentioned northeast constituency MP Manoj Tiwari.

While northeast registered the highest number of crimes in 2015, Tiwari asked no question about crime in his constituency, Praja officials said. Tiwari asked 20 questions since the 2014 Budget Session.

I am aware of the crime status in my constituency. Yes, it is a matter of worry and I have asked four questions. We are also working hard to reduce crime rates, said Tiwari.
Sanjeev Bansal lost his father because of lack of coordination among specialists. His father Jaiprakash Bansal, 71, had a fall in January, 2016, and went to Apollo Hospital for a surgery to repair his fractured hip bone. This is a routine surgery, but Bansal could not survive it.

When he had the fall, Bansal was under the care of a nephrologist at Apollo Hospital for chronic kidney disease (CKD). He was also consulting a neurologist for a stroke, damage to the brain due to interruption of blood supply that he suffered a year back.

I gave all the test results and scans, along with a list of prescription medicines, to the orthopaedic surgeon at Apollo who assured me that the surgery was very simple. When I lost my father, I did not expect it at all, said Sanjeev.

The surgery was done a day after Bansal was admitted to the hospital. I had asked the surgeon to speak to the two other doctors who were treating my father at the same hospital. How difficult is that? All the problems and complications arose because the surgeon did not consult the others, said Sanjeev.

During the time of the surgery, his father was on blood thinners to prevent strokes. Blood-thinning medicines are stopped four days to a week before all elective surgeries. Sanjeev also alleged that the surgery was done based on kidney function test, serum test and blood tests done 20 days ago. A fresh set of tests were not done before the surgery. In fact, the levels of urea, creatinine and other parameters written on the case sheets are exactly the same as the figures that were there on the reports given by me, said Sanjeev.

The medicines prescribed after surgery further interfered with Bansals kidney functions. He was put on dialysis and had a cardiac arrest, after which the dialysis was stopped and he had to be put on a ventilator, said Sanjeev.

I paid the hospital Rs 6 lakh and still lost my father as the doctors were careless. The in-patient documents provided by the hospital are all forged. It shows that my fathers blood pressure, pulse rate etc was recorded at 8am on February 11. He was pronounced dead at 6.11am the same day! said Sanjeev.

His complaint has been accepted by the Delhi Medical Council and is under review.

Apollo Hospital says despite regular briefing to the family, the patient was discharged against medical advice at 2.19pm on February 4, 2016. The hospital strongly rejects any allegation of wrongdoing in the case. The concerned patient, a 71-year-old male, was operated for his fractured hip The surgery was done more than 24 hours after his admission, after optimising his medical condition and taking an informed high-risk consent (due to his coexisting multiple medical problems including hypertension, chronic kidney disease (stage III to IV) with anaemia and history of cerebrovascular disease in the form of old stroke with residual right hemiparesis). All possible clinical measures and precautions were carried out, unfortunately, despite all measures his condition deteriorated and the patient succumbed to his illness on 11.02.2016.

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A simple medical procedure cost Najafgarh resident Kamla Devi her life. In July 2014, she went to a CGHS clinic for her monthly dose of insulin. She also mentioned spotting a little blood in her stool and was told to undergo colonoscopy, a procedure in which a flexible tube is used to look at the inner lining of the large intestine.

She had spotted a little blood in her stool about a month back. It happens to everyone, so I did not think that she needed the test. But since the doctors insisted, we got a date for the procedure at Safdarjung Hospital, said her son Sanjay Kumar. After the procedure at Safdarjung Hospital, she started complaining of pain and swelling in the abdomen. She was repeatedly told that it was due to gas and was finally diagnosed with septicemic shock at Rockland hospital. A surgery followed at Apollo hospital where a perforation in the colon was detected and 1.8 litres of pus was drained from her body. She died of septic shock and multi-organ failure.

A minor oversight, wrong decision or negligence can cost a patients life. When a procedure ends in death due to medical error, the aggrieved family feels doubly duped. They want to be compensated for the trauma, financial losses and the breach of faith by the doctors and hospitals.

KNOW YOUR DOCTOR AND TAKE SECOND OPINION

The order says that the doctors who performed the procedure on his wife at Safdarjung Hospital were not even registered with the Delhi Medical Council (DMC). Doctors are not allowed to practise medicine without registering with the respective state medical council. Although the DMC could not trace the doctors from Safdarjung, it ordered to remove Dr Charu Goel, the treating doctor at Rockland hospital, from the state medical register for a period of 15 days. In a revised order, she was let off with a warning and 12 hours of Continuing Medical Education (CME) to improve her medical skills. Safdarjung declined to comment, citing that it had not received the DMC order, which was dated March 8, 2016. Rockland hospital authorities did not respond to repeated attempts to get a response.

Experts say patients going in for a procedure should try to check the credentials of the operating doctor and seek a second opinion. It will help them assess if the procedure being advised is the best option available.

... patients seek second opinion for minor complaints like fever not settling in 2-3 days and they never seek in major issues like before going to surgery, or dealing with the chronic disease which have impact on life... Make people aware that second opinion is their right and they should seek it as early as possible... We see complaints of negligence day in and day out but most of them are because of quack menace, qualified doctors hardly do that, I request people to verify the degree and registration of the treating doctor, says Dr Amit Agrawal, consultant pediatric nephrologist, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Center.

Rights of patients Right to know all the facts about the illness, to have the medical records explained and to be made aware of risks and side effects, if any, of treatment prescribed.

Right to confidentiality about their illness.

Right to get their case reports upon request.

Right to know his/her doctorsa qualifications.

Right to informed consent. In case a patient is unconscious or not in a condition to understand information provided by the doctor, the nearest relative has to be informed about the benefits, risks and side effects of a treatment for consent.

Right to second opinion if the patient has a doubt regarding the treatment prescribed.

Right to be handled with consideration and with regard for his/her modesty during physical examination.

ASK FOR THE CASE SUMMARY

Kamla Devis doctor repeatedly told her that gas in her intestines was causing the pain whereas it was due to perforation in the colon. We took her to the Emergency room at Safdarjung Hospital, but no one came to check her condition. One doctor from the surgery department gave first-aid and asked us to go home, said Kumar.

Dr Arun Gupta, president of the Delhi Medical Council, says while running between hospitals and seeking a second opinion, patients should remember to ask for a case summary from the hospital. This will help them understand the line of medication followed by and detect any discrepancies.

If a person suspects foul play, they must ask the hospital to provide the patient case file. The file records all the treatment given to the patient and might help to make a stronger case. The hospitals are supposed to provide the records within 72 hours, Dr Gupta said.

This story is part of our series on medical negligence in Delhi. For more updates and related coverage, follow us on @htTweets.

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A Delhi Police inspector and his three junior officers were transferred to the district lines and relieved of their present posting after their alleged involvement in siphoning off R 10 lakh from a man caught with R 30 lakh cash. An inquiry has been ordered against the four.

On Wednesday, the four men posted with the outer districts operation unit had received a tip-off about a man carrying R 31 lakh in old currency notes for his employer.

The police said that the four policemen seized around R 31 lakh from outside the Rithala Metro station but in their daily diary the records showed that they recovered only R 21 lakh. The four didnt inform their seniors.

SBK Singh, special commissioner of police (law and order, north) confirmed that one inspector, two head constables and a constable were sent to district lines after they learnt about the misappropriation. Singh also said that Pankaj Singh, additional DCP (outer) was appointed to conduct an enquiry into the matter.

If found guilty, strict action will be taken against the four, said Singh. Sources said an FIR can be registered against if the allegations against the four policemen were found true. The money belonged to Navneet Jain, who deals in real estate. His employee Deepak was allegedly carrying the cash for exchange purpose when the special staff members seized it.

This is the third case of alleged corruption involving the Delhi Police reported in the last one week. On Wednesday, an FIR was registered against the SHO of Jahangirpuri police station and his three junior staff for allegedly embezzling R1 crore that was seized from a scrap dealer during a raid on November 15. The four cops who have been transferred had allegedly siphoned the cash and did not inform their seniors about the raid. DCP Milind Mahadeo Dumbere confirmed the FIR had been registered. We are investigating the case. We dont know whether the amount was R 1 crore or less than it.

Meanwhile, another FIR has been registered against three traffic police constables for attempting to rob a man of Rs 1.20 lakh after they found the money in his cars dashboard. Subhash Pahuja, who lodged the complaint told the police that though he was held hostage in his car for two hours and accused of hiding the money, the three cops later returned the money. Pahuja who lodged a complaint later visited the Adarsh Nagar police station and filed a complaint against them.
A first-year BTech student of Amity University fell to his death from the hostel on Thursday afternoon, making it the third case of suspected suicide of a student from the university in the last four months.

Electrical engineering student Udit Shankar Singh was spotted lying in a pool of blood behind the hostel at 2 pm by students. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, police said.

As soon the college staff got to know about the incident, they rushed him to the hospital where he was declared dead, said an Amity University spokesperson.

In August, law student Sushant Rohilla (20) allegedly committed suicide at his Delhi home after he was detained from exams due to low attendance.

On November 5, management student G Sai Krishna was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room. He had allegedly borrowed money and was unable to repay.

The university administration, however, said they did not know when and how Singh fell to his death.

He was staying in hostel H-3, meant exclusively for first-year students. He skipped the Physics exam scheduled for Thursday from 11.30 am-2pm.

It is a matter of investigation... The police are checking the hostel to get any clue about the incident, said the spokesperson.

The Amity administration said he was a bright student.

He had scored 87% marks in Class 10 and 74% in Class 12. He wasvery regular with classes. Not a single thing was against him inside the university, said Amity University vice-president (communications), Savita Mehta. She said the university constituted a five-member committee to probe the matter.

The police said there was no suicide note at the spot, but they found evidence that indicated Singh may have committed suicide.

One slipper of the deceased was found at the fifth floor of the hostel and another was found near his body. No signs of scuffle were found at the spot from where he might have fallen or jumped, said Noida superintendent of police, Dinesh Yadav.

Police said Singhs skipping of Thursdays exam also made them suspect suicide.

His roommates had gone to attend the exam. The rest of the boys had gone to attend class when the incident occurred. We have no witnesses so far to confirm what exactly happened but the circumstantial evidences indicate towards suicide, said an investigating officer.

Singh was from Bhojpur in Bihar. His family was informed about the incident and the body was sent for postmortem, police said.

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Food joints in the city were among the worst hit by the Union governments demonetisation move. Many have seen sales dropping by almost 90%, while some have found other ways to carry out transactions.

On any given day, there used to be scores of patrons in front of Pandit Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan Paranthe Wale, almost mobbing the narrow lane in Chandni Chowk. It all changed after November 8, and, this shop, considered by many as the tastiest option in Parathey Wali Gali, is now almost deserted and has seen a huge dip in sales.

Manish Sharma, the owner of this 144-year-old establishment, explains how difficult it has been in the past fortnight. Our sales are down by nearly 90%. Tourists have stopped coming, so have the people who used to come to Chandni Chowk to shop and eat here afterwards. There is no money for shopping, therefore, no food. I see more bleak times ahead, says the 38-year-old.

Another iconic eatery in this lane is Babu Ram Paranthe Wale. Its 67-year-old owner, HK Sharma, said the scrapping of notes has reduced sales by 30%-40%. As a ripple effect, he said, they have stopped buying groceries and other items in large quantities.

These eateries still accept cash, but the owners are trying their best not to turn down customers. A few days ago, we had tourists from Gujarat and Rajasthan who didnt have any usable currency notes. We asked them to eat and transfer the money to our bank account, said Manish.

The twin delights of Purani Dilli  Karims and Al Jawahar  are also feeling the heat of demonetisation. Karims, undoubtedly, the best among Delhi restaurants serving Mughlai cuisine, has earned an iconic status on the Capitals culinary map. However, this Delhi icon has also been hit hard. Sales have dipped quite significantly in the Jama Masjid outlet.

Our sales have gone down to about 60%. We are the only outlet which doesnt accept cards. After the announcement, we set up a mobile wallet account. However, glitches occurred during the transactions. So, we are back to cash-only payments, an employee said.

Located next door, Al Jawahar restaurant, is facing a similar crisis. Al Jawahar takes its name from Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who is said to have dropped in at the restaurant for a meal.

I never felt the need to install card swipe machines as a majority of our customers would prefer cash payment. However, our business was affected after demonetisation. So, I applied for a machine recently. Hopefully, it will be delivered soon, said Akram Qureshi, of Al Jawahar.

Paratha joints, Qutab Institutional Area

The empty Chaupal Dhaba at Qutab Institutional area. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

Hundreds visit the tiny stalls dotting the roadsides at Qutab Institutional Area. However, in the past 10 days, the number of visitors has declined due to the cash crunch. When we visited, only a handful of people could be seen enjoying their meals under the warm winter sun. In good old days, all the tables here used to be full and staff would have always been busy. A couple of joints have also been shut.

However, owners are looking for other means to lure back customers. After the demonetisation announcement, the owner of Lakshman dhaba, a favourite of many Delhiites for its mouth-watering keema paratha, applied for a card swipe machine and an online wallet application.

The mobile wallet has just started working while the card swiping machine is yet to arrive. This gives customers more options to pay for the food, he said.

Moolchand Paranthe

The famous Moolchand Paratha, once the go-to street food jointis a famous eatery at Moolchand in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, November 22, 2016. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/ Hindustan Times) (Saumya Khandelwal/HT PHOTO)

Before the big announcement, Moolchand Paranthe, under Moolchand Metro station, would, everyday, feed thousands of hungry Delhiites looking for a quick, tasty and affordable meal.

Then, demonetisation happened. The iconic joint, which started as a roadside cart and is now housed in a permanent space under the station, has started using Paytm. When HT visited this eatery on Tuesday, the usual crowds were missing and barely a few customers were present.

The sale has reduced to half. But, things have improved since we started taking payment through mobile wallets. However, until things dont return to normalcy, our businesses will suffer, a staff member at Moolchand Paranthe said.

Khandani Pakodewala in Sarojini Nagar

Khandani Pakora Wala in the heart of Sarojini Nagar market is now giving customers an option to pay by PayTM. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

On Tuesday afternoon, Khandani Pakodewala in Sarojini Nagar was abuzz. Employees couldnt take a break from serving people waiting for their turn to get their mouth-watering pakode from this 50-year-old establishment.

Sales are comparatively less but mobile wallets are helping customers without cash and, of course, traders like us, the owner said.

Many other eateries, too, have moved to mobile wallet payments, but as the bulk of sales are becoming dependant on these platforms, things are getting more complex. I started using a mobile wallet app and things started off real smooth. I just had to do go through an easy registration process and I started business. However, there is a daily limit of 10,000 per vendor account. To increase it, a detailed registration and KYC has to be done and relevant documents have to be submitted. I am waiting for that to be completed before I can resume transactions through this, said the owner of a nearby eatery.

Bengali snacks at Chittaranjan Park

The Phucchka and Roll shop at C R Park Market-1 wears an expectant look, waiting for customers to show up. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

Chittaranjan Park is a little corner in the city which reminds most Bengalis living in Delhi-NCR of the sights, sounds and flavours of home. So, apart from visiting the fish markets here, people from near and far come here to get a bite of tasty Bengali delicacies.

Rajeev Basak runs a popular phuchka joint in CR Park Market-I. According to him, for his daily cash-in-cash-out business, things have got a little bumpy in the past two weeks. Priorities have changed with notes becoming dearer. People will rather spend money on necessities than on snacks. However, the situation is improving every day, says the optimistic 18-year-old.

A few paces away, Arun runs a roll shop and boasts that he gets customers from as far as Gurgaon and Noida to grab a bite of what he terms as Kolkata nostalgia. He, too, has been mostly sitting idle for the past 10 days and is buying groceries in reduced quantity to cope with the financial crisis.

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The Yamuna Biodiversity Park celebrated the arrival of a new guest, a young male leopard, on Monday. Wildlife experts, however, said that the actual work, of making the big cat stay by protecting it from a human face-off, will be the real victory.

Dr Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in-charge at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, said that the leopard is being monitored every day. He said the carnivore has been living in the park for about two weeks now, which is a sign that the environment of the park is conducive for its survival.

We cannot stop the animal from moving away. However, what is being ensured is that he gets a proper prey base for survival. This is already present in the area. We have been monitoring its movements, he said.

Khudsar said that at present the leopard has been moving around an area of 200sqm.

It was on Monday that the leopard was first spotted from a distance of around 10feet, and its presence was captured on camera, the first time ever in Delhi, according to scientists.

In the past, there have been claims of leopard sightings by people, which have been followed by panic killings and attacks on the animal. In 2003, a similar case was reported when a leopard, spotted at PVR Saket was shot down by the cops, who did not know what to do with it.

Dr Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife biologist who works on large carnivores, said that constant monitoring is required to ascertain if the leopard has actually settled down or this is a seasonal movement of the animal.

However, the focus now should be to avoid a man-animal conflict.

Though the presence of the carnivore is not a cause of worry, but if there are human habitations within the vicinity, it would be ideal to carry out outreach activities to make the residents aware of some precautions they need to take. For instance (but not limited to), it is better not to use the area for defecating especially after dark, or to let children move around alone at night, Gubbi said.

He said that from the body and skull size, belly and neck fold it is clear its a fully grown adult animal of 3-4 years.

He added, Even if not intentional, if there is any untoward incidence there can be a huge outcry especially due to the fact that it is next to the national capital. The risk to the animal starts if any human injury occurs, or people also panic at the sight of leopards. But, they are normally shy animals and they do not harm until they are threatened or feel cornered.

A forest department official who did not wish to be named said that more than the humans living around the park, it is the animal who is in danger.

When the presence of the animal is highlighted so much, it creates a panic and gives rise to rumours and also attracts poachers. This risks the life of the animal, the official said.

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Commuters faced heavy traffic in Connaught Place and New Delhi area as police closed Sansad Marg due to a Kissan Rally Thursday.

The Delhi Traffic Police posted an alert on Twitter cautioning commuters about the traffic situation and advising motorists to take alternate route.

Traffic Alert

Sansad Marg is closed for traffic movement due to demonstration. Motorists are advised to take alternate route.  Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) November 24, 2016

Routes that were impacted due to this were Tolstoy Marg, KG Marg, C Hexagon, Janpath Road, Barakhamba Road and Le Meridian round about. Commuters had to take detours as the traffic was trailing.

I was coming from New Delhi Railway Station and had to go to Lodhi Road. There was heavy traffic at Delhi Gate, Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Barakhamba road. It usually takes me 5-10 minutes from the station to KG Marg but it took me 30 minutes today to travel the same distance, said Rahul, a commuter.
In the past week, there has been unprecedented unity among the Opposition parties against the Centres demonetisation move. Over 200 MPs formed a human chain in Parliament on Wednesday and unlikely combinations have come to the fore. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are standing together as a part of the same group; the Left and Trinamool Congress (TMC) may not be directly collaborating but have found an unlikely point of convergence.

Even the DMK and AIADMK came together. The Opposition has also announced they would observe a protest day - Jana Aakrosh Diwas- on November 28. Several parties, led by TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, walked to Rashtrapati Bhawan to lodge their protest last week and sat on dharna at Jantar Mantar. Ms Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed public meetings in Delhi. This is a remarkable coming together of political forces, and carries more than a hint of future possibilities. A strong Opposition is also good for democracy. They represent a political constituency, a large section of the electorate and society and their voice must be heard and respected.

Read: Demonetisation is organised loot, legalised plunder, says Manmohan

But what is still not clear is what the Opposition is asking for. It is one thing to oppose demonetisation. But it is another to have a more thoughtful, constructive agenda. The Opposition has been found wanting on this count. Some - especially TMC and AAP - have demanded a rollback of the decision. Given Prime Minister Narendra Modis personal commitment to the policy agenda, this looks almost impossible. It may also be unwise because it could lead to further economic chaos and unpredictability.

The Congress has led the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the decision, whether it was leaked - this is a legitimate demand, but again, it is unlikely to be met. Others have pointed out that the decision has caused and continues to cause mass hardship.

This is indeed true and the one that concerns the people the most. It would be more productive if the Opposition could now offer a set of policy proposals, and frame its demands in a manner which would reduce this hardship. What can be done to enhance cash supply in the immediate term? What are the risks that come with the contraction of the economy, and how can it be managed? What should be done to provide relief to rural areas?

Read: Parliament Live: Congress, TMC mount attack against PM Modi over demonetisation

This is primarily the governments responsibility but pushing the ruling combine to deliver on this would help people at large. The Opposition is united. It now needs to be more coherent, clear about its demands, and those demands must go beyond scoring political points.

Read: Study says demonetisation may spell doom for the economy: Heres why
Remember when one had to hide comics and novels from parents and teachers because they were supposed to be studying? Well, a new era heralds in which you may now actually study your favourite comics.

In a bid to add more contemporary literature to school syllabi, the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination -- which conducts the ICSE and ISC board examinations -- is introducing popular titles from the next academic year.

From the popular Harry Potter series and Amar Chitra Katha to The Hobbit and the adventures of Tintin, along with the inspiring biographies of APJ Abdul Kalam, Anne Frank and Malala Yousafzai  all of these are set to be part of the curriculum. With these, the upcoming 2017-18 academic session will also bring in uniform syllabus for all primary and junior schools.

The new curriculum was released in Lucknow at the 59th annual conference of the Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate (ISC) at City Montessori School, Kanpur Road, which began on November 23 and will conclude on Friday.

To prepare the future generation of learners to meet the challenges of an ever advancing knowledge-based society and a dynamically changing environment, it is imperative that children are equipped with a repertoire of skills and a positive attitude..., said Gerry Arathoon, the councils chief.

The curriculum caters to a varied and diverse range of individual differences, intelligences and abilities and provides a plethora of opportunities to enjoy the learning experience through integration of generic skills, values and attitude in key learning areas, he added.

Books and characters like Noddy are also being introduced for pre-primary classes. Feluda, Poirot and Holmes, apart from popular graphic novels and American cartoonist Art Spiegelmans Holocaust saga Maus are among the other interesting additions to the curriculum.

In a media address a day before the conference, Arathoon said modifications were also being introduced in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics for the ISC 2018 examinations. The syllabus, he said, had been designed keeping in mind engineering and medical examinations across the country.

Mass media and communication are also being introduced as elective subjects for ICSE and ISC students, he said.

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Youve probably heard of tzatziki and pita, and even ordered mezze favourites during long drinking sessions at the pubs. After all, these are popular options in the appetiser section of every new restaurant that opens in the city.

But have you heard of spetsofal (sausages cooked in tomato gravy) or saganaki (fried cheese appetiser) or even dolmadakia (stuffed vine leaves)? One can find these dishes on the menu of Thalassa in Khar. A popular pit-stop for tourists heading to Goa, Thalassa is known for its chilled-out vibe and glorious sunsets on Vagator beach. And, it is also known for its extensive Greek menu, curated by its Greek chef and owner Mariketty Grana, 54, who moved to India with a backpack and a copy of Lonely Planet, 30 years ago.

Watermelon and feta salad

Failure to launch

But will Thalassa manage to recreate its success in Mumbai? Especially since almost every new Greek-inspired restaurant, and even those serving Mediterranean cuisine (which includes all the Levantine regions), have either shut down or moved on to offering a variety of cuisines. Including Chinese.

Read more: Iconic Gaylord restaurant turns 60 this week, take a look at some of its landmark moments

Case in point: Kipos (in Bandra), which opened in 2014 with Greece-inspired decor, of blue and white walls, and a menu to go with it. The restaurant shut down within a year. Then there was Byblos (in Lower Parel), which opened in the same year, and saw a similar fate. Yellow All Day Bar and Cafe (in Khar), by ex-Mezzo Mezzo chef, Davide Cananzi, started off with a hearty Mediterranean menu but has since been replaced by Thalassa. Aqaba (in Lower Parel), which is still serving a part-Greek and part-Mediterranean menu, was forced to Indianise dishes to suit the local palate.

Mezze platter at Aqaba

When we first opened, we had an Egyptian chef who could do a lot of Greek dishes. A large part of the mains were non-veg and it didnt work in Mumbai as majority of our clientele is vegetarian, says Aditya Parikh, owner, Aqaba. At the same time, Indian palates dont take well to muted flavours of Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, he adds. So, the gyros (a Greek wrap) had to be served with extra harissa and garlic mayo and the souvlaki (grilled meat) had to be made spicy.

Lack of representation

When Grana opened Thalassa a decade ago, most of her clients were Israelis, neighbours to Greeks. It took a couple of years of trial and error before it became one of the most visited restaurants in Goa. And now in Mumbai, the real test for Grana will begin once the initial buzz dies down. And contrary to the trend, she looks at the authenticity of her food as the biggest advantage.

Mini chicken souvlaki at Thalassa

In India, all I see is a Greek salad, which is disappointing. A lot of them use cabbage in a Greek salad or use local replacements, like paneer for feta, she says. When Grana couldnt find authentic feta, she started making it in-house. And she refuses to Indianise her food. Following a successful pop-up at Olive (Mahalaxmi) three years ago, Grana is positive that Mumbais foodies will be kind to her version of Greek food. The younger, well-travelled audience are open to experimentation and new tastes, she says.

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Actor Brad Pitt will not spend Thanksgiving with Angelina Jolie and his children.

The 52-year-old and his estranged wife, with whom he has six children -- Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne -- wont be spending the American holiday together, reports usmagazine.com.

Angelina did not invite Brad to spend Thanksgiving with their kids, a source said.

In this 2013 file photo, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, from left, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the 2013 Governors Awards in Los Angeles. (AP)

The news comes after it was reported on Wednesday that the family will spend Thanksgiving together.

It was also revealed that Pitt would not be facing charges from the FBI after an investigation into an alleged altercation between him and his son Maddox.

The Allied star was said to have got physical in a row with his 15-year-old son on a private jet in September as the family headed back to the US from France, which supposedly prompted 41-year-old Jolie to file for divorce, but no further action will be taken.

Last week, an insider reported Brad had only seen his children three times since the Maleficent star filed for divorce in September.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
India on Thursday said it conveyed to Pakistan its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the Line of Control (LoC) and noted that 27 ceasefire violations had taken place between November 16 and 21 using artillery and heavy mortar.

Giving details of the demarche issued to Pakistan deputy high commissioner Syed Hyder Shah on Wednesday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the government had reiterated its concerns about the safety of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan who inadvertently crossed over the LoC over seven weeks back.

He said the demarche, fourth in the month, was issued on the continued violation of ceasefire from the other side.

The Government of India stated that despite calls for restraint, Pakistan forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 millimetre heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003, Swarup said.

The government conveyed that it strongly deplored the tacit support of the Pakistan Army to armed terrorists that came from close to Pakistan Army posts on November 22, targeting an Indian patrol near the Line of Control in Machhal Sector opposite Pakistans Kel Sector, and killing three Indian soldiers, including inhuman mutilation of the body of one of them.

The government also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan Army of 18 villages along the LoC during the said period, which resulted in a non fatal casualty, besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and the displacement of civilian population.

The government conveyed its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the Line of Control to target Indian posts and patrols. During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the Line of Control, Swarup said.

Referring to the sepoy Chavan, Swarup said India expected his early repatriation and safe return.

Indias summons to the Pakistan deputy high commissioner came after similar steps by the external affairs ministry on November 2, 9 and 16.
Liz Galt wants to make sure people see the ability of each and every individual.

Galt, 23, a 2012 Farmington High School graduate, doesnt let her autism diagnosis stand in the way of sharing her story of living with autism and the challenges shes faced and overcome.

In the past couple of years Galt found herself wanting to branch out in a new way by participating in pageants.

On Nov. 5, Galts hard worked paid off as she was crowned Miss Amazing Missouri in the Jr. Division of the Miss Amazing pageant.

According to the pageant website, missamazing.org, the pageant started in 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska with the work of Jordan Somer.

At that time, the website reads, Somer was a 13-year-old and just another kid who loved volunteering with the Special Olympics. The first pageant was held in November of 2007 and is now held in 30 states.

I first entered the Miss Amazing Pageant two years ago because I really wanted to enter pageants, Galt said, noting it was through a Google search when she typed in pageants for people with disabilities and I found the Miss Amazing Pageant.

Galt said the event, held in St. Louis, was a wonderful experience.

It was really cool, she said. I made a lot of new friends.

That sentiment was echoed by Kristie Widdows, a process coordinator in the Farmington R-7 School District who was one of many from Farmington making the trip to watch Galt compete.

Although Widdows said the day was long  arriving for the pageant at 10:30 a.m. and not leaving until 8:30 p.m.  it was also rewarding.

I was very impressed with the Miss Amazing Pageant, Widdows said. The pageant celebrates the beauty in young girls and women with disabilities.

A favorite aspect of the day for both Galt and Widdows was the pampering each contestant received.

My favorite station was hair and makeup, Widdows said. Once finished, (the contestants) couldn't stop talking about how amazing they looked.

In addition, each contestant is paired with a volunteer who escorted them throughout the day  something Widdows said everyone should do if they have the time.

It was a true joy watching them throughout the day, Widdows said.

Galt entertained the audience during her introduction at the pageant by reciting the alphabet in reverse  something she enjoys the opportunity to demonstrate when given the chance.

She did wow the audience when she introduced herself and said her ABC's backwards and spelled 'Thank You' backwards, Widdows said.

The competition also included an evening wear portion. Widdows said this was her first experience at a Miss Amazing pageant.

It was an amazing experience for all of those involved. I hope  more young ladies in our local area will compete next year, she said. This is a great way for girls and women to showcase that they are more than their disability.

They are beautiful, talented and deserving of a pageant crown.

Galt expressed the same about her experience.

It is really exciting and its a really great opportunity for girls and women with disabilities because they can feel like a queen, too, Galt said. Everyone gets some type of crown and a trophy.

Galt said she was speechless and shocked when her name was announced as the winner in the Jr. Miss division.

I thought is this really happening? she said. I felt like I was winning the lottery. I never thought Id be able to call myself a queen.

Widdows said she was so proud of Galts time on the stage.

It takes a strong person to get up in front of people and speak, Widdows said. When they called her name as the winner for her division, I couldn't believe it. I was so happy for her. She looked stunningly beautiful.

Galt will now compete in the national Miss Amazing event held Aug. 2-6 in Chicago, Illinois.

As part of being crowned Miss Amazing Missouri, Galt has been asked to make appearances and volunteer in the community to help promote the program. Widdows said each contestant was asked to bring five canned food items, which were divided up amongst the winners.

They are asked as their official first act as Miss Amazing to donate the food to a local food pantry, Widdows said.

Galt also plans to continue helping educate the community about autism and to participate in a number of community events until she competes in nationals.

More information on the Miss Amazing pageants can be found at www.missamazing.org.
Pakistans air force chief has warned arch-rival India against escalating the dispute over Kashmir into full-scale war.

Marshal Sohail Amans warning on Thursday comes as tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over Kashmir after a day of violent exchanges.

The Pakistani army said Indian fire killed 12 civilians and three soldiers on Wednesday  the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.

Aman told reporters in the port city of Karachi that it is better if India shows restrain. If New Delhi escalates the crisis, he says Pakistani troops will know full well how to deal with them.
On September 28, Waseem Ahmad Khanday, a youngster from Kellar village in south Kashmirs Shopian district, snatched a rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition from the personal security officer of a former legislator and disappeared to join the Hizbul Mujahedeen. He was killed in an encounter in Shopian around a month later, on November 5.

Khanday belonged to the latest crop of youngsters to have joined militancy in the region during the turmoil which began after the death of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani on July 8. Over 90 people have been killed and thousands injured and maimed.

During the unrest, scores of youngsters disappeared and joined militant groups. Of the three identified local militants killed by security forces this month, all had joined in September-October.

Saddam Hussain Mir of Shopian, who had reportedly left home in September, was killed in an encounter in Wangam, two days after Khanday.

In Kakpora in Pulwama district, Rayees Ahmad Dar (25), who was missing since October 6, was killed in an encounter on November 19. He had joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Many such youngsters are being arrested and brought back, police say. But others are getting killed within a period of a month or two after joining militancy.

A Kashmiri protestor throws stones in clashes during the Kashmir unrest, in Srinagar. (AFP File Photo)

If they fire back, what option do we have? We first try that the boys surrender and we arrest them, but if they dont do that and fire back, then we have no other option, director general of police, law and order and coordination, SP Vaid told HT.

He said the number of youths joining militant ranks in the entire year would be at least 55.

The number of local youth who have joined militancy this year is almost same as last year. I dont feel the agitation has had any special effect regarding this, he added.

At least 23 youth from strife-torn southern region of Kashmir have gone to join militant ranks during the uprising, said DIG, south Kashmir, Nitish Kumar.

Kumar added that weapon-snatching and youth leaving homes to join militancy has been a common phenomenon in Kashmir insurgency for many years now, nothing specific to the current unrest.

Political observers, however, believe that youth joining militant ranks during the unrest could be a result of being inspired from Burhan.

Youth are on the one hand inspired by Burhan and on the other they feel the government of India does not care about the pain of Kashmiris. But these youngsters do not have any training or understanding of the consequence of their becoming a militant. They are driven by a sudden emotion, said prominent political scientist Noor Ahmad Baba.

In October, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had urged the police to try if local youth who have left home to join militancy can be brought back into the mainstream instead of being killed in encounters.

Separatist leaders blame the state and central governments for pushing the youth to the wall.

Youth feel they have absolutely no space to propagate their views and ideas. They are being hunted down, killed, maimed and blinded. They feel their voices are scuttled and they fear peaceful dialogue will lead nowhere, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairperson of the moderate Hurriyat faction, told HT.

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Bihar BJP President Mangal Pandey on Thursday advised actor-turned MP Shatrughan Sinha to join the Congress.

Sinha should consider joining the Congress if he finds everything wrong with the Prime Ministers policies, Pandey said after Shatrughan Sinhas tweets slammed Modi.

The MP criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sharing the results of a survey on demonetisation which showed that 90 per cent of people backed the move.

Let us stop living in a fools paradise and getting carried away by planted stories and surveys conducted by vested interests, Sinha tweeted.

...well Intentioned savings over many years of our mothers & sisters for emergency can't be equated with black money.  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 23, 2016

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders here admitted that Sinhas tweet was a big embarrassment for the party.

Popularly known as Bihari Babu, Shatrughan Sinha is party MP from Patna Sahib.
The governments decision to recall high-value banknotes has been implemented with monumental mismanagement that might shave at least 2 percentage points off Indias economic growth rate, former prime minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament on Thursday.

In a strongly worded attack on the government in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said several deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders convinced him the demonetisation plan led to organised loot and legalised plunder.

Already 60 or 65 people have lost their lives, possibly more. This move will weaken and erode the peoples confidence in our currency and banking system, he said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting in the treasury benches.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes  which accounted for 86% of the currency in circulation by value -- in a shock announcement on November 8 in a bid to stamp out illegal cash and counterfeit currency.

Read | Parliament Highlights: Congress mounts attack against PM Modi over demonetisation

But a bumpy rollout of the new currency has seen millions of people line up outside banks and ATMs across the country with small traders and farmers the worst hit.

Experts say the move has deeply damaged Indias mostly cash economy where online transactions are uncommon and hobbled by a lack of connectivity and poor network across the vast countryside.

The estimated cost of the demonetisation move may top Rs 1 lakh crore, analysts have warned, with tens of thousands of workers in informal sectors already bearing the brunt of the cash crunch.

This has emboldened the Opposition, which has lashed out at Modi for not defending the move in Parliament while accusing him of unleashing financial anarchy.

Singh  who was in power for 10 years and is credited with unlocking several years of high growth by opening up the countrys economy in a previous stint as finance minister  stuck to the line taken by his Congress party.

Read | Study says demonetisation may spell doom for the economy: Heres why

In my opinion, demonetisation will hurt agricultural growth, small industries and all those who are in the informal sectors. I urge the prime minister to find practical and pragmatic ways and means to end the distress of people.

It is no good that every day, the banking system modifies rules and conditions. This reflects poorly on the office of the PM, finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. I am very sorry that the RBI has been exposed to this criticism.

He said he didnt disagree with the objectives but asked Modi to name countries where people were barred from withdrawing their own incomes, adding that the move hurt agriculture and the cooperative banking system that serves huge swathes of rural India.

The government tells us that there will be distress in the short term but national interest will be served in the long term. I am reminded of Keynes who said in the long run, all of us are dead.

The debate over demonetisation has also rocked Parliament with opposition parties repeatedly disrupting proceedings in both Houses and little legislative business transacted in the first week of the winter session.

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A woman battling kidney failure died in a government hospital in Bihar on Wednesday after the staff refused to accept old banknotes for dialysis, the latest in a string of deaths blamed on demonetisation.

While announcing the decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said government hospitals and their pharmacies would continue to accept payments in old currency till November 24.

Manju Devi, whose husband Gora Manjhi is a dailywager, was brought to Gayas Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital (ANMMCH) a week ago because of pregnancy complications.

She suffered a miscarriage and doctors found her kidneys had failed, hospital superintendent Dr Sudhir Kumar Sinha said.

The doctors prescribed dialysis on Wednesday. When the patients attendants went to the centre on our hospital campus to make the booking for dialysis, it refused to accept demonetised currency notes, Dr Sinha said.

The dialysis centre is run in partnership with B Braun Medical India Private Limited, a Mumbai-based multi-national firm.

The doctor said when the womans family informed him, he sent his staff with a letter that mentioned the note-ban exemption for government facilities.

Despite the letter, the dialysis centre staff allegedly refused to accept old notes. As they waited for instructions from their head office, Devi passed away.

A show-cause notice was issued to the firm, said Dr Singh, who has also sought dismissal of the staff who refused the money.

Braun Medical Indias assistant manager at Patna Abhishek Kumar said the firm had nothing to do with the death of the woman, who was not even brought to the centre. Only her attendants came to make some inquires.

We are bound by government agreement not to accept serious patients for dialysis as the hospital does not have nephrologists. Since we are a private body, we were advised not to accept demonetised currency, he said. The staff agreed to accept the payment but the woman died within minutes of her family visiting the centre, he said.

Gaya superintendent of police chief Awakash Kumar said they would seek a report though a complaint had not been lodged.

The Modi governments decision to recall the two high-value notes had led to a cash crunch. The notes that were scrapped accounted for 86% of the currency in circulation, opening a huge demand and supply gap in the country where most transactions are cash-driven.

The pinch is being felt more acutely in rural areas as cash is in short supply and the majority of the population doesnt even have bank accounts.

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The exchange of old 1,000 and 500 rupee banknotes will no longer be accepted from Friday, the government said, but the use of Rs 500 notes for certain transactions has been extended till December 15.

The Centre, which allowed a window of a fortnight to exchange these currency notes over the counter, has decided not to extend the facility given a decline in exchange transactions.

After reviewing the cash supply situation on Thursday, the Narendra Modi-led government decided to allow payments for certain transactions using the old Rs 500, such as public utility bills of water and electricity. However, this is limited to individuals and households, the statement said.

Rs 1,000 notes will no longer be accepted.

It has further been felt that people may be encouraged and facilitated to deposit their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their bank account... Consequently, there will be no over-the-counter exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes after midnight of 24.11.2016, a statement issued by the finance ministry said.

No changes were announced regarding the deposit of these high value notes in banks accounts, deadline for which remains December 30. People will need to furnish their PAN card details if the total deposit amounts to over Rs 2.5 lakh after December 30.

In a shock announcement on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes were being withdrawn from circulation in a bid to crack down on corruption and counterfeit currency.

However, a string of measures were deployed to mitigate public inconveniences resulting from the ban on the two high-value banknotes, which account for 86% of the currency in circulation in the country.

People are allowed to make ATM cash withdrawals up to Rs 2,500 per day and Rs 2,000 from select fuel pumps of state-owned oil companies. A savings account holder can withdraw up to Rs 24,000 per week from banks. Current account holders can also withdraw up to Rs 50,000 a week, provided it has been in operation for at least three months.

The government also extended the suspension of toll collection on all national highways till December 2 midnight.

Read | How to use old Rs 500, 1000 notes: Toll tax exemption extended till December 2

Among the other decisions announced on Thursday, the government is allowing payment of fees up to Rs 2,000 per student using the old Rs 500 notes in schools under the central and state governments, municipality and local bodies. These notes can also be used to pay fees at central or state government colleges.

The scrapped notes can also be used for topping up pre-paid mobile accounts to a limit of Rs 500.

The government has also allowed foreigners to exchange currency up to Rs 5,000 per week, records of which will be registered against their passports and other documents.

The revised measures come on a day former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the implementation of the demonetisation a monumental mismanagement amounting to organised loot and legalised plunder.

Also read | Manmohan calls demonetisation a failure: Jaitley hits back, Twitter weighs in
Like always, this winter too, hundreds of species of rare birds that fly in from higher altitudes in search of food and shelter have made Haryana one of its favourite destinations.

The state has a plethora of water bodies where these birds can easily be spotted. However, to have the best look, one will have to search for them in farmers waterlogged fields, which are preferred by these birds over deep waters present at sanctuaries.

Waterlogged fields get more birds than any bird sanctuary in Haryana. Its because these birds can easily search for food in shallow waters, said Sunder Sambharya, Jhajjar district forest officer. A team of 11 members, led by Sambharya, toured the bird diversity in Dhighal and surrounding 20 waterlogged villages of Jhajjar on Saturday and recorded about 160 species of both resident and migratory birds.

Winter has just arrived and so has the bird migration. One can easily predict the excellent habitat as per the presence of so many bird species in this area. During peak time of migration, that is during December, January and February, the species number will increase, said Sambharya.

Among the 160 species, the bird-watchers spotted peregrine falcon  the fastest flying bird in the world  whose speed reaches up to 320 km/hr when hunting. Some other rare birds spotted in Haryana, some for the first time, include demoiselle crane, greater flamingos, greylag goose, bar-headed goose, tickells blue flycatcher and purple heron.

Due to bird samples testing positive for avian flu in Hisar, the bird sanctuaries in the state are finding a dearth of visitors amid avian flu threat. However, authorities have clarified that theres no such problem.

What happened in Hisar seems to be an internal problem of the lake due to uncleanliness. There is no scare and people and people are encouraged to visit sanctuaries that are open, Sambharya added.

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Sixty-nine years after independence, the Central government has initiated the process to grant tribal status to communities living in the farflung areas of Trans Giri and Dodra-Kwar regions.

Nearly 50% of the population in Sirmour district comprises the dominant Haati community, living in difficult conditions across the Giri river.

Ever since the Jaunsar and Babbar areas of Uttarakhand, which share its boundaries with the Trans Giri area, were granted scheduled tribe status in 1967, the inhabitants of Trans Giri have been demanding a scheduled tribe status but their request went unheard for several decades.

When our traditions, rituals and geographical terrain are the same as that of Jaunsar and Babbar, why should we be denied of the scheduled tribal status, says Pratap Singh Tomar, convener of Central Haati Samiti.

The Himachal government had time and again corresponded with the Central government, seeking scheduled tribe status for transgiri and Dodra Kwar regions.

The state government has now moved a case for granting scheduled tribe status to both areas, which have a difficult terrain and are considered to be highly backward.

The government in 1992 had conducted a survey to assess the socio- economic condition of the people. Based on the survey, the state government asked the Centre to categorise inhabitants of both regions as scheduled tribe. The Trans Giri area comprises of nearly 124 panchayats.

Similarly, the Dodra Kwar sub-division also demanded tribal status. Majority of the villages in Dodra Kwar still lack road connectivity. It was in 2009 that the government started a bus service to Kwar. Due to its remoteness, the region still remains a nightmare for the government employees posted here. Prior to region being connected with a road, it took four days to reach Kwar from Naitwar, the nearest station in adjacent Uttarakhand. People in the remote regions are dependent on agriculture while sheep rearing is still a mainstay of the local economy. Based on the survey report, the state recommended scheduled tribe status for Dodra Kwar and transgiri area, a government higher up, who requested anonymity confirmed to Hindustan Times. The Central government has sought some more details, he said.

In 2014, the government had asked the department of tribal studies in Himachal Pradesh University to conduct studies to gauge the socio-economic conditions of the people. The report had been sent to the Centre for consideration. The Centre also asked the state to conduct the studies on the Gurkha community that has been seeking scheduled tribe status. Known for its valour, the Gurkha community in Himachal is spread in four districts Chamba, Kangra, Solan and Sirmour.

Apart from inhabitants of the land-locked Barabhangal, a remote regions in Kangra district too were vying for the tribal status. It takes nearly two days of trek to Barabhangal from Baijnath town in Kangra. Inhabitants have to cross 16,000ft high thamsar pass to reach the village. Kullus BJP legislator Maheshwar Singh had been constantly demanding the tribal status for Malana - an ancient village in Kullu district.

The village that draws its lineage from Greek King Alexander is the oldest democracy in the world in absence of basic amenities, the villagers here grow cannabis. Similarly, there was demand for tribal status in Chuhar region in Mandi. The region is known for its opium cultivation.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker Bhagwant Mann, who is being probed by a parliamentary panel for an alleged breach of security by him, has said he has nothing to add to or alter in his earlier deposition.

Mann said he had written to the panel headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya saying he is campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab and should be given a few days notice to appear before it. The panel had requested him to appear before it this week.

Read | Bhagwant Mann shoots live Parliament video, speaker may seek explanation

I will not water down my stand, the Sangrur MP told Hindustan Times over the phone from his home state where he is campaigning along with AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.

The Delhi chief minister had announced in Fazilka last Sunday that the party will pitch Mann as its official candidate against Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Read | Its Bhagwant Mann versus Sukhbir Badal: AAP chief Kejriwal makes it official

I will be there for the November 28 hearing, Mann said.

Somaiya said Mann had no other option but to appear before the panel. He was first requested to come and join the inquiry now he has been summoned, he said.

There are contradictions in his communication with the committee. If he is firm on his stand that he did no wrong why did he write an apology? He needs to come and clarify that, the BJP lawmaker added.

Read | AAPs Bhagwant Mann sorry for video but House in no mood to let up



Mann had on the first day of the monsoon session shot a video of his journey to Parliament that showed security pickets and their locations at the high-security zone and put it out on the social media inviting criticism from lawmakers across party lines.

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India on Thursday remained non-committal about holding talks with Pakistan Prime Ministers foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, during the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar next week.

External affairs ministry spokesperson, Vikas Swarup, told a weekly media briefing that the programme was in a fluid state and he was not in a position to rule in or rule out anything at this stage.

I can only say that as of 24th November nothing has been decided.

When pressed on the subject, he said, The programme is still evolving. The associated events connected with the conference are in a process of evolving. At this point, I am not in a position to make any other announcement.

Swarup reiterated Indias stated position that though the country is for dialogue, talks and terror cannot go hand- in-hand.

Our position on it (talks) is very very clear from the beginning. We are for a dialogue with Pakistan. But talks and terror cannot happen together. It is incumbent on Pakistan to create the necessary environment for a conducive bilateral dialogue to happen, he said, and also referred to Swarajs address at the UN recently that for talks to take place, Islamabad will have to end terrorism.

Swarup also confirmed that external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, who is ill, will not be attending the two-day meet on December 3 and 4.

Swaraj is undergoing treatment for kidney failure.

The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will be attended by representatives of over 40 countries.
The Thanksgiving holiday, sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, often occurs without fanfare. By October, department stores are decked out for Christmas while carols fill the air. What happened to November and the Thanksgiving holiday I remember as a child?

As I reflect on Thanksgivings past, I am reminded of a wonderful day. I remember the sounds and smells coming from the kitchen. My mom rose early Thanksgiving morning to start preparing the traditional feast for family and friends. There was turkey to be roasted, dressing to be made from the bread heels and cornbread that had been stashed in the freezer, cranberries to be ground with oranges and pies, lots of them to bake. We each had our tasks to perform. I got to tear the bread and if my brother and I worked as a team, could use the grinder to make the cranberry orange relish.

Like clockwork, it all came together about noon. Guests would arrive bringing their favorite dish to complete the meal. There was sure to be at least one green Jell-O concoction, sweet potatoes with lots of marshmallows and a cake with fluffy icing. If my luck held out, it would be chocolate.

Once dinner was over, the adults visited and the kids went outside to play, weather permitting. Often my brothers and I would be tasked with delivering meals to neighbors who were homebound or alone. It was a day of food, fellowship and rest.

Through the years traditions change but the fare for the Thanksgiving meal tends to remain constant. Preparation for the meal may have shifted from home-cooked to catered meals or eating out.

For 31 years, the American Farm Bureau and Missouri Farm Bureau have been tracking food prices for a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal for 10 people. This includes a 16-pound turkey, stuffing, cranberries, peas, relish tray, sweet potatoes, brown-and-serve rolls, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of milk and coffee. Leftovers would be likely unless appetites were huge.

The 2016 prices remained steady both at the state and national levels. Missouri prices for those items in 2016 rang in at $50.46 or $5.05 per person. In 2015 shoppers paid $51.92 or $5.19 per person. On the national level, shoppers this year paid $49.87 or $4.99 per person.

Turkey prices were slightly higher, despite the strong inventory, with an average per pound price of $1.42 both in Missouri and across the nation. As Thanksgiving approaches, often turkey prices drop more as many stores use them as a loss leader to attract shoppers or pair them with other promotions.

Dairy prices were down significantly across the board. Milk, butter and whipping cream were all lower in price this year. Highly processed items such as the brown-and-serve rolls increased in price.

Food for Thanksgiving or any meal doesnt magically appear on the table. Farmers work throughout the year to offer choices that meet consumer demands. As we count our blessings this year, lets include those who provide our food and fiber.
A Sikh couple from India were gunned down on Thursday by two bike-borne assailants in the Philippines Camarines Sur province, a media report said.

Bahagwant Singh Buttar, 45 and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, 36, residents of Sipocot town in the province, were killed by two gunmen who were riding a bike, Tempo newspaper reported.

The gunmen killed them on the spot, police said.

Two suspects, Marvin Magdaong and Rodolfo T Gumatay, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident by the police after a chase in Sitio Nabuntog in Bangas Caves.

The motive behind the murder was not immediately known, police said.

Two pistols and live ammunition have been recovered from their possession, police said, adding that a case has been registered.

There have been many attacks on Indians in the Philippines in the past.

The last incident reported in August, when a 26-year-old man, who belonged to Punjabs Phagwara and lived in Santiago city, was shot dead just a couple of months before he was scheduled to get married.
The Indian Army foiled two infiltration bids by militants in a span of 18 hours along the Line of Control in Gulmarg and Nowgam sectors in the Kashmir Valley.

The Indian Armys Udhampur headquartered Northern Command said: Two infiltration attempts were foiled in the last 18 hours.

#JKOps 2 infilt attempts foiled in last 18 hrs. Alert troops push back intruders in Gulmarg & Nowgam sects after heavy exch of fire @adgpi  NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) November 24, 2016

Two infiltration attempts by terrorists were foiled in the last 18 hours in Gulmarg and Nowgam sectors in the Kashmir Valley, an army official confirmed.

The alert troops pushed back the intruders after heavy exchange of fire, he said.

No casualties reported in the incident.
A villager near Gurgaon caught a wild leopard by the scruff of its neck and others beat it to death on Thursday after the animal ran loose on the streets of the locality, triggering widespread panic for hours.

The animal was spotted around 8.10am and ran amok for more than three hours on the streets of Mandawar village, 26 kilometres from Gurgaon, local sources said.

The big cat was finally cornered in a hut around 11.45 am, beaten to death in front of police and wildlife officials and its corpse dragged to the main road, they added.

The animal had its claws round a girls neck when a young man grabbed it by its neck and pulled it off her. Other villagers them overpowered the leopard, beat it with sticks and killed it, a local resident told HT.

Seven villagers were injured in the incident and rushed to the nearby Sohna Civil Hospital.

This is the latest in a string of similar leopard sightings around the hilly region where several such big cats live in the Aravalli ranges.

In September, residents of Sector 51 claimed to have spotted a leopard. In August too, a full-grown leopard was caught on camera trap in the Bandhwari forest.

On Thursday, villagers alleged that police and wildlife officials were inadequately equipped with just one net to capture the leopard and no tranquilliser shots.

He was beaten to death by villagers despite repeated requests. Some villagers have been injured in the attack., said inspector Mukesh Kumar, the station house officer, Sohna police station who was at the spot.

Angry villagers dragged the corpse to the main road a kilometre away as a battery of police and wildlife department officials allegedly remained silent.

He injured seven villagers. The officials and cops could do nothing, said a villager Devender Singh.
India on Thursday rejected allegations by Pakistan of being denied overflight clearance, something Islamabad claimed was in violation of a 1991 agreement on prevention of air space violations and for permitting overflights and landing by military aircraft.

Yes, we are aware of what Pakistan has claimed, but we categorically reject these allegations. Let me state the facts, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here. .

As per Appendix A to the 1991 Agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required in respect of military aircraft. Requests from the Government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information. Despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Joint Secretary (PAI) in New Delhi on November 9, Pakistan did not provide the information.

Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect the requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements, he said.

Incidentally, in another recent case, when Pakistan had provided all necessary information for Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back to Lahore the over flight permission was provided expeditiously, added Swarup.

As reports of Pakistan forming a special group to expose Indian atrocities in Kashmir, Swarup said Islamabads efforts have not gathered any traction on the international stage, and thus, it would be well advised to focus its energies on stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath in making baseless allegations.

Reacting to Pakistan Prime Ministers advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Azizs statement of Islamabad intending to woo Indians opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swarup said he (Aziz) would be well advised to rather woo Pakistanis to end their Governments policy of state sponsorship of terrorism.
Militants on Thursday night attacked a police station in north Kashmirs Kupwara district, but there was no report of any loss of life in the firing.

Militants attacked a police station in Handwara area of Kupwara by resorting to firing and also lobbed a grenade, a police officer said.

He said there was retaliatory firing by the police personnel, forcing the militants to flee.

There was no loss of life in the firing, the official said, adding a manhunt has been launched to nab the attackers.
Muslims in Rajasthans Sikar district have set a heart-warming example of religious camaraderie by donating land to help build a Hindu temple.

Muslims in Kolida donated 2 bighas or 34,848 square feet of land from their abandoned graveyard to the villages Meels, who belong to the Jat community. The Meels have constructed a temple of local goddess Surjal Mata at the cost of about Rs 50 lakh on the land.

The Muslims had donated 1 bigha land 10 years ago and we had made a small temple. About two years ago, we started expanding the temple and grew short of land. The Muslims then gave another half a bigha at that time. Some six months ago, they gave the remaining half bigha too, Shivpal Singh Meel, a former sarpanch of the village, said.

Meel added that the Jats never asked their Muslim neighbours for the land and they themselves came forward to help them.

There is tremendous brotherhood between the communities here. On the inauguration of the temple too, which took place on Friday, people and leaders from both the communities came, he said.

Subhash Mahariya, the former member of Parliament from Sikar who was present during the inauguration of the temple. (HT Photo)

Mohammed Ishaq, the deputy sarpanch of the village, said that the old graveyard was lying useless since the last 50-60 years.

When we came to know that the Jats were developing the temple further and needed more land, we called a meeting of community elders, who after a discussion, decided to donate the land to the Meels, Ishaq said.

Subhash Mahariya, the former member of Parliament from Sikar who was also present during the inauguration of the temple, said that the villages minority community has indeed set a fine example.

Sikar collector Kunj Bihari Gupta, who came to know about the donation from the local media, appreciated the gesture and said that the two communities have always lived amicably in the district.

Even in the Shanti Samiti meetings that we hold in the district, the pluralistic beliefs of both the communities are evident, he added.

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The mystery over the Rs 3.5 crore cash that disappeared from a Nagaland airport after being flown in a chartered aircraft from Hisar on Tuesday has been solved.

The cash, all in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes, is legitimate, certified by the income-tax department and has been handed over to the owner -- Anato Zhimomi, a Naga businessman.

Zhimomi, said sources, had given the money to one Amarjeet Singh, a businessman from Bihar, to buy farm land in Haryana. The deal didnt materialise and the money was returned.

The income-tax department handed over the cash to Zhimomi, who is the son-in-law of Nagalands Lok Sabha member and former chief minister Neiphiu Rio.

The I-T department on November 11 gave Zhimomi a certificate to transport the money from Hisar, saying he was exempt from paying tax, sources said.

Nagas, like all resident tribes of the sixth schedule areas of the Northeast, are exempt from paying income tax.

The sixth schedule is a special provision in the Indian Constitution that gives tribal communities considerable autonomy in the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur (minus the Imphal valley) and tribal councils of Assam and Tripura.

There is no cap on the money they can keep in their bank accounts, raising fears that the region could be used as a tax haven to park unaccounted for cash following the governments decision to cull high-value banknotes, a move step, it said, would unearth black money.

While the ownership of cash has been established, the disappearance from Dimapur airport and the return is still fuzzy.

The money was seized by the personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is tasked with securing airports across the country, after they were tipped off by Delhi colleagues.

The CISF alerted I-T officials.

When the plane landed at Dimapur around 10am on Tuesday, Singhs bag was frisked and money seized. But, the cash disappeared two hours later after Singh flew back in the same plane to Delhi with Zhimomi and two others.

The police seized CCTV footage from the airport to track the money. We are sure that the money was taken away by an individual. But the CISF personnel on duty and income tax (IT) officials denied having handed the money over to anyone, Dimapur police commissioner Liremo Lotha had said.

He said the CISF personnel denied handing over the money to the income-tax sleuths while the taxmen said they issued a seizure memo but the CISF didnt hand over the cash to them.

What happened in between is still a mystery.
On a peace mission, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shanker on Wednesday said there is a need to change the DNA of misguided Kashmiris.

We are here to change of genes of those who created troubles in the Valley. The mistrust and fear, which has made its way into their DNA, we will try to change that. Moreover, scientists have proved that DNA can be changed, Sri Sri said while talking to reporters after launching South Asian Peace Forum Programme here on Wednesday.

Elaborating on the forum, he said, The forum was launched with an objective to have a firsthand authentic account of the affairs of Kashmir from the people of great understanding and comprehension about Kashmir and its affairs. 90% of neglected people of Kashmir want peace and development, but they have been left behind. There was an urgent need for building a platform for neglected areas and population of the society.

It was felt that ideas and thoughts of intellectuals and common man of Kashmir Valley are heard and we cannot remain prisoners to a particular ideology. To work with fresh mindset in this direction, this forum was launched, he added.

Many Imams with tears in their eyes complain that nobody, even from the government, is interested in listening to us. They want peace and progress but complain that nobody is willing to listen to their concerns, he said.

Seeking a fresh approach to solve the vexed Kashmir problem, Sri Sri said, Mainly, there is a trust deficit. People do not have trust on each other. People of the Valley do not trust government, nor do they trust social organisations.

We need to overcome that trust deficit and for this, the time has come for intellectuals, actors, religious heads and civil society of the Valley to come forward. As only Kashmiris can bring solution to the chronic Kashmir issue, he added.

Youth who were earlier stone pelters, youth who were involved in militancy and drug addicts, have come from every nook and corner of the Valley in this initiative. These youth are now talking of peace as they seek fresh beginning, he said.

Without naming separatists and mischief mongers in the Valley, Sri Sri said, For some, the conflict has become a cash cow. If they earn their livelihood from trouble, then why would they leave it? Common citizens are bearing the brunt of turmoil. To marginalise these people, society need to come forward.

He said, People who are suffering are completely taken unaware of it.

Such elements earn in the name of struggle and freedom movements, but unfortunately they also do not understand what azadi (freedom) means in the true sense, he asserted.

Sri Sri also condemned the mutilation of the body of a soldier by Pakistan Army. It is a very sad state. Such type of human rights violations with jawans and in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir is very unfortunate, he said.

He also supported the demonstration process and termed it as an action against terrorism and drug menace.
The National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) issued a warning notice issued on Tuesday asking woman residents not to roam around with their male colleagues inside the campus. It later withdrew the circular following outrage on social media and complaints from students.

A warning issued by the ladies hostel warden on Tuesday read, Inmates of the ladies hostel and mega ladies hostel are strictly instructed not to roam with boy students inside the residential campus. We got lot of complaints in this regard. If any girl is found along with a boy student inside the residential campus, severe action will be taken against her, including suspension and expulsion from the hostel.

The move met with criticism on social media. Pathetic! Hope better sense prevails and that we wont have to discipline those who enforce discipline this way... Prasanth Nair, the district collector of Kozhikode, posted on Facebook.

I think its really atrocious to give such rules and especially in Kerala which has the highest literacy rate. I am completely against it. I feel that there is nothing wrong in roaming around with boys or talking to them, Tushara, a student told ANI.

Another student, Tanvi, said she was shocked that such a rule exists in a democratic country.

Its a narrow minded attitude towards girls roaming with boys. I am roaming with a boy that does not mean I am having something with that boy or he is my boyfriend. I think its very normal, we roam around with people. We are living in a democratic country here. Coming this from Kerala is a bit shocking for me because it has the highest literacy in terms of females also.

However, the management withdrew the rule after students affairs council of NIT-Calicut took up the issue with chief warden.
India was home to 700,000 of the one million babies who died within 28 days of birth in South Asia in 2015, according to a Unicef report released in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

India consistently ranked a low sixth in newborn-care services among the eight countries in the region, including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Only Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked lower than India.

India accounts for 26% of newborn deaths in the world.

The total number of deaths are highest in India because of its large young population and corresponding high number of births, but the high newborn mortality rate is an indicator of where India sits in the region, and the ranking needs to be a lot higher, said Douglas Noble, Unicef regional health adviser for South Asia, speaking to HT from Nepal.

Newborn mortality rates (NMR), defined as deaths per 1,000 live births, in India are the third highest at 28.

Pakistans NMR is the highest at 46 followed by Afghanistan at 36, which are unacceptably high compared to the best-performing Maldives and Sri Lanka, where 5 newborn deaths happen per 1,000 live births.

The Unicefs South Asia Health Atlas 2016 praised Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan for making remarkable progress in routine immunization given their public health challenges. It said Pakistan, Afghanistan and India need to see very significant improvements in the next few years to being down newborn death rates.

Giving each child three doses of the DTP vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus is the World Health Organizations accepted indicator for routine immunisation coverage. In India, DPT3 coverage is 87% against Bhutans 99% and Bangladeshs 94%.

India has shown a jump up in routine immunisation coverage over the past three to four years and if it builds on this momentum and keeps going at the same pace, vaccinating 98% children will be possible very soon, Noble said.

What worked for Nepal and Bangladesh was the putting together of systems for training health workers, procurement of supplies, monitoring programmes and making course corrections, whenever needed.

Were not talking of hi-tech solutions but interventions that can easily be applied on a large scale, such as application of chlorhexidine to the umbilical cord to prevent infection and early initiation of breastfeeding (within an hour of birth), Noble said.

With an under-five population of more than 121 million, India accounts for the highest number of the 1.5 million global childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths, followed by Nigeria and Pakistan.

These deaths can be prevented using vaccines, oral rehydration solution and basic hygiene practices.

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Is India doing enough to detect fake notes, cited by the Prime Minister as a significant reason for withdrawing 86% of Indias currency, a process popularly known as demonetisation?

In 2015-16, only 16 of every 250 fakes notes in India were detected, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited terrorism financed by fake Indian currency as a major reason for invalidating the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that made up 86% of money in circulation. On November 9, 2016, in response to Telugu film-star Nagarjunas tweet praising demonetisationas the process has been calledModi tweeted:

Dear @iamnagarjuna, this step will check corruption, black money and fake currency rackets that slow our progress. https://t.co/qns6cyosAB  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 9, 2016

Of the 90.26 billion Indian currency notes in circulation in 2015-16, no more than 0.63 millionthat is 0.0007%, or seven-millionths of 1%, seven in every millionwere detected as fake, according to RBI data. The value of these fake notes in 2015-16 was Rs 29.64 crore, which is 0.0018% of the Rs 16.41 lakh crore currency in circulation.

These data do not include notes seized by the police and other enforcement agencies.

In 2015, 0.88 million fake notes worth Rs 43.8 crore were seized, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau tabled in the Lok Sabha (parliaments lower house) on November 18, 2016.

Rs 27.8 crore was seized until September 30, 2016, the data further reveal.

250 in every million notes fake, claims another study

The value of fake currency in circulation at any given time is Rs 400 crore, and 250 in every million notes are fake, according to this 2015 joint study by the Indian Statistical Institute and National Investigation Agency, to analyse fake-currency trends, especially those originating across Indias borders.

The study estimated that fake currency worth Rs 70 crore enters circulation every year, with agencies only being able to intercept one-third of it, the Times of India reported in May 2016. The detection of fake currency is carried out primarily by commercial banks, but such reporting is irregular: Only three banksAxis, HDFC and ICICIreport about 80% of fake currency detected.

Cash component of black economy ranges from 3-7%

In 2012, the then Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee wrote a white paper on black money in India, which revealed that the cash component of undisclosed incomes ranged from 3.7% to 7.4%, based on searches conducted by the Central Board of Direct Taxation.

For instance, in financial year 2011-12, of undisclosed admitted income of Rs 9,289 crore, no more than Rs 499 crore (5.4%) was found in cash, according to the white paper.

On November 17, 2016, Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), tweeted:

Black economy is only 6% Cash, rest wired. Counterfeit currency 0.025% of total currency. So what is the #Demonetisation move targeting?  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) November 15, 2016

Yechurys claim was based on a Hindustan Times analysis of data from tax raids for the financial year 2012-13 onwards. Cash recovered was less than 6% of the undisclosed income seized from tax evaders, said the newspaper.

Data from income-tax investigation between April 1 and October 31, 2016, revealed that black-money holders accepted having Rs 7,700 crore worth of unaccounted assets; of this, Rs 408 crore, or 5%, was cash. The rest was invested in business, stocks, real estate and benami bank accounts, the data showed.

In 2015-16, a year that reported the largest detection of black-money, 6% was cash.

While, in the public eye, piles of cash are synonymous with corruption, we should be careful about distinguishing between the three components of black economy. The first is the underlying source of corruption. An example of this would be the high stamp duties on real estate transactions that lead to payments in cash. The second is the methods adopted for storing unaccounted wealth. An example of this would be holding assets in gold. The third element is the method through which transactions are effected. This could involve cash, Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah wrote in the Mint. The black economy involves all three elements. Targeting unaccounted cash on one particular day is only a small part of the story.

(Saha is an MA Gender and Development student at Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.)

This story was first published on IndiaSpend.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the Rajya Sabha on Thursday but may not intervene to end an impasse over the scrapping of high-value currency that has deadlocked Parliament and stalled legislative business.

Opposition parties went into a huddle early Thursday and indicated they might continue to disrupt proceedings in the second week of the winter session that has transacted little work.

The Opposition has been furious over Modis five-day absence from Parliament and have demanded he address both Houses over the governments shock recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes two weeks ago  a move that the Congress and others say has unleashed financial anarchy.

The prime minister is not able to gather courage to face Parliament. Why is he running away from the battle ground? asked Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, according to ANI.

Modis presence may allow the BJP gain brownie points but there is no clarity if he will address the House and speak on demonetisation.A section of the Opposition is mulling a march to the Presidents house to petition him against the measure.

Modi has defended the move to recall the currency  aimed at draining illegal cash from the economy -- on several occasions, including a packed rock concert in Mumbai via video conference. But this has only infuriated the Opposition, which says the prime minister has insulted Parliament by not turning up.

His presence in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday failed to impress the Opposition, which continued to stall business. The government accuses the Congress and others of shying away from a debate.

Since the demonetisation move was rolled out two weeks ago, millions of people have lined up outside banks and ATMs to exchange, withdraw or deposit currency with farmers and small traders the hardest hit.

Several have allegedly died while waiting in the long queues and because of a cash crunch that is said to have severely affected the countryside.

The bumpy rollout has emboldened the Opposition, many of whom  such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal  hitting the streets in protest against the move. But the government has ruled out a rollback of the move and accused opponents of shying away from anti-black money measures.

On Wednesday, Banerjee led a dharna at Jantar Mantar, roping in the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United) and some other parties. At Thursdays meeting, some other parties may also announce their individual programmes.

On November 28, all Opposition parties will mark the day as Aakrosh Diwas and plan demonstrations at banks with the slogan: Return my money
Sensing shortfall in revenue following demonetisation, state governments have urged the Centre to compensate the losses and increase funding to run welfare schemes meant for the weaker sections without any hiccups.

Most states have estimated a drop of 30-40% loss in revenue from major sourcesexcise, property registration and value added tax (sales tax) because of demonetisation. For most of them, excise and VAT are the biggest grossers, contributing up to 80% of the total revenue.

There is some concern among states that demonetisation will lead to revenue loss and they may face finance crunch in important welfare schemes, said a senior finance ministry official after a meeting of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with state finance ministers on the rolling out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) from the next financial year.

The official said states wanted the Centre to compensate by providing additional money in the supplementary budget to be presented in the winter session of Parliament.

The Telangana government on Wednesday wrote to the Centre seeking special financial assistance and release of Central Sales Tax arrears to meet the expected revenue shortfall of `3,000 crore.

The Andhra Pradesh government has sought similar assistance and supply of point of sale machines at 80% subsidy for its liquor shops and bars. The state has recorded about 50% fall in excise revenue since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes on November 8.

The Tamil Nadu government is assessing the quantum of revenue loss and will be seeking re-imbursement. Demonetisation has impacted all, from the government to poor people, said AIADMK spokesperson and former finance minister C Ponnaiyan.

States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal are also assessing the situation, after which they may seek compensation, officials said.

BJP governments in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have reported fall in revenues by 20-30% but have not yet decided to seek compensation.

While the state governments have money to pay staff salaries next month, officials say the revenue crunch may result in slowdown in the implementation of welfare schemes such as pensions, MGNREGA and funding infrastructure projects.

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Last week, when the labour ministry rejigged its panel on minimum wages, it appointed B Janardhan Reddy as the chairperson.

The appointment raised eyebrows as Reddys son is getting married to Bandaru Dattatreyas daughter Vijaya Lakshmi in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The central advisory board on minimum wages plays a key role in recommending the revision in the minimum wages of central pool labours, impacting thousands of workers lives.

Dattatreya claimed the appointment was planned six months ago while the marriage was fixed two months ago. Reddy told me that he will not take any post after the marriage was finalised. He offered to resign, the minister told HT. But the notification for the appointment, dated November 18, contains Reddys name.

Sources in the labour ministry pointed out that apart from being Dattatreyas relative, Reddy is also an influential BJP leader in Andhra Pradesh.

Three months ago, the wage panel was in the spotlight when the Centre hiked daily wages by more than Rs 100, based on its recommendations. The panel met days before the trade unions went on strike and tried to put the unions in a spot.

Reddys appointment also raised eyebrows as his profile does not match the qualifications of the chairperson listed in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. According to the Act, central advisory board shall consist of persons to be nominated by the central government representing employers and employees in the scheduled employments who shall be equal in number and independent persons not exceeding one-third of its total number of members; one of such independent persons shall be appointed the chairman of the board by the central government.

The labour ministry rejiged the panel close on the heels of the Supreme Court directive in October that underlined the concept of equal pay for equal work.
The Indian Constitution guarantees to every citizen the right to equality and to women the guarantee of non-discrimination based on sex. Despite this, the 1975 report on the status of women, aptly titled Towards Equality articulated in no uncertain terms that large masses of women in this country have remained unaffected by the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and the laws enacted since Independence.

Many of us had already crystallised different responses to the challenge of gender justice and were part of peoples movements for social justice. Progress in the direction of equality did not come easy. Deep-rooted patriarchy and misogyny proved more difficult to uproot than we had imagined.

During this period, it was the brave mothers of women, who were dying in the matrimonial home, who led the movement, demanding accountability from the police.

While laws were changing we still found ourselves caught between the sheer urgency and clamour for justice, and a system bordering on apathy and indifference.

Even while womens rights advocates were recognised for the many contributions they made, including making governance of law more women friendly and gender responsive, we failed to acquire the political voice and clout that was needed for transformative change. Our contributions came in the form of untiring work to strengthen legislative, policy and programme frameworks, evolve protocols and standard operating procedures, empower grassroots women to spearhead transformative processes, and putting in place a monitoring framework based on international standards drawn from conventions to which we were a party. India has signed the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on July 30, 1980 and ratified it on July 9, 1993 with certain reservations and we used it effectively to achieve accountability from duty-bearers and those in position of power and authority.

It was the Nirbhaya incident which brought the nation to a virtual standstill and was a critical turning point for the womens movement. It became clear that the lack of legal, administrative and societal framework to deliver gender justice was about the complete absence of any regulatory framework to make the system accountable and answerable for violence against women. Without security in public spaces, the right to life was threatened and all other rights lost meaning. From regulating private contract carriers and taxicabs, from police surveillance to street lighting, everything was missing from legislative and regulatory frameworks. While India transitioned from dismantling the public sector to privatisation, it failed to simultaneously put in place strong regulatory bodies to regulate private services.

The setting up of the Justice Verma Commission was followed by legislative amendments that set in place a gender justice framework based on respect for autonomy and personhood of the woman, and accountability of duty-bearers. These changes had a positive impact on the attitude towards women in the public domain and in the judiciary.

We were seeing the making of a robust legal framework for gender justice; no act of violation even by the most rich and powerful could be overlooked or be quietly settled and nothing, which was even regarded as sacrosanct by tradition, such as the denial of temple entry and triple talaq was stopping women from demanding that privileges be dismantled and removed. The media played a positive role in exposing uninvestigated crime, not allowing it to go without public challenge.

The new laws also brought with it uncomfortable issues; death penalty which women opposed, was introduced for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim. The age of consent for consensual sexual intercourse was increased from 16 to 18, with devastating consequences for young adults. Mandatory reporting by health professionals could lead to access to health services going underground. Rape within marriage is still not an offence.

This feeling of new-found confidence soon gave way to new concerns. With a highly polarised polity that we see today, women are being caught in the crossfire between the forces representing the authority of the State and those contending against it.

We are witnessing the steady erosion of citizenship rights with women impacted adversely. To give just one example, on the issue of representation, the insistence of a minimum educational qualification for candidates wanting to enter the electoral fray for local self-government or legislature in Rajasthan and Haryana, led to their disenfranchisement especially for SC and ST women. Apart from the divisive polity, we are also witnessing an unprecedented effort to redefine the core values of the nation that we had developed after six decades of legal and constitutional struggles.

All of this militates against the ethical underpinnings of the Constitution of which gender justice is an integral part. It is here that the womens movement is making common cause with all other democratic movements, for justice to women requires the guarantee to justice to all. It is the very Constitution that we have to defend against sectarian attacks from within.

Going ahead, we need to ensure that gender justice gets ensconced firmly in the constitutional principle of equality and social justice which in turn means respecting a democratic framework where citizens, and in this case, citizenry from marginal communities are empowered and given the right to representation, participation and ownership.

(The author is former additional solicitor general and senior advocate, Supreme Court)
Trinamool Congress activists on Thursday took to the streets across West Bengal for a second consecutive day, demanding the roll back of the demonetisation move, as party chief Mamata Banerjee trained her guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Banerjee met President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi during the day, while TMC workers took out marches in different parts of West Bengal accusing the Centre of causing immense hardship to the common people by demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes.

We are mobilising people against the Centres decision. Our movement will continue, state urban development minister Firhad Hakim, who participated in the march, said.

Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and city mayor and minister Sovan Chatterjee also participated in the march.

The party said it would organise similar protests in all blocks in the state on Friday.

Read | Bypoll result peoples revolt against demonetisation: Mamata

The party would also organise a rally in the city on November 28, with Mamata Banerjee expected to be present in it.

The TMC supremo is scheduled to address a meeting in Lucknow on November 29 and in Patna the next day.

Banerjee on Wednesday took part in a demonstration in the national capital against demonetisation and attacked the Prime Minister, saying the government must go because the country was not safe in his hands.

Also read | Mamata ropes in BJPs ally Shiv Sena for protest march against demonetisation
Britain on Thursday asked India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue against a backdrop of heightened tensions, but foreign secretary Boris Johnson made it clear that the UK could not prescribe a solution or act as a mediator.

Johnson, on a two-day visit to Pakistan, called for an end to violence in Kashmir, warning that tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an incredible boomzone.

He spoke a day after 14 people were killed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir during a flare-up of hostilities following the killing of three Indian soldiers.

Johnson expressed concern at recent incidents on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).

The longstanding position of the UK is that is it for India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people, Johnson told a joint news conference with Pakistans foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz.

We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint, Johnson said, framing the issue as a matter of economy and security.

Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours...and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be.

The mutual sequestration of the Indian and Pakistani economies is holding the region back from fulfilling this potential, he said.

But, he added, it was not for Britain to prescribe a solution or act as a mediator over the disputed region.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after a terror attack on an Indian Army camp at Uri on September 18 and subsequent Indian surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads in PoK 10 days later. Frequent exchanges of fire along the LoC have resulted in the death of soldiers and civilians on both sides.

Wednesdays flare-up followed the killing of three Indian soldiers, including one whose body was mutilated. Pakistan has described reports that its troops were responsible for the mutilation and deaths as false and baseless.

Aziz said Pakistan had briefed the British delegation about the increase in tensions on the LoC. He stressed the need for dialogue with India, saying otherwise these issues would become more serious.

Aziz also said Pakistan and Britain have been cooperating under the framework of an enhanced strategic dialogue since 2011. The two sides had already agreed to three new roadmaps on trade and investment, culture and education and security, he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended an invitation to his British counterpart Theresa May to visit Pakistan next year, he added.
Villagers in Bangmara area of eastern Assams Jorhat district killed an adult Royal Bengal tigress and chopped off its body parts on Thursday.

Forest officials said the tigress had strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park and moved along the southern bank of river Brahmaputra to reach the village on a sandbar.

The tigress, injured by the villagers with sharp weapons, had taken shelter in a paddy field. The villagers threatened to harm us if we tried to save the striped cat. We were helpless as they surrounded and killed the animal, a district forest officer said.

He added that the villagers chopped off the tail, nails and other body parts of the tigress.

Forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma, who was across the river to inspect the death of an elephant in a pit at an under-construction Patanjali herbal park, said, I will take strict action against the officials who failed to rescue the tigress.

Human-leopard conflicts are quite frequent across Assam, but rarely do striped tigers confront humans, officials said.

Read| Leopard killed by residents after it enters Gurgaon village
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the maximum black money was generated during the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance governments rule, hitting back at former prime minister Manmohan Singhs sharp criticism of his successor Narendra Modis demonetisation decision.

The steps this government has taken are right and are being implemented in the right manner We are not surprised when we hear from those who ran the government between 2004 and 2014 that they do not like these steps against black money, he said.

The maximum black money was generated in this country between 2004 and 2014. The biggest corruption scandals pertaining to the Commonwealth Games, the 2G spectrum and the coal blocks took place during this period, he added.

Jaitley said people who did not consider these scandals to be blunders were now considering the campaign against black money and corruption to be a blunder.

Former prime minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member Manmohan Singh was sharply critical of the governments move to demonetise 1000 and 500 rupee notes, describing the post-demonetisation chaos as organised plunder.

Read | Demonetisation has been monumental management failure, says Manmohan

This is the exact rational argument that they will put forward in the debate in Parliament as it takes place. But its obvious that the opposition is uncomfortable with the debate and are inventing... manufacturing reason to run away from the debate, Jaitley said.

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday resumed discussion on the governments demonetisation move after facing repeated adjournments for the past five days.

However, the opposition again forced adjournment of the house in the post-lunch session over its demand for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate.

Singhs comments found support in an unlikely corner, the Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling BJP.

The Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray dubbed the move as extortion of common man and asked the BJP to take Singhs words on the issue seriously as it came from a renowned economist.

I will not hesitate in taking a critical stand on the process in which demonetisation was implemented, Thackeray told reporters after the Parliament session.

The way in which a referendum was sought in Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union, a survey is being done here. But seeing peoples response, their (UK) Prime Minister chose to step down. Will something similar happen here?

Thackeray was apparently referring to the Prime Minister seeking peoples feedback over demonetisation on the Narendra Modi App, where a number of questions have been posed with regard to scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes.

One person cannot take a decision for 125 crore people. Before taking the decision to demonetise (the banknotes), people should have been taken into confidence, he said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a renowned economist. Thus, his words and opinions should be taken seriously.

Singhs comments also divided public opinion, which Prime Minister Modi claimed was largely in favour of demonetisation.

Thank you #ManmohanSingh for making sense amidst all this chaos. It's reassuring to know that the whole country isn't blind.#demonetisation  Soorej Jones Pothoor (@SoorejJones) November 24, 2016

When #ManmohanSingh said history would judge him kindly, who thought history would do it so fast!  Kishor Kunal (@UturnSarkar) November 24, 2016

#Manmohansingh spoke and yes! Narendra Modi was silent. Economics peeps Economics. #facts  Anubhuti Joshi (@JoshiAnubhuti) November 24, 2016

Wise men speak when they have something to say,Fools because they have to say something #Manmohansingh #DeMonetisation https://t.co/DMfwmERQmL  alka narula (@narulaAlka) November 24, 2016

for the first time i heard voice of #Manmohansingh ..good points he told ..but it would have been better if he spoke something in his period  prasim swaroop (@prasim_swaroop) November 24, 2016

Manmohan Singh is classic case of Good economics.For him Good economics is Sitting on it for 10 years and not doing anything .#Manmohansingh  Rohan Patel (@RohaanKPatel) November 24, 2016

Also read | Study says demonetisation may spell doom for the economy: Heres why
The winter session of Parliament witnessed another stormy session on Thursday as former prime minister Manmohan Singh led the Congress charge against demonetisation and called it a monumental management failure.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said on Thursday the government is willing to accommodate the Oppositions suggestions on demonetisation, but asserted that Parliament should run smoothly and there should be a meaningful discussion.

Political rivals have intensified attacks against the Modi-led government, demanding a roll-back of demonetisation that has forced millions to queue up outside banks and ATMs since November 9.

The opposition -- which has repeatedly disrupted both Houses -- has accused the BJP-led government of creating financial anarchy by scrapping the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes, a move aimed at curbing black money.

Moment by moment, what happened during the day in both the Houses

3:15pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day. It will reconvene at 11 am on Friday.

3:10pm: Kurien advises Opposition members to discuss and debate after ruckus continues in the House. But after they moved towards the Well of the House, Kurien decides to adjourn.

3:05pm: Uproar in the House again over PMs absence.

3:00pm: Rajya Sabha reconvenes.

2:55pm: You have created more havoc than Hitler, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tells reporters outside House. You couldnt recover Swiss bank black money, but create inconvenience for those with white money.

2:50pm: Parties part of every scandal in country opposing demonetisation,  Arun Jaitley tells reporters outside Parliament House. Here are a few more things he said.

There is mostly noise and no substance in what the opposition has been saying. First day it was a debate without any conditions, from next day, they started putting unreasonable conditions and it continues

Their govt (UPA) had the most scams and black money generated during its tenure. 2G scam, Coal Scam everything happened during their govt

Our govt is convinced that steps against corruption and black money are correct

Opposition thinks demonetisation is a blunder. Dont they think Commonwealth Games and 2G were a blunder?

2:15pm: Deputy chairperson adjourns Rajya Sabha till 3pm as Opposition parties chant slogans, demanding Modis presence.

2:10pm: Amid uproar over Modis absence, Arun Jaitley accused the Opposition of running away from debate. There is no tradition that a prime minister has to be in the debate.

2:05pm: The Upper House erupts again over Prime Minister Narendra Modis absence in Parliament. Ghulam Nabi Azad questions if the Prime Minister only came for the Question Hour round.

What did opposition say while 2G? That PM will sit and he did so for two days. Now you cannot run away: Ghulam Nabi Azad in RS  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

2pm: Rajya Sabha resumes after lunch. Mayawati requests deputy chairman to allow her to complete her statement.

1:50pm: BJP leaders Manohar Parrikar, Rajnath Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and JP Nadda will brief a groups of MPs on demonetisation at 7pm on Thursday.

1pm: BSP chief Mayawati starts talking before Rajya Sabha adjourns for lunch and says the BSP is not against the battle against black money but it does not approve of its implementation.

Terming the survey that showed favourable support for demonetisation as bogus and sponsored, Mayawati dares Modi to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections to know the peoples views. I want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if you really are an honest man and want a correct survey, and if you have guts, then dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections, she said on Thursday.

Union minister Uma Bharti slams Mayawati for her criticism of the governments demonetisation survey and advised her to donate her money to the poor and marginalised.

Watch | Live debate in Rajya Sabha

12:50pm: OBrien asks Modi which 92% people are happy with the governments decision, referring to the online survey conducted by the PM.

Anyone who opposes your policy is not against black money. Anyone who opposes your policy is not anti-national. We are fighting this battle on the behalf of people, the TMC leader goes on to say, appealing the government to find a solution.

Read | Demonetisation: Modi thanks people as survey results show huge support

12:40pm: Derek OBrien reads out West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjees reaction to the decision banning old Rs 500/1000 notes: While Im against corruption, this is financial chaos; a disaster... I want to know from the Prime Minister how the poor will manage their daily sustenance. This is Mamata Banerjee reacting to the decision.

Mamata Banerjee called (demonetisation) this the big black scandal.

TMC questions the government on why it didnt print small currency notes, and why is there secrecy about printing notes.Perhaps because you, sir (Jaitley), did not know about the governments decision (to scrap old notes) either. Secrecy cannot be the excuse for putting people in distress.

12:30pm: Samajwadi Partys Naresh Agrawals statement over Modis emotional appeal about his security invokes protests by BJP leaders. Prime Minister, please stop imposing bans or the public will put a ban on you. I request you to rollback this scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament on Thursday. (ANI Photo/RSTV)

12:20pm: Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day as protests over demonetisation continue.

12:10pm: Manmohan Singh starts speaking in Rajya Sabha. The former prime minister and economist says he wants to highlight problems faced by people due to demonetisation, calling it a monumental management failure.

It is important to take note of the grievances of the people... and I say so with all responsibility that we dont know what will be the final outcome. 50 days may be a short period but it can be torture for the poor. And thats why 60-65 people have lost their lives. It can weaken and erode peoples confidence in the banking system.

Sir (PM Modi), in my opinion, this scheme of monetisation will hurt agricultural growth, small industries and the informal sector of the economy. I feel the GDP can decline by 2 percentage points because of demonetisation. The PM must come with some constructive proposal to help people... I urge the Prime Minister to find practical, pragmatic ways to relieve distress placed upon a huge majority of people in India.

It is no good that every day, the banking system modifies rules and conditions. This reflects poorly on the office of the PM, finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. I am very sorry that the RBI has been exposed to this criticism.

I conclude that it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder, Singh says in his strongly-worded attack.

Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead: Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

12:05pm: If PM Modi participates in the debate, the Opposition will resume the debate: Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Jaitley responds, saying Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Now there will be no Ifs and Buts. Please start the debate. The House is in agreement.

11.49am: NDTV reports Samajwadi Party MP Akshay Yadav threw a piece of paper at Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

11.46am: Government says there is no need to suspend business in Rajya Sabha for Manmohan Singh to speak, reports NDTV.

We should not lose more time. The opposition has been asking for discussion on this urgent matter (demonetisation) but they have been delaying it for eight days, Kumar told the media here.

11.45am: Government and Opposition members clash in Rajya Sabha over former prime minister Manmohan Singhs desire to speak on demonetisation. Why is the former prime minister not allowed to speak, asks Trinamool Congress leader Derek OBrien.

11.35am: BSP chief Mayawati calls PM Modis public survey on demonetisation fabricated, report TV news channels.

11.18: Rajya Sabha adjourned till noon as Opposition leaders continue to protest. Lok Sabha adjourned too.

11.16am: Congress leader Anand Sharma says Prime Minister Narendra Modi is running away from Parliament. Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson says finance minister is present in House.

11:10am: Kurien does not allow motion by Naresh Aggarwal to discuss problems faced by people due to demonetisation of currency.

TMCs Derek OBrien urges Paliament to maintain the sanctity of the House and allow former prime minister Manmohan Singh to speak in Rajya Sabha.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 12pm.

11am: Protests drown out Jaitleys opposition over giving special time to other parties for speaking in Parliament. It is not the normal zero hour, says Jaitley. RS deputy chairman PJ Kurien attempts to silence the protesters.

Leader of the House and Arun Jaitley strongly object to Manmohan Singh being given an opportunity to speak outside the debate on the issue of demonetisation.

Lok Sabha takes a moment to mourn the deaths of former parliamentary member Sri Ram Naresh Yadav and Carnatic musician Balamuralikrishnan.

10:50am: Sources say opposition parties have decided in their meeting to not hold talks with the government till November 28 -- when they will mark the Aakrosh Diwas and protest at banks.

10:40am: TV reports quote parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar saying that Arun Jaitley will respond in both Houses on Day 7 of Parliament.

10:20am: A meeting is on at Rajnath Singhs chamber in Parliament. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar are also present at the meet.

Kumar says it is not a formal meeting and they are treating all parties equally.

10:15am: Opposition leaders from various political parties meet in Parliament on Thursday, snubbing the Centres call for a meeting to ease the deadlock.

The Opposition meet was reportedly called by Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad. (ANI Photo)

10:10am: Congress Mallikarjun Kharge told ANI the party members will meet other opposition leaders and decide if they will attend the meeting called by home minister Rajnath Singh. Let PM (Narendra Modi) or speaker call for the meet, Kharge added. Some parties may also announce their individual programmes at the meeting.

TV reports said the home minister had called for a meeting with the Opposition at 10am.

9:25am: Opposition leaders are expected to meet in Parliament ahead of the session on Thursday.

Read | PM carried out the worlds biggest impromptu financial experiment: Rahul

(With inputs from agencies)
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The Gujarat government has invited Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel for talks, hoping to end the stir by the community that has been going on for more than a year demanding reservation in colleges admissions and government jobs.

The government is ready to meet their demand within the purview of the law, said deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.

Hardik Patel, 23, maintained that their primary demand would remain OBC status for Patidar or Patel community.

The government has come forward for talks. In two days, all the conveners of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) will meet in Udaipur. PAAS will form a committee to engage with the government. But our priority would remain the OBC quota, said Hardik Patel. He is in Udaipur on six-month exile as per the bail condition put by the Gujarat high court in connection with two sedition cases.

With assembly elections scheduled for December, the BJP is struggling to retain its key vote bank of the Patidar community.

Invitation comes two months after BJP president Amit Shah had to wind up his address in four minutes in Surat as the Patidar youths protested, chanting Hardiks name.
The third liver transplant centre of MP and Indores first, Choithram hospital was finally awarded the permission to carry out Choithram hospital in the city.

The permission was granted after a team of 12 experts visited the hospital inspecting the premises and the facilities. This team had submitted a report to the dean of MGM medical college on Friday.

The permission has been granted owing to the facilities the premises had to offer. They were quite confident with carrying out the entire transplant and assured us that they will perform the operation even if a death happens in the next 24 hours, said Dr Sanjay Dixit, vice-dean MGM medical college.

As per the norms, Choithram hospital had given an undertaking to MGM medical college stating that the first ten transplants will be carried out in the centre under the guidance of experts from their mentor hospital only. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Choithram hospital and a hospital in Delhi.

Moreover, with the set up of this transplant centre in Choithram hospital, the series of cadaver organ donation which keep happening in the city will also be used for patients in Indore. At present, these organs were either sent to Delhi or Mumbai. In a first-of-its-kind incident, a liver of a brain-dead man in Indore was transplanted on another patient in Bhopal. It was the first liver transplant in the state.

We have directed Choithram hospital to start preparing a waiting list as only then can we refer them during a cadaver organ donation. They have assured us that they will begin this in a weeks time, said Dr Dixit.

Meanwhile, talks are also strong that Medanta hospital, which is offering a heart transplant, will begin this service by December. The hospital was not being considered by the Indore Organ Donation Society owing to absence of a waiting list.
Of all the financial buildings headquartered in Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India at Ballard Estates Mint Street is perhaps unique: not so much for its architecture as for what it represents.

The RBI edifice stands tall and aloof, indifferent to the everyday bustle of the city. Thousands go past it every day, barely paying attention, secure in the knowledge that the institution is keeping the nations money safe.

The Preamble of the Reserve Bank of India lists among its purposes, ...to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage.

Since November 8, however, the solid RBIs eye on Indias currency has created turmoil across the length and breadth of the country because of the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 currency notes.

The citys other big financial institution Dalal Street does not seem happy too. The Sensex and Nifty have both been slumping for over a week. Moreover, those who forecast economic trends are sounding bearish.

Even a city like Mumbai  richer than most, cosmopolitan, up-to-date and consumerism-driven -- finds itself faltering, more than a fortnight later. Lines at ATMs and banks have reduced somewhat, but this seems more because of fatigue and frustration than relief.

Supply of usable currency of the right denomination for everyday functions remains very limited. This has had a cascading effect down the buying and spending chains, the repercussions of which are only just beginning to show.

Inevitably, this is being exploited politically at the national level. Most opposition parties are in uproar. On Thursday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emerged from the woodwork to launch a scathing attack on the government in the debate in Rajya Sabha.

In a dramatic switch from batting like stonewaller Trevor Bailey to playing ferocious attacking strokes a la Virender Sehwag, Manmohan Singh called the demonetisation scheme organised loot and legalised plundering.

Singh obviously represents his partys political position, and the Congresss credibility, it must be said, still hovers around shin level. But even so this was significant.

The former PM is also a world-renowned economist whose views are widely regarded and carry heft -- at home and internationally. This cannot be obscured by bluster and fulmination.

In my opinion, there are three inflection points in the impact demonetization has had. The first was shock and awe in people, at the suddenness of the scheme. This is something the government wanted.

The second was admiration and approval. The touted purpose of the scheme of the scheme and the sheer temerity to put it in motion was widely lauded. For the government this was a massive plus point.

But as days have passed and the pain of making the change hasnt subsided, there is growing fatigue and skepticism about how well planned the demonetization scheme was: indeed, if at all.

Propagating findings from specious surveys on WhatsApp and high-fives from lapdogs in the media or lackeys elsewhere, either from conviction or otherwise, is beginning to wear thin. Clearly something more needs to be done.

The objective to flush out cash hoards of black money is above reproach. Not a single person would dispute this. It is a malaise that has dogged Indian life for decades and needs to be addressed.

But terrible implementation is taking its toll  materially and mentally. It is hitting people where it hurts most: for the poor and rural in their stomachs, and for a large number of others psychologically as they struggle to access their own money.

Somewhere the government is mixing up good intention with cussedness. Being contrite about goof-ups in planning for demonetization is not an affront to governance. Rather, it would be seen as empathetic to hardships of people, which is more important than political one-upmanship.

Prudence would suggest the government spell out how it plans to remove hurdles and pain caused. Simply saying, bear with us, in the long run everything will be fine is just not cutting ice.

Irrespective of whether one is clued into Keynesian theory, or heard Manmohan Singh quote the famous economist on Thursday, in their heart of hearts, everybody acknowledges the truism: In the long run we are all dead.

Read

Those opposing demonetisation anti-national: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

Demonetisation is a massive scam, says Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai

Demonetisation: Taking a queue is the only way out in Mumbai
Farmers look helplessly as herds of nilgai, or Indian blue bull, hoof it to their crop fields in Uttar Pradeshs Gautam Budh Nagar district and leave a trail of destruction.

Notorious for destroying crops, the largest Asian antelope found in abundance in this district close to New Delhi is a vermin. The farmers can kill them to save their crops, with permission from forest authorities. But they wont.

The hesitation springs from the antelopes name  gai or cow, an animal that Hindus consider sacred and whose slaughter is banned in most states. Farmers believe killing a nilgai will invite the wrath of god.

The name is helping the majestic species thrive in a country of 1.3 billion people, where pressure on land is pushing wildlife to the brink. But that shield doesnt always help, and may not for long.

Pictures of a shikari gunning down hundreds of blue bulls with a telescopic gun this summer in Bihar stirred a nations conscience. People condemned the culling as killer lust. At the same time, states are devising ways to keep the vermin population in check.

In Haryana, the government sought to change the animals name to roze, dropping the gai, so that people would have no qualms culling them. The state has been struggling to control its nilgai population.

The UP government uses van rose instead of nilgai in its official records.

But for the farmers, a nilgai remains a nilgai.

Van rose failed to stop farmers from believing that it is not a holy animal, said Satish Kumar Sharma, Uttar Pradeshs chief wildlife warden.

The animal does not belong to the bovine family. We can give permission to farmers to kill them if they destroy crops. But farmers wont because of religious beliefs.

Nilgai herds are a common sight in fields in the Greater Noida villages such as Bisada, Jarcha and Dankaur.

Nilgais eat all crops except mustard. Every time I find this animal destroying my crop, I want to kill it right there. But, I control myself because I will face legal action and anger from fellow villagers, who will call me a murderer of a sacred animal, said Layakram Nagar, a farmer.

The lynching of 55-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq in Bisada last September over suspicion of cow slaughter has further made killing a Nilgai a sensitive issue.

People now fear killing a Nilgai will provoke cow vigilante groups too.

Why should we kill an animal for a petty problem like crop damage? We will take action against anyone found harming this innocent animal, warned Bhupendra Singh Tomar of Hindu Raksha Dal.

Ajaypal Sharma of Bharatiya Kisan Union, a farmers association, agree.

Afraid and at the wits end, villagers now turn to the forest department for help.

Farmers want forest officials to kill the animal. They dont want to face gods wrath, said HV Girish, the districts divisional forest officer.

Nilgai is a schedule iii protected animal under the wildlife protection act of 1972.

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Even as the Centre and the Supreme Court are caught in a logjam over the memorandum of procedure for appointments in higher judiciary, over 1,500 lawyers of Punjab and Haryana high court have sent an open letter to chief justice of India, TS Thakur, seeking implementation of a transfer policy for the high court judges, with fixed tenure outside their home states.

The open letter was initiated by a left-leaning advocate, Tahar Singh, demanding that it be made mandatory for the high court judges to spend one- third of their entire term in other states as suggested by former chief justice of Supreme Court, MN Venkatachaliah.

The former CJI, Venkatachaliah, had introduced a transfer policy during his tenure from 1993 to 1996 under which a judge appointed from the Bar quota was not to remain in the high court in which he or she practiced as a lawyer. The judges promoted from lower courts were also supposed to be transferred to other high courts upon elevation. The policy ceased to exist in 1996, after his retirement.

The letter has been signed by 1501 advocates including six senior advocates, several members of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association (PHHCBA) and a few members of Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana (BCPH).

The high court Bar has over 5000 lawyers registered with it. The open letter was dispatched on Tuesday.

In the letter, Tahar Singh, who has also unsuccessfully fought for the post of president, PHHCBA has said, If for any unforeseen reason, this is not initiated during your remaining short tenure and maximum, the tenure of honorable justice JS Khehar, the decision making powers will be hijacked by those dominant elements for whom the just and fair transfer policy might not suit due to tremendous pressures as they will be desperate to fill up the vacancies with their own people, the letter states.

Justice TS Thakur retires in January and justice Khehar is likely to take over as chief justice of India. Stressing that transparent transfer policy was crucial for democracy, the letter alleges that Central government was trying to create hurdles in the way of Supreme Court in making appointments.

The letter appeals to government to let SC make appointments and asks that if names recommended by the apex court are not cleared in 30-45 days bureaucracy responsible should be held accountable by the SC.

If the establishment attempts to thwart these measures implemented by your majesty, the entire advocate community will stand shoulder to shoulder with you and spark and struggle for a fairer judicial system will be unstoppable, the letter says copies of which have been forwarded to the President of India, union law minister and all sitting judges of SC.

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Two students of Mata Gujri college climbed atop college water tank on Wednesday, over refusal of examination roll number by college authorities and threatened to commit suicide.

After nearly an hour of argument with college authorities and police, the two BA second year students (Sarabjit Singh and Indervir Singh) came down and agreed to resolve the matter through negotiation. However, as students and authorities exchanged blames, police chose to remove students from college premises.

Students alleged that authorities forced them to sign an affidavit that college would not be held responsible if students fail in internal examination and assessment.

Then they started failing the students in internals, said Sarabjit. We deposited the fine for short attendance and followed the process of re-admission too, so now how can they refuse to give us a roll number. said Indervir.

Countering students charges, college principal Jatinder Singh Sidhu said, Internal assessment includes the marks for discipline and they were are not good at it. Besides that they failed to attend required number of lectures.

We still tried to cooperate with them and asked them to call their parents and one of them threatened college authorities, the principal said. We will resolve the matter and give the roll numbers after following a procedure, he added.
Police have booked five armed robbers who targeted the house of a realtor at Tagore Nagar and robbed Rs 8 lakh, 175gram gold jewellery and other valuables, after holding the woman captive on Wednesday.

Aparna, the victim, said that she was alone at her home, while her husband Roshan Lal was away at work. In the afternoon, two men holding sweet box in their hands knocked at the door. Impersonating as her husbands friends, they said they have come to invite for a birthday party.

I went inside the house to make a call to confirm from my husband. Within no time, the two unidentified men followed by their three accomplices, holding sharp-edged weapons, barged in and over powered me. They were asking about cash and money ,said Aparna.

I deliberately took them here and there in the house waiting for someone to come and rescue me, but they thrashed me for delaying. They snatched almirah keys and looted Rs 8 lakh in cash, including Rs 1 lakh in new banknotes, Rs 7 lakh in old currency, and 15 tola (175-gram) gold jewellery ,she added.

In the meantime, her son Shreshth came home and raised an alarm after seeing strangers at home, following which the robbers fled the spot. On being informed, the police came there and initiated an investigation.

The police have scanned CCTVs installed in the area in which the robbers pictures were captured. The police also found out that robbers bought the sweetmeats from Haqiqat Sweet Shop near Old Dayanand Medical College and Hospital building. They were captured in the sweet shops CCTVs also.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP, investigation) Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said that after scanning the CCTVs, police came to know that the robbers were travelling in the SUV bearing registration number of Gurdaspur district.

The DCP added that it is suspected that the robbers had information about the victims family and house. The police claimed to have clues about the robbers and will arrest them soon.
A 70-year-old farmer died on Wednesday after he allegedly collapsed while standing in a queue outside a bank to withdraw money for agricultural purposes. He went to the Punjab National Bank branch at Bhadson road, where he fainted standing in the queue.

The deceased, Bhagwan Singh, was a resident of Prem Nagar. He was the former chairman of Patiala market committee and also was the former Sarpanch of his native Lachkani village, 12 km from here.

The family said they were running out of cash for agricultural and household purposes.

Deceaseds son Amrinder Singh said his father had been going to the bank for past two days. On Wednesday, he left his home at about 9 in the morning and after some time someone from the bank informed us about the incident, said Amrinder.

My father was standing in the queue and suddenly he fell unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital by the people where he was declared brought dead. The doctors informed that he collapsed due to the cardiac arrest, he said.

He said bank should have facilitated separate arrangements for senior citizens.

The police officials at Tripuri police station, however, denied having received any such information.

Bank manager Gurmeet Singh said, He (Bhagwan Singh) was standing in the queue outside the bank, we served him water and also provided first-aid. All the inconvenience is happening due to the shortage of cash.

He said, We have received only Rs 20 lakh in past two days, which is insufficient to deal with the heavy footfall of people. The cash runs out within hours as we receive it in the branch.
Less than a year after leaving the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Khaira is learnt to have met the partys poll strategist Prashant Kishor at Chandigarh last week. The meeting has set the rumour mills abuzz that the former MLA is hoping to return to the Congress fold at a time when the AAP has already announced Khaira as its candidate from Bholath.

Sources close to Kishor said the two are expected to meet again. Khaira, who denied having met Kishor, had joined the AAP in December last year, soon after Captain Amarinder Singh had returned as Punjab Congress president. The two were not on the best of terms during Amarinders previous stint. Though Khaira had been able to gain the confidence of Partap Singh Bajwa when he had replaced Amarinder as state unit chief, the two soon fell out and Bajwa had then described Khaira as a misguided missile.

Seen as a one-man army in the Congress for launching attacks on the Punjab government through access to government files and officialdom, Khaira went to the AAP hoping to emerge as its face at a time the rookie party was battling a leadership crisis. But, according to sources, he is feeling out in the cold now.

It is AAP chief Arvind Kejriwals core team from Delhi that is still calling the shots in Punjab. State leaders such as Khaira, Kanwar Sandhu and HS Phoolka have been pushed to the fringes, said sources close to the leader. AAP has appointed Gurpreet Ghuggi as the state convener but he has no powers, just as Sucha Singh Chhottepur before him did not. Khaira was made part of the state election and campaign committee, but decisions on candidates and campaign are taken unilaterally by the Delhi team, the sources said.

Though Khaira has just a maiden assembly victory to his credit, the media-savvy former MLA has not been seen speaking at the AAPs press conferences too. In Congress, he paralleled state chief in issuing statements, but the AAP did not offer him that privilege.

Khaira, when contacted, dismissed talk of a meeting as baseless speculation. There is not even an iota of truth in it. I had left the Congress after due diligence and introspection. I am not willing to return to it, he said.

Khaira, who had shot to fame for taking on his bitter political rival, Jagir Kaur, who defeated him at Bholath in 2012, had blamed deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal for trying to sabotage his entry to the AAP through a false drug case. Many in the Congress are already sore at the influx of turncoats to claim tickets, and any homecoming by those like Khaira may cause further heartburn.
Giving final burial to the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal by handing over ownership papers of the project land to original owners at Kapuri village in Patiala, the place where the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had laid its foundation in 1982, Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia declared on Wednesday, We have achieved the mission of the Dharam Yudh Morcha initiated by the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1982.

I was a child when the SAD started the morcha to stop the SYL, on April 8, 1982, when Indira Gandhi used a spade given by (Punjab Congress chief) Captain Amarinder Singh for the earth-breaking ceremony here. Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and other Akalis went to jail several times, while some lost their lives also. However, with 34 years of continuous efforts of the SAD, now the SYL issue is closed, said Majithia.

He also referred to a Hindustan Times report about how the original owners (farmers) are not taking formal possession as they do not have money to fill up the canal and till the land; and announced Rs 10,000 per acre by way of diesel expenses to the farmers to level the land. I am also working to provide more relief, which will be announced by the CM, he added.

He described the de-notification of the land  done by the state cabinet even though the Supreme Court ruled against Punajbs decision to annul the SYL and other water pacts  as a slap on the face of the anti-Punjab forces led by the Congress.

Indira Gandhi forced Congress chief ministers, including Giani Zail Singh and Darbara Singh, to implement her decision to construct the SYL, he said.

He also asked Delhi chief minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to speak on the SYL issue. Flashing an affidavit filed by the AAP on the SYL issue in favour of Haryana in the SC, Majithia said, This affidavit is the reason why Arvind Kejriwal, who cannot resist commenting on everything under the sun, has not opened his mouth on the SYL canal. He is keeping quiet because he knows he has betrayed Punjab and Punjabis.

On Haryanas fresh petition in the SC to get the SYL decision implemented, he said, Whatever may be the outcome of the SC hearing, our stand remains the same: We will never allow construction of the SYL canal.

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Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday charged that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and opposition Congress have struck an alliance in order to subdue AAP in the state assembly elections due early next year.

Attacking Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, Kejriwal said the graph of Congress and SAD has nosedived and thus both have clinched an alliance.

Now, SAD is spending money for putting hoardings, banners and poster of Amarinder, to project him to cut the votes, which are coming to AAP, said Kejriwal while addressing rallies for Harpal Singh Cheema, AAP candidate from Dirba.

Buttressing his point, he said while Congress is giving clean chit to cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Badal is reciprocating the move by withdrawing corruption cases against Amarinder.

At Dhuri, he flashed the alleged swiss bank accounts of Amarinder and his family members. If Modi actually wants to bring black money out, then Badals, who have amassed biggest chunk of black money in Punjab and Amarinder Singh, who stashed black money in the Swiss bank, should be brought back, he said.

He also accused state government of threatening him by attacking his vehicle. They (Akalis) can never break my resolve to work for the welfare of Punjab, which has been ruined during the misrule of Akalis and Congress, the Delhi CM said. He also raised issue of attack on Sikh religious preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale. If the religious preachers are not safe, how can Badal ensure safety and security to the common man? he quipped.
Industrialists and workers associations in the city claim that thousands of workers have either been laid off or left their jobs due to cash crunch in the wake of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

There are more than 10 lakh workers employed in this industrial city who work in cycle, auto parts, hosiery, machine tools and other industrial units. They are mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. The workers are also hired by farmers during sowing of wheat and paddy.

Industrialst Badish Jindal, vice-chairman of the National Productivity Council (NPC), said workers in Ludhiana are paid in cash and the demonetisation has dealt a severe blow to them. There are cases where factory owners have asked their workforce to stop working till the situation normalises, he said.

We have estimated that at least 25% of the workforce in Ludhiana has been affected due to demonetisation. They have either been sacked or migrated back to their native places, he said.

Vinod Thapar, chairman of Knitwear Club, said a majority of workers involved in knitting, sewing and other similar jobs has gone. My own factory where 125 labourers worked till recently is left with only 20 workers. I was not able to pay them wages in new currency notes, so they left.

Recently, 20 labourers were laid off by an auto parts factory owner only because he was not able to pay them in new currency notes. Ranjit Singh, owner of the industrial unit, said, I had to sack these labourers on a temporary basis as I was not able to pay them. I suffered major loss in business due to scrapping of high-value currency.

BIGGER BLOW THAN DENGUE, CHIKUNGUNYA

Meanwhile, workers associations claim that the workforce in the city, which was already hit by the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya, has suffered a bigger blow due to demonetisation.

Lakhwinder, president of Karkhana Mazdoor Union, Ludhiana, said, Many factory owners are paying advance salaries to their workers in old notes. Workers are confused as they are forced either to accept salary in old notes or leave their jobs.

Ashok Salaria, Ludhiana railway station superintendent said, Even as we dont have ready data on train bookings from Ludhiana to states such as UP, Bihar, West Bengal or Orrisa, there is a definite increase in the number of passengers travelling to these states.
Tipped to join the Congress in coming days along with his friend and former Amrtisar MP Navjot Sidhu, Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh on Wednesday announced the start of his new inning in politics to his supporters on Facebook and signalled to put his claim for the next elections from the same constituency as well.

Pargat, who also announced in his post that he would continue the development works in Jalandhar Cantonment in his next inning as well, has created tension among other contestants, especially former MLA Jagbir Brar.

Brar, who is the district president of the Jalandhar rural district, is nurturing the constituency quite hard and is said to be on strong footing.

Even as on September 12, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Captain Amarinder Singh, in a press conference in Jalandhar, had announced Brar as the next candidate citing that Pargat was not in a position to win the same seat.

However, because Sidhu Pargats entry is being carried out through party high-command in Delhi, things are set to become interesting in the segment with the MLA, again eyeing the seat.

Its my native area and the people sent me to Vidhan Sabha in 2012, even as I was given ticket with only 12 days left for the polls. Of course, I would love to serve these people more, said Pargat.

Meanwhile, in Jalandhar, all eyes of the local Congress leaders remained on the meeting of Sidhu-Pargat with Rahul Gandhi with discussions on that what if Pargat demands to contest from the Cantonment segment.

All claimants have kept their fingers crossed. Another prominent ticket seeker from the segment, former chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust Tejinder Bittu, has also rushed to Delhi where all prominent leaders from Punjab are camping for the meeting of the screening committee. He is seeking ticket citing his caste as he belongs to Urban Sikh community. The SAD has also given the ticket to an Urban Sikh giving respect for the widely spread community. I am putting my case with these claims only, said Bittu.

Brar, when contacted said, Pargats entry into the Congress would provide more strength to the party in Doaba. Its a fact that I am nurturing this constituency very hard. I am sure Pargat knows it very well and he would respect this fact as well, said Brar. Talks are also going on in the Congress to send Pargat to Nakodar of Shahkot segments.

Rest of the works in second innings: Pargat My dream project, developing Greenbelt area and stadiums will be developed in the area in next few years I just need your confidence that whatever I decide will be in best interest of our constituency and Punjab at large, reads his post, with claims of spending Rs 80 crore on development in his tenure.

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A drama took place at Rajindra hospital on Wednesday evening as 84 nurses were released from Nabha and Patiala jails just before the scheduled arrival of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the hospital in order to puncture his support for the arrested nursing staff.

These nurses were arrested on November 16 after the president of the states nurses and ancillary staff union Karamjeet Kaur jumped into the Bhakra canal while demanding full pay scales and other allowances after regularisation of jobs.

On November 17, the local police booked Kaur and three others for attempting to commit suicide.

Ever since their arrest, the local administration and hospital authorities were on their toes as both Congress and Aam Aadmi party (AAP) came out in open support of these nurses.

The police were quick to release them as AAP chief Kejriwal met the colleagues of arrested nurses at the hospital and came down heavily on Parkash Singh Badal-led state government against last weeks crackdown on the nursing staff.

It was the most inhumane and insensitive act by the government to keep the nurses in the jail for the last one week even as one of them was 8 months pregnant, said Kejriwal.

He said instead of putting corrupt politicians in jail, Badal government was muzzling the voice of unemployed teachers and innocent nurses for opposing the state government.

Demanding withdrawal of cases against them, Kejriwal said their party was for the common mans welfare and would give them regular jobs with full allowances once they form their government in Punjab.

AAPs member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann too slammed the Badals and said that common man had suffered tremendously under their last 10 years of rule.

On Tuesday, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh had also demanded the withdrawal of the cases against them.

KEJRIWAL IS HITLER

Punjab finance minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa compared Kejriwal with Adolf Hitler. Kejriwal is doing negative politics in India and his politics is based on false propaganda, the minister said.

He further said, Delhi CM is silent on SYL issue but he should clear his stance on the matter so that people of the state come to know about his anti Punjab policies.
Twelve goats of Punjabs Beetal breed have landed in the arid, cold desert of the Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir for a first-of-its-kind experiment to cross-breed with the local Purgi breed to produce a hybrid with high milk yield.

Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, sent the 10 female and two male goats last week upon a request by the J&K department of sheep husbandry, Kargil district. Dr Zakir Hussain, veterinary officer at Kargil, told HT over phone that the department in consultation with the Ladakh hill development council had decided to bring these goats from Ludhiana.

There used to be cattle with almost every household earlier, but urbanisation led to that concept ending. Now, there is a demand from the council to get milch animals other than cows. We brought the goats as part of research as we need to see if Beetal can withstand the intense winter thats coming, Hussain said.

Beetal goats found in the Punjab region in India and Pakistan can yield 1.5 to 2 litres of milk a day, while Purgi produces only 500ml. In Kargil, the cows have relatively low milk yield and are less economical to rear. Therefore, the sheep husbandry department decided to improve their local goats, said Dr Sandeep Kaswan, assistant professor in the department of livestock production management at GADVASU.

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The event to lay foundation stone for an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal turned out to be a dull affair. The low turnout of people was not less than an embarrassment for the Akali Dal at state BJP chief Vijay Samplas native village, Sofi, which falls under the Jalandhar Cantonment assembly segment. Sampla, who started his political career as sarpanch of this village, was also present on the occasion.

The event was aimed at giving fillip to Akali candidate, Sarabjeet Singh Makkar, from the seat. However, not more than 300 people turned up for the event even as seating arrangements were made for 1,800. A few minutes before the arrival of the SAD chief, government school students, ITI students from Bhogpur and Jalandhar were shifted to the venue.

Sukhbir Badal, Union minister Vijay Sampla and state minister Madan Mohan Mittal with others inaugurating the ITI. (Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo)

Many local leaders, including SAD s Jalandhar (urban) chief Gurcharan Channi, SGPC members Paramjit Raipur and Kulwant Manna and senior deputy mayor in Jalandhar civic body Kamaljeet Bhatia, had given a call to boycott the function. The said leaders had called Makkar a land grabber.

Makkar said the function was organised in haste and the deputy CMs confirmation to attend the event came on Tuesday only. However, as per government press note issued on Sunday, the information about the event was already given. Independent councillor Iqbal Singh Dhindsa and estranged son of former Congress minister Avtar Henry, Gurjit Sanghera, joined the Akali Dal on Thursday in the presence of Sukhbir.

Makkar best candidate for Cantonment 

In his speech, Sukhbir termed Makkar as the best available candidate for the seat, terming him leader with guts and pushing skills. There were other leaders also, but I chose Makkar because as an MLA from Adampur, he was successful in carrying out developmental works. If he wins from Cantonment, I will send two trucks of money in the new currency for development, Sukhbir said. Later, when asked about the land grabbing charges levelled against Makkar by the SAD leaders, the deputy CM did not reply. No, there is nothing like that. All the disgruntled leaders will be brought to the mainstream very soon, he said.

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Four days after Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike, sitting MLA from Nihal Singh Wala, held a rally to attack Punjab agriculture minister Tota Singh for conspiring to deny her ticket for the upcoming election, Singh on Wednesday held a similar rally here to counter the charges.

In the show of strength at Takhtupura Sahib gurdwara, he was accompanied by Shiv Ram Kaler, sitting MLA from Jagraon who has now been allotted ticket from Bhagikes constituency.

After being denied ticket this time, Bhagike in her rally had accused Tota Singh of pressurising the high command to deny her ticket and instead declaring an outsider candidate from her constituency.

Attacking Bhagike the agriculture minister said that party president Sukhbir Singh Badal declared candidates after a survey and that the party fielded Kaler with Bhagikes consent.

The party high command had informed Bhagike that she will not be allotted ticket this time. She agreed to this with a condition that the party can give ticket to anyone except Amarjit Kaur Sahoke, he said. Sakhoke has been allotted ticket from Jagraon.

He said that by organising a rally against the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for denying her ticket, Bhagike has not only betrayed the party but also public.

Speaking on the occasion, Khanmukh Bharti, a SAD worker, accused Bhagike of extorting money from the police and tehsildars.

Bhagike has failed to do anything for the welfare of constituency in her five -year term. Instead she increased her own property, he alleged.

Meanwhile, appealing for votes Kaler said, I am son of a common man and after serving Jagraon with honesty, I will serve Nihal Singh Wala in the same manner.
Todays cinema takes its inspiration from life around, and although the stories they tell may not be original in a sense -- for we would have seen them playing out in television news channels -- such narratives can be nonetheless gripping. For, if you fictionalise fact, what emerges can be fascinating. Jiju Antonys Marathi work, Eli Eli Lama Sabachhani? (The Forsaken), borrows primarily from the brutal Nirbhaya rape and murder case that rocked Delhi and the rest of India a few of years ago. It was the viciousness of the culprits (one of them was a teenager, and he is said to have been the most violent of the lot), who not only raped a young girl but also killed her in an unimaginably brutal way.

Antonys movie -- which was screened the other day as part of the ongoing National Film Development Corporation of Indias Film Bazaar (running along with the International Film Festival of India) here -- goes beyond rape and murder to show us how his protagonist, Prashant (played by Sanal Aman from the National School of Drama) turns into a beast. Dividing his movie into several chapters -- each distinguished by a different hue -- he elaborates on the gruesome incident of how Prashant, a taxi driver, takes a couple (necking each other) to a lonely stretch in Mumbai, beats the man into unconsciousness, rapes the woman and bludgeons her to death. Prashant is like an animal in rage.

The Forsaken starts with a hanging in a jail, and we watch a desperately hapless Prashant writhing in mental agony as he is literally dragged by policemen to the gallows. This scene is repeated at the end for dramatic effect, which the director carries out with a touch of engaging attention to detail.

But before the ghastly crime actually happens, we are witness to a Prashant -- who as a boy sees domestic violence (his mother being raped by his father), and experiences hurt and humiliation as a grown-up man. His rich employer, a woman who hires him to drive her car, ridicules Prashant when he uses the familys toilet or when he forgets to buy flowers from the market. She seems unusually haughty and sarcastic.

The director believes that economic and social disparities push a child into a confusing abyss.

At another time, Prashant is shamed by the prostitute he visits -- when he suffers from performance anxiety.

The film conveys in no uncertain terms that Prashant is a victim of an unfeeling society that turns an innocent boy into a fire-breathing monster -- who would not flinch to kill with a kind of bestial force that seems as a release for all his pent-up frustrations. Interestingly, he presents a picture of external calm.

In a chat with this writer here at the Bazaar, Antony -- who has taken a break from an executive assignment in Dubai to spend time with his autistic son (nine now) -- says that before starting to shoot his debut work, The Forsaken, he had not even been to a movie set. But being at home, I had this great privilege of following news and discussing it with my wife. When Nirbhaya was brutalised, and when other women in an abandoned Mumbai mill (here a journalist was attacked) and in Kerala (a poor, low caste girl fell prey) suffered at the hands of perverted men, I decided to make a film, Anthony avers.

In a way, while spending a lot of time with his child, Antony began to wonder why the innocence of childhood mutates into criminality. I think the community a child grows up in is largely responsible for turning a boy into a rapist, pushing him to the precipice of frustrated dejection -- a point from where he finds it almost impossible to walk away.

The movie is nothing but a kind of soul searching... I have tried to address several implications of how societal influences can do irreparable harm to a child... As an infant, as a teenager, as an adult, Antony explains.

Also, economic and social disparities push a child into a confusing abyss. We were shooting in Mumbai, near actor Shah Rukh Khans house, and I was appalled to see slums just next to his bungalow... All this contributes to anger, which can lead to a tipping point in a mans life. Prashant was a product of such uncaring society.

There are other provocations, and Antony talks about the negative impact of Bollywood. I had this song, Sheela Ki Jawani, playing in the background, and I have also inserted a scene where we see girls talk about Salman Khans handsomeness... All these can destabilise the mind of a man. And the environment he has grown up in or where he is then living can have a huge influence on his thought and action.

Prashant was helpless victim of such a community, and Antonys English title, The Forsaken, is apt. The helmer implies strongly how the child, the teen and the man in his work are pushed into a hopelessly dark pit. An escape from there is possible only for a price. The price may be ghastly, and The Forsaken appears to be telling us this.

(Gautaman Bhaskaran is covering the Film Bazaar.)

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A day after a major flare-up in hostilities along the LoC, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday described Kashmir as an unfinished agenda of the Partition and said Pakistan will never abandon Kashmiris in their freedom struggle.

Sharif made the remarks while chairing a meeting of the civilian and military leadership to review the situation along the Line of Control in Kashmir following the death of three soldiers and 10 civilians in shelling.

The premier further said Pakistan will not tolerate the deliberate targeting of civilians and ambulances by the Indian side, according to state-run media.

Indian troops mounted a massive bombardment of Pakistani positions along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed and the body of one of them was mutilated on Tuesday. The Indian side has expressed grief at civilian casualties but said its troops were only targeting Pakistani positions involved in ceasefire violations.

Read | India launches offensive; Pak says 11 civilians, 3 soldiers killed in shelling

During the meeting in Islamabad, Sharif said, The world in general and India in particular should know that the Pakistani nation would never abandon their Kashmiri brethren and would continue to support them in their just and UN-mandated freedom struggle.

Sharif was quoted by state-run APP news agency as saying that Pakistan had exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations by Indian security forces along the LoC.

The world community should take note of the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian transport and play an active role in tackling the deteriorating security situation along the LoC.

Read | Pakistan will attend Heart of Asia meet in India this December: Aziz

Sharif was briefed by his foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz, ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retired) Nasser Janjua on the situation along the LoC.

The meeting re-affirmed Pakistans political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif also held a special meeting at the Corps Headquarters in Rawalpindi to review the situation. He described the targeting of civilians as unprofessional and unacceptable.

Following Wednesdays flare-up on the LoC, the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two sides had an unscheduled interaction on their hotline to discuss the situation.
At age 99, a woman named America has become a US citizen.

America Maria Hernandez, who was born in Colombia in 1917 and was brought to the US by one of her daughters in 1988, signed her naturalisation certificate and took the oath of allegiance during a ceremony Wednesday in her living room.

Surrounded by family members, she smiled and said she was very happy.

I live in New York, the capital of the world, she said while waiving a small American flag.

Hernandez was born in October 1917 in Cordoba, Colombia, but mostly lived in Barranquilla. She had 12 children and now has 22 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

Hernandezs daughter Hortensia Martinez, 69, said she brought Hernandez to the US so she could help her take care of her son. Hernandez arrived with a green card arranged by her daughter, who had married a US citizen. Instead of renewing the card, the family asked Hernandez if she wanted to become a US citizen, and she said yes.

Hernandez walks with a cane, likes to watch TV and enjoys attending activities at a local senior centre at least once a week.

America Maria Hernandez is joined by her granddaughter Monica Martinez and daughter Hortensia Martinez as she is administered the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance. (AP Photo)

Asked on Wednesday what her secret for a long life is, she responded, Being well, with my children. They all work. They are all good.

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, 730,000 people became US citizens in the governments 2015 fiscal year. About 84,000 of those naturalisations were in the New York area.
Britain must borrow an additional 122 billion over five years as it exits the European Union, the public finances advisory body said Wednesday, forcing the government to shelve plans to balance the books by 2020.

The extra borrowing, worth $152 billion or 143 billion euros, covers the period until early 2021, and covers direct and indirect costs of Brexit, explained the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The OBR pinpointed 59 billion of additional borrowing directly caused by Brexit, including 16 billion as a result of lower migration and 18.1 billion due to lower productivity growth.

Economic secretary to the Treasury Simon Kirby said he didnt necessarily accept the prediction of extra borrowing caused by lower migration, but accepted it would have an impact on GDP.

We need to be clear that the British people voted on June 23 to leave the EU because they wanted control...There are positives and negatives, he told a foreign press briefing.

In addition to the direct pressures of Brexit on the deficit, the OBR also highlighted the effects of the governments easing of austerity measures to cope with the Brexit fallout on borrowing levels.

The OBR forecasts that the deficit will hit 3.5 percent of GDP in 2016 and 2.8 percent in 2017, compared with 3.1 percent and 2.1 percent respectively in its previous forecasts published in March.

If correct, the shortfall in the public accounts would be comparable to that of France (3.3 percent in 2016 and 2.9 percent in 2017), according to the European Commissions figures.

The OBR forecast assumes that the United Kingdom will leave the EU in April 2019 and that the negotiation of new trade agreements with the EU and other countries will slow the pace of British foreign trade for a decade.

Supporters of the defeated Remain campaign said the figures made a mockery of Leave claims that Brexit would swell the public coffers.

Prominent EU critic MP John Redwood claimed the borrowing forecast was far too high, with the OBR itself admitting that the predictions were uncertain given the number of unknowns surrounding Britains departure from the EU.

Britains economy has so far confounded expectations following the June 23 vote, posting stronger-than-expected growth figures while government borrowing fell by more than expected in October.
Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka, accused of a potential conflict of interest as she helms her own brand while making frequent appearances with her president-elect father, is separating her business and personal social media accounts.

In a letter that appeared Tuesday on her Twitter and Instagram feeds, the businesswomans team said that her existing @IvankaTrump accounts -- which have 2.4 million and 1.9 million followers, respectively -- will now be for personal use.

All information related to her clothing and jewellery brands, meanwhile, will appear on @IvankaTrumpHQ accounts.

As a private citizen, with full awareness of her heightened visibility, she will broaden her efforts to take a stance on issues of critical importance to American women and families, the statement said.

Our companys mission is not political -- it never was and it never will be -- however, Ivanka, personally, has an increased opportunity to advocate for women and be a positive force for change, it added.

Ivanka Trump, The Trump Organisations vice-president of development and acquisitions, and her two brothers, vice presidents at the conglomerate, have been called upon to manage their fathers fortune and affairs during his tenure at the White House.

She stirred controversy when images released by the Japanese government showed the 35-year-old and her husband, real estate developer and publisher Jared Kushner, standing and chatting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he met with the president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan last week.

She also participated in a telephone conversation when Argentinas President Mauricio Macri called her father, although the head of Argentine diplomacy has assured that she and the president only exchanged pleasantries.

Donald Trump has also indicated that his son-in-law, Kushner, who is largely absent from social media, could help broker a deal to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kushner is from an Orthodox Jewish family. The businessman and investor was a close adviser to Trump during the election campaign.
A former Massachusetts prosecutor once named one of People Magazines most eligible bachelors is again facing sexual assault allegations.

Gary Zerola was arraigned Wednesday on two counts of sexual assault following an incident that authorities say happened November 10 in Boston.

He was held on $10,000 cash bail and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, observe a curfew, have no contact with the victim and not consume alcohol.

Authorities say Zerola and the victim were acquainted before the incident.

In 2001, Gary Zerola was a handsome prosecutor & 1 of @people's top bachelors. Now he's accused again of sexually assault. More on @NECN pic.twitter.com/EWoGWjxxDR  susantran (@susantran) November 24, 2016

The 45-year-old former Suffolk County prosecutor faced three sexual assault charges between 2006 and 2007, but was never convicted.

Zerola made People Magazines list of Americas Top 50 Bachelors in 2001.

His lawyer tells WCVB-TV the case is based on a foundation of lies. Zerolas next court date is January 4.
At least two people were killed and 16 others wounded in an explosion Thursday in the car park of a government building in the southern city of Adana, officials said.

Omer Celik, the minister in charge of European Union affairs, said on his Twitter account that the explosion in front of the Adana governors office was a terror attack. Hurriyet newspaper reported that the attack was believed to be caused by a car bomb.

This damnable terror is continuing to target our people, Celik said. We shall continue our struggle against terrorism until the end in the name of humanity.

Mahmut Demirtas, the governor for Adana, said the blast killed two people and wounded 16 others. He told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the explosion occurred close to the entrance to his office and suggested it may have been a suicide attack carried out by a woman.

The attack was the latest in a string of deadly bombings that have rocked Turkey in more than a year. The attacks were carried out by Kurdish militants or the Islamic State group.

Several cars in the parking lot caught fire after the blast, video footage showed. The blast also caused damage to the government building, Anadolu Agency said.
An Indian man, mistaken for a Muslim, was brutally attacked at a bar in the US, the latest in a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes that have erupted since Donald Trumps victory.

Ankur Mehta was allegedly hit multiple times on his head and face at the Red Robin Restaurant in Pennsylvania while he was working on his tablet with his earphones on. The attacker, identified as Jeffrey Burgess, had grabbed and punched Mehta with his elbow and fist. He also allegedly called out racial and ethnic epithets at Mehta who was taken to a hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip, Pittsburghs Action News 4 reported.

Mehta told police that Burgess said to him that things are different now and I dont want you sitting next to me. You people.

Burgess, 54, spoke with slurred speech and was staggering and smelled of alcohol, police said, adding that he then used an ethnic slur commonly used against those of Middle Eastern descent.

We believe this is just the latest incident in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

The criminal complaint says Burgess launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically, Bethel Park police chief, Timothy OConnor said.

Mehta was oblivious to the comments until Burgess allegedly struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, the officer said.

Witnesses told police Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also said Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgesss impending attack.

Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, simple assault, harassment and public drunkenness.

The incident comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trumps election as US President.

Many Muslim women have also spoken about hijab grab attacks on them on social media.
Iran will retaliate if the United States renews sanctions next month, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Wednesday.

In the issue of the nuclear deal, the current administration has committed several violations, the latest of which is the renewal of the 10-year sanctions, Khamenei said in a televised speech to thousands of members of the Basij Islamist volunteer militia.

If these sanctions happen, it is absolutely a breach of the JCPOA, he added, referring to last years deal with world powers under which sanctions were eased in exchange for curbs to Irans nuclear programme.

They must know that the Islamic republic will react against it.

The US Congress last week voted to renew long-standing sanctions linked to Irans ballistic missile tests and human rights record that pre-date the controversy around Irans nuclear ambitions.

The 10-year sanctions must still be approved by the Senate and President Barack Obama by the end of the year.

Washington says these sanctions have nothing to do with the nuclear deal, but Iran says the continuing restrictions go against the spirit of the agreement, particularly since they have discouraged international banks from returning.

The JCPOA must not become a tool for pressuring the Iranian people, Khamenei said.
The Islamic State on Thursday claimed a suicide truck bomb attack that killed more than 80 people, mostly Iranian Shia pilgrims, at a petrol station where buses returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in the Iraqi city of Karbala were parked.

The blast occurred in Hilla city, 100 km south of the capital Baghdad and around 80 km from Karbala. The petrol station was almost completely destroyed and scores of cars were burned.

The IS claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement. The hardline Sunni group considers all Shias to be apostates.

The pilgrims were en route to Iran from the holy Shia city of Karbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD.

Iranian nationals are the largest contingent of foreigners at the Arbaeen pilgrimage that ended on Monday.

The petrol station on the main motorway between Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five buses with pilgrims were torched by the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Those buses were loaded with Iranians, Bahrainis and Iraqis, a police intelligence source told AFP.

There were Iranians but also lots of people from Basra and Nasiriyah, Mousa Omran told AFP, referring to another southern city.

Between 17 and 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen, one of the worlds largest religious events. The days-long final phase of the pilgrimage sees huge numbers of pilgrims walk long distances to reach Karbala.

According to Iraqi authorities, around three million Iranians were among this years visitors. Many of them stay a few days longer to visit the shrine city.

Iraqs security forces were on high alert for the pilgrimage, seen as a major potential target for the IS.

The IS has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a US-backed military offensive launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under the groups control in Iraq.

Around 25,000 members of the security forces were deployed last week to protect the pilgrims but some have since returned to the front lines. Thursdays attack marred an Arbaeen commemoration that had passed with fewer attacks than in previous years.
At a time when Nepalese citizens are facing problems in exchanging withdrawn Indian notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, the countrys central bank on Thursday banned the exchange of Indias new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes.

The Nepal Rastra Bank said the new Indian notes cannot be exchanged until the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues a new notification under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Such a notification allows citizens of foreign countries to hold a certain amount in Indian currency, officials said.

Ramu Poudel, the Nepal Rastra Banks chief for the eastern region, told members of the business community in Biratnagar that the new Indian rupees are considered  illegal and cannot be exchanged until new arrangements are made by the Indian side.

As of now, our understanding with the Reserve Bank of India is that a Nepali citizen can hold up to Indian Rs 25,000 (in the) old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Even the fate of those old notes is uncertain, how can these new Indian notes coming into the market be considered as legal?" Poudel said.

Indian currency is widely accepted in Nepal, where many people have been facing problems in exchanging the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Due to the open border between the two countries, the new Indian notes too have entered areas along the border with India.

Nepal and India are yet to reach an agreement on modalities for the exchange of the withdrawn notes held by Nepalese citizens. Poudel said the two central banks are in close contacts to address this issue but no way out has been found as yet.

The Nepal Rastra Bank set up a task force to prepare guidelines for exchanging the withdrawn Indian currency notes. It handed over some guidelines to the Indian side through the Indian embassy of Kathmandu. Officials said the Nepalese side had suggested that authorities could collect the withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from Nepalese citizens and send them to the RBI for verification and exchange into Nepali currency.

Nepals central bank has also made it clear it will not provide over-the-counter exchange facilities to Nepalese citizens holding the withdrawn Indian currency because it lacks the expertise and technology to identify counterfeit currency.

Experts said India is cautious about providing exchange facilities to citizens of a foreign country as it fears it could be misused as  a clearing house to convert counterfeit currency.

The Nepali side also suggested that Nepalese citizens would have to open accounts at banks and financial institutions and deposit the demonetised Indian currency to receive the equivalent amount directly in their accounts.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and finance minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara have already urged their Indian counterparts to arrange exchange facilities for Nepalese citizens.

The Nepal Rastra Bank has said the countrys financial system holds Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes worth Indian Rs 33.6 million. This amount includes cash in bank vaults, financial institutions and the central bank. However, the actual amount is believed to be much higher.
Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan asked the UN on Thursday to act before the situation snowballs into a full-fledged crisis.

Pakistans ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a grave threat to international peace and security.

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC was a deliberate attempt by India to divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly abhorrent act that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis.

The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

Pakistan Army said on Wednesday seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan yesterday rejected as false and baseless the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.
Pakistans military leadership upped the ante in a war of words with India on Thursday, with army chief Gen Raheel Sharif saying any surgical strike by Pakistan would not be forgotten by Indians for generations to come.

Air force chief Sohail Aman too warned India against escalating a dispute over Kashmir into full-scale war.

The rhetoric by the military leadership came a day a flare-up of hostilities along the LoC following the killing of three Indian soldiers, and the mutilation of the body of one, on Tuesday. Pakistani authorities said 11 civilians and three soldiers were killed in shelling by Indian forces.

Sharif, who is on a farewell tour of army units before his retirement on November 29, was quoted by The Express Tribune as saying that if Pakistan were to launch surgical strikes, India would not be able to forget it for generations to come.

India will be teaching its children about Pakistans surgical strike if the latter took such measures. Pakistani troops are capable of teaching Indian forces a lesson, he said.

Sharifs remarks, made while addressing a jirga of tribal elders in the Khyber semi-autonomous region, were also an apparent riposte to the surgical strikes carried out by Indian troops along the LoC in September in retaliation for an attack on an army camp in Uri by Pakistan-based militants.

In Karachi, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said Pakistans armed forces were prepared for all contingencies.

We are not worried about India at all, it is better if they show some restraint, he told reporters on the margins of a defence exhibition. If India escalates the crisis, Pakistani troops will know full well how to deal with them, he said.

Aman called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve.

Naval chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah also told the media that an Indian submarines alleged breach of Pakistans waters was an unusual incident. He added: Whenever India does something like this Pakistan will respond.

The Line of control in Kashmir has witnessed frequent exchanges of fire following unrest in Jammu and Kashmir that followed the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.

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Sindh on Thursday became the first Pakistani province to pass a law to prevent forced religious conversions, a move that will benefit Hindus and other religious minorities.

The provincial assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) bill that had been tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) legislator Nand Kumar Goklani a year ago.

The bill recommends a five-year prison term for perpetrators and facilitators of forced religious conversions, the Pakistani media reported. Forcibly converting a minor too is a punishable offense under the bill.

The bill had earlier been referred to the standing committee for minority and human rights for feedback. It was passed after the panel sent it back to the assembly.

Forced conversion is an abhorrent and violent offence and an issue that has become prevalent across Sindh (that) must be eliminated by recognising the importance of tolerance, peace and respect for all religions and persons, irrespective of their religion, the bill stated.

The bill focusses on recognising the right to freedom of religion for all people, the right to freedom of choice for marriage. According to it, no person can change his or her religion before attaining the age of maturity or 18 years. Adults will be given 21 days to consider their decision to convert.

Defining punishments for forced conversions, the bill stated that any person who forcibly converts another person can be sent to prison for five years to life. They will also have to pay a fine to the victims.

Anyone who performs or facilitates a marriage with the knowledge that either one or both parties are victims of forced conversion can be punished with a three-year prison term or a fine.

The bill stated that victims or any person authorised by a victim or an informer can submit a petition regarding forced conversions to a local court. The court shall fix the first date of hearing, which shall not exceed seven days from the date of the receipt of the petition by the court, the bill said, adding any case of forced conversion should be disposed of by the court in 90 days.

Sindh is home to a majority of Pakistans Hindus. Hindu leaders have repeatedly complained about the forced conversion and marriages of young women and girls of the community.

Nand Kumar Goklani, the legislator who tabled the bill, said, Every other day, reports pouring in suggest that minor girls belonging to non-Muslim communities are forced to change their religionsThis bill aims to end this inhumane practice.
Three Turkish soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack by Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Syria, Dogan news agency reported Thursday.

The attack, carried out by members of the Daesh (IS) terror group, took place in the Al Bab region of northern Syria where Turkish forces are supporting an offensive by pro-Ankara rebels, the privately-run news agency said.

Turkey on August 24 launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria dubbed Euphrates Shield in support of Syrian opposition fighters to push IS jihadists from its border and stop the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia.

The report did not specify when the attack took place but said it took place on the 93rd day of the operation.

Pro-Ankara opposition rebels supported by Turkish troops have liberated Jarabulus, Al Rai and Daniq from IS jihadists, without much resistance, since the operation began.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week said the rebels were pushing forward with the aim of taking Al Bab from the jihadists.

We reached Al Bab right now and besieged it from the west, the president said in a speech Tuesday.
Donald Trump is expected to name as his commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor who specialises in turning around failing companies as the US President-elect expands his cabinet and makes it more diverse.

And in his message to the nation on Thanksgiving, a national festival, Trump called for the need to begin to heal our divisions, invoking Abraham Lincoln to urge Americans to speak with one voice and one heart.

Ross was instrumental in shaping Trumps campaign platform on economy, specially the hardline position against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Trump is determined to exit. According to The Washington Post, which first reported Ross was being considered, the investor built his fortune turning around distressed companies  one of which he sold to Lakshmi Mittal, the India-born steel king.

India will be following this appointment closely as commerce is now the second and equally important leg of an expanded bilateral annual engagement since 2014, called India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

On Wednesday, he named billionaire Betty DeVos to head the education department, adding another woman to his team after South Carolinas Indian American governor Nikki Haley who will be US ambassador to the UN.

Trump also named rival-turned-ally Ben Carson his housing and urban development secretary, making him the first African American member in his team, which has been criticised for such appointments as the divisive Steven Bannon.

Bannon, who as head of Breitbart News turned the publication into a platform for anti-semitic, racist and anti-immigrants Alt-Right conservatives, was among Trumps first announcements, as his chief strategist and counsel.

It came amid celebration of Trumps victory among Alt-Right elements and a sharp spike in hate attacks on blacks, muslims, jews, hispanics and LGBT community across the country, and fuelled fears of deepening fissures in American society.

Trump has tried to stop it, but has been seen to be slow.

His thanksgiving message sought to address those fears but it may take time, he cautioned. We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight. It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change.
Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties.

During a brutal election campaign, where Trumps rhetoric on foreign partners was overwhelmingly negative, he was largely positive about India - or at least its Hindu majority - and its nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

When he courted Indian-American voters at a rally in New Jersey in mid-October, he said, There wont be any relationship more important to us. He praised Modi - another populist, savvy in using social media - as a great man for championing bureaucratic reforms and economic growth.

There are other hints that Trump is well-disposed toward India.

He has done a lot of business there. A Washington Post analysis of Trumps pre-election financial disclosure found that of his 111 international business deals, the highest number - 16 - were in India. He stirred controversy last week over potential conflicts of interest by meeting with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex in the city of Pune.

On Wednesday he selected South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - the first woman tapped for a Cabinet-level post in his administration. Haley has no foreign policy experience.

It remains a matter of conjecture how any of this will shape the approach taken by a Trump administration when he takes office Jan. 20. But Lisa Curtis at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said it was easy to envision the U.S. and India working closer on counter-terrorism.

India hopes that Trumps promise to fight radical Islamic militants will mean more American pressure on Pakistan and less aid for Indias historic archrival. Militants based in Pakistan are accused of launching cross-border attacks inside India.

Neelam Deo, who heads the Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, said India would also welcome it if Trump builds a working relationship with Russia in fighting the Islamic State group.

But Deo predicted U.S.-India friction if Trump restricts non-immigrant visas for Indians to try to protect American workers. She said that 60 percent of Indias information technology experts who work abroad go to the U.S.

Biswajit Dhar, an economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said that how Trump approaches immigration is a major concern in India and tough action is going to rattle quite a lot here.

Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the U.S., said reactions in India to Trumps election victory have ranged from vocal support from right-wingers to shock and disappointment among the liberal intelligentsia. He said people had noticed that Trump had attended election campaign events with Hindus rather than the broader Indian-American community.

India is 80 percent Hindu, but 14 percent of its 1.3 billion people are Muslims.

US-India relations have advanced under President Barack Obama, particularly since Modis election in 2014. When Modi addressed Congress this June, he described the U.S. as an indispensable partner and said together they could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

Staunch U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea, which host American forces and depend on U.S. nuclear deterrence, have been unnerved by Trumps call for nations to shoulder more of the burden for security in Asia.

But that is less of a concern for India, which is not a formal ally of the U.S. It has expanded its military cooperation with Washington and purchased American hardware as it modernizes its armed forces. But it prizes having an independent foreign policy, as it did during the Cold War.

Indias interest in taking on a larger role fits in with Mr. Trumps view of U.S. friends and partners doing more in their own regions, said C. Raja Mohan, director of the Carnegie India think tank.

Trump plans to take an ax to the main economic element of Obamas Asia policy - the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said this week that he will end U.S. participation in the 12-nation trade pact. India is not involved in the agreement.

But India would be concerned if Trump adopted an isolationist stance and dialed back the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific.

India is worried about Chinas dominance in this region, Dhar said.
In a bizarre incident, a 32-year- old woman in the US opened fire at her house guests because they were too loud and had overstayed their welcome.

Alana Annette Savell was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida.

Bay County Sheriffs Office said, The victim (Ms Kirsty Jo Mohr) stated she felt herself get hit in the legs and ran away from the home and got into a vehicle.

Savell stated that the victim and her friend had come to her home to hang out and began drinking and getting too loud. Savell stated she did not want them in her house and started shooting at their feet, the sheriffs office said.

The suspects boyfriend stated to investigators that he has told his girlfriend that once someone is told to leave their property three times, she is to go get the gun and shoot it at the ground. If that does not work, she is to shoot people in the leg, it said.

After firing the gun at the ground, Savell continued shooting as the man and woman left, striking the woman twice in the leg, the Washington Post reported.

Savell later acknowledged to authorities that there was a phone in the house and she could have simply called 911 to make the guests leave.

The defendant stated that she knew she was wrong for shooting at the victim and Gary, but stated when she started shooting she could not stop, the affidavit read.

Savells boyfriend was also struck with a round in the leg during the incident that took place on Monday, the sheriffs office said. After the guests left, Savell put the handgun into a garbage can next to the house.

Sheriffs deputies were called around 2 AM to a hospital, where the female gunshot victim was receiving treatment.

Savell was arrested about two hours later and taken to the Bay County Jail, where she is being held on a $ 100,000 bond.
DESIGNATION: Italys Far Eastern Army and Navy Forces

OPERATIONAL: From 1901

ITALYS SURRENDER TO the Allies in September 1943 led to open hostilities between its Far Eastern forces and the Imperial Japanese Army. The Italians had maintained a presence in the Far East from 1901, following the conclusion of the Boxer Rebellion, when along with many other European nations it was granted international concessions in China. To secure its trade rights and protect its interests in common with the other imperialist powers, Italy stationed troops close to its cantonments in Beijing, Shanghai and Tientsin and maintained a small naval presence. For the next four decades Italy built up its forces in China.

When Benito Mussolini signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Japan in September 1940, it placed Italy in the position of junior partner in the Axis alliance against Great Britain and its Commonwealth. For the next three years the naval presence in China and the Far East increased. Two Italian gunboats, Lepanto and Carlotto, were moored in Shanghai; an auxiliary cruiser, Calitea II and the colonial sloop Eritrea were in Kobe; and the steamboat Conte Verde also was in Shanghai. In addition, the Germans persuaded the Italians to convert their large submarines into cargo carriers, which allowed the Reich to receive large quantities of rubber, quinine and assorted raw materials from the Japanese. The Italians also let the Germans use their submarines to deliver valuable cargoes of optical instruments, weapons and assorted stores to the Japanese.

The 1943 armistice meant Italy was now fighting alongside the Allies, and the position of its soldiers and sailors in the Far East became precarious at best. Eritrea was at sea when the armistice was announced and immediately steamed through the Indian Ocean to Colombo in Ceylon, avoiding the Japanese air and sea search for Italian vessels. Some Italian naval crews were determined not to allow their ships to be captured by the Japanese. The day after the armistice, Calitea II was scuttled in Kobe Harbor, soon followed by Lepanto, Carlotto and Conte Verde at Shanghai. The crews of those vessels were sent to prisoner of war camps and used as slave labor by theJapanese for the rest of the war, except those who continued to fight for the Axis cause on the side of the new Italian Fascist state.

The Japanese captured three of the remaining Italian submarines Cappellini, Guiliani and Torelli even though the crews had stated that they wished to continue to fight for the Axis.The crews were treated with the same brutality the Japanese had shown to Allied prisoners of war, but were eventually reprieved when their former boats were handed over to the German navy. The Germans had established a U-boat base at Penang, Malaya, and the Italian sailors continued to serve the Axis cause until the German surrender in May 1945, operating their former boats alongside German U-boatmen. The submarine Cagni made a dash for South Africa on learning of the armistice and surrendered to the British. Following the surrender of Nazi Germany, some 20 Italian submariners continued working for the Japanese navy. Torelli stayed in Japanese service until August 30, 1945; the Italian anti-aircraft gunners on board shot down a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, ironically the final accredited kill scored by a unit of the Japanese navy during World War II.

For the Italian military forces stationed on land in China the armistice meant certain internment in Japanese prisoner of war camps. A small mixed army and navy force of 100 men, under the command of a Lt. Cmdr. Baldassarre of the Royal Italian Navy, garrisoned the Beijing radio station, within the Italian concession. Although lightly armed with infantry weapons, Baldassarre was determined to resist a Japanese infantry regiment with approximately 1,000 men supported by artillery and 15 light tanks. Outnumbered 10-to-l the Italians fought for more than 24 hours before surrendering. Afterward, the majority of Italians wanted to continue fighting on the Axis side. The 29 who did not were transported to a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Korea.

At Tientsin there was a more formidable force than at Beijing. Because Tientsin was a commercial center for Italian trade with China, many Italian civilians, including women and children, lived there. The routine rape of white women and general maltreatment of noncombatants captured by the Japanese army was well known, and the Italian consul had withdrawn his staff and the Italian nationals into the area of the Italian concession defended by some 600 soldiers and sailors under Carlo dellAcquas command. Considerably better equipped than the Italians at Beijing, this group had four emplaced 75mm guns. In addition, the garrison had a weeks supply of rations and medicine.

The Italians, however, would once again be outnumbered 10-to-l, this time against a Lt. Col. Tanaka, who commanded nearly 6 ,000 Japanese troops, reinforced with light armored vehicles and artillery. Guns had also been deployed on the river to fire into the Italian cantonment, and air support was available from a Japanese army air force bomber squadron.

Tanaka did not attack immediately, but instead called upon dellAcqua to surrender. The Italian officers in charge of the defense conferred and refused. The Japanese opened a brief artillery barrage to demonstrate what the garrison was up against. The Italians also learned that Tanaka would shortly be reinforced by an entire Japanese division, along with tanks and more artillery. That persuaded many of the officers that resistance was futile. Although a great majority of the regular Italian soldiers and sailors wanted to fight on, in order to save lives dellAcqua decided to surrender.

The Italian garrison of Tientsin was marched into Japanese captivity, with the exception of 170 men who pledged their allegiance to the new Fascist Italian Social Republic established after Mussolinis liberation by German paratroopers on September 12, 1943.These men fought alongside the Germans and Japanese for the rest of the war. The remainder of the Tientsin garrison was dispersed to prison camps outside the city or taken to Korea and Japan, where they suffered alongside other Allied POWs until September 1945.

Originally published in the September 2004 issue of World War II. To subscribe, click here.
Charles Larpenteur survived 40 years as a frontier fur trader. Along the way he experienced many trials and losses. He lost one Indian wife to smallpox and another to an Omaha war party, but he ultimately lost his business not to the unruly hostiles he knew how to handle but to government regulation. The French-born American recorded his harrowing exploits in Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri. First published in 189826 years after Larpenteurs deathit is considered one of the best firsthand accounts of the 19th-century fur trade.

Born the youngest son of a Bonapartist family about 45 miles southeast of Paris in 1807, Charles Larpenteur immigrated to the United States as a child in 1818 when it became clear Napoleon would not return from exile. The family settled and farmed near Baltimore. At age 21 Charles ventured out on his own, bound for St. Louis. On his first trip up the Mississippi River in 1831 he struck up a friendship with an interpreter for the Sauk and Fox Indians. He took me into the village [present-day Keokuk, Iowa] and introduced me to several of the leading men, of whom a great many were drunk, Larpenteur recalled. After the spree the old gentleman was very kindand finally remarked that he would give me all the land I wanted if I should happen to make a match with his niece, Louise Dauphin.I declined all overtures, although I confess that I came very near accepting the offer, for Louise was one of the handsomest girls I ever saw.

Thinking himself too young to settle down, the restless Larpenteur opted instead for adventure. I returned to St. Louis with full determination to see more of the wild Indians. In the spring of 1833 the fur trade would provide him the opportunity. General Ashleys party returned from the mountains with 100 packs of beaver. A pack of beaver is made up of 60 average beavers, supposed to weigh 100 lbs., worth in New York at that time from $7 to $8 per lb. It is impossible to describe my feelings at the sight of all that beaverall those mountain men unloading their mules in their strange mountain costume. Larpenteur was entranced. Turned down by John Jacob Astors American Fur Co., he approached William Sublette and Robert Campbell of the Rocky Mountain Fur Co., who had bought out General William H. Ashley, a Missouri militia veteran of the War of 1812. On Larpenteurs pledge never to grumble, the leery Campbell signed him up for 18 months for the sum of $296 and such food as could be procured in Indian countythat excluded bread, sugar and coffee. Campbell took Larpenteur under his wing as the green hand learned his trade. [He] gave me his favorite mule, Simon, to ride; old Simon was not so kind that he would not buck me off his back when he took a notion to do so, but on the whole was a good fellow in comparison to many others. My two pack mules were very gentle, but would kick off their packs sometimes.

Larpenteurs first morsel of bison came from lean cows in calving season and was so tough he had to spit it out. But neither it nor the feisty mules, which threw a fellow packer into a patch of prickly pear cactus, made him grumble. The Campbell party reached the rendezvous on Green River on July 8. There was, Larpenteur recalled, not a sober man to be found in camp but myself. For several days nothing but whiskey was sold, at $5 a pint.

After returning from trapping, Campbell invited Larpenteur to his tent for the rare treat of fresh coffee and a warm biscuit. The boss said he had sold his interest in the business to his partners and would turn back with the 30 packs of beaver pelts he had collected. He said Larpenteur was welcome to join him or remain with the trapping party. Mr. Campbell, came the reply, I have engaged to you, you have treated me like a gentleman, and I wish to follow you wherever you go. The other Campbell loyalists applauded him.

There was not a sober man to be found in camp but myself. For several days nothing but whiskey was sold, at $5 a pint

Before Campbell could depart, a rabid wolf entered camp and savaged three of the men and the partys prize bull. Within days the bull came down with hydrophobia and died. Larpenteurs friend George Holmes had been badly mauled and soon came down with full-blown symptoms. Holmes had gone mad, Larpenteur recorded. As the unfortunate man subsided into spastic fits, he was left behind with two men to watch him. But his guards soon grew weary and returned to camp. When others went to check on Holmes progress, they found only a trail of clothing leading into the wilderness. He had run away quite naked, Larpenteur explained, and never was found.

On September 3 they reached the mouth of the Yellowstone River opposite the main Sublette-Campbell camp and were obliged to swim the upper Missouri River, which Larpenteur did clutching the tail of a bull. There the men began to build a trading post they dubbed Fort William, after Sublette. They wrapped up construction in mid-November amid a spectacular meteor shower that lit up the skies across North America. It mustve seemed an omenbut did it portend good or ill fortune?

Larpenteur and his fellow Rocky Mountain Fur Co. traders were soon competing for Indian customers with traders from the American Fur Co., which in 1828 had built nearby Fort Union (on what would become the Montana/North Dakota border). Parties from both posts soon went out to greet Assiniboine Chief Gauche (Left), who was arriving with a cache of buffalo hides.

The Fort Union interpreter was first to shake hands with the chief. Well, I hope you will not fork today, he remarked. The great chief of the big fort has sent me after you, and he is well prepared to receive you. I hope you will not make me ashamed by going with those one-winter-house traders. Gauche shot back, If your great chief had sent any other but you, I would have gone to him, but I dont go with the biggest liar in the country.

We made our triumphant entrance into Fort William, Larpenteur noted with delight.

Despite the rapport with Gauche, most Indians continued to trade with established Fort Union. Larpenteur soon learned the reason. Liquor, at that early day, was the principal and most profitable article of trade, although it was strictly prohibited by law, he recalled. The American Fur Co., having at one time been detected and had their liquor confiscated, erected a distillery at Fort Union and obtained their corn from the Gros Ventres and the Mandans.The liquor trade started at dark, and soon the yelling and the singing commenced. The Indians were all locked up in the fort, for fear that some would go to Fort Union, which was but 2 miles distant. Imagine the noiseupward of 500 Indians, with their squaws, all drunk as they could be, locked up in the small space.

On June 10, 1834, a letter arrived at Fort William informing the employees that Astors American Fur Co. had bought the trading post. Larpenteur, who had saved about $200 from his wages, had decided to return to Baltimore when, on July 2, Campbell ushered him into the presence of Kenneth McKenzie of the American Fur Co., the great chief of Fort Union. [He] was at that time considered the king of the Missouri, Larpenteur wrote, and from the style in which he was dressed, I thought really he was a king. To his surprise McKenzie (see Pioneers and Settlers, P. 22) offered him a job. My reply was a short, No, sir. Campbell explained that McKenzie wanted Larpenteur as a clerk not a common laborer. You will eat at my table and fare the same as myself, the Fort Union boss urged. A reluctant Larpenteur agreed to sign a one-year contract for $250 and a suit of clothes.

Soon after his arrival at Fort Union, Larpenteur, who seldom drank, noted dryly that drunken Indians often stole back their trade furs from beneath the noses of his fellow clerks, who were too drunk to notice. A malicious visitor from a passing boat unwittingly put an end to the problem when he reported the onsite distillery, and federal officials shut it down. When the time came to renew his contract, Larpenteur signed on for a second year and got a raise to $350. According to Iowa state records from the period Larpenteur had also taken an Assiniboine woman as a wife.

Not everything went swimmingly. In the spring of 1837 an Assiniboine named Tortoise, very much in his cups, confronted Larpenteur in his quarters over a perceived slight. You are the meanest white man I ever saw, he growled. I will kill you tonight! Tortoise stormed out, soon returning with a sawed-off trade musket, fully cocked. Larpenteur managed to wrest it away, and Tortoise stumbled off.

At that moment an Assiniboine named Hooting Owlupward of 6 feet tall, blind in one eye, naked but for his breechclout, painted in a most hideous mannercharged in with scalping knife in hand, yelling in apparent rage while slashing at the ground. Larpenteur expected to die. But Pierre Garreau, a half-blood interpreter, explained Hooting Owl was in fact demonstrating what he would do to any Indian who tried to harm Larpenteur, a fair trader and possible in-law. If I were to adopt a bird as an emblem, Larpenteur later mused, I would take the hooting owl in preference to the eagle.

Family tragedy struck Larpenteur in the summer of 1837 after a boat landed at Fort Union carrying several crewmen recovering from smallpox. Our only apprehensions were that the disease might spread among the Indians, the trader recalled. His fears were realized. Many died, and those who recovered were so much disfigured that one could scarcely recognize them. Among the dead was Larpenteurs Assiniboine wife.

That years strain spread to Indians all along the river, the resulting epidemic decimating many tribes. The peaceful Mandans were virtually exterminated in short order, while Larpenteurs Assiniboine in-laws lost upward of 1,000 people. In the spring of 1838 the trader and three traveling companions witnessed the effects firsthand. The Rees [Arikaras] had had the smallpox severely and were therefore badly disposed to the whites, he wrote. The Canoe Assiniboines had also suffered and were hostile to the interlopers. As we approached, Larpenteur noted, they seated themselves, steadied their guns with the ramrods to take good aim and let fly at us. Runners then paced the canoe along the banks of the river, firing from several vantage points. Bullets fell on the water like hail.

Larpenteur survived his close call and resumed the trading routine at Fort Union with many trials and a few triumphs. By 1842 hed taken up with a second Assiniboine wife. Like all other traders I had taken a better half, he recorded that fall, who had made me the father of my first child. The couple had five children, in whom the now seasoned trader delighted. While living near a new post with his family in the winter of 185354, however, tragedy again struck.

The trouble began when a Sioux war party killed four Omahas and stole their ponies. En route to their village, they camped on a riverbank near Larpenteurs place and went deer hunting. Thinking to repay the traders hospitality, they propped a deer carcass in a tree and told his wife where to find it. Larpenteur recalled what happened next:

Wrapping up warm in her blanket, and taking her daughter along, she started in quest of the meat.She had been gone but a little while when a party of six Omahas came in. From their daubed appearance I soon found out that they were in pursuit of the Sioux and became alarmed about my woman; for although they knew her well and were aware that she was an Assiniboine, and therefore belonged among the most deadly enemies of the Sioux, yet they looked upon her as a Sioux, as she spoke their language. I did the best I could to induce them to stay long enough to give my woman time to return, but they appeared in a great hurry and soon started. Just as they were stepping off the entry, I saw her coming, about 300 yards from the house. When she saw them approaching, she exclaimed to her daughter, My daughter, we are lost! She knew who they were, their customs, and rightly judged that her time had come. On meeting her, they shook hands; but the next thing was the report of a gun, and she fell dead, shot through the heart. One among them wanted to shoot her daughter but was told We have killed her motherthat is sufficient.

Frontier life left little room for grieving, and in April 1855 Larpenteur married again and resumed the hardscrabble fur trade, some years turning a profit, other years barely scraping by. His third wife, Rebecca Bingham, was a white widow, and they soon had a son, Louis Henri. But in 1863 the trader had cause to recall his second Indian wife with gratitude. That summer the American Fur Co. replaced Larpenteur as manager of its Fort Galpin trading post with Owen McKenziehalf-breed son of Kenneth McKenzie and a great drunkard. Steamboat Captain John La Barge took the companys side and spread rumors about the reasons. Larpenteur recalled his treachery:

Captain La Bargethe meanest man I ever worked for, except his brother, told some of the men that I had given him a very bad account of their behavior. This set them against me; and now that I was no longer in charge, one gentleman among thema bully nearly 6 feet 6 inches talltook it into his head one fine day to give me a pounding. He would have done so had it not been for my son [Charles Jr.], who was about 20 years of age and much of a man. He saw me in a quarrel and, thinking that there would be a fight, went into the house and got his rifle. By that time we were engaged in the fight. I received a severe blow, which stunned me; and when I recovered, I saw my antagonist lying as if dead at my feet. I made sure it was none of my doing and next saw my son in the act of giving him another blow, saying, Let me kill the son of a b___h. McKenzie, who had come up, said, Dont strike him again, Charles; you have killed him. During all this time the men were standing outside near their houses, not daring to approach, and when we left him, they came and took him in for dead; but he recovered.

In the wake of the 1863 fight at Fort Galpin, Charles Larpenteur and his formidable son booked passage on a steamboat bound for St. Louis. The previous December the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota had ended with the mass execution of 38 Sioux prisoners in Mankato. In its wake the Hunkpapa Lakotas had refused their annuities and were determined to keep the other tribes from receiving any annuities, particularly guns or ammunition. The steamboat Shreveport, carrying the Larpenteurs, was ordered back upriver to help the steamboat Robert Campbell deliver annuities to the Blackfeet, Assiniboines, Gros Ventres and surviving Mandans.

The third day [out] we were fired on by a party of Sioux while wooding, Larpenteur wrote, but no one was hurt. The steamboats anchored in mid-river about 100 miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone. The two inexperienced Indian agents aboard thought to parley with the Sioux and asked to be taken ashore in a yawlto the dismay of the crew. One young man [named Martin] of this crew, already in the yawl, caught hold of the steamboat, saying, I dont want to gowell all be killed. The mate threatened to break his fingers if he did not loosen his hold, and he was obliged to go with the crewnever to return. As soon as they started, I took my double-barreled gun and ran up on the hurricane deck. When the Indians saw the yawl coming, they jumped down the bank, and the moment the yawl landed, discharged a volley, killing three men and wounding another.The next day at 10 a.m. we buried the three poor fellows in one grave; the young man, Martin, was one of them.

McKenzie got very drunk and commenced to quarrel with Clark, who, knowing him to be a dangerous man, took out his pistol and shot three balls through McKenzie, killing him instantly

Within days of the Sioux attack, Larpenteur received word that Malcolm Clark, a no-nonsense trader and veteran of the Texas Revolution, had shot Owen McKenzie during a business dispute at Fort Galpin. McKenzie, Larpenteur wrote, got very drunk and commenced to quarrel with Clark, who, knowing him to be a dangerous man, took out his pistol and shot three balls through McKenzie, killing him instantly.

The company put Louis Dauphin, whom Larpenteur knew to be a regular thief, and who did not know the a b c of the business, in charge of the trading post, with poor results. Finding themselves in a bad fix, they had the brass to ask me how I would like to go there again, Larpenteur recalled, adding sarcastically, but I bade them to be so kind as to excuse me, as they could find plenty of better men than myself. That was hardly the end to the violence. Within a few months Fort Galpin witnessed the murders of four more men, among them Dauphin.

In late May 1864 Larpenteur took charge of Fort Union, once the pride of the American Fur Co. His friend and fellow trader Charles Chouteau arrived at the post in mid-June accompanied by an Indian agent and Company I of the 30th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Though Fort Union was far removed from the Eastern theater of the Civil War, the soldiers were to garrison the post through wars end. The Sioux made their duty hazardous enough. The following spring a sergeant and two privates sallied from the post after a grizzly bear only to walk into a Lakota ambush. One private was shot and wounded, while the other shot and killed an Indian and then fled. The sergeant was suffering scurvy and could not run. The Indians rushed upon him, Larpenteur recorded, shot nine arrows into him, pounded him with their war clubs and then scalped him, not leaving a hair on his head. A relief party rescued the wounded soldier and left the body of the dead Indian dangling from a tree as a warning.

Larpenteur reassured the nervous garrison through several other bloodless Indian scares. If I had been obliged to leave the country whenever Indians threatened to kill me, he told them, I should have been gone long ago.

When the soldiers left in June 1865, Larpenteur continued as a post trader at Fort Union and then for a new fur company out of nearby Fort Buforda U.S. Army post built the following yearat a decent profit. I traded 2,000 buffalo robes, 900 elk hides, 1,800 deerskins and 1,000 wolves worth in cash $5,000, he reported in 1868. But it remained a cutthroat business, and the company discharged Larpenteur, he wrote, due to malicious reports. After settling some accounts for cash in hand, he returned to Fort Buford as a licensed sutler. The soldiers liked him, and he remained in contact with some of his Indian clients. Personal tragedy continued to dog him, however; during this period he lost two more of his children, including the redoubtable Charles Jr.

The 187071 seasons brought even more hardship. In February 1870 he broke his thigh, though he managed to bull through his pain on crutches. Then came the final blow. Being born for misfortune, he recalled, I was ruined by the Army bill, which passed Congress[in July 1870], allowing but one post sutler; this we did not learn till the following January (1871). His last surviving daughter died in February, and soon thereafter the Army sent its official sutler to Fort Buford, putting Larpenteur and others out of business. On the 14th of May, 1871, I left Buford, bag and baggage, for the States, and that was the last of the Indian country for me. At years end Larpenteurs 14-year-old son, Louis Henri, the last of his children, fell ill and died.

Forty years ago was my first winter in the Indian country, at Fort William, when the stars appeared to fall, the trader wrote. That my lucky star fell is plainly to be seen in this narrative.

Broken and bereft, Charles Eugene Larpenteur died on Nov. 15, 1872, at his Iowa farm, named Fontainebleau after his birthplace in France. WW

Wild West special contributor John Koster writes from New Jersey, where he was a longtime newspaperman. He is the author of Custer Survivor: The End of a Myth, the Beginning of a Legend. Recommended for further reading: Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri: The Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur, 183372, as well as The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, edited by LeRoy R. Hafen.
The Magnificent Seven, MGM/Columbia Pictures, 133 minutes, 2016

Watching Antoine Fuquas remake of The Magnificent Seven, one is reminded how remarkably well John Sturges 1960 classicitself a remake of Akira Kurosowas 1954 epic The Seven Samuraicame together. And while comparing the 2016 remake to the 1960 version might be as unfair as comparing the 1960 version to the Kurosowa masterpiece, it remains an unavoidable exercise.

Both English-language versions follow the Kurosowa blueprintthat is, the assembling of a handful of warriors with varied personalities and skill-sets to form a powerful and dynamic team. Its a structure movie fans have seen replicated countless times over the years, whether in The Guns of Navarone or Inception. In the new Seven it is warrant officer Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) whos recruiting men after a group of homesteaders represented by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) seek his help in defending their town from vicious gold baron Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard).

Chisolm proceeds to gather his six sidekicks: first, card shark Joshua Faraday (played by Chris Pratt with his usual brand of earnest buffoonery); second, Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), a Confederate sharpshooter with PTSD; third, Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), Robicheauxs business partner and a knife aficionado; fourth, Vazquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a wanted man with whom Chisolm strikes a deal; fifth, Jack Horne (Vincent DOnofrio), a squeaky-voiced bear of a man; and sixth, Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a Comanche warrior deadly with bow and arrow.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the new crew is its cultural diversity, though the film largely chooses to avoid this topic from a historical perspective. The all-white townspeople never show any prejudices toward their black, American Indian, Mexican or Korean saviors, nor do the seven exhibit much ethnic apprehension toward one another (with the possible exception of the first showdown with Red Harvest). The film, though set during the second half of the 19th century, is deliberately void of racial conflict and envisions something of a colorless utopia.

About three-quarters of the way through the film theres a wonderful little scene in which Robicheaux reveals his inner demons to Chisolm. Its a rare moment of true dramatic tension, and Hawke and Washington are given a few brief seconds to shine. One cant help but react to this scene with lament, wondering why the film isnt peppered with similar moments. By the time the battle starts, weve have barely had the opportunity even to meet the seven guys for whom were supposed to root. Lee and DOnofrio are standouts when given the chance, but their lack of character moments leaves you craving more, while Garcia-Rulfo and Sensmeier simply recede into the background.

Theres a magic number in team movies to allow players adequate screen time, but seven here feels like at least two too many. Sturges film achieved a remarkable level of narrative efficiency that proved fundamental to its success and enduring popularity (thanks in part to a wealth of memorable quotes). Each scene fueled the films momentum, with seemingly not a wasted line or moment. Missing from this remake are the classics blistering pace, snappy dialogue, score (Elmer Bernstein) and comic self-awareness, not to mention the irreplaceable elements like, say, Steve McQueen. The remake plods toward the climactic battle with more gunplay but far less character development.

Thankfully, that confrontationironically the great weakness in Sturges film, in that it was over before one knew itis the centerpiece of Fuquas version. As Rocks and Horne slice and dice at close quarters, Red Harvest lobs fiery arrows from rooftops, and Chisolm squeezes off miraculous trick shots from horseback, the gunfight feels much larger and more dynamic this time around. As in Sturges classic, however, the enemys complete and utter incompetence deflates any tension one might have felt. Despite being massively outnumbered, they perform as if swatting a few flies away from a village, to quote the original film. Not until badman Bogue wheels out a Gatling gun (which for some reason has the stopping power of a modern-day Browning .50-caliber machine gun) do the seven break a sweat.

During one magnificent scene in the 1960 classic Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn and Steve McQueen contemplate the essence of a gunfighter: Home? None. People with a hold on you? None. Prospects? Zero. After a while the remake starts to feel a lot like the gunfighter they describehollow on the inside.

Louis Lalire
The Pirate Bay has been the best alternative following the shutdown of the top Torrent sites like Torrentz, KickAss Torrents, and TorrentHound. But, a recent update from Google Security Blog states that tough times are ahead for The Pirates Bay and other Torrentz alternatives which are still running, even though they are very less in number with the "Repeat Offender" policy.

According to a recent update from Goggle Security Blog, Google is making its policy harsher especially with the "Repeat Offender" policy, reports Mobile & Apps. With this policy in place, the torrent site alternatives or the Pirate Bay will not be shut down with copyright infringement lawsuits. Rather, it will point out the malicious ads that plague torrent sites or any file sharing site.

It is a known fact that the file sharing sites including torrents and its alternatives rely greatly on ads for revenue. And, more than often it is the ads that contain the malicious content.

After the shutdown of Torrentz, KickAss Torrents, and other Torrent sites, The Pirate Bay has been catering to the users and Torrent fans. But, recent reports suggest that the Pirate Bay shut down is imminent in the coming days, along with the other torrents sites that are still up.

The anti-piracy efforts have surely resulted in thinning of the number of torrenting site and torrent users have been left with choosing from the handful that is not up and running and can also be considered to be reliable.

The Pirate Bay, however, stated that it will not be a part of the globally banned sites, reports TorrentFreak. Officials of the site stated in an interview, "I don't believe TPB will be flagged as a Repeat Offender. Ultimately, that will cost the ad agencies dearly if all their clients were permanently denied visitors."

However, it is worth mentioning here that even the Pirate Bay is not immune to this policy as, if the site is caught more than once and that too in a short time span, it can be benched for 30 days.

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People close to President-elect Donald Trump is wary about the next move of 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. It has been known that the former Governor of Massachusetts was a stern critic of the billionaire businessman during the recent campaign period.

Both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee feel strongly that Romney will be a defamer for the rest of Trump's term. It has been perceived that the loyalty of the one-time senator will be somewhere else.

Huckabee points out that the inclusion of perfidious Republicans will get in the way of the new President's programs. The former minister also adds that Romney is just not on the same page with Trump.

In an interview on Fox News, Huckabee has pointed out the senator's fatal flaw when he personally attacked the President. Although differences on immigration and tax policies have been apparent between Romney and Trump, tearing the latter's personality and honor is just not right.

As of the moment, the incoming President is eyeing both Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Secretary of State post. There is a possibility that the selection process will expand is likely since spokesman Jason Miller has stated that Trump is not looking to appoint anyone anytime soon.

One strong contender for the position is Bob Corker who is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman. The Republican from Tennessee shares on MSNBC that it is good that the new President brings an exclamation point to things he faces since he makes matters happen.

Romney has been under heavy scrutiny from the Republican Party when he portrayed Trump as a phony and a fraud in a speech last March in Salt Lake City. During the primary convention, he has called on voters to choose any other Republican in their state.

After reiterating that Trump's business practices lean on dishonesty, the President-elect has fired back by calling Romney a futile candidate who simply wanted his endorsement.

On the other hand, Gingrich has cited that the former senator's loyalty is only to himself, suggesting that Romney's presidential ambitions have always been on top of the agenda.

However, after a meeting with Trump in New Jersey just recently, Romney has described their conversation as wide-ranging wherein the discussion has turned to the essential interests of the US.

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American and European counterterrorism officials are on the trail of one of the alleged planners during the terror incidents in Brussels and Paris. The suspect's name has been added on the list of specially-designated global terrorists.

It has been revealed that the suspect on the US State Department's file is Abdelilah Himich, a Moroccan national who settled in France. Court records divulge that prior to joining the ISIS in Syria, he has served under the French Foreign Legion in Afghanistan.

US intelligence officers think that the 32-year old Himich is part of a unit operating out of Syria. It is believed that this 200-member European group is adept at forging documents, encrypting communications, smuggling arms and mapping out safe houses.

Files also unveil that Himich, who is also identified as Abu Sulayman Al-Faransi, has organized the Tariq Ibn Ziyad Battalion back in 2015. This European terrorist cell has been responsible for sending suicide bombers to Iraq, Syria and other countries.

While the American and French authorities concur that Himich is a senior foreign terrorist fighter, both have contrasting views about his participation during the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

A senior French officer believes that the information about Himich playing a prominent role in the Paris incident remains sketchy.

In another related development, Belgian and French authorities have unraveled another personality who participated in the Paris attack. Based on encrypted data, the suspect has been identified as alias Abu Ahmad but his true name is Osama Atar.

The 32-year old Belgian national has quite a history. After he has been suspected to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda (AQ), Atar is locked up at the Abu Ghraib prison and at Camp Bucca detention center where a co-inmate is Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi who will eventually organize the ISIS.

Atar is supposed to serve a ten-year sentence but Belgian politicians and human rights activities intervened on his behalf that resulted to his release in 2012. He promptly joins the ISIS.

According to Eric Van der Sypt, a Belgian prosecutor, Atar has been active in training and guiding the 10-man group that sowed violence in Paris. For four months, he has communicated under the radar with renowned suspects, Ibrahim and Khalid Bakraoui.

During their conversations, Atar uses the name Abu Ahmad. In addition to providing the cousins with bomb-making procedures, the one-time Al-Baghdadi inmate has also assisted them in mapping out the suicide attacks in Brussels. After the incident, Atar has fallen off the grid.

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In an interview, 'Talk Thailand,' Prince William couldn't really be more careful. He talked about his family, the pressures of parenting, and called his wife a fantastic mother and wife.

The media did find something fishy about his comments though. They pounced on his reflection that his children should have simple aspirations, and immediately cried that he was taking a dig at his wife.

"Kate Middleton has been left humiliated once again by her husband Prince William. This time around Prince William has admitted that he wants to see his two children Prince George and Princess Charlotte grow up with more 'simple aspirations' in life, with some critics wondering if he's taking a public dig at Kate Middleton," said celebdirtylaundry.

To those who are nonplussed at the simplicity of Prince Willam's aspirations, and why that is a barb, there is more to come.

Kate Middleton has been rumoured to "one of the most materialistic members of the royal family," and is supposed to be wanting to be treated like royalty. She appears to be a visual invitation to the sophisticated crowd.

The 'facts' that are pointed out include reports on loving to spend money on $5,000 helicopter rides and going off on luxurious vacations in some far-off and exotic vacation hotspots.As she has reportedly splurged on redoing her house at Anmer Hall, along with buying wardrobes of clothes, she is charged with wanting to look great too!

So is Prince William critical of her materialism? Perhaps he is. But why couldn't he be direct about that fact, instead of couching the point of view in long and complicated words?

The question was: How can his children make a difference in the world? Prince William replied: "I would like [my kids] to grow up with more simple aspirations. I think there's a lot of huge aspirations and people living with an enormous amount of stuff that they don't necessarily need. The materialism of the world - I find quite tricky sometimes."

There has been a lot of reading between the lines. Prince William seems to have been general in worrying about people living with an 'enormous amount of stuff that people don't need.' He does not want his children to grow up with lofty aspirations.

Going by Kate's lavish lifestyle and designer clothes, it is no wonder that Prince William is completely put off by her, says the tabloid.

One 'fact' that is inescapably not clear is - why did Prince William spew reams of appreciation and admiration for his wife, and then get a small point of view on her materialism across? That remark sure had the media bending over backwards fixing up a 'divorce' for the couple.

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Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is one of the most sought after free agent this offseason. Many teams have already expressed interest in acquiring him like the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros. But latest MLB trade rumors are spreading that he could be heading to the Los Angeles Dodger this winter.

Cespedes, who also one of the youngest and hottest batters on the free agent market today, opts out with his contract to the New York Mets last November 5, making him available in the MLB trade market. He was also a free agent last year but was able to re-signed by the Mets last January for 3-years, $75 million with an opt-out clause after the first season, which he exercise lately.

And now, reports are saying that he is on the wish list of the Dodgers to acquire this offseason. According to Dodger Blue, the Los Angeles Dodgers have already contacted Yoenis Cespedes and discussion are seems to be ongoing right now. And if the Dodgers will be successful to sign Cespedes, they will lose their top unprotected pick in 2017 Draft.

Cespedes who have averages of .280 hit, 31 home runs, and 86 RBI in the 2016 MLB season will be a welcome addition to the Dodgers roster if ever. His 25 doubles, a 133 OPS+ and 9.4 percent walk rate in 132 games have won him the Silver Slugger Award. The 31-year old Cuban slugger is said to be seeking for a four- or five-year contract at around $100 million salary.

Earlier reports by TGD already suggested a Yoenis Cespedes-Yasiel Puig trade scenario. Speculation is saying that Cespedes could be signing a five-year, $125 million contract with the Dodgers. And since he is a free agent, it can be a great deal.

Dodgers might use Cespedes as a left fielder. But the Dodgers must act quickly as the Astros and Giants are also moving to acquire the 31-year old Cuban native.

Will the Los Angeles Dodgers able to steal free agent Yoenis Cespedes from the free agency? Stay tuned for the latest MLB trade rumors, news and updates.

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After being in the headlines for the divorce battle she had with former husband Johnny Depp actress Amber Heard has once again appeared in the news. This time, she faces a legal complaint.

On Monday, the producers of the 2015 thriller film "London Fields", which starred Heard, has filed a complaint against the actress at the Los Angeles Superior Court. The actress portrayed the character Nicola Six in the film, which has sex scenes on the script that the actress has known from the very beginning.

According to Telegraph UK, the complaint was 24 pages long and it stated that the 30-year-old actress had refused to comply with her obligations displayed in the contract. Additionally, it has been reported that Heard allegedly conspired with film director Mathew Cullen to delete the sex scenes and nudity parts of the movie.

It was further reported that Heard had failed to execute the acting services that is in accordance with the movie's script and confirmed to have conspired with the director to alter and make unapproved changes with the script.

But according to The Hollywood Reporter, this is not the first time that the film faced a lawsuit. In September, Cullen had also filed a complaint against the producers, Chris Hanley and Jordan Gertner, accusing them of fraud. Cullen said that the producers allegedly altered the final version of the movie in which he was not made aware of.

Because of the incident, London Fields was pulled out from being previously selected as part of the roster in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Additionally, the cast of the film had not declared an official release date of the movie, as per Boorowa News. Heard has not yet made a comment on her latest lawsuit.

It can be recalled that the Amber Heard had divorced Johnny Depp, who also made an appearance in the movie.

Amber Heard was also reported to have been dating another co-stars of the film, Billy Bob Thornton and Cara Delevingne, which had previously caused a misunderstanding between Depp and Heard before they got separated.

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A footage showing UFO zooming past the supermoon sparked fears that aliens could have visited Earth. The video, posted to YouTube, triggered a debate about the existence of alien spaceships.

A disc-shaped object can be seen flying across the stunning moon in the footage posted by channel FindingUFO.

David McCarty, based in the US, said: "The November 2016 Beaver moon supermoon was the largest supermoon since 1948.

"I thought this would be a special thing to film but when I was reviewing the video in full screen I noticed something even more impressive.

"I had caught a UFO passing in front of the supermoon! Watch carefully at about 00:51 for it to pass along the bottom of the lunar disc."

Alien theorists believed that the video points at the existence of the extraterrestrials living on moon.

In close up, the UFO is visible over the super moon surface.

Kaun Australis said: "Amazing clip! It is a phenomenon seen anytime you look at the Moon's edge".

"Never seen anything like it! There's a lot of footage of objects leaving the moon, as more people get better telescopes it's being observed more often".

One astronaut said: "I'm having these light flashes".

"This is unusual as a UFO in orbit that possesses a haze mist around it", said Waring, as reported by Express. "Most likely identification - bird".

Gary McKinnon, a former hacker, who has been convicted for hacking into NASA and U.S. military-related data, joined the debate too.

According to Nature World News, YouTube channel had a video which showed that an unidentified flying saucer was seen passing by the Supermoon in the Arizona sky. Given their shapes and sizes, the YouTuber concluded that they could not be anything else but large alien vessels orbiting around Earth's natural satellite.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are constantly in the eye of the media because of their growing proximity and their relationship only seems to be getting stronger with each passing day. Though they have not spoken anything about their marriage, it seems like wedding figures into their future plan. Everyone seems to be getting those vibes and one wonders if they will spend their honeymoon in Antigua, Caribbean.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not spending Thanksgiving together but they are very much in love and thinking of a future together, reports Hollywood Take. At present, Harry is busy in his two-week Caribbean tour while Markle just finished shooting for the latest season of "Suits." She seems to be enjoying the break and recently posted a snapshot of a well-roasted turkey on Instagram, expressing apprehensions if she would be able to repeat the feat this year as well.

The 35-year-old actress revealed that she would be using the time-consuming brining technique for her cooking. Sadly, Harry would not be there to take a bite but it is not like they would remain separate for long. Speculations of their Christmas party have been doing the rounds and they are also expected to take a romantic vacation together after Harry returns from the Caribbean island.

Speaking of Caribbean island, it looks like Antigua could become the honeymoon spot after Prince Harry and Markle's wedding. The Prime Minister Gaston Browne has already suggested that the Prince can enjoy his honeymoon over there, claims People. During an event, Browne said that he has been told that there may be a new princess and therefore, should the Prince make the decision to honeymoon, then Antigua and Barbuda would love to welcome him and his wife.

Praising his country, he said that it has been voted as the best honeymoon destination in the Caribbean and is one of the best in the world. So, there will be nowhere in the world as special to spend his honeymoon, when that day arrives.

The remark left Harry abashed and he found himself unable to say anything and just fiddled with his shirt to avoid eye contact.

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NASA has once against decided to collaborate with Elon Musk's private space agency SpaceX to launch a special mission in 2021. This mission involves the launch of a satellite to conduct a survey of surface water present on Earth.

While NASA has collaborated with SpaceX in the past as well for several future missions, the recent one is a bit special as it focuses on Earth. The first of its kind mission will put a satellite into Earth's orbit in the next five years, according to Inverse.com.

The mission has been dubbed SWOT, which stands for the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission. For the first time in the history, a satellite will be launched as a part of this mission to conduct a global survey of the Earth's surface water.

The satellite will be designed to survey 90 percent of the planet's surface twice in every 21 days. This will be done to study how waters bodies, primarily oceans and rivers, change over a period of time.

As a part of the mission, the satellite will study all major water bodies - including oceans, rivers and small freshwater reservoirs. The scientists aim to study the data collected by the satellite to develop better ocean circulation models and conduct better freshwater management. In addition, it is believed that the mission will also help in making better predictions related to the climate and weather.

According to Satellite Today, the entire mission would cost NASA around $112 millions. The cost of the project includes the launch of the satellite, payload integration, tracking, spacecraft processing and data and telemetry support.

As of now, both NASA and SpaceX are planning a April 2021 launch for the satellite with the help of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The lift off is expected to happen from the Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch service at SpaceX will be managed by NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The SWOT project office is based in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

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A special set of Grand Designs programmes starts tonight in the run-up to the coveted Royal Institute of British Architects' House of the Year prize, to be awarded next month.

In the first episode, host Kevin McCloud and Riba judges Damion Burrows and Zac Monro visit five rural homes that are both spectacular and unusual.

Fellow judge Jonathan Dallas says: "We're looking for something that's ultimately inspiring, has responded well to a site, a place you can call home."

Outhouse has outdoor spaces where there were once farm buildings / Charles Hosea

THE SPECTACULAR HOME HIDDEN IN A HILLSIDE

Outhouse, Gloucestershire

"This first house just doesn't belong to the hill, it's become a part of it," says McCloud, as he introduces the remarkable Outhouse, in the ancient, unspoiled landscape of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.

The 5,300 sq ft three-bedroom house is on the site of a former farmhouse, garage and pig sty, and architect Chris Loyn paid tribute to the new house's origins in a most unusual way - by flipping everything inside out.

A green roof that conceals the house, Loyn says: "We left the footprints of the buildings and scooped the meadow over the top."

Owners artists Michael and Jean Dunwell use micro scooters to get about the vast property where they have separate studios.

Anstey Plum is a lavish but sensitive restoration of a modernist gem / Katie Lock

THE MODERNIST GEM

Ansty Plum, Wiltshire

In Ansty Plum, the judges confounded expectations that the contest is only about new houses by longlisting one built in 1962.

However, Kevin says the reason it was longlisted was that it had been a project to "lovingly bring architectural heritage back from the dead and make it fit for the 21st century".

Ansty Plum, in the tiny hamlet of Ansty, six miles from Shaftesbury, was designed by renowned architect David Levitt, but was falling apart when architect Sandra Coppin and her husband Nico de Beer bought it.

When the couple moved into the 1,800sq ft two-bedroom house, there was no heating and their first winter was so cold that Nico took to warming his hands in the fridge. A sensitive 14-month renovation project followed.

Sandra says: "There was a lot of unpicking, it's like your favourite woolly jumper that's been moth-eaten, you have to start to unravel bits of it before you can start knitting it back together.

"We recognised that this was something very special that had somehow slipped through the 20th century virtually unnoticed."

A spartan farm building outside, Zinc-House is luxurious on the inside / Mark O'Connor

THE MAGNIFICENT 'METAL SHED'

Zinc-House, Scotland

The Zinc-House, near Monikie, in Angus, Scotland, won the attention of the judges for its ability to hide.

The 5,600sq ft four-bedroom house, designed by architect Graeme Hutton, was singled out for tackling one of the questions of the moment - what should we be building in our rural landscapes?

The architect set out to make something that situated itself into the landscape almost invisibly. The finished building resembles a 21st century farm on the outside, but contains a modernist villa within.

The Owers House boasts a breathtaking 38ft cantilever living area / James Morris

A VILLA REIMAGINED

The Owers House, Cornwall

The longlisted properties leap from the rugged landscape of eastern Scotland to the idyllic Fal estuary in Cornwall, where architect John Pardey found himself designing a home yards from one of Britain's most famous modernist homes.

Of the glass and breezeblocks of Creek Vean, built in 1966 by Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, Pardey says: "I was intimidated. Any great house transcends its time, so I wanted to pay respect to it."

The Owers House reimagines the villa as a contemporary Californian home.

Most delightful about the 3,000sq ft, four-bedroom house is the breathtaking 38ft cantilever which houses the vast living area, providing views for seven miles down the estuary.

Helen Owers, who lives there with husband Paul, says: "It was all about getting the maximum view, we've now got a view from pretty much every room in the house."

Le Petit Fort's forbidding looks serve to create a sheltered haven / Edmund Sumner

THE POWERFUL FORTRESS

Le Petit Fort, Jersey

From California dreamin' to a literal fortress, Le Petit Fort was designed by Anthony Hudson to provide protection from the harshest weathers the Atlantic could throw at it.

The four-bedroom, 5,100sq ft house in St Ouen sits behind a vast sea wall and from the outside looks forbidding and austere.

But inside Hudson has provided what at first sight seems missing from what every new coastal home automatically offers.

As Kevin walks through the house, he's perplexed that he has to crouch to get a sea view. "There's a funny thing going on, these windows only offer a view when you sit down. This is a house for sitting down in, I call that a treat."

Hudson says he used steel and three types of local granite to reflect the dominant coastal architecture of Jersey of Napoleonic Martello towers and sinister concrete German defences.

Kevin concludes: "This house is powerful, a worthy addition to the fortifications and towers, but within the embrace of its walls it is all glamour."

Grand Designs: House of the Year is on Channel 4 on Thursdays at 9pm
News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Tuesday, October 25, 4:30  7 p.m.

Orr Area EMS Open House

Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798.

Orr Fire Hall

4540 Lake St., Orr

Tuesday, October 25, 12  6 p.m.

Essentia Health Job Fair

Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org.

901 9th St. N., Virginia
Bangkok -- Best Western Hotels & Resorts has celebrated the start of construction of the first trendy Vib Hotel in Bangkok.

The company held a ground-breaking ceremony for the new property on November 10 2016, in the up-and-coming area of Sanampao, North Bangkok, close to the BTS Skytrain network.

Best Western first unveiled its cutting-edge Vib concept in 2015, promising social engagement, integrated technology and consistent service for today's connected traveler. Vib Bangkok Sanampao represents a new era of Best Western hotels in Thailand, and in Asia.

Vib Bangkok Sanampao is being developed by the same company that owns the recently-opened Best Western Plus Wanda Grand Hotel, which is also located in North Bangkok. The new-build Vib hotel is scheduled to open in late 2017.

"We are delighted to be partnering with the owner of Best Western Plus Wanda Grand Hotel once again for another exciting hotel in Bangkok," said Olivier Berrivin, Best Western's Managing Director of International Operations for Asia. "Best Western Plus Wanda Grand Hotel has been a great success since it opened earlier this year, and I am confident that Vib Bangkok Sanampao will be similarly popular with guests.

With its ultra-modern design, state-of-the-art amenities and bright, vibrant social spaces, Vib Bangkok Sanampao will resonate with Asia's new generation of travelers. We look forward to introducing this exciting new concept to Thailand in late 2017," Mr. Berrivin added.

Just a few steps away from BTS station, Vib Bangkok Sanampao will feature a total of 89 modern, functional rooms, all equipped with international power outlets, flat-screen TVs and complimentary Wi-Fi.

As per the Vib brand concept, the hotel will feature a social lobby area with free Wi-Fi, "grab-n-go" snack stations, a fitness center and more.

Vib Bangkok Sanampao will join Best Western's growing portfolio in Thailand, which currently includes hotels in Bangkok, Phuket and Buriram. The company will also enter a series of new markets in the coming years, including Pattaya, Hua Hin and Krabi, as well as adding more hotels in Bangkok.

About BWH Hotel Group

BWH Hotel Group is a leading, global hospitality network comprised of three hotel companies, including WorldHotels Collection, Best Western Hotels & Resorts and SureStay Hotel Group. The global network boasts approximately 4,500 hotels in over 100 countries and territories worldwide*. With 18 brands across every chain scale segment, from economy to luxury, BWH Hotel Group suits the needs of developers and guests in every market.

WorldHotels

WorldHotels Collection is a privately held hotel soft brand within the BWH Hotel Group global network. Founded by independent hoteliers dedicated to the art of hospitality, and celebrating its 50th year anniversary in 2021, WorldHotels offers one of the finest portfolios of independent hotels and resorts around the globe, expertly curated to inspire unique, life enriching experiences that connect people and places. WorldHotels is comprised of four unique collections, each with its own personality and style to appeal to the needs of today's traveler. The collections include: WorldHotels Luxury, WorldHotels Elite, WorldHotels Distinctive and WorldHotels Crafted. For more information visit WorldHotels.com.

*Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

Siriporn Trachoo

Marketing & Communications Best Western International  Asia

+66 2 656 1260

BWH Hotel Group
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A fall from grace is never graceful. Earlier today, former King of the Youth Ian Connor tweeted out a screenshot of a text message conversation he had with Drizzy Drake. Discussing revenge and beef, Drake (who seems to be friends with Ian Connor based on his tone) vented about the constant shots people take at him. Drake seems to blame the problems of others on why he gets so much hate. Heres what the text says:

Trust bro. The blissful times of being new and exciting and non threatening are over. There is real people suffering thru issues based around their own misery and frustrations and their reaction to it all is being taken out on those that threaten their bubble. Anyone that disrupts that feelings of the world revolving around them. Kobe ended his career with an entire campaign about how much people hate him. What a way to have to exit. To feel like I was too good that even in my farewell we have to address the years you spent hating me for it. Just dont let it make you bitter. Pls. I am happy despite waking up everyday and someone new flipping on me or talking down. And I have grown to the point that revenge makes me happy because my revenge isnt malicious its warranted.

This summer, prior to the outbreak of sexual assault allegations, Ian Connor modeled for the OVO Summer 16 lookbook. We seriously doubt hes getting the gig again next summer.

Drake
The new film, entitled The Welfare of Tomas O Hallissy, is the artists first film based in the Republic of Ireland and is produced with support from Bord Scannan na hEireann/the Irish Film Board.

The work will be presented at IMMA this weekend and will run from 25 November 2016  7 May 2017. It is the artist's first new work since he won the Turner Prize back in 2014, when he became the first Irish person to do so.

The Welfare of Tomas O Hallissy is filmed in and around the Kerry village of Dun Chaoin and directly integrates newly scripted material shot with actors with footage from Paul Hockings and Mark McCartys 1968 documentary film The Village which was also set in Dun Chaoin.

Indeed this new film is set against a fictional visit by two American anthropologists to Dun Chaoin, mirroring the premise of Hockings and McCartys 1968 documentary. Campbells original material also echoes key scenes from documentary that captured the day to day routine of the village; the creamery, turf cutting, rabbit hunting and gatherings in the local pub. In revisiting these scenes, Campbell looks at some of the assumptions, ethics and misconceptions that frame the relationship between the filmmakers and the villagers.

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As with many of Campbells works The Welfare of Tomas o Hallissy questions the validity of documentary form as historical representation, blurring fact, and fiction, recording and interpretation. His extensive research into a specific time and context uncovers the unknown and unexpected in a representation of Ireland that at first seems familiar. On one level The Welfare of Tomas o Hallissy represents the uses and misuses of the past as the implications of the societal shifts and misrepresentations it explores still resonate and inform contemporary Ireland today.
The audience for tonights gig are a most well-mannered and genial crowd. Be-spectacled, bearded for the most part, and from where Im standing smelling strongly of soap. There are few signs of vulgar selfie-taking and little annoying chatter. They wait expectantly.

The band stroll nonchalantly onto the bare-bones stage before launching into Start Again and we are immediately enveloped in a warm blanket of inclusivity. Teenage Fanclub have been together for so long that they harmonise like siblings, the three core-members' egalitarian approach touched by the guiding-spirit of Gene Clark  no coincidence that they once wrote a song about him.

The set proceeds in avuncular manner, every gaffe  false starts and bum notes  dismissed with tolerant and affectionate good-cheer. After Darkest Part Of The Night from latest album Here, guitarist Raymond McGinley and keyboard-player Dave McGowan  doubling on guitar  are introduced as, Slash and Tony Iommi." At times all five members join together to create a heavenly choir of sweet and tender contrapunt borne on crashing waves of guitar  West Coast via North Lanarkshire.
It's become the annual Thanksgiving controversy: Should all stores (save for the ones hawking turkey and stuffing) be closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday so that employees can enjoy the holiday with their families?

Several employers think so, resulting in a growing list of stores closed on Thanksgiving and the Friday after, which has become a dreaded nightmare for anyone who works retail.

>>See the gallery above for an ongoing list of shops that will be closed Thanksgiving. Those stores that will re-open for Black Friday are noted with anticipated hours.

"In speaking to over 30 retailers, the general consensus seems to be so their 'employees and customers can enjoy Thanksgiving with their friends and families,' " BlackFriday.com reports. The site has taken to compiling a mega-list of all the shops that are closing Nov. 24, including notes for ones that that will re-open early for Black Friday. (Story continues below.)

"Because of the massive profit potential, the biggest stores like Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Macy's and Sears will open their doors on Thanksgiving," the site states.

For those who can't bear the idea of missing out on sales, it's worth noting that most of the storefronts closed on Thanksgiving will still be taking orders online and offering e-discounts.

RELATED: Thanksgiving traditions people can't live without

Adobe reported that last year online shoppers would spend a record $4.45 billion on Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day. And that figure did not include Cyber Monday sales. Over all, it marked a 25 percent increase year-over-year for Thanksgiving Day and a 24-percent increase for Black Friday.

"The five best selling electronic products on Black Friday were Samsung 4K TVs, Apple iPad Air 2, Microsoft Xbox One, Apple iPad Mini and Sony PS4," the report showed. "The five most popular toys were Lego Dimensions, Shopkin dolls, Lego Star Wars, Barbie Dream House and Lego Friends."
PECOS - Two Midland oil companies and Dallas-based J. Cleo Thompson intentionally failed to meet their end of an agreement with Dallas oil mogul T. Boone Pickens to acquire and drill more than 160 oil wells in Reeves and Pecos counties, a West Texas jury ruled Wednesday.

After about three hours of deliberation over the course of two days, the Reeves County jury of five women and seven men awarded Pickens' Mesa Petroleum Partners up to a combined $146 million in damages against the three defendants.

The defendants, through lawyers and other representatives, said they plan to appeal.

The verdict follows a three-week trial in a decade-old business dispute in which Pickens claimed that J. Cleo Thompson, Baytech and Delaware Basin Resources improperly cut Mesa out of a lucrative deal in the Red Bull region of the Permian Basin.

"We have maintained from the beginning that Mesa's oil and gas interests were taken from it illegally," said Chrysta Castaneda, who represented Pickens in the litigation. "The Red Bull is part of what is now one of the biggest resource plays in the world, and we are hopeful that the jury's decision here will mean that the long history of fair dealings in the oil industry continues."

The jury hit Baytech and Delaware Basin with a $130 million judgment, plus legal fees, and J. Cleo Thompson with damages of more than $12 million, plus attorneys' fees, according to lawyers for Pickens.

Houston attorney Stuart Hollimon, who represents Baytech and DBR, said his clients disagreed with the jury's verdict.

"We are, of course, disappointed and will be reviewing the record of the case and consulting with our clients to determine what our course of action will be at this point," said Hollimon, a partner at Andrews Kurth in Houston.

Paul Rudnicki, chief financial officer of J. Cleo Thompson, said in a statement that the company was pleased that the jury rejected the initial $1 billion that Pickens demanded.

The jury's award against J. Cleo Thompson "is a fraction of what Mr. Pickens and his lawyers originally sought," Rudnicki said. "We believe the evidence does not support the verdict that J. Cleo Thompson breached the joint operating agreement."

Lawyers for Pickens argued that J. Cleo Thompson, another legendary name in the industry, conspired with Baytech and DBR to steal Mesa's 15 percent interest in the Red Bull project.

Defense attorneys told jurors that their clients did nothing wrong and that Pickens willingly opted out of the deal.

Lawyers for J. Cleo Thompson and the two exploration and production companies argued that Pickens only brought the lawsuit to repair his own ego and shift the blame from himself for cashing out of a deal that in 2014 became very lucrative.

Tim McConn, a lawyer for Baytech and DBR, told jurors that Pickens "told you from the stand himself, 'I'm dealing with crooks.' So instead of taking responsibility for the decision  he's calling these people crooks. They're not crooks. They're good people."

For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net.
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BISMARCK, N.D. - North Dakota's governor and congressional delegation are pressuring President Barack Obama to pave the way for completion of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, protests over which they say are taxing law enforcement and are costing millions of dollars.

Republicans Gov. Jack Dalrymple, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer implored the Democrat in a letter Wednesday to authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the pipeline's crossing under a Missouri River reservoir in southern North Dakota.

'Lives at risk'

It is the final large segment of the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline to carry North Dakota oil to a shipping point in Illinois that's been held up while the Corps consults with the Standing Rock Sioux, who believe the project could harm the tribe's drinking water and Native American cultural sites. Months of protests have taken place near Lake Oahe.

Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline earlier this month, which Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dallas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, told the Associated Press is not an option from the company's standpoint. Obama said hisadministration is monitoring the "challenging situation" but would "let it play out for several more weeks."

"Your inaction on the pending easement has created undue hardship and uncertainty for area residents, private landowners, tribal members, construction workers and law enforcement personnel," Dalrymple, Hoeven and Cramer told Obama.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said Wednesday she also pressed the White House to make a decision, saying inaction "has put lives at risk."

Protests have intensified in recent weeks, with total arrests since August rising to 528, and a clash earlier in the week near the main protest camp left a police officer and several protesters injured. One of them, Sophia Wilansky, 21, of New York, suffered an arm injury in an explosion during the skirmish and is hospitalized. Protesters say she was injured by a grenade thrown by police, while police say she was hurt by a small propane tank that protesters rigged to explode.

The protests have garnered the attention of several celebrities, two of which - Jane Fonda and Shailene Woodley - will be at the Standing Rock reservation Thursday to help serve Thanksgiving dinner to 2,000 protesters.

Law enforcement cost

The North Dakota lawmakers also asked for federal law enforcement help to police the protests.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said Monday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be providing some Border Patrol agents to help his department, the state Highway Patrol and officers from other states, though he didn't say how many.

Another issue for the state is the cost of policing the protests, which is up to more than $11.8 million, state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong said Wednesday.

The department will seek another $7 million in emergency borrowing on Nov. 30 on top of the $10 million borrowed earlier this year, Fong said.

Morton County also has spent more than $8 million policing protests, and county officials have said they may apply for state reimbursement.
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CORPUS CHRISTI - The Art Museum of South Texas seemed strangely quiet one afternoon in early fall, as a two-block line of Selena fans snaked around the convention center next door.

The museum had just unveiled the biggest project in its history, "The Color of Being / El Color del Ser," a retrospective that honors one of Texas' most fascinating and important 20th century artists.

Dorothy Hood, who died 16 years ago, at 82, remains an enigmatic figure among those who were in her orbit. She had a love-hate relationship with her hometown of Houston, where dealers and collectors kept her afloat and allowed her canvases to soar but she often felt isolated, and superior. She could be quietly charming but also alienated people.

Yet all these years later, Hood still has ardent supporters who think - as she always did - that her work deserves more recognition. "The Color of Being" aims to put her in a pantheon of great American modern artists that includes Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler.

The show fills both of the museum's buildings with a gob-smacking assortment of monumental abstract paintings, vibrant collages and mysterious drawings that evidence a powerful talent with a unique visual language.

More Information The Color of Being / El Color del Ser When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. Sundays, through Jan. 8 Where: Art Museum of South Texas, 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi Info: $4-$8, children under 12 free; 361-825-3500, artmuseumofsouthtexas.org See More Collapse

Hood's best works can seem as profound and disorienting as a statement she once wrote: "A great painting makes you remember something out of time, something great and perfect, as a happening which did not begin but always was."

She could manipulate a riot of techniques on a single canvas:

Vein-like rivulets that ran as she poured paint thinned with turpentine.

Limpid washes with soot-like flares that can make canvases look puckered from a distance.

Jagged passages of decalcomania, a mottled effect achieved by applying paint with crumpled tin foil or paper.

Bold "fencing" strokes that show the clear lines of her brushes.

Taped-off fields of solid color.

Glowing sprays of light that appear to be emerging from behind clouds or over horizons.

These flourishes can look as aqueous as the matter inside a lava lamp or as jagged as lightning bolts, often colliding against each other in an audacious, high-contrast palette. Her masterpieces seem so charged they might spontaneously combust when you look away.

"Everything with Dorothy is dualities: light and dark, life and death, above and below, heaven and earth, he and she," said Susie Kalil, the freelance curator who spent four years researching and organizing "The Color of Being," also producing a large book.

Quietly intense and on one of the biggest missions of her career, Kalil treats Hood with religious fervor. Years ago, the artist told Kalil she wanted viewers to "hear the lions roar and the drums beat" - a spellbinding idea that has become Kalil's mantra.

"When I stand in front of those 10-foot paintings I feel this reverberation in my stomach, like a rocket's taking off," she said. "It just transports me."

Ideas of existence

The day the show opened, Kalil marveled Hood's largest painting, the 7-foot-high-by-12-foot-long "Minoan Blue." "This is every bit as good as a Motherwell or a Frankenthaler," she said. "Nobody of her generation had Dorothy's range."

"Minoan Blue" demonstrates Hood's techniques as well as her ability to confront scale, Kalil said. "The larger she worked, the better she got."

Hood tackled ideas about existence as she exalted in the mysteries of nature - inspired by grand expanses of Texas sky, NASA space imagery, geology, sea creatures, flowers and epic human mythologies.

She also strove to paint what was beyond the visible - always searching for the sublime place where the chaotic cosmos and universes of the psyche intersect, behind the so-called "mind's eye."

Hood's paintings don't enthrall everyone, though.

"When they're very very good, they're very very good," said Clint Willour, another curator who specializes in Texas art. "But that's a handful of paintings out of a lifetime of work."

Kalil agrees that the prolific Hood, like many other artists, didn't always hit perfect chords. In her haste to make a living, she sold bad paintings, too.

Some curators prefer Hood's more spontaneous, playful and intimate collages, which are composed from newspaper clippings, patterned papers, gift wrap, gold and silver leaf, textile scraps and torn bits of her canvases.

The collages offer a better window into all the things that fed Hood's insatiable appetite for art, from Pre-Columbian artifacts to works by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst and many others.

But the virtuosity of Hood's poetic, seductively detailed pen and ink drawings never fails to astonish everyone who sees them.

These works hum with tensile strength built from thousands of fragile-looking lines. They're like precisely executed symphonies, brimming with fiercely psychological imagery.

Haunting, autobiographical figures fill the earliest drawings with the tormented swirl of Hood's lonely childhood. Her later drawn images are spacey, surreal and full of potent sexual imagery, with flowers that might make even Georgia O'Keeffe blush.

"Our viewpoint of Hood has been so narrow," Kalil said. "This really shows how many octaves she could reach."

An "Enigmatic Vessel"

An only child whose parents were strict Germanic-Swedes from Nebraska and Kansas, Hood grew up in comfortable, upper-middle-class surroundings. But the Hood home was near the Houston Zoo, so she also tuned into the more primal world outside her open bedroom windows. At night, young Dorothy heard hyenas laugh.

Her father gave her a taste of life above the earth in a small plane he co-owned, but also pulled the ground out from under her. Her parents divorced when Hood was 11, leading to a dark and transient adolescence spent largely with her depressed and frail mother, who had tuberculosis and went blind in one eye. Hood couldn't walk for a year after a bout of pneumonia.

Despite the hardships, she emerged as a beautiful, strong, precocious and talented teenager. She won a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, a launching pad to 20 years of adventure.

"I was always a risky person," Hood says in the 1985 documentary "The Color of Life."

That was wildly apparent during her early 20s, when Hood was living in New York, working as a model and hanging out with edgy artists like the surrealist Roberto Matta.

In 1941, Hood and two friends drove her old roadster to Mexico City, and Hood stayed, enthralled by the warm sense of freedom and churning intellectual scene.

Mexico in the 1940s was like Paris in the 1920s, the gathering ground for surrealists who had fled war-torn Europe, politically-minded muralists and a global cadre of poets, novelists and filmmakers. This was the golden era of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and Pablo Neruda.

Hood - a head-turning, statuesque strawberry blond - had no trouble finding her way into that male-dominated world.

"She went full-tilt boho, down the rabbit hole," Kalil said.

Neruda helped the aspiring artist get her first gallery show of drawings; it sold out, and the buyers included the Museum of Modern Art. Orozco, old enough to be her grandfather, became a passionate mentor.

Hood's mother made several arduous bus trips, trying to bring her home to Houston. She gave up after Hood married Bolivian composer and filmmaker Jose Maria Velasco Maidana, who was 22 years her senior.

Maidana's conducting jobs and other business ventures across the Americas kept the couple's lifestyle thrilling but nomadic, and a less driven artist than Hood might have abandoned her own career. Instead, she built relationships with important curators and dealers that would last for years.

New York's prestigious Willard Gallery gave Hood a solo show in 1950, although her first small paintings didn't impress the critics as original enough. She persevered through about a decade to develop her signature painting style.

When Parkinson's disease cut Maidana's career short, Hood finally came home, needing a steady teaching job. Her mother was nearby, and an aunt left her a Woodland Heights bungalow.

Meredith Long, the most powerful art dealer in town, signed Hood to his roster, doled out a monthly stipend to keep her afloat, kept commissions and shows coming, and got her art into important museum collections.

Finally, Hood had a place of her own to paint, and a reason: Her bold, increasingly large canvases appealed to corporate collectors and the owners of mansions in the River Oaks and Memorial neighborhoods, who had big walls to fill.

Hood was often treated as the only female equal among the handful of male artists who dominated Houston's art scene during the 1960s and 70s. Dee Wolff, one of her former students, fondly recalls how Hood swooshed into the museum school studio in flowing caftans: "You knew she was somebody."

Hood painted her first 10-foot canvases for a solo show at the Contemporary Arts Museum in 1970, launching a decade of successes. She won awards. She had shows in Europe. The ballet commissioned her to create sets and costumes. She was everywhere.

Except New York galleries.

Hood couldn't get that kind of traction in an era dominated by abstract expressionism, and she wasn't willing to change her art to suit their premise that painting needed no subject other than itself.

And she sabotaged herself at home, demanding too much of people she depended on.

She only called her much younger half-brother, Frank Hood, when she needed something, he said. "I get along with her art better than I ever got along with her."

He owns about 15 of her paintings - purchases, not gifts. The exception is an early piece he stored in a closet after she asked him to throw it away.

Dorothy Hood left a debris field of relationships, but her split with Long was the most devastating.

"He cuts a wide swath, even in New York," Frank Hood said. Long's wife is a lifetime trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Long severed his ties with Hood because she was selling work directly to collectors, cutting him out of the deals - a huge no-no in the art world.

Hood had romantic secrets, too. As Maidana grew invalid, she found the love of her life in Baron Krister Kuylenstierna, a dashing European who knew Frank Lloyd Wright, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Bette Davis and important collectors. They traveled together for about 14 years, and corresponded almost daily, until he died in 1987.

After Maidana died in 1989, Hood found a more unlikely younger companion, Krishna Dronamraju, whose background in genetic research impressed her. Facing her own mortality with breast cancer, she felt drawn to India, the seat of Hindu spirituality; and Dronamraju had contacts there.

They made the journey twice. Hood was still frail from a mastectomy and chemotherapy on the second trip. She broke her leg, and Dronamraju called Frank Hood for cash to get her home.

The final tab of about $30,000 turned out to be Frank Hood's last straw, because Dorothy refused to pay him back. He hired a lawyer, and won.

With Dronamraju in control, many of Hood's friends drifted out of the picture during her last years. She left him her entire estate.

"That's the really sad thing, that she drove friends and relatives away and ended up with him," said Frank Hood.

Rediscovery

Many of the 155 works in "The Color of Being" have not been shown publicly in years, or ever. About a third are from the permanent collection of the Art Museum of South Texas, which acquired most of Hood's studio contents from Dronamraju in 2001 for for $50,000 - the amount of Hood's final medical bill.

The deal went down as a kind of emergency, because Dronamraju was unloading Hood's house, too; but museum director William Otton thought it was too important to ignore.

"We are a regional museum that had the opportunity to acquire what I consider the mother of modern art in this state," he said during a panel talk. "She was the first one, in my opinion, doing the kind of work that could hold up anywhere in the United States."

Otton hauled two, 24-foot truckloads of art, archives and memorabilia from Hood's studio to the museum's basement, where it sat for more than a decade, through a building expansion and a change in directors.

When Kalil took on the project in 2012, she found three pallets, each six feet wide and tall, piled with hundreds of shrink-wrapped boxes. Some of the contents were molding: The museum's vault sidles up to the seawall of Corpus Christi Bay.

The boxes held decades' worth of journals, letters, receipts, credit card bills, you name it. Like a truffle hound on scent, Kalil scoured the files to piece together Hood's life story and understand how her art developed. She coaxed 65 lenders, including private collectors and major museums, to participate.

"It was like peeling an onion," Kalil said. "Every museum I went to, they never pull these paintings out. Nobody had seen them."

It's hard to believe a painting as big as "Minoan Blue" could disappear, but Kalil spent a year and a half tracking it down. Passed from a Fort Worth bank to a private collector, it was sitting in a warehouse in Arlington, Texas. She has a lot of stories like that.

Kalil's quest yielded some hoodoo moments, too.

Her friend Norris Fergeson owned an orgasmic-looking red canvas titled "Out of Africa: She." Kalil knew it was half of a diptych, but had no idea if the mate - a "He" canvas - still existed. Then one night, as she and Norris walked a dog on Ferndale Street, there "He" was, glowing through a window, in a law firm's reception room. Kalil recognized the work immediately, even though the owners had hung the vertical painting horizontally.

No ragged edges

So why isn't Hood better remembered? Is it really because she was a woman, living in Texas, as many people say?

"That's an easy way out," Willour said. "Agnes Martin was stuck in New Mexico ... and she's recognized as one of the greatest painters ever."

Martin's canvases sell for millions of dollars, he noted, while Hood's can still be had for $15,000 to $30,000. "If she's that great, it seems like the market would be there," Willour said.

Kalil believes Hood's work has long been undervalued because the artist's career hasn't been thoroughly, critically examined until now. She said prices are already rising.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curator Alison de Lima Greene sounded philosophical about Hood's legacy.

"She wanted the sun, the moon and the stars, and she got some of them," Greene said. "Dorothy may have felt she didn't get as much as she deserved, but boy, she got a lot.  She was collected in ways many artists would envy."

Yet even today, Hood's affairs seem prone to friction.

Houston philanthropist Carolyn Farb, a Hood champion since the 1980s, spearheaded a $1.3 million campaign to support "The Color of Being," then withdrew her two large paintings and boycotted the opening.

She is furious that the museum spent as much as $500,000 on interactive technology toys for the show instead of applying more funds to advancing Hood's legacy. Farb, Kalil and Willour believe the huge effort of "The Color of Being" will be wasted if the show doesn't travel to other venues.

It closes in six weeks, and current museum director Joe Schenk said the full display would be impossible to repeat. No other institution is likely to devote so much space to Hood. And managing so many borrowed works is expensive and time-consuming.

Greene thinks Kalil's excellent book will be the enduring takeaway for scholars. "No show is definitive; every show opens a door to another show," she said.

The artist Richard Stout traveled from Houston to attend the show's opening, even though he and Hood were estranged for years.

"Dorothy really doesn't have any ragged edges," he said. "It astounds me that the MFAH did not have this show. They need to deal with this."

James Harithas, who championed Hood as early as the 1960s, gets almost the last word in Kalil's book. "Unless you acknowledge your own artists, you've got nothing," he writes. "It's like you don't recognize yourself."

The people at the convention center that October day might have understood. They were buying makeup from a new collection inspired by Selena, the late Tejano superstar, but it wasn't about vanity. Selena is like a patron saint in Corpus, and even a tube of lipstick with her name on it can be a sacred relic imbued with hometown pride.

Maybe if a show as powerful as "The Color of Being" happened in Houston, Hood's hometown fans would line up that way, too.
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In this post-election cooling-off period, agreeing to disagree and moving on seem the safest strategy for Thanksgiving dinner. If your guest list is going to be at all diverse, this may be the only way to guarantee safe passage for all. In that same vein, don't be dogmatic about your wine pairings. If there's one meal all year - even in less contentious times - when they don't need to be obsessed over, this is the one.

Everything pretty much works with everything because there's too much of everything to get bogged down in geeky details. Is cabernet a great match for turkey? No. But, if Uncle Joe likes cabernet and pouring him a couple of glasses keeps him from getting grumpy, just do it. I'd have a cheap pinot grigio on hand, too. Even nonwine-drinkers seem to embrace pinot grigio without scrunching up their faces in disgust.

One good Thanksgiving rule of thumb is to drink American unless the intent is to make an in-your-face political statement. (But I thought we'd already agreed it's best to avoid those.) After all, it's an American holiday with quintessentially American dishes being served, so why complicate things?

Also, sweeter tends to work better with traditional Thanksgiving staples, and wines from California generally fit the bill. That's why Sonoma County chardonnays and pinot noirs and Lodi zinfandels are so frequently touted as the ideal pours on Turkey Day.

More Information About our recommendations Eight to 12 tasters, a mix of industry professionals and knowledgeable consumers, convene once per month to sample 40 to 50 wines with Dale Robertson, the Houston Chronicle's wine columnist. The grape varietals are identified, but the labels are covered, meaning the panelists know neither the name of the producer nor the country of origin. A 10-point scale is used, with a taster's score of 8.5 or higher considered a recommendation. The quality score is the average of the tasters' scores. The value score and, hence, the overall score are determined by Robertson once a wine has been selected to receive a recommendation. Value is based on the price listed. See More Collapse

Having said that, my list of wines to consider for last-minute shopping unapologetically includes a foreign interloper, the Domaine Balandran rose from the South of France. It's simply too tasty, too cheap and too versatile to not be considered. This one's certain to be invited to my party.

And, being of the opinion that rose is always a superb option for Thanksgiving, I'm thinking the wine that might make the most folks happy would be a domestic pink sparkler. Nothing says "festive" more than bubbles, and the ones made in the USA do tend to be sweeter than their French counterparts. I'm including a couple here that did very well in a recent Chronicle tasting and should be easily found.

Note that all the wines listed, with tasting notes from our panel, scored a perfect 10 for value. That's important. If you're not over-thinking your wine choices, you definitely shouldn't be over-paying, either. Prices listed are what Spec's charges for a cash purchase.

BUBBLES

Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noirs NV

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave this 100 percent pinot noir a unanimous recommendation with two scores of 9.1. "Crisp and elegant. Nice mousse. Long finish." My score: 9. "Complex, delicious!"

Price: $16.99

BUBBLES

Domaine Chandon Brut Rose

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with four scores of 9 or higher. "Subtle red fruit. Fine finish." My score: 9. "Layers of flavor. An elegant but fun wine."

Price: $17.19

ROSE

2015 Balandran 'Les Mugues'

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with four scores of 9. "Bright fruit flavors. Long, satisfying finish." My score: 9. "Tart and acidic but also fruit-forward."

Price: $13.89

ROSE

2015 Toad Hollow Rose

Overall score: 18.8 (8.8 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9. "Cherries and tangerines. Tart." My score: 8.8. "Ripe strawberries. Pleasant, easy drinking."

Price: $9.79ZINFANDEL

2014 Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel

Overall score: 18.8 (8.8 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.2. "Jammy, ripe, sweet fruit with peppery notes. Easy drinking." My score: 8.8. "Blackberries and tart cherries."

Price: $8.49CHARDONNAY

2014 The Dreaming Tree Chardonnay

Overall score: 18.8 (8.8 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9. "Yellow apples and pears with a touch of vanilla." My score: 9. "Well-balanced. Easy drinking."

Price: $14.49 PINOT NOIR

2014 Duckhorn Decoy Pinot Noir

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.1. "Pomegranates on the nose, bright Bing cherries on the palate." My score: 8.9. "Round and fruity. Easy drinking."

Price: $17.69 BUBBLES

Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blancs NV

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave this 100 percent chardonnay a unanimous recommendation with two scores of 9 or higher. "Fresh fruit and bright acidity. Well-balanced. Very nice!" My score: 8.9. "Green apples, pears. Loved the acidity."

Price: $14.79 CHARDONNAY

2012 Chateau St. Jean Belle Terre Vineyard Chardonnay

Overall score: 19 (9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with three scores of 9 or higher. "Lemon zest and subtle pear flavors with a tart finish." My score: 9. "Citrus and pineapple. Lovely acidity."

Price: $21.79

CHARDONNAY

2013 Gallo Signature Series Chardonnay

Overall score: 19.1 (9.1 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with a high score of 9.4 and four scores of 9 or higher. "Red apple and vanilla flavors. Well-integrated oak. Traces of honeysuckle on the finish. Refreshing." My score: 9. "Nicely balanced, well-structured. Great mouth feel."

Price: $29.79

PINOT NOIR

2013 Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvee

Overall score: 19.1 (9.1 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with five scores score of 9 or higher. "Firm, dry and tannic with ripe berries, rose petals. Nose makes me smile." My score: 9. "Elegant. Loved the spicy finish."

Price: $49.39

PINOT NOIR

2014 Coppola Director's Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with three scores of 9 or higher. "Tart cherry notes. Light-bodied with excellent acidity." My score: 9. "Seasonally perfect pinot noir."

Price: $15.49

PINOT NOIR

2013 MacMurray Ranch Central Coast Pinot Noir

Overall score: 18.8 (8.8 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters gave it a unanimous recommendation with two scores of 9. "Cinnamon, bright cherry cola and red currants with a nice finish." My score: 8.9. "Silky with vanilla undertones."

Price: $15.99

DESSERT

Warre's Otima 10 Porto

Overall score: 18.9 (8.9 for quality, 10 for value). Our tasters: Missed a unanimous recommendation by three-tenths of a point but received three scores of 9 or higher. "Nutty, loaded with raisins. Classic 10-year tawny." My score: 9. "Voluptuous!"

Price: $20.39
As the holiday season officially begins, there's one ZIP code on many Houstonians' minds: 77056, where the sprawling Galleria will lure shoppers for weeks to come. Some people flock there. Others avoid it like the plague.

But parents who live in the city's 77030 ZIP Code are likely wondering when they'll ever find time to get there for a couple hours of uninterrupted shopping for their kids.

In the Texas Medical Center's 77030, 69.6 percent of families with children under the age of 18 have two parents working  the highest percentage in the city. This means Mom and Dad (or Mom and Mom, or Dad and Dad) are already juggling professional and personal lives, and might be too busy to make it to the mall.

What's more, the men and women of 77030 aren't likely to work anywhere near the Galleria. While only 20.5 percent of Houstonians have a commute of less than 15 minutes, the rate is twice as high in 77030, meaning most of these parents work near home, as teachers, doctors and nurses.

With those short commutes, 77030 residents are also less likely to be tough enough to withstand the never-ending bottlenecks that will swallow the Galleria area in the coming weeks, as 56.6 percent of Americans head to department stores for their holiday shopping.

In an effort to avoid the kerfuffle, and dedicate free time to staying in with their kids, it's likely that residents of 77030 will be among the growing number of consumers shopping online this year.

According to the National Retail Federation, online shopping  yes, this includes Amazon Prime  will hit a new peak this year, climbing 6.8 percent from 2015, as 56.5 percent of consumers swipe and click for gifts.

Should they choose to head to the mall, at least parents in 77030 will have one perk. With fewer kids than the city's average  77030's families with two parents have 0.95 kids on average, compared to the Houston average of 1.54  the fee for a baby sitter will be lower.
A white nationalist whose recent speech in the nation's capital drew Nazi salutes is slated to speak at Texas A&M University next month, eliciting anger and widespread calls for the university to call off the event. A prominent Houston lawyer whose son attends the university even offered to represent A&M if it cancels the speech and gets sued.

Richard Spencer, head of the National Policy Institute, plans to appear at Texas A&M on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center in an event organized by a former student, also a white nationalist and political activist.

The former A&M student organizing Spencer's appearance said the timing is right because Donald Trump's presidential election gives Spencer's views more appeal. Spencer unabashedly espouses anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

The institute run by Spencer says it is "dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world." The Southern Poverty Law Center has called him "a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old."

On Saturday, speaking to an event at the Ronald Reagan Building held by the institute, Spencer shouted "Heil Trump, Heil our people, Heil victory," to audience applause.

After word spread about his speech planned at A&M, reactions rippled beyond the College Station campus to the university's alumni community and even to the Texas House of Representatives. By Wednesday evening, more than 4,800 people had signed an online petition urging A&M to denounce Spencer and cancel his visit to campus.

Alumni urged one another to call the president's office to express their outrage. Students started to plan protests for the day of the Spencer's visit.

State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said despite the need to protect free speech the university should call off the event because it could incite violence on campus. "We need to protect the safety and security of our students," he said.

University spokeswoman Amy Smith said Texas A&M does not "endorse his rhetoric in any way" and that the school did not invite Spencer to speak. Private citizens can reserve campus space at A&M for private functions so long as they pay for all expenses, including security, she said.

When asked if Texas A&M would cancel the event, Smith said, "I don't think that's something we're able to do, no matter how reprehensible we find this individual's choice of words."

Houston civil attorney John Raley disagreed. Raley, the father of a Texas A&M student, wrote a letter to university President Michael Young. He wrote that the First Amendment may not protect Spencer's expressed views, which he said "intentionally and recklessly inflict severe emotional distress."

"But even if his hateful words survive a First Amendment analysis, you do not need to allow them on campus," he wrote, citing the University of Oklahoma president's decision to expel students in Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after video of members singing a racist song circulated.

"It's really up to Texas A&M," he said in an interview, offering to represent the university in court. "They need to choose who they are. They need to decide if this will reflect their values."

Preston Wiginton, who took classes at A&M in 2006 and 2007, told the Houston Chronicle he arranged for Spencer to speak at the campus student center. The building was dedicated for alumni who died in action during World War I and World War II.

Wiginton has sponsored controversial speakers in the past at A&M. In 2007, he hosted Nick Griffin, then president of the British National Party, and he brought white nationalist Jared Taylor to campus several years later.

He said Texas A&M has "accommodating" speech policies, but that he hosts speakers there because he is familiar with the university. "If I could find the avenues and routes of doing this at other campuses," he said, "I would happily do it."

Should the university try to cancel Spencer's appearance, Wiginton said, he'd take legal action.

"White America is sick and tired of a double standard, sick and tired of political correctness," he said. "Trump was a voice that gives them courage to stand up and speak out."

Lia Epps, a graduate student at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service, said there was "unrest and uneasiness" among her peers on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving break.

"The majority of people understand that A&M didn't invite Richard Spencer to come and speak," she said. "But it's still appalling that he's going to be there."

Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, who leads the campus Hillel, alerted the Anti-Defamation League to the event on Wednesday morning.

"I think for the vast majority of students, even though it's a conservative student body, they're definitely against people like (Spencer)," he said.
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At his lowest point, years before he earned a bachelor's degree or his master's or a spot in a Ph.D. program, Mike Grady scouted out well-lit nooks at the Philadelphia train station to curl up in at night.

He slipped into McDonald's as soon as it opened to brush his teeth in the bathroom. He earned about $20 to $30 a week cleaning offices, barely enough to eat.

Then on Thanksgiving Day 15 years ago, Grady left Philadelphia and headed back to Houston, his hometown, hoping to start over. His sister welcomed him into her home, and his younger brother told him he knew someone - a gifted pastor - that Grady should meet.

And so, on a blistery day, Grady found himself at a Denny's off Southmore Boulevard and Texas 288, seated across from a man who would soon change his life with the most modest of job offers.

The Rev. Wilford Darden listened as Grady shared some of his life story; how he'd worked as a U.S. Air Force mechanic, as a supervisor at FedEx, and as a mentor for children at his church. Grady talked about his bitter divorce and how desperately he missed his three daughters. He was too embarrassed to mention the homelessness.

Darden shared with Grady a belief he's put into practice for decades in Houston's Fifth Ward. Give a man who is struggling a job, teach him about integrity and faith, and he will succeed, eventually. And if he doesn't, Darden says with a smile, give him another try.

Darden offered Grady a job mowing lawns. For each lawn, he'd earn $6.

That wasn't much money, for sure, but Grady sensed there was more that Darden could teach him. As he drove back to his sister's house, he replayed the conversation with Darden in his head, and realized he was crying.

"What happened here?" he remembers thinking.

Darden, 60, wasn't always a preacher. He spent decades working for a light company, shimmying up and down poles. It was a good living, he said, and enough to support his wife and raise their son. But, after nearly 20 years, he felt called to ministry. So he started looking for a space for a church and created the program that would eventually help Grady turn his life around.

It is now known as the Integrity Plus Economic Empowerment Training Program, a 12-week Bible-based curriculum that teaches values and aims to empower people through work. It's not just about lawns, he said. One woman started her own business tending bees and bottling honey. One man created his own moving company; another started driving for Uber.

"The key to the inner city," Darden said, "is to place people into the context of their purpose. Because if you're doing what you love to do, you're going to go do it, versus if you're doing what you think you want to do for money."

It was clear early on that Grady was not destined to mow lawns.

"He was horrible," Darden said, laughing.

Darden remembers Grady's mantra in those days. He'd say it almost every day: "I start slow. Just give me a little time. You'll see."

Grady worked so hard, Darden said, and was so professional that clients began to request him. Darden put him in charge of one landscaping crew, and then two.

Grady said he was learning, slowly, how to be more self-sufficient and rebuild his self-esteem and spiritual connections.

Around then, one of Grady's brothers introduced him to a friend who did marketing displays for Pepsi and was looking to hire someone. It paid $50,000 a year. But Grady passed on the offer. "I just knew I was learning something more in the program," he said. "I made money before."

Grady had enlisted in basic training nine days after graduating from Madison High School. He became an aircraft specialty mechanic in California, and met his first wife. They had three girls together before the relationship fell apart. When he was in his early 20s, there was talk about changing the military retirement system, so Grady decided to switch careers. He spent the next 13 years working for FedEx in Philadelphia. Somewhere along the way, as he battled for custody of his daughters, he lost faith. He started drinking heavily. His next relationship fell apart, too, and he found himself homeless.

Back in Houston, Grady often talked wistfully to Darden about working with kids, like he used to at his church in California.

Darden eventually tried to fire Grady, for his own good.

"Man, you don't need to be cutting yards," Darden told Grady.

"Your skills are far better used with kids than with lawns."

Grady resisted at first, but Darden insisted. He helped Grady get a job with a nonprofit that sent character development "facilitators" into schools in Houston, Deer Park and Pasadena.

At 44, Grady used his veteran's benefits to go to college. He enrolled at the University of Houston-Downtown in 2006.

Grady also kept learning life lessons from Darden. There are principles to follow for a successful marriage, Darden taught him. Darden swears by date night on Fridays. And almost every Sunday after church, he and his wife of 38 years go to Hermann Park and feed the ducks, then stop at Frenchy's Chicken on the way home.

Grady decided he wanted a wife who'd do date nights and feed the ducks with him. If he was really lucky, he figured, he'd find someone willing to ride on the back of his motorcycle.

On Aug. 15, 2009, Grady graduated with a bachelor's degree.

Two years later, Grady graduated with a master's degree in clinical social work. Less than a month after that, he started a doctoral program for counselor education at Texas Southern University.

During a workshop at Darden's church, Grady met a woman who was studying for her master's degree in Christian education. She likes ducks and tolerates his motorcycle. Five years ago, Darden married them in a small ceremony. She had three sons from a previous marriage. He had his three daughters, now grown. They call themselves the "Grady Bunch."

At 54, Grady now works for a Houston nonprofit, Avance Houston Inc., and teaches parenting skills to new dads and helps families with social services. He's finished his course work for his Ph.D. and is studying for his exams.

Grady says he owes everything to Darden. He knows he can never repay him. Not by donating to the church, which he does freely. Not by being there for Darden's cancer treatments at MD Anderson. Darden was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2008, and the doctors say he's too old now for another stem cell transplant.

"All is well, really," Darden said. "The key is knowing Christ, knowing where you're going to go when you die, knowing how to treat people, having nothing but good friends, having no enemies and helping everyone you can."

On a recent Sunday at a sprawling park on the banks of Lake Houston, Darden and Grady and about two dozen parishioners ate barbecue and read John 13:34-35.

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another," Darden said out loud.

"Let's talk about this love thing," he said. "What is love?"

It is simple, he explained. Love is helping people to be the best that they can be, no strings attached.
SAN ANTONIO - It's finally over for the women dubbed the "San Antonio Four." The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday exonerated them, asserting in plain but forceful language that they did not sexually assault two young girls in 1994, for which they spent years in prison.

It was an outcome experts called "rare" and "momentous," though it came years after lower courts and prosecutors had acknowledged serious doubts about their convictions and allowed them to be released.

Seven of the nine appellate judges heard the case. All agreed that the women should get a new trial, and five said the women are actually innocent, a move that paves the way for them to seek state compensation for their imprisonment.

Elizabeth Ramirez, now 42, Cassandra Rivera, 41, Kristie Mayhugh, 42, and Anna Vasquez, 41, consistently maintained their innocence from the day more than 22 years ago when Ramirez's nieces, ages 7 and 9, accused them of brutalizing them while on a weekend visit with their aunt.

The girls said at the time that they were bound and raped, guns pointed at their heads, and threatened with death if they told - though their stories changed significantly every time they described what happened during the investigation and two trials. Jurors heard horrific accounts of orgy-like sexual predation.

But major doubts about the cases, including forensic evidence on which prosecutors had leaned heavily, were spotlighted in a San Antonio Express-News report in 2010. The women's fight for exoneration eventually garnered national and international media attention. Because the four defendants were lesbians, they became a rallying point for LGBTQ activists.

In 2012, the younger accuser recanted her story. Vasquez was released from prison on parole that year, having become eligible after serving 12 years. The other three were released on bond in 2013 pending the outcome of legal efforts to overturn the convictions. Ramirez had been in prison the longest - 16 years.

The four had "won the right to proclaim to the citizens of Texas that they did not commit a crime. That they are innocent. That they deserve to be exonerated," said the opinion by Judge David Newell, joined by two other judges on the state's highest criminal court.

"These women have carried that burden. They are innocent. And they are exonerated."

Ramirez, Rivera and Vasquez expressed shock and relief in an interview hours after the ruling was issued.

"Being known as a child molester is the worst thing you can possibly imagine," Rivera said through tears, with her longtime friends at her side. "We always thought we'd never see the end, and we prayed."

Mayhugh was working at her job at Toyota and could not be reached for comment.

"This is certainly a momentous case," said their attorney, Mike Ware, director of the Innocence Project of Texas and a former Dallas County prosecutor. The appeals panel "carefully read the record and did the right thing. It's a courageous opinion."

Peggy Fikac and Misty Harris contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump moved swiftly Wednesday to diversify his Cabinet and try to heal lingering rifts in the Republican Party, recruiting Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Betsy DeVos, a prominent Republican fundraiser, both of whom opposed him during the campaign, as well as Ben Carson, who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination.

Haley, who was named ambassador to the United Nations, and DeVos, who was named education secretary, would be the first women in Trump's Cabinet.

Carson, whose selection as secretary of housing and urban development is expected to be announced Friday, would be the first African-American.

But none of these choices suggest a president-elect who is reaching beyond reliably conservative precincts to fill his administration.

Haley, 44, an Indian-American who is a rising star in Republican politics, pushed for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House after the deadly church shooting in Charleston in June 2015. During the Republican primary, she was a frequent and vocal critic of Trump and supported Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

On Wednesday, Trump rolled out their appointments with unstinting praise. Haley, he said in a statement, was "a proven deal maker, and we look to be making plenty of deals." DeVos, he said, was a "brilliant and passionate education advocate."

DeVos, 58, is one of the nation's most avid supporters of school choice, a subject she and Trump discussed last week when she met him at his country club in New Jersey. But DeVos also sharply criticized him during the campaign and spent much of the year raising money for other Republicans on the ballot.

For Trump, who was spending a quiet day before Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., the appointments ended a breathless two-week sprint since his stunning victory. In a videotaped holiday greeting to the American people on Wednesday, he acknowledged the wounds left by a "long and bruising political campaign."

His aides said he would resume meeting with potential Cabinet members on Friday, when they said he would announce Carson, the retired neurosurgeon with whom Trump bitterly clashed and lavishly praised during the campaign.

Soon after, Trump is expected to name Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary. But the search for a secretary of state has become less clear, people involved in the transition said.

Aides are divided between Rudy Giuliani, who staunchly backed Trump's candidacy but whose business dealings pose potential problems; and Mitt Romney, viewed by many as a safe pick but who harshly criticized Trump during the campaign.

The tension has left some on the team looking for a third choice, like Marine Gen. John Kelly, the former head of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; David Petraeus, the retired Army general who was director of the CIA; or, a particular long shot, former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who could be the lone Democrat in the Cabinet after having briefly run for the party's presidential nomination last year.

Could appease critics

Trump's selections could blunt criticism that his early picks came from a homogeneous bloc of older, white men. If confirmed, Haley would step down as governor and be replaced by the state's lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster, who was an early supporter of Trump.

Carson is a familiar face to Americans after a Republican primary campaign in which he briefly rose to the top of the polls.

Neither he nor Haley is particularly experienced for the posts they have been offered.

Carson had even seemed to take himself out of the running for a Cabinet position last week, with his friends putting out word that he had concluded he was not qualified to run a vast federal bureaucracy.

Some pointed to Haley's experience as a legislator and trade ambassador for South Carolina as credentials for the U.N. post.

John Negroponte, a former ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush who opposed Trump's candidacy, said Haley was an "intriguing and very good choice."

"She's not an ideologue," he said. "She'll quickly grasp that there are aspects of the United Nations' work that can benefit the United States."

DeVos, a former finance chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, won the support of Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and called her an "excellent choice."

She favors charter schools, which are publicly funded but typically run independently of local school boards and teachers' unions; and school vouchers, which give students tax dollars to apply toward private-school tuition.

The DeVoses have been the force behind a rapid expansion of charter schools in Michigan. The state has one of the most generous charter school laws in the nation, allowing an unusually large number of colleges, universities and school districts to grant charters, with little state oversight.

About 80 percent of those - an uncommonly high percentage - are operated for profit. In Detroit, the U.S. city with the second-highest share of students in charter schools, the charters have been characterized by a high turnover of students, teachers and companies that operate them. Even groups that support charters have pushed for stricter oversight. But legislation to do so failed last spring, largely because of lobbying by the DeVos' group.

"The status quo in education is not acceptable," DeVos said in a statement Wednesday after her nomination was announced. "Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."

Undermines education

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers' union, criticized the nomination, saying that DeVos' efforts over the years had "done more to undermine public education than support students."

"She has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers - which take away funding and local control from our public schools - to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense," she said.

"These schemes do nothing to help our most vulnerable students while they ignore or exacerbate glaring opportunity gaps."
It is the news that doctors and families in the heart of Zika territory had feared: Some babies who were not born with the unusually small heads that are the most severe hallmark of brain damage as a result of the virus have developed the condition, called microcephaly, as they have grown older.

The findings were reported in a new study of 13 babies in Brazil published Tuesday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. At birth, none of them had heads small enough to receive a diagnosis of microcephaly, but months later, 11 of them did.

Abnormalities emerge

For most of those babies, brain scans soon after birth showed significant abnormalities, and researchers found that as the babies aged, their brains did not grow or develop enough for their age and body size. The new study echoes another published this fall, in which three babies were found to have microcephaly later in their first year.

As they closed in on their first birthdays, many of the babies also had some of the other developmental and medical problems caused by Zika infection, a range of disabilities now being called congenital Zika syndrome. The impairments resemble characteristics of cerebral palsy and include epileptic seizures, muscle and joint problems and difficulties swallowing food.

"There are some areas of great deficiency in the babies," said Dr. Cynthia Moore, director of the division of congenital and developmental disorders for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an author of the new study.

In the new study, doctors at two clinics in the northeastern Brazilian states of Pernambuco and Ceara described the cases of 13 infants who had tested positive for the Zika virus. In 11 of the babies, brain scans taken days or weeks after birth showed significant neurological damage, including improperly formed brain areas, excess fluid in some places and abnormal calcium deposits, or calcification, which probably resulted from brain cell death. But the size of their heads, though small, was not small enough to be considered microcephaly. So doctors monitored their progress as they grew.

Damage less-severe

Dr. Vanessa van der Linden, an author of the study and a neuropediatrician at the Association for Assistance of Disabled Children in Recife, Brazil, where most of the babies in the study are patients, said the type of brain damage in the babies who developed microcephaly later "presented the same pattern, but less severe" than those with microcephaly at birth.

The babies in the study published this fall also appeared to have a pattern of similar, but less severe, brain damage, said Dr. Antonio Augusto Moura da Silva, of the Federal University of Maranhao, in Brazil, and an author of that study, which was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases. He and his colleagues studied 48 babies with brain abnormalities in the northeastern state of Maranhao, identified six babies who did not have microcephaly at birth, and found that three of those later developed it.

"We were worried, but now that we've started following those cases, we are very sad," Silva said. "The picture is really terrible. At the least, if they have microcephaly, we expect them to have a very poor quality of life."

Experts and the authors of the studies said it was unclear why these infants' brains did not develop enough to match their age and body size.

Dr. Ernesto T.A. Marques Jr., an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in either study, said it could be that because of the initial fetal brain damage, "the necessary pathways and hormones that organize growth of the neonatal brain are not there anymore and the brain doesn't grow."

Still, unlike many babies born with microcephaly, most of the 13 in the new study had social interaction skills like smiling and making eye contact.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's mainly Shiite pro-government militias Wednesday said they have reached Kurdish Peshmerga positions west of Mosul, cutting off the Islamic State stronghold from the rest of Iraq and from Syria.

Peshmerga sources confirmed that the Popular Mobilization militias have gained control of the road leading southwest from the Islamic State-held town of Tel Afar west of Mosul towards the Syrian border.

The militia advance means local Islamic State forces are surrounded in a pocket between the eastern outskirts of Mosul, where Iraqi troops are pushing into the city against fierce resistance, and the Tel Afar area.

The militias say they intend to take Tel Afar, which is the only major town in the pocket apart from Mosul itself.

In mid-October, Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led air alliance, started a long-awaited offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the only one still in the hands of Islamic State.

The extremist group still holds large swathes of neighboring Syria, although it is coming under pressure there too.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Turkish-backed rebels are racing against each other to seize territory from the jihadists northeast of Aleppo.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, earlier this month launched what they said was a campaign to isolate and then capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria.

Meanwhile, Mosul's residents are fleeing in growing numbers as Iraqi forces push deeper into the country's second largest city, and the battle-hardened extremists are fighting for every block, exploiting the e urban terrain and using civilians as human shields.

On Wednesday the tide of displaced people reached the Samah district, where Iraqi medics treated dozens of wounded, including at least six soldiers.

At one point, four children and a man from the same family were rushed into the station, bleeding heavily as their relatives wailed in grief. A mortar round had slammed into the inner courtyard of their home. A few minutes after being brought in, a 16-month-old girl with a head wound was pronounced dead.

The U.N. says at least 68,000 people have fled the fighting in Mosul, including 8,300 over the past four days.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - East African nations have launched some of the world's most vicious campaigns against gay men and women, outlawing homosexual behavior and threatening to punish it with years in jail.

But in a move that has alarmed health workers, Tanzania is turning its anti-homosexual fury in a new direction - targeting HIV/AIDS programs that have helped tame a disease that once ravaged the region.
Donald Trump's chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon accepted $376,000 in pay over four years for working 30 hours a week at a tiny tax-exempt charity in Tallahassee, Florida, while also serving as the hands-on executive chairman of Breitbart News Network.

During the same four-year period, the charity paid about $1.3 million in salaries to two other journalists who said they put in 40 hours a week there while also working for the politically conservative news outlet, according to publicly available documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The salary payments are one part of a close relationship between the nonprofit Government Accountability Institute, a conservative investigative research organization, and for-profit Breitbart News.

Under Bannon's leadership, Breitbart has become the clarion of the alt-right, a term embraced by conservatives estranged from mainstream Republicans and decried by those on the left as racist and xenophobic.

The news site has produced a torrent of incendiary articles about race, immigration, liberals and moderate Republicans. It has been one of the most prominent supporters of Trump and a leading critic of Hillary Clinton.

"We think of ourselves as virulently anti-establishment, particularly 'anti-' the permanent political class," Bannon told The Washington Post in January.

Trump's selection of Bannon as a senior adviser has drawn widespread criticism from Democrats and others.

The ties between the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) and Breitbart call into question the assertions the institute made in filings to the IRS that it is an independent, nonpartisan operation, according to philanthropic specialists and former IRS officials.

Bannon launched the institute in 2012, shortly after taking the helm of Breitbart. He sought tax-exempt status from the IRS by describing the institute as an education group to help the United States and other countries maintain a "higher quality of life" through "promotion of economic freedom," according to IRS filings.

But from its inception, the institute has been closely tied through personnel and donations to a network of nonprofit organizations that have pushed a conservative agenda, in part through highly critical reports about Clinton and the Obama administration, according to IRS filings from multiple organizations. The institute received nearly $4 million in donations between 2012 and 2014 from two conservative charities - Donors Trust and the Mercer Family Foundation.

Under federal code, tax-exempt groups known as 501(c)3 public charities must "not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

Rob Reich, a political science professor at Stanford University who studies philanthropy, said the IRS regulations are poorly written and difficult to enforce. As a consequence, ideologically driven charities across the political spectrum are taking advantage of the agency's minimal oversight.

"The IRS is underfunded, understaffed and inept," he said.

A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to questions for this article.

GAI spokeswoman Sandy Schulz told The Post the institute "is and always has been in total compliance with all 501(c)3 rules."

She also said that the group has a "bipartisan track record of working with top investigative units in media on award-winning reports." In addition to Breitbart, Schulz said the institute has worked with prominent mainstream media organizations, including The Post.

Post reporters have used the institute as a resource for investigative leads, but The Post has not published joint projects with the charity.

But the charity's affiliation with conservative groups is clear in its IRS filings.

The institute's board of directors included Rebekah Mercer, director of the conservative family charity, who has become an influential adviser to Bannon and Trump, disclosure forms show. Mercer's father, Robert Mercer, a hedge fund billionaire, is a well-known conservative donor. Rebekah Mercer could not be reached for comment.

Institute director Ron Robinson is the longtime president of Young America's Foundation, a charity that is "committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values."

Its motto: "The Conservative Movement Starts Here."

Robinson did not respond to a request for an interview.

The institute is small, with typically 20 or fewer employees and interns, according to documents filed with the IRS and interviews with former institute workers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear reprisal.

But it paid its leaders well.

"They all work long hours," Schulz said.

As the institute's co-founder and executive chairman, Bannon received $81,000 to $100,000 a year for working 30 hours a week from 2012 through 2015. At the same time, he oversaw Breitbart News as executive chairman from offices in Washington and Los Angeles.

In 2011, Bannon joined Breitbart's board and ascended to the leadership position after the news site's eponymous owner, Andrew Breitbart, died of heart failure at 43 in 2012.

Bannon immediately set about expanding Breitbart's reach and influence, openly touting its ideological mission. He had conference calls twice daily with reporters, with an emphasis on stories about immigration, refugees and crime that Bannon thought the mainstream media was ignoring.

Bannon stepped down from the institute in August, spokeswoman Schulz said. The charity's financial disclosure documents are not available for 2016. She did not respond to questions about Bannon.

The institute's communications strategist, Wynton Hall, a conservative writer and activist, received $600,000 in pay from 2012 through 2015.

In its filings, the institute told the IRS that Hall worked 40 hours a week there. He has worked at Breitbart as a writer and social-media chief, and in 2013 was promoted to managing editor. Hall did not respond to a request for comment.

In announcing Hall's elevation to managing editor, Bannon described Breitbart at the time as an around-the-clock operation.

"Having a 24/7 editorial team focused on the site, coupled with senior editors generating content, allows us to continue Andrew's legacy of waging 'fights that matter,'" Bannon said.

The institute's president, secretary and treasurer is Peter Schweizer, a prominent conservative writer and at-large editor for Breitbart. He received $778,000 in salary from the institute for 2012 through 2015, the IRS filings show.

The institute said Schweizer worked 40 hours a week. At the same time, he was researching and writing "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich," published by HarperCollins in April 2015. The paperback version of the book hit the New York Times bestseller list in August, during the final stretch of the presidential campaign.

In the book's acknowledgments, Schweizer cited the institute and said, "I want to say a special thanks to those who have supported our research over the past couple of years, which has offended both Republicans and Democrats in Washington."

Schweizer did not respond to a request for an interview but provided a statement through institute spokeswoman Schulz defending the organization as nonpartisan.

"The Government Accountability Institute's (GAI) track record investigating Republicans is clear and undeniable. Republicans like John Boehner, Spencer Bachus, Roy Blunt, Dennis Hastert, Ron Paul, Jeb Bush, Saxby Chambliss, Ander Crenshaw, Ray LaHood, Richard Lugar, Marco Rubio, Jerry Lewis, Bill Young, Dave Camp, Tom DeLay, and the National Republican Congressional Committee have all been the subjects of serious GAI reports and books," the statement said.

"As the NYT editorial board wrote, 'aside from Mr. Schweizer, the push to limit and disclose donations has come almost entirely from the left.' The GAI pursues the facts, regardless of party."

Schulz did not respond to questions about the financial and editorial links between the institute and Breitbart. The institute disclosed that it bought more than $200,000 in advertising at the Breitbart site from 2013 to 2015, IRS filings show.

Breitbart and the institute continue to promote "Clinton Cash."

The charity's website includes an advertisement for the book, with links to another for-profit promotional website where visitors can buy it.

"Meticulously researched and scrupulously sourced, filled with headline-making revelations, 'Clinton Cash' raises serious questions of judgment, of possible indebtedness to an array of foreign interests, and ultimately, of fitness for high public office," the promotional material says.

The institute's vice president is a Tallahassee lawyer, Stuart Christmas. He said he worked work from 25 to 40 hours a week and accepted more than $480,000 in salary over four years.

Christmas did not return repeated phones calls from The Post.

In documents filed with charity regulators in New York, the institute listed an address that has also been used by Christmas's law firm. In filings with federal regulators, the institute uses a post office box in Tallahassee as its address.

The IRS has been exceedingly cautious about enforcing charity regulations relating to political activity since the 2013 disclosure that some IRS employees focused on tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, triggering a fierce conservative backlash.

Republican lawmakers launched investigations and publicly lambasted the IRS. Breitbart News was among the critics.

Hall, the Government Accountability Institute's communications strategist, wrote a 2013 Breitbart article that described the enforcement effort as a "scheme to target the tea party and conservative groups."

In 2016, as the presidential campaign heated up, Schweizer and his institute colleagues focused less critical attention on Trump than Clinton. The institute's website displays no investigative reports on Trump this year but two on Clinton.

One report released in the summer focused on the private email server that the Democratic presidential nominee used during her tenure as secretary of state and the deletion of thousands of her emails that she deemed private.

"Research by the Government Accountability Institute shows that Secretary Clinton's email record contains anomalous patterns in her email history," the report says.

Schweizer also showed a proclivity for criticizing Clinton over Trump in his articles for Breitbart.

Before the election, he wrote one Breitbart piece about Trump, with the headline "Donald Trump's Hypocrisies."

"Having written quite a bit on the question of hypocrisy," Schweizer wrote in February, "I can say that there are often yawning gaps between what Trump criticizes others for and what he himself does."

He wrote more than a dozen stories critical of Clinton, according to a search of the Breitbart website.

"Will the Clintons Finally Be Held Accountable for Their Corruption? Maybe," says the headline of a Schweizer story in Breitbart in January.

---

Alice Crites and John Sullivan contributed to this report.
Thanksgiving Day meals tell stories of history and of family - of people who are living and who are gone.

There's the well-known harvest feast shared by the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians in 1621. That meal spoke of the Pilgrim's new home - the venison and turkey; their home in England - the brown bread; and their travels in Holland - the cheese, according to Texas historian David Furlow.

Today, fragrant dishes throughout Houston continue to tell stories of heritage and travel. Jay Aiyer, attorney and professor at Texas Southern University, told the editorial board that his sister makes a Tandoori turkey, flavored with popular spices from the Indian subcontinent like turmeric and ginger. Sylvia Casares of Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen cooks traditional fare for her family and friends along with Mexican-inspired sides like pumpkin empanadas and Caldo de res (beef vegetable soup).

While some families adapt to Thanksgiving traditions that are new to them, for many long-time Texans, flavors indigenous to other cultures taste like home. Insurance executives Betsy and Ed Schreiber have stuffed their baked turkey with tamale dressing for 30 years. Thomas J. Bath, small-business owner, likes to baste his bird in enchilada sauce.

Many tables include a nod to the unique history of the families gathered there. Laura Morris, a recent Texas transplant to North Carolina, makes a gelatin salad, "and our family doesn't even like gelatin salads." The recipe is important not only because it is delicious to "the last spoonful," but also because it was passed down multiple generations from "the hollers of Tennessee."

Some dishes are tributes to people no longer living. Alecia Lawyer, founder and artistic director of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra who hails from Paris, Texas, always serves corn casserole, heavy on refined sugar, because it reminds her of "my grandmother Goldie and my great-grandmother Bigmama."

Paula Murphy, public relations executive, puts out an olive tray with pickles and olives even though it's untouched as a way of remembering her father, John Murphy. Or as Cathy Moore, executive director of Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services told us, "For me Thanksgiving food is more about the memories of the people we love who prepare it."

In so many ways, food is an inextricable part of this holiday. It's not Thanksgiving without candied sweet potatoes for Gail Brown at the city Parks Department, made by friends, as Brown claims to be a terrible cook.

It is a puzzle to tease out all the influences in even one family's meal. But there's one eternal tenet at all tables: gratitude for families, for traditions, and for home.
Exploring space

It's the nature of humans to explore and reach beyond today's limits - for practical reasons such as economic and technological development and deeper purposes that differentiate us as a species. The urge to cross the next frontier is part of what it means to be human.

The vision posed by Chris Tomlinson's column "Manned spaceflight is a waste of resources" (Page B1, Monday) would be a betrayal of our nation's values, history and interests. Humans will go to Mars - the only question is who will lead. I don't believe America should cede that role.

I reject the false choice between robotic exploration and human spaceflight. Robots and humans provide unique and important roles. Many of the life-changing benefits of the space program, including LASIK eye surgery, advanced fetal monitors, and new osteoporosis drugs, were born solely by the mother of necessity: human spaceflight. These spinoffs and many others are benefits only derived from humans in space. NASA's total budget, including the mission to Mars and multiple other programs to explore the cosmos, is less than half of a penny per GDP dollar, a bargain considering the vast rewards.

Robots and virtual reality headsets cannot accomplish the goal of sustaining human life beyond the confines of earth, and those robots cannot respond as a human could as we strive to answer the fundamental questions about our place in the universe.

America must reject a narrow "machines only" space policy by continuing funding for manned exploration and the next generation of "giant leap[s] for mankind."

Bob Mitchell, President, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership

Checking facts

Regarding "Deconstructing fake news that began with a tweet" (Page B5, Monday), Johnathan Swift wrote "Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it," but he hadn't met the internet or the Twitterverse. The story of how a misguided tweet turned into a full blown media circus clearly illustrates the powder keg nature of the online world. What's worrisome is how many people either didn't check the facts, or deliberately misused the post for their own purposes.

Bob Gayle, Houston

Tofu-turkey?

Regarding "Pardoning the turkey: A political tradition, but lately, not a long life" (chron.com, Wednesday), President Obama is taking a break from Trump transition to pardon two turkeys. Every one of us can exercise that presidential pardon power on Thanksgiving by giving thanks for health and happiness while skipping gratuitous violence.

The 235 million turkeys killed in the U.S. this year have nothing to be thankful for. They are raised in crowded sheds filled with toxic fumes, and killed at 16 weeks.

Consumers pay a heavy price, too. Turkey flesh is laced with cholesterol and saturated fats that elevate risk of chronic killer diseases. Package labels warn of food poisoning potential. But, there is good news. Annual per capita consumption of turkeys is down by a whopping 35 percent from a 1996 high.

My Thanksgiving dinner will include a "tofurky" (soy-based roast), mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, chestnut soup, candied yams, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and carrot cake. An internet search on vegan Thanksgiving provides heaps of recipes and delightful plant-based turkey alternatives.

Harry Sutter, Houston
Editor's note: On this day of reflection, we wanted to share a poem written by the city's new Youth Poet Laureate, Fareena Arefeen. The position was created by Writers in the Schools in partnership with the Houston Public Library, the city of Houston and the mayor's office. Arefeen, 17, a junior at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, was selected from among 40 student applicants.

Arefeen's poem, "Hurricane Season," captures Houston's essence, and so, too, did a speech she delivered Nov. 10, when she officially was named to the post.

"I used to be afraid of writing - it didn't seem to fit into the community of people where I lived," Arefeen said. "I grew up feeling uncomfortable, too American for the Bengali people and too brown for the kids I went to school with.

"Slowly, though, I came to understand that poetry is more open and available than I gave it credit for. Poetry wasn't just the esoteric words in my school textbooks; it was alive and real and right there in the apartment building where I lived, on the sidewalks where I walked, and at the gas station where my mom worked. Poetry didn't just belong to people who didn't look or sound like me; it belonged to me." Hurricane Season

My mother tells me that I was born outside of the eye of a hurricane,

where the storm is strong and moves quickly in radials.

I think I am a series of low pressure systems and winds that can carry bayous.

I've heard that a child playing on the coast in Africa

can cause the start of a hurricane in the Atlantic and maybe

a working immigrant in Toronto can be the origin of a poet in Houston.

My ninth birthday was suspended in the space between cyclone and serene.

I watched my city build itself up again after Hurricane Ike and

I guess we are both having growing pains.

I've learned that my purpose is flooding.

I want to form inundacions of words and earn

the title of a Category Four. Drought relief and filler of bayou banks.

Hurricanes bring heat energy from the tropics

the way I would like to bring light to the city that taught me how to hold rainwater in the form of letters.

On my thirteenth birthday, I watched the bayou

spill into this dizzy headed space city

like a push of blood to the lungs.

Inhaling atmospheric pressure of a tropical storm

in the eye of hurricane season felt like bayou backwash

of building Rothko layers.

Maybe if I could say that brown is my favorite color,

I would finally see the whirlpools that rest in my skin and in the Buffalo Bayou.

And someday I could love the greens hidden in browns hidden in labyrinths of color.

I only came into my skin

after I grew into this city and they both happened like storm clouds; rolling in and all at once.

Now, I find impressions of myself in the silt

as there are maps of this city pressed into my hands like footsteps on wet ground.

On my seventeenth birthday, the clouds broke light rays

the way I want to leave fractures in my city

that can be filled with the work of new artists and immigrants to take my place.

My favorite smell is rain

falling through concrete and cumin because they combine homes.

I can be a drop of water falling in multiple places

I am stuck to the city I've learned to call my own

like humidity on skin that can finally

hold its own storm.
People looking to join others for a Thanksgiving Day meal are invited today at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Houston.

The church is hosting a free meal from 3 to 5 p.m. If they wish, attendees may bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to the Texas County Food Pantry.

The church is behind Pizza Express, between Walmart Supercenter and Texas County Memorial Hospital.
Three persons were injured Wednesday night in a two-vehicle crash north of Licking, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Cpl. Curtis Haden said a northbound 1995 International driven by Clyde A. Backues, 52, of Licking, was turning right into a private driveway when a northbound 1996 Chevrolet pickup operated by Patrick S. Wadley, 36, of Laquey, attempted to overtake it and struck it in the rear.

Wadley and two passengers, Dominique M. Wadley, 14, Laquey; and Frank W. Fox, 32, of St. Robert, were taken by ambulance with minor injuries to Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston. Everyone was wearing a seat belt, Haden said.

The truck had been pulling a trailer, which was demolished. The pickup was totaled. Members of the Licking Fire Department assisted with removing debris and directing traffic.
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7 reasons why entrepreneurs need to know how to implement HR software to stay relevant Entrepreneurs are expanding their HR departments with cloud-based solutions around the world, which has left many others wondering how they can implement HR software and say goodbye to their outdated legacy system for good. As the list of reasons to switch to Software-as-a-service (SaaS) continue to grow, more entrepreneurs are leaving behind their on-premise software model because SaaS is significantly less expensive and more efficient. However, some business owners, believing on-premise software is more secure than cloud-based solutions, may be hesitant to make the switch to SaaS. And if you fall into this category, I want to tell you the honest truth Ive learned while researching SaaS and on-premises software solutions: The days of expensive on-premise software are quickly coming to an end, and by clinging to the past, you risk missing out on solutions that could save your business from becoming irrelevant in the future. As the Internet expands and the standards for connectivity continue to surpass the limits of on-premises software  sooner or later  nearly everyone will have to start implementing SaaS solutions. For the remainder of this article, Im going to talk about why entrepreneurs need to know how to implement HR software to stay relevant in a constantly developing global market, and finally put...
Just days before its implementation, the new federal overtime rule has been stalled indefinitely by a nationwide injunction from a Texas-based federal judge. Originally scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1, 2016, the new overtime regulation intends to raise the salary limit for those exempt from overtime to $47,476 (the current limit is just $23,660, and hasnt been updated in the past 12 years). The regulation, which would increase the number of overtime-eligible workers by millions, was criticized by various business groups as potentially harmful to nonprofits and small businesses. The judge  Amos L. Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas  cited an overstep by the Obama administration in such a substantial salary threshold increase. While this preliminary injunction currently only delays the overtime update, the language in Mazzants ruling suggests future attempts to strike down the new regulation entirely. Despite a 21-state lawsuit filed against the DOLs new regulation in September, many organizations didnt expect Mazzant (who was appointed by President Obama) to rule in favor of an injunction, and have already raised salaries in anticipation of increased salary thresholds come Dec. 1. Next Steps For now, Mazzants injunction should be considered temporary, and the implementation of the new overtime regulations simply delayed. In a written statement, the Department of Labor...
When an employee is sent on assignment abroad, one of the necessary elements is a repatriation plan for a smooth return to the home country when the assignment is complete. Repatriation planning includes setting a fixed end date, concluding assignment projects, relocation logistics, re-integration to the home country and any ensuing employment options. As with many aspects of international assignments, repatriation can encounter obstacles that lead to another category of assignment failure. There are several core reasons for repatriation failure, which can be avoided with expat orientations, clear communication and adhering to host country rules on termination. Reasons for Repatriation Failure There are several ways that repatriation can be delayed or ineffective that makes it a failure. The term failure is used to signify when there are unforeseen costs, time delays, business obstacles and employee issues. Socio-cultural Changes Adapting to a foreign country when an assignment begins takes time in order to assimilate cultural differences and language. Likewise, after a lengthy assignment, repatriation can bring its own version of culture shock, as the expat has to readjust to the home country. Too often, the return home is taken for granted since it is familiar to the employee. However, there can be problems with co-workers, family life, health and emotional adjustment. Offerin...
FLSA Overtime Rule Blocked: What It Means? Posted on 11-23-2016, by: Currently 0.0/5 Stars.

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The current regulation and criteria  from 2004  will remain so until further notice A federal judge blocked the December 1st rollout of the Department of Labor rule that would increase the minimum salary threshold (from $23,660 to $47,476) for the white collar exemption from overtime pay. The ruling took place on November 22nd, just 10 days before the new overtime rule was supposed to go into effect. The decision favored the 21 states that filed an emergency motion to block the rule and business groups that claimed the rule was unlawful, arguing that that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority when it increased the minimum salary threshold. What this Means for Employers The increase to the minimum salary requirement is now on hold nationwide, leaving the current regulation and criteria  from 2004  in place until further notice. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees are  by default  eligible for overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 hours per week. Overtime pay is generally calculated at 1.5 times the employees regular rate of pay. Certain employees may be exempt from overtime depending on how they are paid, how much they are paid, and the job duties they perform. There are several exemptions under the FLSA (including the white collar exemption) and it is important to learn more about each exemption in order to ensure your e...
Barack Obama made his final Thanksgiving turkey pardon on Wednesday, and in typical Barack fashion, he made sure the occasion was filled with his best dad jokes.

I know there are some bad ones in here, but this is the last time Im doing this, so were not leaving any room for leftovers, he laughed.

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While the U.S. presidents daughters, Malia and Sasha, missed the White House ritual for the first time this year, Obamas two nephews, Austin and Aaron Robinson, stood in their place.

Unlike Malia and Sasha, [they] have not yet been turned cynical by Washington, he joked. They still believe in bad puns. They still appreciate the grandeur of this occasion. They still have hope.

During the ceremony, Obama spared turkeys Tater and Tot and let his best puns fly. I want to take a moment to recognize the brave turkeys who weren't so lucky, who didn't get to ride the gravy train to freedom and who met their fate with courage and sacrifice and proved that they weren't chicken, he said.

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The 55-year-old also noted that Thanksgiving is a time to give back: We should also make sure everyone has something to eat on Thanksgiving, except for the turkeys because they're already stuffed.

And for his best pun yet, the U.S. president left Americans with a positive phrase to get them through all the dishes the Thanksgiving meal brings: Yes we cran.

Hear more of Obamas best dad jokes in the video above.

On Twitter, Obamas knee-slappers didnt go unnoticed. Many users couldnt help but crack up over the ridiculous pun-filled event.

My mom and I just watched Obama pardon the turkeys and we went "Ohhhh!" everytime he made a pun like he just won a rap battle.  It's a me, April (@InyaMeam420) November 23, 2016

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Obama in full pun mode talking foul thanksgiving traffic is well up there with the week's highlights! #fowltraffic#taterandtotpic.twitter.com/nq9tQz4fpN  Anna Caldwell (@annacaldwell) November 23, 2016

Does anyone else thing that Sasha and Malia being "pardoned" from the @POTUS Turkey Pardon is probably Obama's own secret dad joke pun?  Nicole (@NikkieMarie) November 24, 2016
One very kind diner in Texas decided to give the ultimate gift to one fortunate restaurant employee just in time for the holidays.

Ben Millar, a 22-year-old waiter, was serving a man named Jeffery this past Saturday, and mentioned in passing that he would like to see his family in Northern Ireland more often. The Irish expat explained that he had not seen them in over two years.

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"I thought nothing of it, and we all joked after," Millar said, as reported by ABC. "The night went on, and I proceeded to give good service and talk to them."

To Millar's surprise, when it came time to collect the bill, he realized the patron had left a $1,011.71 ($750 USD) tip, with a note on the receipt that read, "Hopefully this can get you back to Ireland for the holidays."

The waiter, who was floored by the touching gesture, told ABC News on Tuesday that he plans to save the money until his girlfriend, Taryn Keith, gives birth to their baby. He then hopes to take his new family back to visit Belfast, North Ireland.

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"I also hope I can reach out to Jeffrey so he knows how much I appreciate it," he later added. "It means a lot to me, but more to my family back home who will benefit from seeing me again since almost two years."

Keith, who shared a photo of the bill on her Facebook page, was also deeply touched by the heartfelt act of kindness.

"Thought I would share it to show everyone that's there is not only hate out there," she wrote in the photo caption on Sunday. "Truly blessed."
Remember in "Elf," the classic Christmas film that follows Buddy the Elf from the North Pole to the mean streets of New York City, when he's at the mall and he sees that familiar, jolly man in his glorious red suit and white?

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But then, the tables turn. Buddy realizes that this is NOT the Santa Claus he knows and loves. This is a fake Mr. Claus.

This crucial moment in holiday cinematic history hit close to home for some Canadians, in particular Torontonians, this week when the city's Yorkdale Shopping Centre revealed that they had replaced the country's beloved Fashion Santa, Paul Mason, with a different male model.

#YorkdaleFashionSanta wants you to be the first to know about #BlackFriday offers! Sign up now!  link in bio  #YorkdaleBlackFriday #YorkdaleCheer A photo posted by Yorkdale Style (@yorkdalestyle) on Nov 23, 2015 at 6:14pm PST

If you need a refresh, let us share with you the Fashion Santa Christmas tale of 2015 ...

Last year, the world was introduced to "Fashion Santa," the handsome, dashing, and oh-so-stylish Kris Kringle that roamed the Yorkdale Mall decked out in Burberry, DSquared2, Dolce & Gabbana and more. Taking with selfies with customers (or fans, as we like to call them) for charity, Fashion Santa made headlines around the world, featured everywhere from Harper's Bazaar to Cosmopolitan  and of course, HuffPost Canada Style.

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And in that moment, we swear we were infinite.

Fast forward to Nov 2016  our world is in a state of uncertainty and we, as a planet, all agree that 2016 was just NOT a good year. Could things get worse?

Yup. On Tuesday, the mall unveiled its new Fashion Santa 2016 campaign. In it, the original model, Paul Mason, the 53-year-old man who told CTV News that he is the "rightful owner of Fashion Santa," had been replaced by Yorkdale in favour of a younger, 31-year-old model named Adam Martin.

Fashion Santa 2016 + the holidays have arrived at the #CentreOfStyle  See our latest campaign on the blog, link in profile #FashionSanta2016 #YorkdaleStyle A photo posted by Yorkdale Style (@yorkdalestyle) on Nov 21, 2016 at 7:04am PST

Canada was not fooled.

"Hey....that's not Fashion Santa?!? @paulmasonmodel is the guy," one Instagrammer pointed out.

"Tacky. You can't replace @paulmasonmodel with some other guy. This is ridiculous," another wrote.

This announcement ignited a passionate social media backlash, especially with the claims from Mason that he created Fashion Santa himself and he was the one who pitched the festive idea to Yorkdale.

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I want to thank everyone for their support this year. I'am blessed! Merry Christmas #fashionsanta photo @evaankheraj A photo posted by Paul Mason (@paulmasonmodel) on Dec 25, 2015 at 8:08am PST

As CTV notes, the shopping centre in Toronto filed for copyright protection of the Fashion Santa brand in Dec. 2015, but Mason filed his own claim two weeks later.

"I filed for copyright protection because its mine," Mason told CTV. "I wanted to put a stop to it."

Yorkdale said they reached out to Mason prior to their 2016 campaign, but he did not express an interest, a spokesperson from the shopping centre told CityNews.

HuffPost Canada has reached out to Mason and Yorkdale and will update this story should either choose to comment.

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Shop early + shop late, we're open from 8am - 11pm for #YorkdaleBlackFriday #CentreOfStyle #FashionSanta2016 A video posted by Yorkdale Style (@yorkdalestyle) on Nov 22, 2016 at 12:32pm PST

After posting a video revealing their new Fashion Santa, fans of Paul Mason began the hashtag #BringBackTheRealFashionSanta and took to Yorkdale's Instagram to share their feelings and things got REAL.

"#FAKEFASHIONSANTA #BULLIES #HEISAFAKE," one user hashtagged.

"Yorkdale, do you not care at all about how people feel about this? What a marketing fail, there really isn't much you can do or say at this point - but enough with these videos and photos of a stolen concept. There's no justifying what you've done," another wrote.

One user continued, "I agree there should be no disrespecting the new model. @paulmason is not only the original but the creator. This is about principal, integrity and truth."

And Twitter was pretty mad too.

Saw the promo yesterday by @Yorkdalefashion. Who you guys trying to kid. That is not #FashionSanta, We know who is the #realfashionsanta is  Sean O'Callaghan (@LTLOAK65) November 24, 2016

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Team #OG#FashionSanta For Life! @PaulMasonModel ; No Offense to the New Guy But Ya Gotta Respect Your OGs.  Vanessa Stott (@StottVanessa) November 23, 2016

But there is hope for all you Paul Mason fans out there, the "RealFashionSanta" has something up his sleeve ...

Hi everyone. The RealFashionSanta is still here. I will be announcing something very soon. Happy shopping.  FashionSanta (@PaulMasonModel) November 22, 2016

So you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, we're telling you why: The man-formerly-known-as-Fashion-Santa-Claus is coming back soon!

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If youre the sort that hates forking over any more money to the government than necessary, then youll like this idea.

The Ontario town of Innisfil, south of Barrie, is allowing residents to pay for their parking tickets by donating items to a local food bank.

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From Nov. 20 to Dec. 9, people can bring items of an equal or greater value than their fine to Innisfils town hall. The town will accept kids toys, gift cards and non-perishable food.

The first Scrooge the Ticket initiative in 2015 was a big success, with residents donating nearly $1,200 worth of toys, chocolate, cookies and gift cards to the Innisfil Community Churchs Christmas Outreach Program.

No one likes to get a parking ticket, but this is a thoughtful way to have our residents give generously to a great cause leading into the holiday season, said Mayor Gord Wauchope in a statement.

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This year, residents who havent received tickets can also donate, according to the Innisfil Journal.

But the municipality isnt the first to think of this idea. The Ontario city of Orillia also allows those who owe money for parking violations to give toys instead for a short time, as does Oshawa, Red Deer, Alta. and American cities like Boston and Las Vegas.

Also on HuffPost
Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch is pledging to scrap the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, if elected prime minister.

Leitch made the announcement in a release Thursday, one day after leadership rival Maxime Bernier outlined his plan to refocus the mandate of the public broadcaster.

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The CBC doesnt need to be reformed it needs to be dismantled, Leitch said in the release.

Leitch said Berniers plan doesnt meet the standard of former British prime minister and conservative icon Margaret Thatcher to roll back the frontiers of the state.

Taxpayers should not have to subsidize the CBC to keep it afloat, she said. Just like in the private sector, if a company isnt competitive and it isnt profitable, it shouldnt be in business.

Like Bernier, Leitch mentioned how private media outlets are struggling and suggested it's unfair the CBC chases advertising dollars while also being funded by taxpayers.

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'Playing field is not level'

The playing field is not level for Canadian media, she said. For Canadian democracy to thrive, we need to hear from the different voices in the press.

The Ontario MP did say that she would maintain the part of the CBC that provides emergency services to remote and rural parts of Canada.

Leitch, who has based much of her campaign on railing against so-called left wing elites and journalists, also took to Facebook to say she was the only Tory leadership hopeful who will stand up to the media on this issue.

Mere days ago, Leitch took to social media to thank CBC for interviewing her.

Thanks for having me on @CBCSunday. I enjoyed sharing my proposal to screen immigrants for Canadian values. #cpcldrhttps://t.co/IPEZXO4A0X  Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch) November 20, 2016

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Bernier told reporters this week the CBC needs to stop doing three-quarters of what it currently does, and instead focus its resources on regional stations and public affairs programming outside of Montreal and Toronto.

He also said he wants the broadcaster to stop competing with private outlets for advertising dollars, favouring a model similar to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, where support comes from sponsors and donations from viewers.

Though he did not call for its privatization, Bernier pledged to withdraw $150 million in annual funding the Liberal government has promised the CBC until 2020-2021.

That wasnt good enough for rival leadership contender Brad Trost, who wants CBC privatized and is urging other candidates to make clear where they stand.

Trost calls Bernier's plan 'CBC-lite'

Trost sent a release to media Wednesday bashing Berniers idea for a Canadian version of PBS.

Perhaps Maxime doesnt realize that PBS is the most left-wing and elitist of all the broadcast networks south of the border, or that PBS is still subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars yearly, Trost said.

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An elitist, left-wing public broadcast network that receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxpayer subsidies? After a face lift and a new set of clothes, sounds a lot like the same old CBC to me. Call it CBC-lite.

Trost took to Twitter Thursday to thank Leitch for her support on the issue.

Also on HuffPost
Chocolate maker Ferrero is investigating a report claiming the toys found in its popular chocolate eggs were made under slave-labour conditions.

British newspaper The Sun published an investigation claiming the toys found in Kinder Surprise eggs are assembled by impoverished families in Romania, with some children as young as six working in slave-like conditions.

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The newspaper spoke with a family of five and a 49-year-old woman, who say the pay is terrible, but that poverty leaves them with no choice.

A Romanian family told the Sun they receive the Kinder Surprise toy materials from a company called Prolegis, a sub-contractor for Romexa SA. (Photo: Getty Images)

The family  which includes an 11-year-old and two six-year-old children  says they are paid about 20 Romanian lei, or about $6.32, for every 1000 toys they assemble.

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Their typical work day amounts to 13 hours.

They told the Sun they receive the toy materials from a company called Prolegis, a sub-contractor for Romexa SA.

A Romexa area manager said the investigation was the first time he'd heard about the alleged working conditions.

Ferrero says it banned the use of child labour in factories. (Photo: Twitter)

"I will find out who is responsible and the factories involved will have their contracts terminated if this is found to be true," Daniel Muresan said.

Ferrero said Romexa and Prolegis passed a strict audit inspection in May.

A "core values" page on Ferrero's website says the company supports the abolition of child labour on its production chain.

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The company said in a statement that it guarantees employees the minimum wage.

Romanian prosecutors said Tuesday they were looking into the report.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that the family quoted in the story made the equivalent of 49 cents an hour. This version has been corrected.

Also on HuffPost
Liberals facing a barrage of questions over their fundraising practices now appear to be retorting that their rivals are no better.

For weeks, government ministers have defended so-called cash-for-access fundraisers featuring top players such as Finance Minister Bill Morneau and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The government has consistently pointed out that the events do not break ethics laws.

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But opposition MPs have said the fundraisers run afoul of Trudeaus Open and Accountable Government guidelines that prohibits preferential access to the government or the appearance of preferential access be granted to donors.

On Thursday, Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc tried a new tack in question period. He read out the names of former Tory cabinet ministers who attended similar gatherings and suggested NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair did the same.

Tory House Leader Candice Bergen rose to accuse Trudeau of selling access to Chinese billionaires by attending a private, $1,500-a-plate event in May.

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LeBlanc shot back that government business is not discussed at such events and said Bergen shouldnt be shocked by such fundraisers.

In a minute Im going to get up and read her a list of her former colleagues who attended events exactly like this one, he said, setting the table.

I can guarantee you we did not fundraisers with Chinese communists, Bergen replied.

LeBlanc reminded Bergen that only Canadians can make donations to parties in this country.

Then he made good on his earlier promise.

I would assume those are the kind of Canadians that attended a $500-a-ticket fundraising event with (former finance minister) Joe Oliver on May 19, 2015. Or maybe the $500-a-ticket fundraiser with (former defence minister) Jason Kenney on Jan. 30, 2015. Or maybe the $1,500-a-ticket fundraiser with former immigration minister Chris Alexander at a private home in Toronto, LeBlanc said, delighting Grits.

Maybe those are the kind of events that shes familiar with.

Minister tries same move on Mulcair

Mulcair then rose to flag how Canada 2020, a think tank with close ties to Trudeau, was suddenly concerned about events it has hosted with the prime minister.

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The Canadian Press reports the group currently asks donors to sign an agreement clarifying their contributions wont buy access to Trudeaus inner circle.

The NDP leader wondered how Liberals can deny their fundraisers are a problem.

LeBlanc said all parties raise money and pointed to a $300-per-ticket fundraiser the NDP leader attended in April in Edmonton. The cocktail event coincided with the NDPs convention.

Mulcair said the issue was about donors getting possible preferential access to the government, as spelled out in Trudeaus guidelines. New Democrats have never formed government at the federal level.

"Yes, Mr. Speaker, we know very well were the government."

Can the Liberals please try to explain how their cash-for-access fundraisers do not break their own Liberal rules? Mulcair asked. Theyre the government.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we know very well were the government, LeBlanc said, adding that Mulcair knows that as well. The apparent gloat about last years election win sparked laughter from some on the Liberal benches.

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Again, LeBlanc said Liberals were happy to follow all fundraising rules.

Just as he did when he went to Edmonton at $300-a-person, LeBlanc said.

NDP finance critic Guy Caron remarked he found it funny that the Liberals best defence appeared to be that they are as bad as the Conservatives were.
A B.C. First Nation is using tiny houses to make huge changes to the lives of the homeless in its community.

At the Nak'azdli Whut'en First Nation, close to Prince George, four men received keys last week to the very first houses they've ever owned.

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And it's all thanks to a pilot project spearheaded by Aileen Prince, the reserve's capital and lands manager.

The idea came to Prince after she kept seeing homeless people on her community's streets. She said although housing problems were an issue for many people on the reserve, they were tougher on homeless individuals who were on the fringe of every social program and service.

She wanted something concrete to draw them in, to make them part of the community. Since housing was the most significant obstacle, building houses for the homeless quickly came to mind.

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"I believe in people."

"Everybody deserves a home, everybody deserves a chance," Prince told The Huffington Post Canada.

There was some hesitation when the project was proposed to the band council earlier this year.

Some worried about the homes being wrecked, others were concerned the costs would be too high or difficult to recover.

That didn't matter much to Prince.

She preferred to give prospective tenants a chance at being masters of their own domains.

"I believe in people," she said.

The project was eventually approved and construction on the homes began in May.

Applicants had to be at least 45 years old and meet minimum requirements such as never having owned a home. Eight people applied and four were selected.

On Nov. 18, the first-time homeowners got their keys.

"I think they were pretty excited. They were kind of skeptical at first," she said with a laugh, "which, I mean, I don't blame them."

As construction progressed and the houses went up, Prince said the tenants got more and more excited, paying frequent visits to the site to check on the construction of their new home.

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The properties are 320 square feet and include a small kitchenette, front porch, washroom, washer and dryer.

Prince said the total cost of the project hasn't been finalized, as bills are still being paid, but she estimates each unit will come in at around $45,000.

Each tenant pays between $380 and $400 a month, Prince said, along with utilities. She expects they'll pay off the mortgages  which the reserve holds with the Bank of Montreal  in five years.

She said one of the tenants told a staff member he doesn't allow smoking inside his house, makes visitors put their shoes outside and has started reading again.

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"Everybody deserves a home, everybody deserves a chance."

Prince said she thought the tenants' new experience of being "the host" of a home, rather than a guest, was amazing.

And although the pilot project isn't going to solve the reserve's housing issues, she said it's a step in the right direction. Other benefits include teaching community members about home ownership and money management essentials.

Nak'azdli Whut'en's slogan on its website and social media pages is "We Challenge the Future."
Flashing lights, ringing bells, non-stop carols, packed shopping malls  Christmas can be overwhelming for even the most hardcore fans.

So, as a gift to families with children who have autism, Londonderry Mall in Edmonton is offering a toned-down visit with Santa, minus the sensory overload.

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Dubbed "Silent Santa," families can book a private visit with the Man in Red, without having to endure loud, long lines. Lights are dimmed, carols turned down, and Santa is specially trained to deal with sensitive youngsters.

Lauren Rollett, Manager of Support Services with Autism Edmonton, has worked with Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the weeks before Silent Santa. The focus is to make the visits enjoyable for the whole family.

Their biggest role is to reassure the family that this is a unique and special experience for the child  even if it doesnt look like a typical Santa experience, Rollett told The Huffington Post Alberta.

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For example, Rollett says parents might be encouraged to consider a candid photo, if a traditional picture on Santa's knee makes the child uncomfortable.

Londonderry Mall is offering the program for the first time this year, and marketing director Nancy Jarnevic says the reception has been "overwhelmingly positive."

"We thought it was a really good opportunity to offer an experience that some families might not otherwise get to have," she said.

The first two days have filled up, and Jarnevic says the mall is looking at possibly adding a third day.

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"Theres obviously a demand for this in the community. We want to make it special for all families in the absolute best way."

Londonderry Mall is following in the footsteps of Kingsway Mall, which has offered a similar program in the past. Other major Canadian centres also have participating malls.

Jade Nesvold, a communications coordinator with Autism Edmonton, says Silent Santa is meaningful in two ways.

"Its a sign that the community is embracing these families that are often isolated because these events arent designed for them."

"On one hand, this gives families the opportunity to take part in something they might normally miss out on," she said.

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"Its also a sign that the community is embracing these families that are often isolated because these events arent designed for them."

Silent Santa will be held Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 by appointment only. For more information, follow Londonderry Mall and Autism Edmonton on Facebook.

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For the first time in 54 years, snow has fallen over Tokyo in November.

The snow began falling just after dawn on Thursday, just before the start of the business day in the Japanese capital. The cold air mass responsible for the historic weather also brought snow to parts of eastern Japan, including Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures.

Commuters did encounter some traffic disruptions and public transportation delays. The Japan Times reports an increase in demand for heating also caused a spike in electricity use.

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According to the Associated Press, its the earliest "hatsuyuki  the Japanese word for first snow  in the winter season since Dec. 6, 1987.

Tokyo last saw snow in November in 1962.

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The Japan Meteorological Agency began its collection of snowfall records in 1875.

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For many, finding out the truth about Santa marks the end of childhood. After all, realizing that old Saint Nick isnt real is essentially an end to believing in magic.

Last year, one 10-year-old girl wrote a hilarious, but heartbreaking note to her parents after they were honest with her about Father Christmas.

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Maryland girl writes parents an angry letter after learning the truth about Santa. https://t.co/DgvyldIHzqpic.twitter.com/m5m5WEQDpj  The Bump (@thebump) December 21, 2015

You just ruined a 10 year old childs LIFE thanks, she wrote. Nothing will make me feel better. You lied to me about something I loved. That BROKE my heart. #MiddleFingerEmoji.

The girl's note couldn't be more relatable. Every year on Reddit, users reveal similar sentiments about how they found out Santa Claus isnt real. While some find out in fairly innocent ways (ie. mom and dad told them), others have far worse experiences.

Here weve rounded up some of the worst ways Redditors found out the truth about Santa.

Worst Ways To Find Out The Truth About Santa See Gallery

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Most parents lie to their children about Santa Claus, but a new study published in the Lancet Psychiatry suggests that lying to children about Saint Nick can undermine the trust in the parent-child relationship.

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Despite this, many people dont see the harm in keeping the magic alive.

As one Facebook user simply put it, Just let kids believe in something magical [and] fun, they will have enough reality when they are older!!!
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The information technology industry is one of America's most thriving sectors, according to a plethora of industry experts. It's actually one of the most robust sectors in the world and also one of the best industries for starting a business right now. Economy Watch describes it as no less than "a key driver of global economic growth". Job offers abound online and hires are on the rise worldwide.

There are boundless tech awards & conferences every single year but little did you know, only 23% of the workforce in the tech industry in the UK is female, compared to 30% in the US. In comparison: women make up for 59% of the workforce in the US. Of the 41 Fortune 500 companies in the IT sector, only 5 have a female CEO. I've asked 5 brilliant, talented and highly successful women the same 3 questions. Here are their thoughts.

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Is it truly harder for a woman to evolve in the IT industry?

"I think it's a great time for women in tech. There are more opportunities and resources than ever before with organizations like Girls Who Code, Digital Undivided, NCWIT and Women 2.0 breaking down barriers. Also, the upcoming Women Who Tech challenge is a competition that will spotlight and fund women-led startups."

-Elisa Miller-Out,

"Industry statistics point to the fact that overall women in tech are paid less and fewer women hold senior positions, particularly board-level ones. So it is challenging but certainly not impossible. During my career I've had to get used to being one of the few women at the table, but it's refreshing to work for a company such as Salesforce that takes the initiative to drive change. What I have found is that, as well as a grass-roots bottom-up approach, which includes role models, we also need a top-down approach. For example, at Salesforce our leadership team has taken the initiative to ensure that each at least 30% of attendees in each management meeting are women. The company also undertook a pioneering equal pay audit last year. Equal opportunity is a core principle at Salesforce and we are working to increase diversity at all levels - it's this commitment that makes it possible for women to grow and thrive".

-Damilola Erinle,

Area Vice President, Salesforce and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

"A big component that can affect women's experiences in the industry is how many other women there are, especially in leadership positions. Both early on in my career and as I moved into more senior roles, there unfortunately weren't many other women in leadership positions (and none at all in product/engineering roles). As I didn't have anyone to model myself after, I had to find a style of leadership that uniquely worked for me. This was a blessing in disguise because it enabled me to be very true to myself and trust my instincts around what will and won't work for me in terms of getting buy-in for ideas, balancing authority and warmth, etc. As with many things in life, the challenges we face can often be a help us develop our strengths".

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-Natalie Gibralter,

Director of Product at Squarespace

"There is no doubt that women are underrepresented in the IT Industry. (...) I can honestly say I have never felt that I didn't have an equal chance to progress as a woman working in a male dominated IT industry and I find working with many men, and a fair number of bright women, thought provoking, challenging and rewarding in terms of job satisfaction. (...) The problem faced by our organisations, and indeed reflected personally by a number of men I have worked for, is that the pool of women to employ is simply not large enough. At TeenTech, recognizing that this imbalance starts before the workforce, we work face to face with 4000 students from 400 schools every year helping them understand the opportunities in contemporary industry and giving them confidence in their own potential to succeed. It's critically important that as female leaders of the industry we work with educational institutions, starting at the school level, to encourage and promote the opportunities in all STEM disciplines and workforces. The natural evolution of gender equality and evolution of women in the IT industry undoubtedly starts here".

-Amy Wettenhall, Commercial Director Business Unit IT & Cloud, Ericsson, Non-executive Director TeenTech CIC and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

What is your biggest career challenge right now?

"In data science and machine learning, the biggest challenge (and opportunity!) we currently face is navigating through the hype to help our clients identify the optimal use of their data and technology resources, along with current algorithmic capabilities, to address new business and product problems".

-Hilary Mason,

Founder & CEO, Fast Forward Labs

"(...) At Ericsson we see that the companies being most successful in the digital space fail fast, fix fast, and adjust to customer needs more precisely by using feedback from big data. (...) As business, networks and IT converge in response to the changing global social dynamics, for Ericsson the biggest challenge therefore is to anticipate consumer market shifts, manage scale and complexity as the reality of convergence of sectors and technology becomes a reality, and offer our customers a pathway into innovation and sustainable ecosystems".

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-Amy Wettenhall, Commercial Director Business Unit IT & Cloud, Ericsson, Non-executive Director TeenTech CIC and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

"I don't think there is only one challenge related to an industry as large and wide-reaching as tech, but a challenge on the forefront of many people's minds is how to increase diversity. In our industry, innovation is critical, and I am a big believer that diversity of perspectives and experiences deeply enables innovative thought".

-Natalie Gibralter,

Director of Product at Squarespace

"One of the biggest challenges in the tech industry that we try to work on each day is we need to all work together to show you can be a good cause -and- a good business. Often founders, companies and employees compromise closely held values for "valuations" and short-term thinking. If we build a solid set of values like open source, giving back and bringing people together, a lot of the problems in tech will slowly go away, we must be excellent to one another more".

- Limor "ladyada" Fried

Founder and Engineer, Adafruit

"I think the biggest challenge in tech is making sure we have access to the right talent so that we can continue to grow the UK industry. At Salesforce we often say "you can't be, what you can't see". If you're a young girl studying for exams and you're not exposed to strong, female role models working in the tech industry you'll probably assume it's a career best left to geeky boys - that's my experience at any rate. It's why I encourage the women I work with to go back to their school, or in fact any school, and take part in career days. It's such a great way to inspire girls, to plant a seed in their minds and also for them to ask all those important questions".

-Damilola Erinle,

Area Vice President, Salesforce and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

Any advice to your younger self?

"The advice I would give my younger self is very simple: think for yourself. There's quite a bit of mythology in business and entrepreneurship, and if you spend the time to think through what you want to accomplish and what mechanisms are available, you'll find solutions that may not fit the common wisdom but are very effective (and fun)!".

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-Hilary Mason,

Founder & CEO, Fast Forward Labs

"Put your hand up. I think that sometimes, as women, we don't always lean in and put ourselves forward for opportunities - I certainly didn't. (...) Putting your hand up and getting involved in something outside your comfort zone can open the door to so many new opportunities".

-Damilola Erinle,

Area Vice President, Salesforce and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

"(...) I realized a few years ago, that there are very few wrong choices, and, importantly, it's almost impossible to plan academic pursuit choices, careers and life in general in a landscape of such rapid change. (...) In this landscape my overriding advice is always stop worrying if you don't know exactly what your path will be. Ensure you identify one, or many, mentors. Ask questions, never accept the status quo, and importantly, consider the globe as one large community within which we all have a responsibility. Always carry yourself with integrity and compassion. Your ability to do your job will be equally measured by the integrity with which you do it. These softer qualities build networks of people you can trust and people who will want to employee you. Without networks and collaboration, you will achieve nothing. (...) Compassion, kindness and trust are the foundations of successful people. Lastly and importantly, constantly innovate (...) regardless of your areas of subject interest".

-Amy Wettenhall, Commercial Director Business Unit IT & Cloud, Ericsson, Non-executive Director TeenTech CIC and Judge at the Women in IT Awards

"Make cool art, fight like hell. Don't count on external validation for your self-esteem".

- Limor "ladyada" Fried

Founder and Engineer, Adafruit

"Don't be so hard on yourself. And don't take yourself so seriously".

-Natalie Gibralter,

Director of Product at Squarespace
By Alain Beaudet

It was a pleasure to take part in the recent Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Vancouver. It was equally heartening to see how researchers and policy makers in global health are becoming more and more interconnected -- which is vital to its continued success and growth. These connections between research and policy are essential to strengthen health systems in an evidence-based fashion.

The Government of Canada has made health system improvement a priority -- with research playing a vital role in producing the evidence and innovations that are needed to ensure that our health-care systems remain effective and sustainable.

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Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) investments in health systems research and, more broadly, in global health, have been steadily increasing over the past few years, in a context of overall budgetary stagnation and fiscal restraint. In the field of global health alone, our investments have doubled over the past ten years, growing from approximately $15 million to $30 million per year.

This is due in part to our strategic investments in research on emerging threats, such as the Ebola and Zika outbreaks, but also to major partnered investments in research on mother and child health in Africa, as well as on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries broadly.

Last year, I was part of an important mission to Africa with the President of International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Dr. Jean Lebel. I drew two important conclusions from this mission.

The first is the need to continue building research capacity in low- and middle-income countries to help develop a cadre of solid investigators in health systems research, as well as in health economics.

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The second -- and this is crucial -- is the need to continue supporting implementation research and delivery science.

One of our major strategic initiatives in Africa, supported jointly with IDRC and Global Affairs Canada, is a program called Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa -- or IMCHA for short.

This program, which supports 19 implementation research teams, aims to develop effective policies, programs, and strategies to improve health and strengthen health systems in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

For example, in Tanzania, which has made it a priority to improve obstetrical and neonatal care in its health facilities, Canadian and African researchers are working together with clinicians, midwives, and nurses to provide training in emergency obstetrical care so that expecting mothers have access to skilled care and emergency services. Importantly, the project is also investigating how these interventions can be scaled-up nationwide.

Bringing interventions, programs, and policies to scale remains the ultimate challenge in health systems research, a challenge that the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) has chosen to tackle head on.

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The GACD is the first collaboration of major research funding agencies to specifically address chronic, non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries (and in vulnerable populations in high income countries), where these diseases are currently responsible for over 80 per cent of deaths.

What is unique about the GACD is the fact that it is committed to focusing on implementation research and delivery science. In addition, our focus on implementation science means that we are looking at what interventions are scalable in a sustainable and equitable way.

To ensure the scaling of these interventions, the GACD has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Bank Group. The intent of this World Bank-GACD collaboration is to integrate implementation research into reforms aimed at achieving universal access to interventions for non-communicable diseases.

The initial focus of the partnership will be on the prevention and control of hypertension in a number of focus countries, as a sentinel for the rising burden of non-communicable diseases.

The organizations will be working together over the coming year to operationalize this vision on a moderate scale and to fully assess the potential of the model to enhance health system performance and equity.

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IMCHA and the GACD are just two success stories that demonstrate how Canada can play a significant role in strengthening health systems and improving the well-being of people around the world.

Of course, while conferences like the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research provide us with an opportunity to celebrate our collective successes, we know that there is much more work to do.

It is critical that we continue to work together to elevate the importance of health systems research -- not only to improve health, but also to improve the economic and social well-being of nations around the world.

Here at home, we have a federal government that is increasingly looking to researchers to provide the evidence-based policies we need to improve our own healthcare system -- which has many challenges of its own. It is critical that researchers be responsive to this call and the needs expressed by policy makers.

Alain Beaudet, MD, PhD is President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CCIC or its members.
Exotic escapes don't have to be expensive. While lounging on a tropical beach in the Philippines or discovering the ancient Pyramids of Giza sound like excursions that will burn a hole in your pocket, you'll be wowed by how far your Canadian dollar can go in such sought-after travel destinations.

Since 2015, the Canadian dollar has appreciated by an average of 19 per cent, while flight prices have dropped by roughly 20 per cent. Combine the lower airfares with destinations that offer more bang for your Canadian dollar, and you can escape to some of the world's most exotic travel destinations for the price you typically pay for a getaway much closer to home.

These three fascinating destinations are ones you should consider if you're seeking life-changing culture and picture-perfect scenery on a budget this winter.

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Palawan, Philippines

Photo credit: Zaldy Camerino

It's no wonder Palawan was praised as the World's Best Island in Travel and Leisure's World's Best Awards. But you may find it more difficult to believe this naturally stunning island is far from over-traveled. Turquoise ocean waters, reefs ripe for snorkeling and scuba diving, an iconic five-mile-long underground river, photogenic fishing boats, and towering rock caverns turn this northern Philippines archipelago into a getaway destination that will be impossible to forget.

Last year, a week-long trip to Palawan costed $1,757.65, but that same trip can be purchased this year for just $1,433.46. A coconut is calling your name.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Photo credit: Paul Arps

You may know a handful of people who have been to Bangkok, but fewer have been to the alluring, and far more rugged, Southeast Asian Ho Chi Minh City. Located in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City oozes culture through markets, museums, street stalls, chaotic roadways, and buildings that reflect the city's history while anticipating its future. Stare up at towering skyscrapers, duck into a temple, dine at world-class eateries, or grab meat-on-a-stick from a street vendor -- this city urges you to experience the Southeast Asia of yesterday.

Many travelers know that Southeast Asia is a characteristically affordable travel region, but the cost of a week-long escape to Ho Chi Minh City has dropped more than 17 per cent compared to last year. Now is the time to go.

Cairo, Egypt

Photo credit: David Stanley

Egypt is a dream destination for history buffs, photographers, foodies, and anyone in search of the world's most iconic historical sites. As the country's capital, Cairo sits at the heart of it all. With roots in Ancient Egypt (the Great Pyramid at Giza is less than 30 minutes away) and a clearly modern metropolitan area that's the largest in the Middle East, you won't find yourself wishing you traveled anywhere else when you visit Cairo. And you certainly won't regret your trip to this iconic Egyptian city when you realize you're saving more than 30 per cent on your trip by going this year instead of last.

Also on HuffPost:Exotic escapes don't have to be expensive. While lounging on a tropical beach in the Philippines or discovering the ancient Pyramids of Giza sound like excursions that will burn a hole in your pocket, you'll be wowed by how far your Canadian dollar can go in such sought-after travel destinations.

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Bruce Yuanyue Bi via Getty Images

Canada's commitment to United Nations peacekeeping operations was negligible in the last decade as active military operations in Afghanistan consumed sizeable quantities of time, funding, partnerships, and, sadly, casualties.

This country's narrative concerning peacekeeping is about to change, as the Trudeau government will soon announce where the deployment of some 600 military personnel will be based for a three-year period. The plan will also include air transport, training, medical, and engineering components.

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The government announced a $450 million peace and stabilization fund this past summer as Canada re-engages with a peacekeeping profile that once earned it a solid international reputation.

Though few realize it, global commitment to peacekeeping operation within the UN framework is remarkably robust and, in places, effective. The most recent UN data made available on peacekeeping deployments is from July of this year and the numbers tell a complex and diverse tale. Uniformed personnel from 121 countries total 100,746 (85,808 troops, 13,200 police, and 1,738 military observers). Over 15,000 civilian personnel bring that number even higher.

While there have been 71 official peacekeeping operations since 1948, 16 of those are currently underway in regions across the globe, including:

Cyprus

Lebanon

Western Sahara

Liberia

Cote d'Ivoire

Haiti

Darfur

Democratic Republic of the Congo

South Sudan

Mali

Central African Republic

Such operations don't come cheap and require significant logistical support. For the period between July 2016 through June 2017, the overall budget has been targeted at $7.87 billion (US). The greatest cost of all -- casualties -- have totaled 5,087 since 1948.

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Soon we will discover where the Canadian deployment will end up and we can better frame what the challenges and opportunities will be.

This is the new peacekeeping context Canada is about to enter with enhanced commitment. It is as extensive as peacekeeping has ever been. Much of it is far more complex than those blue-helmeted forces we have been used to, parked between two belligerents in peace pacts that have already been worked out. Even the term peacekeeping itself has morphed to include peacemaking and peacebuilding, reflecting the more sophisticated and gritty world of violence in the modern era.

Another welcome addition to this vital UN work has been the inclusion of more women at all levels of the peacekeeping architecture. In peacekeeping operations and special political missions, women make up 29 per cent of international and 17 per cent of national staff -- a number that has been steadily climbing.

As per its commitment to seek greater gender equality across all branches of government, Prime Minister Trudeau has vowed to increase the number of women involved in its recent commitment towards a new era in Canadian peacekeeping deployments.

Soon we will discover where the Canadian deployment will end up and we can better frame what the challenges and opportunities will be. That it will be somewhere in the troubled African continent is all but certain, but little else is known. This new incursion into global peacekeeping isn't so much a throwback to the past as a bold statement that Canada wishes to engage in a world that seems to grow more challenging with each passing year and where the peace dividend is more difficult to attain than ever.

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"You call yourself the Moral Majority. We call ourselves the people of the real world." - Dead Kennedys

If the American election taught us anything, it's this; leaders who are perceived to be anti-establishment are currently the ones who can energize the people. This is the era of calling out the status quo, typified by both Bernie Sanders and president-elect, Donald Trump. While on the opposite sides of the political landscape, these two candidates reinvigorated the public's thirst for change, for better or worse, and shook the very foundation of a public service wrought with nepotism, glad-handing and corruption.

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In Canada, our two main opposition parties are in limbo. Both feature interim leaders who will not be there by this time next year. The conservatives are running a battalion of virtual unknowns, with the exception of one Trump-like populist, Kellie Leitch, while the NDP bides its time trying to unearth a candidate that can bridge the differences between the practical and passionate lefties in their party.

That leader is probably going to be Charlie Angus.

Every piece written about the current NDP critic for Indigenous Affairs mentions his punk rock roots, and this piece is no different. Punk is a subculture that is defined by its anti-establishment beginnings, and we've never seen a bona fide punk make a real mark on society from Parliament Hill before. It's a juxtaposition that is not just unique, but oddly fitting in today's societal contempt for our institutions and the men and women who occupy high office.

New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus (third left) singing a Stompin' Tom Connors song with Megan Leslie (fourth left), Andrew Cash (second right) while paying tribute to the late Canadian singer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 7, 2013. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

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Even Justin Trudeau, who was a household name his entire adult life, executed a campaign defined by how different he was from Stephen Harper, a status-quo poster child if ever there was one. But despite Trudeau's ability to spellbind a nation, his personal brand only has one way to go, and his attempt at appeasing both progressives and conservatives could very well alienate both sides.

Angus, however, is a more serious, less sculpted version of authenticity. Even more than Jack Layton, Angus seems sincere about his concerns for the plight of poor people, especially indigenous communities who have seen countless leaders pucker up during campaigns, only to be left with nothing but lip service once the votes have long been tallied. Like Bernie Sanders, it would be hard to imagine Angus dithering on the issues he speaks so passionately about, and that's why he will likely win his party's nomination in a cakewalk.

That the NDP can unify is a feat in itself. The party became fractured in a perfect storm of activism and provincial realities in Western Canada, where the NDP is trying to execute the almost impossible balance of environmental sensibilities with oil sands realities. The takeaway from the much hyped and widely criticized Leap Manifesto is that there is a thirst for a more progressive set of principles in Canada, but also a requirement of realism.

The prospect of a true left-leaning politician inspiring voters from various sub-political persuasions no longer seems so far fetched.

The Leap Manifesto was a deliberate overreach, a wish list of reforms that ignored uncomfortable realities the activist wing of the party would need to consider before attempting to reshape the nation, should the party ever win an election. Out of all the NDP stalwarts, Angus is one who shows pragmatism, sorely needed not just to retain power, but hold onto it as well.

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The 2015 election saw Justin Trudeau out-progressive Tom Mulcair, who should have kept being Angry Tom instead of Fake Smile Tommy. An Angus-led NDP would diminish Trudeau's ability to present himself as the only choice for the left, especially in hot-button areas like climate change and indigenous affairs. Trudeau's credibility on both those files has taken a beating. The prime minister's penchant for pipelines and his government's foot dragging on native issues has caught the ire of actual progressives, who were a sizeable swath of the Liberal party's base last year.

Add to that a sharp right turn via the privatization of Canada's infrastructure and you have a Trudeau who will find it hard to claim the progressives he covets dearly to survive.

Without those votes the Liberals could lose their majority status in an election where the Conservative party runs a second tier candidate. The conservatives saw virtually every household name take a pass on the next election, and while they would never admit to doing so, they presumably saw Trudeau as a sure thing in 2019. But the downside of trying to run an ambidextrous government is that you have to juggle two ideologically opposed groups, or hope you can hold on to just enough from both sides to keep governing.

Of course, all of this is speculation. But the reason why a candidate like Angus is so interesting is because the new conventional wisdom is that there is no conventional wisdom anymore. A self-described socialist almost won the nomination for president of the United States, and probably would have won if the party he ran under did not work tirelessly against him. So the prospect of a true left-leaning politician inspiring voters from various sub-political persuasions no longer seems so far fetched. Both Sanders and Angus also have a history of activism, reinforcing a kind of credibility among progressives looking for a sort of anti-politician.

Most importantly, Sanders and Angus both sound honest when they speak, a kind of credibility that, even if you disagree with them, protects them from having their characters assassinated. Trudeau doesn't have that, he has charm, and whomever the conservatives elect as leader probably won't have either trait. It is an invaluable asset in politics -- to be seen as an honest-to-god straight shooter while having a personal backstory that plays to the populace's new thirst to buck the system -- all while sporting a personality that would surely end in Parliament getting punk'd in the best way possible.

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A moral majority comprised of people. Not lefties or socialists following another lefty, just people thinking that a leader is telling us the truth.

To that I say hey, ho...let's go.

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bilderlounge/Tips RF via Getty Images Marijuana plant

As the Canadian government prepares to introduce legislation next spring to legalize marijuana for recreational use, there are some useful lessons to be drawn from the experiments that have been taking place south of the border since 2012.

Four more US states, including California, voted to legalize recreational pot earlier this month, bringing the total to eight, plus Washington, D.C. This means one fifth of Americans now live in jurisdictions where adults can legally use marijuana. Yet it is the states of Colorado and Washington that led the way, and hence have the most to teach us based on what they have learned thus far.

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One important lesson is not to set tax rates too high. Washington initially levied a 25% excise tax at three separate stages--once on marijuana producers, once on processors, and a third time on retailers. It has since reduced this to one 37% retail tax, which is still high but at least less complicated. Colorado's effective tax rate is set to drop from 29% to 27% next year, and Oregon, which voted to legalize in 2014, is set to lower its tax rate from 25% to 17% by the end of this year.

These states do bring in not insignificant sums of revenue through these marijuana taxes. According to a recent in-depth Cato Institute report, Colorado is now collecting well over $10 million a month, and Washington over $15 million.

The problem, though, is that with such high tax rates, black markets continue to thrive. The four US states that just voted to legalize recreational marijuana will all have lower rates: 15% in California and Nevada, 10% in Maine, and just 3.75% in Massachusetts.

A report by Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer this month recognizes the problem that US states have had with taxes that are too high. It projects that if the price of legal marijuana in this country is kept $3/gram above its illicit price (which averaged close to $9/gram in 2015 16), legal pot would capture barely 40% of the market. Even with a mere $1/gram premium, the legal market share would only hit 65%.

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Not all of the lessons we can learn from the US state experiments are cautionary tales, however. They have also done some things right. For instance, they have not turned retailing over to a government monopoly like Quebec's SAQ, one of the options proposed by the Institut national de sante publique du Quebec last week.

Instead, US states have allowed private entrepreneurs to apply for retail licenses. As of November 1, Colorado has 454 licensed retail marijuana stores with names like Herban Underground, Fresh Baked, and of course, Rocky Mountain High. Washington, for its part, had 378 licensed retail stores as of June 15, out of a maximum of 556 licences available statewide.

Those who oppose legalization, or who favour overly restrictive models like a government retailing monopoly, fear negative effects like increased car accidents, rising crime rates, or more widespread underage pot use. But the Cato report cited above, which looked at statistics addressing these and other concerns, concluded that "state marijuana legalizations have had minimal effect on marijuana use and related outcomes" and found an "absence of significant adverse consequences."

The debate over whether or not to legalize marijuana is over; the question now is how to do it properly. At a time when government monopolies over retail liquor sales are increasingly being called into question, let's not make the mistake of adopting this outdated model for retail sales of marijuana.

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The British North America Act was passed on July 1, 1867. On that day, Canada became an independent nation with its own culture, values and a diverse people. Along with becoming its own country, the many issues of everyday Canadians fell to the Canadian government.

Such expenditures include the ever-rising costs of health care, education, defence and energy, among many others. Today, Canada is in debt to the tune of $632 billion dollars. That is no small expenditure, especially when a large portion is just paying off interest to service that debt.

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Canada has a longstanding history with Britain and the monarchy, which will forever be cemented in the history books. Such a partnership no longer has merit for both countries, however, as Canada no longer relies on Britain for very much.

The majority of Canadians do not support giving tax breaks and tax dollars to the extremely wealthy -- well, except for one. There is one family in particular that falls under this category, and that's the Royal Family.

What if I told you that Canada, in its annual budget, spends millions on a monarchy which provides no real benefits to the Canadian people? The Governor General's financial report stated that in 2015 the British monarchy's costs for Canada were nearly $43 million dollars a year.

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The Diamond Jubilee ceremony in 2012 cost Canadian taxpayers $7.5 million dollars, just to celebrate the Queen. These figures don't even cover the costs of royal visits, such as the visit of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge earlier this year. These are no small sums of money, considering the poverty, health inequality, national debt, crises plaguing our aboriginal communities, and many other social issues which need the immediate attention of our government.

There is no merit in royal visits to Canada, except for the fanfare and media coverage which costs our taxpayers valuable dollars. Now, Canada has one of the highest bills of any nation in the Commonwealth. This needs to stop immediately.

Looking at one of the wealthiest families in the world, it's an outrage that Canadians are paying such a high sum every year when there are people on the streets suffering who are neglected daily. If you take a look at England, for example, their economy is not doing well at all, to put it bluntly, with poverty and income inequality at an all-time high. When their taxpayers this year were somehow roped into paying millions to repair Buckingham Palace, it was shocking.

These expenses are irresponsible regardless of which nation's taxpayers are footing the bill. There should be public outcry for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end these expensive traditions. It is due time the Canadian taxpayer stops paying for the Royal Family's expensive vacations.

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Not only should these traditions end, the Canadian people also pay a whole lot of money for the Governor General and her provincial counterparts, who really cost the taxpayers a lot of money for mostly ceremonial roles. It is time for a major overhaul of the system to allow for a head of state solely accountable to the Canadian people, such as in a republic.

It is due time the Canadian taxpayer stops paying for the Royal Family's expensive vacations.

There must be a large call for action as the majority of Canadians do not wish to see Prince Charles become king. The only resistance I see would perhaps be from elderly Canadians who are stuck in tradition and want to hold onto the ways of the past.

However, Canada has developed into a vast mosaic of cultures since gaining independence, and can certainly address the needs of its own people on its own terms.

It is now time to call on the government to act in the best interest of all Canadians, as most polls show young Canadians (mainly millennials) do not support the monarchy. And you better believe that if more youth were informed of such a price tag, there would be overwhelming support to end such traditions. Just look at rising education costs in provinces such as Ontario.

It is time for prime minister Trudeau to act for the benefit of Canadians. We are an independent sovereign nation, and it is time our politicians to stop wasting money and act in the best interest of their constituents.

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photosbyhope via Getty Images Two hands offering to give, donate or charity

As donations on GivingTuesday continue to grow each year, so seemingly do the number of skeptics who advise charities to not participate in this international day of giving.

"Social media posts don't help raise money"... "It's impossible to break through the clutter with hundreds of charities participating"... "It's not worth a small charity's time and resources."

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By now, I've heard just about everything, and frankly, it all misses the point. While GivingTuesday will absolutely benefit the charities that participate, it's not about raising awareness for any one individual charity or cause. It's about raising awareness for 'giving' itself in order to inspire empathy and generosity in the millions of people who are currently not giving to their capacity.

According to Statistics Canada, 35 per cent of Canadian donors were aged 55 and over in 2013 -- up from 29 per cent in 2004. In the same time frame, the proportion of the total amount of charitable donations contributed by older Canadians also increased from 39 to 47 per cent.

Given that donations have grown relatively flat across the country in recent years, with a growing share of total donations coming from a small group of older donors, it's clear we need to do everything we can to inspire a new generation of givers.

And that's the beauty of GivingTuesday. The movement connects with every Canadian because it's not discussing any one cause. It's also a day that lets us all be a little more conspicuous with our giving. In a world where we share everything from adorable dog pics to what we're eating for dinner on social media, why shouldn't we let our friends and family know what issues are closest to our heart.

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GivingTuesday is a day where we can all stand up and say, giving back matters. It's a day for starting conversations and growing a collective consciousness. A day where everyone can ask themselves -- what are the things I care about, and am I really doing enough to make a difference?

Last year, more than 4,700 charities and businesses participated in this global movement for giving and volunteering, and millions of Canadians donated their time, money, food and even blood. With the 4th annual Giving Tuesday (November 29, 2016) expected to inspire even more generosity across the country this year, I encourage all charitable organizations to ignore the skeptics and take part. If you're not convinced yet, here are three quick facts about the big day that every charity should know:

1. Charities that participate in GivingTuesday benefit the most. In the three years since GivingTuesday started in Canada, donations through CanadaHelps (participating and non-participating charities) have grown 302 per cent. Even better, for those charities who actively take part, revenues on the day were 555 per cent higher in 2015 than they were in 2012.

2. There's literally no downside in taking part. There's absolutely no evidence that the massive increase in donations on GivingTuesday in anyway dilutes or curbs giving during the holiday season or year round. In fact, the day acts as a great year-end reminder for Canadians, who make over a third (35.2%) of all donations in December.

3. It doesn't cost a lot to participate. Four out of every five Canadian charities are small, with $500,000 or less in annual revenue. However, since GivingTuesday is a grassroots social media movement, there is no barrier to participation. Rather than the usual expensive ad buys that are required to reach a large audience, smaller charities can get involved simply by using a little bit of creativity on their social channels to recognize donors, volunteers, staff and supporters, while engaging new donors (especially Millennials) who might be sympathetic to their cause.

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Membership to the European Union allows citizens to live and work in any other member state. While the terms of Brexit are still up in the air, there's a significant possibility that British citizens will soon lose this fundamental right. There has been speculation over the last few months that renewing a passport could provide a short-term solution due to the "European Union" writing contained in the document, but this is not the case. As Theresa May has stated, "Brexit means Brexit."

If you want to retain your EU citizenship after Brexit, here are four options:

Exercising Blood/Birth Rights

Many European countries adopt some form of jus sanguinis (right of blood) or jus soli (right of soil) law (or a combination of both). In countries that recognize right of blood, such as Germany and Ireland, citizenship is attainable through parental descent, and possibly even maternal grandparents. Jus soli countries, such as France, may grant citizenship to those born in the country under special circumstances, regardless of ethnic or cultural origin. The processes used to attain citizenship through right of blood or right of birth (or both) heavily vary between EU member states.

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Ireland is generally considered the most lax country in the EU with regards to granting citizenship, and approximately 10 percent of British citizens could exercise their "green blood" rights if needs be -- so check your family tree before looking at other options! In addition, Ireland recognizes duel citizenship and doesn't require applicants to even live in the country.

Marrying a Citizen of Another EU Country

In most EU countries you must be married for at least two years before you're allowed to apply for citizenship as a spouse. That said, marrying or "registering" your relationship will make the residency process a lot easier. For example, in Sweden registering as a sambo (relationship) can grant immigrants a residency permit and the ability to acquire citizenship rights for as long as the registration is valid; however, applicants must re-apply every couple of years. While a residency permit is not the same as having an EU passport, it could lead to naturalization, and eventually citizenship.

Using a Citizen-by-Investment Program

Buying citizenship is an option for a very small minority. Investing in certain countries, such as Malta, Spain and the Netherlands, could entitle you to either automatic citizenship or a fast-tracked route to citizenship. Malta is currently the cheapest, requiring at least one year of residency and a 1.15 million euro investment. In other countries expect to pay at least five million euros for the privilege of a passport... Citizenship-by-investment is currently a highly controversial practice that the European Commission does not encourage.

Gaining Citizenship Through Naturalization

Another option is to simply move abroad as soon as possible and wait until you can apply for citizenship. The minute the Government start placing restrictions on Freedom of Movement, other countries will follow suit, making the process much more difficult. While not guaranteed, it's likely that those who move before any official legislation is changed will retain their rights under the Vienna Convention.

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It's fairly easy to become a Swedish or Finnish citizen. As well as being prosperous countries that always rank highly on the Human Development Index, both allow duel citizenship. According to Interpass, Finland is one of the easiest EU countries to join, requiring just five years of residency. The only other prerequisite is that you learn the language. In Sweden the naturalization time is also five years providing you are at least eighteen years old, have a clean criminal record, a basic understanding of the language, and a stable living situation.
Leader's Report

Jeremy Corbyn reported on recent activities and preparations for 2017, including a possible General Election. Jeremy said he had enjoyed the 2016 Labour Leadership campaign and had enjoyed meeting members around the country and debating with Owen Smith. He said that it is now time to move on, unite, stop looking inwards and focus outwards on the challenges and opportunities that Labour and the country face. He identified the economy, Brexit and 2017 elections as the three biggest issues for Labour to focus our energy on. Jeremy talked about his recent speech to the CBI and the need for the UK to invest in infrastructure, training and house building. Jeremy Corbyn repeated that Labour will accept the result of the EU Referendum and will work to secure worker's rights, consumer rights and environmental protections. He talked about forthcoming campaign days and the tour of rural communities he is planning with Rachael Maskell. Jeremy is keen for Labour to reach out to rural Britain and respond to the concerns of voters living in these communities. Jeremy talked about the importance of the 2017 local elections, praising Labour Councillors and condemning the unfair Tory cuts to Council budgets.

General Secretary's Report

Iain McNicol reported on past activity and plans for the future. In the past year Labour has contested and campaigned in parliamentary by-elections, Mayoral elections in Bristol, London, Hackney, Salford and Liverpool, local government elections and the EU referendum. Other activities have included the Leadership election, Conference, the Party Reform working groups and National Policy Forum meetings. Labour has launched a number of bursaries and training programmes to encourage candidates from underrepresented Groups to stand for election. Activities for the year ahead include preparing for elections, ensuring the Party remains financially stable, improving campaigning capacity, expanding the use of community organising, responding to the Parliamentary Boundary Review, developing policy and engaging members. The NEC joined Iain in praising and thanking staff for their continued hard work and dedication.

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National Policy Forum and Policy Making

The National Policy Forum met in Loughborough for a policy conference the weekend before the NEC Awayday. The meeting was extremely positive and focused on Brexit and the work of the eight policy commissions (below). The NEC confirmed the Policy Commission Co-Chairs will be:

Economy, Business and Trade: Jennie Formby

Foreign Affairs, Aid and Defence: Cath Speight

Health and Social Care: Keith Birch

Early Years, Education and Skill: Christine Shawcroft

Justice and Home Affairs: Alice Perry

Housing, Local Government and Transport: Jim Kennedy

Work, Pensions and Equality: Diana Holland

Environment, Energy and Culture: Margaret Beckett MP

I have written a guide to how the NPF works and how you can get involved. Labour's policy making process will be accelerated if there is a snap General Election.

The NPF meeting in Loughborough elected its Chair and Vice Chairs. Ann Cryer was elected Chair and will be invited to attend future NEC meetings. Shabana Mahmood MP, Mick Whelan and Katrina Murray were elected Vice-Chairs of the NPF.

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The Economy and the Autumn Statement

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP gave a comprehensive update on the economy and Labour's response to the Autumn Statement. She talked about how austerity is a political choice and not an economic necessity, and that hard working families should not be forced to pay for the give-aways for the wealthy few. She pointed out that low paid workers did not cause the financial crash and should not be the ones forced to pay for it. She talked about Labour's economic plan to equip businesses, workers and the country for the future. She talked about the need for fair funding for local government and how Tory cuts to Council budgets disproportionately affect Labour areas. Rebecca Long-Bailey echoed Jeremy Corbyn's support for Councillors and joined Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Jon Trickett in rejecting calls by fringe opposition parties for Labour Councils to set illegal budgets. She noted that Labour policy on this matter is clear, as illustrated by the recent rule change at Labour Party Conference. Rebecca described how Labour wants to represent all income groups, talked about Labour's positive vision for post-Brexit Britain and the importance of taking pride in our communities.

Responding to Brexit

Keir Starmer MP gave an impressive and reassuring report on Labour's response to Brexit. Labour will accept the result of the referendum and will not frustrate the process, instead working cooperatively and collaboratively with our EU partners to fight for the best future for the all of the UK. He condemned the Prime Minister for not having a clear Brexit strategy and for being led by internal politics rather than the best interests of the country. Keir described Labour's priorities as securing jobs and protecting and growing the economy, as well as defence, security, policing, the environment, education and international collaborations.

The NEC discussion covered topics including the timetable and process for Brexit, Tory divisions on Europe, industrial strategy, manufacturing, the steel industry, the automotive industry, the status of EU nationals, UKIP, worker's rights, immigration, freedom of movement and the commodification of labour, the posting of workers directive, tackling gang-masters and the exploitation of cheap migrant labour, single market access, the customs union, the loss of trust in politics and politicians and Labour's vision for the UK outside the EU.

2017 Elections

Jon Trickett MP and party staff gave a presentation about plans for elections in 2017, including preparations for a snap general election. Jon Trickett confirmed that if parliament is given an opportunity to vote for an early election Labour will vote in favour of this and will be ready for a general election whenever it takes place. Important elections in 2017 include English County Council elections, local elections in Scotland and Wales, and Mayoral elections. England will be electing the new Metro Mayors for the first time next year, with elections confirmed in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Tees Valley.

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Labour is drawing up a list of key battleground seats for an early general election. This list will not be made public. Labour is working to improve messaging, attack and rebuttal. We will make greater use of community organising and will invest in new campaigning technology. Labour has developed a new Doorstep App allowing activists to directly enter data on their smart phones and tablets. We will also make better use of digital targeting, social media and online advertising and will hire new organisers to work across the country.

Suspensions and Disciplinary Issues

Around 1,000 people were suspended from the Party during the Leadership election. Around 800 of these people have had their suspensions lifted with a warning. The remaining suspensions are being investigated and their cases will be brought to a future meeting of the NEC Disputes Committee. Disputes will also look at the suspensions process and suggest recommendations on how this process could be improved.

Financial Report

Labour is debt free with healthy finances but will not spend money we do not have. Labour has over 500,000 members and retaining and growing our membership is important to our longterm financial strategy. The Trade Union Act and Brexit pose challenges and we will need to continue to carefully manage our finances. Labour will also look to increase our fundraising in the run-up to elections next year. Iain McNicol thanked Councillors for their financial contributions to Labour and will be writing to Labour Groups to thank us and report on how the ALC levy is spent.

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There was no mention of social care in the Autumn Statement. No recognition by the Tory Chancellor that 4.6bn of cuts to budgets for adult social care had brought care services to the point of crisis - or "a tipping point" as the Care Quality Commission describes it.

An ever-growing coalition of organisations working in health and social care had pleaded with the Government to bring forward funding to address the current crisis. Those pleading the case for more funding range from NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens to current leaders of 11 Medical Royal Colleges. And from the King's Fund to the Local Government Association. From Unison to the Care and Support Alliance. And Labour in our recent Opposition Day debate.

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We all share a belief that the Government must act on social care funding.

Without extra funding for social care this promises to be a long hard winter for our health and social care systems. The most visible manifestation of the pressures caused by cuts to social care budgets is the rapid growth in delayed transfers of care from hospital. The September figure of over 196,000 delayed days was a record. A record in delayed discharges not in winter, but at the end of summer.

That means people "stuck" in hospital waiting for a care package or a care or nursing home place. Long stays in hospital can affect patients' morale and mobility. They also increase the risk of hospital-acquired infections.

Outside of hospital, there are 400,000 fewer people receiving publicly-funded support than there were in 2009-10. Age UK report that the number of older people with unmet care needs is now at a record 1.2 million.

Cuts in social care support, happening in the context of an ageing population with increasing needs, have made a profound impact on the family carers who are now stepping in to provide more care than ever before.

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The increase in the numbers of unpaid carers providing care and the increased number of hours they are providing comes at a huge personal cost to those carers if they are not well supported. And too many family carers are not well supported by overstretched local councils and overstretched GPs.
In the 1980s and 90s, wearing fur became seriously uncool. Stars went naked instead of wearing it, catwalks were boycotted because of it, and the British public, animal welfare experts and politicians got behind a campaign which led the Labour government to ban fur farming in 2000. So why did the UK turn its back on this trade? Two very powerful words: 'public morality'. In proposing the Bill, the Minister responsible for animal welfare, Elliot Morley, told MPs:

"Morality is important when it comes to the treatment of animals. Fur farming is not consistent with a proper value and respect for animal life. Animal life should not be destroyed in the absence of a sufficient justification in terms of public benefit. Nor should animals be bred for such destruction in the absence of sufficient justification. That is the essence of our argument for applying morality to a Bill of this kind."[1]

In 1989, long before the ban, the UK's Farm Animal Welfare Council found that fur farms could not satisfy some of the most basic needs of the (essentially wild) animals kept in them, such as comfort, shelter, and freedom to display normal patterns of behaviour.[2]

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 Fur Free Alliance

The evidence, and the verdict, were unequivocal: fur farming wasn't humane, couldn't be made humane, and wasn't morally justifiable in the UK. All fur farms had to be closed by January 1st 2003. The UK has been free from the cruelty of fur farms for thirteen years. But Britain is sadly not free of fur, far from it.

Today we import fur from countries whose fur farm conditions are as bad, or worse, than those we outlawed in our own country. In fact since 2003, according to government statistics, the UK has imported hundreds of millions of pounds of fur, peaking at 62.6million in fur imports in 2014 (more than half of this value was then re-exported).

With UK opinion polls still indicating consistently high levels of consumer disapproval of fur, where is all this imported fur going? Last year Humane Society International/UK documented the widespread problem of cheap animal fur being mis-sold or mis-labelled as faux, so it's probable that millions of pounds worth of fur is sold each year to consumers who don't realise that it's animal fur, and wouldn't buy it if they did. And at the other end of the market, fur still defiles the shelves of stores like Harrods and Harvey Nichols. The high-end fur-wearer's choice grows ever more limited, as more and more designers join the 'Fur-Free' list, renowned luxury brand Armani being the latest high-profile example this year.

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 Humane Society International

But can you strip fur from any animal, pop it on a coat hanger and sell it here? No. Public campaigns by HSI and others drove a 2007 EU ban on the import and sale of cat and dog fur, and then a 2009 ban on trade in seal products. In response to a complaint by Norway and Canada, the World Trade Organisation affirmed the seal ban, declaring it necessary to protect European public moral concerns. At present, fur from all other species can be legally traded in the EU and, although a number of countries across Europe have banned fur farming, several still continue to farm animals for their fur.

So, do the views of the Great British public chime with current European regulations, which say that some fur-bearing animals are OK to wear and some are not? It turns out, they don't. HSI commissioned a YouGov opinion poll listing nine species, including domestic dog, mink, seal, fox and rabbit, and asking people whether or not they found it acceptable for fur from these animals to be bought and sold in this country. Encouragingly, the results show that the British public overwhelmingly reject the fur trade, regardless of species.

Unsurprisingly, less than 10% of people feel it is acceptable to be able to buy and sell products containing domestic dog fur (7%), seal fur (8%), and cat fur (9%), respectively, and indeed such imports are banned by law. But critically the poll also shows similar distaste for fur items from other species that can still be legally sold here - only between 8 and 12% of people said that they found it acceptable to buy or sell fur from foxes (12%), mink (12%), chinchilla (9%), raccoon dogs (8%) and coyotes (8%) (the last of which are not farmed, but wild trapped). Rabbit fur had the highest approval rating, but even so is still only acceptable to one in five people despite being one of the most commonly found fur trim items on the high-street.

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 Humane Society International

So, back full circle to public morality. The UK's moral compass clearly points away from animal fur in fashion - not just cat, dog and seal fur, but all fur. And now we have an opportunity to make that moral standpoint count. On the Brexit path ahead, the government must now evaluate all EU regulations and decide which to write into UK law, which to lose and which to maintain and amend. So why would the UK, a nation that has outlawed all fur farming as immoral, continue to cherry-pick just cats, dogs and seals and ban trade in their fur, but leave our ports open to fur from other equally maltreated animals?

Shockingly, not only are our borders open to cruel fur products produced in other countries, there's not even a legal requirement to clearly identify them as "real fur" so that compassionate consumers can avoid inadvertently buying them. Urgent steps need to be taken to ensure that all real animal fur products are clearly labelled. But we can do better than just labelling: Brexit is a clear opportunity for us to ditch fur once and for all, to be a fully fur-free nation and to ensure that we no longer bankroll a trade in products that we deem morally unacceptable to produce within our own borders.

Notes:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2051 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 9th and 12th September 2016. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
Denial is a dangerous thing as anyone confronted with it can tell you. There is no way to argue with someone suffering from it. Disagreeing with a person or people convinced their viewpoint is right even though all the relevant facts prove otherwise is a fruitless exercise; just try and speak to most Democrat voters following Trumps election win. That's the fact, Trump won and he didn't just scrape over the line, he took the electoral college vote 290 to 232.

The impassioned protests from those disgusted by Trumps victory, are reaching out for any and every reason to justify the defeat, in what was the most bizarre, and at times truly disgusting election cycle in any modern democratic countries history.

What we haven't really heard is any blame proportioned to Hilary Clinton or the DNC, who failed miserably in what should have been a comparatively easy victory. I'm sick of hearing the excuses; disgruntled middle America, electoral vote majority, the FBI, and on and on we go. These have become the Democrats version of Trumps tirades against the 'mainstream media' during the election cycle.

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Why did Hilary lose? She lost because she failed to get her message across, she failed because in many ways the DNC and Democrat voters in general took victory for granted. They believed the polls, believed that surely Americans wouldn't, when push came to shove, vote for a sexist, racist, vitriolic egomaniac. Hilary et all fell for the oldest trick in the book; Trumps win was the electoral version of the three card Monty.

The very root of Trumps victory is summed up by thousands of posts on various areas of social media by Hilary supporters screaming from the rooftops, that even though Trump won, America is still "the greatest county in the world". It is a sad and at times pathetic attempt to comfort themselves in a delusion of epic proportions. If a Democratic country believes itself to be better than any other, the vast majority must at least have some kind of rational thinking. Trumps win proves quite the reverse, as does the Democrats reaction to it.

And so we come to "the rub".

I have spent a lot of time in America over the years for both work and pleasure, I have for most of my adult life considered myself to be a confirmed Americanophile. However, having driven across a vast section of the USA for four months a few years ago, I came away with the realisation of one major point that I feel most (including myself) forgot during the election.

Americans genuinely do believe they are the "greatest country in the world". Nothing and no one will ever convince them otherwise. Republicans believe it, Democrats believe it, simply questioning this sends most Americans apoplectic. Trumps "Make America Great Again", fed beautifully into the very foundation of the American psyche. The mere implication in slogan form that America's self-vaulted position might be under threat, and the result is here for all to see.

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So instilled is this belief, that Democrats simply refuse to concede defeat on this issue even though they now have the most under qualified, self-obsessed individual ever to sit in a post war, Western democratic countries, leadership seat. If those protesting and marching across the country against Trumps policies want to rise from the ashes, maybe it's time to first find some acceptance and humility, free themselves from the shackles of grandiose denial, work towards what the country may well once have been, but following Trumps victory, has never been further from.
Without cocoa there is no chocolate. Without the next generation of cocoa farmers there is no cocoa. Sustainable cocoa farming is essential to the success of businesses like ours, not a nice to have.

Today there is a need to be more ambitious in terms of impact and scale. Critically, that means moving away from being a buyer of cocoa beans to an integral partner for our farmers. This requires an ambitious approach and a real step-change in our business relationship with farmers.

Critical to this is our relationship with the next generation of farmers and inspiring them to see cocoa farming as a good future. However, young people in cocoa growing communities are increasingly walking away from farming. The average age of a cocoa farmer is rising, young people don't see their futures in farming communities and are increasingly migrating away to city life.

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Too many cocoa farmers are trapped in a cycle where they just make enough money from selling their crops to meet their basic needs. This leads to under-investment, outdated farming practices and a lack of new planting to replace old, unproductive trees. Despite work by many organisations, there is simply much more to do and we have to be ambitious about how we do it.

Fairtrade Foundation

The most effective approaches in this area tend to have three key qualities.

First, ensuring farmers receive a competitive price for their cocoa, on clear terms of trade.

Secondly, blending improved farming with thriving farming communities. This means starting with simple tangible support, like providing better agricultural tools and more resilient cocoa trees, and also creating stronger communities by investing in areas like women's empowerment, health and education.

Finally, the most effective approaches are ones that give the farming communities control over their own destinies, rather than imposing solutions on them. This means enabling them to create and deliver their own tailored action plans that address their specific needs - whether that's improving access to financial services or promoting entrepreneurship.

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We know this works. For example, independent verification shows that farmers' in our Cocoa Life programme in Ghana have seen their incomes increase 49% more than farms outside the programme.

Fairtrade Foundation

The Fairtrade Foundation in particular has been absolutely crucial in providing support for farmers. Working with organisations such as ourselves, they have helped create strong farmer organisations and supported them to function efficiently, with effective governance and good business practices. They have also helped give farmers crucial skills, like how to protect workers' rights, farm sustainably and diversify the sources of income beyond cocoa farming. This huge impact on farmers' lives is why we have worked with Fairtrade since 2009, and are continuing to do so.

What's needed now is even greater impact on the ground and at greater scale.

The challenges we are trying to solve today are compounded by new issues, such as climate change. Building resilience to climate change is increasingly becoming a key threat to the livelihoods of cocoa farmers. That's why I am so passionate about our move to expand our own Cocoa Life programme through a new global partnership with Fairtrade.

Fairtrade will become a partner for the whole of the Cocoa Life programme, working together to secure the long-term future of cocoa farming communities. By 2019, all Cadbury chocolate in the UK and Ireland will display the Cocoa Life branding, symbolising the adoption of the programme across the Cadbury range. As a result, the selected Cadbury Dairy Milk products that were previously Fairtrade certified will no longer carry the FAIRTRADE Mark. This means that five times as much Cadbury chocolate in the UK will now be made with sustainably sourced cocoa.

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Fairtrade Foundation

I'm proud that we will continue to be held to account. On top of our independent program verification, Fairtrade will report on what we achieve for farmers and their communities. I want people to know that whenever they see a Cocoa Life label it represents thriving cocoa farming communities and makes a real difference to people's lives.

Visit the Cocoa Life website [Cocoalife.org] for updates on how the Cocoa Life expansion is progressing.
What's in a date? Friday 25th November, to be exact. Just a day like any other you might assume? If you're a savvy shopper I'm sure you're well aware that this day is what has come to be known in recent, over-commercialised years as Black Friday: an American custom that has crossed the pond in which everyone from high street retailers to online market giants drop their prices in the hope of a huge influx of customers, just before the Christmas period. As you can imagine, it does indeed work; people look for discount Christmas presents and those who have a little extra cash to splash simply find it as an excuse to treat themselves.

My name is Homesick Mick. I am a musician. I am a social activist and this day is also the day that my planned protest will take place. However, I am not simply protesting against the ideology of Black Friday, I am protesting against a figure in the media that I'm sure most will have heard of by now, Sir Philip Green. In the past year or so, he has plagued the front pages with his treatment of former BHS employees and general demeanour.

I am outraged at how the BHS business was managed by Green and the way in which his staff have been treated consequently; I want to give a voice to those who feel the same but don't feel they can speak up. BHS has played a big role in the lives of many of us growing up and it's a true shame to see the demise of such an iconic stalwart of British industry.

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After irresponsibly selling the clothing company to the previously bankrupt Dominic Chappell for a measly 1 in 2015, Green and his family have collected 586 million worth of dividends, interest on loans and rental payments and have since retreated to the tax haven of Monaco, leaving BHS with debts of over 1 billion and a pension deficit of 571 million.

As many of you may know if you've been following the story, 'Sir' Phil may not have actually broken any laws, but it is outrageous to think that he can get away with leaving these people deprived of the money they are owed, especially whilst he sits there on his new yacht in the Mediterranean. As a result of his behavior, the Pensions Protection Scheme has been footed with the bill, but many have campaigned for him to repay the pensions himself. I am one of those people.

Even if it's for just one day, my aim is to stop people shopping at any of Philip Green's stores on 25th November; I'm calling it #PhilipFreeFriday. This includes any of the shops that fall under the umbrella of Green's 'Arcadia' group: Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Evans and Outfit. No, one day isn't going to make much difference to the gold-lined pockets of Sir Philip, but if we can make the point by starving his shops on #PhilipFreeFriday, then hopefully it will provide the kick in the backside he needs to pay back the BHS pensions!

On the big day, I will be taking to the streets and setting up camp outside Topshop's flagship store on Oxford Street, London, to make my point and speak on behalf of the BHS employees who have been wronged. I want to draw a crowd, I want to make a scene and I want Sir Philip to realise that the voice of the little man will not be muffled; we will pester him until we get what we want and until justice is served, it's as simple as that.

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A few days ago, Amazon, the online marketplace, unwrapped a new advert featuring an Imam and a Vicar exchanging gifts ahead of Christmas. I tend not to put too much store in advertising but it did seem an important message of friendship for Christians and Muslims when regardless of politics - be it Brexit, or the aftermath of the US election - people of all faiths are given a chance to reflect and come together.

While Muslims don't celebrate Christmas, many of us have decided to take to the streets of London during this festive season to give gifts. Our mission - to extend warmth to the homeless and elderly to help them through the cold winter - regardless of their faith or background.

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As a British Muslim and the Chief Executive of Muslim Aid, I am excited to be taking part in a campaign to stop vulnerable people going cold or hungry this Christmas. I will be joining others to deliver winter gifts, including blankets and food items, to the homeless and elderly. Several mosques across the Capital will help us by becoming food collection spots from where volunteers will send food out to soup kitchens, care homes and food banks across London.

Similar to Christians who are motivated by their faith to help others, for Muslims charity is one of the all-important pillars of our religion. And as such I'm privileged to have the opportunity to help the less fortunate this Christmas.

Our duty to help the homeless

We have a duty at Christmas to help others, whether we are Christians or Muslims or any other faith, not because of the religions that may differentiate us but by the humanity that unites us.

While there is a great need for Muslims to help their brothers and sisters in afflicted areas across the world, like Syria and Yemen, there is also a need here at home in the UK. As austerity continues, thousands of families in the UK are facing benefits cuts. Too many are unable to pay skyrocketing rents, putting them in danger of being out on the street where no one should be at any time of the year. This Christmas thousands of families will face impossible choices, caught between spending money on heating or putting enough food on the table.

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As a British Muslim living in the UK, I feel it is important to promote and remind each other of the British values of hospitality, tolerance and generosity. These values are particularly important at a time when an unfortunate tide of xenophobia aimed partially at Muslims is surging around the world. And for us at home Brexit has exposed deep divisions within Britain. Now more than ever, we have a responsibility to tackle problems here in Britain and promote positive aspects of British Muslim life.

Charity is a very important tenet of Islam, and one that begins at home. This Christmas, Muslims and Christians alike have a duty to deliver kindness this festive season.

You can get involved in Muslim Aid's winter campaign by signing up here:
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Amer has always loved studying.

Even when civil war erupted in his home country of Syria, Amer and his siblings continued to attend school every day despite the calamities of the battle all around them.

But the relentless fighting eventually led to schools in the besieged city of Deir ez-Zor shutting down. Shortly afterwards ISIL came knocking on their door - looking to recruit Amer and his older brother Abdoul to fight for their cause. The family were left with no choice but to flee.

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After a horrific four days trapped in the desert with no shelter they made it to Turkey, and sought refuge in the Southern Turkish city of Nizip.

As so many Syrians before them they had lost everything - but it was access to education that Amer missed the most.

It was in Nizip that International Medical Corps' Health and Hygiene Promotion team met the family for the first time.

Khadija, a member of the Health and Hygiene Promotion team, said: ''I was surprised when I first met them, because Amer's mother is really determined that her children get a good education. Normally for Syrian families in such a situation, the loss of education is not the biggest issue.''

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It is Amer's mother who has instilled in her children the passion to study. Due to her family's financial circumstances, she had dropped out of high school to join her father in working in a cotton factory, her hopes of becoming a nurse cut short.

Amer himself, now a young adult of 18, speaks shyly about his passion to study.

"I am currently taking Turkish classes at the social centre and have already passed to the second level. I also go to half-day classes for Syrians at a Turkish school."

As his family barely make ends meet, Amer walks 45 minutes each way to attend the classes while his older brother Abdoul works at a furniture shop to help support them all.

Amer's mother is unable to work - her youngest son Hassan suffers from a speech impediment and memory loss. "I want to work to support my family", she says, "so that Abdoul can continue his studies, but the working conditions here are bad. I would be working 12 hours a day - who would cook for the family and look after Hassan?''

With the help of International Medical Corps, she is schooling Hassan at home and the young boy is now getting better at concentrating on his schooling and becoming more socially active.

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To support the family International Medical Corps' Health and Hygiene Promotion team encouraged Amer's mother to go to the social centre it supports in Nizip with funding from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. In this centre she attends vocational training courses such as hairdressing, knitting and Turkish language courses, and has even sold some items that she has made with training from the centre to neighbours to support her family.

Although there is still a long way to go, Amer's mother has not given up hope of a good future for Amer and his siblings. "My dreams when I was a little girl were not fulfilled - I am adamant that my children have the opportunities I longed for."
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The horrific murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair, who's just been sentenced to a whole-life term in prison, did not take place in a vacuum. It was committed in the feral and toxic political weather of an EU referendum campaign dominated by a rising tide of nativist, xenophobic poison, dredged up from a swamp of anti-migrant bigotry, racism, and nationalism.

It is a swamp that began life as puddle on the margins of society but which in recent years has grown to the point where it now dominates our political culture, fed by a relentless campaign conducted via the pages of the right wing press, websites, and by right wing populist parties and politicians. It's aim in the context of the EU was to associate Brexit with patriotism, in the process inferring that those against exiting Europe were unpatriotic if not traitors.

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I happened to be in London at the time and attended the vigil that was held in Westminster the evening after Jo Cox was murdered. The sense of shock among the hundreds present is one I will never forget. How could something like this happen here? people were asking themselves, struggling to make sense of something we normally associate with Germany or Italy in the 1930s not Britain in 2016.

Though the word 'fascism' suffers from overuse in our political discourse, much worse is complacency in the belief that it died with Hitler. It did not. What should be borne in mind is that fascism does not start with brownshirts and stiff leather boots. On the contrary, this is how it ends. Fascism is given birth to by society's collective consciousness at a given time. It arises within us in response to external conditions of crisis - economic and social - that leave the status quo and the values that underpin it bereft of answers and solutions. This then opens up space for radical, hitherto unacceptable, ideas and values to take their place. And it is here where the mainstream media and those in positions of political and ideological influence come to the fore in shaping the inchoate and growing anger and confusion wrought by said economic crisis and resulting hardship to deflect blame away from the structural inadequacies of the system that is responsible onto convenient scapegoats: migrants, refugees, the unemployed, and so on.

Henry Wallace was Franklin Roosevelt's vice president before being replaced by Harry Truman in 1945. Three years later he made an unsuccessful bid for the White House as the Progressive Party's presidential candidate. In a 1944 New York Times piece, warning of the dangers of 'American fascism', Wallace wrote: "With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power."

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Step forward Donald J Trump.

In Britain we have been persuaded that the unemployed, the disabled, the weak, the poor, foreigners, Muslims, and so on exist outwith the bounds of decent British values, and are therefore deserving of being attacked, punished, hounded, demonised and despised, along with those who dare speak up and defend them. We are made to feel that those groups constitute a threat to society, when in truth it is the politicians, political parties, and those who own the newspapers and media organisations that have shaped this narrative who constitute the threat. That they have been able to enlist public support for their campaign of anger, vindictiveness, and callous disregard for the plight of the weakest and most vulnerable among us, this is testament to the power of propaganda when it achieves its primary aim of having us believe that our opinions and attitudes are freely formed and held. As Joseph Goebbels observed, "Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will."

I am against the death penalty on principle. However the murder of Jo Cox, the sick and twisted fascist nature of it, has tested this principle as few others have. While Mair acted alone he was undoubtedly buoyed in carrying out his crime by the climate of bigotry and hatred of 'the other' created by peddlers of the politics of division and scapegoating in the context of a campaign on Britain's membership of the EU that shamed our democracy.

Brexit is the UK manifestation of the resurgence of the far right across the West in response to the collapse of the political centre ground. The reason for its collapse is the worst economic crisis to occur since the 1930s, when in similar conditions the liberal order of that era collapsed to be replaced by far right parties pushing far right nostrums on the need for national renewal and the demonisation of those of an alien culture, nationality, and/or religion. We all know what happened next.

However the past does not need to be prologue. We can come together to combat and crush this menace before the reactionary ideas that act as its foundations become normalised.

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Last month, the EU signed a deal with Afghanistan that allows European countries to return an unlimited number of failed asylum seekers back to Afghanistan where security is deteriorating. The deal was made public on the eve of a donor conference that saw US$15 billion of aid being pledged for Afghanistan until 2020.

However, sending people back to a conflict zone should not be up for sale. 2015 recorded the highest number of Afghans fleeing their country since the US-led military intervention of 2001. This latest deal threatens to push back thousands of men, women and children into harm's way, forcibly returning them en masse to a country still in the grip of conflict.

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The first six months of 2016 in Afghanistan were the deadliest since 2009, with 5,166 civilians being killed across the country. This shocking number doesn't reflect the thousands more who died due to inadequate access to healthcare, the 1,200,000 internally displaced people sheltering within the country, or the more than 250,000 Afghans who felt they had no choice but to risk it all and cross into Europe. These figures are well known to the politicians whose signatures appear on the EU-Afghanistan deal. Many of the same states who have signed the deal still have troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

In addition to this EU-Afghanistan deal, Pakistan, one of the largest refugee hosting countries, is pushing Afghan nationals out; including those that have lived there for generations and know no other home. Pakistan is expected to expel 500,000 people by the end of the year. The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Agency (ECHO), along with the UNHCR and International Organisation for Migration (IOM), admit they have no way of coping with the returnees to Afghanistan. Yet the EU threatens to further pressure services within the country by sending back even more from Europe.

The EU-Afghanistan deal is the latest incarnation of the cynical EU-Turkey deal that was signed in March 2015. That deal was designed to stem the flow of asylum seekers arriving from Turkey to Europe in return for billions of euros of aid and visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals. Seven months after the deal, thousands of people are stuck on the Greek islands waiting in an open air prison for their claims to be processed. Shelter is at over 200 percent capacity, living conditions are deteriorating rapidly and those needing specialised healthcare can do little but wait.

One young Syrian girl for example, suffering from a spinal injury as a result of a bomb blast in Aleppo, has been waiting on Lesbos with no specialised care for months. The millions of euros that the Greek government and multiple aid organisations are now receiving from the EU is having little discernable impact. The situation is set to deteriorate further as winter sets in, which again seems to be catching authorities unaware.

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Despite politicians' claims to the contrary, the EU-Turkey deal is failing to ensure that the rights of refugees are respected - raising major questions as to why a new deal has been signed with Afghanistan. There is no monitoring of returns on the Turkish side of the border, with the UNHCR forbidden access to the returnees. MSF teams have witnessed people being denied access to the asylum process entirely and at least two vulnerable medical cases, one with heart disease and the other with kidney disease, among the deported despite the fact they should be exempt. The illusion of the EU-Turkey deal's legality is fading away fast.

On Europe's southern border, the EU has announced financial support to Libyan Coast Guards in order to prevent migrants from fleeing Libyan territory. MSF has received hundreds of reports from our patients of unimaginable violence, including torture and rape, suffered in Libya at the hands of smugglers and in detention centres. European leaders are effectively supporting the return of men, women and children to the cycle of abuse, financial extortion and deadly sea crossings. Likewise, by pouring cash into Sudanese border control, European governments are ensuring that people fleeing Sudan are stuck with quite literally no way out. It is hard to imagine a more difficult journey than the one Eritreans and Sudanese people face across the Sahara and the sea. How much worse will it get when Sudan has financial and political reasons to block those trying to flee?

There are more than 65 million people forcibly displaced across the globe, driven from their homes by war, hardship, persecution and other factors. There has never been a greater need for humane migration policies and humanitarian assistance for migrants and refugees. The solution is for policies to be put in place that ensure safe and legal passage, not higher fences and increased deportations.
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With Wednesday's guilty verdict, Thomas Mair has been revealed as a brutal killer and far-right terrorist, inspired by violent fantasies of race war.

In carrying out his murder of Jo Cox MP, a noted civil rights and human rights campaigner, Mair was influenced and inspired by race hate and theories of violent race war which entered Britain in the 1990s.

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In 2000, he bought bomb making manuals from the neo-Nazi National Alliance in the United States, a group whose leader inspired Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber in 1995, and David Copeland, the London nail bomber in 1999.

Paul Jeffries, the UK leader of the National Alliance, lived a little over a mile away from Mair until his death a few years ago. It is difficult to believe that he wrote off to the American organisation without having contact with its UK leader who lived just down the road.

The US theory of race war and leaderless resistance, whereby individuals and small cells act autonomously, also inspired British neo-Nazi gang Combat 18 (C18) and the the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in Germany (which killed 10 people and carried out several bombings plus numerous bank robberies between 2000-2011).

In targeting a British MP, Mair was following a growing list of British nazi terrorists who believe that they are at war with the system. This ideology, which sees the state - and in particular liberal politicians - as more of a target than minorities, became dominant among UK nazis in the 1990s and remains a strong pillar of their thinking today.

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Nor was Thomas Mair unique. There have been at least 48 other far-right activists/supporters who have been convicted of terrorism/terror-related/murder/extreme-violent acts in England and Wales during the past 16 years. One of these was Terrance Gavon, who was sentenced to 11 years in 2008 after police found explosives and an arms cache in his house. Gavon lived three miles from Mair.

The Mair case highlights the ever-present threat of far-right terrorism in this country, a threat HOPE not hate still believes the authorities are not doing enough to tackle. While Thomas Mair pulled trigger, neo-Nazi propagandists must share some responsibility for fuelling and directing the hatred and violence inside him.

While the authorities have certainly increased their awareness and monitoring of potential far right terrorists - and that is to be applauded - not enough is being done to shut down the peddlers of hate: those people who are inciting the likes of Thomas Mair and pumping their heads full of racist conspiracy theories.

Far-right activists and groups regularly get away with threats of violence and racist incitement which we believe would not be accepted if they were Muslim extremists. There is a danger that extreme race hate, left unchallenged, will continue to inspire the likes of the Thomas Mairs to commit acts of terrorism and racist violence in the future.

While Britain's far right might be numerically smaller than in the past, it is becoming more violent and dangerous.

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Nick Lowles is the founder and director of HOPE not hate
An ISIS-affiliated extremist group operating out of Egypt has released ghastly images purporting to show the execution of two leading religious figures from Sinai Egypt.

The 98-year-old blind Sufi, Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz was abducted two weeks ago from his farm south of the peninsula's town of el-Arish. In a video released by Daesh, the frail elderly prisoner Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz was dragged to an executioner's block in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and then beheaded. The second gentleman was identified as sheikh Said Abdel-Fattah, a high-ranking Religious Endowment cleric abducted a month ago.

These executions have, once again, caused an uproar, anxiety and repulsion for the fanatic death cult Daesh (ISIS) that is accusing sufi scholars of practising un-Islamic things- "practicing witchcraft" and committing "shirk" (associating others with Allah Almighty) - and thereby brutally murdering them.

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These executions come nearly a week after the suicide bomber attacked a Sufi shrine of Shah Bilal Noorani in Balochistan, Pakistan, massacring at least 52 people and injuring 100 others.

In an attempt to promote its twisted and violent ideology, Daesh has directed its wrath against sufism. In recent years, hundreds of sufi scholars have been imprisoned, flogged, brutally murdered, hanged and beheaded; their shrines have been wrecked by extremist groups in the Middle East and Indian sub-continent. Even in Britain, earlier this year, a jury heard how two ISIS supporters murdered an imam in Rochdale because they viewed his practice of Islamic healing as "black magic". The British Muslim communities found this despicable act utterly abhorrent and contrary to the teachings of Islam. Such vile acts are also an attack on one's freedom of religion.

British Muslim Scholars are dedicating the Friday sermons on 25 November to highlight the inclusive, compassionate message of Sufism, the authentic practices of Sufism and the incredible work of Sunni Sufi Scholars over the centuries in service of humanity.

What is Suffism?

Sufism (known as Tasawwuf) is not a new phenomenon in Islam but it is a branch of Islamic knowledge which focuses on the spiritual development of a Muslim. Contrary to popular perceptions, sufism is not about religious hymns, chants, poetry, ecstasy and miracles. Instead, sufism encourages its adherents to not only perform outward rituals of Islam but also to strive to experience the Divine presence through the gateway of the human heart. Accordingly, Tasawwuf is the soul of Islam. Its function is to purify the heart from the lowly bestial attributes of lust, anger, malice, jealousy, love of the world, love of fame, etc. At the same time it aims at the adornment of the heart with the lofty attributes of perseverance, gratefulness, fear of Allah, hope, love, sincerity, brotherhood etc. Sufism, according to the spiritual king of India Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, is a path to maintaining moral excellence which one must observe towards all creatures in the interest of peace and welfare of all creatures. No wonder centuries after his passing away, the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is visited by people of all faiths and backgrounds.

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Sufis open their hearts and doors for everyone, making Islam accessible to the learned and lay people, the faithful and nonbelievers. Modern day extremists (known as 'Khawarij' in Islamic terminology) find such tolerant, pluralistic and compassionate approach to the world challenging. Historically, 'takfir' (forceful apostasy) was the hallmark of the Khawarij. The Khawarij's readiness to excommunicate other Muslims (takfir) on the basis of allegation of 'shirk' or 'black magic' is something that is now being practiced by Daesh affiliates. The historical distaste is now bleeding over into full-scale barbarity against Islamic scholars and their followers.

Sufi styles and practices dominate in the non-Arab Muslim world: from Indian sub-continent to Indonesia, Nigeria to Turkey, Britain to Chechnya - the peace-loving Muslims have been influenced, to varying degrees, by spiritual aspect of Islam. As sufis emphasize on Islamic spirituality, they are sometimes seen as quietist, withdrawing from the world. Another reason is the general Sufi reluctance to become heavily involved in politics.

Do Sufis believe in pacifism?

That does not mean that sufism teaches Muslims to be submissive to political elitism. Rather, in the past whenever Islam has been under threat, or there has been state oppression or political tyranny, it has been sufis who lead the resistance movements. Sufism does not call for top-down structural changes in the absence of moral development. It is only through the moral reform of an individual that social and political institutions can be revitalized. The expansion of Islam outside the core areas of the Middle East is above all a Sufi story. The intellectual and peaceful mystics once reigned in both Damascus and Baghdad during Ottoman times. Sufi leaders and orders led the armies that conquered lands in Central and South Asia, and in Southeastern Europe; through their piety and their inclusive, compassionate and pluralistic approach they won the local populations over to Islam.

The sufi's open-mindedness and compassionate attitude towards humanity contrasts with the much rigid views of the puritans, or khawarij. Hence, they allege that sufis are not practicing Islam. The ideological struggle between the two groups is now resulting in open violence, when khawarij are attacking sufi practices and their centres in an attempt to 'purify' Islam.

Nobody can pretend that sufism has not been corrupted by those who are using sufi practices for their own material gains. Fraudulent, lazy imposters are propagating superstitions to dupe Muslims out of their money. Imams are already speaking out against such un-Islamic practices to ensure that tenets of Sufism are preserved, and malpractices are stamped out. Everyone has the right to critically assess sufi practices, or challenge them but none has the right to take anyone's life, as ISIS affiliates are doing.

Can Sufism help prevent extremism?

ISIS ideology cannot be defeated through military power alone. Sufism embraces myriad alternatives and with its message of universal love has the capacity to change hearts and minds. Reviving Sufi traditions provides an effective bastion against extremism, radicalisation, disaffection and disenfranchisement of young poeple. The disaffection of young Muslims is one of the key reasons for radicalisation and spiritual and mystical dimensions of sufism can play a role in giving hope and reviving faith in young people. According to sufism, the quest for peace is not achieved by picking up a gun or becoming a suicide bomber, rather returning to the faith's deepest roots through brotherly love and fluttering hearts.

Some of the underlying values of Sufism are love, harmony and generosity. Hence, Islamic scholars from across the world gathered this year in India and Chechnya to re-focus on the message of sufism to defeat violent extremist ideologies. Sufism is not the solution to the extremism problem but it definitely offers a viable alternative to the current violent political ideology promoted by terrorists.
Photograph: R.Gurnham

All a parent ever wants is a better world for their children, safe and full of opportunity. Over generations, my family has gradually bettered themselves financially and academically. On my dad's side, he was the first to attend a university, juggling school work with weekend shifts at his parents' fish shop. On my mum's side, daughter of a Punjabi Civil Servant, her grandfather travelled on a dhow across the Indian Ocean to find new opportunities in British East Africa; her parents had emigrated on British Passports to escape Idi Amin's racial purification programme in 1972. My childhood was happy and comfortable in England's bucolic charm, with a colour television and piano lessons.

I was twelve before I really understood racism. Growing up in Tory Lincolnshire, the current hotbed for Farage's Brexit fans, I was aware of being a little different: I had a Granny and a Naniji; I worshipped in a Church and in a Gurudwara and my mum sent me to my friend's pyjama party in a salwar kameez- an etymological master move ("pajama" is Hindi for loose trousers). At age seven, I heard the school bully, eleven-year-old Walker, call my brother a "brownie". Misunderstanding his meaning, I proudly interfered, stressing that I was a Brownie and my friends are Brownies, too. My gang of Girl Guides then chased the offender around the school field, rudely chanting "Walkers Crisps". Later in detention with my shamed face against the wall, the racial slur swept under the carpet, the Headmaster simply concluded, "Well, Walker, you're hardly a Golden Wonder".

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My plucky confidence was undone by one single incident at high school. I remember walking alone down the corridor at lunchtime. Up ahead were a group of boys, but it was fine because some were from my primary school and I'd even been at one boy's tenth birthday party, joked with his mum and eaten pizza in their kitchen. That same boy gestured at me and as I smiled, he sputtered, "Paki".

Wounded, I gave no rebuttal and quickly walked along the corridor that seemed to go on forever, bursting into tears as I finally turned the corner. It'd never occurred to me that I was so different to him. I felt humiliated by this loaded word; my ego was shattered. I felt unwanted, exiled from my hometown, my place of birth. A friendly face found me at the end of the corridor and ushered me off to the Head's office. Later, I silently accepted a muttered apology, but I couldn't meet his eyes. The matter was closed, but I have never forgotten that moment.

If the Head had been a known favourite of the KKK and Neo-Nazi party, would there have been an apology, a consequence, or would I have had to accept the abusive language of fear and division. Would we have studied race, abuse and identity in Literature? Would the History syllabus include Apartheid, American Civil Rights and the evils of European Fascism? Would we have been so sure that the future could be free from prejudice?

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On Wednesday the new Chancellor delivered his first, and last, Autumn Statement. This was a significant moment for Theresa May and her cabinet - the Government's first practical demonstration of her laudable aspiration to make Britain a country that 'works for everyone'.

The statement lived up to expectations for JAMs and focused on making life easier for those who are 'just about managing'. This is no easy task given how many this applies to (6 million working-age households according to estimates from the Resolution Foundation) and how stretched they are - in a number of different directions.

We saw new policies which will help families free up budget including a freeze in fuel duty, a planned increase to the National Living Wage from 7.20 an hour to 7.50 from next April and plans to scale back planned cuts to Universal Credit. Certainly since the referendum result in June, there has been a spike in fuel and food prices so these attempts to help households meet everyday costs will be welcome.

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But what about people who are 'not managing'? While helpful, these policies don't tackle the obstacles blocking what's needed to help people on the lowest incomes to both get by - and thrive.

The most fundamental of these obstacles is the Poverty Premium - the poorer you are, the more likely you are to pay higher costs for goods and services. Last year, Citizens Advice Scotland found that people living in poverty were paying roughly 10% more for essential goods and services, while according to a report from 2014 by the east London charity Toynbee Hall, residents of Tower Hamlets pay a premium of up to 1,014 a year, consisting mostly of higher energy costs, car insurance and loans.

An example of this premium is the limited access to finance available - the cost of credit is more expensive for low income families. The fundamental reason for this is creditworthiness, and banks' reluctance to take risks leaves consumers without a track record of repayments, whether this is because they have had a poor credit record, or periods of unemployment, perhaps through no choice of their own. This effectively blocks those, who need it most, from having access to credit.

In addition to this, if you live on a sink estate, your car insurance is likely to be higher than if you live in a safer, more affluent area. However, the vicious circle of the poverty premium means that you are unlikely to be able to move to a safer area because you're unable to access the credit to allow you to do this (and increasingly unaffordable housing compounds the situation). You quite literally pay a price for being poor.

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Indeed, it is not surprising that the Poverty Premium impacts most on those cities which fall towards the bottom of PwC's recent Good Growth for Cities index. This index, looked at, amongst other categories: employment, income, skills and housing affordability. Where employment and skills are low, the Poverty Premium is most prevalent.

We cannot begin to reduce this premium without looking at the obstacles which prevent people and communities from helping themselves out of poverty: access to quality education and gaining skills improves people's chances of employment; transport links from hard to reach areas to centres of employment like cities allow for more opportunities.

To tackle this problem, the Government needs to help those who need it the most, to have access to finance, jobs, and importantly education which will in turn give them the opportunity to raise their income themselves and not pay the price of being poor.

At a local level, councils are beginning to address the problem by offering new ways to borrow and buy energy. Last year Sheffield launched Sheffield Money, a loans service that could save the city's poorest residents a combined 20m a year. Councils around the country are also using collective switching to help residents move to the best deals. This involves signing up as many people as possible and then taking part in an auction with energy firms. Residents are then told how much they can save and are given the choice as to whether to move.

At a national level, the Government could support these types of schemes further by empowering local authorities to tackle the ways in which the Poverty Premium is playing out in their own area. But they also need to address the national cause of the premium head on by working with financial institutions, energy companies and housing associations amongst others to resolve the issue of 'creditworthiness' with low income households and encouraging employers to help their staff and customers manage their money.

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Middle eastern mature women posing looking looking through a fence very sad

A one-woman public-private partnership is trying to provide digital ID to more than a billion people worldwide.

[This piece was republished from Apolitical]

That is the number of people who have no way, not even a birth certificate, of proving who they are. Without ID, these people, predominantly women and children in Asia and Africa, can't get healthcare, welfare or bank accounts. That figure also encompasses, most urgently, the 60 million refugees worldwide and many women trafficked into forced prostitution, whose lack of ID prevents them getting help.

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'It was one thing when we were living in a paper-based world,' says Dakota Gruener, Executive Director and presently sole full-time employee of ID2020, the public-private partnership. 'You can understand how providing people with pieces of paper and ensuring they were included in a larger registry was difficult. But in the era of Google and Facebook, it makes no sense.'

"In the era of Google and Facebook, it makes no sense."



ID2020 has enlisted the UN, some of the world's most powerful tech companies and dozens of start-ups to see whether a new technology, perhaps blockchain, could solve this problem.

ID2020 was started by a pioneer of financial technology, John Edge, who told Apolitical, 'If you create a new derivative contract, it's like a human being born. It's a thing that doesn't exist that now does exist that needs an identity in a system. The trading system we built trades trillions of derivatives, stocks, bonds, and options. And there are systems that manage lots and lots of individual identities and transactions.'

"Look, this is the future. There is just no question."



At a summit ID2020 organised at the UN headquarters in New York earlier this year, Marley Gray, who runs Microsoft's work on blockchain, said, 'We have a sort of technological perfect storm. First is the cloud, then very inexpensive mobile devices, and then this notion of establishing secure identity not just for individuals, but for everything, to be able to track and transact securely. The challenge is not necessarily the technology or the organisation, it's bringing it all together.'

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ID2020 is not trying to put forward one particular solution. Rather, it has convened a group including development agencies, think tanks and companies such Microsoft, PWC, Cisco, Accenture and Deloitte to spend the years to 2020 figuring out what a solution might look like.

Nevertheless, Niall McCann of the UN Development Program, which does not yet have any formal relationship with ID2020 but has been involved in discussions on the project, told Apolitical, 'Look, this is the future. There is just no question that this is the future, digitising paper identity documents and making them into applications on a smart device.'

At the moment, UNICEF makes great efforts to register children at birth, and the UN's sustainable development goal on identity cites birth registration as the benchmark for securing legal identity, but, says McCann, 'What do you do for people whose birth was never recorded or what about countries where management of civil registration is so poor that records have been lost or destroyed or they're simply not able to go back and find a copy for people who've lost one?

'I've got my birth certificate but it's a very very old piece of paper at this point. It's a piece of paper with no photograph and, even if it did have a photograph, it would be a photograph just of a baby. I hope Ireland has an electronic database to back that up, but what about countries that don't, where people have lost theirs or are carrying around a shabby handwritten bit of paper?'

Moreover, a lot of work on registration is being done at cross-purposes. UNICEF stops tracking people when they become adults, while UNDP engages in huge voter-registration drives, but then often leaves when the elections are over.

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"My birth certificate is a very very old piece of paper."



In fact, UNDP has used biometric tech to help create voter registers - preventing people voting more than once - in more than a dozen countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Bangladesh and Nepal. But when it comes to registration, many prospective voters don't have any ID documents to sign up with in the first place. Says McCann, 'So several countries have said, can you now help us do a national identity card or register using this same biometric equipment?'

Attempts to free identity from pieces of paper and bring it into the digital age are proliferating around the world. India's Aadhaar program has scanned the irises and taken the fingerprints of 1.07billion people, and issued them with an ID number. New South Wales in Australia is switching its driving licences onto smartphone apps and, while the state works up to fully digital driving licences, due 2018, has just begun trialling the technology with things like fishing licences.

But national identity registers come with considerable risks of their own. As John Edge puts it, 'Aadhaar scares the daylights out of me. You wouldn't have wanted to deploy Aadhaar in Rwanda a few years ago. It would be a very efficient way of killing people. A centralised biometric identity system, if it falls into the wrong hands, is a weapon.'

Some countries, like the UK, have rejected proposals for what is essentially a unified digital list of everyone who lives in the country. There are several nightmare scenarios: the people in, say, the driver licensing agency get to look at your tax records; a racist government cross-references data on ethnicity and crime and abuses the results; the database breaks and people's identities are digitally extinguished.

That is why the people behind ID2020 are especially interested in a decentralised system, i.e. something involving blockchain. The technology, which underlies bitcoin, holds tamper-proof records across a network of computers. Although it seems unlikely that there will ever be a global ID system independent of governments, it is conceivable that the poorest and most vulnerable people would be able to log into a system and prove who they are to social services, banks or foreign governments.

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"This can protect a girl stuck in a mud hut with no electricity, no water, no education, not even a road to walk to school"



Dakota Gruener has also conceived a means by which to get many of those people registered in the first place. She came to ID2020 from GAVI, a public-private partnership that vaccinates children in poor countries. It has a huge distribution network which an ID scheme could piggyback onto. As Edge puts it, 'You've got the kid's arm in your hand, you're injecting them, and you don't capture their identity or medical records.'

The potential is enormous. In Malawi, for example, some 90% of children are vaccinated, but fewer than 5% have a birth certificate. Worldwide, around 86% of children get three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, generally considered the gold standard, but an estimated 98% get vaccinated with at least something.

Ruchira Gupta, a campaigner against sex trafficking who also participated in the ID2020 summit, said, 'I think this is going to be system-changing, because it can protect the last girl, who is stuck in a mud hut in a village and has no electricity, no water, no education, not even a road to walk to school, no second set of clothes, perhaps no food, and what that ID can do for her is link her to government services.'

But for all the exciting developments, the question of precisely how this nut can be cracked is complex in the extreme. The World Bank also has a program, ID4D, which is examining some of the policy dimensions. The people involved with ID2020 believe that the answer will come from bringing governments and international organisations together with tech companies and start-ups, partly because private enterprise is pouring money into developing these kinds of technologies, and partly because it would be practically impossible for non-specialists in, say, UNDP or the World Bank, to stay at the forefront of everything that's being invented.

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Edge himself is profoundly committed to the project. PTB ventures, a company he cofounded with David Fields, has invested in GovCoin, a blockchain app that the UK government is trialling for welfare claimants. And he says he became interested in socially beneficial business because of a girl he met in a bar, and went on to marry. 'The girl I met works in early childhood development. She asked me on our first date what I was doing to make a difference. And the answer was: not very much.'
By AsiaToday reporter Lee Mi-hyun - Muslim millennials (b. 1980 and 2000), the so-called 'Generation M', are emerging as the next big opportunity for global brands.

Experts say that Generation M, who are increasingly educated and keen to live in the modern world, will lead the Muslim consumption market, reported Straits Times on Nov. 14.

With more than 60% living in the Asia-Pacific region, the Muslims have been largely ignored by global brands. However, the number of Muslims is increasing considerably high.

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According to the latest Global Islamic Economic Review by global knowledge services provider Thomson Reuters, global spending by Muslims last year was US$1.9 trillion, mainly in food and beverage, fashion, cosmetics, travel and recreation. It is expected to increase to US$2.6 trillion by 2020.

Ogilvy Noor, the Islamic branding consultancy of Ogilvy & Mather, has forecast that young Muslim women will lead the Muslim consumption, as they have greater disposable income with higher education level and employment rates.

 Beauty - Great demand for halal cosmetics in Asia-Pacific region

Earlier this month, US cosmetics brand CoverGirl chose Muslim beauty blogger Nura Afia as its first endorsement model and beauty ambassador wearing a hijab. As we can see from this, Muslim women are increasingly interested in the beauty industry.

According to Thomson Reuters, global Muslim spending on halal cosmetics is expected to grow to $73 billion by 2019 with Asia Pacific region showing strong demand.

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Halal - which means "allowed" under Islamic law in Arabic - is also being applied to cosmetics. Halal cosmetics must not contain alcohol and any parts or substances of animals, and they should meet the strict Islamic standards.

Market researcher Future Market Insights (FMI) has forecast that the halal cosmetics market in Asia Pacific will show a 9.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 2020. FMI added that the demand for color cosmetics is especially prominent.

In Asia, Indonesia and India are the two major consumers of the halal cosmetics market.

Indonesia's Muslim Council (MUI) explained that demand for halal labeled cosmetics is on the rise, as consumers in Asia Pacific became more aware about ingredients in conventional cosmetics along with improved living standards.

 Muslim fashion - From fast fashion to haute couture

The Muslim fashion market was US$230 billion in 2014, and the figure is expected to double to $484 billion by 2019.

Fast-fashion apparel companies such as Uniqlo and H&M are launching products targeting Muslim fashionistas as they advance to Southeast Asian market. Dolce & Gabbana launched its abaya and hijab collection for the first time as a luxury brand this year.

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Muslim fashion has also entered the haute couture event, which leads the world fashion trends. In this year's New York Fashion Week, which is one of four major fashion weeks in the world, a Muslim fashion designer presented a fashion show featuring hijabs in every outfit.

 Travel industry - Halal travel

The Muslim travel market is also expected to grow to $233 billion by 2020, accounting for one-quarter of the world's travel industry.

The Hala Travel 2016 by UK-based research firm Context Consulting revealed that Muslim women play an influential role in the travel decision-making process and planning, and they prefer family-friendly destinations, reported Indonesia's Jakarta Post.

Mikhail Goh, the founder of Muslim travel agency 'Have Halal Will Travel, said, "Generation M travelers are increasingly choosing adventurous destinations."

Muslim travelers are also choosing package travel products, but they are increasingly moving away from basic and expanding their choices to new destinations.

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Muslim travel products are offering halal dining options and praying possibilities.

 Going beyond halal to tayyab

"Muslim consumers are very open to try things, as long as it does not compromise our faith. Global brands should be bold," said Muslim women Nura in an interview with the Straits Times.

In the meantime, Generation M wants to go beyond halal to tayyab, which roughly translates as "ethical and wholesome."
The mainstream media deserves disbelief.

It chronically publishes false or misleading stories by omitting material facts necessary for reader understanding. If the mainstream media were selling stock instead of news protected by the First Amendment, the Securities and Exchange Commission would have a full docket under SEC Rule 10b-5 prosecuting cases of misinforming readers by omitting "to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading."

Emblematic have been a proliferation of stories or editorials expressing alarm that President-elect Donald Trump had stated in a November 22 interview with The New York Times that he would not pursue criminal investigations of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State or the funding or operations of the Clinton Foundation. It was said or insinuated that the President-elect was improperly interfering in the operations of the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Exhibiting a spirit of magnanimity, the President-elect explained to the Times:

"I don't want to hurt the Clintons, I really don't. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious."

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In other words, Mr. Trump had decided that the Executive Branch would exercise the prosecutorial discretion conferred under Article II of the Constitution to heal rather than to convulse the nation.

On this score, Mr. Trump was following the instruction of President Barack Obama. He refrained from investigating former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and other high level Bush administration officials for acknowledged complicity in torturing alleged Al Qaeda terrorists with waterboarding to avoid political divisiveness. In a White House press conference on April 29, 2009, President Obama affirmed, "I believe that waterboarding was torture...." During his confirmation hearing as Attorney General Eric Holder testified: "Waterboarding is torture."

The federal criminal code, 18 U.S. C. 2340A and 2441 prohibits torture or any conspiracy to torture Al Qaeda suspects detained abroad. The Convention Against Torture, which the United States ratified in 1994, requires signatory nations to "ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction."

President Obama, nevertheless, exercised prosecutorial discretion to desist from any torture investigation of the former President or Vice President because "I have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backward." He opposed a "Truth Commission" on torture proposed by Senator Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) because, "We want to look forward and not back."

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Thus, President-elect Trump was following in President Obama's footsteps in deciding against a criminal investigation of Ms. Clinton or the Clinton Foundation. Indeed, Mr. Trump's decision was far less momentous that Mr. Obama's because torture is a crime against mankind, whereas the suspected crimes of Clinton and the Foundation implicate far less moral turpitude.

But while President Obama escaped any mainstream media rebuke for turning a blind eye to prosecuting open and notorious torture suspects according to his own and Attorney General Holder's understandings of the crime, President-elect Trump has been scolded for alleged constitutional or ethical waywardness. On November 22, 2016, for instance, The Washington Post published a news story declaring: "If Trump decided to pursue or not pursue a criminal investigation from the Oval Office, it would be an extraordinary break with political and legal protocol, which holds that the attorney general and FBI make decisions on whether to conduct investigations and file charges, free of pressure from the president." But the newspaper story failed to inform the reader of President Obama's decision not to pursue torture investigations against high level Bush Administration officials, which would have discredited its alarmist narrative featuring President-elect Trump.

Ditto for its failure to report that President Gerald Ford had similarly dictated administrative, alternate service dispositions to resolve outstanding prosecutions of Vietnam Era draft evaders in Proclamation 4313 issued on September 16, 1974. I was then serving as Assistant Director in the Office of Legal Planning at the Department of Justice. Not a single official in the Department believed the Proclamation represented improper Oval Office interference or violated any protocol.

If the mainstream media hopes to recover public credibility, it should begin by voluntarily adopting the equivalent of SEC Rule 10b-5 to insure reporting all of a story, not misleading fragments.
Here's a little something I wrote in anticipation of families across America sitting down with each other, post-election, for a healthy dollop of tryptophan, dysfunctional family dynamics and political discord.

For me, it's been two weeks now since Election Night. And the shock and sadness of Trump happening has given way to actual physical illness from the existential dread of what may yet happen.

So for those of you on my Facebook feed who continue to tell me and people like to "get over it", "stop crying", "give Trump a chance" and demand that Facebook return to a place where people can brag about their ski vacations or ask friends for the names of high-end contractors, I offer the following:

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You may not be alarmed that people of one religion may be asked to register with the government or be banned from entering the country, but many people are.

You may not be appalled that people with pre-existing conditions may lose their health care. Or that immigrants seeking a path to citizenship may be rounded up and deported, mostly as scapegoats for declining industrial jobs. But I am.

You may not dread the repeal of reproductive rights, the rollback of marriage equality, the rescinding of our commitment to the Paris Climate Accords or the return of waterboarding. But I do.

You people won. You will get your tax cuts or the repeal of the nuclear deal or whatever drew you to our President-Elect. Maybe it actually was concern for the economic anxiety felt by many throughout the Midwest. But I'd also expect from anyone I'm friends with, a modicum of empathy for the real fears that millions of real Americans are experiencing. Fears that are unprecedented in our lifetime. And fears that make my stomach hurt every time I wake up.

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Though today, that may just be me anticipating binge-eating my fourth serving of dark meat and yams. Either way, I have a lifetime supply of Zantac 150 at the ready. And my special "eating pants."
Aston, PA, USA - September 22, 2016: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivers a speech at a rally in Aston, Pennsylvania.

Few people expected there to be a President-Elect Donald Trump. Winning the election wasn't easy. Governing will be much tougher.

Although the Americans who voted for him likely are most interested in domestic and economic reform, international challenges are likely to prove more pressing. Indeed, the world may be messier in January than today. And the usual coalition of Neoconservatives and liberal interventionists undoubtedly will press him to embrace current policy and treat Uncle Sam as Globocop.

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However, Trump has an opportunity to dramatically reshape a conventional wisdom that has consistently failed America. The U.S. has been constantly at war since the end of the Cold War. Belief in America's "unipolar" movement led to disastrous, militarized hubris. The bipartisan presumption that Washington could use military force to simultaneously reshape reality, maintain stability, protect humanity, and promote democracy--especially in the Middle East--has proved to be a tragic fantasy.

Trump's foreign policy views are sometimes inconsistent and often ignorant. His bombastic rhetoric and undisciplined nature is no boon for diplomacy. Nevertheless, he remained more likely than Hillary Clinton to follow a new approach.

Indeed, he challenged the presumption that Americans must forever subsidize wealthy allies. He told Republican voters that George W. Bush's Iraq invasion was a catastrophe. And he rejected Republicans' and Democrats' common enthusiasm for confronting nuclear-armed Russia. He was more likely than a President-elect Clinton to emphasize protecting Americans' interests rather than attempting to transform the rest of the world.

What should the incoming administration's priorities be?

Diplomacy. Despite his claim to be the most militaristic of the presidential candidates, he simultaneously emphasized diplomacy, in which most of his GOP competitors demonstrated no interest. Trump sharply criticized some of his predecessors' aggressive policies and urged greater engagement with countries as diverse as North Korea and Russia. Although diplomacy offers no panacea, America's "unipolar moment," if it ever existed, is over. Washington will have to do better at convincing instead of coercing other nations.

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Russia. The U.S. is involved in a dangerous mini-Cold War with Moscow. Vladimir Putin is an ugly character and the Russian Republic is a malign international actor. However, Moscow is not much of a threat to America.

It is acting like the pre-1914 Russian Empire, focused on international respect and secure borders, rather than global ideological victory. Moreover, Moscow has far greater interests in Syria and Ukraine than does America. Washington has no cause to risk war in either conflict. Instead, the Trump administration should seek a practical deal in both cases. For instance, pledging not to bring Kiev into NATO in return for Russian de-escalation of the assault on Ukraine. And limiting American military involvement in Syria to mopping up the Islamic State.

Syria. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did much to create the current crisis. By demanding Assad's ouster, she encouraged popular opposition and discouraged a negotiated settlement. Although Assad is an odious figure, he has never threatened American interests, as do the jihadists who have risen in opposition. Rather than expand U.S. involvement through additional arms shipments, training of insurgents, and creation of a no-fly zone, Washington should step back. Even a bad diplomatic deal with Russia would be better than turning the Syrian civil war into another American hot war. At the same time, Washington should seek to ease the humanitarian crisis, including vetting and resettling refugees, especially religious minorities who have few options in the Middle East.

Islamic State. As ISIS weakens and loses ground, the U.S. should turn over ever more combat responsibility to those states most threatened by the jihadist group. A coherent policy is beyond Washington's reach: Iraq and Turkey are at odds, Iran is fighting the Islamic State but also is hostile toward the U.S., Turkey and Kurdish forces are bitter opponents, the "moderate" insurgents backed by America continue to make common cause with radical groups such as al-Nusra, long affiliated with al-Qaeda, the Gulf States have largely abandoned the anti-ISIS campaign in favor of a brutal offensive in Yemen, and Russia has invested militarily in the Assad regime despite America's support for its overthrow. Washington's attempt to "manage" such as an imbroglio is more likely to generate enemies than friends.

Afghanistan. During the presidential campaign Afghanistan was a missing issue. After 15 years of attempting to create a liberal, Western-oriented, united, and competent Afghan central government, the U.S. should complete its withdrawal of combat forces. Washington has a continuing interest in preventing the country from again becoming a terrorist base, but that was largely achieved by ousting the Taliban after 9/11. Even if the insurgents eventually triumph, they are unlikely to risk a repeat experience by welcoming such forces back. Any future U.S. involvement should be far more limited, focused on intelligence gathering, cooperation with other regional powers, such as Pakistan, and targeted use of special operations forces when appropriate.

Middle East. Although the Obama administration "pivoted" to Asia, rebalancing policy away from Europe and the Middle East, the U.S. later increased military activity in the latter while upping military commitments to the former. The U.S. has no interests at stake in the Middle East which warrant America's ongoing military fixation. The region no longer matters nearly as much for energy: indeed, the U.S. now is the world's biggest oil producer. Moreover, Israel is a regional superpower which is threatened rather than shielded by Washington's promiscuous military interventions. The U.S. should reject proposals for further meddling after the consistently disastrous record of past interventions.

China. In the longer term the most likely economic and security competitor to America is the People's Republic of China. However, that doesn't mean there is any reason for conflict. Pressing for Chinese economic reciprocity makes sense in some areas--reducing restrictions on foreign investment, for instance. Nevertheless, the U.S. benefits from the current trading relationship and as the Chinese people grow wealthier they are likely to buy more American products and services.

Perhaps even more important is accommodating China's growing influence in its own neighborhood. No one imagines a PRC attack on America or U.S. Pacific possessions. Rather, Beijing is most concerned about preventing intervention against China in regional disputes. Rather than expecting the Pentagon to be the frontline defender of American allies' interests, Washington should turn defense responsibilities over to those nations, all of which are growing economically and have strong incentives to defend themselves.

Koreas. The president-elect has long criticized South Korea for relying on American defense guarantees. With 40 times the GDP and twice the population of the North, the Republic of Korea should take over responsibility for its own security. Rather than charge the ROK for its defense, Washington should begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. conventional forces.

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At the same time, the incoming administration should engage the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Rather than a presidential summit, as Trump suggested during the campaign, Washington should start small: negotiate to establish low level diplomatic relations and draft a peace treaty to formally end hostilities on the peninsula. Since isolation and sanctions have failed to halt the North's nuclear program, a new approach is needed.

NATO. Trump correctly recognized that Europe long has enjoyed a cheap ride on U.S. taxpayers. His idea of charging the continent for American defense services is a bad idea--U.S. forces should not be rented out to wealthy allies unwilling to put their own military personnel at risk. Instead of burden-sharing, Washington should practice burden-shedding. The U.S. defense shield succeeded in giving war-torn Europe time to recover in the face of potential Soviet aggression.

Today Russia poses no serious threat to Europe, even, likely, to the states on its border. Putin's ambitions so far have been brutal but limited, and he's shown no interest in triggering a general war, let alone one into which Washington could be drawn. To the extent that European nations feel at risk, they should increase their own military outlays, improve continental military cooperation, and further reduce economic dependence on Moscow. The burden of their defense should be theirs.

Trade and Immigration. Although popular frustration with foreign competition, both goods and people, generated much of Trump's support, he should separate process and substance. In fact, trade has benefited the great majority of Americans. Immigration, too, is economically advantageous. The new administration should reinforce those positives, while addressing complaints that benefits are not adequately shared, non-economic issues have been ignored, and those more affected have not fairly consulted. The populist Trump has the credibility to ensure a broader political buy-in for policies which, despite his past criticisms, offer broad benefits.

President-elect Donald Trump has a unique opportunity to redirect American foreign policy, which has become dangerously unbalanced and militarized. The answer is not isolation, but robust, thoughtful engagement. Americans benefit from being involved in the world. But not from attempting to forcibly transform the world in America's image. Paradoxically, the bombastic Donald Trump could become the president who puts into practice George W. Bush's long abandoned call for a more "humble" foreign policy.
Portrait of a Woman in the Street with Three People in the Background

Dr. Bruce Alexander, professor emeritus of psychology, performed an experiment in the 1970s. His team built two cages for laboratory rats. In one cage a rat was alone and isolated. It couldn't see or touch other rats and had nothing to do. In the other cage called Rat Park, they had good food and lots of cheese, running wheels for exercise, colored balls, platforms for climbing, tin cans for hiding and many other rats to play and have sex with.

Rat Park soon filled with babies. In both cases, rats had access to two drinking bottles: a bottle of water and a bottle of water with morphine. Morphine is pure heroin. Unlike street heroin that contains brick dust, bleach powder, cement and other contaminants, morphine is much stronger. At the end of each day, researchers measured the two bottles to see if rats preferred the pure water or the heroin water.

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The rats in solitary confinement almost always chose the heroin water. They always became addicted and killed themselves. In Rat Park, they almost never drank heroin water. None become addicted or overdosed. Rats are social, sexual and working beings just like humans.

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.

Is what you know for sure that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain

People who become addicted don't have to be put in cages. It's enough for them only to feel caged-in a job, in a relationship, in a family or in a country. They will drink or take drugs to cope with the situation. Prof. Alexander concluded that addiction is an escape from an environment where human connection is impossible. Alcohol or drug dependence is the consequence of not bearing being present in your own life.

While prof. Alexander was studying the effects of the social environment on rats, the Vietnam war was unfolding on the other side of the world. According to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, 20 percent of the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. The public in the United States was terrified that hundreds of thousands of veterans will become junkies but this never happened.

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When they returned home, 95 percent of the addicted soldiers stopped using heroin within one year. Another study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry revealed that addicts who didn't receive any treatment were as likely to stop using drugs as those who went rehab. They changed the environment, they changed their behaviors.

Johann Hari, in his book Chasing the Scream, wrote that rats in solitary confinement and soldiers in Vietnam didn't become victims of the drug but of their environment. Addiction was their way of coping with "being dislocated from everything that gave them meaning," wrote Hari. When you feel caged, and your world becomes intolerable, you leave physically if you can or mentally if you cannot. When soldiers returned home to a meaningful life, they gave up the drugs.

People who live in a social environment where they can connect with others and bond with their work will not become addicted even if they have alcohol and drugs around them because they want to be present in their lives. But if you feel trapped or caged in a situation, a job or a relationship, if you cannot bond because of you in life in a social context that punishes you for expressing who you are and for living your truth, you will find refuge in whatever takes your pain away. Prof. Peter Cohen, director of the Center for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam, suggested that we need to replace the word addiction with the word bonding. We have a fundamental human need to bond with our work and with others, but we can only bond if we live our truth and open our hearts.

Do You Feel Caged?

You don't need to live in a cage, or to go to war to feel caged, and not be able to find meaning in life. Your own mind, your unconscious beliefs, a toxic friendship, a job environment or family relationship can choke your will to express who you are with the same tragic effects. The heart's calling - your will - is only love and cannot be anything else. Your will flows through your heart and pulls you towards what you most value in life.

When you embrace it, you find meaning. When you block it, you find pain. Love is the force that pulls us to follow our dreams and step into the unknown, to reveal and express who we are, to explore, to discover, to create and to bond. Whenever your behaviors conflict your will, whenever you think and act against love, tension grows within yourself. Strain turns into pain. Anger, anxiety, and depression follow.

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The Importance of Living Your Truth

I have a friend who is project manager for a financial corporation, but her dream is to open a restaurant. Her will is to start this new business. Every time she thinks about her calling her heart fills with joy. She feels love. But immediately her mind drags her in the opposite direction: 'What if it doesn't work?' 'I am in my thirties, and I have a child. 'What will my parents say about me quitting my job after they supported me through college?'

She then acts as she thinks she should and stays in her job without actually willing to do so. Everyone envies her. She earns a great paycheck, has a loving husband and a beautiful child, and she's sinking into depression. She feels even worse when she looks around her because apparently, she has no reason to feel depressed. The truth is she has the only reason to feel depressed: her heart is screaming from a golden cage, and she doesn't listen.

Finding Peace of Mind and Joy with Truth

The greater is the gap between what love calls you to do and what you actually do, the deeper the depression you can fall into. The way to find joy is to leave the cage, not to make it prettier. Why do you think the waiting rooms of psychologists and psychiatrists are filled with successful people who realized after twenty or thirty years of work that money, a career and a house in the suburbs do not bring peace of mind and joy of heart?

They keep hoping that by changing the external conditions of their lives - earn more money, be in a better physical shape, have another partner or travel more - will change how they feel. It never works because the emptiness is not around them. The emptiness is within them. And the only way to come back to life is to acknowledge that little voice rising from your heart and begging you to return to love, to return to truth.

Dr. Dragos
Young people in Chicago's toughest neighborhoods are stuck.

The public schools are in shambles. Kids drop out instead of graduating. If they do graduate, they're unlikely to get into college. They probably can't find a good job, either.

That means they're likely unemployed long term, perhaps scraping by on welfare. Too many of them cycle in and out of the criminal justice system.

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The problems of poverty and unemployment are complex, and no quick or easy fixes exist. But politicians have aggravated these problems through misguided education and economic policies.

Yet instead of reversing those policy missteps and proposing fresh ways to improve education and economic growth, politicians offer Band-Aid fixes in the form of jobs programs. In the latest iteration of this approach, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle wants to address the problem of youth unemployment in two struggling Chicago neighborhoods.

Preckwinkle and the county board are planning to target 300 16-24-year-olds in Austin and Back of the Yards, aiming to get them jobs or into career training. Funding will come from the county's public safety grant program, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. But the problem Preckwinkle and the board are attempting to solve runs much deeper than what a jobs program can fix, and is, in fact, a byproduct of city and county officials pursuing bad policies.

Few jobs, bad schools, no hope

In Austin, 57 percent of 20-24-year-olds don't have a job. And in New City - where Back of the Yards is located - 52 percent of 20-24-year-olds are unemployed. Poor communities like this one have been hit especially hard by Chicago's failing schools and anti-jobs taxes and regulations, which make it difficult for blue-collar, entry-level jobs to take root.

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For example, although a high school diploma is needed for many higher-paying blue-collar jobs, just 1 in 4 Austin residents have one.

That makes getting a foot in the door tough, especially in a weak jobs market.

Austin isn't the only neighborhood hurt by failing schools. Citywide, more than 25 percent of Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, students don't graduate within five years.

In the fall after graduation, the most common situation for CPS students with very low college qualifications was to be neither working nor in school, researchers at The University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research concluded in a 2013 study. "Those who do enroll in postsecondary education are unlikely to persist, and those who find work are substantially underemployed," authors wrote.

These kinds of educational outcomes bring sobering consequences. The dropout-to-prison pipeline is all too real. Four in five Illinois prisoners didn't graduate high school; less than 10 percent had some undergraduate experience; and only 1.4 percent graduated college. And 50 percent of these prisoners come from Cook County.

Bad policies created this cycle, and a $1 million won't fix it

In addition to the fact that Chicago's failing schools leave young people unprepared to take advantage of job opportunities that do exist, there is also a shortage of any kind of jobs for young people in the city's poorer neighborhoods. Businesses aren't setting up shop in and around Chicago's toughest communities because Chicago makes it extraordinarily hard for them to do so. A Home Run Inn restaurant that could have employed young people living in Austin never got off the ground after the city hiked its minimum wage in 2014.

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The same thing happened on the South Side, where businesses have shuttered or cut back on hiring. Reps for a Panera Bread in the Beverly neighborhood cited the city's increase to the minimum wage as the reason it left the neighborhood. Another Beverly staple, Rainbow Cone, announced it would have to cut in half the number of students it hires.

On top of the minimum wage, across Illinois businesses also pay high payroll taxes and the region's highest costs for unemployment insurance and workers' compensation.

The city doesn't just make it expensive to hire workers - it also makes it hard for businesses to set up, period. A report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation showed that Chicago is a "dystopian nightmare" for anyone looking to open a professional services business. Chicago ranks third-to-last among major U.S. cities on the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.

Blue-collar workers who used to find jobs in factories on the South and West sides are out of luck, as manufacturing employers have fled the city in droves. That trend is in keeping with the state of Illinois as a whole, which has lost 8,500 factory jobs just since September, coming to a loss of 43 jobs a day.

More money won't fix Chicago's jobs climate

"They say the best way to stop a bullet is with a job," said County Board Member Richard Boykin.



That sentiment is absolutely correct. And in Chicago, where more young people have been killed since 2008 than in any other major city, according to the Chicago Reporter, young people need jobs now more than ever.

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But artificially creating jobs for a handful of young people won't solve the long-term problem of whole communities being unable to find work.

Whole neighborhoods of kids are being left behind in Chicago. Issues this big won't go away because well-meaning city officials pop in every so often to throw money at the problem.

Chicago's young people deserve more than a pittance - aldermen owe them serious introspection. It's time to admit the city's approach has failed - and it's time the men and women running Chicago step up with new solutions.

A million dollars doesn't give students the option for innovation in education. It doesn't give parents a choice to get their children out of failing schools and into schools that work for their family. It doesn't address the core tax and regulatory issues driving out the businesses that create the jobs these young people desperately need.
Map of Europe. Detail from the World Atlas.

The hour of Europe - without England?

In June 1991, confronted with the crisis in former Yugoslavia Jacques Poos, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg in the chair of the EU, stated "This is the hour of Europe. It is not the hour of the Americans." He was wrong. The crisis was not brought to an end before the U.S. became involved, which lead the way to the Dayton agreement in 1995. Hard power was required. The U.S. had it; the Europeans did not.

But maybe his announcement was premature. The election of Donald Trump raises squarely the question of values, soft power, what do we stand for and how will we behave - moral and ethics? So far Europe and the U.S. have seen eye to eye, but will that continue to be the case? What kind of America will we see? Will Europe have to bend its values to maintain the U.S military umbrella and if it does what kind of Europe will emerge?

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Around the globe some leaders expressed satisfaction, others came forward looking to cooperate with Donald Trump as the new President of the U.S. and others fell back on traditional diplomacy with neutral congratulations. They opted for normal behaviour. And that is understandable.

Some European leaders tuned into the same wavelength, but not all. Core European leaders such as Chancellor Merkel from Germany, President Hollande of France, the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Council Donald Tusk deviated from this trend. These European leaders recalled that past cooperation was anchored in common ideals and principles, which should continue to form the plinth of cooperation. Common ideals took the U.S. and Europe through the Cold War and notwithstanding economic ties makes the Atlantic Alliance special in many respects.

Europe has defined its ideals and principles. There is a large congruity with the U.S. constitution despite more than 200 years between the drafting. According to art 1a in the Lisbon Treaty from 2009 Europe stands for:

"The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice and equality between women and men prevail"

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During the campaign President-elect Donald Trump violated these principles; in fact I find it difficult to find a single one he did not violate. In some quarters the reminder from the above mentioned European leaders was criticized yes even ridiculed as misplaced lecturing of Mr. Trump. Instead it should be lamented that European leaders have to remind a President-elect of these principles hitherto regarded as common even sacrosanct for U.S, and Europe. How can the U.S. and Europe do things together if they differ fundamentally on what they stand for? And why should they?

Suddenly the beacon of fighting for fundamental rights of freedom may be in the hands of the Europeans. The world is not a nice place nowadays. These principles do not have the same support as a decade or two ago and if the U.S. fails to exercise leadership the going will be tough.

It may well be that Europe - in reality the EU without England - has to pay a price for taking this stance. Europe - the EU - is no longer strong and vibrant. It suffers. It fights to keep its head above water. It needs the U.S. more than the U.S needs Europe for a variety of reasons - militarily, economically and politically. This is why the stand radiates moral courage.

The last ten years have not been easy for a dedicated European with the debt crisis, question marks on the viability of the Euro and recently the influx of refugees and migrants. These challenges were of existential nature threatening the future of the EU, solidarity among member states and posed the question what Europe stands for and whether it is capable of living up to European ideals. The reaction to Mr. Trump's victory goes some way to dispel doubts about Europe's position.

Everybody has to follow suit. There is no escape clause. Where do you belong? For no country the choice will be more agonizing than for England after Brexit. Are you with President Trump's America into uncharted water or do you stand with fellow Europeans to defend well-known values so far essential for survival of European civilization as we know it This is an existential question that will define England's - and other European countries - destiny for decades, maybe even longer.

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Brooke Baldwin, host of CNN's Newsroom, broke down on Tuesday, November 22 after Charles Kaiser said, "If you don't want to support the alt-right, don't choose, as a White House counsellor, a man who uses the word 'nigger'."

This happened during a segment discussing Donald Trump's appointees. Baldwin admonished Kaiser in the segment stating that that word should never be used on her show. This is a point I would usually wholeheartedly agree with, particularly seeing as Kaiser is a white man, however this time I think Baldwin is upset for the wrong reasons.

We are watching as Trump puts men like Jeff Sessions, Michael T Flynn, and Steve Bannon in the White House. Between them, these men have said 'the n-word' to dehumanize and belittle, said that fearing Muslims is natural, and run a news network which focuses on spreading and normalizing messages of racism, sexism, and homophobia. These men are racists verging on neo-Nazism but the media softens the blow by calling them 'alt-right'. These racist, fear-mongering men will be helping Trump govern the country.

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When Kaiser said the n-word, without masking it, he shocked everyone watching. The n-word has a dark history; it is used to dehumanize, to dismiss people of color. Masking the word by only referring to its initial allows it into daily parlance. You can say it without saying it, as it were, but then what is the point? So we can discuss around it, we can reference it but not be faced with the word, not hear it drop from our mouths, not face what horrors actually lie in those six letters.

Kaiser said the word to highlight that it still holds power. "I'm quoting someone who's been appointed by the president to serve in the Oval Office, this is such a disgusting moment in our history," he said. Samuel L. Jackson, when being interviewed for Django Unchained, said "it's not a great question if you can't say the word." How are we truly meant to realize the gravity of what is happening if we continue to use the masked terms the "n-word', 'alt-right', and 'white nationalist'?

I do think Baldwin was right to have been shocked by its use. She was right to have a visceral reaction to such a loaded term. But she was wrong to be angry with Kaiser. She should be angry at the groups who use that word to promote hate and fear, like Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions who are now making their way into the White House. She should be upset that men running the country have used the word, embracing its horrors, and not at the man pointing a finger to show the reality of our situation.

Kaiser later apologized for attributing the quote to Steve Bannon. It was actually said by another racist Trump White House appointee, Jeff Sessions.
"You have to write about the thing you'll be the world's greatest expert in." In this humorous conversation award-winning authors and friends Richard Ford and Colm Toibin discuss each other's work and exchange the secrets to prose writing.

"I think writers have a duty to be silly when they're not writing. And when they are writing, they have a duty not to be silly," says Colm Toibin in this in-depth conversation between two authors with intimate knowledge of each other's work. American Richard Ford and Irish Colm Toibin both teach writing at Columbia University in New York, USA, and here they discuss the differences in style, nationality and subject matter that divide them in a celebration of literature and writing. The authors also read from their novels 'Let Me Be Frank With You' (2014) and 'Nora Webster' (2014).

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Colm Toibin (b. 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, critic and poet. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including 2011 Irish PEN Award for his contribution to Irish literature. Toibin has also been shortlisted for the Booker Prize several times. For more about him see: http://www.colmtoibin.com/

Richard Ford (b. 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. Ford is the recipient of several prestigious awards such as the 2013 Prix Femina Etranger, the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The conversation between Colm Toibin and Richard Ford was moderated by Synne Rifbjerg as part of the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, in August 2015.

Cameras: Rasmus Quistgaard, Simon Weyhe & Mathias Nyholm

Edited by: Klaus Elmer

Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2016

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Here's the Outspeak roundup of the top five news stories so you can appear informed and worldly even if your fly is undone.

1. Jill Stein has raised over3 million in order to fund recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Who thought Jill Stein would be the one to swoop in and extinguish this dumpster fire? More here.

2. Colombia signs new peace deal with Farc. This time they are not letting the general public vote on whether they agree or not. They can't trust they'll give the 'right' answer. More here.

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3. At least 80 people, mostly Shia pilgrims, have been killed by an ISIS bomb in Baghdad. ISIS cementing their role as the big bad in the world. More here.

4. Jesus Christ has been crowned King of Poland. It's official, the world has collectively lost it's mind. More here.
Hillary Clinton, accompanied by her husband former U.S. President Bill Clinton (L) and running mate Senator Tim Kaine, addresses her staff and supporters about the results of the U.S. election at a hotel in New York, November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Consider what would be happening if Donald Trump (or any Republican for that matter) had won the popular vote by two million votes but lost the electoral college.

Consider further what would be happening now if Hillary Clinton had won the electoral college and had previously called upon Russia to hack into Trump's campaign, had sent Chelsea to meet secretly with Putin's people in Paris during the campaign, and specific Russian involvement in the campaign had been acknowledged.



Consider still further what would be happening now if, in her president-elect transition, Hillary Clinton were telling foreign leaders that it might be a cool idea if they would give money to the Clinton Foundation so that it could expand its activities further.

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Is there even a scintilla of doubt that Trump would be attacking the system, attacking the voting process, encouraging supporters to rally and riot, to find out the names of electors and harass them, to be demanding jail time not White House time for Hillary, and suggest that "Second Amendment rights" should be exercised?

Is there a scintilla of doubt that Trump would seize on the computer analysis and demand recounts?

And, is there a scintilla of doubt that, failing to keep Hillary from taking the oath of office, the Republicans would have already used these protests and tactics to label her a minority president who lost the will of the people, and start down the path of undermining the legitimacy of her presidency?

Hillary, they would say, has no right to a Supreme Court nominee. Period. They would not confirm anyone to the Supreme Court for 4 years, as the will of the majority was otherwise. They would not allow any of her cabinet or agency appointees to take office, forcing her to work with those who are willing to stay on from the Obama Administration.

The rest is rather obvious.

By contrast, what are the Democrats (aka, Cave-ocrats) doing? First, they are not challenging the vote count in the states where it appears rigging and hacking may have taken place. Why? Because they don't realize that the fight itself is worth the effort.

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Second, while they are objecting to one crazy Trump appointment after another, they are nonetheless referring to Trump as the "president-elect". Why? Because they don't get that holding off that designation keeps them in the fight, and that the fight itself is worth it.

Third, having just noted a profound loss among white working class voters, they select as what will be the top Democrat in the country, a Wall Street apologist and Iran nuclear deal opponent, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as their leader. Why? Because they don't get that words, language, attitude and pedigree matter.

Fourth, on the House side, they are going to stick with Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as Minority Leader, rather than go for a heartland America, younger Member of Congress, who just might be able to lead them out of the political wilderness. Why? Same reason as above.

Fifth, the Democrats send out messages, "aren't you proud?" for the effort and fight they put up? NO. I am not proud of losing, especially to the most absurd and dangerous opponent who has ever darkened our political doorposts.

Sixth, progressive groups send out more "sign this petition" messages, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Donald Trump and the Republicans and the press could not care less what any petition says or how many signatures it has.

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Indeed, all of what Republicans would be doing, and all of what the Cave-ocrats do not do, comes down to a simple proposition: Republicans are in constant political war, because they want power, and want to consolidate power, and want to make it impossible to dislodge them from power.

For Republicans a lost 2016 election would never be "over".

Democrats do not. Thus, Democrats do not go to the mat, they do not realize that showing they will fight, and fight hard, even if they lose, is what people need to see before they can begin to have any faith that they mean what they say.

On December 8, 2008, I wrote an article outlining just what the Obama Administration should do, and could do, to address the heartland voters. I called it the "Great American Heartland Initiative". Had Obama done that Democrats would be enjoying large majorities for decades to come for the simple reason that Republicans offer nothing, except tax cuts for the wealthy and removing regulations so that, for example, tobacco companies can back into the business of addicting our children.

But, if one does not go to meet and live with the people that really need help, and show you will fight with everything and never give up, you will lose to those who see every disagreement as war, and look for any opening, any crack, any space, to occupy.

Democrats' conducted "autopsies" following their catastrophic defeats in 2010 and 2014. The conclusions they came to, that they "have to do a better job of getting out their message", were ludicrous. They will do another one. Their conclusions will be at least as ludicrous.

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How many times did President Obama go back to Congress asking for a modification to the Affordable Care Act? Zero. And, whatever he requested would have been rejected. But, fighting for it, for ways to improve it, would have resonated with voters. Sure, it would have been used as examples for what is wrong with bill, but so what? They were lying about it anyhow, and the entire dialogue could have been shoved back down their throats.

By contrast, Republicans tried 60 times to repeal it. On the 61st try, they will now achieve it.

When the Democrats controlled the Senate, how many times did Harry Reid (D-NV) hold hearings just for the sake of showing his majority was fighting for something? Answer: Zero. The Republicans do that all the time.

It has fallen to Jill Stein, Green Party candidate to demand a recount in key states. Her fight may be quixotic, but people will remember who fought for them, who fought for the planet, and who sat back on their duffs and kowtowed the emperor.

Pathetic.
When I was in fourth grade, our neighbor bought a small black-and-white television. My siblings were so excited that they would ask her to leave her door open so they could peek at the 12-inch set from outside. Growing up in Pakistan, this excitement was common -- but I was not moved by the picture box. My hobbies were different; my television was my imagination. Ever since I could read, I had my nose buried in a book. I had a passion for learning which blossomed into a fascination with medicine.

My sister worked as a midwife at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi. That led me to its front doors. I wanted to become a nurse, but my family was not financially stable enough to support me. Still, I decided to test my luck and ended up with the biggest blessing I could have dreamed of. AKU hospital funded my education, introduced me to my best friends, and taught me patient care. The hospital encouraged my medical curiosity, and the meals weren't half bad either!

It is because of this grand opportunity that I am in the U.S. today. I married a wonderful man who saw how much I wanted to give back to the educational community. He encouraged me to continue by studies, and I soon received my Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Texas in San Antonio.

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I still clearly remember the day I decided to select my dissertation focus. It felt so overwhelming! I wanted to write about something that could be used to help others, like I had been helped during my own journey. I instinctively thought of my family and its health issues and realized that our history of premature death related to cardiovascular disease was not unique among people who shared my background. In hopes of finding a way to raise awareness, I decided to study heart disease in the South Asian community.

While writing my dissertation, I gave presentations in several diverse South Asian communities to inform their members about health risks. Still, this did not feel like enough and I decided to volunteer at the Aga Khan Foundation Charity Walk in San Antonio with my students, giving free cholesterol and glucose tests and teaching the community about disease prevention.

Today, with my diploma in my hand and my dissertation on my bookshelf, I'm proud to say that I am still learning every day. My new wish is to inspire my students the way AKU inspired me.
Trump. I see two, maybe three, groups of Trump-ites, depending on how you count.

Trump voters: Many who INEXCUSABLY know not what they did. I know many. I think many Hillary supporters, many on the left, especially in New York and other urban centers, either don't personally know, or at least don't recognize, Trump voters. I do. I know Jewish women, Asian men, sweet doormen, 'society' women, family members who live away, dentists, you name it. So many seem to not really be commited to his 'program' but they did what they wanted to do, vote Trump, and I think many of them are simply not paying much attention even now.

Enablers: The kids who didn't bother to vote or who refrained in a statement of anti-Hillary-ness. The people who (and I've grown to hate this phrase) 'despised Hillary' for no solid rational reason. The people who wanted 'A Change.' Post-Obama fascism sure is that. The people of color I know who said, disastrously, 'What difference does it make?' (We knew the difference in under a week.) The African-Americans I heard in the media this week who said 'This is a white man's fight." My childhood friend on the right, Jewish and a Cruz supporter, who said to me days before the election, "Don't worry, Sharon, we see who he is. He's a con. He won't win." And then, did not vote.

Die-hard Supporters: The people who whole-heartedly voted for and continue to support Trump. Even now, with Sessions and Flynn, with increasing proof of intricate intrusion by Russia, with FBI interference, with word of a registrar of Muslims and of course with BANNON and his vile anti-Semitic, anti-woman, anti-Muslim coda.

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The big question for me, 15 brutal day-years after this election, now that no one can deny or fantasize about who Trump is, now that Trump has shown us these two weeks whom he stands with and what he stands for, is this ~

Who still stands with Trump? All 47million who voted for him? Cool with Bannon, and more?

I don't know the answer.

So, if Trump-voting family members and friends share your family's Thanksgiving table and weekend (happily not mine, with my totally American-mutt mix family here of Hillary supporters, but at the table of many of my wary friends, and likely many readers), I don't think you're automatically at war if those friends/family voted for Trump. The true adversary is not the Trump voter, it's the she and the he who continue to support him now. It's the unlistening, the unquestioning, and above all the adamant.

If someone at your Thanksgiving or metaphorical table is paying attention (and if she/he is not, that's a sin of the highest order, and stands with Trump now, with an understanding of who he is and what he will do - willful misunderstanding does not count), then, yes, I think, you are in an ethical, spiritual, moral war. Not facing that fact in whatever way you decide (however uncomfortably, however gently but clearly, however strongly) is a form of moral treason.
I have a strict rule about Thanksgiving, and it is simple: If you can't cook, DON'T.

There is nothing worse than a newbie gourmet confused about the sex of a turkey. If you're daring to make the greatest meal of the year or entertaining your politically opposed relatives, I recommend the Tom: It's a fat, male-sized turkey, large enough to appease even the most dissatisfied of in-laws. Don't go overboard! You don't need to over feed 'em; the object is to keep them satisfied, not to make them pass out.

If you find yourself stressing about preparing the right food or finding the right recipe this Thanksgiving, take a second to remind yourself what's really important about this holiday: Family.

Family heritage isn't just about lineage; it's born from recipes like our granny used to make. It reminds us of good old-fashioned family values. Contained in those stories passed down through generations are the highlights of our family traditions.

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Do you remember the story about Great-Great-Uncle Sam who wrestled a bear to save a village? I do! Okay, maybe that's just a magical tale I believed when I was small. But every family has stories like that.

Our stories are about the preservation of family. Maybe your family arrived in America in the early 19th Century, and they had to integrate and learn to respect the values of other, neighboring immigrants. They came to the US for freedom, economic opportunity, and faced the most treacherous of conditions. They were proud to tell their stories, so that their posterity would remember where they came from and what they fought for.

Thanksgiving is a great time to honor our families. Why not bring a story with you to share at the dinner table? Or encourage others to tell theirs. It's important to keep the spirit of who we are as a family alive.

As a Brit raised by a close, loving Jewish family, my Thanksgiving celebration is a unique - just like each of yours. We bring stories to the table to share every year to keep the spirit of our family's traditions alive. Sometimes, those stories take the form of a recipe: My grandmother always loved to bake kugel, a traditional Jewish pudding casserole.

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So to honor my family recipe, I am opting for a thick pudding style kugel, but adding a touch of cranberry and apple. This way I can uphold our family traditions and stories, while adding my own personal touch. My family's story includes my own story, after all.

Here's a recipe from Food similar to my Grandma Dora's Kugel, with a few extra goodies to add a sweet personal touch:

INGREDIENTS

12 small apples

1 (16 ounces) can jellied cranberry sauce, or 1 (16 ounces) can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 cup oatmeal

12 cup flour

12 cup raw brown sugar

12 cup margarine

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Peel and slice the apples. Layer the apples in a 9x13 pan. Mash the cranberry sauce and layer on top of the apples. In a bowl mix the oatmeal, flour, raw brown sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon. Then with your hands mix the margarine with the bowl of dry ingredients. Layer the oatmeal mixture on top of the cranberry sauce. Bake at 350F 1 hour uncovered and then up to an hour covered until the cranberry sauce seeps into the apples and the edges are light brown.

I am confident that my guests will survive the experimentation of my Cranberry Apple Kugel. And coupled with a family story, I cannot think of a greater gift to share with the people I love for Thanksgiving dinner.

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"My most memorable meal is every Thanksgiving. I love the food: The turkey and stuffing; the sweet potatoes and rice, which come from my mother's Southern heritage; the mashed potatoes, which come from my wife's Midwestern roots; the Campbell's green bean casserole; and of course, pumpkin pie." --Douglas Conant

Wishing you all a super nourishing Thanksgiving,

Suzannah

* * * *

Suzannah's work is about giving individuals (like you!) dynamic insight into what agonizes them most and offering breakthrough solutions. She offers instant, real-time solutions to what troubles her clients -- all delivered with a large shot of compassion. Schedule an Appointment Today.
Formal table setting

Imagine a mystery guest coming to your Thanksgiving dinner, one you have never met. Imagine this "silent guest" being a starving person from a war-torn or impoverished country. That is what students at Mount St. Joseph University in Ohio want you to think about this Thanksgiving.

Students of the Mount's Impact Club (Monica Brucher, Andi Saylor, Courtney Reed and Brittany Hein) are urging everyone to feed a "silent guest" at this year's Thanksgiving. These students have been holding fundraisers for the World Food Programme (WFP) and trying to get people to join their "silent guest" plan. Where did they develop this idea: From history!

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After World War II, thousands of American households took in "silent guests" at Thanksgiving.

The "silent guest" campaign of 1947-48 asked Americans to open up their hearts and share their Thanksgiving bounty. Governor Robert Bradford of Massachusetts, a descendant of the Pilgrims who started Thanksgiving, proclaimed the new tradition of feeding a "silent guest" at the holiday meal.

American families were asked to donate the cost of feeding their "silent guest" to a committee in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Checks poured in by mail. One was even made out to William Bradford, who was the governor of Plymouth colony for the first Thanksgiving.

The "silent guest" donations from Americans led to CARE packages of food being sent to starving families overseas. This was crucial for many countries in Europe, who were still reeling from the destruction caused by World War II. Drought had struck in the summer of 1947, causing severe food shortages.

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Little Lubka Madenova was the lucky recipient of a CARE food package from the American Silent Guest Committee. It was a heaven-sent gift for the child whose mother was desperately ill and whose father was killed during the war. (Photo courtesy of CARE)

The food from the "silent guest" helped keep Europe afloat until the U.S. backed Marshall Plan to rebuild could kick in. As Secretary of State George Marshall said, "food is the very basis of all reconstruction."

The "silent guest" idea was started by an activist named Iris Gabriel. She approached Governor Bradford -- Robert Bradford, the 20th century governor -- with the plan and eventually governors across the U.S. were on board. It was "giving thanks by giving."

It's a spirit we must keep with us today. Fighting world hunger is no less important than it was in 1947.

The WFP and other relief agencies are facing an incredible challenge with hunger emergencies.

There are hungry refugees from the wars in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic and nations affected by the Boko Haram conflict.

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Every "silent guest" donation means food for the hungry, like this child in war-devastated Syria who receives rations from the World Food Programme. (photo credit Dina El-Kassaby/WFP)



These emergency school meals in Mali are only possible through donations to the World Food Programme. Mali has suffered through years of drought and conflict. (World Food Programme photo)

Catholic Relief Services says that in Madagascar over one million people need food aid because of severe drought. Some have resorted to eating cactus to survive.

In Haiti, the impact of Hurricane Matthew will be felt for months to come. Agriculture was severely damaged and the WFP is trying to help farmers and feed children school meals.

The biggest humanitarian disaster in the world is the war in Syria. The WFP is trying to feed over seven million Syrians each month. That is more than the entire population of Massachusetts.

In Iraq, those suffering under ISIS occupation also suffer from hunger. Mohammed, who lived in a town taken by the terrorist group said, "We lived without food, water and electricity for so long. At one time, I remember a can of baby milk cost $40 and no one could afford to buy it. It felt like they wanted us to return to a life in the Stone Age where we survived solely on bread, dates and water. One of my relatives managed to smuggle food in from the desert just so we were able to eat -- but he risked his life to bring it. Life was a living hell."

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Mohammed managed to escape and now works for the World Food Programme, helping feed victims of the war. Iraqis liberated from ISIS rule must also be liberated from hunger. Indeed war, drought and other disasters always lead to hunger.

The "silent guest" plan to feed the hungry is desperately needed today as it was after World War II.

That is why it's inspiring that college students are leading the campaign to revive the "silent guest." And you can join them by simply setting aside a place in your heart and your holiday table while donating to a charity fighting hunger.

Give thanks by giving. By doing so you can take the greatest step toward world peace. Happy Thanksgiving!
Place setting for Thanksgiving

Ring the bells that still can ring,

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack, a crack in everything,

That's how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen, Anthem

Why don't we pick a random day, say the third Thursday of a month. Any month, say the month of November, a quieter time of year. We don't we hit pause on our newsfeeds and playlists, our pagers and mobile phones, mute the soundtracks of our conflicted opinions, religions, politics, and have a feast.

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While you baste and roast the turkey, I will light candles, turn the music on, then run upstairs to join the children playing Indians and cowboys. Teepees and forts. We will fight make believe wars all afternoon, with bow and arrow, musket and bayonet, and when the sun sets put down our weapons and fight over stuffing and pudding instead.

You could tell the story of another dinner the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians had, long ago. The Pilgrims were celebrating their first successful harvest; the Indians had taught them to grow corn. Those two peoples would ultimately quarrel over land and other differences too large and painful to ignore, but by the light of a campfire, one historic night, they had a feast and gave thanks.

Then perhaps you could tell a more recent story of Indians and cowboys. Of the Standing Rock Sioux and Energy Transfer Partners in a stand off over a stretch of land; that spot where Montana meets North Dakota, that is rich in oil reserves.

The world has been an unstable place lately. It has been a trying year. Dwindling resources and light trigger fear; there might not be enough to go around. More oil means more jobs, more money, resistance to volatility, so the company is building a $3.8 billion pipeline to move it to Illinois.

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But wealth comes at a price and for months, the Indians have been protesting: no pipeline near their land. It will destroy their historic, cultural, religious sites, and if it cracks pollute their water and soil.

There is a crack, a crack in everything,



And there are humans on either side. Through it protestors throw Molotov cocktails and officers, ice water and tear gas. Who am I to say who is right or wrong? I just play make believe with kids. I know that angry people are just people trying hard to survive.

Markets and commodities will still be volatile tomorrow. Our differences will still be here. Our opinions, religions, politics conflicted. The fear of uncertainty. But it is quite dark and cold outside tonight; the cowboys and Indians must be hungry. So what if we hit pause, dug up more chairs and some more wine, and invited them in for a feast?

We could also invite the seven hundred and ninety-five million people starving around the world. We may have to sit on the floor and share silverware, but there will be more than enough food to go around.

We could turn this random third Thursday of the month into a historic night. Share recipes and stories and make a few memories to tell the children about next year.

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We could celebrate being alive, and that the sky above our heads is clear. That we have electricity and running water and heat. That we are allowed to disagree.

There is a crack, a crack in everything,



But we can patch it tomorrow. In the meantime, you could end your story with the cowboys and Indians baking pies.
Here's when Dunkin' and Atwoods plan to open in Hutchinson

Developers of two business blame shipment delays of equipment and materials in pushing back openings for new Hutchinson retail locations.
It was the largest deal ever seen in the insurance industry and resulted in the creation of the worlds largest publicly traded property & casualty insurer. In January, ACE Limited announced it had completed its acquisition of The Chubb Corporation, a transaction worth approximately $29.5 billion; the combined entity adopted the Chubb name. In the new leadership team, Paul Krump, formerly COO of Chubb Corporation, became executive vice president of the new Chubb Group and president of North America commercial and personal lines.Krump says that since the completion of the transaction, a breathtaking amount of progress has been made in integrating the two companies.We did an enormous amount of work pre-close. We did a tremendous amount of planning so we could hit the ground running and not be too inwardly focused at close, he says. We were in the market on day one after closing, bringing out new capabilities such as cross-selling and upselling of each others products, making certain of the strengths of the combined firms  for example, the different market segment expertise and the expanded geographic footprints. We brought all that to customers and agents.Id say that our work to synchronize hundreds and hundreds of processes, procedures, and systems continues, but we are methodically tackling those issues every day.Krump began his insurance career with Chubb in 1982 as a commercial underwriting trainee. Hes since held many positions within the company in both the US and Europe. Looking back over his years with Chubb pre-integration, Krump says its difficult to identify a standout moment.There was a good number of successes and disappointments, he says. There were new products and ventures  new offices and new market segments. Some of these were absolute home runs and some of them were, frankly, duds.I think what stands out for me is putting the good of the firm above my own personal interests, persevering through the challenges when others gave up, and simply being fair and decent to employees, customers, claimants, and agents and brokers. Its been incredibly rewarding  I take tremendous pride in having helped build a wonderful company with an outstanding reputation for integrity.As for the most challenging times during his three-decade-long career at Chubb, Krump says two instances quickly come to mind. Early in my career, I was sent to Germany to help turn around a failing operation, he says. It took the team several years and lots of experimentation and changes, but we truly reimagined our role as a market in the country, and then altered our course dramatically. We went from being what I would call a me too carrier, with mediocre results, to one that was innovative and bringing cutting-edge new products to the market and earning an underwriting profit.Krump also mentions the task of leading Chubb out of the soft market of the 90s.I believe that effort took a lot of courage and deftness, he says. We had to overhaul our underwriting and pricing, we had to do it largely with a generation of people who had only experienced the soft market, and we had to do it with urgency and optimism. And it took real leadership.So what can brokers and customers expect from the new Chubb?We now have a much larger suite of products, deeper expertise and more specialists by industry type and by product  all of this wrapped in a larger balance sheet and a rich tradition of long-term and very local relationships, Krump says. Just in North America, legacy Chubb adds 40 new branch locations and thousands and thousands of customers, and hundreds and hundreds more agent relationships to the combined company.Krump also touches on the strengths of each company and how they complement each other.When I think of legacy ACE, they bring deep expertise and products such as cyber, aviation, environmental, healthcare, and accident & health, and theyre really well regarded and renowned for large global accounts, he says. Legacy Chubb brings renowned industry expertise in such segments as life science and technology, [and] clean energy.In addition, he points to the 2015 sale of Firemans Funds high-net-worth portfolio to ACE as another considerable asset. On the personal lines side, we now have the data and customer insights on the high-net-worth customer from three of the leading writers in that space, Krump says. All three of them are being combined, and we believe its going to allow us to tailor our services and our product offerings and pricing at a much more granular level, and its really going to enhance our ability to compete.Talking technology, Krump says theres no doubt the pace of change requires the company to think about how it relates to customers. We are making significant investment in our digital strategy and capabilities to enhance the claims process, with our goal to be a user-friendly and flexible carrier without diminishing, in any way, the high touch, exceptional service that customers have come to expect from the Chubb service brand, he says.Krump adds that combining a best-inclass claims experience means adapting to customers diverse preferences. This includes leveraging digital capabilities, which we have in place and continue to expand globally, he says. Many customers want information instantly, at any time of the day and without making a phone call. Web applications, mobile apps that estimate auto damage, drones for\ estimating property damage and even robotics that will speed processing are all examples of technology that is and will be changing the way we conduct business.Its perhaps an understatement to say that Krump is enthusiastic about the possibilities that the combined ACE and Chubb will offer. I think were creating something more powerful and more exciting and enduring together than we would have ever done as separate companies.
Pies, cakes and cookies line a table at the American Legion in preparation for Tuesday's annual pie auction. There was a wide variety of sweets this year to bid on. Attendees got to sample the backed goods before placing their bids. Principal Heidi Dugal, center, said the event is part of the school's Project 351 service learning. PreviousNext

Oh Be Thankful Dessert Auction Helps Those In Need

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Gabriel Abbott Memorial School's 13th annual Oh Be Thankful auction expanded this holiday season to allow any desserts rather than just its famed pies.



Bakers were put to the test on Tuesday night as their confections were rated by select judges and the community at large at the American Legion.



"It used to be just a pie contest for 12 years but now it is a dessert contest," Principal Heidi Dugal said of the Florida school's tradition. "We thought we would try something a little different."



Dugal said each contestant bakes two desserts: one for the judges to try and one to be auctioned off. She said attendees also get to try a small sample. After the judges rate the desserts, the auction begins. This year the bidding ranged from $5 to more than $50.



The price of entry is a nonperishable food item because, at its core, the contest is a student-run fundraiser.



"Last year, we were able to get 860 pounds of food donated and we also raised $500 for the Friendship Center and Berkshire Humane animal shelter," Dugal said. "We also made a donation of $200 to the North Adams American Legion Christmas Dinner."



She said all donations this year will go to the Friendship Center, Berkshire Humane Society and the Community Elf Program.






iciHaiti - Diaspora : Senator of Haitian origin elected in Florida





On Tuesday, Daphne Campbell, a Haitian-American, was sworn in to the Senate of the State Parliament of Florida, becoming the first woman of Haitian origin, to be elected senator.



Born in Cap-Haitien (1957), Daphne Campbell graduated (1981) from the "SOD Nursing school" (Cap-Haitien). Prior to joining the Florida Senate, she served 3 terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 108th district from 2010 to 2016.



TB/ iciHaiti






















Haiti - Gonaives : Food For The Poor donates an Ambulance





Mgr. Oge Beauvoir, Executive Director of the NGO Food for the Poor - Haiti, handed the key of an ambulance to the Reverend Priest Jacques Rony Alexandre, Director of the Alma Mater Hospital in Gros Morne, Gonaives.



The situation at the Alma Mater hospital was particularly difficult for several years, especially for transporting patients from the area. The Reverend greeted this donation of Food For The Poor, while wishing them to continue working for the welfare of the Haitian community.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19035-haiti-humanitarian-food-for-the-poor-will-build-1000-housing-units-in-100-day.html



IH/ iciHaiti


















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
TOKYO -- While the rise of the liquefied natural gas market has accelerated the globalization of natural gas, the energy security implications of this transformation have attracted much less attention. Through an extensive analysis of global gas data, a new report from the International Energy Agency seeks to provide more transparency into the LNG market.

There is no doubt that global gas markets are well supplied today. While this is positive for global gas security, the new analysis from the first Global Gas Security Review, released today in Tokyo, warns that LNG markets are less flexible than is commonly believed.

A growing share of LNG capacity is offline  mostly because of a lack of enough gas to feed into the system but also because of security and technical problems  meaning the market has less extra capacity than assumed. Between 2011 and 2016, the level of unusable export capacity has doubled, disabling about 65 bcm of gas, which is equal to the combined exports of Malaysia and Indonesia, the worlds third- and fifth-largest exporters. A period of low oil and gas prices could further worsen the situation.

However, the Global Gas Security Review finds that LNG contract structures are becoming less rigid, increasing market liquidity. In 2015, about 40% of LNG contracts had fixed destination terms, down from 60% for contracts signed up to the year 2014.

While shorter term contracts are gradually becoming more common, buyers are also accepting longer contracts in exchange for increased flexibility in the final destination in order to better respond to market conditions. Flexible contractual structures are important for gas security as they enable to aggregate gas volumes at a lower cost from various regions.

LNGs share of the global gas market is set to increase in the coming years. In fact, LNG supplies have grown at a faster pace than total gas consumption. Providing a factual picture and analyzing its implications for gas security matches well with the IEAs core mandate about energy security.

The growth in the global gas trade, along with the diversification of supply sources, is improving the security of supply, said Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. But there is still a need to be vigilant on gas security as the changing nature of the market means that regional demand and supply shocks may now be felt in more distant places than ever before.

The report provides detailed case studies on Europe and Japan. For Japan, it show that while gas markets reacted relatively effectively to the loss of nuclear generation in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the factors that made that possible cannot always be counted on in the future.

The Global Gas Security Review builds on an extensive set of data and other substantial inputs from industry and will be produced on an annual basis. It is accompanied by country specific statistics; data on outages of LNG export capacity by type and region; flexible LNG demand by importers; flexible LNG supply by importers, producers and portfolio players; and flexible gas demand and supply in Europe.
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Han Solo has probably the coolest aesthetic in the Star Wars universe, so much so that Wes Anderson even showed an interest in directing a film about him.

That honour ended up going to Chris Miller and Phil Lord, but, while there probably wont be any hyper-symmetrical shots of him cleaning his blaster gun, the pair are definitely putting time and thought into getting the visuals right.

This moves closer to a heist or western type feel, Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy told Variety of the standalone film.

Specifically, Weve talked about (Frederic) Remington and those primary colors that are used in his paintings defining the look and feel of the film.

This is a lovely reference point, and, if youre not familiar with Remingtons work, here are a handful of his paintings:

So how would a Western function in the Star Wars universe? We can probably expect less space stations, aerial battles and galactic senates and more getting down and dirty in the dust on Tattooine-esque planets.

Recommended Donald Glover to play young Lando Calrissian in Han Solo movie

Its an exciting little detour from the main movies and Rogue One, with the script coming from Lawrence and Jon Kasdan and centring on how Han and Chewie became smugglers.

Hail, Caesar!'s Alden Ehrenreich will play Han Solo, while Atlanta's Donald Glover will take on Lando Calrissian, with Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke having recently joined the cast.

The as-yet-untitled film has a scheduled release date of 25 May, 2018.
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Think of poet, writer, lyricist, musician and self-described naughty boy Benjamin Zephaniah, and the last thing youd be likely to associate him with is Christmas.

Yet hes just revealed that hell be taking part in international development charity VSOs Christmas Carol Concert in London in December.

Its very odd actually, says the 58-year-old, laughing. A lot of friends have contacted me and said: Youre doing a Christmas thing?

Usually around that time of year, Zephaniah  who was born in Birmingham and has lived everywhere from Jamaica to China  packs his bags and heads from his current home in Lincolnshire to a country that doesnt celebrate Christmas. (And where its hot.)

I guess Im just very cynical about Christmas, and a lot of it comes about to capitalism, he says. Unfortunately Im one of those people who reads how calendars are put together and stuff like that.

Still, he says, he appreciates the work that VSO does, and tries to take part when hes in between tours. They stressed that its not like a Christmas worship thing, he adds.

Im not sure what Im gonna talk about when I get there. I used to describe it as being stopped by the police  within a few minutes Ill know what Im going to say. I read the situation and then just go for it.

Hes preparing to release a new album  a follow-up 2011's wonderful Funky Turkeys  which he says will be called Revolutionary Minds. I make music when I feel like it and I really felt the need to put out a strong, heavily political album, he says.

Leonard Cohens recent death meant a lot to him, he says. His first experience of Cohens music was someone giving him a copy of Last Years Man, at a time when Zephaniah rarely listened to music by white artists.

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The same thing happened with Bob Dylan, with his song [Hurricane] about a black boxer. And I thought my gosh, this white Jewish guy is writing about a black guy who was wrongfully imprisoned. And it might sound naive but at the time I was like, white people care about us!.

One of the most poignant things Zephaniah remembers was an interview where Cohen spoke about splitting rhymes, and noted that the people who were doing that best at the time were rappers and hip hop artists.

And I thought that was very great of him just because he noticed theres a kind of intellectual type that complains and says people arent engaging in poetry like they used to.

But [with rap] theyre doing it at home, on street corners and thats probably more interesting than them studying it at school. Theyre using their own lives and creating new techniques. And as long as they grow in their own art theyll go on to appreciate the Shakespeares.

Zephaniah has been put off mainstream politics of late  and what that political system delivers to the public  after recent events in Britain and in the US.

Youve got a lot of people who dont understand politics themselves... so when someone similar comes along and starts blaming the blacks, the Mexicans, the lesbians youre gonna vote for them.

I think the bottom line is Trump does not know much about politics, he says. He can shout slogans and have ideas like the man in the pub  someone who doesnt think about politics unless its over a pint at the weekend. But he doesnt really know what hes doing.

Sometimes people say to me, why dont you get involved in politics properly? And I say absolutely not  Im an artist, and when you go into political office, the reality is that you have staff and its different from campaigning.

I remember [the late] Bernie Grant, when he became one of the first black MPs. And he said to me how different it was. After the Tottenham riots he said the police got a damn good beating. And before he was a politician he would have got away with it, but as a politician you have to do things differently."

Since the EU referendum, Zephaniah says that he has experienced the kind of racism that he hadnt since the Eighties  an incident where, days after Britain voted to leave the EU, a man driving past shouted: The Europeans are going and youre next n****r.

And its troubling to watch the documentary that he made 11 months ago, where he speaks about Enoch Powell and the National Front. Because you realise that the rhetoric they used sounds awfully similar to certain politicians today.

I can remember when the National Front were just skinheads on the streets, he says. And I can remember when they started wearing suits. So this was this air of respectability about them. Oddly enough I think its happened since Brexit that you start to get the old-fashioned slogans.

I know people that voted to leave. And what I say to them, because they keep saying theyre not racist  and some of them genuinely arent  but I tell them you have to acknowledge that a lot of the people voting leave were. And after the result they felt that they could be racist  they had that confidence."

Looking at the States, he dislikes the assumption by many white liberals that working class, uneducated people should be blamed for Trumps victory.

As a professor of poetry at Brunel university in London, and a visiting professor at De Montford university in Leicester, at the beginning of each term he walks into a lecture, looks at the students and says: Im your professor. And I am telling you that youre all more educated than me.

Some of them dont believe it, he says, with a chuckle. So I say I left school at 13, couldnt read and write  I had to explain what an approved school [for young offenders] was because it sounds like a private school

And I say, you can be educated and still have no common sense. Then they say well how did you get here? And I explain that Im here because of my experience.

But the main point Im making is that some of the most educated people in our country and I use that term loosely are the people who are wrecking it.

Benjamin Zephaniah will perform at the VSO Christmas Carol at Central Hall Westminster in London on 8 December
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Scottish beer-makers BrewDog are thanking fans who have helped to raise 19million by sending them a bottle of the worlds strongest beer wrapped inside taxidermy road kill.

The top ten devotees in the US who have invested more than $20,000 (16,000) in the firm are set to receive a bespoke bottle of The End of History, a 55 per cent ABV blonde Belgian ale infused with Scottish nettles and juniper berries.

The super-strong beer was first created in 2010, when only 12 bottles were made.

Brew Dog fans who have invested $20,000 or more into the firm will receive a bottle of The End of History (Brew Dog)

The money raised will go towards building a brewery in Columbus, Ohio, where a ban on brewing beer above 12 per cent has been lifted.

BrewDog invited fans to claim a share of the company in early 2016 when it launched Equity for Punks IV.

The poshest beers Show all 10 1 /10 The poshest beers The poshest beers Budweiser Budweiser, famous for its bullfrog adverts, came in 5th. 38 per cent of those who buy the beer are middle class. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The poshest beers Peroni Italian beer Peroni topped the list, as 50 per cent of its customers are middle class Jason Carter Rinaldi/Getty Images for Peroni The poshest beers Heineken Dutch beer Heineken came second. 45 per cent of its customers are middle class. Getty Images The poshest beers Kronenbourg 1664 Tastemaker Alex James joins the celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the first Kronenbourg brewery at Le Cafe Du Marche Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Kronenbourg The poshest beers Beck's Beck's, a German beer, came 4th with 38 per cent of its customers being middle class The poshest beers A Belgian beer, Stella Artois came 6th with 36 per cent Mark Renders/Getty Image The poshest beers 35 per cent of the customers of Dutch beer Grolsch are middle class Piutus/Flickr CC The poshest beers Fosters lager Australian beer Fosters came in 8th. 33 per cent of its customers are in the AB social group GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images The poshest beers Carling 31 per cent of Carling customers are middle class Graeme Robertson/Getty Images The poshest beers Carlsberg came join last with Carling, with 31 per cent. Niklas Morberg/ Flickr CC

As an incentive to help raise tens of millions of pounds for their favourite beer firm, BrewDog promised customers who referred others to the scheme epic rewards.

A statement on the firm's website read: "It is without doubt one of the most talked-about things we have ever done, probably due to the road kill taxidermy as much as the strength of the beer."

Those whose pockets aren't deep enough to fork out $20,000 but become BrewDog shareholders receive a lifetime 20 per cent discount in its US online shop, a card which gives them a 5 per cent discount in their bars worldwide, as well as an invite to the USA AGM.

James Watt, who co-founded BrewDog told Time: "We wouldnt have a US brewery without our investors, and we want to celebrate by giving them access to something extra exclusive that you just cant get your hands on any other way."

"I absolutely love the beautiful, yet disturbing nature of taxidermy, so packaging our most evocative beer in such an unconventional, BrewDog way made sense," said Watt. Beer is art. Art is also art."
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Parents have been urged to stop pretending Father Christmas is real in case the lie damages relations with their children.

Telling stories about Santa risks undermining a childs trust and is morally suspect, according to two experts.

Psychology professor Christopher Boyle and social scientist Dr Kathy McKay also condemn the idea of a terrifying North Pole intelligence agency which judges children to be nice or naughty.

Writing in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry, they argued: If they (parents) are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?

 Regent Street Christmas lights turned on

In addition they suggest parents may not be motivated by thoughts of their children but a selfish desire to relive their own childhood.

Defending the claims, Prof Boyle, from the University of Exeter, said: The morality of making children believe in such myths has to be questioned.

All children will eventually find out theyve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies theyve been told.

Whether its right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and its also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered.

Dr McKay, from the University of New England in Australia, said there was clear evidence from film and television tastes that adults looked for a chance to be children again.

The persistence of fandom in stories like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Doctor Who well into adulthood demonstrates this desire to briefly re-enter childhood, she said.

In an article entitled A Wonderful Lie the authors wrote: Perhaps the biggest moral breach of the Christmas lie comes with the fact that one day, the truth comes out.

Children must all find out eventually that their parents have blatantly and consistently carried on a lie for a number of years. Children may find out from a third party, or through their parents getting bored of the make-believe and making a mistake; both might affect the trust that exists between child and parent.

If adults have been lying about Santa, even though it has usually been well intentioned, what else is a lie? If Santa isnt real, are fairies real? Is magic? Is God?

They concluded: Many people may yearn for a time when imagination was accepted and encouraged, which may not be the case in adult life. Might it be the case that the harshness of real life requires the creation of something better, something to believe in, something to hope for in the future or to return to a long-lost childhood a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?

Press Association
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The Government must bring in a full ban on plastic microbeads in all household and beauty products that are washed down the drain, campaigners have urged.

Environmental groups made the call for a comprehensive ban on the tiny particles which add to plastic pollution in oceans, as Tesco announced microbeads would be removed from all own brand cosmetic and household products by the end of 2016.

Speaking at an event on Greenpeace's ship Esperanza, Tesco's group quality director Tim Smith also said the company had contacted the brands it sells to ask them what was in their products and what their plans were to remove them.

Microbeads, which are added to products ranging from face scrubs and toothpastes to kitchen cleaners, are washed down the drain into the seas where they can be swallowed by fish and crustaceans with potentially harmful effects.

The Government has announced plans to ban microbeads from cosmetic and beauty products, with a consultation expected shortly, but campaigners want the legislation to avoid any loopholes.

The microbeads coalition, made up of the Environmental Investigation Agency, Greenpeace, Fauna and Flora International and the Marine Conservation Society, wants the ban to include all solid micro-plastics, with no lower size limit, as they can be much smaller than a millimetre.

It should cover all products commonly washed down the drain, including household cleaners as well as personal care products, and biodegradable plastics should not be used instead as they do not degrade in the seas, they said.

Speaking on the Esperanza, which is moored near Tower Bridge in London, Dr Erik van Sebille, from Imperial College London, said there was evidence of small plastic pieces causing harm to sea creatures, such as preventing oysters from reproducing.

He said smaller plastic pieces were more harmful as they could get further into tissues.

While large plastic waste could break down into small pieces, that largely happened far out in the ocean, while most marine life was near the coasts.

Microbeads were especially harmful because they were already small when they reached the sea and travelled through the coastal zone where people fished and wildlife such as seabirds and turtles lived.

Of all the plastic around, the small bits that flow through our sewage treatment plants are probably the most harmful, which is one of the reasons a ban on microbeads would be helpful, he said.

Dr David Santillo from the Greenpeace science unit, based at Exeter University, said testing showed most microbeads were polyethylene, which was particularly good as a plastic at absorbing contaminants from the environment.

Putting the tiny particles into the oceans in such numbers - with hundreds of thousands in each tube of face scrub - could be adding to the problem of plastic pollution but also the uptake of other chemicals, he warned.

Mr Smith said Tesco had asked its suppliers to effectively turn back the clock to before microbeads, as there were other exfoliants which could be used, such as ground-down coconut shells, or they could simply be removed with no effect.

He said there were around 10 Tesco personal care products affected by the move, which the company would have undertaken even without the prospect of a government ban, he said.

A review found no own-brand household products contained microbeads, and none will be introduced in the future.

We felt it would be serving our customers better if we were leading on something as significant as removing microbeads from products.

The worst jobs for your health Show all 10 1 /10 The worst jobs for your health The worst jobs for your health 10. Surgical and medical assistants, technologists, and technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 57.3 What they do: Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel and perform medical laboratory tests. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69 The worst jobs for your health 9. Stationary engineers and boiler operators Overall unhealthiness score: 57.7 What they do: Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 99 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 89 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 84 The worst jobs for your health 8. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators Overall unhealthiness score: 58.2 What they do: Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 97 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 80 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 74 The worst jobs for your health 7. Histotechnologists and histologic technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 59.0 What they do: Prepare histologic slides from tissue sections for microscopic examination and diagnosis by pathologists. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 76 3. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 The worst jobs for your health 6. Immigration and customs inspectors Overall unhealthiness score: 59.3 What they do: Investigate and inspect people, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the US or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 78 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 63 3. Exposure to radiation: 62 The worst jobs for your health 5. Podiatrists Overall unhealthiness score: 60.2 What they do: Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 87 2. Exposure to radiation: 69 3. Exposure to contaminants: 67 The worst jobs for your health 4. Veterinarians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers and veterinary technologists and technicians What they do: Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals and perform medical tests in a laboratory environment for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in animals. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 81 2. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 75 3. Exposure to contaminants: 74 The worst jobs for your health 3. Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 62.3 What they do: Administer anesthetics or sedatives during medical procedures, and help patients in recovering from anesthesia. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 94 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to radiation: 74 The worst jobs for your health 2. Flight attendants What they do: Provide personal services to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of airline passengers during flight. Greet passengers, verify tickets, explain use of safety equipment, and serve food or beverages. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 88 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 77 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 69 The worst jobs for your health 1. Dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 65.4 What they do: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 84 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 3. Time spent sitting: 67

Elisabeth Whitebread, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, said: Marine life doesn't distinguish between plastic from a face wash and plastic from a detergent.

The Government needs to ensure that we end up with a world-leading microbeads ban that covers all household products.

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Black Friday is known to be the best day to hunt for a bargain whether youre in the US or the UK. The shopping blowout, which takes place on Friday, will see a whopping 5bn spent by British shoppers.

However, consumers should beware of misleading offers and retailers tricks to make them buy products they don't really need.

An investigation by consumer watchdog Which? has discovered that many Black Friday special offers last year at two major UK electrical shops were potentially misleading and may have breached consumer protection rules.

In one case, Currys claimed shoppers were saving 450 on a TV, when in fact it should have listed the saving as 50. The watchdog said that while promoting a discount such as was 100, now 50, the "was" price should be the most recent price the item was sold at for 28 consecutive days or more, and not a price that is more than six months old. However, Which? found this rule was not followed on numerous occasions

Vickie Sheriff, director of campaigns and communications at Which?, says: Shoppers might be surprised to learn that only half of Black Friday deals are actually cheapest on Black Friday. If youre thinking about starting your Christmas shopping around Black Friday, do your research as some deals may not be all theyre cracked up to be.

Retailers know their shops will be filled with customers and are finding news ways to get shoppers to open their wallets.

Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief at money.co.uk, advises: "Take on Black Friday armed with a list of items you want and how much they cost full price. Decide how much you can afford to spend and do a deal with yourself not to spend a penny more. Dont buy goods not on your list just because theyre on offer and always research to see if you can buy the item cheaper elsewhere before you part with your cash."

Here are the five ways retailers are tricking you into buying products you don't need:

16,718 is owed by Foot Locker to 601 of its workers

Getting people through the door

Last year, police were called to supermarkets and stores across Britain as stores opened their doors to hundreds of customers on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

A number of shops opened at midnight, boasting massive bargains  and officers were called to four London supermarkets to ensure that sale-goers were able to enter and exit the stores safely.

Nobody was injured and no arrests were made, Scotland Yard said. The same scenes were recreated in Cardiff, where South Wales Police reported a number of calls from staff at Tesco stores who were concerned about customer conduct.

Black Friday, with its promises of in-store bargains  such as 40-inch LED TVs at 139 a pop at Asda or cheap tablets at Currys PC World  draws the more ravenous of bargain hunters to stores, even if many still question the logic of an annual UK sales event pegged to the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend. But the question among shoppers should probably be: what is the quality like on a 139 TV made by Polaroid  a company best known for their obsolete instant cameras?

Also, once through the door, how much extra will be pushed on us? An extended warranty? An overpriced HDMI cable? A 100 wall bracket? Before you know it you have spent double what you planned.

Amazon has gone one step further, offering deals every 10 minutes lasting only a few hours, meaning shoppers will head to its website several times a day, clicking on items of interest and giving the website a whole new set of data so that when the sales end it can pump full price goods at customers, knowing exactly what they bought and what they probably still want.

And with limited time to buy, the impulse to throw caution to the wind is instantly increased.

Finally, keep a close eye on just how much of a discount you are getting compared with how much it is usually sold for. Carpet and sofa firms got in trouble earlier this year for pushing their 50 per cent off sales despite the original higher price being offered for just a few days.

Keeping shoppers in store

Once you have taken the plunge and headed out on Black Friday, what other tricks do the retailers have up their sleeves to keep you instore and shopping?

Big department stores and shopping centres have struggled with this question more than most, because fewer shoppers want to head off for a day in the stores.

Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK Show all 10 1 /10 Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers wrestle over a television at an Asda superstore in Wembley REUTERS/Luke MacGregor Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK black-friday-uk-7.jpg A member of staff intervenes as shoppers wrestle over a television REUTERS/Luke MacGregor Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers wrestle over a television at an Asda superstore in Wembley Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Britain's high streets, malls and online sites were awash with discounts on Black Friday as more retailers than ever embraced U.S.-style promotions, seeking to kickstart trading in the key Christmas period Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers force the exit at the Asda store in Wembley Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers try to grab items at the Asda store in Wembley Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Desperate shoppers compete to purchase retail items at an Asda superstore in Wembley Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers wait outside to enter the Asda store in Wembley Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers queue outside a branch of Foot Locker on Oxford Street Black Friday 2014: Shopping frenzy hits the UK London Shoppers queue to purchase retail items on Black Friday at an Asda superstore in Wembley

In John Lewiss case the retailer has started introducing a wide range of extras. In recent years it has launched restaurants and coffee shops, teaming up with Hotel Chocolat and Ham Holy Burger.

Others have followed suit, including Debenhams, which spent millions transforming its flagship Oxford Street store into a destination, offering restaurants and a prosecco bar in the process.

Expect other stores to go one step further and allow you to pay for your goods through your phone from your cafe table in the store, while a member of staff gift wraps it as you order another 3 latte.

However, not all retailers have managed to extend their offers beyond the traditional with any great success. Tescos coffee shops and Giraffe restaurants were supposed to keep customers around for longer, but the target audience failed to be wooed.

Richard Hyman, a retail consultant at RAH Advisory and chairman of the consultancy George Bailey, explained the importance of winning over your customers with extras they actually want.

He said: The trick of the trade is to have a clear understanding of your customers and relevance for them.

Picking up those time-poor shoppers

While some shoppers may want to spend hours in a store, wandering through different departments, getting interactive with the latest gadget, or enjoying a fine coffee, others are rushed for time.

Previously, these shoppers were being won over by the online retailers, with people shopping at work from their desks, or scanning through a website on their tablet before bed.

Now, high street retailers have woken up to this huge untapped market, which could net millions from highly paid workers who have the money to spend, but perhaps not the time to spend it.

People waits in line to go shopping at the to JCPenney store at the Newport Mall on 2014's Black Friday (Getty)

Argos last year launched its first ever London Underground store, in a tiny corner of Cannon Street Station. Bosses deliberately chose the station in the banking heart of the capital where traditionally those working in the finance sector have the least amount of spare time.

David Robinson, the chief operating officer of Argos, explains: Customers tell us time and time again that they want to be able to order a product and collect it at a time and place that suits them, and with certainty that it will be there.

John Lewis has also entered the fray, with its own click-and-collect store in Londons St Pancras station, and the supermarkets are fighting over transport hubs for the opportunity to offer click-and-collect in train station carparks across the land.

Personalised deals

And with time-poor shoppers, come those who want just the information aimed specifically at them. Analysts predict that the days of the huge red posters proclaiming 70 per cent off everything could be a thing of the past, as shoppers are increasingly targeted via mobile phones.

Huge swaths of data have been collected by companies, with millions spent on expensive programmers working out how to harness the information and pump out deals that will be relevant to their customers.

However, Hyman urges caution. I think a lot of retailers think having a database is an end in itself, he says. But its about how relevant youve been to them in the past. Personalisation isnt just about having the means to communicate with customers. Its about what you say to them and theres no reason to believe junk emails will work any more than paper junk mail."

If all else fails

There are still some of the traditional ploys retailers turn to, including the displays of chocolate at the checkout  as favoured by WH Smith and Sainsburys Locals.

The smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the store continues to draw shoppers in. Gift sets can also help the lazier among us pick up a present for that distant uncle, or that rarely seen sibling. And of course, the good old three-for-two promotion will continue to persuade us to buy more than we need.
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British taxpayers face 27bn of losses from bailing out some of the largest banks during the financial crisis after their share prices dropped in the wake of the UK vote to leave the EU.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Britains independent fiscal watchdog, has increased its estimates for potential taxpayer losses for propping up the banks eight years ago by more than 9bn.

Earlier this year the OBR said that it expects costs of 17.5bn. This means it is the second time in 2016 that the watchdog has recalculated the value of the remaining stakes, as turmoil in financial markets has hammered bank shares.

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The Government spent nearly 137bn to save the largest highest banks at the height of the financial crisis  including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock and Lloyds Banking Group.

The lenders either failed or were at the brink of collapse between 2007 and 2009.

It has so far recouped just 63bn, less than half the amount spent and the additional interest on the debt used to buy the holdings keeps increasing, threatening a bigger overall loss.

"If all interventions were financed through gilts, the Treasury estimates that additional debt interest costs would have amounted to 29.6bn by end-September, mainly due to the costs associated with RBS and UK Asset Resolution, the company managing the Government's stakes in Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley," the OBR said.

Additionally, shares in RBS and Lloyds have fallen about fifth since the Brexit vote in June, reducing the value of the Governments holding.

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The OBR said the Government's stake in RBS and Lloyds was now worth 20bn, down from 25bn in March, due to share price falls and the sale of some Lloyds shares.

Earlier this year, Chancellor Philip Hammond scrapped plans to launch a long-anticipated sale of shares of the 9 per cent of Lloyds Bank the Government still owns to British taxpayers.

British taxpayers still hold about 3.6bn shares in Lloyds, after bailing the bank out during the financial crisis. Mr Hammond said in October that ongoing market volatility means it is not the right time to sell the remaining stake the Government owns directly to the public.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Countrywide, the UKs largest real estate broker, fell to the lowest since the companys initial public offering in 2013 as the Brexit vote and an increase in sales tax dampened demand for homes.

Earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortisation this year will be at the lower end of market expectations, the broker said in a statement on Thursday.

The shares fell as much as 14 per cent to 165.9p in London trading, the lowest since March 2013.

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Property prices in the UK capital fell for a fifth month in August, the worst streak since 2009, amid concern that the referendum result will hurt the economy.

Demand from landlords has fallen after the stamp duty tax for investors was increased by 3 percentage points this year.

Real estate agents also fell on Wednesday after the Government said it will ban brokers from charging fees to tenants.

We now expect transaction volumes for 2016 to be 6 per cent down on 2015 and while too early to say definitively, it is likely that the level of market transactions in 2017 will be lower, the London-based firm said.

The pipeline of sales in London at the end of the third quarter was 26 per cent lower than a year earlier, Countrywide said. Landlord demand has fallen 60 per cent in the UK capital year-on-year, according to data compiled by broker Haart.

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Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. 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Sales volumes have also fallen because of a continued gulf between buyers and sellers' pricing expectations following the stamp duty changes of December 2014 and April 2016, Jefferies Group analysts Anthony Codling and Sam Cullen wrote in a note to clients. We expect Ebitda to fall 25 per cent in 2016 at Countrywide.

Bloomberg
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President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor nicknamed "king of bankruptcy" for buying and restructuring beaten-down companies, as Secretary of Commerce, according to a senior transition official.

The official isnt authorised to publicly discuss the matter and requested anonymity.

If confirmerd, Mr Ross, estimated to be worth nearly $3bn by Forbes, would oversee a department with a budget of $8bn and nearly 47,000 employees across the US that describes itself as "the voice of US business" within the Presidents cabinet.

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The billionaire is chairman of WL Ross & Co, an investment firm that specialises in corporate restructurings. While Mr Ross doesnt have the type of banking ties that have raised eyebrows with some of Mr Trumps other potential administration appointments, he remains a controversial pick.

Considered as a saviour of failing US companies, his admirers say he helped save jobs by snapping up distressed industrial businesses. However, workers often bore the cost in the form of pared-back retirement and health care benefits.

That has led some to label him a "vulture investor" more interested in stripping corporate assets for profit than reviving ailing companies.

In early 2006, the Sago coal mine owned by Ross exploded, triggering a collapse that killed a dozen miners. Federal safety inspectors in 2005 had cited the West Virginia mine with 208 violations.

Mr Ross said afterwards that he knew about the safety violations but that the mines management had assured him that it was a "safe situation."

"He might be the second-most complicated person in the administration to vet, behind the president-elect himself," Norman Eisen, a Brookings Institution visiting fellow who once served as President Barack Obama's chief ethics lawyer, told Politico.

A long term Democrat who turned conservative, the 78 year-old billionaire backed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. He emerged as one of Mr Trumps early supporters in the business community, having endorsed him back in March.

He went on to serve as an economic adviser for Mr Trump through the campaign.

Part of the reason why Im supporting Trump is that I think we need a more radical, new approach to government at least in the US  from what weve had before, Ross told CNBC in June.

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Mr Trump acknowledged he was considering Mr. Ross for commerce when the two met on November 20.

Thats what were looking for, Mr Trump told reporters.

Additional reporting by AP
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A Florida woman has been charged with aggravated battery after she shot her house guests in the legs because they were too loud.

Alana Annette Savell was hosting a couple at her home in Panama City when they reportedly became too noisy and she ordered them to leave.

She then shot the man and the woman in the legs.

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The pair were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

According to the Bay County Sheriffs office, the female victim, Kirsty Jo Mohr, had turned up at the house around 1am on Monday with a man called "Cowboy" who she had just met in a bar.

They allegedly drank together and spoke in raised voices.

Savell said she lost her temper, firing a 22-calibre handgun towards her guests feet.

She injured her own boyfriend in the process, firing eight or nine shots in total.

The suspects boyfriend allegedly told her that once someone is asked to leave their property three times, she should get a gun and shoot it at the ground.

If that does not work, she should shoot people in the leg.

Savell remains in custody.
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This week posters all over London have been advertising Black Friday, the shopping day imported from America where online retailers lure shoppers with pre-Christmas deals.

Now another transatlantic import, Whole Foods Market, is rebelling against this with its own version: Give Back Friday. The supermarket chain will donate 5 per cent of Friday's gross sales from its seven London stores to The Independent and Centrepoint's Young and Homeless Helpline appeal.

In addition, customers will be able to donate to Centrepoint at the till throughout November and December.

We are in awe of the constant energy from the Centrepoint team and their commitment to helping young adults get back on their feet, says Diego Hvozda, store team leader at Whole Foods Market Piccadilly.

All our London stores rally behind our Christmas Centrepoint appeal, but we at the Piccadilly store have a special connection as we share a neighbourhood with the Centrepoint head office and centre. At this time of year there is a lot of joy and happiness, but we must not forget that this can be one of the most lonely times for those who are homeless.

It's the second year in a row Centrepoint has teamed up with Whole Foods Market, which is known for its glossy fruit and veg displays. Last year they raised 31,946 for the appeal.

The causes of homelessness Show all 7 1 /7 The causes of homelessness The causes of homelessness Family Breakdown Relationship breakdown, usually between young people and their parents or step-parents, is a major cause of youth homelessness. Around six in ten young people who come to Centrepoint say they had to leave home because of arguments, relationship breakdown or being told to leave. Many have experienced long-term problems at home, often involving violence, leaving them without the family support networks that most of us take for granted The causes of homelessness Complex needs Young people who come to Centrepoint face a range of different and complex problems. More than a third have a mental health issue, such as depression and anxiety, another third need to tackle issues with substance misuse. A similar proportion also need to improve their physical health. These problems often overlap, making it more difficult for young people to access help and increasing the chances of them becoming homeless Getty/iStock The causes of homelessness Deprivation Young people's chances of having to leave home are higher in areas of high deprivation and poor prospects for employment and education. Many of those who experience long spells of poverty can get into problem debt, which makes it harder for them to access housing Getty Images/iStockphoto The causes of homelessness Gang Crime Homeless young people are often affected by gang-related problems. In some cases, it becomes too dangerous to stay in their local area meaning they can end up homeless. One in six young people at Centrepoint have been involved in or affected by gang crime Getty Images/iStockphoto The causes of homelessness Exclusion From School Not being in education can make it much more difficult for young people to access help with problems at home or health problems. Missing out on formal education can also make it more difficult for them to move into work Getty Images/iStockphoto The causes of homelessness Leaving Care Almost a quarter of young people at Centrepoint have been in care. They often have little choice but to deal with the challenges and responsibilities of living independently at a young age. Traumas faced in their early lives make care leavers some of the most vulnerable young people in our communities, with higher chances of poor outcomes in education, employment and housing. Their additional needs mean they require a higher level of support to maintain their accommodation Getty Images/iStockphoto The causes of homelessness Refugees Around 13 per cent of young people at Centrepoint are refugees or have leave to remain, meaning it isn't safe to return home. This includes young people who come to the UK as unaccompanied minors, fleeing violence or persecution in their own country. After being granted asylum, young people sometimes find themselves with nowhere to go and can end up homeless Getty Images/iStockphoto

We are delighted to have the continued support of Whole Foods for their Christmas campaign this year, says Nick Connolly, head of corporate development at Centrepoint. With the number of young people sleeping rough in London more than doubling in recent years, this support is truly invaluable. This winter alone, almost 25,000 young people will be at risk, making dangerous choices just to survive.

This Christmas The Independent is raising money to support Centrepoint, and to raise money for a new houth homelessness helpline. More than 150,000 young people approach the authorities every year because they are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Nearly three quarters of those who approach Centrepoint have experienced abuse of some kind.

We are proud and delighted to be partnering with Centrepoint during the festive season for the second year running, says Benjamin Woodgate, Whole Foods Market Marketing coordinator. We have a great appreciation for the efforts of the Centrepoint team but especially during the Christmas period and winter months.

How to donate to The Independents Christmas Appeal

The Independents Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money for the Centrepoint Helpline, a brand new support service that will save young people from ending up on the streets.

To donate you can:

Call

0300 330 2731

Text

HOME66 5 to 70070

Post

Freepost RTKC-JRGU-ZYGT

Centrepoint

40-42 Phoenix Court Hawkins Road

Colchester

CO2 8JY

Go online

www.independent.co.uk/homelesshelpline
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A former criminal prosecutor who was once named among the USs most eligible bachelors has been charged with rape.

It is the fourth time has been been thus charged in a decade, and he denies the accusation.

Gary Zerola, 45, turned himself this week after he was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a Boston apartment earlier this month.

The former prosecutor was previously cleared of rape charges (AP)

The Boston Herald said his bail was set at $10,000 and he was ordered to wear a GPS tracker. He was told to obey a 9pm curfew and also to abstain from drinking alcohol.

The former Suffolk County prosecutor was named Bostons most eligible bachelor in 2001 by People and appeared in the magazine among other top singles. He was later a finalist for ABCs first season of The Bachelor.

Mr Zerola, who left the prosecutors office to work as a defence lawyer, has reportedly faced rape accusations three times before in the past 10 years.

In 2006, he was accused of raping two women inside his Boston apartment, but was later found not guilty on both accounts. A year later, he was accused of raping a woman while he visited Miami. Those charges were subsequently dropped.

Mr Zerola is currently accused of sexually assaulting a woman he knew after he brought her and her friend back to an apartment in Boston. Prosecutors claimed the 45-year-old raped the women as her friend slept nearby.

Mr Zerolas lawyer has said the allegations are false, and questioned how the womans friend could sleep through the alleged assault.

Mr Zerola is nothing more than a target in this case, lawyer Joseph Krowski told WCVB This is a case based on a foundation of lies and we vigorously look forward to our day in court.
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A former NSA employee has accused Donald Trumps selection for National Security Advisor of taking money from both Russia and Turkey and of breaching information security regulations.

John Schindler said Michael Flynn, who Mr Trump has nominated for the senior post, had taken money from the governments of Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan. Mr Schindler claimed on Twitter that Mr Trump would be a hypocrite if he stood by his nomination of the former general given his promise to drain the swamp of Washington.

Flynn took money from Putin & Erdogan AND he broke important INFOSEC laws+regs, he said. If Trump stands by him now, he is a monstrous hypocrite.

Earlier this month, it emerged that Mr Flynn had indirectly been working on behalf of Turkish companies linked to the countrys leader. The Intercept said that while he is not a lobbyist himself, his company, Flynn Intel Group, is registered with Congress as a lobbying organisation.

One of the companys clients, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, a Turkish businessman close to Turkey's leader and who has real estate, aerospace, and consulting interests, told The Intercept that one of his companies, Inovo BV, paid Mr Flynns company tens of thousands of dollars for analysis on world affairs.

Meanwhile, on election day, Mr Flynn published an opinion piece for The Hill urging US support for Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

We need to adjust our foreign policy to recognise Turkey as a priority. We need to see the world from Turkeys perspective, he wrote.

Nobody from Mr Trump's campaign immediately responded to questions on Thursday. Mr Flynn could not be immediatley contacted.

Mr Flynn, 57, who was a registered Democrat before backing Mr Trump, was named by the New York tycoon as an adviser in February. The retired soldier caused widespread controversy after sharing a video on Twitter along with a comment stating: Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions

 Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret) says islam is a political ideology and not a religion

Mr Flynn served in Iraq and Afghanistan before being appointed director of the Defence Intelligence Agency in 2012. He was fired by President Barack Obama in 2014 following continued complaints over his leadership style.

The former general said he was ousted because of his uncompromising approach to the threat of radical Islam. He resigned from the military shortly afterwards and set up the private consultancy firm.

Mr Flynn, whose appointment will not require Congressional approval, has also been criticised by some for his views about Russia. His relationship with the Cold War foe was questioned after he was paid to attend a Moscow gala hosted by the state-run Russian news channel RT. He was pictured seated next to President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Flynn later said he used the trip to urge Mr Putin to moderate his aggressive foreign policy. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein also attended the dinner.

In a statement issued when Mr Trump announced his pick of Mr Flynn, the tycoon said he hoped he would be by my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges and keep Americans safe at home and abroad.

Mr Flynn said: I am deeply humbled and honored to accept the position as National Security Advisor to serve both our country and our nations next President, Donald J Trump.
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Donald Trump is the unexpected politician with unwavering conviction: he never apologises, never backs down. Hes also the newest member of the political establishment with the most unrestrained presence on Twitter, a combination which becomes increasingly problematic if you are the next man lined up to lead the country.

Mr Trumps tweets are now heavily scrutinised, becoming the standard against which his speeches, remarks and those delivered by his family are compared against for instances of glaring irony. Melania Trumps promise to tackle social media bullying is a memorable case in point.

A number have come back to haunt him. The President-elect was beaten in the popular vote by Hillary Clinton, who is ahead by more than two million votes, but won thanks to the 290 electoral votes he amassed. This victory came after Mr Trump branded the electoral college a disaster for democracy in a tweet three years before.

World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Show all 29 1 /29 World reaction to President Trump: In pictures World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty Images World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mosul , Iraq Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures New Delhi, India Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Karachi, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kabul, Afghanistan AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem. Israel Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Moscow, Russia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Seoul, South Korea AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Peshawar, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Hyderabad, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kolkata, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Aleppo, Syria Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem, Israel EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Baghdad, Iraq Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Tokyo, Japan Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico Getty

The billionaire business magnate hinted he might consider running for the White House on a number of occasions, hints that were widely ridiculed by the likes of President Obama, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, a host of comedians and the public, including one woman who implored him not to run in 2014. This tweet was quoted on his account with commentary added on the end that holds more significance now than most would have ever thought possible.

Off-the-cuff remarks are proving illuminating in understanding the 70-year-old and the motivations behind his political ambitions. His interview with The New York Times on Tuesday demonstrated this when an unusually sanguine Mr Trump spoke about his aims for the future after a lengthy speech about win, win, winning, where he declared: To me more important is taking care of the people that really have proven to be, to love Donald Trump, as opposed to the political people.
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Donald Trumps eldest son held talks in Paris about collaborating with Russia to end the Syrian conflict  the latest indication of both the President-elects likelihood to work with Moscow, and of the way he may include family members as part of his administration.

Donald Trump Jr, 38, participated in discussions last month, that included think-tank founder Fabien Baussart and his wife, Randa Kassis. The Wall Street Journal said Ms Kassis is a leader of a Syrian opposition group that is backed by the Kremlin.

While the US has opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has funded rebels opposed to him, Russia has used its military force to protect his regime and attack rival opposition groups. Ms Kassis group reportedly seeks a political transition through cooperation with Mr Assad.

A young girl picks her way through the rubble of Aleppo (Reuters)

Russia intervened to save the country, for the sake of Syria, Ms Kassis told Al-Jazeera this week. The problem is that you dont know the Russians, you dont understand the Russians... You just accuse the Russians of being against the opposition but you need to understand them.

The meeting at the Paris Ritz was held on 11 October. Reports said Ms Kassis is reportedly viewed as pro-regime because she advocates political transition in cooperation with Mr Assad, and because of her strong support of Russian intervention.

Ms Kassis told the paper from Moscow: We have to be realistic. Whos on the ground in Syria? Not the US, not France. Without Russia, we cant have any solution in Syria.

Of the President-elects eldest son, she said: I think hes very pragmatic and is flexible.

This week, Mr Trump went off-the-record with reporters from the New York Times to discuss his views on the Syria conflict. I can only say this: we have to end that craziness thats going on in Syria, Mr Trump said.

Of his views on Russia, Mr Trump told the newspaper that he would love to be able to get along with Russia and I think theyd like to be able to get along with us. Its in our mutual interest, he added.

Ms Kassis wrote about the Paris meeting on her Facebook page two weeks ago and posted images from the event. Syrias opposition got hope that political process will move forward and Russia and the United States will reach accord on the issue of the Syrian crisis, because of Trumps victory, she said.

Such hope and belief is the result of my personal meeting with Donald Trump Junior in Paris in October.

In addition to reinforcing President-elect Trump's frequent statements of support for Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the meeting signals the wide-ranging portfolios Trump family members have carved out.

Mr Trump told the New York Times on Tuesday that son-in-law Jared Kushner could help make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, when asked a question about Mr Kushner's role.

I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians. I would love that, that would be such a great achievement. Because nobodys been able to do it, Mr Trump said.
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Gok Wan has announced plans to launch his own club night in response to Londons diminishing LGBTQ scene.

The fashion icon and TV personality's newest venture will be called Magazine and located in The Steel Yard.

A third of Londons nightclubs have closed since 2007, including several LGBTQ clubs and bars. Speaking to Diva Mag, the How to Look Good Naked presenter said the capitals gay scene has always been his home, but he has begun to feel disconnected from it more recently.

He said: I am unsure whether that is because I am not sure where I want to go to, or that many of the nights I used to love going to are closing down.

Inclusivity will be at the forefront of Magazine, he added. It doesnt matter who or what you are, you are all welcome at Magazine.

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.

Wan has been a longstanding advocate for LGBT rights and recently helped raise 13,064 for the LGBT charity Stonewall at their annual summer fundraising event.

Matt Horwood, a spokesman for Stonewall, told The Independent: "Weve seen numerous LGBT venues close over the last couple of years, and the capital is no exception to this. Clubs and bars for the lesbian, gay, bi and trans community are not just spaces to have drinks and to dance, but to connect with like-minded people and find solace in spaces where you can be yourself without fear of discrimination.

Stonewall works closely with Gok Wan, one of our Ambassadors, and we welcome the part he is playing in making the LGBT nightlife scene a more inclusive place where all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people are accepted without exception.

Earlier this month the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced the appointment of the first London Night Czar, LGBT event runner, Amy Lame. Her new role is expected to help boost Londons pub and nightclub scene. In the first week of the job, Lame held talks with Islington Council and the Metropolitan police and has been praised for helping re-open Fabric nightclub.

Magazine starts at 10pm on Saturday 3 December.
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Students have protested the decision to stop Breitbart columnist and former student Milo Yiannopoulos from talking at their sixth form and suggested that cancelling the talk has vindicated him.

The technology editor of news site Breitbart News, who was one of Twitters most notorious trolls before he was permanently banned from the site in July, was due to speak in front of a crowd of 220 at Simon Langton Grammar School for boys in Canterbury on Tuesday.

But the school said the event had been dropped because the Department for Educations counter-extremism unit decided to intervene over safety concerns and the threat of demonstrations at the school carried out by organised groups and members of the public.

Yiannopoulos, who attended the school but says he was expelled, is an outspoken Donald Trump supporter and describes himself as the most fabulous supervillain on the internet on his Facebook page. He was permanently suspended from Twitter in July following claims he had aggravated and helped lead the Twitter abuse of actor Leslie Jones.

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.

Yiannopoulos has been dubbed a spokesperson for the alt-right movement - a political movement which has been accused of racism, anti-Semitism and misogyny and of sharing an ideology with far-right parties such as the French National Front.

But students are displeased about the decision to bar Yiannopoulos from talking at their school and have argued it is imperative for society to showcase unpopular opinions.

The sixth-formers, who had signed up for Yiananopoulos speech with the permission of their parents, said they did not need to be protected from so-called indoctrination. They also said they wanted to tackle his views head on with cogent and incisive" questions.

Our goal is not to support Milo, but to pursue the truth and interrogate rhetoric, students wrote in an open letter. If we do not, as a society, give the unpopular opinions a chance to be expressed, we are no better than the authoritarians that our liberal democratic society despises.

We recognise that the Department of Education have a duty of care, and that our school would have only taken this measure if the threat to our personal safety was credible. The students of our sixth form are further alarmed that external individuals and groups with no affiliation to the school have been able to stifle the intellectual process. It is not right that people outside of our community should dictate our activities.

The letter was signed by 221 students at the school.

Yiannopoulos himself also expressed his anger at the news he had been stopped from talking at the school.

My old high school has been bullied into cancelling my talk on Tuesday by the counter-extremism unit in the UK Department of Education he wrote on Facebook. Perhaps if Id called the speech MUSLIMS ARE AWESOME! theyd have left us alone. Disgusted.

The Independent was not able to clarify how many of the crowd were expected to be students or teachers at the cancelled event.
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Nigel Farage is said to have dismissed reports he was planning to emigrate to the US alongside his wife as utter nonsense.

It was reported the interim UKIP leader, who will stand down on Monday, informed friends he was preparing to emigrate to the US from his Kent home with his German wife Kirsten.

According to a report in The Times, friends claimed he was worried about life in Britain and had refrained from appearing in public with his family since Anti-Ukip protesters forced him to flee his local pub where he was eating with his family over a year and a half ago.

They also said the Ukip MEP, who proudly announced Britain had gained its country back after the Brexit result, would feel freer in America where he is less well-known.

Nevertheless, Norman Smith, the assistant political editor of BBC News, said Mr Farage has denied these reports. UKIPs Nigel Farage dismisses as utter nonsense reports he is to emigrate to US, Smith tweeted today.

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The news follows reports Mr Farage, who was the first British politician to meet Donald Trump, is planning another trip to meet the President-elects transition team in early December. Sources close to him say he is planning to travel to the US alongside the same team who met with Mr Trump ten days ago.

On his US trip, Mr Farage was accompanied by millionaire Ukip donor Arron Banks, his former chief aid Raheem Kassam, Leave.EU communications director Andy Wigmore, and leave.EU campaigner Gerry Gunster. The group christened themselves The Brex Pistols, posing for a photo with Mr Trump in a gold lift in his Trump Tower penthouse.

While Mr Farage was the first foreign politician to meet the billionaire businessman in person, Ms May has only had one official phone call with him so far. Whats more, she is thought to have been the ninth leader Mr Trump called after his shock victory. While controversial columnist Piers Morgan claimed he spoke to Mr Trump for 15 minutes, the Prime Minister is thought to have spoken to him for just 10 minutes.

Mr Trump also threw diplomatic protocol into array when he said he thought Mr Farage would make a great US ambassador. Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job! he tweeted.

The Government dismissed the suggestion Mr Farage should take on one of the most high-profile roles in British diplomacy. A Downing Street spokesman said: There is no vacancy. We have an excellent ambassador to the US.

There has been no public confirmation of Mr Farages plan to travel to the US and a spokesperson for Ukip did not immediately respond to The Independents request for comment. A representative for Mr Farage did not respond to request for comment on reports he was moving to the US.
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Scientists are hoping to discover evidence of past life on Mars by studying a series of hot springs in Northern Chile.

Steve Ruff and Jack Farmer from Arizona State University found remarkable similarities between ancient hot springs in the Gusev crater on Mars and the El Tatio hot springs near the edge of the Atacama desert.

The Atacama desert is one of the highest places on earth and is seen as the most Mars-like area on earth. The springs themselves are at an altitude of 4,300 metres above sea level.

El Tatio experiences sub-freezing temperatures every night and endure lots of ultraviolet light during the day through thin dry air - conditions very similar to that on Mars.

The site near the Martian Home Plate plateau i was first discovered by Nasa's Spirit rover and show fingerlike structures that form in hot spring deposits through biological and non-biological processes.

Professor Ruff said: "We went to El Tatio looking for comparisons with the features found by Spirit at Home Plate.

"Our results show that the conditions at El Tatio produce silica deposits with characteristics that are among the most Mars-like of any silica deposits on Earth."

The ASU team are studying biosignatures at the Chilean springs that could also be present on Mars which could help explain the planet's natural history.

 What will a home on Mars look like?

Biosignatures are traces that indicate the presence of life right now or in the past.

While fossils are the most obvious form of biosignatures - others include organic molecules trapped in rocks or structures made up of compacted microorganisms.

As no fossils have yet been found on Mars, any evidence of past or present life is expected to be microscopic.
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A Danish man accused of raping his 14-year-old daughter been acquitted after a sleeping judge prompted a retrial.

His original conviction was quashed at his second trial on Tuesday after two prison guards spotted one of three lay judges snoozing during an important witness testimony.

The day when the most important witness was examined, he was sleeping, said the mans lawyer Henrik Stagetorn.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to five years in prison by the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen in November last year.

But the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in September after one of three lay judges was allegedly sleeping during the initial trial.

The incident took place when the lights were switched off and the curtains drawn so that the court could view video interrogations of the man's three children.

Danish high court cases that can lead to prison sentences are decided by three lay judges and three professional legal judges.

The Danish man was previously convicted by four votes to two, but on Tuesday after the retrial, was acquitted of raping his daughter by five votes to one.

"There was also some other information, added Mr Stagetorn.

Something had happened to the main witness that could weaken her credibility.

The case was held behind locked doors, meaning some information was withheld from the public.

The man was however sentenced to 10 months in prison for using violence against two of his other children, but because he had already been in custody for 28 months, was released.
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The Metropolitan police is reassessing 58 unexplained deaths involving date-rape drugs after serial killer Stephen Port was found guilty of poisoning four young gay men.

The deaths, involving the popular party drug GHB, occurred between June 2011 and October 2015 and are being re-examined to make sure foul play has not been missed.

There is nothing to suggest Port is linked to any of them, a Met Police spokeswoman said.

Scotland Yard faces allegations it missed opportunities to stop Port, who was found guilty of a total of 22 offences against 11 men including the four murders, four rapes, 10 counts of administering a substance and four sex assaults.

He met his victims on dating websites such as Grindr and plied them with drinks spiked with fatal amounts of GHB to rape them while they were unconscious, the Old Bailey heard.

Police chiefs said dating apps must take greater responsibility to protect their users safety and said the Met Police was working with charities to raise awareness among users.

Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Mets Specialist Crime and Operations command, said 17 officers are facing investigation into possible misconduct during the case.

Stephen Port in a picture posted on his Facebook profile

Ports first victim, Anthony Walgate, 23, was found dead in the communal hall of Ports apartment block in the early hours of 19 June 2014.

When police tracked him down, Port lied to officers to distance himself from the fashion student and occasional male escort. He was later jailed for perverting the course of justice but continued to claim Mr Walgate died from taking his own drugs.

Slovakian 22-year-old Gabriel Kovari was staying on Ports sofa as a temporary flatmate.

Three weeks after Mr Kovari was found dead, the same dog walker stumbled across the body of Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, on 20 September, 2014. In his hand was a suicide note taking the blame for Mr Kovaris death, saying he gave him too much GHB at a party.

Police treated Mr Whitworths death at face value and no efforts were made to verify the sham note which turned out to be in Ports handwriting, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.

Some of the victims loved ones, members of the Mets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) independent advisory group and journalists from website Pink News all raised concerns that a serial killer was at large, and were all told that there was no link between the deaths.

Jack Taylor, 25, died within hours of hooking up with Port through a dating app in the early hours of 13 September 2015.

Initially, his death was treated as non-suspicious, the Old Bailey was told.

His mother, Donna Taylor, said police should be held accountable for Jacks death and they planned to sue after Port was convicted at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

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Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said a public appeal and investigation would have been far swifter and more comprehensive had the victims been four well-off young women from Mayfair.

He accused the police of class, gender and sexuality bias and suggested lives may have been saved had they acted sooner.

Although police relations with the LGBT community are vastly better than two decades ago, this case is a wake-up call regarding the apparent ongoing negative attitudes and behaviour of some officers in some police districts, Mr Tatchell added.

Port will be sentenced on Friday.
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The Metropolitan Police is being investigated for alleged homophobia after a serial killer from east London murdered four young men he targeted on gay dating websites.

Scotland Yard bosses admitted the Met had potentially missed opportunities to catch the prolific killer and that investigators who failed to notice "striking similarities" between the men's deaths had only patchy knowledge of the use of drugs linked to gay sex.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating whether homophobia played a part in the errors, and the Met's advisers from the gay community have called on the force to deal with "any systemic or cultural issues" that may have come into play.

Stephen Port, a chef from Barking, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of a total of 22 offences, including the four murders.

The 41-year old lured his victims to his flat and drugged them with GHB, the court heard.

Scotland Yard believes there could be more victims and is reviewing 58 deaths in London over four years that are linked to the drug.

Seven police officers could be fired if claims of gross misconduct are proved and a further ten  ranging in rank from constable to inspector  are under investigation by the IPCC over how the deaths of Port's four victims were investigated before they were officially linked.

Commissioner Cindy Butts, from the watchdog, said: "It is important we establish whether the police response to the deaths of all four men was thorough and appropriate in the circumstances, including whether discrimination played any part in actions and decisions.

"We would like to hear from anybody who provided information to the police about Port, or any of his victims, between 19 June 2014 and 15 October 2015."

Some of the victims' loved ones, members of the Met's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) independent advisory group and journalists from website Pink News all raised concerns that a serial killer was at large, and were told that there was no link between the deaths.

The original investigations into how the four men died were dealt with by officers based in Barking and Dagenham but they failed to spot that there had been foul play.

In the cases of the first victim, Anthony Walgate, and the third, Daniel Whitworth, local officers called out specialist homicide investigators for advice, who also missed signs that something suspicious had happened.

Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Specialist Crime and Operations Command, said the Met was cooperating with the investigation.

"It's not appropriate to pre-empt what the IPCC may or may not find from their investigation at this point in time but, rest assured, we're not sitting here waiting for those findings to come through. That's why we've already taken action in areas where we know we could have done better," he said.

"I can't sit here and say categorically that lives could have been saved or other victims protected. All I can say is from the evidence we've heard at trial there were potential opportunities that were missed. The IPCC investigation will carefully consider those."

He said he was writing to the victims families to apologise for the missed opportunities to catch the so-called Grindr serial killer.

If the IPCC inquiry found failings on behalf of the Met they would respond accordingly, he said, adding that if the IPCC uncovered evidence against particular officer it would be carefully considered.

The family of Jack Taylor, the fourth man to die at Port's hands, plan to sue Scotland Yard and say the killer would not have been stopped if they had not fought for a full investigation.

Port dumped his victims' bodies in or near a graveyard within 500 metres of his flat in Barking and embarked on an elaborate cover-up.

He disposed of their mobile phones, repeatedly lied to police and planted a fake suicide note in the hand of once of his victims taking responsibility for a previous murder.

Scotland Yard's LGBT independent advisory group (IAG) said: "The IPCC report may take some time to be delivered and it is right it will deal with matters of individual conduct. We welcome the admission by the police that opportunities were missed.

"However, in the meantime, it is the view of the LGBT IAG that the police must demonstrate without delay a commitment to addressing any systemic or cultural issues that may have contributed to these sad events."

Investigators have also appealed for any other men who may have been sexually assaulted or raped by Port to come forward.
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A shadow has been cast over Brexit Britain as the country faces a 122 billion budget black hole, dwindling growth, slow trade, lower pay and austerity stretching into the late 2020s.

The grim picture was painted by the UKs official forecaster, whose predictions laid bare Britains daunting challenge as it tears itself away from Europe.

In particular the Office for Budget Responsibility set out how Brexit was driving the UKs public finances deep into the red, with a key factor being the cost of losing valuable foreign workers following a divisive referendum campaign.

The sobering outlook led to an immediate row with Brexiteers, who accused the OBR of being too pessimistic about the UKs future.

Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered a workmanlike Autumn Statement from the floor of the House of Commons in a bid to steady the countrys nerves, but even he highlighted an urgent need to address the difficulties ahead.

He promised help for the just about managing group Theresa May has dedicated her administration to  a higher minimum wage, help on housing, saving and fuel costs and investment in road, rail and digital infrastructure  and said he would save money, reining in salary sacrifice schemes and hiking insurance premium tax.

But even as he sought to underline what he called the fundamental strengths of the British economy, he said there was no escaping the fact that quitting the EU was a decision that also makes more urgent than ever the need to tackle our economys long-term weaknesses.

He told MPs: While the OBR is clear that it cannot predict the deal the UK will strike with the EU, its current view is that the referendum decision means that potential growth over the forecast period is 2.4 percentage points lower than would otherwise have been the case.

 In Numbers: Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement

Compared with figures the OBR released in March, the body now predicts the UK will have to borrow an extra 122 billion over the next five years.

Almost half of that  some 58.7 billion  is directly related to the vote to leave the EU, the forecaster said. Some 16 billion was the cost of lost income due to falling migration.

Ms May could push up the cost of losing overseas workers even further by pursuing her target of pushing net migration down to the tens of thousands, the forecaster said.

The prediction follows an acrimonious referendum campaign that focused negatively on migration, including the infamous breaking point poster, leading politicians suggesting foreigners are taking British peoples jobs and a wave of hate crime against overseas nationals.

With government finances faltering, Mr Hammond and Ms May have already ditched former Chancellor George Osbornes plan to abolish the deficit by 2020, though they are still committed to doing so in the next Parliament.

 Philip Hammond uses Autumn Statement to abolish the Autumn Statement

But the OBR claimed the Chancellor could easily fail to balance the books by as late as 2025, meaning further potential spending cuts and tax rises for the next decade.

Despite claims from key figures in the Leave campaign that Britain will shed its EU membership and become a great trading nation to solve its economic problems, the OBR predicted a decade of sluggish imports and exports, stymied by drawn-out trade negotiations.

Mr Hammond said the minimum wage for over-25s would rise by 4 per cent from 7.20 to 7.50 in April 2017. It is a smaller rise than had been predicted earlier in the year, but would still mean a pay rise worth more than 500 a year to a full-time worker.

But the OBR painted a less positive picture for wage growth in the medium term, estimating that real average earnings in 2021 would be 3.6 per cent lower than expected in March  still below the UKs pre-recession peak 13 years later.

The Resolution Foundation think tank argued that help given by Mr Hammond, such as a plan to ease the pain of cuts to the Universal Credit benefit, barely offset other cuts less well-off households still face.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the Commons: Today we've seen the very people the Prime Minister promised to champion, betrayed.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

The Chancellor has failed to break with the economic strategy of austerity. The country remains unprepared and ill-equipped to meet the challenges of Brexit and secure Britain's future as a world-leading economy.

After all the sacrifices people have made over the last six years, I fear today's statement has laid the foundations for more wasted years.

The sombre tone set by Mr Hammonds statement, likely to be exacerbated when the Institute for Fiscal Studies presents its analysis of the Autumn Statement on Thursday, angered some Tories.

Brexit backer Jacob Rees-Mogg said Remainers needed to take a bit more of an optimistic tone, while fellow Conservative MP John Redwood accused the OBR of pessimistic figures.

Mr Redwood added: It is probably worth mentioning that the OBR very specifically says in its report that there is an unusually high degree of uncertainty in the forecasts it is making because of the unusual circumstances.
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British workers face a "dreadful" decade with no real wage growth and yet more austerity, a respected think-tank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said forecasts published with the Autumn Statement indicate real wages will remain below pre-recession levels until 2021 - the longest period of stagnation since the Second World War.

The body also said the UK is in line for "an additional dollop of austerity" in the 2020s, after Chancellor Philip Hammond admitted he has given up on eliminating the deficit by the end of this parliament.

Mr Hammond said there was an urgent need to steel the country for difficult times ahead, as the Office for Budget Responsibility published its bleak forecasts on Wednesday, highlighting lower GDP, trade and wage growth and higher government borrowing.

On the poor wage growth, IFS director Paul Johnson said: "One cannot stress enough how dreadful that is - more than a decade without real earnings growth. We have certainly not seen a period remotely like it in the last 70 years."

Mr Johnson said the OBRs forecasts, which predicted a 122bn budget black-hole, could have been even worse, adding: "Even so, the outlook for living standards and for the public finances has deteriorated pretty sharply over the last nine months."

He said Mr Hammond's promise to balance the books "as soon as possible" in the next parliament up to 2025 was "rather woolly".

 In Numbers: Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement

Mr Johnson went on: "Given uncertain times, a degree of woolliness is probably sensible. It wouldn't take a huge downgrade in trend growth forecasts of GDP in 2020 for us to miss the target.

"And getting to balance in the next parliament will still require an additional dollop of austerity on top of the full decade's worth we will have had by then."

Labours shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the "lost decade" is a "damning indictment of the total, abject failure of the Tories economic policy".

He added: "The so-called long-term economic plan has meant long-term decline in living standards for working people even as the super-rich and the big corporations are given large tax giveaways.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

"Chancellor Philip Hammond promised action in the Autumn Statement for those just about managing. Instead he has betrayed them by continuing to slash in-work benefits, failing to raise the National Living Wage to the level promised, failing to deliver more funding for our NHS and social care and now hes threatening pensioners with removing the triple lock."

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Susan Kramer said: "The fall in national income will means we are all going to be 1000 year poorer thanks to Brexit.

"Meanwhile our public services will be worse off as well thanks to a Brexit black hole over the next 5 years, meaning the IFS now say we cannot expect any new money for our cash strapped NHS this parliament."
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Nigel Farage has promised to continue fighting for the peoples Brexit revolution  while standing on a gold-leaf staircase at the Ritz hotel in Mayfair.

Speaking at a party in his honour, the Ukip leader vowed to make sure Britain does really leave the European Union following the vote on 23 June.

He said: The problem we have in this country is that while the people have spoken, the same players have just been shuffled around the chessboard and we are still being run by the professional political class.

This is unfinished business. The people have spoken but the establishment dont want to listen.

There are great battles to be fought and I am going to go on fighting those battles and I know many of you are going to go on fighting those battles.

The glitzy party was attended by the billionaire Barclay brothers, who own the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator, Leave donor Arron Banks and millionaire pollster Lord Ashcroft.

He spoke about his recent trip to the US to meet with President-elect Donald Trump but said in the US the revolution is total.

He claimed that "not only have the people spoken but the old administration, Obama and all those ghastly people are out".

Nigel Farage went to visit the President-elect in Trump Tower last week Picture: (Twitter)

He continued to say "The Trump people are in and they are now in control  apparently not realising that the new administration does not take office till January and hasnt been formally confirmed by the Electoral College.

Mr Farage, who stepped down as a leader following the Brexit vote but has been forced to resume his duties due to party turmoil, predicted there would be a seismic shock in British politics over the next few years as he believed the Conservative party is not fit to deal with the legacy of Brexit.

World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Show all 29 1 /29 World reaction to President Trump: In pictures World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty Images World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mosul , Iraq Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures New Delhi, India Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Karachi, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kabul, Afghanistan AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem. Israel Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Moscow, Russia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Seoul, South Korea AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Peshawar, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Hyderabad, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kolkata, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Aleppo, Syria Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem, Israel EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Baghdad, Iraq Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Tokyo, Japan Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico Getty

It comes as he was forced to deny claims he was planning to emigrate to the US to be free from public attention in the UK.

Last week, Mr Trump claimed Mr Farage could serve as the UK ambassador to the US after he with pictured with the former reality star in Trump Tower in Manhattan  before any senior UK politican had a chance to meet him.

But Downing Street dismissed the claim saying there was "no vacancy" for the post.
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Nigel Farage is reportedly planning another trip to meet Donald Trumps transition team after becoming the first British politician to meet the President-elect after his shock election victory.

The interim Ukip leader met his ally at Trump Tower in New York earlier this month, afterwards showering the Republican with praise for his good ideas, while Mr Trump returned the compliment by suggesting his appointment as US ambassador.

Mr Farage could be paying another visit to the new administration in early December, The Telegraph reports, this time to Washington DC.

There has been no public confirmation of the plan and a spokesperson for Ukip did not immediately respond to The Independents request for comment.

Any moves for Mr Farage to ingratiate himself further with Mr Trump may be cause for alarm in Downing Street, which shot down the President-elects suggestion to have the Brexit campaigner as ambassador by saying there was no vacancy for the post.

Theresa May has spoken to Mr Trump on the phone, with the Prime Minister saying she looked forward to meeting soon, but no schedule has been announced.

If you travel to the US you should let me know, was how the President-elect extended his invite, according to a transcript obtained by The Times.

Mr Farage is reported to be taking the same group that joined his last trip to the US with him to Washington in the coming weeks, including millionaire Ukip supporter Arron Banks and his adviser Andy Wigmore.

Donald Trump and Nigel Farage at Trump Tower in New York on 12 November, when the Ukip leader became the first British politician to meet the President-elect after his election victory

Mr Banks hosted a celebration for the interim Ukip leader at the Ritz on Wednesday night, where Mr Farage handed out a tray of Ferrero Rocher chocolates in reference to the famous Mr Ambassador! television advert.

The lavish London reception came as Philip Hammond announced Britain faces a 122 billion budget black hole in his Autumn Statement, as well as dwindling growth and slowing trade linked to Brexit.

Mr Farages speech was heralded by Mr Wigman, who also served as the Leave EU campaign spokesman Andy Wigmore, with a call for attention from "Ladies, Gents, Lords and... diplomats".

"We've got a problem, Mr Farage said. In America the revolution is total. Not only have the people spoken and won, but the old administration, Obama and all those ghastly people, are out and the Trump people are in.

"In this country, the people have spoken, but the same players have just been shuffled around the chess board and we are still being run by the career professional political class

"I am not sure what is going to happen over the course of the next couple of years but I suspect there's another big seismic shock in British politics perhaps going to come at the next election.

Mr Farage said the Tories were not fit for the legacy of Brexit and expected a realignment of politics that could involve old parties disappearing and being replaced with new ones reflecting the new public mood.

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It is unfinished business - the people have spoken but the establishment don't want to listen, he added. There are great battles to be fought and I'm going to go on fighting those battles.

Among those watching the speech were Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Bone, Labour donor John Mills and Ukip leadership candidate Paul Nuttall.

The Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph and the Ritz itself, Isle-of-Man-based tycoon Jim Mellon and Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn were also among more than 100 guests quaffing sparkling wine from Lord Ashcrofts winery.

Asked if he would back the interim Ukip leader for ambassador, Mr Rees-Mogg told the Press Association: Mr Farage's relationship with Mr Trump could be beneficial for the country but I am not sure he should be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

"Mr Farage is certainly extraordinary in his own way but I think that being plenipotentiary as well may be a bit too much."

But the Brexit campaigner struck a triumphant tone with his speech, claiming the vote to leave the EU was the first brick knocked out of the establishment wall.

To cheers, he said: "For those of you who aren't particularly happy with what happened in 2016, I've got some really bad news for you - it's going to get a bloody sight worse next year."
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Chancellor Philip Hammond has rebuffed a suggestion from Donald Trump over who should be the next ambassador to the US, claiming, it isnt for other countries to decide.

His comments came after the President-elect made an unprecedented intervention  breaking all diplomatic conventions  by claiming many people would like to see Nigel Farage given the UKs most senior diplomatic role in Washington.

When asked on Good Morning Britain whether it was time to consider Mr Farage for the position, the Chancellor replied: Weve got an excellent ambassador to the United States, someone that I have worked with in the past, both as Foreign Secretary and in other roles.

We have very strong relationships with the United States at all levels, and I am confident that the special relationship we have will continue and will prosper, under the new presidency when it starts in January.

But the Chancellor then went further than previous statements issued by Downing Street or Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, insisting: But it isnt for other countries to decide who we appoint as ambassadors and if I ever need any advice from Nigel Farage, Ive got his number, and Ill give him a call.

He added: Tell him not to hold his breath.

But speaking to The Independent one former British ambassador to the United States, said he wouldnt be surprised if Mr Trump continued with his surprise interventions in British politics. Christopher Meyer, who served in the role between 1997 and 2003, said: I think Trump is going to give us a lot of surprises like this, simply because hes never been in Government before and he likes tweeting in the wee small hours.

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Mr Meyer said that the situation was most unusual, adding that he knew of no precedent where a President-elect of the United States had ever suggested to the British government that a certain candidate would be good as British ambassador.

He said: Secondly, Im not aware of a President-elect or a President even suggesting privately that such a such a candidate might be good as ambassador. It is pretty uncharted territories and its quite a surprising intervention by the normal standards but by the standards of Trump, I suppose it is par for the course.

Anyway, you cant have a US President, any more than any other president, suggesting to us whom we should appoint as our ambassador in the capital of the country concerned, because the first duty of any ambassador is to his or her country, to his or her own national interests.
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Britains High Court is set to rule on a case brought by thousands of Nigerian fishermen who say their livelihoods were devastated by oil spills for which the international giant Shell is responsible.

Those bringing the case include the Ogale community of Ogoniland, which the UNs environment programme has described as in need of the most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken.

A second action comes from fishermen of the Bille Kingdom in the Niger Delta. Both say the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), a subsidiary of UK-based Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), is responsible.

UK law firm Leigh Day, which is representing the two communities, says the claims are over "extensive environmental damage caused by oil pollution".

Recommended Shell says oil demand could peak in five years

Mr Justice Fraser has been hearing the case for four days, and was due to give a judgment on Thursday.

While the environmental damage to the two areas is not disputed, lawyers for RDS argue that the company cannot be blamed for the impacts of pipeline sabotage and illegal refining activities in an area where there is active fighting between militant groups and the Nigerian government.

Furthermore, Shell argues that the issue is a uniquely Nigerian problem and should be dealt with in the Nigerian court system.

But appearing outside the High Court at the start of the hearing this week, His Royal Highness Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi, tribal king of the Ogale community, said Britain was the "only place we can get justice".

Clutching a bottle of polluted water from his community, he said: "The last resort for the people of Ogale is the British court."

Representing the Nigerian communities, Richard Hermer QC said the claimants held both Nigeria-based SPDC and RDS in the UK responsible, and that there is a "real risk" that the claimants would "not obtain substantial justice if they are required to litigate their claims in Nigeria.

Daniel Leader, partner in the international group claims team at Leigh Day, said in a statement before the hearing: "Oil spills from Shell's oil pipelines have blighted the lives of the thousands of Nigerians who live in Ogale and Bille."

He said: "It is clear to the claimants that Royal Dutch Shell is ultimately responsible for failing to ensure that its Nigerian subsidiary operates without causing environmental devastation.

"It is time for Shell to clean up their act in Nigeria. At the moment these communities have no choice - they have to take them to court to get them to act."
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An elderly couple who were married for 65 years have died of cancer on the same day, just hours apart from each other.

Ferdinando and Mary Acerra, aged 89 and 86 respectively, both died two days after they celebrated their wedding anniversary with family and friends.

In 1951 the couple met in a small town near the city of Naples, where Mr Acerra was a tank commander with the Italian army and his future wife was enjoying a holiday, and they moved to live in Stormville in New York state during their later lives.

Mrs Acerra died in her sleep from intestinal cancer, and three hours later her husband succumbed to bladder cancer during a stay in hospital.

In addition to her cancer Mrs Acerra suffered from the early stages of Alzheimers disease, meaning the couple spent a great deal of time apart in the months leading up to their deaths.

Their granddaughter Alexis said of the couple: They are my best friends. As Mrs Acerra lay dying, her son Gaetano heard her whisper, lets go, Freddy, referring to a nickname she called her husband according to USA Today.

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

In early November, nonagenarian couple Leonard and Hazel Cherry from Texas both died within the space of a few hours, having been married for 74 years.

In August, another elderly couple who were married for over 60 years died less than half an hour apart in the same room, and held hands with each other through their final minutes.
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Donald Trump has dangled the possibility that Carrier, a major manufacturer of air conditioners in the United States, is on the brink of reversing plans to shift 1,400 jobs from Indiana to Mexico.

The frequent laments made by Mr Trump on the campaign trail about the loss of American jobs to overseas countries, particular Mexico, helped him win almost all the main rustbelt states of the Midwest on election night, even if by only slim margins in some of them.

Recommended Trump said to have shunned all but two daily classified briefings

He in particular made frequent references to Carrier, owned by United Technologies, which announced several months ago that it would be radically downsizing its operations in Indianapolis and relocating its main manufacturing efforts across the border.

If the company were indeed to change course, it would be an instant political boon for Mr Trump as he prepares to take the oath of office in less than two months time.

That it could be on the cards was signaled by Mr Trump on Thursday in a Twitter message posted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida where he is supposed to be having a rest day as the country marks the Thanksgiving holiday.

Am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!, he said in the post.

Within minutes the company issued its own statement saying no such decision had been reached but acknowledging contacts with the Trump transition on the issue.

Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together, the statement said. Nothing to announce at this time. The company first announced its plans in January to begin three-year process of moving jobs to Mexico.

Mr Trump highlighted the situation at Carrier at a rally in Indiana in April days before the primary election there which he was to win. At the time, the main union at the plant had said that Senator Bernie Sanders would represent their interests better than he could.

Heres whats going to happen, he told supporters. Ill get a call from the head of Carrier and hell say, Mr. President, weve decided to stay in the United States. Thats whats going to happen  100%.

In the run-up to his surprise election victory, Mr Trump also set his sights on the Ford Motor Corporation. In October he accused the company of making plans further to downsize its manufacturing operations by relocating all its small-car assembly operations to Mexico. While Ford has confirmed that the Ford Focus will be made in Mexico in the future, it has also insisted that the plants in the US turning the model out now will remain open for other models.

Last week, Mr Trump claimed credit for persuading the company to ditch plans to move a plant in Kentucky to Mexico. In truth, Ford only ever planned to move one production line there, leaving the Kentucky plant largely still intact. The company did agree though that production of a small Lincoln SUV it had envisaged for Mexico would remain in the US.
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China will defend its rights under the World Trade Organisation tariff rules if Donald Trump executes threats he made during his campaign to start a trade war against the country, a senior Chinese official has said.

Zhang Xiangchen, Chinas deputy international trade representative, also told a conference in Washington that a broad consensus of academics, business people and government officials have concluded China is not manipulating its yuan currency to gain an unfair trade advantage, as the President-elect has claimed.

Speaking at the 27th US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade conference on Wednesday, Mr Zhang said: I think after Mr Trump takes office, he will be reminded that the United States should honour its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation. And as a member of the WTO, China also has the right to ensure its rights as a WTO member.

He added: I think people from academic community  business community, as well as government officials have agreed that China is not [manipulating its currency]. China has made substantial progress in reforming its exchange rate mechanism.

The President-elect has previously said that despite China being Americas biggest trading partner, a trade war was already under way and that the country was a currency manipulator.

During his campaign Mr Trump accused China of raping the US through its trade policy, telling his supporters it was responsible for the greatest theft in the history of the world and claiming the country manipulated its currency to make its exports cheaper, damaging American workers and businesses.

China has already indicated Mr Trump would be naive to start a trade war against the country and that it would respond with counter-measures if the US were to act in an aggressive way, threatening to cut cut iPhone sales and order planes from Airbus instead of Boeing if Mr Trump decided to embark on a trade war.

Meanwhile executives from the worlds largest mining company, BHP Billiton, warned Mr Trumps plan to impose tariffs of up to 45 per cent on Chinese products would cause global trauma. Jack Nasser, chairman of the company, said: The whole world will start to be in complete trauma if tariffs level of that size and magnitude are put on across the world.

World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Show all 29 1 /29 World reaction to President Trump: In pictures World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty Images World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mosul , Iraq Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures New Delhi, India Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Karachi, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kabul, Afghanistan AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem. Israel Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Moscow, Russia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Seoul, South Korea AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Peshawar, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Hyderabad, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kolkata, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Aleppo, Syria Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem, Israel EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Baghdad, Iraq Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Tokyo, Japan Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico Getty

Chinese vice premier Wang Yang reportedly told the conference much progress had been made between China and President Obama's administration in recent years, saying: We are pleased to note in recent years despite a sluggish global economy and global trade China-US economic cooperation and trade has defied the downward trend and maintained steady growth and produced many highlights.

The official noted that bilateral trade between the US and China has grown 4.8 per cent over the last three years, adding that Chinese investment was directly responsible for creating thousands of US jobs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with the President-elect after his election victory and said cooperation with the Trump administration was the only way forward, while Mr Trump said the two had established a good relationship and that there was a clear sense of mutual respect.
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Donald Trump could be in violation of the US Constitution the moment he takes the oath, the White Houses former chief ethics lawyer said.

Norman Eisen, who served as Special Envoy for Ethics and Government Reform during Barack Obama's first term, said he could not see how Mr Trump could serve as President while he had such a large business empire with links to overseas regimes.

Under the Article 1 of the US Constitution, members of the federal government are forbidden from accepting gifts from foreign governments unless allowed by Congress  but there is some debate about whether this applies to the president.

Last week, questions were raised by many over the potential conflict of interest Mr Trumps election posed, with the Washington Post reporting his company concluded eight deals tied to a hotel project in Saudi Arabia  which is ruled by a theocratic monarchy  during the campaign.

He also appears to have paid up to $10m to have the name Trump Tower put on a luxury hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.

The owner of the hotel reportedly has links to the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been widely criticised for his brutal crackdown on dissidents following an attempted coup in July.

Mr Eisen described the situation as like a hostile takeover of the United States government by the Trump Organisation.

He said: Its profoundly concerning. He could be in violation of the constitution the minute he takes his oath.

World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Show all 29 1 /29 World reaction to President Trump: In pictures World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty Images World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mosul , Iraq Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures New Delhi, India Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Karachi, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kabul, Afghanistan AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem. Israel Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Moscow, Russia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Seoul, South Korea AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Peshawar, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Hyderabad, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kolkata, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Aleppo, Syria Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem, Israel EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Baghdad, Iraq Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Tokyo, Japan Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico Getty

I dont even know how he can take his oath when the payments are flowing to his hotels.

Its in his oath: Ill defend the constitution and as soon as he becomes president he will be undermining it.

Mr Eisen said the only way for Mr Trump to take office legally is to put his companies into a blind trust to be managed by an independent trustee who can buy and sell his assets without his knowledge or input.

Recommended The potential for a conflict of interest under Trump is unprecedented

He explained: The president loves to say that he is going to build a big beautiful wall, he needs to build a big beautiful wall of trust.

The trustee would take the proceeds of business and put it behind the wall and buy and sell investments that are unknown to Mr Trump.

During the campaign, Mr Trump suggested he would hand over control of his business empire to his three adult children but this was thrown into question last week when it emerged his daughter Ivanka had attended his first meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Although her presence at the meeting was said to be decorative it calls in question how much he will distance himself from his businesses if his children are running them and taking part in governing the country.
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Donald Trump has assured the head of Nato that the US remains strongly committed to the military alliance, despite scathing criticisms made by the Republican during his successful election campaign.

During speeches in recent months, the President-elect has told his supporters Nato was obsolete, that it no longer represents good value for the US and that it wouldnt be a bad thing if it were to dissolve.

Yet in what appears to be the latest in a string of U-turns since he rode a wave of populism to the White House, Mr Trump has reportedly rowed back on those strong criticisms of the organisation.

Recommended Russia moves missiles closer to Europe in response to Nato deployments

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg told the BBCs Today programme on Thursday morning that he had spoken personally to Mr Trump since the election result was declared.

Trump clearly stated to me and other European leaders after he was elected that he will be, and the United States will remain, strongly committed to Nato, and that the security guarantees to Europe stand, he said.

Mr Trumps two key criticisms of Nato are that the US contributes more money and forces to the alliance than its other members, for no discernible reward, and that the body is outdated when the greatest threat its nations face is international terrorism.

On the latter point, Mr Stoltenberg insisted Nato plays a key role in the fight against terrorism.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Our biggest military operation ever, in Afghanistan, was a direct response to a terrorist attack in the United States, he said.

As for the spending issue, he said Mr Trump has a fair point. It is not fair that the burden sharing in Nato is as imbalanced as it is today. I would like to see more allies increase defence spending.

Mr Stoltenberg was in the UK for a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, in which he praised Britain for spending Natos preferred target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence - putting it alongside only Poland, Estonia and Greece in a small group of European countries to do so.

Mr Trump has himself highlighted the figure, suggesting the US would be reluctant to come to the aid of a country which had failed to meet the 2 per cent target.

And in his meeting with Ms May, the Nato chief is reported to have urged members to raise spending as a way of easing US relations and securing a transatlantic bond.

By doing so you lead by example, he told Ms May. It's good to see that other allies are now following you and they are starting to increase defence spending.

They still have a long way to go but are starting to move in the right direction.

The Prime Minister backed the calls and said the UK will remain a cornerstone of the alliance.

 NATO allies launch annual war games exercise

She said: The UK wants to remain the cornerstone of the alliance and we very much believe in the alliance and our contribution to it.

I think as we look in the face of Russian aggression, of course here in the UK we are committed to our 2 per cent of GDP being spent on defence, we are contributing troops to defence of eastern Europe with the Nato operations and our commitment is significant in all of these issues and we've agreed to maintain our nuclear deterrent.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Mr Stoltenberg relayed his recent conversation with President-elect Trump, in which they had agreed on the enduring importance of Nato.
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Thousands of senior US lawyers have signed a letter asking President-elect Donald Trump to rescind his recent appointment of Breitbart News chief Steve Bannon as head strategist for his transition team.

More than 15,000 attorneys and legal experts from across the United States have so far given their signatures to the letter penned by Professor Nancy Leong from the University of Denver law school, highlighting Mr Bannons opposition to a stable, democratic form of government.

It was circulated to all members of Congress, days after Mr Trump was forced to defend the appointment against widespread accusations Mr Bannon was a white nationalist with racist views, which he denies.

 Steve Bannon calls liberal women 'a bunch of dykes'

We are attorneys whose political views span the ideological spectrum. We write to ask that you call upon President-elect Trump to rescind his appointment of Stephen Bannon as White House Chief Strategist, the letter read.

As attorneys, we swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. We committed to protect the institutions upon which our democracy depends. We committed to provide zealous representation for all our clients, regardless of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.

Mr Bannon has demonstrated his opposition to the stable, democratic form of government that our profession embraces and strives to maintainMr Bannon has also enabled and promoted white supremacy.

Mr Bannon has intentionally legitimised racism, anti-Semitism, and other hate-based ideologies. Such bigotry runs counter to the values enshrined in the Constitution we promised to defend.

President-elect Trump has promised to be 'a President for all Americans'. The selection of Mr Bannon as a key advisor communicates exactly the opposite.

Many of the signatories to the letter self-identify as conservative or libertarian, Professor Leong told Huffington Post. Opposing the appointment of someone who has enabled white nationalism and other hate-based ideologies is not a partisan issue.

President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP

As the executive chairman of Breitbart News, Mr Bannon has referred to the website as the platform for the alt-right and praised the group as a populist, nationalist movement of right, young people, young activists.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Trump defended the decision and said he had known Mr Bannon for a long time. He confirmed he would not have considered hiring him if I thought he was a racist.

Read the letter to Congress members in full below

Dear members of Congress,

We are attorneys whose political views span the ideological spectrum. We write to ask that you call upon President-elect Trump to rescind his appointment of Stephen Bannon as White House Chief Strategist.

As attorneys, we swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. We committed to protect the institutions upon which our democracy depends. We committed to provide zealous representation for all our clients, regardless of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.

Recommended Bernie Sanders calls on Donald Trump to fire Stephen Bannon

Mr Bannon has demonstrated his opposition to the stable, democratic form of government that our profession embraces and strives to maintain. His words could not be more clear: 'Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and thats my goal, too . . . I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of todays establishment'. His contempt for our longstanding governmental institutions has no place in a crucial leadership position.

Mr Bannon has also enabled and promoted white supremacy. Under his leadership, Breitbart News has become what Mr Bannon himself describes as "a platform for the alt-right" - another term for white nationalism. Through Breitbart, Mr Bannon has intentionally legitimised racism, anti-Semitism, and other hate-based ideologies. Such bigotry runs counter to the values enshrined in the Constitution we promised to defend. Indeed, it threatens democracy itself by undermining the equality of all citizens.

Of course we do not dispute that Mr Bannon has the right to voice his opinions. Indeed, some of us have devoted our careers to safeguarding a robust First Amendment that protects individuals, the media, and other organisations. But these extreme and hateful views do not belong in the White House.

This is not a partisan issue. The white supremacy and political insurgency that Mr Bannon has embraced and amplified contradicts everything we stand for as attorneys and as Americans.

President-elect Trump has promised to be "a president for all Americans." The selection of Mr Bannon as a key adviser communicates exactly the opposite. We call upon you to take all possible measures to ensure that Mr Trump rescinds his appointment of Mr Bannon.
Florida's death chamber

Florida's highest court has thrown out the death sentence of a man responsible for a Central Florida murder.





The big question: How will this affect others on death row?





The legal community is debating that right now.





Florida lawmakers this year passed a new law demanding at least 10 of 12 jury members agree on the death penalty for the sentence to be handed down.





In October, the State Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. This new ruling reaffirms that the court wants unanimous jury recommendations.





Condemned killer Richard Franklin is getting another chance to spare his life, after the Florida Supreme Court decided his death sentence was improperly carried out.





The 7-0 court decision noted, "In light of the non-unanimous jury recommendation to impose a death sentence ... we vacate Franklin's death sentence and remand this case for a new penalty phase proceeding."





Franklin was convicted June 19, 2013, and sent to death row on August 2, 2013, for murdering a guard inside Columbia Correctional March 12, 2012.





Sgt. Thomas Ruben was stabbed to death and another guard was permanently disabled by Franklin.





The jury voted 9-3 for capital punishment and the judge concurred, a decision challenged by Franklin's attorneys after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed Florida's sentencing guidelines.





Franklin was given a life sentence in 1995 after his conviction for murdering a 25-year-old Bethune-Cookman University student on November 24, 1994.





Gregory Roper was a senior at the University. He was shot to death. His body was found in the woods off Williamson Boulevard in Daytona Beach, leaving his family devastated.





His father, Welton Roper, told WESH 2 News on December 9, 1994, That someone could take a person's life and have so little value of the meaning of life you know I just, I can't fathom it.





Despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes, Franklin's death sentence in the Ruben murder, in the eyes of the state's highest court, was not fairly carried out.





A new sentencing hearing will be ordered in the Circuit Court of Columbia County for Franklin in connection with the prison guard murder. It will not have any effect on the life sentence he's serving in Ropers murder.

Defense lawyers hope rulings will clear death row in Florida

Recent rulings by the Florida Supreme Court are paving the way for the state to clear out death row, defense lawyers and death penalty advocates say.





While prosecutors across the state can fight to uphold the death sentences of 379 men and four women facing execution, defense experts say the burden of doing so may be too unwieldy for the state to pursue. Palm Beach County has seven inmates on death row. Broward has 22, and Miami-Dade has 26.





"At this point, no one on death row has had a constitutionally valid death penalty," said Karen Gottlieb, co-director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation at Florida International University's College of Law.





A month ago, the state's high court ruled in Hurst v. State that juries must unanimously agree to a death sentence before a judge could impose it. The ruling negated a law passed earlier this year requiring at least a 10-2 vote. Now Florida has a death penalty but no legal way to sentence someone to it, at least until the legislature passes a new law that survives future legal challenges.





Last week, the court removed two convicted killers from death row, changing their sentences to life in prison.





On the surface, the court's decision to commute the sentences of inmates Terrance Phillips, 25, and Robert McCloud, 35, were not related to the earlier finding that the state's death sentence process is unconstitutional  their cases were argued prior to the new ruling. But the juries in both cases recommended death by 8 to 4 votes, which could have been the basis of later challenges.





Phillips, of Jacksonville, was convicted of two 2009 murders. His sentence was changed to life in prison on the basis of his age (he was 18 at the time of the murders) and his mental capacity. McCloud, of Orlando, saw his sentence in a double murder changed to life in prison because three co-defendants received lesser sentences and the jury did not conclude he was the actual shooter.





Gottlieb and other anti-death penalty advocates said the state is going to have a tough time keeping anyone on death row because everyone on it was sent there by a jury that was told that they did not have to reach a unanimous decision on various questions leading to a death sentence.





Those questions include whether aggravating factors were proved beyond a reasonable doubt, whether those factors outweigh mitigating factors, and whether the death penalty is appropriate under the circumstances of the crime.





Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the supreme court for a clarification of its ruling, including whether it applies to cases already underway. The court's answer, when it comes, will have immediate impact in Broward, where State Attorney Mike Satz and a team of defense lawyers are in the middle of picking a jury in the trial of three men accused of murdering Sheriff's Deputy Brian Tephford in 2006.





Florida's death chamber

But defense lawyers say they're busy preparing appeals in their death row cases.





Richard Rosenbaum, who represents death row inmate Randy W. Tundidor, said he plans to appeal despite the fact that the jury in his case recommended death 12-0 for the 2010 murder of Tundidor's landlord, Nova Southeastern University professor Joseph Morrissey.





Tundidor, 49, was convicted in 2012, but in the penalty phase of his trial, he refused to present testimony to support a lesser sentence. Jurors could have recommended death by a simple majority, but Rosenbaum said Tundidor would have fought harder if he could have avoided the death sentence by persuading a single juror to vote against it.





"He wouldn't have waived mitigation," Rosenbaum said. "That alone should entitle him to a new sentencing hearing."





Broward's most recent death row inmate, James Herard, was sentenced in 2015 for the 2008 murder of Eric Jean-Pierre in Lauderhill. His case has parallels with McCloud's  the jury in Herard's case was not unanimous in its recommendation of death, and Herard was not the triggerman. The person who actually shot Jean-Pierre, Tharod Bell, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.





Palm Beach County hasn't sentenced a killer to death since 2002, when John Chamberlain, now 38, and Thomas Thibault, now 41, were convicted of the Thanksgiving Day 1998 murders of Bryan Harrison, Daniel Ketchum, and Charlotte Kenyon in West Palm Beach.





Thibault's sentence was changed to life in prison in 2003 because the judge in his case imposed death without a jury's recommendation. Chamberlain's sentence was reduced because Thibault, the shooter, was no longer facing death.





The most recent inmate from Palm Beach County remaining on death row is Carlton Francis, 41, convicted in 1998 of the murders of twin sisters Clair Brunt and Bernice Flegel in West Palm Beach. The jury recommended death by an 8 to 4 vote in Francis' case.





The more defense lawyers challenge death sentences, the more likely it is that the vast majority of cases will end up getting changed to life sentences, said Nancy Abudu, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.





"It just makes sense in terms of efficiency," she said. "New sentencing hearings for all of these inmates would be a daunting task. You could only imagine the burden of picking new juries and finding witnesses from cases that are 10, 20 years old and older...Commuting those sentences just makes sense. It's the best thing to do in light of the fact that Florida's system has been declared unconstitutional."

 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Source: wesh.com , Greg Fox, November 23, 2016Source: Sun Sentinel , Rafael Almeda, November 23, 2016
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A campaign launched by the Green Party candidate Jill Stein to recount key states in the US election has reached its initial funding target of $2.5m (2m) in just a matter of hours.

The money will allow Ms Stein to review the results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where concerns have been raised about irregularities with electronic voting results.

Each of the states voted narrowly in favour of Donald Trump (though the final Michigan count is still to be confirmed), and carry enough electoral college votes between them to change the result of the election if all were redeclared for Hillary Clinton.

A team of computer scientists said they had evidence to show Ms Clinton's vote was 7 per cent down on average in Wisconsin counties where electronic voting machines were used.

They speculated that correcting for the error would give the Democratic candidate an additional 30,000 votes. She lost the state as a whole by just 27,000.

But Nate Silver, a pollster on website FiveThirtyEight, has dismissed this as evidence of wrongdoing, suggesting the difference can be accounted for by the demographics of the states in question.

In a post alongside the online fundraiser, Ms Stein's team said they were raising money "to demand recounts in these three states where the data suggests a significant need to verify machine-counted vote totals.

These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified, she said. We deserve elections we can trust.

The team behind the original blog post raising concerns, including voting rights lawyer John Bonifaz and J Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan's centre for computer security and society, said they had been in contact with the Clinton campaign team about their findings.

But there was also understood to be significant pressure on Ms Clinton to publicly accept the election result, after she criticised Mr Trump for not committing to do so during the campaign.

Ms Stein said she was not acting in support of any single candidate, but to shine a light on just how untrustworthy the US election system is.

 Hillary Clinton urges supporters to give Donald Trump a chance to lead

Her team said she needed the $2.5m target before the Friday deadline for requesting a recount in Wisconsin, while Pennsylvania and Michigan have deadlines of Monday 28 and Wednesday 30 November respectively. The funding target has been reset to $4.5m to raise money for Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Ms Clinton's lead over Mr Trump in the popular vote continues to grow, reaching above more than two million on Wednesday.
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Tampa police are currently searching for a man who broke up a street fight by driving his Nissan Altima onto a sidewalk and hitting two people in Ybor City. The suspect immediately fled the scene after crashing through the window of the Bad Monkey bar.

Authorities are currently trying to figure out if the driver, who was involved in the fight, purposely drove into the store front window. The business is now facing a $15,000 tab for the damages.

Thats a big question that we have right now. At the very least, its a hit and run. There was damage to the building, clearly, someone was injured and he left the scene," said Hegarty.

Michael Silhol, a 25-year-old who was hurt in the crash, suffered a minor leg and head injury. Its unclear if anyone else sustained injuries in the hit and run.

Its just disrespectful to everybody," Tyler Garner, one bar patron told Fox 13. "You just dont do that. Think about everybody else around you. You could have killed somebody.
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Every Thanksgiving weekend for the past 17 years, Arapaho and Cheyenne youth lead a 180-mile relay from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site to Denver.

The annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run opens at the site of the Sand Creek Massacre near Eads, Colorado, with a sunrise ceremony honoring some 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people who lost their lives in the infamous massacre. This brutal assault was carried out by Colonel John Chivington on Nov. 29, 1864.

While the Sand Creek massacre has been the subject of numerous books, much less attention has been given to two heroes of this horrific event: US soldiers Captain Silas Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer.

These were men who rejected the violence and genocide inherent in the conquest of the West. They did so by personally refusing to take part in the murder of peaceful people, while ordering the men under their command to stand down. Their example breaks the conventional frontier narrative that has come to define the clash between Colonial settlers and Native peoples as one of civilization versus savagery.

This is a theme Ive previously addressed as a scholar in the fields of American Indian studies and Colonial history, both in my book on the Indian captivity narrative genre, Buried in Shades of Night, and more recently in writings on Sand Creek.

The letters of Soule and Cramer

Soules noble act of compassion at Sand Creek is humbly conveyed in a letter to his mother included in the Denver Public Library Western History Collections: I was present at a Massacre of three hundred Indians mostly women and children It was a horrable scene and I would not let my Company fire.

Refusing to participate, Soule and the men of Company D of the First Colorado, along with Cramer of Company K, bore witness to the incomprehensible. Chivingtons attack soon descended into a frenzy of killing and mutilation, with soldiers taking scalps and other grisly trophies from the bodies of the dead. Soule was a devoted abolitionist and one dedicated to the rights of all people. He stayed true to his convictions in the face of insults and even a threat of hanging from Chivington the night before at Fort Lyon.

In the following weeks, Soule and Cramer wrote letters to Major Edward Ned Wyncoop, the previous commander at Fort Lyon who had dealt fairly with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Both harshly condemned the massacre and the soldiers who carried it out. Soules letter details a meeting among officers on the eve of the attack in which he fervently condemned Chivingtons plans asserting that any man who would take part in the murders, knowing the circumstances as we did, was a low lived cowardly son of a bitch.

Describing the attack to Wynkoop, Soule wrote, I refused to fire and swore that none but a coward would. His letter goes on to describe the soldiers as a perfect mob.

This account is verified by Cramers letter. Detailing his own objections to Chivington, whom he describes as coming like a thief in the dark, Cramer had stated that he thought it murder to jump them friendly Indians. To this charge, Chivington had replied, Damn any man or men who are in sympathy with them.

In Soules account, he writes, I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized.

While few Americans  especially those living outside of Colorado  may know their names, Soule and Cramer are honored and revered by the ancestors of the people they tried to save. According to David F. Halaas, former Colorado state historian and current historical consultant to the Northern Cheyenne, without their courage in disobeying Chivingtons orders and keeping their men from the massacre, the descendants probably wouldnt be around today, and there would be no one to tell the stories.

The horrific descriptions of Soule and Cramer prompted several official inquiries into the atrocity. Both men also testified before an Army commission in Colorado as witnesses. While the officers and soldiers responsible escaped punishment, their testimony brought widespread condemnation upon Chivington, who defended the massacre for the rest of his life.

These investigations also ended the political career of the Colorado territorial governor, John Evans, who had issued two proclamations calling for violence against Native people of the plains, and for organizing the 3rd Colorado Cavalry Regiment in which Chivington was placed in command.

Sites of reverence and healing

The Cheyenne and Arapaho will return to Denver this year to honor their ancestors and remember Soules and Cramers conscience and humanity. This will be done through an offering of prayers and blessings, along with the performance of honor songs.

On the third and final day of the healing run, they will gather for a sunrise ceremony at Soules flower-adorned grave at Denvers Riverside Cemetery. The participants will then continue on to 15th and Lawrence Street in downtown Denver. There, a plaque is mounted on the side of an office building at the place where Soule was murdered on April 23, 1865. His death, for which no one was ever brought to justice, occurred only two months after he testified against Chivington before the Army commission.

Over the last few decades, Soules grave and place of death have been transformed into sacred sites of remembrance within a violent and traumatic frontier past.

The catastrophe of the Sand Creek Massacre is recognized by historians as among the most infamous events in the annals of the American West. Even now, it is the only massacre of Native people recognized as such by the US government, with the land itself preserved as a national historic site for learning and reflection.

In Cheyenne and Arapaho stories, this event remains an ever-present trauma and persists as part of their cultural memory. In addition, it encapsulates the stark moment of betrayal against their ancestors and the theft of their lands.

The story of Soules and Cramers actions and their courage to say no to the killing of peaceful people at Sand Creek is an important chapter of US history. I maintain that it is people like Soule and Cramer who truly deserve to be remembered through monuments and memorials, and can be a source for a different kind of historical understanding: one based not on abstract notions of justice and right, but upon the courage and integrity it takes to breathe life into those virtues.

On the 152nd anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, as we honor the memory of those who died at Sand Creek, may we also be inspired by the heroic actions of these two American soldiers.

Billy J. Stratton, Professor of Native American studies/contemporary American literature, University of Denver

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Donald Trump has released his first pre-recorded video message to Americans since he was elected in time for Thanksgiving, urging the country to accept his leadership.

In the video, uploaded to Facebook, he cited Abraham Lincolns plea of "one voice and one heart" and, in Mr Trump's own words, he said he would push for a "very, very common resolve".

The business mogul vowed to look after the safety of cities, in particular inner cities, which he said was "so important" to him.

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In words that might have been targeted at Hillary Clinton and independent candidate supporters, he said: "Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight. It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately."

His words might also strike a nerve with disappointed supporters who were energised by the promise that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Ms Clintons alleged misuse of her personal email server.

He told the New York Times staff this week that prosecuting his former rival was no longer something he "felt very strongly about". He also dampened his anti-climate change stance and said he "liked [president] Obama a lot".

His speech the day before Thanksgiving comes the same month that he swept to victory, despite Ms Clinton gaining a lead in the popular vote of more than two million votes, a matter which irked the president-elect and which he addressed on twitter, saying he would also have won the popular vote if he had campaigned harder in certain states.

Protests erupted around the country after 8 November, particularly in California, Washington DC and New York, where people stood with banners outside Trump Tower.

Over Thanksgiving, Mr Trump will be mulling further decisions over who he should appoint to his cabinet.

On Wednesday he appointed billionaire, anti-gay activist Betsy DeVos as education secretary, one of two women in a top role.

Mr Trump said he wanted retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to take the job as US housing and urban development secretary.

Mr Carson will reportedly make a decision on the job after the national holiday, just one week after he turned down a cabinet role as he said he would be like "a fish out of water".

Read the full speech below:

"We are very blessed to call this nation our home. And thats what America is - our home. Its where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbours, and live out our dreams.

"Its my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions, and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose, and very, very common resolve.

"In declaring this national holiday, president Lincoln called upon Americans to speak with one voice, and one heart - thats just what we have to do. Weve just finished a long, bruising political campaign.

"Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight. It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately.

"But we have before us the chance now to make history together, to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities - so important to me and so important to our country.

"But to succeed we must enlist the support of the entire nation.

"This historic political campaign is now over, but now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country, restore the full promise of America for all of our people.

"Im asking you to join me in this effort. Its time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach and I mean absolutely nothing.

"Let us give thanks for all that we have and let us boldly face the exciting, new frontiers that lie ahead.

"Thank you, God bless you and God bless America."
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Authorities in California are hunting for two escaped prisoners after four inmates cut through the bars of a second-storey window and rappelled down the side of a jail using a makeshift rope.

Two of the prisoners were soon recaptured soon after escaping from the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose at around 11pm on wedneday night.

However, the other two remained at large and were being sought by the police.

Sgt Rich Glennon told the Associated Press the two prisoners still at large after making their escape using a rope made from bedding, were Rogelio Chavez and Lanon Campbell. An officer patrolling the jails perimeter spotted the men as they made their escape.

He kind of thought he saw some movement in the shadows looked up and saw some bedding in the window, said Mr Glennon.

Both Chavez and Campbell were facing false imprisonment and weapons charges, among other counts, when they made their escape, the AP said. Several local agencies are searching for the men, with help from dogs and a helicopter using thermal imaging.

The men were last seen in their jail clothing, consisting of an orange top over gray bottoms. Chavez has a distinctive face tattoo that resembles an inky gash going through his left eye.

The recaptured men, whose names are not being released, are expected to face charges for the escape.

Mr Glennon warned the public off approaching the men if they see them, but is asking people in the area to remain vigilant.

We definitely dont want the community to approach these individuals, but be aware of anything suspicious, he said.
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A teenager in America charged with shooting his ex-girlfriend dead after they split up, posted a tribute to her on Twitter hours before he was arrested.

William Riley Gaul, 18, allegedly shot Emma Walker, 16, through her bedroom window as she slept.

She was found dead in her home in Knoxville, Tennessee on Monday. Gaul was arrested on Tuesday and has been charged with first degree murder.

The couple had recently split up, and Gaul allegedly refused to accept the breakup, Ms Walkers aunt told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

She had chosen to move on, Jenny Weldon told reporters. He refused to accept it. He chose not to accept her wishes.

Following the discovery of Ms Walkers body, Gaul was placed under surveillance by detectives concerned he may destroy evidence.

Gaul posted a series of tweets in tribute to Ms Walker, several hours after she was found dead.

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Living everyday through Emma Walker. I love you beautiful and I know youre in a better place now, says Gauls Twitter bio.

In a lengthy post he wrote: Theres not a human on earth that can make the impact that youve had on my life. I miss you more than anything. Youll weigh heavy on my mind for the rest of my life because no one can fill the void thats in my heart now.

Ms Walker attended Knoxvilles Central High School, which held a memorial vigil this week.

In a statement, the schools head teacher Michael Reynolds said: Our student was a wonderful young lady, a cheerleader and honour student with a promising future, whose life was cut too short, too soon.

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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

At this time, our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with the family as they go through this grieving process. We thank everyone in our community for their tremendous support.
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Donald Trumps taxation plans would represent a massive giveaway to Americas richest one per cent and leave eight million of its poorest families worse off, experts have warned.

The proposal - which Mr Trump announced would benefit the forgotten working and middle classes - will reportedly see millions of low-income and single-parent families face sharp tax hikes, while Americas elite receives a break worth an estimated $214,000 (171,000).

In a move likely to exacerbate the already entrenched US wealth gap, Americas millionaire and billionaire classes, who turned out in droves to support the Republican candidates election bid, are set to benefit from the reform that could encourage a new era of dynastic wealth.

Trumps current tax plan would be a massive giveaway to the top one per cent and lead to big tax cuts for Trumps own companies, International economics expert Thomas Sampson of London School of Economics (LSE) told The Independent.

Paying for Trumps plan would require drastic cuts to Government expenditure. These cuts would probably target programmes that support less well-off Americans.

According to the Tax Policy Center, while the proposal would cut taxes on households at every income level, the top would benefit most in terms of share of income.

The centre's analysis into Mr Trump's tax plans also raised fears for the economy: "The fundamental concern the plan poses is that, barring extraordinarily large cuts in government spending or future tax increases, it would yield persistently large, and likely unsustainable, budget deficits."

Prior to Novembers historic election result, which saw Mr Trumps campaign rally to an unexpected victory, at least half of his supporters agreed with the idea of taxing the rich more heavily, according to a survey by the RAND Corporation research group.

"Just before the election, after the last debate, 51 per cent of them intending to vote for Trump supported increasing taxes on high-earning individuals," RAND sociologist Michael Pollard told NPR.

Mr Trump's new plan appears to do the opposite.

Lily Batchelder, who wrote an academic paper on the implications of Trumps tax plan, said the real estate moguls initiative would significantly raise taxes for at least 8.5 million families, representing 26 million individuals.

The Trump tax plan is heavily, heavily, skewed to the most wealthy, who will receive huge savings, Lily Batchelder, a law professor and tax expert at New York University, told the Guardian.

At the same time, millions of low-income families, particularly single-parent households, will face an increase.

Her research found that even taken at their most conservative, Mr Trumps tax plans would leave 61 per cent of households worse off if the proposed changes go ahead.

Single-parent families could be set to bear the brunt of the hardship as the plans would lower the minimum tax-free earnings to $15,000 (12,000) per adult, regardless how many children live in the household.

Recommended We are now following a British version of Trumponomics

The current taxation system allows single-parent families with one child $17,400 (14,000) and $24,750 (20,000) for a couple with one child. The threshold increases by $4,050 (3,300) for each additional child.

The plans would also see the current seven tax brackets split into three: 12 per cent, 25 per cent and 33 per cent, scrapping the current 10 per cent tax for earnings under $19,625 (15,700) and replacing it with 12 per cent.

Despite Mr Trumps introduction of much-lauded childcare credits, experts claim this wont make up for the increased tax on earnings.

His plan is not for the wealthy, but rather provides the biggest benefit to working and middle-class families. This plan is needed because child care expenses are one of the largest expenses in many families, complicating a family's decision on how to care for young children, read a statement on Mr Trumps campaign website.

However, Ms Batchelder said Mr Trumps promises do not not translate into practice, as millions of families could face paying thousands extra.

She said minority families are set to suffer disproportionately from the tax increases, with 32% of African American families facing a tax increase compared with 19% of whites, due to African American families being more likely to share the burden of child-rearing within the family and therefore unable to benefit as much from childcare credits.

President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP

The plans come in stark contrast to Hillary Clintons proposals, who advocated, according to her campaign website, making sure the wealthy, Wall Street and corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

Ms Clinton planned to raise taxes, mainly on the super-rich, proposing a four per cent surtax on income over $5m (about 4m) and a higher capital gains tax while saying she would close tax loopholes.

"While much is uncertain about Trumps tax plan, it focuses more on tax cuts for the wealthiest and for large corporations than Hillary Clinton would have done. US multinational companies have hundreds of billions of dollars stashed in offshore tax havens, a problem that has been debated in Washington, D.C., for some time," LSE International Political Economy Fellow Martin Hearson told The Independent.

"A relatively high tax rate of 35 per cent, combined with the distorting way in which US tax rules work, deters companies such as Apple and Google from repatriating the profits they make abroad. Trumps economic plan is Washington blinking first: more than halving the US rate to 15 per cent, and allowing firms to repatriate their profits at a tax rate of just 10 per cent. With Theresa May committing on Monday to maintaining the lowest corporate tax rate in the G20, this means further cuts to the UKs corporate tax rate are likely too."

Mr Trump also plans to scrap inheritance tax, which is currently only charged on estates worth more than $5.45m (4.3m) and joint estates of $10.9m (8.7m), affecting just one in 500 Americans.

Its hard to think of a tax change that will have a more detrimental effect on inequality, Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told the Guardian.

There is no question that this will lead to a perpetual income elite  hardly the thing that Trump voters would have wanted. This will lead to a new era of dynastic wealth.
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The US Navy is investigating the theft of data belonging to more than 130,000 sailors seeking re-inlistment in the service.

Officials revealed this week that the information was stolen from a contractors laptop.

The Navy Times said the military was notified in October by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services that a computer supporting a Navy contract was compromised and that the names and social security numbers of 134,386 current and former sailors were accessed by unknown persons.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is in the early stages of investigating the breach, but said it had not found any malicious use of the data yet, the newspaper said.

The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our Sailors, Navy personnel boss Vice Adm Robert Burke said in a statement released on Wednesday.

We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach."

The paper said an official familiar with the investigation said the personal data came from the Career Waypoints database, known as C-WAY, which sailors use to submit re-enlistment and Navy Occupational Specialty requests. The US Navy has about 430,000 sailors on active duty or in ready reserve.

The Navy will be notifying the affected sailors by phone, email and by mail and it is looking into credit monitoring services for them.

This is at least the second major breach of Navy data linked to its contracting activities with Hewlett Packard, the paper said.

In 2013, the service announced that Iran had penetrated its unclassified Navy and Marine Corps Intranet. In March 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the breach was due to a sloppily written contract with Hewlett Packard that did not need P to provide security for some of the Navys unclassified databases.

A spokesman for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services, said: This event has been reported to the Navy and because this is an ongoing investigation, HPE will not be commenting further out of respect for the privacy of our Navy personnel.


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At least 67 people have been killed in a scaffolding collapse on a building site in China.

The scaffolding was supporting a platform against a power station cooling tower when it gave way and collapsed at about 7am on Thursday.

According to state media, two injured workers were taken to hospital after the accident and a rescue effort was launched to free an unknown number of workers who were trapped in the wreckage.

Footage from the scene showed rescue workers with search dogs searching through debris beneath the large cooling tower in Jiangxi province in east China.

State media identified the site as being the coal-fired Fengcheng power plant in Yichun City.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has ordered an investigation into the collapse to be carried out, and has demanded that those responsible should be held accountable, the Chinese government said.

Mr Li said the authorities must strengthen supervision and preventive measures, prevent such a major accident from happening again, it was reported.

A total of 32 fire engines and over 212 military personnel attended the scene, the Jiangxi provincial fire department said on a verified social media account.

Recommended Oldest hotel in England collapses after fire rages for two days

The work at the power station is part of a 7.6bn yuan (890m) expansion project which aims to construct two 1,000 megawatt coal-fired facilities by 2018.

The main investor for a previous expansion project at the plant suspended trading in its shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday afternoon, stating that significant events that could not be disclosed could impact its share price.

The Chinese government has vowed to improve the countrys poor construction safety record which has seen a series of major industrial accidents in recent months.

The scaffolding collapse follows the announcement of a suspended death sentence for the head of an illegal chemical warehouse over a huge explosion at the facility in Tianjin, which killed 173 people.

Following the explosions, the director of Chinas state administration of work safety was removed from his post and was subsequently charged with corruption.

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

And in June 2015, 442 people were killed in an accident on a cruise ship on the Yangtze River. The modified cruise ship capsized with investigators blaming poor decisions made by the captain and crew.
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Japan has pledged to respond to Russia's "significant" decision to install anti-ship missiles on the disputed Kuril islands.

The countries are trying to arrange a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next month to settle a 70-year dispute over the islands, which were claimed by the Soviets after Second World War and lie just north of Japan.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that "from our point of view it should not in any way influence the centripetal trend which exists in our bilateral relations with Tokyo".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (file photo) (AFP)

Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said: "We consider this to have serious significance, and will respond in an appropriate manner, after studying the details."

The Kuril dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace deal to mark the end of the war.

Reaching a deal will be the focus of Mr Putin's visit in December, when Mr Abe will receive him in his home town of Nagato as part of what he has called a new approach to diplomatic relations with Russia.

Mr Kishida added that he hoped for progress on the deal, and Mr Peskov said the countries were "continuing contacts to develop our bilateral ties, especially in the economic sphere, and negotiations on the peace deal issue".

Russia has placed its Bastion and Bal anti-ship systems on the islands, which the Japanese call the Northern Territories.

The Bastion mobile defence system carries two missiles with a range of 188 miles, and the Bal can strike targets in a similar radius.

The deployment came as Russia successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) intended for its "nuclear trains" program.

The mobile weapons platform, made up of several train carriages designed to conceal the launchers of six Yars or Yars-M thermonuclear ICBMs and their command units, are expected to enter service between 2018 and 2020.
Medieval and barbaric: Four men were hanged in public on the Island of

Qeshm, Iran, on Wednesday November 23, 2016. Photo: Iran Human Rights

Iranian Regimes Member of Parliament: 5,000 young people of 20 to 30 years old in Irans prisons are on death row





The religious fascism ruling Iran, in order to intensify the atmosphere of intimidation and to prevent popular uprising, has resorted to public hangings, and everyday shows horrendous scenes of hanging bodies from the cranes in public.





On Wednesday November 23, the mullahs' henchmen publicly hanged four young people collectively in the Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province.





Hassan Norouzi, a member of the regimes Parliament in a shocking confession said: 5,000 people aged 20 to 30 years old are on death row. Most of them are first-time drug offenders" (Mehr state run news agency  November 23).





Youssefian, another member of parliament said: We have executed so many, we execute every day. ... Rajaeeshahr 30, another place 20, another place 10, what was the result? In 1990 when I was the prosecutor in Mazandaran province, a report came from the office of education that when you execute one person, 20 to 30 other students dont come to school a lady said in the court  in Iran a whole family is executed, it is not the individual who gets executed. (Farhag state-run radio November 23).





Any relationship with this medieval regime, which maintains power only through torture and execution, must be contingent upon a halt to executions. Ignoring the appalling record of human rights violations by the clerical regime under any pretext further emboldens Iran's ruling criminals.

Iran: Four hanged in public

IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS (NOV 23, 2016): Four men were publicly hanged in the Persian Gulf Island of Qeshm, on Wednesday November 23, according to the local "qeshmeazad" news website.





The four prisoners were convicted of raping a girl in 2014 said the report.





The pictures published on this website show hundreds of people watching the public hanging in a beach area.





None of the prisoners were identified by name.

 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran , November 23, 2016Source: Iran Human Rights , November 23, 2016
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Barcelona is fining home rental sites Airbnb and HomeAway 600,000 (500,000) each for advertising lodgings that did not have permits to host tourists.

In a statement the City Hall said it had initiated proceedings that will result in 600,000 (500,000) fines for each of them for the repeat offence of advertising tourist lodgings online without authorisation on Thursday.

Under a 2012 regional law, any lodging rented to visitors in Catalonia must be recorded in the provinces Tourism Registry and have a permit.

The city council said it had found 3,812 lodgings on Airbnb and 1,744 on HomeAway that did not have permits, AFP reports.

The council is led by Ada Colau, a former spokeswoman for Spains anti-eviction movement, who is aiming to quell the vast number of visitors to the city over fears it could drive out poorer residents.

"It's not acceptable that there are thousands of flats operating illegally without a permit, without paying taxes and causing problems for the neighbours," she told Spanish radio on Thursday.

It comes after Barcelona authorities, gave both companies a 30,000 (25,000) fine in December last year for advertising lodgings without permits.

At the time, this was the maximum fine for the offence, however in June the City Hall increased this to 600,000 (500,000). This is the first time the city authorities have applied the new maximum fine.

Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Show all 10 1 /10 Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl Take a look at Beyonce's Super Bowl Airbnb Airbnb / Host Cheryl

Urban planning councillor Janet Sanz said the increase of the maximum fine came after the two sites continued to advertise properties without permits.

"This illegal offer has a very hard impact on our neighbourhoods, it raises rental prices, fuels the underground economy and generates conflicts between neighbours," she told a news conference, the Local reports.

"The municipal government will introduce changes in the penalties that are applied. We want to reach maximum fines of up to 600,000."

Airbnb, based in San Francisco, claims it provides a useful service by helping visitors find affordable temporary lodging while enabling homeowners to supplement their income.

Andreu Castellano, a spokesperson for the company, said it was saddened by the decision and would appeal.

Less than a month ago, we met with officials and Airbnb committed to work together in the best interest of the city, he added.

Airbnb is part of the solution in Barcelona. We want to be good partners to cities and we will keep proactively seeking collaboration with Barcelona to maintain this dialogue and support regular people who share their homes.

In May, Berlin banned residents from renting out their flats to tourists through Airbnb due to acute housing shortages, unprecedented population growth and marked changes in Europes housing system.
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Almost one in three children who moved from the so-called Calais Jungle refugee camp after it was demolished have already gone missing, according to a report by a youth organisation.

The Refugee Youth Service (RYS) monitored 179 children displaced by last month's evictions, of which 56 per cent are now living in France's children's homes, 8 per cent moved legally to the UK and 2 per cent were sleeping rough. Yet another 30 per cent could no longer be found.

Bulldozers rolled into the makeshift settlement in mid-October, which had been home to around 9,000 people and became a symbol of Europes inability to deal with an influx of refugees fleeing war and poverty.

 Calais 'Jungle' exodus begins as hundreds queue in darkness

Almost 1,700 children were moved from the unofficial refugee camp to the care of the French state to live in accommodation centres on 2 November.

But in their report, the RYS warned that a lack of age and language-appropriate services was contributing towards the deteriorating mental health of many of the refugee children.

This continued uncertainty and confusion escalates the childrens negative feelings of hopelessness and self-worth, said child protection officer Karen Moynihan.

RYS co-founder Ben Teuten said: We saw it in the southern evictions in March where 129 children are known to have disappeared and are witnessing it again now.

"A third of the 179 children RYS were tracking in the October evictions cannot currently be located.

There were around 2,000 child migrants in the camp when it was demolished in October (AFP/Getty Images)

These are some of the most vulnerable children in the world, they have been let down time and time again.

"When they disappear we are extremely concerned that they will be preyed upon by traffickers and are unlikely to seek state support due to their treatment to date.

RYS has worked in the Calais camp since November 2015. Before the camp's demolition, the group kept track of the minors by meeting with them once a week, but since the camp eviction have had to resort to a phone distribution system.

They say this has hindered their ability to keep track of the vulnerable group.

RYS says it has been unable to establish a proposer relationship with missing childrens services in France and complained that there is no clear process for reporting children missing in the country.

Citizens UK Leader, Rabbi Janet Darley, said: Children's lives are in danger as they again, having lost faith in the system, take matters into their own hands.

Calais refugee camp evacuation Show all 15 1 /15 Calais refugee camp evacuation Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees run past a fire in the makeshift migrant camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French authorities say the closure of the slum-like camp in Calais will last approximately a week in what they describe as a "humanitarian" operation, October 2016 AP Calais refugee camp evacuation A painted message saying 'Bye Jungle' on a tent in the camp in Calais, October 2016 Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees set rubbish bins alight as a protest in the makeshift camp 'the Jungle' in Calais, France, October 2016 EPA Calais refugee camp evacuation French riot police advance through tear gas and smoke from a fire to disperse refugees throwing stones and lighting fires at the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in France Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Journalists run away from smoke during clashes near a makeshift refugee camp known as 'the jungle' in Calais AP Calais refugee camp evacuation French CRS riot police secure an area on the eve of the evacuation and transfer of refugees to reception centers in Franc Reuters Calais refugee camp evacuation Migrants queue for transportation by bus to reception centres across France, from the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees line-up to register at a processing centre in the 'jungle' near Calais, northern France, as the mass exodus from the migrant camp begins PA wire Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation French far-right Front National (FN) party's member of parliament Marion Marechal-Le Pen (L) delivers a speech next to a banner reading "They arrive in Vaucluse, no migrants in our place" as she attends a rally against the hosting of refugees in La Tour d'Aigues Getty Images Calais refugee camp evacuation French police forces secure the area near the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Calais refugee camp evacuation Refugees carry their belongings and transfer to reception centers in France

"Psychiatrists reports have shown that every day refugee children spend in limbo causes harm; the children have now been waiting for nearly a month.

"This is why we are calling on the UK government to fulfill their commitment to the children of Calais and transfer 1,000 to the UK before Christmas.

Since the camp was razed, there have been reports that children living in the government's reception centres have been forced to work on fruit farms.

Josie Naughton, co-founder of the Help Refugees charity, said: "We are disheartened that once again children, the most vulnerable of refugees, have gone missing following the chaotic eviction in Calais.

"It is particularly worrying that alarm bells are not being raised. Both governments need to start to take responsibility for minors and provide them with adequate safeguarding to ensure they are properly protected and uphold their responsibilities according to the UN convention on the rights of a child.

Government efforts to resettle unaccompanied child migrants from Calais to Britain have been branded a "disgrace" as ministers were accused of introducing arbitrary age guidelines.
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Charlie Hebdo is to launch a German edition that could hit stands as soon as next month.

The satirical French magazine made headlines for tragic reasons last year when its offices were targeted by terrorists who killed 12 people.

And it received death threats again this August after it was accused of mocking Muslims with a controversial front page image.

The Independent's response to last January's attack on Charlie Hebdo

A spokeswoman for the magazine said it would print 200,000 copies of the first edition, which will feature cartoons and articles translated from the French edition.

Charlie Hebdo sells about 1,000 French copies a week in Germany.

Its widespread introduction over the border would create added competition for Germany's current biggest satirical publications, Titanic and Eulenspiegel, The Local reported.
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Donald Trump in the White House will be good for Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will also significantly boost the chances of extraditing Fethullah Gulen, the exiled cleric blamed by Ankara for the summer coup attempt. That is the view of senior Turkish officials as they watch the new administration take shape in Washington.

President Erdogan has been increasingly vocal in his support for Mr Trump, condemning the European Union for its negative reaction to the US election result and declaring that those protesting against the President-elect should learn to respect democracy. Mr Trumps anti-Islamic rhetoric, the leader of a predominantly Muslim nation of 80 million insisted, was a mistake which will be corrected.

Mr Erdogan, who has been strongly criticised in the West over his autocratic rule, especially following the failed putsch, mocked European Union politicians for expressing foreboding about a Trump presidency. Arent you democrats? Isnt democracy about the ballot box? Why are you not respecting the result of the ballot box? The result came out, Trump came out. Respect it was his advice.

The attacks on the European Union have continued from the Turkish president. He stated that a vote held in the European Parliament calling for suspension of negotiations with Turkey because of Ankaras civil rights violations has no value for us, whatever the result is. We have made it clear that we take care of European values more than many EU countries. Western Europe, he charged, is siding with terrorist organisations by criticising his security policies.

In marked contrast, say the Erdogan camp, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who has just been appointed national security advisor by Mr Trump, will be a valuable ally against the terrorist threat. They point out that the General has publicly called for Mr Gulen to be expelled from US, where he is in exile, to Turkey.

Mr Gulen has vehemently denied any involvement in the coup attempt. However his trial in absentia, along with 72 other alleged member of his organisation, started in Ankara on Tuesday with the prosecution demanding multiple life term sentences for the defendants in addition to imprisonment of up to 132 years and one month each. An application by the state-appointed lawyer for the cleric to withdraw from the case was refused by the judges. Around 78,000 people have been jailed and more than 115,000 have lost their jobs in the crackdown following the coup attempt.

In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters

Writing in The Hill, a political newspaper published in Washington, on election day, Gen Flynn said We need to see the world from Turkeys perspective. What would we have done if right after 9/11 we heard the news that Osama bin Laden lives in a nice villa at a Turkish resort.The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gulen, who is running a scam. We should not provide him with a safe haven. In this crisis, it is imperative that we remember who our real friends are.

There was no mention in the publication that Gen Flynn works for a consultancy firm which has received payments from Ekim Alptekin, a Turkish businessman who heads the Turkish-American Business Council and helped organize President Erdogans visit to the US last year.

Mr Alptekin, while acknowledging that he had a commercial relationship with the Flynn Intel Group, insisted that it was not about representing the position of the Turkish government. He was not, he has said, affiliated to the Turkish government and Gen Flynn had not spoken to him about the Gulen article. Any suggestion that Mr Erdogan or his government had paid for the article was  preposterous said Mr Alptekin, pointing out that it was also critical of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation the Turkish President has supported in the past.

Gen Flynn had initially declared that the coup attempt was something worth clapping for because President Erdogan was taking his country down an Islamist path. His friends have insisted that his change of stance has nothing to do with his subsequent work with the consultancy firm with Turkish links, but came after studying the accusations against Mr Gulen.

 European Parliament votes to block Turkey's attempts to join EU

Gen Flynn, who was dismissed from his post of director of the Defence Intelligence Agency by President Obama, also claimed in The Hill article that Bill and Hillary Clinton are linked to Mr Gulen whose Cosmos Foundation is a major donor to the Clinton Foundation. No wonder Bill Clinton calls Mullah Gulen his friend. The General held that it was no coincidence that Huma Abedin, an aide and confidant Hillary Clinton called her second daughter, worked for 12 years as the associate editor for a journal published by the London-based Institute of Muslim Affairs. This institute has promoted the thoughts of radical Muslim thinkers

This has found resonance with Mr Erdogan, who has alleged that Hillary Clintons election campaign received funding from Mr Gulen. What were financial sources for her campaign? Feto [Fethullah Terrorist Organisation] which we are fighting in Turkey, was one of the structures which gave her strong support, he said earlier this week. For good measure, the Turkish President added Donald Trump carried out his own campaign, he has not been involved in politics before. I view certain statements in European countries as disrespectful to democracy.

A senior Turkish official commented: We feel there is hypocrisy in Western Europe when it comes to security. France has had a state of emergency ever since last years attacks. Yet when we take security measures we are accused of repressing human rights. Governments in the EU say that Daesh [Isis] are using the refugee route to smuggle in terrorists. We put in more checks, take back refugees from Europe despite the fact that we are hosting three million Syrian people at the moment. The response from the EU is an attempt to suspend talks with us over EU membership.

We think President Trumps people recognise terrorism in all its forms. Gen Flynn is right, how would Americans have felt if Bin Laden was in Turkey when 9/11 took place? We have sent the indictments against Gulen and Feto to the American authorities, now we are waiting for them to act.

Jason Weinstein, one of Mr Gulens legal team in Washington, stressed that Mr Trump would have to follow due legal process and could not just kick the cleric out of the country arbitrarily.

As the president-elect has said many times in the campaign, we are a nation of laws. Because of that we hope and expect the law will be followed here. And, if it is followed here, we are confident that Mr Gulen will not be returned to Turkey where it is certain he will be subjected to torture, a sham trial and, ultimately, execution.
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The EU parliament has voted on a resolution aimed at countering disinformation and hostile propaganda from Russia, in a move criticised by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

MEPs warned that the Kremlin had escalated its war of words against the EU since the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and said the Russian government now employed a wide range of tools and instruments including pseudo-news agencies to spread its messages.

The aim of Russias propaganda was to damage the relationship between the EU and the US, to discredit European institutions and to incite fear and uncertainty in EU citizens, according to the resolution.

As regards the Russian Federation, the situation is now clear. After its annexation of Crimea and aggression in the eastern part of Ukraine, many countries are fully aware of its disinformation and manipulation, said Anna Fotyga, the former Polish foreign minister and author of the report. This report, in the course of its preparation, was also a target of hostile propaganda.

The Russian government is employing a wide range of tools, such as think tanks, multilingual TV stations, pseudo-news agencies and multimedia services, social media and internet trolls, to challenge democratic values, divide Europe, gather domestic support and create the perception of failed states in the EUs eastern neighbourhood

Recommended Russia says Obama is damaging relations with the Kremlin

MEPs also condemned the Kremlins alleged funding and support of anti-EU forces such as extreme-right parties which deny the basic values of liberal democracies, and said more had to be done to tackle deteriorating relations with Russia.

Speaking from Moscow, Russia president Vladimir Putin expressed his dismay at the ruling and suggested he was willing to hold an open discussion with the EU on the subject.

It tells us that we are observing a certain, quite obvious, degradation - in a political sense of the word - of how democracy is understood in Western society, in this particular case in the European Parliament, he told reporters.

The best approach is an open discussion, in which bright and solid arguments to support ones point of view should be presented.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow will take retaliatory measures if the resolution is implemented.

We hope that the resolution will not entail practical steps on curbing the work of the Russian media, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

There is hope that such steps will not follow, because the adoption of such a document caused massive uproar, for one, in the EU itself."

She added: If this document is applied and implemented to curb the activities of the Russian media on EU member states territories, then we will of course take measures in response."

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. 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Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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EU members meanwhile suggested investing in education and investigative journalism, to encourage European citizens to analyse media content critically. An improvement in cooperation between the EU and Nato would also be beneficial, the resolution stated.

The ruling will also apply to propaganda from Isis, which MEPs said must be tackled to improve resilience against radicalisation. This included developing a narrative against the militant group, including the empowerment of Muslim scholars who can delegitimise Isis.

The motion was passed by 304 votes to 179, with members on both the far left and far right opposed to the move.

In July, senior European Commission official Jakub Kalenski warned that Russian propaganda had grown more powerful and had infiltrated all EU states, and said immediate action must be taken.

There are countries where you dont even need media, because you have the politicians spreading the programmed messages for you, he said.
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The European Parliament has voted to freeze long-term plans for Turkey to join the EU in what is widely seen as a response to Ankaras crackdown on political opposition and independent media since Julys failed coup.

MEPs voted 479 in favour on the motion amending EU-Turkey relations, with 37 against and 107 abstentions in a plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday.

The long-expected suspension had been criticised by those who say that rather than encouraging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change tack, the vote will only push the country towards adopting even harsher stances on human rights issues.

More than 40,000 people in Turkey have been jailed under emergency laws since the aborted military takeover this summer, and 100,000 fired from public sector jobs, many in schools and universities.

I believe the best way to strengthening Turkeys democracy, the most effective way, is by engaging with Turkey, by keeping channels open, EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said ahead of the vote.

If the accession process came to an end, I believe we would both find ourselves in a lose-lose scenario.

The Turkish delegation to the EU said it was "dismayed" by the result, criticising the decision to uphold the motion as "lacking vision".

 Refugee crisis: Stranded refugees face deteriorating conditions in Greece camps

The EU agreed to accelerated talks on the country becoming a member of the EU in February as part of a deal which would see Middle Eastern and African refugees arriving on European shores deported back to Turkey.

The deal has largely succeeded in bringing the numbers of people arriving from across the Aegean Sea down from a peak of over 2,000 people a day in 2015 to a current average of around 100 a day. It also included 2.3 billion in promised aid, 5.7 million of which has been given so far.

How the future of the strategy to combat the refugee crisis could be affected by Thursday's vote is unclear.

In exchange for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the EU bloc, Turkey was also supposed to modify its anti-terror laws to bring them into line with existing EU policy.

However, Mr Erdogan has said that in the light of the July coup he will consider asking parliament to bring back the death penalty - which would definitely rule out the possibility of EU membership.

Turkey has suggested it may instead join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an economic bloc which includes China and Russia.

In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters

A formal suspension on the EU membership talks will not be possible until December at the earliest, and will require a vote by the European Parliament's member states.

Turkey's European Union Minister Omer Celik was dismissive of Thursday's vote.

"We consider that decision null and void. It is not a decision that can be taken seriously because of the vision it has and the language that pervades the text," he told a televised news conference.

Mr Celik's comments follows President Erdogan's, who said ahead of the vote that the exercise was "worthless" and accused Europe of taking the side of terror organisations".

His country's struggle for its stability and future won't be interrupted by [European legislators] raising and lowering their hands, Mr Erdogan added.
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A French mayor has decreed that posters promoting an Aids prevention campaign should be taken down to protect children.

Bruno Beschizza claimed the Government's public health posters, which depict men kissing and embracing along with slogans extolling the benefits of contraceptives, would confuse children.

Mr Beschizza, who is the mayor of Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris, said the campaign's "subliminal messaging" about one-night stands lacked context, BFMTV reported.

One of the banned AIDS prevention campaign posters (BFMTV)

One of the posters reads: "With a lover, with a friend, with a stranger - the situation changes and forms of protection do too."

But Clio Leonard, of the LGBT support group Le Refuge, said: "Removing these posters makes no sense and could make our young people uncomfortable, and to feel rejected all over again because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Mr Beschizza's action was echoed by another mayor, Christophe Bechu, who asked the JC Decaux company to remove the posters from his town of Angers, near the Loire Valley in western France.

He said the posters were "deliberately shocking" and had been put up near schools. Young children would not be able to understand their message, he said.
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Members of a suspected Isis terror cell arrested last weekend in France planned to launch attacks on 1 December at Disneyland Paris and the Champs Elysees Christmas market.

Seven suspected jihadis of French, Moroccan and Afghan nationalities were arrested in Strasbourg and Marseille in a series of coordinated raids on Saturday night. Two were later released.

Bernard Cazeneuve told a news conference French counter-terror officers had been monitoring the cell for more than eight months.

They also planned to target France's counter-intelligence services hub, the police crime-investigation headquarters and the nearby high court building, a source close to the inquiry told Reuters.

 France attack suspects pledge loyalty to Isis

The targets and the date of the planned assault were taken from information found on a smartphone, police sources said.

Security sources confirmed some of the suspects had fought in Syria and were linked to the Isis cell which carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015, which left 130 people dead.

The groups nervousness as they awaited a weapons delivery reportedly sparked their arrests as the risk to public safety increased.

Two handguns, an automatic pistol, a machine pistol and jihadist propaganda were all found during the raids.

In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP

A total of 418 people have been arrested in France for suspected links to terror networks since the start of the year, including 43 people this month alone.

The country remains in a state of emergency a year after Isis-linked attackers launched a coordinated assault on Paris, and some months after a lone terrorist ploughed a lorry into crowds in Nice celebrating Bastille Day in July.

On Tuesday, the US State Department issued a warning to Americans to exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets" on account of credible information indicating Isis, al-Qaeda and their affiliates are continuing to plan attacks in Europe.
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Children who have not been vaccinated will be banned from nurseries in part of Italy to protect "the weakest" from infection.

The law passed by the Emilia-Romagna regional council will mean any child up to the age of three who has not received vaccinations for diphtheria, polio, tuberculosis or hepatitis B will not be allowed to attend nursery.

Children who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons will be exempt. The law will come into force next month, but parents will have until the spring of 2017 to bring their child's immunisation up to date.

Regional president Stefano Bonaccini said the proportion of vaccinated children had "significantly declined" in recent years, and last year dropped below the "safety level" of 95 per cent, to just 93.4 per cent.

He told Il Giornale: "Parents have changed their attitude towards pediatric vaccines, mainly because of incorrect information not founded in science, which is spread particularly online.

"Our law is, therefore, to protect public health, that of our communities, and especially the most vulnerable children. Those who for health reasons, immunosuppression or severe chronic conditions, can not be vaccinated and who are therefore more exposed to infections."
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European Parliament President Martin Schulz is returning to German politics, raising the prospect he may challenge Angela Merkel as chancellor and prompting speculation of a reshuffle in European Union institutions.

Mr Schulz said he would not stand for re-election as speaker of the EU legislature and would instead campaign for a seat in Germany's federal parliament next year.

He made no comment on suggestions he may succeed departing Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier or become the Social Democrat candidate to challenge the conservative Ms Merkel's bid for a fourth term in September's parliamentary election.

Mr Schulz, 60, had been pushing for a third 30-month term as EU parliament president in defiance of a deal that he make way for a speaker from the centre-right, the chamber's biggest group.

Should the conservatives, who have formed an effective grand coalition in Brussels with Mr Schulz's centre-left, secure the presidency in January, all three main EU political bodies would be headed by the centre-right  a possibility that has raised talk of change at the European Commission and European Council.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had pressed his fellow conservatives in parliament to let Mr Schulz stay on in the interests of stability following Britain's vote in June to leave the bloc. He denied threatening to resign if Mr Schulz were forced out but said on Thursday he regretted him leaving.

Mr Juncker, from Luxembourg, has a five-year mandate running until October 2019. Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair Brexit negotiations, has a mandate expiring in May.

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

At an unrelated news conference, Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk brushed off a question about whether either of them might resign.

Mr Tusk has support among EU states for a second term, though not from his native Poland, where opponents now hold power.

The conservative leader in Parliament, Manfred Weber from Ms Merkel's Bavarian allies, said his group would choose a nominee for speaker next month. Frenchman Alain Lamassoure and Mairead McGuinness of Ireland declared their candidacies.

Mr Weber, 44, has been cited himself as Mr Schulz's successor, a position that could raise his profile for a future career in Germany and something Mr Schulz also used to his advantage.

Mr Weber did not, however, rule out that his group might back a consensus candidate from another of the mainstream, pro-EU blocs in the chamber, which include liberals and greens. That could dampen complaints of a centre-right lock on institutions while, as Mr Weber said, maintaining a centrist front against the chamber's vocal minority of eurosceptic and extremist parties.

Mr Weber's centre-left counterpart said he would resist a conservative sweep of EU jobs.

A right-wing monopoly on the EU institutions would be unacceptable, said Italian Gianni Pittella. Political balance must be ensured.

Speculation that Mr Schulz would return to German politics grew after Ms Merkel's grand coalition with the Social Democrat (SPD) backed Mr Schulz's party ally Mr Steinmeier to take over in February as Germany's figurehead president. Senior SPD members see Mr Schulz as the party's clear favourite to succeed Mr Steinmeier.

Whoever takes over the role will have an overflowing in-tray as the EU's powerhouse tries to unite a divided post-Brexit Union, contain an assertive Russia and forge a new relationship with Washington under incoming President Donald Trump.

Opinion polls favour Ms Merkel to win again. The SPD trails badly but could end up in a new grand coalition under her.

A member of the SPD leadership said it would decide by January whether Mr Schulz or party leader Sigmar Gabriel would be its candidate for chancellor. One poll this week showed Germans thought Mr Schulz has a somewhat stronger chance of ousting Merkel.

He ran a bookshop in his native Aachen in western Germany before entering the European Parliament in 1994. As speaker of the body since 2012, Mr Schulz used new powers granted by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to increase the legislature's role in EU politics and has used the post to raise his profile at home.

Reuters
Rodricus Crawford Rodricus Crawford, a local man previously convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, was released from jail for now after a judge in Caddo District Court assigned him a $50,000 bond on Tuesday. Rodricus Crawford, a local man previously convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, was released from jail for now after a judge in Caddo District Court assigned him a $50,000 bond on Tuesday.





The Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed that Crawford bonded out of jail on Tuesday evening.





Crawford was convicted in 2013 of the first-degree murder of his 1-year-old son, Roderius Lott.





The Louisiana Supreme Court last week vacated the trial court's verdict , and now Crawford has the opportunity for a new trial. Crawford had been on death row in Angola. The case has drawn attention from the national media.





At the hearing on Tuesday, the defense requested that Crawford's bond be set at $25,000, while the prosecution asked for $50,000.





While Judge Brady O'Callaghan said the bond amount was "inappropriately low," he agreed to give the state's recommendation the benefit of the doubt.





"The charge against you is serious and has not been dismissed," O'Callaghan said to Crawford after setting the amount of the bond. "Please be prompt in all of your appearances."





According to the judge, an indictment is still pending.





Crawford's attorney, Cecelia Kappel, had no comment.





In a statement to The Times last week, the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office said the case will be reassigned.





A new assistant district attorney will re-evaluate the case in order to make a determination on a proper course of action to proceed further in the matter.





"This case has been a tragedy from the start," Kappel said in a statement to The Times. "We look forward to continuing to work with the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office in order to right this injustice."



The case put Caddo Parish and former District Attorney Dale Cox in the spotlight over the use of the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center included Caddo Parish in a 2013 report about how 2 percent of U.S. counties were responsible for 56 % of the people on death row.



The Crawford case has drawn particular scrutiny, with defense attorneys and Crawford's supporters arguing there's no proof a crime even occurred.



Crawford was convicted of murdering his 1-year-old son. He told authorities he'd been sleeping next to his son and woke up to find him unresponsive in 2012. Prosecutors argued that Crawford smothered the boy. But the defense argued the boy had pneumonia and could have died from natural causes.



Defense attorneys also challenged the prosecution's exclusion of certain African-American jurors, and in the end the judges tossed out the conviction on that issue.

 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Sources: shreveporttimes.com , The Associated Press, November 23, 2016
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Icelands anti-establishment Pirate Party may be asked to form a government after the country's two largest political parties abandoned their attempts to form a coalition.

The Left-Greens leader Katrin Jakobsdottir said she would give up on talks with four other parties and hand back the mandate given to her by Icelands President Gudni Johannesson last week.

The proposed centre-left alliance has reportedly broken down over disagreements relating to health and education.

The stalemate follows the resignation of Icelands Prime Minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, who stepped down after his centre-right Progressive Party saw its number of parliamentary seats and share of the vote halved in the general election of October 29.

The centre-right Independence Party came out top in the poll, with the Left-Greens emerging as Iceland's second-largest party.

The Pirate Party caused the major upset of the election by winning 10 out of the 63 parliamentary seats up for grabs to finish third.

Ms Jakobsdottir told Icelandic television that, Not all the parties have the necessary conviction to continue in these talks to form a government.

Therefore I have decided that these talks are over.

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

It comes after Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson also failed to form a government having taken part in similar talks last week.

The failure of the two major parties to forge an alliance has lead to speculation that the Pirate Party, formed in 2012 to campaign against copyright law and promising to fight corruption, will be the next party to be given a mandate to hold coalition talks.

Recommended Iceland Prime Minister quits over Panama Papers tax haven scandal

Their leader, Birgitta Jonsdottir, said the party would try to form a government if President Johannesson asked them to.

But she warned: We must find some other way than the one we are faced with now, for the reason that none of these parties seems to be able to work together.

The political chaos comes after Iceland was forced to go to the polls early due to the resignation in April of the previous Progressive Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, over his role in the Panama Papers tax haven scandal.

Polls before the vote predicted the Pirate Party would win the most seats although the rebels were ultimately forced to settle for third place - still a significant improvement on their sixth place finish in the 2013 general election.
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Russia is reportedly preparing to upgrade its Soviet-era T-80 battle tanks in order to bring them back into service.

Up to 3,000 of the tanks, which entered service in 1976, will be updated to bring their combat power closer to the current T-90 model.

"At present, the preparative works to start the modernisation of the first T-80BV MBTs are at a final stage," a defence industry source told military magazine Jane's Defence Weekly.

The "overhaul and modernisation" of the tanks "will be launched next year" the source added. They said the number of tanks to be upgraded will be determined by the military.

 Russia shows off new weapons as Syria offensive resumes

Updated versions of the armoured combat vehicle will reportedly feature an upgraded fire-control system used by the T-90, an updated energy generator and advanced explosive reactive armour plates.

The modified tanks will be suitable for use in the Arctic, Far East and Siberia, the source said.

Around 550 T-80 tanks are still in service in the Russian military.

They are expected to bridge the gap until Russia completes the development of its new high-tech Armata supertank.

British military intelligence issued a warning casting doubt on the UK's ability to combat the threat of the new T-14 tanks.

The report said the tank was already lighter, faster and stealthier than any Western rival, and could be fitted with the same radar system currently used by Russian fighter jets.

The Armatas main advantage over existing vehicles is the inclusion of an unmanned turret, which is controlled remotely from an isolated armoured capsule.

It only requires two people to operate the vehicle and it also boasts a state-of-the-art radar system that can simultaneously track up to 40 ground and 25 air targets within a 60-mile (100km) radius.

The Kremlin has previously said it plans to build 120 Armata tanks a year from 2018.

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

On Monday, US State Department spokesman John Kerry warned Moscow's deployment of Iskander and S-400 missiles to eastern Europe was "destabilising" and urged Moscow to "refrain from words or deeds that are inconsistent with the goal of promoting security and stability".

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the Russian military needs to respond to what he described as Nato's aggressive moves.

"Russia is doing what is necessary to protect itself amid Nato's expansion toward its borders," Mr Peskov said.

"The alliance is a truly aggressive bloc, so Russia does what it has to do. It has every sovereign right to take necessary measures throughout the territory of the Russian Federation."

Moscow has also deployed new anti-ship missiles on Pacific islands controlled by Russia but also claimed by Japan.

Bal and Bastion missile systems have been stationed on the islands, called the southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan, the Boyevaya Vakhta (Combat Duty) newspaper of Russia's Pacific Fleet reports.
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Millions of Shia Muslims have taken part in one of the biggest marches in the world, as they travel through Iraq in celebration of a famous Muslim martyr.

The marchers made their way to the city of Karbala, 62 miles south west of Baghdad, on Sunday and Monday for the holy day of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period following Ashura, the religious ritual that commemorates the death of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in 680 AD.

Large crowds visit the shrines of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Abbas in Karbala, where they were killed in a revolt against the Umayyad ruler Yazeed in the 7th century AD when they refused to pledge allegiance to Yazeed's Umayyad caliphate.

Nusayyef al-Khattabi, who heads the Karbala provincial council, said he expected the total number of visitors over several days to range between 17 million and 20 million. Among them are an estimated three million foreigners, the majority Iranians who started crossing the border days ago.

Many choose to make the journey on foot, despite travelling near Isis-controlled areas in the country and the extremist group having made frequent deadly attacks on the pilgrimage.

Shia Muslim pilgrims gather in the holy city of Karbala (AFP)

The march comes as nearly 80 people, many of them pilgrims returning from commemorating Arbaeen in Karbala, were killed in the latest Isis attack in the area.

Isis has declared Shia Muslims apostates and targeted them in its bloody campaign to establish a hardline caliphate across Iraq and Syria.

Large-scale security operations, involving 24,000 soldiers and police, were put in place during this year's march due to fears Isis forces in and around its last major stronghold of Mosul may seek to strike Baghdad or Karbala during Arbaeen.

Karbala, around 50 miles, south west of Baghdad, faces the desert of Anbar, a vast province that was until recently an Isis bastion and where jihadists still carry out frequent attacks.

Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Show all 10 1 /10 Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Ankara, Turkey A person holds a flag as police uses tear gas and water cannon in Ankara against demonstrators who protest against attacks launched by Islamic State insurgents targeting the Syrian city of Kobani and lack of action by the government Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Protesters clashing with riot police during a demonstration against Isis in Diyarbakir, southeast of Turkey Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Kurdish protesters in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir Getty Images Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish riot policemen in the city of Diyarbakir Getty Images Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Brussels, Belgium Riot police block Kurdish protesters as they gather in front of the entrance of the European Parliament in Brussels AP Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Berlin, Germany Demonstrators, including one holding a sign that reads: "Save the Kurds of Kobane from IS," and many of them members of Berlin's large Kurdish community, march to protest against the ongoing violence by militias of the Isis in Iraq and Syria in Berlin Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Hamburg, Germany Kurds protest against Isis militants advancing through the Syrian border city of Kobani, in Hamburg, Germany Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in London, UK Kurdish protesters gather at Heathrow Airport as anti-Isis demonstrations take place across Europe Lisa Campbell Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Paris, France Kurds living in France demonstrate in Paris Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Marseille, France Kurdish people hold flag in Marseille during a protest against the threat of a "Syrian Kurdish population's genocide" by Isis militants and to support the population of the Syrian Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani

Last week, a suicide bomber killed six people near Karbala in an attack claimed by the so-called Islamic State.

The pilgrimage has taken on additional meaning in response to this threat, becomimg a protest in recent years against Isis terrorists.

Pilgrim Jaber Kadhem Khalif said: "I came walking from Basra with my wife and three sons... This is the third time. We started walking 13 days ago and reached Karbala on Sunday night."

Shiite pilgrims march to Karbala for the Arbaeen ritual (AP)

The 40-year-old said his prayers would go to the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group that has tens of thousands of men deployed on the front lines to fight Isis.

Umm Ali came without her husband, who is with the security forces on the front lines.

 Isis 'teaching children how to kill and make bombs'

I came with my son and two daughters. I came from Samawa to Najaf by car, then from Najaf to Karbala on foot, to make a plea for my husband's safety.

"We ask God to support us against Daesh [Isis] members, to help us liberate Mosul and urge our politicians to remember the people who have sacrificed so much," the 45-year-old said.

Despite the pilgrimage being one of the world's largest - it is far larger than the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in which around 1.5 million people take part - it remains largely unknown in the West.

Organisers of the annual Arbaeen procession in UK have previously spoken of their frustration over the lack of mainstream media coverage of the event.

Mohammed Al-Sharifi, a volunteer at last year's event, previously told the Independent: "I think the reason the mainstream media hasnt covered the [march] is because I dont think it's juicy enough to sell papers. It's simply not interesting enough."

"Unfortunately [some] media outlets have gone for stories that to some extent can be divisive. If a group of Muslims do something good, it's not mentioned or the religion is not mentioned. But if someone does something [negative], it is on the front page and their religion is mentioned."

Dr Mohammed Shomali, director of the Islamic Centre of England said: "For Muslims and non-Muslims, the sacrifice and noble message of Imam Hussain represents the peace and virtue of Islam, which prevented Hussain from resorting to violence or capitulation."

This is why non Muslims as well as Muslims of different sects and denominations have been able to gather together for this event in Iraq and globally - Hussain's decision not to submit to the will of violence is a model all of humanity can replicate."

Additional reporting by agencies
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At least two people have died and 33 are injured after a car bomb exploded in southern Turkey.

The explosion took place just after 8:00am on Thursday in a car park near the government building in the city of Adana, and is believed to have been carried out by a woman with links to Kurdish militants or Isis.

Following the explosion, Omer Celik, minister in charge of European Union affairs who lives in Adana, wrote on Twitter: This damnable terror is continuing to target our people. We will continue our struggle against terrorism until the end in the name of humanity.

The minister later added: The ones who target our peace and fundamental rights of our citizens will be punished in the strongest way possible within rule of law.

The blast damaged the government building, according to Anadolu Agency, and video footage showed several cars caught fire after the explosion, with some of the wounded are reported to be in serious condition.

The attack marks the latest in a string of deadly bombings that have rocked the country for more than a year.

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

Earlier this month a car bomb exploded in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, killing one person and wounding around 30 other. Days later another explosion occured near a government in building in Derik, southern Turkey, in which several people were reported to have been wounded.

As with previous attacks, Turkish authorities imposed a media ban following the explosion, barring broadcast and publication of graphic images or information that might hinder the investigation.

A statement by the US Consulate urged all citizens to avoid this area throughout the day, maintain a high level of vigilance, monitor local media for updates, and exercise caution if you are in the vicinity.
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Egypt will try nearly 300 Isis suspects over plots to assassinate President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Saudi crown prince.

All 292 suspects, including 151 already in custody, were referred to a military court for alleged membership of the "Sinai State," the local affiliate of Isis.

The suspects are alleged to have been part of 22 cells and been involved in 19 attack plots, which included two plots to kill Mr Sisi  one while he was on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and another while he was in Cairo  a prosecution official said.

They also allegedly planned to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and five Egyptian judges.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP

The suspects were questioned about the accusations against them and 66 confessed during an investigation which lasted more than a year, the official said.

Those who planned the assassination attempts were dismissed police officers who adhere to jihadist ideology, the official added.

No further details about the plots were given.

Of the 292 suspects, 151 are in custody, seven are out on bail and the rest are on the run.

 Kurds capture Isis fighter

The prosecution also accuses the suspects of attacking army and police checkpoints and bases in the Sinai, and of responsibility for a February 2014 attack on a bus carrying South Korean tourists in the south Sinai tourist resort of Taba that killed three holidaymakers.

Suspects in security and terrorism-related cases are often sent to the military courts in Egypt, but human rights activists say the military judiciary is not fit to try civilians.

The army has been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai, which escalated after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Egypt's government says hundreds of police and soldiers have died in the attacks, which have also hit Cairo and the Nile Delta.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Egyptian Isis affiliate, which also claimed to have bombed a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.
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A Baghdad court has issued arrest warrants for two correspondents with a Saudi newspaper over a false news report accusing Iranian pilgrims of sexually harassing Iraqi women.

A senior source in Iraq's judiciary said Wednesday that the warrants, based on the penal code's article 372 on religious hate crimes, were issued against the Asharq al-Awsat daily's two Baghdad-based Iraqi journalists.

The article, published on Sunday in the London-based pan-Arab newspaper, caused an uproar in Iraq, where the prime minister and several other prominent figures issued public condemnations.

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

One of the two correspondents, Hamza Mustafa, denied any responsibility for the article and announced he was resigning in protest.

Another journalist working for the newspaper in Baghdad, Maad Fayyad, in a statement obtained by AFP, said he had nothing to do with the controversial article.

Ziad Ajili, from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, issued a statement condemning the warrants as an "incitement to murder".

The pair's whereabouts were unclear Wednesday.

The article was published as Arbaeen, a Shia Muslim pilgrimage that commemorates the 680 AD death of Imam Hussein and is one of the world's largest religious events, was peaking in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala.

It quoted a purported World Health Organization spokesman as saying that after last year's pilgrimage more than 169 Iraqi women became pregnant out of wedlock.

The UN health agency vehemently denied making any such assertion.

AFP
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An Isis truck bomb at an Iraqi petrol station, where buses filled with Shia pilgrims were parked, has killed at least 80 people.

Only ten Iraqi nationals were among the victims, and many were Iranian visitors returning from the Arbaeen ceremony in Karbala, Iraqi security officials said on Thursday, although details on the identities of the dead are still emerging.

According to some reports, the petrol station was completely destroyed. Local security official Falah-al-Radi told the BBC he expected the death toll to rise.

Last week, six Isis fighters were confronted by security forces on their way to Karbala  five were shot dead while another blew himself up, killing eight civilians.

There has been an upswing in suicide and car bombs targeting civilians in Iraq since coalition forces began the operation to drive Isis out of the northern city of Mosul last month.

Isis was quick to claim the attack, the violence a stark reminder of the groups ability to inflict death and destruction even as their hold on territory in Iraq and Syria crumbles.

Iraqi police had stepped up security around the annual Arbaeen commemoration amid fears that Isis would target the estimated 17-20 million Shia visitors who descended on Karbala, 60 miles south of Baghdad last week.

The holy city is home to the tomb of Imam Hussein, and Arbaeen, which takes place a month after Ashoura, is one of the worlds largest religious events. The final stage traditionally involves several days of walking from Basra to Karbala.

 The time to reach a settlement in Iraq is now

Minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, said in response to the attacks: I utterly condemn the shocking attack on a petrol station and restaurant at al-Hilla earlier today, for which Daesh [Isis] has claimed responsibility.

The UK continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the government and people of Iraq in the fight against terrorism. Such an attack shows the desperation of Daesh as they see their so-called caliphate crumble around them.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of those who have been killed and injured in such a horrific act.

Around 25,000 security forces members were deployed to guard both pilgrims and the shrine itself in the town south of Baghdad, but many have since returned to the front lines in the six-week-old coalition operation to retake the northern city of Mosul.

This years commemoration passed with fewer violent incidents than have been seen previously.
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Isis militants fleeing from Syria as their so-called caliphate crumbles could potentially use chemical weapons when they return to their countries of origin, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has warned.

It seems that one of the dangers that we need to face and have a response for - since Isis has learnt how to make mustard gas - is that sadly one of the people who learnt how to do it comes back to one of our countries and helps carry out an attack like this, Philippe Denier, director at the verification division of the OPCW told a defence conference in Paris on Wednesday.

Intelligence services suspect that Isis has used sites all over Iraq and Syria to manufacture rudimentary versions of sulfur-mustard blister agents, which are banned under international law.

Mustard gas is a powerful irritant that targets the skin, eyes and airways, and can kill in large enough or highly concentrated enough amounts. Symptoms can take up to 24 hours to appear.

An October inquiry from the global chemical weapons watchdog and the UN found that Isis had used the weapon on civilians.

After rockets containing traces of mustard gas were used on US troops in northern Iraq in September, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the US Senates Armed Services Committee that while Isis capabilities are currently rudimentary the attack was a concerning development.

No one was harmed in the incident, but a new analysis this week from IHS Markit, a London-based intelligence analyst firm, found that there is a high risk Isis will use chemical agents on civilians and coalition forces as the battle for control of the Isis-held Iraqi city of Mosul intensifies.

In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

Mosul previously served as a major chemical weapons production centre for Isis, the group said, but most of the materials for making chlorine and mustard gas have been moved to the groups de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria ahead of the fighting.

Isis has used its crude chemical weapons at least 52 times to date, IHS Markit said.

Last month, the EUs Security Commissioner Julian King warned that the huge military operation to remove the group from its last Iraqi stronghold could spark an exodus of fighters back to European countries, increasing the risk of terror attacks.
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Israeli authorities have revived plans to build hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in Israel-annexed East Jerusalem, a move which a leading charity says has been encouraged by the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency.

The political significance of this action is that it is the first plan to be promoted since the US elections, Betty Herschman of Ir Amim, an NGO that seeks to uphold the rights of both Jewish and Arab Jerusalemites, said on Wednesday.

The plan for 500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood in East Jerusalem of about 20,000 people, had been on hold since 2014.

Meir Turjeman, chairman of the Jerusalem municipality planning committee, said earlier in November that the municipality intends to authorise thousands of housing units that had been frozen.

When contacted by reporters the Jerusalem municipality downplayed the significance of the new units, saying the plans were not new and were approved years ago - but the decision has nonetheless been interpreted as a sign of things to come by pro-Palestinian activists.

The UNs Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov also told the Security Council that he found the development part of an increasingly worrying trend, urging construction to be halted.

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

The situation on the ground is changing steadily, dangerously, as proponents of Israeli settlement expansion feel emboldened, internal divisions among Palestinians flare up, and the prospect of a future Palestinian state comes under threat like never before, Mr Mladenov said.

Mr Trumps election victory was welcomed by Israeli right-wingers who believe he will be more sympathetic to Israeli causes than outgoing president Barack Obama.

On the campaign trail, the President-elect suggested he would recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital, and David Friedman, his advisor on Israeli affairs, suggested in October that Mr Trump does not have much faith in a two-state solution and is not critical of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

 Pro-Palestine protest turns violent at UCL student Israeli society

Apart from an initial congratulatory message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mostly stayed quiet about the upcoming change of administration in the US.

After several comments from ministers on the idea of a Palestinian state and praise for Mr Trumps chief strategist, who is accused of anti-semitic comments, Mr Netanyahu told members of the government earlier this week that all contact with Mr Trumps team must first go through his office.

Israel settlement building over the Green Line of 1967 is viewed as illegal by the international community, and remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks in any peace talks in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

AFP contributed to this report
Blog Hinangai

While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.
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Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes in the northern Israeli city of Haifa as wildfires tear across the region.

Huge plumes of smoke in places blocked out the sun as police, firefighters, two search and rescue army units and 500 called-up military reservists grappled with the fierce fires on Thursday.

While there have been no serious injuries reported, dozens of people have been hospitalised for smoke inhalation and 60,000 residents in eight neighbourhoods ordered to evacuate their homes.

Our whole apartment is full of smoke and Im worried about how the furniture and our possessions will be affected, evacuated Haifi resident Yael Hamer told The Independent. Im lucky, we are lucky that we are OK. Were staying with relatives tonight, she said.

This has never happened before and I hope to God it is the first and last time.

The severe fires have caused unprecedented damage to Israels third-largest city since they started on Tuesday.

We are in the middle of a war against fire  normally its a war against other things, Yoram Levy, Haifa's Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson said. It will take a long time to extinguish the spots that are still burning.

The city of Haifa strengthened its firefighting capabilities after bushfires killed 42 people in 2010, but authorities are still struggling to contain the unprecedented blazes

The last big blaze we had was in 2010 but this is nothing like that. The fires are all over the place and we suspect they have started because of arson.

Israel's police chief Roni Alsheich echoed Mr Levys claim, telling reporters that politically motivated arsonists were suspected of setting or fanning some of the fires and arrests had been made.

The blazes started at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Jews and Arabs live together, and later erupted elsewhere near Jerusalem and in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov, police said.

Right-wing Minister for Education Naftali Bennett angered many by writing on Twitter on Wednesday night that the fires could only have been started by someone who this land does not belong to.

He went on to call the suspected arson terrorism in every sense of the word at a media conference on Thursday.

 Analysis: Israel should compromise on Gaza-bound flotilla

Speaking to The Israel Project, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said that the authorities were responding swiftly to the fires, and there were no security concerns about the blazes reaching nearby oil refineries.

There are about six aircraft which are going to a specific place near a gasoline station around which there is very heavy fire, he said. They succeeded relatively in shutting it down, but to tell you we are facing the end of the matter is not the case.

Haifas residents are unfortunately well practised at dealing with wildfires: the citys security procedures and firefighting capabilities were strengthened after fires that burned for four days in 2010 killed 42 people and were only extinguished with the help of planes sent from the US.

Russia, Cyprus, Turkey, Croatia and Greece have all sent assistance to Haifa this week.

In a phone call on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin for sending two large aircraft to help deal with the wildfires, a sign of the developing closeness between the two countries.
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Many people think that social media has been a boon for grassroots social and political movements, and its easy to understand why. The rise of Facebook, Twitter, and other technologies since the mid-2000s has coincided with an explosive increase in popular uprisings during the same period. Whether it's organising revolutions in Egypt and Iran, tracking Russian troop movements in Ukraine, or providing real-time information to protesters in Sudan, social media is supposed to give activists an edge.

It's a reasonable assumption - and there are indeed many ways in which these new technologies can help. Perhaps most obviously, social media can lower the costs of communicating the crucial where, when, how, and why of protests to large numbers of people, as Twitter did during the 2014 Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine. Other platforms, such as YouTube, can help popularise basic knowledge about how to protest effectively, helping movements build organisational capacity. When physical gatherings are prohibited, digital venues such as Facebook or Reddit can create forums for new, virtual public spheres that are difficult to shut down.

Internet optimists also argue that online venues create space for dialogue in the midst of conflict, presenting policy options to the public and to elites in spite of government censorship. And, of course, the internet allows activists to promote their own narrative, which is particularly important when the mainstream media is controlled by the government.

Yet in spite of this optimism, what is sometimes known as liberation technology is not, in fact, making pro-democracy movements more effective. Its true that we've seen more episodes of mass mobilisation since the rise of digital communications than we did before. But we should note that the stunning rise of nonviolent resistance came long before the internet. The technique has enjoyed widespread use since Gandhi popularised the method in the 1930s. And in fact, nonviolent resistance has actually become less successful compared to earlier, pre-internet times. Whereas nearly 70 per cent of civil resistance campaigns succeeded during the 1990s, only 30 per cent have succeeded since 2010. Why might this be?

There are a few possible reasons. First, as political scientist Anita Gohdes has carefully documented, governments are simply better at manipulating social media than activists. Despite early promises of anonymity online, commercial and government surveillance has made internet privacy a thing of the past. The Russian government, for example, has successfully infiltrated activists communications to anticipate and crush even the smallest protests. These practices are common in democracies too. In the United States, the National Security Agencys warrantless wiretapping programme, or Yahoos collaboration with the US government in harvesting information from its users, are probably just the beginning. Recent reports indicate that local police departments (including in my own city of Denver) monitor social media to harvest data about their districts. While in the past, governments had to devote significant resources to detecting dissidents, today's digital climate encourages people to proudly announce their political, social, and religious beliefs and identities  data that allows law enforcement and security services to target them that much more effectively. Of course, there are ways for people to protect their privacy, but few of these techniques will hold up against a dedicated adversary.

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

Second, the turn to social media among popular movements has degraded the experience of participating. Activists and clicktivists might connect and pay attention to an issue for a short amount of time, but they often fail to engage fully in the struggle. Building trust in marginalised or oppressed communities takes time, effort, and sustained interactions, and this requires routine face-to-face contact over a long period. When movements mobilise without having earned this sense of trust and internal unity, they may be more likely to succumb under pressure. Participating in digital activism can give the impression that one is making a difference, but as internet sceptic Evgeny Morozov argues, creating real change requires far greater dedication and sacrifice.

Third, social media can have a demobilising effect by enabling armed actors to threaten or even coordinate direct violence against activists. For instance, in the midst of the Libyan uprising in 2011, Muammar Gaddafis regime used the countrys mobile phone network to send text messages that ordered people to go back to work. It was a chilling warning that the government was watching  and that failing to comply would have consequences. Political scientists Florian Hollenbach and Jan Pierskalla have found that greater availability of mobile phones in Africa is associated with an increase in violence.

Egyptians demand an end to President Hosni Mubaraks rule at a protest in Cairo in 2011 (Getty)

Conversely, if activists use social media to report violence by security forces, would-be protesters may not show up to the big demonstration the next day. Such reports can therefore carry unintended consequences. Instead of drawing outraged crowds, they may repel many risk-averse participants, leaving the movements hardliners and risk-takers on their own.

This relates to a final important disadvantage: misinformation can spread on social media just as fast (or faster) than reliable information. Reports of Russian trolls manipulating a polarised information environment to influence the recent US elections are a case in point. And misinformation is only compounded by peoples tendency to select news sources that confirm their prior beliefs. The echo chambers so prevalent in social media serve to further divide societies instead of uniting them behind a common cause.

Even those who are well-intentioned and diligent about reading reliable and credentialed news sources can inadvertently cause problems. Seeing the downfall of a tyrant through social media can encourage dissidents in a neighbouring country to rise up in identical fashion. In fact, they may try to prematurely import the tactics and methods they see used successfully elsewhere into their own situation  with disastrous consequences. One need look no further than Libya or Syria to see the danger of this effect. It was easy for activists in those countries to watch the Arab Spring unfold in Tunisia and Egypt and conclude that, if they assembled masses of people in public squares, they too could topple their dictators in a matter of days. This conclusion neglected the years-long mobilisations that preceded the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings and led Libyans and Syrians to be overconfident in the ability of improvised uprisings to succeed nonviolently.

Kurt Weylands study of the 1848 revolutions found that dissidents have been learning the wrong lessons from yesterdays revolution for centuries. But social media almost certainly exacerbates this dilemma by encouraging the diffusion of simplistic snapshots in 140-character doses rather than through studied and methodical analysis.

Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools, wrote journalist Malcolm Gladwell in 2010. And thats a bad thing when it comes to building and sustaining resilient popular campaigns. But instead of seeing the more recent failures as a failure of nonviolent mobilisations, we should adopt a more complex and realistic understanding of the ways in which increased reliance on social media has undermined the success of mass mobilisation. Its not the technique thats broken, necessarily. Its the tools.

 The Washington Post
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Times Higher Education has published its annual "Global University Employability Survey," a ranking of universities that turn out graduates with the best job prospects.

The data was collected from a wide-ranging survey of recruiters and managing directors and based on a variety of weighted factors that can make a graduate employable.

The skills and experiences deemed most important for employability were professional experience, a high degree of specialisation, proficiency in at least two foreign languages, extracurricular activities, an excellent academic record, and graduation from a "top" university.

While universities in the US, the UK, and Japan dominate the top of the ranking, there's also room for institutes in other parts of Europe, North America, and Asia.

Take a look.

21. HEC Paris, France  The French business school specialises in education and research in business management. It scores particularly highly in the 2016 World University Ranking for its international outlook.

20. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan  Like many institutions near the top of the list, Tokyo Tech specialises in science and engineering. Students work as laboratory members, and often collaborate with senior researchers.

19. University of California at Berkeley, US  The public research university is regarded as one of the most prestigious state universities in the US. Its faculty has won 19 Nobel Prizes, mostly in physics, chemistry, and economics.

18. McGill University, Montreal, Canada  One of just three English-language universities in French-speaking Quebec, McGill enrolls roughly 40,000 students. It was established in 1829 as a faculty of medicine, and it continues to specialise in that area.

17. Peking University, Beijing, China  Peking is a member of the C9 league, the group of nine elite universities in China. It counts Mao Zedong, the autocratic founding father of the People's Republic of China, among its alumni.

16. Imperial College London, UK  The college has about 15,000 students and 8,000 staff, and it focuses on science, engineering, medicine, and business.

15. National University of Singapore  Singapore's flagship university spans 17 schools across three campuses. It has particularly strong engineering and technology faculties.

14. University of Toronto, Canada  Founded in 1827, the university offers more than 900 courses to more than 60,000 students. It is known as a centre of innovation and research and was the birthplace for scientific breakthroughs including the discovery of insulin and the invention of the electron microscope.

(Jphillips23/Wikipedia)

13. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology  Founded in 1991, the institute places a particular emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and business management.

12. Columbia University, New York, US  The private Ivy League research university in Manhattan's Upper West Side counts among its alumni Nobel Prize winners including outgoing US President Barack Obama and economist Joseph Stiglitz.

11. Boston University, Massachusetts, US  The private research university offers medical, dental, business, and law degrees through 18 schools and colleges on two urban campuses.

10. University of Tokyo, Japan  The leading research institution has a staff-to-student ratio of just seven, one of the lowest of any university on the list. It is also one of the few universities on our list that primarily offers liberal-arts programmes.

9. Princeton University, New Jersey, US  Princeton is one of the leading Ivy League universities and is acclaimed for both its teaching and its research. It has fewer than 10,000 students, 98% of whom live on campus.

8. Technical University of Munich, Germany  Alumni of the university, which specialises in the natural sciences, include Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine.

7. University of Oxford, UK  Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, with evidence of teaching having taken place as far back as 1096. Its alumni list includes 26 Nobel Prize winners and more than 30 modern world leaders, including Bill Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi.

(Oli Scarff/Getty Images) (Getty)

6. Yale University, Connecticut, US  The prestigious Ivy League research university is one of the few on the list that follows a liberal-arts programme. Undergraduate students follow a curriculum covering humanities and arts, sciences, and social sciences before choosing a departmental major.

5. Stanford University, California, US  Less than an hour's drive from San Francisco, the area near Stanford is known for its entrepreneurial spirit and has become closely associated with the Silicon Valley tech hub.

4. University of Cambridge, UK  The fourth-oldest-surviving university in the world houses 150 faculties across six schools: arts and humanities, biological sciences, clinical medicine, humanities and social sciences, physical sciences, and technology. It is among the best universities in the world for physical and life sciences.

3. Harvard University, Massachusetts, US  One of the most prestigious universities in the world, Harvard has more than 45 Nobel laureates and 30 heads of state among its alumni.

President Drew Faust called the actions 'appalling' (Getty)

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US  Established in 1861, the private research university aims to "further knowledge and prepare students in science, technology and other fields of study that will best benefit the nation and the world today." It lays claim to 85 Nobel laureates and 58 National Medal of Science winners.

1. California Institute of Technology, US  Known as Caltech, the Pasadena campus is renowned as a hub of science and engineering research. It came second overall in the 2016 World University Ranking.

Read more:

 This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed

 How Uber became the world's most valuable startup

 These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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If Mr OLeary really intended to make air travel free within 10 years, the board of Ryanair would despatch him immediately. The reason they tolerate his idiosyncratic management style is because he has turned a small and failing Irish airline into the biggest, most successful low-cost carrier in Europe.

As I wrote earlier this month, between April and September Ryanair made an average of 15 profit per passenger. With ferocious competition between airlines in Europe this winter, it expects to make only 3 a head between October and March.

Some Ryanair passengers will fly nearly free, and will represent a loss for the airline this winter. Looking a week ahead, you can fly from Stansted to Edinburgh for 9.99 most days. With Air Passenger Duty at 13, that means on paper Mr OLeary will be paying over 3 to get you on board  never mind the fuel, aircraft leases, wages, maintenance, airport fees and air navigation charges on the 333 miles between the English and Scottish capitals.

But Dublins answer to Santa is betting that most people will also buy some combination of checked baggage, assigned seating, inflight snacks and drinks, and maybe even a scratch card.

Ancillaries comprise crucial revenue for Ryanair and other low-cost airlines. But fares are even more essential.

So when Michael OLeary said: I have this vision that in the next five-to-10 years the air fares on Ryanair will be free, you have to bear in mind that he was talking to an audience of airport directors. The venue was the Airport Operators Association annual conference in London. By claiming: We will make our money out of sharing the airport revenues, he was making a bid for a slice of the lucrative revenue in the air terminal between check-in and the departure gate.

Ive long held the view that airports are just shopping malls, and Ive therefore never understood why we should be charged for delivering people to shopping malls, he added.

On the spectrum of Ryanair passengers, I think I am probably towards the frugal end, so I thought it would be instructive to look at the flights I have bought over the past year to see how free they are.

There are seven individual flights, from as little as 10 (Copenhagen-Luton, October) to as much as 172 (Rome-Stansted, May).

Crucially, I did not turn up for two of them: the 10 flight from the Danish capital, and a 20 hop from Edinburgh to Stansted in August.

Ryanair generally earns more money from no-shows than from real people. If you are unable to take a cheap flight with the airline there is neither opportunity nor incentive formally to cancel. But Mr OLeary did nicely out of the Edinburgh-Stansted flight, since he had to pay neither APD nor the airport per-person fee.

The other flights, in ascending order of cost: 17 from Wroclaw to Stansted in January, 24 from Luton to Copenhagen in August, 42 from Stansted to Biarritz in May and 78 from Bournemouth to Girona, also in May. The average fare for the flights I actually took: 67, which probably represents the actual cost of providing the seat and the staff plus a few measly pounds of profit for Mr OLeary.

Had I checked in a bag, booked priority boarding or bought a sandwich, I dare say he would have achieved that average 15 profit from me. But I believe youre only buying the flying and I am loath to do anything that could multiply the fare.

The only time I checked a bag was from Luton to Copenhagen: that 24 was actually for the Business Plus deal, which includes a 20kg case and even an assigned premium seat (I chose 1A, thank you). Indeed, the reason the Danish capital features twice in my list is because theres been a fares war between easyJet and Ryanair from Luton. Until March 2017, on most days you can find a 10 fare. But after easyJet retires hurt from the route at the end of the winter season, the lowest I can see is 31.

Outrageous profiteering? Hardly, for 600 miles of safe, punctual air travel. But not free. I put Michael OLearys prediction in the same category as his stated mission at the same airport conference: World domination followed by intergalactic domination.
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The main pilots unions, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), had already extended Wednesdays planned single-day strike to Thursday.

So far the strike has led to the cancellation of 1,800 flights, including many long-haul departures - with services from the main Frankfurt hub to cities such as Hong Kong, Johannesburg and San Francisco grounded. Around 215,000 passengers have been affected. Late on Wednesday night, the union said it would ask pilots on domestic and European flights to stop work on Friday. While the third day will not have the same impact as the first two, tens of thousands of passengers are likely to see their flights cancelled.

The union said: The VC regrets the impact on the passengers, cabin crew and ground staff concerned.

Lufthansa said it will do everything possible to keep the impact as low as possible.

The dispute is over a pay claim. The pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) says that its members salaries are lagging behind while Lufthansa makes healthy profits. It is demanding a 20 per cent rise to cover the years from 2012 to 2017. The airline has offered 2.5 per cent.

Lufthansa is facing intense competition from low-cost rivals in Europe and the big Gulf-based airlines: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

The airline said: A special flight schedule for 25 November 2016 will be activated as soon as possible.

Domestic passengers are being urged to travel by train instead. Passengers from Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh whose flights are cancelled may be re-routed on other airlines.

The strike is taking place at a time when there is a reasonable amount of capacity on other carriers. But there are concerns that the pilots may intensify their industrial action in the build-up to the busy Christmas season.

Jorg Handwerg, a member of the unions Executive Board, called the airline uncompromising, saying: Lufthansa management is still showing no movement and has not submitted a negotiable offer.

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We live in perilous times. The demand by millions of people for protection from austerity and globalisation has fuelled support for extreme right-wing parties across the world. The possible election of a far-right party to the French presidency keeps many awake at night. The American President-elect rode the wave of popular insurrection and now poses threats not just to world trade and the global economy, but to global geopolitical security.

Into this dangerous mix, Philip Hammond today announced a cautious programme of fiscal tightening (his own words), with the nation once again repeatedly harangued to live within its means  as if its the fault of taxpayers that the private banking system collapsed in 2007-9, and that since then banking sector weakness, coupled with government-driven austerity, has consistently stalled recovery.

In one welcome change, Philip Hammond will not even try to uphold the rigid neoliberal fiscal rules that George Osborne introduced but failed to enforce. The reason is common sense to all but the Treasury officials and advisers who no doubt helped draft Hammonds speech.

The fiscal stance (or budget balance) cannot and does not depend on fiscal rules. It is entirely dependent on whether activity in the whole economy is up or down. When it is up  when employment, incomes and profits rise and there are no threats from Brexit  the budget deficit falls. When it is down  employment is low, insecure or part-time; when millions are low-paid and earnings are lower than 10 years ago; when firms struggle to borrow, invest and expand; and when Brexit looms  lo, the budget deficit rises.

 In Numbers: Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement

Its not rocket science.

So, the Chancellor should learn to say after me: when the economy is up, the budget deficit is down. When the economy is down, the budget deficit is up. As sure as night follows day.

The task this new Chancellor faces is to get the economy up again, and to stabilise it through the trauma of Brexit. That will take money and investment. Given the insecurity and indecision surrounding Brexit, and given the shortage of civil servants to undertake complex negotiations, it will take Big Money to steer Britain through this rocky period. Instead Chancellor Hammond has promised to continue slashing the very departmental expenditure essential to smooth the path to Brexit. We must conclude that he does not wish to invest in a safe Brexit. He would prefer to Remain.

A measly 23bn will be borrowed for infrastructure investment over five years. That represents less than 0.5 per cent of GDP in each of the years ahead.

To add insult to injury, the OBR reveals that taxpayers will continue to face 27bn of losses from bailing out the largest high street banks, because share prices dropped after the Brexit vote.

Let us not forget the backdrop to this autumn Budget. Brexit  and its economic costs  is itself the consequence not just of leaving banks to self-regulate their activities. It is also a consequence of the quite reckless decision by David Cameron to call a referendum on European membership at a time when many British voters were suffering from falling real incomes, and the wider consequences of austerity. Weak political leadership got us into this mess. And weak economic leadership will leave us mired in it.

Ann Pettifor is director of Prime (Policy Research in Macroeconomics)
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On the surface the new measures to empower a media regulator to block non-compliant porn sites are an extension of existing regulations. In December 2014, a law was sneaked onto the statute books, outlawing the publication of extreme pornography, leading to the memorable face-sitting protest outside Parliament.

The British Board of Film Censorship (BBFC) banned depictions of female ejaculation, menstruation, face-sitting (as well as any other act that might conceivably suffocate someone), fisting, and any form of spanking, whipping or other fetish act that leaves marks.

Of course nobody took any notice because the internet has long provided us with a huge diversity of pornography. Ban the publication of certain types of porn in the UK and it simply moves overseas.

Recommended We are now following a British version of Trumponomics

Finally the government have got round to amending this loophole. Under the digital economy bill, internet service providers will be forced to block sites hosting content that would not be permitted for DVD sale by the BBFC.

These standards are based on a moral judgement by the BBFC rather than law. In fact, all of the above acts are legal for adults above the age of consent. Instead they are based on the old idea that content might deprave and corrupt viewers. This is same test under which the book Lady Chatterleys Lover was prosecuted for obscenity in 1960, in which the prosecutor hilariously asked jurors whether you would wish your wife or servants to read such material.

 We need to talk about porn

In fact, the law will block far more than just extreme porn. It is likely to block any sexual or erotic material, even simple nudity, on sites that dont first verify the ages of their visitors. In practice this will be difficult to enact due to cost, causing millions of sites to be blocked.

But this isnt much about porn at all  it is about censorship. Although only sexual material is covered in this phase of the Bill, regulators have already muttered about other threats to society. The BBFC already censors far more than pornography. For example, it will cut DVD works that promote the misuse of drugs or actively promote illegal behaviour.

The UK has created an official censor with the power to block sites based upon the legality of their content. Pirating sites have long been blocked because they offer illegal services, but now the government is banning sites based upon their content: fetish pornography which is illegal for distribution, but not for mutually consenting adults to perform. Piracy sites have long been blocked via court orders, but this regime will circumvent the court system, giving the undemocratic BBFC the power to threaten online freedom of expression.

Under the Snoopers Charter the government can access out browser history and now under the digital economy bill, theyll be able to control what we see. First theyll come for your porn and who knows what theyll come for next.

Jerry Barnett is the founder of the Sex & Censorship campaign, and author of Porn Panic!
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Ive just visited the hiding place of some troublesome refugees who should make Donald Trump very angry. Its not the first time Ive called at the little house on the old canal, but you only have to glance at the familys papers to see how they fall under Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric. They fled a dangerous country full of extremists a nation which threatened its own neighbours  and they sought their first new home for economic reasons. Worse still, they even tried to enter the United States. They were turned away  on the grounds that even if they had good reason to flee their persecutors, they didnt have good enough reason to choose America as their place of refuge.

No, theyre not Syrians or Turkmens or Yazidis or Afghans, although the younger daughter of the family was reading a book about Palestine and was very much a member of a persecuted race. She was, of course, Anne Frank, the German Jewish girl who with her family fled the Nazis in 1933 and was given sanctuary in Holland  until Germany invaded the Low Countries in 1940 and she found herself under the rule of her own vicious country all over again. By 1941, her father Otto  realizing that the Nazis had in store for Jews in Holland the very same fate that was already being perpetrated against the Jews of Germany  sought visas to the United States. And the door was slammed in their face.

 Trump: We're going to deport millions

Yup, I do wonder what the Trump administration would have done.

Anne Franks diary was the first book my mother wanted me to read on my own (without having it read to me) and this wonderful narrative of childhood-growing-into-adulthood, of fear and love and joy and fury  especially at the other refugees crowded into the family hiding-place behind Ottos office on the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam  has stayed with me all my life. With other people too. It has been translated into 70 languages. Its even been translated into Arabic. Officials at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam tell me, sadly, that  despite its awful relevance  they sell only about one copy a month in the Arabic language.

No matter. So powerful, so tragic and so relevant is Annes story to us today  and that of her mother Edith and her elder sister Margot and the others squeezed into the secret annex in Prinsegracht  one of them a boy called Peter van Pels with whom Anne is slowly falling in love  that queues stand round the block in the cold Amsterdam rain to take their turn to walk up the stairs behind the false bookcase to see where these frightened Jewish men, women and children lived until, two years after they first hid here, the Gestapo arrived. You can still see  its so genuine, it allows of no cliches  the newspaper photographs of 1930s film stars (Ray Milland, Deanna Durbin, Ginger Rogers) and of a very young Princess Elizabeth of England (plus sister Margaret and corgis) and of the Dutch royal family in exile whose nationality Anne wished to adopt after the war and whose pictures she glued to the wall of her room.

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The Dutch nation would certainly have been more loyal to her than the Americans. Otto sought help for US visas from friends who were relatives of those who owned Maceys department store. He had two brothers-in-law in the States. He wrote of the plight of his wife and two daughters. The State Department was not interested. Otto even pleaded for Cuban visas. He got one  on 1st December 1941  but it was cancelled a week later when Germany declared war on the US after Pearl Harbour. Thus did Japan as well as Hitler and the Americans join hands to doom the refugees on the Prinsengracht Canal. Roosevelts US  and Democratic  administration did a Trump on the Frank family.

To add to the travails of refugeedom, Nazi Germany had already deprived German Jews of their own citizenship  so the Franks, originally  and legally  in exile in Holland, also became stateless under their own countrys occupiers. Stateless? Economic migrants? Illegal migrants in Holland now that their German passports were invalid? What earthly chance did they have?

Each time I read Anne Franks diary  and reader, if you havent read it, make up for lost time, as they say, and do so  I find something new which I missed on my previous journey through her pages. She wanted to be a writer. She wanted to turn her diary into a novel called The Secret Annex. And she wrote, on May 11th 1944, my greatest wish is to become a journalist one day. You cant beat that.

I find that one day she is about to read a book called Palestine at the Crossroads. Although she does not say so, it was published in 1937 by a Jewish writer called Ladislas Farago  an author I read many years later when he wrote a best-selling biography of General Patton  which is a rather plodding pro-Zionist book, put together after Farago visited, rather indifferently, the old British Mandate. Ive read bits of it. I doubt if it would have persuaded Anne to help found the state of Israel, had she lived long enough to do so, for she was wedded to European culture and wanted to live among the Dutch and return to school with their children. She waited with childish excitement for her liberation, recording in her diary the joy of learning about the Allied landings at D-Day, writing movingly of the plight of the crew of an RAF bomber which she sees  through the secret office skylight  shot down over Amsterdam.

But then  and her story sometimes seems to have the inevitability of Greek tragedy about it  her family was betrayed and three members of the Dutch Nazi Party and an Austrian (and therefore Reich) SS officer came storming up the staircase behind the false bookshelves on 4th August 1944. And that was the end of all of them. Except for Otto. He was eventually freed from Auschwitz by the Soviet army and travelled slowly back to Amsterdam to find that his family were dead. Edith died in Auschwitz, Margot and Anne at Bergen-Belsen, both of typhus. Anne, now 15 years old, died last. An old school friend says she caught sight of Anne in her last days and threw food to her over the camp barbed wire.

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Annes was one of tens of thousands of corpses piled into the mass graves of Belsen. Even if he cant find the time to fly his private jet into Schipol airport and visit the little house on the old 17th century Amsterdam canal, Donald Trump could at least read Anne Franks diary. Its a short book. Its by a child, and is therefore easy to read. Its by a Jewish girl, who asks at one point why God has visited such terrors upon her people. Just as refugees today seek to know why God has forsaken them.

Four Dutch citizens helped Anne and her family and friends throughout their two years of solitude, at daily risk of their lives. They said later that it was a natural thing to do. Odd, that. Because today we are supposed to find it unnatural to help these people. I guess thats Trumps view. Yet in the streets around the Prinsengrach this week  after all the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have arrived in Europe, and just 72 years after the Gestapo came to Annes hiding place round the corner, I found small cafes whose Dutch owners had written on their front doors the words: Refugees welcome.
Headlines about the UK slashing its corporation tax rate to below 15pc could be interpreted as another nail in the coffin of the competitive tax advantage Ireland has enjoyed in attracting foreign multi-national investment over many decades. But this "promise" from British Prime Minister Theresa May has to be seen in the context of a series of flip flops she has done since the Brexit referendum.

Here are four salient facts about Mrs May's tax promise.

1. Context

It was delivered in a speech to business leaders in the UK, the aim of which was to strike a more conciliatory tone and combat their uncertainty about the future. In the same speech she gave the impression she was open to reaching some kind of transition arrangement with the EU after the Brexit process in order to make the changeover smoother for companies. Yet, she didn't go as far as saying she would actually look for a transition deal in the negotiations.

She committed to increasing funding for research by 2bn (2.3bn) a year, but also watered down a commitment to have worker representatives placed on the boards of companies.

Overall, the speech was neither here nor there but made up of what the prime minister may or may not do.

2. UK corporation tax today

The UK's corporation tax rate is 20pc, having been brought down by the David Cameron-led Tory government. There is already a commitment to reduce it to 17pc by 2020. Mrs May did not put a time frame on her promise to deliver the lowest rate of the G20 economies. It was a promise easily given, but as a policy it might be more difficult to deliver.

3. Uncertainty

Nobody has a clue, including Mrs May, about what the position of the British economy and exchequer funding will be after Brexit is complete. Right now it isn't even clear whether the economy will have access to the European single market or whether the City of London will lose its EU financial passporting rights. Her Cabinet is split on many of these issues.

This will all have a significant bearing on what the UK will be able to afford to do in 2020.

4. Is it affordable?

Less than a month ago the British government gave a secret commitment to the Nissan car company that it would not be disadvantaged in any way by Brexit in return for an assurance that it would proceed with an investment to manufacture the new Qashqai range of cars in the UK.

If the UK loses the single market, this will be an enormous blank cheque to Nissan and a raft of other manufacturers in other sectors which will seek a similar assurance.

The UK has been incredibly stable in its treatment of corporation tax in the overall mix of taxes. Last year it took in around 47bn (55bn) in Corporation Tax or 9pc of all tax collected. In 1980, Corporation Tax accounted for 9pc of all the tax collected. Cutting the rate to 14pc on the same profitability levels as last year, would leave a fresh hole in the exchequer of around 14bn (16,6bn).

Presumably, the plan is that a lower rate would attract more inward investment and increase the pot of corporate profits to be taxed at the lower rate. But when it comes to Brexit, can that really be assured?

There are very real dangers for Ireland from a very competitive UK Corporation Tax rate. And it is set to be very competitive regardless of the May promise this week.

The biggest danger for Ireland is that we are so dependent on just a handful of big multi-nationals for so much of our corporation tax.

Last year the Revenue took in 6.8bn in corporation tax in Ireland. Foreign multinationals account for 80pc of that. The top 10 companies pay out 41pc of it.

This is an enormous concentration of risk with just a handful of corporations. If they pulled the plug, the cost would be enormous. However, we can take some comfort from the scale of the investments the top 10 companies have made in Ireland. They wouldn't pull the plug that easily.

Also, job announcements in the UK in recent weeks have boosted the message that the UK won't suffer that badly after Brexit. I think this is a myth.

Commentators point to Facebook's announcement this week of a major expansion of its UK operations with the creation of 500 new jobs. This will bring its staff numbers to 1,500 in the UK.

Google recently announced a 3,000 job expansion in the UK by 2020. Amazon has also announced new jobs recently. But you have to ask, what these new employees will be doing in these jobs.

Many of the jobs announcements are about serving the UK market of 65 million people. Why wouldn't successful growing tech giants need to hire a lot more people in such a significant market and one of the richest countries in the world?

The other element to those UK job announcements was around R&D and technology. Mrs May's commitment to increase state funding for research by 2bn (2.3bn) a year lays down a real marker, which could affect Ireland's tech aspirations more than the lower corporation tax rate.

We want Ireland to be a place where techies develop new businesses and we can attract the most talented people. Global companies want to locate high-end research jobs in places where they know there is a large talent pool. London fits that bill, with or without Brexit.

Interpreting Mrs May's comments on Brexit has become so difficult that a credibility deficit is developing there. Ms May has gone from backing a Remain vote in the referendum, to signalling a hard Brexit with immigration control at its core and then from castigating big business for excess and bad practices, to sucking up to them with promises of corporate taxes of below 15pc.

If she is serious about fulfilling the mandate of all of those people who voted for Brexit, I am not sure how many of them would feel about her promising to slash corporate taxes to under 15pc.

Unfortunately, there are genuine major forces stacking up against Ireland's tax advantage. But some of the tax avoidance facilitated by us has been far too aggressive anyway. We have been asking for trouble.

Ireland has played a clever game in moving in conjunction with the OECD's international BEPs reform process, but that doesn't look like going far enough for some in Berlin, Brussels, London and now Washington.

The tax game is moving. The deeper threats to Ireland's economy will come from risks to the Eurozone itself, a massive Brexit blow to indigenous industries in key sectors such as food and the possibility that if Britain really does make a mess of Brexit from a trade point of view, we will be badly hit in the crossfire.

As for headlines about Trump and May delivering corporation tax rates of 15pc, I will believe it when I see it.
Banco Popular Espanol SA, the beleaguered Spanish lender whose shares have dropped two-thirds this year, is struggling to achieve the financial terms it set out for a 6bn spinoff of real-estate assets, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Popular, which is working with Deutsche Bank AG, is finding it difficult to finalise financing with potential lenders and some global investment banks have already declined to participate, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Four institutions have nevertheless made a preliminary commitment to support the deal and Popular has hired a chairman and a chief executive officer for the new company, another person familiar with matter said.

Popular, for its part, said it will meet its goal of completing the spinoff during the first quarter of next year.

"Popular announced as a result of the capital increase carried out in June that it would create an independent company to manage non-producing assets," the bank said in an e-mailed statement. "This is a project that is in its final stage and will be completed within the foreseen timeframe already known to the market."

A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The bank plans to create a new company to hold non-performing real-estate assets that have been weighing down its balance sheet since Spain's property market crash.

Popular plans to hand over the new unit's stock to its existing shareholders before listing the company in 2017.

"The bank is running against the clock to deliver on its plan, because there will be a new round of consolidation and at current valuations it will be hard for it to continue as an independent player," said Jose Ramon Iturriaga, a Madrid-based fund manager at Abante Asesores Gestion, where he manages 250m of assets including Popular stock.

The holding company would use both a senior loan of more than 2bn and subordinated debt to acquire the real-estate assets, the people said. While the bank may still be able to carry out the transaction, significant changes to the terms could further erode investor confidence, the people said.

Chairman Angel Ron is under increasing pressure at Popular after the 2.5bn share sale in June failed to reassure investors the bank won't need more capital. The stock is the worst performer in the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index over the past three months.

The Spanish banking industry is poised for another round of consolidation, banking executives have said, and the pace of mergers may accelerate after a new government took office last month. Popular is increasingly seen as a potential takeover target.

(Bloomberg)
The First Amendment was to protect the Protestant religion. The God of the Bible is the God of the Protestant religion. The First Amendment is not about interfering with an individual's right to express themselves. The First Amendment is about the preventing the federal government from any involvement in any regard with the First Amendment or the Bill of Rights. The only reason the First Amendment's religious clauses exists is because of the preservation of the Protestant Religion and preventing one Protestant religion from having an advantage from federal government over another Protestant Religion. The God of the Bible is the foundation of the First Amendment's religious clauses.
The continuing success of Mullingar's Harbour Place Shopping Centre is set to be enhanced further by the imminent arrival to the scheme of the hugely-popular fashion and gift wear specialists, Carraig Donn.

The Mayo-based retailer has just signed a 10-year lease with letting agents CBRE on a 213 sq m (2,300 sq ft) unit at the centre with a view to opening for business there in early December.

Commenting on the agreement with Carraig Donn, CBRE Senior Director of Retail Bernadine Hogan said: "It falls in line with our strategy to obtain good quality offerings for Harbour Place. We look forward to confirming further new store openings within the scheme in the near future".

Carraig Donn managing director, Pat Hughes, said: "Trading at Carraig Donn has gone from strength to strength in recent times, and this latest store opening forms part of a nationwide investment of 1m in new and refurbished stores. We're excited to open our Mullingar outlet just in time for the busy Christmas period."

Harbour Place Shopping Centre occupies a key location in the largest urban centre in county Westmeath. Major employers in Mullingar include Capmark, FBD Insurance, Trend Technologies and Lidl Distribution Centre.

While Westmeath has a relatively high retail density, that measurement doesn't take into account its drive-time catchment, which sees it attract shoppers from its neighbouring counties. The Harbour Place Shopping Centre's catchment population is estimated to be in the region of 54,500, with visitors from Mullingar, Longford, Tullamore, Edenderry, Trim and Kells.

The scheme is anchored by Dunnes Stores and is home to a mix of tenants including Boots, Peter Mark, Holland & Barrett and Carphone Warehouse. Remaining units are available for immediate occupation and range in size from 52 sq m (562 sq ft) to 59 sq m (630 sq ft), and are suitable for a variety of uses, subject to planning permission where applicable.
A planning application for a massive pig farm in Newtownabbey that will house 15,000 animals has been approved - despite vocal protests from local residents.

The application for the operation on Rea Hill Road in Newtownabbey was made by farmer Derek Hall, who had originally suggested a facility that could accommodate 30,000 animals.

Furious opponents filled the chamber and protested outside, with some residents confronting councillors who supported the farm.

Among those who had objected to the plan were Queen guitarist and animal welfare campaigner Brian May, and actors Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove.

The charity Animal Aid had also claimed that up to 17,000 pigs would be kept in cramped conditions.

At a planning committee meeting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council last night, nine members voted in favour, with two DUP members voting against.

Ulster Unionist Roderick Swann, who backed the proposal, said: "I'm a farmer myself who supports the agri-industry and I was quite satisfied that all the necessary welfare issues were addressed.

"The planning case officer and all the consultees were quite happy with everything that was proposed."

Asked if he understood the strong opposition, Mr Swann said: "I can and I can't. There was an awful lot of 'not in my back yard', with lots of emails flying through.

"But these people are all farm quality assured, the pigs are well looked after. To get a quality assurance accreditation is very tight."

As well as animal welfare issues, protesters said they were concerned over excessive noise and smell.

"I myself was in Germany to see the system and I can tell you I was standing six inches from the external wall and could only smell wood. I also put my ear to the wall an only heard an odd snort," he said.

Mr Swann said he wanted celebrity activists such as Mr May not to interfere.

"I would say simply keep your nose out of it. I'm a farmer myself for 50 years and I understand farming," he said.

"A lot of these animal rights folks, they're entitled to their opinion, but I think they're on the wrong track sometimes. This will be the most modern pig farm, not a factory, not only in Ireland but also Great Britain."

The DUP's John Smyth and party colleague Thomas Hogg cast the only opposing votes.

"My objections were that I felt the experts weren't always right," said Mr Smyth. "I was undecided till tonight when I heard the arguments for and against.

"Bringing such a large development of slurry to the side of a hill I think is going to be dangerous for the future. Also, I have concerns how it will be produced year after year. I have grave concerns.

"I wouldn't like it on my front door, and a lot of people are concerned. It will definitely smell. People say it will be odour free, but there's no such thing as an odour free system. There are animal welfare concerns."

Mr Smyth added that a judicial review was possible but was sceptical as "ordinary people don't have the type of money for that".
Andy Cullen and his partner Joanne Meade were left devastated when two of their pet husky dogs were shot after breaking into a farmer's field in Kildare.

The two, who run the Dublin Husky Rescue from Andy's home near Friarstown, Kildare, say they have been left numb after losing their two pets.

"Joanne saw that the dogs had broken through the fence around our house on Tuesday and rang me immediately. I rang the farmer who owns the land and told him I was on my way to get the dogs.

"He said that he already had people chasing the dogs and that one of them had a gun."

But, by the time Andy got to the field it was too late. "When I drove down to the field it was too late. The two dogs were laid out dead. They had been shot.

"I know sheep worrying is a problem for farmers, but I would have taken them to the vet and euthanised them. I don't know why they could not have been held until I got there."

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Andy and Joanne kept seven huskies as pets, as well as providing a home to approximately 40 huskies at any one time. "We had seven pet huskies until Tuesday, when we lost Sabre and Rua. They were family to us."

IFA National Sheep Chairman John Lynskey said that while a farmer is within their rights to shoot any dog worrying sheep on their land it's not a policy the IFA promotes. "We promote dog owners to act responsibly," he said.

He also said any farmer who comes across sheep attacking or worrying sheep can shoot the dogs. He also said that in such an instance a farmer must report the shooting to the Gardai within 24 hours.
It was a venture into the unknown for Padraic Niland when the Texel breed arrived on his farm in south Galway more than half a century ago.

The first 20, mostly female, Texels imported into the country from the Netherlands had been dispersed to the Department of Agriculture farms at Athenry and Raphoe after completing months of quarantine on Spike Island (Cork), which was the routine procedure for all livestock imports at the time.

Padraic's farm at Kinvara was not far from the Department's centre at Athenry and he became one of the first 15 farmers to purchase breeding stock from the second importation of the breed later the same year.

His purchase of four ewes and a ram cost him 550, but it was an investment which he has never been regretted, reaping a return many fold, and he has become the only original purchaser of the breed in the country to maintain Texel on his farm continuously to this day.

Padraic, who has a flock of 80 breeding ewes on his farm at Chessy, Kinvara has been honoured by the society for his loyalty to the breed, his guidance and his contribution to the progression and development of the Irish Texel Sheep society over the decades.

Four more of the original purchasers of the breed, Donal Mee, Roscommon, John Donohoe, Kilkenny, Michael Murray and Sean Brennan, Roscommon also received presentations.

Expand Close Four of the original Texel flock owners - Lorraine Brennan, Michael Murray, John Donohoe and Donal Mee - were honoured at the recent Irish Texel Sheep Society 40th anniversary celebrations / Facebook

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Whatsapp Four of the original Texel flock owners - Lorraine Brennan, Michael Murray, John Donohoe and Donal Mee - were honoured at the recent Irish Texel Sheep Society 40th anniversary celebrations

Padraic's involvement with the breed outside the farm gate, included an immense contribution to the building of the Irish Texel Sheep Society of which he served as National Chairman between 1984-1986, one of the strongest period of growth in membership, when numbers increased from 60 breeders in 1980 to its peak at 350 by 1993.

The success of his own flock was equally impressive over the years.

He is on record for having achieved a "rosette of some colour" from each day he spent in the showing ring at local and national Texel shows over a long period with some years of exceptional achievement.

He held the record for the highest price ram for a period of 20 years from 1979 for a champion ram lamb that realised 3,500 gns. In 2002, he swept the boards at Blessington, taking first and second rosettes in open ram lamb title, first and second LMI ram lamb titles, second prize hogget ram, overall champion, overall reserve champion and champion group of three.

Expand Close Padraic Niland, pictured with his wife Margaret, received a presentation for being the longest-serving breeder of Texel sheep in the society / Facebook

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Whatsapp Padraic Niland, pictured with his wife Margaret, received a presentation for being the longest-serving breeder of Texel sheep in the society

The same year he showed the RDS supreme champion, the champion ram at the Athenry sale and the champion ram at Roscommon in a truly exceptional year for the flock.

In 2009, he showed the female champion, the reserve female champion and reserve male champion at the society premier show.

The All-Ireland champion female was sold for 10,000 to the United Kingdom. The ewe went on to breed the Royal Welsh champion and the Royal Highfield show champion.

His collection of awards at the annual premier sale, includes a total of six male champion titles, seven reserve male champions, three reserve female champions and two reserve female champions, and bred two RDS champions, three RDS reserve champions, three Tullamore champions, six All-Ireland champions, three reserve champions, two flock champion titles, and three reserve flock champion titles.

The trail of success for the flock is now being followed by his son, Gerard who has become actively involved in following his father's footsteps and was recipient of the overall champion title at the 2016 All-Ireland Texel show in Dundalk.
AIB boss Bernard Byrne has said he expects the changes made to the Central Bank's mortgages rules to spur "necessary price increases" to entry-level houses across the country.

Mr Byrne was speaking at the Oireachtas Finance Committee where he said the move introduced by Governor Philip Lane will have a positive impact on the market.

One of the comments would have come from construction was prices were too low to justify development of new builds.

I think theres an element of pricing for first-time buyers that will have to rise in order to attract supply into the marketplace, Mr Byrne told the committee.

The Central Bank announced changes to its mortgage lending rules for first-time buyers on Wednesday that means those taking their initial step on the property ladder will need to raise 10pc of the purchase price.

This differs from previous rules introduced by the States financial regulator last year, which meant first-time buyers were required to save 10pc of the purchase price up to a maximum of 220,000 and 20pc of the balance thereafter.

Mr Byrne praised the amendments to the rules and said it was likely to have a positive impact on the sector.

In a wide ranging session executives from AIB, including head of financial solutions Jim OKeefe and retail, corporate, and business banking MD Robert Mulhall, faced questions on the number of cases in arrears, its high level of non-performing loans, and its participation in solving the housing crisis.

Mr Byrne told the committee that 14 mortgage holders had lost their homes on account of not having the right tracker rate attached to their home loans.

Around 2,600 mortgage account holders have been written to after being overcharged on their loans, the AIB boss said. The bank, which is 99.9pc owned by the State, has set aside 190m to cover the costs after the bank denied thousands of customers a tracker rate.

In an attempt to right size the positions of customers in arrears, Mr Byrne said the bank had written off 1.3bn in mortgage debt since 2008.

We have about 37,000 mortgage structures in place we have about 13,000 customers past due in our private dwelling, which points to a still very significant number of customers in difficulty, Mr OKeefe told the committee.

Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said it was criminal in the extreme the bank had not acted in an aggressive way to use the 569 vacant houses on its books to address the housing crisis.

We have made available the full listing of 500 properties through the Housing Agency at this point and were working very actively to make sure we see those through to the agency, Mr OKeefe said.

Mr Byrne said the banks performance in the summers Europe-wide stress tests made it obvious that it needed to address its non-performing loans.

The banks chief executive also said his institution is ready for a Government decision on the sale of the bank, which will be decided up on finance minister Michael Noonan.

The protracted public listing of the bank has continually been delayed, most recently due to economic factors such as Donald Trump and Brexit that have led to uncertainty in global markets.
Dublin-based aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital will continue to size up potential acquisitions but ceo Peter Barrett said the company "won't pursue growth for growth's sake".

He was speaking to the Irish Independent as the company - one of the world's top five aircraft leasing firms - reported profits of $142.9m (135m) for the first half of its financial year, a 29.6pc increase on the corresponding period in 2015.

Its revenue rose 19.2pc to $502.8m in the latest period.

SMBC Aviation Capital has a fleet that includes 273 owned aircraft, and an additional 180 managed jets. Between those aircraft and orders, the company has a fleet of 669 aircraft.

Mr Barrett said that the sector remained strong globally, despite challenges such as Brexit that might impact locally.

"We have customers all over the world and the numbers reflect that," he said. "The numbers reflect two things: we're growing our business with modern aircraft that bring in higher revenues, and also we've continued to actively trade aircraft, selling some of our older aircraft. It's quite a good environment at the moment."

SMBC Aviation Capital is owned by a consortium of Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, and Sumitomo Corporation.

It's currently about the world's fourth-largest jet leasing company by portfolio size.

But it will be overtaken early next year following the completion of a takeover by Dublin-based Avolon of the jet leasing business of CIT Group.

Avolon sealed a deal in October to pay $10bn (9.49) for that business. It will effectively double the size of Avolon, which was co-founded by and is headed by Domhnal Slattery, to having a fleet of over 900 operational and on-order aircraft. Avolon is part of Bohai Leasing, which is owned by China's HNA conglomerate.

SMBC Aviation Capital is among the companies that ran the rule over the CIT business, but Mr Barrett declined to confirm that.

"As one of the biggest players in the market, things will always be brought to our attention," he said."We continue to look at whatever opportunities there are. While we look at ones that make sense for us, we're not going to pursue growth for growth's sake alone."

He said that if SMBC Aviation Capital sees the right thing in terms of "strategy, portfolio and all those types of things" that it would look at any relevant opportunity.

He said corporate activity in the leasing sector, including consolidation, will remain a feature of the business.

"I've always been of the view that it's likely to continue," he said.

"The pace and nature of it will vary. There will be corporate activity in the next 12 months [in the sector]. Some of those things might be IPOs, some might be consolidation and some might be just change of ownership.

"I think a lot will depend on the seller and the nature of what they're trying to achieve."
Irish public relations firm Murray Consultants posted a 627,000 pre-tax profit last year, up from just over 355,000 in 2014, newly-filed accounts for the business show.

The firm - one of Ireland's biggest PR outfits - also paid a 650,000 dividend in the period to shareholders, who include managing director Pat Walsh and Pauline McAlester. Mr Walsh is the single biggest shareholder.

The company had paid a 470,000 dividend in the previous financial year, when operating profits were close to 1m.

Turnover at the business rose 11pc last year to 4.8m.

Clients include State Street, Grafton Group, Tullow Oil, and Kingspan. It also secured work this year with The Referendum Commission, Ulster Bank, Digicel, Hammerson and Centre Parcs.

Mr Walsh said he was "very pleased" with the 2015 performance and that the underlying performance was stronger than the profit figure suggests, given that the firm incurred substantial investment expenditure last year. "Growth has continued post year end and based on current trading we anticipate an even stronger 2016," he said.

Investment by the firm last year included costs associated with the relocation of its office within Dublin city centre, and acquiring a new digital and creative services team. It also spent money developing its presence in London - all part of a 1.5m investment programme initiated by Mr Walsh.

The firm employs about 40 people. Its wages and salaries bill last year rose 13pc to 2.1m.

Accounts for the business note that the improving economy has seen a "noticeable uptick" in brand and consumer assignments, and digital and creative services.

"Investment in these areas over recent years leaves Murray well-placed to benefit from a very welcome return to favour of integrated services, ensuring client communications are aligned and consistent across platforms and stakeholders," the directors' notes add.
Luther Helland stood on a platform in the middle of the river and surveyed his dam. It was in bad shape. Several of the panels that kept the water back were missing, while others were out of true. Weeks of work stretched before him, compounded by the vagaries of the river.

Mr. Helland, 37, is master of Lock and Dam No. 52 on the Ohio River. He is responsible for billions of dollars worth of cargo; the operation of scores of mills, power plants, refineries and thousands of farms; and the livelihoods of millions of people.

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Built in 1929, Lock No. 52 sits in a quiet corner of Southern Illinois that happens to be the busiest spot on Americas inland waterways, where traffic from the eastern United States meets and passes traffic from the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River. More than 80 million tons of grain, coal, fuel and other goods  worth over $22 billion  move through here each year.

It wouldnt seem like it, but this is more stressful than when I was in the military, said Mr. Helland, a farm boy from Wisconsin who worked as an Army welder and machinist in Korea before he took this job.

This solitary lock and dam is a serious bottleneck in innumerable supply chains nationwide. The average delay at No. 52 in October and November was 15 to 20 hours. At the moment, No. 52s sister dam downriver, No. 53, is adding 48 more hours to the wait.

Dealing with both dams, it can take five days to travel just 100 miles on this stretch of the Ohio River. And if something goes wrong at either one  which does happen  the delay can build to a week or more. On Sept. 14, for instance, all river traffic stopped for an additional 15 hours while emergency repairs were made to No. 52s dam.

Lock No. 52 is emblematic of the nations crumbling transportation infrastructure coast to coast  from locks to ports to highways to railroads. President-elect Donald J. Trump has said he will spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, but how the money will be raised remains unclear. To avoid raising taxes or increasing debt, his plan calls for much of the money to come from the private sector, with a proposed tax credit offered in return. Funding might also come from taxes on repatriated money, as companies receive incentives to return cash that they have been accumulating overseas.

Even with a tax credit, though, companies building roads or locks would want a return on their investment  most likely in the form of toll collection, said Mike Toohey, president of the Waterways Council, an advocacy group for the river shipping industry. His industry is not in favor of a toll, he said. Still, he is optimistic that spending on inland waterways will increase under a new administration.

Capt. David Stansbury was in the pilot house of the towboat William Hank, which was tied to a fleet of barges near Metropolis, Ill., waiting for its turn to pass through 52s lock. What would happen if both lanes of Interstate 95 were completely shut down for three or four days? he asked. Youre talking total gridlock in a major metropolitan area  this is the equivalent of that.

Right now, the inland waterways are out of most Americans sights and minds. If 52 does fail, or one of the other locks fails, and you cut off half the United States from their barge traffic, then youll see a public outcry, said Mr. Stansbury. He explained: If corn cannot get to the factories, the price of any grain-based product will go up, and people will say, What do you mean Ive got to pay $10 for a box of cornflakes? Are you out of your mind?

A towboat and its barges need at least nine feet of water to stay afloat. To guarantee this depth from, say, Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill., a distance of 980 miles, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built dams. The dams make pools. Each pool is like a step, climbing from sea level to the Appalachians, say, or St. Paul. To get from one step to another, boats use water elevators, called locks, that raise anything that floats from one pool to another. Before the locks and dams, many rivers in the United States were low enough to walk across during dry months.

On an overcast September morning, the William Hank was pushing 13 barges  two tankers of soybean oil, one barge of dry cement, one barge of aluminum ingots, three barges of scrap steel, four barges of iron ingots, one barge of wheat and one of grain  a total of 19,200 tons of cargo, worth around $6.5 million. Most towboats push a 15-barge tow, which holds the equivalent of 225 train cars or 1,050 truckloads. There is a lot at stake when this much stuff is late.

In a low orange-trimmed building on the outskirts of Paducah, Ky., are the offices of Tennessee Valley Towing, which owns the William Hank. Gordon Southern, the companys senior vice president, calculated that the 15-hour river closure on Sept. 14 cost him around $80,000. His company is just one of dozens.

We call that bleeding, said Harley Hall, Tennessee Valley Towings vice president of operations. If 52 failed, all that tonnage that passes through here each way, it would have to move on rail and road, and the rail cars arent there and theres no room on the highways. Theres no way to bypass this.

Domestically, trucks moved five times more goods, by weight, than ships or barges did in 2013. Trains moved twice as much as was moved via water, and planes moved far less. But 72 percent of all international trade moved via water in 2014, compared with 10 percent by truck, 5 percent by rail, and less than 1 percent by air. Many supply chains rely on multiple modes of transportation, and no single mode has enough redundancy to accommodate the goods of another.

The Corps does so much with so little, Mr. Hall said. This is the hub, holding all the spokes together, he said of No. 52, but until Olmsted is completed we have a ticking time bomb.

The Corps, an agency within the federal government, decided to build Olmsted with an experimental in-the-wet construction method: Hollow sections of the dam are built on the bank, skidded down to the river, towed into position and lowered into the water, where they are filled with concrete. Traditionally, a project like this would have used a coffer dam  a small temporary dam that keeps water out of the site while construction goes on in the dry.

The in-the-wet method was supposed to save time and money and minimize delays, but it did the opposite. By the time the Corps realized its folly, it was too late to alter course. The novel construction process and inadequate congressional funding, among other things, have dragged the project past the quarter-century mark.

Olmsted has been under construction for so long that the company contracted to build it has been bought and renamed three times; the new locks at the Panama Canal  Olmsteds global equivalent  have been begun and finished; and grandfathers, fathers and sons have retired and been hired. Meanwhile, the old locks and dams are costing the country $640 million a year in delays and closures, according to the Army Corps.

Little has changed at No. 52 and No. 53 since 1929. Each dam is made of over 400 steel or oak panels, called wickets, that sit in the river and hold back water. When the river is high  about 40 percent of the year for No. 52, more for No. 53  the wickets can be lowered to the river bottom to let boats pass above them.

When the water goes down, a steam-powered crane from 1937, with a boiler the size of a car, is towed out into the river. A worker reaches into the seething current with a 20-foot steel hook and feels around for an 18-inch bar. When he has hooked it, the crane grabs the end of the hook, pulls the wicket up, and the force of the current sets it in place. This is repeated until all the wickets are up, which might take 24 hours.

This is all farmer work, said Mr. Helland, the lockmaster. If you grew up on a farm, whats in your back pockets? Either a pair of pliers or a hammer  that one tool you always use to fix everything with. He sat on the steps of the old white frame house, on a hill above the lock, that serves as his office. The lock is kept going with all the bubble gum and duct tape weve got left, he said, but were running out. Shes deteriorating so fast it makes it hard to keep up.

The Corps has identified 25 failure points at No. 52 and No. 53  things that are on the verge of breaking, and shutting the locks down. Both are built on wood pilings driven into the river bottom sand. The lock walls are cracking and sagging, the hydraulic pipes are paper thin, concrete is crumbling, metal is rusted through, railings are gone and seals are leaking.

Mr. Helland worries about his dam every day. Last year, a family of six drove their pleasure boat down the spillway and four people died. Recently a contractor hit the dam and broke another wicket (cost: $20,000), adding a two-wicket hole to many one-wicket holes and a four-wicket hole. Each hole makes it harder for the dam to hold back water. After the contractor crash, the smaller lock chamber was shut for a few days because pipes carrying hydraulic fluid to the gate were leaking and about to burst.

These are old backbreaking places, said Randy Robertson, the 51-year-old master of Lock and Dam No. 53. Trying to keep these things going, its a struggle every day. We work a lot of overtime just to try and maintain junk  and thats what it is. There are things we cant get parts for anymore. You cant just go to a boat store or a hardware store and get a drum for a 1937 steam engine. You have to go to a machine shop and have it machined.

On a recent Friday, Mr. Robertsons lock resembled ancient ruins, mud-colored, emerging from the river. It is still in working order, but it looked abandoned. Paint peeled, concrete cracked, and there was no reason to fix it. Each piece of Olmsted that is placed in the river is one step closer to 53 being obsolete, he said. Im getting phased out and Im O.K. with that, Mr. Robertson said.

Earlier, Mr. Robertson was driving past Mound City, Ill., just downstream from Olmsted. The grain harvest was coming in, filling the massive elevators and making two-story piles on the ground. Trucks carrying grain drove by every few minutes. All the farmers in the surrounding countryside depend on him, he said. If the locks fail, their corn doesnt get to market.

You know that everybody pinpoints down to you. You see it firsthand, theyve got a wife, kids, a paycheck, he said. If you mess up, you cost everybody.

Mr. Robertson was lockmaster of No. 52 for five years. Because of the stress, he said, his doctor told him he needed to do something else if he wanted to live. When the job opened up, he was relieved to be transferred to No. 53, where the dam is down more and stress is lower.

Even drinking water is at the mercy of the locks. When the Corps lowered No. 52s pool to work on the dam on Sept. 14, Paducahs intake pipes  which suck water directly out of the river  could have risen above water. If the closing had persisted for 96 hours, as was predicted, the town of 25,000 people would have had to find another source of water.

A few days later, Mr. Helland stood above the dam on a steel box that would protect his divers from the fierce current when they dove into the river to fix the wickets. The steam-powered maneuver boat lay against the dam, boiler hissing. The crane operator jiggled his foot on the pedals. Warm vapor rose from the roiling rapids below. On top of the dam, a milk crate, a dead fish, a bowling ball and hundreds of logs had come to rest. Did you know bowling balls float? asked Scott Davis, a lock operator..

Earlier that week, it was starting to rain, and Mr. Davis and Sadie, his black dog, were leaving for the night. They walked past three retired wickets on the ground above the lock. The wood was gray, pockmarked and scoured from the river. This is the best-made thing Ive ever seen in my life, said Mr. Davis, 52. The wood is spectacular  its the heart wood of white oak trees. He has been taking old wickets home, milling the wood, and making picture frames and coffee tables. When somebody retires from here, Im going to give them a picture of a sunset over the lock and a coffee table to put their feet on, he said.

By the time the William Hank was cleared to enter No. 52s lock, the captain had gone to bed, and the pilot, Jackson Walker (universally called Bubba), was in the pilot house. I have actually sat on both sides of this lock for a week to a week and a half before, he said. Thats money these companies are having to pay these guys just to sit. Slowly, the boat chugged toward the lock wall.

One thousand feet in front of him, on the head of the tow, a deck hand called over the radio telling him how close he was: All right, Bubba, four more feet you be looking at daylight on that long wall  about a foot or two to the good.

Mr. Walker maneuvered the William Hank into the 1,200-foot chamber, a temporary addition from 1969 that has long outlived its design life. Instead of a smooth wall, the chamber is made of poured concrete cylinders that almost seem designed to catch the front of a barge. You can easily get quartered just enough that you can jam up in here and do a bunch of damage, Mr. Walker said. His tow, like most, was 105 feet wide. The lock chamber is 110 feet wide. To park his 1,130-foot, 19,200-ton craft, he had as much space as a car does in a crowded parking lot.

Gently tapping the stainless steel levers that control the rudders and pulling back and forth on the two throttles, Mr. Walker steered, came ahead, and stopped in the center of the chamber. To his right, the bedraggled condition of the wickets was apparent. Its just like holding your fingers up against the water and letting it flow through, he said. The William Hank had waited eight hours to get here. This is one of the fastest Ive seen it, Mr. Walker said.

A man in a neon green vest rode a little yellow scooter to the end of the lock wall. He got out and leaned back on a long metal lever. The lock gate began to creak and groan. A big red gear turned, a black steel arm stretched out, and the gate slowly closed. Fifty-two is operated entirely by hydraulics, and Mr. Helland said he could tell by the sound if something was wrong. The lock operator can move a tow through the chamber in an hour by himself, using the levers and a set of buttons inside two sheet metal shacks a little bigger than portable toilets.

At Olmsted, this will all be done with clicks of a mouse, but no matter how much money is invested in infrastructure by the Trump administration, Mr. Hellands shoulders will feel the weight of 80 million tons for at least two more years.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday went out of his way to insist that Ireland isn't interested in attracting "brass plate" financial firms to set up here in the wake of Brexit.

The minister was responding to a question about whether Ireland would prefer not to attract certain types of Brexit-related investment, such as investment banking operations.

It followed a Reuters report that went around the world that said the Central Bank here is discouraging - subtly or actively - big investment banks from shifting large trading operations to Dublin.

So we know brass plate operations aren't wanted, but we're less clear on the issue of investment banks.

If the report is true, it simply needs to be explained. If wrong, it needs to be categorically knocked on the head, at the risk of rival locations using a false impression to nab jobs and investment at our expense.

But Mr Noonan didn't deal specifically with the investment bank issue.

"We don't want brass plate operations that simply come here and screw a brass plate on to a door for tax advantages and don't have the strong economic activity here that creates jobs, we don't want that," Mr Noonan told reporters, on the margins of a Department of Finance tax conference in Dublin Castle.

He suggested firms that set up an office in Ireland simply for tax purposes, with no staff and little or no economic activity being generated, were not welcome.

The minister said the Government was focused on getting companies that would bring "solid job creating investment" here.

But there is now a question mark over whether the appetite is here to go after the really big banking game - including investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse that are looking at locations inside the euro area for potentially major investment.

Mr Noonan was responding to a report that global investment banks are being discouraged from setting up in Ireland following the Brexit vote because they're seen by some officials here as too risky.

Reuters reported the Central Bank had indicated to global investment banks they would face a tough time getting approval to shift operations here and that Ireland was reluctant to absorb large-scale investment banking.

While Mr Noonan didn't specifically address this issue, he did say there were "no restrictions" on potential opportunities, but then returned again to the "brass plate" line.

Ireland has been tipped as a contender to attract high-end banking jobs displaced from London as a result of Britain's vote to leave the EU.

Dublin has been regarded internationally as a viable location for some investment, but has faced stiff competition from the likes of Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Luxembourg.

Concerns had already been raised around whether the capital had the capacity to take an increase in financial sector jobs given infrastructural constraints around housing, in particular.

International agency Reuters, quoting unnamed sources from within the investment banking community, said the appetite in Ireland was not that high for balance sheet banks. Another source said the Central Bank's lack of regulators was an issue.

To be fair, Mr Noonan did dismiss this suggestion, stating there was no question of not having regulatory capacity as the Central Bank can access regulators from any European country to come to Ireland.

"The bank has been recruiting anyway, so I don't think they'll have to avail of that option," the minister said.

He said it was up to the Central Bank to decide what level of regulation is required for different financial services, adding that the messaging from the Central Bank was "exploratory and explanatory".

"People come with queries and the Central Bank says this is how we do it here and this is the regime," Mr Noonan said.

"There is a lot of interest. I wouldn't be anxious about any aspect of what we're hearing."

Meanwhile, Mr Noonan also said he did not see a huge impact on Ireland from plans in the US for tax reform. President-elect Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would slash the US corporate tax rate to 15pc. Mr Noonan, who has recently returned from a trip to the United States, said he met Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

"I would think that there is tax reform coming and it will involve both lower rates and some arrangement for the repatriation of profits overseas."
Q: I'm opening a second cafe in a new town unfamiliar to me. Can you give any advice on how our business can become part of that local community?

A: You are absolutely right to be asking this question. Integrating into the local community was always something that I believed in passionately when I was in Superquinn.

Start by getting involved in local business or community groups, like the chamber of commerce or any similar business development group. This will help you to network with your peers in the business community and make others aware of what you are doing.

You might also identify local initiatives that either you, or your staff, can get involved with, eg you might become the sponsor for a local charity coffee morning or you and your staff might volunteer for some work with the local Tidy Towns, etc.

I remember visiting a cafe in the West of Ireland mid-morning only to find the place buzzing with a large group of ladies knitting. The owner told me that she had made the cafe available to the local knitting group as they didn't have a venue of their own. This was organised at a quiet time when customers wouldn't normally be visiting. It was a win-win for everyone.

Finally, your choice of staff will also affect your relationship with your local community. In the ideal world, you should be able to choose staff from that community who will know customers and make them welcome.

Good luck with the cafe and your new community initiatives.

Q: I'm planning to start a new food business and have done lots of research on the feasibility of my product which is proving very positive. What supports are available to me?

A: I am delighted to hear you have spent time conducting research and determining if your idea is feasible. It is all too easy to copycat other products in the marketplace only to end up in a crowded category and struggle to get sales.

The good news is that there are lots of great supports now available for food start-up businesses. Your primary contact is your Local Enterprise Offices and you should make an appointment to see them where they can fully brief you to the services that are available.

Most Local Enterprise Offices now have a programme for early stage businesses called "Kick Start Your Own Food Business", or similar.

This will help you get the basic knowledge and set out a road map for your journey. Your Local Enterprise Office might also decide to assign a mentor to your project, which would allow you one-to-one advice from an expert in this area.

The Food Academy Programme, which is run by the Local Enterprise Offices in partnership with SuperValu, is also a great initiative.

It takes the form of workshops, mentoring and an opportunity to trial your product in SuperValu shops, if it is suitable. Hundreds of producers have been able to avail of that support and many have become national brands on the back of participating in the Food Academy Programme.

The other recommendation I would make is that you need to get talking with other food producers in your area.

Starting a food business can be a very lonely space and having other producers to talk with and share experiences is invaluable. Some regions have formal food producer networks which are also worth being part of.

I wish you well on your journey.
Tomorrow is 'Black Friday', when big retailers here offer up what are advertised as big savings on tech products.

Some of it is very, very iffy.

That 40pc saving being quoted on a telly, laptop or camera? Try 10pc. Or 0pc.

For example, Harvey Norman is selling Sony's RX100 camera in a "Black Friday" deal for 429, claiming it "was 469". But its normal price has been 429 for months, going back as far as May. A spokeswoman defended the 'sale', saying that the higher price quoted was "the RRP" and that "other retailers" still sell it at that price.

Similarly, PC World had priced Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 laptop (with Core i5 processor and 128GB hard drive) at 1,129 in its current "Black Tag" discount sales event. That's exactly the same price it was in the summer. (Upon being contacted by this newspaper about the item, PC World has now removed it from inclusion in the sale.)

Argos, meanwhile, is offering Panasonic's Lumix TZ60 camera for 259 which "was 369". But in August, its regular price was 309, making today's claimed discount quite a bit slimmer than appearances suggest.

But those are nothing compared to the spoofery around claimed discounts on televisions. "We may take 30pc or 40pc off a TV's first published price," a spokesman from one of the big retail chains told me. "That doesn't mean it's 40pc off the price a few weeks before it went on sale. TV prices are always changing anyway."

In other words, a TV's first listed price in March or April (or even earlier) may have been 1,000. Now, as it comes to the end of its shelf life in November, it is 600. But it has also been listed in the same shop as 900, 800 and 700 at various intervals between its introduction and the ultimate final sale.

As one would expect, there is supposed to be law that governs this sort of thing. Officially, the statute books (in particular, the 2007 Consumer Protection Act) state a desire to cut down on "misleading commercial practices". But it's not adequately specified, resulting in this sort of trickery being tolerated.

And unlike in the UK, retailers here aren't nudged by the law to specify when the specified pre-sale price was actually in place.

"If a retailer crosses out one price and replaces it with another lower price, the goods in question must have been on sale in the same place at that previous price for a reasonable time," said a spokeswoman for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), the watchdog that oversees the sector.

"The definition of a reasonable time is not specified by law, but the CCPC's view is that the goods should have been on sale for 28 consecutive days in the three months before the price was reduced."

Grand. Except retailers often just ignore this. And they're pretty confident that the CCPC won't take any action against them, with good cause: the consumer watchdog hasn't taken any action against retailers using fake sale discounts.

"No, the CCPC has not taken enforcement action on this specific basis," said a spokesman for the regulatory body. "However, this issue has previously been looked at and contact made with specific traders. But no significant instances of non-compliance were established. If a consumer believes they have been adversely affected by a commercial practice by any company to contact our helpline on 1890 432 432 or visit our website at www.consumerhelp.ie."

Well okay. Except it's not really that easy for consumers to figure out when a discount is real or not. In the UK, the 'Which' consumer organisation monitors prices of major retailers, making it harder for them to claim half-cocked reductions. In Ireland, short of screenshotting webpages or hoarding catalogues, the best you can do is to use tools such as the Wayback Machine Internet Archive (just google it). That shows you what retailers were advertising at various points in the past, so you get a better idea if the sale reduction is real or not.

None of this is to say that retailers in Ireland don't make genuine reductions available.

In the interests of fairness, I feel obliged to point out some of the real discounts currently on offer. Sticking with the retailers I've named and shamed above, Argos has an impressive (and rare) reduction on Dyson's V6 Flex cordless vacuum cleaner (down 50pc to under 300). PC World has chopped a big chunk (500) off Samsung's Galaxy Tab Pro S (128GB, Core m3) touchscreen laptop to sell at 700. And given that Harvey Norman claims it will match competitors' prices, it has to be counted too.

Irish retailers aren't mendacious. But they're under fierce pressure to make their sales sound as enticing as possible. And they're not really being held to account.
Till Faida who has come under fire over the 20bn a year cost to publishers of Adblock Plus

Till Faida may be one of the most fumed about people in world media.

As chief executive of Eyeo, the company that distributes Adblock Plus, his technology lets people block ads on their phones and PCs cutting off already diminishing revenue to publishers.

The technology is estimated to cost publishers up to 20bn a year in lost ad views and Adblock Plus is the most used service in the world with 400m downloads. In total, as many as 20pc of all internet users now block ads and Mr Faida is one of the most identifiable people associated with making it happen.

I caught up with the young German at the Web Summit in Lisbon, minutes after watching him get barracked on stage by Bloomberg Media's chief executive (Justin Smith) and the Financial Times's chief product officer (Cait O'Riordan). He was unperturbed by the withering remarks aimed his way by two of the most senior executives in financial media.

"I feel that publishers are starting to realise that it's not adblocking that is putting their monetisation at risk, it's a business model that is based on annoying the readers," he says. "That is not a sustainable business model."

According to the most recent research from Adobe and (Irish) firm Pagefair, one in seven people now block ads online. Desperate publishers say firms such as Eyeo who spread the technology are destroying their chances of survival.

Mr Faida has a different view.

"Right now, publishers are hurting and I completely sympathise with that," he says. "They are dealing with their readers moving online and they've just figured it out now. The most successful publishers will be the ones that focus on a monetisation method that is accepted by the user and doesn't rely on forcing something on users that they clearly don't want to see."

Adblock Plus's own business model is that it operates a 'whitelist' of 'acceptable' ad formats for publishers to use. The whitelist won't let things like screen takeovers or intrusive pop-ups take place. But it will let some ad formats through. Adblock Plus provides a service for companies which want to know which ads will make it past its filters. This "partnering" pitch has led to accusations of "blackmail" from publishing groups, with UK culture secretary John Whittingdale calling the process a "modern day protection racket" in March of this year.

But Mr Faida says these accusations are wide of the mark.

"They are just trying to discredit what we do," he says. "They hope that maybe, magically, their challenges will disappear. It is important that publishers realise they can't just show the same ads to those users anymore. Users have opted out of the ad experience they're getting by installing an adblocker. There is a way to win them back but it has to be done with alternative ads. There is a huge opportunity. Everyone who partners with us makes more money than they did before."

Mr Faida believes that far from destroying online publishing, adblocking services like his can save the media industry from a current "race to the bottom" with more and more intrusive ad formats.

"Look, users don't interact with ads anymore, which is why the revenues are decreasing for publishers," he says.

"So publishers feel they need to compensate for those decreasing revenues by allowing more and more aggressive ads on their site. To be honest, many journalists tell me that this is very frustrating for them because they feel it's degrading the content they're producing. And what's even worse is that this is creating a vicious cycle in which ads become more and more aggressive and at the same time less and less valuable for publishers. So what we want to achieve with our acceptable ads programme is to create an ecosystem that is more sustainable. We want fewer, higher quality ads to provide more value for everybody so there's not this race to the bottom."

As for the type of ads that fall foul of Adblock Plus's quality threshold, Mr Faida says that the list is long. But he says that it's possible to make some general observations.

"It's everything that distracts a user from what he or she wants to do at a particular point. So if you're reading an article and something is screaming for attention or is obscuring your reading, that's not good. Or if you want to watch a video but first you have to sit through a pre-roll video, this takes users away from what they really want to do. It becomes a really frustrating experience."

One problem with restricting ad formats for publishers is that money has to be made up elsewhere. Many publishers are now turning to 'native' advertising strategies to make up for the shortfall in display ad revenue. Such 'native' strategies often include reallocating resources away from journalism and toward commercially-oriented feature articles or online videos made on behalf of an advertiser.

Mr Faida says that this is a problem that only publishers can figure out themselves. But he warns against publishers moving into the commercial equivalent of 'fake news'.

"It is important that we don't gamble with users' trust here," he says. "What we have seen with banner ads is that some people clicked on a banner ad, got a frustrating experience and then learned not to interact with banners anymore. So we have to make sure with new ad formats and platforms that we don't repeat the same mistake again. You can't gamble with the trust of users. You can only trick them once or twice before they lose trust. This is why I think a sustainable approach to monetising is so important. We should all have a long-term view. And publishers should really regain the control over how they monetise their audience because only the publishers really care about a relationship between them and their audience. Many publishers have completely outsourced their monetisation to a third party that doesn't care about the relationship of publishers with the audience."

So what kind of ads should publishers be looking to encourage, then?

"If you limit the amount of ads overall they won't have to scream for attention," he says. "If you only have one or two ads on a webpage, instead of five really big flashy ones, they are not competing against each other for attention. So with our acceptable ads programme, we're trying to define those criteria. It's things like the screen size that they can occupy. But it's also things like animations, how attention-grabbing they might be as well as the separation of content and ads. There also has to be a very clear and visible label so that users can always distinguish what is organic content and what is sponsored content. To me, those are the four core criteria we are trying to establish."

Not everyone is taking the adblockers lying down. In Germany, publisher Axel Springer has banned adblock users from viewing Bild, the country's biggest-selling newspaper online. Other online publications have done the same, including the Financial Times and The Washington Post.

And Adblock Plus has faced legal action in Europe by publishers seeking to control their own ad inventory.

"We have had seven lawsuits now and each and every time the courts have said again and again, ad blocking is perfectly legal," says Mr Faida.

However, the company may face bigger competition from online giants that now stand to lose out if ad blocking becomes more pervasive. In its most recent quarterly earnings, Facebook boasted that it was fighting back against ad blocking services and had seen rates of ad blocking users stagnate on Facebook as a result. Battling cash-strapped newspapers may be one thing. Isn't Faida worried about going to war with entities as big and technically stacked as Facebook and Google?

"I would actually argue that we have more resources than them on this particular topic because Adblock Plus is open source and the filters that are the backbone of it are created by the open source community," he says.

"So we have hundreds of contributors worldwide that constantly update the filters and they are the ones engaging in this cat and mouse game that is going on with Facebook. We strongly benefit from having this community of volunteers who donate their time and effort to keeping up with blocking everything that they deem unacceptable."

Nevertheless, such a battle has begun. And while use of ad blockers is still on the rise, advertising associations such as the IAB say that the growth in users has stalled.

"It still requires a certain level of sophistication to even know about ad blockers," says Mr Faida.

"If it weren't for me, my parents wouldn't have ever heard of ad blockers. So there isn't an endless demographic of tech savvy people that want to stay up to date on the most recent type of ads that are available. So naturally if we're targeting savvy users, at some point there is a certain saturation naturally.

"It's still predominantly a product that young people use and many people wouldn't even know that adblocking is an option they have."
Broadcaster Anne Doyle has poured cold water on rumours that she will be foxtrotting her way back to Montrose on Dancing with the Stars.

She was reportedly signed up to the show which is due to air early next year, but she denied this.

"I'm not going to be doing Dancing with the Stars, I was never going to be doing Dancing with the Stars," she told the Herald.

The rumours had become so persistent that Anne, from Wexford, admitted she has had countless people already wishing her good luck and asking her how to get tickets to the show.

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"Contrary to what I hear and the good wishes I have got from people and the endless requests for tickets and the pledges of votes, at this stage I think I nearly should be doing it," she said.

"I believe I was spotted at some choreography session and I said, 'I believe it must have been in the local pub'."

Anne said she is an ardent fan of Strictly Come Dancing, which has featured Irish contestants including Nicky Byrne, Jennifer Gibney and, most recently, Laura Whitmore.

However, she reckons her dance moves are not good enough to display on screen.

"I've never seen the American one, but I love Strictly. I can't dance for toffee apples, but I really enjoy looking at it, but to participate? No," she said.

The former newsreader revealed she began feeling bad about not taking part in the show when so many fans had wished her well.

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"Many rumours are strange. I've encountered stranger ones. Many people have been very nice and now I'm starting to feel bad about it because they're wishing you well and saying, 'Good woman, go on', and you have to say, 'Actually, it's not true'," she said.

Anne also sent good wishes to her former RTE colleague Gay Byrne, who is feared to have prostate cancer.

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The former Late Late Show host (82) revealed on his Lyric FM show that he has to undergo tests to determine if the suspected cancer has spread to his back.

"I was very sorry to hear his news and delighted to have the opportunity to wish him well," said Anne.

"Gay is Gay and I have no doubt that we will see him out and about again. He has always had great grace."

Anne said she hopes the broadcaster and his wife Kathleen Watkins stay strong and come through the scare.

"Every good wish to him and Kathleen who is a spectacularly wonderful woman. I hope and pray they will cruise through this as they have through many other difficulties of life," she said.

"One of the sorrows of getting older is you keep on having to cruise through difficulties, but hey."

Anne was speaking at the launch of charity Alone's Christmas campaign. It highlights the isolation and loneliness of older people during the festive season and urges the public to reach out to the elderly in their communities this festive season.

"Loneliness and isolation can be real problems for older people, and it's important that we are all aware of this," said Anne.
Labour Party Tipperary TD Alan Kelly, centre, with, from left, Seamus OHara, of the Carlow Brewing Company, Cuilan Loughnane, of White Gypsy Brewery, Grainne Walsh, of Metalman, and Sally Anne Cooney, of the Boyne Distillery. Photo: Tom Burke

It wasn't quite a 'piss up' on the Leinster House plinth but Alan Kelly was in his own words feeling a bit "crafty".

The Labour Party TD has drafted a new bill seeking to give craft beer producers the right to sell alcohol directly from their breweries.

While the Dail is preparing to debate a Government bill that will restrict alcohol sales, Mr Kelly said it was missing a "hoppertunity" to grow tourism.

The Intoxicating Liquor (Breweries and Distilleries) Bill 2016 would allow businesses to sell their own produce to tourists and other visitors on site, which is not the case under current licensing laws.

"Can you imagine a situation existing in Italy, France or Spain, where tourists visiting vineyards are prevented from purchasing wine at the end of their tour?" he asked.

Microbreweries across the country employ 439 full-time workers.

There are businesses in 23 of the 26 counties, with a projected turnover of 59m this year.

Mr Kelly said that if some of these sites could be turned into visitor attractions the growth in 'craft beer tourism' could be "phenomenal".

"There are many people who are interested in distilleries," he said.

"We know about the Jameson Experience and Guinness Storehouse. However, the microbreweries, if they really want to invest in this, need to be able to allow people to purchase and taste the produce on the site."

His proposal would limit brewery sales to between 10am and 6pm while fines would be issued if owners sold alcohol that was not brewed on site.

And in case you were wondering, Mr Kelly's favourite craft beer is White Gypsy, which is brewed in Templemore.
FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
A judge has described as "very troubling" the handling by gardai of requests by a former Russian oligarch seeking to unfreeze more than 100m in assets held in Ireland.

The funds were frozen in 2011 while former billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky was in prison for tax offences.

The prosecutions were widely considered to be politically motivated and he was eventually pardoned, amid international pressure, by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.

However, efforts to unfreeze funds held in various Irish trusts have been resisted by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, which says they are the subject of an ongoing money-laundering investigation.

Dublin District Court heard that huge volumes of documents had been provided to gardai in an effort to prove the assets were legitimately obtained by Mr Khodorkovsky, but gardai responded by seeking even more information.

Judge Timothy Lucey said the situation was "very troubling". "There is a huge amount of information being passed over, but it is never enough," he said.

Mr Khodorkovsky claims the funds come from dividends and share buy-back schemes at the Yukos oil and gas company that he once controlled.

His lawyers say the Garda position is that the funds may be associated with the crimes he was jailed for, even though these convictions have been largely discredited.

Michael McDowell SC, for An Garda Siochana, said gardai had travelled to Russia as part of their investigation, but a file had yet to be sent to the DPP.

The freezing orders have been renewed at the district court on a continual basis every 28 days.

The court heard the grounds for the renewals included Mr Khodorkovsky's convictions and that his pardon related to the remainder of his sentence rather than the offences.

The case continues.
A jury was discharged today after they discovered a 29 second gap in CCTV footage used during a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Justice Carmel Stewart said the gap was not spotted by counsel for the prosecution or defence and that it could have been significant. The jury had described the missing footage as "crucial".

Donal Colgan (65), of Killarney Court, Killarney St, Dublin 1 had pleaded not guilty to murdering 45-year-old David Sheridan outside Luigi's chip shop on the capital's North Strand Road on August 17/18 2014.

The jury had spent about three hours deliberating when they returned to court to ask about the missing 29 seconds. Justice Stewart sent the jurors away for about 90 minutes and when they returned she told them counsel for the prosecution and defence had examined the footage and confirmed the missing portion.

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She said it was a "mistake" and added: "It now transpires that one of you has spotted what people in the trial had not spotted because we were not watching the clock in the corner."

She said it was a "significant" piece of time and told them that counsel for the defence Patrick Marrinan SC had applied to her to discharge the jury. While she said that in extraordinary circumstances it is possible to call a witness at this point to introduce new evidence, that would not help in this case because all of the witnesses had given evidence on the basis that the CCTV footage was continuous. She also said that counsel for the defence and prosecution had questioned witnesses on the basis that the footage was continuous.

Saying that fair procedure must apply, she added: "I have no option but to discharge you."

She thanked the jury for their diligence and exempted them from further jury duty for ten years.

Mr Colgan will return to court on December 19.
Retired High Court judge Barry White is embroiled in a legal case over his mothers estate  with his sister Aideen Doyle rejecting his claims that she was suffering from delusions.

Aideen Doyle, otherwise Clodagh White, is suing two sisters, as administrators of their mothers estate, claiming she is owed at least 350,000.

She claims this should be her share of the 2.5m to 2.9m extra that could have been achieved from the sale of the family home Chimes on Mount Anville Road, Goatstown, Dublin, which sold in 2007 for around 16m.

Niamh and Derval White, both of Mount Anville Road, Goatstown, were administrators of the estate of their mother Emily G White, the High Court heard. Mrs White, who died in April 2001, was married to Kevin White and they had seven children.

Ms Doyle says there was an offer of 19m from developer Niall Mellon on the table at the time of the sale, which she says the sisters rejected in breach of their duty as administrators. She says she is entitled to at least 350,000 along with 8pc interest  a one-seventh share of the additional amount that could have been achieved.

The court has heard Ms Doyle, of Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Dublin, has been estranged from her family for many years. She claims she had been told by a number of people she was fostered to the Whites and while she was treated as a member of the family she says she was not the natural daughter of Emily and Kevin White.

Ms Doyle also said she had copyright to a work of fiction called A Web of Deceit about six siblings, including a fictional High Court judge who was involved in fraud. It was a work of fiction, she said.

On Wednesday, retired Judge White gave evidence on behalf of his two sisters, who deny Ms Doyles claims. Mr White told the court there were doubts over the offer by Mr Mellon, whom he described as a maverick.

His sisters deny they rejected advice from auctioneering experts, or that a genuine 19m offer was received, or that Ms Doyle suffered a loss. The sisters also deny her claim she was paid 1.2m from the estate in 2002.

When the case resumed yesterday for submissions from both sides before Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, Desmond Murphy SC QC said his client wished to refute evidence given by Mr White that she suffered from delusions. She was upset and wanted to submit psychiatric reports to the court, counsel said.

Ciaran Foley SC, for the sisters/administrators, objected, saying Ms Doyle was out of the witness box at this stage.

After Mr Justice Humphreys said the time for disputing evidence was when a person was being cross-examined, Mr Murphy said he would leave the matter to the court but he wanted it on record that Ms Doyle was not accepting the evidence of Mr White.

Mr Murphy said it was his case the defendants had gone against the advice of experts when the Mellon offer was available.

At no stage during the evidence was it suggested Mr Mellon was a maverick or did not have the money to pull off the deal, counsel said. The sisters, as administrators, were not entitled to gamble with the estate, he added.

Mr Foley said the court had to take into account the credibility of Ms Doyle and her mindset. It was against a background of claims by Ms Doyle she had been a swapped baby and where she had, in her evidence, played ducks and drakes with the court, he said. There was no doubt there was evidence of concern in the family for her but it was quite clear she had a perturbed mind, he said.

Mr Justice Humphreys adjourned the case for completion of submissions.
Revellers at a four-day party used dating app Tinder to source a lethal psychedelic drug nicknamed 'N Bomb' which later cost a Cork teenager his life, a court has heard.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard harrowing evidence on charges brought against three young people following a Garda investigation into the death of student Alex Ryan (18) following a party last January.

Expand Close Alex Ryan (18) died after taking the drug at the party in Cork. Photo: Provision / Facebook

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Whatsapp Alex Ryan (18) died after taking the drug at the party in Cork. Photo: Provision

Harry Clifton (29), Jessica O'Connor (20) and Ruairi Maher (22) all pleaded guilty to a variety of drugs offences following a Garda investigation into the tragic death of Mr Ryan from the lethal psychedelic drug, N Bomb or 25i.

Six people got sick after the Cork house party attended by Mr Ryan but only the teenager subsequently died. The scenes of illness at the party were described as horrendous.

Judge O'Brien was told that a group of around a dozen young people were having a four-day party in Cork on January 19 last.

Jessica O'Connor was in the company of Mr Ryan and used the dating app Tinder to match up with another young man.

She 'matched' with Mr Maher and, during their online conversation, queried whether specific drugs could be sourced. Others at the party encouraged her to find drugs for such 'trips'.

Maher knew that Clifton might have such drugs and initiated contact. Eventually, Mr Ryan, O'Connor and Maher went to Clifton's home at St Finbarr's Place.

Maher sourced 12 'trips' of a hallucinogenic drug Clifton told him was 2CB. Unknown to all the young people, it was in fact N Bomb, an exceptionally dangerous designer party drug.

Maher bought the drugs for 80 and sold it to the others for 120. Judge O'Brien was told that Clifton knew the psychedelic drug was strong. He used the drug himself and did so by swallowing a small quantity wrapped in paper.

Read more: Three people plead guilty to possession of 'N Bomb' drug following tragic death of teen

Clifton gave them a smaller dosage and advised them to be very careful with it. However, the court was told that Mr Ryan later ingested the drug by inhaling it.

When several other people at the party later began to get sick, Maher became very concerned and rang the gardai and the emergency services. The court was told he deeply regrets what happened.

Clifton, who is from Kilkenny and has previous convictions for drug offences, fully co-operated with gardai when they searched his property.

Clifton of St Finbarr's Place, Proby's Quay, Cork, pleaded guilty to four charges. These included having drugs in his possession for sale or supply on January 18 last.

O'Connor of Rosebank House, Ballyhar, Killarney, Co Kerry, pleaded guilty to a single charge of possession of a controlled drug, namely N Bomb, for sale or supply in Cork city on January 18 last.

Maher, of Ballycurrane, Thurles, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiring with another to handle drugs, namely N Bomb, for sale or supply.

Judge O'Brien adjourned sentencing of Clifton, Maher and O'Connor until Friday.
A taxi-driver who harassed his ex-girlfriend out of what a court called unrequited love has been ordered to leave the country.

Mihail Ghimisli (35) began harassing the woman three years after she broke up with him following a relationship which lasted a few weeks.

Counsel for Ghimisli told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court his client was acting under the effect of unrequited love and was willing to leave Ireland to avoid a custodial sentence.

Ghimisli, originally from Romania but with an address in Castlefield Court, Clonsilla, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of harassing Larina Belova on four occasions between May and July 2014.

Ghimisli has two previous convictions for harassing Ms Belova after the break-up of their brief relationship in 2011. The court heard the pair dated for just a few weeks, but Ghimisli became obsessed with Ms Belova.

Judge Melanie Greally noted Ms Belova had suffered ongoing distress as a result of Ghimisli's actions and that she had made clear to him that his approaches were entirety unwanted.

She said the offences appeared to be borne of a hopeless situation of unrequited love which Ghimisli had extreme difficulty in accepting.

Judge Greally imposed an 18 month sentence which she suspended in full on strict conditions including that he leave the country within 48 hours and undertake to provide his address in Romania to the investigating officer.

She ordered him not to communicate with Ms Belova for ten years by any means and not go within 20 kilometres of her home or workplace.

She warned Ghimisli that failing to abide by the orders would be a separate offence and he could be brought back to this country to be prosecuted for any such failure.

In a victim impact report, Ms Belova said she had been living in constant fear of Ghimisli. She had to move home, change her job and sell her car in the wake of the harassment.

Garda John Hayes agreed with Garret Baker BL, prosecuting, that Ms Belova was driving to a petrol station on May 12, 2014 when she noticed Ghimisli in his taxi driving by her. He made eye contact with her before turning his car around and following her, Mr Baker said.

He followed her to the petrol station and was watching her fill up with petrol when Ms Belova had the presence of mind to take a photo of Ghimisli, the court heard. He left the scene shortly afterwards.

He knocked on her house door a few days later but Ms Belova's house mate shut the door in his face and he left immediately.

On July 3, Ghimisli followed Ms Belova when she was driving to her friend's house. As she was entering the building, he grabbed her by the hand, the court heard. She managed to get away from him and slapped him in the face, Mr Baker said.

Six days later on July 9, Ms Belova was again at home when she and her housemate heard knocking on the door. Her house mate looked out the window and saw Ghimisli throwing some flowers and a box of chocolates on Ms Belova's car before leaving the scene.

He has six previous convictions, including two for previously harassing Ms Belova.

John Berry BL, defending, said Ghimisli wished to apologise profusely to his victim. This had a profound effect on her that can't be understated, he said.

He said Ghimisli had been living in Ireland for nine years but he was willing to leave the country if he received a suspended sentence. He was refused bail earlier this year over garda concerns about his behaviour towards Ms Belova and had found his time in custody to be very hard, the court heard.

In this particular case, where Ms Belova is very clearly concerned about his ongoing behaviour, a total exclusion would reflect this concern and give the confidence and security which is sought by Ms Belova, Mr Berry said.

Mr Berry said this was essentially a case of unrequited love. He submitted it was at the lower end of the scale and that Ghimisli was not acting out of base motives when he carried out the offence.
A judge in Brazil has allowed Irish ticketing executive Kevin Mallon to return to Ireland - as long as he pays bail of 420,000.

It is an identical offer as that granted last week to former Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Patrick Hickey, who will be able to return home for medical treatment if he makes the same payment.

Judge Silvia Regina Portes Criscuolo ruled that Mr Mallon could have his passport returned if he paid the bond of 1.5m Brazilian reais and committed to returning to Brazil as required.

Another judge, Juliana Leal de Melo, ruled in Mr Hickey's case last week. But it remains unclear if or when the pair will make the required payments or the date they will be able to fly home.

They are accused of being at the heart of an international touting ring in Olympic tickets issued to the OCI and sold by THG, the company that employs Mr Mallon. The touting of tickets for above face value is a criminal offence in Brazilian law. The pair both deny any wrongdoing.

Mr Mallon was arrested while hosting a reception for ticket holders in Rio de Janeiro on August 5, the day of the Olympics opening ceremony. Mr Hickey was later arrested at his five-star hotel. Since their release from the notorious Bangu prison in Rio, the pair have been keeping a low profile in the city.

Last week, Judge Melo also granted prosecutors the right to examine confidential data on phones and computers seized during the investigation for a period of 30 days.

Earlier this month the OCI confirmed it would not be paying the bail required for Mr Hickey. However, his lawyer said Mr Hickey would be depositing the money to allow him to return to Ireland.

The judge said that given the fact that Mr Hickey had no link to Brazil there was a risk of him not returning for a trial. However, she balanced that by saying the defendant needed to get "health treatment".

Along with the bail bond, Mr Hickey was ordered to be available for the process.

The judge also said there was no just cause to stop proceedings against Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon from going ahead.

Last month Mr Hickey's solicitor, Simone Kamenetz, said that the former OCI president needed emergency surgery.

"I can tell you that Mr Hickey is sick. He suffers from atrial fibrillation, and the cardiologist who saw him already twice, Dr Claudio Domenico, a well- known and reputable physician, established that Mr Hickey's situation is preoccupying," Ms Kamenetz said.
A workman conned an elderly householder out of more than 3,500 for unnecessary roof repairs when he showed him rotten timbers, pretending they had come from his home.

Charles OBrien (37) brought the old wood to the victims house to deceive him and took three payments from him in what a judge described as a despicable crime.

Judge David McHugh ordered OBrien to pay compensation and adjourned sentencing at Blanchardstown District Court.

OBrien, of Rosebank Place, Clondalkin pleaded guilty to three counts of deception.

According to the charges, he induced the victim dishonestly to make two payments of 1,500 and one of 570.

The offences happened on dates unknown between March 11 and 16 this year, at Cappaghmore Estate, Clondalkin.

The court heard the DPP was consenting to the case being dealt with at district court level only on a plea of guilty.

Defence solicitor Simon Fleming told the court OBrien was pleading guilty subject to the judge accepting jurisdiction.

Garda Sgt Maria Callaghan said the accused and another man went to the victims home told him that he believed the roof needed repair.

Rotten timbers were brought in by OBrien and shown to the victim, who was told that they were from his roof.

The repairs were carried out and the victim paid 3,570.

Judge McHugh accepted jurisdiction after hearing the outline of the facts of the case.

A State solicitor said the accused had previous motoring convictions.

Judge McHugh said he would adjourn the case to give OBrien time to pay compensation.

I wish to add that I consider the crime to be despicable, he said.

The judge told Mr Fleming he would hear mitigation on the next court date.

Mr Fleming said the accused was not here to mess around and would need four months to get the compensation.

As a matter of fairness to you and your client, everything is on the table, the judge added.

He adjourned the case to a date in March.

The charges against OBrien were under Section 6 of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act. He was remanded on continuing bail.
The Kinahan cartel have been offering up to 3,000 a go for young criminals in the north inner city to act as spotters in their own communities to trace the movements of rival Hutch family members.

Sources say that the help of the young spotters, including teenagers, has been invaluable in the cartels murderous campaign, in which four of the 10 feud cartel victims have been shot dead in a small area of the capitals northside.

Information has come into gardai that individuals who know the Hutch family were prepared to betray them, with a figure of 3,000 being offered for credible information about their movements, a source said.

There can be little doubt that the cartels network of local spies has really helped them and this applies to murders as well as attempted murders and even foiled hits, the source added.

The development comes after the Herald revealed gardai are investigating whether the cartel has been using tracking devices to monitor the movements of innocent members of the Hutch family.

Read More

A number of cars belonging to Hutch family members have been examined by gardai.

In the latest incident, an innocent 65-year-old woman, who is connected to feud murder victim Gareth Hutch, is suspected of having a tracker device placed under her car. CCTV images from the womans north inner city home showed a young man underneath her car with a flashlight.

Gardai from the Bridewell station were nearby but it is not known if they witnessed the incident.

However, when officers were made aware of what happened they then forensically examined the vehicle before returning it to the woman five days later.

Among the murders that spotters are suspected of helping the cartel take part in include that of Eddie Hutch Sr (59), who was shot dead at his home in Poplar Row on the night of February 8.

Eddie, a brother of Gerry The Monk Hutch, was targeted by a four-man hit team just days after the Regency Hotel attack.

Another murder in which spotters were suspected of playing an active role was that of Martin ORourke (24), who was shot dead in broad daylight on the afternoon of April 14.

ORourke was a victim of mistaken identity, with the target of the brutal slaying being Hutch gang member Keith Murtagh (32), who escaped uninjured.

Gardai continue to mount a number of operations on both sides of the capital to prevent further bloodshed, which has led to a number of major firearms seizures recently.

Read More

Earlier this month, gardai foiled a gangland bloodbath after seizing a significant arsenal of weapons from the Kinahan cartel.

Officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) found the weapons in a vehicle in the Cabra area of Dublin.

The arsenal included two MP-9 machine guns, two silencers and three loaded Smith & Wesson handguns.

One line in the investigation is that the weapons were to be used in a north inner city pub massacre against members of the Hutch mob, including a close business partner of on-the-run target Gerry The Monk Hutch.

The ongoing feud has claimed a number of innocent lives, including dad-of-three Trevor ONeill, who was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity while holidaying in Spain.

The city council worker was killed by a hitman who was believed to be targeting Jonathan Hutch, Gareths brother, who was staying in the same area.

Hutch told police that he was the target of the shooting and returned to Dublin soon after the incident.

His family home has been targeted by gunmen since his return.
The recent race for the presidency of the United States depicted a contest that was divisive, unforgiving and intolerant. Slurs, innuendo and insults were more commonplace than discussion on important social, economic, national and global issues. Media saturation meant children without the tools to understand the issues were exposed to a discourse that, at times, seemed almost comic in its vulgarity. Many parents and teachers may have been at a loss at how to explain the election to the children in their care.

Never has there been greater need for young minds to be allowed to develop the necessary skills to live in an open, diverse and multicultural society. Ethical Education provides exactly that opportunity.

Ethical Education is a subject in which an ever growing number of students are participating in Irish schools. Despite the fact it's been around for almost four decades, it's still considered relatively new in Irish education.

Ethical Education essentially invites students and teachers to engage in debate about the issues of the day. It prepares students to act on their learning, ensuring that the response to issues is not merely passive. Through its aim to create critical thinkers, Ethical Education instils in students the knowledge, empathy and ability to participate in society in a meaningful way. Thousands of parents choose to send their children to Educate Together schools, where they are assured of such a compelling curriculum.

In practice, what does that look like? A snapshot of any given day might look something like this: in junior infants, a child is proudly sharing her family's Hanukkah (Jewish) traditions; in second class, the children earnestly wait the next session on the timetable devoted to stillness and meditation; third class are embroiled in a discussion around the rights of LGBT people; fifth class students write to a local representative about their concerns in relation to homelessness. At second-level, first years debate the level of gender equality in Irish society, while second years are creating awareness campaigns on topics such as water consumption and Fairtrade.

Ethical Education provides a meaningful space in the timetable for these worthwhile conversations to occur. Olivia is a second-level Educate Together student and this is what she thinks about her Ethical Education classes: "They're a lot more involved, there's a lot more group work, a lot more talking, which is nice because in other classes it's books and sentences and learning and paragraphs and reading - but this is a lot more talking and getting your voice heard. It's about teaching you how to speak about what you believe in."

For years, moral education and issues of social justice were deemed to exist only in the realm of religious instruction, situated firmly within a Christian framework. The teaching of moral issues outside of a religious context first came about in 1978 with the opening of the Dalkey School Project, Ireland's first multi-denominational school.

In the intervening 38 years, Educate Together's Ethical Education curriculum has evolved to encompass not only moral, but also spiritual development (not limited to a religious context), issues related to equality and justice, the affirmation of difference and diversity, the nurturing of active and democratically-aware citizens, an ethical approach towards the environment and an exploration of different belief systems. Today, Ethical Education provides young people with a space to reflect upon the issues facing society and encourages them to claim their space and have their voices heard, while respecting the voices of others.

Sandra Irwin-Gowran is Education & Support Programme Manager with Educate Together. Educate Together's annual Ethical Education conference takes place this Friday and Saturday in Dublin.
Last week, this column looked at an overview of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and why it is important for students and their parents to understand it, in order to assist them in making decisions about course applications to the CAO and elsewhere.

This week, we will look at two levels in more detail.

Level 8

A Level 8 degree is also known as an honours degree. This is what many people think of when they think of a traditional university degree. They are generally four years in duration, with some notable exceptions. Medicine, for example, is five or six years and arts degrees are often three years. Students mainly apply for these courses through the CAO, with some private colleges offering Level 8 courses outside of the CAO system.

Leaving Cert. students are required to meet the minimum entry requirements, in terms of grades and subjects, for these courses, and then compete with other students on CAO points to win a place.

In previous years, the minimum requirements for all Level 8 courses were two higher level C3 grades (HC3) and four ordinary level D3 (0D3) grades, with the exception of Trinity College Dublin, which required three higher level C3s and three ordinary level D3s.

This year, there are new Leaving Cert. grading and points systems. Students will still be required to present at least six subjects to the CAO. Under the new system, these must include two H5 grades (minimum 50pc) and four O6/H7 grades (minimum 40pc at ordinary level or 30pc and above at higher level). Trinity will continue to require three H5 grades and minumum grades of O6/H7 in three other subjects.

CAO points for Level 8 courses in 2016 were as high as 595 depending on supply and demand. Level 8 degrees are offered at universities, institutes of technology, private colleges and training colleges.

Level 7

Level 7 degrees are known as ordinary degrees. They are generally three years in duration and students mainly apply for these courses through the CAO, while some private colleges offer Level 7 courses outside of the CAO system.

Once again, Leaving Cert students are required to meet the minimum entry requirements in terms of grades and essential subjects, and then compete for places on CAO points. Many institutions require a student to achieve five O6/H7 grades for entry to Level 7, although there are some exceptions.

Essential subject requirements are also lower for Level 7 courses. For example, a student wishing to study engineering at Level 8 in DIT will require a H4 in maths, while engineering courses at Level 7 in DIT require an O4/H7 in maths.

Level 7 degrees are offered at universities, institutes of technology and private colleges. CAO points last year ranged from AQA to 460. The majority of Level 7 degree courses contain an option of an add-on year. This makes it possible for students to complete one extra year and receive a Level 8 qualification.

In order to identify if a Level 7 course offers an add-on year to achieve a Level 8, students can check the CAO handbook. If the course offers an add-on year, the third column of the handbook will contain the letters 'DG+HD'. DG indicates that the course is a degree while +HD indicates that an add-on year is available to achieve an honours degree.

CAO applicants should bear in mind that with the changes this year to the Leaving Certificate grading and CAO points systems, it is impossible to predict the cut-off points for any CAO courses in 2017.

Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin

Q. Under the new Leaving Cert grading/points systems, will there still be a Foundation Level and will points be awarded?

A Maths and Irish will continue to be available at foundation level. Many colleges may accept foundation maths if there is no ordinary or higher level maths requirement for a particular course, but most do not award points  one example is DIT. A small number award points for certain courses. Applicants should check the arrangements in each college. One that does award points for foundation level maths for Level 7/6 courses is Dundalk IT.

Students who achieve an F2 (over 80pc) will be awarded 12 points and an F1 grade (over 90pc) will attract 20 points. Students should aim to take the highest level possible in every subject. This is particularly true for maths, as many colleges require it for entry. However, a student at risk of failing ordinary level maths may find themselves with more opportunities from achieving a high grade at foundation level than failing ordinary level.

IMPORTANT DATES

Today

Ahead Better Options fair - O'Brien Centre UCD

Mature Student Evening - Cork IT

Open Evening - Griffith College Cork

Open Day - Griffith College Dublin and Limerick

Open Evening - ICHAS

Open Day - NCI

Open Day (2pm-7pm) - Open University, Holles St, Dublin

UCD Agri/Food Science Info Evening - Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny

Tomorrow

CMETB Career Event - Monaghan Educ. Campus

Info Evening - Colaiste Dhulaigh

Portfolio Clinic - DIT

Mature Student Evening - IADT

Mary Immaculate College Info Evening - St Patrick's Campus Thurles

Architecture Open Day - UCC

November 25

Open Day (2 Days) - Athlone IT

Open Day (2 Days) - IADT

Open Day - GMIT Letterfrack

Open Day - IT Carlow (Wexford Campus)

Open Day -Letterkenny IT

LMETD Adult CAO Workshop - Navan Alpha Student Hub

Open Day (2 Days) - Maynooth University

Open Day (2 Days) - Pontifical College Maynooth

November 26

Drop in Day - Cavan Institute

Geology Workshop - UCD

November 29

Open Day/Evening - IT Blanchardstown

EUNICAS - Fota Island Resort Hotel Cork

Parents Info Evening UCC - Brandon Hotel Tralee

Maths and BAFS Open Night - UCD

November 30

Open Day -NCAD

UCD Agri/Food Science Info Evening - Clarion Hotel Cork
Increases in third-level fees, linked to a student loan scheme, should be regulated and remain affordable, according Peter Cassells, who wrote the expert group report on future funding of higher education.

An income-contingent student loan scheme is among a number of options put forward in the Cassells report as a means of putting the sector on a sound financial footing.

Mr Cassells will defend the student loan idea today, at the latest in a series of Oireachtas education committee meetings to consider his report.

He said a loan scheme should not deter anyone from going to college, because repayments would be linked to future earnings and ability to pay. An income-contingent loan is one where repayments are made when income hits a certain level, and takes account of breaks, such as unemployment or maternity leave.

Mr Cassells is executive director of the Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention, at Maynooth University, and a former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions.

Read more: University presidents back introduction of student loan scheme to boost funding for higher education

Higher education has suffered massive cuts in State funding since 2008, at a time when student numbers have risen and are projected to continue to increase.

Third-level enrolments are expected to grow by 45,000, between 2015 and 2029, an average of 3,000 students a year, requiring an additional 350 staff, costing 25m a year.

But, that would not allow for any improvement in the student:staff ratio, which, as a result of cuts, has deteriorated to 20:1 in Ireland, compared with an international average of 16:1.

The ratio is cited as a reason for Irish universities dropping in international rankings. Mr Cassells said to reduce that to 14:1, in line with national ambition, would require 6,000 extra staff, costing 450m a year.

According to the expert group, the system requires minimum additional investment of 600m a year by 2021 to provide for the extra students and to improve quality - and the question that arises is how that should be shared between State, employers and students.

Mr Cassells will tell the committee that "comprehensive and fundamental change" in the funding system is required and reaching agreement will require a "constructive and realistic discussion".

He said a discussion that "yields only a restatement of first preferences and consequent stalemate will simply consolidate the status quo". And he will warn TDs that the status quo "is not a cost-free option" and imposes costs in terms of quality, exclusion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, graduate career opportunities and the contribution of higher education to economic and social development.
Major deficiencies around the teaching of science and technology subjects in Irish schools have been pinpointed in a new report, being launched today.

A lack of expertise among primary teachers, a shortage of qualified physics and chemistry teachers at second-level and not enough use of digital learning are among the problems.

The gaps in the system around the so-called Stem subjects - science, technology, engineering and maths - fly in the face of the Government's ambition to have the best education system in Europe within a decade.

Education Minister Richard Bruton is now promising a series of actions to start addressing the issues identified in the report, from the Stem Education Review Group (STEMERG).

The group, chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University (DCU), included experts in Stem education and industry figures from world-leading companies, including Intel and IBM.

The report outlines the extent of the economic and job opportunities for Ireland that are dependent on high-quality Stem education and also stresses the need for scientifically literate citizens in a modern democracy. It makes 47 recommendations.

Mr Bruton is committing to delivering on 21 of the actions as a priority, stating he wants to make Ireland a world-leader at providing Stem education. He says the 26 remaining actions will be considered further as he prepares a Stem Education Policy Statement, to be published in the first half of 2017.

The report highlights the 'average' performance of Irish students in Stem subjects across a number of international assessments, such as the OECD PISA study, in the past decade or so.

Prof MacCraith warns that "the overall levels of performance and engagement in Stem subjects are not good enough if we aim to provide the best for our nation's children, and if we wish to sustain our economic ambitions for the future".

He said a "step-change in Stem performance and outcomes is required throughout the educational system if we are to move our Stem performance up to the highest levels", as he welcomed Mr Bruton's initial commitments.

The introduction of computer science, including coding, as a Leaving Certificate subject, which has already been flagged, is one of the 21 promised actions.

So too is a means of recognising participation in extra-curricular Stem events and activities, such as CoderDojo and the BT Young Scientists, in student assessment.

Other priority actions include addressing the shortage of physics and chemistry teachers "as a matter of urgency", through initiatives such as an upskilling programme similar to the one introduced for unqualified maths teachers in 2012.

Mr Bruton promises supports in primary teacher training to build expertise in science, maths and technology and will review the minimum entry requirements for entry to primary teacher courses.

There is also a commitment to enable greater use of technology for digital learning.
An elderly man whose body was found in Cork is suspected to have died after an accidental fall.

The man, who is 68, was found with head injuries in the Cork harbour town of Cobh, not far from a steep embankment close to his home.

It is understood the man had been socialising with friends at a party in the locality and was walking home alone when the incident occurred.

Garda sources indicated that there is nothing to suggest, at this stage in their investigation, that the incident was suspicious or that foul play may have been involved.

One theory being examined by gardai is that the man may have slipped and fallen while he was walking home, accidentally striking his head in the process.

Overnight and late evening frost and ice have been commonplace in Cobh over the past week and may have been a factor in the tragedy.

The scene was preserved by gardai to allow for an investigation into the matter.

A full post mortem examination will be conducted by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster.

That is expected to take place at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Gardai stressed that the nature of their investigation will be determined by the post mortem examination results.
Undercover gardai have arrested a number of city rickshaw drivers for selling drugs.

The arrests were made by Pearse Street Garda Station, which covers the busiest areas for the pedal-cab drivers, over the past three weekends.

In a separate operation, a driver was targeted after a community policing unit was given intelligence that he was selling drugs.

Previously, Independent.ie told how drivers approached in the capital were found to be selling drugs, including weed and cocaine.

Our undercover investigation revealed that drugs are kept under rickshaw seats which are locked.

A gram of weed is sold for 25, while a gram of cocaine is sold for 100. Pills are sold for 10.

It is understood that drivers are organised at street level but it is not clear who their supplier is or who they are selling on behalf of.

Read More

Crackdown

Rickshaws are not covered by transport legislation and drivers do not have to be registered.

Gda Insp Liam Geraghty, of Pearse Street Garda Station, said gardai are "as aware as anyone of the issues with some rickshaws drivers".

He said gardai will continue to crack down on those that are selling drugs. He also said the laws around the pedal-cabs are a "grey area".

"Rickshaws are a grey area because they fall between a pedal cycle and an MPV (mechanically propelled vehicle) as defined by the road traffic act. This makes them difficult to deal with.

"There are some that are pure pedal cycles where the driver literally has to pedal to take off. There is absolutely no regulation to cover what they're doing. They're not an MPV and they don't come under taxi or hackney laws.

Read more:

"The pedal cycle fines are not designed for what rickshaws are doing. If they are MPVs they should have registration, licences, lights, NCT or a hackney licence."

Many of the vehicles are a combination of the two types of rickshaws and it comes down to gardai on the street making a "judgement call", he said.

"The bigger concern is that we have drivers of these vehicles who are picking up members of the public, and we don't know who the driver is.

"There is obviously a public safety concern that we know who the driver is and we know they are vetted and if anything happens we can trace what driver is on what vehicle."

Meanwhile, Fianna Fails spokesperson on the National Drugs Strategy Jack Chambers TD, raised the issue in the Dail on Wednesday.

We saw an undercover investigation in Dublin around rickshaws and the act of drug dealing. Some examples of that were shown. Is it the intention of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to develop a regulatory policy with the National Transport Authority around rickshaw licensing, insurance and other matters?

In response, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: They are two separate things. Dealing in and selling illegal drugs is a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality and An Garda Siochana, which has a particular expertise in this area through the drug squads which are funded by Government.

Obviously, the Minister will look at the question of mobile vehicles of one description or another. They seem to change every so often. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will reflect on the scale of rickshaw movement throughout the city.

Speaking to Independent.ie, Jack Chambers said it is shocking that the drug dealing is happening in such a public and organised way.

"That rickshaw operators are engaged in drug dealing like this is very concerning, particularly when it is almost entirely young people who use them and normally after they have consumed alcohol, making them more vulnerable.

"This further highlights the need for Minister Shane Ross to finally act to restore some control with regard to rickshaws."
The way has been cleared to apply for planning permission to build a new National Maternity Hospital on the grounds of St Vincents Hospital in Dublin.

An agreement has been reached which has ended the bitter row that has held up the building of a modern maternity hospital.

Health Minister Simon Harris announced the breakthough this evening.

It involves the setting up of a special purpose company which will have board members from the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincents.

The much-needed facility has been delayed because of the dispute over control of the hospital if it moves from its city centre location in Holles St to the campus of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin 4.

St Vincent's healthcare group demanded that there be a single governance structure.

However, the maternity hospital objected to this, saying it would lose independence while the long-established system of having a hospital master would be phased out.

Significant progress in efforts to seal an agreement on governance and other clinical issues was made in recent months.

The progress was made since former chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission Kieran Mulvey was appointed as mediator.

The stand-off between the board and managers of the maternity hospital - currently struggling in an outdated building - and the St Vincent's healthcare group, governed by the Religious Sisters of Charity, delayed plans to apply for planning permission.

Sources said a number of outstanding differences have yet to be ironed out but there is optimism that these can be overcome.

The current Holles St maternity building is no longer fit for purpose and is putting patients at increased risk.
A friendship that began as pen pals communicating across the Atlantic resulted in a Dundalk woman travelling to the United States to be bridesmaid for her lifelong friend.

Joanne White, originally from Ravensdale, outside Dundalk, began writing to Kim Marciniack when she was a pupil at the nearby Faughart National School.

A close bond was developed over 16 years, culminating in Kim asking Joanne to be her bridesmaid.

Joanne made the trip to Indianapolis for the ceremony and was honoured to be by her friend's side for the big day. The heart-warming story was topped off when Joanne and her boyfriend, Anthony Keenan, got engaged in New York on the way home.

"It all began when I was in 5th or 6th class when teacher Jim Kelleher encouraged us to write to a pen pal," said Joanne.

"I had five or six to start with, but Kim was the only one I kept in contact with. I'm 28 now so we have been friends for 16 or 17 years.

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"We would normally write about every two weeks and then exchange gifts for Christmas and birthdays."

The pair visited each other's homes when they were in their teens.

New technology replaced the letter-writing and contact was maintained through Facebook, with Kim asking Joanne to be her bridesmaid via social media.

"I was really surprised, but absolutely delighted," said Joanne.
Principal of St. Audoen's National School Eilish Meagher and Michael O'Connor General Manager of the Clarence Hotel who spoke at a seminar at the Clarence Hotel discussing the implications of a Supervised Injection Centre/Drug Comsumption Facility scheduled to open in Dublin City Centre in 2017. Pic Steve Humphreys

THE general manager of the Clarence Hotel has revealed how he was attacked on the street by a drug addict.

Michael O'Connor, who was a friend of late RTE broadcaster Gerry Ryan, was speaking at a meeting debating the introduction of medically supervised injection centres for drug addicts.

The first such centre in Ireland will be opened in Dublin next year, but there was concern about the initiative this week.

"I was the victim of an assault by a j****e," Mr O'Connor told the meeting, which was held in the Clarence Hotel, bought by U2 frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge in 1992.

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"I'm concerned about people, I'm concerned about my patrons," he said. "None of them are welcoming this proposal for supervised injection centres."

CHRONIC

Mr O'Connor warned of the consequences for politicians who act without the support of the public.

Some strong objections were voiced at the meeting, which was organised by the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), the Restaurants Association of Ireland, the Temple Bar Company and addiction service Aisling Group International.

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Councillor Mannix Flynn spoke out against injection centres, saying it was the wrong road to take and that they would encourage drug addicts to harm themselves.

"We're dealing with chronic addicts. We're saying, 'Here's the rope, why don't you go hang yourself'," he said.

However, Neil Forsyth, of homeless support group Focus Ireland, said the issue was not clear-cut, and it seemed that people had already "nailed their colours to the mast" while calling for a debate.

He described how drug add-icts were being found dead on the streets on an almost daily basis.

Kris Karlsson, a reformed criminal and former drug addict, said it was the 12-step programme that saved him from his life of drugs and that he became clean very late in life before going on to found KRIS, a charity for reforming criminal addicts.

"I began to challenge myself to realise these harms I'd done to others," he said.

Last December, the Cabinet approved the drafting of legislation that would enable licences to be issued for the establishment of medically supervised injection facilities.

Health Minister Simon Harris has said it was hoped that the project would reduce the problems posed by on-street drug use.
A Granny who completed her Junior Cert exams at 92 has been named Grandparent of the Year.

Moya Connelly, now 94, was presented with the prize in recognition of her lust for life.

This retired nurse returned to education six years ago for an IT course so that she could email her brother in Brazil and Skype her grandchildren. She later sat Junior Cert exams in history and English in Colaiste Eanna in Cabra.

She continues to take art classes, and made several friends in her courses. She is also a keen artist, continuing to take art classes and making her own Christmas cards.

Expand Close Grand Parent of the Year Moya Connelly (94) pictured with Her Grand Daughter Hannah Connelly (18) and Micheal OMuircheartaigh . / Facebook

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Whatsapp Grand Parent of the Year Moya Connelly (94) pictured with Her Grand Daughter Hannah Connelly (18) and Micheal OMuircheartaigh .

She was nominated by her granddaughter Hannah, one of five grandchildren, for the entry described Hannahs grandmother as inspirational.

Speaking to independent.ie, Moya said: I just wanted to keep my mind active. My grandchildren have phones and iPads and everything, and I thought I should try to keep up with them.

When asked what she was planning next, Moya said Not another exam! I have the art classes, and I write poetry as well.

Id really like to say thanks to everyone at Cabra Community College. If it werent for them I never would have done the exams.

Moya won a trophy, a weekend away in Ireland and a Specsavers voucher for her efforts.

Ive got to get some posh glasses! she laughed.

Expand Close Grand Parent of the Year Moya Connelly (94) pictured with Her Grand Daughter Hannah Connelly (18) and Micheal OMuircheartaigh . / Facebook

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Whatsapp Grand Parent of the Year Moya Connelly (94) pictured with Her Grand Daughter Hannah Connelly (18) and Micheal OMuircheartaigh .

The Grandparent of the Year award was launched by Specsavers in association with Third Age. There were four regional winners from Connacht, Ulster, Munster and Leinster who competed for the national title.

The other finalists were Oliver Ryan from Moycullen, Galway (Connacht), Margaret McConnell from Letterkenny (Ulster) and Betty Crosbie from Killarney (Munster).

In a statement, Chairperson of Specsavers Ireland Sinead Clohessy said, We received heartwarming entries from all across the country and were truly inspired by Moyas story. Despite her hearing loss she is still living life to the full and is proof that it is never too late to learn and accomplish your goals.
A young man has died from injuries suffered in a road accident two months ago.

The man, named locally as Ryan Doyle from Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, was a passenger in a car which was involved in a serious road accident last September 17.

There were four people in the car at the time and they were travelling from Ballinamore when the vehicle struck a tree.

Mr Doyle was seriously injured in the collision and taken to hospital in Dublin where he remained until his death on Tuesday.

Gardai are investigating the accident.

A spokesperson said: "The collision occurred at Drumreilly, Ballinamore at approximately 10.45pm on the 17th September 2016.

"Four occupants in the car. The car collided with a tree and then crashed through a concrete fence. One of the rear passengers was seriously injured he subsequently died."

Mr Doyle will be buried after funeral mass on Friday in Edenderry, Co Offaly.

Ballinamore Community School Principal Padraig Leyden paid tribute to Ryan in the Leitrim Observer.

"He (Ryan) was a lovely young man, he got on well with everyone; with his teachers and his peers. He was popular with everyone and our sympathies go out to his family at this sad time."
The body representing middle ranking gardai has hit out at the chairman of the public Sector Pay Commission Kevin Duffy after he likened the recent threat of strike action to mutiny.

Speaking at an industrial relations conference event in Dublin on Thursday, Mr Duffy - the former head of the Labour Court - said the strike threat was unlawful by any standard.

Mr Duffy said many terms had been used to described the strike threat - but that mutiny is most appropriate in his view.

Here was a dispute that was unlawful and there was either no mechanism to enforce the law or no desire to enforce the law. And that sort of thing brings the law into disrepute, Mr Duffy said.

The comments will cause concern within political circles given that Mr Duffy is heading up the commission established to examine public sector pay and conditions.

The strike threat by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) was called off at the eleventh hour following a recommendation by the Labour Court.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, AGSI said the remarks should be withdrawn.

AGSI President Antoinette Cunningham said they were extremely damaging and divisive.

She added: Members of this Association are currently balloting on a Labour Court proposal which was negotiated by both sides in a fair and conciliatory manner and under due process but under very stressful conditions a number of weeks ago.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) also said it was dismayed at the comments.

Pat Ennis, GRA General Secretary said: The National Executive of this Association read the comments in the media today and were shocked that a Government-appointed, and supposedly independent Chairman, would articulate such views which we believe are unfair, unfounded and hugely damaging to relations between this Association and the PSPC.

It is of great concern that such comments should be made regarding both this Association and the Labour Court; and any confidence that the GRA might receive a fair hearing at the PSPC has diminished - and this situation is now untenable.

I am astonished that such comments would be publicly stated by the chairman of a State body designed to serve all employees equally.

We are currently balloting our members on the Labour Court recommendation that was negotiated on a problem-solving basis; and for a public official to intervene in such a manner is neither welcome nor appropriate at this juncture.

Separately, it emerged on Thursday that the retired judge appointed to lead an review into allegations of a smear campaign against garda whistle-blowers has sought a seven day extension.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith ONeill was granted the request by the Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

He is examining allegations made by Superintendent David Taylor that garda management engaged in a smear campaign against Sgt Maurice McCabe.
Enda Kenny said Independents would be allowed free votes on other issues but he wanted a collective response to Sinn Feins motion which seeks to enshrine the countrys neutrality in the Constitution. Photo: Collins

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has confirmed he blocked Independent TDs from having a free vote on a bill relating to Ireland's neutrality because he sees it as a matter of "fundamental public policy".

The Fine Gael leader said Independents would be allowed free votes on other issues but he wanted a collective response to Sinn Fein's motion which seeks to enshrine the country's neutrality in the Constitution.

He said such a move "were it ever to be implemented by a referendum would mean unforeseen difficulties in so many areas for the country".

Mr Kenny was speaking after the Irish Independent revealed details of a furious row at Cabinet as Shane Ross and Finian McGrath sought a free vote on a motion that will be debated in the Dail tonight.

The Taoiseach even produced a copy of Bunreacht na hEireann during the debate which saw several ministers intervene to defuse the situation.

"I also made that point that article 29.9 of the Constitution is clear and the people of the country voted in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and it was made perfectly clear and enshrined in the Constitution and in the treaties of the EU as a protocol, indicating very clearly our neutrality," Mr Kenny said.

He added that all governments had adopted "very, very tight" safeguards for Ireland.

Read more: Minister is entitled to a free vote - but really should pick his battles

Read more: Taoiseach 'left red in face' by heated Cabinet row with Ross on neutrality

"There is no question of provision of a European army, there is no question of our neutrality being infringed in any way. And while I respect of course the right of the Independent Alliance to refer to free votes, there will be other occasions when there will be free votes," he said.

Independent minister John Halligan yesterday said Mr Ross was correct to "kick up a fuss" about the issue but the Alliance were likely to oppose the Sinn Fein motion.

The motion seeks to add the following line to the constitution: "War shall not be declared and the State shall not participate in any war or other armed conflict, nor aid foreign powers in any way in preparation for war or other armed conflict, or conduct of war or other armed conflict, save with the assent of Dail Eireann."

Mr Halligan said he was "not too pushed" on the bill because it was "almost impossible for Ireland to go to war".

"I'm more concerned about the free vote on it. I think on issues like that there probably should be a free vote, I do. There is not going to be one. They are indicating that it is part of the Constitution. We will accept that on this occasion," he said.

The Waterford TD added that his group would "consistently" differ with Fine Gael "but it doesn't mean we are going to fight like mad to bring down the Government. We are entitled to have differences as Independents".

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday described the Cabinet discussion on neutrality as "robust".

He said the Independents were entitled to argue for a free vote as there was no mention of Ireland's position on neutrality in the Programme for Government but the constitution was "a bigger deal".

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan will use tonight's debate to "strongly reinforce" the Government's position on Irish neutrality.

Sources say he will emphasis there has been long-standing position of neutrality and that "a triple-lock" is in place to prevent Ireland engaging in war. He will also reference reassurances in the Lisbon Treaty.
The Polish Government want the Polish language taught in the Irish education system, their Foreign Minister has said.

Mr Witold Waszczykowski had talks in Dublin with his counterpart, Charlie Flanagan, and later met Education Minister, Richard Bruton. He said he was determined to keep lobbying for more recognition for the Polish language and culture in Ireland.

Mr Flanagan said there are 150,000 Polish people living in Ireland and they are making a great contribution to the country. He said 700 people did Polish in the Leaving Certificate last year and he looked forward to increased cultural and trade links between the two countries

The Polish Foreign Minister earlier laid flowers at a statue of Countess Markievicz in St Stephens Green in Dublin. The 1916 Rising Commandant was married to Polish aristocrat, Count Casimir Markievicz.

Mr Waszczykowski said Polish people living in Ireland were good citizens and he said he was determined to keep lobbying for greater recognition of their culture and language, especially in the education system. I think they deserve that Polish culture is cultivated here, the Minister told reporters.

Irish government sources said the Education Department will publish a new strategy on modern language teaching early in the New Year. This will look at how best to support young people who are native speakers of a large number of languages, including Polish, and will also look at how best to harness this advantage to Irelands cultural and economic advantage.

The Polish Minister said his government was very concerned about Britain leaving the EU, especially about the implications for the tens of thousands of Polish people living in Britain. He suggested Britain must give some concessions on immigration and freedom of movement on the upcoming Brexit talks.

We also understand and appreciate the unique position of Ireland vis a vis the United Kingdom, Mr Waszczykowski said.

Asked about the implications for EU defence policy from US President-elect Donald Trump's statements about disengagement from Euorpe, Mr Waszczykowski said "campaign statements" were now being replaced by traditional US Republican foreign policies. He believed the USA would continue to honour its NATO defence obligations in Europe.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said the cumulative amount of Irish-Polish trade was now worth 3bn per year and growing at 20pc per year. He said there were 60 flights every day between Ireland and Poland serving 12 Polish Airports.
From clashing with Shane Ross to meeting the Pope next week, Enda Kenny will be kept busy over the next few days jumping from one infallible figure to the next.

Click here subscribe to the Floating Voter on iTunes.

The Taoiseach has said that the Irish States relationship with the Church is now better than ever but will the the abortion referendum be on the agenda and what about the Pope declaring that priests can now offer absolution to women who have had an abortion?

Joining Niall OConnor and Philip Ryan on this weeks Floating Voter was the Sunday Independents Niamh Horan who believed that some women might find solace in receiving forgiveness from their local priest for an abortion.

There might something in that moment for a women and it shouldnt be seen as another attack on the Church, said Horan.

Elsewhere on the show, the panel asked why Shane Ross was being pilloried for wanting more transparency from the judiciary, one of the most elite aspects of Irish society?

Whats wrong with wanting reform in the judiciary? asked Philip Ryan.

And are water charges now back on the political agenda? Fianna Fail have flip-flopped once more on the issue saying not no, never on water charges, though, fix the pipes first says Horan before she is willing to pay up.

Each week on the Floating Voter, INM's political team discuss the main issues affecting Irish politics bursting the bubble around Leinster House.

New episodes on Independent.ie every Thursday.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican next Monday and invite him to visit Ireland in 2018.

Mr Kenny has also extended an invitation to US president-elect Donald Trump to visit this country.

Mr Kenny said he wanted the meeting with the Pontiff to tell of his support for the Irish Catholic bishop's invitation to Pope Francis to visit Ireland in 2018.

Read more: Pope Francis grants all priests the power to 'forgive women for grave sin of abortion'

It is widely expected the Pope will travel here for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018.

Mr Kenny is to say all the courtesies of a state visit would be extended.

The Taoiseach yesterday insisted relations between Ireland and the Vatican were extremely healthy and he had regular conversations with many clergy.

This contrasts with a landmark speech about child abuse in Cloyne in July 2011, which was an unprecedented attack on "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism" at the Vatican.

Following this the Irish Vatican embassy was closed for two years, but reopened in 2014 after Pope Francis's election.

The Taoiseach and the Pontiff are also expected to discuss Irish-Vatican relations, EU developments and migration. Mr Kenny said Mr Trump had already said he wanted to visit Ireland and that would be pursued in the future.
Biting her tongue in certain situations was something Mary McAleese had to learn to do as President. That's not something she has to worry about any more.

Having recently marked the fifth anniversary of leaving aras an Uachtarain, life these days is very different as she studies for her doctorate in Canon Law - something she wearily described as "sleeping in the same bed as a python".

"You never finish it, you just get to the point where you have to abandon it," she explained.

She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican, with a quip that her social life was "very active" given the 11pm curfew.

Her studies have "filled her head up with crap", she said, but the plus side is that it has cleared her mind of "a whole lot of things".

The eighth President of Ireland, Mrs McAleese recently joined over 100 academics in challenging the Catholic church's ban on artificial contraception.

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Mrs McAleese was honoured yesterday at the annual Tiffany Ireland funds lunch for women in business and philanthropy at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin.

Guests included Sabina Higgins; Fionnuala Kelly, wife of the Taoiseach; Director General of RTE Dee Forbes; and Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital.

Amongst the guests was Ann Buckley, helped from homelessness by charity Daisyhouse and who is now studying journalism.

Former President McAleese was interviewed on stage by Claire Byrne, who asked what outcome she wants from her religious studies.

Most practitioners of canon law end up annulling marriages, Mrs McAleese said, explaining that she doesn't want to do that.

As the only married person in her class, nobody ever asked her a question, she said, claiming they have an "unhealthy interest in bad marriages".

Instead, she wants to look at the hierarchical structure of the church which she says is "not serving its purpose."

She slated the Vatican's recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children's Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.

The former President said she is "enormously proud" of Ireland, adding that "perplexing events" in the US and the UK prompt her to say: "Thanks be to God I live in Ireland."

She spoke of the "radical" European Union which had healed the divisions of two world wars and she warmly praised Ireland's embrace of new emigrants.

"We are not saying what they are saying in the United States," she said, adding that all our political parties are pro-inclusion because of the history of the Irish people who experienced discrimination yet stuck it out, and went on to become "corporate Britain and corporate America".

There is some racism here but "that's not how most of us feel", she said. Realising that older Irish communities in the UK were going to vote for Brexit over fears "immigrants were taking their jobs" was "so depressing," she said.

As President, she told how she visited a new building in Wales and was told by the then First Minister that the chief architect and other key players in the construction were all Irish. He told her if she had walked onto the site 40 years ago, everybody carrying a hod would've been an Irishman.

"The Irish don't carry the hod anymore," he'd told her.

"That's a measure of how we've moved on and moved up," Mrs McAleese said.
The receipt with the 750 tip from the restaurant in Houston, Texas

An Irish waiter working in an American restaurant got an early Christmas gift when a customer tipped him $750 to bring his new family home for a holiday.

Ben Millar (22) was serving in a restaurant in Houston, Texas, when he received the very generous gratuity. His girlfriend Taryn Keith (21), who is eight months pregnant, said it "couldn't have happened to a better guy".

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The Belfast man had been planning on a trip to Ireland once their son, Killian, is born and had been sharing his story with a customer who decided to help him out.

Taryn told the Irish Independent that the pair had started chatting about U2.

"The customer informed Ben that he had just been in Ireland to see the band. Ben jokingly said, 'Wow, I wish I could go back there for a weekend and visit my family', thinking nothing of it."

But when he went to collect the bill he was stunned to discover that the customer had left him a $750 (706) tip, along with a hand-written note which read: "Hopefully, this can get you back to Ireland for the holidays".

His immediate reaction was shock, Taryn said.

The customer, whose name was Jeffrey, left so fast that Ben never got the chance to thank him. The couple hope that by sharing the story, Jeffrey will see how much his generosity meant to them.

Taryn said that the family hopes to visit Ireland after their son is born - her due date is January 20.

"I think it's a blessing and it couldn't have happened to a better guy than him. He works really hard," she said.
Consumer group Which? found that 49pc of the Black Friday offers in 2015 were not the cheapest on the day itself. Photo: Steve Humphreys

On Black Friday eve, we took to the streets of Dublin to see how shoppers were feeling about the big day.

Some were cynical about the whole concept, while others have been saving up all year to splash the cash.

One things for sure, Irish people love a good bargain.
Waiting until after Christmas to organise a trip abroad will cost a lot more, says Sinead Ryan.

There's nothing like the cold chill of the deepest winter to make you start thinking of sunnier climes. Amidst all the jingle bells and seasonal cheer, there's a bit of you just wishing you were lying on a beach in the sun, isn't there?

Well, it's not too late... to start planning, that is!

Mid-December to the end of February is the busiest time for foreign holiday bookings, but the savvy consumer isn't waiting until then - they're booking right now.

Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agent's Association (ITAA), says package holidays are well underway.

"All the post Leaving Cert students have already booked to get the cheapest air fares. These are introduced 330 days out and get snapped up. As they fill up, they get more expensive, so families have been booking with our members since August when the first 2017 brochures come out.

"It makes sense as it means they only pay a small deposit now, with the balance due 10 weeks before they go, which isn't until May. With Christmas coming up, that's a real incentive. If you book it all yourself, you have to pay up front in full."

Travel companies, anxious to get early deposits on their books, generally make their first round offers of holidays the previous summer. To entice customers, they offer discounts, free child and granny places or all inclusive deals. Always check the expiry dates on offers though, as you may find the balance of the holiday has to be paid early.

So, if you're sick and tired of all this cold, perhaps it's a good time to start the (beach) ball rolling. Here are my tips to getting a bargain:

1. DIY vs Agent

For many of us, the internet is the place to start.

A DIY holiday seems like the one where you have the most control but beware - your consumer rights lessen if you do it this way. If something goes wrong, like a cancelled or missed flight, or your four-star apartment turns out to be a grimy flat above a strip bar, you have fewer options to get redress.

Booking through a travel agent means you are covered whatever happens. And a travel agent can be cheaper, rather than more expensive, than doing it yourself as they block-buy rooms. It's also safer. DIY-style holidays fall outside the provisions of package holiday legislation.

2. Flying high

Consider flying from a regional airport. Dublin will invariably be expensive while Waterford, Knock, Limerick - if they are accessible to you - may be cheaper. With sterling currently languishing around 1.18, it is also a great idea to fly from Belfast. They have additional airlines like EasyJet, Wizz and Jet2, and Thomas Cook, Virgin and Thompson holidays fly from there too. If it's no more than a couple of hours' drive, you may find you get a better price on your trip by booking (and paying) now in sterling.

3. Travel Tuesday

Flying at the weekend is far more expensive than a midweek flight. Tuesday or Wednesday can be cheaper, if you can manipulate your work leave that way. Flying early in the morning is also cutting the price (you can sleep on the plane, after all!).

4. The Early bird gets the worm

Although booking now means you can avail of your choice of resort and any early-bird discounts available, if you are more flexible, or don't have children to cater for, booking at the last minute is also a way to garner the left over rooms that hotels need to sell off.

If you simply want heat, Spain has, by a long mile, the greatest capacity. It is still Ireland's favourite destination abroad and there will always be a multitude of apartments and hotel rooms at the last moment.

5. Upgrading

The notion of 'stars' to denote quality isn't consistent across Europe. So it is worth investigating if going 'up' a star rating might actually be worth it. Many websites allow you to filter your choice based on the star rating, and you may think you can only afford, say, a 3-star.

But if you're looking at holidays in Italy, Croatia, Turkey etc, go up to 4-star - they're often only marginally different in price for far better value.

6. Child's play

Bringing children on holiday is a bit of a nightmare, but planning properly means you can all enjoy it rather than returning home in a frazzled mess, vowing to never go again.

When booking, acknowledge your time as a free and easy singleton is over. It will return, but in the meantime, it's kids clubs, resorts and dinner at 5pm. You will be surrounded by other families in exactly the same position, so get over it. This is why French campsites are so popular - there are no time-controlled meals, dress code or having to be out of your room so the cleaner can get in.

Eurocamp, Hello France and Europarcs are popular booking sites and you will meet other Irish families there... if that's what you want, of course! But book early, the top sites with the most amenities get booked up, often from the previous summer.

7. Money, money, money

Using your debit card abroad is just the same as here. There should not be extra charges in EU countries for transactions or cash withdrawals.

The same is not always true of credit cards, so always check if there's a fee. Never, ever take out cash using a credit card at an ATM - you will be charged interest immediately and possibly a cash withdrawal fee.

When paying for restaurant meals, don't allow your card out of your sight - this is the most common way to get skimmed and your bank account emptied.

Read more:
Black Friday is about more than toys and electronics, you know. Here's our pick of the best travel deals in and from Ireland.

20pc off flights to Iceland

WOW air's Purple Friday flash sale has 20pc off flights to Iceland and all of its US destinations until midnight on Black Friday. The discount applies to return flights for travel between January 10 and April 10 (use the promo code WOWPURPLEFFRIDAY to book). wowair.ie.

9.99 fares with Ryanair

Ryanair's 'Cyber Week' promotions are running all week, with thousands of seats from 9.99. Keep your eye on its website and social media for more. ryanair.com.

50 off US flights with Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has 50 off round trips to all of its North American destinations, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Toronto, all week. Fares to New York start from 205 each-way. Book by midnight on November 28. aerlingus.com

Malta from just 150pp

ITAA member Navan Travel (travalue.ie) has return flights and five nights' accommodation in Malta's Topaz Hotel from 150pp, departing December 8.

40pc off Budget Travel's vouchers

Budget Travel is offering 40pc off its gift vouchers for Black Friday. That means you can get a 50 voucher for 30, and a 100 voucher for 60 - redeemable against summer 2017 holidays with travel from May 1 to August 31. 01 435-0024; budgettravel.ie.

USIT slashes prices on adventure travel

USIT has a cyber sale on its adventure tours, with a minimum of 18pc and a maximum of 43pc off select trips booked between 5am Friday and 5am Tuesday. An eight-day trip to India's Golden Triangle is reduced from 519 to 296, for example (ex. flights). See usit.ie and itaa.ie/offers for more Black Friday travel deals from ITAA members.

50 off Manor House Hotels

Manor House Hotels is offering 50 off its Christmas vouchers for Black Friday. Stocking filler, anyone? See manorhousehotels.com/gift-vouchers.

On the piste from 299pp

Directski.com has 180 off a seven-day ski holiday in France, departing January 14. The trip, which includes flights and 3-star accommodation in Chamonix, has been reduced from 479pp to 299pp. Book before midnight on November 25.

25 plus 10pc off your 2017 Camino

Camino Ways has a Black Friday voucher offering 25pp off holiday bookings made before midnight on Sunday. Best of all, the offer can be added to an Early Bird offering 10pc off self-guided tours for 2017. See CaminoWays.com.

549pp: 5-star Malta with Concorde Travel

Concorde Travel has a seven-night package to the five-star Le Meridien Hotel & Spa in St. Julians on December 13 for 549pp. The special, which includes flights and transfers, is available to book until Saturday, November 26. concordetravel.ie.

100 off with SunSearch

SunSearch has up to 100 off all sun holidays booked before midnight on Monday. Use the promo code BLACK50 to get 50 off holidays with a minimum spend of 600, and BLACK100 to get 100 off a minimum spend of 1200. sunsearchholidays.ie.

15pc off hotel bookings

Several Irish hotels are doing Black Friday travel deals, including Cork's Maryborough (15pc extra on monetary vouchers to midnight on Monday, November 28), Kilkenny's Pembroke Hotel (1pc off all vouchers until the end of November) and Dublin's Trinity City Hotel (15pc off prepaid advance bookings made by November 28). See maryborough.com, pembrokekilkenny.com and trinitycityhotel.com for more.

Cheap trips to the Canaries

Sunway has several offers to the Canaries valid from 12am Friday to midnight Sunday, including seven night packages to Fuerteventura from 249pp (save 305pp, depart 03/10 December), Gran Canaria from 249pp (save 275pp, depart 02/03/09/10 December) and Lanzarote from 399pp (save 160pp, depart 07/14/21/28 January). sunway.ie.

50pc off at Castleknock Hotel & Country Club

Castleknock Hotel and Country Club is offering 50pc off its standard room rates, including breakfast, for stays between November and April. The offer can be booked on selected dates up to 9am on Monday, November 28. castleknockhotel.com.

300 off at Wendy Wu Tours

Asia specialist Wendy Wu is offering an early booking discount of 150 per person or 300 per couple on 2017 departures to China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and Laos. Book by Monday, November 28 at wendywutours.ie/earlybird.

359: Cannes do in France

The four-star Mimozas Resort Cannes is offering a five-night B&B stay for two, including one dinner, for 359 (flights not included). The offer is valid until November 30, and is available for travel up to March 31. mimozascannes.com.

Free travel insurance on Friday

Book your holiday with ITAA member Kane's Travel on Friday, November 25, and you get free travel insurance. kanestravel.ie.

50pc off 5-star breaks at Lough Erne Resort

Fermanagh's five-star Lough Erne Resort is offering 50pc off midweek bookings in its Black Friday travel deals. The offer applies to stays from Sunday to Thursday, with B&B from just 93 per room. Book by midnight, November 28. lougherneresort.com.

25pc off Great National Hotels

Great National Hotels has 25pc off rates in its 18 hotels throughout Ireland and the UK. See .greatnationalhotels.com/black-friday for details.

NB: All prices subject to availability. T&Cs may apply on offers.

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Colin Salmon prepares to take part in the Sleep Out fundraiser

Radio DJ Sara Cox, James Bond actor Colin Salmon and celebrity chef Marcus Wareing will be among those sleeping rough on the streets of London on Thursday to support youth homelessness charity Centrepoint.

The organisation is hosting its annual fundraiser Sleep Out, which sees famous faces bed down outdoors for a night alongside more than 1,000 members of the capital's business community.

Zipping up their sleeping bags this year are Lady Kitty Spencer, designer Sadie Frost, pop star Lee Ryan, former X Factor winner Matt Cardle, Made In Chelsea star Ashley James, actress Lisa Maxwell and DJ Brandon Block.

Maxwell, who turns 53 on Thursday, was surprised with a birthday cake by the event organisers.

They set up camp for the night at Greenwich Peninsula and will be entertained by performers while they are there including being read a bedtime story by Christopher Biggins.

Rough sleepers taking part in the event will experience a small part of what life is like for the more than 9,000 16 to 25 year-olds that the charity supports each year.

Centrepoint aims to raise more than 250,000 from the London Sleep Out, which will help to provide vulnerable and homeless young people from across the UK with a warm bed, mental health support and help to access education, training and employment.

The event is part of a national fundraising project taking place in 12 cities across the UK during November.

Centrepoint was founded in 1969 and the Duke of Cambridge became its patron in 2005.

For more information on fundraising go to www.centrepoint.org.uk.
'Subject to contract' is probably the most commonly-used phrase in agents' correspondence, and used as a 'catch-all', where agents want to avoid binding their clients or getting caught up in legal disputes surrounding a deal. But use of the phrase is so frequent that agents and clients can become blase about its implications and about that dangerous period between agreeing a deal and getting contracts signed.

I was reminded of this by a recent dispute surrounding a UK office building, owned by a group of private investors. A five-yearly rent review (upwards only) was due and the tenant was claiming the existing rent was too high. The tenant had an option to break from the lease, coincident with the review date, and was threatening to exercise that.

With the rent review proving difficult to settle, all the owners received letters from the tenant's agent, formally exercising the break clause. The landlord's agent contacted the owners and advised them not to acknowledge that letter. The latest date for exercising the break clause passed and the landlord's agent then argued with the tenant that their notice to break the lease was invalid because the agent's letter said that it was 'subject to contract', and there was no contract.

After a stand-off, the tenant agreed to remain in the property and was granted a new future-break option. This dispute highlights another grey area as to how far agents should go with contractual correspondence, and in binding their clients, or not, before passing matters to solicitors. This era of agents acting as asset managers and receivers, further amplifies the issue.

Generally, 'subject to contract' is used where the agent does not want his correspondence to be held by a court as forming a contract, or part of a contract. Some firms also add 'subject to contract' to their sales brochures. The reason for this is that where I offer you 10,000 for your car, and you accept it, we have created a contract and a court could force either of us to perform the contract, if we changed our minds.

However, where property is concerned, where two parties agree a sale or letting, a court will not enforce that contract, unless the terms are in a signed contract. The exception to this is where there is no contract signed but there is enough other evidence to convince a judge there was a firm agreement - for example, correspondence between an agent and his client.

Another example is where one or other party does something that convinces a judge that there was a deal, such as the purchaser moving goods into the property before signing. Agents need to be careful about this as they usually control the keys. I learned this lesson the hard way as a young agent when I sold a warehouse. Before contracts were signed, the purchaser borrowed the keys to show their builder around and packed the building with barrels of chemicals.

Inexperienced clients are often confused about the period before contracts are signed. The purchaser may have paid a booking deposit, but that has no legal force and either party can still renege on the deal. If another party makes a higher offer, the agent has a duty to pass it on to the client.

Whilst it may be morally wrong, some clients will drop the original purchaser. This is the last thing the agent wants, as they have done their job, their reputation suffers, and the extra fee earned from the slightly higher price is insignificant.

Agents, vendors and purchasers need to take care in deciding when it is appropriate to use the phrase 'subject to contract', and to understand the nuances of the protection it provides.

Growing the Food And Drinks Business

I was delighted to visit Bord Bia's HQ on Tuesday to speak to a group of entrepreneurs in the food and drink industry. 'Food Works' is a collaboration between Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc to nurture innovative, export orientated food entrepreneurs. Darina Mulligan told me 'Food Works' provides an intense programme to support and accelerate high-potential and ambitious food start-ups.
Brendan Cox, husband of MP Jo Cox, outside the Old Bailey after the conviction. Photo: Reuters

A far-Right extremist has been given a whole-life sentence after being convicted of murdering Labour MP Jo Cox.

Thomas Mair was told he would never be released after killing the mother of two as she arrived at Birstall library in West Yorkshire for a surgery on June 16, a week before the EU referendum.

The 53-year-old, who hid his Nazi obsession for decades, showed no emotion as he was taken down from the dock to begin his sentence. A jury took just over 90 minutes to convict Mair.

Mair, who shouted "Britain first" and had a stash of neo-Nazi material at his home, was tried under the terrorism protocol.

The Old Bailey heard how he collected a dossier on the 41-year-old 'Remain' campaigning MP before launching his murderous attack.

As the verdicts were read out, Mrs Cox's parents Jean and Gordon Leadbeater clasped their hands together and nodded.

Mrs Cox's family hugged and shook hands with prosecutor Richard Whittam and appeared tearful as they left court.

Mrs Cox's husband, Brendan Cox, told the Old Bailey he was not there for "retribution" and felt "nothing but pity for" Mair. He also described the far-right killer as "cowardice personified".

In a statement, he said: "The killing was in my view a political act and an act of terrorism. An act driven by hatred which has instead promoted an outpouring of love."

After the verdicts were read out, Mair, who had refused to enter a plea and did not put forward a defence, said he wished to address the court, but the judge refused to give him permission.

Addressing Mair directly, the judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, said: "In the true meaning of the word, she was a patriot. You affect to be a patriot. You are no patriot.

"By your actions, you have betrayed the quintessence of our country - parliamentary democracy. You have not even had the courage to admit what you did.

"This was a brutal, ruthless murder...there is no doubt it was done to further a political move."

Mair was also convicted of stabbing 77-year-old retired miner Bernard Kenny, who tried to save the MP. In a statement, Mr Kenny described Mair's actions as a "pure act of evil". He said he would do the same thing again as it was "the right thing to do", even though his actions were not enough to save Mrs Cox.

At the conclusion of the prosecution case, Mair's lawyer Simon Russell Flint called no evidence on behalf of the defendant, of Lowood Lane, Birstall.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Mr Whittam told jurors: "At 13.48 on the 16th of June in Market Street outside the public library in Birstall, the democratically-elected MP for Batley and Spen, Jo Cox, was murdered as she carried out her duties on behalf of her electorate."

Mr Whittam said her attack "brought out the best of the people who were with her" - the two members of staff and Birstall residents who came to her aid.

Despite having the "element of surprise", Mair failed in his first attempt and came back to shoot and stab Mrs Cox again, the court heard. Mr Whittam said: "Perhaps he underestimated Jo Cox's tenacity and courage."

He said that all the evidence "compellingly establishes Thomas Mair was her murderer". Mr Whittam went on to say it was fitting that the case had been held before another woman - whose statue holding the scales of justice adorns the Old Bailey.

At the conclusion of the evidence, the scales were "weighted only one way", he said.

Mr Whittam said there was a "comprehensive" catalogue of evidence against Mair, including CCTV footage, the testimony of eyewitnesses, DNA and gunshot residue, ballistics and physical evidence.

He told jurors: "The comprehensive nature of the evidence does not mean the defence case is bereft of points to make.

"We submit to you that those points have no sufficient substance to cause any dent to the prosecution case."

Defending Mair, Mr Russell Flint said the killing of Mrs Cox as she carried out her "public duties" had been "truly shocking and appalling".

He told the court: "She was brutally and callously murdered and there is no issue or dispute about that."

Mr Russell Flint said: "Mrs Cox's death, you know, has touched many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people, some who knew her and knew her well - her parents, her sibling, her husband, her children, not forgetting her friends and her colleagues who will forever be scarred by what happened to her in the street of that small West Yorkshire town on that June afternoon and will forever mourn her passing."

As she lay mortally wounded in the street, the MP for Batley and Spen tried to protect her aides by urging them to leave her and save themselves.

During the trial, Mrs Cox's family were left in tears as her constituency caseworker Sandra Major described the MP's selfless response as she came under attack from Mair.

She told jurors: "He was making motions towards us with the knife and Jo was lying in the road and she shouted out 'get away, get away you two. Let him hurt me. Don't let him hurt you'."

Her account prompted Mr Cox to tweet, "this is who Jo was".

Her colleague Fazila Aswat hit Mair with her handbag and pleaded with Mrs Cox to think of her two young children and get up and run.

Despite being too hurt to move away, Mrs Cox's thwarted Mair's initial attack as she shielded her head with her hands. Mair briefly walked away to reload the adapted sawn-off .22 rifle before returning to shoot and stab her again.

Mr Kenny, who by coincidence shared his birthday with Mrs Cox, staggered back and "flopped" down on the steps of a sandwich shop.

The attack was captured on grainy CCTV and witnessed by 16 members of the public who travelled to the Old Bailey to give evidence.

They described the popping noise of Mair's gun and how he threatened to stab people if they got in his way.

Afterwards, Mair walked away as if he had "not a care in the world", the court heard.

Despite discarding some clothes, Mair was swiftly tracked down a mile away, still carrying his holdall containing the blood-splattered murder weapons.

They included a reproduction of a Fairbairn-Sykes "fighting dagger", a design first made in 1941 for British special forces and commando units, with a 17.4cm blade.

Following his arrest, police uncovered a hoard of neo-Nazi literature at his council house.

An investigation of his use of library computers exposed Mair's interest in far right, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi politics in Britain and abroad. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Nato has accused Russia of stoking tensions in Europe by deploying anti-ship missiles to its westernmost Baltic region.

The alliance described President Vladimir Putin's decision to send state-of-the-art Bastion missile-launchers to Kaliningrad, which borders Nato members Poland and Lithuania, as "aggressive military posturing".

In a statement to the AP news agency, it said the Kremlin's move would do nothing to "lower tensions or restore predictability to our relations".

It came shortly after US state department spokesman John Kirby called Russia's plans to permanently deploy its S-400 air missile defence system and ballistic Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad "destabilising to European security".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hit back at Mr Kirby's comments, branding Nato an "aggressive" military alliance.

"Russia does what it has to do. It has every sovereign right to take necessary measures throughout the territory of the Russian Federation," Mr Peskov said.

Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defence committee in the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said Moscow's deployment of the Iskander missiles was a response to the US missile shield in Eastern Europe.

The United States activated the first phase of its land-based missile defence system in Romania in May. Another stage is due to come into operation in Poland in 2018.

Russia has long been opposed to the missile shield, which it calls a danger to its national security. Nato said it is intended to guard against attack by 'rogue' states such as North Korea.

Russia also criticised a report that claimed Russian tankers had smuggled jet fuel to Syria through EU waters in contravention of European sanctions.

At least two Russian-flagged ships made deliveries, an intelligence source with a European Union government told Reuters.

The source said the jet fuel was delivered to war-torn Syria via Cyprus.

Tensions

Russia's defence ministry said its tankers had been taking the fuel to its forces in Syria and that EU sanctions did not "concern" Moscow.

"Russia, like Britain of late, is not a member of the European Union," read the defence ministry statement, in reference to Brexit.

Tensions also mounted between Russia and Ukraine, after Moscow accused the Ukrainian security service of abducting two of its soldiers near the border between Russian-annexed Crimea and Ukraine.

Kiev said the men, named as Ensign Maxim Odintsov and Junior Sergeant Alexander Baranov by the Russian defence ministry, served in the Ukrainian army before deserting to Russia following Moscow's seizure of Crimea in March 2014.

It said they were detained on Sunday after crossing the Chongar checkpoint into Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called the men's capture "an unlawful act of provocation carried out by Ukrainian special services toward Russian citizens on Russian soil".
Several of the electors who will officially select the US president next month are plotting to undermine the electoral college by casting their votes for a candidate other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

The small group of Democratic electors initially hoped to bring enough of their Republican counterparts on side to keep Mr Trump short of the 270 votes he needs to be named president.

That plan would see electors from both sides of the aisle cast ballots for a moderate Republican like John Kasich or Mitt Romney, draining support from both presidential nominees and denying Mr Trump a majority of votes.

In such circumstances the Constitution dictates that the House of Representatives would step in and elect the next president.

But while such a scenario is a virtual impossibility - it would require 37 Republican electors to abandon Mr Trump - the electors have other plans in mind.

They believe that if they can recruit enough electoral college members to refuse to vote according to the state-by-state results, they can raise significant questions about the college itself.

The college was designed to serve as something of an escape hatch, allowing for a candidate considered unsuitable for office to be denied the presidency.

In modern times it has functioned as a formality, with the electoral college vote mirroring the state-by-state results from election day exactly, or close to it.

The college votes by state, with electors for each casting their ballot for whichever candidate won a plurality there. Some states do not mandate which way their electors must vote, however.

The rebellious Democratic electors believe that if they can recruit a record number of so-called 'faithless electors', they can raise doubts about the electoral college itself. "I do think that a by-product would be a serious look into electoral college reform," Michael Baca, a Democratic elector from Colorado, told Politico.

"If it gets into the House, the controversy and the uncertainty that would immediately blow up into a political firestorm in the US would cause enough people - my hope is - to look at the whole concept of the electoral college," another elector said.

There have been no faithless electors since 2004, and not since 1912 has more than one elector gone rogue.

Mrs Clinton's victory in the popular vote but loss under the electoral college has convinced many Democrats that the system needs to be changed.
All this will be yours: House Speaker Paul Ryan shows President-elect Trump and his wife Melania the view from the Speaker's Balcony at the US Capitol last week Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Republicans on a roll: Vice President-elect Mike Pence, senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, President-elect Donald Trump, and Trump's wife Melania as they walked to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington last Thursday Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

Donald Trump and Melania Trump attend a reception to benefit UNICEF hosted by Gucci during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2008 at The Salon at Bryant Park on February 6, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for IMG)

Melania Trump is followed by her husband Republician presidential nominee Donald Trump as they arrive to vote at a polling station in New York November 8, 2016. / AFP / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Republican president-elect Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd along with his wife Melania Trump during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 in New York City. Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republican president-elect Donald Trump walks on stage along with his son Barron Trump (C) and his wife Melania Trump to deliver his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 in New York City. Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) and his wife Melania Trump arrive for a campaign rally the Air Wilmington Hangar located at Wilmington International Airport November 5, 2016 in Wilmington, North Carolina. With less than a week before Election Day in the United States, Trump and his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, are campaigning in key battleground states that each must win to take the White House. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Melania Trump, wife of Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, waves to the crowd after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicks off on July 18. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Homebird: Melania Trump will reportedly remain in New York until her 10-year-old son Barron finishes school before moving to Washington DC

Donald Trump kisses his daughter Ivanka Trump (right) as his wife Melania Trump (left) looks on during election night. GETTY

Melania Trump (L) and Ivanka Trump look on as Republican presidential elect Donald Trump speaks during election night at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York on November 9, 2016. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump reacts to balloons, confetti and electronic fireworks as he stands with his son Barron (L) at the conclusion of the final session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, US. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Barron Trump may be glad his parents have agreed to let him stay at his school in Upper West Manhattan instead of relocating him to Washington, but his classmates' parents are apparently less pleased.

A spokesperson for the President-elect confirmed last week his youngest offspring and Melania Trump would take the unusual step of staying in the Trumps gilded New York residence instead of moving to the White House to allow Barron to finish out the school year.

Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr Trump, said at the time: "Like any parents, they are concerned about pulling their 10-year-old son out of school in the middle of the year.

Parents are now reportedly concerned over any disruption over their children, with one board member telling Vanity Fair: Some parents are freaking out and worked up about security and what the school is going to do.

Expand Close The family: From left, Eric Trump, Lara Yunaska Trump, Donald Trump, Barron Trump, Melania Trump, Vanessa Haydon Trump, Kai Madison Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Donald John Trump III, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump / Facebook

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Whatsapp The family: From left, Eric Trump, Lara Yunaska Trump, Donald Trump, Barron Trump, Melania Trump, Vanessa Haydon Trump, Kai Madison Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Donald John Trump III, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump

Other grumblings ranged from being forced to use the stairs after a lift was cordoned off for the First Lady and concern over the logistics of having a Secret Service presence at school to protect the child of the President and First Lady. One reportedly complained of Mr Trumps lack of respect for protocol.

Some of these complaints have even reached school chiefs, according to the magazine.

Expand Close Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump applauds as his wife Melania and son Barron watch at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni / Facebook

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Whatsapp Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump applauds as his wife Melania and son Barron watch at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Columbia Prep has responded to concerns by organising a meeting for parents next month, according to an email sent out this week. The email, from headmaster Dr Richard Soghoian, assures parents the school has already instituted additional measures and added additional staff under the guidance of highly experienced and knowledgeable experts from the Secret Service.
Hillary Clinton has been urged by computer scientists and lawyers to challenge the election results in three key battleground states. Photo: AP

Huma Abedin, Clintons top aide, whose sister has called on people to request an audit of the vote

Computer scientists say they have strong evidence that the presidential election was rigged against Hillary Clinton in three key states.

Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were potentially manipulated, according to a group of prominent computer scientists and lawyers who have urged the Democratic nominee to challenge the results.

The activists, who include voting rights lawyer John Bonifaz and J Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan's centre for computer security and society, believe their evidence shows that the results in these three battleground states - which lost Mrs Clinton the election on November 8 - might have been hacked.

As reported by 'New York Magazine', the group is not speaking on the record but is privately lobbying Mrs Clinton's team to challenge the election results.

In Wisconsin, the Democratic candidate received 7pc less votes in counties that depended on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots, and consequently Mrs Clinton may have lost up to 30,000 votes. She lost Wisconsin by a total of 27,000 votes.

The group has already held a call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to argue that while it has not found conclusive evidence of a hack, the pattern in its results merits an independent review.

Mrs Clinton has made no indication that she will challenge the results and the White House is intent on a smooth transition of power.

The deadline to file for a vote recount is between tomorrow and next Wednesday for the three states.

The vote in Michigan has still not been called as the results on November 8 were very close - and the 16 electoral votes in the state have not been apportioned to either Mr Trump or Mrs Clinton.

Mr Trump has 290 electoral college votes, compared with Mrs Clinton's 232 votes. Michigan is likely to be given to the Republican side.

Mrs Clinton may have got the second-most amount of votes ever despite losing.

The former secretary of state would need to win Michigan and overturn the results in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to win the electoral college.

Another factor is so-called 'faithless electors' who will not vote for the candidate which won in the popular vote in their state. So far, six electoral college voters have said they will not vote for Mr Trump.

Meanwhile, more than 4.5 million people have signed a petition for more electoral college delegates to defy the instructions given to them in their state.

There have been only 157 faithless electors throughout history but they have never overturned an election.

Mr Trump said on Tuesday during a meeting with the 'New York Times' that he was "never a fan" of the electoral college and he would have preferred to win in the popular vote.

Heba Abedin, the sister of Mrs Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin, called on Facebook for people to phone the justice department and request an audit of the vote.

"They are starting to recognise there really is something off about the election results as they come in," she wrote in a post.

Deception

Mrs Clinton said during the third presidential debate in October that Mr Trump's refusal to say he would definitely accept the election result if he lost was "horrifying".

In a major volte-face this week, Mr Trump changed his position on prosecuting Mrs Clinton.

During the campaign he insisted: "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception."

However, while speaking about pursuing criminal charges against Mrs Clinton and her husband Bill earlier this week, the president elect said: "It's just not something that I feel very strongly about ... I think it would be very, very divisive for the country." ( Independent News Service)
Police search the area where an officer who works for Wayne State University was shot in the head while on duty near the campus (AP)

Police officer Collin Rose, who was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit, and later died of his injuries (Wayne State University/AP)

A police officer has died a day after he was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit.

Wayne State University Officer Collin Rose, 29, died on Wednesday in hospital, Detroit police Sgt Michael Woody said.

M Roy Wilson, president of the university, said: "This is a tragedy felt by all of us. Collin served Wayne State with distinction, and we owe those he left behind our deepest sympathies and our strong support."

He said Mr Rose is the "only Wayne State officer ever to fall in the line of duty".

The five-year veteran of the university's police force had undergone surgery earlier on Wednesday, but his condition was described by the department's chief as "very grave".

Police said a suspect in the shooting was arrested late on Tuesday night near where Mr Rose was shot, but no charges have been filed.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig had said Mr Rose was on duty around 6.30pm local time when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike.

Officers who arrived on the scene found him injured on the ground, Mr Craig said.

Authorities say ambush-style shootings on Sunday left one police officer dead in San Antonio, Texas, and another wounded in St Louis, Missouri, underscoring fears in the law enforcement community that the uniform is increasingly becoming a target.

But Wayne State Police Chief Anthony Holt said that was not the case in Detroit on Tuesday.

"I don't believe it was an ambush," he said at a news conference on Wednesday, adding that he did not think he was "specifically targeted" because of his uniform.

A Detroit man who has had several run-ins with police is in custody. No weapon has been recovered and the investigation is continuing, Mr Holt said.

University spokesman Matt Lockwood had said on Wednesday morning that Mr Rose had undergone surgery and that his parents and fiancee were by his side.

Mr R ose was a cadet with the New Baltimore Police Department and had his first job as an officer with the village of Richland. The keen cyclist, who was interested in dog training, graduated from Ferris State University in 2010 and was president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit. It employs around 65 officers.

Michigan's governor Rick Snyder and state Attorney General Bill Schuette offered condolences to Mr Rose's family and fellow officers.

"Officer Rose was doing his job, serving his community and protecting all of us, when he was tragically gunned down," Mr Schuette said.

"Officer Rose was too young to have his life taken, and he leaves behind a family that will never be the same."

AP
President-elect Donald Trump has offered key jobs to some of his former critics (AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump offered a Thanksgiving prayer for unity after "a long and bruising" campaign season as hi s Cabinet began to take shape.

"Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," the incoming president said in a video message released on the eve of the national holiday.

He continued, "It's my prayer that, on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve."

Mr Trump, who was gathered with his family at his Palm Beach estate on Thursday, was expected to pause for a day after a two-week scramble to shape his administration from scratch.

He injected the first signs of diversity into his Cabinet-to-be on Wednesday, tapping South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to serve as USambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. They are the first women selected for top-level administration posts.

Ms Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants, so she was also his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men.She has little foreign policy experience, yet Mr Trump praised her as "a proven deal-maker".

Ms DeVos, like Mr Trump, is new to government but has spent decades working to change America's system of public education.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said on Wednesday that "an announcement is forthcoming" on his role, which would make him the first black choice - possibly as secretary of Housing and Urban Development - but he also suggested he would be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Mr Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said on Wednesday.

The 78-year-old, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm WL Ross & Co, which has specialised in buying failing companies.

Wednesday's appointments came as Mr Trump worked to distance himself from the "alt-right," a movement of white supremacists who continue to cheer his election. His first appointments included chief counsellor Steve Bannon, who previously led a website popular among the alt-right.

On Thursday, Mr Trump was with his family behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate. He is spending the Thanksgiving holiday there after a week of interviewing potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team.

"It's time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens, because when America is unified there is nothing beyond our reach," the president-elect said in his Thanksgiving message, which was posted on social media.

The nasty campaign season included clashes between Mr Trump and his new Cabinet selections.

"The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!" Mr Trump wrote in March. Ms Haley denounced several of his campaign comments and urged voters to "reject the siren call of the angriest voices".

Ms DeVos, who is from Michigan, told the Associated Press in July: "A lot of the things he has said are very off-putting and concerning."

On Wednesday, however, Mr Trump and his colleagues had nothing but kind words for each other. And while other Republicans largely praised the choice of Ms Haley, Ms DeVos faced immediate criticism from left and right.

The president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, said in a statement that for years Ms DeVos "has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers - which take away funding and local control from our public schools - to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense."

And Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted: "Trump has chosen the most ideological, anti-public ed nominee since the creation of the Dept of Education."

At the same time, some conservatives warned that the longtime Republican donor, who, along with her husband, has spent millions of dollars to promote candidates who favour charter schools and school vouchers, also supports the Common Core education standards that Mr Trump railed against during the campaign.

Ms DeVos addressed the criticism head-on, posting a "Q&A" statement which said directly about Common Core: "I am not a supporter - period."

Mr Trump will be sworn into office in less than 60 days. Beyond his Cabinet, he must fill hundreds of high-level administration posts.

He is expected to stay in Florida through the weekend.

AP
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LEBANON  Jami Peterson beamed as Linn County's newest certified ombudsman approached Willamette Manor on Monday afternoon.

"You're taking on a huge task," the executive director of the Lebanon assisted living facility warned Peta Corbett.

Corbett smiled back. "I'm excited."

"We're excited for you," Peterson exclaimed. "We need more of you."

Corbett, of Lebanon, is a certified volunteer for the state of Oregon's Long-Term Care ombudsman program. Like her fellow certified volunteers, her job is to advocate for the needs of older adults in long-term residential care, including those in adult foster homes, assisted living centers and skilled nursing facilities.

Established by the Older Americans Act in 1978, the long-term care ombudsmen program exists in each state in the country. It provides someone to speak for seniors about concerns they won't  or can't  voice themselves. This can range from the quality of meals to the scope of care plans to the terms of evictions.

Ombudsmen are essential for seniors, supporters say. The problem: There aren't enough of them.

"Currently, in Oregon only 52 percent of the 650 licensed long-term care facilities and more than 13,000 adult foster care homes are being served," said Lene Garrett, volunteer recruitment specialist for the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, based in Salem. "There are 164 Certified Ombudsman volunteers. Approximately 145 additional volunteers are needed."

Linn County currently has approximately 68 senior facilities. With Peta's certification, the number of volunteer ombudsmen available to work with them increased this fall  to three. (Benton County has just one, for 27 facilities.)

"Lebanon needs this. We need this program," Corbett said. "The residents in these care facilities, they have needs. They have contributed to our community. They're a valuable asset to our community.

"They deserve our attention."

The state holds regular training sessions to get more volunteers into the system, said Debbie Boures, deputy state long-term care ombudsman for District 4 (Lane, Linn, Benton, Lincoln and Polk counties) and one of just seven deputies for the state. The next online open house is scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 14.

Trainings are wrapping up for 2016 but will be scheduled again in the new year, Boures said. Interested volunteers should check out the state's website at www.oregon.gov/LTCO/Pages/index.aspx.

Ombudsmen  the term is the same for either men or women  must be adults who pass training requirements and a background check and have the ability to get to the care facilities they will visit. They must be willing to contribute at least 16 hours per month to the program, including paperwork, reports and monthly support meetings.

The program aims to link each ombudsman with approximately 100 residents. That could be just one facility or multiple, depending on what works best for the individual. The hope is that they'll visit with each at least once a week and that they'll contribute at least a year to the program.

Meetings with residents are meant to be unscheduled and to take place at various times, Boures said, adding: "The intent is not 'Gotcha.' It's to see how the facility works."

Some care facilities are nettled by the presence of an ombudsman, Boures acknowledged. "Occasionally we'll get complaints that the ombudsmen are stirring up trouble. Sometimes, that's a tricky one for facilities."

But that isn't the intent, Boures said. The idea is to make sure all residents know they have an advocate they can call on, no matter what the situation.

Some residence representatives wonder, "Why didn't anyone just ask?" Boures said. But often, seniors in care facilities don't think of themselves as being in their own homes or of having any rights. They don't necessarily know the rules and they're wary of doing anything that might be seen as making trouble or a reason to let them go.

"There's a power dynamic," Boures said. "Even though they're telling them, 'This is your home,' it's hard to feel that way."

Some facilities welcome ombudsmen, however. In Lebanon, Willamette Manor is one of them, Executive Director Jami Peterson said. She's been waiting for a new volunteer to finish training and come visit with her 41 residents.

"There's not a huge demand," she said. "But when someone wants one, we need to make sure we have one available."

Once, for instance, she remembers a woman who wanted access to more freezer space than the small refrigerator in her room could provide. An ombudsman worked with Willamette Manor to allow the resident to have a box in the facility's walk-in freezer. It was an unusual request and might not work for every situation, but it was a resolution to that particular concern, Peterson said.

Another time, Peterson said, the sneeze guard fell off the salad bar counter "and broke in a million pieces," she recalled. Meals went on as scheduled while Willamette Manor worked to get a replacement, but that bothered one of the residents.

The resident wasn't someone who felt comfortable talking with the administration, Peterson remembered, so instead worked with an ombudsman. "This gave the resident a safe and dignified way to make the issue known and get a resolution without having to talk to an administrator," she said.

The key to being a successful ombudsman  and the very reason the program works so well for facilities, too  is that his or her concern is the resident's needs, not the business, Peterson said.

"I am an administrator," she said. "I must think not only of an individual and protect their rights, I must think of all the people in my facility and what is good for the whole. This can get in the way of individual rights and can be very hard for someone who is ill and not clear of mind to understand.

"It is so important that the people who live here have someone that knows what their rights are and to feel personally protected if there is an issue in the facility where they reside."

Corbett said her family experienced the benefits of an ombudsman personally, in Utah, about 15 years ago. Her grandmother was living in a facility where her oxygen levels weren't being checked on a regular basis.

The levels were low and starting to interfere with her memory, Corbett recalled. With cognitive issues increasing, she wasn't able to do much to advocate for herself. An ombudsman noticed the problem and was able to transfer her to an area of the facility with much more regular nursing care, including the checking and administration of oxygen.

"If the ombudsman had not gotten involved, I don't know if they would have noticed," Corbett said.

Ombudsmen perform a watchdog role, but they aren't considered mandatory reporters and don't have regulatory authority, Boures said. If abuse is suspected, ombudsmen refer the situation to Adult Protective Services.

But the program, even though composed of volunteers, does have the weight of state authority, Boures said. For instance, a care facility can't tell the ombudsman, "No thanks." Only the resident can say that.

To leave a facility entirely alone, "We need to be rejected by each resident," she explained, smiling.

Ombudsmen advocate for individuals, but in the process, they make long-term care better for everyone, Boures said. Part of that is the "sentinel effect"  the knowledge that someone's watching  and part is the ability to work as a team to find solutions that might benefit others, too.

"Residents have every right to be heard," Peterson said. "It is my goal to ensure my residents are happy, safe and secure in their home."
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians will be making history with the first tribal casino in Indiana.

The tribe's land-into-trust application for a 166-acre site in South Bend was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on November 18. A letter from Larry Roberts , the top official at the agency, notes the landmark nature of the acquisition.

"The tribe's journey to this point has been a difficult one," Roberts wrote. "Our nation's history with your tribe has not always been honorable."

For more than a century, the federal government refused to recognize the tribe even though its leaders had signed treaties and engaged in government-to-government relations with the United States. The situation finally changed when Congress restored the tribe's status in 1994

But Roberts noted that while the law requires the BIA to re-establish the tribe's homeland in both Indiana and Michigan, the process has been slow moving. So the approval of the South Bend application marks a new chapter in the relationship between the two sovereigns.

Documents filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs outlined the Pokagon Band's plans for the site in South Bend, Indiana. Image: Pokagon EIS

The tribe envisions a $400 million development at the site, which is located within the service area defined by Congress. Plans call for a casino, a hotel and village that would include housing for tribal members.

The tribe, though, has not negotiated a Class III gaming compact with the state of Indiana. With Gov. Mike Pence (R) headed to the White House as the vice president to Donald Trump , that task will presumably fall to Eric Holcomb , who won election on November 8. He served as lieutenant governor under Pence.

When the tribe filed the application more than two years ago, it generated significant controversy, especially from state lawmakers whose districts include non-Indian casinos . But the tribe has won local support for the project and there appears to be little opponents could do at this point to stop the acquisition of the land.

The tribe operates three casinos in Michigan under the Four Winds name. The flagship facility is located in New Buffalo , just a few miles from the Indiana border and about 32 miles from the South Bend site.

The tribe has scheduled a press conference next Tuesday to announce its next steps in the journey.

Federal Register Notices: Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians Fee-to-Trust Transfer for Tribal Village and Casino, City of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana (March 12, 2015) Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Pokagon Band Tribal Village Fee-to-Trust Acquisition and Casino Project in the City of South Bend, St. Joseph County, IN (August 24, 2012)

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When it comes to expressing emotions and doing an intense scene, no one does it better than Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan. Be it the climax scene of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na or the famous bridge scene in Kal Ho Na Ho where Naina comes and hugs Aman after she gets to know about his illness. King Khan knows how to create magic on the big screen. Recently in an interview, Shah Rukh Khan revealed how sometimes controlling emotions really gets tough for actors.

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I come on screen and I take it out. There are days when I cry on screen and that could be actual tears but I dont make a big deal out of it. Other days I just could be very happy on a scene and that could be my personal feeling. I am very cloistered, very shell-like. I feel awkward talking about my personal feeling. As a matter of fact, (when) a friend does talk to me about my personal feelings, I get very awkward."

Even though King Khan plays the role of Alia's counselor in Dear Zindagi, he is completely different in real life. He added,

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Its not that I am uncomfortable about my personal feelings, I keep them to myself. Never! I dont think I will ever seek professional advice unless I am admitted to an asylum because people think so and force me to, I have never sought any advice."

And then borrowing PM Modi's slogan for boosting the manufacturing industry, he said,

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"I would like to be a part of that one Indian film, as an actor, as a producer, as a gaffer, as a sound recordist, as a production manager, whatever, which becomes famous all over the world. That's my 'Make in India' dream. I've had this since 25 years."
Beware! If doctors or hospital staff declare your newborn as dead, do not trust them blindly. Ask them for the dead body and a relevant certificate.

You may end up falling into the trap of infant traffickers. Your infant would be alive and sold to childless couples in Delhi, Mumbai or even in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Reuters/Representational Image

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police has recently busted a newborn trafficking racket and arrested 13 people.

The racket  biggest in eastern India  was operational in different nursing homes in Kolkata. Childless couples would contact several NGOs which give shelters to orphans and unclaimed children. These NGOs had commission agents who would liaison with doctors and nursing home staff. The nursing home staff and doctors  who are paid huge commissions  would declare an infant as dead and issue a birth certificate to the parents of the newborn without handing over the dead body.

Later, the newborn would be sold off to childless couples through NGOs. While newborn girls with a dark complexion would be sold for Rs 1 lakh and fair babies for Rs 1.5 lakh, newborn boys with a dark complexion would be sold for Rs 2 lakh and fair ones for higher than Rs 2 lakh, English daily DNA reported.

Reuters/Representational Image

The racket, which was operational for the past three years in over a dozen of nursing homes in Kolkata, had spread its tentacles not just across the country in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, but also across the United States and the United Kingdom.

The network  said Deputy Inspector General (CID) Bharat Lal Meena  was uncovered on Tuesday when CID officials raided a nursing home at Baduria in North 24 Parganas. Acting on a tip-off, the raid led them to this racket. The police recovered two newborns, wrapped in cotton sheets and placed in a biscuit carton, ready to be handed over to a childless couple.

Earlier, used to target unmarried mothers who were paid huge amounts of cash. But later, they moved on to cheating parents of the newborn.
One of India's leading engineering firms, Larsen & Toubro has laid off 14,000 employees from its workforce. Amounting to 11.2% of its total workplace, this L&T lay-off is definitely one of the biggest retrenchments in recent times.

Justifying its move, L&T said that the attempt was to "right size" its workforce strength in light of the slowed business growth. Operational digitisation also became an important reason behind this downsizing.

Reuters

"It was a strategic decision that if a business is not in good shape, we are trying to resize it. If there is time to get the business back to normalcy, it is important to reduce the under-recoveries. So, the jobs that we are finding redundant, we are allowing people to move on," said Chief Financial Officer, R Shankar Raman.

Calling it a "correction", Raman said, "We have an employee base of 1.2 lakh across various businesses, and we have laid off 14,000 people during the first half of fiscal 2017."

Without divulging information on the verticals where the lay-offs happened, Raman added, "Financial services have defocused on certain lines of businesses and let go a lot of people. Same is the case in minerals and metals."

Reuters

The company is now looking at different ways to remain competitive in the market.

"We have adopted various initiatives to be competitive. We have tried to introduce digitisation whenever necessary, so in case if we needed 10 people for a job we tried to bring it down to five. The layoffs have been done in businesses which are moving slow due to various reasons including delayed execution, among others," he said.

Reuters

He, however, did add that the move shouldn't be seen as a recurring event. The company has been facing challenges especially due to the falling oil prices in the Middle-East.

In the first half of FY17, the company's revenue increased 8.6 per cent to Rs 46,885 crore. Profits rose to Rs 2,044 crore from Rs 1,197 crore a year ago.

The company had recently announced a fresh five-year strategy of upping its revenues to Rs. 2 lakh crores. In tandem with that, the company will now re-visit the non-performing businesses in the house.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has lost three of its 50 dogs in the past few months. According to sources, lack of proper veterinary services is being blamed to these losses.

In early November, a 3-year-old German Shepherd named Steffie, was rushed to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital after internal bleeding was suspected. However, there was no vet present to treat the dog. She died on the way to a private facility.

Also in November, another member of the dog force - Maxi - died for the lack of prompt medical attention. Bruno - who died in March - was unable to get the treatment he needed for the tumour in his system.

Three other dogs too fell ill immediately after CISF bought them. Since they could not be treated, they had to be replaced.

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"Steffie, Maxi and Bruno were real losses for us," said a CISF officer attached to the Delhi Metro unit. "Their deaths could have been avoided."

Senior officers say that they have to depend on government veterinary facilities, even for emergency care. When the dogs fall ill, they are taken to Sanjay Gandhi Veterinary Hospital, NDMC Veterinary Hospital in Moti Bagh or the hospital in Tis Hazari.

"On a national holiday or on weekends, it is often difficult to find doctors there," said the officer.

"For routine check-ups and minor treatment, we fall back on an ITBP vet in Ghaziabad."

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The officers are dismayed that such treatment is being meted out to the dogs, which are highly trained to carry out anti-sabotage checks and to sniff out dangers during emergencies.

"We need them to be fit. At times, our metal detectors have failed, but our dogs have always been reliable in detecting threats," the officer said.

CISF has demanded a dedicated veterinarian for the canine team.

The CISF is responsible for the security at the airports, the Delhi Metro as well as other important government buildings. The Force has clear orders to keep its canine personnel in the best of health.
Demonetisation clearly had no effect on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao aka KCR who has finally moved into his 50-crore palatial home in Hyderabad - complete with bulletproof bathrooms and windows.

ANI

It's as if the cash crunch didn't even pinch the CM. Neither did the plight of the common man who carries the weight of demonetisation on his shoulders, every day, to his local bank branch.

His home doesn't come as a huge surprise, though. Especially after he had bulletproof toilets constructed and planned to reconstruct his Secretariat according to Vaastu.

The ambitious plan to demolish the State Secretariat (Cost: 100 crores)

Thanks to the Hyderabad High Court, the demolition of the existing Secretariat was put on hold till the government gave a proper explanation for it. Spending a head-spinning 100 crores to rebuild the official estate according to Vaastu didn't sit well with the custodians of law.

The construction is currently on hold.

southreport

The very expensive and very secure bulletproof bathroom (Cost: several lakhs)

Because a Toyota Land Cruiser Prados or the luxurious Mercedes Benz bus worth Rs. 5 crore wasn't enough security for KCR, he had to build a bulletproof bathroom. Fitted with bulletproof glass (ventilators and windows), KCR can find comfort in knowing that no bullet will reach him while he does his business.

AP

The palatial estate KCR will now call home (Cost: 50 crores)

After an elaborate housewarming ritual, KCR moved into his new house today. Sprawled across nine acres, the house comprises a theatre (that can double up as an auditorium) big enough to hold 250 people; a huge conference room; a mini-secretariat with offices and of course, bulletproof windows.

ndtv

Every inch of the house is planned according to Vaastu. The opposition lashing out at KCR for wasting taxpayers' money on building a luxurious home for himself has clearly fallen on deaf ears.

ndtv

In favour of his 50-crore plot, the Chief Minister totally missed out the plot on demonetisation.

Also read: In Days Of Demonetisation, This Karnataka Billionaire Is Spending Rs 500 Cr On His Daughters Wedding
November 24, was annually celebrated by Chandra Singh and his family in Shergarh, Rajasthan, because it is the birthday of their only son, Prabhu Singh. However, this year, the family is not celebrating, but struggling to come to terms with the reality that their son is no more with them.

Prabhu Singh, a soldier of 57 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed and his body was mutilated by Pakistani terrorists on Tuesday, in Kashmir's Machhal, just two days before he would have turned 25.

Chandra Singh, an army veteran himself told the Indian Express that the day Prabhu was born the family had decided that he would become a soldier.

ADGPI

My father, Achal Singh, served the country. I was also in the Army from 1979 to 1998, and was posted in Jammu and Kashmir and other places. Three of my brothers served in the Armys Armoured Corps, Artillery and in the Madhya Pradesh Police. It is our family tradition to serve the country, he said.

The family said Prabhu who had visited his village last month had returned to the border just 10 days before Diwali.

ANI

Babu Singh, MLA from Shergarh said the village which has a long tradition of serving the country is inspired by Prabhu.

"His family alone has sent about 25 men to serve the country. Now, more sons of the village are eager to serve on the nations borders, said the MLA

Prabhu is survived by his wife, a two-year-old daughter and his parents.
Over 2 weeks after PM Narendra Modi initiated the overnight demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000, ex-PM Manmohan Singh seems to have realised - hey, I am an economist! Hey, I should have an opinion on this. Even after India has added 6 lakh crore Rupees to its banks, Manmohan Singh, perhaps toeing his party line, came out to speak up against the move.

The operative word - "speak".

Unlike the old days when Manmohan/Sonia's speeches forced the nation to silently play along, the 2016 janta came together in a landslide mandate - to troll the hell out of him. #AcheDin.

Sonia be like

After Manmohan Singh ji's speech,Sonia Gandhi G continuously repeating a dialogue frm film 3 Idiots- Bol Vo Rahe Hain..Par Shabd Hamare Hain  Paresh Rawal f (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) November 24, 2016



Congress Mukt Bharat, but Twitter will never forget

The biggest joke of the decade is Dr Manmohan Singh accusing Modi govt of loot when the govt he presided holds the record for scams n loots  S Gurumurthy (@sgurumurthy) November 24, 2016



Any suggestions?



Manmohan Singh: "Demonetisation's been a monumental management failure"

"Any suggestions?"

"Should've done what I did"

"What?"

"Nothing"  Akshar (@AksharPathak) November 24, 2016



"I agree with PM", but not with Modi?



But I also have to repeat what Madam says, so sorry: Manmohan Singh https://t.co/M6IOrY7KXV  Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) November 24, 2016

More jokes about Manmohan Singh speaking





Those who said they want to see the end result of Demonetizaton & the changes it brings.. Dr Manmohan Singh ji just spoke...for 10 minutes..  Paresh Rawal f (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) November 24, 2016

Even more jokes



Former PM Manmohan Singh spoke in parliament today.

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Joke upar hai   PhD in Bak***** !! (@Atheist_Krishna) November 24, 2016

Modi be like: My time is now!

Today, Manmohan Singh quoted John Keynes saying "in the long run, we are all dead". Modi replied by quoting John Cena "you can't see me"   Rofl Gandhi 100k (@RoflGandhi_) November 24, 2016

That dead eyed stare - looks familiar

PIC 1 - Manmohan Singh during UPA govt

PIC 2 - Manmohan Singh during BJP govt pic.twitter.com/zrzNmoq9yU  GauravMishra (@mishrageee) November 24, 2016

These guys are having a duel of their own
South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley's extended family in India is happy about the fact that she has been appointed as the US Ambassador to the United Nations.

AFP

Haleys parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to Amritsar before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s.

44 year old Haley born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina  she was called Nikki as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996. Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, tells that family and friends were thrilled by Haleys appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success, Randhawa told Reuters by telephone. Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikkis father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

Homecoming

Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child, doesnt speak Punjabi and has converted to Christianity. But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called an emotional and very personal day.

AFP

I always yearned to see Punjab  my motherland  and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years, she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with nips from a water bottle.

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first U.S. ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the United States into a Punjabi family but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favourable views towards India, where he has some real estate interests. The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.

Trumps stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York and Haleys appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

Reuters

Amritsar (Punjab): Nikki Haley's family celebrates after she was chosen to be US ambassador to UN by President elect Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/sFgdslMUzO  ANI (@ANI_news) 24 November 2016

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post. We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success, said Randhawa. And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days.
The cash of more than Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that allegedly disappeared from Dimapur on Tuesday, after being flown in by a chartered flight resurfaced on Wednesday, in an equally dramatic manner.

"The money, seized by the CISF, was handed over to officials of the income tax department. They handed it over to the claimant, Naga businessman Anato Zhimomi, after he produced an I-T exemption certificate," Nagaland police chief L L Doungel said.

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Anato Zhimomi - who is the son-in-law of Neiphiu Rio, the sole Lok Sabha member from the state - has been arrested. Income tax and intelligence officials suspect that the Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland could be part of a big money laundering racket, with the masterminds exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast and non-existent security at smaller airports.

A probe by the I-T department revealed that some businessmen, including a Gurgaon-based owner of a printing and packaging firm, allegedly roped in Anato Zhimomi, who claimed the seized money after producing an I-T exemption certificate, and took advantage of the absence of security at a small airfield in Hisar to haul at least Rs 11 crore in outlawed denominations of 500 and 1,000 to Dimapur by a chartered plane.

The money thus ferried was deposited into the account of Anato, the son-in-law of three-time Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, the sole representative in the Lok Sabha from the state who backs the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.

Anato, was supposed to transfer the money back into the account of the businessmen through RTGS. I-T officials have already tracked another Rs 7 crore allegedly deposited by Anato in his Axis Bank account in Dimapur.

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Anato has reportedly "confessed" to have ferried cash thrice from Hisar to Dimapur by the same plane on November 12, 14 and 21. Anil Sood, the Gurgaon-based owner of a printing and packaging firm, in whose bank account Anato had been making transfers through RTGS after cash was deposited in his Dimapur account has also been questioned.

Northeast, the silent hub for money laundering

Money being flown from Haryana to Nagaland might seem like a truly bizarre way of trying to convert stashes of cash in old notes into legal tender , but it's not as illogical as it might sound.

India's income tax laws allow exemptions for various categories of incomes or individuals. These exemptions are apparently now being misused to covert black cash into white money.

BCCL/Representational Image

Among those exempt from paying income tax are members of scheduled tribe communities in Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Scheduled tribes in North Cachar Hills and Mikir Hills in Assam, the Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya and Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir also don't have to pay income tax.

The exemption applies to income arising from any source in these areas or from dividends or interest on securities from anywhere.

BCCL

A similar exemption is available to all those defined as "Sikkimese" in the I-T Act. This again is for any income generated from Sikkim itself and for income from dividend or interest on securities generated anywhere.

The intent behind these exemptions is to provide fiscal concessions to backward areas and communities. In times like now, it becomes a useful route for people looking to turn undisclosed incomes legitimate.
The nation today paid tribute to the sacrifice of Major Manoj Kumar Kushwaha, Shashank Kumar Singh, and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu killed in Pakistan's action along the Line of Control (LOC) in Machhal sector of Kupwara on Tuesday.

Ghazipur (UP): Gun salutes being paid to Gnr Manoj K Kushwah, who was killed in action on LoC in Machhal sector (J&K). pic.twitter.com/wdV87isGa6  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 24, 2016

Ghazipur (UP): Family members mourn the death of soldier Shashank Kumar Singh who was killed in action on LoC in Machhal sector (J&K) pic.twitter.com/boQkaeaoxi  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 23, 2016

The body of one of the soldiers was mutilated. It is the second such incident in less than a month.

Shashank was the youngest of four children. His father said Shashank's marriage was scheduled in May 2017.

Huge #crowd gathered in #Ghazipur, UP to pay respects to Gunner Manoj Kushwaha who was killed in action on #LoC in #Machhal sector in J&K. pic.twitter.com/ntNqvzIO3X  All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 24, 2016

Manoj is survived by his mother, brother, wife and children.

Ghazipur (UP): Gnr Manoj Kushwaha's mortal remains reach his native village. Huge crowd gathered to pay respects. pic.twitter.com/a09nvfvi1Q  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 24, 2016

Yesterday, an army spokesperson spoke about the honourable farewell given to the martyrs

"Rich tributes were paid by the Army today to its soldiers Manoj Kumar Kushwah, Prabhu Singh and Shashank Kumar Singh who attained martyrdom in Pakistan's dastardly action along the Line of Control in Machhil sector of Kupwara yesterday," an army spokesman said.

He said Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu and all ranks paid their homage to the martyrs in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony held at Badamibagh cantonment here.

"All young soldiers in their mid-20s or early 30s, the trio is remembered by their comrades for their commitment and dedication to duty.

"In fact, Prabhu Singh who hailed from Jodhpur, Rajasthan and is survived by his wife, would have turned 25 today. Manoj Kumar belonged to Gazipur in UP and is survived by his wife and two young children while Shashank Kumar Singh, also from the same place, is survived by his parents," he said. "The Army stands beside the families of the brave hearts in this hour of grief and remains committed to their wellbeing in future," he added.
In a shocking video that has gone viral, a Muslim couple in their 30s, can be seen being beaten mercilessly with sticks, allegedly by Bajrang Dal activists in Khurja town of Bulandshahr district.

In the video, a group of men can be heard saying, "Tum Hindu mohalle ko ganda karte ho (You dirty Hindu localities)."

Youtube

The incident happened on Sunday, but video of it have come out later and is being shared widely on the internet. Police confirmed the incident to TOI.

The woman, whose face is covered in the video, can even be seen being dragged on the floor. While cops have arrested five persons, including the district convener of the Bajrang Dal.

This has prompted Congress leader and minority rights activist Shehzaad Poonawala to seek a ban on the Bajrang Dal in a petition addressed to the National Commission for Minorities and to the Union home ministry.

Youtube

Vijay Prakash Singh, circle officer (Khurja), told TOI on Wednesday, "The man and woman are married to separate people but are long time friends of each other. They both were in Khurja on Sunday so they decided to meet up and go out for lunch. They went to a local confectionery to have pizza but wanted to talk in private. This (the attack) happened when a while later some Bajrang Dal men noticed the two and were told that one of them is a Muslim."

BCCL

"Praveen Bhati, the Bajrang Dal district convener, thought that it was a case of 'love jihad'. Later, he found out that both were Muslim, but he started beating them up anyway. We wasted no time in acting against the accused. There was no evidence of the pair doing anything inappropriate or illegal but the goons had beaten them up. We have arrested five of them and are investigating the case further to find the other accused."
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has handed down death sentence to five people who were found guilty of burning alive a Christian couple in 2014, after they were falsely accused of desecrating the Quran.

AFP

Those sentenced to death included a local cleric in Kot Radha Kishan, who made the announcement in a mosque calling people to to avenge the couple's alleged blasphemous act.

Shahzad Masih, and his wife Shama Bibi who was pregnant at the time were lynched by a mob of over 400 people and thrown into a brick kiln after their employer accused them burning the Quran.

Dawn

Later, investigation revealed that the kiln owner had made the allegation after they demanded him to pay their salaries which had been pending.

According to the police records, the mob had thrashed the couple and dragged them to a kiln where the kiln owner, and his accountants, allegedly removed a lid from one of the openings of the furnace and threw the couple into it.

Express Tribune

"Both Shama and Shahzad were reduced to ashes in no time," the FIR reads.

The barbaric act was condemned both locally and internationally, with even Pakistani Muslim groups calling for justice for the couple.

AFP

Blasphemy is a serious offence in Pakistan, any insult to Prophet Muhammad or desecration of the Quran is punishable by death.

According to Pakistani law, any blasphemy allegation is deemed genuine even if there is no evidence if the complaint makes an oath by touching the Quran.

However rights groups have for long claimed that the law has been misused by those with vested interest to settle personal scores, especially on those belonging to minority religious communities.

In the recent years it has been increasingly used to target minority groups like Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians.

Currently, over a dozen people including a Christian woman are on death row in the country for alleged blasphemy.
Transgender activists in Pakistan are planning to build a mosque in Islamabad where people irrespective of their gender or sexual orientation will be invited to pray.

YouTube

The new project is the brainchild of the Shemale Association for Fundamental Rights (Safar), that is managed by Nadeem Kashish who told Daily Tribune,

"The main reason for building this mosque is to convey a message to our society that people who are transgender are also Muslim, they too have a right to offer prayers in a mosque, to recite or teach the Holy Quran, and to preach Islam."

Online

The transgender community in Pakistan is extremely marginalised and is often ridiculed for trying to find comfort in their faith. If they enter mosques, they are either asked to sit in a 'wrong' section or are kicked out. Calling the police on them is also not that uncommon.

AFP/Getty

The new masjid will be a space large enough to accommodate 1,000 people at a time. It will be open to one and all and will not have any affiliation with any sect. The mosque will also comprise a madrassa - the religious school for Muslims. Seven lakh rupees have been raised for its construction and a piece of land has been donated.

A gender-fluid mosque was opened this year for the local transgender community in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Known as waria, it was a first-of-its-kind mosque in the world.
Two Saudi women were sentenced to 10 days in prison and 20 lashes for their WhatsApp conversation.

One of the women had approached Jeddah's Criminal Court, and accused the other of using abusive language in their WhatsApp conversation, even showing the Court her phone.ncms

However, the defendant claimed that she had used this language in response to a previous message.

indialivetoday.com

A month later, the Court pronounced them both guilty. They got off easy (by Saudi standards), punished to 10 days in jail and 20 lashes each

Saudi Arabia Beheads People On A Whim. UN Makes Them Head Of Human Rights Council!



Saudi Arabia is infamous for its cruel punishments, which include public beheadings and floggings.

Saudi Arabian Buyers Are Shopping For Sex Slaves - At ISIS Auctions!

Recently, a prince of Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family was given lashes in a prison in Jeddah as a court-ordered punishment. This comes less than a month after the kingdom executed another prince for murder.
The burden of shame is ever so often laid on the shoulders of women. Every day, women around the world, no matter their nationality, age, colour, face sexual harassment of some kind  whether its a sexist comment passed as a joke, rape, or online harassment. Harassment of women is no longer only restricted to the workplace, streets and public transportation. Public, physical harassment has gradually expanded and seeped into cyber space.

A research conducted by Feminism in India (FII) and part of Freedom House Hyperlinkers on 'Violence online in India: Cyber crimes against women and minorities on social media,' has found that nearly 50 per cent of women in major Indian cities have experienced online abuse.

According to National Crime Records Bureau, Indias agency for collecting and analysing crime data, cyber crimes are A new class of crimes is rapidly increasing due to extensive use of Internet and IT enabled services.

While it includes 'obscene transmission/publication' of information as a cyber crime, it does not list public trolling and shaming, which means that authorities need to widen their definition of online harassment.

Dr Shalini Kashmiria, a Lecturer at Himachal Pradesh University, in a paper titled 'Mapping cyber crime against women in India' calls online harassment as one of most traumatic experience for women. Indians, she claims, are the second biggest sharers of personal information on the Internet, which makes women in India soft targets of a variety of crimes that includes sexual defamation.

Representational image/Unsplash/Jay Wennington

Despite a considerable number female victims of online harassment, women lack support and understanding on how to respond.

Representational image/Unsplash/Benjamin Combs

Stoponlineabuse.org, a UK-based organisation working towards ensuring online safety for women and the LGBTQ community, says that online abuse is anything that causes distress and harm, which includes trolling and defamation.

Japleen Pasricha, founder of Feminism In India, says that it is a Directed strategy to name and shame.

Community solidarity is very important when someone is harassed online. Hate, shaming and trolling online should be called out so the perpetrator knows what hes doing is wrong, Japleen told Indiatimes.

She also said women need to remain active online instead of shutting down after an attack.

In the physical world, women need to reclaim public spaces to make them safer, the same goes for the Internet. Women need to reclaim the Internet because more women makes its more safer.

FIIs research found that 36 per cent of women, who experienced online harassment, took no action at all and 28 per cent said they intentionally reduced their online presence after suffering online abuse. While 30 per cent said they were not aware of laws to protect them from online harassment.

One-third of those surveyed did complain to immediate authorities but said their response was not at all helpful.

Representational image/Martin Cooper/Flickr

Women were surveyed from major Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. 58% of respondents reported having faced online aggression of some kind in the form of trolling, bullying, abuse or harassment.

One of those surveyed said, If I write feminist views, men start calling me names and making offensive remarks.

FIIs research also found that majority of women do not report cases of online harassment because of fear of not being taken seriously. Awareness around harassment needs to go beyond eve-teasing and rape and include condescending sexist chatter, trolling and defamation both offline and online in order to help victims reach out for support, and not to be shut down by society when they do.

The government has taken certain initiatives to curb online harassment of women, however, their implementation is far from getting the desired results.

Experts say that government initiatives need to go hand-in-hand with what happens on the ground. Women and men should be educated about online harassment in order to be able to recognise and report it.
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

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Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials.

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Northwest Mining Association's (NWMA) Annual Meeting, Exposition and Short Courses "Opening Minds... mapping a path to mine".



Northwest Mining Association (NWMA) is a non-profit, non-partisan trade association with over 1800 members founded in Spokane, Washington during the early years of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. We were soon supporting the mining industry throughout the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.



NWMA's purpose is to represent and inform members on, legislative, regulatory and technical issues, to support and advance the mineral resource and related industries, to provide for the dissemination of educational materials related to mining, and to foster and promote economic opportunity and environmentally responsible mining.
Sixteen students were injured yesterday when fire swept through the Bakassi Female Hostel at the Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech, Lagos State.

Twenty rooms and six kitchens were razed; three female student fell into coma.

The inferno, some students said, started around 5am from a wing of the top floor of the hostel when the generator was switched on following power outage.

Others said it was caused by a power surge from the ground floor of the two storey building where computer monitors and Computer Processing Unit (CPU) are stored. It escalated to the second floor of the building.

Another eyewitness said the electric pole connected to the hostel sparked many times before the fire started.

The sparks have been recurring, some students said, blaming it on what they called deterioration in the hostel connection.

Some groups, Man o War, and Red Cross, it was learnt, battled to contain the fire.

The students including an asthmatic patient, who fainted were rushed to the Military Hospital, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yaba and General Hospital on Randle Avenue Surulere.

The asthmatic patients were first taken to the institution medical centre for first aid. The Emergency Response Team (ERT) of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) officials also assisted with first aid treatment.

Properties including credentials, project files, documents, laptops, phones, books, mattresses and clothes were destroyed.

Some students claimed that the inefficiency of the fire service and the school management led to the heavy loss of properties.

Jessica Uzomechine, a National Diploma (ND) 1 student, said nothing was done to combat the fire until around two hours after it started.

She said fire fighting vehicles got to the school in time but had no water.

I wonder what they came here to do without water. Only if they had water, my room and some other rooms would have been saved from the disaster, she said.

I was sleeping when I heard noise around 5am. Initially, I heard it was a fight but when I got to know it was fire, I found my way out of the hostel. My credentials, phones, laptop, books and everything I have in the hostel are burnt. Since I have life, I know there is hope, she noted.

She said one of her friends fainted and was rushed to the medical centre.

Another student who gave her name simply as Chioma said: I came back in the evening, laid on my bed, charged my phone and slept. Only for me to hear shouts of fire! Fire! I even thought they were joking because Bakassi girls like joking a lot. I came out and I saw smoke. I didnt even know what happened, I just saw myself outside; others were stepped on during stampede. Some peoples heads were on the floor.

The funniest part was that the porters locked the door and left the place. They ran off. I saw one of them carrying his cloth and running to the gate. Now if you want to enter, they are asking for pass.

What is painful is that I lost my credentials: WAEC Certificate, Testimonial, LASU results, everything about my academics, my clothes, shoes, my phone, laptop. This is not the first time the electric pole will spark.

David Fasanmi said the fire was caused by faulty cables. He said the fire spread because the hostel does not have water.

Two fire service vehicles came to the hostel but had no water to quench the fire until around 7am.

The schools Head of Department of the Fire Service, Dr Ismail Badmus, said no life was lost, adding that some students were injured and taken to hospitals.

The incident happened at Bakassi Female hostel which is a two-wing two-storey building. It was the top floor of one of the two wings of the hostel.

There was no life lost, but there were some injuries.

We lost a lot of students items like laptops, phones, books and mattresses. You know it is a residential hostel; many combustibles are there, which readily catch fire, Ismail told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The college had suspended academic activities till further notice following the fire.

The Rector, Dr Margaret Ladipo, called for calm, promising that the management would soothe victims pains.

Sequel to the unfortunate fire at the Bakassi hostel early this (yesterday) morning, the management has suspended all academic activities till further notice.

By this notice, all examinations and lectures, especially scheduled for today, have been put on hold while the college attends to the exigency.

The management regrets the misguided and outright falsehood on the social media and calls to certain radio stations that there was no water on campus to put out the fire, Ladipo said in a statement issued by Mr Charles Oni, Head of Public Relations Unit.

LASEMA General Manager Adesina Tiamiyu said they received a distress call around 5am and immediately swing into action.

He said the fire which had consumed the building was put out by the agency in collaboration with other emergency bodies, such as, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos Fire Service, and the University of Lagos (Unilag) Fire Service officials.

Tiamiyu said: We got a call that there was fire at Bakassi Hall. We got the information a little after 5am and we responded immediately. By the time our men got here, they were already doing the best they can do so we assisted them.

When we got here, about 20 rooms were engulfed in fire so we had to calm the fire first for people to gain access. Property was damaged obviously but there is no death; maybe one or two fainted and they were revived.
A young man in France has had his Porsche Carrera S blown up after he parked it illegally and Paris police found his efforts so suspicious that they brought in the bomb squad.

Olivier by The man named asby Le Parisien , was out and about in his Porsche on Thursday night.

Perhaps unable to find a car park; or perhaps not caring to try, Olivier left his 150,000 vehicle in a taxi stand before hitting the nightclubs.

When the morning came around, he reportedly did not drive home but took a cab instead  leaving his Porsche in the taxi rank with the hazard lights flashing.

The sight attracted the attention of the police, who are on high alert in the capital due to the heightened terrorist threat.

Officers called in the bomb squad, who decided they had sufficient reason to explode the front bonnet of the car at around midday on Friday.

The motorist arrived at the scene soon after and was told to take his car home, with no mention of whether the damage to his car would be covered.

I shouldnt have parked it there, Olivier admitted to Le Parisien newspaper but added that he felt he had been wronged by the police.
The European Parliament has voted to suspend the European Union (EU) membership talks of Turkey because of the countrys crackdown since a coup attempt in July, the BBC reports.

The Members of European Parliament (MEPs) asked the European Commission and 28 national governments to impose a temporary freeze on the talks.

However, they said that the Parliament remains committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU.

The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.

The Members of European Parliament (MEPs) non-binding vote has already been dismissed as worthless by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Parliaments resolution move comes at a sensitive time, with the EU being reliant on Turkey to keep up its end of an agreement on the return of migrants who have sought refuge in Europe.

EU-Turkish ties have soured after years of stop-start negotiations, which are likely to go on, though very slowly.
Leicester City will be satisfied with how quickly theyve wrapped up their UEFA Champions League qualification to the round of 16. They look to have taken their focus off the Premier League and it remains to be seen if they can continue their fairytale run in Europe.

Arsenals 2-2 draw with PSG on Wednesday night also means that the Gunners are through to the next round with a match to spare. Manchester City also qualified thanks to a 1-1 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach and Barcelonas thrashing Celtic in the other match of the group.

Atletico remains the only team to have won all their group games so far and will be pleased that they will finish top of the group. Borrusia Dortmunds 8-4 thriller with Legia Warsaw also means they will top the group.

Group B remains the closest group, with Benfica and Napoli on 8 points while Besiktas have 7 points. With everything still to play for, only Dynamo Kyiv are a lost cause in the group.
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) has revealed how extrajudicial execution and torture by Nigeria security forces, especially the Nigerian Army, led to the death of at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters across Nigerias south-east, between August 2015 and August 2016.

The report titled: Bullets Were Raining Everywhere: Deadly Repression of Pro-Biafra Activists, released on Thursday relied on the analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eye witness testimonies that revealed soldiers of the Nigeria military firing live ammunition to disperse protesters, most of them members of the separatist group, Indigenous People of the Biafra (IPOB), without warning.

According to AI, at least 60 defenseless IPOB protesters were shot dead within two days leading to the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30.

Extrajudicial Killings

The Amnesty International report revealed that the largest number of IPOB members were killed during the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30, 2016. It stated that as over 1,000 members of the group gathered for a rally in Onitsha, Anambra State, security forces swooped on their homes and a church where they were sleeping.

On Remembrance Day itself, the security forces shot people in several locations. Amnesty International has not been able to verify the exact number of extrajudicial executions, but estimates that at least 60 people were killed and 70 injured in these two days. The real number is likely to be higher, the organisation revealed in a statement accompanying the report.

Recounting some of the chilling incidents that happened on the day, AI spoke to a woman named simply as Ngozi (not her real name), the 28-year-old wife of one of the slain members of IPOB.

Ngozi told AI that her husband called her shortly after he left for work in the morning that soldiers have shot him in his abdomen. He said he was in a military vehicle with six others, four of whom were already dead.

He started whispering and said they just stopped [the vehicle]. He was scared they would kill the remaining three of them that were alive He paused and told me they were coming closer. I heard gunshots and I did not hear a word from him after that.

The next day after searching for her husband, Ngozi found his body in a nearby mortuary. The attendants at the mortuary told her that the military had brought him and six others. She said he had three gunshot wounds one in his abdomen and two in his chest, which confirmed that the military had executed him.

Similarly, Chukwuemeka (not his real name), a 25-year-old trader, told AI that he was shot and taken together with corpses to the barracks.

They dumped us on the ground beside a pit. There were two soldiers beside the pit. The pit was very big and so many dead people were inside the pit. I cannot estimate the number of people in the grave.  We were dumped on the ground.

He said that he escaped and hid in the bushes.

The organization said it reviewed videos of a peaceful gathering of IPOB members at Aba National High School on February 9. The Nigerian military surrounded the group and then opened fire on everyone in sight without any warning.

Many of the protesters were then rounded up and taken away. Four days later, 13 corpses including some of the men taken away were found near the Aba Highway.

According to AI, the military took the bodies of people killed and injured in Onitsha and Asaba to the military barracks in Onitsha. Video footage shows soldiers loading dead and wounded people into their Hilux van.

Initially, when they were still dumping corpses, I could see 10 to 12 lifeless bodies. That was in the morning. In the evening, there were more but I could not estimate, A man who was detained in the barracks and who saw the corpses dumped in front of the military mortuary said.

Torture

The report also revealed the disturbing use of widespread torture and ill-treatment of those arrested by the military.

Vincent Ogbodo (not his real name), a 26-year-old trader, said he was shot on May30, 2016 in Nkpor and hid in a gutter. He said when soldiers found him they poured acid on him.

I covered my face. I would have been blind by now. He poured acid on my hands. My hands and body started burning. The flesh was burning They dragged me out of the gutter. They said Ill die slowly.

A man detained at the Onitsha Barracks revealed that those in the guard room were flogged every morning. The soldiers tagged it Morning Tea.

This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the south east of Nigeria. This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher, said Makmid Kamara, Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The Nigerian governments decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed. The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book.

It is chilling to see how these soldiers gunned down peaceful IPOB members. The video evidence shows that this was a military operation with intent to kill and injure, said Mr. Kamara.

AI stated that most IPOB protests have been largely peaceful. It however, added that on occasions, protesters hurled stones, burned tyres and in one case shot a police officer.

Regardless, these acts of violence and disorder did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly, AI stated.

Impunity

AI stated that despite overwhelming evidence detailing the extrajudicial killings and torture of protesters, no action has been taken by Nigerian authorities to investigate them or punish perpetrators.

It stated that this lack of accountability for human rights violations by the military is similar to documented cases in other parts of the country especially in the countrys north-east region where the military fights a war against Boko Haram.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the government of Nigeria to initiate independent investigations into evidence of crimes under international law, and President Buhari has repeatedly promised that Amnesty Internationals reports would be looked into. However, no concrete steps have been taken, said Mr. Kamara.

AI stated that the Nigerian government must ensure adequate reparations for the victims, including the families. They should end all use of military in policing demonstrations and ensure the police are adequately instructed, trained and equipped to deal with crowd-control situations in line with international law and standards. In particular, firearms must never be used as a tool for crowd control.

Armys denial

Meanwhile, in a move aimed at countering the planned release of AIs report on Thursday, the Nigeria army on Wednesday evening released a statement denying that soldiers killed and tortured defenceless pro-Biafra agitators.

It stated that the report was an attempt to tarnish the reputation of Nigerian security forces and that of the army especially.

The statement by the acting director of army public relations, Sani Usman, a colonel, stated that IPOB members relished in the use of violence that threatens the security of the country.

It claimed that IPOB members attacked and killed people from other ethnic groups in the south-east and injured several soldiers and policemen. The statement also claimed that the protesters vandalised military and police vehicles.

He stated that the military acted within its mandate and in fact, approached the protesters with restrain despite their use of unjustifiable violence.

The evidence of MASSOB/IPOB violent secessionist agitations is widely known across the national and international domains. Their modus operandi has continued to relish violence that threatens national security. Indeed between August 2015 and August 2016, the groups violent protests have manifested unimaginable atrocities to unhinge the reign of peace, security and stability in several parts of the South East Nigeria, the statement read.

A number of persons from the settler communities that hailed from other parts of the Country were selected for attack, killed and burnt. Such reign of hate, terror and ethno-religious controversies that portend grave consequences for national security have been averted severally through the responsiveness of the Nigerian Army and members of the security agencies.

These security agencies are always targeted for attack by the MASSOB/IPOB instruments of barbarism and cruelty. For instance, in the protests of 30  31 May 2016, more than 5 personnel of the Nigeria Police were killed, while several soldiers were wounded, Nigeria Police vehicles were burnt down same as several others of the Nigerian Army that were vandalized.

The strategic Niger Bridge at Onitsha came under threat thus leading to disruption of socio-economic activities. In the aftermath of the encounter that ensued between security agencies and MASSOB/IPOB militants many of own troops sustained varying degrees of injury. In addition, the MASSOB/IPOB recurrent use of firearms, crude weapons as well as other cocktails such as acid and dynamites to cause mayhem remain a huge security threat across the region.

Therefore, it is rather unfortunate for the Amnesty International to allow itself to be lured into this cheap and unpopular venture that aims to discredit the undeniable professionalism as well as responsiveness of the Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles.

Source: Premium Times
Nigerian newspaper headlines November 24, 2016.

Guardian

The Federal Government yesterday said it could not afford the N284 billion earned allowances being demanded by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Punch

Regulatory agents and terminal operators have blamed corrupt practices by importers for their presence and high level of physical examination of cargo at the nations seaports.

Vanguard

It was always going to be a hard fought match between Ghana and Nigeria. And Ghanas Black Queens forced high riding Super Falcons to a draw in the group B match at the Africa Women Nations Cup in Limbe, Cameroon.

Leadership

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the blame game and solve the problems he inherited from the previous administrations.

Premium Times

A new report by Amnesty International (AI) has revealed how extrajudicial execution and torture by Nigeria security forces, especially the Nigerian Army, led to the death of at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters across Nigerias south-east, between August 2015 and August 2016.

Thisday

It was jubilation galore wednesday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, after the Court of Appeal reinstated Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as the rightful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest Saturdays governorship election in the state.

The Sun

Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun rose from the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja yesterday, with the unpleasant news that fluctuations in foreign exchange policy was jolting the economy, especially manufacturers with an assurance that government was marshaling plans to arrest the situation.

National Mirror

House of Representatives has increased the N180bn virement sought for by President Muhammadu Buhari to fund critical recurrent and capital items by N28bn, taking it to N208.821bn.
A former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo has taken a swipe at the National Assembly which he says stinks more than the judiciary. He made the comments during the First Akintola Williams Annual Lecture Lagos and it is not the first time the former President is accusing Nigerias legislature of corruption.

While expressing his support for the clean-up of the judiciary, he took the occasion to criticize the lack of transparency in the National Assembly.

f the Judiciary is being cleaned, what of the National Assembly which stinks much worse than the Judiciary? Budget padding must not go unpunished. It is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians.

Ganging up to intimidate and threaten the life of whistle blower is deplorable and undemocratic. What of the so-called constituency projects which is a veritable source of corruption? These constituency projects are spread over the budget for members of the National Assembly for which they are the initiators and the contractors directly or by proxy and money would be fully drawn with the project only partially executed or not executed at all. The National Assembly cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in our national governance system at any time. Members of the National Assembly pay themselves allowances for staff and offices they do not have or maintain. Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you cannot opt out as you go home with not less than N15 million a month for a Senator and N10 million a month for a member of the House of Representatives. The National Assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.

Like the Judiciary, the National Assembly cannot clean itself. Look at how re-current budget of the National Assembly with the so-called constituency projects has ballooned since the inception of this democratic dispensation. What were their budgets in the 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015? The revelation was both alarming and scandalous. Once, when I was President, I asked outside auditors, both normal and forensic, to audit the account of the National Assembly, they frustrated it on the basis of separation of power. They claimed they had oversight responsibility for their corruption and misdemeanour and nothing can be done. It is like asking a thief to watch over himself. There must be full disclosure of all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner at all levels.

Olusegun Obasanjo also called on President Buhari to look into setting up a panel to probe the activities of the NAssembly
The Nigerian Police have concluded an investigation into a theft allegation leveled against controversial Movie Marketer, Seun Egbegbe.

Reports from Area F Command, where the socialite is being detained says he will be charged before a Lagos magistrate court any moment from now for allegedly stealing Apple iPhones valued at over N2 million from a shop at Computer Village, Ikeja.

SEE What Toyin Aimakhu was Caught Doing After Seun Egbegbes Arrest

If convicted, Egbebge could face up to three years imprisonment.

READ: Seun Egbegbes Version of What Transpired At Computer Village

On Tuesday, the blogosphere was awash with reports that Toyin Aimakhus ex-lover was apprehended after he reportedly fled with 9 iPhone handsets from a phone retail outlet in Ikeja.

He denied the theft, claiming he was going to pick money from his car before a mob descended on him, battering his mouth.

Seun Egbegbe was later arrested by men of the Nigerian police from Area F Command on Oba Akinjobi, GRA Ikeja (Lagos).

More details soon.
Some have begun referring to this month as Black November since pre-Black Friday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales have all blended together. Not all the supposed deals are actually deals at all -- in many cases, the retailers are just trying to offload stuff  but there are plenty of bargains to be had on the hottest smartphones, tablets, PCs and gaming systems. Here's a look at some of the best deals.

Websites such as BFads.net, BlackFriday.com and BestBlackFriday.com have all been helpful in collecting this information.

MORE: Best Black Friday Apple Watch deals

Computers

Best Buy: MacBook Air 13.3" laptop

This model of the Apple MacBook Air is powered with an Intel i5 processor, has 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of flash storage. Best Buy is cutting $200 off the regular price to sell it for $800.

BJ's Wholesale Club: HP 15.6-inch laptop computer with Microsoft Office 365 Personal

Lop $220 off the price of this bundle to come in at $500 for the package. The machine boasts 1TB of storage, 8GB of memory and an Intel Core i7 processor.

Dell: Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1

Dell is marking down this flexible laptop/tablet from $350 to $200 online for Black Friday. The machine, which weighs in at just over 3 pounds, boasts Windows 10 Home, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.

Dell: Inspiron Micro Desktop

This compact desktop will run you just $100 (!), half off of Dell's usual price (though we've seen it listed for as much as $350 too). The machine runs Windows 10 Home, has 4GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive. It's powered by a 6th-generation Intel Core i36100 processor.

Office Depot/Office Max: HP 15-inch Windows 10 laptop

This system boasts an Intel i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, and and comes in at $450, or $400 off the usual price. Note that other HP systems from Office Depot/Office Max can also be had for $270 and $330 with less powerful processors.

Walmart: Samsung 11.6-inch Chromebook laptop

You'll be able to get this Celeron dual-core processor-powered laptop with 16GB of storage (expandable to 2TB).

HP: Envy 15t laptop

This 15-inch touch-optional Windows 10 laptop is powered by an Intel i7 processor, and has 6GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Regularly priced at $830, HP is selling it for $600 starting on Thanksgiving Day.

HP: Omen Desktop 870-120st

This Windows 10 Home 64 gaming system, marked down from $1,800 to $1,300, cranks via an Intel Core i7-6700 CPU (four cores), an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, 8MB shared cache, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of storage.

HP: Elite X2 1012 G1 2-in-1

This 12-inch touch display tablet/laptop combo usually starts at more than $2,000, but the price has been slashed nearly in half for HP's Black Friday sale. The system runs Windows 10 Pro 64 and boasts a 6th-generation Intel Core processor and Intel HD Graphics 515 processor. It has 4GB of memory and 180GB of storage.

Meijer: Samsung 11.6-inch Chromebook

This model with 4GB of storage costs just $150, which is $80 off the regular price.

Newegg: HP ProLiant ML 10 v2 Tower Server

This system is marked down from $250 to $175. It features an Intel i3-4150 3.5 GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB SATA hard drive.

Tablets

Best Buy: Amazon Fire tablets

Best Buy is cutting $30 off the price of the Amazon Fire 8-inch tablet with 16GB of storage to $60, and is shaving about $17 off the price of a 7-inch Amazon Fire tablet with 8GB of storage for a final price of $33.33 (it will be interesting to see how Amazon marks these tablets down itself).

Best Buy: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet

You can get this Windows tablet with a 12.3-inch screen, signature type cover and Intel Core m3 processor for $600 ($400 off). Note that the pen is sold separately.

Surface Pro 4 tablet

Walmart: iPad mini 2 tablet

Walmart is making the price on this pretty mini, by cutting $70 off the usual $270 price for this 32GB model.

Shopko: Samsung Galaxy Tab E Lite tablet

Shopko's Black Friday sales start online the day before Thanksgiving and online at 4pm Thanksgiving Day. Among the deals, this 7-inch Android tablet for $70, which is $60 off the regular price. It comes with 8GB of storage and can be expanded via a 32GB microSD card.

Shopko: Polaroid 10-inch tablet bundle

Perhaps not the first name the comes to mind for tablets, but yes, Polaroid makes this 10-inch system that features Android 6.0, boasts 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM, and comes with a Bluetooth keyboard in this bundle for $60 ($140 off the regular price). Loving the promo language on the Shopko website about "Keep yourself nice and occupied by purchasing this...."

BJ's Wholesale Club: Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet

BJ's is offering this 7-inch Android tablet with 16GB of storage, plus a bonus 16GB microSD card, for $90, which is $50 off the regular price. BJ's is offering this deal from Nov. 18 through Nov. 29, though stores are closed on Thanksgiving.

Kmart: Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7-inch tablet

This Android device with 8GB of storage regularly goes for $150, but Kmart is selling it for $100 and including $50 of Shop Your Way Reward points to use at a later time.

Target: Apple iPad Pro 9.7-inch tablet

Get the big Apple iPad with 128GB of storage for $450, which is about $150 off via this deal. It supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and LTE cellular connectivity.

Staples: Amazon Fire HD 8-inch tablet

Staples, which opens its doors on Black Friday at 6am but is closed on Thanksgiving, is axing the price of this tablet from $130 to $80.

Walgreens: Polaroid 7-inch tablet

Walgreens might not be the first place you think of to buy tablets, but it's cutting the price of Polaroid's 7-inch tablet to $30, so if you're looking for an inexpensive one, you don't have much to lose here. The Android device comes with 8GB of storage.

Staples: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 i5

This high-end tablet is going for $800 at Staples on Black Friday, down from the usual price of $1,000. This Intel Core i5 processor-powered tablet has a 12.3-inch display and runs Windows 10. It includes 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Keep in mind that while this tablet comes with a Surface Pen, it doesn't include a detachable keyboard -- that'll run you another $100 or so.

Toys R Us: Polaroid Wi-Fi tablets

The toy store is offering Polaroid 7- or 9-inch Wi-Fi tablets for $30 ($30 off) and $40 ($30 off) respectively. The tablets run Android and come with 8GB of storage.

Amazon: Fire HD 8-inch tablet

The Fire HD 8-inch tablet will cost $60 ($30 off) on Nov. 24-25, and Amazon is promising that its Alexa cloud-based voice service is on the way. The Fire HD 8-inch tablet starts at 16GB of storage though is expandable to 200GB via a microSD slot.

Meijer: Samsung Galaxy Tab E Lite 7.0

Marked down from $120 to $70, plus you get a $20 store gift card tossed in, this Android device features 8GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and a 7-inch screen.

Phones

Best Buy: Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge bundled with VR kit

Best Buy will sweeten the purchase of a new Android phone, which costs about $28 per month for 24 months under an installment plan, by tossing in a $250 store gift card plus a Samsung Gear VR viewer.

Target: iPhone 7 or 7 Plus

Put $0 down and sign up for a 24-month installment plan ($36 for 128GB Plus, $31 for 128GB iPhone 7), and you'll get a $250 Target gift card.

Verizon: $10/month for Android smartphones

Verizon is offering such phones as the Samsung Galaxy S7, Pixel Phone from Google, and Moto Z Droid for $10/month for 24 months, 0% APR, which is a savings of up to $400 on these devices.

TVs

LeEco: Super4 X65 TV

The price of this 65-inch TV has been cut to $1,100, and the set comes bundled with a Le S3 ecophone that supports Android apps (valued at $250)

LeEco LeEco Super4 65-inch TV

Best Buy: LG 60-inch 4K Smart Ultra HDTV

The retailer is lopping $200 off the price of this LED set, for a final price of $600.

Walmart: 50-inch LED HDTVs from Class Element and Emersen

Perhaps not household names, but might one of these make it into your household for $225?

Sears: Samsung 40-inch LED TV

Sears has plenty of TVs on its sales list this holiday season, and among them is this 1080p HDTV set marked down from $400 to $250.

Meijer: 60-inch Vizio Smart 4K UHD TV

Meijer is marking down this big set by $370 to $600. It features 4 HDMI inputs and 2 USB ports.

Costco: Vizio 60" Smart 4K 240Hz UHDTV w/ Built-in Chromecast

This is a lot of LED TV for $750 for members of the wholesale club.

Network gear

Office Depot/Office Max: TP-Link AC1900 Wi-Fi router

This dual-band 802.11ac wireless router has been slashed from $150 to $90 for Black Friday by Office Depot/Office Max. Features 3 external dual-band antennas, a high-power amplifier 4 Gigabit LAN ports and 1 Gigabit WAN port.

Starry Station: Touchscreen router

Regularly priced at $300, this device will be marked down by $50 from Nov. 23-29, and is available on Starry.com as well as via Amazon.com, B*HG.com, and Best Buy. BThe beautifully designed 802.11a/b.g/n/ac Wi-Fi router displays all of your connected devices, surfaces connectivity problems, and suggestions solutions. It features dual-band connectivity (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and parental controls.

Sam's Club: Linksys AC2400 Router

This 4x4 802.11ac Wi-Fi router, marked down from $120 to $80, pumps data at up to 1733Mbps and is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core CPU. Includes 4 Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and eSATA/USB2.0 ports. Sam's Club deals run from Nov. 25-27.

Best Buy: eero Wi-Fi access points

Blanket your home with Wi-Fi coverage via a three-pack of these 802.11ac dual-band APs from eero for $400 ($100 off)

Luma: Home Wi-Fi system

Grab a 3-pack of Luma devices for $300 ($100 off) or 2-pack for $250 ($50 off) from 11/20 to 12/3.

Drones, smart watches, gaming systems and other odds & ends

Walmart: Dji Drone Phantom Standard 3 or Promark 3D Virtual Reality HD Drone

Go high-end with the Dji model, marked down from about $500 to $370, or the more affordable Promark, which zooms in at $99 ($49 off)

Sears: Amazon Echo digital assistant

This could be a big seller during the holidays, and Sears is cutting the price from $180 to $140. Too lazy to look up the weather on your phone or look outside? Want a more mobile music system for the house? Echo could be for you (though let's see how Amazon prices it too this holiday season).

Target: Xbox One S 500GB Bundle (Battlefield 1 or Minecraft) or PS4 500GB Slim bundle with Uncharted 4

Get either gaming bundle for $250 ($50 off the regular price) plus a $40 Target gift card

Dollar General: Xbox Live Gold membership card

The store is offering 50% off the usual 3-month Microsoft Xbox Gold Membership card, listed at $25.

Overstock: Star Wars Kylo Ren voice-changing mask

Hours of amusement, we're sure. And 25% off at $30 for the Star Wars fan who has everything.

Various retailers: New Nintendo 3DS portable gaming system

Nintendo announced two special-edition models, one white and one black featuring Mushroom Kingdom characters/imagery, for $100, at least $50 off what the 3DS usually goes for. Gaming system provides 3D-like effects without the dorky glasses.

Rite Aid: Philips Earbuds

This pharmacy isn't exactly a treasure trove for high tech items, but if you happen to be at one, these $6 Philips Earbuds ($10 off, plus you get $6 in Plenti Points for their reward system) with soft rubberized caps make for a nice stocking stuffer.

Harbor Freight Tools: Bunker Hill wireless surveillance system

Harbor Freight is knocking $80 off this this 4-channel security system and 2 cameras, which will sell for $200 as a Black Friday deal. Keep track of entrances and exits using a 7-inch monitor screen, which displays video from up to 4 cameras and records video using an optional 32GB SD card.

True Value Hardware: Striker Drone

This glow-in-the-dark hovering machine, which is 2.4GHz WiFi-enabled and can record video to your smartphone/tablet, is being marked down by 40% to $70. The drone can be used indoors/outdoors, and weighs in at 3 pounds. For True Value, Black Friday extends from Nov. 16-29.

Kohl's: Apple Watch Series 1 & 2

Apple and Kohl's have buddied up so that the retailer better known for its clothing sales will be adding Apple Watches to the accessories it sells. The Series 1 & 2 watches will sell for $269 and $369, respectively, which is no bargain, but Kohl's sweetens the deal for holiday shoppers by including $105 in Kohl's cash for Series 2 buyers and $75 in Kohl's cash for Series 1 buyers.

JCPenney: Tzumi Dream Vision Virtual Reality Headset

Okay, this isn't exactly an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive setup, but if you aren't ready to pull the trigger on one of those advanced virtual reality systems, you could get a taste of VR for $10 with this deal (half price). The promo on the JCPenney website says "ready for most phones," but that would seem to be limited to Android ones.

Michael's: Sharper Image Virtual Reality viewer

Even the arts/crafts supply retailer is getting the VR bug, offering this viewer, which it claims works with most smartphones. The gadget usually sells for $50, but comes in at $20 for Black Friday shoppers, and even less if you grab one of the 25% to 50% coupons Michael's is making available over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend.
Trov, which provides Aussies with smartphone-based on-demand insurance for individual items for any duration, has launched this week in the UK and will enter the US market next year, Reuters reported.The US-based technology developer has been doing business in Australia for the past five months in partnership with Suncorp Group Ltd. It has launched in the UK this week with the backing of AXA Insurance; and has teamed up with Munich Re for its 2017 launch, the report said.Scott Walchek, Trovs CEO, told Reuters: We literally track risk to the second so when you turn something on, it turns it on to the second and then it prices your usage to the second should you want to turn it off. Its literally the same swipe right to turn it on, swipe left to turn it off.CommerzVentures GmbH, fintech venture capital fund of CommerzBank, said in a whitepaper released in March that the multitrillion-dollar insurance industry will be revolutionised beyond recognition by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, new payment systems, drones, and blockchain.Effectively cooperating with start-ups may be the only way for incumbent insurers to fend off potential competitors such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other non-traditional players, said CommerzVentures.Walcheck said that Trovs main users are millennials who live untethered lifestyles  users who might work outside the office with their laptop, which they want protected.In the UK, Trov started offering coverage for electronics and photography equipment, and will soon add other insurance categories, such as sporting goods, the report said.Erik Brynjolfsson, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Sloan School of Management told Reuters that the industry has been slow to adopt new, potentially disruptive technologies partly because of moral hazard and adverse selection issues.He said that insurers may overcome this barrier by combining technology firms ability to gather large amounts of web-based data with the type of ratings systems used by firms like Airbnb and Uber to verify trustworthiness and reliability, Reuters reported.
While there were no big surprises, the headlines from the Autumn Statement contained some good, less good and bad news from the government, said Dominic Stuttaford, head of tax for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Brazil at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

In his first fiscal statement as Chancellor, one piece of bad news announced was an increase to the insurance premium taxes from 10% to 12% from June 2017 to meet spending commitments. Next years rise means the rate would have doubled in the past two years, Stuttaford noted.

However, the Autumn Statement was not all grim news. Hammond confirmed that the government will continue with the Business Tax Roadmap, which was announced by his predecessor, and would lower the corporate tax rate to 17% by 2020.

The less good news for many will be the confirmation that the restrictions on relief for interest and the changes to the loss rules are going ahead, Stuttaford added. These have been the subject of much comment over the last few months and it will be interesting to see the extent to which HMRC has taken account of the representation made. Many had asked for the changes to be delayed.

Hammond also announced measures to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, proposals to boost research and development (R&D), innovation and infrastructure, as well as a host of employment tax measures.

However, the budget did not contain any proposals to simplify the tax regime. Taxpayers hoping to see a focus on simplification in Hammonds inaugural speech are likely to be disappointed at the lack of meaningful action to reduce the compliance burden, said Laurence Field, head of tax at Crowe Clark Whitehill. For a budget focused on improving productivity, simplifying the tax legislation would have been a nice statement of intent to business. The UK tax code stands at more than 17,000 pages. People want simplicity and fairness and the lack of resources being devoted to this is disappointing. The announcements on business rates relief and confirmation of the already-announced corporation tax rate reduction are welcome but the government could have gone further.

Jonathan Riley, head of tax at Grant Thornton agreed with Field, describing the budget as a "missed opportunity" to make big changes. "The UK has one of the most complex tax regimes in the world. As found by Grant Thornton research, companies are willing to pay at least the same amount of tax in return for stability and certainty. But the tinkering will continue rather than the use of an opportunity for a root and branch review so we have a tax regime fit for a digital age, one that helps build a vibrant economy."

Continued commitments for businesses

My priority as Chancellor is to ensure that Britain remains the number one destination for business  creating the investment, the jobs and the prosperity to protect our long-term future. I know how much business values certainty and stability, and so I confirm today that we will stick to the business tax roadmap we set out in March, Hammond said.

The Chancellor added that the government would implement new restrictions on tax relief for corporate interest expenses, and reform the way that relief is provided for historic losses, as announced in March this year. The change will apply from April 2017 and intends to ensure that large businesses pay tax in years where they make substantial profits. The changes will also mean that "businesses cannot avoid tax by borrowing excessively in the UK to fund their overseas activities, Hammond said. The measure will affect the UKs largest businesses.

The decision to go ahead with limiting tax relief for historic losses is disappointing, particularly with the UK looking an uncertain destination for investment following the Brexit vote, said Jonathan Hornby, managing director at Taxand, Alvarez & Marsal. Businesses have long been able to claim tax relief without restriction for losses incurred in earlier years. Limiting the relief to 50% of profits for any particular year is unfair on businesses that would have expected to offset costs incurred during the investment stage of their business plans, or in the more difficult years of recession. The policy could have a materially detrimental effect on business investment and the overall economy.

Furthermore, Hornby added that the governments decision to restrict the tax relief for borrowing costs will, in many cases, lead to a significant rise in effective tax rates. The UKs attractiveness as a location for foreign investment is already suffering as a result of Brexit and given that these measures further damage our competitiveness we would have preferred to see them deferred until the dust has settled.

The government will also continue to deliver on its BEPS commitments and will include the following measures in the Finance Bill 2017:

Add specific provisions to amend the patent box rules, covering cases where R&D is undertaken collaboratively by two or more companies under a cost sharing arrangement. The provisions will ensure that such companies are neither penalised nor able to gain an advantage under these rules by organising their R&D in this way. The measure will apply to accounting periods commencing on or after April 1 2017;

Clarify the rules on capital allowances, chargeable gains and investments by co-ownership authorised contractual schemes (CoACS) in offshore funds, as well as information requirements on the operators of CoACS. The measure intends to reduce tax complexity for investors in CoACS; and

Amend the hybrid mismatch so the rules work as intended. The changes will apply from January 1 2017.

In addition, the Chancellor said the government would continue to deliver the following commitments that were previously announced:

Tax measures promised to the oil and gas sector;

Implementing the business rates reduction package;

Lowering the transitional relief cap from 45% to 43% in 2017, and from 50% to 32% the year after; and

Increasing the rural rate relief to 100%, giving small businesses in rural areas a tax break worth up to 2,900 ($3,600) per year.

Tax avoidance and evasion

Measures against tax avoidance and evasion will also continue.

On VAT avoidance, legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2017 to strengthen the tax avoidance disclosure regimes for indirect taxes. Provision will be made to make scheme promoters primarily responsible for disclosing schemes to HMRC and the scope of the regime will be extended to include all indirect taxes, a document accompanying the statement said. The measure will have effect from September 1 2017.

Furthermore, those participating in VAT fraud will face higher penalties. The Finance Bill 2017 will include new and more effective penalties that will be applied to businesses and company officers when they know or should have known that their transactions were connected with VAT fraud. Following a consultation earlier this year, the government has decided to introduce be a fixed rate penalty of 30% after the bill receives Royal Assent. Before the budget, RSM said that a new penalty regime will enable HMRC to issue a penalty at the same time that its principle decision has been made (rather than awaiting the findings of a tribunal) and will not distinguish between whether a business or individual knew, or should have known, of the connection with VAT fraud.

Separately, the inspection powers of customs and excise officers will be extended to allow them to examine goods away from approved premises such as airports and ports, and to search goods liable for forfeiture and open or unpack any container.

Autumn Statement to be abolished

Although this was Hammonds first budget speech as Chancellor, it will be his last Autumn Statement, he said.

A key announcement that many have welcomed is the abolishment of the Autumn Statement to stop the government announcing two big budget statements each year, which in turn mean numerous proposals.

No other major economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year, and neither should we, Hammond said. This change will also allow for greater parliamentary scrutiny of budget measures ahead of their implementation.

The theme that Britain is an open, stable place to do business was reinforced by the move to an Autumn Budget (to allow time for scrutiny of legislation before it becomes effective in April each year), said Rachel Taylor, associate at national law firm Bond Dickinson.

The change will mean that the 2017 spring budget in March will be the final spring Budget. From autumn 2017, the UK will have an autumn budget, announcing tax changes well in advance of the start of the tax year. From 2018 there will be a Spring Statement, responding to the forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility, but it will not be the major fiscal event that it is today.

This is a long-overdue reform to our tax-policy making process and brings the UK into line with best practice recommended by the IMF, IFS, Institute for Government and many others, Hammond said.

However, the change was undermined by Hammond saying that if unexpected changes in the economy require it, then he would announce actions at the Spring Statement, but he stressed that he would not make significant changes twice a year just for the sake of it.

The announcement that there will be only one budget in the autumn of each year could go a long way to simplifying our taxes, said Jane MacKay, corporate business partner at Crowe Clark Whitehill. The commitment to one set of changes in tax rules in any year should give taxpayers far more certainty about the rules that affect them and their decisions. It also means that there will be time for parliament to properly scrutinise each draft Finance Bill before it is enacted: this should avoid some of the hastily made, badly drafted and hastily unravelled changes weve seen over recent years.

However, Grant Thornton's Jonathan Riley was not impressed by this announcement. One thing the Chancellor may as well have done is abolish Christmas for many in the tax profession. A change to a full Budget in the Autumn will mean much poring over legislation over the festive break. Happy Christmas!

More to follow
Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese.

Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa.

Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista.

E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa  ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta.

A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito.
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A simplified employee pension (SEP) IRA is a retirement savings plan established by employers for the benefit of their employees and themselves. It can also be established by self-employed individuals. Employers may make tax-deductible contributions on behalf of eligible employees to their SEP IRAs.

SEPs are advantageous because they are easy to set up, have low administrative costs, and allow an employer to determine how much to contribute each year.

SEP IRAs also have higher annual contribution limits than standard IRAs. What's more, employer contributions vest immediately.

Fundamentally, a SEP IRA can be considered a traditional IRA with the ability to receive employer contributions.

Key Takeaways A SEP IRA is an employer-sponsored retirement plan that can be set up by sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations.

You must have earned at least $650 from an employer to qualify for a SEP.

SEP IRA annual contribution limits are significantly higher than those for traditional IRAs.

Employers, not employees, make contributions to SEP IRAs, and the decision about whether and how much to contribute each year can vary.

Employees manage the investment decisions of their SEP IRAs within the limits set up by the plans trustee.

1:06 SEP Account: Jessica Perez

How a SEP IRA Works

SEP IRAs are an attractive retirement plan option for many business owners because they're simple to set up and manage, low cost, and flexible. Plus, they have generous contribution limits and offer tax benefits.

For example, a SEP IRA does not come with many of the start-up and operating costs that most conventional employer-sponsored retirement plans have.

Many employers also set up a SEP plan so that they can contribute to their own retirement at higher levels than a traditional IRA allows. Workers can open a SEP for a separate self-employed business even if they participate in an employer's retirement plan at a second job.

SEP IRA accounts are treated like traditional IRAs for tax purposes and allow the same investment options. The same transfer and rollover rules that apply to traditional IRAs also apply to SEP IRAs.

Employers receive a tax deduction for the contributions they make to every employee's SEP IRA account. Additionally, the business is not locked into an annual contribution. Decisions about whether and how much to contribute can change each year.

Another advantage for business owners is that they're not responsible for making investment decisions. Instead, the IRA trustee determines eligible investments, and the individual employee account owners make specific investment decisions. The trustee also deposits contributions, sends annual statements, and files all required documents with the IRS.



Who Can Participate in a SEP IRA Plan?

According to IRS rules for 2021 and 2022, an individual must be at least 21 years old, have worked for the employer in at least three of the previous five years, and have received a minimum of $650 in compensation from the employer during the current year to qualify for an employee SEP IRA.

Individual employers are allowed to be less restrictive in their qualification requirements for their specific SEP IRA plans but may not be more restrictive than IRS rules.

Employers may exclude certain types of employees from participating in a SEP IRA, even if they would otherwise be eligible based on the plans rules. For instance, workers who are covered in a union agreement that bargains for retirement benefits can be excluded. So can workers who are immigrants without papers as long as they do not receive U.S. wages or other service compensation from the employer.

SEP IRAs were primarily designed to encourage businesses that would otherwise not set up employer-sponsored plans to offer retirement benefits to their employees. Sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations can establish SEPs.

SEP IRAs are tax-deferred accounts and have the same investment options as traditional IRAs. Employers can take a tax deduction for contributions to employee accounts.

SEP IRA Contributions

One big advantage of a SEP IRA is the amount that can be contributed annually. For 2021, contribution amounts can be up to the lesser of 25% of the employees compensation for the year or $58,000 ($61,000 for 2022). The limit on compensation used to calculate the contribution is $290,000 for 2021. For 2022, the limit is $305,000.

This contribution limit is significantly higher than the $6,000 limit imposed on standard IRAs (even when including the extra $1,000 catch-up contribution allowed for anyone aged 50 or over).

The deadline for contributions is the tax filing deadline (plus extensions) of the company or self-employed individual who sets up the SEP IRA.

Can Employers Contribute Different Amounts for Different Employees? No. IRS regulations for SEP-IRAs call for employers to contribute equal amounts to every eligible employee's SEP-IRA account.

Does a SEP IRA Have Any Downsides? While the SEP IRA plan has great advantages for employers, their employees, and sole proprietors with no employees, it has a few rules that could prove a disadvantage for some. For one, if employers want to make a contribution to their own accounts, they must make contributions to every eligible employee's account, as well. Assets in a plan can't be used as collateral for a loan. Further, employees aren't allowed to make contributions to their SEP IRA account. Whatever the employer contributes is what they get.
Press Release

Gender-sensitive reforms in parliament are necessary to eliminate violence against women

Geneva, 24 November 2016

Mass marches in Brazil have taken place throughout the year to protest brutality against women. Cris Faga/NurPhoto

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) follows up its landmark study on sexism against women MPs with an initiative to advance gender-sensitive reforms in parliament.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, IPU is launching an innovative approach that challenges parliaments on their functioning and working methods, and how these contribute to gender equality.

The publication, Evaluating gender sensitivity of parliaments: A self-assessment toolkit, is the first step of this initiative, and lays the groundwork to honestly assess womens equal representation in parliament, treatment of women MPs, and identify the necessary steps to transform parliaments into gender-sensitive institutions.

Most parliaments remain male dominated with women making up only 22 per cent of the worlds parliamentarians. Once in office the situation does not improve as women MPs are often underrepresented in senior positions or key committees, face a hostile work environment, and must navigate unwritten rules and practices that are preferential to men. All of this can limit their input to parliaments policy making and undermines parliaments efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy.

In addition, a recently published IPU survey revealed widespread sexism, violence and harassment of women MPs worldwide. Of the 55 women MPs surveyed, over 80 per cent reported experiencing some form of psychological violence. Some 20 per cent of respondents said they had been slapped, pushed or struck, including by other members of parliament.

How can women and men work effectively in an environment that does not respect equally their rights and safety? Gender equality needs to be a priority for everyone in the parliamentary community. We need to ensure parliaments adhere to the fundamental principle of equality between men and women, tackle the problem of gender violence and harassment in parliament, guarantee respect and equal treatment, and are part of the solution to gender inequality. In short, we need institutional reform, explains IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.

The gender-sensitive parliament assessment brings together MPs and parliamentary administration to examine openly such issues, and identify what initiatives can be taken to address them whether by strengthening Parliaments legal and policy framework for gender equality, building the infrastructure and policies to support gender-sensitive culture in Parliament, and enhancing the capacities and resources of staff to achieve gender equality.

Parliaments must do some soul-searching through a gender lens. They must acknowledge that they are not gender neutral. The gender-sensitive parliament assessment aims to support parliaments efforts to tackle violence against women MPs, and become champions of gender equality and models for the rest of society. Let me stress that the end result will be the reinforcement of parliaments contribution to eliminating violence against women, declares Martin Chungong.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.
The Libyans are looking for bulls, with a wide range of weights, ranging from 400 to 700kg liveweight, said Mr Phelan.

While they have a preference for beef breeds, they are also looking at Friesian cattle. A good market for heavier bulls is very desirable.
An agreement has been reached to form a new company for the new National Maternity Hospital.

The deal between the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) and St Vincents Hospital Group on the redevelopment of the NMH on the Elm Park campus has been welcomed by the Minister for Health, Simon Harris.
Tayto Crisps have been named the "most missed" food by Irish emigrants, according to Checkout magazine.

The magazine says 59% of the 342 returned Irish emigrants surveyed reported that they missed the crisps, while 38% said they missed the snack "a lot".
Shares in British housebuilders briefly turned positive in choppy trade after he outlined plans to support further construction through infrastructure funds and packages to help homebuyers.

Mr Hammond said he was setting up a 2.3bn (2.7bn) housing fund to deliver infrastructure for up to 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand, with a further 1.4bn to help construct 40,000 affordable homes.

The chancellor also said there would be a regional pilot scheme to give housing association tenants the right to buy their homes, as well as continued support for people looking to use mortgages to buy.

But Mr Hammond laid out a somber framework for post-Brexit Britain, slashing the forecast for economic growth in 2017 and saying the British government will need to borrow more over the next five years partly as a result of the vote to leave the EU.

Outlining his autumn statement, five months to the day after Britain opted to quit the EU, Mr Hammond said the Office for Budget Responsibility now sees UK economic growth next year of 1.4% instead of the 2.2% forecast in March.

The cumulative budget deficit will also widen, a direct result of the referendum result, the UK treasury said.

Sterling briefly rose against the dollar but the gains were rapidly wiped out soon after, senior analysts at IG, an online trader, said. Sterling rose by almost 1% against the euro at one stage, to 84.8p, which may help ease the pressure on Irish exporters selling goods and services across the Irish Sea.

The vote to leave the EU will change the course of Britains history, Mr Hammond told the House of Commons.

But its a decision that also makes more urgent than ever the need to tackle our economys long-term weaknesses, including a productivity gap, a housing shortage and a damaging imbalance in economic growth and prosperity, he said.

Our task now is to prepare our economy to be resilient as we exit the EU and match-fit for the transition that will follow.

The productivity gap is well known, but shocking nonetheless, he said. It takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five, which means, in turn, that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts.

Opposition lawmakers poured scorn on the measures. Mr Hammonds statement highlights the damage that Brexit will likely cause, said James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank in London.

We are more pessimistic on GDP growth than the government and expect borrowing to be higher, he said.
Whatever about interest levels, there are only a handful of snail farmers in Ireland at present. In that context, I was asked to make a presentation on co-ops, on behalf of the Centre for Co-operative Studies in UCC, where Im also a part-time lecturer.

Farming is both a solitary business and something we in Ireland have a long tradition of co-operating about. Its worth unpacking how a co-op could benefit farmers interested in this new market opportunity.

Heres a scenario for an initiative: Several farmers come together with a shared need. They form a co-op to do specific tasks for their collective benefit. However  and this is crucial  they remain as individual, independent farmers for most of their activities and for their core farm-based business.

The co-op is formed to serve as a vehicle for set purposes. For example, the co-op could be established to assess and develop export markets. Nothing short of 100 tonnes at a time of product will be of any interest to a French or Italian buyer, and no Irish producer could supply that level alone.

The democratic dimension to co-ops  thats one member, one vote  concerned some in conversation at the event. This is because different farms operated on different scales, and its unfair for small producers to have the same clout as a big producers. However, if the co-op is established with a specific and tight remit, there is no real worry here.

One member, one vote for generating and finalising an export sales contract for the co-op, for example, will not disproportionately impact a bigger farm. A bigger farm can still supply more product and make more money.

All successes will be proportional. So each of, say eight members will have one vote in the co-op, but they are still individual business people supplying produce based on the scale and capacity of their operation. Again provided the co-op is established with a specific, tight remit.

The co-op could also organise for a market development trip by applying for and achieving Erasmus funding for study trips to places where the market is more developed.

Similarly, a co-op could quite easily reach the magic 100,000 turnover per year level, which gives the organisation access to a different level of Bord Bia supports. This in turn could lead to more Bord Bia supported study and market development trips.

All benefit equally from these activities, and the scale of each individual farm is not affected.

Other initiatives could also be undertaken. For example, there are no set standards as of yet for snail farming.

It would be far easier now to establish these than try to do it retrospectively. Witness the confusion about free range pork as a cautionary tale in this regard. A co-op could undertake to do this work.

Similarly, a co-op could work on shared tasks such as sourcing inputs at better prices. This is a crucial area where a co-op may have an advantage over the more typical producer group.

Co-ops  like all limited companies  have limited liability. This means no one individual member would be liable for any mistakes made in advice, sourcing and so on.

What about cost? Joining ICOS  the Irish Cooperative Organisation Society  and using their Model Rules costs 400 plus Vat at 23%. There is also a cost of 100 for addition to the Registry of Friendly Societies.

Another option is setting up a company and integrating co-operative principles into the memos and articles of association (the rules) of the company.
Six-year-old Darragh Walsh wrote to the rail company after reading, in his local newspaper, about the uncertainty surrounding the Sligo-to-Dublin train route.

The letter came to the companys attention after a family member posted it on Twitter.

Irish Rail was so touched by Darraghs concern it offered his family a free return journey to anywhere in the country.

The boy had written: To Irish Rail, I seen on the Sligo Champion that you are closing the Dublin-to-Sligo train.

Please dont, because my mum wants to get to hospital to see the doctor. Please dont close the train, From Darragh Walsh, age 6.

Darraghs letter came a week after Irish Rail warned that it was underfunded and that some routes may need to be cut, unless the shortfall was addressed.

The letter to Irish Rail from Sligo boy Darragh Walsh, aged 6.

Darraghs letter was a timely reminder that behind discussions, about funding the future of rail transport and infrastructure, are very human stories and realities, a spokesperson for Irish Rail said.

Lots of people, including Darraghs mother, rely on our services for essential travel, including important hospital appointments.

It was clear, from Darraghs letter, that he is caring for, and looking after, his mother, while her hospital visits continue, so we thought that, along with his family, he would appreciate a train trip to anywhere in the country, the spokesperson said.

Weve made contact and will set up the journey for whenever they choose to travel. Were grateful Darragh took the time to write his excellent letter to us, and hope weve eased his worries about his Mams travel.

The spokesperson said Darragh is not the only person to have aired their concern for the future of the rail network.

A national review of rail services found 600m was needed to meet the funding gap and cover losses at Irish Rail over the next five years.
Mr Ross was said to be outraged and deeply uneasy about continuing in Government following the tense showdown with Mr Kenny on Tuesday.

Mr Ross and his fellow Independent Alliance members are disgusted at being bounced into having to adopt a unified Government position on a bill on Irelands neutrality in the Dail.

Last night, relations between Fine Gael and the Alliance were said to be extremely tetchy.

Several ministers placed the blame for the row on a communications breakdown, saying the issue should have been dealt with before it came to Cabinet.

The anger stemmed from Mr Kennys refusal to contemplate a free vote, even though it had been agreed that matters falling outside the Programme for Government should not require a unified position.

Several members of the alliance told the Irish Examiner that Mr Kenny, sought to lecture and patronise them at Cabinet.

Meanwhile, Mr Kenny has ordered the 2014 Guerin report into the handling of Garda whistleblower allegations, which forced the resignation of former justice minister Alan Shatter, to be removed from his departments website.

Earlier this week, Mr Shatter said he wanted certain findings made against him in the report to be removed and a corrected copy handed to the Taoiseach. He was seeking a number of court orders after winning an appeal over Mr Guerins failure to give him a right of reply. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal ruled in Mr Shatters favour following his failed High Court challenge.

The withdrawal of the report is a major embarrassment for Mr Kenny, who all but forced the resignation of one of his most loyal supporters.

Mr Kenny said the removal of the report followed discussions with Attorney General Maire Whelan.

Obviously, arising from the OHiggins report and the decision of the Appeals Court there is no reason that it should be up on the website, he added.

Last night, Mr Shatter said it had been over two and a half years since he raised concerns about the approach taken by Sean Guerin and also that he had been made a political pariah by senior figures in Fine Gael.

He said the removal should have taken place long ago and certainly no later than upon receipt by the Taoiseach of the OHiggins Report. He said Mr Kenny had so far declined to acknowledge that OHiggins conclusions contradicted Guerins and he asked him to do so now.
The Pope is expected to visit Ireland that year after a request from the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.

At a political correspondents briefing in Dublin, when asked if he would welcome him here as head of Government, Mr Kenny said he hoped so. His comments followed the announcement that he would have a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican next Monday morning.

The meeting was confirmed yesterday by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy to the Holy See.

The Popes forthcoming visit to Ireland for the Vaticans World Meeting of the Family in Dublin in August 2018 will be one of the major talking points between the two men.

Meanwhile, Mr Kenny has ordered the withdrawal of the Guerin report into the handling of Garda whistleblower allegations, which forced the resignation of former justice minister Alan Shatter in 2014.

The withdrawal of the report is a major embarrassment for Mr Kenny, who all but forced the resignation of one of his most loyal supporters at the Cabinet table.

Speaking at the press briefing, Mr Kenny said after discussions with Attorney General Maire Whelan yesterday morning, he instructed his officials to have the report pulled: I spoke to the attorney general and after consultation with her, I instructed the secretary general of my department to take down the Guerin report from the website.

Obviously, arising from the OHiggins report and the decision of the Appeals Court, there is no reason that it should be up on the website.

Earlier this week, Mr Shatter said he wanted certain critical findings made against him in the 2014 Guerin report to be removed and a corrected copy handed to the Taoiseach. The former minister for justice was seeking a number of court orders after winning an appeal over Mr Guerins failure to give him a right of reply.

Earlier this month, the three-judge Court of Appeal unanimously ruled in Alan Shatters favour following his failed High Court challenge.

Meanwhile, Mr Kenny also said yesterday that US president-elect Donald Trump expressed his wish to visit Ireland.

Mr Kenny said that Mr Trump himself expressed a wish to visit Ireland after he is sworn into office.

The Taoiseach previously outlined how the Republican president-elect had confirmed in a 10-minute phone call that he will continue the tradition of the White House St Patricks Day reception.

Speaking to reporters yesterday afternoon, Mr Kenny said of Mr Trump: He actually said himself hed hope to visit Ireland sometime, so lets see when the administration takes up office what his schedule might be.

Mr Kenny said he had no indication that this will happen at an early date.

The Taoiseach also said that the Government does intend to introduce a successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, but would not say when fresh discussions will commence. Some ministerial sources have suggested fresh talks could begin as early as February.

Shatter: I was a political pariah

Former justice minister Alan Shatter has claimed he was made a political pariah by those in leadership positions in Fine Gael in the wake of the Guerin report into the handling of Garda whistleblower allegations.

In a statement following Taoiseach Enda Kennys confirmation that the report was being removed from his departments website, Mr Shatter said he had expressed his concerns to the Taoiseach two and a half years ago.

I detailed my concern on the day of my resignation, in my letter of resignation from Government, in private correspondence and discussions with the Taoiseach and ultimately, in the Dail on the June 19, 2014. Unfortunately, my concerns were entirely ignored both by government and opposition.

He said he had taken court action to not only vindicate his good name, but also to reinforce the public interest principle that no one should be criticised or condemned upon the conclusion of an inquiry without a fair hearing.

Mr Shatter said the Court of Appeal had ensured no body or individual appointed by government to conduct an inquiry is at liberty to criticise any individual without giving them an opportunity to be heard. That is as it should be. It should have not been necessary to take on the entire political establishment to ensure this does not happen again.

The Taoiseach, the minister for justice, opposition leaders and independent deputies welcomed the Guerin report and some welcomed his harsh criticism of me and placed it on the Dail record. I am now asking that the Dail record be corrected by them.
Led by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Grafton has won the first ever global architecture prize for new public architecture from a shortlist that included Zaha Hadid Architects and David Chipperfield.

The winning building, Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC), and described as a Brutalist temple to engineering, was picked from a category that included six world-class cultural buildings from across five continents.

Grafton Architects was praised for creating an entirely new way of thinking about a public building and specifically, a university campus, that was seen as a modern day Machu Picchu by the jury.

UTEC was established to give young Peruvians access to qualifications, professional opportunities and to encourage social mobility. Speaking about the building, the RIBA jury said: UTEC is an exceptional example of civil architecture  a building designed with people at its heart.

Grafton Architects was established in 1978 by Farrell and McNamara at a time when an all-female firm was highly unusual in an era where the profession was mostly male and where tendering for projects as an all-female office would have been a hugely challenging.

UTEC university campus in Peru by Grafton Architects which won the inaugural 2016 RIBA International Prize for the worlds best new building

Previously, the pair picked up a World Building of the Year Award in 2008 for the Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan, widely acclaimed as a seminal, contemporary work.

Grafton Architects was also shortlisted for the RIBAs Stirling Prize in 2013 and won the RIBA European Award the same year for the University of Limerick Medical School. The firm was also responsible for the design of the Presidents House at the University of Limerick, which became a highly-controversial building because of what was seen as an excessive budget for the build.

The pair are currently working on the design of the new Paul Marshall Institute for the London School of Economics and the Parnell Square Cultural Quarter Project featuring a new, Dublin city library and a series of connecting social spaces which is expected to be completed by 2018.

Farrell and McNamara are both graduates of UCD, are Fellows of the RIAI, and International Honorary Fellows of the RIBA. They are elected members of Aosdana, and have taught at the School of Architecture, UCD, for which they are now adjunct professors.

They hold the Kenzo Tange chair at GSD Harvard and the Louis Kahn chair at Yale University, and have been visiting professors at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland and at Accademia dArchittettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland, where they were also appointed as full professors in 2013.
Both of them are previous winners of the prestigious award and they have been nominated this time around for their books Days Without End and This Must Be The Place.

Derry novelist Maggie OFarrell previously won the award for her book The Hand That First Held Mine in 2010.

The judges said that Ms OFarrells This Must Be The Place, about a New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, is an utterly involving read, both funny and heartbreaking  technically dazzling, but never losing its human touch.

Wicklow-based Sebastian Barry previously won the award in 2008 for The Secret Scripture, which has been made into a feature film by Oscar-winning director Jim Sheridan.

Barrys latest novel, Days Without End, is about the struggles of two young soldiers during the American Civil War.

It was described by the panel of judges as a beautiful, poetic book, heart-wrenching and hopeful in equal measure.

A total of 20 authors have been shortlisted this year for the prestigious awards, which are the only major UK book prize open solely to authors living in the UK and Ireland.

It recognises books across five categories: first novel, novel, biography, poetry, and childrens book.

Only six male authors have been shortlisted across the categories, the lowest figure since records were first compiled in 1995.

The poetry category, whose shortlisted writers include Kate Tempest. Melissa Lee-Houghton and Alice Oswald, has no male names at all.

Francesca Simon, the author of the Horrid Henry series of childrens books, is in the running for the childrens award for The Monstrous Child, her first novel for readers aged 12 and up.

Winners in the five categories, who each receive 5,000, will be announced on January 3.

The overall winner of the 2016 Costa Book of the Year will receive 30,000 and will be announced at the Costa Book Awards ceremony in central London on January 31.
Last week at Cork Circuit Criminal Court the five women and seven men on the jury delivered an 11-1 majority verdict against Trevor OSullivan.

The victim, 35-year-old Viron Kaja, is an Albanian national living in Ireland for the past 16 years and married to an Irish woman with whom he has two children. In a victim impact report he said the vicious robbery had deeply affected him.

One man beat him about the body with a long stick. The second attacker caught him around the neck from behind and gouged his left eye with his fingers.

They robbed him of 50, his phone, and a silver tobacco box given to him by his grandfather.

Mr Kaja said the attack had changed him and that he had recurring nightmares of the crime and had failed to complete a welding course he was doing at the time, leaving him unemployed in Galway where he lives with his family.

Trevor OSullivan, 38, with an address at Roches Buildings, Richmond Hill, Cork, had pleaded not guilty to a robbery charge.

Judge Gerard OBrien said yesterday: The injured party was looking for accommodation when he was viciously assaulted by Mr OSullivan acting in tandem with his brother. It was an extremely violent pre-meditated attack. They left the victim in Spring Lane bleeding profusely on the ground.

No remorse has been shown. No apology has been given to an innocent man going about his own business.

His [OSullivans] heroin use increases his risk of re-offending exponentially.

The judge said the victim impact statement makes very grim reading. He cannot stop thinking about the attack and now lives in constant fear.Vicious random attacks cause immense insecurity in the community.

Detective Garda Edmond ODonoghue testified that the injured partys face was bruised and bleeding when gardai found him.

A description was given of two tall males in jeans and T-shirts being the attackers.

I made my way back down Thomas Davis Street and I saw two males heading towards the front of The Coffee Pot on Thomas Davis Street. I stopped and spoke to the two males, Det Garda ODonoghue said.

He further testified that a garda colleague told him that the injured party had identified the two males as the culprits.

Cross-examining, defence barrister Paula McCarthy said Trevor OSullivans brother, Thomas, had admitted carrying out the robbery and said that Trevor had nothing to do with it and Trevors wife said he was in The Coffee Pot with her at the time of the robbery.

The defendants brother, Thomas OSullivan, 31, of 2 Comeragh Close, The Glen, Cork, had pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Christopher Casey, aged 39, McGarry House, St Alphonsus St, Limerick, and originally from St Marys Park, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to robbing the women on August 18, 2015, and March 12 last.

He was on bail for the first robbery when he carried out the second offence.

One victim wrestled with Casey and aggravated a hand injury.

Garda Barry Manton said Margaret Hedderman, 79, drove into the city at around 6pm last March and parked near the Redemptorist Church on South Circular Road.

As she assisted her disabled sister out of the car, the accused approached. He grabbed Ms Heddermans handbag and ran off. She resisted and received a grazed finger and was very shaken.

The bag had 50 cash and personal items, including a crucifix she had for 24 years belonging to her late mother.

Casey, staying nearby at Harbour View apartments, was detected through CCTV.

In the second incident, Sr Elzear Mullins, a nun with the St Clare order, had returned from a convent in Co Down to her native Limerick. She planned a holiday with relatives who resided in Pery Square.

Accompanied by another nun, Sr Mercedes Cohen, they arrived around midday on March 12. As Sr Elzear was getting out of the car, Sr Mercedes heard her cry out. She saw Casey had knocked her to the ground and grabbed a bag with 400 cash. The nun received cuts to her knees.

Ms Heddermans handbag with its contents was recovered but the money was missing when Sr Elzears handbag was found.

Judge John Hannan said elderly people were entitled to societys respect due to the vulnerability that comes with age and we must be constantly aware of this. It is a measure of our society how we protect the vulnerable, the judge added.
Gareth Hutch, 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 May 24.

Thomas Fox, who has an address at Rutland Court, in north inner city Dublin, is charged with unlawful possession of a Makarov 9mm handgun at Avondale House on May 23, a day before the shooting.

The charge can carry a sentence of up to 14 years. He has not yet indicated how he will plead.

He had been initially refused bail by Dublin District Court on June 1 and was remanded in custody. He faced his tenth hearing yesterday when he appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court.

Judge Blake further remanded him in custody for another two weeks.

The accused has been in custody since June 1 on the one charge before the court.

The court has also heard that the investigation involved the examination of 5,000 hours of CCTV.

He is one of two people before the courts charged in connection with the shooting.

Mary McDonnell, 43, with an address at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, has also been charged and is accused of withholding information from gardai investigating Gareth Hutchs murder.

She is on bail and is due back in court in the new year. She has not yet entered a plea.
Patrick Cahill, of Grace Park Avenue, Drumcondra, Dublin, told Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court that harassment of his late wife by the bank had led to her suicide.

Barrister Eithne Corry, counsel for the bank, told the court that bank officials, in sworn affidavits, had refuted Mr Cahills claims and allegations. Ms Corry, who appeared with Jonathan Finan, of Kane Tuohy Solicitors, said the bank had facilitated Mr Cahill with a 750,000 offer of a loan in 2006, and had given him a 25-year mortgage for that amount.

She told Judge Linnane that arrears in repayments had been consistent between October 2009 and June 2011. The last repayment had been in July 2013. Ms Corry said Mr Cahill, after correspondence, had been declared non co-operative by the bank in 2014, and a demand for repayment of the full debt had been made in June 2015.

Mr Cahill had raised three issues which the bank did not accept:

It had no legal standing;

There were questionable matters regarding the mortgage

There were issues regarding the deponents who had sworn the affidavits on behalf of the bank.

Ms Corry said Mr Cahill had told the bank he had no problem making mortgage repayments to any entity that could show it had legal status in the matter. She said he had been paying off the mortgage for a considerable time before stopping.

She said he had also made allegations of fraud and misrepresentation against the bank, which officials who had dealt with mortgage details had described as scandalous. Counsel told the court that total arrears, as of November 22, stood at 159,500 and the balance due on the mortgage now stood at 780,300.

Judge Linnane said there had been no effort by Mr Cahill to engage with the bank and he had not disputed that he had made no payments since July, 2013. The existence of High Court proceedings, which Mr Cahill has brought against the bank, including loss of consortium, in my view are not a bar to the bank exercising its rights under the mortgage, which Mr Cahill executed, said Judge Linnane.

She said there had been various claims made in Mr Cahills affidavits, which had been opened to the court and none of which had been substantiated. The court was satisfied the banks papers were in order and accepted that none of the points in Mr Cahills affidavits established any defence to the banks claim for possession.
Opposition parties raised the issue of suicides in the city and county after the Irish Examiner highlighted the crisis, with calls from mental health campaigners for better support services.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the suicide crisis sweeping through Cork was twice the national rate.

No issue is capturing the mood or the attention of our people, and especially our young people, more than mental health and suicide. It is causing enormous grief, devastation, fear, anxiety and worry, he told the Dail.

A national dialogue was needed, he said, and additional resources could be found for community interventions and counselling.

The concern was raised after mental health campaigner Conor Cusack called for a 24/7 emotional wellbeing centre in response to the crisis.

In a moving appeal, Mr Cusack told of how he helped cut a friends son down from a tree recently  one of 16 people to die by suspected suicide in the Cork region in the last two weeks.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the tragic phenomenon of suicide had affected many nationwide. The mental health budget will be 851m next year. The HSE was working with schools affected in Cork, while a new taskforce would intervene.

Mental Health Minister Helen McEntee is also to be sent to Cork to ensure enough resources are there.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams criticised the Government response and said mental health and suicide needed to be dealt with as a national emergency.

Mr Kenny suggested young people reach out to friends online.

People should understand that if they know somebody with mental health difficulties through their digital connections  Facebook or the other ways in which young people connect with each other now  help and assistance is there that was never there before.
An alert was sent out by a messaging app to members in Leinster House appealing for them to attend the fifth- floor meeting. We need bodies in the PP room. 15 doctors but no TDs or senators! the message read.

Guests at the Fine Gael meeting included president Frank Murray and Dr Maeve Skelly from the Royal College of Physicians; St Vincents Hospital consultant Aiden McCormick; College of Psychiatrists consultant John Hillery; and Dr Marie Laffoy, a health medicine specialist. A list named nine doctors and experts there.

Party sources confirmed the room was near empty when the delegation and minister arrived before 5pm. A WhatsApp message was sent asking members to turn up. But it was felt by some that the health expert group presentation backfired: They were all brought in to tell us how bold we are and nobody turned up, quipped one party source.

Ms Corcoran Kennedy is trying to introduce plans to restrict alcohol sales and stop excessive drinking. But Fine Gael is facing internal war over a section of the Public Health Alcohol Bill, proposing to segregate drink sales in shops.

Small retailers are lobbying to change section 20 or to get exceptions, claiming it will cost jobs.

Fine Gael parliamentary party chairman Martin Heydon said Prof Murray had approached him and asked to speak to the party. Members though were not pleased.

There was a lot of disquiet, but they [the doctors] were very determined. It felt like being talked down to, another source said.

Kerry TD Brendan Griffin asked the doctors, when drink was compared to cigarettes, whether Mars bars, Maltesers or Tayto Crisps would be hidden away next.

Ms Corcoran Kennedy says she wants to find a compromise.
Cork County Councils senior transportation engineer Peter ODonoghue warned Douglas, with a projected local traffic increase of 8% by 2033, requires necessary works.

He said an objective of the Douglas LUTS (Land Use Transportation Study) was to have the existing roundabout at the junction of the South Douglas Road and the N40 off-ramp at West Douglas upgraded to a signalised junction.

Mr ODonoghue told county councillors the roundabout was effective but replacing it with traffic lights would improve traffic flow.

He said council engineers had carried out traffic flow modelling and were confident the installation of the lights would not lead to a back-up on the N40 access ramp.

The planned scheme, he said, would also provide for faster bus journey times along the South Douglas Road and aid parents bringing their children to and from local schools at peak times.

An 8% increase in traffic is likely in Douglas by 2033. It would have a significant impact on the area if this work isnt done  otherwise there would be extensive delays, Mr ODonoghue said.

The county council is to seek permission to undertake the work as part of the area where affected by any likely works was within the city council jurisdiction.

Mr ODonoghue said he was confident funding for the project will be provided by the National Transport Authority.

He said the plan also included a revised layout of the road into Willow Park and Gaelscoil Na Doughlaise along with the extension of footpaths and traffic islands in the general area.
Mr Ross and his fellow Independent Alliance members are disgusted at being bounced into having to adopt a unified Government position on a bill on Irelands neutrality in the Dail.

Last night, relations between Fine Gael and the Alliance were said to be extremely tetchy.

Several ministers placed the blame for the row on a communications breakdown, saying the issue should have been dealt with before it came to Cabinet.

However, the Irish Examiner has confirmed significant details of the 90-minute row which required an intervention from Finance Minister Michael Noonan to resolve it.

The Alliance have accused Mr Kenny of acting in bad faith by refusing to contemplate a free vote, even though it had been agreed that matters falling outside the Programme for Government should not require a unified position.

Mr Ross warned his colleagues that his position in the Government cannot be guaranteed and were Fine Gael to try to force their hand again he would not think twice about withdrawing.

It is about the principle of the free vote, more so than the issue itself. This is a big deal for us, said a minister.

Alliance junior minister John Halligan yesterday struck a defiant tone, backing Mr Ross.

We have differences of opinion with the Government consistently but that doesnt mean we are going to fight like mad to bring down the Government, we are entitled to have differences of opinion as Independents, he said.

Asked about the concerns raised by Shane Ross at Cabinet this week he said: He kicked up a fuss and rightly so, based on the fact that we did not consider it to be part of the Programme for Government. Shane Ross, Finian McGrath and myself are very strong on neutrality. We did feel that that should have been a free vote.

Several members of the Alliance, speaking yesterday to the Irish Examiner, spelled out their deep unhappiness with Mr Kenny, who sought to lecture and patronise them around the Cabinet table.

It was a blatant move to corral us. But it will not happen again, mark my word. We will not be rolled over again, one minister said. It has been established that there was no dressing down of Mr Ross by Mr Kenny as reported.

At least three times during the Cabinet meeting, Super Junior Minister Finian McGrath told his Fine Gael counterparts that you guys dont get us at all.

The Alliance was grateful for Mr Noonans intervention as it was not keen to collapse the Government on this issue, but it is clear it came close to it. It was also surprised given Mr Kenny and Mr Ross had had a very constructive conversation during which they agreed a position on the row relating to the appointment of judges.

Mr Kenny said reports of the row were greatly exaggerated but said a free vote on such a matter of fundamental policy could not be tolerated.

I have made the point on many occasions that neutrality is a matter of fundamental government policy, he said.
In an interview with the latest edition of Hot Press magazine, out today, the Kildare North TD also said, while she was agnostic, she believes there may some sort of alien life in other parts of the solar system.

The mother-of-two talks about marrying at a young age and has strong views about the need to increase access to housing for people and for measures to help the homeless.

Asked, hypothetically, if she could solve this crisis on the one condition that shed have to give up sex, Ms Murphy replied: Id almost give up anything to sort the housing crisis because I see people here every day of the week.

If there was something you could actually personally sacrifice to resolve that problem, there would be very little that you wouldnt do, to sort that housing and homeless crisis. Its the tragedy of our time... But I would do way beyond that. Theres lots Id give up to sort that crisis out.

She also admitted to previously inhaling marijuana.

I have, yeah. I even inhaled it, adding she enjoyed it. She favours making the substance legal for medical purposes: Certainly, looking at the evidence around it  and what has worked elsewhere  I think I would say decriminalising rather than legalising it.

She also supports injection centres for drug users. There are people who are addicted to very significant drugs and essentially the aim would be to try to encourage people, and give them support, to get off those drugs. But you have to manage it.

For example, in the city of Dublin at the moment, theres a very serious problem with people injecting in public spaces.
Jacinta OConnor, aged 26, of Steelroe, Killorglin, Co Kerry, told gardai she was withdrawing her complaint, and she did not want any more investigation.

At Tralee Circuit Criminal Court, Ms OConnor has denied a charge of knowingly making a false report and for wasting garda time.

Around 4am on September 22, 2014, Ms OConnor told gardai she was raped by a foreign national.

However on October 10, 2014, midway through viewing images harvested from CCTV, Ms OConnors demeanour changed, Garda Breda ODonoghue said.

She said she knew the man but did not want to say who he was. She said she did have sex; it was with consent and it was not with the man in the green hood, Garda ODonoghue said.

Ms OConnor told of having consensual sex with a man she knew in an underground car park in Scotts Hotel at the rear of the Fair Hill/Courthouse car park.

When I had sex with him it was a bit rougher than I expected. So I was a bit upset and I found myself alone and no way home. And I went to the Garda station. I am really sorry for what I did and I dont want the gardai to do any more investigating, she said in the statement read by Garda ODonoghue.

Michael Ahern, aged 29, of Lake Road, Cromane, was called by the prosecution yesterday. He identified himself on CCTV stills with Ms OConnor. He had previously had a sexual relationship with Ms OConnor, he told Tom Rice, prosecuting. On the night in question, they went to the underground car park in Scotts and had sex. It was a mutual decision.

Cross-examined by Elizabeth Murphy, defending, Mr Ahern said the sex was not rough. It was ordinary sex. A bit kinky, but no way violent, Mr Ahern said.

Medical evidence by a nurse from the sexual assault treatment unit at the South Infirmary in Cork found bleeding on the left side of Ms OConnors vagina and an abrasion in the genital area. There was some bruising on her back, and thigh and redness in places.

The case continues.
The scheme, to be promoted by Clarendon Properties and BAM and with a design team now appointed (see below), will be worth well in excess of 100m; it will include 200 apartments, 4,000 sq meters of offices, plus an hotel on six acres, by the new, city-end entrance being created at Horgans Quay/Kent Railway Station.

The mix of apartments and offices may appeal, as FDI companies locating to Irish cities, such as Cork, Galway and Dublin, have all cited concerns over existing shortages of suitable accommodation for employees.

Such shortages have been highlighted over the past year in Cork City by a number of employers, and by the IDA. With Ireland being touted as a possible location for multinationals seeking a base in the EU, especially post-Brexit, the shortage is likely to be exacerbated.

Already, companies bringing new workers and jobs to Ireland are competing with other stakeholders in an acute housing shortage, and against a background of escalating rents.

This shortage of affordable quality accommodation already prompted one leading Irish developer, John Cleary, of John Cleary Developments (JCD) , to seek to alter zoning on a site he controls at Mahon, to include an apartment element, along with new, high-grade Gold LEED office scheme at an 80m development site, called City Gate Plaza.

However, Cork City councillors last week signalled their reluctance to approve necessary zoning changes, citing traffic congestion at Mahon, where full planning already exists for 280,000 sq ft of grade A offices. JCD had proposed a reduction in office quantum at City Gate Plaza to accommodate 220 apartments for staff working in the area.

Right in the heart of Cork City, meanwhile, Horgans Quay has long been identified as a truly prime development site, for a range of uses: some 21 years ago, developer Owen OCallaghan proposed a science-and-technology employment park there on three, quay-fronting acres, and later Mahon Park Homes proposed a 700m boom-time development on a far larger site, to include 1,200 apartments, and a conference centre.

During the summer, CIE agreed development terms, via a tender process by agents, Lisney, for the 6.1 acres, with Clarendon Properties and BAM, on a 300-year lease, in return for an annual rental income share.

Now, a broad-based design team has been appointed by Clarendon Properties and BAM, who have a 50:50 share of the development.

According to well-informed sources, planning permission is likely to be sought in the first half of 2017 for the mixed-use zoned development, which will be split into office, residential, and leisure uses. Cork firm, Wilson Architecture, will handle the hotel design, OMahony Pike, with offices in Cork, Dublin, and London, will do the master planning and office component, and Reddy Architects will do the apartment/residential sections.

Also planned by other developers, within the riverside vicinity, are offices at Andersons Quay and Albert Quay (by OCallaghan Properties), just east of JCDs One Albert Quay, and redevelopment of the Port of Cork site, currently for sale for 7m.

However, few, if any sites have been earmarked for residential/apartment development.

Sources close to BAM/Clarendon said: As Horgans Quay is a pivotal site in unlocking the future development of the quays area of Cork, a mixed-use development approach has been adopted.

In order to leverage and attract multinationals and FDIs to consider Cork as a location, the provision of high-quality residential accommodation is key.

For the Horgans Quay development, in excess of 200 apartments (build-to-rent) are planned, which it is envisaged will provide accommodation to those occupying, or taking up, office space, and the site has the potential to accommodate in excess of 4,000 sq m of offices.

And, he added, the Horgans Quay development will aim to link the re-invigorated McCurtain Street with Kent station, as well as making the rail station more accessible from the river.

Kent rail station currently handles 2m passengers a year; close by is the citys bus station, making the setting an important infrastructural hub.

The site at Horgans Quay/Railway Street includes protected structures and may accommodate building heights of four to six storeys, while seven storeys may be allowed, fronting the quays.

Joint developer, BAM has delivered much of Cork Citys and suburban Mahons latest office schemes, including One Albert Quay and City Gate, for JCD, and is also completing the former Capitol cinema site for retail and offices, with keen FDI office uptake indicated already prior to completion.

Clarendon Properties operates in Ireland, the UK, and across Europe and in the US. In Cork, it controls the Wilton Shopping Centre, the Savoy (where it has embarked on a discreet, site reassembly), Queens Old Castle, and Courthouse Chambers, while related Clarendon companies have acquired Cork residential sites, including one from Eir, in Ballintemple, also via Lisney.
What just happened?

The Central Bank relaxed rules controlling mortgages for first-time homes.

The new rules replace a previous system announced in February 2015, which was intended to prevent people from borrowing more than they could afford.

Previously, a first-time buyer had to save 10% of the price of a home up to 220,000 and 20% of any additional cost above this rate.

The February 2015 rules also said someone buying a second home had to save 20% of the entire price, and linked all of the above to a stipulation that a mortgage should not exceed 3.5 times a persons income except in rare circumstances.

Under yesterdays changes, a first-time buyer must now save just 10% of the cost of a home. These changes will come into effect from January 1, 2017.

Why did they do that?

It depends on who you ask. Officially, Central Bank governor Philip Lane said the changes have been made because the market is not the same now as it was in February 2015.

Mr Lane said the changes have taken place as house prices are continuing to rise, meaning it is difficult to meet the February 2015 deposit rules, and because household incomes are generally rising. He also stressed the old rules have simply been tweaked, not discarded.

A large part of this explanation is true. However, there is ongoing suspicion that Government pressure has at least partially led to the high-profile move.

Due to the linked rental and house prices crises, there has been increasing clamour for a rules relaxation from politicians.

In addition, the Governments Budget 2017 help to buy scheme placed further pressure on the Central Bank to act.

Im renting. Is it easier now for me to buy a home?

Yes, in theory. A person or couple trying to save enough money for a deposit now has to save less than under the previous system.

While it is not an exact science, a person or couple seeking to buy a 250,000 home now needs to save 12,500 for a deposit under the new rules and the help to buy scheme, compared to the 28,000 figure.

Similarly, for a 400,000 home, the deposit will fall from 58,000 to 20,000.

However, it is important to note that even if someone can afford this new deposit rate, the existing 3.5 times a salary limitation still exists.

I already own a home and may move and decide to sell it. Does this benefit me?

No. The new rules are focused primarily on first-time buyers, meaning little if any changes for those already on the property ladder.

Mr Lane addressed this issue a number of times yesterday, saying the evidence provided to the independent State financial group is that second home buyers are a riskier mortgage applicant than first-time buyers.

This means a decision was taken to retain the February 2015 rules for people who already own a home.

Will this increase house prices further?

This is the potential problem. Mr Lane yesterday attempted to downplay the potential risk involved.

However, speaking last night Fianna Fail finance spokesperson Michael McGrath and others said while the new rules are welcome, they have concerns the unintended consequence could be a fresh surge in house prices.

This is primarily because if more first-time buyers have access to larger mortgages from banks, logic suggests house sellers may simply try to take advantage of the situation by increasing the cost of homes as more money is now available.
Burma US Online University Offers 50 Scholarships to Burmese Refugees

Shai Reshef, President of the University of the People, observes a Burmese student in Mae Sot on Wednesday. / University of the People

The online California-based University of the People announced on Wednesday that it plans to provide 50 scholarships to Burmese applicants including refugees who live on the Thai-Burma border.

The offer was announced by Shai Reshef, president of University of the People, the worlds first non-profit, tuition-free, accredited American online university, at Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand. More than 100 people, including migrant workers and refugees, attended the event.

The scholarship is especially aimed at students born in Burma, to facilitate tuition-free study toward American accredited degrees at the universitys virtual campus, according to a statement released by the school.

Dedicated to opening up access to higher education globally, the University of the People offers associates and bachelors degree programs in business administration, computer science and health science, in addition to an MBA.

Shai Reshef told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Im very happy to see the level of interest in education. They really want to study higher education. There seems to be a big demand for Myanmar people to study. They think the University of the People, offering an online degree, is a great opportunity because it is tuition-free.

By earning such a degree, Reshef expects that students will be better able to contribute to their families, societies and their countries.

I think if they get degree with us, they will have a world-class education. They can start their own business or they can work at international companies. So, there is no doubt that they will have better future. And they will find better jobs for themselves, said Reshef.

Uniquely equipped, the University of the People accepts applicants to study despite transitory circumstances, like those experienced by many along the Thai-Burma border. The universitys vision includes offering opportunities for higher education to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people. It has enrolled 1,000 refugee students from 180 countries so far.

The hardships these people have experienced cannot be reversed, however, their futures can be transformed, said Reshef, of the Burmese people he met.

He added that by holding an accredited American degree, the impact would extend to the social development of the graduates host countries as well.

We welcome Burmese people to apply [for the scholarships]. They can visit our website and check what we offerit is a great thing for them, said Reshef.

Founded in 2009, the University of the People has also partnered with prestigious educational institutions such as Yale University for research and New York University and University of California-Berkeley regarding student selection. It also works with global corporations such as Hewlett-Packard for internships and Microsoft for scholarships.

Sarah Vanunu, director of public relations of the University told The Irrawaddy that there was a growing interest from among Burmese applicants.

We have been receiving a lot of interest from Myanmar refugees. Following our work with refugees globally, we are able to announce a new, unique scholarship dedicated to Myanmar refugees in Thailand, said Vanunu.
Guest Column The Worrying Trend of Article 66(d)

Eleven Media Group chief editor U Wai Phyo charged under Article 66(d) arrives at Rangoons Tamwe Township Police Station on Nov. 11. / J Paing / The Irrawaddy

I have learned that problems need to be solved so as not to make them worse.

We have noticed a worrying trend of individuals being detained under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law for insulting state leaders. In addition, we have found that it is often third parties, not the victims themselves, who are filing charges under this law.

The Telecommunication Law was enacted under the previous Thein Sein government. It has been, and still is, used to stifle political dissent and should be bought before Parliament to discuss its repeal or amendment under the new National League for Democracy government.

The Telecommunications Law is made up of 19 chapters and 89 sectionschapter 18 details offenses and penalties. While there are many issues connected to the Telecommunications Law, this discussion is focused on Article 66(d) due to its increasing popularity over the last year.

In Chapter I of the Telecommunications Law, telecommunications is defined as: The transmission or reception of information in its original or modified form by wire, fiber optic cable or any conducting cable or by means of radio waves, light rays, or other forms of electromagnetic transmissions.

Telecommunications Network, meanwhile is defined as: a system that utilizes any telecommunication technology to connect a network of communication facilities, telecommunication equipment, computers, any peripherals used in conjunction with any or more of the above, through a compatible system and equipment by means of any form of wired or wireless communication technology.

Article 66(d) states that whoever uses a telecommunication network to extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb inappropriately influence or intimidate, on conviction can be punished with imprisonment for a term extending to a maximum of three years, and shall be liable to fine or both.

Those who use telecommunication toolsemails, messaging services and social mediain Burma must carefully review the news they share before doing so. Posts on social media can be recorded and used as evidence to open a legal case against someone.

If individuals want to criticize the government or military leaders, it should be done so without using insults, dirty language, and attacks on their personal lives. Without taking these precautions, individuals are at risk of prosecution.

Article 66(d) has quickly, and unexpectedly, become a tool to stifle people speaking out.

The government should not be acting against such minor cases such as defamatory social media posts. If the government would like to prevent such statements, they should educate and encourage the population to constructively criticize rather than insult individual members of the government on a personal level.

The provisions in Article 66(d) are already enacted in other criminal legislation, for example, Article 500 of the Penal Code outlines defamation. The differences lie in the punishment.

The Telecommunications Law states a punishment of three years or to a fine or to both whereas the Penal Code states two years or with fine or both. On conviction, the penalties are more severe under the Telecommunications Law.

Article 66(d) is an unnecessary provision in the Telecommunications Law. Its punishments are severe in relation to the crime, and there are other laws within Burmese domestic legislation that cover the same issues.

Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law should be removedit is better for the countrys future if we try to solve problems by discussing them patiently while fostering the culture of democracy and compromise from all sides.

Arrests should only be made if there is no other choice as there are many disadvantages behind an arrestboth the individual and the state will lose financially. After an arrest, it is the responsibility of the state to ensure the basic needs and healthcare of the detained individual.

Burmas government is unable to fund its prisons. If sufficient food, medical treatment and general conditions are not adequate, the dignity and health of prisoners will decline. It is possible a prisoners life will be at risk from the conditions they are subjected to.

Burmas prisons are overcrowded. This is in part due to an imbalance between crimes and punishments. Many prisoners are serving harsh sentences for minor crimessuch as those incarcerated under Article 66(d). Prison reform policy meant to address conditions in prisons is underfunded.

One of the major issues is that the Burmese populations knowledge of the law is weak. Burma needs to improve awareness of the law. It cannot be assumed that 51 million people have knowledge of the legal system if they only have access to information the government states in the media.

While exercising the right to freedom of expression, everyone needs to take personal responsibility not to insult others.

Bo Kyi is joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Protection
Thursday, November 24th, 2016 (12:05 pm) - Score 1,578

Telecoms operator JT, which serves the English Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey, has today hit back at its rivals by using the latest data from Ooklas Speedtest.net service to try and prove that they offer the fastest 4G mobile and fixed line broadband service on both.

The announcement comes shortly after the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned two press and a poster advert for JT on Guernsey because they were said to have misleadingly claimed that the provider offered the fastest [4G] network (here), although the ASA found a number of flaws in the comparison.

Understandingly JT wants to rectify that by highlighting Ooklas more extensive database (the tests were conducted during H1 2016), although its not clear how many tests were performed. In the words of JT, Ooklas results are widely trusted by regulators, trade groups and analysts and are used by virtually every major mobile carrier and internet service provider in the world.

Jersey  Fastest Fixed Line ISP

ISP Download Upload 1. JT 94.92 / 80.81 Mbps 2. Sure 90.33 / 19.29 Mbps 3. Homenet 44.81 / 17.94 Mbps 4. Airtel-Vodafone 21.11 / 12.98 Mbps

Jersey  Fastest Mobile Network Operator Download Upload 1. JT 41.93 / 18.91 Mbps 2. Sure 36.18 / 15.45 Mbps 3. Jersey Airtel Ltd 11.16 / 5.25 Mbps

Guernsey  Fastest Fixed Line ISP ISP Download Upload 1. JT 52.31 / 18.93 Mbps 2. Sure 33.48 / 4.86 Mbps Guernsey  Fastest Mobile Network Operator Download Upload 1. JT 38.93 / 17.83 Mbps 2. Sure 35.52 / 14.16 Mbps 3. Jersey Airtel Ltd 13.77 / 7.30 Mbps

We should point out that Ookla has a tendency to weight their results toward the positive side and strip out a greater proportion of slower tests, although they do perform this equally for all operators.

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Services at JT, said: In many ways, this information by Ookla confirms what we already know: that JT has, beyond question, the fastest 4G and broadband networks in the Channel Islands. Recently, competitors have tried to cast doubt on that fact by complaining about our advertising but Ooklas results simply endorse what customers have been telling us for a long time. JT has invested tens of millions of pounds in our 4G and fibre networks across our islands so it is pleasing to receive a third-party endorsement confirming our investment is having a positive impact. That said, we can never rest on our laurels and as the islands only locally owned provider JT will continue to invest to ensure that Channel Island residents and businesses have resilient, reliable and speedy communications now and for the future.

At present JT is still busy rolling out their new fibre optic networks across the island and Jersey is currently set to become a fibre island by the end of 2018, completely replacing all copper lines with fibre.
Thursday, November 24th, 2016 (4:00 pm) - Score 7,565

Liberty Global, which is parent to UK cable operator Virgin Media, has today launched a new initiative called GIGAWorld that will help to promote their plans for rolling out Gigabit capable broadband (1000Mbps+) to the 12 European countries in which it operates (most could be done by the end of 2018).

At present the vast majority of Virgin Medias network in the United Kingdom, as well as across much of Liberty Globals EU base, is deployed using their Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) network, which uses a mix of fibre optic cables and copper coax lines to reach inside homes using EuroDOCSIS 3 technology.

On top of that theyre working to reach an extra 2 million UK premises by using Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) broadband technology, which uses pure fibre optic lines and is made compatible with their existing DOCSIS network by using Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG).

The top residential speed of both FTTP and HFC solutions is currently 300Mbps in the UK, although the limited (availability) FTTP side of their network is already able to deliver Gigabit-class speeds when required and they could squeeze a fair bit more out of EuroDOCSIS 3 if needed.

Mike Fries, Liberty Globals CEO, said: Our scale, commitment and ambitious plans to invest in the infrastructure of our age make us perfect partners to deliver the EUs vision of a Gigabit Society. Today our fibre-rich networks can connect 50 million GIGAReady homes and we are currently expanding to millions more over the next few years, helping accelerate the digital revolution in Europe.

As part of Libertys GIGAWorld vision the operator has today published a new report from consultancy firm Communications Chambers (they also recently produced this separate FTTP report for BT), which examines the fastest and most cost-effective ways of reaching the European Commissions goals for access to ultrafast broadband by 2025 (i.e. 100Mbps+ for all homes and 1Gbps+ for all business / schools).

The report agrees with the European Commission (EC) that a range very high capacity (VHC) technologies  such as G.fast close to the end-user, FTTP/H/B and HFC DOCSIS  are all capable of meeting the 2025 targets. The report adds that in the case of VHC networks based on DOCSIS, Gigabit speeds could be achieved as early as the end of 2017.

Interestingly the report also warns that an over-prescriptive policy of focussing solely on FTTP risks jeopardising investment and it thus supports a technology-neutral approach. It says: The wrong intervention could be wasteful, or even damaging. For example, support for an expensive and slow-to-deploy technology could drive up prices and paralyse investment in other technologies which might have delivered improved performance more quickly.

In keeping with that the report criticises South Korea and Japans substantial government interventions to support FTTP, which are often hailed as a benchmark for everybody else. Both countries have performed relatively poorly in their use of socially or economically-valuable internet applications, such as e-government and e-health, despite their superior (and expensive) infrastructure, said the report.

Naturally part of the context behind this criticism is to highlight the unique ability of existing HFC Cable networks to deploy Gigabit ready broadband (GIGAReady) to millions of premises and in double quick time.

Robert Kenny, co-Author of the Report, said: Thanks to investment already under way by cable operators, Gigabit broadband will be available to roughly half the premises in Europe by 2018  far ahead of the Commissions target of 2025. This will allow the Commission (and member states) to focus elsewhere, where interventions are necessary.

Going forwards we expect Virgin Medias HFC network will soon be upgraded to support the next generation of DOCSIS 3.1 technology, which is capable of Gigabit speeds. This is arguably a lot more important than their FTTP roll-out due to its existing coverage (overall Virgins network should cover around 60-65% of the UK by 2019).

The first hardware is already set for DOCSIS 3.1 (here) and Virgin has been quietly building support into their network. Last year Liberty suggested that the DOCSIS 3.1 roll-out could begin towards the end of 2016, although weve heard very little since then.

Meanwhile todays report claims to outline Liberty Globals plan for bringing Gigabit Internet speeds to the 12 European countries in which it operates and, as the information above suggests, we could see Gigabit broadband (e.g. DOCSIS 3.1) being rolled out across their networks by as soon as the end of 2017 or 2018.

By comparison Openreachs (BT) G.fast and FTTP might not hit that sort of coverage level until 2025 and G.fast isnt even aiming for Gigabit speeds in the UK (500Mbps is the more distant and optimistic expectation, but until then the best will be up to 300Mbps).

We have asked for an update on Virgin Medias local plan and are awaiting a reply, but in the meantime heres a swanky promotional video that features some of Libertys engineering teams doing their thing..

UPDATE 7:31pm

The official line from Virgin Media is that We are always focussed on giving our customers the fastest speeds. Well keep you updated with further developments. We understand that Virgin is still mulling over the exact time-scale for their DOCSIS 3.1 deployment, but its widely expected to fall within Libertys above target by the end of 2018.

Were hoping to hear something more concrete towards the latter half of next year. Once it gets going then 3.1 wont take long to roll-out.
8 Tips for Ensuring Employee Security Compliance

At this time of the year, I see a lot of warnings heading out to consumers about how to protect their information and their privacy. I get it. This is prime time for cybercriminals looking to scam potential victims who are often rushed and looking for the best deal. They arent necessarily thinking about security.

Also during this time of the year, many businesses, especially small businesses, are thinking of their bottom line. Those in retail know that this time of the year can make or break their business, for example, while other industries are focused on meeting their annual goals. They, too, may not have security at the top of their mind. That, however, could spell disaster.

According to a study by IBMs Resilient and the Ponemon Institute, two-thirds of businesses that suffer a data breach or any cyberattack will not recover. One reason is that three-quarters of these small businesses dont have a cybersecurity incident response plan in place, and even when they do, it has never been reviewed or updated since implemented. We know that cybercriminals are constantly evolving with the times, making it clear that an incident response plan put in place several years ago may be ineffective against todays more popular attack styles. Think of it this way: Is your business prepared to address a cyberattack on one of your IoT systems? Does your response plan include IoT?

TechRepublic reported the type of security incidents that businesses are experiencing, as well:

The study also looked at what type of security incidents the respondents were experiencing. Some 53% reported that they had dealt with at least one data breach in the past two years. Over that same period, 74% said their organization had experienced threats as a result of human error.

Even though your employees might be playing a role in these security incidents, a study from Bitdefender found that they are more worried about data breaches than you may realize:

Some 73 percent of IT decision makers fear the financial compensation the company might have to pay in the event of a security breach, while 66 percent even fear about losing their job.

Two-thirds worry about job loss; two-thirds dont believe their company can recover from a security incident. I dont think it is a coincidence that those numbers came out equally. It notes just how high the concern is that businesses, especially small businesses, arent prepared for some sort of cybersecurity incident.

So how do SMBs adjust for this? In a prepared statement, Bogdan Botezatu, senior e-threat specialist with Bitdefender, suggested:

Companies must establish strong policies and protocols and restrict the ways employees use equipment and infrastructure or privileges inside the company network. The IT department must create policies for proper usage of the equipment, and ensure they are implemented.

I think the reason so many small businesses dont have a response plan is because that attitude that a company is too small to be the victim of a cyberattack will not go away. Nationwides second annual Small Business Indicator survey, for example, found that 45 percent of the companies that dont have a response plan in place dont think theyll be affected by a cyberattack. As Mark Berven, president of Nationwide Property & Casualty, said in a formal release:

Cyber criminals are getting more sophisticated and realizing that small businesses are easy targets.

How ready is your business to face the heightened cybersecurity concerns during your busiest season or at any time of the year?

Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Toms Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba
During its month-long space mission, Chinese scientists have opened up the Shenzhou-11 re-entry module in front of a crowd of media representatives. It was found that astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong carried out a series of experiments which marked China's longest-ever manned space mission. At about 1:59 pm Friday Beijing Time, reentry module of Shenzhou-11 was found to have landed safely at the designated site in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The Chinese Space Program

According to reports released by Global Research, it was found that the Chinese space heroes have returned after their 30-plus-day mission has been fully completed. The Shenzhou-11 space capsule landed safely in Inner Mongolia having the two astronauts on board. As the Chinese citizens consider it, this historic event is so momentous that it has been reported to have lifted the spirit of every Chinese inhabitants.

The Chinese exploration has reportedly included certain missions like observing silkworms in making cocoons in a zero gravity environment as well as using some of the most high technological quantum devices specifically designed for the harsh conditions of outer space. Full details of the experiments conducted and their results were said to be revealed at a later date.

Furthermore, CCTV has also revealed that China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, has attended the ceremony. It was found that Liwei has spent 21 hours in orbit, which has put China on the record of being the third country after the United States and Russia to send a person into space.

On the other hand, in a span of 24 years, China has allegedly mastered three of the most important technologies in manned-mission space, namely the earth-to-orbit transportation system, extravehicular activity (EVA) and space rendezvous and docking, which is known to have given the signals that it will not be long before China realizes its goal of operating a permanent space station as well as conducting space application on a large scale.

Ultimately, Chinese scientists has highly emphasized that the space program still needs a lot of efforts in deep space exploration and application of space technologies.
Sexist men are those male people who see themselves as playboys or having higher power over women. They are generally seen as arrogant and patriotic  but there could be more at play than just a bad attitude. A new study found that sexist males are more likely to suffer from mental health problems. The research conducted by the American Psychological Association and published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology on Monday.

Sexist Men Are More Likely To Suffer From Psychological Problems

According to RT TV Network, the researchers who conducted study are from the American Psychological Association and published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology. It involved a meta-analysis of 78 research samples involving 19,453 men over the course of 11 years. Those samples focused on the relationship between mental health and conformity to 11 norms generally considered to reflect society's view of traditional masculinity.

"It's not rocket science. Its something thats been demonstrated over 20 years of research," said Y. Joel Wong, an associate professor of Counseling/Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology at the University of Indiana. The study found that of all the traits traditionally linked to masculinity, three were particularly bad for men's mental health. "The norm of self-reliance is increasingly not helpful," Wong said. "You have to often rely on others."

Self-reliance, the pursuit of sexual promiscuity and power over women, according to Popular Science, are the traits bad for men's health. Wong also said that a lot of men would prefer to buck traditional gender traits but are concerned that other men will judge them harshly, so they don't act on their genuine desires. "Theres a gap between what men perceive other men believe or do and what men actually believe or do."

Study Confirms

According to The Washington Post, 78 studies on masculinity and mental health gathered between 2003 and 2013. The participants aged are 12 years and above, and the vast majority were white men. Although, some part of the study focused on African-Americans or Asian-Americans. Most of the studies didn't ask respondents' sexual orientation, but among those that did, most of the participants were straight.

Researchers then identified 11 norms considered to be "traditionally masculine" - desire to win, need for emotional control, risk-taking, violence, dominance, sexual promiscuity or playboy behavior, self-reliance, primacy of work, power over women, disdain for homosexuality and pursuit of status - and looked to see whether they were associated with particular mental health outcomes.
In the world of hacking there have been some cyber criminals whose actions varies depending on the objective. While some of them want to gain some money, others just want to sabotage and create chaos, but the common denominator in each one of them is their extraordinary abilities with computers and software, that unfortunately have been used for the worst reasons possible. Giving this fact, here are some whose skills have been so incredible that has been considered as the most dangerous of all time.

Albert Gonzalez: From Altar Boy To Millionaire Hacker

Son of a Cuba balsero, Gonzalez started a group of hackers known as the Shadowcrew group, whose only mission was to make the highest amount of money in the shortest time possible. In fact, this operation was called "Get Rich or Die Trying", and considering which was the objective, he has been known for being one of the most dangerous and efficient cyber criminals of all time, giving the fact that he carried out the largest theft of credit card and ATM numbers from 2005 to 2007, managing to steal $130 million.

The most unusual fact about this kind of credit card Tony Montana is that he actually was an altar boy when he was younger, but considering the contradictory future that some of these kids have had, it wouldnt be such a tragedy if the outcome is just a hacker, unless, of course, if it is a cyber criminal who caused around $200 million worth of damage worth of damage through damage to computer systems and theft of cash, which he actually did.

Although many rich criminals are characterized for not showing too much their money in order to not rise suspicious, Gonzalez actually wasted tons of money staying days in extremely expensive hotels, having a very lavish lifestyle, and literally throwing thousands of dollars in birthday parties. He was sentenced 20 years in jail six years ago.

Gary Mckinnon: An Incredible Operation For The Most Unusual Reason

Many consider what he did as the most incredible computer hack of all time, and maybe it is, considering that this guy committed the biggest cyber strike that the U.S. military computer server has received, getting its data, files, software and extremely vital information deleted. Whatseven more incredible is that Mckinnon actually had left thousands of systems inoperable for a period of 24 hours, turning him into a huge threat the no one seems to stop.

However, the most bizarre fact about this bad boy was his motivations, considering that far from being anti imperialistic reasons or a violent disagreement against U.S. interventionism, he actually made these actions because he wanted to find information about aliens. No kidding, this guy made the most outstanding cyber strike ever in order to find UFOs data.

Astra: The Most Dangerous And Mysterious Cyber Criminal

If Hideo Kojima decided to include a hacker enemy on any further Metal Gear Solid, this one have to be the one to be inspired by, giving the fact that he have all the proper elements: a mysterious pseudonym, an identity that hasn't been revealed, the highest abilities in cyber crime and activities that only Otacon could have achieved if he ended up being a bad guy instead of Snakes pal.

This computer super-villain was known for hacked into Dassault, which is a French military company, from which the cyber criminal stole sensitive documents regarding weapons, aircraft and military technology. Once he took this classified data, he just sold it to other parties who were interested in the information, causing upwards of $360 million worth of damage to the company. Once he got finally arrested in Greece back in 2008, Greek authorities for some reason didnt revealed his real name, just telling that he was a 58-year-old mathematician who was living in Athens.
Back in the days, Nokia was the most important phone company in the market, to the point in which it was a giant whose power wasnt threatened and its products were a Holy Grail that marked an entire generation that started to use mobile devices. However, the arrival of the smartphones and especially the iPhone represented a huge setback for the Finnish company, to the point in which it basically disappeared as phone manufacturer, having to stare at many other companies taking its reign and its position in the market.

Naturally, it was a situation that no one expected and Nokia didnt knew how to handle, failing in adapting to the new spec, features, and necessities that users demand in mobile devices. However, the Finnish company will be back to the competition in just a few months, since it announced that it will release new smartphones. Naturally, everyone is expecting a huge comeback from Nokia, but the real question is: could it recover its old relevance in the market?

The Finnish Company Has To Offer Almost The Same As The Newest Smartphones

Of course, this doesn't looks as an easy mission for the Finnish company, considering that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since its decline, with many companies as Apple or Samsung becoming the new giants in the phone market, with such an unprecedented power that it could even survive situations as the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.

It is obvious that Nokia will not achieve this kind of hegemony, but if the Finnish company wants to recover its old importance it needs to release smartphones that offer almost the same as the newest to be launched, considering that 2017 will be a year framed by the iPhone 8, the Galaxy Note 8, and the OnePlus 4.

Regarding this situation, some reports have revealed that Nokias new smartphones would be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, a 22MP camera, and an IP68 waterproofing certification, which clearly represents Nokias seriousness in its endeavor, considering that this features might could show us that its new products would be attractive enough to start this comeback with the right foot.

Although it might not conquer similar sales as this other flagship, Nokias main objective have to be the achievement of good critics and decent sales, so its brands relevance keep high enough to people keep buying its smartphones more and more. It is obvious that recovering its old importance wont be done precisely in one year, but achieving good sales and reviews could make it sooner than expected.

Nokia Should Copy OnePlus Strategy

Another important detail that the Finnish company should be aware is the price, considering that if it cant create something incredible as what is expected to be the Galaxy Note 8 or the iPhone 8, offering product with an affordable price will be an effective strategy to gain customers approval no matter what.

In fact, this has been exactly what some Chinese company has done, being OnePlus the best example of all, considering that its model OnePlus 3 has got to the point of being consider as a flagship killer. If Nokias new smartphones come with a cheap price and decent specs and features, its road to success will be secure.

Nokia will start its resurrection in the back of the bus at the MWC 2017, with two very powerful elements that none smartphone maker has: still being a popular brand and at the same time a new face in the market, which tends to create illusions and expectations in the customers. Sometimes, a harmful decline could be very useful.
Tech giant Apple has achieved a record share of 91 percent -$9 billion- of global smartphone profits in the third quarter of 2016, which represent one o the highest achievements of the Cupertino company, despite the fact that its iPhone havent been sold as it was expected. This amounts to $8.19 billion for Apple, which has the biggest profit margins in phone industry because of its greatness in every device, and a loyal brand that only the most important companies have.

Huaewi, Vivo, And OPPO Are The Other Giants In the Global Smartphone Profits This Quarter

According to The Indian Express, the director of Strategy Analytics, Linda Sui, explained through a press statement that the ability that Apple has to maximize pricing and minimize production cost is extremely impressive, considering the results and incredible benefits that this tactic usually gives the company. Also, she said that even when Huawei, Vivo, and OPPO has made a great work to become the next three most profitable smartphone vendors in the world this quarter, all of these companies are still a long way behind the Cupertinos.

One of the most interesting cases is Huawei -the second most profitable smartphone vendor this quarter, giving the fact that the Chinese company managed to grab 2.4 percent of the worlds operating profit share in the market, accounting for $200 million. This company is currently the worlds third-largest smartphone maker in the world behind Samsung and Apple and has revealed its intention of beating the Cupertino company within two years in order to achieve the second place.

Taking Advantage Of Samsungs Weakness

According to CNBC, both Vivo and OPPO -which represents the third and fourth place as the most profitable smartphone vendors this quarter- achieved a 2.2 percent of the worlds smartphone profit each, managing to grow very quickly through an effective strategy of selling at low prices but high -spec mobile devices.

Although this represent a huge achievement for the Cupertino company, it is a fact that this was possible not only because of its great strategy and reliable brand, but also because Samsungs failure with its Galaxy Note 7, considering that this was a situation that made the South Korean company suffer one of the worst periods in its history.
"Gilmore Girls" revival is just two days away and the cast still continues to open up about their experience in returning to Stars Hollow. The fans are now all the more excited for its premiere on Friday.

Some Of The Beloved Characters On "Gilmore Girls" Dish Out Information About The Upcoming Revival To Air On Friday

Just recently, some of the casts of "Gilmore Girls" guested on "The Tonight Show" with Jimmy Fallon and talked about their upcoming revival, the highly anticipated one just yet. Liza Weil, Sean Gunn and Scott Patterson who currently portray the roles of Paris, Kirk and Luke respectively in the series talked about the revival and more. According to Patterson, the show has been considered a kind of "religion" by the fans while it was currently on air. Thus, the reaction they got when the news of the revival was confirmed has not come as a surprise for them.

Gunn believes that despite the long wait for the revival, the show seems more popular now than ever. He plays the role of the goofy Kirk, who was supposedly going to be in the show shortly, has been loved by the fans more than it was expected. The show started 15 years ago and it has become more popular now than it has ever been. With the technology these days, the audience have garnered more access to watch the show repeatedly, as often as they would want.

Characters Now Better Than They Ever Were, Says Scott Patterson AKA Luke

As for the last four words of series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, actress Liza Weil teased the audience that it is going to be "bigger than all of us." This has then led to the fans thrilled about what there is to expect in the upcoming "Gilmore Girls" revival. Almost all of the major characters of the show are certain to return for the revival, although some may have shorter appearances now than before. In a separate interview with Scott Patterson, said that despite having been gone for years already, he believes they are now better than they ever were. They can execute the storyline in a way that is pleasing to the audience, and will get to end it in the way it has always been intended to end.
The president elect Donald Trump had a phone call with Apple CEO Tim Cook, proposing some incentives to convince the high tech company moving iPhones production in the United States.

Trump's Call With Tim Cook

During his meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 22, with The New York Times, Trump gave details about the phone calls he'd had with two prominent tech figures, Bill Gates and Tim Cook. About his phone call with Cook, he said that he told the Apple CEO that he considers as a great personal achievement if he will be able to convince Apple to build many big manufacturing facilities in the United States instead of going to China or to Vietnam.

Trump told Cook that he will create the incentives for Apple, including a very large tax cut for corporations. He also offered to deregulate many things. However, an issue against this plan is that iPhones might cost a lot more if they would be manufactured in the U.S.

The offer coming from the president elect Trump is coming after he previously suggested boycotting Apple products after the tech giant refused to hack the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists. Apple did not comment on Trump's recent proposal.

Trump is not the only political figure who thinks Apple and other high tech companies should produce more in the U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is another politician who declared that he wants Apple to return manufacturing in the homeland.

According to CNET, the president-elect is taking a deal-making, more pragmatic approach on his relationship with Apple. During the election campaign Trump was critical regarding Apple's renegade nature. For instance, in a speech at Liberty University, Trump said that it is necessary that Apple starts building computers and other devices in the United States instead of other countries.

Trump has a personal interest in Apple's continued success, since he declared that he owns millions of dollars of company's stock. But he explained that this is no cause of concern, because the president cannot have any conflict of interest. According to him, this is called a win-win situation in business.

Not An Easy Task

According to The Verge, convincing the tech giant Apple to move its iPhones manufacturing facilities back to the U.S. won't be an easy task. In the last few years, American manufacturing jobs have been disappearing fast. In fact, according to CNN Money, the country lost millions of manufacturing jobs in the last decade and a half.

The potential to convincing Apple to build iPhones in the U.S. does not appear to have high odds. In fact, Steve Jobs told President Obama back in 2011 that "those jobs aren't coming back." As reported by the website fivethirtyeight.com, today there are no more chances that manufacturing job are returning to the U.S. than back in 2011. Actually, they might never come back.

China's cheap labor is not the only reason why Apple and other American tech companies go to look abroad. According to Forbes, Apple also has a deep reliance on having many components of its supply chain in roughly the same place. This ensures a certain production efficiency and re-creating the same conditions in the U.S. would be no cheap or easy task.
With the recent 2016 US Presidential Elections, Facebook has been in major scrutiny about being a strong platform that spreads fake news. The social media site's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has denied these claims. And essentially, the website is not responsible for the third party reports that are shared on its feed.

Nevertheless, many have blamed Facebook for its black media and possible role in the latest elections. As Bloomberg notes, one example is a story regarding Ford Motor Co., which went viral next week. "The Trump Effect: It's Happening Already!!!" the headline wrote, with the story indicating how the company was moving truck production from Mexico to Ohio. The report was based off a CNN report from 2015.

The entire story was not completely true, but neither was it completely wrong. However, it did implicate something misleading - and these are the articles that are incredibly dangerous. There are shared news articles that do not resemble truth at all and are therefore incredibly easy to spot. But then there are those that use bits of fact to make a different picture, to paint a particular image.

Tech Crunch adds that Zuckerberg has denied the large amount of fake news that are easily accessible on Facebook. "Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99% of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes," he said. "The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics. Overall, this makes it extremely unlikely hoaxes changed the outcome of [the US national Elections] in one direction or the other."

As Business Insider discusses, one Twitter co-founder Ev Willaims was able to make his point in disfavor of Facebook with one screenshot. The screenshot was of o a post by Zuckerberg on the website, which was accompanied by two news articles -- advertisements, no doubt -- on the righthand side.

"Despite appearances, the first one doesn't point to espn.com," Williams said. "It goes to espn.com-magazine.online and attempts to sell a muscle-building supplement using ESPN branding and a fake news story. The CNN-branded ad goes to less work. It just takes you to a site called Fine the Racers with an exclusive offer for a 12-week program to strengthen your toes (?)."

While it has not been confirmed that Facebook did indeed aid in influencing America to choose one candidate over the other, the social network site does boast of 1.79 billion monthly active users. In the third quarter of the year, the company earned US$7.01 billion in revenue. There is no denying that the site has a hold of people unlike any other.

Nevertheless, Zuckerberg does admit that there is a need to put up security features to address the issue. And while Facebook generally relies on sers to seek out fake news, measures will be taken internally as well. "I am confident we can find ways for our community to tell us what content is most meaningful," Zuckerberg said. "But I believe we must be extremely cautious about becoming arbiters of truth ourselves."
The Amazon Echo was the frontrunner in the world of smart speakers before the Google Home was introduced a few months ago. Both devices definitely deliver in their basic uses, but there are a few key differences between them. And with Black Friday coming closer and closer, there are deals on both devices - but which one to take?

As The LA Times notes, holidays deals are vital in the sale of gadgets that the general public is less familiar with, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home. This is likely because the deals allow individuals or families to experiment without the standard splurge that tech devices generally come with. And because the online retailer is facing its first real competitor this year, Amazon is facing a big hurdle.

"There's clearly some overlap between the Echo and Google Home," Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting firm Consumer Growth Partners, said. "I'm not convinced people have room for both devices in their lives."

Nevertheless, both companies are definitely aware of the stiff competition, if the deals are anything to go by. The publication goes on to note that Best Buy, Target and Walmart are all selling the Google Home for US$99, while the original price is at US$129 - which is almost half of the cost of the Amazon Echo, which sells normally at US$179 and will be discounted anywhere between US$20 - US$40 on Black Friday. Although, the online retailer does also offer the Amazon Echo Dot, which sells for just US$49.99 normally.

But what is price in the midst of stellar specifications? Though Google Home is undoubtedly the more economical choice, how does it actual fair against the original Amazon Echo?

Both devices are smart speakers that listen to requests and answer correspondingly. As noted by ZDNet, the Amazon Echo and Google Home both get their smarts from their respective cloud services. Likewise, their cloud services are within reach via Wi-Fi. They are both generally small as well, considering what kind of power they hold.

The Amazon Echo and Google Home are both able to fetch answers quickly, play music as requested and are also able to report on traffic and such.

But where do they differ? For one thing, the Amazon Echo is not capable of connecting with different gadgets to play music. On the other hand, Google Home can, as long as the user has Google Chromecast.

The real difference is that Google Home can "know" its user because of the widely used Google services. The smart device takes data from different items such as Google Calendar, Google Keep and Google Maps - and correspondingly fixes all the information to make life easier. It also answers questions more fluidly than the Amazon Echo.

On the other hand, the Amazon Echo does have more partnerships with third-party applications, which are called skills. Currently, the device has a list of more than 900 of them. Although, given enough time, Google Home might catch up in this light - the original smart speaker is, after all, already three years old.
"Call the Midwife" is a BBC One drama set during the 50's and the 60's and it has been renewed for three more seasons -- season 7, 8, and 9. Dubbed as the next "Downton Abbey," the series which airs on PBS Stateside will also have a Christmas episode for each season.

"Call the Midwife" Season 6

"Call the Midwife" season 6 is scheduled to air in early 2017 and will continue to feature the midwives in East End London as they continue to do their duty. Heidi Thomas will remain to be the head writer and the showrunner for the upcoming season, while Neal Street will act as the executive producer.

The show will continue to portray the life of the medical community in a rapidly changing country. Set during a period when Britain faced numerous challenges, there is a lot to be portrayed on screen. According to Thomas, there is "so much rich material -- medical, social, and emotional -- to be explored."

"Call The Midwife" Renewal

Considered to be one of the best medical dramas in the U.S. and the U.K., "Call the Midwife" BBC One ordered three more seasons with eight episodes and a Christmas special for each installment. The series is based on the memoirs of the real nurse Jennifer Worth, and seeing more episodes unfold would definitely be a treat for fans of this British series.

"Call The Midwife" Christmas Special 2016

"Call the Midwife" will be back on television for its holiday episode on Dec. 25. The story will take place in South Africa's Eastern Cape as the residents of the convent receive a call for help from a mission hospital in the area. Hope Clinic is a small hospital which lacks everything from funding to people to reliable water supply. On top of that, it is on the brink of closure which is quite a pity as there are so many patients who need help.

"Call the Midwife" season 6 will premiere on BBC One in January 2017.
New Nokia Android smartphones are most likely going to be announced by HMD Global at MWC 2017. There have been several leaks so far, but the latest leak shows a new Nokia smartphone running on the latest Android 7.0.1 OS.

Nokia Android Smartphones 2017

Called the Nokia Pixel, the Android powered smartphone was spotted on GeekBench earlier today. Alongside the Pixel, two more devices have appeared on the website showing Nokia has plenty of devices to announce.

Previously, a Nokia device called the D1C was also leaked on the website. This device features an octa-core Snapdragon 430 CPU, Adreno 505 GPU and 3GB of RAM. This too was running on a build of Android Nougat.

Of course, Nokia will probably not call the new smartphone Pixel, because Google has already taken the name. However, this device will be running Android 7.0.1 out of the box, as spotted by TimesNews on GeekBench.

The device uses a Snapdragon 200 processor, Adreno 302 GPU and has 1 GB of RAM, which means that this is probably an entry level device as evidenced by a not very well score on the GeekBench test. The Snapdragon 200 is a dual-core CPU and supports Quick Charge 3.0, according to PhoneArena.

Nokia Ara And Genymotion C2-00 PureView

Two more devices were spotted, as mentioned earlier, namely the Nokia Ara and the Nokia Genymotion C2-00 PureView. That latter is a strange name for a smartphone, but the company may just call it something else.

The Nokia Ara also runs Snapdragon 200 coupled with 1GB of RAM, but instead of the latest Android Nougat, it runs Android 5.1.1. Looks like this is another entry level smartphone from Nokia, but no other details such as screen size or battery were given.

The Genymotion C2-00 Pureview is a different piece of cake and uses an Intel Pentium G3220 single-core processor coupled with 1.5 GB of RAM. Again, no other details were revealed in the results.
Woodhouse College 2

East Barnet 2 (Woodhouse win 3-2 on pens)

Middlesex Schools' Cup final

Woodhouse were resplendent in a new kit, thanks to the enterprise of 18-year-old midfielder David Overton and the generous sponsorship of Tesco, and celebrated with a hard-earned victory.

'We were due to play in the National Colleges Cup semi-final and our shorts and socks were looking ragged,' said David. 'I'd heard that Tesco give generous support in these situations, and, through my sister Sarah who works for the company, I made contact with the man responsible for sponsorship, who offered to help us.'

The new kit was not available in time for the semi-final, which Woodhouse lost, but proved a lucky omen when they retained the county cup by beating East Barnet at Cheshunt FC last week.

'The College has been brilliant and our coach Mr Mike Schools, who is mad about football, has been an inspiration. I wanted to show my appreciation,' said David.

Keeper Tom Owens was Woodhouse's hero in a penalty shoot-out drama. After Owens made two brilliant saves, Woodhouse took a two-goal lead, but missed twice, and East Barnet drew level.

Then Owens clinched it for the college. After scoring with their last spot kick, he put on the gloves again and made his match-winning third penalty save.

East Barnet began well, taking an early lead through David Pigdeon.

Matt Lucas showed his dribbling skills before providing the pass for Uzo Monago to slot in the equaliser.

Inspired Woodhouse enjoyed their best spell and Onochie put them ahead with a superb solo goal, only for East Barnet to grab a late leveller.

WOODHOUSE COLLEGE: Tom Owens, James Bury, Lubini Nabutola, Daniel Nielsen, Gareth Hughes, Craig Sweetingham, Uzo Monago, David Overton, Elliot Onochie, Lee Davy-Martin, Matt Lucas. Subs: Graeme Grossman, James Hall, Austin Amadi, Matt Hawkes.
Almost every company claims to prioritize Employee Engagement, that is usually just a catchphrase. The truth is, employers know that not everyone will be engaged, and they are counting on their resignation.

The truth hurts, however, that is how most companies roll. According to Investopedia, many companies do not understand why it is very important to keep employees engaged and motivated. Surely many of you have encountered being told "You're lucky you have a job, so just do what you're told" or "Then quit, I'm sure many people are desperate to find a job like yours."

Employers who do not understand employee engagement importance obviously do not see that far ahead into the future. Employee engagement is a factor that determines the success of a company. Unhappy employees equate to poorly met goals, and an 'I don't care' attitude.

Another truth is that some companies actually understand how employee engagement works, but instead they count on these employees leaving. When an employee is disengaged, employers know that they will leave eventually, which will make more room for new hires with fresh talent.

However, what if the employees who become disengaged are actually loyal ones? The people who have spent more than ten years with the company and will not leave no matter how disengaged they are? Their loyalty will instead have a negative effect on the company because they are not engaged. According to Entrepreneur, these employees refer to themselves as 'prisoners.' Viewing your employer as a 'warden' isn't exactly a healthy thing for both employee and employer.

1. Attention and Recognition

Why do these employees stay even though they are already bored and uninterested in what they are doing? Because loyal employees who have stayed longer in the company are likely to already have high pay. With a large amount of money jumping into their pockets every payday, why leave?

These loyal employees are already comfortable with the job and especially the pay. There is no need to be all hyped for work if the employee is already satisfied with what they have. So what else can be used to inspire them to change their ways?

One of the mistakes made by employers is they focus on those who are new. The fresh talent that are just coming on board get the spotlight, then management proceeds to retain these new hires so that they wouldn't leave. But what about the loyal employees? The fact that they have been there for possibly decades makes the management think that these workers are less likely to leave.

Hence, they overlook their performance and forget to give them attention as stated by Investopedia. It is important to make everyone in your workforce feel important and appreciated, no matter the tenure.

2. Challenge

Light the fire in their eyes again by presenting them with a challenge. Not just any challenge, it has to be something special, some sort of project that will first require them to learn new skills.

It is not enough to hand them a thick binder of studies or send them a Dropbox link with loads of PDFs to study. It is better to engage them to learn using experimental teaching methods that utilize technology.

After finding the right method to re-educate your ever loyal employee, it is time to challenge them to put those new skills to the test. Don't let them sit back and relax after learning all those things, put it to use. Learning doesn't end with the last slide of the presentation.

One must put the learnings to action, execute the new skills and master it. Provide the employee with a special project and have them take the lead, being tenured and much comfortable in the company should also be a positive tool to use when leading the fresh talent.

3. Light Their Future

Show these loyal employees that they matter. That the long years they have spent working for the company did not go unnoticed. Offer them a job as a Brand Ambassador, or any post that will make them feel engaged.

Being the tenured, loyal employee they are, no matter how disengaged they are right now, they will still feel a sense of dedication once the company shows interest in their abilities again. Hence they will start to perform better. If you are lucky, these employees might remember what made them fall in love with their job all those years ago. Stay tuned to Jobs & Hire for more workplace tips!
Numerous crossovers of superheroes might happen in Marvel Cinematic Universe film because of the universe's connection. On the upcoming sequel to a superhero film "Ant-Man and the Wasp" there were speculations that Hawkeye and Ant-Man might have a crossover.

As it was reported by GameNGuide, Michael Douglas who played the role as Hank Pym wanted Jeremy Renner, who portrayed the role of Hawkeye, to be on set. On a recent report, Douglas shared his thoughts of having Hawkeye in the upcoming sequel or Marvel movie, "Ant-Man and The Wasp." Douglas said that he would be hopeful if he and Jeremy would be in the same film.

The production team as well as Peyton Reed, director of "Ant-Man and The Wasp", did not confirm yet if there would be a crossover between Hawkeye and Ant-Man. However, there's a big chance that it might happen as plenty superhero character crossovers happened in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

As it was previously reported, Tony Stark who is known as "Iron Man" would possibly be in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" as well as Hulk would possibly appear on "Thor: Ragnarok". As there was universe's connection in Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps in "Ant-Man and The Wasp" film might have Hawkeye as the newest character.

On an interview of Renner with The Movie Network, "Hawkeye" actor was asked about the possibility of working with "Ant-Man and The Wasp" star, Douglas in some Marvel movies. Renner said that it would be his great pleasure in working with him in the upcoming film of "Avengers".

"There are a lot of amazing cast members in that world and they are all converging, so who knows what is going to happen. I can't tell you or I might get hurt! Those decisions are above our pay grade, but we are just blessed and happy to be a part of the Marvel family," Renner said. Starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily and Michael Douglas, "Ant-Man and The Wasp" would have its initial release on July 6, 2018, at the United States of America. Stay tuned!
President-elect Donald Trump and Congress are now making plans to erode job protections and grind down benefits that federal workers have been receiving for a long time. As one of his promises to the voters, Trump plans to fight fraud and abuse starting by Firing unproductive government workers.

According to Postal Times, Donald Trump's intention to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and replace it with fair bilateral trade deals is another thing that we should expect to see happening soon. Additionally, the withdraw will shatter President Barack Obama's aim of strengthening US influence in Asia and could leave the Western world's trade agenda in conflict.

To fully understand his plans for government workers, we should start with what he said during the campaign. Trump said that the workforce has many great and committed people and in the long run, a smaller federal workforce will mean a more honest and effective government in which it is harder to hide corruption.

According to Washington Post, these plans has been proposed several times in recent years. It aimed to cut down government running costs, but has never been implemented during President Obama's leadership. The likelihood of successful implementation of these plans is high considering that the congress is Republican-controlled.

Although the exact number of workers that will be reduced is still uncertain, the leading target on these plans is to reduce the workforce by 10 percent. Considering that only 15 percent of the federal workforce is based in the Washington area, the reductions would not only affect Washington but the whole nation.

Not all workers seem to be facing this hush truth since Donald Trump has expressed his plans increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and a stronger emphasis on border security. This move would translate into adding Border Patrol agents and hence increasing the number of federal workers in border security departments.
Good leadership leaves a significant mark engraved in the heart and soul of his constituents. After all the events related to US Presidential Elections 2016, the Netflix started to pay off the hard work of the former president by announcing the upcoming Netflix series, "Barry."

While the announcement has been made in March 2016, Netflix decided to release the first full official trailer for the series "Barry" after the revelation of who won the US Presidential Elections 2016. The Wrap also reported in October that the Netflix series is expected to be shown in screens by December 16.

With less than a month left before the scheduled release, Netflix revealed the full trailer of "Barry," further giving more baits on the flow of the story. The trivia that the producers show in the trailer made more Obama fans euphoric on seeing the biography of their leader.

Devon Terrell will be playing the role of the young Barack Obama in the upcoming Netflix series, as reported by the Variety. Playing the persona of Obama is a great opportunity of Terrell, and he was so ecstatic to have earned the role.

"I thought if the director says I'm the right person then I'm the right person to tell the story," says Terrell to himself, as he kept himself calm and determined that the show will give Netflix good hits.

All the struggles of Barack Obama before he reaches his mastery in the field of leadership and politics are expected to touch the hearts of those who recognized Obama's effort being the 44th President of the United States of America. Despite the negative concerns arose after Donald Trump won the election against Hillary Clinton, the new Netflix series is expected to give them again hope that a brighter future will soon come.

The premier of "Barry" will be at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. The 20-year old actor, Devon Terrell is expected to attend the kickoff.
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The Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area experienced another year-over-year decline in the number of all-cash home sales during August, according to a CoreLogic report released Wednesday.

About 30.1 percent of houses in the Winston-Salem MSA were bought solely with cash, down from 35.5 percent a year ago, but up from 28.8 percent in July. The MSA includes Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties.

The Winston-Salem MSA, North Carolinas fourth-largest metropolitan area, was the third-most popular for all-cash purchases.

CoreLogic, a real-estate research data company, typically issues the cash-buyers report without commenting on local markets.

Cash buyers include institutional investors acquiring properties to initially rent before selling them during a future rise in housing prices.

In the Greensboro-High Point MSA, cash buyers represented 29.6 percent of home purchases, unchanged from August 2015 and up from 29.2 percent in July.

The number of cash sales in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA dropped year over year, from 26 percent to 23.6 percent. The rate was 23.3 percent in July. That MSA, until recently, had been among the top markets in the nation for institutional investors.

In the Raleigh-Cary MSA, cash sales were 35.9 percent, up from 32.6 percent a year ago and from 31.6 percent in July.

For North Carolina as a whole, the percentage of all-cash sales was 36 percent. Nationally, it was 31.1 percent.

If the cash-sales share continues to fall at the same rate it did in August, the share should hit 25 percent by mid-2019, CoreLogic said of the national market. Thats the same percentage as right before the housing bubble burst in 2007.

The rate of all-cash home purchases by private-equity groups reached its high in January 2011 at 46.6 percent.
The most important question around the Thanksgiving table this year isnt Would you like white meat or dark meat?

Neither is it Which one of you kids wants the wishbone?

No, its this one: What do you think about the presidential election?

A Wake Forest University professor suggests that your Thanksgiving dinner guests should try to talk about something else  anything else  but politics.

Feelings are still pretty raw for everyone, said Samuel Gladding, a professor of counseling at Wake Forest and a past president of the American Counseling Association.

Its been three weeks (since the presidential election), and theres a lot of emotion. And when theres a lot of emotion, theres always a potential for trouble.

Gladding served up several suggestions for a politics-free Thanksgiving dinner:

Set ground rules. Make sure everyone knows youre there to enjoy each others company, not argue about politics. If family members have different political views,

acknowledge

that fact up front and get everyone to agree to talk about less contentious topics.

Try to be agreeable. Rather than respond to a political barb with the

latest

news from Facebook, try something such as:

I know we have disagreement; lets talk about things we can all be thankful for.

Or simply leave the table  quietly, not

dramatically

 until the political discussion peters out.

Come up with a list of acceptable topics to talk about and stick to it. Work, children, hobbies, families and the meal are all good topics that most everyone has in common.

Appoint the most neutral, level-headed person at the table as the referee. Give that person the authority to call timeout on any political discussions.

If you have to talk about the election, designate a no-politics zone, such as the dining-room table or perhaps the whole house.

The last thing you want on Thanksgiving  is to create bad memories of people shouting at each other, Gladding said.

He said Thanksgiving tends to be a flash point for family disputes because it brings together people who sometimes dont see each often. Because theyre not in close touch, they might not know that Uncle Bill is gloating over a Donald Trump win or Aunt Mary is still in mourning over Hillary Clintons defeat.

Throw a lot of carbs and some alcohol into the mix and, well, they kind of their stick their foot into their mouths, Gladding said.

He has his own tactic for keeping peace at the Thanksgiving dinner he is hosting this year.

We have a new puppy, he said. Itll be easy to put our attention on the dog.
Outdoor activities are one of the casualties from the wildfires raging in the western part of the state. The fires are creating dangerous conditions, poor air quality and dense smoke in some areas.

Currently, the fires are affecting some of the states greatest outdoor treasures, including the Nantahala National Forest and the Pisgah National Forest, and around 60 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia up through the Nantahala Outdoor Center.

Hundreds of firefighters from around the country have joined dozens of local departments to battle the blazes. Dry, windy conditions have aided the growth of the fires. More than a dozen active fires continue to burn and have consumed more than 50,000 acres in North Carolina.

A dry-weather forecast through the winter suggests potential problems until the spring, so check updated conditions before planning any outdoor adventures in these areas.
Kubo and the Two Strings (PG): This visually impressive, stop-motion-animated film tells the story of a boy (voice by Art Parkinson) on a magical quest in ancient Japan. The voice cast includes Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes and George Takei. The DVD has several behind-the-scenes shorts and commentary; the Blu-ray and 3D combo pack adds more behind-the-scenes features and interviews.

Hell or High Water (R): In this heist film, Chris Pine stars as a Texan trying to save his family ranch. He reluctantly joins forces with his ex-con brother (Ben Foster) to commit bank robberies. But his brothers unstable nature proves to be a problem. Extras include filmmaker Q&A and behind-the-scenes looks at the performances and the making of the film.

Mechanic: Resurrection (R): Jason Statham returns in this sequel to the 2011 action film about a mafia hitman who has faked his death and gone into hiding, but is drawn back into the business against his will. Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Yeoh co-star. Behind-the-scene shorts focus largely on the films stunts and cast.

War Dogs (R): Jonah Hill and Miles Teller star in this fact-based satire about two friends who form a business to make money from military contracts, eventually managing to snag a $300 million deal to arm the Afghan military. The DVD has one bonus short; the Blu-ray adds several more.

C.H.U.D. (Unrated): The 1984 cult film, about subterranean cannibals in Manhattan (AKA, Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers), comes to Blu-ray in a new special edition from Arrow Video. Extras include interviews, behind-the-scenes galleries, a visit to the New York filming locations, and much more. The cast includes John Heard, Daniel Stern, Frankie Faison, and an early appearance by John Goodman.

C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud and Return of the Living Dead 3: The quirky sequel to C.H.U.D. was also released this week, though on a different video label. The 1989 film, with Gerrit Graham as the titular Bud, is part of a new video label from Lionsgate. The Vestron Video Collectors Series features horror movies from an iconic video label that had a cult following back in the heyday of video stores and VHS tapes. In addition to Bud the C.H.U.D., the label has also just released Return of the Living Dead 3, the best of the sequels to Return. It tells the story of a teenager who has been infected with the zombie plague but is resisting turning into a flesh-eating ghoul as best she can. In both films, the government is experimenting with the monsters, hoping to develop super-soldiers. Both titles include extensive bonus features. Previously released Blu-rays in the Vestron series are Chopping Mall, Blood Diner and the Waxwork films.

Masterpiece: Poldark Season 2: The second season of the British historical drama, starring Aidan Turner as a British officer who returns home after the American Revolutionary War, is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Shout Select Titles: New from the video label are two well-regarded 1985 dramas: the police thriller To Live and Die in L.A. from director William Friedkin, with a new 4K scan of the negative and new and vintage bonus features, and an adaptation of the play Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich, with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film.

The Killing of America (Unrated): This rarely-seen, controversial 1982 documentary examines American popular culture and its depictions of violence, including news footage and interviews with convicted killers.

Time After Time (PG): The 1979 science-fiction film, a pioneer in the Steampunk genre, comes to Blu-ray ahead of next years debut of a TV series adaptation. The story involves famed Victorian writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell), who has invented a time machine that is stolen by a friend (David Warner) who Wells discovers is actually Jack the Ripper. So Wells has to travel to the far future year of 1979 to stop a new reign of terror. But when he gets there, Wells discovers the future is far from the utopia he had envisioned. The new Blu-ray edition is not sold in stores but is part of Warner Archives manufacture-on-demand series of releases sold online at wbshop.com or amazon.com.
Today

Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.

Tonight

A shower is possible early. Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Sunshine along with some cloudy intervals. High near 70F. Winds light and variable.
The day will consist of a series of 6 high-level conferences addressing issues relating to renewable energy and just transition.
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By Nicholas Guyatt | (The Conversation) |  

Donald Trumps astonishing rise to the presidency has put racism at the heart of American politics. From the very start of his campaign, Trump called Mexicans criminals and rapists while pledging to build a wall between the US and its southern neighbour. He shocked the world by promising to ban Muslim visitors from the US, and is now reportedly considering a Muslim registration system. He dismissed the concerns of the Black Lives Matter movement and refused to disavow the support he received from white supremacists.

Among his supporters is David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who described Trumps triumph as a victory for our people. A week after Trumps victory, a white nationalist group met in Washington DC to hail Trump with Hitler salutes and decry the mainstream media with the Nazi-era term Lugenpresse, or lying press.

After the symbolic breakthrough of Barack Obamas presidency, this feels like a shocking step backwards on the issue of race. But its important not to overstate Americas progress during the Obama years, nor to ignore the ways in which racism extends far beyond the whitelash of Trumps improbable rise.

Instead, to properly confront Americas racist reality, we need a properly nuanced way to think about it in all its complexity and intractability. Broadly speaking, we can divide racism into three categories: structural, unconscious and unapologetic.

Structural racism refers to the ways racial inequality endures across generations. Racial gaps in household wealth, homeownership and unemployment rates are still enormous. According to the federal government, Americas schools are more segregated today than they were a decade ago. Unarmed African-Americans are substantially more likely to be physically harassed by the police, and around six times as likely to be incarcerated as whites.

Playing into these problems is unconscious racism. This term describes the ways people unintentionally discriminate against others on the basis of race. We know from extensive research that many employers treat people of colour differently from whites when they apply for jobs or promotions, even though they insist that they arent personally racist. Social scientists call this unconscious bias, and many US government agencies, public institutions and companies have only recently begun to tackle it.

With such stark differences at the root of black and Latino experience, why dont white people see racial equality as an urgent national imperative? Unconscious racism shapes and sustains structural racism, and leads white people away from the facts of persistent inequality. This interplay helps to explain how American society fails to prioritise racial justice despite the existence of these enormous divides.

From implicit to explicit

The third form of racism is what weve seen in the Trump campaign: overt efforts to stereotype or rank people on the basis of race, and dog-whistle racism which uses coded language to achieve the same effect.

Overt racism is alarming and dangerous, and has the potential to set back race relations considerably. But to solve the deeper problem of race relations, the USs leaders must not only condemn the unapologetic racists of the far-right; they must tackle racisms structural and unconscious dimensions. This can only happen if the past and the present are kept in sharp focus.

Black people in America were denied the opportunity to own property for centuries; in fact, they were themselves held as property, and exploited to produce enormous wealth for their white owners and for the nation more broadly. Even after slavery was abolished in 1865, African-Americans were subjected to another century of open discrimination in housing, employment and every other aspect of communal life.

As did the emergence of a black middle class in the 1960s and 1970s, Barack Obamas rise to the White House has had a huge and positive effect on American society. But Obamas election also enabled some (mostly white) commentators to declare that the US had moved beyond race  that the debts of slavery and racism had been paid in full, and that anyone still complaining was guilty of racial entitlement.

Armed with this mistaken assumption, many white conservatives have dismissed black complaints of police misconduct as spurious or entitled, insisting that Obamas victory proved there is no ceiling for people of colour in America. With this cynical twist, they can frame any action against racial inequality as a form of undeserved special treatment.

Obama himself has addressed the question of race sporadically and cautiously, no doubt reasoning that white conservatives would seize on a full-scale assault on unconscious and structural racism as evidence of bias or self-interest. With Donald Trump in the White House, Democrats and progressives have a fresh opportunity to attack the problem of racism in all its guises.

They wont have the support of the president or a Congressional majority, until the 2018 midterm elections at least. But racism has always run deeper than the electoral cycle. Solving it demands education, dialogue, protest, activism and energy. These resources will be in limited supply given the sheer number of challenges thrown up by a Trump presidency, but they will be vital to the work of healing the deepest division in American life.

Nicholas Guyatt, University Lecturer in American History, University of Cambridge

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Maan News Agency |  

GAZA (Maan)  Health services in a childrens hospital in Gaza will be suspended for more than a day due to a lack of fuel to power its generators, the Ministry of Health of the besieged Palestinian enclave said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ministry said that the al-Durrah childrens hospital would be out of commission for 27 hours due to the power shortage, adding that other hospitals across Gaza faced similar risks.

It further warned of the terrible consequences of a lack of fuel on the lives of patients dependent on electric and electronic equipment.

Even at full capacity, Egyptian and Israeli electricity grids, together with Gazas sole power plant, fail to cover the Gaza Strips energy needs and only provide energy to Gazas inhabitants for eight hours each day.

The Israeli blockade, which limits the amount of fuel allowed into the Palestinian territory, has also impeded the capacity to repair Gazas damaged infrastructure in the wake of a devastating Israeli offensive in 2014.

Gazas power plant has not run at full capacity in years, as the enclave has experienced severe electricity shortages over the years, exacerbating already dire living conditions in the small Palestinian territory, leading the UN in 2015 to warn that Gaza could be uninhabitable by 2020.

Meanwhile, the World Bank said on Wednesday that the lack of electricity access was severely impeding infrastructure projects to address the Gaza Strips alarming access to clean water.

Via Maan News Agency
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Revised and updated.

By Juan Cole | 

The popular story about Thanksgiving is an environmental parable that we would do well to remember today. It was a harvest festival in 1621, participated in by the 50 (out of 100) survivors at Plymouth Plantation and 90 Native Americans. Some of these latter, such as Squanto, had shared with the white undocumented aliens arriving in Wampanoag territory their local techniques of fishing and corn farming. In some subsequent years there were droughts that threatened the colony.

If the Pilgrims faced Coldworld and its weather and agricultural challenges, today we face Hotworld. Just as they looked to the Native Americans for cues on how to survive in that cold environment, we should look at indigenous peoples current environmental initiatives to understand how to avoid heating the earth more than the further nearly 4 degrees F. that we already certainly will. (4 degrees F. is a global average, including the relatively cold oceans, and some places will experience a much greater increase in heat than that). It is obvious that the US Federal government will be useless or actually pernicious on this issue for some years to come, so we have to do this ourselves.

Todays native Americans are fighting a wide range of human-caused climate crises or budding crises. Theres been relatively little coverage of it on corporate television news, but Native Americans of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters in North Dakota have for months been protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline [DAPL] . They fear oil spills and pollution of their water supplies, a perfectly reasonable apprehension. What is worse, burning petroleum certainly causes climate change, and the more drilling and the more pipelines, the faster we cook everybody on earth. Despite the constitutions guarantee of the right of assembly for peaceful protest, the local authorities and the corporations have conspired to criminalize these rallies. A few days ago, in the frigid weather, police unleashed water cannons and tear gas canisters on the protesters, leaving some hospitalized.

ABC News: Police Use Water Cannon on Dakota Pipeline Protesters [Drone Footage]

The DAPL struggle is not the only one being waged by indigenous communities.

Native Americans in Canada largely oppose tar sands oil extraction, which is highly polluting and ruinous of water supplies. T

The Sioux in South Dakota had announced that the Keystone XL pipeline for dirty tar sands oil must not run through their land, by treaty with the US. That pipeline project was denied by the Obama administration in 2015 after years of review.

The Moapa Paiutes are celebrating the advent of solar power and the beginning of the end of coal power in southern Nevada. The Department of Energy says, Located 30 miles north of Las Vegas, the 250-megawatt solar photovoltaic project is being built by First Solar and is providing jobs and training for members of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians (Moapa Paiutes). Some 25% of the workforce building the plant are themselves Moapa Paiutes.

They are having a solar plant built on tribal lands, which will allow them meet their own needs and to sell electricity to Los Angeles. Best of all, they can envision the closing of the dirty coal plant that has given them respiratory diseases.

The Reid Gardner coal plant is indeed closing, in 2017, after the the tribe was paid $4.3 million because of its adverse health effects on them. The bulk of the money will be used for clean-up.

The Sioux and the Paiutes are our modern-day Squantos, teaching us how to live sustainably in a North America they have inhabited for thousands of years longer than have Euro-Americans. The Pilgrims, despite their conviction of European superiority, were humble enough to learn what they could from the natives, which was the only way they could survive. Can we be as humble, today?

The pilgrims in 1621 faced a harsher climate than had Leif Erikson when he came to North America around 980 during the European medieval warming period. From 1550 to 1850, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere fell by an average of about 1.3 degrees F (1 degree C.), during what has been called the Little Ice Age. This fall in temperature was exacerbated in the 1500s and 1600s by a slight decrease in atmospheric carbon of 6 to 10 parts per million. Stanford University geochemist Richard Nevle has argued that the great die-off of Native Americans, who were exposed to European diseases for which they had no antibodies, contributed to this decrease of carbon dioxide and fall in temperature. They ceased burning trees for fuel, and the forests recovered, with millions of new trees absorbing CO2.

Science News explains:

By the end of the 15th century, between 40 million and 100 million people are thought to have been living in the Americas. Many of them burned trees to make room for crops, leaving behind charcoal deposits that have been found in the soils of Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries. About 500 years ago, this charcoal accumulation plummeted as the people themselves disappeared. Smallpox, diphtheria and other diseases from Europe ultimately wiped out as much as 90 percent of the indigenous population. Trees returned, reforesting an area at least the size of California, Nevle estimated. This new growth could have soaked up between 2 billion and 17 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air.

That is, the cold winters that challenged the English immigrants (and which they played down in their letters back home) had in part been caused by the very European influx of which they were a part!

From about 1750, however, Europeans started substantially increasing their burning of wood and coal so as to drive steam engines and make the industrial revolution. In that year, there were roughly 278 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and it was relatively cold. Today there are over 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere and it is on average over 2 degrees F. (1.5 degrees C.) warmer now than then.

We can make our Thanksgivings greener and greener in coming years.

We can make sure our homes are insulated, which will cut down on our fuel costs and carbon production, and will make them more cozy for guests.

We can put solar panels on our homes to generate electricity to run the television and other appliances for our family and guests.

Those who go to church, synagogue or mosque on Thanksgiving can make sure that their religious edifices are powered by solar panels. A temple that burns fossil fuels is paying dues to the devil, not glorifying the God of wisdom who commands good stewardship of earth.

We can drive to the homes of our family and friends for the dinner in electric cars or plug-in hybrids, fueled from the rooftop solar panels (which are falling steeply in price). If we fly, we can buy carbon offsets from the Nature Conservancy or eat vegetarian often enough to make up for it (solar-powered and biofuel-powered airplanes are around the corner).

We can lobby our electric utility to turn to wind turbines, as Iowa and Texas increasingly have, which supplements the solar generation. A third of Iowas electricity comes from wind. Not all states are equally blessed with its wind resources. But Michigan, e.g., does have promising wind generation areas in the Thumb and on the Lake Michigan shore, which it has quite shamefully done almost nothing with.

We can avoid beef, the most carbon-intensive protein (not so hard, since who eats beef on Thanksgiving?) and can try to buy local produce to prepare the meal.

Some will say these steps are not enough; but they are more than most Americans have undertaken and would be a good start.

Thanksgiving in the American popular tradition hasnt only been about being thankful for food abundance. It has been gratitude for survival and adaptation in an alien clime. We are all now entering an alien clime, of a warming globe a world hotter than it has been since the mid-Pliocene some 3 million years ago, when the seas were 25 yards/ meters higher and the northern hemisphere 10-20 degrees hotter than now (it had 400 ppm of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere too). Survival and adaptation require us now to change a lot of habits and become sustainable, and ASAP. Like the Pilgrims, half of whom died in their first year, we face an emergency.
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ELKO  A local homeless man, who was trained as a firefighter, now helps others stay warm.

Roy said he lost his job during an operations transition at the plant he worked at in May of 2010 and has become homeless as a result. The training he received through his previous job as a firefighter reinforced his natural inclination to help others as he shares his limited resources and valuable time in support of people in the community.

On Tuesday as the sun was going down Roy was helping Brad, one of the residents of Elkos homeless camp, the get his tent off the ground and away from moisture that causes mildew. Roy doesnt live in Tent City himself but he feels connected to the residents there.

When asked why he was helping, Roy replied firefighters cannot distinguish between people, cannot allow themselves an ethical question on whether to help or not, we just help. He said he sees someone who needs help and does what he can even though hes limited himself.

Roy explained that he felt a kinship with Brad as someone with similar ethics and instincts as a caretaker of the weak. They had met a few days before when Roy first approached Tent City to offer hand warmers to the residents there. Brad was the gentleman Roy handed the task of distributing the hand warmers to, and, as Roy soon observed, Brad cared for his fellow residents. Roy said it had become obvious when he watched Brad making himself responsible for getting one man to the bus on time for an appointment.

While Roy and Brad were preparing to move Brads tent Brad spoke of the help he has received, and seen others receive, at the hands of some local community members. He spoke of a group called Underdog Ministries as well as Friends in Service Helping, FISH. Both, according to Brad, have been instrumental in supporting the residents at Tent City.

Fish recently brought everyone that needed one a new cooler and they, according to Brad, maintain the latrine facilities.

Underdog Ministries supplied Brad and the other residents with portable propane heaters. They were also the ones that provided the pallets, plywood and tarps that Brad was using to get his tent off the ground.

The two men plan to continue helping each other, the people at Tent City, and the community. They want to do volunteer work as a show of gratitude toward the people that have helped them and to promote a more positive attitude between the City of Elko and the residents of Tent City.

Roy wanted to share this evening prayer:

 help us endure the night.

Give us strength tomorrow as we walk the corridors of life

 and hold heads high.
Do not let trials and pains overwhelm you.

Pope Francis said this during Mass in Mexico City on the night of last Feb. 13, while at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Moments after Mass ended, news broke that Justice Antonin Scalia had died. I was stunned, as was America.

My friend Bill McGurn at The Wall Street Journal called this the Justice Scalia election. Its an apt name, in more ways than one. I read his column as I listened to church ladies in Florida tell me they had to vote for Donald Trump, despite their misgivings because Supreme Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was the place that seemed to make bad laws, affirm unconstitutional laws, and keep good laws from remaining if interest groups were persistent and strategic enough. And that wasnt quite the way the Constitution sounded in school or Schoolhouse Rock.

When Pope Francis was in Mexico last February, he preached on the Gospel of the day, the Visitation. A pregnant Mary went out to meet her cousin Elizabeth, and She set out without delay, without doubts, without lessening her pace, to be with her relative who was in the last months of her pregnancy. Marys world was somewhat upended when presented with the news that she had been called to be the mother of God. It was the end of the world as she knew it, you could say. But she had peacefulness, confidence and a love that could not be shaken. She went on, she moved forward, she knew who she was in the eyes of her Creator.

Looking around at the reactions to the results of the election, its hard to shake the idea that there was a message to take from the convergence of events on February 13.

Hope was mentioned six times in his homily during Mass. What did the election of Donald Trump  and the defeat of Hillary Clinton  mean for hope and change, the mantra of Barack Obama?

I was thinking about this on the way to Friday Mass at St. Patricks Cathedral three days after the election, passing the security all around Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, noticing that most of the people who put Trump over the top  those difference-makers in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  probably couldnt afford to shop in many of the stores I was passing.

The people who put their misgivings about Trump aside voted for him because theyve had it with politics, theyve had it with business as usual. For most of the people I know and have talked to over the past year-plus who supported Trump, Make America Great Again is about a culture of dreams and the hope of them being achieved. They reject hope as a political manipulation. Trump is a bigly gamble, but hes not more of the same ideological and bureaucratic stranglehold.

In Guadalupe, Pope Francis said there are so many situations which leave us powerless, which make us feel that there is no room for hope, for change, for transformation. He encouraged his listeners, saying: We can build shrines by sharing the joy of knowing that we are not alone.

Is there any doubt, listening to some of the cry-ins on university campuses and grief and grievances on the streets, that the Beatitudes are needed? Could this mess of an election make for a more ordered view of politics? Where were not looking for it to give us hope, but to the people who serve out of religious ideals and commitment, people who help make hope real and change less overwhelming.
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah (AP)  A Utah man has been arrested for what federal agents say is the manufacture of tens of thousands of dangerous opioid pain medication pills a day from his home.

Aaron Michael Shamo, 26, was arrested Tuesday after agents found 70,000 pills in his Cottonwood Heights home that were made to look like oxycodone but actually contained fentanyl. Authorities say they also discovered 25,000 Xanax pills, the anti-anxiety drug.

Shamo sold the pills by shipping them by mail throughout the United States, authorities said. He received shipments of the powdery substance of Fentanyl from China, they say. He has been running the pill press for at least the last few months.

Shamos court-appointed attorney wasnt immediately available for comment.

Brian Besser of the Drug Enforcement Administration told the Deseret News that it is dangerous to sell fentanyl pills to people who think they are getting oxycodone because fentanyl can be deadly to non-opioid users.

Fentanyl was blamed for the death of rock musician Prince earlier this year, authorities said.

It also contributed to the death this year of longtime 3 Doors Down guitarist Matt Roberts, who was found dead in a Wisconsin hotel. An Alabama doctor accused of illegally prescribing drugs to Roberts was charged this month. His attorney says the doctor didnt do anything wrong.

If convicted, Shamo faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
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My new patient looked around dodging my eye contact, scanning the ceiling, the room, and me. I felt that she was hiding something. In my clinic, I often find it one of the most difficult challenges to get new patients to open up, and one of the most beautiful moments when they finally do. I stopped interviewing midsentence and took a step back.

Lets just get to know each other. Im here to help you, not to judge. Her eyes landed on the rainbow LGBT+ ally sticker on my badge, and she sighed a breath of relief as she sunk back, relaxed in the chair.

When we see doctors, we are at some of the most vulnerable points in our lives. This is when we are weakest, and when we most need support. But when we go to that first appointment we still worry about how open we can be about ourselves, and how open we should be. The doctor might make assumptions or treat us differently depending on what language we speak, our religion, what clothes we wear, how intelligent we appear, our occupation, our weight  the list of worries goes on and on. Its possible to find doctors on websites like Healthgrades, look up reviews, talk to friends  but you cant expect to know how accepting they might be of you until your first appointment  and that can be incredibly nerve-wracking. In this unfortunate climate of rampant hate and prejudice, it is understandably worrisome when you have to choose a new doctor to care for something as intimate and important as your health.

As a doctor, I still find it intimidating when I visit a new doctors office for my own care. Neither websites nor reviews talk about how open and accepting doctors are of our beliefs, or of us as individuals. Websites dont describe how a doctor might respond to a patient who wants to talk about sensitive topics such as sex with multiple partners, drug use, alcohol intake, sexual orientation, religion, or issues like difficulty getting food or being homeless. None of these factors should matter, especially not in the field of medicine where doctors are taught to relieve the suffering of all people  and yet they are still difficult topics to bring up in a climate of overt xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and so on. There has been tremendous progress in our collective fight for freedom and rights, but the fear and anxiety of being different remain. It is imperative that those of us who condemn this type of discrimination stand up, speak up loudly, and not be apologetic about showing how accepting we are.

I hope that all my patients can open up to me about their joys and suffering  only then can I offer the best care. Details about patients backgrounds, life stories, and habits help me provide superior care for them because I know them better holistically. Patients know their bodies, habits, stresses, goals, and their overall lives much better than any doctor ever could. Some patients may be scared to admit that they used heroin or smoke cigarettes because they dont know how I might respond or if I might be judgmental, but my only concern is how I can help them with reach their goals of care. When my patients disclose these sensitive details about themselves, I am proud of them for being brave enough to share something so intimate, and I take it as a small triumph that something in my office and our interaction made them feel comfortable enough to trust me as a partner in their health.

I humbly propose to all health care providers that those who are working as hard as we can to be welcoming should not assume that because we know we are open-minded, patients would automatically feel comfortable with talking about sensitive issues with us. Display signs of openness and acceptance  these can be as simple as a rainbow or coexist sticker, or statements such as: Tell me anything; Im here for you.

To patients: If you found a provider and you are comfortable in that office but dont notice any obvious welcoming signs, remember that other people might not be as fortunate or brave as you and could really use an outward symbol of acceptance and openness. We must work together to create environments that allow patients to feel comfortable to share all important information and ideas without worrying that they will be judged or treated differently.

This is certainly not a new concept; in my hospital, we occasionally see flashes of a small rainbow flag on ID badges, and there are posters in our clinic reminding women they dont have to remove their hijabs and that all patients have a right to be comfortable with their provider. In medical school, we had volunteer LGBT+ training to improve our interactions with sexual minorities, and were then offered the opportunity to wear a rainbow caduceus pin on our white coats to show that we are trained allies. We can do more. A glimpse of rainbow here and there is helpful, but if we as providers cant clearly and unmistakably declare our openness, how can we expect patients to be absolutely comfortable sharing their intimate stories with us?

In this era when hatred is so unfortunately trumpeted, it is even more important for us as doctors to show explicitly how accepting we are. We must create safe zones for all people to feel okay with being vulnerable, knowing that they would be supported no matter what they believe and what they stand for. As we create easily identifiable safe zones in medicine, we encourage more people to be fully open and vulnerable, knowing that their doctors will accept them for who they are.

Dominic Wu is a family medicine resident.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The Spanish government admits that if a bill put forward by the leftist group Unidos Podemos to raise the minimum wage gets greenlighted by parliament, it will have no choice but to apply it. Although the ruling Popular Party (PP) opposes raising the minimum salary from 655.20 a month to 800 on January 1, 2018, there is no legal way to stop it, given that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is heading a minority government with no power to impose its views in a fragmented Congress.

Labor Minister Fatima Banez speaks in Congress. Jaime Villanueva

The bill was introduced on Tuesday and will now go to committee, undergo amendments, return to the lower house and be referred to the Senate.

If the text passes in both houses, the government will have no choice but to enact it into law, admitted sources at La Moncloa, the seat of government.

The bill still needs to overcome a series of hurdles

If so, it will be the first opposition-sponsored initiative to be approved against the PPs wishes and affecting economic policy.

Although the Constitution allows the executive to veto bills that could throw the budget off balance, Rajoy cannot fall back on this option because the wage hike would go into effect in 2018, and therefore does not affect the current public accounts.

Once the law is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the PP could lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court, but this would not stop its going into effect.

Union leaders Pepe Alvarez of UGT and Ignacio F. Toxo of CCOO have repeatedly asked for a wage raise. EFE

Partial amendments

The bill still needs to overcome a series of hurdles, including differing viewpoints by the various opposition parties. At the amendment stage, the Socialist Party (PSOE) will ask for the wage raise to be more gradual, while regional pro-independence parties will request leeway to apply a different index depending on the region.

Rajoy and Labor Minister Fatima Banez are scheduled to meet with union and employer representatives on Thursday to discuss the matter of minimum wages. Spains two major labor unions, CC OO and UGT, have been repeatedly demanding a quick hike to 800, followed by a more gradual raise to 1,000 (spread out over 14 monthly payments).

English version by Susana Urra.
In light of Pope Francis' statement last Monday, which granted priests the right to forgive abortion, the Diocese of Laredo has released a statement regarding the his announcement.

Although the Catholic Church's stance on abortion has not changed saying the action is viewed as a "grave sin," the announcement makes it easier for women who have had abortions to be absolved for their actions and rejoin the church.

Bishop Tamayo's statement reads in part:

"I am pleased that this permission has been bestowed upon all priests of the Universal Church. I pray that, through Pope Francis' directive and God's infinite mercy, people whose lives have been affected by the tragic act of abortion may find peace and advocate for the defense of the life of the child in the womb."

To view the bishop's statement in full, you can click on the attached document.
ATLANTIC SKIES: Stellar asterisms  eye-catching pretenders to the constellation throne and just part of the bigger picture

Most everyone, or at least most amateur astronomers, are familiar with the constellations in the night sky to some degree. Many, however, may not be familiar with the numerous asterisms in the night sky. What is the difference between a constellation ...
As much as investors may not want to hear it, they could be facing bear markets again just like they did back in 2008 and 2002. As anyone who knows the history of the market can tell you, it's not a matter of if the market takes a downturn; it's a matter of when.

People nearing retirement or those who have already retired have to ask themselves if they can handle facing a bear market with the negative impact it can have on their portfolios. Resoundingly, most investors approaching retirement answer that question with a no. If the stock market faces an enormous downturn, retirees and people close to retirement will have concerns that they won't have the ability or time to recover their lost wealth.

However, investors in this situation might be able to survive a bear market by changing the tactics they have used over the years. That could mean temporarily getting out of the stock market. Even investors who have diversified their market holdings to cut down on risk could find themselves in peril if the market takes a dive. After all, from the end of 2007 to March 2009, the stock market fell 57%. Of course, the stock market has done much better, with no negative years, since then. But questions about how that growth was built certainly need to be asked. With the Federal Reserve pushing quantified easing programs, debt remains a major concern both nationally and internationally. Investors need to be prepared when the stock market goes south again.

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All investors have unique needs and face different situations but those near retirement simply can't weather another immense downturn in the market. Think of a bear market like a major storm such as a hurricane or a tsunami. Before a storm hits, people need to craft and implement a safety plan, making their preparations such as stocking up on food, water and other supplies and getting to a secure location. Of course, the storm may pass on by and plenty of people will count on just that, not bothering to prepare for it. By doing nothing, these people are taking a major gamble since we all know what can result from a major storm from loss of life to other devastation.

Investors face a similar choice when they see signs of a market downturn. Some of them will choose to do nothing, relying on the buy and hold tactics they used before, hoping the market will become back in the near term. We certainly saw plenty of investors follow that path during the last bear market. But other investors opted for another plan which worked out well for them: heading to safety.

In the next bear market, many retirees and people about to retire should embrace a sell strategy. This worked well for investors both in the 2001-2002 downturn and the most recent 2007-2009 bear market. By selling stocks and heading to the financial sidelines, investors were able to preserve much of their wealth. They turned to low volatility bond investments and money market accounts to preserve what is in their nest egg. These options offered security and safety even as the stock markets were ravaged. Conversely, investors who relied on buy and hold tactics took major losses during those downturns while still withdrawing funds to live on, money that could not be recovered even as the market bounced back.

Following a hold and sell strategy during a downturn will also offer investors protection if the market never recovers. As nightmarish as it is to contemplate, there's never any guarantee that the market will see a short-term recovery. Look at Japan, for example, where the market peaked back in 1989. More than two and a half decades later, Japan's market is down 60% from that height. Sure, historically the American markets have bounced back after downturns but there are no guarantees.

Using a hold and sell strategy doesn't mean you're abandoning the market. Over the last century, the stock market has been the best performing asset class. But it proves volatile during a downturn, and money should be moved out of it to control the risk.

By turning to low volatility bonds and money market accounts, investors still have their money liquid and available to take advantage of the opportunity to get back in the stock market when the trends are more favorable. It's nice to have that additional flexibility which is why investors who used a hold and sell strategy did well as they got back into the stock market in 2003 and 2009 when there was great growth potential. Investors at or near retirement need protection and short term bonds and money market accounts can offer excellent shelter from the storms.

Nino Pavan, the president of Financial Designs, has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years. He is a Certified Financial Planner and Investment Advisor Representative.

Kevin Derby contributed to this article.
Technological advancements in the financial field are changing the way people invest, bank, pay bills and manage money.

While the instruments and software out there look like they may put us financial advisers, brokers and insurance professionals out of business, we, for the most part, actually welcome these new pocket overlords.

The fact is you can't walk through a public place anymore without seeing many people with their noses on their mobile phones, listening to music, conversing on wireless frequencies or searching online for whatever.

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It really is amazing what we have at our fingertipsincluding apps that can assist us with investment options and money management. Here are a couple of free apps that do just that:

Mint, Bills & Money

This technology is devised by Intuit, which created Turbo Tax, Quick Books and Quicken. It stays on top of your bills and money. All you have to do is set it up once, and it does the rest. It monitors your bank accounts and reminds you when bills are due. It even transfers funds to pay those bills. You won't miss a bill or suffer an overdraft, and the app has bank-level security.

Prosper Daily

I like this app for budgeting purposes. It allows you to see all your accounts at once. It also tracks credit scores and works wonders in managing and budgeting cash, savings and investments. It organizes all financial activity and balances on credit and debit cards and bank accounts while analyzing spending habits and transactions. It even alerts you to suspicious activity.

These apps are just a peek into what the future will be like when it comes to personal finance. Investing, seemingly the last task you want to trust to a machine, has also seen upgrades in technology and software. With robo-investment advisers, clients plug in certain information, such as how much they want to invest, what their acceptable risk is and how much return they want. Based on that information, the robo consultant, through sophisticated algorithms, picks investments that suit the need.

Over the next five to 10 years, the robos could take a chunk of business away from living, breathing advisers who like to talk to clients in person. As a generation that's comfortable with computers telling them what to do ages into retirement, robo advisers will likely become more common.

But I still don't think they will ever completely replace the human adviser. After all, one thing computers can't do is read emotions. I'm a face-to-face business person and so are most of my clients. They like to see me and talk in person. When a person is sitting across the table from me, I can tell by their body language, tone and overall demeanor if I'm building a financial plan that aligns with their financial goals. Eventually, the time and effort that goes into building a relationship with a client results in loyalty and trust. Computers can't replace the trust built through genuine, human relationships.

But you don't have to choose one over the other. Advisers and technology can work well together to make your financial life easier. For example, my clients can ask a question or share information with me in a text message. Skype allows me to get that much-needed face time with clients even when we can't be in the same room.

Of course, as technology gains a toehold in the business of investments and finance, there are dangers. For example, people tend to head online whenever they have a question about anything, including investing. That search could provide you with great informationor terrible information.

Take everything you read online with a grain of skepticism. But overall, technology provides great tools for both clients and advisers. I'm eager to see where it takes us next.

Ben Schrock is an Investment Adviser Representative, Insurance Professional and president of B.A. Schrock Financial Group, an independent, full-service financial advising firm in Wadsworth, Ohio. He has more than eight years' experience in the insurance and annuity industry and holds his life and health insurance licenses in Ohio and West Virginia.

Investment advisory services offered through AE Wealth Management, LLC.

Keith Morelli contributed to this article.
* Foreign stock-selling likely to increase during the day -analyst

* No specific momentum for a rebound seen in the market

SEOUL, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The South Korean won and shares sagged early on Thursday as the U.S. dollar's rebound in global markets undermined foreign investors' appetite for riskier assets.

Ongoing political scandal also pressured the overall South Korean market as prosecutors raided the offices of Lotte Group and SK Group as part of their widening investigation into an influence-peddling scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The won stood at 1,182.6 as of 0224 GMT, down 0.5 percent compared to Wednesday's close of 1,176.2.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.8 percent at 1,972.18 points.

"The amount of foreign stock-dumping is likely to increase during the session due to the strong dollar and the absence of any momentum for the South Korean market to rebound," said Ha Keon-hyeong, a foreign exchange analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.

Offshore investors were expected to be net sellers, offloading 74.8 billion Korean won ($63.25 million) worth of KOSPI shares near mid-session, weighing on the index.

Automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor Co was up more than 1 percent while steelmaker Posco lost 1.1 percent.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 658 to 167.

December futures on three-year treasury bonds shed 0.15 point to 109.10.

0224 GMT Prev close Dollar/won 1,182.6 1,176.2 Yen/won 10.4934/53 10.4923 *KTB futures 109.10 109.25 KOSPI 1,972.18 1,987.95 * Front-month futures on three-year treasury bonds

(Reporting by Dahee Kim; Editing by Eric Meijer)
HANOI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official market and indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi at 0059 GMT.

Nov 24 Nov 23 USD/VND mid-point 22,131 22,118

USD/VND interbank 22,600/22,680 22,625/22,645 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 35.66/35.84 35.68/35.86

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank quotes are indicative bid/ask prices.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co, the gold manufacturer.

Interbank offered rates are indicative, quoted from market sources.

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
HANOI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0411 GMT.

Nov 24 Nov 23 USD/VND mid-point 22,131 22,118 USD/VND interbank 22,700/22,790 22,625/22,645 USD/VND unofficial 22,850/22,950 22,670/22,710 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 35.46/35.68 35.68/35.86

Interbank offered rates Overnight 1.5-1.7 1.3-1.8

1 week 1.5-1.9 1.4-1.9

1 month 2.5-2.8 2.4-2.8

3 months 4.6-4.8 4.2-4.8

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.

For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
(Kitco News) - After Wednesdays nearly 2% drop in gold, investors have a one-day reprieve as U.S. markets are closed for Thanksgiving, and according to some analysts, the outlook is mixed.

Among technical indicators, the gold market saw a fairly bearish signal on Wednesday as priced dropped below $1,200 an ounce and the 50-day moving average slipped below the 200-day moving average, forming what is called a death cross, a signal of continued downward momentum in the near-term.

Wednesday markets settled the session at $1,189.30 an ounce, its lowest level since February.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Canada, said that while momentum could favor lower prices in the near-term, he does see signs that the yellow metal is due for a bounce.

When gold broke through $1,200 yesterday, it triggered a mass of automated selling and that has pushed the market into extremely oversold territory, he said.

Cieszynski added that gold is now in the 50-62% retracement range from its December 2015 lows to its July highs, explaining that traditionally, this technical box is where most corrections are halted.

The key will be $1,170. If gold can hold $1,170 then I think we could see the market bounce back. But if this price doesnt hold then gold is in trouble, he said.

Another positive Cieszynski highlighted for gold is the U.S. dollar, which he said is in extremely overbought territory and due for a correction.

I think the U.S. dollar has been too aggressive in pricing in Fed rate hikes and I think we are eventually going to see a pullback, he said.

Sam Laughlin, precious metals trader at MKS Switzerland SA, said in a research note Thursday that he is also looking for gold to test support at $1,173 an ounce. However, he added that it will be difficult for gold to push past resistance now at $1,200 an ounce.

Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Markets, said that he could see gold prices fall as low as $1,110 an ounce in the near-term; however, he also agreed that the market is severely oversold.

With the price so heavily oversold some kind of rebound, if only as far as $1220, is still possible. If a rally does materialize, it could go as far as $1250 in the short-term, he said.

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

Follow @Neils_C
Nov 24 - The following stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Thursday:

Fingerprint Cards Large shareholders in Fingerprint are discontent with a generous management option programme and are prepared to vote against it at a shareholder meeting later this month, Swedish Svenska Dagbladet daily reported in its online edition on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

Mattias Eriksson who works with investor relations at the company confirmed there has been dissatisfaction among large shareholders.

"They have not been given the chance to be part of this decision. Usually, things like this are being discussed with large shareholders in advance, but that has not been the case here," he told the newspaper.

For more on the company, double click on Intrum Justitia Ed Cooper, fund manager at TT International which oversees funds of 6.5 billion dollars, thinks Intrum Justitia is paying too much for Lindorff, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri (DI) reported on Thursday.

Cooper manages TT Event-Driven fund, which mainly holds Intrum Justitia bonds, while other parts of TT International hold shares, DI wrote.

For more on the company, double click on ** For a summary of upcoming results and forecasts, double click on ** For the western European company diary covering earnings, shareholder meetings, news conferences and analysts' meetings, click on or type in the code and hit the f9 button.

** Double click on for Swedish indices, for Danish indices, for Finnish indices and for Norwegian indices

** For real-time moves on Nordic blue-chip indices double click on , , and ** For constituent stock moves highlight the above codes in the command box and press the f3 button on your keyboard

** For Nordic top news items, double click on ** For the latest news on Nordic stock price moves double click on (Reporting by Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm newsrooms)

Keywords: MARKETS NORDICS FACTORS/
Air pollution caused an estimated 29,980 premature deaths in in Spain in 2013 according to the Air quality in Europe  2016 report released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Wednesday. This number, based on data obtained from official monitoring stations around Europe, marks a slight downturn on the EEAs 2012 estimate for deaths in Spain of 33,200.

Early deaths from air pollution are a major health issue. CLAUDIO ALVAREZ

For the European Union (EU) as a whole, the total number of deaths attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2,5 ), ground-level ozone (O 3 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) was nearly 520,000 in 2013, up from 491,000 a year earlier.

In terms of individual contaminants, the EEA stressed that PM 2,5 , linked to traffic and diesel fuel, was responsible for most pollution-related deaths in 2013, both in the EU as a whole and Spain in particular.

We need to tackle the root causes of air pollution, transforming mobility, energy and food systems EEA

Germany (73,400 deaths), Italy (66,630 deaths), France (45,120) and Poland (48,270) headed up the list of countries with most early deaths linked to exposure to PM 2,5 in 2013 . The EEA put the number of such deaths in Spain at 23,940 in that year. For the EU, the total figure was 436,000.

The ozone problem

The EEA study stresses that Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Poland are most affected when it comes to early deaths related to O 3 exposure. This exposure was the cause of 1,760 deaths in Spain in 2013 according to the environmental watchdog.

A recent study by the green group Ecologists in Action stated that from 2014 to 2016, 10.2 million Spaniards, or 21.8% of the population, lived in areas where legal exposure to O 3 limits was exceeded. While levels for other contamination have dropped during Spains long economic crisis, this has not been the case with O 3. This gas is not produced directly during the burning of fossil fuels or through industrial processes. However, these activities generate precursors which  in combination with solar radiation  form ozone in the lower layers of the atmosphere.

The third contaminant analyzed by the EEA was NO 2 , which is also related to traffic. This was estimated to be responsible for 4,280 premature deaths in Spain in 2013 while the figure for 41 countries studied by the EEA was 71,000.

Emission reductions have led to improvements in air quality in Europe, but not enough to avoid unacceptable damage to human health and the environment, said EEA Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx on the release of the study.

Early deaths due to exposure to ground-level ozone have not fallen during Spain's economic crisis

We need to tackle the root causes of air pollution, which calls for a fundamental and innovative transformation of our mobility, energy and food systems. This process of change requires action from us all, including public authorities, businesses, citizens and the research community.

In Spain, Madrid has the worst record for air pollution levels, and one of the blackest spots is the area around its central Retiro Park. Other cities with areas that consistently show dangerously high levels of air pollution are Barcelona, Granada, Palma de Mallorca and Bilbao, according to Spains Environment Ministry.

In early November, Madrid unveiled draft proposals aimed at cleaning up the citys air including a possible ban on the cars of non-residents in the city center.

English version by George Mills.
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that could affect Poland's financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

PGNIG Polish gas company PGNiG to hold shareholder meeting at 1100 GMT.

MINUTES

Polish central bank to release minutes from its November sitting at 1300 GMT.

ENERGY

Poland's energy ministry plans to spend 13.4 billion zlotys ($3.19 billion) on support for renewable sources of energy over the next 15 years, the Puls Biznesu daily reported, quoting a ministry statement. The paper said that the support will mostly go to new biomass and biogas installations.

ENGIE French utility Engie has talked with the Polish energy ministry about the offers it has received for its coal-fuelled power plant in Polaniec, in the south of Poland, Puls Biznesu said, quoting unnamed ministry sources.

The bidders are Polish state-run utility Enea , a group of Chinese investors and Sunning International, local media has said. Poland has a say in the deal because the plant is key to its electricity system.

CONSTRUCTION

Polish construction companies fear that a rush of public tenders delayed by last year's parliamentary election could result in a dangerous surge in construction materials prices, the Rzeczpospolita daily said, quoting industry representatives.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****

For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 4.2034 zlotys)

(Editing by David Goodman) Keywords: POLAND FACTORS/
New road, sidewalks coming to Almira Drive, View Ridge Elementary

The city is pursuing a nearly $5 million project that will reconstruct Almira Drive, and create a safer route for pedestrians with new sidewalks.
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The cruel yet lucrative pastime of dog fighting could soon be a thing of the past in Mexico with legislators and animal rights groups working overtime to stamp it out for good. On Wednesday the Mexican Senate green-lighted draft legal reforms which would, if passed, see organization of events banned at the federal level.

An abandoned pitbull found in a car in Aguascalientes in 2015. Amigos Pro Animal

At the same time, animal rights groups have introduced two initiatives into the countrys Congress. These aim to extend this prohibition to every aspect of the activity from the breeding and sale of the animals used to the brutal training regimes undergone by the dogs and even possible punishment for people who attend dog-fighting events.

Dog fights occupy a special place in the Mexican popular imagination but a recent study shows that only 1% of people are in favor of these events, while 80% would like to see a ban.

Many Mexican states are currently looking at restrictions for cruel spectacles involving animals, with the current legal framework insufficient in most cases, according to civil organizations who say competitions involving fighting dogs continue to openly take place during municipal celebrations around the country.

More information Mexico estrecha el cerco sobre las peleas de perros

The new draft text of Mexicos environmental law makes provision for a ban on the organizing, inducing or provoking of dog fights, and activists now hope the reform will see final approval within the next three months.

Its good news in terms of getting rid of this practice. Organizers usually brutally kill dogs who lose. And the animals who emerge out as winners often die because of hemorrhages, injuries or infections caused by the fight. These events also cause emotional damage and affect dogs mental states, because no animal is aggressive by nature, says Anton Aguilar, executive director of the Humane Society International of Mexico, part of a US organization which operates on both sides of the border.

Organized crime mafias are often involved in dog fighting events Anton Aguilar, Humane Society International

Aguilar says there has been a spike in dog fights in Mexico and Central America after a ban was put in place in the US. This activity has more wide-ranging consequences than animal abuse. The dogs are worth thousands of dollars and bets are very high. Organized crime mafias are often involved in these events, he explains.

Even winning dogs often die from injuries sustained in fights.

Against this backdrop, more than 200 civil organizations  including groups working to fight human trafficking  have brought to Congress two legislative proposals aimed at changing the penal code to include punishment for those involved in activities in and around dog fighting.

The most important thing is that every part of the business chain is classified as a crime: from breeding and commercialization of species to the store owners and betting slip sellers, and people who go to dog fights. The fights usually take place at night and in isolated locations. It is very difficult for police to catch organizers in flagrante delicto, says Aguilar.

English version by George Mills.
SOLitude helps over 200 families at Thanksgiving through Little GOBBLERs program







SOLitude team members Jackson Minnich (R), Wildlife and Fisheries Scientist, and Kim Niesel (C), Senior Business Development Consultant, helped deliver turkeys to schools in Newport News, Virginia. Larry Hawkins (R), Family Engagement Specialist for Newport News Public Schools, was extremely appreciative of the donation that will help families in need this Thanksgiving.



NASHVILLE  SOLitude Lake Management, an industry leader in lake and pond management, fisheries management and related environmental services for the United States, donated over $5,000 in turkeys and grocery store gift cards to 228 under resourced families to enhance their Thanksgiving celebration.



Donations made through SOLitudes Little GOBBLERs program this year increased 46 percent over 2015. Twenty-one elementary, middle and high schools identified a need for Thanksgiving meal donations within their schools and received donations.



The schools are located in Murfreesboro, TN; Jackson, MS; Hearne, TX; Charleston, SC; Lincoln, DE; Whitinsville, MA; Fort Plain, NY; West Grove, PA; Oxford, NJ; Lincoln, DE; Charlottesville, VA; Fredericksburg, VA; Virginia Beach, VA; Norfolk, VA; Newport News, VA; and Whitinsville, MA.



The schools and families were extremely grateful for SOLitudes assistance at this time of the year.



We GREATLY appreciate the continued support that our community provides for our students. Through the generosity of SOLitude Lake Management and their Little GOBBLERs program, we are able to provide ten families with a Thanksgiving meal, said John Zywien, Principal, Northbridge Middle School in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. He noted that one of the schools goals this year is to develop more collaborative relationships with businesses in the community, and thanked Regional Administrators Becky Snyder and Ann Marie Meringolo from SOLitude for their time and effort.



Little GOBBLERs is a great program that makes the holidays brighter for the families here at Morris Early Childhood Center that have fallen on hard times, said Maud Forsberg-Davis M.Ed., School Counselor, Morris Early Childhood Center, Lincoln, Delaware. The smile you see on the faces of the families when they realize that they can actually put a holiday meal on the table is priceless.



Little GOBBLERs is one of several initiatives of The SOLution, a company-wide program that encourages the company and all employees to strive to create a better world through volunteerism, community outreach, sustainability and environmental consciousness. SOLitudes company leadership feels it is important to not only be good stewards of the environment, but also to fulfill company core values to take action and be accountable and to protect and respect nature. To learn more, visit www.solitudelakemanagement.com/solution.



SOLitude Lake Management is committed to providing full service lake and pond management services that improve water quality, preserve natural resources, and reduce our environmental footprint. Our services include lake, pond and fisheries management programs, algae and aquatic weed control, mechanical harvesting, installation and maintenance of fountains and aeration systems, water quality testing and restoration, bathymetry, lake vegetation studies, biological assessments, habitat assessments, invasive species management and nuisance wildlife management. Lake, pond and fisheries management services, consulting, and aquatic products are available nationwide. Learn more about SOLitude Lake Management and purchase products at www.solitudelakemanagement.com. Published November 23, 2016
U.S. service members mark Thanksgiving serving on global missions

By Jim Garamone, DoD

NOVEMBER 23, 2016 at 9:25 p.m.







A USS McCampbell sailor disembarks the Royal Brunei Navy ship KDB Darussalam to board a rigid hull inflatable boat during a visit, board, search and seizure training exercise in the South China Sea, Nov. 17, 2016, as part of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training 2016. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christian Senyk

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2016  Tomorrow isnt Thanksgiving for Americas enemies.



While the vast majority of Americans will be sitting down with family for a fall feast, hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members will be on guard around the world, ensuring their fellow citizens enjoy a day of peace.



For them, it is another duty day.



There are roughly 1.3 million service members on active duty in the military and another 800,000 in the reserve components. They are supported by about 750,000 DoD civilians and thousands of DoD contractors.



Today, there are around 275,000 forward-deployed U.S. service members. They serve in more than 100 countries and on every continent.



Some are in harms way. There are about 9,800 U.S. service members in Afghanistan. Most are helping Afghan allies maintain control of their country, while others are taking the fight to violent extremists who hope to use Afghanistan to plan attacks against the United States and its allies.



There are 4,960 U.S. service members in Iraq. They are helping Iraqi forces take the fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In Syria, there are about 300 service members helping Syrian democratic forces take on ISIL around Raqqa.





Troops at the Ready



These forces are supported by others based in Turkey, Kuwait and elsewhere in the region.



There are about 28,000 American service members in South Korea ready to fight tonight, from the Demilitarized Zone to Busan.



There are about 50,000 American service members based in Japan.



In Europe, Russian aggression in Ukraine and threats to NATO required a response from the United States with troops deploying to the eastern countries of the alliance on a rotational basis.



In Africa, troops are working with local nations to strengthen nations in their fights against Boko Haram and other violent extremist organizations.



In South America, U.S. forces are working with allies to curb the drug trade and stop transnational crime networks.



Overall, the Army has 183,630 soldiers committed to support six geographic commands, according to Army officials. There are roughly 4,000 in U.S. Southern Command, 33,000 in U.S. European Command, 8,000 in U.S. Africa Command, 18,000 supporting operations for U.S. Northern Command, 39,000 in U.S. Central Command, and 72,000 in U.S. Pacific Command.



The Air Force has 63,329 active-duty airmen stationed overseas. They range from the combat zones to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. In addition, thousands of airmen will work this weekend -- as they do year-round --maintaining Americas nuclear deterrent in the heartland of the nation.



The Navy has roughly 73,000 deployed sailors. Some 1,300 submariners are on patrol aboard ballistic missile submarines or attack boats. Many other sailors are at sea maintaining U.S. presence in the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea and the oceans of the world. It is truly a global force.



Marines are aboard these ships, also, as well as serving in posts in the combat zones, and maintaining readiness from Japan to Australia to Norway. Marines are working with allies in the Philippines, and helping train Iraqi forces in al-Taqaddum.



Thousands of service members will guard America using space-based assets and thousands more will protect DoD assets in cyberspace.



(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews) Published November 23, 2016
Talks between Venezuelas opposition and the socialist government to bridge the countrys deep political crisis broke down on Wednesday after officials failed to attend meetings to protest the opposition-controlled National Assemblys decision to hold a special session to criticize President Nicolas Maduro, alleging he has ties to international drug trafficking.

The National Assembly is controlled by the opposition. MIGUEL GUTIERREZ (EFE)

More information La condena en EE UU a los sobrinos de Maduro golpea el dialogo en Venezuela

Last week, a US court found two nephews of the presidents wife guilty of charges that they tried to carry out a multi-million-dollar drug deal, allegedly to help their family stay in power.

Efrain Campo, 30, and Francisco Flores, 31, nephews of Cilia Flores, were found guilty on November 18 of planning to smuggle cocaine from the presidential hangar at the Caracas airport to Honduras for shipment to the United States. The minimum sentence is 10 years, but they face considerably more time, considering the large amount of the drug involved.

Maduro says the opposition is seeking a coup against him

The government reportedly told Spains former Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, along with the former presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic, Martin Torrijos and Leonel Fernandez respectively, who are acting as mediators in the talks that began last month, that its representatives would not be attending talks due Wednesday, nor at the next scheduled meeting, on December 6.

The government is using the debate as an excuse, said two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, accusing authorities of not being committed to the talks, which are being overseen by the Vatican and have the backing of the Obama administration.

The government has not complied with any of its promises. They promised to free political prisoners; there are more than 100 imprisoned. They promised a humanitarian channel; not a single medicine has come in, he told reporters.

After the opposition used the social media to blame the government for freezing the talks, Maduro backtracked and said that he would continue negotiating, while acknowledging difficulties in the talks.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has asked Maduro for a public statement regarding his nephews conviction. AFP

The dialogue is advancing ... and by January, February or March, it will be strengthened, he told reporters.

The talks, which began last month, appeared to have led to the release of a handful of detained activists, but hopes for real rapprochement were always slim.

Dialogue has divided the diverse opposition coalition, with some activists feeling the government was duping the opposition in order to buy time.

At Tuesdays session in the National Assembly, government representatives said that Campo and Flores were set up by the US government and then kidnapped, but the lower house overwhelmingly passed a motion to hold the debate about Maduros nephews.

Efrain Campo and Francisco Flores have already implicated the Venezuelan government. In recordings played at the trial, Flores boasted of having complete control of the presidential hangar at the Simon Bolivar airport outside Caracas. Campo was recorded claiming that government officials controlled a group of high-ranking military officers thought to be drug traffickers.

The opposition is divided over the talks

Following his arrest in Haiti, Campo allegedly inquired about cooperating with prosecutors and asked whether the US Drug Enforcement Administration would be interested in information about money laundering. He has since not given any additional indication of wanting to work with the government.

The situation in oil-rich Venezuela has worsened in recent months, with a recession leaving millions unable to find or afford food amid shortages and worsening inflation.

The opposition blames Maduro, who is unpopular, and has been vying to remove him via a recall referendum. The former bus driver and union leader, however, has said the opposition is seeking a coup against him and has vowed to serve out his full term, which ends in 2019.

English version by Nick Lyne
An artist's rendering of Ssangyong Engineering & Construction's urban development project in the coastal area of Dubai.

/ Courtesy of Ssangyong E&C



By Lee Hyo-sik

Ssangyong Engineering & Construction (E&C) secured three overseas construction projects valued at about $280 million, the company said Thursday.

The builder won a $170 million deal from its majority stake owner Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) for constructing an urban center in Deira, the coastal area of Dubai. This is the first phase of the $1 billion development scheme financed by the ICD, which aims to transform Deira into a modern tourist complex.

Ssangyong will build a 14-story hotel, a 10-story office building and two high-rise residential structures. The company is expected to win additional contracts in the coming years.

In Singapore, the company won an $82 million contract from City Development, a subsidiary of Hong Leong Group, one of Singapore's largest business groups. Ssangyong said it will build seven 12-story condominiums in the city state's northeastern residential area.

It also secured a government construction project worth 30 billion won in Equatorial Guinea.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, speaks with Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, center, vice chairman and CEO of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), during a meeting at the latter's headquarters in Riyadh, Tuesday.

/ Courtesy of SK Group



By Lee Hyo-sik

SK Group will work closer with its business partners in the Middle East to find new growth models for the post-oil era, Korea's third-largest conglomerate said Thursday.

The group plans to share its knowhow and expertise in wireless communications, semiconductor and other industries to create synergy with its Arab counterparts that are eager to develop new growth engines amid the prolonged low oil prices.

To that end, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is currently in the oil-rich region, visiting key countries where the group has established its presence to explore new business opportunities through a series of meetings with government officials and corporate leaders there.

On Wednesday (local time), Chey was in the United Arab Emirates, meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development, to renew their partnership. Mubadala Development is known to have a broad investment portfolio, putting substantial amounts of money into consumer goods, information technology and healthcare industries.

The chairman also met with Mubadala Petroleum CEO Musabbeh Al Kaabi.

During the meetings, Chey proposed both sides set up new joint ventures in areas other than petrochemical and resources development, such as information communication technology, consumer products and healthcare, SK said.

"The continued low oil prices have called for fundamental changes and innovation in petrochemical and other conventional energy industries," Chey was quoted as saying. "We agreed to develop new business models in new areas beyond natural resources development and processing, as well as enter new markets jointly."

On Tuesday, Chey was in Saudi Arabia, meeting with Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, vice chairman and CEO of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), one of the world's largest chemical firms.

They discussed ways to expand their joint nexlene business, among others. Nexlene is a high-performance polyethylene developed by SK.

In October last year, both firms began operating their first joint nexlene plant in Korea's southeastern city of Ulsan. They plan to begin construction of the second plant in Saudi Arabia soon and export the material to China, the United States and other countries.

Chairman Chey also held meetings with members of the Saudi royal family and other business leaders there.

"SK will do everything it can to expand its presence overseas and help bolster Korea's outbound shipments," an SK Group spokesman said. "Following Chey's Middle East visit, we will double our efforts to find new growth engines in cooperation with our Arab partners."
By Yoon Ja-young



The government announced plans to overhaul its electricity billing system, Thursday, which will lessen charges on households by around 11 percent on average. If approved, KEPCO will be collecting near 1 trillion won less in revenue.



The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to revise the current six-stage progressive electric rate system for households. Currently, those consuming 100kWh of electricity or less per month are levied only 60.7 won per kWh, but the price goes up for each stage, with those consuming more than 500 kWh levied 709.5 won, 11.7 times more than the minimum rate.



While KEPCO says that the progressive system was adopted to induce people to save energy and protect people with low incomes, the record heat this summer led to complaints among consumers that they can't afford to use air conditioning due to fears about electricity bills. The government also faced criticism that it doesn't meet global standards, failing to take into account that per household electricity consumption has increased with the expansion of home electronics.



The growing criticism is leading to the first overhaul of the progressive system since 2004.



According to the most probable scenario among revisions suggested by the ministry, a three-stage progressive system will be adopted instead of the current six-stage system. It will levy 93.9 won per kWh for those consuming 200 kWh or less, 187.9 won for the bracket between 201 and 400 kWh, and 280.6 won for consumption exceeding 400 kWh. Those consuming less than 200 kWh will also get a 4,000 won discount.



As a result, households will be charged on average 11.6 percent less for electricity. Households consuming more than 800 kWh a month will see a 47.2 percent benefit.



The revision plan also benefits households with newborns, who need continuous air conditioning or heating to maintain adequate room temperatures. They will be provided a 30 percent discount.



As a result of the revision, KEPCO will be collecting 993.9 billion won less from households.



KEPCO will hold a public hearing on the revision plan next Monday, after which the ministry will announce its final plan. It will be applied to billing for households beginning next month.



The ministry, however, said it has no plans to raise electricity rates for industries this year. Consumers have been complaining that KEPCO is levying higher charges on households to make up for the loss incurred by low rates levied on industries. The ministry, however, said this isn't true.




By Lee Kyung-min



At least 100 professors from Seoul National University (SNU) plan to participate in the weekend candlelit protest to demand that President Park Geun-hye resign over the influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil, they said Thursday.



The SNU faculty are the first group of professors to take to the streets. And this is also the first action of its kind for SNU professors since the April 19 pro-democracy uprising in 1960 against the Syngman Rhee administration.



"We could no longer sit on the sidelines amid the current turmoil that continues to ail this nation," said history education professor Yu Yong-tae who leads the SNU chapter of Professors for Democracy, a group of liberal professors.



"A total of 728 SNU professors signed a statement denouncing the Park administration regarding the Choi scandal earlier this month. Some agreed we need to raise our voices as professors. Some said they would come with family members. We expect both undergraduate and graduate students will also participate," he added.



Besides SNU, at least 200 more professors from universities nationwide, who are members of Professors for Democracy, are expected to join the street rallies as individuals.



"We sent letters to about 2,500 professors and researchers, and 200 of them confirmed they would participate in the rally," an official of the group said.



More than 1.5 million people are expected to gather in the Gwanghwamun area near Cheong Wa Dae for this weekend's rally, the largest number since the rallies began, Oct. 29, when more than 50,000 people gathered, according to rally organizers.



The organizers planned marches and gatherings at locations within 200 meters of the presidential office, but police plan to ban them, citing traffic chaos. The organizers will ask a court to suspend the ban. In previous cases, local courts ruled in favor of the organizers, saying the protests were nonviolent.




While many Korean students studying abroad have held protests over the Park Geun-hye scandal, expats are now adding their voices. / Korea Times file



By Lee Han-soo

While many Korean students studying abroad have held protests over the Park Geun-hye scandal, expats are now adding their voices.

"I have always been proud of Korea and my heritage," a Korean working as an accountant in China told The Korea Times. "However, nowadays with the influence-peddling scandal devouring our country, I can't say I still feel the same way. Although I still love my country, something has to change."

Another expat, working as a fund manager in the U.S., said: "I am angered as a citizen and embarrassed as an expat living abroad. I was totally embarrassed when co-workers came up to me and asked me about shamanism. The situation might become a historical disgrace to Korea if Park decides to fill her full term."

An expat working as a teacher's assistant at a U.S. university said: "I was furious at first and embarrassed when my friends asked me about the current situation. Although I feel exhausted by looking at this prolonged investigation, I wish that our people will not give up and keep seeking the truth."

An expat working in a distribution company in the U.S. said: "I can say without a doubt that I am more embarrassed than some Americans are embarrassed by Trump. When my co-workers ask me about the situation, I just tell them that the situation is like Nixon's Watergate but worse."

Meanwhile, some expats said they had lost all hope for their homeland  before or during the scandal  and decided it was in their best interests to stay aloof.

"When I left Korea, I left it for a reason," said an expat working at a construction company in Australia since 2010. "I see no future and no hope in South Korea and it is all behind me. I really do not care."

An expat who recently obtained his permanent resident card in Canada said: "The word Korean doesn't really mean anything to me anymore. I was sick of all the corruption and the lack of opportunities and I came here for a fresh start."

Another expat, working in a trading company in the U.S., said: "Conservative or progressive, it really doesn't matter and nothing is going to change. The fact that this kind of scandal happened just proves my point. I decided it would be better for me mentally to just stay out of this whole mess."
By Yi Whan-woo

President Park Geun-hye approved a document to formally request the opposition parties recommend candidates for an independent counsel to investigate the corruption scandal surrounding her and her confidant Choi Soon-sil, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday.

The approval comes amid growing public demands for Park to appoint a special investigator to look into her alleged link to Choi's meddling in state affairs to make illicit gains.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and minor opposition People's Party will recommend two candidates for the independent counsel position within five days after the President's formal request.

Under the law concerning special investigations, Park must pick and name one of the candidates as the independent counsel no later than three days after the opposition bloc makes its final decision.












Prosecutors raid an office at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in Sejong, Thursday. The ministry and the Korea Customs Service are suspected of having attempted to give Lotte and SK operating rights of duty free shops after the groups provided large sums of money to two foundations controlled by President Park Geun-hye's scandal-ridden confidant Choi Soon-sil. / Yonhap



By Kim Bo-eun

Prosecutors raided the offices of Lotte and SK groups in central Seoul, Thursday, over allegations they provided large sums of money to scandal-ridden foundations set up by President Park Geun-hye's confidant Choi Soon-sil in return for favorable treatment for the groups' duty free businesses.

Investigators confiscated computer hard disks and documents from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Korea Customs Service (KCS), the two organizations in charge of selecting duty free shop operators.

Prosecutors suspect the groups had provided large amounts of funds to the Mir and K-Sports foundations to curry favor with Choi  and ultimately Park  so they could resume their duty free businesses. The KCS is set to announce the winners of the bidding next month.

Both Lotte and SK had been seeking to re-apply for their duty free licenses after being eliminated from a re-approval evaluation last November.

The finance ministry in March announced measures to ease the approval requirements for duty free licenses. In April, the KCS announced it would open four new duty free shops in Seoul and put out a notice in June. While the government's initial principle was to give a disadvantage to market-dominant bidders, this factor was omitted in the notice, raising suspicions it was attempting to provide an edge for conglomerates.

The announcement came after the groups provided funds to the Mir and K-Sports foundations ahead of their launch in October 2015 and January this year, respectively.

Prosecutors are focusing on the fact that Park held private one-on-one meetings with SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin in February.

SK had already provided a total 11.1 billion won to the foundations and Lotte forked over 4.9 billion won. After the private meetings, the K-Sports Foundation requested an additional 8 billion won from SK and 7.5 billion won from Lotte.

Lotte sent 7 billion won to the foundation in May right before the prosecution began a probe into the group's alleged irregularities. However, the money was returned promptly. SK did not send additional funds to the foundation after negotiation over the amount failed.

If the allegations are proven true, Choi and other involved government officials face bribery charges.

In the meantime, the prosecution summoned former Health and Welfare Minister Moon Hyung-pyo for questioning over allegations he pressured the National Pension Service (NPS), which was a shareholder of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, to vote for their merger last year.

The merger was designed in favor of Cheil, in which the Samsung owner family held considerable stakes. It is suspected the government pressured the NPS to do a favor for Samsung, which donated the most to the Mir and K-Sports foundations. Moon is suspected of having led the government pressure.

The prosecution also questioned former NPS Chief Investment Officer Hong Wan-seon, Wednesday night, who led the vote for the merger of the Samsung units.
Caricatures of the 250 victims hang in a tree with yellow ribbons  a symbol commemorating those who died in the Sewol ferry disaster  attached to each student's picture to honor them. / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young



By Hong Dam-young



ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province -- It was as if time had stopped. No sound was heard inside the classrooms that were missing their students. Flowers and letters were piled on the rows of desks and chairs, instead of books and pens. The classrooms of Danwon High School students have been "lifeless" since April 16, 2014, the day Sewol ferry sank with the students into the dark blue sea during a school trip to Jeju Island.

It was a cold Wednesday morning, the third day after the temporary memorial space for Danwon High School's second-grade students  who made up most of the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster  opened to public in an annex of the Ansan Office of Education in Danwon-gu, Ansan, in Gyeonggi Province.

Inside the building, 10 classrooms called "Memory Classrooms" keep the belongings of the victims  250 students 11 teachers  preserved as they were before the disaster. This memorial space will be housed in the annex until moved to an official memorial park that will be built next to the high school by 2019, according to an official.

While visitors carefully walked around the classrooms, some gazed into photos of the victims with tearful eyes.





The father of a Sewol ferry disaster victim touches a paper crane on his son's desk  another visitor's gift to honor the boy. Thirty-two students out of 34 in "class 7" died in the disaster. / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young



"Even after two years, anger and sadness still keep me up at night," a father of a victim, surnamed Lee, told the Korea Times as he showed the reporter captured screens of the last messages his son sent him in from the sinking ferry.

He said he had never ceased going to rallies over the past two years to demand the government reveal the full truth behind the accident and take responsibility for the botched rescue operation. The bereaved families have been calling on the presidential office to reveal President Park Geun-hye's whereabouts for seven hours while the ferry disaster was unfolding, but Cheong Wa Dae has never given them a clear explanation. They have just repeatedly been told she was in her office working.

"My son and the other victims could have survived, only if Park had given proper orders for a rescue operation at that crucial moment," Lee said.

"I will never give up fighting for the truth of Park's missing seven hours."

His son was from "class 7." Thirty-two of its 34 students did not return to their families.





Heo Su-yeon, a calligrapher, writes the names of 250 victims from Danwon High School on one of the walls on the second floor of the Ansan Office of Education. "I call every one of their names as I write them down," Heo said. "This way I won't forget the victims." / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young



A mother of another victim from the same class said nothing could mend their broken hearts.

"We want Park to resign, for sure," said the woman, who identified herself as the mother of Heo Jae-gwang. "But nothing can comfort us unless she brings our lost children back.

"I still feel like my son is with me every day," she said tearfully.

"All I want is people to remember our children."

The lifeless classrooms looked more forlorn when only a handful of visitors were left as closing time neared.
40 Saenuri lawmakers expected to vote for unseating Park

By Kim Hyo-jin

Opposition parties are seeking to put a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye to a vote as early as next week.

Floor leaders of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the second-largest opposition People's Party and the minor opposition Justice Party agreed, Thursday, to deal with it within the regular session of the National Assembly, which is scheduled to run until Dec. 9.

The move  once seen as a tall order  is gaining faster momentum as a growing number of lawmakers from the ruling party are apparently leaning toward unseating the scandal-ridden President.

The opposition has been seeking to oust Park over allegations that she let her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil intervene in state affairs to benefit her private interests. The prosecution's interim investigation results released Sunday accused Park of conspiring with Choi.

"We plan to seek the impeachment of President Park within the regular session of the National Assembly. Voting for an impeachment motion will be arranged Dec. 2 at the earliest, or 9 at the latest," DPK floor leader Woo Sang-ho said earlier in the day.

"We will cooperate in the move if the DPK plans to go forward with it," said floor leader Park Jie-won of the second-largest opposition People's Party.

The opposition parties are set to come up with an impeachment motion by early next week, according to party officials. The floor leaders agreed to devise details of the motion together.












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Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

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UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

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Candles will continue to burn at the fifth anti-Park rally on Saturday as protesters call for President Park Geun-hye to step down over a corruption scandal. The photo shows protesters at the third anti-Park rally on Nov. 12, at which over 1 million people held candles in Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square. / Joint press corps



By Lee Jin-a

About 2 million men, women and children are expected to attend Saturday's anti-government rallies across Korea, demanding President Park Geun-hye resign over her snowballing corruption scandal.

The fifth mass anti-Park rally will be held at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul and at about 50 other locations around the country. Organizers expect more than 1.5 million people will participate in Seoul and a total of 2 million nationwide.

"After 1 million citizens attended the rally in Seoul on Nov. 12, another 1 million people took to the streets across the country on Nov. 19," a rally organizer said Wednesday. "We expect more than 2 million candles will be held at the rallies on Saturday."

From 1 p.m. Saturday, people will gather at Cheonggye and Seoul Plaza to begin a march to the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, at 4 p.m. Organizers are planning to create a "human chain" around the office for two hours until the main protest starts at 6 p.m. in Gwanghwamun Square.

Even though police have stopped such protests near Cheong Wa Dae, organizers said they will apply for an injunction to neutralize the decision. They said people should be free to hold a rally in locations about 100 meters from Cheong Wa Dae.





Farmers on tractors and cultivators pass through Yesan County, South Chungcheong Province, 100 kilometers south of Seoul, Wednesday, to attend anti-Park rallies on Friday and Saturday. / Yonhap



Meanwhile, other anti-Park rallies are planned.



Farmers from the National Farmers Federation are driving 1,000 tractors and cultivators toward Seoul to participate in their rally against the government on Friday. They will join the mass anti-Park rally on Saturday.

Students from about 20 colleges, including the Seoul National University, will boycott all classes from Nov. 30, calling for Park to step down.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the country's second-largest umbrella labor union, said members will hold a general strike on Nov. 30 to demand Park's resignation.
People have been warned not to open an email titled "President Park Geun-hye resigns" because it could infect their computer with malicious code. / korea Times file



By Hong Dam-young

People have been warned not to open an email titled "President Park Geun-hye resigns" because it could infect their computer with malicious code.

The warning came from the cyber security division of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency.

Police said the email contains a link that appears to lead to a CNN article, but it actually connects to ransomware pages that could covertly install malicious software on a computer and freeze it.

"Hackers have been sending the infected emails with titles coined after the most recent social issues in Korea, such as this one," a police official said. "The best way to avoid the infection is not opening it."

"Park's resignation" has been one of the most mentioned searches among Koreans for the past few weeks, as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of central Seoul to demand that Park step down.

Meanwhile, police said Kakao Talk messages purportedly sent by one of their officers, surnamed Lee, have recently spread to mobile phone users. The messages also warned receivers not to open the email.

"The fake messages using Lee's name have been reaching users of Kakao Talk -- Korea's most-used mobile messenger -- but they are not from us," one police official said.

Another Kakao Talk message titled "Worrisome Korea! Do not open the file!" was released under the same officer's name on Nov. 3. It contained a message that read: "Urgent notice: Your phone will be exposed to North Korean hackers."

Police warned that the "Worrisome Korea" message contained malicious code allegedly from North Korean hackers.

"We are investigating the scam email from the North that was released on Nov. 3," the police official said. "But we still haven't decided who should undertake the investigation on the latest one about Park's resignation.

"About the Kakao Talk warning message that impersonated our officer, we don't plan to track down the original uploader, since the content told the truth."
By Jon Dunbar



The cozy neighborhoods of Seochon and Bukchon, located on either side of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, resemble medieval villages under siege on weekends. When Korea's populace floods downtown streets demanding President Park Geun-hye step down, police fortify these areas to defend nearby Cheong Wa Dae, making life hard for the President's neighbors. But most are prepared to tough it out.



"The police try to be chill and let residents through, but sometimes you're out of luck and have to try another route or wait until things are over," said Jennifer Flinn, an American living in a Nuha-dong hanok.



She and other Seochon residents face multiple police lines during rallies. Police block off streets, public buses are canceled and subways bypass Gyeongbokgung Station.



For Bukchon residents, Anguk Station remains open.



"We tell guests to come by subway. Getting here overland is problematic," said Tom Coyner, an American consultant and photographer living in Gye-dong. "Still, the police have consistently been courteous and accommodating in allowing folks through their security lines."



Yong Sun-mi, an artist living in Singyo-dong, had different experiences coming home late after work.



On Nov. 12, she tried catching a bus home around 11 p.m. through Jahamun Tunnel, only to find the tunnel closed. She climbed the hill and cut through private property, then faced a police bus wall cutting her off from her street.



"When I showed my ID, the police didn't even recognize the address and had to search on Naver Map to make sure I lived there," she said.



It took two hours extra for her to get home.



The following Saturday, she got home by crawling under police buses at Gyeongbokgung Station.



Yong said her neighbors had to park illegally because they couldn't drive home. "Police just said it wouldn't matter on this special occasion," she said.



When contacted, Jongno Police claimed they had no official policies for residents.



"Before, I loved this area," said Yong. "But that was the first time I regretted choosing to live here because of the President."



"It's almost the price of living here," said Flinn. "Seochon is a unique and beautiful neighborhood, largely because of its proximity to symbolically important spaces. It's hard to then turn around and complain because people are using those spaces in ways they've a public right to."



Coyner also remains supportive.



"Regardless of the inconvenience, we essentially sympathize with the protesters' cause," he said.



"I can endure it till she comes down," Yong added.




Cheong Wa Dae defensive line shows signs of crumbling



By Jun Ji-hye



Embattled President Park Geun-hye is being driven into a corner, losing her top lieutenants who were helping to defend her against a mounting impeachment offensive from the opposition after Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong and her senior secretary for civil affairs Choi Jai-kyeong tendered their resignations.



Their offers to resign were seen as an apparent sign of a split among Park's staff as well as the Cabinet after, through her legal representative, she refused to be questioned by the prosecution, which had implicated the President as an accomplice in charges filed against her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil.



Choi was indicted for allegedly interfering in various state affairs and extorting local conglomerates to accumulate her own wealth.



The two senior officials' possible absence means there will be no proper aides to assist the President in law enforcement affairs, while the prosecution is strengthening its probe into the scandal, and an independent counsel investigation prompted by the opposition parties is expected to begin next month. A National Assembly audit is also scheduled to begin, Nov. 30.



Park has not yet accepted their resignations.



Additionally, Rep. Kim Moo-sung, a former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, announced Wednesday that he will take the lead in seeking the impeachment of the President, creating a stir in the governing party that has been a shoulder for Park to lean on.



To sum up, three support beams for the President  the presidential office, the ruling party and the government  are all teetering on the edge of the massive political scandal.



For their part, citizens from all over the country are scheduled to gather in central Seoul, Saturday, to stage a fifth candlelit rally to call for Park's resignation.



Since the outbreak of the scandal the President has remained low-key.



Experts said the interim result of the prosecution's investigation, announced Sunday, might have gone against Park's expectations as it named her as an accomplice in the scandal. This, they said, apparently caused the agitation in the presidential office.



They added that Park's response to the prosecution's probe and her criticism of it as a whole also might have been against the expectations of her aides.



"I think the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs did not expect the President to criticize the prosecution for its investigation," Choi Chang-ryul, a professor of political science at Yongin University, said during his appearance on an SBS news program. "It might have been too hard for him to stay in his post."



The secretary was a former prosecutor himself, having served as chief of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office. He received an appointment certificate for the senior presidential secretary only on Nov. 18.



Experts note that Park's isolation could be further deepened as the prosecution keeps asking her to cooperate in face-to-face questioning, Nov. 28 or 29.



Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk avoided a direct answer on this, only saying, "Park's lawyer will answer that question."



Apparently mindful of the deepening crisis, the spokesman also denied speculation that the senior presidential secretary and the justice minister offered to resign due to a conflict with President Park.



"The pair offered to resign as they felt a moral responsibility with regards to the prosecutorial probe into the scandal," he said.



Another Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity that Park might turn down their resignations, saying that it was inappropriate for two officials in charge of legal affairs to leave their posts ahead of a planned independent counsel's probe.



The spokesman also renewed calls for media prudence, arguing that there were many erroneous reports on Cheong Wa Dae's purchase of medicine.



A local media outlet reported that in June 2014, Cheong Wa Dae purchased EMLA Cream 5%, a local anesthetic used to numb the skin surface before certain medical procedures.



The report came amid rumors that the President underwent plastic surgery during the April 16, 2014, Sewol ferry disaster that claimed the lives of 304 passengers.



"When there is a cut on your skin, you can apply it to anesthetize the area," Jung said, dismissing speculation that the ointment was purchased for cosmetic surgery procedures.




By Choi Ha-young



Curious about the suspicious medical treatments involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil, a woman impersonated a journalist to interview the head of a clinic Choi had often visited.



The woman, surnamed Shin, 21, requested an interview with the head of Chaum clinic Lee Dong-mo, Monday, introducing herself as a journalist of a cable news channel, according to Gangnam Police Station, Thursday.



That evening, Lee talked with Shin for around 30 minutes mainly about the stem cell treatment Park allegedly received there. Soon, he began to get suspicious since she was ignorant about certain professional terms, and he asked for her business card.



She hesitated, saying she left it in her car in the underground parking lot. But when Lee followed her to the parking lot, Shin did not even have a car there. She then said she was not a journalist but a friend of Choi, but Lee called the police.



Shin, an office worker, told police she wanted to know more about the allegations involving Park and Choi.



The police decided not to charge her criminally, referring the case to summary trial, which is conducted for minor offenses. "It is unclear if she interfered with the business of the clinic," the police said. "She seemed to be motivated by curiosity."



The clinic has been under fire for prescribing medicine to the President under Choi's name.




By John J Metzler

UNITED NATIONS - A powerful UN committee has scathingly criticized the ystematic human rights abuses in communist North Korea. In a damning ten page resolution, the Third Committee has offered a detailed and precise indictment of a deteriorating human rights situation in the quaintly titled Democratic People's Republic of Korea, (DPRK) aka North Korea.

The annual resolution was sponsored by the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea and members of the European Union. The resolution decried reports of "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention; rape; public executions; extrajudicial and arbitrary detention."

Significantly it added, "The existence of an extensive system of political prison camps, where a vast number of persons are deprived of their liberty and subjected to deplorable conditions, including forced labour, and where alarming violations of human rights are perpetrated."

Regarding severe restrictions on freedom of thought and belief, the resolution added, "All-pervasive and severe restrictions, offline and online, on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information." It underscored the "unlawful and arbitrary surveillance, persecution, torture, imprisonment and, in some instances, summary executions of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression."

Some of the toughest scrutiny concerned the North Korean communist regime's degrading treatment of women, "Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the creation of internal conditions that force women to leave the country and make them extremely vulnerable to trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution, domestic servitude or forced marriage and the subjection of women to gender-based discrimination."

Importantly, the resolution cites evidence of the DPRK regime's Orwellian system of classifying the population into certain reliable and politically undesirable categories. The report adds, "Discrimination based on the songbunsystem, which classifies people on the basis of State-assigned social class and birth, and also includes consideration of political opinions and religion." Through such classifications citizens are assigned to a rigid and near unchangeable place in the socialist society which they have little chance for change.

Given that "the commission's finding that the body of testimony gathered and the information received provide reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," there may be future referral of key North Korean political figures to prosecution by the International Criminal Court, (ICC).

Such a legal course of action is currently being pursued by the UN Security Council and the resolution underscores the need "to continue to discuss the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including the country's human rights record."

Specifically the resolution strongly urges North Korea "immediately put an end to the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rightsand to immediately close the political prison camps and to release all political prisoners unconditionally and without any delay."

Equally the resolution demands that the Pyongyang rulers, "extend their full cooperation to the Special Rapporteur, including by granting him full, free and unimpeded access to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." As would be imagined the communist authorities have blocked access into North Korea by human rights observers and have systematically sealed off the reclusive country from its prosperous cousins in South Korea.

So shall yet another harsh condemnation of the DPRK regime really change very much?

No and yes. No because Kim Jong-un and his followers know exactly how to use terror and intimidation against their citizens. Yes, because a growing awareness in the international community realizes the depth and magnitude of this human rights "black hole" in North Korea. Accountability remains crucial. When the change finally comes, and it will, nobody wants to be called either complicit or condoning of this glaring humanitarian outrage.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China." Contact jjmcolumn@earthlink.net.
By Sofia Faruqi



Ethiopia is experiencing its most severe political turmoil in decades. After months of escalating protests and conflicts that have killed hundreds of people, on October 9 the Ethiopian government announced a state of emergency.



Ethiopia's conflict is being driven partly by ethnic tensions and resentment against a small elite's hold on the country's wealth and power. But another crucial, if relatively overlooked, factor is Ethiopia's land-management system. Indeed, the crisis began last year when a severe drought left ten million people hungry and triggered disputes over land ownership and protests against the government's land-expropriation policies.



Ethiopia is hardly the only recent example of how conflicts over land rights can set the stage for political and humanitarian crises. Competition for arable land contributed to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. A historic drought may have created the conditions for Syria's civil war. And food insecurity stemming from land mismanagement is an important factor driving migrants to Europe.



Land-related issues will continue to threaten global stability, especially if the effects of climate change exacerbate existing problems. Deforestation and unsustainable land use have degraded soils, altered rainfall patterns, and increased the incidence of extreme weather events, especially in Africa. Continent-wide, 65% of land has been degraded, and 3% of agricultural GDP is lost annually, owing to soil and nutrient loss on farmland.



In Ethiopia, agriculture accounts for 80% of employment, so even slight drops in agricultural productivity can negatively affect income levels. And across Sub-Saharan Africa, damaged land is not only an environmental burden, but can also spell economic disaster. When trees and vegetation are cleared, heavy rainfall washes away the soil and destroys economic opportunities for local populations.



I saw this firsthand in Kenya's Tata Magadi gully, which extends for 104 miles (167 kilometers) and at first resembles the site of a meteor strike. Gullies are the ditches left after rainwater has washed away the topsoil. When they are large enough, they can sweep away entire homes and the productive farmland on which rural communities depend for their livelihoods.



Fortunately, there are ways to reverse land degradation, while simultaneously augmenting crop yields and household incomes. Tree planting on degraded land, for example, can increase agricultural productivity by anchoring farmland, increasing soil fertility, and providing shade for crops and livestock.



After farmers in Malawi expanded their tree cover, crop yields increased by 50-100%. And, as a Kenyan maize farmer told me, "No trees, no rain." Indeed, farmers have always intuitively known what scientists are now confirming: trees and other vegetation can stimulate more rainfall.



To accelerate restoration efforts in Africa, communities must be mobilized, and farmers must be empowered to restore their own land. This basic concept has gained traction in Kenya, where "community forest associations" have formed to protect and manage woodlands. In Ethiopia, every Abraha Atsbeha villager volunteers three days each month as part of a self-organized effort to rehabilitate the surrounding landscape; and other villages in the region have followed suit, giving rise to a growing local restoration movement.



Land restoration is not just a technique to improve subsistence farming; it can also deliver financial returns for businesses and investors, which explains why many small and medium-size restoration enterprises have emerged. These include distributed plantations and sustainable-beekeeping companies, as well as Green Pot Enterprises, a fast-growing East African firm that leases shares of restoration sites to individuals, who can then collect an annual return on their investment. But for restoration businesses to scale up, they will need more access to growth capital and better-functioning domestic markets.



National governments also have an essential role to play, and 17 African countries have made commitments to restoration through the Bonn Challenge and the AFR100 initiative, which aims to restore 100 million hectares (247 million acres, or an area roughly the size of Ethiopia) in Africa by 2030. Africa's proactive approach to restoration bodes well, because the effects of climate change are expected to hit the continent harder than any other world region.



Land restoration is not a choice; it is a necessity. If African countries' land is not salvaged, they will fall into a vicious cycle of poverty and political turmoil, similar to what we are now witnessing in Ethiopia. More severely degraded land is tougher to restore, so every day restoration is delayed is a lost opportunity for the environment, the economy, and peace.





Sofia Faruqi is the manager of the New Restoration Economy initiative at the World Resources Institute. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate.




By Park Hyong-ki

Chester Roh / Yonhap





Roh Jung-seok, or better known as Chester in the Korean startup world, is one of the very few tech-savvy people in the country who has gained the right to be called a serial entrepreneur.

Not only has he successfully started and sold a company once but several times, with a track record that also includes launching an initial public offering of his startup in his early entrepreneurial years.

A former hacker, who was caught breaking into a school system during his college years at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Roh is now operating his fifth startup named Reality Reflection, a virtual reality (VR) content developer, as its chief strategy officer (CSO). He was locked up in prison for 40 days for the hacking.

He told a local news that the unforeseen possibility of VR got him to "take the risk again" after selling his fourth startup.

Before venturing into this unknown VR world, which is considered one of the hottest technologies along with artificial intelligence and data forecasting global venture investors are looking into, Roh was a former co-founder and CSO of 5Rocks, a startup that analyzes consumer data such as online purchase patterns for mobile game developers.

5Rocks, Roh's fourth startup with his partner Lee Chang-su, the chief executive of 5Rocks, was sold to Tapjoy, a US-based data analyzer.

His first startup Inzen, a security solutions company, went public on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ in 2002. His second startup was a "total failure," he said.

But his third software startup  Tatter and Company  was sold to Google in 2008.




LG Chem CEO and Vice Chairman Park Jin-soo, right, listens to an explanation about the firm's innovative management at the firm's research and development center in Daejeon, Thursday. A group of some 400 company officials joined the firm's annual Best Practices Contest, sharing their achievements this year. / Courtesy of LG Chem



By Lee Min-hyung

LG Chem CEO and Vice Chairman Park Jin-soo has called on employees and executives to get back to basics focusing on innovation and quality to tackle growing economic and political uncertainty at home and abroad.

"We can maintain our leading position in the market by thoroughly reviewing those two basic elements at a critical time when the global market remains volatile due to lingering uncertainties," he said in a meeting with LG Chem employees, Thursday.

The remarks come at a time when the global economy is showing no signs of recovery and its outlook remains unclear over such issues as Donald Trump's recent victory in the United States presidential election. This has cast increasing concerns for local renewable energy players _ including LG Chem _ as his campaign pledge to revive fossil fuels may come at the cost of renewable energy sectors.

"An industry-leading firm can maintain its leadership only by making innovation a routine and creating best quality products to impress clients," he said.

The LG Chem chief stressed that innovation and quality should come together in a balanced way.

"An innovative product can never win customers' trust unless it comes with high quality," he said. "Once a firm loses trust from the market over such quality issues, it takes a tremendous amount of time and cost to recover, which is why innovation should never come at the expense of quality."

In June, the Seoul-based battery and chemical giant established a new unit, dedicated to managing innovation and the quality of its products, directly controlled by the firm's top management.

More than 400 LG Chem employees  including management  joined the Best Practice Contest where 19 in-house teams shared their outcomes this year in such areas as energy storage systems (ESS), reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment filters and its takeover of Farm Hannong, the nation's largest processor of agricultural materials.

LG Chem has in recent years bet big on water, energy and biotechnology as its next key growth areas, while continuing to bolster its competitiveness in the petrochemicals industry by launching more value-added products.

The latest announcement came in September when LG Chem unveiled its plan to acquire LG Life Science, a biotechnology affiliate of LG Group, as part of a bid to diversify its revenue streams and reduce its heavy reliance on the petrochemicals business. At that time, the firm pledged to generate 5 trillion won in its annual bio business sales by 2025 through the acquisition.
Topfinding.com: choose the best offer

Topfinding.com website offers consumers the series of program on Armenian firms; it will help to make a targeted choice. A-2 LLC was established in 1990 on the base of AGAT scientific-research institute, which in the former USSR territory was among the leading ones in the sphere of design and production of military equipment. The main activity of the company is the design and production of energy resources measuring devices, as well as any electronic devices. During the years of its work, the company has designed and manufactured electricity electronic meters, electronic flowmeters for gas, electronic gas flow rate correctors, liquid and gas ultrasonic flow meters, calibration and debugging facilities of gas and liquid meters, automated electricity and gas control and metering systems etc. The abovementioned measuring devices successfully operate in Armenia, Artsakh, Russia and Georgia. At present Kazakhstan is interested in the company for organizing joint production in their region, and recently the meters of A-2 LLC have received a certificate of conformity in Kazakhstan. At present 42 high skilled employees work at the company, mainly- engineers and developers. The policy of the company is to maximally add the number of jobs and reasonably expand volumes of local production. For that reason all the units of A-2 LLC production are organized and carried out on the spot, with own forces, thanks to which the production is very competitive. Address: Armenia, 0068, Yerevan, Shrjanain St., 2/2 Building (Malatia-Sebastia adm. district) +374-10-770181 , +374-91-432530 (mobile) Gold Fish seafood specialized shop was established on November 1, 2015. In a short period it has been recognized high quality seafood shop. Gold Fish shop offers the largest assortment of seafood in Armenia. The company carries out importation form Russia and other countries. Assortment is refreshed three times a week. Orders for goods are also accepted. They are implemented in two days. The shop also offers delivery service; on clients request, readymade meal is delivered. The main principle of the shop is Always fresh and wide assortment. Address: Armenia, 0002, Yerevan, Mashtotsi Ave., 7/11 Building (Kentron adm. district) +374-10-535090 , +374-99-535090 (mobile) IPLAST company, which manufactures medical and surgical supplies, was established in 2013 in Yerevan, aiming at becoming the leading manufacturing and importing company in the region. IPLAST LLC is a dynamically developing company, which does its best to deliver high quality medical supplies to the world hospitals and retail trade shops. We support pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, clinic laboratories, surgical offices to concentrate on the treatment of patients, decrease expenses, and at the same time increase efficiency and improve quality. All our products are made under 100% control according to AGL standards. In the near future we will receive international standards certification, ISO 13485:2003, ISO 9001:2008, which will manage the functions of all the spheres of the company and will instigate the managers to be more devoted, to follow so that the level of quality be always in lie with the adopted standards. Address: Armenia, 0002, Yerevan, Saryan St., 20 Building (Kentron adm. district) +374 (11) 988-000, +374-77-445575 (mobile) With TF discount card you can get at least 10 % discount in the following firms. Within the frames of other promotions, in case of goods and services already under discount, additional 1-3 % discount will be provided to TF discount card users. For obtaining TF discount cards or for more information you can call at +374 91 916916 or write to [email protected]
KBS2 drama On the Way to the Airport ends its series beautifully as the heroine Choi Soo-Ah choose things that make her happy instead of follow the norm.

Soo-Ah refuses to follow her husband to New Zealand in the On the Way to the Airport Episode 16, and she choose to end their unhappy marriage. She let out things which she held back all this years, including how her husband neglected her. Seoul Daily News took note of the important dialogue between Soo-Ah and her husband, which she explained to him that their relationship is already broken.

Afterward, she didnt return to Jeju island, but stay in Seoul and return to her job as a senior flight attendant. She was still in contact with Deo-Woo and the final scene of the episode show he waited for her in the airport. They were smiling as they looked at each other.

Take a look at the screen caps from On the Way to the Airport Episode 16 below:
Number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya decreases by 84%

The tourism industry of Turkey has lost millions of tourists during January-November of this year, most of whom are the tourists from Russia. One year after the crash of Russian military aircraft, the Turkish Sondakika.com website presented the consequences caused to the tourism industry as a result of temporary crisis between the relations of two countries. Particularly, statistics have been held on the number of tourists visiting Turkeys renowned tourist destination, Antalya, comparing the period from the beginning of 2015 till November 24 (day of aircrafts crash) and from the beginning of 2016 till November 24. According to the data, compared with 2015, that number has decreased by 84 percent in 2016 (it decreased from 2 million 800.000 to 452.000). Moreover, 432.000 tourists started to visit Turkey from September 2, when Russian airlines again resumed passenger flights to Turkey. From January 1 till August 31 of this year, the number of Russian tourists hasnt surpass 20.000, whereas during the same period of last year that number made up 2 million 170.000. 30-35% of the sector, which is considered to be the locomotive of the resort-towns economy, is formed thanks to the tourists arriving from Russia. It is noted that the fall in the tourism sector to some extent has influenced another 52 sectors, causing reduction of the hotels staff, as well as some problems in the consumption of products of the food industry. ermenihaber.am
Changes expected in the leadership of HHK (video)

Prime Minister is the member of the political bloc, which won the elections, Hovhannes Sahakyan explains Karen Karapetyans becoming a Republican in this way, If PM agreed to come and govern those reforms, he also represents the plans of this political team. Hovhannes Sahakyan agrees with PMs words, that creating a new political force would be senseless. He must have joined the Republican Party, as the Republican Party is the one to implement changes. And first of all we should change ourselves, it means, the changes should be made inside, he explains. In the upcoming congress of the Republican Party, according to Hovhannes Sahakyan, changes are expected even in the leadership. Serzh Sargsyan has also told about it; team must be changed, And Karen Karapetyan must be among those, who will implement those changes. But it is known that Karen Karapetyan was brought from Moscow for the reason that he wasnt from the Republican Party; why did he decide to become a Republican, He was brought as the reforms, which Serzh Sargsyan had spoken about, will be implemented by Karen Karapetyan. By joining the Republican Party, Karen Karapetyan today has stated that he isnt creating a new political force, as it could endanger Karabakhs security, He is explaining why he hasnt established a new force; it doesnt relate those, who create new forces. Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction Head Levon Zurabyan thinks that Prime Minister, on the contrary, by not establishing a new political force, subconsciously hinted that Republican Party is a detestable party for the people, As if there wasnt that context, there would be no need to say that; he should have said yes, whats the matter, the Republican is the force, which does everything right and I, naturally, join that force. Still two months ago Levon Zurabyan had no illusions that it is possible to pin hopes on new PM. He told the people that the Republican swamp will swallow him, A party, which has been engaged in plunder for 18 years, created this rotten, corrupted system, it cannot be changed whether to believe it or not. Karen Karapetyans becoming a Republican shows that something will change in Armenia, if the whole political stronghold is changed; it means that with the support of the people new force comes to power.
Police in Northern Ireland have been slammed after an officer was pictured performing a stop and search on a girl of 10.

The image was posted on social media showing the youngster, dressed in a purple coat, being spoken to by the female cop on a footpath.

The incident took place in the Falls Road area of West Belfast on Tuesday night.

Republican group Saoradh have condemned the stop and search, saying it left the girl terrified, Belfast Live reports.



However, they and the police have issued statements about the incident offering differing versions of events.

West Belfast police commander, Chief Inspector Norman Haslett confirmed that a police patrol stopped a vehicle on the Falls at around tea time to speak with the driver and an adult passenger.

He added: From the outset, police officers were aware of a female child who was also in the vehicle.

A police officer asked the driver if he would prefer if the conversation between himself and the police took place out of view and earshot of the child.

The driver of the vehicle declined this offer. During a subsequent search of the adults and of the vehicle, the child left the vehicle of her own free will and stood on the footpath.

When the search was complete, police asked the driver if, due to the cold conditions, the child wished to get back into the vehicle. This offer was declined by the driver.

During the interaction, a female police officer spoke to the child and a photograph of this was taken and subsequently posted on social media alongside a number of comments.

In instances such as this, the welfare of children needs to be everyones concern and I have reinforced to my officers the need to be protective of young people and that they are not suspects.

As always, we are open to challenge and discussion about the use of stop and search and I am acutely aware that there are different views and narratives about its use in West Belfast.

The West Belfast PCSP have an important role to play in local policing accountability and I would welcome the opportunity to brief the Chair and members of the West Belfast PCSP on the use of police stop & search at their convenience.

Chf Insp Haslett said that the appropriate and sensitive use of stop and search powers remains a key tool in tackling crime and ensuring community safety right across the greater Belfast area.

But he added: As with every such interaction between police and the public, any learning for police will be reflected upon as we continue to do our job to protect the community from harm.

However Risteard O Murchu, a spokesman for Saoradh, described the girl as being interrogated by the police.

He said that the girl was stopped while accompanying her Republican father on his way to deliver the Proclamation news sheet to homes in the Ballymurphy area.

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The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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Fatherhood has long fascinated Michael Chabon. In one of the essays included in the 2009 collection Manhood for Amateurs, the writer traced his own longing to be a father to his childhood affection for the Free to Be  You and Me animated television special, which included a cartoon segment of the song William Wants A Doll. It meant so much to me, Chabon said in a phone interview from his home in Berkeley. And it wasnt because I wanted a doll. I didnt want a doll. What I think what I wanted was to have a dad who wanted to be a dad, in a way that William in that story wanted to be a father. And I didnt.

Chabon is a father now himself; he and his wife, writer Ayelet Waldman, have four children. His newest novel, Moonglow, is a sweeping family history couched in the conceit of a literary memoir, a multi-generational saga in which children and grandchildren seek to make sense of their fathers secrets, lies and loves.

This is how I heard the story is how the narrator begins  after an authors note stating, in part, I have stuck to facts except when facts refused to conform with memory, narrative purpose, or the truth as I prefer to understand it.

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What follows are stories of war, invention, violence and romance; at the books center is the vexed love story between the narrators grandparents. When the couple meet, hes just back from war, but she, the narrators future grandmother, is even more scarred: From the first that was a part of his attraction to her: not her brokenness but her potential for being mended and, even more, the challenge that mending her would pose. He thought that if he took on the job of loving this broken woman, some measure of sense or purpose might be returned to his life.

To be clear, although Moonglow pretends to be a memoir  its narrator is named Michael Chabon, for instance  its a novel. Its a commonplace thing for novelists to do, Chabon said, and weve been doing it for centuries now, to create a fake nonfictional document. Its a convention.

In Moonglow, the fictional Michael Chabon tells the story of his grandfather; the author Chabon thought it would be a fun thing to try. It was also a fruitful way to get at something that I wanted to try to get at  about truth and the way that its manufactured within families, and the way that family stories come into being: the things that get included, the things that get censored out, the way that a consensus can be arrived at, or the way that some stories just never get resolved, and people will go to their graves giving two totally different accounts of exactly the same thing that they were both present for.

Initially, Chabon thought he was going to write a sequel to 2012s Telegraph Avenue set in more or less contemporary Oakland. But when he sat down to write, what came to mind instead was one of his own family stories  the one about the time his great-uncle was fired from his job as a traveling salesman at a paper form company because the owner needed to give a job to a family friend, the accused spy Alger Hiss.

Its the kind of story Chabon loves  a moment where this enormous arc of pop cultural history intersects with this tiny arc of anonymous personal history and after turning his great-uncle into his fictional grandfather, the incident became the books first scene.

In hindsight, Chabon added, one of the nonfictional bases for this book is that when my actual grandfather was dying, he was on heavy-duty painkillers. He did talk a lot, and his memory was activated in an interesting way, maybe by some combination of proximity to death and these painkillers. Id heard a lot of his stories, but these things that he was remembering during this period when I was sitting with him right before he died were new, like new boxes had been brought down from the attic and opened up.

Chabon heard his dying grandfathers stories when he was 25, right around that age where you finally first become capable of realizing that your grandparents are people, not just stock characters out of the story of your childhood. With that revelation came its immediate, terrifying aftershock: To feel that and know that and then to think: All this stuff, the real stuff, the stuff that he might not even necessarily remember  Im never going to hear that stuff. I never did get to know him on some level, because by the time that even became thinkable for me it was too late, which is kind of the tragedy of grandparents for a lot of us.

To try to see the whole of a person can be such a difficult thing to do, Chabon said, and to see the whole of a time is even harder, but those are the things that were unconsciously driving me as the scope of the book increased. Like the fictional grandparents in Moonglow, whose love story plays out against and in spite of the trauma of the Holocaust, the devastation of Europe and the mad race to weaponize science, Chabons real grandparents were among the generation that came of age during World War II. Born in 1963, Chabon came of age in a cultural landscape still dominated by the war and its aftermath.

I grew up during the space race, during the height of tensions between Russia and the United States, and the Vietnam War, which was itself part of the cold war, which in turn was a sequel to WWII. Everywhere  in television programs Hogans Heroes and F Troop, in James Bond movies and Marvel comics  pop culture was still framing its battles in terms of Nazis and GIs. I dont think you can underestimate the total saturation of American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s with World War II and its echoes, Chabon said. Its inherently fascinating to me.

Growing up in a politically engaged family, Chabon gravitated toward history from an early age. I liked to read nonfiction as a kid, and a lot of the fiction I read was historical fiction, he said. History continues to be one of my greatest pleasures to read and study. But he rejects the idea that he could have become a history professor instead of a novelist. You have to stick to the facts. Its so boring  when youre writing, I mean, he said.

And it was clear early on that writing was his thing. I really just loved to read. Falling in love with a particular book, or particular authors, or in some cases a particular illustrator, he said. And eventually, fairly young, getting to a place where I wanted to try it myself. I think its very much the fan-fiction impulse, that feeling of like, I love this so much, theres not enough of it, I need to make more. 

In a recent essay in GQ Magazine, Chabon wrote about accompanying his youngest child to mens fashion week in Paris; at the end, he realized that his son had found his thing, his people. Its a beautiful moment in a sweet and moving essay, and although Chabon found his thing  writing  early on, he didnt find his people until he married Waldman and became a father. That experience became my first real, solid, enduring feeling of finding my people, he said. In a way, I kind of had to make them. I didnt have a club. I never had a club to belong to. And now these guys are my club.

Tuttle is a board member of the National Book Critics Circle and a regular contributor to the Boston Globe; she is founding director of the Decatur Writers Studio.

Michael Chabon with David L. Ulin

Where: ALOUD at the L.A. Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles

When: 7:15 p.m. Nov. 30

Info: lfla.org/event/moonglow/
Most car company executives appear at the annual Los Angeles Auto Show to tout their brands new vehicles or crow about its balance sheet.

Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields came to town this year to give the kick-off keynote speech at AutoMobility L.A., the industry-only portion of the massive car show, and didnt discuss those things at all.



For the record: An earlier version of this story identified the hydrogen fuel cell Clarity as a Ford vehicle. It is made by Honda.

Instead, he talked about the future of mobility, the city of tomorrow and how Ford is trying to find its place in a changing transportation landscape that  confronting autonomous driving, connected cars and ride-sharing  may soon have no place for traditional car companies.

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The following is an edited version of the conversation.

Ford produces the F-150 truck, the most popular vehicle sold in America, but is also offering a line of hybrids and plug-in hybrids. How important is electrification to the future of the American car industry?

Right now the industry has 60-plus electrified vehicles on the market, and that represents about 2.5% of sales. If you go back seven or eight years ago, the industry had about 12 electrified vehicles on the market, and that represented about 2.5% of sales. So, getting individual buyers interested in electrification is a challenge  both in overcoming the cost hurdles and in getting people used to electric. Obviously, they have reservations about cost  which is a legitimate concern  but they also have range issues and anxiety around charging. As an industry we have to address that.

We know that all car companies are thinking about autonomous vehicles, and that Ford has a research and development office in Silicon Valley. Yet compared with Tesla, with its Autopilot self-driving system, or GM, with its plan to begin using autonomous vehicles in partnership with the ride-hailing company Lyft, Ford has been quiet in this area. Whats on the burner?

When we look at autonomous vehicles, the challenges really revolve around making sure the technology develops  both the hardware and the software  making sure the regulatory environment comes along, and making sure the economics around the new technologies are such that people can afford that. Our intent is to have a fully autonomous, level four vehicle  a vehicle that does not have a steering wheel or accelerator pedal, where the passenger does not ever have to take control  in the market by 2021 as part of a ride-sharing service.

How do you do that? Teslas least expensive Autopilot-enabled car costs more than $70,000. How do you make autonomous vehicles affordable?

When we talk about the city of tomorrow, and we look at the issue of mobility and the cost of mobility in urban areas, we see that when you take the cost of the driver out of the ride-hailing service, it becomes more affordable. And when it becomes more affordable, people can use it more. What that means is a virtual driver system, which sees the road through different cameras and radars and sends the information to the individual autonomous vehicle platform. At its highest level, that is what were developing.

Ford has been aggressive about pursuing environmentally friendly solutions in the automotive space. You went all-aluminum on the F-150, dropping weight and increasing fuel economy; branded an electric bicycle in partnership with Pedego; and have found ways to recycle everything from cigarette butts to worn-out jeans into floor mats and seat cushions. Is your heart in the same place as your bottom line?

We are stepping back as a company and asking what is the world going to look like 10 or 15 years from now  and then understanding as a business what does that mean for us. Were going to cities and working with them on their transportation and mobility issues, and asking how do we become part of that solution. You think about the various benefits, the societal ones, about handicapped or elderly folks who cant get around anymore. Think about the safety facets. Last year in the U.S. there were more than 35,000 automobile fatalities. Even a small dent in that is a big deal. But even on those products we have been forward-looking, it needs to start with what the consumer is looking for. At the end of the day, we have to have products that people want to own and pay for.

charles.fleming@latimes.com
When Platform opened this year in Culver City, the upscale shopping center set aside four stores for a specific class of highly sought-after retailers.

Platform, which also contains restaurants and office space, wasnt looking for a particular brand or merchant. Instead, it went hunting for retailers happy with a brief stay, some as short as three days.

So much stuff is accessible online, said David Fishbein, a principal at Runyon Group, the real estate firm behind Platform. To give people experiences and content to do in person they cant find anywhere else is really appealing.

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Pop-up stores  once seen as only a step up from a vacant storefront  have become a key strategy for some malls.

These kinds of stores have been around for decades, sliding into empty storefronts left vacant by more desirable long-term tenants. Come October, temporary stores peddling costumes open seemingly overnight, while toy stores and Christmas tree lots spring up in November.

But in recent years, shopping centers have realized that pop-up stores are a way to gin up excitement among shoppers by making under-the-radar brands accessible and bringing in start-ups linked to celebrities.

With online sales forecasted to grow as much as 10% this holiday season to $117 billion, brick-and-mortar stores are upping their game to compete. The Hollywood & Highland shopping center has even kicked off its first ever pop-up competition to win a retail space for up-and-coming brands. These kinds of stores could also draw shoppers out on the so-called Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday in which customers are encourage to support local companies.

If you have everything leased to tenants for five to 10 years, you dont have a lot of opportunities as a landlord to create change.  David Fishbein, a principal at Runyon Group

The idea for owners is What can I do to generate traffic and buzz? said Mitchell Hernandez, a senior associate at real estate giant CBRE.

The mantra a few years ago was having 100% occupancy, Hernandez added. Now, some think that a better idea is to have 90% occupancy and have 10% devoted to rotating pop-up shops.

At Platform, Fishbein said carving out permanent space for an ever-changing roster of pop-ups was part of the plans from the very start. With the retail industry evolving faster, he said, landlords have to more quickly adapt to changing consumer tastes.

We want to experiment and test different ideas, Fishbein said. If you have everything leased to tenants for five to 10 years, you dont have a lot of opportunities as a landlord to create change.

Instead of signing long leases, these brands stay for as little as a few days up to a year, Fishbein said. The current lineup includes Floral Art, a flower shop, and the Lapis Press, which sells art.

Fishbein said some brands are testing the waters before opening a permanent brick-and-mortar store, while others view pop-ups as a marketing tool and way to broaden their exposure.

For St. Frank, a luxury home decor retailer based in San Francisco, its a little bit of both. St. Frank, which sells textiles sourced from around the world, started as an e-commerce merchant in 2013. In the past year, the company opened up two brick-and-mortar stores in San Francisco and Palo Alto.

But St. Frank never had a pop-up before opening at Platform in October. St. Frank intends to use that store to test the Southern California market and experiment with building out a small space on a slim budget, founder and CEO Christina Bryant said. Its also a way to see if pop-ups could be a profitable component to St. Franks business model.

Platform only takes a percentage of sales, instead of charging rent, Bryant said. That lowers the risk for a young company. Bryant said shes also looking at pop-up and permanent store locations in New York.

In larger cities like LA, its more expensive for a young brand, she said. So being able to test in a small way to see if rent and store economics can work is invaluable.

A worker organizes merchandise at Poketo, a pop-up shop in Culver City. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times )

Poketo, a Los Angeles-based art and design store, also has a spot in Platform. The retailer, which has popped up previously in Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters concept store called Space Ninety 8, already has two stores, one in downtown L.A. and the other in the Line hotel in Koreatown.

Before committing to a permanent store on the West Side, however, Poketo wanted to test the market beyond its base on East Los Angeles, said co-founder Ted Vadakan.

Vadakan said pop-ups can be a boon for both retailers and malls, but only if its a right match between the two. Selecting the wrong brand, he said, can erode a malls credibility.

You start to not to trust the curation or development or the quality, he said. Some shopping centers end up bringing in whatever and whoever.

In the Southland, some malls are building new spaces or taking pop-ups into consideration when undergoing renovations. Westfield Century City will be devoting space to pop-ups as part of an extensive overhaul underway. In February, the Grove debuted a glass store set at the edge of its lawn devoted to pop-ups.

Kloe Colacarro, head of leasing at real estate firm Caruso Affiliated, said the Grove first tried pop-ups in 2014 when online retailer Revolve took over a store for about two months. In 2016, celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe and social media-content producer Obsessee have been among several brands that have come to the Grove as pop-ups. On Saturday, fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni took over the glass store, decked out like a gift box with a glittery gold top, to sell her footwear and accessories line. Chinese gadget company LeEco is also opening a pop-up there this week.

Temporary stores are a way to inject fresh ideas into the Grove, which typically has no vacancies, Colacarro said. In order to buy clothing and accessories at the Obsessee store, for example, shoppers had to pay with social currency  i.e. posts on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.

Eight companies have already signed up for pop-ups next year, she said.

For us, its as much the experience a brand provides as the product they have, Colacarro said. Is it an idea that is innovative and new?

Follow Shan on Twitter @ByShanLi

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A face-off between Broadway and a president-elect. A tribute to the seminal Vaslav Nijinsky. And a look at the masterful architecture of Louis Kahn. Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer of the Los Angeles Times, with a super special, three-days early Thanksgiving edition of the weeks most blazing arts stories!

Examining a key architect

The San Diego Museum of Art recently opened an exhibition devoted to the work of the late Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn, known for stirring buildings crafted from brut concrete. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne describes the show as a pleasure, with models, photos and sketches of Kahns astonishingly self-possessed buildings.

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But the exhibition, which originated at the Vitra Design Museum, sticks to the idea of the architect as lone genius. He and his work werent quite as isolated as we like to remember, writes Hawthorne. Marcel Breuer (particularly in his Whitney Museum of 1966), Paul Rudolph, Edward Larrabee Barnes, I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche and a handful of others were mining a similar vein. Los Angeles Times

In the meantime, I took a tour of Kahns temple-like Salk Institute, the research facility the architect built for scientist Jonas Salk in La Jolla in 1965. I was happy to discover that the complex still functions brilliantly as a center of science. As Thomas Albright, a neurobiologist who has worked at the Salk for decades, told me: Not only do the buildings continue to function well, I would say this is the best way to build a laboratory building. Los Angeles Times

The Pence-Hamilton brouhaha

Actor Brandon Victor Dixon of the Broadway musical Hamilton addresses Vice President-elect Mike Pence. (Hamilton LLC / Associated Press )

When Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended a performance of the smash musical Hamilton in New York on Friday, performer Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, delivered a short speech asking the incoming administration to uphold the inalienable rights of diverse America. Times theater critic Charles McNulty writes that he was intrigued by the gesture, especially since the theater is a place where artistic truth is spoken to power, but that the most eloquent case that can be made for the pluralistic values endorsed by Hamilton is the musical itself. Los Angeles Times

Cultural critic Mark Harris says the action nonetheless offered artists an opportunity to speak truth directly to power: Dont underestimate the degree to which a black man, poised and unflappably calm, speaking truth about the hopes of a nation to a white politician is exactly the kind of nightmare from which some of Trumps voters thought they were finally awakening, he wrote. Now they know that whatever they imagined might happen, this kind of thing is not going away. Vulture

The speech got Donald Trump all riled up on social media  with the president-elect referring to it as harassment. Conversation is not harassment, Dixon responded on CBS This Morning. It was the beginnings of a conversation I hope that we can continue to have. Los Angeles Times

Baryshnikov takes on Nijinsky

Mikhail Baryshnikov as Vaslav Nijinsky in Robert Wilsons Letter to a Man. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles times )

Mikhail Baryshnikov has long resisted portraying the legendary Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, known for the intense eroticism of his performances as well as his struggles with mental illness. But he relented for Robert Wilsons Letter to a Man, which was staged last week by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. The show came close to perfection, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. Baryshnikov enters the soul of a lost soul, a soul close  and, at the same time, distant  to his own. Los Angeles Times

And thats just one of the stunners Swed caught in the L.A. area in the last week. He also took in a pair of concerts by the Berlin Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Costa Mesas Segerstrom Concert Hall. Led by conductor Simon Rattle, the shows were a tour de force: Rattle got everything he asked for in these performances, and he asked for a lot, writes Swed, from the extremes of ferocity to those of finesse. Los Angeles Times

The first great media artist

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant split from the Catholic Church is next year. And the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is marking the occasion with a beguiling new exhibition, Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Durer and Cranach, which brings together 113 magnificent objects from state museums all over Germany. Of particular interest might be the eras religious propaganda: With these mass-produced prints, the modern media age dawns, reports Times art critic Christopher Knight. Gutenbergs mechanical printing press allowed for their wide public dissemination, as it did for the Bible. From the privileged text of a closed priesthood, the Bible went open-source. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Knight also recently traveled to Pennsylvania to see Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950, a new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The show, which cogently lays out the history of art made in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, is sprawling and thrilling. That it wont travel to Los Angeles, home to the largest Mexican American community in the nation, writes Knight, is a major disappointment. Los Angeles Times

In other news...

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, center, and architect Jean Nouvel, left, visit the under-construction Louvre in Abu Dhabi in January. (Karim Sahib / AFP/Getty Images )

 Abu Dhabi has postponed the inauguration of its Louvre museum outpost. The Art Newspaper

 If youre in New York, it sounds as if the thorough retrospective of the work of Francis Picabia at the Museum of Modern Art is the show to see. New York Times

 The art of the Hollywood backdrop. Hyperallergic

 With the help of the Getty Conservation Institute, Giorgio Vasaris The Last Supper is back on view in Italy after being damaged in a historic 1966 flood. The Iris

 The Staten Island artist who made a giant T in honor of Trump. New Yorker

 The Week in Art Merch: A 3-ton, 65-foot-wide stained-glass mural commissioned by the East German secret police is going to be up for grabs in Miami. New York Times

 We, the critics of America, would like to apologize to the people of France for the horrible Jeff Koons sculpture the artist is about to deposit on your shores. Hyperallergic

Jeff Koons poses next to a rendering of his proposed sculpture during an event at the American Embassy in Paris. (Michel Euler / AP )

 A lost work by Igor Stravinsky will be played once again after 107 years. Classical-music.com

 The striking Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra may be close to reaching a deal with management after a two-month work stoppage. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 Violinist Augustin Hadelich is having a moment  with three solo turns at Walt Disney Concert Hall over Thanksgiving weekend. Los Angeles Times

 Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers is serving as a guest editor for CNN Style for the month of November. Who knew CNN had style? CNN

 Here are 101 books about design, architecture and urban planning that deal with how we live (featuring a contribution by yours truly). Curbed

 Novelist Umberto Ecos list of the 14 common features of fascism. Open Culture, New York Review of Books

And last but not least

With the election bringing its fraught divisions to the Thanksgiving table, the artist duo Jeff&Gordon has come up with a work to soothe the pain: a voice mail line where you can get a few things off your chest before heading to dinner. Los Angeles Times

Happy Thanksgiving, Angelenos! May your mashed potatoes be fluffy and your stuffing gluten-free!

Sign up for our Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah
Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dashs magical 1991 debut feature, captures a sad, thrilling moment of transformation for a community of Gullahs, who are the descendants of African slaves who lived on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. On an August day in 1902, several generations of the Peazant family are preparing to move to the U.S. mainland, bidding farewell to their island home and the vibrant, uniquely African-influenced culture theyve succeeded in keeping alive.

All good period pieces achieve and sustain a sense of immersion in a different time and place. Daughters of the Dust, which Dash spent many years researching, producing, writing and directing, goes further than most. Its examination of a bygone way of life is so patient and evocative, so beholden to its own storytelling conventions and rhythms, that watching it is a bit like submitting to a form of time travel. You emerge from the experience feeling slightly dazed and disoriented, but also deeply and thoroughly ravished.

This is partly due to the hypnotic pull of Arthur Jafas cinematography (which won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival) and the atmospheric drumbeats of John Barnes score, which conspire to establish an enveloping, dreamlike mood at the outset. But it is also because of the strong, vividly detailed personalities of the women at the films center, each one representing a different voice in a timeless tug of war between tradition and modernity, assimilation and isolation.

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There is the familys octogenarian matriarch, Nana Peazant (Cora Lee Day), who is determined to remain on the island with her rituals and herbal potions to the chagrin of her embittered granddaughter-in-law, Haagar (Kaycee Moore), who looks forward to the prosperity that she hopes awaits them on the mainland.

Two other women have returned for the Peazants final island gathering after leaving home years ago, though their experiences could scarcely have been more different. Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) has become an outspokenly devout Baptist while Yellow Mary (Barbara O.), who returns with her girlfriend (Trula Hoosier) in tow, is ostracized by her family members for being a prostitute.

One of the few who openly embraces Yellow Mary is the spirited Eula (Alva Rogers), who was raped by a white man on the mainland and may be carrying his child, to the horror of her husband, Eli (Adisa Anderson). It is Eula who becomes the films wrenching voice of conscience and sanity when she cries, Lets live our lives without living in the fold of old wounds!  a plea that, even for ears unaccustomed to the thick, West African-inflected creole of the region, cuts to the bone.

Viola has brought a photographer (Tommy Redmond Hicks) to the island to document the occasion. Hes something of a stand-in for Dash, whose father was a Gullah, and whose film becomes its own striking act of witness. The manner of that witness  including the use of voice-over narration from the perspective of Eulas unborn child  shows a remarkable integrity.

Rather than telling her story via clean, linear strokes and manufactured crises, Dash lingers on the sights and sounds of Sea Island life, from the unforgettable images of women on the beach in floor-length white dresses to the close-ups of fresh-cooked prawns, hard-boiled eggs and other dishes served at the Peazants feast. These moments are not incidental to the narrative; they are essential to it, as Dash seeks to convey the very look, feel and texture of something that is about to be lost forever.

When Daughters of the Dust premiered in the dramatic competition at Sundance in 1991, the field included two other major indie breakthroughs: Todd Haynes Poison (which won the grand jury prize) and Richard Linklaters Slacker. That their directors have gone on to become prominent auteurs on the independent scene is an undeniable testament to their genius.

But it also speaks to the cultural and gender-based norms that kept a singular talent like Dash from the filmmaking career she deserved  in part because Daughters of the Dust, one of the most striking American independent movies ever made, didnt conform to any studio executives ideal of what a black movie should look and sound like. (The year 1991 saw a mini-renaissance for African American commercial cinema, including Boyz n the Hood, New Jack City, Jungle Fever and A Rage in Harlem.)

Even still, Daughters of the Dust hasnt exactly languished in obscurity. Although it struggled to find a distributor post-Sundance, it did become the first film directed by an African American woman to receive a wide theatrical release (courtesy of Kino International). Its reemergence in theaters is timely for any number of reasons, a widely spotted shout-out in Beyonces Lemonade not least among them.

The present-day resonance of a movie about an immigrant community caught between a traumatic past and an uncertain future can largely speak for itself. But its especially meaningful in a year marked by a remarkable range of serious new works from black filmmakers, from Barry Jenkins Moonlight and Nate Parkers The Birth of a Nation to Denzel Washingtons forthcoming Fences  each one offering a different vision of African American families trying to rise above a deeply entrenched legacy of oppression.

As an example of how to realize that vision without compromise, Daughters of the Dust remains a pioneering work of art  a vibrant dispatch from our historical and cinematic past that continues to look ahead to a more hopeful future.

-------------

Daughters of the Dust

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Playing: Ahrya Fine Arts, Beverly Hills

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
The year is 1975 and Julie Dash is a conservatory student at the American Film Institute. Struck with the idea to create a silent film, she began writing with the hope of doing a historical drama that redefined African American women  in an epic sort of way. She wanted black women on the big screen to look different and she wanted to chronicle the culture of her father, a Gullah from the Sea Islands of Georgia. Because we deserved it, she said.

But from script to filming, it took 15 years. After all, she was a black woman trying to do a feature-length film centered on a culture of which most people never heard.

I think I came a bit early, Dash said. I dont think its personal. I think it just had to do with general systemic racism and gender issues.

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Finally obtaining funding, from PBS American Playhouse, her silent-film idea became a movie with dialogue and titled Daughters of the Dust. When released in 1991, it was the first movie by a black woman to get a general distribution deal in the United States, from Kino International. In honor of the 25th anniversary of this historic moment, Daughters of the Dust is being re-released Nov. 25. (It will play at Beverly Hills Laemmle Ahrya and Pasadenas Laemmle Playhouse 7.)

I never expected [the] Cohen [Film Collection] to come in and be eager to do a restoration of the film and place it in the digital space, Dash said. That was not on my immediate agenda, but Im so glad that it happened. It saves the film.

Set in 1902 in the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, Daughters explores the community of Gullah Geechee folks, descendants of enslaved West Africans who, after being brought to America, somehow retained much of their West African culture and developed a distinct language. (This community exists to this day.) The film is about a changing of tides in the community where some of the younger generation have decided to leave the island for a new home on the mainland.

The film screened earlier this month as part of AFIs Cinemas Legacy slate of programming. Prior to the event, Dash, now a film professor at Morehouse College and Howard University, spoke with The Times about Daughters of the Dust, diversity and representation in the industry and Beyonces Lemonade.

Describe what your original intentions were for Daughters of the Dust.

I wanted to do something authentic, so authentic [to the Gullah community] it would feel like a foreign film. I felt that we deserved that too. The more and more I learned about the Gullah Geechee culture, the more fascinated I became [because] we learned to camouflage what we love and eat, our desires, how we communicate nonverbally, in order to survive. I originally wrote it as a silent film, because why not? I wanted the visuals to tell the story, to use the grammar of film to plot the story.

The characters speak the actual Gullah language, but there are no subtitles. Was that a conscious decision?

When we watch films like Millers Crossing, which is Irish-American, or you watch a Chinese American or French American [film], their dialogue is sometimes so heavy into the dialect or the accent, but your ear adjusts to it. But for [black people], were only allowed to have a Southern accent. Ive seen films set in the Sea Islands with people using a Southern accent, which is wrong. Its like were a monolith. I could carve you a black person: They speak the same, eat the same, their lives are the same  thats not true.

We deserve to preserve the language. We deserve to understand and know the language and the research that Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner did. He published Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect and literally broke the Gullah dialect code  its spoken in English with a West African syntax. Its interesting how these people, who all arrived in a forced migration on these shores speaking different languages, were able to put together a language they could all speak and understand.

When you were pitching the script to financiers, what was the response like?

I remember people saying to me, Oh, Ive seen that 100 times. I told them it wasnt what they think. After [the film came out], they were like, Ive never seen anything like this before. Take it away, take it away.

 Director Julie Dash considers the evolution of non-linear film in a post-Lemonade era. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The film won the cinematography award at Sundance that year and you were nominated for the grand jury prize. How did people outside of Hollywood receive it?

The reception of the film by the black community was massive. It was sold out for 36 weeks at the New York Village East theater. Black people leaned toward it. White people who were anthropologists, linguists, artists, dancers and musicians, they could parse it. The rest of America was like, Why didnt you do a documentary about it first? I never heard of Gullah Geechee.

In 2016, we still have black female directors breaking boundaries. What are your thoughts on the conversation about diversity and representation in Hollywood that the industry is having again?

They had it before I was born too, because isnt it shameful that in 1991 I was the first African American woman to have a film in distribution? I didnt even know that. I was told that during its release. And then in 2004, Daughters was placed in the National Film Registry. I was the first black woman and am still the only black woman in it.

Who, of the younger generation, are the filmmakers youre looking to?

I like Nzingha Stewarts work [With This Ring] and Tanya Hamilton [Night Catches Us], Dee Rees [Pariah, Bessie], of course Ava [DuVernay]  I cant say enough about her. Shes turned this industry on its head, and boldly and aggressively by making meaningful films, standing her ground and opening the door for others. When she began Queen Sugar, in six months, they finished. And shes done more for black women filmmakers in six months than Hollywood has done in the last 100 years. When I think about what she has done, I know how difficult that is. In one fell swoop, she has changed the landscape. Theres a lot happening, and shes making it happen.

Many people say Beyonces Lemonade was inspired by Daughters. How does that feel?

Lemonade is more than Daughters. It is Daughters on steroids. Im the one humbled by it. Just to have a fraction of a fragment of a moment that reminds people of Daughters of the Dust ... it was nice.

Twenty-five years later, are there any lessons people can take away from Daughters of the Dust and your experience being the first black woman to break such a ceiling?

I think the lesson is that you have to be brave. You have to be bold. You have to tell your story authentically. You want something thats meaningful and that lasts. But I havent been able to get financing for another feature since then. Who knows the reason why?

Get your life! Follow me on Twitter: @TrevellAnderson.
Breakfast at Tiffanys was showing its age.

Wear and tear had taken its toll on the 1961 favorite based on Truman Capotes novella about spirited New York party girl Holly Golightly, featuring Audrey Hepburn in one of her most iconic roles. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including lead actress for Hepburn, it won for Henry Mancinis score and Mancinis and Johnny Mercers standard Moon River.

Breakfast at Tiffanys was shot in Eastman color, a film stock that did not retain color like the old Technicolor films and faded over the years. But fans buying the recently released Blu-ray or attending Fathom Events/Turner Classic Movies special theatrical screenings Nov. 27 and 30 will see a film in its original luster thanks to a 4k digital restoration from the original negative.

We did an enormous amount of cleanup, said Andrea Kalas, vice president of archives at Paramount, in a recent interview at the studio.

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For years, the studios made prints off of original negatives. As parts of the negative became damaged, the damaged parts were cut out and replaced with frames from an inferior duplicate. The end result was that films like Breakfast at Tiffanys looked a little off, noted Kalas. You can see thats not quite the registration we wanted, she said, pointing to the unrestored version.

Its a little fuzzy, she said. This time we could find the best elements we could and cleaned it up and made it look really really sharp. Technology has advanced to a point now where we can make changes to make things look better than we ever could before. What you see is really crystal clear and fantastic.

Breakfast at Tiffanys presents other problems as well; no amount of restoration can improve Mickey Rooneys racially demeaning portrayal of Hollys high-strung Japanese upstairs neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi. The criticism of his performance has only heightened over the years.

Theres no way to sugarcoat it, Kalas noted, although she added, I dont think it destroys the film at all.

Paramount, like other major Hollywood studios, has a preservation and restoration program, and with the digital tools at its disposal, it takes about six months to complete a film. Restorers at the studio are currently working on Saturday Night Fever, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year.

That was shot on location at a real disco with available lights with the film stock of the day, she explained. We now have the tools to bring out detail. That wasnt even possible three years ago. We worked with director John Badham and he said, Wow, I didnt even know that was there, when he saw some detail in the background. Youre always going over [a restoration] very carefully to make sure what youre doing is a tribute to the original vision of the filmmaker.

When Paramount restores a film, were doing it really archivally, said Kalas. In the case of Breakfast at Tiffanys, that meant preserving the memorable score  including a rare demo of Mercer singing Moon River.

When we restore an A title, it just doesnt stop with what you see on the Blu-ray. Theres a whole lot of other stuff going on behind the scenes.

The archive building on the studio lot houses costumes, jewelry and props from Paramount titles dating to the silent era.

Hollywood wardrobes, including a shirt worn by Dinah Manoff in Grease, right, are displayed in the Paramount archives. (Christina House / For the Times )

The costume archive here comprises contemporary costumes, also vintage costumes  about 4,000 of them, maybe 24,000 contemporary costumes, 12,000 vintage pieces of jewelry and probably 20,000 props as well, said jewelry archivist Jaci Rohr. (The Paramount studio tour includes displays of some of the vintage costumes and jewelry).

Randall Thropp, manager of the costumes and props at the archive, began working at the studio in 2003, running the rental floor of the costume department. We had a building on the backside of the lot which was all vintage costumes, said Thropp. I would go over there and find this stuff and say, Oh, were not renting this ever again. I would pull it, stack it up and stick it in the corner somewhere and I built the collection.

One item he pulled early on was a striking necklace Hepburn wears in Breakfast at Tiffanys with her little black dress in a party sequence.

A necklace worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is displayed in the Paramount archives. (Christina House / For the Times )

This is truly costume jewelry, said Rohr, standing in front of the necklace which had been taken out of the vault for this interview. It was not made by Tiffanys. It is glass beads, plastic pearls, black painted enamel chains.

No one knows who designed the piece but Thropp said that Paramounts legendary costume designer Edith Head, who worked on Breakfast at Tiffanys, would have had input. Edith would have said, This is what I want, this is how I see it, noted Thropp.

The small display room features clothes designed by Head including a party dress for Joanne Woodward for 1963s A New Kind of Love and a delicious beaded gown Barbara Stanwyck wore to seduce Henry Fonda in 1941s The Lady Eve. In the Preston Sturges comedy, the costume looks a like two-piece gown with Stanwyck exposing her bare mid-drift.

Im sure youve seen the film many times and you think thats she nude underneath, said Thropp. But [the dress is] built on a bodice.

Costumes and jewelry were used over and over again in films. Rohr identified one piece of jewelry worn in six films, including by Gloria Swanson in 1925s Madame Sans-Gene, Claudette Colbert in 1932s The Sign of the Cross and Joan Caulfield in 1946s Monsieur Beaucaire.

Though some of costumes, jewelry and props are identified, frequently Thropp and Rohr must play detective.

One time Rohr discovered a scepter used by Charlotte Henry in 1933s Alice in Wonderland by watching the movie on TV one night. I tape everything from the old days if we dont have a reference to it, she said.

You have all these unidentified pieces and then you are sitting down going through boxes of stills or watching TCM and saying Wait a minute that looks really familiar, noted Thropp.

TCM Big Screen Classics

Fathom Events

Breakfast at Tiffanys

Nov 27 and Nov. 30 at 2 and 7 p.m. at select theaters around the country

Various prices

For more information go to https://www.fathomevents.com
President-elect Donald Trump expressed his support for Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid during a phone call with Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday.

Garcetti spokeswoman Connie Llanos said Trump spoke on the phone with the mayor in their first exchange since the Nov. 8 election.

Besides talking about the Olympic bid, Llanos said in a statement, the pair had a productive conversation about ways to expand infrastructure investments and opportunities in communities across America.

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Llanos did not provide details about the tone of the call, how long the two men spoke, or what Trump said about immigration.

However, she said the mayor stressed the important role that immigrants and immigration reform will play in L.A.s  and the nations  long-term success.

The phone call came as the countrys big-city mayors, mostly representing heavily Democratic cities, are reaching out to Trump.

The president-elects representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the phone call.

Garcetti supported fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton during the presidential race and had slammed Trump as a racist and a bigot. He also had questioned whether a Trump presidency would hurt L.A.s chances of securing the Olympics.

Reince Priebus, Trumps choice for White House chief of staff, told CNN on Sunday that the Trump administration would explore cutting off federal money to so-called sanctuary cities, which has raised questions about whether Los Angeles will be targeted by the incoming president.

L.A. County is home to more than 1 million of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

City leaders have been discussing efforts to protect immigrants not here legally from an expected crackdown by Trump.

Last week, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson announced that he would seek to hire an immigrant advocate to spearhead those efforts and pursue policies to prevent L.A. residents from being deported. He also said the city should work with schools and community colleges on strategies to keep families together and prevent deportations.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck also has reiterated that his department has no plans to get involved in any deportation efforts by the federal government and would continue a longstanding policy against allowing officers to stop people solely to determine their immigration status.

Illegal immigration was a central issue of Trumps presidential campaign.

He called for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, deportation of people who are in the country illegally, a rollback in the immigration relief created under President Obama and the withholding of federal funds to punish sanctuary cities.

Since his election, Trump has not proposed a specific immigration policy.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

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8:41 a.m., Nov. 24: This article was updated with background about Los Angeles policy on immigration enforcement.

This article was originally published at 6:40 p.m., Nov. 23.
A Northern California woman missing for three weeks was released by her captors and found  bound by restraints  along Interstate 5 in Yolo County on Thanksgiving morning, authorities said.

Officials were called about 4:30 a.m. after Sherri Papini, 34, was able to flag down a motorist.

The mother of two was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and reunited with her husband, Keith.

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He is overjoyed with this successful outcome, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said.

Officials said they were searching for two Latina women in connection with the abduction. They were last seen driving a dark SUV and were believed to be armed with a handgun.

This investigation is far from over, Bosenko said.

Officials said they were not aware of a motive for the kidnapping and did not provide details on Papinis injuries or whereabouts. Bosenko also said it was not clear if Papini knew her abductors.

The Redding resident disappeared Nov. 2 while out for a jog in the small town of Mountain Gate in Shasta County.

Her husband reported her missing after he came home from work and found that she hadnt picked up their children from daycare. Her cellphone and headphones were found near where she had last been seen, about a mile from her home, investigators said.

Her disappearance made national news, and the community launched an aggressive manhunt to find her. They shared her story on social media and launched volunteer searches.

A private group working with Papinis family released a video Wednesday offering $100,000 to anyone with information leading to her safe return, according to NBC affiliate KNVN.

Bosenko said police had received more than 400 tips in the case, but Papinis release was not a result of the reward money.

It shows what a community can do when it works together to get the word out, he said.

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

@LATBermudez

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3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Sherri Papinis abduction.

This article was originally published at 12:25 p.m.
Four prisoners cut their way through the bars of a second-story window and rappelled down the side of a San Jose jail using a makeshift rope of bedding and clothing before making their way clear of the facility, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs office said Thursday.

Two of the men were recaptured just outside the jail after the Wednesday night escape, but the other two, Rogelio Chavez and Lanon Campbell, remained on the lam early Thursday, Sgt. Rich Glennon said.

Crime scene detectives were working to figure out how the men were able to cut through the windows bars. A deputy patrolling the jails perimeter spotted the men as they made their escape.

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He kind of thought he saw some movement in the shadows looked up and saw some bedding in the window, Glennon told the Associated Press.

Chavez and Campbell were both facing false imprisonment and weapons charges, among other counts, when they made their escape. Several local agencies are searching for the men, with help from dogs and a helicopter using thermal imaging.

The men were last seen in their jail clothing, consisting of an orange shirt and gray pants. Chavez has a distinctive face tattoo that resembles an inky gash going through his left eye.

The recaptured men, whose names were not released, are expected to face charges for the escape.

Glennon warned the public not to approach the men if they see them and to remain vigilant.

We definitely dont want the community to approach these individuals, but be aware of anything suspicious, he said.

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This article was originally published at 7:25 a.m.
Ceola Waddell Jr. has what may be the most eye-popping digs of any homeless man in Los Angeles.

A video tour of his living room sofa and love seat, porcelain toilet and zebra-skin slipcovers has been viewed 1.4 million times on Facebook. His fans make pilgrimages to the tent-lined strip beneath the 110 Freeway near the Coliseum  he calls it Paradise Lane  to chortle and take selfies.

His quarters are so spacious that another homeless man is paying him $25 a week to rent a tent, sandwiched between the guest room and a third mattress and headboard. Waddell, who also goes by Mr. Dice, calls it his Airbnb.

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I was walking by and I saw the little sign, For rent,  said the tenant, Anthony Garcia, 39.

But what delights Waddells followers does not sit well with the city, whose sanitation crews have twice dismantled and carted off his handiwork. Last week, workers removed a refrigerator with an abundance of rotting food, explosive materials and other unhealthy items, said Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman Elena Stern.

His quarters are so spacious that another homeless man is paying Waddell $25 a week to rent a tent. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

Two days later, Waddell had scavenged neighborhood castoffs and rebuilt most of the setup, with flourishes that include ceramic planters with paper orchids, a surfboard and a hot dog stand.

I refuse to let the city beat me down to what they think a homeless persons profile is, living on cardboard, said Waddell, 59. This should be a landmark.

Waddells standoff with the city comes a year after elected leaders called for a state of emergency to be declared over homelessness, with the encampments that stirred political passions still standing in many neighborhoods.

Homelessness plans released in February by the city and county spurred voter approval this month of a $1.2-billion bond issue to fund new homeless housing. But the construction will take 10 years, and housing homeless people in the meantime is moving slowly.

Sanitation crews receive 100 to 200 reports of encampments a week, and the numbers keep growing.

Our main priority always is to get unsheltered homeless individuals off the streets and into housing, said Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokesman Tom Waldman.

Mayor Eric Garcettis spokeswoman, Connie Llanos, said, We know that none of these strategies will solve our homelessness crisis overnight, but Mayor Garcetti is committed to ensuring that the crisis is solved as quickly as possible.

Ceola Waddell Jr., reflected in a mirror beneath the 110 freeway. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

Stern said Waddell refused homeless services, including temporary housing. Waddell declined to speak to City Councilman Curren D. Price Jr. when he visited homeless camps under freeway bridges in his South Los Angeles district, Prices spokeswoman said.

Theres been a great deal of public safety and public health concern from neighbors in the area, as well as LAPD and the Sanitation Department, said the spokeswoman, Angelina D. Valencia.

Waddell insists he wants housing, noting that a car recently careened off the freeway, pinning a homeless woman in her bedding, and two men with a pistol tried to rob him in his bed. This is not going to be the end of my life, he said.

Waddell said he first became homeless at age 14 in Memphis, Tenn., where police nicknamed him Dice because he didnt run when they busted craps games. Hes the seventh of eight children of an alcoholic mother. His sisters tried to turn him into a Cinderella to clean up their messes, he said.

He sang soul covers in a bar band before arriving in Los Angeles in 1983, where he did a brief turn as a clothing salesman before deciding he could not work for others. He moved between the streets and pay-by-the-week hotels, depending on the success of various hustles and sales jobs, including, briefly, drugs sales. For 10 years, he lived inside with a girlfriend, but when she died, he lost half his income, landed back on skid row and six months ago arrived at the underpass, he said.

His Internet fame has been rejuvenating, Waddell said, as well as his newfound talent for interior decoration: I enjoy the hype, like anybody else.

On Saturday, he pulled up on his beach cruiser towing a shopping cart that bore a bathtub he rescued from a junk heap. This is my Jacuzzi, he said.

A Mercedes, BMWs and a Lexus pulled up in front of his camp for pre-Thanksgiving handouts of tamales and home-cooked turkey dinners. These grass-roots feeding operations, often run by churches, have been another sore spot for city and homeless service officials, who say they generate trash and make it easy for people to remain homeless. Some neighbors say people are hiding in the tents to deal drugs or run prostitution rings.

Rose Sanders, who came to distribute free shoes, said she was homeless until 2014, and the people are truly needy. People here are really homeless, Sanders said. Its not an easy transition.

The next day, as Rams fans streamed into the Coliseum, the Dice Dog stand opened for business.

Dice dogs, dice dogs, what you gonna do when the dog bites you? Waddell, wearing a white fedora, chefs jacket and cellophane gloves, sang out as he sliced peppers and onions onto hot links sizzling on a propane stove.

Jose Padilla, 28, of Colton, and Juan Villa, 23, of Riverside lounged on the sofas with oversize beers, praising Waddells pricing: $2.50 a dog.

Fool, at the movie theater one little wiener link costs $6, Villa told his friend.

Neighbors from nearby homes came by for a smoke or to arrange to barbecue later with Waddell. A few parents pulled their children close, but other passersby yelled encouragement. Its a whole house! one child said.

I still dont get it, whats so fascinating about this place, Waddell said. I decided I wanted to live like everybody else, make me something nice that I wanted to come home to.

If I was in the Arctic Id make me an igloo.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

gholland@latimes.com

Twitter: @geholland

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When Leron Morris summoned guards to his cell at a state prison in Lancaster, he showed them a gruesome, bloody scene and a lifeless body.

Morris and his cellmate, Rashell Clarke Jr., had a furious fight that ended only after Morris bit off part of the other mans ear and wrapped a shoelace around his neck, strangling him, according to investigative reports.

By the time guards began performing CPR on Clarke, his body was already showing signs of rigor mortis, suggesting he may have been dead for a while.

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The details of the grisly Feb. 6 killing at the maximum-security Antelope Valley prison were revealed in an autopsy report issued to The Times this week by the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroners office in a public records request.

The slaying of Clarke, previously a resident of Shasta County, was the first of three suspected homicides this year at California State Prison-Los Angeles County, which houses about 3,300 to 3,500 inmates.

They are among 22 state prison inmate deaths in 2016 that officials are investigating as suspected homicides, according to Kristina Khokhobashvili, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Yet even for a seasoned homicide detective, the death of Clarke  who was serving a nearly 23-year prison sentence for abusing children  stands out for its brutality.

It was extremely vicious and violent, Los Angeles County sheriffs Det. Frank Salerno said Wednesday. Whatever dispute they had, it got real nasty.

It was extremely vicious and violent. Whatever dispute they had, it got real nasty.  Los Angeles County sheriffas Det. Frank Salerno

According to the autopsy report, Clarke, 39, and Morris, then 33, had left their cell about 6:30 a.m. for breakfast and returned by 7:15 a.m.

Morris, who is serving a life term without the possibility of parole on a murder conviction in Contra Costa County, told investigators that about an hour after breakfast, Clarke made an overt sexual advance toward him. Next, Clarke began stabbing him with a shank, he said.

A violent brawl ensued.

At one point, Clarke bit off the end of Morris nose, and Morris chomped on Clarkes left ear, biting off a third of his earlobe.

Teeth marks were left behind on Clarkes flesh, investigators said in the report.

Although wounded by the shank, Morris thrashed Clarke around, knocked him in the eye and managed to sit atop him. He put the shoelace around Clarkes neck and strangled him until he became unresponsive, according to the coroners report.

Morris called for prison guards about 10:45 a.m.  roughly two hours after he claimed the dispute began.

Guards told investigators that when they found the body in the cell, it was already in rigor, referring to rigor mortis, the stiffening of the body in the hours after death, according to the autopsy report.

Citing the ongoing investigation, Khokhobashvili, the prison spokeswoman, said she could not comment on the possibility of an hours-long gap between Clarkes death and guards arrival at the cell.

Still, guards began performing CPR on the man and L.A. County paramedics were called to the facility. Clarke was taken to the infirmary, where he was formally pronounced dead just before 11:30 a.m.

Within days, Morris was publicly identified by state correctional officials as the suspected killer.

More than 10 months later, he has not been charged in Clarkes death. Salerno chalked up the delay to several factors, including a lag in the completion of the toxicology report, which was dated Sept. 19, and health issues faced by his investigative partner.

The coroners office has been beset by delays in completing toxicology reports, prompting public criticism by law enforcement. Mark Fajardo, the former chief medical examiner-coroner, abruptly quit in March, saying he had not been given enough resources to do the job properly.

Salerno said the case would likely be presented in early December to L.A. County prosecutors, who will decide whether to file criminal charges.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno.

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Los Angeles city leaders took the first step Wednesday toward a major overhaul of the Police Departments disciplinary process  a move long sought by the union that represents rank-and-file officers.

City Council President Herb Wesson unveiled plans for a May ballot measure that would allow the LAPDs Board of Rights panels, which review serious misconduct cases, to be made up entirely of civilians.

The three-member boards are currently made up of two officers, both at the rank of captain or above, and one civilian. Under Wessons proposal, officers facing a disciplinary hearing would have the option of asking for their cases to be heard by a civilian-only panel.

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Those changes, if approved by voters, would hand a major victory to the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents about 9,800 officers and has been at odds with Police Chief Charlie Beck over discipline. The union filed a federal lawsuit against the city in May, calling for more civilian representation in the disciplinary system and accusing Beck of having a corrupting influence over misconduct cases.

Beck, in turn, has publicly questioned the unions motives, arguing that civilians are known to be more lenient toward police officers accused of misconduct.

A Board of Rights has the power to administer major penalties, including lengthy suspensions and terminations. Wesson dismissed the idea that the ballot proposal would represent a rebuke of Beck on disciplinary matters. Civilian oversight, he said, just works for us here in L.A.

I do not see anything negative about more citizen, or civilian, participation, Wesson said. I dont anticipate that this will loosen or reduce discipline. I think this will be a fair process, where youll have a civilian group of folk that are engaged.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said he supports the ballot proposal and has been working with both Wesson and the union to create a fair, transparent, accountable personnel process at the LAPD. The proposed changes, which would require an amendment to the City Charter, would last at a minimum of three years, a time period that encompasses the remainder of Becks final five-year term.

Craig Lally, president of the police union, said Wessons proposal would represent the biggest change to the LAPDs disciplinary process in 50 years.

He said the measures three-year threshold has absolutely nothing to do with the police chief and instead was a fair period of time to assess whether a modified disciplinary system would work. Whos to say the chief is going to stay three years? he said.

Lally said officers have long worried that the existing disciplinary boards could be unfairly influenced by favoritism within the LAPD  or by the chiefs influence on the high-ranking officers who sit on those panels. Having the option of an all-civilian panel, he said, would assure officers that their cases could be judged on the evidence alone.

Im sure the chief will be upset about this  but also I think that hes going to recognize that its all about fairness and the perception of officers getting a fair shake, Lally said.

In a statement, LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein said department officials are committed to improving the disciplinary system and working with both the union and City Council to make meaningful and effective reforms.

We look forward to discussing the various options with the City Council so that any ballot measure to amend the Citys Charter regarding the disciplinary system, such as requiring only civilian hearing officers, does not compromise the chief or the departments ability to hold an officer accountable for misconduct  an essential element of maintaining the publics trust, the statement read.

Under the current system, the police chief must send officers facing serious discipline to a Board of Rights. If the panel determines the officer is guilty of the accusations, it then assigns a penalty. The chief can either accept or reduce that penalty, but not increase its severity.

Connie Rice, a longtime civil rights attorney who has partnered with the LAPD on community policing strategies, questioned whether the proposed all-civilian panels would have the expertise or training necessary to properly evaluate the cases.

I wouldnt automatically assume that civilian oversight is going to end up giving more accountability, she said.

John Mack, who served on the Board of Police Commissioners for eight years, voiced similar skepticism, saying he doubts the proposal would improve disciplinary reviews at the LAPD.

Theres a tendency sometimes for civilians to go overboard in giving officers the benefit of the doubt in cases of categorical use of force, or [officer-involved shootings], even when the facts and the evidence demonstrate otherwise, he said.

The police union frequently puts its financial might behind its chosen candidates; in 2013, the league spent more than $1.5 million to support Wendy Greuel, who was defeated by Garcetti. Wessons proposal was unveiled four months before the March election, which will feature contests for mayor, city attorney, city controller and eight council seats.

A Wesson aide said the LAPD proposal was also signed by Councilman Joe Buscaino, a former police officer, and Councilman Curren Price, who represents part of South Los Angeles. The measure will be evaluated by a committee headed by Wesson, with a vote expected by mid-January.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidZahniser

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The citys first transgender police officer was kept out of an event at the San Diego LGBT Community Center because she was wearing her uniform.

The Transgender Day of Awareness, an annual event to honor those who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence, was held Nov. 17 in the Hillcrest neighborhood.

Officer Christine Garcia, who transitioned last year, helped plan the event and was part of the Police Department security detail that watched over a commemorative march down University Avenue.

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After the march, when Garcia tried to enter the event as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, she was asked to leave because her uniform could upset others in attendance.

When leaders at the center learned what had happened, they apologized to Garcia and San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman.

We do not wish to ever make any community member feel unwelcome  these officers are valued members of our community, Delores Jacobs, chief executive officer of the LGBT center, said in a statement.

Jacobs said the occurrence was a misunderstanding of the centers existing policy of inclusion, which seeks to acknowledge the concerns that members of the community may have without excluding others. Leaders have reviewed the policy with its staff since the event.

While we need to support those that are uncomfortable and honor their reactions to valid and understandable difficult previous experiences, we also need to explain that our LGBTQ San Diego police liaisons are a valued part of our community, Jacobs wrote.

Longtime LGBTQ activist, City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez, said the incident was an outrage.

Any officer, be they gay or straight, should be welcomed into our community center in uniform, he said. They protect our community and neighborhoods and make San Diego a better place.

Murray-Ramirez said relations between the LGBTQ community and the Police Department have vastly improved over the last several decades, in part because of the work done by liaisons such as Garcia.

Theyve really reached out to the community, he said of the department. Theyve gotten to know the community. There are always rotten apples, but on a whole we have progressed greatly. And were very appreciative of them and that progress.

The Police Department said Garcia would not be available to comment.

Police Lt. Scott Wahl, a department spokesman, praised Garcias work in the LGBTQ community, noting she had recently been honored by several organizations.

The San Diego Police Department enjoys having a great relationship with the LGBTQ community, he wrote in a statement. We look forward to continuing our partnership in keeping our community safe.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com

Winkley writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune

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Paul Sylbert, an Academy Award-winning production designer who created the lighter-than-air atmosphere of Gods waiting room in Heaven Can Wait and the white-on-white sterility of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, has died at the age of 88 at his home outside Philadelphia.

Sylbert and his twin brother, Richard, were go-to players in the 1970s and 1980s when directors like Warren Beatty, Roman Polanski, Robert Benton and John Frankenheimer went looking for someone to capture the visual core of a movie. While Sylbert worked on finding the visual metaphors for Kramer vs. Kramer and Gorky Park, his brother was helping shape the look of Chinatown and Reds.

When he was working on Rush, the story of two desperate cops hopelessly chasing after an elusive drug dealer, Sylbert spent weeks searching for a neighborhood  preferably on the outskirts of Houston  that would capture the dark edges of the moody 1991 film. He settled on a badly rutted road with ditch water rolling over the curbs and rusted barbed wire in front of the homes. A petroleum plant blotted out the skyline, belching out steam and smoke.

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Theres nothing that looks more like the mouth of hell than a crackling plant when the gas flames are shooting into the air, he explained to Smithsonian Magazine in a 2008 interview.

Sylbert, who died Saturday, won an Oscar for his work on Heaven Can Wait and was nominated for another for his production work with Barbra Streisand on Prince of Tides. His other credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Drowning Pool, Baby Doll and Alfred Hitchcocks The Wrong Man. His career spanned nearly half a century.

Born in Brooklyn in 1928, Sylbert and his brother were nearly inseparable. They served in the same Army infantry unit in Korea and attended the school of art at Temple University. When Sylbert landed a job at CBS in New York, his brother found work at NBC.

He arrived in Hollywood at a time when the visual fine-tuning of set production work was reasserting itself. If the 1930s and 1940s had taken advantage of the elegance of L.A.s Art Deco backdrop and the moody side streets that lent themselves to film noir, many of the films of the next two decades had retreated to sound stages or indulgent location shoots, Sylbert said.

Hollywood fell asleep; the vessel was empty, Sylbert told The Times in 1990. They were doing things by rote.

Which would explain why he went to the trouble to track down furniture covered with cigarette burns for the apartment of the chain-smoking police inspector in Gorky Park or why his brother purchased 300 books  handpicked Hemingway novels, Harvard classics, feminist Georgian poets  for a single shot of the bookshelves in a home library in Without a Trace.

Putting a film together is like composing music or painting on a white canvas, Sylbert told The Times. Every addition affects the whole.

Sylbert also designed opera sets for the New York City Opera Company and the summertime Festival of Two Worlds in Spoletto, Italy. He also wrote and directed a feature film, The Steagle, the story of a college professor during the Cuban missile crisis trying to live out all of his dreams.

He was as smart and well-read as anyone I have ever come in contact with, and all who knew him respected him, said Hawk Koch, a film producer who worked with Sylbert on Heaven Can Wait and Gorky Park.

At the time of his death, he was writing a book on the craft of production design, his wife, Jeanette, said. She said he also was teaching film courses at Temple and the University of Pennsylvania.

He was a wonderful man who believed in fair play, civility and courage, and was unafraid to say it like it was, his wife said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two children, Olivia and Christian. He was preceded in death by another child, Christopher. His brother died in 2002.

steve.marble@latimes.com

twitter: @stephenmarble
Aaron Schock was 27 years old when he was elected to Congress and became the first member of the House born in the 1980s.

Already a political veteran  he won a write-in campaign for the Peoria, Ill., school board at 19  Schock was seen as one of Capitol Hills up and comers. It didnt hurt that he was a gym disciple with a camera-ready face.

But six years after being sworn in as a congressman from Illinois 18th District in 2009, Schock resigned amid a federal and state criminal probe into how he spent campaign dollars and his $1-million-plus annual office budget.

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Now, Schock, 35, faces a 24-count federal indictment handed down this month by a Springfield, Ill., grand jury that accuses him of pilfering his campaign accounts and his House allowance for personal expenses that included travel, a flight aboard a private plane to watch the Chicago Bears and even rent payments.

Schock denied the charges in a statement issued by his defense attorneys office, saying he intends not only to prove these allegations false, but in the process, expose this investigation for what it was.

The spending scandal that spurred Schocks downfall erupted after what might have been a flash in the pan. He had his congressional office suite decorated with a motif inspired by Downton Abbey, a highly popular British period drama.

Aaron Schocks congressional office was decorated in a motif inspired by the PBS period drama Downton Abbey. (Ben Terris / AP )

An Illinois designer was paid for the work, but one of Schocks aides tried to cover up her compensation. Within days, the press began digging into Schocks far-flung trips, reliance on private aircraft and practice of overbilling the government for auto mileage.

Schock was indicted for crimes including theft of government funds, fraud, making false statements and filing false tax returns.

The indictment said Schock profited from an annual Congressman Aaron Schock Washington DC-Fly-In, in which constituents traveled to the capital, at their expense, and attended various meetings with political leaders.

The events required a fee, but the indictment said at no time did Defendant Schock disclose to the public or fly-in participants that he intended to personally profit from the payment of excess registration fees. In one instance, Schock submitted a false invoice in an attempt to make $11,000 off one fly-in event, according to the indictment.

The indictment represents a colossal fall for the ambitious central Illinois politician who won four elections to Congress.

Schock, a doctors son born in Morris, Minn., moved to Peoria in childhood and as a teen started investing in real estate.

He won the seat on the Peoria school board in 2001 and sat on the board until 2005, when he won election to the Illinois House of Representatives. There, he served two terms until heading off to Congress, full of promise.

He was seen as having the vitality and communication tools to help remake the Republican Party. He was among those cited in the 2010 book Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders, which was written by three lawmakers including Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), now the House speaker.

Schock was a robust fundraiser and at ease showing up on TV news shows to tout GOP policies. Republicans rewarded him with a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and he became a deputy whip.

Still he was restless. Schock considered a 2014 run for Illinois governor before sitting out the race. In Congress, Schocks flamboyance set him apart from his partys gray-haired elders.

He was a gym fanatic who bared his six-pack abs on the cover of Mens Health magazine. On Instagram he documented his adventures in exotic locales from the Greek isles to the glaciers of Patagonia, once even posing for a photo while dancing the tango in Buenos Aires.

Not content with a pastel-colored office, he brought in a decorator from a firm called EuroTrash and had his suite painted ruby red and styled like the televised drama about aristocrats and their servants.

Early in 2015, Schock aides tried to quash a Washington Post story on the redecorating, and one staffer asked the Post reporter to delete pictures taken on a smartphone. An aide said designer Annie Brahler of Jacksonville, Ill., donated her services. But records that emerged showed she did not work gratis.

In a statement this month, Schock said that he resigned from Congress in March of 2015 amid a frenzy of negative reporting, which was overblown and inaccurate, but so distracting that it was preventing me from serving my constituents the way they deserve.

Before leaving office, Schock repaid the government $122,590, which included more than $86,000 in public money from mileage reimbursements over six years. A Chevrolet Tahoe he traded in at a friends car dealership in Peoria in 2014 had an odometer reading with about 89,000 fewer miles than the total he represented in seeking reimbursements from the government and his political funds.

The repayment also included $35,000 in tax dollars paid to the interior designer.

After Schock quit, Republican Darin LaHood won his congressional seat and was reelected Nov. 8. He is the son of Schocks predecessor, Ray LaHood, who retired from Congress in 2009 and became President Obamas transportation chief during the presidents first term.

The ruby red walls were repainted beige even before the younger LaHood took the seat.

Schock mostly ignored the press after resigning, though in a June interview with the Peoria Journal Star, he talked about being the focus of a federal probe.

Its been a year, Im not that interesting of a guy. Its not like Im the Gambino crime family, he said. If there were mistakes, they were honest mistakes, but nobody was like, Do it wrong! Screw up! 

Schock said he had gone back to real estate development. The onetime member of the GOP House leadership team was working with a firm involved in large hospitality projects.

Skiba writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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Opponents of the Dakota Access oil pipeline vowed Wednesday to keep protesting despite a clash this week in which law enforcement officers fired rubber bullets and pepper spray at demonstrators and doused them with water hoses in subfreezing temperatures.

Interviews on a chilly Wednesday morning at the main protest camp evoked a chaotic, frightening scene as dozens of demonstrators were rushed into wood-fired camp kitchens for aggressive rewarming and vigorous painful stimulation after being soaked by the officers.

Noah Morris of the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council said more than 300 people were treated for hypothermia and other ailments during the confrontations that erupted Sunday night and continued into Monday.

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We had folks at the falling-down stage, groups huddling and shivering, in whole-body convulsions, Morris said. Some were visibly covered in ice in heavy parkas. You could see the ice shining and cracking as they moved, falling off their shoulders and elbows.

One protester, Sophia Wolansky, 21, from the Bronx, N.Y., remained hospitalized Wednesday in Minneapolis after suffering an arm injury during an explosion early Monday. Protesters said she was hurt by a concussion grenade thrown by law enforcement, while authorities suggested she was hurt by a propane cylinder that they speculated protesters were rigging up to hurl at the officers.

The clashes were the latest in a months-long standoff between law enforcement and protesters, during which more than 500 people have been arrested.

Developers say the 1,170-mile pipeline would provide a vital and safe means of transporting as much as 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota to an existing pipeline in Illinois.

But the project has stirred controversy because it would cross the Missouri River just half a mile north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, which the tribe believes could harm its drinking water and Native American cultural sites. Members of about 300 tribes from around the country have joined with environmental activists to fight the $3.8-billion project.

Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that more study was needed before it could issue a permit to complete the pipeline, which is more than 80% built. The developer, Energy Transfer Partners, then sued in federal court to resume construction.

Sunday nights clashes began when activists attempted to remove burned-out vehicles from a previous protest that are blocking access to Backwater Bridge. Police have said the vehicles are not safe to move until the bridge is examined for damage. But activists say they are hampering travel by local residents, including delaying ambulances that need to reach the city of Bismarck, to the north.

Local officials said hoses were brought in to put out fires on the bridge, but acknowledged using them against criminal agitators.

At a news conference Monday, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said he was confident that the decision made to use water was the correct one. If a similar situation arises in the future, he added, he wouldnt hesitate to use water again.

It was effective, wasnt it? said a grim-faced Jason Ziegler, the police chief of Mandan, a small city outside Bismarck. We can use whatever force necessary to maintain peace.

At least one independent hypothermia expert questioned the decision, however.

I would consider it a poor option, said Steven Bergman, a physician who oversees medical care for 13 prisons in Michigan. Theres no question theyre putting these people at risk. Just exposing them to the soaking effects of water at those temperatures is clearly putting their health in jeopardy.

He added that in the prison system where he works, that wouldnt be considered.

Authorities did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the threat of hypothermia under Sunday nights conditions.

A number of hypothermia victims described a burning sensation as water from the hoses soaked their bodies and ice quickly began forming on their clothes and in their hair.

All my clothes were literally frozen solid, said Tony Zavlan of the Chumash Nation, who lives in Santa Barbara. My hands werent working. They were like a deep purple color. In my hair, I basically had dreadlocks of ice.

Both sides said that the dousing continued for hours, as water tanks were drained and hoses reconnected to full ones.

They were just blasting people, said Zavlan.

Despite the violence and increasingly cold temperatures, there is no indication that protesters will take down their teepees any time soon.

Everybody says, no, we wont leave now, said Samuel Hannah, from the Havasupai reservation, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Even when this weather comes, and the snow comes, everybody is willing to stay here.

On Thursday, actresses Jane Fonda and Shailene Woodley plan to help serve a Thanksgiving meal for up to 2,000 Native Americans and their supporters at the Standing Rock reservation.

Tolan is a special correspondent.

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The revelation that President-elect Donald Trump does not intend to seek a new investigation into Hillary Clinton was startling not only because it seemed to reverse a campaign pledge.

It also suggested that Trump thinks that thats his decision to make, reflecting an apparent lack of regard for the cherished independence of the Justice Department, which is responsible for conducting investigations without the influence or opinion of the White House.

Trump on Tuesday told reporters and editors of the New York Times that I dont want to hurt the Clintons; I really dont, despite having said during the campaign that hed seek a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton and that shed be in jail if he were elected.

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Some questions and answers about how the White House and Justice Department interact  and how the system actually works:

Do presidents oversee investigations of the Justice Department?

Definitely not.

Long-standing protocol dictates that the FBI and Justice Department operate free of political influence or meddling from the White House. Thats one reason that the FBI director serves a 10-year term and does not turn over the reins as presidential administrations come and go. It also means that presidents are not supposed to supervise, initiate or stop law enforcement investigations.

White House officials and Justice Department lawyers arent even meant to talk with each other about ongoing criminal investigations or civil enforcement actions, though there is some leeway granted for matters of national security.

A 2007 Justice Department memorandum says the department will advise the White House of criminal or civil enforcement matters only where it is important for the performance of the presidents duties and where appropriate from a law enforcement perspective.

This limitation recognizes the presidents ability to perform his constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed while ensuring that there is public confidence that the laws of the United States are administered and enforced in an impartial manner, the memo states.

Why is that so important?

Justice Department officials have long considered it imperative that their investigations not be politicized or tainted by suspicions of interference by the White House or other elected leaders.

Any hint of political meddling could undermine public faith in the legitimacy of an investigation. It could raise the prospect that a person is being investigated, or is being spared from investigation, on the whims of political considerations rather than evidence of guilt or innocence.

Past episodes that have blurred the line between politics and the administration of justice have been fairly disastrous for the government.

During the Watergate scandal, for instance, President Nixon refused to turn over White House audiotapes to Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor investigating the matter. Atty. Gen. Elliot Richardson and Deputy Atty. Gen. William Ruckelshaus both resigned rather than follow Nixons order to fire Cox. Cox was then fired at Nixons request by then-Solicitor Gen. Robert Bork, an episode that became known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

In 2007, Alberto Gonzales resigned as attorney general in the wake of the dismissal of several U.S. attorneys, who serve at the presidents pleasure. Some of the fired attorneys said they felt pressured to investigate Democrats before elections, though Gonzales said they were dismissed based on their performance records.

Does that mean presidents have never weighed in publicly on ongoing matters?

The White House has typically balked at questions about the status of Justice Department investigations. But officials, including the president, havent always strictly abided by that firewall.

President Obama caused a stir in 2014 when he appeared to prejudge an ongoing FBI investigation into the Internal Revenue Service by telling Fox News that there was not even a smidgeon of corruption.

Obama also said in 2012 that there was no evidence that his CIA director David H. Petraeus caused harm to national security through his affair with his biographer. The FBI later concluded that he had given the woman, Paula Broadwell, classified information, and Petraeus pleaded guilty.

Obama told CBS 60 Minutes in October 2015 that Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of State was a mistake but didnt endanger national security  an eyebrow-raising statement given that the FBIs investigation was still underway and law enforcement officials at the time had made no such public characterization.

Conversely, Justice Department and FBI officials are expected under their own protocol to avoid taking public investigative action in the run-up to an election for fear of being seen as influencing the outcome.

Thats one reason department officials frowned on FBI Director James Comeys disclosure to Congress, less than two weeks before the election, that the FBI would review emails it had recently found that it thought might be connected to the Clinton email case. He announced the conclusion of that review two days before the election with no charges being brought.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

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A Wayne State University police officer has died after being shot in the head while on patrol near the schools campus in Detroit.

The university announced Officer Collin Roses death Wednesday evening in a news release. Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody confirmed the 29-year-old Rose died about 5:45 p.m.

Rose was shot Tuesday night in Detroits Woodbridge Estates neighborhood after radioing in that he was about to speak to someone about possible thefts from vehicles in the area.

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A suspect was arrested Tuesday night, but has not been charged.

Rose, a five-year campus police veteran, had been released from surgery earlier Wednesday.

University President M. Roy Wilson said Rose is the only Wayne State officer to fall in the line of duty.

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Happy Thanksgiving! 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

Your Thanksgiving Food for Thought

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In 1863, as the Civil War raged on, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the entire nation was to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving and Praise on a single date, rather than individual states observing it according to their wishes. The idea was one of reconciliation. As Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold writes, it is one that serves us well today: Nothing has quite as much power to bring us together as an hour or two at the table  an hour or two devoted to family and friends, grace and gratitude for the blessings of America. We eat together and talk together as people with a single purpose. We are happy together at least until the bowl of cranberry sauce runs low.

In Some Homes, a Bitter Harvest

For more than a decade, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez has argued that the U.S. immigration system is broken. For him, its always been personal, having grown up in Mexico and crossed the border into Texas to visit his mothers family  a scary trip, he says, even with a passport and tourist visa. Now, his frustration and worries are even greater for the immigrant families who fear being divided under Donald Trumps plans for more deportations.

Trump Widens the Tent Just a Little

Trump will spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a small respite from the task of picking more top advisors. On Wednesday, he stepped out of his circle of loyalists by selecting two women who had been less than enthusiastic supporters  Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina for United Nations ambassador and Betsy DeVos, a billionaire advocate of school vouchers, for secretary of Education. Haley had criticized Trumps rhetoric during the campaign, while DeVos had contributed to at least two of Trumps rivals.

To One Homeless Man, Its Treasure. To the City, Its Trash.

Ceola Waddell Jr.s handiwork has countless fans on Facebook. The city of L.A. is not one of them. Waddell, who has lived on and off the streets for decades, built a compound underneath the Harbor Freeway complete with a living room sofa and love seat, porcelain toilet and zebra-skin slipcovers. A video tour of it went viral. But sanitation crews have twice removed his makeshift abode. Last week, workers took a refrigerator with an abundance of rotting food, explosive materials and other unhealthy items, according to the city. I refuse to let the city beat me down to what they think a homeless persons profile is, living on cardboard, said Waddell.

The Few. The Proud. The Retail Workers on Black Friday.

In the chill of the morning air, they train. What if a customer wants more than one doorbuster item? What are the benefits of that extended warranty? How do you keep crazed shoppers safe? Heres a look at the intense planning that retailers and their employees do for Black Friday.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

-- The feast: A beginners guide to cooking turkey, last-minute recipe inspiration and ideas for dining out.

-- Moana, Allied and other new films to see in theaters.

-- The best college football games to watch.

-- Skip the mall, go to a museum: 16 ways to gobble up SoCal culture.

-- Your Black Friday cheat sheet: how to find the deals and duds.

CALIFORNIA

-- Meet the children of L.A.s skid row, some of the estimated 63,000 homeless kids in L.A. County.

-- A new report on the states seismic vulnerabilities says that up to 3.5 million homes could be damaged if an 8.0 earthquake ruptured on the San Andreas fault.

-- L.A. city officials are looking to decriminalize sidewalk vending. Its been in the works for some time but gained urgency with Trumps vow to deport people in the country illegally and convicted of a crime.

-- L.A. also took the first step toward a major overhaul of the Police Departments disciplinary process  a move long sought by the union that represents rank-and-file officers.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- TV review: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is a welcome slice of smart holiday escapism.

-- Robot roll call: Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson talks about the revived series with new host Jonah Ray.

-- The craziest opera yet: Gerald Barrys Alices Adventures Under Ground.

-- The Salk Institute in La Jolla, designed by Modernist architect Louis Kahn, is aging gracefully.

-- The Gold Star father who brandished the Constitution at the Democratic convention will write a memoir about his life and the death of his son.

-- Jeff Bridges says he has high hopes and a lot of concerns about a Trump presidency.

NATION-WORLD

-- Aaron Schock was once a rising star in the GOP. Then he decorated his congressional office like Downton Abbey.

-- Why the Justice Department operates free of White House influence.

-- A man who ambushed and fatally shot one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions was given a more lenient sentence in Kansas.

-- Colombian government officials and leftist rebels are expected to sign a revised peace deal.

-- Dont mess with a coconut crab. The largest land-dwelling crab on Earth can lift about 66 pounds with its pincers and can pinch with about 750 pounds of force.

BUSINESS

-- Drug costs have skyrocketed for many older Americans, despite Medicare coverage.

-- T-Day trivia: The cost of a basic Thanksgiving meal for 10 people dropped 24 cents, to $49.87.

SPORTS

-- Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up the shot heard round the world, has died at age 90.

-- Mike Pereira has the coolest job in the NFL: Fox Sports rules analyst.

OPINION

-- Pheasant under glass? Why Thanksgiving is the meal that must not change.

-- There is no better occasion for a conversation about the ethics of what we eat than Thanksgiving.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Were going from no drama Obama to Trumps truthful hyperbole. (Washington Post)

-- Photographers share eight moments they are thankful for having witnessed. (National Geographic)

-- Do you know the name Sarah Josepha Hale? She campaigned for 15 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the U.S. (Atlas Obscura)

ONLY IN L.A.

Do you have something to get off your chest before your Thanksgiving meal? A phone line art project, born out of an L.A. art space, is here to help. Just dial (386) 951-3320 and you can leave a message to that person in your life whose views and opinions you really dont agree with  or listen to others vent  in the Not at the Dinner Table project. Why the 386 area code? Its in a Florida county that is a home of the hanging chad.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.

If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends.
A little more than a year ago, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party were swept to a landmark election victory in Myanmar. As the country has progressed down the path toward full-fledged democracy, however, it has not made equal strides on human rights. Witness how Suu Kyis government has completely locked down an impoverished and strife-ridden portion of the country  home to many of the countrys Rohingya Muslim population, one of the worlds most persecuted groups  in the name of national security.

The lockdown occurred after attacks on three border posts in the Maungdaw township of Myanmars Rakhine state left nine police officers dead early last month. According to a statement from the Ministry of Information, interrogations of two attackers led officials to conclude that the attacks were part of an elaborate Islamist terrorist plot to take over that part of Rakhine state. Human rights groups and news media have not been able to verify any part of that account.

The Myanmar government has every right to respond to an attack on its police force. But what human rights groups and U.N. officials have decried is Myanmars scorched-earth tactics. Since the lockdown, according to Human Rights Watch, at least 100 people have been killed and 1,250 homes and other structures have been burned. Some groups say the military burned the houses. The military says Rohingya militants have burned their own villages. There also have been reports of women alleging they had been raped by soldiers. (The government denies those allegations.)

Hundreds have been arrested, humanitarian assistance in Maungdaw township has been curtailed, and thousands have fled their destroyed villages, many crossing the northern border into Bangladesh. Officials of the U.N.s World Food Program say they were allowed to distribute food for two days earlier this month, but officials still worry about future access. The recipients of aid in this rural area are impoverished Rohingya Muslims who, by virtue of Myanmars longstanding refusal to allow them citizenship, are restricted in their travel and largely rely on food aid to survive.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar and Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have called for international observers to be allowed to investigate the allegations of abuse and violence and for humanitarian aid to resume.

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Even as Myanmar has transitioned over the years from a military government to a democratic one, it has yet to transition out of its state-sanctioned discrimination against the Rohingya Muslim minority. This period of violence is another indication of the governments disgraceful treatment of the Rohingya and a disappointing sign that Suu Kyi cares little about changing that situation. Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, whom Suu Kyi asked last summer to head a commission on the problems in Rakhine state, issued a statement noting that recent events have reinforced the urgency of tackling these challenges. Hes got that right. Perhaps he can convince Suu Kyi to allow relief agencies and journalists back into the township, and to stop ignoring allegations of abuse by the military.

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More than 4 million white-collar workers who thought they were becoming eligible for overtime pay next week are now in limbo, thanks to a federal judge in Texas who blocked a new Obama administration wage and hour rule Tuesday. The unusual decision casts in doubt a federal threshold for overtime pay that has been in place since the Great Depression, and the Obama administration should seek a fast review by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

At issue is how the Labor Department defines who is and isnt eligible for overtime protections. The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that most hourly workers who put in more than 40 hours in a single week must be paid at a 50% higher rate for the extra hours. Salaried workers are not automatically covered, though  overtime protections do not apply to many managers or administrative staff under an exemption meant to recognize the differences between the work done by executives, administrators and professionals from that done by laborers.

Congress left it up to the Labor Department to determine how to apply the exemption for salaried workers. From the first regulations under the Roosevelt administration, the Labor Department has set a minimum salary workers must be paid to be considered exempt from the overtime pay rule, in addition to defining the kinds of duties  supervisory work, for instance  they have to perform.

Its not workplace flexibility employers seek, but the ability to continue to exploit low- and moderate-salaried workers.

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Earlier this year, the Obama administration issued new regulations that would have increased the salary threshold on Dec. 1, making a large number of lower-paid salaried positions eligible for overtime pay for the first time. The current threshold was set in 2004 at $455 a week, or $23,360 a year, a level that is now $940 below the federal poverty line for a family of four  hardly what most people consider a white-collar salary. The administrations regulations would have set the threshold a few notches below the median salary in the lowest-wage region of the country  an estimated $913 a week, or $47,476 annually  and automatically recalculated it every three years to keep up with increases in pay.

Business groups and 21 states, led by Nevada, opposed the new regulations, saying that they would strain budgets, force layoffs and reduce work hours. The challengers also argued that the higher threshold would limit work site flexibility and reduce opportunities for advancement.

Those are not persuasive arguments. If labor costs increase, thats primarily because workers will no longer be putting in uncompensated overtime that, had the threshold kept pace with rising wages, they should have been paid for. Its not workplace flexibility employers seek, but the ability to continue to exploit low- and moderate-salaried workers. And linking professional advancement to how many hours someone will work for free is Dickensian.

In his ruling, Judge Amos L. Mazzant of the East Texas District Court found that although the original wording of the Fair Labor Standards Act gives the Labor Department significant leeway to establish the types of duties that might qualify an employee for the exemption, the law does not include language indicating that Congress intended the department to set a minimum salary level for exempt workers. Thus, the Departments delegation is limited by the plain meaning of the statute and Congresss intent, Mazzant wrote.

That interpretation might have been acceptable at some point in the mid-20th century, when the regulation was new. But using salary as one of the determining factors has now been on the books for more than 70 years, under administrations Democratic and Republican. If Congress objected to the Labor Department using salary as a factor in determining exemptions, it has had ample time to do so and amend the laws to state categorically that it didnt want salary used. Congress lack of action affirms its intent to exempt some work from overtime protections, and to let the secretary of Labor determine how to do it.

The Labor Department disagreed with Mazzants ruling, as would be expected, and is mulling its options. Any appeal would go through the 5th Circuit, considered the nations most conservative federal appellate court. We hope that even those justices would recognize that a regulation with a seven-decade history has withstood enough of a test of time to survive this challenge. Hanging in the balance is an element of basic fairness  paying people for their labor and protecting them from exploitation, which is exactly what Congress intended.

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Of all the White House feats of public relations stagecraft, few appear as meaningless as the annual Thanksgiving presidential turkey pardoning.

It has no effect on any policy. Theres no serious message under the frothy ceremony. And the turkeys dont seem to appreciate how fortunate they are to dodge the butcher. Furthermore, its a little perverse to celebrate not cooking two farm-raised turkeys (one the officially pardoned bird; the other a similarly lucky alternate) while millions of their brethren are at that moment being prepped for starring roles in traditional Thanksgiving meals.

It is not even a very long-held tradition. Though the National Turkey Federation has been presenting holiday turkeys to presidents for nearly 70 years, it wasnt until 1989 that President George H.W. Bush made turkey pardoning an official thing. Previous presidents chose to spare their birds only occasionally. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy sent his Thanksgiving turkey back to the farm after the presentation, perhaps being turned off by the sign around its neck wishing the president good eating. Few things are as unappetizing as having ones food comment on its imminent demise.

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President Ronald Reagan may have inadvertently provided his successor with the inspiration for ceremonial turkey pardons in 1987. During the annual turkey presentation that year, ABCs Sam Donaldson wouldnt stop asking serious questions about the possible fate of Reagan aides Oliver North and John M. Poindexter for their roles in the Iran-Contra scandal. Mr. President, do you intend to pardon them on Thanksgiving Day? Donaldson asked. Him? said Reagan, pointing to a turkey with mock seriousness.

As transparent a plug for the poultry industry as it may be, however, this ritual of fall is not without its charms. Theres something humanizing about powerful people posing next to (and some times stroking) a portly, pecking turkey. Governors of some states (though not California) follow the practice as well.

President Obama has taken the turkey pardoning tradition to new levels of, well, bemusement during his tenure in the White House. With his daughters at his side, Obama abandons his usual, buttoned-down demeanor to crack silly jokes. (Actually, at this years ceremony he was accompanied by his nephews; he explained that his daughters just couldnt take my jokes anymore.) During one ceremony in 2014, he turned retrospective, acknowledging the absurdity of annual event but pointing out that its a nice change from the daily grind.

It is a bit puzzling that I do this every year, he said. I will say I enjoy it because, with all the tough stuff that swirls around this office, it is nice once in a while just to say Happy Thanksgiving.

A bit of a break from the awesome responsibility of leading the Free World? Perhaps this pardoning tradition isnt quite the turkey of an event it seems to be.

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Fifty years ago Thursday, Lunar Orbiter II took a picture of a moon crater. When it was beamed back to Earth, the photos then-unique view made the moon real in a way it hadnt been before  as an actual place, another world that might be a second home for humanity. Seeing the Copernicus crater close up mustered Space Age feelings of wonder. Such wonder is harder to provoke now, but the image reminds us: The moon still waits for us.

Poetically, the Copernicus crater is named after the 16th century thinker who theorized that the sun  not Earth  was the center of the solar system. That truth sparked the scientific revolution, which both diminished our importance in the cosmos and revealed our powers to understand and explore it.

Lunar Orbiter II took the photograph with a dual-camera system, using a velocity-height sensor to adjust the film for orbital motion. The craft then developed the image, scanned the negative and transmitted it five days later.

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This was the decade of NASAs Apollo program. Lunar Orbiter II and other efforts were, as a 1960s agency publication put it, blazing a trail for man to follow. Humanity  or, at least, the United States and the Soviet Union  aimed for the moon and, next, Mars. It all seemed possible. Amid nuclear brinkmanship, wars hot and cold, assassination, and riot, space was hope.

The Copernicus photograph was a grace note, taken between shots of possible Apollo landing sites in order to use up the film. Douglas Lloyd of Bellcomm Inc., a NASA contractor, suggested the shot. I suspect he knew the photo would be spectacular because the crater itself is spectacular.

Visible through binoculars, [the Copernicus crater] is 60 miles wide ... and 12,000 feet deep. Its the result of a nearly billion-year-old impact.

Visible from Earth through binoculars, Copernicus is 60 miles wide, big enough to swallow Rhode Island, and 12,000 feet deep. Its the result of a nearly billion-year-old impact. Gullies and ridges radiate another 60 miles from the craters edge, and rays of ejecta  bits and pieces of the moon excavated and sprayed out by the impact  spread even farther. In the middle, peaks frozen in place by rebounding melted rock rise to nearly 4,000 feet. From straight above, it looks like a giant spotted flower.

But Lunar Orbiter II didnt shoot straight down. It took its photo from about 125 to 150 miles south of the crater and 28 miles above  a glancing view. The angle revealed topography: moonscape as landscape.

Time magazine invoked an earthly comparison. Except for the black sky in the background, the photograph might have been mistaken for a composite of the scenic grandeur of the Grand Canyon and the barren desolation of the Badlands of South Dakota.

The Los Angeles Times, which, like many papers, ran the photo on its front page, quoted one source saying, Its almost as though a photographer actually stood inside the crater to take these shots.

Planetary scientist William Hartmann likens it to the view from an airplane. Or, to my mind, a spaceship. For its humanizing perspective and then-stunning detail, NASA scientist Martin Swetnick proclaimed it one of the great pictures of the century.

Weve long since been swamped by photographs of astronomical grandeur: The Hubble Deep Field with its snowstorm of fossil galaxies. The Eagle Nebula, with its star-forming dust clouds  the Pillars of Creation. Martian bedrock, Titans lakes, icy plumes from tiny moons. Yet the 1966 Copernicus photo retains its majesty. And looking at it again suggests unfinished business.

Theres been a lunar revival of late. Another NASA orbiter has transmitted breathtaking images. China, Japan and India have lunar programs. The private company Moon Express Inc. aims to land a rover on the moon next year. The head of the European Space Agency wants a lunar settlement.

The moon is a closer, safer prospect than Mars, and cheaper (not that we shouldnt attempt Mars too). One study claims that a base might cost $10 billion (the price of two weeks of war in Iraq). NASA  or a few billionaires  could afford that.

To make a lunar home would test our technology, our physiology and society itself. Living in a hostile environment, pioneers would have to consider cooperation their highest mission.That seems idealistic, but its insurance against earthly catastrophe and stupidity. Going back to the moon, and staying, could be our biggest leap since we left the trees to walk the savannas.

If we get there, we should seek the remains of Lunar Orbiter II and pay homage. It crashed on the far side almost a year after it helped us see the moon  and our possibilities  anew.

Christopher Cokinos is co-editor of The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, and a professor of English at the University of Arizona.

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California Democrats ask Obama to pardon nearly 750,000 Dreamers, but White House says it wouldnt work

The members of Congress who persuaded President Obama to grant temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the country illegally as children are now asking him to use a pardon to prevent those immigrants from being deported by President-elect Donald Trump.

The White House, however, promptly batted down the idea.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Obama on Thursday asking him to use his pardon authority to forgive the past and future civil immigration offenses of the nearly 750,000 people granted deportation deferrals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

They believe that would keep those people from being deported, and even though it would leave them in legal limbo without work permits or visas, they could more easily apply for legal status from within the U.S. without immigration offenses on their records.

They wouldnt have a piece of paper, they wouldnt have work authorization, but they wouldnt have to be living in fear every moment of their lives about deportation, Lofgren said after a news conference Thursday.

Lofgren, a former immigration attorney, said the pardons would probably be applied to the civil offenses related to entering and remaining in the country without authorization.

But whether a pardon would actually be applicable in the so-called Dreamers situation is unclear. Lawyers disagree over whether the immigrants could be pardoned for civil crimes they havent been formally accused of, and whether such a pardon would actually prevent them from being deported while they seek legal status.

A White House official signaled late Thursday that the administration was not considering a pardon for those registered under DACA because it believes a pardon would not allow them legal status.

We note that the clemency power could not give legal status to any undocumented individual. As we have repeatedly said for years, only Congress can create legal status for undocumented individuals, an administration official said.

After immigration reform efforts stalled in Congress during Obamas first term, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pressured Obama to act independently to protect from deportation certain immigrants brought into the country illegally when they were children. He then used an executive order to create the DACA program in 2012.

The Dreamers, one in three of whom are estimated to live in California, gave the Department of Homeland Security their fingerprints, home addresses and other information to undergo background checks that allowed them to defer deportation under DACA.

At the time, advocates and the administration emphasized that providing the information would protect the Dreamers and was worth the risk. But with Trump vowing to deport millions of people who are in the country illegally and many fearing he may let the DACA program expire, Dreamers are worried the information they provided will be used to deport them.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), whose husband is an immigration attorney, said at the news conference she has been getting a flood of messages from frightened Dreamers. On Tuesday she sent a letter to Obama asking him to keep their information from the Trump administration.

We promised these recipients security, and now they are facing a nightmare, she said.

Roybal-Allard said those who pushed Obama to create the program and persuaded people to come out of the shadows to register with the government have an obligation to protect them.

These are kids. We feel a sense of responsibility. We went out into our districts and we talked to the Dreamers, and they asked us, Is it really OK for us to do this? Roybal-Allard said. And we said, No, dont worry, you need to come forward. Now we are in a situation where all that we said, in fact, could possibly be reversed.

Although the presidents pardon power is normally used for individual cases, there is some precedent for the chief executive to pardon a large group of people.

President Jimmy Carter pardoned half a million Vietnam War draft evaders in 1977, and at least seven other presidents have issued broad pardons.

Congress and the Supreme Court cannot undo a presidential pardon, nor can a new president.

Lofgren said if Obama doesnt pardon the Dreamers, she hopes he responds with his own idea to help them.

These young people are not alone, they are not going to be abandoned by us, she said.

UPDATES

4:59 p.m. This post was updated with additional details throughout.

2:15 p.m. This post was updated with the White Houses response to the proposal.

This post was originally published at 11:30 a.m.
A place that can be thought of as a candy store for makeup junkies has made its way to Orange County.

NYX Cosmetics, touted as a high-quality yet affordable cosmetics brand, opened its first Orange County location  at the Brea Mall  this month.

NYX was founded in 1999 but the products were primarily sold at professional trade shows. A few years ago, Target and Ulta started carrying the brand. In October 2015, NYX opened its first standalone store, and soon it had 20 shops, with Brea boosting the number to 21.

The line was acquired by LOreal in 2014, but the brand has remained fairly independent, said Nathalie Kristo, NYXs Los Angeles-based general manager of marketing and global business development.

Weve been on a rapid expansion, and the brand has just exploded because were one of the unique companies to celebrate social media, she said. The team really invests a lot of their time and resources into the products. What youll find is you get amazing pigment payoff, amazing color deposits and thats what the team really focuses on.

She calls it a candy store for makeup junkies.

Many of the products range from $3 to $20, are comparable to more high-end brands and are cruelty-free, meaning they are not tested on animals, she said.

Kristo said NYX  pronounced nicks  is one of the first brands to embrace the power of social media. The company will often re-post fans looks on its Instagram page, which has more than 9.2 million followers, as well as advertise new products on the page.

The standalone stores also have beauty bars where customers can watch tutorials on the latest looks and try them out themselves with tester products at the counter.

This is a place where they can really relate to the looks that people are using, Kristo said. With our professional makeup store, we thought it was really important for us to create some digital features to help empower people to learn makeup on their own.

The store carries all 2,000 NYX products, as well as exclusives like pre-curated and customizable eyeshadow palettes.

Some of the most popular products are the liquid lipsticks  which come in variations like Liquid Suede, Lip Lingerie and Soft Matte Lip Creams  Kristo said.

The eye products and face palettes  like the highlight and contour kits, which can help accentuate a womans facial features by blending neutral colors  are also big sellers, she said.

The brand is popular not only among newbies just learning how to use makeup but industry professionals as well, Kristo said.

Katie Amezquita, an Orange-based cosmetologist who does hair and makeup for weddings, said she plans on adding NYX liquid lipsticks to her regular kit so her clients have an affordable product to purchase for touch-ups.

Jamie Nicole Rocha, 31, of West Covina said she estimates that more than 90% of her makeup collection is from NYX. She especially loves the lipsticks, she said.

I love NYX because you cant beat the price for the type of quality you get, she said. I love makeup, and I tend to collect many products. I have found NYX to be a good majority of my collection. ... But my ultimate favorite is the NYX Liquid Suede. I pretty much own almost every color. I love the quality, and for $6 to $7 its a steal.

Kristo said it was only a matter of time before NYX opened a location in Orange County.

We think that Orange County is perfect for NYX, she said. We love the diverse clientele here and seeing our consumers in the store. I look around the store and I see exactly the kind of girls that I know love NYX. Were from L.A., so coming to Orange County was natural for us. It feels like home, and yet we know its a place where people were eager and waiting for the NYX store.

NYX is located at 1065 Brea Mall in Brea. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit NYXCosmetics.com.

brittany.woolsey@latimes.com

Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey
For more than a decade, some Laguna Beach galleries and art-related businesses have served complimentary wine and beer to guests browsing collections during the First Thursdays Art Walk, a free monthly event that may also feature musical performances along with new exhibits.

The owners may or may not have known they needed a license to serve the beverages, but many said they never encountered resistance from the authorities  until three weeks ago.

On Nov. 3, undercover officers from the Laguna Beach Police Department and the states Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control cited five galleries and two other businesses for serving alcohol without a license, Laguna Beach police Sgt. Tim Kleiser said.

Some business owners are miffed, saying they were caught off-guard that law enforcement was considering such action.

I was completely shocked that no warning was given, said Pam Panattoni, president of Laguna North Gallery. "[Police] were inside the gallery at 6 p.m. They could have said, This is not allowed. They waited an hour and handed a citation. We could have been given a warning.

Laguna North is a cooperative of 13 members who deal in oil, pastel and water color paintings. Panattoni said the gallery doesnt serve wine at every Art Walk, which is held from 6 to 9 p.m., and when it does, only a small amount, about an ounce, is pre-poured into plastic cups.

Meanwhile at Nuance Home + Lifestyle, assistant manager Katherine Caporale said officers acted like they were interested in art and flashed their badges.

The business sells interior furnishings and features artists.

It was weird, said Caparole, adding that the business has served wine and cheese during Art Walk before without a fuss.

We had not heard anything before that indicated there would be enforcement, she said. If we were told, we would not have served it.

Kleiser said police sent a letter to businesses that said the department has experienced some issues during Thursdays Art Walk.

He declined to elaborate, but according to a copy of the letter, problems included amplified music or outside speakers, drinking in public, intoxicated subjects and displays creeping onto sidewalks.

The licensing also apparently became an issue with police, although it was not mentioned in the warning letter. Of the seven businesses cited, six served wine and one served beer, Kleiser said.

The citys code prohibits the consumption of alcohol in a public place, including on streets, sidewalks and parking lots, the letter said. Kleiser did not say how many businesses received the letter.

Torrey Cook, vice president of the First Thursdays Art Walk board, said 25 people, including board members and gallery owners, met with police and an ABC agent in late October to discuss various issues related to the monthly events, including outdoor displays, music and the rules regarding the serving of alcohol.

Cook said the meeting, organized by police, was sparsely attended, and this, she believes, is why many business owners were not aware there would be a crackdown.

I knew about it because Im on the board, but not many gallery owners showed up to the meeting, Cook said.

Nonetheless, Cook, founder and owner of Artists Republic Gallery, said she had no idea police would arrive at galleries unannounced and not in uniform. Cook, who does not serve alcohol, said she discovered the next day that officers had been inside the gallery.

I was not aware of the undercover operation, Cook said. Its really disheartening. We work really hard to have an artist reception. No one communicated to stop serving alcohol. It doesnt seem nice or respectful.

Kleiser said police and ABC officers patrolled bars and restaurants on Nov. 3, looking for employees who may have tried to serve alcohol to an underage decoy that accompanied them. He said he is not sure how or if that operation morphed into the gallery galleries.

All seven citations issued were considered criminal misdemeanors, meaning they could result in a maximum $1,000 fine, up to one year in jail or both, Kleiser wrote in a follow-up email.

This is not the first time rumblings about alcohol and Art Walk have surfaced in Laguna.

Last fall, Christiana Lewis, art director at Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art, said the drinking during Art Walk had gotten out of hand, according to columnist Dave Hansens Oct. 12, 2015, column in the Coastline Pilot.

It went from being a beautiful, cultural event filled with live music, friends gathering and actually having discussions about art, to this drunk walk. Its like a pub crawl, Lewis is quoted as saying.

We want the public to be safe along the lines of operating within the guidelines of the law, Kleiser said, adding that police will reach out to businesses as part of an education campaign to let them know what is and is not allowed.

Panattoni said Laguna North Gallery members agreed to pay the attorneys fees for the one member of the cooperative who was cited.

As for the next Art Walk, Panattoni said participating members are definitely not going to serve wine. She added that the group will meet next week to consider whether to continue participating in Art Walk.

We are devastated at the unfairness of it, she said.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce
State regulators are looking to yank the license of a detoxification center in Costa Mesa, alleging staff members falsified medical records of a patient who died there.

On Nov. 8, the license for Pacific Coast Detox was suspended pending the outcome of an administrative revocation hearing, according to California Department of Health Care Services spokeswoman Katharine Weir.

A date for that hearing has not yet been set, Weir wrote in an email Wednesday. Pacific Coast, at 536 Hamilton St., has been licensed since March 2014.

The action from Health Care Services follows an investigation into the circumstances surrounding an unidentified patient who died while detoxing at the factility.

A state investigation revealed Pacific Coast staff did not check on the patient as often as is required and entered false information in the decedents file  logging erroneous entries suggesting observational checks had been made, according to documents provided to the Daily Pilot this week.

State certification standards require patients be checked every 30 minutes during the first 12 hours after they are admitted to monitor withdrawal signs and symptoms.

Analysts reviewed video footage from Pacific Coast on the day of the death and found only one instance where a staff member checked on the patient face-to-face, documents state.

The state alleges Pacific Coast has demonstrated conduct that is inimical  harmful or detrimental  to the health, morals, welfare or safety of an individual receiving service from the facility and to the people of the state of California.

Officials at Pacific Coast did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

The facilitys website also appears to have been taken down, but a cached version states that Pacific Coast offers clinical detoxification services to men and women who have abused substances such as alcohol, opiates, prescription drugs and heroin.

State officials declined to say when exactly the patient died, or provide information such as the persons gender or age, citing privacy laws.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter: @LukeMMoney
Sober-living homes will be the topic of a town hall meeting scheduled for Monday in Costa Mesa.

The event, sponsored by the Assn. of California Cities-Orange County and the Orange County Assn. of Realtors, will include remarks from a panel of legal experts and elected officials, as well as a question-and-answer period.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) and Assembly members Travis Allen and Matthew Harper, both Republicans from Huntington Beach, are among those expected to attend.

In recent years, officials and residents in cities throughout Orange County  including Costa Mesa  have raised concerns about the proliferation of sober-living homes, which generally house recovering drug and alcohol addicts who are considered disabled under state and federal law.

Proponents say such facilities offer a safe and secure place for people seeking to stay sober. But critics say the homes can disrupt neighborhoods and contribute to parking and traffic problems, crime, noise, secondhand smoke and other negative effects.

Mondays town hall will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. For more information or to RSVP, visit ACCOC.org.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter: @LukeMMoney
An Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday let stand a trespassing complaint lodged by Laguna Beachs Urth Caffe against a group of Muslim women who allege they were ordered to leave the restaurant for being visibly Muslim.

Seven women filed a civil-rights lawsuit in May against Urth Caffe, claiming they had been discriminated against April 22 because they were wearing hijabs, traditional headscarves worn by some Muslim women.

The cafes owner has denied the allegation and in June filed a countersuit accusing the women of trespassing by refusing to leave.

Urth Caffe attorney David Yerushalmi said during a court appearance Tuesday that the women became rude and disrupted other patrons by videotaping them after learning about the cafes policy of not allowing customers to stay at their tables longer than 45 minutes during peak business times.

The womens attorney Mohammad Tajsar filed a motion with the court claiming that the restaurants lawsuit was retaliation for the womens public allegations of discrimination.

Judge John Gastelum ruled against that motion Tuesday, effectively allowing Urth Caffes claim against the women to move forward.

He set a trial date in both lawsuits for late August.

Tajsars motion was based on Californias anti-SLAPP statute, which allows a court to strike a complaint, known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, that is intended to burden critics exercising their rights of petition or free speech with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

Gastelum wrote in his ruling that the trespassing claim is not based on the womens verbal or online discussions but rather on their refusal to leave the cafe after they were asked.

"[The cafes] cause of action for trespass is not based on any act in furtherance of a persons right of petition or free speech under the United States or California Constitution in connection with a public issue, he wrote.

Tuesdays hearing was the first time a judge has reviewed the case since both sides filed their complaints.

The women said they were ushered out of Urth Caffe by two police officers after a manager said they had violated the restaurants policy of allowing only a 45-minute stay during peak times.

According to the womens lawsuit, they had gathered on a Friday night to meet friends over pizza, pecan pie and coffee when a manager interrupted them at about 8 p.m. to ask if they were waiting for more orders.

The manager returned before 8:15, saying he expected a busy evening and needed to clear tables of patrons who had been seated for longer than 45 minutes, according to the suit. The women said there were at least 20 empty tables around them.

Their lawsuit alleges they were removed because of their appearance, though it does not claim the manager made reference to that.

The removal left us shaken, disrespected and shocked, Soondus Ahmed, a software engineer, said in May. We committed no crime, and it felt surreal that we were escorted out.

During arguments in court Tuesday, Yerushalmi said the women were asked to leave after becoming rude and disrupting other customers, which could adversely affect the cafes business. He said they claimed discrimination only after they were asked to leave.

Tajsar argued that the trespassing complaint stemmed from the womens protected speech.

The only allegation of harm has to do with protected activity, Tajsar said. The women perceived the cafes conduct to be discriminatory, and they made it known.

Gastelum ruled that the women failed to meet their initial burden to demonstrate that their act underlying [the cafes] cause of action was an act in furtherance of right of petition or free speech.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
More than 40 years ago, Judy Weber was fed up because she could hardly find any support services for her young son, Tobin.

Her autistic son would physically hurt himself and others at a time when there were few places parents could go to receive support, let alone through a specialized school.

For Weber, her only option seemed to be leaving her son in the care of a state hospital where she feared he would spend his life restrained and drugged.

I just couldnt see that for my son, she recalled this week.

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She went to Sacramento to lobby for more state-provided services for children with autism, sometimes taking other children with her so legislators could see them, she said. I was angry at the system for not providing for them.

She recalled once going to Sacramento to lobby and encountering Jerry Brown when he was serving his first term as governor.

Jerry Brown was governor back then. I tried to get into his office and I couldnt. I met him and his entourage when I was ready to give up and go home. He was so kind. I went up to him like a crazy lady and said, Why arent there services for children like mine? He sent me back to the capitol with one of his people.

Weber went on to work with other parents to advocate for more state funding.

In 1976, Weber opened her school for her son and two other children inside a home in the San Fernando Valley and named it Tobinworld.

The school celebrated its 40th anniversary last month, and 81-year old Weber is still at the helm of the Glendale campus.

And shes not looking to retire any time soon.

I just cant give it up. I enjoy what I do, and I deal with parents that have been around the block and are upset. Having been there, I can talk to them, she said.

These days, Tobinworld has about 275 students enrolled, with some who are autistic and others dealing with severe emotional and behavioral challenges.

For a school that is often a parents last resort, Weber said, she credits a portion of its success to the way the schools 175 employees reward students for learning how to control their behavior.

The school also maintains an open-door policy, welcoming parents to drop in at any time.

Were like a big extended family and [employees] care about the kids. Safety and caring is the most important thing. We teach the kids. We dont just baby-sit with them, Weber said. We really make progress on our kids.

In April, Weber will celebrate her sons 50th birthday.

He lives in an apartment with a full-time caretaker. Hes probably the most difficult kid weve ever had, she said.

Hes still nonverbal, but his destructive behaviors are under control.

Hes very happy, which is all a mom wants, Weber said.

--

Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
This past spring, for the first time in about 30 years, Glendale First United Methodist Church didnt host its annual Educators Banquet following the school board presentation of the Masonic Awards.

The church, of which Im a member, stands directly across the street from the school district headquarters. While the dinner may not rate in the big scheme of things, Im writing about it because its an example of the ways in which our church and many other congregations have supported schools, arts and social service efforts throughout the community  and because its been one of my favorite events for a long time.

The Masonic Awards are a 44-year tradition sponsored by the Masons. The awards honor individual teachers and classified staff members from every school in the district, all selected by their school colleagues for outstanding service to students.

The banquet began as an initiative of a former pastor to recognize educators, in keeping with the Methodist tradition of support for public schools. With the assistance of school-involved church members (Blanch Greenwood was the church administrative secretary and a member of the school board; Vic Pallos was the districts public information officer), the church dinner became a convenient venue for Masonic honorees to gather with their families and school colleagues for a very reasonably priced meal, served in time for the boards return to its evening session.

As I learned from current school-involved church representatives (church administrator Gigi Schmutzer is a Crescenta Valley area parent; childrens ministries director Jennifer Freemon is a member of the school board), arrangements for the dinner didnt quite fall into place this year.

With the new superintendent just arriving, and with key church volunteers unavailable for dinner preparations and table service, all parties agreed it was a year to let the event go.

I presume each school celebrated with its own honorees, and I hope they had a good time, but I want them to know I missed the chance to say hello while serving up dinner.

The program for the night usually moved pretty quickly, with a musical performance by a school ensemble, a short message from a representative of the church, and Don Galleher, community volunteer extraordinaire, serving for many years as master of ceremonies.

Twice the speaking part came to me, and I took it as an opportunity to celebrate the importance of the street that separates church and school. I reminded the audience of the school district policy on religious expression in the schools, inspired by a presentation given in that very hall by Baptist minister and ACLU attorney Oliver Thomas, co-author of Finding Common Ground, A First Amendment Guide to Religion and Public Education.

It was the 1996-98 PTA Council President and future board member Mary Boger, a member of a different Methodist congregation at the time, who invited Thomas to Glendale.

I dont know if the Educators Banquet will return, but thinking of it makes me wonder where public schools would be without the congregations that have so long supported their communities and families.

Beyond the schools, what about the future of music and musicians? What would happen to the many professional musicians in and around Los Angeles who lead or support weekend worship services as part of their livelihood? Churches and temples have supported musicians since before Bachs time, and theyve been a big part of keeping his music alive.

Where would community-based choirs rehearse at the low rental fees churches charge? Our church has housed many choirs besides its own. Since the William Hall Chorale moved its rehearsals to Orange County in the 1980s, it has been the rehearsal home to the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Verdugo Hills Showtime Chorus, the CV Alumni Chorale and concerts by the Lark Music Society, among others. World-class organist Ladd Thomas teaches his USC students on the sanctuary organ.

Who would house the preschools and day-care centers currently serving young children? Our three children benefited from preschool programs at four area churches, and the Yellow Pages (YP, as its known now) lists at least 14 church-hosted programs in the area.

Without them, how many more young children would enter kindergarten unprepared?

Local nonprofits also rely on congregational facilities, volunteers and financial contributions to help reduce homelessness, feed the hungry, prevent or relieve poverty, provide healthcare or offer job-search and financial-planning assistance. Would those nonprofits survive without congregational support?

As I said to the honorees at the Educators Banquet in 2012, I want to thank all the faith communities that appreciate the importance of the street separating church from school, even as they work to support the common good.

--

JOYLENE WAGNER served on the Glendale Board of Education from 2005-2013. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.
A 66-year-old Valley Sun tradition, that of inviting La Canada fifth-grade students to participate in an art contest under the general theme Thanksgiving in America, drew 150 colorful entries this year.

The contest is limited to the fifth grade, a time when youngsters are studying the first Thanksgiving in the New World. Participating students this year represented all three public elementary schools  Paradise Canyon, La Canada and Palm Crest  as well as two private schools in the city, St. Bede and Crestview Preparatory School.

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Capturing the top award this year for general excellence was Annabelle Fung, a student in Camilla Hartmans class at Palm Crest Elementary. The 10-year-old used colored markers to create her well-conceived artwork, which features a U.S. flag outlining all 50 of the United States, with a Native American girl and a Pilgrim boy flanking a turkey inscribed with words that describe the holiday.

Congratulations to Annabelle, as well as to all the runners-up! Enjoy viewing their work on pages A6-7.

--

Carol Cormaci, carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Twitter: @CarolCormaci
My daughter and I recently noshed our way through the Willamette Valley, a 150-mile-long, massively productive agricultural area in Oregon. The abundant rainfall in the Pacific Northwest makes for lush pastures, and the cows and goats grazing here produce the creamy cheeses that were the focus of our trip. We visited a few small dairies (Willamette Valley Cheese Co., 8105 Wallace Road N.W., Salem, Ore.; [503] 399-9806) where informative cheesemongers unwrapped several varieties for us to sample. We also took a day jaunt to the Tillamook cheese factory on the coast, where we enjoyed the self-guided tour of this huge cheese-making co-op.

The tab: $696, excluding taxes and fees, for two nights at the Hotel Monaco; $168.50 for meals and drinks; $72 for a rental car; $27 on cheese purchases and no charge for our indulgent cheese tastings (although we did leave tips when we could).

The bed

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The Hotel Monaco (506 S.W. Washington St.; [888] 207-2201) tops my list of hotels that capture Portlands character. Its quirky yet luxurious with colorfully decorated rooms, each with a bit of whimsy. We splurged here but wanted to be downtown so we could walk and cycle in this pedestrian-friendly city. Hotel Monaco offers complimentary use of its bikes and provides helmets and locks for each cyclist. Valet parking costs $41 a night; hybrid vehicles get a 50% discount.

The meal

Our hands-down favorite meal was at Chizu (1126 S.W. Alder St., Portland, Ore.; [503] 719-6889), which is similar to a sushi bar. Although you can select from more than 30 cheeses to create your own cheese board, we let the cheesemongers select local fare for us. The result was an artistic arrangement of goat and cow cheeses, organic honey, quince paste, crostini, house chutney, local blueberries, nuts and drizzled goat cheese caramel. Every bite was exquisite: Both my daughter and I will remember and savor that board for a long time. For a more casual meal, a hotel employee recommended Cheese & Crack (22 S.E. 28th Ave., Portland, Ore.; [503] 206-7315). Using hotel bikes, we meandered our way across the Burnside Bridge to this neighborhood snack stop and shared the Beechers Board (its most popular). The brie brulee was fantastic  brie topped with burnt sugar. We also dined on macaroni gratin made from the finest fromage at the charming Little Bird Bistro (215 S.W. 6th Ave.; [503] 688-5952), only a few blocks from our hotel.

The find

We were told at one of the dairies that there were several cheese booths at the Portland State Farmers Market (1825 S.W. Broadway; [503] 241-0032) every Saturday, year-round. We loved the artisan cheese booths scattered amid the produce and flower stalls. Each offered several varieties to taste and some were seasonal, such as pumpkin stout and tomato chevre in the fall ( Portland Creamery booth, [503] 858-3241). Here we sampled more of what the valley has to offer in one setting, with fresh produce and breads to accompany whatever we bought.

The lesson learned

Next time well take a freezable ice pack in an insulated lunch bag to tote our perishables.Theres also a shipping station at the Farmers Market from which you can send non-perishable finds or gifts. This trip is not for the lactose-intolerant, but for a cheese lover, this region is paradise any way you slice it.

travel@latimes.com
Ever wonder why Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for 20 years? Find out firsthand on a tour with Valerie Hemingway, his daughter-in-law and last personal secretary.

Hemingway will share stories about living and working with the American writer in Cuba during the tour.

The eight-day excursion, offered by EmbracingCuba Tours, will include visits to Matanzas, Varadero and Trinidad as well as a visit to Finca Vigia, the writers home and now the Museo Hemingway.

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Dates: Jan 22-Jan.29, April 30-May 7.

Price: $5,499 per person, double occupancy; $300 single supplement. Includes accommodations, most meals, entrance fees, English-speaking guide and driver. International airfare and gratuities not included.

Info: EmbracingCuba Tours, (323) 982-0552

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Russia has extended Edward Snowdens residency permit, allowing the fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor to remain in the country for three more years, his lawyer said Thursday.

Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for leaking information about National Security Agency surveillance practices, was stranded in the transit lounge at a Moscow airport in June 2013 while trying to flee to Latin America. Russia eventually granted him a one-year temporary asylum permit that expired on Aug. 1.

Snowden asked the Russian authorities last month to allow him to stay and finally got an answer this week. A decision about the application has been taken, Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer who advises Snowden, said on Thursday.

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Accordingly, from Aug. 1, 2014, Edward Snowden has received a residency permit in Russia for three years, he added. Under the terms of the permit, Snowden can move around Russia and pay visits of up to three months to other countries, depending how he plans his time, Kucherena told reporters in Moscow.

The document carries a three-year extension option. However, Snowden had not been granted political asylum that would allow him to stay in Russia indefinitely.

Political asylum could only be granted by presidential decree and was a completely different procedure, Kucherena said. Russias decision to give refuge to Snowden strained relations with the United States.

Relations have been further strained by Russias annexation of Crimea and support for Ukrainian separatists. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia, which retaliated Wednesday with a ban on certain agricultural and food products from the U.S. and Europe.

Although the United States has sought Snowdens extradition, Kucherena said there were no legal grounds to return him. He has not committed any crimes. There are no accusations against him in the Russian Federation, the lawyer said.

A Justice Department spokesman called on Snowden to turn himself in.

It remains our position that Mr. Snowden should return to the United States and face the charges filed against him, said the spokesman, Peter Carr. If he does, he will be accorded full due process and protections.

Snowdens whereabouts in Russia have been kept secret and he has rarely been seen in public over the last year. Kucherena said his client has a job in information technology and is protected by a private security organization.

Gorst is a special correspondent. Marianne Levine in the Times Washington bureau contributed to this report.


State media say the death toll from the collapse of scaffolding at a construction site in eastern China has jumped to 67, with two other workers injured and one more missing.

Chinas state broadcaster CCTV says more than 100 paramilitary police have joined in efforts to rescue workers trapped when a work platform at a power plant construction site came tumbling down Thursday morning.

The plants cooling tower was being built in the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province.

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The latest reported death toll suggests that nearly all the construction workers at the cooling tower perished. Local media reports say close to 70 people were working at the site when the scaffolding collapsed.

Footage showed iron pipes, steel bars and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the cooling tower.

China has suffered a series of major industrial accidents in recent years that have been blamed on corruption, disregard for safety and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.

The head of a logistics company was recently handed a suspended death sentence over a massive explosion at an illegal chemical warehouse in the northern port of Tianjin last year that killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.

In June 2015, 442 people were killed when a modified cruise ship capsized on the Yangtze River; poor decisions by the captain and crew were blamed. Last December, 81 people were killed when an enormous, man-made mountain of soil and waste collapsed on nearly three dozen buildings in the southern manufacturing center of Shenzhen.

MORE WORLD NEWS

Inside the Indian IRS scam that cheated U.S. taxpayers out of millions

South Koreas political scandal leaves the country with abysmal options

Britains sweeping surveillance powers act raises concerns for human rights activists

UPDATES:

2:10 a.m., Nov. 24: This article was updated with a revised death toll of 67.

This article was original posted at 10:05 p.m., Nov. 23.
Argentina and the United Kingdom signed an accord on Wednesday marking the commitment to carrying out studies jointly and encouraging an exchange of experts. These deals are included in a joint statement signed previously by both countries in September, as stated by Science and Technology minister Jose Lino Baranao, who is currently visiting London.

The minister said his side is promoting some of Argentine's reputable researchers to be parts of the prestigious Royal Society, In addition, his visit aims to boost a cooperation between the Royal Society and Argentine's CONICET, as reported by Mercopress.

Baranao met with British Science minister Jo Johnson to talk about the anticipated research and innovation projects stated in the accords signed Wednesday.

Moreover, Baranao visited GlaxoSmithKline laboratory Paul Nurse during his London visit. The laboratory has already disbursed USD 5 million in research projects in Argentina with satisfactory results. In addition, Glaxo helped connect the Science Ministry and recently-opened Crick biomedical institute. Baranao met with the director of the institute Paul Nurse.

GlaxoSmithKline is a British pharmaceutical company headquartered in Brentford, England. It is the sixth biggest pharmaceutical firm worldwide as of 2015. The company produces a wide range of products, from prescribed medicine, vaccines, to consumer healthcare products. Some of the most familiar healthcare products available at drugstores are toothpaste Aquafresh and Sensodyne. While among the medicine they produce are Panadol, Daraprim, and Amoxil, as listed on their website.

Baranao also visited the genetics research Wellcome Trust Sanger institute, and agreed to work together in advancing genomics and bioinformatics, considering these disciplines have a significant prospect not only in the process of diagnosing a disease but also in a biological process. Another field the Latin nation aims to develop is biotechnology development in the agriculture sector.Europe and UK have a sophisticated technology in modifying organism genetically.
Loan against commercial shop for nre

Prakash (Querist) 24 November 2016 This query is : Resolved

Hi



I am an NRE from Kuwait, booked an Commercial shop.



I already given Registered Power of Attorny to my Father in Law.



I want to register and apply for Loan to buy commercial Shop under constrcution.



As an NRE, can I apply for Commercial Shop purchase Loan.



Can my father in Law sign for all registration, agreement, loan application documents.



Whether bank will grant loan in such Case.



Is me personally being there to sign all these documents necesary.



IS there any Legal ammendment that NRE Power of attonry is not valid for commercial property Buying.

Follow Query Report Abuse

adv.bharat @ PUNE (Expert) 24 November 2016

Parkash bank can grant loan by considering repaying capacity of client and surety of repayment of loan instalment.

Prakash (Querist) 24 November 2016

Yes I agree about elegibility and repayment capacilty, but can Bank deny power of attorney to sig or only persnal appearance is required.

Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 24 November 2016

You asked:



As an NRE, can I apply for Commercial Shop purchase Loan.



Reply:



Yes you can apply.



You asked:

Can my father in Law sign for all registration, agreement, loan application documents.



Reply:



Yes, if duly authorized under POA,.



You asked:



Whether bank will grant loan in such Case.



Reply:



Bank should, provided other eligibility criteria fulfilled.





Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 24 November 2016



You asked:

Is me personally being there to sign all these documents necesary.



Reply:



Not necessary, POA holder can sign on your behalf.



You asked:



IS there any Legal ammendment that NRE Power of attonry is not valid for commercial property Buying.



Reply:



POA executed under due procedure is valid in India after stamping in India.







Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 24 November 2016

It would be better to contact the concerned Banker for details.

Prakash (Querist) 24 November 2016

Thanks Mr. Rajendra K Goyal for point by pint reply.

Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 24 November 2016

You are welcome.

Kumar Doab (Expert) 24 November 2016

Mr. Goyal has fully illustrated.

You can benefit from it.

Sankaranarayanan (Expert) 25 November 2016

nothing more to add ,Mr Goyal given prompt answer

Rajendra K Goyal (Expert) 26 November 2016

Thanks for agreeing expert sankar narayanan .
A 25-year-old man charged with supplying heroin in Portarlington has been released on bail after his mother acted as cash surety for him.

Kenneth Roche (25), with an address given at 173 North Road, Finglas, Dublin, was charged with two counts of having drugs for sale or supply, and drug possession, in Portarlington on November 26 and December 17, 2015.

He was further charged with drug possession, no driving licence, no insurance and false insurance disc, at Market Square, Portarlington, on July 13 this year.

When he first came before Portlaoise District Court on November 10, the accused was remanded in custody to November 17, with consent to bail on his own bond of 100 and independent surety of 200.

The State requested a number of bail conditions on the accused.

At last weeks court, the State said it was satisfied with the accuseds mother acting as surety and the accused was granted bail.

Bail conditions are that the accused must observe a curfew of 10pm to 7am, and allow the gardai to check the premises during the curfew; he must sign on daily at the garda station; he must surrender his passport and not apply for travel documents; he must provide the gardai with a mobile phone number; and he must not associate with any known drug users.

Defence, barrister Ms Louise Troy said she had not yet received statements from the gardai in the case.

Ms Troy indicated that her client would be pleading not guilty to some or all of the charges.

Inspector Eamon Curley said statements were available that day on the alleged drugs charges, but it would be three weeks for the statements in relation to the alleged motoring offences.

The matter was put back to December 15, for a guilty plea to be entered, or for a hearing date to be fixed.
Denise Carroll and her husband Gary Collins first born Grace was born prematurely at 29 weeks in 2008.

The couple from Celbridge were told at their 14 week scan that it was not a viable pregnancy.

We were not expected to hold on to her due to some unexplained bleeding, said Denise.

It was not a viable pregnancy so they dont give you any treatment until you get to 24 weeks. Then they took me into hospital and gave me steroids for the baby to develop her lungs and they looked after me and thankfully she managed to hold on to 29 weeks.

Denise went into labour in Holles St Hospital where she had been kept since her 24-week scan.

She was born very quickly and my husband made it just in time. The team was fantastic and straightaway the room filled with people.

They very quickly explained to me the kind of treatments she would need and she was then taken to the baby unit.

She is a miracle baby because of the steroids and the care she was born at 3 pounds and 16 ounces. That is a good size for a premature baby.

Baby Grace was kept mostly in an incubator where she had to grow more and learn in time to feed.

Lots of bits had yet to grow so in fact when she was first born we were not sure if she was a boy or a girl, explained Denise.

Things like her ear lobes had yet to grow and her nipples. She was covered in hair to keep her warm and her skin was raw. She was bright red. And she couldnt suck so she had to be fed by a tube in her nose. She had to learn to feed but at first learning to feed used up a lot of her calories and she needed her calories to grow. So it is all a balance in the beginning.

The incubator replicates the womb and is crucial for the survival of a premature baby outside the womb.

In the incubator they build these little nests to emulate the womb. So that their legs are all curled up like hey would be in the womb.

Denise who went on to have two more babies to term said that she was thankful that Grace was her first born as she was able to dedicate all her time to her.

I was with her and at the time I didnt have any more children at home. I could dedicate my whole self to her and I was able to read everything about it.

I spent a lot of time there holding her and feeding her. In total it was six weeks before we could bring her home. When she reached five pounds we took her home.

I got a shock when I came home and realised just how small she was because in there she was one of the bigger babies.

She wore dolls clothes in the beginning because they fitted her. It was winter time so we mainly kept her inside and warm.

Grace is now eight and loving life.

She is unbelievable, added Denise.

She hasnt had any problems. She is a little anxious and a little attached , which is understandable but she is perfect health wise. She is in second class now so she will be making her communion next year.

Grace now has two siblings, a five-year-old sister Juliet and a three-year-old brother Charles. Her dad Gary is a child psychologist who works in the Newbridge Health Centre and he has done some work with premature children.

In terms of advice to give to other parents going through it I would say listen to the people around you. We got some great advice. We had good support so I would also say involve your family. Our whole family raised Grace and I had tons of people to lean on so we were very lucky. We are especially lucky to have Grace.

This month is Premature Babies awareness month and to offer your support you can text unit8 to 50300 to donate 4 to NMH foundation.

Every 1 in 16 babies in Ireland is born prematurely and needs the care of the midwives in the NMH. The National Maternity Hospital Foundation need funds to support the families of pre-term babies in Maternity Hospitals.
As shoppers prepare for Black Friday tomorrow business people around the county are expecting an influx of trade and are preparing with a myriad of bargains.

From discounts to special offers, competitions to freebies tomorrow is anticipated to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

You can check out this week's Leitrim Observer to see all the bargains on offer but the advice is to get there early to ensure you get the pick of the offers.

Meanwhile Carrick-on-Shannon officially celebrated Black Friday this week with the launch of their Black Friday Facebook page.

Carrick-on-Shannon & District Credit Union Ltd is teaming up with up to 50 local businesses to offer a range of discounts this Friday as well as late night shopping.

Traditionally Black Friday, which is a USA phenomenon, happens the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US and is catching on here in Ireland also, particularly in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Retailers in Carrick-on-Shannon on this, the biggest shopping day of the year, are offering a big range of in-store discounts.

Carrick-on-Shannon & District Credit Union Ltd developed the facebook page late last week to show people the strength and competitiveness of Carrick-on-Shannon retailers with the hope of enticing people to shop local and protect local jobs and businesses.

Carrick-on-Shannon is no different to any other rural town having suffered financially in the years since the recession. Carrick-on-Shannon & District Credit Union Ltd which is at the heart of the local community for the past 45 years with over 6,000 members are delighted to be behind this new initiative for Carrick-on-Shannon giving something back to our local community as many of our members work locally in the retail sector.

The goal is to get people interested in shopping in Carrick-on-Shannon, where our retailers believe that they can offer the same value as their big name competitors.

Visit Carrick-on-Shannon, shop local and protect local jobs is the message to get out there this Black Friday. Check out Black Friday Carrick-on-Shannon Facebook page now to see whats on offer on your doorstep! You wont be disappointed!
Its important for police and other law enforcement agencies to keep information. They could not function without it. In the modern age it is advantageous for information to be shared across national borders, if we are to beat criminals who cross borders physically or electronically.

In my time working in the criminal justice system, I have seen that happen successfully many times. Sometimes it is as simple as a police officer here emailing police in another country, explaining what they are investigating and would they be able to look into something for them.

I have seen witness statements for cases in England supplied by police in other parts of Europe, the US, Australia and Canada. I have been involved in a case where we received tremendous assistance on a case from a Crown Prosecutor in Ontario and, through them, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Mounties always get their man.

My understanding is that most police forces in England will give similar informal assistance to police from countries that have a basic protection of human rights. Requests from states that torture or detain without trial are less likely to be helped. We would not help the Gestapo locate persons of interest to them, nor should we aid their modern equivalents.

There is sometimes an attitude like, Mr X is now outside the UK, hes not our problem, who cares. That is a very stupid view, which I think is now rare. Most people understand that the world is a safer place if we help each other.

But going out and making enquiries is different to sharing large amounts of data. In the EU, our authorities can access each others data on previous convictions, finger prints and such records. This is important and ensures our courts have what they need. It remains to be seen whether this access will be protected post-Brexit.

In the EU we have the benefit of a legal framework to ensure that data about us shared between law enforcement agencies is held safely. It cant be sold or given out. Of course that happens. We know of cases of police officers being paid by tabloid newspapers for it. The point is the law enables action to deal with that.

We also have a right to have inaccurate information about us to be corrected and to seek judicial redress. A court cant say we wont hear your complainant because you are not one of our citizens.

But what about sharing data with the US and accessing their data?

In the past the US has been reluctant to share, while wanting our data, and there have been real concerns about safeguards. I remember, Sarah Ludford, as an MEP fought magnificently on the issue of Air Passenger Data safeguards. There have been stories of British families unable to travel to American because of wrong information held and no right to correct it. Some US states will only recognise complaints about law enforcement agencies brought by US citizens.

The European Parliaments civil liberties committee has now approved the Umbrella Agreement between the EU and EU for sharing data between law enforcement agencies. This will help fight crime on both sides of the Atlantic. The agreement will also creates for EU citizens certain new protections. From now on, US states will grant citizens of EU states the right to correct wrong information, the right to be informed of any data protection breach and the right to access judicial protection.

This is an important step. It is one of 1000s of benefits of EU membership that UK citizens are set to lose.

I know that for many people this issue will seem irrelevant to their life. I am not going to America, I dont mind if the FBI have information on me that is wrong, etc. But we should all care. Because a threat to freedom of anyone is a threat to freedom of everyone.

* Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup.
IN A recent Limerick Leader column I highlighted the importance of creating a strong Limerick message and credited the local authority for developing the new Limerick Charter and sticking to it.

A couple of things happened over the course of the past week that clearly shows how our Limerick story is being told.

RTEs Six One news and many of the national media organisations gave great coverage to our turning on of the Christmas lights event. The festive good news story of young Neil Shanahan, the miracle boy, captured the hearts of the nation.

Neils story is one of defying the odds. It is a happy story and one that brought out a sense of community down here in Limerick.

In many senses Neils story could be used as a metaphor for how far our city has come. We faced our challenges, many had written us off but our strength and the support we have garnered across the Limerick community has allowed us to thrive once again.

Last Friday over 250 people gathered in Dublins Marker Hotel at the Capital Limerick event. This was a first of its kind in many ways. Limerick ex-pats gathering in a room to celebrate our city in Dublin would have been unheard of a few years ago.

The Capital Limerick event wasnt a backslapping exercise. It was a clear demonstration of civic pride and sent a strong message to the country that Limerick now means business.

Speaking at the event Minister Patrick ODonovan said: Capital Limerick is about bringing Limerick professionals based in Dublin to network together and promote their homeplace. Today, we can see the emerging potential of what I am sure will be a very influential and successful group. Limerick can only benefit from such a unique endeavour.

On Monday we saw Enda Kenny officially launch the Bernal Institute, an 86million Science and Engineering Research Institute at the University of Limerick. Bernal will recruit world leading researchers and house over 260 researchers who work in and across research themes in advanced materials, manufacturing and processing engineering and fluid dynamics.

The addition of the Bernal Institute to our education sector will give another serious credibility boost not just to Limerick but to the Mid-West as an education centre of excellence.

Last Friday night Limerick Chamber celebrated its Presidents dinner. Speaking at the event the Chamber CEO James Ring highlighted the organisations key policy priorities and particularly spoke of the need to develop a strong region as a balance to Dublin. The fact that the Chamber has recently seen a 30% increase in membership suggests the business community is buying into the message.

Capital Limerick, the Bernal launch and the Chamber gathering  all coming from a spirit of confidence. All coming from a desire to make Limerick and the wider region great.

As our miracle baby Neil Shanahan helped Santa to switch on our Christmas lights on Sunday evening I couldnt help but think that our city and our region were illuminating the path to a prosperous future.

Reaching out to our diaspora

It is worth checking out the new Global Limerick website which is promoting Limerick stories to the vast network of Limerick ex pats around the globe.

The Irish diaspora of upwards of 70 million people worldwide plays an important role in Irish affairs; economic, social and cultural. Since 2015, Irish Government policy states there is also potential for local communities or counties to reach out to their own diaspora and build new relationships that will help local and regional development.

Global Limerick is one such project whose aim is to connect Limerick with its diaspora no matter where they are living. It is led by Limerick City and County Council.

The Limerick diaspora is made up from those who were born in Limerick, descendants of previous emigrants from Limerick or anyone with an affinity to Limerick, through education, work, or other interests.

The Limerick diaspora may extend up to 3.5 million people worldwide. Check out www.globallimerick.ie.

Wild about tourism designation

In a speech last week in the Seanad, Senator Maria Byrne called on Failte Ireland to include Limerick city in the Wild Atlantic Way route before the start of the 2017 tourism season.

She also asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to put his weight behind the proposal.

In her speech, Senator Byrne said, I am not seeking a major change. My proposal would provide an option for visitors who would like to experience the attractions Limerick city has to offer without travelling far from the current route, she said.

Speaking in response to her question the Junior Minister for Tourism and Sport Patrick ODonovan said: It is my intention over the next short period of time to examine specific initiatives that are local authority-led, supported by Failte Ireland and concentrated in areas that have the greatest level of immediate potential for spin-off from the Wild Atlantic Way.

I hope to be able to make an announcement to that end shortly. I expect Senator Byrne will be pleasantly surprised by the announcement.
IT HAS been confirmed that homeless people are sleeping in tents across a number of locations in Limerick city.

And in addition, homeless people in sleeping bags have been observed outside the closed doors of homeless centres, which are full to capacity, especially as temperatures plummeted below zero.

McGarry House, on Alphonsus Street, which is run by Novas Initiatives, confirmed that it has offered assistance in the past to those sleeping in tents in the city.

When the unit is full to capacity, Novas stressed that it has no other choice but to give homeless people a sleeping bag.

In the past week, images emerged on social media of a homeless man wrapped in a sleeping bag at night-time outside the centre, which provoked the ire of the public.

The number of rough sleepers in Limerick at the moment is very worrying. All our beds are full every night, and also our fold-out beds are also being used.

But due to health and safety reasons there is only a certain amount of people that we are allowed to take in, said a spokesperson for McGarry House.

The latest official homeless figures  from the Department of Housing  revealed that there were 217 people homeless in Limerick, based on one week in September.

Fianna Fail deputy Willie ODea told the Limerick Leader that the homeless situation in Limerick is huge and is only going to get worse, given the social housing situation. Its actually shocking and dangerous at the moment.

The death of Louise Casey in Limerick recently was very sad. Irrespective of a persons own personal circumstances, everyone should be entitled to a bed, he said.

Fianna Fail councillor, and former detective garda Sean Lynch raised the subject of people sleeping in tents at this weeks metropolitan district meeting.

These are people who do not avail of emergency accommodation for whatever reason, but they are residing in tents together for security reasons within the city limits. The powers that be know they are there, he said.

Cllr Lynch said this situation heightens the need for a night-time cafe for homeless people to drop into.

Asked why people are avoiding emergency hostels, Cllr Lynch blamed the alleged widespread use of drugs, plus intimidation and bullying.

The revelation that people are now being forced to sleep in tents in Limerick comes just weeks after the death of Louise Bubu' Casey, 31, who was found near the basement of a derelict building in Catherine Street.

This years homelessness is the worst I have ever seen in my 16 years living in the city centre, said Independent councillor John Loftus.

I guarantee you that Louise Casey will not be the last person to die on our streets if this goes on. We need to make [tackling this] a priority otherwise we will be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons again.

Figures released last week show there was 193 adults and 56 children living in emergency accommodation.

Council official Steve McNamara, who leads the homeless action team, confirmed eight extra beds have been given to people who do not want to be a part of the hostel system.

We are also exploring a couple of buildings to open for emergency-type beds, and are hopeful this will bring 15 new beds.

Mr McNamara warned there were difficulties around fire regulation of any new building, explaining the rules are stringent.

He also confirmed the local authority is negotiating over a cafe-style outlet to allow people to sit in if they do not accept emergency accommodation.
A CHRONIC heroin addict who attacked and robbed two elderly women, including a 74-year-old nun, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

Christopher Casey, aged 39, who is originally from St Munchins Street, St Marys Park admitted snatching handbags from the two women during separate incidents in the city in August 2015 and March 2016.

Imposing sentence this Wednesday, Judge John Hannan said the deliberate targeting of the vulnerable pensioners was a serious aggravating factor.

During a sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Barry Manton, said the first incident happened near the Redemptorists Church at South Circular Road shortly before 6pm on August 18, 2015.

Casey approached the victim, who was aged 79 at the time, as she was getting out of her car with her sister who is disabled.

He snatched her handbag which contained a small amount of cash and several items of sentimental value.

The woman sustained a small graze to one of her fingers during the incident.

Limerick Circuit Court was told the defendant was identified as a suspect from CCTV and was arrested a number of weeks later.

John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said Casey, who has a large number of previous convictions, was on bail awaiting trial when he committed the second offence at Pery Square on March 12, last.

Shortly before 1pm he targeted the elderly nun shortly after she had parked her car outside a relatives home. The nun was accompanied by another nun, who was also aged in her 70s.

The 74-year-old was knocked to the ground by the defendant who escaped on foot with her handbag which contained 400 in cash.

Imposing sentence, Judge Hannan noted the defendant, who was granted compassionate bail to attend his sisters funeral recently, is not without a moral compass and is currently making attempts to deal with his addiction.

He imposed a five year sentence, suspending the final two years on condition he stays out of trouble following his release.
FOLLOWING confirmation that a superbug was a contributing factor in three deaths at University Hospital Limerick, management have moved to reassure the public that they have total control of this problem.

But UL Hospitals Groups chief clinical director, Dr Paul Burke has said that UHLs infrastructural issues are always a challenge, and that it is seeking HSE capital funding for a 96-bedded block to increase space for patients to be treated in isolation.

That is a political thing that we are pushing. We would like the whole community to really take that on board, and support us at a political level in seeking that extra accommodation at the hospital.

The Irish Times this week reported that a HSE staff member alleged that up to 30 patients had died after contracting the multidrug-resistant superbug CPE between 2009 and 2015. This claim was robustly repudiated by the UL Hospitals Group.

A spokesperson for the hospital said that the bug was a contributing factor in the deaths of three patients. While it was associated, it was not the primary cause of death, with 24 other patients.

In total, there were 92 CRE detections over the past seven years.

Dr Burke said on Live 95FM, that after UHL detected the first case in 2009, it returned in 2011.

And we had to isolate them altogether. From that group of patients, at that time, we had three patients dying; two from blood stream infection, and one from a very, very nasty skin infection. But since that time, we have had no specific deaths from this specific superbug.

In relation to the 24 other fatal cases, Dr Burke said: We cannot say, and no one can say, that they died and certainly we have no evidence to believe that they died specifically related to this superbug. We all have lots of bugs in our systems, but you cant say someone died from them, adding that a number of patients would have had congestive heart failure, or pneumonia, and other problems.

If these people are elderly people and a number of them were in nursing homes, etc, lots of people would have, what we call, comorbidities. They have lots of different things contributing to the thing. You cant come along and sensationalise because they have this bug, which potentially is a difficult bug.

"But in those particular cases, it was not the specific cause of death. You cannot go around and say that this was the cause of 30 deaths. I would defend that to the hilt.

For more than two years the Health Information and Quality Authoritys has been calling for sufficient isolation facilities, in order to contain the spread of infections and to provide best practices, at UHL.

It is understood that in turn, for a number of years, the UL Hospitals Group has sought HSE capital funding for the multi-million euro facility to provide this. It has made a funding bid for 2017 and looks forward to a favourable outcome, the Leader understands.

In July, the HIQA published a review of antimicrobial stewardship in nationwide public acute hospitals. In this review, HIQA examined the outbreak of superbug CPE [Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriacae] at UHL.

Following an unannounced inspection in November 2014 and re-inspection in January 2015, the hospital informed HIQA that a certain small proportion of the patient population in the hospitals catchment area are chronically colonised with CPE.

In July 2014, HIQA requested that the UL Hospitals Group escalate this risk through HSE risk management reporting arrangements, so that there could be full visibility of the problem.

In 2015, HIQA called on the HSE to provide all necessary supports to UHL in order to contain the superbug outbreak. Earlier this year, the health watchdog acknowledged that the HSE has significantly invested in upgrades, such as the new cohort unit with some single-room capacity, which opened last October.

However, it stated that despite the hospitals progress, UHL still has insufficient isolation facilities and the ongoing poor infrastructure in some other areas in the hospital (for instance the emergency department), does not facilitate strong and reliable infection prevention and control practices. The new A&E is due to open in May 2017.

Currently, there is only one CPE carrier of the superbug at UHL. Carriers do not necessarily show signs or symptoms of infection.

Dr Burke said that, since September 2015, there has been a 40% reduction in the superbug detections. HIQA has commended UHL for the progressive way in which it has screened potential CPE carriers.

HIQA stated in 2015 that persistent overcrowding at UHL, especially in its emergency department, contributes to the difficulty in managing this risk of CPE. INMOs Mary Fogarty said that overcrowded wards exacerbates any ability of nurses to manage infected patients

CPE are bacteria that reside in the bowel which, while harmless in most patients, can cause serious and sometimes deadly infection in vulnerable patients, including those receiving chemotherapy or in intensive care.
The U.S. stamps that highlight Siegels three auctions in three days

Nov 23, 2016, 2 PM

This example of the 1851 1 blue Franklin stamp type III from position 99R2 is offered in a Dec. 13 auction by Robert A. Siegel, with proceeds from the sale donated to benefit the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

A folded letter mailed in 1769 from Waterbury, Conn., to Westminster, England. The cover includes an American Postage Paid shipletter handstamp rarely applied to outgoing mail from the American colonies. It will be auctioned in the Dec. 15 Robert A. Sie

Only four to six examples are known of the imperforate block of eight Space Achievement stamps from 1981. This block is offered in the Robert A. Siegel Dec. 14 auction in New York City.

By Michael Baadke

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries of New York City will conduct three auctions of United States material over the course of three days, Dec. 13-15.

The offerings come from a very wide range of American philatelic history, including 17th-century stampless covers and 21st-century color-missing errors.

Classic U.S. stamps and covers are offered in the first sale, on Tuesday. Almost 250 lots are gathered, with the proceeds to benefit the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

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The vast majority of these are selected items donated by Gordon and Ronda Eubanks from Gordons award-winning collection of 1851-56 stamps and covers, plus additional items donated by Mark Schwartz and Robert Rose.

This sale should create momentum for the campaign to create a substantial multi-million dollar endowment fund, wrote Siegel president Scott Trepel in the introduction to the Dec. 13 sale catalog. We urge bidders to bid even more enthusiastically, with the knowledge that the proceeds will benefit philatelys most important museum.

The lots in this auction mostly represent the stamps in their many varieties that were first issued in 1851 as new postage rates were put into effect by Congress: the 1 blue Franklin, the 3 orange-brown Washington, the 5 red-brown Jefferson, the 10 green Washington, and the 12 black Washington. These are the nations earliest stamps after the 1847 5 and 10 issues (Scott 1-2).

Most of the cataloged types of the 1 Franklin are offered, including the coveted type III from position 99R2 (Scott 8), which displays the widest breaks in the frame lines that are characteristic of this type.

It is one of three type III stamps offered in this sale, all used, with the other two originating from position 67R4 and position 99R1E.

The position 99R2 stamp is described in the Siegel catalog as having an extremely fine appearance.

Three huge margins including part of adjoining stamp at top and sheet margin at bottom, mostly large at left (just clear of upper ornament), gorgeous dark shade and proof-like impression, neatly struck circular datestamp leaves the characteristics of this distinctive position clearly visible, small scissors-cut in margin at top left.

The stamp is ex-Wagshal and Merlin, and is accompanied by a 2010 Philatelic Foundation certificate. It is listed with the Scott catalog value of $12,500.

The museum benefit sale includes a selection of postal history items franked with stamps from the 1851-56 issue, including propaganda and campaign covers, Indian territory and Western covers, carriers and locals, railroad and waterway markings, steamship mail, and foreign mail.

Some of the multiple frankings are dramatic, including an 1855 blue folded cover mailed from New Orleans to Bordeaux, France, with a strip of seven 3 Washington stamps paying the postage. The total franking agrees with a blue pencil 21 marking, but apparently overpay by 1 the 20 American Packet Direct rate to France via New York-Havre Line.

The cover is ex-Caspary, estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

The remaining two sales in this auction series are neatly divided between U.S. stamps on Wednesday, and U.S. and Confederate postal history on Thursday.

The Wednesday stamp auction opens with two particularly nice examples of the 1845 5 black George Washington postmasters provisional stamp, one used with ACM initials and red PAID marking (Scott 9X1)and one unused without signature (9X1e).

A good selection of classic U.S. stamps is sprinkled with some error varieties, such as two different vertical pairs of the 1894 5 chocolate Ulysses S. Grant stamp that are imperforate horizontally (Scott 255c).

A dedicated run of some 240 modern error lots begins with perforation varieties from the Fourth Bureau issue  the 1922-25 definitive series  and continues into the 21st century.

The 1981 Space Achievement set of eight is represented with a mint never-hinged imperforate block of eight (Scott 1919b), which is listed in the Scott Catalogue of Errors on U.S. Postage Stamps by Stephen R. Datz with just four to six complete imperforate blocks known.

This is the first example we have offered since keeping computerized records, the Siegel catalog listing notes.

The dynamic block is listed with its Scott catalog value of $6,500, which Scott presents in italics to denote an item that trades infrequently or which can be difficult to value accurately.

The Dec. 15 postal history auction is described as featuring the Calvet M. Hahn collection of colonial and early American postal history, and a further selection from the Irwin Weinberg inventory.

Calvet M. Hahn, one of the most prolific research authors on stamps and postal history during the past 35 years, was also an avid collector, Siegel announced previously. Mr. Hahns desire to have his collection of covers auctioned over several years in well-described catalogues will be fulfilled by the Siegel firm.

Hahn, who died in 2004, was inducted into the philatelic writers hall of fame in 2001, and the American Philatelic Society hall of fame in 2006.

Weinberg, a well-known stamp dealer and collector who died May 2, was once part of a small group that owned the famed 1856 British Guiana 1 Magenta stamp.

Siegel has previously auctioned material from both the Hahn collection and the Weinberg inventory.

The Thursday auction begins with a long selection of free franks and autographs, including numerous presidential free franks, and some autographs on folded letters and other documents.

The Hahn postal history material begins with a folded letter mailed in 1673 from Boston to London.

Apart from the 1651 datelined letter we offered in our 2012 Rarities of the World sale (realized $30,000 hammer), this is the earliest Boston datelined letter we have encountered since keeping computerized records, the auction description notes.

This example is listed with an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.

A colonial-era item offered from almost a century later is a 1769 folded cover originating in Waterbury, Conn., and addressed to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Westminster, England.

It is described by Siegel as an outstanding and rare cover with the American Postage Paid shipletter handstamp rarely applied to outgoing mail from the American colonies.

We have not offered another example since keeping computerized records, Siegel notes, providing an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.

The numerous appealing markings on this letter include a 3/MR (March 3) Bishops receiving mark.

Along with the extensive colonial period material, the auction offers first-day covers, airmail and flight covers, back-of-the-book issues, carriers and locals on cover, Western express covers, plus possessions and a significant selection of Civil War material.

All three auction catalogs are available for viewing online or for download as PDF documents. Online bidding options are available as well, or contact Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, 60 E. 56th St., Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10022, for additional information.
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A judge has called for a public debate on the lack of prison spaces made available to the District Court after a man sentenced to two months in prison was released just days later.

Judge Seamus Hughes hit out on the issue during a sitting of Longford District Court last week.

The judge said he had recently sentenced a man in Mullingar to two months in prison only to find he had been released within a matter of days.

I have spoken on this before and yet there is no public debate on it by our parliamentarians as to the amount of prison places that's made available to the (District) court that does all of the heavy lifting, he insisted.

Judge Hughes said all too often greater weight was placed on prisoners sentenced in higher jurisdictions, meaning quicker release times for those sentenced at District Court level.

When I give someone two months (in prison) I expect them to do the two months.

The Mayo-born judge's comments are not the first time a member of the judiciary has spoken on the topic.

Both Judge Mary Fahy in Galway and former District Court Judge Tom O'Donnell in Limerick have similarly raised the issue in the past.

As he deliberated on whether to send a man to prison during last week's court sitting, Judge Hughes said prison governors were not to blame.

Here I am spending time (on this case) when there is a governor in Portlaoise or Castlerea who knows nothing about this case and sees this fella come down from Longford District Court for four months but then say 'Ah we will have to let you out' to free up a bed after two or three days, he said.
AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation is seeking nominations from adult learning initiatives in Longford for the 11th Annual STAR Awards 2017. The awards recognise the use of innovative approaches in adult and community education.

Longford has a strong tradition of adult and community education. Previous Longford-based shortlisted nominees for the STAR Awards include Longford Womens Link CE Friendly and Sociable Group which provides an informal meeting space for participants to come together and create a broader network of support. This group provides participants with an opportunity to meet with each other, expanding their network within communities in Longford.



Speaking about the awards, Niamh OReilly, Chief Executive Officer of AONTAS, said: Adult and community education is about more than receiving a qualification. From improved confidence to better health, the wider benefits are far-reaching and can have a hugely positive impact on a persons life, family and wider community. Thats why we have overhauled our award categories this year to focus on promoting wellbeing; social inclusion; digital inclusion; and ensuring that the learners voice is heard.

As a nation, we must look at widening participation in adult learning, particularly for people who have been disadvantaged. Irelands participation rate stands at only 7.2 percent. Our closest neighbours, the UK has a participation rate of 15.7 percent while Denmark leads the table at 31.3 percent. The recent European Commission Education and Training Monitor (2015) highlighted the gap between lifelong learning participation rates - people who have a high level of education are four times more likely to participate than those without a Leaving Certificate standard of education. Often, its community education - including non-accredited programmes - that can provide that essential first step back into education for adult learners and gives them the confidence to achieve their potential and progress to further studies and employment.

Since its inception in 2007 over 1,000 adult learning initiatives across a wide variety of areas  including arts, mental health, addiction and disability  have been recognised through the STAR Awards. For 2017, nominations are invited under four new categories:

* Adult Learning Initiatives that Promote Wellbeing



* Adult Learning Initiatives that Promote Digital Inclusion



* Adult Learning Initiatives that Promote Social Inclusion



* Adult Learning Initiatives that Promote the Learner Voice



To nominate an adult learning initiative, please visit: www.adultlearnersfestival. awardsplatform.com. The deadline for receipt of nominations is Wednesday, December 14.

Winners will be announced at the STAR Awards ceremony, which will be the opening event of the Adult Learners Festival 2017. The ceremony will take place in Dublin on Monday, March 6.



The Adult Learners' Festival will take place from March 6 to 10 2017. The theme for the week is 'The Power and Joy of Learning'.
Next Tuesday, November 29, the Sheerin Family will return to Cooney's Hotel, Ballymahon and as usual, they have a very special guest lined up.

The family are well known for their monthly gigs at the south Longford venue, and each month, they bring a special guest on stage from the world of country music. Past guests have included Nathan Carter, Marty Haggard, Lisa McHugh, Robert Mizzell, Matt Leavy and Philomena Begley.

This month will see the return of Johnny Brady, who burst out onto the country music scene four years ago.

Recently voted Ireland's number one touring artist, Johnny has just released his third studio album and is playing to packed houses week after week.

I have recently played gigs in Spain and Portugal, Johnny revealed, and hope to also crack the American market next year.

I truly am living all my dreams.

A great night is in store on November 29, and you really never know who you might meet!

The show kickstarts at 10pm and admission is absolutely free!
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

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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.
Culture / Art Republik

An eager look at Art Kaohsiung 2016, in Kaohsiung, a thriving hub in Taiwan for arts and culture.

Nov 24, 2016 | By Tyen Fong

Kaohsiung is a picturesque Taiwanese oceanic city surrounded by breathtaking views of mountains, oceans, rivers and ports. Located approximately two hours to travel by train from the central of Taipei, Kaohsiung is a popular tourist destination in Southern Taiwan known for its quaint harbor-town vibes.

In recent years, the city has grown to become a thriving hub in Taiwan for arts and culture. Its biggest yearly art fair, Art Kaohsiung, will launch for its forth time this year from 9 to 11 December 2016 at the Pier 2 Art Centre Ponlai Warehouse and the City Suites. This years theme is: Converging Southeastern and Northeastern Asian art.

In accordance to its central focus, the fair invites 10 Korean galleries (such as Dong San Bang Gallery and Keumsan Gallery) and seven galleries from the Philippines (such as Galerie Stephanie and Galerie Joaquin). Art Kaohsiung and Asia Hotel Art Fair Korea (AHAF) are collaborating this year to bring Korean modern and contemporary art to the Taiwanese market. Curated by Art Plus, Philippine art will also be introduced to the Asian art market.

A luxurious VIP tour has always been the spotlight for the art fair. Art Kaohsiung will provide a three-day VIP trip for 500 art collectors in Taiwan, as well as for the invited collectors from Korea, Philippines and Japan, to experience for themselves. It also targets 6,000 VIPs from Japanese, Korean, Singaporean and Malaysian associations of commerce in Taiwan, local construction companies and conventional industries. The tour involves a series of salon events, and aims to encourage interactions across different industries, supporting young art collectors and creating new possibilities for improvement in the art market.

Art Kaohsiung originally came about as an initiative launched by government in cooperation with the private sector to make Kaohsiung a metropolis, becoming the art stage of Southern Taiwan. The fair supports both local and international art galleries, and, just last year, reached a sales amount of 120 million NTD with 12,000 gallery-goers. Its great success over the years has boosted the growth in number of overseas gallery from 25 last year to 45 this year. Overall, the number of exhibitors has also grown from 60 to 100 this year.

Art Kaohsiung 2016 will contribute to the liveliness of city art, integrating galleries throughout Taiwan and Asia to establish Kaohsiung as a platform for international art exchange.

This article was originally published in Art Republik
After stints in Australia and Japan, one of Denmarks most popular chefs, Rene Redzepi, has announced plans for another gastronomic residency, this time in Mexico.

Before he relocates permanently into the second incarnation of his Michelin-starred restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, Redzepi will head to Mexico to open a pop-up restaurant in a country he considers to be his second home.

I consider it to be my adopted home, one filled with almost a decade of cherished memories from vacations with my family, he wrote on his blog.

The place that I dream about. Home to one of the most exciting cuisines I have ever tasted: as old as time and yet so relevant. Full of ingredients I never knew existed.

For the temporary residency, Redzepi will team up with a former Noma alum Rosio Sanchez, who brought authentic Mexican tacos to Copenhagen with the opening of Hija de Sanchez.

For six months, Sanchez and Redzepi together with a small team traveled throughout Mexico researching the countrys vast food traditions, from different variations of mole, nuances of chiles, and regional treatments of seafood.

When it opens, the restaurant will be an open-air destination located between the jungle and the Caribbean Sea in Tulum.

Or, in Redzepis words: Exposed to the climate, it will be hot, steaming and unpredictable. Billowing smoke and the orange glow of flames will define us as all cooking will take place over the fire. It will be wild like the Mexican landscape as we share our interpretation of the tastes from one of the most beautiful countries weve come to know.

Redzepi is a pro at opening pop-up restaurants in foreign turf. Last year, he struck a partnership with the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo where he brought Noma to locals in Japan.

At the invitation of Australias tourism office, Redzepi also brought his world-famous cuisine to Australians for a pop-up that ran at the beginning of the year.

Noma shot to international stardom after taking the title of the worlds best restaurant four times, according to UK-based Restaurant magazine.

After serving their final meal in February, the restaurant will close and re-open as an urban farm-to-table eatery in a new Copenhagen location.

The Mexican pop-up will open April 12 to May 28, 2017, with the price of meals at $600 USD per person.

Bookings open December 6 at 10 am EST at http://noma.dk/mexico/.
Foreign companies cannot ignore the risk of being involved in Japanese IP litigation when they conduct transactions where their products are intended to be distributed in Japan or when they perform sales activities for the Japanese market.

Japanese courts have been conservative in granting international jurisdiction against foreign companies outside of Japan. However, recently judgments granting international jurisdiction have appeared.

Case 1: Judgment of May 14 2001, Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Iimura)

Pharmacia Aktiebolaget (a Swedish corporation) manufactured latanoprost, an active ingredient of Xalatan eye drops (glaucoma and ocular hypertension treatment agent), outside of Japan. Pharmacia corporation (a Japanese corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pharmacia & Upjohn (a US Delaware corporation), imported latanoprost into Japan and sold Xalatan eye drops in Japan.

Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry, an exclusive licensee of a patent for an invention titled "Ocular hypotensive agents", sought an injunction and damages against Pharmacia Aktiebolaget, Pharmacia & Upjohn, and Pharmacia corporation.

The Court denied the international jurisdiction against Pharmacia Aktiebolaget and Pharmacia & Upjohn because Ueno did not argue and prove these foreign companies had conducted a specific act constituting infringement of Ueno's exclusive licence (concrete act which constitutes individual or joint tort). In addition, the Court stated that compelling these foreign companies who have no management foundation in Japan to respond to the lawsuit only because they are the parent company (Pharmacia & Upjohn) or they have manufactured in the foreign country and they are the group company (Pharmacia Aktiebolaget) will impose on them an undue burden and will be against the principle of fair, proper and prompt trial.

Case 2: Judgment of April 28 2015, Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Okinaka)

Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Group (a Chinese corporation) manufactured and sold epichlorohydrin in China. Jiangsu Yangnong sold epichlorohydrin to Chori (a Japanese corporation) and Chori imported and sold it in Japan.

Solvay (a Belgium corporation), the owner of a patent for an invention titled "process for producing dichloropropanol from glycerol, the grycerol coming eventually from the conversion of animal fats in the manufacture of biodisease", sought damages against Jiangsu Yangnong.

Solvay argued the following objective facts serve as the basis for objective association and collaboration of joint tort, or accessoryship or abetment: (i) Jiangsu Yangnong recognised Chori's importation and sale of epichlorohydrin in Japan; (ii) Jiangsu Yangnong represented to Chori it would solve the patent infringement issue in Japan; (iii) Jiangsu Yangnong strongly encouraged Chori to purchase epichlorohydrin; and (iv) Chori purchased epichlorohydrin to be sold in Japan exclusively from Jiangsu Yangnong.

The Court affirmed (i) and (ii), but denied (iii) and (iv). The Court stated that (i) and (ii) do not support association and collaboration of joint tort, and accessoryship and abetment because such facts are usually seen in the international commercial trade between manufacturers and distributors. Therefore, the Court denied the international jurisdiction against Jiangsu Yangnong.

Case 3: Judgment of November 28 2007, Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Shimizu)

Centillium Communication (a US Delaware corporation located in California) (CCI) manufactured and sold an ADSL modem chipset. Sumitomo Electric and NEC imported an ADSL modem chipset or ADSL modem including such chipset, and sold ADSL including such chipset in Japan.

Fujitsu, the owner of a patent for an invention titled "data transmission method", sought Y3.23 billion ( $32.3 million) in damages against CCI and its subsidiary Centillium Japan (CJ).

The Court found CCI's association and collaboration of joint tort with Sumitomo and NEC and regarded CCI's sale of ADSL modem chipset and its promotion as accessoryship or abetment of tort. The Court reasoned that there was a joint development agreement between CCI and Sumitomo/NEC, and CCI seemed to have recognised their products will be imported and sold in Japan if they sell them to Sumitomo and NEC, and promoted actively to Sumitomo and NEC under such recognition.

The Court stated that CCI was able to fully anticipate that the ADSL modem chipset they manufactured and sold would be distributed in Japan and may infringe the Japanese patent, and that Japan was a major market for CCI because the sales to Sumitomo and NEC occupied 80% of CCI's total sales. Thus, the Court concluded that affirming jurisdiction in Japan will not be against the principle of fair, proper and prompt trial.

Therefore, the Court affirmed the jurisdiction against CCI.

Case 4: Judgment of September 15 2010, IP High Court (Presiding Judge Nakano)

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (a Korean corporation) (Samsung) introduced Slim ODD Motor on their website where the accused product was posted.

Nidec Corporation (Nidec), the owner of the patent for an invention titled "motor", sought an injunction and damages against Samsung.

The Court found Samsung's act of transmitting an offer for assignment or the receipt of the offer in Japan based on the following facts: Samsung posted the accused products on their English website; Samsung identified Japan as "Sales Inquiry'' and introduced the address, phone number and fax number in Japan as "Sales Headquarter'' on their English website; it is possible to create an inquiry form regarding the sale of Slim ODD Motor on their Japanese website; sales manager of Nidec stated in his declaration that the sales staff of Samsung performed sales activities in Japan; Samsung's management advisor used his business cards with his title, corporate name and address in Tokyo in Japanese; a DVD multi-drive including one of the accused product is likely to be manufactured and sold by the Japanese company and distributed in Japan.

The Court stated that Samsung should have anticipated there will be a patent infringement lawsuit in Japan regarding the accused product because Samsung had introduced the accused product on their English website and acknowledged that those products are distributed in Japan and because Samsung enabled customers to enquire about the purchase of the ODD motor including the accused product on their Japanese website. The Court further stated that Samsung belongs to the Samsung group, the largest global company in Korea. Thus, the Court concluded that affirming jurisdiction in Japan will not be against the principle of fair, proper and prompt trial.

Therefore, the Court affirmed the jurisdiction against Samsung.

Practical tips

Now the Japanese courts are somewhat liberal regarding international jurisdiction against foreign companies outside of Japan. Foreign companies should be aware of the risk that they will be forced to defend themselves in the Japanese court under certain fact scenarios. On the other hand, as Solvay challenged, foreign companies may be able to sue their competitor outside of Japan in the Japanese courts if the conditions are met.

Takanori Abe Tomohiro Kazama

ABE & PartnersMatsushita IMP Building1-3-7, Shiromi, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 540-0001, JapanTel: +81 6 6949 1496Fax: +81 6 6949 1487abe@abe-law.comwww.abe-law.com
The Court of Amsterdam has decided in summary proceedings that the use of trade names Local Affairs and Studio Local Affairs constitutes an infringement of the trade name Local and on the corresponding Benelux device mark.

The claimant uses the tradename Local for activities in the field of the renovation and re-development of real estate in the Randstad, a large urban area in the west of The Netherlands, and has shown sufficient evidence of these activities by means of newspaper articles, flyers and printouts from their website.

As rights on a trade name do not come to existence by the mere registration of the trade name but by doing business under a certain name in a certain territory, the claimant sufficiently showed to have established trade name rights on the trade name Local. The claimant furthermore registered Benelux trade mark rights on its Local device mark in 2012. Only last summer the claimant became aware of the plans for a new architectural firm under the trade name Studio Local Affairs in Amsterdam, also in the Randstad.

Even though the English language is commonly known by the Dutch public, Local is not considered descriptive in any way nor is it a commonly used expression in connection with the area of business of both parties. It can thus be considered distinctive. As the element Studio is commonly used for architectural firms, it is considered rather descriptive. The dominant element in Studio Local Affairs is therefore Local.

In actual use it is even likely that the element Studio will not be used. This is supported by the fact that the defendant uses the email address @localaffairs instead of @studiolocalaffairs. The addition of the element Affairs does not make the overall impression of the trade name Studio Local Affairs very different from Local.

Due to the similarities between the business of re-development of real estate and the business of an architectural firm, both active in the field of real estate, and the fact that both parties operate or intend to operate in the same geographical area, there is a danger of confusion if both trade names were to co-exist. As the claimant has shown to co-operate with architects for their re-developments as well, the parties may appear to be a co-operation or to be somehow related.

The Court has therefore honoured the claimant's claim to have the defendant cease the infringement of its trade name and decided that the defendant should cease all use of (Studio) Local Affairs as a trade name, a domain name or even in an email address. In this case there is no room for two Locals in the same locality.

As for the secondary claim based on infringement of claimant's Benelux trade mark right, the Court refers to the reasoning used in connection with the infringement on trade name Local. Since the element Local is the most distinctive and dominant element in the claimant's device mark, and the defendant intends to use a sign similar to the claimant's device mark for similar services, there is danger of confusion with the relevant public.

Denys Bertels

V.O.Johan de Wittlaan 72517 JR The HagueThe NetherlandsTel: +31 70 416 67 11Fax: +31 70 416 67 99info@vo.euwww.vo.eu
On August 3 2016, the Supreme Court, in GR 184008 docketed as Indian Chamber of Commerce of the Phils Inc (ICCPI) v Filipino-Indian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, Inc (FICCPI), affirming the decisions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Court of Appeals (CA), ruled that ICCPI is identical and deceptively or confusingly similar to FICCPI, and that the latter has a better right to the FICCPI name.

The facts are as follows. The Filipino-Indian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc (defunct FICCPI) was registered with the SEC on November 24 1951. However, it failed to request an extension of its corporate term on November 24 2001, hence its corporate existence expired on that date.

On January 20 2005, Maresh Mansukhani reserved the name FICCPI with the SEC. This was opposed by Ram Sitaldas who claimed to be a member of the defunct FICCPI, on the ground that FICCPI has been in use for a long time by the defunct FICCPI and that, hence, said name reservation by another person who is not its member is illegal. The SEC however, denied Sitaldas's opposition, and the latter appealed to the CA. While this case was pending, the SEC issued the certificate of incorporation to FICCPI.

Both the CA and the Supreme Court affirmed the SEC decision, and held that a corporation is ipso facto dissolved as soon as its term of existence expires. The SEC rules provide that the name of a dissolved corporation cannot be used by other firms for a period of three years, which was complied with by FICCPI when it reserved said name in 2005. The Supreme Court further held that the term "Filipino" is descriptive and cannot be considered as an effective differentiating medium necessary to avoid confusion.

Editha R Hechanova

Hechanova & Co., Inc.Salustiana D. Ty Tower104 Paseo de Roxas AvenueMakati City 1229, PhilippinesTel: (63) 2 812-6561Fax: (63) 2 888-4290editharh@hechanova.com.ph

www.hechanova.com.ph
In two decisions rendered by the Romanian Trade Mark Office (TMO) in June 2016, the examiners found that two national applications depicting fictional characters were lacking distinctive character and therefore rejected their registration in Romania for the generic class headings of the goods and services in classes 7, 9, 28, 35, 37 and 42 of the International Nice Classification.

The applicant, Skin Media SRL, contested both decisions in an attempt to convince the Appeals Committee of the Romanian authority that they fulfil the conditions prescribed by the Romanian Trade Marks Law 84/1998, republished for being accepted at registration. Both appeals continue to be pending.

The applications, Capcaunul, national filing number M 2015 05895 (the Romanian version for the Ogre), and Fat Frumos!, national filing number M 2015 05893 (the Romanian version of Prince Charming) were refused by the TMO examiners by invoking ex officio the absolute grounds for refusal pursuant to article 5 (1) b) of the Trade Marks Law providing that applications lacking distinctive character will be refused at registration or, if registered, they are liable to be cancelled.

TMO's Examination Committee expalined its decisions by stating that the signs are each composed of the name of a mythological character adjoined by its corresponding graphical representation. The examiners identified both characters to be defined in the Romanian language official dictionary (Capcaunul representing in popular Romanian fairy tales a fabulous creature  a dog's head on a human body, sometimes, with two heads  which was said to eat people, while Fat Frumos! represents a hero endowed with essential qualities, such as courage, virtue, purity, beauty, both physical and spiritual force, passion and faithfulness in love) and considered this aspect to confirm the lack of distinctive character for the designated goods and services. No other motivation was provided in the refusal decisions.

In the initial responses in defence filed by the applicant in reply to the official notices that preceded the refusal decisions, arguments detailed that the complex figurative signs applied for protection do not represent the usual, normal way to refer to or in any way identify or describe the goods and services at issue. More so, the signs will not allow an average consumer, with a reasonable degree of attention, to establish a direct connection between the signs and the goods/services requested.

The applicant also argued that the signs are not mere word elements identifying the characters but feature specific graphic devices which were particularly created to be featured in the applications and are not customarily used on the Romanian market in relation to the goods/services relevant for in the cases. Even if they do have a place among the Romanian fictional folklore characters, as also revealed by the EUIPO guidelines on trade mark practice, they could be regarded as lacking a distinctive character when referring to goods/services deriving from the actual tales to which such characters pertain, due to their familiarity among the average audience. However, this would not be the case at issue, in view of the particularities of the goods/services requested in the applications.

The refusal decisions also show an inconsistent practice among the examiners of the Romanian TMO. This because, in addition to the applications identified above, other applications featuring fictional, fairy tale characters with devices were filed for protection by the applicant at the same time and for the same class headings. All such additional applications, although also provisionally refused, were ultimately accepted at registration by the examiners, finding that the (same) arguments in response are pertinent for overcoming their initial refusals on the same absolute grounds. Among these additional applications we mention Ileana Cosanzeana, filing number M 2015 05891, registration number 144482, Muma Padurii filing number M 2015 05885, registration number 144481 (the Romanian version of the Witch of the Forest) and Pasarila filing number M 2015 05886, registration number 144484 (the Romanian version of Birdman), all accepted for registration in Romania in the name of the applicant for the class headings in classes 7, 9, 28, 35, 37 and 42.

The refusal decisions therefore show that the practice of the Romanian TMO is not aligned when analysing the same absolute grounds for refusal invoked ex  officio by examiners against the same type of applications referring to identical goods and services and it remains to be seen whether the Appeals Committee of the Romanian TMO will overturn these refusals.

Andreea Bende

Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen Bucuresti-Ploiesti 1A, Sector 1Bucharest 013681, Romania+40 21 201 1200office@nndkp.ro www.nndkp.ro
In Trader Joe's Company v Michael Norman Hallatt d/b/a Pirate Joe's, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision which granted Trader Joe's the right to pursue claims for trade mark infringement under the Lanham Act against activity that occurred in Canada.

Trader Joe's is a well-known American grocery store that sells a range of Trader Joe's-branded products which are only available in its stores. Hallatt, a US lawful permanent resident, had been purchasing large quantities of Trader Joe's products in the US, transporting those products into Canada, and then re-selling them at his store in Canada, Pirate Joe's, which was designed to look like a Trader Joe's store. Trader Joe's sued Hallatt alleging that he violated federal and state trade mark and unfair competition laws by misleading customers into falsely believing that Pirate Joe's was authorised by Trader Joe's to sell its products, by displaying Trader Joe's trade marks and trade dress without approval and without adhering to Trader Joe's strict quality control practices.

The district court granted Hallatt's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, determining that claims under the Lanham Act did not apply because the allegedly infringing conduct occurred in Canada. Trader Joe's subsequently filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit.

In issuing its judgment, the Ninth Circuit first looked at whether it had jurisdiction to hear the case. It decided that question affirmatively, holding that "the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act is a merits question that does not implicate federal courts' subject matter jurisdiction". It then asked whether the defendant's conduct impacts US commerce in a manner sufficient to invoke the protections of the Lanham Act. To answer this question, the Court applied a three-part test, indicating that the Lanham Act applies to activity outside the US in circumstances in which: "(1) the alleged violations  create some effect on American foreign commerce; (2) the effect [is] sufficiently great to present a cognizable injury to the plaintiffs under the Lanham Act; and (3) the interests of and links to American foreign commerce [are] sufficiently strong in relation to those of other nations to justify an assertion of extraterritorial authority."

Trader Joe's was able to satisfy the first two prongs of the test by arguing that Hallatt's foreign conduct has some effect on US commerce because his activities harm its reputation and decrease the value of its American trade marks (helping them navigate around the first sale doctrine  namely, the exhaustion of remedies where there is a sale of legitimate products). Specifically, Trader Joe's took the position that Hallatt's distribution of Trader Joe's-branded products did not meet their quality control standards, thereby resulting in the devaluation of the mark and the tarnishing of their image. The Ninth Circuit then weighed seven factors to determine that an assertion of extraterritorial authority was justified. Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings.

With the Ninth Circuit's ruling, Trader Joe's is able to pursue claims for trade mark infringement against Hallatt in the US for activities in Canada. The decision could be particularly helpful to brand owners in their fight against certain categories of infringement resulting from conduct outside the US.

Karen Artz Ash Bret J Danow

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP 575 Madison AvenueNew York, NY 10022-2585United StatesTel: +1 212 940 8554Fax: +1 212 940 8671karen.ash@kattenlaw.comwww.kattenlaw.com
November is almost coming to a close now (where did the year go?!) and Singapore is heating up with fun festivities and exciting events. For the music lovers, the two-day Neon Lights Festival will be rocking Fort Canning this weekend, bringing a whole slew of local and international acts (including the likes of Foals and Sigur Ros) to the stage. For animal lovers, the Fur Friends Fiesta might be worth your while, and you might even end up bringing home a new furry pal!

If drinks are on the menu and youre looking for a fun way to spend your Saturday evening, head to HongKong Street and mingle with the crowd as the Gin Lane Street Party brings the Gin Jubilee Singapore festival to a close.

Need more to fill up the gaps in your calendar? Head up to the gallery above to check out our top picks of cool happenings in Singapore over the next few days. Theres a Christmas bazaar and even a Roald Dahl-centric kids event to get excited about!

Angela Goh

Read more:

#FullertonWellness: Embark on a holistic journey with The Fullerton Heritage

Oils & Easels: 7 Best art jamming spots in Singapore

Jot down your epicurean journeys with the new kikki.K Food Lovers Collection
A Vote for Trump, Much in Spite of Who He is

Its hard to keep up with all the labels.



According to the mainstream media, anyone who voted for Donald Trump is a hate-filled bigot who objectifies women, cant stand immigrants, denies global warming, has no education, and earns less today than he did in 1999. He must be resentful that a black man occupies the White House today and apoplectic at the possibility that a woman might do the same thing.



Thats a lot to carry around and its not who I am even though I voted for Trump.





But my vote really wasnt for the man. It was for the possibility that his candidacy represents, and the chance to end some policies that I think a President Clinton would have continued.In a very real sense, I voted for Trump in spite of who he is.I wasnt giddy as I filled out my absentee ballot. I considered the choice for a long time.Is it the candidate who has zero experience, doesnt really put forth a policy statement of any kind, says reprehensible things, and brags about declaring bankruptcy, or the candidate who moves to a state shes never lived in simply to capture a Senate seat on her way to the White House, uses her position to build personal wealth, and then operates as if the rules we all must live by dont apply to her?When it came to personal failings  bombastic navel-gazing compared with an elitist lust for power  neither one represented what I think of as an ideal presidential candidate. But, one of the two would be elected, so the choice remained.And arguably, even if I loved how a candidate lived his or her life, that shouldnt be the test for occupying the Oval Office. I should evaluate how the person will shape policy, both foreign and domestic, and how they will inform the judicial system through court appointments.Im a small-government guy. I want decisions handled at the lowest level of civil organization possible. This means allowing states to govern as they see fit, and taking the federal government out of the picture in most, but not all, instancesWe are all people, bound to make mistakes. The more decentralized we are, the less opportunity people have to collect undue power, and the more likely we are to find innovative solutions to the problems before us through experimentation at the state level.I believe weve granted government agencies excessive power through regulatory interpretation, creating an expensive maze for businesses that eats up far more capital and time than its worth.And I think our tax and healthcare systems are dreadful. We spend tens of billions of dollars simply trying to prepare our tax returns, and everyone knows the state of medical care.The president can mold these things. Through agency appointments, court appointments, direction given to cabinet members, and consent with Congress, the president can sway decisions in these areas in ways that I believe will unleash innovation, get government off the backs of businesses, and provide a solid foundation for decades to come.A Clinton administration would, as illustrated by her policies, continue down the path weve been on since her husbands time in office. More government intervention, more spending on programs that are insolvent, and new programs such as free tuition that address symptoms, not causes.It appears that her team believes that elected officials know more, and know better, than those who are governed, hence the reason for such extensive regulation and greater government programs.I dont agree.Finally, there is the question of special-interest groups. Trump seems to have few, if any. Perhaps this freedom will give him the ability to go after programs that have strong popular support, like ending carried interest tax treatment for hedge funds and providing school choice for kids that seem to fade away once lobbyists get involved.President Trump, with a slight conservative majority in Congress, might be able to address some of the issues we face. Or he might be so unpredictable as to become a lame duck before the end of his honeymoon.No matter what he does, I dont think his election success was because of the caustic and irresponsible things he said. I believe that many of the more than 60 million that voted Trump, like me, voted for him in spite of the bad. He was not my perfect candidate, but Ive never seen that person on a ballot.Even if he doesnt succeed in reforming the tax code or codifying school choice, hopefully his win will inspire others to push for the highest office, renouncing the existing political machine and forging their own path.In that way, his election is already a success, showing that such a thing is possible.

Rodney

Follow me on Twitter ;@RJHSDent

By Rodney Johnson, Senior Editor of Economy & Markets

http://economyandmarkets.com

Copyright  2016 Rodney Johnson - 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.

Rodney Johnson Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Trump Moves as America Stands Still

Ever since the November 8 election, its been hard to write anything that makes actual sense, as evidenced by just about everything Ive read in the past two weeks, little of which was particularly elevating, because just like before the vote, and just like in pre- and post-Brexit Britain, all there is left in the US are deeply dug-in heels.

Everything and everyone is standing still; dug-in heels do that for you. Problem is, of course, that standing still doesnt get you anywhere. Youre going to have to move or youll be left behind. Somehow its wonderfully ironic that Donald Trump is the only main character in this play whos moving, and he does so in more ways than one. Its like hes going head first against the latest braindead internet craze, mannequin. If he does it on purpose, I commend him for it.

Sure, one might say Obama has moved a little too, suggesting that a smooth transition of power is paramount, talking a whole different book from what he said about the Donald before November 8. But then Obama doesnt have many other options. His job requires him to do it, and say it. Over the past few months, the impression has crept upon me that Obama is a mannequin, though not still and silent, but one machine-trained to say the perfect thing at the perfect moment. And then still lost.

As predicted pre-election by the precious few willing to ponder a view thats not entirely partisan or one-sided, Trump now rolls back his most extreme views, and is not afraid to revisit climate change, or a potential Hillary investigation, nor does he shy away from denouncing the most outrageous right wing movements and viewpoints among his voters and supporters.

Not even if every single person he talks to as he builds his administration is automatically labeled a racist, or worse, by US media, politicians and others that have gotten lost in their anti-Trump trenches.

Donald Trump will keep doing what hes always done: throw ideas out there, see where they land and show that hes flexible about them. In the process he will make many of his supporters more flexible too. He is the leader, he is their leader. When he reconsiders his views of issues, he invites them to do the same. As we move forward, well see this attitude shave off a lot of the sharp edges. Its all entirely predictable, its almost a better story than the Pied Piper.

Of course you san say that some of the views expressed by Trump voters, and the acts committed, dont belong in America. You would be right. But what you cant say is that Trump is the source of these acts and views. They were there already. They were ignored and left to fester for years, however, and because of that grew sharper and more pronounced as time went on, until someone finally came along and did not ignore them. Talk about predictable.

But without an actual conversation taking place, without people from both sides, gaping as their differences may seem, willing to leave their trenches and talk to Donald Trump, and about him, from something other than the moral heights they have convinced each other and themselves were theirs and theirs alone, without that conversation theres only so much he can do. They have to move; he already does.

Mind you, hes got plenty room to maneuver in what he does, because he won the election, and nobody else. He can fill his government with a bunch of weirdos and radicals, hes got the mandate. But thats not what he wants. Trump meant it when he said he wants to be a president for all Americans.

The last thing Donald Trump wants is to fail as president. he instead wants to be the best. That requires motion from all sides, though. What Trump wants and needs right now is for people to reach out to him, to tell him theyre willing to talk, that theyre willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and work with him.

Dont forget, he has to take on his own right wing camp -which will be a hard enough fight- as much as all those who see themselves as more liberal than he is (liberal is just a word in a country in which there is no left left). While at the same time those liberals seem to spend all their waking hours exclusively trying to agree on what to call the people they see as Americas worst: are they neo-nazis, racists, white supremacists, bigots?

And as if that is not enough, all this comes with an outspoken implication that Trump is as bad as the worst of his voters. The anti-Trump camp are so busy with this that they fail to see the president-elect has long since moved away from what they thought his position was (was it ever?), and that they are the ones unwilling to talk, not him.

Mind you, this is as true for the right wing as for the left. Trump risks facing a lot of backlash from the right for not investigating Hillary, for softening his climate change view, for keeping some aspects of Obamacare, or some parts of the trade deals he has previously dismissed. He knows the risks.

The extreme right has misunderstood him as much as the extreme liberal (a.k.a. the Hillary camp including the media). And if Britain is any guide, where 5 months after Brexit the main dish served is still made up of name calling and various other civilized pastimes, Trump has a long, windy and especially bumpy road ahead of him. America should perhaps count itself lucky that hes a whole lot more flexible than the clowns performing on all sides of the aisles in the UK.

Hes willing to adapt, but that wont do a lot of good if the other players are not. People may try to mock him for first bashing the New York Times and then, within 24 hours, calling it a great great American jewel  world jewel, but thats only bad or inconsistent if you refuse to try and think like him.

Of course the New York Times, through history, has been a jewel of global media; it just didnt act like one in the run-up to November 8. Pointing that out is not inconsistent from Trumps angle: instead, its not difficult to make the case that its the New York Times that has been inconsistent, by leaving its journalistic standards -i.e. objectivity- behind to go after Trump.

After all, its hard to argue that the New York Times was NOT a partisan channel in the election. That so many other news media took the same position may have made it seem normal, but that doesnt make it so.

Americans from all corners will have to come down from their morally righteous and politically correct mountains. They will then find that Donald Trump was way ahead of them.

And no, I am not a Trump supporter. But given the alternatives presented, I do find myself wondering if there was a single one amongst them more fit for the job than the Donald. Not that it matters anymore, the election is over and he won, recounts and discussions about electoral collages or not.

Is that really such a bad thing? Trump won. Which means the Democrats and Republicans did not. The Bush dynasty and Clinton dynasty did not. The incumbent elites did not. That is quite the clean up job. Does anyone want to argue such a clean up was not needed? Donald Trump is shaking up a world in which too many people and institutions across the political scene have been able to gain too much power and influence and wealth for too long, and its hard to see that as a big negative.

Besides, whether you like it or not, hes your president. May I humbly suggest yall make the best of what you got? Perhaps, and I must say perhaps because I should learn more about this, Trumps talk Monday with Bernie Sanders-territory left-wing Democrat -and Hindu- Tulsi Gabbard, which may well land her a cabinet post, is indicative of what we may expect. So you got someone whos left-wing, a woman, and very much not Christian. How many prejudices is that?

Gabbard wants the US to stop killing people in Syria. Is that a bad thing, anyone? She broke with the DNC when she figured out then-Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was favoring Hillary and working against Bernie.

If Gabbards move is not enough to make you move and un-dig your heels, how about Bernie Sanders himself taking a seat in the Trump government? Would that do the trick? The Donald would love it. Bernie would be told hes betraying his party, for sure, but we all know the party betrayed him first. Hes either got a few years left to do something real, or he can see himself be betrayed all over again in 2020.

By now, its not beyond the realm of possibilities. A National Government is something many nations have tried through history. It might not be a bad idea for the US, because the future sure is not made exclusively of moonshine and roses.

The keyword is flexibility, guys. You have a president-to-be who gets that. How about you?

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory) 2016 Copyright Raul I Meijer - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




RIDGEWAY  Christians worldwide often take to a certain couple of verses found in the Bible in Matthew 25. About a fourth of the way into the chapter, specifically verses 35 and 36, Jesus reveals certain ways He expects His followers to care for others  providing food, drinks, shelter, clothing, medical aid and even prison visits to those in need.

At a community giveaway event on Saturday, members of Shiloh Apostolic Temple in Ridgeway  ministered by Bishop James Millner  fulfilled several aspects of the Matthew 25 mission.

Vanessa Hairston, outreach ministry coordinator, partnered with EPRO Safety Solutions of Ashburn. EPRO is a company dedicated to customized safety training in the workplace.

Part of Loudoun County, the companys headquarters reside four and a half hours northeast of Ridgeway. While the vast distance between the church and company would not normally coincide with a collaborative, small-town community effort, church member Lisa Millner explained that EPROs president, Albert Eccles, Jr. was born and raised in the West Piedmont region.

It was an opportunity for him to give back, Lisa said.

I am thankful for all who supported me in my youth and who also continue to support me as an adult, Eccles said. Although I reside in Northern Virginia, I still consider Henry County as my foundation.

Together, the church and EPRO provided items for not only the upcoming winter season, but also the holidays.

During this event, items such as clothing, shoes and household items were given away, Lisa said. In addition, each family received a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Wanting to make a meaningful difference in the area, members of Shiloh Apostolic Temple gave with their hands and their hearts.

I love people and want everyone to have a blessed Thanksgiving, Hairston said. This event allows our church family to show love and allows individuals to get items that they need.

Amie Knowles reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at amie.pickeral@martinsvillebulletin.com
MARTINSVILLE-Over the last 20 months, the Martinsville Sheriffs Office lost 17 of its 48 officers. Five of those retired and the rest left for other jobs. Most of them, Martinsville Sheriff Steve Draper said, went to higher-paying law enforcement agencies and some went to the private sector.

Weve seen a marked increase (in turnover), Draper said, adding that his departments turnover rate stands at about 35 percent.

The problem isnt always finding replacements, as all of those vacancies were filled during the past year. Part of it involves all of the institutional knowledge you lose when one of the senior staff leaves, only to be replaced with a rookie out of the academy. Its an issue that not just Martinsville, but the sheriffs in Patrick and Henry counties both see. They all feel Virginia needs to increase its pay for sheriffs deputies, in order to keep people in the job.

Theyre not alone. The Virginia Sheriffs Association has put out a paper called Compensation Crisis, pointing out there were no increases in state pay for sheriffs deputies from 2007 to 2013, a 3 percent pay raise in 2013 and a 2 percent pay raise in 2015. Compounding that problem are the lack of what is called compression pay (or longevity pay, or extra pay based of years of experience), and turnover. Fiscal year 2015 saw an average turnover for deputy sheriffs of 21.3 percent in their first year, 12.9 percent for deputies beyond one year of service and an overall average for the group of 14.7 percent. Turnover for ranked deputies was about 13.6 percent. (These turnover rates preceded a Sept. 1 salary increase raising the entry level salary for first-year deputies.)

As for benefits, Draper points to the fact that back in the 1980s and 1990s, there were no co-pays for employee health insurance, but now the monthly cost for an employee is about $145; an employee plus one, about $700; and for family, about $1,220.

The Virginia Sheriffs Association paper says Virginias budgets for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 included $3.6 million in general funds the first year and $8.7 million in general funds in the second year to fund a salary compression plan (longevity pay) for sheriffs offices and regional jails. Effective January 1, 2017, the plan provides to sworn employees of sheriffs offices and regional jails with three years or more of continuous service $80 for each full year of service, to a maximum of 30 years.

It adds: For non-sworn employees, the plan provides $65 for each full year of service for those with three or more years of continuous service, to a maximum of 30 years. The funding for the salary compression plan is held in reserve and is contingent upon FY 2016 revenues not being greater than 1 percent below the official forecast, based on the comptrollers preliminary fiscal year-end analysis.

It also says the budget included a total of $190 million over the two years for a 3 percent compensation adjustment for state employees and a 2 percent compensation adjustment for state-supported local employees. It also, includes a total of $6.3 million over the two years for a salary compression (longevity pay) initiative for state police. The funds will be available for the compensation adjustment and salary compression initiative contingent upon FY2016 revenues not being more than 1 percent below the official forecast, based on the comptrollers preliminary fiscal year-end analysis.

But that was before revenues came up short. Now, with Virginia facing a $1.5 billion shortfall over the next two years, Draper is concerned those initiatives will go away.

Dollars and cents

An Oct. 13 news release from the Office of the Governor stated: Total general fund revenues rose by 1.7 percent in fiscal year 2016, for a total of $18 billion, but fell short of the official forecast of 3.2 percent growth by $268.9 million. The majority of the shortfall was due to withholding and sales tax collections. In addition, transfers to the general fund fell $10.4 million short of the forecast. The combined shortfall including general fund revenue and transfers in fiscal year 2016 totaled $279.3 million.

It added: In order to reach the intended budget goal the administration implemented three primary strategies. First, the state budget contained an automatic trigger based on the revenue forecast that removed $125.1 million for pay increases. Second, there is a proposal to transfer $392.3 million from the revenue stabilization fund, as permitted by state law. Third, there are pledges from state agencies in 2016 that provide an additional $23.5 million in savings.

The news release listed a number of other measures as well to meet the intended budget goal. Calls to the governors office went unreturned by presstime.

The sheriffs association paper includes a chart with a pay comparison for state law enforcement versus county deputies who are state supported, using Patrick County sheriffs employees as an example. To clarify, the state pay doesnt change with different counties. The only difference is the amount of the supplement, meaning that if a deputy wants to make more at a certain level, then theyre forced to go to counties that can afford to give more locally.

As of Sept. 1, 2015, state pay for a starting deputy sheriff was $31,009, increased to $34,299 with the local supplement in Patrick County. Thats compared to $36,207 for a state trooper and $35,700 as a starting salary for a game warden. After one year, state pay increases to $32,423 for a deputy sheriff. With a shrinking local supplement, the final salary remained the same at $34,299. A state trooper after the first year, by comparison, gets an increase to $40,482. After five years, a deputy sheriff makes $32,712 in state pay, for a total of $35,331 after the local supplement is added in. A state trooper with five years of experience makes $43,268.

After the five year mark, the pay for a deputy sheriff doesnt change for more than seven years. A deputy with 10 years on the job in Patrick County makes the same as a fifth-year. A deputy with 12 years of experience also makes the same as someone with just five years on the job. By comparison, a state trooper with 12 years in makes $53,300. The only increase for deputies comes at the 20-year mark, where they make $37,260 in state pay and $40,224 with the local supplement. At this same point, a trooper with 20 years of experience brings home $60,100 in Virginia.

Its a problem Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry also deals with. In most communities, deputies are the front-line of defense, especially in counties, and law-enforcement protection goes 24-7, Perry said.

We arent having as much problem as some places with retention, Perry said. He said once in a while officers leave his department for higher-paying jobs, but not often. Most tend to stay, in part because they have families here, he added.

The department currently has three vacancies, which is about average, he said. The sheriffs office has 125 full-time sworn officers (meaning they have arrest power and carry a gun).

Perry said some people may not choose to go into law enforcement because of not only the pay issue, but also because of the increase in violence toward law enforcement officers in recent years.

Perry said his department has to work harder to find officers who are qualified and have the proper temperament when the economy improves and better paying jobs are available in the private sector.

Left with a thin staff

In an email to the Martinsville Bulletin, Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith said that since 1978, 38 deputies have been killed in the line of duty in Virginia, which he says is the highest per capita number among any specific group of law enforcement officers. Smith says the reason for this is because deputies often respond to dangerous calls, such as domestic and other disturbances, alone.

According to Smith, nearly all those deaths occurred in the 86 rural Virginia counties where sheriffs deputies provide primary law enforcement coverage. That includes places like Henry and Patrick counties, among others. In those counties, the state funds about 2,200 law enforcement deputy positions, which is based on the populations of the individual counties. Smith believes that leaves most counties very thin in law enforcement coverage.

Sometimes it is overwhelming for our deputies. We may go two hours in the middle of the night with no call for service, and suddenly a lone patrol deputy will get a domestic disturbance where shots have been fired, and he has to respond 20 or 30 miles alone because the only other deputy on patrol is tied up with a mental health transport, Smith said. Deputies have always been the lowest paid law enforcement officers in the state, and the disparity is growing. There has never been a priority to pay our people, and it has now come to a head.

Smith said that no other law enforcement agency comes close to matching the 21 percent turnover rate that exists statewide among sheriffs offices. (He was referring to the fiscal year 2015 average turnover rate for deputies in their first year. See more details about turnover above.) That should be enough to concern anyone, he said.

Two Patrick County deputies have resigned in the last two months, one being an eight-year veteran sergeant who left for better pay at a local manufacturing facility, Smith said.

Pay is the main reason people leave. A 12-year veteran deputy who makes $36,000 per year loses hope after a while, Smith said.

He noted that deputies received a total of 5 percent in state pay increases since 2007, with no compression pay increases like other state employees have received.

According to Smith, even though deputies are constitutional officers and are classified as state-supported local employees, the state does not offer equal support for them.

Virginia is the ninth richest state in America, according to Forbes, however, they are paying their deputy sheriffs 25 percent less than the national average for patrol officers, according to Smith. The fact that the starting pay for some deputies qualifies them for government assistance should be embarrassing to the General Assembly and to the governors office, according to Smith.

The sheriffs association paper indicated a starting deputy with an unsupplemented salary of $31,009 per year with a household of four or more people and with no one else in the household working besides the officer qualified for the Virginia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which enables low-income families to buy nutritious food with coupons and Electronic Benefits Transfer cards.

According to Smith, most counties are too poor to adequately supplement state deputy pay. I commend our county board of supervisors and county administration for helping us as much as they have, Smith said.

Compounding the problem, according to Smith, nearly all of the recent mental health legislation has ultimately fallen upon the shoulders of sheriffs offices across Virginia.

He added: We are the ones left to counsel the mentally ill patient who needs help, waiting with them for hours and then transporting them across the state to a treatment facility.

Smith said sheriffs offices have received no additional personnel or funding for this, and it is taking a toll on the Patrick County Sheriffs Office.

Overtime costs are escalating, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, Smith said, also highlighting what he calls forgotten deputies who work in the jails. According to Smith, They deal with the worst of the worst in many cases, providing 24/7 custody for pedophiles, murderers and other violent offenders waiting to be sent to state prison. Nearly all of these types of offenders are out of compliance, which means that local jails are forced to keep inmates for up to two years before they are sent to state prison. Localities are bearing nearly all of this cost. The bottom line is this: Nothing can exist without order, and we provide that order. This state is going to have to start paying its law enforcement professionals a decent, living wage and they are going to treat us with some equality. We are a long way from that as it stands now.

Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com.
I announce my separation from the United States I have realigned myself in your [Chinas] ideological flow I will be dependent on you for all time. I will not go to America any more. We will just be insulted there. So time to say goodbye my friend. There are three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. Its the only way. Rodrigo Duterte, new President of the Philippines, on his recent trip to China.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the United States emerged as the single most powerful nation in the world. This, however, hid its real underlying relative historical decline, which has become more evident in recent years.

The Afghan and Iraq wars served to underline this. Rather than strengthening the position of the United States on the world arena, they merely served to bring out clearly the limits of US power. In the Middle East, it is Russia that has emerged as a strong power. And on a global level we have the growing strength of China. The decline of the US and the rise of a series of local powers explains the growing instability worldwide.

In this context, the latest geopolitical developments in East Asia, in particular the dramatic change of alliances announced by the president of the Philippines, is a harbinger of a far more unsettled and turbulent epoch for world relations.

As Marx explained in The Communist Manifesto in 1848, The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere. This was brilliantly confirmed by the rise of Imperialism and the spread of capitalist relations throughout the entire globe.

In the quest for new markets and sources of cheap raw materials and lower labour costs, the imperial powers helped foster the development of capitalism in new countries. In this process, however, we saw how historically new powers emerged, such as Japan, Germany and the United States who grew at a faster pace than the old established imperial powers, such as Britain and France. The new balance of power that flowed from this realignment led to a much more unstable world and produced many revolutions and two world wars in the 20th century.

Decades of growth of the rising powers lead to a breakdown in the dominance of the old powers and a painful period of readjustment in world relations and the terms of world trade. What history has taught us about such phases of transition is precisely that they are painful, messy and pregnant with revolution. They take a long time and with capitalism being an unplanned, short-sighted system, such transitions take place chaotically and blindly.

Thus, the rise of China, and the persisting, stubborn power of the US, signals deep, long lasting crisis in all spheres of capitalist society and a long epoch of social revolution.

Chinese Trade

China is today the worlds largest manufacturer, but also the worlds largest trader. Since 2009 it has been the largest exporter, and since 2014 the largest overall trader. This is reflected in world ports and shipping facilities, the key infrastructure for world trade. According to 2013 figures, China possesses the first (Shanghai), third (Shenzhen), fourth (Hong Kong), Sixth (Ningbo-Zhoushan) seventh (Qingdao), eighth (Guangzhou) and tenth (Tianjin) busiest container ports in the world.

The United States has none in the top ten - its first entry is Los Angeles at 18! At the present rate of development - if it is maintained, of course - it is estimated that by 2030 China will own one third of the world's container ships. Already, 30% of the volume of containerised exports in the world are from China, which is three times the quantity from the USA. In 1964, the US had the world's largest Merchant Marine (the collection of ships needed for trade), it has now been relegated to fourteenth, with China number two.

This powerful position in world trade can and must lead to major shifts in world relations, sooner or later, with smaller weaker nations realigning according to these changes. It is in this context that the Dutertes dramatic pivot to China has to be understood.

The End of an Affair

Rodrigo Duterte is an exceptionally brash politician who makes Donald Trump seem a vision of moderation. His personality looms very large indeed, and as a result it is easy to read his realignment to China as highly capricious and rash. The immediate cause appears to be Obamas criticism of Dutertes slaughtering of alleged drug peddlers, to which Duterte responded in his inimitable gangster style by calling Obama a son of a whore! Obama then cancelled a meeting with Duterte, which seems to have sealed the rift. The Chinese ambassador smelt blood and moved quickly, releasing the following statement,

The Chinese side fully understands and firmly supports the Duterte administrations policy that prioritises the fight against drug crimes the sun will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations.

From this point onwards Duterte seemed intent on sticking his middle finger up to the United States, and what better way to do that than by cosying up to its great rival, China?

Only a few months ago, US-Philippine relations were the fulcrum of the contain China policy. So cosy were they that under US encouragement, the Philippines had taken to the Hague a case against Chinese encroachments in the islands nearby, a case which the Philippines won. In 2016, the Philippines agreed to a massive increase in US military presence in the country (after they were kicked out in 1992), including the installation of an air base clearly aimed at the Chinese.

Now, so suddenly that many of his own generals and security advisers did not know what was happening, Duterte has announced a complete end to all joint military exercises with the US, explicitly stating this was so because China does not want it, and the above mentioned agreement to host additional US forces will likely be revoked. Duterte has also demanded the US cease assisting his government in operations against an Islamist insurgency in the countrys south, and the expulsion of all US Special Forces.

By making such an impassioned display of public affection for China, and especially by agreeing to ignore the Hague courts ruling in favour of his own country, Duterte has actually won for Philippine fishermen precisely what his predecessor, in bringing the case to court, was supposedly fighting for - this week Philippine TV has triumphantly shown fishermen returning from the Scarborough shoal laden with fish. These are the islands China recently grabbed from the Philippines, denying its fishermen the ability to exploit their coasts, but following his love letter to Beijing China has magnanimously agreed to allow Filipino fishermen back into these waters (so long as China can control them militarily!). It is deeply ironic that by embracing China as it annexes Philippine territory, he has actually won back for the Philippines far more than his predecessor could ever have done.

Cold, Hard Cash

However, flippant and larger than life as Duterte is, can we really explain the realignment of an entire 100 million strong nation on the basis of one mans fit of anger, or are there stronger, longer lasting interests at work?

The Philippines has learnt the hard way that China carries a lot of economic muscle in the region. Everybody knows how Chinas emergence as the worlds biggest trader and consumer of raw materials had a knock on effect in all the other economies tied to it in a wave of growth (which is, admittedly, now coming to an end). Befitting a rising power, it is now becoming one of the biggest exporters of capital too.

But the Philippines role as the USs staunchest ally in Southeast Asia has largely excluded it from Chinese trade and investment, and the Chinese market has been closed for its fruit exporters. China is the only power in a position to help in developing the infrastructure of the Philippines. Chinese investment into the Philippines can be seen as part of the new Silk Road and the operations of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (more on these later).

If this was Dutertes intention, his Chinese pivot paid dividends more rapidly than almost anyone could have expected,

In total, the two countries signed 13 agreements on Thursday spanning a variety of economic sectors, while Ramon Lopez, Philippine trade secretary, said the two countries had signed $13.5bn in trade and investment deals. Chinas foreign ministry further announced that restrictions on 27 Philippine fruit growers on exporting to China would be lifted, as would a travel warning to Chinese tourists to avoid trips to the Philippines. China Eastern Airlines, one of the countrys largest carriers, announced the launch of a direct air route from Guangzhou to the Philippine city of Laoag, starting next month...the China Communications Construction Company, a state-owned group, signed a memorandum of understanding with Mega Harbour Port and Development of the Philippines to conduct a 208-hectare land reclamation project in Davao harbour. The reclamation is expected to finish by the end of 2019. No total value was published for the investment (Financial Times, October 21st, 2016)

Whilst China remains unpopular amongst ordinary Filipinos, it is very popular amongst key sections of the Filipino bourgeoisie, which is what really counts. Many had been unhappy with the former governments open hostility to China, which they feel affords more profitable opportunities than does the US. Now they are laughing all the way to the bank.

Dutertes foreign secretary is Perfecto Yasay, a former lawyer who represented Chinese-Filipino businessmen close to Beijing, and who recently stated that Filipinos will not be Americas little brown brothers. And as Foreign Policy explained:

Among Yasays prominent clients has been Lucio Tan, one of the countrys richest men, who Duterte has said was one of the first to urge him to seek the presidency. Billionaire Tan was born in Chinas Fujian province and is considered on the mainland to be a patriotic Chinese. (...) Today, he is chairman of Philippine Airlines, the countrys flagship carrier, and has extensive holdings in banking, mining, tobacco, beer, hotels and property development. Hes also made some major investments in China, which have clearly earned him the goodwill of Beijing. When Chinese presidents come to Manila, they always stay in one of Tans hotels. (...) During his campaign, Duterte received an especially warm welcome from the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, of which Tan is an honorary chairman. Along with the Chinese ambassador, Tan was one of the first prominent visitors Duterte received after his election victory. In his eagerness to establish close economic ties with Beijing, Duterte has also said he is looking to revive various Chinese-Philippine joint ventures that were envisioned a decade ago during the presidency of Gloria Arroyo. The most notable project on Arroyos watch involved a $329 million telecommunications contract with Chinas state-owned ZTE Corp. But Arroyos hopes to forge closer economic ties with China were derailed by various allegations of pay-offs that involved ZTE, Arroyo herself, and members of her entourage. Authorities in Manila recently dropped graft charges against Arroyo and her former colleagues, and her four-year house arrest has been lifted. Duterte has insisted that he had nothing to do with those decisions, though he had publicly offered to pardon Arroyo, in any case. (Foreign Policy, October 17, 2016)

Evidently beneath the surface of serene and secure relations with the US, significant sections of the Filipino ruling class were itching to re-establish lucrative trade with China. Now the plans that had been gathering dust can be dusted off and Chinese cash can lubricate the wheels of Filipino commerce.

It is of course true that these agreements have yet to be realised and many obstacles remain in place. One also has to take all of Dutertes inflammatory remarks with a pinch of salt. Yet he has already made good on his grisly promise to execute thousands of drug addicts, and as we have seen his Chinese pivot has powerful interests pushing it behind the scenes.

Perhaps more to the point, Dutertes highly public remarks have already dealt a blow to US imperialism, whose domination of the all important shipping lanes of East Asia depend to a large extent on prestige and the appearance of being a benevolent protector. The opening of Chinas treasure vaults, and importantly with the return of Filipino fishermen to Scarborough Shoal, all have seen that if you strike a bargain with China, you can win more from it than by fighting it. As the Economist says it, The message for the other South-East Asian nations with competing claims in the South China Sea could not be clearer: accept Chinas sovereignty and riches will follow. Najib Razak, Malaysias embattled prime minister, turned up in Beijing this week cap in hand.

If You Cant Beat Them, Build Them

Of course the most dramatic proof of Chinas ambitions has been its island building campaign in the South China sea. This is linked to Chinas aggressive 9 dash line claim over this sea and to the seizure of the Philippines Scarborough Shoal. There can be no doubt that this expresses Chinas objective to wrest control of the South and East China seas from the US, giving China a powerful world position.

The 9 dash line is of course enormously provocative, since, if realised, it would annex to China the seas surrounding all the major nations of Southeast Asia. These countries like China when it trades with them and invests in their economies, and indubitably that is Chinas best means to win influence. But China also needs its own military power; to really take control of this region it must have overwhelming military power, otherwise the minnows will attach themselves to the US. This is also why China has recently passed a law allowing its soldiers to be posted in bases in other countries for the first time. It must present to Southeast Asia not just its treasure, but also an overwhelming military force.

It is therefore trying to create, bit by bit, facts on the ground (or rather sea). It is banking on Americas ailing power, its overstretched and tired military and its restive working class. It knows that the basis for American power in the region is more military than economic might - the Southeast Asian nations are allied to it for historical and military reasons, for the US Navy is still by far the strongest in the region.

China and all the nations of Southeast Asia are watching the US military. Each time the US fails to intervene, as it did in Ukraine and Syria, it is registered not just in Beijing but in Hanoi, Taipei and Seoul. China does not have to say anything; the combination of US impotence and Chinese aggression speaks volumes. The inability to intervene directly against Russia says loudly and clearly to this region: we cannot intervene to protect you from Chinese incursions; we are too tired, too sceptical, we are overstretched. The conclusion looms: why ally with the US, if the basis for the alliance - naval protection and stability - is no longer real? Indeed, Duterte actually referred to this when visiting Beijing, complaining that the USs protection is all show. That is why China is provoking by gradually taking more and more sea, or even building new islands. It is testing and proving Americas resolve, or lack thereof.

On the surface, it appears that the US has all these countries in its pocket. And certainly, many of them are still far from becoming Chinas. But it is not so simple as that, as the changes in the Philippines and Thailand (more on this shortly) show. For instance, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam all appear to be close US allies. But South Korea trades very closely with China, requires and appreciates its cooperation regarding North Korea, and shares with it a mutual distrust and resentment of Japan which flares up from time to time.

Taiwanese politics is profoundly influenced by fear and hostility toward China, but to an extent this is proof of its grudging awareness of its dependence on China. Economically, Taiwan cannot afford to alienate China, and that explains why its new President, Tsai Ing-wen, elected on a radically anti-China basis, significantly softened her line on China during the election campaign, saying she wanted to preserve the status-quo.

Vietnamese politics is also influenced heavily by anti-Chinese sentiment, but when it came to electing their new president at the Communist Party congress, the pro-West and anti-China candidate had to withdraw for lack of support. The president is known as being pro-Chinese, even if the strategic positioning of Vietnam is known as pro-Western. In reality, Vietnam as well as South Korea and Taiwan are now in a position of balancing between the US and China, even if they do lean more to the US side. Over time, the weight of China in this balancing act will surely only grow.

A String of Pearls

To gain control of vital shipping lanes, it is working to pull into its sphere of influence strategic islands. One such island, the biggest of them, is already more or less an ally, Sri Lanka. Here China is building key ports that will dwarf any in India, and over which China will have key influence. Already its military submarines dock in Sri Lankan ports, much to Indian dismay.

Sri Lanka for many years has been a de facto Chinese ally. This alliance may be in jeopardy after the election victory of Maithripala Sirisena, who promised to investigate contracts with Chinese companies for corruption. Nevertheless, China remains key for Sri Lanka - it is the only country stopping a UN investigation into war crimes by the state on Tamils, and its biggest investor, with Chinese investment there increasing fifty fold in ten years, more than double that of the US and its allies!

Despite the election result last year, the hard cash and determination of Beijing will probably ensure Sri Lanka becomes an important ally for China:

Just over a year after a new leader was elected and Sri Lanka's business ties with China came under close scrutiny, Colombo is reversing course by resuming a stalled port project and naming Beijing as the frontrunner for a new special economic zone. (...) Now Maithripala Sirisena's government, faced with falling foreign reserves, a balance of payments crunch and few, if any, alternative investors, is heading back into Beijing's embrace, albeit on better terms than before. "The stance on China has completely changed," cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told Reuters. Who else is going to bring us money, given tight conditions in the West?" (Reuters, 10.2.16)

China sees Sri Lanka as an important pearl on its so-called string of pearls - that is, the plan to establish control of strategic points in the shipping lanes, like the British did with Malta and Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. It is developing an alternative land route to Europe via central Asia; it is also developing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and port at Gwadar to have a route to the sea that bypasses the Straits of Malacca. But this does not mean it has given up on wresting control of the South and East China seas from the US - these are after all its own back yard.

Central Asia

Chinas strategy extends far beyond the sea lanes and into the underpopulated far reaches of Central Asia with its much trumpeted (and feared) new Silk Road or One Belt, One Road policy. Chinas concern is that it has no military control over the sea lanes it has effectively created. 70-80% of Chinas vital oil supply is imported through the Straits of Malacca, but the US navy, together with its colonies in Southeast Asia, have strategic control here. In a war or other crisis, China could be deprived of oil and access to its export markets in an instant by the US Navy. It is evidently in its strategic interests to find a way around this.

Chinas biggest trading partner outside of Asia is the EU, and most of its oil comes from the Middle East and Central Asia. China has therefore decided that it is in its strategic interests to develop trade routes along the land route to the Middle East and Europe, i.e. to create a new Silk Road (confusingly, this is the one belt part of the One Belt, One Road plan; the one road part actually refers to sea routes they plan to develop).

Chinas trade with Central Asia had already reached $50bn by 2013, supplanting Russia as the regions number one trading partner (up an incredible 50 times from $1bn in 2000!). Central Asia has not been an important region of the world, economically or politically, being as it is landlocked and under-populated. And yet it is host to some of the worlds biggest oil and mineral deposits. Not only that, but the region lies slap bang in the middle of the land route between two of the worlds top three economies - China and the EU.

China has already conquered this region economically and is in the process of doing so politically. The Financial Times quotes a leading European economist as saying that They [China] are increasingly active in all sectors [of Central Asia] and you just cannot see western capital or Russian capital taking their place (our emphasis). The same article goes on:

In Kazakhstan, Chinese companies own somewhere between one-fifth and one-quarter of the countrys oil production - about the same proportion as the national oil company. In Turkmenistan [China accounts] for 61% of exports last year the Tajik deputy finance minister last year told the FT that Beijing would invest $6bn in Tajikistan over the next three years - a figure equivalent to  of the countrys annual GDP. The article then quotes Liu Yazhou, a general in the Peoples Liberation Army, who called central Asia a rich piece of cake given to todays Chinese people by heaven. (Financial Times, 14.10.15).

Xi Jinping managed to put himself across in a somewhat more tactful, statesmanlike and smoother manner when he recently wooed a Kazakh audience with these carefully chosen words, As I stand here and look back at that episode of history [when China first established the Silk Road], I could almost hear the camel bells echoing in the mountains and see the wisp of smoke rising from the desert [Kazakhstan is a] magic land. Having sufficiently tickled the tummy of his prey, he got to the matter at hand: the need to create a new economic belt between China and the world via Kazakhstan.

To successfully create its first sphere of influence, China must realise the economic and strategic potential of this region, but that is a complicated task. The major difficulty presented by Central Asia is that it has always been Russias sphere of influence, and Putin is intent on reestablishing Russias power. Having China steal away its influence would cut across this.

However, Russias rise is limited compared to that of Chinas because of its weaker economy. Moreover, Russia has few important allies on the world stage, and is unlikely to gain any. The only significant global power it can ally with is in fact none other than China itself. So ultimately, China will be able to override any Russian protests about playing in its backyard. Indeed, already in May 2015 these two countries signed a cooperation agreement between Putins Eurasian Economic Union and Chinas One Belt, One Road.

Russia looks to be ceding economic leadership in the region in exchange for military leadership. It has become an active member of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an Asian security association which Putin appears to see as a potential sequel to the Warsaw Pact for the modern world, which he argues is justified by NATOs violation of the Helsinki Accords. Russias arms industry and alliance with China would put it in a perfect position to play the leading military role in this new Eastern Bloc.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Standing behind all these ambitions lie the mountains of Chinese cash in its new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The AIIBs first confirmed project is, unsurprisingly, linked very tightly to Chinas strategic interests - it is to fund three of the One Belt, One Road projects, putting up the cash for key roads in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Through the AIIB and Chinese state owned banks, China plans to spend an initial $46bn investing in Pakistani infrastructure, including not just roads but the key port in Gwadar. This subsection of the new silk road project is called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and China has convinced the Pakistani state to provide the security for this part, with 10,000 of its soldiers guarding the construction from terrorists and the thousands of peasants who will be booted off their land.

Chinese state owned banks are to receive a capital injection from the foreign exchange reserves of $60bn for the Silk Road projects. This new Silk Road plan is the largest act of economic diplomacy the world has seen since the post WWII Marshall Plan (Financial Times, 12.10.15). It extends as far as Nigeria and Zimbabwe, which are to receive $5bn of investment for the railways needed to integrate into this One Belt, One Road. And the same phenomenon of Chinese capital exports is found in the private sector as well. Already 2016 has seen over $100bn in cross border mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies, one third of the global total!

China fears social turmoil and revolution from unemployment brought on by its overcapacity. It therefore sees the investment opportunities surrounding it as a means to keep the factories open and the workers in work: construction growth is slowing and China doesnt need to build many new expressways, railways and ports, so they have to find other countries that do One of the clear objectives is to get more contracts for Chinese construction companies overseas. (Financial Times, 12.10.15).

The Great Game

As we have seen, at present the key nations in East Asia are American allies - Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. This represents a classic contradiction - the old refusing to die to make way for the new. The booming Chinese economy has made this region the key to world trade, but far-away USA controls the area thanks to its past victories and the fact that although it has been in relative decline, it is still the number one power on a global scale. This contradiction will intensify as time goes on, producing complex and shifting alliances, as we are currently witnessing in the Philippines, power struggles and other kinds of instability. It will also bring out the internal contradictions in these countries as different wings of the national ruling classes lean towards one or other of the major powers, depending on their own specific interests.

Every single one of these countries except Japan has China as its biggest trade partner, not the USA. China will slowly but surely wear down US political and military dominance with the heavy weaponry of trade. The vital importance of maintaining friendly relations with China will bear down upon the politics of each of these countries, just like in the Philippines. It will cause splits in the respective ruling classes as they weigh upon how best to balance between the worlds two superpowers. This process has even been seen as far afield as New Zealand and the UK, traditionally staunch US allies. New Zealand said it would not sign the TPP trade deal if it was designed to contain and isolate China, and the UK fell over itself to sign up to the AIIB, much to the annoyance of the US.

These political pressures in Asia will destabilise the region, spelling the end to this regions peace and prosperity. Indeed there is no shortage of combustible material in the region, such as national tensions within and between the nations. In the case of Thailand the tensions are more directly and purely political than national. The events in Thailand are worthy of closer study as they tell us much about how China may attempt to prise away allies from the US in the coming years.

For the past decade Thai politics have been overshadowed by billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. Shinawatra is, and was, a very close ally or even proxy of the US. Thailand also has for a long time been a key American ally, for example, allowing the use of bases in the Vietnam War. But Shinawatra was overthrown in a coup in 2006. After his sister was elected president in 2011 and carried out his orders, she too was overthrown in a legalised coup in 2014. There is no doubt that the forces behind this political turbulence are not Chinese, but the internal politics of Thailand, which are beyond the remit of this article.

But nothing in history is wasted. Major political turbulence in an important neighbour and trading partner could hardly fail to pique Chinas interest, especially after it witnessed the US chiding Thailand for undemocratically ousting its own proxy (just as it quickly stepped in to praise Dutertes drug war after Obamas criticism). The Wall Street Post writes that,

Started more than 30 years ago, the annual Cobra Gold joint exercises are among the largest in the world. In 2003 President George W. Bush made Thailand officially a major non-NATO ally, a designation that brings the benefits reserved for the most trusted security partners. The relationship started to sour after the May 2014 Thai coup, with Cobra Gold downgraded and other U.S. aid and contracts curtailed.

Pushing Thailand out of its embrace in an attempt to hasten the return of Shinawatra, the US inevitably pushed Thailand further toward China. In contrast to the USs downgrading of Thai relations, China was the first government in the world to recognize junta chief Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha and is pushing plans for a multibillion-dollar Chinese-built rail network. Since the new military junta was established, its representatives have on several occasions spoken very warmly about China and its government. Last year Thailand controversially deported 109 Uighurs to China. In November 2015, China and Thailand carried out an enormous, two week long joint military exercise for the first time.

But the most telling and significant sign of a Thai pivot was the agreement to buy three advanced military submarines from China for $1bn. These submarines would require extensive Chinese training, expertise and ongoing cooperation to be workable, tieing up Thailand into Chinas orbit. At present, this order is on hold, no doubt thanks to US pressure. Previously Thailand bought its equipment from US allies like Germany. The deal may indeed not go through, but that Thailand even publicly announced it is of enormous significance. It is more evidence that China can and will attempt to prise US allies away from it, and that internal political instability will play a big role in such transformations.

The reverse has recently been witnessed in Myanmar, which confirms the fact that while the US may be in decline it is still a major force to be reckoned with and will not easily give up its spheres of influence and power. And China, although a rising power, still does not have the strength to simply sweep the US to one side.

In Myanmar, internal political tensions have been fostered by the US for decades. Myanmars military junta depended largely on China for support, while the West endlessly promoted its agent Aung San Suu Kyi as a democratic saint. That tactic has eventually paid off, although Aung San has in the process been exposed for what she really is. Myanmar is now moving ever closer to the US, although relations with China remain essential for its investment and growth. It is still by far and away Myanmars biggest investor.

Given that it retains such an important stake in Myanmar, whose economy is now expected to grow in importance, China will not give up without a fight. It is highly conceivable that China will pursue a tactic similar to that of Russia in Crimea, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Abkhazia, for along Myanmar's border with China there are several flashpoints of ethnic tension. There are various ethnic minorities brutally oppressed by the Burmese regime, some of which have taken up arms and wage ongoing guerrilla warfare with the state, such as the Karen and the Kachin. Recently the government inadvertently bombed a Chinese village just over the border with Myanmar whilst trying to attack such rebels.

If Myanmar drifts too far away from Chinese interests, any such mistake could be used by China to destabilise the country. This would be particularly likely with regards to the Kokang paramilitary organisation the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The Kokang people in northern Myanmar are ethnically Han Chinese and speak Mandarin. It was in this conflict that Myanmar fighter planes strayed into Chinese territory and bombed a Chinese village, killing five. Tens of thousands of Kokang fled governmental repression into China only last year. Many believe Beijing has funded the MNDAA for precisely this reason - to weaken the Burmese regime and to have an excuse to intervene in the country should it not do what China wants, to protect Chinese people. Alternatively, China could lean on the MNDAA to give up its armed struggle, thereby currying favour with the government in Naypyidaw and keeping it in Chinas sphere of influence. Either way, the basis for destabilisation in a key flashpoint of the US-China struggle is present.

Today Southeast Asia, Tomorrow...

Chinas influence extends far beyond its own back yard. Of note is Chinas influence in Ethiopia, a so-called rising star of Africa. Ethiopia has essentially enlisted China to build its entire infrastructure, including a new modern metro-rail system for Addis Ababa. Chinese companies are building factories and industrialising the country. Recently China gifted Ethiopia the $200m headquarters of the African Union.

China has now upped its foreign aid and input into UN peacekeeping forces. It is following all of the steps needed to become a global power. The launch of the AIIB is significant not just for the export of capital, but also its diplomatic triumph on the world stage. The only country that refused to sign up to the AIIB was Japan - and the offer was extended far and wide, including US poodle the UK. Indeed, all the European NATO countries signed up. Having perfected its poodle tactic with the US, Britain knew how to deploy it to China. David Cameron quickly forgot about the Dalai Lama and rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping in a truly elaborate state visit in 2015. George - I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords - Osborne even took the unprecedented step of visiting Xinjiang capital Urumqi as he bidded for British companies to be involved in the Chinese development of its restive Uighur province. He also visited the Shanghai stock exchange, beckoning in the Chinese capitalists to the British market. Britain is open for business!

Chinas rise is upsetting the faultlines of world relations. Ultimately Americas strength works to contain the uncontainable, and this equation can only produce explosive results. Over the coming period, China will enter into crisis, which will plunge the world economy into a depression. That will be a watershed moment for capitalism. How capitalism drags itself out of that impasse, if it can, and who leads that effort, will have big implications for world relations.

In spite of Chinas growing economic strength, it is still far from repeating what the United States did in successfully superseding Britain as the preeminent world imperial power in the 20th century. There are many differences between the two scenarios. In particular, world capitalism is at an utter impasse, the market is thoroughly glutted and the Chinese economy is therefore destined to stall in the coming period. In fact the world economy stands on the precipice. Chinese overproduction is a global problem, as has become the ever growing pile of Chinese debt. In this crisis-ridden context, the geopolitical instability stalking the world is very unwelcome for all capitalist powers. It cannot afford the kind of wars that would be required for China to supplant the USA, and the workers of the world will not tolerate any moves in that direction. But it is indubitable that Chinese power will challenge and undermine that of the United States like none before it.
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(Photo provided)

SPRINGFIELD -- Eversource, the electric utility formerly known as Western Massachusetts Electric Co., has revised its bill, according to a news release.

The idea is that the new bill is clearer and helps customers manage their energy use with ease.

"The completely revamped design of our new utility bill is in direct response to customers who have told us they would appreciate a more user-friendly format that makes it easier to spot the most important information at a glance," said Penni Conner, senior vice president and chief customer officer at Eversource. "We're hopeful that customers will find the modern, thoughtfully organized design of the new bill saves them time and is easier to navigate."

Eversource now includes a personalized graph illustrating customers' month-by-month electricity usage history with a quick-reference summary, as well as a presentation of the amount due, due date and supply and delivery charges. A new section will feature updates and tips for customers, such as information about tools available to enhance a home's energy efficiency.

Eversource customers in Western Massachusetts will receive their newly designed bill starting this week, according to a news release. Customers who receive their utility bill electronically will also see the engaging new format reflected on their digital bill.

Eversource recently announced new price of 9.06 cents per kilowatt-hour effective Jan. 1, down from last winter's price of 10.426 cents.

Residential customers using an average of 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity would have a monthly bill of $120.31 starting Jan. 1 compared with $128.51 last winter, or 6.4 percent less on the total bill.

Newly Designed Eversource Bill by Jim Kinney on Scribd
How a chef gives thanks

Thanksgiving is a day during which Americans give thanks; columnist Kimberley Lee thinks every day is a good day to simply say thank you.

(THE REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO)

By KIMBERLEY A. LEE

Special to The Republican

On a recent Thursday morning I was commuting to work on the same road I travel five days a week. On this particular morning, I had forgotten my lunch (I hate being 50) so I was later than usual.

Traffic was bumper to bumper. Ahead in the distance I could see a pick-up truck on a side street, its driver patiently waiting for an opportunity to enter the snail trail of cars. Yet, no one stopped or even slowed long enough to let the driver in. As I approached, I slowed and waved him out. As he passed in front of my car, he thrust his arm out the window and waved, smiled brightly and said, "Thank you!"

I must admit that my cynical self was already convinced he wasn't going to thank me, but he did! And, it was a pleasant exchange between two strangers. He showed an attitude of gratitude, and it made my morning.

Saying "thank you" shouldn't be so difficult or infrequent, but unfortunately it's not as common as you would hope, want or like.

A common courtesy that costs nothing, and takes only seconds to say or do, should be a commonplace, everyday effort. We all should do it.

According to the website, thankyoudiva.com, saying "thank you" is one of the most important ways we interact with others. Saying thanks for gifts large or small, kind gestures or a special favor is never unwelcome and means so much.

A sincere thank you shows appreciation and conveys gratitude, but more than that it's a sign of respect to the person who has helped you. It's an acknowledgment that they matter as a person. That's why saying "thank you" matters.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, it's a time to be thankful, to say thank you to others and to demonstrate an attitude of gratitude.

I wrote a column last month for The Republican's Plus Papers in which I asked readers to help me show children in foster care that they matter. I asked to help these kids see that people truly care that their belongings aren't carried around in trash bags.

Today, I want to say "thank you." I truly thought my mother and husband were the only people reading what I wrote. Not so! The Republican's readers from throughout Western Massachusetts called, wrote notes, sent checks, dropped off bags, blankets and other items of comfort for the children who CHD serves.

It was and continues to be magical. Small gifts were made. Large gifts were pledged. Companies stepped forward to offer their support to purchase bags, the items that will go in them, and the man and woman power to assemble them. Members of our program staff are euphoric that so many in our community wanted to pitch in and help.

In a world where so much can be wrong, your outpouring of support shows what is right. The goodness of the human spirit is alive and well in Western Massachusetts, and, for that, I want to emphatically say: Thank You!

Kimberley A. Lee is vice president for development at CHD (the Center for Human Development), Springfield; she can be reached by email to KLee@CHD.org.
Some drivers pulled over in Oregon received a sweet surprise just before Thanksgiving - pie.

After he witnessing operators commit traffic violations Wednesday, Deputy Tom Barber, of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, would signal for drivers to pull over. The deputy sheriff would speak with motorists regarding why he stopped them and tell them that the fine would be "a nice round figure."

He then would step away from the vehicle and return with a pie in place of a ticket.

The sheriff's office put the plan into action at the suggestion of a community member who donated the pies.

"A pie in lieu of a citation, it's certainly unique, I had one driver break into tears I couldn't believe it. I just hope this is a thanksgiving week that those ten motorists will never forget," Barber said, of the idea, on the department's Facebook page.
PLAINVILLE -- A Norton man was killed and a Barnstable woman was seriously injured early Thanksgiving morning following a wrong-way crash in the southbound lanes of Interstate 495.

The crash occurred about 2 a.m. between Exits 13 and 14, Massachusetts State Police said.

The wrong-way driver, northbound in a Toyota Celica, died as a result of the crash. State police describe him as a young adult male from Norton.

The other driver, a 21-year-old Barnstable woman, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence for treatment of her injuries. She was driving a Hyundai Santa Fe.

The crash remains under investigation by Troop H of the Massachusetts State Police with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and the State Police Crime Scene Services Section.

It's not yet clear when and where the wrong-way driver got onto the highway.

This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available.


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K-9 "Fathom" helped Massachusetts State Police located a "hide" full of narcotics in Lawrence on Tuesday.

(Massachusetts State Police)

LAWRENCE  K-9 "Fathom" recently assisted Massachusetts State Troopers in uncovering a narcotics "hide."

During a motor vehicle stop in Lawrence, Troopers from the State Police Gang Unit asked for a K-9 to assist with a search of the car in question.

K-9 "Fathom" subsequently conducted a "sniff" of the car, during which time the dog alerted Troopers to a "hide," or a hidden compartment within the car that contained a large plastic bag. Inside the bag were several smaller baggies, all of which were suspected of containing heroin.

The driver of the vehicle was subsequently arrested by the Gang Unit troopers and has been charged with heroin trafficking.
SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield man charged with gunning down a dog on a Forest Park sidewalk is being held without right to bail after being found competent to stand trial.

Edwin A. Harrison, 37, pleaded not guilty in Springfield District Court Tuesday to killing a domestic animal and related firearms and drug charges.

At the request of Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski, Harrison's bail was set at $25,000. Judge Michele Ouimet-Rooke also revoked the defendant's bail in an open assault and battery case, effectively jailing him for 90 days without right to bail.

Harrison had been scheduled for arraignment Monday, three days after he allegedly got into an argument with a man walking his dog on Fort Pleasant Avenue.

At the request of defense lawyer William Higgins, Judge Robert Murphy postponed the session and ordered the court clinic to interview Harrison and determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.

The clinic found that Harrison was competent, clearing the way for a trial on the charges next year.

The owner of the dog -- a Jack Russell terrier-chihuahua mix named Cookie -- said Harrison pulled out a handgun, shot the dog and then casually walked away, according to police and witnesses. The dog died instantly from a neck wound.

Harrison was arrested after a brief chase. Investigators recovered from him a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun reported stolen in New Hampshire in 2007, as well as 47 bags of heroin and eight bags of crack cocaine packaged for sale, police said.

In addition to killing a domestic animal, Harrison is charged with resisting arrest, possession of a stolen firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm with three prior felonies and possession of heroin and cocaine, each with intent to distribute.
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Benjamin Martinez, shown here at his 2014 arraignment in Hampden District Court, is a suspect in the 2004 stabbing death of 35-year-old Caridad Puente.

(File photo / Don Treeger / The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- A prosecutor's discovery of case notes that could be favorable to a defendant accused of stabbing a woman to death in 2004 led a Hampden Superior Court judge to postpone his trial, which was set to start next week.

Benjamin Martinez was scheduled to go to trial Nov. 28 for the slaying of Caridad Puente in her Taylor Street apartment. A hearing on pretrial motions was held Monday.

But Assistant District Attorney Karen J. Bell told Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page Tuesday that, when she was going through material from a former prosecutor who originally worked on the case, she found notes that could be viewed as exculpatory.

The new information -- which was turned over to defense lawyer Mary Anne Stamm -- suggests other potential suspects who could have been investigated for the killing.

At Monday's pretrial hearing, Stamm told the judge and prosecutor that she will argue police did not fully investigate other possible suspects in Puente's death, which remained a cold case for 10 years.

On Tuesday, Stamm asked Page to sanction the prosecution for the late reveal of the material by either dismissing the case or continuing it.

Page will hold a status conference on the case Dec. 19 and the new trial date is Jan. 17.

Puente was 35 when she was found dead by her sister, who entered the 443 Taylor St. apartment through a window on June 9, 2004. Puente's 10-year-old son had called his aunt when he could not get into the apartment when he came home from school.

The victim's 11-month old child was in the apartment when she was killed.

Martinez, 48, of Chicopee, was arrested in 2014 after his DNA was found to match evidence recovered from the scene.

At Mondays hearing, Stamm said that because of the DNA evidence, a jury could infer her client was in the home at the time Puente was stabbed 30 times.

Bell told Page she doesn't know if the defense would argue Martinez was present when someone killed Puente -- and that he tried to stop that person.
PITTSFIELD  A 27-year-old man who has been described as working as the "boss" of a teen girl at Supreme Pizza in North Adams has been accused of raping her in January while the two were employed together at the eatery, according to The Berkshire Eagle.

Leonel Olmedo appeared in court in Pittsfield on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to a rape charge, as well as two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, according to the paper.

Olmedo's attorney has alleged, however, that his client and the 17-year-old girl did have sex several times, but that it was consensual on all of those occasions. He further denied that Olmedo was the girl's boss, saying that he worked as a kitchen supervisor but did not have direct authority over her.

However, the girl's defense has alleged that Olmedo made unwanted advances on her, groping her several times before later raping her in the basement of the pizza parlor while the two were working together.

The lawyer defending the girl alleged that she hadn't immediately told authorities about the assault because, at the time, Olmedo had been engaged to one of the girl's family members, and the two decided to keep the incident a secret to keep it from Olmedo's fiancee.

However, the incident allegedly came to light in February after Olmedo's fiancee witnessed "consensual touching" between Olmedo and the girl during a February gathering, according to the girl's defense.

The trial is expected to continue into next week.
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The Monkey Bar is famous after a story about a woman trying to use a slice of pizza for an ID has gone viral.

(Republican file Diane Lederman)

AMHERST -- A woman tries to walk into a bar -- but when asked for ID, she shows the bouncer a slice of pizza.

Police get involved. The story becomes a global hit.

And so it was with the tale of a college woman who allegedly tried to pass off a slice of pizza -- tortellini, to be exact -- as a form of identification at the Monkey Bar last week.

"Watch out world - the internet has a new hero," began an item appearing on The Huffington Post UK, which claimed the student "immediately stole everybody's hearts."

"A girl tried to use a pizza as an ID to get into a bar," one Twitter user mused. "Im (sic) 100 percent sure thats (sic) my future wife."

One woman tweeted:

a girl at umass tried using a slice of pizza as ID to get into a bar and i've never related to something more in my life  tori (@ToorsLight) November 23, 2016

The back story is this: Police were summoned to the 63 North Pleasant St. restaurant and bar at around 12:16 a.m. last Thursday for an altercation between a bouncer and an unidentified woman.

According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, which first reported on the incident, the woman presented the pizza to a bouncer who asked for her ID. When the bouncer told her the slice wouldn't get her through the door, the woman allegedly slapped him.

She was issued a trespass order, according to police.

The story has since been picked up by BuzzFeed, among other sites.

Monkey Bar owner Rasif Rafiq told BuzzFeed the bouncer wasn't hurt.

"They have to have really thick skin, so this was a comparatively entertaining incident," he said, adding: "We wish her the best with continuing her education. We've all had nights in college we regret."

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Rafiq said the incident "has given us a few laughs, and we hope it has given other people laughs."

The restaurant and bar has shown its sense of humor about the incident on its Facebook page, posting on Nov. 18: "Despite some popular misconceptions, Monkey Bar does not currently accept Antonio's pizza as a valid form of ID. Sorry for the inconvenience."

A follow-up comment from the Monkey Bar account reads: "For everybody that's asking, it was a tortellini slice."

Antonio's Pizza, located just a few doors down from the Monkey Bar, is known for its eclectic selection of toppings.

One Twitter user speculated the woman had simply chosen the wrong slice, writing: "Only Antonio's Potato Pizza is valid ID in the PV."
The Government of Mauritius has taken note of the statement made to the UK Parliament on 30 April 2019 by Sir Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas of the UK, concerning the Advisory Opinion which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered on 25 February 2019 on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965.

The Government of Mauritius strongly values the close relations between Mauritius and the UK which are based on historical ties, and looks forward to their further consolidation.

The Government of Mauritius is, however, deeply disappointed at the stand taken by the UK following the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ, despite its professed commitment to respect for the international rule of law, the ICJ, and respect for fundamental human rights.

Emanating from the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the Opinion of the ICJ is an authoritative statement of the law applicable to the conduct of the UK. It finds that the UK is an unlawful coloniser of the territory of Mauritius, having illegally excised the Chagos Archipelago from the territory of Mauritius prior to its independence.

The ICJ rejected the UKs argument that the matter before it was a bilateral dispute. Its Advisory Opinion relates to the decolonisation of Mauritius and was requested by the UN General Assembly in the fulfilment of its responsibilities as regards decolonisation.

The ICJ decided unanimously that it had jurisdiction to answer the two questions which were put to it by the General Assembly and that the request had been made in accordance with the UN Charter and that the two questions submitted to it are legal in character. The ICJ went on to hold by a majority of 12-2 that it ought to exercise its discretion to answer those questions.

On the substance, the ICJ ruled on the basis of customary international law. It concluded inter alia by an overwhelming majority of 13-1 that:

(a) the process of decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed upon its accession to independence in 1968 in view of the unlawful excision of the Chagos Archipelago from the territory of Mauritius;

(a) the UK is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible;

(b) all Member States are under an obligation to cooperate with the United Nations in order to complete the decolonisation of Mauritius.

Not a single judge voted in favour of the UK on the merits.

In reiterating its position that it has no doubt about [its] sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, the UK acts in flagrant disregard of the aforementioned conclusions of the ICJ. Its action is an affront to the rule of law, to the African continent, and to the United Nations. The ICJ has clearly stated that the Chagos Archipelago is an integral part of the territory of the Republic of Mauritius and that is a legal situation that cannot be questioned or doubted under the rules and principles of international law. It is therefore undeniable that the Republic of Mauritius is the sole State lawfully entitled to exercise sovereignty and sovereign rights in relation to the Chagos Archipelago and its maritime zones. The UK cannot and does not have sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.

It is of the utmost importance for respect of international law and human rights that the findings of the ICJ be promptly implemented by the UK. Disregard for the assertions by the ICJ would be tantamount to a dangerous precedence that can result in the total breakdown of international institutions that stand in support of peace and security in the world.

The UKs stand will prevent the resettlement of Mauritians, particularly those of Chagossian origin, in the Chagos Archipelago, thereby perpetuating a historically wrongful act vis-a-vis the forcibly evicted inhabitants of those islands.

The Government of Mauritius considers that the UKs claim in regard to defence and security is completely misplaced. It notes that in his appearance before the International Court of Justice, during the hearings, the UK Solicitor General made no reference to this matter. The UK did not argue that the principle of self-determination could ever be displaced by security considerations. Moreover, the Government of Mauritius has confirmed on various occasions to the UK and the US that it fully recognizes the military base in Diego Garcia and will take no action that would impede its continued operation. This position, which was reiterated by Mauritius at the UN General Assembly and before the ICJ, remains unchanged. The UK, on the other hand, did not ask the ICJ to give any consideration to the issue of defence and security.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius met the British Prime Minister on 18 March 2019 in London, and reassured her that Mauritius had no problem with the continued operation of the base in Diego Garcia.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius subsequently wrote to the British Prime Minister and the US President to reconfirm to them that Mauritius is prepared to enter into a long-term lease agreement with the US, or with the US and the UK, in respect of Diego Garcia, with the possibility of renewing the agreement for an extended period of time.

In view of the assurances provided by the Government of Mauritius, the position taken by the UK that UKs sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is essential for the continued operation of the military base in Diego Garcia is untenable.

The Government of Mauritius will spare no efforts to complete the decolonisation process of Mauritius. In this regard, Mauritius, together with other countries, will be tabling shortly before the UN General Assembly a draft resolution for the implementation of the Advisory Opinion.

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by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, November 23, 2016

Last week, the best and brightest minds in native advertising/branded content/brand journalism gathered in Berlin for the Native Advertising Institutes (NAI) Native Advertising Days conference. The Copenhagen-based NAI hosts the global gathering to discuss best practices, case studies, how-tos, trends, and to honor excellence in native advertising.

The NAI also honored native campaigns and strategies from around the world via its Native Advertising Awards. This year, among those clinching top honors was Politico Focus, Politicos native advertising arm, which won a Gold award for Native Ad Agency/Studio of the Year under 20. Politico Focus also won a Silver for Best Native Advertising Strategy for its campaign called Hacker Avenue for client Leidos.

In the Native Ad Agency/Studio of the Year over 20 category, The New York Times T Brand Studio landed the Gold, while Atlantics Re:think unit earned Silver, and Partner Studio by AOL clinched a Bronze.

David Beebe, VP, Global Creative + Content Marketing, Marriott International, won Native Advertising Marketer of the Year for his leadership of the Marriott Creative Agency and Content Studio, and M Live, in-house real-time marketing studios and brand newsrooms.

Netflix took top honors for Brand of the Year.

Native Advertising Platform of the Year honors went to Strossle (Gold), Bidtellect (Silver), and MGID (Bronze).

The winning publishers, brands, and agencies were selected by a panel of judges from across the industry based on their work covering the most important aspects of native advertising such as strategy, organization, formats, and channels.

Notably, no work made NAIs short list in the Programmatic and Mobile categories, so those are two opportunities for publishers and advertisers to work harder on. The same for best use of Instagram and Twitter.

Award submissions came from a variety of countries including the U.S., Norway, Croatia, Belgium, and the Philippines.

"Generally speaking, we've found it noteworthy that the entries came from so many different countries and types of publishers, brands and agencies--from Norway to the Philippines. It shows that native advertising have really caught on and will continue to grow. The winning publishers, brands and agencies are all characterized by a deep understanding of how to combine the purpose of the campaigns with the needs of the users in order to entertain, enlighten and engage them," Jesper Laursen, NAI Founder told Native Insider via email.

For a complete list of winners, go the NAI site.
An IUD, or intrauterine device, is a highly effective form of long-term birth control, but it only works for a limited time. During this time, also, a person may wish to become pregnant. When the IUD is no longer useful or necessary, a doctor can remove it. The IUD is a small, T-shaped device that a doctor inserts into the uterus during a simple procedure. Another name for an IUD is an intrauterine contraception (IUC). IUDs prevent pregnancy by releasing either copper or synthetic hormones into the female reproductive tract. Once in place, these devices prevent pregnancy for between 3 and 10 years. Fewer than 1 in 100 IUD users become pregnant each year. After this time, it is necessary to replace it. Not doing so increases the chance of both pregnancy and infection.

When should you remove an IUD? Share on Pinterest The IUD is a small device that is effective for preventing unwanted pregnancy. People can ask a doctor to remove an IUD at any time. As an IUD is a form of birth control, the person should remove it if they want to become pregnant. An IUD also has a limited lifespan. Copper-based IUDs prevent pregnancy for up to 12 years after insertion. They should be removed from the uterus after this time. Hormonal-based IUDs have varying lifespans, depending on the brand. Some brands can prevent pregnancy for up to 3 years, while others work for up to 6 years. After this, the person should ask a doctor to remove the device. A doctor may also recommend removing the IUD if the individual experiences: an increase in blood pressure

a pelvic infection

endometritis, which is an inflammatory condition of the lining of the uterus

endometrial or cervical cancer

menopause If other side effects or discomfort occur, removal may be necessary.

Tips: What to expect A qualified health professional will remove an IUD at a clinicians office. They can do this at any time, but it is easier to do during the menstrual cycle because the cervix is softer. Removal is relatively quick and simple, and there are not usually any complications. Steps to remove an IUD Share on Pinterest The doctor will pull on the strings to remove the IUD. IUD removal may involve the following steps: The person lies on an examination table on their back with their feet apart or in stirrups. The health professional inserts a speculum to separate the vaginal walls and locate the IUD. Using forceps, the health professional pulls gently on a string that is attached to the device. The arms of the IUD will fold upward as it moves slowly out of the uterus. Once the procedure is complete, the health professional will remove the speculum. There may be some light bleeding or cramping during or just after the process. Some doctors may suggest taking a painkiller before removal to reduce these feelings of discomfort. What happens next? If the IUD needs removing because of an infection, a doctor may prescribe antibiotics or other treatments. As long as there are no complications or infections, a new hormonal or copper IUD can immediately replace the old device. The health professional can do this during the same office visit.

Risks and precautions In some cases, complications may arise during removal of an IUD. Incomplete removal There is a small chance that the IUD will not come out easily. This may happen if the doctor cannot locate the IUD strings, possibly because someone cut them too short. The doctor may use an ultrasound to find the strings, and they may use other medical instruments besides forceps to help remove the device from the uterus, such as a cytobrush or an IUD hook. The IUD migrates Very rarely, the device migrates through the uterine wall. In this case, hysteroscopic surgery may be necessary, under anesthesia. Another option is to use ultrasound to guide the removal. A study published in 2015 concluded that this was less invasive and more cost-effective than surgery. Unplanned pregnancy Another complication of IUD removal is an unplanned pregnancy that arises from sex in the days before removal. People should discuss alternative forms of birth control with a healthcare professional before removing the device to prevent this.

When to have sex before and after removal Share on Pinterest Your health provider can fit another IUD or give advice about other types of birth control. It is safe to have sexual intercourse in the days before and after removing the IUD. However, it is worth remembering that: female fertility may return to normal immediately after removing the IUD

sperm can survive in the female reproductive tract for up to 5 days after intercourse This means that pregnancy is possible if sex occurs in the days just before or just after removal, depending on when ovulation takes place. If the person does not wish to conceive, it may be a good idea: not to have sex for at least 7 days before the removal

to use other methods of birth control If the person is switching from an IUD to oral contraceptives after removal, they should use another form of protection for 7 days until the oral contraceptive takes effect.

Types of IUD There are two main types of IUD. One contains copper, and the others contain the female hormone, levonorgestrel (LNG). The copper IUD is a plastic device with a copper coil on the stem and the arms. It continuously releases copper into the uterus to cause an inflammatory reaction which is toxic to sperm. The plastic UID is a hormonal device that releases the hormone levonorgestrel. This thickens the cervical mucus and stops sperm from fertilizing the egg. Levonorgestrel may also thin the uterine lining, and this can partly prevent ovulation.
A recent study, the largest of its kind, investigated ways to ease post-traumatic stress disorder in active-duty military service members; the researchers pitted group therapy against individual therapy. Share on Pinterest Interventions for PTSD have not been widely tested on military personnel. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs in people who have experienced a significant terrifying event in their life. Symptoms can include night terrors, intrusive thoughts, and a loss of emotional connection with family and friends. Although there are treatments that are known to improve symptoms, most of the research has been aimed at civilian cases of PTSD. In the general population, PTSD affects an estimated 7-8 percent of Americans at some point in their lives. Perhaps unsurprisingly, PTSD is more common in the military; for instance, 15 percent of Vietnam veterans and 11-20 percent of those who served in Iraq have PTSD in a given year. A recent study, published this week in JAMA Psychiatry, is the largest investigation into PTSD relief among active-duty military service members. The study examined participants from the United States Armys Fort Hood in Killeen, TX. In particular, the focus was on comparing 6 weeks of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) either in groups or one-on-one

Cognitive processing therapy CPT was created in the 1980s by the current studys lead author  Patricia Resick, Ph.D. Now based at the Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina, Resick is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Her system was initially designed to treat victims of rape and other interpersonal crime. CPT delves into how an individual thinks about the traumatic event that preceded PTSD and the way in which it affects emotions. Resick explains the process: We look at what people have been saying to themselves about the trauma, which in people with PTSD can be distorted. Many of them think theres something they could have done differently to prevent the trauma. We teach them how to examine their thoughts and feel their natural emotions instead of feelings, such as guilt or blame that may result from distorted thinking. We go back and look at the evidence. Once they think in a more balanced, factual way, their emotions and symptoms of PTSD subside, she adds. To examine how effective CPT could be for military men and women, the researchers teamed up with the South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma And Resilience (STRONG STAR). STRONG STAR, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, describe themselves as a unified effort to defeat combat-related PTSD. As mentioned, there are effective treatments for PTSD, but they have mostly been tested on civilians. STRONG STAR is dedicated to looking at their efficacy, specifically within a military context. In all, 268 active-duty military service members took part in the trial. They were mostly males with an average age of 33. Roughly half of the group were assigned to group therapy, which entailed 90-minute sessions twice a week for 6 weeks. The others had one-on-one sessions with a therapist in 60-minute slots twice a week for 6 weeks. Each participant was evaluated by independent experts before the trial, during, and 6 months after; the evaluations measured the severity of the PTSD and other parallel conditions, such as depression and suicidal thoughts.
Hypertension and prehypertension in children often go undiagnosed, according to a new study published in Pediatrics. The study focused on children with abnormal blood pressures across the United States, and is the first to show a widespread underdiagnosis of these conditions by pediatricians in children ages 3 to 18.

Researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 400,000 children from nearly 200 pediatric primary care sites across the country, between 1999 and 2014. They found that only 23 percent of those who had blood pressures consistent with hypertension at multiple primary care visits were diagnosed with the disease, and only 10 percent of patients with symptoms of prehypertension were diagnosed. Of those children and adolescents with diagnoses of hypertension for at least a year, only 6 percent of those who needed anti-hypertension medication received a prescription.

"Although over 95 percent of children and adolescents are checked for high blood pressure, doctors taking care of children are not putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together in terms of interpreting the results and following the appropriate guidelines for treatment," said lead author David Kaelber, MD, professor of pediatrics, internal medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University and chief medical informatics Officer of The MetroHealth System. He is also the co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics task force that is rewriting the pediatric blood pressure guidelines.

Pediatricians were more likely to diagnose hypertension and prehypertension in children who were tall, male, overweight or obese. Additionally, they were more likely to recognize the diseases in children with more abnormal blood pressure values and/or more frequent blood pressure reads. The researchers found that underdiagnosis could still occur in these populations.

"The new reality for pediatricians is that we're taking care of more and more children who are winding up with chronic conditions, such as hypertension, that were previously seen primarily in adults," said senior author Alexander Fiks, MD, MSCE, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), faculty member at CHOP's PolicyLab and director of the Pediatric Research in Office Settings network at the American Academy of Pediatrics that coordinated this research. "This study shows that many pediatricians are not responding to this new reality - not only are we underdiagnosing hypertension, but we're often not providing recommended treatment to children with the condition in order to minimize health risks."

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the ten most common chronic diseases in childhood, and predisposes children to adult hypertension. Children with hypertension can also show early signs of cardiovascular disease, that if left untreated can increase long-term morbidity and mortality.

In 2007, Dr. Kaelber found that within one health care system, studying approximately 15,000 pediatric patients, less than 25 percent with hypertension were diagnosed. The current study used "big data," combining electronic health record data from almost 200 practices around the U.S. to show a very similar result at the national level. The authors said this demonstrates the importance of combining electronic health record data across many practices and health systems to examine treatments and outcomes that rarely occur.

This study, which was also conducted by Weiwei Liu, MS; Michelle Ross, PhD; A. Russell Localio, PhD; Janeen Leon, MS, RDH, LD; Wilson Pace, MD; and Richard Wasserman, MD, will appear in the December issue of Pediatrics. Ross and Localio are from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The Health Resources and Services Administration (grants R40MC24943, UB5MC20286 and UA6MC15585) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development supported this research.

Limitations: Researchers relied on standard clinical (non-research), in-office blood pressure measurements, as well as electronic health records to identify prescribing of antihypertensive medications.

Article: Diagnosis and Medication Treatment of Pediatric Hypertension: A Retrospective Cohort Study, David Kaelber et al., Pediatrics, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2195, published online 22 November 2016.
For the first time, scientists have isolated a mutated prion protein that can multiply in the lab but not in living animals, according to a PLOS Pathogens study. The mutant prion provides new insights into the mechanisms that make prions infectious, says co-author Ilaria Vanni of the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, and colleagues.

Prions are cellular proteins that have become mis-folded and can trigger other proteins to mis-fold, aggregate into dense protein structures, and cause brain damage. Prions are responsible for several infectious fatal neurodegenerative disorders, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and "mad cow disease" in cattle.

Previous research has shown that, under certain conditions, prion strains can mutate - change their conformation. In the new study, Vanni's team induced the emergence of a prion mutant while working with highly diluted natural prions obtained from sheep suffering from a prion disease called scrapie.

Like other prions, the mutant scrapie prion was able to multiply in the lab outside of an animal, in vitro. However, when the researchers infected bank voles with the mutant protein, none of the voles showed signs of disease. In contrast, the natural, un-mutated form of the prion was able to successfully infect bank voles.

The mutant prion's inability to infect voles may be due to its missing a stretch of amino acids that is present in the un-mutated form. The researchers hypothesize that this region is essential for animal infection, but not for in vitro multiplication. Future studies could build on this finding to pinpoint key prion features that affect infectivity, improving understanding of these deadly proteins.

"By investigating the in vitro evolution of prion populations derived from natural scrapie," the authors explain, "we found that the cloud of conformational variants also includes 'defective' variants which are unable to self-sustain in vivo. The existence of natural conformational variants able to self-replicate in vitro but not in vivo will hopefully contribute to find out the molecular mechanisms allowing misfolded prion protein conformers to become deadly prions."

This work was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health (RF-2009-1474624; http://www.salute.gov.it/) to RN. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Article: Isolation of a Defective Prion Mutant from Natural Scrapie, Vanni I, Migliore S, Cosseddu GM, Di Bari MA, Pirisinu L, D'Agostino C, et al., PLOS Pathogens, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1006016, published 23 November 2016.
Eli Lilly and Company has announced that their drug solanezumab has failed to meet its primary endpoint of slowing cognitive decline in people with mild Alzheimer's disease.

The phase III trial, called EXPEDITION 3, was started in 2013 after the same drug failed to meet its primary endpoints in two earlier clinical trials in mild to moderate Alzheimer's. However, further analysis of the earlier trials showed a slowing of cognitive decline in only those volunteers with mild Alzheimer's. The findings at that time were encouraging enough to support the drug going back into another phase III trial in people only in the mild stages of the disease. Unlike previous trials with the drug, EXPEDITION 3 used amyloid PET brain scans or spinal fluid tests to select only those patients with high levels amyloid who were most likely to respond to the drug.

Solanezumab is one of several drugs in development that are designed to target amyloid - a key protein that builds up into 'plaques' early in the brain in Alzheimer's disease. The drug is a monoclonal antibody designed to tag single amyloid molecules circulating in the blood and the brain, mopping them up to prevent more plaques forming.

EXPEDITION 3 was a multinational, 18-month placebo-controlled trial in over 2,100 people with mild Alzheimer's disease.

The headline results shows that the drug did not cause a statistically significant slowing in memory and thinking decline compared to a placebo treatment, as measured by a cognitive test called ADAS-Cog14. While Lilly reports that several of the secondary measurements being taken in the trial showed a signal in the right direction, these were much smaller than hoped for.

As a result, Lilly will not be submitting the drug for regulatory approval for the treatment of mild Alzheimer's. However, the drug is currently planned to enter another phase III trial in people at an even earlier stage of the disease called 'prodromal Alzheimer's'. This term describes people with early memory and thinking problems not severe enough to be classed as dementia, but who have signs of amyloid on PET scans and in spinal fluid. If it continues, this trial is expected to report results in 2021.

Dr David Reynolds, Chief Scientific Officer at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "Our 15-year wait for a new Alzheimer's drug does not end today, but we shouldn't view this setback as the end of the line - the journey towards a new treatment can and will continue. It's very disappointing that solanezumab has not shown benefit for people with mild Alzheimer's and will no doubt trigger important debate within the research community. We only have headline information today, so we'll need to see the full data to understand why solanezumab didn't show benefits and what researchers must learn from the findings.

"Solanezumab is designed to mop up amyloid protein - a key hallmark of Alzheimer's - and is the result of years of development based on the concept that this protein is a central driver of the disease. While today's results are a setback for the amyloid hypothesis, there are several other anti-amyloid drugs still in clinical trials that work in different ways, some of which are being tested even earlier in the disease process than solanezumab. We can't disregard these ongoing trials and their findings will now be more important than ever in shaping the search for disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer's.

"Today is undoubtedly a set-back for people with Alzheimer's and their families, and highlight the ongoing importance of drug discovery efforts into other aspects of the biology of Alzheimer's. Our understanding of the biology of Alzheimer's is expanding and with it are our approaches for improving the lives of those with the disease. Alzheimer's Research UK is already supporting millions of pounds of treatment research taking place in labs around the country today, including our pioneering Drug Discovery Alliances, to ensure that this hard work continues."
Parliamentary elections took place in Georgia on October 8 and October 30 (second round), 2016.[1] Three parties gained seats in the Georgian Parliament: Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia, United National Movement and Alliance of Patriots.[2] The Georgian Dream party gained 115 seats in the legislative body, United National Movement (UNM) gained 27 seats and the pro-Russian opposition party Alliance of Patriots won 6 seats.[3] Two remaining seats were won by a candidate from the Industrial Party and by an independent majoritarian candidate. Giorgi Kvirikashvili was reconfirmed as Georgia's' Prime Minister.[4]

The Georgian Dream party, founded by former Prime Minister and tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, came to power in 2012, after defeating former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's UNM. Saakashvili left Georgia for the United States after his presidential term expired in 2013.[5] In 2014, the Georgian authorities placed Saakashvili on a national list of wanted persons, adding that he would be arrested if he ever returns to Georgia.

In an interview with Georgia's Rustavi 2 TV from New York, Saakashvili said: "Ivanishvili filed criminal charges against me to prevent me from returning to Georgia. [He] is well aware that he could not announce an international wanted operation on me... The European Union and Americans have explained to him that it was not possible... I would like to say to Ivanishvili that this [nonsense] will be judged in history. But the sound majority of our country will decide and find its place for everything. Ultimately, our country will be released from this nonsense and everything will be settled."[6]

Saakashvili was a staunch supporter of the Ukraine's 2014 Euromaidan revolution. In 2015, Saakashvili was appointed governor of Ukraine's Odessa region by his longtime friend and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In May 2016, Saakashvili announced that he wanted to return to Georgia and participate in the recent October elections, saying he was planning to continue his "struggle both here in Ukraine and at home in Georgia."[7] On November 7, 2016, Saakashvili resigned as governor of the Odessa region and later announced the launch of a new Ukrainian political group, the Platform of New Forces.[8]

Before the October elections in Georgia, Saakashvili warned that Ivanishvili would use his wealth (estimated at just under USD 5.5 billion) to rig the results and steer Georgia back into Russia's orbit. Saakashvili said: "Ivanishvili has accumulated a lot of wealth in recent years. He has no intention of going anywhere and will not voluntarily step aside... Ivanishvili will use all of his tricks to remain in power, so we need to be calm and be ready to defend democracy."[9] The press release by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission said: "The 30 October parliamentary run-offs in Georgia were competitive and administered in a manner that respected the rights of candidates and voters, and voting on election day was assessed positively, although issues remain related to lacking a legal framework for second round elections and complaints related to first round results."[10]

Meanwhile, an inner struggle started inside the UNM. After the results of the October 8 parliamentary elections, Saakashvili wanted UNM MPs to boycott the parliament and urged its supporters to take to the streets. However, a majority of the UNM's political council rejected Saakashvili's calls. The Georgian media outlet Civil.ge explained: "The confrontation [between the two factions inside the UNM] became even stronger in social networks, where Saakashvili's supporters confronted those members of the party, who refused to boycott the Parliament, accusing them of making a deal with Ivanishvili and trying to get rid of Saakashvili."[11]

Soon after the Georgian elections, the chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov, said that the Russian State Duma's Committee for the CIS, Eurasian Integration and Communications with Compatriots is ready to initiate the restoration of parliamentary cooperation with Georgia. Kalashnikov said: "The Committee is ready to do its best to promote restoration of cooperation - both parliamentary and general cooperation. We will hold hearings in the committee; we will analyze the results of the elections and address the Georgian side with a proposal. Let's see if they respond to it." He then added that

policies of confrontation with Russia and Saakashvili's hope of returning to power had failed. "But, naturally, this does not mean that diplomatic ties will be automatically restored. I do not know whether Georgian Dream will develop friendly and good neighborly relations with Russia. There are still obstacles, but consultations continue," Kalashnikov said.[12]

Concerning relation with Russia, the pro-Kremlin Russian (RIAC) wrote: "We cannot say that the political situation that is developing in Georgia will shake up relations with Russia in a significant way, as the two leading parties are firmly oriented towards the West. They both follow the same strategy, although their tactical approaches differ. When Saakashvili was in power, any kind of 'trolling' of Russia was welcomed by the UNM. The representatives of the Georgian Dream party, however, want to move away from this, believing that there is no need to create problems for the West. Their reasoning is thus: if Georgia can prove to the West that it will not create headaches for it with regard to Russia, then maybe the process of joining NATO and the European Union will be expedited. The very fact that there is a power within the Georgian Parliament that understands the need to develop relations with Russia is an encouraging sign."

The article then stressed that the recent election in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara shows that a part of the electorate wants to diversify Georgia's foreign policy. RIAC's article stated: "We should also note another important factor here: the Autonomous Republic of Adjara held elections to its Supreme Council, the results of which were largely overshadowed by the general election. What is significant here is the fact that two parties traditionally considered to be 'third powers' - namely, the [pro-Russia] Democratic Movement led by [former Parliament Speaker] Nino Burjanadze [2001-2008] and the [pro-Russian opposition party] Alliance of Patriots - were also elected into the region's government. The economically important Autonomous Republic of Adjara (which is home to [the second largest city of Georgia] Batumi, boasts a seaport and has a border with Turkey) is extremely interested in diversifying Georgia's foreign policy. There have been calls for a third party to emerge in Georgia for some time now, but all previous attempts have proved unsuccessful. This most recent attempt can be seen as a kind of claim to this position. The next general election will be held in four years' time; only time will tell whether the party will be able to flourish moving forward."[13]

Discussing Georgia's relations with the West, head of the Regional Problems Center at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies (Russian Academy of Sciences), Nana Gegelashvili, wrote in the pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Club's website: "It is clear that Georgia's Western trajectory is immutable and its future belongs not so much to the parties that won the elections as to the continuity of its foreign policy towards integration with the West and the development of a genuinely democratic society. This is conditioned by the following factors. First, during his presidency Saakashvili managed to turn that generation of youth into real yuppies. They enthusiastically support the values of Western democracy, such as liberal reforms and democratic standards that are critical to integration with the West, but are very far removed from Russian culture and the Russian language. Apart from this conflict of the generations, with young people unanimously embracing democratic values, the main common thread uniting the nation is disapproval of what they see as Russia's occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This factor largely explains the pro-Western views of Georgian voters as a counterweight to Russia.

"Second, Georgia's policy of pursuing closer relations with NATO and other Euro-Atlantic structures is essentially fixed. In Tbilisi's opinion, in the past Moscow did not do a good job in its role of guarantor of Georgia's security. Third, support for major social programs promised by the Georgian Dream coalition that replaced Saakashvili's UNM in 2012 revealed the limits of its capabilities and failed to ensure long-term political unity and stability in society.

"Thus, the seeds of democracy sown by Saakashvili during his ten years in power, as well as the Western model of democracy had not been crushed. On the contrary, they are widely disseminated and supported by a segment of Georgian society. It was under the UNM leadership that a new Georgian nation was formed on the basis of prioritizing Western values and hatred of everything Soviet.

"The parliamentary elections in Georgia in early October will have a decisive impact on the country's future. Their outcome will determine the makeup of both the highest legislative body and the Government, which will carry out the foreign and domestic policy and will be responsible to the Georgian voters for it. However, Georgia's real challenges will not disappear after the elections. These are the economy and threats to security from the south, which may somewhat affect the Western trajectory of Georgian policy."[14]

Meanwhile, joint NATO-Georgia Exercises 2016 were held at the Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC) in Georgia on November 10-20 with the participation of servicemen from Georgia, 11 allied member states and two partners. The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the drills saying that 'Russia sees this activity as a serious threat to peace and stability in the region.'[15] The ministry also reminded Georgia that its misplaced confidence in NATO had led to its adventurous policy in 2008 and its subsequent debacle.[16]

Below are excerpts of an article published by the Russian media outlet Gazeta.ru, titled "The 'Dream' pales without Saakashvili." According to the article, Saakashvili helped the Georgian Dream party by declaring that he might return to Georgia. "This breathed new life into the Georgian Dream party propaganda, since the party's agenda without opposition to Saakashvili looks rather empty," wrote Gazeta.ru. The article also stated that Georgia's foreign policy will try to maintain a balance between Russia and the West.[17]



Georgia's President Giorgi Margvelashvili (Source: Agenda.ge)

'Georgia Will Try To Maintain A Balance Between Russia And The West'

"Georgia is taking stock following the second round of its parliamentary elections, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has consolidated its leading position. Under this [party's] rule, Georgia will try to maintain balance between Russia and the West. Yet, as the opposition forces led by Mikheil Saakashvili grow weaker, Georgian Dream risks losing the idea that unites its voters.

"... Three parties have a guaranteed place in the parliament: Georgian Dream, United National Movement (UNM), and the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia. The elections were conducted in a two-round majority system.

In both the first and the second rounds (on October 8 and 30 respectively) it was Georgian Dream (GM) that got the most votes. Yet, the results of the first round looked much worse for the ruling party.

"On October 24, the results of party list-voting became clear. According to the Central Electoral Commission, GM received slightly over 48%, whereas the opposition United National Movement, headed by the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, got 27% of the votes. Another party that entered the parliament is the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, which barely cleared the 5% barrier.

"The second round took place in 50 out of 73 single-seat constituencies, where none of the parties received more than 50% of the votes in the first round... Georgian Dream will get [115] out of 150 seats in the parliament... This gives the party the right to amend the country's constitution.

"Only 12% of voters gave their votes to Saakashvili's UNM in the second round. 'Overall', this party gets only 27 seats. Nevertheless, UNM remains the country's most powerful opposition party.

Saakashvili himself... has already declared that the elections were rigged. But the OSCE mission that observed the process did not sustain this view.

'We did not get a multi-party parliament; that was the public's choice,' said the President Giorgi Margvelashvili, congratulating Georgia on the success of the elections. 'But I'd like to remind you that political work does not conclude upon elections, it begins with them.'

'For The Georgian Dream Party, These Elections Were Different'

"For the Georgian Dream party, these elections were different - both in terms of the preelectoral agenda and the environment that has changed. During the last elections in 2012, the party effectively used voter disillusionment with Saakashvili's policies.

"Saakashvili chose a sharply pro-Western political course right after the [Georgian] 'color' revolution of 2003. This process peaked in August 2008, when the partially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia escaped from Tbilisi's control as a result of the South Ossetia conflict, which involved Georgian and Russian armed forces. In addition, heavy-handed actions of the reformed public prosecution office and economic problems sped up the alienation of Saakashvili's voter base.

"In 2012, the ruling UNM party was defeated by Georgian Dream in the parliamentary elections. In 2013, Saakashvili left the post of president and was replaced by the GM representative, Giorgi Margvelashvili.

"He and the [former] Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, promised to normalize the economy and the relationship with Russia, which has become a relationship of trust after Saakashvili's time in power was over.

"In 2016, the ruling party failed to overcome crises in the economy. Positive changes in the Russian-Georgian relations did not produce significant results either: the territorial conflict remains frozen, and Georgian citizens still cannot obtain visas to Russia.

"Before the elections, Mikheil Saakashvili helped GM in a way, by declaring that he might return to Georgia. This breathed new life into the Georgian Dream party propaganda, since the party's agenda without opposition to Saakashvili looks rather empty. 'I have just been to Georgia and had the opportunity to talk to people. Even to the untrained eye, there are more people who are hostile to Saakashvili than those who support him,' says political strategist Konstantin Kalachov. 'Many accuse him of ruining the relations with Russia, with the result being that many Georgians are unable to enter our country freely. And during the elections, I personally was not impressed with Saakashvili's party visually; the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia did not seem very convincing either, while Georgian Dream looked better and more impressive.'



Mikheil Saakashvili (Sputniknews.com)

'Further Prospects For The Development Of Russian-Georgian Relations Remain Nebulous'

"The question of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, controversial states that emerged after the 2008 conflict and whose independence from Georgia is recognized by Moscow but not by Tbilisi, is not forgotten. Both Georgian Dream and the United National Movement support the territorial reconstruction of old borders. 'Narratives related to controversial territories are not a priority in Georgia. I don't see any progress, and there is not going to be any,' says Igor Gretsky, assistant professor of the department of international relations in the post-Soviet area of the Saint-Petersburg University.

"In his opinion, Georgia will raise the territorial issue in international fora such as PACE [the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]. However, neither Moscow nor Tbilisi are ready for significant changes in the negotiation process, and this threatens the ruling party with loss of reputation in the long term. 'The Georgian establishment understands that this issue cannot be solved now,' adds Gretsky.

On November 1, Manana Kobakhidze, deputy speaker of the Georgian parliament, declared that the renewal of parliamentary cooperation with Russia is impossible without solving the issue of re-establishing the 'territorial integrity' of the republic. According to her, the 'policy of integration with the EU and NATO' in Tbilisi has not changed.

Georgian Dream and the United National Movement subscribe to pro-Western views. Given this, further prospects of development of Russian-Georgian relations remain nebulous. 'I don't see any basis for a change in relations, so I would say that, if any changes are to happen, they will be slow and without any surges. There will be no belligerence towards us,' said Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). 'The ruling party is pro-European. It has expressed its desire to bring Georgia to NATO and the EU, but they are hardly likely to accept it. We will witness some movement towards Europe and improvement of relations with the West, because it was with this agenda that the ruling party went to the polls,' he added.

Much about the Georgian foreign policy will be decided by the position of the US, is the opinion of Vladimir Evseev, head of a department in the Institute of CIS Countries. 'There is some uncertainty in this area. It is still unclear whether the US needs Georgia or not, whether any resources could be obtained from it,' he says...

'China Is Exploiting The Situation Most Actively In The Economic Sphere'

"As the political authority in Georgia tries, with difficulty, to find some balance between Russia and the West, China is exploiting the situation quite actively in the economic sphere.

"On October 31, Beijing and Tbilisi signed a memorandum on cooperation in the sphere of oil production. The Chinese company Beijing Fangyuan Chint Energy Technical and the Georgian-Chinese Vm Energy are ready to invest about $150 million in oil production in Georgia. The energy companies of Great Britain, Austria, USA, Israel and India also conduct oil exploration in Georgian mountains.

"Russia invests most actively in the Georgian province of Adjara. In 2016, Russia has so far invested $71.5 million in this area, of which 49% are investments in the energy sphere. According to the Georgian National Statistics Service, in the first half of 2016, the goods turnover between the countries increased by 16% compared to last year and reached $459.6 million. 'If we do not demand more from Georgia than what is possible and accord priority to questions of economic cooperation, Georgia's partnership relations with Russia will improve,' says Konstantin Kalachov."

Endnotes:
In an article in the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, physician and writer Dr. 'Ali Muhammad Fakhro, formerly Bahrain's minister of health and minister of education, wrote that the official report issued by the U.S. on 9/11 was fraudulent and manipulative. Fakhro, who is a board member of the Arab Organization for Combating Corruption and a founding member of the Arab National Congress, accused the American media and civil society organizations of deliberately disregarding strong evidence of American involvement in the 9/11 attacks, adding that covering up U.S. crimes was a regular American habit. He mentioned a long list of affairs in which he claimed the American authorities were complicit and had been covered up, including the Kennedy assassination, ties with the Nazi regime, the lies about Saddam Hussein's WMDs, and the establishment of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist organizations.

The following are excerpts from his article.[1]



'Ali Muhammad Fakhro (image: Alittihad.ae)

"Every year on September 11, America goes into mourning and the American nation commemorates its innocent civilians who fell victim to insane barbaric violence. On these anniversaries, the American media discuss the terror attack of 15 years ago, and always blame the same elements whom they hold responsible for planning and carrying out [the attack]. So far everything seems normal.

"What is not normal is that the American media and civil society organizations insist on completely disregarding the dozens of non-American videos and public debates that presented solid evidence - scientific, logical and technical - to show that internal American elements may have been involved in carrying out this terrible action, and therefore that the official U.S. report issued regarding the details of this event may have been fabricated and manipulative. Why does the American media... disregard the comments, questions and doubts of hundreds of engineers, former senior intelligence officers, explosives experts and civilians who have stressed that the official report ignored important and complex events and discoveries, [and that it did so] for obscure reasons that may be political, intelligence-related, or [part of a] conspiracy? I do not think there is a full answer to this question.

"There are, however, additional questions. For example, why was American president John Kennedy assassinated in the 1960s? And why was his assassin [himself] murdered several days later in a crowded public place and in the presence of police officers who failed to protect him so he could disclose the identity of those who sent him? And why is it that, to this day, there are dozens of secrets that prevent the exposure of the clear and convincing truth [in this matter]?

"And what was the nature of the ties that certain American financial, industry and military elements maintained with the Nazi movement in Germany? Why is it that these elements were not prosecuted after the U.S. officially joined World War II shortly before it ended? And who were the people involved? What were their names, their positions, and their areas of responsibility?

"[Also,] today it is patently clear that American elements played a pivotal role in fabricating the lie regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and ignored the conclusions of the UN commission that found insufficient evidence to prove that Iraq had ever possessed such weapons. [These elements also played a pivotal role] in occupying Iraq without the consent of the Security Council - yet despite this nobody was prosecuted and the criminals who squandered two trillion dollars on this absurd farce [the Iraq war] were never punished. Who is it that prevents the uncovering of these secrets and the punishing of those responsible?

"[In addition,] there are many suspicions regarding American involvement in creating Al-Qaeda, helping to bring it from Afghanistan to Iraq, and [then] dressing it up in [somewhat different] masks and garb to create ISIS, [Jabhat] Al-Nusra and their ilk - [all] in order to plunge Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries into the hell they are currently experiencing. There are also innumerable questions and many suspicions that America played a direct and indirect role in failing to defeat ISIS and leaving it [hanging] between life and death so as to exhaust the Arab societies and leave them [hanging] between life and death as well. Who are these elements that play with fire and keep the flames burning? Whom do they serve and with whom are they cooperating? And what is their true objective...?

"There are many other examples of large events and wicked conspiracies in which the U.S. played a prominent part, yet they remain hidden and it is impossible to expose them and hold [those responsible] to account. And this in a country that purports to be democratic and to have free media, an independent judiciary and an active and powerful civil society - namely transparency in public life. History and reality indeed confirm this. So wherein lies the problem? Here a heavy mist arises that obscures [our] vision. Statements by [American] politicians and writers confirm the existence of this mist... Hence every voice, statement and announcement issued by an official American authority must be examined in depth... and carefully analyzed [to determine] its objective, who lies behind it and who benefits from it...

"[Therefore,] we must take into account this shadowy obscurity that the [American] people, with their cleverness and diligence, use for their own selfish and ambitious ends in everything related to the financial and moral resources of others."

Endnotes:
For some people, travelling is a way of life. That can definitely be said for Joerik and Pauline, a couple from Netherlands, who recently travelled from Kerala all the way to Holland in a van. They had come to India last year and covered a distance of 13,560 km with this trip.

 Facebook

Moreover, Joerik even proposed to Pauline on the banks of the Ganges and they went on to get married in a simple ceremony in Bali, Indonesia.

 Facebook

 Facebook

They had been travelling for six months and decided to take a long and relaxing stopover in India, staying at an Ashram in Kerala. It was during this time only that they decided to return to their home country via a van.

 Facebook

They share their exciting endeavours over social media and even crowd-fund their travels.

Well, that must have been one hell of a road trip!
What do you do when you were born and brought up in a country, called it home for as long as you can remember and yet the country does not recognise you as a citizen? This is the sad pendulum state of Gursewak Singh, a teenager in Japan, who is desperately trying to seek asylum for his family.

The Perennial Problem They Are Facing

My family loves Japan. We really dont want to go back to India. Please give us visas, Gursewak wrote this to the then-Justice Minister Keiko Chiba in March 2010. His parents came to Japan in the early 1990s and made it home, all the while being under the status of provisional release.

 Reuters

This status puts them in a fix because they cannot work, they need permission to travel outside and are also not entitled to any health insurance. There are thousands of people who are in a similar soup and courtesy this, there are many kids like Gursewak who have inherited the sad fate from their parents. These kids can go to government-run school, which are mostly free, but going to a university is a distant dream for them.

The Offer That They Cannot Take

The Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau has made them an offer that doesnt help their situation at all. Gursewakss parents were under an enquiry and they confessed since they couldnt work, they survived courtesy the Sikh charity and Sikhs in Japan who offered to help them always.

 Reuters

The immigration authorities asked them to go back to India and leave their children behind in order to get a permanent residency. The dilemma that his parents faced was leaving the children alone to fend for themselves. Gursewak is currently under a lot of stress as the familys future is in jeopardy.

Current Status Of The Family

Gursewak currently runs a blog about Japans Sikh community and built a computer from scratch himself. The father is Sikh religious head in a Gurudwara, the mother sings prayers while Gursewak plays the tabla. Gursewak is determined to change his fate and is not giving up on raising concern about his situation.

We live in a sad world where boundaries and borders affect the fate of individuals and so many lives are compromised to keep the rules in check. For someone who has unrequited love for a land that they now call their own, is it actually a good idea to leave them lurking under constant humiliation and force them to fight for a place they can call home?


Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA)

According to Statistics Canada, Vietnam-Canada trade turnover reached nearly USD3.06 billion in the first three quarters of the year, the highest rate among 10 ASEAN countries and much higher than that of the second ranking country, Thailand, at nearly USD2.229 billion.

Meanwhile, Vietnams exports to Canada were worth some USD2.757 billion, a year-on-year rise of 14.8%, and imports from Canada posted USD350 million, down 26.8% from a year earlier.

Vietnams major export commodities to the market included machinery, electric devices and electronics (USD904 million, up 33.5%), footwear of all kinds (USD305 million, up 17.7%), knitted products (USD252 million, down 3.2%) and exterior and interior wooden products and spare parts (USD189 million, down 3.1%).

Commodities imported from Canada were aquatic products (USD54 million, down 9.6%), soybeans and oil-seeds (USD38 million, down 6.3%), fertilizer (USD33 million, down 29%), and machinery, devices and spare parts (USD27 million, down 0.2%)./.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the ninth Summit of Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area (CLV 9) (Source: VNA)



The summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on November 23rd brought together Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Reviewing CLV collaboration over the past two years since the eighth meeting in Vientiane, the PMs applauded the achievements in such key areas as security, national defence, trade-investment, agriculture, transport and tourism, which they said contributed to promoting socio-economic development and ensuring peace and stability in the area.

They re-affirmed their commitment to forging the CLV cooperation on the basis of the time-honoured friendship, good and mutually beneficial neighbourliness, solidarity and mutual understanding between the countries.

The leaders displayed their resolve to work closely with each other and team up with other ASEAN nations in materialising the ASEAN Vision 2025.

They agreed to increase the connectivity of the three economies in both soft and hard infrastructure as well as people-to-people exchanges.

They assigned the joint coordination committee to complete the action plan on connectivity of Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese economies to 2030. The committee was also tasked with planning tourism development in the area.

The agricultural ministries of the three countries were asked to partner with each other in building a plan on developing the rubber industry.

The leaders affirmed their strong commitment to environmental protection, sustainable management and use of natural resources, including water and forest resources, and consented to implement programmes on cooperation in hydrometeorology, climate change response and water resources management.

Joint efforts will also be made in bomb and mine clearance and the fight against drug smuggling, human trafficking, terrorism and cross-border crime.

The leaders called for more active participation of the business community and development partners in CLV projects, and agreed to enhance their coordination with Mekong Sub-region cooperation mechanisms.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to build a stable and open legal framework that facilitates the cross-border circulation of goods, services and labourers as well as investment in the CLV Development Triangle Area.

He called for joint efforts in ensuring security and political stability, and environmental protection.

The countries should coordinate with each other in realising the Sustainable Developments Goals by 2030, seeking long-term solutions to the sustainable use of natural resources, especially their shared water resources, and attracting resources from development partners and international financial organisations, he urged.

PM Phuc also presented Vietnams proposals for cooperation in the time ahead, including the building of mechanisms facilitating the free movement of vehicles registered in provinces inside the triangle area, the application of the one-stop-shop customs model at the Moc Bai-Ba Vet international border gate in 2017, and regular dialogue mechanisms between Governmental offices of the three countries and businesses.

Vietnam will offer more vocational training scholarships to Cambodia and Laos, and increase the value of scholarships granted to Cambodian and Laos students, he promised.

The Vietnamese Government leader called on the other two countries to join the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses and, together with Vietnam, consider participating in the Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes ( Water Convention ).

PM Phuc expressed his hope the three Governments will team up with each other to set forth a programme on official development assistance (ODA) mobilisation and another programme on joint investment and trade promotion.

Vietnams Viettel telecom group will invest in modernizing the telecom networks in the three countries using 4G technology and help with the formation of their e-Governments, he said.

In this regard, Cambodian PM Hun Sen suggested Viettel support the establishment of video links for the PMs and agencies of the three countries in an effort to make it easier for their exchange.

PM Hun Sen spoke highly of the effective CLV cooperation, which helped each country maintain political stability, effectively prevent and fight crime, develop infrastructure, tourism and agriculture.

He noted that the parties have timely addressed arising problems and promoted trade.

Both Hun Sen and his Lao counterpart underscored the need for the countries to enhance their multi-faceted cooperation to reach higher economic growth and maintain security and friendship in the Development Triangle Area.

At the end of the summit, the PMs signed the CLV 9 joint statement and passed a list of 15 priority projects calling for investment in the development triangle area.

The leaders also witnessed the signing of an agreement on trade promotion and facilitation in the CLV Development Triangle Area.

The tenth CLV Summit will be held in Vietnam in 2018./.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith (Photo: VNA)



At the meeting, Phuc congratulated the Lao Prime Minister on Laos achievements in domestic and external affairs this year.

Thongloun Sisoulith said he is pleased with the effective partnership between Laos and Vietnam, particularly in trade, investment, energy and transport.

He hailed the significance of the upcoming visit to Laos of General Secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong, saying it will help bring the two countries traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation to new heights.

Both sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges and meetings of high-ranking officials, make thorough preparation for the upcoming 39th session of the Vietnam-Laos trans-governmental committee, and implement joint projects for mutual benefits.

They pledged to boost efforts to carry out the agreement on collaboration between the two governments in 2016, in order to lay the groundwork for the implementation of Vietnam-Laos cooperation agreement for 2016-2020.

The same day, Prime Minister Phuc received representatives from the association of Vietnamese expatriates in Siem Reap.

Phuc said during a recent meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, he requested the Cambodian Government to facilitate Vietnamese expats in securing their legal status.

He noted that the issue will continue to be on the agenda of upcoming meetings between Vietnamese and Cambodian senior officials.

On the occasion, Phuc presented five tonnes of rice for needy Vietnamese in Siem Reap./.
Party General Secretary and President of Laos Bounnhang Vorachith welcomes Party General Secretary

Nguyen Phu Trong before their talks in Vientiane on November 24th (Photo: VNA)



The view was shared by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Party General Secretary and President of Laos Bounnhang Vorachith during their talks in Vientiane on November 24th, following a welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese Party leader.

The two Party General Secretaries underlined the importance of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs official visit to Laos which takes place after the two Parties successfully organised their national congresses earlier in 2016 and began a new tenure. They believed that the visit will help deepen the Vietnamese-Lao friendship, special unity and comprehensive cooperation, thereby meeting the two peoples aspirations and ensuring peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and around the world.

They informed each other about the situation of their respective Parties and countries, and the implementation of the resolutions of the Parties congresses.

The Lao Party General Secretary congratulated Vietnam on its enormous achievements during the three decades of reforms, voicing his belief that the country will reap even greater attainments. He also offered sympathies to Vietnamese people, especially those in the central region, on the recent damages caused by natural disasters.

For his part, Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong also congratulated Laos on their reform accomplishments and wished the country further success in national development.

The two leaders rejoiced at the increasingly substantive relations in all spheres between the two Parties and countries, reiterating their strong support for each nations reform and national development and protection.

They agreed to enhance political connections by maintaining meetings between their Party and country leaders, sharing theoretical research and experience in strengthening the Party and enhancing officials capacity. The two sides will coordinate to successfully organise activities marking big anniversaries in 2017 so as to educate younger generations on the Vietnam-Laos special unity.

They also stressed the need for stronger defence-security cooperation and economic connectivity, especially in terms of institutions, transport infrastructure, energy and tourism. Vietnam and Laos will expeditiously fine-tune mechanisms and policies while tackling obstacles to facilitate economic partnership.

They will also improve the effectiveness of bilateral collaboration in education, training and human resources development, while closely supervising and pushing forward the execution of the high-level agreements and cooperation programmes and projects between the two Parties and countries.

The two leaders agreed to bolster coordination at international and regional forums, particularly the United Nations, ASEAN and cooperation mechanisms in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Vietnam and Laos will also work together to manage and effectively use water resources of the Mekong River in order to ensure the harmony of interests among the Mekong nations and the regions sustainable development, they said.

Mr Nguyen Phu Trong highly valued Laoss clear expression of its viewpoint on the East Sea issue as the ASEAN Chair in 2016.

He and Bounnhang Vorachith underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and safety in the East Sea. They agreed to boost the ASEAN unity regarding the East Sea problem while pushing for the peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and efforts towards soon finalising a Code of Conduct in the waters.

The Vietnamese Party leader invited Bounnhang Vorachith to visit Vietnam. The Lao Party General Secretary and President thanked and accepted the invitation./.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh meets with the

Russian Federations Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. (Photo: VNA)

Meeting with Mr. Dvorkovich, the two sides expressed their pleasure about the dynamic development of the Vietnam  Russia comprehensive strategic partnership over the past time, agreeing that the maintaining of trusted political relations through regular dialogues and exchanges of high ranking delegations were important foundations for increased bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, especially in economic and trade cooperation.

The two sides reached a consensus to work closely with each other to effectively carry out the Vietnam - Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement, aiming to increase bilateral trade turnover to USD10 billion by 2020, and promoting cooperation projects listed in priority investment projects.

The two Deputy Prime Ministers affirmed that the Governments would make favourable conditions for Vietnamese and Russian businesses to invest in such areas as energy, oil and gas, railway, machine manufacturing, light industry and agriculture.

The two sides also agreed to take advantage of the two countries potentials, and promote effective increased cooperation in national defence, security, science and technology, education and training, culture and tourism, labour as well as the cooperation among localities.

During the meeting with Mr. Melnikov, the two sides showed their satisfaction about the active and effective cooperation and strict coordination on the international arena between the two National Assemblies, especially at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), expressed their hope that the legislative agencies of the two countries would continue to increase coordination and raise the role of inspection ensuring the implementation of international treaties of which both are members, including the Vietnam - Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Mr. Melnikov appreciated the close relationship between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, showing his belief that the two Parties would continue to cooperate more strictly, contributing to promoting bilateral cooperation.

Leaders from the Russian Government and National Assembly agreed to continue to make favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community legally studying, working and residing in the Russian Federation.

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh visited the Vietnamese Embassy in the Russian Federation, urging the staff to continue to effectively carry out foreign policies of the Vietnamese Party and State, making important contributions to reinforce and develop the cooperation and strategic partnership between Vietnam and the Russian Federation./.
Vietnamese students meeting with employers at the contest (Photo: VNA)

That is the general comments of representatives of leading employers on the sidelines of the contest "ICAEW - Business Strategy 2016" organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) at Queen Mary University of London, specifically for the Vietnamese student community in the UK on November 18th.

According to Ms. Tran Thuy Trang, Human Resources Director of Deloitte Vietnam, Vietnamese students in the UK participating in the contest demonstrated their dynamism and enthusiasm with high professional quality. In particular, they were very interested in opportunities to return to Vietnam to work, and actively approached employers. This was a very attractive contest, bringing benefits to both students and employers. ICAEW created a useful playground, helping to connect overseas Vietnamese students and employers such as Deloitte.

Being trained in a country with an advanced education system, Vietnamese students hold a big advantage in professionalism and skills when returning the homeland to work.

"We are always welcomed if you really want to return to dedicate yourself to Vietnam," shared Ms Trang.

According to her, when returning to Vietnam for probation, the students will have opportunity to learn more about the business environment, thereby helping to orient the future. Therefore, Deloitte may consider expanding probation opportunities for many students, not just the team winning at the contest "ICAEW - Business Strategy 2016".

She said that it is important for students to grasp and develop those opportunities for themselves.

Ms. Pham Thi Hong Anh, Deputy General Director of EY Vietnam, also praised the quality of human resources of Vietnamese students studying in the UK. According to her, this community offers good human resources, especially in terms of skills of language, presentation, working independently and teamwork.

However, EY Vietnam has not yet recruited as many graduates from the UK as it expects, because some students havent considered accounting and auditing as their orientation to pursue.

EY Vietnam has also implemented activities for students through talk shows, helping them have more professional knowledge and soon have career orientation.

According to Ms. Hong Anh, EY Vietnam looks for students who commit to work this job for a long time and really want to return to make a long-term contribution to the country.

With the contest, EY Vietnam wants to be closer to students to provide information on the labour market and provide advice on job orientation in future./.
To the editor:

Such a beautiful time of year. Happy Thanksgiving Day 2016. We have so much to be grateful for. We dont need more things to make us thankful, we just need to be more thankful.

In our country, our Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of every November. When the 120 pilgrims came over from England in 1620 to our country, they were looking for a better relationship with God. They traveled in a small boat called the Mayflower, which took them nine weeks.

Death, hardships, births and illnesses took place in those nine weeks. They were all so elated and so thankful to have arrived that they literally got down on bended knee and thanked our heavenly Father. They studied their bibles regularly. That is how their children learned to read. They were such good people and so loved Christ.

It was bitter cold when they arrived in December. They started out in November. The pilgrims settled in Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. It was a small town back then.

Once here, an Abenaki Indian named Samoset from Maine and another Indian named Squanto that they be befriended, taught them how to fish, hunt, make fires for warmth, plant seeds and basically live. They learned so much from these Indians. During the day, they visited while planting and established friendly relationships. They all got along nicely and worked so well together.

Today, I am so grateful for running hot and cold water, a roof over my head, indoor plumbing, food on my table, shoes on my feet, a Bible to read, my parents who were the first ones to tell me about Jesus and the very first ones to tell me about all of his love, that I can walk, talk, see and hear. Im thankful for our editor, Dave Shane, to place this write-up in our fine Tribune. Im thankful also for you, dear reader, and most of all my living savior, Jesus Christ. He has been so good and so faithful to me. I love him so. Im not ashamed of this gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so blessed.

Veterans Day also falls in our Novembers. On the 11th of November, each year. You are not forgotten. Our past, present and future military in uniform  we thank all of you for our freedom. We love, honor, salute, pay respect and thank you. You are all our heroes. May God bless you all and we thank you. What and when we just dont understand in life, we still hold unto Gods precious hand and trust Him with our hearts.

Have a safe, happy and fun Thanksgiving dear reader. Give thanks celebrating our harvest.

Darlene J. Bender

Bad Axe
ALLETE, Inc. operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. The company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 145,000 retail customers and 15 non-affiliated municipal customers. It also owns and maintains electric transmission assets in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. In addition, the company focuses on developing, acquiring, and operating clean and renewable energy projects; and owns and operates approximately 1,000 megawatts of wind energy generation facility. Further, it is involved in the coal mining operations in North Dakota; and real estate investment activities in Florida. The company owns and operates 158 substations with a total capacity of 10,066 megavolt amperes. It serves taconite mining, paper, pulp and secondary wood products, pipeline, and other industries. The company was formerly known as Minnesota Power, Inc. and changed its name to ALLETE, Inc. in May 2001. ALLETE, Inc. was incorporated in 1906 and is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota.
American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation.

The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure.

The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes.

All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers.

Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation provides a range of financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segments. The Securities Services segment offers custody, trust and depositary, accounting, exchange-traded funds, middle-office solutions, transfer agency, services for private equity and real estate funds, foreign exchange, securities lending, liquidity/lending services, prime brokerage, and data analytics. This segment also provides trustee, paying agency, fiduciary, escrow and other financial, issuer, and support services for brokers and investors. The Market and Wealth Services segment offers clearing and custody, investment, wealth and retirement solutions, technology and enterprise data management, trading, and prime brokerage services; and clearance and collateral management services. This segment also provides integrated cash management solutions, including payments, foreign exchange, liquidity management, receivables processing and payables management, and trade finance and processing services. The Investment and Wealth Management segment offers investment management strategies and distribution of investment products, investment management, custody, wealth and estate planning, private banking, investment, and information management services. The Other segment engages in the provision of leasing, corporate treasury, derivative and other trading, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, renewable energy investment, and business exit services. It serves central banks and sovereigns, financial institutions, asset managers, insurance companies, corporations, local authorities and high net-worth individuals, and family offices. The company was founded in 1784 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services. This segment serves consumer and small business customers through a network of branches, ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking channels. Its Corporate & Institutional Banking segment provides secured and unsecured loans, letters of credit, and equipment leases; cash and investment management services, receivables and disbursement management services, funds transfer services, international payment services, and access to online/mobile information management and reporting; foreign exchange, derivatives, fixed income, securities underwriting, loan syndications, and mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets advisory related services; and commercial loan servicing and technology solutions. It serves mid-sized and large corporations, and government and not-for-profit entities. The company's Asset Management Group segment offers investment and retirement planning, customized investment management, credit and cash management solutions, and trust management and administration services for high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals, and their families; and multi-generational family planning services for ultra high net worth individuals and their families. It also provides outsourced chief investment officer, custody, private real estate, cash and fixed income client solutions, and fiduciary retirement advisory services for institutional clients. The company has 2,591 branches and 9,502 ATMs. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The following companies are subsidiares of Caterpillar: Advanced Tri-Gen Power Systems LLC, Anchor Coupling Inc., Asia Power Systems (Tianjin) Ltd., AsiaTrak (Tianjin) Ltd., Banco Caterpillar S.A., Berg Propulsion International Pte Ltd., Bucyrus, Bucyrus Australia Surface Pty. Ltd., Bucyrus Europe Holdings Ltd., Bucyrus Europe Limited, Bucyrus International (Chile) Limitada, Bucyrus International (Peru) S.A., Bucyrus Mining Australia Pty. Ltd., Bucyrus Mining China LLC, Bucyrus UK Limited, Cat Rental Kyushu LLC, Caterpillar (Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Caterpillar (China) Financial Leasing Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (China) Machinery Components Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (HK) Limited, Caterpillar (Huainan) Machinery Service Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Langfang) Mining Equipment Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Luxembourg) Investment Co. S.a r.l., Caterpillar (NI) Limited, Caterpillar (Newberry) LLC, Caterpillar (Qingzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Suzhou) Logistics Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Thailand) Limited, Caterpillar (U.K.) Limited, Caterpillar (Wujiang) Ltd., Caterpillar (Xuzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar (Zhengzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar Acquisition Holding Corp., Caterpillar Americas C.V., Caterpillar Americas Co., Caterpillar Americas Funding Inc., Caterpillar Americas Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Asia Limited, Caterpillar Asia Pacific L.P., Caterpillar Asia Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Asset Intelligence LLC, Caterpillar Belgium S.A., Caterpillar Brasil Comercio de Maquinas e Pecas Ltda., Caterpillar Brasil Ltda., Caterpillar Brazil LLC, Caterpillar Castings Kiel GmbH, Caterpillar Centro de Formacion S.L., Caterpillar China Limited, Caterpillar Commercial Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Commercial LLC, Caterpillar Commercial Northern Europe Limited, Caterpillar Commercial S.A., Caterpillar Commercial S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Commercial Services S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Communications LLC, Caterpillar Corporativo Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Cote DIvoire, Caterpillar Credito S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.N.R., Caterpillar DC Pension Trust Limited, Caterpillar Digital Services & Solutions SARL, Caterpillar Distribution International LLC, Caterpillar Distribution Services Europe B.V.B.A., Caterpillar East Real Estate Holding Ltd., Caterpillar Emissions Solutions Inc., Caterpillar Energy Solutions Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Energy Solutions GmbH, Caterpillar Energy Solutions Inc., Caterpillar Energy Solutions S.A., Caterpillar Energy System Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Engine Systems Inc., Caterpillar Equipos Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Eurasia LLC, Caterpillar FS (QFC) LLC, Caterpillar Finance France S.A., Caterpillar Finance Kabushiki Kaisha, Caterpillar Financial Acquisition Funding LLC, Caterpillar Financial Aftermarket Solutions Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Australia Leasing Pty Limited, Caterpillar Financial Australia Limited, Caterpillar Financial Commercial Account Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Corporacion Financiera S.A. E.F.C., Caterpillar Financial Dealer Funding LLC, Caterpillar Financial Funding Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Caterpillar Financial Leasing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Financial New Zealand Limited, Caterpillar Financial Nordic Services AB, Caterpillar Financial Nova Scotia Corporation, Caterpillar Financial OOO, Caterpillar Financial Receivables Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Renting S.A., Caterpillar Financial SARL, Caterpillar Financial Services (Dubai) Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services (Ireland) plc, Caterpillar Financial Services (UK) Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services Argentina S.A., Caterpillar Financial Services Asia Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Financial Services Belgium S.P.R.L., Caterpillar Financial Services CR s.r.o., Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Services GmbH, Caterpillar Financial Services India Private Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services Leasing ULC, Caterpillar Financial Services Limited Les Services Financiers Caterpillar Limitee, Caterpillar Financial Services Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Caterpillar Financial Services Netherlands B.V., Caterpillar Financial Services Norway AS, Caterpillar Financial Services Philippines Inc., Caterpillar Financial Services Poland Sp. z o.o., Caterpillar Financial Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, Caterpillar Financial UK Acquisition Funding Partners, Caterpillar Financial Ukraine LLC, Caterpillar Fluid Systems S.r.l., Caterpillar Fomento Comercial Ltda., Caterpillar Forest Products Inc., Caterpillar France S.A.S., Caterpillar GB L.L.C., Caterpillar Global Investments S.a r.l., Caterpillar Global Mining America LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Equipamentos De Mineracao do Brasil Ltda., Caterpillar Global Mining Equipment LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Europe GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd, Caterpillar Global Mining Germany Holdings GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining HMS GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Holdings GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Hong Kong AFC Manufacturing Holding Co. Limited, Caterpillar Global Mining Hong Kong Limited, Caterpillar Global Mining LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Mexico LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Global Mining SARL, Caterpillar Global Mining U.S. Parts LLC, Caterpillar Global Services LLC, Caterpillar Group Services S.A., Caterpillar Holding (France) S.A.S., Caterpillar Holding Germany GmbH, Caterpillar Holdings Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Hungary Components Manufacturing Ltd., Caterpillar Hydraulics Italia S.r.l., Caterpillar IPX LLC, Caterpillar IRB LLC, Caterpillar Impact Products Limited, Caterpillar India Private Limited, Caterpillar Industrial Inc., Caterpillar Industrias Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Industries (Pty) Ltd, Caterpillar Insurance Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Insurance Company, Caterpillar Insurance Holdings Inc., Caterpillar Insurance Services Corporation, Caterpillar International Finance Designated Activity Company, Caterpillar International Finance Luxembourg Holding S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Finance Luxembourg S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Holding S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Luxembourg I S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Luxembourg II S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Product SARL, Caterpillar International Services Corporation, Caterpillar International Services del Peru S.A., Caterpillar Investment Limited, Caterpillar Investment One SARL, Caterpillar Investment Two SARL, Caterpillar Investments, Caterpillar Japan LLC, Caterpillar Latin America Services S.R.L., Caterpillar Latin America Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Latin America Services de Panama S. de R.L., Caterpillar Latin America Servicios de Chile Limitada, Caterpillar Latin America Support Services S. DE R.L., Caterpillar Leasing (Thailand) Limited, Caterpillar Leasing Chile S.A., Caterpillar Leasing GmbH (Leipzig), Caterpillar Leasing Operativo Limitada, Caterpillar Life Insurance Company, Caterpillar Logistics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Logistics (UK) Limited, Caterpillar Logistics Inc., Caterpillar Logistics ML Services France S.A.S., Caterpillar Logistics Services China Limited, Caterpillar Luxembourg Group S.ar.l., Caterpillar Luxembourg LLC, Caterpillar Luxembourg S.a r.l., Caterpillar Machinery Nantong Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Marine Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Marine Asset Intelligence, Caterpillar Marine Power UK Limited, Caterpillar Marine Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Maroc SARL, Caterpillar Materiels Routiers SAS, Caterpillar Mexico LLC, Caterpillar Mexico S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar Mining Canada ULC, Caterpillar Mining Chile Servicios Limitada, Caterpillar Motoren (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Motoren GmbH & Co. KG, Caterpillar Motoren Henstedt-Ulzburg GmbH, Caterpillar Motoren Rostock GmbH, Caterpillar Motoren Verwaltungs-GmbH, Caterpillar Netherlands Holding B.V., Caterpillar North America C.V., Caterpillar Operator Training Ltd., Caterpillar Overseas Credit Corporation SARL, Caterpillar Overseas Investment Holding SARL, Caterpillar Overseas Limited, Caterpillar Overseas SARL, Caterpillar Panama Services S.A., Caterpillar Paving Products Inc., Caterpillar Paving Products Xuzhou Ltd., Caterpillar Pension Trust Limited, Caterpillar Poland Sp. z o.o., Caterpillar Power Generation Systems (Bangladesh) Limited, Caterpillar Power Generation Systems L.L.C., Caterpillar Power Systems Inc., Caterpillar Power Ventures International Ltd., Caterpillar Precision Seals Korea, Caterpillar Prodotti Stradali S.r.l., Caterpillar Product Services Corporation, Caterpillar Propulsion AB, Caterpillar Propulsion International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Propulsion Italy S.R.L., Caterpillar Propulsion Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, Caterpillar Propulsion Production AB, Caterpillar Propulsion Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Propulsion Singapore Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar R&D Center (China) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe LLC, Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe Servicios S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar Reman Powertrain Indiana LLC, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Drivetrain LLC, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Renting France S.A.S., Caterpillar Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar SARL, Caterpillar Services Germany GmbH, Caterpillar Servicios Limitada, Caterpillar Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Servizi Italia Srl, Caterpillar Shrewsbury Limited, Caterpillar Skinningrove Limited, Caterpillar Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd., Caterpillar Special Services Belgium S.P.R.L., Caterpillar Switchgear Americas LLC, Caterpillar Switchgear Holding Inc., Caterpillar Tianjin Ltd., Caterpillar Torreon S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Tosno L.L.C., Caterpillar Transmissions France S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Tunneling Canada Holdings Ltd., Caterpillar Tunnelling Canada Corporation, Caterpillar Tunnelling Europe Limited, Caterpillar UK Employee Trust Limited, Caterpillar UK Engines Company Limited, Caterpillar UK Group Limited, Caterpillar UK Holdings Limited, Caterpillar Undercarriage (Xuzhou) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Underground Mining Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Used Equipment Services Inc., Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., Caterpillar Work Tools B.V., Caterpillar Work Tools Inc., Caterpillar World Trading Corporation, Caterpillar Xuzhou, Caterpillar of Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar of Canada Corporation, Caterpillar of Delaware Inc., Centre de Distribution de Wallonie SPRL, CleanAir Systems, Downer Freight Rail, ECM Railway Evolution Romania s.r.l., ECM S.p.A., EDC European Excavator Design Center GmbH, EMC Holding Corp., EMD International Holdings Inc., ERA Information & Entertainment (BVI) Limited, ERA Mining Machinery Limited, Electro-Motive Diesel Limited, Electro-Motive Locomotive Technologies LLC, Electro-Motive Technical Consulting Co. (Beijing) Ltd., Energy Services International Limited, Equipos de Acuna S.A. de C.V., Eurenov S.A.S., F. G. Wilson (Proprietary) Limited, F. Perkins Limited, FG Wilson (Engineering) Limited, GB Holdco (China) Inc., GFCM Comercial Mexico S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.N.R., GFCM Servicios S.A. de C.V., Gremada Industries - Assets, Hong Kong Siwei Holdings Limited, Inmobiliaria Conek S.A. de C.V., JCS Co., Kemper Valve & Fittings Corp., Leo Inc., Locomotive Demand Power Pty Ltd., Locomotoras Progress Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Lovat, M2M Data Corporation, MGE Equipamentos & Servicos Ferroviarios, MWM, MWM Austria GmbH, MWM Benelux B.V., MWM Energy Australia Pty Ltd, MWM France S.A.S, MWM Real Estate GmbH, MaK Americas Inc., MaK Americas Inc. (Canada), Magnum Power Products LLC, Marble, Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH, Mec-Track S.r.l., Metalmark Financial Services Limited, Motoren Steffens GmbH, Nippon Caterpillar LLC, P. T. Solar Services Indonesia, PT Caterpillar Finance Indonesia, PT. Bucyrus Indonesia, PT. Caterpillar Indonesia, PT. Caterpillar Indonesia Batam, PT. Caterpillar Remanufacturing Indonesia, Perkins Engines, Perkins Engines (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, Perkins Engines Group Limited, Perkins Engines Inc., Perkins Group Limited, Perkins Holdings Limited LLC, Perkins India Private Limited, Perkins International Inc., Perkins Japan LLC, Perkins Limited, Perkins Machinery (Changshu) Co. Ltd., Perkins Motores do Brasil Ltda., Perkins Power Systems Technology (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Perkins Small Engines (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Perkins Small Engines LLC, Perkins Small Engines Limited, Perkins Technology Inc., Progress Metal Reclamation Company, Progress Rail Arabia Limited Company, Progress Rail Australia Pty Ltd, Progress Rail Canada Corporation, Progress Rail Equipamentos e Servicos Ferroviarios do Brasil Ltda., Progress Rail Equipment Leasing Corporation, Progress Rail Holdings Inc., Progress Rail Innovations Private Limited, Progress Rail Inspection & Information Systems GmbH, Progress Rail Inspection & Information Systems S.r.l., Progress Rail International Corp., Progress Rail Leasing Canada Corporation, Progress Rail Leasing Corporation, Progress Rail Leasing de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Progress Rail Locomotivas (do Brasil) Ltda., Progress Rail Locomotive Canada Co., Progress Rail Locomotive Chile SpA, Progress Rail Locomotive Inc., Progress Rail Maintenance de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Progress Rail Manufacturing Corporation, Progress Rail Raceland Corporation, Progress Rail Rocklin Corporation, Progress Rail SA Proprietary Limited, Progress Rail Services Corporation, Progress Rail Services Holdings Corp., Progress Rail Services LLC, Progress Rail Services UK Limited, Progress Rail Switching Services LLC, Progress Rail Transcanada Corporation, Progress Rail Welding Corporation, Progress Rail Wildwood LLC, Progress Rail de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pyroban Group, Pyroban Group, Pyrrha Investments B.V., Pyrrha Investments Limited, S&L Railroad LLC, SCM Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., SPL Software Alliance LLC, Sabre Engines, Servicios de Turbinas Solar S. de R.L. de C.V., Shandong SEM Machinery Co. Ltd., Solar Turbines, Solar Turbines, Solar Turbines (Beijing) Trading Services Co. Ltd., Solar Turbines (Thailand) Ltd., Solar Turbines CIS Limited Liability Company, Solar Turbines Canada Ltd./Ltee., Solar Turbines Central Asia Limited Liability Partnership, Solar Turbines EAME s.r.o., Solar Turbines Egypt Limited Liability Company, Solar Turbines Europe S.A., Solar Turbines India Private Limited, Solar Turbines International Company, Solar Turbines Italy S.R.L., Solar Turbines Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Solar Turbines Middle East Limited, Solar Turbines New Zealand Limited, Solar Turbines Saudi Arabia Limited, Solar Turbines Services Company, Solar Turbines Services Nigeria Limited, Solar Turbines Services of Argentina S.R.L., Solar Turbines Switzerland Sagl, Solar Turbines Trinidad & Tobago Limited, Solar Turbines West-Africa SARL, Tangshan DBT Machinery Co. Ltd., Tecnologia Modificada S.A. de C.V., Towmotor Corporation, Traction & Mining Motor Repairs Pty Ltd, Turbinas Solar S.A. de C.V., Turbinas Solar de Colombia S.A., Turbinas Solar de Venezuela C.A., Turbo Tecnologia de Reparaciones S.A. de C.V., Turbomach, Turbomach Endustriyel Gaz Turbinleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited, Turbomach France SARL, Turbomach GmbH, Turbomach Netherlands B.V., Turbomach Pakistan (Private) Limited, Turbomach S.A. Unipersonal, Turbomach Sp. Z o.o., Turner Powertrain Systems Limited, UK Hose Assembly Limited, Underground Imaging Technologies Inc, United Industries LLC, VALA Inc., Vasky Energy Ltd., Wealdstone Engineering, Weir - Oil & Gas Division, West Virginia Auto Shredding Inc., Western Gear Machinery LLC, Wetland Sustainability Fund I LLC, Williams Technologies, Yard Club, Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Sales Co. Ltd., and okyo Rental Ltd..

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It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. engages in designing, building, overhauling, and repairing military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Technical Solutions. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of ships. In addition, the company offers naval nuclear support services, including fleet services comprising design, construction, maintenance, and disposal activities for in-service the U.S. Navy nuclear ships; and maintenance services on nuclear reactor prototypes. Further, it provides life-cycle sustainment services to the U.S. Navy fleet and other maritime customers; high-end information technology and mission-based solutions for Department of Defense (DoD), intelligence, and federal civilian customers; nuclear management and operations and environmental management services for the Department of Energy, DoD, state and local governments, and private sector companies; defense and federal solutions; and unmanned systems. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.
The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: APM Grundstucksverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Accelerated Production Systems, Acme Cryo Intermediate Inc., Acme Cryogenics, Acme Cryogenics Inc., Acme Elevator, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o., Advansor Germany GmbH, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International, Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Audax ECII Blocker Inc., Auto Glanz Solutions LLC, AvaLAN Wireless Systems Incorporated, BELVAC CR spol s r.o., BSC Filters Limited, Belanger, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., Blackmer, BlitzRotary GmbH, Blue Bite LLC, Blue Bite LLC, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CDS Visual, CDS Visual Inc., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., Cryogenic Experts LLC, DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DESTACO UK Limited, DFH Corporation, DFS Netherlands B.V., Datamax International Corp, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Dositec Sistemas SL, Dosmatic U.S.A. Inc., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services Europe S.R.L., Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Products Segment Inc., Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings, Dover France Participations, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover Imaging & Identification Segment Inc., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Pumps & Process Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover Switzerland Participations GmbH, Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dresser Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dresser Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ECI - IGT Holdings LLC, ECI Holding Company LLC, ECI RegO S. de R.L. de C.V, ECI RegO Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., ECII (Mexico) LLC, EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty Ltd, Em-Tec, Engineered Controls International LLC, Espy, Ettlinger, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems Company, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Industrial Motion Control LLC, Innovative Control Systems, Innovative Control Systems Inc., Inpro/Seal LLC, JK Group, JK Group S.P.A., JK Group USA Inc., K S Boca Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Knowles Electronics, LIQAL, LIQAL B.V., Liquip, Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MAAG, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM-IMAJE Corporation, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions, MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag, Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Gala Inc., Maag Germany GmbH, Maag Italy S.R.L., Maag Pump Systems, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Reduction Inc., Maag Service (Malaysia) Sdn. Bdn., Maag Service (Taiwan) Ltd., Maag Systems (Thailand) Limited, Macro Technologies LLC, Malema, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje - Unipessoal Lda, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Philippines Corporation, Markem-Imaje Pty. Ltd., Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l., Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn. Bhd., Markem-Imaje Singapore Pte. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A., Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Midwest Cryogenics Inc., Mouvex, Northeast Services Inc., Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International, OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OK International Ltd., OPW Engineered Systems LLC, OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluid Transfer Solutions (Jiang Su) Co. Ltd., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing, PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSD Codax Holdings Limited, PSD Codax Limited, PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG California LLC, PSG Germany GmbH, Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Production Control Services, Pump Management Services Co. LLC, Quantex Arc Limited, Quantex Patents Limited, RAV France, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, RegO (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., RegO Holding GmbH, RegO Products, RegO Valve (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Rego GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario, Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd., SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP France, SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Shanghai RegO Flow Technology Company Ltd., Shine Bloom - ECI A Blocker Corp., Shine Bloom - ECI Blocker Corp., Shine Bloom - ECI S Blocker Corp., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Soft-Pak, Solaris Laser, Solaris Laser S.A., Somero Enterprises, Sound Solutions, Sound Solutions, Space S.R.L., Spirit, Start Italiana S.R.L., Superior Holding LLC, Superior Products LLC, Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions, Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., Systech, TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Espy Corporation, The Heil Co., Tokheim, Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Triton Systems, Tulsa Winch Inc., UPCO Inc., US Synthetic, Unattended Payment Solutions LLC, Unified Brands, Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vehicle Service Group UK Limited, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., WSCR Corp., Warn Automotive LLC, Warn Industries, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Corporation, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems, Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., WellMark, WellMark, and em-tec GmbH.

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Citigroup Inc. is one of the worlds largest financial institutions. It is the 13th largest bank globally by assets and 8th by market cap with operations in consumer and institutional banking. In the US, Citigroup is the 3rd largest bank by assets and one of the Big Four deemed systemically important and too big to fail.

Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. The bank was run by Samuel Osgood who led the company with success for many years, even throughout the War of 1812. The bank was later renamed the National City Bank of New York in 1865 and by 1895 is the largest bank in the US. In 1913 it was the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a few years later it began to expand into overseas territories.

The bank became the First National City Bank of New York after another merger in 1955 and then later, the New York part was dropped off as part of the 150th-anniversary celebration. By 1974 the company is known as Citicorp which is still the operational branch of the business and a global banking powerhouse. A merger with Travelers insurance group in 1998 resulted in the name Citigroup but the joint venture did not last. By 2002 Travelers was publicly traded once again but Citigroup retained the new name.

Today, the company is headquartered in New York, New York but boasts more than 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries worldwide. As of mid-2022, it operated 2,649 branches in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. The company reports nearly 725 branches in the US and 1499 in Mexico with the rest scattered throughout its territory. Total annual revenue topped $75 billion in 2022.

Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that owns Citicorp among other assets. The companys mission is to serve as a trusted partner providing responsible financial solutions to its clients. Citigroup provides financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. The company operates in two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG).

The GCB segment offers traditional banking services including deposit and saving accounts, credit cards, personal loans, home loans, and investment services. This segment operates through local branches and digital means. The ICG segment offers wholesale banking products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients.
Kimco Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on open-air mall-style properties in the US and is among the largest mall REITs on the market. The firm has been in business since the post-war boom of the 1966 and trading on the public markets since 1991. The name is a blend of the founders names, Martin Kimmel and Milton Cooper, who merged their assets in order to form the larger company.

The stock was added to the S&P 500 in 2006 and has held its position ever since. Kimco is also know for being the first vertically integrated REIT meaning it is internally managed and advised, and provides its own asset and property management. The firm raised $120 million with its IPO and was worth $11.4 billion in October 2022.

As of October 2022, the company laid claim to more than 530 properties enclosing 92 million square feet of retail space. The properties are primarily located within grocery-anchored shopping centers and mixed-use assets in suburban areas. The tenant-focus is on a diverse blend of essential and/or necessity-based goods or services that drive multiple consumer trips per week and provide stable income.

Kimco Realty is headquartered in Jerico, N.Y., but does not limit its investments by geography. The companys properties are located in 1st-ring suburbs surrounding major metropolitan areas from coast to coast. One area of focus is high-barrier-to-entry coastal properties in population-dense vacation zones while another is the rapidly expanding Sun Belt.

The firm offers a variety of services and features apart from property rentals that include curbside pickup zones and many others that enhance the tenant and consumer experience. Other features include digital maintenance requests, Click Pay, and a Discount Program. Some of the markets served by Kimco Realty include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami, and Atlanta.
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 Pentagon is sending more than 63 tons of Thanksgiving Day meals to troops in war zones -- all to be washed down by 879 gallons of buzzless eggnog that definitely would not pass muster with the late Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook rattled off stats Tuesday on what is being delivered by the Defense Logistics Agency -- 34,760 pounds of turkey, 21,450 pounds of ham, 32,550 pounds of beef, 28,980 pounds of shrimp, 9,114 pounds of stuffing, and the 879 gallons of non-alcoholic eggnog -- for the troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait.

The idea is to make Thanksgiving "as joyous a holiday as possible for those personnel who can't be home with their families," Cook said.

Eisenhower, and other generals going back to George Washington, were particular about what ought to be in the eggnog to set all that holiday cheer in motion. The recipe books say that eggnog with booze added can be called "milk punch" or "egg milk punch."

Ike's recipe made the punch a haymaker.

Last year, to mark Thanksgiving, the National Archives published the eggnog recipe used by Eisenhower, who liked his bourbon even if it had to be put in eggnog for the occasion.

This is what Eisenhower recommended: one dozen egg yolks, one pound granulated sugar, one quart coffee cream, one quart whipping cream, and one quart bourbon (rum or brandy can also be thrown in after the bourbon -- Ike didn't care which, or how much.)

The National Archives included Eisenhower's guide to preparing the concoction: Run all the other stuff through a mixer and then "begin to add the bourbon very slowly."

He said the next step was to "put the whole thing in the ice box until a half-hour before serving."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
DETROIT - Thirty-two small businesses have been selected as winners in a competitive grant program and will share $500,000 in awards to help grow their companies.

The New Economy Initiative announced this week that the winning businesses, chosen from the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park -- which the group reports are 75-percent minority-owned and 60 percent women-owned -- were chosen from a pool of more than 600 applicants.

The "NEIdeas" challenge rewards companies with the best ideas related to growth with cash prizes, and provides technical assistance to all applicants.

A total of $1.5 million has been awarded to 96 businesses since NEIdeas launched in 2014.

Ranging in age from 3 to 94 years old, the 32 winning businesses represent a variety of sectors, including construction, education, farming, food, manufacturing, retail, service, technology and transportation.

Thirty of the businesses will receive $10,000 each, while two were selected to receive $100,000 for their ideas for growth.

The Detroit Training Center and Louisiana Creole Gumbo each won $100,000 prizes.

The former, a workforce training center, submitted the idea to expand its commercial driver license certification program by purchasing new tractor-trailers for student test driving, in addition to increasing the marketing of its program.

The latter, a Detroit restaurant and catering service, submitted the idea to purchase mobile food trucks with built-in hot and cold facilities to provide food services to employment centers across the city.

The following is a list of the 30 winners of the $10K challenge:

Above & Beyond Learning Child Care Center; childcare services (Detroit)

All About Technology; technology repair and retail (Detroit)

Bob's Classic Kicks; retail and clothing manufacturing (Detroit)

Cabresto Imports; spirits importer (Detroit)

Champs Landscaping; landscaping services (Detroit)

City Center Coin Laundry Co.; laundry services (Detroit)

Corbe; pottery studio (Detroit)

Detroit House Carpentry; carpentry services (Hamtramck)

Fresh Cut Detroit Flower Farm; floral services (Detroit)

Good Juice; juice processing (Detroit)

Gourmet Food Center; soul food processing (Detroit)

Gaudalajara #2; Mexican grocery and restaurant (Detroit)

Highland Park Tire Full Auto Services; auto repair (Highland Park)

Hunt & Noyer; custom furniture maker (Detroit)

JLH Heating & Air Conditioning; heating and cooling services (Detroit)

La Posada; Mexican restaurant (Detroit)

Roby's Shoes; shoe retail (Detroit)

Sevonty Restoration; stained glass window restoration (Detroit)

Sha La Cynt's; gourmet popcorn maker (Detroit)

Smith Shop; metalworking studio (Detroit)

Socra Tea; tea house (Detroit)

Spa-A-Peel Studio; day spa and beauty salon (Detroit)

Spectacles; clothing and fashion retail store (Detroit)

The Cleaning Doctors; cleaning services (Detroit)

Toriana's Blessed House of Beauty and Spa; mobile beauty salon and spa (Detroit)

Triangle Pro Hardware; hardware store (Detroit)

Very Special Van Service; transportation company (Detroit)

Welco & Co. Inc.; construction contractor (Detroit)

Xenophora; fine jewelry maker (Detroit)

Zarkpa's Purses and Accessories; fashion and retail store (Detroit)

Though 2016 was initially planned as the final year of the NEIdeas challenge, New Economy Initiative said it has decided to bring back the challenge for an encore year in 2017.

"Over the past three years, NEIdeas has given us the opportunity to connect with more than 1,700 small businesses in the city," said Rodrick Miller, president and CEO of Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

"NEIdeas, with its focus on existing businesses, is a critical piece of Detroit's small business support system. This system is essential in helping every Detroiter participate in our economic expansion."
DETROIT -- A public hearing on redevelopment plans for the Packard Plant Administration Building on the city's east side is scheduled to take place Tuesday, according to the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

On Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., the City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, which is considering a proposal for the building, will take comments from the public at 1600 East Grand Boulevard, Suite 303, in Detroit.

The Packard Plant, which first opened in 1903 as an automobile manufacturing facility and hosted various businesses through the early 2000s, consists of the administration building at 1580 East Grand Boulevard, two interior corridors at 5821 and 5847 Concord and two vacant lots at 5580 and 5590 Concord.

The sprawling campus has long been one of the city's most dramatic and visible symbols of blight at a once-impressive industrial site.

The Packard Plant property was purchased by Arte Express Detroit, LLC in an auction held by Wayne County in late 2013.

Arte Express is owned by Fernando Palazuelo, a Spanish-born international developer who now lives in Lima, Peru.

"We do have tenants lined up to join us in the Administration Building once it's occupy-able," said Kari Smith, Packard Plant Project development director. Smith says construction activities will commence in the spring. (Courtesy: Packard Plant Project)

Attendees of Tuesday's meeting can provide written testimony or materials concerning the proposed redevelopment.

"The Brownfield Plan is basically funding for the removal of contaminated debris on a specified site," Kari Smith, Packard Plant Project development director, said. "Brownfield sites are commonly sites that were former industrial, have a lot of contamination and might have storage tanks underneath the ground.

"We have quite a bit of debris out here ... and so the project definitely fits into a brownfield location."

Copies of the proposed Brownfield Plan can be obtained from the offices of the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, 500 Griswold, Suite 2200, in Detroit.

Smith said a final decision on the Brownfield Plan will be made by the end of January, and, now that city council has approved the project's OPRA (Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act) designation, construction activities will commence in the spring.

"We're very excited about (beginning construction)," Smith said. "We've had a lot of support from the state and county. And we do have tenants lined up to join us in the Administration Building once it's occupy-able."
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Dozens of incidents of discrimination and intimidation have been collected by Grand Rapids city officials in the weeks since the presidential election.

The incidents, many of which were found via social media posts, range from racial slurs to clear threats and even an assault.

A Ethiopian immigrant and Grand Rapids cab driver reported on Nov. 12 being beat by a man yelling "Trump, Trump, Trump." The alleged assailant, who was arrested on a charge of assault and battery, was caught on camera shouting racial slurs at the driver while he spoke with police.

The Grand Rapids Police Department has not reported any official complaints during the last week, according to city officials.

But "dozens" of incidents occurring across the region have been recounted in social media posts being compiled by the Grand Rapids Community Relations Commission, according to Staff Liason and Diversity and Inclusion Manager Patti Caudill.

The city commission is asking any residents interested in filing a complaint about discrimination or intimidation in the wake of the election to send the information via email to CRC@grcity.us.

Caudill said the City of Grand Rapids encourages those who experience intimidation to immediately call 911.

However, once the immediate threat has passed, she encourages citizens to officially file a complaint with the commission as well.

"While sharing your experiences on social media is cathartic, we are asking those who experience threats of all types of intimidation to follow up with the CRC after filing a police report," Caudill said. "These reports can help to make change and bring about justice. Please be vigilant. If you experience something or witness discrimination or intimidation of any kind, please say something."

The issue has been a high priority to Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, who posted about the issue in the week following the election.

"There is absolutely no excuse for treating individuals this way. I believe we model the behavior we wish to see, especially for the children in our community," Bliss wrote. "I believe we strive to be a welcoming, inclusive and caring community, and when we witness or experience the sort of treatment that many have received this past week, we need to respond."

According to the complied social media posts, much of the harassment centers around the alleged victims' sexual orientation, race and ethnicity.

Some examples are of verbal abuse and threats, while others involve items being thrown and other examples of physical abuse.

Caudill said the recent uptick in concerns expressed on social media fits in to what has been happening across the United States.

"This isn't unique to Grand Rapids but, all the same, it is concerning," she said. "We echo the sentiments proclaimed by Mayor Bliss earlier this week and want our residents to know that these types of incidents will not be tolerated or accepted in our community."

The mission of the Grand Rapids Community Relations Commission includes development of a mutual understanding among all without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, disability, source of lawful income, sexual orientation or gender identity.

The commission serves as an advisory, operational and quasi-judicial body to the Grand Rapids City Commission. Among its duties is a responsibility to investigate complaints of discrimination and related concerns.
HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, MI -- An Ottawa County sheriff's deputy is on paid leave after shooting and killing a 43-year-old man who came at him with a large knife.

The shooting happened shortly after 8 p.m, Wednesday, Nov. 23 in an apartment at Beeline Apartments, at 314 Beeline Road.

Ottawa County Sheriff-elect Steve Kempker said the deputy and a reserve deputy responded to the man's apartment on a medical call. The man had called authorities himself.

Police did not disclose the nature of the medical issue.

When police arrived, the man came out of the apartment with a "very large knife," Kempker said.

The deputy told the man to drop the knife.

"The subject did not drop the knife and continued to aggress toward the officer," he said.

The deputy then fired at the man. Kempker said the deputy fired three times.

State police are investigating the shooting.

"We have a lot of unknowns that we're working on," Kempker said about the motive behind the 43-year-old man's behavior.

He said the reserve deputy was at the scene, but did not fire his weapon.
HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, MI -- The neighbor of a man shot and killed by an Ottawa County sheriff's deputy said his behavior had changed significantly in the last couple of months.

"I'm in shock right now," said the woman.

The man, who lived in an apartment at 314 Beeline Road in Holland Township, was shot and killed when he approached a deputy with a large knife and refused to drop it.

The deputy fired three shots about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23 just outside the man's apartment.

Police had responded to the apartment for a medical call. The 43-year-old was the one who made the call for help, police said.

When a deputy and a reserve officer arrived at the scene, they knocked at the door and he emerged with the knife. The shooting happened seconds later.

The neighbor said the 43-year-old man had told his wife to leave a couple of months ago. She said his demeanor changed significantly about that time.

The wife eventually was able to get enough money to go home to Kentucky to be with family.

She described the man as a Christian who frequently read the bible. She said he would sometimes cook and give her leftovers.

She said the man had back problems and did not work.

"His wife would quit jobs to take care of him," she said.

The neighbor said Wednesday was not the first time police had been called to the apartment.

State police are investigating the shooting and a report will be forwarded to the Ottawa County Prosecutor's office for review.
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MARQUETTE COUNTY, MI -- A 21-year-old man died Wednesday, Nov. 23, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from what police are describing as an accidental shooting.

The shooting was reported at 9:22 p.m. when troopers from the Michigan State Police Negaunee Post were dispatched to a residence on N 1311 County Road KCI in Powell Township.

The man was taken to Marquette General Hospital where he died.

The incident remains under investigation. There is no ongoing threat to public safety resulting from this incident, police said.



Troopers were assisted by personnel from the MSP Crime Labs out of Marquette and Grayling, along with Powell Township EMS and UP Health Systems.
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Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Ex-choir director in Bucks County pleads no contest to molesting two students, secretly filming another
Standing at the open door and getting ready to jump out of an airplane at 13,000 feet above the ground, San Jose Skydiving Center owner Andrew Simmons can feel the body of his tandem jumper tense up.

Simmons, a 35-year-old skydiver with more than 5,000 jumps over eight years on his resume, loves to share his extreme-sport passion with just about anybody willing to take the leap of faith with him or one of his employees.

Its loud. The wind is hitting you. You cant communicate with your instructor, said Simmons of the first few seconds after jumping out of the aircraft. I can feel the tension in peoples bodies when I push them out of the plane. Its a rigid 5-10 seconds and then you can feel them take their first breath and feel them relax into it.

Then, the parachute opens up and together the skydivers cruise like a bird soaring through the sky and enjoy their serene surroundings with views to Santa Cruz, Monterey and Moss Landing to the North Bay and even the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a clear day.

Its pretty intense. Words just dont do it justice. Its like describing a sunset; until you see it you dont really know, said the well-traveled Wichita, Kansas native who skydived around the globe before settling into his new business out of South County Airport in San Martin nine months ago.

On his best day, Simmons participates and leads 56 expert sport jumps and 20 tandem jumps, totaling 96 bodies falling out of the sky, he said. The adventurer and entrepreneur has two airplanes, six full-time employees and five part-time workers that offer up the thrill of a lifetime seven days a week at up to 13,000 feet.

Its great. I jump out of an airplane to put bread on the table, Simmons said. Its a labor of passion. I couldnt imagine doing anything else. Its the hardest and most rewarding job Ive ever done.

For Simmons, it started like any other 20-something year old thrill seeker who got the bug to jump out of a plane.

Within six months of my first skydive, I sold my house and all my cars and set out to the West Coast in 2009, said Simmons, who completed 46 jumps in Kansas. I packed everything in the back of my Nissan pickup, including my motorcycle and a tent.

Simmons spent three months in Arizona, but couldnt take the heat, before venturing to Southern California, where he worked and built up his experience for three years in Lake Elsinore. He earned his Accelerated Freefall (AFF) rating, giving him a license to teach skydiving, and also got his tandem instructor rating that allows you to attach people to you and skydive, Simmons explained. Instructors must have a minimum of three years in the sport with 500 skydives before being able to get certified.

After learning the ropes of the skydiving business working at a seasonal operation in New York, Simmons got the idea that maybe he could start his own operation. He first spent six months backpacking in Southeast Asia and then another year in Hawaii before returning to Southern California. Simmons, who had visited the Bay Area in his many travels, then started to research locations where he could start his new business.

I wanted to come to a place that was willing to work with me. (South County Airport) has a basic idea of how they wanted the skydiving operation to work. They even had a skydiving application online, said Simmons on how he landed in San Martin. He submitted business proposals to about six other airports.

They all said, Nope, we dont want skydiving here. But Santa Clara said how can we make this work together, Simmons continued. They were more welcoming than other places.

Simmons explained that Santa Clara County had one of the strictestand most expensiveinsurance policy requirements he had come across, but it was worth it.

I was worried that the aviation community wasnt gonna like skydiving here, but that wasnt the case at all, Simmons said. The aviation community received us surprisingly well.

Director of County Airports Eric Peterson echoed Simmons sentiments of having a positive relationship with one of San Martins newest aeronautical business owners.

There are a couple of little things that weve chatted about and hes always receptive if theres some minor change for efficiency or safety, said Peterson, who has seen airport activity increase with the welcoming of skydiving as well as the Gavilan College aviation program on the grounds.

Now off and running since Feb. 9, customers can book reservations online at sanjoseskydivingcenter.com. No experience is necessaryjust an appointment. Upon arrival, customers fill out paperwork, watch an instructional video, meet with their instructor, put gear on, more brief instruction and your instructor takes care of everything, Simmons said. At San Jose Skydiving Center, all instructors have at least 2,000 jumps with the most seasoned at 11,000.

You spend about 15 minutes with your instructor and then hop in the airplane and climb up, Simmons explained.

It takes about 20 minutes to get up to 13,000 feet. After jumping out, there is about a one minute free fall, the parachute opens up and then its a four to seven minute descent to the landing zone at South County Airport.

The instructor takes care of the landing, Simmons said. You land on the ground and become the worlds newest skydiver.

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Where: South County Airport, 13030 Murphy Ave. in San Martin

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When: Seven days a week

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Who: AFF certified skydiver/owner Andrew Simmons and staff

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How: Online at sanjoseskydivingcenter.com or call (408) 759-0801
The City of Morgan Hill asked residents for questions and comments on the California High Speed Rail Authoritys plans to build the 200-mph-plus train through or around the city. Below are some of those comments and questions, which city staff presented to the Morgan Hill City Council at the Nov. 16 meeting and are available to view on the citys website. The council plans to submit a comprehensive list of questions about the HSRs potential impact on Morgan Hill, in hopes of influencing the state agencys choice on its preferred route alignment. Concerned residents can still submit questions and comments to the city by visiting morganhill.ca.gov and searching for High Speed Rail, which will bring users to a page with information and forms for submitting input. See related story for more information on the HSRAs four alignment alternatives. Comments below are edited for length and clarity.

Has there been consideration of tourism and quality-of-life impact when considering a final alignment choice, or is it purely economic? An HSR alignment through downtown Morgan Hill would destroy the character of this unique area.

Andrew Sterian

Why would the alignment not occur in the most obvious locationalong with the existing railroad line?? The home value and quality of living in the Diana neighborhood will be severely impacted should the rail be put in along the west side of 101. My house will not be one purchased in eminent domain but would be in the first row of houses adjacent to the planned location on the west side of 101. The rail will without a doubt create a negative impact on my homes value. Please consider what will happen to home values in the entire Diana neighborhood should the west side (alignment) be chosen. Why would you add a rail line in a neighborhood instead of in a downtown area where it makes sense. The community should share the burden of the rails addition, not the homeowners, who already live next to 101 to begin with! Please do what you can to prevent loss of the investment we made when purchasing a home in Morgan Hill.

Dana Morton

Will there be any tall redwood trees planted to on both sides of the raised viaduct to mitigate noise and visual impact?

William Carlson

What can the city of Morgan Hill do to stop this huge boondoggle?

Mark Hinkle

How will the HSR determine which properties need to be taken? How will the HSR ensure that there is no loss to the residential properties that are not strictly needed for right of way access but would be close to the proposed route? Will the HSR purchase enough residential properties alongside the track to ensure that there is a cushion of green space and thereby ensure that the remaining homes property values are not impacted? Will anything be done to beautify the space between the HSR and the residential areas around it? Will homeowners who wish to move for no other reason but that the HSR will be constructed in their neighborhood be reimbursed realty fees and any loss in property value due to the HSR being present or the need to disclose its future presence? Will the HSR work with the City to make sure that no resident is financially hurt?

Susan Eassa

How many trains will be scheduled to travel through Morgan Hill on a daily basis?

Lauri Quigley

Why wouldnt the money be spent on widening and fixing our freeways. We can hardly move around on the freeway. We keep being told theres no money but you can build this and it wont even be used for many people.

Traci Valdez

If the East or West 101 routes through Morgan Hill are chosen, how will you mitigate impact on Coyote Creek Park and Trail including impacts to wildlife, waterfowl, and birds that call that area home? In addition, how will you maintain the current quiet and peaceful rural environment for hikers, walkers and bicyclists?

Debra Ullmann

Are there plans or intentions to provide bus service to the San Jose and Gilroy terminals? If so, will fares be included in the cost of HSR tickets? Will the residents of Morgan Hill be provided with lower ticket rates? Will VTA bus schedules be aligned with train schedules? Will VTA and HSR offer interchangeable tickets? How about with BART, ACE and Caltrain? Will HSR work with local companies and schools to provide lower ticket rates?

Yudhvir Sidhu

Will there be a study about noise pollution effects in Morgan Hill?

Pravin Lathigara

I am concerned about the increased traffic downtown and safety if the high speed train goes along Monterey highway and through downtown Morgan Hill. How will pedestrian traffic be protected? How often are these trains projected to run?

Jeanne Wise
With Thanksgiving now in the rear view mirror, the insanity driven by commercialism gets its annual high holy season. Many in the media will point out how Starbucks coffee cups, abbreviating the word Christmas, or saying Happy Holidays shows a liberal conspiracy in the so-called culture wars.

Who cares, really? Doesnt capitalism hinge on the free market and people selling their wares any way they want? If one wanted to ask truly relevant questions, one might ask why we as a society have allowed the entire month of December to be consumed by commercialism. The irony of culture warriors griping about what people sell, is that they likely participate in the same consumer culture that degrades human dignity far more than writing Xmas ever did.

As the election neared its completion and since the election has been over, how many hundreds of times have we all heard someone say, Ill just be glad when those political ads are over. Right! Now we can get back to normal with commercials selling us more stuff we dont need. As usual, the irony is lost on us.

For me, like a lot of folks, the day after Thanksgiving is the day when you clean up the house to get it ready for what my mother used to call Christmas tree formation. That means the vacuum cleaner will be running, the house will smell like furniture polish, windex, and Chlorox, and dust bunnies will swirl. In my childhood and early teenage years, ones not dominated by drought and forest fires, Id burn brush and yard waste and/or go into the woods to cut wood with my uncles. This meant that I often walked into the house smelling like smoke or chainsaw exhaust. My mother would yell through the house for me to leave my shoes on the porch and to get busy getting rid of what you dont need. Of course, she was generally thinking about getting the Christmas (Xmas? hahahaha!) tree up, so she didnt want any clutter in the way  things were tight enough in our house as it was.

I dont remember the day after Thanksgiving ever being called anything like Black Friday. What I remember is waking up early and packing turkey sandwiches to carry into the woods with me. Or I remember pulling out the couch cushions and finding things I hadn't seen in months. Or maybe I remember moving the couch itself and finding dirty socks or underwear hidden by the dog. For my family, the day after Thanksgiving was about setting the stage, preparing an atmosphere for something that we believed was truly transcendent. As nuts as my family was, and maybe it says something about growing up in those years, we werent chasing the shallow commercialized Black Friday fad, we enacted rituals of getting ready for Christmas that served somebody else (my grandparents) or that put my own excess right in front of me warranting a ritual cleansing by throwing or giving some things away.

Of course, as you might guess, Ive become just as persuaded by the hyper commercialism as anyone. I have way more than I need. I want more. My kids want more and I want to give it to them. Then, the flood of commercials seduces us into thinking that we arent normal if we dont lose our minds over the discounts on Black Friday (since when do we capitalize that phrase?). Millions of Americans will rush out to shopping malls, altars enshrining the violation of the 10th Commandment (thou shalt not covet). The last thing a consumer culture wants is any kind of self-assessment about real needs, any kind of repentance (turning around) for our excess. Its a good thing we have conservatives out there all in a dither about saying Happy Holidays! Dont miss the irony, there.

Years ago, like almost 2000 years ago, the people who believed in Jesus often abbreviated their belief about the man by using the first Greek letter in the word Christ it was a Chi, which looks a whole lot like an X. Christians in those first 300 years after Jesus walked the earth were an underground, counter-culture movement, considered to be conspirators who believed that Jesus was a higher power than Caesar. That X was how the conspirators recognized one another and how they declared what they really believed was real.

On "black Friday" and throughout December, our culture will lose its collective mind and declare its allegiance to capitalism. But I think Im going to try to prepare for Xmas. Ironic isnt it.

Jonathan Henley is the host of Road Signs radio show, which airs Sunday nights from 10 p.m. to midnight on 1065 The End. Contact Henley via email at roadsigns@1065.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/roadsignsradio. Read past columns and join his blog at www.1065.com/onair/road-signs-51152/.
The Ukrainian government has annulled 367 various resolutions and acts overregulating businessmen' operations, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.

"Today this is an example of the solution that would help us to climb in the Doing Business Index by 10 positions," he said, opening a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The prime minister said that this will concern all spheres where extra regulation hinders business development and creates corruption risks.

"We would annul everything in packages. If a ministry wants to leave some regulating rules, let it explain this in public," Groysman said.

First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Maksym Nefyodov said that the list drawn up with the participation of the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) has outdated documents such as regulation of the volumes of hay and its price on the markets, but most of them are those which business is suffering from. He pointed out the revoking of oversight over observation of Soviet standards and a ban to store property in containers or wagons.

Nefyodov said that among other important decisions is facilitation of the rules for installing mobile communications towers, annulment of the floor prices of notary services, automation of the pecuniary appraisal of land parcels, updating of the typical land leasing agreement and updating of oil and gas production rules.

The revised license conditions related to fire prevention and industrial fish catch were approved.
It would be nice if President-elect Donald Trump took one of the most serious threats to life on earth seriously, but he does not. Trump called global warming a Chinese "hoax" during the campaign, and he's assigned a science dunce to lead the transition at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The comforting news is that America can move past the black hole of ignorance in Trump's Washington  or New York or wherever he is. Enlightened state and city governments, as well as the private sector, can provide the leadership. As it happens, they're already on the case.

Huge example: During the Paris climate change conference last December, Bill Gates organized a handful of billionaires and came up with $15 billion for his Breakthrough Energy Coalition. The group's mission is to fund research on radical new clean energy technologies.

"Ten guys in a room produced more money than the entire world community of nations in commitment of resources," Daniel Esty, professor of environmental law and policy at Yale Law School, told me.

"I'm not as sad or crushed as some people (that Trump was elected)," he added. "When the federal government collapses, state governments step up."

California's war on greenhouse gases is already 10 years old. Its original goal was to reduce the state's carbon footprint to the 1990 level by the year 2020. The new goal is to shrink the carbon footprint to 40 percent (SET ITAL) below (END ITAL) the 1990 level by 2030.

After the election, Gov. Jerry Brown rejected the notion of defeat or backsliding. "We will protect the precious rights of our people and continue to confront the existential threat of our time  devastating climate change," he announced.

Brown is not without economic firepower. California is the world's sixth-biggest economy.

Regional compacts in the West, in the Northeast and elsewhere are following California's lead. There's also one in South Florida, where "king tides" are now flooding streets on perfectly sunny days.

Can Trump be educated on this issue  or at least tamed by forces he can't control?

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, again running for the office, vows to slap a carbon tax on American imports if Trump pulls us out of the Paris climate deal. Could that happen?

Absolutely, according to Esty. Countries failing to meet international standards that form the base line for fair competition can be punished. And 195 nations have joined the Paris agreement.

Climate change has become a major priority for the U.S. Department of Defense. Rising waters already threaten Navy installations along the mid-Atlantic coast. And as the Arctic ice melts, Russia is opening bases in the region.

Higher temperatures worsen drought in Africa, unleashing mass migrations and spawning terrorists. Adm. Samuel Locklear III has called climate change the "biggest long-term security threat" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Trump may not know this, but China, the biggest producer of greenhouse gases, has been slashing its carbon emissions. How big is this? Ginormous. In the first four months of 2015, China cut emissions by an amount roughly equal to Britain's entire emissions for the same period.

The smaller carbon footprint is merely a byproduct of China's effort to clean up its putrid air. Getting rid of carbon emissions also gets rid of dirty air. That's why states are still going after them even though the greenhouse gases themselves spread evenly around the globe.

As for Trump, he's done little so far other than to embarrass reality-based Americans. But again, we can work around him.

Last summer, Brown told climate change deniers: "Bring it on. We'll have more battles, and we'll have more victories."

Can Jerry Brown be our alt-president?

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop, visit www.creators.com.
Chancellor Philip Hammond remained true to his reputation for prudence and caution in his first and last Autumn Statement. As such, there were few surprises for markets, with no Donald Trump-style spending plans or tax cuts, but some well-flagged measures to improve productivity and boost favoured industries.

Hammond kept faith with his predecessor George Osborne in promising a 3% chop in corporation tax to 17% by 2020. The Treasury estimates that this will save businesses 6.7 billion. However, he made no reference to Osbornes post-Brexit promise in July of this year to reduce it to 15%, to the disappointment of some sections of the business community.

Nevertheless, Paul Mumford, a fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management, welcomed the commitment to lower corporation tax: Domestic companies will see the benefit to cash flow and higher earnings per share, while the UK will become a more attractive environment for overseas investors. From that perspective, the cost of buying assets in the UK or setting up shop here is already much lower than it was before the Brexit vote because of the depreciation of Sterling, and added tax relief benefits will further the UKs appeal.

He believes it could boost domestic companies such as retailers, construction companies and property companies that have suffered from the currency deprecation, with lower tax bills going some way to alleviate the cost of imports and mitigating the pressures of the increased living wage.

Housing Remains Top of the Agenda

Once again, housing remained an area of focus. The Chancellor announced plans to ban letting fees for tenants. At the moment, letting agencies  which are appointed by landlords - have been able to charge both tenants and landlords for administrative services such as checking references or preparing a tenancy agreement, with an average cost to tenants of 337, according to Citizens Advice. These will be banned, following a consultation by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

There are fears the move may backfire, with landlords and/or letting agents seeking to recoup their costs through higher rents, but the major estate agency chains nevertheless took a significant hit: Foxtons saw its shares dip almost 14%; LSL Property and Countrywide saw more moderate falls. Shares in PurpleBricks, the low-cost challenger to the mainstream estate agents, also saw falls of around 5%.

Shares in the housebuilders were also lacklustre on the day in spite of further pledges to affordable housing construction. The Government committed 1.4 billion investment to building 40,000 new affordable homes, with a further 2.3bn for a housing infrastructure fund designed to provide 100,000 new homes in high-demand areas.

Tom Stevenson, investment director for personal investing at Fidelity International, says: Were probably not looking at a 1930s style building boom, but there were significant sums committed in the Autumn Statement to support the construction of new homes and improve infrastructure. Housebuilders could gain, although the reaction from shares in the sector has been mixed, if not slightly negative.

This may have been because the changes had been well-flagged and there was little new information to excite investors. Also, housebuilders no longer look good value, says Dan Hanbury, manager of the River & Mercantile UK Equity Income fund: George Osborne had been very supportive of the housebuilders, helping supply constraints.

However, there is an increasing recognition that the housing market is now inflated to an extent that is not healthy for the economy.We have a zero weighting in the housebuilders. They are cash generative and pay dividends, but the valuations still look high to us.

Hammond Delivers on Infrastructure Promise

Infrastructure was another area of focus, with an extra 1.3 billion allocated for road improvement and 1 billion designated to create a world class digital infrastructure. Stephenson believes this should be good news companies providing internet connections and network maintenance, but Colin Morton, portfolio manager on the Franklin UK Equity Income fund, said that the sums of money involved were small and not enough to move the dial for individual companies.

To fund spending commitments, Hammond announced an increase in insurance premium tax from 10% to 12%. Stephenson said this would hurt the insurers at the margin, making their products more expensive. Shares in insurers such as Direct Line and Aviva were marginally lower on the news.

Overall, Jason Hollands, managing director, Tilney BestInvest, said that there was very little for private investors in the Autumn Statement. He added: The bigger picture is a recalibration across developed economies, away from monetary to greater fiscal policy. However, this was not a Donald Trump-style fiscal loosening. There was a little extra spending on infrastructure, but still within a constrained approach. There were no big surprises.

Hanbury summed up the view of many when he said: In general, we try to manage round the Budget, looking longer-term. He points out that Hammond is so constrained by the UKs twin deficits, he cant afford to take drastic action. Morton agrees: It highlights the lack of room for manoeuvre in the UK economy and that we ultimately remain hamstrung by debt in the short to medium term.
Speaker of Israel's Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein says he hopes that an agreement on a free trade area between Israel and Ukraine will be signed in 2017.

"Now talks on a free trade area between Ukraine and Israel are under way. I hope in 2017 - we don't aim at round anniversaries in our relations - such an agreement will finally be [signed]," he said at the forum, titled "Ukraine-Israel 2016: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations: From Common Heritage to a Shared Vision," held on Thursday.

The Knesset speaker said the signing of the agreement requires the intensification of work of state agencies not only in Ukraine, but also in Israel.

He expressed hope that the signing of the agreement would promote the development of relations between the two countries, in particular cooperation in the high-tech industry.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman met with Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein on Wednesday to discuss broader economic cooperation between the two countries and the recognition of the 1932-1933 Holodomor (artificial famine) in Ukraine as genocide, the Ukrainian Cabinet's press service reported.

"We are interested in seeing Israeli business have its representation in Ukraine," Groysman said. "A lot of fields in Ukraine may look interesting to Israeli achievements and technologies," he said.

"Strategic cooperation between our countries is of great significance. It would be good if we could use our opportunities as much as possible to develop our bilateral cooperation," he said.

He said he hoped preparations for signing a free trade treaty between Ukraine and Israel would be completed and that it would be signed by the end of next year.

The parties also discussed the possibility of the Israeli Knesset's recognition of the 1932-1933 Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.

"This does not concern any other state but it concerns Ukraine and Ukrainians. This was an artificially created tragedy, which claimed the lives of absolutely innocent people," Groysman said.

The parties also discussed the establishment of a memorial museum before the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) Massacre tragedy.

It was reported earlier that the Verkhovna Rada on November 16 ratified an agreement signed in June on temporary employment of Ukrainian workers in a number of industries on the Israeli labor market, and President Petro Poroshenko signed the ratified agreement on November 23.
The next round of regulatory changes due to take effect on November 30 might inspire a bout of higher rates, especially for affected borrowing segments such as refinancers and rental-property investors.In a November 21 piece for the Toronto real estate blog Move Smartly, contributor and broker Dave Larock noted that the upcoming changeswhich will restrict the types of low-ratio mortgages that are eligible for default insurancewill have a domino effect on consumers.Because the affected borrowers loans will no longer be eligible for default insurance, the number of lenders who can offer solutions to these borrowers will decrease, and the cost of these types of loans will increase, Larock stated.Over the very short term then, if youre a home owner who is contemplating a refinance of your existing mortgage, this is your last week to get your application in before the new changes take effect, he explained.While these changes could inspire a healthy evolution of private-market innovation over time, their impact will not be felt evenly across our regional markets, especially given the Trump-fueled bond-yield spike that proceeded them. Over the short-term, expect some mortgage rates to head higher this week as lenders prepare for November 30.Citing recent research by National Bank Financial, Larock added that (contrary to popular opinion) prices in both Vancouver and Toronto still have room to grow, which might give institutions another reason to hike rates.The study compared the prices of a 970-square-foot condo in the worlds most expensive cities and Vancouver ranked 14th while Toronto ranked 16th with the prices in both cities coming in at about half of the prices in New York.When you overlay that price comparison with the recent Economist survey of the worlds most liveable cities, which ranked Vancouver 3rd and Toronto 4th (New York was outside of the top 20), you can make the argument that both cities are only now getting their due on the world stage.
Last week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) head Evan Siddall raised the possibility of the Crown corporation raising the minimum down paymentcurrently at levels as low as 5 per centto alleviate the affordability crisis in the countrys real estate markets.



However, the CEO of one of the countrys private-sector mortgage insurance companies cautioned that such a move will only impact first-time buyers, a sector already suffering the most from the recent changes.



Regulatory changes over the last few years have made the first-time home buyer a very modest player in the overall Canadian housing market, Canada Guaranty CEO Andrew Charles told The Globe and Mail in an interview.



He added that a down payment hike will have a negligible impact on hotspots like Vancouver and Toronto, but will instead introduce further pain to struggling markets like Calgary and Edmonton.



Instead, federal officials should give a grace period for the effects of already-enacted changes to manifest before introducing more restrictions.



Step one is understand the impact of the changes that are in place already and understand what the overall impact of those changes will be, Charles said.



If the CMHC insists on further measures, it should focus on making private lendersrather than the consumersassure more housing risk, the CEO suggested.



CMHC has a long and rich history of supporting first-time home buyer markets in Canada going back decades, Charles stated. If the current management is uncomfortable supporting the first-time home buyer  then perhaps the private sector should take on more of that responsibility.


The introduction of export duty of around EUR 50 per cubic meter of unprocessed timber could be a compromise, if the moratorium to export round timber that the European Union is waiting from Ukraine is annulled, Chairman of the parliamentary committee for industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk has said.

"If we speak about theoretic compromises with our European partners, this could be the export fee on unprocessed timber or the export duty of around EUR 50. We understand that taking into account the cost of timber this would help to achieve the equivalent positive results similar to the effect of the moratorium," he said at a roundtable devoted to the problems of the wood processing sector.

He said that the desire to lift the moratorium under the EU pressure is unacceptable and against national interests.

"We respect our partner relations, but it is not true that the moratorium restricts their trade rights. We do not restrict trade rights. We speak only about unprocessed timber. Ukraine cannot be the resource country. We must create value," Halasiuk said.

He believes that the top priority tasks for developing the sector today is making order in the customs sphere, removal of smuggling, designing legislation about the domestic raw materials market and giving the preferential access for legal Ukrainian producers to raw materials.

The lawmaker said that bills on revoking the import duty and VAT on imports of equipment for wood processing being blocked in parliament now should be passed to stimulate the creation of new production facilities.
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Fridays long-awaited return of Gilmore Girls is tantamount to a hot toddy on a winters night, a soothing tonic for what might ail you, coupled with a whiskey kick that prompts grins, giggles and more than a few tears.

Yes, its the time of the year for comfort food and comfort television. Nothing makes the heart grow warmer than Lorelai, Rory and the rest of those lovable folks who populate TVs quaintest of towns, Stars Hollow.

Netflixs Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life tops a Santas sack brimming with festive TV newcomers, classic movies and glittery specials. Among the cavalcade of stars also lighting up screens this month and next are Dolly Parton, Jennifer Nettles, Ariana Grande, Kristin Chenoweth, Lady Gaga, James Taylor, Al Pacino, Shirley MacLaine and Melissa Joan Hart.

Holiday staples such as Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, Doctor Who and those saucy Victorias Secret Angels also return with their own brand of yuletide cheer.

More Information Turkey Day treats "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," 9 a.m., NBC: Kermit the Frog number starts spectacle. "The National Dog Show," noon, NBC: Every breed of pooch competes in Philadelphia. Football: Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys, 3:30 p.m., Fox. 'Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration," 7 p.m., ABC: Derek, Julianne Hough host. "Anne of Green Gables," 7 p.m., PBS: Retelling of the classic stars Martin Sheen. See More Collapse

The multitude of choices can prove daunting, particularly at a time when so many other demands  shopping, dinners, parties and more threaten to elevate your stress level and leave you mentally and emotionally taxed.

So in keeping with the theme of the carol The 12 Days of Christmas, Im making like a helpful elf and highlighting 12 shows of Christmas, offerings that stand out from the picturesque pack.

Gilmore Girls: A Day in the Life may be the shiniest jewel in the pile, a sentimental treat that should be embraced not only by fans of the old series, but newcomers as well.

Its four 90-minute chapters pick up nine years after the show ended on the CW and feature too many charming moments and original cast members to mention here. They start streaming Friday on Netflix.

Theyre keyed to the four seasons and follow three generations of Gilmore women: Rory, mom Lorelai and grandmother Emily, who, though older and presumably wiser, are feeling especially restless and directionless at this juncture in their lives.

When we last saw Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) in 2007, the latter had just graduated from Yale and was poised for a career in journalism. Her mom, meanwhile, seemed poised for romance after sharing a meaningful kiss with longtime pal Luke (Scott Patterson), who owns the local diner.

When were reintroduced to Lorelai in Winter, its almost as if no time has passed. She still runs the Dragonfly Inn, chugs coffee as if it were water and speaks in rapid-fire quips.

Shes soon joined by Rory, who pops into snow-blanketed Stars Hollow on the way to her next globe-trotting assignment  and were jolted into real time. Rory is 32 now, a fine-featured and dedicated career woman with an impressive piece in The New Yorker under her belt.

However, once they resume their trademark banter  lightning-fast and packed with pop- culture references  one instantly feels at home again.

Both actresses said it was great fun diving into that old familiar rhythm of speaking.

Its my favorite part of this show, Graham told TV critics at a recent Netflix session. It brought me back to the first time I read this part and fell in love with it. It just feels like such a perfect fit.

What has changed is their mother-daughter relationship. (Its not) a schoolgirl and her mom, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino said. Its two women  chicks. Suddenly they can have cocktails together.

With age, Rorys problems also have intensified.

Its not a story about a little girl anymore, Graham said. Its a story about a young woman and kind of the struggles she faces.

A relationship that hasnt changed much, at first glance anyway, is the strained one between Lorelai and her own mother (queenly Kelly Bishop), whos even fussier and more short-tempered after the death of her husband of 50 years (esteemed actor Edward Hermann, whose own passing is fondly remembered in the credits).

Half of me is gone, Emily sighs as she moves aimlessly around her Hartford mansion full of pricey collectibles she no longer has much feeling for.

Shes not alone in her unease. Rory, after ditching her New York apartment, is the picture of instability as she rifles through boxes of clothes that have been stashed at other peoples homes, never seeming to find the lucky outfit she seeks.

Current boyfriends seem forgettable and dispensable, a far cry from old exes Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Dean (San Antonios Jared Padalecki), both of whom return in Year in the Life.

As for Lorelai, she and Luke may have settled into comfortable cohabitation, but shes anything but comfortable.

While he seems content enough, Lorelai wonders if they shouldnt be seeking more. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, but lately, things seem hazier, she says.

Lightening the angst are the entertaining oddballs of cozy Connecticut town, Stars Hollow, which has been restored to its storybook glory.

We learn about Kirks latest crazy business scheme, hear what Lane and her band have been up to, check in on the towns troubadour and find out what trifle is being buzzed about at the latest town meeting.

Perhaps the best reason to watch A Year in the Life is the calm it inspires at a time thats far from peaceful.

Its extremely comforting in a world that is lacking comfort, Graham said. Television may offer lots of great choices, she aded, but many are stressful. So, this kind of stands out in the way that it did then.

Click through the slideshow above for my guide the best of the rest of holiday TV.

jjakle@express-news.net
Speaker of Israel's Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein says he believes long-term relations between Ukraine and Israel should be based on interaction between the two countries' parliaments.

"Parliaments [act] as representatives of the people, they may see a certain change in their individual composition, but the parliaments remain [as they are]. Those who really want to build real, long-term relationships on a solid basis between the two countries and the peoples must develop them through inter-parliamentary cooperation," he said at the forum, titled "Ukraine-Israel 2016: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations: From Common Heritage to a Shared Vision," held on Thursday.

Edelstein noted that he was born in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi, and is the second speaker of the Knesset who has arrived in Ukraine. The previous visit of the Knesset's speaker was held 23 years ago, when this post was held also by an ethnic Ukrainian, Shevach Weiss.

He added he hopes the two countries' parliaments will boost their interaction, and invited Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy to pay a return visit to Israel.
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Expanding pause in international financial support to Ukraine to result in loss of reserves, macroeconomic stability

A pause in international financial support to Ukraine appeared due to the populist policy of some political forces and their attempts to achieve early election, if protracted further than early 2017, would result in reduction of the country's forex reserves and create a serious risk to the achieved macroeconomic stability, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeriya Gontareva has said.

"If we continue cooperation [with international financial institutions, IFIs] early next year it is not much as if we do not do this I want that everyone understands that if we have $15.5 billion of reserves today we would start losing reserves each day," she said at a meeting of the NBU Council in Kyiv on Thursday.

"We would start losing that fragile stability each day, while we have lived for over 18 months in the stable macroeconomic situation," she said.

Gontareva said that next year the NBU predicts the deficit of the current account of Ukraine's balance of payment of $2.9 billion. The country would have to pay over $2.5 billion to service debts and $1 billion of the stand-by loan received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2014. She said that the basic forecast envisages receiving four tranches of $5.4 billion from the IMF in 2017.

"Flirting with populism and political insinuations swindle our state and damage macroeconomic stability," she said.

She pointed out the destructive position of Batkivschyna Party Leader Yulia Tymoshenko, accusing her again of presenting fake figures.

"This is totally out of line. We hope that these politicians would stand trial for all their frauds and for destroying our fragile macroeconomic stability," Gontareva said.
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement on maintenance of border road bridges on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border to be signed with the Hungarian government.

According to government resolution No. 852 dated November 23, the government empowered Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion to sign the document.

The signing of the agreement would help to create the legal basis for exploitation of border road bridges on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border. It is aimed at maintaining them in proper condition.
Sacramento, CA  A ballot measure that called for a faster appeals process for death row inmates apparently was appealing to voters as after the final tally on Tuesday it passed with 51 percent support.

Voters rejected a measure to scrap the states death penalty by 54 percent on Nov. 8th. Backers used the slogan mend not end capital punishment after suffering defeat in 2012 with 52 percent of voters rejected a similar repeal measure. Although a September Pew Research Center poll showed support for the death penalty at its lowest level in 40 years across the county and a pattern of states abolishing it in recent years, California joined two conservative states, Nebraska and Oklahoma in support of capital punishment on Election Day.

Some death penalty opponents have already asked the California Supreme Court to block measure from taking effect, which supporters call a frivolous stall tactic to delay executions that could otherwise resume next year. More than 900 convicted killers were sentenced to death row since the states death penalty was reinstated, but only 13 have been executed since 1978. The last execution by lethal injection was more than a decade ago. Currently 750 killers are on Californias death row.
Ukraine should play a decisive role as a transit country for Russian gas exported to the European Union after 2019, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic has stated.

He said building the Energy Union is the project that also applies to our neighbors. Russia is a particularly important neighbor of the European Union. The Energy Union brings us closer together. The situation is similar with Ukraine: we believe that after 2019 Ukraine should play a decisive role as a transit country for Russian gas exported to the European Union, he added.
The largest food pantry in Lake County is in need of a larger building.

Leesburg Benevolence Center serves over 6,000 people each year

Current building built in 1900s

Group hopes to raise $700,000 by end of year

Officials with the Benevolence Center in Leesburg say they serve over 6,000 hungry people each year. The food pantry partners with Second Harvest Food Bank to supply families with about 5 days worth of food. They also give out clothing and provide counseling.



Robert Riley uses the food pantry to feed his family. He told us without it they might not have had a Thanksgiving meal this year.



"It would have been cutting it close, but we would have managed somehow," said Riley. "But it's really thankful they do help out a lot."



Lee Evans, the Director of the Benevolence Center, said they get about 24,000 pounds of food each week. They store all of it in their current building, which was built in the 1900's and used to be an old train station.



"We are growing so much that we need a larger and better designed building to serve our clients," said Evans.



He said they're hoping to raise $700,000 by the end of the year for a new building through a fundraiser called "Beyond Thanksgiving." If you would like to help, visit www.christiancarecenter.org/beyondthanksgiving/.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has expressed confidence the European Union will be able to introduce a visa-free regime with Ukraine before the end of 2016.

At a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Juncker said he is confident that despite difficulties and differences existing between certain EU member countries and the European Parliament, a visa-free regime may be provided to Ukraine before the end of the year.

He also said the issue now rests with the European Parliament and the European Council in terms of agreeing on the mechanism of response to migration challenges in Europe.

Poroshenko, in turn, said "it was the position of the president of the European Council, the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Parliament that we have done everything [necessary to introduce visa waiver] and today inter-institutional negotiations [are underway] between the European Parliament and the European Council [on agreement by the European institutions of the mechanism of suspending visa-free regime with third countries]. I am very glad to hear the prediction of President Juncker that he is an optimist and believes that this [agreeing on the mechanism] will conclude before the end of this year."
A teenage boy was shot and killed in Antioch Wednesday night, police say.

The 17-year-old, whose name was not released, was shot at 9:14 p.m. near Mark Twain Drive and Ebbetts Way, Antioch Police Sgt. Tom Fuhrmann said in a news release. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In his new memoir, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, the child of a Swiss father and Xhosa mother, tells a story that perfectly captures the absurdity of apartheid.

Growing up in South Africa when the law prohibited sex between whites and nonwhites, Noah could not be seen in public with his father. When the family went out together, his father walked across the street from Noah and his mother, staying at a safe distance.

One day, his father insisted on accompanying Noah and his mother to Joubert Park in Johannesburg. He tried to walk ahead, but toddler Noah ran after him, shouting Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Terrified, his father fled  the penalty for breaking the law was five years in prison  and Noah chased him happily, thinking they were playing a game. Where most children are proof of their parents love, he observes wryly, I was the proof of their criminality.

The story is horrifying and funny, but blending those two disparate elements of his past is something Noah, 32, has been doing for a long time.

Its how I process information, says Noah from New York, where hes taking a short break from a frenetic production day for Comedy Centrals The Daily Show. Its how I work through anything happening in my life. Things are often horrifying. If I dont laugh, Im never going to laugh. I find the funny in everything and go from there. I think when it came to the book, putting those pieces together, the stories formed themselves. Life isnt one-dimensional. Its horrifying and funny at the same time.

In Born A Crime, the comedian recounts his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in South Africa during apartheid and its chaotic, repressive aftermath.

Despite the fact that the memoir tackles such subjects as racial injustice, poverty and an abusive stepfather who eventually shot (but didnt kill) Noahs mother, Born a Crime can be amusing. (On the fact his mother and grandmother were always afraid his grandfathers second family would poison them: It was like Game of Thrones with poor people). But Noahs unique perspective of a racially divided world sounds hauntingly relevant in light of our own political and cultural divisions.

Born a Crime doesnt really cover Noahs professional life, his years working in South African radio and TV and his eventual move to stand-up comedy, which led him to the Daily Show gig (a prime job that comes with more than its share of criticism). He took over hosting duties from Jon Stewart in September 2015.

Replacing the beloved Stewart was surely tougher than writing a book, but Noah says Born a Crime forced him to really examine his history.

The biggest obstacle I had to get over was discovering the truth about things, about my feelings, the world I lived in, the truth about my experience, he says. In real life, we dont have to deal with that. We try to move on from the hard things as quickly as possible so were in a better place.

The personal stuff was hard to write because it puts you in a vulnerable position. How much of myself am I willing to share? But theres no point in me writing a book if Im not going to give everything. I cant feel like Im leaving something out or that Im trying to preserve a facade. I came to realize youre just going to have to lay it out there. If you want to write the book, write the book.

So he writes about how he was a naughty child who took advantage of his skin tone (his grandmother had no problem hitting his cousins but wouldnt punish him because I dont know how to hit a white child ... Trevor, when you hit him he turns blue and green and yellow and red.) When times were lean, he sucked the marrow out of soup bones usually destined for the dogs (a skill poor people learn early). As a teenager, he sold bootleg CDs and once ended up in jail for borrowing his stepfathers car.

Growing up in a world where racial labels  black, white or colored defined every aspect of life, Noah has a singular viewpoint about Americas own struggles with race.

I think if you lived through it, being from South Africa, it prepares you for this conversation, he says. Weve had them and continue to have them in an open manner, a more blunt manner than in America. American conversations dont seem to be happening in a progressive way. The conversation isnt people addressing the issues but asking first whether or not there is an issue, which is a different conversation than Im used to. In South Africa, we all acknowledge there was an issue, and here people are going, Is there an issue?

Racial discord has made for an interesting year of material on The Daily Show, which has floundered a bit in the ratings since Noah took over (Forbes reports The Daily Show scores around 820,000 viewers a night, while in Stewarts 2011-2012 season, his average was around 1.7 million viewers).

His biggest fear? Our increasing tendency to live in an echo chamber.

Were in a place where more and more, if were not careful, we are going to exist completely in bubbles that are devoid of information that is unbiased and neutral, he says. People base everything they do on sides, on what side theyre on. One of the greatest gifts and curses of our generation is the internet and social media. This morning I was looking at a fake CNN site and thinking, I wonder how many people click on this thinking its real? Theres no way to stop that. Its a scary thing.
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John F. Ebersole, the former president of Excelsior College, has died, the college announced Thursday.

Ebersole, 72, took a leave earlier this year because he was battling myelodysplastic syndromes, Excelsior President James N. Baldwin said in a news release.

Baldwin called Ebersole "our former president and a visionary leader in adult higher education." In taking his leave, Ebersole said Excelsior's "staff, faculty, and leaders are passionate and committed to providing educational opportunity to those who need it most. The future is bright. Ever upward."

A native of Windsor, Mo., Ebersole served in the U.S. Coast Guard, enrolled in officer candidate school and served for 21 years, including combat service in Vietnam.

He graduated from the Naval War College, earned a master's of public administration degree from John F. Kennedy University and a doctorate in law and public policy from Northeastern University.

He had a 30-plus-year career in higher education including the University of California Berkeley, Colorado State University, and Boston University.

Baldwin said Ebersole was initially drawn to Excelsior by its "commitment to the underserved, its outstanding reputation in military and veteran circles, and its openness to innovation."

Ebersole is survived by his wife, Constance Cramer and three daughters and their children.

Memorial arrangements are pending. The family suggested donations in memory of John F. Ebersole be made to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, 3 Oakland Ave., Menands, NY 12204 or http://www.mohawkhumanesociety.org/
Albany

In an email sent to political supporters Tuesday evening, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he expects to engage in more battles with President-elect Donald Trump, an early salvo in what could be years of fighting over policies pushed by the incoming Republican White House.

"In the months ahead, I expect to take on many more fights with a Trump Administration," Schneiderman said to close a note that was primarily concerned with last week's $25 million settlement resolving three lawsuits regarding Trump University, including one filed in 2013 by the attorney general.

"From protecting consumers, to investigating fraud on Wall Street, to protecting our environment and upholding equal rights for all New Yorkers, I pledge to fight for you on the front lines," Schneiderman wrote. "And if Friday's victory is any indication, we can  and will  win, no matter how long it takes."

That Schneiderman, a prominent liberal Democrat who is up for re-election in 2018, would vow future head-butting with the Republican Trump administration is not surprising. A spokeswoman said Schneiderman's statement refers to expected fights over policy, including immigration, climate change and consumer protections.

Schneiderman already has vowed resistance to to possible Trump-crafted legislation that would gut state-by-state "Blue Sky" laws that allow for oversight of businesses involved in securities commerce.

On Tuesday afternoon, Schneiderman issued a fraud alert that warned immigrants to be aware of potential scammers offering services amid "increased fear and anxiety in immigrant communities as a result of the current political climate."

"In the past two weeks, we've seen intense fear and anxiety in immigrant communities," he said. "New York has zero tolerance for anyone who would prey on that fear to defraud immigrants and their families."

In the aftermath of this month's election, several other top New York Democrats have sought to reassure New Yorkers that democratic values will not be imperiled as the frequently controversial Republican  and native New Yorker  takes over the nation's highest elected office.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said he was "soul-sick" over hate speech and other forms of intolerance that have cropped up since the election. Without mentioning Trump by name in a speech at a Harlem church, Cuomo said his administration would propose a public-private legal defense fund for immigrants, and that he would order the State Police and the Division of Human Rights to form a special unit to investigate recent acts of intolerance.

Cuomo also will propose legislation to make acts of intolerance committed on public school property subject to action under Human Rights Law.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @Matt_Hamilton10
Ukrainians are Euro-optimists, despite the war in the country and other circumstances, including the growth of skepticism about the future of the European Union within Europe, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said.

"The European Union has experienced a heavy attack on their fundamentals from populists, nationalists, Euro skeptics and Russia. Why did it happen on the part of Russia? Because it supports all European pessimists ... It is necessary to unite Europe in its readiness for a key role," he said after talks with President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Thursday.

The head of Ukrainian state said, "If you ask me what the most euro-optimistic country is, I will answer  Ukraine. In the current circumstances and in conditions of war we remain euro-optimists. I believe in the future of Europe."
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Cheers from family and friends rang out as runners turned the corner from Six Pines Drive down Lake Robbins Dr. in The Woodlands Thanksgiving morning.

One runner carried an American Flag. Others wore turkey hats. The crowd gathered along the side walk rattling noise makers, waving signs and snapping photos of the runners of all ages, races, and sizes at the annual GE Run Thru the Woods event.

The traditional event, which is directed by The Woodlands Family YMCA and supports local non-profits, carried on with sunny, cool weather and approximately 5,000 participants this year.

Among them 8-year-old Daniel Walker of The Woodlands stood eagerly waiting to see his father finish the five-mile course. He and his 11-year-old cousin Tristan Shorey participated in the one-mile children's race while their parents ran in the other races.

"It felt good," said Walker who also enjoyed two post-race pancakes provided by the event. "I got to go fast."

Shorey said he won the race last year.

"It felt like it was more than a mile," he said disappointedly.

The children's grandfather, Gary McConathy, 64 of Louisiana joined the family.

"I could get into this," he said. "I may run next year."

Behind the family, 47-year-old Sheila Cook of The Woodlands walked up to the crowd huddled at the intersection as she recovered from her five-mile run.

"It was great," Cook said. "It was a fun new course (referring to the first year for the event to be held on Market Street due to construction). I liked it, it was fast. It's my 10-year anniversary (to run) -- it's a family tradition."

Running on Thanksgiving Day is also a tradition for Mark and Lynn Fanelli who are both 52 and moved to The Woodlands from Virginia. It's the first year for the family to continue their tradition in Texas.

"I think it is great for them to get a little activity before the Thanksgiving meal," Lynn Fanelli said with a smiled as she watched for husband to pass in the five-mile run. "The good thing about this is that it's warmer. It beats running in the cold. He runs because he feels thankful and grateful to be healthy and be able to run."

From the finish line, the runners walked out to the Market Street court yard where they gathered around the Christmas tree for an award ceremony decorated with large inflatable turkeys and ate their post-race pancakes.

Near the Christmas tree, YMCA liaison Roxanne Davis announced the winners. She has directed Run thru the Woods for about 20 years and credits the help of sponsors and volunteers for the success of the event she feels strengthens the community through helping community youth organizations. It's also a "positive event" for the community who has endured some economic hardship this year, she said.

"Where else would I be than with 5,000 of my closest friends?" she asked as she widened her arms. "We are celebrating. We have so much to be thankful for."

For more information and race results visit www.runthruthewoods.org.
Chattanooga, Tenn.

D'Myunn Brown liked to play little tricks on grown-ups. The 6-year-old would snatch a cell phone, hide it, then giggle and bat his big brown eyes with long, thick lashes.

"That's what made him so pretty, and he was as sweet as he could be," said his great-grandmother, Winifred Bray. "I'm still numb. I still can't believe he's gone."

The boy was one of five children killed Monday when their speeding school bus careened off a narrow, winding road and smashed into a tree on their way home from elementary school. Thirty-five children were on board. Twelve remained in the hospital, six of them in critical condition.

The injured children were so young and frightened that many couldn't spell their names. Some couldn't remember their birthdays or their parents' names when asked.

As survivors of a Chattanooga school bus crash began to arrive in the pediatric emergency room, Dr. Darvey Koller could see the devastation in their eyes.

"Many of them were scared or too dazed to talk to us," Koller said.

The bus driver, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, was arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. Police said Walker was driving well over the posted 30 mph limit when he lost control of the bus, which was not equipped with seat belts.

He was jailed, with bail set at $107,500, on charges that also included reckless driving and reckless endangerment. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had a lawyer. A court appearance is scheduled Nov. 29.

Media outlets have reported parents complained before the crash about the bus speeding through the neighborhood. The Hamilton County School Board has repeatedly refused to confirm whether it received complaints involving Walker, an outside contractor employed by Durham School Services.

Three of the children killed were in fourth grade, one in first grade and another in kindergarten, said Kirk Kelly, interim superintendent of Hamilton County schools. All the children attended Woodmore Elementary School.

Reeling from the tragedy, Chattanoogans lined up to donate blood and created a memorial of flowers and stuffed toys at the crash scene.

LaFrederick Thirkill remembered his 9-year-old cousin, Cordayja Jones, as a girly-girl who liked dressing up and giving hugs.

Thirkill is the principal at Orchard Knob Elementary, where Cordayja attended before changing schools to Woodmore Elementary.

She was a polite little girl, he said. Even though he was her cousin, she called him "Mr. Thirkill" when she saw him in the hallways.

"I remember her as just a kid who always smiles," he said. "I never saw her sad, never saw her mad. The kid that always smiled and she's leaning in to give me a hug. Very soft-spoken, but her actions were very kind and very gentle."

At an evening prayer vigil, a local church overflowed and a gospel choir boomed out songs. Preachers spoke of grief, strength and faith. At one point an usher walked a weeping woman through the crowd filling the lobby.

"This woman needs a seat," he said. "She lost her daughter."

As relatives and friends grappled with the loss, the National Transportation Safety Board was beginning its investigation. NTSB chairman Christopher Hart said the agency will look at the driver's actions, the condition of the bus and whether seat belts would have made a difference.

Walker had been in an accident in September. According to the police report, he was driving the bus into a blind curve when he crossed over into the oncoming lane and hit and SUV. No one was injured, and the damage to both vehicles was minor.

Previously, Walker's license had been suspended for a month in 2014 for failure to show proof of insurance, according to state commercial driver records. He appeared to have no criminal record in Tennessee, authorities said.

Hamilton County School District spokeswoman Amy Katcher referred all questions about his performance and that of other Durham drivers to the company.

Durham CEO David A. Duke issued a statement on Twitter saying the company was "devastated" and working with police and school officials to investigate. Company officials did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Based in Warrenville, Illinois, Durham operates about 13,700 vehicles across the U.S. and has nearly as many drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.
BAY CITY  Michigan Sugar Co. announced Wednesday that its employees raised more than $12,000 for donation to local United Way chapters serving Bay, Tuscola and Sanilac counties.

The contributions are being matched by Michigan Sugar to provide more than $25,000 that will help area families this holiday season.

Michigan Sugar Co. is truly proud of the dedication to community shown by our employees across the growing region this holiday season, and with matching funds from our cooperative, were able to continue our strong partnership with United Way, said Ray VanDriessche, community and government relations director for Michigan Sugar. We value every community we serve, and its important during the holiday season to lend a hand to our friends and neighbors, working together with United Way.

This weeks donation by Michigan Sugar Co. and its employees is a reminder of the positive impact the cooperative has for communities and families throughout our region, said Jeff Mayes, board president of United Way of Bay County. This donation will directly benefit families who need a helping hand to celebrate the holiday season. Thanks to the generosity of local contributors like Michigan Sugar and its employees, we are better equipped to serve our community, and we truly appreciate Michigan Sugars ongoing partnership with United Way.

VanDriessche said the annual giving campaign allows all Michigan Sugar employees to make an optional contribution to United Way, either directly or by payroll deduction.

United Way has a strong, positive impact on families lives throughout Michigan, and Michigan Sugar is committed to partnership with United Way and many other charities in our growing region. Our employees are proud to contribute to the impactful work that happens every day at United Way, VanDriessche said.

In addition to this weeks matched employee contributions, Michigan Sugar announced in October a holiday sugar donation serving approximately 40 food pantries across Bay, Saginaw, Arenac, Midland and Tuscola Counties, coordinating the opportunity with United Way.
UPPER THUMB  The fall harvest results are in, and while the summer drought hurt some local crops, it broke in time for others to flourish.

Corn and dry bean production took a hit because of the dryness.

This years sugar beet yield ranks second to the 2015 record harvest, but sugar content is down.

And soybean yields provided a pleasant surprise for local farmers.

Soybeans:

Yield reports for soybeans were consistently better than what farmers were expecting, said Caleb Sundblad, grain marketer at Cooperative Elevator Co. of Pigeon.

Average soybean yield was around 50 bushels per acre, he said.

Last year, we were about 5 bushels per acre lower than that on average, he said. I think total production though will be right around our average for the area.

Corn:

Corn yields fell from an average of 180 bushels per acre last year to around 150 bushels per acre, Sundblad said.

This years corn crop in the Thumb fell victim to hot and dry mid-summer weather, he said.

While scattered reports touted 2015 as the best corn crop ever for some local farmers, This year, the story was much different, he added.

It appears that the eastern half of Huron and Sanilac counties got some beneficial rains and moisture, which helped the crop, while the western half really suffered in June/July and corn planted on lighter ground had serious problems, Sundblad said.

Corn yield is down roughly 20 percent from average, while total grain production of corn will be down 25-30 percent, he said.

The (U.S. Department of Agriculture) had 2015 Michigan corn at 162 bushels per acre and total production at 335,340,000 bushels. This years most recent estimates from the USDA has yield at 154 bushels per acre and total state production at 334,800,000 bushels.

Dry Beans:

Total dry bean production in the Thumb fell significantly from last year as well.

Planted acres were down quite a bit and yields were affected by dryness, Sundblad said. Much like corn, dry beans saw a major difference in yields from west to east

Eastern areas generally saw very good yields and farmers reported that they were very happy with what they were seeing.

Western areas saw a mixed bag for the most part, he added. Some farmers reported that they were pleasantly surprised, while others found yields down 25-30 percent from average.

Last years average yield was around 20 or 21 hundred pounds per acre. This year the average will be around 17 or 18 hundred pounds per acre.

Bob Battel, Michigan State University Extension field crops educator, explained the effect of dry weather on corn and beans.

If its dry when corn is pollinating, or beans are flowering, the lack of moisture can interfere with reproduction, and thus yield  if the plant cant pollinate, no seed is produced, and thus not harvested.

Sugar Beets:

The same is not true for sugar beets, Battel said.

When harvested for sugar, (sugar beets) are harvested before the plant has a chance to go through its reproductive stage.

If the drought isnt severe enough to kill the beets, they will respond when it does rain, he added.

When the drought broke on Aug. 13, the beets started to grow. The fairly wet fall allowed them to continue to grow, Battel said.

So, there are a lot of tons of beets harvested.

Just under 4.9 million tons, to be exact, said Ray VanDriessche, director of community and government relations for Michigan Sugar Co.

Tons per acre totaled 31, said Dave Pratt, agronomist at Michigan Sugar Co. Last years record yield was 31.7 tons per acre.

Sugar content was down from 17 percent last year to just under 16 percent this year.

Its a little lower than we would like, Pratt said. There will be less sugar to sell at the end of the year compared to last year.
Columbia, S.C.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the 44-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants, would bring limited international experience to one of the U.S. government's most important international assignments: U.N. ambassador.

Haley is the first woman and first minority chosen by President-elect Donald Trump for his Cabinet. The Senate must confirm the nomination, which Trump announced in a statement Wednesday.

The second-term governor was a Trump critic during the White House campaign, endorsing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ahead of South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary. Trump, she said, was "everything a governor doesn't want in a president." After Rubio dropped out, she backed Ted Cruz. Once Trump became the nominee, she said she would vote for him over Democrat Hillary Clinton, though the choice turned her stomach.

Last week, addressing conservative lawyers in Washington, Haley acknowledged she was not Trump's biggest cheerleader, but was "absolutely thrilled" by his election because of the opportunities it offered Republicans.

Haley, the second U.S. governor of Indian heritage, is the first South Carolina governor who is not a white man.

She has had little exposure on the world stage, and almost all of that has been in pursuit of luring jobs to South Carolina.

Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Trelleborg and Giti Tire all have announced new or expanded facilities in recent years, bolstering South Carolina's reputation as the nation's tire capital.

Her trips abroad to lure jobs include a 2015 secretive trip to Sweden, which was followed weeks later by an announcement that Volvo would build its first U.S. auto plant in South Carolina in exchange for more than $200 million in state incentives.

In 2014, Haley took an economic development trip to India, her first visit to her parents' native country since she was 2 years old. Her parents emigrated from India in the early 1960s.

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in rural Bamberg, S.C.

She was raised a Sikh but says she converted to Christianity before marrying her husband, Michael, in 1996. They have two children.

Haley has recalled that as a youngster, she and her sister were disqualified from the segregated Little Miss Bamberg Pageant because organizers couldn't figure out whether the girls should compete in the white or black contest.

Decades later, Haley drew wide praise for her leadership after the June 2015 slaying of nine black parishioners of historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, as she conveyed the state's grief and successfully led calls to bring down a Confederate flag that had flown on Statehouse grounds for 54 years.

Dylan Roof, the white man charged with the killings, could be seen in photos brandishing that flag.

She has said the shootings were motived by "pure hate" and will "forever change the way I live my life."

Haley graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with an accounting degree.

But she says her business experience started at age 13, when she became the bookkeeper of her family's clothing store  a job she returned to after college.

In 2010, she was a three-term state House member, but little known across the state. Still, Haley won the GOP primary for governor that year against a South Carolina congressman, attorney general and lieutenant governor.

She prevailed in the general election and then was easily re-elected four years later.
Ukraine should continue to play the key role in gas shipments to the European Union, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said.

"We reaffirmed our joint position that Ukraine is a reliable EU partner on gas transit issues, we should further retain the key role in Russian gas transportation to European consumers," Poroshenko told a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.

"The first complete year when Ukraine had not a single cubic meter of Russian gas ended on November 21. The attempt to bring Ukraine to its knees by energy blackmail has failed," Poroshenko said.

Ukraine and European partners agreed to continue bolstering energy partnership, Poroshenko said.

"Documentary evidence of this is the signing of an agreement on energy solidarity between Ukraine and the European Commission by Minister [of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Ihor] Nasalyk and the European Commission vice president today," the head of state said.

"By all appearances, the decision to expand Gazprom's access to the gas market, to our mind, does not comply with the Association Agreement and the Agreement on Energy Community," he also said.
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A Midland couple has been honored with Congressional recognition as Angels in Adoption for their dedication to two foster children who later became part of their family.

Chad and Theresa Walters became foster parents in 2008 through the Isabella County Department of Human Services. In early 2009, their daughter Elayna came to their home as a foster child through an abuse and neglect case. In October of that year, her biological brother, Tannar, was placed in the Walters home when he was just 7 days old.

By October 2010, both children had been adopted by the Walters.

I just remember our adoption day like it was yesterday, Theresa said, recalling the feeling of knowing her family was complete. We are. We are a complete family and we couldnt be happier.

We are a happy family, Chad echoed.

The family  including Elayna, now 10, and Tannar, 6  appeared in court Monday as a part of Michigan Adoption Day at the Midland County Courthouse, and were presented with the Angels in Adoption award by U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar. The award gives legislators a chance to recognize families that go above and beyond, Moolenaar said, pointing out a fellow Angels in Adoption award recipient in the courtroom  Midland County Probate Court Judge Dorene S. Allen.

I have know Theresa for many, many years, Allen said, due to her work in Allens courtroom on child protection issues. Theresa now is the foster care and licensing supervisor for the Gladwin County Department of Health and Human Services. Chad Walters is an employee of the Dow Corning Corp.

Allen not only finalized the Walters adoption of Elayna and Tannar, but nominated the couple for the award, writing they are committed to their adopted children and Theresas work shows her commitment to hundreds of children who are in the child protection foster care system.

Elayna and Tannar are thriving under the Walters care. They attend the Bullock Creek school system, play sports, enjoy family game nights, vacations and more, both Allen and Moolenaar pointed out. They enjoy the fun things children get to do in a safe and loving home, Moolenaar said.

Chad and Theresa are doing an outstanding job raising two young children and Theresas work in Gladwin is a tremendous public service to our region. With their commitment and sacrifice, Chad and Theresa are this years Angels in Adoption, he stated in a media release.

The Angels in Adoption program is the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institutes signature public awareness campaign and provides an opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the work of their constituents who enrich the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad.

Visit www.ccainstitute.org and www.angelsinadoption.org for more information.
Detroit

A police officer is in critical condition after he was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit, but authorities said Wednesday he was probably not ambushed.

Wayne State Police Chief Anthony Holt said a suspect is being interrogated in the attack Tuesday evening on 29-year-old officer Collin Rose, whose condition Holt described as "very grave."

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Rose was on duty around 6:30 p.m. when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike.

Officers who arrived on the scene found Rose injured on the ground, Craig said.

Authorities say ambush-style shootings on Sunday left one police officer dead in San Antonio, Texas, and another wounded in St. Louis, Mo., underscoring fears in the law enforcement community that the uniform is increasingly becoming a target.

One-third of police officers shot to death on the job this year were purposely targeted by their assailant, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

But Holt said that wasn't the case in Detroit on Tuesday.

"I don't believe it was an ambush," Holt said at a news conference Wednesday. "I don't believe he was specifically targeted" because of his uniform.

A suspect who has had several run-ins with police is in custody, but he has not been charged, Holt said. He said no weapon has been recovered and that the investigation is ongoing.

University spokesman Matt Lockwood said Wednesday morning that Rose has undergone surgery and that his parents and fiancee are by his side.

Holt said Rose is a much-admired five-year veteran of the department who works in the canine unit.

After the shooting, several dozen armed officers combed the area surrounding the campus hunting for a suspect. According to a statement posted on the university's website, police were searching for an African-American man in his 40s with a full beard. It said he was wearing a white T-shirt with white and black lettering, a skull cap and a brown jacket.

Police arrested the man without incident about three blocks from where the shooting happened, Detroit Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said.

Wayne State police Sgt. Cary Glazer told The Associated Press he had a physical run-in with the suspect five years ago. Glazer said he was patrolling the campus in 2011 when the man walking in the street swore at him and told the sergeant to get out of the way.

Glazer said he got out of his car and the pair struggled until other officers arrived.

"He wanted to fight  he wanted to fight an officer," Glazer told The Associated Press.

The man was charged with resisting and obstructing police after that incident.
Milwaukee

Until this month, Reince Priebus had one burning regret as the GOP's longest-serving chairman.

"Unfortunately, we've become a party that can't lose a midterm and can't win a presidential," he said in a 2014 interview. "I'm here to try to fix that."

The election of Donald Trump not only fixed that, it brought Priebus to the pinnacle of power in Washington.

When Trump named him White House chief of staff Nov. 13, it capped a breathtaking climb for the onetime student body president at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The new power broker at the heart of the Trump White House is a sociable lawyer and litigator who savors politics and can enjoy sharing a beer with a Democrat.

He's a data-driven manager who sometimes lapses into the language of marketing and metrics when he talks about "growing" the Republican Party.

But Priebus is also an "insider" with an ideology. He is a born-and-bred conservative who grew up idolizing Ronald Reagan and whose mantra is "Win every day, live the mission every day, wait on God's timing and good things happen."

Priebus faces immense challenges in his new job: a president with no government experience; competing White House factions; a party riven in the recent primaries; and the urgent need to adapt the skills of a party operative and fundraiser to the task of keeping a presidency on track.

His approach to decision-making is that "he talks to lots of people, he doesn't do it by himself. He's very inclusive, very collaborative. Once there is a plan in place, he becomes laser-focused on executing (it)," said Jeff Larson, who worked for Priebus at the Republican National Committee and managed the 2016 GOP convention.

Because of the controversy around parts of the Trump team, some inside and outside the party have invested their hopes in Priebus as a stabilizing force.

"America has no idea what we're going to get from Donald Trump as president," said Mike Tate, who chaired the Wisconsin Democratic Party when Priebus was the state Republican chair. Tate said he took the Priebus appointment as a positive, saying he has a "moral center."

"Reince is a bridge builder and I think he will help President Trump bring people together. We need the country to heal," said Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi.

Priebus, 44, grew up in Kenosha County, Wis., historically Democratic blue-collar turf that went Republican this year for the first time since 1972.

His father was a pro-military, pro-Reagan union electrician. (Reince is short for Reinhold, reflecting his father's German heritage).

His mother, born in the Greek community in Khartoum in the Sudan, met her husband, a Wisconsin native, while he served in the U.S. Army in Ethiopia.

Reagan "was looked up to and revered by all of my relatives in Greece," Priebus said in a 2009 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  especially his very pro-American grandfather, an avid supporter of the conservative New Democracy party in Greece.

When Priebus ran in 2011 to be leader of the Republican National Committee, he told RNC members that "our chairman has to be an outspoken, unabashed conservative." He promised to "work like an absolute dog."

When the five candidates for chair were asked how many guns they have at home, he said five.

Asked who his hero was besides Reagan, he said, "Lincoln."

Asked where he gets his news, he included the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Asked his favorite book, he said, "The Reagan Diaries."

Priebus, who promised to be a "no drama" chairman, won on the seventh ballot. Among those he defeated was the sitting chair, Michael Steele, whom he once advised and supported but who was dogged by controversy and left the RNC more than $20 million in debt.

"I am so blessed," he told Republicans after the vote.

"My first date with my wife (Sally) was a Lincoln Day dinner with (GOP congressmen) Henry Hyde and Jim Sensenbrenner, which will tell you a little something about me," he said.

"He is not a stick-in-the-mud conservative," his close friend, House Speaker Paul Ryan, said. "He's a younger conservative who believes in expanding the base."

His only bid for office ended in defeat when he lost a state Senate race in 2004 by four points.

Priebus became a fundraising workhorse at the RNC, eager to spend the money on better data, technology, turnout models and year-round community organizing.

His Wisconsin roots and relationships left a stamp.

In college, Priebus was roommates with Vos and Andy Speth, who became Paul Ryan's chief of staff.

Trump's victory not only elevated Priebus, but cemented his friend Ryan's hold on the speakership.

Frictions aside, Trump and the GOP Congress need each other, said Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
Washington

If confirmed as U.S. attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions can make major changes to the nation's immigration system by boosting prosecutions of low-level violations, hiring tough immigration judges and cutting law enforcement funds to cities that don't cooperate.

While the Department of Homeland Security vets visas and enforces immigration laws, a handful of obscure offices in the Department of Justice hold vast sway over how immigration cases are heard in court and how quickly migrants can be deported.

Sessions, a four-term Republican senator from Alabama, successfully led efforts to kill immigration reform bills in Congress and is considered a fierce opponent of any pathway to legal status for the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally.

Those legislative battles, and his background as a former federal prosecutor, give him a mechanic's knowledge of the inner workings of immigration policy.

"He can have a tremendous impact," said John Sandweg, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2014.

The attorney general "has complete control over the immigration courts and whether to use criminal prosecutions against immigrants," he said.

Immigration judges are chosen by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review. The office sets standards for hiring and vetting judges, and for the training and instructions they receive on how to interpret immigration law.

"Most people don't realize we are not technically judges," Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, said from San Francisco, where she has presided over immigration cases since the 1980s.

"In terms of our technical employment status, we are attorney employees of the Department of Justice, which we believe does make us much more vulnerable to political influence than we would be in an independent court structure," Marks said.

When immigration judges are hired, they can be fired for any reason during a two-year probationary period. After that, they are protected from dismissal by the same rules that shield other civil servants.

Immigration courts have been understaffed for more than a decade, creating a huge backlog of cases in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and New York.

In all, 522,000 deportation cases are pending in immigration courts, and cases may take three or four years to resolve in the most backed-up jurisdictions.

The Obama administration recently hired 61 immigration judges, Marks said, bringing the total to 294. But that is far below the 374 judges Congress has authorized.

Many judges are expected to retire in the next few years. That could allow Sessions to hire dozens of new judges who agree with his hard-line views.

Former aides to Sessions were instrumental in adding tough immigration proposals to the GOP platform at the Republican National Convention in July, including cutting federal funding to cities that don't cooperate with immigration agents, and increasing penalties for migrants convicted of illegally reentering the U.S. after being deported.

As the nation's top law enforcement officer, Sessions could implement those policies.

He would oversee the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which reimburses local jails for holding federal prisoners under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

In Senate speeches, Sessions has repeatedly called for cutting those funds to push local authorities to identify migrants in the country illegally and hand them over to federal agents.

Trump's transition policy team has drawn up plans to pressure so-called sanctuary cities to help immigration agents identify those here illegally.

"The issue of sanctuary cities is substantially in the hands of the attorney general," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank in Washington that advocates for lower immigration levels.

Under Sessions, Justice Department lawyers could try to get federal court orders for local officials to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

"First thing you do is you file suit, then you get a judge to issue an injunction" to force cities to stop their policies, said Krikorian, who has submitted policy proposals to Trump's advisers.

"The nuclear option is you criminally prosecute city council members and supervisors for illegally harboring illegal aliens, which they are," Krikorian said.

Under Sessions, the Justice Department is likely to support states that give local police authority to enforce immigration laws. In 2012, after the Obama administration objected, the Supreme Court struck down Arizona's so-called "papers, please" law on the grounds that the state was trying to enforce federal immigration laws.

Sessions also can instruct federal prosecutors to be more aggressive in filing criminal charges against migrants for illegal entry and reentry after deportation, convictions that can speed up deportation orders.

In recent years, the Obama administration eased such prosecutions and focused instead chiefly on deporting individuals believed to be involved in human smuggling, gang activities and other crimes.
Randi Kawakita and Jeanne Schaller, members of the local chapter of Nonviolent Peaceforce, recently visited the public speaking class of St. Brigid Catholic School. They discussed conflict resolution with the students and encouraged them to be upstanders, rather than bystanders. The students made a donation to the Peaceforces fund, which aids children around the world. The Nonviolent Peaceforce was a nominee for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday began to follow through on a pledge to put together a diverse administration - not only expanding its makeup along ethnic and gender lines, but also inviting aboard former critics and adversaries.

Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, R, to be his United Nations ambassador, tapped billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos as education secretary and appeared to be nearing an announcement of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In choosing two women - one the daughter of immigrants from India - and possibly an African American man for Cabinet-level appointments, Trump has cast more broadly than he did with his first five picks for top jobs in his Cabinet and White House. All of those initial selections were white men.

Trump's latest appointments also show that a president-elect famous for demanding unwavering loyalty from those around him is magnanimous enough to look beyond his past grievances - and perhaps has concluded that recruiting potential foes onto his team is a smart strategy for healing and neutralizing the deep divisions within the Republican Party.

In a videotaped Thanksgiving message released Wednesday evening, Trump made a broader appeal for political reconciliation after a campaign marked by racial and gender divisions: "We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight."

"It doesn't go quickly, unfortunately," the president-elect added, "but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities."

His comments came as votes continued to be counted from the Nov. 8 election and showed that his Democratic opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, has amassed a popular-vote lead that now exceeds 2 million ballots, or a margin of about 1.5 percent. Yet she finished nearly 60 votes behind Trump in the electoral college.

That disparity has festered with many Clinton supporters - including some who are calling for recount efforts in several states that she lost - making it more difficult for them to accept the fact that their candidate will not be taking the oath of office in January.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party continues to grapple with internal fissures stemming from the fact that much of its establishment wing had refused to get behind Trump's candidacy or did so only reluctantly.

Trump and Haley had been harshly critical of each other during the bitter 2016 campaign. Just days before the election, she pronounced herself "not a fan" of her party's nominee, though she would vote for him, and lamented that "this election has turned my stomach upside down."

For his part, Trump had deemed her an embarrassment to her state.

Carson was one of the 16 opponents that Trump vanquished in the Republican primary season. At one point, quoting a memoir in which Carson acknowledged having a "pathological temper" in his youth, Trump said that the soft-spoken former neurosurgeon had a sickness comparable to being a child molester.

Though Carson endorsed Trump after folding his own campaign, it was with ambivalence. "Are there better people?" Carson said in a radio interview. "Probably."

DeVos, a major GOP donor who had contributed to several of Trump's primary opponents, also questioned whether Trump reflected Republican Party values.

Haley and Carson both have scant experience in the subject areas of their posts - international diplomacy in her case and housing and community development in his.

DeVos, on the other hand, has a national reputation as a conservative activist who has forcefully pushed for private-school voucher programs. Her nomination is expected to face strong opposition from public school advocates, who oppose her efforts to funnel taxpayer dollars from public to private and religious schools.

Haley has been seen as a rising star in the Republican Party since her 2010 election as South Carolina governor, where she won the GOP nomination as an insurgent fueled by the tea party but became well-regarded by the party establishment as well.

Last year, Haley won wide acclaim in the wake of a racially motivated massacre in an African American church in Charleston; her efforts to heal and unify her state included calling for the removal of a Confederate flag on the grounds of the State Capitol that had for decades been a symbol of divisiveness.

She tangled with Trump repeatedly during the presidential campaign and used her star turn giving the GOP response to this year's State of the Union address to rebuke his candidacy as "the siren call of the angriest voices." Shortly before her state's crucial primary, Haley endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., for the nomination.

But at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association the week after the presidential election, Haley was sounding a different note, saying she was "just giddy" about the prospect of a Trump administration.

Serving alongside Trump offers her an opportunity to ascend on the global stage, gain experience in foreign affairs and link herself again to the grass-roots, Trump-loving activists in the Republican base.

Haley also leaves herself positioned for a future run for national office or an elevation to secretary of state or another Cabinet position in the coming years, should there be a shake-up.

Trump is considering another prominent former rival and mainstream Republican, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, for secretary of state, although some Trump advisers are pushing back against that and backing other candidates, such as former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

DeVos - whose husband, Dick DeVos Jr., is an heir to the Amway direct-sale fortune - is a Michigan power broker and major donor to conservative causes and candidates around the country. Her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, one of the most profitable private security contractors during the Iraq War.

DeVos and her family supported Rubio in the GOP presidential primaries, and she was never an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. "I still have reservations about him as a person," she told The Washington Post in July at the Republican National Convention, which she attended as a Michigan delegate.

She was more enthusiastic on Wednesday. "I am honored to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in ed is not acceptable," DeVos tweeted Wednesday afternoon, before any official announcement was made. "Together, we can work to make transformational change to ensure every student has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."

DeVos has been closer to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana pushed to expand that state's voucher program into the nation's largest.

Her nomination was greeted with enthusiasm by GOP leaders on Capitol Hill. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tenn., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a frequent critic of what he viewed as the Obama administration's federal overreach on education, called her "an excellent choice."

But others said her nomination heralded an intent by the Trump administration to dismantle the nation's public schools by draining them of students and resources.

"Betsy DeVos is everything Donald Trump said is wrong in America: an ultra-wealthy heiress who uses her money to game the system and push a special-interest agenda that is opposed by the majority of voters," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The Rev. Barry Lynn - executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organization that has long raised concerns about funneling tax dollars to religious schools - called her nomination "an insult to public education."

Meanwhile, Carson tweeted Wednesday that "an announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again,'' although he declined to be more specific. Trump had tweeted Tuesday that he is "seriously considering" Carson for the HUD post.

In an interview with Fox News, Carson said that the issues he would deal with in that job represent "a long-term interest of mine, and I'll be thinking and praying about it seriously over the holiday."

Carson has often spoken of the struggles of his upbringing by a poor single mother in Detroit. He earned a scholarship to Yale and ultimately achieved acclaim as a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Ukraine and Hungary have agreed on financial cooperation, the development of checkpoints on the joint state border, infrastructure, as well as maintenance of bridges on the border.

According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, during the visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman to Hungary, the governments of Ukraine and Hungary signed a corresponding framework agreement on providing a loan on the terms of tied aid and a protocol of intent on the comprehensive development of checkpoints and infrastructure on the state border between Ukraine and Hungary.

The loan agreement will make it possible for Hungary to issue a tied aid loan for purchase of goods or services originating from Hungary. The credit funds can be used only for implementation of infrastructure projects specified in the annex to the agreement.

According to the agreement on the comprehensive development of border crossing points and infrastructure, Hungary will finance building a bypass road around Berehove in Zakarpattia region, as well as upgrading a highway between the towns of Mukacheve and Berehove with a targeted credit in the amount of EUR50 million.
This column originally published on Nov. 26, 2014.

Thanksgiving comes around once a year, but what if we adopted the mindset that every day was Thanksgiving and were intentional about the people and things in our lives that were thankful for?

When I was a kid, my dad started a family tradition at Thanksgiving dinner that I have carried on with my family. After we say grace, we go around the table and share what we are thankful for over the past year. We share appreciation for one another, our health, colleagues, jobs, friends and family, many of whom are at the table. Its a pep talk of sorts and the afterglow of sharing gratitude visibly does wonders for everyones emotional well-being. (Plus, it makes me feel like my dad is still with us in a way.)

Related: 3 Reasons You Should Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude

Each year a family member or friend shares with me that they needed that little Thanksgiving pep talk. I bet your employees, colleagues, family and friends could use a pep talk too. Give them one. The bonus for you is that it will have a positive impact on your organizations bottom line. Here is why.

Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino conducted a research study examining a universitys fundraisers (fixed salary employees). She divided the employees into two groups. Group one made fundraising calls seeking alumni donations the same as they had on previous days. Group two, which worked on a different day, was given a brief pep talk, in person, by the director of annual giving where she let them know just how grateful she was for their hard work.

Over the course of the ensuing week the employees in group two who received her thanks made 50 percent more calls than those in group one who didnt. Just a few words of kindness that took only a couple of minutes and the results were game changing. Consider how that can relate to your people and your business. If you arent expressing thanks to your people youre missing out on the best zero-cost form of workplace motivation on the planet. Not just on Thanksgiving, but every day.

Heres the kicker: Gratitude isnt just good for your staff, its good for you too.

Two notable researchers on gratitude, Robert Emmons (U.C. Davis) and Michael McCullough (Univ. Miami), conducted a study where they took three groups of people and asked them to write about things that happened to them each week. Group A was told to write down things that happened that they were grateful for. Group B was asked to write down things that frustrated them. Group C wrote about things that affected them without any emphasis on the positive or negative.

At the conclusion of the 10-week study, participants in Group A (the gratitude group) reported to be happier, exercised more and took less trips to the doctor that those in Group B, who documented their frustrations.

If youre like a lot of folks, youre probably keeping Group As list on Thanksgiving and Group Bs most other days of the year. What should you really be doing?

Related: Don't Be a Turkey in How You Communicate Appreciation to Your Staff

A few years ago, during my turkey-induced post-dinner food coma, I thought about my dads tradition and realized that if I wanted to feel gratitude more often I had to practice it more often. Daily practice is really the only way to make something a habit and research has shown it takes anywhere from 30 to 60 days to install a new habit. As a result, I created The Daily Game Plan, which is an easy way for busy people to keep track of their daily schedules and their daily gratitude.

Think about it, exercise daily and your muscles grow. If you flex your gratitude muscles, they will grow too. It should become as automatic as brushing your teeth every morning. Along with brushing my teeth, my gratitude practice called 5 by 9 is automatically scheduled into my morning routine.

I set the goal of sharing positive feedback, appreciation or thanks to five people before I begin my workday at 9 a.m. each morning. I do not start my workday until Ive done this. I encourage you to do the same. Thank or share positive feedback with five people before 9 a.m. Here are several strategies you can use.

1. Keep a list of what youre grateful for and proud of about yourself. You cant give away something you dont first possess. In other words, to be grateful for others you must first feel gratitude for yourself.

2. Send a thank-you note or a card. Yes, you can send an ecard, but the added personal touch of snail mail has greater magnitude. (It also helps cultivate relationships and keeps you top of mind.)

3. Smile and dial. Instead of always mailing the thank yous, call some of the people you chose and tell them what you were going to say in a letter.

4. Schedule a lunch meeting. Take someone to lunch and thank or express your appreciation of that persons contributions to them face to face.

5. Start keeping a list. When you get good at developing gratitude you wont have time to thank everyone every day. Choose five people a day. Add all the others to your list for future days.

Telling people you appreciate them is good. Showing them is better. Be specific when explaining what you respect, admire and appreciate about them. We have so much to be thankful for not just on Thanksgiving but every day.

I'm very thankful for you, the Entrepreneur community, for being a part of my life and for allowing me to be a part of yours. Ill ask you what Im about to ask my family Thursday afternoon: What and who are you thankful for this year?

Related: 5 Powerful Ways to Give Thanks to Your People

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Ukrainian army positions in Donbas came under 48 militant attacks in the past day, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) headquarters said on Thursday.

"In the past day, mortars and grenade launchers were used to shell the towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, the villages of, Shyrokyne, Hnutove, Vodiane, and Talakivka. Maryinka, the villages of Novotroyitske and Pavlopil came under sniper fire," the ATO HQ said on Facebook.

Banned 120mm and 82mm mortars, an infantry combat vehicle, grenade launchers and small arms were used to fire on Ukrainian positions in the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Zaitseve and Luhanske in the Donetsk sector.

Militants used 120mm and 82mm mortars, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers along with small arms to shell the villages of Novozvanivka, Novo-Oleksandrivka, Krymske and Troitske in the Luhansk sector. A sniper was active in Novo-Oleksandrivka, the ATO HQ said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has lodged a protest with the Russian side over an incident near the National Cultural Center of Ukraine in Moscow on Tuesday, when a Ukrainian state flag was set on fire.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine are extremely disturbed by the fact of the criminal abuse of the national symbol of Ukraine in Russia by burning of the National Flag during an attack on the premises of the National Cultural Center of Ukraine in Moscow by a group of young radicals on November 22, 2016," the ministry's press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ministry demanded an investigation in the incident.

"Such actions" outside the center, located in the very center of the Russian capital, have been systematic and law enforcement agencies have not properly responded to them, the Ukrainian ministry said.

"Ukraine views the abovementioned events around the Ukrainian institution, which is engaged in exclusively peaceful and awareness raising activity, as a blatant provocation aimed at inciting hatred between the nations and artificially imposing aggression against Ukraine in Russian society," it said.

On November 22, several activists from the unregistered organization The Other Russia held an action near the Ukrainian Cultural Center, located in Moscow's Stary Arbat Street, The Other Russia spokesman Alexander Averin told Interfax. A Ukrainian flag was burned and the entrance to the center was blocked during the action, he said. The activists were protesting against the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operations in Donbas. No activists were detained, Averin said.
San Antonio law enforcement continued the search for a missing 29-year-old man Thursday.

Jerry Espinoza was last seen Nov. 20 in the 6700 block of S. New Braunfels St., according to an SAPD news release. Espinoza also goes by the name Jerry Aranda and is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds, the release said. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants. He is right-handed and has short hair.
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For Pete Moreno, donning his traje de mariachi has become a Thanksgiving tradition.

The musician and music teacher has performed with his Mariachi Los Parientes at the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner for the past three years. Hes returning this year to again perform for patrons at the community feast, and this time hes bringing some students with him.

Its good for them to play in front of a big audience like that, Moreno said as his students at South San Antonio High School practiced during a morning class taught by his son, Peter Leo, who also performs with Mariachi Los Parientes.

The father and son are looking forward to taking the next generation of mariachis to the Jimenez dinner. Handing down an affection for mariachi music and community service are part of their family tradition.

Pete Moreno first performed at the Jimenez dinner in the 1980s, when his father Pedro fronted Mariachi Los Parientes, a group he formed in 1968. The elder Moreno was friends with Raul Jimenez, who started the free Thanksgiving dinner in San Antonio in 1979. Thousands have been fed meals of turkey and yams through community generosity sparked by the food moguls vision.

Now in its 37th year, the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner feeds about 25,000 diners annually through the help of corporate sponsors, community donations and thousands of volunteers from across the city, many of whom begin working months before the holiday feast.

About 4,000 volunteers help make the annual dinner happen. Some of those volunteers are entertainers like Pete Moreno.

More Information Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner What: The free holiday dinner, which feeds more than 25,000 diners, is open to everyone. No one is turned away. When: Doors open at 9 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. All-faith worship service is at 10 a.m. Meals served between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Entertainment takes place from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Where: Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 3 and 4 (enter off Market Street) Getting there: Senior citizens who need a ride to the dinner can tell any VIA bus driver where they're headed, present a VIA Senior Citizens ID card or identification with proof of age and the ride downtown will be free. Guests will be dropped off and picked up at 900 E. Market St. Some senior centers are coordinating transportation to the dinner. Homebound individuals in need of a delivered meal should call 211 through 6 p.m. today (Nov. 23). They can call 210-58207034 or 210-582-7035 on Thanksgiving Day for meal delivery. For more: rauljimenezdinner.com See More Collapse

It gets pretty crazy, Moreno said, as he described people dancing to the live music and having a good time. It really makes you feel good.

Apparently, others feel the same about helping with the community dinner.

This year, volunteer slots filled up in record time, said Patricia Jimenez, whos been the dinners chairwoman since 1997. Daughter of the dinners founder, Jimenez for years has credited the community for continuing her fathers generosity.

People come so willing to help, she said, hours after 550 turkeys were delivered to the Convention Center for this years dinner. People give back for so many reasons. For some, its because they once were in need  Some help because their parents used to come to the event. The reasons are so varied and so personal.

Others, Jimenez said, want to give back on a holiday thats about giving thanks. That, in part, is why the annual dinner was founded.

Raul Jimenez was grateful for his business success and good fortune, Patricia Jimenez said. He also had a soft spot for senior citizens, many of whom he knew were alone and in need. Thanksgiving was the perfect time to show his gratitude by helping others, Jimenez has recalled her father saying.

Pete Moreno, who also teaches mariachi at Texas State University, said he reconnected with the Jimenez dinner a few years ago after hearing about a need for performers to entertain diners. Because of his familys history with the dinner, Moreno said he was happy to contribute.

Its a nice thing, he said It feels good to help.

mrenteria@express-news.net
The occupants of a pickup truck that followed customers through the parking lots of multiple Midland stores have admitted to police they were acting childish and immature.

Midland Police report officers received multiple complaints about a gold or beige pickup truck that was following customers at retail stores in northwest Midland. An investigation led to the occupants of the vehicle, states a release posted at the departments Facebook page.
Minsk has no official confirmation so far of 'Normandy Four' foreign ministers' meeting

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has not so far received official confirmation that a 'Normandy Four' ministerial meeting may be held in Minsk.

"Everything depends on the sides' decision. As soon as and if they make it, we will do all that is needed to hold such a meeting," Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dmitry Mironchik said at a press briefing in Minsk on Thursday.
When it comes to the future of U.S. foreign policy toward Mexico or the bilateral relationship, the only thing thats certain is profound uncertainty. Over the past months, President-elect Donald Trump has made a series of grandiose (and largely unfeasible) proposals that would affect Mexico. Now with election day behind us, the big question is what comes next.

History tells us that outsized campaign promises rarely translate to similarly proportioned policies. In the last week, weve seen some initial signs that Trump and those around him are already recalibrating on their biggest ticket proposals, and it wouldnt be surprising to see this continue over the coming months. While shifts in the transition teams tone and content wont be a magic fix for repairing the damage thats been done, they will be critically necessary for maintaining stable relations with one of the United States most important economic and security partners.

Trumps transition team and administration will need to begin appreciating that their words carry serious consequences when backed by the power of the presidency. Mexican officials have repeatedly shown a preference for diplomacy over confrontation despite strong internal pressure in the other direction. President Enrique Pena Nietos quick congratulations to Donald Trump after his electoral victory and request for a bilateral meeting are olive branches from Los Pinos, but they dont come from an unlimited giving tree. Continued negative rhetoric surrounding Mexico, Mexicans, and Mexican-Americans could frost or freeze these nascent diplomatic overtures.

On the economic side, the president-elect should quickly pivot toward supporting the elements that work and away from those that wont achieve their objectives. Slapping a 35-percent tariff on companies that open factories in Mexico wont boost U.S. employment in the short or medium term and would likely do the very opposite. Tariffs would immediately increase costs for U.S. businesses. Some businesses would downsize or shut down, meaning layoffs for American workers.

NAFTA could be a more positive story. Trump appreciates the need for flexibility at the negotiating table. Many analysts have written that the 22-year old agreement could stand to be updated, and both Canada and Mexico have already suggested their willingness to sit down and reopen NAFTA. If this is a real trilateral discussion, it could kill two birds with one stone: create real benefits for the United States and fulfill a campaign promise.

On border security, Trump and his transition team have already begun to expand their definition of a wall, noting that some parts could be fencing. This is a positive start, since building the Great Wall of America is not only a waste of political capital, it is a waste of actual capital.

On immigration, campaign statements and promises have instilled a deep fear among millions of Americans. In office, the Trump administration will represent the entire U.S. population and the first step should be sitting down with Hispanic and other immigrant groups to hear their concerns. Some policies wont meet much pushback, such as deporting violent criminals. Others, such as rolling back temporary work visas for dreamers, would be extremely disruptive to families, communities, and workplaces.

Mexico will also have to respond to U.S. policy developments. Every country in the world will and should protect its own interests and Mexico is no different. Government officials will be looking to counter or mitigate any U.S. policies that would pose a threat to their citizenry or economy. But it is unlikely that Mexicans will adopt their elected officials pragmatic stance toward a Trump government anytime soon. This means that Mexicans could apply strong domestic pressure against any strategy that they perceive as being too accommodating.

Not much will change until Trumps transition team defines the general parameters for its approach toward Mexico. In the meantime, the current uncertainty will continue hurting cross-border companies that are adopting a wait and see (or wait and pray) strategy. Similarly, it will keep straining people-to-people relationships.

These may seem to be separate issues from U.S.-Mexico bilateral relations, but the cross-border relationship is far more complex than any one president or policy. It will be shaped by the many disparate relationships between communities, businesses, and policymakers. Adding a heavy dose of realism to Trumps policies will be critical for resetting the tone, but its only the starting point for managing bilateral relations over the next four years.

Antonio Garza is a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico. He is counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case. Reach him through tonygarza.com.
On Thursday morning, Russia on its own handled the so-called humanitarian convoy of 47 trucks heading for Russian-occupied Donbas, aide to the head of Ukraine's State Border Service Oleh Slobodian.

"Two columns of trucks consisting of 47 vehicles crossed the Russian checkpoints, Donetsk and Matveyev Kurgan, from 05:55 to 07:10 local time," Slobodian told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday morning.

As Russia "for the 58th time traditionally violated all international and Ukrainian rules of handling humanitarian cargo, and ICRC members did not take part in clearance of the cargo," a group of Ukrainian representatives, including the State Border Service and the State Fiscal Service, were only able to "monitor without inspection," he said.

During the monitoring, the Ukrainian side saw most of the vehicles carrying foods and medicines, he said, adding, "At the same time, the trucks were half-empty, and their number does not coincide with the one mentioned in the Russian Foreign Ministry's preliminary notification."

He also said that the monitoring had not revealed any military equipment.

"In my belief, there is no point in the use by Russia of these 'humanitarian' convoys for transportation of military freight. Their task is to show a picture on Russian TV that Russia allegedly performs an important humanitarian mission in the eastern Ukrainian regions it itself has occupied," Slobodian said.

The Ukrainian State Border Service's press service said that the trucks of the convoy were presumably carrying food, medicine, warm clothes and heaters.

"During visual inspection of the vehicles, it was found that the trucks were allegedly filled with food, medicines, second-hand warm clothes and heaters. Traditionally, the vehicles were half-empty, and their number did not correspond to the figure declared in the notification of the Russian Foreign Ministry, as it documented about 40 vehicles, while in fact 47 crossed the border," the Ukrainian agency said.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry in turn reported that its truck convoy had delivered over 400 tonnes of 'humanitarian' aid to Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"More than 40 trucks loaded with over 400 tonnes of humanitarian cargo have arrived in Donetsk and Luhansk," the ministry said on Thursday.

Food, essential goods and medicines were delivered amongst other items, it said.

All trucks passed customs and border control at the Donetsk and Matveyev-Kurgan checkpoints and headed for Donetsk and Luhansk after being cleared by customs, the ministry said.

In all, the Russian ministry has sent 58 truck convoys to Donbas since August 2014. More than 65,000 tonnes of so-called humanitarian aid have been supplied to Luhansk and Donetsk regions since then.
Take a deep breath, San Antonio.

Step back and take a wider view of the proposed Hardberger Park land bridge. Its going to be fabulous. The land bridge will be beautiful and functional. Its the kind of project that makes the cityscape wondrous. It is the embodiment of the popular mantra, live, work and play.

In a bond package that is heavily focused on back-to-basics infrastructure, there is nothing wrong with also supporting a visionary project in the heart of our community that exudes excellence.

The popular park, split by Wurzbach Parkway, is used by residents across our community. The land bridge is the final, seamless link between those two halves. It will be used by people and animals to cross the Wurzbach Parkway.

There are warning signs the bridge may not get needed city support. As Express-News journalist Vianna Davila recently reported, a citizens committee has voted to cut $2 million from the land bridge project, reducing proposed bond funding from $15 million to $13 million. Former Mayor Phil Hardberger has pledged to raise another $10 million in private funds.

There is a certain temptation out there to continue slicing off funds for other small projects until there is nothing left of the land bridge. If that temptation persists, we suggest moving funds away from new park projects rather than leaving Hardberger Park unfinished. For example, City Councilman Joe Krier recently touted the purchase of ranch land near U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 for a park. That project, with its more than $9 million in proposed bond funds, could wait.

Were sure Krier would understand such a delay. After all, as he has said, the land bridge is iconic, would be a world-recognized statement and that 100 years from now, no one is going to ask, What did this cost?

Exactly. The land bridge will make San Antonio an even better place. Dont sell that vision short.
1 Talks suspended: The European Unions legislature in Brussels demanded Thursday that the bloc freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the governments heavy-handed crackdown after a failed coup in July. Tens of thousands of people, including teachers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, have been arrested or fired for what Turkish authorities have said are connections to the coup or to terrorists. Hundreds of organizations have been forced to close, including many news outlets.

2 Turkish soldiers killed: Three soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded by Syrian warplanes while fighting inside Syria for the first time since the civil war there began in 2011, the Turkish military announced Thursday. The troops were advancing toward Al-Bab, a city in the north held by the Islamic State, near the border with Turkey. The announcement heightened the tensions between Syria and Turkey, neighboring countries that have powerful allies. The Syrian government is backed by Russia and Iran. Turkey, a member of NATO, began a major offensive in northern Syria in August as part of its fight against the Islamic State.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has called a report about the detention in Sevastopol of a spy allegedly working for its Main Directorate of Intelligence provocative.

"The FSB [Federal Security Service] of Russia is once again resorting to provocations using the database located in the territory of Crimea. It is the personal files of former servicemen who served either in the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. A former serviceman of the Black Sea Fleet became the victim of a provocation this time," Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

"Similar cases involving the exposure of spies and saboteurs who are allegedly affiliated with the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine's Defense Ministry will appear because the personal files of around 10,000 former servicemen who are in retirement today and have nothing to do with ongoing military service in the territory of the peninsula," Lysenko said.

Ukraine's SBU Security Service said in response to Interfax-Ukraine's request to comment on the detention: "We don't comment on such fakes."

Russia's FSB said earlier on Thursday that a former serviceman of the Black Sea Fleet Staff had been detained on suspicion of collecting classified information about the fleet's activity for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence.

The FSB opened a criminal case on a count of high treason and launched an investigation.
Shear brilliance: computing tackles the mystery of the dark universe

(Nanowerk News) Scientists from The University of Manchester working on a revolutionary telescope project have harnessed the power of distributed computing from the UKs GridPP collaboration to tackle one of the Universes biggest mysteries  the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have used resources provided by GridPP  who represent the UKs contribution to the computing grid used to find the Higgs boson at CERN  to run image processing and machine learning algorithms on thousands of images of galaxies from the international Dark Energy Survey.

The Manchester team are part of the collaborative project to build the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a new kind of telescope currently under construction in Chile and designed to conduct a 10-year survey of the dynamic Universe. LSST will be able to map the entire visible sky.

In preparation to the LSST starting its revolutionary scanning, a pilot research project has helped researchers detect and map out the cosmic shear seen across the night sky, one of the tell-tale signs of the dark matter and dark energy thought to make up some 95 per cent of what we see in the Universe. This in turn will help prepare for the analysis of the expected 200 petabytes of data the LSST will collect when it starts operating in 2023.

The pilot research team based at The Manchester of University was led by Dr Joe Zuntz, a cosmologist originally at Manchesters Jodrell Bank Observatory and now a researcher at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.

Sarah Bridle, Professor of Astrophysics at The University of Manchester, explained: Our overall aim is to tackle the mystery of the dark universe - and this pilot project has been hugely significant. When the LSST is fully operating researchers will face a galactic data deluge - and our work will prepare us for the analytical challenge ahead.

Dr George Beckett, the LSST-UK Science Centre Project Manager based at The University of Edinburgh, added: The pilot has been a great success. Having completed the work, Joe and his colleagues are able to carry out shear analysis on vast image sets much faster than was previously the case. Thanks are due to the members of the GridPP community for their assistance and support throughout.

The LSST will produce images of galaxies in a wide variety of frequency bands of the visible electromagnetic spectrum, with each image giving different information about the galaxys nature and history. In times gone by, the measurements needed to determine properties like cosmic shear might have been done by hand, or at least with human-supervised computer processing.

With the billions of galaxies expected to be observed by LSST, such approaches are unfeasible. Specialised image processing and machine learning software (Zuntz 2013) has therefore been developed for use with galaxy images from telescopes like LSST and its predecessors ("im3shape: a maximum likelihood galaxy shear measurement code for cosmic gravitational lensing"). This can be used to produce cosmic shear maps like those shown in the figure below. The challenge then becomes one of processing and managing the data for hundreds of thousands of galaxies and extracting scientific results required by LSST researchers and the wider astrophysics community.

As each galaxy is essentially independent of other galaxies in the catalogue, the image processing workflow itself is highly parallelisable. This makes it an ideal problem to tackle with the kind of High-Throughput Computing (HTP) resources and infrastructure offered by GridPP. In many ways, the data from CERNs Large Hadron Collider particle collision events is like that produced by a digital camera (indeed, pixel-based detectors are used near the interaction points)  and GridPP regularly processes billions of such events as part of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG).

A pilot exercise, led by Dr Joe Zuntz while at The University of Manchester and supported by one of the longest serving and most experienced GridPP experts, Senior System Administrator Alessandra Forti, saw the porting of the image analysis workflow to GridPPs distributed computing infrastructure. Data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) was used for the pilot.

After transferring this data from the US to GridPP Storage Elements, and enabling the LSST Virtual Organisation on a number of GridPP Tier-2 sites, the IM3SHAPE analysis software package (Zuntz, 2013) was tested on local, grid-friendly client machines to ensure smooth running on the grid. Analysis jobs were then submitted and managed using the Ganga software suite, which is able to coordinate the thousands of individual analyses associated with each batch of galaxies. Initial runs were submitted using Ganga to local grid sites, but the pilot progressed to submission to multiple sites via the GridPP DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) service. The flexibility of Ganga allows both types of submission, which made the transition from local to distributed running significantly easier.
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
I was watching the moon rising from a low north-eastern sky. I had found a dark place in the backyard which gave me some shelter from the street-lights. The sky was clear except for a few wispy scattered clouds. It was the night when the moon (dubbed by the media The Supermoon) was closest to the earth since 1946 and it would be another 60 years before this astronomical phenomenon would again appear.

The Supermoon was perched at the top of the Sycamore tree in the backyard, when the telephone rang. Julia, accepted as the most Irish of my four German grandchildren, was presuming, rightly, that I was, like her glued (her description) to the sky. She was standing on the small balcony in her four-storey student apartment, as she described the golden glow on the layered roofs, the spires and medieval walls of her university city of Nuremberg.

I told her that it had been a late Autumn in Ireland, that the trees had only now shed their leaves which covered the road on which I live, and on which the very bright and big moon now shone. Its the moon on the yellow road, I said, and we laughed.

Julia, like me, is a bit of a star-gazer, though she is far more knowledgeable than I am, since she is a member of an Astronomical Society and keeps up-to-date with all the latest published research on space-exploration. We have both shared some memorable sky-experiences; once seeing, from a cliff-top in Kerry, a very bright Venus, perched on the verge of the horizon and reflected in the huge Atlantic. It was just for a few seconds but it was magical.

I like to think that Julia's interest is part of the gene-pool, and goes right back to my grandmother, and her great-great grandmother, Mary Anne. I called her Grannie and Julia calls me Oma.

Grannie was born in 1870 on a South Tipperary farm, where the fields sloped down to the Suir in the shadow of the Knockmealdows. At aged 21 she married the son of a neighbouring farmer, became the mother of seven children and was a widow at the age of 40. With the help of her brother she continued to farm, and lived a very long life. I spent every available day of my school-holidays with her in a place that I loved.

I never discovered how Grannie knew so much about the night-skies. There were some books in her house, though none, as far as I can recall, on astronomy. I can only presume that her knowledge was handed down to her by her parents. She left school when she was 14, and yet she could still solve a problem in Algebra, could quote long poems by Byron and Shelly, sing Moore's melodies, recite long lists of the capital cities of Europe, and give dates of events in European history. The principal of her school wanted her to remain as a monitor (a trainee teacher) but as the eldest in her family, her mother needed her in the rearing of her brothers and sisters.

I always felt that, whatever her book-knowledge (as she would describe it) her knowledge of the physical geography of the Ireland of her time was very limited. She would go to Cahir every few weeks to shop, and Clonmel when she need something special. When the harvest was in and the threshing completed, she would have a holiday by the sea in Dungarvan. She visited Dublin on only one occasion.

My grandmother's nightly ritual was always the same. At about 9 o'clock, we knelt down on the kitchen floor, rested our elbows on the kitchen chairs, and with a glowing open fire warming our backs, we would say the Rosary. We would finish with prayers for our dead and living relatives and friends.

And then, if the sky was clear, we would leave the dim lamplight behind us and walk into the farmyard to look at the stars.

There, she told me about our nearest neighbour, the moon, and its phases. With her right arm above her head, she traced the inner planets - Mercury, Venus and Mars, and although we were standing in the farmyard, we were on Planet Earth, on that same orbit. And further out, there was Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. And away, away out there, beyond our vision, there was tiny planet Pluto. She always knew the time of the year during which each was in the ascendant.

And so it went on, during every clear night of school-holidays. With her right forefinger she traced The Plough and circled The Pleides and, both arms held wide, she spoke of the immensity of The Milky Way. Sometimes we saw a shower of meteorites and once we went into one of her higher fields to watch the Northern Lights.

That was my introduction to star-gazing - an occupation which has given me much pleasure, a permanent pain in the neck, and a subject on which I am still appallingly ignorant.

Grannie always finished these sessions with some more prayers. Thank God for the fine weather, or the rain, or the frost. Thank God for the healthy animals. Thank God for the crops and the harvest. And then we would go into the kitchen again and drink cups of cocoa before we went to bed. (She had a thing about not going to bed on what she called an empty stomach).

Julia is separated from her great-great grandmother by 150 years. Grannie saw in the sky and in her world, a reflection of the great glory of God. Julia tells me she doesn't do religion. But, in the glow of that recent Supermoon, it seemd to me that she and my grandmother and all the layers of family sky-watchers, shared a common awe, a wonder, a reverence, for the complexity, the beauty, of the Universe, and for Planet Earth where, for a fraction of the nano-second that we call Time, we live our very brief lives.
An honest judgment on the history of relations between the Jewish and Ukrainian peoples should help improve these relations at the present time, Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein has said.

"These relations [between the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples] have been different in different periods of history, and I don't think that an attempt to rewrite history this or that way, or idealize it, or paint it black would be the right thing to do," he said at the forum, titled "Ukraine-Israel 2016: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations: From Common Heritage to a Shared Vision," held in Kyiv on Thursday.

Jewish and Ukrainian people have lived side-by-side for centuries, their relationships have been different, and some historical personalities venerated by Ukrainians as heroes and fighters for independence may be seen differently by the Jewish people, Edelstein said.

The same concerns WWII and the Holocaust, when some Ukrainians rescued Jews at the risk of their own lives, while others, on the contrary, collaborated with the Nazis, he said.

"Such is history, and it cannot be dashed. The question is how to live with this. I believe the past 25 years have shown that an honest judgment on history helps develop excellent relations," he said.
A new smartphone app that could revolutionise the construction industry has been launched by a man originally from Golden.

Oliver Morrissey is now living in Australia and working in the construction industry. The smartphone app he has developed has been described as a 'Google Maps for under ground.'

Oliver, the founder and managing director of the company, explains: I started Utillix because there was a major problem in the industry, people's lives were being put at risk every day of the week and it seemed everyone was happy to go along with the old school of things - but technology is the way forward.

Oliver got the idea for the app when he was attending a course for the construction industry on how to read black and white line drawings or maps of utilities like gas pipes and power lines. Construction workers are required to ring 'dial before you dig' to check paper maps.

Oliver said he wanted to make things safer for the guys out there doing the work. They were out there digging before without knowing what was below the ground and they could have actually blown themselves up with a gas pipe.

So now, by looking at their mobile phone we give them the info from our office to their phone, they see a yellow gas pipe and stop digging.

Above: How Utillix looks on a smartphone screen

There is nobody else in the world doing what Utillix are doing, Oliver says, and the worldwide success of the company seems set with a partnership with technology giant IBM. It is already expanding to Asia, Europe and the US after less than a year of operation.

He is grateful to the mainly Irish construction industry in Australia who were more than helpful with feedback and beta testing as the app was being developed, as well as the New South Wales government which also backed him.

In five years I want us to be as good as Google Maps but underground, is Oliver's ambition.

Currently there is a free end user application where users including builders, farmers, plumbers and engineers can take pictures and upload their information - colour coded for water, gas, electric; date stamped and GPS coordinates provided. UTILLIX Enterprise is for companies and councils which they adapt to suit their needs. John Hanafin of Thurles is the Managing Director of Utillix Ireland and will be approaching councils and business in Ireland to adopt the technology, whilst also creating employment in Ireland.

Oliver first went to Australia when he was 17. He spent time there and in Ireland over the years, getting engaged to his wife Catherine at the Sydney Opera House in 2006. They were living back in Ireland, where Oliver was in construction management with BAM Civil, when the downturn came and they felt the only choice was to return to Australia in January 2011.

It was a heartwrenching decision for them at the time, leaving their families. Their daughter Eabha was just 10 months old, she will be seven in February and is an excellent Irish dancer! The family has also been joined by a little boy, Liam, who is two and a half. The community is very good and we love it here,Oliver says.

Oliver and Catherine hope to return to Ireland next summer, to expand the business and visit their families - Oliver's mum Anna lives in a Dundrum nursing home. Catherine is daughter of Roger and Alice Peters living in Mortlestown Cahir. Before emigrating she worked at St John the Baptist Boys School in Cashel and is now Utillix director and working at a private school in Sydney.

Utillix picked up the Start-up Award at the recent Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce Awards in Sydney. I think that we won because our product is innovative, no-one else is doing what we are doing and it is globally scalable, said Oliver.

For further information contact support@utillix.com or download the app from the App Store, Google Play or the Windows Store.
Irish Water have announced that they will begin the process to take in charge the administration of 8,468 business customer accounts in Tipperary this week.

The change will see responsibility for account administration for existing business customers in Tipperary move to Irish Water from Local Authorities. Charges for business customers, credit terms and the frequency of billing will remain unchanged while this transition is taking place.

Irish Water say that business customers in Tipperary will now have a single point of customer contact for all queries in relation to water supply, wastewater treatment and business account management. Irish Water will contact all 8,468 business customers and other affected groups in Tipperary directly, once the transition takes place. Bills will be issued from Irish Water directly, as they fall due.

Irish Water took over responsibility for providing public water services to business customers in January 2014. Before this, Local Authorities billed businesses for water services provided to them and they have continued to issue bills on behalf of Irish Water on an interim basis since then. A process is now beginning to transfer this billing process to Irish Water as part of the transition of water service delivery from Local Authorities to Irish Water.

Irish Water say they began the process of billing transfer on a phased basis in mid-July and to date administration for 18 Local Authorities, including Clare, Laois, Offaly and Wexford, have successfully been transferred to the utility.

Prior to bills being issued, Irish Water will contact customers directly in each county to explain what is happening. Any customer with a query in relation to the process can contact Irish Water on 1850 778 778 or 01 707 2827.

In a statement the company says - "Irish Water is investing in the water and wastewater infrastructure in Co Tipperary. Projects include a 7 million investment in water mains rehabilitation in South Tipperary which will improve drinking water quality, supply and pressure for customers served by the Fethard Regional Water Supply Scheme.

"The Nenagh Water Conservation & Wastewater Network Project is a 17 million combined Ervia/Irish Water infrastructure project to upgrade the water and wastewater networks in Nenagh and to bring gas to the town for the first time.

"The 15.2 million Burncourt and Fethard Water Supply Schemes investment will ensure improved water quality and supply for customers serviced by the Fethard and Burncourt Regional Water Supply Schemes.

"The 3 million Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme  Mains & Borehole project will address water leakage and drinking quality issues on the existing scheme and also eliminate surface water intake, which can cause treatment costs to rise.

"Elected representatives seeking further information from Irish Water in relation to how the administrative change will affect business customers in their constituency should contact our dedicated elected representatives support desk".
Annacarty National School is one of two Tipperary national schools in a celebratory mood this week as the judges of a prestigious national art competition named them Junior and Senior County Winners, placing them in the running for the coveted national title.

The competition, which is entitled Someone Like Me, is sponsored by the Department of Justice and Equality. It aims to develop childrens understanding of disabilities and to promote the celebration of the aspects that make them and their classmates unique. There are more than 600,000 people in Ireland with a disability, of which 53,000 are children under the age of 15.

And the artistic efforts of pupils and teachers at Annacarty National School and St Michaels National School, Cloughjordan have paid off as their imaginative Someone Like Me submissions were singled out by the competitions judges - Sinead Burke, Padraig Naughton and Beth OHalloran - for being exceptionally insightful and inspirational.

The entry from St Michaels National School, Cloughjordan, named as Junior County Winner, was created by the schools Autism Centre Class 1 pupils Eva OBrien, Ivo Ivanovas, Lena Hurley, Nicky Quinlan and Ramin Nove with teacher Antoinette Moromey. The judges were impressed by how well their piece reflects the schools ethos of promoting the uniqueness of each individual child and the things that unite children of differing abilities.

The entry from Annacarty National School, named as Senior County Winner, was created by 5th and 6th Class pupil Ciara Jackman with teacher Mairead Ryan. Maireads clay rose was inspired by a poem she wrote about disability not being the thing that defines you and a group called roses who help people with disabilities.

Both schools now go on to compete with 49 other schools from around the country for the overall national Someone Like Me award which will be announced by the Minister for State with special responsibility for Disabilities, Finian McGrath T.D. at a ceremony at Farmleigh on Monday 12th December.

Congratulating both schools on becoming county winners, Minister of State with special responsibility for Disabilities, Finian McGrath T.D. said that he was hugely encouraged by the number of competition entries.

This year we received almost 2,000 entries from all 26 counties which means that teachers and pupils right across the country have taken the time to think carefully about the similarities that exist between all people and to foster more positive attitudes towards people with a disability, he said.

Having met to choose the county winners, the judges now have a difficult task ahead of them in order to decide which of the 51 junior and senior entries will win the national title. I look forward to meeting all of the pupils and their teachers at Farmleigh in December and announcing the judges decision.

While I know that it will be an anxious wait for the pupils and teachers to hear which of the 51 entries has been awarded the national title, we should not forget that the real winners in this competition are the future generation of adults who will have developed a better understanding of disability and who will have, in turn, formed more positive attitudes so that everyone, irrespective of ability or disability, feels a valued member of society.
India is a kaleidoscope of natural marvels! A nirvana for travel lovers, its charm gets more and more alluring once we start to explore it! Sharing its boundary with Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, there are many exquisite foreign locales in India, you should definitely be aware of!

Let's take a look at 7 Beautiful Places along the International borders of India! These are some of the breathtaking places in India that shares International borders. Let's take a tour through these fairylands!

Chitkul - PC : Travelling Slacker

7 Places in India that are truly International

Dharchula

Dharchula is a striking town located on the Indo-Nepal border in midst of snow clad Panchchuli peaks. Dharchula is connected to Nepal by a foot over bridge built across the Kali River! People from both sides pass through unrestricted unless you have cargo to

Chitkul

Chitkul is a picturesque village in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Located on the Indo-China border, this amazing beauty of a village will leave you spellbound for sure! The panoramic vista of Baspa river flowing through the village, with snow-clad mountains on its left bank and apple orchards and wooden houses on the right, is unparalleled!

Pangong lake - PC : _paVan_

Pangong lake

Pangong lake is a tranquil lake situated at 4,350 metres above sea level in Ladakh, extending up to China. Who would forget the majestic backdrop in the climax scene of Amir Khan starrer '3 Idiots' ? The crystal clear blue lake is one of the largest brackish lakes in Asia and one among the major tourist destinations in Jammu and Kashmir and India!

Nako Lake

Surrounded by willows and poplar trees, the breathtaking lake of Nako forms part of the boundary of Nako village in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Located near to the Indo-Tibet border, the USP of the place is the magnificent view it has to offer of snow coated Kinnaur Kailash, which is believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva!

Nako Lake - PC : Sayantan Bhattacharya

Lachung - Yumthang valley

Located close to Indo-Tibetan border, at an altitude of 11,800 ft above sea level, Yumthang valley is popularly called the valley of flowers! Home to exotic varieties of Himalayan flowers, this gorgeous valley is undoubtedly one among the beautiful places along the International borders of India!

Nathu La Pass

PC : Nitin Ticku



Nathu La is a mountain pass in Himalayas that connects Indian state of Sikkim with Chinese controlled Tibet. At a height 0f 14,200 ft above sea level, it is one of the highest roads of the world!

Nelong valley

An arid landscape with brilliant views of the Tibetan plateau, Nelong valley boasts of a rich wildlife with the likes of snow leopard, Himalayan blue sheep and musk deer, along with rare species of birds and plants!

Yumthang Valley - PC : Joginder Pathak

These places in India that shares International borders are quite breath taking! Visit these places in India for a true international touch! Happy Travelling :)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday (23 November 2016) for talks on how NATO continues to adapt to a changed security environment. The Secretary General thanked the United Kingdom for its enduring commitment to NATO and its leadership on defence spending.

In their talks, Prime Minister May and the Secretary General underlined the importance of the transatlantic bond. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that the UK is leading by example on defence spending, investing over 2% of GDP on defence. He also highlighted the UKs significant contributions to NATO missions and its commitment to deploy a battlegroup to Estonia next year, as part of the Alliances enhanced multinational forward presence.

During his visit to the UK, the Secretary General also met with Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, and delivered a keynote speech at Oxford University. Addressing students on Thursday (24 November) at the Oxford Union, one of the worlds oldest debating societies, Mr. Stoltenberg explained how NATO adapts to meet new challenges, keeping all Allies safe. For nearly 70 years, he noted, NATO has helped to preserve the peace in Europe, bringing to bear the strength and unity of North America and Europe.
(NaturalNews) Only in America 2016 has liberty been so polluted and restrained by the massive police state that a single mother of six could be facing jail time for selling a homemade meal. reports that, in December 2015, Mariza Reulas, of Stockton, Calif., was cited for operating a food facility and engaging in business without the blessing of the powers that be (as in, she didn't have a permit).Now, she is actually facing jail time for selling a homemade dish to an undercover investigator. Let that sink in: There was actually anto catch someone selling homemade food! All she was selling was a helping of ceviche, a seafood dish that is popular in South America.According to the Institute for Justice, Reulas is a member of the 209 Food Spot group on Facebook  a social media meeting and sharing place for Stockton residents who exchange recipes, organize potluck dinners and occasionally buy and trade with the goods they prepare at home."Somebody would be like, 'Oh, I don't have anything to trade you, but I would love to buy a plate,'" she told a local news station , in reference to the Facebook group.But then San Joaquin County got involved in this massive criminal enterprise. An undercover investigator from the county called her asking to buy some of her ceviche, and she said she would sell some. But in the insane asylum known as California , this activity is against the law.So she was charged, along with the other members of the 209 Food Spot, with a pair of misdemeanors. "It was just like unreal that they were saying you could face up to a year in jail ," she toldShe was offered a plea bargain deal, however  admit her guilt and she would "get off" with three years of probation, 80 hours of community service and a $235 fine. But she refused this, so now a trial has been set for December. If convicted, this food criminal could actually get the one year in jail.San Joaquin County deputy district attorney, Kelly McDaniel, attempted to justify this legal disgrace with the typical excuse that she is only "enforcing" the law, as if to say she has no responsibility for the harm that is being caused the Ruelas family."I don't write the laws, I enforce them. And the legislature has felt that this is a crime," McDaniel told. Of course, there is also something called prosecutorial discretion, but she didn't discussAnd remember, this is the same state where official after official has said that they will refuse to enforce legitimate federal immigration laws or help the Trump administration identify and deport those who are in our country illegally.McDaniel further attempted to justify this ridiculous prosecution by saying that any food not subject to an inspection from the county health department puts people in real danger  as if needing to pass muster from a government agency that has stamped outof dangerous food being sold and consumed (hint: it hasn't ). And she tried to make it sound as though a couple of meals exchanged or sold between members of a group are somehow a massive threat to business owners because that'sWhat is really at play here is the deep, blue state of California's ongoing war with freedom and entrepreneurial endeavors . The little Stalinist Democrats who run the state are far less concerned with food safety than they are in controlling the masses. Think of what thisis going to cost taxpayers in San Joaquin County  the sting operation itself, the hours taken to prepare a case, the trial ... it's absurd.Only authoritarians who believe the government has a right to tell you what foods you can and can't buy think this is all just okay.
Give thanks for the freedoms we still retain... and help us win back the ones we've lost

Now it's time to fight for our freedoms so that our children can give thanks when they inherit this nation

(NaturalNews) When pondering what, exactly, we might give thanks for on this Thanksgiving holiday, it's worth remembering that throughout human history,. They were "subjects" of kings, or emperors or tyrants pretending to be gods.Yet America is something different. This nation was founded on a revolutionary principle -- that no ruler is above the law or above the common man. In America, there are no kings. No royalty. No "untouchables" (or, at least, there aren't supposed to be). An innovative societal structure of distributed power and relatively free market economics meant that... or even become wealthy through innovation and hard work.Our Founding Fathers ordained that those in power would be subject to the will of the people, and just a couple of weeks ago, we witnessed something that would have historically been a violent, bloody uprising and revolution if carried out almost anywhere else. Except in our case, it was a. All across America, people rose up in defiance of a corrupt establishment, throwing them out of office in a democratic declaration of political accountability.(For those who say Hilary won the popular vote, it's not valid: Donald Trump campaigned to win the electoral college, not the popular vote, choosing to win where it counts under the current rules. If the victor were determined solely by the popular vote, Trump would have campaigned in high-population cities like Los Angeles and New York, and he would have targeted the popular vote instead of the electoral vote.)This Thanksgiving, we should all give thanks for the undeniable fact thatthat are trying to control America . We have just demonstrated thatthat are completely unexpected by the globalists, the establishment and the fakestream media.This power of the people is extremely rare across our modern world; making it something worth protecting and valuing at every level. Consider the astonishing fact that because of the power of the ballot box, Republicans are right nowso that they can win again in 2020 and 2024. Meanwhile, Democrats are taking inventory of why they lost and going through a reorganization phase to try to become a political party that's once again relevant to the American people.In essence, these two political parties. Competition is good, as it leads to improved innovation and accountability. But I suspect that the bigger solution in all this will be found in living our lives with. While Democrats and Republicans can compete to see who can hand out the most benefits, the ultimate truth is that. That's the whole point of social security, by the way, which was built around the big lie that says workers are too stupid to save their own money, therefore the government should steal money from everyone and promise to someday give a little of it back in the form of wildly devalued fiat currency.Nevertheless, despite the lies and failings of the federal government today,. We still have our sacred First and Second Amendment rights, for example, and American patriots fiercely defend them both. Think about it: In how many nations around the world could a guy like me openly criticize the President with words while privately owning a .50 cal Barrett rifle? Both of those would be considered criminal offenses in nearly every other country around the world, but in America, they are still respected freedoms. (Although, notably, the political left is desperately trying to wipe out both the First and Second Amendments...)Being thankful for our freedoms is not, by itself, sufficient. We must. If you love the First Amendment, start a blog or news site. If you love the Second Amendment, get a concealed carry permit and start carrying a loaded weapon for self-defense. And if you love America,Remember this: Every individual liberty is despised by tyrants, and they incessantly try to crush such freedoms at every opportunity. If you hope to live in a world where you can continue to give thanks for your liberties, your freedom of speech, your right to vocalize your dissent and your right to defend your life, liberty and communities with a firearm, pleaseFreedom isn't something that's "locked in." It's constantly being eroded by the lying "fake" mainstream media, corrupt government bureaucrats and wannabe socialists and communists who despise individual liberty. The "Tree of Liberty," in other words, must be refreshed from time to time... Hopefully not with blood but with the words and actions of passionate, law-abiding American citizens who recognize the value of the nation we've been handed by our ancestors.Now it's our turn to keep these freedoms intact so that we have a country to hand to our own children. It won't be an easy task. Political snakes and reptiles are trying to poison our Republic and seize it for their nefarious agendas. We must remain educated, vigilant and courageous in our defense of liberty. And we mustThat's why this Thanksgiving . It is you who make this country a place worth protecting, and it is your passion for truth, justice and individual liberty that ultimately allows us all to share citizenship in the greatest nation our world has ever known.May you experience an abundant, joyful Thanksgiving this year, and I wish you all the deepest blessings for our future together in this great nation.- Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
A home in Adelaide, Australia was recently raided by local police as there had been reports that more than 10 cats had been locked inside a woman's home. According to reports, the cats were starved to death and were forced to eat each other to survive.

In an interview, chief inspector Andrea Lewis stated that the situation was so graphic and heart-breaking that it would be an unforgettable experience for her department. According to her report, the house was severely infested with very old feces from cats, and there were rotting corpses of felines all over the house. It has been noted that out of the original 14 cats, only one survived the forced starvation.

According to a report from Mirror UK, this event had been reported in September 2015, and the woman who owned the felines has constantly failed to attend court hearings. Now a year later, the woman was convicted of animal cruelty, but her mental health issues were also being taken into consideration.

Animal hoarding and other related cases are common all over the world. These usually involve a certain individual who keeps an unusual number of animals without the ability to provide care and support. This is a serious concern as most people who suffer from this health issue tend to deny the fact that they have no capability of caring for their numerous animals.

Since keeping a lot of animals without the capability of caring for them brings these creatures to danger, these kinds of scenarios are sure to raise some eyebrows. Though this is not a deliberate case of animal cruelty, there are still high amounts of concern from organizations and individuals who lobby for animal rights.

As to the fate of the lone survivor of the ordeal, the cat has been rescued and put to proper care. According to reports, he has been rehabilitated to his full health and has been adopted soon after.
A new legislation in the United Kingdom appears to not only give the government access to online activities of citizens but may also give room to share them with the United States.

The Investigatory Powers Bill has been given the green light by the British parliament, providing the government a new bulk of surveillance powers for police and intelligence services. Of course, this has not stopped critics to denounce the bill as "the most far-reaching of any western democracy."

According to Al Jazeera, the bill would require websites to keep their customers' browsing history for up to a year and even allow agencies access to them in order to help for investigations. Former US NSA contractor Edward Snowden said the powers "went further than many autocracies."

The bill is considered the first major update of British surveillance laws for 15 years. It has been passed by the House of Lords and is a Queen's stamp away from implementation.

Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the bill last March as a "world-leading" legislation designed to reflect the changes in today's online media. The bill also gives legal footing to existing, albeit "murky" powers, such as hacking computers and phones. However, they do introduce safeguards such as the need for a judge's approval to authorize interception.

Regardless, critics have dubbed this as the "snooper's charter" and that it breaches fundamental rights of privacy.

Meanwhile, according to New Scientist, the new bill may even allow the United States access to the surveillance records. This stemmed from how the passing of the bill seemed to "slip" under the noses of the Trump election.

Speculations may also increase due to the fact that the US and the UK may have a "special relationship," even to their secret services. However, until the bill is actually in effect, we can only wait just how it will affect the operations of the GCHQ -- or UK's intelligence gathering hub -- and agencies like the CIA.
U.S. lobbyist Steve Bassett has revealed that the White House is going to announce the existence of aliens soon.

Bassett told Express in an exclusive interview that Obama will make the announcement before he leaves the Oval Office.

"We are going to get disclosure this year. I am not sure who will win the election, but I think Obama will be the disclosure president. He will be looking at a Nobel Prize for making an announcement like that. I am 85 per cent sure Obama will make the announcement before he leaves office and within days your Prime Minister David Cameron will follow," he said.

A former CIA agent who refused to be identified also confirmed the existence of aliens on Earth. According to Space News, the agent underwent signal training course, as part of the CIA operative. During which, he said he has worked with aliens in devising innovative technology and devices.

He also revealed that he, together with higher officials have personally visited Area 51 a couple of times.

Area 51 is a United States Air Force facility located about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. TIME notes that conspiracy theorists dub it as a "secret" military base where remains of crashed UFO spacecrafts are stored at the secretive area, including the infamous alien spacecraft that crashed in Roswell, N.M.



President Barack Obama's refusal to out right deny the existence of aliens in interviews have fueled the speculations that Area 51 controversy is real.

Express quoted one expert who believes disclosure of aliens is near. The conspiracists said: "Whenever a US president or senior official is put on the spot they get this smile and say something like 'I couldn't tell you even if I knew'...or something like that. You will never get a total denial, but it is a double bluff.

Furthermore, Hilary Clinton who ran for presidency last election vowed in January that she will send a task force to Area 51 to verify the rumors.
Femen activist attempts to break Berlin wall fragment in Kyiv in EU visa protest

A member of the FEMEN movement has attempted to break a fragment of the Berlin wall on display near Germany's embassy in Kyiv on Khmelnitsky Street.

"Protesting against raising the ephemeral wall blocking Ukraine's path toward its European future, the FEMEN activist broke the legendary wall, a symbol illustrating the separation between peace and people," FEMEN's website said.

A photograph posted to the site shows the female activist swinging a hammer against the wall fragment, which was not damaged.

The protest was regarded as a symbolic gesture against artificial barriers blocking Ukraine's EU visa-free status.

The press service of the National Police of Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine that the FEMEN activist indeed staged the protest at the German embassy, but said she violated no laws.

"The police have received no complaints from the embassy," the police press service said.
Humanity has been interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life for most of recorded history. However, it was only in the last few years wherein scientific strides in the field has been accomplished. At present, most of the focus in uncovering the truth behind aliens is placed on Mars. After all, the conditions in the Red planet are the closest there is to that one Earth.

At present, the multiple rovers, including Spirit and Opportunity, have yet to uncover substantial evidence that can definitively prove the existence of alien life. Nevertheless, recently the Spirit Rover uncovered an area that could possibly have been home to an ancient civilization.

According to a report published on Nature Communications, several areas on Mars resemble conditions on Earth specifically in the hot spring site of El Tatio in Chile. Steven Rudd and Jack Farmer from the Arizona State University and lead authors of the research explain that the nodular silica structures at El Tatio are vaguely similar to the conditions in Mars.

The condition in El Tatio, which includes the rare combination of low precipitation, high evaporation and high elevation rates, is better in fostering silica structures than several other geo-thermal sites like the Yellowstone Nation Park in the US. The scientists involved in the study conclude that the similarities could be taken as proof that silica structures did form in the Red Planet.

"Our results demonstrate that the more Mars-like conditions of El Tatio produce unique deposits, including biomediated silica structures, with characteristics that compare favorably with the Home Plate silica outcrops. The similarities raise the possibility that the Martian silica structures formed in a comparable manner" read a part of the paper as reported by Fox News.

Nevertheless, both Ruff and Farmer were quick to explain that more research is needed to solidify the claims of Mars being a host to living structures.
President-elect Donald J. Trump had tempered his stance on climate change and said he would be keeping an "open mind" about the Paris Climate Agreement.

Scientists have addressed how humans contribute to the current warming trend, stating at the 2013 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) fifth assessment report that "human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century."

During his campaign, Trump openly denied man-made climate change and called it a "Chinese hoax," while threatening to cancel the landmark Paris climate accord - one of the most significant international agreements that seek to combat climate change. He plans to open up federal lands to oil and gas drilling, even increase production of one of the most harmful fossil fuels in the world - coal. He plans to eliminate "unnecessary regulations" in the energy industry, mostly rules that protect streams from coal mining and waterways and wetlands.

Most importantly, Trump has appointed climate change skeptic Myron Ebell to lead his transition team for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

However, in an interview with the New York Times, Trump had softened his views about the issue, admitting that human activity is somehow linked to climate change.

"I think there is some connectivity. Some, something," Trump said. "It depends on how much."

Trump also reportedly said that he is "considering how much it will cost our companies" when it comes to climate change, and keeping an "open mind" about withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.

"I'm looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it," Trump said, adding that clean air and "crystal clear water" are vitally important.

In light of a recent climate study, climatologist Michael Mann of Penn State University said that a Trump presidency - if he decides to pull out of the Paris Agreement - could mean "game over" for the climate.

"Currently, our planet is in a warm phase - an interglacial period," Tobias Friedrich, co-author of the study, said in a statement. "And the associated increased climate sensitivity needs to be taken into account for future projections of warming induced by human activities."
Dwarf planet Ceres is another interesting object being studied up-close by NASA. Recent stunning images captured by Dawn spacecraft show some bright spots on the surface of Ceres. Scientists say that the spots are made up of solidified briny liquid that turned into salt that seeped through the surface during an impact.

NASA recently released some breathtaking and stunning images of the dwarf planet Ceres. The images abruptly captured the interest of the scientific community and the public as well. However, the images are not without controversy. There were evident bright spots on the surface of Ceres that triggered a debate on what is causing the unusual occurrence on Ceres.

Dawn's latest orbit above Ceres gave scientists new data to analyze including a high-resolution image of one of the most famous craters on the dwarf planet. "This image captures the wonder of soaring above this fascinating, unique world that Dawn is the first to explore," Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director said in a press release.

NASA also explained what could have caused the bright spots on Ceres. The set of images includes a close of Occator Crater taken on Oct. 16. Dawn spacecraft was about 920 miles above Ceres when the image was taken. This region is said to be the brightest spot on the surface of the dwarf planet.

Bright spots and the abyss: Dramatic new view of #Ceres' famous features https://t.co/CbXyqIJNR2 pic.twitter.com/vjKU1zTzTg  NASA's Dawn Mission (@NASA_Dawn) November 18, 2016

Although some conspiracy theorists say the bright spot could be a UFO, scientists behind the Dawn mission say there is nothing extraterrestrial about the unusually bright spot. The spot is actually made up of salt located in the crater. One theory to explain the presence of salt in the crater is one that includes an impact that caused a briny liquid leak from underground. The salty liquid water immediately froze turning into salt that causes the bright, somehow reflective layer on the crater, according to a report.

So far, the images have provided scientists a ton of information about the dwarf planet. But they are far from being done. Dawn will perform future orbits to Ceres that is expected to provide more scientific data about the composition of the dwarf planet's surface.
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient city and cemetery in Egypt that dates back to 5,316 B.C.E., during Egypt's First Dynasty. The ancient city was discovered at Abydos city in the Sohag governate.

According a report from Egypt Independent, Mahmoud Afify, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, announced the discovery to the public on Wednesday. Afify said that the residential city was discovered during an archaeological mission conducted by the ministry.

The ancient Egyptian city and cemetery was found 400 meters south of King Seti I Temple and were probably home to senior officials that built the cemeteries of the Egyptian royal family in Abydos city.

Archaeologists discovered in the site huts and tools used for everyday life. Remains of pottery and stone tools found in the area suggests that the ancient Egyptian city supplied food and drink to laborers constructing the royal tombs.

BBC Middle East analyst Alan Johnston says that the discovery of the ancient cemetery is important for modern archaeology as well as for Egypt's tourism. The discovered ancient tomb is akin to mastabas, a traditional ancient tomb that's usually made of mudbrick with a rectangular shape, flat roof and sloped sides.

Meanwhile, Central Administration of Upper Egypt Antiquities, Hany Aboul Azm, said that they have currently discovered 15 ancient graves, which are made of mudbrick and are huge, signifying that these burial sites belong to people with influence and high social status in the community.

Afify said that the ministry-discovered Egyptian city and grave are important as they could open new doors in understanding the history of Abydos city and ancient Egypt.

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A quick search online produces dozens of how-to videos and tutorials for disabling a GPS ankle monitor. Former parole agent Juan Stacey Thomas Castillo saw the problem firsthand during his 20 year career with the California Department of Corrections.

Theres a bunch of different ways they could beat the GPS device, Castillo told NBC Bay Area.

Its a vulnerability that hundreds of parolees exploit each year. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reviewed case records from the Department of Corrections from January 2015 through the first half of September 2016. Out of the roughly 6,000 sex offenders and violent gang members currently on parole, records revealed 2,271 cases where a county judge revoked a violators parole for tampering, disabling or removing a GPS tracking device. More than 500 parolees were found guilty of doing it more than once.

Now lawmakers want to enact stiffer penalties for the most dangerous offenders.

They really need to spend some time back in prison, state senator Pat Bates said. She represents the 36th Senate district which includes Orange and San Diego counties.

The state first identified this continuing problem after prison realignment. The move supported by Governor Jerry Brown, was designed to cut costs and reduce prison overcrowding by having parolees serve time in county jails instead of prisons.

But the law also inadvertently reduced the penalty for violent parolees who cut their GPS devices from a year in prison to a maximum 180 days in county jail. Figures from the Board of Parole Hearings showed a 19 percent rise in the number of parolees cited for cutting and disabling their GPS devices from October 2011 through September 2012, the first year after realignment took effect.

Bates believes the current sentencing guidelines are too lenient. She points to the ongoing murder case against Steve Gordon and Franc Cano. The two sex offenders are accused of killing four women in Orange County back in 2014 while on parole. Both Gordon and Cano were wearing their ankle monitors at the time of the alleged crimes, but had a history of repeatedly disabling their ankle monitors as recently as 2012.

If they had been put in prison for three yearsits possible that these murders would not have occurred, Bates said.

 Trial Begins for Man Accused of Rape, Murder of Four Women

The former parole agent Castillo says he also noticed a change after realignment.

The parolees had the attitude  the words were spoken-- you cant do anything to me. So what I go back [to jail] 30 days? 15 days? 60 days? its no big deal, Castillo said.

While parolees caught tampering with their GPS devices can serve a maximum of 180 days in county jail, records obtained by NBC Bay Area show they often serve much less.

Court records from Santa Cruz county show in March, police arrested a man on parole for rape and assault with a deadly weapon, after he disabled his ankle monitor. The judge sentenced him to 150 days, but less than three months later, he was free and disabled his GPS device yet again. When police found him, he had stolen credit cards in his shirt pocket.

The consequences need to be pretty severe if you cut off a tracking bracelet because when someone cuts off a tracking bracelet theyre probably inclined to commit crimes or otherwise put the community in jeopardy, GPS technology consultant George Drake told NBC Bay Area. Drake served as the deputy director in charge of parole and probation in New Mexico and served on a task force reviewing Californias GPS program in 2010.

Now as a consultant for Correct Tech LLC, Drake advices law enforcement agencies that proper screening of early release candidates and serious consequences for parole violators are essential for any successful GPS monitoring program.

Offenders should look at these tracking bracelets as their key to get out of jail, Drake said, adding its a privilege that should only be granted to select parolees. They should know theyre in charge of their own success.

The National Institute of Justice provides standards for manufacturers and law enforcement agencies on how to design tracking devices. Those recommendations advise against using indestructible bracelets to allow first responders a chance to quickly cut the straps in the event of a medical emergency. Drake believes says the goal of a GPS program should be a parolees successful transition back into society.

Last year, Senator Bates introduced a bill that would have made it a felony for high risk offenders to remove their tracking devices. Governor Brown vetoed the bill arguing the state already has too many laws on the books.

"Over the last several decades, California's criminal code has grown to more than 5,000 separate provisions, covering almost every conceivable form of human misbehavior. During the same period, our jail and prison populations have exploded," the Govenor's stated in his veto message.

Senator Bates believes her new bill, aiming to increase the penalty for GPS parole violators, will be backed by the legislature and have a minimal impact on prison overcrowding. She plans to introduce the bill when the new legislative session begins next year.

If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email Vicky Nguyenvicky@nbcbayarea.com or you can email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.

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While folks cozy up around the dinner table this Thanksgiving, four Bay Area activists will be braving near-freezing temperatures in North Dakota to reinforce those protesting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

Thanks to a GoFundMe page, which has gathered more than $4,000 worth of donations in 10 days, Eric Ruud and Joe Finkel from San Francisco along with Geri Keh and Kelsi Seid from Oakland will hand-deliver winter-resistant clothing, camping equipment, medical supplies and more once they reach the protest's front lines Thursday afternoon.

The team isn't there to just drop off the gear and hightail it back to the Bay Area. They want to become educated about this contentious battle feuding in America's heartland.

"It's an opportunity to help people who have asked for our help, to learn directly from the tribes, to meet like-minded people and to bring first person stories back to my friends and family," Ruud said.

During a two-week span following the Nov. 8 election, the team of four assembled and planned its course of action. Having more than $4,000 worth of donations at their disposal upon departing from the Bay Area was an added surprise.

"When I told my friends I was going, a friend reached out to me to ask how they could give me money for my expenses," Finkel said. "I hadn't even thought about fundraising. I was planning to go just to show up and help out, but when I saw the depth of feeling people had about this, I realized we could bring a lot more to the camp. Beyond bringing more to the camp, we could bring something to the table at home too, giving our friends a personal connection to a story that might have seemed out of reach."

Despite braving frigid conditions and violent confrontations with police, thousands of protesters remain committed to fighting against the interstate oil pipeline, which they say is a threat to clean drinking water supplies as well as a sign of disrespect to Native American burial and cultural grounds.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the organization behind the pipeline's ongoing construction, continues to reiterate that the 1,170-mile-long stretch of piping is safe and that crews are doing everything in their power to prevent potential leaks.

The four activists from the Bay Area are not necessarily inclined to assemble arms and protest. Their mission is to support those who are taking a stand in any way they can.

"If someone is asking for help you try your best to help them," Seid said. "That seems pretty basic. I don't know much about indigenous people, I don't think most Americans do which seems crazy since this is their land. So I am thrilled for an opportunity to learn about a culture and hopefully make a small impact on this important protest."

Demonstrators in the Bay Area have not been shy in voicing their disapproval with the pipeline. Roughly 2,000 activists took to the streets of San Francisco and students gathered at San Jose State University less than two weeks ago to raise awareness about the ongoing struggle and promote solidarity.
A 28-year-old musician killed in El Sobrante was targeted because of his race, according to investigators.

The hate crime that left William Sims of Richmond dead occurred on November 12. Sims had stopped at the Capri Club on the 1400 block of Appian Way for a drink when three men robbed, beat and shot him in the head outside the bar because he was black, authorities said.

"From what we know about this case we believe the victim was targeted and intentionally killed because of his race," Contra Costa Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jimmy Lee said.

Investigators have arrested Daniel Porter-Kelly, 31 and of Richmond, on charges of murder and robbery, with a hate-crime enhancement. But investigators also said two more suspects, 32-year-old Ray Simons of Hercules and 31-year-old Daniel Ortega of Novato or Richmond, are on the loose. Both have warrants for robbery and murder for their arrest, officials said.

"We do consider them armed and dangerous, and they should not be approached," Lee said.

Family friend James Harris said Sims played five instruments, had so much potential, and was a gentle, beautiful person.

"It's very sad," said James Harris, a family friend. "We're not talking about somewhere in the south. We're not talking about back to Jim Crow days. We're talking about Northern California."

A William Sims memorial fund has been set up on GoFundMe.

An investigation is ongoing Anyone with information may contact the Sheriff's Office at 925-646-2441. For tips, call 866-846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message or email: tips@so.cccounty.us.
San Jose State student Cesar Juarez is one of thousands of Bay Area immigrant students living in the U.S. legally but facing an uncertain future under the presidency of Donald Trump.

Juarez, who also teaches high school, is an undocumented immigrant who is allowed to stay in the country and go to college under President Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

But by Jan. 20, that could change.

California universities and colleges such as San Jose State have vowed to protect undocumented students like Juarez. The California State University chancellor even sent an internal memo to campuses, urging staff to warn DACA students not to travel abroad around inauguration day. It also warned the students that if they're studying abroad, they should come home before Jan. 20.

The memo emphasizes President-elect Trump's intention to eliminate DACA, and the concern is those students would not be able to get back into country if Trump keeps that promise.

"It might be a good idea to be in the country before the inauguration because were not sure whats gonna happen with DACA," said SJSU spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris.

San Jose State says it has 700 undocumented students enrolled. Those students and their supporters have been holding rallys, vowing to fight a policy change that may lead to deportations.

More than 200 universty presidents across the country have signed a statement supporting the DACA program and urging federal officials to do what they can to keep the program intact.
Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak has discussed with Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates Thani Al Rumaithi the situation in Ukraine, as well as an agreement on the main aspects of further cooperation.

As reported on the official website of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, the meeting was held on Thursday, November 24 in the framework of Poltoraks visit to the UAE.

"The situation in the east of our country, as well as in the annexed by Russia Crimea encourages us to very quickly develop and reform the Armed Forces. We have gained invaluable experience for two years and a half and are ready to share it with you," Poltorak said.

According to him, the main directions of cooperation between Ukraine and the UAE are the exchange of experience, common training of officers and cooperation between the General Staffs, as well as cooperation in the military and medical field. Poltorak, in particular, thanked Thani Al Rumaithi for hosting treatment and rehabilitation of 30 Ukrainian soldiers.

Representatives of the General Staff of the UAE Armed Forces are interested in Ukrainian experience of tactical medicine. At the same time they offered Ukrainian military to get acquainted with best practices of their research institute.

Also, representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were invited to participate in the drills, which will be held in the UAE in the near future.

During the talks the sides discussed prospects of cooperation in the sphere of military and industrial complex. At the end of the meeting the sides thanked each other for frank discussion and agreed on more active cooperation in the future.

Poltorak invited Thani Al Rumaithi to visit Ukraine for further negotiations.
Sweat was pouring into the eyes of New York City bomb squad technician Jason Hallick inside a 90-pound, armored body suit as he disabled a pressure cooker bomb in Manhattan, he tells "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt.

The bomb was placed in Chelsea in September by Ahmad Khan Rahami, authorities say, and another one had already exploded, injuring 31 people. (Wounded in a shootout with police, Rahami has pleaded not guilty.)

Now, this second device spotted, it was up to NYPD bomb squad technicians, their suits and their robots to prevent more people from being hurt.

"Nobody here can ever be paralyzed by fear," bomb squad commander Mark Torre said in the exclusive interview with Holt. "But we all have that very healthy respect for the force of explosives and what it can do. So there was a healthy degree of tension. Everybody's very, very focused."
A New Hampshire man is hoping to be home from the hospital in time for Thanksgiving dinner after suffering a powerful electrical shock while hanging Christmas lights.

I was slapping his face saying, William stay with me, stay with me William, and slapping his face, recalled Merrimack, New Hampshire, resident Karen LeClair.

The terrifying moments came Tuesday afternoon just as LeClair started to prepare the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner.

An explosion, I didnt know what the heck happened, she told necn.

LeClair ran outside to find her husband of 27 years on the ground beneath the power lines.

Oh yeah, I thought it was losing him, LeClair said.

Fire officials say Bill DeRoche was using a long metal pole to hang Christmas lights at the top of the tree in his front yard, when a gust of wind knocked the pole into the high-tension power lines energized to almost 20,000 volts.

Electricity is always looking for a good path to ground and an aluminum poll makes an excellent path, said Merrimack Fire Department Captain Matthew Duke. He happened to be in contact with pole as well and he received at least some portion of those 20,000 volts.

It was so powerful it blasted the lights from their sockets and even left holes in DesRoches socks.

From the electricity coming out of his feet, LeClair said, as she held his blue, burned socks.

LeClairs husband is at Mass Generals burn unit in fair condition.

Hes very lucky to be alive, Capt. Duke said.

Putting into perspective everything this holidays all about.

You got to count your blessings and never take anything for granted, Le Clair said. I thank God every day, every minute of every day.

LeClair is hopeful that her husband will be out of the hospital in time for thanksgiving dinner.

As for the holiday lights, the couple still plans to light up their yard in time for Christmas, the way they have for almost three decades.
The American Red Cross is assisting more than 80 people who were displaced by a fire in a residential building early Wednesday in northwest suburban Elgin.

Just after 3 a.m., firefighters responded to the the building at 5 Times Square for a report of smoke in the buildings laundry room, according to the Elgin Fire Department.

A small fire was found below the furnace room in a crawl space, the department said. Access to the crawl space required cutting through a concrete floor. The fire was under control within 45 minutes of firefighters arrival.

Smoke that traveled through the buildings ventilation system required 110 residents to leave the building, the department said. One resident who required a ventilation machine was taken to St. Alexius Medical Center.

No injuries were reported and the damage was estimated at $10,000, the department said.

Dozens of families were displaced due to the smoke damage, according to a statement from the American Red Cross. A reception center is open through Wednesday evening at a nearby facility to help provide food, a safe place to stay and emotional support.
It was a moment of teenage foolishness that had haunted Patrick McNamee for decades.

As a high school senior and wannabe jet pilot in the spring of 1954, the 17-year-old McNamee was behind the wheel of his mothers brand-new Lincoln Continental, speeding down Route 53 in Lombard, with a pair of buddies along for the ride.

Heading over a bridge on the outskirts of town, McNamee lost control of the car and struck a bridge abutment, killing one of his passengers, 18-year-old Peter Teeling. McNamee, who spent more than two weeks in the hospital after the wreck, was charged with reckless homicide and agreed to plead guilty immediately, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

It was just stupid. Showing off, McNamee said of the cause of the crash. A dumb mistake.

Wednesday, Gov. Bruce Rauner granted the 79-year-old McNamees request for a pardon, which will allow McNamee to have the felony conviction removed from his record.

To tell the truth, I still havent gotten over it, McNamee said. I dont think about it every day, but when I do, I get awfully sad.

McNamees case was by far the oldest of eight people pardoned Wednesday by the governor, who also denied clemency requests from more than 200 others, a spokeswoman said.

McNamee would go on to serve in the Marine Corps, thanks to character letters from the judge who sentenced him and the prosecutor who handled his case. McNamee finally became a pilot with the Air Force, flying more than 1,700 mission in Vietnam and winning a slew of medals before spending 29 years as an airline pilot.

McNamee, who now lives in California, said the conviction has seldom held him back in the decades since he finished his sentence of one year of probation. In letters written to the Marines, the judge that sentenced him praised McNamee for being forthright and honest, and noted that the charge of reckless homicide was harsher than what McNamee deserved.

The prosecutor also noted McNamees clean prior record, and wrote I believe hed make a good pilot, according to records submitted to the state Prisoner Review Board, which oversees the clemency process. In his application for the pardon, McNamee said I do not wish to finish out my life as a felon.

McNamee in 2014 was denied a permit to carry a concealed firearm in California because of the felony on his record, which came as a surprise. McNamee had top secret clearance while flying C-130s for the Air Force, even though he mentioned his conviction on Air Force paperwork. The FBI did note that hed failed to list a ticket for riding a bicycle in Lilacia Park in Lombard.

This is good news, McNamee said Wednesday. Its been a long time.
An investigation into child pornography led to the arrest of a former Glastonbury man who has been living in Indiana.

State police said they started the investigation in December 2015 after discovering that child pornography was being shared from Darin Reddings home on Mountain Road in Glastonbury, police said.

In March, police searched the 46-year-olds home and seized computers and other equipment they said was computer-related.

Investigators located Redding in Indiana, where he was detained as a fugitive from justice.

He has been charged with first-degree illegal possession of child pornography and promoting a minor in obscene performance and bond was set at $250,000.
A New Haven restaurant is getting ready to open its doors on Thanksgiving to provide the homeless and less fortunate with a traditional turkey dinner.

Inside the kitchen Wednesday at Christopher Martins Restaurant on State Street, the staff sliced turkey and sauteed vegetables as they prepares 500 meals.

Everyone is served a meal just like if you or I were to come in for dinner, bartender Jared Rose said. Just set as you see now with white tablecloth and linen.

The menu will include turkey, mixed vegetables, cranberry and stuffing, followed by pumpkin pie for dessert.

Everyone comes away with a full belly, Rose said.

Over the past few weeks, the restaurant collected bags of donations that are stacked now in the dining room. Volunteers on Wednesday night will sort the mens and womens clothing, toiletries and non-perishable foods to give out on Thanksgiving Day.

Its so heartwarming, said Christi Messore, a regular at Christopher Martins. I just love it, they do such a great job here. These owners are so, so giving and its something that everybody looks forward to.

Messore added to the donation pile.

I donated gloves, socks, earmuffs, deodorant, hand wipes -- stuff like that, she said.

Rose said the restaurant does this just to give back to the community.

We do a lot of different fundraisers throughout the year and this is one of our biggest events that we put on, he said.

With doors opening at 9 a.m., Thanksgiving dinner is served early and the dining room should fill up quickly, like it has in years past.
New Haven police are investigating a fatal shooting of a man near Southern Connecticut State University on Thanksgiving morning.

Shotspotter alerted officers to several gunshots fired in the 100 block of Cherry Ann Street at 3:12 a.m. and police found 30-year-old Dyrail Martaye Reddick, of New Haven, on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

Reddick was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.

Police investigators suspect that Reddick was shot following an incident in the parking lot of the 112 Cherry Ann Street apartment complex.

A red Acura, believed to have been involved in the incident, fled from Southern Connecticut State University Police and crashed into a tree on Whalley Avenue, according to police.

After the cash, one person in the car was detained while another person fled the scene on foot, police said.

The Acura and an additional vehicle parked at the Slice Pizza Restaurant in Hamden were towed by police and are set to undergo forensic analysis, police said.

At this point, police are unsure of what involvement these vehicles may have had in the case.

New Haven Police are asking for anyone who witnessed this shooting or has additional information relevant to the case to please contact the detective division at 203-946-6304.

Whalley Ave. in New Haven was shut down at Hobart St. on Thursday morning as police searched for two suspects involved in a
A 22-year-old Bloomfield man who is suspected of driving during a hit-and-run that injured a 10-year-old girl in Hartford earlier this month has been charged in another shooting on Blue Hills Avenue in October.

Kwanze Fluker is accused of shooting a man in the leg near 679 Blue Hills Ave. on Oct. 30.

Police said the victim was shot once. Officers found him on the sidewalk at Blue Hills Avenue and West Euclid Street and he was transported to St. Francis Hospital.

Witnesses told police the shooter fled on a moped, heading north on Blue Hills Avenue and police later identified Fluker as the suspected shooter.

On Monday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for him, as well as a search warrant for his home, and a judge set bond at $1 million.

On Wednesday, detectives and Bloomfield police searched 142 Brookline Ave. in Bloomfield and took Fluker into custody. During the search, police found a gun in the home, according to a news release from police.

They also seized a stolen moped, which police said matched the description of the getaway vehicle in the Blue Hill Avenue shooting.

In all, police seized a Glock 26 9-mm stolen from Glastonbury with a magazine and nine 9-millimeter bullets and a Rough House R50 Black Moped.

Fluker has been charged with having a pistol without a permit, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree criminal attempted assault and first-degree assault.
They may not have been in class on Wednesday, but some Terryville elementary, middle and high school students were out learning some major life lessons.

Dozens of kids got together at Pasquale's Deli, chopping and peeling produce, for those who may feel alone on Thanksgiving.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, they're opening up the deli to feed families who may not be able to afford it, veterans, emergency responders and people who may not have family.

"It feels great just to give back and, you know, I can't wait until tomorrow to see everyone come in and just smile and be happy that they're getting a free meal," explained Pasquale Martino, the deli's owner.

Five turkeys, 100 ponds of potatoes, 50 pounds of carrots, along with other produce, desserts and money were all donated for the cause, making it a true community effort.

"Originally when I was thinking about doing this, I was planning on doing everything on my own. But with donations and everything from businesses and the community, everything's just been donated," said Martino.

Obviously, a free meal can be very emotional for those who are receiving it. But for those who are giving it, the experience can be even more touching.

"I've actually I think been in tears more this past week than I have in two or three years," said Nicole McWilliams who works at the deli.

"We had one woman hand us $5 because that's what she had. And honestly, I lost it because she was crying."
North Dakota's governor and congressional delegation are pressuring President Barack Obama to pave the way for completion of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline.

People have been protesting the controversial pipeline, which is near the standing Rock Sioux Reservation, for months. The tribe and others opposing the construction say the pipeline threatens the tribe's drinking water along with American Indian cultural sites.

Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer sent a letter Wednesday to Obama imploring him to authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the pipeline's crossing under the Missouri River in North Dakota. Democratic U.S. Rep. Heidi Heitkamp says she also pressed the White House this week to intervene.

Protests surrounding the pipeline came to a head this weekend when a New York woman, Sophia Wilansky, was seriously hurt.

Wilansky's father, Wayne Wilansky, said his daughter was hurt when law enforcement threw a grenade. The Morton County Sheriff's Office maintains authorities did not use concussion grenades or any devices that produce a flash or bang during a clash late Sunday and early Monday near the camp along the pipeline route in southern North Dakota where protesters have gathered for months.

The sheriff's office suggested in a statement Monday that an explosion heard during the skirmish might have been caused by small propane tanks that authorities said protesters had rigged to explode.

Wayne Wilansky disputed the claim by authorities, saying "there's multiple witnesses and my daughter, who was completely conscious, said they threw a grenade right at her."

The North Dakota Highway Patrol in a statement Tuesday that backed up the sheriff's office's version of events, saying officers during the skirmish spotted protesters with "multiple silver cylinder objects."

"It was at this time an explosion occurred and several protesters ran to the area, pulled a female from under the burned vehicle, and fled the scene," the patrol said.

Officers who investigated found 1-pound propane tanks "including one that appeared to be intentionally punctured," the agency statement said.

During the clash, officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and sprayed water at protesters with subfreezing temperatures outside. Officers say the protestors assaulted officers with rocks, asphalt, water bottles and burning logs. One officer was injured when struck in the head with a rock. At least 17 protesters were injured severely enough to be taken to hospitals, according to Dallas Goldtooth, a protest organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network.

On Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that North Dakota's Emergency Services department would seek an additional $7 million in emergency borrowing to fund law enforcement costs related to ongoing protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong said officials will request the additional funding from the state Emergency Commission on Nov. 30.

Fong says state costs have reached more than $11.8 million. Morton County also has spent more than $8 million policing protests, and county officials have said they might apply for reimbursement from the state.

Earlier this month, Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline. The crossing that North Dakota legislators are seeking approval for is the final large segment of the $3.8 billion pipeline, which will carry North Dakota oil to Illinois. The work is delayed while the Corps consults with the Standing Rock Sioux, who oppose the project.
Ukraine asks EU partners to fulfill their commitments concerning the introduction of a visa free regime, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said.

"During today's summit Ukraine was not asked a single question. Ukraine clearly and fully has complied with all its obligations," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with President of the European Council Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The event followed the 18th EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Thursday.

"This is the first summit, when Ukraine hasn't been asked questions. We, the Ukrainian delegation, ask our European Union partners questions about the timely perform their obligations," the head of the Ukrainian state said.
What to Know This is the 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Charlie Brown balloon is getting a fresh new look this year

Security is tight after an ISIS magazine said the parade would be an "excellent target"

Thousands of people lined the streets Thursday amid heavy security including bomb-sniffing dogs and portable radiation detectors as iconic inflatable balloons, costumed characters and clowns floated, marched and danced their way through New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Revelers cheered and yelled, "Thank you!" as police walked the parade route, and the crowd gave special attention to the New York Police Department marching band.

Spectators  sometimes standing 10 deep  held signs and balloons as they watched Santa Claus and his reindeer, Ronald McDonald and SpongeBob SquarePants pass by. Charlie Brown led the signature balloons as the parade kicked off with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting before the parade made its way down to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street.

[NATL] Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Through the Years

Clowns carrying bundles of balloons rode down the parade route as marching bands from across the country entertained revelers. Costumed characters and dozens of celebrities, including singers Tony Bennett and Sarah McLachlan and Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez, were among the attendees.

Annie Quinn traveled more than three hours from Albany to attend the parade with her cousin and two sisters  all three dressed in turkey costumes  scoring prime front-row seats along the route.

"We sat here for hours, but it was worth it," she said. "This was the best parade I've seen in a while."

But amid the fun, high-fives and cheers, there was an air of uncertainty about the possibility of an extremist attack after a recent posting in an English-language Islamic State group magazine that called the parade "an excellent target." Nevertheless, the parade went off without a hitch Thursday.

A group of animal rights activists briefly walked into the parade route, holding signs and shouting "It's not food, it's violence." They were removed by police. The group, Direct Action Everywhere, released a video of the protest.

More than 80 sanitation trucks filled with sand were parked at intersections and other places, acting as barriers against any kind of attack. The NYPD said the sanitation trucks, which they have used before, would play a bigger role at this year's parade in the wake of the cargo truck attack in Nice, France, that killed more than 80 people.

In addition to more than 3,000 uniformed and plainclothes officers, bomb-sniffing dogs and officers with assault weapons and portable radiation detectors walked among the crowds.

At least one spectator said the intensive security made her feel secure.

"There are so many police officers out here you can't help but feel safe," said Sarah Bender, who brought her two young sons to watch the parade. "It's a day to have fun, watch the balloons and celebrate with your family. You can't spend your life worrying about what could happen."
A Dallas police officer has gone above and beyond to ensure that the stories of Dallas police men and women killed in the line of duty will never be forgotten.

The 3rd edition of "In the Line of Duty" is available for purchase online now will be available for purchase in person at NorthPark Center on Black Friday.

Officer Steve Elwonger, a longtime patrol officer who first decided to compile the stories of the citys fallen officers in 1988, said all the proceeds from the book will go to the Assist the Officer Foundation.

I actually lose money on [the book]," he said. "Im not in it for accolades or anything. Im just doing it for the memorial. Just to honor the officers and thats it.

Elwonger said he was already planning the book's third edition a few months ago when the ambush of July 7 happened in downtown, taking the lives of Sr. Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, Officer Michael Krol, Sgt. Michael Smith, Officer Patricio Zamarripa and Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson.

Counting DART Officer Thompson, Elwonger chronicles the stories of 85 officers killed in Dallas dating back to the late 1890s.

Elwonger, who first joined the force in 1982, had to do some extensive research to compile the narratives of some of the officers killed in the 1800s and early 1900s, including searching through newspaper archives on microfilm.

What struck the longtime officer, whose father was a 20-year Dallas cop before him, is that many of the police officers killed in Dallas had military service prior to their time in Dallas, a surprising number of them were in the twenties and many of the officers left behind spouses and children.
A man was killed and a driver could face charges after a fatal crash that shut down parts of President George Bush Turnpike in Garland early Thursday morning, police say.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the man was struck at about 1 a.m. as he poured fuel into a blue Ford F-150 disabled on the PGBT shoulder near Firewheel Parkway.

Investigators said a Cadillac MKS sedan headed east on the PGBT side-swiped a Toyota pickup parked behind the Ford before striking the man.

The man was transported to Methodist Richardson Medical Center where he was later pronounced deceased, according to authorities.

The person in the Toyota and the Cadillac driver were not seriously injured.

Texas DPS officials said they think the Cadillac driver was under the influence and that charges are pending.
Residents in the Craig Ranch neighborhood of McKinney say they are anxious after they found "disturbing letters" on their doorsteps this week.

The letter reads, "Our new President Donald Trump is God's gift to white nation."

A copy of the letter was given to NBC 5 by a friend of a resident in that community.

He is from south India, but currently lives in Allen. He found the letters this week while visiting his friends in Craig Ranch.

The letter's message continues with, "We want to get our country back on the right track. We need to get rid of Muslims, Indians, blacks and Jews."

The man who sent the letter to NBC 5 and his friends, who are also from south India, all wish to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, but said, "we are very disturbed and confused about our future here."

The McKinney Police Department said they have had several residents call about the letter and are investigating it.

Police told NBC 5 if they discover any information about the letter, including who wrote it or who may have distributed it, it will be taken "very seriously."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there have been 701 recorded incidents of hateful harassment since Election Day. They note, however, that "while the total number of incidents has risen, the trend line points to a steady drop-off. Around 65 percent of these incidents collected occurred in the first three days following the election."

During an interview with the New York Times this week, Trump publicly disavowed white nationalist sympathizers who celebrated his election during an alt-right conference in Washington last weekend. A reporter asked Trump for a comment about the event, during which attendees cheered Trumps election and gave Nazi salutes.



I disavow them and condemn them, Trump said. "It's not a group I want to energize. And if they are energized, I want to look into it and find out why."



But Trump did defend his appointment of Steve Bannon, former president of Breitbart News, to serve as his chief strategist and senior White House counselor.



Bannon has been criticized for his leadership of the news site, which has a history of publishing anti-Semitic, racist and misogynist content and is embraced by the alt-right and white nationalist groups. Trump told Times reporters that he does not think Bannon shares the same negative beliefs as the site's following.



"If I thought he was a racist or alt-right or any of the things, the terms we could use, I couldn't even think about hiring him," Trump said.
The Dallas Child Exploitation Unit has received multiple reports that a man exposed himself to children close to a Dallas elementary and middle school.

The most recent report was last Thursday, Nov. 17 at about 8:30 a.m.

Dallas police said a victim was approached by a man who asked for directions before exposing himself to the young victim.

She was on the way to school near the 3100 block of Valley Meadow Drive. Police said the man fled in a Chevy Malibu.

The majority of the reports took place near Medrano Middle School at the 9800 block of Brockbank Drive as well as Burnet Elementary School in the 3200 block of Kincaid Drive.

The man suspected of indecent exposure is described as a dark skinned Latin male in his late 20s, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall.

He is usually on foot, but he may be driving a silver Chevy Malibu or a gold pickup truck, police said.

Another incident occurred on Nov. 7 at about 8:30 a.m., as well.

A child was walking to school near the 9700 block of Dale Crest Drive. She said the man yelled at her to get her attention, then exposed himself.

Other incidents were reported on Oct. 3 and March 4 of this year.

During the Oct. 3 incident, the victim said she was playing near the Spanish Creek Apartments at about 7 p.m. near the 3100 block of Chapel Creek Drive.

She said the man approached her and began touching her breasts and genitals over her clothes.

In response, there has been extra officer patrols during school hours near the areas where the man has been spotted.

Police still are looking for the man. They ask anyone with information to contact 911 or Detective Lawler at 214-671-4453.
If you're looking for a different way to shop this holiday season, two Fort Worth businesses offer a chance to shop local while having a global impact. Theyre also helping Cowtown make its mark on the fashion world, with a purpose.

The first company is Tribe Alive, a jewelry and handbag business. Theirs is a story of imagination that started with a little girl.

"My husband and I adopted our daughter, Ellie, from Ethiopia," said Founder and CEO, Carly Burson. "I was really shocked to witness birth parents visiting their children in an orphanage and really struck by the idea that most of these people wanted their children but couldn't afford to keep them."

Burson was already working in fashion and saw a chance to use her powers for good.

"To give women a voice and give them an opportunity to care for their families," Burson said.

That's how Tribe Alive was born. The jewelry and bags are designed in Fort Worth, but they're made by local artisans in India, Haiti, Guatemala and Honduras.

"In Honduras, for example, the average wage is two dollars a day and their cost of living is in line with the cost of living in the US," said Burson.

Tribe Alive employees earn a fair wage, benefits, bonuses, extra help with things like medical bills, and respect.

"A lot of the women we work with have never been told that they're worth anything and they've never been given the opportunity to prove that they are," Burson said.

Burson has watched that change, through each woman's story.

She described one interaction with one of her artisans: She said do you remember the last time I saw you and I told you I was going to buy a computer with the wages from that job, and I said, 'I do.' She goes, 'Well now, Im going to buy a house.' So she worked for six months and she bought her and her daughter - she's a single mom - a house, and now theyre living in their own home. She had never owned a house before."

The business is now expanding, launching a clothing line using traditional foot-loom weaving in Guatemala, and beginning next year, theyre planning to donate ten percent of the companys proceeds to the non-profit groups that help place their employees overseas.

Theyre also starting a new collection made by refugees whove been resettled in Fort Worth.

Were really passionate about our city and were really passionate about Fort Worth and we want to be involved in really impacting lives right here," Burson said.

That idea of walking in someone else's shoes forms the bedrock of another up and coming Fort Worth company, Rebel With Cause.

"I've always been a rebel with a cause, someone who goes against the grain and against the status quo and challenges it for a purpose," said Rebel With Cause Founder and CEO Ivet Taneva.

Taneva brought that focus to her business that employs women in her native Bulgaria, making leather boots the same way her grandmother did 50 years ago.

"Probably from her perspective, it's a dream come true," Taneva said.

She and her business partner, Serene Fletcher, traveled Bulgaria sourcing sustainable materials and local leather, and breaking gender norms with every meeting.

"Most business deals there are still done by men and initiated by men, and with men involved and it was just the two of us showing up in this little car with a road map!" Fletcher said.

The growing business now partners with several Fort Worth philanthropies, donating 20 percent of its profits at ongoing charity events.

"Giving back and being involved and part of that community is really important to me and it's a dream come true," Taneva said.

Dreams that weave through women's lives and stitch bonds across continents.
The following is a news release from the Texas General Land Office.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush is encouraging Texans to give the gift of Texas history from the Texas General Land Office Archives.

Historic map reproductions from the GLO are the perfect gift for friends and family that are proud of their Texas heritage and want to support the conservation of Texas history for future generations.

With more than 45,000 maps to choose from, there is a map perfect for any person who takes pride in our great state.

Historic map reproductions are priced from $20-$40.

"Texas is not just a place on a map, it's an idea in the hearts of our people," said Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. "Maps from the Save Texas History collection in the GLO's archives make a perfect gift for that loved one who treasures the unique history that sets Texans apart. Provide a gift that also helps to Save Texas History."

Visit SaveTexasHistory.org to find the perfect map for friends and loved ones. Select from maps of every county and major city, as well as hundreds of maps of the entire state, dating back to the Republic era, and even earlier.

Online and phone orders must be placed before 5 p.m. Dec. 21 to be delivered by Christmas Day. Orders can also be placed by calling 1-800-998-4GLO (4456).

The Save Texas History Program is a unique program that brings together private and public efforts to preserve the 36 million maps and documents at the Texas General Land Office. The General Land Office raises $100,000 for map and document conservation per year through the sale of map and document reproductions, donations and grants.

"When you purchase a Texas map from the General Land Office, you aren't just giving a uniquely Texan present for a loved one, you are also investing in future generations of Texans," said Bush.

To search for maps, place orders, or make a donation to the Save Texas History Program, visit SaveTexasHistory.org or call the Land Office toll-free at 1-800-998-4GLO.
President-elect Donald Trump has had only two intelligence briefings since he won the election over two weeks ago, intelligence sources told NBC News Wednesday  a much lower number than his predecessors and lower even than Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

A senior intelligence official cautioned that it is too early to know what the significance of Trump's sparse briefing schedule really is, given that he is in the middle of his transition process.

While a team of intelligence analysts remains ready and waiting to deliver briefings to the president-elect, sources told NBC News he has accepted them only twice. Instead, Trump has turned the briefings down to focus on meetings with potential Cabinet members, media executives and business associates.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, on the other hand, has received the briefings nearly every day, the sources said.

The news, first reported by the Washington Post, will likely fuel critics who've questioned Trump's knowledge of foreign affairs and national security issues.
Motorists who get questionable parking tickets in Los Angeles and, possibly, other California cities have won a huge victory, due to a decision by the California Supreme Court.

The court issued a ruling that will force the city of Los Angeles to start handling parking ticket disputes itself, instead of subcontracting them to third-party company Xerox as it has done for years.

A 2014 NBC4 I-Team investigation found that a Xerox subcontractor automatically denied most ticket appeals, even when citizens presented strong evidence they were wrongly ticketed, forcing many motorists to pay tickets they believe were unfair.

"I felt like I was in the right and I wasn't being listened to," said Cody Weiss, who fought what he said was an unfair ticket, but lost his initial appeal.

Weiss sued the city of Los Angeles in 2014, challenging LA's practice of farming out parking ticket disputes to Xerox, a for-profit company.

"Xerox did not give the citizens a fair chance to fight parking tickets. Their motivation was to make money, they were motivated by greed," Weiss told NBC4.

Weiss' lawsuit worked its way to the California Appeals Court, which ruled in August against the city, saying state law forbids the use of a private contractor to handle citizen's ticket disputes.

City Attorney Mike Feuer petitioned the California Supreme Court to review the Appellate Court decision. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied the city's petition to review the case any further, meaning the lower court's decision to make LA handle the tickets themselves will stand.

The city apparently had been anticipating the Supreme Court would not rule in its favor. Los Angeles Department of Transportation Bruce Gillman told the NBC4 I-Team the city has been hiring city employees to handle citation appeals, starting within 30 days.

Plaintiff Cody Weiss hopes this means justice for motorists who fight parking tickets.

"This means everyone who fights a ticket is going to be listened to. Everyone is going to have a fair chance to defend themselves," Weiss told NBC4.

The Supreme Court's ruling could have impact far beyond Los Angeles, since other California cities use Xerox and third parties to handle ticket disputes.

"This is a statewide victory for all Californians," said attorney Caleb Marker, who handled Cody Weiss' suit all the way to the Supreme Court. "This ruling means that other cities can't rely on for-profit businesses to handle ticket disputes."
After three young men were found shot dead late Tuesday night at a park in Compton, detectives are investigating the shooting to find their killer.

The shooting was reported at around 11:09 p.m. in the 400 block of Raymond Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

A passerby found three young men in a shed near a restroom in Raymond Street Park, sheriff's homicide detectives said.

Vanessa Gomez told NBC4 that she lived in the shed with her 29-year-old boyfriend. When Gomez came back to the shed around 11 p.m., she said knew something was wrong when she saw the door was open.

"They didnt wake up. They didnt move or nothing," Gomez said.

Deputies found the men on the ground "suffering from gunshot wounds to their upper torsos," Los Angeles Couny Sheriff's Homicide detectives said in a statement. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Gomez said her boyfriend and another friend were among the victims. The men have not yet been identified.

Athough the motive for the shooting was "unknown," detectives said it appeared to be gang related.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said the victims likely knew their killer.

"We believe that people in the area may have information that may be helpful in locating the suspects in this, and being able to bring them to justice, get them off the streets to they can't hurt anybody else," McDonnell said.

Residents who live near the location of the shooting, including Albert Gonzalez, were concerned about safety in the area when they heard about the shooting.

"It's scary. We always have our kids out here," Gonzalez said. "This is a nice street because its a dead end street, so we hardly get traffic in and out. The people that pass by here we know who they are, all the time."

Detectives asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko hopes ratification of the Agreement on Association with the European Union will be discussed at the EU summit in December.

"I hope that during the EU summit, we will revisit the ratification issue in order to finally make it [the agreement] work in full, as the free trade area agreement with the EU starts working from January 1," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Thursday.

He also said EU and Ukrainian leaders during the talks on Thursday noted significant progress in the implementation of the Association Agreement before its full ratification, noting progress made during the talks provides for further implementation of the Association Agreement.
Germany has purchased a Los Angeles house once owned by Thomas Mann, averting demolition of the home where the Nobel Prize-winning novelist lived for a decade after fleeing the rise of Nazism.

The home, built in 1941 and designed by modernist architect J.R. Davidson, had been listed last summer for about $15 million and labeled as ready to be demolished, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

An online petition called on the German government to save the home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, describing it as a monument to exiles who settled in California and resistance to the Nazi regime. It was bought for $13.25 million and officials said it will be renovated and used as a residency for artists.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the residence symbolized "a home for many Germans who worked toward a better future for their country, paved the way for an open society and laid the foundations for common trans Atlantic values," according to a statement posted by the German consulate in Los Angeles.

The Mann home will be renovated and its day-to-day operations will be handed over Villa Aurora, a German government-subsidized cultural program and residency for artists and writers.

Mann fled Germany in 1933 and lived in Switzerland before immigrating to the U.S. After living in New Jersey, he moved to Southern California in the early 1940s.

While living at the home, Mann wrote "Doctor Faustus" and "The Holy Sinner," according to the Times.

Mann's and his wife returned to Europe in 1952. Three years later, he died in Switzerland.

The native of what is now Lubeck, Germany, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929 for his novel "Buddenbrooks."
The Miami-Dade School Board will review a policy that doesn't allow name calling and restricted a person's right to criticize the board and its employees.

The district's decorum policy was the subject of an NBC 6 Investigation in early November showing how speakers were cut off if they said names in a critical way.

The board chair, Perla Tabares Hantman, told NBC 6 Investigators she was doing nothing wrong when censoring names and was following policy.

School Board attorney, Walter Harvey, appeared to disagree.

"I want to stress there's never been a blanket prohibition on the use of names," Harvey said.

In a Wednesday meeting, Hantman asked for a review of the policy citing the NBC 6 investigation.

The November 23 board meeting approving a "thorough" review was the first since the investigation aired on both NBC 6 and Telemundo 51.

The review is expected to be completed by mid-December.
There wasn't music on those CDs.

Eva Gaitan, 32, of Palm Harbor got her hands on her ex-husband's naked photos and was arrested for stalking because of the act.

According to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office affidavit, Gaitan was accused of delivering CDs of her ex-husband's nude photographs to his employer. The CDs were labeled "requires immediate attention."

She also mailed a CD to his parents. Deputies say she admitted to finding the images on her ex-husband's flash drive, burning the images to the discs and delivering them.

A judge ruled this week that she couldn't have any contact with her ex-husband, who she divorced in February 2016, according to court records.

Gaitan has since bonded out of Pinellas County Jail.
Money-hungry thieves are using a new technique to haul away cash from ATMs.

It's called "forking" and authorities believe two men pulled off several bank heists in Florida using the technique.

The most recent robbery happened at the SunState Bank which is located on the corner of Palermo and LeJeune Rd in Coral Gables.

Detective Robert Wentzell says "forking" allows crooks to wipe out an ATM in a matter of seconds.

"It's essentially them manipulating the ATM to dispense cash without the bank having any record of it being dispensed,"said Wentzell.

Robbers use a homemade tool that looks like a giant fork to disable an ATM.

"ATM typically hold between $20,000 to $30,000 in cash," said Det. Wentzell.

According to detectives, the key to the ATM forking is your pin number.

The best way to protect yourself is to cover your hand while you key in your pin number anywhere you need to use your pin.

So far, nine other banks, spread out from Central Florida all the way to Homestead have fallen victim to the two thieves.

"They'll never look up at the ATM cameras and they usually block the camera's view of getting the facial short. So. if you see individuals standing around at an ATM feeding card after card after card and getting a lot of cash that's definitely not a common transaction," said Wentzell.

If you have any information on this case, you are asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Hina Naveed was 10 years old when her Pakistani parents brought her to the United States. They taught her never to talk about her immigration status because she's undocumented.

In 2013, Naveed received a grant from the New York Immigration Coalition to work for El Centro, an immigrant center in Staten Island. It was then that the 26-year-old became an outspoken advocate for immigrants' rights. After she graduates from nursing school later this year, she intends to pursue a law degree.

But her plans could be jeopardized if Donald Trump gets rid of DACA as part of his immigration reform. President Obamas 2012 executive action, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, protects individuals who came to the U.S. without documentation as minors and who have made a home here. Naveed has been covered by DACA since 2013.

This week, Naveed traveled from Trump Tower in New York City to the White House in Washington, D.C., as part of the "Caravan of Courage," a movement organized by undocumented immigrants and allies to demand action from both Obama and the president-elect.

Brought together by the New York-based advocacy group, Dream Action Coalition, the protesters made stops along their route to meet with others fighting for undocumented immigrants: dreamers in Maryland and New Jersey, and organizers against an ICE detention center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their trip culminated with a press conference in front 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Thanksgiving.

If DACA is rescinded on Jan. 20, I have to inform my employer and Im assuming get terminated because theres no other way for me to continue working, Naveed said. I wont be able to work as a nurse, because you definitely need legal status for that. My drivers license expires in May, so I wont be able to continue driving much longer. Financially, its going to be very difficult because if I dont have any sort of income, the expenses are going to be building up.

Since Election Day, Trump has not elaborated on how he will handle DACA. In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," he said that he will first focus on deporting 2 to 3 million dangerous criminals, though a 2015 report by the Migration Policy Institute estimates that there are only 690,000 undocumented immigrants with felony charges or serious misdemeanors living in the U.S. After securing the border, Trump said he will craft his policy toward other undocumented immigrants, whom he called "terrific people."

NBC has reached out to Trump's transition team for comment about DACA, but has not heard back.

"We are undocumented, unafraid, and we are here to stay, Cesar Vargas, co-director of Dream Action Coalition, said outside the White House gates Thursday. "This is the country that we call home.

The protesters chose to march on D.C. during the holiday because they wanted to remind citizens around the country that a mass deportation could mean that next year some families might not be able to celebrate together.

Look to the person on the left of you, on the right of you, Naveed said. Imagine now that they are no longer there because they were yanked out of your house because of some ticket they had years ago.

Naveed's family moved to the U.S. because her older sister had a medical issue: a knot in her brain threatened her life. Despite surgery, doctors said her condition was deteriorating, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Naveeds parents rejected this inevitability and her father sought solutions around the world. Finally, he brought his family to Long Island, and then to Boston, where his daughter was treated.

But his lawyer misfiled the familys request for a visa renewal, and it was denied, Naveed said. Then, their appeal was rejected. At Boston Childrens Hospital, doctors said that if Naveeds sister returned to Pakistan, her illness might prove fatal.

Naveeds father chose to overstay his visa so his daughter could continue treatment without interruption. Because of his decision, she is still alive 16 years after receiving a terminal diagnosis.

That was a happy ending, and unfortunately that also resulted in us becoming undocumented and falling out of status, Naveed said.

Ivy Teng Lei, a 26-year-old immigrant who moved to the U.S. from Macau when she was 7 and who participated in the press conference at Trump Tower on Tuesday, is the only undocumented member of her family. Her parents decided to come here in 1998 because of a failing education system and sparse jobs at home. Lei said her relatives feel guilty that she's having to live in fear of being sent back to Macau, a land she barely knows. Though she's trying to reassure them, she said, "I do want them to recognize that I am hurt.

I am extremely anxious all the time. Im scared of being deported, she added. I dont know what my future is going to look like, and Im trying to look for as much support as possible so Im not experiencing this in a vacuum.

Like Naveed, Lei is covered by DACA. As part of her education, she studied in a competitive vocational program that only accepted four applicants and until recently worked in global marketing. Like many undocumented immigrants, she pays taxes (undocumented immigrants pay $12 billion in taxes per year, according to Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino) but is not eligible to receive government benefits.

If DACA is rescinded, Lei said she will have to forgo all that I thought I could have in terms of my career.

The feeling is like you are living in this reality that you just never liked, and you went to sleep and suddenly you have this perfect dream, she said of DACA. Everything was worthwhile. Everything youve worked for actually came to fruition. And then you woke up, and youre kind of thinking, Was that a good thing or was that a bad thing to have that dream?

I still have these cry attacks where Im walking on the street and someone will say something completely unrelated, but itll be like what are you doing for the holidays? And its just like, I dont know what Im doing for the rest of my life, she continued.

She said that its painful to live in a country that just will not accept you, and will reject you like a bad organ transplant.

While attorneys say there are alternative paths to citizenship for people covered by DACA, like green card marriages, those take time to obtain. Naveed said she doesn't really have a plan B if DACA is rescinded.

According to Naveed, most undocumented immigrants are as afraid of being arrested by ICE and held in detention centers as returning to their country. Immigrant holding cells are notorious for their cold, unsanitary, overcrowded conditions. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security reported that 41,000 undocumented immigrants were being held at detention facilities in the U.S.

To send everyone back to Pakistan, Mexico, China, wherever is going to be difficult, she said. But I think that what is definitely very real is mass incarceration, and I think that that is just as scary, if not worse.

People are afraid to leave their houses, and theyre afraid to be open about their status, or to organize, or to rally, or to exercise their basic rights, she continued.

One of the "Caravan of Courage's" requests is that Obama considers closing detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania and pardon those who are currently imprisoned for lack of documentation.

Naveed is marching on Washington to implore Trump to alleviate those immediate fears that communities are facing by saying he will not erect a deportation task force and by detailing his immigration reform plan. She also wants to challenge those basic perceptions that people have about undocumented immigrants by demonstrating that dreamers come from around the world, and from all different backgrounds. There is no cookie cutter undocumented immigrant.

Lei echoed Naveeds intentions, saying that she hoped to encourage more Asian-Americans to stand out and talk about their stories because a lot of people think of undocumented immigration as just a Latino issue.
Jill Stein, who ran for president as the Green Party candidate, has filed paperwork to request a recount of the votes in Wisconsin just under the deadline, and has raised more than $5 million to fund other recount efforts in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump's margin of victory over Hillary Clinton was narrow in all three states, which were expected to vote Democratic, and the results have become the focus of speculation  based on little proof  that the vote may have been tampered with. Stein acknowledged those fears in her statement announcing the recount drive on Wednesday.

"After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable," Stein said. "These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust."

The state elections commission administrator said Stein filed the request about an hour and a half ahead of Friday's 5 p.m. deadline, The Associated Press reported. The effort is estimated to cost $1 million. Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, have collected more than $5.2 million as of Friday.

Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas said that it received petitions from Stein's campaign and from Rocky Roque De La Fuente, another candidate.

We have assembled an internal team to direct the recount, we have been in close consultation with our county clerk partners, and have arranged for legal representation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Haas said in a press release. We plan to hold a teleconference meeting for county clerks next week and anticipate the recount will begin late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount fee, which we are still calculating.

The official vote tally for all 72 counties in Wisconsin had 1,404,000 votes for Trump, 1,381,823 for Clinton and Stein with 31,006.

County boards of canvassers may need to work nights and weekends to meet a federal deadline of Dec. 13 to complete the recount.

"Now that we have completed funding Wisconsin's recount (where we will file on Friday) and funding Pennsylvania's recount (due Monday), we will focus on raising the needed funds for Michigan's recount (due Wednesday)," Stein said on her website earlier Friday.

Stein said her initial fundraising goal was $2.5 million, but her campaign website now says she's trying to rise $7 million, which would pay for the fees for filing costs, attorneys and statewide recount observers.

Wisconsin GOP Executive Director Mark Morgan called the move "absurd" and "nothing more than an expensive political stunt that undermines the election process," the AP reported.

Stein's move follows a New York magazine report that some computer scientists have been urging Democrat Hillary Clinton to ask for the recount in the three states. The article questioned the deviation in election results from predictions in polls.

J. Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan, confirmed on Medium that he had been in touch with the Clinton campaign but said his views had been misrepresented and it was "probably not" true that the election was hacked.

"I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong, rather than the election was hacked," he wrote.

But he also said that the only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result was to examine the paper ballots and voting equipment in the three states.

President-elect Donald Trump beat Clinton with 290 electoral votes to Clinton's 232, with Michigan outstanding. Clinton has a lead of more than 2 million popular votes.

Halderman, who also is director of Michigan's Center for Computer Security and Society, wrote that many states continue to use voting machines that are known to be insecure and that can be infected with vote-stealing malware. Checking the paper record in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan would allow voters to be confident the results were counted correctly, he wrote.

"Examining the physical evidence in these states  even if it finds nothing amiss  will help allay doubt and give voters justified confidence that the results are accurate," Halderman wrote.

An article on Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight website, which predicted the race incorrectly, cast doubt on concerns about tampering with the electronic voting machines. Demographics explain the results, Carl Bialik and Rob Arthur wrote.

"We've looked into the claim  or at least, our best guess of what's being claimed based on what has been reported  and statistically, it doesn't check out," they wrote.

During the Wisconsin recount, candidates may have representatives present to raise objections during the process, and have the right to appeal in court within five business days after the recount is completed.

The deadline to request a recount in Pennsylvania is Monday and Wednesday in Michigan.
The last thing on one New York woman's Thanksgiving shopping list? A selfie with Hillary Clinton at the grocery store.

Brittany Valente, 25, bumped into Hillary, Bill, Chelsea and baby grandson Aiden at the Chappaqua Village Market on Wednesday and posted a photo to Instagram.

She joked that Bill was "busy looking at cheese" while Hillary was taking pictures with everyone who asked.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNKsqhuBsH_

"They were so relaxed and shopping for Thanksgiving dinner at the local village market," Valente told NBC News. "They were so nice talking to everyone, wishing them happy holidays and at one point Hillary said 'We must stay strong together no matter what. Thank you for your support.'"

[NATL-CHI]What Hillary Clinton's Decision to Wear Purple in Concession Speech Means

Valente, a marketing manager at Convene, said she has seen the Clintons many times around town, but this time was special.

"Turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry, Hillary Clinton lol typical grocery shopping," she said.
The European Union will keep the anti-Russian sanctions in place until the Minsk Agreements on eastern Ukraine are implemented in full, European Council President Donald Tusk said.

The EU will not leave Ukraine alone, Tusk told a news conference following the EU-Ukraine summit held in Brussels on Thursday, also hailing the efforts made by Ukrainian authorities and the country's president, Petro Poroshenko, with regard to implementing reforms in some very harsh conditions.

Any success made by Ukraine will be a success of Europe, Tusk said.

He went on to promise that the EU will carry on doing everything in support of Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

The European Union will keep the sanctions earlier imposed on Russia until complete implementation of the Minsk Agreements, Tusk said.
Police on Long Island say they've arrested a 36-year-old man in the death of an unidentified woman in Baldwin.

Nassau County police say the woman's body was discovered behind a building on Merrick Road just before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Later Wednesday night, police announced they'd arrested Raphael D. Oyague of Baldwin on a second-degree murder charge in the woman's death. He's expected to be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Attorney information for the man wasn't immediately available.

A manager of nearby bowling alley Baldwin Lanes, Charles Harris, said he saw the woman's body in the grass.

"Her pants were down to her knees, she had a jacket on and something over her head," he told NBC 4 New York, adding it was obvious that "something happened to her."

"There was blood on her fingers. She didn't just fall," said Harris, adding the sight was "upsetting" and "disturbing."

"I've got daughters that age," he said, estimating she appeared to be in her late teens to early 20s.
Neighbors have returned home to the apartment house where a Philadelphia man was injured when a package exploded as he opened it.

Police have not yet made an arrest or announced a motive in what they call a targeted attack on the 60-year-old victim. Police said the victim is in stable condition.

Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Sims, who represents the downtown Philadelphia district, said the victim is a member of the LGBT community. Sims is following the investigation to be sure the victim was not targeted over his sexuality.

The victim, who works in catering, shares the first-floor apartment near Rittenhouse Square with his partner. The partner told police the victim thought the package contained asthma inhalers that he orders by mail.

However, police do not think the package was sent in the mail because it contained an old bar code.

The victim suffered injuries to his hands, chest and face.

The approximately 10 people evacuated after the 4 a.m. explosion were allowed back home once police finished their work at the scene, a spokeswoman said.
A walk in the park turned into a rescue mission for the Philadelphia SPCA after a dog was found inside a trash bag Tuesday night.

Barbara Adams and her dog were walking in Wissahickon Valley Park when they came upon a garbage bag on the trail, under the McCallum Street Bridge. As the pair got closer, they found a dogs head visible from the bag.

I turned around and my dog was sniffing at this black plastic bag and when I looked closer, there was a dogs head sticking out of it, Adams told the PSPCA. She was looking at me with very, very sad eyes.

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Adams called the PSPCAs Humane Law Enforcement team who sent two officers to the scene. The pair were able to rescue the emaciated dog and bring it back to the shelter for medical care.

With the help of Adams and the PSCPA, Cranberry, named for the Thanksgiving holiday, is now being cared for by the shelters hospital team and is in guarded condition.

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In these cases, its the first 48 hours, first few days that are the most important to ensure that the animal survives, said Nicole Wilson, director of PSPCAs Humane Law Enforcement. Our goal is to make sure that not only does the animal survive but that we find whos responsible for this horrific act of cruelty.

The PSPCA is asking the public for help in identifying the person who is responsible for dumping the dog in the park. Anyone with information can call the cruelty hotline at 866-601-7722.

The PSPCA has also set up a donation page to help Cranberry on her road to recovery.
Three men suffered numerous gunshot wounds Wednesday night outside a house in the Juniata section of Philadelphia when a driver of a car pulled up and opened fire, police said.

The victims told police they were outside hanging Christmas lights on a house in the 4000 block of Howland Street. Shortly before 11 p.m., a driver slowly drove by them before stopping a short distance away. That's when the driver asked if any of the victims had struck his car at some point earlier, police said.

An argument ensued, according to the victims, and the driver pulled a gun. He opened fire on the victims before driving off.

A 28-year-old man suffered a bullet wound to his back, a 36-year-old man suffered a bullet wound to an arm and a 34-year-old man was struck twice in his midsection. All three were in stable condition at nearby hospitals, police said.

A large, inflatable snowman could be seen shortly after the shooting at the scene. A bright light display accompanied the outdoor Christmas ornament.

The gunman is described as a black man in his 20s, with a light complexion, who wore a light gray knitted cap. he was accompanied by another black man in his 20s, with a darker complexion and shoulder-length hair, possibly dreadlocks.

They were driving a dark gray Impala with tinted windows.
A woman shot her boyfriend because he grabbed her by the hair and "gently smooshed'' a slice of pizza in her face during an argument, he testified at a hearing.

Jennifer Boop, 31, of Millmont, was ordered to stand trial on attempted homicide, aggravated assault and other charges following Tuesday's preliminary hearing, The (Sunbury) Daily Item reported.

Brandon Doan, 34 who lived with Boop and her two daughters from a previous relationship, described the Oct. 12 shooting from the witness stand.

"I grabbed her by the hair and gently smooshed the pizza in her face,'' Doan said. "She quickly shot me.''

Doan testified he couldn't recall why the couple had started arguing but said things escalated after Boop refused to promptly agree to pack up and leave.

"She didn't obey, so you had to go further?'' Boop's attorney Kathleen Dautrich asked Doan on cross-examination.

Doan said Boop grabbed his .38 Special revolver from its holster on a bedroom dresser and shot him in the upper chest. He spent two weeks in the hospital and still wears a neck brace because bullet fragments are lodged near his spine and have left him with a severely weakened left arm.

Police contend Boop told them she called 911, then called her mother and Doan's mother before trying to help stop Doan's bleeding. Boop told police she didn't mean to fire the gun but was trying to scare Doan into letting go of her hair, authorities said.

"It sounds like my client was bullied,'' Dautrich said after the hearing. "I never saw anyone smoosh anything gently. What was next?''
NBC 7 Investigates is learning more about a new system purchased by the San Diego Police Department to help them respond to shootings faster.

The system is called ShotSpotter and according to the company, it can detect the sound of gunfire with pinpoint accuracy.

To read more about how the system works, click here.

Since June, NBC 7 Investigates has been asking the City of San Diego if it would purchase the ShotSpotter technology. At the time, San Diego Police said there were no plans to do so.

But, last month, NBC 7 Investigates learned the city was purchasing and installing the system.

Using the California Public Records Act, NBC 7 Investigates filed a public information request for emails and documents from the San Diego Police Department that mention ShotSpotter."

To read the emails and see the documents we received, click here.

In the emails, NBC 7 Investigates learned a Deputy City Attorney forwarded ShotSpotter agreements to San Diego Police on September 14.

Two weeks later, on September 28, the equipment arrived, according to the emails.

The emails show San Diego Police reached out to other police departments across the country, including Milwaukee and Sacramento, asking to review their policies in order to help develop its own.

In one email, a San Diego Police employee states the department had not received any complaints from the community.

In another email, a resident from the OFarrell community voiced concerns about what the police department will do with the data it recovers from the ShotSpotter system.

Specifically, the resident wanted to know if the department could sell the shooting data to insurance companies for the purpose of raising rates in communities where shots have been detected.

A representative from the San Diego Police Department responded by email to the resident, saying all data recovered from the ShotSpotter system is considered evidence and would not be shared.

The emails also detail an agreement was made with the San Diego Unified School District to install the technology on school buildings.

According to an email sent by San Diego Police staff, the installation with SDUSD hit a snag after a school employee halted the installation of the ShotSpotter sensors until the districts Superintendent gave clearance to do so.

In the email, SDPD explains getting clearance could take up to two months.

In a fact sheet provided by ShotSpotter to the San Diego Police Department, the company states the systems cost ranges from $65,000 to $95,000 per square mile.

As part of the agreement drawn up between the San Diego Police Department and ShotSpotter, ShotSpotter states the price tag for the first year of service will be $245,300 and that the price will drop to $235,300 annually after the first year.

According to the San Diego Police Department, the City Attorneys office determined the funds to pay for the ShotSpotter system will come from the asset forfeiture program.

NBC 7 Investigates has reached out to the San Diego Police Department, San Diego Unified School District, the City Attorneys office and District Attorneys office for more information on the next steps for the ShotSpotter program.

Specifically, NBC 7 Investigates is still trying to verify what schools may be involved and why the program is being implemented at schools.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the deadly stabbing of a man in Clairemont, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said Wednesday.

Brandon Ingram, 32, is facing a charge of first-degree murder in the killing of Ronald Labastida, 31.

Two days ago, at around 12:45 a.m., SDPD officers were called to the 5200 block of Channing Street in Clairemont to investigate reports of a stabbing in the area. When police arrived, they discovered Labastida badly wounded inside a home.

The victim was unresponsive, suffering from a stab wound to his upper body. Labastida was rushed to a local hospital, where he died about 40 minutes later.

According to SDPD Homicide Unit Lt. Mike Holden, Ingram was identified as the suspect in the deadly stabbing early on. He was arrested and booked into San Diego Central Jail.

Investigators have not released details on the motive behind the crime. Ingram is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Monday.
A Point Loma family said their brand new dishwasher keeps breaking down and rather than replace the unit, the store would only make repairs.

Heres a Craftsman saw, had it for years with no problems, Eric Willis said.

Eric said hes a big fan of Sears products, from his Craftsman tools to his Kenmore appliances. But when he bought a new dishwasher from Sears, things didnt start out well.

They open up the box on the new dishwasher and theres a huge dent in the back of it, about the size of my head. Looked like somebody hit it with a sledge hammer, Eric said.

Eric said he told the installer to take it back but Eric said the installer told him that would take too much time, he should try something else.

This is how you have to work the system, you have to install it and then after you install it you want a replacement, Eric said.

The advice seemed to work as Eric got a new Kenmore dishwasher delivered and installed. The new dishwasher worked fine at first and then suddenly stopped working.

I mean, we pushed buttons, we tried different cycles and it just didnt work, Eric said.

A repairman told Willis that the dishwasher needed a new motor.

They want to come out and fix it? No I dont want to fix it, I want a new one. Its a lemon, Eric said.

Eric finally agreed to replace the motor inside his new dishwasher but the repair didnt last long. This time the drying cycle wouldnt work.

Sears wanted to send out another technician, telling Eric they wouldnt replace his dishwasher unless it failed after three service calls.

It just seemed like I was going round and round and I was never going to get off the ferris wheel, Eric said.

Eric called NBC 7 Responds and we reached out to Sears representatives about the situation.

Within a week, Sears promised to replace the dishwasher at no cost.

Instead of getting the same dishwasher, Eric took the credit from Sears and upgraded to a higher end Kenmore dishwasher.

In an email, a spokesperson for Sears told us, Our member solutions team has evaluated Mr. Willis situation and will be replacing the dishwasher at no charge. Sears is committed to ensuring the satisfaction of our members and we regret the inconvenience to Mr. Willis. We hope he remains a loyal Sears customer and Shop Your Way member.

While it ultimately wasnt needed in this case, in California there are lemon laws on the books for consumers when it comes to appliances.

The California Lemon Law is part of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty act and applies to all products sold to consumers with the intent of personal use.

The law states that products sold for personal use, excluding clothing and consumables, must perform as they were advertised and if the product doesnt perform properly, the manufacturer must repair the product, refund the consumers money or provide a replacement product.

To read the law, click here.

If you think you have a lemon appliance on your hands and you run into a manufacturer or retailer thats being difficult, these tips could help you get a resolution:




With a perfectly-cooked and artfully plated grilled lamb loin, one local chef won top honors this year at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festivals Chef of the Fest competition.

Executive Chef Mark Kropczynski, of The US GRANT Hotels Grant Grill, won the culinary contest on Nov. 19 at the Lexus Grand Tasting, an annual event that marks the grand finale of the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.

Kropczynkis winning dish was Grilled Lamb Loin with Pumpkin Seed Oil and Fig Vincotto, which also won the Meat Category of the competition. In addition to major bragging rights, the chef shared a purse of more than $50,000 in cash and prizes at the competition.

The Chef of the Fest contest was judged by the San Diego Chapter of the American Culinary Federation, as well as guest judges, using a blind-tasting format.

This year, those guest judges included: Suzette Gresham, executive chef of San Franciscos Acquerello; Urs Emmenegger, executive chef at Casa De Manana and President of the ACF Chefs and Culinarians of San Diego; Dean James Max, president of DJM Restaurants, James Republic; Nic Vanderbeeken, executive chef of Viceroy Balis CasCades Restaurant; Chad White, chef and restaurateur.

Kropczynski and 34 other chefs presented their best dishes and the pot was then narrowed down to five finalists and five category winners using a graded point system. Participants were ranked based on cumulative scores considering the presentation, flavor, innovation and quality of product and preparation of their delicious dish in the allotted time.

Kropczynkis big first-place victory this year is especially sweet because last year, the chef took home fourth place in the competition with his Buddhas Hand Citron, boasting cake, curd, marmalade, hibiscus ice cream and syrup.

According to the chefs biography on the Grant Grill website, Kropczynskis philosophy in the kitchen is to keep things simple, yet elegant.

Kropczynski has been in the culinary industry since he was 15 years old, when he began working in commercial kitchens. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and went on to study in France, gaining extensive experience in classical French cooking techniques. Kropczynskis dishes are also influenced by Swiss and German cooking styles. The chef joined the Grant Grill in 2006.

Kropczynski is an avid fisherman and lobster diver. At the Grant Grill, he is known for creating California cuisine with seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients.

Other 2016 Chef of the Fest winners at the Grand Tasting included:

Second Place Winner:

Accursio Lota  Solare Ristorante

Californian Pistachio Mousse | Chocolate Crumb | Hazelnut Infusion

Third Place Winner:

Trevor Chappell  The Barrel Room

Smoked Porchetta | Almendrado Sauce | Caramelized Pear | Peppercress | Grilled Baguette

Fourth Place Winner:

Evan Cruz  Arterra Restaurant

Duck | Pear Chutney | Mustard Seeds | Mustard Frill

Fifth Place Winner:

David Warner  Decoy Dockside Dining

Curried Garnet Yam | Liquid Cornbread | Pomegranate | Mustard Seeds | Shaved Fennel | Pickled Red Onions | Brown Butter Crumble | Mustard Greens

Meat Category Winner:

Mark Kropczynski  Grant Grill

Grilled Lamb Loin | Roasted Baby Root Vegetables | Pumpkin Seed Oil | Fig Vincotto

Poultry Category Winner:

Evan Cruz  Arterra Restaurant

Duck | Pear Chutney | Mustard Seeds | Mustard Frill

Seafood Category Winner:

Aaron Thomas  AVANT Restaurant

Crispy Nori | Cured Hamachi | Salted Plum | Pickled Cucumber | Yuzu

Vegetarian / Raw Category Winner:

David Warner  Decoy Dockside Dining

Curried Garnet Yam | Liquid Cornbread | Pomegranate | Mustard Seeds | Shaved Fennel | Pickled Red Onions | Brown Butter Crumble | Mustard Greens

Dessert Category Winner:

Accursio Lota  Solare Ristorante

Californian Pistachio Mousse | Chocolate Crumb | Hazelnut Infusion

The annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is a showcase of the worlds premiere wine and spirits producers, chefs and gourmet food, with a spotlight on San Diegos thriving dining scene.

This year, it was held Nov. 14 through Nov. 20, with many cool culinary events throughout the week, culminating with the Grand Tasting, which featured scrumptious samples from more than 150 wineries, breweries and spirits companies, plus bites from dozens of local chefs representing 60 of San Diegos top restaurants.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said no EU member states are blocking the EU's visa-free regime for Ukraine.

"There are no countries that block the visa-free regime for Ukraine. There are no such countries. This is absolutely clear," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with President of the European Council Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and European Commission President Jean -Claude Juncker, following the results of the 18th EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Thursday.

According to the head of the Ukrainian state, this position was confirmed on Thursday during talks with the leaders of European countries, as well as by the decision of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU on November 17.
A 22-year-old man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Diego to allegations he operated a drug smuggling ring through Facebook.

Roberto Torres admitted to enlisting teenagers, some as young as 15, and young adults in the Imperial Valley to smuggle methamphetamine across the U.S., according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Prosecutors said Torres used Facebook to coordinate the drug operation, which transported narcotics from Mexico into the U.S.

Several of Torres codefendants have already pleaded guilty in connection to the operation, including Genesis Flores De Anda, Hector Beltran-Garcia, Eleazar Sanchez-Aguilar and Diana Carrillo.

Torres will be sentenced on Feb. 17. He faces between 10 years and life in prison.
Private, sensitive information of more than 130,000 current and former sailors was accessed by unknown individuals in a security breach, the United States Navy announced Wednesday.

On October 27, internet technology firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services notified the Navy that one of the company's laptops, which was supporting a Navy contract, was reported compromised, according to a statement from the Navy.

An investigation by the firm and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service revealed by November 22 that 134,386 current and former sailors' sensitive information, including names and Social Security numbers, were accessed by unknown individuals, according to the Navy.

There is not yet evidence to suggest misuse of compromised information, the Navy said.

"The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously- this is a matter of trust for our Sailors," said Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke in a statement. "We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach."

Affected sailors will be notified in coming weeks, and can expect the Navy to reach out, including by phone call, letter and email, the Navy said.

The Navy is working to provide further details on what happened to the sailors who were affected and is reviewing credit monitoring service options for them.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.
Police officers in San Diego are more likely to search Black or Hispanic drivers, according to an independent study released by researchers at San Diego State University (SDSU).

The 142-page study looked at nearly 260,000 traffic stops in 2014 and 2015. It found that race and ethnicity were not big factors in determining which drivers were pulled over by police.

But it did play a role in who officers searched.

Despite being searched more often, Black and Hispanic drivers were less likely to be found with contraband compared to white drivers, according to the report. Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific Islander drivers were also subjected to more field interviews.

You can find the full report here.

The findings come at a time when tension between minority communities and police run high across the nation, including San Diego.

The City of San Diego also released an 11-page response to the report with corrections and clarifications.

You can read the response here.

San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman released the following statement on Wednesday night:

I am proud of our department personnel who come to work each day with the desire to make a positive difference. We enjoy a tremendous partnership with our community and that is why we are one of the safest big cities in the United States. We want every citizen to feel safe in their community, feel valued in their opinion, and feel listened to by their police department. We will use these recommendations to strengthen, enhance, and foster new relationships with our community we so proudly serve.

The San Diego City Council's Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee is scheduled to discuss the report next Wednesday.
San Diego County sheriffs deputies are launching their holiday patrols on Thanksgiving, staking out shopping center parking lots to deter thefts and car prowls.

Deputies are starting their SkyWatch program, a movable tower where they can monitor parking lots from above, on Thanksgiving at the Walmart in Poway from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. Black Friday.

Then, deputies will move to the Stater Brothers and Kmart parking lots in Ramona on Black Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The SkyWatch program will launch again the first week of December, as deputies will perform increased patrols along Broadway and Lemon Grove Avenue and trolley platforms in Lemon Grove.

Then, deputies will bring the SkyWatch tower to the Walmart on Leucadia Boulevard in Encinitas from Dec. 10 to Dec. 18, starting at 8 a.m.

Deputies will also be on hand around the county in December to discuss holiday shopping safety tips with folks. Theyll be at the Valley Center sheriffs substation on Dec. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the Promenade Shopping Center in Imperial Beach from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Authorities are now investigating after a burglary at a home in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego.

Matt Buster, a resident on the 4700 block of 33rd Street, told NBC 7 that someone used his own garage door opener to steal thousands of dollars worth of race gear and camera equipment.

He had left the garage door remote in his locked jeep, parked in his driveway. The suspect not only took his bikes and equipment, but also took the jeep after finding the keys hanging inside the garage.

The theft occurred in the early hours of Monday morning, while Buster and his wife were sleeping.

We sleep five, 10-feet from where they were taking their pick of our things. It's not a comfortable feeling at all, Buster said.

The couple said they did not hear the garage door open or the suspect rifling through their most prized possessions.

I made it really easy for them. I left the keys in the garage. The garage door opener in the car and a lot of things we own in the garage. I kind of gave it to them on a silver plate, Buster said.

Buster told NBC 7 that he and his wife are triathletes.

The suspect took off with two road bikes, two triathlon bicycles, his wife's camera bag, camera and accessories, worth a total of around $20,000.

They had a good idea of what they were after, at least value wise, Buster added.

The suspect had used the couple's jeep as a getaway car but police recovered the vehicle 24 hours later on Vista Street at Biona Place. The location is just a mile and a half from the couple's home.

Every time we have left since, there is a possibility somebody is going to come back and see if they got a shot at something they missed. It's an eerie feeling, Buster said.

So far, the police investigation has turned up a picture of a possible suspect exiting the black jeep. While the Buster's jeep was recovered, the other stolen items are not.

Buster told NBC 7 that another car was broken into and while one other was stolen in his same neighborhood this week.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Wednesday he has "no worries" about Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, adding that he expects the businessman will align his future policies with global realities.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner's remarks were his most extensive yet regarding the election of the real estate tycoon and reality television star who has called for putting America's concerns first and shown little interest in Washington's traditional espousal of global democracy and social justice.

Commenting at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said he looks forward to seeing Trump at some point following the Jan. 20 inauguration. Such meetings usually draw protests from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from China.

The 81-year-old monk said he has always regarded the U.S. as the leader of the "free world" and wasn't concerned about remarks made by Trump during the election campaign. Some of those comments have been cited as offensive to Muslims, Hispanics and other U.S. minority groups.

"I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express. Now once they (are) elected, having the responsibility, then they have to carry their cooperation, their work, according (to) reality," he told reporters in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. "So I have no worries."

Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, spokeswoman for the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said she was not aware of any plans for a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Trump.

She said the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community have enjoyed good relations with successive U.S. presidents and expected that to continue under a Trump administration.

"His holiness has always put great hope in the U.S. as a champion of democracy. He hopes for continued support from the new president and his government," she said in a telephone interview.

China had demanded Mongolia scrap his visit for the sake of the "general picture of a sound and steady development of bilateral ties." Mongolia's fragile economy is heavily dependent on China, and the countries are in discussions of a $4.2 billion Chinese loan to help pull it out of a recession.

China has apparently delayed talks on the loan in response to the visit by the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959. Mongolian government spokesman Otgonbayar Gombojav said Wednesday that China had indefinitely postponed a visit to China next Monday by Mongolian officials to discuss the loan. China's Foreign Ministry offered no confirmation but demanded Mongolia take measures to "eliminate the negative impact" of the visit.

"The incorrect actions of the Mongolian side regarding the Dalai's visit harmed the political foundations of China-Mongolian relations and caused a negative impact on the development of the bilateral relations," spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing.

In his comments in Ulaanbaatar, the Dalai Lama said his visit to the landlocked, primarily Buddhist nation had no political purpose and that he had not publicly advocated independence for Tibet since 1974. The Dalai Lama has long called for Tibet to remain under Chinese rule, but with greater political participation by Tibetans and stronger protections for its traditional Buddhist culture.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, although many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent country for much of that time.

Asked to comment on climate change  which Trump has denounced as a hoax  the Dalai Lama said he was heartened by the turn to alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.

"I think ... we must now concentrate on these things. I don't know whether we can reduce cars or not. People everywhere busy, busy. I don't know if it will be possible," he said.

Referencing past efforts to minimize damage to the ozone layer, the Dalai Lama said that raised the chances of similar cooperation on climate change.

"So that gives us hope, there is possibility," he said.

While the U.S. has in the past called on China to respect civil liberties in Tibet, Trump has praised authoritarian rulers such as Russia's Vladimir Putin who have been strongly criticized by human rights groups.

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Trump in a phone call and the country's state media have welcomed his election as harkening a less confrontational policy toward China. Those outlets have also applauded Trump's announcement that he would abandon a U.S.-led free trade agreement in Asia that had excluded China.

However, Trump has also accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and pledged to bulk-up the U.S. military, leaving questions as to his ultimate approach to relations with the world's second-largest economy.
A massive manhunt is on for two California fugitives who cut jail bars and rappelled out of their second-story cell window in the oldest section of the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Thanksgiving eve, officials said early Thursday morning.

Santa Clara County Sheriffs spokesperson Sgt. Rich Glennon said there were four inmates who cut the bars in their cell window in the oldest part of the main jail around 11 p.m. Wednesday and escaped with the help of bed sheets and clothing. A deputy on patrol noticed the clothing hanging from the window and two of the inmates were immediately caught. But two others got away. It is unclear how the inmates got their hands on tools to cut the window bars, Glennon said.

Glennon said it's not clear whether the inmates were armed, but they should be considered dangerous and desperate. San Jose police has increased patrolling in nearby neighborhoods, and has stepped up patrol for San Joses annual Turkey Trot race, expected to start at 8:30 a.m. About 200 police officers are taking part in the annual Silicon Valley event.

The Santa Clara County Sheriffs office tweeted out photos of the escaped inmates at 3:04 a.m., asking the public to call 911 if they were spotted. The sheriffs office is using its helicopter as well as multiple K-9 units from a number of law enforcement agencies to track the escapees.

The main thing is were asking for the publics assistance  theres an active search going on, Glennon said. There has never been an escape from Main Jail South in this kind of fashion. Anyone willing to escape from jail is desperate, dont try to apprehend them, but notify law enforcement if you see them.

A massive perimeter has been set up near the jail.

The incident wasnt caught on camera because there are no cameras in the part of the jail where the inmates were living. Sheriffs deputies said this particular section is older, and was constructed in the 1950s.

Sources from inside the jail told NBC Bay Area its possible the inmates had help in getting away.

Santa Clara Sheriff's office said the first inmate who escaped is 33-year-old Rogelio Chavez, who stands about six feet tall, weighs 190 pounds and has the letter B tattooed on the left side of his neck. He also has a line drawn through his left eye. Glennon said he was being held since Aug. 17 on various charges including burglary, extortion, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, and firearms violations.

The second escapee is 26-year-old Lanon Desean Campbell. He is about six feet four inches tall and weighs 210 pounds. Campbell was being held since February 2015 on various charges including robbery, false imprisonment, criminal threats and firearms violations, records indicate.

Both escapees were last seen wearing their orange prison tops with gray pants.

The sheriff's office, the San Jose Police Department, and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety are actively searching for the pair both on the ground and in the air.

Anyone who knows where they might be should call 408-808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at 408-808-4431.

Damian Trujillo contributed reporting.
With temperatures plummeting, you may be tempted to warm up your car before heading to work. But Virginia State Police are warning drivers to think twice about doing that.

Police said leaving vehicles unattended with the keys inside makes them easy targets for criminals.

Statistics show that one in four vehicles that are stolen had the keys inside, but the problem is likely even greater, police said. More than 8,100 cars were stolen in Virginia last year; nearly 2,000 them had the keys or key fob left inside.

Drivers should also always make sure to remove any valuable items from their car or at least make sure they're out of sight, police said.
Staffers at a state psychiatric program in Maryland had to secure themselves inside some rooms during a disturbance early Thanksgiving morning, authorities said.

Three patients who were "noncompliant" were arrested, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH).

Officers were called to the Secure Evaluation Therapeutic Treatment program on the campus of Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville after some patients became disorderly, the DHMH said. A staff member called police just before midnight.

No information was available on why the patients may have become disorderly, a spokesman said.

The building that houses the program was locked at the time of the disturbance, but some patients were moving freely through the building and causing damage, staff told police. Tactical troopers entered shortly after 4:30 a.m., and the patients returned to their rooms, authorities said.

One staff member suffered a minor injury during the incident, but did not need to be hospitalized.

The three patients who were arrested were charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, destruction of property and resisting arrest.

According to the DHMH, the program provides psychiatric care for about 30 adult patients. Many of them are involved in court cases, the department said.
Lyn Marone had an "a-ha" moment the night she gave her coat to a homeless man in Georgetown, many years ago. It bothered the then-college student charities provided those in need with food and services during the holidays, but after that, "you go home, and that person is still homeless."

Three years ago, the Arnold, Maryland, resident opened her boutique, Designer Consignor, with the objective of combining her passions for charity and fashion. The store, located in Bay Hills Shopping Center, is an upscale boutique for women, which features new and gently used fashion items; clothing, accessories, shoes and jewelry.

It has filled a niche in the Broadneck community for stylish shoppers who like a bargain. Even more important to Marone, her boutique is a vehicle for charity throughout the year. The store is a collection point for Hope For All in Glen Burnie, whose mission is to provide basic human necessities (i.e. furniture, housewares, clothing and personal items) to families and individuals without sufficient economic resources. It is a nonprofit serving in Anne Arundel County, parts of Baltimore City and the Appalachian region.

Over the past three years, Marone estimates she has donated more than 12,000 items from the store. When customers consign their items, they have the option of picking up unsold or unsellable items within 90 days. They are also given the option of donating any unsold items to Hope For All, and provided with a tax receipt.

Lyn's parents, Vic and Carole Marone, of St. Margaret's, undertake the task of delivering the items two to three times a month. Lyn also drives several times a month to Howard County, picking up donatable items from her network of friends in that area. These are added to the donations from her shop, and delivered to Hope for All.

The family is also actively involved with Giving Back, Linda's Legacy. During the holidays, volunteers collect and fill backpacks with winter essentials for the homeless: socks, a hoodie, underwear, etc. These are sized, sorted, loaded and distributed on Christmas Eve to the homeless in Baltimore City.

The group also collects winter clothing, blankets, pillows and ready-to-eat foods such as granola bars and bottled water. Volunteers spend several days prior to Christmas at the farmers' market on Riva Road, sorting the items for the appropriate shelters.

On Christmas Eve, the trucks arrive at the shelters and distribute the goods. Vic Marone is a route captain. He said last year, 23 trucks were involved, and he was in charge of making sure three trucks made it to their destinations, and the supplies were delivered in an efficient manner.

Designer Consignor is a drop-off point for backpacks, both new and gently used, as well as items or donations for the drive. For $25, individuals or group can sponsor a backpack, which will be placed in the hands of someone who needs it. For more information, contact Designer Consignor at 410-757-1800.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump did raise questions about Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in a telephone conversation with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the head of the Ukrainian state has confirmed.

"Over the last week, President Tusk and I had the opportunity to communicate with President-elect Mr. Trump. We called each other ... I can confirm the issue of Russia's aggression and illegal annexation of Crimea was touched upon by President-elect Trump in my telephone conversation with him," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, following the results of the 18th EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Poroshenko said that he could not divulge details of the telephone conversation with Trump, noting he had the opportunity to provide the newly elected U.S. president comprehensive information on the latest developments in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea.
A former Massachusetts prosecutor has been charged with rape, court officials confirmed Wednesday.

Gary Zerola faces two counts of rape from an incident that allegedly happened Nov. 10.

Not many details being released, but the commonwealth says there will be strong medical evidence.

The Boston lawyer is no stranger to these kind of charges. In fact, this is his fourth time. But he has beaten all of them in the past, and his attorney says the latest accusations are based on "a foundation of lies."

In 2008, Zerola was acquitted in two rape cases out of Boston and had another dropped in Florida.

The former top prosecutor was also once one of People Magazine's top bachelors.

But any other details of what the bachelor is accused of doing this time have been sealed. A document shows that the judge impounded it to protect the identity of the alleged victim.

Zerola has been held on $10,000 bail. He will be fitted with a GPS monitor Monday.

Zerola's attorney, Joseph Krowski, said the case "is nothing more than a target in this case," and that the case is "based upon a foundation of lies and we vigorously look forward to our day in court."
As many Americans enjoy their Thanksgiving traditions, some are experiencing the holiday for the first time.

Im so happy, said Patricia Yapo, an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast.

Patricia, her husband and two young kids moved to Portland, Maine a few months ago. Through a mentoring program called Welcoming the Stranger, they met Nancy Markowitz.

They call me Mama, Im their American mother, said Markowitz. Shes been helping them find housing and get settled in the United States.

So when an American holiday as important as Thanksgiving came around, Markowitz knew she had to show the Yapos how its celebrated.

Thats a big turkey! said one of the kids, as their mother cooked fried plantains on the stove. The two families enjoyed traditional Thanksgiving foods, with Africa side dishes.

Other asylum seekers in Portland enjoyed the holiday with newfound friends.

We are becoming a family, said Grace Bueso. Shes an asylum seeker from the Congo, who is celebrating her first Thanksgiving with her roommate Hamda Elma, from Djibouti.

Its the first time I saw a turkey! said Elma.

The women said they are most thankful for their friendship. When Bueso, a Catholic, learned she would be living with a Muslim, she was scared. But through conversation and spending time together, learned they have much more in common than she thought.

We live in peace and love, said Elma. We are all human.
Some quick thinking saved a man's life when a fire broke out at his home Wednesday afternoon in Saugus, Massachusetts.

The fire broke out in a home on Midland Avenue at about 4:30 p.m.

Some men who were working on a nearby home spotted the fire and ran to the scene to help, along with a couple of neighbors.

"We felt the smoke and we smelled it. So we came down and we saw the house in flames," rescuer Peter Qirici recalled. "The neighbors and myself, we went in and we pulled the gentleman out of the house."

The resident, identified by neighbors as Arthur Anderson, was said to be wearing just shorts and a T-shirt when he was pulled out of his home by the men.

"He was covered in soot, really disorientated but he didn't look like he had any marks, no burns or anything," said neighbor David Horvath.

The good Samaritans said they grabbed blankets to cover Anderson up until first responders arrived.

Anderson was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. There is no word on his condition.

The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
Boston Renaissance Charter Public School admitted it made a mistake with how it handled allegations of sexual assault of a young boy on November third.

According to Massachusetts regulations, charter schools must notify the Department of Primary and Secondary Education of any abuse allegations within two business days. The school failed to do so.

A spokesperson for the school told necn Investigates in a statement the school notified the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education this week. It was an oversight that we have since corrected."

On Monday, allegations surfaced that a young boy was sexually assaulted on the school bus nearly three weeks prior. After the post went viral on Facebook, the school sent home a letter to parents saying it had followed applicable state and federal legal guidelines in determining how to communicate with the families involved and the broader school community.

A spokesperson told necn Investigates the children involved have been offered counseling.

The school did notify DCF and Boston Police about the alleged incident on November third.

The school will not be penalized by the state for failing to report the incident.

necn spoke with the mother of one alleged victim who says her son was molested a number of times.

"He said it happened more than 10 times," said the mother who does not want to be named. "As a mom, I lost it. My son was being touched on the bus by another child, that's 6-years-old. The kid wanted my son to play with his genitals and he wanted my son to play with his genitals also. He mentioned a lot of grabbing of the buttocks."

The mother said the boy, who is now under investigation, also made threats against her son.

"He made mention that there were guns at his house and if he was going to say anything that he was going to kill me."

Even though the alleged incident took place on a Boston Public School bus, the charter school is handling the investigation independently.

The bus driver has been placed on paid administrative leave as a precaution.

Renaissance will hold a meeting on Monday to update all parents on the investigation.
Thousands of people throughout New England had Thanksgiving dinner delivered to their doorstep on Wednesday.

Community Servings in Jamaica Plain had 180 volunteers passing out meals to individuals who suffer from all sorts of medical conditions.

Ty and Vicky Shen have been volunteering for the organization for 15 years now.

"I get satisfaction, said Ty Shen. I think people who can contribute have an obligation to contribute to those people less fortunate."

His daughter Vicky said its something she looks forward to time and time again.

Its sort of become a tradition so it's one of my favorite times of year, she said. My dad and I get to spend the day together delivering meals."

The organization is the only one of its kind in New England.

Every day we go out across 300 square miles delivering meals to 1,100 people struggling with HIV, cancer, kidney disease, MS, Lupus et cetera," said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings.

Throughout the year Community Servings makes more than 500,000 meals for 1,850 people.

What we're bringing them are beautifully prepared meals medically catered to their particular needs," said Waters.

The first stop on the map for the Shens was Community Servings client, Liyanage Delwakkada.

Delwakkada moved to the Boston area in 1998 from Sri Lanka.

A few years ago he was diagnosed with diabetes and endured four years of dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant last October.

"I'm without a job, means no food no nothing," said Delwakkada, who use to work in Sri Lanka as a lawyer.

Community Servings has been a big part of his recovery, since losing his job at a convenience store in Boston.

They brought me meals, meals, meals and more meals, said Delwakkada. They took care of me completely for eight years."

Delwakkada hasn't been able to drive his car for eight years and said once he starts again he knows exactly where hes going.

"First trip I will go to Jamaica Plain, said Delwakkada.

He wants to hug all the staff whove helped him through the difficult times in his life.

Community Servings can always use help from the community. Waters said volunteering your time is great but if you cant you can buy a pie this holiday season.

Proceeds from Pie in the Sky sales will directly benefit the organization.

Wednesday, November 23rd is the last day to purchase a pie at a cash and carry location found here.
KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine could improve its position in the next Paying Taxes global annual ranking, which is a joint project of PwC and the World Bank Group. Partner of PwC Ukraine Viacheslav Vlasov said this at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine. "To change the situation, it is not necessarily to amend the Tax Code. Much depends on the Ministry of Finance and the State Fiscal Service in improving administration. For example, improvement of those electronic services that are available to businesses in Ukraine," he said. According to the recently released data of the Paying Taxes 2017 ranking, Ukraine ranked 84th (Bulgaria ranked 83rd, Barbados 85th, Russia 45th, Poland 47th, Belarus 99th) among 190 countries, losing one position compared to the previous year. The study was based on data from 2015. According to Vlasov, elimination of paper document turnover, return to annual financial statements (from quarterly) on income tax, simplification of tax return forms will contribute to improvement of the country's position. It is appropriate to introduce payment of personal income tax only once a month, not for each payment operation, stop using tax invoices that only duplicate the companies' business files and improve the quality of software for submitting tax reports. Among modern global trends is a slight reduction of the general tax burden and the number of payments: despite crisis trends in the global economy, not all countries cut tax rates. According to the study, the time to comply with consumption taxes had fallen. "On average around the world in 2015 our case study company paid taxes amounting to 40.6% of its commercial profit, took 251 hours to prepare, file and pay its three main taxes and had a number of payments sub-indicator of 25.0. The averages for these three Paying Taxes sub-indicators have continued to fall in the most recent year," PwC said, showing in the table that total tax rate fell by 0.1 percentage points, time to comply by 8 hours and number of payments  by 0.8. This year, for the first time, the Paying Taxes study, being 11th for PwC and the World Bank, looked at two post-filing processes. With it Ukraine would have been 111th losing four positions compared to the previous study. As for Ukraine's position among 19 Central Asia and Eastern Europe countries, in total tax rate Ukraine is 16th with 51.9% (with labor taxes of 43.1% and 18.9% in Europe and Central Asia), while Macedonia is first with 13%. Total Tax Rate is the measure of tax cost, the total of all taxes borne as a percentage of commercial profit. The figure does not take into account the large reduction of single social security tax in 2016. In this group of countries Ukraine is 18th in time to comply with taxes with 356 hours, while Macedonia is the leader with 119 hours. Ukraine's indicator worsened by 9.5 hours compared to the previous figures mainly due to the increase in the time spent for drawing up VAT reports. "The rating shows one thing from one year to the next that arouses alarm. This is the time to comply with tax rules business spends in Ukraine. It is more than in the rest of the countries," Vlasov said. According to PwC, the introduction of the full-featured e-cabinet of taxpayers, the common database of tax consultations, improvement of the e-administration of VAT planned by the government would improve the conditions for doing business in Ukraine and the country's position in the tax rating. However, the expected complication of tax invoices (the introduction of goods or service codes), the introduction of the tax invoice registration temporary suspension scheme without clear rules for checking the tax invoices and the possibility of returning prepaid VAT to the state would worsen Ukraine's position. According to PwC materials, the time to obtain a VAT refund in Ukraine is 28.2 weeks, while average figure for Eastern Europe and Central Asia is 19.3 weeks.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Paytm, digital payments firm, launched an updated app on Wednesday that seeks to allow small shopkeepers to accept payments made through credit and debit cards.

The app, an attempt to give small shopkeepers without a card swiping machine an option to remain viable as the government pushes to bring in a cashless economy, will help them during the cash crunch crisis following the demonetisation of Rs 500/Rs 1,000 notes.

Paytm has updated its app to launch Indias first APP POS, which will democratise digital payments. With this, any shopkeeper who has a smartphone and mobile internet, can accept debit and credit card payments from customers, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO  Paytm said. The new facility works by including an Accept Payment icon in the app. Small shopkeepers and businesses can self-declare their details and provide bank account details to start receiving payments instantly up to Rs 50,000 a month as stipulated by RBI. The shopkeeper will generate a bill and hand over the phone to the customer for entering card details. The details, entered by the customer, will not reside on the app, but on the banks website, securing the data.

NEW DELHI: Paytm, digital payments firm, launched an updated app on Wednesday that seeks to allow small shopkeepers to accept payments made through credit and debit cards. The app, an attempt to give small shopkeepers without a card swiping machine an option to remain viable as the government pushes to bring in a cashless economy, will help them during the cash crunch crisis following the demonetisation of Rs 500/Rs 1,000 notes. Paytm has updated its app to launch Indias first APP POS, which will democratise digital payments. With this, any shopkeeper who has a smartphone and mobile internet, can accept debit and credit card payments from customers, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO  Paytm said. The new facility works by including an Accept Payment icon in the app. Small shopkeepers and businesses can self-declare their details and provide bank account details to start receiving payments instantly up to Rs 50,000 a month as stipulated by RBI. The shopkeeper will generate a bill and hand over the phone to the customer for entering card details. The details, entered by the customer, will not reside on the app, but on the banks website, securing the data.
Suraksha P By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: The citys government paediatric ICUs do not have enough ventilator beds. Their availability is far less than the need. This was underlined in the tragic tale of the early demise of Saleem Pasha and Nazia Banus baby girl.

A resident of Munireddypalya, Nazia Banu went into labour on November 14 and was brought to JMG Hospital, in Nagawara at 12:30 pm, according to the hospital authorities.

Saleem alleged, Nazia was bleeding heavily. The babys head could be seen. When we brought her to the hospital there was a delay in the doctor attending to her. At 6:20 am, when she delivered I was told by the treating doctor Dr Rosily Arikatt that the baby was dead. It was only at 9:30 am that they started reviving the baby and denied having told me that the baby had died.

Gynaecologist Dr Rosily Arikatt said that Nazia had a concealed abruptio placentae, which is defined as the premature separation of the placenta from the uterus. Patients with abruptio placentae, also called placental abruption, typically present with bleeding, uterine contractions, and fetal distress.

In such concealed cases, the condition isnt evident. The babys APGAR scale was five, which later improved to seven after resuscitation. I never told the family the baby was dead. We wouldnt do that unless there was no pulse, she said.

The APGAR test quickly evaluates a newborns physical condition and sees if theres an immediate need for extra medical or emergency care. APGAR stands for Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration, and is done one minute and five minutes after birth.

As the family wanted a discharge and the baby needed ventilator support, which the hospital lacked, Baptist Hospital was contacted BUT IT didnt have beds either.

Later, St Philomenas was contacted. Since Pasha could not afford the cost he went to Vani Vilas Hospital in Victoria Hospital campus. It has only six ventilator beds in the pediatric ICU, and could not accommodate Nazias baby.

He later went to Bowring Hospital, which has 15 ventilator beds but none were empty that day. At last, he admitted his baby to Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Malleswaram.

It was 5 pm by the time I reached this hospital. She was treated for four days there. There was no improvement. I enquired in Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health. There were no beds there either. I had spent `40,000 already. On asking how much time she has, the doctors said she has only three hours so I brought her home. The end did not come even the next day so we took her to KC General Hospital, Pasha said.

The baby died at 3:40 am on Wednesday. Lack of enough ventilator beds in peadiatric ICUs in government hospitals sticks out in his tragedy.

Dr B D Raghunandan at KC General Hospital said, She had suffered birth asphyxia- a medical condition resulting from less oxygen to a newborn infant causing harm to the brain. She had convulsions and had slipped into coma. Neonatal Resuscitation Program is important. If that golden minute is lost, it becomes difficult to revive the child.

Pasha said he went to the Kadugondanahalli police station to file a medical negligence case against JMG Hospital. But the officers asked him to approach the Medical Council of India. They said my baby had received all the treatment she required and I shouldnt be complaining, he said.

BENGALURU: The citys government paediatric ICUs do not have enough ventilator beds. Their availability is far less than the need. This was underlined in the tragic tale of the early demise of Saleem Pasha and Nazia Banus baby girl. A resident of Munireddypalya, Nazia Banu went into labour on November 14 and was brought to JMG Hospital, in Nagawara at 12:30 pm, according to the hospital authorities. Saleem alleged, Nazia was bleeding heavily. The babys head could be seen. When we brought her to the hospital there was a delay in the doctor attending to her. At 6:20 am, when she delivered I was told by the treating doctor Dr Rosily Arikatt that the baby was dead. It was only at 9:30 am that they started reviving the baby and denied having told me that the baby had died. Gynaecologist Dr Rosily Arikatt said that Nazia had a concealed abruptio placentae, which is defined as the premature separation of the placenta from the uterus. Patients with abruptio placentae, also called placental abruption, typically present with bleeding, uterine contractions, and fetal distress. In such concealed cases, the condition isnt evident. The babys APGAR scale was five, which later improved to seven after resuscitation. I never told the family the baby was dead. We wouldnt do that unless there was no pulse, she said. The APGAR test quickly evaluates a newborns physical condition and sees if theres an immediate need for extra medical or emergency care. APGAR stands for Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration, and is done one minute and five minutes after birth. As the family wanted a discharge and the baby needed ventilator support, which the hospital lacked, Baptist Hospital was contacted BUT IT didnt have beds either. Later, St Philomenas was contacted. Since Pasha could not afford the cost he went to Vani Vilas Hospital in Victoria Hospital campus. It has only six ventilator beds in the pediatric ICU, and could not accommodate Nazias baby. He later went to Bowring Hospital, which has 15 ventilator beds but none were empty that day. At last, he admitted his baby to Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Malleswaram. It was 5 pm by the time I reached this hospital. She was treated for four days there. There was no improvement. I enquired in Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health. There were no beds there either. I had spent `40,000 already. On asking how much time she has, the doctors said she has only three hours so I brought her home. The end did not come even the next day so we took her to KC General Hospital, Pasha said. The baby died at 3:40 am on Wednesday. Lack of enough ventilator beds in peadiatric ICUs in government hospitals sticks out in his tragedy. Dr B D Raghunandan at KC General Hospital said, She had suffered birth asphyxia- a medical condition resulting from less oxygen to a newborn infant causing harm to the brain. She had convulsions and had slipped into coma. Neonatal Resuscitation Program is important. If that golden minute is lost, it becomes difficult to revive the child. Pasha said he went to the Kadugondanahalli police station to file a medical negligence case against JMG Hospital. But the officers asked him to approach the Medical Council of India. They said my baby had received all the treatment she required and I shouldnt be complaining, he said.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru police on Thursday arrested a gang of three men including a cloth merchant for involvement in the conversion of black money for a commission. They also detained two bank staffers for interrogation in the case.

They recovered cash amounting to Rs 50 lakh including in new and banned currency. Two persons working in a nearby bank have also been detained.

The arrested men have been identified as Manoj Kumar Singh and two of his associates, both residents of Chikpet. The accused runs a textile shop near his residence.

Based on a tip-off, the Cottonpet police caught prime accused Manoj Kumar Singh and found that he approached many businessmen and realtors offering to convert their black money.

The majority of the currency notes seized from the were of the Rs 2000 denomination. Police strongly suspect that bank officials were involved in the racket. Manoj Kumar Singh was allegedly charging a 30 per cent commission for converting Rs 1 lakh of black money.

Singh told police that the cash he had was for disbursement of salaries to his employees. However, police said there were no documents or evidence to corroborate the claim.

Based on his information, the police detained two bank staffers for further interrogation. Police are yet to ascertain how he managed to get money from banks and whether he had contact with other persons.

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru police on Thursday arrested a gang of three men including a cloth merchant for involvement in the conversion of black money for a commission. They also detained two bank staffers for interrogation in the case. They recovered cash amounting to Rs 50 lakh including in new and banned currency. Two persons working in a nearby bank have also been detained. The arrested men have been identified as Manoj Kumar Singh and two of his associates, both residents of Chikpet. The accused runs a textile shop near his residence. Based on a tip-off, the Cottonpet police caught prime accused Manoj Kumar Singh and found that he approached many businessmen and realtors offering to convert their black money. The majority of the currency notes seized from the were of the Rs 2000 denomination. Police strongly suspect that bank officials were involved in the racket. Manoj Kumar Singh was allegedly charging a 30 per cent commission for converting Rs 1 lakh of black money. Singh told police that the cash he had was for disbursement of salaries to his employees. However, police said there were no documents or evidence to corroborate the claim. Based on his information, the police detained two bank staffers for further interrogation. Police are yet to ascertain how he managed to get money from banks and whether he had contact with other persons.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A good samaritan from city helped a 3-year-old boy reunite with his father, who is a police sub-inspector in Andhra Pradesh.

The minor identified as Sarath Chandra, son of Krishna Mohan, sub-inspector with Byrareddipalli police station at Palamaner taluk in Andhra Pradesh, was kidnapped on November 18. The incident took place while he was playing in front of the home around 6 pm.

The man later abandoned the child near Tin Factory in Bengaluru. Around 5.30 pm on November 19, Thippamma, a resident of Mahadevapura, spotted Sarath alone and crying.

Assuming the boy was lost, she waited with him for some time, but no one came. She then took him to her house and gave him a bath and food. Next day, she took him to Mahadevapura police station.

By then, the photo of the missing boy had gone viral on WhatsApp in police circles. It helped Mahadevapura police recognise Sarath and an alert was sent to Andhra Pradesh police.

A team from Andhra rushed to Mahadevapura police station on Wednesday and confirmed the identity of the boy. Krishna Mohan and the boy were reunited the same day.

We formed different teams comprising five inspectors, 15 sub-inspectors and 50-60 constables to crack the case. We got CCTV footages of the man boarding a lorry with the boy. We were informed by the lorry driver that they had got down at Nandyal checkpoint to go to Karnataka. The accused even collected `150 from few persons at the checkpost showing the kid, said A Surendra Reddy, Police Inspector, Palamaner.

We had circulated the boys photo to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police after we got to know that the accused had boarded a vehicle to Bengaluru. He even tried to sell the kid. Efforts are on to nab the accused, the inspector added.

BENGALURU: A good samaritan from city helped a 3-year-old boy reunite with his father, who is a police sub-inspector in Andhra Pradesh. The minor identified as Sarath Chandra, son of Krishna Mohan, sub-inspector with Byrareddipalli police station at Palamaner taluk in Andhra Pradesh, was kidnapped on November 18. The incident took place while he was playing in front of the home around 6 pm. The man later abandoned the child near Tin Factory in Bengaluru. Around 5.30 pm on November 19, Thippamma, a resident of Mahadevapura, spotted Sarath alone and crying. Assuming the boy was lost, she waited with him for some time, but no one came. She then took him to her house and gave him a bath and food. Next day, she took him to Mahadevapura police station. By then, the photo of the missing boy had gone viral on WhatsApp in police circles. It helped Mahadevapura police recognise Sarath and an alert was sent to Andhra Pradesh police. A team from Andhra rushed to Mahadevapura police station on Wednesday and confirmed the identity of the boy. Krishna Mohan and the boy were reunited the same day. We formed different teams comprising five inspectors, 15 sub-inspectors and 50-60 constables to crack the case. We got CCTV footages of the man boarding a lorry with the boy. We were informed by the lorry driver that they had got down at Nandyal checkpoint to go to Karnataka. The accused even collected `150 from few persons at the checkpost showing the kid, said A Surendra Reddy, Police Inspector, Palamaner. We had circulated the boys photo to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police after we got to know that the accused had boarded a vehicle to Bengaluru. He even tried to sell the kid. Efforts are on to nab the accused, the inspector added.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The demolition drive by the Congress-led state government and sympathy factor helped BJP candidate Sarala Mahesh Babu win the bypoll from BBMPs Lakkasandra ward. She won with a margin of 2,414 votes against Congress candidate B Mohan.

Lakkasandra ward has over 28,000 voters. Sundays election witnessed 45 per cent voting. Sarala got 7,638 votes, followed by Mohan who got 5,224 votes while JD(S) candidate Parveez Ahmed polled just 127 votes.

The councillors post became vacant after the then councillor Mahesh Babu died in a road accident in July. His wife Sarala Mahesh Babu then got the BJP ticket.

Lakkasandra is one of the eight wards in BTM Layout, represented in the assembly by Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. Of the eight wards, five are represented by Congress councillors, including former mayor B N Manjunath Reddy. Chief Minister Siddaramiahs city rounds and Bengaluru Development Minister K J George conducting several inspections did not work in their favour. The BBMP Council, which has a Mayor from the Congress, also did not work for the party.

A senior Congress member in the council said they were expecting the party candidate to win. It is a Congress belt and everything was in our favour. We did the ground work but the demolition drive by the state government gave us a jolt. It was completely an anti-Congress initiative, he said.

He added that sympathy votes for the BJP candidate also said worked against it. Ramalinga Reddy also said said BJP won due to sympathy. The ward was represented by a BJP candidate and it went to BJP. It is not like the ward was represented by Congress went to BJP. One need not say that this is indicative of the coming Assembly elections, he said. Opposition leader in the BBMP Council, Padmanabha Reddy said the people are against state governments steel bridge proposal and the demolition drive. This is indicative of the Congress losing its base in Karnataka and Bengaluru in the coming days, he said.

BENGALURU: The demolition drive by the Congress-led state government and sympathy factor helped BJP candidate Sarala Mahesh Babu win the bypoll from BBMPs Lakkasandra ward. She won with a margin of 2,414 votes against Congress candidate B Mohan. Lakkasandra ward has over 28,000 voters. Sundays election witnessed 45 per cent voting. Sarala got 7,638 votes, followed by Mohan who got 5,224 votes while JD(S) candidate Parveez Ahmed polled just 127 votes. The councillors post became vacant after the then councillor Mahesh Babu died in a road accident in July. His wife Sarala Mahesh Babu then got the BJP ticket. Lakkasandra is one of the eight wards in BTM Layout, represented in the assembly by Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. Of the eight wards, five are represented by Congress councillors, including former mayor B N Manjunath Reddy. Chief Minister Siddaramiahs city rounds and Bengaluru Development Minister K J George conducting several inspections did not work in their favour. The BBMP Council, which has a Mayor from the Congress, also did not work for the party. A senior Congress member in the council said they were expecting the party candidate to win. It is a Congress belt and everything was in our favour. We did the ground work but the demolition drive by the state government gave us a jolt. It was completely an anti-Congress initiative, he said. He added that sympathy votes for the BJP candidate also said worked against it. Ramalinga Reddy also said said BJP won due to sympathy. The ward was represented by a BJP candidate and it went to BJP. It is not like the ward was represented by Congress went to BJP. One need not say that this is indicative of the coming Assembly elections, he said. Opposition leader in the BBMP Council, Padmanabha Reddy said the people are against state governments steel bridge proposal and the demolition drive. This is indicative of the Congress losing its base in Karnataka and Bengaluru in the coming days, he said.
Mouli Mareedu By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: DO you want to exchange demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for new Rs 2,000 notes? Well, if you log on to social networking site Facebook, you might find persons on business groups offering to exchange the old notes for you, for a commission.

Since the Centres demonetisation move, people with unaccounted money have been looking for ways to launder black money. Cashing in on that, brokers and commission agents have swung into action. Now, some people have started putting up posts on Facebook offering cash exchange.

One Garlapati Suresh Naidu posted in the Business People in Hyderabad group on Facebook saying that old notes worth up to Rs 3 crore would be exchanged on the spot. For this, a commission of 30 per cent would be charged. The post added that this was being done with the assistance of bankers.

One user saw the post and brought it to the attention of Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Sharma on Twitter. The DGP immediately referred the matter to Hyderabad Police and Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) asking them to look into the issue and take action. The Hyderabad Polices Information Technology wing staff said they had been directed by Sharma to look into such posts.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Crime, Avinash Mohanty told Express that they would look into the incident and take measures to prevent such activities. The Hyderabad Cyber Crime police have kept close vigil on social networking sites. Sources said the user who made the post that came to the DGPs attention had been identified and investigation was on.

HYDERABAD: DO you want to exchange demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for new Rs 2,000 notes? Well, if you log on to social networking site Facebook, you might find persons on business groups offering to exchange the old notes for you, for a commission. Since the Centres demonetisation move, people with unaccounted money have been looking for ways to launder black money. Cashing in on that, brokers and commission agents have swung into action. Now, some people have started putting up posts on Facebook offering cash exchange. One Garlapati Suresh Naidu posted in the Business People in Hyderabad group on Facebook saying that old notes worth up to Rs 3 crore would be exchanged on the spot. For this, a commission of 30 per cent would be charged. The post added that this was being done with the assistance of bankers. One user saw the post and brought it to the attention of Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Sharma on Twitter. The DGP immediately referred the matter to Hyderabad Police and Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) asking them to look into the issue and take action. The Hyderabad Polices Information Technology wing staff said they had been directed by Sharma to look into such posts. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Crime, Avinash Mohanty told Express that they would look into the incident and take measures to prevent such activities. The Hyderabad Cyber Crime police have kept close vigil on social networking sites. Sources said the user who made the post that came to the DGPs attention had been identified and investigation was on.
Toby Antony By

Express News Service

KOCHI: With the mega art fest Kochi Muziris Biennale all set to begin from December 12, the City Police and the Excise Department are upping their surveillance activities in Fort Kochi expecting an increase in drug peddling. For the next two months, police and excise officials will be on their toes to curb the flow of narcotics into the area which will be overflowing with domestic and international tourists. Tourist Police too have increased their surveillance in order to prevent any crime against tourists who arrive for the international-level event.

According to S Vijayan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mattanchery, the police department has drawn up plans to ensure that the activities of drug rackets are curbed in Fort Kochi area. Learning from the law and order issues faced during the biennales held in the previous years, especially the operations of those peddling drugs, we have set in motion steps to ensure that no such illegal activities happen this year. A large posse of policemen will deployed in Fort Kochi area to monitor the situation.

Cops in mufti will also be posted in the area to carry out surveillance activities. More shadow cops will be deployed at the venues of the art fest. At least 50 personnel will deployed at the venues and patrolling will be enhanced at night, he added.

Police had netted several persons selling and buying narcotic substances during the biennale which was held in 2014-2015. Some of those arrested had links with drug rackets operating in Goa. Apart from biennale, New Year celebrations also pull more crowd to the Western-end of Kochi. In the past, there had been instances when drug peddlers sold tourists chalk powder disguised as high quality cocaine.

Police official said that hotels and homestay operators will be directed to rent out rooms only after collecting the relevant documents including identity proofs. Surveillance has also been increased at hotels in order to curb drug peddling. Excise officials said that they have already deployed a unit in Fort Kochi-Mattancherry area. During biennale, more officials will be deployed at Fort Kochi area.

S Vijayan said that security arrangements have been also made to curb crime against tourists especially those from abroad. Moreover, patrolling by tourist police will also be enhanced. Security will be high especially in the night. This is to ensure that the tourists can walk through the streets of Fort Kochi without any fear, he added.

KOCHI: With the mega art fest Kochi Muziris Biennale all set to begin from December 12, the City Police and the Excise Department are upping their surveillance activities in Fort Kochi expecting an increase in drug peddling. For the next two months, police and excise officials will be on their toes to curb the flow of narcotics into the area which will be overflowing with domestic and international tourists. Tourist Police too have increased their surveillance in order to prevent any crime against tourists who arrive for the international-level event. According to S Vijayan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mattanchery, the police department has drawn up plans to ensure that the activities of drug rackets are curbed in Fort Kochi area. Learning from the law and order issues faced during the biennales held in the previous years, especially the operations of those peddling drugs, we have set in motion steps to ensure that no such illegal activities happen this year. A large posse of policemen will deployed in Fort Kochi area to monitor the situation. Cops in mufti will also be posted in the area to carry out surveillance activities. More shadow cops will be deployed at the venues of the art fest. At least 50 personnel will deployed at the venues and patrolling will be enhanced at night, he added. Police had netted several persons selling and buying narcotic substances during the biennale which was held in 2014-2015. Some of those arrested had links with drug rackets operating in Goa. Apart from biennale, New Year celebrations also pull more crowd to the Western-end of Kochi. In the past, there had been instances when drug peddlers sold tourists chalk powder disguised as high quality cocaine. Police official said that hotels and homestay operators will be directed to rent out rooms only after collecting the relevant documents including identity proofs. Surveillance has also been increased at hotels in order to curb drug peddling. Excise officials said that they have already deployed a unit in Fort Kochi-Mattancherry area. During biennale, more officials will be deployed at Fort Kochi area. S Vijayan said that security arrangements have been also made to curb crime against tourists especially those from abroad. Moreover, patrolling by tourist police will also be enhanced. Security will be high especially in the night. This is to ensure that the tourists can walk through the streets of Fort Kochi without any fear, he added.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Perhaps, this could be the final push after breaking the glass ceiling is concerned. In the not-too-distant future, Kochi will witness woman dog catchers in action.

And Kudumbasree has kick-started a novel way to check the stray dog menace in the state by inducting women dog catchers to control the public menace.

Ahead of the pilot project Kudumbasree Mission trained 17 women and three men in Ernakulam district. Parakadavu, Angamaly, Pambakuda and Kothamangalam are the block panchayats identified for the project.

With financial aid from the panchayat we have set up a Veterinary Hospital at Thirumarady panchayat.

The dogs caught by these trained catchers will be sterilised under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, said Dr S Saleem, Kudumbasree Chief Operating Officer. Later, they will be set free at the place from where they have been caught, he added.

KOCHI: Perhaps, this could be the final push after breaking the glass ceiling is concerned. In the not-too-distant future, Kochi will witness woman dog catchers in action. And Kudumbasree has kick-started a novel way to check the stray dog menace in the state by inducting women dog catchers to control the public menace. Ahead of the pilot project Kudumbasree Mission trained 17 women and three men in Ernakulam district. Parakadavu, Angamaly, Pambakuda and Kothamangalam are the block panchayats identified for the project. With financial aid from the panchayat we have set up a Veterinary Hospital at Thirumarady panchayat. The dogs caught by these trained catchers will be sterilised under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, said Dr S Saleem, Kudumbasree Chief Operating Officer. Later, they will be set free at the place from where they have been caught, he added.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vattappara police on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old youth on charges of sexually abusing a minor Dalit girl in the guise of loving her. The police identified the accused as Sujith, a resident of Mallanvilaveedu, Perumkuzhy near Chirayinkeezhu.

According to the police, the accused was nabbed based on a man missing complaint lodged by the parents of the victim. The victim had gone missing from her residence from early November.

She had reportedly eloped with the accused as the latter promised to marry her. But he took her to Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Valiyavila in Thiruvananthapuram district where he sexually exploited her, said police.

He also changed his SIM cards of his phone regularly to divert the attention of police. However, the accused and victim were intercepted in Thiruvananthapuram and taken into the custody. The victim has been handed over to Nirbhaya shelter home and is likely to be produced before Child Welfare Committee on Thursday. The accused and victim were also subjected to medical examination and the police had confirmed a sexual intercourse.

The accused was later produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody, police said.

Woman held for selling banned tobacco products near school The city woman shadow police on Wednesday nabbed a 60-year-old woman for allegedly supplying banned tobacco products to school and college students in bulk quantities. The police identified the accused as Nasleema, a resident of Mathilumukku near Karikkakom. She was running a shop named Bismi store near Mathilumukku Government School.

According to the police, the accused had been selling the substances on the premises of Karikkakom Temple, Chackai ITI, All Saints College and Karikkakom school premises.

She used to collect the banned substances from an agent based in Tamil Nadu. Later, she sold the pan masala products at Rs 30-40 range in a single packet. School, college students and migrant labourers were the regular customers of the accused. All the tobacco products have been seized. She landed in the police net after a weeklong surveillance, police said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vattappara police on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old youth on charges of sexually abusing a minor Dalit girl in the guise of loving her. The police identified the accused as Sujith, a resident of Mallanvilaveedu, Perumkuzhy near Chirayinkeezhu. According to the police, the accused was nabbed based on a man missing complaint lodged by the parents of the victim. The victim had gone missing from her residence from early November. She had reportedly eloped with the accused as the latter promised to marry her. But he took her to Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Valiyavila in Thiruvananthapuram district where he sexually exploited her, said police. He also changed his SIM cards of his phone regularly to divert the attention of police. However, the accused and victim were intercepted in Thiruvananthapuram and taken into the custody. The victim has been handed over to Nirbhaya shelter home and is likely to be produced before Child Welfare Committee on Thursday. The accused and victim were also subjected to medical examination and the police had confirmed a sexual intercourse. The accused was later produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody, police said. Woman held for selling banned tobacco products near school The city woman shadow police on Wednesday nabbed a 60-year-old woman for allegedly supplying banned tobacco products to school and college students in bulk quantities. The police identified the accused as Nasleema, a resident of Mathilumukku near Karikkakom. She was running a shop named Bismi store near Mathilumukku Government School. According to the police, the accused had been selling the substances on the premises of Karikkakom Temple, Chackai ITI, All Saints College and Karikkakom school premises. She used to collect the banned substances from an agent based in Tamil Nadu. Later, she sold the pan masala products at Rs 30-40 range in a single packet. School, college students and migrant labourers were the regular customers of the accused. All the tobacco products have been seized. She landed in the police net after a weeklong surveillance, police said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Even while the Parliament remains in a gridlock, the government appears reconciled to the idea of the demonetization agitation playing out for a while. Hoping that fatigue may set in the Opposition camp soon, the government is considering various options for a breakthrough on the logjam. The BJP has begun marshalling support among its MPs with briefings by the top ministers in a batch of 40 on the decision taken by the government to denotify old high denomination currencies in a bid to counter the propaganda of the Opposition.

After the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched scathing attack on government with accusation of monumental mismanagement, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in a counter attack wondered that those who ran the government between 2004-14, which presided over scams and scandals, is calling demonetization a blunder. Jaitely, while speaking to reporters and flanked by a number of Union Ministers  Ananth Kumar, Prakash Javdekar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Jeetendra Singh, claimed that the Opposition was taken in by surprise with the Prime Minister in the House. The Opposition was not prepared for discussion on demonetization. They are manufacturing and inventing reasons to avoid discussion. I am doubtful that the Opposition will allow discussion in the House for a while, said Jaitely.

Taking a potshot at the former Prime Minister, Jaitely said: "Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder.

The NDA floor managers claimed that after the Opposition holds public protest early next week there would be window for a breakthrough in the ongoing impasse. The government is also watching out the rollout of demonetization and in the coming days the inconveniences to the people should ease out to some extent, sources in the government said.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha continued to witness pandemonium. The Firozabad Lok Sabha MP of the Samajwadi Party Akshay yadav tore papers at the Speakers table during the ruckus. The Speaker Sumitra Mahajan the MP terming his act a "disorderly act".

Meanwhile, the BJP MPs in a batch of 40 began getting briefings and talking points on demonetization to counter the claims of the Opposition. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar is presiding over the meeting, which is being attended by senior ministers in the Cabinet.

NEW DELHI: Even while the Parliament remains in a gridlock, the government appears reconciled to the idea of the demonetization agitation playing out for a while. Hoping that fatigue may set in the Opposition camp soon, the government is considering various options for a breakthrough on the logjam. The BJP has begun marshalling support among its MPs with briefings by the top ministers in a batch of 40 on the decision taken by the government to denotify old high denomination currencies in a bid to counter the propaganda of the Opposition. After the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched scathing attack on government with accusation of monumental mismanagement, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in a counter attack wondered that those who ran the government between 2004-14, which presided over scams and scandals, is calling demonetization a blunder. Jaitely, while speaking to reporters and flanked by a number of Union Ministers  Ananth Kumar, Prakash Javdekar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Jeetendra Singh, claimed that the Opposition was taken in by surprise with the Prime Minister in the House. The Opposition was not prepared for discussion on demonetization. They are manufacturing and inventing reasons to avoid discussion. I am doubtful that the Opposition will allow discussion in the House for a while, said Jaitely. Taking a potshot at the former Prime Minister, Jaitely said: "Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder. The NDA floor managers claimed that after the Opposition holds public protest early next week there would be window for a breakthrough in the ongoing impasse. The government is also watching out the rollout of demonetization and in the coming days the inconveniences to the people should ease out to some extent, sources in the government said. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha continued to witness pandemonium. The Firozabad Lok Sabha MP of the Samajwadi Party Akshay yadav tore papers at the Speakers table during the ruckus. The Speaker Sumitra Mahajan the MP terming his act a "disorderly act". Meanwhile, the BJP MPs in a batch of 40 began getting briefings and talking points on demonetization to counter the claims of the Opposition. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar is presiding over the meeting, which is being attended by senior ministers in the Cabinet.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: New measures to ease the impact of demonetisation continued to trickle in on Wednesday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that over 93 per cent of people who took his smartphone -based survey supported the move in his fight against black money. According to a statement put out on Modis personal website, five lakh people responded to the survey within 15 hours of which only two per cent viewed it negatively.

However, the data quoted by government sources paint a contradictory picture, showing the fight against black money is yet to become completely effective. A whopping `21 crore was deposited in Jan Dhan accounts across the country since November 8, sources in the Finance Ministry claimed.

Jan Dhan accounts have been under the tax scanner after widespread reports of hoarders depositing their unaccounted wealth into poor peoples accounts. The highest number of such incidents were reported from West Bengal, claimed the sources. Interestingly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been a vehement critic and played a crucial role in uniting the opposition parties.

Meanwhile, among the measures announced by the was a grant of `21,000 by NABARD to District Central Cooperative Banks. This, the government said, would enable these banks to disburse crop loans to farmers anticipating the rabi season. Making new notes available across 1.5 lakh post offices, doubling e-wallet capacity and waiving of service charge on mobile banking through feature phones were some of the other measures announced. With almost 65 per cent of all mobile users using basic feature phones, the move would benefit farmers, said economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das.

The government has also informed all auto manufacturers to equip new vehicles with ECF-compliant RFID facility, so that highway tolls can be collected electronically. Amidst all the chaos and course corrections, the conspicuous silence of RBI Governor Urjit Patel triggered several doubts and speculations.

While Patels low profile was initially seen as a foil for Modis high-visibility, it risks backfiring as public anger increases. Credibility and autonomy of the RBI is linked to the value investors assign the rupee, which is sliding toward a record low, news agency Bloomberg opined.

NEW DELHI: New measures to ease the impact of demonetisation continued to trickle in on Wednesday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that over 93 per cent of people who took his smartphone -based survey supported the move in his fight against black money. According to a statement put out on Modis personal website, five lakh people responded to the survey within 15 hours of which only two per cent viewed it negatively. However, the data quoted by government sources paint a contradictory picture, showing the fight against black money is yet to become completely effective. A whopping `21 crore was deposited in Jan Dhan accounts across the country since November 8, sources in the Finance Ministry claimed. Jan Dhan accounts have been under the tax scanner after widespread reports of hoarders depositing their unaccounted wealth into poor peoples accounts. The highest number of such incidents were reported from West Bengal, claimed the sources. Interestingly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been a vehement critic and played a crucial role in uniting the opposition parties. Meanwhile, among the measures announced by the was a grant of `21,000 by NABARD to District Central Cooperative Banks. This, the government said, would enable these banks to disburse crop loans to farmers anticipating the rabi season. Making new notes available across 1.5 lakh post offices, doubling e-wallet capacity and waiving of service charge on mobile banking through feature phones were some of the other measures announced. With almost 65 per cent of all mobile users using basic feature phones, the move would benefit farmers, said economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das. The government has also informed all auto manufacturers to equip new vehicles with ECF-compliant RFID facility, so that highway tolls can be collected electronically. Amidst all the chaos and course corrections, the conspicuous silence of RBI Governor Urjit Patel triggered several doubts and speculations. While Patels low profile was initially seen as a foil for Modis high-visibility, it risks backfiring as public anger increases. Credibility and autonomy of the RBI is linked to the value investors assign the rupee, which is sliding toward a record low, news agency Bloomberg opined.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday categorically denied that it has rejected overflight clearance to Pakistan, as things worsen along the Line of Control (LoC) and the two countries use big guns against each other in contravention of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rubbished Islamabads claims and said the onus was on Pakistan to provide information regarding the nature of cargo and passengers in case overflight clearance was required for a military aircraft. As per Appendix A to the 1991 Agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required in respect of military aircraft. Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told media representatives here.

According to the MEA, despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Indias Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements, added Swarup.

The MEA also cited another incident where Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back. The overflight permission (in this case) was provided expeditiously, said Swarup. Pakistans allegations came even as a simmering low-intensity conflict  somewhere between peace and full-blown war  rages between the two countries.

India had on Wednesday summoned Pakistans Deputy High Commission and issued a demarche, the fourth one in November, for continued ceasefire violation. India has protested that despite calls for restraint Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21, 2016, by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 millimeter heavy mortars against Indian posts.

Pakistan has also charged that India had deployed artillery guns that has resulted in the deaths of nearly nine civilians when they were in a bus. Both the countries have unofficially kept the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement aside making the civilian population suffer, while soldiers on both sides suffer casualties on a daily basis. India has contended that the calibrated escalation from Pakistan is an attempt to cover infiltration attempts by terrorists from across the LoC.

During last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the LoC, he said.

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday categorically denied that it has rejected overflight clearance to Pakistan, as things worsen along the Line of Control (LoC) and the two countries use big guns against each other in contravention of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rubbished Islamabads claims and said the onus was on Pakistan to provide information regarding the nature of cargo and passengers in case overflight clearance was required for a military aircraft. As per Appendix A to the 1991 Agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required in respect of military aircraft. Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told media representatives here. According to the MEA, despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Indias Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements, added Swarup. The MEA also cited another incident where Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back. The overflight permission (in this case) was provided expeditiously, said Swarup. Pakistans allegations came even as a simmering low-intensity conflict  somewhere between peace and full-blown war  rages between the two countries. India had on Wednesday summoned Pakistans Deputy High Commission and issued a demarche, the fourth one in November, for continued ceasefire violation. India has protested that despite calls for restraint Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21, 2016, by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 millimeter heavy mortars against Indian posts. Pakistan has also charged that India had deployed artillery guns that has resulted in the deaths of nearly nine civilians when they were in a bus. Both the countries have unofficially kept the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement aside making the civilian population suffer, while soldiers on both sides suffer casualties on a daily basis. India has contended that the calibrated escalation from Pakistan is an attempt to cover infiltration attempts by terrorists from across the LoC. During last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the LoC, he said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Modi government should waive loans of farmers to ameliorate their sufferings as it has done for corporates, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told a peasants' rally at Jantar Mantar here today.

Slamming the Modi government on the demonetisation issue, Yechury said it is saving the "looters" while "punishing" the poor as "more than 74" people have died in queues outside banks and ATMs.

"In the last two years, the government waived loans of Rs 1.2 lakh crore taken by the capitalists but it is reluctant to waive loans of farmers. Loans of farmers should also be waived by the government," he told the rally organised by the All India Kisan Sabha, the peasant wing of CPI(M).

Citing poor condition of the peasantry in the country, he said the Modi government is "making poor people poorer while helping rich to become richer".

"The government says that it has taught lesson to Pakistan but our jawans are being killed on the border. Farmers are committing suicide. Under the Modi government, the rate of farmer suicides has increased by 26 per cent," he said.

Yechury said the opposition parties would continue to corner the government in Parliament on the issue of demonetisation and other anti-farmer and anti-worker policies.

"We will continue cornering the government in Parliament and you will have to do so outside Parliament," he told the farmers.

Citing the problems being faced by farmers due to demonetisation, he said they were being forced to sell their crop at mandis at "lower" prices.

Yechury promised to raise the 15 demands of AIKS in Parliament and demand its fulfillment by the government.

The rally was also addressed by many AIKS leaders including its president Amra Ram, general secretary Hannan Mollah and social activist Medha Patkar.

The AIKS memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation to kin of farmers who had committed suicide, implementation of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, raise in minimum support price, proper implementation of rural job scheme MGNREGA, and interest-free loans to small and marginal farmers.

NEW DELHI: The Modi government should waive loans of farmers to ameliorate their sufferings as it has done for corporates, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told a peasants' rally at Jantar Mantar here today. Slamming the Modi government on the demonetisation issue, Yechury said it is saving the "looters" while "punishing" the poor as "more than 74" people have died in queues outside banks and ATMs. "In the last two years, the government waived loans of Rs 1.2 lakh crore taken by the capitalists but it is reluctant to waive loans of farmers. Loans of farmers should also be waived by the government," he told the rally organised by the All India Kisan Sabha, the peasant wing of CPI(M). Citing poor condition of the peasantry in the country, he said the Modi government is "making poor people poorer while helping rich to become richer". "The government says that it has taught lesson to Pakistan but our jawans are being killed on the border. Farmers are committing suicide. Under the Modi government, the rate of farmer suicides has increased by 26 per cent," he said. Yechury said the opposition parties would continue to corner the government in Parliament on the issue of demonetisation and other anti-farmer and anti-worker policies. "We will continue cornering the government in Parliament and you will have to do so outside Parliament," he told the farmers. Citing the problems being faced by farmers due to demonetisation, he said they were being forced to sell their crop at mandis at "lower" prices. Yechury promised to raise the 15 demands of AIKS in Parliament and demand its fulfillment by the government. The rally was also addressed by many AIKS leaders including its president Amra Ram, general secretary Hannan Mollah and social activist Medha Patkar. The AIKS memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation to kin of farmers who had committed suicide, implementation of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, raise in minimum support price, proper implementation of rural job scheme MGNREGA, and interest-free loans to small and marginal farmers.
By Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: A small village at the border district of Tarantarn in Punjab is thrilled that Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as the ambassador to the United Nations.

Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States as her father Ajit Singh Randhawa moved to the US in the late 1960s, but for her extended family back in Pandori Ram Singh village in Tarantaran district of Punjab, she is still Nimrata Randhawa whom they fondly call `Nikki.

The village has now a population of 1,500 villagers and it still has small houses of five Marla scattered around the village. I still remember by uncle (Nikkis father) studied in Panjab Agriculture University as he did his MSc in Agriculture and then he started teaching there at the time it was still a college and not a university. Then in 1963-64, he along with his wife Raj Kaur Randhawa and elder son Harmeet Singh moved to Canada to pursue doctoral studies on a scholarship from the University of British Columbia, said Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa a retired lecturer and the first cousin of Nikki Haley, who lives in Verka a small town near Amritsar.

After finishing his Phd, Singh moved to South Carolina in USA in 1969 and accepted an offer from Voorhees College as a professor. Nikki was born in the small city of Bamberg and her sister Simran and younger brother Charanajit Singh were also born is US. She did her accounting degree from Clemson University, said Singh.

Haley elder brother Harmeet Singh who had served in Operation Desert Storm retired from the US Army Chemical Corp and her younger brother Charanajit Singh is a web designer while her sister Simran is working for a radio station.

In 1986, her father, mother and her younger brother Charanajit Singh came back and stayed with us for two months and again in 1991 and 1999 they visited us but after that they did not come. Nikki came to Amritsar in 2014 and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and wanted to come home but due to security reasons she could not come, so we visited her at the five star hotel in Amritsar where she was staying, said Singh.

Now we will be visiting them in the US next year in April. I speak to my uncle Ajit Singh Randhawa on a regular basis as my father is no more and he (Ajit) is the eldest member of the family now. I have spoken to Nikki and congratulated her but then again there is a little difficulty in understanding the accent, so some words we miss out.

 She has made us all proud as she had got this position due to her hard work and intelligence, he added.

CHANDIGARH: A small village at the border district of Tarantarn in Punjab is thrilled that Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as the ambassador to the United Nations. Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States as her father Ajit Singh Randhawa moved to the US in the late 1960s, but for her extended family back in Pandori Ram Singh village in Tarantaran district of Punjab, she is still Nimrata Randhawa whom they fondly call `Nikki. The village has now a population of 1,500 villagers and it still has small houses of five Marla scattered around the village. I still remember by uncle (Nikkis father) studied in Panjab Agriculture University as he did his MSc in Agriculture and then he started teaching there at the time it was still a college and not a university. Then in 1963-64, he along with his wife Raj Kaur Randhawa and elder son Harmeet Singh moved to Canada to pursue doctoral studies on a scholarship from the University of British Columbia, said Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa a retired lecturer and the first cousin of Nikki Haley, who lives in Verka a small town near Amritsar. After finishing his Phd, Singh moved to South Carolina in USA in 1969 and accepted an offer from Voorhees College as a professor. Nikki was born in the small city of Bamberg and her sister Simran and younger brother Charanajit Singh were also born is US. She did her accounting degree from Clemson University, said Singh. Haley elder brother Harmeet Singh who had served in Operation Desert Storm retired from the US Army Chemical Corp and her younger brother Charanajit Singh is a web designer while her sister Simran is working for a radio station. In 1986, her father, mother and her younger brother Charanajit Singh came back and stayed with us for two months and again in 1991 and 1999 they visited us but after that they did not come. Nikki came to Amritsar in 2014 and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and wanted to come home but due to security reasons she could not come, so we visited her at the five star hotel in Amritsar where she was staying, said Singh. Now we will be visiting them in the US next year in April. I speak to my uncle Ajit Singh Randhawa on a regular basis as my father is no more and he (Ajit) is the eldest member of the family now. I have spoken to Nikki and congratulated her but then again there is a little difficulty in understanding the accent, so some words we miss out.  She has made us all proud as she had got this position due to her hard work and intelligence, he added.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: The Congress party on Thursday said it could not understand why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is moving away from parliament and is delaying parliament functioning.

Congress leader PC Chacko told ANI, The more they delay, the more it is harmful of the functioning of the parliament. We are not able to understand why Prime Minister Modi is moving away from parliament. The way he was arguing he thinks that what he did is right,

If Prime Minister Modi is not coming, he thinks that the opposition need not be taken seriously at all. Whatever I want to do, I will do, this is his attitude. he added.

Opposition leaders met in Parliament today to chalk out their strategy on demonetisation.

Union Home Minister Rajnath also convened a separate meeting on the issue with Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar.

NEW DELHI: The Congress party on Thursday said it could not understand why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is moving away from parliament and is delaying parliament functioning. Congress leader PC Chacko told ANI, The more they delay, the more it is harmful of the functioning of the parliament. We are not able to understand why Prime Minister Modi is moving away from parliament. The way he was arguing he thinks that what he did is right, If Prime Minister Modi is not coming, he thinks that the opposition need not be taken seriously at all. Whatever I want to do, I will do, this is his attitude. he added. Opposition leaders met in Parliament today to chalk out their strategy on demonetisation. Union Home Minister Rajnath also convened a separate meeting on the issue with Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

SANTIAGO, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping left the Chilean capital of Santiago Wednesday morning after wrapping up his state visits to Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and attendance at the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru.

It was the third and fourth time for Xi, respectively, to visit Latin America and attend the APEC meeting since his taking office in 2013, through which analysts see a bigger role of China in regional and global affairs.

COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

During his week-long trip, President Xi held talks with his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa and Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet, and they decided to lift China's relationship with Ecuador and Chile respectively to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Xi also met his Peruvian counterpart Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and they agreed to further enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries, which was established in 2013.

Although there is no clear definition of the "comprehensive strategic partnership," it is usually regarded the highest level in China's diplomatic intimacy with other countries.

Political willingness and the need for economic cooperation are often two pillars, among others, of the partnership, said Zhang Lili, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University.

Ecuador is an important country in Latin America, said Xi, on the first visit by a Chinese president to Ecuador over the past 36 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Echoing Xi, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa believed that China, as the world's second-largest economy with a high speed of growth, can play a very important role in bolstering Ecuador's development, especially against the backdrop of low oil prices.

Since President Correa came into power in 2007, Ecuador has focused on deepening ties with China. The Ecuadorian president's first official trip to Beijing took place in the same year.

In 2015, on Correa's second China visit, he and Xi agreed to elevate the bilateral ties to the level of strategic partnership, only one year before the upgrade to the latest level.

Economic cooperation grew fast as well. Despite the long distance, China has become Ecuador's third largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching 4.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, quadrupling in just 10 years.

And Ecuador is now a major destination for Chinese investment and financing in Latin America. Chinese investment and financing in Ecuador has exceeded 10 billion dollars, supporting hundreds of projects including major infrastructure projects such as the Coca Codo Sinclair hydropower plant, seven other hydropower plants and a dozen of highways.

On Thursday, President Correa himself went to the Quito airport to welcome the Chinese president. On Friday, Correa saw Xi off at the airport.

Situations may vary in Peru and Chile, but the willingness for cooperation is alike.

Peruvian President Kuczynski visited China in September this year, only six weeks after his inauguration, and two months before Xi's visit to Peru.

During Xi's visit to Chile, China and the Latin American country decided to initiate negotiations on upgrading their free trade agreement (FTA) as soon as possible.

The two countries signed their FTA in 2005. Bilateral trade volume has grown four-fold since the FTA went into effect in 2006. China is now Chile's largest trading partner, its largest export destination and the largest buyer of its copper products.

On Tuesday, Chilean President Bachelet also expressed her country's intention of joining the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"The elevation of the bilateral relationships shows the growing willingness for bilateral cooperation between China and these countries,"said Wu Hongying, director of the Latin America office of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

CHINA-LATAM COMMUNITY OF COMMON DESTINY

While addressing the Peruvian Congress on Monday, Xi called on China and Latin American countries to strengthen dialogue on global issues and boost cooperation on domestic development, in a bid to better build their community of common destiny on a new starting point in history.

The natural sense of recognition to each other and the shared sense of mission have made us look at our relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, Xi said, noting that China and Latin American countries can understand and support each other on core interests and major concerns.

Xi proposed that China and Latin America and the Caribbean hold high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation, seek synergy between their development strategies, speed up and upgrade practical cooperation and bring benefits to both peoples.

Xi noted that China will firmly support Latin American countries in seeking development paths suited to their national conditions, gaining greater strength and prosperity through unity, and playing a bigger role in regional and international affairs.

The Chinese president also announced that in the next three years, China will increase the number of training opportunities of various kinds for Latin America and the Caribbean to 10,000.

On Tuesday, Xi, accompanied by his Chilean counterpart Bachelet, attended a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives in Santiago, at which he urged Chinese and Latin American media agencies to jointly expand their influence and introduce to the world a more realistic image of China and Latin America.

"It was the third time that President Xi has set foot in Latin America since 2013, which shows how much attention he pays to the ties between China and Latin America," Wu said.

From May 31 to June 6, 2013, Xi made state visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.

In July 2014, Xi paid state visits to Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba. Moreover, a forum between China and Latin America was established to steer the overall cooperation between China and the region.

The first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum was then held in Beijing in January 2015, marking the start of a new era that features all-round cooperation between the two sides.

In 2015, the trade volume between China and Latin America reached 236.5 billion dollars, up more than 20-fold during the past decade, according to Chinese official statistics.

In 2016, China-Latin America relations have moved forward with the setup of new platforms such as the China-Latin America cultural exchange year and the forum of China-Latin America cooperation between local governments.

Currently, China is the second-largest trade partner and third-largest investment source country of Latin America, while Latin America is China's seventh-largest trade partner, and important overseas investment destination.

ADVOCACY FOR FREE TRADE AREA OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC

At the APEC CEO summit in Lima, President Xi renewed his call for pushing forward the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), saying it is a strategic initiative critical for the long-term prosperity of the Asia-Pacific.

"We should firmly pursue the FTAAP as an institutional mechanism for ensuring an open economy in the Asia-Pacific," he told global business leaders, emphasizing openness is the lifeblood of the Asia-Pacific economy.

The FTAAP process was launched at the 2014 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing with the endorsement of a roadmap. A "collective strategic study" was subsequently conducted, as agreed by the APEC members, and the result should be reported to the economic leaders by the end of 2016.

Once established, the FTAAP, the largest free trade area in the world,can unleash much greater economic vigor than other regional trade arrangements and add an estimated 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars of output to the global economy.

"We have an obligation to continue the core agenda. Perhaps the first issue is the adoption of the collective strategic study, which was required by the Beijing Roadmap," Raul Salazar, APEC affairs director at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, told Xinhua in Lima.

Economic globalization, open economy, regional inter-connectivity, and reform and innovation were key words of Xi's speech, which was encouraging under the current international situation.

As protectionism and isolationism are on the rise in Europe and North America, China's leadership grows stronger, providing commercial openness, cooperation and multilateralism, the leading Chilean newspaper El Mercurio said in its editorial release on Tuesday.

With the future of the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) dims under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the alternative Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) occupied the center stage at the APEC meeting in Peru.

The 16-member RCEP, composed of the 10 member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, missed its negotiation deadline last year, but with the uncertainty of TPP, RCEP has regained attention at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Analysts believe that the RCEP will become the main path toward the final realization of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific.

"We must energize trade and investment to drive growth, make free trade arrangements more open and inclusive and uphold the multilateral trading regime," said the Chinese president.

Xi's proposal was echoed by other APEC leaders, as they reaffirmed their commitment that the FTAAP should be built upon ongoing regional undertakings, and through possible pathways including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

"We reiterate our commitment to the eventual realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific as a major instrument to further deepen APEC's regional economic integration agenda," reads the declaration after the Economic Leaders' Meeting.

"That China's push for FTAAP has won positive response from APEC members shows China's special role in the region, which will also help increase the region's part in global recovery," said Wu, the Chinese scholar.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: The Congress Party on Thursday said the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz be fruitful only is Islamabad behaves appropriately.

Congress leader P.C. Chacko told ANI, These are diplomatic moves. The thing is that on one side the attitude and behaviour of Pakistan is highly irresponsible, they should first mend their ways,

The visit will only be a visit, it will not have any fruitful affect if Pakistan is not behaving properly, he added.

Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

The visit comes amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC).

The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will see the participation of over 40 countries.

The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November.

However, it remains unclear whether there would be bilateral talks on the sidelines of the multilateral conference.

In December last year, the meeting of the HoA was hosted by Pakistan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had attended it after which she had bilateral talks with Aziz.

NEW DELHI: The Congress Party on Thursday said the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz be fruitful only is Islamabad behaves appropriately. Congress leader P.C. Chacko told ANI, These are diplomatic moves. The thing is that on one side the attitude and behaviour of Pakistan is highly irresponsible, they should first mend their ways, The visit will only be a visit, it will not have any fruitful affect if Pakistan is not behaving properly, he added. Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4. The visit comes amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will see the participation of over 40 countries. The thrust of the meet is to discuss the future of Afghanistan in which both India and Pakistan are invested. Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 10 Uri attack, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, which led India to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Pakistan in November. However, it remains unclear whether there would be bilateral talks on the sidelines of the multilateral conference. In December last year, the meeting of the HoA was hosted by Pakistan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had attended it after which she had bilateral talks with Aziz.
By Online Desk

Following disruption by the opposition parties demanding the presence of the Prime Minister in the Rajya Sabha, deputy speaker Kurien adjourned the house till Friday.

Calling the demonetisation operations a 'monumental mismanagement', ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday gave a strong speech in the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present to acknowledge the on-going debate.

#NewsAlert | BJP ministers to meet BJP MPs at Ananth Kumar's residence, to brief them about #DeMonetisation issue at 7 PM today. (ANI)  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016

Speaking on behalf of Congress and thereby the Opposition as well, the former finance minister questioned the government, In which country can people not withdraw their own money, which they have deposited?

LIVE: Ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh breaks his silence in Rajya Sabha https://t.co/zlMr4GpokN pic.twitter.com/HlEitFV9eF  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016

Emphasising on the 'give-it-50-days' aspect, Singh iterated that these 50 days can bring disaster to the poor and that the GDP of the country can drastically decline.

He urged the Prime Minister to find practical ways and means to cure the ongoing distress. Singh also said that the criticisms about demonetisation are fully justified as the Centre has been making new rules every day and this reflects poorly on the PMO, FMO and the RBI.

The former PM also spoke about how 90% of informal sector has been hit due to demonetisation and how most of the co-operative banks in rural areas are non-functional. Singh concluded his speech by bringing to light how the confidence in currency may get eroded.

Carrying forward the debate, Rajya Sabha member and Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal hinted that the PMs note ban move was taken in the wake of the upcoming UP assembly elections.

His punchline during the angry attacks by the opposition made both PM Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley laugh for a brief moment.

During the debate, Agarwal joked, There are those who say that the Prime Minister did not take Arun Jaitley into confidence. Had Arun ji known, he would have whispered this to us, he knows me.

Secrecy cannot be the excuse for putting people in pain: Derek O'Brien

"Everybody is against corruption," this is how Trinamool Congress spokesperson and RS member Derek O'Brien opened his speech.

With bullet points ready to address the House during the debate over demonetisation in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he questioned, "How will my poor brothers and sisters by aata and chawal tomorrow?, something that the Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has been reiterating over the last two weeks.

Terming former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention as 'erudite', he questioned the Centre in the same vein, What have you done to bring black money from abroad?

Only 2% people hold black money, then why other 98% people are suffering due to demonetisaton, asked Derek.

Derek emphasized how this was not an ego-battle and iterated that the Opposition had offered concrete solutions for implementation. Some of them were, usage of old notes until enough currency was dispensed and printing smaller currency notes.

He remarked, Secrecy cannot be the excuse for putting people in pain. Questioning Jaitley as to what prevented the centre from printing 100 rupee notes all of the last year,

Derek quipped saying, perhaps the Finance Minister himself wasn't aware of such a move till the last day.

Derek went on to throw numbers about the usage of plastic money in India and specifically emphasized on how 4 out of 5 villagers don't even have a bank account.

He concluded his long address in the Parliament by saying,  Anyone who opposes your decisions (demonetisation) isn't anti-national or corrupt. Why are you making such statements an issue?

As the session was closing for lunch, BSP chief Mayawati urged that the Prime minister stays afterwards too, and that her party believes in the motives behind demonetisation.

However, the implementation of this move has left the common masses suffering, she added.

Following disruption by the opposition parties demanding the presence of the Prime Minister in the Rajya Sabha, deputy speaker Kurien adjourned the house till Friday. Calling the demonetisation operations a 'monumental mismanagement', ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday gave a strong speech in the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present to acknowledge the on-going debate. #NewsAlert | BJP ministers to meet BJP MPs at Ananth Kumar's residence, to brief them about #DeMonetisation issue at 7 PM today. (ANI)  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016 Speaking on behalf of Congress and thereby the Opposition as well, the former finance minister questioned the government, In which country can people not withdraw their own money, which they have deposited? LIVE: Ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh breaks his silence in Rajya Sabha https://t.co/zlMr4GpokN pic.twitter.com/HlEitFV9eF  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016 Emphasising on the 'give-it-50-days' aspect, Singh iterated that these 50 days can bring disaster to the poor and that the GDP of the country can drastically decline. LIVE: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 3pm. https://t.co/PGQAzmZz7h pic.twitter.com/qGYka2EGEM  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016 He urged the Prime Minister to find practical ways and means to cure the ongoing distress. Singh also said that the criticisms about demonetisation are fully justified as the Centre has been making new rules every day and this reflects poorly on the PMO, FMO and the RBI. TMC's Derek O'Brien questions the secrecy behind #DeMonteistion. LIVE: https://t.co/gY9lBVfQs0 pic.twitter.com/OsDlTCw8hZ  New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 24, 2016 The former PM also spoke about how 90% of informal sector has been hit due to demonetisation and how most of the co-operative banks in rural areas are non-functional. Singh concluded his speech by bringing to light how the confidence in currency may get eroded. Carrying forward the debate, Rajya Sabha member and Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal hinted that the PMs note ban move was taken in the wake of the upcoming UP assembly elections. His punchline during the angry attacks by the opposition made both PM Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley laugh for a brief moment. During the debate, Agarwal joked, There are those who say that the Prime Minister did not take Arun Jaitley into confidence. Had Arun ji known, he would have whispered this to us, he knows me. Secrecy cannot be the excuse for putting people in pain: Derek O'Brien "Everybody is against corruption," this is how Trinamool Congress spokesperson and RS member Derek O'Brien opened his speech. With bullet points ready to address the House during the debate over demonetisation in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he questioned, "How will my poor brothers and sisters by aata and chawal tomorrow?, something that the Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has been reiterating over the last two weeks. Terming former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention as 'erudite', he questioned the Centre in the same vein, What have you done to bring black money from abroad? Only 2% people hold black money, then why other 98% people are suffering due to demonetisaton, asked Derek. Derek emphasized how this was not an ego-battle and iterated that the Opposition had offered concrete solutions for implementation. Some of them were, usage of old notes until enough currency was dispensed and printing smaller currency notes. He remarked, Secrecy cannot be the excuse for putting people in pain. Questioning Jaitley as to what prevented the centre from printing 100 rupee notes all of the last year, Derek quipped saying, perhaps the Finance Minister himself wasn't aware of such a move till the last day. Derek went on to throw numbers about the usage of plastic money in India and specifically emphasized on how 4 out of 5 villagers don't even have a bank account. He concluded his long address in the Parliament by saying,  Anyone who opposes your decisions (demonetisation) isn't anti-national or corrupt. Why are you making such statements an issue? As the session was closing for lunch, BSP chief Mayawati urged that the Prime minister stays afterwards too, and that her party believes in the motives behind demonetisation. However, the implementation of this move has left the common masses suffering, she added.
By Express News Service

PATNA: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP MP from Patna Saheb constituency in Bihar, drew flak from his own party on Thursday for his open critique of the BJP-led Centres decision to

demonetise two high-value currency notes.

In a tweet that attracted nation-wide attention, the popular Hindi film actor of yesteryears had rubbished a survey on demonetisation that purportedly found 90 per cent of Indians supporting the move.

Alarmed by his words and the timing, BJPs Bihar state president Mangal Pandey accused Sinha of indirectly supporting Congress and advised him to join Congress instead.

Let us stop living in a fools paradise and getting carried away by planted stories and surveys conducted by vested interests, Sinha had tweeted in what is seen as his direct attack on Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. The tweet came a day after Modi shared the results of this survey and claimed that almost the entire nation has been appreciative of the demonetisation move implemented since November 8 midnight.

In a second tweet that came soon after the first, Sinha sought to reject the Modi governments claim that demonetisation was essentially a pro-poor exercise. Must understand the pain of the

poor, suffering, voters, supporters and women... Well-intentioned savings over many years of our mothers & sisters for emergency can't be equated with black money, wrote Sinha.

Shatrughanjee, why are you indirectly supporting Congress? If you have so much love for the corrupt who possess black money, you must join Congress, tweeted Mangal Pandey. His caustic response came after senior BJP leaders in Bihar discussed Sinhas diatribe with at least three national-level leaders of the party earlier on Thursday.

Sinha has previously been warned by the BJP leadership a number of times. He is a known loyalist of BJP veteran LK Advani. Before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sinha was reportedly among a few senior BJP leaders who had been lobbying hard to get Advani projected as BJPs and NDAs prime ministerial candidate.

PATNA: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP MP from Patna Saheb constituency in Bihar, drew flak from his own party on Thursday for his open critique of the BJP-led Centres decision to demonetise two high-value currency notes. In a tweet that attracted nation-wide attention, the popular Hindi film actor of yesteryears had rubbished a survey on demonetisation that purportedly found 90 per cent of Indians supporting the move. Alarmed by his words and the timing, BJPs Bihar state president Mangal Pandey accused Sinha of indirectly supporting Congress and advised him to join Congress instead. Let us stop living in a fools paradise and getting carried away by planted stories and surveys conducted by vested interests, Sinha had tweeted in what is seen as his direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tweet came a day after Modi shared the results of this survey and claimed that almost the entire nation has been appreciative of the demonetisation move implemented since November 8 midnight. In a second tweet that came soon after the first, Sinha sought to reject the Modi governments claim that demonetisation was essentially a pro-poor exercise. Must understand the pain of the poor, suffering, voters, supporters and women... Well-intentioned savings over many years of our mothers & sisters for emergency can't be equated with black money, wrote Sinha. Shatrughanjee, why are you indirectly supporting Congress? If you have so much love for the corrupt who possess black money, you must join Congress, tweeted Mangal Pandey. His caustic response came after senior BJP leaders in Bihar discussed Sinhas diatribe with at least three national-level leaders of the party earlier on Thursday. Sinha has previously been warned by the BJP leadership a number of times. He is a known loyalist of BJP veteran LK Advani. Before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sinha was reportedly among a few senior BJP leaders who had been lobbying hard to get Advani projected as BJPs and NDAs prime ministerial candidate.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday categorically denied that it has rejected overflight clearance to Pakistan, as things worsen along the Line of Control (LoC) and the two countries use big guns against each other in contravention of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rubbished Islamabads claims and said the onus was on Pakistan to provide information regarding the nature of cargo and passengers in case overflight clearance was required for a military aircraft.

As per Appendix A to the 1991 Agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required in respect of military aircraft. Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told media representatives here.

According to the MEA, despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Indias Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements, added Swarup.

The MEA also cited another incident where Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back. The overflight permission (in this case) was provided expeditiously,

said Swarup.

Pakistans allegations came even as a simmering low-intensity conflict  somewhere between peace and full-blown war  rages between the two countries. India had on Wednesday summoned Pakistans Deputy High Commission and issued a demarche, the fourth one in November, for continued ceasefire violation.

India has protested that despite calls for restraint Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21, 2016, by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 millimeter heavy mortars against Indian posts. Pakistan has also charged that India had deployed artillery guns that has resulted in the deaths of nearly nine civilians when they were in a bus. Both the countries have unofficially kept the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement aside making the civilian population suffer, while soldiers on both sides suffer casualties on a daily basis.

India has contended that the calibrated escalation from Pakistan is an attempt to cover infiltration attempts by terrorists from across the LoC. During last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the LoC, he said.

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday categorically denied that it has rejected overflight clearance to Pakistan, as things worsen along the Line of Control (LoC) and the two countries use big guns against each other in contravention of the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rubbished Islamabads claims and said the onus was on Pakistan to provide information regarding the nature of cargo and passengers in case overflight clearance was required for a military aircraft. As per Appendix A to the 1991 Agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required in respect of military aircraft. Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told media representatives here. According to the MEA, despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner and Indias Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements, added Swarup. The MEA also cited another incident where Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back. The overflight permission (in this case) was provided expeditiously, said Swarup. Pakistans allegations came even as a simmering low-intensity conflict  somewhere between peace and full-blown war  rages between the two countries. India had on Wednesday summoned Pakistans Deputy High Commission and issued a demarche, the fourth one in November, for continued ceasefire violation. India has protested that despite calls for restraint Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21, 2016, by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 millimeter heavy mortars against Indian posts. Pakistan has also charged that India had deployed artillery guns that has resulted in the deaths of nearly nine civilians when they were in a bus. Both the countries have unofficially kept the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement aside making the civilian population suffer, while soldiers on both sides suffer casualties on a daily basis. India has contended that the calibrated escalation from Pakistan is an attempt to cover infiltration attempts by terrorists from across the LoC. During last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the LoC, he said.
On November 2, many Pakistani dailies carried names and pictures of eight Indian High Commission officials, alleging they were spies. The fact that this was reiterated without any corroboration by Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is against the Vienna Convention and also violates the norms of established diplomatic practice, asserted external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in a written reply in the Parliament Wednesday, adding: The allegations against Indian offi cials represent an afterthought on the part of Government of Pakistan. The part about the afterthought is obvious, given that the Pakistani exposure came a day after the expulsion of a visa offi cer at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.

He was caught accepting classifi ed information from two Indian associates. Since then, both sides have withdrawn eight offi cials and their families from their missions in New Delhi and Islamabad. A bilateral agreement stipulates that neither side can have more than 110 staffers in their diplomatic missions. Swarajs assertion comes at a time when matters have escalated way beyond tit for tat expulsions. The daily deaths and injuries due to cross-border shelling and fi ring, jingoistic chest thumping by both sides, and the beheading of an Indian trooper on Tuesday has led to calls for more punitive action against Pakistan.

The clamour is likely to increase. But that is probably what the Pakistani army and their Prime Minister Sharif are waiting for, so that they can use it to divert attention from their domestic problems, and also use it to draw international attention to Kashmir. Perhaps New Delhi could take a leaf out of Pakistans book. Take some dramatic action, but then, instead of boasting about it, deny any involvement. Or hint at non-state actors, Pakistans euphemism for ISI lapdogs like the Jaish-e- Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Whats good for the goose

On November 2, many Pakistani dailies carried names and pictures of eight Indian High Commission officials, alleging they were spies. The fact that this was reiterated without any corroboration by Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is against the Vienna Convention and also violates the norms of established diplomatic practice, asserted external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in a written reply in the Parliament Wednesday, adding: The allegations against Indian offi cials represent an afterthought on the part of Government of Pakistan. The part about the afterthought is obvious, given that the Pakistani exposure came a day after the expulsion of a visa offi cer at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. He was caught accepting classifi ed information from two Indian associates. Since then, both sides have withdrawn eight offi cials and their families from their missions in New Delhi and Islamabad. A bilateral agreement stipulates that neither side can have more than 110 staffers in their diplomatic missions. Swarajs assertion comes at a time when matters have escalated way beyond tit for tat expulsions. The daily deaths and injuries due to cross-border shelling and fi ring, jingoistic chest thumping by both sides, and the beheading of an Indian trooper on Tuesday has led to calls for more punitive action against Pakistan. The clamour is likely to increase. But that is probably what the Pakistani army and their Prime Minister Sharif are waiting for, so that they can use it to divert attention from their domestic problems, and also use it to draw international attention to Kashmir. Perhaps New Delhi could take a leaf out of Pakistans book. Take some dramatic action, but then, instead of boasting about it, deny any involvement. Or hint at non-state actors, Pakistans euphemism for ISI lapdogs like the Jaish-e- Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Whats good for the goose
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another racket spawned by demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, 10 employees of a cash logistics firm that replenishes cash in ATMs have been busted by the Vizag police on Thursday for stealing new currency from the ATMs and exchanging them for old notes for a commission.

The gang members are all employees of Security Management Services (SSMS) which loads cash into ATMs of various banks. They are said to have stolen Rs 74 lakh in new currency and exchanged Rs 39 lakh in Vizag since November 8.

The arrested men have been identified as D Srinivas (36), a native of Vizianagaram and a resident of MVP Colony in Vizag, B Rambabu (35), P Venkateswarulu Dora ( 26), R Ganesh Venkata Goutham (28), L Manoj Kumar (26), P Nookayyasetty (34), K Deepak Kumar (34), S Mahesh Babu (36), B Satish Kumar (31) and V Kesava (46). Of them, L Manoj Kumar is the SSMS manager at Visakhapatnam and the rest are loaders, security guards and drivers. The firm SSMS has a memorandum of understanding with several banks, including SBI and, HDFC Bank.

Parading the accused before the media, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Naveen Gulati said the gang had been stealing money from ATMs for three years and had siphoned off a total of Rs 1 crore. Since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on Nov. 8, they managed to set aside Rs 74 lakh of which they gave Rs 39 lakh to different people in exchange for old notes at a hefty commission.

"For about Rs 20 lakh in new currency notes, the gang demands Rs 25 lakh of old currency. The Rs 5 lakh commission is shared among them and the rest they planned to deposit in banks. We have recovered from them around Rs 35 lakh in new currency (Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 denominations)," the DCP explained.

The gang's luck ran out on Thursday when the Railway Protection Force (RPF) took Dasari Srinivas, the main accused, into custody after he was moving around suspiciously with Rs 15 lakh cash in new Rs 2,000 notes at Rajahmundry.

Suspecting foul play, they sent him to the Income Tax (I-T) Department. As he belongs to Visakhapatnam, the I-T officials forwarded the case to their Visakhapatnam counterparts, who in turn handed him over to the local police.

According to the DCP, three or four of the accused, including Deepak and Mahesh, scout people who are in desperate need of new currency and make arrangements for the money exchange. D Srinivas was in Rajahmundry to meet one such client and hand over the cash. The police are yet to trace the gang's clients.

Besides, the police are yet to recover the Rs 1 crore the accused had stolen over the course of three years.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the gang had given new currency to some parties and were even cheated in a few cases. With some of the amount, they also cleared their debts and loans.

"We need to investigate whether there is any involvement of bank staff. We have to find out who the recipients of the new notes were," said Gulati. The police said the gang members had been filling cash in 128 ATMs including 98 belonging to SBI, in the Vizag city limits. The police are in talks with the bank authorities to ascertain the loss caused by the gang.

VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another racket spawned by demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, 10 employees of a cash logistics firm that replenishes cash in ATMs have been busted by the Vizag police on Thursday for stealing new currency from the ATMs and exchanging them for old notes for a commission. The gang members are all employees of Security Management Services (SSMS) which loads cash into ATMs of various banks. They are said to have stolen Rs 74 lakh in new currency and exchanged Rs 39 lakh in Vizag since November 8. The arrested men have been identified as D Srinivas (36), a native of Vizianagaram and a resident of MVP Colony in Vizag, B Rambabu (35), P Venkateswarulu Dora ( 26), R Ganesh Venkata Goutham (28), L Manoj Kumar (26), P Nookayyasetty (34), K Deepak Kumar (34), S Mahesh Babu (36), B Satish Kumar (31) and V Kesava (46). Of them, L Manoj Kumar is the SSMS manager at Visakhapatnam and the rest are loaders, security guards and drivers. The firm SSMS has a memorandum of understanding with several banks, including SBI and, HDFC Bank. Parading the accused before the media, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Naveen Gulati said the gang had been stealing money from ATMs for three years and had siphoned off a total of Rs 1 crore. Since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on Nov. 8, they managed to set aside Rs 74 lakh of which they gave Rs 39 lakh to different people in exchange for old notes at a hefty commission. "For about Rs 20 lakh in new currency notes, the gang demands Rs 25 lakh of old currency. The Rs 5 lakh commission is shared among them and the rest they planned to deposit in banks. We have recovered from them around Rs 35 lakh in new currency (Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 denominations)," the DCP explained. The gang's luck ran out on Thursday when the Railway Protection Force (RPF) took Dasari Srinivas, the main accused, into custody after he was moving around suspiciously with Rs 15 lakh cash in new Rs 2,000 notes at Rajahmundry. Suspecting foul play, they sent him to the Income Tax (I-T) Department. As he belongs to Visakhapatnam, the I-T officials forwarded the case to their Visakhapatnam counterparts, who in turn handed him over to the local police. According to the DCP, three or four of the accused, including Deepak and Mahesh, scout people who are in desperate need of new currency and make arrangements for the money exchange. D Srinivas was in Rajahmundry to meet one such client and hand over the cash. The police are yet to trace the gang's clients. Besides, the police are yet to recover the Rs 1 crore the accused had stolen over the course of three years. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the gang had given new currency to some parties and were even cheated in a few cases. With some of the amount, they also cleared their debts and loans. "We need to investigate whether there is any involvement of bank staff. We have to find out who the recipients of the new notes were," said Gulati. The police said the gang members had been filling cash in 128 ATMs including 98 belonging to SBI, in the Vizag city limits. The police are in talks with the bank authorities to ascertain the loss caused by the gang.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will visit New Zealand and Australia along with an official delegation from Nov 29 to Dec 8 to attract investments to the state. The minister will meet Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbul and Australian industry leaders during his visit.

After arriving in Auckland, Yanamala will organise an Investment Roadshow in the city on Nov 30. It will be followed by meetings with investors from different sectors.Tthe finance minister will go to Christchurch on Dec 2 and participate in a round table conference with them.

On Dec 4, he will meet Treasurer of Victoria Tim Pallas MP at the Parliament House. On Dec 5, Yanamala will address the Australia-India Leadership Dialogue along with the Australian PM and explain the opportunities available for investors in AP.

VIJAYAWADA: AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will visit New Zealand and Australia along with an official delegation from Nov 29 to Dec 8 to attract investments to the state. The minister will meet Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbul and Australian industry leaders during his visit. After arriving in Auckland, Yanamala will organise an Investment Roadshow in the city on Nov 30. It will be followed by meetings with investors from different sectors.Tthe finance minister will go to Christchurch on Dec 2 and participate in a round table conference with them. On Dec 4, he will meet Treasurer of Victoria Tim Pallas MP at the Parliament House. On Dec 5, Yanamala will address the Australia-India Leadership Dialogue along with the Australian PM and explain the opportunities available for investors in AP.
By Express News Service

IDUKKI: Hours after his ascension as a minister, CPM leader M M Mani lashed out at two prominent personalities in a style typical of the leader from the high ranges. He was in his elements while speaking at various reception meetings on Wednesday in his first visit to his home turf Idukki as a minister and launched a scathing attack on actor Mohanlal and BJP leader O Rajagopal MLA for supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to scrap higher denomination currencies.

Mani, known for his vitriolic speeches, termed the superstar as a  hoarder of black money and the veteran BJP leader as insane. Mani said Rajagopal became senile and is not normal in his thoughts. It was the mistake of the people of Kerala to elect him as an MLA, he said.Mani, an avid movie buff who preferred actor Mammootty in a recent interview, alleged that Mohanlal holds a huge amount of black money and he offered support to Modi to hide it.

 Who all are now supporting Modis action? Even Mohanlal too. I have a great admiration for him. But I really felt sad when he backed Modis crazy idea.Mohanlal hoards a lot of black money. He has built theatres across the state and is happy in his luxury. Even if we dont know the real purpose, he has one in Thodupuzha (in the district)too.

What is his stake in all these, asked Mani referring to the theatre chain owned by close associates of the actor. Coming down heavily against the Centre for demonetisation and the people supporting the move, he said the Prime Minister has degraded the Reserve Bank of India as Modi bank.

IDUKKI: Hours after his ascension as a minister, CPM leader M M Mani lashed out at two prominent personalities in a style typical of the leader from the high ranges. He was in his elements while speaking at various reception meetings on Wednesday in his first visit to his home turf Idukki as a minister and launched a scathing attack on actor Mohanlal and BJP leader O Rajagopal MLA for supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to scrap higher denomination currencies. Mani, known for his vitriolic speeches, termed the superstar as a  hoarder of black money and the veteran BJP leader as insane. Mani said Rajagopal became senile and is not normal in his thoughts. It was the mistake of the people of Kerala to elect him as an MLA, he said.Mani, an avid movie buff who preferred actor Mammootty in a recent interview, alleged that Mohanlal holds a huge amount of black money and he offered support to Modi to hide it.  Who all are now supporting Modis action? Even Mohanlal too. I have a great admiration for him. But I really felt sad when he backed Modis crazy idea.Mohanlal hoards a lot of black money. He has built theatres across the state and is happy in his luxury. Even if we dont know the real purpose, he has one in Thodupuzha (in the district)too. What is his stake in all these, asked Mani referring to the theatre chain owned by close associates of the actor. Coming down heavily against the Centre for demonetisation and the people supporting the move, he said the Prime Minister has degraded the Reserve Bank of India as Modi bank.
Pramod Thomas By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Kandukuri Vinoda, a home-maker in Telangana, was one of the early victims of demonetisation drive as she committed suicide. She had Rs 54 lakh cash after selling land.

There is a co-relation between real estate transactions and demonetisation.

The former being often high-value ones, the customer will always be asked for the source of income If he/she wants to deposit it in a bank. But almost all of these real estate transactions in the country are undervalued ones. The sale price will be different from the amount entered in the registration document. So when it comes to the amount from real estate sales, how can one produce an actual source of income, as these are often undervalued ones.

Currently, property from developers has three layers of taxes-Stamp Duty and Registration Charges, VAT and Service Tax. This translates to nearly 20 per cent of property value as taxes at the last point, which is very high, when compared to elsewhere in the world. Stamp Duty and Registration charges are levied with the base Guideline Value

determined by the Government. In fact, there are numerous cases where the guideline is higher than the market value, says Shivaram Kumar Malakala, Co-Founder and Director, Habitat Ventures, a Bengaluru based firm.

But the actual problem is that the government only determines a cap price on a land/property.

The customer has to pay fee and tax in proportionate to that amount. Below which registration could not be done. Interestingly, the value determined by the government will be far away from the prevailing market rate.

Which simply means If the market rate of a piece of land is Rs 10 lakh per cent, the rate by the government will be Rs 1 lakh or even lower. Your registration document says only that amount.

Hence proving a source of income will be a herculean task.

Suresh Hari, Secretary, CREDAI Bangalore says that It is not correct to say undervaluation.

It's value based on guidance rate fixed by the government. The fact is that due to high stamp duty, registration value is based on guidance rate, he adds.

The practice of undervaluing resale properties on paper was a common one in the past, and its main intention was to accommodate a portion of the untaxed money to be paid in cash in the final sale price while keeping the stamp duty and registration charges at the minimum possible amount, said Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, JLL India.

According to Sanjeev Kumar G founder of Financial Planning firm prognoadvisor.com, it is a known fact that the market price of land/property will be at least 8 to 10 times higher than that of the 'fair value' determined by the government.

Post demonetisation it is a catch 22 situation for both sellers and buyers of real estate assets. They have to declare the real value of assets and should be forced to document it, he added.

KOCHI: Kandukuri Vinoda, a home-maker in Telangana, was one of the early victims of demonetisation drive as she committed suicide. She had Rs 54 lakh cash after selling land. There is a co-relation between real estate transactions and demonetisation. The former being often high-value ones, the customer will always be asked for the source of income If he/she wants to deposit it in a bank. But almost all of these real estate transactions in the country are undervalued ones. The sale price will be different from the amount entered in the registration document. So when it comes to the amount from real estate sales, how can one produce an actual source of income, as these are often undervalued ones. Currently, property from developers has three layers of taxes-Stamp Duty and Registration Charges, VAT and Service Tax. This translates to nearly 20 per cent of property value as taxes at the last point, which is very high, when compared to elsewhere in the world. Stamp Duty and Registration charges are levied with the base Guideline Value determined by the Government. In fact, there are numerous cases where the guideline is higher than the market value, says Shivaram Kumar Malakala, Co-Founder and Director, Habitat Ventures, a Bengaluru based firm. But the actual problem is that the government only determines a cap price on a land/property. The customer has to pay fee and tax in proportionate to that amount. Below which registration could not be done. Interestingly, the value determined by the government will be far away from the prevailing market rate. Which simply means If the market rate of a piece of land is Rs 10 lakh per cent, the rate by the government will be Rs 1 lakh or even lower. Your registration document says only that amount. Hence proving a source of income will be a herculean task. Suresh Hari, Secretary, CREDAI Bangalore says that It is not correct to say undervaluation. It's value based on guidance rate fixed by the government. The fact is that due to high stamp duty, registration value is based on guidance rate, he adds. The practice of undervaluing resale properties on paper was a common one in the past, and its main intention was to accommodate a portion of the untaxed money to be paid in cash in the final sale price while keeping the stamp duty and registration charges at the minimum possible amount, said Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, JLL India. According to Sanjeev Kumar G founder of Financial Planning firm prognoadvisor.com, it is a known fact that the market price of land/property will be at least 8 to 10 times higher than that of the 'fair value' determined by the government. Post demonetisation it is a catch 22 situation for both sellers and buyers of real estate assets. They have to declare the real value of assets and should be forced to document it, he added.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today announced that it will organise "Jana Akrosh Rally" across the state on November 28 protesting the Centre's decision of

demonetisation.

Announcing this at a media conference here, OPCC president Prasad Harichandan said the Congress will organise the rally in all the 314 blocks and 30 districts of the state as a part of the all India protest.

Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demonetisation decision, the OPCC president asked how much corruption and black money have been removed after 15 days of the implementation of

the decision.

The Rs 8 lakh crore loan taken by industrialists across the country is yet to be recovered by the government. The Narendra Modi government has so far waived ` 1 lakh crore bad debt of the industrialists but why there is no such waiver for farmers? he asked.

The OPCC president asked whether the demonetisation decision was leaked to some business houses close to the powers-that-be. He demanded that the Centre should provide compensation to 60 people

who have died standing in long queues for exchange of demonetised currency notes.

Harichandan tried to play down the growing rift between the organisational and legislative wings of the party and said that the party will contest the ensuing panchayat polls under the leadership of

Sonia Gandhi. "There is nothing wrong if the MLAs have decided to fight the panchayat polls under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi as she is the supreme leader of Congress," he said.

He admitted there is differences of opinion in the Congress. "But in which party there is no rift and differences.

The media is highlighting the Congress rift while downplaying factionalism in BJD and BJP," he said.

Harichandan said efforts are going on to resolve the differences in the party which cannot be divulged. Congress will resolve the differences among its leaders and fight the panchayat polls unitedly, he said and added that minor issues are being highlighted in the media.



BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today announced that it will organise "Jana Akrosh Rally" across the state on November 28 protesting the Centre's decision of demonetisation. Announcing this at a media conference here, OPCC president Prasad Harichandan said the Congress will organise the rally in all the 314 blocks and 30 districts of the state as a part of the all India protest. Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demonetisation decision, the OPCC president asked how much corruption and black money have been removed after 15 days of the implementation of the decision. The Rs 8 lakh crore loan taken by industrialists across the country is yet to be recovered by the government. The Narendra Modi government has so far waived ` 1 lakh crore bad debt of the industrialists but why there is no such waiver for farmers? he asked. The OPCC president asked whether the demonetisation decision was leaked to some business houses close to the powers-that-be. He demanded that the Centre should provide compensation to 60 people who have died standing in long queues for exchange of demonetised currency notes. Harichandan tried to play down the growing rift between the organisational and legislative wings of the party and said that the party will contest the ensuing panchayat polls under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. "There is nothing wrong if the MLAs have decided to fight the panchayat polls under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi as she is the supreme leader of Congress," he said. He admitted there is differences of opinion in the Congress. "But in which party there is no rift and differences. The media is highlighting the Congress rift while downplaying factionalism in BJD and BJP," he said. Harichandan said efforts are going on to resolve the differences in the party which cannot be divulged. Congress will resolve the differences among its leaders and fight the panchayat polls unitedly, he said and added that minor issues are being highlighted in the media.
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The direction of US-Russia relations under Donald Trump's leadership has become a hot topic recently. Although normal official channels of collaboration between Moscow and Washington have been closed, the two have been seeking other ways to ease bilateral tensions.

Since the end of 2013, the crises in Syria and Ukraine have fueled the hostility between Russia and the US, stalling an improvement in their relations. But right before the US election, a slim hope rose. At the 13th annual Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin changed his past hard-line attitude and said Russia and the West, especially the US, should break out of the vicious circle of blaming each other and seek dialogue.

Following Trump's win, Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sent messages of congratulations. Then Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak came to Stanford University to give a speech, noting that there is no new Cold War between Russia and the US and hoping diplomatic shifts by the new administration will inject new momentum toward improving the bilateral relationship.

Signs show that in the post-Barack Obama era, US-Russia ties are bound to improve. But from the trajectory of bilateral relations since WWII, it is not difficult to see that the two countries have always experienced ups and downs.

Obama used to work on improving the relations with Moscow. But as he leaves office, bilateral ties have been dragged down to their lowest ebb. In addition to the Syrian issue and the Ukrainian issue, the two are unlikely to reach consensus or compromise in a number of areas such as NATO expansion, anti-terrorism, arms control and human rights.

Current US-Russia relations are at an impasse for several reasons. The first is the war in Syria and the Ukrainian crisis. Another is the rebalance of power in post-Cold War Europe. The eastern expansion of NATO after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, US deployment of anti-missile systems in Europe, the Georgia War in 2008 and the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 have all made the tensions between Russia and the US escalate.

The ideas between the two countries also clash. They are divided in issues such as global leadership, national sovereignty and regional influence. But judging from the interactions between the two and Trump's governance style, they may manage to avoid major conflicts and seek consensus in some areas such as culture and education.

Mainstream opinion in the US believes that it is populism's challenge toward neo-liberalism that pushed Trump into the Oval Office. Coincidently, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the foreign policies of the new US president share much in common with those of Putin; both put national interest above abstract values such as democracy and human rights. If Trump can mitigate his tactics amid the anti-globalization wave, the two may have much common ground as the world tilts toward multilateralism.

Narrowing or avoiding conflicting ideas over national interest does not necessarily mean Russia and the US can come close. Their strategic mistrust cannot be eliminated right away. They also hold disputes about major core interests. In particular, Trump claimed that he will strengthen the US' overseas military deployment to ensure domestic development will not be menaced by external forces. This is likely to drag bilateral ties to a new low.

China must adapt to a pragmatic yet unusual Russia-US relationship and adjust its policies accordingly. The Sino-US relationship, which is heading for a new type of major power relationship, and the ever closer China-Russia strategic coordinative partnership, may both face changes after the new US president takes office.

Precisely speaking, the short-term risk is that by the end of this year, the EU will decide whether to continue its sanctions on Russia, and the long-term risk would be whether the Trump administration will articulate feasible foreign policies to handle changing international relations.

The new US government is about to come to power. Russia will hold presidential elections in 2018. In the next three to five years, the triangular relations between China, the US and Russia will face new rivalries. But neither the Sino-Russian relationship nor the US-Russian relationship is a zero-sum one. China-Russia relations must show flexibility and find more common interests to fit the times.

The author is an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
Ram M Sundaram By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The century-old Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society (TUCS), the sole supplier of vegetables and provisions to all Amma Canteens in Chennai, is in a pickle. At a time when the sales at these budget canteens are increasing in these demonetised days, the society is anxiously looking forward to clearance of pending dues from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for the materials supplied to Amma Canteens.

Given the cash crunch all around the country owing to demonetisation, the 112-year-old society has written to the civic body recently, urging it to pay the bill amount pending over the last two years at the earliest.

The TUCS is among the forerunners of consumer movement in the country, selling vegetables and provisions at subsidised rates  alongside liquor, till the retail trade was nationalised. The society now runs a supermarket, self-service department stores (Kamadhenus), sells cooking gas and operates more than 300 rations shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

When Amma Canteens were launched in 2013, an agreement was signed with TUCS outlets as the only supplier for vegetables, provisions and gas. The Corporation runs 400 such budget canteens to which TUCS supplies essential items through the respective zonal offices. Bills are submitted at the end of each month, and the municipal body releases 75 per cent of the bill amount within a week and the rest after verifying the bills. Though the Corporation had promptly paid the 75 % initial payment, the balance payment of `18 crore is overdue, a senior TUCS official told Express. The pending amount from their biggest client has had a telling impact on the societys functioning, the official added. Given the shortage of currency notes among suppliers and customers, realising the pending amount will ensure smooth functioning, said the official.

Denying that there were dues pending, a senior Corporation official said settlements were done systematically. He claimed that bills worth `3 crore were recently cleared and the rest would be disposed of soon.

In the recent months, the civic body had faced severe fund crunch which forced it to put several major infrastructure projects on hold.

CHENNAI: The century-old Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society (TUCS), the sole supplier of vegetables and provisions to all Amma Canteens in Chennai, is in a pickle. At a time when the sales at these budget canteens are increasing in these demonetised days, the society is anxiously looking forward to clearance of pending dues from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for the materials supplied to Amma Canteens. Given the cash crunch all around the country owing to demonetisation, the 112-year-old society has written to the civic body recently, urging it to pay the bill amount pending over the last two years at the earliest. The TUCS is among the forerunners of consumer movement in the country, selling vegetables and provisions at subsidised rates  alongside liquor, till the retail trade was nationalised. The society now runs a supermarket, self-service department stores (Kamadhenus), sells cooking gas and operates more than 300 rations shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS). When Amma Canteens were launched in 2013, an agreement was signed with TUCS outlets as the only supplier for vegetables, provisions and gas. The Corporation runs 400 such budget canteens to which TUCS supplies essential items through the respective zonal offices. Bills are submitted at the end of each month, and the municipal body releases 75 per cent of the bill amount within a week and the rest after verifying the bills. Though the Corporation had promptly paid the 75 % initial payment, the balance payment of `18 crore is overdue, a senior TUCS official told Express. The pending amount from their biggest client has had a telling impact on the societys functioning, the official added. Given the shortage of currency notes among suppliers and customers, realising the pending amount will ensure smooth functioning, said the official. Denying that there were dues pending, a senior Corporation official said settlements were done systematically. He claimed that bills worth `3 crore were recently cleared and the rest would be disposed of soon. In the recent months, the civic body had faced severe fund crunch which forced it to put several major infrastructure projects on hold.
By Express News Service

COIMBATORE: Police seized Rs 11 lakh of higher denomination currencies from a Bengaluru-based businessman near Sulur, during a vehicle check up on Wednesday and handed it over to the Income Tax department.

On Wednesday, acting on a tip off, police stopped a vehicle of a Bengaluru-based businessman Angusamy and found that he was carrying Rs 11 lakh in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The businessman did not have the papers for the source of cash. Hence, the police handed over the cash to the Income Tax Department.

COIMBATORE: Police seized Rs 11 lakh of higher denomination currencies from a Bengaluru-based businessman near Sulur, during a vehicle check up on Wednesday and handed it over to the Income Tax department. On Wednesday, acting on a tip off, police stopped a vehicle of a Bengaluru-based businessman Angusamy and found that he was carrying Rs 11 lakh in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The businessman did not have the papers for the source of cash. Hence, the police handed over the cash to the Income Tax Department.
By Express News Service

KHAMMAM: A youth from Khammam district of Telangana, who was pursing higher studies in the United States, died in a road accident at Kentucky early on Monday morning. Information reaching here said another person, a youngster from Hyderabad, was also fatally injured in the accident.

Yaramala Rajasekhar Reddy, a 25-year-old from Buchireddypalem village in Yerrupalem mandal in Khammam district, had joined for MS course in the US in January this year. Before that, he had completed his MBA from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), Hyderabad.

Reddy and his friends were travelling in a car near Sebran in Kentucky when they met with the accident on Sunday night (American time).

Yaramala Rajasekhar

Reports said his friend K Vara Prasad from Hyderabad, also pursuing MS, was seriously injured, but the nature of his injuries or his present condition is not yet clear.

The death of their son came as a shock for his parents - farmer, CPM leader and the local sarpanch, Srinivasa Reddy, and mother Kavitha, who fainted after learning the news.

Family members told The New Indian Express that Reddy had set his goal to complete his studies in USA and settle down there, just like his elder brother Madhu Krishna Reddy. Hearing the news, villagers, local leaders of political parties, officials and others visited the family to console him. Family members added that relatives will head to the US to bring Reddys body back.

KHAMMAM: A youth from Khammam district of Telangana, who was pursing higher studies in the United States, died in a road accident at Kentucky early on Monday morning. Information reaching here said another person, a youngster from Hyderabad, was also fatally injured in the accident. Yaramala Rajasekhar Reddy, a 25-year-old from Buchireddypalem village in Yerrupalem mandal in Khammam district, had joined for MS course in the US in January this year. Before that, he had completed his MBA from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), Hyderabad. Reddy and his friends were travelling in a car near Sebran in Kentucky when they met with the accident on Sunday night (American time). Yaramala RajasekharReports said his friend K Vara Prasad from Hyderabad, also pursuing MS, was seriously injured, but the nature of his injuries or his present condition is not yet clear. The death of their son came as a shock for his parents - farmer, CPM leader and the local sarpanch, Srinivasa Reddy, and mother Kavitha, who fainted after learning the news. Family members told The New Indian Express that Reddy had set his goal to complete his studies in USA and settle down there, just like his elder brother Madhu Krishna Reddy. Hearing the news, villagers, local leaders of political parties, officials and others visited the family to console him. Family members added that relatives will head to the US to bring Reddys body back.
By Associated Press

HAIFA: With backing from several other countries, Israeli firefighters battled blazes around the country on Thursday as police said four Palestinians were arrested in connection with one of the large fires, which have damaged homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were investigating all possible causes, including arson. Windy and hot weather have helped fan the flames. He said the four arrested Palestinians were to appear in court later Thursday in connection to a blaze near Jerusalem. Media reports said it was not clear whether that fire was the result of arson or an accident.

The rash of fires is the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history. That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft from as far away as the United States arrived and brought it under control.

This week's fires were spread in different places across the country.

In the northern city of Haifa, several roads and schools were closed and dozens of residents were evacuated in some neighborhoods. Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav told Channel 2 TV there were several fires in his city.

Yahav also said there were indications one of the fires was caused when "someone tossed a cigarette in an area full of oil and flammable fluids" in an industrial zone. Thick smoke billowed over homes as high flames scorched trees and greenery nearby.

Police said the blazes started on Monday at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Israelis and Arabs live together.

Later, fires erupted in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov and elsewhere near Jerusalem. In all, hundreds of homes have been damaged and thousands of people have been evacuated. About a dozen were treated for smoke inhalation.

Several countries  including Cyprus, Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece  are assisting the Israeli firefighters with equipment as the fires continue. Turkey later also joined the aid effort. Israel and Turkey recently struck a reconciliation deal that ended six years of animosity.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanking him for his help in dealing with the fires. The premier's office said on Thursday that Russia is sending two large firefighting aircraft to Israel

HAIFA: With backing from several other countries, Israeli firefighters battled blazes around the country on Thursday as police said four Palestinians were arrested in connection with one of the large fires, which have damaged homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of people. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were investigating all possible causes, including arson. Windy and hot weather have helped fan the flames. He said the four arrested Palestinians were to appear in court later Thursday in connection to a blaze near Jerusalem. Media reports said it was not clear whether that fire was the result of arson or an accident. The rash of fires is the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history. That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft from as far away as the United States arrived and brought it under control. This week's fires were spread in different places across the country. In the northern city of Haifa, several roads and schools were closed and dozens of residents were evacuated in some neighborhoods. Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav told Channel 2 TV there were several fires in his city. Yahav also said there were indications one of the fires was caused when "someone tossed a cigarette in an area full of oil and flammable fluids" in an industrial zone. Thick smoke billowed over homes as high flames scorched trees and greenery nearby. Police said the blazes started on Monday at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Israelis and Arabs live together. Later, fires erupted in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov and elsewhere near Jerusalem. In all, hundreds of homes have been damaged and thousands of people have been evacuated. About a dozen were treated for smoke inhalation. Several countries  including Cyprus, Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece  are assisting the Israeli firefighters with equipment as the fires continue. Turkey later also joined the aid effort. Israel and Turkey recently struck a reconciliation deal that ended six years of animosity. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanking him for his help in dealing with the fires. The premier's office said on Thursday that Russia is sending two large firefighting aircraft to Israel
By PTI

KATHMANDU: Nepal Rastra Bank today banned the use of India's new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination, terming them "unauthorised and illegal". These two currency notes were issued by the Reserve Bank of India recently after old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes were withdrawn.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has called the new currency notes "unauthorised and illegal". NRB spokesperson Narayan Poudel said these new currency notes are not yet legal in Nepal, according to Onlinekhabar.com.

Poudel said these notes will be legal in Nepal only when India issues a FEMA notification as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act. India is likely to issue a FEMA notification, allowing people in Nepal and India to possess certain amount of Indian currency. Earlier, a ban was in effect in Nepal till last year against the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations notes.

Authorities had lifted this ban after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal. Nepal last year allowed people to carry Indian Rupees of higher denominations upto Indian Rs 25,000.

The Reserve Bank of India had formed a task force to ease currency exchange facility in Nepal for non-Indians who possess the now-defunct notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

KATHMANDU: Nepal Rastra Bank today banned the use of India's new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination, terming them "unauthorised and illegal". These two currency notes were issued by the Reserve Bank of India recently after old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes were withdrawn. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has called the new currency notes "unauthorised and illegal". NRB spokesperson Narayan Poudel said these new currency notes are not yet legal in Nepal, according to Onlinekhabar.com. Poudel said these notes will be legal in Nepal only when India issues a FEMA notification as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act. India is likely to issue a FEMA notification, allowing people in Nepal and India to possess certain amount of Indian currency. Earlier, a ban was in effect in Nepal till last year against the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations notes. Authorities had lifted this ban after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal. Nepal last year allowed people to carry Indian Rupees of higher denominations upto Indian Rs 25,000. The Reserve Bank of India had formed a task force to ease currency exchange facility in Nepal for non-Indians who possess the now-defunct notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.
By ANI

ISLAMABAD: Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world.



In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it has issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Donald Trump.



Writing in the Pak-based Al Qalam Weekly (Nov. 18-24, 2016) the JeM ideologues Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif have stated that while the international media has used Trumps victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory was actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the world.



They said that the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trumps election as the next president.



Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said that the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of bad character, temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam.



He added that while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trumps victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries.



He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which has brought victories against powerful opponents.

ISLAMABAD: Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world. In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it has issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Donald Trump. Writing in the Pak-based Al Qalam Weekly (Nov. 18-24, 2016) the JeM ideologues Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif have stated that while the international media has used Trumps victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory was actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the world. They said that the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trumps election as the next president. Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said that the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of bad character, temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam. He added that while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trumps victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries. He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which has brought victories against powerful opponents.
By Associated Press

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's presidential victory has dimmed hopes for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and analysts say Israel may be given carte blanche from his administration.

American presidents have long struck a delicate balance in the conflict, stressing the close U.S. friendship with Israel and lavishing the Jewish state with aid. But recent presidents also have tried to negotiate, and they have called out Israel for actions seen as undermining peace efforts, such as expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Trump's role can't be easily predicted.

A foreign policy novice, the billionaire businessman takes pride in his deal-making skills and says he'd love the challenge of negotiating a Mideast agreement. He told The New York Times on Tuesday that it "would be such a great achievement." He said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, an observant Jew and a close adviser, may help make that happen.

Last December, Trump told The Associated Press that he wanted to be "very neutral" and try to get both sides together. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been "taken over" by or are condoning militant groups. Some of his top aides challenge the legitimacy of Palestinian demands for a state and have claimed that the Palestinians are a made-up people.

That has cast doubt on whether he would ever question Israeli actions or even try to serve as a neutral broker.

"Trump's administration may take a totally hands-off approach," said Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst and executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. "Israel would have free rein to dominate the Palestinians forever and ever if there is no external involvement."

David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the volatility of the Middle East and of American political parties after a grueling campaign have made "the conclusion of a two-state solution very unlikely."

Some senior Israeli officials share that view.

Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, said after Trump's Nov. 8 election that "the era of a Palestinian state are over." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested Israel could cut a deal with Trump that allowed expanded construction in major settlements while freezing building in isolated parts of the West Bank. That would be a sharp break from Obama administration policy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been more cautious, congratulating Trump but giving no indication on whether he will now change his policies.

Relations have been tense between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu. Trump has accused Obama of putting undue pressure on Israel.

But Obama has hardly cast off Israel. In September, the U.S. signed its largest-ever security agreement, giving the Israeli military $38 billion over 10 years. While Obama pressured Israel into a partial settlement freeze in 2009 and 2010, settlements continue to expand.

According to the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, there were 3,915 housing starts during Obama's term as of the end of 2015. By the time Obama leaves office, that number will almost certainly surpass the 4,191 units started during George W. Bush's presidency.

Previous administrations have given varying amounts of leeway to Israel on the issue of settlements, but also have pushed for the two-state solution. President Bill Clinton helped broker the Oslo Accord, attempting to establish a framework to resolve the conflict. President George W. Bush launched a plan that endorsed an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel. Both approaches fizzled, and two rounds of peace talks during the Obama years quickly collapsed.

Trump criticized Palestinians when he spoke in March at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington. He said "half of the population of Palestine has been taken over by the Palestinian ISIS and Hamas, and the other half refuses to confront the first half." Hamas, an Islamic militant group, controls the Gaza Strip. ISIS, an acronym for the Islamic State group, is not a major force in the Palestinian territories.

One of Trump's top advisers on Israel, Jason Greenblatt, said in a recent interview that the president-elect doesn't think West Bank settlements should be condemned or pose an "obstacle to peace." Greenblatt, chief legal officer and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, was interviewed on Israel's Army Radio.

Trump has echoed the decades-old promise of past presidential candidates that he would move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That would signal U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move that would infuriate Palestinians, who claim the eastern sector of the city, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital. Presidents have not followed through on the pledge.

Some Trump advisers and supporters have been dismissive of the Palestinian cause. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the Israeli American Council in September that the U.S. should "reject the whole notion of a two-state solution in Israel."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson both say the Palestinians are an invented people. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in 2014 that a two-state solution "would inevitably lead to a terror state on the other side of the border with Israel."

Jeremy Ben Ami, founder of J-Street, a liberal pro-Israel group that advocates a two-state solution, said the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies in the pending Trump Cabinet appointments.

He said if policy is driven by the "Israel-can-do-no-wrong" camp, "then some of those in the Israeli right-wing are going to be very happy."

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's presidential victory has dimmed hopes for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and analysts say Israel may be given carte blanche from his administration. American presidents have long struck a delicate balance in the conflict, stressing the close U.S. friendship with Israel and lavishing the Jewish state with aid. But recent presidents also have tried to negotiate, and they have called out Israel for actions seen as undermining peace efforts, such as expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank. Trump's role can't be easily predicted. A foreign policy novice, the billionaire businessman takes pride in his deal-making skills and says he'd love the challenge of negotiating a Mideast agreement. He told The New York Times on Tuesday that it "would be such a great achievement." He said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, an observant Jew and a close adviser, may help make that happen. Last December, Trump told The Associated Press that he wanted to be "very neutral" and try to get both sides together. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been "taken over" by or are condoning militant groups. Some of his top aides challenge the legitimacy of Palestinian demands for a state and have claimed that the Palestinians are a made-up people. That has cast doubt on whether he would ever question Israeli actions or even try to serve as a neutral broker. "Trump's administration may take a totally hands-off approach," said Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst and executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. "Israel would have free rein to dominate the Palestinians forever and ever if there is no external involvement." David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the volatility of the Middle East and of American political parties after a grueling campaign have made "the conclusion of a two-state solution very unlikely." Some senior Israeli officials share that view. Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, said after Trump's Nov. 8 election that "the era of a Palestinian state are over." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested Israel could cut a deal with Trump that allowed expanded construction in major settlements while freezing building in isolated parts of the West Bank. That would be a sharp break from Obama administration policy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been more cautious, congratulating Trump but giving no indication on whether he will now change his policies. Relations have been tense between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu. Trump has accused Obama of putting undue pressure on Israel. But Obama has hardly cast off Israel. In September, the U.S. signed its largest-ever security agreement, giving the Israeli military $38 billion over 10 years. While Obama pressured Israel into a partial settlement freeze in 2009 and 2010, settlements continue to expand. According to the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, there were 3,915 housing starts during Obama's term as of the end of 2015. By the time Obama leaves office, that number will almost certainly surpass the 4,191 units started during George W. Bush's presidency. Previous administrations have given varying amounts of leeway to Israel on the issue of settlements, but also have pushed for the two-state solution. President Bill Clinton helped broker the Oslo Accord, attempting to establish a framework to resolve the conflict. President George W. Bush launched a plan that endorsed an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel. Both approaches fizzled, and two rounds of peace talks during the Obama years quickly collapsed. Trump criticized Palestinians when he spoke in March at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington. He said "half of the population of Palestine has been taken over by the Palestinian ISIS and Hamas, and the other half refuses to confront the first half." Hamas, an Islamic militant group, controls the Gaza Strip. ISIS, an acronym for the Islamic State group, is not a major force in the Palestinian territories. One of Trump's top advisers on Israel, Jason Greenblatt, said in a recent interview that the president-elect doesn't think West Bank settlements should be condemned or pose an "obstacle to peace." Greenblatt, chief legal officer and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, was interviewed on Israel's Army Radio. Trump has echoed the decades-old promise of past presidential candidates that he would move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That would signal U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move that would infuriate Palestinians, who claim the eastern sector of the city, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital. Presidents have not followed through on the pledge. Some Trump advisers and supporters have been dismissive of the Palestinian cause. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the Israeli American Council in September that the U.S. should "reject the whole notion of a two-state solution in Israel." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson both say the Palestinians are an invented people. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in 2014 that a two-state solution "would inevitably lead to a terror state on the other side of the border with Israel." Jeremy Ben Ami, founder of J-Street, a liberal pro-Israel group that advocates a two-state solution, said the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies in the pending Trump Cabinet appointments. He said if policy is driven by the "Israel-can-do-no-wrong" camp, "then some of those in the Israeli right-wing are going to be very happy."
By AFP

PAKISTAN: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone".

Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-held Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire.

The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond".

Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over the Himalayan region, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution".

He voiced concern over incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC).

"We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said.

Johnson also lamented the "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies.

"Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours... and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be."

Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers.

India said it had responded by carrying out "surgical strikes" across the heavily militarised border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place.

There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths including of civilians.

After Wednesday's shooting Pakistani authorities closed the road leading to the scenic Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination near the LoC, for security reasons.

Residents told AFP they had fled the valley fearing for their lives after repeated shellings, seeking shelter in the region's main city Muzaffarabad.

"I along with my wife and six children travelled by foot through the night," said resident Tasawar Shah.

The Indian foreign ministry Thursday also accused Pakistan of targeting civilians in villages along the LoC, and of supporting "armed terrorists" it said had crossed the border earlier in the week and killed three Indian soldiers.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British rule ended in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

Rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.

Johnson, in Pakistan for a two-day visit, also spoke about US President-elect Donald Trump's campaign threats to reconsider defending NATO allies unless they up defence spending.

"We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," he said. found by the police

PAKISTAN: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone". Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-held Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire. The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond". Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over the Himalayan region, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution". He voiced concern over incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC). "We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said. Johnson also lamented the "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies. "Look at the incredible human potential of Pakistan and its neighbours... and then imagine what the future could be like if this was sorted out. What an incredible boomzone it could be." Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers. India said it had responded by carrying out "surgical strikes" across the heavily militarised border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place. There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths including of civilians. After Wednesday's shooting Pakistani authorities closed the road leading to the scenic Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination near the LoC, for security reasons. Residents told AFP they had fled the valley fearing for their lives after repeated shellings, seeking shelter in the region's main city Muzaffarabad. "I along with my wife and six children travelled by foot through the night," said resident Tasawar Shah. The Indian foreign ministry Thursday also accused Pakistan of targeting civilians in villages along the LoC, and of supporting "armed terrorists" it said had crossed the border earlier in the week and killed three Indian soldiers. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British rule ended in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region. Rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians. Johnson, in Pakistan for a two-day visit, also spoke about US President-elect Donald Trump's campaign threats to reconsider defending NATO allies unless they up defence spending. "We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the president-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly," he said. found by the police
By AFP

SYRIA: The United Nations on Thursday dismissed rumours that its special envoy for the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, had resigned.

"Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the UN said in a statement.

Arabic media had reported earlier Thursday that de Mistura had handed in his resignation for personal reasons.

The 69-year-old was named to the post in July 2014, charged with the daunting task of trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has torn Syria apart since 2011, killing 300,000 people.

Two other special envoys had previously held the post before resigning: former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, and former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi.

De Mistura, a Swedish-Italian career diplomat, told Swiss public TV network RTS last month that he had no plans to quit the job, despite the difficulty of the task.

"If I did it, it would only be if I thought there was no use for our work and if my family asked it of me," he said.

"My conscience tells me I must support the Syrians, but no one is indispensible," he added.

SYRIA: The United Nations on Thursday dismissed rumours that its special envoy for the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, had resigned. "Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the UN said in a statement. Arabic media had reported earlier Thursday that de Mistura had handed in his resignation for personal reasons. The 69-year-old was named to the post in July 2014, charged with the daunting task of trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has torn Syria apart since 2011, killing 300,000 people. Two other special envoys had previously held the post before resigning: former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, and former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi. De Mistura, a Swedish-Italian career diplomat, told Swiss public TV network RTS last month that he had no plans to quit the job, despite the difficulty of the task. "If I did it, it would only be if I thought there was no use for our work and if my family asked it of me," he said. "My conscience tells me I must support the Syrians, but no one is indispensible," he added.
By Associated Press

PALM BEACH: Injecting the first diversity into his Cabinet-to-be, Donald Trump selected two Republican women on Wednesday who had unflattering things to say about him during the presidential campaign: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education.

Gov. Haley has little foreign policy experience, yet Trump praised her as "a proven dealmaker." DeVos, like Trump, is new to government but has spent decades working to change America's system of public education.

DeVos and Haley are the first women selected for top-level administration posts as the president-elect works to shape a White House team from scratch. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants, so she also would be his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said "an announcement is forthcoming" on his role, which would make him the first black choice  possibly as secretary of Housing and Urban Development  but he also suggested he'd be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone," Carson wrote on his Facebook page.

Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said Wednesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the adviser was not authorised to disclose internal deliberations. The 78-year-old Ross, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., which has specialised in buying failing companies.

Wednesday's picks came as Trump worked to distance himself from the "alt-right," a movement of white supremacists who continue to cheer his election.

He announced his two new choices in a statement released as he gathered with a family behind closed doors at his Palm Beach estate for Thanksgiving. He's spending the holiday there after a week of interviews of potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team.

In a Thanksgiving message posted on social media, Trump acknowledged that the nation "just finished a long and bruising political campaign."

"Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," he added. "It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve."

Bad blood between Trump and his new Cabinet selections had been evident through much of this year's campaign.

"The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!" Trump wrote in March. Haley denounced several of his campaign comments and urged voters to "reject the siren call of the angriest voices."

DeVos, from Michigan, told The Associated Press in July, "A lot of the things he has said are very off-putting and concerning."

On Wednesday, Trump said of his UN selection: "Gov. Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country."

She said she loved her South Carolina post but "when the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed."

While Republicans praised Haley's selection, DeVos faced criticism from left and right.

The president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, said in a statement that for years DeVos "has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers  which take away funding and local control from our public schools  to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense."

And Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted, "Trump has chosen the most ideological, anti-public ed nominee since the creation of the Dept of Education."

At the same time, some conservatives warned that the longtime Republican donor, who has spent millions of dollars  along with her husband  to promote candidates who favour charter schools and school vouchers, also supports the Common Core education standards that Trump railed against during the campaign.

Conservatives already were grappling with Trump's Tuesday concession that climate change may be connected to a human activity and his reversal of a campaign vow to pursue a criminal investigation into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

DeVos addressed criticism head-on, posting a "Q&A" statement that said directly about Common Core: "I am not a supporter  period."

"I do support high standards," she said. But along the way Common Core "got turned into a federal boondoggle."

Just two weeks ago, Trump shocked the political world  including many in his own party  by winning the presidential contest. The billionaire New Yorker has yet to take any formal steps to separate from his international business empire as experts in both parties warn of potential conflicts of interest.

Trump will be sworn into office in less than 60 days. Beyond his Cabinet, he must fill hundreds of high-level administration posts.

Spokesman Jason Miller said Trump now is focusing on his choice for secretary of state in particular. Among those under consideration: former New York Mayor and Trump loyalist Rudy Giuliani and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, formerly an outspoken Trump critic.

After the secretary of state, the UN ambassador is the highest-profile diplomatic position, often serving as the voice for U.S. positions on the international stage.

As for DeVos, her family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors. Her husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company.

The American Federation for Children Action Fund, which DeVos chairs, and its state-affiliated PACs invested in 121 races in 12 states in the general election, spending spent $210,000 to support "pro-school choice" candidates in Oklahoma alone.

"Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," Trump said.

DeVos said in her own statement, "The status quo in education is not acceptable."

PALM BEACH: Injecting the first diversity into his Cabinet-to-be, Donald Trump selected two Republican women on Wednesday who had unflattering things to say about him during the presidential campaign: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. Gov. Haley has little foreign policy experience, yet Trump praised her as "a proven dealmaker." DeVos, like Trump, is new to government but has spent decades working to change America's system of public education. DeVos and Haley are the first women selected for top-level administration posts as the president-elect works to shape a White House team from scratch. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants, so she also would be his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said "an announcement is forthcoming" on his role, which would make him the first black choice  possibly as secretary of Housing and Urban Development  but he also suggested he'd be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday. "I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone," Carson wrote on his Facebook page. Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said Wednesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the adviser was not authorised to disclose internal deliberations. The 78-year-old Ross, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., which has specialised in buying failing companies. Wednesday's picks came as Trump worked to distance himself from the "alt-right," a movement of white supremacists who continue to cheer his election. He announced his two new choices in a statement released as he gathered with a family behind closed doors at his Palm Beach estate for Thanksgiving. He's spending the holiday there after a week of interviews of potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team. In a Thanksgiving message posted on social media, Trump acknowledged that the nation "just finished a long and bruising political campaign." "Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," he added. "It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve." Bad blood between Trump and his new Cabinet selections had been evident through much of this year's campaign. "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!" Trump wrote in March. Haley denounced several of his campaign comments and urged voters to "reject the siren call of the angriest voices." DeVos, from Michigan, told The Associated Press in July, "A lot of the things he has said are very off-putting and concerning." On Wednesday, Trump said of his UN selection: "Gov. Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country." She said she loved her South Carolina post but "when the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed." While Republicans praised Haley's selection, DeVos faced criticism from left and right. The president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, said in a statement that for years DeVos "has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers  which take away funding and local control from our public schools  to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense." And Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted, "Trump has chosen the most ideological, anti-public ed nominee since the creation of the Dept of Education." At the same time, some conservatives warned that the longtime Republican donor, who has spent millions of dollars  along with her husband  to promote candidates who favour charter schools and school vouchers, also supports the Common Core education standards that Trump railed against during the campaign. Conservatives already were grappling with Trump's Tuesday concession that climate change may be connected to a human activity and his reversal of a campaign vow to pursue a criminal investigation into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. DeVos addressed criticism head-on, posting a "Q&A" statement that said directly about Common Core: "I am not a supporter  period." "I do support high standards," she said. But along the way Common Core "got turned into a federal boondoggle." Just two weeks ago, Trump shocked the political world  including many in his own party  by winning the presidential contest. The billionaire New Yorker has yet to take any formal steps to separate from his international business empire as experts in both parties warn of potential conflicts of interest. Trump will be sworn into office in less than 60 days. Beyond his Cabinet, he must fill hundreds of high-level administration posts. Spokesman Jason Miller said Trump now is focusing on his choice for secretary of state in particular. Among those under consideration: former New York Mayor and Trump loyalist Rudy Giuliani and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, formerly an outspoken Trump critic. After the secretary of state, the UN ambassador is the highest-profile diplomatic position, often serving as the voice for U.S. positions on the international stage. As for DeVos, her family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors. Her husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company. The American Federation for Children Action Fund, which DeVos chairs, and its state-affiliated PACs invested in 121 races in 12 states in the general election, spending spent $210,000 to support "pro-school choice" candidates in Oklahoma alone. "Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," Trump said. DeVos said in her own statement, "The status quo in education is not acceptable."
A popular Chinese reality show featuring fake father-daughter pairs has been accused of showing inappropriate relationships between adults and children.

The fourth season of reality show Dad, Where Are We Going? pairs intern fathers, all celebrities, with children who are not their own. In previous seasons, the show only featured celebrity dads and their real children, but a government ban on the overuse of celebrities children has forced the show to change.

In this season, 23-year-old Olympic athlete Dong Li is designated as father to 4-year-old Cui Yahan. He takes care of the little girl several days a week, eats and sleeps with her, and is present when she bathes.

The pair has spawned thousands of so-called CP or couple fans  people who believe certain TV characters are meant to be together romantically.

They point to one scene in which Yahan tells Dong that when she grows up, she wants to marry him, as well as to an interview in which Dong says his dream girl is Arale, Yahans nickname.

The shows production company, Mango TV, fanned the flames by posting an online video clip set to a love song and captioned Dong and Arales interpretation of Lets Fall in Love, referring to a famous Chinese dating show. Mango TV is the online division of Hunan TV, one of Chinas largest television channels.

However, the pairs popularity has triggered worries among parents and experts. Some say the popularity of the show may mislead about appropriate adult-child relationships and make children vulnerable.

A mother-to-be published an open letter on Chinas microblog service Sina Weibo, expressing her anger that the shows producers have edited the show to make the pair look like a couple.

If she were your daughter, would you ever let her stay with a strange man wearing only underwear? Would you ever allow a 23-year-old man to tell the media that his ideal type for a girlfriend is your 3-year-old daughter? the woman wrote.

The woman is also a volunteer with Girl Protection, a public welfare program under the Childrens Safety Fund of the China Social Assistance Foundation.

Others are quick to defend the show against the accusations.

I dont think the pair is creepy. They are so adorable. Please dont exaggerate just to scare the public, said Weibo user Guaishoupitaohezuoshe.

The program Dad, Where Are We Going? responded via its official account on Weibo, saying the criticisms are over-interpreting.

The clips of Dongs words were intended to show his paternal love, but these clips were distorted and interpreted out of context, misleading netizens and causing invisible harm to children, according to the statement.

The statement said Dong never stays alone with the girl. Cameras are placed everywhere, and the girl has a female director to help her change her clothes and bathe, it said.

We hope more people can focus on the innocence of the children and the paternal love of their intern fathers, the statement said.

But that has irritated some experts. And people took to the keyboard to demand the issue be taken seriously.

Jiang Jing, procurator at the Jinniu District Procuratorate in Chengdu City in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province, wrote an article on the official Minors Procuratorate account on WeChat.

To Jiang, the show sets a bad example for sex education and is too flippant in its treatment of the safety risks girls face.
By Associated Press

IRAQ: Iraqi hospital and police officials say the death toll from a car bombing south of Baghdad claimed by the Islamic State group has risen to 73, including about 40 Iranian pilgrims.

The officials said Friday that 65 people were wounded in the attack. Earlier, they had put the death toll at 56 from the Thursday night bombing, which almost completely destroyed the gas station, several nearby stores and set several cars on fire. The station is located on a major highway.

The blast knocked out power at the station, forcing relatives looking for the remains of loved ones to use the glare of their mobile phones to guide them. Body parts that remained unclaimed were gathered in a blue bag and placed on the sidewalk outside the station. Large sections of the station were covered in blood.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred.

The Shiite observance marks the 40th day after the death anniversary of a much revered, 7th century imam. It routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, including many Iranians who travel overland into Iraq for the occasion.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Thursday's attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on IS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove IS militants from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the country's second largest city, where U.S.-backed offensive has been underway for more than six weeks.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support the troops.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya television network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.

IRAQ: Iraqi hospital and police officials say the death toll from a car bombing south of Baghdad claimed by the Islamic State group has risen to 73, including about 40 Iranian pilgrims. The officials said Friday that 65 people were wounded in the attack. Earlier, they had put the death toll at 56 from the Thursday night bombing, which almost completely destroyed the gas station, several nearby stores and set several cars on fire. The station is located on a major highway. The blast knocked out power at the station, forcing relatives looking for the remains of loved ones to use the glare of their mobile phones to guide them. Body parts that remained unclaimed were gathered in a blue bag and placed on the sidewalk outside the station. Large sections of the station were covered in blood. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks. The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb. The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred. The Shiite observance marks the 40th day after the death anniversary of a much revered, 7th century imam. It routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, including many Iranians who travel overland into Iraq for the occasion. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Thursday's attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on IS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq. In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove IS militants from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the country's second largest city, where U.S.-backed offensive has been underway for more than six weeks. Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour. The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support the troops. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya television network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.
By IANS

CATANIA: A total of 641 migrants including 95 minors and pregnant women reached the Sicilian port of Catania on Thursday after they were rescued from the Mediterranean, Italian coastguard reported.

There were 146 women aboard the rescue ship or whom 12 were pregnant and 85 of the minors were unaccompanied. Two children under the age of five were among the minors.

The rescued migrants arrived in Catania aboard the Sos Mediterranee charity's ship 'Aquarius'.

The migrants were among 1,397 saved on Wednesday in several rescue operations coordinated by Italian coastguard.

Earlier on Thursday, 405 migrants including many women and children arrived in the Sicilian port city of Trapani after they were rescued overnight in the Strait of Sicily, coastguard said.

Over 345,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea in this year as of November 20, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Some 171,264 people have arrived in Greece and 168,542 in Italy during 2016. While the total is well below the number of arrivals at the same point of 2015, the numbers reaching Italy from North Africa has risen over 17 percent compared with the same period last year, IOM said.

CATANIA: A total of 641 migrants including 95 minors and pregnant women reached the Sicilian port of Catania on Thursday after they were rescued from the Mediterranean, Italian coastguard reported. There were 146 women aboard the rescue ship or whom 12 were pregnant and 85 of the minors were unaccompanied. Two children under the age of five were among the minors. The rescued migrants arrived in Catania aboard the Sos Mediterranee charity's ship 'Aquarius'. The migrants were among 1,397 saved on Wednesday in several rescue operations coordinated by Italian coastguard. Earlier on Thursday, 405 migrants including many women and children arrived in the Sicilian port city of Trapani after they were rescued overnight in the Strait of Sicily, coastguard said. Over 345,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea in this year as of November 20, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Some 171,264 people have arrived in Greece and 168,542 in Italy during 2016. While the total is well below the number of arrivals at the same point of 2015, the numbers reaching Italy from North Africa has risen over 17 percent compared with the same period last year, IOM said.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. took part in an overseas private discussions in October whose themes included finding a way to cooperate with Russia to end the war in Syria, local media said on Wednesday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump Jr. attended the Oct. 11 event in Paris, France, and the event was hosted by a French think tank, whose founder had reportedly worked closely with Russia on the Syrian crisis.

In a comment posted on Facebook three days after the Election Day, Randa Kassis, the wife of the French think tank founder, said that "Russia and the United States will reach accord on the issue of the Syrian crisis, because of Trump's victory."

"Such hope and belief is the result of my personal meeting with Donald Trump junior in Paris in October," said Kassis.

Kassis' official website page describes her as a French-Syrian politician and a leading figure of opposition to the Syrian government.

Kellyanne Conway, former campaign manager of Trump confirmed to the Journal that Trump Jr. attended the event. However, Conway downplayed Trump Jr.'s direct contact with Kassia.

"Don was addressing a roundtable in Paris, and she (Kassia) was present for that talk and at a group dinner for 30 people," according to a statement by Conway released by the Journal.

"This event featured a number of opinion leaders from all over the world who were interested in the U.S. elections," said the statement.
BRUSSELS, Nov. 23 -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday highlighted cooperation between NATO and Serbia at the first ever meeting between the country's premier and the political decision-making arm of the organization, he said at a press conference here.

Welcoming Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg said, "This is the first time ever a Serbian prime minister is meeting the North Atlantic Council and I think that just shows how we are now moving forward together on the path of strengthening the partnership and the cooperation."

The NATO chief stressed that Serbia, which is at the heart of the Balkan region, makes important contributions to regional and international security.

He stressed the potential of NATO-Serbia cooperation, adding, "I welcome the pragmatic cooperation we are developing between NATO and Serbia. The Individual Partnership Action Plan that we agreed last year is an important tool."

"NATO has been able to train Serbian troops during peace-keeping operations or missions. And I also welcome the cooperation we have in many other different areas," Stoltenberg added.

They also discussed security challenges facing the Western Balkans.

Serbia agreed to deepen cooperation with NATO through an Individual Partnership Action Plan in 2015.
Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, Nov. 23 -- Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan held talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Beijing Wednesday.

The Chinese and Russian armed forces have successfully engaged in exchanges and cooperation concerning high-profile visits, joint drills,training and special techniques, said Chang.

The two armed forces have elevated strategic mutual trust and traditional friendship and safeguarded their common interests, he said.

Chang said China was willing to continue to develop military-to-military relations with Russia.

Sergei Shoigu said the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries had hit a new high.

Russia is willing to strengthen pragmatic military cooperation with China in various areas and, with China, safeguard world peace and stability, the Russian defense minister said.
Du Xueqi and Zhao Bingjing, both former gymnasts, pose for photos. The pair of identical twin sisters who both gained places at East China's Zhejiang University have won praise and admiration after their story recently went viral online. On November 4, 2016, Zhejiang University published an article on its website announcing that Du Xueqi had been admitted with an unconditional offer, whilst her sister Zhao Bingjing had won a government-funded scholarship. The news was widely reported by medias and attracted much attention from netizens.[Photo from Weibo account of Du Xueqi]
From Nov. 21 to 24, the world's weightiest conference on health promotion was held for the first time in China, the country with the worlds biggest population and thus the toughest health challenge.

Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, addresses at the opening ceremony of the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai, Nov. 21.

The 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion is currently wrapping up in Shanghai. Led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the conference convenes every four years and rotates host cities for each event. This year, 1,200 participants  including WHO officials and experts, health ministers and Health City mayors  gathered from 126 countries and regions. Solutions for a number of serious issues concerning global health promotion and equality have been discussed, with China playing a central role.

With a per capita GDP of $8,016 in 2015, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics, China is still inarguably a developing country, and it is fighting an uphill battle to lift its levels of national health.

A 2016 report by WHO showed that China is plagued by a high density of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and the prevalence of cigarettes in China is much greater than the world average. The percentage of Chinas population with improved sanitation is lower than in emerging economy counterparts Argentina and Brazil. Its density of skilled health professionals is about average among West Pacific countries.

But despite health challenges including and ranging beyond the ones mentioned above, China has made commendable efforts in improving national health, winning accolades from world health officials.

On the conference's opening day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Health Chief Li Bin reported China's health progress to WHO Chief Margaret Chan and other attendees.

A few impressive numbers stood out in the report. In just over 25 years, China's total health expenditure increased from merely 11 billion RMB ($1.59 billion) in 1978 to 4.05 trillion RMB ($586 billion) in 2015. The countrys basic health insurance system now covers 95 percent of its population, or more than 1.3 billion people  more than the entire population of the African continent. Its national life expectancy has risen from 64 in 1980 to the current 76.3. The rural maternal death rate and rural infant mortality rate have dropped by 77 percent and 84 percent respectively in the past 25 years.

WHO Representative to China, Dr Bernhard Schwartlander, receives an interview with People's Daily Online, Nov. 23.

In an 10-minute exclusive interview with People's Daily online, WHO representative to China, Dr. Bernhard Schwartlander, used the word "stellar" three times, while sharing his opinion of China's progress.

"China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Of course, poverty is very much linked to health and the health status of the population. We have seen, over the last generation, a cut in maternal mortality by fourfold. And today, a person living in Shanghai can expect to live longer on average than a person living in the United States of America. These are massive achievements that China has seen," Schwartlander said.

In the interview, he rated China's efforts in curbing child mortality, its vaccine system and hepatitis B control as "outstanding in the whole world," and stated that health insurance coverage in China "is a real success story that we have hardly seen in other countries."

"Virtually every child now born in China  wherever they live, in the eastern cities, in the western part, where people are very poor and very often in rural areas  they [have] basic coverage of vaccines. Also, hepatitis B used to be very prevalent in China, but the young generation born today is virtually hepatitis B-free, which is a stellar success and the best practice in the world," he said.

At the conference, China reiterated its commitment to the "Health China 2030" blueprint. Released in October, the blueprints 29 chapters set out measurable and ambitious health targets to be achieved by 2030, along with strict guidelines for public health services, environment management and many more sectors.

Schwartlander said he is "very confident" about China realizing its targets. The top reason he cited for that confidence is the nations strong leadership.

"China's massive increase of expenditures in the health system has led to the coverage of many health services, which are now at a level that we see in many Western countries, richer countries. This is a reflection on the political leadership.

"Also in this conference, we have seen such a dramatic expression of the leadership  that Premier Li Keqiang came to open this meeting, that President Xi Jinping himself has made health a centerpiece of his work. So China clearly has strong leadership. And that, of course, gives great confidence," he said.
China has been Africas largest trade partner since 2009, and Africa is now Chinas major import source, second largest overseas construction project contract market, and fourth largest investment destination (China-African Economic and Trade cooperation 2013).

Mozambique and Angola have become two prominent cases of Chinese economic and trade cooperation with Africa. Going beyond media headlines about Chinas activities in the oil and extractive sectors, Chinas cooperation with resource-rich Mozambique and Angola has

deepened and diversified, covering a wide range of development while increasing the focus on two key sectors for bilateral cooperation: agriculture and health. China has started paying more attention to the questions of how to make Sino-African cooperation more sustainable and how to extend its benefits more widely among the African population. Despite the growing research on Chinas cooperation in Africa, its involvement in these two sectors is still under-discussed, with the extractive sector drawing the most scholarly attention.

This paper provides an in-depth comparative analysis on how Chinese cooperation in agriculture and health has been implemented in Mozambique and Angola. First, the paper provides a broad contextualization of China-Mozambique and China-Angola relations and cooperation, paying particular attention to the changing motivations behind these ties.

Second, we analyze cooperation in those two sectors with reference to concrete cases. This section also notes some of the key capacities and limitations of this cooperation. Finally, the paper discusses the main actors involved in this cooperation.

To read the full article, click here:

http://bricspolicycenter.org/homolog/publicacoes/interna/6764?tipo=BPC%20Paper

(Source: BRICS Policy Center)
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The People's Government of Ruili, a city on the China-Myanmar border, issued a safety alert to local residents on Nov. 22, warning them to stay away from regions close to the border, an official with the publicity department of Ruili confirmed to Thepaper.cn.

The safety alert noted that one resident had already been injured by stray bullets since military conflicts broke out in Myanmar on Nov. 20. The government also instructed citizens to evacuate from dangerous regions to avoid potential injury. If they chose to stay, the notice read, they should stay indoors and avoid activities on balconies and roofs, as well as near windows.

The new regulations require residents to register at the local police station if they host visitors from abroad in their homes; hotels are already required to register foreign guests at the local police station.

According to Zhang Fang, a local resident who once helped to construct a refugee camp for Myanmar refugees, all residents in the town of Wanting have received the alert. She said gunfire is still audible, but local people have mostly returned to their everyday lives. In addition, relief materials, including quilts and clothing, are arriving in Wanting.

The Chinese consulate in Mandalay, Myanmar has issued a travel alert to Chinese citizens.
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[File photo]

Chinese experts have denounced speculation by foreign media that the countrys best warplane engine may pose safety risks.

Judging by the performance and application of the WS-10A Taihang engine, its unlikely that potential hazards such as explosions will occur during flight. If such safety loopholes do exist, the government will definitely recall the engines without risking the lives of pilots, a military expert from the National University of Defense Technology told Science and Technology Daily in an interview.

The expert, Wang Qun, made his remarks after a Russian news website accused the WS-10A Taihang engine of being a copy of Russias AL-31F. According to the report, China tried to raise the engines operating temperature to 50 degrees Celsius, but due to its inability to produce complex single-crystal blades, the engine could explode at any time during flight.

There is a moon-to-earth distance between Taihang and the AL-31F, read the report. Wang, however, disagreed.

Its true that Chinas engine technologies lag behind those of its Western counterparts, but its not objective to belittle Taihangs performance. Thaihangs disadvantages lie in its lifespan, reliability and stability; otherwise, the gap between Taihang and more advanced engines is not that big, said Wang.

Conservatively speaking, China reached the level of developed countries in the '90s, as far as engine manufacturing goes. The country has already made great achievements, and will soon catch up to its Western counterparts, Wang added.

First launched in 2005, Taihang engines have been deployed by the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force in five air force regiments. Various fighter jets are also equipped with the engine, including the J-11B and J-15 carrier-based fighter jets. So far, there have been no crashes due to engine failure among fighter jets equipped with Taihang engines.
The holiday season is upon us, which makes it prime time for toy buying. In fact, more than 65 percent of the toys and games sold in the United States each year are purchased between the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas. While the majority of toys are safe, thanks in part to stronger federal rules and higher standards from toy makers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that in 2015 alone more than 250,000 children throughout the country were treated in hospital emergency departments for toy-related injuries.

"Toys have changed over the years and the assortment can be astounding, particularly to those who haven't shopped for kids in a while," said Rebecca Layton, a pediatric wellness and safety expert at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. "Child safety, however, never goes out of style. It is something parents and family members should always keep in mind when selecting gifts for youngsters."

When selecting gifts this holiday season, be sure to:

Layton adds that riding toys should not be used near stairs, traffic or swimming pools, and that parents can use the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper to identify small toy parts that are potential choking hazards. "Small children should not play with anything that can fit into one of these cylinders."

A Gift is Not Complete Unless Proper Protective Gear is Included

Bicycles, skates, scooters and skateboards are popular gifts for the holidays, but if children lack the proper protective gear or skills, injury and death can occur.

To keep kids safe whenever they "wheel" around, be sure to:

Kids sometimes are reluctant to wear protective gear, insisting that they are good riders or complain that none of their friends wear them. But Layton urges parents to resist that temptation, and notes "requiring children to wear a helmet every time, everywhere they go, is the best thing you can do to protect them."

Source: St. Joseph's Children's Hospital
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG AEX: PHIA) today introduced DoseWise Portal 2.2, a next generation radiation dose management software platform for healthcare providers to record, track and analyze radiation exposure to patients and clinicians.The latest version of DoseWise Portal includes enhanced connectivity and informatics capabilities to address key challenges faced by radiology departments, such as managing dose exposure to ensure patient and staff wellbeing and improving integrated access to patient information to deliverdata-driven decision support. Radiation dose management and safety are growing concerns as clinicians and health systems comply with new Joint Commission standards related to CT imaging protocols and dose optimization. Additionally, the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) payment program, MACRA,includes dose management-related requirements clinicians must follow for more accurate and completereimbursement.

At this years Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, Philips will demonstrate DoseWise Portal 2.2, highlighting its new capabilities, including integration with Philips IntelliBridge Enterprisefor HL7 functionality and IntelliSpace PACS. Collectively, these new features enable clinicians to access more patient information, helping them to moreeasily interpret patient radiation dose per exam across modalities and analyze overall cumulative exposure.

Philips DoseWise Portal 2.2 integrates with key Philips health IT systems as well as third-party radiology dictation software to provide radiologists with greater patient information access and data capture for more informed decisionsupport about dose management. DoseWise Portal 2.2 is now integrated with:

IntelliSpace PACS  Users may view the patients exam radiation exposure directly from the PACS image, or by retrieving the patients total radiation exposure exam history from the modality worklist.

 Users may view the patients exam radiation exposure directly from the PACS image, or by retrieving the patients total radiation exposure exam history from the modality worklist. IntelliBridge Enterprise  Allowsusers to query/retrieve crucial updated patient demographics from the hospitals EMR, such as body mass index(BMI) weight and age, for use with the DoseWise Portal.

 Allowsusers to query/retrieve crucial updated patient demographics from the hospitals EMR, such as body mass index(BMI) weight and age, for use with the DoseWise Portal. Leading radiology dictation software  Enables patient radiation exposure to be populated into dictation reports, saving time and helping to reduce transcription errors.

This next generation of DoseWisePortal provide clinicians with a full picture of the patients exposure history within that institution, for enhanced decision support to ensure proper dose optimization and justification for exam ordering is accomplished right the first time,said Dominic Siewko, radiation health and safety officer, Philips. Philips is committed to providing industry-leading technology and informatics solutions for radiation dose management. The new features in DoseWise Portal promote a culture of safety in the radiology department while allowing clinicians to tap into deep analytics and actionable insights from radiation exposure data.

New Integrations Enable Improved Decision-Support and Reporting

DoseWise 2.2 is a multi-vendor and multi-modality solution that collects patient radiation dose data from X-ray modalities and allows for enhanced customer data analysis. In addition to expanded integration with Philips IntelliSpace PACS, IntelliBridge Enterpriseand vendor neutral third-party radiology dictation software, DoseWise Portal 2.2 also includes:

Expanded connectivity to Philips DoseAware products Compatibility with DoseAware and DoseAwareXtendcombines patient and staff dose information into a single display for deep analytics of radiation exposure. The entire family of DoseAware products arenow compatible with DoseWise Portal.

Compatibility with DoseAware and DoseAwareXtendcombines patient and staff dose information into a single display for deep analytics of radiation exposure. The entire family of DoseAware products arenow compatible with DoseWise Portal. Customized user-friendlyAnalytics Package Intuitive user interface and enhanced Chart Builder charting and graphing functionality simplifies reporting needs and includes a customizable dashboard and popular reporting formats.

Philips is showcasing DoseWise Portal 2.2at RSNA 2016 at booth #6735 in Hall B at McCormick Place.
News18  Blogs  India

When Manmohan Singhs Silence Became his Most Potent Weapon

Former PM Manmohan Singh addresses Rajya Sabha on Thursday. (TV grab)

In office Manmohan Singh was lampooned for his silence even as his government fell apart. But on Thursday he used his silence and brevity to devastating effect as, in a rare parliamentary intervention, the silent ex-PM delivered what is easily the most stinging criticism of demonetization and its implementation.



For once, his trademark soft delivery, often the butt of jokes, became his Brahmasthra as line after line tore apart the demonetization drive of the Narendra Modi government. For a Parliament ordinarily used to competitive displays of lung power, the softness of Singhs delivery was a refreshing change in norm. And it also helped that the words were coming from someone who was an internationally renowned economist before he became a politician.



Singh chose his arguments carefully, but his rhetoric was stronger than any statement we have seen so far from the Opposition  either inside Parliament or outside. It is highly likely that organised loot and legalised plunder, would be the words that will rankle among the Opposition benches as they go about amping up their protests against demonetization. There is a nationwide Aakrosh Day coming up on Monday, you will hear MMS words echo there.



While Singh desisted from making his attack personal, he hit where it hurts: RBI, the Finance Ministry and PMO. One of Indias most celebrated RBI governors himself, Singh said the central bank, the Finance Minister, and the PMO stood exposed after its frantic effort to improvise on a daily basis.



From his experience in office as finance minister, he was unsparing in his attack on the RBI, accusing the central bank of having exposed itself to the criticism. Of reviewing policies on a daily basis, of being thoroughly underprepared for the transition.



And he put a figure to it all: 2%, giving ammunition to the Opposition benches scrambling to combat the government narrative of building a national vs anti-national binary in the demonetization debate.



In fact, that could be an important takeaway from Manmohans speech today. He has managed to drag the debate back from national vs anti-national to the consequences and ramifications of giving such a sudden jolt to the economy.



During his short speech, Singh played many parts. At first the statesman. Backing Narendra Modi in his effort to weed out terror. Then a subtle digress, donning the role of a politician, reminding the successor of the distress that can befall on people especially the poor in the next fifty days.



Manmohan Singh then fixed the blame in terms of numbers: the loss of lives caused by the demonitisation. That is now part of the parliament record: 60-65 people have lost their lives due to the monumental mismanagement.



The unkindest cut of all, came in the way of accusing the ruling dispensation of having presided over an "an organised loot and legalised plunder". That was the political attack, the former PM made, without taking names, without personally attacking PM Modi, laying the ground for a JPC by the speaker which would follow him.



And finally, as he wound up his rare intervention, he asked the PM to help find practical ways to provide relief to people.



In other words, the buck, Singh told his successor, stops with the head of the political executive.






Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday fixed December 5 as the date for pronouncing the judgement on a petition challenging the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.



Justice Vikram Nath passed the order after arguments from petitioner Ajay Rai as well as the respondent concluded.



The court also granted time to both parties till December 1 for filing any further written submissions.



Rai, who is a sitting Congress MLA from Pindra assembly segment of Uttar Pradesh, was the party's candidate from Varanasi in the 2014 general elections.



He has challenged the election of Modi on a number of grounds including alleged discrepancies in his nomination papers, expenditure on election campaign and use of religious sentiments for garnering votes.



The contentions made by Rai have been strongly repudiated by Modi's team of counsels led by Satya Pal Jain, a BJP leader and Additional Solicitor General of India. Jain had argued that the petition was "not maintainable" and prayed for dismissing the same "in limine".



The team of lawyers arguing on behalf of Rai was led by senior high court advocate Umesh Narain Sharma, who is a former head of the legal cell of the Congress party's state unit.
Wang Guoqiang, China's vice minister of National Health and Family Planning Commission and commissioner of the State Administration of Chinese Traditional Medicine, delivers a speech during the Chinese Medicine Development Forum at the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai, Nov. 23, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua)

Wang Guoqiang, China's vice minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission and commissioner of the State Administration of Chinese Traditional Medicine, introduced China's TCM development at the Chinese Medicine Development Forum at the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai on Nov. 23. In his keynote speech, Wang outlined a proposal for the joint development of TCM.

According to Wang, China attaches great importance to the development of traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese government has established a TCM service system covering the whole nation, launched preventative TCM treatment programs, carried out TCM promotion activities and published a series of TCM guidelines.

China has raised the development of TCM to the national level. The outline of the Healthy China 2030 plan, published in October of this year, states three clear goals related to traditional Chinese medicine: improving the capacity of TCM, developing preventative and standard health services based on TCM principles, and promoting the preservation and innovation of TCM.

Wang pointed out that TCM boasts advantages spanning health, economics, technology, culture and ecology. Furthermore, TCM is not only a resource for China, it is also China's contribution to humanity. For instance, the discovery of Artemesinin by Chinese scientist Tu Youyou has greatly reduced the mortality rate for malaria patients worldwide.

The vision and actions plan for the Belt and Road Initiative, which was unveiled in March 2015, states: "We will expand cooperation on traditional medicine." Currently, TCM has spread to 183 countries and regions around the world. Statistics from WHO show that acupuncture and moxibustion have been embraced by 103 member countries, and there are over 80,000 TCM institutions worldwide. China has signed 86 specialized TCM cooperative agreements, providing a solid platform for bilateral communication and cooperation.

Wang introduced a three-point proposal to develop TCM. Firstly, he suggested giving full play to TCM in promoting health, pushing the integration of TCM into the national health system, exploring the essence of traditional medicine in each country, and realizing creative transformation and development. Secondly, Wang said China should carry out exchanges and cooperation in traditional medical science. Thirdly, China should promote the formulation of international criteria for traditional medicine.

"We will strengthen the development of TCM and promote its modernization and internationalization," Wang promised in an interview with People's Daily Online.
New Delhi: After days of confrontation between government and opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reached out to the rival parties as he walked across in the Rajya Sabha and exchanged pleasantries with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and other leaders of Congress as well as JD (U), NCP and DMK.



Modi, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in tow, made the gesture when the Upper House went into lunch break amid a debate on demonetisation.



The Prime Minister shook hands and was seen chatting with Singh, as also Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.



Modi also chatted with JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, Praful Patel of NCP and DMK's Kanimozhi and some other leaders.



Earlier, Singh attacked the Government over demonetisation, saying it was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."



Singh said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent.



The opposition had been stalling the House over the last five days, targeting the Prime Minister and demanding his presence in the House for resumption of debate on demonetisation, which had begun on November 16.








Gurugram: Amid raging debates over demonetisation, black money and a withdrawal limit of Rs 2.5 lakh for weddings, a man in Gurugram has arranged a "helicopter palanquin" to bring home his wife on Thursday.



The groom -- Vinod Vats, 25 -- is slated to bring his wife Lalita in a helicopter that would double up as palanquin. He got permission from the authorities to fly and land the private chopper in Gurugram's jurisdiction.



Vinod's father, Babu Lal Vats, who works with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), had planned his youngest son's (Vinod) marriage in a different manner. He is a resident of Dundahera in Gurugram.



Vinod Vats works with the accounts department of a private firm in Bhiwadi in Rajasthan.



Sharing his views on demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, Vinod told IANS: "I am very much happy with the demonetisation step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will surely help common people and country in the future."



He said "though people have been facing problems to get cash but scraping high-value currency is a historic decision which was much needed, it will be proved strong action against fake and black money".



"We are four brothers and I am the youngest, my father wishes to make my wedding memorable and our family decided to hire a helicopter," the groom said.



The baraat (procession) will depart for the bride's village of Aklimpur near Badshahpur, around 20 km from Dundahera, late Wednesday evening, with the groom riding an SUV Range Rover.



"The helicopter of a private company has been booked for at least two hours on November 24 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and rental amount of over Rs 2 lakh has been paid by cheque," the groom's friend Pawan Kumar told IANS.



A makeshift helipad has been built in the government school ground in Aklimpur and the chopper will land in Sector 21 near Palam Vihar with the newly-married couple.








It's 1978 redux for most of the tribal states of the North East. When independent Indias first demonetisation was done by the Morarji Desai government, black money hoarders rushed to these tribal states whose citizens are exempt from paying income tax. Overnight, banks in small towns of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and certain areas of Tripura saw huge number of demonetised high value notes being deposited in the accounts of the poor or lower middle class tribal people. It was later discovered that the money was returned to the non-tribal businessmen, after taking a modest cut.



In various corners of the North East, where citizens are exempt from paying income tax, the story is repeating itself. As per section 10(26) of the Income Tax Act, a member of a Scheduled Tribe residing in any area specified in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution  which covers autonomous administrative areas like Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and Bodoland Territorial Area District in Assam, and the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo hills in Meghalaya  or the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, is exempted from paying tax on any income that accrues from any source in the concerned area or state.



The income tax probe into the Rs 3.5 crore recovered from a chartered flight in Dimapur revealed over Rs 11 crore has already been taken from an obscure Hissar air field in Haryana allegedly to the account of Anato Zhimoni, who is a son of a former MP and son-in-law of the three time Nagaland Chief Minister and current Lok Sabha MP from Nagaland Neiphiu Rio. It was later found out that Anato was supposed to have transferred the same money via bank transfer.



And this is no individual case. In any small town in Nagaland, Meghalaya or Arunachal, there is a strong buzz about the money coming in. In some of the towns of Nagaland like Tuensang and Phek, cash to the tune of hundreds of crore has been deposited in the accounts of the tribal citizens.



Sources say a detailed situation would emerge only post December, when the deposits are brought to light. The situation is such that the Finance commissioner of Arunachal Pradesh has sent out a strong circular saying it is 'abundantly clear that some people are using other people's bank accounts to convert their black money into new denominations for which certain rewards are also being given to the account holdersif it is established that the amount deposited in the account was not of the account holder but somebody else's, such person is liable for prosecution for abetment of tax evasion under IT Act.



"A lot of cash is coming in from places like Delhi, Jaipur and Surat in SUVs, flights and even chartered plane," says a source close to a businessman in Dimapur.



CISF has been put on high alert for all the airports and air strips which fall in, or are close to these tax havens. Some airport authorities, on condition of anonymity, say cash is often brought in on routine flights and not just chartered flights. The security loopholes of these small airports are then used by them to ferry the money to the desired bank accounts.



There is a spike in deposits in the tourist destination of Sikkim as well. Money here is generally brought in by business contacts of locals, who often help them in running their tourist lodges and hotels.



A press release of the Sikkim government says Sikkim Govt Cautions 'Sikkimese' (Income Tax Exempted Citizens) not to entertain cash or park cash of 'Non 'Sikkimese' in 'Sikkimese' bank account this will lead to offence and central govt has strongly imposed strict action. Black money hoarders could misuse such bank accounts.



When Prime Minister Modi demonetised Rs 500 & Rs 1000 currency notes, it was widely believed that black money hoarders have been rendered handicapped. But instead it seems it is ache din for accountants who have suddenly remembered the oft forgotten brothers and sisters of the North East.
Melbourne: An Indian evangelist who claimed that "Hindu extremists" in India were threatening to kill him would be deported by New Zealand which has twice rejected his asylum plea, a media report said on Thursday.



The Christian evangelist, identified only by his initials BD, was arrested and imprisoned in 2012 for overstaying his visa in New Zealand.



He has been fighting his deportation order on humanitarian grounds ever since and his first claim for refugee status was rejected by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal in 2015.



The man, in his 40s, will be deported from New Zealand despite claiming Hindu extremists in his homeland were threatening to kill him, stuff.Co.Nz reported.



However, he made a subsequent claim on the basis that a stint in jail had strengthened his Christian faith so much that the preaching he would be compelled to do when back in India would put his life in danger, it said.



In a decision released this week, Justice Peters said the man had initially been rejected as a refugee because his risk of danger would be low if he returned to India.



Justice Peters noted "whether or not (the man's) faith has intensified" did not increase his risk of attack, because he was already a well-known evangeliser.



The judgement stemmed from the fact that BD had already "completed many years of work as a religious worker and undertaken paid work as an evangelist in India".



Hindu and Christian leaders in Auckland's Indian community, however, labelled BD's religious claims a "baseless" excuse to remain in the country.



Ilamgo Krishna Moorthy, the president of the New Zealand Hindu Temple Association, said "a lot of evangelists" visited India regularly and the man would not be stopped.
Chennai: A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court, seeking blanket ban on registration of unapproved layouts/plots in Puducherry.



Following a similar PIL the court had, in September, granted a blanket ban on registration of unapproved plots.



According to the PIL, realtors in Puducherry were converting the agricultural lands into plots. Many buildings were constructed on agricultural lands and Coastal Regulatory Zones in violation of provisions of the Pondicherry Town and Country Planning Act.



If it continued, agricultural land would be reduced to 20 per cent within three years resulting in considerable reduction in the production of agricultural products.



It also sought to restrain authorities from granting any layout approval in the agricultural land and granting permission to construct buildings.



Senior counsel for Puducherry government said in view of the observations of the court in similar matters pertaining to Tamil Nadu and The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a legislation was "already in contemplation to deal with the subject matters sought to be raised in the present petition, for which about two weeks time may be granted."



A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R.Mahadevan, ordered notice to the Puducherry government and posted the matter on January 3.


As Central government puts curbs on exchange of Rs 1000 and 500 notes at banks and allowed only Rs 500 notes for essentials till December 15, here are some of the things you can do with your old Rs 500 notes.





*Petrol Pumps to accept old Rs 500 notes till December 15



*Govt Hospitals to accept old Rs 500 notes till December 15



*Payment of School Fees Upto Rs 2000 allowed in Central Schools, State Govt Schools, Municipalities and local body schools



*Purchases at Consumer Cooperative Stores limited to Rs. 5000



*Toll payment at toll plazas may be made through old Rs 500 notes till December 15.



*Current payments and arrears for utilities using Rs 500 old notes limited to only water and electricity.



* Rs 500 notes can also be deposited in bank and post office savings accounts



The only thing that can be done with old Rs 1000 notes - deposit them in bank or post office savings accounts
Image: Yogen Shah

Image: Yogen Shah

Image: Yogen Shah

Image: Yogen Shah

: Ahead of the worldwide release of Befikre on December 9, Yash Raj Films along with Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, co-hosted a soiree to celebrate film along with leading star-cast Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor.Extensively shot in Paris as well as in Cannes and Picardie, Befikre is steeped in the Parisian spirit of romance and celebrates sensual, carefree love.Under the vision of Aditya Chopra, Paris becomes synonymous with Befikre's contemporary love story. Keeping up with pace, the Residence of France came alive with the spirit of the film as the vibrant evening saw Ranveer Singh and Vaani giving a scintillating performance to the film's song, Khulke Dulke.The duo, dressed in exquisitely designed DIVA'NI couture, also sashayed down the ramp for the launch of The Ivory Kiss, Spring-Summer 2017 couture collection of DIVA'NI, which designed the actors' costumes for the film also.Commending the film, Ziegler said: "I'm thrilled to host a soiree to celebrate Befikre in the presence of talented stars, Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, and congratulate them warmly for their performance."'Befikre' makes the most of the stunning locales offered by France, highlighting why, year after year, it's the world's top tourist destination as well as a favourite for romantic holidays and film shoots. I'm delighted that 'Befikre' was shot almost entirely in France and availed of the French Film Commission's excellent incentives. I wish to extend an invitation to Indian film makers to come and shoot their films in France."Speaking on the occasion, Sanya Dhir, creative director, DIVA'NI said: "It's surreal how things just come together and make perfect sense. The inspiration came through while we were in Paris shooting for 'Befikre'.""We wanted to bring in the opulence, our love for Paris, the rooted Indian craftsmanship sprinkled with carefree joys of love and life. This collection is for the young at heart, bold in mind and for the ones who know how to live life carefree!"
(Photo: News18.com/Mugdha Kapoor Safaya)

(Photo: News18.com/Mugdha Kapoor Safaya)

(Photo: Yogen Shah)

As Ranveer Singh and Vani Kapoor fans wait for their upcoming film Befikre to release on December 9, the stars were in the national capital on Wednesday for the launch of the movie's new wedding song Khulke Dulke.Although the song was launched at the Delhi Law Faculty in the day, Yash Raj Films along with Alexandre Ziegler, the French Ambassador to India, co-hosted a soiree to celebrate the film along with Singh and Kapoor, at the French Embassy in New Delhi.The evening which began with a fashion show - The Ivory Kiss, Spring-Summer 2017 couture collection by DIVA'NI - ended with a fabulous, high energy performance by Ranveer and Vaani to the film's bhangra number Khulke Dulke.Towards the end of the evening, both Ranveer and Vaani, who were slaying in their ethnic attires, interacted with the media."It is (Befikre) reflective of the times I would say. There has been a generational shift at how the youth today looks upon at romantic relationships and I think the film is a representative of that," said Singh when asked if his upcoming film was progressive like YRF's Lamhe which recently completed 25 years. He added that Lamhe was in fact one of his favourite romances of all time before breaking into the movie's song Kabhi Main Kahu.On being asked how was it like being directed by Aditya Chopra, Singh said, "He is one of the most fascinating people I have ever collaborated with in my life. What a creative mind! I really hope and pray to God that he directs more often and directs like 2 films in a year and I am the leading man in all of them and that all of them are shot in Paris."And because to the two danced to the film's new wedding track, a question on what kind of wedding would Ranveer like to have was a must."It would be like a non-stop party. I would like people to just have a blast. I just want people to have a blast. I would like to have my wedding on an island, if I can afford it by then. I would like to have trance party where everybody is tripping out," said Singh.He added that apart from Paris if he had to choose a city to propose to his lady love then it would be Mumbai, "because home is where the heart is."Extensively shot in Paris as well as in Cannes and Picardie, Befikre is steeped in the Parisian spirit of romance and celebrates sensual, carefree love.With input from IANS.
New Delhi: Ranveer Singh has always been open about his desire to get married at some point in life and the actor says he would like to tie the knot at an island with all his loved ones around having a blast.



The 31-year-old actor, who along with his Befikre co-star Vaani Kapoor launched the Bhangra wedding song, Khulke Dulke, from the film yesterday, said he just wants his marriage to be a non-stop party.



"My wedding would be like a non-stop party. I just want people to have a blast. I would like to have my wedding on an island, if I can afford it by then. I would like to have trance party where everybody is tripping out," Ranveer told reporters.



The lead pair of the film walked the ramp last night at the Embassy of France here for DIVA'NI, India's first cinema inspired fashion brand.

The Spring/Summer 2017 collection was all about the free spirit of dressing effortlessly in stylish ensembles that suit the carefree yet elegant bride and groom. Ranveer and Vaani walked the ramp in golden and beige outfit teamed with golden and white sneakers. The actors are sporting the same ensemble in the song which has been shot at Parisian monument, Sacre Coeur.



Befikre is a romantic-comedy directed by Aditya Chopra and Ranveer said working in a romantic movie is way more difficult than a period film. "One would imagine that a film like Befikre which is a breezy romantic comedy would be easy. But taking from what one of my colleagues said recently, sometimes these films are even more difficult.



"Sometimes, in period films where you have distinctive characters and all their traits are there for you, it is easy to get into those characters. Here (romantic film) you got to put in your own personality and hope that it is good enough to engage people," he said.



Befikre will hit the theatres on December 9.
New Delhi: With reports of surge in deposits in Jan Dhan accounts with as much as Rs 21,000 crore being parked in them following demonetisation, Congress on Thursday sought a CAG probe into the entire issue saying the country is being taken for a ride.



"This whole Jan Dhan business, I have always believed from Day 1, that there is more to it than meets the eye. We hope the CAG will do a quick inquiry into this whole Jan Dhan issue," Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said.



He said, "the entire country is being taken for a ride on the Jan Dhan issue."



Jan Dhan Accounts have seen a huge surge in deposits, with Rs 21,000 crore being parked in such accounts following demonetisation announced earlier this month, with maximum being in West Bengal and followed by Congress-ruled Karnataka.



In the last 13 days, banks have been flooded with deposits in Jan Dhan accounts that have touched Rs 21,000 crore, sources said.



On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a surprise move announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and since then, long queues before banks and post offices are seen to deposit or exchange these currencies.



Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal leads the pack of states which has seen the highest deposits so far followed by Karnataka.



Following the currency withdrawal, the total balance has crossed Rs 65,000 crore to Rs 66,636 crore. As of November 9, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.



With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) was launched on August 28, 2014.



Such accounts have a deposit limit of Rs 50,000.
(Xinhua) 16:23, November 24, 2016

Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visits to Ecuador, Peru and Chile and his attendance at the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting have promoted Asia-Pacific cooperation and China-Latin America relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

The week-long tour, during which Xi met with foreign leaders and representatives from different walks of life in the three countries, and attended a string of bilateral and multilateral meetings and activities, has produced impressive results, said Wang.

At the APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, Xi put forward a series of key initiatives, injecting impetus to cooperation in the Asia-Pacific as well as the development of the global economy, said Wang.

The Chinese president highlighted at the meeting that economic globalization is an irresistible trend, calling for the promotion of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and opposition to protectionism of all forms, Wang said.

On the building of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which was launched at the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing, Xi urged all parties to stick to the agenda and take more effective actions to realize FTAAP at an early date.

The Chinese president also underlined APEC's role as a pioneer and champion of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large, and called on APEC members to leverage the Asia-Pacific's role as a growth engine and work for an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy, the Chinese foreign minister said.

Xi's proposals, which contributed Chinese wisdom to the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, demonstrated China's image as a responsible major player and its key role in calming people, boosting confidence and building consensus, he added.

While addressing the Peruvian Congress, Xi expounded Chinese policies on Latin America in a comprehensive way and encouraged the two countries to look at their relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, said Wang.

Xi proposed that China and Latin America and the Caribbean hold high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation, seek synergy of their development strategies, speed up and upgrade practical cooperation and bring benefits to their peoples. His proposal specified the path toward building a China-Latin America community of common destiny and opened up broader prospects for the development of China-Latin America ties, said Wang.

Wang believed that Xi's attendance at the closing ceremony of the China-Latin America year of cultural exchanges and a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives helped encourage the deepening of cultural dialogues and media exchanges between the two sides.

The Chinese foreign minister noted that Ecuador, Peru and Chile, all at a crucial stage of development, have strong aspirations for deepening their ties with China. Xi's visits, his first to the countries in the capacity of head of state, have become a historic event in China-Latin America relations, he said.

Important consensus on enhancing political mutual trust and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation has been reached between Xi and the leaders of the three Latin American countries, which opened up a new development stage in bilateral relations, Wang said.

China-Ecuador and China-Chile relations have been lifted to comprehensive strategic partnerships during Xi's visits, sending a strong signal that the countries would deepen mutual trust and join hands for cooperation, said Wang.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Peru diplomatic relations and the heads of state of the two countries exchanged visits within three months, which showed the high level of comprehensive strategic partnership, said Wang.

The Chinese and Peruvian presidents have also signed an inter-governmental action plan for cooperation between 2016 and 2021, which echoed a joint communique issued in September on deepening China-Peru comprehensive strategic partnership and served as guidance for the development of bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation in the next stage, Wang added.
As the government and Opposition stick to their well entrenched positions on Demonetisation, the deadlock continues in the Parliament over the issue.



To break the ice on the issue, the treasury benches have offered talks to the Opposition. While the Opposition has fielded economist like Manmohan Singh to puncture holes in the governments note ban theory.



Here are some of the likely strategies of the government and Opposition to break the Parliament logjam.



Strategy of The Treasury Benches

- Offer talks with opposition to resolve the logjam.



- Use oppositions refusal to debate under Rule 193 for sending message that those protesting arent serious about resolving the issue.



- PM by attending both LS & RS, aims to send a message that govt. is listening to oppositions grievances.



- By delaying PMs reply govt. buying time for queues to shorten at banks and chinks in opposition ranks exposed.



- Use oppositions call for a rollback as a tool to attack them terming rivals are supporting black money hoarders.



- Take the battle in public by directly taking their opinion on note ban and through PMs appeals.



- With state polls round the corner, govt. wants to stick with its decision as it believes people are generally supportive of its move.



- Govt. waiting till opposition Bharat bandh, expecting it will turn out to be a flop show.



Strategy of The Opposition Benches



- Field a credible and economist face like Manmohan Singh to puncture govts claims on note ban.



- Linger the protests till Nov 28, the day opposition has called for Bharat bandh or 'Akrosh Diwas'.



- Keep the note ban pot boiling till UP, Punjab polls to leverage public inconvenience for poll gains.



- With West Bengal in safely in her kitty, Mamata wants to use the issue as an opportunity for her national ambition.
EU antitrust regulators are set to give conditional clearance to Microsoft's $26 billion takeover of professional social network LinkedIn, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.



As part of the EU approval, the US software company will make some minor changes to concessions submitted last week following feedback from rivals and customers, the people said.
Taiwan-based HTC Corporation on November 24 launched the Desire 10 Pro at Rs 26,490 in India that comes packed with 'selfie panorama' mode for capturing wide-angle photos.



The Desire 10 Pro and Desire 10 Lifestyle were announced together, but the latter was launched in September. With this launch, HTC has fired up the mid-range smartphone segment in India.

The smartphone will be available in retail outlets by mid-December.



"Desire 10 Pro is inspired by many of the same innovations that have made the flagship HTC 10 so popular, making it the most brilliant 'Desire' ever," Faisal Siddiqui, President, South Asia, HTC, told reporters in New Delhi.



The Desire 10 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch-inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass and is powered by the octa core MediaTek MT6755 processor clocked at 1.8GHz.



The smartphone has a 20MP laser auto-focus rear camera and a 13MP front camera. The phone also packs in HTC BoomSound and runs on HTC's Sense UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.



Also, the device is equipped with 4GB of RAM, 64 gigs of internal storage (which is also expandable via microSD) and a non-removable 3,000mAh battery.
In the shadows of Samsung Electronics' Note 7 smartphone crisis, affiliate Samsung SDI is quietly reassuring anxious clients including Apple Inc that its batteries are safe.



But potential new customers may prove harder to convince as Samsung's biggest in-house parts supplier grapples with the reputational fallout from the Note 7 debacle.



Created as a joint venture with Japan's NEC to make vacuum tubes in 1970, Samsung SDI's TV and smartphone screens and batteries were key to Samsung Electronics' rapid growth.



But it now faces a tougher challenge than its biggest customer and shareholder as it looks to add new customers and extend into electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage systems.



Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of smartphones, was quick to blame the battery for causing some Note 7 devices to catch fire. It has since widened its investigation into the exact cause of the fires in its near-900,000 won ($780) phones after replacement phones using batteries from China's Amperex Technology also caught fire. But for Samsung SDI the damage was already done, analysts said.



SDI, the main supplier of Note 7 batteries, has lost around a fifth of its market value since the problem first emerged, and its third-quarter operating loss was more than double that of a year earlier.



Shares of Samsung Electronics, however, are little changed over the same period, and a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll on Sunday showed the Note 7 recall has had little impact on the willingness of users in the United States to buy the company's phones.



"Since the first recall, we've had many inquiries from our clients, including Apple, asking whether batteries used in their products are safe," said a person at SDI who was involved in developing the Note 7 battery.



"We are also asking ourselves whether we should have done it (the Note 7 battery) this way, or whether there could have been other ways," the person said, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.



LASTING IMPACT?



SDI has said the battery issue was limited to the Note 7, and it has carried out reliability checks on products with major customers and found no problems. It has set up teams to improve product safety, and allowed customers to check batteries, which, it says, meant temporary shipment delays for a couple of customers.



"We put the utmost priority on battery reliability, and will use this opportunity to further enhance customer trust," Kim Hong-gyeong, SDI's chief financial officer, said on a conference call with analysts.



Some analysts say the impact could be lasting for SDI.



"The affected (Note 7) battery is totally different to the product we use so the issue doesn't really impact us," said an official at one of SDI's automotive customers. "But we're not happy," the person added, declining to say whether that may change its relationship with SDI.



SDI, which has around a 25 percent market share in small device batteries according to market research firm B3, is already battling a slowing smartphone market, and its diversification push hasn't been helped by a failure to win Chinese certification for subsidies on its electric vehicle batteries in the world's biggest autos market.



CLOSE TIES



Close ties to Samsung Electronics have helped SDI build scale and reputation, and secure orders from the likes of Apple. Close to a third of its revenue in the first half year came from other Samsung companies.



For Samsung Electronics, having in-house suppliers helped it beat rivals to cutting-edge technologies - from curved screens to faster chips and higher-density batteries.



But the Note 7 crisis has raised doubts about whether that in-house supply chain can handle the growing strains on capacity as Samsung Electronics transitions from fast-follower to trend-setter.



Calling the Note 7 problem "very embarrassing," a second person at SDI said: "It's a matter of our capability ... We thought we had control (over all aspects of manufacturing), but it turned out there were some aspects we weren't able to govern."



SDI had to incorporate new materials and technology to meet Samsung's request for bigger battery capacity for the Note 7, which increased by a sixth from the previous model, the SDI insiders told Reuters.



"We focused on boosting battery capacity, but this could have been disadvantageous to reliability," said the engineer who worked on the Note 7 battery.

Samsung Electronics said its focus is on looking at all possibilities to find the root cause of the Note 7 problem.
Washington: Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties.



During a brutal election campaign, where Trump's rhetoric on foreign partners was overwhelmingly negative, he was largely positive about India, or at least its Hindu majority, and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



When he courted Indian-American voters at a rally in New Jersey in mid-October, he said, "There won't be any relationship more important to us." He praised Modi, savvy in using social media, as a "great man" for championing bureaucratic reforms and economic growth.



There are other hints that Trump is well-disposed toward India.



He has done a lot of business there. A Washington Post analysis of Trump's pre-election financial disclosure found that of his 111 international business deals, the highest number 16 were in India.



He stirred controversy last week over potential conflicts of interest by meeting with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex in the

city of Pune.



On Wednesday he selected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, to be US ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman tapped for a Cabinet-level post in his administration. Haley has no foreign policy experience.



It remains a matter of conjecture how any of this will shape the approach taken by a Trump administration when he takes office January 20.



But Lisa Curtis at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank said it was "easy to envision" the US and India working closer on counter-terrorism.



India hopes that Trump's promise to fight radical Islamic militants will mean more American pressure on Pakistan and less aid for India's historic archrival. Militants based in Pakistan are accused of launching cross-border attacks inside India.



Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the US, said reactions in India to Trump's election victory have ranged from vocal support from right-wingers to shock and disappointment among the liberal intelligentsia.



US-India relations have advanced under President Barack Obama, particularly since Modi's election in 2014.



When Modi addressed Congress this June, he described the US as an "indispensable partner" and said together they could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.



Staunch US allies like Japan and South Korea, which host American forces and depend on US nuclear deterrence, have been unnerved by Trump's call for nations to shoulder more of the burden for security in Asia.
New Delhi: Lt. General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed, who is likely to be nominated as the new Army chief of Pakistan, seems to have deepened the divide between the countrys civilian and military leaderships.



Seasoned Pakistan watchers in the Indian intelligence establishment quoting sources in ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) told News 18 that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was wary of Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeems straight and blunt approach.



But despite the reservations Ishfaq Nadeem is set to be the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as he enjoys high reputation inside the forces and is the choice of the outgoing chief General Raheel Sharif.



Sharif, a highly popular general within the Pakistani forces and among general public, is set to retire in a few days.



Sources said Nawaz Sharifs favourite was Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lt General Javed Iqbal Ramday. Another option the Pakistani government is toying with is to anoint the senior-most general in the line-up, Lt Gen Zubair Hayat, as COAS and Ishfaq Nadeem as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), a largely ceremonial role.



Chiefs of Army Staff in Pakistan are appointed by the civilian leadership, but the Army has a big role to play in the decision. In 1999 when Nawaz Sharif who was the PM then appointed ISI chief Ziauddin Butt as the COAS dethroning General Pervez Musharraf, it was pre-empted by the larger Army leadership that rallied around Musharraf.



Ishfaq Nadeem is very close to General Raheel Sharif. He is an outstanding professional but politically doesnt suit the top brass because of his straight and blunt approach, a top source told News18.



Ishfaq Nadeem is currently the Multan Corps Commander, one the main strike corps of Pakistani Army formed in 1971 before the Indo-Pak War that led to the liberation of Bangladesh.



Nadeem is also credited with making the blueprint for Zerb-E-Azab  the Armys war against the Pakistani Taliban  as Director-General Military Operations and was appointed Chief of General Staff by Raheel Sharif but later shifted as Multan Corps Commander.



Inspector General (Training and Evaluation) Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is also in the fray.


London: Islamic State terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria may launch devastating chemical attacks in Europe, an inquiry by the UN's global chemical weapons watchdog has warned.



The fleeing terrorists could carry out mustard gas attacks after learning how to use the toxic substance in battle zones, a senior official from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) global chemical weapons warned at a defence conference in Paris this week.



"It seems that one of the dangers that we need to face and have a response for since ISIS has learnt how to make mustard gas is that sadly one of the people who learnt how to do it comes back to one of our countries and helps carry out an attack like this," said Philippe Denier, director at the verification division of the OPCW.



Mustard gas is a powerful irritant that targets the skin, eyes and airways, and can kill in large enough or highly concentrated enough amounts.



Symptoms can take up to 24 hours to appear. The inquiry, conducted last month, found that ISIS had used the weapon on civilians.



After rockets containing traces of mustard gas were used on US troops in northern Iraq in September, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the US Senate's Armed Services Committee that while ISIS' capabilities are currently "rudimentary" the attack was a "concerning development", the Independent reported.



Last month, the European Union's Security Commissioner, Julian King, had warned that the huge military operation to remove ISIS from its last Iraqi stronghold could spark an exodus of fighters back to European countries, increasing the risk of terror attacks.


Crews are working through Thanksgiving to contain a forest fire that has spread through 6,500 acres in Amherst County, according to officials.

The fire, which started in the Mount Pleasant area Saturday afternoon, is now 10 percent contained and more concentrated on the north side of the mountain as of Wednesday night, officials said a public meeting at Central Baptist Church Wednesday.

The church was packed for a second consecutive night as officials from the Virginia Department of Forestry and incident teams updated residents on the operations to fight the blaze.

Smoke continued to drift down from the George Washington National Forest Wednesday. Signs on U.S. 29 warned drivers of low visibility in Amherst and Nelson County, where another brush fire that started Sunday grew to more than 1,000 acres by Wednesday.

From Warrick Barn Road in Amherst County, flames could be seen slowly zigzagging across the mountain top late Wednesday.

Shelly Crook, a fire behavioral expert, told residents numerous deficits in rainfall over the last few months have caused a mild drought in the area, which has not helped with fire conditions.

Crook said there was a chance for some precipitation Wednesday night but was not optimistic.

Its not going to be widespread, Crook said. Its not going to be significant.

Despite lack of rain, crews continue to make significant process in combating the blaze, according to officials.

Derek Keiser, technician specialist for VDOF, said the fire has come closer to structures in the Indian Gap Road area. He said crews have tightened a fire line and are confident it will not breach.

Were really hanging around all this private property and private homes to make sure what we have is going to hold, Keiser said. Im not as nervous as I was Sunday night. I really think today was a good day. We really got a lot of work accomplished.

Keiser reassured residents firefighters are constantly patrolling the lines throughout the day and night to make sure the fire does not jump.

One concern facing officials was non-residents coming up to take pictures in the area.

George Washington and Jefferson National Forests ranger Lauren Stull said crews stopped a group of hikers that were trying to make their way onto the trail system.

We want to remind the public that all of the Mount Pleasant trails are closed, she said.

Stull said two more forest service roads, Cow Camp and Fletcher Mountain Road, were closed Wednesday due to the close proximity.

Amherst County Sheriffs Maj. Betty Wise said the Virginia Department of Transportation is on standby to help with traffic control. Wise said traffic continues to be an issue and the sheriffs office will work with VDOT to close roads in the area.

One problem crews didnt have was lack of support from the community.

Wise said emergency responders were overwhelmed with donations of water and Gatorade. She said they are working to make sure all perishable food donations, such as fruit, reach volunteers as quickly as possible.

Incident commander David Hamilton, of a team from Montana, said four 20-person teams were brought in Wednesday to help. Members came from states such as New York, Michigan, Arizona, California, Hawaii and Alaska.

I think thats kind of unheard of to have, in the middle of November, that many people from across the nation are in your state, Hamilton said.

No residents have been evacuated and no structures have been damaged as of Wednesday night, according to officials.

Another public meeting will be held at Central Baptist Church on 103 Central Church Lane at 7 p.m. Friday.

Meanwhile, the brush fire in Lovingston jumped a fire line VDOF established in efforts to fight it on Wednesday, according to a Facebook post after 7 p.m. Wednesday from Nelson County Emergency Services Coordinator Jaime Miller.

VDOF is trying to re-establish a containment line and crews are working in treacherous conditions, the post said.

Efforts to fight the blaze today will include more back burning with assistance from local volunteer fire departments, Miller wrote in the post.

They are working very hard to protect life and property, Miller wrote.
Empty fish tanks in a market in Beijing.

A number of Beijing residents have lately been complaining that fresh fish is not available at supermarkets in Beijing. Their complaints were prompted by rumors that the fresh fish being sold in Beijing is contaminated. Beijing officials refuted the rumors, saying that the lack of fresh fish at grocery stores is an individual choice made by each store, not a regulation applied to all Beijing supermarkets.

The Beijing Municipal Drug Administration added that it strictly supervises markets - including supermarkets - around the city. Products are removed from shelves in a timely manner if they fail to comply with food safety laws.

The food safety manager of a Wu-Mart store said the supermarket stopped selling fresh fish in May, instead promoting frozen fish, which they think is more favored by their customers. Other supermarkets are also considering whether or not to continue selling fresh fish, primarily because of changes related to suppliers, according to reports.

At stores that have opted out of fresh fish sales, customers insist that the supermarkets inform them of the facts and logic behind that decision, instead of leaving them to blindly guess and panic.
Writer: Trump's no bigot, racist

A column by Leonard Pitts in The News & Advance on Nov. 22 was titled People, its time to stand and be counted. This bitter and hate-filled denunciation of Donald Trump labels our next president a bigot and a misogynist.

The dictionary definition of bigot is One who is strongly partial to ones own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ. Ironically, it is difficult to imagine an individual who more perfectly exemplifies this definition than Leonard Pitts. He sees everything through a lens tinted by racism. For example, by calling Donald Trump a bigot cheered to victory by the Ku Klux Klan, he is obviously impugning him with hatred toward AfricanAmericans. Of course, he chooses to utterly ignore Trumps crystal clear denunciation of this reprehensible organization: David Duke is a bad person, who I disavowed on numerous occasions over the years, Trump said on MSNBCs Morning Joe in March of 2016. I disavowed him. I disavowed the KKK, Trump added. Do you want me to do it again for the 12th time? I disavowed him in the past, I disavow him now. The reason that Pitts ignores this clear denunciation is that it cannot be reconciled with his intolerance of a man whose beliefs differ so sharply from his  from his bigotry, in other words.

After declaring that he is impatient with those who say we must give the new president a chance to lead and hope for success, Pitts asks Is [that] what Donald Trump did when he spent years of questioning the veracity of an ordinary birth certificate? The obvious implication of this question is that Trumps questioning of Obamas birth certificate was motivated by his prejudice against blacks. As always, its a matter of racism with Pitts. His obstinate and racially motivated bigotry blinds him to the possibility that Trumps inquiry into Obamas birth certificate was motivated not by racism but, rather, by a genuine disapprobation of his policies and beliefs in conjunction with genuine doubt about the certificates authenticity. In addition, Pitts conveniently ignores the fact that Trump also raised doubts about the legitimacy of Teds Cruzs American citizenship during the recent primary campaign. This stratagem could not have been motivated by prejudice against blacks, of course, because Ted Cruz is not black.

Like so many of Trumps opponents, Pitts confusion is exposed by his labeling of Trump as a misogynist. The dictionary defines a misogynist as, quite simply, one who hates women. To anyone who engages their brain for even a millisecond it should be perfectly obvious that among the many features of Trumps complex personality, hatred of women is certainly not one of them. Because one is very attracted to a particular group of people hardly means that he hates them. The truth is precisely the opposite; all of the reports of his interaction with women make it very clear that far from hating women, he loves them! He may at times have been too aggressive with some of them, but it surely wasnt because he hated them. Bill Clinton has been guilty of far more serious aggression toward women than Trump, but I dont see any of these Trump haters accusing Slick Willy of being a misogynist. The reason, of course, is that he isnt  and neither is Donald Trump. I want to make it clear that I am not defending Trumps occasional inappropriate advances toward women  if, in fact, there were any. I only wish to point out that labeling such actions as misogynistic is not only entirely inappropriate; it is nonsensical, and any argument that employs it, like that of Leonard Pitts, loses credibility.

In addition to bigot and misogynist, among the many pejorative labels that Pitts attaches to Trump are: fundamentally unsound, unserious, unfit, sexual assaulter, a man who stands for everything America should not and one who foments exclusion, hatred and rage. None of these terms could withstand serious scrutiny. They only serve to reveal the bitter heart of a confused bigot obsessed with hatred of our next president. I understand that The News & Advance is trying to be fair and balance in its reporting of the election results, but in my opinion the vitriol spewed forth from Leonard Pitts does not deserve to be included in the discussion. It tarnishes the papers outstanding reputation.

STEPHEN BARTHOLOMEW JR.

Lynchburg

Thanks to Falwell Jr.

On behalf of the entire Daniel family, I would like to offer our most sincere gratitude for all the support and hard work Jerry Falwell Jr. put forth on helping get Donald J. Trump elected as our new president.

It gives a whole new outlook and hope for this country. It is great to know that Falwell and President-elect Trump love this country and the American people. They both actually want to do for this country and the American people like it should have been done in years past.

WILLIAM DALE DANIEL

Rustburg

Playing by the rules

Just a thought for those who think Hillary Clinton should be president because she won the popular vote.

Keep in mind that both candidates ran their campaigns to maximize their Electoral College votes. If the popular vote total were the deciding factor, they likely would have run totally different campaigns and spent more time in the most populated states like California, New York or Texas. Who knows what those results would have been.

You play by the rules of the time.

RAYMOND KING

Lynchburg
An employee killed Wednesday in an industrial accident at the Georgia-Pacific plant in Big Island was identified as Robert C. Dameron, 44, of Natural Bridge.

Dameron died after falling into a machine, the Bedford County Sheriffs Office said Thursday.

Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Myers previously told The News & Advance the accident occurred in a paper machinery pulping area.

Authorities were alerted of the accident at 8:50 p.m. via a call to Bedford County 911 dispatchers.

According to the Bedford County Sheriffs Office, the Virginia Department of Labor will investigate Damerons death.

Myers told The News & Advance Wednesday the company will conduct an internal investigation.

She said they are working with authorities to determine the cause of the incident.

The paper mill, located off U.S. 501, employs more than 300 workers in Bedford County, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
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.
[File photo]

The ruins of a historic underground chamber in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province are covered by coins and banknotes thrown by well-wishing tourists. Though at first glance uncontroversial, the behavior of those tourists has received a mixed reaction from the public.

The underground chamber  which, according to legend, is where the mythological White Lady Snake was imprisoned  is located at the base of Leifeng Pagoda. Though the site has adopted measures to curb coin-throwing in the past, such as installing protective glass fences or prohibiting the act altogether, tourists continue to throw coins and small bills when they visit the site.

We can hardly stop the airborne coin donations. Our best shot [at doing so] is to put up more signs reminding tourists not to throw money, but even that doesnt help much. Every year we collect coins worth over 20,000 RMB, an employee of the site told Chinanews.cn, adding that sometimes they have to gather the coins on a weekly basis.

From the viewpoint of folklore, Chinese believe the coin donations will bring good fortune and blessings. Though the practice is understandable, it can easily damage the cultural relics, and should be stopped, said Zhong Xiangping, vice director of the Hangzhou History Association.

Coin-throwing has already taken its toll on some cultural sites. A 200-year-old stone tablet in Beijing was left riddled with marks made by flying coins, Beijing News reported in 2015.

Meanwhile, the donation controversy for the underground chamber has garnered over 140,000 page views under the hashtag RuinTurnsIntoCoinMountain, with many criticizing the behavior as uncivilized and ignorant.

Tourists have already damaged cultural relics by throwing coins at them. Coin donation is merely a superstitious practice and should be banned at the sites, wrote one Sina Weibo user.

Others took a decidedly lighter view of the issue.

The sites can collect the money and use it for renovations. You can hire me to collect those coins  I see no reason why you guys keep complaining about it, wrote another commenter.
Competition for jobs

During a walkabout last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley expressed concerns about deportees, but ended by saying the issues was largely out of TT hands and that the country could not turn away its nationals if they returned.

Meanwhile, Wayne Chance, Vision on a Mission head, has sounded warnings that the countrys systems are not geared to having large numbers of deportees landing at Piarco.

Gregory McGuire, though, has told Business Day that criminal returnees may be a much smaller issues than we think.

The university lecturer said contrary to popular belief, the Obama Administration is noted as one logging some of the largest numbers of deportees being returned to their respective countries. What this means is that there has been a steady stream of deportees coming back to TT over this period.

McGuire said those with criminal convictions returning to the country were more likely to be more concerned with re-starting their lives in a new environment rather than engaging in criminal activity. He believed the number that would turn to crime would be minimal and their contribution to current crime rates little more than a small uptick.

According to the First Citizens Investment Services Report, After Trumps victory, the world is left to wonder, 12,840 undocumented Trinbagonians may be living in the US and it says the percentage of these likely to return home is small.

However, the economist said attention should probably be focused on young, degreed professionals and retirees, who may choose to leave a Trump America. Working professionals may find it increasingly difficult to get work in the US. The environment may become hostile to them, said McGuire.

According to him, they may be more likely to return to seek opportunities in TT and, as a result, bring to the fore issues of competition for limited jobs in an environment where unemployment is increasing, as shown by the latest CSO figures.

McGuire also sees an increased number of retirees returning.

The economist said there may be positive economic effects here.

He said retirees, now at the end of their work life, may be in a position to return with valuable foreign exchange, which they may invest in the economy.

This investment can take several forms, including the opening of businesses. They may also be returning with valuable skills they could teach locals.

A drastic reduction in remittances due to an influx of returnees will also not pose a problem to TT.

Unlike Caribbean colleagues Jamaica and Haiti for example, remittances make less than one per cent of TTs GDP, according to McGuire. He said those who send remittances to their families in TT are likely constrained by their economic circumstances to continue to do so.

He said these people are likely to remain in the US.

The economist said this was also the case with unskilled (possibly illegal) labourers, who, if they have not attracted the attention of the authorities, may opt to continue to work in the US.

.
Globally ranked, poised to make TT J international ICT hotspot

The company, which DOliveira describes as a carriers carrier, with clients such as AT&T, Verizon, Digicel and TSTT, boasts of a culture where permission to fail is part of the corporate DNA.

What this means, said DOliveira, is that our people are encouraged to transform the customer experience. They may get it wrong sometimes, but you learn from these mistakes. We look for ways to celebrate when our people get it right and encourage them to try new things. While our competitors are in analysis or paralysis mode, we are always trying new things, fixing it and then moving on. It allows us to keep three, four, five steps in front of the competition. One step CW Business has taken is toward becoming the largest exporter of ICT managed services in the country and possibly, throughout the region.

Over the past couple months, DOliveira said, the company has been moving its network and security operating centres from Columbia to Trinidad.

Initially, we took the decision to move these facilities to Trinidad to serve the English speaking countries, he told Business Day, With the Liberty acquisition and the merger though, we are looking to expand those services to English speaking countries in Europe. DOliveira said the result will be high end jobs for nationals, increased foreign exchange generation through ICT and a reduction in the dependence on oil and gas.

But what are ICT managed services? DOliveira explained that unlike a traditional IT department that had to be staffed, equipped and managed by a company, these functions are outsourced under managed ICT model.

In our model, we own the infrastructure for the hardware and the software. We implement it. We give you everything you need to operate it and we manage it on your behalf. Instead of having to pay upfront fees and capital to acquire IT, we fully had to fund the entire investment and charge the customer a monthly fee for the service. As your needs increase, the costs increase, as your needs decrease, the cost goes down. The CW vice president said the service could be customised to fit the needs of small, medium or large businesses.

Beyond managed ICT services, DOliveira said the company had one of the broadest solutions portfolios throughout the region, covering traditional unified communications such as PBX, video conferencing, messaging collaboration and IT security, connectivity, managed network and digital content distribution solutions.

DOliveira elaborated on this: This is providing information to specific locations at specific points in time, also known as narrowcasting. I may have one site that needs specific information pushed or sent at two oclock. I can push through that information to the end user who needs it. The benefit here was being able to give a group of identified users the info rather than mass distribute it.

In addition to the strength of its corporate culture, CW Business financial strength is one of its key assets said DOliveira, more so with the presence of Liberty Global. He told Business Day that the parent companys plan was to keep investing in CW s managed services business.

T hat continued investment in our infrastructure and our people I think is critical, he said. With us, it is about long term investment, whatever we invest in now is for the next 10 to 20 years, which is really healthy for the business at the end of the day. DOliveira said the success of CWs approach is shown by recognition from leading industry analysts. He said CW has received accolades from Gartner, Frost and Sullivan, IBC Reports and Transparency Research.

Gartner, which is the most noteworthy. said DOliveira, acknowledged that CW is in the top five disaster recovery managed IT services globally. Not regionally. Not in Trinidad. Meanwhile, Frost and Sullivan named CW Company of the Year in 2015.

Gartner looked at the top 100 companies. There was no TSTT. There was no Digicel. There was no Fujitsu. None of these were evaluated. We came in the top five. That to me, is a testament to the deep portfolio that we built, the people around that portfolio, the processes weve put in.

And weve been recognised. he said.
Trumps energy proposals bad news for TT

According to the report which was released last week, Trump, who has indicated he is pro-energy many time during his campaign, will not only open up new sources of domestic oil, but increase investment in shale gas.

The report says, There are over 100 billion barrels of oil lying fallow in US territory  on land and in shallow water, requiring convention drilling rigs.

It goes on to outline Trumps energy plan based on his election platform utterances which include staying independent of energy imports and unleashing Americas US $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil and natural gas reserves. It states that in order to do this Trump will likely incentivize US producers to get the commodities out of the ground.

The report projects that this in the medium term, Trumps policies could see a further increase in energy supplies on the global market and therefore reduced prices.

FCIS projects that as a result of these policies and the fact that Trinidad is losing market share to US companies, we see a further downside for the local industry. Further to this, according to BPs CFO, Trinidads natural gas prices are being sold at a discount in the US.
Radcliffe on Rowling: 'I Needed

to Say Something When I Did'
(Xinhua) 19:26, November 24, 2016

Bilateral relations and cooperation between China and the Philippineshave stepped into a new development period, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Thursday.

Geng made the comments at a daily press conference when briefing reporters on bilateral cooperation on trade and investment as well as in other fields.

The two countries have begun to implement the deals reached during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to China last month.

Representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Agriculture have been despatched to the Philippines to work with their counterparts there, Geng told a daily press briefing.

Achievements have been made in areas of economy and trade, investment, tourism and agriculture, Geng added.

Duterte's state visit to China was in October. It was his first official visit to a foreign country outside the ASEANsince he took office in June.

In their meeting last month, President Xi Jinpingand Duterte agreed that their countries would properly handle differences and achieve full improvement and greater progress in bilateral ties.

The visit by Duterte to Beijing was a marking that bilateral ties and cooperation stepped into a new development period, said Geng.

China and the Philippines possess unique advantages in conducting cooperation on trade and investment, as the two countries are close to each other and compliment each other economically, said Geng.

China supports the efforts made by the people of the Philippines to push economic development under the leadership of Duterte, the spokesperson said.

"We believe cooperation between the two countries will benefit both peoples," Geng said.
(Newser)  The 62-year-old white man who police say gunned down a black teenager Monday in Charleston, West Virginia, may be charged with a federal hate crime, the AP reports. Fifteen-year-old James Means was walking down the street when he bumped into William Pulliam, and the two got into a verbal argument. Pulliam went into a nearby store, but the argument resumed when Pulliam later walked by James and his friends, who were sitting on a porch. James crossed the street to confront Pulliam, and Pulliam shot him twice, police say. According to WCHS, Pulliam claims James had a gun. And the Huffington Post reports Pulliam "felt threatened." But police say the teen was unarmed, according to Metro News.

Police say a remorseless Pulliam confessed to killing James, saying: "The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street." Police say Pulliam got dinner then went to a friend's house after killing James. Police found a gun at Pulliam's friend's house. Pulliam was convicted of domestic violence and can't legally own a gun. One of James' friends describes Pulliam as a "real bad guy" who uses race-based insults. Pulliam was charged with murder Tuesday, and authorities are trying to figure out if the killing qualifies as a federal hate crime. James' family, who remembered him as someone who "could put a smile on anybody's face, no matter the situation," asked the community to practice forgiveness and trust the authorities to get justice for him, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. (Read more hate crime stories.)
(Newser)  Even babies whose heads appear to be of normal size at birth can go on to develop microcephaly, according to new research out of Brazil. Writing in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, scientists say that of the 13 babies they tracked who were born without any outward signs of microcephalybut whose brain scans revealed other abnormalities like decreased brain volume11 went on to develop microcephaly months later. "Among all infants, head growth was documented to have decelerated as early as 5 months of age," per the report. The only remotely good news? Their brain damage was less severe than that of babies born with microcephaly, and the researchers noted the babies seemed more capable of interacting socially, as evidenced by smiles and eye contact.

Unfortunately the infants' problems were still serious, including epilepsy and difficulty eating, reports New York magazine. "We were worried, but now that we've started following those cases, we are very sad," one doctor tells the New York Times. "The picture is really terrible." The researchers suggest three potential reasons for the post-birth decrease in head growth: that it might be "the consequence of earlier in utero destruction" of cells related to brain growth, an immune system response to the original infection, or continued infection of neural cells, though "the last seems less likely" as tests on seven babies showed no active Zika virus. (Dozens of pregnant women in Florida have tested positive for Zika.)
(Newser)  A 29-year-old Wayne State University police officer who was shot in the head Tuesday night died Wednesday evening, WDIV reports. "This is a tragedy felt by all of usCollin and his family and friends, his fiancee, and our campus and community," the Detroit Free Press quotes Wayne State president M. Roy Wilson as saying in a statement. Collin Rose is the first Wayne State officer to be killed in the line of duty. He was patrolling a neighborhood near the Detroit campus with his two police dogs when he stopped a man on a bicycle. It's unclear why Rose stopped the man, though a resident had called 911 about him earlier. According to CNN, Rose called for backup, which arrived to find him with a gunshot to the head.

It's unclear exactly what happened during the shooting, and the gun used to shoot Rose still hasn't been found. Police quickly arrested a suspect who has yet to be charged. The suspect is a homeless man and regular in the area who pleaded guilty to assaulting an officer back in 2011. Rose had been on life support since surgery Tuesday. His family was with him when he died. Rose was one credit away from getting his master's degree and was supposed to get married next October. His police chief says he was an "outstanding, proactive officer." Rose was the fifth officer shot in the US in less than a week. (Read more Wayne State University stories.)
(Newser)  We likely now know the exact location of the first Pilgrim settlement in the New Worldthanks, in part, to a cow named Constance. The Boston Globe reports it's long been known that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, but it was never clear exactly where they built their settlement. Archaeologists from the University of Massachusetts Boston had been digging at a place called Burial Hilla place believed to have served as a cemetery for the original settlementfor five weeks when they made an exciting find, according to Cape Cod Today. That find? The first evidence in downtown Plymouth of a "built environment" predating 1700.

The team found ceramics, musket balls, and more. One of the most important discoveries was evidence that a wooden post had once stood there. "Its about much more than the artifacts," the head of the archaeology team says. Its about trying to pin down soil color and trying to understand constructed features that are no longer there." Even better: The team found the remains of a cow, which they named Constance, buried at the site. Native Americans didn't keep domestic cattle. Kathryn Ness at the Plimoth Plantation history museum tells Fox News it's "an incredibly exciting discovery that can fundamentally change our understanding of the 17th-century Atlantic world." The team plans to do more digging next summer and hopes to figure out why Constance was buried instead of eaten. (Read more discoveries stories.)
(Newser)  George W. Bush and Bill Clinton received daily intelligence briefings after winning their elections, and Barack Obama was said to be an "avid consumer of intelligence" as president-elect. But US officials tell the Washington Post that Donald Trump has only had two intelligence briefings since defeating Hillary Clinton and has been turning down further briefings. The daily intelligence briefings include information on "global developments and security threats" from all 16 US intelligence agencies. "Trump has a lot of catching up to do," one senior US official says.

But Trump's team says the president-elect has simply been too busy putting together his administration. "National security is Donald Trumps No. 1 priority, and I think hes taking it very seriously," a senior member of his transition team tells the Post. The official points to Trump's meetings and phone calls with world leaders as evidence and says people criticizing Trump "need to get a life." But government officials critical of Trump say it's further evidence he doesn't really care about the ins and outs of the job. A former deputy CIA director says Trump is "missing out on a golden opportunity." On the other hand, Mike Pence has been receiving intelligence briefings nearly everyday. Read the full story here. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump arrived in Florida Tuesday, and will spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, reports WUSA9. NBC News takes a look at what it's taking to protect the president-elect and his 17-member family (that's Melania, Barron, 4 adult children, 3 spouses, and 8 grandchildren) and dubs it "yuge": $7 million for the Florida trip, according to an unnamed Homeland Security official. The network reports that when Trump drove onto the grounds of his 126-room mansion, he wasn't exactly alone: A 45-vehicle convoy made up of limos, vans, and an ambulance streamed in. As for where Mike Pence is Thursday, USA Today reports he'll be spending the holiday with a son, who is stationed in Mississippi as a Marine.

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday posted a 1:44 Thanksgiving message on YouTube in which he expressed that his prayer on this holiday is that we "begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country." He continues, "We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just dont heal overnight. It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together ... I am asking you to join me in this effort. It is time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens. Because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing. Let us give thanks for all that we have, and let us boldly face the exciting new frontiers that lie ahead." (Read more Thanksgiving stories.)
(Newser)  All that's left of the dodo bird is a smattering of bonesa nearly complete set of which has just sold for $431,000 at auction. This "extremely rare" version is one of the most complete with about 95% of bones present, reports the BBC. Only a portion of the skull and a set of claws are lacking, reports CNN. The skeletonbelieved to be the first sold since 1914was actually pieced together over four decades by a collector, which isn't atypical. "There are only twelve close to complete dodo skeletons in the world," all in the possession of museums, and all but one are composites, says Erroll Fuller of Summers Place Auctions in the UK. Found on Mauritius in the 16th century, the dodo disappeared by the late 1600s at the hands of humans and newly introduced dogs and monkey, Fuller says.

Most of the bones that make up existing dodos were taken from Mauritius in the 19th century, but the island has since banned their export. That's one reason people were so interested in the skeleton. But the dodo also "represents extinction and how fast man can influence the environment," says Fuller. "Whether we're actually learning the lesson, I don't think I'd like to say," he adds, per CBS News. The BBC spoke to the unnamed collector who pieced together the bird, whose initial purchase was a foot bone in the 1970s. He didn't imagine it would lead to full skeleton. "I finally found myself looking at a dodo in my workshop, something so extraordinary that I hadn't really imagined it would happen," he says. (Dodos were pretty smart.)
(Newser)  "Excited" and "happy" is how the San Antonio Four are feeling after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals officially exonerated them of child sexual abuse on Wednesday after a 20-year fight. Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez were declared innocent after being wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting two of Ramirez's nieces, then aged 7 and 9, in 1997 in what the state's expert witness then described as a "satanic-related" ritual. The alleged victims told police in 1994 that the women, who are openly gay, assaulted them at Ramirez's apartment but their testimony varied wildly, reports the San Antonio Current. Ramirez was later sentenced to 37.5 years in prison, while the others were sentenced to 15 years.

Vasquez was paroled in 2012, while the others were granted bail a year later, after one of the two alleged victims recanted and the state's witness retracted her testimony. Earlier this year, a state district court judge overturned their convictions, which came at a time of anti-gay bias and "national hysteria  over satanic sexual abuse," reports KSAT. But the judges on Wednesday found the woman, all in their 40s, "have unquestionably established that they are innocent," and noted the father of Ramirez's nieces "has engaged in a pattern of threatening behavior towards the complainants and false allegations of sexual assault." "We have so much more to be thankful for," Rivera tells the Guardian, which notes each woman is now eligible to receive up to $80,000 for every year spent in prison. (Read more wrongful conviction stories.)
(Newser)  Killing urban rats with dry ice is a cheap, effective, and non-toxic method of pest control, authorities saybut the Environmental Protection Agency wants it to stop. The EPA has informed authorities in cities including New York, Chicago, and Boston that the method is illegal under federal law because it has not been registered with the agency, USA Today reports. Cities have managed to reduce rodent activity by up to 95% with the method, which involves dropping dry ice into rat burrows, covering the exit, and waiting for the frozen carbon dioxide to melt into a gas, suffocating the rats. Officials say the process still needs to be vetted for public safety like any other method of rodent control.

Buddy Christopher, head of Boston's Inspectional Services Department, tells USA Today that the city's dry ice program has been halted but his department has applied for an EPA permit to restart it. "We didnt see this thing as a pesticide by the classic definition, because dry ice is used everywhere," he says. "You go to a nightclub and theyll serve cocktails in a bucket of dry ice. This is not necessarily one of those logical things, it's a regulatory issue, and we'll respect everything they want us to do." DNAinfo Chicago reports that PETA has also called for an end to the use of dry ice for rodent control, saying rats "deserve our protection." (Read more rats stories.)
(Newser)  Police in California are searching for two inmates who cut through the bars of a second-floor cell and lowered a rope of sheets and clothing to escape. Rogelio Chavez, 33, and Lanon Campbell, 26, made their getaway from San Jose's Main Jail at around 11pm Wednesday night, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Two other escapees were recaptured just outside the jail after a deputy patrolling the area saw movement and spotted the rope.

Chavez, who had been behind bars since August, faced charges including burglary and false imprisonment. Campbell was booked in Feb. 2015 on charges including robbery and false imprisonment. Police say both men are very dangerous and anyone who encounters them should use extreme caution. "We definitely don't want the community to approach these individuals, but be aware of anything suspicious," Sgt. Rich Glennon from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office tells the AP. Authorities decided to go ahead with the annual Silicon Valley Turkey Trot despite the manhunt in the area. (Read more prison break stories.)
Media has role to play in strengthening ties between China, Latin America: official

(Xinhua) 20:33, November 24, 2016

New media organizations from China and Latin America have created a solid public foundation for the development of bilateral relations, a senior Chinese official said here Wednesday.

"To keep pushing forward China-Latin American relations in the new era, media circles on both sides have to pool together our wisdom and power," said Huang Kunming, Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, during a keynote speech at the China-Latin America Media Summit held in Santiago, Chile.

The summit is being held at a historical moment when Chinese President Xi Jinpingpaid state visits to three Latin American countries and attended the 24th APECEconomic Leaders' Summit, noted Huang, who also serves as the director of the Cultural Progress Advancement Office of CPC Central Committee.

In his speech, Huang reviewed the progress made in the "rich and brilliant joint reports" in the Chinese and Latin American media in recent years. He also put forward three proposals for how the media could play a stronger role in strengthening ties between China and Latin America.

Firstly, the media should highlight and uphold the progress made in China-Latin America relations.

"Chinese and Latin American media should bear firmly in mind the general direction of China-Latin America friendliness and common development and take concrete steps to perform their responsibility and fulfill their mission," Huang said, adding that the media should actively guide public opinion by promoting win-win aspects of the relationship while explaining the significance and broad prospects of bilateral cooperation. Doing so would "inject new vitality and energy" into bilateral relations.

Secondly, the media should promote aspects of pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America. Covering topics that focus on the practical relationship between the two sides is key here.

"The media should clearly report on each other's investment policies, market demands and interests, deliver more comprehensive, specific and friendly information to each other, and set a tone of sincerity, friendliness, openness and inclusiveness for China-Latin America cooperation," said Huang.

Finally, the media should foster China-Latin America friendliness through organizing a series of discussions on a wide range of topics and mobilizing government, enterprises, the public and social organizations to to push forward friendly relations between the two, noted Huang.

The summit, organized by the State Council Information Office of China and the United NationsEconomic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is the first event of this type ever held between both regions.

Over 20 media chiefs from China and Latin America, including President of Xinhua News Agency, Cai Mingzhao, delivered speeches at the summit.

The summit attracted more than 100 mainstream news organs to join the discussion on how to further promote mutual understanding and friendly cooperation between China and Latin America through the media.
(Newser)  The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, led by a giant inflatable Charlie Brown balloon, stepped off Thursday amid heavy crowds and a strong police presence. Costumed characters mingled with revelers and crowds cheered as clowns on bicycles rode by carrying bundles of balloons. Security measures this year included sanitation trucks filled with sand placed at intersections, bomb-sniffing dogs, and portable radiation detectors, the AP reports. And the crowd seemed grateful for the extra security. Spectators yelled, "Thank you!" to passing police officers, including the New York Police Department marching band.

There was an air of uncertainty about the possibility of an extremist attack after a posting in an English-language ISIS magazine that called the parade "an excellent target." Nevertheless, the parade went off without a hitch Thursday. "There are so many police officers out here, you can't help but feel safe," says spectator Sarah Bender, who watched the parade with her two young sons."It's a day to have fun, watch the balloons, and celebrate with your family. You can't spend your life worrying about what could happen." (Read more Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade stories.)
(Newser)  A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes as the country's leaders raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the Haifa blaze. While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. In a rare move, Israel called up hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and was making use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by a slew of countries. The Haifa blaze was the most serious in a series of fires that have erupted across the country in recent days, the AP reports. On a visit to the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said anyone implicated in setting the fires would be punished severely.

"It's a crime for all intents and purposes and in our opinion it is terror for all intents and purposes," he said. He said incitement to arson was also playing a role in spreading the fires. Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity or motives of the suspected arsonists, but Israeli officials typically use the term "terror" to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity. Israel's police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters that arrests had been made, without elaborating. "It's safe to assume that whoever is setting the fires isn't doing it only out of pyromania," he said. "It's safe to assume that if it is arson it is politically motivated." (In 2010, the worst wildfire in Israeli history killed 42 people.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump has softened on a few campaign promises lately but he says he spent Thanksgiving trying to fulfill one: Persuading Carrier Corp. to keep an air-con factory in Indiana instead of moving it to Mexico. He tweeted Thursday that he was "working hard" on saving the factory and was "MAKING PROGRESS." The Washington Post reports that after Trump's tweet, the company tweeted that it had "nothing to announce at this time," but it has "had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together." On the campaign trail, Trump slammed the planned closure as "disgusting" and gave a crowd in Indianapolis a "100% guarantee" that the plant and its 1,400 jobs would stay in the US.

"Here's what's going to happen," Trump said. " Theyre going to call me and they are going to say 'Mr. President, Carrier has decided to stay in Indiana.'" In another campaign stop, he promised to "tax the hell" out of the company and slap a 35% tariff on its product if it did move the factory over the border, the Indianapolis Star reports. Before he became Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence tried to keep the plant in Indiana after it announced its plan to begin layoffs next year and move production to Monterrey by 2019. Pence was unsuccessful, but he managed to persuade the company to repay Indianapolis $1.2 million for past tax breaks and return $380,000 in state grants. (Last week, Trump claimed to have kept a Ford plant in Kentucky.)
CBS-16 opened in China.

On 23 November, the sixteenth session of the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS), WMO, opened in Guangzhou,Guangdong province in China. Zheng Guoguang, Permanent Representative of WMO and Administrator of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) , Li Chun Sheng, vice-governor of Guangdong Province, Jiao Meiyan, Deputy Administrator of CMA, David Grimes, President of WMO, Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of WMO, Zhang Wenjian, Assistant Secretary-General of WMO, Fredrick Branski, President of CBS and Vice-President of CBS Susan L. Barrell attended the opening ceremony.

More than 200 representatives from WMO, NMHSs of WMO member states and international organizations attended the session.

Zheng Guoguang makes a speech.

In the opening ceremony, Zheng Guoguang expressed with the globalization in economy, application of new information technologies in social activities, and more knowledge on weather, climate and climate change, WMO and NMHSs are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities, especially in enhancing the capacity of observation, forecast and service, and in strengthening the dominant role of NMHSs in public meteorological service, disaster risk prevention and mitigation as well as addressing climate change. "It's our responsibilities to find answers on how to enhance the roles and capabilities of NMHSs and address how to safeguard the socio-economic development and people's safety and well-being."he said.

He says the old Chinese saying that goes: "advance or retreat". Now we should realize that a slow advance also means a retreat. NMHSs should grasp the opportunities make quick response to the challenges, fulfill our mandates, and speed up the development in order to make our greater contribution. We shall work together to build a more dynamic, well-maintainded and more advanced global meteorological governance system for future.

He said we should build an open and efficient global meteorological innovation system that focuses on the core technologies. Innovation is the most powerful driving force behind the meteorological development and requires joint global efforts. We should push forward the implementation of key scientific research programmes and experiments under the framework of WMO, and also promote the transfer of advanced technologies from developed countries to developing countries, enhancing their capacity. We should actively seek the government support for innovation, and also engage the private sectors to be involved. We should promote the innovation in the field of meteorology, and also utilize the innovation results from other sectors, especially from IT industry, so as to achieve integrated and comprehensive scientific and technological development.

We should build a seamless, accurate and smart global meteorological service system. We should continue to work under WMO framework to promote smart meteorology and further develop a global meteorological observation system, which should be automated, integrated from surface to space and with multi-means of data sources. We should further develop global weather forecasting systems to build seamless high-resolution global numerical prediction model system. We should further develop the Global Framework for Climate Services and establish specialized and socialized smart global meteorological service network. We should support and help the developing countries to establish modern meteorological service systems. We need to build a global meteorological data system that is highly integrated, efficient, standardized and open to share. We should also support and help the engagement of social organizations and resources into the meteorological operation and service.

We should build a better global meteorological governance system. Now, new issues such as the allocation of new technologies, new operation and new services, meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation, response to climate change, and partnership with private sectors, have posed new challenges and new requirements for better global meteorological governance, also for improving the structure and operational mechanism of WMO. We should work with other international organizations, enhancing the breadth and depth of WMO's involvement in global affairs, including global climate, disaster mitigation, environment, security, development, etc. We should participate more actively in the formulation of international rules and regulations, making WMO more visible and influential in global climate governance. NMHSs should further improve their role in meteorological disaster risk management and climate governance, and make them important organization in fulfilling the responsibility in government public service and social management.

"As a member of WMO, CMA will, as always, emphasize and strengthen the cooperation and exchange with WMO and other NMHSs by supporting and participating in CBS activities." he expressed.

Li Chunsheng makes a speech.

Li Chunsheng says meteorological operation is important part of government. In recent years, Guangdong has achieved great progress in meteorological modernization, monitoring, forecast, and disasters prevention and mitigation. Taking this opportunity, Guangdong will learn from more successful experiences in meteorological modernization, highlight leading role of technologies in innovation, optimize talents development and strive to promote smart meteorological development to ensure complete the higher level meteorological modernization by 2020.

Petteri Taalasmakes a speech.

Petteri Taalas expresses his special thanks to CMA and Guangdong Provincial People's Government for the assistance and arrangements for the meeting. He introduces that CBS is the most significant technical conferences of WMO and takes responsibility for the planning and implementation of international cooperation projects and activities in terms of core fields such as observation, information, forecasting and services. At the sixteenth session it will make decisions on strategies for future development of the programmes and on its working structure and it will make recommendations for amendments to WMO technical regulations. This session will be ended in 29 November. He hopes the representatives could make in-depth discussions to find better future plans and implement WMO strategic planning.

China is a major donor to WMO programmes like Voluntary Cooperation Programme. China makes its contribution by hosting 18 WMO's specialized or regional centers, supporting the development of meteorological infrastructure in African countries, offering 22 scholarships to the trainees from developing NMHSs, every year, jointly organizing 46 China study tours, and conducting cooperation in support of the capacity development in countries along the Belt and Road.

(Source: China Meteorological News Press)
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy skies. High 21F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with snow flurries and snow showers, especially overnight. Low 9F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 40%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
New Delhi:

JNU students and family members of missing student Najeeb Ahmed on Wednesday tried to march to Parliament from Mandi House demanding justice but were stopped mid-way by the police.

Najeeb (27), a student of School of Biotechnology and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, went missing on October 15 following an on-campus scuffle allegedly with the members of ABVP, the night before.

Alleging that her son has been held captive, Najeebs mother Fatima Nafees said has been assured of support by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in finding her son.

Akhilesh ji has assured me of all help. He said the force (UP Police) would be sent to look for my son. He said Najeeb is child of his state. Shame on Delhi Police that police from UP is coming to find my son, she said at the protest march.

JNU students union president Mohit Pandey said, you (police) have seen him in Aligarh and Dharbhanga but you are still unable to find him. It has been thirty-eight days since he is missing and yet he is untraceable.

Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar also joined students in the protest rally.Kumar raised slogans demanding justice for Ahmad, however, he did not address students.

Umar Khalid, who was charged with sedition along with Kanhaiya earlier this year, questioned claims by police of Ahmad being spotted in some cities. He alleged police was trying to build a narrative around Ahmad.

For last 10-15 days police is giving statements in media. Police never makes anything public till investigation is final because that may hamper investigation.

Why Darbhaga and why AMU? It is a pattern which they are following. Because it fits the narrative. If you look at trolls they keep saying Najeeb has joined terrorists, he said.

JNU students and teachers have been agitating against the university administration and Delhi Police for their failure to locate the missing student.

The protesting students had even confined the Vice Chancellor and other senior officials in the administrative building for over 20 hours.

Last month, an SIT was formed to trace the missing student on the directive of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma.

The SIT failed to get any actionable clues in the matter. The case was later transferred to Delhi Polices Crime Branch.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the debate on demonetisation in Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid uproar by the Opposition parties seeking clarification from him in this regard.

Here are the updates of what has happened in and outside Parliament on Thursday:

#3.10pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day

#3pm: Demonetisation debate resumes in Rajya Sabha

2:10pm: Excerpts from Arun Jaitley's press conference outside Parliament-



# Those who didnt consider scandals to be a blunder, they are considering demonetisation to be a blunder.



# Those parties who were once a part of every scandal in the country are now opposing demoonetisation.



# Their govt had the most scams and black money generated during its tenure. 2G scam, Coal Scam everything happened during their govt.



# Govt is convinced that our steps against corruption and black money are correct.



# First day it was a debate without any pre-conditions, from next day they started putting unreasonable conditions and it continues.



# Poore desh ne vo scandal wali sarkar dekhi hai jiske rajya me black money generate hua hai.



# Opposition thinks DeMonetisation is a blunder. Don't they think Commonwealth and 2G was a blunder?



# Opposition ka pramukh prastav tha ke PM charcha me rahen or fir unhone bahane dhundne shuru kar diye.



# Vipaksh ne jo prastav diya tha charcha ke liye, Rajya Sarkar ne sweekar kiya ke hum charcha ke liye tayar hain.





# Rajya Sabha adjourned till 3pm

# If the Prime Minister has attended the House only for the question hour then the proceedings wont go on: Ghulam Nabi Azad



#2pm: Debate resumes in Rajya Sabha



# 1PM: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2pm

# Survey on demonetisation is fake: Mayawati



# 12.40pm I appeal the government to save the people from suffering: TMC MP Derek OBrien

# Governments demonetisation move was aimed at assembly election in Uttar Pradesh: Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agrawal

# Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

# Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation: Manmohan

# Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead: Manmohan

# It is important to take note of the grievances of the people suffering: Manmohan Singh



12:10pm: Top quotes of Manmohan Singh's address over the demonetisation move in Rajya Sabha:



# "I do not disagree with these objectives, but there is monumental mismanagement of which there are no two opinions in the country as a whole," said Dr Singh, whose government was decisively defeated by PM Modi two years ago.



# 60-65 people have lost their lives, what has been done can weaken our people's confidence in currency and banking system.



# PM said wait for 50 days but for the poor section even 50 days can be detrimental.



# I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it.



# PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme.



# Cooperative banking sector which is serving large number in rural sector is not operational.



# Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation.



# I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering.



# Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead.



# Several deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders convinced him the demonetisation plan led to organised loot and legalised plunder.

# 12pm Manmohan Singh resumes his speech in Rajya Sabha

# Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends demonetisation debate

# Both houses adjourned till 12 noon



# 11.30am: Akshay Yadav of the Samajwadi Party tore paper, threw it at the speaker in Lok Sabha. House adjourned till 12 noon

# Opposition creates ruckust in Rajya Sabha after Manmohan Singh's speech disrupted

# If it is on demonetisation issue, let the Opposition resume the debate and Dr Manmohan Singh speak: Arun Jaitley in RS

# Meeting underway in PM Modi's chamber. Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu also present

# Opposition decides not to hold talks with the government till November 28th

# Meeting begins in Rajnath Singhs chamber. Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar present in the meeting

# We'll first meet Opposition and then decide whether we'll go to meeting called by home minister or not. Let PM or speaker call for meet: Mallikarjun Kharge

# Opposition party leaders meeting begins in Parliament

# Opposition leaders expected to meet in Parliament to chalk out strategy government's offer to end logjam

The unrelenting Opposition has been adamant about Modis clarification on the demonetisation exercise.

On Wednesday, Modi attended Lok Sabha after skipping House proceedings for five days, but his presence failed to break the deadlock over the recall of high-value currency notes as the Opposition intensified its protests inside the House and outside.

In a bid to break the logjam in both Houses, the government has reached out to the Opposition with parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar holding talks with Congress and TMC leaders.

Kumar and some other leaders in the government will continue deliberations with floor leaders of various political parties on Thursday as well.

(With inputs from agencies)

Also Read: Manmohan's top quotes on currency ban in RS: 'Monumental mismanagement, organised loot, legalised plunder'

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New Delhi:

Suspected militants belonging to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who were killed in an alleged police encounter in Bhopal last month, have been hailed as 'martyrs'.

Specially-prepared epigraphs mentioning five of the undertrials as martyrs have been seen on five graves in Bhopal.

Bodies of seven of the eight Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists, who were killed following a daring prison break in Khandwa, were laid to rest in different parts of Madhya Pradesh amid tight security on November 1.

Bodies of five deceasedAmjad Khan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Salik, Sheikh Mehboob and Aqueel Khiljiwere buried in their home district Khandwa.

Also Read: Bhopal Encounter: 7 SIMI men buried in MP; body of 8th one taken to Gujarat

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Bhaderwah:

National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said autonomy to both sides of Jammu and Kashmir was the only viable solution to the nearly seven-decade old problem.

"Borders cannot be changed but these can be made irrelevant and soft for people to people exchange and opening new vistas of trade and commerce for overall economic prosperity of the region.

"We bat for autonomy to both sides of Kashmir and converting LoC-IB as soft border", the National Conference President said while addressing a public meeting in Bhaderwah district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah said that issues between India and Pakistan cannot be resolved by guns or cannons, which have even been proven by four wars, but these can definitely be deliberated upon for amicable solution through a sustained process of dialogue.

He said the reality of LoC and International Border between the two nations cannot be challenged at the strength of military power and therefore the two parts of the state should be granted maximum autonomy.

In the context of Indo-Pak dialogue, he referred to the speech of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Tanghdar, emphasising that friends can be changed but not the neighbours.

He said the intermittent skirmishes on borders have only aggravated the problems of the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC President cautioned New Delhi against delaying the resolution of political issue of Kashmir, saying restoration of the commitments made in the Instrument of Accession is the only way forward in wriggling out the state from prevailing crisis.

He said the state of Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India on three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communication, which has been re-emphasised by the former Sadr-e-Riyasat, Karan Singh in Parliament.

He said the genesis of discontent among people in Kashmir was due to breaking of promises and said that mistrust among youth is deep-rooted.. The alienation is growing among youth, who cannot be won over by brute force or the notes of Rs 500 or Rs 1000", he said, adding that a meaningful engagement with all the stake holders had assumed immense significance.

Warning RSS against furthering divisive agenda across the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular, Abdullah said that the state had not acceded to Hindu India but a secular nation, a proud abode for all faiths and communities.

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Kochi:

A Dammam-bound Air India Express plane from Mangaluru with 131 passengers and crew onboard landed under emergency conditions at Kochi after sparks were seen by the Air Traffic Control as the aircraft got airborne.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft landed safely and there was no harm to any passenger or crew, an Air India Express spokesperson said, adding that after an inspection theaircraft was cleared for onward journey.

The flight IXE 885 took off at 1813 hours on from Mangaluru airport for Dammam in Saudi Arabia. "However, Mangaluru Air Traffic Control noticed sparks inthe aircraft and reported the same to the flight commander.

"The aircraft was subsequently diverted to Kochifollowing permission from the ATC there," the spokespersonsaid. The flight made a "precautionary" landing at Kochi International airport at 1930 hours, he said. Air India Express engineers carried out a thorough inspection of the aircraft upon its arrival at Kochi but did not find any "snag" in it, the spokesperson said adding the aircraft departed for its destination at 1030 hours from Kochi.
New Delhi:

The Karnataka high court on Thursday directed Vijay Mallya to appear before it on November 24 with respect to contempt petition filed by consortium of banks which lent money to his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Justice Jayant M Patel, passed an order by observing that there is a 'prima facie' case to proceed against and frame charges under the contempt of courts act against Mallya for violating the oral undertaking given before Debt Recovery Tribunal in 2013.

The court also noted that since the undertaking was admitted, it has to be determined whether there was a breach of the undertaking affecting the sanctity of judicial proceedings. The court asked the counsel for Mallya to inform him about the order passed and the importance of his personal appearance.

Vijay Mallya is staying in London right now and in 2014 the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India has filed the petition which alleged that Mallya had violated the oral undertaking given to the tribunal to the effect not to transfer, alienate or otherwise to deal with his assets.

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Bogota:

Colombias government and FARC guerrillas will sign a new peace accord in Bogota, after a previous agreement to end the countrys half-century of conflict was rejected in a referendum, said both parties.

The new accord will be submitted to Congress for approval, rather than put to another referendum.

Last month voters taking part in that referendum surprisingly rejected the first accord. Critics said it went too easy on the rebels, who have been waging what is now Latin Americas last insurgency.

The government and FARC delegations have agreed to sign the final agreement to end the conflict and build a stable and lasting peace, negotiators from both sides said in a statement on Wednestay.

The new accord was first announced on November 12. The signing will take place at 11:00 am (local time) at the Colon Theater in Bogota, they said. The accord will then be submitted to Congress, the two sides said.

We are working out the procedures necessary for this, they said.

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New Delhi:

The UK government's changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals aimed at curbing its increasing immigration figures will come into force from Thursday, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced by the UK Home Office earlier this month, applications made on or after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds (USD 37,131) from the earlier 20,800 pounds (USD 25,723).

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee will affect applications made on or after 24 November unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

Changes impacting a number of areas  including salary thresholds for those on a Tier-2 visa (the most common category for non-EU workers), and English language requirements for family members of non-EU migrants, were announced by the government earlier this year on the advice of the Migration Advisory Committee, an independent public body that advises the UK government.

In order to be sponsored, experienced workers will need to earn a salary of at least 25,000 pounds in all professions bar a few (nurses, radiographers, paramedics, and secondary school teachers in Maths, sciences, and Mandarin will be exempt until July 2019).

The salary threshold is set to rise even higher next year to 30,000 pounds by April. The minimum salary for a Tier-2 migrant had been 20,800 pounds.

This is a very reactionary and unthoughtful move by the government and wont help build the relationship between India and Britain, said Virendra Sharma, Labour MP for Ealing Southall. He noted that the minimum salary required of foreign workers was rarely one that locally-trained workers would be able to earn. Indirectly the government is saying that we dont want you here.

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New York:

Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan on Thursday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly "abhorrent act" that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis. The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations wasseparately asked to mobilise United Nations Military ObserverGroup in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitorthe LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

Pakistan Army on Wednesday said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC. The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and afterPakistan yesterday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated byPakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the debate on demonetisation in Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid uproar by the Opposition parties seeking clarification from him in this regard.

1) Parliament Live Day 7 | Currency ban debate: Demonetisation a monumental mismanagement, GDP can decrease by up to 2%, says Manmohan in RS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the debate on demonetisation in Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid uproar by the Opposition parties seeking clarification from him in this regard.

2) Suspected SIMI militants killed in Bhopal encounter hailed as 'martyrs'

Suspected militants belonging to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who were killed in an alleged police encounter in Bhopal last month, have been hailed as 'martyrs'.

3) From today, get new currency of Rs 2000 through card swipe at Big Bazaar counters too

From Thursday, people can withdraw cash up to Rs 2,000 by using debit cards at all Big Bazaar stores. The move was announced this week to ease cash-crunch situation post demonetisation.

4) Long queues expected at banks, ATMs as deadline to use old notes ends today

Cash rush at banks and ATMS is likely to swell as exemptions to use old defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for paying household utility bills, fuel, taxes and fees and purchases from co-operative stores, end on Thursday.

5) Let's stop living in a fools' paradise: Shatrughan fires salvo at Centre's demonetisation move

BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha has fired another salvo at the Centre questioning authenticity of a survey on demonetisation shared by PM Narendra Modi.





















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New Delhi:

Former PM Manmohan Singh, a reputed economist, opened the debate on Thursday in the Rajya Sabha on the government's demonetisation drive on behalf of his party, the Congress.

Singh, during his speech in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, called the demonetisation of high value currency notes as monumental mismanagement by the Narendra Modi government. Though he said he did not disagree with the objectives behind the decision, he remarked the GDP of the country could shrink by 2 percentage-points due to the way it has been implemented.

PM Narendra Modi was present in Parliament as his scheme to abolish 500 and 1,000-rupee notes was labelled "a monumental management failure" by his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh.

Here are the top quotes of Manmohan Singh's address over the demonetisation move in Rajya Sabha:

1. "I do not disagree with these objectives, but there is monumental mismanagement of which there are no two opinions in the country as a whole," said Dr Singh, whose government was decisively defeated by PM Modi two years ago.

2. 60-65 people have lost their lives, what has been done can weaken our people's confidence in currency and banking system.

3. PM said wait for 50 days but for the poor section even 50 days can be detrimental.

4. I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it.

5. PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme.

6. Cooperative banking sector which is serving large number in rural sector is not operational.

7. Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation.

8. I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering.

9. Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead.

10. Several deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders convinced him the demonetisation plan led to organised loot and legalised plunder.

Also Read: Parliament Live | Those who didnt consider scandals to be a blunder are considering demonetisation as blunder, says Jaitley

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 9 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Nov. 24.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in the Gizilhajili village of Azerbaijans Gazakh district underwent fire from the Armenian army positions located in the Berkaber village of Armenias Ijevan district.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani army positions were also shelled from the Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Shikhlar village of the Aghdam district, as well as on nameless heights of the Goranboy and Tartar districts.

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.
New Delhi:

Stepping up the opposition tirade against demonetisation, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today castigated the government and the Prime Minister over the move, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."

Singh, who spoke in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha, said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, it being an "under-estimate".

However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected the charges leveled by the former prime minister and said those who didnt consider scandals to be a blunder, they are considering demonetisation to be a blunder.

ALSO READ: (Manmohan's top quotes on demonetisation in RS: 'Monumental mismanagement, organised loot, legalised plunder')

"There was mostly noise and no substance in what the opposition has been saying," Jaitley said while talking to media outside Parliament.

"Those parties who were once a part of every scandal in the country are now opposing demoonetisation," the finance minister said targetting Congress party.

"Their govt had the most scams and black money generated during its tenure. 2G scam, Coal Scam everything happened during their govt," he said.

Earlier, Manmohan Singh, during his speech said he hoped the Prime Minister will find a practical and pragmatic decision to mitigate the sufferings of the common man and the poor who have been in distress after the decision.

He said agriculture, unorganised sectors and small industry has also been hit hard by it and people were losing faith in the currency and banking system.

ALSO READ: (Mayawati dares PM Modi: If you have guts, dissolve Parliament, hold fresh polls for correct survey on demonetisation)

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure. And in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder.

"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," he said in Rajya Sabha as the debate on the issue resumed after Modi came into the House.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad requested Chairman Hamid Ansari and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley that the Question Hour should not be taken up as the Prime Minister was present in the House and the debate be taken up.

Azad's request was readily accepted by the government with Jaitley saying that the debate should start immediately and Modi will certainly participate in it.

Participating in the resumed debate, Singh said it is important to take note of the grievances of the ordinary people who have suffered as a result of this imposition on the country "overnight" by the Prime Minister.

"My own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP of the country, can decline by about 2 percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an under-estimate and not an over-estimate.

"Therefore, I feel the Prime Minister must come with some constructive proposal on how we can implement the scheme and at the same time prevent the distrust that has been caused to the common people," Singh said.

The former Prime Minister did not agree with the Prime Minister's plea to wait for 50 days for the results of demonetisation to come about, saying no one knows about the final outcome of the decision.

"Well 50 days is a short period, but for those who are poor and deprived sections of the community even 50 days of torture can bring about disastrous effect. And that's why about 60 to 65 people have lost their lives. Maybe more.

"What is more is, what has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency system and in the banking system," he said.

Asking Modi to spell out the names of countries where people have deposited their money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw their money, he said, "this alone I think is enough to condemn what has been done in the name of greater growth."

He said the scheme of demonetisation, the way it is being implemented, will hurt agricultural growth in our country, small industry and all those people who work in the informal sectors of the economy.

Singh, an eminent economist, criticised the government for issuing fresh instructions and modifying the rules every day on the conditions under which people can withdraw their money.

"That reflects very poorly on the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Minister's office and on the Reserve Bank of India. I am very sorry that the Reserve Bank has been exposed to this kind of criticism which I think is fully justified," the former Prime Minister said.

He said though he agreed with the objectives of the scheme to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as spelt out by the Prime Minister, he wished to highlight the problems that the common people and poor have been subjected to by the move.

"But I do want to point out at least that in the process of demonetisation monumental mismanagement has been undertaken about which today there is no two opinions in the country as a whole," he said.

Referring to those saying that the move which was doing harm and creating distrust in the short run was good in the long run, Singh quoted John Maynard Keynes to say that "in the long run, all of us are dead".

"I urge upon the Prime Minister to find practical, pragmatic ways and measures to relieve the distress of the people, who happen to be a great majority of our people. After all 90 per cent of our people were in the informal sector, 55 per cent of our workers in agriculture are feeling distress," he said.

He also noted that the cooperative banking system which served large number of people in rural areas was non-functional and has been prevented from handling cash.

The senior Congress leader said though it is not his intention to pick holes in what this side or other side does, but hoped that the Prime Minister "even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country".

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Both Houses of Parliament witnessed ruckus over demonetisation move on Thursday. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day after Oppositions uproar demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modis presence in the house.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed Rajya Sabha over demonetisation move. Former PM strongly disagreed with the demonetisation move. He quoted the move as monumental mismanagement, organised loot and legalised plunder.

Samajwadi Party leader Akshay Yadav tore papers and threw it on Speakers table. Then, Lok Sabha was adjourned. Mamata Banerjee met President over demonetisation issue.

Here is the detailed account of who said what in the Parliament:



Mayawati - BSP

# "I want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if you really are an honest man and want a correct survey and if you have guts, then dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections," Mayawati said over the demonetisation issue.

# "The ruling party does not want Parliament to function as all the Opposition parties are demanding PM's presence in Parliament," Mayawati said outside Parliament.

Also read: Demonetisation: Parliament adjourned till Friday as Oppn-Govt battle continues; Manmohan calls it organised loot, Jaitley rejects charges

Ghulam Nabi Azad - Congress

# If the Prime Minister has attended the House only for the question hour then the proceedings wont go on.

# What did opposition say while 2G? That PM will sit and he did so for two days. Now you cannot run away: Ghulam Nabi Azad in RS



Naresh Agrawal - Samajwadi Party

# Governments demonetisation move was aimed at assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.

Manmohan Singh - Congress



# "I do not disagree with these objectives, but there is monumental mismanagement of which there are no two opinions in the country as a whole," said Dr Singh, whose government was decisively defeated by PM Modi two years ago.

# 60-65 people have lost their lives, what has been done can weaken our people's confidence in currency and banking system. Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead."

# PM said wait for 50 days but for the poor section even 50 days can be detrimental.

Also read: As it happened | Both houses adjourned for the day after opposition's uproar demanding PM's presence in Parliament

# I want to ask PM that can he name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it. It is important to take note of the grievances of the people suffering.



# PM must come with some constructive proposal how we can implement the scheme.



# Cooperative banking sector which is serving large number in rural sector is not operational.



# Monumental mismanagement has been undertaken in implementation of demonetisation.



# I hope that PM will help us find practical ways to give relief to people suffering.



# Those who say demonetisation is good in the long run should recall quote "In the long run we are all dead.



# Several deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders convinced him the demonetisation plan led to organised loot and legalised plunder.

Also read: Manmohan's top quotes on demonetisation in RS: 'Monumental mismanagement, organised loot, legalised plunder'

Arun Jaitley - BJP

# If it is on demonetisation issue, let the Opposition resume the debate and Dr Manmohan Singh speak. Those who didnt consider scandals to be a blunder, they are considering demonetisation to be a blunder.

# Those parties who were once a part of every scandal in the country are now opposing demonetisation.



# Their govt had the most scams and black money generated during its tenure. 2G scam, Coal Scam everything happened during their govt.



# Govt is convinced that our steps against corruption and black money are correct.



# First day it was a debate without any pre-conditions, from next day they started putting unreasonable conditions and it continues.



# Whole country has seen the government which is full of scandals and the black money also generated in their regime.

# Opposition thinks DeMonetisation is a blunder. Don't they think Commonwealth and 2G was a blunder?



Mallikarjun Kharge - Congress

# We'll first meet Opposition and then decide whether we'll go to meeting called by home minister or not. Let PM or speaker call for meet.

Mamta Banerjee - TMC

# You couldnt recover Swiss bank black money, but create inconvenience for those with white money; You've created more havoc than Hitler-WB CM

# They are not allowing tax payers to withdraw money from their accounts. This is draconian concept. It is worse than Hitlers rule.

Akhilesh Yadav  Samajwadi Party

# Everyone is worried today. Government should give some exemptions to farmers.

Raman Singh - BJP

# Entire country is supporting PM's move of Demonetisation, this will not only curb black money but will bring economic development as well: Raman Singh

FULL COVERAGE: BLACK MONEY CRACKDOWN

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New Delhi:

Upping the ante on the demonetisation issue, the AAP on Thursday announced that it will organise six rallies across the nation, including one in Prime Minister Narendra Modis constituency Varanasi, and raise questions on the alleged Rs 8 lakh crore scam related to it.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold three rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh starting from December 1 in Meerut, followed by a rally in Varanasi and Lucknow on December 8 and 18 respectively, AAP leader Ashish Khetan said.

Modi has defeated Kejriwal from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in May 2014 by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

The rallies assume significance as UP goes to polls early next year.

On December 20, Kejriwal will hold a rally in Bhopal, followed by two more in Ranchi and Jaipur on December 22 and 23 respectively.

Notably, all three are BJP-ruled states. We will raise important questions about demonetisation and Rs 8 lakh crore scam related to it, said Khetan.

Kejriwal is currently in Punjab, campaigning for the party for the Assembly elections scheduled early next year.

While addressing a press conference, senior leader and National Spokesperson Ashish Khetan said, "Aam Aadmi Party will demonstrate at all District Headquarters across India to protest against the Rs 8 lakh crore scam. National Convener Arvind Kejriwal will address six rallies over the next four weeks across the country on this issue."

Mr Khetan said that the Delhi Chief Minister will ask the following questions to the Modi Government through these rallies:

# The diaries seized by the Income Tax Department from the offices of Aditya Birla and Sahara Groups show that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was paid large sums of cash while he was Gujarat Chief Minister. Leaders of other parties are also named in the diaries. Do you think they should all be investigated?

# Narendra Modi ji has written off loans of Rs 1 lakh and 14 thousand crores of a few companies. Do you think it is right?

# Rupee Seven lakh crores deposited by 'aam aadmi' in banks after November 8 is being used by Prime Minister to write off the loans of top corporate groups. Do you think this is right?

# Do you think the Prime Minister should instead take steps to make the top corporate groups to repay the loans of Rs 8 lakh crores taken from public sector banks?

# Do you think the Prime Minister should make public the list of 700 Swiss Bank Account holders?

# Do you think the Prime Minister should take action against those who have deposited Rs 80 lakh crores in foreign banks?

# A week after Rs 500 & 1000 notes were demonetised, SBI wrote off Rs 1200 crores of Vijay Mallya and Rs 5800 crores of 62 other corporates. Do you think this is right?

(With PTI inputs)

FULL COVERAGE: BLACK MONEY CRACKDOWN

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail plea of RJD MLA Ballabh Yadav, accused of allegedly raping a minor girl.

Yadav, suspended from RJD was earlier provided bail by the Patna High Court but after the apex courts decision, will continue to remain in jail.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and A M Sapre said that they have allowed the appeal of Bihar government, seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yadav by Patna High Court on September 30 this year.

The apex court had on November 8 directed Yadav to surrender before a trial court in Bihar after suspending the High Court order granting bail to him. Yadav had complied with the direction.

The apex court had also directed the trial court to record the statement of the minor rape survivor within two weeks and had asked Yadav not to interfere in the matter in any manner.

It had earlier rejected Yadav's plea to remain outside Bihar till the victim deposed before the trial court and felt that the RJD legislator should remain in jail till the victim records her statement "fairly and without any fear".

It had said it was "more concerned" about the safety of the girl.

The apex court had on October 18 directed the trial court not to record the testimony of the victim till October 24 after the state government submitted that she felt threatened due to the accused being out on bail.

Also Read: Bihar rape case: Former RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav surrenders in court

Yadav had allegedly raped the minor girl at his residence in Bihar Sharif on February 6 this year.

After evading arrest for a considerable time, he surrendered after a local court had issued proclamation notice and an order to attach his properties for not surrendering before the police.

Bihar Police, in its charge sheet, had also named a woman and her relatives as accused on the ground that they had been allegedly "supplying women" to the MLA representing Nawada Assembly constituency. RJD had suspended Yadav from the party on February 14, a day after his arrest warrant was issued.

Also Read: Following rape charges, RJD suspends Raj Ballabh Yadav from party

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Mumbai:

The Reserve Bank on Thursday said massive accumulation of now invalid Rs 500/1000 notes at various banks and chests is putting strain on processing capacities and storage facilities, while reviving its guarantee scheme to deal with the problem.

The central bank said in view of the problem of mounting deposits it has decided to revive the Guarantee Scheme wherein banks can deposit the notes directly with the offices of RBI under whose jurisdiction they are located.

The notes will remain in the vaults of RBI, under the lock and key of the depositing banks till taken up for examination.

As you (banks) are aware there is a massive accumulation of SBNs at branches of banks and currency chests putting strain on processing capacities and storage facilities. This is slowing down the deposit of accumulated SBNs into chests, it said through a notification.

Under the scheme aimed to decongest the storage facilities at banks, RBI will provide credit to their current accounts maintained with RBI.

Thereafter, if any shortage, counterfeit note, mutilated note, is detected during detailed processing at RBI, the value of the same will be recovered from the bank concerned.

The old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 have lost their legal tender characteristic from November 9. Holders of the currency have option to exchange them with new ones or deposit in bank accounts.

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Berlin:

Donald Trumps grandfather was kicked out of Germany in early 1900s for failing to do his mandatory military service, a German historian has claimed amid the US President-elects rhetoric on immigration.

A local council letter from 1905 informed Friedrich Trump who had become a US citizenthat he would not be granted his German citizenship back and that he had eight weeks to leave the country or be deported, CNN quoted historian Roland Paul as saying.

It is understood the notice was issued after the German authorities discovered he had never carried out military service before emigrating to America.

He also claimed that Trump had illegally left Germany, failing to notify authorities of his plan to immigrate.

Friedrich Trump, who built up a fortune through restaurants and boarding houses after arriving in America as an immigrant, was born in the Bavarian town of Kallstadt.

The Trump camp did not immediately respond to questions on the research, the network said.

The findings have sparked interest as President-elect Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his election campaign.

Trump talks against illegal immigration, so I think he should remember his own family story from time to time, Paul said.

Trump proposed a wall be built between the US and Mexico as the centerpiece of his anti-immigration drive. He has also threatened to deport undocumented migrants who have committed crimes in the US.

Since his shock election victory, Trump has vowed to deport three million illegal immigrants from the US.

Paul came across the document on Friedrich Trumps threatened deportation in state archives and also found several letters from him pleading with authorities to allow him to stay.

Paul mused on how this one administrative decision seemed to have changed the course of history.

I have to say this kind of letter wasnt unusual back then, Paul said.

But if they had accepted him back at that time in 1905, Donald Trump wouldnt be in the USin fact, he wouldnt exist, he said.

He said the eight week deadline was extended as Friedrich Trump said that his daughter was ill. But he was finally forced to leave two months later.

Trumps father was born in the US, where he met Trumps mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who hailed from Scotland.

Paul, now retired, carried out his research earlier this year when he was Director of the Institute for Palatine History and Folklore in Kaiserslautern, but his research caught public attention on Monday when the tabloid Bild published his findings.

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New Delhi:

Self proclaimed Godman and Bigg Boss 10 contestant Swami Omji Maharaj has fallen in legal trouble as a Delhi court issued a fresh non-bailable warrant against him, in connection with a theft case lodged by his brother.

The arrest warrant was issued by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Satish Kumar Arora, who also asked Omji Maharaj to appear in the court on the next date of hearing on December 3. Further, the Godman's bail bond and surety bond were also forfeited.

In November 2008, an FIR was registered against Vinodanand Jha aka Swami Omji regarding a complaint by his younger brother Pramodh Jha, who accused him of breaking his bicycle shop's lock in Lodhi Colony along with three men and stealing 11 bicycles, expensive spare parts, sale deed of the house and various important documents.

The controversial Godman also faces charges under the Arms Act, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in other matters.

Om Ji Maharaj has faced a lot of flak even in the Bigg Boss house as he has been in constant confrontation with the rest of the contestants in the show.
New Delhi:

As per the inputs of intelligence agencies, two persons namely Ajit Pal Singh and Rajender Singh has been apprehended by crime branch for possessing Rs 27 lakh of new currency notes which are being brought from Mumbai in train at Hazrat Nizammuddin Railway Station.

Both Ajit Pal Singh and Rajender Singh are accused of being involved in the activity of converting demonetised currency notes into new currency notes. They both belong to Pitampura in New Delhi.

The duo told Crime Branch sleuths about a Delhi-based man who has allegedly exchanged currency worth Rs 1.5 crores till now.A

Singh and Rajender had returned from Mumbai after getting demonetised notes exchanged for new currency. During joint interrogation conducted by police, IT department officials and intelligence officials, they revealed that they were carrying money that belongs to one Sanjay Malik, who has a pharmaceutical company in Baddi.

"We are on the lookout for Malik. It has emerged during investigation that he has got his money changed from Mumbai and he is taking commission from acquaintances for getting their old notes exchanged. He and his accomplices have so far brought Rs 1.5 crore of new currency from Mumbai," said the officer.

The IT department has been informed and police might seek the help of their counterparts in Mumbai for further investigation, said another officer.

"It looks as if some bank officials from Mumbai are involved in the racket. There is a well-oiled machinery of agents and sub-agents dealing in new currency and gold," he said.

Ajit Pal is involved with a firm that is engaged in the business of retail of medicine and is Malik's friend. Rajender works under Malik.

"They were travelling with new currency from Mumbai to Delhi by Sampark Kranti Express and had come out of the Nizammuddin railway station. They were in a car when their vehicle was intercepted outside the railway station by Delhi Police officials," he said.

Income tax and intelligence officials along with crime branch are jointly interrogating them. The currency notes were recovered at Hazrat Nizammuddin Railway Station.

A

Delhi crime branch apprehended two persons carrying Rs 27 Lakh of new currency notes at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. pic.twitter.com/7OjQSd0jfK a ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

(With PTI inputs)

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Ghazipur:

Bodies of soldiers Manoj Kushwaha and Shashank Singh, who died in an ambush by terrorists in Machhil sector of the Jammu and Kashmir two days ago, were brought this evening.

A large number of locals assembled at the Andhau airstrip where the bodies were brought by an IAF aircraft. The two martyrs were given a guard of honour and the bodies were kept for the locals to pay their tributes.

Ever since the martyrdom of Manoj Kushwaha of Badhopur village and Shahshank Singh of Naseeruddinpur village, a pall of gloom has descended on the district.

The last rites will be performed at the Ghazipur cremation ground. In a cross-LoC attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists, three Indian soldiers were killed on November 22, with body of one of them being mutilated.

The ambush on army patrol took place in Machhil sector of of Kupwara district in north Kashmir.

Of the three soldiers killed in the attack, twoShashank Kumar Singh and Manoj Kumar Kushwaha of 57 Rashtriya Rifles were from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh and one from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

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London:

Harish Manwani (62), chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), is in the reckoning to take on the chairmanship of Tata group where a battle rages between ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Sons, the holding company of the Mumbai-based over USD 100-billion conglomerate.

According to British channel Sky News, Manwani, the former chief operating officer of the Dove-to-Marmite consumer goods giant, is being lined up as a possible successor to Cyrus Mistry, who was ousted last month.

The emergence of a potential new chairman so soon after Mistrys exit - which sent shockwaves through the Indian corporate establishment - could ease concerns about the management of the group, which also has major interests in power, chemicals and consumer goods, the channel reported.

In a sudden and dramatic turn of events last month, Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the chairman of Tata Sons and replaced by his predecessor Ratan Tata in the interim, triggering a confrontation between the single-largest shareholder and the Tatas.

Returning to Tata Sons after the abrupt removal of Mistry, Tata has moved quickly to consolidate his grip over the USD 103-billion salt-to-software group by seeking to remove the ousted chairman from boards of group firms.

TCS has called an EGM on December 13, Indian Hotels has convened it on December 20 and Tata Chemicals on December 23 to seek Mistrys ouster.

Even after being removed as chairman of Tata Sonsthe holding company of the Tata GroupMistry continues to head the groups several listed firms, including Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

Armenia distorts the essence of the statements made by the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in L'Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen, as well as the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, trying to mislead its people and the international community, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend Nov. 24.

Hajiyev was commenting on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an interview with Sputnik news agency.

The interrelation, as well as equal and common use of principles are stressed in the Helsinki Final Act dated 1975, Hajiyev added.

Hajiyev said that according to the Helsinki Final Act, any country is responsible for the use of force against the territorial integrity and political sovereignty of other country or the threat of using force.

According to the paragraph 8 of the Helsinki Final Act, while expressing respect for the equal rights of peoples and the principle of self-determination, the member-states in all cases act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and corresponding norms of international law and the territorial integrity of countries, he added.

In previous declarations, the presidents of the OSCE MG co-chairing countries present the principles of settlement of the conflict in accordance with the Helsinki Final Act in the following order: non-use of force or threat of using force, territorial integrity of countries and self-determination of people," Hajiyev added.

Armenia, often touching upon the principle of using force or threat of using force, does not understand that it bears the responsibility for fulfillment of the conditions arising out of this principle, he said.

Hajiyev stressed that Armenia is a side, which occupied Azerbaijani territories, i.e. used force.

"It is Armenia which has big military contingent in the occupied Azerbaijani territories and continues to pose threat by using force, he added. Today, Armenia is trying to present the results of occupation of Azerbaijani territories, that is, the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and ethnic cleansing carried out there, as self-determination.

"All this is nothing but Armenias unsuccessful attempt to cover up its aggression against Azerbaijan, he said.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that after the Armenian armed forces withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and internally displaced people return to their native lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the region will be able to exercise this right within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
New Delhi:

Bigg Boss 10 is full of twists and turns and Day 39 was no different. The housemates woke up to aSone Ki Daal Para and seemed to enjoy the Gold Mine Task.

Letas take a look at how the day unfolded:

#Lopamudra told Manveer Gurjar that she had tied Rohan Mehra last night & that they missed out on a golden opportunity to steal gold

#Om Swami gave tips to Lopamudra to steal gold from the treasuryA

#VJ Bani felt no one helps her in the kitchen

#VJ Bani requested Monalisa Antara not to take things personally

#VJ Bani told Rohan Mehra about the kitchenas situation whereas Lopamudra interferes & tells her to practice what she preaches

#The bell rang and Gold Mine task was resumed

#VJ Bani called Om Swami judgemental and had an argument with him.

#Gaurav Chopra was angered by the fact that Om Swami never willingly helps in the house duties and always has to be told to do things

#Rahul Dev lost his cool and lashed out at Om Swami. Heated argument occured between the duo

#OmSwami and @rahuldevrising lash out at each other in anger and the environment gets even more heated! Tune in to #BB10 to know why! pic.twitter.com/LmKV7dy98Q a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) November 24, 2016

#It seemed that some housemates ganged up against Om Swami.

#Housemates gathered in the living room as Bigg Boss announced the end of the Gold Mine Task

#Bigg Boss teold the housemates that a secret task had been given to Manu Punjabi and Lopamudra

#Rohan Mehra got best wishes from Bigg Boss and the young lad retained his captainship.

#Lopamudra said that she felt like a real thief after the secret task

#Lopamudra and Manu Punjabi played a blame game as Manu Punjabi was upset that Lopamudra didnat tell him all the rules of the secret task

#VJ Bani broke down after looking at a picture. She claimed that she missed home a lot.

#Gaurav Chopra tried to cheer VJ Bani

#Vidya Balan is coming to the Bigg Boss house on this upcoming weekend

#VJ Bani told Bigg Boss that she was not enjoying anymore in the Bigg Boss house
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

Change of OSCE Minsk Groups US and French co-chairs is a routine process, but Russia does not intend to change its co-chair in the near future, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova.

She made the remarks at a briefing Nov. 24, according to the Russian Foreign Ministrys website.

Igor Popov will continue to work on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, she added.

James Warlick of the US earlier said he will step down as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair on December 31. France also stated that Stephane Visconti will take the position of its OSCE MG co-chair soon.

Taking into account the complexity of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and that this problem is related to the fate of people who live in the conflict zone, I would like to urge the OSCE MG to intensify the negotiation process, Zakharova said.

It is necessary to make every effort to advance in the conflict settlement, she added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
DANBURY  Six months ago, Margaret became the guardian of two young girls, making sure they wouldnt have to go into foster care after their mother was imprisoned.

Having no family of her own, Margaret had established a bond with the girls, now 9 and 11 years old, when they first moved into the apartment next door. Now, with the holidays approaching, the girls are excited about baking Christmas cookies for the first time and making decorations for the tree.

The News-Times has partnered with the United Way of Western Connecticut since 2011 to help families like Margarets during the holiday season. Over the next six weeks, the newspaper will present six cases each week that outline how a local resident or family could be helped by receiving a specific amount of money.

A gift of $600 would help Margaret buy clothing, gifts, holiday extras and pay a bill.

About $292,000 has donated over the years through The Giving Fund.

We launch this fund at Thanksgiving each year, and the thing that I am most struck by is the gratitude we receive from the recipients every year, said Kimberly Morgan, chief executive officer of the United Way of Western Connecticut.

The families that are helped through the Giving Fund certainly appreciate the financial help because it can be life-changing, Morgan added. But what we hear they appreciate most is that a stranger cared enough about them to make the effort to give.

Thats what makes this fund incredibly rewarding; its neighbors reaching out to neighbors with no expectations of being recognized for the good they are providing, she said. Im thankful that we get a front-row seat at seeing the generosity of this community.

As in previous years, the Volunteer Center of the United Way Western Connecticut will administer the fund free of charge, so 100 percent of the donations go to the cases.

Many of the recipients are known as ALICE families, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed and refers to people who often struggle to afford lifes basic necessities.

Were seeing more need from the ALICE families, the working families that are struggling to make ends meet or from families who were just doing just fine until a major life crisis hit, said Stacy Schulman, United Ways director of corporate relations and special events.

Donations are collected for each case until it is fully funded. Any donations received above the amount needed will benefit underfunded cases. If all are funded, then the money will be used for other United Way programs that assist ALICE families.

This weeks six cases:

Case 1: Jasmine and Michael have four children between 6 and 10. When Michaels employer moved out of state, he wasnt able to find another job that paid as well. Jasmine started to work a night job because of the high cost of child care. The family also moved into a two-bedroom apartment to reduce their housing costs. Living paycheck to paycheck, the family occasionally visits food banks to make ends meet. A gift of $500 would help the family pay for winter items for the children, Christmas gifts and a little toward their bills.

Case 2 is Margaret, who was mentioned above.

Case 3: Lisa lives with her husband and young son. Over a year ago, Lisa, while battling cancer, lost her teenager daughter in an accident. Lisa still has cancer, which has prevented her from working a regular job. Recently, the family had car trouble. A gift of $950 would help the family repair the car and provide a little extra money to buy winter clothes for Lisas growing son.

Case 4: Julia is a 9-year-old girl who lives alone with her mother in a one-bedroom apartment. When Julia was little, her father was physically abusive and, because of his long history of abuse, was sent to prison. Julias mother works two jobs and struggles to provide for the two of them. Julias mother has a hard time balancing work and summertime care for her daughter. Every summer, Julia begs her to mother to go to camp with her friends, but her mother cant afford it. A gift of $1,650 would pay for Julia to go to camp.

Case 5: Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children, 5, 6 and 9 years old. Their oldest child is disabled and requires extra care. Even with their financial challenges, the couple, both working full-time jobs, had managed to meet the needs of their children. But Mr. Smiths recent job loss has made it difficult for the family to pay for basic living expenses, including utilities and other bills. A gift of $1,000 would help pay for warm winter clothing, boots and extra groceries.

Case 6: Ted, a senior citizen, became homeless over a year ago. A college graduate, he fell on hard times and without much support found himself living in a local shelter. Ted is working again but his car needs repairs. A gift of $850 would pay for the new clutch.

Donations can be made online, www.uwwesternct.org/thegivingfund or by mailing a check to The Giving Fund, P.O. Box 863, Danbury, CT 06813.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Anakhanum Hidayatova  Trend:

Romania and Azerbaijan enjoy traditionally very close and friendly relationships, developing since 2009 within the framework of the bilateral strategic partnership, Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Dan Iancu told reporters in Baku.

Over the years there were eight visits of Romanian presidents to Baku, President Ilham Aliyev visited Bucharest five times, he said. The two countries develop extensive dialogue and cooperation at the level of parliaments, of the ministries for foreign affairs, as well as between other governmental bodies.

During the past three years there has been a steady increase of the bilateral trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Romania, he added.

For the whole of 2015 (according to Romanian data) the bilateral trade stood at $161.3 million, which is 13 percent more compared to 2014, with a balance in favor of Azerbaijan, he noted.

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR has opened a branch in Romania and is presently expanding its activities on the countrys market, Iancu said.

Ensuring a stable, safe and prosperous neighborhood is a top priority for Romania, the ambassador noted. To this end, Romania is active in maintaining an increased EU focus on the Eastern Neighborhood and supports the Eastern Partnership and the Black Sea Synergy as effective EU tools for the region.

The protracted conflicts in the Eastern Neighborhood, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, remain a source of concern and a focal point of attention for Romanian diplomacy in the EU, Iancu added.

Romania strongly supports the development of the EU-Azerbaijan relationship and hopes for the swift start of negotiations on a comprehensive and ambitious agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan, he said.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Romania amounted to $132.544 million in Jan.-Oct. 2016, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
British Foreign Secretary in Pakistan for bilateral talks

Pakistan,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Islamabad, Nov 24 (IANS) British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday arrived on a two-day official visit to Pakistan for talks on bilateral and regional issues, officials said.

Johnson will hold talks with Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister's advisor on foreign affairs, later in the day here to review security situation in the region, including the peace process in Afghanistan.

During his visit, the British Foreign Secretary will also call on President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Xinhua news agency reported.

Johnson and Aziz will hold a joint press conference at the conclusion of their talks at the foreign ministry here.

--IANS

py/vt
Pakistan, India should look for solution to Kashmir: Boris Johnson

Pakistan,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Islamabad, Nov 24 (IANS) Visiting British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday called for an end to violence in Jammu and Kashmir but added that Britain did not want to "prescribe a solution or act as a mediator" in the conflict over the "disputed" region.

"The longstanding position of Britain is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people," Johnson told media.

"Of course we are concerned about recent incidents on both sides of the Line of Control in Kashmir and we call for an end to the violence," he said, urging Pakistan and India to exercise restraint and maintain a dialogue.

Johnson, who is on two-day visit to Pakistan, said the "mutual sequestration" of the India-Pakistan economies was holding back the region from becoming a "boom zone".

Johnson earlier met Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz at the Foreign Office to discuss bilateral ties, FO Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on Twitter.

During the meeting, Johnson said he was excited to be in Pakistan and wants to "further consolidate the rock solid friendship between our two countries".

Johnson's visit comes days after British Prime Minister Theresa May was in India earlier this month.

--IANS

ahm/rn
Russia offers guns at 'Buy one, get one free': Duterte

Philippines,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Manila, Nov 24 (IANS) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said Russia has offered to sell the Philippines rifles in a "buy one, get one free" deal.

Duterte said he can always buy rifles from Russia. He made the comments after he returned from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru.

Duterte said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him during their meeting in Lima that Moscow is willing to sell guns to the Philippines at "buy one, take one free".

"Why should I have to belabour the point with (US Senator Ben) Cardin. If he does not want us to be allies, we'll go to Russia and China," he said.

Duterte was referring to US Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who reportedly threatened to cancel the sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines due to human rights concerns.

--IANS

py/dg
India issues demarche to Pakistan on border firing

Delhi,National,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) India has issued a demarche to Pakistan on what it said was the continued violation of the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday that the demarche, the fourth this month, was issued to the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan here on Wednesday.

India alleged that despite calls for restraint, the Pakistani military committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and heavy mortars.

"These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003," the spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said.

--IANS

mr/rn
Forest fires engulf protected zones in Peru

Sweden,National,Environment/Wildlife, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Lima, Nov 24 (IANS) The Peruvian government are tackling forest fires affecting 10 regions, including four protected natural zones, on an war footing.

The Environment Ministry was told that the fires were burning in the Cutervo National Park, Pagaibamba Protection Forest, Laquipampa Wildlife Refuge and Cerros de Amotape National Park, Efe news reported on Thursday.

Efforts were on by "different state institutions" to control the blazes that were spreading due to high temperatures, strong winds and dry climatic condition prevailing in the country.

In addition to the fire brigades, 30 experienced rangers, army troops, volunteer park rangers and residents of nearby communities were tackling the spread.

The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in several districts.

--IANS

in/
Moroccan pizza chef jailed on terror charges

Italy,Immigration/Law/Rights,Terrorism, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Rome, Nov 24 (IANS/AKI) A court here on Thursday sentenced Moroccan pizza chef Abderrahim El Khalfi to six years, two months and 20 days in prison for conspiring to carry out international terror attacks and for online proselytism.

Prosecutors had asked for a 12-year prison term for El Khalfi.

El Khalfi, 38, was arrested in Rome in July 2015 on suspicion of belonging to a jihadist cell plotting attacks in Italy and in North Africa.

At the time of El Khalfi's arrest, Italian authorities issued international arrest warrants for two other suspected cell members, fellow Moroccan Mohammed Majene, 28, and Tunisian Ahmed Masseoudi, 30.

Majene was the ideologue of the jihadist website '17ur' which Masseoudi coordinated while El Khalfi played a financial role, according to prosecutors.

--IANS/AKI

vd
Solar lessons for India from Morocco's Hollywood city

Morocco,Environment/Wildlife,Features, Thu, 24 Nov 2016 IANS

Marrakech, Nov 24 (IANS) With Atlas Mountain on one side and the vast Sahara on the other, Ouarzazate -- also known as Morocco's Hollywood, where films like "Gladiator" and TV series "Game of Thrones" were shot -- has become, in a record time of three years, home to the world's largest concentrated solar power plant, holding many a lesson for India.

Spread over 3,000 acres in south-central Morocco, the Noor Solar Plant 1 uses CSP technology instead of PV panels and aims to tap carbon emissions by 280,000 tonnes per year once it becomes fully functional in 2017.

Now a prized possession for Morocco, the pioneer of clean energy in Africa and host of the just-concluded COP22 climate conference, the 160 GW plant, which is operated by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), is all set to reach its peak 580 GW capacity by 2022.

"In 2013, nothing existed here. We built from scratch, right from levelling the ground to installing operational infrastructure to produce 600 GW," said Rashid Mohammed, the Director (Construction) of Noor 1, one of the four planned units of the plant which is functional.

Built for $9 billion, the plant will fulfil the energy demands of over 1.1 million people.

The other three units will be functional by 2017, 2020 and 2022, all using the latest Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology that uses heat to produce steam that powers the turbines to generate electricity. The conventional technology employs photovolatic (PV) panels.

"There are over 555,000 CSP mirrors installed. The mirrors focus the sun's light and heat up a synthetic liquid up to 400 degrees, that flows through pipes at the focus of the mirrors. When mixed with water, steam produced from this process drives a turbine and generates electrical power," a technician explained.

Though CSP is more expensive to install, unlike the widely used PV panels, it enables the storage of energy for nights and cloudy days.

"The price is cheaper, it's about 14 cents for peak hour. For Noor 1, the price had dropped by 42 percent, we hope that they would further drop," an official said.

"The plan will provide 42 per cent of total power demand of Morocco by 2020 and 52 per cent by 2030," MASEN officials said.

The Climate Investment Fund (CIF) says that Morocco depends on over 90 percent of fossil fuel imports to meet its energy demands. The Noor plant is seen as Morocco's giant leap to clean energy and a reason why it was chosen to host the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22).

Climate Action Tracker places Morocco among those few countries whose mitigation plans are sufficient to meet its NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) -- the plans of every country to apply the 2015 Paris Agreement.

As per experts at COP22, the Noor project has come up at a time when demand for energy in Morocco increased to about seven per cent annually.

The Moroccan power company believes that the project will positively impact the surrounding area. With about half a million people in Ouarzazate and 23 per cent poverty, the hope is that a better supply with cleaner energy would reduce the flickering lightbulbs and malfunctioning hospital equipment.

India pioneered the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which was singed by over 21 countries, including France, at Marrakech during COP22, and its solar mission is the fastest-growing in the world.

The lessons, however, India can learn from Morocco is the record time in which Noor was made functional and the technology it is using. About 300 million people in India have no access to electricity at all.

"India has its own ambitions and it's on track to meet its solar targets. However, there will be challenges in storage and balancing," Karan Mangotra, Fellow, The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), said here on the sidelines of COP22.

According to Mangotra and many other solar experts, India's distinct geographical location and resources are different and hence it would not be right to co-relate the numbers from Morocco, especially its target of 52 per cent solar power by 2030.

(Kushagra Dixit was in Marrakech at TERI's invitation. He can be contacted at kushagra.d@ians.in)

--IANS

kd/vm/ky/tb/sac
OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, Nov. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada's top historians, educators and community leaders will gather in Ottawa on November 27 to focus on engaging Canadians in the histories of Indigenous peoples.

The 9th Canada's History Forum, Engaging Authentic Indigenous Histories, is organized by Canada's History Society and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR).

"The story of First Peoples in Canada has not always been told accurately, completely, or from the perspective of Indigenous people," says Janet Walker, President and CEO of Canada's History Society. "As we approach the sesquicentennial of Confederation, it seems the ideal time to more fully explore the evolution of the relationship between original peoples and those who later made this country their home."

The annual event is held in conjunction with the Governor General's History Awards and brings together award-winning historians, educators, writers and heritage professionals to explore themes, issues, and opportunities in the study of Canada's history.

"Canada's history is complex," said Ry Moran, Director of NCTR. "For far too long we as a country have not appropriately explored Indigenous perspectives on Canada's development. It is essential we face our country's history head on, understanding both the good and the bad, in order to authentically move forward with reconciliation."

Participants include Moran; Karine Duhamel, a Researcher-Curator for Indigenous Content at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; Jonathan Lainey, curator for First Peoples content at the Canadian Museum of History; Maureen Lux, professor of History at Brock University; and Sarah Nickel, a Tk'emlupsemc (Kamloops Secwepemc) Assistant Professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.

Also in attendance will be Charlene Bearhead, the Education Lead for the NCTR; Cathleen Anne Tenning, a 2008 recipient of the Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching; Lisa Howell, a teacher and activist from unceded Algonquin territory in Ottawa; Gail Stromquist of Nlaka'pamux ancestry, is the coordinator for Aboriginal education with the BC Teachers' Federation; and Baudouin Lalo, from the village of Unamen Shipu in the La Romaine region of Quebec.

The Forum will take place at the Canadian War Museum on Sunday, November 27 from 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm. The event is free to the public and guests are invited to register to attend in-person or online at CanadasHistory.ca/HistoryForum. Students of media production, history and education in the Ottawa area are particularly encouraged to attend.

About Canada's History

Canada's History is a national charitable organization whose mission is to promote greater popular interest in Canadian history, principally through its publishing, education, and recognition programs. In addition to administering the Governor General's History Awards and publishing Canada's History magazine (formerly The Beaver) and Kayak: Canada's History Magazine for Kids, Canada's History produces a number of educational and online programs to encourage a Canada where people are deeply engaged in connecting with their shared past. To learn more, visit canadashistory.ca

About the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba is the permanent home for all statements, documents, and other materials gathered by the TRC the NCTR. The NCTR ensures that: former students and their families have access to their own history; educators can share the Indian Residential School history with future generations of students; researchers can more deeply explore the Residential School experience; the public can access historical records and other materials to help foster reconciliation and healing; and the history and legacy of the residential school system are never forgotten.

SOURCE Canada's History

For further information: Jessica Knapp, Canada's History, Phone 204-583-7066, Email: [email protected]; Caitlin Kealey, MediaStyle, Phone: (613) 818-2237, Email: [email protected]
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Poland is an important partner of Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in a meeting with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marek Ziolkowski Nov. 24.

Azerbaijan remains interested in expansion of bilateral relations, Mammadyarov said.

Informing about the decision of European Union Council to give a mandate to the EU Commission to launch negotiations with the Republic of Azerbaijan on Strategic Partnership Agreement, Mammadyarov expressed his conviction that the agreement will provide an important basis for comprehensive development of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU.

Touching upon the transport projects launched with Azerbaijans initiative and participation, in particular the economic benefits of East-West and North-South corridors, Mammadyarov noted the importance of these routes in expanding the economic and trade relations between countries located along the corridor.

Ziolkowski presented an invitation letter of Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski addressed to his Azerbaijani counterpart on the official visit to Poland. Mammadyarov accepted the invitation.

During the meeting Mammadyarov and Ziolkowski commended the activity of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Poland, and discussed the issues of implementation of common projects and investments, as well as continuing the high level visits between the two countries.

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland amounted to $55.76 million in January-September 2016. Some $51.31 million of that amount accounted for the import of Polish products.
TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy Growth) (TSX: CGC) is pleased to provide the following update to its June 28, 2016 release on both the joint venture announcement with Entourage Phytolab (Entourage) and the formation of Bedrocan Brasil (Bedrocan Brasil), both companies partly owned by Canopy Growth Corporation.

First Export to South America

Canopy Growth's wholly-owned subsidiary Bedrocan Canada Inc. (Bedrocan Canada), has successfully exported 10 kg of dried cannabis to Brazil for research purposes. Securing a supply of standardized research grade cannabis is a major milestone in the Entourage clinical development plan and marks the first time to the Company's knowledge that medicinal cannabis from a Canadian Licensed Producer has been exported to South America.

Entourage will now begin clinical study drug preparation and stable pharmaceutical formulations needed for the development of a whole plant drug candidate targeting epilepsy and pain management for registration before the Brazilian health authority ANVISA anticipated in 2018.

"Brazil is an exciting international market for us," said Bruce Linton, Chairman and CEO of Canopy Growth. "Research will form the basis of a broader medicinal cannabis regime in the country and we are proud to be driving this innovation forward."

Initial Funding Secured

Canopy Growth, Entourage and Bedrocan Brasil have completed an initial funding round of $3 million USD in exchange for common shares in Entourage and Bedrocan Brasil. These funds will be used both for the continuing development of Bedrocan Brasil and the launch of the Entourage clinical research plan.

"I am extremely pleased by the early and steady progress in Brazil for both Bedrocan Brasil and Entourage," said Caio Abreu, CEO of Entourage and Bedrocan Brasil. Since our launch only 4 months ago, we are fully on track with our goals of ensuring we can deliver Brazilian patients with world class cannabis-based medicines made and registered in Brazil."

In addition, Entourage can now announce that Antonio Droghetti Neto has joined its Board of Directors. Mr. Droghetti is an economist and business administrator with expertise and broad experience in structuring start-up stage companies. He was the Vice President of Grupo Silvio Santos, CEO of Inframerica, concessionaire of the airport of Brasilia, and CEO of Lifemed, a company that develops products for hospitals and the health sector.

Here's to Future Growth.

About Canopy Growth Corporation

Canopy Growth is publicly traded on the TSX and a leading diversified producer of medical cannabis through its wholly owned subsidiaries Tweed, Bedrocan Canada, and Tweed Farms. The Company operates a collection of diverse brands and curated strain variety, supported by over half a million square feet of indoor and greenhouse production capacity.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Canopy Growth Corporation, Tweed Inc., Tweed Farms Inc. or Bedrocan Canada Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Canopy Growth does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation. Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Canopy Growth Corporation

For further information: Contacts: Jordan Sinclair, Director of Communications, [email protected], 855-558- 9333 ex 309; Tyler Burns, Investor Relations, [email protected], 855- 558-9333 ex 122; Director: Bruce Linton, Chairman and CEO, [email protected]
OTTAWA, Nov. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - In the last year, Health Canada has been made aware of reports of four individuals who were switched at birth in Norway House Hospital in the 1970s. The Department takes this issue very seriously and is committed to supporting the individuals and families affected by these traumatic events. The Minister of Health met with the individuals, their families and their representatives to discuss these incidents and to understand the impacts on the men. Health Canada has committed to engaging the services of independent third parties, who will review the circumstances that led to these incidents.

Today, Health Canada can confirm that Dr. David Creery and Ms. Maura Davies have agreed to lead the independent review. Dr. Creery is a Pediatric Intensive Care Physician and the Medical Director of Patient Safety at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa, Ontario. He is also an Investigating Coroner for the City of Ottawa. Ms. Davies is the former President and CEO of the Saskatoon Health Region and has extensive experience in delivery of health services and patient safety. Dr. Creery and Ms. Davies will work with a dedicated team to complete the review by early 2017. Additionally, the family doctor of two of the individuals, Dr. Calvin James Bergen, will be assisting with the review and continuing to provide support to the men and their families.

The review team will conduct a thorough examination of available hospital records and will contact key individuals who were involved at that time. This review is intended to clarify the circumstances of the known cases.

On October 7, 2016, Health Canada learned that the RCMP would be initiating an investigation into the same cases in Norway House. While the RCMP's activities are separate from Health Canada's review, the Department will fully cooperate with this investigation.

The Department is confident that Dr. Creery and Ms. Davies  with the support and collaboration of Dr. Bergen  will conduct this review in a manner that is sensitive to and respectful of the affected individuals, their families and communities. The results of this review will be made public.

SOURCE Health Canada

For further information: Media Relations, Health Canada, (613) 957-2983
Frozen beneath a region of cracked and pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as whats in Lake Superior, largest of the Great Lakes, researchers using NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.

Scientists examined part of Mars Utopia Planitia region, in the mid-northern latitudes, with the orbiters ground-penetrating Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument. Analyses of data from more than 600 overhead passes with the onboard radar instrument reveal a deposit more extensive in area than the state of New Mexico. The deposit ranges in thickness from about 260 feet (80 meters) to about 560 feet (170 meters), with a composition thats 50 to 85 percent water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles.

At the latitude of this deposit  about halfway from the equator to the pole  water ice cannot persist on the surface of Mars today. It sublimes into water vapor in the planets thin, dry atmosphere. The Utopia deposit is shielded from the atmosphere by a soil covering estimated to be about 3 to 33 feet (1 to 10 meters) thick.

This deposit probably formed as snowfall accumulating into an ice sheet mixed with dust during a period in Mars history when the planets axis was more tilted than it is today, said Cassie Stuurman of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas, Austin. She is the lead author of a report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Mars today, with an axial tilt of 25 degrees, accumulates large amounts of water ice at the poles. In cycles lasting about 120,000 years, the tilt varies to nearly twice that much, heating the poles and driving ice to middle latitudes. Climate modeling and previous findings of buried, mid-latitude ice indicate that frozen water accumulates away from the poles during high-tilt periods.

 Water ice makes up half or more of an underground layer in a large region of Mars about halfway from the equator to the north pole.

 The amount of water in this deposit is about as much as in Lake Superior. It was assessed using a radar aboard a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars.

 This research advances understanding about Mars history and identifies a possible resource for future astronauts.

Subsurface Water-Ice Deposit in Utopia Planitia, Mars

Scalloped Terrain Led to Finding of Buried Ice on MarsRadargrams Indicating Ice-Rich Subsurface Deposit Diagonal striping on this map of a portion of Mars Utopia Planitia region indicates the area where a large subsurface deposit rich in water ice was assessed using the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Rome/ASI/PSI

Martian Water as a Future Resource

The name Utopia Planitia translates loosely as the plains of paradise. The newly surveyed ice deposit spans latitudes from 39 to 49 degrees within the plains. It represents less than one percent of all known water ice on Mars, but it more than doubles the volume of thick, buried ice sheets known in the northern plains. Ice deposits close to the surface are being considered as a resource for astronauts.

This deposit is probably more accessible than most water ice on Mars, because it is at a relatively low latitude and it lies in a flat, smooth area where landing a spacecraft would be easier than at some of the other areas with buried ice, said Jack Holt of the University of Texas, a co-author of the Utopia paper who is a SHARAD co-investigator and has previously used radar to study Martian ice in buried glaciers and the polar caps.

The Utopian water is all frozen now. If there were a melted layer  which would be significant for the possibility of life on Mars  it would have been evident in the radar scans. However, some melting cant be ruled out during different climate conditions when the planets axis was more tilted. Where water ice has been around for a long time, we just dont know whether there could have been enough liquid water at some point for supporting microbial life, Holt said.

Utopia Planitia is a basin with a diameter of about 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers), resulting from a major impact early in Mars history and subsequently filled. NASA sent the Viking 2 Lander to a site near the center of Utopia in 1976. The portion examined by Stuurman and colleagues lies southwest of that long-silent lander.

Use of the Italian-built SHARAD instrument for examining part of Utopia Planitia was prompted by Gordon Osinski at Western University in Ontario, Canada, a co-author of the study. For many years, he and other researchers have been intrigued by ground-surface patterns there such as polygonal cracking and rimless pits called scalloped depressions  like someone took an ice-cream scoop to the ground, said Stuurman, who started this project while a student at Western.

Clue from Canada

In the Canadian Arctic, similar landforms are indicative of ground ice, Osinski noted, but there was an outstanding question as to whether any ice was still present at the Martian Utopia or whether it had been lost over the millions of years since the formation of these polygons and depressions.

The large volume of ice detected with SHARAD advances understanding about Mars history and identifies a possible resource for future use.

Its important to expand what we know about the distribution and quantity of Martian water, said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist Leslie Tamppari, of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. We know early Mars had enough liquid water on the surface for rivers and lakes. Where did it go? Much of it left the planet from the top of the atmosphere. Other missions have been examining that process. But theres also a large quantity that is now underground ice, and we want to keep learning more about that.

Joe Levy of the University of Texas, a co-author of the new study, said, The ice deposits in Utopia Planitia arent just an exploration resource, theyre also one of the most accessible climate change records on Mars. We dont understand fully why ice has built up in some areas of the Martian surface and not in others. Sampling and using this ice with a future mission could help keep astronauts alive, while also helping them unlock the secrets of Martian ice ages.

SHARAD is one of six science instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began its prime science phase 10 years ago this month. The missions longevity is enabling studies of features and active processes all around Mars, from subsurface to upper atmosphere. The Italian Space Agency provided the SHARAD instrument and Sapienza University of Rome leads its operations. The Planetary Science Institute, based in Tucson, Arizona, leads U.S. involvement in SHARAD. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the orbiter mission for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the spacecraft and supports its operations
Manchester City secured their passage to the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday with a 1-1 draw at Borussia Monchengladbach in a game where both teams were reduced to 10 men.Not for the first time this season, City boss Pep Guardiola reverted to a 3-2-4-1 formation designed to take control of central areas, but it did not have the desired effect initially as Gladbach - without a win in the Bundesliga since September - took a deserved 23rd-minute lead through Raffael.Ilkay Gundogan and Sergio Aguero came close to levelling for the Premier League side before captain Silva pounced from close range on the stroke of half-time, ultimately sealing the point that prolongs his team's interest in the competition.This draw and Celtic's loss to Barcelona at Parkhead means Gladbach are guaranteed a Europa League spot in third and City cannot overhaul the LaLiga champions as group winners.Matchweek six's dead rubbers therefore come in handy for Lars Stindl and Fernandinho, who were each dismissed after the break for two bookable offences by the occasionally over-zealous Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir.Raffael and Fabian Johnson combined for the USA international to test Claudio Bravo in the seventh minute and Andre Schubert's team were increasingly encouraged by a disjointed City showing before taking the lead midway through the first half.Stindl outmuscled John Stones to find space down the left and his low cross was deflected into Raffael's path off Aleksandar Kolarov for the Brazilian to finish emphatically.Former Borussia Dortmund star Gundogan almost pulled City level on his return to Germany, controlling a Kevin De Bruyne corner on the edge of the area to spear a shot towards the bottom-left corner that drew a superb save from Yann Sommer.Bravo spared his own blushes by denying Oscar Wendt after a dreadful throw out allowed the Gladbach man to bustle through a disorganised backline.A pleasing half for Schubert turned sour towards its conclusion when Ibrahima Traore limped off with an apparent groin strain and City belatedly sprung into life to equalise.Sommer thwarted Aguero from a Sterling cutback before De Bruyne found joy down the same right channel and Silva prodded home.The start to the second period was similarly eventful as Sterling had a goal ruled out for offside and, from Sommer's resulting punt downfield, Stindl struck Nicolas Otamendi in the face to earn his marching orders.City's numerical advantage lasted only 12 minutes as Fernandinho, who had walked a disciplinary tightrope all evening, also drew a second booking from Cakir for a slight tug on Tobias Strobl's shirt.The home support found their voice again, although they were relieved to see Sommer had not misplaced his reactions when he pushed a De Bruyne drive behind at full stretch.Gladbach failed to press convincingly for the win they needed as Otamendi powered a header wide, although the sight of Aguero limping during stoppage time could be a concern for Guardiola ahead of Saturday's Premier League trip to Burnley.Credit: Goal
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham Azerbaijan) organized its monthly members` luncheon featuring participation and speech by Javid Gurbanov, chairman of Azerbaijan Railways.

Natavan Mammadova, AmCham Executive Director, welcomed guests and updated them about the upcoming events as Black and White Ball and Azerbaijan-US Business Forum. Afterwards, she congratulated Nuran Kerimov with his new role as a Vice-President of AmCham.

Special guest of the luncheon Gurbanov welcomed and expressed gratitude to all AmCham members, as well as the Ambassadors of US, Switzerland, France and Mexico. Then he noted that despite Azerbaijan is a small-sized country, it is located in the centre of the world and is the gate between East and West.

The location dictates us to support and improve our logistics, Gurbanov said. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev pays a great attention to the development of our country.

During the last years 6 airports and 12.000 km roads were built, he added. Railways also play a big role. It has been already two years that ADY started reforms in Azerbaijan Railways, trying to increase the salary and attract new employees. We also do a lot of activities in modernization of buildings, in particular the Sumgait section. We provided our staff and office with high standard conditions.

Later, Gurbanov noted that Central Station is under the construction now, on 24 December new central station will open its doors for passengers. The number of passengers increased in Baku-Sumgait line, also they are planning to open new stations and buy new locomotives. ADY will launch the ring railway construction on the 29.2 km section Baku-Pirshagi-Sumgait.

Gurbanov reported about online tickets system, as well about new purchases, new locomotives and electric trains that have been bought during the last years. He also said that a passenger train will start running between Azerbaijans Nakhchivan and Irans Mashhad before late November. The launch of the railway communication is expected to promote further development of tourism between two countries.

Construction of a railway bridge across the Astarachay River at the border of Azerbaijan and Iran as part of the North-South Transport Corridor will be completed in December 2016. Gurbanov said that 8.3 km section of the railway from the Astara station to the bridge at the border with Iran is ready and has been tested. The North  South Transport Corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link for connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

At the end Gurbanov thanked AmCham members and guests, said that Azerbaijan Railways looks forward for further cooperation with the Chamber.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday night returned to Abuja from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where he successfully participated in the ...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday night returned to Abuja from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where he successfully participated in the 4th Africa-Arab summit.During the summit, Nigeria and other African countries received a pledge of two billion dollars from the Kuwaiti government to fund key development initiatives in agriculture, education, youth empowerment and support to fight terrorism.Mr Femi Adesina, confirmed this development in a statement issued in Abuja.
The Ogun State Area Command, Nigeria Customs Service, has intercepted a petroleum tanker, and no fewer than 25 other vehicles, loaded with...

The Ogun State Area Command, Nigeria Customs Service, has intercepted a petroleum tanker, and no fewer than 25 other vehicles, loaded with smuggled bags of rice in some parts of the state, in the last two weeks.The new Area Controller, Hassan Gangua, addressing journalists at the commands Idiroko border office on Thursday, said the MAN diesel petroleum tanker with number plate FST 51 XE, was specially built for smuggling.He said the tanker, filled to capacity with the smuggled rice, was intercepted by customs operatives of the command on Monday November 15, 2016, along the Idiroko border axis on its way to Lagos.This interception was made by our gallant officers 24 hours after my arrival, he said.Gangua added that another 25 cars with built-in compartments, also loaded with bags of smuggled rice, were also intercepted in the same axis.In another development, the Area Controller said another trailer allegedly carrying about 500 bags of rice was intercepted along Lagos-Sagamu interchange on Monday, November 21, 2016.He also said in the last one week, four vehicles loaded with 4,000 cartons of frozen poultry products and 19 motorcycles used for smuggling of rice were intercepted.He said the poultry products have been destroyed.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed at the federal high court in Abuja in its bid to stop the court from granting b...





The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed at the federal high court in Abuja in its bid to stop the court from granting bails to an aide of the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Mohammad Sambo Dasuki and security consultants who were accused of corruption by the federal government.The EFCC lawyer Mr. Ofem Uket had made frantic moves to stop Justice Gabriel Kolawole from admitting the defendants on bails on the ground that they would escape justice by refusing to appear for trial in the charges against them.The main defendants are Colonel Nicholas Ashinze, a former Aide in the Office of National Security Adviser; an Austrian and Security Consultant Mr. Wolfgang Reinl; a retired military intelligent officer Sagir Mohammed and a legal practitioner Mr. Edidiong Idiong. Uket told the court that although the defendants were granted administrative bail, but that the bail however terminated at the point the anti-graft agency filed charges against them.We are aware that the defendants are enjoying administrative bail. Their counsels understand that any administrative bail granted ends as soon as the matter is brought to court and bail applications are filed.Such bail cannot be extended since the charges have now been preferred to the defendants. We therefore urge the court to deny the bail application, he submitted.He then urged Justice Kolawole not to admit them on bail on the ground that they may escape. But, Ashinzes counsel, Ernest Nwoye told the court that he had a pending application for the bail of his client.He urged the court to grant the defendant bail on self recognizance having earlier been admitted to bail by an FCT High Court. Afam Osigwe, counsel representing the second and fifth defendants, also prayed the court to admit Reinl to bail.He stated that he has been enjoying administrative bail from the EFCC since February. He said that his travel documents are in the possession of the Commission and that the defendant had lived in Nigeria for over 23 years and is married to a Nigerian. In his argument, counsel to the third defendant, Mr. Paul Erokoro, SAN, said his client, Idiong, being a legal practitioner knows what it means to jump bail.He stated that, aside the fact that he had earlier been granted bail by an FCT High Court, he had always made himself available to the EFCC.In a similar vein, counsel representing the fourth defendant, Nureni Jimoh, while praying the court to grant his client bail presented 6 exhibits marked exhibits A-F respectively, to the effect that the accused had a health challenge which he had been managing for close to forty years.However in his ruling, Justice Kolawole said that the claim by the EFCC lawyer that the defendants will escape justice was speculative because there was no evidence to that effect.The Judge said that it is established beyond reasonable doubt that the EFCC granted the defendants administrative bail and that there was no evidence that any of them jumped bail or tampered with witnesses or evidence.In the circumstances, Justice Kolawole adopted the EFCC administrative bail and admitted all the defendants bail with the conditions.Justice Kolawole held that the charges are all bailable adding that, since each of the defendants has been on one administrative bail or the other, my sixth judicial sense informs me that I adopt the terms and conditions of the bail granted to the defendants by the EFCC and my learned brothers in the FCT High Courts.The judge added that the case would be granted accelerated hearing and urged the prosecution to pick five days in the new year for trial.Consequently, the case was adjourned to January 23, February 1 and14; and March 7 and 21, 2017.The EFCC, had arraigned the quartet of Colonel Nicholas Ashinze, a Former Special Assistant to the former National Security Adviser, an Austrian, Wolfgang Reinl; Edidiong Idiong and Sagir D. Mohammed before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja on a 13-count charge of corruption and money laundering to the tune of N1.5b. The defendants however denied the charges preferred against them.Ashinze and other defendants were arraigned alongside five companies accused of allegedly diverting huge sums from the office of the former NSA.The companies are: Geonel Integrated Services Limited, Unity Continental Nigeria Limited, Helpline Organization, Vibrant Resource Limited and Sologic Integrated Services Limited.
News about Nigerias gallant soldier, Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali, who died fighting Boko Haram terrorists, was top on Google search this we...

News about Nigerias gallant soldier, Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali, who died fighting Boko Haram terrorists, was top on Google search this week, an official said on Thursday.The Googles Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, made the disclosure in a statement in Lagos.He said that the search was from Nov. 16 to Nov. 23.Kola-Ogunlade said that the Mannequin challenge which requires people to stay frozen while a video was being recorded also got peoples attention.According to him, Google search users were also agog over news on the internet which went from Kanye Wests rant on stage, to the death of two members of the Nollywood community.He said, Earlier this month, a gallant Nigerian soldier, Abu-Ali lost his life in the battle to recapture some major towns in the North-East from the stronghold of the terrorist group, Boko Haram.As a form of support to his widow, Governor Kashim Shettima, of Borno, donated N10 Million to the family.He noted that Nollywood recently grieved over the loss of two of its members  the popular Yoruba actress, Kudirat Ajimat  and top producer cum director, Uduak Ansa Oguamanam.He said, Ajimat who is known for her motherly roles in Yoruba movies was buried immediately, according to Islamic rites.Ansa, younger sister to the talented and award-winning film-maker, Emem Isong, was said to have died of complications from prolonged peptic ulcer.According to him, change your style was the new thing on block which caught attention online.He said, As the mannequin challenge becomes global, more Nigerians are engaging in the internet viral challenge which requires its participants to remain frozen, while a video is being recorded.The phenomenon which began in Florida, U.S., has seen the likes of Etisalat, the Super Falcon, Dr Craze, MI, Falz, and LASEMA posting their versions of the challenge on the internet.Kola-Ogunlade added that earlier this week, WhatsApp official launch of its video call which required users to update their WhatsApp application, got attention online.He said, Users can also enjoy the support by updating the feature on their Android or iPhone, or they can simply go to the App Store or Google Play for available updates.He stated that U.S. rapper, Kanye West, was hospitalised this week, and reports said he was immediately placed under observations.He said, The popular entertainer, who cancelled the last 21 dates of his national tour after abandoning a Sacremento performance, was reported to have been transported to the hospital in an ambulance, and placed in a psychiatric hold.News went around that film-maker and Ebony TV boss, Seun Egbegbe, was accused of stealing nine iPhones at the popular Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos State.The Google manager said that Egbegbe explained that he left the shop with the phones to pick money from his jeep.The Google Trends launched in May, 2006, allows one to see how popular search terms and its demography have been overtime on Google.
Finally on Wednesday on the Ellen Show, for the first time, Carey publicly discussed her contentious split with Australian billionaire business mogul James Packer.The 46-year-old star admitted to Ellen Degeneres that the breakup was a ''whole friggin' thing'.Asked how she's feeling 'mentally' and whether she's 'happy,' Mariah responded:When asked about Packer's reluctance to star in Mariah's upcoming E! docu-series Mariah's World asking,Mariah replied coyly:Mariah had put on a dazzling display in a low-cut waistcoat style top and trousers for the interview. Check out her sexy outfit and very expensive jewelry.Finally on Wednesday on the Ellen Show, for the first time, Carey publicly discussed her contentious split with Australian billionaire business mogul James Packer.
Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, has insisted that he remains the national leader of the pa...

Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, has insisted that he remains the national leader of the party.The former Borno State governor in a chat with reporters on Thursday maintained that he remains the partys Chairman until the Port Harcourt division of Appeal Court says otherwise.Reacting to the ruling, Sheriff said, Im surprised at some of the reporting you media people (not Nigerian Bulletin) are carrying, the issue in the lower court, is the issue of governorship of Ondo state.That issue is between the state chairmen and the chairmen of the other group, the court of appeal has not touched anything on who is the leader or who is the substantive national chairman of the PDP which is the issue in the court of appeal. The Supreme Court says the court of appeal is to hear that matter.
The Agusta AW 101, one of the presidential jets recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, has reportedly crashed at the Nigerian Air...

The Agusta AW 101, one of the presidential jets recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, has reportedly crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base in Makurdi.The plane, which is a medium-lift helicopter specially designed for military operations, reportedly crashed due to poor training of crew members who manned its operation, according to a report by TheNewGuru.After the handover, the aircraft was repainted from the initial white and green to camouflage.A source told the website that damages to the jet were significant but no life was lost to the crash.
Ahead of the December 10 legislative rerun election, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has accused the leadership of the Indep...

Ahead of the December 10 legislative rerun election, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has accused the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission of handing over original copies of result sheets to the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, towards an alleged plan to rig the poll.Wike, who spoke in Etche Local Government Area on Wednesday, alleged that Amaechi made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting of Rivers APC leaders.The governor said that he was in possession of the proceedings of the Abuja illegal meeting of the APC.He alleged that Amaechi assured the Rivers APC leaders at the Abuja meeting that the original result sheets supplied by the INEC would be used for the December 10 rerun elections to facilitate victory for the APC candidates.While we are working for the people of Rivers State to convince them to vote for us, the APC is busy working with the INEC to rig the rerun elections.On December 10, follow your results bumper to bumper. Dont allow anyone to swap results. I urge the Etche people to follow their results, he said.The governor stated that the Rivers APC members who were arrested while printing fake result sheets for INEC were transferred to Zone 6 Police Command headquarters in Calabar.He also alleged that arrangements had been concluded to take them to Abuja with a plan to release them in line with the request of the APC.Wike added, Tell them, INEC you cannot rig election in Etche. Tell INEC, you cannot support another party to rig the election.He said the APC had concluded plans with security agencies to arrest the chairmen of Etche Local Government Area, Ikwerre Local Government Area and other leaders of the party to create room for the rigging of the rerun elections.Reacting through his media office, Amaechi described Wikes allegation as wild, baseless and an attempt to intimidate INEC into doing his (governors) bidding.He said, We know his game; this is an old worn-out trick that will certainly fail. Wike is scared, profoundly afraid. This is why he is telling these spurious lies. He knows he will lose at the polls, if the election is free & fair.Also, the state APC Publicity Secretary said, It is sad that the governors grand deception train anchored at Etche to deceive the good people of Etche with a phoney road project flag-off.Etche people must follow in the footstep of Ogoni people who have since realised that the governor simply took them for a ride with the flag-off of Sakpenwa-Bori-Kono Road and others.Several telephone calls put across to the Rivers State INEC Public Relations Officer, Antonia Nwobo, and a text message were neither answered nor replied.
The Senate on Thursday passed the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill into law, thereby giving approval for the establishment of the Nigerian Peace ...





The Senate on Thursday passed the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill into law, thereby giving approval for the establishment of the Nigerian Peace Corps as an agency under the Ministry of Interior.Presenting the report of the Committee on Interior on the floor of the Senate, the committee chairman, Senator Bayero Nafada urged the Senate to support the passage of the Bill, saying the organisation will be of great benefit to the Nigerian youths.In response to increasing complexity of the factors responsible for insecurity and the method by which peace and security is being undermined in Nigeria, there is need to develop comprehensive, multi-sectoral, multi stakeholders and inclusive approaches in order to stem these threats, he said.The Nafada-led committee recommended that the Nigerian Peace Corps and the National Unity and Peace Corps should be merged as one, since both formations appear the same.Speaking further, Senator Nafada said the committee received 237 written memoranda and numerous oral submissions from government ministries, traditional institutions, religious bodies, academia, NGOs, other various interest groups and individuals.Two Hundred and Nineteen (219) of the written memoranda received and most of the oral presentations at the hearing supported the establishment of the Nigerian Peace Corps while Fourteen (14) supported the establishment of National Unity and Peace Corps, he revealed.It can be recalled that the Senate at its sitting on Thursday 10th March, 2016 debated on the general principles of the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill, 2016 (SB.173) sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South); and the National Unity and Peace Corps Bill, 2016 (SB.183) sponsored by Senator Binta Garba Masi (Adamawa North); and referred to one of its committee for further legislative action.The Senate Committee on Interior also conducted public hearing on Wednesday 20th April 2016, where it elicited the views of the stakeholders and the general public on the merits and otherwise of the two Bills.The Nigerian Peace Corps Bill among others, seeks to empower, develop and provide gainful employment for the youths, to facilitate Peace, Volunteerism, Community Services, Neighbourhood Watch and Nation-building.As recommended, the Head of the Corps shall be referred to as Commandant-General (CG) with six Deputy Commandant  General (DCGs) and six Assistant Commandant  General (ACGs), drawn from the six geopolitical zones which should reflect the Federal Character principle.
The members of the House of Representative are saying a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, is the most corrupt president Nigeria ever ha...

The members of the House of Representative are saying a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, is the most corrupt president Nigeria ever had.In a recent lecture delivered, the ex-president had denounced the lawmakers as massively corrupt. The lawmakers in retaliation called him the most corrupt Nigerian president since the country's independence.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Presentation of a documentary titled Vandalism, shot by request of Azerbaijans State Committee for Work with Religious Associations and with the support of the Trend Agency, has been held in Nizami Cinema Center.

Emil Huseynli is the author of the idea and the script.

Before the presentation, Mubariz Gurbanli, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations, said that many monuments were destroyed in the occupied territories as a result of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.

"Armenians destroyed our mosques located in the occupied territories and committed many acts of vandalism," said Gurbanli.

"The film is displayed with English subtitles, and I think this film is important from the point of view of communicating the acts of Armenian vandalism to foreigners, he added.

Addressing the films presentation, Bahar Muradova, deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, said that Armenia committed crimes against humanity by destroying historical monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Deputy Director General of Trend Agency Arzu Naghiyev expressed the agency's gratitude to all participants of the event, including the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations and all those who contributed to the creation of the film.

"The purpose of this film is to inform the world about crimes committed by the Armenians," he added.
The federal government has awarded a contract to build a hotly contested sand dune project to protect some Jersey shore towns near Atlantic City that residents have been fighting for years.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tells The Associated Press it awarded a contract Wednesday to Cranford, New Jersey-based Weeks Marine to perform the work in Margate, Longport and part of Ventnor.



The $63.3 million contract also authorizes an additional $13 million for more sand if needed.



An Army Corps spokesman says construction should begin in January or February and be completed by next October.



Margate and several residents say bulkheads already in place provide enough storm protection. They say adding dunes will wreck ocean views, spoil the beach and possibly spread mosquito-borne disease including the Zika virus.
PASSAIC -- A Passaic High School student is suing the the city, the Board of Education and police department after she was attacked and sexually assaulted, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed recently in Passaic County Superior Court says the city, BOE and police were negligent in providing security at the school, thus leading to the attack.

On Oct. 30, 2014, the then 15-year-old student claims that she was attacked by another student and then sexually assaulted.

"There was a stairwell assault," John Marotta, a lawyer for the student said.

As a result of the attack, the student suffered bodily injuries, multiple contusions and abrasion throughout her body, according to the lawsuit.

The student, whose name is being withheld by NJ Advance Media due to her age at the time of the attack, is seeking compensation for damages.

Marotta said police have returned an indictment against the student in the case, a copy of which was not available Wednesday.

The Passaic Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, a former track coach at the school lost his teaching certificate after an alleged sex assault in 2006.

On Tuesday, City Public Safety Director and President of the BOE Richard Diaz was removed from his position within the district after allegations surfaced that he interfered with another sexual assault case.

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
boozle-amazon_miller_83.JPG

Nick Gladis says he fell for a scam when an Amazon third-party seller asked for payment via Amazon gift card.

(Andrew Miller/For NJ Advance Media)

If you plan to shop on Amazon.com this holiday season, be warned.

There's a new scam afoot, and the con artists are using Amazon to steal your money. Based on the number of complaints reported to Bamboozled from across the country in the past few months, the problem is widespread, if not rampant.

Amazon isn't doing anything about it, according to shoppers who fell victim to the scam.

Given that we're at the start of the busy holiday shopping season, one might think Amazon wants to warn its customers.

The retail giant is staying silent.

We've reported before about fake third-party sellers who lure buyers to leave Amazon's site when it comes time for payment. Through untraceable wire transfers, the fraudsters take money for items they never deliver.

This time, the scammers are using Amazon gift cards to pull off the fraud.

And it seems to be working beautifully.

The dozens of complaints reported to Bamboozled share essentially the same story. And, the readers agree, Amazon hasn't done a thing to help.

We reached out to Amazon about these cases and to ask what it's doing to protect consumers as the holiday shopping season gets underway. It hasn't responded to our inquiries.

Here's a look at what's happened to some shoppers who put their trust in Amazon.

Nick Gladis of Frenchtown wanted to buy himself a birthday present.

He decided to buy himself a drone.

"It was the biggest purchase I'd made for myself in years," he said.

Looking on Amazon on Nov. 1, Gladis found the product he wanted for $500. The seller's ad told him to text the seller before placing the order.

A screenshot of some of the many messages between shopper Nick Gladis and a scammer posing as Amazon.

What followed was a series of texts and emails -- emails that looked exactly like authentic Amazon emails -- in which Gladis was instructed to purchase an Amazon gift card to make his payment. He gave the gift card numbers to the seller, and the seller took the money.

But no product arrived.

When he realized something was wrong, Gladis contacted Amazon.

Amazon said the gift card had already been used and nothing could be done to recover the money, Gladis said he was told.

"Amazon simply does not care and has very little to say about it, and wants it brushed under the carpet so that they don't have a sketchy name," Gladis said. "Amazon received the money I was scammed for either way."

In essence, with the gift cards being used as payment, Amazon has unwittingly become a middleman for fraud, and it's profiting as more gift cards are purchased.

And, Gladis said, the phony seller continued to post items on Amazon even after he reported the scam.

"That's absolutely unforgivable," Gladis said.

He asked Amazon to share information on the fake seller, such as the seller's IP address, but Amazon wouldn't give Gladis any information.

THE COMPUTER

Gladis isn't the only one reporting this kind of scam and the lack of action by Amazon.

Kevin Donaldson of Tempe, Arizona, decided to buy a refurbished computer from a third-party seller on Amazon.

On Nov. 3, he found one for $441. Next to the shipping information, the listing said buyers should email the seller before placing an order, and it gave an email address.

Donaldson said he figured the email request was to confirm the item was in stock. He put the item in his Amazon shopping cart and emailed the seller.

The seller asked for information on the system he wanted, Donaldson said.

"After confirming that they had the computer in stock, I noticed in my shopping cart, for that computer, the price had jumped $200," he said. "Since I did not want to lose the deal, I wanted to push the order through to lock in the price."

A screen shot of a listing by a phony Amazon third-party seller. The listing instructs customers to email a non-Amazon address before placing an order.

He then received an email full of Amazon logos and fonts, giving him link to what was supposedly an Amazon "e-payment" page. He was instructed to buy a gift card and submit the numbers to the seller.

"It was Amazon's gift card," he said. "I should have stopped then. I thought that hey, I am using Amazon, I am using an Amazon credit card and they are asking for a Amazon gift card. Everything is directly through Amazon, which I trusted."

Within 10 minutes of completing the purchase, Donaldson realized the transaction wasn't showing on his Amazon account.

He immediately contacted Amazon and explained he thought he was scammed, and he asked the company to stop payment on the gift card.

"They said they could do nothing," Donaldson said, noting he offered all his contact with the seller as evidence.

He said the rep suggested he call the police.

After continued attempts to get help from Amazon, Donaldson said, the company won't respond to him anymore.

"I have not used profanity on any level with them and they have halted communication," Donaldson said. "Amazon only seems interested in working with sellers and have no backing for their customers."

THE GENERATOR

Ron Eberle of Merritt Island, Fla., tried to buy a $1,000 generator from a third-party seller on Nov. 7.

He tells a story similar to other scammed shoppers.

Eberle said the generator ad told buyers to text a telephone number before placing an order.

He did, and the response instructed him to email the product number and delivery address.

The response said, "Amazon will confirm your order and guide you through the payment process once we will receive your details."

Eberle asked if he could use his debit or credit card, but the seller didn't respond.

Eberle later received an email that used Amazon's logos and fonts and color schemes. The writer said he was from "Amazon Customer support Purchase Protection Program Department."

The confirmation email Ron Eberle received from a scammer impersonating Amazon.com.

It confirmed the purchase order number, and said the purchase was eligible for Amazon's buyer protection program.

The email instructed him to buy Amazon gift cards, and it listed retailers where he could buy the cards.

Eberle did as instructed, buying two $500 Amazon gift cards and giving the numbers to the fake Amazon employee.

The next day he received a new request for $1,000 more. Insurance was needed on the purchase for the transaction to go through.

"The payment will be secured by our service and you will have your money back once you receive the product," the email said.

That's when Eberle realized something was wrong. He tried to cancel, but the seller never responded.

Eberle reported the scam to Amazon, which he said offered nothing to help him get his money back.

"I feel like a real dumbbell, but the third-party seller emails looked legit, and the real concern for everyone, I think, is that I never would have suspected a fraud scam that I believe was enabled through the Amazon website management," Eberle said. "How many others got robbed?"

In the week following the scam, Eberle monitored similar products and found many similarly phony sellers on Amazon, he said. He shared the images with Bamboozled

HOW TO AVOID THE SCAM

We asked Amazon for protection tips for you, dear readers, but it didn't answer.

So here are our suggestions.

First, while there are opportunities to contact third party sellers to ask questions about items, the only legitimate contact you would have is on Amazon's site. At the bottom of most items for sale, you can find a Q&A area where you can ask questions, and the seller will respond right there.

If a seller tells you to call, text or email for any reason, don't do it. Find another seller.

If you do end up in a conversation with a seller, never follow any links where you can supposedly make a payment.

The seller may tell you the transaction is covered by Amazon. Well, it's only covered by Amazon if you pay through Amazon Payments directly on the Amazon page -- not on an impersonation page that's made to look like the real thing.

And never pay with an Amazon gift card the seller tells you to buy.

If you have a gift card, sure, use it -- through Amazon Payments. No legitimate seller will tell you to buy new gift cards to pay for any product.

We tried to find Amazon warnings about this new abuse trend, but we couldn't find anything.

Sure, it offers a page on how to avoid payment scams, and a page on how to tell if an email really is from Amazon.

But what it doesn't seem to do is warn shoppers at the point of purchase that these kinds of scams are out there.

Amazon, can't you do better for your customers?

Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com.

Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter.
williamstown road fatal accident

Sand is seen spread across Williamstown Road near the Erial Road intersection following a fatal motor vehicle accident Thursday that left two people dead, Nov. 24, 2016. (Greg Adomaitis | For NJ.com)

( )

WINSLOW TWP. -- Two people are dead and two more have been hospitalized in the wake of a head-on motor vehicle collision Thursday morning, according to Winslow police.

Joel Hutton, 23, of Berlin, and Janiyah Conquest, 19, of Sicklerville, were killed after an accident along Williamstown Road. Jillian Farrell, 19, of Williamstown, and another passenger involved in the crash were both hospitalized, police say.

Authorities say Hutton, who was driving a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu westbound along Williamstown Road toward the Sicklerville section of Winslow, crossed over the center line into eastbound traffic. Farrell, who was driving a 2014 Honda Civic eastbound along Williamstown Road, collided head-on with Hutton's vehicle, police said.

According to authorities, Conquest was ejected from Hutton's vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Hutton also succumbed to his injuries and died at the scene. Farrell and a passenger who was in her Hutton's vehicle were both transported to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

According to Conquest's Facebook profile, she is a 2015 Winslow Township High School graduate. Hutton's page indicates he was an Arkansas native. Many friends and family took to the social media website to express their condolences following the fatal wreck.

"Prayers going out to the family and friends of Joel Hutton and Niy Conquest," one user wrote. "Sad to see young people gone so soon."

Nearby residents said Thursday that this stretch of Williamstown Road between the namesake Gloucester County town and Berlin, in Camden County, is no stranger to fatal accidents.

"This a very dangerous road," said a lifelong resident of a mobile home development just shy of the fatal crash scene, adding that two other accidents occurred Tuesday evening within 30 minutes of each other. "The traffic here is horrible. You can't get out at 5 p.m."

According to previous reports, a fatal accident involving two vehicles headed in opposite directions occurred in the same stretch of road. The May 2013 incident claimed the life of an 89-year-old Winslow man.

"I don't understand why it's such a dangerous road," the woman's daughter added, noting she too was involved in a serious car wreck in 2009 just a few blocks down from the scene of Thursday's crash.

The incident remains under investigation.

Loss for word , not one young soul Bt 2 ?! My homie from high school , he waa always fun to be around ... Idk wht to say . R.i.p Joel Hutton  Posted by Aliyah LoveBomb on Thursday, November 24, 2016

Jus wanna say ma prayers go out to the Hutton family please pray for them. Miss yu already bro may god bless the Hutton... Posted by Nyzual Jamal Streater on Thursday, November 24, 2016

Prayers going out to the family and friends of Joel Hutton and Niy Conquest .. Sad to see to young ppl gone so soon  Posted by Jazmin Clouden on Thursday, November 24, 2016

Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
N.J. home makeover is a regular feature on NJ.com. To submit your renovation for consideration, email home@starledger.com with your full name, email address, phone number and town/city. Attach "before" and "after" photos of what you renovated.

For some people, moving from a six bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house to a three-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot-house would be considered downsizing.

For Anthony Fonti, it's living his evolving dream.

"Since I was a little kid, I always wanted the big house," says the bachelor business owner.

But living in Freehold got to be a little boring, and it was a long drive from Northern New Jersey, where he does much of his business. So, he sold his spacious Freehold home for a luxury townhouse in Edgewater.

"I bought something smaller for a lot more money," he said with a laugh. What he gained: A dramatic view of the Hudson River and less travel time to the excitement of New York City. "I needed to have something to justify moving to a smaller house," he said.

Fonti, 36, owns Carcierge Valet, a company that provides attendants who park cars for hotels, restaurants, and other locations in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Getting exactly the location he wanted in Edgewater required some added effort on Fonti's part. "I wanted this development, and I knew I wanted this side (with the river view)," he said. "There were eight to ten houses in my row, and I knocked on all the doors until I found somebody who wanted to sell," he said.

The day after he closed on the sale in February 2013, crews began to gut his three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom townhouse. The two-story townhouse was built in 2000, and the previous owners had eclectic taste. The rooms were somewhat traditional in styling, but they were painted in a rainbow of colors. In the kitchen, a purple neon light snaked in a loop between the counter and cabinets, and then up behind the range hood.

"I don't know what was going on," Fonti said. "It looked like a sushi restaurant."

His first thought was to neutralize it all with beige and tan. "I wanted it to look like my old house," he said. Then he decided he wanted the place to look more like a magazine spread. So he searched online for interior designers, and he liked the projects he found on the website of Westfield interior designer Lisa Dreissig.

Dreissig translated Fonti's desire for a home "that looked like it could be in magazine" to mean "modern and very minimal with no clutter."

"Lisa veered me in a different direction," Fonti said. "I was a little nervous to do that, but I was so glad that I did."

The result is a home made over, top to bottom in a calm palette of gray and taupe.

"Everything was too traditional," Dreissig said. "He wanted to streamline it. Literally every single surface was renovated. All of the bathrooms were completely demo-ed, the kitchen was completely demo-ed," she said.

"I didn't even want to remember what it looked like," Fonti said. While Dreissig conceived the redesign, Fonti acted as his own general contractor. "I had done it three times with my own houses," he said. "I knew people who did certain things." So he hired all the trades people who made their vision real.

Fonti still wants to replace doors in the house, and he has plans for a few more upgrades. In the meantime, he is diversifying his business efforts with the purchase of a three-family building in a Jersey City that he is renovating as an investment property.

What he renovated

A waterfront townhouse in Edgewater

Who did the work

Lisa Dreissig Design Studio, Westfield; World Class Kitchen & Bath of Matawan supplied and installed cabinetry and tiles throughout the house.

How long it took

About 9 months

How much it cost

$200,000 to $250,000

Where he splurged

"I did that with the whole house," Fonti said.

How he saved

I haggled with contractors, but I wouldn't say I saved money.

What he likes most

"Everything," Fonti said. "I love my house."

What he'd have done differently

"I probably would have gotten granite counter tops," Fonti said. "At the time, I just felt granite would be going out of style. I bought quartz, and it's a bit plain," he said. "I probably would not have put down a pre-finished floor." He explained that the floor was somewhat damaged during construction and had to be refinished in spots.

Kimberly L. Jackson may be reached at home@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Entertainment on Facebook.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

The strike of employees of Germany's Lufthansa flagship airline has also affected the flights in Bakus direction, the airline companys Azerbaijani office told Trend Nov. 24.

Frankfurt am Main-Baku and Baku-Ashgabat flights by Lufthansa, as well as those in the opposite direction, have been canceled for Nov. 24 and Nov. 25, the company said. There is no information yet regarding the flights for Nov. 26.

Lufthansa's Baku office also noted that every passenger of the canceled flights is being treated individually, a variety of alternatives are being offered, those passengers can change the departure date or cancel the reservation free of charge.

Lufthansa cancelled 900 flights on Nov. 23 and 912 flights for Nov. 24, which affected some 200,000 passengers.

It is the 14th strike since April called by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots union. Lufthansa urged VC to work towards a resolution.

Pay talks between VC and the German carrier broke down earlier this month, and Lufthansa said the union had "consistently rejected the offer" of mediation.

The union is calling for a 3.7 percent pay rise for 5,400 pilots dating back to 2012. Lufthansa, which is facing increasing competition from budget rivals, offered a 2.5 percent increase over the six years until 2019.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Details added (first version posted at 11:19)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Privatization of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) will be announced in 2017, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Financial Markets Supervision Chamber of Azerbaijan Rufat Aslanli said Nov. 24 at a banking conference in Baku.

He said that the work together with Azerbaijans Finance Ministry is underway to complete the preparatory procedures.

Both local and foreign investors will be able to take part in the privatization process of the IBA, he added.

The main goal is to diversify, reduce the size of the banks assets in the first half of 2017, he said.

About 40 percent of Azerbaijani banking sector's assets account for the share of the IBA, and it is a threat to the banking system. Therefore, its necessary to bring the assets size of the IBA to a level that will not threaten the banking system.

On July 15, 2015 the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on the measures for rehabilitation related to the preparations for privatizing the state-owned shares of the International Bank of Azerbaijan JSC.

The shortcomings in the management, investment and loan policy of the International Bank of Azerbaijan in recent years, as well as financing of less efficient, risky investment projects worsened the bank's financial state, caused increase in the share of distressed assets and reduced its liquidity, said the decree.

In order to overcome the current situation, restore the bank's financial position and ensure its sustainability, the distressed assets of the bank were transferred to the state-owned Aqrarkredit CJSC non-banking credit organization. Bonds for three billion manat were issued under the state guarantee to ensure IBA's liquidity instead.

Aqrarkredit CJSC is the biggest non-banking credit organization operating since 2001, whose shares are owned by the state.

The International Bank of Azerbaijan was founded in 1992 and is the largest bank of the country. Some 54.96 percent of stake in the bank's capital is owned by the state.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Iran and Belarus have been negotiating over an oil export deal, the deputy of oil minister Amir-Hossein Zamani told Shana news agency on Nov.24.

He said that regarding the geological location of Belarus, the more negotiations are needed for sealing an oil export deal.

Belarus is landlocked and the nearest body of water is the Baltic Sea passing through Lithuania and Latvia.

Previously, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Oct.10 that the country is in talks with Iran on supplies of oil.

According to Sputnik, Belarus faces decline in oil deliveries from Russia. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said last month that the decrease in deliveries was linked to Minsk's gas debt and shortfall of petrochemicals' deliveries to Russia.

Moscow and Minsk have been locked in talks over the price of Russian gas supplied to Belarusian consumers.

In July, Novak said that Belarus owed $270 million in unpaid gas bills to Russia. Minsk has been refusing to recognize the debt, saying that the price of $132.77 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas demanded by Moscow is unfair, Sputnik reported.

According to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, Belarus increased oil imports from Russia by 1.8 percent to 22.9 million tons in 2015 year-on-year.

Belarusian Naftogaz earned $1.7 billion transit revenue in 2015 from Gazprom for transiting 64.1 billion cubic meters of gas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The lowest rate of Azerbaijans national currency, manat, against the US dollar was set at 1.7196 AZN/USD for Nov. 25 after a currency auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) on Nov. 24 with the participation of the countrys state oil fund SOFAZ, said the CBA.

The auction started with a price of 1.7146 manats per US dollar, according to the CBA.

Under a new mechanism, the official rate of manat is set, based on the weighted average rate in accordance with the transactions concluded with commercial banks in the interbank foreign exchange market and in auctions.

On the days when no auction is held, manats official rate against the US dollar will be set based on the weighted average rate formed in the currency market on the basis of the currency purchase and sale transactions between banks.
Community

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Russia will sign two bilateral agreements on cooperation in the spheres of pension provision and labor migration, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Azerbaijans Population Salim Muslimov said Nov. 24 at a meeting with representatives of Russias Social Insurance Fund in Baku.

The minister said that Azerbaijan is the only country in the CIS, which has no bilateral agreement with Russia on pension provision.

Now we are preparing to sign two agreements in the spheres of pension provision and labor migration with the Russian counterparts, he said.

Muslimov added that Russia is the largest economic partner of Azerbaijan.

We [Russia and Azerbaijan] are exporting natural resources, including the energy ones, he noted. Therefore, the fall in global oil prices had a negative impact on our economies.

Delegation of Russias Social Insurance Fund led by Deputy Head of the fund Aleksey Polikashin is on a visit to Baku.

During the visit, the Russian side has held a number of meetings with Azerbaijani colleagues to study Azerbaijans experience in the sphere of automation of processes regarding social protection.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Azerbaijan should quit insuring deposits of population, said Rufat Aslanli, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

Aslanli made the remarks during a banking conference in Baku Nov. 24.

Over the 10 years of its existence, the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) has been able to accumulate funds worth 140 million manats, which does not even account for 10 percent of the insured deposits, according to him.

In order to provide the ADIF with funds, a mechanism was developed for its crediting by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), Aslanli said.

He added that the mechanism was successfully tested during the repayment of deposits to the Bank Standards clients.

The ADIF is currently paying compensations to depositors of the liquidated Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank, Parabank, Caucasus Development Bank, AtraBank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Ganjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard.
VALPARAISO  Kristin Tincher told the court Wednesday morning that neither she nor her brother hold any animosity toward their father, who pleaded guilty to a drunken driving crash that resulted in the death of their mother.

It killed him, she said of her 70-year-old father, Dwayne Johnson, of Valparaiso. Mentally, his heart is broken.

Yet the July 4, 2014, crash left the passenger in another vehicle injured seriously enough that she doubted she would survive and had to wonder what would become of her children.

Cheryl Polarek, Porter County deputy prosecutor, was overcome with emotion as she discussed the unique case and the decision by her office to pursue just the charges involving the passenger in the other vehicle.

She suggested sentencing Johnson to no more than probation, and Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper agreed.

Hes living in his own hell right now, Polarek said.

Harper sentenced Johnson to nearly three years of probation and 60 days of community service work after he pleaded guilty to two drunken driving charges. He served one day behind bars.

Harper, who said she was unsure what to do with the case when arriving to court Wednesday, commented on how it had pierced Polareks typically tough exterior.

While accountability is needed, the judge said she believes the deceased, Teresa Johnson, would forgive her husband.

The couple were on their way home from a Fourth of July party when the crash occurred just before 10 p.m. at U.S. 30 and County Road 250 West in Center Township, according to defense attorney Larry Rogers.

Dwayne Johnson had a blood alcohol content of 0.17, or more than twice the legal limit, and his wife had a BAC of 0.19, according to evidence submitted in court.

The driver of the other car said he was eastbound on U.S. 30 with his wife and two young children when he passed through a green light at 250 West and saw Johnsons white Lincoln Town Car enter the intersection from the south against the red light, police said. The driver said Johnsons car struck the passenger front side of his vehicle. His wife was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

Johnson told the court Wednesday he has not only stopped drinking, but also doesnt wander out from his home very often.

Im sorry for everything, he said.
EAST CHICAGO  In his first public face-to-face meeting with residents since news first broke about dangerously high lead pollution in sections of the city, Mayor Anthony Copeland on Wednesday asked everyone to unite in a fight for state and federal aid.

Lets not be divided. Lets keep our eye on the prize of what were truly fighting, where the monies are, and how do we tap into the funding, Copeland said.

Residents from a community group requested Wednesdays meeting after an impromptu protest last Friday at City Hall. The initial purpose of the visit was to personally hand Copeland a list of demands, but a secretary said he was not available.

Residents have criticized Copeland for a lack of transparency during the crisis that has left more than 1,000 families displaced from the West Calumet Housing Complex and hundreds of homeowners uncertain about their health, safety and the future of properties.

At the start of the meeting, Copeland pushed back against criticism the city has done little to fight for residents as staff passed out a timeline of meetings held among local, state and federal officials to discuss the EPAs USS Lead Superfund site.

Residents denounced Copelands request for $8 million to tear down the lead- and arsenic-contaminated complex even though nearly all families still live there.

Ray Mosley, a resident in East Calumet, said while residents appreciate Copeland blowing the whistle on the severity of the problem this summer, the mayor must push harder for more state and federal resources.

The city of East Chicago does not have the fiscal resources, staff or personnel power to address the public health crisis and environmental catastrophe that the residents are coming face to face with every single day, Mosley said. The USS Lead Superfund site is a man-made, catastrophic health and environmental disaster. We need our mayor to acknowledge it and declare it as such.

Copeland defended his decision to apply for federal funding.

At the end of the day, why should we let these buildings stay idle as a reminder of the atrocities that happened to us? Copeland said.

He said now that election season is over, he plans to reach out again to governor-elect Eric Holcomb about declaring the Superfund site an emergency disaster area.

Maritza Lopez, a resident in East Calumet, stressed its not the mayors lack of doing, but a lack of communication with residents.

There has been a failure to disseminate information to us, the residents, who are the ones living on this poison. We are getting different stories from different agencies, and here youre speaking, you say youre making negotiations we know nothing about it, Lopez said.

Residents demanded the mayor push for Medicare for life for all residents exposed to environmental health hazards in the Superfund site. Residents also asked for timely reimbursement of security deposits for West Calumet families, a chance for homeowners to relocate and recoup the value of homes, and for the city to hire health care staff to go door to door and ensure all children are tested for lead poisoning.

Copeland agreed to provide on-site blood lead testing at the John B. Nicosia Building, where some seniors have tested positive for the presence of lead in their blood. Copeland said he would also look into many of the issues raised Wednesday.

Cheryl Rivera, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, said residents came to Wednesdays meeting seeking the mayors help.
President-elect Donald Trump is making a number of cabinet appointments as he marks Thanksgiving at his Florida estate. Josh Robin filed the following report.

Donald Trump's choice to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is the governor of South Carolina, a daughter of immigrants from India who removed the Confederate flag from the state Capitol after a racism-driven church massacre.

Nikki Haley has limited foreign policy experience, but Trump notes her record of bringing people together. And the move at least temporarily bridges the divide with her and Trump.

In January, she took the extraordinary move of criticizing Trump in a nationally televised State of the Union rebuttal.

"During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," she said.

Trump later retorted:

The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2016

To that, Haley responded:

The president-elect also nominated a Michigan education philanthrophist to be his secretary of education, signaling his administration would strongly push charter schools and vouchers for private schools.

Part of the family that's heir to the Amway fortune and not a teacher herself, Betsy DeVos says she opposes the common core federal standards and has reportedly sharply criticized teachers' unions.

"We will not rest, and we will not give up on our mission to guarantee every child access to school choice and a world-class education," DeVos said.

The leading teachers' union responded that she is the most anti-public education nominee ever, and education policy expert Diane Ravitch calls her a radical right wing conservative.

"I think she's actually very dangerous because with four years of her in charge of American education, we will see a definite erosion of funding for public schools, diversion of money for religious schools and to other private schools, and there will be be no accountability for quality."

Meanwhile, in a Thanksgiving message, Trump called for national cohesion, though added tensions won't heal overnight.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.24



By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:



The US president-elect Donald Trump is highly unlikely to support ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Russell A. Green, a Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics at Rice University's Baker Institute (Houston) told Trend Nov.24.



Given lack of enthusiasm in the US Congress, passing TPP would require a major use of political capital, according to the expert.



It seems unlikely Trump would decide to use precious time and energy for a treaty he promised not to support. He campaigned strongly against it and similar trade liberalization efforts, he added.



Green believes that there will be no major immediate change if the US withdraws from TPP, but in the medium-term, it will have consequences.



The US trading partners, not just in Asia, will see this as its withdrawal from supporting free trade in general, he said.



In Asia, the TPP countries will seek alternative trade alliances, and the treaties they form are unlikely to uphold America's high standards on labor, environment, investor protection, internet freedom or intellectual property, added Green.



The expert doubts collapse of the TPP will trigger protectionism, but it will discard the chance to halt the current worldwide accretion of small trade barriers.



TPP has been a major rallying point, and it is not clear what would be the impact of removing it. Will anti-globalizers declare victory and go home or get motivated? Will pro-globalizers get motivated or discouraged? We will soon find out, he said.



The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a proposed free trade agreement linking the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim economies. The agreement would lower tariffs and other trade barriers among Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.



The finalized proposal was signed on February 4, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand, concluding seven years of negotiations. It is currently awaiting ratification to enter into force.
Televisions, headphones and electronics, as always, are expected to be a big draw at big-box stores like Walmart and Target. Department stores that offer big discounts, like Macys, will remain a top destination during the weekend, too. Macys website is blanketed with its Black Friday promotions, with ads for everything from coats to Apple watches to blenders. Black Friday Starts Now! declares a big banner at the top.

But discount and dollar stores, which generally havent been big draws on Black Friday, are also expecting strong sales. Over all, dollar stores will experience one of the biggest rises in turnout this year over last year, according to a survey of more than 2,000 adults by the data company Nielsen.

Phillip Dengler, the co-owner of the website BestBlackFriday.com, which monitors the annual sales, said he had seen more of a push from low-budget stores this year. He pointed to the discount chain Dollar General as an example: The company has extended its hours, and Mr. Dengler said the chain had made more of an effort to get its Black Friday circulars online and in front of customers.

When you think about Black Friday, you dont think about Dollar General, you think about Walmart and Target and Amazon, Mr. Dengler said. Theyre trying a little bit more.

Discounters like dollar stores and so-called off-price stores like T. J. Maxx and Ross also are different in another way from rival retailers: They have little to no e-commerce presence. That has made them somewhat immune to certain industry pressures, and could give them greater incentive to entice people into stores.

I think e-commerce has allowed for Black Friday to start whenever Amazon wants it to start, said Simeon Siegel, an analyst with Nomura. For the last few years, Amazon has offered Prime Day, its own annual one-day shopping bonanza. That doesnt exist for T. J. and Ross.

Another trend working in favor of discount and dollar stores is the rising popularity of food and kitchen items, like mixers and cookware, as holiday gifts. Thats in part because of new fads like Friendsgiving and Friendsmas, when, you guessed it, friends rather than family get together for a holiday meal.
At first, he found Ms. Stevens to be resistible. I thought Shelby was attractive and sexy, but I was there to work, he said. Soon, however, shy smiles were shared. While the duo were cleaning mushrooms at the restaurant, Mr. Long asked if she wanted to go to see Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, one of his favorite places.

Mr. Long, who had been divorced in 2007 after being married for three years, was only seeking some company, he recalled. I usually do things alone, so asking her was a big risk, he said.

Ms. Stevens said yes, but she was unclear if this was a date. While we were on the ferry, he bought me coffee and carried my jacket, so I thought, This is a date, she said. During the tour, he wandered off. I stayed in the group and thought, Wait, this guy just ditched me. Then he returned. When we got back to land, he asked if I wanted to get something to eat.

True intentions were revealed over dinner as she struggled to master a pair of chopsticks. Chris saw me struggling and said, You dont have to worry about how you look, I already like you, she said. That was the aha moment: Its a date! I loved that he was straightforward and got rid of everything thats awkward.

Their relationship moved quickly. They spent all their time together, trying new restaurants and cooking meals for each other. At work, they flirted secretly.

Anytime we saw each other downstairs alone, or walking down the line, we would kiss, Mr. Long said. Then, after a month, he was let go.
Tess Mayer, 21, grew up among farmers children in Delaware County, in the Southern Tier region of New York. I had chickens but nothing beyond that, she said. She graduated high school early and, eager for cosmopolitan life, moved to New York City to attend New York University. But she went home on breaks, and upon returning to her small town of Bovina, Ms. Mayer recalled, she became interested in how farming shapes people.

So she started taking photographs of her friends and neighbors. Among them were Miquela Hanselman, 21, and her six siblings, whose parents had started Del-Rose Farm, a family-run dairy also known for its sweet corn. Ms. Mayer also turned her camera on the newcomers to the area, who were changing the face of the farming community.

They included Simon Martinez and Robert Bollinger, of Flaca Vaca Farm, who left landscape design and beauty industry jobs in Manhattan to produce grass-fed beef; and Steve Burnett, of Burnett Farms, an Iowan who walked away from a marketing career in the city to start an organic farm with his wife, Kristie. Even though he looks like the old farmer dude, Ms. Mayer said, his farm opened in 2012.

The young photographer set out in 2015 to document both groups  the new farmers with urban ties and the deeply rooted farm families  in this photo essay, which she submitted as her senior thesis.
Since then, an unfolding scandal at the City College of New York, and a new bloc of politically prominent trustees that Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, recently appointed, have given him new leverage.

And as he prepares to unveil a new budget early next year, the governor may be further emboldened by yet another development: a letter, obtained this week by The New York Times, in which a lawyer for Lisa S. Coico, the former City College president who resigned amid investigations of her use of university funds to pay personal expenses, blames top CUNY administrators for her woes. The letter was addressed to James B. Milliken, the CUNY chancellor who, along with Frederick P. Schaffer, CUNYs general counsel and senior vice chancellor for legal affairs, was criticized in the inspector generals report.

Mr. Cuomo plays a long-term game, and what he does, in case after case, is use scandal to centralize power in the name of good government, Kenneth Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at CUNYs Hunter College, said. So I could almost see his reaction to CUNY being, Ah, this was what I was waiting for.

It does not hurt, Professor Sherrill added, that CUNYs problems could help divert attention from the scandal at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, part of what federal prosecutors say was a broader corruption scheme  one that hits Mr. Cuomo much closer to home.
Between leading impromptu street parades, performing as the bandleader on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and fulfilling his duties as an artistic director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Jon Batiste is busy enough. But this year, the Louisiana-born musician and composer also released his first holiday album, Christmas With Jon Batiste, a mix of original compositions and remixed classics. Mr. Batiste, 29, who lives alone in Midtown Manhattan, said Sundays offered him a day of freedom and a time when I take a breather from rehearsals and performing. SHIVANI VORA

SNOOZE I wake up around noon. Its an indulgence because Im up at 5 a.m. on other days. I have usually gone to bed at midnight or 1 a.m. the night before, but I have no problems sleeping 11 or 12 hours because I am exhausted from having worked hard all week.
People were getting away with it, he said. And the Police Department wasnt really looking at any murders north of 96th Street. That was where it was walled off. A severed head was found on Edgecombe Avenue in the 140s. Nobody was investigating to see who it was or what happened. It wasnt news. It wasnt important.

The numbers from his tenure are staggering. Mr. Morgenthau, a Democrat, oversaw by his count 3.5 million cases, and he won nine elections and served under five mayors: Beame, Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg. He hired assistant district attorneys: Andrew M. Cuomo, Sonia Sotomayor, Eliot Spitzer, John F. Kennedy Jr., Cyrus R. Vance Jr. More than 80 of his prosecutors went on to be judges  for better or worse, Mr. Morgenthau said.

He brought cases against international drug cartels, money launderers, the murderer of John Lennon, the preppy killer Robert Chambers and the son who swindled millions from Brooke Astor. He was the boss in a cardigan sweater, with a gruff mouth and sometimes mismatched socks. His prosecutors won hundreds of millions in settlements and judgments against white-collar criminals, including L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of Tyco International whose ill-gotten luxuries included a $6,000 shower curtain; they also wrongfully prosecuted five young African-American and Latino men for the rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park.

He was remarkably tenacious, said Jeremy Travis, president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who was also a mayoral adviser and deputy commissioner of legal matters for the Police Department during parts of Mr. Morgenthaus tenure. He had a reputation for integrity, making tough calls and putting his name and reputation on the line. In most elections he ran uncontested.

Mr. Morgenthau became the model for the first district attorney on Law & Order, played by Steven Hill, who the real district attorney thought was pretty good.

I was mad at him, Mr. Morgenthau said. Because he came down to see me, and I had lunch with him. And I told him, if you ever decide to retire, let me know in advance. Cause the report was he was getting $25,000 an episode. I was half-serious. Anyway, he resigned without telling me.
On a blustery afternoon this past week, the Atrium, a gathering place at LaGuardia Community College, arguably the most ethnically diverse college in the most ethnically diverse quarter of the world  western Queens  seemed especially worn. There was little light streaming in from the windows that overlook a small interior courtyard, the only suggestion of greenery amid a drab array of buildings, and an offering of concession foods that did not put you in mind of Alice Waterss ministrations in the dining halls at Yale.

I had come to gauge the reaction of students to the election of Donald J. Trump as president; around the country, many elite colleges were in a state of mourning and protest. At Brown, flags were destroyed. At Columbia, on the night of the election, students flooded College Walk to cry and scream. The universitys president, Lee C. Bollinger, himself denounced President-elect Trump at an awards dinner several days later, saying that the falsehoods disseminated during the campaign would make George Orwell seem naive and unimaginative.

Students at urban community colleges around the country, though  largely poor and many of them immigrants  were potentially those with the most to lose under a Trump administration. Were they equally unnerved? Or was the expression of outrage  with its petitions and meetings and hours spent lingering over coffee and vodka and plans to overcome  itself a luxury their lives could not accommodate?

On the morning after the election, Gail O. Mellow, LaGuardias president, shellshocked and assuming her students needed comfort, went to the Atrium to hear them out. She found herself surprised by the range of response. Many of us have experienced this as a uniform negative, and they dont, Ms. Mellow told me. Some students welcomed change, they said; others were unaffected; still others felt that the world was really no different from the way it had been 24 hours earlier  life, with its difficulties, would go on.
Standing in a choice and sunlit spot along the Dallas parade route that day in November 1963, Abraham Zapruder put his Bell & Howell 414PD to his eye and filmed the 26 seconds that shook Americans to their core.

His granddaughter Alexandra Zapruder describes the day of the Kennedy assassination, and the burden of subsequent years, in her new memoir, Twenty-Six Seconds.

Ive got it all on there, a horrified Mr. Zapruder realized, reviewing the film hours later: the beautiful day, the photogenic president, the first lady in her pink suit, the explosion of blood, the end. It was the first of hundreds of thousands of times the images would be studied  by federal investigators; the Warren Commission; and an array of Americans who used it to support ever wilder theories of Soviet plots, a federal government cover-up and other conspiracies.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, usually focuses on the fight for press freedoms overseas. In the past, the group has condemned the persecution of reporters and photographers in Turkey, Egypt, Iran and China, among other countries.

But this year is not like other years. Throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump relentlessly excoriated and mocked journalists, fostering a hostile environment in which his supporters often joined in taunting and threatening the press corps. So when the committee held its annual dinner in New York City on Tuesday night, it rightly shone a spotlight on the United States itself.

The blunt warnings from some of the countrys best journalists felt surreal given that the Founders enshrined a free press and free speech in the First Amendment and the United States has long served as the premier international advocate of those sacred principles.

This year the threats to press freedom are quite close to home. Its right here, said David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker. Although CNN, among other organizations, has been justly criticized for giving Mr. Trump far too much leeway, its president Jeff Zucker promised that we will hold the new administrations feet to the fire and they should respect that, even if they dont welcome it.
President Obamas civil-rights legacy looked on track, not long ago, to include a major push against Americas deeply entrenched housing segregation. In 2015, his administration rolled out a rule requiring local communities to assess their own patterns of racial and income segregation and make genuine plans to address them.

The move followed years of debate and came as segregated cities like Baltimore and Chicago faced renewed bouts of racial unrest. The federal government, advocates hoped, was finally trying to repair a long-unkept promise of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Now that rule is likely to be undermined  and possibly erased  by a Department of Housing and Urban Development headed by Ben Carson. On Monday, president-elect Donald J. Trump officially offered the cabinet post to Mr. Carson, a neurosurgeon and a former presidential candidate, who grew up poor in Detroit but has no experience in housing policy.

While we know little about what Mr. Carson would do at the agency, he has played down the role of government in his own up-from-urban-poverty story. (If you dont succeed, his mother taught him, according to his autobiography Gifted Hands, you have only yourself to blame.) And he has specifically criticized the Obama housing rule.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Cambodias Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem called the Azerbaijani companies, specialized in the oil sphere, to take part in the development of the countrys oil fields.

The minister made the remarks during his meeting with Azerbaijans Ambassador to Cambodia (with a residence in Vietnam) Anar Imanov, the Azerbaijani embassy told Trend.

Suy Sem said that such cooperation can be beneficial for both countries.

During the meeting, Anar Imanov noted the importance of the visit of Cambodian prime minister to Azerbaijan in April 2014 in terms of the development of cooperation between the two countries. He also noted the great potential for the two countries cooperation.

The ambassador also noted the importance of implementation of agreements achieved during the visit, in particular, in the energy sphere.

The Cambodian prime minister, during the negotiations with the Azerbaijani side as part of his visit to Baku, expressed his countrys interest in attracting Azerbaijani investments and establishment of reliable commercial cooperation.

The prime minister also spoke about the importance to expand the cooperation between the two countries within international organizations.
Were resurfacing this article after the narrow confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary on Tuesday. As we noted in November, she will be highly constrained in trying to voucherize American K-12 education.

Betsy DeVos, a wealthy Republican philanthropist, whom Donald J. Trump selected on Wednesday as the next secretary of education, has spent her career promoting a market-based, privatized vision of public education. If she pursues that agenda in her new role, she is quite likely to face disappointment and frustration.

Market-based school reforms generally come in two flavors: vouchers and charter schools. They differ in both structure and political orientation. Charter schools are public schools, open to all, accountable in varying degrees to public authorities, and usually run by nonprofit organizations. Vouchers, by contrast, allow students to attend any school, public or private, including those run by religious organizations and for-profit companies.

While charters enjoy support from most Republicans and some Democrats, vouchers have a narrower political base, those who tend to favor free markets to replace many government responsibilities.
The Police Departments announcement on Twitter came hours after the chief executive of Durham School Services, the busing contractor for the school district in Hamilton County, Tenn., offered an emotional apology for the crash, which has prompted rigorous scrutiny of a company that transports more than a million schoolchildren in the United States each day.

I cant fathom the anguish of the parents whose children were involved in this horrific accident and that involved one of my companys buses, the executive, David A. Duke, said in a video that Durham published on YouTube. Nothing that I can say can take away the pain and the grief for these families. What I can say is Im deeply sorry for the children that were taken from their families with so much life before them.

Until Wednesday, Durham had issued only a terse written statement, and the video did not answer the mounting questions about the companys safety record or hiring practices. Federal statistics, which were published last month, showed that Durhams drivers had been involved in 142 injury crashes in 24 months, but the governments figures did not say whether the companys employees had been at fault in the wrecks.

Mr. Duke, whose company is headquartered near Chicago, said Durham would cooperate fully with the National Transportation Safety Boards inquiry into the accident in Chattanooga, a city of about 177,000 people.

The Chattanooga police are conducting a separate criminal investigation, and the bus driver, Johnthony K. Walker, has already been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, as well as reckless driving and reckless endangerment. The police said Wednesday evening that they intended to file an additional count of vehicular homicide.
It is hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from traditional public schools than Betsy DeVos, Donald J. Trumps pick as the cabinet secretary overseeing the nations education system.

For nearly 30 years, as a philanthropist, activist and Republican fund-raiser, she has pushed to give families taxpayer money in the form of vouchers to attend private and parochial schools, pressed to expand publicly funded but privately run charter schools, and tried to strip teacher unions of their influence.

A daughter of privilege, she also married into it; her husband, Dick, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan a decade ago, is heir to the Amway fortune. Like many education philanthropists, she argues that childrens ZIP codes should not confine them to failing schools.

But Ms. DeVoss efforts to expand educational opportunity in her home state of Michigan and across the country have focused little on existing public schools, and almost entirely on establishing newer, more entrepreneurial models to compete with traditional schools for students and money. Her donations and advocacy go almost entirely toward groups seeking to move students and money away from what Mr. Trump calls failing government schools.
Hillary Clintons lead in the popular vote is growing. She is roughly 30,000 votes behind Donald J. Trump in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin  a combined gap that is narrowing. Her impassioned supporters are now urging her to challenge the results in those two states and Pennsylvania, grasping at the last straws to reverse Mr. Trumps decisive majority in the Electoral College.

In recent days, they have seized on a report by a respected computer scientist and other experts suggesting that Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the keys to Mr. Trumps Electoral College victory, need to manually review paper ballots to assure the election was not hacked.

Were this years deviations from pre-election polls the results of a cyberattack? J. Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan who has studied the vulnerabilities of election systems at length, wrote on Medium on Wednesday as the calls based on his conclusions mounted. Probably not.

More likely, he wrote, pre-election polls were systematically wrong. But the only way to resolve the lingering questions would be to examine paper ballots and voting equipment in critical states, he wrote.
The settlement brought together three cases: an investigation by Mr. Schneidermans office and two lawsuits in California. The cases centered on whether Trump University had lured students into buying expensive courses, failed to deliver on the instruction and training promised to them, and pressured them to spend even more after their initial fees.

Mr. Schneidermans office investigated Trump University and filed its lawsuit in New York in 2013, alleging that students hoping to learn Mr. Trumps real estate tips ended up with a hard lesson in bait-and-switch. Some customers paid thousands of dollars, and up to $35,000 for Trump Elite mentoring programs, Mr. Schneiderman alleged, only to be disappointed by unfulfilled promises and scant training in real estate.

Meanwhile, the lawyers in California filed two separate cases in federal court on behalf of former students who made similar claims. One of the cases was nearing trial on Nov. 28, a circumstance that appears to have hastened the settlement. That case was being heard by Judge Curiel, whom Mr. Trump has publicly criticized, questioning his impartiality because of his Mexican heritage.

The plaintiffs lawyers, who waived their fees, said they expected 7,000 former students nationwide to recover half to all of what they spent at Trump University, which operated from 2004 to 2010. The settlement still awaits approval by the courts, which could take months.

It is difficult to estimate how much Mr. Trump made, in total, from Trump University. However, according to the New York lawsuit, Mr. Trump personally earned $5 million from the operation. It is also not clear if an insurance policy would cover any part of the settlement.

One of the lawyers in the California cases, Amber L. Eck, said she heard from dozens of former students since the settlement was announced on Friday. They are very grateful to be finally getting back a large part of the money they spent, a long time ago, especially since some are still paying for this, Ms. Eck said.

Mr. Trump has long rejected the allegations against Trump University, saying that the cases should have been dismissed long ago, that students got their moneys worth, and that he would ultimately win. Although the case files offer many examples of the dissatisfaction of some students, Mr. Trumps legal team has pointed to praise from many others who took the course, including some who have said the training prepared them for real estate investing.
Ive never met Jared Kushner, said Dore Gold, a longtime adviser to Mr. Netanyahu who recently stepped down as director general of the Foreign Ministry. Neither had Sallai Meridor, a former ambassador to the United States; Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Mr. Netanyahu; or Avinoam Bar-Yosef, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem-based group that researches Israeli-American relations. Nor had the main opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Yair Lapid.

Still, Mr. Kushner has been Mr. Trumps intermediary with a variety of important Israeli and Jewish American players, including Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Dermer and wealthy donors like Sheldon Adelson, the Nevada casino magnate. He brokered a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu in September and sat in on it.

He follows the issue. Hes a strategic thinker, said Martin Peretz, the former owner and editor in chief of The New Republic, who met Mr. Kushner at Harvard University and now splits his time between Israel and the United States.

Does he know enough? Does he know more than Aaron David Miller? Probably not. Does he know more than Dennis Ross? Probably not, Mr. Peretz said, naming two longtime American negotiators. But he certainly knows more about the area than Barack Obama, and more than John Kerry.

The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Mr. Kushner was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in New Jersey and graduated from a Jewish day school before attending Harvard. He observes the Sabbath, and his wife  Mr. Trumps daughter Ivanka  converted to Judaism before their marriage. Mr. Trumps transition team would not say how often Mr. Kushner visited Israel or whether he had any Palestinian connections. But an aide to the president-elect emphasized that Mr. Kushner would be just one of many advisers on the Middle East.

Mr. Kushner, who took over his familys real estate empire in his 20s and bought The New York Observer, visited Israel in 2014 when he was trying to acquire a controlling stake in Phoenix Holdings, an insurer. He signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to buy 47 percent of the firm from the Delek Group, an Israeli conglomerate, for about $434 million. But the deal fell apart, partly because of regulatory requirements.

Mr. Kushner was in Israel during the war with Gaza that summer, which seemed to unnerve his wife. We have small children, and Ivanka didnt like the idea of me being here, he told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. As an American who listens to the news every hour, and hearing about 90 missiles hitting Israel on a daily basis, she asked me, What the hell are you doing?
While many art museums have pursued big-budget expansions in their bids for larger and more loyal audiences, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is rethinking and reconfiguring its public spaces without altering its basic footprint downtown. This week the museum revealed plans for a $16 million renovation by the Los Angeles architects Johnston Marklee, led by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee.

Bigger is not always better, said Madeleine Grynsztejn, the museums director. She described the purpose of the redesign as finding new ways to bring art, learning and food together, reflecting how people like to experience culture today.

The highlight is a new restaurant, which will be accessible from the street, unlike the existing cafe. The museum has hired Jason Hammel, the founder of Chicagos Lula Cafe, as its head chef. And it has selected the Turner Prize-winning artist Chris Ofili, who now lives in Trinidad, to create a major site-specific mural for the restaurant, which will be his first permanent museum commission in the United States.

Really, the entire restaurant is his commission, Ms. Grynsztejn added. He will have a hand in all surfaces, from the patterning of the leather banquettes to the glass of the dining room doors. And the mural will be the basis for the palette of the rest of the restaurant.
Ever since the Sidney Janis Gallery closed in 2000, the work of the pop artist Tom Wesselmann, who died in 2004, has been without representation. He wanted the latitude to continue working with whomever he wanted, said Lane Wesselmann, one of the artists three children and a director of the estate. He didnt want to be hemmed in.

So in the interim, the family has mounted shows at various galleries, most recently at David Zwirner in London (Wesselmanns earliest collages), at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York (a retrospective) and at Almine Rech in Paris, where the Wesselmann historical exhibition A Different Kind of Woman is running through Dec. 21.

Over the years, we have been approached a number of times, Mr. Wesselmann said, speaking of representation. The fit has never seemed quite right.

Wesselmann, an artist known for his suggestive female images, belonged to a distinctive fraternity that included Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg, and drew creative energy from untraditional areas like billboards, advertising and movies.
Following up on a campaign promise that appealed directly to his Rust Belt base, President-elect Donald J. Trump said Thursday that he had reached out to the Carrier air conditioner company in Indiana to ask it not to move more than 2,000 factory jobs from Indiana to Mexico.

In a post on Twitter Thursday morning, Mr. Trump said: I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!
Before President Johnson could take his seat  a custom extra-wide, extra-low, folding upholstered chair  he was called to a hotline telephone, labeled simply White House, that had been installed at The Times that morning.

Fresh information was arriving about the latest crisis in Cuba, where the Castro regime had shut off the water supply to the Guantanamo Bay naval base. The Times executives stood at their places while Mr. Johnson finished the call. Jack Valenti, the presidents special assistant, urged the older Mr. Sulzberger to make himself comfortable.

I am so pleased to be able to stand up that I want to show I can do it, Mr. Sulzberger said.

After lunch, the president seemed in no hurry to go. He walked into the pantry to shake hands with everyone on duty. He took another telephone call and came back to the dining room with the latest news from Cuba. He greeted each of the telephone operators on the 11th-floor switchboard, who had been watching and waving from behind a glass door.

Downstairs, instead of getting back into his limousine, Mr. Johnson surprised his security detail by striding over to shake hands with a sodden but enthusiastic crowd of onlookers. As he did so, the president made the mistake of crossing directly in front of Edith Evans Asbury, a Times reporter who was never to be trifled with. Ever.

What are you trying to do? she demanded. Scare everybody?
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Turkey imported 16.99 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia in January-September 2016, as compared to 19.38 bcm in the same period of 2015, Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) said in a report posted on its website Nov. 24.

Russia supplied 26.78 bcm of natural gas to Turkey in 2015, as compared to almost 27 bcm in 2014.

The report says that Turkey imported 32.97 bcm of gas in January-September 2016, 27.4 bcm of which were imported via pipelines, and 5.57 bcm accounted for the import the liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Some 51.55 percent of the total volume of Turkeys gas import accounted for Russia in January-September 2016.

Russia supplies gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan pipelines. The Blue Stream is a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline with the capacity of 16 bcm per year that carries natural gas from Russia into Turkey.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Always Shine opens with a title card quoting the modeling agency founder John Robert Powers as saying that a woman is the bowl of flowers at the table of life. It then cuts to the actress Caitlin FitzGerald, in the role of Beth, in medium close-up and terribly upset. Not to worry. Beth is an actor, and here shes auditioning for what seems to be a cruddy horror movie. Unseen bro-dudes behind the camera tell her that the role requires extensive nudity and answer one of her questions with whatever, sweetheart.

Beth soon heads to secluded Big Sur, Calif., for a weekend with a longtime friend, Anna (Mackenzie Davis), an intense young woman whos also an actor, but who hasnt achieved Beths level of success (which is enough to get Beth recognized while dining out, and not a lot more). Anna is angry about a lot of things, and Beths seeming disinclination to help Annas career is one of them.

On the surface, Always Shine is a tense thriller about failed female alliances  much of the time it seems poised to become a remake of Persona, as made by the horror director Alexandre Aja. But its not that, or rather, its not just that.

Directed by Sophia Takal from a script by Lawrence Michael Levine (Ms. Takal appeared in Mr. Levines 2014 comedy, Wild Canaries), Always Shine is a deft, assured movie with a sly self-reflexive undercurrent containing commentary on sexism and self-idealization thats provocative, and sometimes disturbing. As it chronicles Annas through line from neurosis to psychosis, it implies that, in times such as these, maybe the girl cant help it.
It is also a biography, somewhat incongruously narrated by a sedate Keanu Reeves.

The director, Steven Okazaki, talks to Mifune collaborators like the actress Kyoko Kagawa and Kanzo Uni, a sword-fight choreographer whom Mr. Mifune is said to have killed more than 100 times. The actress Terumi Niki discusses how Mr. Mifune coaxed performances out of his co-stars during the filming of Red Beard.

But the films richest insights are into Mr. Mifunes longtime partnership with Akira Kurosawa. As the film tells it, that otherwise exacting director accorded his apparently fearless star unusual leeway. Teruyo Nogami, Kurosawas frequent script supervisor, recalls how in the violent finale of Throne of Blood, the archers shooting arrows at Mifune were college students and not especially good shots.
No animals were hurt during the production of this film  only humans, reads a line toward the end of the closing credits of Tank 432. Thats a good hook for an exploitation film, but it deserves a snappier movie than the one its attached to. This British thriller is a high-concept tease that slogs its way through a morass of barely differentiated characters and visuals before reaching an unsatisfying conclusion.

The plot, deliberately kept vague, either to disguise its true nature or a lack of imagination, concerns a band of people in combat gear who are on the run. Whats attacking them is unclear; the villains are mostly shown in glimpses and at a distance. Are they wearing gas masks? Are they the Sand People from Star Wars?

The more distinct dramatis personae include Capper (Michael Smiley), whose leg is injured and is quickly abandoned; Smith (Gordon Kennedy), who barks orders at everyone and takes notes in a mysterious book; Karlsson (Deirdre Mullins), a medic; and a pair of hostages dressed like prisoners at Abu Ghraib. (Smith callously refers to them as the cargo.) Eventually, the group takes refuge in a nonfunctioning tank  and is soon stuck inside.

Close quarters have made great fodder for suspense and allegory in films like Samuel Maozs Lebanon (also set in a tank) and Hitchcocks Lifeboat. But Tank 432, executive-produced by Ben Wheatley, the director of Kill List and Sightseers, has little on its mind beyond empty shock value.
The problem was getting into the country. For years, Mr. Alvarez, who had initially moved to New York to work and send money back to his family, tried to gain entry for his wife, whom he had met during one of his trips home. But immigration authorities questioned the legitimacy of their marriage, until January 2014, when the couple was able to move to New York, Mr. Alvarez said.

Leaving their entire support system behind in the Dominican Republic, Ms. Alvarez and Kenerly moved into Mr. Alvarezs home, which was the back half of a fourth-floor walk-up apartment in Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan. The family owns the back bedroom and living room but shares a kitchen with live-in neighbors.

For the first few years of his daughters life, Mr. Alvarez was Kenerlys primary caretaker during the day because his wife works as a home attendant. With Mr. Alvarez injured and Kenerly struggling to walk and climb stairs, father and daughter had to stay inside until Ms. Alvarez returned home.

Everyday tasks, such as changing her diaper and feeding Kenerly, are a struggle. She is not fully potty-trained and still uses diapers. It is difficult for Mr. Alvarez to lift her onto the toilet, and for a while she would use the bathtub instead. I do things even though its hard, he said.

Unable to lift her into a highchair, Mr. Alvarez had to improvise. It was hard for me to pick her up, he said. So I had to teach her how to get up there by herself.
If its so important to the American people, I would go for it, said the man who spent much of the last year trying to make it important. But, he said, hed talked to Gen. James Mattis  the odds-on bet for secretary of defense  and found that Mattis thought waterboarding was pretty useless and much less effective than trying to win over a prisoner with cigarettes and beer.

Now, you can look at this two ways. One is that we have a president-elect who never bothered to talk with any experts about one of his major campaign themes. The other is that hes growing into the job.

Lets take the second. Sure, well probably be disappointed by Valentines Day, but it could get us through the holidays.

Ive been trying to think of a way to set an example  to come up with an olive branch that doesnt go overboard. Some little thing to smooth the edges before we start fighting about the Supreme Court and health care.

Over the past couple of years I have noted on several occasions that Donald Trump once sent me a letter saying I had the face of a dog. This was when he took exception to my description of him as a thousandaire.

Ive decided I will refrain from mentioning the incident again until he does something really, really terrible as president. In the name of accuracy, however, I have to correct the record. I dug out Trumps missive the other day and discovered he did not actually say I looked like a dog. He said I was a dog and a liar with the face of a pig.
WASHINGTON  Climate negotiators convened in Morocco, this month to discuss how to turn the Paris climate accord into action. The accord, signed by almost 200 countries last year, came into force on Nov. 4. Many questions persist about how each country can move toward the zero carbon-energy target that experts say is necessary to avoid destructive climate change. Some parts of the world are better positioned than others to take this test. Latin America is a good example.

The region faces some of the toughest obstacles to halting energy emissions, such as rapidly increasing car ownership. But many Latin American countries also have among the best opportunities to reach climate goals because of their extremely low-carbon electricity sectors.

There is growing evidence that the effects of climate change are already occurring. The last five years have been the hottest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Ice melt and warming temperatures that expand seawater have accelerated the rate of sea-level rise around the world, putting hundreds of millions of people in low-lying areas at risk. Warming temperatures also bring an increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme weather events like storms, droughts and heat waves. Global warming can destroy agriculture, housing and roads across much of the planet, endangering everything from food security to energy supply.

Most Latin American countries, including the two biggest emitters, Brazil and Mexico, have ratified the Paris agreement. However, only one signatory in the region, Costa Rica, made a pledge that would help meet the accords goal of keeping the rise in the planets average temperature below two degrees Celsius. according to analysis by the Climate Action Tracker.
Eighty-five years ago this month, President Herbert Hoover followed tradition and proclaimed the final Thursday of November a day of national Thanksgiving, an unenviable task given the circumstances. America was two years into the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was more than 15 percent, and millions more despaired for the future. The presidents rhetorical strategy was to bob and weave, extolling the countrys abundant harvests and downgrading the Depression to a passing adversity.

Out in the real world, homemakers faced their own unenviable challenge: how to honor the holiday with a family feast in a time of scarcity. Their questions were answered by Aunt Sammy, a fictional radio persona and spokeswoman for the federal government on all matters culinary. More specifically, Aunt Sammy (Uncle Sams sister, naturally) was the voice of the Bureau of Home Economics, a female-dominated branch of the Department of Agriculture created in 1923. The bureau had only 75 employees but, under the powerful patronage of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Hoovers successor, it played an outsize role in guiding homemakers through the Depressions leanest years.

The traditional Thanksgiving meal was an expression of the earths bounty that demanded weeks in the kitchen. Preparation began with the chopping of apples and the pounding of spices for the obligatory mince pie, one in a galaxy of pies made for the occasion. There was pumpkin, of course, but also cranberry, huckleberry, green current, pear, plum and apple. Roast turkey shared the table with chicken pie (a New England classic), roast chicken and vegetables of every hue, stewed, mashed, pickled and preserved.

In this new era, Aunt Sammy called for simple menus simply prepared. In place of oyster stew, she suggested a tomato-juice cocktail, dressed for the holiday with a jaunty sprig of parsley. For sides, Aunt Sammy recommended a more limited and less expensive array of dishes than was traditional  baked sweet potatoes, creamed onions and baby lima beans.
WASHINGTON  I arrived in the United States on Nov. 12, 1981, when I was 1. My parents had fled the Pol Pot genocide in Cambodia, in which over two million people were murdered. I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand before moving to California, and then Virginia.

None of these facts may seem important, but I assure you, they are. My parents and I were granted legal permanent resident status; my brother and sister, who were born here, are citizens. The three of us were typical American kids, eating Cheerios for breakfast and taking the bus to school. We went to Disneyland and religiously watched the Fourth of July fireworks from the beach. As a teenager I attended school dances in all of their crepe glory. I am not an American citizen, but there is no way I am not an American.

Donald J. Trump said that his administration will get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million. He continued, We are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But were getting them out of our country.
SAO PAULO, Brazil  Ive never really understood the point of meticulously painting your nails, but even so, Im surprised by how hard cosmetic companies work to make it sound interesting. From Russia to Brazil, many women have faced tough choices between colors like Rose Petal, Wedding Pearl and Pink Champagne.

Creatively naming products is a crucial part of the nail polish industry. Instead of introducing a new color and calling it by its Pantone or hexadecimal code  Could you pass me that bottle of #FF001E, please?  companies baptize each shade with a poetic epithet, like Dark Cherry, Coral Sunset, Evening Sand or Coney Island Cotton Candy. So far, pretty harmless.

However, in my imaginary history of cosmetics, the companies quickly exhausted their lists of common objects with discernible colors, opening the way for a symbolist phase: Fiji Weejee Fawn, Seychelles Seashells, Moon Over Mumbai, or Up the Amazon Without a Paddle, a pink with coral and orange undertones that doesnt make any sense for a South American. (Although its far better than OPIs Kiss Me, Im Brazilian, which is insulting.)

This exotic nonsense was the beginning of a descent to the darkest shades of sexism and misogyny that we see nowadays on the display racks of the nail salon.
Growing up in a big Irish Catholic family, I knew the liturgical seasons of the year  Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum, Easter and Ordinary Time. But I dont remember hearing much about Jubilee Years, which occur about every 25 years, let alone about Extraordinary Jubilee Years, which are called out of that cycle to commemorate a special moment in the Roman Catholic Churchs history or highlight an important issue. Since the church began celebrating Jubilee Years in 1300, only a few Extraordinary Jubilees have been called  including the one that ended this week.

Pope Francis called this Extraordinary Jubilee to focus on the issue of mercy. This should not surprise people familiar with this pope, whose episcopal motto is miserando atque eligendo  by having mercy and choosing  which refers to the merciful gesture of Jesus calling Matthew, a hated tax collector, to become one of his disciples.

But as the Year of Mercy progressed, I realized that what Pope Francis meant by mercy had almost nothing to do with what I thought it meant.

I had considered mercy from an intellectual perspective and believed the pope was essentially calling me to be nicer to people. But he is calling on us to live mercy on a deeply personal basis that changes the very essence of who we are.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he wont hand power to his children to succeed him.

Im not envisaging succession for my children, I dont think thats a question for us, Nazarbayev said in a Nov. 22 interview with Bloomberg. Our transfer of power is spelled out by the constitution, while he wont say anything now about a successor, he said.

Until 2020, Im going to work. And well meet again in 2020, said Nazarbayev, who won another five-year mandate in a 2015 election. Nazarbayev, whos ruled since 1989, said hell decide whether to seek a new term based on his health and the level of public support.

Trumps Plans

Everyones interested in stabilizing and helping increase oil prices, amid signs of consensus among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb oversupply, and Russian support for production limits, Nazarbayev said.

Metals prices will also rise sharply on U.S. President-Elect Donald Trumps plans to revive domestic industry and boost infrastructure spending, which is what we need, Nazarbayev said. Im looking forward not to the worst but to the best in the future, starting from next year.

He praised Trump for saying a very important thing -- that theres no need to spread American values across the whole globe to promote democracy. The best democratization, say of Russia and all countries, is to have the West in friendly relations with all of us, Nazarbayev said.
After the stunning disclosures last month that Russia had tried to interfere with the election by hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Obama administration hinted at some kind of retaliation. So far, however, its only known response has been to publicly identify the Russians as the culprits and warn them against interfering again in Americas democratic processes.

President Obama should not stop there, as some administration officials suggest he might. Doing so would allow Russia to believe it can operate with impunity in cyberspace and could even invite further hacking. Because Donald Trump, an outspoken admirer of Vladimir Putin, is unlikely to act, it is up to Mr. Obama to hold the Russian president to account. (Even after intelligence briefings confirming Moscows involvement, Mr. Trump refused to blame the Russians and said, Maybe there is no hacking.)

A stronger White House response would begin with Mr. Obama revealing more information about how the hacking was done and by whom. He could also decide to disclose Russian computer codes, embarrass wealthy Kremlin officials by exposing their overseas bank accounts and even disable Russian networks. And he could impose sanctions on Russians who were responsible for the hacking or on military leaders who are bombing civilians in Syria. Whatever he decides, the trick will be to do it without igniting a cyberwar.

The hacking involved emails from the Democratic National Committee and from John Podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, which were then leaked to WikiLeaks. Democratic leaders were embarrassed, and Mr. Trumps campaign gained an advantage. This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect, Adm. Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, said last week.
On the way to show an apartment in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, the real estate agent turned to the prospective renters and said something unnecessary.

Before we get here, I should tell you that the guy who lived here before committed suicide.

The renters, Julia Dahl and her boyfriend, Joel Bukiewicz, shared an uneasy glance but decided to view the rental anyway. Besides, in 2007, it was a steal: a one-bedroom in a prewar walk-up for $1,250 on the southern lip of Prospect Park. Despite the brokers disclosure, and the portentousness of their move-in date, the couple signed the lease and settled in that Halloween.

A short while later, neighbors introduced themselves, made the couple feel welcome, and talked about the former tenant, who had killed himself in the apartment a few weeks before it came on the market.

They did a good job cleaning it up, one neighbor told the couple.

Ms. Dahl, 39, who writes crime fiction, and her now-husband, Mr. Bukiewicz, lived in the cozy apartment for four years. Their situation was unusual, not because someone had died in the space, but because their broker had alerted them to it. Ms. Dahl and her husband might never have discovered the apartments grisly history had someone not told them about it.
MIAMI  Real estate agents looking to sell coastal properties usually focus on one thing: how close the home is to the waters edge. But buyers are increasingly asking instead how far back it is from the waterline. How many feet above sea level? Is it fortified against storm surges? Does it have emergency power and sump pumps?

Rising sea levels are changing the way people think about waterfront real estate. Though demand remains strong and developers continue to build near the water in many coastal cities, homeowners across the nation are slowly growing wary of buying property in areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

A warming planet has already forced a number of industries  coal, oil, agriculture and utilities among them  to account for potential future costs of a changed climate. The real estate industry, particularly along the vulnerable coastlines, is slowly awakening to the need to factor in the risks of catastrophic damage from climate change, including that wrought by rising seas and storm-driven flooding.

But many economists say that this reckoning needs to happen much faster and that home buyers urgently need to be better informed. Some analysts say the economic impact of a collapse in the waterfront property market could surpass that of the bursting dot-com and real estate bubbles of 2000 and 2008.
Mr. Wilansky, who spoke by telephone and checked details with his daughter as he did, said the explosion had taken place around 4 a.m. Monday, when most of the protesters were gathered around a bonfire near the foot of the bridge.

Image Sophia Wilansky was injured while protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota this week. Credit... via Wayne Wilansky

His daughter and a handful of others were farther up on the bridge, he said, playing around, using pieces of plastic and wood as sleds to skid across icy sections of the highway, when an officer began firing foam or plastic bullets at her and another person.

She was backing away as they were shooting her, Mr. Wilansky said, adding that someone from the police lines then threw a device, which he called a grenade, that hit her in the forearm and exploded.

Lt. Tom Iverson of the North Dakota Highway Patrol offered a different version of the episode, which he said was being investigated by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Around the time of the explosion, Lieutenant Iverson said, officers fired sponge and beanbag rounds at three people who had shielded themselves behind a length of plywood near a burned vehicle on the bridge. The three were thought to be acting suspiciously and refused orders to emerge, he said.

Officers saw someone roll metal cylinders to the protesters by the burned vehicle, Lieutenant Iverson said, and then heard an explosion. Afterward, he said, several protesters ran up, pulled a woman from under the vehicle and ran off. Three propane canisters were recovered from the vicinity of the explosion early Tuesday, he said.

Lieutenant Iverson said that officers did not use concussion or flash grenades at any time. Instead, officers used tear gas, pepper spray canisters and what are known as stinger balls, round grenadelike objects that spread tiny rubber pellets to try to disperse protesters, he said.
WASHINGTON  President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to select as commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor who became known as the king of bankruptcy for buying, restructuring and selling off steel makers and other fading industrial companies, officials on the transition team said on Thursday.

After choosing national security hard-liners for some of his earliest appointments, Mr. Trump is now turning to a group of ultrawealthy conservatives to help steer administration policy.

In addition to Mr. Ross, a generous contributor to his campaign, Mr. Trump is likely to choose Todd Ricketts, a Republican megadonor who is an owner of the Chicago Cubs and whose father founded TD Ameritrade, to be the deputy commerce secretary, the officials said. And on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he would name Betsy DeVos, a school choice activist and Republican fund-raiser, as his education secretary.
An email I received from a reader some time ago has begun to haunt me. The readers sister was dying of cancer. How, she asked me, would I respond to the word grace in the context of a cancer death?

My correspondent did not gloss over the miseries of her sisters terminal state. She outlined a series of horrific tests that led doctors to withhold food. She described fevers, infections and the weeping legs caused by edema. But then she testified to her sisters uncanny ability to brighten any room with her smiles.

Had I received this query while I was undergoing my first treatments, it would have triggered irritation bordering on apoplexy. Why should a cancer patient be expected to lift her own spirits or anyone elses? Isnt it hard enough dealing with such dire circumstances without having to become a booster for oneself and for caregivers? One scholar of American cancer culture, Samantha King, decries a tyranny of cheerfulness that gets too many patients down, making us feel guilty about expressing understandable anguish.

During the intervening years, however, I have interacted with friends as they confronted an irreversible condition and I, too, have witnessed a kind of grace that I found inspiring. While coping with cancer, these people contested it and sometimes the medical protocols upon which they had to rely. Yet when bodily functions shut down, few of them dug in and battled a condition pronounced terminal. Indeed, their sense of tranquillity seemed to be founded on acceptance of their impending mortality.
The Colombian government and the countrys main rebel group signed a new peace deal on Thursday, hoping to salvage the accords and skip the ballot box after voters rejected the agreement in a referendum the month before.

If the ceremony had a sense of familiarity, it was because it had all been done before this year. In late September, the rebels  Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC  and the government pledged a new start at a signing ceremony before world leaders in the port town of Cartagena after a half-century of war.

But on Oct. 2, only days after the signing, Colombians took to the polls for a referendum on the peace deal and knocked it down by a slim margin. In another twist, President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize later that week, with the judges urging him to not let the agreement slip out of reach.

Hence, the need for a do-over.

On signing this agreement, as president of all Colombians, I want to invite all, with an open mind and open heart, to give peace a chance, Mr. Santos said at the ceremony, held in a theater in Bogota, the capital.
Your book discusses the way governments in the two nations have interacted with each other, but you also go into detail on the roles that notable nonpolitical figures have played. To what extent does the United States-China relationship depend on the attitudes of each countries leaders versus those of other citizens, whether they are from the elite classes or the grass roots?

In many ways, we and the Chinese, and our governments, elites and those from the grass roots, are captives of our past.

In the beginning of the relationship, individual Americans and Chinese created the relationship and imbued it with much of its meaning. American merchants and missionaries saw China as a vast market for stuff and for souls. Chinese saw America as a place that could save China from the depredations of other imperialist nations and, with its world-class educational system, as a model for China to emulate. At the same time, other groups of Americans feared the Chinese and, starting in the late 1870s, oppressed Chinese workers in America, starting a long history of fearing the industriousness of the Chinese.

Chinese had their own prejudices against Americans and American ideas as well, viewing them as immoral, sexually deviant and dangerous. Many of these dreams and nightmares, fantasies and biases we have about each other have resurfaced in subsequent decades. In Donald Trumps claim that China has been raping the United States when it comes to trade, one can hear the populists of the California Workingmens Party in late 19th-century California railing on the streets of San Francisco against the heathen Chinese.

In your many years as a journalist in China, what were the most notable changes you saw in the United States-China relationship?

Image Credit... Henry Holt and Co.

With Chinas rise, Beijing is less willing to bend to Washingtons will than before and more willing to aggressively pursue its interests, whether they involve trade or the South China Sea. Washington spent decades arguing that as China strengthened it would become more like a liberal Western nation. It hasnt turned out that way, and as such the U.S. has stopped doing China any favors. Much more than before, it is blocking the sales of Western companies to Chinese firms and strengthening its alliances with nations around Chinas periphery. The careful balance of containment and engagement that defined Americas policy toward China is now heavily skewed toward containment.
NEW DELHI  In the winding lanes of Chawri Bazar, one of Delhis oldest wholesale markets, paper merchants sat slumped in their stores, pondering how to make the transition to the new economic order ushered in by the Indian prime minister two weeks ago.

This is like curse of God on us, said Gian Prakash Gupta, 60, a soft-spoken paper wholesaler who was crammed into a closet-size office this week with two other men, three hanging statues of Hindu gods and stacks of broadsheet paper.

The power was out, despite the garlands of electric wire that hung over streets too narrow for cars, and Mr. Gupta lamented, We do not know how to use computers, how to do online transactions, how to use card-swiping machines.

The business of traders like Mr. Gupta, whose operations lie partly in the vast informal economy that makes up around 20 percent of Indias gross domestic product and more than 80 percent of its employment, has been virtually paralyzed since Nov. 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a surprise ban on the countrys two largest currency notes, the 500-rupee bill (worth about $7.30) and the 1,000-rupee bill.
The citys newspapers have also been demanding answers, though heavy state censorship prevents them from investigating bigger scandals. But the vanishing fish have become a powerful story, and a morality tale of the enforced ignorance and uncertainty that frustrates Chinese citizens.

The front page of The Beijing News newspaper on Thursday was dominated by a picture of the empty tanks at a supermarket.

When the live fish mysteriously disappear from some supermarkets, when theres a plethora of public explanations, when rumors and doubts abound, in the end it all comes down to having no sense of psychological security, the paper said in a commentary published online on Thursday.

Not all supermarkets have removed their live freshwater fish. Visits to supermarkets across Beijing on Thursday found some were still selling carp, northern snakehead and other freshwater fish, which many Chinese prefer to saltwater fish. They often braise or steam the fish; chopsticks make it easy to deal with small bones.

But in many other stores in Beijing, freshwater fish are gone with no explanation, especially in recent days. At a supermarket in Sihui, a neighborhood in the citys east, decorative gold fish were swimming in one tank that sales assistants said had been brimming with freshwater fish until a few days ago.

Weve been to a couple small and big supermarkets in the neighborhood, but there are no fish, said Han Yi, a 24-year-old technology professional who was shopping with her boyfriend.

Before, I always bought from the big supermarkets, so I thought they would be safe, Ms. Han said. Now Im not so sure.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakhstan and Israel discussed current and future cooperation in the fields of trade, business, investment, agriculture, health, information and communication technologies within the 7th session of the Kazakh-Israeli commission on trade and economic cooperation, Kazakh Finance ministry reported Nov 24.

The Commission is headed by Kazakh Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov and Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin.

The parties also discussed preparation for the signing of bilateral documents within the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Kazakhstan in December.

The parties noted the importance of the start of negotiations on the conclusion of the agreement on the free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states and Israel.

It was agreed to enhance cooperation in the sphere of health, in particular to hold training for Kazakh specialists in leading Israeli medical centers.

The Israeli side expressed interest for developing of cooperation in the field of agriculture. A special attention was paid to the transformation of the Kazakh-Israeli Center drip irrigation center Ushkonyr into the International Centre, as well as to the creation of a joint consortium to build a demonstration farm in Kazakhstan.

The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Israel hit $236.9 million in January  September 2016 which is 1.3 percent less than in the same period of 2015, according to Finance Ministry. Kazakh export to Israel hit $ 196.9 million, import - $40.0 million in this period.

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
Ahead of the ballot, the leaders of the main political groups at the Parliament said the European Union had to stand by its humanitarian values and ensure that Turkey did not reinstate the death penalty, which Mr. Erdogan has vowed to approve. A ban on capital punishment is a condition of European Union membership.

Some of the lawmakers said the European Union should not allow itself to be held hostage by Turkey over migration and should instead find ways to share the burden of looking after the influx. The Turkey deal is an instrument we have given to Erdogan against us, Ska Keller, a German lawmaker, told the Parliament this week.

A formal, binding procedure to suspend the Turkish accession talks has not been invoked by the vote.

For that to happen, the European Commission or one-third of European Union member states would first need to make a formal proposal to do so, and a majority of the member states would then have to vote in favor of the measure for it to pass. Turkey would also be granted the opportunity to be heard, according to rules established in 2005.

So far, European Union governments seem unwilling to go that far. Only Austria has publicly advocated suspending the talks.

Turkey first applied for membership in 1987, and formal negotiations began 11 years ago. But talks soon bogged down amid resistance from France and Germany, as well as vehement opposition from Cyprus, which is a member of the European Union but has been divided since Turkey invaded the north of the island in 1974.

The latest round of talks on Turkeys joining the European Union has been underway for nine months.

Facing enormous pressure from migration, which had reached such levels that it was threatening to tear the bloc apart, the 28 member states agreed in March to speed up the discussions as one of several inducements to Turkey to quell the flow.
BRUSSELS  Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament since 2012, announced on Thursday his return to German politics, fueling speculation that he might challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel, who plans to seek a fourth term in elections next year.

The announcement by Mr. Schulz, 60, had been expected. Speculation about his return to German politics gained new momentum after Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germanys foreign minister, was tapped to become the countrys next president.

Mr. Schulz said he would seek a seat in the federal Parliament from North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany. From there, he might lead the Social Democratic Partys challenge to Ms. Merkels party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, in elections scheduled for September. The two parties have governed Germany in a grand coalition since 2013.

Another possible scenario is that Mr. Schulz would replace Mr. Steinmeier as foreign minister, a possibility if the Social Democrats were to select their chairman, Sigmar Gabriel, currently the vice chancellor, as the partys candidate for chancellor, the head of government.
Upstairs in Room 218 was Rahma Idriss, a 16-year-old girl who had just lost both of her legs. It was especially tragic, her family said, because she was not married and now no one would want to be her husband.

Down the hall was her brother Farris, 42, who lost his left leg in the same attack that wounded her. He had a smile on his face and warmly welcomed a visitor, which is normal for Iraqis. Even under the saddest of circumstances, the hospitality they are famous for shines through. He said he had showed up in just his underwear, and had no pillow until a friend gave him one.

We were brought up in great families, he said. This forced us to be generous, and to deal with people in a good way. He said that even the foreign Islamic State fighters who lived in his neighborhood were surprised when they saw our traditions.

Downstairs at the hospital, Mohammed Abdulmunum, 53, stood in a hallway and ticked off his losses that day  four family members killed, his wife wounded and probably paralyzed, his house destroyed  and then turned philosophical.

I have lost all of my life, he said. There is nothing more to be afraid of.
WASHINGTON  In the summer of 2015, armed American drones over eastern Syria stalked Junaid Hussain, an influential hacker and recruiter for the Islamic State.

For weeks, Mr. Hussain was careful to keep his young stepson by his side, and the drones held their fire. But late one night, Mr. Hussain left an internet cafe alone, and minutes later a Hellfire missile killed him as he walked between two buildings in Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic States de facto capital.

Mr. Hussain, a 21-year-old from Birmingham, England, was a leader of a band of English-speaking computer specialists who had given a far-reaching megaphone to Islamic State propaganda and exhorted online followers to carry out attacks in the West. One by one, American and allied forces have killed the most important of roughly a dozen members of the cell, which the F.B.I. calls the Legion, as part of a secretive campaign that has largely silenced a powerful voice that led to a surge of counterterrorism activity across the United States in 2015 as young men and women came under the influence of its propaganda.
ERBIL, Iraq  At least 80 people, many of them Shiite pilgrims on their way home to Iran, were killed on Thursday when an Islamic State suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives at a roadside service station in southern Iraq, local officials said.

The devastating attack came two days after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi applauded the security forces for protecting the millions of Shiites who have flowed through southern Iraq in recent days for what many consider the worlds largest religious pilgrimage, larger even than the hajj in Saudi Arabia.

In years past, the annual rite known as Arbaeen, a commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a revered seventh-century Shiite figure, was a frequent target of Sunni extremist groups like the Islamic State and its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Until the bombing on Thursday, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility in a statement, the event had been carried out safely. That was seen as a success for Mr. Abadi and the military, and was hailed as a sign that the government could keep pushing a major offensive against the Islamic State in Mosul, while protecting pilgrims in the south.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed the fires to natural and unnatural causes and said that any fire caused by arson or incitement to arson is terrorism in every sense of the word, and we will treat it as such.

Arab leaders in Israel protested the widespread allegations that Palestinian nationalists were behind many of the fires, saying their land was burning, too, and they condemned what they viewed as unfair accusations against Israels Arab citizens, who make up about a fifth of the population. Ahmad Tibi, a veteran Arab lawmaker in the Israeli Parliament, wrote on Twitter: I called Yona Yahav. Our homes are open to the evacuees. Sad and painful. Lets join hands to overcome the fire and lets also douse the flames of incitement.

Mr. Netanyahu spoke on Thursday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who promised to send two huge firefighting aircraft.

Firefighting planes and teams from Cyprus and Greece had already arrived, and the Israeli police and Foreign Ministry said that more help was on the way from Croatia, Italy and Turkey. The Palestinian Authority also sent some fire engines to tackle the fires.

The Israeli emergency services are more prepared and better equipped than they were in 2010, when a fierce fire raged through the Carmel Forest area near Haifa. More than 40 people, most of them officer cadets from the prison service, were killed in that blaze when their bus was engulfed in flames as they were on their way to evacuate a prison.
The announcement that three soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded heightened the tensions between Syria and Turkey, neighbors with powerful allies. The Syrian government is backed by Russia and Iran. Turkey, a member of NATO, began a major offensive in northern Syria in August as part of its fight against the Islamic State.

Turkeys prime minister, Binali Yildirim, told Hurriyet, a leading Turkish newspaper, that the attack would not be left unanswered, and he said it would not deter his countrys army from its mission in northern Syria.

Mr. Yildirim also reaffirmed the assessment of Turkeys military chief, Gen. Hulusi Akar, that the attack was carried out by Syrian government warplanes.

Some on the ground raised questions about whether the strike was undertaken by Syrian government forces. A network of activists who monitor the skies over Syria said Thursday that its watchers had spotted a Syrian aircraft taking off after 2 a.m. and also a Russian aircraft about the same time as the strike on Turkish forces occurred. It is impossible to know where the planes that were sighted went; they could easily have had another destination, the network said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a network based in Britain that monitors news from Syria, said the strike was by the Islamic State. But the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is not known to have combat aircraft.

Like Turkey, the Syrian rebels oppose the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The Turkish troops had gone into Syria largely to stop an advance by Kurdish rebels, who are also trying to reach Al Bab to dislodge the Islamic State. The Turks see the Kurds as a threat to security as serious as the Islamic State, in part because Kurdish groups inside Turkey have waged a guerrilla war against the government.

Turkey wants to stop the Kurds from reaching the city in part because, if the Kurds succeed, it will enable them to gain a portion of the land between two Kurdish-held areas along the Syrian-Turkish border and increase their potential for joining the regions.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 24

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

A Turkmen delegation presented the countrys transit and transport opportunities at the seaport of Constanta, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

According to the message, the embassy of Turkmenistan in Romania and the administration of the port of Constanta were the organizers of the "round table".

The representatives of the seaport of Constanta, as well as the Romanian ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of transport attended the meeting, the message said.

According to the message, the Turkmen side was represented by the countrys ambassador to Romania and the management of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport.

Turkmenistan and Romania agreed to create a joint working group to examine the best ways of the Black Sea-Caspian Sea trade and transportation corridor using the advantages of Constanta and Turkmenbashi ports.

The Turkmen State Service of Maritime and River Transportation is considering the possibility of transportation of cargo, including liquefied natural gas to Constanta.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 24

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Riga hosted the 3rd meeting of the Turkmenistan-Latvia intergovernmental commission on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

The meeting was attended by heads and representatives of leading ministries and departments of the two states.

The sides discussed opportunities for cooperation, including in the spheres of construction, transportation, IT and communication, agriculture, healthcare and science.

The parties called for deepening of cooperation between the two countries through the chambers of commerce and industry and business structures of the two countries, said the message.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedovs official visit to Latvia in September 2012 and the visit of former Latvian President Andris Berzins to Turkmenistan in May 2013 gave an impetus to bilateral relations between the two countries.

The sides will speak about the cooperation on the overland transit and logistics of common routes in order to develop effective and mutually beneficial solutions for cargo transshipment. The volume of bilateral trade between Turkmenistan and Latvia has been growing in the recent years.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 24

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

The Parliament of Turkmenistan adopted a law on state budget for 2017, the Turkmen government said in a message Nov. 24.

In general, the Turkmen state budget revenues in 2017 will amount to 103,571.6 million manats and expenditures will amount to 104,871.6 million manats.

The official exchange rate of the national currency, the Turkmen manat, to one dollar is 3.50 Turkmen manats since January 2015.

The revenue part of the Turkmen budget will be formed mainly at the expense of oil and gas, chemical, electrical power engineering and construction industries.

Agro-industrial complex, transport and communication sphere, textile and food industry will be further developed, according to the Turkmen government.

The Turkmen state budget for 2017 is first of all aimed to maintain the sustainable growth of the national economy, implementation of major investment projects, widespread introduction of innovative technologies in all spheres, the latest achievements of science and technology, ensuring high efficiency of public expenditures, the Turkmen State News Agency said in its message.

Turkmenistan takes one of the key positions in the region on supplies of natural gas: the fuel is exported to China and Iran. Russia stopped purchasing Turkmen fuel in 2016.

The revenue part of the countrys state budget is mainly formed thanks to the most important sectors of the production sphere, such as oil and gas, chemical sphere, power industry, construction.

According to the state budget approved by the Turkmen parliament, overall revenues will amount to 102,478.5 million manats in 2016, expenses  104,878.5 million manats.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.  A school bus driver had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he careened off a road and smashed into a tree, killing six elementary schoolchildren, police said Wednesday.

Chattanooga Police Sgt. Austin Garrett said a toxicology test was performed on Johnthony Walker, 24, the bus driver now in jail on five vehicular homicide charges.

Later Wednesday, the police department sent a tweet saying a sixth child had died of injuries from the crash.

Federal authorities said Walker left the designated bus route and had driven onto a curvy road while carrying 37 children on their way home from Woodmore Elementary School.

Police said he was driving well over the posted 30 mph limit when he lost control of the bus and slammed into a tree. Several children remain in the hospital.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart says its unclear why driver Walker left the designated route and drove the bus down Talley Road.

One of the things were exploring is A, has he done it before, and B, if so, why? Hart said.

He said Walker, who has no criminal record in the state, had taken on a second job at an Amazon Fulfillment Center, and part of the agencys investigation will look at whether fatigue played a role in the wreck.

The NTSB will also bring in a specialist to analyze video and audio recordings from the buss interior cameras that were damaged in Mondays wreck.

Police disputed one womans claim that the driver asked the children if they were prepared to die just before the wreck. Jasmine Mateen, whose 6-year-old daughter was among the dead, said one of her two surviving children who were on the bus told her about the drivers remarks.

Garrett, however, said at a Wednesday press conference: I want to be very clear on this. No witness we have spoken with has that information or provided it directly to our investigators.

He added that investigators have not yet interviewed the children on the bus and asked anyone with additional information to bring it to police.

Three of the children killed were in fourth grade, one in first grade and another in kindergarten, said Kirk Kelly, interim superintendent of Hamilton County schools. The age and identity of the sixth child wasnt immediately released. A makeshift memorial to them grew up around a telephone pole, with stuffed bears, flowers and dozens of balloons.

Their families remembered them as fun, happy children taken much too soon.

DMyunn Brown liked to play little tricks on grown-ups. The 6-year-old would snatch a cellphone, hide it, then giggle and bat his big brown eyes.

Thats what made him so pretty, and he was as sweet as he could be, said his great-grandmother, Winifred Bray. Im still numb. I still cant believe hes gone.

LaFrederick Thirkill remembered his 9-year-old cousin, Cordayja Jones, as a girly-girl who liked dressing up and giving hugs.

Thirkill is the principal at Orchard Knob Elementary, where Cordayja attended before changing schools to Woodmore Elementary.

She was a polite little girl, he said. Even though he was her cousin, she called him Mr. Thirkill when she saw him in the hallways.

I remember her as just a kid who always smiles, he said.

School officials repeatedly declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether they received complaints about the driver. School Principal Brenda Adamson-Cothran said their focus is on giving our families and students the support that they need in this tragedy.

Walker was involved in another bus accident only two months ago, police said. In September, he was driving the bus into a blind curve when he crossed over the center line and hit an SUV, according to a police report. No one was injured, and the damage to both vehicles was minor. He was not cited for any violations.

Hamilton County School District spokeswoman Amy Katcher referred all questions about his performance and that of other drivers to the company that manages them, Durham School Services.

The bus company did not respond to questions about its safety record or Walkers employment history. Durham CEO David A. Duke released a video statement expressing condolences to the families and pledging to work with investigators.

A mother and 8-year-old son, who was injured in the crash, filed a lawsuit against Durham on Wednesday, attorney Herbert Thornbury confirmed. He said the boy suffered minor injuries, watched his best friend die and has been crying uncontrollably ever since. The lawsuit contends the boy may be permanently injured, sustained pain and suffering and will incur medical and other expenses as a result of the wreck.

Based in Warrenville, Illinois, Durham operates about 13,700 vehicles across the U.S. and has nearly as many drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.
Amid growing concerns among Los Angeles leaders about what the future may hold when President-elect Donald Trump takes office, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke with Trump on Wednesday by telephone in what was described as a productive conversation.

The two discussed ways to expand infrastructure investments and opportunities in communities across America, the mayors spokeswoman Connie Llanos said in a statement.

Mayor Garcetti underlined the need for the federal government to continue being a strong partner in these efforts, she said.

Among the other issues brought up during the call were L.A.s Olympic bid  which Trump voiced support for  and immigration, according to Llanos.

The mayor stressed the important role that immigrants and immigration reform will play in L.A.s  and the nations  long-term success, Llanos said.

Garcettis office said that the mayor had reached out to the Trump camp, and the president-elect placed the brief call. The office did not remark on the tone of the conversation.

RELATED: Clearer picture of how Trump will deal with immigration emerging

Trump has frequently spoken out about his desires to deport undocumented immigrants, and in aninterview with 60 Minutes that aired on Nov. 13, he said he planned to immediately deport 2 million to 3 million undocumented immigrants who have criminal records after his inauguration.

Garcetti was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and had been a frequent Trump critic.

In a July speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Garcetti had strong remarks for Trump.

Donald Trump has no vision for our country, and no genuine answers to our challenges, he said about the then-Republican nominee.

Months earlier, Garcetti called Trump the ultimate caricature of a politician who would say anything to get elected.

What we cant do with Donald Trump is normalize him as a candidate, Garcetti said in a May 24conference call with reporters. Hes a racist, hes a bigot, hes sexist.

RELATED: Mayor Eric Garcetti touts LA as model city in DNC speech

But on Wednesday, local leaders said the dialogue was vital, with much at stake in the relationship between Washington and Los Angeles.

Im thrilled to hear that there is a dialogue, said L.A. City Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley. We have an umbilical cord to federal dollars that cant be severed.

Councilman Jose Huizar, whose district includes Boyle Heights, elaborated on the citys needs.

I hope they talked about our aging infrastructure and the lack of affordable housing funds coming from the federal government and the need to ramp that effort up, Huizar said in a statement, adding that Trump needed to know that homeless funding was a huge challenge in a city where mental health issues affect a third of those without shelter.

And, of course, immigration  we hope the president-elect understands that we are a city of immigrants and there is no advantage to anybody if we tear families apart and remove children and young people from the only country they have ever known and loved.

Garcettis Wednesday conversation with Trump came one day after L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis warned that changes to federal policy proposed by Trump could lead to the deportation of nearly half a million county residents.

It seems that standing up for our peoples constitutional rights is going to fall on the hands of state and local governments, Solis said Tuesday.

 RELATED STORY: LA County supervisor calls for task force to protect immigrants after Trump victory

As she spoke during a news conference in downtown L.A., Solis said the Board of Supervisors had unanimously approved a motion that asks the Sheriffs Department and other law enforcement agencies to proactively contact communities likely to be targeted to reassure them of support of their policy of not inquiring about immigration status of victims or witnesses.
Virtually every aspect of the November 8th presidential election has been broken down and analyzed by experts and pundits, who are still in a state of shock over the results. Because President-elect Donald Trumps come-from-behind victory caught almost everyone by surprise, dont expect this analysis to slow down any time soon.

Getting lost in the shuffle were many of the down-ballot races that also produced fascinating results.

Take for example, the contest to see who would replace retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer as Californias junior senator.

All of the public polls had Golden State Attorney General Kamala Harris comfortably ahead of Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, in the Democrat on Democrat match up. And I think its safe to say that most experts anticipated a comfortable Harris victory. What nobody expected was the 62-38 percent shellacking that Sanchez ended up taking.

There is no way to sugarcoat this, she got creamed.

Now, Id be lying to you if I didnt say that the perennially undisciplined Sanchez made a bunch of gaffes that contributed to her defeat.

She did.

But her missteps arent what caused her to lose. The cake, in many ways, was already baked.

Way back in July, the big wigs in the Northern California dominated California Democratic Party put the word out that Harris was their preferred candidate. This move effectively cut off any chance Sanchez had at raising money, winning influential endorsements and getting the party rank and file behind her.

Not only did Harris pick up the endorsements of California Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Democratic Party, she also got the blessing of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

In a written statement released by the Harris campaign, the president and vice president said, Kamala Harris fights for us. Thats why Im so proud to endorse her for United States senator.  And if you send her to the Senate, shell be a fearless fighter for the people of California  all the people of California  every single day.

Theres mass speculation that former San Francisco mayor and current California Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom could get the same kind of home cooking in his bid for governor in 2018.

And if another former San Francisco mayor, Dianne Feinstein, decides to seek another six-year term in the U.S. Senate in 2018, her support within the Democratic Party will surely be locked down.

The most likely outcome is that the Northern California dominance of the states top of the ticket offices will continue for another generation.

How did this happen when most of the states population lives south of Bakersfield? Easy. A clique of San Francisco Bay politicians control the Democratic Party in a one party state, and they make sure to take care of their friends and neighbors.

Just look at the roster; California Gov. Jerry Brown is a former mayor of Oakland, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi represents San Francisco in Congress, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton used to represent San Francisco in the state Legislature and even Democratic Party sugar daddy Tom Steyer resides in the City by the Bay.

At a certain point, Southern California Democrats will have to accept the reality that theyve hit their political ceiling when they become a big city mayor, congressman or get elevated into the leadership within the state Legislature.

Or, theyre going to have to beat the machine.

Option B is easier said than done and would require the type of coalition building that Sanchez was incapable of doing, which would almost certainly involve California Republicans.

Eventually, some politician will beat the machine. The only question is when?

John Phillips is a CNN political commentator and can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips on KABC/AM 790.
Homebuying in Buena Park in the third quarter rose as 209 residences sold vs. 180 a year ago, according to CoreLogic. Thats a sales gain of 16.1 percent.

Here are nine trends in and around Buena Park from the report:

1. Buena Park ZIP code 90620  115 homes sold in the period vs. 107 a year ago. Thats a sales gain of 7.5 percent. Median selling price of $535,000 vs. $495,000 a year ago, a gain of 8.1 percent.

2. Buena Park ZIP 90621  94 homes sold vs. 73 a year ago. Thats a sales gain of 28.8 percent. Median of $470,000 vs. $435,000 a year ago, a gain of 8.0 percent.

And heres some countywide trends of note for the July-to-September period:

3. Orange County median price for the quarter was $643,000  up 4.9 percent or $30,000 in a year!

4. Countywide sales were 10,077  up 0.2 percent in a year!

5. Local single-family home sales totaled 6,111  down 3.9 percent from a year ago. Median selling price was $705,000  up 3.7 percent from a year ago.

6. Resales of O.C. condos were 2,920  down 0.7 percent from a year ago. Median selling price was $450,000  up 5.4 percent from a year ago.

7. Builder sales in the county were 1,046  up 38 percent from a year ago. Median selling price was $820,000  down 0.6 percent from a year ago.

8. In Orange Countys 27 least expensive ZIPs  median sales price at $568,750 and below  2,754 homes sold. Thats down 5.6 percent compared to a year ago.

9. In the 27 priciest ZIPs  median sales price beginning at $705,000  3,147 homes sold. Thats up 8.9 percent compared to a year ago.

Did you miss 

Did one of these bring you here? 9 reasons folks move to California

Census: 1 in 5 of new arrivals to Southern California came from foreign lands

Want affordable housing? Move to Trumpland!
Patrick McNamee was a few hours from sitting down to an early Thanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday at his home in Huntington Beach when he received one heck of a holiday gift.

McNamee, 79, learned that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner had granted him clemency for a 1954 reckless homicide conviction after a joyride gone tragically wrong.

A 17-year-old senior in high school at the time, McNamee, who would later fly more than 1,700 missions in Vietnam, crashed his mothers car, killing his best friend. He pleaded guilty and was given a year of probation, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

It was a conviction that haunted McNamee through the years.

I didnt want to die being a felon, he said Wednesday.

More than two years ago, McNamee was denied in an attempt to buy a firearm in Texas or to have a concealed carry firearms permit in California because of the conviction.

I said, That was 62 years ago. Since then Ive carried every kind of gun in the Marines and Air Force, he said.

So McNamee filed an appeal in Illinois. After getting no response for two years, he said, I thought, Well, thats never going to happen.

McNamee is one of eight people whose petitions Rauner granted Wednesday.

I was very excited, McNamee said of learning the news. It brought me almost to tears.

I think its wonderful, said Jean McNamee, his wife of 58 years. He deserved it. Its been a long time.

Now a retired Delta Air Lines pilot, Patrick McNamee said he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1957 because they were the only ones who would take me.

In fact, his wifes father wrote a letter in support of McNamee being accepted into the Marines.

Illinois Prisoner Review Board spokesman Jason Sweat told The Associated Press that the prosecutor and judge in McNamees criminal case also wrote letters on his behalf, saying hed make a good pilot.

McNamee would go on to join the Air Force and later earned more than 75 air medals.

Throughout his professional career as a pilot, McNamee said, he always put down that he was a convicted felon.

McNamee said that before his attempt to buy a gun, the only time it appeared the conviction would affect him was many years ago when he had to file for top secret clearance to transport arms on C-130s.

I got called into the FBI, McNamee said.

He wasnt asked about the driving conviction; instead, he was questioned about a ticket he had received for riding double on a bicycle in Lombard, Ill.

The Associated Press and Chicago Sun-Times contributed to this report.
LA MIRADA  Coroners officials have released the identity of a 45-year-old La Habra man who was fatally shot by SWAT deputies following a 3 1/2-hour standoff at a La Mirada gas station early Tuesday.

Mark Daniel Sly died at the scene of the deputy-involved shooting, which took place just before 1 a.m. at the am/pm convenience store and ARCO gas station at 13550 S. Beach Blvd., Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner Assistant Chief of Operation Ed Winter said.

He fired at deputies at least twice during the standoff, which began with a report of a robbery in progress at the business, Los Angeles County sheriffs officials said.

Deputies responding to the robbery encountered Sly, who matched the suspect description, standing at the front door of the convenience store armed with a handgun, said Deputy Caroline Rodriguez of the Sheriffs Information Bureau.

Sly refused commands to drop his gun and surrender, and deputies summoned a SWAT team and a crisis negotiation team to the scene.

At one point during the standoff, the suspect fired at deputies through a front window of the business, Rodriguez said.

A deputy returned fire through a window, but it was unclear if Sly was wounded in that exchange.

Sly exited the store with a handgun and again fired on SWAT deputies at 12:55 a.m., officials said. Deputies fired back, fatally wounding Sly.

The investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriffs Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Tips may also be submitted anonymously to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
The election is over

Re: Irvine pastor Rev. Mark Whitlock exhorts church to set a moral tone during Trump presidency [News, Nov. 21]: David Whitings tirade against Trump was thinly disguised with the mantle of religious authority. Voters, and particularly religious voters, ignored Trumps media amplified yet minor personal failings to reject the Democrats attacks on freedom in general and religion in particular. David, the election is over and Trump won. Get over it. The sky is not falling and we look forward to a new era of freedom and prosperity.

 Jim Sorensen, Trabuco Canyon

We know the feeling

I received an email from my friend, along with a Youtube skydiving video. The subject read, Free Falling Without a Parachute. My friend commented that this is how half the nation feels after the presidential election. Well, heres a news flash: Thats exactly how the other half has felt for 8 years, but thankfully the ripcord has finally been pulled!

 James P. Santagata, Coto de Caza

Drought effects remain

I flew from Reno to Orange County last weekend and was shocked to see the terrain south from Lake Tahoe and throughout the High Sierra. What I first thought were autumn colors turned out to be dying evergreens. It looked like over 60 percent of the trees were brown. A tragic sight.

 Linda Dean, Santa Ana

Not then, not now

Eight years ago, the mainstream media, Hollywood elitists and academia leftists handily cast Hillary Clintons aspirations aside to support a young, hip Barack Obama. Now, post election 2016, those same groups act like weve just missed electing the most qualified person in history. In the intervening years, Mrs. Clinton allowed four Americans to be killed in Benghazi; compromised national security; and created a cozy scheme around her husbands speaking fees, Clinton Foundation donations and favored meetings with the State Department. She colluded with the DNC to guarantee her nomination and her campaign paid protestors to interrupt Trump rallies.

Memo to her sobbing supporters: Shes the same scandalous person who ran 8 years ago  only worse! I am so relieved Hillary Clinton will not be returning to the White House.

 J. Taylor, Anaheim
NEW DELHI  Shelling and gunfire intensified on Wednesday on the de facto border between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region, killing nine civilians on a bus one day after the Indian army promised retribution for what it said was the killing of three of its soldiers.

Pakistan said Indian troops fired on a bus in the Neelam Valley on Pakistans side of the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, killing the nine passengers and seriously wounding nine others. The Indian military also fired on rescue workers in an ambulance trying to reach the wounded, Pakistan said.

In other violence reported Wednesday, the Indian military also killed three Pakistani soldiers, including a captain, Pakistan said, and Pakistani forces retaliated, killing seven Indian soldiers.

A high-level Pakistani diplomat, Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah, called the violence a serious escalation of the situation and a grave breach of international and humanitarian law.

Exchanges of gunfire along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir have been unrelenting in recent months, despite a cease-fire agreement that was signed in 2003. The violence was amplified Wednesday, with Pakistan asserting that civilians had been killed. Exchanges of fire took place at more than a dozen locations, said Brig. P.S. Gotra of the Indian armys northern command.

The Indian army, on its official Twitter site, said the directors general of military operations on both sides held talks on a hotline Wednesday evening at Pakistans request.

Maj. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Pakistans director general of military operations, said that in the conversation he complained that targeting civilians was highly unprofessional and unethical.

Pakistan reserves the right to respond at the time and place of our choosing, Mirza said.
Santa Ana police released surveillance video Wednesday of an armed robbery at a cafe hoping it would help identify the suspects involved.

On Monday at about 3:15 p.m., a Hispanic male entered on the M&Toi Cafe on West 1st Street and sat at the bar while appearing to send text messages, according to a Santa Ana Police Department bulletin.

Minutes after the male sent the messages, two other males with bandanas covering their faces entered the business armed with a knife and a gun. They demanded that a female at the cash register open the register. The first suspect who was seated at the bar went over and took money while the armed pair brandished their weapons.

The three fled after taking the cash. Police said the man who took the money is being considered a person of interest in the case. The robbers are described as being Hispanic or Asian between 15 to 25 years old. One of the suspects was caught on surveillance footage outside the business with the bandana removed from his face.

Anyone with information on the identity of the suspects is asked to contact Detective A. Garcia at 714-245-8408 or email agarcia3@santa-ana.org or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@scng.com
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 24

By Demir Azizov Trend:

Early voting has started at the presidential election in Uzbekistan, the countrys Central Election Commission told Trend Nov. 24.

In accordance with the law On Uzbek presidential election, a voter who is unable to be present at his (her) place of residence on the election day, has the right to vote early. The early voting starts ten days before the election and ends one day before the election.

In order to vote early, a voter must write an appeal indicating the reasons for his (her) absence on the election day.

As many as 9,381 polling stations were established for the presidential election in Uzbekistan, and 21.435 million persons are expected to cast their votes at these polling stations, according to the CEC of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan is to hold an early presidential election December 4 due to the death of ex-president Islam Karimov, who passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 79 on Sept. 2.

Candidates from four political parties of Uzbekistan participate in presidential election - Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), People's Democratic Party (PDPU), Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) Party, and Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party.

Among the presidential candidates are the countrys Acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev from UzLiDeP, Sarvar Otamuratov from Milly Tiklanish Party, Nariman Umarov from Adolat Party, and Hotamzhon Ketmonov from PDPU.
DETROIT  A police officer has died a day after he was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit.

Wayne State University Officer Collin Rose, 29, died about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at a hospital, Detroit police Sgt. Michael Woody said.

Roses death had been reported earlier in a news release from school President M. Roy Wilson.

This is a tragedy felt by all of us, Wilson said. Collin served Wayne State with distinction, and we owe those he left behind our deepest sympathies and our strong support.

Rose also is the only Wayne State officer ever to fall in the line of duty, Wilson said.

The five-year veteran of the universitys police force had gone through surgery earlier Wednesday, but his condition was described by the departments chief as very grave.

Police said a suspect in the shooting was arrested late Tuesday night a few blocks from where Rose was shot, but no charges have been filed.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig had said Rose was on duty around 6:30 p.m. when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike.

Officers who arrived on the scene found Rose injured on the ground, Craig said.

Authorities say ambush-style shootings on Sunday left one police officer dead in San Antonio, Texas, and another wounded in St. Louis, Missouri, underscoring fears in the law enforcement community that the uniform is increasingly becoming a target.

But Wayne State Police Chief Anthony Holt said that wasnt the case in Detroit on Tuesday.

I dont believe it was an ambush, Holt said at a news conference Wednesday. I dont believe he was specifically targeted because of his uniform.

A Detroit man who has had several run-ins with police is in custody. Holt said no weapon has been recovered and that the investigation is ongoing.

Were trying to put the pieces together, Holt said.

University spokesman Matt Lockwood said Wednesday morning that Rose had undergone surgery and that his parents and fiancee were by his side.

Rose was a cadet with the New Baltimore Police Department and had his first job as an officer with the village of Richland, Lockwood said. Rose, a cyclist interested in dog training, graduated from Ferris State University in 2010 and was president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit. Wilson said the school employs around 65 officers.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and state Attorney General Bill Schuette offered condolences Wednesday night to Roses family and fellow officers.

Officer Rose was doing his job, serving his community and protecting all of us, when he was tragically gunned down, Schuette said in a statement. Officer Rose was too young to have his life taken, and he leaves behind a family that will never be the same.
It is hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from traditional public schools than Betsy DeVos, Donald Trumps pick as the Cabinet secretary overseeing the nations education system.

For nearly 30 years, as a philanthropist, activist and Republican fundraiser, she has pushed to give families taxpayer money in the form of vouchers to attend private and parochial schools, pressed to expand publicly funded but privately run charter schools, and tried to strip teacher unions of their influence.

A daughter of privilege, she also married into it; her husband, Dick, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan a decade ago, is heir to the Amway fortune. Like many education philanthropists, she argues that childrens ZIP codes should not confine them to failing schools.

But DeVos efforts to expand educational opportunity in her home state of Michigan and across the country have focused little on existing public schools, and almost entirely on establishing newer, more entrepreneurial models to compete with traditional schools for students and money. Her donations and advocacy go almost entirely toward groups seeking to move students and money away from what Trump calls failing government schools.

Conservative school choice activists hailed her on Wednesday as a fellow disrupter, and as someone who would block what they see as federal intrusion on local schools.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, where DeVos helped push legislation establishing tax credits for scholarships to private schools, called her an outstanding pick, a passionate change agent to press for a new education vision.

Her allegiance is to families, particularly those struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder, not to an outdated public education model that has failed them from one generation to the next, he wrote on Facebook.

Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies for the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington, called DeVos a smart, principled small-government conservative whos experienced in politics and versed in the relevant policy.

But to teachers unions, she is anathema.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, called DeVos the most ideological, anti-public education nominee since the secretary of education was elevated to the Cabinet level four decades ago.

Even some groups that share her support for charter schools worried that picking someone so closely identified as a champion of vouchers signaled that the Trump administration would try to starve public schools.

As a candidate, Trump proposed steering $20 billion in existing federal money, including $15 billion in so-called Title I money that goes to schools that serve the countrys poorest children, toward vouchers that families could use to help pay for private or parochial schools. He called school choice the civil rights issue of our time.

Amber Arellano, the executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, an advocacy group in Michigan that supports charters but has been critical of a Michigan charter school law that DeVos has spent millions to defend, said the pick had the potential to undermine the nations hard-won progress by diverting resources from the young people who most need them, or by failing to uphold the federal governments responsibility to protecting the needs and interests of all students  especially the most vulnerable.

Michigan is one of the nations biggest school choice laboratories, especially with charter schools. The Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids school districts have among the nations 10 largest shares of students in charters, and the state sends $1 billion in education funding to charters annually. Of those schools, 80 percent are run by for-profit organizations, a far higher share than anywhere else in the nation.

The DeVoses, the most prominent name in state Republican politics, have been the biggest financial and political backers of the effort.

But if Michigan is a center of school choice, it is also among the worst places to argue that choice has made schools better. As the state embraced and then expanded charters over the past two decades, its rank has fallen on national reading and math tests. Most charter schools perform below the state average.

And a federal review in 2015 found an unreasonably high percentage of charter schools on the list of the states lowest-performing schools. The number of charter schools on that list had doubled since 2010, after the passage of a law a group financed by DeVos pushed to expand the schools. The group blocked a provision in that law that would have prevented failing schools from expanding or replicating.

DeVos, 58, got into education advocacy primarily as a backer of vouchers, and has served on the board of several organizations that have campaigned for them across the country.

A ballot initiative she led to establish vouchers in Michigan failed in 2000. The next year, she established the Great Lakes Education Project, which became an ardent proponent of charter school expansion, and has donated generously to candidates who have supported it.

The Michigan law pushed by DeVos to establish charter schools 20 years ago allows an unusually large number of organizations to start such schools, yet established little mechanism for oversight. Even Republican supporters of charter schools say the law has allowed failing charter schools to expand or replicate.

Last spring, the DeVos-backed group was the chief force behind the defeat of legislation that would have established standards for identifying and closing failing schools, both charter and public, in Detroit, where a flood of charter schools in the past decade has created what even charter school supporters call chaos.

DeVos was born in western Michigan, the more conservative and religious part of the state, where her father created a successful auto parts company. Her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, the troubled private security contractor that was awarded billions in U.S. government contracts in the Middle East.

Like many conservatives who supported Trump, she does not support Common Core, the set of standards for what students should know at each grade level that was developed by the National Governors Association and other groups  and have been incorrectly branded as a federal policy.

She also had not supported Trump; her family was behind Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in the Republican presidential primary.

On Wednesday, she wrote on Twitter: I am honored to work with the president-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in ed is not acceptable.
In what can only be described as a touching display of kindness, the residents of a neighborhood near Shenzhen, in southern China, came together to help a total stranger sell 32 tonnes of potatoes in a single day, after he was rejected by a local wholesale market.

60-year-old Ma, a potato farmer from Qinghai Province, in northwest China, had been duped by a businessman to bring all his stock to Shenzhen and sell it at a higher price. Enticed by the prospect of a earning a higher profit for a years work, he paid 16,000 Yuan ($2,312) in transportation fees and traveled 2500 miles across China, a journey that took four days and four nights. But upon reaching his destination, on November 5th, Ma had his hopes shattered by the wholesaler who had promised to take his entire potato harvest off his hands, after he backed off on the deal, claiming that the potatoes were too small.

Left without a buyer, Ma had no choice but unload all 32 tonnes of potatoes on the side of the road near an industrial park in Guanlan, and try to sell some of it to passers-by. Going back home with nothing to show for his trip than the expenses incurred was not an option. But his idea wasnt working as well as he had hoped either. Some of his friends from Qinghai helped him contact people to buy the potatoes, but it hasnt helped much as he has so many potatoes, the owner of a nearby grocery store told Shenzhen Daily. But just when he was ready to give up and go home, a miracle happened.

On Sunday, November 13, one of Mas few clients posted a photo of him and his huge pile of potato sacks on WeChat, Chinas largest social network, asking people to help the poor man out. The post also mentioned how he had come all this way only to have his entire crop rejected, and people shared his story online until it went viral. The next day, employees of Shenzhen companies started coming to Guanlan to buy potatoes from Ma and relieve him of his huge burden.

One person, who bought over 5 tonnes of potatoes from the stranded farmer, told Shenzhen Daily reporters that he had been sent by his boss. We dont mind eating potatoes for every meal, he said, while loading the sacks in his truck. But it wasnt just companies that rallied to help Ma. Local residents also came out to buy a few kilograms each, and by the end of the day, the farmer managed to sell his entire stock, all 32 tonnes of it.

People kept coming to his roadside shop on Tuesday, but he had to turn them all away, thanking them for wanting to help out. It is true that they were sold out thanks to the lovely Shenzhen residents, Ma told reporters. Words cant express my gratitude to those who came to help me out. I felt like I was sitting on a roller coaster over the past few days in Shenzhen.

The journey from Qinghai to Shenzhen was the longest I have ever traveled. I was very impressed. I will go home tomorrow, the potato farmer concluded.

via Next Shark
Dublin Midlands Hospital Group hosted an event at Farmleigh House this week to mark the beginning of the process of developing a Healthy Ireland Implementation Plan for the Group.

The event was officially opened by Minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, TD, Minister of State for Public Health Promotion, who congratulated the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group on commencing its Healthy Ireland planning, and praised the positive activities already underway across the Groups seven hospitals to promote staff health and wellbeing.

The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group comprises St Jamess Hospital, Tallaght Hospital, The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, Naas General Hospital & St Lukes Radiation Oncology Network.

The Minister said, Making all our workplaces healthier is an important focus of our work under Healthy Ireland. It is very timely that the HSE is taking action in the area of workplace health, as it is so important that we lead by example when we are encouraging all sectors to implement healthy workplace policies.

A special presentation was made to each of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Groups seven hospitals to implement workplace activities that promote health and wellness, and encourage participation and collaboration.

CEO of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, Dr Susan OReilly, outlined the initiatives that each hospital will undertake. The activities will be rolled out early in the New Year.

Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore are providing free exercise classes, BMI assessments, mindfulness sessions and a signed indoor walking track for staff that will encourage activity and better mental health at the workplace, said Dr. OReilly

Naas General Hospital are providing a bike rack, pedometers and mindfulness CDs for staff use. A visual display until for the staff canteen will also be installed to highlight the participation of staff in events and activities.

Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise will be running Pilates classes, a team weight loss competition in conjunction with Operation Transformation and will be supporting a number of staff on a smoking cessation programme."

St Lukes Radiation Oncology Network will develop gym facilities at their hospital to encourage staff to get physically active.

St Jamess Hospital will be developing a staff training programme in supervisory and supportive roles on how to support bereaved staff in the workplace. This will include a grief at work workshop and the publication of a bereavement booklet.

The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital is providing training to staff for both peer support and Defusing Techniques that can be used in the workplace to mitigate the effects of vicarious trauma on midwives and nurses.

Tallaght Hospital will establish a small, focussed health and wellbeing Action Group and, with the support of management within the hospital, will be installing a bike rack for staff to encourage staff to cycle to work. They are also issuing pedometers so that staff can track their steps throughout their working day.

The Healthy Ireland Framework 2013  2025 was launched by the Government in 2013. Following on from the launch of that framework, the HSE developed Healthy Ireland in the Health Services Implementation Plan, of which improving staff health and wellbeing was one of the three strategic priorities.
Fianna Fail TD for Offaly Barry Cowen says his party is set to take on board the key priorities for businesses in the Midlands.

Deputy Cowen made the comments after securing a meeting between Tullamore Chamber of Commerce and Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform Dara Calleary. The meeting is scheduled to take place on December 8.

Fianna Fail is currently in consultation with small businesses right across Ireland to take on board the key issues facing them and what policy steps need to be taken to boost job creation. Tullamore Chamber of Commerce will play an important role in this process and will have the opportunity to put forward proposals to boost job creation in the Midlands, said Deputy Cowen.

We are particularly interested in hearing feedback on the National Spatial Strategy and how it can be improved. This strategy provides a planning framework, with an aim of balancing social, economic and physical development right across the country. The current strategy is due to expire in 2020 and its important that we identify a suitable replacement programme.

Deputy Cowen stated tha Fianna Fail has four key priorities for boosting job creation in the Midlands saying that the rollout of high speed broadband needs to be accelerated so that small businesses can operate effectively in small towns and villages.

"We also want to see the creation of incubation units to support start-up companies and spin-off enterprises. These units will contain a one-stop-shop helpdesk to assist entrepreneurs in getting their project off the ground.

Greater transport connectivity is also needed in the Midlands. A north-south road link is needed to connect Birr, Roscrea and Portlaoise through Tullamore and on to Athlone and Mullingar. This will boost economic activity right across the Midlands and will make it easier for businesses to access potential customers right across Ireland. The N6 link road to the Tullamore by-pass was approved by a previous Government but was then axed by former Transport Minister Leo Varadkar. This decision needs to be re-examined.

I also believe we need to reform our system of apprenticeships to make it fit for purpose. Fine Gael has solely focused on boosting high skills, tech-led sectors to the detriment of the wider economy. The current apprenticeship schemes on offer are limited to a narrow range of occupations, which has led to huge gaps in the system. Fianna Fail will broaden apprenticeship programmes and create additional places on schemes, he concluded.
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Agricultural News

Superior Livestock Executive Describes How New Online Auction Site is Combatting Market Volatility

Over the past few decades, fat cattle cash trade has declined as more feeders sell their cattle based on formulas or grid pricing, rather than through the cash market. It has become typical now to only see cash cattle trade develop once a week, occurring late on Fridays generally and all at once. This has in effect caused instability in the marketplace, where now volatility runs rampant as markets struggle to compensate for a variety of circumstantial factors, including the increased fat cattle weights from last year, herd rebuilding and increasing numbers, plus a higher dollar. This week, Farm Director Ron Hays met with Kurtis Ward, executive vice president of Superior Livestock, who has been working closely with industry leaders to help alleviate this volatility and ultimately fix the issue in a way that meets modern demand and convenience in today's trade.





It was earlier this year after a proposal for an online venue to sell fat cattle was made during the Livestock Marketing Committee meeting at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association convention, that Superior's FedCattleExchange.com was born, says Ward.





"I really thought the idea had merit," Ward said. "After having several meetings with industry participants, cattle feeders, packers alike, we put together this online fat cattle cash auction that's called Fed Cattle Exchange."





The website was rolled out in May of this year. After some trial and error, Ward says he is proud to report that the site has had its best month yet this November with 13,428 head sold with a weighted price of $106.79. The website is unique in the way it operates. Although everything in the process is done virtually, packers still have the opportunity to see the cattle in person, and can pay as they normally do, and have until Wednesday of each week, when the auction begins at 10:00 a.m. CST.





"We were not expecting to have the overwhelming response we had," he said. "We've been seeing the trade develop and really excited about seeing some good concrete cash trade numbers at midweek, something we haven't seen in the past.





"We're hoping that Fed Cattle Exchange will be at least one of the components that allows the cash trade to be more transparent midweek and maybe one of these days we'll be able to go to auction more than one day a week."





Looking forward, Ward notes that Superior's goals for Fed Cattle Exchange in the coming year is to reach above that 20,000 head level. He also says they are considering having a day dedicated to moving Holsteins to meet an opportunity window in the dairy sector. Until those decisions are made though, Ward, who chairs the Cash Price Discovery sub-committee of the Livestock Marketing committee for NCBA, says he will keep working with others in the beef community and the CME Group to make continued improvements in the industry.





Ward will join Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays for his weekly In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday morning at 6:40 a.m.





To listen to Hays' full conversation with Ward regarding the Fed Cattle Exchange and how he and his partners are working to combat market volatility, click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below.





















Listen to Ron Hays and Kurtis Ward discuss Superior's new online auction site Fed Cattle Exchange

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Top Agricultural News
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:

Irans steel industry seems to witness a partial boost after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/nuclear deal) on Jan. 16, which was followed by the removal of a part of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Although the volume of output and exports of Iranian steel producers have considerably increased over the past several months, the countrys steel plants continue to operate below their full production capacity, head of Tehran Iron and Steel Union, Mohammad Azad told Trend.

Azad said the volume of production and exports has increased but the level of domestic consumption does not satisfy the expectations, so far.

According to the latest statistics, the Islamic Republic exported 1.99 million tons of crude steel as well as 1.296 million tons of steel products over the first seven months of the current Iranian year which started March 20. The figures indicate 103 percent and 5 percent rise, respectively, year-on-year.

The country, however, imported 150 tons of crude steel (a 299-percent increase) and 1.807 million tons of steel products (a 18-percent fall) in the same period.

Mohammad Azad noted that a group of steel plants in Iran have reduced the number of their shifts to one while they are capable of operating on two and even three shifts.

He added that in case the obstacles to production are removed the Iranian producers can easily boost their level of production.

Although some problems regarding banking transactions have been resolved following the implementation of the nuclear deal, a group of leading banks still avoid carrying out financial transactions for Iran, which has a negative impact on the countrys steel industry, he said.

On the other hand, Irans rivals offer their products at lower prices, as a result of which the Islamic Republic lost a part of its global market share, though the Iranian products enjoy higher quality, the official believes.

He described China as Irans main rival in steel market, saying that the Chinese steel producers account for almost half of the worlds steel output.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association stood at 1.333 billion tons over the first 10 months of the current year with China producing 672.96 million tons of steel.

Iran was the worlds 14th biggest producer of steel in the 10-month period. The country also ranked first among the Middle East countries.

Elaborating on ways for helping the countrys steel industry, Mohammad Azad called on the government to give support for producers.
The holiday campaign of The World-Heralds Goodfellows charity is underway. Most of the money raised for the charity comes in during this time.

Every dollar donated to Goodfellows goes to those needing assistance. The World-Herald pays all expenses.

More information about Goodfellows:

 Last year, Goodfellows received a record $699,514.12 from the holiday campaign and an additional $64,483.70 throughout the year for a total of $763,997.82.

 This past year, Goodfellows assisted 1,440 families through emergency assistance, 1,138 with holiday food vouchers, 1,000 families with shoe and clothing needs and 100 families through miscellaneous help.

 In the past five years, holiday donations have increased 25.4 percent, and total donations have increased 30.5 percent.

 Since 1945, $11,110,921 has been raised through holiday campaign donations. Including year-round donations, the total is $13,251,093.

 People who live in the metro area contribute 84 percent of holiday donations. People from other parts of Nebraska contribute 12 percent, and 4 percent comes from out of state.

 Last year, donations ranged from $1 to $39,000.

 Emergency assistance was started in 1993. It has grown from $75,992 to $566,587 this past year.

 Since 1971, Goodfellows has given out 151,000 holiday food vouchers worth $4.3 million.
Three teenagers were arrested Thursday morning in connection with a recent violent car theft.

Omaha police said the 16-year-old and two 14-year-olds were arrested near Keystone Drive and Boyd Street. A BB gun-style handgun was found inside the stolen vehicle that they were in, police said.

The 16-year-old and one of the 14-year-olds were arrested on suspicion of robbery, and the other 14-year-old was arrested on suspicion of robbery and criminal impersonation, police said.

Police said the arrests came after a tip that led them to 61st Street and Fowler Avenue, where they found a recently stolen 2014 Nissan Altima. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled from the scene.

The driver lost control of the Nissan and struck a pole in the area of Keystone Drive and Boyd Street. The teenagers ran from the vehicle, police said, and after a short chase and search they were arrested.

The teens were being sought after a 28-year-old womans car was stolen at gunpoint in northwest Omaha.

In that theft, police said, a man armed with a firearm approached Devon Polaski around 4:55 p.m. Wednesday outside a residence northwest of North 108th Street and West Maple Road.

Polaski told police that the man demanded the keys to her car and then struck her in the face with the firearm. Police said the man took Polaskis keys and drove off in her Nissan.

Police said the vehicle was a gray 2014 Altima with Nebraska license plates.

The police are investigating possible links to tese four other crimes:

 Wednesday, 4:45 p.m., 3304 N. 105th Plaza  Thu Soe, 28, told police he was unloading groceries from his car when four to five men approached. One of them pulled a weapon and demanded his keys, police said. An altercation occurred, police said, and the men left without Soes vehicle.

 Wednesday, 1:23 p.m., 72nd and Maple Streets  Kahrin Kleine, 21, told police four men approached her and one of them pulled a weapon and demanded her cellphone. Police said she ran into a Buckys and the men drove off in a white Nissan Altima with Colorado license plates.

 Wednesday, 9:49 a.m., 9553 Park Drive  Daneila Troyer, 23, told police she was loading items into her car when a vehicle carrying four men pulled up near her. Police said one man pulled a gun and took Troyers purse, which contained a cellphone, cash and credit cards. Later, officers found her phone near 96th and F Streets, her purse near 96th and Center Streets and her wallet near 96th and Interstate 80.

 Saturday, 9:55 a.m., 4865 S. 95th Plaza  Bo Sun, 32, told police she was walking to her car when three men demanded her purse and keys at gunpoint. The men fled in the womans car, a 2015 white Nissan Altima with Colorado license plates MQY 362.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Irans Customs Administration intends to purchase 15 sets of baggage X-Ray Inspection System equipped with two generators through international tender under the following conditions.

All eligible companies are requested to refer to mentioned address to obtain the tender documents.

The amount of participation guarantee should be 3.555 billion rials or 103,057 euros.

Deadline for obtaining tender documents: Dec. 3, 2016.

Deadline for submitting bids: January 3, 2017.

Opening bid envelopes: January 4, 2017.

Address: Tenders and Contracts Bureau, Room No. 104, Development and Equipment Dept., 1st floor, Iran Custom Administration Bldg., Next to Nasser Alley, Upper than Valiasr Sq., Tehran, Iran.

Phone Number: +98 21 82992290

Further information would be available at www.irica.gov.ir.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb.  Two groups are working on spreading Christmas cheer through a popular tradition on Friday and Saturday with holiday parades.

The western Nebraska cities of Scottsbluff and Gering will bring holiday cheer to the valley in back-to-back nights.

There are 30 days until Christmas after Thanksgiving and holiday parades will be held in two locations to help get people in the Christmas spirit.

Gerings will be on Friday and starts at 6 p.m.

RaNae Garton, chairman of the Gering Merchants Association, said the parade has been growing every year. There is no theme this year which allows people to do what they want with their float.

Floats will be coming down 10th Street starting from T Street.

The last one that comes in will have Santa Claus.

After the parade, people can head down to the Gering Civic Center to see Santa at Santas Village.

He will greet kids and hand out bags of goodies, said Garton.

Those not visiting Santa can enjoy cookies and hot chocolate.

This is the 11th year for the Holiday Parade.

Its a great way for people in the community to get involved and share their holiday spirit, said Garton.

Garton said there are businesses that participate every year.

Valley Bank has participated since the start of the parade and now that they are Western States Bank they will participate again.

Johnson Cashway will be participating for the first time this year.

Line-up for the parade will be at Gardner Park at 5 p.m. Judging will take place and there will be prizes for first, second and third place.

Scottsbluffs holiday parade will be held on Saturday and will start at 6 p.m.

Angela Kembel, parade organizer, said having a parade is something people remember since the 1980s and it is a long-standing tradition in the panhandle.

We are striving for this (Scottsbluffs downtown) to be a place for families, said Kembel, who works with the Downtown Association. Donations will be accepted for the Downtown Association so a Christmas tree can be purchased for the 18th Street Plaza.

There will be food vendors lined up at the 18th Street Plaza from 5 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 26. Kembel said there will be barbecue, a taco truck, cupcakes, and wood-fired pizza among the food vendors.

Options abound for food at the plaza. This is something that is different from last year, said Kembel, Im excited to see a new tradition.

There will be a number of businesses open. Bluffs Broadcasting is also planning a live broadcast of the parade.

Kembel is asking people to bring a battery-powered radio so everyone who is downtown at the time of the parade will be able to listen to it.

Right now, there are 10 floats signed up and Kembel expects there to be 20-25 additional floats sign up in the last week.

Floats will go down Broadway from 20th Avenue to 14th Avenue. The Downtown Association is asking people not to park on Broadway the day of the parade.

Kembel said the parade will last until around 7 p.m.

Christmas is a great time for traditions and to bring family together, Kembel said.

All floats are required to be lit up for safety, visibility and festivity.

Candy or flyers should not be thrown from the floats so people should be prepared to have them ready to hand out.

The parade will feature a Grinch and Santa Claus.

The Elks Lodge is also hosting a $5 soup supper for the public from 5 to 8 p.m.

After the parade, there will be photos with Santa Claus and hot chocolate at the Elks Lodge.

A bell choir will also be performing at the Elks Lodge.

Kembel also encourages participants of the Scottsbluff parade to join the Gering parade the night before.

I would love to see participation in both towns so that both towns have the best parades that they can, said Kembel.
Republican Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Joni Ernst of Iowa spent Thursday celebrating Thanksgiving overseas with U.S. service members.

They had holiday dinners with service members stationed at Bagram Air Base, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, according to a press release from Ernsts office. The senators also traveled around Afghanistan to survey the U.S. mission there and toured various sites in the region with troops from their home states.

I was humbled and honored to spend this Thanksgiving with service members from Nebraska currently stationed in Qatar and Afghanistan, Fischer said.

These brave service members are far away from their homes and loved ones this holiday season, she said.

I cherished the time I spent with each and every one of them, she said in the release. I know I join all Nebraskans when I say how thankful we are for the sacrifices they and their families make to keep us safe.

Ernst, a former company commander in the Iowa National Guard and veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, met with the 211th Aviation Battalion and the 185th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion of Iowa, the release said.

During her 23 years of military service, Ernst commanded the 185th CSSB, based out of Johnston, Iowa, and served as the support operations officer in the battalion headquarters for the 211th Aviation Battalion.

Ernst also spoke at the Sisters in Arms event for female NATO leaders in Kabul, Afghanistan.

It was a tremendous honor to spend Thanksgiving with Iowans who are sacrificing so much in defense of our freedoms  particularly so far from home during the holidays, Ernst said.

I had the opportunity to speak with Iowans in the 211th Aviation Battalion and visit with some familiar faces in the 185th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, as well as travel to worksites to see their efforts on the front lines, she said in the release.

I am thankful to have shared this precious time with our outstanding Iowa service members, and I thank them  as well as their families  for their faithful service to our grateful nation, the release said.

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Fischer met with these servicemembers:

 Master Sgt. Daniel Westman, Bellevue, an aircraft mechanic crew chief in the Nebraska Air National Guard.

 Lt. Col. Chris Shannon, Omaha, a pilot in the Nebraska Air National Guard.

 Staff Sgt. Jennifer Jensen, originally from Alliance, a knowledge operations manager in the Wyoming Air National Guard.

Fischer had a Thanksgiving meal with the following servicemembers at Bagram Air Base:

 Lt. Col. James Rye, McCook.

 Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Carpenter, Omaha.

 Sgt. Jared Cornell, Omaha.

 Sgt. Erik Servellon, Omaha.

 Lt. Col. Danny Robinson, North Platte.

 Chief Warrant Officer Nicole Patterson, Beatrice.
WAYNE, Neb.  Wayne State College hosted its annual turkey drop at Neihardt Residence Hall last week.

The tradition is modeled after the turkey giveaway episode of the late 1970s-early 1980s television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Those who remember the infamous episode recall newsman Les Nessmans description of live turkeys dropping from a helicopter and hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement.

Arthur Carlson, the station manager, famously said of the failed promo: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

No real turkeys were injured Nov. 17 as Wayne State College student radio station KWSC staged the turkey drop.

Its become a fall tradition in which usually a donation of two cans of food for the local food pantry allows students to enter various items, then watch them shatter or splat on the south side of Neihardt Hall.

So, the turkeys are basically anything participants dont want  as long as dropping it from the third floor of Neihardt Hall is environmentally friendly.

Entrants won in four categories: longest hang time, biggest splat, best dressed and sharpshooter, for the item that lands nearest to the target painted on the tarp below. The prize is a trophy with a turkey on top and a frozen turkey pot pie.

The turkey drop has been one of the biggest promotions the radio station does in the fall. Its also good training for students at the college station, who must plan, promote and broadcast it live.
Telangana CM offers official chair to seer, creates flutter

Hyderabad

oi-Anusha

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao stoked controversy on Thursday when he offered his official chair to a Seer. Chinna Jeer Swamy presided over the house warming ceremony of the Chief Minister's new residence-cum-camp office.

A video showing KCR urging the seer to take his seat is doing the rounds in the state with many criticising his move as an insult to the constitutional post of Chief Minister. Disciples of the seer and priests conducted the ceremonies on Thursday morning as K Chandrashekhar Rao and his family moved in to the new house.

The house doubles up as the Chief Minister's camp office with a portion dedicated to official meetings and engagement, it is in this portion that the Chief Minister's official office has been set up. The new palatial bungalow built at a cost of over Rs 50 crore is nothing short of a fortress with dozens of CCTVs, over 50 heavily armed guards keeping vigil all day, high compound walls and even bulletproof windows for safety of the Chief Minister and his family.

[Also Read: Beat this: Bulletproof bathrooms for Telangana CM]

The CM's move of offering his chair to the seer is being viewed as unconstitutional and an embarrassment to democracy. The Kerala police in August 2014 had arrested a man for sitting in then Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy's chair while the CM was away.

OneIndia News
40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

102 deaths to internet ban, Kashmir completely alienated from India?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Srinagar, Nov 24: A group of 25 activists belonging to various organisations from across the country visited Kashmir between November 11 to November 20.

Their objective was to understand the ground realities and what exactly transpired in the Valley over the past four and a half months since the killing of three Hizbul Mujahideen militants, Burhan Wani, Sartaj Sheikh and Pervaiz Lashkari, by the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police on July 8.

According to the fact-finding committee, since July, as Kashmir was rocked by a series of protests and direct confrontation ensued between protestors and army men, the Valley has been completely alienated from India.

[Also Read: 90 per cent of people in Kashmir want peace: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar]

"In the last 135 days, over 102 unarmed civilians have been killed by the Indian Army, the J&K Police and central paramilitary forces. More than 15,000 people have been injured by armed firing and in pellet firing and shelling, of which around 7,000 are cases of severe injury. A majority of those who have been killed are young and many are minors. This information has been documented by the media," stated the report compiled by the activists.

Some of the activists, who visited Kashmir for nine days, include Medha Patkar (Narmada Bachao Andolan), Kavita Krishnan (All India Progressive Women's Association), SP Udaykumar (Peoples Movement against Nuclear Energy) and Gautam Mody (New Trade Union Initiative), to name a few.

The report in the end stated, "We also conclude that the actions of the BJP government at the centre and the PDP-BJP government in J&K are acts of vengeance aimed at forcing the peoples of Kashmir into subjugation by using every possible force available to government for breaking the people's resolve for a democratic settlement to achieve their aspirations."

"As representatives of diverse peoples' movements, trade unions and other organisations in India, and as India's citizens, we can say without reservation that the actions of the Indian state in Kashmir amount to profound violation of democratic and human rights."

Click here to read the full report.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 10:08 [IST]
Comedian Atul Khatri's joke on seatbelt becomes one on him as Mumbai Police responds

26/11 Files: How Mumbai terror attacks changed the entire public discourse on terrorism

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Mumbai, Nov 24: On November 26, 2008, something unexplainable happened, my city changed forever," this is how Rubia Ali, a Mumbai-based fashion designer, recalls the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

"Why only Mumbai, the dastardly act carried out by the Pakistani terrorists--for three consecutive days--changed the way the very concept of terror is viewed across the country," adds Rubia, two days before the 8th anniversary of 26/11 on Thursday.

Like Rubia, research scholar Madhuri Dutta, who calls herself a quintessential Mumbaikar, opines that during those series of attacks, the terrorists hit the very heart of India.

"It was more of a psychological warfare."

"It is difficult to forget the images of smoke billowing from the windows of the Taj Mahal hotel and the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos on their mission to rescue people stranded in Taj, Oberoi Trident and Nariman House. The attack was a target on the elite and the privileged, something that never happened in the country before," adds Dutta.

It was not for the first time that Mumbai witnessed a terror attack on its soil.

The city has witnessed several terror strikes before 26/11.

On March 12, 1993, Mumbai (then Bombay) was rocked by a series of 12 bomb explosions.

The infamous Bombay Bombings, 1993, masterminded by Dawood Ibrahim, mostly targeted the common man of the city.

In a total shift from usually targeting the commoners on the streets, the Pakistani terrorists during 26/11 strikes attacked and jolted the country's establishment by preying on the rich, powerful and expats.

"26/11 is one of the most-talked about terror episodes across the globe. We can actually divide India's tryst with terrorism into two part-pre-26/11 and post-26/11 terror attacks. The large-scale human loss--164 to be precise--by just 10 gunmen tested country's counter-terrorism measures," said Rupam Barua, a Guwahati-based senior editor, who has covered insurgency in northeast region.

Barua added the terrorists, who came from Pakistan, were well-trained and armed with sophisticated weapons, unlike home-grown militants in the northeast region and Kashmir.

At a time, when neighbouring countries--India and Pakistan--are witnessing renewed tension along the Line of Control, 26/11 terror episode is a reminder that Pakistan is yet to bring to justice the masterminds of the terror attacks that numbed the entire world..

OneIndia News
Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian left Tehran for Tokyo Thursday morning to attend the 27th Meeting of the Energy Charter Conference, IRNA reported.

During his four-day visit to Japan, he is scheduled to discuss issues of mutual interest with the Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii and Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida.

He will also sign a draft document for Iran to joining the world charter.

Energy minister is also slated to visit Yokohama Smart City Project (YSCP) and the city's sewage treatment plant during his stay in the country.

Energy Charter Conference's main objective is better reflection of new realities in the energy sector, especially energy growth in developing countries and cooperation of the participating countries in line with development and countering common challenges in the energy sector.
40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

Jammu and Kashmir: Army launches counter-offensive, 6 jawans injured in shelling

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Nov 24: Army on Wednesday launched a counter offensive against Pakistan along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed, with body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack, even as Pakistani troops continued to shell Indian positions, injuring two six jawans.

The offensive came hours after the Indian Army vowed "heavy retribution" to the attack on its soldier. Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of Northern Command, Brig P S Gotra said India Army launched a counter offensive along the LoC in retaliation to Tuesday's offensive in Machhil sector of Kashmir.

Indian Army posts are responding strongly and giving a befitting reply, Defence PRO Manish Mehta said. Pakistan Army also fired at Indian posts along the LoC in Bhimber Gali, Krishna Ghati and Nowshera sectors.

Four jawan of army were injured in shelling by Pakistani troops along LoC today, an Army officer said.

"Two BSF jawans suffered minor injuries in ceasefire violation by Pakistan troops along LoC in Bhimbher Gali area of Rajouri district at 0945 hours today", a senior BSF officer said.

They are out of danger, he said. In the cross-LoC attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists, three Indian soldiers were yesterday killed, with body of one of them being mutilated.

The ambush on the army patrol took place in Machhil sector of Kashmir, following which the Indian Army vowed heavy "retribution".

The Northern Command spokesman had yesterday tweeted, "3 soldiers killed in action on LC (Line of Control) in Machhal.

Body of one soldier mutilated." He said the "retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act."

This is the second such incident of mutilation of the body of an Indian soldier in the same sector since October 28.

On that day, terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, had crossed the Line of Control and killed an Indian army jawan and mutilated his body in Macchil sector.

One attacker was killed in that incident. The 2003 India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement has virtually become redundant with nearly 300 incidents of firing and shelling along LoC and IB in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops that resulted in death of 26 people, including 14 security personnel, since the surgical strike on terrorist launch pads in PoK.

India and Pakistan entered into no-firing agreement along Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir in 2003.

PTI
From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

Behave: A stern message from India to Pak

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 24: There was some tough talking done by India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) who was on the hotline with his Pakistani counterpart.

Stop the unethical acts and control infiltration is what India's DGMO Lt Gen. Ranveer Singh told Pakistan on the hotline.

After Pakistan had killed three Indian soldiers in the most brutal fashion there was heavy retaliation by India. This forced Pakistan to ask for talks.

The DGMO issued a stern warning to Pakistan in which he said that any attempt made to escalate tension along the border would be dealt with severely.

Among the other issues raised were unethical practices by Pakistan along the border and the issue of infiltration. You will invite a strong response from our side the DGMO told Pakistan.

Soldiers killed, mutilated in Jammu and Kashmir

While the DGMO expressed grief over the killing of civilians, he also added that retaliatory firing was being carried out only at targeted locations. We are only targeting those posts through which infiltrations and cease fire violations are taking place, he also said.

Pakistan had said there were civilian casualties caused by India along the Line of Control. The Pakistan army said that seven persons including three of its soldiers had been killed in firing by India.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 8:31 [IST]
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

Demonetisation: Cong to observe 'jan akrosh' day on Nov 28

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Nov 24: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee today said the party will observe a 'jan akrosh' day in all districts of the state on November 28 to protest the implementation of the Centre's demonetisation move.

All party leaders from the state will participate in the campaign in the districts, MPCC spokesman Sachin Sawant told reporters here.

Farmers, farm labourers, traders and other labourers are devastated with the government's move, he claimed. Sawant criticised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his tweet recently that the Centre has accepted Maharashtra government's request to allow farmers to buy seeds for Rabi crops with the scrapped notes.

The CM had also said that seeds can be purchased from centres and outlets belonging to state seeds corporation.

Narendra Modi stays absent, RS adjourned for the day

Sawant said state seeds corporation does not have any outlet in the state. The corporation has appointed distributors for selling seeds. They sell only harbhara (gram seed) and wheat, he said. "What about sugarcane, jowar, vegetables. Fadnavis should stop praising the Prime Minister and concentrate on the state's interests," he said.

Sawant said the government's lack of trust in district cooperatives banks has hit the farmers hard. "Government boasts about crores of rupees in collection of taxes in old notes in urban local bodies. All gram panchayats have accounts in district cooperative banks which have been prevented from accepting old notes," he said.

He said 15 days have passed since the scrapping of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, and added that 22 notifications have been issued by the Centre so far, creating confusion and chaos while farmers have been kept away from banks.

PTI
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Demonetisation: Congress MP files breach of privilege notice against PM

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Nov 24: Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Goa Shantaram Naik filed a breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, for making statements on demonetisation outside Parliament, even when both the Houses are in session.

According to a statement issued by Naik, the notice has been filed under Rule 187 and 188 of Rules Of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).

"It was improper for the Prime Minister to make a statement on demonetisation outside Parliament when both the Houses of Parliament were in session," Naik said.

The lone Rajya Sabha MP from Goa also said that Modi's address at the public rally in Agra on November 19, where he commented on the demonetisation decision, violated the rules of parliamentary business.

'Monumental Mismanagement'- Dr Manmohan Singh says on implementation of demonetisation

"Further, the Prime Minister himself came on television on November 8, to announce the decision despite the fact that the Rajya Sabha debated the issue of demonetisation the whole day," Naik said.

"The Prime Minister did not think it necessary to come and attend the Rajya Sabha and intervene in the debate, thereby committing another breach of privilege of the House," he said.

The Opposition has been demanding a statement from Modi on the demonetisation issue and the Prime Minister is expected to make a statement in Parliament soon.

IANS
FIU looking into 6 cr Jan Dhan accounts for suspicious transactions

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 24: The Intelligence Bureau has started probing suspicious transactions that have been made into Jan Dhan accounts.

The task handled by the Financial Intelligence Unit will look into suspicious transactions that have been made into Jan Dhan accounts post demonetisation.

There are around 6 crore such accounts that the FIU is looking into. Once the report is prepared the details would be shared with the Income Tax department.

If the IT finds anyone guilty they would be booked under the provisions of the Benami Transactions Act.

Jan Dhan account deposits swell, mobilise Rs 21,000 cr

There has been a surge in the transactions into Jan Dhan accounts. Deposits worth Rs 21,000 crore have been made into these Jan Dhan accounts. West Bengal and Karnataka have seen the highest number of deposits.

As part of the probe, the FIU is seeking the assistance of the IT department. It is also seeking details of transactions and activities from bank officials. An officer with the FIU informed Oneindia that they are scanning almost all accounts.

There are many suspicious transactions and once we get a better picture, action will follow, the officer also said.

OneIndia News
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Demonetisation: Opposition not to hold talks with govt

India

oi-Jagriti

New Delhi, Nov 24: The united Opposition on Thursday decided not to hold meeting with government to discuss ongoing deadlock over demonetisation. The meeting took place ahead of their meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

However, united Opposition is yet to take a final call to attend the meeting or not.

"We'll first meet opposition and then decide whether we'll go to meeting called by HM or not. Let PM or speaker call for meet," Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was quoted as saying.

Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar too likely to join Rajnath Singh for talks with the opposition leaders.

Demonetisation: Opposition protests outside Parliament

Talking about the meeting with Opposition, Ananth Kumar said, "It is not a formal meeting, we are treating all parties equally. Everybody can give suggestions & there is no prestige issue."

Members of the Opposition on Wednesday protested outside the Parliament against the demonetisation implemented by the government. Opposition.

We'll first meet oppn & then decide whether we'll go to meeting called by HM or not. Let PM or speaker call for meet: Mallikarjun Kharge,LoP pic.twitter.com/0jgneIQMr1  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

It is not a formal meeting, we are treating all parties equally. Everybody can give suggestions & there is no prestige issue: Ananth Kumar pic.twitter.com/eeOwoybSkT  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

Opposition parties decide in their meeting to not hold talks with the Govt till 28th November: Sources #DeMonetisation  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

OneIndia News
Demonetisation to help leapfrog to digital economy: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

India

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Nov 24: Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has said the demonetisation of high-value currency notes is an opportunity to leapfrog into a digital cashless economy, even as she called for a effective monitoring to prevent accumulation of fresh black money.

The CMD of Biocon Ltd, which was rated among the world's top ten employers in the biotechnology industry by an international magazine recently, said she is confident that the demonetised currency would be replaced by the new notes reasonably soon.

"The objectives of flushing out counterfeit currency, illicit funding of businesses and illicit activities including extremism and terrorism and 'havala' transactions will certainly be achieved," Mazumdar-Shaw told PTI.

Demonetisation would also serve to be a deterrent to corruption in the short-term. "However, what remains to be seen is for how long can we stave off the re-emergence of black money," she said.

Stating that certain businesses would be temporarily affected, especially real estate and jewellery, among others, following the move, Mazumdar-Shaw said she is confident that agriculture and SMEs would recover.

Also read: Kejriwal to hold nation-wide rallies against demonetisation

"Most importantly, I see this as an opportunity to leapfrog into a digital cashless economy," she said. On measures needed to prevent accumulation of fresh black money, Mazumdar-Shaw said: "That's really what needs tracking and a strong monitoring strategy."

Asked if she thought the move would make only a limited dent as those who have kept unaccounted money in the form of gold or real estate "escape", Mazumdar-Shaw said she does believe that the sudden and unexpected act of demonetisation would flush out significant illicit cash as not every thing would be invested in real estate and gold.

"However, there is likely to be downward revision in real estate pricing and hopefully gold, which is good for the economy as it will spur purchasing power," she said. "That's a concern I have as I am not convinced that corruption can be completely weeded out," she responded when asked if she thought corruption can be fully eliminated.

"The mind-set has to shift. It is too deeply engraved in business practices," she added. On whether cash donations to political parties should stop, Mazumdar-Shaw -- who was recently conferred with the highest French civil distinction 'Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur' (Knight of the Legion of Honour) -- said: "No. In fact, we should make sure there is a complete transparency in political funding," adding, political parties should be brought under the ambit of RTI.

PTI
Development in UP only visible in advertisements: Nitin Gadkari

India

oi-PTI

Sultanpur, Nov 24 Taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari today said development in the state was only visible in "newspaper advertisements".

"Development here can only be seen in the form of advertisements in newspapers...the condition of roads is for everyone to see...we want a government here which actually works...people here have already seen the BSP and the SP," the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways told the gathering at the BJP's 'Parivartan Rally'.

Taking a dig at the opposition parties, Gadkari said although all of them were together in opposing the Centre's demonetisation move in Parliament, they were fighting each other in Uttar Pradesh.

"The poor is not worried over demonetisation. It is only the leaders who are concerned...High value currencies worth Rs 16 lakh crore were printed of which, only Rs 6 lakh crore has come back to the banks...Rs 10 lakh crore is still lying with the big leaders which will become redundant after December 31," he said.

Applauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said his demonetisation move was in favour of the poor.

"He (Modi) comes from a poor family...there has never been any leader in his family and he has worked his way to this position...There are, however, some others who are worried about their families," Gadkari said, claiming that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was worried about getting his son (party vice-president Rahul Gandhi) "a job in politics".

The Union minister said he was laying the foundation stone for the Lucknow-Sultanpur and Sultanpur-Jaunpur four-laning work and upgradation at a cost of over Rs 2,600 crore and claimed that it will last for "200 years".

PTI
Four medical students brutally kill monkey in Vellore

India

oi-Madhuri

By Madhuri

Vellore, Nov 24: A young female monkey was brutally killed by four medical students from India's most reputed medical colleges in Vellore on Saturday.

The incident came to light when an animal activist Azar from Mumbai got an anonymous call saying a monkey was killed by four MBBS students of the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. The incident took place around 12:30 pm behind the hostel mess on Saturday. Azar altered Chennai based activist who lodged a complaint against four students in the Bagayam police.

According to eye-witnesses, the monkey entered the students' hostel room in the afternoon. The students later caught it with a blanket. The female monkey must have been just about a year old and hence not very ferocious. The accused then took the monkey to the hostel terrace and later tied up the monkey's hands, legs and neck. The monkey died out of excruciating pain. The perpetrators of this heinous act then buried the carcass behind the hostel mess.

Autopsy revealed that the monkey's neck, hands and legs were fractured since it was tied up with a phone wire and then thrashed it brutally. Moreover, the animal was stabbed with a sharp object.

The four students have been taken for questioning at the police station, said a police source. Meanwhile, the college has suspended the four students involved in this case on Wednesday after a preliminary inquiry was conducted by an internal committee.

However, a case has been registered at Bagayam police station under IPC section 429 and various sections of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 10:08 [IST]
Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Heed Manmohan Singh on demonetisation, Uddhav tells Centre

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Mumbai, Nov 24 Lavishing rare praise on any opposition leader, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday urged the Centre to heed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's views on demonetisation as he's "a renowned economist".

"Former PM Singh is a renowned economist and his words and opinions must be taken seriously. The manner in which money is being collected from the people, it seems it's an extortion of the common man," Thackeray told mediapersons in the afternoon.

He said it is pointless for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to become emotional when people all over have tears in their eyes.

"One person cannot take such a decision for 125 crore Indians... The people should have been taken into confidence. You have brought tears to the eyes of those who voted for you with great hopes and aspirations... You couldn't wipe their tears," Thackeray said.

He made it clear the Shiv Sena would not think twice before taking an opposing or critical stand on the manner in which demonetisation was implemented.

Referring to the referendum in United Kingdom before it withdrew from the European Union, he said a similar survey (on demonetisation) was being conducted here.

"After the public opinion (on Brexit), the British PM quit... Will something like this happen here," he wondered.

Thackeray demanded extension of time-limit till December 31 for exchanging the demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 at petrol pumps, pharmacies and hospitals for the benefit of the masses running from pillar to post.

Questioning the Reserve Bank Of India's move barring district central cooperative banks from exchanging the old currency notes, he asked whether the absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya had availed loans from these (DCC) banks.

However, he wondered how the banks from where Mallya took loans have been permitted to exchange the old notes.

He reiterated that the Shiv Sena was highlighting peoples' agony after the demonetisation and bringing them to the notice of the government.

IANS
Iran welcomes South African companies to help the country carry out its transportation projects, says a transportation ministry official, IRNA reported.

'The South African companies could cooperate with Iran in its transportation development as project developers,' said Iran's Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan on Thursday in a meeting with a South African Transport Ministry delegation.

'There are a lot of projects underway in Iran for developing airports, highways, railroads and ports as well as projects for establishing new cities,' Fakhrieh said.

'We prefer to have foreign companies as project developers,' he said.

The Iranian official also said that the South African companies could cooperate with Iran both individually and through a consortium jointly established with the European companies.
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

Illegal parallel economy unearthed post demonetisation: Centre tells SC

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 24: The objective behind demonetisation was to unearth an illegal parallel economy, the centre has told the Supreme Court. In its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the centre stated that demonetisation is aimed at reducing the ratio of cash transactions.

The centre also said that the menace of fake currency has been tackled and funding for terror groups has stopped.

It further stated that demonetisation was also an attempt to unearth black money that has been stashed over the past seven years.

Further the centre also informed the court about the steps taken to ease the pain of the people in the aftermath of the decision to demonetise the Rs 500 and 1,000 notes.

'Monumental Mismanagement'- Dr Manmohan Singh says on implementation of demonetisation

It said that all steps were being taken to ensure that the transition was a smooth one. The centre states that re-calibration of ATMs is on in full swing. Further it stated that any difficulty being faced by the people would be sorted out.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 16:25 [IST]
From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

India rejects Pakistan allegations on overflight rights

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Nov 24 India on Thursday rejected allegations by Pakistan of being denied overflight clearance, something Islamabad claimed was in violation of a 1991 agreement on prevention of air space violations and for permitting overflights and landing by military aircraft.

"Yes, we are aware of what Pakistan has claimed but we categorically reject these allegations," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

Giving the facts, Swarup said that according to Appendix A to the 1991 agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers was required in respect of military aircraft.

"Requests from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without this essential information," he stated.

"Despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner and Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) in New Delhi on November 9, 2016, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect the requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements."

However, the spokesperson also added that in another recent case, when Pakistan had provided all necessary information for a Gulfstream aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back to Lahore, the overflight permission was provided expeditiously.

IANS
What does the US actually want in Syria?

Iraq forces in fierce Mosul fighting with jihadists

India

oi-PTI

Mosul, Nov 24 Iraqi forces battled the Islamic State group deep inside Mosul today, piling pressure on jihadists who have no more escape routes but leaving trapped civilians in the crossfire.

Elite forces gained new ground in east Mosul, looking for fresh momentum as stiffer-than-expected IS resistance threatened to bog down the five-week-old offensive against the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP on the front line in Mosul that his forces were battling IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa in Iraq's second city. "They cannot flee. They have two choices - give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

An old British-era bridge, which cannot be used by heavy vehicles, is the only one still standing in the city.

"The Iraqi advance on the south and southeast of the city has started to pick up some steam, which we think is a really great development," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

"They're going to have to react to that advance. That thins out their defences," he said.

A senior CTS commander said yesterday that 40 percent of eastern Mosul had now been retaken.

"It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them," Dorrian said.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by IS west of Mosul and yesterday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

AFP
Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership

Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi

BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary

Maximum black money generated in UPA rule: Arun Jaitley

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Nov 24: Defending the demonetisation decision as "correct", Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said maximum black money was generated during the earlier Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's rule.

"The steps this government has taken are right and are being implemented in the right manner," the minister told the media in Parliament House here.

Lashing out at the Congress, Jaitley said: "We are not surprised when we hear from those who ran the government between 2004 and 2014 that they do not like these steps against black money."

"The maximum black money was generated in this country between 2004 and 2014. The biggest corruption scandals pertaining to the Commonwealth Games, the 2G spectrum and the coal blocks took place during this period," he added.

'Monumental Mismanagement'- Dr Manmohan Singh says on implementation of demonetisation



Jaitley said people who did not consider these scandals to be blunders were now considering the campaign against black money and corruption to be a blunder.

Jaitley was referring to former Prime Minister and Congress's Rajya Sabha member Manmohan Singh describing the post-dmonetisation chaos as "organised plunder", which he apparently mistook as "blunder".

"This is the exact rational argument that they will put forward in the debate in Parliament as it takes place. But it's obvious that the opposition is uncomfortable with the debate and are inventing ...a ... manufacturing reason to run away from the debate," the minister said.

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday resumed discussion on the government's demonetisation move after facing repeated adjournments for the past five days.

However, the opposition again forced adjournment of the house in the post-lunch session over its demand for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate.

IANS
AIIMS bans cell phone use by OPD registration counter staff; to add extra buses for internal transport

AIIMS fee structure for education could be modelled along lines of IITs, IIMs

Junior doctors at AIIMS go on strike demanding increased security

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Nov 24: The junior doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) went on a strike on Thursday over the increasing number of assaults on the doctors.

According to reports, the agitating doctors have stated that false complaints are being registered against them which is not only affecting their reputation, but also tarninshing the image of the renowned hospital.

The doctors have demanded increased security arrangements for them.

Even in 2014, the AIIMS doctors had gone on a strike demanding adequate security following an attack by a patient's relatives on three senior resident doctors.

The doctors had then gone on an indefinite strike after alleging that the kin of a patient admitted in Surgical Emergency brandished guns and beat up the three doctors who were on duty.

Oneindia News
CUET impact? Only 1 from Kerala board in Hindu College's popular course so far

DSSSB Assistant Teacher (Primary) Result 2022 out: How to check

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'Pollution not a state problem': As Delhi chokes, AAP leader passes the buck to Centre

Difference in words and work: AAP leader joins BJP days ahead of polls

Govt announces nationwide campaign for submission of digital life certificates

Kejriwal to hold nation-wide rallies against demonetisation

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Nov 24: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold six rallies over the next four weeks across the nation against the central government's demonetisation move, AAP announced on Thursday.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also hold demonstrations against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes across all its district headquarters.

"On November 28 across the nation, the AAP will hold demonstrations at all district headquarters against the Rs 8 lakh crore scam," AAP leader Ashish Khetan told the media here.

He said Kejriwal will hold rallies in Meerut, Varanasi and Lucknow on December 1, 7 and 18 respectively.

Read More: Musical Ode: Flautists play sweet notes in support of demonetisation

The AAP convenor will hold rallies in Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur on December 20, 22 and 23.

"We will ask seven questions to the public through rallies about demonetisation," Khetan said.

The AAP has strongly opposed the central government's demonetisation move announced on November 8 and demanded its roll back.

IANS
Why the arrest, capture or killing of Madvi Hidma would weaken the naxal movement further

Kerala- Security forces kill 3 maoists in encounter

India

oi-Anusha

3 maoists were reportedly killed in an encounter with security forces in Nilambur of Kerala on Thursday. Security forces were engaged in a gun battle with maoists suspected to be from Andhra Pradesh.

Operation of the security forces is still underway in Edakkara forest area of Karulai range under Nilambur Sourth division. The security forces are said to have countered maoists about 4 kilometers inside the forest range.

2 of the suspected maoists have been identified as Devaraj and Ajiitha from Andhra Pradesh. Official statement from the forces awaited. Additional forces are currently being deployed.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 16:40 [IST]
TRS, BJP are two sides of same coin: Rahul Gandhi in Telangana

Modi likely to attend 'Yoga session' with top cops in Hyd

India

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Nov 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in a 'Yoga session' along with top- ranking police officers during the annual conference here of DGPs from across the country.

Modi is likely to arrive here tomorrow evening and after an overnight stay at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), he would take part in the 'Yoga session' on November 26 as part of the conference of Directors General of Police of all states.

"The Prime Minister will also take part in Yoga session, after which he would participate in deliberations with DGPs the whole day on Saturday," a top police official told PTI.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh would inaugurate the three- day conference at SVPNPA tomorrow. Union Ministers of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, besides National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval are among those who would attend the event.

SC to hear PIL for making 'Yoga' compulsory for students

The conference would focus on issues relating to countering terrorism and radicalisation, Naxal problem and cyber crime, besides modernisation of police force, the police official said. Rajnath Singh would also take part in the valedictory function on Sunday, he added.

PTI
Coimbatore car blast to be probed by NIA orders MHA

Coimbatore: 24 years back and now, the radical Islamists are of the same family

NIA begins probe in to Coimbatore cylinder blast as terror plot thickens

In Coimbatore blast case, foreign funding and links not ruled out

Musical Ode: Flautists play sweet notes in support of demonetisation

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Chennai, Nov 24: In a unique way, musicians in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, played flutes to express their support for demonetisation on Wednesday.

A group of people, along with flautists, came together in front of the office of the collectorate to pay a musical ode to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "masterstroke" decision to scrap high-value currency notes.

While the flautists played musical tunes, rest of the people were seen holding placards, stating that they were with PM Modi in his war against black money.

Tamil Nadu: People in Coimbatore gathered in front of collectorate, played the flute supporting Government's #DeMonetisation move (23/11/16) pic.twitter.com/lLupSrqeIs  ANI (@ANI_news) November 24, 2016

On November 8, Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes to fight against black money, counterfeit currencies and terror funding.

[Also Read: Why is RBI governor Urjit Patel silent on demonetisation?]

While many politicians and economists have slammed the move, calling demonetisation a hasty decision, as the country is facing severe cash crunch, most of the surveys have given a thumbs up to Modi's latest economic decision.

OneIndia News
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Notes ban to significantly disrupt economic activity: Moody's

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Nov 24: Demonetisation will "significantly disrupt economic activity" and lead to weaker growth in near-term, though in the long run it can boost tax revenues and translate into faster fiscal consolidation, Moody's Investors Service said today.

In a report titled 'Indian Credit -- Demonetisation Is Beneficial for Indian Government and Banks; Implementation Challenges Will Disrupt Economic Activity', Moody's said the move to ban old Rs 500/1000 notes is affecting all sectors of the economy to various extent, with banks being the key beneficiaries.

"Although the measures in the near term will pressure GDP growth and thereby government revenues, in the longer term they should boost tax revenues and translate into higher government capital expenditure and/or faster fiscal consolidation," Moody's Sovereign Group Associate MD Marie Diron said.

Moody's added there will be a loss of wealth for individuals and corporates with unreported income, as some will choose not to deposit funds back into the formal financial system to avoid disclosing the sources of these funds. In the immediate period, demonetisation would "significantly disrupt economic activity, resulting in temporarily weaker consumption and GDP growth," it maintained.

Rajya Sabha Live: Narendra Modi's absence in RS irks Opposition

Households and businesses will experience liquidity shortages as cash is taken out of the system, with a daily limit on the amount in old notes that can be exchanged into new notes. "Corporates will see economic activity decline, with lower sales volumes and cash flows, with those directly exposed to retail sales most affected," Moody's Corporate Finance Group MD Laura Acres said.

However, greater formalisation of economic and financial activity would ultimately help broaden the tax base and expand usage of the financial system, which would be credit positive, it added.

In a report, S&P Global Ratings too said demonetisation would be positive in long-term, but will have a transitory impact on growth in the short run and could hurt banks' asset quality.

"Bank deposits would benefit due to demonetisation, though not all inflows will remain in the banking system on a permanent basis," S&P said.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, thereby withdrawing 86 per cent or Rs 14 lakh crore worth currency from circulation.

PTI
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



A senior Iranian military commander has denied denies that the Islamic Republic has deployed any forces to Iraqi city of Mosul.



Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), has said that Iran has not sent off any troops to the city of Mosul as Iraqs Popular Mobilisation (Hashd al-Shaabi/ volunteer forces) perform very well and they do not need any assistance from Iranians, Mehr news agency reported.



Over the past five weeks, Iraqi security forces in collaboration with Kurdish fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen have launched a major offensive to drive the Islamic State terrorist group out of Mosul, the terrorist groups last urban strong-hold in Iraq.



Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari further commented on the participation of Iranian forces in Syrian battles, saying that there are many young Iranians eager to defend holy sites but the way for them is blocked.



Some of our youth probably arrive in Syria through unofficial ways, he added.



According to official announcements by the Islamic Republic, over the past couple of years more than 1,000 servicemen deployed by Iran to Syria to back President Bashar al-Assads government have been killed in the Arab country.


PM Modi reaches out to Opposition in Rajya Sabha

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Nov 24: After days of confrontation between government and opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reached out to the rival parties as he walked across in the Rajya Sabha and exchanged pleasantries with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and other leaders of Congress as well as JD(U), NCP and DMK.

Modi, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in tow, made the gesture when the Upper House went into lunch break amid a debate on demonetisation.

The Prime Minister shook hands and was seen chatting with Singh, as also Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.

Modi also chatted with JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Praful Patel of NCP and DMK's Kanimozhi and some other leaders. Earlier, Singh attacked the Government over demonetisation, saying it was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."

Musical Ode: Flautists play sweet notes in support of demonetisation

Singh said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent. The opposition had been stalling the House over the last five days, targeting the Prime Minister and demanding his presence in the House for resumption of debate on demonetisation, which had begun on November 16.

PTI
Pondicherry CM criticises PM over demonetisation move

India

oi-PTI

Puducherry, Nov 24: Terming the demonetisation move as 'ridiculous' and 'unwise', Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today alleged the country's economy had been badly hit and demanded that the Centre roll back the scheme in the larger interest of the people.

Addressing a demonstration sponsored by the ruling Congress here to condemn the Centre's move, he hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "causing hardships and misery" to the common man by banning high value currencies without reportedly making alternative arrangements for smooth functioning of the economy.

"The scrapping of high value currency notes has landed farmers, daily wage earners and petty vendors in deep misery," he said.

No one should twist the objection raised by Congress to demonetisation as the party was only opposed to the sudden implementation of the scheme without making alternative arrangements, he added.

The Congress in Puducherry would continue to protest in different forms until the Centre rolled back its decision, Narayanasamy said. Ministers, MLAs and functionaries of the PCC were among those who raised slogans condemning the demonetisation.

PTI
IRCTC: 89 trains cancelled on Oct 26 including some in Maharashtra, UP; check complete list

IRCTC update: 115 trains cancelled on Nov 01; here is the complete list

Railways to provide enhanced security to passengers

News

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

New Delhi, Nov 24 Indian Railways is ready to use latest technology to ensure passengers are safe and secure on vulnerable routes. Railways carries millions of passengers through vulnerable routes and ensures that its passengers are safe.

For this railways ensures that Railway Protection Force (RPF) supplements the efforts of Government Railway Police (GRP).

RPF supplements the efforts of GRP by deploying its staff for escorting of important trains in affected areas and access control duties at important and sensitive stations.

Besides, the following steps are also being taken by the Railways to provide security:

On vulnerable and identified routes or sections, 2500 trains (on an average) are escorted by Railway Protection Force daily, in addition to 2200 trains escorted by Government Railway Police of different States daily. Surveillance is kept through CCTV cameras, provided at about 344 stations over Indian Railways, to ensure safety and security of passengers. Security Help Line number 182 is made operational over Indian Railways for security related assistance to passengers in distress. An Integrated Security System consisting of surveillance of vulnerable stations through Close Circuit Television Camera Network, Access Control etc. has been sanctioned to improve surveillance mechanism over 202 railway stations. CCTV cameras have been installed on a limited number of coaches of passengers and suburban trains for surveillance on a pilot basis. Sanction for provision of CCTV cameras in 500 coaches has been obtained under Rolling Stock Programme 2015-16. Work has already been completed in about 25 passenger coaches and 32 suburban coaches. Sniffer Dog Squads are utilised at some important stations for anti-sabotage checks. Joint drives by Commercial Department and RPF are conducted from time to time against the entry of unauthorized persons in trains and railway premises. Frequent announcements are made through Public Address system to educate passengers to take precautions against theft, snatching, drugging etc. Close liaison is made by RPF with the State Police or GRP authorities at all levels for prevention of crime, registration of cases, their investigation and maintenance of law and order in Railway premises as well as on running trains.

Regular coordination meetings are held by RPF with the State Police or GRP authorities to review and streamline the measures taken for the safety and security of passengers.

Analysis of passengers related crime is done to identify affected trains, stations and sections and accordingly security arrangements are made in close coordination with GRP for safety and security of passengers over Indian Railways.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 2:50 [IST]
Rich tributes paid to Macchil martyrs

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Nov 24: Thousands of people gathered here to pay tributes to three soldiers, who were killed by Pakistani Border Action Team in the Macchil sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

The sodiers martyred were Gunner Manoj K Kushwah, Riflemen Prabhu Singh and Shashank K Singh. In what can be called as a cowardly and ghastly act, the body of Prabhu Singh was found mutilated.

Ghazipur (UP): Gun salutes being paid to Gnr Manoj K Kushwah, who was killed in action on LoC in Machhal sector (J&K). pic.twitter.com/wdV87isGa6  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 24 November 2016

While Prabhu Singh belonged to Khirjankhas village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district, Manoj K Kushwah and Shashank K Singh hailed from Uttar Pradesh's Gazipur district.

Following the incident, the Indian Army promised a 'heavy retribution' and conducted a retaliatory attack with heavy artillery and mortar fire, which is said to have inflicted heavy damage on Pakistani Army infrastructure in Poonch, Rajouri, Kel and Machhal sectors.

#JKOps 3 soldiers killed in action on LC in Machhal. Body of one soldier mutilated, retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act @adgpi  NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) 22 November 2016

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar condemned the dastardly act and saluted the martyrs for their supreme sacrifice.

Condemn the cowardly & brutal killing of our soldiers & mutilation of one of them. Salute these brave martyrs for their supreme sacrifice.  Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) 22 November 2016

Last week, Pakistan had acknowledged that seven of its soldiers were killed in cross-border firing by Indian troops in the Bhimber sector of the LoC.

Oneindia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 18:24 [IST]
'Ill considered demonetisation decision' to be blamed for unemployment: Manmohan Singh

Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

Noteban will be marked among worst policy blunders: Jairam Ramesh

PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Aware of Lakshman Rekha says SC on demonetisation

Shatrughan Sinha slams BJP again, calls demonetisation surveys planted

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Nov 24: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha has once again criticised the BJP, this time over demonetisation.

The BJP MP from Bihar slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping high-value currency notes on November 8.

Sinha has also called all the positive survey results on demonetisation "planted".

This is what he tweeted on Thursday:

Let's stop living in a fools' paradise and getting carried away by planted stories & surveys conducted by vested interests. Get into the....  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 23, 2016

..depth of the subject. Must understand the pain of the poor, suffering, well wishers, voters, supporters & women. Hard earned &....  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 23, 2016

...well Intentioned savings over many years of our mothers & sisters for emergency can't be equated with black money.  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) November 23, 2016

PM Modi had launched a survey on his Narendra Modi App, where the PMO claimed more than five lakh people had taken part giving a phenomenal 93% approval rating to his decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

[Also Read: Musical Ode: Flautists play sweet notes in support of demonetisation]

"I thank people for the historic participation in the survey. It's satisfying to read the insightful views & comments," the Prime Minister himself had tweeted along with the results of the survey conducted on Narendra Modi App.

OneIndia News
Toll supension: Patil informs Gadkari about ground situation

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Nov 24: The suspension of toll collection across Maharashtra in the wake of demonetisation may be extended, with state PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil saying the situation on the ground is delicate and he has informed about the same to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

"I have spoken to Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari regarding the same. I have apprised him about the delicate situation on the ground. Once Gadkari informs us about the relaxation in toll collection, we will immediately inform all the toll booth operating companies," Patil told reporters here.

Due to the cash crunch in the market following demonetisation, the Union government decided not to collect toll at booths in the country to avoid any clashes. Asked about it, Patil said the relaxation has been given in good faith and its aim has been to minimise inconvenience to the people.

The Union government had last week extended the suspension of tolls till November 24 midnight for all National Highways, as relief to commuters after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were rendered defunct by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PTI
Municipality alone knows why bridge work handed to firm repairing watches, says former dy CM

Vadodara: Altaf Mansuri arrested for throwing petrol bomb at police on Diwali

Unique research project underway in Gujarat

News

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Ahmedabad, Nov 24 Gujarat has undertaken a unique research project to use radiation technology to hygienise sludge and make it safer and a useful product for farmers and other land applications.

Sewage Sludge generated at various sewage treatment plants in towns and cities produce highly infectious sewage sludge which could spread diseases.

However, it is also a good source of carbon and other elemental nutrients useful for growth of plants.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) have commenced the implementation of 100 tons per day irradiation facility for dry Sewage Sludge Hygienisation at Ahmedabad after obtaining all statutory approvals from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

The project is scheduled to commence the commercial production in the last quarter of 2017. Pilot scale facilities which are under fabrication will be installed in Ahmedabad and Surat for demonstration and evaluation of performance and economics.

More about the new project:

Funds for setting up of dry sludge hygienisation project at Ahmedabad will be provided by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

BARC will provide scientific and technical support. Radiation Source will be provided by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

Constructive role of BARC in Gujarat:

BARC is already operating a demonstration sludge hygienisation facility in Vadodara since 1994 and supplying hygienised sewage sludge to local farmers.

BARC has also undertaken project and demonstrated the use of radiation grafted materials for cleaning textile dye effluents.

BARC has provided technical support for implementation of NISARGRUNA biogas plant at Gajarawadi, Vadodara for processing of carcass of dead animals in the premises of Vadodara Municipal Corporation.

Funds for the NISARGRUNA project were provided by Vadodara Municipal Corporation. BARC provided technical guidance.

BARC through Board of Research in Nuclear Science (BRNS) has also funded about Rs. 17.30 lakh to Directorate of Groundnut Research, Junagadh for groundnut research project.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 3:46 [IST]
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Why Pakistan's 'Doable' Kashmir policy will fail

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 24: Pakistan said that yesterday it would formulate a doable and sustainable India-Kashmir policy. A broad understanding of this policy indicates that Pakistan would like to counter India's campaign in Kashmir and also design a media strategy to highlight the issue of Kashmiris.

One part of this strategy would include reaching out to Indians opposed to Narendra Modi. The Dawn had reported that foreign affairs advisor, Sartaj Aziz had informed the same in the senate.

The strategy would also include preparing of fact sheets to counter the Indian propaganda in Kashmir. A panel would be constituted for the same, Aziz had also informed.

What India thinks of this strategy?

Amusing and surprising said a senior official in Delhi. The world knows that Pakistan is the aggressor and has been fanning the Kashmir issue. The official also added that the intention of Pakistan is to internationalise the issue. This would bear no result as it would first need to stop funding and aiding terrorism, the officer also noted.

102 deaths to internet ban, Kashmir completely alienated from India?

India says it has its own data sheets on the Kashmir issue. In the past few months Pakistan has sent in 200 terrorists. The National Investigation Agency has probed into various aspects in this regard. In fact the NIA has also questioned a terrorist Bahadur Ali who not only confirmed he is from Pakistan but also said he was told to fan the unrest further.

Aziz had said to the senate that a committee had also been formed to prepare fact sheets, counter India's "propaganda campaign" and design a media strategy to continuously highlight the Kashmiri issue.

This committee also includes representatives from the ministries of defence, foreign affairs and information technology, as well as members of the Military Operations Directorate, ISI and IB, the report in Dawn also stated.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 17:16 [IST]
Why are some Antarctic icebergs emerald green in colour?

Antarctica snow turns red: Here is all you need to know

Antarctica is still free of COVID-19. Can it stay that way?

Antarctica hasn't lost much sea ice in last 100 years

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

London, Nov 24 The area of sea ice around Antarctica has barely changed in size in the past 100 years, researchers have found.

According to estimates by climate scientists at the University of Reading in London, Antarctic has lost ony 14 per cent summer sea ice since the early 1900s.

It may be because Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.

Since satellite observations began, Antarctic sea ice has increased slightly over the past 30 years, said lead author Jonathan Day from the University of Reading.

"Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new," Day added.

The study revealed that the levels of the continent's sea ice in the early 1900s were in fact similar to the present, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square km.

However, Weddell Sea did have a significantly larger ice cover, the study said.

In the study, the team examined the ice observations recorded in the ships' logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the German Erich von Drygalski to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.

"The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice," Day said.

The study was published in the journal The Cryosphere.

IANS
Five years after bin Laden, Al-Qaeda down but far from out

Charlie Hebdo to launch German edition

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Paris, Nov 24: The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, whose Paris offices were targeted by the jihadists in January 2015, will launch a German edition in December.

The French magazine will print 200,000 copies in German next week to recognise the support it received after the 2015 attacks that killed its Paris editorial staff, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, reported the Guardian.

The German version that will launch on December 1, would consist mainly of articles and cartoons translated from the French.

The editors also plan to create German content by collaborating with German cartoonists, she said.

Priced at four euro it would be available across Germany every Thursday.

Germans had bought 70,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo's survivors' edition, which appeared one week after the massacre.

France remembers the 130 killed in Paris attacks 1 year ago

Currently, the sales of the French edition stand at about 1,000 a week in Germany .

The attack at the Paris offices of the decades-old magazine had left 12 people dead including some of France's best-known cartoonists.

Charlie Hebdo, which provides part of its content in English on its website, sells 60,000 copies a week on the newsstand and has 50,000 subscribers.

Germany has two leading satirical monthlies, Titanic and Eulenspiegel.

IANS
Iran's foreign ministry has condemned the terrorist attack in Iraq on Thursday that caused a large number of deaths and injuries, especially among pilgrims, IRNA reported.

A truck bomb went off in the Shoumeli village, 120 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, targeting vehicles loaded with passengers most of them Iranians who were returning home from the holy shrines in Iraq after Arba'een rituals.

Reports so far put the number of the dead at more than 70 with a lot more injured.

'Iran's foreign ministry and the Islamic Republic's embassy in Baghdad are seriously pursuing the case,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

Qasemi said the terrorists launch such attacks to compensate for the repeated defeats they have to suffer.

'It is an indication of their frustration,' he said.

'Such brutal and inhuman actions are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government, neither could they disrupt the Islamic Republic's resistance and the joint relentless fight by Iran and Iraq against terrorism, he said.
Dalai Lama: 'I have no worries' about Donald Trump's election

International

oi-PTI

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Nov 24: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday he has "no worries" about Donald Trump's election as US president, adding that he expects the businessman will align his future policies with global realities.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner's remarks were his most extensive yet regarding the election of the real estate tycoon and reality television star who has called for putting America's concerns first and shown little interest in Washington's traditional espousal of global democracy and social justice.

Commenting at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said he looks forward to seeing Trump at some point following the January 20 inauguration.

Such meetings usually draw protests from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from China.

The 81-year-old monk said he has always regarded the US as the leader of the "free world" and wasn't concerned about remarks made by Trump during the election campaign. Some of those comments have been cited as offensive to Muslims, Hispanics and other US minority groups.

"I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express. Now once they (are) elected, having the responsibility, then they have to carry their cooperation, their work, according (to) reality," he told reporters in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.

"So I have no worries." Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, spokeswoman for the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said she was not aware of any plans for a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Trump.

She said the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community have enjoyed good relations with successive US presidents and expected that to continue under a Trump administration.

"His holiness has always put great hope in the US as a champion of democracy. He hopes for continued support from the new president and his government," she said in a telephone interview.

China had demanded Mongolia scrap his visit for the sake of the "general picture of a sound and steady development of bilateral ties."

Mongolia's fragile economy is heavily dependent on China, and the countries are in talks for a USD 4.2 billion Chinese loan to help pull it out of a recession.

China has apparently delayed talks on the loan in response to the visit by the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959.

Mongolian government spokesman Otgonbayar Gombojav said today that China had indefinitely postponed a visit to China next Monday by Mongolian officials to discuss the loan.

PTI
Haley's nomination a "good sign for the future":UN

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Nov 24: The United Nations have welcomed the nomination of Indian-American Nikki Haley as the next US envoy to the world body, terming it as a good sign for the future.

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary- General, said it is heartening to see an effort to get the position of the Permanent Representative to the UN filled as quickly or named, as quickly as this.

"So that's a good sign for the future," he said in response to a question. "We are aware of the naming of Nikki Haley, and it's someone with whom officials here are acquainted in terms of being aware of her position on many issues, including the laudable comments she made following the horrifying racist shootings in Charleston, South Carolina," Haq said.

Two of the closest American allies, Israel and the United Kingdom, have also welcomed the decision to appoint Haley as the next US envoy to the United Nations.

"I welcome the announcement of the intention to appoint Governor Nikki Haley as the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations," the Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said after Trump nominated Haley as his Ambassador to the UN.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haley would be the first Indian-American to ever serve in a Cabinet position to any presidential administration.

"Haley is a longstanding and true friend of Israel and is an outspoken fighter against the BDS movement in her state, and throughout the US," Danon said.

"I know that we at the Israeli Mission will continue to work in full partnership with our friends in the American Mission, as we further strengthen the special bond and shared values between Israel and the US," he said.

The British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft welcomed Haley's nomination. "I congratulate her on her nomination and I look forward to working closely with her," the Ambassador told reporters when asked if he had any concerns that Haley has pretty much zero foreign policy experience.

"She will bring to the UN a strong track record of achievement from South Carolina, and I know that the UK-US relationship will continue to go from strength to strength," he said.

"As you know, we sit literally side by side in the Security Council, and we will continue to be shoulder to shoulder," Rycroft said. Haley, 44, was named as the US envoy to the UN yesterday by President-elect Donald Trump, as she scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration.

PTI
From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

Indian embassy in Nepal assuages concerns about demonetised notes

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kathmandu, Nov 24 Amid worry over India's move to demonetise 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, that has affected tens of thousands of Nepalese who work in India, the Indian embassy here held an informal meeting with Nepali businesspersons to assuage concerns.

During the unofficial meeting with Nepali businesspersons on Wednesday, officials of the Embassy of India in Kathmandu said their government was positive about allowing each Nepali citizen to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth up to Rs 25,000 with legal bills here, the Kathmandu Post reported.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had suggested that exchange facility should be provided to Nepalese holding the banned Indian banknotes of 500 and 1,000 here in Nepal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced scrapping of the high value currency notes to curb the black money menace and terror finance.

"We have forwarded the modality prepared by the NRB to our central government and have received positive response," a leading businessperson quoted an embassy official as saying, according to the Post.

India is cautious about providing exchange facility to citizens of a foreign country, as it could be used as "a clearing house" to convert counterfeit currency into legal tenders, the businessperson said on the condition of anonymity.

"But we tried to convince Indian officials that there was very little chance of Nepal being used for that purpose because the payment is made in Nepali currency, which is of no use in India," he said. "Also, the embassy looks convinced with the modality prepared by the central bank."

The central bank in its modality forwarded to the Indian government had said it planned to collect recently banned Indian 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from Nepali citizens and send them to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for verification before offering equivalent exchange in Nepali currency.

The NRB has clearly stated that it will not provide over-the-counter exchange facility for Nepalese holding banned Indian currency, saying it lacks expertise and technology to identify counterfeit Indian currency.

As per the NRB's modality, Nepalese citizens have to open accounts at banks and financial institutions and deposit the demonetised Indian currency to receive the equivalent exchange directly in their bank accounts.

The modality was prepared by a technical committee formed under the leadership of its Deputy Governor Chintamani Siwakoti last week as per the request made by Indian Embassy of India in Kathmandu.

The Indian government has also formed a task force under the leadership of the RBI to come up with a modality to address the problems being faced by people of Nepal and Bhutan where the circulation of the banned Indian notes is high.

Earlier, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara through telephonic conversation had urged their Indian counterparts to arrange exchange facilities in Nepal as Nepalese have a large stock of Indian 500 and 1,000 bank notes.

The NRB has said that Nepal's financial system holds Rs 33.6 million in the denominations of Rs 500 and 1,000. The amount includes cash kept in the vaults of banks, financial institutions and the central bank.

The actual amount of the banned Indian bank notes in Nepal is expected to be much higher as Nepalese were previously allowed to carry up to Rs 25,000.

IANS
Haleys successor: Trump says he has 5 names in mind but names only Dina Powell

Indo-Americans hail Trump for picking Haley as US envoy to UN

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Nov 24: Cutting across party-lines, Indian-Americans in the US has hailed President-elect Donald Trump for nominating Nikki Haley as US envoy to the United Nations.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, an old-time Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Convention.

"This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body. May be in securing India's rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage," Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur. "She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments.

Indian-American Nikki Haley's steep political rise continues

Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. "The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"It's a proud moment for all Indian-Americans on President-elect Trump's choice of Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haley's appointment -- her Indian and Sikh heritage -- is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration. The President-elect is uniting the party and getting competent leaders with proven track record to serve in his administration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trump's nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet level position, has taken my breath away as I celebrate the highest milestone for the Indian-American community and the inherent trust that America has in her citizens' love of America and our cherished Constitution," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York. Welcoming the appointment of Haley, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning.

PTI
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Shehbaz Sharif arrives in China on maiden visit to felicitate President Xi Jinping on his record win

Pakistan PM, military chiefs vow to teach India a 'lesson'

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, Nov 24 Pakistan on Thursday stepped up its anti-India rant with the military chiefs, including outgoing Army chief General Raheel Sharif, threatening that the armed forces were capable of teaching India "a lesson" if the border tension escalates.

Just days ahead of his retirement, General Sharif said that India had staged a "drama" of surgical strikes. "If India conducts a surgical strike we will give such a lesson that will be taught in India Army courses," according to an ISPR statement.

The comments from the army chief, who is on his farewell tour, came a day after Pakistan claimed that 13 people, including three soldiers, were killed in Indian firing along the Line of Control.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also convened a high-level meeting to review the situation at the Line of Control, as Pakistan's Air Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and Naval Chief Admiral Zakaullah joined in hitting out at India.

Pakistan has shown utmost restraint in the face of Indian belligerence and will not tolerate India's "deliberate targeting" of civilians and ambulances, Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying in a statement from the Prime Ministers House.

"We cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport," Nawaz Sharif said.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations from the Indian side," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister called upon the international community to play its active role in defusing tension between the two nations, "which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side", said the statement.

The meeting concluded that India was trying to divert the attention of the international community "from the grave human rights violations, massacres and atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces" in Kashmir, it said.

In a related development, Pakistan's Air Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said the country's armed forces were "not worried about India at all".

Speaking at the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) in Karachi, the chief of air staff also called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: "They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve."

Meanwhile, Naval Chief Admiral Zakaullah also joined the other two military chiefs and said that the response that Pakistan Navy gave to India (when it chased an Indian Submarine last week) has satisfied the public. "I am also satisfied."

Firing exchanges and a bitter diplomatic war between the two neighbours have escalated after the September 18 killing of 19 Indian soldiers in a terror attack on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

IANS
Trump's grandfather was kicked out of Germany?

International

oi-PTI

Berlin, Nov 24: Donald Trump's grandfather was kicked out of Germany in early 1900s for failing to do his mandatory military service, a German historian has claimed amid the US President-elect's rhetoric on immigration.

A local council letter from 1905 informed Friedrich Trump -- who had become a US citizen -- that he would not be granted his German citizenship back and that he had eight weeks to leave the country or be deported, CNN quoted historian Roland Paul as saying.

It is understood the notice was issued after the German authorities discovered he had never carried out military service before emigrating to America. He also claimed that Trump had illegally left Germany, failing to notify authorities of his plan to immigrate.

Friedrich Trump, who built up a fortune through restaurants and boarding houses after arriving in America as an immigrant, was born in the Bavarian town of Kallstadt. The Trump camp did not immediately respond to questions on the research, the network said.

The findings have sparked interest as President-elect Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his election campaign. "Trump talks against illegal immigration, so I think he should remember his own family story from time to time," Paul said.

Trump proposed a wall be built between the US and Mexico as the centerpiece of his anti-immigration drive. He has also threatened to deport undocumented migrants who have committed crimes in the US.

Since his shock election victory, Trump has vowed to deport three million illegal immigrants from the US. Paul came across the document on Friedrich Trump's threatened deportation in state archives and also found several letters from him pleading with authorities to allow him to stay. Paul mused on how this one administrative decision seemed to have changed the course of history.

"I have to say this kind of letter wasn't unusual back then," Paul said. "But if they had accepted him back at that time in 1905, Donald Trump wouldn't be in the US -- in fact, he wouldn't exist," he said. He said the eight week deadline was extended as Friedrich Trump said that his daughter was ill. But he was finally forced to leave two months later.

Trump's father was born in the US, where he met Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who hailed from Scotland.

Paul, now retired, carried out his research earlier this year when he was Director of the Institute for Palatine History and Folklore in Kaiserslautern, but his research caught public attention on Monday when the tabloid Bild published his findings.

PTI
At nearly 60,000, India records highest number of babies born on New Years Day 2021: UNICEF

Has the quality of education improved in India compared to decades ago? Here's what UNICEF survey says

UNICEF reports on disturbing violation of child rights globally

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Nov 24: According to a latest report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), almost 50 million children from across the world have been displaced from their homes, 28 million of them due to conflict.

The report adds an additional 250 million children live in countries affected by conflict, and nearly 385 million children live in extreme poverty.

The figures were released to mark Universal Children's Day on November 20.

UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake, stressed that Universal Children's Day was more than a day to celebrate children.

"It should be seen as an annual opportunity to recommit towards protecting the rights of every child," added Lake.

"The health and soul of all societies depend not only on how these rights are recognised and acted upon but on this Children's Day, we must confront the uncomfortable truth that the rights of millions of children are being violated every day all over the world."

OneIndia News
US President-elect Donald Trump reverses stance on torture tactics

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Nov 24: After months of calling for torturing terrorism suspects, US President-elect Donald Trump suggested he now did not support bringing back torture tactics in his latest interview with The New York Times.

Trump's reversal on the stance of torture came after his meeting with retired Marine Corps General James Mattis over the weekend, whom, according to Trump, was being "seriously, seriously considered" to be the next US Defence Chief, Xinhua news agency reported.

"He (Mattis) said, 'I've never found it (torture) to be useful," The Times quoted Trump as saying.

"Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I'll do better," Trump said Mattis had told him so.

Also read: Trump indicates u-turn on climate change, jailing Clinton

"I was very impressed by that answer," said Trump, adding that he concluded that torture was "not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking".

Trump constantly called for reintroducing waterboarding and other torture when interrogating terrorism suspects in his presidential campaign. He once even floated the idea of killing family members of terrorist suspects.

So far, Trump's picks for Vice President, CIA Director and National Security Advisor had all called for re-introduction of torture tactics to the upcoming Trump administration's counterterrorism toolbox.

IANS
Demonetisation deadlock: Will Rajnath Singh break the ice?

New Delhi

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Nov 24: The BJP is hoping that the deadlock in Parliament over the demonetisation issue would be broken today. The opposition has been relentless in its bashing of the Indian government and have demanded that the Prime Minister speaks in Parliament failing which they would consider a contempt notice.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who will play peace maker is expected to meet with the floor leaders of the opposition parties at around 10.30 am on Thursday. Along with him union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar too would hold talks with the opposition leaders.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is expected to be present in Rajya Sabha. He is likely to speak in the upper house, sources indicate.

The government has decided to stay firm over its decision. Union Minister, Venkaiah Naidu made it clear the the decision on demonetisation will not be rolled back at any cost. He said that a bold decision had been taken and the government will stick to it.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, November 24, 2016, 8:13 [IST]
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In Pics: Missing JNU student's mother protests at Jantar Mantar

New Delhi

oi-Sandra Marina Fernandes

New Delhi, Nov 24: The whereabouts of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed remain unknown till date. Ahmed was last seen on Oct 15.

Several protests erupted in the capital seeking probe into his disappearance. Even Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urged students of JNU to protest at India Gate.

Ahmed's mother, who had met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav for seeking help against the inaction of Delhi Police and JNU administration, was seen protesting along with students on Wednesday at Jantar Mantar.

Ahmed, reportedly went missing after allegedly being beaten up by some students comprising ABVP members, who had gone campaigning to his room for hostel elections on the intervening night of October 14-15.

Here are some images of the protest:

Najeeb Ahmed's mother protests in Delhi Ahmed's mother protested alongwith other students at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. Ahmed's mother demands justice for her son Ahmed's mother has demanded justice for her son. Ahmed's mother, students march towards Parliament Ahmed's mother, students were barred from marching towards Parliament. Najeeb's mother address protest at Jantar Mantar Najeeb's mother addressed the protest at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday.

OneIndia News
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

The European Parliament adopted a temporary motion on Nov. 24, urging member-states to freeze Turkey's accession in the bloc, the Daily Sabah reported.

The vote threatens to deepen the rift between Ankara and the European Union, although it will not be binding and European Union states are for the most part against halting the drawn-out accession process.

The Ministry for EU Affairs has released a statement regarding the vote on Turkey-EU relations, saying that the European Council has the final decision-making power to temporarily suspend membership negotiations.



"Even if a decision suggesting the suspension of negotiations with Turkey is made after voting in the European Parliament, such a decision will not be legally binding" the statement added.

Earlier in the week, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned that halting Turkey's accession process would be a "lose-lose" move.

President Erdogan warned the EU last week to make a decision by year's end on Turkey's membership or he would call a referendum on the matter.

Last Friday, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he hopes Turkey will not give up on negotiations for the country to be part of the European Union, and that such a would not be a win for Europe.

Relations between Turkey and Europe have been stalled by many issues, including the failure of the EU to grant visa liberalization for Turkish citizens as promised and EU's indifference to the coup attempt and terrorist organizations attacking Turkey.



The EU and Turkey signed a refugee deal on March 18, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.



Although Turkey fulfilled most of the criteria, differences between Brussels and Ankara on anti-terror legislation have forestalled the visa-liberalization deal.

Ankara criticized the European Union's stance on the PKK terror group and FETO, saying EU states are turning a blind eye to the terror attacks against the Turkish state and its people as well as the activities of the group within the borders of the EU.

Turkey began its EU accession talks in 2005. In 1963, Turkey and the European Economic Community (the EU's former name) signed an association agreement.
The Intelligence Bureau has started probing suspicious transactions that have been made into Jan Dhan accounts. The task handled by the Financial Intelligence Unit will look into suspicious transactions that have been made into Jan Dhan accounts post demonetisation.
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An unusually late-season Hurricane Otto swirled over the Caribbean just off Central America on Wednesday and headed toward a possible landfall in Nicaragua after regaining hurricane strength, Associated Press reported.

Heavy rains from the storm were blamed for three deaths in Panama, and officials in Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast.

Nicaragua ordered evacuations in low-lying areas of its sparsely populated Caribbean coast, an order that could cover about 7,000 people.

The country's disaster prevention agency said classes would be cancelled in the area south of the town of Bluefields which was hit hard by Hurricane Joan in 1988.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the westward-moving storm had regained hurricane strength late Wednesday, with winds of 75 mph (110 kph), after fluctuating between tropical storm and hurricane status earlier this week. It was expected to make landfall as a hurricane Thursday.

The storm caused heavy rains in Panama as it moved roughly parallel to that nation's northern coast.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

Martin Schulz will not seek another term as president of the European Parliament, and will try his chances in German politics instead, EUobserver reported Nov. 24.

He will lead the list of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Nord-Rhine Westphalia region in next year's German general election, a source told EUobserver.

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he has asked SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel to put his name forward for the position of chancellor.

The SPD recently decided to chose its candidate for the highest post in German politics only in January.

Gabriel could still chose to run himself. The mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, has also been named as a possible contender.

Schulz is also his party's favorite to replace Frank-Walter Steinmeier as foreign minister, who has been nominated by Germany's ruling coalition to take over as the next president of Germany in February.

Schulz has for months fought to stay on as the president of the European Parliament for a third term, despite having promised to hand over the post to the centre-right EPP group after half of the term.

European Commission's president Jean-Claude Juncker had thrown his weight behind Schulz, and even threatened to resign if his friend was forced out, according to Der Spiegel.

A commission spokeswoman, on Monday, didn't deny the statement but ruled out that Juncker was planning to step down.
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The Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura remains fully engaged on his mission, according to the official statement, Sputnik reported.

The Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday denied media reports of his resignation.

"Media reports that Special Envoy de Mistura is resigning his post are not accurate. The Special Envoy remains fully engaged on his mission," the office said.

Earlier, the Al Mayadeen television channel reported that the UN secretary-general-designate, Antonio Guterres allegedly wanted to dismiss de Mistura from his post at the end of his mandate in late March.
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The graduation of 50 more elementary school teachers this month from Enga Teachers College will help improve teacher numbers and learning for students in elementary schools throughout Papua New Guinea.The graduates were proud recipients of Certificates in Elementary Teacher Training, which qualifies them to teach in Papua New Guineas elementary schools, where students are educated from Kindergarten level to Grade Two.Among teacher graduates were 10 women who completed their training through Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships, which are funded by the Australian Government for training at select institutions in Papua New Guinea.Enga Teachers College principal Michael Homingu said the addition of the new and professionally qualified teachers will be enormously beneficial for young children, as the first three years of a childs education are vitally important.During kindergarten and from the ages of one and two, children learn a lot of basic skills that we take for granted. But these skills are essential for the childs future, Homingu said.At elementary school, while beginning to learn the alphabet and numbers, students are also learning how to socialise with others, share, work as part of a team, persevere and care for others. These are essential qualities which will help them to succeed in the future.That is why good teacher training programs like those at Enga Teachers College are so important. They help ensure our young children are getting taught by trained and skilled professionals, he added.Australian High Commission Counsellor (Education) Suzanne Edgecombe, who attended the graduation, told graduates: If the education you give your students is the building block on which prosperity is based, then you are the engineers and architects building a brighter, better future for your province and your country.That is why Papua New Guinea and Australia have worked together to provide in-country Australia Award Pacific Scholarships to 10 of todays people awarded Certificates in Elementary Teacher Training. Our partnership is based on decades of cooperation and a joint commitment to a prosperous and secure Papua New Guinea.Australias support to the Papua New Guinea education system  including these 10 scholarships  is helping the country to reach its vision of a smarter, wiser, fairer, healthier and happier society by 2050. This cooperation and vision for PNGs growth is at the heart of the Australia-PNG relationship, she added.Enga Teachers College was established in 2011 by the Enga Provincial Government, with backing from the National Government. Currently in its sixth year, Enga Teachers College has graduated over 500 elementary and primary teachers....read more on PNG Education News (Some of the graduating teachers from Enga Teachers College)
From Empire Burlesque

(Here's my column from the latest print edition of CounterPunch Magazine. It was written three days after the election.)



Donald Trump always wins

(Image by daridawn) Details DMCA



"Hello darkness, my old friend..."

There has been great consternation in the world over the fact that Donald Trump, runner-up in the 2016 vote ("Weak! Loser!"), will soon be president of the United States, thanks to the Rube Goldberg contraption set up by white elites in the 18th century to prevent the despised rabble from directly choosing their leaders. (And just to be sure, the Southern slave-owners and their Northern compatriots also disenfranchised the vast majority of the populace while they were at it. Only white men of property -- like them -- were to be allowed to choose the electors who would do the choosing for all the scum out there.)

Much of the hand-wringing over Trump focuses on the "unprecedented" nature of his candidacy and his presidency. Here, for example, is Bill Moyers (yes, the same Bill Moyers who serviced Lyndon Johnson while he was raining napalm on the civilians of Vietnam):

"America died on Nov. 8, 2016, not with a bang or a whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We the people chose a man who has shredded our values, our morals, our compassion, our tolerance, our decency, our sense of common purpose, our very identity -- all the things that, however tenuously, made a nation out of a country."

Putting aside the fact that "we the people" actually chose Hillary Clinton (by a razor-thin margin, but still) on November 8 ("Trump! Loser! Weak!"), the LBJ factotum -- now seen as the iconic conscience of American liberalism -- seems to have forgotten the entire presidency of another dim-bulb celebrity spinning lies and fantasies and racist tropes, appointing nutty extremists to important posts and unleashing ugly forces in society.

Yes, we speak of rouge-cheeked Ronnie Reagan. Those of us of a certain age remember his screwball appointments -- like James Watt, Secretary of the Interior, who told Congress there was no need for conservation programs, because Jesus was coming back in our lifetime. We remember how Reagan, like Trump, made racism the centerpiece of his campaign, which began with a Jim Crow dog-whistle about "states rights" at the site of the "Mississippi Burning" murders and featured lurid fantasies about a big, black "welfare queen" scamming taxpayers to feed her brood of black bastards.

We remember how this weird, vacuous celeb (whose wife set his schedule by consulting an astrologer) destroyed unions, escalated the nuclear threat, armed and bankrolled Islamic terrorists (to hotfoot the Commies), supported rightwing terrorism and genocidal murder rampages in Central America, backed brutal tyrants (like Saddam Hussein), rolled back environmental protections and facilitated countless other crimes and sinister follies.

So yes, Trump is a loathsome toad, but he's no surprise, no unprecedented, out-of-the-blue eruption of a new dark turn in American politics. That darkness has always been there, and it has to be fought, again and again and again. We fought Reagan, and we survived him. We'll fight Trump, and we'll survive him too.

But in the immortal words of Kruhulik the Janitor, don't let's be naive. The idea that the American darkness resides solely on the right, occasionally surging up (Goldwater, Reagan, Bush II, Trump) then reverting to a default mode of basic decency, is one of the most persistent -- and pernicious -- of the many myths that "progressives" pull around themselves like a security blanket. The American state itself is deeply, inherently, horribly corrupt, and all those who wield its power are drenched in blood. They are all, without exception, beyond the pale of human decency, of law, of morality. It is not a normal system; as Thoreau once said, no decent person can be associated with it.

Consider a system whose top leaders acknowledge that their brutal blockade of an already defeated enemy has taken the lives of 500,000 innocent children -- and proclaim these murders are "worth it." A system that launches a war of aggression that kills a million innocent people and plunges the world into endless carnage and ruin. A system whose president sits in his office each week ticking off names of people to be arbitrarily murdered, and who gives his minions carte blanche to kill complete unknowns (including children) engaging in alleged terrorist "signature" behavior -- such as loading shovels into a truck on their farm. A system where armed and armored police gun down hundreds of unarmed citizens each year

The notion that such a system -- which has taken the lives of millions of innocent people within the last generation alone -- has only now, with the election of Trump, lost "its compassion, its decency," is obscene. I do think the election of Trump is a calamity; but the mere continuation of this insanely depraved system -- whether under the temporary management of a sinister clown like Trump or a "super-competent" imperial technocrat like Clinton -- is also a calamity.

Trump didn't "shred" the values and identity of the American system; he held the mirror up to it and showed us all its true, hideous face. No amount of self-righteous, self-congratulatory self-delusion on the part of our progressives -- who have countenanced enormous crimes against humanity committed by its heroes -- will change this sickening truth.


Whose Fingerprint?

(Image by icons8) Details DMCA



Excerpts :

According to the exit-poll data compiled from 28 states where data was available, nearly every single race where there was a discrepancy between exit-poll and final-vote data went to Trump.

The results in Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida are well beyond the margin of error.

As attorney and professor of political science, Bob Fitrakis, astutely noted in an interview with CounterPunch Radio, "If this election occurred outside the United States, our government would not recognize it as legitimate."

In an interview after the New York primaries (they too showed a statistically improbable discrepancy in exit polls versus final-vote counts in favor of Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders) ...

Had the Democratic primaries not been rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders would have been the nominee, and in all likelihood, President of the United States.

Trump is a fraud, as was Clinton.


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Standing Rock water protectors were subjected to grave danger last Sunday night, allegedly perpetrated by agents of the Morton County Sheriff's office. Some would call it domestic terrorism.

"They drenched protesters with water cannons on a frigid night, with temperatures in the 20s. According to protesters and news accounts, the officers also fired rubber bullets, pepper spray, percussion grenades and tear gas. More than 160 people were reportedly injured, with one protester's arm damaged so badly she might lose it," said the NY Times.

The Protectors have been camped out in peaceful resistance since April in an effort to preserve the purity of the Missouri River, the sole source of water for the Standin Rock Sioux, against the proposed Dakota Pipline. (Note: additional details on this situation are in the articles listed in the series below.)

Today, a day set aside for giving thanks, seems like an excellent day on which to honor and thank the heroes at Standing Rock. Here are five suggestions for actions to take:

1. Help underwrite an organic Thanksgiving dinner for the protectors at Standing Rock



Holiday Food Safety Tips

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The Organic Consumers Association noted that "Law enforcement officials, responding to what they called a riot, deployed water hoses in freezing temperatures Sunday against hundreds of protesters decrying the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. This fight belongs to all of us.

"That's why OCA will match up to $4,000 in donations to feed those who are under attack at Standing Rock.Briian Yazzie is the chef de cuisine at Sioux Chef, a catering and education company whose mission is to revitalize Native American food culture.

"Brian is collecting healthy, organic and indigenous foods to take to Standing Rock over Thanksgiving so demonstrators will have healthy meals. Your donation today will help purchase organic produce and traditional foods such as beans, hominy, bison, and wild rice to send with Brian to Standing Rock."

You can donate here.

2. Send Wool Socks for Standing Rock



Wool socks from Sierra Trading Post

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I heard about this initiative from my friend Joel Becker, who posted this on Facebook:

Often we see insane actions

and don't know how to respond.

I'm sending 4 pair of WOOL SOCKS

to the people on the Front Line.



Joel Becker and socks

(Image by Joel Becker) Details DMCA



The Wool Socks for Standing Rock project's goal is to obtain 3000 pair of wool socks, enough for three pair per person. Their website offers a list of retail sources for wool socks.

Send wool socks to:

Wool Socks for Standing Rock

Philip and Tammy Birdhorse

P.O. Box 818

McLaughlin, South Dakota 57642

You can check the "Tally" at the bottom of the webpage to find out how close they are to their goal. They ask you to email them (contact info is on their website) to let them know how many socks you sent, so they can add it to their tally. (I let them know that I sent nine pair, 4 pair in assorted sizes for kids and 5 pair in assorted sizes for women, from Sierra Trading Post, and I had them dropshipped directly to the address above.)

3. Send items from the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council's Amazon wish list:

My friends at Bio Solutions are sending a solar generator kit to the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, which has requested needed supplies, especially items used to assist in treating injuries and hypothermia after recent attacks on the Water Protectors. The generator kit was selected from the Medic and Healer Council's wish list at Amazon: which continues to list many items they are need. Additional items include wool blankets, emergency mylar blankets, wool thermal underwear, hand warmers and safety goggles.

The council notes that donors can either order through Amazon, or, if purchasing items elsewhere, these items can be mailed to Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council, PO Box 1251, Bismarck, ND, 58502. (Or if shipping via UPS or FedEx, they ask for you to please use the address: 220 E Rosser Ave #1251, Bismarck ND 58502. You may use the number 701-409-0199 as shipping phone if needed.)

4. Make phone calls and sign petitions:



Telephone

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You can call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414, to encourage the president to step in to assist the Water Protectors.

Daily Kos suggests calling the Morton County Sheriff's office (701-328-8118 and 701-667-3330) and demanding they end these life-threatening attacks on peaceful unarmed protectors immediately. Daily Kos even offered a a sample script:

Hello, my name is ___________. I am horrified by the violence used by your officers against the Standing Rock water protectors last night. It is nothing short of torture to douse people in water, in below freezing temperatures, for hours. People could die from this inhumane escalation. Your officers are willing to risk killing peaceful protectors. It's time to end these dangerous tactics and torture against the people at Standing Rock.

Alternatively, or in addition, you can sign this petition to the Army Corps of Engineers at Daily Kos.

5. Lend support through prayers and meditations



carma

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Solitary prayer or meditation can be done any time, but several organizations are developing synchronized prayer activities in support of the Water Protectors. The UNIFY community invites you to join the global synchronized prayer on November 26th at 3pm Central (4pm EST) which they are organizing in collaboration with, and with the permission of, the Tribal Council at Standing Rock.



UNIFY Event Announcement

(Image by Unify) Details DMCA



UNIFY notes, "starting on November 26 and culminating on December 10 (United Nations Human Rights Day) our coalition of organizations will be supporting Standing Rock protectors by hosting multiple online live-stream events, along with local events around the planet."

Five good ways to give thanks to the Water Protectors on the front lines.
From Counterpunch

Against a Trump regime that is totally unacceptable, we'll need resistance that's sustainable. Like a healthy forest, the resistance will depend on great diversity to thrive -- a wide range of people engaging in a vast array of activities. And our resistance will need community.

I'm not talking about the facile gloss of the word "community" that often follows an adjective denoting race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The kinds of community that will make ongoing resistance possible have little to do with demographic categories. The most powerful, most vital bonding will be transcendentally human.

Facing a Trump presidency, we'll have an imperative opportunity to go deeper as individuals and groups of people working together -- nurturing and growing the social, cultural and political strength that can overcome the Trump regime.

Our resistance has got to be broadly inclusive, offering and inspiring a great variety of nonviolent tactics and approaches, whether they emerge with a few people around a kitchen table or with many thousands of people at a public protest. The strength of the united front that we need will depend on the extent of truly cooperative efforts.

Trump and his allies have already injected huge quantities of toxins into the body politic, with much more on the way. The antidote is democratic engagement from the grassroots. (Right now, as the new regime rolls out its top henchmen, early steps include doing all we can to block Trump's horrendous Cabinet picks.) To challenge the enemies of democracy who have gained power, we're just getting started.

What's at stake for U.S. society includes basic social decency, human rights, economic justice, civil liberties, rule of law -- in short, democracy. Also at stake: climate change, nuclear weapons, the fate of the earth.

Trump has clearly shown his intention to destroy many decades of progress for the rights of women, people of color, Muslims, undocumented immigrants and many other people, while tightening the knot of the corporate state and the warfare state.

From Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue to the Pentagon, the purveyors of mega-corporate technocracy, oligarchy and militarism have given "power" a bad name. And yet the solution to anti-democratic power is power -- truly democratic power -- from the grassroots, from the bottom up -- really our only hope. From protests and electoral work to public education and lobbying and legal interventions and so many other forms of organizing and activism, countless essential tasks await us.

During the presidency of Popular-Vote Loser Trump -- maybe more profoundly than at any other time in our lifetimes -- we'll need each other to make resistance personally sustainable, socially viable and political effective. This is all about energizing ourselves and each other, now and for the long haul.

That's why community should be a verb.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

Trend:

Turkey will chair the Energy Club of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017, making it the first non-member country to do so, the Anadolu Agency reported with reference to the Turkish Energy Ministry.

Turkey's nomination comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted recently that his country would consider joining the non-Western body if the EU doesnt decide on Turkeys accession process soon, according to the agency.

Turkey had proposed that all the SCO partner countries should take turns in presiding the Energy Club for a year. The proposal was then accepted and Turkey was unanimously elected to chair the Energy Club in 2017.

Turkey has been associated with the SCO for the last five years. It applied for dialogue partnership in SCO in 2011 and its status was approved in June 2012 at the SCO Heads of State Summit in Beijing.

The SCO was established in 2001. The SCO members now are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.
From Paul Craig Roberts Website

Did Donald Trump win the election because he is a racist and misogynist and so are the American people?

No. That's BS from the Oligarchs' well-paid whores in the media, "liberal progressive" activist groups, think tanks and universities.

Did Trump win because he stole the election?

More BS. The Oligarchs controlled the voting machines. They failed to steal the election, because the people outsmarted them and told the pollsters that they were voting for Hillary. This led to the presstitutes' propaganda that Hillary was the certain winner, and the Oligarchs believed their own propaganda and didn't believe it necessary to make certain of their victory.

Trump won the presidency because he spoke directly and truthfully to the American people, telling them what what they knew to be true and had never before heard from any politician:

"Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. Those who control the levers of power in Washington and the global special interests they partner with, don't have your good in mind. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry. "It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people."

Trump did not promise voters a bunch of handouts. He didn't say he would fix this and that. He said that only the American people could fix our broken country and identified himself as an agent of the people.

The people won the election, but the Oligarchy is still there, as powerful as ever. They have already launched their attack using their whores in the media and liberal progressive groups in attempts to delegitimize Trump with protests, petitions, and endlessly false news reports. George Soros, using the money he made by his attack on the British currency, will pay thousands of protesters to attempt to disrupt the inauguration.

What about Trump's government? As Trump discovered, finding appointees who are not part of the Oligarchy's economic and foreign policy establishment is very difficult. Washington is not a home for critics and dissidents. Consider Pat Buchanan, for example. As a White House official in two administrations and a two-time presidential candidate, he is experienced, but Washington has marginalized him.

Moreover, even if there were a stable of outsiders, they would be eaten alive by the insiders. Trump will have to take insiders. But he has to pick insiders who are to some extent their own person. General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser is not a bad pick. Flynn is the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency who advised the Obama regime against employing ISIS against Syria. Flynn has publicly stated on television that the appearance of ISIS in Syria was a "willful decision" of the Obama regime. In other words, ISIS is Washington's agent, which is why the Obama regime has protected ISIS.

Trump's chief of staff (Priebus) and chief strategist (Bannon) are reasonable choices. Sessions (Attorney General) and Pompeo (CIA) are disturbing appointments based on their media-created reputations. But in the US where there is no honest media, we don't know the truth of the reputations. Nevertheless, if Sessions does support torture, he is disqualified as attorney general, because the Constitution prohibits torture. The US cannot afford yet another attorney general who does not support the US Constitution.

If Pompeo actually is so poorly informed that he opposed the Iran settlement, he is not fit to be CIA director. The CIA itself said that Iran had no nuclear weapons program, and with Russia's help the matter was resolved. Does Trump want a CIA director who neoconservatives could use to restart the conflict?

The views of Sessions and Pompeo could be products of the time and not visceral. Regardless, Trump is a strong and willful person. If Trump wants peace with the Russians and Chinese, appointees who get in the way will be fired. So let's see what a Trump government does before we damn it.

Presstitute reports of extreme neoconservative John Bolton and former US attorney and NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani being candidates for Secretary of State do not seem credible. If Trump intends to get along with Putin, how can he do that if his Secretary of State wants war with Russia? Trump should find an experienced diplomat who negotiated with the Soviets. Richard Burt, who had a major role in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, is the sort of person it would make sense to consider. Another sensible candidate would be Jack Matlock, Reagan's Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

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From WSWS

Monday's meeting between President-elect Donald Trump and two dozen media executives and on-air personalities fully deserves the adjectives unprecedented, extraordinary and disgusting.

Two weeks after the election -- in which he won a majority in the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote by a wide margin -- Trump berated the assembled media officials for alleged sins during the election campaign, condemning specific reporters, including some who were in the room.

According to a report published in the New York Post, quoting unnamed participants, "It was like a f **king firing squad" Trump started with [CNN head] Jeff Zucker and said, 'I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed.'" He went on to denounce all of the media as "unfair" and "dishonest."

"The meeting was a total disaster," a source told the Post. "The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing-down."

Each of the five networks sent at least one top executive, and in some cases three or four. None of the executives or journalists had the courage to walk out, denounce Trump as a bully, or warn that the First Amendment would be under attack under a Trump administration as never before in the history of the United States.

All five networks whose executives attended the meeting -- ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC -- observed the ground rules set by the Trump transition team, keeping the entire proceeding "off the record."

The very fact that the media heads agreed to such an "off the record" meeting is an abomination. The president of the United States is not "commander-in-chief" of the media. But Trump summoned highly paid television anchormen and women, and their even more highly paid corporate bosses, who cravenly submitted to a tongue-lashing at Trump Tower.

Trump was accompanied at the session by his chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, campaign spokesman Jason Miller, Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer, and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Bannon is an ally of the "white nationalist" and "alt-right" elements who patronize Breitbart News, the ultra-right online site that Bannon ran until he signed on as Trump's campaign CEO in August. His appointment as co-leader of Trump's White House staff, sharing authority with Priebus, signals the entry of the fascistic right into the mainstream of American capitalist politics.

After Monday's media session, according to Conway, there was a "receiving line" of media executives and anchors to meet Bannon, who played a largely behind-the-scenes role during the campaign. "Many people wanted to meet him and talk to him, make some eye contact, exchange some business cards with him. That's just a fact," she told the MSNBC program "Morning Joe" on Tuesday.

The closed-door meeting between Trump and the media is a gross violation of the by now threadbare tradition, more than two centuries old, whereby the press is supposed to constitute a "Fourth Estate," an independent watchdog on the activities of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government.

It is true that for more than a generation, the corporate-controlled media has largely defaulted on this role. More than 40 years have passed since critical coverage of the Vietnam War culminated in the publication of the Pentagon Papers, and the exposures of White House criminality in the Watergate scandal culminated in the forced resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Today, the watchword of the corporate media is conformity and complacency, while what passes for the "news" is spoon-fed to them by the White House, Pentagon, State Department and CIA. While individual reporters may still take risks and challenge authority -- a rare occurrence -- the major news organizations, owned and controlled by giant corporations, are engaged in the manufacture and dissemination of government and corporate propaganda.

The thinking in these circles is summed up in the notorious comment of former New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller in response to WikiLeaks' exposures of US government criminality, in which he defended the "war on terror" and declared: "We agree wholeheartedly that transparency is not an absolute good. Freedom of the press includes freedom not to publish, and that is a freedom we exercise with some regularity."

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Ricardo discussing the video about his visit to Standing Rock at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe.

I present here a superb article by Rebecca Moss of the Santa Fe New Mexican. I posted it to Facebook and would like to share it with OpEdNews readers. This journalist did a thorough and insightful job, which I truly appreciate, as do thousands of others who won't take the time to comment. You can ask your local newspapers to carry his cartoons.

For those who really want to help a lot more I, there is a petition asking the Department of Justice to prosecute the Governor of North Dakota, and another one asking members of the ND legislature to initiate Articles of Impeachment, against the Governor and against the Sheriff of that county.

TWO VITAL PETITIONS TO HELP BRING JUSTICE TO STANDING ROCK; please share widely.

1. Impeach North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple and Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier click here

2. Prosecute ND Governor For DAPL Violence Here is the link to the petition: actionsprout.io/C62DBE

This situation is going to get worse, and even more of a conflagration will occur in Arizona if Senator McCain's plan to privatize Tonto National Forest gets more green lights from the new administration, to turn it over to an Australian mining firm, Rio Tinto, to turn the National Forest into North America's largest copper mine It is all so monstrous and such a departure from what our best environmentalists imagined in creating national parks and national forests.

Here is the article:

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On Sunday, November 20, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem during the concluding press conference of the meeting with UN special envoy for Syria said that Damascus could not accept his proposal to grant autonomy to eastern Aleppo.

According to Reuters, the head of the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that the adoption of the proposal was "totally unacceptable." He also stressed that any attempts to recognize the autonomy of eastern Aleppo would be in violation of the country's sovereignty.

In turn, in an interview with AFP de Mistura said that his proposal was motivated by "heavy fighting" and no humanitarian or political initiatives in Aleppo. He also noted the high level of concern of the world community about the situation in the eastern part of the city, which was cut off from the humanitarian aid, as well as the bombing on the residential areas of the city controlled by the opposition.

However, in spite of all his empty statements and hypocritical propositions, de Mistura never mentioned that the terrorists of the so-called "moderate" opposition conduct daily attacks against civilian targets: schools, hospitals, markets. They usually attack the most crowded places. Radicals tried to turn humanitarian corridors organized by the government and its allies into a profitable business, demanding 150,000 lyras (about $300) from everyone who wants to leave dangerous areas. The inhabitants of the besieged city simply don't have such money.

The latest statement of de Mistura shows that he is interested in supporting opposition groups. Against the background of government forces' success in Aleppo the proposal seems attractive only for the militants and terrorists from various groups. If eastern Aleppo becomes autonomy, the radicals will be able to feel like rightful "lords".

The proposal is mainly aimed at stopping the government offensive by exploiting legal matters during the negotiations to prolong the armed conflict and to disrupt Syrians' faith in their army, which can achieve a military victory over the rebels. The success in Aleppo is a key to the victory and to a ceasefire.

Making such a proposal, UN special envoy once again forced many political experts to doubt his adequacy and impartiality. It is no surprise that the petition for de Mistura's resignation published on change.org was signed by more than 16,000 people.
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Global Sifting Machine Market 2016 Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecasts to 2022 Examined in new Market Research Report

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Distributed Energy Generation Systems Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2020

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The distributed energy generation system market is growing with a considerable rate due to increasing awareness among consumers about reducing carbon footprint, standard shift in generation of energy to green technology, and government incentive schemes. The adoption of distributed energy generation systems technology in emerging markets and development of eco-friendly distributed energy generation systems are expected to provide ample growth opportunities to this market to grow in the coming years.To Browse Full Report Visit Here:Europe leads the distributed energy generation system market due to financial support by the local governments in the region and investments by the distributed energy generation manufacturers. The 2004/8/EC directive active from 2004 has been providing favorable business environment to the distributed energy generation system manufacturers. 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China Reinsurance Market  Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast 2014  2020

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Turkey slammed a European Parliament motion on Thursday which urged the EU to halt accession talks with Ankara, Anadolu reported.

Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik described the motion as "null and void".

Speaking at a news conference in southern Adana province, Celik said the motion was not "something to be taken seriously".

Adopted Thursday by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions, the motion called on "the Commission and on the Member States to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey".

"We would respect the motion if it was constructive despite being critical [of Turkey]. However, this motion is politically inconsistent," Celik said.

Pointing out that it was a non-binding and non-legislative motion, the minister said:

"They adopted it for political purposes. Those who want to give us a message should know that the parliament's message would not get through the Kapikule Border Gate [a crossing point between Turkey and the West]."

In the motion, MEPs strongly condemned the "disproportionate repressive measures" taken by the Turkish government since the July 15 failed coup attempt. These "violate basic rights and freedoms protected by the Turkish Constitution", they claimed.

The text also said Turkey used non-proportional security measures during the countrys state of emergency, extended for another 90 days in October.

Celik also denied those claims and said: "The measures taken in the aftermath of the July 15 coup night are not unlawful."

The minister called on "prudent figures in the West to save the EU from the vicious cycle it has been in".

"There is no crisis between Turkey and EU, but it is a crisis of political inconsistency within the EU."

EU Minister Celik later gave a speech at the Turkish Parliament and reiterated his criticisms over the European Parliament motion.

From our point of view, the European Parliament decision, which came today, is a manifestation of the mistake made by mainstream politics towards extreme rights wishes and evaluations, he said at Turkish Parliament.
Global Cold Chain Market  Industry Perspective, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast 2014  2020

Global Cold Chain Market

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Global Cold Chain Market for Fruits & Vegetables, Bakery & Confectionery, Dairy & Frozen Desserts, Meat, Fish & Seafood, and Other End-users: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast 2014  2020The report covers forecast and analysis for the Cold Chain market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2014 along with a forecast from 2014 to 2020 based on both volumes (million cubic meters) and revenue (USD billion). The study includes drivers and restraints for the cold chain market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the cold chain market on a global level.Request Sample Report:In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the cold chain market, we have included a detailed value chain analysis. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the cold chain market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view on the cold chain market by segmenting the market based on applications. All the application segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2014 to 2020. Key application market covered under this study includes fruits & vegetables, bakery & confectionery, dairy & frozen desserts, meat, fish & seafood, and others (sauces, condiments, salad dressings, and dips). The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world.Browse detail report at:This Report covered some of the key players involved globally in cold chain market includes AmeriCold Logistics, Lineage Logistics, Preferred Freezer Services, Swire Cold Storage. The other prominent players includes A.B. Oxford Cold Storage, Bring Frigoscandia, Burris Logistics, Claus Sorensen, Cloverleaf Cold Storage, ColdEX, Columbia Colstor, Conestoga Cold Storage, Confederation Freezers, Congebec, Dev Bhumi Cold Chain, Fresh and Healthy Enterprises, Frialsa Solutions, Gati Kwe, Gruppo Marconi Logistica Integrata, Hanson Logistics, Henningsen Cold Storage, Interstate Cold Storage, Kloosterboer, Lineage Logistics , Holdings, MUK Logistik, Nichirei Logistics Group, Nordic Cold Storage, Partner Logistics, Ryder System, Snowman Logistics, Trenton Cold Storage, VersaCold Logistics Services.Cold Chain Market: End-user Segment AnalysisFruits & VegetablesBakery & ConfectioneryDairy & Frozen DessertsMeat, Fish & Seafood,Others (Sauces, condiments, salad dressings, and dips)Cold Chain Market: Regional Segment AnalysisRead Report TOC:North AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the WorldAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. A to Z Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Industrial Protective Footwear Market, 2014-2020: Segmented by leather footwear, waterproof footwear, rubber footwear and plastic footwear

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Industrial protective footwear provides protection for a variety of hazards. Workers exposed to hazards like falling objects, electrical contact, moving machinery and similar other incidences may be at risk of a foot injury. In order to give your best while working, it is necessary to have the protective footwear. Protective footwear are available in many types and styles and protection levels to service the needs of most any workplace along with quality, durability and long time industrial safety footwear. The major driving factor for the industrial protective footwear is increasing construction and oil & gas industry. Stringent rules regarding workers protection and safety expected to propel the industrial protective footwear market. However, Lack of technological awareness is expected to major restraint the market over the forecast period.Request Sample Report:The market for industrial protective footwear is segmented on the basis of product, type and geography. Based on the product, the industrial protective footwear market is segmented into leather footwear, waterproof footwear, rubber footwear and plastic footwear. Leather footwear dominates the overall industrial protective footwear and is expected to experience significant growth in the years to come. The application segment consists of construction, manufacturing, mining, oil &gas, pharmaceuticals and others. Construction was the leading application segment for industrial protective footwear market. However, oil & gas is expected to be fastest growing segment for industrial protective footwear market.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil. North America was the leading region with largest share of overall market for industrial protective footwear. North America closely followed by Europe. With increased demand from construction and oil & gas industry, Europe is expected to rapid pace growth during the forecast period.In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the industrial protective footwear market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the industrial protective footwear market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein type segments and product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Browse report at:The report covers detailed competitive scenario including the company overviews, financial revenues of the key participants to develop their positions in the global market. Some of the major key players include in market such as UVEX Safety Group, ELTEN GmbH, VF Corporation, Honeywell Safety Products, Jal Group, Rahman Group, COFRA Holding AG, Oftenrich Holdings Co. Ltd. and Rock Fall Ltd.Industrial Protective Footwear Market: Product Segment AnalysisLeather footwearWaterproof footwearRubber footwearPlastic footwearIndustrial Protective Footwear Market: Type Segment AnalysisConstructionManufacturingMiningOil &gasPharmaceuticalsIndustrial Protective Footwear Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaDo Inquiry before buying:About US:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite:
Luxury Goods Market: Global Size, Share, Dynamics, current trends/issues/challenges, 2015 - 2021

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The demand for luxury goods is increasing due to rising disposable income. The products which are not essential to survive but which make life more pleasant for a consumer are called as luxury goods. Luxury goods are also called as superior goods. The growth of luxury goods market is directly proportional to the income elasticity. The way of purchasing luxury goods also affect the luxury goods market. Being able to recognize the right channel for marketing, purchasing way of luxury consumers and choose the beneficial way of shopping in-store vs. online will be a key focus for luxury brands going forward. These factors are strongly associated with the growth of luxury goods market.Request Sample Report:The report includes the detailed competitive landscape of the global luxury goods market. It includes company market share analysis, the product portfolio of the major industry participants. The report provides detailed segmentation of the luxury goods market based on product segment and region. Luxury cars, luxury watches & jewelry, apparels and leather goods, luxury personal care & cosmetics, wines/champagne and spirits, fragrances and others (tableware, luxury pens etc.) are major product segments of luxury goods market. The apparel and leather goods segment was the leading product segment in 2014 and is expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period.Request TOC (Table of Contents) of this report:Major regional segments analyzed in this study include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. This report also provides further bifurcation of a region on the country level. Major countries analyzed in this reports are U.S., Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. Luxury goods market was dominated by Europe due to strong per capita expenditure on luxury goods. Europe is followed by North America. Increasing consumption of luxury goods in emerging economies such as China and India triggers the luxury goods market. Additionally, due to growing consumer disposable income and luxurious lifestyle is expected to exhibit the rapid growth of this market in Asia Pacific region.Browse report at:The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include LVMH Group, Kering S.A., Rolex S.A., LOreal Group, Tiffany & Co., Coty, Inc., The Swatch Group Ltd., Prada S.p.A, Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A., Hermes International SCA, Graff Diamonds, Burberry Group plc, Revlon, Inc., and Avon Products, Inc.The report segments the global luxury goods market into:Global Luxury Goods Market: Product Segment AnalysisLuxury CarsLuxury Watches & JewelryApparels and Leather GoodsLuxury Personal Care & CosmeticsWines/Champagne and SpiritsFragrancesOthers (Tableware, Luxury Pens etc)Global Luxury Goods Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeGermanyFranceUKAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout US:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with the one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suite #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite:
BFSI Security Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2024

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Asia-Pacific region witnessing rapid growth of BFSI security market due to technological advancements, and various security vendors such as Honeywell International Inc. and Cisco System Inc. are expanding their business in this region. Besides, the Asia-Pacific market is poised at the center of worlds fastest growing and soon to be the largest wealth market with the increase of private banks and financial instructions in countries such as China and India. In India, according to the data released by reserve bank of India, the total number of bank accounts in India is around 600 million, out of this 25 million bank accounts holder use mobile banking applications. This is the huge opportunity for BFSI security vendors in this region.Request for Sample Copy@In North America region, there is an increase in attacks being launched against BFSI industries. The banking and financial institutions are taking a number of actions to protect their IT infrastructure yet they continue to be challenged by pace of innovation and rising sophistication of attacks. In Europe region, banking and finance sector is overall complex aggregation of several players, required network and information security. In Latin America and Middle East and Africa Regions, BFSI industries are focusing on to implement robust security solutions to safeguard their IT infrastructure.Cisco Systems Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Computer Science Corporation (CSC), IBM Corporation, and Symantec Corporation are some of the leading players of global BFSI security market.Bank and financial institutions runs in highly regulated environment. In several cases, security incidents occur because of non-compliance to various standards. If this happens, the consequences are severe. So, there is growing need of BFSI security to ensure the long term visibility of banking and financial organizations and their data. BFSI security includes security of cyber security and physical security of banking and financial organizations.Request for Table of Content@In todays ever changing world of information technology, banking and financial organizations are facing increased data theft and unauthorized access. The leakage of a companys confidential data on financials, customer base, and strategies can hamper their brand image. In BFSI sector, there is always existence of both internal and external threats with increased adoptions of ATMs and online banking solutions. So the need of protection of physical assets and continuous monitoring of banking data of BFSI sector is driving the growth of the market. However, the initial investment required to set up the security infrastructure is restricting the growth of the BFSI security market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Saudi Arabia Cement Market  Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast 2014  2020

Saudi Arabia Cement Market

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Saudi Arabia Cement Market for Residential, Commercial, Infrastructure and Other Applications: Saudi Arabia Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast 2014  2020The report covers forecast and analysis for the cement market on a Saudi Arabia region level. The study provides historic data of 2014 along with a forecast from 2015 to 2020 based on volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (USD million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the Saudi Arabia cement market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the Saudi Arabia cement market on a regional level.Request Sample Report:In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the cement market, we have included a detailed buying criteria, product portfolio, competitive scenario, and analysis of key industry players. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the Saudi Arabia cement market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein treatment and geography segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view on the Saudi Arabia cement market by segmenting the market based on applications. All the application segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2020. Key application segments analyzed in this report includes residential, commercial, infrastructure and other applications (including industrial, cement bricks and farm construction). The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for central, eastern, western, northern and southern region of the Saudi Arabia.Browse detail report at:The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the Saudi Arabia market. Key players profiled in the report include Saudi Cement Company, Riyadh Cement Company, Yamama Cement Company, and Najran Cement Company.Saudi Arabia Cement Market: Application Segment AnalysisResidentialCommercialInfrastructureOthers (including cement bricks and farm construction)Saudi Arabia Cement Market: Regional Segment AnalysisRead Report TOC:CentralEasternNorthernSouthernWesternAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. A to Z Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Thermal Imaging Market worth USD 10.31 billion and CAGR 6% by 2021,Globally

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Zion Research has published a new report titled Thermal Imaging Market by Component (Software, Hardware and Services), Application (Surveillance & Security, Maintenance & Monitoring, Automotive, Traffic Monitoring, Healthcare, and Others) for Military & Defense, Industrial, Residential, and Commercial End-Users- Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015  2021. According to the report, global thermal imaging market was valued at around USD 7.27 billion in 2015 and is expected to generate revenue of USD 10.31 billion by end of 2021, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 6% between 2016 and 2021.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Thermal imaging cameras are used across the various range of industries including defense, automotive, aerospace, industrial, medical, and much more. Thermal imaging cameras are primarily used for military and defense applications. Such cameras are also used in commercial applications such as firefighting, personal vision, residential surveillance, and security.Request for Customization Report @Thermal imaging market is segmented on the basis of different components into software, hardware, and services. In 2015, hardware was the largest segment of the thermal imaging market and accounted for largest share of the total market. The software was another key outlet for this market in the same year. Thermal imaging market includes the application such as surveillance and security, maintenance and monitoring, automotive, traffic monitoring, healthcare, and others. In 2015, surveillance and security, maintenance and monitoring dominated the global thermal imaging market in terms of revenue and accounted for over 44 % share of the overall market.Know more before buying this report @By end-user, military and defense segments dominated the market of thermal imaging with over 45% shares of the overall market in 2015. Industrial was the second largest application segment of thermal imaging market. The residential and industrial segment is expected to exhibit considerable growth in the next few years due to the availability of low-cost devices.Thermal imaging market is mainly driven by demand from industrial and commercial sectors and growing security, surveillance and automobile industry. Increasing demand for thermal cameras in smartphones due to decreased cost is expected to be the major driver for the global thermal imaging market. However, lack of awareness and reduced defense budget in developed regions may curb the demand for thermal imaging in the near future. Moreover, decreasing military spending by major countries such as Canada, U.S., Italy, and France are hindering the growth of thermal imaging market. Nonetheless, increasing demand for thermal imaging services is projected to open new growth opportunities for thermal imaging in the years to come.Demand for thermal imaging was highest in North America, with around 30% of the market share in 2015. North America was followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific in terms of demand. In terms of revenue, Asia Pacific was the fastest growing region in the forecast period. Europe is expected to grow at a moderate rate owing to the increased adoption of thermal imaging devices for commercial security and law enforcement activities.Some of the key players in the global thermal imaging market include Flir Systems, Danaher, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., Drs Technologies, Raytheon, Bullard, BAE Systems Inc., Axis, Thermoteknix, Sofradir Group, Testo Ag, CI Infrared Cameras, Inc., Nippon Avionics Co. Ltd., Honeywell International, Inc., and Infratec.Browse the full report atAbout UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Nanomagnetics Materials and Devices Market worth USD 10.39 Billion and CAGR 4.4% by 2021

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Zion Research has published a new report titled Nanomagnetics Materials and Devices Market for Sensors, Separation, Imaging, Data Storage, Medical & Genetics and Other Application - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2015  2021. According to the report, global nanomagnetics materials and devices market was valued at around USD 8.21 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach approximately USD 10.39 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 4.4% between 2016 and 2021.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Nanomagnetics is the advancement in nanotechnology largely used to store the data in compact form. Nanomagnetics is different from conventional magnetic systems but posses some of the magnetic properties due to the effects of nanostructuring. Nanostructured magnetic materials and devices are different from conventional magnetic systems. Nanomagnetics is largely used in the healthcare industry such as drug delivery devices and diagnosis of diseases like cancer etc.Request for Customization Report @The nanomagnetics materials and devices market are mainly driven by emerging medical industry. The tremendous growth in diagnostics and biotechnology sector is the key factors responsible to boost the demand of nanomagnetics materials and devices in the medical industry. Though, lack of awareness regarding nanotechnology in developing countries may hamper the growth of this market. Moreover, technological advancement in nanotechnology may open the growth opportunities for the nanomagnetics materials and devices market within the forecast period.Know more before buying this report @The nanomagnetics materials and devices market are segmented on the basis of different applications such as sensors, separation, imaging, data storage, medical & genetics and others. Data storage and medical and genetics application segment together acquired the major share of the total market due to exponential technological advancement. Growing need for enterprise mobility due to advantages such as high operation speed and high work efficiency supports the demand of data storage devices. The increasing development of the consumerization of technology is another important factor for driving the nanomagnetics materials and devices market. Thin film products acquired higher percentage share in the global market due to their application in storage media. Thin films are followed by particulate products with higher demand in diagnostic and other biotechnology applications.The nanomagnetics materials and devices market was dominated by North America with the major share of the total market in 2015. North America was followed by Asia Pacific owing to the increasing adoption of nanotechnology in the region. Japan was the leading contributor to the growth of the nanomagnetics materials and devices market. However, Latin America and Middle East & Africa are also expected to exhibit significant growth over the forecast period.Some of the key players in the market include the Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd., IBM Corp., Liquids Research Ltd., Quantum Design, Bayer Schering Pharma AG, and others.Browse the full report atAbout UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Bitcoin Exchange Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2024

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Bitcoin exchange use peer to peer technology to transfer funds with no middle man or central authority involved. All the transactions are controlled by computer network itself, making it fastest payment method available in world. Bitcoin exchange method complete financial transaction within 10 minutes as compared to other currencies which takes one or two days to complete international transactions.. The agility of payment transaction and feature of open source environment are driving the growth of the global Bitcoin exchange market. Another driving factor for this market is very low processing fees for payment transactions due to decentralized process of Bitcoin.Request for Sample Copy@Absence of consumer protection laws is restricting the growth of the market. In the traditional currency, fraudulent transaction from bank account or credit card are subject to repayment of consumer loses. .Scaling is another factor which is hampering the growth of the global Bitcoin market. The Bitcoin network methodology requires all the previous transaction to be downloaded in user computing device during transaction. The process is time consuming as it take long hours to download all the transactions.Asia-Pacific region is also showing modest growth for the Bitcoin exchange with more than 200 million internet users. This is merely 17% of the total population of Asia-Pacific region. The evolution of LTE technology in the countries including China, India, and Japan will create enhanced infrastructure for internet users. With increasing awareness, the market is expected to observe potential revenue opportunity in this region in the near future.Request for Table of Content@In Europe, countries such as U.K, Germany, and France are holding good potential for Bitcoin exchange. Latin America and Middle East and Africa, have still not witnessed wide adoption of Bitcoin exchange; however, with increasing awareness about the features offered by Bitcoin, the market is expected to observe substantial growth during the forecast period.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Digital Rights Management Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2024

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The primary driver of DRM market is increase in the numbers of hackers who intrude into corporate and government networks to access and steal critical information for financial and business gains. Furthermore, corporations are seeking instantaneous access to business data along with transmitting and storage of data across smart phones devices, cloud, Universal Serial Bus (USBs), and disks. Apart from these, the substantial adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend among enterprises has given rise to the mobile technology to open new ways for real-time access to business information along with facilitating flexible work culture.Request for Sample Copy@In todays era, with the ever changing world of technologies, computing devices generally do not support each platform in a content transaction. Hence, lack of trustworthy computing devices is hampering the growth of this particular market.The increasing use of smart phone devices generates huge amount of confidential data containing precious information. Thus, leading to various data security issues. Digital right management (DRM) solutions secures mobile content from cyber-attacks.Digital Right Management (DRM) is used vastly in encoding videos in video on demand (VOD) services. It protect the content of videos and ensures smooth delivery and playback. It also restricts these videos to be played on portable media players.Generally, mobile games are downloaded from the app stores. Digital Right Management solutions help companies which develops games by protecting the free transfer of their games to other devices.eBook To protect the mass copying of content of a particular eBook, digital right management (DRM) solutions are leveraged. This solution help eBook providers to protect its eBook from having an access to an unauthorized reader.Request for Table of Content@The U.S., European Union, and Israel are few of the regions which introduced some copyright directives. The U.S. passed the digital millennium copyright act on 14th May 1998, which criminalizes the production and distribution of a particular technology that allows users to copy the content.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Pneumatic Actuator Market, Size, share, 2015  2020 detailed in new research report

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Pneumatic actuator is a device used to convert the energy sources into mechanical movements by using air pressure or compressed air. The energy sources used in pneumatic actuators are hydraulic fluid pressure, pneumatic pressure, electric current, etc. A Pneumatic actuator mainly made up of a valves or ports, piston and cylinder. Diaphragm pneumatic actuators, pneumatic power cylinders, gas-engine pneumatic actuators, turbine pneumatic actuators, etc., are the different pneumatic actuators.Request Sample Report:Growing demand for actuators from vehicles, minerals and metals are the major factors driving demand for pneumatic actuator. Rapid industrialization and advanced technology is expected to fuel the market growth in the years to come. However, increasing manufacturing cost and installation cost are expected to be major restraint of this market. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.The report segments the pneumatic actuators market on the basis of source type, application and geography. Major source type segments covered in this report includes hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic, and electric. Automobile, healthcare, mining Industry, aerospace & defense and other applications are the key application segments of the pneumatic actuators market.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @On the basis of the geography, the pneumatic actuators market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the pneumatic actuators market. The report includes detailed competitive scenario and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the pneumatic actuators market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein source type segments and applications segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Browse report at:The report provides comprehensive competitive analysis and profiles of prominent market players, such as Rotork Plc, Elger Controls India Private Ltd, Timotion Technology Co. Ltd, Auma Riester GmbH & Co, Cair Euromatic Automation Pvt Ltd, Motion Systems Corp, Harmonic Drive LLC, Top Line Process Equipment Co, Indelac Controls Inc and Micromatic LLC.This report segments the global pneumatic actuator market as follows:Global Pneumatic Actuator Market: Type Segment AnalysisHydraulicMechanicalPneumaticElectricGlobal Pneumatic Actuator Market: Application Segment AnalysisAutomobileHealthcareMining IndustryAerospace and defenseOthersGlobal Pneumatic Actuator Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaAbout US:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite:
Following his win as president-elect, Donald Trump has received a lot of opinions and messages, this time, it came from first graders. (Photo : Getty Images/Tom Griscom)

Some first graders from California sent letters to president-elect Donald Trump and they are going viral, as one asked Trump to "let people with different color skin be friends."



Innocent they may seem, these first graders told Trump their sentiments like adults, except for the wrong spellings, wrong grammar and wrong syntax. One wrote, "Dear Mr. Trump, I hope you don't start a war."



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One student named Nicole asked Trump to be kind and honest and not to cause fights between Americans and immigrants, saying if Trump follows all of what she stated, he is bound to be a "wonderful" president.



Cole, despite misspelling all of his words, told Trump not to discriminate African-Americans and immigrants. He also wrote in his letter that Trump should not say those who are not white are robbers and criminals.



The students' candor showed as Luca pleaded Trump in her letter to increase the tax for rich people.



Angela touched on the topic of Trump once saying he will deport illegal immigrants. She wrote, "Please do like Mexicans and do not send us to Mexico.



Marie Keating, the teacher of the first graders, encouraged her students to write the letters and guided them with their spelling and other queries. She did this after Trump's win became the talk of the school, KRON4 reported.



Keating then posted the letters in her Facebook account. The letters went viral as New York Magazine picked up the story and presented the letters in a slideshow. The kids' letters drew positive reactions from netizens and commenters. However, some commenters were skeptical, saying that the kids are merely repeating what they have been hearing in their household. Keating begs to disagree.



"Each of these children, the children in my class are fully capable of making their own decisions on this, and it really shows through in their letters," Keating said.



Here is a video of first graders presenting the letters they have written for Donald Trump.






Global Mulch Film Market 2016- BASF, Berry PLAstics Group, DOW Chemical, RKW Group, AEP Industries and Armando Alvarez.

Mulch Film

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Global Mulch Film Industry 2016 Market Size, Share, Trends, Global Price, Company Profiles, Demand, Insights, Analysis, Research And Forecast 2016-2021.The Report Covers Major Manufacturers Analysis of Mulch Film - BASF, Berry PLAstics Group, DOW Chemical, RKW Group, AEP Industries and Armando Alvarez With Analysis like- Company Profile, Product Picture and Specifications, Sales Volume, Sales Revenue, Sale Price, Gross Margin and Contact Information.The report, titled Mulch Film is a comprehensive study of the Mulch Film market in China and rest of the world. The report provides detailed information about the Mulch Film market  defining the key terms, and mentioning a brief business overview of the market. The report compares the present state of the market to its past performance and estimates the valuation of the market during the forecast period. The market size is dependent on the various micro- and macro-economic factors to a large extent. The report points out the key drivers and restraints affecting the growth of the Mulch Film market in the near future. Also, the upcoming trends in the market and various opportunities opening up for the growth of the market has been noted down in the report.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The key aspects of the Mulch Film market has been discussed in the report. The report closely studies the various segments and sub-segments of the market and estimates the growth size of each of the segments during the forecast period. The report especially focusses on the growth of the Mulch Film market in China and takes note of the various initiatives taken by the regulatory authorities in the nation to revive the sluggish economy. The government in China has planned out long term strategies to boost the various sectors and this is invariably expected to impact the Mulch Film market in China in the near future.The report profiles the key players operating in the Mulch Film market in China and rest of the world. Through SWOT analysis, the report estimates the growth of the players in the next couple of years and forecasts their market share. Also, the latest developments in the Mulch Film market has been mentioned in the report.The research report elaborates upon the competitive landscape of the Mulch Film market in China and the rest of the world by profiling the major participants of the market in order to identify the leading players in the market. It thus assists current market players, consultants, and stakeholders operating in the market to work out crucial strategies and make rewarding decisions.Browse Complete Report with TOC @About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651
Global Enterprise Social Networks and Online Communities Market Projected to Register a Value CAGR of 16.5% Between 2016 and 2026

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According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled Enterprise Social Networks and Online Communities Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 20162026, the global enterprise social networks and online communities market is anticipated to grow from US$ 2,636.1 Mn in 2016 to US$ 12,189.0 Mn by 2026, registering a CAGR of 16.5% in terms of revenue during the forecast period (2016-2026). In this report, the global enterprise social networks and online communities market is tracked in terms of value and is calibrated to obtain the market revenue estimates.Request to view Sample Report @Increasing adoption of enterprise social networking technologies for collaboration with business technologies to improve social collaboration are major factors driving the growth of global enterprise social networks and online communities market. Demand for social media technology among businesses for activity streaming, blogging, profiles, expert advices and other secure communications is strong in this market and is slated to increase in the forecast period. Moreover, demand among industries such as healthcare for real time communication is expected to improve growth which is expected to reflect in the revenue forecast.However, lack of awareness about the technology, and the high cost of integration with business technologies are major challenges expected to be faced by market players in the global enterprise social networks and online communities market during the forecast period.To understand and assess the demand and opportunities in this market, the report is categorically split into three major sections, namely market analysis  by enterprise type, by industry, and by region.The section  market analysis by enterprise type, comprehensively analyzes the market on the basis of enterprise type and presents an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of value for 2016-2026. In 2015, large enterprise segment dominated the global enterprise social networks and online communities market, followed by medium enterprise segment. Moreover, small enterprise segment is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR of 21.7% over the forecast period in the global enterprise social networks and online communities market in terms of revenue, followed by large enterprise segment.The section  market analysis by industry, analyzes the global enterprise social networks and online communities market on the basis of industry verticals and the data is provided in terms of value for 2016-2026. The healthcare IT and Telecom industry is expected to expand at the highest CAGR of 17.0% in terms of value during the forecast period. In terms of market share, healthcare industry accounted major percentage of the revenue share of the overall market in 2015 and healthcare industry is expected to dominate the global enterprise social networks and online communities market throughout the forecast years, followed by IT and Telecom industry.The section  market analysis by region, includes an in-depth country level analysis of all global regions namely, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Middle East & Africa by enterprise type, industry and countries; and provides market data in terms of value for 2016-2026. In 2015, market in North America region dominated the overall global enterprise social networks and online communities market, followed by the market in Asia Pacific region. The enterprise social networks and online communities market in Asia Pacific region is forecast to expand at the highest CAGR over the forecast period, followed by North America and Europe regions respectively.Request to view Table of content @Key players reported in this study on the global enterprise social networks and online communities market include Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, VMWare, Salesforce.com, Google, Jive and TIBCO, who have significantly increased their footprint in the global enterprise social networks and online communities market over the years.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each PMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With a wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports strive to serve clients and satisfy their overall research requirement.For information regarding permissions, contact:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Trade Finance Global Market Current Scenario and Growth by 2020

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About Trade Financing, Trade financing is when finance is made available by banks to various trading companies to perform cross-border transactions. It also acts as an engine that drives the growth of a country's GDP. When a country produces goods or services, it exports some of those goods and services to other countries. However, there is a time lag between the production and delivery time required for the consignment to reach the importing country. So, there is a certain degree of uncertainty about whether the parties will honor their part of the transaction. Hence, the importing country appoints a bank to issue a financial instrument that promises to make the payment to the exporting country upon the successful delivery of the consignment to the importing country. Research Beams analysts forecast the Global Trade Finance Market to Grow at A CAGR of 3.77% During the Period 2016-2020.Read Full Report with TOC @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global trade finance market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated by banks from the structured trade finance, supply chain finance, and traditional trade finance market in the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAResearch Beam's report, Global Trade Finance Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Download PDF Sample @Key vendors BNP Paribas Citigroup HSBC JPMorgan Chase Mitsubishi UFJ FinancialOther prominent vendors ANZ Arab Bank Bank of America Merrill Lynch BNP Paribas BNY Mellon Capital Commerzbank Credit Agricole Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management Deutsche Bank Factor Funding Goldman Sachs Itau Unibanco Morgan Stanley New Century Financial Nordea Paragon Financial Royal Bank of Scotland Royal Bank of Scotland Santander Standard Chartered Bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial SunTrust Bank UBS AG UniCredit Wells FargoMarket driver High involvement of clearing house and trade through financial market integration For a full, detailed list, view our reportAsk for Discount @Market challenge Volatile political and economic environment For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Enhanced strategic formulation and adoption of structuring and pricing tools For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Table of ContentsPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Market research methodologyPART 04: IntroductionPART 05: Market landscapePART 06: Geographical segmentationPART 07: Market driversPART 08: Impact of driversPART 09: Market challengesPART 10: Impact of drivers and challengesWith the arsenal of different search reports, Research Beam helps you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland, OR 97220U.S. & Canada Toll Free: + 1-800-910-6452UK: + 44-845-528-1300, India: +91 20 66346070Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975Email:
African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit unpacked continents city building opportunities and urbanisation challenges

Africa?s cities are facing an urban ?polycrisis?

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The first African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in Cape Town provided an innovative space for leading built environment professionals to engage with experts, projects, investors and practitioners from all over the continent. We are confident that the summit will grow to become the leading meeting point of the real estate and infrastructure industries in Africa." This is according to Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, who was a speaker and session facilitator at the summit.More than 300 sector experts gathered for the inaugural two-day summit earlier this month with interactive sessions that focused on key case studies of visionary city planning, investment opportunities in the commercial and residential real estate sectors across the continent, the African city of the future and the challenges of urbanisation. Innovative development projects from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Kigali, Lusaka, Kampala and the Taparura project in Tunisia were showcased.A key finding of the conference was that Africas cities are facing an urban polycrisis and that there is a need for a new urban agenda and an opportunity for innovative solutions to address urbanisation challenges.Expert speaker highlights at the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit included:* Africa is on the brink of great change. It is the fastest urbanising region in the world, with around 400 million people expected to migrate from rural areas to cities by 2050. As more and more people move to our cities in search of a better life, it is critical that we provide effective and sustainable infrastructure to meet their needs.- Alderman Ian Neilson, City of Cape Towns Executive Deputy Mayor* New forms of urban planning in African cities seem to be dedicated to transforming them into replicas of Dubai, Shanghai and Singapore. The main challenge of the real estate sector on the continent currently is to find approaches to real estate development which are not only for the wealthy, and which find architectural and planning approaches which are not simplistic cut and pastes of cities elsewhere in the world.- Prof Vanessa Watson, of the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town* The Voortrekker Road Corridor offers a unique opportunity to invest in the urban core of Cape Town in one of its most important transit-oriented development corridors, taking advantage of the central location and extensive public transport infrastructure. Councillor Johan van der Merwe, the City of Cape Towns Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning.* Arup recently completed a transit orientated development masterplan for the light rail transit system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project focused on realising the economic potential of the key stations along the light rail system; while regenerating the city, thereby making use of hard infrastructure systems to unlock multiple gains that improve the social and economic prosperity of citizens.- Nico Venter, Associate Director at Arups Johannesburg Office, responsible for the Urban Design and Cities Business in South Africa.* We passionately believe that Africa is a continent of opportunity. With improving economies, rising populations, rapid rates of urbanisation and burgeoning middle classes, some African cities are expected to grow between 70-100% in the next 15 years.- Mr Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA)  patron of the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit.More key findings that emerged during the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit included:- African countries need to adopt new development models designed to take advantage of urbanisation by facilitating structural transformation, creating jobs and addressing social inequality and poverty, while creating sustainable human settlements with equal opportunity for all.- The future of Africa is at stake and the future of Africa will be more and more linked to how cities are managed and the way they choose to contribute to African unity.- Careful, complex, thorough administrative management and pro-poor urban development will turn African cities into world-class cities, not design plans based on fantasy Dubai-esque city makeovers.- The city is the centre of the emancipated state and social media needs to be harnessed to unleash the potential of Africas smart cities.- The City of Cape Town has invested over R22 billion in infrastructure over the last five years, and needs to provide an additional 650 000 housing opportunities over the next 20 years.- Merely pursing low-density low-cost housing on the outskirts of the cities is not an option. Innovative thinking must be part of the solutions for urbanisation challenges and partnerships between the public and private sectors play an important role.Major infrastructure and building projects and opportunities on the continent featured at the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit included:- Cape Towns Voortrekker Corridor Road Integration Zone Strategy and Investment Plan- Joburgs Corridors of Freedom for a people-centred city- Kimisange, Kicukiro 237 and Kicukiro 968 in Kigali, Rwanda- Transit Oriented Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- The PDGML  General Master Plan for Luanda, Angola- Comprehensive Urban Development Plan (CUDP) for the City of Lusaka, Zambia- Kampala Physical Development Plan, Uganda- PARURA SFAX  The Master Plan for Taparura Project, TunisiaThe African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit was organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.Spintelligent is well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Longstanding flagship events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC), West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC), Agritech Expo, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek.Senior communications manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Mobile: +27 82 562 7844Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsite:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 4797, South Africa
WiFi Enabled LTE Small Cell Gateway Market to Register a Strong Growth By 2021 - PMR

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WiFi enabled LTE small cell gateway is a type of a base station. Base station uses cellular wireless network for communicating with mobile phones or terminals. Base station connects mobile phones to a wireless carrier network and offers local coverage for a wireless network. The area of coverage varies from several miles to few city blocks. Each base station is typically owned by one carrier or wireless company and gives coverage only for that company's network. It may also offer roaming coverage for other networks in case carriers have agreement for roaming and technology is compatible. Base station comprises of an electronic cabinet which connected by means of cables to a group of antennas. The antennas may be mounted on an existing structure or on dedicated tower structure including top of a building, church steeple or smoke-stack and water tower.Request to view Sample Report @In radio communications, base station refers to wireless communications station implemented at a fixed location and used to communicate as wireless telephone system including cellular GSM or CDMA cell site, part push-to-talk two-way radio system, terrestrial trunked radio and two-way radio. A single location often operates several base stations owned by a different carrier. Smaller types of base stations or small cells include picocells, femtocells and microcells. WiFi enabled LTE small cell gateway is promising network element. A wide variety of base station deployments are in a small cell configuration. It has WiFi interface at end-use device and LTE interface at the carrier network.Small cell is low-powered radio access nodes (operator-controlled) that operate in carrier-grade Wi-Fi (unlicensed) and licensed spectrum. Small cells normally have a range from 10 to numerous hundred meters. Small cell base stations are expected to play vital role in expanding the capacity of wireless networks due to increasing mobile data traffic. Mobile operators are increasingly looking forward to this technology in order to meet the rising demands for data, video and application access generated due to smart phones and other devices. Small cells aid mobile service that detect presence, interact wand connect with existing networks. Small cells offer increased quality of service and flexibility at an affordable cost. Small cell infrastructure implantation is an environmentally friendly approach as it reduces the number of cell towers and offers a cleaner signal using less power.Request to view Table of content @Rising numbers of wireless carriers or companies are taking dedicated interest in this industry owing to the proliferation of embedded WiFi features in fixed and mobile devices. Growing demand for more advanced handheld devices such as smart-phones and tablets is expected to create demand for technologies with high internet speed. This in turn, is expected to drive the growth of WiFi enabled LTE small cell gateways.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Telehealth Virtual Visits Market in US  Strategic Assessment and Forecast Till 2021

Telehealth Virtual Visits Market in US Market Research Report by Beige Market Intelligence

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Beige Market Intelligence published a recent report with title Telehealth Virtual Visits Market in US  Strategic Assessment and Forecast till 2021. The report provides a detailed analysis of the present scenario and growth aspect of the telehealth virtual visits market in US till 2021.Virtual visits are professional medical services, which permit users or patients to use tablets, laptops, desktops, or telephonic devices to connect with physicians through e-mails or the internet. These visits allow patients to seek a fast response, access to certified experts, and offer advanced treatment plans.The report which consists of 94 pages, 35 Key Sections and 44 Exhibits provides a detailed market segmentation of the telehealth virtual visits market in US. The market segments included in the report areBy Services Offered Service Provider Infrastructure ProviderBy Service Type Reimbursable Membership Out-of-PocketBy Mode of Visits Video Visit Audio Visit Chat ConsultationBy Payment Model Subscription-based Model Pay-as-you-go Model Employer-based ModelBy End  User Market Healthcare Providers Healthcare Payers Employer Groups UsersAnalysts at Beige Market Intelligence predicts that the telehealth virtual visits market in US is expected to cross US$800 million in 2021 growing at a CAGR closed to 18%. The report includes a thorough analysis of the various driving factors and emerging trends that the market is going to witness till the next five year.The market research report contains the detailed strategic analysis of the key strength and opportunities of the major vendors in the market. The vendors included in the report are Teladoc Inc., MDLIVE Inc., American Well Corp., Doctor On Demand Inc. and HealthTap Inc.. The other leading service providers in the market are Carena Inc., eVisit Inc., iSelectMD, MeMD Inc., PlushCare Inc., Ringadoc, Stat Health Services Inc., Zipnosis, Virtuwell, meVisit Technologies, LiveHealth Online, StatDoctors, Specialists on Call, Second Opinions, AmeriDoc LLC., 2nd.MD and InteractiveMD.The major vendors in the infrastructure providers market are swyMed Inc., Vidyo, VSee. The other vendors included in the report are Cellscope Inc., GoTelecare, iHealth Labs.For more information :Read our other press releases on Telehealth Virtual Visits Market in US  Strategic Assessment and Forecast Till 2021:About Beige Market Intelligence:Beige Market Intelligence is new-age provider of competitive business intelligence, working across various industry verticals. Our expertise and knowledge ensures that the market analysis Beige provides is comprehensive, detailed and complete. The analysis helps our client organizations become aware and make educated decisions, as far as investing or devising a marketing strategy is concerned. The actionable insights delivered through our market research provide a comprehensive market analysis for every level of market segmentation in an industry. Beige Market Intelligence is a quality driven high end Market Research organization. Our team of experts ensure the analysis you receive is not just analysed and smartly presented, but is completely customized based on the clients requirement. Our deliverables guarantee our current global client base does not look beyond Beige when it comes to any kind of industry and market analysis.KhyamaBeige Market IntelligenceChinnapannahalli, Bangalore- 560037Contact info:contactus@beigemarketintelligence.comUS: +1 347 903 9949UK: +44 20 323 99499APAC: +91 99 012 75473
Global Metering Pump Market: Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2024

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Growing demand for the modernization and environmental friendly water treatments and waste water management are driving this metering pump market. APAC is growing economy and have the great potential for this market. Development and launch of new products is a trend observed in this market. The players in this market are focusing of research and development in order to develop improved new products.Request for Sample Report:Government regulations and promotions or the energy efficiency, product standards, precision stimulates digitization and high growth application areas such as demand in pharmaceutical product, growing need for water treatment and waste water management and rising demand for oil and gas expansion are driving forces for this market. Maturity in North America and Europe market, market recession and lack of Greenfield investments are some factors restraining the growth of market. Players in this market have opportunity in Coal bed Methane reserves.Global metering pump market is segmented on the bias of pump types, applications and geography. On the basis of pump types the market is segmented into Diaphragm Metering Pumps, Plunger/Piston Metering Pumps and Other Type of Metering Pumps. On the basis of applications the market is segmented into Water Treatment, Water & Waste Water Treatment, Oil & Gas, Chemical Processes, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Pulp & Paper, Agriculture & Pesticides and textiles with others. And on the basis of geography the global market for metering pump is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC and rest of world (RoW).Request for Table of content:Alltech Dosieranlagen GmbH, Blue-White Industries Ltd., Emec S.R.L., Grundfos Water Treatment GmbH, Idex Corporation, Injection Tecnical Control Inc., KNF Neuberger GmbH.,Lewa GmbH, Lutz-Jesco GmbH, Mcfarland-Tritan LLC, Milton Roy Company, Moyno Inc., Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Prominent Dosiertechnik GmbH, Seepex GmbH, Seko S.P.A.,SPX Flow Technology Norderstedt GmbH, Swelore Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Walchem and Watson-Marlow Pumps Group are some of the major players in metering pump market.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Worldwide Industry Expected to witness high growth Europe "NC in Automotive Market"

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Bigmarketresearch.com include new market research report Europe NC in Automotive Market Report 2016 to its huge collection of research reports.Catch a glimpse of complete report here @This report studies sales (consumption) of NC in Automotive in Europe market, especially in Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Benelux and Spain, focuses on top players in these countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these Countries, covering3D SystemsAutodeskDassault SystmesHexagonSiemens PLMOther prominent vendorsMissler SoftwareNTT Data EngineeringNapaChevroletDownload sample copy here @Key points from table of content :10 Europe NC in Automotive Manufacturers Analysis10.1 3D Systems10.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.1.2 NC in Automotive Product Type, Application and Specification10.1.3 3D Systems NC in Automotive Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)10.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview10.2 Autodesk10.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.2.2 NC in Automotive Product Type, Application and Specification10.2.3 Autodesk NC in Automotive Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)10.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview10.3 Dassault Systmes10.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.3.2 NC in Automotive Product Type, Application and Specification10.3.3 Dassault Systmes NC in Automotive Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)10.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview10.4 Hexagon10.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors10.4.2 NC in Automotive Product Type, Application and Specification10.4.3 Hexagon NC in Automotive Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)10.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewCheck discount on report here @About Company :Big Market Research uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency.Contact Us :Dhananjay Potle5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect :+ 1-503-894-6022Toll Free : + 1-800-910-6452Email: help@bigmarketresearch.comWeb:
Destination Market Insights: Colombia - Historic and forecast tourist volumes and values covering Colombias inbound tourism sector

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SummaryColombias tourism industry has been growing fast in recent years, partly due to a cease fire deal with the FARC, on track to be finalised in September 2016, and a weak peso. In 2015, the country saw a 16.3% increase in terms of international arrivals, which now stand at 2.3 million. It will see further growth to 3.2 million tourists in 2020, at an average annual rate of 5.6%Key FindingsThe US is Colombias number one source market, with 429,000 visitors in 2015, and saw double digit growth in the last two years. Although VFR is popular amongst American tourists, Americans are also visiting Colombia for medical treatment, as the cost is significantly lower than in their home country. Spain is Colombias European largest market, with 101,000 visitors in 2015. The European market will be one of the fast growing markets in the future and total arrivals from Europe are expected to reach 566,900 in 2020The airline industry in Colombia is booming and the number of sold seats is forecast to growth from 43.4 million in 2015 to 63.3 million in 2020, a total increase of 46% in five years. However, Colombia has a low LCC penetration rate (10% in 2015), which makes air travel to Colombia expensive. Viva Colombia is the largest LCC in Colombia with an 8% share in 2015, and has been growing rapidly since it started in 2012.SynopsisCanadeans report Destination Market Insights: Colombia provides detailed information on the Colombian inbound tourism sector, analyzing market data and providing insights. This report provides a better understanding of tourism flows, expenditure, and the airline, hotel, car rental, and travel intermediaries industries.What else does this report offer?Detailed market analysis, information, and insights, including:Historic and forecast tourist volumes and values covering Colombias inbound tourism sectorDetailed analysis of tourist spending patterns for various categories in the travel and tourism sector, such as purpose of spending and top source marketsdownload Sample Copy of Report atReasonsToBuyMake strategic business decisions using historic and forecast market data related to Colombias Inbound Travel & Tourism sectorUnderstand the demand-side dynamics within the industry to identify key market trends and growth opportunitiesDirect promotional efforts on the most promising markets by identifying the key source and destination countriesMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Lead Acid Battery Market Has Been Estimated to Account for US$ 31,708.4 Million by 2020

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Future Market Insights, in its latest report titled,Lead Acid Battery Market: Asia Pacific, Latin America, Japan, Middle East & Africa Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020, states that the target regions lead acid battery market accounted for US$ 24,210.5 Million in 2014, and is expected to reach US$ 31,708.4 Million at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Asia Pacific, which accounted for the major chunk in the target regions lead acid battery market, is expected to expand at an estimated CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period.By application type, the target regions lead acid battery market is segmented as transportation, stationary industrial, motive industrial, commercial, residential, and grid storage. Transportation and stationary industrial collectively contributed to around 82.4% of market revenue in 2014. Transportation was the largest end-use application in the target regions lead acid battery market in 2014, and is anticipated to continue its dominance through 2020. Stationary industrial is the second largest contributor to the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.Request Free Report Sample@The report finds that grid storage is one of the smallest end-use application segments in the target regions lead acid battery market, but is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period.Lead acid batteries are predominantly used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles and two wheelers. In addition to that, demand for lead acid battery has also surged due to the increasing adoption of UPS, owing to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Adoption of grid storage technology in developing countries such as India and China is expected to fuel the target regions lead acid battery market. In addition to that, an increase in the demand for electric vehicles is expected to further accelerate the expansion of the lead acid battery market globally.Moreover, key challenges in the lead acid battery market are raw material price volatility and stringent emission regulations. Lead is the essential raw material used in the manufacturing of lead acid batteries. Lead prices account for approximately 49% of the overall cost of the lead acid batteries. Any fluctuations in lead prices affect the overall profitability of lead acid battery manufacturers.Sand An Enquiry@Region-wise, Asia Pacific is the largest contributor in the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to continue its dominance till 2020. Currently, the Asia Pacific lead acid battery market is valued at US$ 15,995 Million and is expected to reach US$ 19,881 Million by 2020. Latin America and Japan are other major markets contributing 14.4% and 14.1% respectively, to the target regions lead acid battery revenue. Middle East & Africa accounted for the lowest contribution in terms of revenue in 2014, but is expected to register a significant growth at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period.The degree of competition in the target regions lead acid battery market has been analysed in the report, which also presents the comparative view of the key strategies and financial outlook of major companies operating in target regions lead acid battery market. These include Johnson Controls INC, Exide Technologies, GS Yuasa Corporation, EnerSys and Yokohama Industries.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
A controversy sparked after the Yangtze River Airlines (YRA) refused to let a boy with autism board the plane. (Photo : Getty Images)

In the Xinzheng International Airport, Yangtze River Airlines (YRA) has recently sparked controversy after its check-in staff refused to let a 13-year-old boy with autism to board a flight to Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province.



According to a statement released by the YRA management, its staff asked the father to postpone boarding and wait for his son to calm down. However, the boy continued to walk around and shout loudly.



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In the end, the staff decided not to let the father and son board for safety and comfort of the other passengers. They also stated that the father could not provide proper documentation that his son is registered as a person with a mental disability.



"Given the situation and taking other passengers' safety into account, we refused to take the two passengers in accordance with the China Civil Aviation Rules on Domestic Carriage of Passengers and Baggage," read the statement.



The boys father, with a surname Cui, claims that the Chinese airline discriminated his son by not letting him and the boy board their flight.



"They refused to take us just because my son was speaking too loudly. But my son is not mentally ill and he was not offensive," said Cui.



Cuis conflict with the Chinese airline received mixed reactions. Many Weibo users agreed with the Chinese airline that the boys behavior may disturb others so it is just right not to let him aboard the flight.



On the contrary, Wang Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer who is also the mother of a four-year-old autistic boy, said that YRA cannot refuse to take autistic passengers just out of concerns their involuntary behavior might disturb others.



"The YRA was not only discriminating against autistic people but also violated related rules by refusing Cui and his son if the boy hadn't hurt anyone and would not have affected the safety of the flight," Wang said.



Meanwhile, Cheng Shuoming, a staff member of Beijing Stars and Rain Education Institute for Autism, that Cui should have informed YRA about his son's illness in advance and asked the company for help when the boy became agitated.



"Autistic children can get really agitated if things do not progress in accordance with a set plan, for example, if a flight is delayed," said Cheng.



Cheng also added that the incident shows the peoples level of mental health awareness. In China, only a few parents register their child as a person with a mental disability because it would be harder for the kids to find a job and a partner in the future.



"The result is, on one hand, the family cannot receive social security services and, on the other, the government cannot grasp the real situation of autistic people and provide appropriate services," Cheng said.


GCC Air Purifiers Market Poised for Steady Growth in the Future

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Although considered as a luxury, demand for air purifiers is steadily growing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), according to Future Market Insights (FMI) new research report, Air Purifiers Market: GCC Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014-2020. FMI projects the GCC air purifiers market to reach US$ 85.2 Mn by 2020.In a survey conducted by FMI with air purifier manufacturers and distributors/retailers around the world, nearly 80% of respondents indicated that the HEPA technology will expand at an annual growth rate of 5%-10% between 2015 and 2020. The respondents also believed that brand value and purification capacity were the most important features that buyers looked for while purchasing an air purifier.A majority of respondents in FMIs survey on air purifiers market in GCC were of the view that single-point retail outlet accounted for 0%-20% of the total air purifier sales in GCC. Air purifier sales through shopping malls were estimated to be between 41% and 60% by the respondents.According to the respondents, increasing pollution and health-related problems were the key factors fuelling the demand for air purifiers in GCC. A majority of the respondents were of the view that growing per capita income will have a moderate impact on the sales of air purifiers in GCC.Request Free Report Sample@The key players in the GCC air purifiers market include Sharp Corporation, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Hitachi Ltd., and Panasonic Corporation.Sharp Corporation is marketing its air purifiers to consumers in UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar markets. Sharp is using its patented PlasmaCluster Ion Technology and incorporating it in different home appliances, including air purifiers.LG Electronics, in collaboration with Saudi Arabia-based Al-Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Co. recently launched a new range of air purifiers with five-stage filtration system. LG air purifiers in UAE are sold through AL Yosuf Electronics. The company has also made its products available on shopping websites, such as Carrefour UAE and SharafDG UAE.Samsung Electronics operates in GCC through its home appliances sales group, Samsung Gulf Electronics. The business strategy of Samsung is aimed at collaboration and partnering with prominent local players to capture a larger share of the market.Demand for air purifiers is robust in Saudi Arabia and UAE. According to FMIs analysis, these two countries collectively hold a share of over 60% of the GCC air purifiers market in 2014. FMI projects these two countries to account for bulk of the demand for air purifiers during the forecast period.Send An Enquiry@Saudi Arabia & UAE Account for Bulk of the DemandThe Saudi Arabia air purifiers market, valued at US$ 14.85 Mn in 2014, is anticipated to be worth US$ 41.33 Mn by 2020. The key factors fuelling the demand for air purifiers in Saudi Arabia include focus on medical tourism and increased investment in infrastructure activities.The UAE air purifiers market is expected to be worth US$ 26.10 Mn by 2020. Like Saudi Arabia, UAE is projected to develop its medical infrastructure in a bid to develop non-oil based sectors. Owing to the focus on medical tourism, construction of a number of hospitals is in the pipeline. FMI opines these factors to provide an impetus to the air purifiers market in UAE.The air purifiers market in rest of GCC (Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar) is projected to reach a valuation of US$ 17.79 Mn. According to FMI, the air purifiers market in these countries is still at a nascent stage, and it will take a while before they are adopted on a large scale.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Real Time Clocks(RTC) Sales Market Report 2021

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This report studies sales (consumption) of Real Time Clocks(RTC) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regions, coveringMaxim IntegratedMicro CrystalIntersilamsEpson ElectronicsAmbiqmicroNXPTexas InstrumentsIDT(Integrated Device Technology)MicrochipAllied ElectronicsEM MicroelectronicsEasy ClockingPericomAbraconAVX CorporationROHM SemiconductorSTMiconductorNJR SemiconductorQ-TECH CorporationCymbetSll Semiconductor CorporationMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Real Time Clocks(RTC) in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaSplit by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoType IType IIType IIISplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Real Time Clocks(RTC) in each application, can be divided intoApplication 1Application 2Application 3Download Sample Copy of Report atTable of Contents1 Real Time Clocks(RTC) Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Real Time Clocks(RTC)1.2 Classification of Real Time Clocks(RTC)1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Applications of Real Time Clocks(RTC)1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 Real Time Clocks(RTC) Market by Regions1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Real Time Clocks(RTC) (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Real Time Clocks(RTC) Sales, Revenue and Price (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Real Time Clocks(RTC) Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.3 Global Real Time Clocks(RTC) Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Real Time Clocks(RTC) Competition by Manufacturers, Type and ApplicationMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Pea Protein Market to register a healthy CAGR for the forecast period, 2016-2026

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Halal pharmaceuticals are those medicines that stringently adhere to Shariah law. More specifically, halal pharmaceuticals refer to medicines that should not contain any parts of animals (dogs, pigs and ones particularly with pointed teeth), insects (bees), alcohol and other substances prohibited as haram under the Shariah law. Competent religious local regulatory bodies in countries generally provide a better segregation regarding the classification of drugs as halal or haram (unlawful) across the world. Halal pharmaceuticals are subject to normal pre-marketing and post-marketing controls by the relevant national pharmaceutical regulators such as the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau in case of Malaysia. Halal medicines market has vast potential globally in terms of revenue generation supported by growing demand for faith-compliant medicines from an expanding Muslim population. Drugs approved by halal drug certifiying agencies such as Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan Obatobatan dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia (LPPOM MUI) of Indonesia and Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia are expected to witness rising consumption globally. Currently, halal medicines are estimated to have contributed close to one-third of the total revenue from the global halal market, posing an extremely attractive opportunity for Shariah compliant drugs. This is supported by the fact that demand outstrips supply of halal medicines by a significant margin, creating potential for future economic value added in the industry.Halal Pharmaceuticals Market: Drivers and RestraintsDrivers of the halal pharmaceuticals market include a growing Muslim population. Given that Muslims have been estimated to account for close to 25% of the global population in 2015~1.6 billion people (PewResearch)  the annual growth rate of the Muslim population has been estimated to be ~1.6%, which is higher than the growth rate of the world population (1.1% per annum). Increasing awareness among Muslims regarding wellness and medicines is propagating mainly through increased education. This is another prime factor contributing to growth of the halal medicine market. Other socio-economic factors driving the need and uptake of halal medicines include rising purchasing power parity, increasing access to critical medicines in resource-constrained nations supported by public organizations such as World Health Organization, safety of consumption, assurance of product efficacy and hygienic processing among others. Increasing need to get medicines certified from an approved regulatory body is driving regulatory convergence in the halal medicines market among countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, Turkey, France and others.Request for sample report:Key restraints include lack of adequate infrastructure in non-Islamic countries to avoid cross-contamination between halal and non-halal production lines, and lack of sufficient halal advisory and certification agencies to approve medical products. Other restraints include dearth of sufficient R&D for halal medicines globally and omission of critical medicine classes such as vaccines and biologics as they do not comply with Shariah norms. Ban on use of forbidden components such as porcine excipients also limit the number of drugs that can be produced. Industry experts have noted that formation of a proper, well-regulated and harmonized accreditation and halal management system could serve a long way in raising demand for halal medicines.Halal Pharmaceuticals Market: SegmentationHalal pharmaceuticals market can be segmented as indicated below:Segmentation by drug classesRespiratory drugsCardiovascular drugsEndocrine drugsPain medicationsAllergies (cough &cold)OthersSegmentation by product typeTabletsSyrupsCapsulesOthersSegmentation by source materialPlant and plant derivativesAnimals (compliant under religious laws)Synthetic and semi-synthetic sourcesRecombinant DNASegmentation by regionsHalal Pharmaceuticals Market: OverviewUptake of Halal medicines is gaining major traction globally, primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, these medicines are fully compliant with faith and so are readily acceptable under religious laws. Secondly, these medicines are very well assessed for quality and certification before being released into the market and are mostly made using herbal and synthetic materials. The market for halal pharmaceuticals is expected to register a significant CAGR as well as annual growth rates over the forecast period. Regulatory harmonization and regional regulatory convergence is expected to emerge as the key market trends in the near future.Request for TOC:Halal Pharmaceuticals Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of geographic regions, halal drug market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East & Africa.In terms of geography, Asia Pacific region is the main region exhibiting development and uptake of halal medicines, particularly in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. However, R&D activities related to halal medicines are gaining traction in the European and North American regions. Discussion on formation of halal medicine certification agencies and guidelines are key features found in the traditionally pharmaceutically developed markets. Companies producing halal medicines are expected to enter Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Russia, France, Libya, Algeria and Singapore as well as the UAE to cater to the high demand base for better revenue generation, either through distributor route or via tie-ups with established players.Halal Pharmaceuticals Market: Key PlayersSome key accredited players in the halal medicine market include Chemical Company of Malaysia Berhad (CCM Pharmaceuticals Sdn Bhd), Pharmaniaga Bhd, Simpor Pharma Sdn Bhd, EMBIL Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Nutramedica Incorporated, etc. among others.This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, rich qualitative insights, country-wise opportunity assessment for halal medicines and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as, geographies, product class and sub-class and applications, certification norms, challenges and opportunity assessment.About us:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Contact us:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Lightweight Materials Market 2016 - Cytec Solvay Group, Aleris International, Formosa Plastics Group, Toray Industries Inc., Precision Castparts Corp.

Lightweight Materials

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A market study based on the "Lightweight Materials Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Lightweight Materials Market 2016. The research report analyzes the historical as well as present performance of the global Lightweight Materials market, and makes predictions on the future status of Lightweight Materials market on the basis of this analysis.Global Lightweight Materials Industry Trends, Share, Research, Forecast, Demand, Gross Margin, Growth Analysis, Revenue, Cost, Supply, Major Regions Status and R&D Status.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Major Manufacturers are covered in Lightweight Materials research report areCytec Solvay GroupAleris InternationalFormosa Plastics GroupAlcoa Inc.PPG Industries Inc.Toray Industries Inc.Precision Castparts Corp.Allegheny Technologies IncorporatedEvonik IndustriesThe report studies the market for Lightweight Materials across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Lightweight Materials market & dynamics of demand and supply of Lightweight Materials into consideration. The 'Lightweight Materials'research study covers each and every aspect of the Lightweight Materials market globally, which starts from the definition of the Lightweight Materials market and develops towards Lightweight Materials market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Lightweight Materials market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Lightweight Materials market. The geographical segmentation of the Lightweight Materials market has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Lightweight Materials is determined by evaluating the various market participants, production capacity, Lightweight Materials market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Lightweight Materials market worldwide.Read More Research with TOC :The global Lightweight Materials market 2016 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Lightweight Materials production volume, data regarding demand and Lightweight Materials supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the market for Lightweight Materials across the globe.About Us:QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesEmail: sales@qymarketresearch.com
Market Research on Black Pepper Market 2016 and Analysis to 2026

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Black Pepper is a pungent hot-tasting powder spice prepared from dried and ground peppercorns, used to flavor food. It is also known as king of spices because it contains rich anti-oxidants and other nutrients. The high demand for pepper presents an attractive market opportunity for new vendors to enter the market. In the present market scenario, it is estimated that the new crop of black pepper accounts for nearly 30% to 35% of the market. The high demand is expected to increase the price of black pepper, thereby increasing the profit margin of the vendors in this market.Apart from this, black pepper powder is also used to make medicines. It often used to cure stomach upset, bronchitis, and cancer. It is sometimes applied directly to the skin for treating nerve pain(neuralgia) and a skin disease called scabies. Black peppers are also used typically as a counterirritant for pain.Request for sample report:Black Pepper Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe black pepper market is directly influenced by the growing processed food industry. The rise in consumption of bakery products, confectionery products, and ready-to-eat and ried food in the developed economies is driving the market for the spice. The recent trend of using natural flavor enhancer has also catalyzed the growth of the global market. In the year 2013-15, the global pepper consumption is estimated at around 400,000 tons and has been increasing steadily. Increasing demand from Far East countries, which have started using more pepper in cooking, has been quite significant in driving the global black pepper market. Growth in the cosmetics industry is also directly influencing the pepper market. Due to the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of black pepper, it is often included in skin care products.As stated earlier, that the market is experiencing a major year on year increase in demand for black pepper. But unfortunately, this demand is not backed by adequate supply, which has proved to be a major restraint in this market. This is majorly due to the intensive crop losses in various parts of the world, especially in India & Brazil. Sudden climatic changes and untimely rainfall has significantly led to the fall in the yield of black pepper.Black PepperMarket: SegmentationThe global black pepper market can be broadly segmented on the basis of; type, end use and application. On the basis of type, the market can be further segmented into  organic and inorganic. Based on end use, the market can be segmented into bakery and confectionery products, frozen products, soups, sauces & dressing, beverages, meat & poultry products, snacks and convenience food, and others. Based of application, the black pepper market can be segmented into food & beverages, health care and personal care & cosmetics.Request for TOC:Black PepperMarket: Region Wise OutlookGeographically, the global black peppermarket is segmented into seven regions which are ; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Japan.Vietnam, followed by Brazil, India & Indonesia are the leading producer of black pepper in the year 2014 globally.India saw a fall in its average production in the same year. The leverage of large scale production and productivity helps Vietnam growers to offer world's lowest price tags.In terms of export, Vietnam leads the market globally. U.S. market continues to be the largest importer of black pepper from Vietnam. While most markets like India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Netherlands, Spain have seen an increase in their imports, except Germany. German market recorded a drop in imports from Vietnam. Thus, with a market share of approximately 50% per cent in the global market, Vietnam has been able dominate the market.Black PepperMarket: Key PlayersSome of the major companies operating in global black peppermarket are Baria Pepper, British Pepper and Spice, Catch, Everest Spices, McCormick, MDH, Agri food Pacific, Akar Indo, Brazil Trade Business, DM AGRO, Gupta Trading, Pacific Production, PT AF, Silk Road Spices, The Spice House, Vietnam Spice Company, Visimex, and Webb James, Olam International Limited.About us:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Contact us:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (CAB) Market: Facts, Figures and Analytical Insights 2015 to 2021

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Cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) is an amorphous, transparent thermoplastic material with uses from trim for automobiles to tool handles, pens and blister packaging among others. It can be melted and remodeled into new shapes without altering its molecular structure. It is resistant to ultraviolet rays, has low moisture absorption and high impact strength. In addition it has high transparency, aesthetic appeal, high dielectric constant, excellent machinability, compatibility with human skin and ability to be offered in unlimited range of colors. It has soft and pliable nature and can be stretched up to 60% of its original length. It is expensive than its precursor cellulose acetate because of additional steps necessary in producing the compound. Since, cellulose acetate butyrate is resistant to ultraviolet, it can be used for applications where high surface gloss is needed such as production of lacquers for lenses and for various forms of plastic film.Request for Sample Report:Cellulose acetate butyrate is resistant to household chemicals and can be used in manufacture of numerous types of toys and sporting goods. Since, cellulose acetate butyrate has low electrical conductivity, high internal resistance and external resistance, it serves as a good insulating material. It also finds variety of applications in products such as textile fibers, wound dressings, photography, slip covers, steering wheels, goggles, pneumatic system traps and magnetic tape among others. Majority of cellulose acetate butyrate is consumed for making cigarette filters.Cigarette tow and textiles are the key end use application for cellulose acetate butyrate. The major demand comes from cigarette filter tow manufacturing companies that are also engaged in manufacture of textile fibers. Rising consumption of cigarette in low to middle income countries such as China and India, introduction of longer cigarette filters, preference for low tar cigarettes is driving the demand for cellulose acetate butyrate. Absence of stringent government regulations regarding cigarette consumption and demand for lesser emission of nicotine in the smoke is also accelerating the demand for cellulose acetate butyrate in emerging economies. A company must incur huge sunk costs to build a dedicated production facility, this act as a significant barrier for new players to enter the cellulose acetate butyrate market.Cellulose acetate butyrate is a mature product and growth has slowed down in the U.S and Western Europe. Cigarette applications are getting diminished in Europe and the U.S as a result of increased awareness of health hazards of smoking and stringent government regulations. Demand for cellulose acetate butyrate is growing in Eastern and Central Europe, India, China and Latin America as cigarette consumption is growing in these regions. The Asia Pacific region is the largest consumer for Cellulose acetate butyrate. It is also one of the fastest growing regions for cellulose acetate butyrate, largely driven by filter tow market. China is the largest market in terms of filter tow consumption and new cellulose acetate filter tow production facilities and capacity expansions are expected to be constructed in China in the coming years. There is also a shift of textile production facilities from western countries towards China that favors the growth of domestic market.Request for Table of content:The key companies in the cellulose acetate butyrate market include Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd, Daicel Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, Celanese Corporation, SK Chemicals Co. Ltd, Celanese Acetate, Rhodia Acetow GmbH, Primester, Simagchem Corporation, Haihang Industry Co. and Hangzhou Dayangchem Co. Ltd among others.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
X-Band Radar Market Valued at US$ 4.6 Bn in 2015, to Reach Nearly US$ 7 Bn by 2026

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According to a new market report published by Future Market Insights titled X-Band Radar Market - Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016 - 2026, the global X-band radar market was valued at US$ 4.6 Bn in 2015 and is expected to register a CAGR of 3.8% from 2016 to 2026 to reach US$ 6.9 Bn by 2026. Growth of the global X-band radar market is primarily driven by increasing need of advanced security and surveillance systems across the world.Increasing significance of weather and climate predictions, and aviation safety is propelling the demand for X-band radar market globally. X-band radars help improve aviation safety and increase the operational efficiency of the entire air transport industry. Besides, they also provide alerts on floods through continuous monitoring of rainfall. Vendors such as Saab Group and Northrop Grumman Corporation recently introduced weather monitoring radar.Inability to adjust quickly to track a stream of separate missiles is one of the factors restraining the growth of the market. Sea-based X-band radar can be supported by a land-based early warning radar in case of an event of an attack. These radars could help X-band radars by identifying a definite location for Sea-based X-band Radar (SBX) to focus on. However, aiming and re-aiming the giant radars beam is a clumsy process. This inhibits X-band radars ability to bend swiftly enough to track a range of different missiles.Request Free Report Sample@On the basis of type, the global X-band radar market is segmented as mobile X-band radar and sea based-X-band radar. The mobile X-band radar segment was valued US$ 3.1 Bn in 2015 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period 20162026. The sea-based X-band radar segment was valued US$ 1.5 Bn in 2015.X-Band Radar Market: Region-wise SegmentationNorth America, the largest market for X-Band radar, was valued US$ 1.5 Bn in 2015and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period of 2016-2026. In North America region, ARL-E long range radars developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation have witnessed traction in their adoption by the U.S. government. These radars have enhanced the U.S. Armys C4ISR capabilities.Western Europe region is expected be the second largest market of global X-band radar, followed by Eastern Europe. Ground Master 400 radar, developed by the Raytheon Company is very popular in this region.Send An Enquiry@Key Players in X-Band Radar MarketKey players of the global X-band radar market include Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Company, Saab Group, Japan Radio Company Limited, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, Furuno Electric Co.,Ltd, Terma A/S, Detect, Inc., Reutech Radar Systems, and ProSensing, Inc.Leading players in the global x-band radar market are focusing on the development of end-to-end products and services such as logistics, infrastructure and maintenance, and providing support to their clients. Companies such as Saab Group, Raytheon Corporation, DeTect, Inc. serve both domestic and international government customers as a prime contractor and subcontractor of defence and related programmes.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Honey Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2016 - 2022

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Global honey market is propelled by the growing awareness among consumers related to home remedies coupled with health benefits associated with its consumption. However major factor that hampers the growth of honey market across the globe is the presence of the price gap among different forms of honey.Honey is a natural product that is widely used for its healing effects and food preservative application. Honey consists of glucose and fructose and has similar sweetness as granulated sugar. It includes chemical properties, it is used for baking and cereal products applications. Honey possess distinctive flavor in comparison to sugar and regular sweeteners, which make consumers more inclined towards honey. There are various type of honey which includes raw honey, crystallized honey, pasteurized honey and dried honey. Honey is used in various applications such as wounds, burns and cough. Honey includes antioxidant that is used as preventive measure from various diseases. Antioxidant capacity of honey is important in many disease conditions. Honey is used to prevent various diseases such as gastrointestinal, inflammatory neoplastic state and cardiovascular.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Major factor that are expected to drive the honey market is that it is used for direct consumption and as ingredients in a various range of food products. Various promotion and marketing activities are used as medium to reach food service sectors and consumers.in order to further enhance their awareness related to the uses and market opportunities. . However, major factors that are expected to hamper the growth of the global honey market across the globe are crystallization of the honey and increasing adulteration of the honey with sugar syrup.The global honey market is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period due to rising awareness among consumers related to the health benefits associated with the consumption of the honey. Globally, among all regions, North America is expected to contribute maximum revenue in the global honey market followed by Middle East. In North America, U.S. is expected to account maximum market share in terms of revenue owing to the high consumer awareness related to the health benefits associated with the consumption of honey. However Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit maximum market growth owing to the rising population coupled with growing health awareness among consumers.View Sample Report @Major companies that operates in the global honey market are operating in honey market are Hi Tech Natural Products (India) Limited, LITTLE BEE IMPEX, Phondaghat Pharmacy, Honey Sugar Product and Lamex Foods UK Limited. Companies that manufacture honey are primarily launching wide range of honey products that are available in various packaging types that caters to the evolving needs of the customers. Various companies that operates in the global honey market are investing huge amount in advertising and branding in order to increase the market share to the overall honey market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market in-telligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexi-ble without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Releases New Report on the Global Child Resistant Re-Closable Edible Bags Market

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Safety in packaging of edible products today is considered to be of paramount importance. Designs in packaging today have to take into consideration the safety of not just the product itself, but also the safety of the user. Packaging in this day and age demands the packaging to be child resistant. Innovations in packaging have led to the developments in design that makes the product within the package inaccessible to children. These are termed as child resistant packaging. These are available in two forms, namely re-closable, and non-re-closable.Dr. Henri Breault was the first to develop child resistant packaging back in the 70s. The wide application in the pharmaceutical industry has led to the imposition of regulations by international and national authorities which require testing of the packaging before approval. Through the years, child resistant re-closable edible bags has helped decrease the incidents of unintentional child poisoning due to ingestion of drugs all over the world. With the legalization of marijuana in a few sates of USA, and the commercialization of marijuana, producers have accepted child resistant packaging with open arms. With ease of production of flexible packaging and its wide adoption among the consumers has led to innovations in design that incorporate child resistant features. One of the upcoming child resistant packaging types is the child resistant re-closable edible bags.Request for sample report:Child resistant re-closable edible bags Market- Market Segmentation:Based on the end use, the child resistant re-closable edible bags market is segmented into:PharmaceuticalConsumer goodsChemicalNutraceuticalsOther( pet food, granules, powders and other mixes)Based on the function type, the child resistant re-closable edible bags market is segmented into:SlidersZipperCombinations of sliders and zipperRequest for TOC:Child resistant re-closable edible bags Market- Market Dynamics:With the increasing demand for functionality in the packaging of products, safety is an unsaid factor to be taken into consideration for packaging of edible products. The pharmaceutical industry specifically has taken steps through the years to develop packaging solutions that capture this essential factor. This has led to the increased safety of children and a major decline in unintentional child poisoning. With the pharmaceutical industry booming worldwide, child resistant re-closable edible bags market is expected to witness a positive impact. The trend has caught up with the consumer goods segment and the cosmetics, food & beverages, and pet food industries have widely adopted child resistant re-closable edible bags as well. With the rising demand of packaged goods due to the on the go lifestyle of consumers, we can expects the child resistant re-closable edible bags market to witness an exponential growth through the forecasted period. Testing of the re-closable edible bags by international and national authorities requires the packaging of the product to fulfil certain guidelines that have been laid down. This will act as a restrain for the child resistant re-closable edible bags market.Child resistant re-closable edible bags Market- Regional Outlook:In terms of geography, the child resistant re-closable edible bagsmarket has been divided in to five key regions; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The child resistant re-closable edible bags market is expected to exhibit an above average CAGR during the forecast period. Eastern Europe is expected to continue being the dominant market for Child resistant re-closable edible bags followed by Western Europe. Increase in demand for child resistant re-closable edible bags in the consumer goods, pharmaceutical and healthcare sector will stimulate the demand for the child resistant re-closable edible bags market globally.Child resistant re-closable edible bags Market- Major Players:Some of the key players in the child resistant re-closable edible bags market are BSI Group, Sun Grown Packaging, Healthcare Logistics, Inc., Loksak Inc.Browse full report:About us:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Contact us:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Fastest growing sectors in United States Emergency Stretcher Market : Besco, EGO Zlin, AADCO Medical, Me.Ber, Ferno (UK) Limited, Byron

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Bigmarketresearch.com include new market research report "United States Emergency Stretcher Market Report 2016This report studies sales (consumption) of Emergency Stretcher in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player, coveringBescoEGO ZlinAADCO MedicalMe.BerFerno (UK) LimitedByronView complete report here @Split by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoSled stretcherScoop stretcherNeil Robertson stretcherBasket stretcherFolding stretcherOtherSplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Emergency Stretcher in each application, can be divided intoHuman useVeterinaryApplication 3Download sampel copy here @Key points from table of content :5 United States Emergency Stretcher Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis5.1 Besco5.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors5.1.2 Emergency Stretcher Product Type, Application and Specification5.1.3 Besco Emergency Stretcher Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.2 EGO Zlin5.2.2 Emergency Stretcher Product Type, Application and Specification5.2.3 EGO Zlin Emergency Stretcher Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.3 AADCO Medical5.3.2 Emergency Stretcher Product Type, Application and Specification5.3.3 AADCO Medical Emergency Stretcher Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.4 Me.Ber5.4.2 Emergency Stretcher Product Type, Application and Specification5.4.3 Me.Ber Emergency Stretcher Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewRequest for discount here @About Company :Big Market Research uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency.Contact Us :Dhananjay Potle5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect :+ 1-503-894-6022Toll Free : + 1-800-910-6452Email: help@bigmarketresearch.comWeb:
Dementia rate has fallen in the US, thanks to education, better treatment: Study

Day guest Helga, who has dementia, during a sport lesson in the geriatric day care facility of the German Red Cross (DRK, or Deutsches Rotes Kreuz) at Villa Albrecht on March 18, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images/ Carsten Koall)

A new study has found that the rate of dementia among the Americans is incredibly declining. The researchers think that higher education and better treatment of certain diseases have been a great help.



The dementia rate among 21,057 Americans fell considerably from 11.6 percent to 8.8 percent from 2000 to 2012. A drop of 24 percent over 12 years was noted among Americans 65 years and older.



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"Our study, along with prior studies, supports the notion that "cognitive reserve" resulting from early-life and lifelong education and cognitive stimulation," Dr. Kenneth Langa of the University of Michigan said about the study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. " It may be a potent strategy for the primary prevention of dementia in both high- and low-income countries around the world.



The result of the study was supported by the same findings in the United Kingdom and Europe. The researchers believe that more years spent studying and better treatment for diseases, including cardiovascular and diabetes are associated with lower risk for dementia.



The US population is aging, while more people are overweight, and have high blood pressure and diabetes. However, the dementia rate decreased. The Alzheimer's Association warned that the findings do not mean that less Americans have dementia.



Prevalence rate means the number of people over the number of total population. Prevalence number is the total number of people with the disease. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, ALZ.Org reported.



Alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. In 2016, dementia and Alzheimer's disease will cost about $236 billion. Despite the fall in dementia rate, the researchers noted that the number of Americans with Alzheimer's and dementia will continue to increase.



The new study is still a good news in the medical industry. There is still no cure for dementia, but a research like this can give hope to many people who are diagnosed with the disease.



Dementia remains one of the leading causes of death in England and Wales. Alzheimer's Research UK chief executive Hilary Evans praised the latest dementia study as a sign of optimism, but dementia still serves as the "greatest medical challenge."



Check out some updates about dementia:






Synagis (Pediatric RSV) - Forecast And Market Analysis To 2022

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SummaryGlobalData has released its new PharmaPoint Drug Evaluation report, Synagis (Pediatric RSV) Forecast and Market Analysis to 2022. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of pediatric respiratory infections and virtually all children will have been infected by the virus by the age of two. RSV transmission typically occurs during the winter and early spring months. The virus is spread through the air by an infected persons sneeze or cough, or through direct and indirect contact with nasal secretions of an infected person. The majority of RSV infections present as mild upper respiratory illnesses that often self-resolve within two weeks, but about 1% of the cases develop serious lower respiratory complications requiring hospitalization. Children under the age of two with certain health conditions are most at risk for severe RSV infections and are therefore recommended to receive RSV prophylaxis treatments. The only FDA-approved prophylactic intervention in the US is AstraZenecas Synagis (palivizumab), a humanized monoclonal antibody against the fusion protein of the virus.AstraZenecas Synagis (palivizumab) is a humanized mouse mAb used for the prevention of serious lower respiratory tract disease as a result of RSV infection in high-risk pediatric patients under the age of two. Synagis mechanism of action involves the binding of the antibody to the viral F protein. Synagis received FDA approval in 1998, and by 2002 was approved in all the seven major markets (7MM) (US, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, UK, and Japan) for the prophylaxis of infants at high risk of severe RSV infection. Today, Synagis is approved in 83 countries worldwide (AstraZeneca, 2012). Synagis is the only immunoprophylaxis approved for pediatric patients.ScopeOverview of RSV, including epidemiology, etiology, symptoms, diagnosis, pathology and treatment guidelines as well as an overview on the competitive landscape.Detailed information on Synagis including product description, safety and efficacy profiles as well as a SWOT analysis.Sales forecast for Synagis for the US from 2012 to 2022.Sales information covered for the USDownload Sample Copy of Report atReasons to buyUnderstand and capitalize by identifying products that are most likely to ensure a robust returnStay ahead of the competition by understanding the changing competitive landscape for RSVEffectively plan your M&A and partnership strategies by identifying drugs with the most promising sales potentialMake more informed business decisions from insightful and in-depth analysis of Synagis performanceObtain sales forecast for Synagis from 2012-2022 the USMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Health Insurance Global Market Vendors, Trends, Challenges and Segmentation 2016 - 2020

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Health Insurance is a type of insurance where the insurer pays the medical expenses on behalf of the insured. The insurer has to pay a monthly premium to the health insurance company, which can be on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Health insurance covers disability and long term nursing. The healthcare providers cover the costs related to medical treatments, drugs, and other expenses. The coverage depends on the health insurance plan taken by the insurer. Health insurance plans are provided through direct-insurance companies, independent brokers, and employer-sponsored programs. Beside the premiums being paid by the insurer, there are other additional costs that are taken into consideration in health insurance coverage that includes co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and stop loss limits. Research Beams analysts forecast the Global Health Insurance Market to Grow at A CAGR of 11.14% During the Period 2016-2020.Read Full Report with TOC @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global health insurance market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the total amount of premium generated primarily in emerging markets, such as APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAResearch Beam's report, Global Health Insurance Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Download PDF Sample @Key vendors Zurich Insurance United Healthcare Aviva AXA AllianzOther prominent vendors Aetna Foundation AIA Insurance Blue Cross Blue Shield Kaiser foundationMarket driver Growth in the number of aging population and increase in life expectancy For a full, detailed list, view our reportAsk for Discount @Market challenge Pressure in cost associated with health insurance For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Innovations in healthcare products and solutions For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Table of ContentsPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Market research methodologyPART 04: IntroductionPART 05: Market landscapePART 06: Geographical segmentationPART 07: Market driversPART 08: Impact of driversPART 09: Market challengesPART 10: Impact of drivers and challengesWith the arsenal of different search reports, Research Beam helps you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland, OR 97220U.S. & Canada Toll Free: + 1-800-910-6452UK: + 44-845-528-1300, India: +91 20 66346070Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975Email:
MEDICA 2016: Skin protection in triplicate

Dr. Schumacher: Skin protection in triplicate

Malsfeld  Around 128.000 visitors have been noted during four trade fair days at a fully booked MEDICA this year. At the world's leading trade fair for the medical industry Dr. Schumacher GmbH, known as expert for disinfection and hygiene products in all medical areas, also presented itself as a specialist for skin care products. Offering a computer-based skin analysis at its booth visitors could get a comprehensive skin diagnosis and a non-binding product advice. The company is providing skin protection products for every skin type in triplicate: skin disinfection, cleaning and protection products.Our skin has a natural protective function for our body. This protection decreases especially by daily work with medical gloves, disinfection and cleaning and skin may dehydrate. By offering this skin analysis we want to create awareness for the burden of skin and particularly hands in the medical routine. says Jens Schumacher, CEO of Dr. Schumacher GmbH.Disinfection: Regular skin and hand disinfection are mandatory in daily healthcare. While disinfecting their hands before and after any contact with patients, doctors and nursing staff reach a high hygienic status, but strain their skin equally. Skin and hand disinfection products of Dr. Schumacher are very skin-friendly and guarantee a safe and rapid disinfection. Regarding hand disinfection especially the ASEPTOMAN series is suitable for every skin type and requirement.Cleaning: Among disinfection products items for skin and hand cleaning are also offered. Descosan Kamillenduft is a skin-friendly washing lotion with mild surfactants. Optimal ingredients, lanolin, refatting and humectant components protect the physiological integrity of the skin. It is free from colourants and has a mild chamomile scent.Skin care: Dr. Schumacher developed the hypoallergenic prolind sensitive skin care series especially for sensitive and allergic skin. The wide portfolio includes lotions, skin care and skin protection creams which are divided into water-in-oil-emulsions and oil-in-water emulsions. Especially hypoallergenic prolind Intensiv-Pflegecreme sensitive nourishes lastingly and is suited even for atopic and allergic skin. This water-in-oil-emulsion is free from perfume, colourants and preservatives. All products are pH-neutral and may be used by medical staff as well as patients.Take care when using disinfectants. Always read the label and product information prior to use.Dr. Schumacher GmbHFor almost 40 years Dr. Schumacher GmbH is an internationally recognised specialist for the development and production of disinfection, hygiene and care products in all medical areas. Employing more than 1,000 people in eight countries the owner-managed German company with headquarter in Malsfeld/Hesse is producing disinfection and cleaning products for skin, hands, instruments and surfaces. Dr. Schumacher is one of the biggest manufacturers of wet and dry wipe systems in Europe with an own production of soft cloth systems and wet wipes. A distribution network in about 70 countries emphasises the international scope of the hygiene specialist.Dr. Schumacher GmbHAm Roggenfeld 334323 MalsfeldClaudia RehmPR ManagerT +49 5664 9496-729presse@schumacher-online.com
Cryocooler Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Global Cryocooler Market: OverviewAccording to the Cryogenic Society of America Inc., a cryogenic cooler or a cryocooler is a device designed to allow active cooling at temperatures of about -150 degrees Celsius or colder. Different thermodynamic techniques and cycles are utilized in the process of cryocooling. On an average, a cryocooler has a capacity of 100W or less whereas a cryogenic refrigerator or a cryoplant has a capacity of 500W. The cryogenic fluids such as liquid helium, liquid nitrogen, or very cold nitrogen and helium gas are utilized for cryocooling. The liquefied gas is circulated to absorb heat from the interior of the cryocooler and transfer it outside.The ability of a cryocooler to cool its interior environment depends on various thermodynamic properties of the circulating gas. The global cryocooler market has been witnessing considerable demand from the developed economies owing to the rapidly evolving technologies in the military and healthcare sectors.PDF Sample For Latest Advancements with Technological breakthroughs is @Some of the common types of cryocoolers are Stirling cryocoolers, Brayton cryocoolers, pulse-tube cryocoolers, Joule Thomson cryocoolers, and Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers. In terms of services, the global cryocooler market can be segmented into product repair and refurbishment, customer training, technical support, and preventive maintenance. The key application sectors in the global cryocooler market are research and development, energy, military, commercial, medical, space, transport, and environmental. The military sector has contributed immensely towards the growth of the market.Global Cryocooler Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing demand for cryocoolers across the military and healthcare sectors has been boosting the global cryocoolers market. In the military sector, cryocoolers are used to maintain cryogenic temperatures for IR sensors installed in night vision-based systems, satellite-based surveillance, and missile guidance. In the healthcare sector, the rising demand for cryocoolers can be attributed to their extensive utilization in proton therapy, cryosurgery, MRI systems, and liquefaction of oxygen in hospitals. The rapid shortage of helium gas across the developing economies has also supported the markets growth. Cryocoolers are also used for superconductivity applications in semiconductor fabrication units and magnetic levitation trains. The global cryocooler market has immense growth opportunities with the increasing applications of cryocoolers in the space sector.Global Cryocooler Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the global cryocooler market has been segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. In North America, the cryocooler market has been registering significant growth due to the rising adoption of cryocoolers for proton therapy in the treatment of cancer. Cryocoolers are being also used for satellite monitoring and missile guidance in the military sector. In November last year, the U.S. Navys aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford was successfully installed with the cryocooler technology. The robust growth of the military and healthcare sector in the U.S. has driven the growth of the cryocooler market in North America. Asia Pacific and Europe are expected to exhibit considerable demand for cryocoolers.Global Cryocooler Market: Vendor LandscapeThe prominent players in the global cryocooler market are Superconductor Technologies Inc. Brooks Automation Inc., Advanced Research Systems, Inc., Janis Research Company LLC, Cryomech, Inc., Chart Industries, Inc., DH Industries BV, Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., and Sunpower, Inc. The key players are focusing on expanding the applications of cryocoolers across the military and energy sector.Furthermore, the players are looking to partner with research organizations and governments to expand their business. For example, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation has won a contract worth US$18.2 mn to design, test, and deliver a cryocooler for NASAs Landsat-9 spacecraft. For NASAs James Webb Space Telescope to be launched in 2018, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed an innovative cryocooler that will freeze the telescopes Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Autonomous Cars/Driverless Cars Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Global Autonomous Cars/Driverless Cars Market: OverviewThe concept of autonomous cars/driverless cars is being enthusiastically explored only now. However, the development of this market took root in the late 1970s. The first version of an autonomous car was unveiled by S. Tsugawa and his team back in 1977. The car had two cameras that implemented analog computer technology for signal processing. However, Ernst Dickmanns, a German aerospace engineer, is widely recognized as the pioneer of the autonomous car due to his series of projects in the field in the 1980s. The Carnegie Mellon University introduced an autonomous car, NavLab 5, and drove it from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles in 1995.Autonomous cars/driverless cars, however, received a commercial boost from technology giant Google, Inc. when the company introduced a fleet of seven autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids in 2010. The companys driverless car program has been termed as the turning point in the history of the autonomous/driverless cars market. The entry of a technology firm changed the competitive landscape of the market.Global Autonomous Cars/Driverless Cars Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe concept of autonomous cars/driverless cars has intrigued car enthusiasts and manufacturers alike as it nullifies human involvement in driving and navigation. An estimated 90% of road accidents across the world are caused due to human error. Hence, adoption of autonomous cars/driverless cars can significantly reduce the number of road accidents. Furthermore, autonomous cars will make it possible for visually impaired and senior citizens to commute safely. Driverless cars will also ensure better management of traffic flow and parking spots. All these factors are anticipated to support the growth of the global autonomous/driverless cars market.PDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @However, certain restraining factors challenge the concept of driverless cars. For example, car enthusiasts might find it unappealing to give up driving their own vehicle. High cost of autonomous cars and reliance on GPS satellites for navigation are likely to hamper the growth of the market. Recent accidents associated with the testing of driverless cars have raised concerns about the safety of drivers.Global Autonomous Cars/Driverless Cars Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the global autonomous cars/driverless cars market has been segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The U.S. has been the leading the autonomous cars/driverless cars market in North America. Early adoption of the innovative technology and presence of key market players have boosted the growth of the market in the region. Government support in terms of amendments in traffic regulations and funding of research projects on autonomous/driverless cars is also expected to augment the market in the region. Major players in the automotive industry in Europe are working on novel technologies regarding the development of autonomous cars. Changes in traffic regulations by governments across countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany are anticipated to support the market. Countries such as Japan, Singapore, and China are the key markets for driverless cars in Asia Pacific.The global autonomous cars/driverless cars market is witnessing increased competition due to the entry of technology firms. While automotive companies such as Tesla Motors, The Volvo Group, and Nissan Motor Company are working on the development of driverless cars, technology firms such as Google, Inc. and Baidu, Inc. are also exploring the opportunities in the autonomous cars market. Google, Inc. has tested its autonomous cars across Texas, Washington D.C., California, and Arizona.Tesla Motors has been among the pioneers in the development of autonomous cars. In 2015, the company launched its semi-autonomous cars Tesla Model X and Model S, and aims to introduce driverless cars by 2020. Several of these automobile manufacturers are collaborating with technology firms for the development of autonomous cars.Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales Market Report 2016 by ReportBazzar

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ReportBazzar has announced a new report titled "Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales Market Report 2016" To their offeringsBrowse Report Summary with TOC:Notes:Sales, means the sales volume of Kidney Cancer DrugRevenue, means the sales value of Kidney Cancer DrugThis report studies sales (consumption) of Kidney Cancer Drug in Global market, especially in USA, China, Europe, Japan, India and Southeast Asia, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regions, coveringBayerF. Hoffmann-La RocheGlaxoSmithKlineNovartisPfizerAbbott LaboratoriesActive BiotechAmgenArgos TherapeuticsArQuleAVEO PharmaceuticalsBionomicsBristol-Myers SquibbCerulean PharmaExelixisGenentechimmatics biotechnologiesImmunicumOno PharmaceuticalOnyx TherapeuticsOxford BioMedicaPrometheus LaboratoriesSeattle GeneticsTaiwan LiposomeTRACON PharmaceuticalsWilexMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Kidney Cancer Drug in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeUSAChinaEuropeJapanIndiaSoutheast AsiaSplit by product Types, with sales, revenue, price and gross margin, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoType IType IIType IIISplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Kidney Cancer Drug in each application, can be divided intoApplication 1Application 2Application 3Request Sample Report:Table of Content:Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales Market Report 20161 Kidney Cancer Drug Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Kidney Cancer Drug1.2 Classification of Kidney Cancer Drug1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Application of Kidney Cancer Drug1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 Kidney Cancer Drug Market by Regions1.4.1 USA Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Kidney Cancer Drug (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global Kidney Cancer Drug (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global Kidney Cancer Drug Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global Kidney Cancer Drug (Volume) by ApplicationEnquiry For Discount:About us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.Contact Us:ReportBazzar30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.United States.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
Europe Milk of Magnesium Market Report 2021 by ReportBazzar

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ReportBazzar has announced a new report titled "Europe Milk of Magnesium Market Report 2021" To their offeringsBrowse Report Summary with TOC:Notes:Sales, means the sales volume of Milk of MagnesiumRevenue, means the sales value of Milk of MagnesiumThis report studies sales (consumption) of Milk of Magnesium in Europe market, especially in Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Russia, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regions, coveringBayerC.B. Fleet Company, IncGCP LaboratoriesGeri-Care PharmaceuticalsPharmaceutical Associates, IncMajor PharmaceuticalsRugbyMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Europe into several key Regions, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Milk of Magnesium in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaSplit by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoLiquidTabletType IIISplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Milk of Magnesium in each application, can be divided intoConstipation treatment (large number of applications)Stomach treatmentAcne treatmentRequest Sample Report:Table of Content:1 Milk of Magnesium Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Milk of Magnesium1.2 Classification of Milk of Magnesium1.2.1 Liquid1.2.2 Tablet1.2.3 Type III1.3 Applications of Milk of Magnesium1.3.1 Constipation treatment (large number of applications)1.3.2 Stomach treatment1.3.3 Acne treatment1.4 Milk of Magnesium Market by Regions1.4.1 Germany Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 France Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 UK Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Italy Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Spain Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 Russia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Europe Market Size (Value and Volume) of Milk of Magnesium (2011-2021)1.5.1 Europe Milk of Magnesium Sales, Revenue and Price (2011-2021)1.5.2 Europe Milk of Magnesium Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.3 Europe Milk of Magnesium Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Europe Milk of Magnesium by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Europe Milk of Magnesium Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Europe Milk of Magnesium Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.1.2 Europe Milk of Magnesium Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Europe Milk of Magnesium (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Europe Milk of Magnesium Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2021)2.2.2 Europe Milk of Magnesium Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2021)2.3 Europe Milk of Magnesium (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Europe Milk of Magnesium Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2021)2.3.2 Europe Milk of Magnesium Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2021)2.4 Europe Milk of Magnesium (Volume) by ApplicationEnquiry For Discount:About us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.Contact Us:ReportBazzar30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.United States.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
Development in Chinas Internet of Things (IoT) Market to Remain Progressive through 2021

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Albany, New York, November 24, 2016: The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution is sweeping the world right now and with the help of advanced growth it is going to be the first tech revolution that has genuine prospect of benefiting every country at the same time. A report, titled Development and Market of Internet of Things in China 2016-2021 Proposal, has been recently added to the repository of Market Research Hub. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the Internet of things (IoT) market in China. The report also analyzes the various factors having impact on the market such as the latest technological advancements and the influence of government initiatives.Request For Free Sample Report:This report describes global Internet of Things (IoT) industry with a focus on China. Other key regions included in the report are U.S.A, South Korea, Japan and Europe. China possessed numerous patents in sensor, telecommunication, internet etc. Additionally, IoT layout of core cities in China, such as Wuxi, Beijing, Ningbo, Shanghai etc. are also discussed.The report starts with the detailed overview to understand the origin of the internet of things (IoT) in China. It is the network of physical objects, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity which enable these objects to communicate. The Internet of things extends internet connectivity beyond old devices like desktop, laptop computers, smartphones & tablets to a various range of devices. The ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human to computer interaction is the main purpose of IoT. Some prime examples of IoT objects are- connected security systems, thermostats, vending machines, alarm clocks.According to the research study, IoT market is in its initial stage and it would be adopted extensively in different sectors such as industries, agriculture, electricity, architecture, traffic, logistics, eco-environment etc. In China, it was started several years back and has been backed up by the Natural Science Foundation. The researches of China also faced to national core strategies and application demands along with basic standard system, core techniques, system integration and application design. In 2015, the sales volume of IoT in China reached RMB750 billion and by the year 2021 market size of IoT in China would obtain RMB3 (Renminbi) trillion, says new report.Browse Full Report with TOC:In the last section, the report also introduces some Chinese Bellwether companies along with their product introduction and performance.Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:
India Wheat seeds Market 2016 Dupont Pioneer, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and Seed Co Limited

Wheat seeds Market

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India Wheat seeds Market 2016 Industry Size Share Growth Forecast Research and DevelopmentThe India Wheat seeds Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the India Wheat seeds market. Details such as the size, key players, segmentation, SWOT analysis, most influential trends, and business environment of the market are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, this report features tables and figures that render a clear perspective of the Wheat seeds market. The report features an up-to-date data on key companies product details, revenue figures, and sales. Furthermore, the details also gives the India Wheat seeds market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Wheat seeds market are also included. Key strengths, weaknesses, and threats shaping the leading players in the market have also been included in this research report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing India Wheat seeds market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Sample Copy of Report @The study on the India Wheat seeds market also features a history of the tactical mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships activity in the market. Valuable recommendations by senior analysts about investing strategically in research and development can help new entrants or established players penetrate the emerging sectors in the Wheat seeds market. Investors will gain a clear insight on the dominant players in this industry and their future forecasts. Furthermore, readers will get a clear perspective on the high demand and the unmet needs of consumers that will enhance the growth of this market.The India Wheat seeds market report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Dupont Pioneer, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and Seed Co Limited.Table of ContentChapter One Wheat seeds Industry Overview1.1 Wheat seeds Definition1.1.1 Wheat seeds Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Wheat seeds Classification1.3 Wheat seeds Application Field1.4 Wheat seeds Industry Chain Structure1.5 Wheat seeds Industry Regional Overview1.6 Wheat seeds Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Wheat seeds Industry Related Companies Contact InformationInquiry For Buying @MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
South Africa Preservatives Market 2016 BASF SE, Brenntag AG, Cargill In, Celanese Corp and Corbion NV

Preservatives Market

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South Africa Preservatives Market 2016 Industry Size Share Growth Forecast Research and DevelopmentThe South Africa Preservatives Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the South Africa Preservatives market. Details such as the size, key players, segmentation, SWOT analysis, most influential trends, and business environment of the market are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, this report features tables and figures that render a clear perspective of the Preservatives market. The report features an up-to-date data on key companies product details, revenue figures, and sales. Furthermore, the details also gives the South Africa Preservatives market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Preservatives market are also included. Key strengths, weaknesses, and threats shaping the leading players in the market have also been included in this research report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing South Africa Preservatives market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Sample Copy of Report @The study on the South Africa Preservatives market also features a history of the tactical mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships activity in the market. Valuable recommendations by senior analysts about investing strategically in research and development can help new entrants or established players penetrate the emerging sectors in the Preservatives market. Investors will gain a clear insight on the dominant players in this industry and their future forecasts. Furthermore, readers will get a clear perspective on the high demand and the unmet needs of consumers that will enhance the growth of this market.The South Africa Preservatives market report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include BASF SE, Brenntag AG, Cargill In, Celanese Corp and Corbion NV.Table of ContentChapter One Preservatives Industry Overview1.1 Preservatives Definition1.1.1 Preservatives Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Preservatives Classification1.3 Preservatives Application Field1.4 Preservatives Industry Chain Structure1.5 Preservatives Industry Regional Overview1.6 Preservatives Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Preservatives Industry Related Companies Contact InformationInquiry For Buying @MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
China and other super powers like the United States and Russia are vying for the opportunity to explore the resources of the Arctic region when the ice melts. (Photo : Getty Images)

China is the newest comer in the Arctic, a critically important region for the next battle on resources. By 2050, most of the Arctic ice would have melted and there would be opportunities for countries to explore the hidden treasures of this virgin region.



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The U.S. Geological Survey stated that around 30 percent of the worlds undiscovered gas and oil reserves are waiting to be found inside the Arctic Circle. So its no surprise that China and other superpowers like the United States and Russia want to gain control over it.



The budding conflict in the north is perceived by experts to be the next cold war not just because of the cold climate in the Arctic; rather, like the cold war, super powers would have to choose sides and rely on their allies to get an advantage in the battle for resources.



Currently, Chinas ally in the Arctic region is Iceland. The arctic state is happy to have a powerful friend like China and has agreed to have joint projects with the super power.



In a remote valley near the Arctic Circle, a research facility is being built to study Icelands colorful wintry sky known as Northern Lights.



This research facility is funded by Chinas Polar Research Institute. Scientists hope that it will help them learn about the interaction between the sun and the Earths magnetic field, which could help predict space weather.



The building of the facility is behind schedule but the developers hope that it would open next year and house Chinese, Icelandic, and international scientists.



Aside from the research facility, China and Iceland are also planning for other joint projects like making a deep-sea port in a northern Iceland fjord to create a major shipping hub on the Northern Sea Route.



The port will be beneficial to China and Iceland because when the arctic ice melts, a wider Northern Sea Route would be opened and the region would be the new center for trade between Europe and Asia.



The port has not been built yet but the relationship between the two countries remains strong. China is hopeful to maintain this relationship since some Icelanders think that the Asian superpower might abuse their natural resources.



Without an ally like in the Arctic, China would have no power in the region in comparison with other powerful countries like U.S., Canada, and Norway who have legal territorial claims on the north.


Solenoid valve Market expected to Fuel Overall Growth by 2021

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Solenoid valve is a device which uses a solenoid to control valve activation. In solenoid valve, electric current is passed through a solenoid. Solenoid valves are considered as electromechanically operated valve used for controlling liquid or gas flow. Solenoid valves are most commonly used in fluidics as a control elements. They perform the various task such as release, shut-off, mix or distribute fluids. Solenoid offers various advantages such as high reliability, fast and safe switching, extended service life, compact design and low control power.Request to view Sample Report @Solenoid valve market is evolving continuously and expected to witness significant growth during the period of forecast. Constant evolution in solenoid valve market leads to the development of new technologies. Factors which are driving the growth of global solenoid valve market are increasing applications of solenoid valves into various industrial sectors, lower price of a valve and lower power consumption. Furthermore, development of new solenoid valves such as micro-miniature valves customized valves and pinch valves encourages the growth of global solenoid valve market. On the other hand, solenoid valve market growth is affected by few common problems associated with solenoid valves. Power failure, uneven pressure, wrong voltage may affect the functioning of solenoid valve because of which solenoid valves may not open, erratic valve sounds while opening and closing of valve and coil problems in solenoid valves are some of the common issues associated with solenoid valves.Global solenoid valve market is segmented on the basis of type, application, and region. On the basis of type, the global solenoid valve market can be segmented into two port valves, three-port valves, and four-port valves.Solenoid valves are commonly used in fluid power pneumatic and hydraulic system to control fluid power motors or large industrial valves. Solenoid valves are also used in automatic irrigation sprinkle system. Furthermore, washing machine and dishwashers use solenoid valves to control the flow of water into the machine. On the basis of application, the global solenoid valve market can be segmented into various industries such as chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, automobile industry, agriculture industry, food & beverages industry and others. Out of all these applications, the chemical industry is expected to dominate global solenoid valve market during the period of forecast.On the basis of region, the solenoid valve market can be segmented into seven regions which includes, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East & Africa region. Further, the market is sub-segmented as per the major countries of each region in order to provide better regional analysis of the solenoid valve market. North America and Western Europe region expected to cover a major share of global solenoid valve market during the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @Key players are global solenoid valve market are ASCO Valve, Inc., Danfoss A/S, CKD Corporation, Christian Burkert GmbH & Co. KG, SMC Corporation of America, IMI plc Company, GSR Ventiltechnik GmbH & Co. KG, ODE s.r.l., KANEKO SANGYO Co., Ltd, CEME S.p.A., TAKASAGO ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO., LTD., Parker Hannifin Corp. and Ningbo mailing pneumatic co., Ltd. among others. Market players are focusing more on the development of new technologies which can provide improved features and better performance. Market players are focusing more on providing industry-specific products in order to capture more market. Global solenoid valve market is also witnessing trend of development of new solenoid valves such as customized valves, pinch valves, and micro-miniature valves. These developments are expected to fuel the overall growth of the global solenoid valve market during the forecast period.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Cement Grinding Aids Market  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016-2021

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Gens report, Global Cement Grinding Aids Market  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016-2021 provides detailed market and segment level data on the Global and Chinese consumption of Cement Grinding Aids. The report provides historic, forecast and growth patterns by company, country and type/application from 2016 to 2021.This report delivers an extensive overview of Global Cement Grinding Aids industry with a focus on China. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies. It also helps the companies to better understand the trends of Soups market to seize opportunities and formulate crucial business strategies.Request Sample Report:With this report, you will get access to:1. Market overview including definition, industrial chain (upstream & downstream), manufacturing technology details and the costs analysis from the aspects of raw materials, labor costs and depreciation.2. Value and volume consumption status and trends of the market, including Global and Chinese top players capacity & production, price & production value, cost & profit and market shares from 2011 to 2016.3. Worldwide supply/demand pattern of Cement Grinding Aids by country or region (North America, China, EMEA, Asia except China), and by application/type.4. Growth, trends and forecast of 2016-2021 Cement Grinding Aids market and some important proposals for new investment of Cement Grinding Aids Industry before evaluating its feasibility.Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2021 Global and Chinese Cement Grinding Aids industry covering all important parameters.Buy Complete Report:Table of Content:Chapter One Description1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Findings of IndustryChapter Two Brief Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Industry Chain Structure2.2.1 Upstream Raw Materials2.2.2 Downstream MarketChapter Three Development and Trends3.1 Key Manufacturing Technologies3.2 Issues and TrendsChapter Four Cost Structure4.1 Bill of Materials (BOM)4.3 Labor Costs4.4 Depreciation Costs4.5 Manufacturing CostsChapter Five Worldwide Key VendorsCompany ACompany BCompany CCompany DCompany ECompany FCompany GChapter Six Market Overview6.1 Global Market Size6.2 Chinese Market SizeChapter Seven Market Status7.1 Market Competition Status by Key Vendors7.2 Regional Market Competition StatusChinaNorth AmericanEMEAAsia except ChinaEnquiry Before Buying:About Us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.Contact Us:ReportBazzarUnited States30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
Forecast On Medical Tourism Market Global Industry Analysis and Trends till 2020

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Medical tourism is one of the most dynamically growing industries today. Considered to be the direct impact of globalisation of healthcare, medical tourism certainly exhibits strong growth potential globally. However, based on FMIs research, the market of medical tourism is expected to concentrate within most of the emerging economies of the world.As developing nations are increasingly heading toward technological advancement and quality services in the medical and healthcare sector, the global medical tourism market is anticipated to witness robust growth over 2014-2020, predominantly in Asian countries.The top treatments people travel abroad for, include cancer therapy, cardiovascular surgeries, orthopaedic treatments, dentistry, cosmetic surgeries, reproductive treatments, weight loss therapies, health screenings, and medical tests and scans. In severe cases, a sizeable patient population also seeks second opinion from specialist doctors out of their countries.Request Free Report Sample@Key DriversHigh treatment costs and lengthy waiting times for medical procedures, being the two major factors in driving medical tourism, are also supported by easier and cheaper international travel. While the U.K.s population prefers to travel abroad for bypassing long waits, patients from the U.S. travel outside for availing of treatments at cheaper costs.Medical excellence along with international accreditation are the key factors fuelling a majority of international patient flow, eventually boosting international medical tourism. Currently, over 600 medical departments and hospitals all over the globe are accredited by the U.S. Joint Commission International (JCI). The number of accredited facilities is projected to increase almost by 20% each year. This is another important driver associated with the market growth.Developing countries, with ever-evolving innovation and demonstrable achievements in medical research are estimated to accelerate the approaching medical tourist flow over the forecast period. Growing healthcare investments by various government and private sectors are also anticipated to further bolster the market growth.Key RestraintsHowever, medical tourists are highly prone to a wide variety of health risks after they return. The conditions may include TB, paratyphoid, amoebic dysentery, deep vein thrombosis, and more; usually caused due to poor post-operative care and inadequate rest. This could affect the market to some extent.Stringent documentation processes, issues related to visa approval, and limited insurance coverage are reportedly some of the most deterring factors for the global market.Global Medical Tourism Market: SegmentationFMIs research on the global medical tourism market offers a six-year forecast, segmenting the market on the basis of type of medical treatment and geography.On the basis of the type of treatment, the market is segmented into cosmetic treatment, cardiovascular treatment, fertility treatment, dental treatment, orthopaedic treatment, and other general treatments.On the basis of geography, the market is segmented into Asia pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, and South America.Regional OutlookSome of the prominent medical tourism centres across the globe include Thailand, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Israel, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Canada, and the U.S. According to Patients Beyond Borders, the global medical tourism market is currently growing at an impressive rate between 15% and 25%, and the flow of patients seeking cross-border treatment options will be the highest in Mexico. South and Southeast Asia are expected to dominate the global market in the near future.Based on MTAs recently released Medical Tourism Index, there are 41 countries participating in the global medical tourism market. While India broadly secures #1, Israel ranks #1 in the quality of services and facilities.India is renowned for specialist cardiac surgeries, while Singapore is a popular medical tourism destination owing to the expertise in complicated surgical procedures. Thailand has been a popular destination for medical tourism and millions of patients have travelled to Thailand since 2006. It is also the top cosmetic surgery centre globally.Malaysia offers state-of-the-art medical infrastructure and treatments by highly skilled medical professionals, making it another sought after centre among medical tourists. With economically affordable treatment options and favourable government initiatives, Malaysia is anticipated to acquire one of the top market positions in the global medical tourism market, during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Key Players: Global Medical Tourism MarketSome of the top key players in the medical tourism industry include Asian Heart Institute (India), Apollo Hospitals (India), Prince Court Medical Centre (Malaysia), Gleneagles Hospital (Singapore), Min-Sheng General Hospital (Taiwan), Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital (Bangkok), Raffles Medical Group (Singapore), Clemenceau Medical Centre (Lebanon), Bangkok Hospital (Thailand), Bumrungrad International Hospital (Thailand), Fortis Healthcare Ltd. (India), Wooridul Spine Hospital (Korea), KPJ Healthcare Berhad (Malaysia), Anadolu Medical Centre (Turkey), and Asklepios Klinik Barmbek (Germany).While these players rank amongst they compete on the basis of exceptional service quality, optimum patient comfort, and relatively reasonable costs for various treatments. Several facilities are also undergoing mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and joint ventures for delivering enhanced medical care, thereby strengthening their market positions. A few prominent examples of highly productive collaborations include the collaboration between Bumrungrad International Hospital (Bangkok) and IBM Watson for better cancer care, and the collaboration of Anadolu Medical Centre (Turkey) with Johns Hopkins Medicine (U.S.).About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Automotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market Regulations and Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2025

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An automotive natural gas vehicle uses compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative to the diesel or petrol. A natural gas is widely used in lift trucks, buses, light and heavy duty trucks, motorcycles, cars, vans and locomotives.A natural gas provides an economical and environmental friendly option over diesel or petrol. Currently, the penetration of automotive natural gas vehicle is less globally, but due to its operational advantages, in future the penetration is expected to increase globally.Automotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market: Drivers and ChallengesAround the world, the governments have issued stringent regulations regarding the emissions and fuel efficiency. The global fossil fuel price has seen an increasing trend over the past 5-10 years. Due to these reasons, there is a growing demand for cheap and environmental friendly fuel alternative. Original equipment manufacturers of vehicles are promoting their products by showcasing the fuel efficiency and emission free features. This factor is fueling the demand for automotive natural gas vehicle market.Request Free Report Sample@High upfront purchase cost, low awareness in many countries are some of the factors which are inhibiting the growth of automotive natural gas vehicle market.Automotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market: OverviewCurrently, the automotive natural gas vehicle market is still in the nascent state, thought the market experienced growth in sales in last 3-4 years.The global automotive natural gas vehicle market by volume is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 5-7% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to stringent government emission regulations and growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles.Automotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market: SegmentationThe global automotive natural gas vehicle market can be segmented by fuel type, by vehicle type and by regionsBased on Fuel Type, the global automotive natural gas vehicle market is segmented as:Compressed Natural GasLiquefied Natural GasBased on Vehicle Type, the global automotive natural gas vehicle market is segmented as:PassengerCommercialAutomotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global automotive natural gas vehicle market is expected to register a single-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, global automotive energy recovery market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.In terms of market revenue, Asia Pacific automotive energy recovery market is projected to register a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Stable economic growth, growing automotive production, stringent government emission norms, changing consumer preferences, are some of the factors which are fueling the growth of automotive natural gas vehicle market in Asia Pacific. The significant demand for natural gas is from commercial vehicle segment in Asia Pacific. India, China and Iran are forecast to register a significant growth in the Asia Pacific automotive natural gas vehicle market, as these countries have significant network of gas infrastructure and CNG fueling network.In Europe, countries like Russia and Ukraine have a high demand for natural gas in trucks and buses. The Europe automotive natural gas vehicle market revenue is currently dominated by commercial vehicles. The government policies, subsidies, increasing fossil fuel prices, stringent environmental regulations are fueling the demand for automotive natural gas vehicle in Western and Eastern Europe.In North America and Latin America, compressed natural gas is seeing the high demand. Currently, U.S.A. is dominating the North America automotive natural gas market by value, on the other hand, Columbia is dominating the Latin America automotive natural gas market by value.Visit For TOC@Automotive Natural Gas Vehicle Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global natural gas vehicle market are Ford Motor Company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, Honda Motor Company, Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor Group, etc.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Food Grade Phosphates Market Segments and Key Trends 2015-2025

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Food grade phosphates are used for various application in the food processing industry as discoloration inhibitors, emulsifiers, and buffers. Food grade phosphates are also used in frozen meat, bakery products, milk, powdered food, cheese, petfood, cereal, dehydrated potatoes, fisheries and animal feed products. Food grade phosphates are broadly classified into blended and specialty phosphates. Food grade phosphates market is consolidated market. For instance, Prayon SA acquired Augusta, Ga., which produces various types of phosphates including sodium phosphates, calcium phosphates and potassium phosphates. Food grade phosphates are used for various applications including retention of water in the fish.Food Grade Phosphates SegmentationGlobal food grade phosphates are segmented on the basis of type, application and region. Based on the product type food grade phosphates segmentation includes sodium phosphates, potassium phosphates and calcium phosphates. Of which sodium phosphate is expected to be the dominating segment, followed by potassium and calcium phosphates. Among all the segments of food grade phosphates type, sodium phosphates segment is expected to contribute maximum revenue over the forecasted period. However, calcium phosphates segment is expected to witness fastest growth in the next four to five years due to the various benefits associated with the consumption of calcium phosphates. However, potassium phosphates is expected to experience flat growth in the forthcoming years due to the more preference of consumers to consume sodium and calcium phosphates. Based on the application, food grade phosphates are segmented into bakery, food and beverage, dairy products and meat products. Of which meat product segment is the leading segment and expected to contribute highest revenue during the next four to five years, followed by bakery segment. Bakery segment is also expected to contribute significant revenue to the overall revenue of the food grade phosphates market. Global food grade phosphates market is segmented on the basis of region into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Japan.Request Free Report Sample@Food Grade Phosphates: Region-wise OutlookThe global food grade phosphates market is expected to witness robust growth over the forecast period due to the rising needs of the increasing population coupled with the rising disposable income of the consumers. Globally, among all regions, North America is expected to contribute highest market share, followed by Europe over the forecast period. In North America, U.S. is expected to contribute maximum market share due the high disposable income of the consumers. However Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness highest growth owing to the rising disposable income of consumers in various countries.Food Grade Phosphates: DriversFood grade phosphates market is expected to exhibit healthy CAGR during forecast period. Major factors that fuel the growth of food grade phosphates includes growing needs of increasing population coupled with rising consumer awareness regarding the benefits associated with the consumption of food grade phosphates. Major factor that restraints the growth of food grade phosphates market are the high price associated with the food grade phosphates.Visit For TOC@Food Grade Market: Key PlayersMajor companies operating in food grade phosphates market are Aditya Birla Chemicals, TKI Hrastnik, d.d., GUIZHOU QIANLIN PHOSPHATES INDUSTRY CO.,LTD, ICL Performance Products, Prayon SA, PhosAgro, ChemSol, LLC, CRU Group, Rotel Domestic and Foreign Trade Co. Companies operating in food grade phosphates market are mainly adopting strategy to enter new markets and also to increase its production capacity. For instance, ICL Performance Products, in 2015 set up new production unit in Israel in order to cater to the rising need of the consumers in the regionAbout Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Dental Consumables Market Porters Five Forces Analysis in 2023

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The top three players operating in the market hold a share of around 56%, as per Transparency Market Research (TMR). The names of these prominent players are Danaher Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, and DENTSPLY International, Inc. This market is characterized by constant product enhancements. The market, at present, is highly competitive, as huge count of companies plan on capitalizing on the development of this market.Request a PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:The global dental consumables market is predicted to touch US$27,589.6 mn in 2023, expanding at a 5.70% CAGR between 2015 and 2023. In the market for dental implants, the segment of titanium dental implants held the most dominant share. The segment of zirconium dental implants do not comprise metals and the biotechnical characteristics of these implants permit the manufacturing of a biocompatible tooth. The segment of crowns and bridges will experience the highest demand in the coming years in comparison to all other products in the dental consumables market.Ceramic Crowns to Experience Huge Demand owing to Rising Inclination of Individuals toward Aesthetic AppealIn the market for crowns and bridges, ceramic crowns have been gaining popularity owing to the fact that individuals are more inclined toward aesthetic appeal and oral hygiene. The segment of ceramic crowns is predicted to rise at a CAGR of 9.20% from 2015 to 2023. The growing awareness regarding dental care and the soaring demand for cosmetic and preventive dentistry are the main factors fuelling the growth of the segment of dental crowns and bridges, while the demand for the segment of endodontic files is led by the increasing demand from baby boomers and enhancement in the technology utilized.On the basis of geography, the Europe dental consumable market held a dominant share of 40.7% in the market in 2014, and was trailed by North America constituting a share of 33.7% in the same year. The high funding in nations such as Norway, Greece, Spain, and the UK for oral healthcare facilities will boost the development of the dental consumables market in Europe. In North America, the U.S constituted a share of 82.2% in the market in 2014. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is predicted to emerge as the most swiftly developing dental consumables market and will expand at a 6.0% CAGR between 2015 and 2023.Flourishing Dental Tourism Industry to Bolster Market DevelopmentThe global dental consumables market is expected to grow due to the constant developments seen in dental implant techniques, states a TMR analyst. The dental tourism industry is on the rise owing to fixed cost and low labor coupled with low government intervention in emerging nations. Hence, the growing dental tourism will also bode well for the development of this market. In addition, the growing requirement for painless procedures and aging trends globally will bode well for the development of this market. Individuals aged 65 and above undergo more dental treatments such as periodontal surgeries and implants as compared to the younger population. This way the increasing aging population will expand the patient pool in dentistry, thus providing impetus to the overall dental consumables market.The huge unmet medical requirements globally and the soaring disposable incomes of individuals residing in developing nations will also positively impact the growth of the market for dental consumables, says a TMR analyst. On the other hand, a number of allergies that may take place as an after effect of dental implants and the absence of supportive reimbursement policies in some of the nations may work against the development of this market.Browse Research Report on Global Dental Consumables Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog:
North America UV Cure Printing Inks Market: Rising Usage in Offset Printing to Create Growth Opportunities, Says TMR

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Due to the absence of a clear dominance, the North America UV Cure Printing Inks Market is demonstrating a moderately fragmented but highly competitive landscape. FUJIFILM, Flint Group, Nazdar, DuPont, Toyo Ink America, and Sun Chemical Corp. are some of the leading companies in this market.Currently, these players are aggressively focusing on competitive pricing strategy in order to enhance their visibility in this market. However, this strategy is expected to intensify the rivalry between the participants in the coming years.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights :According to TMRs estimations, the North America market for UV cure printing inks offered an opportunity worth US$362.9 mn in 2015. Advancing at a CAGR of 10.30% between 2016 and 2024, the market is projected to cross US$865.9 mn by the end of the forecast period. Offset printing surfaced as the key application area of UV cure printing inks in 2015 with a share of 38%. Driven by its extensive usage in the packaging and the publication and commercial printing sectors, this segment is likely to remain dominant over the forecast period.U.S. to Continue as Market Leader Thanks to Growing Demand from Publication and Commercial PrintingThe research report also presents a study of the North America market for UV cure printing inks on the basis of its geographical presence. Predominantly, Canada and the U.S. have emerged as the key domestic markets for UV cure printing inks in this region. Thanks to the significant growth in the packaging industry, the U.S. has acquired the lead among the two.Researchers expect the U.S., which is likely to reach US$678.5 mn by 2024, to continue as the market leader over the forecast period. The growing demand for publication and commercial printing in a number of industries is projected to boost the U.S. market for UV cure printing inks in the years to come.Canada, on the other hand, is likely to lag behind over the forthcoming years due to the rising preference for e-commerce and e-books and subsequent decline in the demand for publication and commercial printing, which eventually, will impact the sales of UV cure printing inks negatively. By the end of 2024, Canada would hold only 21.6% of the overall market, reports the study.Increasing Penetration of Digital Media to Reflect Positively on Sales of UV Cure Printing InksThe increasing penetration of digital media across North America is reflecting positively on the sales of UV cure printing inks in this region, says a researcher at TMR. The trend is expected to remain so in the near future, influencing the regional market greatly.The growing preference for digital media compared to traditional printing in architectural designs, textiles, fine arts, advertising, and desktop publishing, thanks to the flexibility it offers, is likely to propel the North America market for UV cure printing inks substantially over the next few years, states the research report.Browse The Full UV Cure Printing Inks Market Report At :Advent of E-commerce and Electronic Alternatives of Daily-use Applications may Hamper GrowthAlthough the growth prospects of the North America market for UV cure printing inks looks bright, the advent of e-commerce and the electronic versions of a number of daily-use applications, such as e-literature, e-tickets, e-coupons, is likely to act as an obstacle in the markets growth trajectory in the coming years.The continued decline in paper-based communication channels is also anticipated to hamper this market in the near future, notes the study.The study presented here is based on a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled UV Cure Printing Inks Market - North America Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.The North America UV Cure Printing Inks Market is segmented into:By ProductArc CuringLED CuringBy ApplicationFlexographic PrintingGravure PrintingOffset PrintingDigital PrintingScreen PrintingAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Rubber Transmission Belt Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Belt drives have been used for more than 200 years for conveyance of materials and transmission of load. There are three basic types of power transmission belts  flat belts, V-belts, and synchronous belts. Flat belts have a rectangular cross section and are efficient due to low bending losses, low creep, and high modulus of elasticity of traction layers. V-belts are trapezoidal in cross section and are used in industrial applications because of their relative low cost, ease of installation, and wide range of sizes. These belts work as friction-fit drive elements, using the friction between the belt and the pulley to transmit power. They have a higher power transmission capacity than flat belts as the slip between the belt and pulley is negligible, while the higher friction on the belt flanks substantially lowers the loads on the bearings. Synchronous belts provide similar engagement as gears or chains, where the toothed profile meshes with corresponding grooves in the pulleys. They are used in applications where indexing, positioning, or a constant speed ratio is required. In internal combustion engines, they are used to drive camshafts, fuel injection pumps, balancer shafts, and water pumps. The new trend in the automobile industry is to downsize engines, thereby reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Downsizing of engines mandates the use of high horsepower engines. This has made rubber transmission belts crucial to automobile manufacturers.Brochure Download at :Compared to chain drives, rubber transmission belts have low noise operation and stable and non-slippery drive. They do not require lubrication and are light in weight. Thus, rubber transmission belts help save energy. Transmission belts can be homogeneously made of rubber or they can be reinforced by aramid, steel, or nylon fibers for high strength applications. Different types of rubber materials are used depending upon the specific application environment. Synthetic rubber, a crude oil by-product, is widely used in transmission belt applications as compared to natural rubber. Chloroprene-based rubber transmission belts are flame resistant and are used for difficult working conditions such as underground mining pits. Ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) based rubber transmission belts are resistant to acid, oxygen, and ozone belts. They are used for high-temperature applications in foundries, cement works, steelworks, lime kilns, and brickworks. Nitrile-based rubber transmission belts operate at high temperatures and are resistant to oil and grease. Silicone rubber belts are resistant to chemicals, greases, and oils and have an exceptional anti-adhesive effect. Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) transmission belts are resistant to abrasion and have good antistatic properties. Natural rubber transmission belts are used for general purpose applications and have low level of damping. Most transmission belts used in automobiles are made up of blends of the rubbers mentioned above.The rubber transmission belt market is fragmented with a number of manufacturers scattered throughout the world. Asia Pacific is the largest manufacturer of rubber transmission belts with China being the dominant player in the market. Countries such as India, Thailand, and Malaysia use a significant proportion of natural rubber in their rubber belt formulations. However, since synthetic rubber prices have fallen in the last couple of years due to the drop in crude oil prices, the use of synthetic in rubber transmission belts is set to rise in the countries mentioned above. The U.S. is increasing its production of synthetic rubber belts as exploration of shale gas has led to a fall in prices of synthetic right. Among the consumers of rubber transmission belts, China is the leader, followed by the U.S. and Japan. Europe is witnessing a higher demand due to the increasing use of rubber transmission belts by automobile manufacturers in the region. Among the types of rubber, SBR transmission belts account for the largest market share in terms of volume. Among the belt types, the usage of synchronous belts is rising significantly in vehicular and industrial applications.Key players operating in the rubber transmission belt market are Gates Corporation, TEC Belting Company, Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd., New England Belting Company, Belt corporation of America, Hsin Yung Chien Co., Ltd, Volga Transmissions Pvt. Ltd, PIX Transmissions Pvt. Ltd., Royal Auto International and J.K. Fenner (India) Limited.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Global Soda Ash Market: Facts, Figures and Analytical Insights 2015 to 2021

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Soda ash also known as sodium carbonate is a salt of carbnoic acid. Soda ash is hygroscopic in nature and forms strong alkaline solution in water.Soda ash is manufactured via three different process viz. Leblanc process, Solvay process and Hous process. Solvay process is most preffered manufacturing process in the industry due to its efficiency and cost. In this process, sodium chloride to sodium carbonate in presence of ammonia. Soda ash finds applications in various end-user industries such as glass, detergents, food and beverages, chemicals and dyeing among others.Request for Sample Report:The market for soda ashwas driven by various factors from different end-user industries. Huge demand from buildings & constructionindustry is driving the soda ash market in past few years. Soda ash is used in manufacturing of flat glass which is used in modern construction activities.Increasing demand from end-user industries such as automotive from emerging countries has been one of the major factors for the growth of flat glass, subsequently increasing demand for soda ash.Another, major factor driving the soda ash market is increasing demand for powder detergents from developing countries.Soda ash is also used in various applications such as metallurgy, personal care and water treatment among others. Rising demand for personal care and water treatment industry is expected to open new markets for the soda ash market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for soda ash from fiberglass and silicates is likely to provide major opportunities for soda ash market in next few years to come. However, stern regulations faced by soda ash industry are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region insoda ashmarket. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be one of the fastest growing markets for soda ash due to increasing demand for glass and detergents from emerging countries such as India, Indonesia and Korea among others. The demand for soda ash is huge especially from buildings & construction, automotive and personal care end-user industry. The market for soda ash in Asia Pacific was led by China. However, India is likely to provide better opportunity for soda ash market owing to increasing consumption from various end-user industries. Asia Pacific was followed by Europe. Increasing demand from modern construction activities has been driving the market for flat glass in Europe, thus driving the demand for soda ash in this region. Germany, the UK, France and Italy were the major consumers of soda ash in Europe. However, certain regulations related to soda ash industry is likely to stagnant the growth of the market in this region. North America had the third-largest demand for soda ash in 2012. Increasing demand from glass and detergent industry were driving the growth of the market in this region. The U.S. had the largest demand for soda ash owing to huge demand from end-user industries such as buildings & construction, personal care and automotive among others. Rest of the World market is anticipated to show potential growth for the soda ash market in near future.Latin America is anticipated to show fastest growth for the soda ash market in this region. The demand is huge owing to increasing applications in personal care and water treatment applications.Request for Table of content:The market for soda ash is fragmented and however, various manufacturers have dominated in particular regions. Some of the key manufacturers in thesoda ashmarket areGujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., Solvay Chemicals Inc., OCI Chemicals Corporation and Tata Chemicals among others.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Digital Crosspoint Switches Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2023

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Digital crosspoint switches are considered as the next generation, advanced high speed packet switches. These switches are specifically designed for application in enterprise and metro networking systems for transferring digital information including data and voice traffic at a faster rate. Additionally, these switches are suited for broadcasting or transporting quality video data over the internet. Internet service providers, data centers, telecom central offices, and storage area networks utilizes or incorporates these switches, primarily for transporting digital information and data over public and private networks. Increasing penetration of internet in developing regions, along with evolving new applications, is creating new demand for high end digital crosspoint switches.Some of the major factors driving the growth of global digital crosspoint switches market is owed to the explosion of digital information including video and voice traffic during the past few years. Exponential increase in quantity of data is leading to significant demand for broadband communication network. Efficient functioning of broadband communication network is aided by advanced digital crosspoint switches, driving the market growth during the forecast period. Additionally, digital crosspoint switches supports a large number of protocols particularly specific to the data centers. Ability of digital crosspoint switches to support several protocols, data streams and clock sources is considered as another major factor driving the global digital crosspoint switches market growth.PDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @Demand for high quality, high speed data and video transport is driving evolution of broadband networks. These digital data within the data centers are moved to storage devices through public and private networks through regional and international locations at a rapid pace. This in turn is driving the demand for advanced high end digital crosspoint switches creating new opportunities for digital crosspoint switches market in future. Additionally, demand for less expensive, compact and powerful digital crosspoint switches is further paving new opportunities for new and existing players in the digital crosspoint switch market. Overall the global digital crosspoint switch market is expected to see a robust growth due to increase in investment in network infrastructure equipments and communication semiconductors during the forecast period.On the basis of application of global digital crosspoint switches, the market can be categorized into: commercial, military, avionics, medical, and industrial among others. Major challenge faced by digital crosspoint switch manufacturers is to provide with higher data rate and larger number of ports to customers or end-users.The market is segmented on the basis of geography into four regions: North America, Asia pacific, Europe and Rest of the world. Asia Pacific region have higher growth potential due to presence of developing countries such as India and China. Moreover, regions such as Africa and Latin America are expected to see a robust growth during the forecast period with expansion of telecom industry and increasing penetration of broadband network in these regions.Some of the key players in this market are: Mindspeed Technologies Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., and Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation. Other participants in the digital crosspoint switches market include: LSI Corporation, Hittite Microwave Corporation, Intersil Corporation, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, Micrel Inc., Semtech Corporation and Maxim Integrated among others.Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Workers feed pigs in a farm on July 10, 2007, in Chongqing Municipality, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

More than 15,000 live pigs are being illegally shipped to China daily from Vietnam despite the import ban from the Southeast Asian country, the state broadcaster reported on Sunday.



The smuggled pigs are being shipped to China from Vietnam via "smuggling routes" in the port city of Aidan in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the China Central Television (CCTV).



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The pigs, which cost 4 yuan ($0.58) cheaper per kilogram than China-raised pigs, do not undergo the inspection or quarantine process.



The rampant illegal pig imports in the area has also led to "truck escort teams," which not only guide the trucks carrying the smuggled pigs past frontier inspection stations but also prevent them from being stopped by law enforcement officials tasked with investigating pig smuggling operations beyond the highway toll station.



The escort teams typically purchase "plates" from counter-smuggling and public security officials for 30,000 yuan to allow free passage to the trucks, which then travel to slaughterhouses across the country, one of the truck drivers told CCTV.



The smuggling chain involves Vietnamese suppliers, Chinese traders, and middlemen, the report said.



Aidan city officials have yet to comment on the report, although local inspectors have told local media that they condone the illegal shipments.



China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine, have banned the imports of live pigs and other cloven-hoofed from Vietnam, where foot-and-mouth disease has frequently surfaced from 2003 to 2016.



In July 2015, the Chinese coast guard confiscated more than 200 tons of smuggled frozen meat from Vietnam in south China's Hainan province in July 2015 and arrested 49 people.



Pig smuggling has negatively affected hog production in China, contributes to tax evasion, and poses serious food safety issues, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.


Electric Vehicle Battery Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Growth and Forecast 2016 - 2023

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Growing concerns related to decreasing oil and gas resources and degrading environmental conditions are having positive impact on the demand for electric powered vehicles. Moreover, subsidies and incentives on usage of such vehicles is another factor driving the market for electric powered vehicles. These vehicles depend on electric batteries to provide the primary or the secondary power. Thus any impact on the demand for electric powered vehicles will affect the electric vehicle battery market. An electric powered vehicle or battery electric vehicle use chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs for power. As all the power is derived from batteries therefore, it does not require any combustion engine for propulsion. Battery Electric vehicles include scooters, rail cars, bicycle, forklifts, buses and cars. The advantages in battery storage technology have also positively affected the electric vehicle battery market.The segmentation of the electric vehicle battery market can be done on the basis of technology, application and geography. Technology segment deals with the different types of batteries used for manufacturing of electric vehicle battery. Major battery types include lead acid batteries, nickel metal hydride batteries, zebra batteries and lithium ion batteries. Lead acid batteries are the most common and cheapest type of batteries. Nickel metal hydride batteries have higher energy densities than the common lead acid batteries and if used properly can have exceptionally long lives. The Zebra batteries use molten chloro-aluminate sodium as electrolyte. Lithium ion batteries use graphite anode and lithium cobalt oxide anode. These batteries are use to power the Battery Electric Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Electric Vehicles.PDF Sample For Technological breakthroughs is @Regional segmentation of the electric vehicle battery market includes countries such as the United States and Canada in North America; Germany, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom in Europe. The government incentives on usage of battery powered vehicles are one of the main reasons behind the growth of North American and European electric vehicle battery market. Other prominent market includes Asia Pacific and Middle East. Asia Pacific market includes the countries such as Japan, China and South Korea. Increasing concerns related to energy security and incentives on use of battery powered vehicles are the major factor driving the Asia Pacific market. The Rest of the World segment still lags behind in the electric vehicle battery market. The Rest of the World Market includes countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.Decreasing crude oil reserves and concerns regarding degradation of the environment are the major factors driving the electric vehicle battery market. With decreasing crude reserves the demand for economical transportation technologies has attracted investment in this market. The governments of many major countries have encouraged adoption hybrid vehicles that utilize the electric battery. Many national agencies have enforced rules and provide attractive concessions on purchasing hybrid cars. Stringent environmental regulations in the European Union nations have encouraged wide adoption of the battery powered vehicles. The fluctuating crude oil prices are another major factor bolstering consumers to adopt such batteries. Expensive nature of electric vehicle battery is one of the major restraints to the market.Some of the major players in the electric vehicle battery market include companies such as SAMSUNG SDI CO. LTD., Quallion, Boston-Power, Inc. and LG Chem Power Inc.Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global LED Display Industry Investment, Research Trends, key Benefits, Revenues & Pricing 2021

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Global LED Display Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.The report on global LED Display industry is a comprehensive study of the market dynamics, which is expected to have a lasting impact on the market from 2016 to 2021. It gives a detailed introduction of the global LED Display industry, its past status, and also the current state of the market. The past and present market size are then utilized to forecast the future growth of the global LED Display market. The report is collated by expert analysts and market professionals who have made use of primary and secondary research methods to make a detailed and useful study on the market for LED Display. This study is expected to be highly useful for those investors planning to invest their money in the LED Display market. It gives important information regarding the growth trajectory of the industry and is beneficial for both new entrants and well-established players.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report makes a list of all the factors that have led to the growth of the market and studies these drivers in detail. In addition to this, the impact analysis of each of the drivers in the coming years has been carried out. Similarly the challenges faced by the players in the global LED Display industry have been discussed along with the impact analysis. The study of challenges help players and investors to brace themselves for the likely problems they will face and devise plans and tactics to overcome these problems or prevent them altogether.The report includes a competitive landscape wherein key players in the market are profiled and the collective share of the top three players in the market are also given. The business overview of the companies, coupled with the financial overview, their joint ventures, collaborations, and partnerships have all been discussed.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of LED Display1.1 Definition and Specifications of LED Display1.1.1 Definition of LED Display1.1.2 Specifications of LED Display1.2 Classification of LED Display1.3 Applications of LED Display1.4 Industry Chain Structure of LED Display1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of LED Display1.5.1 Industry Overview of LED Display1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of LED Display1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of LED Display1.7 Industry News Analysis of LED Display2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of LED Display2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of LED Display2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of LED Display2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of LED Display2.4 Other Costs Analysis of LED Display2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of LED Display2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of LED Display3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of LED Display3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global LED Display Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global LED Display Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global LED Display Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global LED Display Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of LED Display by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of LED Display by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of LED Display 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of LED Display by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of LED Display by Manufacturers 2011-20165 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of LED Display by Regions, Types and Manufacturers5.1 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of LED Display by Regions 2011-20165.2 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of LED Display by Types 2011-20165.3 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of LED Display by Manufacturers 2011-2016For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Allergic Conjunctivitis - Pipeline Review, H2 2016

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MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on "Allergic Conjunctivitis - Pipeline Review, H2 2016"DescriptionGlobal Markets Direct's latest Pharmaceutical and Healthcare disease pipeline guide Allergic Conjunctivitis Pipeline Review, H2 2016, provides an overview of the Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) pipeline landscape.Allergic conjunctivitis occurs when the clear layer of tissue lining the eyelids and covering the white of the eye (conjunctiva) become swollen or inflamed due to a reaction to pollen, dander, mold, or other allergy-causing substances. Symptoms include intense itching, puffy eyelids, widened (dilated) vessels in the clear tissue covering the white of the eye and stringy eye discharge. Treatment includes antihistamine or anti-inflammatory medication.Report HighlightsGlobal Markets Direct's Pharmaceutical and Healthcare latest pipeline guide Allergic Conjunctivitis Pipeline Review, H2 2016, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology), complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases.The Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) pipeline guide also reviews of key players involved in therapeutic development for Allergic Conjunctivitis and features dormant and discontinued projects. The guide covers therapeutics under Development by Companies /Universities /Institutes, the molecules developed by Companies in Filing rejected/Withdrawn, Phase III, Phase II, Phase I, Preclinical and Discovery stages are 1, 2, 1, 1, 8 and 1 respectively for Allergic Conjunctivitis.Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) pipeline guide helps in identifying and tracking emerging players in the market and their portfolios, enhances decision making capabilities and helps to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. The guide is built using data and information sourced from Global Markets Directs proprietary databases, company/university websites, clinical trial registries, conferences, SEC filings, investor presentations and featured press releases from company/university sites and industry-specific third party sources. Additionally, various dynamic tracking processes ensure that the most recent developments are captured on a real time basis.Download Sample Copy of This Report at:Scope- The pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology).- The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.- The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages.- The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities.- The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects.- The pipeline guide evaluates Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type.- The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects.- The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology)Reasons to buy- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.- Find and recognize significant and varied types of therapeutics under development for Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology).- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.- Develop tactical initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies.- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and its most promising pipeline therapeutics.- Formulate corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding Allergic Conjunctivitis (Ophthalmology) pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics.- Develop and design in-licensing and out-licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.- Adjust the therapeutic portfolio by recognizing discontinued projects and understand from the know-how what drove them from pipeline.Browse Latest Industry Press Release at:About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.ContactState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn:
Thanksgiving Day Parade at JMA Pilani in honour of Founder Chairman Dr BM Mishra

Thanksgiving Day Parade at JMA Pilani in honour of Founder Chairman Dr BM Mishra

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By establishing JMA which is one among the most sought after and top ranking school in his native place Pilani Rajasthan India, he built capacities for the spirit of inquiry, creativity moral leadership among the students and became their role models.His contribution to education is no less than his contribution to the healthcare and hospitality sector. Known for his dignified unassuming personality, gleaming intellect, meticulous planning, deep regard for punctuality, gifted business acumen, and dynamic leadership, Dr. BM Mishra made an indelible mark in the field of education at Pilani. He breathed his last in the evening of Thursday, the 04th August, 2016 at Syracuse USA after a brief illness.His wife Dr Suman Mishra well known Gynecologist from Syracuse USA, his son Dr Gautam Mishra ophthalmologist Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along with his wife Smt Mridula and daughter Anjali performed rituals in a prayer meeting at Pilani on 23 Nov 2016.On 24 Nov 2016, Smt Jamuna Mishra Academy JMA Pilani organized a cultural program and a band display in honour of the Mishra family who had not only come from USA but also from different parts of India. The School band did the ceremonial welcome fanfare for the dignitaries and Miss Parul Dhand of Class 11 anchored the proceedings.Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan in her welcome address profusely acknowledged the Mishra family for the continued support and said that it was befitting that 24 Nov 2016 being the last Thursday of the month has shaped up to be a Thanksgiving Day from the school teachers, staff and children. The Principal also urged the students to take inspiration from Dale Carnegie born 24 Nov 1888 who had authored several bestselling books which include How to Win Friends and Influence People as well as How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.The welcome song played by the School Choir and Orchestra followed by the patriotic action song had the entire audience spell bound. The thought provoking mime depicting the changing attitude of people in past and present had everyone burst out laughing.Mr Vishal Sheoran who secured first rank in Class 12 presently pursuing BTech Computer Science from BKBIET Pilani, Miss Komal Swami who secured second rank presently preparing herself for being a successful teacher as well as Nishita Tailor, Preeti Sheoran and Pooja Saini first second and third rank holders from Class 10 pursuing Science stream at their Alma mater won loud applause when they received their merit performance awards. Vishal in his address said that he took pride in being an alumnus of JMA Pilani thanked the school for all round shaping of his personality and character and promised to bring more honours to the school in coming years.The loudest applause seem to have been reserved for Mr Jaipal Singh Sanskrit Teacher and Ms Neha Gupta who is herself an alumnus of BITS Pilani holding a MSc(Tech) presently teaching English at JMA Pilani for bagging the best teacher awards. Mr Padmanabh Mishra and Mr BS Mishra did the honour of awarding the prizes.Dr Gautam Mishra in his inspiring speech reiterated that change which is the only constant is inevitable and only those who are flexible and adaptable and use it as an opportunity for reflection and growth will be the ones who are destined to succeed. Dr Gautam specially thanked the Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan for her dedication, service and excellent work since the founding of the school in 2004.Mrs Jyoti Sharma niece of Dr BM Mishra read out a poem in honor and said that Dr Mishra indeed pursued his JMA Mission with passion and proved that there are indeed no dreams too large and no frontiers beyond reach.The Yoga display was truly mesmerizing and Karate display full of action. The School girls band did a dazzling display of various formations and played the all time great tunes We shall Overcome - Hum Honge Kamyab and Sare Jahan Se Acha had one and all asking for more which ended up as the National Anthem. Ms Kavita Tiwari proposed the customary vote of thanks. The entire gathering departed from the JMA playground with beaming faces and pride that they were part of an institution which is indeed a jewel in the crown among the schools at Pilani.For more details about JMA Pilani seeAbout JMA Pilani: Smt. Jamuna Mishra Academy (JMA) established in the year 2004 which has been making rapid strides in early childhood education is presently one of the most sought after schools at Pilani considered as Oasis in the desert state of Rajasthan well known in India today for one among top in world ranking BITS Pilani University as well as CSIR Laboratory CEERI and globally renowned Birla Science Museum. JMA Pilani is a Co-educational English Medium School with Experienced Teachers, Spacious Classrooms and Modern Amenities designed to impart Quality Education combined with All Round Personality Development and lay the Best Foundation for the Childs Future. JMA which started in 2004 with an enrollment of 60 students for the Nursery, LKG, First Junior and Class I has grown today till Class XII and enrollment of 900. While the school admits both boys and girls, the girl student enrollment has been steadily rising every year and is presently nearly 50% of the total strength. The school has NCC for boys and the school girls band has been winning laurels every year too. Yoga and Fine arts are not just part of school routine but a way of life for the students.Mrs Booma Natarajan, M.Sc., M.A., B.Ed.Principal, Jamuna Mishra Academy  JMANear Old Pilani Post OfficePilani Rajasthan 333031 IndiaPhone 91-1596-242314Email booma_pilani at yahoo.co.inWebsite:
Global Methyl Isobutyl Carbinol Market: Dynamics, Segments, Size and Demand 2015 to 2021

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Methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) is an organic chemical compound, a branched hexyl alcohol, which is used as a frother in mineral flotation. Methyl Isobutyl carbinol is a clear, colorless liquid, slightly soluble in water and miscible with most organic solvents. Methyl isobutyl carbinol can be used as a solvent, in organic synthesis, as a precursor to some plasticizers and in the manufacture of brake fluid. Methyl isobutyl carbinol is also known as methyl amyl alcohol, isobutyl methyl methanol, Isobutyl methyl carbinol, 1,3-dimethylbutanol, 4-methyl-2-amyl alcohol, 2-methyl-4-pentanol and 4-Methyl-2-pentyl alcohol among others. Methyl isobutyl carbinol has good solvent properties for oils, waxes, dyestuffs, natural resins and ethyl cellulose. Methyl isobutyl carbinol is readily biodegradable, unlikely to accumulate in the food chain, and is considered non-toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms on an acute basis.Request for Sample Report:Methyl isobutyl carbinol is primarily used in the production of lube oil additives and for antiwear and corrosion inhibitors. In addition, methyl isobutyl carbinol is used as a solvent for dyes and stains; solvent for nitrocellulose and ethylcellulose lacquers; solvent for ester gums, oils, natural resins, phenolics, waxes; chemical intermediate for higher alcohols, surfactants; extraction solvent for essential oils for flavors/fragrances and process solvents for soaps. Methyl isobutyl carbinol is used as a flotation frother for treating coal, copper ores, tars and mining. Methyl isobutyl carbinol helps to boost the productivity of mining operations by increasing the mining yield. In mining frother applications, methyl isobutyl carbinol is used in the ppm range, with usual concentrations less than 1000 ppm and in many cases in the hundreds of ppm range (100 - 600 ppm). In addition, methyl isobutyl carbinol is used as a raw material in the manufacturing of methyl amyl sebacate and methyl amyl phthalate, which are used as plasticizers.The increase in consumption of lube oil additives is expected to be a major driving factor for the growth of methyl isobutyl carbinol market. Methyl isobutyl carbinol prices are significantly affected by feedstock costs and the price of natural gas. Stronger demand and higher feedstock costs helps to boost prices for methyl isobutyl carbinol. In addition, growing demand in emerging economies is expected to boost the growth of methyl isobutyl carbinol market. Methyl isobutyl carbinol is a preferred frother of choice for the mining of ores, such as copper and molybdenum sulfide, as well as coal. The growth of the mining industry is expected to further drive the demand for methyl isobutyl carbinol. However, availability of substitutes and demand fluctuations could hamper the growth of this market.The Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for methyl isobutyl carbinol industry. China, Republic of Korea, India, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia are some of the major consumers of methyl isobutyl carbinol in Asia Pacific. The U.S. and Western Europe are the largest consumers of methyl isobutyl carbinol. The European market is said to be fairly balanced with steady demand. In addition, demand for methyl isobutyl carbinol is growing in Latin America due to increase in mining operations.Request for Table of content:Some of the key players in this market are Shell Chemicals ( U.S), BASF (Germany), Dow Chemical (U.S.), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Mitsubishi Chemical (Japan), LG Chem (South Korea), AkzoNobel (Netherlands), Sumitomo Chemical (Japan), Mitsui Chemicals (Japan), Toray Industries (Japan), Eastman Chemical Company(U.S.), and Evonik Industries (Germany) among others.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Motion Controllers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2023

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Motion Controllers control the velocity and position of machines. These controllers can be implemented with the help of both analog and digital computers. A motion controller comprises of load, prime mover, sensors and controlling machine for proper functioning of prime mover and load. Moreover, it is used to accomplish speed accuracy, increased position, fast reaction time, smooth movements, cost reduction, integrated automation, improved efficiency and consistency, elimination of hazards and better diagnosis and troubleshooting among others. These devices incorporate high force magnet materials, precise dimensional tolerance and innovative design machines. Motion controllers are widely used in printing, packaging, textile, assembly industries, semiconductor production and many other automation systems.The key driving factors for motion controllers market are increasing venture by manufacturing companies and rising concern for industrial safety. Moreover, immense developments of automation market along with rapid globalization have collectively increased the demand for huge production capacity within limited time frame. Thus there has been a surge in implementation of automation systems in industries worldwide. Different geographical drivers are also accountable for the growth of this market. In addition, demand from developing countries, such as India, China and Brazil are expected to create opportunities for motion controllers market in the future. However, high manufacturing cost and lack of skilled workers are hindering the growth of the market. This challenge has to be addressed by manufacturers in order to ensure efficient applications of motion controllers.PDF Sample For Latest Advancements with Technological breakthroughs is @Global motion controllers market can be broadly classified on the basis of technology, application and geography. By technology, the market for motion controllers has been broadly segmented into computerized numerical control and general motion control. Usage of these controllers is much simpler in general motion control machines compared to computerized numerical control machines. The market can be subdivided by application into automotive, machinery manufacturing, logistics, aerospace and defense, electronics and semiconductor, food and beverage, medical, paper and printing, oil and gas and energy. Machinery manufacturing, logistics and electronics and semiconductor are the major sectors which are expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period from 2015 to 2021. The major reason is attributed to potential demand for process automation and industrial safety in these sectors. By geography, the global market for motion controllers has been classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.In the present scenario, the market for motion controllers is dominated by Asia Pacific in terms of revenue, followed by North America and Europe. The major factor responsible for potential development of this market in Asia Pacific is huge adoption of these devices coupled with rapid technological advancement. However, North America and Europe is anticipated to grow at a significant rate in the future, primarily due to huge investment by manufacturing industries along with increase in industrialization.Some of the major players in this market are Schneider Electric (France), Siemens AG (Germany), Parker Hannifin Corp. (U.S.), Yaskawa Electric Corp. (Japan), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Moog Inc. (U.S.), Bosh Rexroth AG (Germany), Altra Industrial Motion Corporation (U.S.), Dover Motion Systems (U.S.) and Rockwell Automation (U.S.).Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Industrial Silica Sands Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

Global Industrial Silica Sands Market

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Industrial silica sand is high purity silica sand with almost similar sizing of particles. Silica sand is a low priced product but acts as the primary ingredient for a wide range of products. Industrial silica sand is found mostly in the crystalline form although amorphous forms are also available. Deposits of silica yielding substances with at least 95% silicon dioxide (SiO2) content is preferred for industrial and manufacturing applications.Industrial silica sand finds application in a wide range of industries. These include glass making, metal casting, metal production, chemical production, construction, paints & coatings, ceramics and refractories, oil & gas recovery, and recreational products. Initially, foundry casting was an important market for industrial silica sand. However, as heavy manufacturing in various regions started declining, demand for foundry sand too declined gradually. This demand is slowly stabilizing due to certain typical applications served by foundries in military, aerospace, and precision automotive parts.Download Sample PDF report with TOC :A relatively recent end use of industrial silica sand is in the hydraulic fracturing process employed in North American shale plays. The growth of the shale gas recovery industry is a key driver for the industrial silica sands market. According to the US Geological Survey, from a mere market share of around 5% in 2000, demand for industrial silica sand in hydraulic fracturing operations increased to around 40% of the US silica sand production by volume, making it the major market for the material in the U.S. In the UK, glass production is the major end use for industrial silica sand followed by foundry and other industrial uses.A major market opportunity for industrial silica sand exists in the utilization of new shale plays for natural gas recovery via the hydraulic fracturing process in countries other than the U.S. Some of the upcoming shale plays identified are found in countries such as Australia, China, India, Mexico, and a few Middle Eastern countries.Browse The Full Report Here:The fall in crude oil prices acts as a restraint for the growth of the industrial silica sands market. Due to this scenario, oil producers have started to source low cost sand over high quality material due to cost competitiveness. As a result, low cost brown sand is increasingly preferred over high quality uniform and round industrial silica sand, leading to high rate of inventory of industrial silica sand with producers.North America is the largest consumption market for industrial silica sand. The U.S. and Canada contribute a very large chunk of the market in North America. Europe and Asia Pacific follow North America, with considerably lower market shares. Unimin Corp., U.S. Silica Co., Fairmount Minerals Ltd., Oglebay Norton Co., Sibelco UK Ltd, Hanson Aggregates, and Surrey and Kent Tarmac Group are some of the major producers of industrial silica sand.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insights for decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Worldwide first Big Data-based fund CATANA BIG DATA is Germany's most innovative fund

CATANA BIG DATA is Germany's most innovative fund

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- Catana's fund "CATANA BIG DATA" ranked first in the category "Fund Innovations" at the 2017 Fund Awards of FERI EuroRating Services- Catana Capital was able to compete against well-known fund providers such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Blackrock and LBBW- Automated Big Data analysis forms basis of investment decision of the fund- Focused investment strategy in DAX stocks and DAX futures without leverage allows market independent positioningFrankfurt am Main, 22. November 2016. The Frankfurt-based Asset Manager Catana Capital ranked first in the category Fund Innovations at the FERI Fund Awards 2017 of the FERI EuroRating Services.The fund CATANA BIG DATA, launched on 30.06.2016, is the first public alternative investment fund globally, which invests exclusively based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. We are very pleased with the award as it shows that innovative fund concepts are also possible in Germany, says Holger Knauer CEO of Catana Capital.With our approach, we have entered uncharted new territory in the fund industry, Knauer mentioned. "Big Data-based trading strategies are superior to traditional investment forms due to the combination of millions of opinions and messages. This innovative approach can achieve excellent results even in a challenging environment, can provide a high diversification effect and can help to minimize the risks and dependencies from volatile capital markets", Knauer explains.As basis for every investment decision, information from the internet from six countries is automatically collected, filtered, weighted and compared with historical price patterns. Several hundred thousand capital markets relevant news are evaluated in real-time per day. By doing this, buy and sell orders are generated for DAX 30 stocks and DAX 30 Futures in a purely quantitative process.ABOUT CATANA CAPITALCatana Capital GmbH is a financial institution, licensed according to section 32 German Banking Act and domiciled in Frankfurt, Germany. Catana Capital GmbH was founded in August 2015 and manages the globally first exclusively Big Data- and A.I.-based public alternative investment fund.For additional information please refer to:Contact information:Catana Capital GmbHFriedensstr. 760311 Frankfurt am MainGermanyRegistered Office: Frankfurt am Main (HRB 103157)BaFin ID: 145105t: +49 69 2561 7004Press contact:Holger KnauerCEOt: +49 69 2561 7004e: holger.knauer@catanacapital.de
Global Tungsten Market is Anticipated to Grow a Single Digit CAGR by 2022

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The global tungsten market has its consumptions in the sector of steel alloys, mill products, cemented carbide, and chemicals. China is a dominant supplier of tungsten having the maximum market share in the global tungsten market in terms of consumption as well as supply.Growing end-use industries such as automotive industries and increase in the demand for wear resistant materials is anticipated to boost the market of cemented carbide and ultimately will drive the global tungsten market. Tungsten has its application in electronic and electrical components such as electron emitters, lead-in wires, and electrical contacts and these industries are forecasted to grow, leading to the increase in global tungsten market. The ability of tungsten to withstand arcing and resistant to corrosion makes it suitable to be used in voltage regulators, though demand of this application is minor but it still contributes to the global tungsten market.The global tungsten market can get hampered due to the recent economic slowdown in China, as China has the largest market share in the mining of tungsten. Tungsten use is forecasted to decline in the lighting application due to the introduction of fluorescent and LED bulbs that has replaced the incandescent bulbs.On the basis of forms available  Ribbons, Sheets, Foils, Strips, Wire, Rod, TubeOn the basis of end use - Hard metals, Chemicals, Mill products, Steels, OthersThe global tungsten market can be divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The Asia Pacific region is dominating the global tungsten market, China continues to be the leader in the supply and consumption of tungsten in the global tungsten market because of its vast tungsten reserves and support of the Chinese government to the tungsten product industries. India will represent a modest growth rate in global tungsten market due to its expanding manufacturing sectors. North America will contribute in the growing global tungsten market with the increasing construction spending in the region. Latin America will witness an above average growth in the global tungsten market by its rising durable goods sector. The expanding automobile industry in Europe makes it a valuable market in global tungsten market. The Middle East and Africa is at a nascent stage in tungsten market but is having bright future prospects in global tungsten market.Get full report sample for detailed overview@Some of the manufacturers of tungsten and its alloys are, Buffalo Tungsten Inc., Mahavir Metal Corporation., Federal Carbide Company., H Cross Company., T&D Material Manufacturing., Global Tungsten & Powders Corp., Midwest Tungsten Service.PMR Overview,Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.U.S. Sales Office305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesT: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353
Molecular Diagnostics in Infectious Disease Testing Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2015 to 2021

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The global molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing market is categorized based on product, application, technique, and end user. Based on product, the report covers instruments and analyzers, assays and reagents, and services and softwares. Based on application, the market comprises hepatitis B, hepatitis C, AIDS, TB, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) hospital-acquired infections, Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG), human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and others. Based on technique, the market covers polymerase chain reaction (PCR), isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology (INAAT), microarrays, next-generation sequencing (NGS), hybridization, and others. Based on end user, the market comprises hospitals, private labs, clinics, academic institutes, laboratories, and others.View Sample Report @North America has the largest market for molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing, followed by Europe. This is due to technological advancement in molecular diagnostic tools, increasing prevalence of infectious diseases and improved healthcare infrastructure in the region. The market in Asia too, is expected to witness a high growth rate in the next few years. This is due to evolving research and development activities on infectious diseases, increasing government support, growing awareness among people about various infectious diseases and their diagnostic procedures, and improving healthcare infrastructure in the region. In addition, growing population and economies in developing countries, such as India and China, are expected to influence the growth in molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing in Asia.Technological advancement in diagnostic procedures for infectious diseases, the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases, a growing elderly population, and the growth of research activities in molecular diagnostic technologies are some major drivers for the global molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing market. Moreover, government support in the form of funding for the diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases is also supporting the growth of the global molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing market. However, the high cost of instruments involved in molecular diagnostic technologies and the lack of skilled healthcare professionals are some major restraints on the growth of the market.Increasing numbers of mergers and acquisitions and rapid product launches are some of the latest trends that have been observed in the global molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing market.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Some of the major companies operating in the global molecular diagnostics in infectious disease testing market are Abbott Laboratories, Becton, Dickinson and Company, bioMerieux, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Siemens AG, Veridex, LLC, Luminex Corp., GenMark Diagnostics, Inc., Qiagen N.V., Genomix Biotech, and bioTheranostics.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market in-telligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexi-ble without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Opening day of IDEAS 2016. (Photo : Pakistan Armed Forces)

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formally opened Pakistan's largest arms show -- the International Defense Exhibition and Seminar 2016 (IDEAS 2016) -- at the Expo Center in Karachi on Nov. 22.



The four-day exhibition is the ninth for IDEAS, whose theme is "Arms for Peace."



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Over 2,000 weapons, weapons systems and military equipment are on display at the exhibition, whose local participants reflect a wider involvement of Pakistan's public and private sector in defense production and export, supported by research and development.



Sharif said IDEAS 2016 demonstrates the results of the collaboration between Pakistani and foreign technologies. He noted these efforts resulted in Pakistan attaining self-reliance in defense production.



Sharif said Pakistan continues to pursue the motto, "Arms for Peace," which has always been the theme of IDEAS.



The Prime Minister described Pakistan's defense products as state of the art and fully tested by the Pakistan Armed Forces. He argued that Pakistan is a fast rising producer of quality defense products and invited foreign companies to do business in Pakistan.



The four-day event showcases Pakistan's latest military hardware and related technology. On display are the Al Khalid main battle tank co-developed with China; the JF-17 Thunder multirole aircraft co-developed with China; the indigenous PAC Super Mushshak primary trainer aircraft; fast attack craft missile boats and armored personnel carriers.



At IDEAS 2016, 261 firms from 34 countries are showcasing their products and their latest technological innovations. There are also 90 delegations from 43 countries, some of which are headed by senior defense officials and ministers.



China and Turkey have been allowed separate pavilions to exhibit their military equipment. Three Russian exhibitors, including Rosoboronexport, the Russian state-controlled arms' import and export firm, are exhibiting at IDEAS 2016.



Nine countries (Poland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Belarus, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium, Nigeria, and Romania) are participating in IDEAS 2016 for the first time.


Dental Radiology Equipment Market: Global Market Snapshot by 2015 - 2021

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Dental radiology or oral radiology refers to the imaging of teeth in order to diagnose and treat various dental conditions such as hidden dental structures, malignant or benign masses, bone loss, and cavities. The equipment comprises of X-rays and other imaging modalities for performing dental diagnostics. The images are formed by passing a controlled burst of X-ray radiation which enters the oral structure and forms an image on a sensor or photographic plate. Until recently, photographic plates were the gold standard for final representation of diagnostics until the arrival of advanced digital systems.View Sample Report @The market for dental X-rays will be driven by the increasing demand for advanced technologies such as Cone Beam CT, which provides a very accurate imaging and changing trend to digital from analog intraoral film. Advanced 2D and 3D imaging has become crucial to the growth of 3D printing and CAD/CAM of prosthetics and implants which is a significant technological growth driver. The United States dental radiology market is expected to account for the largest share of approximately 41% of the global market. Governmental initiatives and the relaxation of certain regulatory hurdles since 2010 are proving to be a benefit for the growth of the market. The U.S. FDA in 2010 issued reduction in the premarket notification requirements for some radiology products which is currently a major legal macroeconomic driver.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Dentistry as a specialty is a major driver for the industry as the number of students choosing dentistry as a specialty are forced to be decreased over the world. In 2013, separate reports by Health Education England and the Centre for Workforce Intelligence warned of a significant potential oversupply of practitioners by 2040 if the current number of dental school places is maintained. The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned dental schools to reduce student intakes by 10 per cent from September 2014 onwards. Danaher, Planmeca, Sirona Dental Systems, and Carestream Health/Kodak Health Group are some of the market leaders in this segment. In terms of key players, the market is highly fragmented with over 40-50 global players, yet around 70% of the market is held by top 5 players in the world.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market in-telligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexi-ble without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Zinc Selenide Market 2016 - Dow Chemical, Phoenix Infrared, II-VI Incorporated, RAIN Group, Crystaltechno, PhoenixTek, Vital Materials, Beijing Guojinghui

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This report provides detailed analysis of worldwide markets for Zinc Selenide from 2011-2016, and provides extensive market forecasts (2016-2021) by region/country and subsectors. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Zinc Selenide market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Zinc Selenide, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies.Request for sample report atZinc selenide (ZnSe) is a light-yellow, solid compound comprising zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se). It is an intrinsic semiconductor with a band gap of about 2.70 eV at 25 C (77 F). ZnSe has stabilized chemical properties for not easy to deliquesce. ZnSe rarely occurs in nature, and is found in the mineral that was named after Hans Stille called "stilleite."Global Zinc Selenide Market Outlook 2016-2021, has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global Zinc Selenide market collected from specialized sources. The report covers key technological developments in the recent times and profiles leading players in the market and analyzes their key strategies.Access full report atThe competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. The major players in the global Zinc Selenide market areDow Chemical (USA), Phoenix Infrared (USA), II-VI Incorporated (USA), RAIN Group (Russia), Crystaltechno (Russia), PhoenixTek (Korea), Vital Materials (China), Beijing Guojinghui (China).The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Rest of World. In this sector, global competitive landscape and supply/demand pattern of Zinc Selenide industry has been provided.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Rainscreen Cladding Market - Global Industry Research Report Upto 2021

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http://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/774-rainscreen-cladding-market-report

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DecisionDatabases.com offers Rainscreen Cladding Market Research Report. This Report covers the complete Industry Outlook, Growth, Size, Share and Forecast Till 2021.Get Free Sample Copy @Rainscreen cladding is an attachment of an outer skin with a ventilated and drained cavity provided to a new or existing building. The key purpose of rainscreen cladding is to protect a building's exterior wall from rainwater and prevent it from penetrating into the interior of the property. It also helps to check the deterioration of materials that are exposed to the exterior elements of the building thereby extending the life of buildings. Rainscreen cladding provides advantages such as thermal insulation, lightweight material, improved external appearance and acoustic performance of the buildings.The rainscreen cladding market is segmented on the basis of raw materials as fiber cements, composites, metal, high-pressure laminates, terracotta, ceramic and others. Composites are the leading raw material for the manufacture of rainscreen cladding due to properties such as higher strength, durability and flexibility. The fiber cement segment is expected to grow during the forecast period. The rainscreen cladding are classified on the basis of applications as residential, commercial, offices, institutional and industrial. The offices segment account for maximum market share. It is expected to grow during the forecast period due to the increase in refurbishment of office structures. The residential sector is expected to grow during the forecast period. The market is further segmented by geography into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World regions.The global rainscreen cladding market is driven by factors such increase in energy efficient buildings construction, exterior wall protection and increase in construction of nonresidential buildings such as offices and institutions in both developed and emerging markets. Increasing demand of eco-friendly buildings owing to stringent government regulations and rising awareness regarding environmental degradation will also help to increase the demand over the forecast period. Urbanization, rise in standard of living and high disposable income is expected to drive the construction of offices, residential buildings and industries in the developing nations which will fuel the growth of rainscreen cladding market. The key constraints of this market are high installation costs and complex maintenance.C. Major players assessed in the report are:> Ash & Lacy Building System Ltd.> Booth Muirie Ltd.>Carea Ltd.> Celotex Ltd.> CGL Facades Co.> Dow Building Systems> E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.> Kalzip Ltd.> Kingspan Insulation PLC> Lakesmere International Ltd.> MF Murray Company> Nvelope Rainscreen System Ltd.> Rockwool International A/S> TAKTL LLCView More about Rainscreen Cladding Market Research Report @DecisionDatabases is involved in providing research reports and company profiles in the global rainscreen cladding market in terms of revenue and output/volume. Market drivers, opportunities and restraints are thoroughly studied which influences the market. This study is further utilized for the overall analysis of the market. The rainscreen cladding market is segmented based on the global applications, geographic presence, by products and ingredients. We offer an inclusive category-specific market outlook. We provide access to a comprehensive collection of companies in the industry. The companies can strategize and execute business operations through our competitor analysis. Find the global industry analysis, market size, share, growth, and trends information in our rainscreen cladding profiles.Major Table Of Contents:1. INTRODUCTION2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3. MARKET ANALYSIS OF RAINSCREEN CLADDING4. RAINSCREEN CLADDING MARKET ANALYSIS BY RAW MATERIAL5. RAINSCREEN CLADDING MARKET ANALYSIS BY APPLICATION6. RAINSCREEN CLADDING MARKET ANALYSIS BY GEOGRAPHY7. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE OF RAINSCREEN CLADDING COMPANIES8. COMPANY PROFILES OF RAINSCREEN CLADDING INDUSTRYPurchase Complete Global Rainscreen Cladding Market Research Report At:DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.3rd Floor,Fountain chambers,Nanabhai Lane,Fort, Mumbai - 1E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.comPhone: +91 99 28 237112Web:
Eminent Spine, LLC - Medical device Product Pipeline Analysis, 2016 Update

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"The Report Eminent Spine, LLC - Product Pipeline Analysis, 2016 Update provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Eminent Spine, LLC (Eminent Spine) is a medical device company that designs and develops spine technology devices. The company provides products such as cervical products, MIS products, and thoracolumbar products. Its cervical products comprise anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, and cervical plate. Eminnet Spine offers MIS products such as lateral lumbar inter-body fusion, lateral plate, MIS pedicle screw, and TPLIF. The company offers thoracolumbar products that include buttress plate, anterior lumbar inter-body fusion, posterior lumbar inter-body fusion, transforaminal lumbar inter-body fusion, cross connector, and pedicle screw. Eminent Spine is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas, the US.This report is a source for data, analysis, and actionable intelligence on the companys portfolio of pipeline products. The report provides key information about the company, its major products and brands.The report enhances decision making capabilities and help to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.View Report AtScope:- The report reviews detailed company profile with information on business description, key company facts, major products and services, key competitors, key employees, locations and subsidiaries and recent developments- The report analyzes all pipeline products in development for the company Eminent Spine, LLC- The report provides pipeline analysis on all pipeline products of the company (by equipment type, by indication, by development stage, and by trial status)- The report covers detailed information on each pipeline product with information on pipeline territory, stage of development, device class, regulatory path, indication(s), application(s) and estimated launch date- The report provides detailed description of products in development, technical specification and functions- The report also covers ongoing clinical trials (wherever applicable) with information on trial name, trial objective, sponsor, trial design , trial status and phase, estimated start and end date.Reasons to Buy:- Develop business strategies by understanding the trends and developments driving the medical devices pipeline and technology landscape- Design and develop your product development, marketing and sales strategies by understanding the competitor portfolio- To formulate effective Research & Development strategies- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies- Exploit in-licensing and out-licensing opportunities by identifying products, most likely to ensure a robust return- Plan mergers and acquisitions effectively by identifying key players of the most promising pipeline- Identify emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage- Develop competition strategies by identifying the status and likely launch of the competitors pipeline products through review of the clinical trials, stage and of development, etc- Identify, understand and capitalize the next high-value products that your competitor would add in its portfolioDownload Sample copy of this Report at :Table of ContentsTable of Contents 2List of Tables 3List of Figures 4Eminent Spine, LLC Company Overview 5Eminent Spine, LLC Company Snapshot 5Eminent Spine, LLC Pipeline Products and Clinical Trials Overview 6Eminent Spine, LLC Pipeline Analysis Overview 7Key Facts 7Eminent Spine, LLC - Major Products and Services 8Eminent Spine, LLC Pipeline Products by Development Stage 10Eminent Spine, LLC Pipeline Products Overview 11Anaconda 11Anaconda Product Overview 11Boomslang Snake 12Boomslang Snake Product Overview 12King Snake 13King Snake Product Overview 13Queen Snake 14Queen Snake Product Overview 14Eminent Spine, LLC - Key Competitors 15Eminent Spine, LLC - Key Employees 16Eminent Spine, LLC - Locations And Subsidiaries 17Head Office 17Recent Developments 18Eminent Spine, LLC, Recent Developments 18Apr 19, 2013: Eminent Spine Announces First Use Of Texas Diamondback Minimally Invasive Screw System 18Feb 06, 2012: Eminent Spine Shares FDA Evaluation Results 18Sep 15, 2011: Eminent Spine Releases King Cobra Anterior Cervical Plate White Paper 18Sep 15, 2011: Eminent Spine Announces Clinical Results Of Diamondback Pedicle Screw System And Boa Constrictor Cross-Link 18Sep 15, 2011: Eminent Spine Announces Study Results Of Its Anterior Buttress Fang Plate 19Sep 15, 2011: Eminent Spine Clinical Trial Successful For King Cobra Anterior Cervical Plate 19Jan 14, 2011: Eminent Spine Receives FDA Clearance For King Cobra Cervical Plate 19Appendix 20Methodology 20About GlobalData 20MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
New update "Global Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Market Report: 2016 Edition" The Report covers an In-depth Market Trends, Analysis, Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=660412

"Global Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Market Report: 2016 Edition" The Report covers current Market Trends, Analysis, Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is an infection which affects the liver which may lead to serious consequences if not taken care of. It spreads through infected blood transfusions and poorly sterilized medical equipments. The number of patients has increased significantly because its symptoms take time to be recognized before the patient progresses towards a clinically visible liver damage which worsens the situation since it may lead to liver damage or even failure. There was no proper therapy for HCV before 2010 but the coming of therapies like Sovaldi and Harvoni by Gilead and Viekira Pak by AbbVie has improved the scenario. Also the steps taken like proper blood screening is also helping in identifying the patients.Get Sample Report With TOC @The key factors which are anticipated to drive HCV market include medical reimbursement because of the therapy being very costly, growth in the number of patients, relatively smaller period of drug treatment from before, treatment of the warehoused patients who were waiting for a better therapy and pricing discounts and better regimens because of the increased competition. Some of the significant developments of this industry include launch of the interferon free regimen and development of products like Sovaldi, Harvoni and Viekira Pak and the newly identified and diagnosed patients. However, the challenges to be faced ahead is more number of patients asking for reimbursement, increasing competition leading to price cutting, risk associated with drug development and regulatory risk.This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the HCV market. Furthermore, market dynamics such as key trends and development; and challenges are analyzed in depth. On the contention front, the global HCV market is reined by few major players namely Gilead Sciences, AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The competitive landscape of the respective market, along with the company profiles of the leading players are also discussed in detail.ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Portland is considering an ordinance that would require home-sellers to give potential buyers -- and anyone else who cares to check -- a look at their energy usage.

Update: The Portland City Council passed the policy unanimously on Dec. 14. The disclosure will be included with listings and provided to potential buyers, but it wouldn't be published by the city.

The measure would require each seller to have the home scored on a 1 to 10 scale, as well as disclose its estimated annual energy use and estimated cost, starting in 2018. The city also may post the scores publicly online, though city commissioners suggested they might not ultimately support that provision.

The cost of an energy audit would probably be less than $200, city officials said. It would apply to most single-family homes and row-houses, but not condos.

The initiative, promoted by Mayor Charlie Hales, is modeled off programs in Austin, Texas, and other cities. The goal, Hales said, is to give homebuyers a way to compare properties' energy usage - similar to the fuel-economy ratings on new cars -- and to better gauge the entire cost of owning a given home.

And it's intended to aid the city in its goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Portland first considered an energy-score program in the 1990s, said Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Director Susan Anderson.

"This has been thought about for more than 20 years," she said during a hearing Wednesday. "With the real estate market as hot as it is now, we think it's time to move on it."

The real-estate industry, however, pushed for the program to be voluntary. The Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors has mobilized members against the requirement, saying it would be costly and wouldn't meaningfully change buyers' behavior. And they argued against public disclosure of the scores, which the city has proposed to make available online.

Evan Swanson, a Portland mortgage broker, said a publicly available score might prompt lenders to require costly repairs before providing financing.

"That, I believe, would be unfair to low-income households, who are less likely to have the resources to maintain the property or do required repairs," he said.

Portland homebuilders contend the requirement shouldn't apply to new homes, which already adhere to strict energy-efficiency guidelines.

Others testified in favor of the proposal either as a way to combat climate change or because of the information it would provide to consumers.

Purchasing a home is one of, if not the single most, important investment either an individual or a household can make," said Sam Pastrick, a staffer at the nonprofit Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon. "Homeowners need good information about this investment to make good choices."

And without a mandate, noted Jana Gastellum of the Oregon Environmental Council, it's difficult to get energy efficiency reports in Portland's hot real-estate market.

Gastellum, the council's climate program director, said her real estate agent advised her against seeking an energy score from sellers when she bought her home three years ago.

"It was a seller's market, and as a buyer I couldn't get a score because it was an extra, something additional," she said. "It would have made our bid less competitive."

The program could provide alternatives for low-income home-sellers, including deferring the cost to the buyer or providing grants.

Earlier this year, the city council voted to require many commercial property owners to report energy performance. The city will begin publishing those reports next year.

The council may vote on the proposal in two weeks.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
Rain fell one evening last week as protesters chanted and yelled in downtown Portland.

Anger is easy to find in November 2016.

Hope?

Take it where you find it.

The Union Gospel Mission stands at the gritty corner of Northwest Third Avenue and West Burnside Street. It's where hundreds of volunteers and clients have found a power that exists within our hearts and souls, expressed in compassion and humanity.

Sometimes, hope is waiting at the street corner.

***

Mike Miller marched up the sidewalk like he owned it. He had the strong handshake, rough hands and direct stare of a man who'd blown through hundreds of second chances.

His life changed because of a conversation with a stranger. Now, on this rainy night, Miller, 57, was preparing to repay the debt.

Born and raised in California, Miller was married and had two children when the drugs and alcohol, which he began abusing when he was 13, caught up with him. He dropped out of an apprentice program in the trades. His wife served divorce papers and he lost contact with his son and daughter. Miller drifted, living on the street until he moved to Bend to live with a brother. But the demons chased after him, and he ended up homeless. He faced a painful truth: He'd wasted his life and now he'd hit bottom.

One night he saw a couple of men walking toward his campsite. Not sure if they were cops or troublemakers, he expected the worst. The men introduced themselves as veterans. They said they were looking for vets who needed help. Miller said he wasn't a vet.

"One man said it didn't matter," Miller said. "He told me they were looking for people."

The man gave Miller food and water. He asked Miller if he was cold. When he nodded, the man handed him warm clothing.

"He just talked with me," Miller said. "That was remarkable. No one ever talked to me."

The man came back, week after week.

"We talked, sometimes for an hour," he said. "He asked if I needed anything. He prayed for me, which I thought was odd. But, hey, if he thought it had some value, I was fine with it."

Over time, the man told Miller he believed in him.

"What he offered me was a bit of hope," he said.

He'd learned to take hope where you find it.

***

The man asked Miller if he'd like to get into a program where he'd receive treatment for his addictions. He grabbed the lifeline.

He spent 18 months in the Bend program and got clean. When it ended, he was invited to go on a fishing trip in Hells Canyon with members of Portland's Union Gospel Mission.

On the trip, Miller was offered a chance to move to Portland and apply for the mission's Life Change program. If accepted, he'd live at the mission for three years, take classes and work at rebuilding his life. He signed on.

Before the three years was up, officials asked Miller if he'd stay longer to see if a new approach tried in Seattle could work in Portland.

Called Search and Rescue, the mission program sends people into the community each night to reach the homeless who are the most isolated and reluctant to seek help.

"I never forgot the men who came to my campsite in Bend," Miller said.

Now it was Miller's turn to be a good shepherd.

***

Now, every Sunday through Thursday, Miller drives a van loaded with food, clothes and other men from the mission, all volunteers.

Each shift they meet as many as 100 homeless people in Portland, giving away food, clothes and toiletries. They help find resources, a place to stay or people who can help with employment.

One young woman needed shoes. Miller brought her a pair. A man who did odd jobs needed a toolbox. Miller got him one.

Miller doesn't judge. He doesn't ask about criminal records or drug use. He doesn't check them out. He's not a cop or parole officer.

"It's not for me to judge," he said. "I've been on the other side."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"They're people," he said. "I laugh with them. I cry with them."

He's reconnected with his grown kids. He wants to eventually become a drug and alcohol counselor.

Miller stood next to the van that would soon be loaded with supplies.

"I listen," he said. "Everyone has a story."

***

One stop tonight will be not too far from Lloyd Center, at a tent set up on a muddy patch of land high above Interstate 84. Marcus and Amy call it home. He's 34. She's 32 and pregnant.

"We got stranded in Portland," she said, after unzipping the tent flap and stepping outside. "We'd come from Louisiana to work festivals in California. Then we came to Portland for Rose Festival and Hood to Coast."

While here, the couple said, their home in Baton Rouge flooded. They had no place to go. They bought a tent and tried to make do, looking for work and housing. They were in their tent one night when Miller arrived, calling out a greeting.

"We thought it was a joke," she said. "But we had nothing to lose."

Miller gave them food and clothing. He talked to them, saw them as people. He said he'd keep coming back. He does. The couple said Miller brought with him a bit of respect.

"We don't use drugs," she said. "We have a line on a job, and have a shot at housing, but have a problem with our credit."

***

Is it true?

Miller doesn't know.

Doesn't care.

"I'm doing what we're all supposed to do," he said. "Love one another. When I was out there, at my lowest point, someone talked to me like a person."

He ran a hand through his hair.

The rain, which had stopped, started up again.

"I'm not doing anything particularly great," he said. "But I stood in them shoes."

He turned to go inside the mission to get supplies.

"Have a blessed day."

May we all.

--Tom Hallman Jr.

thallman@oregonian.com; 503 221-8224

@thallmanjr
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Marc Smith is facing two felonies and five misdemeanor counts.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)

A former Hood River County sheriff's deputy arrested in September allegedly used a work cellphone to film a minor in a state of nudity, according to his indictment.

Marc Smith is also facing allegations he touched a girl's breast, exposed his genitals to her and filmed and photographed her intimate area, among other allegations. The alleged abuse happened in August and September of 2015 and 2016, according to the indictment.

Smith allegedly committed the crimes while he was off-duty, the county sheriff previously said in a news release. Sheriff Matt English said Smith resigned a week after his Sept. 9 arrest, amid an Oregon State Police investigation.

English said the sheriff's office learned of the allegations against the former deputy after they were reported to the office.

"Although there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the grand jury's decision underscores the fact that law enforcement should be held to the same standard as any citizen and we must be accountable for our actions whether on or off duty," English said in an email Wednesday. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and victim's family."

Smith is facing single felony counts of luring a minor and second-degree online sexual corruption of a child.

He also faces two misdemeanor counts of private indecency and single misdemeanor counts of third-degree sex abuse, invasion of personal privacy and first-degree official misconduct.

Smith is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. He was initially held in the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility in The Dalles and was released on bail.

KOIN-TV first reported about the indictment Wednesday.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
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The Skamania County Sheriff's Office identified the people involved in a Nov. 23, 2016 shooting that left one person shot in the face, and another suffering from multiple gunshots in North Bonneville.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)

The Skamania County Sheriff's Office identified the people involved in a Wednesday night shooting that left one person shot in the face, and another suffering from multiple gunshots in North Bonneville.

Deputies responded at 7:15 p.m. to the 1300 block of Yehuh Street to a report of a burglary, followed by a second 911 call telling dispatchers of a shooting, Sheriff Dave Brown said in a news release Thursday.

Investigators believe Brian Miller, 30, of Camas, Washington, entered the apartment of Robert Holmes IV, 25, and Robert Holmes III, 57, and a fight ensued between the three men, Brown said. Resident Sarah Marsengill, 35, was also at home at the time.

During the fight, the elder Holmes suffered a gunshot wound to the face. He was treated and released from an area hospital within a short period of time, according to the release.

Miller was shot three times, left the scene and drove to the Washougal Police Department where he was treated by emergency crews and rushed to the hospital. Brown said Miller remains hospitalized. Brown didn't indicate where Miller was shot or his condition.

One gun was used during the fight, Brown said Wednesday night. Deputies arrested the younger Holmes and booked him into the county jail on a reckless endangerment accusation.

The investigation remains open. Brown could not be reached Thursday.

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports
Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Holds Rally In New York City

Green party nominee Jill Stein speaks to members of the press before the start of a campaign rally at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture on Oct. 12, 2016.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, has started a drive to raise the $2.5 million necessary to audit election results in three key states Hillary Clinton lost to President-elect Donald Trump.

Had Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin gone blue on Election Day, their collective 46 electoral votes would have flipped the contest in Clinton's favor. They're also the same three states where a group of computer scientists is urging the former secretary of state to contest the results.

Stein's campaign page has collected nearly $1.7 million so far. The first deadline to appeal for a recount comes on Friday in Wisconsin, followed by Pennsylvania Nov. 28 and Michigan on Nov. 30.

The Green Party candidate has cited "compelling evidence of voting anomalies" in the three states.

Alex Halderman, a professor at the University of Michigan and one of the computer scientists advocating for a recount, told the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal blog that memory cards designed to store ballot design may have been compromised. Those cards are used in multiple machines.

Another piece of circumstantial evidence recount proponents point to is the fact that Clinton fared better in counties that exclusively used paper ballots. FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver has countered this argument.

Speculation about the legitimacy of this year's election results are nothing new.

In early October, the Obama Administration accused the Russian government of hacking Democratic National Committee emails and leaking their contents. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Trump himself solicited for voluntary poll monitors to ensure the election wouldn't be stolen from him.

Both Clinton and President Obama publicly chastised Trump for the move.

"You start whining before the game's even over?" the president said during a news conference in October.

Neither Clinton nor her campaign have publicly addressed the push for recounts.

--Eder Campuzano

503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Robert Downey Jr. arrives for UK film premiere 'Captain America: Civil War' at Vue Westfield on April 26, 2016 in London, England. (Photo : Getty Images / Ian Gavan)

Matthew McConaughey (Photo : Getty Images Entertainment)

HBO series "True Detective" was hailed as a groundbreaking show in its initial season with no less than Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson taking the lead roles.



More than the A-list casting, series creator Nic Pizzolatto had viewers at the palm of his hand with a deep yet thrilling plot. Along with superb direction from Cary Fukunaga, the masterful union had the entire TV audience holding its breath for Season 2.



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However, Season 2 was a disappointment, to say the least. Along with the anticipation, there were huge expectations and even with a heralded cast of Rachel McAdams, Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, it was a massive letdown.



Thus, Season 3 became a huge question mark. If they ever want to relive the tradition of the first season, HBO and Pizzolatto must bring out the big guns and according to reports from Vanity Fair, they actually just might bring back a familiar face.



As they state in this report, HBO and Pizzolatto are looking for a Season 3 "Hail Mary." They may have their prayers answered as Matthew McConaughey wants to reprise his Season 1 role as Rust Cohle.



"I miss Rust Cohle, man," McConaughey admitted on DirecTV's "Rich Eisen Show." He added: "I miss watching him on Sunday nights."



"It would have to be the right context, the right way," McConaughey explained. "That thing-when I read [the original script] I knew in 20 minutes if I can play this guy, Rustin Cohle, I'm in."



"I was a happy man when I made that for six months, because I was on my own island," the Academy Award winner confided. "Luckily my wife put up with me."



That's great news for the network and the show creator but the onus is on them to offer a good script on the level of Season 1, and that's a tough act to follow.



The detective genre has also impressed another A-list star. No stranger to iconic detective roles, "Sherlock Holmes" movie star Robert Downey, Jr. Apparently, he wants the role of classic detective character Perry Mason Variety reports that RDJ and Pizzolatto are in talks.



While it is not directly a 'True Detective' Season 3 project, who knows what could happen if Matthew McConaughey signs on as Rust Cohle again? Why wouldn't RDJ want to work with the Oscar winner?



Robert Downey Jr and Matthew McConaughey could save the "True Detective" franchise. HBO is giving Pizzolatto more time since they are still dominating with "Game of Thrones." Former HBO head of programming Michael Lombardo did admit that he "rushed the process" for Season 2 (h/t Vulture). His successor, Casey Bloys does not want to make the same mistake.


Running Man Episode 330 live stream, watch online BLACKPINK: Why Infinite Challenge is better than Running Man? (Photo : YouTube/Blackpink)

Blackpink reached an impressive milestone with their latest track "Playing with Fire." Recently, the four-member band became the first Kpop girl group whose song nabbed a spot on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart.



"Playing with Fire" debuted at number 92 on the Canadian Hot 100 list for the week period covering Nov. 26, according to Billboard. The said track is one of the singles from Blackpink's latest extended play (EP), titled "Square Two."



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Blackpink's current Billboard Canadian Hot 100 feat marks the first time that a Kpop girl group entered the said list. In previous chart periods, South Korean musicians such as Psy, EXO, BTS, as well as 2NE1 band leader CL each nabbed a spot on the said list with earlier hits.



So far, Blackpink and BTS' tracks "Playing with Fire" and "Blood Sweat and Tears," respectively, are the only Kpop songs that entered Billboard's Canadian Hot 100 list this year. The said BTS track nabbed the number 86 spot when it debuted on the said chart in early November.



Blackpink's "Playing with Fire" also reached impressive chart placements in various music lists both in South Korea and in other parts of the world. The said track even topped Billboard's World Digitial Songs chart during its peak, as indicated in the same report.



Similar to the Kpop idol group BTS, Blackpink's album "Square Two" has also been on the top 10 of the World Albums Chart for several weeks, according to Korea Herald. With a three week tenure on the said chart's top 10 list, the South Korean girl group's album even reached the second spot during its peak.



Meanwhile, BTS' album "Wings" has been on the same chart for six weeks. At its highest ranking, "Wings" even nabbed the first spot on the World Albums Chart.



Blackpink released its latest EP "Square Two," as well as its track "Playing with Fire" on Nov. 1. Watch the music video for the said track below:






The early decades of cinema (1890s to 1940s) coincide with the late colonial periods of three southern-hemisphere British colonies: New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. In each colony films were made about indigenous peoples, and their relationships with settlers. Some were historical films; others documented, or capitalised on, indigenous life by drawing on legends or scenes of traditional life; others developed fictional narratives. This symposium investigates the uses of locally-made moving images, for colonies-becoming-nations, and for indigenous communities and their sense of cultural belonging.

Early film-makers had varying relationships with indigenous groups, and for the most part they worked within genres that were shaped by the codes of imported film. But film-making including portrayals of indigenous peoples, unlike writing or painting, has the distinctive characteristic of requiring that its creators deal directly with their subjects, raising questions about the possibilities, if also the limitations, of this medium in cultural dialogue. How did the involvement of indigenous peoples in the film-making process open out new understandings of collaboration, co-creativity and cross-cultural exchange? What forms of agency did indigenous people exercise in specific productions, and what traces did such agency leave on the screen, or at the sites of production (in local memory, for example)? Did indigenous people make their own films? What were the implications and outcomes of filming traditional stories on historical locations, or within contemporary communities? How were these productions received by local audiences, both indigenous and settler communities? How are they consumed, remembered, interpreted and valued as records of the past in the present?

This symposium investigates these early films, and the cultural engagements involved in their making. We invite papers that investigate the cross-cultural processes of film production in the colonial context, and the ways in which indigenous and settler participants  performers, crew, or people from the localities where filming took place  took part in productions. In focusing primarily on New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, the symposium also seeks to develop a comparative analysis of the means through which film contributed to the making of national stories in the late colonial era, and how indigenous communities within these colonies engaged with the first few decades of film culture.

Registration is now open, but please note that room capacity is limited to 90 people.

Date Wednesday, 12 July 2017 - Saturday, 15 July 2017 Time 9:00am - 5:00pm Audience Public Event Category Humanities Event Type Symposium

Location Nga Taonga Sound and Vision, 84 Taranaki Street, Wellington Cost Full Registration: $100 (General) & $85 (Student)

Daily Registration: $70 (General) & $55 (Student)

Conference Dinner: $45

Contact Name Associate Profesor Annabel Cooper Contact Email filminthecolony@otago.ac.nz Website https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/crocc/film-in-the-colony-symposium/

Save this event
Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 78F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
Thanksgiving is finally here!

It is a truly special celebration. All across the nation, families and friends will sit down today and give thanks while enjoying a meal featuring such traditional foods as turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. And for many, as soon as the celebration is over, it will be the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season. This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent so Christmas is right around the corner. For my Danish wife Susanne that means decorations. For me, it means getting out books with handwritten holiday recipes collected over many years.

I must admit that I began writing down Christmas recipes when I was in my teens. Much of my inspiration for cooking came from my own mother, who baked a lot when I was young despite the fact that she always worked. One of the specialties that she prepared and I really liked was her fruitcake. I always remember that it was moist and seemed to have just the right amount of fruit. Over the years, as I spent time in different countries, I modified a few things in the original recipe to adapt it to local ingredients. I have baked in many places and people have really liked it.

While my Danish in laws were still alive, Susanne and I were lucky to celebrate Christmas with both of them twice. I have always found Christmas in Scandinavia so beautiful. Despite the fact that there is often little sunlight there in December, one can see candles in restaurants, bars and even banks, public offices and schools. Many bars and restaurants offer mulled wine and cookies at this time of the year for a special price. The mulled wine just smells wonderful and certainly warms one up on a cold winter day. On once occasion, I was interested to find a recipe for muffins using mulled wine as an ingredient. Once the muffins are baked the alcohol bakes out but the muffins still have that smell of Scandinavian Christmas.

South of the border, Christmas celebrations in Germany are also very special events including markets, bakery shelves filled with cookies and breads and unique holiday traditions. Having been in different regions of the country in December, my wife and I have witnessed some beautiful sights and have certainly eaten some delicious foods. In the southwestern part of the country, the city of Dresden is famous for its Christmas market - locally called Striezelmarkt. This year the market will celebrate its 582nd birthday! It is literally huge and covers many blocks. At the market one can purchase many locally made decorations such as beautiful Christmas stars that are lit inside and handmade wooden decorations from the Erzgebirge region. Of course, there are all sorts of food and drink specialties including cookies and breads. And for the little ones there are even rides. Dresden is famous for its Striezel or stollen as it is also called. The very heavy Christmas loaf is sliced in thin slices and always is a must at our place during the Advent season.

During the time I lived in Austria, I was also amazed at the seemingly unending recipes for Christmas cakes and cookies. My first Christmas Eve dinner there was beautiful. I remember opening the doors to the living room for the children just before dinner so they could see the recently decorated Christmas tree complete with lit candles for the very first time. I will never forget the look in the eyes of the children as they witnessed the beauty of the tree for the very first time. After dinner, it was time for coffee and pastries. It was amazing to see no less than twenty types of cookies and cakes on the table. All had been homemade. My absolute favorite cookies were the Vanillekipferl or vanilla horns. They were, as some might say, dainty and delicious. I eagerly asked for the recipe and have made them ever since regardless of where I have been.

Today is truly a wonderful day to enjoy! And before the end of the day I certainly will have an idea of some of the specialties I will be baking during the next weeks leading up to Christmas. And, my Danish wife will certainly spend time in the kitchen baking some of her Danish favorites as well. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoy getting ready for the upcoming Christmas holiday!

Greg Lopez is a Midlander who enjoys food and travel. He combines both in a monthly column for the Daily News.

Moms fruitcake - my version

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 cups unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup candied fruit

1/2 cup raisins

2 tablespoons dark rum

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, mix the applesauce, pumpkin puree, butter or margarine (I actually always use half butter and half margarine), the eggs, both types of sugar, the cocoa and the spices. In another bowl sift together the flour, the pinch of salt, the baking powder and baking soda. Add the candied fruits, raisins and nuts. Add this mixture to the puree mixture and stir only until all is blended. Stir in the rum. Bake in lightly greased and floured bread pan (depending on the size pan you use there may be enough for 1 - 1 1/2 loaves) in a preheated 300 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until the cake tests done. Note: You can soak the raisins in the rum for 1 hour before adding both to the cake. This helps to plump up the raisins a bit.

Mulled wine muffins

4 eggs

pinch of salt

2 sticks unsalted margarine or butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix

1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup mulled wine

Separate the egg whites and egg yolks in two mixing bowls. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat them with a hand mixer until the whites form peaks. In another bowl, beat the margarine and the sugar with a hand mixer until light and creamy. This can take several minutes. Add the egg yolks to the margarine and sugar and beat another minute. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and cocoa. Add to the margarine, sugar and egg yolk mixture along with the vanilla, chocolate chips and walnuts. Slowly mix in mulled wine and then fold in the egg whites using a spatula until all is well blended. Use paper muffin forms and fill each one about 1/2 full. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees Fahrenheit oven about 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins are done. Allow them to cool completely before serving. Note: The alcohol will bake out. Do not use cooking wine for this since it is full of salt.
South Korean actor Lee Joon Gi arrives for the 43rd annual 'Paek Sang Art Awards' at the National theater April 25, 2007 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo : Getty Images/Chung Sung-Jun)

Followers of the newly-concluded South Korean series "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo" have been hoping for a sequel or Season 2. However, there is little information if SBS will hear the clamor and the rumored special about the drama is still vague.



Fans of Lee Joon Gi's recent drama aired from Aug. 29 to Nov. 1 were so carried away with the story that they could not accept it has ended and hope for a sequel instead. The SBS series gained large following across the globe in a short time.



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Based on the Chinese novel by Tong Hua titled "Bu Bu Xing," the series tells the story of a young woman who accidentally went on a time travel to ancient times and found herself falling in love with a prince in the Goryeo Dynasty. The series hit 2 billion views on Youku Chinese streaming site. Grateful of the massive views, Lee held a fan meet to watch the drama's finale with the fans.



It is not typical for Korean dramas to have multiple seasons despite pleas from fans. Previous popular dramas like "The Heirs" in 2013 starring Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, as well as this year's "Descendants of the Sun" starring Song Jong Ki and Song Hye Kyo had been asked by fans for a sequel but nothing happened.



The petition which is led by an Italian fan for the sequel of "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo" has reached 48,203 and will soon come up with 50,000. The fans will then submit it to SBS.



The production team of "Moon Lovers" was said to plan to air some specials with an alternate ending, alongside interesting behind-the-scenes and deleted scenes, Gack Hollywood reported. Lee Ji-Eun aka IU was said teasing some unaired or deleted scenes which triggered speculations that it will be in the drama special.



In the alternate ending, IU's character and that of Lee will meet again in the modern times, according to Mobile & Apps. Aside from that, there is scarcity of information regarding the drama special and no one has confirmed it yet. However, fans keep their fingers crossed that it will happen.



Here is one of the scenes in the finale of "Moon Lovers":







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Paradise Lutheran Church partners with area churches to help the underprivileged rebound.

After a divorce and unemployment crippled his finances three years ago, Robert Jensen wound up homeless in Paradise, California. But then, Paradise Lutheran Church helped Jensen rebound with its outreach programs for the needy.

Drawn to the church because it serves free meals, Jensen learned from a staffer about a local housing program for the homeless. He signed up and soon found work. Raised as a Christian, he had stopped attending churchbut hes now a Paradise Lutheran member and serves on the churchs governing board. The once destitute Jensen draws on his past as he does outreach to the needy.

It just helps me know what those people are going through, he says. I was never hungry before. I never knew what that was like. That gives me a good perspective.

Paradise Lutheran has set out to help the underprivileged rebound from difficult times by partnering with area churches that also offer free lunches to the community. Now, these individuals can receive meals at a variety of churches throughout the week. Some of the churches also provide shelter.

Paradise Lutheran once offered discounted housing to those in need and currently seeks financing to build an independent-living facility. In the meantime, the homeless use the church to shower and do laundry. The church also shares its grounds with social workers who connect the needy to appropriate services.

Pastor Rod Platte says churchgoers routinely donate food and money to help the outreach programs thrive. With an average weekend attendance of 60 to 70 worshippers, Paradise Lutheran isnt a big church. However, the congregation, Platte insists, is the key to its success.

Your congregation has to be on board with it, Platte says. They have to be wiling to open their doors and let the church buildings be used.

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BLOOMINGTON  Claims that the Illinois State Police could face sanctions if the agency conducts further tests on DNA evidence in the Donald Whalen murder case were challenged Wednesday by Whalen's lawyer, who argued the state has a history of testing unconventional DNA samples without negative consequence.

Whalen was convicted in 1991 of killing his father, William Whalen, during an argument at the Twenty Grand Tap, a now-defunct bar in downtown Bloomington owned by the elder Whalen.

Donald Whalen is serving 60 years in prison for murder.

As part of Whalen's efforts to overturn his conviction or secure a new trial, defense lawyers are asking that the Illinois State Police perform additional tests on a DNA sample created by Dr. Karl Reich from three DNA samples found on knives collected at the crime scene.

The defense contends that tests previously performed on the sample did not conform to the doctor's specifications, a claim disputed by the state.

Prosecutors have objected to further testing, arguing the FBI has advised the agency that testing on material that allegedly fails to meet quality assurance standards could result in the loss of accreditation for the state's crime lab.

Neither the lab nor its staff has been the subject of disciplinary action or sanctions since the first round of testing, Donald Parker, administrator of the state's DNA database for the state police, testified on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Elliot Slosar, one of Whalen's lawyers with The Exoneration Project, questioned Parker about several prior criminal cases involving unique testing issues. In one, a second suspect was identified after state testing, Parker acknowledged when asked about a case involving DNA samples provided by a private lab that lacked accreditation.

When Slosar asked Parker if his testing has not only solved a crime but exonerated an innocent person, Parker said, "I don't know, it could happen. That's possible."

In response to questions from Illinois Assistant Attorney General Joshua Ratz, Parker said the ISP lab did not accept ownership of the unconventional DNA sample in the Whalen case, but performed the first round of tests as ordered by the court.

"We were just forced by the court to run this data," said Parker.

According to Parker, the DNA profile created by Reich differs from mixed samples that comply with FBI standards in other cases. The material in Whalen's case came from multiple exhibits and could belong to several people, said Parker.

A state lab scientist testified in September that additional testing could be performed on the sample, if ordered by the court.

The DNA issues in Whalen's case have been debated in court for about six years. The current DNA examination relates to a 2011 ruling by the Illinois Appellate Court that ordered the state to perform tests on the knives.
NORMAL  Ian Wilson has been named director of student engagement at Heartland Community College in Normal.

Wilson formerly was associate dean of student services at Lincoln College-Normal. He started Nov. 15 at Heartland and succeeds Marvin Rasch.

In his new position, Wilson will plan and oversee student programming and manage the Veterans Education and Training Services program that assists students who are military veterans.

We are thrilled to bring Ian to Heartland, Anita Moore, Heartland's dean of student support services, said in a statement. His vast experience and broad knowledge in the student success realm will be very beneficial.

Wilson has 11 years of experience in student life administrative positions.

In addition to his time at Lincoln College-Normal, which included a stint as director of residential and student life, Wilson has worked at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo.

He has a bachelor's degree in political science and history and a master's degree in college student development and administration, both from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse.
BLOOMINGTON  Gifts are given and warm meals are shared by most families during the holidays, but some struggle to get by with nothing.

We have something, so we give, said Virginia Anderson.

Virginia and her husband Steven, of LeRoy, decide to make donations to The Pantagraph Goodfellow Fund each year because theres a lot of people in this community in need.

For the 89th year, The Pantagraph Goodfellow Fund will touch nearly 2,000 lives because of contributions from the community.

The donations are used to purchase food baskets, blankets, hams and gift cards which are then distributed throughout Central Illinois by Pantagraph employees.

Last year, the fund raised more than $50,000, impacting 1,696 lives in Central Illinois, including residents in nursing homes and deserving children and families.

Each year, the program gives 60 $25 gift cards to the Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal. Alicia Whitworth, the club's development director, said the cards will be given as awards to the youth of the month.

One child from each age group will be selected for demonstrating good behavior and citizenship, said Whitworth.

She said some children might use the gift card to buy a shirt or toy theyve been eyeing and one child said, My mom needs a new rug for her kitchen.

Were really grateful to continue receiving these gift cards from the Goodfellow Fund each year. It makes a huge impact on these kids and their families to know people in the community they dont even know are willing to give and support them, said Whitworth.

The McLean County Diversity Project makes a donation to the fund each year because, said director Jeff Schwartz, Everybody should have something during the holiday season.

Schwartz said it amazes him that donors and recipients could pass each other on the street and not even know that one helped the other.

It generates good will. People know there are others out there caring for them, said Schwartz. There are good fellows and good gals out there. People care. The Goodfellow Fund is a great embodiment of caring and tradition that touches a broad landscape in the community.

The Goodfellow Fund began in 1927 when a Pantagraph employee was called a good fellow after delivering a bundle of firewood and package of food to a cold and hungry family on Christmas Eve.

Pantagraph employees take a lot of pride in Goodfellow, said Mark Pickering, editor of The Pantagraph.

The program has literally helped thousands of people over the years, and the appreciation shown by the families and individuals who receive gifts is truly heartwarming. Its all about helping people who need it, and Goodfellow will keep doing that for years to come.

The Pantagraph partners with groups that include The Salvation Army Safe Harbor shelter, PATH, Mayors Manor, Heartland Head Start, St. Marys Church, Mid Central Community Action, Livingston County Housing Authority and Peace Meals.

Donations can be made year-round, with most contributions coming between September and December. Donors usually give in honor of loved ones, soldiers, pets, co-workers or emergency workers. The first list of donors will be in Friday's edition.
An Indiana mother allegedly killed her two children, ages 7 and 3, then stabbed herself. She reported the crime to 911 and officials say that she confessed to the killings matter-of-factly.

The call was made on Thursday at around 4:35 A.M., police officials have confirmed. The mother was identified as 30-year-old Brandi Worley and her children were identified as seven-year-old Tyler Worley and three-year-old Charlie Worley. Sheriff Mark A. Casteel of Montgomery County Sheriff's office said that Brandi told the 911 dispatcher the following: "I just stabbed myself and killed my two children."

Officers were then dispatched to the home of Brandi in Darlington. The two children were found deceased inside a bedroom. Brandi reportedly admitted for the second time that she killed her children. She was taken to an area hospital for the treatment of her self-inflicted injuries to the neck. Casteel pointed out that the mother's confession was straightforward and did not seem like she was remorseful of what she did, People reported.

Casteel also said that there was no other available information as to how the children died because the investigation is still ongoing. The Montgomery County Coroner's office conducted autopsies on the two children on Friday.

CBS also reported that during the killing, the father of the two children, identified as Jason Worley, was asleep in the basement. He was unaware of what happened. He has not released a statement yet. The motive in the killings also remained unclear.

Brandi reportedly has no past run-in with the law but it was pointed out that Jason asked for a divorce earlier last week. Divorce papers were reportedly filed in Montgomery County last Wednesday but it's unclear if the said divorce is the reason behind the killings.

Tyler attended Sugar Creek Elementary and was a first grader. Charlie, on the other hand, was in preschool. North Montgomery Community Schools Superintendent Colleen Moran said in a statement that a support team of administrators, counselors, school resource officers and teachers will be providing counseling for those needing it.

Brandi remains at the Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. As of writing, no charges have been filed.
Want to know what to do with December money to succeed in January 2017 onwards? Certified financial planner Ken Moraif shares expert ways to ensure financial health next year. According to Moraif, here are six financial lessons which encourage financial success in 2017.

Maya Kachroo-Levine spoke to Ken Moraif last Nov. 21 about money lessons that will keep financial health in January 2017. Moraif then enumerated six financial lessons that will ensure financial success next year.

Get credit card debt payable before the cut-off time. Showing love to family and friends must not relate directly to a high increase in the bill of a credit card. According to Moraif, it is not wise to make a purchase using the credit card and not keeping track of the overall expense till the procurement of the credit card bill. What is wise, as per Moraif, is always to ensure that one can pay the total balance on credit card before the card's interest charges come to due date.

Retirement from work means retirement from debt too. Moraif said that he always tell his clients that when they are retired, their debt must be retired as well. Kicking off 2017 on a good financial success means safeguarding money during December, even though there are so many temptations to spend it.

Never break income tax planning. Moraif identified few things always to remember when handling December money: few actionable things to review were recognizing opportunities for loss harvesting and capital gain, considering RMD timing, maximizing contributions to the retirement plan and exploring re-characterization opportunities and all Roth conversion. He also added that December is a time for anybody to think of charitable gifting and make the most of the yearly exclusion gifts.

Do NOT explain dishing out two times "fun budget" only because it is the holiday season. It is not only Christmas gifts that mount up the balance on credit card during December. There are holiday parties, expensive reunions or meetups because family and relatives are all in town and festivities during New Year. Moraif encourages everyone never to let the old saying, "eat, drink and be merry," to affect the financial scale.

Never wait until December to max out retirement accounts. "It is a better financial practice to fund it throughout the course of the year so that the money has a longer period to grow," Moraif said to Forbes, adding "waiting until the end of the year to do so loses that whole years' worth of growth." He suggests funding IRAs and retirement plans in work per month starting January to remove willpower from the equation and place it on automatic pilot.

Never equate the happiness of children to money. As per Moraif, during holiday seasons must be more about having fun, creating beautiful memories and spending time together. And not about paying expensive gifts for children just to show love. To teach kids the value holiday seasons, give them best memories and thoughtful presents.

Based in Texas, Moraif has been in the industry of financial services for 28 years. He ran a radio show entitled "Money Matters," and named by Barron as among the top 100 financial counselors.


Recent times have shown that young children are much aware of current affairs than earlier. News reports are spreading on social media and due to the fact that children are using such platforms, they tend to keep themselves up to date.

Being informed, however, is one thing and having views on political scenarios is another. According to The Federalist, K-12 teachers are discussing the results of the recently concluded 2016 U.S. Presidential election with the students.

Different schools emailed parents that in order to overcome the effects of the results of the election, teachers are going to discuss with students about how they feel. Some of the schools even allowed their teachers to sing songs and called in counselors to offer therapeutic help to the children.

Unfortunately, all these efforts made many parents uncomfortable as the whole process is a bit too much political for young kids. Some moms even opposed this process. In their view, teachers should not provide counseling or help of any sort as their duty only pertains to teach and teach alone.

With that said, some teachers also thought that their duty is only to educate and tell them it is important to embrace defeat graciously. While tThe New York education department suggested to the principals and administration of the schools to endorse peace and calmness.

In an article posted on Huffington Post, a delicate question was raised  "What should parents tell the children if Donald Trump won the election? As outlined, it's important to tell the children that democracy has its own way of working and since democratic governments are formed by the people, they aren't allowed to do any damage to the people. Instead, it's there to safeguard and protect the interests of the public.

Another thing, it's also best to explain to children that there will be no racial, religious, homophobic or immigrated-based prejudices will be acceptable and any harm to them will not be tolerated. It is also important to teach them the importance of freedom of expression and to encourage them to speak up for themselves. These measures will not only help children accept the results but will also contribute to their future lives.
Health care is the top most basic necessity of every child. World Health Organization has been working hard to provide health care to children all around the world.

The number of children in the United States who have no health insurance is getting lower but there are still many kids out there who have no access to basic health care facilities. According to Children's Health Fund, 20 million children in the U.S. are still not able to obtain basic health care and even children with health insurance are facing difficulties in attaining proper care.

Children's Health Fund co-founder and president Dr. Irwin Redlener is performing a study to assess the percentage of children who are getting primary care and medical aid. According to Irwin, America has a long road ahead to give complete health care assurance to their 73 million children.

There is a general misconception that providing health insurance to a maximum number of children can actually provide basic health care facilities to them. Children's Health Fund also look forward to the proposals of the new administration as the newly-elected President Donald Trump is getting ready to assume the presidential duties soon.

Experts also advised more funding for health care institutions, which can give care to low-income families. Health literature and awareness should also be a concern of schools and campaigns to make people understand the importance of prevention of diseases are also a must.

Recently, Dallas News issued a report in which Trump's views on health care were highlighted. The president-elect is likely to improvise the health care act and analysts are worried that in such tough times, such a modification will affect the country badly.

The news and possibility of unaffordable health care are horrifying and it would directly hurt the economy as unhealthy people can not contribute to the workforce of the country. The publication also said the change in the health care act will affect minorities, single moms and low-income families the most. But for now, some remained optimistic on what Trump could do to better improve the health care system of the United States.

What do you think Donald Trump should do to address the health care issues of America? Share your thoughts below.
U.S. Education Secretary John King addresses the educational facilities to refrain from violent measures such as hitting or paddling as means of tackling child problems or behaviors. The U.S. Education Secretary believes corporal punishment can do more harm than good.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter being issued, King asks educators to "eliminate this practice from your schools, and instead promote supportive, effective disciplinary measures," USA Today quotes. Students often exposed to violence may be urged to behave better and follow the rules but in the long run, the children may miss the essence of discipline, misinterpret them and worse, resort to violence as a way of getting what they want.

What King connotes is a more intellectual approach, making the youngsters comprehend what they've done wrong and talking to them about their mistakes. A timeout, for example, is a mode of punishment with no physical injury to the child yet yielding a clear understanding of how they've acted badly.

There's so much more that corporal punishment does to a student than what's skin deep. The bruises and the pain may hurt a lot but will eventually go away. What these kids won't forget is how they've been scared or shocked to have been penalized in such manner.

According to The Telegraph, smacking kids, instead of using non-physical punishments, reduces their emotional intelligence and "executive functioning ability," which allows people to think on the spot and modify one's behavior when necessary. The statistics on who receive the most blows of corporal punishment are heartbreaking and most of these occur in the south and the west.

Children of color are 51 percent more likely to be penalized this way despite that fact that they are on school districts that have more white children enrolled. What's worse, male students and students with disabilities are also substantially more likely to receive corporal punishment than their peers, notes Huffington Post.

Meanwhile, King strongly comments that these data and disparities, especially pertaining to the plight of students with disabilities, shock the conscience. What are your thoughts on corporal punishments? Share them below.
Charter school founder Eva Moskowitz supported Hillary Clinton during the elections. Despite her choice, she is still optimistic and hopeful about the President-elect Donald Trump especially when it comes to education and children.

Eva Moskowitz recently met with Donald Trump following reports that he wanted to make her his Education secretary. The charter school boss turned down the offer but expressed great hopes for the incoming government.

"There are many positive signs that President Trump will be different from candidate Trump," Eva Moskowitz said, according to The New Yorker. The news outlet pointed out, however, that Eva Moskowitz's charter school cater to African-American and Latino families with low incomes.

These are the very demographics that could potentially be affected by a Trump government based on what he campaigned for. In fact, when it was already known that Donald Trump would be president, Eva Moskowitz grew concerned for her students and their families and wrote a letter to her staff about appeasing them.

America's new president is known for spewing racist and xenophobic statements, which some believe has triggered a growing number of hate crimes against people of color. So, what did transpire in her meeting with Donald Trump to make her hopeful?

Moskowitz wasn't specific about the details to the news outlet but acknowledged that she is generally an optimistic person. She also acknowledged that the issues about education and children consist of a long list of problems, which cannot be solved overnight.

Eva Moskowitz is also concerned by how much the American public wants a President-elect Donald Trump to fail. "[But] we have to work with the future President of the United States," she said.

She already started working with the Trumps when she gave Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, a tour of her school in Harlem after her meeting with the president-elect. When the public learned of this, protesters immediately rounded up at her home, New York Daily News reports.

Many chided the charter school boss for not even criticizing Donald Trump. Angel Martinez of the New Settlement Parent Action Committee questions why Eva Moskowitz is supporting a man "who says these kids are terrorists, that their families don't belong here," according to Chalkbeat.

Do you agree with Eva Moskowitz's stance about supporting the new president? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
A five-day-old baby girl was punched in the face by a man and was punished only to pay a fine. The grandparents of the baby believed that the man deserves more.

BBC reported that the incident took place at a supermarket, specifically a Tesco store, in Baguley back in September. The man was identified as 63-year-old David Hardy. He claimed that he thought the baby was a doll and denied the assault noting that it was a "dreadful mistake." Fortunately, the baby did not suffer serious injuries from the attack and only had a red mark on her face.

Hardy was ordered to pay 900 for fines, 500 for costs and 100 for compensation, which is around $1800 in the United States. The baby was identified as Elsie Rose and was in a car seat that was placed in a shopping trolley that was next to her older sister. It was Elsie Rose's first trip outside of her home with her family.

According to reports, the mother of Elsie Rose, Amy Ducker, bumped into a neighbor who worked at the supermarket. The neighbor then talked to them and called the wife of Hardy to look at Elsie Rose, who was regarded as a beautiful baby. Hardy reportedly approached and punched the baby. The baby was subsequently taken to a hospital and was monitored overnight. She has been released after.

Hardy noted that he thought the baby was a doll and belonged to the older sister of Elsie Rose. He also said that he was messing around to try and lighten the mood. He said that the older sister of Elsie Rose looked like she was bored and asked if it was her baby.

The seven-year-old girl did not reply and then Hardy said, "I'm going to wake your baby up." He said that he did not punch the baby he thought was a doll and just tapped the infant, Manchester Evening News reported.

The grandparents of Elsie Rose, John and Linda Duckers, were in disbelief about the sentencing. They said that Hardy should have been given a custodial sentence. They regarded the sentencing as a joke and could not believe that such light sentence was given to Hardy.
A man is being searched by authorities as they believe that he has something to do with the tragic death of a two-month-old baby boy. The man is the boyfriend of the dead infant's mother.

Chron said in a report that authorities from Freeport, Texas discovered the death on Tuesday evening. The man they are looking for was identified as Luther Antoine Jefferson. The baby was said to be injured then was taken to an area hospital where he later died.

Freeport Police Department said in a statement that they were not sure if Luther Antoine Jefferson is the real name of the man as they think it is just an alias. His supposed real name is unknown.

The man has no vehicle or other means of transportation so he might have asked people to help him flee the area. the man is said to be 27 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighs around 160 pounds. He has a lot of tattoos basically on his arms, hands and body.

KHOU also reported that the man was the one babysitting the baby when the infant was injured. The nature of the baby's wounds or the cause of death has not been released yet. Two more children were said to be under the care of the man but they were not harmed, the aunt of the man's girlfriend claimed.

Officials were said to be called at Villa Brazos apartment at around 7:15 P.M. about the two-month-old baby boy not breathing. It was not clear who made the 911 call and how long has the baby been injured before he was discovered.

There are three warrants for the man and one of which is Abandoning or Endangering a Child. Additional charges could be imposed as soon as the autopsy on the infant who died will be completed. Anyone with information is asked to call Freeport PD at 979-239-1211.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has expressed support for the Syrian army and the armies of other war-torn nations in the region.

In an interview with Portuguese TV network RTP on Tuesday, El-Sisi said the Syrian national armed forces are the best hope for defeating terrorism and restoring stability in the country.

In response to a question about whether he would send Egyptian peacekeepers to Syria, El-Sisi said "It's better that national armies take the responsibility of preserving security and stability" and that his priority is to "support the national armies" of Libya, Syria and Iraq.

El-Sisi reiterated that a "political solution" is the best way out of Syria's five-year-old civil war which has killed more than 300,000 people.

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Some parents consider pre-kindergarten programs to be a waste of time and money. However, many have learned their lessons well and have proven that when done right, sending children to preschool has its benefits especially when it is done right. This has not however stopped the ongoing debate about the benefits of preschool.

Most preschool programs have contributed to the counting and reading skills of children. It has also been attributed to the development of the emotional quotient of children and this is more important for parents who do not think that intelligent quotient alone will help the child's development.

NPR said a study was made involving over preschool 20,000 students enrolled in state-funded institutions in Virginia. Among the benefits seen was an improvement in their skills in recognizing alphabets. A North Carolina research shows that the benefits of these childhood programs last even up to the fifth grade.

The Online Library said research on the Impact of the Early Childhood Programs in North Carolina was published in the Child Development Journals. The study, which was first published in November 2016, involved around one million students in North Carolina who attended preschool programs from 1995 to 2010.

The study said that the benefits gained by the preschool children from these programs were maintained up to grade five. Other preschoolers were however able to hold on to these benefits for a longer period of time.

"Pre-kindergarten and early education programs are incredibly important," said Kenneth Dodge, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy director said. Dodge, who is also the lead author of the study, said "especially for parents, for business leaders - because of the workforce development aspect - and for policy makers who are spending the money on it."

KCUR said the research is just a confirmation of the findings of researchers in Tulsa, Okla which is considered one of the country's most highly esteemed preschool programs. Other studies show that the benefits of preschool programs slowly fade when the students go into elementary school.


Philly surgeons successfully perform an operation that was never done before. The fatal tumor, which threatened the life of an unborn baby safely removed without interrupting its mother's pregnancy.

Katie Rice took an ultrasound of her 20-week old baby bump but she was shocked with the news that came along her baby's gender. After revealing that her baby was a boy, the lab technician brought in a bunch of doctors with bad news.

The ultrasound revealed that the baby had a huge lump in his heart that might not let him survive. The lump was threatening Katie's life too and she might have no choice but to terminate the pregnancy. CHOP fetal cardiologist Jack Rychik explained that baby Tucker's heart tumor was called a pericardial teratoma, a very rare disease which the doctor pegged to occur in one of every several hundred thousand unborn children.

Rychik stressed that in almost all of the cases, the mother is left with no choice but to terminate the pregnancy. The choice has been supported by doctors ever since. But baby Tucker was an exception.

This is backed up by a study published by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, which reports that there are several other pericardial teratoma cases where surgery was not an option. But despite what researches and doctors had to say, Katie wanted to give her baby a chance. She believes that doing something is better than doing nothing. She hoped for the best.

With her firm desire to keep her baby, Katie agreed to undergo a very risky surgery. In the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, surgeons opened Katie's uterus, extracted the tumor that pressed her baby's heart and closed her up to allow her pregnancy to miraculously resume.

Philly reveals the happy ending of the story. Today, Katie's baby named Tucker Roussin is now three years old. Baby Tucker is now the very first baby who successfully survives a fetal heart tumor surgery.
Eating ice cream for breakfast seems like a ridiculous idea. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nutritionists advise that the right kind and right amount of food should be consumed during breakfast to boost your energy. Now, a scientist in Japan claims that eating ice cream for breakfast helps you become smarter and more alert!

Professor Yoshihiko Koga is doing a series of clinical trials that requires test subjects to immediately eat ice cream upon waking up at Tokyo's Kyorin University. The test subjects are then put through mental exercises on a computer and monitors the brain's activities.

A Japanese news site reports that the group that is eating ice cream for breakfast exhibited faster reaction time and better mental processing capabilities compared to the group that has not eaten ice cream for breakfast.

Eating ice cream for breakfast resulted in an increase of high-frequency alpha waves. High-frequency alpha waves are linked to one's level of alertness and mental irritation. It means that a person is more alert and less prone to mental irritation whether the individual has a high amount of high-frequency alpha waves.

To test whether the consumption of low-temperature food simply shocked the subjects' brains causing a high level of alertness, Professor Koga repeated his trials by using cold water instead of ice cream.

The series of experiments with the consumption of cold water upon waking up also resulted in a high degree of alertness and mental capacity but remarkably lower compared to the results of the subjects who ate ice cream for breakfast.

There is still no accurate explanation on why eating ice cream for breakfast resulted in high levels of alertness and mental capacity. Professor Koga wishes to continue his research on the topic and is looking into the possibility that the ingredients used to make ice cream and that eating ice cream triggers positive emotion also results in a high level of alertness and mental capacity.

Nutritionists are skeptical with Professor Koga's research. Are the psychological benefits of eating ice cream for breakfast outweigh the possible health effects on the person? What are the long-term effects of eating ice cream for breakfast? Further research should be done to answer these questions. But for now, people are jumping on eating ice cream for breakfast not for its mental benefits but merely for an excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast.


Baby Dominic Gundrum has undergone a successful 7-hour operation which removed his encephalocele, a very rare congenital condition that made his brain to grow outside his skull and restored his face features, giving him a brand new chance in life. Baby Dominic came to this with a congenital disease called encephalocele and a Tessier facial cleft, a combination doctors thought is very, very rare.

Mark and Mary Gundrum, parents of baby Dominic, found out the condition of their son after they went to their doctor for the 20-week ultrasound of Mary. During that time, they just wanted to know the sex of their 8th child. The ultrasound result showed both good and bad news.

The good news is they will have a baby boy. The bad news is that the fetus has a big, triangle-shaped gap running from his upper lip through the middles of his nose and forehead according to a post at Boston Children's Hospital. Doctors advised Mark and Mary to abort the baby, but the two refused as they fear God.

"I'm not going to take the life of my child," I'm So Blessed Daily quoted Mary as saying. She added, "That's my child. It's that simple."

The bad news left the two devastated. However, they did not give up and instead searched the Internet for any information about the case of their child. Through their research, they found Dr. John Meara, the chief plastic surgeon at Boston Children's Hospital. They emailed Dr. Meara the ultrasound result of baby Dominic.

When Dr. Meara saw the ultrasound of baby Dominic, he said that the combination diagnoses of baby Dominic's are an "exquisitely rare" in which many parents are advised to stop the pregnancy. However, in the midst of the terrifying news, Dr. Meara assured them that everything would be OK.

So they planned a surgery that will remove the baby Dominic's encephalocele, reconstruct the Tessier cleft and bring together the facial features of the baby. The day has come, and baby Dominic went through a 7-hour operation. The operation went successfully however some complications occurred after the surgery which required the child to be in the intensive care unit.

Several weeks after struggling in intensive care, baby Dominic survived and then went home to their house in Wisconsin. Today, Dominic is a healthy, happy little kiddo.


Cyber crimes are increasing at a great rate and a new trend is being practiced by cyber criminals through dating apps. It's rather imperative for parents to get themselves well-versed with what's going on inside these dating apps and ensure their children's' safety thereof.

RT Question More says that dating apps make strangers talk to each other and on their consent date is arranged through chat messages,snapchat is also used as a mean to exchange the sexual content.These apps have age limitation, so children are not at a risk of exploitation.

A new app came to limelight called as Tinder for teenagers. This app has no limitation in regard to age , gender etc, so anyone can access it. It claims itself to be a social networking app meant to connect people,but people are using it as a dating portal.

Many young girls have become a victim of sexual exploitation at the hands of some criminals through this app. As anyone an sign-up and access this app, there lies a great possibility of fake profiles. These fake profiles are being run by proper gangs of criminals and they are exploiting children's innocence, according to Mirage News.

After witnessing a lot of cases, people have protested against the government to implement strict laws against these cyber criminals. They are calling upon the government to implement some potential laws against the misuse of social media.

Social media has many prospects but the misuses of this advantageous thing cannot be denied. People are exploiting each other through unsecured applications. Innocent children are being sexually exploited is the worst consequence of the social media witnessed uptill now. This should not be happening.Steps should be taken to eradicate this social crime as soon as possible. Government should now take notice of this social networking application,it is high time now.
Tom Cruise seem to step out of the spotlight as he remains mum in terms of his private life. In addition to keeping things In private, it was recently discovered that Tom Cruise didn't show up to one of Scientology's biggest events in San Diego earlier this week.

An exclusive report published by Radar revealed that Tom Cruise reportedly ditched one of Scientology's biggest event which took place in San Diego. It was speculated that Tom Cruise is shying away from the spotlight. It was mentioned that he is currently under fire within the cult, for reasons that are yet to be revealed.

The event was in relation to the opening of Scientology's super center which the hailed "Ideal Org." The exclusive event prohibited non-Scientology members from entering the premises or even catch a glimpse of the event.

"There had been lots of internal hype about the event, with teams ringing church members for weeks asking them to come, promising it would be of the highest profile," the source exclusively told Radar when asked about what took place during the opening. "Even the Church leader, David Miscavige, appeared and was greeted with huge cheers throughout his speech. However, his former right-hand man, Tom, was conspicuously absent."

It was mentioned that Tom Cruise stared his absence after the church announced its new $50 million movie studio which opened in Hollywood. It was revealed that the last Scientology event that he went to was the Association of Scientologist gala which was held in England last October 2015.

In regards to Tom Cruise relationship with the cult, however, it was mentioned that Tom Cruise donated $10 million. It was mentioned that Cruise was hoping that he will be staying in the church's underground headquarters when Armageddon strikes.

Tom Cruise has been swamped with Scientology exit rumors, which was debunked by Gossip Cop. The website explained that there is no definite evidence in regards to the claims, where they slammed and labeled as a false report.
In September Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Scouting Top Locations for their First Flagship Store in Samsung's Back Yard, Seoul." In that report we noted that critics of Apple have been complaining since at least 2014 that Apple has been ignoring their market and continually insulting them by opening store after store in China while they have yet to open their first in South Korea. At the peek of iPhone 6 mania, Apple had hit close to 33% market share in that country and now sits around 20%. September's WSJ report claimed that Apple was seriously scouting for a prime location for it's first flagship store in Seoul. That positive move would definitely go a long way in squelching the never ending complaints logged against Apple every year  because some of them are justified.

Today a new Korean report surfaced titled "Apple faces growing complaints over customer support." The report notes that "Apple recently faced a fresh round of complaints over its customer support in South Korea, after belatedly providing a Korean announcement for replacing problematic iPhone batteries.

On Sunday, Apple posted an announcement in English only on its Korean website about how to replace batteries if the device unexpectedly shuts down. It took four days to finally get Apple to post their announcement in Korean. In contrast, Apple immediately posted a Chinese announcement after receiving complaints from Chinese consumers. It was immediate and respectfully in the country's native tongue. That's a legitimate complaint and was insulting because they were so sloppy at handling the matter in Korea.

Once again the critics pile on that Apple has yet to open a store in South Korea, that service is very poor compared to service from their local competitors Samsung and LG

One iPhone user, surnamed Kwon, said although her phone randomly turns off when its battery shows 10 percent remaining, she opts not go to a repair center.

"I don't want to go through the same hassle of being rejected (for repairs), waiting and paying again," said Kwon, who paid more than 250,000 won ($212) for a small scratch on the panel and waited weeks.

As complaints have grown among consumers who have said their problem phones were not able to get repaired without an explanation, the Korean Free Trade Commission began an investigation early this year.

In April, the Korean antitrust watchdog found that there were 20 unfair clauses in contracts between Apple Korea and repair stores. The unfair clauses include that Apple can cancel repair contracts without any prior notice and arbitrarily alter clauses.

And finally, the Korea Herald report noted that "Apple has been in the top 15 list for ignoring consumers' complaints for five years consecutively, according to the state-run Korea Consumer Agency."

While I'm sure there's solid reasoning for Apple's delay in opening a flagship store in South Korea, be it government regulations or high taxes, Apple should step into that market and reward their many fans with their exceptional service and management that'll ensure that any Apple announcement in the future will respectfully be presented in the Korean language and not arogantly in English only.

Let's hope that Apple's 2017 anniversary iPhone will be sold in a great new Korean Flagship store next year to reward their many local fans  especially those that are in their 20's that prefer the iPhone over local Samsung products.





About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Last week, NPR interviewed Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who wants to see the creation of a white ethno state. People were shocked at this interviewso shocked NPR had to explain why they aired it:

Some of you have asked why we would air the views of someone who wants to create a white ethno-state. The short answer is that Donald Trump drew some of his support from people with such views. We want listeners to understand what the alt-right, and people such as Richard Spencer, believe.

And to many, Spencers interview is indeed shocking.

MCEVERS: Richard Spencers views are obviously not easy to hear, but we do think theyre important to hear because of the link between the alt-right and Donald Trumps team. I asked Richard Spencer what policies hes pushing for  natural conservation, he said, a foreign policy thats friendlier to Russia and this. SPENCER: Immigration is the most obvious one. And I think we need to get beyond thinking about immigration just in terms of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is not nearly as damaging as legal immigration. Legal immigration  theyre here to stay. Their children are here and so on. And I think a really reasonable and I think palatable policy proposal would be for Donald Trump to say, look; weve had immigration in the past. Its brought some fragmentation. Its brought division. But we need to become a people again. And for us to do that, were going to need to take a break from mass immigration. And were going to need to preference people who are going to fit in, who are more like us. That is European immigration. MCEVERS: You know, how likely do you think it is that some of these policies that you want to see happen will happen? SPENCER: What I want is influence. And sometimes influence can be invisible. If we can get these ideas out there, if people can see the compelling and powerful nature of them, I think we really can change policy.

But heres the thing: None of this is new to me.

I grew up in a white evangelical community. I was homeschooled. We regularly received Doug Wilsons magazine, Credenda Agenda, and I regularly read it. Doug Wilson is an evangelical pastor and the founder of his own Reformed denomination. He is well known in Christian homeschool circles, and is the author of many books. He has his own Christian school association. He writes curriculum. And in 1996, he co-authored a short book titled Southern Slavery As It Was. Here are some excerpts:

Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence. There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world. The credit for this must go to the predominance of Christianity.  Slave life was to them a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.  Slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since.  [T]he intellectual leadership of the South was conservative, orthodox, and Christian. In contrast, the leadership of the North was radical and Unitarian. This is not to say there were no Christians in the North, or that no believers fought for the North. It is simply the recognition that the drums of war were being beaten by the abolitionists, who were in turn driven by a zealous hatred of the Word of God.

Doug Wilsons co-author was Steve Wilkins, who also co-founded the League of the South, which I first wrote about several years ago. As I noted at the time:

The organization isnt shy about its emphasis on the right cause of the South during the Civil War, the importance it places on maintaining the South as a Christian Anglo-Celtic society, or its contention that southern slavery was a time of gentleness racial harmony. A look at the books sold on their website illustrates the organizations fixation on the Civil War, and while the groups FAQs reject racism they also explicitly call for the preservation of a South based on an Anglo-Celtic core population and culture (should this core be destroyed or displaced the South would be made over in an alien imageunfamiliar and inhospitable to our children and grandchildren).

As of 2013, the Leagues president, Michael Hill, stated as follows:

Just so theres no chance that youll confuse The League with the GOP or any other conservative group, heres what we stand for: The survival, well being, and independence of the Southern people. And by the Southern people, we mean White Southerners who are not afraid to stand for the people of their race and region.

In 2014, Michael Hill was actually interviewed by Richard Spencer, the man NPR interviewed in the excerpt at the beginning of this post. And Hills language quoted above is tame, for his standards. Check this piece out:

As I look at my precious children and grandchildren, I shudder to think what will happen to them and their descendants when they become the numerical political (and actual demographic) minority. Revengegetting evenwill be a commonplace occurrence as our Folk are attacked and robbed of life, liberty, and property with impunity in the name of Social Justice or some other fabricated universal right. Will the long-established rights of our children and grandchildren be protected by the new regnant majority who are not products of Western Christian civilization? Or will a majority of wolves vote to devour a minority of sheep? I think you know the answer. We Southerners must embrace a new paradigm. We must think outside the box in which our enemies have placed us. We must have a new organizing principal: organic nationalism. It is the answer for the South if we are serious about the survival, well being, and independence of the Southern people. That means the rejection of the status quo of living in a multicultural empire that sucks our lifeblood. For our self-preservation dare we cast aside voting and the idea of the consent of the governed for a monarchy or dictatorship? No. We must simply re-define along the lines of organic nationalism the political and social entity to which we belongthe Southern nation. In that entity, our interests and moral principles will hold sway, and we can determine who gets to be called citizen and who exercises the right to vote and to participate in other civic matters. No more being ruled by alien, universalist elites. No more kowtowing to the interests of Massachusetts, New York, and California or those of the globalists. The Southern nation will be run by Southerners in the interest of Southerners. Will that dawning not be a glorious and blessed day?

I told you it was bad.

The League of the South is still out there, by the way. But at a moment when the media is proclaiming the rise of this new thing called the alt-right, its worth mentioning that the League of the South was founded in 1994. This stuff isnt actually new. It may be repackaged to some extent, but in my read the rhetoric and underlying ideology appears unchangedits the idea that this country belongs to the white race, and that multiculturalism is a disease that must be rooted out.

Dont be fooled by the claims that white nationalism isnt racist. Proponents claim that they arent racist, they simply believe that the races are better off separate. While you may not be aware of this, this argument was a favorite of segregationists half a century and more ago. Today, it is championed by men like Steve Wilkins, who also claim that the antebellum South was a time of unequaled racial harmony.

That is not how any of this works.

These ideas were already out there. Ive been aware of them for years. What has changed is that Trump has emboldened them, and given them the fodder they need to spread and grow. His condemnations of Mexican immigrants, his promise to build a wall and to make America great again, his mocking of liberalism and political correctness and free tradeall of this feeds into a white nationalist worldview that posits non-European immigrants and people of color as a rot that is strangling our country and globalization as a toxic process that erodes American exceptionalism.

You can expect to see this continue. Over 50% of babies born in this country today are nonwhite, and 13.7% of people currently living in the U.S. were born elsewhere. To individuals attracted to Richard Spencers rhetoric, this sounds frightening. They want it to stop. They want a country that looks like they do. Weve imagined for too long that these people arent out there, but they areand there are a lot of them.

While my family sometimes ran in strange circles, I never heard my parents endorse white nationalism, and many of the other evangelical publications we received were overtly anti-racist. As I grew, I became obsessed with history. I loved reading the stories of immigrants who came to the U.S. in years past. As I learned, I came to see the many similarities between immigration then and immigration nowincluding the similarities present in opposition to immigration. I learned that there was a time when immigrants from southern or eastern Europe were not considered white. I learned that there was a time when many Americans viewed Catholicismand thus Catholic immigrantsas subversive and dangerous.

When it came time for my husband and I to choose a place to settle and raise our children, we chose a diverse and multicultural area on purpose. Immigration and diversity are not enemies of who we are as a people; they are who we are as a people. And yet, this past year has made it crystal clear that many people disagreejust as they disagreed in the past. This isnt new. Its simply the latest front in a longer struggle between nativism and multicultural diversity.

And this time, its our turn to fight.
Need a referee with a whistle to keep the peace at your Thanksgiving get together? Ellen DeGeneres introduces Mobile Moderator, a new service that will allow Wolf Blitzer, Megyn Kelly, or Anderson Cooper to moderate your Thanksgiving dinner and keep post-election peace. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Jim Garamone at the DoD News offered the below report yesterday:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2016  Tomorrow isnt Thanksgiving for Americas enemies.

While the vast majority of Americans will be sitting down with family for a fall feast, hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members will be on guard around the world, ensuring their fellow citizens enjoy a day of peace.

For them, it is another duty day.

There are roughly 1.3 million service members on active duty in the military and another 800,000 in the reserve components. They are supported by about 750,000 DoD civilians and thousands of DoD contractors.

Today, there are around 275,000 forward-deployed U.S. service members. They serve in more than 100 countries and on every continent.

Some are in harms way. There are about 9,800 U.S. service members in Afghanistan. Most are helping Afghan allies maintain control of their country, while others are taking the fight to violent extremists who hope to use Afghanistan to plan attacks against the United States and its allies.

There are 4,960 U.S. service members in Iraq. They are helping Iraqi forces take the fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In Syria, there are about 300 service members helping Syrian democratic forces take on ISIL around Raqqa.

Troops at the Ready

These forces are supported by others based in Turkey, Kuwait and elsewhere in the region.

There are about 28,000 American service members in South Korea ready to fight tonight, from the Demilitarized Zone to Busan.

There are about 50,000 American service members based in Japan.

In Europe, Russian aggression in Ukraine and threats to NATO required a response from the United States with troops deploying to the eastern countries of the alliance on a rotational basis.

In Africa, troops are working with local nations to strengthen nations in their fights against Boko Haram and other violent extremist organizations.

In South America, U.S. forces are working with allies to curb the drug trade and stop transnational crime networks.

Overall, the Army has 183,630 soldiers committed to support six geographic commands, according to Army officials. There are roughly 4,000 in U.S. Southern Command, 33,000 in U.S. European Command, 8,000 in U.S. Africa Command, 18,000 supporting operations for U.S. Northern Command, 39,000 in U.S. Central Command, and 72,000 in U.S. Pacific Command.

The Air Force has 63,329 active-duty airmen stationed overseas. They range from the combat zones to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. In addition, thousands of airmen will work this weekend -- as they do year-round --maintaining Americas nuclear deterrent in the heartland of the nation.

The Navy has roughly 73,000 deployed sailors. Some 1,300 submariners are on patrol aboard ballistic missile submarines or attack boats. Many other sailors are at sea maintaining U.S. presence in the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea and the oceans of the world. It is truly a global force.

Marines are aboard these ships, also, as well as serving in posts in the combat zones, and maintaining readiness from Japan to Australia to Norway. Marines are working with allies in the Philippines, and helping train Iraqi forces in al-Taqaddum.
Defence lawyers and prosecutors wait for autopsy report in the death of Magdy Makeen whose family says was tortured by officers

Egyptian prosecutors on Thursday ordered the release of a policeman suspected in the death of fish cart vendor Magdy Makeen in police custody pending investigations.

Yasser Hassan, released on EGP 1000 bail, was the last of nine policemen questioned in the case and released pending investigation.

The eight other suspects were released on Wednesday.

According to Makeen's family's account, the 53 year-old, was arrested last Sunday after a brawl with a policeman then beaten and tortured to death while in custody at a police station in Cairo's working-class neighborhood of El-Ameriyah.

Videos of a Makeen bruised and bloodied corpse later surfaced on social media.

Mohamed Osman, Makeen's lawyer, said on Thursday the policeman was released pending probe into charges of "the use of brutality and torture" against the two men arrested with Makeen after forensic medicine report proved they were beaten and injured.

Interior ministry spokesperson Tarek Attiya has denied that Makeen was tortured, saying that he died from diabetes-related complications after his arrest.

A judicial source had said last week that Makeen was arrested for possession of drugs.

Osman said that no charges of murder will be brought by prosecutors until a forensic medicine report is issued to determine whether the vendor's death was due to "natural or criminal" causes.

Forensic Medicine Authority Chief Hisham Abdel-Hamid said earlier this week it would take the authority two to three weeks to determine the cause of the vendor's death.

The policemen denied during investigations that they physically assaulted Makeen or his companions, Osman said.

Days following Makeen's death, another police officer was sentenced to life in prison for killing a street vendor earlier this year during an altercation over the price of a cup of tea. The incident sparked anger at the time against police violations.

The interior ministry has stated that such violations represent isolated incidents, while critics believe that policemen act with impunity against some citizens.

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Iran transfers 11 tonnes of heavy water to Oman: AEOI Chief

11/22/16

Source: Press TV

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the country has transferred 11 tonnes of heavy water to Oman as part of its obligations under last year's nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries.





Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi

(photo by Islamic Republic News Agency)





"Eleven tonnes of heavy water has been sent to Oman and the opposite side has also expressed its readiness to buy it," Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters on Tuesday.



He added that the shipment of heavy water stockpile is expected to be sold to a third country, but he did not mention any name.



In a report earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran's stocks of heavy water had slightly exceeded the 130-tonne level set out in the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the six world powers.



Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China - plus Germany signed the JCPOA in July 2015 and started implementing it in January 2016.



Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.



The deal requires Iran's storage of uranium enriched to up to 3.67 percent purity to stay below 300 kilograms. Tehran has also agreed to keep its heavy water stockpile below 130 metric tonnes.



"We act on the basis of our commitments under the JCPOA and expect the other side to fulfill its commitments under the JCPOA," Salehi said.



He expressed hope that nothing would hinder the implementation of the nuclear deal by the involved parties despite certain speculations.



The AEOI spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, on Friday reiterated Iran's commitment to its obligations under the nuclear agreement and said, "According to the JCPOA, we were required to offer on the international market any excess over 130 tonnes of heavy water and we have so far sold 70 tonnes."



He added, "Negotiations are under way with interested countries, the Europeans in particular," to sell the rest.



Back in October, Salehi said the Islamic Republic had sold 32 tonnes of heavy water to the United States and delivered 38 tonnes of the nuclear substance to Russia.



Pointing to the increasing demand for heavy water worldwide, the AEIO head noted that Iran has become a major international supplier of the substance.
Paulo C. Chagas, a professor in the music department at UC Riverside, has developed an international reputation for his contemporary music composed in the tradition of classical music.

Having studied and gained academic achievement throughout the world, Chagas work is reflective of issues of global significance. But it has roots in a place that is deeply personal, as well.

Chagas, now 63 and a Riverside resident, was born in Salvador, Brazil. While attending high school in Rio de Janeiro, he became heavily involved in political activism, protesting against the dictatorship that ruled the country. By 1971, his political involvement had ceased, but he was arrested and tortured in the military police headquarters.

I was put inside the refrigerator, a small cubicle, acoustically isolated, and completely dark and cold, says Chagas, who describes various noises and sounds being shot from hidden speakers. Incessantly, the electronic sounds lled the dark space and overwhelmed my body for three long days. After a certain time, I lost consciousness.

Chagas says that the experience brought awareness of the inhuman and degrading reality of torture, violence and oppression. His work, The Refrigerator, reflects on those three days and their aftermath. He goes on to say that it also provides an insight into his evolution as a human being and his own path of commitment to human values.

More than a political action, the journey emerges as a movement of transcendence, an aspiration of elevation aiming to illuminate darkness and overcome ignorance, says Chagas.

Other pieces by Chagas have included Eshu: The Gates of the Hell at New Yorks Carnegie Hall and RAW at Opera Bonn in Germany.

He recently returned from doing four concerts in Russia, including the debut performances of Sisyphus of the Ear, The Hungry Ghosts and On the Three Metamorphoses.

Chagas was originally inspired by visual arts, pop music, cinema and politics. An artist at first, he did not begin studying music until he was 17. He received his BA in Music Composition from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, his MA in Electronic Music Composition from the Hochschule fur Musik in Germany and Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Liege, Belgium.

While working as sound director at the Electronic Music Studio at Cologne, Germanys Radio WDR in 1982, Chagas did extensive research on electronic music, multimedia and music technology.

It was the pioneer studio in the world for electronic music, says Chagas.

In 2004, he was hired by UC Riverside and he moved to the United States. Chagas became a citizen in 2015.

Chagas has collaborated with Martin Jaroszewicz for Trauma, Loss and Transcendence, which will run Dec. 1 and 2 at the Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts in downtown Riverside. It is dedicated to the victims and survivors of the San Bernardino mass shooting that took place on Dec. 2, 2015. It is the first outcome of Chagas and Jaroszewiczs cutting-edge research in emerging technologies for interactive music and multimedia.

We extend the possibilities of composition and performance and provide audiences with an exciting immersive and interactive environment for experience digital arts, says Chagas.

For more information on Trauma, Loss and Transcendence or to reserve tickets, which are free, visit www.artsblock.ucr.edu.

Patrick Brien is executive director of the Riverside Arts Council. Contact the council at 951-680-1345 or riversideartscouncil.com

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
Another person has come forward about medication denials for survivors of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terrorist attack  this time, the husband of a San Bernardino County employee shot in the face.

Osama Sam Megalla  whose wife Hanan Megalla was shot four times in the head, chest and arm  called on county officials to cancel victims tributes on next weeks one-year anniversary until taking action on survivors problems getting treatment.

The Caltrans engineer is demanding to know why his wifes pain medication was denied again by the countys workers comp program and its utilization-review doctors.

Vowing to appear before county supervisors at their next meeting and report the doctors to the state Medical Board, Sam Megalla sent an email Tuesday, Nov. 22, asking county CEO Greg Devereaux to direct staff to stop these un-American and irresponsible and inhumane actions.

We, the victims and their families, do not appreciate the way the county is handling these cases, said Megalla, 60, of Chino Hills, who also faxed the governor.

Wednesday morning, an online notice was posted saying San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos called for a special closed-session meeting at 1 p.m. Monday  four days before the anniversary  with county legal counsel over existing litigation with 18 survivors, including Hanan Megalla, 48.

She was among 36 county employees shot at the Inland Regional Center.

Fourteen people died. The 57 survivors have been left with post-traumatic stress disorder or other emotional and/or physical injuries.

Last week, several said theyre being denied anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and counseling as the anniversary nears.

Two medications to treat Hanan Megallas pain, anxiety and insomnia were denied last week.

Survivors were surprised to learn Wednesday morning about the closed-session meeting at the San Bernardino County Government Center. Public comments will be taken before the closed session.

Cases handled by workers comp attorneys are the only agenda item. The online public meeting notice was removed from noon to 4:30 p.m. as officials discussed whether to meet Monday, county spokesman David Wert said.

Devereaux, county counsel and the county board clerk didnt return phone calls Wednesday. Devereauxs assistant said he was out. County counsel and the clerk just choose not to return reporters calls, Wert said.

The board has no other meetings next week, but will lead a video-conferenced Moment of Remembrance for county employees at 10:55 a.m. Dec. 2. Megalla said hell speak out then and at the boards Dec. 6 meeting.

Devereaux returned his call Wednesday, asked for the medication names and said hed see what he could do.

The county resubmitted the prescription refills to utilization review, Wert said.

The county understands that some employees are frustrated with the state workers compensation system, but when they contact the county, the county is almost always able to help in some way, he said in an email.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@scng.com
Animals name: Mikey

Gender, breed: male domestic shorthair

Date of birth: Sept. 8

Color: brown tabby

About the animal: Mikey is a new rescue at Living Free. He loves to cuddle and seems fearless around larger cats.

Agency: Living Free, a donor-supported, nonprofit, no-kill animal sanctuary

Location: 54250 Keen Camp Road in Mountain Center off Highway 74, 15 minutes from Idyllwild

Information: 951-491-1898 or living-free.org

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
From Obama to Trump

During the Clinton-caused economic meltdown and presidential election of 2008, the Democratic Party, and the insidious media, Hollywood and academia cartel seized on the politically correct opportunity to elect Sen. Barack Obama as the first black president.

Of course, the cartel knew that President Obama would lead into a two-term tyranny of overwhelming government together with the first-term Democrat Congress establishing forced national health care and the wars on coal, finance industry, small business and hardworking Americans.

Worse, the second term was replete with a war against the police while surrendering the war against terrorism in the Middle East causing the rise of ISIS, terrorist attacks here and around the world and his deadly deal with nuclear Iran.

Fortunately, the arrogant and un-American cartel failed to elect Hillary Clinton as the first woman president.

Indeed, real American states and voters rejected the cartel and the deeply corrupted Clintons, elected the Donald Trump, Mike Pence team, and retained the Republican Congress to bring back America from the edge of social, political and economic ruin.

Clearly, there is hope to rebuild and to restore our national and domestic security.

We can also increase our efforts to make America great again  the way we once were, before the Democrats turned to ruinous socialism.

 Daniel B. Jeffs, Apple Valley

Well, bye

To those who want California to separate from the United States, it would be far faster and less expensive if those who feel this way just packed your worldly belongings and moved out.

Im sure some of those wealthy Hollywood types that have private islands would gladly open them up to you as they also flee.

The majority of us are real Californians, those who were born here, not those who moved here over the last 50 years.

We will be happy when youre gone.

Being a native, I remember the days we could leave keys in cars, doors unlocked and had very little crime. But those from other states started moving to wonderful, easy, sunny California.

Now we have to deal with your ultra-liberal idea of trying to secede from the U.S. Pack your bags, hop into your row boat and start rowing away  far away as we do not want you.

 Jon Fleischer, Hemet
An investigation into five suspected arson fires at Sunny Liquor and Market in Riverside led police to believe that a rival liquor store owner hired two men to set the fires.

Willis Lee Simmons, 42, was arrested Tuesday, Nov. 22, on suspicion of setting the fire, according to a Riverside Police Department news release. On Wednesday, police arrested 49-year-old Moreno Valley resident Munir Mark Hawara, owner of Tyler Market at 4773 Tyler Street on suspicion of paying Simmons and another man  33-year-old Randy Ramirez, who was already in jail in connection with a separate incident  to set the fires.

Sunny Liquor and Market owner Jalit Singh Rana, who also owns another liquor store on Madison Street, said he had a feeling the rival liquor store owner was behind the arsons. Though he never met Hawara in person, Rana said he heard through the grapevine that Hawara was angry about Rana selling cheaper beer.

I was about 80 percent sure because we dont have any problems with the customers, Rana said. My prices were cheaper, like if he sold something for $9.99 I would sell it for $8.99.

Rana said neither he nor his employees recognized the mughsots of Simmons or Ramirez.

Sunny Liquor and Markets surveillance footage captured the incidents, which included the suspects throwing a Molotov cocktail at the business at 4810 Tyler Street and pouring a flammable substance along the front of the business and lighting it on fire, the news release said.

Rana said the first fire was set in January, shortly after he had taken ownership of the business Dec. 28. Three others followed in the next month, and then the fires stopped until this month.

The most recent one occurred around 4:30 a.m. Nov. 11.

The Police Departments Vice Unit and the California Alcohol Beverage Control are also investigating Hawaras business, and a may serve it administrative sanctions, the news release said.

Rana said he remained faithful that the suspects would be caught. Fire and police investigators were constantly at the store this year following up on the investigation.

Now that the arrests were made, he feels much safer.

For the last 10 or 11 months we couldnt sleep at night, we were just waiting for a call that there was another fire, Rana said. Now the mind is fresh.
661 students have graduated from the Presbyterian University College, Ghana (PUCG) for the year 2016 at a ceremony at its Okwahu Campus. The University which is accredited to the National Accreditation Board is affiliated to University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.



The students who graduated from the following degree programmes: Business Administration, Business Economics, Agribusiness, Rural and Community Development, Environmental and Natural Resources Management, ICT, Mathematics, Nursing and Physician Assistantship comprised 352 males and 309 females.



55 students of the total number of graduating students got First Class Honours (39 males and 16 females); Second Class Upper Division: 289 students (142 males and 147 females); Second Class Lower division: 217 students (116 males and 101 females)



There were 18 awards for some of the graduating students for excellent performance. Out of this figure, female students won 10 of the awards.



Financial Challenges to Private Universities



The President, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng noted that the financial distress of the private universities is compounded by the payment of huge sums of monies to Mentoring Institutions and Regulatory bodies.



He said the affiliation charges of the Mentoring Institution and the accreditation fees of the Regulatory body are too high that very little is left for infrastructural development, faculty and staff development and training, libraries, attraction and retention of staff and research.



The President of PUCG posited that operating a tertiary institution is an expensive enterprise. There is the need for the existing private universities to think of mergers-the merger of common minded universities or universities with same historical roots are to merge to ensure their survival.



Government Policies



Rev. Prof. E. Adow Obeng appealed to the National Accreditation Board to put a cap on the establishment of new private universities to enable the already established private universities to survive and improve on their delivery, except those to be set up in the areas of science, technology, health and medical sciences.



The PUCG President implored the Government to review its policy on taxing private universities. I pray that some political party will make this an item in its manifesto-No tax for private universities.



The killer to these all is the payment of tax, on non-existent profits, at the end of the financial year to the taxman, he bemoan the situation.



The policy of non-employment of graduate nurses by government health institutions poses a problem especially to private universities many of which have Departments of Nursing. In fact, this policy is affecting admissions into these departments.



He said there are many vacancies in the health sector than the number of graduates coming out of the Departments of Nursing in the country. What is the need for this policy? We call on government to reverse this policy, he questioned.



University programmes



The President informed the congregation about PUCG receiving accreditation for two new programmes in Education  Bachelor of Education (Business Studies) and Bachelor of Education (Social Studies)  and said these two departments are the foundation departments of the Faculty of Education.



Academic programmes that have been developed by the University to commence soon are MA in International Development, MED in Educational Studies, MSc in Environmental Health and Sanitation, and MSc in Natural Resources Management.



The others are MSc in Forensic Audit and Investigation, MSc in Financial Risk Management and MA in Public Relations and Corporate Communications BSc. Actuarial Science, BSc. Optometry, Law, and BSc. Midwifery.



Ms. Emily Asaa Addison, a BSc. Mathematics student of the Faculty of Science and Technology was adjudged the Overall Best Student. She also received the Overall Best Female Graduating Student and Faculty Best Student Awards.



Addressing the Congregation, the President of PUCG, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng thanked the parents and guardians and said It is your confidence in us, three or four years ago to entrust your sons, daughters and wards to us for training that has resulted in todays ceremony.



He was confident that the graduands will excel in life because the University has invested a lot in Christian moral values and excellent academic teaching in their training to ensure that they indeed become agents of transformation in the Ghanaian society and the world at large.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ministry of Health has warned of an outbreak of Dengue Fever in neighbouring Burkina Faso and, therefore, advised the public on preventive measures.



A Statement signed by Mr Alex Segbefia, the Minister of Health, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, explained that the disease is an acute fever caused by a virus through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, which bites during the daytime.



The Ministry of Health is entreating all citizens of Ghana to improve environmental conditions to prevent mosquito breeding and protect against mosquito bites to prevent Dengue fever, the statement said.



It explained: In Burkina Faso, there were suspected cases of Dengue in August this year and as at November 12, a total of 1,061 probable Dengue Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) positive cases, out of which 1,266 suspected cases were reported with cumulative total of 15 deaths (CFR 1.2 per cent).



The World Health Organisation has, therefore, deployed a multidisciplinary team in the 12 districts of Ouagadougou affected by the outbreak to support the response.



The Ministry, therefore, advised the public to be on the alert for the symptoms and report cases, even though there were no reported cases in the country.



It explained: Dengue occurs in two forms - Dengue Fever, which presents a febrile illness marked by sudden onset of high grade of fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscles and joints.



The other form, which is more severe, is the Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF), having in addition to the Dengue Fever, bleeding within three to five days of fever and sometimes the occurrence of shocks leading to death. This is most serious in children,.



As preventive measures, the Ministry advised the public to avoid and protect themselves from the bites of mosquitoes, saying efforts should be intensified before and after the transmission season (during and after rainy season) and at the time of the epidemic.



The Ministry also recommended that the public should wear full sleeves clothes and long dresses to cover the limbs and use insecticide treated mosquito nets to protect babies, old people and others who may take a rest during the day.



The Ministry also recommended the use of mosquito repellent and coils as well as electric vapour mats during the daytime to control the mosquitoes.



The statement urged all health institutions and their staff to enhance surveillance on Dengue fever and Arbovirus fevers in general (using case definitions).



Suspected cases of Dengue fever should be investigated and managed in accordance with guidelines and standard operative procedures, it said.



Health workers should adhere to regular Infection Prevention and Control measures to prevent and protect against possible nosocomial transmission.



Blood sample from suspected case(s) should be taken and safely packaged and sent to Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research for laboratory investigations.



All levels (National, Regions, Districts and Facilities) are requested to update their preparedness and response plans for Dengue and other Arboviruses in general, sensitise the respective staff and create public awareness.



The Ministry said it had initiated the process for preparedness and response mechanisms such as; epidemiological and laboratory surveillance: risk communication-social mobilisation and health education, which was a major tool in public health.



It also mentioned other interventions as case management logistics, security and financial resources, a National Coordinating Committee, National Technical Coordinating Committee and EOC meetings on the issue.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Professor Kodjo A. Senah of the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana (UG), has called for a national debate on timekeeping as a means of changing the attitude of Ghanaians in relation to time.



Prof. Senah made the call during the first mini dialogue series towards a national dialogue on timekeeping held last week at the residence of the Columbia Ambassador in Ghana.



The event was held under the theme; Timekeeping in Ghana: A socio-cultural analysis and it was attended by members of the diplomatic corps and other professionals.



The speaker said lateness could be attributed to the inadequate use of the systems available, adding that if proper supervision takes place, both employers and employees, would respect time.



He also mentioned that event organisers have taken their audience for granted because there has not been any serious action taken against them when they do not begin programmes as advertised.



If Ghanaians can protest against organisers for the late start of programmes, lateness can be curbed and event organisers will also sit up and do the right thing, he said.



Prof. Senah indicated that a national dialogue on timekeeping will make government officials and ministers also keep up with time with their subordinates following suit.



The mini dialogue series is been organised by Transformational Leadership Concepts (TLC) and it is being implemented in partnership with Gelis Communications Ltd (a communications consultancy) and Journalists for Business Advocacy (a media and business advocacy group).



The series is targeted at policy makers, media, legislators, politicians, teachers, professional people, traders, the media, men, women, children, and the youth.



It will also enable the various speakers to diagnoses of the problem and address the issue from different perspectives whilst working towards a national dialogue during which all shades of opinions will be represented and every voice heard.







Source: The Finder









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The two main candidates in the presidential race, President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would be the center of attraction today at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi during the one-week celebration of the Asantehema.



Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II passed away at the age of 111 on Monday, 14th November, 2016.



Thousands of people from all walks of life are expected to storm the Manhyia Palace to commiserate with Asanteman, particularly the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is the biological son of the late Asantehema



The solemn event, according to sources at the palace, would be used to showcase the rich Asante culture.



There would also be the firing of musketry, especially when Otumfuo arrives at the venue.



Political Campaign



With less than two weeks to the polls, DAILY GUIDE has gathered that both the NDC and NPP would take advantage of the important event to canvass for votes.



According to reports, the regional executives of the NDC and NPP have planned to storm the palace with a large number of their supporters who would be adorned with the paraphernalia of the various parties.



The NDC and NPP supporters would definitely chant the names of their presidential candidates at the Manhyia Palace.



Security Challenge



It would be recalled that earlier this year, supporters of the two aspirants nearly clashed at the funeral of the late Bantamahene.



But for the intervention of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, led by COP Kofi Boakye, the supporters would have exchanged blows on the Bantama High Street.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur says, his boss, President John Dramani is an uncompleted project in Ghana.



Speaking to party supporters and opinion leaders at Kasoa in the Awutu Senya East Constituency of the Central Region Wednesday, the Vice President, said the president is an uncompleted project and must be retained to complete all his projects.



A famous man once said, God doesnt like uncompleted projects; Mahama is an uncompleted project in Ghana and God doesnt like uncompleted projects. So he must complete his projects and the completion of his projects means he must get another four yearsso that he can finish off all the projects and plans he has started , he said.



The Vice President, therefore, urged the gathering to support the works of the president by ensuring a resounding victory on December 7.

Source: atinkaonline









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo has dismissed claims by Ghanas Ambassador to Namibia that he (Akufo Addo) in a private conversation said a non-Akan cannot lead the party.



Haruna Attah who was a staunch member of the NPP in a statement said "I do recollect very clearly, as if it happened only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the invitation, not knowing what to expect. The outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He raised a number of issues and concluded on my 'support' for the late Vice President. On that, this is what he told me.



The words have been indelibly etched on my conscience: 'Haruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong.' He went on to expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity, nothing else really mattered to me again. When I left, I confided in a few people, mainly family and friends, as witnesses." (click to read more)



But in a quick response, Mustapha Hamid, Nana Addo's spokesperson told Joy FM Thursday that: "Its a total fabrication, its a falsehood; no such conversation has ever taken place between him and Haruna Atta. That is a simple factwhy would a diplomat like Akufo Addo be telling a Northerner in his face that no northerner will ever rule our party when he has ambitions to be president? I think that we should credit Akufo Addo with some level of intelligence. So this is a total fabrication. It is a panic reaction to the kind of support we are garnering in the north"

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur reiterated his call for a peaceful atmosphere going into the 2016 elections. He stressed that law and order is paramount in such crucial exercise to ensure growth and development in the country.



According to him, election is not about shedding blood, but a healthy competition for the development of the country. If you are caught in the act of wrongdoing, the laws of the land would deal with you no matter the party you belong to, he said.



Mr. Amissah-Arthur made the statement on Wednesday 23rd of November 2016 in Gyahadze- Winneba in the Central Region when he inaugurated a dressmaking and hairdressing centre for the women in the area.



He called on the people of Effutu to make sure they secure a one touch victory for President Mahama.



He also used the opportunity to introduce the NDC parliamentary candidate for the area Eric Don Arthur and asked the people to vote for him to complement the efforts of president Mahama in parliament since hes a capable hand.



He noted that out of the entire presidential candidates in the country, President John Mahama stands tall looking at how he has been able to overcome the numerous challenges that have confronted the nation during his tenure.









The Vice President further stated that President Mahamas track record puts him in a better stead ahead of the other candidates in the December polls this year.



He also used the opportunity to address hundreds of party supporters and charged them to work hard in order to secure victory for the party.



Kwesi Amissah-Arthur said the Effutu seat is for the NDC, so encouraged the party supporters to work together in unity in order to annex the seat from the NPPs Afenyo Markin who happens to occupy the seat presently.



This he said would enable the party to win convincingly for President John Mahama in this years elections.



Mr Amissah-Arthur appealed to supporters of political parties to be circumspect in their utterances and behavior in order not to spark any violence.



He assured the chiefs and people of Effutu that President John Mahama and the NDC stand for development and promised them that all their remaining infrastructural challenges would be addressed.



He urged Ghanaians to jealously guard the countrys peace so that government can bring the needed development to the people.

Source: Maxwell Okamafo Addo/ email: [email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice President kwesi Amissah Arthur has stated that under President John Dramani Mahama the country would always be on the right path towards socio-economic prosperity.



Vice president Amissah Arthur made the statement when he addressed hundreds of NDC party supporters at Gomao Akotsi and Dominase in the Gomoa East of the Central regional as part of his four day campaign tour to the region .



He said the NDC government knows theres a need to build intensive cooperation between the people in the area, improve on road infrastructure and electricity to bridge the gap between the urban and rural dwellers to reduce rural-urban migration.



It is for this reason that Vice president Kwesi Amissah claims the people have seen a lot of development in that area.



Vice president Kwesi Amissah-Arthur appealed to them to renew the mandate of his boss John Mahama for another four more years in order to continue with the systematic development of Ghana.





Mr. Amissah-Arthur observed that peace and stability form the foundation for economic and social development and the Mahama government has succeeded in sustaining that feat.



He said Mahama needs continuity in his agenda of changing lives and transforming Ghana because the country has seen massive infrastructure developmental projects under his tenure.



He said Mahama cannot develop the whole country at a go but assured Ghanaians that government can provide every community with its fair share of development. According to him, Ghanaians must continue to have confidence and hope in Mahama because his policies are geared towards transforming their lives.



Amissah-Arthur called on all of them to join the clarion call for peace before, during and after the December 7 elections.



He said irrespective of your party colour if you cause mayhem during and after the elections the security services would not forgive you.









Source: Maxwell Okamafo Addo/ email: [email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A Workplace Health and Safety check at Dreamworld, ordered after the tragic death of four guests at the Gold Coast park last month, has uncovered three possible safety issues with the parks popular BuzzSaw rollercoaster.

In a statement, Dreamworlds chief execute Craig Davidson revealed three prohibition notices were issued regarding the attraction.

The rides safety anchor harnesses were singled out as areas of concern, along with an error in maintenance procedures, and an issue regarding a gate on the rides control booth.

#BREAKING: #Dreamworld issued with 8 notices from Qld Workplace Health and Safety after safety audit. 8pm Qld time media release @abcnews pic.twitter.com/EjxO1xBBkE  Kerrin Binnie (@kerrinbinnie) November 24, 2016

According to WHSQ, a prohibition notice must be acted upon immediately, and Dreamworld is now attending to those issues.

Of course, the check comes as part of three wholesale reviews of park safety procedures; all attractions are being tested internally, by another engineering firm, and by an international theme park expert.

Several other opportunities for improving guest and employee safety on other attractions were also flagged during the audit.

Davidson stressed that safety is our paramount concern, and reiterated that the park wont be rushing the process. Nevertheless, he also stated a reopening date for the park will be announced soon.

The cause of the Thunder River Rapids ride malfunction is yet to be determined.

Best of luck to the Dreamworld crew.

Source: The Australian.

Photo: Getty Images / Chris Hyde.
A Schoolies teen is lucky to be alive after falling two stories from a balcony last night and breaking his pelvis.

Police reckon the 17-year-old fell while leaning off a balcony on Cypress Avenue at Surfers Paradise, sometime around 3am.

We believe he has dropped an item of property and he has leant over  its landed on a ledge  and hes leant over to collect it and he has fallen the two floors, said Senior Sergeant Angelique Maloney.

He landed on a ground floor balcony, and was rushed to the Gold Coast University Hospital with a suspected fractured pelvis.

While this wasnt a case of balcony hopping, the dumbest teen craze since the last dumb teen craze, it was an example of Schoolies kids being extremely careless around balconies, and cops are hoping this incident reminds the rest of them to cool it.





Police would like to remind all school leavers about acting responsibly particularly on balconies, they said in a statement.

Chief Superintendent Terry Boland was a little more blunt when talking to reporters.

It they happen to fall, they may never be hopping again, he said. We have concerns about it, and we just really hope people can make smart decisions.



I mean, you can dream, right?

Four teenagers  two 18-year-olds and two 16-year-olds  were issued with infringement notices after balcony hopping on the 22nd floor of a View Avenue hotel last night, and three days ago a teen was caught on Snapchat balcony hopping several floors up at the Beachcomber resort.

This isnt going to to be funny when she falls, said the person filming.

Hmmm. Nope.





Photo: Google Street View.
It was only a matter of time: our former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is in talks to write another book.

The last time he put pen to paper (non-fiction-wise), it was to write Battlelines in 2009 during his time on the backbench, shortly before he took the party leadership and eventually the top job.

Now hes joked to Fairfax that his followup book should be called Battlescars. His publisher Louise Adler, however, was dead serious when she told the publication that it would be making the case for conservatives, that the Liberal Party should become the centre-right party. Of course Abbott would write the conservative manifesto.



After Donald Trumps ascendancy this becomes an interesting question for conservatives and for Labor too, said Adler. I expect Tony to make the case for the Liberal Party to return to its conservative roots.



The thing is, despite Malcolm Turnbulls plummeting popularity with everyone who isnt Malcolm Turnbull, no ones forgotten what a comedy of errors it was when Abbott was in charge. (I know it seems like a bad dream, but its true!  he was in charge of our country for 12 whole months!)

So with that in mind, Australian Twitter did was Australian Twitter does best: take the absolute piss.

Stop the Books #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Ewen McRae (@ewenmcrae) November 23, 2016

To Kill a Budgie Smuggler. #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Andrew Toomey (@Axio_T) November 23, 2016

Fantastic Jerks and Where to Find Them #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Adam (@AdamTheCon) November 23, 2016

A Game of Tones #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Nathan Lee (@NathanLee) November 23, 2016

The need for Speedos #TonyAbbottBookTitles  John Dobbin (@JohnDobbin) November 23, 2016

A country for old men#TonyAbbottBookTitles  Ken Smutcliffe (@BuduInya) November 23, 2016

All Quiet On The Western Shirtfront#TonyAbbottBookTitles  Danama Papers (@DanielGulberry) November 23, 2016

Sense and Suppository #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Stuart Thomson (@stuart_t11) November 23, 2016

The Men Who Stare at Boats #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Nick H. (@elfsox) November 23, 2016

The Devil Wears Speedos. #TonyAbbottBookTitles  How It Works (@EurekaQLD) November 23, 2016

How to to serve half a term and alienate absolutely everyone but Bolt and Sheridan

#TonyAbbottBookTitles  Order No.227 (@AnthonyCole68) November 23, 2016

Pride in Prejudice #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Stock Photo Jarrie (@jaredjekyll) November 23, 2016

Ive Given You The Answer You Deserve #TonyAbbottBookTitles  Omar Sakr (@OmarjSakr) November 23, 2016

The as-yet-untitled book (Im rooting for Shit Happens, btw) is likely to be out some time in 2017.



Photo: Getty.
One thing that is totally alien to us as Australians is the phenomenon of gun advertising. Obviously we see literally zero ads for guns in our sunny, gunless nation, but American ads are usually pretty great  a huge collection of wonderful appeals to fear, terror and masculine insecurity. The phenomenon of Gun Nuts speaks to all three:

Glock, the firearms manufacturer you may be familiar with as the producer of the handguns action movie stars shoot bad guys with, came out with this absolutely baffling, unorthodox brand tweet:

Cooked to perfection.

Photo credit: Lindsay Eisbrenner pic.twitter.com/qVrD0G9aut  GLOCK Inc. (@GLOCKInc) November 16, 2016

Obviously there are several pressing questions here. First of all: what? Second: why is there a handgun in that pie? Third: why is it in the woods?

Basically everyone on Twitter had the same visceral response.

.@GLOCKInc there is a gun in this pie  JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 23, 2016

@GLOCKInc why did you put a gun in the pie.  Russ (@rjandolina) November 23, 2016

@GLOCKInc this is insanely stupid and Im glad you took the time to promote it  Steven Walsh (@DeusExJuice) November 23, 2016

@GLOCKInc sneaking firearms into prison is hardcore, respect  mbr (@balladreview) November 23, 2016
Minister of Defence Sedqi Sobhi attended on Thursday a major live-ammunition naval war games on the country's western borders, Ahram Rabic news website reported.

The naval exercises included tactical projects and engagement with hostile navy vessels.

The naval forces also carried out land and sea security and counter terrorism operations in cooperation with various branches of the Armed Forces.

Sobhi also inspected military units and formations at the Western Military District.

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Short link:


Man, 2016s been a been of a dud, right? What a ruddy stressful year.

The good folk at ALLENS have recognised this, and being in the business of sugar, they know that it is simple scientific fact that lollies actually cure the horrible condition called, Christ how is it November already? This year was a bite shite and jesus FUCK I just realised havent even started Christmas shopping-itis.

(Lollies are also fabulous treatment for a number of other conditions, including:

 My best friend is pregnant and now my aunties will spend all Christmas Day asking me when Ill pop one out -itis.

-itis.  Ha ha Ive had 3 months to do this assignment and now its 2am the night before its due and Im just starting it  -itis.

 -itis. Please make the Christmas carols stop, I now fear for my life and sanity-itis.)

So, to aid us through this remarkably stressful time, ALLENS have decided to help out with a pop-up lolly bar. UH HUH.

The pop-up, which will be happening at Westfield Sydney, will allow you, a lowly mortal, to have omniscient power over what goes into your next Party Mix bag.

Thats goddamn correct  rather than having the lollies you dont really like that much left in the bag at the end of your Party Mix, you can now CHOOSE YOUR OWN.

The process is pretty fkn cool. Its like the Apple Computers of candy. Like if Steve Jobs designed a pick n mix bar:

Using iPad kiosks at the ALLENS Lolly Bar, customers will select up to eight lollies to include in their perfect mix. They can then choose the name and label design to go on their jar. ALLENS Lolly Bar ambassadors will send a text when jars are ready for collection; so customers are free to keep shopping!

Plus, not only do you get to create a Party Mix that is all Extremely Good and nothing Average or Sucky, you also get access to insane Limited Edition ALLENS lollies that have either never been released, or theyre a fave that got tragically discontinued.

Prepare to lose your ever-loving SHIT for these Limited Edition fancies:

ALLENS Funny Teeth in four flavours: crisp apple-mint, fruity berry-mint, summery pineapple-mint or the original vanilla-mint.

in four flavours: crisp apple-mint, fruity berry-mint, summery pineapple-mint or the original vanilla-mint. ALLENS Aussie Mix , a pack that includes the Harbour Bridge, kangaroo, koala, Aussie map and boomerang shaped lollies.

, a pack that includes the Harbour Bridge, kangaroo, koala, Aussie map and boomerang shaped lollies. ALLENS Choc & Creams : a new twist on the classic ALLENS Strawberries & Cream, soft chocolate jelly on top of that vanilla base.

: a new twist on the classic ALLENS Strawberries & Cream, soft chocolate jelly on top of that vanilla base. ALLENS Choc-Coated Bananas and Raspberries: the truly iconic banana lollies and raspberry lollies but covered in chocolate.

And youll see the return of Spearmint Leaves and Green Frogs, both of which we mourned the tragic loss of in 2015.

Theres also a v special team-up with Foodora going on  if youre in the Sydney CBD or particular surrounding suburbs (Surry Hills, Woollahra, Paddington, Potts Point and Darlinghurst) you can order one of these insane bespoke lolly jars  and if youre one of the first 200, itll be delivered to you for free.

Heres all ya essential deets:





WHERE Westfield Sydney, Level 2 (behind Zara)

WHEN 29 November  24 December 2016

COST Personalised Pick and Mix Jars (2L jar) $30, Limited Edition bags (150g) $6  $8

Happy Not-Really-That-Hungry Games and may the Red Frogs be ever in your favour.

Source: Supplied.

Photo: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Breakups are never easy, but they seem especially shitty for the most famous people in the world. We aint exactly fans of having emotional trauma perpetually critiqued and exploited, and we wouldnt be keen on facing paparazzi harassment one hundo percent of the time.

Same goes when we think bout the ultimate diva Mariah Carey, who has certainly invited a shitload of media attention in the past. After being judged on her wild dressing room requests or having her failed marriages interrogated, shes now facing scrutiny over her just-toasted relationship with Aussie billionaire James Packer.

Why would they do this to her? Why? Does the woman with the voice of heaven incarnate  the angel who brought us such classics as Honey and Touch My Body  not deserve the utmost respect?

In any case, Carey has stayed mum on the topic  until now. As all celebs are wont to do, she opened up on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, obviously, as Ellen is everything that is right with the world encapsulated in one little person (as Obama so beautifully acknowledged yesterday).

I think I am doing well, Carey said when asked about the split, before acknowledging that everything happens for a reason. She changed the subject pretty promptly by complimenting Ellen on her furniture (a timeless non sequitur, tbh), but it was good to see her open up in a relatively safe space, even just a little bit.

Stay strong, Mariah. Weve got you girl. Hear her speaking about the breakup from 5:18.

Source: The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Photo: Ellentube.
Bruce, a brand-bloody-new black comedy set in an Australian convict colony, snuck up on us with almost no warning. Much like the original colonists did, then.

Billing its location as an ordinary Aussie share-house that just happens to be a prison tent in Sydney Cove, 1788, Bruce follows the trials and tribulations  well, mainly tribulations  of the eponymous Bruce (Richard Davies).

Ol mate B decided itd be a stellar idea to nick a loaf of bread so hed get shipped off Down Under, in order to chat up fellow convict Daisy (Veronica Thomas). As you do.

Coming straight out of the mind of Tony Rogers, the fella who created Wilfred, the first six eps are available for your perusal on YouTube as of right this moment.

Look: its not every day something like this pops up, so have a gander at Episode 1 below:



Source and photo: Bruce / YouTube.
turkey

You can now text the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

(File photo, Sue Gleiter)

Butterball Turkey Talk-Line is ensuring you can now talk about turkey from all platforms.

This year, the 35-year-old Talk-Line has added texting to its arsenal as a way for home cooks to reach out with their most pressing Thanksgiving Day turkey questions.

Texting is available now through 6 p.m. Central Time on Thanksgiving Day via 844-877-3456.

"We're just evolving based on consumers' needs," Sue Smith, Butterball's talk-line co-director told Business Insider. "It's the natural progression for the talk line."

For more than three decades, Turkey Talk-Line has answered tens of thousands of questions over the holidays. Its experts can answer questions ranging from preparation to cooking, carving and serving the meal.

It's not an easy job as late-night talk host Stephen Colbert discovered last weekend when he volunteered at the Butterball hotline.

"The gold standard, everybody knows, is the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line," he said. "You can call to speak to an expert who really knows what they are talking about."

The Talk-Line started in 1981 with six home economists answering phones. Today, it employs 50 experts who answer phone calls as well as questions on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

In addition, the Talk-Line uses YouTube videos to help novice cooks learn how to thaw, cook and serve turkeys.

Experts are available on Butterball's website as well Facebook and Twitter. Or, reach out the old-fashioned way by calling them at 800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372).
Carrier Air Conditioning Unit

An air conditioner bears the Carrier logo in Omaha, Neb. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Thanksgiving morning that he was trying to make good on a campaign promise that Carrier won't move a factory to Mexico in 2019 as planned.

(AP file photo)

President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Thanksgiving morning that he was trying to make good on a campaign promise that a Carrier air conditioning factory in Indiana, and its 1,400 jobs, would not move to Mexico in 2019 as planned.

"I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!:" Trump tweeted.

I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2016

Carrier, a division of United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Connecticut, responded with a tweet about an hour later: "Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time."

Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time.  Carrier HVACR (@CarrierHVACR) November 24, 2016

During the campaign, Trump called the planned closure of the Indianapolis plant "disgusting" and "un-American" and made it a campaign rallying cry. At an Indianapolis event in May he went further, offering the crowd a "100 percent guarantee" the plant would not leave if he were elected.

"Here's what's going to happen," Trump said, according to Bloomberg. "They're going to call me and they are going to say 'Mr. President, Carrier has decided to stay in Indiana.'"

"One hundred percent -- that's what is going to happen," Trump added. "It's not like we have an 80 percent chance of keeping them or a 95 percent. 100 percent."

The Carrier back-and-forth was reminiscent of a similar exchange over manufacturing facilities that Trump began a week earlier, when the president-elect bragged on Twitter that he had received a call from Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., saying "he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- no Mexico."

Trump's claim was exaggerated, as Ford's union contract prevented it from shutting down its Louisville Assembly Plant. Ford clarified that it had merely decided not to relocate production of a single vehicle, the Lincoln MKC, from Kentucky.

Carrier announced its plans to shut down the Indiana plant in February, with the closure slated for 2019.

Chris Nelson, a Carrier president overseeing the unit, issued a statement at the time saying the move to Mexico would allow the company "to operate more cost effectively" because of the industry's ongoing migration to that area as well as "cost and pricing pressures driven, in part, by new regulatory requirements."

The closure could lead to the loss of more than $100 million to the Indiana economy and more than 1,000 other jobs that indirectly relied on the plant, according to some estimates.

Trump's promise to save the plant was met with skepticism in some corners of Indiana, home state of Vice President-elect Mike Pence, but he carried the state easily over Hillary Clinton.
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A fire that scorched about 50 acres of Mount Penn stretching from Reading to Lower Alsace Township Monday has been deemed suspicious.

(John Secoges)

A mountain fire that scorched about 50 acres stretching from Reading to Lower Alsace Township Monday has been deemed suspicious, according to a Reading Eagle report.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation said the fire on Mount Penn, ignited behind an abandoned reservoir by Hampden Park, could have been intentionally set, the report said.

The department would not reveal exactly why investigators believe the blaze could have been an arson. But departmental spokesman Terry Brady said the timing of the first emergency call and the fire led officials to believe it could have been intentionally set.

The fire was reported at about 6:15 p.m. on Monday. Officials said it was under control as of 3 a.m. Tuesday.

The fire was not completely extinguished Wednesday.

There are pockets of flames still burning, which could reignite due to unusually dry conditions, the report said.

Fire crews continued to extinguish hotspots on the mountain Wednesday.
I commend the Dauphin County Commissioners for tackling bail reform. As it stands now, money serves as a proxy for risk. Poor people wait in prison for hearings while those with some means can bail themselves out. This is not increasing public safety. These low risk offenders cost us close to $100 a day.

JOHN HARGREAVES, Susquehanna Township

The writer is the director of volunteers for the Pennsylvania Prison Society.
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Each year, the Editorial Board of PennLive/The Patriot-News asks our newsroom colleagues to take a moment to reflect on the things and people in their lives that they're thankful for at Thanksgiving.

Our hope is that these reflections will similarly prompt our readers to take a moment to reflect on the many gifts in their lives and, perhaps, to remember those among us who need our help - every day of the year.

Here are a few of our Thanksgiving wishes:

"I'm thankful that I was able to cover rallies for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders this year and be reminded that all voices in America are important. I'm thankful for the warmth of tea, the life-giving power of coffee and the sweet joy of hot cocoa."

*****

"The First Amendment."

*****

"The sacrifice of military families like Army Sgt. Robert Easley Jr. and his wife, Megan."

*****

"My thankfuls on this Thanksgiving Day are simple: the health and joy of my children, 12 and 5-years-old."

*****

"After family, I am thankful for the joy and warmth that comes from living with a dog as part of the family."

*****

"All of us can be thankful we live in a place as stunningly beautiful as Pennsylvania.

"After six decades in this commonwealth, I'm still finding wonderful places to discover and explore. A weekend trip into the heart of the Laurel Highlands took us up steep and winding two-lane roads through deep woods where hunters were heading out for bear season. Hardy kayakers were running the ice cold rapids near Ohiopyle as snow dusted the ground. Swathes of mist and fog settled on golden fields and umber mountains from the overlook at Kentuck Knob.

"On Thursday, it will be over the river and through the woods for the annual Thanksgiving Day trip to Lewistown. To my eyes, there's no better view in the world than that of the Juniata River running through the steep Appalachian ridges on the way home."

*****

"This year has made me thankful for the strength and comfort found in community. I saw friendly faces and concerned friends come together after the Pulse massacre, then again after a hate crime struck close to home. I saw and heard from concerned citizens on both sides about what the Brexit decision and U.S. election meant for their loved ones. And each time this year we lost a talented musician, I saw an outpouring of admiration from fans. It shouldn't take tragedy or anger to bring a community together, but times like these emphasize the strength that can be found in numbers."

*****

"I am thankful for good health and wish all those suffering from cancer and ill health patience, courage and hope in their healing."

*****

The Editorial Board of PennLive/The Patriot-News would also like to take a moment to thank you, our readers, for reading and for engaging in the great civic debate that keeps our state and nation vital and alive.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Six people were killed and at least 25 wounded in a multi-vehicle road crash north of Cairo on Thursday, Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The accident took place on a freeway connecting the Nile Delta governorates of Al-Menoufiya and Qalyoubia.

Initial investigations showed the deadly incident was caused by "speeding," Qalyoubiya's security chief said.

Some of those critically injured were transported to hospitals in Cairo.

Deadly road crashes take place on a daily basis in Egypt, notorious for poor road safety rules, badly maintained infrastructure, and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

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A court has ordered that former state Rep. Mike Veon, convicted in two public corruption cases, be given a new trial in one of the cases. DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News

(DAN GLEITER, THE PATRIOT-NEWS)

Former state Rep. and Pennsylvania Democratic Party mastermind Mike Veon spent years defending himself against political corruption charges with an argument that he never enriched himself.

How ironic, then, that fiscal relief will be one of the immediate results of a ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Tuesday.

In throwing out Veon's 2012 sentence for using a non-profit to channel state grants into building his political brand in Beaver County, the court automatically got Veon out from under $135,000 in restitution and fines.

Next up, his attorney Joel Sansone said, will be a similar appeal against $1.9 million in restitution orders Veon faces from his separate conviction for turning portions of his legislative staff into a campaign machine.

Veon's victory Tuesday hinged on the court's finding that there was no "private pecuniary benefit" - as established in Pennsylvania's Ethics law - to Veon's obvious political gains from the Beaver Initiative for Growth.

Justice David Wecht's opinion hinged on what Wecht said was an errant jury instruction given by Dauphin County Judge Bruce Bratton in Veon's 2012 trial, in which the judge stated Veon did not have to personally gain financially to be convicted of violating the state's conflict-of-interest law.

In words that echoed a U.S. Supreme Court decision from earlier this year, Wecht said that amounted to a "criminalization of politics (that) is a bridge too far."

Here's a look at some of the questions raise by this week's decision.

Is Veon totally in the clear now?

The record doesn't reflect that.

The former Beaver County representative still stands convicted of several counts from the 2010 Bonusgate case, and in fact Wecht's ruling leaves other convictions against Veon in the BIG case stand as well.

Still, after two convictions, loss of office and more than five years in prison, Sansone was in a mood for celebrating.

"This is about clearing Mike's name," Sansone said. "It's always been about proving that this was a political prosecution."

Will this case be retried?

Attorney General Bruce Beemer's office was, officially, still reviewing Wecht's decision Wednesday afternoon.

But it doesn't seem likely, and here's why.

Veon has already served years in prison as a result of the Bonusgate charges, so it's not like he hasn't been punished. In addition, it's not like his entire criminal record has been wiped away.

Does this suggest that former Attorney General Tom Corbett was overreaching in his assaults on the General Assembly?

There are those who think so, to be sure.

"I am pleased, but not surprised, that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has confirmed the pre-existing status of the (conflict-of-interest) law," said Harrisburg attorney William Fetterhoff.

And that was, he explained, that a public official can't be convicted for doing things simply because they might get him or her a shot on the 11 o'clock news or otherwise enhance their standing in the community.

Wecht's opinion was also being cheered in the state Capitol.

"It was a long time coming but many of the legislators and staff who served with Mike Veon were heartened by the ruling," House Democratic Caucus spokesman Bill Patton said in an email.

"It appears to restore a common sense standard that normal politics shouldn't be criminalized. Advocacy for one's district and constituents is a regular part of legislative work."

That was a bipartisan sentiment.

In a memo to Republican senators that was obtained by The Patriot-News, a senior GOP staffer called the decision a "full rebuke to the ethics overreach that was occurring in the Attorney General's office."

Frank Fina, Corbett's public corruption watchdog, said he stood by the prosecution, in part because, in his view, Veon channelling money through his non-profit for re-allocation at his direction is completely different than helping to obtain a grant for a third party.

"If the Attorney General's office wants, I'll come back and try it for free," Fina said.

Is this going to affect other cases that are already in the books?

Barring further appeals, no.

But Wecht's ruling, by highlighting tight statutory language on where and to whom restitution can be awarded that the court found does not apply in Veon's case, may open the door to reconsideration of large restitution awards in some of the other legislative corruption cases that Corbett's Attorney General's office prosecuted.

As for the criminal convictions themselves, Wecht made clear he was responding to arguments that were specific to Bratton's jury charge in the BIG case, and that his ruling is not intended to have any bearing on the other corruption charges.

Even Fetterhoff, whose client Steve Keefer won an acquittal in the Bonusgate case, said the Wecht ruling appears self-contained.

"As a general matter... that was not an improper prosecution to complain on the basis that legislative funds funds ought not to be used for campaign purposes," Fetterhoff said.

What about political corruption cases that are still pending, or might arise in the future?

There is widespread belief that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this summer in the case involving former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell is already causing prosecutors at the federal level to re-evaluate their cases.

"You can't ignore a decision by the Supreme Court," said Peter Smith, the recently retired U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. "That did force a lot of reconsideration and thinking about what kind of cases could be brought when there were apparent cases of political corruption."

As for Pennsylvania, newly-elected Attorney General Josh Shapiro ran on a record as a guy who is not afraid to shake up the status quo, and promising to be zealous against public corruption.

What that means in practice, exactly, should become evident in the next year or two.

So what's Mike Veon doing now?

Veon, 59, did not respond to PennLive's requests for an interview Wednesday.

But Sansone said his client is in the midst of "reinventing himself" since his release on parole last year, working both to help allies advance issues in state government and as a consultant for political campaigns.

Now living in Pittsburgh, Veon registered this spring with the Pennsylvania Department of State as a lobbyist for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

He also made a widely-noticed trip to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer.

"Mike is looking forward," Sansone said Wednesday, referring to his friend and client as "the Comeback Kid."
Pakistan protesters burn a representation of an Indian flag to condemn recent firing at the Line of Control, in Multan, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. Artillery fire and shelling from India targeted several villages and struck a passenger bus near the dividing line in the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday, killing many civilians wounding more than a dozen others, the Pakistani military and officials said. (AP Photo/Mohammad Asim)
FILE - This Oct. 3, 2016, file photo, provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, shows Austin Harrouff. The Florida college student accused of randomly killing a couple and chewing on the dead man's face had no detectable hallucinogenic drugs in his system, according an FBI toxicology report released Wednesday, Nov. 23. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
More days of rain, snow predicted for this winter

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently predicted that the Great Lakes region will have more frequent precipitation than usual this winter.
A group of gunmen killed eight army personnel in an attack on a military checkpoint in the restive northern Sinai region, where forces are battling a militant insurgency, a military spokesman has said.

Assailants in 4x4 vehicles "laden with large amounts of explosives" attacked the checkpoint in the border region late on Thursday, spokesman Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

A subsequent exchange of fire with forces and the explosion of the car and a separate bomb led to the death of eight members of army forces and three militants.

A number of militants were also wounded in the firefight. "The armed forces asserts that such villainous acts will not discourage it from performing its duty of eliminating terrorism and continuing to safeguard the homeland," the statement read.

Forces were combing the area in search for suspects.

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Three Turkish soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack by Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Syria, Dogan news agency reported Thursday.

The attack, carried out by "members of the Daesh (IS) terror group," took place in the Al Bab region of northern Syria where Turkish forces are supporting an offensive by pro-Ankara rebels, the privately-run news agency said.

Turkey on August 24 launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria dubbed "Euphrates Shield" in support of Syrian opposition fighters to push IS jihadists from its border and stop the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia.

The report did not specify when the attack took place but said it took place on the 93rd day of the operation.

Pro-Ankara opposition rebels supported by Turkish troops have liberated Jarabulus, Al Rai and Daniq from IS jihadists, without much resistance, since the operation began.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week said the rebels were pushing forward with the aim of taking Al Bab from the jihadists.

"We reached Al Bab right now and besieged it from the west," the president said in a speech Tuesday.

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Depending on how you packed it, where you're headed, and the airline you're flying with, putting your bike on a plane can be one of the scariest parts of traveling. Will it cost you four months salary? Will you ever see it again? And if it does arrive, how damaged will it be from jerkoffs throwing it around like killer whales playing with a dead seal? You can't do much about the first two issues, but packing and protecting your bike to lessen the chance of it looking like an expired seal upon arrival is entirely within your control.

Jetpack Details



 Semi-rigid foam construction

 Rigid base

 Clamps bike by axles

 Compatible with most bikes

 Inflatable wheel protection

 Dimensions: 51" x 31" x 10"

 Weight: 19.8lbs

 MSRP: $449.95 USD

Our large-sized Patrol fit inside the Jetpack with a bit of room to spare.

The inflatable wheel protection means that the padding is there when you need it, but they can be deflated and rolled up when the bag isn't in use.

What the inflatable donuts do is allow Biknd to squeeze in more protection but without the added bulk, especially when the bag is empty and rolled up, and it means that you can also leave the rotors and cassette on the wheels.



What to do with the bike's handlebar when it's boxed up is another common conundrum, with most people wrapping it and the frame in cardboard or padding before using zip-ties to attach it to the bike so it's not swinging around scratching stuff. Biknd has done something similar, although they've executed in a nicer manner. A frame pad is included that's shaped to wrap around the bike's front triangle, and Velcro straps on the outside of the pad are used to hold the handlebar up against it. Clever.

Strap-on protection covers the front of the bike, and it even has some Velcro straps to keep your handlebar snug.

The Jetpack's axle clamps can be adjust in length and height to suit almost any bike. While they're easy to adjust, the bag's stiff sides makes sliding the axles in a bit tricky.

Performance

Almost ready for take-off.

Four wheels would be more convenient than two, but the Jetpack is easy to handle in a crowded airport.

Pinkbikes Take:

The Jetpack's novel design - particularly the aluminum base with integrated and adjustable axle clamps, as well as the inflatable wheel protection - isn't different just for the sake of being different. The setup provides ample protection and, just as important, separation between the frame and the wheels and other components.



There's no getting around the fact that investing in a $449.95 USD travel bag for your bike doesn't make much sense unless you're jetting off with your bike at least a few times every year, but the Jetpack is worth looking at if you're lucky enough to be doing exactly that. - Mike Levy

Biknd's $449.95 USD Jetpack travel bag has been made to do exactly that, and it employs a few neat features that are designed to keep your bike safe and make your life easier, like inflatable wheel protection and a rigid, adjustable base that your bike clamps onto. The sub-20lb Jetpack bike bag can accept any type mountain bike, and even has room for road bikes with high, integrated seat posts.The Jetpack bag is all about separation; keeping your wheels, handlebar, and frame all packed together tightly and, most importantly, protected from one another, which is accomplished by way of a number of neat dividers and pads.Anyone who has had to package a bike in a cardboard box knows that half the battle is squeezing in the wheels (if the rear wheel is off the bike) without letting the rotors or cassette tear a new one to either the side of the box or its precious cargo. Biknd employs two inflatable cushions - one on each side of the bag for each wheel - that are located between the bag's padded sides and the wheels. Picture big yellow donuts and you'll get the idea. These donuts are inflated with your mouth before being laid over the side of the bag; attached covers are then pulled up through the hole in the center of each that keep your wheels from puncturing them, and straps run up through the same hole that you use to snug the wheel down securely before a cover is laid on top.The Jetpack bag opens from the left and right sides, and when both sides are unzipped, the bike easily stands upright. This is because it's attached to an aluminum base with axle clamps that can be adjusted so the frame will sit up and off the bottom of the bag and have clearance up top regardless of if it's a big downhill sled, small-sized kids bike, or even a triathlon rig with an integrated seat post. The front axle clamp slides horizontally to adjust for the bike's wheelbase, and the rear clamp is moved vertically via a quick-release pin to adjust the bike's height in the bag. Biknd includes axle adapters for nearly every single axle size between here and Jupiter - minus some mega-wide fat bike axle spacing - so most people will be covered.Our Jetpack travel bag has seen some serious miles since it landed in the office, with trips to both Chile for an enduro race and to Japan for some riding in the Far East. It has been responsible for protecting a Transition Patrol and a Knolly Warden during that time, both of which escaped scuff-free during their air miles, as you'd hope and expect they would. Protection aside, let's look at how the Jetpack was to pack and travel with.We first attempted to get a bike in the Jetpack bag without looking at the instructions - you know, like a guy would - and the process is straightforward enough that it wasn't anything that we'd call challenging. The instructions are clear as day, mind you, and they do show you how to make adjustments for bikes of different lengths by tweaking where the clamps sit on the base, but the job is a cakewalk regardless. We had to employ the supplied 15mm axle adapters that slide in and out easily, and it's probably worth noting that you'll want to keep these little guys zipped up in the parts bag when not in use as they're sure to roll away.The bag's axle clamps are nearly flush with the stiff lower section of the bag, right where the Jetpack's sides fold down, which made sliding the axles in a bit tricky. It took a bit of force to push the sides of the bag out of the way to be able to get them in, which, while not a deal breaker, was kinda annoying. You can lift the base up slightly to make alignment easier, but it'd be nice to see a relief put into the stiff section, or maybe have it lowered a touch.And as for the nifty inflatable wheel protection, they work exactly as advertised. We fit a set of 27.5 x 2.5'' wheels and rubber in them and there were zero issues. Lowering the dropper post creates enough room to keep you from ever having to completely remove your seat post, which is something that everyone wants to avoid, and the entire package zipped up snug as a bug. The zippers themselves are also burly enough that they'll probably last longer than the bag, so there shouldn't be any worries about them wearing out, and the whole package was free of any rattles or jingles from metal or carbon bits touching each other. A bike bag should be a no-contact zone, and the Jetpack does exactly this.So, with a 30lb bag inside of it, how was the Jetpack while trying to get through the gongshow that is an airport? It turned out to be relatively easy - it's still a tall and skinny bag that weighs a bunch - but the bag's handles are where they need to be, and it rolls easily on its two wheels. Four wheels might be a bit nicer, however, as then you could just push or pull it along without having to lift one end, but this isn't a big issue. And because it can fold down on itself, it's also easy to deal with when it's empty.
More than 10,500 state employees have been dismissed over suspected links with the Kurdish PKK militant group, Turkish Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said on Thursday in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk.

Turkey is fighting an insurgency by the PKK in the largely Kurdish southeast and it has previously dismissed hundreds of teachers it said were linked to the militant group while arrested pro-Kurdish politicians.

Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 state officials since a failed coup attempt in July. It was not immediately clear whether the 10,500 Muezzinoglu was referring to were part of that number or an additional purge.

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There are five candidates vying for three open seats on Clemson City Council. We asked the two incumbents and three newcomers what they think is most important for Clemson's residents and council. Read moreMeet the candidates: 5 vying for 3 seats on Clemson City Council
The Minnesota DNR has cited Wabasha County Sheriff Rodney Bartshand family members for deer hunting violations, according to WCCO-TV .

According to the DNR incident report, Bartsh's father shot a buck and used his daughter-in-law's tag to claim it. Bartsh also shot a doe and used another person's tag, according to the report. Also, the deer weren't registered; hunters are supposed to register deer within 48 hours.

"Words can't describe how terrible I feel about the embarrassment I've caused my family, my staff and my citizens," Bartsh said in a statement to WCCO, which aired the story Tuesday. "They expect and deserve better from me and I let them down."

We're working on our own coverage of this story. Check back for updates.
The Turkish army blamed the Syrian regime for an air strike on Thursday in northern Syria that killed three soldiers and wounded 10, it said in a statement.

"In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously," said the statement on its website.

The army said the strike took place at 3:30 am (0030 GMT). Turkish media reported earlier that the attack in the Al Bab region was by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

This is the first time the army has blamed President Bashar al-Assad's regime for an attack killing Turkish soldiers during Ankara's three month operation in northern Syria.

The Turkish military launched the operation -- dubbed "Euphrates Shield" -- in August supporting Syrian opposition fighters seeking to retake territory from IS in northern Syria with tanks and aerial support.

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are taking part in the operation, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week was pushing forward with its aim of taking Al Bab from IS.

"We reached Al Bab right now and besieged it from the west," the president said in a speech on Tuesday.

The latest deaths raise to at least 15 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since Turkey began its operation in northern Syria.

Most were killed by IS but one soldier was killed in an attack blamed on the Kurdish People's Protection Forces (YPG).

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The Guam Power Authority has managed to whittle down the latest round of renewable energy bidders from the initial 12 to just seven qualified proponents. A total of 60 megawatts are available for companies and organizations to take up as part of the utility's second phase of renewable energy integration. Most of the qualified bidders are proposing solar energy and one has even proposed geothermal energy. However, the single bidder for wind energy did not make GPA's short list because it failed to meet bid requirements, according to GPA General Manager John Benavente.

"I heard wind was having trouble getting bonding," CCU Commissioner Simon Sanchez said during a meeting on Nov. 22. "Because Guam is unique, it's never had wind, they're scared of typhoons. I heard the bidders that were trying to bring wind were having trouble getting bonding."

A number of factors make Guam a difficult location for wind energy.

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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Guam has substantial wind energy potential but the island's seismic activity and seasonal typhoons require engineering to make the turbines resistant to natural roadblocks.

The first phase of GPA's renewable energy program sought to develop about 10 MW of wind power but the contractor  Pacific Green Resources LLC  was ultimately taken off the project for lack of progress. A lone windmill at the Cotal region of Yona, funded through a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Interiors Office Insular Affairs, remains GPA's single source of utility wind power.

The sole wind energy bidder has asked GPA to reconsider its offer and Benavente said the utility was reviewing the request.

'I'd like to see geothermal'

Wind energy may have potential on Guam but the island has limited geothermal energy resources. This hasn't prevented one company from suggesting up to 10 MW in geothermal power. The concern with geothermal, according to Benavente, is that few entities  including GPA  have been willing to expend the cost needed to explore such energy sources. The cost of a geothermal plant would be determined by the depth of the heat source and there are several other variables to consider, Benavente said. What is certain, he added, is that contracting for geothermal energy would require some type of sunset provision in case it takes too long to utilize the technology.

But even with uncertainty in geothermal energy, some commissioners appeared interested in exploring what has largely been uncharted territory for Guam.

"The other way I think you could do it, especially if the price is right ... make it on top of the 60 MW ... I'd like to see geothermal ... give it a shot," Sanchez said.

"If it comes up dry and doesn't exist, at least we know," CCU Chairman Joey Duenas added.

Price proposals from the bidders are due by Dec. 20. GPA hopes to provide a notification of a successful bidder or bidders to commissioners by January 2017.
The Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors (PARS) will be holding their general membership meeting and fundraiser open to the public on Saturday, Nov. 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tamuning Community Center. PARS President Robert Celestial will present the history of the work that PARS has done, and he hopes to educate the community on the group's efforts.

PARS was created in 2002 to advocate for Guams inclusion into the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA ) as downwinders, due to exposure to radioactive fallout from nuclear testing conducted on the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1962. The group has lobbied tirelessly for more than a decade with the Guam Legislature, which has introduced numerous resolutions to support the inclusion of Guam into RECA.

Celestial wrote to President Barack Obama on Nov. 5 to ask for an executive order for Guams inclusion into the act. The groups hope is that President Obama would be able to sign an order for Guams inclusion because it would not require additional funds, according to Celestial. RECA will receive funding annually until 2022, and a March report by the Department of Justice stated that more than $2 billion in awards have been released so far. If Guam is included, eligible residents could receive medical benefits and $50,000 in monetary compensation.

It has been over a decade since Guam and its residents have been waiting for Congress to act on numerous bills to include Guam in RECA, Celestial stated in his letter. Mr. President, with a swipe of your pen you can end this wait and give the residents of Guam the same redress that other citizens from Nevada, parts of Arizona and Utah have been receiving since (2000).

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'Measurable fallout' on Guam

A National Research Council report concluded in 2005 that Guam did receive measurable fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific, and recommended that people living on island during that period be compensated under RECA in a way similar to that of persons" considered to be downwinders.

After over 14 years of lobbying with local leaders, U.S. Congress and the Office of the President of the U.S., we continue to fight for inclusion into RECA and for compensation to those affected by the nuclear fallout," Celestial wrote. "Many of our members have passed without seeing any recognition or compensation. We will continue our efforts to honor those who have passed and to advocate for our remaining members and hope that in our lifetime, we will see our efforts be successful in Guams inclusion into RECA.
PR-Inside.com: 2016-11-24 20:08:01

AHFs Campaign to Fight HIV Amongst Young Women and Girls (GIRLS ACT) Heads to South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya

AHF AFRICA MEDIA CONTACT:

Kemi Gbadamosi

Senior Manager, PR & Communications, Africa Bureau

oluwakemi.gbadamosi@aidshealth.org

or

Alice Kayongo

Regional Policy & Advocacy Manager, E/W Africa

Alice.kayongo@aidshealth.org

or

Larissa Klazinga

Regional Policy & Advocacy Manager, Southern Africa

Larissa.klazinga@aidshealth.org

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Africa Bureau will launch its campaign to fight HIV amongst young women and girls aged 15-24 in South Africa and Nigeria on the 25th and in Kenya on the 29th of November. This is coming after a successful launch of the same campaign in Uganda about 3 weeks ago.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201611240052

A young girl dances at the launch of Girls ACT in Kampala Uganda. (Photo: Business Wire)

The campaign dubbed Girls ACT (Awareness Campaign Tour) is largely informed by the compelling fact that young women and adolescent girls account for one in five new HIV infections in Africa and are almost three times more likely than their male counterparts to be living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. This is highlighted in the 2013 report of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which states that almost 60% of all new HIV infections among young people aged 1524 occurred among adolescent girls and young women and 80% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. These statistics spotlights the disproportion that young women and girls face in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and begs for more strategic and relatable approaches," said Dr. Adetayo Towolawi, Country Program Manager, AHF Nigeria. It is therefore imperative that we reach out to these young women and girls in an aggressive manner, leaving no stone unturned and no one behind.

Girls ACT, is a multi-institutional drive that primarily aims to; a) scale up HIV/AIDS prevention services in order to curb new HIV infections amongst this population sub-group, and b) ensure that young people living with HIV are enrolled and retained in HIV care for improved health outcomes. To achieve this, AHF is working together with partners from government, civil society and business, to offer a range of health services including HIV and TB tests, Sexual reproductive health, menstrual health and self-esteem, counseling on gender-based violence, and pro-bono legal services for victims of violation or abuse, added Hilary Thulare, Country Program Director, AHF South Africa Together we can empower our communities to ACT against HIV and sexual violence and promote positive living with dignity amongst young women and adolescent girls.

Our safe space programs and interactions with young people in Kenya, has given us a great opportunity to understand the needs of young women and girls better, and insights on how best to support them, said Dr. Wamae Maranga, Country Director, AHF Kenya. Majority of the girls do not visit health facilities for various reasons, and those living with HIV continue to struggle with self-esteem issues and stigma, which negatively impact their health. Therefore, if we want to get different results, we must do things differently and that is where an out-of-the-box initiative such as the GIRLS ACT comes to bare.

The GIRLS ACT campaign, which takes the form of a concert-like caravan, aims to bring services closer to communities, targeting young women and adolescent girls from all walks of life, different socioeconomic groupings and dwellings. However, their male counterparts and the general community as key gatekeepers for young girls protection will also benefit by accessing HIV/AIDS related information & services as well as other connect services.

Young women and girls are a major focus for us at AHF right now. We want to see them live healthy lives and make informed decisions about their health, so we can break the cycle of new infections, said Terri Ford, Chief of Global advocacy and Policy. We cannot afford to be complacent about this and to see how the GIRLS ACT has gained so much buy-in and huge followership, is proof that we need young people at the heart of these interventions. We have to keep them alive and well!

Speaking on the success of the campaign in Uganda, AHF Africa Bureau Chief, Dr. Penninah Iutung shared thus At the Uganda launch, Girls ACT was well received by stakeholders and partners alike; who have committed to working with us on this project as we move to more districts. Beyond the strengthened partnerships, the most significant and remarkable outcome from the launch was witnessing young women and girls who had fallen out of treatment, get re-enrolled. That was an absolute indication that we are on the right track. We will continue to work closely with young people across our country programs to see what works best for them, in order to ensure they have access to the much needed care and information, she enthused.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201611240052
PR-Inside.com: 2016-11-24 05:40:01

World first tool to provide business with financial value of owned assets that can market other brands

CORRECTING and REPLACING British Business Missing out on Billions Every Year by Not Monetising Owned Media Assets

For more information, please contact:

Red Agency

Daphne Chuah

Account Manager

M: +61 432 390 207

E: daphne.chuah@redagency.com.au

Fifth paragraph of release issued on November 21, 2016, at 11:30 p.m. PT/November 22, 2016, at 2:30 a.m. ET/November 22, 2016, at 7:30 a.m. GMT should read: The patent-pending software applies multiple algorithms to a companys owned media assets, such as their website... (instead of In fact, an audit of Royal Mail using MAVmetric revealed the postal service company is...).

The corrected release reads:

BRITISH BUSINESS MISSING OUT ON BILLIONS EVERY YEAR BY NOT MONETISING OWNED MEDIA ASSETS

British businesses are missing out on billions of pounds by not recognising the true value of their owned media assets that can be used to market other brands. Websites, stores, social media channels, real estate, packaging and catalogues, are all examples of assets that could be commercialised.

In a global first, an innovative tool called MAVmetric, has been created to independently measure the true value of owned assets, allowing businesses to understand the potential revenue opportunity that they could be tapping into. Launching today in 29 countries, MAVmetric is a new software technology created by the worlds first owned media consultants, Sonder.

MAVmetric is already proven on multi-million dollar businesses like KFC and George Weston Foods (GWF), a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods, who have already used early versions of the tool to optimise their owned media infrastructure.

According to research conducted by Sonder from 57 worldwide companies, 96 percent of global businesses use their owned media assets to communicate with their customers. However, only 12 percent actually know the value of their owned assets. The overwhelming majority of business are therefore not carrying the asset value on their balance sheets, potentially hugely under-valuing their business.

The patent-pending software applies multiple algorithms to a companys owned media assets, such as their website, in-store and physical assets, to determine the overall media asset value of the business. MAVmetric also calculates the annual commercial potential a business could expect to generate, the audience footprint and how to create additional media asset value in the future.

Sonder co-founder Angus Frazer explains, Airlines and retailers have long recognized the value of their website, stores, transport and packaging as media vehicles for other brands. With MAVmetric going live, there is now a real opportunity for organizations of all sizes to quickly and accurately value their assets and leverage untapped revenues. The whole valuation process takes less than ten minutes.

KFC CMO Catherine Tan was surprised at the additional value MAVmetric found.

"Whilst we leverage our own channels quite well at KFC, using MAVmetric has been insightful in assessing their true value. We were able to assign a value to every asset, which made us consider our owned media in a new light. It is changing the way we think about communication and how we value our assets with partners."

GWF Marketing & Innovation Director, Graeme Cutler believes MAVmetric has enabled the company to realise optimum value from their assets.

Across the Tip Top range, we sell in excess of 17 million loaves of bread a month. This converts to a significant number of customer connections every day. Working with Sonder and their MAVmetric tool, we were able to calculate the commercial potential of our bread packaging. We now operate like a media owner, partnering with complimentary brands and realising maximum value from our assets.

MAVmetric identifies three ways to leverage your assets for material impact:

Commercialise your assets with other brands Improve supplier terms Optimise the size and influence of your own audience

With 68 per cent of the companies surveyed saying they would try MAVmetric, it promises to kick-start a revolution in how owned assets are valued and commercialised.

For more information please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_s0nCwcHs or www.MAVmetric.com

About Sonder Communications

Sonder Communications is the worlds first owned media specialists. Our mission is to help businesses unlock the power of their owned media assets. We find ways to optimise owned assets for commercial gain and more effective marketing. Sonder was founded by two leading media experts with over 30 years experience growing businesses of all sizes, across multiple countries around the world. MAVmetric is a registered trademark and has a patent pending.

wearesonder.com.au

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201611210062
Olatorera Oniru is the CEO of Dressmeoutlet.com, a Lagos-based e-commerce start-up that retails fashion products sourced from across the globe. In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, she speaks about the challenges in entrepreneurship, her business and the Cocktails & Dresses, which will hold in December.

PT: Tell us about your personal, educational and professional background?

Olatorera Oniru: I grew up in Nigeria and attended Queens College, Yaba, Lagos for the earlier part of my Secondary School Education. I later completed the final years of my Secondary and University education in the United States. During my time in the USA, I worked for some top companies inclusive of General Electric and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. I have a Masters in Business Administration from Emory University and Executive Management Certificates from Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden and International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland.

PT: Many may wonder why you decided to float an e-commerce fashion business having garnered years of experience from top companies including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Ericsson, Central Bank of Nigeria and General Electric?

Olatorera Oniru: My years of work experiences gave me perfect opportunities to excel and learn from companies who have succeeded notably in the business world. I decided it was time for me to implement knowledge gained and a decade long of experiences into growing entrepreneurially and I decided to take on the fashion industry Africa-wide with Dressmeoutlet.com. We are growing and theres so much more we are working on achieving.

PT: And your journey into fashion entrepreneurship?

Olatorera Oniru: Dressmeoutlet.com went live in January 2016 and officially launched in May of the same year. Ive always had a strong passion for fashion and beauty. At Dressmeoutlet.com, our foremost goal is to help our customers find the best quality products to look good and feel good at all occasions.

PT: You are arguably one of Nigerias youngest fashion entrepreneurs. What drives and inspires you on a daily basis?

Olatorera Oniru: Results drive me. I like to see great results from the hard work I put into undertakings and this makes me work as hard as necessary to achieve great results. Im happy working harder to achieve greater results. Everyone we work with inspires me from employees to suppliers to partners. We are all working together to drive great results  to give our customers the very best products and services.

PT: What is the inspiration behind the name of your brand, dressmeoutlet.com?

Olatorera Oniru: We want to dress people up in the best quality fashion products at the most affordable prices. Outlets are usually discounted products. See it? Buy it! It wont last long on Dressmeoutlet.com. At Dressmeoutlet.com, we are dressing our customers from their hair down to their toes with just a click of a button. From hair care supplies to makeup to dresses to shoes to nail polish, we retail excellent quality products to help our customers look good and feel amazing.

PT: Yours is no doubt a novel idea; an e-commerce start-up that retails fashion products sourced from across the globe. What challenges do you constantly grapple within this regard?

Olatorera Oniru: Every company faces challenges regardless of the industry, geographic location, years of operation, and other factors. At Dressmeoutlet.com, we focus more on results than on challenges. It takes more energy to talk about challenges than to face and eliminate the challenges. Wed rather be spending time working and deriving results. Theres a lot to be done and we are in it day-in, day-out, driving growth for the fashion industry across Africa.

PT: Funding remains a major issue for most start-ups in Nigeria. Was yours any different?

Olatorera Oniru: We have utilized certain financial analytics and financial planning methods to establish and scale up Dressmeoutlet.com. Funding can, but does not always have to be an issue for entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs save up and bootstrap the start-up phase of their businesses. I think in Africa; we also need to strongly consider maximizing on the resources and opportunities we have on-ground rather than mimicking successful businesses in developed nations.

PT: What are you most passionate about?

Olatorera Oniru: Im most passionate about people. I love meeting new people. I love my family and everyone around me. Im passionate about Dressmeoutlet.coms employees excelling in their jobs and even beyond Dressmeoutlet.com. Im passionate about our customers giving excellent testimonials and feedback. Im passionate about Africa and seeing the continent grow. Im very passionate about alleviating poverty. Poverty is unfair and as we continue to create opportunities and growth potentials with Dressmeoutlet.com, our social responsibility arm will focus very strongly on poverty alleviation.

PT: Do you find that your family name sort of opens doors for you and do you have to work harder to make a name for yourself?

Olatorera Oniru: It may go both ways. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesnt. I want to focus on working hard to create my own name and thats what we all should focus on. Leveraging less on others success stories and creating our very own success stories as employees, employers, entrepreneurs and (or) students.

PT: What dreams do you have for dressmeoutlet.com and whats the next phase?

Olatorera Oniru: We will continue giving our customers the best products at the best prices with the best customer experience and service. We aim to dispatch millions of products daily to homes worldwide. We are ready for the growth and the challenges and we welcome many possible partnerships with great and greater companies.

PT: Any highpoints or achievements yet?

Olatorera Oniru: One of the highs would be the Forbes recognition as a top 30 under 30 most promising Entrepreneurs in Africa. I should also mention africa.coms Top 5 young Entrepreneurs in Africa 2016 and being nominated for African Award for Entrepreneurship 2015 amongst others. Most recent was one of the Most Innovative Companies in Nigeria Award by the Nigerian Innovation Summit.

PT: Your industry is fast becoming an all-comers affair what sets you apart from the pack?

Olatorera Oniru: The industry is young and thus there is room for new entrants. It is also a high-potential industry thus expect even more entrants. Dressmeoutlet.com remains a foremost leader in the industry by providing the best products and the best prices with rapid fast delivery.

PT: Please shed more light on the Cocktails & Dresses, which holds next month?

Olatorera Oniru: Cocktails and Dresses is an innovative retail experience bringing together the very best of Made in Africa manufacturers/retailers and buyers who love to look great. There will be lots of contests, shopping, drinks, food, networking opportunities and much more. It will be a grand full-day December Black-Carpet Shopping Rave. An amazing event no one wants to meet. We have worked so hard to plan Cocktails & Dresses- The Largest Gathering of Made in Africas Best and look forward to meeting everyone there.

PT: Any words of wisdom for young Nigerian entrepreneurs who aspire to be like you in nearest future?

Olatorera Oniru: The best advice I can really give is to say, Push your dreams. Dont let anything stop you from doing anything great for the world. You can be your very best; you can be greater than me and everyone else you ever looked up to. Tell the world your dreams and push it  one day at a time, leveraging on available resources while being your very best in all your undertakings.
Nollywood star actress, Rita Dominic, has been unveiled as the brand ambassador of a Canadian luxury hair brand, BK Unique Hair.

The announcement was made at a media launch, which held at Sleek Square, Victoria Island, Lagos State, on Wednesday.

Defending the choice of Rita Dominic as the brand ambassador, the CEO of BK Unique Hair, Blessing Kenneth, said,  BK Unique Hair chose to collaborate with Rita Dominic because she is a sophisticated brand just like BK Unique Hair which is a luxuriant brand. She is a very phenomenal woman, beautiful, a great actress and she has been able to build a great brand for herself and BK can relate with that.

She also revealed that the multi-award winning actress would also collaborate with her brand to produce an exclusive luxury human hair collection.

Speaking at the event, Dominic also shed some more light on the details of her new deal.

The beautiful part of this collaboration is that both the BK Unique team and I will donate proceeds from the sales of this exclusive luxury collection towards cancer research, as well as treatment for cancer patients undergoing treatment.

The new line of hair is designed for all races which has been marketed in New York, Colombia and Canada. It also boasts of all textures of hair- kinky, silky, straight and wavy.

The BK Unique brand, which offers a range of authentic human hair extensions and wigs, was also officially launched in Lagos at the same venue.

The event had the likes of Kate Henshaw, Toke Makinwa and Yvonne Vixen Ekwere in attendance.

Dominics collection with the BK Unique Hair brand is set to feature a number of her signature hairstyles.
The strike by Lufthansa pilots in support of a pay demand is in its second day on Thursday, with the German flagship carrier cancelling 912 flights for the day.

The strike has hit the travel plans of some 100,000 long-and short-haul passengers.

The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) Pilots Union announced that the strike, the 14th in a dispute stretching back to April 2014 would be extended to a third day on Friday, from the two originally planned.

The stoppage, aimed at pressing demands for a backdated pay increase of 22 per cent over the five years to April 2017, grounded 876 flights on Wednesday.

In total, 215,000 passengers have been affected over the first two days.

Report says the Friday action is likely to hit primarily short-haul flights taking off within Germany.

The company said it planned to service all its long-haul destinations on Friday.

Airports across Germany were noticeably quieter than usual, with Munich badly hit as well as the main hub near Frankfurt.

Group human relations head Bettina Volkens repeated a call for the union to enter into arbitration with Europes largest airline.

However VC spokesman Joerg Handwerg rejected arbitration, saying pilots had been uncoupled from changes in pay in Germany for the past five years and that they were no longer prepared to be left on the sidelines.

Chaos was avoided by many Lufthansa passengers simply staying away from airports.

The company was providing ongoing information on its website and arranging alternatives for stranded passengers.

(dpaNAN)
A suicide truck bomb killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian Shia pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shias to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.

The group is also fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shia militias are taking part.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shia holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack without giving a casualties toll. Tehran will continue to support Iraq's ''relentless fight against terrorism," ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

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Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says Nigerian crude oil is not an abandoned commodity.

Mr. Baru said this on Thursday while addressing journalists after declaring open the 2016/2017 bid for crude oil grades.

According to him, the nations crude is not struggling or stranded but remains a hot cake in the oil market.

Nigerian crude has continued to earn premiums and it is hot cake all over for refiners because of the light nature of the crude.

It induces very high yields on the valuable products that you produce from crude oil. Nigerian crude oil continues to maintain market.

In fact, contrary to a lot of speculation that a lot of Nigerian crude goes to China, they do not.

Most of them are consumed and refined in India and Europe, particularly this year and last year; most of Nigerian crude end up in European refineries.

Mr. Baru also dismissed as false, the report that the corporation operated a separate crude account.

He said the corporation operated a transparent system to ensure fairness in all transactions.

There is nothing that is hidden. It is done open for everybody to see as it is seen today. That is what we do in all our tenders.

When we sell this crude, the money goes straight to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account on behalf of the Federation and the nation.

NNPC does not operate any of those accounts. The best input that comes to NNPC is confirmation that the money has been paid; but we have no signature rights on these accounts.

This is contrary to the perception of several people that NNPC is withholding some money for and on behalf of the Nigerian people.

All the crude that we sell goes to the Nigerian people. This event is to show the agenda of the President as far as transparency and accountability are concerned, he said.

On volume received from joint venture operations, Mr. Baru said it was about 600,000 barrels per day when activities were in full swing.

We also have somewhere in the region of 100,000 barrels per day in terms of royalty and various tax oils that is released from the PSC operations.

These are the kind of volumes that we are expecting from next year, he said.

He, however, could not give a specific number of companies that would be selected, saying that would be decided on actual production forecast around February, when the tenders are supposed to come in.

He said last year, 27 companies were selected.

Bidders include ENI, Forte, SOCA, Bangbang B, Northwest and Bellpoint.

A representative of Bellpoint, who preferred anonymity, told NAN that he was impressed with the process.

It is a transparent process. At least you can tell from the higher number of bids this year, 224 as against 218 at the last exercise in 2015/2016, the representative said.

NAN reports that the current bid is based on available volume, not field-by-field and there are 27 crude grades on offer. (NAN)
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of freezing the EUs membership negotiations with Turkey.

Of the 623 lawmakers present for Thursdays vote in Strasbourg, France, 479 were in favour, 37 against and 107 abstained.

The non-binding vote has no legal impact on the talks, but it sends a strong political signal to Ankara and puts pressure on the European Commission, which is leading the negotiations.

Turkey is an important partner of the EU, lawmakers said in an emailed statement. But in partnerships, the will to cooperate has to be two-sided.

The [Turkish] governments actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path, the lawmakers added.

Membership negotiations between the EU and Turkey began in 2005, but aversion to Turkey joining the 28-member bloc has grown steadily over the past four months against the backdrop of Ankaras heavy-handed response to a failed military coup on July 15.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the significance of the European vote, saying it had no value regardless of the outcome.

Turkeys EU Affairs Minister, Omer Celik echoed Erdogans comments on Thursday, adding that the resolution was a short-sighted political decision lacking in vision.

EU lawmakers should look to Turkey for tips on democracy, Celik said, adding that the EU was experiencing a crisis of values, specifically right-wing extremism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Relations with the EU are not very close anyhow, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday in Ankara. Its a relationship that grudgingly goes on with effort and out of necessity.

Erdogan declared a state of emergency days after the putsch, allowing him to rule by decree and carry out thousands of arrests and suspensions within the military and civil service.

The imprisonment of 10 journalists and employees at opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet and the arrest of 10 opposition lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party added to worries about the rule of law and freedom of expression in Turkey.

The crackdown in Turkey is said to target supporters of a movement led by US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was once an ally of Erdogan and is now blamed for the coup.

Erdogan has repeatedly threatened that his government could to reintroduce the death penalty  something that the European Union has said would exclude Turkey from membership.

Under the EU parliaments proposal, the return of capital punishment to Turkey would trigger an automatic, formal suspension of membership talks that would require unanimous approval from member states to reverse.

According to a draft of Thursdays resolution, lawmakers pledged to review their position when disproportionate measures under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted and then evaluate whether the rule of law and human rights are restored throughout the country.

(dpa/NAN)
Nigeria suffered a revenue loss of about $51 million in export sales as result of the activities of militants in August, which impacted the revenue available for sharing on Wednesday, an official said.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, stated this on Wednesday at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja.

Consequent to the revenue loss, about N420 billion was shared by the three tiers of government in October, with about N203.952 billion shared as statutory allocation.

Figures from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation showed that gross statutory revenue was about N238.716 billion for the month. This was lower than the N279.746 billion received in the previous month by N41.030 billion.

Mrs. Adeosun disclosed that over 900,000 barrels of oil crude were shut-in, which affected the revenue for the month. She expressed optimism that the situation would be addressed and the volume of crude oil produced would improve significantly with time.

Apart from crude oil production shut-ins and shut-down of pipelines for repairs and maintenance due to attacks on delivery pipeline, the minister said Force Majeure declared at Qua Iboe Terminal and the natural gas liquids lifting programmes at Forcados Terminal also contributed to the low revenue.

Also, there were decreases in import duty and Companies Income Tax (CIT) while petroleum profit tax, PPT, and oil royalty recorded marginal increases.

We are beginning to see signs of improvement in revenue by reducing dependence on oil, she said.

The sum of N 6.330 billion was refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to the federal government as part of its N450 billion debt.

There is a proposed distribution of N 109.108 billion from excess PPT account. Also, exchange gain of N 37.319 billion was proposed for distribution.

The report said crude oil export volume decreased, while the average price of crude oil dropped, resulting in revenue loss of about $51 million in export Sales.

After all deductions and paying revenue generating agencies, the federal government got N96.674 billion, state governments N49.035 billion, local governments N37.804 billion, while N13.548 billion was shared as 13 per cent derivation to oil minerals producing states.

A total of N69.621 billion was shared as Value Added Tax, amongst the three tiers of government, N37.319 billion was realized from exchange gain, and N109.108 billion from excess PPT, bringing the total to N420 billion.

FRESH TAX INCENTIVES

Also, with pressure still mounting on the manufacturing sector as a result of the scarcity of foreign exchange, the federal government says it is considering fresh tax incentives to stimulate the countrys economic growth.

Mrs. Adeosun said this was one of the ways government was considering to get the economy out of the current recession by next year.

Latest GDP report by the National Bureau of Statistics released on Monday showed that the countrys economy sunk deeper in recession in the third quarter, with the economy contracting further by 2.24 per cent, from 2.06 per cent in the second quarter.

Mrs. Adeosun, who lamented the pressure on the manufacturing sector as a result of the inconsistencies in foreign currency policies by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said the federal government would unfold a number tax incentives to boost the already challenged sector.

Foreign exchange (Forex) is a major issue for manufacturing, she said. The manufacturing sector will do better if there is consistency in Forex policy. Manufacturing remains very critical to the growth of the economy and getting the country out of recession.

However, manufacturing is challenged, because of Forex issues. We are going to roll out a lot of measures to support them, including tax incentives and investment in infrastructure.

The minister also admitted that settling domestic debts was critical to getting the economy out of the present crisis. She said the present administration inherited hidden debts as a result of transiting from the old accounting platform to a new one which exposed all the debts owed, including joint venture cash calls in the oil and gas industry.

She said government was working with the CBN to settle domestic debts, adding that this was affecting governments ability to grow the economy.

At the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had underscored the need for government to find a way to settle its domestic debt obligations to give the economy a breather.

The Federal Government must urgently assess the extent of its indebtedness to domestic economic agents and develop a framework for securitizing the debts, with a view to settling its outstanding domestic contractual obligations in all sectors of the economy, the CBN governor said.

These accumulated debts have slowed business activities of economic agents; most of who are indebted to the banking system, thus compromising the integrity of the financial system, he added.
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) has revealed how extrajudicial execution and torture by Nigeria security forces, especially the Nigerian Army, led to the death of at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters across Nigerias south-east, between August 2015 and August 2016.

The report titled: Bullets Were Raining Everywhere: Deadly Repression of Pro-Biafra Activists,released on Thursday relied on the analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eye witness testimonies that revealed soldiers of the Nigeria military firing live ammunition to disperse protesters, most of them members of the separatist group, Indigenous People of the Biafra (IPOB), without warning.

According to AI, at least 60 defenceless IPOB protesters were shot dead within two days leading to the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30.

The AI report corroborated PREMIUM TIMES investigations published in June showing the vicious clampdown and wanton executions of members of IPOB by soldiers of the Nigeria Army, the police and operatives of the Nigerias secret police, the State Security Services (SSS).

IPOB, which was formed by Nnamdi Kanu, seeks the restoration of breakaway sovereign state of Republic of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra was a secessionist state in the south-east region of Nigeria that existed from May 30, 1967 to January 1970. The secession of Biafra was the main cause of the Nigeria Civil War. Over 1 million people died in the war.

Mr. Kanu was arrested on October 14, and is being tried for treason. There has been an increase in the agitation of pro-Biafra activists since his arrest.

President Muhammadu Buhari is strongly opposed to the creation of Biafra. In May 2016 during a visit to the palace of the Emir of Katsina, Mr. Buhari suggested that it is better for Nigerians to commit mass suicide than for the actualization of the breakaway state of Biafra.

We will not let that happen. For Nigeria to divide now, it is better for all of us to jump into the sea and get drowned, he said.

Extrajudicial Killings

The Amnesty International report revealed that the largest number of IPOB members were killed during the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30, 2016. It stated that as over 1,000 members of the group gathered for a rally in Onitsha, Anambra State, security forces swooped on their homes and a church where they were sleeping.

On Remembrance Day itself, the security forces shot people in several locations. Amnesty International has not been able to verify the exact number of extrajudicial executions, but estimates that at least 60 people were killed and 70 injured in these two days. The real number is likely to be higher, the organisation revealed in a statement accompanying the report.

Recounting some of the chilling incidents that happened on the day, AI spoke to a woman named simply as Ngozi (not her real name), the 28-year-old wife of one of the slain members of IPOB.

Ngozi told AI that her husband called her shortly after he left for work in the morning that soldiers have shot him in his abdomen. He said he was in a military vehicle with six others, four of whom were already dead.

He started whispering and said they just stopped [the vehicle]. He was scared they would kill the remaining three of them that were alive He paused and told me they were coming closer. I heard gunshots and I did not hear a word from him after that.

The next day after searching for her husband, Ngozi found his body in a nearby mortuary. The attendants at the mortuary told her that the military had brought him and six others. She said he had three gunshot wounds one in his abdomen and two in his chest, which confirmed that the military had executed him.

Similarly, Chukwuemeka (not his real name), a 25-year-old trader, told AI that he was shot and taken together with corpses to the barracks.

They dumped us on the ground beside a pit. There were two soldiers beside the pit. The pit was very big and so many dead people were inside the pit. I cannot estimate the number of people in the grave.  We were dumped on the ground.

He said that he escaped and hid in the bushes.

The organization said it reviewed videos of a peaceful gathering of IPOB members at Aba National High School on February 9. The Nigerian military surrounded the group and then opened fire on everyone in sight without any warning.

Many of the protesters were then rounded up and taken away. Four days later, 13 corpses including some of the men taken away were found near the Aba Highway.

According to AI, the military took the bodies of people killed and injured in Onitsha and Asaba to the military barracks in Onitsha. Video footage shows soldiers loading dead and wounded people into their Hilux van.

Initially, when they were still dumping corpses, I could see 10 to 12 lifeless bodies. That was in the morning. In the evening, there were more but I could not estimate, A man who was detained in the barracks and who saw the corpses dumped in front of the military mortuary said.

Torture

The report also revealed the disturbing use of widespread torture and ill-treatment of those arrested by the military.

Vincent Ogbodo (not his real name), a 26-year-old trader, said he was shot on May30, 2016 in Nkpor and hid in a gutter. He said when soldiers found him they poured acid on him.

I covered my face. I would have been blind by now. He poured acid on my hands. My hands and body started burning. The flesh was burning They dragged me out of the gutter. They said Ill die slowly.

A man detained at the Onitsha Barracks revealed that those in the guard room were flogged every morning. The soldiers tagged it Morning Tea.

This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the south east of Nigeria. This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher, said Makmid Kamara, Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The Nigerian governments decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed. The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book.

It is chilling to see how these soldiers gunned down peaceful IPOB members. The video evidence shows that this was a military operation with intent to kill and injure, said Mr. Kamara.

AI stated that most IPOB protests have been largely peaceful. It however, added that on occasions, protesters hurled stones, burned tyres and in one case shot a police officer.

Regardless, these acts of violence and disorder did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly, AI stated.

Impunity

AI stated that despite overwhelming evidence detailing the extrajudicial killings and torture of protesters, no action has been taken by Nigerian authorities to investigate them or punish perpetrators.

It stated that this lack of accountability for human rights violations by the military is similar to documented cases in other parts of the country especially in the countrys north-east region where the military fights a war against Boko Haram.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the government of Nigeria to initiate independent investigations into evidence of crimes under international law, and President Buhari has repeatedly promised that Amnesty Internationals reports would be looked into. However, no concrete steps have been taken, said Mr. Kamara.

AI stated that the Nigerian government must ensure adequate reparations for the victims, including the families. They should end all use of military in policing demonstrations and ensure the police are adequately instructed, trained and equipped to deal with crowd-control situations in line with international law and standards. In particular, firearms must never be used as a tool for crowd control.

Armys denial

Meanwhile, in a move aimed at countering the planned release of AIs report on Thursday, the Nigeria army on Wednesday evening released a statement denying that soldiers killed and tortured defenceless pro-Biafra agitators.

It stated that the report was an attempt to tarnish the reputation of Nigerian security forces and that of the army especially.

The statement by the acting director of army public relations, Sani Usman, a colonel, stated that IPOB members relished in the use of violence that threatens the security of the country.

It claimed that IPOB members attacked and killed people from other ethnic groups in the south-east and injured several soldiers and policemen. The statement also claimed that the protesters vandalised military and police vehicles.

He stated that the military acted within its mandate and in fact, approached the protesters with restrain despite their use of unjustifiable violence.

The evidence of MASSOB/IPOB violent secessionist agitations is widely known across the national and international domains. Their modus operandi has continued to relish violence that threatens national security. Indeed between August 2015 and August 2016, the groups violent protests have manifested unimaginable atrocities to unhinge the reign of peace, security and stability in several parts of the South East Nigeria, the statement read.

A number of persons from the settler communities that hailed from other parts of the Country were selected for attack, killed and burnt. Such reign of hate, terror and ethno-religious controversies that portend grave consequences for national security have been averted severally through the responsiveness of the Nigerian Army and members of the security agencies.

These security agencies are always targeted for attack by the MASSOB/IPOB instruments of barbarism and cruelty. For instance, in the protests of 30  31 May 2016, more than 5 personnel of the Nigeria Police were killed, while several soldiers were wounded, Nigeria Police vehicles were burnt down same as several others of the Nigerian Army that were vandalized.

The strategic Niger Bridge at Onitsha came under threat thus leading to disruption of socio-economic activities. In the aftermath of the encounter that ensued between security agencies and MASSOB/IPOB militants many of own troops sustained varying degrees of injury. In addition, the MASSOB/IPOB recurrent use of firearms, crude weapons as well as other cocktails such as acid and dynamites to cause mayhem remain a huge security threat across the region.

Therefore, it is rather unfortunate for the Amnesty International to allow itself to be lured into this cheap and unpopular venture that aims to discredit the undeniable professionalism as well as responsiveness of the Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles.
Two persons were confirmed killed Wednesday night in Maiduguri, Borno State, as a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated himself outside Muna Garage, a busy bus station that has recently become a major target for the insurgents attack.

Located along Maiduguri-Gamboru road that was recently opened for commuting, after soldiers freed it from Boko Haram control, Muna Garage has become a hotspot for suicide attacks.

The usually crowded motor park has been attacked by suicide bombers at least three times killing about 15 persons including the suicide bombers.

According to witnesses, the Wednesday night suicide bomber attempted to enter the bus station at about 9 p.m. but suddenly exploded at the gate.

He died instantly alongside a passerby.

The Borno State police spokesperson, Victor Isuku, confirmed the incident on Thursday morning.

Two persons including the suicide bomber died on the spot, while a Mercedes Benz car REG No AX 571 ABJ which was parked by the road side was damaged by the impact of the explosion. Normalcy already restored, Mr. Isuku said.

Boko Haram have stepped up their hostility since October 12 when they released 21 of the 209 abducted Chibok schoolgirls to the federal government after a cloudy negotiation deal.

There have been reports that government paid a lot of money to the insurgents for the release, an allegation the government has denied.

The Nigeria military has repeatedly said it has degraded the ranks of the Boko Haram who now have more foreign fighters in their ranks.
The Nigerian House of Representatives on Thursday described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the most corrupt Nigerian on the record.

The lawmakers said the greatly corrupt and morally bankrupt former leader is effectively plotting to derail the government of Muhammadu Buhari in the same manner he allegedly did to successive presidents since 1979.

It is unfortunate that he has started his very familiar method of bringing down governments, House spokesperson, Abdulrazak Namdas, said in a statement Thursday.

He did it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. He did it to Gen. Buhari. He did same to Gen. Babangida. He attempted to bring down Gen. Abacha before he imprisoned him for treason.

He made frantic efforts to derail the government of President Yaardua when he couldnt use him. He supported President Goodluck Jonathan but when he refused to take dictation, he turned against him.

He supported President Buhari, but since he has sensed that Nigeria is having economic difficulties under him, he has pounced to derail his government, the lawmakers said.

The House was responding to the former presidents stinging criticism of the level of corruption in the National Assembly.

At a forum on Wednesday, Mr. Obasanjo said the National Assembly had become a den of corruption controlled by a gang of unarmed robbers.

The former president also backed the campaign of Abdulmumin Jibrin, a whistleblowing lawmaker who was suspended in September.

Mr. Obasanjo also called on President Buhari to end the corruption in the National Assembly with a clampdown similar to the one against senior judicial officers last month.

If the Judiciary is being cleaned, what of the National Assembly which stinks much worse than the Judiciary? Mr. Obasanjo queried.

The House responded to the attacks on Thursday afternoon through its spokesman, Mr. Namdas.

Mr. Namdas said Mr. Obasanjo lacked the moral authority to speak against corruption, adding that his allegations were devoid of any credibility.

He remains the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and lacks the moral authority to discuss corruption or indeed abuse of office in Nigeria, Mr. Namdas said in a statement.

Mr. Namdas said Nigerians would not forget in a hurry the loads of cash Mr. Obasanjo allegedly bribed members of the House of Representatives to impeach a former Speaker, Ghali NaAbba.

Have we forgotten the sacks of money displayed on the floor of the House of Representatives being bribe money paid by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to some honourable members to impeach Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ghali NaAbba? Mr. Namdas queried.
The former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Bashir Yusuf, says former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is plotting to take over and use the party to run for president in 2019.

Mr. Yusuf, whose sack was announced by the National Executive Committee of the party on Thursday, accused Atiku of masterminding his removal.

The partys NEC said it fired Mr. Yusuf and other national officers of their offices to save the dying situation of the party at the national level.

However, Mr. Yusuf told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Abubakar was using the NEC.

I received a letter through DHL at around 10 a.m. this morning from the party accusing me of failing to open a national secretariat for our operations. The letter also gave me 24 hours to respond or punitive measures would be taken against me, he said.

Mr. Yusuf also said the truth of the matter is that I know former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is behind it. He wants to use the Party as an alternative platform for 2019 if he fails to get the APC ticket.

The former chairman said he has been running the PDM with his personal finances and that the burden was already taking a toll on him.

Unknown to him, PDM has been a burden in terms of the financial resources I have been dispensing to run the party. All he needed to do was ask. But since he has chosen this path. Lets see how it goes, he said.

PDM was registered as a political party on August 15, 2013, and had mostly Atikus loyalists as members.

At the time, many believed the party was set up to provide an alternative platform for Atiku, a claim the former vice president denied at the time.

The NEC of the party has already set up a caretaker committee, which will run the party for three months. The committee was also saddled with the responsibility of organizing a national convention where new a set of leaders will be elected.

The committee comprises of a chairman, secretary and 12 members, two each from the six geo-political zones of the country.

Mannir Waziri, from Kaduna State was appointed chairman, while Ifeanyi Igwe from Ebonyi State was named secretary.

Other members include Kabiru Dodo and Reverend Iliya from the north-east, Cecilia Aku and Maidukiya from north-central and Ibrahim Master and Yushau Armiyau from the north-west.

The NEC in a communique Thursday mandated the caretaker committee to immediately source for National Secretariat of the party in Abuja without any reasonable delay.

The NEC also directed the new caretaker committee to petition the office of the Inspector General of Police to commence investigation into the conduct of dissolved National Chairman of the party in the person of Alh. Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim.
Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Kano on Thursday convicted and sentenced the duo of Emmanuel Moyi (a.k.a Abba Musa Bello) and Victor Ishaya to 60 and 50 years imprisonment respectively on six count charges of conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence.

The convicts journey to prison started when the Commission received a petition from victims alleging that the convicts obtained several sums of money from them under the guise that they were going to give them employment and contract.

The convicts succeeded in their fraudulent activity through phone calls with different GSM numbers and phony names. After the victims realized they had been duped after parting with huge sums of money through different bank accounts.

However, further investigation by the EFCC revealed that those accounts were specifically opened by the convicts in order to perpetrate their fraudulent activities.

The convicts were arraigned on May 16 by the EFCC. Upon arraignment, they pleaded guilty to the charge read against them.

In view of their plea, Justice Omotosho asked the prosecution to produce their witnesses.

The prosecution counsel N.K. Ukoha after closing his case with only one witness, urged the court to convict the defendants accordingly.

The matter was then adjourned till November 24 for judgment.

In his Judgment, Justice Omotosho convicted and sentenced Mr. Moyi to 10 years imprisonment with option N100,000 fine, on each of count one to six, while the second convict was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with option of N100,000 fine on each of count two to six.

The sentences are to run concurrently, meaning unless the fine is paid, each man will spend a maximum 10 years in jail.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday described the late Rasheed Gbadamosi as one of the founding fathers of modern day Lagos.

Mr. Ambode, who spoke at a reception organised by the state government in honour of Mr. Gbadamosi in Ikeja, said that the deceased offered selfless services to the state and the nation.

The late Mr. Gbadamosi died on November 16 at the age of 72.

The governor said that the late economist and industrialist was a true Lagosian who contributed immensely to the development of the state.

According to him, the government and good people of Lagos will forever cherish his contributions to the growth of the state.

Gbadamosi served the state at a young age as the Commissioner for Economic Planning and ended his service to the state at old age as the co-Chairman of Lagos at 50 Celebration Committee.

I stand here on behalf of all Lagos people to celebrate a patriotic Nigerian, an elder statesman, a thoroughbred economist; a lover of arts per excellence, a consummate businessman, and above all, a selfless Nigerian.

He was not just a father, but one of the founding fathers of modern day Lagos. We, in Lagos State, will forever cherish his contributions to the growth and development of Lagos State, he said.

Mr. Ambode urged Mr. Gbadamosis family to be strong and take solace in his dreams and vision of a modern Lagos as well as his legacies.

The governor said that in view of Gbadamosis love for arts, the state government would intensify initiatives to promote arts more than ever, starting with arts exhibition in January, 2017.

He said that this was to bring the old and the young together and create the framework for youth engagement.

In her tribute, Nike Akande, the President, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that the late Mr. Gbadamosi personified the value of hard work.

Mr. Akande said that he was an amiable and hardworking industrialist who was always bringing deep intellectual insight into the national issues.

On his part, a veteran actor, Olu Jacobs, said that Mr. Gbadamosi was passionately committed to standing with the people and was always particular about the welfare of the arts and artists.

Responding on behalf of the family, Mr. Gbadamosis eldest child, Morounkunbi Osinoiki, thanked the state government for organising the tributes in honour of her late father.

Ms. Osinoiki said that it was well appreciated by the family.

(NAN)
The Senate on Thursday passed the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill which seeks to empower, develop and provide gainful employment for youth.

The Bill, which was sponsored by Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC-Borno), was first read at plenary on March 10 and scaled second reading.

It seeks to facilitate peace volunteerism, community service, neighbourhood watch and nation building.

The bill will also facilitate the training of youth to advance the course of peace building and conflict transformation through peace education, mediation and conflict resolution among warring groups or communities where there are crisis in Nigeria.

The passage of the Bill followed a report presented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Bayero Nafada (APC-Gombe North) after clause by clause consideration.

According to the report, the head of the corps will be referred to as Commandant General with six Deputy Commandants from the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The headquarters of the corps would be domiciled in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The functions of the corps include promoting social and economic development and empowering and preoccupying the Nigerian youth through job creation and provision of alternative employment.

In his contributions, Samuel Anyanwu (PDP-Imo) said that the Bill would create job opportunities and help in augmenting the efforts of security agencies.

Similarly, Sabi Abdullahi (APC-Niger) said that in tackling security issues, there was the need to use multiple approach, hence the need for the bill.

We need to allow more participation in the security space, he said.

In his remark, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said that the passage of the Bill would go a long way to institutionalise the Peace Corps that had been functioning for a long time without the backing of the law.

He expressed the hope that with the passage of the Bill, it would contribute to the achievement of peace and stability in the country.

Briefing journalists after plenary, the Commander General of the Corps, Chinedu Nneji, said that the passage of the Bill was the beginning of a new era that would help in ensuring total peace in the country.

He said we will permeate and move into our various communities to ensure that we bring total peace to Nigeria.

We will also make sure that the issue of Boko Haram, which the Nigerian military had reduced to the barest minimum, becomes a thing of the past.

(NAN)
The 31st plenary and annual general meeting of the Unity Schools Old Students Association will take place on Saturday at Kings College, Lagos.

The theme for this years event is Education, National Unity and National Security,

The Unity Schools  also known as Federal Government Colleges (FGCs) and Federal Government Girls Colleges (FGGCs)  were established and are maintained by the Federal Government as a contribution to fostering both skilled human development and national co-existence in Nigeria.

The oldest of these schools, Kings College, Lagos, was established in 1909, followed by Queens College, also in Lagos, in 1927.

In 1966, the Federal Government established the first three Unity Schools of the post-colonial era in Okposi (now Ebonyi State); Sokoto (Sokoto State) and Warri (Delta State).

Today, there are 104 Unity Schools all over Nigeria.

Established in 2006, USOSA, an acronym for the network of former students of the unity schools, has a membership of nearly one million alumni drawn from all over Nigeria and active in all walks of life within and beyond Nigeria, many of them in the Diaspora.

We believe that the huge investment by Nigeria in these schools and their products deserves some pay-back, especially at this time when the country confronts existential challenges, USOSA said in a statement.

For this reason, USOSA must foster fraternal relations among products of the Unity Schools to the end of seeking improvements in our public education system as a country and the overall good governance of Nigeria.

The statement also said it aims to mobilise skills, resources, and goodwill to channel investments into the schools, provide mentoring to younger alumni, as well as grow their confidence.

The focus for this Annual Conference reflects the challenges that currently confront our country, the statement said.

The sessions will address the state of our schools as well as the state of public education in the insurgency-affected parts of north-east Nigeria.
The Nigerian Army on Wednesday confirmed the death of B.U. Umar, a lieutenant colonel, in a Boko Haram ambush.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Mr. Umar and soldiers of his 114 TF battalion were ambushed by Boko Haram after an initial bomb explosion.

While Mr. Umar died immediately in the attack that occurred at about 9:30 a.m. on November 15, another officer, a lieutenant, died later from the attack while eight others were injured.

On Wednesday, the commander of the Nigerian Army in the north-east, Lucky Irabor, confirmed the incident.

On 15 Nov 16 at about 0930hrs own troops while on patrol to MUBI encountered an IED explosion along Bitta  Pirang road and thereafter were ambushed by BHT, Mr. Irabor, a major general, said, according to the text of a press conference he delivered on Wednesday.

Troops successfully cleared the ambush after a fight and unfortunately the Commanding Officer, Lt Col BU Umar lost his life on the spot. Subsequently, Lt Muktar also died in the hospital where 8 others soldiers who are wounded in action were receiving treatment. The wounded soldiers have been responding to treatment.

Mr. Irabor also said a total of 5,235 people have been rescued from Boko Haram captivity in the past two months.

In all the operations, a total of 5,235 people were rescued from the BHT, Mr. Irabor said while detailing the achievements of Nigerias troops in the last two months.

He also read through a catalogue of military activities, most of which have been reported by the media.

The press conference, which was beamed by the government-owned Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, lasted about an hour.

The major general described the recent upsurge of suicide bombers as very unfortunate. He, however, said the impacts of the blasts have been minimal as only the bombers got killed in most cases.

The impact of recent bombings in Maiduguri, though sad and unfortunate, was minimal due to the alertness of troops and other security agencies, he said.

Apart from the one wherein 2 CJTF personnel were killed and some others wounded, only the terrorists died, while one was captured alive. The captured suicide bomber is assisting in the investigation into cases of suicide bombings. The incidents are only indicative of a weakened and defeated BHT. Their ignoble adventure is destined to fail totally.

Mr. Irabor said soldiers have intercepted several arms and ammunition from the insurgents. One of such interceptions was made on November 13, he said.

At about 2130hrs, own troops at FOB Potiskum arrested a trailer truck with registration number Yobe (XA 960 NGU) along Potiskum  Azare road enroute Kano based on information from DSS, he said.

The truck was arrested with 22 sharpened new cutlasses, a knife, 7 catapults, 5 military belts, 41 iron rollers, 9 sharpened iron rods, 6 hollow irons, a first aid box, 2 tents and various black and red flags of IMN sect. The driver and 2 other persons were arrested with the truck. The suspects and items have been handed over to the Nigeria Police for further action.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday night returned to Abuja from Malabo, Equitorial Guinea, where he participated in the 4th Africa-Arab summit.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Buhari while in Malabo participated in the opening ceremony and working session of the Summit, on Wednesday.

NAN reports that during the summit, Nigeria and other African countries received a pledge of $2 billion from the Kuwaiti government to fund key development initiatives in agriculture, youth empowerment, education and support to fight terrorism.

Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president, confirmed this development in a statement.

At the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, jointly organized by the African Union Commission and the League of Arab States, the Kuwaiti government said the amount would be released to African countries as soft loans to promote the development of the continent.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) will release one billion dollars for the support of the fight against terrorism, youth empowerment and boosting agriculture, while another one billion dollars will be for strengthening educational systems in Africa, he said.

The statement said Kuwait had in 2013 made similar facilities available to some African countries to diversify their economies, particularly in sectors that directly impact the lives of citizens.

President Muhammadu Buhari led the Nigerian delegation to the summit, which was attended by African Heads of State, and prominent leaders from the gulf.

NAN reports that Morocco and some Arab countries staged a walk-out of the fourth Africa-Arab World Summit in Equatorial Guinea in protest against the presence of a delegation from the Polisario Front, a group seeking the independence of Western Sahara.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Yemen as well as Somalia also left the one-day summit in solidarity with Morocco.

Morocco had made an official request to rejoin the African Union (AU), more than four decades after leaving the union in protest against the membership of Western Sahara.

The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member.

The Kingdom of Morocco, however, officially submitted a request to accede to the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act, and therefore, become a Member of the Union.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975.(NAN)
The Peoples Democratic Party has restated its call for the postponement of the Ondo governorship election scheduled for Saturday, to enable it screen and select agents for the exercise.

The Court of Appeal, on Wednesday in Abuja, dropped the partys candidate, Jimoh Ibrahim, and replaced him with Eyitayo Jegede, who was the flag bearer before being substitued.

Ahmed Makarfi, chairman of the partys national caretaker committee, described the judgment as a massive step forward, but argued that the party deserved a little more time to select its agents in the interest of fair play.

Victory comes from God, however, a bit of extension of time will be fair, especially considering the fact that it is only now that the party will begin the process of selecting its agents, Mr. Makarfi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Jos on Thursday.

Mr. Makarfi urged INEC to consider the partys request in view of the protracted battle that had trailed the partys candidacy.

Speaking in the same vein, Felix Hyat, chairman, Kaduna chapter of the PDP, suggested a two-week extension to allow time to select and submit names of agents.

Agents at the election and collation centres are very crucial to fairness in any election.

If INEC insists on conducting the election, the PDP will certainly be at a disadvantage from the polling units to the collation centres at the wards, local governments and the state levels, he said.

Mr. Hyat commended the judiciary for restoring justice to Jegede and the PDP, and declared that the judgment had revived the party from a near fatal situation.

The former aviation minister called on Alhaji Modu Sheriff, former National Chairman of the party, to embrace the Makarfi group toward rebuildling the party.

Sherriff has always vowed that he will not give up till the court rules. Now that the court has ruled, he should demonstrate party loyalty by linking up with others toward a cohesive opposition force, he said. (NAN)
Yele Omogunwa, the PDP Senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, on Thursday confirmed his defection to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Omogunwa confirmed his defection in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure.

The lawmaker, a former Commissioner for Works in Ondo State, said he had formally joined APC in his home town, Ode-Irele in Irele Local Government Area of the state.

It is very correct that I have decamped to APC and it was done in my country home, Ode-Irele.

I am no more in PDP, but now a bonafide member of APC. My reasons for joining APC are personal, he said.

NAN reports that with the defection of Mr. Omogunwa ,all the three Senators representing Ondo State at the upper chamber of National Assembly, are now members of APC.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 26 for the Ondo State Governorship Election. (NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari will in Abuja on Thursday, December 1, award N10 million each to two recipients of this years Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM).

Etim Essien, Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA), disclosed this at a news conference to mark the 9th Forum of NNOM Laureates in Abuja on Thursday.

The theme of the forum is: Mono-Economy, Diversification, Exchange Rate Stability and the Development of the Nigerian Nation.

The NNOM is the highest national honours given to those who have excelled in the field of Science, Medicine, Engineering/Technology and Humanities.

The award is distinct from the more popular national honours, often given to politicians.

Mr. Essien said the president would give out a cash prize of N10 million alongside certificates and medals to each recipient.

He listed the two recipients as Sadik Omowunmi and Tanure Ojaide, both professors, for the science and humanities categories respectively.

As prescribed in the laws governing the NNMA, the investiture will be performed by Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, Dec.1, at the Presidential Villa.

The law stipulates that the award will be given on the first Thursday of December of every year.

The NNMA, which is the agency responsible to seek out the best intellectual and creative Nigerian minds, was set up to seek accolades at home.

It is also charged with the responsibility to help in directing their energies to finding solutions to Nigerias problems and thus promote national development and enhance good national image internationally, he said.

Mr. Essien added that the NNOM award by contrast was restricted mostly to Nigerian academics at home and in the Diaspora, who had attained very significant creativities in their fields of human endeavours.

He said the award was also open to Nigerians who had demonstrated exceptional creativities in other specialisations.

He said that a committee of assessors was set up to look at the work of the recipients, make recommendations and forward same to the governing board of the agency.

He said the governing board critically looks at the recommendation and transmits it to the president latest on September 1 of every year.

He commended the president for approving the recommendations of the two recipients.(NAN)
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the Ondo Stare governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede, has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone Saturdays election for at least 30 days.

He said this would allow the party to submit a list of its agents in good time before the election as provided for in the Electoral Act 2010.

The Act stipulates that each party should make their party agents available to the commission, 14 days before the day of election.

The Biyi Poroye faction of the PDP had submitted a list of party agents to the commission before the expiration of the deadline for Jimoh Ibrahim, who was removed by Wednesdays Appeal Court judgment.

Mr. Jegede, who led a protest to the INEC state headquarters at Alagbaka, in Akure on Thursday, told the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, that the postponement was necessary in order not to be in breach of the Electoral Act.

He also submitted a letter he addressed to the Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yahkoob, demanding the postponement of the election.

It follows from the foregoing that any list of agents purportedly forwarded by one Poroye and his fellow pretenders who had been illegally parading themselves as the state executive members of the PDP, Ondo State cannot be regarded as authentic, the letter read in part.

As it is, the peoples democratic party has not forwarded the list of its agents to the commission.

Whichever way one may look at the situation on ground, the governorship election of Ondo state slated for 26th November, if conducted, will undoubtedly be in breach of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

It is in light of the foregoing that I request you to differ the governorship election for Ondo State for at least 30 days so as not to conduct the election in flagrant violation of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

But Mr. Agbaje said INEC had gone past the issue of postponement, given that it had distributed sensitive materials to all the local governments already for the elections.

He insisted that the commission was prepared for the election come Saturday.

We can no longer talk about postponement of the election right now, he said. The matter is an internal dispute within the PDP and so we cannot be talking about postponement.

If we postpone the election, we will be losing billions of naira knowing that we have already deployed sensitive and non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas of the state.

He said the list of party agents would be received from the Mr. Jegede and the former one would be discarded.

The materials which were supplied directly from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in Akure include ballot papers, result sheets and other forms that would be used to collate the results.

Mr. Agbaje said adequate security had been provided to escort the materials to the respective local government areas.
The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has said that at least 50,000 houses have been raised by herdsmen in Jamaa Local Government Area of Kaduna State since May.

According to the CAN president, Samson Ayokunle, about 10,000 people have been displaced with over 30,000 hectares of farmland destroyed within the period.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday on the activities of herdsmen in the area, the association said scores of lives were also lost following attacks by herdsmen on farmers within communities in Jamaa Local Government Area.

The secretary of CAN in one of the affected communities, Chawaison Nathan, said the community he lives and works at, Godogodo, is now desolate as indigenous dwellers of the village have been forced to flee their land after repeated attacks by herdsmen, in various communities surrounding Godogodo as well as within the village.

From Ninte down to Gidan waya; 95 per cent of those villages earn their source of livelihood from farming; they are not civil servants. That was how the crisis spread from Ninte to Godogodo and beyond.

21 villages are without security. There is religious sentiments among the security agencies. While the media keeps reporting that these are unknown men; for us this is amazing, because the people we saw are not unknown. They are people we know from our community, said Mr. Nathan.

Mr. Nathan, a pastor, said the communities, mostly dominated by Christians, have for months been faced with cruel attacks by herdsmen, even after peace treaties were signed by farmers and herdsmen in the area.

The peace treaty was signed on August 1. After it was signed, we heard of an attack on couples who were shot at their farm. At least seven members of my church were killed; I narrowly escaped death, he added.

Another community leader, Gagi Ampot, blamed government for the increased nature of crimes committed by the herdsmen.

He said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has exhibited an outright neglect for the role of community leaders in checkmating rural clashes.

The entire village I rule was burnt down completely. Yet nothing has been done. We are being treated as second class citizens in our own country. Since President Buhari came in, I have not been paid my salaries for 17 months, he narrated.

Mr. Ayokunle called on President Buhari to mobilize security forces to address the situation urgently.

He said a lot of complications have emerged from governments failure to squarely address the problem.

In his reaction to the allegations, a spokesperson for the herdsmen, Saleh Bayero, said the herdsmen were first attacked by farmers before the reprisal attacks.

They were the ones that attacked the herdsmen first. This issue began since 2011. But because our people are not good with (publicity), no one knows about their attacks.

We had told them that herdsmen have leaders everywhere. We said that no, whenever herdsmen destroy their crops, they should come and tell us; we will make sure that they pay for it. That whoever is responsible takes responsibility for his actions. None of them have ever come to us, he said.

Nigerias Senate had on November 15 called for a declaration of security emergency in Southern Kaduna, following repeated attacks by herdsmen.

The call followed a motion by Danjuma Laah (PDP-Kaduna), who told the Senate at plenary that since 2011 many communities in the senatorial district had been consistently attacked by herdsmen.

He said that such attacks had resulted in deaths, loss of property and displacement of indigenes of the communities.

Mr. Laah noted that the district was substantially agrarian with large arable and fertile lands.

We are aware that there has been regular attack by armed herdsmen, the latest being on the 15th and 16th October 2016 in Godogodo community in Jamaa Local Government Area.

Subsequent to the attacks, these herdsmen have virtually occupied the displaced communities and are grazing their cattle freely, the lawmaker said.
A former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has urged Nigerians to support the efforts being made by the Federal Government to address the economic problems confronting the country.

He made the call on Thursday in Abuja in a speech he made at the 2016 Annual Lecture/Gold Annual Award organised by the Centre for Democratic Governance in Africa (CDGA).

The theme of the lecture was Global recession as it affects good governance: Need for proactive Action Nigeria as a case study.

Mr. Gowon, who chaired the occasion and was represented by his brother, Dauda Yakubu, said that inspite of its willingness, the government alone cannot solve the problems.

He said: the challenge, as we know, is multifarious caused, in part, by the fact that the flow of oil money into the Nigerian economy had dwindled.

The consumption pattern and lifestyle of the elites has triggered an avalanche of imported consumer goods that have virtually killed domestic production.

Thus, there has been an escalation in crime and other social conflicts.

The government has shown a deep understanding of these problems and exhibited a strong resolve to tackling them.

The ex-head of state said the troubles Nigeria had gone through over the past few years had made Nigerians to see the difference between a self-sustaining economy and the one that relied totally on a wasting asset such as oil.

We have seen the extent to which corruption has made governance virtually impossible. It has rendered public institutions, including regulatory and judicial agencies sterile.

It also has caused deterioration in the quality of infrastructure, healthcare delivery and education, among other.

Ultimately it has robbed government of the respect and loyalty of ordinary citizens, just as it erodes the authority of the state, Gowon said.

Another guest speaker and legal practitioner, Mike Ozekhome, stressed the need for governments at all levels to recognise and practice the indicators of good governance.

According to him, the indicators include participatory democracy, rule of law, effective and efficient institutions, transparency, responsive leadership, consensus and accountability.

Any government that do not have these characteristics cannot be said to be good governance, Mr. Ozekhome said.

He called on the media and civil society organisations to hold the government accountable for its programmes and activities.

He said that was one of the constitutional ways through which the citizens could ensure and promote good governance.

Mr. Ozekhome also stressed the need for the recruitment of highly trained, competent, incorruptible, ethical and intelligent men and women as justices of Supreme Court.

He said that their appointment to the bench should not be premised on extraneous consideration such as god-fatherism, political connection, religious leanings and federal character without regard for merit and competence.

On his part, Olorogun Makinde, the Managing Director, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), advised the Buhari government to address other economic issues in addition to fighting corruption.

He identified some of the challenges of good governance and development to include the absence of strategic vision, lack of capacity, non-adherence to rule of law, corruption and bad followership.

Mr. Makinde said that Nigerians should stop blaming other people for the problems facing the country but work together to address them. (NAN)
Immediate-past governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda returned to Bauchi Thursday to the warm embrace of his supporters after 18 months of absence from the state.

Addressing journalists, Mr. Yuguda said that he came home to thank the people of Bauchi State, after suffering from an ailment for one and half years.

He said a lot of sad events took place during his absence, hence the need to come and condole with families of his departed associates and friends.

He stated that he was not in Bauchi for politics, reminding his supporters that he did not belong to any political party for now.

I came home not for politics yet; when the time for that comes, then I will decide which party to join and then politicking begins.

I am in Bauchi to appreciate prayers of the good people of the state when I was abroad for an ailment which I had to undergo surgery, he said.

He commended journalists in the state for upholding the ethics of their profession by providing information to members of the public during his administration.

Mr. Yuguda also said that there was never a time that his Bauchi resident was sealed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and people denied entry or exit.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the former governor is coming to Bauchi for the first time since departing the state after the 2015 general elections, during which his attempt to clinch the Bauchi South Senatorial seat failed to materialise.

(NAN)
The Turkish army blamed the Syrian regime for an air strike Thursday in northern Syria that killed three soldiers -- the first time it has accused Damascus of killing its troops since launching its three-month military incursion.

The incident came on the first anniversary of the shooting down of a Russian military jet over the Syrian border by the Turkish air force.

That led to a seven-month crisis in relations between Turkey and Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that has provided military support to Damascus.

The army said the strike took place at 3:30 am (0030 GMT). It did not indicate the location, although local media said it took place in the Al Bab region.

"In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously," the armed forces said in an online statement.

Turkish media reported earlier that the attack was by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Adding to the confusion, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was an "attack by IS" on its website.

But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim insisted at a news conference that the army's statement was "still valid".

He said it was evident that "some are not happy with Turkey's fight against Daesh (IS)", without indicating who this might be.

Yildirim vowed that the attacks would be "given a response" and would not diminish the military's determination to remove "terrorists" in the region.

But Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu warned that the incident could drag the country "into a very dangerous process" and called for the government to act with "common sense".

The prime minister's office slapped a broadcasting ban on coverage of the strike an hour after the military's statement, Turkey's broadcast watchdog said on its website.

The injured soldiers were taken to hospitals in the southeastern cities of Kilis and Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, the official news agency Anadolu said.

Anadolu said another seven Turkish soldiers were lightly injured in a second attack blamed on IS on Thursday evening in the same region and taken to Kilis for medical treatment.

The Turkish military launched an operation -- dubbed "Euphrates Shield" -- with tanks and air power in August to support Syrian opposition fighters seeking to retake territory from IS in northern Syria.

Ankara-backed rebels comprise several brigades rather than one organised force, according to experts.

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are taking part in the operation, which Erdogan said this week was pushing forward with its aim of taking Al Bab from IS.

The operation has also targeted Syrian Kurdish militia, whom Ankara views as linked to its outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has staged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is proscribed as a terror group by the US and EU but not by the United Nations.

"After that (Al Bab), we will go towards Manbij" to remove elements from the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Forces (YPG) militia, Erdogan said.

Kurdish-led forces recaptured Manbij from IS in August but Ankara has called for them to leave what Turkey emphasises is an Arab majority town.

Since the offensive began, the rebels captured the IS stronghold of Jarabulus, cleared IS from Al Rai and retook the symbolically important town of Dabiq without much resistance.

The latest deaths raise to at least 15 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since Turkey began its operation in northern Syria.

Most were killed by IS but one soldier died in an attack blamed on the YPG militia.

Amid a rapprochement with Russia, Turkey has largely been tight-lipped as Assad's Moscow-backed forces press an offensive to recapture the whole city of Aleppo, which is divided between the government and rebels.

The government last week resumed its drive to retake the city's east, where more than 250,000 civilians have been under siege for months, with dwindling food and fuel supplies.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of civilians had tried to flee but were forced back by gunfire.

Save the Children called for an internationally-monitored ceasefire to allow aid into east Aleppo and the evacuation of sick and wounded civilians.

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The Bauchi State Government has banned all gatherings in whatever form, and religious processions, in the state.

The government made this known in a statement signed by the secretary to the state government, Bello Shehu, on Wednesday in Bauchi.

It has become imperative to impose a ban on all public gatherings and processions in the state with immediate effect.

 All security agencies are hereby directed to ensure strict compliance with the directive, Mr. Bello said.

The government has not given reason for the decision.

Bauchi is the latest to impose such ban, weeks after Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto Katsina and Kano states banned processions in their states.
Residents of Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Yola Electricity Distribution Company, YEDC, for provision of prepaid meters and a downward review of electricity bills.

At a town hall meeting on Wednesday at the Mahmoud Ribadu Square in Yola, the residents accused the power firm of extorting them.

They told the company to either base billing on consumption or provide prepaid or even analogue metres.

In their separate addresses, the chairman and secretary of the Jimeta Community Forum, Usman Ibrahim and Bashir Garba, said the people had had enough of alleged atrocities and inhuman treatment of customers by the company, especially in areas of exorbitant billings and lack of prepaid metering.

They said the meeting was to inform residents that the forum had written a letter of complaint to the company as directed by the people.

The forum said its investigation in other states in the country showed that YEDC was milking its customers in Adamawa.

Failure to respond to our demands, we will take all necessary action available to us within the ambit of the law, the meeting warned.

The Chairman of Yola North Local Government Council, Mahmoud Abba, who was represented at the meeting by his Vice Chairman, George Raphael, expressed delight over the unity of the residents on the issue and the non-violent approach they chose to pursue redress.

Mr. Raphael said the council was in full support of the efforts of the people to register their grievances with the service provider.

The spokesperson of the electricity firm, Kingsley Nkemneme, confirmed to the meeting that the company had received the letter of complaint and was working on it.

Mr. Nkemneme however cautioned that it was inappropriate to compare electricity consumption in Adamawa with the situation in other states.

He said consumers in the state enjoy 20 to 23 hours electricity supply a day.

He agreed that the agitation on metering was germane and assured that the company would ensure that all its customers were provided with meters.
The Benue Board of Internal Revenue Services, BIRS, on Thursday sealed off three private schools for failure to remit workers tax deductions into government coffers.

Victor Beke, BIRS Head of Enforcement, told journalists that the exercise was in continuation of the clampdown on tax defaulters in the state.

According to him, the tax defaulters are in Oju and Ogbadibo local government areas of the state

The Board has emphasised that it will continue to clamp down on tax defaulters in the state, said the BIRS boss.

He explained that the exercise followed court order to seal off business premises that were in default of tax payment.

He said that defaulters whose premises were sealed would pay 25 per cent of the total outstanding as interest and penalty to the board in addition to the initial tax.

Mr. Beke said Solid Vision Academy, Obu-Otukpa, in Ogbadibo Local Government Area was in two- year arrears of pay-as-you-earn tax, amounting to N200,000.

He said that Saint Johns College, Obu-Otukpa, and Benpaulian Group of Schools, Ichakobe Ibilla, were also owing the state N100,000 and N330,000 respectively, in unremitted tax deductions.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that BIRS had approached a Benue High Court with the list of tax defaulters in the state.

Justice Theresa Igoche granted the order to seal off the premises, relying on Section 104 of the Personal Income Tax Act, 2011 and Benue Internal Revenue Administration Law, 2015.

(NAN)
The FCT Administration will revert all plots of land wrongfully or illegally acquired to the rightful owners in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, dropped this hint Thursday in his office while receiving the members of the standing committee of the Jamatul-Nasril-Islam (JNI) on landed properties in the Federal Capital Territory led by its chairman and Emir of Lafia, Mustapha Agwai I, in his office.

The minister said that this action has become necessary in order to ensure that equity and justice is not only done but also seen to be done to all and sundry.

Mr. Bello reiterated that his administration would try to ensure that that there is fairness in handling the said problem of wrongful allocations of plots of land in Abuja.

According to him, there are plots of land earmarked for religious worship centres in all the districts of the Federal Capital City, and that all religious faith would be treated equally.

The minister emphasized that although the FCT Administration is not allocating new plots of land for now, anytime it would be done, all religious faith would be given fair share.

Mr. Bello stated all those that have genuine cases over their plots of land would amicably be resolved and therefore urged all those with such problems to exercise patience.

The minister stressed that some of the problems that caused the knotty disputes of double allocations and wrongful acquisition of plots of land in Abuja were primarily due to weaknesses in the institutions.

Mr. Bello remarked that his administration has done a lot in strengthening the institutions to enable them carry out their statutory duties without fear or favour, which has paid-off, as many cases of double allocation have been resolved.

He described the JNI as a legacy institution that has been working for the good of humanity and charged them to continue in that direction.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Agwai said they were in the FCTA to officially remind the administration to help in retrieving some of its property wrongfully taken away.

The Andoma of Doma, Ahmadu Oga-Onawo, who also spoke at the occasion noted that some of the organizations landed property encroached upon are the Eid Prayer Ground along the Umaru Musa YarAdua Expressway (Airport Road) and in Gwarinpa I District (Life-Camp) amongst others.
The Independent National Election Commission has described as baseless and untrue, the allegation by the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, that the commission has handed over the original copies of result sheets for the forthcoming legislative rerun election in the state to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

The governor had alleged that INEC was planning with Mr. Amaechi, a former governor of the state and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to rig the December 10 election.

While we are working for the people of Rivers State to convince them to vote for us, the APC is busy working with the INEC to rig the rerun elections, Mr. Wike said on Wednesday in Etche Local Government Area of the state.

Mr. Wike claimed he has proceedings of APC meeting in Abuja where Mr. Amaechi allegedly told APC members that he has the original result sheets for the election, and that the partys victory was assured.

But INEC, in a response to the allegation, advised the public to disregard what Mr. Wike said.

The Commission hereby affirms that the allegation is baseless and totally untrue, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, said in a statement on Thursday.

The Commission also wishes to assure Nigerians that it will continue to discharge its duties according to the rules governing its mandate, without fear or favour and with a very high sense of responsibility, Mr. Oyekanmi said.

Mr. Amaechi too has described Mr. Wikes allegations as baseless, and an attempt by the Rivers governor to intimidate INEC.
The Police in Enugu on Thursday said one person died and 11 others lost consciousness in an accident that occurred at Ezeagu community, along Onitsha-Enugu Expressway.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu that the accident happened at about 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

Mr. Amaraizu said the police were yet to identify and contact the relatives or friends of the victims.

He appealed to members of the public to report to the police any missing person or someone that undertook a journey through the Onitsha-Enugu road that had not returned home.

The accident involved an empty luxurious bus and a mass transit company mini-bus loaded with passengers coming from Enugu.

It was gathered that both vehicles collided while plying one way which left one person in the mini-bus dead while eleven others are in critical condition.

Police intervention saw the conveyance of the injured persons to Ekochin Hospital 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, near Enugu, he said.

Mr. Amaraizu said that the remains of the deceased had been deposited at Our Saviour Hospital Mortuary, 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, near Enugu. (NAN)
A new face is coming to the Westwood Board of Education in January.

Narabia Little of Inkster recently was elected to the Westwood Board of Education. Her six-year term will start in January.

She will fill the seat currently held by Trustee Luisa Donfried, who chose not to run for re-election after many years serving the district.

Little is active in the Westwood Community School District as a parent and volunteer. She is the mother of four students who attend Westwood schools.

Shes also active in the community as a parent liaison on Starfish Family Services program Empowering Parents Invested in Children, also known as EPIC.

I decided to run for a [board seat] because education matters to me, Little said. As a leader in the community empowering parents, I also want all children to know that they matter and not just my own.

I wanted to be able to have a voice in what could or should be going on in the schools. I am committed and driven, and I want to help maintain and improve the districts educational reputation. Our district does a wonderful job and I wanted to be a part of the team. With my peers being so helpful and welcoming, it is making the process easier.

Current Westwood Trustee Donald Willis of Dearborn Heights was re-elected to the board. He has been a member since 2011 and currently serves as treasurer.

Westwood is lucky to have Mrs. Little and Mr. Willis on the Board of Education, Board President Timothy Emery said. They each bring a unique perspective, and will work alongside the board so that each child in Westwood gets a high-quality education.

In January,. Little and Willis will be joined by returning board members Cheryl Bell-Everett, Timothy Emery, Roderick Means, Gregory Stephens and Sarah Ward.

The Westwood Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Equilla Bradford Administrative Center, 3335 S. Beech Daly, Dearborn Heights.

The district has staff and programs to prepare students for college and careers including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) courses at every grade level, project-based learning opportunities, hands-on math, cyber and alternative high schools, dual enrollment with The University of Michigan-Dearborn, iPads and interactive boards in the classrooms and advanced placement classes.
Migrants clashed with police and set fire to furniture and tires at a refugee camp in Bulgaria's southern town of Harmanli on Thursday, two days after the facility was sealed off following reports alleging outbreaks of disease among residents.

Last week Harmanli townspeople staged a protest calling for the camp's closure after local media alleged that migrants there carried communicable skin diseases. Home to 3,000 mostly Afghan refugees, the camp is the largest in Bulgaria.

The head of the Bulgarian Refugee Agency, which runs the camp and took the decision to close it to allow health authorities to investigate, told Bulgarian National Radio that these reports were false.

"An artificially created tension led to this, following misleading reports that the centre is a hearth of infection," Petya Parvanova said. She was on her way to Harmanli, she said.

Migrants threw stones and other missiles at riot police, who deployed water cannon to disperse them. The crowd briefly broke through a barrier at the camp but were quickly pushed back.

The protesters damaged several buildings, including the camp's cantine, and set fire to tires, mattresses and broken furniture. Firefighters were deployed to the scene, along with additional police forces.

"The riot had started at noon but the situation has been already brought under control," the interior ministry's spokeswoman told Reuters. "Negotiations between the authorities and the protesters are underway."

There were no reports of arrests or of any injuries.

Bulgaria has built a fence on its border with Turkey and has bolstered its border controls to prevent inflows of illegal migrants. Some 17,000 migrants were detained in the first ten months of the year, over a third less than a year ago.

Despite the decreasing numbers, Bulgarian nationalists staged several protests in recent months calling for the immediate closure of all refugee centres in Bulgaria, and for migrants to be returned to Turkey or their countries of origin.

They say Bulgaria, the EU's poorest member state, cannot afford to support them in such numbers.

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VINELAND  Doug Bonner stood amid the roar of welding torches and grinned in delight.

It doesnt get any better than this, he said of his welding classroom at the new Cumberland County Technical Education Center. They really listened to what I needed.

What he needed was the equipment that will allow students to become Level 1 certified and ready to work as soon as they graduate from high school.

We get two or three job offers for every graduate, he said.

The new $70 million, 203,000-square-foot school, which opened in September next door to Cumberland County College, is now a full-time high school housing 240 freshmen as well as juniors and seniors in the shared-time program.

While the school has changed, and become more competitive, it has not abandoned its vocational mission. While many in the freshman class may plan to attend college, the school continues to offer vocational programs that can lead to jobs right after graduation. Its list of programs includes automotive technology, construction trades, cosmetology, culinary arts, engineering technology, health science and medicine, information technology, law enforcement, studio production and bBroadcasting, and welding.

The programs are adapting to serve both career- and college-bound students. The former allied health program, which focused mostly on nursing, is now a health sciences and medicine academy designed to prepare students for all medical fields.

They are working at a much higher level, and there is more math and science, said Assistant Superintendent Mario Olson.

Every freshman received a Chromebook. Teachers use Google Classroom for lessons. The Spanish teacher was out during a recent visit, but students stayed busy with an online assignment.

The sky really is the limit now, said history teacher Shawn Riggins, whose students are studying revolutions.

The new school so impressed businessman John F. Scarpa, a Vineland native, that he recently gave $1 million for scholarships and program enhancements.

Scarpa Foundation donates $1 million to Cumberland Tech Ed Center VINELAND  John F. Scarpa is so excited about what he sees at the new Cumberland County Tech

The more I saw what is happening at the school, the more I could see the impact I could have, he said.

The decision to locate next to the county college was intentional, to make a connection with higher education.

Olson said it is important to train students on the latest equipment and technology because that is what employers expect. Automotive students work on donated cars in the new garage, using phone apps and bar codes to search for parts.

Danieris Chavez-Lopez, 17, of Vineland, practiced her knife skills by removing the spine from a turkey. But she will also learn to use a sous vide cooker, a relatively new technology in which food is vacuum-sealed then partially cooked in a warm water bath.

We are bringing science into cooking, chef instructor Robert Olsen said of the $10,000 oven. We can teach students all the different methods, then let them taste the difference.

Pastry instructor Jeffrey Knerr, a 20-year alumnus of the school, said having his own pastry room lets him work more individually with students and lets them work more on their own.

Knerr twisted a pastry bag full of whipped cream to demonstrate how to make the decorations for a peanut butter pie to be sold at a pie sale, but he admitted student Madison Messier, 17, of Vineland, didnt need much instruction.

Messier, who plans to attend the Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape Community College and would one day like to own a bakery, confidently completed the pie.

Knerr gushes over a digital dough oven that automatically makes all the adjustments needed for perfect rolls.

It is just so worth it, he said of the $15,000 commercial oven.

I spent 17 years at the other building, he said of the old school in Deerfield Township. This program changed my life, and this building is amazing.

Students in the first group of freshmen are happy with the building and impressed with the technology.

It was not what I expected, said Chisano Mutts, 14, of Vineland. Im used to working with pencil and paper. Now I have a Chromebook.

NiYonah Coriano, 14, of Port Norris in Commercial Township, said she wants to be a lawyer and saw the school as offering her more opportunities. Her law class is her favorite.

Olsen said opening with just a freshman class has given everyone time to adapt to both the new building and full-time program, and address issues as they come up. A state-of-the art television studio is not quite finished, but Olsen promises the wait will be worth it.

Opening small has allowed us to see what we planned in motion, he said. We have the time to modify as we grow and adapt things, like the flow of traffic and the time needed between classes. We debrief weekly and ask what we can do to get better.

The halls seem a bit quiet with just a freshman class, but that will change as a new group of 240 arrives next year. Olsen said more than 750 people have attended the first open houses, and while that is exciting, it is also a bit terrifying.

It is difficult knowing we can only accept 240, he said.
As families across a bitterly divided America gathered for Thanksgiving Day, a battle erupted Thursday in Donald Trump's camp over his pick for secretary of state, with loyalists seeking to block the path of Mitt Romney, a fierce former critic of the billionaire.

With the president-elect hunkered down at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the long holiday weekend -- from where he urged the country to unite after a "painful" campaign -- his team appears split over the leading prospect of making Romney, the Republican presidential candidate in 2012, America's top diplomat.

Some of Trump's staunchest supporters have united to oppose the nomination of a man who called the real estate magnate a "fraud" and a "conman" during the campaign, when he helped lead the Republican Party establishment's drive to sideline him.

But the other leading choice for top diplomat, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani -- one of Trump's loudest supporters from early in his campaign -- has drawn scrutiny for his business dealings that could pose conflicts of interest.

"I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving," Trump tweeted on Thursday, saying he was seeking to persuade an Indiana air-conditioning company, Carrier Corp, to remain in the United States.

But his transition team said there will be no new cabinet announcements until at least Friday, when he will continue meeting candidates and is expected to announce more positions for top loyalists.

Despite his lack of experience in foreign policy, Giuliani, 72, has openly lobbied for secretary of state, telling Trump's advisers he is interested in no other position, The New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.

However, the outspoken former mayor's candidacy has drawn attention to his business dealings with foreign governments that may rule him out.

Picking Romney -- beaten in the 2012 White House race by Barack Obama -- would reassure the Republican Party establishment and US allies worried about Trump's foreign policy.

But the businessman and former Massachusetts governor who savaged Trump's candidacy during the campaign also publicly differs from him on Russia, a leading foreign policy challenge.

While the president-elect has praised President Vladimir Putin, promising to improve strained relations with Moscow, Romney has called Russia America's "number-one geopolitical foe."

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway -- seen as especially close to the president-elect -- cast further doubt on his suitability Thursday in what appeared to be a bad sign for Romney.

"Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney," she tweeted. "Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state."

Among them, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, another staunch Trump supporter, expressed skepticism that Romney would represent "the kind of tough-minded, America-first policies that Trump has campaigned on."

"I can think of 20 other people who would be more naturally compatible with the Trump vision of foreign policy," he told Fox News on Wednesday.

Gingrich was joined by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who told Fox News he is "still very unhappy that Mitt did everything he could to derail Donald Trump."

Trump has so far nominated mainly older white men to his future cabinet, representing tough, right-wing lines on immigration, Islamic extremism and other issues. They include Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Michael Flynn as defense secretary and Stephen Bannon as chief of staff.

Trump moved to broaden his cabinet's base on Wednesday, nominating two women, including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley -- whose parents are Sikh immigrants from India -- as US ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley is a Tea Party conservative with no foreign policy experience, while Trump's choice of billionaire Betsy DeVos -- a fierce advocate of alternatives to local public schooling -- for education represents another victory for social conservatives.

Trump is widely expected to name the tough-talking retired Marine Corps general James "Mad Dog" Mattis as defense secretary on Friday.

Trump is also expected to pick his former primary rival Ben Carson -- an African American former neurosurgeon and religious conservative -- as secretary of housing and urban development.

Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is tipped for Treasury secretary.

With Americans still coming to terms with Trump's shock win on November 8, the former Green Party candidate Jill Stein announced Thursday that her party has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in the key battleground of Wisconsin, and plans to seek one in two other Rust Belt states.

The request comes amid mounting pressure from liberals to challenge the results of the election, which was marked by fears of foreign hacking and -- from the Trump camp -- of vote rigging.

Although it is not expected to change the outcome, the recount demands could reignite debate over the legitimacy of Trump's election, already fuelled by Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote which now stands at two million.

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CAPE MAY  About 11 years ago, a group of women business owners started a collective to help each other advertise.

Almost 30 businesses, including artists, Realtors and restaurant owners, formed the Mermaid Guild of Cape May.

We can always achieve more together than we can achieve by ourselves, said Sue Lotozo, owner of the Flying Fish Studio.

But what started as an effort to help each other evolved into a way to help the community.

We started wanting to not just band together for advertising but for philanthropic endeavors, Lotozo said.

Unlike its namesake, the groups contribution to the community isnt mythical.

Last year, the guild raised $10,000 in scholarships for four girls at Lower Cape May Regional High School.

The mermaids have been creative in rallying the community to support their fundraising endeavors, which have ranged from auctioning dates with bachelors to auctioning a handyman for a day. Theyve helped other local organizations, too.

The mermaids first auction, which supported the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, brought in about $20,000.

We almost dropped dead, Lotozo said. We had no idea we were going to make that much.

The guilds annual fundraiser has become an art auction, with pieces donated by local artists. This years auction runs online through Dec. 2 and features sea-creature themed work.

A crafter and deaf education teacher at Lower Township Elementary School, Marian McSherry, donated art to this years auction.

Last year was my first year, and I participated again this year. I am a jewelry designer and love being creative with different mediums, she said.

As a teacher, McSherry thinks its wonderful the money goes toward a scholarship for girls.

I wish that would be available everywhere. I paid for my own college and worked two jobs while doing so; I know the hardships of not being able to afford college, she said. There are not a lot of opportunities in this area, so a scholarship fund is a shining star here.

Pat Jackson, a fellow mermaid and owner of Patricia Jackson Jewelers, makes mermaid charms for the high school girls who win the guilds scholarship.

The more we raise, the more we give away. Its not like we have operating costs, Jackson said.

But its the all-around person, she said, theyre interested in rewarding.

Were not necessarily looking for students with the highest GPA. Were really looking for people with some drive, that entrepreneurial spirit, people that have made some big strides in their life. Character, Lotozo said.

Being college-bound isnt even a criteria.

If you wanted to go an alternative route and get your welding certificate, we would be behind that if you really sold us with your essay and say, This is really what I want to do, Lotozo said.

But fostering girls with entrepreneurial drive is exactly the heart of the mermaids. After all, Lotozo said, its one of the common things women business owners share.

We have been through the trenches, she said. Weve had a lot of different kind of experiences. What you really learn from all of it is resiliency. You have to be able to weather the good and the bad and think your way out of the box.
One, two, three.

Phyllis Papa, creative director of the Atlantic City Ballet Company slapped her thigh, keeping time for the company of ballerinas leaping in front of her on a recent Wednesday.

Papa breezed through demonstrating some moves, with her long blond hair cascading behind her. The years of dancing for prestigious companies such as the American Ballet Theater, The Royal Danish Ballet and the Stars of American Ballet shined through, reflecting a career that included dancing before the Shah of Iran and President Lyndon B. Johnson and becoming a favorite dancer of the King of Denmark.

Soon, the company wrapped up class. The ballerinas bowed before Papa. With a bit of a break before rehearsal, they mingled around the bars or sat against the purple walls to charge their phones.

In an earlier interview, Papa explained how she travels to Rome, London and New York to handpick her dancers. In the studio at Boardwalk Hall, a mix of different languages chattering together wafts through the room.

Papa said she loved the idea of having a melting pot of different countries in her company. Dancers from Spain may be more expressive, while dancers from Asia may be more reserved, but each brings something special to the choreography, she said.

Papas years of experience bring something special to the company, too, as she often infuses her background in other types of dances into the ballets as well as choreographing parts she danced herself for years.

She started dancing at age 5. She recalled commuting from the age of 12 to 16 into New York City by herself to go to high school, doing her homework on the train and then dashing off to ballet classes.

I was good at a very young age. At 15, I was dancing roles most ballerinas couldnt do, she said.

Starting at the Harkness Ballet, Papa joined the American Ballet Theater and rose in the ranks. While with the company, she was noticed by the director for The Royal Danish Ballet and was asked if she would come dance in Denmark at the age of 19. It was only about a month, she said, before she was promoted to soloist.

While I was there, I was able to do royal command performances, and King Fredrick (IX) was always in the box for performances. When we bowed, we had to go first to the king, then to the audience, she said, adding that he became a fan of her dancing. He would send me notes that would be handed to me backstage telling me about my performance, what he thought about it.

Despite being offered a lifetime contract, Papa decided she wanted to return to the states

She felt lonely in Denmark, she said. The people didnt take to the foreign dancers. But she said she learned more there than anywhere else, performing three times a week every week.

Over her career, Papa was no stranger to blood pouring out of her ballet slippers. Papa talked of dancing on a blister that led to blood poisoning.

She dealt with competitive, often jealous ballerinas in some companies. When the other ballerinas would go after her, Papa said with a laugh, she knew that meant she was doing the right thing.

Papa said she came back to the states to join the Stars of American Ballet where she was their main ballerina and also a ballet mistress that taught classes.

One of our tours, we actually came to Stockton College. It was the first year or second year of the college, she said. I said I never want to dance here again because the audience is up in the sky, it throws the dancer backs. Little did I know I was going to have my own company in this area and perform there every year for 30 years.

She was dancing still when she was approached about starting a company in Atlantic City.

Even as a young girl, she had ambitions to start her own company.

Im in the subway, thinking to myself, I want to have my own company, but I know nothing about how to get this started, she said. This was at 12 years old! I knew I wanted to do it, but how am I going to learn it? Thats something no one teaches you.

Though the company has been doing well in the past few years, Papa said, it wasnt without its challenges.

We had an interesting start, and then we struggled, she said. Some of the grants they received were cut.

The most important thing is sticking with something you love to do and taking the challenge on. And the discipline, even when its a tough road, to keep pushing ahead, she said. The ones who stay with it are the ones who make it.

Sara Lonngren, who has been dancing with the company for 10 years, said Papa has helped her grow as a dancer in leaps and bounds.

I feel like she kind of encourages you, pushes you and really finds your character that makes you the best dancer you can be, she said. I feel like, through her, shes taught me a lot about how to let go and how to improve yourself.

Lonngren said she has enjoyed growing with the company.

Where we started 10 years ago is completely different than where we are now, she said. Its nice to see the growth process, its nice to be a part of that.

Even during the companys struggles, Papa said, it gave her the opportunity to raise her children. The soft-spoken Papa beams when she talks about her daughters, all four of whom were home-schooled and went off to college before most had even graduated high school.

After her twins were born, Papa said, she noticed that every time she went to the doctor, they werent meeting the milestones for children their age. Papa set off to Philadelphia to take courses with Glenn Doman and began working with brain-injured children from different countries by teaching them dance. The latter would earn her a Brazilian Gold Medal of Honor.

Papa said she loves to learn and admits that if she has nothing to do when she gets home, shes so bored, she can hardly stand it.

Theres no way I could possibly retire. I would go insane. I have to keep busy, she said.

With the company, Papa has her hands full during the busy season, but it doesnt keep her from hoping for more. A year-round company that can tour, weeklong shows, bigger audiences and higher salaries are among her hopes for the future.

Five years ago, she wanted rehearsal space and a performance space, a dream that was accomplished when they moved to Atlantic City in 2014.

I always try to go after what I want and I dont give up on it.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi, sentenced to 223 lashes and a year in jail for a film he made about graffiti, started his prison sentence in Tehran on Wednesday, his French producer said.



Karimi, 31, a Sunni Muslim from Shiite Iran's Kurdish minority, ran into trouble with the powerful Revolutionary Guards over his documentary "Writing on the City".



The film details the history of scrawlings on Tehran's walls dating back to the Islamic revolution of 1979, through to the opposition Green Movement of the contested 2009 presidential election.



"The independent Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi on Wednesday began serving his one-year prison sentence in Evin prison," production company Les Films de l'Apres-Midi said in a statement, referring to a notorious Tehran jail.



"He will also receive 223 lashes."



Karimi spent 15 days in solitary confinement in 2013 when a trailer for the film was released on YouTube, accused of making "propaganda against the regime" and "insulting religious values".



Since then several other charges were added including drinking alcohol, having extramarital affairs and making pornography, the filmmaker told AFP in a telephone interview in May, decrying the allegations as "ridiculous".



He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 but after an international outcry in which acclaimed Iranian directors including Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf rallied to his support, five years of the term were suspended.



In May, during the Cannes film festival, more than 30 major European film organisations appealed to the Iranian government to grant him clemency.



But the filmmaker told AFP the sentence was "final" and that he had no intention of leaving Iran, although he hoped the penalty would be delayed as long as possible.



"I am not a political activist," Karimi told AFP. "I am not being sent to prison because I oppose the regime but because I am a filmmaker."



He had added: "The fact that my artistic activity is seen as an act of political opposition says a lot about the situation in Iran."



Karimi has made several short films including "Broken Border" (2012), a documentary about petrol smuggling, and premiered his first feature-length movie "Drum" at this year's Venice Film Festival.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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A necropolis and residential settlement were uncovered in Abydos in Sohag, almost 400 km south of the temple of King Seti I

A necropolis and residential settlement were uncovered Tuesday in Abydos in Sohag, almost 400 kilometres south of the temple of the New Kingdom pharaoh Seti I.

The settlement and Early Dynastic Period necropolis were found during excavation by an archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities.

Mahmoud Afifi, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, said that the newly discovered site could belong to high officials or architects responsible for the construction of the tombs and funerary walls of the pharaohs of the First Dynasty.

Afifi described the discovery as very important because it reveals new information that could change archaeologist's understanding of the history of ancient Abydos.

Excavators also uncovered 15 large mudbrick tombs of varying architectural design. The surface area of each, Afifi said, could reach 70 metres -- larger than that of a First Dynasty royal tomb.

This size reflects the position of the tombs owners -- their importance and social level within the community of that period, Afifi told Ahram Online.

He added that a group of mudbrick huts were also discovered within the settlement as well as a collection of artefacts from daily life, including the remains of a large number of clay vessels and stone tools used in land cultivation, which suggests that the huts could have belonged to workers supplying the settlement with provisions.

Yasser Mahmoud, the mission's field director, said that the uncovered tombs have a unique architectural design and one or more mastaba -- distinguished by flat roofs and sloping sides -- known only for pharaohs from the First and Third Dynasties at the Saqqara Necropolis. This new discovery shows that the mastaba tombs were first used in Abydos for pharaohs from the First Dynasty, Mahmoud said.

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MARANELLO, Italy, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Hublot has always created models with a distinctive design and this holds true also for its collaboration with Ferrari, begun in 2011. Each new edition embodies the constant quest for innovation, excellence and performance which unites these two brands. The Big Bang Ferrari is no exception. Taking inspiration from the innovative volumes and iconic design of the most recent Ferrari models, Ferrari and Hublot have redesigned the contours of the Big Bang Unico model.

The best of both worlds

This new design combines Hublot's cutting-edge ideas and Ferrari's design language. The perfect silhouette and proportions highlight the new architecture of the Big Bang Ferrari, featuring highly functional yet stylish details.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442593 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442595 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442594 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442596 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442597 )



The minute counter and date window at 3 o'clock are designed like a car tachometer and style of the date is inspired by a Ferrari speed dial. The Prancing Horse logo features discreetly at 6 o'clock. At 9 o'clock, the seconds counter is in the shape of an air extractor. The hour and minute hands, which have been completely redesigned, offer improved readability. Instead of being positioned horizontally, the numerals are now positioned in line with the indices, which seem to float above the dial, giving the whole piece a 3D look.

Forming a subtle yet perfect balance between innovative volumes and slender, functional forms, the contours of the bezel have been redesigned with countersunk notches for the 6 screws; a more ergonomic form that protects the screws and looks as if taken directly from an integrated control unit.

On the crown side, the case middle features a red line detail, recalling the iconic groove to the rear of the LaFerrari model. The elongated push-buttons are fixed to a rotating staff like the pedals on a car. Marked with the Hublot logo, the crown has a much more integrated and ergonomic crown guard. It evokes the characteristic form of the TPE (Turbo Performance Engineer) set in the centre of the Ferrari dashboard. The other profile is inspired by the styling of Ferrari cars. The name "Ferrari" is emblazoned in bright red across the watch's now iconic sandwich-like case construction.

The Big Bang Ferrari is equipped with a Unico movement - the Hublot Manufacture movement that integrates a flyback chronograph with column wheel positioned on the dial side. The oscillating weight echoes the iconic star spoke design of the Ferrari wheel rims, while the main plate, bridges and oscillating weight are all treated with black PVD and can be seen through the dial and sapphire case-back.

A fusion of style and functionality

The new design perfectly accentuates the curves of the Big Bang, down to the smallest detail.

SOURCE HUBLOT
WURZBURG, Germany, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

New report from Bernreuter Research: Capacities exceed demand by far

The polysilicon industry will experience severe cut-throat competition in 2018. According to the Polysilicon Market Outlook 2020, the new report from polysilicon market research firm Bernreuter Research, half a dozen polysilicon manufacturers could be pushed out of business by the end of 2018. "Slowing demand from the photovoltaic industry on the one hand and increasing production capacities on the other will cause turmoil on the polysilicon market," says Johannes Bernreuter, head of Bernreuter Research and author of the report. The polysilicon spot price will slump from more than 14 US$/kg currently below 12 $/kg in 2018, forecasts Bernreuter.

Already in 2014 and 2015, supply of polysilicon grew more rapidly than demand from the photovoltaic (PV) industry, which consumes approx. 90% of polysilicon produced worldwide. The global output of 313,000 and 363,000 metric tons (MT), respectively, led to swelling inventories, which drove the spot price down to a record low of 12.93 $/kg in January 2016 "Only the massive Chinese PV installation rally in the first half of 2016 saved the polysilicon industry from even more serious oversupply," says report author Bernreuter.

Between 2017 and 2019, however, new capacities of up to 141,000 MT - 70% of them in China - are planned to come on stream while the annual growth rate of new PV installations will sink below 10%. This disparity between supply and demand will result in strong cut-throat competition. "We expect that some projects will be deferred, others will end up as stranded investments, and several existing manufacturers will disappear from the market," says Bernreuter.

Chinese polysilicon producers are not only expanding the capacity for solar-grade polysilicon, but a few are also trying to break the oligopoly that six incumbent manufacturers hold in the production of electronic-grade polysilicon for the semiconductor industry. "It remains to be seen if Chinese producers can meet the high purity requirements for semiconductors," comments Bernreuter.

Regarding fluidized bed reactor (FBR) technology, the high hopes that were pinned on it for producing low-cost solar-grade polysilicon have not been fulfilled so far. "Obviously, the technical challenges of keeping silicon dust formation low have been underestimated," says Bernreuter. As a result, the established Siemens process will continue to be the dominant production method. Bernreuter Research predicts that the market share of FBR will fall below 3% in 2016 and remain in the single-digit range over the coming years.

More details on the polysilicon, solar and semiconductor markets are provided in The Polysilicon Market Outlook 2020. The 70-page report contains elaborate scenarios of supply and demand, detailed forecasts of polysilicon prices and manufacturing costs through 2020 as well as the latest development of FBR technology. For more information on the report, please go to:

http://www.bernreuter.com/en/shop/polysilicon-market-reports/market-outlook/report-details.html

About Bernreuter Research

Bernreuter Research was founded in 2008 by Johannes Bernreuter, one of the most reputable photovoltaic journalists in Germany, to publish global polysilicon market reports. As early as 2001, Bernreuter authored his first analysis of an upcoming polysilicon bottleneck and new production processes. Since publishing its first report in 2010, Bernreuter Research has gained a reputation of providing the most comprehensive and accurate polysilicon reports on the market.

Press Contact:

Bernreuter Research  Polysilicon Market Reports

Lessingstr. 6  97072 Wurzburg, Germany



Your Contact Partner:

Johannes Bernreuter, Company Head

Telephone: +49-931-784-77-81

E-mail: info@bernreuter.com



SOURCE Bernreuter Research
NastyDress and DressLily, two sister sites, recently rehashed their commitment toward their customers by launching 24/7 customer service.

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NastyDress and DressLily, two e-commerce sites that offer trendy apparel for fashionable women, recently launched their round-the-clock customer service for their valued customers. NastyDress offers seductive dresses while DressLily is known for offering elegant dresses. They aim to increase the customer retention rate and both launched their respective 24/7 customer service departments to rehash their commitment towards their customers.

Running under the same leadership, DressLily and NastyDress can now ensure that none of their customers go back with a heavy heart after shopping as their customer care representatives are always ready and willing to assist their customers during the shopping sessions. While both the brands attempting to popularize latest trends at the global level, round-the-clock customer service would be helpful for their customers in taking informed decisions. The Live chat support center for DressLily and NastyDress is now able to address sizing questions and refund and return related queries. The customer support members of both the e-commerce stores are thoroughly trained to make sure that the constantly evolving standards of the e-stores are met.

NastyDress and DressLily customer service makes it easier for their buyers to return products purchased. The support staff members are now trained to listen to customer grievances and to attempt resolving the complaints through chat-based communication. However, if the issues are not resolved, the staff members are authorized and instructed to initiate the return process. Customers also have the option to return the product for a full refund and for exchanging the products. Return requests should be made within 30 days from the date of purchase.

A recent customer named Taniya Wright encountered the new customer service. She ordered a sweater from NastyDress and hoodie from its sister site, DressLily. The customer was not fully satisfied with the product size and contacted customer support. Both e-commerce stores offered her a complete refund or a store credit. They also advised the customer to donate the products to charity instead of returning the products. Such examples are aplenty.

DressLily and NastyDress will continue to provide superior service and also added that customers can get in touch with the support teams through phone or live chat or by submitting a support ticket.

SOURCE NastyDress
This piece is not written by the academic I should be, but by the citizen. It does not claim to have any scientific value.

Last week, I came across many friends complaining about the tyranny of discourse, of news, and they used this assessment in widely different contexts.

I had a Viber conversation with a friend from the US. He said people preferred to elect a dangerous and unknown candidate rather than a pathological liar who worked with an administration that may or may not have a decent legacy, but which systematically lied and who had the support of a lying media.

By the way, some 15 months ago, an American philosopher told me the Democrats media tried to focus on Trumps candidacy, to help him win the Republican primary, thinking he would be easy prey for Hillary Clinton. He strongly disliked this stupid calculation, to use his own words.

Tuesday, I introduced two friends to each other, both being the top Egyptian specialist in their respective fields, and they assessed the present Egyptian situation. One of them told the other, I totally support the regime and El-Sisi, but Im appalled by their inability to handle the communication issue and the media. Their two or three main advocates are unpopular, hated and terribly bad at selling policies to the public. People forget the case and only see the lawyer.

Wednesday, during a workshop, a well known Tunisian academic said Tunisian public opinion was fed up with the media, with talk shows, and were boycotting them, preferring watching movies, sporting events, anything but news.

The most unpopular profession in Tunisia is now the broadcast presenter. Those who still watch the news and talk shows do it to attack them on social media.

The dean of French political science, Professor Jean Leca, wondered, In any other market, when you do not like the product, you boycott it. In the information market, this does not happen. This, for me, is a mystery.

The Tunisian academic thought people needed to express frustration by hitting an easy target. My guess is people are now effectively boycotting most media sources. But another explanation is possible: you need news, and basically all the products available on the market are the same.

The same day, Professor Leca said it was now impossible to escape discourse." It was present everywhere, at every moment. Now we were witnessing a new era: the one of short news, of short aphorisms, of short cliches. Very complex issues are summed up in a sentence or two. One minute and a half is a very long time in TV news.

Maybe even worse than oversimplification, ordinary people are literally under siege, receiving thousands of oversimplified news analyses. They do not need most, and when they are interested in a topic they find press coverage stupid and distasteful.

The need for succinct news introduces structural changes: more often than not, there is no room for grey. Everything, rather, is black or white. This leaves much room for ideological biases.

And it is easy to note the ideologies popular among journalists and not necessarily popular in public opinion. This does not mean journalists are always right or always wrong. I just state that most people do not like what they hear or read.

You can easily tell me this does not explain the huge unpopularity of talk shows. People watching them are complaining about endless talk, not about simplistic short stories. And you would be right.

I do not know if studies assessed the causes of the decline in popularity of this formula. A colleague who studies Arab media told me no study focused on the public.

My guess would be, first of all, everybodys discourse is shaped by the need for shortness. When you talk for half an hour, you will not deepen your handling of an issue. You will evoke many ones.

Second, the talk show illustrates the gap between the ordinary people and the oligarchy. It strengthens the perception they live on a different planet, the globalised world versus the local one, and stereotypical elites are unable to understand the living conditions of ordinary citizens. Third, there is a credibility problem: if people do not like what they hear, they think the expert or the journalist is either a liar or incompetent, or both.

During the first months of the 2011 revolution, I was a permanent guest of French talk shows. It is easy to become addicted to the invitations. The TV staff is urbane and dealing with them is a nice experience. You become a well known figure, you do some lobbying and advocacy, you meet important people, you chat with politicians, you settle old scores with colleagues. You can easily convince yourself you are enlightening public opinion. And this might be true.

But there are snags. First of all, you cannot foresee the questions and sometimes they are not the right ones." You have to train yourself. You are going to say this or that, regardless of the question. But it is not always possible. Second, you do not have the right to say, I do not know.

Third, you do not have enough time to develop complex reasoning. More often than not, you have to opt for approximations. Fourth, devoting time to this activity comes at the expense of your own research. Fifth, it is really difficult to say no to an invitation and to tell the journalist, Im no expert on this issue.

Sixth, you easily get embroiled in an unhealthy competition with other experts. You then accept invitations not because you want to enlighten public opinion, but because you want to prevent a colleague from misleading it, or simply because you do not want to see him becoming a member of the circus.

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BRUSSELS, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Romania's Ministry of Energy last week published their draft 2016 - 2030 Energy Strategy blueprint seeking to build on strong existing foundations that help make Romania energy secure and have generated billions of dollars in foreign investment and export earnings for the Treasury.

The timing of the release was appropriate, against the backdrop of this week's news that ING Bank has lowered the expected growth rate for Romania to 4.8%, and continued worries less than three weeks before elections about what can be done to boost public investment and jobs.

We at the EU-Romania Business Society welcome this comprehensive evaluation of the country's energy needs and analysis of what is required by government and business to keep expanding its asset base. That is the key for continued national development.

The Government's strategy highlights five important objectives: energy security, competitive energy markets based on a competitive economy, clean energy and a sustainable energy sector, the modernization of energy governance, the protection of vulnerable consumers and the reduction energy poverty.

We commend the thinking behind the strategy as well as its release in draft form, allowing the views and response of experts, policy groups, investors and the public to be taken into account.

While we welcome creation of the strategy document and introduction of the forward-looking agenda, we must also highlight areas of concern where government actions in 2016 could in fact undermine their own model for transformation before it is even launched.

Romania's priority action quite rightly emphasizes the need for greater resource security and competitive markets as a bedrock for Romania's stable energy future - for continued growth. This should include a diversity of supply, as well as a safe investment climate and protection of current assets, with rule of law for investors.

Our community has serious concerns that the seizure of KMGI's assets and the resulting uncertainty to Romania's relations with Kazakhstan and other partners, could call into question how the Government intends to execute its plan. We worry what message is sent when one of the largest investors and exporters is put under such threat. If KMGI departs Romania, does that open the door for Russia and Iran to fill?

Resource security and national stability is helped a great deal by the contribution of Kazakhstan's oil, which means Romania is not reliant on Russia. Current ratio proportions show about 60% Kazakh vs 35% Russian, where just a few years ago the numbers were reversed.

Moreover, Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas International (KMGI) accounts for 22mt per year of production in Romania. KMGI also provides more than 40% of the country's total processing capacity. We have seen the figure of $1.4bn invested in Romania's largest refinery, KMGI's Petromedia over the years to reach EU standards of efficiency and operations.

The financial investments, private capital and public spending, needed to make the draft Strategy a reality, will be huge, and need to be made from a vantage point of partnership between the state and enterprise.

These imperatives are even more vital in the aftermath of international events impacting Romania and Europe, including Brexit and uncertainty around the election of Donald Trump - and his intended relationship with the EU, NATO and President Putin. Romania's strong energy security and safety of supply is for private investors a precondition for directing capital into the country, extending business, and financing modernisation projects.

So real concerns over what the future looks like are being tangled with concerns regarding the business climate for investors. Disputes have been playing out between the Government with international private companies like CEZ, ENEL, E.ON and Raiffeisen in addition to KMGI. The reputation of Romania as a safe destination for foreign investment is a priority for Romanians and foreign investors alike.

We encourage the Government to restore the productive and mutually advantageous public-private partnerships that have served public administration and our enterprises committed to the country so well. Ultimately it is the citizens of Romania who have the most to gain from such cooperation.

http://www.eu-romaniabusiness-society.org

SOURCE EU-Romania Business Society
LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Over the next four months, 11 exclusive business events will take place across Europe, where the continent's best businesses will be honoured as 'National Champions' in this year's European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM.

At the events, business leaders from 20 countries will come together to celebrate their success and network with their peers.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards, the continent's largest cross sector business competition, said: "These events not only celebrate the success of our dynamic National Champions in the competition but also the key role they play in Europe's strong business community."

Lead sponsor RSM, is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms worldwide, and has supported the European Business Awards since its inception.

Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM said: "The National Champions are stand-out leaders, demonstrating businesses tenacity and commercial excellence. These companies will lead the way forward bringing growth and prosperity across the continent and beyond. I would like to congratulate them all and wish them luck in the coming rounds".

A panel of independent judges, including senior business and academic leaders, selected 636 National Champions from 34 European countries this year, after the European Business Awards engaged with over 33,000 companies at the entry stage of the competition.

In the next round, the National Champions will put forward a video telling their unique story and explaining their business success. In February, the judges will choose the top ten National Champions in each of the competition's 11 categories, and the overall category winners will be announced at the Gala Final in May 2017.

Separately the videos will be hosted on the European Business Awards' website http://www.businessawardseurope.com for a public vote. The company with the most votes from each country will be named 'National Public Champion'; and after a second vote, one overall 'European Public Champion' will be announced at the Gala Final. Last year over 227,000 votes were cast as companies were supported globally by their clients, staff and peers, as well as the general public.

Details of the National Champions for each country and further information can be found at http://www.businessawardseurope.com and http://www.rsm.global.

About the European Business Awards:

The European Business Awards' primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe.

For all citizens of Europe, prosperity, social and healthcare systems are reliant on businesses creating an even stronger, more innovative, successful, international and ethical business community - one that forms the beating heart of an increasingly globalised economy.

The European Business Awards programme serves the European business community in three ways:

 It celebrates and endorses individuals' and organisations' success

 It provides and promotes examples of excellence for the business community to aspire to

 It engages with the European business community to create debate on key issues

The European Business Awards is now in its 10th year. This year it engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries. Last year's public vote generated over 227,000 votes from across Europe. Sponsors and partners include RSM, ELITE and PR Newswire.

http://www.businessawardseurope.com.

About RSM

RSM is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing over 120 countries, 760 offices and more than 38,000 people internationally. The network's total fee income is US$4.64 billion.

RSM is the lead sponsor and corporate champion of the European Business Awards promoting commercial excellence and recognition of entrepreneurial brilliance.

RSM is a member of the Forum of Firms, with the shared objective to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial and auditing practices worldwide.

RSM is the brand used by a network of independent accounting and advisory firms each of which practices in its own right. RSM International Limited does not itself provide any accounting and advisory services. Member firms are driven by a common vision of providing high quality professional services, both in their domestic markets and in serving the international professional service needs of their client base. http://www.rsm.global

About ELITE:

ELITE is an innovative programme that offers mentoring, advice and access to finance to help fast growing companies on their way. ELITE is dedicated to the most exciting and ambitious firms, having a sound business model, clear growth strategy and a desire to obtain funding in the future.

ELITE companies can access a vibrant community which facilitates structured engagement between inspiring businesses, industry experts and the investor and corporate advisory community.

The long term objective of ELITE is to improve access to more sophisticated skill-sets, network and a diversified capital pool in order to prepare and structure for the next stage of growth and support for scale up challenges.

The programme has supported more than 400 ambitious firms since its launch in 2012. Inspiring, high-growth companies from 23 different countries are part of the programme today, which promotes relationships and creates opportunities with potential investors, as well as supporting management best practice and entrepreneurship.

For more information on ELITE please contact elite@lseg.com or visit http://www.elite-growth.com.

About PR Newswire:

PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring.

Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region.

For more information on PR Newswire please visit http://www.prnewswire.co.uk

SOURCE The European Business Awards
Complimentary Frost & Sullivan analyst briefing identifies emerging technologies disrupting the automotive sector

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

WHEN: Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at 11:00 AM EST LOCATION: Online, complimentary registration available at: http://frost.ly/15b SPEAKERS: Frost & Sullivan Intelligent Mobility Senior Partner Sarwant Singh, Mobility Research Manager Praveen Chandrasekar, Chief Security Architect and Founder of Irdeto's Cloakware for Automotive Security Solution, Stacy Janes, Mahindra Group Senior Vice President of Digital Innovation and E-Commerce Jaspreet Bindra.

The rapid pace of digitization is transforming the component hardware-driven automotive sector to a software- and solutions-focused industry, accelerated by consumers' evolving digital lifestyle expectations and demands for new and innovative services. The future roadmap of digitization in the automotive sector is expected to move rapidly from "digital services" to "car-as-a-service" to "mobility-as-a-service," transforming the car into an element of a connected living solution by 2030. The briefing will reveal why companies must adopt custom digital initiatives to successfully leverage their software investments, open new avenues and enable automotive companies to easily expand and adopt best practices in new markets.

Attend this webinar to:

Discover which new business opportunities are likely to evolve from the emergence of new technologies, mobility services and connected cars with respect to digitalization

Preview key automotive industry disruptors across digitization pillars

View a snapshot of OEM and Tier 1 activities in the digital space

Understand who will take the lead on driving digital initiatives.

The briefing will help OEM's and Tier 1 suppliers identify key technologies that will act as a differentiator with the potential to disrupt their company's business model in medium and long term. Once identified, audience must learn how those game-changing technologies will impact their core business.

Supporting Quotes:

"Frost & Sullivan has identified five key pillars across which Digitization in the automotive industry will take effect, but most interestingly these pillars are expected to bring in investments in the tune of $80 billion plus by 2025," said Frost & Sullivan Mobility Research Manager Praveen Chandrasekar."Few of these pillars like mobility-as-a-service, are expected to usher in new business models for vehicle manufacturers to become a part of the larger transportation ecosystem and some like digitization of the supply chain are more focused on process improvement and gaining visibility. This webinar by Frost & Sullivan will outline some of the key opportunities emerging in this digital landscape and how vehicle manufacturers and their ecosystem need to evolve to make the best of it.

Registration

To attend the briefing, you can register by visiting: http://frost.ly/15b

For further information email clarissa.castaneda@frost.com your full name, job title, company name, company telephone number, company email address and website, city, state and country.

Receive a recorded version of the briefing anytime by submitting the aforementioned contact details.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

Contact:

Clarissa Castaneda

Frost & Sullivan

+1.210.477.8481

clarissa.castaneda@frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading global healthcare technology company launches international Hypoglycaemia awareness campaign

A global healthcare company with specialist diabetes products, has launched its "#HYPOHEROES" campaign.

London-based Bigkid Agency conceived and executed the #HYPOHEROES campaign in partnership with the global healthcare technology company. The education campaign harnesses video and interactivity to educate, empower and inspire people with diabetes to learn more about the impact of Hypoglycaemia and how it can be better managed during everyday situations.

Coinciding with World Diabetes Day, #HYPOHEROES was launched across 11 countries with content promoted through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

"We wanted to connect with the online diabetes community on a personal level by foster a feeling of inclusion and community," said Dan Mitchell, Creative Director at Bigkid. "Hypoglycaemia has the potential to cause a significant impact on peoples everyday life and the fact that they do not let this hold them back is in itself heroic and forms the basis for the campaign."

"The entire team is very proud of #HYPOHEROES and what it represents," said Dominic Duffy, Managing Director at Bigkid. "Reaction to the campaign has been incredibly positive and we're looking forward to fueling #HYPOHEROES with even more great content."

About Bigkid

Bigkid is an integrated creative agency headquartered in Surrey with offices in London and Leicester. Bigkid helps its clients engage, develop and galvanise their audiences, through targeted use of on and offline media. We firmly believe that great communication is easy when the audience is understood.

http://www.wearebigkid.com

Dominic@wearebigkid.com, +44(0)7810-442-408

SOURCE Bigkid
NEW YORK, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global peripherally inserted central catheters market is dominated by few key players such as Teleflex Incorporated, AngioDynamics Inc., C.R. Bard Inc., Vygon S.A, and Cook Medical Inc. and together, these companies constitute around 80%-85% of the overall market share

Persistence Market Research delivers key insights on the global peripherally inserted central catheters market in its upcoming report titled "Global Market Study on Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters: Power Injected Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters Product Type Segment to Dominate the Market Through 2024."The global peripherally inserted central catheters market is anticipated to reach a market valuation of US$ 673.9 Mn by the end of 2016. In terms of revenue, the global peripherally inserted central catheters market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 5.8% over the forecast period (2016 - 2024) owing to various factors, regarding which Persistence Market Research offers vital insights in detail.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161114/438683LOGO )

Increasing healthcare expenditure, robust reimbursement policies, increasing preference for peripherally inserted central catheters by healthcare physicians, and increasing number of diseases requiring the application of peripherally inserted central catheters are some of the factors likely to boost the growth of the global peripherally inserted central catheters market over the forecast period.

View Report Overview and Research Methodology @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/peripherally-inserted-central-catheters-market.asp

The Power Injected Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters product type segment dominated the global peripherally inserted central catheters market in revenue terms, accounting for 82.2% value share in 2015 and is expected to continue to do so throughout the forecast period. This segment is expected to grow with a healthy CAGR over the forecast period, owing to high adoption rate of newly launched products and better reimbursement policies. The Multiple Lumen design segment is anticipated to account for 59.7% revenue share of the global peripherally inserted central catheters market by 2016 end. This segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.7% over the forecast period due to increase in the number of cancer patients requiring multiple lumen peripherally inserted central catheters for better treatment. The Hospitals end user segment accounted for 68.3% value share in 2015 and is projected to account for 72.0% share by 2024 end.

Among regions, North America dominated the global peripherally inserted central catheters market in revenue terms in 2015 and is expected to continue to do so throughout the forecast period. The North America peripherally inserted central catheters market is estimated to create absolute $ opportunity of US$ 19.8 Mn in 2017 over 2016.

North America and Europe are expected to account for 81.5% and 10.5% share respectively of the global peripherally inserted central catheters market in terms of value in 2016. Among emerging markets, Asia Pacific is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 11.2% over the forecast period.

View Report Table of Contents, Figures, and Tables@ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/peripherally-inserted-central-catheters-market/toc

Request Sample Report@ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12316

The report profiles some of the top companies operating in the global peripherally inserted central catheters market. Top market companies featured in the report include AngioDynamics Inc., C. R. Bard Inc., Teleflex Incorporated, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Medtronic plc, Vygon S.A, Cook Medical Inc., Argon Medical Devices Inc., Medical Component Inc., and Theragenics Corporation.

Some Related Reports:

Global Market Study on Peripheral Intravenous Catheter - http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/peripheral-iv-catheter-market.asp

Global Market Study on Urinary Catheters: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/urinary-catheters-market/toc

PMR Overview

Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.

To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.

Contact

Persistence Market Research

U.S. Sales Office:

305 Broadway, 7th Floor

New York City, NY 10007

United States

USA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353

Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com



Web: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/persistence-market-research-&-consulting/

SOURCE Persistence Market Research
LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

After a year of continued success, Izabel London have launched a three month long TV channel sponsorship campaign on the TLC, Lifetime and Universal channels to give the brand an even bigger boost over the festive period.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161005/415397LOGO )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442668 )



Izabel London's wide range of exotic day wear and accessible evening wear is available in over 500 locations across the UK, including in prestigious retailers such as: House of Fraser, Dorothy Perkins and Debenhams. The dynamic women's wear brand's TV campaign is part of an impressive global expansion process over the next year. The brand is currently stocked in more than 1,000 locations worldwide. After achieving an impressive 140% sales boost in India this year, the brand has also been nominated as finalist in the Drapers Awards 2016 'Mainstream Brand of the Year' category.

The campaign, featuring the brand's latest sleek signature party style is set in chic surroundings and features relatable young models getting ready for a night out on the town. The adverts, which run from October to December, showcase the leading fashion retailer's Autumn/Winter collections which are available on their website and in stores now.

Karan Singh, founder of Izabel London said, "The aim of our first TV Campaign is to engage with our audience by offering catwalk fashion styles to everyday women. One of the main challenges with this scale of marketing expansion is to retain the essence of the brand over multiple channels. Our most recent collaboration with TLC, Lifetime and Universal gives Izabel London the brand exposure we need amongst a new audience.

Izabel London, as a brand, have chosen to use relatable women who reflect the UK's diverse population. The brand remain true to their ethos, focusing on providing easy to wear, catwalk inspired women's clothing at affordable prices to the 'every day' woman.

SOURCE Izabel London
LONDON and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Saudi Arabia's MiSK Foundation today announces an international panel of eight judges for its first ever UK/Saudi Hackathon, taking place as a live broadcast satellite event across both London and Riyadh from this Friday 25 November until Sunday 27 November.

The judging line-up comprises digital, tech, health, medical, youth enterprise and investment experts from world-leading businesses and organisations, including Cisco, Microsoft, the British Council, international network HealthTech Women, GrowthEnabler and King Khaled Hospital, Riyadh.

Cisco Executive Director Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Alswaha, comments: "This event has the potential to be a game-changer, not just in Saudi Arabia or the UK, but across the globe. With technology as the connector of smart minds, smart ideas and smart solutions, we could have one out-of-this-world idea or we could have fifty life-changing tech health opportunities. The potential is huge."

Together, the Judges will review and score up to 40 pitches by cross-cultural, mixed teams comprising a total of 400 participants. They will confer through live broadcast satellite and reach a decision to award one winning team and runners-up a total prize investment package of $35k USD, including mentoring to help winners take their health tech innovations to proof of concept stage. In what the MiSK Foundation Secretary-General has called a "milestone initiative", the MiSK Hackathon will be the first time that such cross-cultural collaboration through a live broadcast satellite has taken place between the UK and Saudi Arabia, to find innovative solutions to world health problems.

Founder and CEO of the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA), Liz Ashall-Payne comments: "Breakthrough innovation in the field of digital health is always historic and I'm excited to be part of the process. There is enormous potential in digital health, but ideas are vital and product governance is critical. Over 50% of all apps in health and healthcare are redundant.[1] The first step is addressing a genuine healthcare need. This is what I'm looking for at MiSK Hackathon."

Digital health futurist, Maneesh Juneja, ranked 7th most influential globally[2], and who will be hosting a keynote at the event, said: "In the 21st century, many of us are looking to consumer technology giants like Apple and Google for solving some of the biggest challenges in healthcare, yet we often overlook a whole realm of amazing, untapped innovation beyond Silicon Valley and English speaking countries. Health tech start-ups from every nation on earth hold the key to meeting inefficiencies in healthcare delivery and events like the Hackathon are vital in fostering this talent."

More information is at http://www.miskhackathon.com

- ENDS -

Media contacts:

hackathon@misk.org.sa

Notes to editor:

[1] ORCHA

[2] Source: http://www.onalytica.com/blog/posts/digital-health-2016-top-100-influencers-and-brands/

The UK panel consists of: Liz Ashall-Payne, founder of the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications; Greg Williams, CSO of mobile engagement platform SWAG'R; Aftab Malhotra, co-founder of GrowthEnabler; and Maxine Mackintosh, UK Chair of international network, HealthTech Women.

The Saudi Arabia panel consists of: Abdullah Alswaha, Managing Director at Cisco; Deemah Alyahya, Executive Director at Microsoft; Amir Ramzan, Country Director at British Council; and Professor Abdullah Aldohayan, Robotics Surgeon at King Khaled Hospital, Riyadh.

About MiSK Foundation

Established in 2011, the MiSK Foundation cultivates learning and leadership to define a new talent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Foundation focuses on the country's youth, fosters talent, develops creative potential, and generates innovation. In this way, MiSK advances Saudi society in business and technology, and provides equal opportunity for women and men. MiSK, under the leadership of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pursues these goals by establishing partnership programmes with diverse local and global organisations.

SOURCE MiSK Foundation
CAMBRIDGE, England, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Kymab Group Limited ("Kymab"), a leading monoclonal antibody biopharmaceutical group, announced today that it has successfully secured a US$100 million (81 million) Series C financing. The financing was led by new investors ORI Healthcare Fund L.P. ("ORI Fund") with participation by Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd ("Hepalink"), as well as follow-on investments from existing shareholders: Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Malin Corporation plc; CF Woodford Equity Income Fund and Woodford Patient Capital plc.

The funds will enable Kymab to advance its proprietary pipeline of first-in-class therapeutic human monoclonal antibodies, the first of which is commencing clinical development in 2017.

Dr. Dave Chiswell, CEO of Kymab, said: "We are delighted to welcome new investors ORI Fund and Hepalink and thank our existing investors for their continued support in our goal of building Kymab into a sustainable global biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of products in four main therapeutic areas: immuno-oncology; auto-immunity; haematology and infectious disease. ORI Fund and Hepalink bring deep experience of the pharmaceutical industry. Hepalink has a global reach for their products and have biologics manufacturing capability in the US. This investment will help us maximise the potential of the Kymab pipeline as we develop and commercialise monoclonal antibody medicines for patients world-wide."

Ms. Simone Song, Senior Partner of ORI Fund, added: "We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to invest in Kymab which is equipped with world class technologies, world class programs, a world class team and world class investors. We look forward to working with Dave and his team to fully realise the potential of Kymab as it enters into the clinic with a global presence."



Mr. Li Li, President and Chairman of Hepalink, continued: "We have had a biologics strategy for a number of years and believe Kymab has one of the most comprehensive humanised transgenic antibody platforms which is already delivering first-in-class antibodies. We are pleased to invest in a world leading antibody company and look forward to potential collaborative opportunities with Kymab."

Kymab is using the Kymouse transgenic human antibody platform to discover and develop fully human monoclonal antibody drugs. Data published in Nature Biotechnology demonstrate that the Kymouse technology yields an antibody library constituted from 100 trillion different antibodies. From this deep library rare high-quality antibodies can be selected and developed into therapeutics.

Antibodies are one of the best-selling classes of drugs today; five of the top ten best selling drugs are antibodies. This is because antibodies are natural products with exquisite specificity and potency, and generally have superior safety profiles. The challenge has been to capture the full human antibody repertoire and to recapitulate all its attributes.

The Series C follows the US$120 million Series A & B financings.

For further information contact:



Kymab:

David Chiswell, Chief Executive Officer

Anne Hyland, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +44 (0)1223 833 301, Email: anne.hyland@kymab.com



Don Powell

don@donpowellassociates.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1223 515436

Mob: +44 (0)778 6858220



Hume Brophy:

Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur and Hollie Vile

Tel: +44 (0)207 862 6390, Email: kymab@humebrophy.com







Notes to Editors



About Kymab

Kymab Group Limited ("Kymab") is a leading biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibody drugs using its proprietary Kymouse antibody platform.

Kymouse has been designed to maximise the diversity of human antibodies produced in response to immunisation with antigens. Selecting from a broad diversity of fully human antibodies assures the highest probability of finding that rare drug candidate with best-in-class characteristics. The Kymouse naturally matures these molecules to highly potent drugs obviating the need for further time-consuming modifications. Kymab is using the platform for its internal drug discovery programmes and in partnership with pharmaceutical companies. Kymab commenced operations in 2010 and has raised over US$220m of equity financing which includes $100m Series C financing. It has an experienced management team with a successful track record in drug discovery and development and has numerous therapeutic antibody programmes in immuno-oncology, auto-immunity, haematology, infectious disease and other areas.

http://www.kymab.com



Kymab, Kymouse, are trademarks of Kymab Limited.



About ORI Healthcare Fund (ORI Fund)

ORI Fund is a US$200 million venture capital fund focused on investing in innovative companies with disruptive technologies in the healthcare industry globally. The fund is founded by Ms. Simone (Hong Fang) Song, former investment banker and head of China Healthcare at Goldman Sachs. The team consists mostly of former Goldman Sachs bankers and healthcare scientists.



About Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Hepalink)

Hepalink distributes its products, including Heparin Sodium API, in the global market to international pharmaceutical companies, such as Sanofi-Aventis, Fresenius-Kabi, and Novartis. Hepalink was established in 1998 and went public and was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on May 6, 2010 (stock code "002399"). Hepalink's headquarters are located in the Shenzhen High-Tech Park. Hepalink has established a comprehensive quality management system in line with China GMP standards and the US and European cGMP standards and regulations. Hepalink manufacturing facilities are approved by the U.S. FDA and EU regulatory authorities, and it is also one of the primary participants in the revision of the USP pharmacopeia standards.

SOURCE Kymab
Mergers and partnerships to be an indispensable part of manufacturing, finds Frost & Sullivan's Industrial and Process Control Team

LONDON, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud technology is an important enabler of global manufacturing processes and operations. It has the potential to improve all levels of manufacturing through value chain optimisation, improved productivity, real-time analytics, device connectivity, seamless communication, automation, data centralization, storage and cost reduction.

"Connectivity-enabled manufacturers such as Siemens, General Electric and Bosch are looking towards embracing new business models. These companies are no longer looking at monetizing the cloud as a mere product. Their focus is now on providing services driven by data that is managed by their cloud," said Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation & Process Control Senior Research Analyst Nandini Natarajan. "By providing the necessary infrastructure through cloud, the volume and variety of data being produced by the Internet of Things can be processed in a significantly shorter time period."

Manufacturing in the Cloud is part of Frost & Sullivan's Industrial Automation & Process Control Growth Partnership subscription, which offers clients unique insights into competitive dynamics, pricing strategies, demand trends, and technological development within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), automation, process and welding sectors.

Click here for complimentary access to more information on this analysis and to register for a Growth Strategy Dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders.

To gain a competitive advantage and remain relevant in a dynamic marketplace, manufacturers should:

Focus on workforce remodelling to bring in relevant Industrial Internet of Things skillsets;

Transform from a product-driven to a focussed, data-driven service;

Partner with information technology firms to drive co-optation. A mutually beneficial ecosystem will be essential to survive in the industrial cloud space;

Overcome current challenges such as security over cloud, lack of awareness, and implementation complexities through cyber technology, workshops and a phase-wide implementation program.

"Developed economies like Europe and the US have the necessary infrastructure, resources and technology to adopt cloud in their manufacturing space. However, an ageing workforce and fragmented markets are a hindrance. Emerging economies such as Asia-Pacific have a large population that can be turned into a skilled workforce along with the Industrial Internet of Things initiatives aimed at improving operational efficiency. Here, legacy systems and the lack of sound Internet infrastructure are challenges that need addressing," noted Natarajan.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion

Manufacturing in the Cloud

MCAE-10

Contact:

Evgenia Oleynikova

Corporate Communications  Europe

P: +48 22 481 62 10

E: Evgenia.Oleynikova@frost.com

http://www.frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
STOCKHOLM, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

US$5 million offered for bold ideas to remodel global governance for 21st century

A US$5 million prize competition is seeking to identify new models of global co-operation capable of handling the most serious threats to humanity including climate change, weapons of mass destruction and extreme poverty.

The Global Challenges Prize 2017: A New Shape was launched today by the Stockholm-based Global Challenges Foundation, set up in 2012 with the aim of deepening understanding of global risks and galvanizing more effective responses to them.

The prize competition is based on the premise that the current system of global governance that has evolved since World War II is no longer equipped to deal with 21st century risks that transcend national borders and can affect populations anywhere in the world.

"Today's risks are so dangerous and so global in their nature they've outrun the international system's ability to deal with them," said Global Challenges Foundation founder Laszlo Szombatfalvy, an investor, author and philanthropist who built his career in Sweden through the successful analysis of financial risk.

"We're trying to solve today's problems with yesterday's tools. We believe a new shape of collaboration is needed to address the most critical challenges in our globalised world."

The New Shape Prize will ask entrants to design frameworks for international decision-making equipped to address today's global challenges with a focus on climate change, major environmental damage, violent conflict (including nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction) and extreme poverty. Entrants are also asked to consider the implications of a rising world population, forecast by the United Nations to reach 11bn by 2100. The prize is open to anyone - individuals, groups and organisations - anywhere in the world.

"We believe that the human ingenuity that has allowed us to eradicate diseases, bring down poverty levels and stabilize the hole in the ozone layer, can, if properly channeled, play a role in averting the greatest risks to our survival," said Mr Szombatfalvy. "If we can tap this creativity and apply it to designing a better decision-making system for the world community, then we will have a chance of preserving our world for future generations."

The Global Challenges Foundation is publicizing its New Shape Prize worldwide, partnering with respected institutions on multiple continents in an effort to reach the brightest minds and most visionary thinkers whether they come from academia, policy-making, civil society, business, technology or law. This outreach effort includes collaborating closely with experts and practitioners currently working within existing global governance institutions such as the United Nations.

The Global Challenges Foundation emphasized the prize competition was not seeking solutions to the individual risks in question, but for the global decision-making structures that would allow the world community to tackle them more effectively.

The competition is open until May 24, 2017. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of academic experts. The best proposals will then be judged by a high level international jury comprised of respected figures of global stature. Final awards will be made in November 2017.

The Global Challenges Foundation said it was committed to promoting the winning ideas following their announcement in order to generate debate around how they could be implemented and to support promising entrants to develop their ideas where appropriate.

Through its New Shape Prize, the Global Challenges Foundation hopes to stimulate urgent global debate at the highest levels about how the world community manages global risks and to contribute to the re-shaping of global governance in order to safeguard future generations.

Notes to Editors:

For more information about The Global Challenges Prize 2017: A New Shape, see: http://globalchallenges.org

About The Global Challenges Foundation

The Global Challenges Foundation aims to incite deeper understanding of the most pressing global risks to humanity - and to catalyse new ways of tackling them. Founded in 2012 by the Swedish investor and author Laszlo Szombatfalvy, the Foundation is based on the belief that global challenges require global solutions and new forms of international cooperation are urgently needed in order to safeguard future generations. The Foundation's mission is to act as a convening platform to draw together the brightest minds from academia, politics, business and civil society to discuss how these risks might be better managed by the world community in the interests of all citizens. More information can be found at: http://www.globalchallenges.org/

SOURCE The Global Challenges Foundation
(Marrakech, Morocco)  On Nov. 7, two days before the U.S. presidential election, diplomats and climate change experts from around world gathered in the Moroccan city of Marrakech to hash out commitments and chart the way forward to slow down global warming. At the time they did not have any premonition that a climate skeptic, who has described global warming as "a hoax created by China," would be elected president of the United States.

Negotiators were upbeat because three days earlier, on Nov. 4, the Paris climate agreement, which aims to control global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, had come into effect, and a global consensus on climate action finally seemed within reach.

But the surprise election of Donald Trump to the White House left the delegates shellshocked. They were suddenly faced with the very real possibility that the U.S. president-elect would make good on his campaign promise to pull the world's largest economy and second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases out of the climate pact.

Amid the uncertainty, an unlikely voice emerged to offer reassurance to the global community. Once the black sheep of the global climate change movement, China is now slowly emerging as one of its potential future leaders.

"As we speculate about what the United States might do, I hope the international community understands that China's position will not change," the Chinese delegation's deputy head, Gou Haibo, told conference attendees. Chinese delegates repeated the promise that changes in U.S. policy will not hinder China's transition to a low-carbon economy.

An emerging leader

China's smog-choked cities and sky-high carbon emissions have long tarnished its reputation. Activists had long criticized it for putting short-term economic gain ahead of long-term environmental consequences.

China is still the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. But the country sees developing clean-energy technology as the solution to its economic and environmental woes and is aggressively pushing to become a leader in the field. Last year alone, China invested over $100 billion in renewable energy technology.

And it has already started to export its expertise within the developing world. Since 2011, China has spent 580 million yuan ($84.2 million) on energy-efficiency projects in other developing countries.

China has also launched a pilot carbon-trading program and plans to expand it nationwide next year. Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative for climate change affairs, said 120 million tons of carbon dioxide worth 3.2 billion yuan had already been traded as part of the pilot. Once the whole country is part of the program, China will become the world's largest carbon-trading market.

Trump's dismissal of green energy  he has said he plans to develop oil and gas resources and supports coal as the primary source of energy  means that China is now poised to play an even larger role in renewable-energy technology and global climate-change policy.

Chai Qimin, head of the international department at China's National Development and Reform Commission's Climate Strategy Center, told Caixin: "If the U.S. backs out of the Paris agreement, the clean-energy market will also be affected."

Profits at renewable-energy companies like Tesla Motors are not very strong and rely on tax cuts, subsidies and carbon trading. Once these policies change, capital inflows will decrease, Chai said. A hostile policy environment in the U.S. could end up stifling the growth of American companies, giving their Chinese competitors more room to grow.

But while China's technology and capabilities are growing, it still lags behind developed countries and expects the U.S. to continue to play a leading role in the near future, Chinese deputy delegation head Liu Zhenmin said at the conference.

Trump's business sense

The global climate change community is hoping they can appeal to Trump's business sense as a way to bring him to their side.

In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Trump said "we're going to look very carefully" at the Paris agreement and that he will keep an "open mind," but added that it "depends on how much it's going to cost our companies."

While it takes four years for signatories to withdraw from the agreement, Trump could remove the United States from the agreement's overarching United Nations Framework on Climate Change in just one year. He could also simply refuse to provide funding. As part of the agreement, the U.S. has pledged $3 billion to a U.N climate fund to help developing nations deal with global warming. But so far, only $500 million has been doled out by the Obama administration.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hoped Trump could be persuaded to uphold the agreement, noting that the "global business community is now fully on board and moving forward to de-carbonize and lessen their carbon footprint." More than 360 companies, including multinationals such as DuPont, Hilton, Nike, Starbucks and Unilever, attended the climate conference and urged U.S. President Barack Obama and Trump to continue to support the Paris agreement.

Chinese representatives also remained optimistic that Trump's pragmatism will prevail.

Zou Ji, deputy director of the National Strategy Research and International Cooperation Center for Climate Change, believes Trump will not take lightly the decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Failing to invest in renewable-energy sources will greatly damage America's competitiveness internationally, he added. "In 20 to 30 years, when many countries will have already successfully switched over to renewable-energy sources, the U.S. will still be stuck with carbon."

Other delegates similarly reminded the U.S. of its responsibility to address climate change and hoped cooperation could continue despite the change in leadership.

"U.S.-China cooperation on climate change should be very pragmatic," said Lu Xinming, deputy director of the Climate Division of the National Development and Reform Commission, adding that "as the largest developed country, the United States should of course understand its responsibility and obligations."

Contact editor Poornima Weerasekara (poornima@caixin.com)
HAMILTON, Bermuda, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

London announced as first Europe an city to host immersive art and music event following sell-out shows in Miami and the Bronx

By the artists. For the artists. For the people. 100% of profits direct to artist.

Featured art ists include: D Face, Conor Harrington , Hassan Hajj a j and Faile

Live music to be announced. Past performances from Alicia Keys , A$AP Rocky, Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa , A-TRAK and Young Thug

The worlds of visual art and music will collide when The Dean Collection x BACARDI bring their innovative, experiential platform No Commission to London from 8-10 December, 2016. Following sell out shows in Miami and the Bronx, the UK will play host to the iconic rum brand's first event in Europe featuring work from some of the world's most celebrated street and fine artists, live music acts, and DJ's.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442706 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442707 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442708 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442709 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442710 )

No Commission is a contemporary art fair, curated by music producer Swizz Beatz and The Dean Collection, to forge a direct link between artists' practices and art patronage. The platform is designed specifically to support both new and established artists. All artists are given their exhibition space for free and 100% of the sale of each artwork goes directly to the artists. The injection of immersive music performances from event collaborator BACARDI, shakes up the traditional art fair, creating a unique, cultural experience for visitors.

"Our theme for No Commission: London is 'Juxtaposition' and celebrates the journey from street art to fine art. Visitors will experience art and music, street art and fine art, street culture and high culture, a bit of grit, a bit of glamour," explains Swizz Beatz, music producer and global chief creative of culture for family-owned Bacardi. "It's great to be in the UK. London in particular has a strong connection with graffiti and contemporary art. But it doesn't stop here. We want to take No Commission around the world!"

The "we" Swizz refers to is rum brand BACARDI, who has been a committed partner in bringing No Commission to life from the on-set. The brand has a deep heritage in art and music dating back to the early 1900's - from hosting prohibition parties in Cuba to commissioning artworks for their offices around the world.

Zara Mirza, Head of Creative Excellence at Bacardi added, "This isn't just about slapping a logo on an event. This is about creating a global movement and cultural experience that artists and fans genuinely want to be part of. We don't just bring the music and the cocktails. BACARDI provides the platform for artists and lifts the night-time experience, taking it to a whole other level."

The Dean Collection X BACARDI present No Commission: London 8-10 December, 2016 at The Arches in Southwark, London (Ewer Street entrance, SE1 0NR, off Union St.). Tickets are FREE but there is limited availability. Visit http://nocommission.BACARDI.com for more information. Visitors must be 18 years of age or older.

Full list of artists displaying at No Commission: London are:

Ricardo Cavolo Fanakapan Miss Van Sandra Chevrier Hassan Hajjaj Jaybo Monk DANK (Dan Kitchener) HANDIEDAN Oker D*Face Conor Harrington Felipe Pantone Ben Fine Paul Insect Lucy Sparrow Jamie Evans Kai and Sunny Matthew Stone FAILE Tomokazu Matsuyama Gary Stranger Jason Woodside

About BACARDI Rum - The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste - BACARDI. The unique taste of BACARDI rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDI Mojito, the BACARDI Daiquiri, the BACARDI Cuba Libre, the BACARDI Pina Colada and the BACARDI Presidente. BACARDI rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 674 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDI rum is made in Puerto Rico and Mexico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. http://www.bacardi.com

The BACARDI brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

BACARDI, BACARDI UNTAMEABLE AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED

SOURCE BACARDI
ASCHHEIM, Germany, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Wirecard is now handling payment processing and risk management for Tamaris' online shop in 16 European countries

Wirecard AG is expanding its collaboration with the Detmold-based Wortmann Group, the biggest shoe manufacturer in Europe and market leader for fashionable women's shoes: from now on, the payment specialist will handle payment processing as well as risk management for the Tamaris brand's online shop in 16 European countries. The global payment provider is therefore enabling Tamaris customers to pay for their products online using Visa, MasterCard or PayPal.

This supplements Wirecard's current cooperation with the Wortmann Group: Wirecard has already been responsible for payment processing for Tamaris' German, Austrian and French online shops.

Marion Laewe, Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard AG: "We are delighted to use our country-specific payment solutions to support the Wortmann Group during their planned globalisation and expand our collaboration to include a further 13 countries. We are proud to have been able to convince Tamaris once again of our global expertise and to be able to support further technical implementation of their omnichannel strategy."

Wortmann Group collections are sold globally in 70 countries and in more than 15,000 shoe shops. The Tamaris brand is particularly successful, and has now developed its e-commerce business across Europe. Since November 2016, customers in 16 European countries have been able to choose from a wide range of women's shoes, bags and accessories online and pay for them conveniently.

Wirecard media contact:



Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com



About Wirecard:

Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard.

Wortmann Group media contact:



Wortmann Fashion Retail GmbH & Co. KG

Nico Gold

Tel: +49(0)5231-605-140

Email: pressestelle@wortmann.com



About the Wortmann Group

In financial year 2014/2015 (as at 31 May 2015), the Wortmann Group reported total sales of EUR 1.016 billion (previous year EUR 1.01 billion). With a volume of approximately 31 million pairs in the fashion segment and 27 million pairs in the standard segment, the Wortmann Group is one of Europe's largest shoe production and sales companies. In Europe, alongside the top brand Tamaris, the Group's brands also include Marco Tozzi, Caprice, Jana and s.Oliver shoes, as well as Novi Footwear Fareast Ltd. in Asia. The Group currently has 1,154 staff internationally (previous year: 1,114), of whom 582 are in Europe. Around 30,000 people work in production for the Detmold-based corporation around the world. The Wortmann Group's collections are offered in more than 70 countries and more than 15,000 shoe shops worldwide.

SOURCE Wirecard AG
The two billion year-old, 187.63 carat Foxfire Diamond is the largest uncut, gem-quality diamond mined in North America. It was unearthed in 2015 at the Diavik Diamond Mine, operated by Rio Tinto, in one of the most remote corners of the world130 miles from the North Pole in the Barren Lands of Canada's Northwest Territories. The Diavik Foxfire takes its reference from a term used in Canadian folklore, to describe the resemblance of the Northern Lights, to the brush of fox tails in the sky.

"The Foxfire Diamond is truly exceptional, one of the great treasures of the Earth," said Dr. Jeffery Post, Chair of the Department of Mineral Sciences and curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection. "We are delighted that our visitors will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view North America's largest gem-quality diamond in its natural form."

Diamonds of this carat weight were not believed to exist in North America. Because of this, the equipment at the Diavik Diamond Mine was configured to sift out stones smaller than six carats. The 187.63 carat diamond should technically have not survived, but its uncommonly flattened shape enabled it to safely pass through the crushers.

"The Foxfire was discovered and uncovered in epic feats of engineering that are in themselves quite remarkable, all the while being respectful of the environment and those who have lived on the land for centuries," said Arnaud Soirat, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto's Copper & Diamonds.

In June of 2016, the Foxfire Diamond was acquired in a competitive international auction by Deepak Sheth, President of Amadena Investments LLC. In electing to preserve the diamond intact, Sheth has maintained both the diamond's dazzling physical characteristics and its unique story.

"The combination of the Foxfire's exceptional size of 187.63 carats, fascinating provenance and ethical pedigree will ensure this two billion year-old diamond takes its place in history books. We may never again see a diamond of this size and quality from a North American diamond mine," said Deepak Sheth. "Further, we are honored to partner with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History to present our diamond alongside the world-renowned Hope diamond."

The Foxfire Diamond has boldly earned its place in history, as the largest known, uncut, gem-quality diamond mined in North America.

The National Museum of Natural History is one of the most-visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world's most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website and on Facebook and Twitter.

Amadena Investments LLC, is a New York Based company specializing in rare and fine quality collectable diamonds. Visit us at www.foxfirediamond.com or contact us at [email protected]

Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Amadena-Investments-Foxfire.mp4

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442676

SOURCE Amadena Investments LLC
TORONTO, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Morrison Hershfield is pleased to announce Catherine Karakatsanis will be inducted in to the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Canada's Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame. This comes after she is named Canada's Top 100 Award Winner for the fourth consecutive year.

Launched in 2003, the Top 100 Most Powerful Women Awards celebrate the progressive accomplishments of Canada's top female executives, as well as their organizations and networks. Catherine, who will receive the 'Corporate Executives' award for breaking new ground and barriers in her profession and for her contributions to society, will be honored during a gala celebration at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 24.

Catherine Karakatsanis' remarkable career at Morrison Hershfield is evident through the series of engineering and senior management positions held prior to becoming COO. She brings extensive engineering and management expertise to her role and as a member of the firm's Board of Directors. Ms. Karakatsanis is recognized for her diversity of business and engineering contributions through many industry awards, induction as a Fellow in the 'Canadian Academy of Engineering'; awarded the 'Engineering Medal of Management'; the 'Ontario Women's Directorate  Leading Women Building Communities Award'; among others. Her dedication to best management practices and commitment to the enrichment of the engineering profession have earned the respect of her colleagues at Morrison Hershfield and her peers across the country. She continues to be a role model, mentor and an inspiration.

The Top 100 Awards serve to recognize talented leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and to inspire the current and next generation to push the boundaries of what's possible. "For these highly accomplished women, receiving a Top 100 Award means much more than recognition or a chance to share the spotlight with other remarkable Winners, it's an opportunity to pay it forward," says WXN founder, Pamela Jeffery. "WXN Top 100 Award Winners are powerful women both in their careers and their potential to transcend boundaries to have a greater impact on the communities around them."

At Morrison Hershfield, we embrace the diversity of our talent and leverage this inclusiveness to better understand the needs of our clients and communities as we deliver value to the many projects we undertake across North America. Simply put, we believe that empowering women to reach their full potential leads to stronger business performance.

From everyone at Morrison Hershfield we congratulate Catherine on being celebrated as one of Canada's leading businesswomen!

About Morrison Hershfield

Morrison Hershfield is a market leading, employee owned engineering firm contributing to the social wellbeing and economic prosperity of the communities we serve. We are anchored by exceptional technical and solution experts, thought leaders and high performing employees across North America. Our highly focused approach to the clients and markets we serve ensures that we deliver the value our clients demand.

More information and details are available at morrisonhershfield.com

About the Women's Executive Network (WXN)



Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada's leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is a founding member of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, dedicated to increasing the diversity of Canada's corporate boards. In 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, followed by London, UK in 2015, creating an international community of female leaders.

More information and details are available at wxnetwork.com or top100women.ca.

The full list of WXN's 2016 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners can be found at https://www.wxnetwork.com/top-100/top-100-winners/.

SOURCE Morrison Hershfield Limited

Related Links

http://www.morrisonhershfield.com


MIAMI, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) in partnership with VISIT FLORIDA, the Greater Miami and The Beaches Hotel Association (GMBHA), and Florida Lodging and Restaurant Association hosted a Travel & Tourism Industry Forum to elevate ongoing efforts to fight mosquito borne illnesses, including Zika. Held November 21, 2016 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel, Miami-based travel industry leaders participating in the forum included hotels, airlines, cruise lines, restaurants, attractions, retail and transportation partners ready to solidify their commitment to create unprecedented industry best practices to support efforts in fighting mosquito-borne illnesses.

William D. Talbert III, CDME, President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Center tan jacket) and Rolando Aedo, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Blue suit directly behind William) in partnership with Paul Phipps, Chief Marketing Officer of Visit Florida and President and Chief Operating Officer of Fontainebleau Miami Beach hosted a Travel & Tourism Forum at Fontainebleau Miami Beach with industry leaders this... William D. Talbert III, CDME, President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau participates in yesterday's press conference at Roasters' n Toasters deli in Miami Beach with City of Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip and Florida Governor Rick Scott (left to right).

As a result of the forum, the GMCVB in partnership with the GMBHA is developing a pledge that will incorporate the industry's commitment and outline a series of mosquito mitigation efforts. The group will finalize the initiative in the near future.

"Yesterday's announcement by Florida Governor Rick Scott that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has lifted the Zika related travel advisory for 35 of the existing 57 streets in Miami Beach is an indication that the program set forth by our government partners is working and Greater Miami is ready to be a model-destination in dealing with Zika and any other mosquito borne-illness," says GMCVB President & CEO William D. Talbert, III, CDME. "Miami and the Beaches has welcomed a record-breaking (nearly) 12 million overnight visitors in the first time nine months of this year and the safety and health of our residents and visitors continues to be our top priority."

Contact: Media Relations, Jennifer Diaz 305-539-3084/800-955-3646(U.S./Canada)

Sara Joseph/Current Marketing at 212-445-8155

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442430

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442431

SOURCE Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau
SHANGHAI, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), a global leader in the PV industry, today announced that it will hold its 2016 annual general meeting on Monday, December 26, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (Beijing time) at 9F, Jinko Building, 99 Shouyang Road, Jingan District, Shanghai, China, for the following purposes:

To re-elect Mr. Kangping Chen as a director of the Company;

as a director of the Company; To re-elect Mr. Xianhua Li as a director of the Company;

as a director of the Company; To ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year of 2016;

To authorize the directors of the Company to determine the remuneration of the auditors;

To authorize each of the directors of the Company to take any and all action that might be necessary to effect the foregoing resolutions as such director, in his or her absolute discretion, thinks fit;

To receive and consider the audited financial statements and the report of the auditors for the year ended December 31, 2015 , and the report of the board of directors; and

, and the report of the board of directors; and To act upon such other matters as may properly come before our annual general meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

Only shareholders of record at the close of business on November 25, 2016 (New York time) are entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the Company's annual general meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

The notice of the Company's annual general meeting and the Company's 2015 Annual Report, containing the complete audited financial statements and the report of auditors for the year ended December 31, 2015, together with the report of directors, are available on the Investor Relations Section of the Company's website at www.jinkosolar.com.

The Company will provide to all holders of its ordinary shares, upon request, a hard copy of the Company's 2015 Annual Report and the report of the directors free of charge.

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a global leader in the solar industry. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 4.5 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 3.7 GW for solar cells, and 6.5 GW for solar modules, as of September 30, 2016.

JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Xinjiang Provinces, China, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, 16 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and South Africa. 18 global sales offices in China (2), United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.

To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends, "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Mr. Sebastian Liu

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86 21-5183-3056

Email: [email protected]

Mr. Christian Arnell

Christensen, Beijing

Tel: +86 10 5900 2940

Email: [email protected]

In the U.S.:

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Christensen, Scottsdale, Arizona

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.jinkosolar.com


SHERBROOKE, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Media5 Corporation, the leading provider of IP-based communications solutions, launches the new member of its gateway portfolio, the Mediatrix G7 Series. Featuring PRI, FXS, and FXO interfaces; these reliable and comprehensive platforms combine phone adaptor and media gateway capabilities to connect legacy equipment to cloud telephony services and IP PBX systems to PSTN landlines.

Designed for small and medium businesses, the Mediatrix G7 Series goes up to 120 simultaneous VoIP channels, ensuring carrier-grade voice quality, robust security and easy configuration and management for mass deployments. Operators and system integrators can benefit from Mediatrix G7 VoIP gateway platform to interconnect any analog or TDM device to SIP trunks or access PSTN lines  among other scenarios and use cases.

The flexible combination of analog and digital telephony interfaces turns the Mediatrix G7 Series into a unique and valuable platform, capable to address complex deployment scenarios on customers' premises. "Media5 performed proof tests on the G7 gateways for different applications; solving complex implementation challenges, and allowing to phase-out hard-to-maintain TDM switches", states the Mediatrix Product Line Manager Eric Beaudoin.

And completes: "Regardless of the operator, the system integrator or the enterprise deployments, the Mediatrix G7 Series offers the most reliable, comprehensive, and cutting edge media gateways currently available on the market. Every component and technological innovation, present in this new product, is engineered by taking into account the best user experience, excellence in Quality of Service, and our customers' satisfaction".

ABOUT MEDIA5

Media5 Corporation is a global supplier of multimedia communication solutions, offering a complete set of SIP-based products and technologies. With a focus on innovation and excellence in customer support, Media5 delivers highly adaptive hardware and software components as well as ready-to-market SoftClients.

Mediatrix access devices include a complete set of VoIP Adaptors, Media Gateways, and Session Border Controllers customer premise equipment to connect any network to cloud telephony services.

Present in more than one hundred countries, Media5 has its corporate offices in Canada with regional offices in United States, Europe, and Latin America.

SOURCE Media5 Corporation
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442768 )



All of the discussions were related to the Triple Bottom Line (people, planet and profit), and ensuring that food production can be achieved in the future while responding to the sustainability challenges that society faces. Each roundtable offered the chance for organisations to collaborate and share knowledge, so that the industry can move forward.

With a variety of speakers from across Europe, including academic institutions, NGOs and private organisations, the discussions were far reaching and informative. Further round tables and collaborative agreements will be the next steps from this event.

David Wilson, CEO of Proagrica comments, "This day demonstrated the sheer amount of resource that is dedicated to finding solutions to complex challenges of food production. With theoretical and practical research developing every day, it's an exciting time to be involved in agriculture and Proagrica is pleased to participate in driving the global agri agenda and offer our new platform and capabilities in Evidence-Based Production."

For more information about what Evidence-Based Production means, visit http://bit.ly/EvidenceBasedProduction

For a video of the presentation visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2C9zXkv9k (24:44)

Tweet us using the hastags #EBP # #agriday #bigdata #smartagri and tag @Proagrica @UKinFrance @SAFThinkTank

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Snezana Petrovic Angharad Belcher Chief Marketing Officer Account Manager Proagrica rdp [email protected] [email protected] +44 (0)20 8652 2077 +44 (0) 1452 429 177

Notes to Editors

Proagrica is a global division of Reed Business Information and the RELX Group, a FTSE 100 company. Proagrica provides critical decision-support to the global agriculture industry by delivering high-value insight and data, trusted workflow tools, proven integration technology and effective channels-to-market. We're proud of our market-leading brands in Europe, as well as a growing footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, South Africa and the US. Our portfolio includes flagship media brands Farmers Weekly and Boerderij, as well as the latest in the integration and connectivity capabilities that F4F offers across the supply chain. We're known for our industry leading farm management software Farmplan and GateKeeper, but with an increasing need for actionable insight from data and analytics, we have been developing new products in this area under our Agility brand.

About Reed Business Information

Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries.

http://www.reedbusiness.com

About RELX Group

RELX Group is a worldleading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 27.3bn GBP / 31.9bn Euro / 34.0bn USD*.

*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investorcentre

SOURCE Proagrica, Reed Business Information
DEN HAAG, Netherlands, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Anyone searching for a cool personal robot might be interested in Dawody Robotics, Bobbie 1S robot. This cute humanoid robot is voice controlled and can be used as a home guard, personal assistant, educational robot and family member in one.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161122/442124

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161122/442125

Bobbie 1S Bobbie version 2

The robot can be described as a Smartbot. A telephone and robot in one, Bobbie is equipped with a touch screen monitor and a camera that enables it to monitor the house, make calls, surf the web, receive messages and much more.

Bobbie has a simple program, making it easy for young and old to develop new applications for it. Bobbie has its own, sometimes annoying character that makes him special. Sometimes Bobbie will give surprising answers while having a chat with him. While shooting a promotion video, the founder of Dawody Robotics asked Bobbie who the President is. Bobbie's answer was that he is officially running for president himself, promising to make Dawody Robotics great again.

(See link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/humanoide-robot-bobbie-1s#/)

Dawody Robotics' aim is to introduce Bobbie's little brother in 2017 in collaboration with a partner company that will truly change the way we look at robots. "Our aim is to have robots in every household in a time span of 5 years from now, just like people have mobile phones nowadays," said Safa Dawody, the founder of Dawody Robotics. The price for Bobbie 1S is from $340 USD for the Super Early Birds and will be shipped estimated in March 2017 to its new owners. Who knows, maybe Bobbie 1S will make it to the White House one day.

Media contact:

Jason Stewart

[email protected]

0031623299180

SOURCE Dawody Robotics
(Beijing)  China said it will try to conclude soon a 16-nation trade pact to deepen ties with its Asian neighbors, an announcement that follows U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's announcement that his administration will back out of the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Asian leaders are pressing ahead with talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said during a news briefing Thursday.

"On the basis of respecting common core interests, China will make a concerted effort with all parties to conclude the trade pact as soon as possible and contribute to the economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region," Shen said without giving a time frame.

So far, the 16 countries have conducted 15 rounds of talks, and commerce ministers of the nations have had four meetings to negotiate details of the proposed trade deal, Shen said.

The RCEP includes the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus India and five other countries in Oceania and the Far East  including China. The pact is often seen as an alternative to the U.S.-led TPP, which has 12 Pacific Rim signatories but excludes China. To date, none of the TPP signatories has ratified the pact.

The ministry's statement follows the announcement by Trump on Tuesday that he will withdraw the U.S. from the TPP on his first day in the White House. Trump will assume the presidency on Jan. 20.

When asked how the status of the TPP will influence China, the spokesman said China will deepen reform, continue opening up and actively participate in bilateral and multilateral trade regardless how the TPP and RCEP fare.

During a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting last week, President Xi Jinping pledged to boost global trade and cooperation by giving greater access to foreign investors.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Calum Gordon (calum@caixin.com)
WAYNE, Pa., Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryan & Maniskas, LLP announces it has filed a class action lawsuit in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased StoneMor Partners L.P. ("StoneMor" or the "Company") (NYSE: STON) common units between January 19, 2012 and October 27, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Additionally, purchasers who acquired units in the Company's March 2013, February 2014, May 2014, July 2015, November 2015 or April 2016 offerings are also included in this lawsuit.

StoneMor shareholders may, no later than January 20, 2017, move the Court for appointment as a lead plaintiff of the Class. If you purchased shares of StoneMor and would like to learn more about these claims or if you wish to discuss these matters and have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights, contact Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire toll-free at (877) 316-3218 or to sign up online, visit: www.rmclasslaw.com/cases/ston.

StoneMor is the second largest owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States. The complaint charges StoneMor and certain of its current and former officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Specifically, according to the Complaint, StoneMor made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose during the Class Period: (1) that the Company's reported non-GAAP financial metrics were materially misleading and concealed the truth about the Company's actual financial condition; and (2) that the primary purpose of the Company's regular debt and equity offerings were to pay distributions to unitholders rather than to pay down indebtedness under the Company's revolving credit facility as publicly stated. As a result, StoneMor's statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

If you are a member of the class, you may, no later than January 20, 2017, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff of the class. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Ryan & Maniskas, LLP or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.

For more information regarding this, please contact Ryan & Maniskas, LLP (Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire) toll-free at (877) 316-3218 or by email at [email protected] or visit: www.rmclasslaw.com/cases/ston. For more information about class action cases in general or to learn more about Ryan & Maniskas, LLP, please visit our website: www.rmclasslaw.com.

Ryan & Maniskas, LLP is a national shareholder litigation firm. Ryan & Maniskas, LLP is devoted to protecting the interests of individual and institutional investors in shareholder actions in state and federal courts nationwide.

CONTACT: Ryan & Maniskas, LLP

Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire

995 Old Eagle School Rd., Suite 311

Wayne, PA 19087

484-588-5516

877-316-3218

www.rmclasslaw.com/cases/ston

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121112/MM11729LOGO

SOURCE Ryan & Maniskas, LLP

Related Links

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No Commission is a contemporary art fair, curated by music producer Swizz Beatz and The Dean Collection, to forge a direct link between artists' practices and art patronage. The platform is designed specifically to support both new and established artists. All artists are given their exhibition space for free and 100% of the sale of each artwork goes directly to the artists. The injection of immersive music performances from event collaborator BACARDI, shakes up the traditional art fair, creating a unique, cultural experience for visitors.

"Our theme for No Commission: London is 'Juxtaposition' and celebrates the journey from street art to fine art. Visitors will experience art and music, street art and fine art, street culture and high culture, a bit of grit, a bit of glamour," explains Swizz Beatz, music producer and global chief creative of culture for family-owned Bacardi. "It's great to be in the UK. London in particular has a strong connection with graffiti and contemporary art. But it doesn't stop here. We want to take No Commission around the world!"

The "we" Swizz refers to is rum brand BACARDI, who has been a committed partner in bringing No Commission to life from the on-set. The brand has a deep heritage in art and music dating back to the early 1900's - from hosting prohibition parties in Cuba to commissioning artworks for their offices around the world.

Zara Mirza, Head of Creative Excellence at Bacardi added, "This isn't just about slapping a logo on an event. This is about creating a global movement and cultural experience that artists and fans genuinely want to be part of. We don't just bring the music and the cocktails. BACARDI provides the platform for artists and lifts the night-time experience, taking it to a whole other level."

The Dean Collection X BACARDI present No Commission: London 8-10 December, 2016 at The Arches in Southwark, London (Ewer Street entrance, SE1 0NR, off Union St.). Tickets are FREE but there is limited availability. Visit http://nocommission.BACARDI.com for more information. Visitors must be 18 years of age or older.

Full list of artists displaying at No Commission: London are:

Ricardo Cavolo Fanakapan Miss Van Sandra Chevrier Hassan Hajjaj Jaybo Monk DANK (Dan Kitchener) HANDIEDAN Oker D*Face Conor Harrington Felipe Pantone Ben Fine Paul Insect Lucy Sparrow Jamie Evans Kai and Sunny Matthew Stone FAILE Tomokazu Matsuyama Gary Stranger

Jason Woodside

About BACARDI Rum - The World's Most Awarded Rum

In 1862, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, founder Don Facundo Bacardi Masso revolutionized the spirits industry when he created a light-bodied rum with a particularly smooth taste - BACARDI. The unique taste of BACARDI rum inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world's most famous recipes including the BACARDI Mojito, the BACARDI Daiquiri, the BACARDI Cuba Libre, the BACARDI Pina Colada and the BACARDI Presidente. BACARDI rum is the world's most awarded spirit, with more than 674 awards for quality, taste and innovation. Today, BACARDI rum is made in Puerto Rico and Mexico where it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862. http://www.bacardi.com

The BACARDI brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

BACARDI, BACARDI UNTAMEABLE AND THE BAT DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442709

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442710

SOURCE BACARDI

Related Links

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LONDON, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Report Details



The latest report from business intelligence provider visiongain offers comprehensive analysis of the top 100 cyber security companies. These are the ones that you need to watch in 2016 as the cyber security market gathers pace.



Now: The cyber security market is going through a period of rapid growth and innovation as industry leaders and policymakers struggle to contain the effects of cyber-attacks and data breaches, hence the high rate of mergers and acquisitions in the sector. The highest valued acquisition in the cyber security sector was announced in October 2015 when Dell announced the takeover of EMC. This is an example of the business critical headline that you need to know about - and more importantly, you need to read visiongain's objective analysis of how this will impact your company and the industry more broadly. How are you and your company reacting to this news? Are you sufficiently informed?



How this report will benefit you

We know that the cyber security market is highly fragmented, very dynamic with high levels of M&A activity and there is much to play for with established incumbents at risk of losing significant business opportunities to aspiring innovators.



Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in the cyber security sector. Visiongain's new study tells you and tells you NOW.



In this brand new report you will receive 137 in-depth tables, charts and graphs PLUS 8 EXCLUSIVE expert interviews  all unavailable elsewhere.



The 356 page report provides clear detailed insight into the top 100 companies in the cyber security market. It reveals the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.



By ordering and reading our brand new report today you will be better informed and ready to act.



Report Scope

- 8 full transcripts of exclusive visiongain interviews with key opinion-leaders in the market, from the following companies:

- Arxan

- Bayshore Networks

- Cisco

- CodeDx

- Corero Network Security

- Haverjac Group

- High-Tech Bridge

- Nexusguard



- Examination of how the cyber security market is evolving

- Analysis of game changing technological trends being employed by the leading cyber security players and how these will shape the industry.

- Who are the leading 100 cyber security companies and what are their prospects over the forecast period? See profiles of the companies operating within the sector with analysis of their prospects

- See tables of significant contracts for the leading cyber security companies



- SWOT analysis of the major strengths and weaknesses of the market, together with the opportunities available and the key threats faced.

- Market conclusions & recommendations.



How will you benefit from this report?

- This report will keep your cyber security knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind

- This report will reinforce strategic decision decision-making based upon definitive and reliable market data

- You will learn how to exploit new technological trend within cyber security

- You will be able to realise your company's full potential within the market

- You will better understand the competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships



Who should read this report?

- Anyone within the cyber security value chain.

- CEO's

- COO's

- CIO's

- Business development managers

- Marketing managers

- Technologists

- Suppliers

- Investors

- Banks

- Government agencies

- Contractors



Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the top companies in the cyber security market. You will find data, trends and predictions.



Buy our report today Top 100 Cyber Security Companies: Ones to Watch in 2016: Leaders in Cloud, Endpoint, Net, App, Data, Security Operations & Identification Management. Avoid missing out by staying informed  order our report now.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3573179/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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LONDON, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Walter Schindler, Managing Partner of SAIL Capital Partners LLC (www.sailcapital.com), has been honored with two Corporate Vision Magazine 2016 Executive Awards: Best Sustainable Investment Firm CEO  New York and Venture Capital Expert of the Year  New York.

The 2016 Corporate Vision Executive Awards pay tribute to the shining stars of the executive world who form not just the backbone of their individual firms, but of their wider sectors and industries. They exhibit creativity, innovation and passion and are the driving force behind their firms' growth and prosperity.

Elizabeth Panayi, Awards Coordinator, expressed her pride in the awardees: "This awards programme highlights the very best executives from across the business market, and it has been a real pleasure to be able to showcase the hard work and commitment of these innovators and visionaries who are working tirelessly to ensure the continued prosperity of their firms. I would just like to wish every one of my winners the very best of fortunes in the future." To learn more about these illustrious winners, and to find out the secrets behind their success, please visit http://www.corp-vis.com/.

About Corporate Vision Magazine

Created by a highly experienced and passionate team of business experts, advisors and insiders, Corporate Vision Magazine provides discerning readers worldwide with a wealth of news, features and comment on the corporate issues of the day.

SOURCE SAIL Capital Partners LLC

Related Links

http://www.sailcapital.com


Empty tanks for freshwater fish are on display Thursday at Carrefour's Tiantongyuan store in Beijing's Changping district. The store stopped selling freshwater fish two weeks ago. Photo: Yang Yifan/Caixin

Live freshwater fish have been disappearing from Beijing's supermarkets  a phenomenon that the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) attributes to leaked news of impending food safety inspections.

Sixteen out of 20 supermarkets visited by Beijing Youth Daily reporters in the city's Tongzhou district did not have any stock of live fish. These included branches of major chains like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Yonghui and Wumart.

Even shoppers at upmarket chain BHG, which runs supermarkets in luxury malls like Taikoo Li Sanlitun and the SKP Mall, have been having a hard time finding live fish. Staff at the Xizhimen BHG branch in central Beijing told Caixin reporters that they received instructions to stop selling live fish a few days ago, but were not told when sales would resume.

CFDA representatives told Caixin that the vanishing fish were a sign that supermarket operators had found out about the agency's upcoming aquaculture inspections.

On Thursday afternoon, the CFDA published a copy of an internal document dated Nov. 3 detailing its plans to inspect aquaculture products in 12 cities, including Beijing. Inspections were to include checks for chemical contamination in fish.

"The leak shows that our agency has some difficulty in keeping things secret," said one CFDA staff member, adding that supermarkets' instinctive response to news of inspections is to pull stock off the shelves.

The CFDA maintains that the current situation is not caused by tainted fish.

Contaminated seafood has been a major source of anxiety in the past for Chinese consumers. Earlier this month, Jiangsu provincial authorities suspended exports of hairy crabs after finding high levels of carcinogens in some of them.

In 2010, the local government in Shanghang county, Fujian province, had to pay farmers for more than 1,000 tons of fish after a toxic mine leak in the Tingjiang River. Authorities bought and destroyed the fish to stop them from being sold to consumers, the Global Times reported.

The municipal Beijing Food and Drug Administration (BFDA) also chimed in on the matter, publishing a Sina Weibo microblog post on Wednesday saying that rumors about polluted water tainting the city's fish supply were false.

The BFDA cited a Wumart food safety manager who claimed that supermarkets in the city have stopped selling live freshwater fish like grass carp and perch because customers have changed their buying habits and now prefer refrigerated or frozen fish.

The recent dearth of fish was due to year-end adjustments based on consumer habits observed over the year, and was part of normal business behavior, the Wumart manager said.

When asked about their empty seafood tanks, Jingkelong staff at the midpriced chain's Sanlitun branch told Caixin the supermarket was due to receive new stocks of live fish on Saturday.

Contact editor Calum Gordon (calum@caixin.com)
New Delhi, Nov 22 : More than 50 AAP leaders including Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were on Tuesday detained here by police after a protest march against demonetisation. Sisodia was later released.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey said "52 to 53" party leaders including ministers and MLAs were detained at the Parliament Street police station in the heart of the city.

The detention took place after some 400 to 500 AAP leaders and activists marched from near the Jantar Mantar monument towards Parliament, shouting slogans including "Note nahin, PM badlo" (Not currency, change the PM).

As they reached the police barricades outside the police station, about a kilometre ahead of Parliament, Sisodia gave a speech hurling corruption allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the November 8 demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes had caused misery to the common people while, he alleged, pleasing the friends of the Prime Minister.

Among those detained were ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain as well as many AAP members of the Delhi assembly.

"Sisodia has been detained along with some AAP leaders and supporters," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal earlier told IANS.

The AAP has come out strongly against demonetisation, saying the currency spike was a scam aimed at bailing out corporate houses that had borrowed heavily from banks.
New Delhi, Nov 22 : More than 50 AAP leaders including Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were on Tuesday detained - and then freed - after leading a protest against demonetisation.

Denouncing the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Sisodia led hundreds of slogan-shouting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists on a march from near the Jantar Mantar monument towards Parliament.

"The demonetisation has destroyed people's lives while it has had no effect on black money," Sisodia addressed the gathering that also included Delhi ministers Gopal Rai, Kapil Mishra and Satyendar Jain.

Several AAP members of the Delhi assembly also joined the noisy protest, carrying placards demanding the reversal of the November 8 demonetisation of the high value currency that has led to a cash chaos.

As they reached the police barricades outside the Parliament Street police station, barely one kilometre ahead of Parliament, Sisodia gave another speech hurling corruption allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the demonetisation had caused misery and deaths to the common man.

"It was claimed that demonetisation will stop terror funding. Then how did the terrorists killed in Kashmir have the new 2,000 rupee notes on them?

"We were told that demonetisation will end corruption. But people are still indulging in bribery, using the new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes," the AAP leader said.

Police said they detained over 50 AAP leaders including Sisodia, Jain, Rai and Mishra as well as many MLAs. All of them were released later.

The AAP has come out strongly against demonetisation, saying the currency spike was a scam aimed at bailing out corporate houses that had borrowed heavily from banks.
New Delhi, Nov 23 : Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday disallowed the adjournment motion notices by opposition parties for a debate on demonetisation, amid huge uproar from opposition benches.

The pandemonium saw the house being adjourned for the day around 12.30 p.m.

As the lower House met after an adjournment at 12 noon, Mahajan permitted members from opposition and treasury benches to speak on the issue of having a debate on demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

Most opposition members demanded that the debate should take place under adjournment motion, even as Biju Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) said they have not given adjournment notices.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition is ready for a debate, and accused the government of not wanting to debate on the demonetisation issue.

"Prime Minister says outside that few people are supporting black money... They do not want a discussion here," he said.

Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said the Prime Minister does not belong to a party but to everyone and he should listen to the opposition.

"Around 300 MPs staged a sit in protest near the Gandhi statue (in Parliament complex). The government has a majority here, even if there is voting they will win," he said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader P. Karunakaran said some parties in the ruling NDA were also against demonetisation and named the Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul however maintained that they were not against the move to scrap 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, but the party has raised the issue of inconvenience to the people with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Prime Minister has assured us there would be relief," he said.

BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and TRS leader A.P. Jithender Reddy said their parties have not given an adjournment notice but want a debate. They urged the ruling and opposition members to come to a conclusion and let the debate take place.

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the nation is backing the demonetisation decision.

"Let the discussion take place... people want the house to function and debate this issue. The whole nation is backing the Prime Minister on this decision," he said.

After listening to the members, the Speaker however decided to disallow the adjournment motion, which created a huge uproar among the opposition members.

The house then functioned briefly amid din, before Mahajan adjourned it for the day as opposition members continued creating ruckus.
Paris, Nov 24 : The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, whose Paris offices were targeted by the jihadists in January 2015, will launch a German edition in December.

The French magazine will print 200,000 copies in German next week to recognise the support it received after the 2015 attacks that killed its Paris editorial staff, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, reported the Guardian.

The German version that will launch on December 1, would consist mainly of articles and cartoons translated from the French.

The editors also plan to create German content by collaborating with German cartoonists, she said.

Priced at four euro it would be available across Germany every Thursday.

Germans had bought 70,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo's survivors' edition, which appeared one week after the massacre.

Currently, the sales of the French edition stand at about 1,000 a week in Germany .

The attack at the Paris offices of the decades-old magazine had left 12 people dead including some of France's best-known cartoonists.

Charlie Hebdo, which provides part of its content in English on its website, sells 60,000 copies a week on the newsstand and has 50,000 subscribers.

Germany has two leading satirical monthlies, Titanic and Eulenspiegel.
Beijing, Nov 24 : Forty people were killed when an under construction building collapsed in China on Thursday.

The accident occurred at about 7 a.m. in Jiangxi when the platform of a power plant's cooling tower collapsed, Xinhua news reported.

Total number of the workers involved in the accident remains unknown. Five injured workers were rushed to hospital. Rescue work was on.
People crowd the entrance to the subway station outside the Beijing Railway Station on Oct. 7, the last day of the seven-day national holiday. Photo: Visual China

(Beijing)  Attempts by Beijing city authorities to reduce the population in the city's six bustling downtown districts have failed to meet annual targets despite the relocation of dozens of markets and the shuttering of hundreds of schools for migrant children.

Official records show that the number of residents in the capital's six overcrowded central districts in the first nine months fell by 96,000, one-fourth the annual target, Lu Yan, head of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Development and Reform, told The Beijing News.

Authorities have tried to push out low-income migrant workers from the city center as part of its efforts to cap the Chinese capital's population at 23 million residents by 2020.

The clampdown on migrants started in 2014 with the relocation of dozens of retail and wholesale markets, where traders sold clothes and household items at steep discounts, to the fringes of the city or to bordering Hebei province.

Authorities have also made it harder for migrant children to find a school in the city.

China's rigid household registration system stipulates extra requirements if migrant students want to attend public schools in cities, forcing many who migrate with their parents to study in cramped schools that lack qualified teachers.

Education authorities in the past year have closed hundreds of schools attended by children of construction workers, roadside food sellers and other low-skilled migrant workers.

But a recent study by Dr. Song Yinquan at Peking University's China Institute for Educational Finance Research found that 70% of migrant children whose schools were shut down chose to stay in Beijing with their parents even though they had no place to study.

The city also pushed up requirements for migrant children to enter public schools in late 2014. Earlier, migrant parents were required to provide five documents, including employment contracts and a local residence permit, to admit a child to a public school.

But several parents interviewed by Caixin complained that since last year, public schools have introduced new restrictions and were asking for nearly 20 documents. For example, a migrant family living in Dongcheng, a popular school district, have to prove that both parents have a full-time job in Beijing and that at least one was employed in the district, a parent said.

Several families from outside Beijing, surviving on temporary jobs, told Caixin that they registered a fake business, exploiting loopholes in the city's lax business registration law to get a fake job contract that they could show school-admission panels.

"We'll do whatever we can as long as our children can go to school," one parents said.

In addition to closing primary and secondary schools, the city government is also relocating dozens of vocational schools, which mainly cater to migrant youth  and some colleges out of downtown Beijing. The city government says it plans to cut the number of vocational schools by half to 60 by 2020.

Education authorities have also told higher-education institutions to cut enrollment quotas for students from outside the capital. As a result, Beijing Modern Vocational School in Dongcheng district, which earlier offered 40% of its places to students from migrant families, has reduced the number of students it admitted from 200 to 60 from 2012 to 2015, a school administrator said.

All 89 universities in Beijing have been told to freeze enrollment for the next five years. City officials have ordered some colleges to build new campuses in the outskirts of Beijing and even in neighboring Hebei province and relocate their undergraduate programs there.

The forced relocation might undermine the teaching and research quality at universities by making it harder for them to attract top talent, said Zhao Hong, vice director of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

While the government's ham-fisted measures have not pushed out rural migrants already in the capital, it may have deterred others from moving in.

Beijing's population growth slowed to 0.5% in the first three quarters, Lu told The Beijing News. This represented an increase of 98,000 people, well below the average annual target of 260,000 new residents that was set for the next five years.

Beijing had 21.75 million permanent residents  those who have lived and worked in the capital for at least six months, according to official statistics.

And it was well on its way to meeting the 2020 target of reining in the population to 23 million, Lu said.

The city government also plans to move most municipal government agencies to Tongzhou district in the outskirts of the capital next year, which will result in 1 million civil servants moving out of downtown Beijing.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com); editor Poornima Weerasekara (poornima@caixin.com)
Mumbai, Nov 24 : Actor Hrithik Roshan, whose film "Dhoom 2" has completed 10 yeras of its release in Hindi filmdom, says it will always be a milestone for him.

Hrithik, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film "Kaabil", tweeted: "Thank you for the trend guys. 'Dhoom 2' will always be a milestone I will cherish. Love you all."

Hrithik's co-actor and friend Abhishek Bachchan thanked his co-stars and his wife and actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

"10 Years 'Dhoom 2' the best of friends and the best memories. Thank you Sanjay Gadhvi, Uday Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Hrithik and the Mrs," Abhishek tweeted.

The movie revolves around two buddy police officers Jai and Ali . The two have to catch "Mr.A", an international thief who has planned to steal a priceless artifact in Mumbai.
Islamabad, Nov 24 : Pakistan and the European Union have agreed to continue cooperation in the spheres of counter terrorism, security and defence, disarmament and non-proliferation, officials said on Thursday.

Top diplomats reached the agreement at the seventh meeting of Pakistan-EU Joint Commission held in Islamabad on Wednesday, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

They welcomed the holding of the second Dialogue on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, as well as the fifth round of the Counter-Terrorism Dialogue in April 2016 in Brussels.

The Pakistan side was jointly led by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Tariq Bajwa. The EU delegation was led by Gunnar Wiegand, managing director of the European External Action Service.

The meeting discussed the economic reform programme of the Pakistani government and the EU welcomed the progress made in this respect.

The EU acknowledged the challenges faced by Pakistan in hosting over 3 million Afghan refugees and is ready to consider providing additional support, including for their voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan in safety and dignity.

They also agreed to further cooperate on migration issues, including irregular migration, and reaffirmed their commitment to the continued implementation of the EU-Pakistan Readmission Agreement.

Both sides recognised the importance of mutual cooperation in the field of energy.

They welcomed the agreement to hold a first EU-Pakistan energy meeting in January 2017 in Brussels to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information.

The next meeting of the bilateral joint commission will be held in Brussels in 2017.
Jerusalem, Nov 24 : An Israeli army officer was killed when his tank overturned in the Golan Heights, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.

Three other soldiers were injured in the accident that occurred overnight during "routine training", Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying.

The dead soldier was identified as Sergeant Ido Ben-Ari, a 20-year-old tank commander in the 401st Brigade.

Military authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, and annexed it in 1981, a move not recognised internationally.
Noida/New Delhi, Nov 24 : Hit hard by an unprecedented cash crunch, many banks are just refusing to let customers withdraw the Rs 24,000 they are entitled to every week as per RBI guidelines.

An IANS correspondent who went from bank to bank both in New Delhi and adjoining Noida found confusion over the issue -- and resentment and anger among disappointed clients.

Post demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India said that an individual will be allowed to take out a maximum of Rs 24,000 every week from his or her account.

But with people mobbing banks and cash supplies not keeping pace with the demand, many banks feel the 24,000 rupee limit is on the higher side - and are making their own arbitrary rules.

The argument of some bank managers is that if they go by the RBI upper limit, they will be able to please only some of their customers -- while the queues outside keep getting longer.

"There is not sufficient cash to meet the demands of all the customers. We distribute tokens to people and we set out the limit for the day depending on the number of customers," a Union Bank of India branch manager told IANS.

A board outside the Axis Bank at Noida Sector 16 reads: "Withdrawal limit is Rs 5,000 today (Thursday)."

Naturally, people queuing up outside the bank were furious.

"I need at least Rs 13,000 to meet all household needs but the bank is allowing me to withdraw only Rs 5,000. I have to pay my children's school fees and buy groceries. I feel so helpless," moaned Mohammad Aminoor, a resident of Mayur Vihar in east Delhi.

Aminoor, in his mid-20s, will have to keep visiting the bank every day. He has no other choice.

An Info-Power employee, Shiv Shankar Misra was equally bitter.

"It is so unfair that bankers are not at all considerate," Misra told IANS. "There is an emergency in my family and I need Rs 10,000 as soon as possible but they have themselves defined the upper limit."

An HDFC Bank branch manager said the bank was requesting customers to take out Rs 10,000 a day because they needed to cater to a large number of people.

Not wishing to be named, the manager told IANS: "If somebody is in very bad need of money, we permit them (to take out 24,000 rupees). Anyway, we are bound to entertain those who come with cheques filled at their home."

The Punjab National Bank and the State Bank of India, two of the largest state-owned banks in the country, are, however, sticking to the RBI norms.

"We haven't set any rules against the RBI. If you have money in your account, you can surely withdraw Rs 24,000 at once," one PNB bank manager told IANS.

An SBI manager said: "Till the time we don't run out of cash, we allow people to withdraw the amount set by the RBI."

Another bank officer said they were getting requests from relatives and friends - who do not want to stand in serpentine queues - to withdraw cash from their accounts outside of the banking hours.

"It's a mess, if you ask me," the officer told IANS. "We are so hard pressed that sometimes we just feel like reporting sick and not coming to work. It's a total mess."
Colombo, Nov 24 : Sri Lanka's custom officials on Thursday seized a large haul of cocaine valued at $13.8 million in the international market.

The drug was being smuggled in a sugar container from Brazil, Xinhua news agency reported.

Customs Spokesman Dharmasena Kahandawa said the 200 kg of seized cocaine was hidden in eight sugar bags in a shipping container.

An investigation has been launched to see if the cocaine had been smuggled for the local market or elsewhere.

"The shipping container was en route to Portugal. So the Police Narcotics Bureau has launched an investigation," Kahandawa said.

The seized cocaine has been handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation.

Customs officials have beefed up their examination on sugar containers arriving from Brazil after a large haul of cocaine was seized in June.

Sri Lankan authorities are trying to probe if Colombo is being used as a transit point to smuggle drugs.
Kathmandu, Nov 24 : Amid worry over India's move to demonetise 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, that has affected tens of thousands of Nepalese who work in India, the Indian embassy here held an informal meeting with Nepali businesspersons to assuage concerns.

During the unofficial meeting with Nepali businesspersons on Wednesday, officials of the Embassy of India in Kathmandu said their government was positive about allowing each Nepali citizen to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth up to Rs 25,000 with legal bills here, the Kathmandu Post reported.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had suggested that exchange facility should be provided to Nepalese holding the banned Indian banknotes of 500 and 1,000 here in Nepal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced scrapping of the high value currency notes to curb the black money menace and terror finance.

"We have forwarded the modality prepared by the NRB to our central government and have received positive response," a leading businessperson quoted an embassy official as saying, according to the Post.

India is cautious about providing exchange facility to citizens of a foreign country, as it could be used as "a clearing house" to convert counterfeit currency into legal tenders, the businessperson said on the condition of anonymity.

"But we tried to convince Indian officials that there was very little chance of Nepal being used for that purpose because the payment is made in Nepali currency, which is of no use in India," he said. "Also, the embassy looks convinced with the modality prepared by the central bank."

The central bank in its modality forwarded to the Indian government had said it planned to collect recently banned Indian 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from Nepali citizens and send them to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for verification before offering equivalent exchange in Nepali currency.

The NRB has clearly stated that it will not provide over-the-counter exchange facility for Nepalese holding banned Indian currency, saying it lacks expertise and technology to identify counterfeit Indian currency.

As per the NRB's modality, Nepalese citizens have to open accounts at banks and financial institutions and deposit the demonetised Indian currency to receive the equivalent exchange directly in their bank accounts.

The modality was prepared by a technical committee formed under the leadership of its Deputy Governor Chintamani Siwakoti last week as per the request made by Indian Embassy of India in Kathmandu.

The Indian government has also formed a task force under the leadership of the RBI to come up with a modality to address the problems being faced by people of Nepal and Bhutan where the circulation of the banned Indian notes is high.

Earlier, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara through telephonic conversation had urged their Indian counterparts to arrange exchange facilities in Nepal as Nepalese have a large stock of Indian 500 and 1,000 bank notes.

The NRB has said that Nepal's financial system holds Rs 33.6 million in the denominations of Rs 500 and 1,000. The amount includes cash kept in the vaults of banks, financial institutions and the central bank.

The actual amount of the banned Indian bank notes in Nepal is expected to be much higher as Nepalese were previously allowed to carry up to Rs 25,000.
New Delhi, Nov 24 : A large number of traders from across Delhi held a 'katora' march on Thursday in Karol Bagh market here to protest against demonetisation of high-value currency notes.

Holding 'katoras' (bowls) in their hands, the protestors shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi including "note nahi, PM badlo" (change PM, not notes) and "Modi tere raaj mein, katora aa gaya hath mein" (we are forced to beg in Modi's rule).

Ever since Prime Minister Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, people have been forced to stand in queues outside ATMs and banks to withdraw their own money, they said.

Apart from traders, many transporters also participated in the protest organised by Aam Aadmi Party's trade wing.

The AAP has strongly opposed the Central government's demonetisation move and demanded its rollback.
Dhaka, Nov 24 : Bangladesh on Thursday sought support from the international community to resolve the longstanding Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, including the current situation, a minister has said.

Foreign Minister A. H Mahmood Ali discussed the Rohingya crisis at a meeting with the diplomatic community here. The Rohingyas are trying to enter Bangladesh to avoid persecution in Myanmar.

"During the briefing, they (foreign diplomats) expressed that they strongly support to resolve the problem through dialogue between the countries," the Minister said, the Daily Star reported.

Highlighting the Bangladesh government's effort to strengthen the relationship with Myanmar, Mahmood Ali said: "We have strengthened our engagement with Myanmar since the democratic government assumed in power."

He also expected that the situation in Myanmar would be normalised soon and the people staying temporarily in Bangladesh would be able to return to their homeland without fear and further violence and retaliation.

The hour-long meeting with diplomats began at the state guest house Padma in Dhaka around 5 p.m. where ambassadors and high commissioners from different countries including the US, India, China and European Union were present.

Bangladesh is denying entry to the Rohingyas who are coming in from the Naf river and land ports along the Cox's Bazar coastline every day.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry summoned the Myanmar envoy in Dhaka and expressed concerns over the issue. Dhaka also urged immediate steps to take back the Rohingyas.
New Delhi, Nov 24 : With India becoming the world's third largest oil consumer and its energy consumption projected to grow 128 per cent by 2035, the annual Petrotech international conference in December will play a key role in preparing a roadmap to satisfying the country's future energy needs, the government said on Thursday.

"The Petrotech 2016 will be a part of the continuing narrative of India's evolving energy scenario. This conference has a key role to play in developing the roadmap for the next 25 years in satisfying India's gigantic energy needs," Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters here at a curtain raiser for the December 5-7 event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 12th edition of the conference, Pradhan said.

"The conference goes beyond oil and gas to the overall energy sector. India seeks partnerships and collaborations," he added.

Noting that India had organised the leaders' summit of BRICS emerging economies in Goa last month, Pradhan said that oil-rich Russia had already made investments worth $13 billion in the Indian downstream industry.

He said confirmation of participation had been received from many countries including Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, Oatar, Iran, Cyprus, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Bhutan.

"In line with India's growing engagement in the enrgy domain, 49 ministers from other countries have been invited to the conferenece, the organisers said.

"Petrotech 2016 offers a unique opportunity to meet up with potential investors and partners, enabling buyers and sellers to interact in a structured manner in their areas of priority and preference," a statement said.

In this connection, Pradhan pointed out that the government had received 134 e-bids from 42 companies for exploring small oil and gas fields under the Discovered Small Fields Bid Round 2016.

The government has put up for bidding for production under a new revenue sharing model these small fields originally discovered by state-run explorers Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India. They, however, could not develop these because of their small size.

The auction was held under the new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy approved in March, which is based on a revenue-sharing model as opposed to cost-and-output-based norms earlier.

Under the Discovered Small Field Policy, the government had offered for bids 67 discovered small fields in 46 contract areas spread over nine sedimentary basins on land and in shallow and deep water areas.
Bogota, Nov 25 : Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono, signed a revised peace agreement here on Thursday.

The revised agreement will be sent to Congress, Xinhua news agency reported.

The initial peace agreement was rejected by a slight margin in an October 2 referendum vote, after the conservative opposition led by former hardline President Alvaro Uribe said it did not go far enough to hold the rebels accountable for past crimes.

The vote sent both sides back to the negotiating table, with Colombian President Santos insisting a new deal be ready as quickly as possible to maintain the momentum of the negotiations, which lasted nearly four years.

Santos' government said earlier this week that the new treaty takes into account the Opposition's concerns.
London, Nov 25 : Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the British people on Thursday that Brexit can still be stopped.

Xinhua news agency quoted Blair as saying that if the British public were to be given the chance to evaluate whatever final deal Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with Brussels minds could still be made up.

The European Union exit "can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain cost-benefit analysis doesn't stack up", said Blair, 63.

The former Labour Party leader said that he was not advocating it should be stopped, rather that it could happen if the reasons were compelling.

"Why wouldn't you keep your options open?" Blair said.

"Why wouldn't you say, 'We took this decision, we took it before we saw what its consequences are; now we see its consequences, we're not so sure,'" Blair told the New Statesman magazine in an interview.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced on Wednesday that "Brexit" will require Britain's Treasury to seek 122 billion pounds ($152 billion, or 143 billion euro) of extra borrowing and new spending plans in between now and 2020.

Blair, who was Britain's Prime Minister between 1997-2007, discarded his return to front-line politics because he considered there was "just too much hostility" towards him.

This year the Labour politician was criticised in a British government report on the Iraq war for authorising the invasion based on "dodgy" intelligence and before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.

The Conservative cabinet of Prime Minister Theresa May plans to enter official "Leave" negotiations with the European Union before April 2017, after the Brexit option won 51.9 per cent of the votes in the June 23 referendum.

May is waiting for a Supreme Court ruling that could oblige her to seek a parliamentary vote prior to invoking Article 50 that will then kick-start a two-year negotiation period between London and Brussels to agree on the conditions that will enable Britain to exit the European Union.
Van Rental Center is pleased to announce the opening of its new location. The new location will offer easier access for its customers, both those coming from nearby LAX and for local residents

Rental agency Van Rental Center (VRC) is proud to announce the November 2016 opening of its new location, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Located at 10100 Aviation Boulevard, Suite 200, the new location will offer easier access for its customers, both those coming from nearby LAX and for local residents. VRC notes that the new address also features a substantially enlarged lot. The additional space allows the agency to provide expanded, low-cost parking for customers and others. The extra room also means an even wider selection of vehicles. These will include the new, widely acclaimed 12 passenger 2016 Ford Transits, adds Van Rental Center.

The agency also notes that another benefit of the enlarged lots means that it will be able to offer low-priced overnight parking. Parking spaces will be open to area customers who wish to leave their regular vehicle at the VRC lot while using their rental van. In addition, L.A. based travelers heading to the airport are also invited to take advantage of the highly competitive parking rates and, yes, an airport shuttle will be available to these customers.

VRC adds that its very excited by its new Aviation Boulevard location and thinks that both new and returning customers will be delighted with the larger selection and added parking space.

About VRC

Offering an outstanding assortment of the finest vans on the market, VRC offers complete van rental service both to L.A. area residents and incoming travelers. The rental agencys assortment of feature-packed cargo vans and vans seating 7, 8, 11, 12, and 15 passengers from such makes as Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, and Toyota has been widely praised by customers. The agencys patrons also swear by the companys commitment to providing truly outstanding customer service for all of its customers. The company notes that other vehicle rental agencies may be able to treat customers like figures on a ledger, but they know that their customers are their most important asset, and they work hard to ensure complete satisfaction.

Readers who would like more information about VRC are encouraged to contact the agency at (310) 568-8230 or visit their website at http://www.VanRentalCenter.com. Vans may be delivered to customers locations, and experienced drivers are also available for customers who would rather leave the driving to a professional.
Our hospital system is committed to providing patients with the highest quality, most effective options to address their urology needs.

Dr. Ansar Khan of Fremont Urology, today announced that he will present a discussion about enlarged prostate and the UroLift System, the first permanent implant to treat symptoms due to urinary outflow obstruction secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men 50 years of age or older. Cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013, the UroLift System is designed to relieve symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate, while preserving sexual function. The Community Talk will be held at Fremont Hospital on November 29th from 6:30  7:30pm.

Our hospital system is committed to providing patients with the highest quality, most effective options to address their urology needs, said Dr. Khan, MD. The UroLift System has an excellent safety profile and provides men suffering from an enlarged prostate a beneficial first-line treatment alternative to drug therapy or more invasive surgery. Importantly, the UroLift System provides fast and meaningful relief from BPH symptoms, improving overall quality of life for our patients.

The UroLift System permanent implants, delivered during a minimally-invasive procedure, act like window curtain tie-backs to hold the lobes of an enlarged prostate open. Patients recover from the procedure quickly, and return to their normal routines with minimal downtime.

Data from clinical trials showed that patients receiving UroLift implants reported rapid symptomatic improvement, improved urinary flow rates, and sustained sexual function. Patients also experienced a significant improvement in quality of life. Most common adverse events reported include hematuria, dysuria, micturition urgency, pelvic pain, and urge incontinence. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure.

The Community Health talk will be held in the amphitheater of Fremont Hospital, 450 East 23rd Street, 3rd floor, Park Plaza. Space is limited, so attendees are encouraged to RSVP at (855) 564-9722. Partners and guests are invited to attend. A light meal and refreshments will be provided.

About BPH Treatment

More than 500 million aging men worldwide have an enlarged prostate. Medication is often the first line therapy but relief can be inadequate and temporary. Side effects of treatment can include sexual dysfunction, dizziness and headaches, prompting many patients to quit using the drugs. For these patients, the classic alternative is surgery that cuts or ablates prostate tissue to open the blocked urethra. While current surgical options, such as the 'gold standard' surgery, Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), can be very effective in relieving symptoms, they can also leave patients with permanent side effects such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and retrograde ejaculation (dry orgasm).

About UroLift

The UroLift System provides an alternative to tissue removing surgery for the treatment of an enlarged prostate. Performed through the urethra, a urologist uses the UroLift System to push aside the obstructive prostate lobes and positions small, tailored permanent UroLift implants to hold the prostate lobes in the retracted position. This opens the urethra while leaving the prostate intact. Adverse reactions associated with UroLift System treatment were comparable to other minimally invasive surgical therapies as well as standard cystoscopy. The most common adverse events reported during the study included pain or burning with urination, blood in the urine, pelvic pain, urgent need to urinate, and the inability to control urine because of an urgent need to urinate. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure.

About Fremont Urology

Urology Health Center, with offices in Fremont and Omaha, Nebraska, offers diagnosis and treatment of all urological condition and disorders. The mission of Urology Health Center is to provide our patients with the highest level of specialized care in a patient friendly environment. The offices can be reached at 402-727-5000 (Fremont) or 402-391-0705 (Omaha).

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Alan Foy, CEO of Blueface Group says,The Cloud Communications sector is growing at an increasing rate as organisations realize the benefits of this technology. Were excited that the release of Blueface UC will put us heart of business communications".

Blueface has launched Blueface UC the latest release of its unified communications platform, which transforms business phone solutions in the cloud, enhances productivity through rich features and delivers value to every business. Blueface will also launch in 4 new markets, namely the U.S., France, Germany & Spain alongside existing markets in Ireland, U.K. and Italy.

Blueface UC was developed in-house by the Cloud Communications Platform & Services Provider following significant investment in R&D over 4 years and which was supported by Enterprise Ireland. The new Blueface UC Platform enables organisations of all sizes to take advantage of cloud communications with increased reliability and flexibility to meet their business needs. Features of the platform include an intuitive dashboard interface to manage real time business communications, user and device provisioning, flexible worker mobility options, cloud call recording and an enterprise grade call conferencing feature set.

Blueface is a full service voice solution provider operating a proprietary IP / Cloud Communications Network and Platform and servicing SMEs, Enterprises and Global Carriers. Blueface is deployed through a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) model, enabling end users and channel partners to leverage the benefits of cloud communications through a simple recurring monthly fee.

About Blueface (http://www.blueface.com)

Blueface is a cloud communications and UC service provider headquartered in the IFSC, Dublin with operations in Ireland, U.K., U.S. and across continental Europe. Founded in 2004, Blueface provides cloud unified communications and related services to SMEs, Enterprises, Service Providers and Global Carriers and which leverage its core proprietary Blueface Platform.

Connect with Blueface

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blueface

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluefaceltd

Find out more

For more information on this story please contact:

Neil Doyle

Head of Marketing,

Blueface

neil.doyle(at)blueface(dot)com
Rio de Janeiro City Tours "SouthAmerica.travel is always looking for unique possibilites which allow travelers to immerse themselves in the local culture - indulge in authentic cuisine on a Culinary Tour or to stroll through the colonial heart of Rio on a Walking City Tour."

In the wake of the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazils transformed marvelous city of Rio de Janeiro welcomes visitors with a fresh new face. Once-neglected and near-forgotten, the colonial hub and historic port have been significantly enhanced through new streetcar lines and pedestrian areas, as well as the new AquaRio aquarium and Museum of Tomorrow, an architectural masterpiece. Additionally, culinary delights span every corner of this diverse country. However, without a roadmap of the culinary options, most travelers miss the opportunity to experience all the possibilities during their brief stay in the country.

Just in time for the peak travel season, South America custom travel experts, at SouthAmerica.travel, are rolling out two new half day excursions: Carioca Charisma - Colonial Rio & The Historic Port, and Zest - A Culinary Journey Through Brazils Cultures.

C.E.O. Juergen Keller explains, At SouthAmerica.travel we are always looking for unique possibilites which allow travelers to immerse themselves in the local culture. What better way than to indulge in authentic cuisine on a Culinary Tour or to stroll through the colonial heart of the city on a City Walking Tour. As the saying goes, When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Carioca Charisma - Colonial Rio & The Historic Port

SouthAmerica.travels Walking Tour transports travelers back in time, to the colonial heart of Rio, and then propels them into the future at the Museum of Tomorrow on the newly restored waterfront. Starting in downtown Rios historic Cinema-land, pass by Rios Parisian-styled Opera house in Cinelandia. Built in the 20th Century, Teatro Municipal is considered one of the most beautiful theaters in Brazil, known for perfectly blending history and culture. Reminisce on the major international artists that have graced the theaters existence over the past century.

Walk past the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts). Inaugurated in 1938, the museum holds over 20,000 pieces in its collection, many of which are rich in Brazilian culture. Marvel at the eclectic architecture of the museum from outside and continue to the Biblioteca Nacional, the 7th largest library in the world. Next, stop for coffee at the Paco Imperial, the Palace of the Viceroys and one of Brazils most important colonial buildings of baroque architecture.

Contrasting with colonial Rio, venture a ride on Rios new light rail tram towards the Museum of Tomorrow, designed to represent forward thinking and to encourage exploration of a sustainable world. Admire the newly constructed building; its futuristic and modern design is a sight to behold in and of itself. Finish this walking tour at the Mosteiro de Sao Bento (Monastery of St. Benedict), a mannerist style church of Brazilian colonial architecture. Look out towards the water for magical views of the organ pipe mountains across the bay.

Zest: A Culinary Journey Through Brazils Cultures

One distinctive cultural characteristic while traveling abroad is the local food. But how does one best find THE perfect, locally-inspired experience? SouthAmerica.travel makes travelers tastebuds dance on its new savory adventure. Taste Amazonian fruit juices, stop inside bright street markets, enjoy a caipirinha and indulge in authentic cuisine on a unique Culinary Tour. Expand your palate and taste the local flavors of the cidade maravilhosa at 8 fantastic eateries and markets.

Along the tour, visit some of Rios most beautiful places, such as the vibrantly painted Escadaria Selaron, the bohemian Rio neighborhood of Lapa, the tropical beachside of Flamengo and the cultural hub, Laranjeiras. By the end of the day, travelers will have seen, felt, and tasted authentic Rio.

These two new city tours are fantastic additions to any Brazil Tour. Let SouthAmerica.travel arrange the perfect customized tour throughout Brazil and the rest of South America. After gallivanting around the Marvelous City, continue with a cruise down the Amazon River, soak in the mystery of Machu Picchu or dance the Tango in Buenos Aires.

With over 15-years of experience, SouthAmerica.travel prides itself in partnering with the best 4-star and 5-star hotels and crafting unique tailor-made holidays to design the trip a lifetime. Accomplished local guides, private excursions, superior accommodations and flexibility in travel planning make for an extraordinary travel experience - sure to spawn memories that will last a lifetime. To get started, visit http://www.SouthAmerica.travel.

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About Us: SouthAmerica.travel is a tour operator specialized in custom South America tour planning for travelers worldwide from its offices in Seattle, Lima, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Stuttgart, Germany, online and with local phone numbers in 88 countries. They offer 4-star & 5-star South America tours to Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Just in time for Carnival 2017, a new ten-day journey of Rios Champion Parade & Colonial Brazil, starts March 3rd, 2017. Licensed and bonded in the U.S., SouthAmerica.travel has been sharing its love of South America travel since 1999 and is proud of its A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau and ASTA affiliation. SouthAmerica.travel - Our name is our passion
Yellowfin: Connecting people and their data Yellowfin is proud to be working with La Trobe Business School to give the next generation of information workers the skills they need to help organizations truly benefit from business analytics

The award was presented to the best performing participant in Yellowfins symposium session, Visual Analytics Workshop and Competition. Workshop participants received an intensive three-hour Yellowfin training course, and were then given the challenge of building a set of Yellowfin reports and dashboards for a specific target audience.

Yellowfin has supported the La Trobe Business Schools Master of Business Analytics course (LMBAN) throughout 2016, providing access to free Yellowfin licenses for student learning and teaching purposes, while also delivering a guest tutorial during the second semester.

La Trobe Business Schools Program Director for Business Analytics, Associate Professor Kok-Leong Ong, said that providing students with the opportunity to make industry connections and access leading software applications was an important part of the learning experience.

La Trobes Master of Business Analytics includes strong industry partnerships to ensure that students can further their professional careers and keep abreast of the latest developments in the field, said Ong. As an Australian headquartered and developed analytics product, Yellowfin is a company that the La Trobe Business School is excited to be working with in order to provide students with the type of industry exposure required for success.

Yellowfin Co-Founder and CEO, Glen Rabie, said that Yellowfin was pleased to be working with the La Trobe Business School to nurture homegrown analytics talent.

Currently, both Australian and global workforces are experiencing an analytics skills shortage as many more organizations seek to extract value from their data, said Rabie. Assisting academic institutions at the forefront of BI and analytics education to meet that rising demand is essential. Yellowfin is proud to be working with La Trobe Business School to give the next generation of information workers the skills they need to help organizations truly benefit from business analytics.

Winner of the inaugural Yellowfin  La Trobe Business Analytics Challenge, Kunal Pundir, said that learning new BI skills and applying them to potential real-life scenarios was highly beneficial.

Yellowfins visual analytics workshop and competition provided a solid grounding in an industry standard product, while directly connecting that learning with outcomes that could benefit real-world organizations, said Pundir.

To read the usage guidelines and enquire about Yellowfins free Classroom Licenses, go here: http://www.yellowfinbi.com/YFStudent.i4

 END 

About Yellowfin

Yellowfin is a global Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics software vendor passionate about making BI easy. Founded in 2003 in response to the complexity and costs associated with implementing and using traditional BI tools, Yellowfin is a highly intuitive 100 percent Web-based reporting and analytics solution. Yellowfin is a leader in Mobile BI, Collaborative BI and Embedded BI, as well as Location Intelligence and data visualization.

Over 10,000 organizations, and more than 2 million end-users across 70 different countries, use Yellowfin every day. For more information, visit http://www.yellowfinbi.com

For regular news and updates, follow Yellowfin on Twitter (@YellowfinBI), LinkedIn (Yellowfin Business Intelligence), YouTube (Yellowfin Team) or email pr(at)yellowfin.bi to subscribe to Yellowfins free e-newsletter.

About La Trobe University

For more information about La Trobe University, visit http://www.latrobe.edu.au

For further media information, interviews, images or product demonstration, please contact:


Elgin Family Law Attorney Julie M. Pirtle "At Pucci | Pirtle, we work hard to ensure our clients receive high-quality, tailored services and the individual attention they deserve, no matter how simple or complex their legal matter may be," says Pirtle.

The Elgin law firm of Pucci | Pirtle, LLC is proud to announce that Partner Julie M. Pirtle has been recognized as a 2016 10 Best Family Law Attorney for Client Satisfaction in Illinois by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys (AIOFLA). This award exemplifies Pirtles exceptional performance within the family law arena, including the outstanding attention and support she provides to her clients.

The AIOFLA is a third-party attorney rating organization. On an annual basis, the AIOFLA recognizes the 10 Best Family Law Attorneys in each state based on their professional achievement and client service. Attorneys who are selected to the "10 Best" list are chosen through a comprehensive selection process, which includes client and peer nominations, extensive research, and the AIOFLAs independent evaluation.

I am humbled to receive this recognition from the AIOFLA. At Pucci | Pirtle, we work hard to ensure our clients receive high-quality, tailored services and the individual attention they deserve, no matter how simple or complex their legal matter may be, says Pirtle.

Elgin Family Law Attorney Julie M. Pirtle is a partner at Pucci | Pirtle, LLC. Pirtle graduated with her B.S. in Sociology from Northern Illinois University, where she then went on to attend Northern Illinois University College of Law to obtain her J.D. She concentrates her legal practice in family law matters including divorce and child custody. She also handles residential real estate transactions.

In 2015, The National Advocates named Pirtle a Top 40 Under 40 Attorney, and she is a Top Rated Divorce Attorney on AVVO based on exceptional client reviews and peer recommendations. Pirtle maintains memberships to numerous legal organizations including the Kane County Bar Association, McHenry County Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association, where she has served on the Young Lawyers Division Section Council.

About Pucci | Pirtle, LLC:

The law firm of Pucci | Pirtle, LLC serves clients throughout Northern Illinois within a wide range of practice areas including: family law, divorce, real estate transactions, and criminal defense. The Illinois law firm has offices located in Elgin, St. Charles, and Algonquin. Call Pucci | Pirtle, LLC at 847-426-1866 or visit http://www.puccipirtle.com to schedule a free, confidential consultation to discuss your legal needs today.
The Republican Party is fractured by ideological divisions, led by an inexperienced and unpredictable president-elect, and quite possibly headed for a fratricidal civil war. The Democratic Party should be so lucky.

There is much unpleasant reality for Democrats to deal with right now, starting with this: The GOP controls virtually everything. The two-party system is, at best, one and a half.

Republicans won the presidency. They retained control of both houses of Congress. Soon, when Donald Trump appoints a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, they will reestablish a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. As far as the federal government is concerned, that's the whole trifecta.

But there's much more: After making significant gains Nov. 8, Republicans control both legislative chambers in 32 states -- and hold the governorships in 33. Some of the nation's most diverse and populous states, including Texas and Florida, are living under one-party Republican rule.

Democrats should reject the urge to take comfort in favorable demographic trends. It is true that within a generation, minorities will be in the majority -- and that minorities tend to vote for Democrats. But what would the country be like after 20 or 30 years of near-total Republican control? I'm sure most progressives would join me in not wanting to run that dangerous experiment.

Did Democrats lose the White House because their presidential candidate had baggage and was not perfect in every way? Come on, the Republicans nominated Trump. I don't have nearly enough space to list all the ways in which he disqualified himself. Yet he won.

The Republican Party is so splintered -- the establishment, the tea party wing, the fiscal tightwads, the defense hawks, the social conservatives, the libertarians and now the Trumpistas -- that sometimes I think of it as Afghanistan: with each faction having its own warlords and grievances and goals. Many of the demands they make upon Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will be uncompromisingly extreme and mutually exclusive. There will be blood (metaphorically, of course).

Yet if Democrats expect to sit back and watch the GOP self-destruct, I fear they will be disappointed. The Republican Party not only survived the Trump candidacy, but prospered. Why would the same not be true of a Trump presidency?

One of the biggest lessons I draw from the election is that the GOP basically came together behind its candidate. Despite all the Never Trump noise, most prominent Republican officials fell in line. Some voiced strong reservations but said they would vote for him anyway, which amounted to an endorsement. Others, such as the Bush family, declined to publicly proclaim their opposition in a way that perhaps might have made a difference.

Another lesson, perhaps the most important one, is that the Democratic Party cannot hope to succeed by relying solely on its ability to win the popular vote in presidential elections.

Democrats have won the popular vote in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 and now 2016. That's six out of the last seven presidential contests. Yet the Republican Party is running most of the country.

The Democratic Party cannot just wait for the next Barack Obama to come along. The president is a unique political talent of the kind that appears only once in a great while, when the stars magically align. Instead, Democrats need to do what Republicans did, which is to build from the ground up and start winning state and local elections.

A Democratic rebound has to begin with the basics: Getting people who agree with you to vote. Less than 60 percent of those eligible to cast ballots in last week's election bothered to do so. Conservatives who say this is "a center-right nation" may be right in terms of who votes, but they're wrong in terms of who could vote. Polls show that the country favors Democratic over Republican positions on most issues.

The Democratic Party should put its energy and money into connecting with potential voters at the grassroots level. Trump made a bunch of pie-in-the-sky promises he can never keep. Democrats need a hopeful but realistic message recognizing that while most big cities prosper in today's globalized economy, much of the rest of the country suffers.

Democrats will win when theirs is the "big tent" party. Right now, though, the GOP circus is in town.
Today

Nov. 24: Turkey Trot (5-mile run/walk and 1-mile fun run)

8:30 a.m., Scott County Family Y, 606 W. 2nd St., Davenport. Cost varies, 563-322-7171.

Nov. 24: Thanksgiving dinner

Noon-1 p.m., Broadway Church, 710 23rd St., Rock Island. Free, 309-786-2631.

Nov. 24: Mr. Thanksgiving's community dinner

4-6 p.m., former Deb Shop, SouthPark Mall, 4500 16th St., Moline. Free, 309-797-2768.

Nov. 24: Rosie and The Rivets

7-10 p.m., Rhythm Room, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 563-328-8000.

Friday

Nov. 25-27: Festival of Trees

9 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, RiverCenter, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport. $10; $6 ages 60 and older; $3 ages 2-10; $1 off Nov. 26, 563-324-3378, quadcityarts.com/festivaloftrees.

Nov. 25-27: Quad City Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, QCCA Expo Center, 2621 4th Ave., Rock Island. $5; free ages 12 and younger; free with new unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots, 309-647-0400.

Nov. 25-27: Julmarknad (Christmas Market)

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Bishop Hill. Free, 309-927-3899, bishophill.com/cal.php.

Nov. 25: Chuck Oestreich book-signing ("Over the Dam")

10 a.m.-1 p.m., The Book Rack, 4764 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 309-788-1845.

Nov. 25, 27: "Jingle ARRGH the Way!" (children's musical)

11 a.m., Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island. $20; $18 ages 6-18; $15 ages 5 and younger; group discounts available (includes brunch), 309-786-7733, ext. 2.

Nov. 25: Kids' matinee

1 p.m., Sherrard Library, 201 5th Ave. Free, 309-593-2178.

Nov. 25: Showtime at Silvis Black Friday Edition (films)

1 p.m., Silvis Library, 105 8th St. Free, 309-755-3393.

Nov. 25: Final Friday (performances, art exhibits)

6-9 p.m., Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 E. 2nd St., Davenport. Free, 563-424-1210.

Nov. 25: Reception for the "All About Color -- Abstracts in Oil and Wax" exhibit

6-9 p.m., Bereskin Fine Art Gallery and Studio, Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 E. 2nd St., Davenport. Free, 563-508-4630.

Nov. 25: Turkey, leftovers, and game night

6:30 p.m., Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities, 2930 W. Locust St., Davenport. Free, 563-324-8281, facebook.com/MCCQuadCities.

Nov. 25: Quad City Mallards vs. Indy Fuel

7 p.m., iWireless Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline. 309-277-1364, myqcmallards.net.

Nov. 25: Mama, The Rubs, Harakiri, Encounter at L-5, Condor and Jaybird, The Golden Fleece

7 p.m., Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island. $5-$10, 309-200-0978.

Nov. 25, 26: ComedySportz Quad Cities (improv)

7 p.m., The Establishment, 220 19th St., Rock Island. $14; $12 advance, 309-786-1111.

Nov. 25: "Oh What a Night!" (Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute)

7:30 p.m., D. James Jumer Event Center, Jumer's Casino & Hotel, Interstate 280 and Illinois 92, Rock Island. $25, 800-477-7747.

Nov. 25: Patchy Fog

7:30-10:30 p.m., The Grape Life, 3402 Elmore Ave., Davenport. $10 minimum, 563-355-7070.

Nov. 25-27, 30: "Holly Jolly Christmas" (musical)

7:45 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 5:45 p.m. Sunday, 1:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, preceded by meal. Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island. Through Dec. 28. 309-786-7733, ext. 2.

Nov. 25: Greg and Rich Acoustic Duo

8 p.m., Bike Rack, 3303 Brady St., Davenport. Free, 563-323-7225.

Nov. 25: An Evening With Lisa Loeb

8 p.m., Redstone Room, River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport. $27.50; $27.25 advance, 563-326-1333.

Nov. 25: Head East

8-9:30 p.m., Rhythm Room, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 563-328-8000.

Nov. 25: Shock Treatment (The Ramones tribute)

9 p.m., Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 2nd Ave. 309-793-1999.

Nov. 25: "309" (improv, ages 17 and older)

9:30 p.m., The Establishment, 220 19th St., Rock Island. $5, 309-786-1111.

Nov. 25: The Student Body

9:45 p.m., Rhythm Room, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 563-328-8000.

Saturday

Nov. 26: A Handmade Holiday craft and vendor show

10 a.m.-4 p.m., Makers Studio 918, Ryan Center, 918 15th Ave., East Moline. Free, 309-278-5372.

Nov. 26: "Jingle ARRGH the Way!" (children's musical)

10 a.m., Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island. $10.50; $9.50 groups of 12 and up (more group discounts available); $9 Scouts, 309-786-7733, ext. 2.

Nov. 26: Showtime at Silvis

1 p.m., Silvis Library, 105 8th St. Free, 309-755-3393.

Nov. 26: Hardcore has Heart benefit show

1 p.m., Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 2nd Ave. 309-793-1999.

Nov. 26: "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (film)

1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Putnam Museum, 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport. $12 in advance only; includes admission to Festival of Trees and Putnam this day only, 563-324-1933.

Nov. 26: Prophetstown lighted Christmas parade

Nov. 26: The Generations! Band, Wild Oatz

4:30 p.m., Rivertown Grille & Bar, 2606 W. Locust St., Davenport. Free, 563-386-8770.

Nov. 26: Drama Major

5:30 p.m., Community Stage, River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport. Free, 563-326-1333.

Nov. 26: "Murder in Paradise" (interactive dinner comedy, It's a Mystery)

6-9:30 p.m., Skellington Manor, 420 18th St., Rock Island. $39.95, 563-355-6100.

Nov. 26: Six to the Chest, Fierce Amateurs, Morphine Dream, Green Snake Mullet

6 p.m., Bierstube, 415 15th St., Moline. $5, 309-797-3049.

Nov. 26: Wes Craven Night ("People Under the Stairs," "Shocker," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Last House on the Left") (ages 17 and older)

6 p.m., Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island. Free, 309-200-0978.

Nov. 26: 9th Street Commons lighting and lighted parade

6 p.m., 15th Avenue, East Moline. Free, 309-281-1062.

Nov. 26: Elvis

7 p.m., Moose Lodge, 4410 9th St., Rock Island. $12, 309-793-1541.

Nov. 26: Stayin' Alive: A Tribute to the Bee Gees

7:30 p.m., Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf. $25; $30 VIP; $20 Fan Club and Select; $15 Gold; $10 Platinum and Millionaire, 800-843-4753.

Nov. 26: Eddie Money

8 p.m., Event Center, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. $35, $30, $25, 563-328-8000.

Nov. 26: Jordan Danielsen and Jef Spradley

8-11 p.m., The Grape Life, 3402 Elmore Ave., Davenport. $10 minimum, 563-355-7070.

Nov. 26: Fran and The Country Gentlemen

8 p.m., American Legion Post 1144, 402 Main St., Hillsdale. Free, 309-658-2220.

Nov. 26: DOSH, GOSH, Errol Hem

8-11 p.m., Daytrotter, 324 Brady St., Davenport. $10; $8 advance.

Nov. 26: The Student Body

8:30 p.m., Rhythm Room, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 563-328-8000.

Nov. 26: Wild Oatz

9 p.m.-1 a.m., Rivertown Grille & Bar, 2606 W. Locust St., Davenport. 563-391-1921.

Nov. 26: Greg and Rich Acoustic Duo

9 p.m., Riverside Grille, 1733 State St., Bettendorf. Free, 563-355-7827.

Sunday

Nov. 27: Christmas Walk (music, crafts, games, food)

Noon-4 p.m., Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village, 18817 290th St., Long Grove. Pet item or money for the Human Society of Scott County or Down by the Creek Companion Animal Sanctuary, 563-328-3283, scottcountyiowa.com/event/2016/11/27/pioneer-village-christmas-walk.

Nov. 27: Bill Chrastil

2-5 p.m., Rhythm Room, Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport. Free, 563-328-8000.

Nov. 27: RiverBend Bronze handbell choir

4-5:30 p.m., St. John's United Methodist Church, 109 E. 14th St., Davenport. Free-will donations, 563-324-5278.

Nov. 27: Celtic music session and Vespers

5 p.m., Gloria Dei Presbyterian Church, 4200 12th St., Rock Island. Free, 309-788-8986.

Nov. 27: Open-mic night with Rob Dahms

5-8 p.m., Lynn's BBQ & Saloon, 1151 E. Iowa St., Eldridge. Free, 563-285-8119.

Nov. 27: "Enter the Void" (Arthaus Film Series) (ages 18 and older)

8-11 p.m., Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island. Free, 309-200-0978.

Monday

Nov. 28: "The 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day," Jim Gibbons

2-3 p.m., Rock Island Library, 401 19th St. Free, 309-732-7323.

Nov. 28: Adult coloring night

6-7:30 p.m., Rock Island Library, 401 19th St. Free, 309-732-7323.

Nov. 28: Luke Bell and guests (Moeller Nights)

7-10 p.m., Village Theatre, 2113 E. 11th St., Davenport. $12, eventbrite.com/e/luke-bell-tickets-28062595980.

Nov. 28: Black Hawk College piano recital

7:30 p.m., Deere-Wiman House, 817 11th Ave., Moline. Free, 309-796-5478.

Tuesday

Nov. 29: "Rear Window" (film)

2-4 p.m., Putnam Museum, 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport. $5, 563-324-1933.

Nov. 29: Teen gaming night (ages 12-18)

5:30-7:30 p.m., Rock Island Library, 401 19th St. Free, 309-732-7323.

Nov. 29: Extreme Gingerbread Challenge (ages 12-18)

6 p.m., Silvis Library, 105 8th St. Free, 309-755-3393.

Nov. 29: "Hassle-Free Holiday Skin Tips," Traci Malone

6-8 p.m., Gilda's Club Quad Cities, 1234 E. River Drive, Davenport. Free, 563-326-7504, gildasclubqc.org.

Nov. 29: "The Philadelphia Story" (Cary Grant commemorative film)

6:15 p.m., Bettendorf Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive. Free, 563-344-4175.

Nov. 29: "Elf: The Musical"

7:30 p.m., Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport. $45, $55, $75; single seat offer $36, $44, $60, 800-745-3000, adlertheatre.com/broadway-type/elf-the-musical.

Wednesday

Nov. 30: International Holiday Bazaar

8 a.m.-2 p.m., upper and lower lobbies, Building 1, Black Hawk College, 6600 34th Ave., Moline. 309-796-5186.

Nov. 30: "The Basics of Alzheimer's and Related Diseases," Jerry Schroeder

1-2:30 p.m., Tri-City Jewish Center, 2715 30th St., Rock Island. Free, 800-272-3900, alz.org.

Nov. 30: Teen gaming

2:30-5 p.m., Davenport Library, 3000 N. Fairmount St. Free, 563-326-7832.

Nov. 30: "Holiday Tips for Caring With People With Dementia," Jerry Schroeder

3-4:30 p.m., Tri-City Jewish Center, 2715 30th St., Rock Island. Free, 800-272-3900, alz.org.

Nov. 30: Gallery preview and artist talk with fantasy artist William Stout

6-8 p.m., Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, Centennial Hall, 3703 7th Ave., Rock Island. Free, 309-794-7400.

See complete events list at qconline.com/calendar.
Volunteers from Sabeel Food Pantry, a Muslim-run pantry on the city's northwest side, have distributed 5,000 turkeys this year, which is three times as many as they handed out last year, the Chicago Tribune reported. This year, they started giving away turkeys through eight schools in three South Side neighborhoods.

Dr. Sofia Shakir, who organizes the event, said it was fortunate that the expanded turkey drive came together after a presidential campaign that she called discouraging and with many Muslims fearing they'll be viewed as un-American by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

"These are the times we're living in now," said Victoria Bowens, chair of Woodlawn's local school council. "Those things didn't come from us. We know how it feels to be discriminated against. They were able to rise up and step up to help the less fortunate, in spite of."

Teachers and principals from all of the participating schools have embraced the effort, and some schools use it as an incentive for parental involvement.

Shakir's husband, Dr. Jihad Shoshara, said the effort puts into practice Muslim teachings and fulfills one of the five pillars of Islam called zakat, or charity.

He said the project is more than just feeding the hungry. He said it's about giving families a way to make a meal and do something for their children.

"If you can have the turkey in your own home and celebrate like everyone else in America, that gives them a sense of dignity," Shoshara said.
Illinois State Police said in a statement Thursday that the girl's body was found behind a building on the south side of Olney, a town of about 9,000 people located 45 southeast of Effingham.

Authorities said the Southern Illinois Child Death Task Force is investigating, and they asked anyone with information to call Olney police.

Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley declined to release further details, including who reported the girl missing and when. They did not identify the girl.

The person who owns the property where the girl's body was found told WTHI-TV (http://bit.ly/2gk3JVS ) that police came to the property near South Camp Avenue around 9 p.m. Wednesday and asked the property owner to sign releases so they could search any buildings. The girl's body was found a short time later.
Today is Thursday, Nov. 24, the 329th day of 2016. There are 37 days left in the year.

1866 -- 150 years ago: Whisky dealers in Davenport are fearful the grand jury will indict them and are holding a special meeting.

1891 -- 125 years ago: George Schneider traded his Milan Shoe Store for four lots in Aurora, moving his stock to his Rock Island store.

1916 -- 100 years ago: Henry Coopman received a fracture of the collarbone when his buggy struck an automobile.

1941 -- 75 years ago: The Argus urged the formation of a Tri City Flying Cadet Squadron.

1966 -- 50 years ago: Today, the day for giving thanks, is a good time to remind old and new friends of The Argus Santa that there are may not only in this land of ours, but right here in Rock Island who are in need.

1991 -- 25 years ago: Everything is set for the Festival of Trees at the Davenport RiverCenter, and chairwoman Karen Getz says record crowds are expected at this years event. Last year the holiday festival drew more than 50,000 people.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey spoke about the wide-ranging effects that bias crimes can have on the city and county, urging victims of crimes with a racial or religious motive to come forward immediately.

Hate crimes are often underreported. Feuer said victims should not fear speaking to police because of their immigration status.

Acts of hate tear at the fabric of who we are as a nation, and we want to send a strong message that no one should be reluctant or afraid to report a hate crime, he said. None of us is ever going to re-victimize someone who is either a victim or a witness of a hate crime.

Hate crimes surged in California and across the nation last year, and a spate of bias incidents that followed Donald Trumps victory on Election Day have also drawn serious concerns from police and human rights activists.

Beck said hate crimes have increased in Los Angeles by 19 percent compared to last year, and the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations reported a 24 percent increase in bias crimes in 2015. The 483 reported hate crimes in the county marked the largest total since 2011, according to the commission.

Bias crimes rose by 7 percent across the U.S. in 2015, according to FBI data, and crimes deemed anti-Muslim rocketed by nearly 67 percent. There were 257 reported bias crimes against Muslims last year, compared to 154 in 2014.

Beck did not blame the local increase on any particular group, despite concerns that the recent election cycle has mobilized fringe white separatist and nationalist groups.

Hate crimes, Beck said, need to be combated swiftly because of the outsize effect they can have on communities that are victimized.

The fear of other is very, very strong in humanity.  This cannot stand, he said. This cannot be something we allow as a people.
Oh, great day of Thanksgiving: the Cold War of the Thermostat is over.

"Its been a warm autumn," you say. You say this because you've had your furnace turned on like a sensible human being.

My household, however, is not comprised of sensible human beings. It is comprised of an Ecologist and an Economist.

Every year, as the cold months approach, the Ecologist begins fretting over the disastrous effects of energy use on our fragile world. She pictures a parched, cracked prairie, dried riverbeds and icebergs shrunken to the size of a five-pound bag of ice from the freezer at Casey's. The Economist's vision is cruder, a hand-drawn sketch of a house with dollar signs flying out the chimney.

Thus, when summer ends, we form a pact, vowing to keep the thermostat turned off until the first of November. Many families attempt this, but the Ecologist and Economist succeed. This year, our success emboldened us and, on the first of November, decided to extend our vows.

"No heat until December!" we caroled in optimistic unison.

The first week of November brought a sense of nobility. We were saving the earth, and a few pennies, too. The second week was less balmy, particularly when the sun began to set during the noontime farm report.

"Are y-y-you O-K-K-K?" said the Ecologist.

"F-f-fine, th-th-thanks," said the Economist.

(The close observer would have noted that the participants in this discussion could see the condensation of their breath as they spoke.)

Temperatures plummeted during the third week of November, but no one was willing to be the quitter who turns on the heat to end the suffering.

This period was marked by extra layers of clothing, widespread complaining and a general air of sullenness. Someone was accused of using an electric heater in the bathroom. Denial and vituperation followed.

Finally, with Thanksgiving only days away, came the morning of reconciliation.

The Economist was awakened early by the howl of gale force winds that had blown across the Iowa tundra and now blasted the Illinois prairie with freezing temperatures. He flopped in his reclining chair in frigid reverie. He'd heard that freezing to death was the most painless way to go, as you drifted into numb slumber before the Grip Reaper arrived to attach an I.D. tag to your big toe with a twist tie.

As the Economist was preparing to breathe his last, the Ecologist stumbled into the room, moaning with agony every time her frozen nightgown came in contact with a previously-untouched square inch of skin.

"Please," she begged, "can I turn on the heat?"

Revived, the Economist pondered the suggestion. In a sense he had won; it would not be his fingerprints on the thermostat. He briefly thought of gloating, but resisted the temptation because, if you haven't figured it out, the Economist is a married man and knows better.

"If it's OK with you," he said with a smile, "it's OK with me."

The war is over and gratitude, love and room temperature reign. I will sit at the Thanksgiving table without earmuffs or gloves, and will be able to stand up without peeling the seat of my pants from the chair.

This splurge is but a holiday treat. Tomorrow, the Ecologist and the Economist will follow the winter routine by which we keep the thermometer set at a toasty 62 degrees except at night, when we set the temperature just high enough to keep frost from forming on horizontal surfaces.

But we'll splurge again on Christmas Day. And in the Economist's opinion, it won't come a moment too soon.
Since Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work discussed the Third Offset at a talk given in January of 2015, the concept has been the focus of numerous discussions and interpretations. It has generally been defined in defense literature as a path to a new and enduring competitive edge over America's adversaries based on advanced technology.

To find new sources of this advanced technology, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter created the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) in August of 2015. Carter has said the DIUx experiment is prodding the Pentagon to take a closer look at how it engages with technology companies and the tools it uses to get new technologies into the hands of America's fighting men and women.

Technologies and their related capabilities are what creates the warfighting competitive advantage, the warfighting offset. The DIUx may well yield that advantage, but even if it doesn't, the Department of Defense (DoD) will likely still reap collateral benefits through the creation of innovative organizational structures that leverage private sector technological advances.

The development of an enduring competitive edge is easiest to understand retrospectively, but somewhat less easy to identify when looking into the future. With hindsight, it is clear that investments in nuclear capability ensured an edge over the Soviets starting in the 1950s and created a measure of strategic deterrence. This became known as the First Offset.

The Second Offset occurred in the 1970s and 1980s as advancements in space systems, communications, information technology, and material science allowed for enhancements in the capabilities of stealth and precision. This Second Offset created a level of technological superiority that endured for a couple of decades, but which has recently diminished, as the most capable U.S. adversaries made their own investments in these technologies.

For the Third Offset, it is not yet clear what investments into which technologies will enable the United States to develop a new form of superiority. Work pointed to a range of technologies in his speech, including robotics, autonomous operating guidance and control systems, visualization, biotechnology, miniaturization, advanced computing and big data, and additive manufacturing. These technologies or others may contribute to the capabilities that will make up the hoped-for Third Offset advantage. Investments are being made in capabilities including undersea systems, unmanned systems of a variety of types, enhanced human-machine teaming, advances in cyber and electronic warfare, improved munitions, and others. The exploration of new and innovative operational concepts through wargaming and modeling and simulation will also play a role.

Just as it is unclear precisely what the Third Offset will be, it is also unclear where the necessary innovation will come from. In the past, sources of innovation have included industry, the government, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), and academia. We expect the same for the future. For example, long-term investments made at government run defense laboratories ensure that technologies promising for defense continue to advance, even if they lack commercial applications. FFRDCs, like those run by my own employer, engage in new concept development and use wargaming and other tools to explore which capabilities may offer interesting advantages for the warfighter. Other new technologies will come from across the spectrum of commercial industry, which is leading the advances in many or all of the technological areas identified by Work. In many cases, these innovations have not been originally developed by the largest defense contractors  Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and so forth  although as weapon system integrators, they certainly can be expected to adopt and adapt the resultant capabilities into their systems.

For the Third Offset effort, the DoD is deliberately reaching out to capture technological innovations being developed by commercial companies aimed at commercial applications. The DIUx is expected to capture advancements from industry  to create spin-ons  with the goal of leveraging the work of companies not currently serving as defense contractors. These companies may lack the insights, contacts, or process knowledge needed to do business with the DoD. DIUx opened its first hub in Silicon Valley with fanfare and a visit by Secretary Carter. A second hub soon followed in Boston, and then a presence was added in Austin. The culture of innovation in these locations is not something the DoD can replicate on its own, but it is something that the DoD can take advantage of. DIUx is one road toward this goal.

Will the Third Offset initiative and the attempts to capture new technologies from non-traditional suppliers via DIUx be effective? It may be many years before that question can be answered. But the effort itself is evidence of another form of innovation, that of creatively organizing in new ways to capture new ideas. It may be that the true innovation of the Third Offset is this organizational innovation that develops new processes to onboard and integrate cutting edge technologies from companies that had not yet found a way to contribute to the DoD.

Cynthia Cook is director of the Acquisition and Technology Policy Center, part of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

This commentary originally appeared on The Cipher Brief on November 23, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Ariel Ponton, the head of Telefonicas operations in Colombia, is stepping down and leaving the company after 25 years.





The telco, which has in Colombia one of its largest markets outside Spain, has already found a replacement in Alfonso Gomez Palacio. Having worked for the company since 2006, Palacio was most recently executive president of Telefonica Colombia and will now take up the role of president and CEO.With almost half a million IPTV and cable subscribers, Telefonica has a solid position in Colombias pay-TV sector , Latin Americas fourth largest market.Ponton has spent most of his career within Telefonica, having worked for the company in Argentina for 20 years, leading the telcos Colombia operations since 2008.He led the commercial position of Movistar as telecoms operator, helping to launch 4G LTE services and improving TV, fixed and mobile offerings, said the company in an official statement.
A report on the protection of format rights under international law will present an analysis of the legal protection available to the global TV community under the laws of copyright, unfair competition, passing off, breach of confidence and trademark.





The Format Recognition and Protection Association ( FRAPA ) Legal Report 2017, will launch in April 2017 and will update FRAPAs 2011 publication, which examined more than 40 reported judgements in 14 major TV territories. It will also extend the reach of the 2011 report to include 20 territories.Following the model pioneered by The FRAPA Report 2011: Protecting Format Rights, the 2017 publication will It will also identify the key components of a television format  creative concept, production know-how, name, visual features, catchphrases, branding  and list the ways in which these can be protected. Given the absence of any statutory provision covering a format right, a television format can be considered to be a bundle of proprietary rights, all of which are protectable under a suite of laws.Many legal cases are centred on copyright law but, increasingly, format creators have looked beyond this and pursued claims for passing off, unfair competition and breach of confidence with great degrees of success, said Eugene Arievich, partner at Baker & McKenzie, which wrote the report. The 2017 report will consider these cases in detail and the protection available to media formats around the world.
Alleged killer of Russian pilot downed in Syria pleads not guilty

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI)  Alparslan Celik, who had earlier claimed responsibility for the murder of Oleg Peshkov, the pilot of Russian Su-24 bomber downed by the Turkish Air Force in Syria, withdrew a plea of guilty, RIA Novosti reports Thursday citing the defendants lawyer Murat Ustundag.

Investigation is underway. The case has not been submitted to court yet.

The incident occurred on November 24, 2015. The Russian plane was allegedly downed by an air-to-air missile fired by a Turkish F-16C fighter. Two pilots managed to eject from the plane. Peshkov was killed by ground fire from militants when parachuting, his navigator survived. Another serviceman, marine Alexander Pozynich, was killed during the rescue mission.

Celik, a fighter from a Turkish-backed Turkmen brigade in Syria, publicly admitted killing Russian pilot.

When he returned from Syria where he fought with militants against government forces, Celik was arrested in a group of 14 people in a restaurant in Izmir on March 30. One AK assault rifle, two pistols and ammunition were seized from them.

Later, Celik retracted his admittance of killing the pilot and sent a letter to Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, asking to start a dialog with him. However, Zakharova refused to react on the basis of some unofficial communications published on social networks. She said that Russia is interested in Celiks clear statements with regard to the murder of the pilot and details of the incident based on proof.

Relations between Russia and Turkey became troubled after the incident. At that time, President Vladimir Putin described the murder of Russian pilot as a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists.
MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) - The Leninsky District Court of Kirov will start on December 5 a new trial of Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny charged with embezzlement at the Kirovles timber company, his lawyer Vadim Kobzev told RAPSI on Thursday.

Navalny wrote on his social media pages that he is not going to attend the court.

Last week, Russia's Supreme Court overturned sentences against opposition politician Navalny and his accomplice Pyotr Ofitserov in Kirovles embezzlement case and sent it for retrial.

Russia's Supreme Court delivered the ruling taking into consideration the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Nevertheless, the ruling of the Supreme Court didn't meet expectations of both prosecutors and defense lawyers.

The ECHR ruled in February that Russia had violated Navalny's and and Ofitserovs right to a fair trial.

In particular, according to ECHR, sentences against them were issued with numerous violations because of a lot of references being made regarding another defendant  Vyacheslav Opalyov. Proceedings against Opalyov were treated as a separated criminal case after he admitted his guilt.

Additionally, ECHR noted that Russian courts failed to review claims by defense that Kirovles case may have a political motive behind it and did not provide adequate evaluations of such claims. ECHR itself did not find a political motive in the case. The court ruled to compensate Navalny with 48,000 euro of legal costs and Ofitserov with 22,000 euro. Additionally, Russia is to pay 8,000 euro each in damages.

Russias Justice Ministry filed a request seeking referral of the case to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, but the request was dismissed.

Navalny was given a five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement at the Kirovles timber company in July 2013. In May, Moscow's Lyublinsky District Court increased a probation period for him to 5.5 years. Ofitserov received a four-year suspended sentence.

According to investigators, while serving on a voluntary basis as an adviser to the Kirov Region governor Navalny organized the theft of over 10,000 cubic meters of timber from Kirovles company between May and September 2009.

Investigators claimed that Pyotr Ofitserov, then Director of Vyatka Timber Company, and Kirovles CEO Vyacheslav Opalyov were involved in the scheme.
Russia's Supreme Court upholds ban of Volya political party

MOSCOW, November 24 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov)  Russias Supreme Court has upheld a ruling to ban the political party Volya as extremist organization, RAPSI learned from the courts press-service on Thursday.

The court has dismissed an appeal filed by the organizations representatives against the August 9 ruling.

On August 9, the court ruled to liquidate the party; its property must be passed into the ownership of the Russian Federation.

Russias Justice Ministry earlier lodged an application with the Supreme Court seeking liquidation of the political party Volya. The ministry demanded to shut down the party because of allegedly extremist activity. The plaintiff insisted that extremist materials had been regularly published on the partys website.

On August 6, the Central Election Commission denied registration of the party members as candidates for the State Duma elections. Legislative elections were held in Russia on September 18, 2016.

In July, a court in Samara arrested the party leader Svetlana Lada-Rus (Peunova) in absentia on suspicion of fraud. Lada-Rus was put on the international wanted list.

Investigators claim that Lada-Rus along with her unidentified accomplices falsely acquired the right of control of non-residential properties of others.
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From Stock 4Runner to Full Off-Road Dream Rig

Vision. It'd be easy to say in hindsight there was a clear, start-to-finish vision for this truck. But, like many project builds, getting from stock to upgraded was an ever-evolving path. For me, a professional filmmaker and pixel pusher, it was about treading the line between daily driver and overlanding. I wanted something that could serve as a utility vehicle for carrying precious cargo comfortably and safely into remote locations.

The project began with an inferno-colored 2015 4Runner TRD Pro and the balance of its on-road performance and off-road handling. The 4Runner is based on the tough-as-nails, body-on-frame, Toyota Prado 150 platform with a manual transfer case and bombproof reliability because  Toyota. The TRD Pro from the factory was seemingly everything originally desired as a base platform, with factory skidplates, larger Nitto Terra Grappler A/T's, larger Bilstein shocks, and aggressive, retro styling. That was all that was needed, or so I thought.

The entire upgrade process was a back-and-forth facilitated by 503 Motoring. Iain Gordon, 503 Motoring's shop manager, served as the conduit, offering sensible design choices, suggestions, and alternative executions. As a shop that routinely handles supercars, the 4Runner provided an interesting change of pace for its staff, mostly patrons of pavement.

Upon delivery from Japan, I immediately began altering the 4Runner for more overland-specific use. I first added a Gobi Stealth model with a rear ladder to carry more gear and expand the vehicle's capability. facing is a 40-inch Rigid E2 combination flood and spotlight LED lightbar, while work lights are a pair of top-mounted Rigid D2 white LED flood lights. An ARB 2,000mm awning was mounted to the driver side of the vehicle's rack to ward off the ever-present Pacific Northwest rain and provide protection from the sun during trips to shinier climes.

The 4Runner stayed untouched for a total of three weeks before I decided it needed a winch. Given that WARN Industries is a local Oregon company, there was no debate about brand. I chose the ZEON 8-S, with synthetic line, to provide 8,000 pounds of pulling power. I was reticent to give up the styling of the OEM front end, which admittedly was what attracted me to the original vehicle in its base form. The solution was to use a hidden winch mounting system from Pelfreybilt, requiring the removal of the original aluminum crush bumper assembly, and installing the steel winch plate in its place. With this system, once the front bumper valence is trimmed, you have a winch that hides neatly behind the bumper.

Unfortunately, if you live in a two-plate state, finding a good solution for a license plate is a challenge. The solution came from Cascadia 44 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with its Flipster license plate system. It works with either the Hawse or roller fairleads by placing a bracket behind and over the fairlead, allowing the license plate to swing up and out of the way when winching. Sandwiched between that is the Factor55 Flatlink and Hawse Fairlead, both extremely low-profile solutions. The Flatlink replaces the traditional hook, making for a safer and more visually attractive option for using a winch. Great, it's done, right? Not even close.

The vehicle looked good with its added carrying capacity and self-recovery abilities. But all that weight had a rather adverse affect on the stance of the vehicle. So, I decided the next goal would be to tackle the suspension and tires.

I opted for the Icon Vehicle Dynamics Stage 2 suspension and Nitto Trail Grappler 33-inch tires, while still maintaining the original factory TRD rims; I didn't want to give up their strength and visual appeal. But, before I could get anything installed I had reverse buyer's remorse, and changed the suspension from the Icon Stage 2 to the Stage 5, which gained remote reservoirs on all shocks, upgraded lower trailing arms, and tubular upper control arms.

The Nitto Mud Terrain tires were selected from past experience, as they present a good balance between off-road performance, with minimal impact to on-road noise and handling. The Nitto's have an exceptionally aggressive sidewall tread, giving them a beefier side profile without resorting to the use of wheel spacers.

Toyota designs their vehicles to use a 265/70 as their largest factory equipped tire. As a result, some alteration was required here and there. Being that the factory spare (already undersized by comparison to the TRD Pro's original 31.5-inch tire) would not be ideal in an emergency with the new 33-inch tires, the solution was a rather dramatic one, and would require the first major alteration of the vehicle's body through the use of power tools and sparks, lots of sparks.

The simplest solution for carrying a spare tire is on the roof. Does this work for most people? Absolutely. However you're most likely not changing a spare tire under ideal conditions to begin with, and trying to haul 85-plus pounds of wheel from your roof is a serious pain in the ass. Combined with raising the vehicle's center of gravity, a roof-mounted spare was out of the question.

The solution instead was through the CBI Offroad rear steel bumper. To say this bumper is well built would be a comedic understatement; it's absolutely a tank, made entirely of steel. God help whoever rear-ends that bumper. In preparation the rear springs were swapped with Old Man Emu 2898 440-pound springs to handle the increased constant rear load. The CBI rear bumper provides a tire carrier on a steel locking swing arm, while also allowing provisions for dual jerry cans, HiLift jack mount, and cutouts for rear bumper lights (because, why not more lumens!).

In the pursuit of self-sufficiency an ARB twin compressor was installed, allowing for in-the-field airing up of tires or for cleaning off camera gear or other equipment. The main battery was also swapped out with an Odyssey Group 31 battery, the weight of which is akin to that of a dying neutron star. However, the added capacity helps ensure power when you need it. The vehicle can also be powered from the Overland Solar panel array that can easily top off the battery while at a campsite.

The original intent was to keep the vehicle's front end as stock looking as possible. However, after a trip to the Oregon desert, where many jackrabbits sacrificed themselves on the front bumper, I decided it was only a matter of time before the plastic front end would suffer a cruel fate. You've got a lot of options with the 4Runner in regards to front bumpers. Mostly it comes down to your particular tastes.

Since the vehicle lives downtown in a rather dense city, making the vehicle longer is undesirable. The CBI rear bumper already increases the overall length of the vehicle by 1 or 2 feet due to the jerry cans and rear tire, and a large front step bumper would be both heavy, and increase the vehicle's length further. It's a challenge to balance out what works great off-road with what has to be practical on-road, especially in an urban landscape.

The solution, again, came from Pelfreybilt, which had just begun offering an aluminum frontend. Its frontend mimicked the general profile and shape of the OEM frontend and is a complete drop-in front replacement, no cutting required. Because it was aluminum it was also a staggeringly light 62 pounds. This meant when the steel winch plate was removed the net gain was only 6 pounds due to the addition of the Rigid Combo 30-inch single-row lightbar.

The advantages of the bumper were better articulation off-road, quicker access to the winch's mechanical controls, provisions for amber Rigid D2 foglights, and, of course, added defense against front impacts. As more and more OEM components fell by the wayside, they were replaced by additional components such as the ARB steel skidplates, which integrate perfectly with the Pelfreybilt frontend. Other components were either gusseted or additionally armored to protect from trail damage.

The next upgrade, while not for the squeamish, was an amazing opportunity as the vehicle was selected to serve as a test mule for the upcoming Safari/ARB ARMAX snorkel for the fifth-gen 4Runner. What you see on the vehicle is actually a 3D printed prototype, which should inspire a bit of awe when you consider how big the printer must be to accommodate such a large end result. The ARMAX snorkel, besides providing cleaner air in the desert, and fording capabilities, also increases horsepower and benefits in increased engine efficiency, seeing a noticeable boost in miles per gallon.

Internally the 4Runner TRD Pro (based on the Trail Edition Premium) comes incredibly well setup from the factory. So the goal was to make the vehicle as livable as possible, using a full drawer system from Goose Gear. This provides full-length lockable drawers in the rear and a mounting platform for the ARB 47-quart fridge mounted on the TemboTusk LoadSpotter fridge slide.

Other major additions were fire extinguishers, medical kits from Dark Angel Medical, cargo organizers from Blue Ridge Overland, and navigational aids. For navigation the vehicle uses its onboard GPS, Garmin Montana GPS, and an iPad with Bluetooth GPS module in a RAM mount for backcountry navigation. In addition, the vehicle is wired with a HAM radio for long-distance communication in the desert, along with a C.B. and Delorme InReach.

Ultimately this is a snapshot of the vehicle as it currently stands. It would be a boldfaced lie to say it's done. The vehicle has and continues to outperform our expectations. Not just in how it looks, but the terrain it can tackle safely. While treading dangerously close to serving as a background vehicle along the trails of Fury Road, it still serves admirably as an obnoxiously fun daily driver.

2015 Toyota 4Runner Make: Toyota Year: 4Runner TRD Pro Engine: 4L V-6 Transmission: Five-Speed Automatic URL: www.lawndartdesign.com

Plate Flipper

Make: Cascadia 44

Model: Flipster V1 (Hawse Fairlead)

URL:www.cascadia4x4.com

Amber Lights

Make: Rigid Industries

Model: D2 Wide Single

URL:www.rigidindustries.com

Front Bumper

Make: Pelfreybilt

Model: Aluminum Front Plate Bumper

URL:www.pelfreybilt.com

Snorkel

Make: Safari Automotive Technology

Model: 5th Gen Prototype Snorkel

URL:www.safarisnorkel.com

Top LightBar

Make: Rigid Industries

Model: 40-inch E2 Combo Spot/Flood Lightbar

URL:www.rigidindustries.com

Awning

Make: ARB

Model: Awning (2,000 mm)

URL:store.arbusa.com

Rock Rails/Sliders

Make: Pelfreybilt

Model: Bolt On Tapered Kickout Sliders

URL:www.pelfreybilt.com

Engine Lights

Make: Anti-Dark

Model: Universal Engine Light:

URL:anti-dark.com

Roof Rack

Make: Gobi

Model: Stealth Roof Rack (with rear ladder)

URL:www.gobiracks.com

Recovery Boards

Make: Maxtrax

Model: MKII FJ Red

URL:us.maxtrax.com.au

Drawer system

Make: Goose Gear

Model: SUV Module 2 Drawer 1/3-2/3 Split

URL:www.goose-gear.com

Fridge

Make: ARB

Model: 50-Quart Fridge/Freezer

URL:store.arbusa.com

Fridge slide

Make: TemboTusk

Model: LoadSpotter Levitating Fridge Slider

URL:tembotusk.flyingcart.com

Rear Bumper

Make: CBI Offroad

Model: 5th Gen 4Runner Rear Bumper (with Swing Away Tire Carrier, Double Jerry Can Holder)

URL:www.cbioffroadfab.com

Tires

Make: Nitto

Model: Trail Grappler M/Ts (285/70/17)

URL:www.nittotire.com

Jack

Make: Hi-Lift

Model: Jack X-Treme (with JackCover)

URL:www.hi-lift.com

Water Cans

Make: Rotopax

Model: 2-gallon water

URL:rotopax.com
Interest rates will jump again soon. What you need to know to prepare.

Personal Finance
Report holds Hitachi responsible for debit card data theft.

When the data theft came to light, Hitachi had denied that its systems were compromised.

Nupur Anand reports from Mumbai.

An interim forensic report on the biggest data theft in the country in which 3.2 million cards were exposed to danger has said there was a compromise in the systems of Hitachi Payments Services, which runs and manages ATM network.

Earlier, when the news of the data theft came to light, Hitachi had denied that its systems were compromised and had said that an external audit by an agency certified by the payment card industry (PCI) had confirmed that there was no breach of its systems.

However, sources, who are part of the team involved in the investigation, said after the submission of the interim report, Hitachi has accepted the data breach.

"The investigations are still going on and therefore I won't be able to comment on the issue," said Loney Antony, managing director, Hitachi Payment Services.

The interim report was submitted two weeks ago and the final report is likely to take another month.

SISA, a payments security specialist based in Bangalore, has been authorised to conduct the audit.

The breach is said to have occurred because there was malware in Hitachi's systems for six weeks that ran and operated YES Bank's ATMs.

As a result, 90 YES Bank ATMs were affected and data of the cards used at these ATMs was stolen.

As a result, fraudulent transactions were carried out on 641 customers of 19 banks, leading to a fraud of Rs 1.3 crore (Rs 13 million). In certain cases, the cards were fraudulently used in China and the US.

Among the affected banks were ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and YES Bank.

After the breach came to light, banks got into fire fighting mode.

While SBI decided to re-issue 600,000 debit cards where it believed data might have been compromised, ICICI Bank and some other lenders advised their customers to use only their own ATM networks.

Banks had also cautioned their customers to change their PIN to minimise chances of further frauds.

As the call for a detailed investigation garnered steam, other agencies such as the Prime Minister's Office and the Reserve Bank of India had also stepped in to monitor and ascertain the quantum of the damage and the risk.

The PCI Security Standards Council, an international agency that looks at payments account security, is also probing the issue.

According to Hitachi's Web site, it has more than 48,000 ATMs, 230,000 point-of-sales (POS) devices, 60,000 mobile POS devices and 7,500 cash recycler machines/bunch note acceptors under management.
'When I met the prime minister on November 15 there was no RBI report with the prime minister as to why this was done.'

'When I asked the PMO officer about this, he said the RBI did not bring this to the PM and did it independently.'

'When I asked how could the RBI ban DCCBs from accepting deposits from farmers in old notes when the government gazette released on November 9 allowed them to do so, this officer told me that not even senior PMO officials had any idea about this RBI ban.'

IMAGE: Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Urjit Patel speaks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Mumbai. Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters

Dilip Sanghani, left, below, chairman of the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks, which has 371 district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) under its umbrella, tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore that the RBI acted unilaterally to ban withdrawal and exchange of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from DCCBs, thereby leading to a complete halt in agricultural trade.

While exchange, withdrawal and deposit of these specified currencies did take place at these DCCBs till November 12, four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped these notes as legal currency, the RBI, on November 13 hurriedly stopped these DCCBs from exchanging or accepting deposits of these notes from November 13 after these banks reported 100 times increase in deposits of these Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes between November 9 and 12.

Sanghani was thrice elected as a BJP MLA and and four-time BJP MP from Amreli.

What are the problems being faced by account holders of DCCBs in India after the RBI stopped them from exchanging and depositing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes into these banks?

When the farmers are taking their Kharif crops like groundnut, cotton, etc, to the markets, there is no purchase or selling of their produce.

Old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 that are available with traders are not being accepted by farmers because the DCCBs have been stopped from accepting these deposits and so they are not able to sell their Kharif produce.

Whatever old notes the farmers had with them after they sold their produce in the markets before November 8, are not being accepted by the DCCBs because of the RBI restriction.

This has led to complete lockdown of trading among these economic agents.

In my district (Amreli), more than 50 per cent of farmers have their bank accounts with DCCBs and their financial activity has come to a complete halt.

What kind of losses are the farmers suffering because of the RBI restrictions on depositing and exchanging of the specified notes at these DCCBs?

As of now they are not suffering any losses because their agricultural produce is lying at their houses/godowns.

Nobody is buying it from them because traders don't have enough cash for their purchases and farmers are not accepting the old notes because the DCCBs have been disallowed from accepting it from them.

These crops may not suffer any losses for at least two months and we are yet into the 15th day of this ban.

If these farmers have to avail of the Rs 21,00 crore credit line announced by the government for the Rabi season through NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) to these DCCBs, then the farmers need to first pay their earlier outstanding loans.

So, this Rs 21,000 crore credit arrangement will be of no use to farmers as this money is for new loans.

Are you saying this credit facility will be of no use to the farmers?

Yes, this step is only work half done. This will be of use only if farmers are allowed to use old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes they have to repay their debt to the DCCBs.

You allow insurance companies to accept old notes for paying insurance premium because these are big companies, but you don't let farmers retire their debts by putting restrictions on such use at the DCCBs.

This is discrimination.

Aren't the farmers allowed to purchase seeds for using them for the Rabi season by using Rs 500 notes?

Yes, but then seeds must be purchased only from government appointed agencies and in Gujarat such agencies are far less in number and they don't have adequate amount of seeds to meet the farmers' demand.

Do you think the PM's demonetisation policy will help tackle black money, corruption and terrorism?

Modiji's aim for initiating this scheme is very good for the nation's future and will make India economically strong and secure.

But the RBI has thrown the spanner in the government's work by putting restrictions on DCCBs.

The government took a decision to scrap old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, and on November 9, the government gazette included cooperatives to allow these notes. That was a very good decision.

But on November 13 (Sunday), the RBI, first in Gujarat, and on November 14 throughout India, put a restriction on DCCBs; that is totally illegal and that has led to huge problems for the farmers in India.

This unilateral RBI decision is solely responsible for the farmers' problems.

Didn't the RBI submit its report to the government and the government too knows about the RBI's decision?

Yatin Oza of the Aam Aadmi Party has alleged, and he claims to have videos, that rich people exchanged their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at these DCCBs in Gujarat for Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100 denomination loans, thereby converting their unaccounted wealth into white money.

As per the RBI guidelines, every bank keeps a record of number of notes they get and they give out along with their denominations in the books of banks.

Such reports are sent daily to the RBI.

If what Mr Oza has alleged is true, then it can be easily found out by instituting an inquiry into it.

Mr Oza is a good advocate and good friend of mine, but then after joining AAP, he has adopted his party's tactics of spreading unfounded lies. That is their old tactic.

He is just following the teachings of his party.

What action do you want to be taken against the RBI? Did you meet the prime minister in this matter?

We told this to the finance ministry on November 13 that the regional head of the RBI in Gujarat put restrictions on DCCBs from exchanging and depositing old notes.

We told them that such restrictions cannot be selectively imposed on one state because it is a decision of the central government.

To hide this inconsistency and illegality, the RBI imposed the same restrictions on DCCBs across India the very next day (Monday, November 14).

I just want to ask the finance ministry if the restriction on DCCBs in Gujarat only, before imposing the same on DCCBs across India, is legally tenable or not.

According to Article 14 of Constitution if a bank has all the required licenses then you do not have any right to stop them from doing their business unless you have served a prior notice to them or suspended their license on the basis of any wrongdoing.

But to take such action before serving notices or suspension of licenses is utterly illegal.

Out of the 371 DCCBs in India, 368 DCCBs still have valid licenses and so all the rules applicable to other banks in the country should also be applied to them.

The banks that cater to the rich are still going about their businesses, but those where the poor farmers have their accounts are under lockdown because of some silly reason given by the RBI. That is not acceptable to us.

Did you meet Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani or BJP President Amit Shah or Prime Minister Modi to put forth your suggestions?

I met the prime minister and nobody is bigger than him.

I apprised him about the problems faced by the farmers because of this RBI restriction.

What did he tell you?

He accepted that there were some problems, he listened to me for more than 20 minutes and then directed a PMO official to look into the issue I had raised and find some solution to ameliorate the plight of farmers.

The PM told me that to protect the money of the poor and the farmers of India were his most important duty and he will see to it that arrangements were made so as not to put these sections in problems.

The (PMO) officer assured me that only the RBI can find a solution and I think this officer passed on my suggestion to the RBI.

But till now the RBI is not coming out with a solid solution; it is just finding piecemeal solutions to farmers' woes.

Those officers in the RBI don't even know that groundnut crop grows under the earth and not on trees.

The farmers are in difficulties because of such people.

Are you satisfied by the PM's response that the problems faced by farmers will be resolved?

I am completely satisfied by his response. He has taken this decision for the larger good of the nation and it will strengthen India's economy.

I thank the prime minister for taking such a bold step and offer my support to him.

But the RBI is solely responsible for all the problems the farmers are facing.

You hold only the RBI responsible for this problem. But do you think the RBI would not have consulted the prime minister before taking such a decision?

The RBI decision to stop DCCBs from banking came on November 13.

I met the prime minister on November 15 and the RBI had not told him about this decision.

But the decision to stop the exchange of notes or withdrawal and deposits at DCCBs in Gujarat was taken two days before you met the prime minister, and a day later for all of India, and yet you claim that the prime minister did not know about the RBI's decision?

Till that time (November 15, when I met the prime minister) there was no (RBI) report with the prime minister as to why this was done.

When I asked the PMO officer about this, he said the RBI did not bring this to the PM and did it independently.

When I asked how could the RBI ban DCCBs from accepting deposits from farmers in old notes when the government gazette released on November 9 allowed them to do so, this officer from the PMO told me that not even the senior officials in the PMO had any idea about this RBI ban on DCCBs.

This PMO officer assured me that he will discuss this issue with the finance ministry and come out with some solution.

So, have you got a solution to the woes of farmers who have accounts with the DCCBs in India?

They are doing it in a piecemeal way. They haven't yet found a proper solution.

Do you think this piecemeal approach can help solve the problems of farmers with accounts in DCCBs?

I welcome whatever steps have been taken till now, but we will continue to discuss these issues.

If you can allow private businesses like Biz Bazaar and petrol pumps to accept these notes despite there being no government oversight on these private people, then why have you banned the DCCBs that are overseen by the state governments, NABARD and the RBI?

Despite such oversight you have withdrawn the facility from the DCCBs, but are allowing Big Bazaar and petrol pumps to collect old notes only shows your discrimination.

Who is being discriminatory here? Are you saying the RBI is discriminatory or the government is being discriminatory against the DCCBs?

The RBI.

If the RBI were to permit the DCCBs to exchange old notes and allow deposits and withdrawal of these notes, then how much money do you think will be exchanged deposited or withdrawn?

I have no exact idea about how much money will change hands or will be deposited.

But all the banks are now computerised and the money will be accounted for.

Wherever there has been a bumper Kharif harvest the farmers will have good money with them and those who have already sold their produce before November 8 are now saddled with old notes and nowhere to deposit them.

Post Kharif is the only time when farmers have good money in their hands.

The farmer slogs it out for an entire year waiting for this time and what does he find when it comes?

He has money, but cannot deposit it in banks where he has his account.

How has this ban affected the prices of Kharif crops that are still in the godowns or homes of the farmers?

The prices had crashed below the minimum support price that the government offers.

That is why the Government of India and Modiji, for the welfare of farmers, ordered the purchase of farmers' produce above the MSP and asked NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Fedration of India, under the Union agriculture ministry) to buy the produce.

So the NAFED came to buy the Kharif crops from the farmers.

But now NAFED doesn't have enough of new currency or Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100 denomination notes to buy it from the farmers, leading to a complete breakdown of agricultural trade.

Can't NAFED pay the farmers by cheque?

The system prevalent among the buyers and sellers of agricultural crop is in cash.

Who will then pay or buy using cheques?

Even if NAFED pays by cheques, where will the farmers deposit their cheques?

Even if they manage to deposit it, how will the farmers withdraw cash from their accounts in the DCCBs when the RBI has banned banking operations of DCCBs?

Suppose if I get paid Rs 100,000 by cheque for my cotton or groundnut, and I deposit it, I can still not withdraw Rs 100,000 from the DCCB because of the RBI ban.

I will need this money to pay wages to workers and for other expenditure.

By when do you think the situation for farmers will improve?

When the government feels the status quo will harm it, then they will act.
Amidst reports that efforts are on to fix an early meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, the government on Thursday said Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar interacted with "very senior levels" of the President-elect's transition team during his recent United States visit.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also welcomed appointment of South Carolina's Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.

"Foreign Secretary did visit the United States as part of regular bilateral consultations. He met with the members of the current (Obama) administration and had meetings in the US Congress.

"It is also my understanding that Foreign Secretary interacted with very senior levels of the Trump transition team," Swarup said.

Trump is a self-confessed "big fan" of India. Ahead of his election win, he had described India as "a key strategic ally" and said he looked forward to deepening the diplomatic and military cooperation that is in the shared interest of both countries.

On Haley's appointment, Swarup said India knows Governor Hailey well and recognises her as a very strong and committed advocate of close India-US ties.

She had called on Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the United States and also recently visited India, he added. "We warmly welcome her appointment as PR (Permanent Representative) to the UN," he said.
India on Thursday reacted strongly to reports of Pakistan setting up a special group to "expose" New Delhi's alleged atrocities in Kashmir, saying it should focus its energies on "stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath" in making baseless charges.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also took a dig at Pakistan Prime Minister's foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz for his remarks that Islamabad would reach out to Indians who are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "extremist policies", saying probably he has not anticipated the kind of reception he may receive from them.

"Pakistan would be well advised to focus its energies on stemming the rot of terrorism instead of expending its breath in making baseless allegations. He (Aziz) would be well advised to rather woo Pakistanis to end his governments policy of state sponsorship of terrorism," Swarup said.

He was reacting to reports quoting Aziz as saying that Pakistan has set up a high-level committee to formulate "a doable and sustainable" policy to highlight the Kashmir issue globally and is reaching out to Indians who are opposed to Modi's "extremist policies".

Swarup also gave details of the demarche issued to Pakistan deputy high commissioner on Wednesday over the killing of its three soldiers.

He said India strongly deplored the tacit support of the Pakistani army to armed terrorists that came from close to that country's army posts on 22 November, 2016, and targeted an Indian patrol near the Line of Control in Machhal Sector opposite Pakistans Kel Sector. Three Indian soldiers were killed in the ambush and the body of one of them was inhumanly mutilitated, the MEA spokesperson said.

The government also conveyed its grave concern at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the LoC to target Indian posts and patrols.

"During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani army posts across the Line of Control," he said, adding Pakistan forces have committed 27 ceasefire violations between 16 and 21 November, 2016 which constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003.

Swarup also rejected Islamabad's allegation that India was not giving overflight clearance to Pakistan which is in violation of a 1991 agreement.

"Yes, we are aware of what Pakistan has claimed but we categorically reject these allegations.

Asserting that as per the 1991 agreement, essential information concerning the nature of cargo and passengers is required to be furnished in respect of military aircraft, Swarup said requests for overflight clearance from the government of Pakistan were received in a couple of cases without that.

"Despite several reminders, including in a meeting between Pakistans deputy high commissioner and joint secretary (in-charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) in New Delhi on 9 November 2016, Pakistan did not provide the information. Our expectation is that Pakistan will respect the requirements mutually agreed in bilateral agreements," he said.

He also noted that in another recent case, when Pakistan had provided all necessary information for Gulfstream aircraft of Pakistan Air Force proposing to carry a VIP delegation from Lahore to Colombo and back the overflight permission was provided expeditiously.

On ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Swarup said when the Pakistan deputy high commissioner was summoned yesterday, he was told that despite calls for restraint, Pakistani forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between 16 and 21 November, 2016, by employing artillery and 120 millimetre heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003, he said.

"The government also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan army of 18 villages along the Line of Control during the period 16 to 21 November, 2016 which has resulted in a non-fatal casualty besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and the displacement of civilian population," he added.

The government reaffirmed its concerns about the safety and well-being of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan who had inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistani side more than seven weeks back, Swarup said.

"We expect early repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan back to India," he said.
Rajya Sabha

After five days of confrontation, Rajya Sabha on Thursday saw resumption of debate on demonetization briefly during which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the opposition attack, saying the step was a monumental management failure which would lead to dip in gross domestic product growth by at least 2 per cent.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the House, the Opposition and the ruling side came to an agreement to do away with the Question Hour and resume the debate, which had been left incomplete on November 16.

Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the prime minister will also participate in the debate.

The Opposition had been demanding presence of the prime minister for resumption of the debate for the last five days.

Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PMs name.

Debate was resumed during the Question Hour, from 12 pm to 1 pm, after which the House went into lunch break. When it met again at 2 pm, the prime minister was not there, prompting the opposition parties to demand his presence again as they wanted him to listen to all the speakers.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the discussion should be carried forward as the Leader of the House has said that prime minister will come.

Opposition members then trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans like bring back black money, stop making false promises.

Jaitley said his apprehensions that the Opposition did not want the debate had come true as they were looking for excuses to run away from the discussion.

As pandemonium prevailed, the House was adjourned till 3 pm and then for the day as the same situation existed.

Participating in the debate, Naresh Agrawal (Samajwadi Party) said his party was against demonetisation and dubbed it as a second emergency that has brought about financial emergency in the country.

Such decisions have been taken only by dictators and not by elected governments anywhere in the world.

Agrawal said no one has the power to implement such a decision without the consent and approval of both Houses of Parliament, as the Parliamentarians are the true public representatives of people of the country.

He questioned as to how this decision was taken without any discussion in Parliament.

He said it is a very dangerous decision for the country and not in national interest.

The decision was taken only keeping in view the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party leader said.

He also lamented that the decisions announced by the government have not been notified by the Reserve Bank of India which is yet to issue instructions to banks.

Welcoming Modis presence in the House, the SP leader said it is good that government has shed its rigidity.

He said the prime minister was not aware of the ground realities where people were suffering largely on account of the scrapping of high value currency notes.

Agrawal recalled how even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who enforced Emergency in the country, was informed at the time that the move has gone well with the public who support it.

But what happened in elections later was seen by all, the SP leader said, adding the demonetisation step will bring the same fate to this government if elections are held now.

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its promise of bringing back black money stashed abroad, he asked it to declare when it would do so.

Agrawal also asked the government to declare how much is the NPAs of banks in India in comparison to foreign banks.

Agarwal also took a dig at the Prime Minister for making an emotive speech in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh that he may be killed for his bold decisions.

He said Modi was free to roam around in Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by his party SP, without fear as law and order situation was good in the state. This evoked laughter, with the prime minister too having a hearty laugh.

Agrawal also claimed that the demonetisation move was announced by Modi without taking Jaitley into confidence.

He said if the finance minister had known about it, he would have informed Samajwadi Party leaders, evoking another round of laughter.

In a retort, Jaitley said the real problem has come to light now.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the decision to scrap high value notes was taken without adequate preparation because of which 95 per cent people were facing problems.

Referring to the governments survey to gauge peoples views on demonetisation in which 90 per cent out of initial responses had supported the decision, she said that in fact 90 per cent people were facing immense problems.

She dared the government to dissolve the Lok Sabha and go to elections and see the result right now.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek OBrien said the government was trying to build a narrative that anyone opposing demonetisation is supporting the corrupt.

He questioned the government as to why it is giving lectures on corruption and black money.

He said his party was opposing because it thinks the people are suffering and economy will be killed.

The Trinamool leader asked the government why it was creating this impression that it is some messiah and all in the opposition are devils.

OBrien said if the government wanted to hold an inquiry, it should do it. He said if the government wanted to send his party leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to jail, it should try it.

He also took a swipe at the survey on Narendra Modi app and asked who were the 92 per cent people who were making the government happy.

He suggested that old Rs 500 notes should be allowed to function parallel with the new notes for a longer time as well as printing of more smaller denomination notes.

Secrecy cannot be an excuse for putting people to pain, he said, adding that 4 out of 5 villages did not have banks.

Peace and normalcy in the Rajya Sabha, during which debate was witnessed from 12 pm to 1 pm, evaporated after it met again at 2 pm after lunch recess.

The prime minister, who was present in the House from 12 pm to 1 pm, was not in the House.

Mayawati raised the issue of his absence, saying it was a matter of regret that the prime minister had not arrived for the demonetisation debate.

She said that until and unless the PM is present, discussion will not move on and the House will not run.

She was joined by Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, who argued that if the prime minister listens to leaders, then the House will run smoothly.

Yechury said the government had given an assurance that the prime minister will be in the House all day.

Launching a counter offensive, Jaitley said the Opposition was inventing reasons for running away from the debate.

The finance minister refused to accept the condition that the prime minister should sit in the House throughout the debate, saying it was not in the Rule book.

Azad countered Jaitleys assertion reminding that during debate on 2G spectrum scam few years ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party, then in opposition, had said that the House will not run until the then prime minister was present throughout the discussion.

Amid demands that Modi be present in the House during the course of the demonetisation debate, the Rajya Sabha witnessed uproar with leaders marching towards the well of the House, alleging that the prime minister had run away from the debate.

Due to the uproar, the House was adjourned till 3 pm and then for the day.

Earlier, when the lunch break was announced, the prime minister reached out to the opposition parties as he walked across in the House and exchanged pleasantries with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and other leaders of Congress as well as the Janata Dal-United, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Modi, with Jaitley and Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in tow, shook hands and was seen chatting with Singh, as also Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.

Modi also chatted with JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, Praful Patel of NCP and DMKs Kanimozhi and some other leaders.

Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha could not transact any business as the Opposition continued its protest demanding discussion on demonetization issue under Adjournment Motion and a rule which entails voting.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the Opposition of inventing reasons to run away from a debate on demonetisation and took a swipe at former PM Manmohan Singh over his criticism, saying it is no surprise that he is unhappy as maximum black money was generated under his rule.

Rejecting Singhs contention that Gross Domestic Product growth will plunge by 2 per cent, he said demonetisation will have positive impact on the economy over medium- to long-term as the money from shadow economy will find its way into the mainstream.

Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder, Jaitley said.

His response came after Singh castigated the government and the prime minister over demonetisation during Rajya Sabha debate, saying its implementation was a monumental management failure and a case of organised loot and legalised plunder.

As the Rajya Sabha was repeatedly adjourned with Opposition insisting that the prime minister be present during the entire debate, Jaitley lashed out at the Opposition saying it was not keen on debate but on disruption.

The government position is very clear from the day one that we are ready for the debate.... The Opposition was finding excuses to avoid discussion but today morning they were taken by surprise when we announced that the prime minister will participate in the debate.

Now they are inventing and manufacturing reasons to escape the debate, Jaitley told reporters outside Parliament.

Lashing out at the previous United Progressive Alliance government, Jaitley alleged that the maximum black money was generated during the 2004-14 as well as the period was engulfed in various scams like 2G and coal scam.

We are not surprise that they did not like the anti-black money measures the government has taken...Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder, he said.

Stressing that demonetisation decision will have a positive impact on the economy, Jaitley said, This (the move) will have positive impact as far as the medium and long terms are concerned. Lot of shadow money will become part of banking system (due to demonetisation).

The minister said the measure will increase lending capacity of banks which could extend the money to farmers, social sector and also industry.

Seeking to bring out contrast between the UPA and the current National Democratic Alliance regimes, the minister said the previous government had policy paralysis and thus, could not take tough decision unlike the Modi dispensation.

On an allegation that the some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were aware of the move, while Jaitley was not kept in the loop, the finance minister said, This decision was kept a secret. The people who needed to know, knew (about it)... the allegation is already contradictory that the information was known to some BJP members as though I was not a BJP member.

Jaitley also rejected the accusation that Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel did not address the media after the announcement of the scheme, saying the office people are supposed to perform and not come out in front of the camera.

Underlining that the demonetisation decision is in the interest of the country, he said the government has taken the right steps and is implementing it in the right manner and will defend it.

He also rejected the demand of a Joint Parliamentary Committee by some of the Opposition parties, saying there should be some evidence or blame for initiating such investigation.
Its been 15 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent ripples across the nation when he announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes would be demonetised immediately.

What has ensued since then has been serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs where people hope to exchange/deposit their money.

And while in some places the queues seem to have shortened, the pain that the common man has had to endure is evident from the various protests that have been carried out since November 8.

Milk protest: Congress party workers pour milk on a road to protest against the government's decision to withdraw 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes from circulation in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

Burn, baby, burn! While many support the move of the PM to demonetise the high currency note, they have questioned the implementation of the scheme, with some saying that the PM hadn't thought it through. In many places, Modi's photographs were burnt in a way to display their anger against the government. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

Down with the Dictator: Many people have dubbed Modi 'dictator' over the decision to ban the notes overnight. Traders, retailers and other businessmen carried out a protest in Mumbai against the entire move. Photograph: Sahil Salvi/Rediff.com

In some places, like in New Delhi, the police had to be called in to ensure that the protests did not turn violent. On November 18, police detained Congress party members when they protested against the demonetisation scheme. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Even leaders of opposition parties have taken out protests against PM Modi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had led a delegation of leaders across political parties to Rashtrapati Bhavan, demanding for a roll back of the plan. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has also been up in arms against the plan, with the Delhi Chief Minister calling it the 'biggest scam in Independent India'. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too held a protest outside Parliament against the move, saying that while the common man was suffering, Modi's friends were in the know and already changed their black money. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photo

Congress workers burn the effigy of PM Narendra Modi during a protest march against demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo
After taking repeated digs at the Centre over demonetisation, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday dubbed the move as "extortion of common man" and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to take former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words on the issue seriously as it came from a "renowned economist".

"I will not hesitate in taking a critical stand on the process in which demonetisation was implemented," Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai.

"The way in which a referendum was sought in Britain before its withdrawal from the European Union, a survey is being done here. But seeing people's response, their (UK) prime minister chose to step down. Will something similar happen here?" he said.

Thackeray was apparently referring to the prime minister seeking people's feedback over demonetisation on the Narendra Modi App, where a number of questions have been posed with regard to scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

He said there was no point in Modi becoming emotional at a time when people have tears in their eyes.

"One person cannot take a decision for 125 crore people. Before taking the decision to demonetise the currency, people should have been taken into confidence," he said.

"Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a renowned economist. Thus, his words and opinions should be taken seriously. The way in which money is being collected, seems that money is being extorted from common man. You have brought tears in the eyes of people who made you come to power with a lot of aspirations," Thackeray said.

Coming down heavily on the government over the issue, Singh castigated the government and the prime minister over demonetisation during Rajya Sabha debate on Thursday, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder".

Referring to the Reserve Bank of India's decision not to allow district central co-operative banks to exchange the old currency, the Sena chief asked if liquor baron Vijay Mallya had taken loans from these banks.

"Did Vijay Mallya take loans from any of the DCC banks? Banks from which he did take loans, how have they been allowed to exchange the old currency?" he questioned.

He said that the government should extend the dates up to December 31, until which defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are accepted at petrol pumps and hospitals.
Terrorists on Thursday attacked a police station in north Kashmirs Kupwara district, but there was no report of any loss of life in the firing.

The terrorists attacked a police station in Handwara area of Kupwara by resorting to firing and also lobbed a grenade, a police officer said.

He said there was retaliatory firing by the police personnel, forcing the militants to flee.

There was no loss of life in the firing, the official said, adding a manhunt has been launched to nab the attackers.

Earlier, in September terrorists attacked a police station in south Kashmirs Pulwama district with grenades and automatic gunfire.

The terrorists also snatched a weapon from the residential guard of a regional National Conference block president in DH Pora village of Kulgam district.

In July too, one policeman has been killed and five others were injured after terrorists attacked a police station in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Upping the ante, Pakistan on Thursday warned India that its "battle hardened" military is capable of responding to any aggression, with army chief General Raheel Sharif saying if ever Pakistan launched surgical strikes India would not be able to forget it for generations.

"If Pakistan were to launch surgical strikes, India would not be able to forget it for generations to come," General Sharif said just days before his scheduled retirement.

"India would be teaching its children as part of syllabus what a surgical strike means if Pakistan launched such strikes," he said.

He also dismissed India's assertion that it had carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan army was capable of teaching Indian forces a lesson.

Addressing tribal elders after inaugurating a cricket stadium named after flamboyant cricketer Shahid Afridi in Khyber tribal region, the General confirmed he will be retiring on November 29 after a three-year term, as scheduled.

He said that he would dedicate his life after retirement for the welfare of the families of martyrs of the armed forces.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate "deliberate targeting" of civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC," he said at a cabinet meeting which reviewed the situation along the LoC.

"We will not tolerate the deliberate attack on innocent civilians," he said.

According to a statement issued by his office, Sharif said Kashmir issue "is an unfinished agenda of the partition" and vowed to continue support to the people of Kashmir.

"We will never abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their freedom struggle," he said.

The meeting re-affirmed Pakistan's "political, diplomatic and moral support" to the people of Kashmir "in their just and legitimate struggle for the exercise of their right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions", his office said.

The meeting urged the international community to take note of the increasing number of civilian casualties. It also called upon the international community to play active role in diffusing the deteriorating security situation along the LoC.

Air Force chief Marshal Sohail Aman also said Pakistan is not worried at all about any threat from India and its "battle hardened" military is capable of responding to any aggression.

"We are not worried about India at all," he said, speaking at the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar in Karachi. He said it is better if India showed restraint and solved the Kashmir issue to prevent escalation of tension.

"India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them," he said.

Aman said that Pakistan does not want war but cannot ignore this kind of pressure. "We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression," he asserted.

He said Pakistan had "readied all of its (battle) plans following threats from India" after the Uri terror attack.

Meanwhile, Pakistan naval chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah termed as "unusual" the alleged effort by an Indian submarine to enter into its territorial waters and warned of retaliation if such effort was made again.

"If India does something like this again, the Pakistan Navy will respond to protect our sovereignty," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the 9th International Defence Exhibition.

Pakistan Navy last week claimed an Indian submarine was pushed back after being detected near its territorial waters.

India, however, strongly dismissed the charge as "blatant lies", saying the Indian Navy did not have any under water movement in the said waters as claimed by the Pakistani Navy.

The remarks by top civil and military leadership came a day after Pakistan claimed that Indian forces targeted a passenger bus in PoK killing at least nine people.
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Gutierrez-Rostran v. Lynch

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Publication Date 13 January 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 152216 Cite as Gutierrez-Rostran v. Lynch, No. 152216, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 13 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_7,5836baca4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.

Luis GUTIERREZ-ROSTRAN, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. LYNCH, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent.

No. 15-2216.

Decided: January 13, 2016

Before BAUER, POSNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.Abigail Lynn Seif, Epstein Cohen Seif & Flora, Indianapolis, IN, for Petitioner. Allison Frayer, Department of Justice, OIL, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

The petitioner, Luis Gutierrez-Rostran, a Nicaraguan citizen, entered the United States illegally in 2006, and decided to stay. Although his stated motive for immigrating was fear that the government of Nicaragua would encourage or condone his being murdered by its supporters because of his and his family's political views, he did not make a timely application for asylum. See 8 U.S.C.  1158(a)(2)(B).

In 2010 he was convicted of public intoxication and driving under the influence. After eight days in jail he was issued a Notice to Appear for immigration proceedings and released on bail the same day. Eventually he was ordered to be removed to Nicaragua. He then applied for asylum under 8 U.S.C.  1158, and for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C.  1231(b)(3)(A) (formerly 8 U.S.C.  1253(h)(1)(1990)) in the alternative. To obtain the second form of relief he had to show that his "life or freedom would be threatened in [Nicaragua] because of [his] race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." The immigration court turned him down and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed, precipitating the petition for review that brings his case to us.

He challenges both the denial of his untimely asylum application and the denial of his claim for withholding of removal. Regarding the former challenge, to prevail given the untimeliness of the application he would have to show that the immigration court or the Board had committed a legal error, 8 U.S.C.  1252(a)(2)(D); Restrepo v. Holder, 610 F.3d 962, 964-65 (7th Cir.2010), and he hasn't done that. He argues only that violence toward persons such as him has increased in Nicaragua in recent years, thus justifying his belated application. But unfortunately for him "issues of changed or extraordinary circumstances are questions of fact that lie outside the realm of  1252(a)(2)(D)." Aimin Yang v. Holder, 760 F.3d 660, 665 (7th Cir.2014).

So we turn to his claim for withholding of removal, and begin by sketching some essential background. Augusto Cesar Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary who between 1927 and 1933 conducted a rebellion against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua. He was assassinated in 1934 at the direction of Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who became the nation's ruler, succeeded by his sons after he was assassinated. The Sandinista party, named in memory of Sandino, rose up against the Somozas, and under the leadership of Daniel Ortega wrested control of the country from them. That happened in 1979 and Ortega ruled the country as a dictator until 1990. He then permitted free elections, was repeatedly defeated, and did not achieve his old authority until he won (though with only a plurality of the votes) the presidential election held in 2006. Since then his power has been secure.

Ortega's defeats in that interim period were by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (known as PLC from the initials of its Spanish name), then the main opposition party, and parties allied to it, notably the Independent Liberal Party (the PLI). Gutierrez-Rostran was active in one of those two parties (though it's unclear which one), as were his father, his two brothers, and two uncles, one of them a mayor and the other a PLC representative who, Gutierrez-Rostran testified, "was to become a mayor as well."

Because of the family's intimate connections with a political movement that had long delayed Ortega's return to power, both Gutierrez-Rostran and his two brothers fled the country when Ortega was elected president in 2006, though the brothers fled not to the United States but to Costa Rica and Guatemala, respectively, and since fleeing have (for a reason we'll explain shortly) been able to make extended visits to Nicaragua without being threatened or harassed.

In his hearing before the immigration court on his application for withholding of removal, Gutierrez-Rostran testified that his family and members of the PLI had told him that both his cousin and his friend had been murdered by the Sandinistas-in fact by the son of one of President Ortega's bodyguards. Another friend of Gutierrez-Rostran, Rogelio Ruiz-Sotelo, testified that the cousin had received threats from Sandinistas, and though in response to the threats he had moved to a far-off city in Nicaragua he nevertheless was murdered there. Ruiz-Sotelo further testified that he'd attended the cousin's funeral and heard things in the city that convinced him that the murderer was a Sandinista. (That testimony was hearsay, but hearsay is admissible in immigration proceedings. N.L.A. v. Holder, 744 F.3d 425, 436 (7th Cir.2014).) He also testified that, while a poll worker in an election held in 2012, he had been stoned by Sandinistas and forced to surrender his ballots to them, and that he had complained to the authorities but both the captain of police and the town's mayor were Sandinistas and threatened to kill him if he said anything about the attack against him. (On the collaboration of Nicaraguan police in Sandinista violence against political opponents, see, e.g., Tim Rogers, "6 Dead in Post-Election Violence," Nicaragua Dispatch, November 9, 2011, http://nicaraguadispatch.com /2011/11/6-dead-in-post-election-violence/.)

The immigration judge who presided at Gutierrez-Rostran's hearing denied withholding of removal on the ground that none of his immediate family members had been harmed or even threatened, and that the various articles and reports he submitted about political violence between Sandinistas and members of the opposition parties fell short of proving that it was more likely than not that he would be persecuted if he returned to Nicaragua. The Board affirmed the denial, discounting as "speculative" the contention that the cousin's murder had been "at the hands of the Sandinistas."

The treatment by the immigration court and the Board of the cousin's murder was too cursory to justify denial of Gutierrez-Rostran's application for withholding of removal. There was evidence of violence by Sandinistas against liberal party members; the cousin was a liberal from a well-known liberal family; and Gutierrez-Rostran's testimony, Ruiz-Sotelo's testimony (including his testimony that public officials-a mayor and a police chief-had refused to protect him against Sandinista harassment), and letters of Gutierrez-Rostran's parents and of PLI officials, made a prima facie showing that Gutierrez-Rostran would be in great danger were he to be returned to Nicaragua while the Sandinistas are in power. Although Gutierrez-Rostran's parents, brothers, sisters, and uncles have not been persecuted, the parents are old (his father is 78) and neither they nor his one surviving uncle nor the sisters nor the brothers-who, remember, no longer live in Nicaragua-are politically active. An uncle of Gutierrez-Rostran who had been a liberal mayor was allowed to die in peace, but he too was old.

Neither the immigration judge nor the (as usual) single-member "panel" of the Board of Immigration Appeals gave a reason for doubting the weight or truthfulness of the evidence, evidence from which an inference could be drawn that Gutierrez-Rostran would indeed face a grave threat of suffering his cousin's fate were he forced to return to Nicaragua. Admissible, pertinent, credible evidence can't just be ignored, as the immigration court and the Board did in this case; reasonable grounds must exist, and be articulated, to justify rejection of such evidence. See, e.g., Yi-Tu Lian v. Ashcroft, 379 F.3d 457, 461-62 (7th Cir.2004). The immigration judge stated in his opinion, and the Board registered no disagreement, that Gutierrez-Rostran's testimony was "internally consistent, consistent with his written statement, and consistent with the other documents he submitted." The immigration judge also made no adverse credibility finding with regard to Ruiz-Sotelo. Yet having indicated that he thought Gutierrez-Rostran's testimony had been credible and not having suggested that Ruiz-Sotelo's evidence was not credible, the immigration judge contradicted himself by saying that "there is no evidence to corroborate the respondent's belief that [his cousin and friend] were killed by the Sandinista youth for their political beliefs." Ruiz-Sotelo had testified without contradiction that Sandinistas had threatened and then killed the cousin and friend, and why would Sandinistas have killed them other than for political reasons?

Against all this it can be argued that while the evidence indicates danger to Gutierrez-Rostran if he is returned to Nicaragua, it does not indicate that he is "more likely than not" to be persecuted if he is sent there, which the Supreme Court in INS v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407, 424-25, 104 S.Ct. 2489, 81 L.Ed.2d 321 (1984), held is the standard of proof for withholding of removal. See also 8 C.F.R.  1208.16(b)(2); Torres v. Mukasey, 551 F.3d 616, 625 (7th Cir.2008). That of course is the normal civil standard of proof. But it can't be taken literally in the immigration context. In an ordinary civil case there are witnesses, lay and/or expert, on both sides of the case, and likewise documentary evidence. But in the usual withholding-of-removal case, including this case, the only evidence is presented by the alien-and the immigration judge appears to have deemed that evidence credible.

What is missing in a case like this are data that would enable a rational determination of whether there was a greater than 50 percent probability that the alien would lose his life or his freedom if removed to his country of origin. Rodriguez-Molinero v. Lynch, No. 15-1860, 2015 WL 9239398, at *1 (7th Cir. Dec.17, 2015). The first step in such an inquiry would be to define the endangered group (obviously not all the Nicaraguans who voted for PLC or PLI candidates) and the second to determine what percentage of them have lost their life or freedom at the hands of the Sandinistas, and also whether that percentage is growing or declining (or not changing). The immigrant is required to present evidence that he faces a significant probability of persecution if he is removed to his country of origin, and Gutierrez-Rostran did present such evidence, as we have seen. He could not be expected to quantify the probability of his being persecuted or killed should he be removed to Nicaragua. The data that would enable such quantification appear not to exist, because to be reliable they would have to specify all persons who had characteristics similar to those of the applicant for withholding of removal and how many of them had been killed or persecuted because of those characteristics. If such data do exist somewhere, the immigration authorities or the State Department may have access to them, but there is no indication of that.

The immigration judge may have been acknowledging the difficulty of taking the "more likely than not" standard literally as a 50+ percent probability when he said that an alien seeking withholding of removal could satisfy the standard of proof by demonstrating a "reasonable probability" of persecution if removed to his country of origin. That description of the standard is a step in the right direction.

The denial of withholding of removal and the affirmance of that denial by the BIA member who as the (entire) appeal "panel" denied the petitioner's appeal were not adequately reasoned and so must be set aside and the case returned to the Board for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The petition for asylum is dismissed, however, as noted earlier in this opinion.

POSNER, Circuit Judge.
Lkhagvasuren v. Lynch, Attorney General

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Publication Date 13 July 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 1371778 Cite as Lkhagvasuren v. Lynch, Attorney General, No. 1371778, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 13 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_9,5836bc844.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Otgonbayar Lkhagvasuren, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General, Respondent.

No. 13-71778

Decided: July 13, 2016

Before: J. Clifford Wallace, Mary M. Schroeder, and Alex Kozinski, Circuit Judges.Jeremiah Johnson, Johnson & McDermed, LLP, San Francisco, California, for Petitioner. Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General; Kiley Kane, Senior Litigation Counsel; Jeffrey R. Meyer, Attorney; Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Respondent.

OPINION

Petitioner Otgonbayar Lkhagvasuren petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (Board) decision to deny his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C.  1252(a)(1). We review the Board's factual determinations for substantial evidence and deny the petition.

Lkhagvasuren is a native and citizen of Mongolia who entered the United States with a visitor's visa in 2010 and subsequently applied for asylum. In Mongolia he was employed by an alcoholic-beverage company that he believed was engaged in corrupt activities, was subsequently fired from his job, joined a non-governmental consumer activist group, and later publicly voiced objections to the company's business practices. Lkhagvasuren asserts that his whistleblowing activities constituted a political opinion for which he was persecuted with either the consent or acquiescence of government actors.

A petitioner seeking asylum must establish that "race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion was or will be at least one central reason for" persecution that the government is unable or unwilling to control. 8 U.S.C.  1158 (b)(1)(B)(i). The petitioner has the burden to prove that a nexus exists between the persecution and a protected ground. Khudaverdyan v. Holder, 778 F.3d 1101, 1106 (9th Cir. 2015). Whistleblowing "may constitute political activity sufficient to form the basis of persecution" where petitioner's whistle blew against corrupt government officials, Grava v. I.N.S., 205 F.3d 1177, 1181 (9th Cir. 2000), and he was targeted for persecution on account of that political opinion, whether actual or imputed. See Sagaydak v. Gonzales, 405 F.3d 1035, 1042 (9th Cir. 2005).

The Board follows its precedential decision in Matter of N-M-, which identified a three-factor standard to determine whether retaliation for whistleblowing amounts to persecution on account of a political opinion: (1) "whether and to what extent the alien engaged in activities that could be perceived as expressions of anticorruption beliefs;" (2) "any direct or circumstantial evidence that the alleged persecutor was motivated by the alien's perceived or actual anticorruption beliefs;" and (3) "evidence regarding the pervasiveness of government corruption, as well as whether there are direct ties between the corrupt elements and higher level officials." 25 I. & N. Dec. 526, 532-33 (BIA 2011). These factors assist the courts in analyzing the political nature, if any, of the whistleblowing activity and resulting persecution.

We adopt the analytical framework of Matter of N-M- for the purpose of identifying whether an applicant has established the required factual nexus between any purported political whistleblowing and actual persecution as those terms are defined in the REAL ID Act. Grava, 205 F.3d at 1181 (requiring the petitioner to show that "the alleged corruption [was] inextricably intertwined with governmental operation.")

Substantial evidence supports the Board's conclusion that Lkhagvasuren failed to present evidence that his purported persecutors were motivated by his anticorruption beliefs, or that the corruption was even connected to government actors. He spoke publicly as a member of a consumer-activist group opposed to the advertising and sale of unsafe alcohol by a private company. He alleges that he saw government officials meeting with the director of the company when they had no reason to do so, but does not allege or prove any actual government connection to his former employer's scandalous business practices of selling poisonous alcohol, which were later publicly opposed by the government. Nor has he shown that the alleged harm inflicted upon him or his family involved government officials or their acquiescence. Lkhagvasuren's theory that a cabal of private and government officials conspired to silence him is unsupported in the record. He thus failed to establish that his whistleblowing amounted to political opinion as a protected ground, or that he was persecuted by or at the acquiescence of government officials.

Where persecution did not occur on account of a protected ground, Lkhagvasuren's claims for asylum and withholding of removal necessarily fail. Further, the immigration judge's conclusion, as adopted by the Board, that it is unlikely that Lkhagvasuren would face torture at the hands of the government if returned to Mongolia is supported by substantial evidence that the government publicly opposed the private corruption Lkhagvasuren sought to expose, and thus his claim for relief under the Convention Against Torture also fails.

The petition for review is DENIED.

PER CURIAM:
Alvizures-Gomes v. Lynch, Attorney General

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Publication Date 21 July 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 15-2181 Cite as Alvizures-Gomes v. Lynch, Attorney General, No. 15-2181, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_1,5836bda34.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

OMAR IVAN ALVIZURES-GOMES, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent.

No. 15-2181

Decided: July 21, 2016

Before Torruella, Selya and Lynch, Circuit Judges.Hans J. Bremer and Bremer Law & Associates, LLC on brief for petitioner. Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Blair T. O'Connor, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, and John F. Stanton, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief for respondent.

The petitioner, Omar Ivan Alvizures-Gomes, seeks judicial review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). Detecting no error, we deny the petition.

The relevant facts are uncomplicated. The petitioner is a Guatemalan national who resided there until September 5, 2011, when he entered the United States illegally. He was soon apprehended and placed in removal proceedings. See 8 U.S.C.  1227(a)(1)(B). Conceding removability, he cross-applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection. In support, he claimed both past persecution and fear of future persecution on account of his anti-gang political opinion and his membership in a particular social group. See id.  1101(a)(42)(A). He further claimed a likelihood that, if repatriated, the government would condone his torture at the hands of gang members. See 8 C.F.R.  1208.16(c).

On November 7, 2013, the petitioner testified before an immigration judge (IJ) that his flight to the United States was motivated by a fear of gangs in his native country after he had resolutely rejected their recruitment efforts. He explained that this fear developed following several in-person confrontations and his receipt of three threatening letters. He also proffered a miscellany of documents, including country conditions reports, aimed at showing what life was like in Guatemala.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the IJ assumed that the petitioner was generally credible, but nonetheless denied him any relief because he had not established his refugee status. The IJ also found that the petitioner had failed to show a likelihood that Guatemalan authorities would acquiesce in torture directed at the petitioner.

The petitioner unsuccessfully appealed to the BIA. Following the BIA's adverse decision, he prosecuted the instant petition for judicial review.

Judicial oversight in immigration cases typically focuses on the final decision of the BIA. See Cabrera v. Lynch, 805 F.3d 391, 393 (1st Cir. 2015). Such an approach is in order where, as here, "the BIA has conducted an independent evaluation of the record and rested its affirmance of the IJ's decision on a self-generated rationale." Pulisir v. Mukasey, 524 F.3d 302, 307-08 (1st Cir. 2008).

Throughout our analysis of the BIA's decision, "[c]laims of legal error engender de novo review, with some deference to the agency's expertise in interpreting both the statutes that govern its operations and its own implementing regulations." Cabrera, 805 F.3d at 393. Factual findings are reviewed for compliance with the substantial evidence standard. See Lopez-Castro v. Holder, 577 F.3d 49, 52 (1st Cir. 2009). "Under this highly deferential standard, we must accept the BIA's findings so long as they are 'supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole."' Nikijuluw v. Gonzales, 427 F.3d 115, 120 (1st Cir. 2005) (quoting INS v. EliasZacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 (1992)). Such findings will be disturbed only "if the record is such as to compel a reasonable factfinder to reach a contrary determination." See Jianli Chen v. Holder, 703 F.3d 17, 21 (1st Cir. 2012).

Against this backdrop, we turn to the petitioner's specific claims, starting with his asylum claim. In a quest for asylum, the devoir of persuasion rests with the asylum-seeker to establish that he is a refugee as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act. See Villa-Londono v. Holder, 600 F.3d 21, 24 (1st Cir. 2010). "A refugee is a person who cannot or will not return to her home country 'because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."' Olujoke v. Gonzales, 411 F.3d 16, 21 (1st Cir. 2005) (quoting 8 U.S.C.  1101(a)(42)(A)).

The petitioner tries to wedge his asylum claim into this template in two ways. To begin, he complains about both persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution based on his anti-gang political opinion. Alternatively, he complains about both persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution based on his membership in a discrete social group, namely, individuals returning to Guatemala from the United States while leaving behind family members in the United States.

With respect to his political opinion argument, the petitioner asserts that he was persecuted in Guatemala after he rebuffed recruitment efforts by gang members. Building on this foundation, he insists that his refusal to join the gangs expressed a political opinion. The BIA disagreed, and so do we.

In the BIA's view, the decisive flaw in this reasoning was that the petitioner failed to demonstrate a link between the alleged persecution, on the one hand, and his political opinion, on the other hand. This link, commonly referred to as the nexus requirement, draws its essence from the refugee statute's "on account of" language. The nexus requirement places the burden on the alien to demonstrate that claimed persecution was or will be "on account of" a statutorily protected ground, 8 U.S.C.  1101(a)(42)(A); or, in other words, that the statutorily protected ground "was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the [alien]," id.  1158(b)(1)(B)(i); see Ratnasingam v. Holder, 556 F.3d 10, 13 (1st Cir. 2009).

The BIA's determination that the petitioner's proof lacked the necessary nexus is supported by substantial evidence in the record. Gangs may have a nearly infinite variety of reasons for targeting a particular individual, including greed or an aspiration to increase their membership. See, e.g., Beltrand-Alas v. Holder, 689 F.3d 90, 94 (1st Cir. 2012); Mayorga-Vidal v. Holder, 675 F.3d 9, 18-19 (1st Cir. 2012). Given the wide range of possible motivations, "evidence of mere refusal to join a gang, without more, does not compel a conclusion that the alleged persecutor viewed the alien's resistance as an expression of a political opinion." Mayorga-Vidal, 675 F.3d at 18.

In this instance, both the IJ and the BIA concluded that the gangs' targeting of the petitioner was primarily motivated by a desire to swell their ranks. Nothing in the record either undermines this conclusion or compels a contrary conclusion. The petitioner's testimony attributed no statements to gang members about his political views, and the threats that he allegedly received were devoid of any references to his political stance. Given this empty record, we descry no error in the BIA's determination that the petitioner failed to show the required nexus between the actions taken by the gangs and any political opinion that he might have held.1

The petitioner's argument that he satisfies the nexus requirement through his membership in a particular social group is no more convincing. To satisfy the nexus requirement on this basis, an alien must show, at a minimum, that he is a member of a cognizable social group. See Carvalho-Frois v. Holder, 667 F.3d 69, 73 (1st Cir. 2012). A cognizable social group does not exist merely because an alien can conjure up a description of it. Instead, finding a cognizable social group requires a showing that the group is "a group of persons sharing a common, immutable characteristic that makes the group socially visible and sufficiently particular." Mendez-Barrera v. Holder, 602 F.3d 21, 25 (1st Cir. 2010).

Here, the petitioner submits that he is a member of a social group consisting of individuals returning to Guatemala from the United States while leaving behind family members in the United States. As such, his thesis runs, Guatemalan gangs will target him because they will assume that he is wealthy.

In confronting this argument, we do not write on a pristine page. We previously have rejected a substantially identical argument: that individuals perceived as wealthy after returning to Guatemala from the United States constitute a cognizable social group. See Sam v. Holder, 752 F.3d 97, 100 (1st Cir. 2014); Sicaju-Diaz v. Holder, 663 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2011). Such a proposed group fails to pass the applicable test because it cannot satisfy the social visibility requirement needed for social group status. See Rojas-Perez v. Holder, 699 F.3d 74, 79 (1st Cir. 2012). "For a group to be socially visible, 'it must be generally recognized in the community as a cohesive group."' Carvalho-Frois, 667 F.3d at 73 (quoting Mendez-Barrera, 602 F.3d at 26). The petitioner offers nothing to show that individuals returning to their native land after a stay in the United States, or wealthy individuals more generally, would be identified as a group by their community, much less that they would be persecuted on that account. See Rojas-Perez, 699 F.3d at 78; Sicaju-Diaz, 663 F.3d at 4.

The petitioner attempts to blunt the force of these precedents by formulating a slightly skewed group definition - one that adds the fact that group members have family members who remain in the United States. For present purposes, however, this is a distinction without a difference: we cannot imagine how the petitioner's proposed group ("[r]epatriated Guatemalans with family in the U.S.") would be any more cohesive or socially visible than the proposed groups that we consistently have rejected. For his part, the petitioner has not attempted to address this point but, rather, has simply turned a blind eye to it. Nor has he furnished even a smidgen of evidence indicating that this proposed social group either is recognized as a cohesive group in the community or has characteristics that enable ready differentiation between group members and the rest of the populace. Thus, his proposed social group does not get him anywhere. See Carvalho-Frois, 667 F.3d at 73; Mendez-Barrera, 602 F.3d at 26.

For these reasons, then, we uphold the BIA's denial of the petitioner's asylum claim. So, too, we uphold the BIA's denial of the petitioner's withholding of removal claim. After all, a claim for withholding of removal compels an alien to carry a heavier burden of proof than does a counterpart claim for asylum. See Mendez-Barrera, 602 F.3d at 27. Consequently, our rejection of the petitioner's asylum claim leads inexorably to the rejection of his withholding of removal claim. See Villa-Londono, 600 F.3d at 24 n.1 ("[I]f a claim for asylum is rejected on the merits, a counterpart claim for withholding of removal must necessarily fail.").

This brings us to the petitioner's CAT claim. Such a claim requires an alien to show that, if repatriated, he would more likely than not be tortured "at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity." 8 C.F.R.  208.18(a)(1); see Chhay v. Mukasey, 540 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir. 2008). The BIA's determination that the petitioner did not carry this burden of proof is unimpugnable.

The petitioner suggests that the Guatemalan government is unwilling to provide meaningful protection to him. This unwillingness, he says, is evidenced both by the government's failure to assist him in his prior travails with the gangs and by high levels of corruption and ineffectiveness throughout the government. In his view, this collocation of events makes it more likely than not that he will face torture, with the government's consent or acquiescence, should he be returned to his homeland.

In an attempt to flesh out this suggestion, the petitioner testified that he sought out the police after he received a threatening letter from a gang. The letter was unsigned and composed of characters cut out from magazine pages, and the police advised him that "they couldn't do much" with such limited information. This inertia, the petitioner says, is a telling indication that the government would not lift a finger to stop his torture at the hands of gang members.

The BIA brushed aside this surmise, concluding that the mere fact that the police, with nothing to go on, were unable to solve a particular case did not demonstrate their likely consent or acquiescence to torture. The BIA's reasoning stands on solid footing: several courts have held that such a conclusion is fully supportable. See, e.g., Garcia-Milian v. Holder, 755 F.3d 1026, 1034 (9th Cir. 2014) (concluding that "[e]vidence that the police were aware of a particular crime, but failed to bring the perpetrators to justice, is not in itself sufficient to establish acquiescence in the crime"); Tamara-Gomez v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 343, 351 (5th Cir. 2006) (finding "failure to apprehend the persons threatening the alien" insufficient to ground CAT claims); Reyes-Sanchez v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 369 F.3d 1239, 1243 (11th Cir. 2004) ("That the police did not catch the culprits does not mean that they acquiesced in the harm."). We join this chorus.

Nor can the petitioner dig himself out of this hole by his reliance on country conditions reports, which he says demonstrate the overall corruption and ineffectiveness of the Guatemalan authorities. These reports do not relieve him of the obligation to point to specific evidence indicating that he, personally, faces a risk of torture because of these alleged shortcomings. Such specificity is a necessary element of a CAT claim. See Mendez-Barrera, 602 F.3d at 28 (upholding rejection of CAT claim "because the petitioner failed to proffer any particularized facts relating to her specific claim that she would face a likelihood of government-sanctioned torture"); see also Amouri v. Holder, 572 F.3d 29, 35 (1st Cir. 2009) (extolling virtues of "particularized evidence"). Inasmuch as the proof adduced by the petitioner falls well short of this standard, we conclude that there is substantial evidence to support the BIA's dismissal of his CAT claim. See Seng v. Holder, 584 F.3d 13, 20 (1st Cir. 2009).

We need go no further. For the reasons elucidated above, we deny the petition for judicial review.

So Ordered.

FOOTNOTES

1. In this venue, the petitioner labors to fill this void by suggesting that he not only refused to join the gangs but also communicated his political sentiments to the gang members by telling them that he was taught to work for his money. These statements, he contends, caused the gangs to target him and, thus, created the requisite nexus. Regardless of the merit or lack of merit of this contention - a matter on which we take no view - it comes too late. Since the petitioner failed to advance this contention before the BIA, we lack jurisdiction to review it. See 8 U.S.C.  1252(d)(1); see also Ramirez-Matias v. Holder, 778 F.3d 322, 327 (1st Cir. 2015).

SELYA, Circuit Judge.
Lara v. Lynch, Attorney General

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Publication Date 17 August 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 15-60126 Cite as Lara v. Lynch, Attorney General, No. 15-60126, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 17 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_5,5836be584.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Monica Rocio Ramos Lara, Petitioner v. Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent

No. 15-60126

Decided: August 17, 2016

Before STEWART, Chief Judge, and PRADO and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.Felipe D.J. Millan, El Paso, TX, for Petitioner. Jamie Marie Dowd, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

In January 2010, Monica Rocio Ramos Lara, a native and citizen of Bolivia, entered the United States from Mexico seeking asylum. The Immigration Judge denied her asylum application after holding she was ineligible under the firm-resettlement bar. The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed Ramos Lara's appeal because she failed to establish the applicability of an exception to that bar. We agree and DENY the petition for review.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Monica Rocio Ramos Lara is a native and citizen of Bolivia. In 2005, Ramos Lara moved to Mexico from Bolivia. She claims the Bolivian military threatened her and her husband because she was not an indigenous native and her husband was a white male from the United States. She legally resided and worked in Mexico for the next five years as a substitute English teacher. She obtained a work visa from the Mexican government, which she last renewed in 2009. Her husband traveled back and forth between the United States, where he was employed, and Mexico, where Ramos Lara lived with their two children. Her husband is a citizen of the United States. The only evidence of his right to reside in Mexico is his wife's cryptic statement that "just recently [Mexican authorities] sent the residency to my husband." While living in Mexico, Ramos Lara made two trips from Mexico to Bolivia and the United States. She was permitted freely to return to Mexico after each trip outside the country. She had yet to apply for permanent residency, but she asserted that she was eligible and believed Mexico would have granted her residency.

A few years after her move to Mexico, Ramos Lara claims a man named Jesse Ramirez approached her husband and asked him to smuggle drugs into the United States. He refused. According to Ramos Lara, Ramirez vaguely threatened that something bad was going to happen due to her husband's refusal. Shortly afterwards, her husband was detained at the border and arrested after agents found marijuana in his car. Ramos Lara is unclear as to what happened with her husband's criminal case following his arrest. She claims after her husband's arrest, however, Ramirez called and approached her numerous times.

Ramos Lara then attempted to enter the United States in January 2009. When she was detained, she claimed she was a United States citizen. After not being able to produce any documentation, she admitted she was not actually a citizen. She stated she was afraid of returning to Bolivia but not to Mexico, where she had lived legally for the previous three years. She claims she made this statement because she and her husband decided not to tell anyone about Ramirez, fearing it would create more problems for them. She was deported back to Mexico.

Ramos Lara then moved with her children on three separate occasions to avoid Ramirez, but he eventually found them and her car disappeared the next day. She claims that she reported her car stolen but did not make any progress with Mexican officials.

After that incident, Ramos Lara attempted once again to enter the United States in January 2010. In February 2010, she was served with a Notice to Appear charging her as removable under 8 U.S.C.  1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). She conceded removability and filed an application for asylum. After a hearing, the Immigration Judge ("IJ") denied Ramos Lara's application and ordered her removed to Mexico or Bolivia. The IJ found Ramos Lara ineligible for asylum under the firm-resettlement bar because she had lived in Mexico since 2005, was permitted to work there, and was planning on obtaining permanent residency before she left Mexico in 2010.

Ramos Lara timely appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA"), arguing her residency in Mexico was a necessary consequence of her flight from Bolivia. If so, she may be eligible for an exception to the firm-resettlement bar. The BIA concluded her argument was belied by the facts that she lived with her children in Mexico and worked there for five years, never expressed a fear of returning to Mexico after travelling in and out of the country numerous times, and renewed her work visa in Mexico at least once. The BIA dismissed Ramos Lara's appeal. She petitions this court for review.

DISCUSSION

The Attorney General has discretion to grant asylum to refugees. See 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(A). An alien is statutorily barred from asylum if she was "firmly resettled in another country prior to arriving in the United States." See id.  1158(b)(2)(A)(vi). An alien is firmly resettled if prior to arriving in this country, she "entered into another country with, or while in that country received, an offer of permanent resident status, citizenship, or some other type of permanent resettlement," unless the alien establishes that an exception applies. 8 C.F.R.  1208.15. The necessary-consequence exception, relevant to this petition for review, provides that firm resettlement has not occurred if "entry into that country was a necessary consequence of [the alien's] flight from persecution, that [the alien] remained in that country only as long as was necessary to arrange onward travel, and that [the alien] did not establish significant ties in that country" Id.  1208.15(a). The BIA decided Ramos Lara did not establish that this exception applied.

We review a final decision of the BIA and not that of the IJ unless the latter "affects the BIA's decision" on appeal. See Zhu v. Gonzales, 493 F.3d 588, 593 (5th Cir. 2007). Here, the BIA stated its own reasoning in determining that the IJ's ruling was correct; consequently, we confine our review to the BIA's decision. Id. at 593-94.

As usual, we must identify and apply our standard of review. We review questions of law de novo, giving "considerable deference" to the BIA's interpretation of the statutes it administers. Id. at 594. We have not previously decided in a published opinion the standard of review applicable to the key factual determination in this case, namely, the BIA's finding about firm resettlement or its exceptions. See Shariatzadeh v. Ashcroft, 66 Fed.Appx. 523 (5th Cir. 2003). Neither party argues, though, that we should apply a different standard of review than we typically do when reviewing the BIA's factual determinations. We review most BIA factual findings for substantial evidence, which translates into upholding factual findings unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. Chen v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 1131, 1134 (5th Cir. 2006). We have applied that standard to the BIA's factual determination that an alien is not eligible for asylum. Id. As to the BIA's factual determinations about firm resettlement and the necessary-consequence exception, other circuits review for substantial evidence. See, e.g., Hanna v. Holder, 740 F.3d 379, 394-98 (6th Cir. 2014); Maharaj v. Gonzales, 450 F.3d 961, 967 (9th Cir. 2006); Rife v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 606, 610-12 (8th Cir. 2004).

We hold that we must review the BIA's factual determinations about firm resettlement and its exceptions for substantial evidence.

We next respond to a joint invitation issued to us by the parties at oral argument. We were encouraged to decide the validity of the BIA's burden-shifting framework for determining whether firm resettlement has occurred. See A-G-G-, 25 I. & N. Dec. 486 (BIA 2011). We respectfully decline. Ramos Lara did not challenge this framework in her petition. The only issue before us is whether the BIA erred in its determination that the necessary-consequence exception did not apply. We need not examine the framework to make that determination. Our court reviews "only those issues presented to us  and [does] not craft new issues or otherwise search for them in the record." United States v. Brace, 145 F.3d 247, 255 (5th Cir. 1998).

The reason the framework is irrelevant is that on Ramos Lara's appeal, the BIA concluded that she did "not meaningfully challenge the Immigration Judge's finding that she did firmly resettle in Mexico," a conclusion not disputed here. Therefore, Ramos Lara firmly resettled in Mexico, meaning she had received an "offer of permanent resident status, citizenship, or some other type of permanent resettlement." 8 C.F.R.  1208.15. The only determination we can review concerns an exception to firm resettlement, which is whether her living in Mexico was a necessary consequence of her flight from Bolivia. Id.  1208.15(a). The BIA found against her.

Ramos Lara first argues that the BIA erred because she did not have any permit to live or work in Mexico indefinitely. She claims Mexico never made her an offer of permanent residency. These arguments are relevant only to firm resettlement, which is not before us because she did not contest that issue with the BIA. See Wang v. Ashcroft, 260 F.3d 448, 452-53 (5th Cir. 2001).

As to the issue of necessary consequence, we find substantial evidence of all of the following. Ramos Lara attempted to enter the United States in 2009, but she did not seek asylum then or at other opportunities prior to her claim now. After being removed to Mexico, she renewed her work visa, lived and worked there for five years as a substitute English teacher, and thereby established "significant ties" to Mexico. She had also previously entered the United States in 2007 for the birth of one of her children; afterwards, she returned to Mexico. Although her children did not go to school in Mexico, they lived with her there. Her husband often commuted between the United States and Mexico in order to live with Ramos Lara and their children.

Such evidence is substantial and supports the BIA's finding that Ramos Lara was not in Mexico only "as long as was necessary to arrange onward travel." 8 C.F.R.  1208.15(a).

The petition for review is DENIED.

LESLIE H. SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judge:
Lozano-Zuniga v. Lynch, Attorney General

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Publication Date 12 August 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 15-2488 Cite as Lozano-Zuniga v. Lynch, Attorney General, No. 15-2488, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 12 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_7,5836c01a4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Ismael Lozano-Zuniga, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent.

No. 15-2488

Decided: August 12, 2016

Before Manion and Rovner, Circuit Judges and Blakey, District Judge. *David K. Ziemer, Attorney, Glendale, WI, for Petitioner. Linda Y. Cheng, Jamie M. Dowd, OIL, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

Ismael Lozano-Zuniga is a native and citizen of Mexico. He arrived in the United States in April 2002, when he was fourteen years old, but was not admitted or paroled by an immigration officer. Lozano-Zuniga came to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security (Department) after an arrest and conviction for driving under the influence, and on September 17, 2010, the Department issued a notice to appear, charging Lozano-Zuniga with removability pursuant to INA  212(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C.  1182(a)(6)(A)(i), for having entered the country without being admitted or paroled.

I.

At the initial hearing in front of the immigration judge, Lozano-Zuniga conceded the charge of removability, but filed an application for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

At his March 2012 hearing, Zuniga testified that he came to the United States from Rio Grande, Zacatecas, Mexico in 2004 with his mother and sister to join his father and two older brothers. He also testified that prior to leaving Mexico, his mother received a telephone call asking for information about family members in the United States, in which the caller implied that he wanted money and would kidnap Lozano-Zuniga or his sister in order to get ransom money from relatives living in the United States. His mother did not report the incident to the police. She did not come to court to testify about the phone call or submit an affidavit. When asked about this by the immigration judge, Lozano-Zuniga responded that his mother is in this country illegally and feared coming to the immigration court. He noted that he thought the letter he submitted from a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church in Mexico, stating that members were subject to physical and verbal abuse, would suffice in lieu of her testimony.

Lozano-Zuniga also testified that he fears that if he should return to Mexico, he would be targeted as a young Mexican male returning from the United States and forced to work for the Mexican gang, the Zetas, as part of their violent drug trafficking operations. Lozano-Zuniga testified that the Zetas control everything, that many police members and other authorities have been corrupted by them, and that their ranks and presence has swollen since he left in 2004. Lozano-Zuniga admitted that he had never been personally threatened by the Zetas, and that his grandmother lives without incident in his city of origin (Lozano-Zuniga testified that the Zetas are not interested in older women), but he claims that if he returned to his small hometown, his return would be obvious and he would stick out as a target for the Zetas who would force him into criminal service.

While living in Mexico, Lozano-Zuniga testified, people criticized his Seventh Day Adventist religion and he believed the situation was getting much worse. According to his testimony, approximately two years before his hearing, a couple of members of the Seventh Day Adventist church had been killed. When asked by the immigration judge who killed them, he said "the only group localized in our area there is the group of the Zetas. So in my opinion, they are the ones responsible." (R. 130).

Lozano-Zuniga has graduated from high school in the United States and is taking college courses in medicine. He continues his practice as a Seventh Day Adventist.

On November 21, 2013, in a thorough opinion, the Immigration Judge found Lozano-Zuniga to be generally credible, but found that he did not establish a clear probability that he would face persecution or torture upon his removal to Mexico. Lozano-Zuniga appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) who confirmed the decision of the immigration judge. Lozano-Zuniga filed a timely petition for review.

II.

"When the Board agrees with the decision of the immigration judge, adopts that decision and supplements that decision with its own reasoning, as it did here, we review the immigration judge's decision as supplemented by the Board." Cece v. Holder, 733 F.3d 662, 675 (7th Cir. 2013) (en banc). We review the findings of fact for substantial evidence and reverse only if the evidence compels a different result. Id. at 675-76. We review questions of law de novo, deferring to the Board's reasonable interpretation set forth in precedential opinions interpreting the statute. Id. at 668 (citing Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694). The Court will affirm the agency decision as long as it is supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence. Aparicio-Brito v. Lynch, 824 F.3d 674, 685 (7th Cir.2016). The standard is extremely deferential and this court will not reverse simply because we would have decided the case differently, but rather only if the facts compel the opposite conclusion. Tawuo v. Lynch, 799 F.3d 725, 727 (7th Cir. 2015).

A.

We begin with a review of the immigration court's and Board's decisions on withholding of removal. A request for withholding of removal seeks relief under the Immigration and Nationality Act, "which prohibits the removal of a person to a country where his 'life or freedom would be threatened  because of [his] race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.' " 8 U.S.C.  1231(b)(3)(A); Duarte-Salagosa v. Holder, 775 F.3d 841, 845 (7th Cir. 2014). To demonstrate eligibility for this relief, Lozano-Zuniga must establish a clear probability that his life or freedom will be threatened upon his return to his country. Dominguez-Pulido v. Lynch, 821 F.3d 837, 845 (7th Cir. 2016). A clear probability means it appears more likely than not that he will suffer persecution if removed. Musa v. Lynch, 813 F.3d 1019, 1023 (7th Cir. 2016).

Ordinarily a court begins by looking to see if a petitioner has demonstrated that he has suffered from past persecution. Zeqiri v. Mukasey, 529 F.3d 364, 370 (7th Cir. 2008). With such a finding, the immigration judge can form a rebuttable presumption that the immigrant has a reasonable fear of future persecution. Id. But without it, the court must go on to assess whether the petitioner has a reasonable fear of future persecution. Toure v. Holder, 624 F.3d 422, 428 (7th Cir. 2010). In this case, Lozano-Zuniga concedes that he does not challenge the agency's finding that he did not demonstrate past persecution. (Petitioner's reply brief at 1). And rightly so, as one threatening phone call placed to his mother ten years prior, and vague criticisms of his religion do not suffice to establish past persecution.

Consequently, we look to see if the immigration judge and Board properly determined that Lozano-Zuniga failed to meet his burden of demonstrating a clear probability of future persecution "because of [his] race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." 8 U.S.C.  1231(b)(3)(A). Lozano-Zuniga makes two claims in his petition. First that he would be subject to persecution as a young man recently removed from the United States with family members still in the United States (who thus might be perceived to have a source of money). See Decision of the Board at 2 (R. 3). Second, that he would be persecuted as a practicing Seventh Day Adventist in a country in which such practitioners are in a small minority. Lozano-Zuniga describes this latter category in his briefs as a "social group." See Petitioner's brief at 5; Petitioner's reply brief at 1. It is not. It is a religion. And indeed these distinctions have been blurred in the proceedings below. Although it does not matter in terms of the burdens or tests the immigration courts or this court applies, it does matter in regards to one threshold issue. When a petitioner claims that he has been persecuted based on his membership in a social group, the adjudicating court must determine first whether the group constitutes a social group under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and second whether there is a nexus between the persecution and the membership in the social group. Cece, 733 F.3d at 668, 673. This circuit defines social group as a group "whose membership is defined by a characteristic that is either immutable or is so fundamental to individual identity or conscience that a person ought not be required to change." Cece, 733 F.3d at 669. There is no parallel definition of religion. Therefore, when assessing persecution based on religion, we do not put the legitimacy of religion under a microscope in quite the same way. See Cosa v. Mukasey, 543 F.3d 1066, 1069 (9th Cir. 2008) ("That Millenism may be an obscure, non-mainstream religion is no basis to discount a believer's faith"); Jiang v. Gonzales, 485 F.3d 992, 995 (7th Cir. 2007) (emphasizing that immigration judges may not rely on personal beliefs and perceived common knowledge about religion); Fessehaye v. Gonzales, 414 F.3d 746, 756 (7th Cir. 2005) (cautioning the Board that it may not require more evidence of conversion to a claimed religion than reasonably can be expected).

We begin then with Lozano-Zuniga's claim that there is a clear probability that his life or freedom would be threatened in the future upon his return to Mexico because of his membership in the social group of young men returning to Mexico after living in the United States. The Board stated that "[t]he respondent's expressed fear that he will be harmed by members of a criminal gang in Mexico, including based on his membership in a group allegedly composed of 'recent deportees from the United States who might be perceived to have money' or of 'practicing Seventh Day Adventists who have returned to Zacatecas, Mexico,' does not establish that he belongs to a 'particular social group' within the meaning of section 101(a)(42)(A) of the Act." Decision of the Board at 2 (R. 3). It is not entirely clear what the Board is saying about whether the social group of young men returning from the United States is a cognizable social group. In any event, "[w]hether a group constitutes a particular social group under the Immigration and Nationality Act is a question of law that we review de novo, while giving Chevron deference to the Board's reasonable interpretation set forth in precedential opinions interpreting the statute." Cece, 733 F.3d at 668 (citing Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984)). We are less sure than the Board was that Lozano-Zuniga has not stated a cognizable social group. When evaluating social groups, we have noted that "[s]ometimes the characteristic is immutable because a shared past experience or status has imparted some knowledge or labeling that cannot be undone." Cece, 733 F.3d at 670 (citing cases in which shared past experience forms a social group, including: former truck drivers with certain skills needed by persecutors; former members of violent and criminal factions; tattooed former gang members; parents of Burmese dissidents; educated, landowning class of cattle farmers; former Ugandan child soldiers). The bar to establishing a social group is rather low because it is only the very first step in establishing relief under the immigration laws. After that, a petitioner must still establish that she fits within the cognizable social group and that there is a nexus between the persecution and the membership in the social group. Cece, 733 F.3d at 673. And of course, at the end of the day, the petitioner must bear the burden of demonstrating a clear probability that his life or freedom will be threatened upon his return to his country. Duarte-Salagosa, 775 F.3d at 845.

We need not determine whether the social group of men returning from the United States who may be perceived to have access to money (or similar group) is a cognizable one under the Act, however, because the immigration court correctly determined that Lozano-Zuniga failed to establish that there is a clear probability that he would be subject to future danger because of his membership in this group. As the immigration court noted, he did not present any specific facts showing that he would be singled out for persecution, and presented only generalized claims of unrest in Mexico. Decision of the Immigration Judge at 12-13, (R. 79-80). Lozano-Zuniga references anecdotal evidence about abductions of young men and gang recruitment, but fails to submit evidence of a clear probability that he would be abducted. The United States cannot protect aliens from generalized unrest in their homelands. Zeqiri, 529 F.3d at 370. A petitioner must set forth specific evidence indicating that it would be more likely than not that he would be individually targeted for harm. Salim v. Holder, 728 F.3d 718, 722-24 (7th Cir. 2013). Fears of generalized harms are not enough. Kobugabe v. Gonzales, 440 F.3d 900, 902 (7th Cir.2006). In his brief, Lozano-Zuniga presents the generalized argument that, "[t]he Zetas do kidnap persons with relatives in Mexico; the Zetas do impress young men into criminal servitude; the Zetas do act with impunity from the government, and with the aid of government officials." Petitioner's brief at 9. Even if Lozano-Zuniga has presented evidence that the gang problem has grown worse in Mexico (and it is not entirely clear that he has, other than offering his own conclusions), Lozano-Zuniga must still show "specific, detailed facts supporting the reasonableness of his fear that he will be singled out for persecution." Salim, 728 F.3d at 724. See also, Munoz-Avila v. Holder, 716 F.3d 976, 983 (7th Cir. 2013) ("We have repeatedly recognized that the level of overall danger in a country is not a sufficient basis to find persecution, and that the petitioner must demonstrate that he or she is likely to be singled out."); Sayaxing v. I.N.S., 179 F.3d 515, 520 (7th Cir. 1999) (a petitioner must "present specific evidence that his encounters with the government were of such a 'magnitude and frequency' that they would cause a reasonable person to fear being singled out for persecution  and to demonstrate that his fear of persecution pertained to him individually, rather than to the population generally."). Because Lozano-Zuniga has not done so, the immigration court did not err by finding that he had not met his burden.

For the same reasons, we conclude that the immigration judge properly found that Lozano-Zuniga had not established that it was more likely than not that he would face persecution based on his religion if he returns to Mexico.1 Before the immigration judge, his evidence about persecution of Seventh Day Adventists was limited to his testimony that he had witnessed people making fun of Seventh Day Adventists and that the Zetas had killed a couple who were Seventh Day Adventists. When asked by the immigration judge who killed them, Lozano-Zuniga said "the only group localized in our area there is the group of the Zetas. So in my opinion, they are the ones responsible." (R. 130). He also submitted a letter from a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church in his home region who claimed that members of the church have been verbally and physically abused. (R. 251-52). Once again we need not analyze any past persecution as Lozano-Zuniga has rightfully declined to challenge such a finding, and indeed he has not demonstrated any past persecution against himself personally based on his religion. Petitioner's reply brief at 1.

Nor has he established any specific detailed facts that he personally would be singled out for persecution should he return, as opposed to demonstrating a generalized disfavoring or even harassment of Seventh Day Adventists. See Salim, 728 F.3d at 724. Lozano-Zuniga claims that the immigration judge based her decision on the fact that, with 600,000-700,000 members and growing, the Seventh Day Adventists are one of the largest religious affiliations in Mexico after the Catholic Church. Lozano-Zuniga interprets the immigration judge's use of these statistics to mean that she has concluded that the church was too large to be the target of persecution. The immigration judge did make some comments about the size of the Seventh Day Adventist population in Mexico (but did so in discussing CAT claim, but we will address it here as Lozano-Zuniga raises it in the withholding of removal part of his brief). She did not base her decision about future persecution on this fact, but rather on the fact that Lozano-Zuniga failed to demonstrate specific detailed facts that it was more likely than not that he would be singled out for persecution. Decision of the Immigration Judge at 12, 16 (R. 79, 83). And in doing so, the immigration judge was specifically rejecting a theory that Lozano-Zuniga's fear of future persecution could be based upon the level of overall danger in a country. See Munoz-Avila, 716 F.3d at 983 (noting that the level of overall danger in a country is not a sufficient basis to find persecution, and that the petitioner must demonstrate that he or she is likely to be singled out.). The district court correctly determined that Lozano-Zuniga had failed to meet his burden of demonstrating a clear probability of persecution based on his social group or religion as required for withholding of removal.

B.

The burden for CAT protection is no less stringent than that for withholding of removal; the applicant must show "that it is more likely than not that he or she would be tortured if removed to the proposed country of removal." Sarhan v. Holder, 658 F.3d 649, 653 (7th Cir. 2011).

'Torture' is defined as the intentional infliction of 'severe pain or suffering' for the purpose of coercion, punishment, or discrimination 8 C.F.R.  1208.16(c)(2), 208.18(a)(1). Torture does not include 'lesser forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,' id.  208.18(a)(2), or suffering inherent to 'lawful sanctions' imposed for violating the law, id.  208.18(a)(3).

Borovsky v. Holder, 612 F.3d 917, 923 (7th Cir. 2010) (8 C.F.R.  208.18). An applicant for CAT protection must demonstrate that the torture was inflicted by or at the behest of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official. 8 C.F.R.  208.18(a)(1); Toure, 624 F.3d at 429. The requirements for proving torture create a high bar for relief. Sarhan, 658 F.3d at 653.

The Board found insufficient evidence to conclude that it was more likely than not that Lozano-Zuniga would be tortured with the government's acquiescence if he returned to Mexico, and we cannot say that the record compels a contrary result. We need not address the issue of social group again, because unlike the remedy of withholding of removal, relief under the CAT is not conditioned on proof that the alien has been persecuted because of one of the five grounds listed in the INA. Sarhan, 658 F.3d at 653. In assessing whether Lozano-Zuniga has met his burden, the immigration judge must consider various factors including: "evidence of past torture; evidence that the applicant could relocate to a different part of her home country; evidence of 'gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights within the country of removal'; and other relevant country conditions." Tchemkou v. Gonzales, 495 F.3d 785, 795 (7th Cir. 2007) (citing 8 C.F.R.  208.16(c)(3)(i)-(iv)).

The immigration judge concluded that Lozano-Zuniga had not established that it was more likely than not that he would be tortured in Mexico. Lozano-Zuniga's evidence, all of which the immigration judge considered, was paltry at best: he had the past telephone call to his mother, the murder of two Seventh Day Adventists by an unknown assailant, and the general danger caused by the Zetas in Mexico, along with the fact that some law enforcement officers were corrupt and helping the Zetas. Lozano-Zuniga, however, had never been personally threatened or harmed.

Just as is the case with withholding of removal, evidence about generalized violence or danger within a country is not sufficient to make a claim that it is more likely than not that a petitioner would be tortured upon return to his home country. Lenjinac v. Holder, 780 F.3d 852, 856 (7th Cir. 2015) ("[R]eports that torture occurs in a foreign country  are insufficient  without evidence that the petitioner will be tortured if he returns."); Rashiah v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 1126, 1133 (7th Cir. 2004) (upholding the Board's denial of CAT relief where the record contained evidence of torture in the petitioner's home country, but no evidence that applicant himself would be targeted); Jan v. Holder, 576 F.3d 455, 458 (7th Cir. 2009) ("the country reports and news articles on police corruption in Pakistan are too general and vague to suggest that [the petitioner] in particular would face torture.")

The immigration judge did not ignore the evidence of the gang problems in Mexico. To the contrary, she referenced Lozano-Zuniga's evidence from articles and news reports about killings and prison breaks and government official corruption. Nevertheless, she concluded that there was "scant evidence that would indicate such attacks happen with the necessary frequency or rise to the level of torture so as to qualify the respondent for relief." Decision of the Immigration Judge at 16, (R. 83).

And as for his claim that he would be tortured based on his religious beliefs, the only evidence Lozano-Zuniga had for this proposition was a claim that a couple from his church had been killed and a letter from someone in his church that members had been verbally and physically abused. Discrimination and taunts by private citizens are not torture. Rashiah, 388 F.3d at 1132. Lozano-Zuniga has presented no evidence that he would be individually targeted or of the requisite amount of government action or collusion, and, as the immigration judge concluded, Lozano-Zuniga "has not provided enough details to determine if these experiences are even relevant to his claim." Decision of the Immigration Judge at 16, (R. 83).

Both the immigration judge and the Board found that Lozano-Zuniga failed to present sufficient evidence that it was more likely than not that he would be tortured at the hands of, or with the acquiescence of, a government official. "Acquiescence of a public official requires that the public official, prior to the activity constituting torture, have awareness of such activity and thereafter breach his or her legal responsibility to intervene to prevent such activity." Lopez v. Lynch, 810 F.3d 484, 493 (7th Cir. 2016) (citing 8 C.F.R.  1208.18(a)(7)). As the Board held, "[t]he record does not sufficiently substantiate that any Mexican public official currently would seek to torture the respondent or would acquiesce in or exhibit willful blindness toward any torture inflicted on him by any gang member, any criminal, or anyone else." Decision of the Board at 2-3. (R. 3-4). Based on the record, we cannot disagree.

The record does not compel a conclusion that Lozano-Zuniga proved eligibility for withholding of removal or protection under CAT. Consequently, the petition for review is DENIED.

FOOTNOTES

1. It is true, as Lozano-Zuniga argues, that the BIA only barely addressed his argument about his religion. The decision of the BIA, however, supplants that of the immigration judge. "[W]e review the IJ's decision wherever the Board has not supplanted it with its own rationale; where the Board has spoken, we review its opinion." Sarhan v. Holder, 658 F.3d 649, 653 (7th Cir. 2011).

Rovner, Circuit Judge.
Cambara-Cambara v. Lynch, Attorney General

Publisher United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol No. 151916, No. 151917 Cite as Cambara-Cambara v. Lynch, Attorney General, No. 151916, No. 151917, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 13 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,USA_CA_8,5836c4ba4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Ruben E. Cambara-Cambara; Mario Fernando Cambara-Cambara, Petitioners v. Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent

No. 15-1916, No. 15-1917

Decided: September 13, 2016

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, LOKEN and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.Counsel who represented the petitioner was Joshua D. Barber of Lincoln, NE. Counsel who represented the respondent was Kate Deboer Balaban, USDOJ, OIL, Washington, DC.

Ruben and Mario Cambara-Cambara ("the Cambaras") are brothers who left their native country of Guatemala and entered the United States without inspection in February 2001 and August 2004, respectively. They filed separate applications for asylum, withholding of removal to Guatemala, and relief under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT") in 2009. The immigration judge ("IJ") denied the applications for asylum as untimely and ruled that the brothers did not prove they were eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or CAT relief. The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") affirmed in separate opinions. We consolidated and now deny their separate petitions for review.

"To be eligible for withholding of removal to a particular country, an alien must show a 'clear probability' that he would suffer persecution on account of a protected ground such as political opinion or membership in a social group." Miah v. Mukasey, 519 F.3d 784, 787 (8th Cir.2008), citing 8 U.S.C.  1101(a)(42)(A), 1231(b)(3)(A), and Alemu v. Gonzalez, 403 F.3d 572, 576 (8th Cir.2005). The Cambaras testified at their March 2012 hearings that they were likely to suffer persecution if they returned to Guatemala due to their membership in two particular social groups: the Cambara family and educated Guatemalan landowners and farmers.1

Mario testified that Maras 18 gang members targeted various members of his family in Guatemala for extortionate demands because they were wealthy landowners. In 1995, the gang made death threats in demanding money from his uncle; when his uncle stopped making payments, they tried to burn his house down with his family inside and then shot and stabbed him to death. Three months later, the gang made death threats to another uncle and attacked him when he did not pay their extortion demand, causing physical and psychological trauma. Gang members extorted money from his father for many years by threatening him and his family, and attacked his father with machetes when he stopped paying in December 2008. Ruben testified that, in 2009, gang members threatened a Cambara cousin's family when he could no longer make the demanded payments, then shot and killed his son shortly thereafter. Mario testified that the family reported these incidents to the police, but the responsible parties have not been captured. Ruben testified that he agreed with Mario's testimony and believed his family was extorted because of their property.

Both Mario and Ruben testified that they were never personally harmed or threatened by Maras 18 gang members. Two of Mario's daughters still live in his hometown with his wife's mother and have not been threatened. One of Ruben's daughters lives in Guatemala, and he sent two American-born daughters to Guatemala for approximately one month to meet his grandmother. The Cambaras have another brother who is an officer in Guatemala's National Civil Police Force.

The IJ found that both asylum applications were untimely because they were filed more than a year after the Cambaras entered the United States, and neither brother established changed or extraordinary circumstances that excused his untimely filing. Alternatively, the IJ concluded that the asylum applications, if timely, were denied because, although their testimony was credible, neither brother proved that (1) he had suffered past persecution, (2) he was a member of a cognizable social group, and (3) he would be persecuted in the future on account of his membership in that social group. The IJ concluded there was evidence the family may have been targeted based on wealth, but perceived wealth alone is not a cognizable social group. The IJ further concluded that, as the Cambaras did not meet the standard for asylum, they did not meet the higher standards for withholding of removal or CAT relief.

The BIA affirmed the IJ's opinions and dismissed the Cambaras' appeals. The BIA rejected their claim that the December 2008 attack on their father constituted changed or extraordinary circumstances because the brothers testified to ongoing threats and harm to family members before they departed Guatemala. The BIA alternatively concluded that the Cambaras were not eligible for asylum because they failed to prove past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of their membership in particular social groups. The brothers admitted they had never been threatened or harmed, and the BIA found there was no "nexus" between their feared future harm and their status as members of the Cambara family. "Although members of the Cambara family have been targeted for harm and mistreatment by the gangs in Guatemala, the [brothers have] not established that [their] family members have been specifically targeted due to their familial relationship, particularly where some members of the family have not received threats or been harmed." The BIA also ruled that "educated landowners and farmers" is not a cognizable social group, and that the Cambaras failed to satisfy the higher burden for withholding of removal, and did not prove they were eligible for CAT relief. We review both the BIA and IJ decisions "[b]ecause the BIA essentially adopted the IJ's opinion while adding some of its own reasoning." Krasnopivtsev v. Ashcroft, 382 F.3d 832, 837 (8th Cir.2004).

A. Asylum. An asylum applicant must "demonstrate[ ] by clear and convincing evidence that the application has been filed within 1 year after the date of the alien's arrival in the United States." 8 U.S.C.  1158(a)(2)(B). An untimely application may be considered if the alien "demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Attorney General either  changed circumstances which materially affect the applicant's eligibility  or extraordinary circumstances" that justify the late application.  1158(a)(2)(D). The Cambaras concede that they filed their application more than a year after they arrived in the United States, but they contend that the attack on their father in 2008 constituted changed circumstances.

"No court shall have jurisdiction to review any determination of the Attorney General" as to whether changed or extraordinary circumstances warrant consideration of an untimely asylum application. 8 U.S.C.  1158(a)(3). Thus, we do not have "jurisdiction to review a determination that an application for asylum is untimely, except when the petition seeks review of constitutional claims or questions of law." Bin Jing Chen v. Holder, 776 F.3d 597, 601 (8th Cir.2015) (quotation omitted); see 8 U.S.C.  1252(a)(2)(D). The BIA's "factual findings or discretionary judgments  are insulated from judicial review," including whether the applicant has demonstrated changed or extraordinary circumstances. Purwantono v. Gonzales, 498 F.3d 822, 824 (8th Cir.2007) (extraordinary circumstances); see Juarez Chilel v. Holder, 779 F.3d 850, 854 (8th Cir.2015) (changed circumstances).

The Cambaras argue the 2008 attack on their father qualifies as changed circumstances because it "provided further evidence of the type of persecution already suffered." However, this is not a constitutional claim and it does not raise a question of law. Rather, as in Purwantono, "[t]hese contentions amount to a quarrel with the BIA's discretionary factual determination," so we lack jurisdiction to review the BIA's determination that the asylum claims are time-barred. 498 F.3d at 824.

B. Withholding of Removal. We have jurisdiction to review the BIA's denial of withholding of removal. The BIA held that the Cambaras have "not demonstrated that [they] suffered past persecution or [have] a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of [their] membership in a particular social group consisting of members of the Cambara family." The BIA further ruled that "educated landowners and farmers" is not a cognizable particular social group. We review the BIA's determinations "under the deferential substantial evidence standard." Miah, 519 F.3d at 787. To warrant judicial relief, the Cambaras must show "that the evidence [they] presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution." Id., quoting INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

The Cambaras argue that their credible evidence of extortionate demands and violent attacks by criminal gangs against members of their family for more than twenty years established that they suffered past persecution and have a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of their membership in a particular social group consisting of "members of the Cambara family, a family of educated landowners and farmers." The BIA assumed that members of the Cambara family constitute a particular social group, see Bernal-Rendon v. Gonzales, 419 F.3d 877, 881 (8th Cir.2005), but found that the Cambara brothers failed to establish a nexus between this social group membership and the alleged persecution, that is, proof that "family members have been specifically targeted due to their familial relationship."

On appeal, the Cambaras argue that the "clear pattern of targeting [family members] compels the conclusion that persecution was 'on account of' their membership in the Cambara family." But they provided no proof that the criminal gangs targeted members of the family because of family relationships, as opposed to the fact that, as prosperous businessmen, they were obvious targets for extortionate demands. "The [applicant for asylum or withholding of removal] bears the burden of showing that his membership in a particular social group was or will be a central reason for his persecution." Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I & N Dec. 208, 224 (BIA 2012), citing 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(B)(i). On this record, substantial evidence supports a finding that the Cambara family "is no different from any other [Guatemalan] family that has experienced gang violence." Constanza v. Holder, 647 F.3d 749, 754 (8th Cir.2011). The Cambaras' attempt to limit the alleged social group to "members of  a family of educated landowners and farmers" does not overcome their failure to prove the required nexus. As we said in Davila-Mejia v. Mukasey, 531 F.3d 624, 629 (8th Cir.2008), "[t]here is no record evidence that petitioners' mistreatment [here, by Maras 18 gang members] and being robbed and extorted are associated with petitioners being members of a social group identifiable as 'family business owners.' " Finally, that the Cambaras each left daughters in Guatemala, and Ruben sent two others back to visit, undermines the claim that they fear family members will be targeted on account of family status. See Bernal-Rendon, 419 F.3d at 881.

C. CAT Relief. An applicant is eligible for CAT relief if he proves that "it is more likely than not that he  would be tortured if removed to the proposed country of removal." 8 C.F.R.  1208.16(c)(2). The torture must be "inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."  1208.18(a)(1). The BIA found that the Maras 18 gang in Guatemala was not acting with the "consent or acquiescence of a public official." Substantial record evidence supports this determination.

The Cambaras argue that the police force in Guatemala is powerless to stop the gangs. "A government does not acquiesce in the torture of its citizens merely because it is aware of the torture but powerless to stop it, but it does cross the line into acquiescence when it shows willful blindness toward the torture of citizens by third parties." Mouawad v. Gonzales, 485 F.3d 405, 413 (8th Cir.2007) (quotations and citation omitted). The Cambaras presented strong evidence, including a statement by their brother in the National Civil Police Force, that the police investigated reports of violence against the Cambara family but did not capture any perpetrators, at least in part because the gangs "have better weapons than the National Civil Police and the topographic area they hide in favors them." However, that a police force struggles to control gang activity "is insufficient to compel a finding of willful blindness toward the torture of citizens by third parties," or a finding of government acquiescence in their criminal activities. Menjivar v. Gonzales, 416 F.3d 918, 923 (8th Cir.2005).

We deny Mario Cambara-Cambara's and Ruben Cambara-Cambara's petitions for judicial review.

FOOTNOTES

1. On appeal to the BIA, they abandoned an additional claim that former members of the Guatemalan army are a particular social group.

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.
356: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Publisher African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Publication Date 4 November 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ACHPR/Res. 356(LIX) 2016 Cite as African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 356: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 4 November 2016, ACHPR/Res. 356(LIX) 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836c5884.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 59th Ordinary Session held from 21 October to 4 November 2016 in Banjul, Islamic Republic of the Gambia;

Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in Africa under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);

Mindful of the obligations of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia as a Member State of the African Union, and State Party to the African Charter and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance as well as other regional human rights instruments;

Recalling that one of the objectives of the African Union is to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter, and to promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;

Reaffirming the provisions of Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 19 of the African Charter which guarantee the right to be protected from discrimination, the right to equal protection of the law, the right to life, the right not to be subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, the right to personal liberty and protection from arbitrary arrest, the right to a fair trial, the right to receive information and to freedom of expression, the right of assembly, the right to participate freely in government and the right to equality of all peoples;

Further reaffirming the standards and principles stipulated in the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa, the Guidelines on the Conditions of Arrest, Police Custody and Pre-Trial Detention in Africa, General Comment No. 3 on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Right to Life, the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, and the Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Study Group on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa;

Deeply concerned by the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia following the protests which began in November 2015;

Concerned by the use of excessive and disproportionate force to disperse protests, resulting in the deaths and injuries of several protestors, as well as the arbitrary arrest and detention of many others;

Alarmed by reports of a fire outbreak in Qilinto Prison in Addis Ababa, on 4 September 2016, leading to the deaths and injuries of a number of inmates, including detainees;

Deeply concerned by reports that more than fifty-five people were killed and several hundreds injured in a stampede, following police attempt to disperse the crowd in a break-out protest, at a religious festival on 2 October 2016;

Concerned by allegations relating to the arbitrary arrest and detention of members of opposition parties and human rights defenders;

Alarmed by the loss of lives and the destruction of property resulting from violence perpetrated by some protestors;

Concerned by the declaration of a state of emergency on 9 October 2016, which restricts fundamental human rights and freedoms;

Further concerned by restrictions on movement, assembly, media access, internet services as well as the arbitrary arrest and detention of many people following the state of emergency declaration;

Noting reports of the release of 2, 000 persons who were detained on suspicion of engaging in protests;

The Commission:

1. Condemns the deteriorating human rights situation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, in particular the undue restrictions on fundamental human rights and freedoms resulting from the state of emergency.

2. Calls on the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to:

ensure that fundamental human rights and freedoms are respected and upheld during the state of emergency;

lift the ban on movement, assembly, media access, and internet services;

ensure due process of law for persons arrested and detained in connection with protests, in accordance with regional and international standards, and release persons arrested and detained without charge;

refrain from the use of excessive and disproportionate force against protestors and, more generally, take the necessary measures to guarantee the security and safety of its population;

initiate prompt and impartial investigations into these alleged human rights violations and ensure that the perpetrators of these violations are held accountable and subjected to appropriate sanctions reflecting the gravity of the offences, in accordance with relevant international and regional standards;

comply with the letter and spirit of the African Charter and other regional and international human rights instruments to which it is a party and, more particularly, the instruments referred to in this Resolution;

ensure that victims of the above violations and their families obtain full and adequate redress, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition; and

authorise the Commission to undertake a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia.

3. Calls on protestors to exercise their rights with due regard to the law and the rights of others;

4. Calls on all actors, particularly leaders and members of opposition parties, other stakeholders and the population in general, to refrain from any form of incitement and all other acts of violence.

Done in Banjul, Islamic Republic of the Gambia, on 4 November 2016
357: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Burundi

Publisher African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Publication Date 4 November 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ACHPR/Res. 357(LIX) 2016 Cite as African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 357: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Burundi, 4 November 2016, ACHPR/Res. 357(LIX) 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836c66b4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 59th Ordinary Session held from 21 October to 4 November 2016 in Banjul, The Gambia;

Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples' rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);

Mindful of its Statement of 3 May 2015, made at its 56th Ordinary Session held from 21 April to 7 May 2015 in Banjul, The Gambia, and its Resolution ACHPR/Res.309 ((EXT.OS/ XVIII) on the human rights situation in Burundi;

Recalling the decision of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (PSC) of 17 December 2015 stressing that "only a genuine and truly inclusive dialogue, based on the respect of the Arusha Agreement and the Constitution of Burundi, will allow the Burundian stakeholders to overcome the serious difficulties facing their country, as well as strengthen social cohesion, democracy and the rule of law";

Considering the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Commission's report following its fact-finding mission undertaken in Burundi in December 2015 at the request of the Peace and Security Council, and the report of the United Nations Independent Investigation Mission on Burundi (UNIIB);

Deeply concerned about the security and human rights situation in Burundi marked by continuous arrests and arbitrary detentions, targeted killings, extrajudicial executions, acts of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, abductions and enforced disappearances, harassment and intimidation of journalists and media professionals, sexual violence, and other forms of serious human rights violations;

Concerned by the continuous political impasse and the lack of constructive dialogue between all the stakeholders towards finding a peaceful solution to the crisis;

Further concerned by the decision of the Burundian authorities of 19 and 24 October 2016, to deregister five civil society organisations notably the Forum for the Strengthening of Civil Society (FORSC), Forum for Consciousness and Development (FOCODE), Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH), Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Burundi (ACAT-Burundi) and Network of Honest Citizens (RCP); and to suspend five other organisations, including Civil Society Coalition for Election Monitoring (COSOME), Burundian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CB-CPI), Burundi Union of Journalists (UBJ), Burundian Human Rights League " ITEKA", and SOS Torture Burundi; accused of conducting activities that are likely to disturb public order and security;

Concerned about the decision taken by the Burundian authorities to suspend cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Burundi (HCHR) and to declare the UNIIB experts persona non grata, following the presentation of the final report of the Investigation Mission during the 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 27 September 2016;

The Commission:

Condemns the various human rights violations committed in the country since April 2015;

Condemns the continuous repression against human rights defenders which led to the deregistration and suspension of the main human rights organisations and the suspension of independent media outlets in the country;

Regrets the decision of the Burundian authorities to suspend cooperation with the Office of the HCHR in Burundi and to declare the UNIIB experts persona non grata;

Calls on the Government of the Republic of Burundi to:

i. immediately end all human rights violations;

ii. release all persons arbitrarily detained, especially persons detained incommunicado, and ensure their physical integrity;

iii. end attacks, threats, acts of intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, of human rights defenders and journalists;

iv. authorise the unconditional resumption of the activities of all the deregistered and suspended civil society organisations;

v. take the necessary urgent measures to conduct prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations in order to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes;

vi. ensure that victims of the above violations and their families obtain full and adequate redress, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition;

vii. extend full cooperation with all regional and international human rights institutions, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Union particularly regarding the full deployment of all the human rights observers and military experts, in accordance with the decision of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted at the 26th Summit held from 21 to 31 January 2016;

viii. authorise the Commission to undertake a mission to follow up on the recommendations in the Report of the Fact-finding Mission;

Calls on the African Union and the international community to continue their efforts to resolve the crisis in Burundi.

Done in Banjul, Islamic Republic of The Gambia, 4 November 2016
358: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Publisher African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Publication Date 4 November 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ACHPR/Res. 358(LIX) 2016 Cite as African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 358: Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 4 November 2016, ACHPR/Res. 358(LIX) 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836c6c44.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 59th Ordinary Session held from 21 October to 4 November 2016 in Banjul, Islamic Republic of The Gambia;

Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in Africa under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);

Recalling the provisions of Articles 3(2), 4 and 23 of the African Charter regarding the obligations of State Parties to protect the lives of persons and to ensure peace and security in their territory;

Further recalling the provisions of Article 13(1) of the African Charter which stipulates that "every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law";

Reaffirming its Resolution ACHPR/Res.293 (EXT.OS/XVII) 2015 on Elections in Africa which calls on State Parties to protect the fundamental rights of all citizens, including the rights to freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression as well as equal access to the media for all stakeholders;

Bearing in mind its Statement of 22 September 2016 following the violence of 19 and 20 September 2016, in particular in Kinshasa, calling on the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the incidents;

Concerned by the human rights violations, including the excessive use of force on protestors and executions, particularly in Beni, and the lack of investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators, and the recent arbitrary arrest and detention of protesters, in Kinshasa on 24 and 26 October 2016;

Further concerned about allegations of restriction of the freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly of political parties, youth associations and civil society organisations;

Deeply concerned about the arbitrary arrest and detention, intimidation and harassment of youth activists, human rights defenders and political opponents;

Conscious of the need to restore the rule of law and to ensure the exercise and full enjoyment of the rights guaranteed under the African Charter and other relevant instruments;

Welcoming the efforts of the African Union through facilitation of the on-going national dialogue between the Government and the opposition;

Further welcoming the efforts of the international community to peacefully resolve the political crises in the DRC;

The Commission:

1. Condemns the various human rights violations committed in the DRC, including executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and the excessive use of force during protests.

2. Calls on the Government of the DRC to:

i. immediately end all human rights violations;

ii. take the necessary measures for citizens to exercise their fundamental human rights and freedoms;

iii. initiate prompt and impartial investigations into these alleged human rights violations and ensure that the perpetrators of these violations, including those within the security forces, are held accountable;

iv. ensure that victims of the above violations and their families obtain full and adequate redress, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition; and

v. comply with the African Charter, and other regional and international human rights instruments to which it is a party.

3. Encourages all the stakeholders to continue the national dialogue in order to preserve peace.

4. Calls on all actors, particularly leaders and members of opposition parties, other stakeholders and the population in general, to refrain from violence and maintain peace before, during and after the elections.

5. Encourages the African Union, and the international community to continue to support efforts aimed at resolving the crises in DRC.

Done in Banjul, Islamic Republic of The Gambia, on 4 November 2016
AGENDA 2040, Africa's Agenda for children: Fostering an Africa Fit for Children.

Publisher African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) Publication Date 9 November 2016 Cite as African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), AGENDA 2040, Africa's Agenda for children: Fostering an Africa Fit for Children. , 9 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836c7ee4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Committee adopts Agenda 2040

NOVEMBER

9

- The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), during its recently concluded 28th Ordinary Session in Banjul-The Gambia, has adopted AGENDA 2040, Africa's Agenda for children: Fostering an Africa Fit for Children.

The Africa's Agenda for Children 2040 emanates from the conclusions of the High Level Conference to assess the status of the rights of children in Africa 25 years after the adoption of the Charter, that was held in Addis Ababa, from 20-21 November 2015, as part of the Commemoration activities of the 25th Anniversary of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. During the Conference challenges and successes of the endeavors employed to promote and protect the rights of the child in Africa were assessed with a view of guiding the future efforts to promote and protect the rights and welfare of children in Africa.

Aligned with the African Union Agenda 2063, the Africa's Agenda for Children is in line with Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063: An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children; and therefore focuses on children and youth as the drivers of Africa's Renaissance. The document is also informed by AU legal and policy frameworks.

The Agenda sets out ten aspirations, to be achieved by 2040, in five implementation phases that are 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035 and 2040. State Parties are expected to align their national implementation plan with their commitments and obligations under Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Developments Goals and other international treaties.

The ten aspirations are as follow:

Aspiration 1: The African Children's Charter, as supervised by the African Children's Committee, provides an effective continental framework for advancing children's rights.

Aspiration 2: An effective child-friendly national legislative, policy and institutional framework is in place in all Member States.

Aspiration 3: Every child's birth and other vital statistics are registered.

Aspiration 4: Every child survives and has a healthy childhood.

Aspiration 5: Every child grows up well-nourished and with access to the basic necessities of life.

Aspiration 6: Every child benefits fully from quality education.

Aspiration 7: Every child is protected against violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse.

Aspiration 8: Children benefit from a child-sensitive criminal justice system.

Aspiration 9: Every child is free from the impact of armed conflicts and other disasters or emergency situations.

Aspiration 10: African children's views matter.

The Committee is looking forward to present the Agenda to Member States which eventually own the document for its full implementation. The Committee will also closely work with partners to ensure a wider dissemination of this document.
Inaction has 'cost measured in human lives,' Security Council told in Middle East debate

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 November 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Inaction has 'cost measured in human lives,' Security Council told in Middle East debate, 23 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836e6ba40c.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

23 November 2016 - Briefing the Security Council on the Middle East peace process, two senior United Nations officials - the UN relief chief and the UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process - called for action to prevent further deterioration of the region plagued by humanitarian crises and to save lives and alleviate human suffering.

In his remarks, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, said: "Inaction has a cost. A cost measured in human lives and suffering. The situation on the ground is changing steadily, dangerously, as proponents of Israeli settlement expansion feel emboldened, internal divisions among Palestinians flare up, and the prospect of a future Palestinian state comes under threat like never before."

"A carefully worded statement or well-crafted speech will not reverse the current trajectory," he cautioned.

Recalling his visit to the camps in West Bank, Mr. Mladenov noted the increasing threat of violence due to poverty, food insecurity and regular Israeli incursions. The increasing tensions had already resulted in a series of clashes between camp residents and Palestinian security forces, killing one individual and injuring several others, he said, calling for promptly and lawfully dealing with such situations.

On the Gaza Strip, the Special Coordinator expressed alarm over continuing build-up and smuggling by militants as well as on the movement of goods and people into and out of the enclave. The restrictions have severely affected availability of construction material and that some 33,000 people are waiting for the supplies.

Inaction has a cost. A cost measured in human lives and suffering.

Turning to Lebanon, he noted the progress towards the formation of a government and expressed hope that the positive momentum created would translation into holding of the parliamentary elections by May 2017.

UN humanitarian chief worried for aid delivery into Gaza

Also briefing the Council, Stephen O'Brien, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, highlighted that the ability to deliver relief into Gaza had been increasingly restricted due to Israel's banning or restricting imports of certain material deemed to have dual military and civilian purposes.

Some 70 per cent of Gaza's population is in need of some form of international assistance.

Mr. O'Brien, also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the 15-member Council that in addition to the denial of UN applications for employees to leave Gaza for meetings with their managers, the operating space for non-governmental organizations had been made more difficult by the fact that Hamas sought to audit and review staff.

Furthermore, the division between the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and in Gaza burdened humanitarian actors and budgets, he said.

"Ultimately, real progress in Gaza requires a full lifting of the blockade by Israel, in line with the resolutions of this Council and the General Assembly," he added, stressing: "Until that happens, Israel must ensure that items needed for reconstruction, relief and emergency preparedness are allowed entry."

He also expressed concern at the that Israeli forces frequently confiscated or destroyed relief items, including tents, water cisterns and other basic survival needs.

Underscoring the severity of challenges confronting the local population and aid workers, Mr. O'Brien noted: "If we want to prevent further deterioration in a region already overwhelmed with humanitarian emergencies, your decisive collective action is vital."
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders should build on 'substantial' achievements  Ban

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 November 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders should build on 'substantial' achievements  Ban, 23 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836e6dc11.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

23 November 2016 - Noting the best efforts of the Turkish Cypriot leader and the Greek Cypriot leader at the United Nations-brokered talks held recently in Switzerland, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged them to continue their efforts in line with their shared commitment to do their utmost in order to reach a settlement in 2016.

Especially in a region and in a world marked by increasing tension, they must not let this historic opportunity slip, said Mr. Ban, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Providing an updated on about the outcome of the talks that took place earlier this month between the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akyncy, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, in Switzerland's Mont Pelerin. The talks did not yield the desired results regarding agreement on the criteria for territorial adjustment and the two leaders decided that they would return to Cyprus to reflect on the way forward.

Also, on the night of 21 November, thousands of people from both communities had gathered in the buffer zone in Nicosia in support of the leaders' shared vision of a united homeland.

The Secretary-General is confident of the leaders' continued desire to deliver on these expectations with a mutually beneficial solution. Cypriots deserve nothing less, added the statement, noting that significant progress was made across chapters over the past eighteen months.

They should continue to build upon their substantial achievements, said Mr. Ban.

Also in the statement, Mr. Ban reiterated his full support as well as of the UN's commitment to assist the two leaders in reaching their shared goal, while respecting that the future of Cyprus will be determined by Cypriots, for all Cypriots.

He added that he will be in contact with both leaders soon to discuss the next steps.

The UN chief also urged all interested parties to avoid any statements and actions that would make the resumption of talks more difficult and reminded them that temporary set-backs are not uncommon in peace processes as talks approach a final stage.

Mr. Ban also called upon all interested parties, especially the guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, to do their utmost to support the two leaders during the coming days and weeks, which, he said will be crucial for the negotiations and the future of Cyprus.

Later in the day, the Secretary-General spoke separately by phone with the two leaders, calling on both to reflect on the situation following the impasse they had reached and to carefully consider the next steps in order to bring the process back on track.

According to a readout of the phone calls, the Secretary-General emphasized that it was not uncommon for peace processes to be confronted with crises, particularly at the last difficult stretch. Mr. Ban encouraged Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Akyncy to rise above the mounting pressures and be courageous in overcoming the challenges.

The Secretary-General, according to the readout, recalled the common determination and vision both leaders shared when he met them at the opening of the first round of the talks at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland on 7 November. He encouraged Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Akyncy to continue the negotiations and strive to achieve an agreement this year for the sake of future generations.

The Secretary-General offered his good offices to assist in any way the two leaders wish in order to move the peace process forward.
Jamaica: Illegal police tactics fuel scores of murders and sow culture of fear

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 23 November 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Jamaica: Illegal police tactics fuel scores of murders and sow culture of fear, 23 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836e8004.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Jamaican authorities and local police are promoting a culture of fear amongst women and their families in marginalized communities to cover up thousands of alleged unlawful police killings amid systematic injustice, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Waiting in vain: Unlawful police killings and relatives' long struggle for justice explores the catalogue of illegal tactics used by police across Jamaica to ensure relatives of victims of unlawful killings by the police do not pursue justice, truth and reparation for their loved ones. This includes systematic intimidation, harassment and threats against relatives at home, work, hospitals, and even during funerals.

"Jamaica's shocking culture of fear and violence is allowing police officers to get away with hundreds of unlawful killings every year. Shocking injustice is the norm," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

"Unlawful killings of young men and terrorizing their relatives into silence seems to be the alternative to proper investigations into crimes. Over the last two decades, Jamaica's 'fight violence with violence' approach to crime is not only short-sighted but has proven utterly ineffective in tackling the root causes of violence."

Jamaica has long had one of the highest homicide rates in the world. In 2015 alone, there were 43 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Eight percent of these were at the hands of law enforcement officials.

Since 2000, law enforcement officials in Jamaica have allegedly killed more than 3,000 people - mostly young men living in marginalized communities. Despite overwhelming evidence of police involvement in the crimes, to Amnesty Internationals knowledge, only a handful of officers have been convicted of murder since then.

Illegal police tactics

The Jamaican police continue to use long-standing and well-documented illegal practices following fatal shootings. These include altering crime scenes, planting weapons on victims, and threatening victims' relatives to dissuade them from reporting abuses to the authorities.

Many relatives of people killed by the police have been harassed at home, in the courts, in hospitals and even at their loved ones' funerals.

Families said male relatives of victims had been unlawfully detained and beaten in detention. In several cases relatives alleged that police officers had killed witnesses in suspected extrajudicial executions. Others spoke of women relatives who had left their communities and even the country to escape intense police intimidation and harassment. Low-income families had little option but to remain in their communities, in extreme fear of reprisals.

The aunt of Shaniel Coombs - who was killed, allegedly by police officers, in Rennock Lodge, East Kingston, on 10 May 2014 - told Amnesty International that after he was killed: "We had the body at home and we were mourning. And the police came, a lot of them, taking up the coffin drawing it out... I had to call the Minister to ask him to allow us to grieve in peace. I think the Minister called them and then they left. But they have been harassing our family bitterly."

The brother of Nakiea Jackson, a restaurant operator who was shot dead by police on 20 January 2014 in downtown Kingston, said: "The first day the court was filled with police officers They came to see who the witnesses were to intimidate. The judge told them to leave the court house. Many times police officers just show up to intimidate."

Missing justice

Efforts by authorities in Jamaica have gone some way to reduce the number of unlawful killings by police - which have halved between 2014 and 2015.

However, these efforts have so far failed to tackle the structural problems that allow security forces to continue to murder people in large numbers and avoid justice.

Many of those interviewed by Amnesty International believe the reduction in killings could be a temporary lull provoked by the initial deterring effect of investigation and prosecution by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), a police oversight mechanism established in 2010, rather than structural reform of the internal operation of the police.

According to a 2008 report by the US-based George Washington University Law School and Jamaicans for Justice, less than 10% of all cases of killings by police since 1999 had reached the criminal courts.

After setting up INDECOM, Jamaica established a Special Coroner's Court in 2011 to conduct inquests into cases of suspected police killings. However, the paltry budget allocations to the court seriously hinders its capacity.

As of July 2016, INDECOM had charged nearly 100 officers with various offences, but chronic delays and backlogs in the justice system have resulted in only eight cases completing trial and of those only one murder conviction being secured.

By 2013, the Special Coroner's Court had a backlog of 300 cases and as of 2016, INDECOM has more than 1,000 open investigations.

Witnesses to police misconduct are discouraged from coming forward, both out of fear and a lack of access to free legal representation. Police officers, by contrast, are all provided with legal representation.

As the sister of Aneika Hayden, who was killed during a law enforcement operation in 2009, told Amnesty International: "Even if you do follow up with the case, sometimes you dont have the bus fare, you don't even have the money to go [to court]. You give up hope. Because you are fighting a giant. You are thinking, how can you win. It's the government. You are a poor man fighting the government. There is no way you can win that case."

Amnesty International acknowledges that Jamaica's security forces work under difficult conditions. According to senior police, long hours, low pay, limited respect for work-life balance and dangerous working environments make it very difficult to retain officers. In 2015, 415 police officers resigned. Between 2005 and 2015, 27 on-duty police officers were killed in security operations.

"If authorities in Jamaica are serious about tackling the country's shocking levels of police killings and violence they must urgently promote a deep police and justice reform to address not only the number of police murders but the root causes of the problem," said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Nigeria: At least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra activists killed in chilling crackdown

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 24 November 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Nigeria: At least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra activists killed in chilling crackdown, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836e8944.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Nigerian security forces, led by the military, embarked on a chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions and violence resulting in the deaths of at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in the south east of the country, according to an investigation by Amnesty International published today.

Analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eye witness testimonies relating to demonstrations and other gatherings between August 2015 and August 2016 consistently shows that the military fired live ammunition with little or no warning to disperse crowds. It also finds evidence of mass extrajudicial executions by security forces, including at least 60 people shot dead in the space of two days in connection with events to mark Biafra Remembrance Day.

"This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the south east of Nigeria. This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher," said Makmid Kamara, Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

"The Nigerian government's decision to send in the military to respond to pro-Biafra events seems to be in large part to blame for this excessive bloodshed. The authorities must immediately launch an impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to book."

Since August 2015, there has been a series of protests, marches and gatherings by members and supporters of IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) who have been seeking the creation of a Biafran state. Tensions increased further following the arrest of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on 14 October 2015. He remains in detention.

Extrajudicial executions

By far the largest number of pro-Biafra activists were killed on Biafra Remembrance Day on 30 May 2016 when an estimated 1,000 IPOB members and supporters gathered for a rally in Onitsha, Anambra State. The night before the rally, the security forces raided homes and a church where IPOB members were sleeping.

On Remembrance Day itself, the security forces shot people in several locations. Amnesty International has not been able to verify the exact number of extrajudicial executions, but estimates that at least 60 people were killed and 70 injured in these two days. The real number is likely to be higher.

Ngozi (not her real name), a 28-year-old mother of one, told Amnesty International that her husband left in the morning to go to work but called her shortly afterwards to say that the military had shot him in his abdomen. He said he was in a military vehicle with six others, four of whom were already dead. She told Amnesty International: "he started whispering and said they just stopped [the vehicle]. He was scared they would kill the remaining three of them that were alive... He paused and told me they were coming closer. I heard gunshots and I did not hear a word from him after that."

The next day Ngozi searched for her husband and finally found his body in a nearby mortuary. The mortuary attendants told her that the military had brought him and six others. She saw three gunshot wounds: one in his abdomen and two in his chest, which confirmed her fear that the military had executed him.

Amnesty International has also reviewed videos of a peaceful gathering of IPOB members and supporters at Aba National High School on 9 February 2016. The Nigerian military surrounded the group and then fired live ammunition at them without any prior warning.

According to eyewitnesses and local human rights activists, many of the protesters at Aba were rounded up and taken away by the military. On 13 February 13 corpses, including those of men known to have been taken by the military, were discovered in a pit near the Aba highway.

"It is chilling to see how these soldiers gunned down peaceful IPOB members. The video evidence shows that this was a military operation with intent to kill and injure," said Makmid Kamara.

Deadly repression

Eyewitness testimony and video footage of the rallies, marches and meetings demonstrate that the Nigerian military deliberately used deadly force.

In many of the incidents detailed in the report, including the Aba High School protest, the military applied tactics designed to kill and neutralize an enemy, rather than to ensure public order at a peaceful event.

All IPOB gatherings documented by Amnesty International were largely peaceful. In those cases where there were pockets of violence, it was mostly in reaction to shooting by the security forces. Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that some protesters threw stones, burned tyres and in one incident shot at the police. Regardless, these acts of violence and disorder did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly.

Amnesty International's research also shows a disturbing pattern of hundreds of arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment by soldiers during and after IPOB events, including arrests of wounded victims in hospital, and torture and other ill-treatment of detainees.

Vincent Ogbodo (not his real name), a 26-year-old trader, said he was shot on Remembrance Day in Nkpor and hid in a gutter. When soldiers found him they poured acid on him. He told Amnesty International:

"I covered my face. I would have been blind by now. He poured acid on my hands. My hands and body started burning. The flesh was burning They dragged me out of the gutter. They said I'll die slowly."

A man who was detained in Onitsha Barracks after the Remembrance Day shooting on 30 May 2016 told Amnesty International: "Those in the guard room [detention] were flogged every morning. The soldiers tagged it 'Morning Tea'."

No action by authorities to ensure accountability

Despite this overwhelming evidence that the Nigerian security forces committed gross human rights violations including extrajudicial executions and torture, no investigations have been carried out by the authorities.

A similar pattern of lack of accountability for gross violations by the military has been documented in other parts of Nigeria including the north east in the context of operations against Boko Haram.

"Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the government of Nigeria to initiate independent investigations into evidence of crimes under international law, and President Buhari has repeatedly promised that Amnesty International's reports would be looked into. However, no concrete steps have been taken," said Makmid Kamara.

In the very rare cases where an investigation is carried out, there is no follow up. As a result of the apparent lack of political will to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of such crimes, the military continues to commit human rights violations and grave crimes with impunity.

In addition to investigations, the Nigerian government must ensure adequate reparations for the victims, including the families. They should end all use of military in policing demonstrations and ensure the police are adequately instructed, trained and equipped to deal with crowd-control situations in line with international law and standards. In particular, firearms must never be used as a tool for crowd control.

Background

The findings of this report involved an analysis of 87 videos and 122 photographs showing IPOB gatherings and members of security forces in the process of committing violations and victims of these violations. 193 interviews were conducted.

On 30 September 2016, Amnesty International shared the key findings of this report with the Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Interior, Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of the state Security Services. Responses were received from the Attorney General and Inspector General of Police but neither answered the questions raised in the report.

IPOB emerged in 2012 and campaigns for an Independent Biafran state. Almost fifty years ago, an attempt to establish Biafra state led to a civil war from 1967 to 1970.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Israel/Palestine: Bedouins Face Imminent Displacement

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 24 November 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Israel/Palestine: Bedouins Face Imminent Displacement, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836ebf34.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Israeli authorities should revoke plans to forcibly displace Bedouin Arab residents from the village of Umm al-Hiran in Israel's southern Negev desert to build a new Jewish community there, Human Rights Watch said today.

Israel's Execution and Collection Authority on November 20, 2016, approved a request by the Israel Land Authority to forcibly demolish two homes and approximately eight surrounding structures at the entrance of Umm al-Hiran between November 15 and November 30. The demolitions would displace about 20 people. The approval follows a January Supreme Court decision not to reconsider the court's May 2015 dismissal of a legal challenge to the demolition of the village by Umm al-Hiran residents. The residents fear this is the first step toward the displacement of all the villagers.



"The forcible eviction of Bedouin residents to make way for a new Jewish town would be a blatant and ugly episode of discrimination mirroring Israel's unlawful settlements," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch."Long after most of the rest of the world has such rejected racist policies, the Israeli government keeps building and razing communities on the basis of religion and ethnicity."

About 1,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel live in Umm al-Hiran and Atir, neighboring villages in Israel's southern Negev desert. Israeli authorities relocated the villagers there under a 1956 agreement permitting them to live there in exchange for dropping claims to land from which they say Israeli forces expelled them in 1948. Israeli authorities have refused to formally recognize the village, to supply basic services such as water or electricity, or to develop a zoning plan to allow residents to obtain building permits.

In 2009, Israeli authorities approved plans to use Umm al-Hiran land to build a town "with institutions intended to serve the religious Jewish community," as the Supreme Court put it, and to be named "Hiran." They also authorized the use of Atir land to expand the Yattir Forest. The May 2015 Supreme Court ruling said that the land belongs to the state and that it is entitled to withdraw its permission for Umm al-Hiran inhabitants to live there, although the court rejected the government's claim that the residents are squatters. It also ruled that the evictions would not be discriminatory since, in principle, Umm al-Hiran residents could purchase homes in the new town. In January 2016, the court rejected a request to reconsider.

On November 20, the affected Umm al-Hiran residents received written notices that authorities would demolish their homes on November 22. After activists gathered in the village, the police did not evict residents that day, though activists told Human Rights Watch that they had heard a police convoy was en route to the village.

However, Adalah, a nongovernmental legal center that advocates for Arab minority rights in Israel and represents Umm al-Hiran residents, fears that the evictions will take place before the November 30 deadline. In a statement to Human Rights Watch, the lead Adalah attorney on the case, Suhad Bishara, said they would continue to "seek all available legal channels" to halt the displacement and support the "existential, moral and legitimate right" of the villagers to "continue living on their land."

Human Rights Watch has documented how Israel for decades has refused to legally recognize Bedouin communities and made it virtually impossible for residents to build homes lawfully. In conditions similar to those in Umm al-Hiran, about 80,000 Bedouin live under constant threat of home demolitions in 35 villages that Israel does not recognize in the Negev.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Israel ratified in 1991, requires the Israeli authorities to respect the right to adequate housing. The committee responsible for interpreting the covenant has said that this right means governments can carry out forced evictions only in "the most exceptional circumstances." Even in these situations, it must do so in accordance with human rights principles requiring the government to consult with the affected individuals or communities, identify a clear public interest requiring the eviction, ensure that those affected have a meaningful opportunity to challenge the eviction, and provide appropriate compensation and adequate alternative land and housing arrangements.

The covenant further forbids countries from discriminating against minority groups with regard to land and housing rights. Governments must demonstrate that any differential treatment negatively affecting a group is proportionate to a legitimate aim.

Neither the declared policy objective  building a Jewish community to replace a longstanding Bedouin community  nor the proposed alternate arrangements  an undefined plot of land in the nearby town of Hura  meets the extremely narrow preconditions that would permit forcible evictions. The forced relocation decisions are unlawfully discriminatory since they are based on housing and land policies that treat Arab inhabitants differently from Jewish residents in a manner that cannot be justified by any legitimate aim.

At the same time, Israeli lawmakers are considering the "Normalization Law" to retroactively legalize settlements built on private Palestinian land and thereby protect them from court-ordered evictions. The proposed legislation follows the Supreme Court's rejection in November of a request by Israeli authorities for a seven-month extension on the December 25 deadline for the demolition of an illegal settlement in Amona, in the West Bank.

"Time and again, Israeli politicians show that forcible control of land and the population, not international law, drives their planning policies on both sides of the Green Line," Whitson said.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Life on the margins in an Iraqi mosque

Publisher IRIN Author Annie Slemrod Publication Date 23 November 2016 Related Document(s) Beyond Mosul: Iraq's displacement and sectarian timebombs Cite as IRIN, Life on the margins in an Iraqi mosque, 23 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5836ed244.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Friday prayers have just wrapped up. Four-by-fours with tinted windows and an array of expensive vehicles pull out of a Baghdad mosque, through black, wrought-iron gates, past heavily armed guards.

Beyond another round of soldiers in camouflage fatigues, the mosque gleams in the sunlight in its well-manicured surrounds. But on the edge of the neatly trimmed grass, laundry lines and dingy latrines betray the fact that this isn't simply a house of prayer.

Children's faces peer out curiously from behind makeshift fabric doorways. Here, hidden away from the capital's busy traffic, and from the world's attention, a few of Iraq's 3.2 million displaced hustle out an existence on the margins, without help from much of anyone.

Sanctuary, but little help

Umm al-Taboul Mosque began taking in those fleeing the violence of so-called Islamic State in the first days of January 2014, when the group first began its sweep through Iraq.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Iraqi civilians have been through here since. Mosque officials say some 120 families have been moved to buildings nearby, while others have left to try to go home. Plenty remain, crowded into a row of shelters crafted from fencing, trees, blankets, corrugated metal, and in one case what appears to be a billboard for a pricey Calvin Klein watch.

*Omar and Asmaa are the newest arrivals. They fled their IS-occupied hometown of al-Qaim near the Syrian border only a few weeks ago. As is tradition in parts of western Iraq, he touches shoulders instead of shaking hands.

Omar's mother was too frail to make the journey, so the couple waited for her to pass away before making a run for it. For $1,800, a smuggler took them out and arranged their entry into Baghdad.

Asmaa is too perturbed to speak as Omar describes how they had been "living under siege". Shortly before their exit, IS killed a local smuggler. "They cut off his head and roamed the street with it," Omar says, as Asmaa wipes her eyes.

They arrived with no possessions: only the clothes they left in. Thanks to their new neighbours at Umm al-Taboul, themselves in dire straits, they now have a few changes of second-hand clothes and some rudimentary furniture.

Omar is an engineer, but he hasn't worked in years. His chance of finding any employment now is slim. Without a special permit, his movement, like that of many IDPs, is restricted. When his wife recently needed medicine, they had to ask around the mosque for donations. They hope a charity, or really anyone with money, will "help us stand on our feet again," says Omar. "There is nothing we can do."

Making do

While all the families here have almost nothing, those who have been here longer have done their best to try and brighten things up.

Abu Ahmed, his wife, and their eight children have been living, all 10, in a few square meters for the past two years. The walls of their tiny enclosure are decorated with some stuffed animals and a mirror shard. They've carved out a small kitchen area, but the floor is dirt and they can't do much to keep the flies off a basket of unwashed carrots.

Some of the kids are in school, but others were told they'd missed too much time and couldn't register.

Abu Ahmed does some work at the mosque, but it's not nearly enough to pay for his family.

"We've decreased the amount of food we eat we stopped having chocolate," he says, looking at his daughters sitting in the corner of their shelter. "We did have a sweet on Valentine's Day."

"I don't have clothes for us for the winter. When the rain comes, it will probably fill this tent," he says, looking up at a ceiling held together with wooden beams and fabric remnants.

"Beautiful memories"

At the end of the row is Milad, a shy blacksmith from near Mosul who hid his family of 11 in a deserted building outside the city for seven months, sneaking back in to buy food with his savings.

He too now does some odd jobs for the mosque, and spends the rest of his time following the Mosul offensive on a small generator-powered television. He mentions the latest, rumoured advance.

"I look older than I am," he says, declining to give his age but admitting that the past two years have taken their toll.

Milad has lost track of his brother and his friends, but says he has "beautiful memories" of life before IS. He spent five years building his house, but never got to finish it. Now one of his walls is made of cardboard boxes.

He misses the simple pleasures of his past existence: sitting around at the local police checkpoint, drinking coffee and gossiping.

Milad keeps one eye on one of his young daughters, and the other on the TV headlines. "We're a peaceful people," he says, softly.

*Names have been changed to protect their safety
The agony of Aleppo follows Syrian refugees into exile

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Dana Sleiman Publication Date 24 November 2016 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The agony of Aleppo follows Syrian refugees into exile, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583720e04.html [accessed 2 November 2022]

It was a Thursday evening last month, four years since Alaa* and her family had sought refuge in Lebanon. "Aleppo Today" was playing on the television in the background, the voice of an anchorman running through the day's casualties. When her phone rang, Alaa shuddered. "It's Aleppo," she said.

On the other end of the line, her sister Samar broke the dreadful news. Alaa's 16-year-old nephew, Samar's son, had been killed by an explosion while on his way home from school.

"I felt that my heart was about to stop beating. Tears gushed from my eyes but Samar was strangely composed. I am not sure where she found the strength. She said she would rather die a hero in Aleppo than leave the only place she can call home," Alaa said.

Lebanon is host to over one million Syrian refugees. But despite being far from the war raging in their hometown, life in Syria continues to haunt them in their place of asylum.

In the more than four years she has spent as a refugee in Lebanon, 39-year-old Alaa has grown grimly accustomed to the agony of mourning loved ones who remained in her hometown of Aleppo.

Since arriving in Lebanon with her husband and four children in 2012, she has lost 14 relatives back home. Thirteen of them, including two of her sisters and their children, were killed in the ugly brutal conflict, while her mother died "out of sheer grief", she said, and her sister Samar is the only one who now remains in the city.

Alaa's harrowing experience underlines the high human toll of Syria's brutal conflict, now in its sixth year. It also reveals how the horror currently unfolding in Aleppo reaches far beyond the city itself, impacting even those that have found relative safety in exile.

Alaa's sister Samar tells her that getting from the rebel-held Seif Al Dawleh district in eastern Aleppo, where she currently lives, to her pre-war home in Salaheddine - normally a five minute commute - is now too dangerous a route and can take up to ten hours. Reaching Damascus is ever more challenging.

"We used to pay 10 liras to visit the capital. Now my sister says it's 2,000 liras each way and reaching the city is not guaranteed." Alaa is unable to send her sister money, and often loses touch with her for days on end due to heavy fighting and the lack of communications networks. "I wait for her messages in agony but dread the moment that she will call."

Many, like Alaa and her family from Aleppo, were forced to move multiple times inside Syria before finally reaching safety in Lebanon.

Underlining the increasing dangers for those remaining in eastern Aleppo, UNHCR published findings of a survey of residents conducted with partners late last month. It showed 63 per cent of respondents knew someone who had died or was injured by explosives, while 82 per cent cited damage to their property. Many, though, said they would stay even if there were safe evacuation routes.

Intensified fighting in Aleppo has cut off humanitarian access to most parts of the city, resulting in shortages of food, medical supplies and other essentials. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has long called upon all parties to the conflict to allow humanitarian organizations to carry out their duties in safety, and to protect medical facilities, schools, water infrastructure and the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers, while allowing essential evacuations.

"They haven't had running water or electricity in years. My sister's husband works three jobs to put food on the table," said Alaa. "Humanitarian aid never reaches the area where they live." She often begs her sister to join her in Lebanon, even though she knows that leaving the city nowadays is increasingly difficult.

Alaa has spent years in Lebanon tormented in her own isolated world, grieving for lost loved ones back home and worrying about those who remained. "For a long time, all I wanted to do was sleep so that I could dream about my family, I used to get so upset when my husband woke me," she said.

Despite the pain, Alaa is trying to get back on her feet. Since April, she has been attending a UNHCR-supported community centre in Beirut where she and her family receive psycho-social support. "I look forward to Fridays because I get to go out and meet people."

Alaa says she wants to feel better so she can take better care of her four children. "They need me, and I want them to be happy, to get an education and be capable of hoping for a better future again." Her husband works odd jobs as a handyman but it is not enough to make ends meet. The family receives US$162 worth of food assistance every month.

* Names changed for protection purposes
States shouldn't use ICC budget to interfere with its work

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 24 November 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, States shouldn't use ICC budget to interfere with its work, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583722a94.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers being detained and forcibly returned

Lack of water, food and medical care

Both governments preventing thousands from accessing aid

Harrowing details of Myanmar military attacks on villages

As the Myanmar authorities are subjecting the Rohingya Muslim minority to collective punishment, thousands of refugees who have made it across the border to Bangladesh in desperate need of humanitarian assistance are being forcibly pushed back in flagrant violation of international law, Amnesty International said today.

"The Rohingya are being squeezed by the callous actions of both the Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities. Fleeing collective punishment in Myanmar, they are being pushed back by the Bangladeshi authorities. Trapped between these cruel fates, their desperate need for food, water and medical care is not being addressed," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.

The Rohingya are fleeing a policy of collective punishment in Myanmar's Northern Rakhine state, where security forces are mounting indiscriminate reprisal attacks in response to a 9 October assault on three border posts that killed nine members of the border police.



Speaking to members of the Rohingya community on the ground in Bangladesh and in interviews with those still in Myanmar, Amnesty International has heard accounts of Myanmar's security forces, led by the military, firing at villagers from helicopter gunships, torching hundreds of homes, carrying out arbitrary arrests, and raping women and girls.



Across the Naf river that divides Bangladesh and Myanmar, Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers are forced into hiding and are suffering a severe lack of food and medical care, Amnesty International found in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district.

Forcible returns

The Bangladeshi authorities have cracked down on the flow of Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar. Over the past week, the Bangladesh Border Guards have detained and forcibly returned hundreds.



The move is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement  an absolute prohibition under international law on forcibly returning people to a country or place where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations.



The Bangladeshi authorities have also sealed their border with Myanmar and fortified it with the deployment of the Bangladesh Border Guards and coast guard forces. Since 1992, the Bangladesh government has a policy of denying Rohingya refugee status.



On 22 November, Amnesty International witnessed groups of Rohingya crossing the border close to Whaikyang, a village by the Naf river in Bangladesh. They looked weary and emaciated, the signs of a gruelling journey evident on their faces.



They told Amnesty International that they had arrived in Bangladesh the night before, waiting until sunrise on a nearby island to evade Bangladeshi officials.



Several thousand Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers are believed to have recently crossed into Bangladesh. They are spread out across villages, refugee camps and slums, making the true number impossible to determine. At least 2,000 people have made the journey across the Naf river since 21 November, with more set to arrive over successive days.



Some of them told Amnesty International they had paid smugglers to take them across. Others confessed to bribing Bangladesh Border Guards or other Bangladeshis to help them elude interception at the border.



"The Bangladeshi government must not add to the suffering of Rohingya. They should be recognized and protected as refugees fleeing persecution, not punished for who they are," said Champa Patel.

Inhuman and degrading conditions

The bulk of the Rohingya who successfully reached Bangladesh have sought shelter in makeshift camps across the Cox's Bazar where earlier waves of refugees and asylum-seekers settled.



Water and food are scarce. Aid workers in the area told Amnesty International that even before the most recent arrivals, the camp dwellers were already suffering severe malnutrition.



The latest arrivals have put an enormous strain on Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers already based in Bangladesh who have opened their small and cramped homes to them.



One man living in the Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp told Amnesty International:



"I am the only breadwinner in my family. We are seven people, but some family members arrived from Myanmar last week so now we are 15 people living in the same small hut. We did not have any food this morning. I only own two longyis [traditional garment]  I gave one to my cousin, I am wearing the only clothes I own."



A 40-year-old woman, who said she had fled to Bangladesh after the Myanmar army killed her husband and one of her sons, was not able to find shelter in the camp for herself and her two young children.



"We are sleeping outside in the mud," she said. "My son is two years old and is crying all the time, he is very cold in the mornings. Still, compared to Myanmar, Bangladesh seems like heaven to me."



Many of those arriving are in extremely poor health and in need of medical attention. Reliable sources confirmed to Amnesty International that several people have crossed the border bearing untreated bullet wounds. But the Rohingya said that they did not seek medical attention from the few clinics in the area, out of fear of being detained and deported.



While many Bangladeshi people have welcomed and offered assistance to the new arrivals, the Rohingya are preyed upon by local thieves.



"When we crossed the border, some local people attacked and looted us. They took everything we had," said one 16-year-old girl, who paid people smugglers to take her into Bangladesh on 21 November.



"Relying on the generosity of Bangladeshis already in poverty and long-term refugees is not sustainable. The thousands who have crossed the border desperately need help. Bangladeshi authorities must immediately allow aid groups unfettered access to those fleeing the escalating persecution in Myanmar," said Champa Patel.

Collective punishment in Rakhine state

Since the 9 October attack on border police posts, Amnesty International and other rights organizations have received reports of a litany of human rights violations carried out by the Myanmar army in North Rakhine State during security operations. The UN estimates that 30,000 people have been displaced from their homes.



"The response of the army to attacks on security forces six weeks ago went far beyond what was necessary and proportional. Instead of investigating and arresting specific suspects, the army carried out operations amounting to collective punishment," said Champa Patel.





"By targeting individuals clearly not involved in such attacks, whole families and whole villages, these operations appear to target Rohingya collectively on the basis of their ethnicity and religion."



The Myanmar government has denied all allegations of human rights violations by its military, but at the same time has blocked access to humanitarian aid and effectively barred independent journalists and human rights monitors from entering the area.

"The Myanmar government's accounts lack credibility. If it has nothing to hide, it should open access to independent observers, including human rights monitors, aid workers and journalists," said Champa Patel.

Members of the Rohingya community, both in Bangladesh and Myanmar described in harrowing detail the actions of the Myanmar army, including arbitrary arrests, unlawful killings, and the torching of villages.



"These and other accounts of human rights violations must immediately be investigated in a genuinely independent impartial and efficient way. The only real solution, both in the short and long terms, lies in respect for the human rights of Rohingyas in Myanmar. Long-term, entrenched and systemic discrimination against Rohingya must end."

Testimonies

A Rohingya villager in Myanmar told Amnesty International how security forces approached his village, firing guns in the air, creating a panic:

"Then they shot at people who were fleeing. They surrounded the village and started going from house to house. They were verbally abusing the people. They were threatening to rape the women saying 'We are going to rape your kalar women'."

"Kalar" or "foreigner" is a racial epithet used against the Rohingya community.



A woman who spoke to Amnesty International from Myanmar described how her two sons were arbitrarily arrested by security forces:

"It was early in the morning, the military surrounded our house, while some came in and forced me and my children to go outside. They tied my two sons up. They tied their hands behind their backs, and they were beaten badly. The military kicked them in the chest. I saw it myself. I was crying so loudly. When I cried, they [the military] pointed a gun at me. My children were begging the military not to hit them. They were beaten for around 30 minutes before being taken away."

She hasn't seen or heard from them since.

A 38-year-old man, who spoke to Amnesty International in Bangladesh after arriving on 22 November, said:

"My sister and brother were both kidnapped by the army. I saw with my own eyes how the military burned down our village, and how soldiers raped women and girls."



A 44-year-old woman said she witnessed how the army arrested and handcuffed young men in her village, shot them dead and pushed them into mass graves. She also said the army used hand-held rocket launchers, echoing reports from several other eyewitnesses about the use of such weapons and actions.



Another man, 58, told Amnesty International in Bangladesh he fled across the border after helicopter gunships opened fire on his and surrounding villages:

"We saw helicopters firing on the village. We ran into the forest to save our lives."

Background: Rohingya in Bangladesh

Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers have arrived into Bangladesh from Myanmar in waves since at least the 1970s. There are some 33,000 registered Rohingya refugees living in Cox's Bazar's two camps, Kutupalong and Nayapara.



The Bangladesh government has since 1992 refused to grant refugee status to Rohingya arriving from Myanmar. An estimated 300,000-500,000 undocumented Rohingya are living in Bangladesh, spread out in the two makeshift camps close to Kutupalong and Leda, as well as villages and towns across the southeast of the country.



With no legal protections, the undocumented Rohingya are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Limited employment opportunities means that many are forced into the drug trade or human trafficking to earn an income. Incidents of rape and other sexual violence against undocumented Rohingya women are frequent, since they are considered "easy targets" who cannot report crimes to police for fear of being arrested themselves.



The Bangladesh government has recently completed a census of the undocumented Rohingya people but has not made the results public yet. The government says the census will lead to better access to services and to granting basic legal status to the undocumented Rohingya.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Changes Coming for Afghan Peace Council

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 21 November 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ARR 559 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Changes Coming for Afghan Peace Council, 21 November 2016, ARR 559, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5837234f4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Afghanistan's High Peace Council (HPC), the body tasked with forging reconciliation with the Taleban, says it is putting recommendations made at an IWPR conference earlier this year into practice.

At public debates recently held across Afghanistan, HPC representatives said that they were taking steps to implement proposals such as increasing female representation in peace talks.

The head of the HPC secretariat in Paktiya, Hamidullah Husanyar, confirmed that the council was reaching out to other stakeholders to consider the conference's proposals.

"We are making a new strategy for the Peace Council and are in touch with civil society organisations and the relevant people regarding their suggestions," he said.

In Herat, Yama Amini, the head of the local HPC secretariat, added, "After IWPR's conference regarding the national peace and reconciliation process in Kabul, High Peace Council officials started working on a new plan so that women would have more opportunities to increase their presence in High Peace Council and provincial offices."

He added, "Now the role of women has significantly risen in the High Peace Council and they are carrying out their task well."

Government officials, religious leaders, civil society activists and journalists from across Afghanistan were among the 70 people who had gathered in May for IWPR's three-day Kabul event.

Working committees used data and feedback from a two-year IWPR initiative - Afghan Reconciliation: Promoting Peace and Building Trust by Engaging Civil Society - to help formulate proposals.

One innovative recommendation was the inclusion of a course devoted to peace in the educational curricula of schools and universities.

In Herat, Amini confirmed that the ministry of education and the HPC were currently working on this addition to the curriculum.

Farhad Jelani, the spokesman of Herat's governor, agreed. "After IWPR ran many programmes regarding reconciliation in our society, provincial officials have tried their best to acquaint people with the importance of peace, which everyone needs."

However, others at the Herat debate said that much more needed to be done, particular in the field of gender equality.

"The leaders of the national unity government made many promises to women but failed to implement even one. That means that women are marginalized," said provincial council member Sakina Hussaini.

"Many women in remote districts made huge efforts to convince insurgents to join the peace process, but the High Peace Council has never mentioned the names of those hardworking women. In fact, the High Peace Council has always ignored and disregarded women's role."

In Badakhshan, debate participant Mozon Badakhshi recounted personal experiences of women playing a part in countering radicalisation.

"I strongly believe in the role women can play in peace talks and I have many good examples of it," she continued, noting one case in which a local woman had convinced several male family members to leave the Taleban.

"Today, because of her efforts, her father, son and uncle have quit fighting and joined the peace process," Badakhshi said.

The issue of discrimination was highlighted in the Baghlan debate when a senior High Peace Council figure walked out of the event in protest at the mixed audience of men and women.

Khadija Yaqeen, director of women's affairs in Baghlan province, said that this was a clear example of misogyny.

She added, "I think that with such actions, the High Peace Council will never be able to convince the insurgents that women are also a part of this society and have equal rights to men."

She continued, "Reaching peace will be impossible as long as there is gender discrimination."

Elsewhere, debates heard that the HPC had to do much more to persuade the public of the efficacy of their work.

Ghulam Sakhi, a participant in the Balkh debate, said, "Unfortunately, the activities of the High Peace Council have not convinced people across the country. Afghan citizens are neither satisfied nor happy about their actions."

He said that mutual acceptance was the only way to reach to peace.

"The level of discrimination is very high in our society," Sakhi continued. "Due to the fact that the High Peace Council has been so biased in its work and decisions, people don't have much trust in their activities. The High Peace Council does not have any specific plan and strategy, so people don't trust their procedures."

Mahmood Hemat, a political expert in Ghazni, warned that there was as yet no unified roadmap for negotiations.

"The Afghan government doesn't have a clear strategy regarding peace and reconciliation," he continued. "The government should have a specific plan and set its limits. Peace can only be brought through practical measures, not by words."

In Kandahar, the debate heard that the current make-up of the HPC needed to be changed.

Provincial council member Sayed Ahmad Selab said that the council had yet to move beyond sloganeering because many of those who were supposed to be building peace were former combatants themselves.

"The members of the High Peace Council have all been hired based on influence, and were or have been involved in past or present fighting. Reconciliation should depend on none of these parties."

In the Khost debate, Zohra Jalal, head of the provincial council's women's committee, argued that many strongmen in the council actually opposed female involvement in peace building.

"The High Peace Council is made up of people who have blood on their hands and who hate women's involvement in this council," she said. "The role of women is only symbolic and for show in the media."

Khost university lecturer Amir Baheer argued that the president should diminish the power of the former warlords within the council while giving female members more authority.

"Men and women have equal rights according to law," he said. "The second article of the national constitution orders that Islam is the religion of Afghanistan and the role of women should be significant."

This report is part of the IWPR programme Afghan Reconciliation: Promoting Peace and Building Trust by Engaging Civil Society.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Afghans Sceptical Over Promises On Women's Rights

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Mina Habib Publication Date 23 November 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ARR 559 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghans Sceptical Over Promises On Women's Rights, 23 November 2016, ARR 559, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583723a64.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Rights activists say that they are not convinced by a keynote speech by President Ashraf Ghani in which he promised a zero tolerance approach to discrimination against women in his administration.

"Any minister, deputy, director or any other government official who disrespects women will be dismissed," he told a meeting on female leadership within government institutions in Kabul on October 21.

He highlighted the difficulties posed by Afghanistan's male-dominated culture that meant that men often disregarded the ideas of female colleagues or authority figures.

"One of our biggest problems is culture of not listening to others because we just listen to ourselves," he said.

Ghani called for women to report incidences of discrimination to ensure the government could enforce and implement laws on gender equality.

However, his speech was greeted with some cynicism from activists and campaigners.

Liya Jawad is head of the Foundation of Solidarity for Justice, a group working with victims of violence in Afghanistan, and a member of the country's Transitional Justice Coordination Group.

She said that Ghani's speech would not affect a culture of impunity when it came to women's rights.

"Many cases of harassment, violence against women and other outrages are seen in government offices and often by high-ranking figures. Due to the fact that criminals are seniorofficials, the government is unable to react and take serious action against them. So misogyny and the abuse of women increase day by day."

No change would come without widespread reforms, Jawad continued.

"As long as the judicial departments aren't free of corruption, as long as cases of violence against women are not solved in a transparent way, and as long as those who violate women's rights evade punishment, it will be difficult to believe these emotional slogans in support of women."

Women's rights groups also had a lukewarm response to Ghani's speech.

Laal Gul, who chairs the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said, "One of the biggest problems in Afghanistan is that the law is not enforced and it has caused people great harm. For example, we have a law on the prevention of violence against women, but it has not been implemented. If the law is not enforced, the orders and statements of the president also lack practical effect and will never be implemented."

The law on the prevention of violence against women, passed by presidential decree in 2009, was rejected by parliament in May 2013 after a 15-minute debate and has been shelved ever since.

AIHRC women's rights programme coordinator Latifa Sultani said that she appreciated the sentiments expressed by the president, but emphasised the need for such laws to be applied.

"The president's speech was appropriate and positive and I hope that his promises will be implemented in practice. As long as the law is not enforced on every criminal and violator, it will be difficult to give women their full rights."

Women had little faith in the justice system, she continued.

"Harassment and women's rights violations have increased in many [government] offices, but for various reasons they don't want to register their complaints and cases officially with the relevant organisations because of Afghanistan's security conditions," Sultani said. "We have just informally tracked some cases of rights violations against women so far."

Masooda Karokhi, who represents Herat in the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, accused the president of being out of touch with the situation.

"The president can't have any information about the bitter and worsening conditions of women," she said. "Speaking out from within the presidential palace will never have any effect on women's lives the president's speech won't ever make a positive difference for women in government offices."

Practical action was long overdue, Karokhi continued.

"Women should not be silent in the face of injustice," she said. "To protect women's rights, I suggest that the president should establish a consultation board composed of different government organisations which meant at monthly to exchange ideas and consult regarding the problems faced by women."

Shahla Fareed, a lecturer in law and political science at Kabul university, agreed that concrete measures were vital.

"To support and protect women's rights, the government should plan a single and united policy of leadership instead of emotional and sentimental sentences and slogans," she said. "This plan should be sent to all government offices so that all the officials follow it. The president should also monitor the plan."

Syed Hasan Mortazwi, the president's deputy spokesman, insisted that the administration was working hard to fulfill its commitments on gender rights.

"The national unity government acts as per its promises and these promises are not just limited to words and slogans," he said. "For example, we now have four women cabinet ministers, nine women deputy ministers and four women ambassadors and we also have a plan to hire thousands of women for the country's security forces."

Farzana Safai, head of access to justice in the ministry of women's affairs, acknowledged that there had been some progress, but warned that few had confidence of further improvement.

"Some limited work has been done to support and protect the rights of women, but it doesn't mean that everything is fine," she said. "The president's promises have not yet been met and people don't have much faith in their implementation."

This report was produced under IWPR's Promoting Human Rights and Good Governance in Afghanistan initiative, funded by the European Union Delegation to Afghanistan.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Kazakhstan: Trial if imam's Istanbul asylum bid fails?

Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 24 November 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Kazakhstan: Trial if imam's Istanbul asylum bid fails?, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58372b1b4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Imam Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov  in Istanbul Airport with his family since October after deportation from Saudi Arabia - faces criminal trial in his native Kazakhstan if asylum appeal in Turkey fails. The KNB secret police officer who launched the case refused to reveal the accusations.
Resolution 2128 - Violence against migrants

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 24 June 2016 Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2128 - Violence against migrants, 24 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58372dee4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Imam Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov  in Istanbul Airport with his family since October after deportation from Saudi Arabia - faces criminal trial in his native Kazakhstan if asylum appeal in Turkey fails. The KNB secret police officer who launched the case refused to reveal the accusations.
Resolution 2137 - The impact of European population dynamics on migration policies

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 14 October 2016 Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2137 - The impact of European population dynamics on migration policies , 14 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583730fa4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. The significant changes in the dynamics of the European population in the 21st century call for an assessment of their impact on future migration policies in Europe.

2. The 47 member States of the Council of Europe have a total of 826 million inhabitants, which represents 11.3% of the world population. The average population density in Europe is 35 inhabitants per square kilometre, which is lower than the world average (55 inhabitants per squarekilometre). There is therefore potential for population growth.

3. Furthermore, in contrast to other world regions, the Council of Europe countries are particularly concerned by a "demographic winter": the average birth rate has dropped to 1.5 children born per woman, the lowest in the world. The demographic winter varies in intensity from one country to another, engendering diverging population trends.

4. At the same time, Council of Europe countries have the oldest population in the world, with the highest percentage of people aged 65 and over, and this situation will accelerate in the future as a result of increasing life expectancy. The resulting reduction in the proportion of the European population of working age creates a need to consider more actively how to attract young skilled migrants to the European labour market.

5. The Parliamentary Assembly believes that to make better use of the current substantial influx of migrants in Europe, countries of immigration need to develop long-term political strategies based on the needs of the labour market, responding to integration challenges and encouraging their rapid entry into the labour market.

6. The Assembly is also concerned about the negative impact of labour migration from some eastern European countries and its effect on their population dynamics and on the social situation of migrant families. These countries should counterbalance the negative effects of emigration on development by combating the main push factors for people leaving the country, such as corruption, bad governance and a lack of fair justice systems. Special support should be provided to vulnerable families, including children who have been left behind by their parents.

7. The Assembly is convinced that in order to respond to the present population challenges in Europe, a cross-sectoral approach to social, labour market and immigration policies should be applied, and that the human rights and dignity of all people should be put at the forefront of all related policies.

8. The Assembly therefore invites the Council of Europe member States concerned to:

8.1. devise policies to address the European demographic winter by:

8.1.1. promoting social policies which encourage couples to have as many children as they wish;

8.1.2. devising policies to strike a better balance between family and working life, including promoting greater participation by men and women in the labour market by providing the necessary training programmes, flexible working hours, parental leave systems and family planning assistance, as well as material incentives;

8.1.3. introducing national childcare strategies to encourage young people to combine work and family life, including childcare at inconvenient hours;

8.2. devise special policies to curb the negative effects of population ageing by:

8.2.1. introducing labour market reforms in order to encourage the employment of senior citizens, when necessary;

8.2.2. implementing salary and pension system reforms in order to make the employment of senior citizens more attractive, when necessary;

8.2.3. devising employment policies which appeal to young people and by preventing the rural exodus of young people;

8.2.4. supporting lifelong learning initiatives aimed at increasing the proportion of skilled workers;

8.2.5. fostering health-care policies to increase healthy life expectancy;

8.3. devise, as required, forward-looking migration policies, including safe transport of persons, to attract qualified migrants, in particular by:

8.3.1. conducting sectoral analyses of the labour market to identify where there is a real shortage of skilled labour;

8.3.2. ensuring that all obstacles are eliminated from national legislation for the rapid entry of refugees into the labour market;

8.3.3. creating access to employment for regular migrants, responding both to the needs of host societies and eliminating the black labour market with its associated trafficking and exploitation of migrants;

8.3.4. taking appropriate measures to ensure that migrant workers have pay and conditions equivalent to those of national workers;

8.3.5. promoting vocational training for refugees to encourage their integration into the labour market;

8.3.6. facilitating the recognition of the educational diplomas and vocational skills of migrants;

8.3.7. further developing vocational training and language courses for migrants, especially for migrant women;

8.3.8. promoting the successful integration of migrants and their families by revising integration policies to ensure that migrants are not segregated in the host society and that they are involved in the social and cultural life of local communities;

8.3.9. enhancing public information on the economic benefits of legal migration and cultural diversity for society.

9. The Assembly encourages the development of policy co-ordination between the Council of Europe member States in relation to demographic trends and their influence on economic development. It also encourages the relevant international organisations (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Union, for instance) to collect data on population dynamics in European countries and carry out comparative studies on population and migration-related issues.

10. Finally, the Assembly decides to come back to this issue on a regular basis.
Resolution 2121 - The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 22 June 2016 Related Document(s) The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2121 - The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey, 22 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583732bc4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. Turkey has been under post-monitoring dialogue with the Parliamentary Assembly since 2004. In its Resolution 1925 (2013) on the post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, the Assembly encouraged Turkey, a founding member of the Council of Europe and a strategic partner for Europe, to pursue its efforts to align its legislation and practices with Council of Europe standards and fulfil the remaining post-monitoring dialogue requirements. Turkey has continued to face a complex and adverse geopolitical situation with the war in Syria and in the surrounding countries and terrorist attacks on its territory. The ongoing conflict in Syria has brought further massive flows of refugees to Turkey. The Assembly reiterates its appreciation for the outstanding efforts made by the country since 2011 to host nearly 3 million refugees (262 000 of whom are in refugee camps), who are in need of accommodation, education and access to social and medical care. For over five years, Turkey has been implementing an "open door policy" to Syrians fleeing the war environment in their country and, in compliance with its international obligations, has abided by the principle of non-refoulement. The Assembly expresses its appreciation for the measures taken by the Turkish authorities to improve the living conditions of Syrian refugees, in particular by allocating work permits since 15 January 2016. The Assembly also values the outstanding financial efforts of the State to address this issue, despite remaining problems, in particular the lack of access to any education for 400 000 Syrian refugee children.

2. In August 2014, the country had its first direct election of the President of the Republic. Parliamentary elections were organised on 7 June 2015, and early parliamentary elections were held on 1 November 2015. While the Justice and Development Party (AKP) secured a majority in parliament in November 2015, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) - a political party with a pro-Kurdish stance, which had previously entered parliament though the election of independent candidates and subsequently formed a party group - entered parliament for the first time as a political party, despite the 10% electoral threshold, which the Assembly has repeatedly asked be substantially lowered.

3. European Union integration remains a strategic objective for Turkey. In the context of the 2016 EU-Turkey Agreement on the migrant crisis, and the implementation of a road map towards liberalisation of the visa regime, the Assembly welcomes the recent ratification of Protocol No. 15 amending the European Convention on Human Rights (CETS No. 213); the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198) the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197); and the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (ETS No. 167). The Assembly reiterates its belief that the opening of additional chapters of the European Community acquis, in particular Chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and Chapter 24 (justice, freedom and security), would help consolidate the reform process and reinforce the action undertaken by the Council of Europe for Turkey to align its legislation and practice with Council of Europe standards. Relations between Turkey and the European Union, which should be strengthened, will be of great importance not only for the stability and prosperity of the two sides, but for the entire region.

4. Recent developments in Turkey pertaining to freedom of the media and of expression, erosion of the rule of law and the human rights violations in relation to anti-terrorism security operations in south-east Turkey have, however, raised serious questions about the functioning of its democratic institutions. These findings are corroborated by recent reports adopted by several Council of Europe monitoring bodies, such as the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, which have highlighted concurring and serious concerns that Turkey should address without further delay.

5. The disclosure of corruption cases on 17 and 25 December 2013, allegedly involving four ministers and the son of the then Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marked the beginning of changes in domestic political processes, in particular the adoption of restrictive legislation (amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2014 and the Internal Security Act of March 2015) and the executive's increased control over the judiciary (amendments to the law on the High Council for Judges and Prosecutors in 2014), the creation of special courts ("criminal peace judgeships") in June 2014 and the adoption of Law No. 5651 on the internet in March 2015, increasing the Turkish Telecommunications Directorate's (TIB) capacity to block websites.

6. The Assembly regrets that the peace talks to address the Kurdish issue collapsed in summer 2015, putting at stake the process of enlarging the cultural and linguistic rights of the Kurdish community, initiated and advanced in the preceding period, including by its political representation in parliament after the 2015 parliamentary and early parliamentary elections. The breakdown of the peace talks in April 2015 led to increased violence and terrorist attacks by July 2015, bomb attacks by the PKK and retaliation measures by the Turkish security forces, including curfews imposed since December 2015 in several districts in south-east Turkey in order to carry out security operations.

7. In this context, the Assembly is very concerned about the decision of 20 May 2016 by the Turkish Grand National Assembly to strip a large number of parliamentarians of their immunity from prosecution by temporarily suspending Article 83 (first sentence) of the constitution, thus ruling out a case-by-case examination based on the facts of the case. Even though MPs from all political groups are concerned, the Assembly notes with concern that this decision disproportionately affects the opposition parties, in particular the HDP, many of whose members have been charged for their statements under the anti-terror law (No. 3713). The Assembly, reiterating its call in Resolution 1925 (2013), urges the Turkish Government to revise the legislation and practices on terrorism in line with European standards, by narrowing the scope of its definition and introducing a criterion of proportionality.

8. The Assembly recalls that parliamentary immunity should first and foremost enable elected representatives to work and express themselves without fear of harassment by the executive, the courts or political opponents. It is thus worried about the potential political consequences of this decision, which could damage parliamentary life and undermine the healthy political environment that Turkey needs to tackle today's challenges, including terrorist threats and the urgent need to solve the Kurdish issue by political and peaceful means. As there are allegations about the lack of independence of the judiciary, the Assembly urges the Turkish authorities to ensure that the cases brought against parliamentarians are handled in due compliance with Council of Europe standards on fair proceedings and trials and respect for freedom of expression, which Turkey has pledged to uphold.

9. In recent years, Turkey has faced massive and repeated terrorist attacks perpetrated by the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL/Daesh), the "Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK) and the PKK-affiliated "Kurdistan Freedom Hawks" (TAK). These attacks have caused hundreds of casualties in Ankara, Suruc, Istanbul, Bursa or Diyarbakr. In addition, the border city of Kilis has been targeted by shelling from Syrian territory. The Assembly unequivocally condemns these attacks and all terrorist action and violence perpetrated by the PKK, Daesh or any other organisation, which can on no account be tolerated. The Assembly stresses Turkey's right and duty to fight terrorism and address security issues in order to protect its citizens. It recalls, however, that those security operations must be carried out in line with international law, and in accordance with the principle of proportionality and necessity. The right balance between security and individual liberties must be found in Turkey.

10. Security operations have dramatically intensified in south-east Turkey since August 2015. Despite assurances by the Turkish authorities to keep a balance between freedom and security in the police and military operations in south-east Turkey, so as to protect citizens' right to life, which is the most fundamental right, and to ensure public security, the Assembly is very worried about the human consequences of the unprecedented months-long, round-the-clock curfews imposed in 22 districts, including Sur, Silvan (province of Diyarbakr), Nusaybin, Dargecit (province of Mardin), Sirnak Centre, Cizre, Silopi, Idil (province of Sirnak) and Yuksekova (province of Hakkari). These curfews affect 1.6 million people and have resulted in the displacement of at least 355 000 people and in restrictions in access to water, electricity, education and health care, including emergency medical care, which has proved fatal for many residents. At least 338 civilians were reported dead by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey as at 20 April 2016. According to the Ministry of the Interior, between July 2015 and 13 May 2016, these operations resulted in 458 security officers being killed and 3 321 wounded, while the Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Army announced that 2 583 PKK members had been killed inside Turkish territory and 2 366 others in Iraq during air strikes as at 23 May 2016.

11. As explicitly stated in the Venice Commission's opinion in response to the request by the Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the Assembly, "the curfews imposed since August 2015 have not been based on the constitutional and legislative framework which specifically governs the use of exceptional measures in Turkey, including curfew. To comply with this framework, any curfew measure should be associated with emergency rule, as provided for in Articles 119 to 122 of the Constitution". According to those articles of the constitution, curfews can be declared only within the context of martial law or emergency state rule; both require a parliamentary decision for implementation, which was never taken. The Assembly expects Turkey to abide by its own laws and amend its legal framework in line with the Venice Commission opinion on this issue, dated 13 June 2016.

12. Despite efforts deployed by the Turkish authorities to provide the displaced persons with food and accommodation, temporary jobs in State agencies and social aid, including compensation for lost income, the future of the these people is uncertain. It seems that large parts of the areas under curfew were destroyed during and after the curfews, and during the subsequent clearance operations to remove buried explosive devices. The situation is especially regrettable in the ancient part of Sur, which was classified as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site in 2015.

13. There have been allegations of serious human rights violations, notably in Cizre, which require due and effective investigation, including the collection of evidence before the areas are cleared. The Assembly believes that access to information through the increased presence of the media and accurate and unbiased media coverage of the situation in south-east Turkey, in addition to transparency of the procedures and the prosecution of those who committed crimes or abuses of human rights, would contribute to restoring confidence. The Assembly notes that Turkey is one of the 116 countries to offer an open invitation to the Special Procedures mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council since 2001. The Assembly welcomes the recent visits to south-east Turkey of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in March 2016 and of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Mr Nils Muiznieks in April 2016, and the announced visit of representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It invites Turkey to consider setting up a fact-finding team, including independent experts and public figures trusted by all sides of Turkish society, to observe the human rights situation in the affected districts and publish credible reports. The Assembly further encourages Turkey to strengthen national independent human rights bodies so as to increase citizens' confidence in, and use of, these mechanisms.

14. The Assembly also expresses deep concern over the deaths of four civilians (Huseyin Paksoy (16 years old), Serhat Altun, Cihan Karaman and Orhan Tunc) after being seriously wounded during the curfew in Cizre. Defying interim measures by the European Court of Human Rights, the Turkish Government denied these civilians access to medical aid. The Assembly notes that Ramazan Demir, the lawyer who appealed to the Court for interim measures to transfer these and many other wounded civilians to hospitals, was arrested on 4 June 2016.

15. The Assembly notes that administrative investigations have been initiated against 63 security agents due to their misconduct during the operations in south-east Turkey. It expects the Turkish authorities to carry out effective investigations into all other allegations of misconduct by security personnel during these operations. Nevertheless, the Assembly is appalled by the preparations for new retroactive legislation, already adopted by the parliamentary National Defence Commission, which allows legal prosecution of human rights violations committed by military personnel with the permission of their superiors and empowers the military with the authority to conduct security operations bypassing the jurisdiction of the courts under the pretext of urgency. The Assembly is deeply concerned that such developments could further infringe the rule of law.

16. The adoption by the government of an emergency decree on expropriation on 21 March 2016 related to Sur (Diyarbakr) has raised concern among displaced persons. The lack of information about legal procedures, future urban construction projects and the right of displaced persons to return to live in their neighbourhoods raises many questions. The lack of transparent information fuels fears and insecurity among those concerned. The Assembly expects Turkey to take due care of the needs of the local population and ensure fair compensation for the losses suffered by civilians in case of expropriation procedures, which should be conducted in line with Council of Europe standards while taking account of property rights and their safeguards, as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention, ETS No. 5).

17. The Assembly is also deeply concerned that the tensions and clashes could spread to other parts of Turkey. It urges the PKK to stop its terrorist attacks and lay down its arms. The Assembly also urges the Turkish Government to use political means to stop the escalation of violence. The Turkish Parliament, which could provide a political forum for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, should consider putting in place mechanisms to reactivate the peace process, including a joint, cross-party parliamentary commission, or a "truth and reconciliation" commission that would allow for a fresh impetus and the healing of past traumas. Political solutions need to be discussed in parliament by all the political forces involved. A fair system of parliamentary inviolability - which excludes statements inciting hatred, violence or the destruction of democratic rights and freedoms - is thus necessary to ensure that issues of public interest can be debated by elected representatives without fear of executive or judicial interference.

18. The Assembly is also worried about the arrest in south-east Turkey of 21 democratically elected Kurdish mayors and the dismissal of 31 others on controversial charges of "aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation", which has further damaged the already weak local governments in these conflict areas. The Assembly calls on all political leaders at central and local levels to adopt a more inclusive and tolerant approach to resolve existing problems through dialogue and shared responsibility. Democratic political parties should condemn and take a firm stance against terrorism in full respect of human rights, the rule of law and Council of Europe standards.

19. The announced preparation of legislation which would empower governors to appoint new mayors also raises questions with regard to the respect of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (ETS No. 122), which Turkey ratified in 1992. The Assembly reiterates its call for Turkey, in line with the post-monitoring dialogue requirement, to further pursue decentralisation in full respect of the territorial integrity of the country and to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (ETS No. 157), which could also contribute to restoring confidence among communities.

20. With regard to freedom of expression and of the media, the Assembly shares the concerns of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights about the alarming scale of recourse to an overly wide notion of terrorism to punish non-violent statements and criminalisation of any message that merely coincides with the perceived interests of a terrorist organisation. The Assembly urges Turkey to fully comply with its obligations under all the human rights treaties it has ratified. The Assembly remains concerned about the extensive interpretation of the anti-terror law, which contradicts Council of Europe standards. It thus reiterates the call it made in 2013 for Turkey to further review its definitions of offences related to terrorism and membership of a criminal organisation, in line with the Action Plan for the Prevention of Violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted by Turkey in February 2014.

21. Recalling its Resolution 2035 (2015) on the protection of the safety of journalists and of media freedom in Europe, the Assembly is concerned about the latest developments in the areas of freedom of expression and freedom of the media, which should be understood in the light of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to Article 10 of the Convention. There are concerns that changes in recent years in ownership of media companies serving business interests were motivated by, and have resulted in, significant political influence on the media.

22. The Assembly believes that the abusive application of Article 299 (Insulting the President of the Republic) - there were about 2 000 cases in two years against journalists and academics, but also ordinary citizens - is leading to an undue restriction of freedom of expression, considering the case law of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to Article 10 of the Convention. It recalls in this respect that defamation cases can be handled under civil law procedures or under the general provisions of Article 125 of the Criminal Code on insult.

23. The Assembly condemns the call by the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for its citizens residing abroad to report cases of disrespect to the President of Turkey with a view to filing cases in foreign countries.

24. The Assembly is deeply concerned about the prosecution of investigative journalists following their investigations into topics of general interest. It should be possible to conduct domestic and foreign investigative journalism on all topics, and in all regions. The Assembly is appalled by the harsh prison sentences issued against these journalists. It expects the judiciary to take future decisions in the light of the well-established case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and the authorities to harmonise the legislation and its interpretation by domestic courts with Council of Europe standards. In this respect, the Assembly praises the important role played by the Constitutional Court of Turkey to secure freedom of expression and of the media, and individual applications to the Constitutional Court, which remain an effective mechanism to protect rights covered by the European Convention on Human Rights.

25. The prosecution of academics who signed a peace declaration calling for an end to the military campaign in south-east Turkey and accusing the government of breaching international law ("We shall not be part of this crime!") is another example that raises serious questions about the scope of the anti-terror law. Of the initial 1 128 signatories of the declaration, 495 academics are under investigation. On 14 January 2016, the police reportedly briefly detained 27 of them. The Council of Europe Secretary General issued, on 15 January 2016, a statement expressing his concern about these arrests. Four petitioners (Esra Mungan, Muzaffer Kaya, Kvanc Ersoy and Meral Camc) were arrested and detained on 16 March 2016 on charges of "terrorist propaganda" (Article 7/2 of the anti-terror law). The prosecutor in the first hearing decided to drop the charges of terrorism and considered launching an investigation under Article 301 of the Criminal Code (insulting the State) - subject to the authorisation of the minister of justice. In the meantime, the four academics were released on 22 April 2016. Disciplinary and criminal proceedings had been launched against other petitioners for a statement calling for an end to the violence, which, for the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, fell within the boundaries of free speech, whether one agreed with their message or not.

26. The Assembly remains concerned about the large number of blocked websites (110 000) and Twitter takedown requests. Blocking websites appears to be a highly disproportionate measure which impedes the public's right to have access to, and to be provided with, information on the internet, and negatively affects media pluralism and free expression. The Assembly urges Turkey to upgrade its legal framework in line with the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular to review Law No. 5651 on the internet, in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission (to be adopted in June 2016) on the regulation of publications on the internet and combating crimes committed by means of such publications.

27. The Assembly recalls that journalists and others who work in the media make an essential contribution to public debate and the opinion-making processes needed in a democratic society. Council of Europe member States have a positive obligation to ensure freedom of expression, protection of journalists and access to information, and to create the conditions to enable them to act as public or social watchdogs and inform the public on matters of general and public interest. Too many measures currently taken by the authorities, including investigations, prosecutions and the interpretation of the Criminal Code by domestic courts, have a chilling effect on the media. Attacks on journalists and media outlets, seizure of media holdings (which undermines property rights), pressure on journalists and punishment of journalists doing their job lead to self-censorship. The Assembly therefore urges Turkey to guarantee a favourable environment for freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention and to implement Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 of the Committee of Ministers on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors.

28. The Assembly believes that further improving the legal framework to protect the freedom of expression would help the country to overcome current restrictions. In the light of the March 2016 opinion of the Venice Commission, the Assembly invites Turkey to:

28.1. repeal Article 299 of the Criminal Code (Insulting the President of the Republic);

28.2. repeal Article 301 (Degrading the Turkish Nation, the State of the Turkish Republic, the Organs and Institutions of the State) or amend it to ensure that all the notions used in it are clear, specific and predictable, and that its application is limited to statements inciting violence and hatred and that its interpretation by the domestic courts is in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights;

28.3. limit the use of Article 216 and resort to - proportionate - criminal sanctions only in cases of open incitement to violence, armed resistance or uprising, and not to punish harsh criticism against government policies. Moreover, it should only be applied in extreme cases of religious insults that intentionally and severely disturb public order, or call for public violence, and not for mere blasphemy;

28.4. ensure a strict interpretation of Article 314 (Membership of an Armed Organisation) so as to limit it to cases which do not involve the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, in compliance with the established criterion in the case law of the Court of Cassation that acts attributed to a defendant should show "in their continuity, diversity and intensity" his or her "organic relationship" with an armed organisation or whether his or her acts may be considered as committed knowingly and wilfully within the "hierarchical structure" of the organisation.

29. The Assembly encourages the Turkish authorities to address these proposals in the framework of the working group on freedom of expression created in 2016 by the Ministry of Justice and the Council of Europe, as part of Turkey's Action Plan for the Prevention of Violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. It expects the necessary amendments to the legislation to be prepared and adopted in consultation with the Council of Europe.

30. It urges Turkey to further co-operate with the Council of Europe and implement the recommendations by GRECO when carrying out the judicial reform strategy, which aims at establishing a more reliable justice system, executing judicial services in an independent and impartial way and concluding trials within a reasonable time. It welcomes, as a first step, the adoption of the Action Plan on Enhancing Transparency and Strengthening the Fight Against Corruption (2016-2019) on 30 April 2016 to address these issues.

31. With regard to respect for the rule of law, the Assembly is very concerned about the recent statements made by the President of the Republic and ministers declaring they would not respect a decision of the Constitutional Court on the unlawfulness of the pretrial detention of investigative journalists, which was based on the case law of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Assembly urges Turkish officials to refrain from unduly interfering in the judiciary and challenging the rule of law. It appreciates, however, that all decisions of the Constitutional Court resulting from individual applications have been implemented.

32. Independence of the judiciary is guaranteed by the constitution. A number of judicial package reforms have been launched since the constitutional referendum of 2010. They provide for stronger involvement of elected judges and prosecutors in the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, which is a positive move. However, the recent developments and amendments to the law on the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors in 2014 raised the issue of the lack of independence of the judiciary and undue interference by the executive.

33. GRECO noted in its March 2016 report that the appointment of the elected members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors in 2014, the use of disciplinary proceedings, including the dismissal of a number of members of the judiciary, and the potential influence by the executive within this body, have further triggered the debate concerning the role and the independence of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, which seriously undermines public trust in judicial institutions. The Assembly shares these concerns and calls on Turkey to:

33.1. implement GRECO's recommendations, in particular to strengthen the security of tenure of judges and to ensure that evaluations of the performances of judges and prosecutors, as well as disciplinary procedures against them, are free from undue influence;

33.2. further revise the law on the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors to reduce the influence of the executive within the council.

34. The Assembly also notes that in 2014 the fight against terrorism was extended to the Gulen Movement (the so-called "parallel State structure"), a former ally of the AKP. The purge to clear the State institutions of alleged Gulenist followers raises questions in respect of procedural guarantees. This move particularly affected the judicial system, where the large number of transfers, arrests and detentions of judges and prosecutors could have a deterrent effect on the members of the judiciary.

35. Finally, while the Assembly welcomes the establishment of regional courts, it notes that the draft law on the restructuring of the Court of Cassation and Council of State raises questions. It therefore asks the Venice Commission for an opinion on this draft law and the constitutional aspects of the appointments of members of high judicial bodies. The Assembly moreover invites the relevant authorities to seek the opinion of the Turkish Constitutional Court and also to ensure that the adopted law takes into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

36. The Assembly concludes that the latest developments pertaining to freedom of the media and of expression, erosion of the rule of law and the human rights violations in relation to the anti-terrorism security operations in south-east Turkey constitute a threat to the functioning of democratic institutions of the country and its commitments to its obligations towards the Council of Europe. The Assembly will continue to follow closely the issues raised in this resolution in particular the situation in south-east Turkey with respect to human rights, on the basis of information provided by its Monitoring Committee. The Assembly recalls that the Turkish authorities are invited to fulfil the remaining requirements pertaining to the post-monitoring dialogue with the Parliamentary Assembly. It reiterates the readiness of the Council of Europe, in particular the Venice Commission, to support the Turkish authorities' efforts in this respect. The Assembly notes that progress made on all 12 items of the post-monitoring dialogue, including on the items discussed in the present resolution, will be assessed in the post-monitoring report to be presented in 2017.
Resolution 2115 - Forced migration: a new challenge

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 24 November 2016 Related Document(s) Forced migration: a new challenge Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2115 - Forced migration: a new challenge, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583736aa4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 50 million people have been displaced worldwide in recent years because of conflicts, persecution and violence, or as a result of natural, chemical or nuclear disasters.

2. Despite having grown in intensity, the above-mentioned factors are not recognised by the international conventions governing migration and there is no international instrument designed to protect persons forced to move for reasons other than political or security-related ones.

3. The Parliamentary Assembly further notes that there is no agreement on the terminology used or on the definition of victims of forced migration. Applying the term "refugee" to victims of forced migration is controversial as environmental factors are non-discriminatory and no form of "persecution" is involved in these situations.

4. According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, the movement of people could be the biggest single consequence of climate change in the coming years. It also estimates that the flow of environmental migrants will reach 150 million by 2050, while the "Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change" puts the figure at closer to 200 million.

5. The Assembly underlines that the impact of climate change and natural, chemical or nuclear disasters varies depending on the vulnerability and adaptability of the populations concerned, and on the capacity of States to prevent or deal with such events.

6. The Assembly emphasises the need to acknowledge the vulnerability of the populations concerned and to remedy any gaps in their protection status.

7. The Assembly recalls, however, that the international conventions provide for an indirect right of admission and residence if sending a person back to their country of origin would amount to inhuman treatment, thus enabling the principle of non-refoulement to apply.

8. Referring to existing guidelines and international standards, the Assembly notes that these texts apply only in exceptional cases and for a limited time.

9. In this context, the Assembly welcomes the steps taken by Sweden and Finland to grant temporary protection in cases of environmental displacement and also the Nansen Initiative led by the Governments of Norway and Switzerland, which is intended to fill the legal gap in the protection of people displaced as a result of natural, chemical or nuclear disasters.

10. The Assembly therefore recommends that member States:

10.1. give greater priority to devising protection policies and norms for victims of natural, chemical or nuclear disasters and for the victims of the consequences of climate change;

10.2. acknowledge the vulnerability of these groups and ensure that their fundamental rights are fully observed;

10.3. review the relevant international rules and expand them to include a definition for these migrants;

10.4. revise the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, by means, for example, of an additional protocol;

10.5. adopt measures to prohibit any over-exploitation of natural resources and pursue solutions aimed at meeting people's fundamental needs;

10.6. implement strategies for the successful integration of persons displaced for environmental reasons, whether they are internally displaced or have been forced to emigrate to another State;

10.7. ensure full respect for the fundamental rights of displaced persons and take the necessary measures to resettle the populations concerned, especially in cases where their territory has disappeared as a result of natural, nuclear or chemical disasters;

10.8. prepare country/regional reports in order to gather information and assess the outlook for environmental migration.
Resolution 2112 - The humanitarian concerns with regard to people captured during the war in Ukraine

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 21 April 2016 Related Document(s) The humanitarian concerns with regard to people captured during the war in Ukraine Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2112 - The humanitarian concerns with regard to people captured during the war in Ukraine, 21 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/583737434.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. Since the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the beginning of military aggression in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine, hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen and civilians have been reported captured or abducted.

2. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, 3 015 captured persons have been released since April 2014, but 123 persons are still being held captive by the separatists and 693 are still reported missing. However, these numbers do not include all the people who have been captured by the separatists in the occupied territories, as their relatives are often afraid to declare their captivity to the Ukrainian authorities.

3. The Parliamentary Assembly is deeply concerned about the numerous reports of inhumane and degrading treatment of captured persons, who are subjected to torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence. Moreover, there is also evidence that captured persons have been executed by the separatist forces.

4. The Assembly is also very worried about the situation in Crimea where, since the illegal annexation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation, the de facto authorities have been using Russian legislation against extremism, separatism and terrorism to detain Crimean-Tatar and Ukrainian activists. The Assembly condemns the recent banning of the Mejlis as an extremist organisation, which is contrary to international standards and demonstrates the systematic violation of the Crimean Tatars' rights.

5. Furthermore, the Assembly is alarmed by reports from human rights defenders concerning 11 Ukrainian prisoners reportedly being detained by the Russian authorities in violation of international law on fabricated charges. In addition, at least 10 Ukrainian citizens are being held in Crimea on politically motivated charges.

6. The most flagrant example is the case of a member of the Parliamentary Assembly, Ms Nadiia Savchenko, who was forcibly taken to the Russian Federation and has been illegally held in custody since June 2014 despite, inter alia, her enjoying immunity under Article 40.a of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1) and the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe and its Additional Protocol (ETS Nos. 2 and 10) to which the Russian Federation is a party. Following an unfair trial, the Russian court sentenced Ms Savchenko to 22 years in prison accusing her of the murder of two Russian journalists. In protest against this verdict, Ms Savchenko started a new hunger strike. The Assembly strongly condemns the unlawful arrest, detention and trial of Ms Savchenko in the Russian Federation and calls for her immediate release.

7. The Assembly calls on all member States of the Council of Europe to adopt targeted sanctions (in particular travel bans and freezing of accounts) against individuals involved in the kidnapping, unlawful detention, unfair trial and conviction of Ms Savchenko, while respecting the principles laid down by the Assembly in its Resolution 1966 (2014) on refusing impunity for the killers of Sergei Magnitsky (in particular to allow individuals concerned to use appropriate representations in their defence), unless Ms Savchenko is released without further delay. It welcomes, in this connection, the recent adoption, by Lithuania, of a "Savchenko blacklist" identifying 46 people for their role in her trial. Similar measures should be considered with regard to the cases of 10 other Ukrainian prisoners reportedly detained by the Russian authorities on fabricated charges.

8. Moreover, the Assembly notes with great concern reported cases of violations of the right to liberty and the right to a fair trial of those who have been detained by the Ukrainian secret services or by different Ukrainian military battalions, including voluntary battalions. It calls on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate all such cases and to punish the perpetrators in accordance with the relevant Ukrainian legislation.

9. The Assembly believes that without the strong determination of all sides to stop this war, a solution to the problem of people captured during the Russian military aggressions in Ukraine is not possible. Therefore, it urges Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the separatist groups controlling the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to:

9.1. stop all military operations in the east of Ukraine, withdraw all weapons and restore peace in this region;

9.2. implement, without further delay, the Minsk Agreement, especially prioritising the paragraph on the release of all captured persons; their release should not be based upon the fulfilment of other Minsk Agreement points;

9.3. respect international humanitarian law and the rights and obligations of the parties in respect of prisoners of war and the protection of civilians, which are provided for in the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two additional protocols of 1977 (on international and non-international armed conflicts);

9.4. grant international humanitarian organisations access to all detainees, without any conditions.

10. The Assembly further urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to:

10.1. release all Ukrainian prisoners captured and imprisoned in the Russian Federation and in illegally annexed Crimea on politically motivated charges, including, but not limited to, Mr Ahtem Ciygoz;

10.2. conduct effective investigations and prosecute perpetrators in cases of abduction, enforced disappearances, torture and politically motivated killings of Ukrainian and Crimean-Tatar activists in Crimea;

10.3. use their influence over the separatist groups which control the occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to urge them to release all Ukrainian captives;

10.4. immediately provide unimpeded access to Crimea for conventional and monitoring mechanisms of international human rights organisations;

10.5. immediately release Ms Savchenko, who enjoys European parliamentary immunity under the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe, and other illegally detained Ukrainian prisoners, and allow their return to Ukraine.

11. The Assembly urges the separatist groups which control the occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to:

11.1. release all captured prisoners and hostages;

11.2. stop all violations of human rights, in particular the abduction, torture and politically motivated killing of Ukrainian citizens;

11.3. co-operate with the Ukrainian side in the co-ordination of lists and categories of captured persons with a view to their exchange in the framework of the Minsk Agreement based on the "all for all" principle;

11.4. grant international humanitarian missions access to all places of detention of captured persons.

12. The Assembly further urges the Ukrainian authorities to:

12.1. as regards legal measures:

12.1.1. ratify in the shortest possible time the Rome Statute in order to allow the International Criminal Court to conduct effective investigations into concrete cases of violations of international humanitarian law during the war in Ukraine;

12.1.2. conduct effective investigations and prosecute all alleged perpetrators in cases of abduction and taking of captives, as well as in cases of extortion, bribery and corruption linked to the liberation of captured persons;

12.1.3. bring their national legislation, including the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, into line with the provisions of international criminal law, and in particular include a status of captured person, and make torture a serious crime;

12.1.4. modify the Law "On preventing persecution and punishment of participants in events on the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", ensure that persons who have committed war crimes do not receive amnesty, and ensure that amnesty is only used after a proper investigation and a fair trial;

12.1.5. draft a new law on psychological rehabilitation in close consultation with non-governmental organisations and international specialists working in this field, in particular taking into account the needs of victims of military operations;

12.2. as regards assistance to captured persons and their families:

12.2.1. devise a mechanism of State compensation and support to the families of captured persons and ensure that the families concerned are informed about the existence of this mechanism;

12.2.2. ensure that, after their liberation, captured persons are assisted with their return home and provided with medical, social and psychological support;

12.2.3. introduce a special procedure to facilitate the restoration of documents of released persons;

12.2.4. provide special training to psychologists and other medical staff on how to provide psychological rehabilitation which addresses the specific needs of captured persons and their families.

13. The Assembly calls on the international community to be more involved in the process of the release of captives; in particular it calls on:

13.1. the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to facilitate negotiations and the settlement of the problem of captured persons in the humanitarian working group set up under the Minsk Agreement;

13.2. the International Committee of the Red Cross to step up its efforts to obtain unrestricted access to all persons detained in relation to the war, monitor their conditions of detention and the treatment afforded to them and, in its capacity of neutral intermediary, facilitate operations of simultaneous liberation.

14. The Assembly encourages the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to establish a special monitoring mission to check the conditions of detention of Ukrainian prisoners detained for political motives in the Russian Federation and in Crimea and those illegally held on the territories under the control of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic". The mission should also monitor the situation of those who were detained by the Ukrainian authorities on allegations of their involvement in separatist and terrorist activities during the war in Ukraine.
Resolution 2108 - Human rights of refugees and migrants  The situation in the Western Balkans

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 24 November 2016 Related Document(s) Human rights of refugees and migrants  the situation in the Western Balkans Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2108 - Human rights of refugees and migrants  The situation in the Western Balkans, 24 November 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58373b0c4.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. In 2015, 856 000 people crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands, almost 20 times the number in 2014. Almost as many people arrived in the first two months of 2016 as in the first seven months of 2015 and there is every reason to expect that the level of arrivals will exceed last year's. The overwhelming majority - more than 90% - are from major countries of origin for refugees, especially Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Those arriving in Greece and transiting through the western Balkans may for the most part be refugees, but they do not wish to apply for asylum in any of these countries.

2. The influx of refugees and migrants entering the contiguous continental European Union via the western Balkans is not a new phenomenon, and their number had begun rising significantly by as early as 2012. In August 2015, however, unprecedented numbers of arrivals led many of these countries to change their policies unilaterally, either by attempting to block irregular entry to their territory or by facilitating rapid transit across it. By September, the situation had stabilised, with a relatively safe route emerging from Greece to western Europe which, although physically demanding and no substitute for humanitarian pathways, was at least reasonably efficient.

3. A contagious fear of the consequences of border closures further north, however, led the western Balkan countries to raise increasingly restrictive barriers to entry: first by introducing "nationality screening", then by introducing daily quotas on admission and, in the case of Austria, on the number of asylum applications accepted. By the end of February 2016, the western Balkans route was in practice closed to all but a few hundred refugees and migrants per week, although the number of arrivals in Greece showed no sign of abating. There is now deliberate discrimination (nationality screening), deliberate denial of access to protection for arbitrary administrative reasons (daily quotas on admissions and acceptance of asylum applications) and deliberate failure to comply with binding international judicial decisions or authoritative advice not to return asylum seekers to countries that are known to be unable to provide effective protection (returns to Serbia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Greece).

4. As a result, the humanitarian situation of the refugees and migrants in the western Balkans has deteriorated and they are increasingly at risk of exploitation and abuse, notably by traffickers in human beings and migrant smugglers. Since August 2015, there have been regular reports suggesting the use of excessive force against refugees and migrants by police and security forces of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Croatia or Hungary at their borders. It is expected that within the near future, as many as 100 000 refugees and migrants will be trapped in Greece, which is well known to lack sufficient reception capacity and longer-term shelter and to have a dysfunctional asylum system; yet despite these serious deficiencies and their consequences for refugees and asylum seekers, other European Union member States have effectively failed to implement the agreement on relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy.

5. The Parliamentary Assembly is also concerned about the situation in Hungary. Hungary unilaterally erected razor-wire fences along its borders with Serbia and Croatia, thus closing itself off from the flow of refugees and migrants along the western Balkans route towards Austria and redirecting it through Croatia and Slovenia. Hungary also introduced very restrictive asylum legislation, lacking essential procedural safeguards. Around half of the asylum seekers in Hungary are detained, sometimes in inadequate conditions. The Assembly considers that Hungary's asylum procedures and detention policy appear to be incompatible with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), European Union law and the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the anti-migrant public discourse of its government and other public authorities is incompatible with the fundamental values of the Council of Europe.

6. Europe has so far failed to find a proper, sustainable response to the refugee and migration crisis in the western Balkans. There has been an almost complete failure to implement some of the most important agreements reached in autumn 2015, notably that on relocation of refugees from Greece, and those of the Western Balkans Route Leaders' Meeting intended to ensure adequate reception capacity and longer-term shelter for refugees and migrants along the route. Mutual trust and confidence have been undermined by unilateral actions and the exclusion of Greece from regional consultations on migration issues. Instead, the focus has shifted to border controls and preventing refugees and migrants from leaving Turkey. The only apparent response to all other problems is money; the idea of relocation seems almost to have been forgotten.

7. The Assembly recalls the fragility of political stability in the western Balkans region. It is absolutely essential that the countries concerned are fully supported in their efforts to deal with the current refugee crisis and that all countries avoid taking unilateral action that might undermine mutual trust and the prospects for effective co-operation.

8. The Assembly believes that no response to the current situation can succeed in the longer term unless it is based on genuine solidarity and recognition of the need for collective action and equitable sharing of responsibility, with full respect for the human rights of refugees and migrants and the basic principles of international and European law.

9. The Assembly therefore calls on the western Balkan countries, namely "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as Greece and Austria, to:

9.1. ensure compliance with the principle of non-refoulement regarding asylum seekers at the border claiming international protection, in accordance with the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights, as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights;

9.2. refrain from implementing policies that deny access to protection on discriminatory grounds of nationality or on arbitrary grounds of administrative convenience;

9.3. ensure that police and security forces implement border controls without recourse to excessive force, respecting refugees' and migrants' fundamental right to dignity;

9.4. ensure that national capacity for short-term reception and longer-term shelter is sufficient to accommodate, in appropriate conditions, asylum seekers in transit or seeking protection;

9.5. take all necessary measures to ensure that national asylum systems meet the standards of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights and European Union law, as applicable;

9.6. refrain from returning asylum seekers to countries that are unable to guarantee protection in accordance with the above standards, where applicable;

9.7. refrain from implementing border control policies that would unreasonably impose a disproportionate responsibility for the protection of refugees and migrants on other States that are more vulnerable to their arrival;

9.8. implement in full all aspects of the agreement reached at the Western Balkans Route Leaders' Meeting;

9.9. ensure that long-term responses to the refugee and migrant crisis are only implemented following consultation with all other States concerned.

10. The Assembly also calls on the European Union to:

10.1. ensure that human rights are given priority in policies to address the situation in the western Balkans, in particular the right to seek and enjoy asylum, the prohibition on degrading treatment and on refoulement, the right to liberty and security, the right to an effective remedy and the prohibition of discrimination;

10.2. ensure that relevant European Union law is implemented in full by all member States, in particular the reception conditions, asylum procedures and qualification directives;

10.3. ensure full implementation of previous decisions and agreements, notably on relocation of refugees from Greece and on reception and longer-term shelter capacity in the western Balkans, action against migrant smuggling and human trafficking, provision of information to refugees and migrants on applicable rules and their rights and obligations, registration of arrivals and exchange of information on flows of refugees and migrants;

10.4. provide all necessary financial and technical support to affected States, at levels sufficient to meet the challenges they face and avoiding onerous procedural requirements that may unduly delay provision of assistance in emergency situations;

10.5. reform the Dublin system with a view to a more equitable sharing of responsibility, thus avoiding further overburdening of member States with insufficient protection and reception capacities.
Resolution 2107 - A stronger European response to the Syrian refugee crisis

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 20 April 2016 Related Document(s) A stronger European response to the Syrian refugee crisis Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2107 - A stronger European response to the Syrian refugee crisis, 20 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58373be54.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. The Syrian refugee crisis is a consequence of the ongoing war in Syria, which started in 2011. Refugees began fleeing Syria from the start of the conflict. By early March 2016, the total number of registered Syrian refugees was over 4.8 million, in addition to around 6.6 million internally displaced persons. The mounting complexity of the conflict, coupled with the increasing military involvement of external actors, has made the prospects for peace ever more remote. This makes it equally unlikely that conditions within Syria will allow for a mass return of refugees in the short or even medium term.

2. Jordan now hosts some 640 000 registered Syrian refugees, with a similar number of Syrians resident but not registered as refugees. The country's current total population is around 7.5 to 8 million. Some 18% of the refugees live in camps, the rest are "urban" refugees. The refugee camps - notably Za'atari and Azraq - are well equipped, supplied and orderly, although the food situation is critical - women in particular are often undernourished - and medical care is insufficient. Around 1 070 000 registered Syrian refugees are in Lebanon, a drop of 115 000 from the peak of April 2015, but to which should be added some 400 000 other Syrians, mostly unregistered refugees. Lebanon has a population of 5 850 000 and Syrian refugees make up around one quarter of the population. There are no official refugee camps for Syrians in Lebanon; Syrian refugees live in urban accommodation or in one of the 1 900 informal settlements spread across the country. The population of Turkey is 79.5 million, according to the 2015 estimate. There are now 2 715 789 Syrian refugees in Turkey, which makes Turkey the country with the largest refugee population in the world. Around 10% of Syrian refugees in Turkey live in the 26 camps in the south of the country.

3. Neither Jordan nor Lebanon is party to the United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and so neither extends legal protection to refugees in full accordance with international standards, although both remain bound by the customary international law prohibition on refoulement. Turkey has ratified the UN's 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees but applies a geographical limitation that excludes Syrian refugees. Under Turkey's 2013 Law on Foreigners and International Protection, however, Syrian refugees can benefit from "temporary protection", analogous to that under the 1951 Convention, including protection against refoulement.

4. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that there are problems of access to protection in all three countries. A group of over 20 000 Syrian refugees has been blocked by the Jordanian authorities in the desert at the border with Syria, many for several months. In Lebanon, many refugees have been unable to renew their residence status since January 2015, and in May 2015 the Lebanese Government instructed the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to suspend registration of new arrivals. Turkish policy appears to have changed in recent weeks: thousands of refugees fleeing the intensified fighting around Aleppo have reportedly been denied entry into Turkey, with 110 000 now stuck in camps on the Syrian side of the border.

5. All three countries are under extreme social, political and economic strain. From the refugees' perspective, problems include: uncertain legal status and protection (especially in Jordan and Lebanon); lack of decent, affordable housing; food shortages; lack of work permits (in Jordan and Lebanon, and until recently in Turkey) leading to irregular employment and exploitation; poverty and debt; inadequate access to health care; inadequate access to education; and recourse to negative coping strategies such as child labour, early marriage and prostitution. From the host communities' perspective, problems include housing shortages and rent increases, increased food prices, competition in the labour market and reduced wages (especially in informal employment), pressure on municipal services and infrastructure, environmental degradation, and huge budgetary burdens that have increased public debt and undermined economic growth. From the perspective of both refugees and host communities, the current situation is untenable.

6. In the circumstances, it is not surprising that many Syrian refugees, faced with inadequate protection and lack of prospects for themselves and their children, and with little chance of being able to return home, are turning to western Europe, attracted by its reputation for respecting human rights and the rule of law and by its far greater prosperity.

7. The Assembly believes that the European response to the Syrian refugee crisis must be based on the following principles:

7.1. those fleeing the conflict in Syria are entitled to international protection;

7.2. that protection is usually, but not always, best provided in countries close to home;

7.3. these neighbouring countries cannot provide that protection without extensive external support, which must be tailored to their particular circumstances;

7.4. that support must include sufficient financial assistance as well as technical measures including privileged access to export markets;

7.5. the support must be accompanied by humanitarian pathways for admission of substantial numbers of Syrian refugees, including by resettlement, that prioritise the most vulnerable and avoid the need for them to take dangerous, irregular routes to seek protection in Europe;

7.6. family reunification procedures for refugees should be improved and accelerated; the issuing of visas for family members with either children or parents in European countries should be quick and procedurally streamlined, applying a broad definition of the family.

8. The Assembly therefore welcomes the progress made under recent initiatives, notably the London Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region of 4 February 2016, the financial aid promised to Turkey and the commitment to improve the situation of Syrian refugees in the European Union-Turkey Joint Action Plan of 15 October 2015, and the High-level meeting on global responsibility sharing through pathways for admission of Syrian refugees. The international community, including European States and the European Union, must be prepared to do more if their current efforts prove inadequate. Furthermore, European Union support for Syrian refugees in Turkey must not be made conditional on a reduction in the number of people - far from all of whom are Syrian refugees - crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands. It must also be ensured that financial aid is invested as intended, in order to meet the needs of refugees both in urban areas and in camps.

9. The Assembly emphasises that the Syrian refugee crisis is the responsibility not only of neighbouring States and of Europe but also of the international community as a whole. It calls on other States, including in the Middle East region, to take a similar approach based on providing not only financial aid, as many pledged to do at the London Conference, but also humanitarian pathways for admission of Syrian refugees.

10. Palestinian refugees, especially those formerly living in Syria, have been particularly badly affected by the conflict and the fact that many of them are stateless adds to the obstacles they face. At the same time, the fact that they are almost exclusively supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has left them somewhat outside the reach of much of the international aid intended for Syrian refugees. The Assembly therefore calls on European States and the European Union to respond generously to UNRWA's Syria Regional Crisis Emergency Appeal 2016.

11. The Assembly recommends that:

11.1. the member States of the Council of Europe:

11.1.1. refrain from denying entry to Syrian refugees;

11.1.2. refrain from returning refugees to Turkey, as Turkey cannot be considered a safe third country for refugees;

11.2. European Union member and other participating States comply immediately with the decisions on relocation of refugees from Greece and Italy, as adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council in September 2015;

11.3. Turkey:

11.3.1. keep its borders open to Syrian refugees, coming directly from Syria or indirectly via Lebanon or Jordan, in order to ensure that they can flee the violence in their country;

11.3.2. give access to the "removal detention centres" to humanitarian organisations such as the UNHCR and the Red Crescent, and to legal advisers and representatives;

11.4. the European Commission adopt a large-scale resettlement mechanism for Syrian refugees from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, prioritising vulnerable refugees, including Palestinian refugees from Syria.
Resolution 2103 - Preventing the radicalisation of children and young people by fighting the root causes

Publisher Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly Publication Date 19 April 2016 Related Document(s) Preventing the radicalisation of children by fighting the root causes Cite as Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2103 - Preventing the radicalisation of children and young people by fighting the root causes, 19 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58373e674.html [accessed 2 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. The radicalisation of young people is not a new phenomenon: children and young people, building their identity and looking for a sense of purpose, are more likely to be attracted to radical ideas and movements of different types (political, ideological or religious) than people in other age groups. Some of those radicalised turn to violence, with harmful consequences, as history has shown.

2. The phenomenon of "home-grown" radicalisation has seen a significant increase in recent years. Young people, including many minors, sensitive to ideological discourse and the apparent "sense of social purpose" offered to them by radical organisations, are drawn into extremist movements involved in violent conflict, for example in Syria and Iraq, and carrying out terrorist acts, including in Europe.

3. The Parliamentary Assembly is very concerned about these developments. It believes that prevention is the key solution. Preventing children and young people from turning to extremist movements must start at an early age when values and beliefs are formed. Prevention, deradicalisation and rehabilitation strategies must target the individual in his or her specific context, be comprehensive and based on multi-agency local partnerships.

4. Hate speech, Islamophobia and discrimination against young people of Muslim background or Muslim communities as such (including refugees arriving in Europe) contribute to exclusion and may further reinforce religious radicalisation of children and young people. While the European response to terrorist activities must be provided in a highly targeted manner by specialised agencies, notably information services, the judiciary and law enforcement services, the endogenous root causes should be tackled at the national and, in particular, the local level, in the daily living environment of children and young people. One of the main challenges is to prevent their social exclusion from the very start to ensure that they enjoy full and equal access to decent living standards and social rights, including education and training. Relevant strategies need to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to avoid inciting further resentment.

5. The Assembly recognises that religious belief and faith play extremely important roles in the lives of countless citizens throughout the member States and add to pluralism and diversity in our society, and in that regard it further recalls the rights enshrined in Article 9 and Article 2 of the Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 9). The Assembly reaffirms that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is inherent to any true conception of a democratic society. Therefore, in taking action to counter trends of radicalisation, member States' authorities must ensure that they respect these rights as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5).

6. In the light of these concerns, the Parliamentary Assembly calls on the Council of Europe member States to:

6.1. as regards social inclusion via education and training:

6.1.1. provide all children and young people with equal opportunities, life perspectives and a sense of social purpose, as well as perspectives for social mobility;

6.1.2. educate children and young people on democratic citizenship and European values, including by encouraging their participation in all decisions affecting them and give them the tools to take a critical approach to information and to reflect carefully about what they read and are told;

6.1.3. implement specific measures to make schools safe and free from bullying and other manifestations of prejudice, discrimination, segregation and all forms of violence;

6.1.4. develop the teaching of history of religious issues by insisting on the peace-oriented dimension of religions, while raising awareness of teachers and expanding the curriculum in this area;

6.2. as regards targeted strategies:

6.2.1. support families of radicalised young people, as well as dedicated institutions and civil society organisations, appoint local reference persons and develop targeted programmes for prevention, deradicalisation and rehabilitation purposes, by following gender-specific approaches, so as to take account of the growing number of radicalised girls and women;

6.2.2. develop counter-narratives based on the accounts of persons who have left extremist or terrorist movements, notwithstanding the responsibility of everyone in society to counter extremism;

6.2.3. offer specific training for all parties involved (law enforcement, social workers, non-governmental organisations, families), providing them with the tools to prevent the (further) radicalisation of children at risk;

6.2.4. conduct public awareness campaigns and create specific programmes for government officials to combat Islamophobia;

6.2.5. encourage religious communities to take a stronger preventive approach, emphasising the peaceful dimension of religions, and to develop further their activities in the field of prevention, particularly with young people and as regards religious representations on the Internet;

6.2.6. actively support the deradicalisation of young people leaving extremist movements, facilitating their rehabilitation to prevent them from being used as "multipliers" for terrorist causes;

6.2.7. implement specific programmes for young people in prisons;

6.2.8. promote multi-stakeholder partnerships building on mutual trust, with clear "firewalls" between reporting and supporting services;

6.2.9. record, monitor and maintain reliable information and statistics about Islamophobic hate crimes committed within the State and make such reports publicly available;

6.3. as regards urban policies, invest in improving disadvantaged neighbourhoods and their social infrastructure and, in particular, ensure implementation of Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 to member States on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights;

6.4. as regards social action and dialogue more generally:

6.4.1. facilitate the dialogue between religious communities and families to identify children and young people at risk and to foster mutual understanding and respect between and within religions;

6.4.2. develop awareness-raising and prevention campaigns and targeted measures against Islamophobia and other forms of hate speech which may further reinforce vicious circles of discrimination and mistrust between political and religious systems that fuel extremism;

6.4.3. support the work of associations of victims of terrorism and of other civil society organisations aimed at raising awareness of children and young people about the danger of radicalisation;

6.5. as regards safer media and Internet policies:

6.5.1. encourage families and schools to educate children on Internet use in order to make them aware of extremist content and critical of the manipulative methods used by radical organisations;

6.5.2. take legal measures to combat Islamophobic and other hate crimes, which can be fuelled by hate speech on social media;

6.5.3. fight the dissemination of radical propaganda and hate speech via the Internet, social media and other means of communication by reinforcing alert mechanisms;

6.5.4. prohibit by law, in accordance with Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, any incitement to violence, in particular through the media;

6.6. as regards law enforcement and intelligence services, create systems to identify and facilitate the exchange of information on radicalised persons and convicted offenders in order to monitor their movements across European borders and prevent future crimes, while respecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

7. The Assembly further invites member States to:

7.1. sign, ratify and implement, if they have not yet done so, the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196) and its Additional Protocol (CETS No. 217);

7.2. support and implement the Council of Europe Action Plan on "The fight against violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism (2015-2017)", the Guidelines for prison and probation services regarding radicalisation and violent extremism adopted by the Committee of Ministers in March 2016, as well as the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021) to be launched in April 2016, which also aims to prevent the radicalisation of children;

7.3. exchange information and good practice with regard to the best strategies and tools aimed at preventing radicalisation, deradicalising the young people concerned and rehabilitating returnees from foreign conflicts and extremist organisations.

8. The Assembly urges religious leaders to enhance efforts to prevent young people from becoming instruments of violence and terror.
Indiana American Water's $22M water treatment facility up & running in Mooresville

Indiana American Water recently cut the ribbon on its $22 million water treatment facility as part of the largest investment the company has ever made in Mooresville.
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A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning approved a military intelligence-sharing deal with Japan.

Now the agreement requires presidential approval, after which the Defense Ministry plans to make the pact official as soon as Wednesday.

The ministry announced the resumption of negotiations to seal the deal late last month. The talks were halted in 2012 after domestic opposition due to their secretive nature.

The pact is aimed at sharing and safeguarding information on North Korea's missile and nuclear activities but has sparked renewed criticism from the opposition that the threadbare government of President Park Geun-hye is in no position to make such a momentous decision as a massive scandal engulfs her.
A Russian hacker who was convicted for his leading role in one of the largest data thefts in U.S. history has been released from prison after serving most of his 12-year sentence.

Vladimir Drinkman was released from a Pennsylvania jail on October 28, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons told RFE/RL.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not respond to an RFE/RL request for comment on whether Drinkman had been turned over for deportation, a process that can take up to several months. Drinkman's lawyer, Igor Litvak, declined to comment. RFE/RL could not immediately reach Drinkman.

Drinkman was a key member of a criminal hacking group that penetrated major U.S. corporations, including Heartland Payment Systems, which at the time it was breached in 2008 was one of the biggest U.S. payment-processing firms. The Heartland attack -- the largest breach in history at the time -- cost the payment company more than $200 million in losses.

Varonis, a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm, ranks the attack on Heartland among the 10 largest data breaches of all time.

Chuck Brooks, a cybersecurity expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, said the Heartland hack was a "wake-up call" for the payments and financial industries to enhance their cyberdefenses.



He said the breach led to stronger security policies, including a better understanding by CEOs and CFOs of the threats to business sustainability and reputation.

"After the breach, many companies added more stringent data and security policies, including encryption, multifactor authentication, and monitoring of systems and networks," Brooks told RFE/RL.

Heartland also later established the Payments Processing Information Sharing Council (PPISC), which serves as a forum for banks and payment processors to share information about breaches and compliance issues, he noted.

In addition to breaking into Heartland, the hacking gang also breached Nasdaq OMX Group, 7-Eleven, JC Penney, JetBlue Airways, and others, according to prosecutors. In total, they stole the data of more than 160 million credit cards, leading to more than $300 million in damages.

Greg Hunter, a Virginia-based lawyer who has represented cybercriminals from the former Soviet Union, said the Heartland case demonstrated the sophisticated evolution of Russian-speaking hackers.

"This was the beginning of specialization," Hunter told RFE/RL. "Rather than an individual hacker spending a lot of time stealing credit card data and then trying to monetize it, you had guys specializing in breaching the security apparatus of a site, others selling the data."

The appearance of hacker forums was critical to the phenomenon of a division of labor, he said.

Hacker sites "allowed these guys to find each other and work together. A guy who breaches banks could just focus on that, knowing he could find others to either help him know what to get and how to use it, or just buy his services outright," Hunter said.

Several of the most commonly used forums where hackers bought and sold stolen credit card data and traded tips included Cardplanet and Direct Connection. A Russian man, Aleksei Burkov, was extradited from Israel to the United States and later pleaded guilty in 2020 to U.S. charges related to his oversight of those forums.

He was deported to Russia last year.

According to U.S. court filings, Drinkman and another co-conspirator, Alexandr Kalinin, specialized in penetrating network security and gaining access to the corporate data systems. Drinkman along with a third man, Roman Kotov, also focused on mining the networks to steal valuable data.

Another Russian man, Dmitry Smilyanets, then sold the stolen credit card information on forums for $10 to $50 each and distributed the proceeds of the scheme to the others, according to prosecutors.

Kalinin and Kotov, both of whom are Russian citizens, are believed to still be in Russia.

Drinkman was arrested in the Netherlands in June 2012 at the request of the United States, along with Smilyanets.

While Smilyanets cooperated with U.S. authorities and arrived in the United States a few months after his arrest, Drinkman fought his extradition for more than a year.

Ultimately, Drinkman pleaded guilty in 2015 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, including time served since his arrest. It is one of the harshest sentences given to a Russian hacker.

Drinkman served a total of 10 years and four months, or 86 percent of his sentence. U.S. federal prisoners earn credit each year for good behavior and typically serve 85 percent of their sentence.

Smilyanets was sentenced to just time served, or less than six years, and currently resides in the United States, where he works as a cyberthreat intelligence analyst.

He declined to comment when contacted by RFE/RL.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is to meet with top European Union leaders to press them to keep up sanctions against Russia.

Poroshenko's November 24 meeting with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker comes amid worries in Kyiv that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will weaken Western resolve against Russia upon taking office in January.

The EU is set at its next summit next month to discuss a six-month renewal of sanctions that were imposed after a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014.

But Trump has signaled a more conciliatory approach to the Kremlin, and even suggested he might accept Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Internal political reforms demanded by Brussels in exchange for visa-free travel will also be on the agenda.

"I think the focus must be on the situation in [eastern Ukraine], on Russian aggression, on the extension of sanctions," Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told Ukrainian television.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed insurgents has claimed more than 9,600 lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

Based on reporting by AFP and UNIAN
BRUSSELS -- A final decision on visa liberalization for Ukraine to the EU's Schengen zone is likely to be made by the end of the year, according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.



Speaking at the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on November 24, Juncker said that he was "confident" that a deal would be reached in 2016.



European Council President Donald Tusk said he's hopeful the process can be finalized in 2016.



"I think, realistic and cautious optimism not an irresponsible prognosis or forecast," Tusk said.



Both the EU member states and the European Parliament have given the initial green light for a visa-free regime for Ukraine.

But the two institutions have been locked in protracted negotiations over a suspension mechanism that would allow the EU to suspend visa-free travel in emergency cases.

An agreement on this is necessary before a final go-ahead can be struck on visa liberalization.



EU diplomats that RFE/RL spoke to on November 23 stated that it would be "difficult" to find a compromise on the suspension mechanism before the end of the year.

But after the November 24 talks among EU and Ukrainian leaders in Brussels, it appears likely that there will be a final push to find a solution before the end of the year.



A deal would allow Ukrainians to travel to the EU without visas for a period of up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Finland's defense minister has warned of the potential of accidents or unforeseen confrontations amid the ongoing military buildup in the Baltic Sea.

Jussi Niinisto made the comments on November 23 in an interview on with Finnish MTV3 News.

"We naturally support detente. And we practice an active policy of stability," he said. "We'd like to see the military situation calm down in the Baltic Sea, rather than escalate."

Finland, which is not a part of NATO or any Russia-led alliance, has watched with growing concern the increased number of Russian naval ships, military aircraft overflights and coastal defenses in and around the Baltic.

Russia recently moved advanced Iskander missiles, with the potential for nuclear warheads, to the Kaliningrad exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania.

NATO has responded with increased U.S. naval patrols, and military aircraft intercepts, including from the three ex-Soviet Baltic states.

Finland is a member of the European Union and could be called on to help the Baltic countries, if Russia threatened them.

Niinisto said he hadn't seen "any inclination among the Russian leadership to threaten" Finland.

Based on reporting by AP
It's getting uncommon to see people use cash these days, let alone coins, as most prefer the hassle-free option of paying with plastic.

To Keep with the trend Korea is planning to go coinless. Starting next year, after buying something, instead of receiving change, it will be possible to put that money on a prepaid transportation card.

The Bank of Korea plans to gradually expand the service to be available in supermarkets, pharmacies and other retailers, and also allow change to be deposited into bank accounts.

Already, there's been a rapid shift in the way people pay for things. Cash transactions accounted for 36 percent of all transactions last year, while credit card payments made up the rest.

Market analysts view that Korea is still in the early stages of becoming a coinless society compared to European countries, but it has enough infrastructure for the transition.
Mohammad Nayeb-Zehi was among the hundreds of worshippers who gathered on September 30 at the Great Mosalla, a religious site in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan, for Friday Prayers.

Just hours later, the 16-year-old's family learned he was dead.

Nayeb-Zehi was among the scores of people gunned down by security forces in a brutal crackdown following anti-government protests in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which is home to the country's Baluch minority.

"He was a simple laborer and not political," Nayeb-Zehi's brother, Ahmad, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a telephone interview from Zahedan, adding that his sibling had been shot in the heart. "We're in pain, and we cannot accept it."

The crackdown in Zahedan came amid weeks-long nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16, days after she was detained by Iran's morality police.

In Sistan-Baluchistan, public anger at the authorities escalated amid reports that a 15-year-old Baluch girl had been raped by a police official in the province's southern port city of Chabahar.

The violence erupted soon after protesters gathered outside a police station near the central mosque in Zahedan. Members of the crowd chanted anti-government slogans, and some threw rocks. Security forces responded with deadly force by firing on the crowd from the station, according to witnesses.

Security forces also raided the central mosque and the nearby Great Mosalla and opened fire on worshippers using live ammunition, rights groups said, adding that many were shot in the head, heart, neck, or torso, revealing a clear intent to kill or seriously wound.

At least 94 people were killed and 350 wounded on that day, referred to as "Bloody Friday," according to the U.S.-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. At least 13 minors were among those killed, including Nayeb-Zehi.

The victims were overwhelmingly Baluch -- a mostly Sunni ethnic group that has long faced disproportionate discrimination at the hands of the Iranian authorities.

"He was martyred inside the Mosalla while holding his prayer mat," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi.

Nayeb-Zehi's family first visited Zahedan's Khatam al-Anbia hospital, hoping he was among the wounded. They later found his body in a seminary at the Great Mosalla.

"We entered a room there and saw about 10 bodies," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. "[Mohammad] was among them."

He said the authorities prevented the family from filming the scene. "I told them this has to be documented, it has to be published by international media," he said, adding that footage later emerged on social media showing the gruesome scene at the seminary.

The family refused to send Nayeb-Zehi's body to the morgue. Instead, his body lay in the living room for around 24 hours before he was buried.

"We said he was martyred and there was no need for an autopsy," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi.

The authorities accused Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, of attacking the police station. The group is recognized as a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States and has previously claimed deadly attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan targeting Iranian security forces.

But local and independent sources have rejected the authorities' claims.

The authorities have also reported a much lower number of fatalities, announcing that only 19 people, including several members of the security forces, were killed.

Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi said the authorities were "rubbing salt into the wounds of the people" by claiming "terrorists" were involved.

He said he witnessed a military helicopter shooting at civilians near the Great Mosalla. "I haven't even seen such scenes in Hollywood movies," he said. "A helicopter was shooting at people. A lady was shot in front of my eyes."

RFE/RL could not verify his account. But activists have accused security forces of shooting at protestors from helicopters.

"I don't know what the intention of this crime was," he said. "Our only demand from the establishment is for the murderers of our [family members] to be punished."

The killings have led to widespread anger in Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest provinces.

Anti-establishment protests have been reported in Zahedan since the crackdown, including on October 14 and October 21, when protesters took to the streets after Friday Prayers and chanted "Death to the dictator."

During his Friday Prayers sermon on October 21, influential Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were "responsible" for the September 30 killings.

"We are surprised by the silence of the high-ranking officials," he said in his sermon, which was posted on his website.

"Scores were killed here without any reason. I don't have the exact number. Some have reported 90, some say less, some say more," Ismaeelzahi added.

He also said people will not be satisfied until "those who killed the people" are brought to justice.

The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said the events of September 30 amounted to "a massacre of protesters by security forces."

"The government's total denial of responsibility for the massacring of citizens by its security apparatus is consistent with similar past denials and is evidence that internal calls for investigation of such crimes are insufficient," said the rights group, which documents human rights violations in Iran.
A suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State (IS) militants has killed at least 80 people, most of them Iranian pilgrims, some 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials.

The truck bomb tore through a gas station with an adjacent restaurant where buses packed with pilgrims were parked as the believers returned from the commemoration of Arbain in Karbala on November 24.

"There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians," Falah al-Radhi, head of the security committee for the Babylon provincial council, was quoted as saying by AFP.

Citing police and medical sources, Reuters said the death toll had reached around 100 later on November 24.

Dozens of others were wounded in the attack.

IS militants claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, saying one of their Iraqi fighters had carried out the bombing.

The group, which considers Shi'a apostates, warned that "what awaits them in the immediate future, Allah permitting, is more sorrowful and bitter."

Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted an "informed source" in Baghdad as saying that 50 Iranians were killed in the attack near Hilla.

The pilgrims were on their way back to Iran from the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala where they had commemorated Arbain, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

The United States condemned the "outrageous attack," while expressing its condolences to the victims families and friends.

"These murders are yet another example of Daesh's contempt for human life and its efforts to sow discord and division among the Iraqi people," U.S. State Department John Kirby said in a statement, using an alternative name for the extremist group.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly" condemned the attack.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the "brutal and inhuman" attack would not affect "the joint relentless fight by Iran and Iraq against terrorism."

The November 24 attack came a day after a series of small-scale bomb attacks in and near Baghdad that left 31 people dead and more than 100 wounded.

Government troops in the north of the country, meanwhile, drove IS forces out of three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the site of a U.S.-backed military push to reclaim the city that was launched six weeks ago.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, the BBC, ISNA, IRNA, AP, and The New York Times
Iraqi forces have captured three more neighborhoods from Islamic State (IS) militants in the northern city of Mosul, a senior Iraqi commander told the Associated Press news agency.

Haidar Fadhil said on November 24 that his troops had driven out IS militants from the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira, and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohur.

The neighborhoods are all located in the eastern sector of Mosul, east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government offensive to retake Mosul began on October 17.

The campaign to liberate Mosul is the biggest military operation in Iraq since U.S. troops left in 2011.

The offensive is being carried out by Iraqi government forces -- together with Sunni tribesmen, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and Shi'ite militia groups -- and backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes.

The IS extremist group captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in the summer of 2014.

Based on reporting by AP
The conflicts in Syria and Ukraine were expected to top the agenda for talks in Moscow between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the head of the International Red Cross.

Medvedev's press service said the November 24 meeting with Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, would focus on "humanitarian crises in different regions of the world."

Maurer's three-day visit to Moscow comes as the fighting in Syria in particular consumes major resources of agencies like the Red Cross and the United Nations.

Maurer met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on November 23, where discussion focused on getting humanitarian aid to civilians in war zones.

The besieged Syrian city of Aleppo has been a major focus for aid agencies.

More than 250,000 civilians are still in the city's eastern districts, and little to no food aid has entered since July, prompting food and fuel shortages.

The Syrian regime and its main backer, Russia, have subjected those districts to withering air strikes and bombings in an effort to gain a strategic victory there.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
A senior educator in the PakTurk chain of private schools has decried the impending deportation of its staff and their families from Pakistan, claiming the shutting down of the institution has left hundreds of people in limbo.

Teachers at the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges and their families -- around 450 people in all -- have been ordered by Pakistan to leave by the end of November. The Turkish government has accused the school network of links to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric Ankara blames for orchestrating a failed coup in July, a claim strongly rejected by the school administration.

Nurican Dundar, the vice principal of PakTurk International Schools and Colleges, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that the staff and their families will not be returning to Turkey, where thousands of teachers have been fired and arrested in a wide-scale purge of alleged Gulen supporters.

"One of our biggest problems is that we cannot go back to Turkey," said Dundar, speaking from the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar. "In Turkey people from all institutions and our friends are in jail. They want to take us to Turkey to put us in jail."

WATCH: A court in Pakistan has temporarily halted the deportation of Turkish teachers from PakTurk International Schools. Despite the ruling, many of the school's Turkish staff are preparing to leave Pakistan anyway and bid an emotional goodbye at a farewell ceremony. (RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal)

Dundar, who has worked in Pakistan since 2010, said he and other PakTurk staff members were looking to be transferred to the 172 countries where the institution has schools. But he conceded he did not know if they would be successful.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry had originally ordered the staff and their families to leave by November 20, but the deadline was extended to the end of the month. The school has challenged the order in court but the petition was dismissed.

War On 'Gulenists'

Dundar said allegations of PakTurk's links to Gulen, whose religious and social movement operates around 2,000 educational institutions in about 160 countries, were completely false. "There is no...link," he said.

Ankara has asked Islamabad to close down any groups in the country that have links to Gulen. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Islamabad on November 16, praised Pakistan's actions against what his government calls the Gulenist "terrorist" organization, saying he was "very pleased."

Gulen, who is living in self-imposed exile in the United States, is accused by Ankara of ordering a July 15 attempted coup against Erdogan by purported followers within Turkey's military. Gulen has repeatedly denied the accusation, and U.S. officials have responded to complaints from Turkish officials by saying Ankara must present compelling evidence implicating Gulen in order to consider extradition.

WATCH: Tears For Turkish Teachers Facing Deportation From Pakistan

Dundar said the biggest losers of the government crackdown against PakTurk were the more than 10,000 students enrolled at its 28 campuses in Pakistan, where a staggering 24 million children remain out of school.

"The most difficult thing is to leave the students and the parents," Dundar said. "We work for good, quality education. That's why the Pakistani people love us and support us."

Dozens of Pakistani parents demonstrated against the government order expelling the teachers on November 18. Other small demonstrations have been staged in other major cities since the order was announced on November 17.

Amnesty International said the move was "politically motivated" and one that "will only hurt Pakistan's children."

"What the country needs is more classrooms and more teachers, not a politically motivated decision to purge educators at the behest of the Turkish government," the rights group's South Asia director, Champa Patel, said on November 17.

PakTurk International Schools and Colleges was launched in 1995 under an international nongovernmental organization registered with the Turkish government.
Pakistani air force chief Marshal Sohail Aman has warned neighboring India against escalating the dispute over Kashmir, a contested Himalayan territory, into full-scale war.

Aman's warning on November 24 comes amid soaring tensions between the two countries over Kashmir.

"We are not worked about India at all, it is better if they show some restraint," Aman said.

He said that if India escalated the crisis, Pakistani troops would "know full well how to deal with them."

The Pakistani military said that Indian shelling killed at least 11 people on the Pakistani side on November 23, in the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.

An Indian military spokesman said Pakistan's army initiated "indiscriminate" fire on Indian Army posts nearby.

Pakistan and India have recently been trading fire across the line of control that divides Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Tensions have intensified since militants attacked an Indian Army base in Kashmir in September.

India alleges the militants were supported by Pakistan, which Islamabad denies.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawn.com
Eduard Kokoity, who served from 2001-11 as de facto president of Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region, reportedly plans to run in the presidential election due in April 2017.

Whether Kokoity will succeed in registering as a candidate is questionable, however: since the end of his presidential term he has lived in Moscow, but an amendment he insisted on having written into the region's election law stipulates that presidential candidates must have spent at least nine months of each of the 10 years prior to an election living in South Ossetia.

Rumors that Kokoity was planning a political comeback surfaced in the summer of 2014, and by February 2016, according to RFE/RL's Ekho Kavkaza, his supporters were already speaking of his return to the political arena as a done deed.

Then in early November, Interfax quoted an unnamed source as claiming that Kokoity planned to run next year for the post of president. Kokoity himself declined, however, either to confirm or deny that report. But his close associate Tair Gagloyev subsequently quoted Kokoity as telling a gathering of the People's Party that "I shall not support any of the presumed candidates, I shall run myself."

At present, the election looks set to be a bitterly fought competition between incumbent Leonid Tibilov and parliament speaker Anatoly Bibilov, whose One Ossetia party holds 20 of the 34 seats in parliament. The two men are at odds over the optimum approach to engineering the region's incorporation into the Russian Federation, which recognized it as a sovereign state in August 2008 after the Russian military quashed an attempt by Georgia to restore its control over South Ossetia by force.

In early 2014, Bibilov called for a referendum on "unification" with Russia. International outrage at Moscow's annexation of Crimea soon afterward effectively rendered that option unworkable, however.

Tibilov for his part took a more geopolitically nuanced approach, suggesting in April 2016 holding a referendum within the next few months on amending the region's constitution to empower the president to propose to the Russian leadership South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation, thereby "sparing Russia the political risk" inherent in making the first move.

Bibilov immediately objected to that proposal, arguing that if a referendum took place, the sole question put to voters should be whether or not South Ossetia should become part of Russia. Following a parliament session that degenerated into a shouting match between the two, Tibilov and Bibilov issued a joint statement in late May that the planned referendum should take place only after the presidential ballot next spring.

By contrast, Kokoity is against South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation: he told Interfax that "the president of South Ossetia should be a person who will strengthen the country's independence and expand the strategic partnership with Russia."

Kremlin 'Not Interested'

The Russian leadership, however, appears to favor keeping open the option of a referendum in support of South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation. That would explain why, according to analyst Nikolai Silayev, who referred to a report prepared by a think tank close to Russian President Vladimir Putin's former aide Vladislav Surkov, who retains responsibility for relations with both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Moscow has no interest in a Kokoity comeback.

The news portal Caucasian Knot similarly quoted a source in Tibilov's administration as saying that "Moscow has made it very clear that it will not support Kokoity."

Silayev further suggests that Kokoity's intention is not to get elected himself, but in the event he is denied registration to mobilize his supporters and pressure both the South Ossetian authorities and Moscow with the aim of securing specific concessions or privileges.

Opinions differ over Kokoity's chances of victory in the unlikely event that he manages to register as a presidential candidate. His supporters stress his "charisma," and some South Ossetians still praise his role in securing the region's international recognition. On the other hand, people also recall the brutality of, and human rights violations committed by Kokoity's henchmen; his concentration of executive, legislative, and judicial power in his own hands; and the embezzlement of millions of rubles Moscow made available in 2008-11 for reconstruction of homes and infrastructure destroyed during the August 2008 war.

To date, no other potential presidential candidates have declared themselves. Alan Alborov, mayor of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, has made clear that he will not run, but will back Tibilov's candidacy instead.
Russian officials say two special forces officers and two suspected militants have been killed in a gunbattle in the country's volatile North Caucasus.

The National Counterterrorism Committee said that security forces, acting on a tip, on November 24 surrounded a house in Nazran, in the Ingushetia region, where the two suspects were hiding.

The suspects refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces, it said.

Both suspects and two officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) were killed in the firefight.

The agency said the two suspects had been identified. It said they were "members of a gang that committed terrorism-related crimes in the North Caucasus."

Nazran is Ingushetia's largest city.

Violence is common in the North Caucasus, which includes the restive mostly Muslim-populated regions of Ingushetia, Chechnya, Daghestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax
Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Yasumasa Nagamine signed an intelligence-sharing pact between their two countries in Seoul on Wednesday.

The signing came less than a month after talks on the agreement resumed but four years and five months after they were halted amid protests here against closer military ties with the former occupier and the secretive nature of negotiations.

The pact specifies how to exchange and protect military intelligence about North Korea.

It will give South Korea quick indirect access to Japan's advanced surveillance system with five reconnaissance satellites and 77 maritime patrol aircraft. In return, Seoul will provide Tokyo with human and communications intelligence.


BRUSSELS -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has expressed confidence in continued U.S. support for his country after having spoken to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the phone about Russian "aggression."



Speaking on November 24 at the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels, Poroshenko said that "Ukraine has strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress and among the U.S. politicians, both Republican and Democrat.



"We don't expect any significant changes in this bipartisan support," he added.



During his campaign, Trump had signaled a more conciliatory approach to the Kremlin and and even suggested he might accept Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.



Poroshenko said that Trump had raised "the question of the Russian aggression and illegal annexation of Crimea" in a phone conversation a few days after the Republican candidate's election victory.



Poroshenko also said that he had "an opportunity to give Trump very detailed information about the latest situation in the east of my country and in Crimea."

With reporting by AFP
Jailed Uzbek politician Samandar Qoqonov, who has been behind bars for more than 23 years, has been released from prison, his relatives say.

Family members told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service they received a phone call early on November 24 from the prison authorities, who told them an October court ruling that prolonged Qoqonovs jail term had been annulled.

Qoqonov, 72, a former parliament member, was expected to be released on October 6 after serving his 23-year sentence on embezzlement charges.

However, the family was told on October 30 that Qoqonov's prison term had earlier been prolonged by another three years and five days due to "violation of the penitentiarys internal regulations."

Qoqonov, dubbed by his supporters "Uzbekistans longest-held political prisoner," was arrested in July 1993. His supporters say that the embezzlement case against him was politically motivated.

In 1994 he was sentenced to 20 years in jail. The time he had spent in pretrial detention was not counted as served.

In 2014, Qoqonov's prison term was prolonged to three more years and later cut by two years.

Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter that Qoqonovs release following public calls by the U.S. State Department was proof that "pressure works."
Korean Air will reshuffle its international routes, with an aim to focus on flights on high demand.

The flagship carrier will launch a new direct fight from Incheon to Barcelona three times a week starting from late April next year, becoming the first airliner to do so in the Northeast Asia region.

It also plans to offer more flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle during the peak spring and summer season, while flights to less popular destinations such as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Siem Reap, Cambodia will be suspended from February next year.


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Organizers expect candlelight protests in Seoul demanding the ouster of President Park Geun-hye over a massive corruption scandal to swell to 1.5 million people this Saturday.

At a press conference in central Seoul on Wednesday, organizers put the nationwide figure at 2 million after an estimated 1 million took part last Saturday. Police are bracing for a rise in the numbers.

Even high-school students in the complacently wealthy Samseong-dong area of southern Seoul issued a statement criticizing the government and seeking the ouster of the president.

Supported by 70 percent of the student body, the statement spoke of youngsters' "despair and rage" at the alleged academic favors lavished on the daughter of Park's crony Choi Soon-sil, who is at the center of the scandal.

A group of professors from the establishment Seoul National University also plan to take part in this weekend's demonstration.
A MENTAL health worker is in the running for a national gong which recognises health heroes across the country.

Tony Hudson, a peer support worker at Rotherham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, is up for the Clinical Support Worker of the Year in the Our Health Heroes Awards.

He saw off competition from dozens of entries across Yorkshire to make it through to the national finals which will be presented in London on Tuesday (29).

A spokesman for organisers Skills for Health said Tony was nominated for being a reliable member of the team who builds trusting relationships with patients.

John Rogers, chief executive at Skills for Health, said: The NHS couldnt function without the dedication of clinical support workers and operational service staff.

They ensure that hospitals and healthcare practices around the UK provide the best care possible for patients.

They keep the health service running efficiently and effectively, yet their efforts often go unnoticed. Our research has shown that the health sector can only reach its potential in terms of productivity and efficiency by understanding the contribution and value of support workers.

We are delighted with the calibre of award entries we have received and the judges certainly had a difficult task in selecting our regional winners.
Zijn Platinum appoints former SA finance minister as deputy chair Nkwe Platinum and South Africa Zijin Platinum, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Zijin Mining, have appointed former South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni as a non-executive director and deputy chairperson of South Africa Zijin Platinum.

Saudi Arabia seeks support from Australian miners to diversify its oil-dependent economy Saudi Arabia is seeking support from Australian miners to support its $170 bn plan to build a mining industry, and diversify its oil-dependent economy this decade. Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef is in...

WGC: Global gold demand up 28% y-o-y in Q3 The World Gold Councils latest Gold Demand Trends report reveals that gold demand (excluding OTC) in the third quarter of 2022 hit 1,181 tonnes, up 28% year-on-year. Strong demand pushed the year-to-date total to its pre-COVID levels. Gold...

Karo Mining to raise $50m to develop Zim platinum project Tharisa, the platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome co-producer, says its subsidiary Karo Mining has opened a fixed income note offer to raise $50 million to be listed by way of introduction on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX)...
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd, China's largest jeweller by market value has reported a 21.5 per cent fall in first-half profit, hurt by weak consumer sentiment and a fall in tourist arrivals in the city, according to Reuters

Net profit fell to $157.31 mn for the six months ended in September, the lowest half-yearly profit since listing in December 2011, and down from a profit of $0.20 billion a year ago.

Revenue for April-September fell 23.5 percent to $2.78 bn from $3.63 bn in the same period last year.

The Hong Kong-based jeweller, which has a strong presence in China, had flagged a narrower decline in same-store sales for the fiscal second quarter.

Same-store sales of its jewellery business in mainland China fell 20.9 per cent, while that in Hong Kong and Macau fell 25.7 per cent.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




Delegation of Chinese Jewelers Visits Antwerp Diamond Industry

24 november 2016 News

(The Diamond Loupe) - For the past three days a delegation of 21 leading jewelers from China, who collectively represent more than 8,000 points-of-sale, have been getting acquainted with the Antwerp diamond industry. The visit took place in the framework of a new initiative by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the Antwerp Diamond Experience, intended to provide groups of foreign jewelers, wholesalers and manufacturers inside access to the worlds diamond capital. Seeing as how China is currently the second largest jewelry market following the United States, this served as an incredible opportunity.

According to Margaux Donckier, spokeswoman for the AWDC: "This approach, whereby jewelers come to Antwerp instead of the diamantaires having to travel around the world, is much more efficient and cost effective. The diamantaires are also given the opportunity to make one-on-one appointments during the networking sessions, and then meet these jewelers in the confines of their own offices."

On Tuesday the Chinese delegation went on a speed dating spree in the Antwerp Diamond Club, one of the four diamond bourses in Antwerp. The delegates were given six-minute introductory sessions to determine whether or not the Antwerp companies were a match, and when the buzzer chimed, it was on to the next. According to Marianne Georges, top saleswoman at Diarough N.V., We felt the introductions went very well, and fully expect tangible results to emerge from this initiative. We are all looking to grow in this business. Its just a matter of meeting the right clients, and this is a step in the right direction.

This was not the first international delegation to visit within the framework of the "Antwerp Diamond Experience". Earlier this year the Antwerp diamond industry welcomed groups from Kuwait, Turkey, Iran and most recently the United States. The Chinese group was the final delegation of the year for the AWDCs new program, with more countries scheduled for the coming year.




ALROSA, the largest diamond producer in the world in terms of volume, announced the next rough diamond auction at the Eurasian Diamond Centre (EDC) in Vladivostok.

The company introduced small, boart and boart&drilling categories of diamonds at the auction, which may be of interest for both jewelry and tool-making industry. The volume of the planned sale exceeds 500 000 carats. ALROSA invited 23 companies to take part in the auction, including Russian and foreign long-term customers.

"Today's trades are conducted in order to better understand the needs of the region and to get an update on customer preferences. This is necessary to make a decision about the range of regular trading", - says Galina Platonova, adviser to the president of ALROSA.

In future this trading platform, among other things, will conduct quarterly trading of diamonds of special sizes.

ALROSA held its first diamond auction in Vladivostok on the eve of the 2nd Eastern Economic Forum on September 2-3. During the event, the Eurasian Diamond Centre was officially opened, and has recently become a 100th resident of the Free Port of Vladivostok.

EDC provides infrastructure cluster for diamond industry (mining companies and the sale of rough diamonds, diamond manufacturers and jewelry, gemological laboratories, banks, insurance companies, specialized carriers, customs brokers) and public services (specialized customs and state controllers) in its premises.




Garth Brooks has announced that he and Trisha Yearwood will play at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee on February 4. The announcement was made in a press release, which also stated that it would be the last stop on the tour that will be accessible to fans in Mississippi and Arkansas. Tickets for the show will go on sale beginning December 2.

The press release did not say that it would be the final tour stop in Tennessee. Brooks previously announced his intention to wrap up the tour in Nashville, but has not yet announced a Nashville concert.

Brooks and Yearwood are slated to play three acoustic sets in Hawaii in December. They will then resume their tour with a show in Cincinnati, Ohio on January 28.

Brooks just released the box set Garth Brooks: The Ultimate Collection. He is due to release his newest album, Gunslinger, on November 25.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Entertainment News
Finland's producer prices continued to decline in October, albeit slightly, figures from Statistics Finland showed Thursday.

Producer prices fell 0.3 percent year-over-year in October, slower than the 1.4 percent drop in September. The measure has been falling since August 2013.

The fall in the producer prices for manufactured products was particularly caused by reductions in the prices of pulp, electronic appliances and chemicals and chemical products from October 2015, the agency said.

Both domestic and foreign market prices decreased by 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively in October.

At the same time, import prices grew 0.5 percent on year, while export prices slid by 0.7 percent.

Month-on-month, producer prices rose 0.8 percent from September, when it climbed by 0.3 percent. It was the third month of increase in a row.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
By SA Commercial Prop News

Rael Levitt, CEO of Auction Alliance



The overhang of residential property's "shadow inventory" is massive and will likely weigh on market dynamics for the next 18 to 24 months.

The company defined the shadow market as properties which were in mortgage distress and would still hit the market.

It said even by its cautious measure, it was quite clear that a very large number of homes would be joining the visible inventory of distressed houses at some point, which already held in excess of about 10,000 properties for sale.

According to property economist Erwin Rode, "bank spokespersons have often stated that they are not in the business of repossessing houses. Thus, one can assume that they will try postponing the evil day as far into the future as possible. Nevertheless, with only about 7,000 properties transferred per month, any sizeable overhang of non-performing properties constitutes a threat to an already vulnerable market. This threat is in addition to the already bearish outlook for residential prices".

Measurements of soon to be repossessed and foreclosed homes that have yet to hit the market ranged from 10,000 to as many as 50,000. Rael Levitt, CEO of Auction Alliance said, "We believe that the number of houses which are to be foreclosed on over the next 12 months is around 25,000. Much of the discrepancy stems from the different calculations used and how they determine which loans will inevitably default and sink into the shadows."

The analysts at Auction Alliance factor into their equation the number of properties that are distressed and are not yet on the market. They also include homes that are already going through the foreclosure process and those where the borrower is at least 90 days in arrears.

Levitt said at current rates of sale, it would take more than 18 months to clear both the visible and shadow inventory. "Many banks have been as resolute as their debtors with foreclosure avoidance and we have thus seen a levelling off of distressed properties at auctions in recent months, but that doesn't mean mortgage distress has gone away or that these debtors will not be foreclosed on in the future".

Rode indicated that, "it stands to reason that banks would feed the market these distressed properties only gradually because a collapse in the market resulting from a big-bang approach is in nobody's interest. Hence, the most likely scenario is a long term depression of prices, no collapse".

While a deliberate and calculated release of the shadow inventory limits the likelihood of a detrimental price shock to an already weak market, Levitt said the bad news was that the problem appeared likely to be with us for the next two to three years, suggesting future price appreciation may be slow.
By SA Commercial Prop News

After undergoing a R2-billion revamp over the past two years, the Pretoria based Menlyn Park Shopping Centre is now the largest mall in SA, with a total floor space of 170 000m2.



After undergoing a R2-billion revamp over the past two years, the Pretoria based Menlyn Park Shopping Centre is now the largest mall in SA, with a total floor space of 170 000m2.

Despite a slowdown in consumer spending across South Africa in recent months and shopping mall oversupply, at least 30 new centres, varying in size from 5000m right up to 120000m, are expected to open their doors this year and next.

With more that 500 stores, the Menlyn Park is now larger than Durbans Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Sandton City, Fourways Mall and the recently opened Mall of Africa.

Among the established anchor tenants and top international brands making Menlyn Park their home are such on-trend fashion drawcards as Zara clothing, Fabiani menswear and H&M Clothing.

The Mall is owned by unlisted company Pareto Limited which purchased the centre last year from Old Mutual.

ALSO READ: Greater self-control is needed from Retailers to stop further Cannibalisation

Weve put together a fantastic tenant mix that caters to all our shoppers, says Olive Ndebele, general manager of Menlyn Park Shopping Centre.



Paretos shareholder is the Government Employees Pension Fund. Pareto is also the full owner of Cresta shopping centre, Southgate Mall and Value Market and Westgate shopping centre in Gauteng, the Pavilion in Durban, and Mimosa Mall in Bloemfontein, while it jointly owns the Tiger Valley shopping centre in Cape Town.

The redevelopment of Menlyn Park Shopping Centre was driven by a strong demand from retailers, as theyre enjoying robust trade results year-on-year, says Malose Kekana, group CEO for Pareto Limited.

The suburb of Menlyn is seeing new and redevelopment, with new office parks also under construction. It is viewed as the "Sandton of Pretoria".



Gateway is now SAs second-largest mall, at 166,636 m with 362 stores. Sandton City follows next: it is 146,803 m and has about 300 stores. Canal Walk is the largest shopping centre in the Western Cape, at 140,567m, with 412 stores.



Mall of Africa, located in the recently constructed Waterfall City in Midrand is 130,000m. It has about 300 stores. It is, nevertheless, the largest mall to be built within a single phase.

Durbans The Pavillion has 120,000m floor space followed by Centurion Mall and Cresta, which are 105,000m, and 104,000m respectively.



These shopping centres are all much smaller than many others in the developing world. SM Prime Holdings Mall of Asia in Pasay, Philippines, is being extended from 400,000m to 700,000m and is set to have 1,300 stores.

In the rest of Africa, Egypts Cairo Festival City Mall boasts 168,000m of space, while the Mall of Arabia, also in Cairo, has about 180,000m of gross lettable area.

ALSO READ: Retail proving to be the most dynamic sector in Africa



There have been concerns that SA is over-shopped and that too many malls are being opened, but landlords have found that many shoppers are choosing to visit larger centres once or twice a month instead of many smaller centres multiple times.



Smaller convenience centres struggled to hold on to small tenants, said Patrick Flanagan, head of development company Flanagan & Gerard.



"I think developers need to be careful. There are many shopping centres that have been announced which just wont be sustainable in certain areas. Quite a few smaller centres are difficult to tenant in a slow-growth economy," he said recently.



Menlyn Park is in Tshwane, the metropolitan municipality with the fastest-growing gross domestic product (GDP) in SA, as well the youngest population. And the capital city of Pretoria has the highest number of embassies in SA.
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the
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Nov-24-2016 00:55 TweetFollow @OregonNews Mumps Outbreak Investigation After Four Confirmed Cases in Marion County Those with mumps should not go to school, work, public places or social activities.

"The mumps" is a problem worth preventing.

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(SALEM, Ore.) - Marion County Health Department is investigating an outbreak of mumps. Since October 3, there have been 12 suspect mumps cases reported. Laboratory tests done within the last two weeks confirmed that four of those cases were infected with mumps. The age range of affected individuals is 1 year of age to age 40. Mumps is a disease caused by a virus. The virus is spread when a person who has mumps coughs or sneezes. Signs of illness include fever, headache, muscles aches, tiredness, and swelling under the ears or jaws. People can usually spread the virus to others from two days before signs of illness start until five days after swelling under the jaw appears. It usually takes two weeks (12-25 days) to develop signs of illness after being exposed to someone with mumps. Mumps can occasionally cause complications, especially in adults. Complications include: inflammation of the testicles (orchitis) in males who have reached puberty; rarely does this lead to fertility problems

inflammation of the brain (encephalitis)

inflammation of the tissue covering the brain and spinal cord (meningitis)

inflammation of the ovaries (oophoritis) and/or breast tissue (mastitis)

deafness "The best way you can prevent mumps is to get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine," says Dr. Karen Landers, Marion County Health Officer. Routine childhood MMR vaccination starts at one year of age. Oregon requires students who attend school to have two doses of MMR, starting with children entering kindergarten. A second vaccine dose should be received at least 28 days after the first dose. People who have been exposed to mumps should watch for signs of illness in the next 25 days and contact a health care provider if signs of illness develop. Anyone who is diagnosed or has signs of mumps should stay at home for five days after the start of the swelling. Those with mumps should not go to school, work, public places or social activities. MORE INFO: Call your health care provider or Marion County Health Department at (503) 588-5342 to schedule an appointment to update your or your child's MMR vaccination. For more information about mumps call the Marion County Health Department Communicable Disease nurse at (503) 588-5621. Source: Marion County Health Dept; CDC (Centers for Disease Control) _________________________________________

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Articles for November 23, 2016 | Articles for November 24, 2016 | Articles for November 25, 2016
Kansas announces 4-game suspensions for Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend

There's news in the NCAA infractions case concerning Kansas men's basketball: Bill Self and Kurtis Townsend have been suspended.
HONOLULU (AP)  A U.S. citizen is being held in Honolulu for extradition to Tonga, where he's accused of beating his wife to death, escaping police and sailing more than 300 miles to American Samoa.

Tonga officials told U.S. prosecutors that 54-year-old Dean Fletcher was indicted on a murder charge in the July death of his wife, Patricia Linne Kearney.

Court documents say witnesses saw Fletcher assaulting Kearney on a dinghy. The next day, Fletcher told police his wife fell down stairs on their yacht.

The documents say Fletcher fled in September and was last seen sailing away in a boat.

He traveled some 300 miles north to American Samoa, where he was arrested. He arrived in Honolulu Tuesday with U.S. marshals.

His federal public defender didn't immediately respond to messages for comment.
Dear Editor,

I am pleased that your newspaper and media outlet understands how deadly serious the customary land theft situation has become.

The A.D.B investigation team states that our customary land rights have already been damaged.

The knowledge of the abuse of indigenous races and the damage it does is set aside by a simple vote.On the voting board is the man, a foreigner, responsible for achieving the break up of Samoan Customary Land and he decides that our ancestors, our unborn and our living Samoans dont matter and we will be moved off our land. Sounds like a Declaration of War to me.

Then Malielegaoi is trying to distract the people any way he can.

Ministers going overseas are spending huge amounts of public money on their own pleasure.

All the while poor water, food and education for our people.

I will break it down for you. They, greedy foreigners and their puppet politicians, are trying to eliminate most Samoans off to get at the land.

The A.D.B says that if you are the majority people in your own land then in spite of the fact that the U.N. says, you are indigenous, A.D.B policy says you are not.

So you are able to be abused but once enough Samoans die so that foreigners are the majority in this the land of our ancestors, then we will become indigenous and funds will be made available from the break up of our lands to help our dying race.

Maua Faleauto
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is the new Minister of Police.

The decision was made during a Cabinet meeting yesterday, the Samoa Observer was told by informed sources.

The Minister of Police, Sala Fata Pinati, has been left with the Tourism portfolio.

An official confirmation could not be obtained at press time last night but the sources said the decision was made in response to the latest developments within the Ministry of Police.

The reshuffle is the second time Prime Minister Tuilaepa has rearranged his Cabinet in less than a year since the H.R.P.P regained power during Marchs General Election.

During his weekly media conference yesterday; Tuilaepa did not discuss the reshuffle.

But he downplayed the divisions within the Police saying there is nothing to be alarmed about.

They are just playing a game  its not over yet, he said.

Maybe soon it will probably be done. Remember there is a beginning and an end so dont you worry themthe men are getting old but I feel its over now.

He also spoke about the ghost letters addressed to him and his Cabinet.

The Prime Minister said he hasnt seen any.

The reason why I want to look at it is because I wanted to know who these young ghosts are, he said.

It came in this girls newspaper (Samoa Observer) but I have been looking for the letter. If it came on the newspaper and I have not seen it then, I feel for the Observer because people can just fool themI have not received a letter.

The Prime Minister also reassured the nation about their safety.

Holding out the keys to the armoury, he said: I take it with me.

These are the smallest keys I have seen but the lock is big.

Tuilaepa assured that all the firearms are in the armoury safe and the only weapons that have not been taken in are fire dance knives inside his office.

I have the keys here but Ill tell my driver tomorrow to take those in and lock it there, he said about the fire dance knives inside his office.

Not because I might get hurt but in case someone might get hurt from it if it falls on them.
Technology has transformed the world over.

Soon it could transform the way Samoans fight for justice with the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration (M.J.C.A) considering the introduction of a Smart Court.

The concept will allow the Ministry to use internet technology to process legal documents and fast track legal processes to address the backlog of outstanding cases.

The plan was confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer of M.J.C.A, Papalii John Taimalelagi.

The C.E.O had accompanied the Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu to a Cyber Space Forum in China where the idea of Smart Court was discussed.

The Smart Court is the transformation of the manual court system into an electronic system where there will be no more paper work.

Everything will be done using modern technology.

Papalii said after seeing and experiencing how Chinas Smart Court operates, he believes it is an idea that would help Samoa, especially to avoid people in the village having to travel all the way to Mulinuu for Court hearings.

With the system we have now, we are still using papers, he said. Although we have recordings its still very limited compared to Chinas Smart Court where there is no more paper work.

When this kind of system is available here, lawyers can submit their stuff online.

The matais can gather at the mayors house wherever they are while the registrar will still be sitting at the office and conducting the meeting.

With all new technology, Papalii said it wouldnt come without challenges.

But overall, he believes a Smart Court would benefit Samoa tremendously if the system is well run.

Almost every big country in the World is now using this system, and it is a success, he said.

We can also adjust to this system, but it all depends on the resources.

Papalii said Samoa needs to do some more research and learn from countries that are already using the system.

But the C.E.O said he can see how the country will benefit.

For instance, the government will save a lot of money thats being spent on allowances for people who are flown over to give evidence.

The Forum in China was well attended by many representatives from other Pacific Island Countries.
A Samoan student with roots in Satupaitea, Sataua, Fogasavaii, Vaisala, Saanapu, Vaitele, Tiavea and Nuuuli has created history for a top school in Fiji.

Century Upolu Vaai, the son of Reverend Dr. Upolu Luma and Tuamasaga Vaai has become the first Samoan to be named Dux of Suva Grammar School.

On top of the Dux honour, Century also collected the award for coming first in class level 12, first in Physics, first in Mathematics, first in Chemistry and first in English. His success has laid the platform nicely for his goal of becoming a Civil Engineer.

So what was the key to his success?

My faith and my culture are my two strongest allies, he says.

My faith in God has made me stronger everyday with my studies. And my Samoan culture, which my parents have instilled in me, has opened my eyes to the importance of living life and understanding the world from a cultural perspective. I struggle to weave my faith and culture into my studies.

Century was born in Samoa in 1999, which is the meaning of his name. He was born at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century.

In other words, he was a child with roots in both centuries.

He started school at St. Edwards Primary School in Brisbane Australia, then continued at Samoa Primary School Vailele when the family moved to Samoa beginning of 2008 to work at Piula Theological College.

After Samoa Primary, he attended Samoa College Yr. 9.

He moved to Fiji at the beginning of 2014 when his father took up the position of Head of Theology and Ethics at the Pacific Theological College, Suva, Fiji.

Century started Yr. 10 at Suva Grammar School.

He told the Samoa Observer that he struggled with two things during the transition in Suva.

Firstly I had to adapt to academic studies in Fiji, which is quite different from Samoa. As ministers children, we accompany our parents in their ministry, and we have to support them all the way. Its a family calling, us children included. Perhaps its a struggle but its also a blessing.

Then there was the issue of school fees on top of other commitments.

So I worked hard to make sure that I give back to my parents and to acknowledge their commitment.

Today, all the sacrifice has been worth it.

I thank God for all the gifts of life and strength during my studies. I owe God my life, he said.

Id also like to thank my parents for their unwavering love. Despite the financial struggle of bringing us up in a different environment, theyve made sure that their children get the best education.

You know success is not about which school you attend. Rather its all about love of God and your parents together with total commitment to your studies. Love is the key to success.

I want to extend a word of thanks to my family in Samoa and abroad for their prayers. I also acknowledge with appreciation the love of my new found family in Fiji, the Pacific Theological College, which has been a home for me for three years now.

Century has one sister Jennifer Iemaima, and two brothers Luma and Logan.
HILLA, Iraq (AP)  A car bomb tore through a gas station south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 56 people, including 20 Iranians, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Police and hospital officials confirmed the toll and said another 45 people were wounded in the attack, which destroyed the gas station and set several cars on fire.

The blast knocked out power at the station, forcing relatives looking for the remains of loved ones to use the glare of their mobile phones to guide them. Body parts that remained unclaimed were gathered in a blue bag and placed on the sidewalk outside the station. Large sections of the station were covered in blood.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Thursday's attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on IS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove IS militants from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the country's second largest city, where U.S.-backed offensive has been underway for more than six weeks.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support the troops.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya television network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.
Efforts to develop an Alzheimers disease treatment took a major blow Wednesday, when the maker of an experimental drug announced it had failed a major clinical trial.

The failed trial was the latest of several over the last decade by drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. to find evidence the drug, called solanezumab, could stop or slow down the disease. The failure also reinforced doubts about a popular theory behind the drugs development, leading to calls to consider alternatives.

Solanezumab inhibits accumulation of a toxic brain protein called beta amyloid. Its thought to be a cause of Alzheimers in what is called the amyloid hypothesis. The trial tested its effect in patients with mild Alzheimers dementia. Lilly said it will drop attempts to develop solanezumab for that purpose.

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A rival hypothesis implicates another protein, called tau. But the two are not exclusive, and many researchers say both mechanisms are involved. Most importantly, existing drugs dont affect the underlying course of the disease, they only temporarily relieve symptoms.

Lilly shares fell 10.5 percent Wednesday after the announcement. Shares of Biogen, a Cambridge, Mass. developer of another amyloid-removing drug, fell 3.8 percent.

A separate study of the drug as a means of preventing Alzheimers will continue, said Dr. Paul Aisen, a University of Southern California researcher who is leading that effort from the Alzheimers Therapeutic Research Institute in San Diego.

Its easier to prevent a disease than treat it, Aisen said. Once symptoms manifest, Alzheimers might be irreversible.

Aisen said he remains optimistic that solanezumab has a good chance of demonstrating preventive benefit in what is called the A4 Study. That study will take a number of years to complete. Those with signs of amyloid buildup, but not displaying symptoms of impaired memory, are the studys target. Solanezumab is a monoclonal antibody designed to bind to beta amyloid fragments, preventing them from aggregating in plaques.

I continue to believe that an anti-amyloid intervention, such as solanezumab, is much more likely to be effective with early intervention, before symptoms start, than at the stage of AD dementia, Aisen said.

In addition, the failed Expedition3 study gave some modest hints of potential benefit, Aisen said. Its logical to assume that if these benefits exist, they will be more pronounced in people at risk for Alzheimers but who are asymptomatic. More details on that trial will be released at a conference on Alzheimers treatments to be held in San Diego Dec. 8-10.

Alternatives

Other treatments may be helpful, Aisen said. These include Biogens aducanumab, also an antibody drug. In early testing, aducanumab showed efficacy in removing amyloid, and hints that it may slow cognitive decline.

The antibodies are very different, Aisen said. They attack different parts of the amyloid molecule. Unlike solanezumab, aducanumab reduces significantly the amyloid load in the brain, and the early results are very encouraging.

Other drugs called beta secretase inhibitors now in clinical trials, with Mercks drug the most advanced, he said.

Instead of attacking the (amyloid) molecule, you are reducing production of the molecule, and I think beta secretase inhibitors continue to offer great promise, Aisen said.

Dr. Michael Lobatz, a Scripps Health neurologist, said hes not yet giving up hope that some amyloid drug may yet prove effective.

The disappointment was that solanezumab failed in those with mild dementia, after being tested in those with more severe symptoms, he said. Lobatz had participated in a trial of a similar drug, bapineuzumab, which also failed. The hope with the latest trial was that intervening earlier would show more signs of efficacy.

From a clinicians perspective, we have been hoping, looking and waiting for quite a long time for some disease-modifying therapy, for which there currently is none in existence for Alzheimers disease, Lobatz said. That said, even though this clinical trial failed, I would wait to pass judgment until the other clinical trials report out, including ones that are using higher dosages of medication.

Others gave a more pessimistic assessment of the prospects for amyloid-based drugs, which have consumed hundreds of millions of dollars with little to show for it.

Time to move on?

Medicinal chemist Derek Lowe, a longtime skeptic of the drug, said the results put the final nail in solanezumabs coffin.

No matter how many times you run the Phase III trials, or in which patient populations, they do not get better, Lowe wrote on his blog at Scientific American.

No matter how many hopeful press articles you might have seen on its prospects and no matter how many statements you might have seen from the company itself, no matter how you may try to spin the results, it does not do anything useful when you give it to actual Alzheimers patients. The program is over. It is done, because it does not work.

The news is also bad for Biogens competing drug, and the theory behind it, Lowe wrote.

Everyones always known that the entire beta amyloid hypothesis could be wrong  a hypothesis always can be wrong, he wrote. But facing up to what that means has been another thing entirely.

It may be time to concentrate on alternatives to the amyloid hypothesis, said Michael Jackson, senior vice president of drug discovery and development at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla. These could include inflammatory effects, genetic variations, or a even a brain infection that triggers the disease process.

The problem is that the most advanced research focused on the amyloid hypothesis, Jackson said. Everything else is quite a lot further back.

Jackson said neural synapses need to be considered in any hypothesis, because they are key to neural functioning and memory retention. Anything that disturbs the balance between building, maintaining and removing synapses could affect cognition, he said.

So it may be that the hypothesis needs to be adjusted, or perhaps that amyloid isnt a cause at all, he said, but accumulates as a side effect of the disease.

Dont forget, many people have these amyloid plaques, theyre well into their 80s and 90s, and do not develop Alzheimers disease, Jackson said.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Telling children that Santa Claus exists undermines confidence in their parents, two researchers say in a medical journal article.

The inevitable discovery that Santa is fictional may make children wonder what else their parents tell them is false, the researchers contend. They are psychologist Christopher Boyle of the University of Exeter in England and mental health researcher Kathy McKay of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia,

Their article was published Wednesday in the Lancet Psychiatry.

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Speaking as former children, both authors remember the abject disappointment when they found out that this Christmas magic was in fact human based, Boyle and McKay state.

The spell was broken; the escape from reality that children and adults can share for a few months had gone. Christmas was never the same again.

Moreover, using the threat of being placed on Santas naughty list is reminiscent of dystopian police state surveillance, they say.

In a mythology more recently augmented in North America by the ever vigilant Elf on the Shelf, it is made clear that no child can hide from the North Poles National Security Agency-style vigilance  an altogether terrifying thing when considered as an adult, the article states. Who among us could claim constant goodness if watched at all times?

Looking at the evidence, its apparent that the Santa Claus myth isnt intended for the good of the children, but as a comfort for their parents, they say.

By perpetrating the Christmas lie, one believes in the possibility of a better place and time ... they write. There is a persistence of fandom, in what are designed as childrens stories, such as those of Harry Potter, Star Wars, Doctor Who, well into adulthood. Adults taking their children to a Star Wars convention as cover to dress up as Han Solo or Princess Leia is a fairly common occurrence.

It seems that by returning to a fantasy world, there is a comfort in being able to briefly re-enter childhood, which was a magical experience for many.

The authors concede that not all lies to children are bad; indeed, some are desirable.

A so-called white lie told to protect someone from being hurt is good; for example, an adult comforting a child and telling them that their recently deceased pet will go to a special place (animal heaven) is arguably nicer than telling graphic truths about its imminent re-entry into the carbon cycle, they write.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Thousands gathered in San Diego County to take part in what has become a Thanksgiving Day tradition. They werent lining up to mob store aisles; they were raising money for charities in 5K events.

In Balboa Park and in downtown Oceanside, they assembled to run, jog or walk on a crisp, clear Thanksgiving Day morning. And after the exercise, they got to celebrate at festivals with live music before settling down to the traditional Thanksgiving Day food coma.

In Oceanside, an estimated 10,000 participants gathered for the Pacific Marine Credit Union Oside Turkey Trot. The festivities include a 5K, 10K and kids races.

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And on Wednesday the event featured a new attraction, the Senior Festival of Miles for those 60 and over.

The Turkey Trot raises money for a variety of causes, with more than $240,000 going to local schools and non-profits in its 10 years of existence, said Kathy Kinane, who has organized the event since 2006. Participants come from 46 states and a number of other countries, making this a truly international event, Kinane said.

For me, the most important part is we have large intergenerational families that come from all over the world to have their family reunion and Thanksgiving dinner here, Kinane said.

Getting everyone involved is key.

A lot of sports, where families are supporting their kids, the parents will sit and watch the kids play, Kinane said. But at Turkey Trot, parents are running and walking with their kids -- thats the best.

The new senior Festival of Miles adds even more inclusiveness, by giving seniors who arent up to the full 5K or 10K a chance to participate, said participant Anne Garrett, 82, a dedicated runner who helped Kinane develop the concept.

While Garrett and many other seniors take part in the traditional competition, she said those who cant may feel left out. The Festival of Miles provides a 1-mile alternative that can be walked or run. This includes those in wheelchairs or walkers, who are in designated groups.

Sometimes when families get together at Thanksgiving, the older generation cant do the 5K or 10K, Garrett said. They just have to stand to the side and cheer their family on, or not go at all.

With the senior event a day earlier, other family members can cheer on the participants, and on Thanksgiving they can return the favor.

About 30 miles to the south, more then 7,500 estimated participants assembled near 6th and Laurel for the Father Joes Villages Thanksgiving Day 5K. The event in Balboa Park raises money for Father Joes Villages, which help the homeless rebuild their lives.

Participants sported a variety of attire, some in runners garb, others in costumes plainly not built for speed.

Christopher Canole, a.k.a Dude Vader, fit the latter category, accessorized in steampunk from head to toe, festooned with Star Wars figurines, cards and other memorabilia. The gear-laden La Jollan said he began participating in charitable events with his eclectically organized outfit about two years ago.

The entire outfit is kids Star Wars toys, Canole said, summarizing the plot. Dude survives the battle with Luke and he turns to the bright side of The Force, hangs out at the beach in La Jolla with the Silver Surfer, and then does charities.

I do a charity a week between here and LA, and Im not running for time, Canole said.

Father Joes charities have a special place in his heart.

Ive been doing stuff since he started, Canole said. The blankets at Christmas, all that kind of stuff. Its a lot of fun.

Ethan Pinon-Larkin, 10, was there with his father, Michael Larkin, and mother, Katy Pinon-Larkin.

The San Diego family has been taking part in the 5K since Ethan was born, Larkin said. And Ethan ran six 5Ks last year.

Theyre fun to compete in with my mom, Ethan said.

Larkin said he takes part in this event every year.

Its for a great cause, Larkin said. Father Joes Village is amazing. He does great work, and theres a huge homeless problem in the city that needs to be addressed.

Father Joes Villages helps more than 2,000 people every day. This 5K is intended to help the charity deliver one million meals a year to the homeless.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Bette Molloy, who has rented 13 apartment units and one condominium in three different locations in the San Diego area since 1998, does not like marijuana on her premises.

Its like cigarettes  it smells up the whole place, Molloy said. It stays in the apartment.

But with the passage of Proposition 64 that legalized possession of recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 and older Molloy was not sure whether she could prohibit pot among her tenants.

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I just dont want it, Molloy said.

Judging from a host of business and legal sources, it appears landlords can just say no. Or, if theyre so inclined, they can allow pot use in their rental units. Even one of Prop 64s biggest boosters says so.

Landlords are still able to prohibit their tenants from smoking marijuana on site, said Michael Cindrich, a San Diego attorney and executive director of the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The states trade association for apartment landlords agreed.

The short answer is yes, a private property owner could prohibit the smoking of marijuana at his or her property, said Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs at the California Apartment Association (CAA). The landlords could also say yes, but they are allowed to say no and restrict it or ban it altogether.

Carlton points to a couple of reasons why a potential ban on tenants smoking pot would stand up in court.

First, an increasing number of apartment owners have instituted no-smoking ordinances in recent years as more tenants have complained about the health effects of second-hand tobacco smoke.

True, marijuana is different than tobacco but according to the CAA, if apartment owners can ban tobacco on their premises they can extend the prohibition to marijuana.

Carlton cited a provision in Prop 64  formally called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act  that forbids anyone from smoking or using marijuana or marijuana products where smoking tobacco is prohibited.

Second, Carlton said legal precedent affirms the private property rights of landlords to establish marijuana bans.

Bret Sachter, a Seattle attorney who represents clients in the pot industry in the state of Washington, said landlords are on solid legal footing, provided they put an explicit clause prohibiting pot in their leases.

Its the same as when you prohibit a pet, Sachter said. The right to smoke marijuana is not a protected status. There are some things you couldnt base (a ban) on  gender, race, religion, ethnicity. Those are constitutionally protected classes. A landlord, generally speaking, is not going to be required to do anything that falls outside a protected area.

From his experience in Washington, Sachter said the ban can also be extended to plants in a tenants residence, provided the landlord spells it out clearly. Under Californias Prop 64, adults 21 or older may possess up to six marijuana plants.

But what about tenants who are medical marijuana patients?

That may be a little tricky, Sachter said.

Some landlords have worried about running afoul of fair housing and disability laws from tenants with medical marijuana permits on the grounds of discrimination.

In the most recent legislative session in Sacramento, a bill giving landlords the right to ban marijuana smoking  even for medical use  passed through the state Assembly but did not get out of the Senate.

The bill was sponsored by the CAA as a way to get ahead of any potential regulations leading up to Prop 64 getting on the ballot, Carlton said.

In the CAAs interpretation, there is sufficient clarity in Prop 64 that allows landlords to establish whatever pot policy they want on their properties. Therefore, Carlton said, her group will not reintroduce the legislation.

As in any other case when a big change is made in the law, complications and potential disputes loom and lawsuits may follow.

But Sachter said he hasnt seen a rash of marijuana-related litigation since Washington passed its recreational pot law.

On a practical level, landlords generally want the money for business, so to create a big issue out of it is not really anything Ive seen, Sachter said. People were smoking marijuana here long before the law passed, as is the case everywhere else.

What you need to know now Prop 64 passed

Proposition 64, what happens next.

rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski

ALSO

Seven things to know now that Prop 64 has passed
Officials at Sempra Energy announced Wednesday the company has pulled out of a bid to buy 50 percent stake in a massive $5 billion pipeline project in Peru.

Negotiations have terminated without an agreement, the company said in a statement.

The sticking point centered on the Peruvian government of President Pedro Kuczynski refusing to guarantee the deal would be honored amid a corruption scandal involving the pipelines current owner, Odebrecht, an engineering company based in Brazil.

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As a consequence, a fundamental condition that was required for us to consider entering into a final and binding agreement was not satisfied, the Sempra statement said.

The 700-mile pipeline, called the Gasoducto del Sur, is considered to be one of Latin Americas biggest infrastructure projects .

Prosecutors are looking into a host of allegations, including charges of bribery involving former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and Odebrecht, something the company has denied.

Earlier this month, reports indicated the deal was about to be completed. In an investors call on Nov. 2, Sempra CEO Debra Reed said, Were hopeful but were also cautious.

A Fortune 500 company based in San Diego, Sempra has taken on a larger profile in Mexico, Central and South America in recent years.

rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski
Looks like Hollywood, rolls like Main Street

BY MARK MAYNARD

Cadillacs reborn XT5 crossover looks like Hollywood and rolls with good Midwestern values.

Cadillac says it developed the XT5 from the inside out and the result is a far more luxurious and drivable midsize five-seater than the SRX it replaces. Cadillac crossovers now wear the XT designation, for Cross Touring.

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There are many of these midsize crossovers now, but the XT5 has a compelling differentiator from the imports. Its designers know how to build a car with the features that will appeal to a North American audience.

The XT5 is roomy with contemporary interior design, V-6 power and a will to accommodate. It is a bit longer than the SRX with more rear seat legroom (39.5 inches) and back seats that recline and slide fore and aft.

Sold in front- or all-wheel drive, the XT5 is sold in four trim levels, all with a 310-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 and eight-speed automatic transmission. Starting prices range from $39,990 with front-drive to $63,495 for the Platinum AWD, which includes special interior and exterior elements and more advanced technologies. Pricing includes the $995 freight charge from Spring Hill, Tenn.

The Premium Luxury AWD tester (one step down from Platinum) was $57,725 with options for Crystal White tricoat paint ($995), Carbon Plum/Jet Black upholstery and trim elements with black olive ash burl wood trim ($995) and a compact spare tire with a cargo net ($350). Standard features include a heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated seats, a wireless charger, leather-trimmed upholstery, a 14-speaker Bose audio system, Ultraview sunroof with power sunshade, power liftgate and LED headlights and cornering lights.

Standard safety features include Cadillacs Driver Awareness and Driver Assist packages of automatic front and rear braking for low-speed conditions, lane keeping assist, rear cross traffic alert, side blind zone alert, full-speed range adaptive cruise control and automatic parking assist.

The interior is elegantly dressed with more of Cadillacs cut-and-sewn wrapped panels, rather than molded surfaces. The cabin is big on headroom (39.7 inches), elbow room and shoulder room. The 8-inch touchscreen and the Cadillac User Experience have been simplified with a more immediate response to the haptic-touch buttons  and with separate controls for fan and temperature. And while plum may be a trendy color, the testers Carbon Plum and Jet Black seat upholstery looked more like a mismatch or a bad dye lot.

The driver seat has more than 10 inches of fore-aft adjustment and more than 2.5 inches up and down. That should give about 97 percent of drivers an in-control position. The driver has eight-way power adjustment with six-way power for the passenger. The driver area is well organized with good sightlines over the hood, despite the fast angle of the windshield. Tall side glass helps over-the-shoulder views, with a quarter window at the rear sail panel.

The front-seat area has a number of handy slots, cup holders, plug-ins and a large lockable glove box. The wireless charger in the center armrest console has a clever slot to hold the phone in view but out of the way.

The back seat has good entry through doors that open almost perpendicular. The floor is flat for more three-across footroom. The seats have ample cushions to lean back and take in the mesmerizing view of nature TV through the Ultraview roof. The center fold-down armrest should have a strap to pull it into position, but there are other amenity details, such as grab handles, coat hooks, reading lights, seatback pockets and two USB ports.

The cargo area is large and square at 30 cubic feet behind the second row and with almost 6 feet of length with the seats folded. The 40/20/40 seatbacks have a spring-loaded remote release in the cargo area, but it takes a big heave-ho to push them back into position.

The V-6 has cylinder deactivation to run on four cylinders under low or moderate loads. Other fuel-saving measures include auto stop-start at idle, but it cannot be switched off. That can be an issue for those in gridlock commuting as the engine stops and restarts when the driver lifts a foot from the brake pedal.

A notable asset for commuters is the XT5s 22 gallon fuel tank. The AWD testers fuel-mileage ratings on the recommended 87 octane are 18 mpg city, 26 highway and 21 mpg combined. I worked up to 22.3 but more highway driving could bring up to 26.6 mpg as was indicated on the trip meter by a previous user.

The all-wheel-drive system is somewhat unique in that the XT5 can be driven in front-wheel drive (for improved fuel economy), then all-wheel-drive can be engaged by a switch on the shift console. The twin-clutch AWD system can transfer all traction to either axle or across the rear axle to either wheel that has lost traction.

The eight-speed automatic keeps the power flowing, but there can be an occasional hesitation between grabbing a gear and the engine moving between four and six cylinders while the computer discusses the action with the myriad safety aids. The electronic gear shift lever was notchy to use when selecting reverse.

Sport mode adds noticeable kick and firms up the suspension. The four-wheel vented disc brakes are large at 13.6 inches front and 12.4 inches rear.

The XT5 is far more luxurious and drivable than the SRX, but it is not as quiet and luxurious as some of the competing crossovers. What it may lack in cabin quiet or nimbleness, it overcompensates in American class function and usability.

Mark Maynard is the automotive editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Mark.Maynard@sduniontribune.com
An unusually shaped building at the Oceanside Harbor that holds the Joes Crab Shack restaurant could be torn down to make way for a more modern and larger facility.

The owner of the seafood chain, Houston-based Ignite Restaurant Group, is in talks with the city to demolish the two-story triangular building. A new, three-story building would house the new Joes Crab Shack on the same location.

Representatives of the restaurant chain did not return repeated calls for comment.

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The building first opened as an upscale Chart House restaurant in 1977, said Kristi Hawthorne, a president of the Oceanside Historical Society and vice president of events at the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce.

Landrys Restaurants Inc., which later became Ignite, purchased the Chart House chain of restaurants in 2002 and remodeled the Oceanside Harbor location into the Joes Crab Shack in 2003. The weather-worn building is now showing its age with peeling paint and rusted metal beams around the exterior.

Oceanside Harbor Manager Paul C. Lawrence said the city is working with Ignite regarding the building.

Last year, Ignite submitted a preliminary proposal to the city for the new building, but no official plans or permits have been filed, city officials said.

The existing Joes Crab Shack is a successful restaurant that has been in operation for several years but due to the condition of the building, it is not cost effective or feasible to remodel the building, which is why the new building is proposed, according to a letter submitted to the city along with some renderings.

The city owns the land beneath the building and leases it to the restaurant owners. Last year, the city received about $90,000 in rent payments.

The triangular building is just north of the Helgrens Sportfishing facility. Its second floor, which holds the main dining area, extends west over a sidewalk next to the water and partly hovers over docks.

Hawthorne said a new building would be a nice addition to the Harbor.

I think thats exciting to have something new down there and if its three stories thats fantastic, Hawthorne said.

In its heyday, the Harbors Chart House was a favorite place for city business leaders to take clients for an upscale meal. But in 2002 the restaurant was considered underperforming and Joes Crab Shack gave the restaurant a more casual atmosphere and lower priced meals.

The proposed new restaurant would have three levels. The first floor would include a delivery and storage area and elevators.

The second would have the main dining room, kitchen, restrooms and a small bar.

On the third floor, customers would be able to sit indoors or in an exterior rooftop seating area with a small bar and restrooms.

The building would be a more traditional, rectangular shape and would no longer protrude over the harbor. It would be built using high quality materials that are durable and will withstand the elements, while providing a high quality look that is aesthetically consistent with the harbor, according to the letter to the city.

edward.sifuentes@sduniontribune.com

@EdwardSifuentes
Students from military families may be more liable to get caught up in gangs, drugs or school violence, according to a Texas A&M researcher who is surveying military kids in Oceanside in order to avert those problems.

Tamika Gilreath, an associate professor at the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University, will conduct interviews with military-connected students in Oceanside Unified School District to learn more about the issues they face in school.

The point of the study overall is to develop a quick checklist for schools to use, to identify military connected youth who may be stressed out, or having bad experiences, Gilreath said.

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Gilreaths research pointed to a link between the uncertainty of military life, and the risks to students from those families.

In a July article in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Gilreath and fellow researchers reported that students with a parent or sibling in the military were more likely to say they are members of a gang than those without a military connection. The study, which reviewed 13,484 who responded to the California Healthy Kids Survey, also found that students who changed schools four or more times in a five-year period, or who experienced a parents deployment, were also more likely to join gangs. Earlier research also showed that kids with family members in the military may be more vulnerable to substance abuse, and more likely to be victims of bullying, she said.

However, the evidence of those risks is mixed. A recent report from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services examined the estimated 524,000 military children between ages 12 and 17, but found no meaningful differences between those kids rates of drug use and mental illness compared with peers from civilian families.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that military kids may be troubled by frequent relocations, anxiety about a parents pending deployment, and additional family responsibilies that children face while a parent is abroad, Gilreath said. Yet theres little quantitative information that explains how those stressors affect children, Gilreath said.

Basically, she is looking at military children, and factors that cause them stress as they move about the country and the world, based on the parent being deployed or having been deployed, said Barbara Perez, director of student services for the district.

Perez said there are certain common pitfalls for students from military families. For instance, she said, they may feel isolated because of the frequent moves associated with military service, and may fall behind in class as they switch schools.

The two new things are having friends when they get to a new place, and being able to adjust to the new academics, she said. Sometimes when the kids come they have academic gaps, because pacing and sequencing is different in different places and countries in the world.

Military life can also benefit families, Gilreath said, enabling children to become more resourcesful, responsible and independent. For instance, she said, students who help care for younger sisters or brothers during a parents deployment may develop closer bonds with siblings, and enjoy the extra time together. But the relentless pace of warfare during this century has pushed those limits, she said.

We know that military families are very strong, very resilient, but for the past 15 years the war on terror has put those families under exceptional duress: having extended deployments, coming back injured, she said.

To better understand thsoe pressures, Gilreath will conduct one-to-one interviews amongst youth in grades 7 to 12 at Stuart Mesa, Santa Margarita Elementary schools and El Camino High School. She plans to interview a total of 40 students, and will follow up with focus groups in the spring to help refine a questionnaire about the subject. Her study will be conducted at no cost to the district.

Theyre just looking at social emotional factors, and social adjustment, Perez said. How they blend into the academic world, how it is for them to move.

The interviews will take place on school grounds after class hours, and will require parents consent, she said. The questionaire, Gilreath said, could help identify students who need extra attention from teachers or school counselors. Perez said she hopes the research will provide insight into the unique needs of students from military families, and said the district already tries to help them adjust smoothly to new schools.

We have a welcoming schools program, which is student to student, she said. Its all about transitioning: trying to make their transition to a new state, a new school, a new classroom as comfortable as possible.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Kings of Beer

Ripper (5.7 percent alcohol by volume) is the fortunate result of Stone Brewings unfortunate New Coke venture. In 2015, the Escondido-based brewery followed the disastrous lead of the cola tycoons, revamping a successful beverage in an unsuccessful way.

In fact, Stone Pale Ale 2.0 may have been the least popular sequel since Speed 2: Cruise Control. (Remember that movie? Didnt think so.) Few mourners attended the burial of Pale 2.0, although its death opened the way for a new brew, Ripper.

This is a pale ale for IPA lovers. Pine-scented aromas and a crisp body may awaken fond memories of Pale 1.0, but Ripper is not a retread. Its sold malt base is given a jolt of passion fruit from an Australian hop, Galaxy, which harmonizes with the pine sap and grapefruit character of an American hop, Cascade.

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This weeks King, Ripper is an all-purpose beer, great with food or on its own.

Last weeks King, Allagashs Curieux (11 percent) is a Belgian-style tripel aged in bourbon barrels. The corked-and-caged 750ml bottle would make a handsome addition to a holiday table, and looks dont deceive. Complex and sparkling, this sophisticated beer is suitable for special occasions.

Drink for a cause

On Saturday and Sunday, youll have one more reason to order pints or growler fills at Belching Beaver (980 Park Centre Drive, Suite A, Vista) and Prohibition (2004 E. Vista Way, Vista). Each order will result in $1 donations to Solutions for Change.

The local nonprofit provides housing to the homeless.

Ballast Point is a European Star

San Diegos Ballast Point Brewing Co. enjoyed its stay in Germany this month, winning the most medals at the 13th annual European Beer Star in Munich.

The Miramar brewery took three gold medals and one silver.

Gold went to Dorado in the double IPA category; Black Marlin, English-style porter; and Barometer Drop, Baltic-style porter.

Ballast Point also received a silver medal for its Altbier, competing in the Dusseldorf-style Altbier category.

Sponsored by Germanys Private Brauereien, Beer Star is one of Europes largest beer competitions. More than 2,100 beers from 44 countries entered this years contest.

Black Friday goes dark

Last Thanksgiving, local fans of Goose Island Beer Co.s Bourbon County Stout waited overnight outside a College area liquor store. The next morning, Black Friday, Keg N Bottle began selling its 150-case allotment of the prized stout.

This Thanksgiving, fans can linger over the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, then snuggle in for a good nights sleep.

That allotment went to San Francisco this year, said Ron Shamoun, Keg N Bottles general manager.

The rare and rich stout will land in several major San Diego retailers this week, said Christiane DeSalvo, who manages Southern California sales for Goose Island and Anheuser-Buschs other specialty brands.

It will be in Whole Foods and BevMo, she said, and probably Gelsons.

As for Keg N Bottle, it expects two or three cases by next week  but no special event and no lines.

Beer Week, Mexicali-style

Stouts are the theme for the first Mexicali Beer Week, which begins Thursday and continues through Dec. 4.

Details are still trickling in, but here are some highlights:

Today: Beer Olympics, giant Jenga and beer pong contests, release of an extra dry stout, a collaboration from Fauna and Legion, at Cerveceria Legion, corner of Manuel Gomez Morin and Avenida Jazmines.

Friday: Beer trivia night and Miss Piggy, a rye stout from Puerco Salvaje and Amante, at Amante Brewery, corner of Avenida Jose Maria La Roque and Calle I.

Dec. 1: Live music from Feleo and Kiko King, plus an oatmeal stout with cocoa nibs, a collaboration by Urbana, Juguete and 686 breweries, at Cerveceria Urbana, 2064 Avenida Reforma.

Dec. 4: Beer Week Brunch Bunch, full menu plus every Mexicali Beer Week stout, noon, at Urbana, 2064 Avenida Reforma.

How to win $35,000

Earlier this year, Rough Draft Brewing won a $10,000 grant from the World Trade Center San Diegos MetroConnect export assistance program.

The cash was welcome, said brewery founder Jeff Silver, but so was the programs expert advice, which helped the brewery crack the beer markets in Canada, Spain and China.

Were doing out part to help the trade deficit,Silver said, one beer at a time.

The brewerys export campaign was so successful, last week it won MetroConnects grand prize: an additional $35,000.

When we are exporting beers to other countries, hopefully they will want more Rough Draft, Silver said. But I hope they will also want more beer from San Diego. Its good for all of us.

Words to drink by

God has a brown voice,/ as soft and full as beer.  Anne Sexton, For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God (1962).

Did you know

Immortalized in a Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas was a 10th century Bavarian ruler who threatened to execute anyone exporting the regions valuable hops.

Twitter: @peterroweut

peter.rowe@sduniontribune.com
California Ballet Company next month will kick off the expansion of its popular Sharing the Art program, which has provided more than 35,000 tickets to children with life-threatening illnesses and members of the military and their families since it began 11 years ago.

Starting with this seasons series of The Nutcracker productions, the newly expanded program, called Nutcracker Connect, will provide autism- and toddler-friendly shows at the companys longtime performance home, the San Diego Civic Theatre. Altogether the beefed-up outreach program, previously announced last summer, is designed to make theater accessible to a variety of audiences.

The autism-friendly performance of The Nutcracker, which California Ballet has been staging since 1971, is believed to be the first such production offered by a professional dance troupe on the West Coast, according to the company.

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Sharing the Art Program was born out of a desire by California Ballet  under the direction of Maxine Mahon, its San Diegos oldest professional dance organization  to increase accessibility to theatrical performances for groups that, for a variety of reasons, do not have easy access to productions such as California Ballets Nutcracker.

Many theaters already do autism-friendly productions, like the Old Globe locally for its Grinch shows, Diane Grosman, marketing director and ticketing services manager for California Ballet, said last June when the expansion was first unveiled. Its relatively new in the business of ballet. The goal here is really to make coming to the ballet a welcoming experience for everyone. We want to be inclusive.

Numerous special Nutcracker performances  a longtime staple of California Ballets outreach efforts and a tradition for many San Diego families  will be offered this season as part of Nutcracker Connect. It will comprise a combination of regular paid tickets and donated tickets to targeted Sharing the Art groups, such as military and Emilio Nares/ Rady Childrens Hospital cancer patients.

The 60-minute autism-friendly production  scheduled for Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m.  is adapted for people with a variety of sensory, intellectual, or development disabilities so that they may enjoy the performance with their families in a supportive, welcoming and safe environment, according to a statement. (More information at autismfriendlynutcracker.com.)

On Dec. 11, a Celebrating Life performance will bring children and adults with life-threatening illnesses and their families to the theater to experience The Nutcracker. Select attendees will be given a private backstage tour, where they will meet the artists and front-of-the-line privileges for photo opportunities with the ballerinas.

The toddler-friendly show  to be held Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.  will be open to toddlers under the age 4. This 60-minute presentation will feature relaxed theater rules and an informal atmosphere where parents may feel comfortable and confident introducing their little ones to live theater, according to a statement. There will be complimentary valet stroller parking at this performance. (More information at toddlerfriendlynutcracker.com.)

Dec. 21 will be Military Night, one of California Ballets most popular outreach efforts. Since 2010, more than 1,500 tickets have been provided to members of the military and their families. Pre-show festivities for the evening  funded in part by the California Arts Council  will include a color guard and a live performance of the national anthem. Attendees in uniform will receive a complimentary dessert voucher when they pose for a photo on the red carpet, according to the company.

A Dec. 22 El Cascanueces performance will highlight the concept that ballet has no language barrier. Tickets will be provided to individuals from Spanish-speaking communities in San Diego and Tijuana. As part of the effort to expand the ballets reach, Spanish program notes will be available, the event will be staffed with bilingual employees and a talk back with Spanish-speaking artists will follow the performance.

For more information about all of these programs, go to nutcrackerconnect.com.

RELATED

From the Old Globes Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas! to San Diego Musical Theatres Irving Berlins White Christmas, check out U-T theater critic James Heberts roundup of holiday theater productions in San Diego County, including the top productions of The Nutcracker.

RELATED

Burke Moses in the 2014 Old Globe production of Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas! J. Bernard Calloway is returning this season to play the lead role for the second time.

Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
Members of the Washu-Kai Japanese Brush Painting Society will hold demonstrations explaining the technique of sumi-e this weekend at Casa del Prado in Balboa Park. Imported from China to Japan in the 15th century, the watercolor art form uses themes from nature to create paintings in the fewest possible brush strokes. The 41st annual exhibition features sumi-e paintings, floral arrangements and a wearable art fashion show. Special painting demonstrations will be performed by Washus graduate student Wendy C. Nakamura (Kakushu) both days. Koto music will be performed by Masazumi Kai.

Sumi-e Ten Japanese Brush Painting Exhibition: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Casa del Prado, Room 101, Balboa Park. Free admission. (619) 239-0512 or washu-kai.com

carolina.gusman@sduniontribune.com
President-elect Donald Trump named Cabinet picks Wednesday who would bring some gender and racial diversity to his administration, as well as a degree of political independence, but raised questions about his pledge to seek experience in choosing stewards of vast government bureaucracies.

Trumps picks for United Nations ambassador, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, and for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos, a billionaire advocate of school vouchers, were the first two women named in a transition that had been dominated by white, male Trump loyalists.

Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Dr. Ben Carson, who is black, also said Wednesday that he was under serious consideration to serve as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

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The latest selections also offer some political diversity and could buffer Trump from criticism that he was filling out the top echelon of his administration exclusively with people who had backed his campaign.

Haley was openly critical of Trump during the Republican primary, endorsing two of his opponents before finally standing alongside the eventual nominee. DeVos was less outspoken in her reservations but contributed to at least two of Trumps rivals and went into the summer nominating convention telling the Detroit News she wasnt sure whether to back him.

Both are stalwarts of the Republican Party establishment that Trump so vigorously challenged.

But Haley and Carson, if he is chosen, would seem to contradict Trumps statement a day earlier, in an interview with the New York Times, that he valued expertise in stocking his administration.

Were trying very hard to get the best people  not necessarily people that will be the most politically correct people because that hasnt been working, Trump had said.

So we have really experts in the field. Some are known and some are not known, but theyre known within their field as being the best. Thats very important to me.

A popular and engaging governor and a rising star in the GOP, Haley, 44, has little background in foreign affairs. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon whose primary credential in housing policy may be that he once lived in tenement housing.

Days ago, a senior advisor said Carson thought he lacked the background needed to manage a federal agency.

Carson didnt want to take a position that could cripple the presidency, Armstrong Williams, an advisor to both Trump and Carson, told the Hill newspaper. HUD is responsible for administering low-income housing assistance, fair-housing laws, housing development and aid to neighborhoods in distress.

On Wednesday, however, Carson indicated a change of heart.

After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution, particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone, Carson said on Facebook. An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.

DeVos, 58, does have long experience in education policy, advocating for conservative goals and tangling with teacher unions.

She and her family  her father-in-law co-founded Amway and has a fortune that Forbes estimated at $5 billion  are among the nations biggest donors to the Republican Party and to conservative Christian causes, including opposition to same-sex marriage.

She is also a former four-time chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate, Trump said in a statement. Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.

DeVos moved quickly on Wednesday to reassure conservatives on one issue  the Common Core curriculum standards. She has been an ally of former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, who backed Common Core.

Many of you are asking about Common Core, she wrote on Twitter. To clarify, I am not a supporter  period.

Her selection suggests that Trump may make a priority of backing vouchers  a longtime conservative goal that he endorsed during the campaign. Voucher programs give tax funds to parents that they can use to pay for private or parochial schools if they find their local public schools unsatisfactory. DeVos has been a leading advocate of their use.

The status quo in education is not acceptable, DeVos said in a statement. Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential.

Teacher unions, which intensely oppose vouchers, denounced the selection of DeVos.

Trump makes it loud and clear that his education policy will focus on privatizing, defunding, and destroying public education in America, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. The sum total of her involvement has been spending her familys wealth in an effort to dismantle public education in Michigan.

The selection of Haley represented a nod by Trump to more moderate forces in the GOP, especially in the realm of global diplomacy.

An aide to Trump defended Haleys credentials, saying she had improved the South Carolina economy while engaging in overseas trade and recruitment travel.

The move also would give a promotion to one of Trumps early supporters, South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, who would move into Haleys job. For Haley, the U.N. post could provide a useful credential if she wants to seek higher office, much as it did for George H.W. Bush, who served as U.N. ambassador in the early 1970s.

The announcement of Haleys selection was somewhat unusual because Trump has not yet announced a secretary of State, the U.N. ambassadors nominal boss.

Aides say he is looking closely at former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a sharp critic of Trump during the campaign.

Some conservatives have attacked that possibility. Former GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, for example, said Wednesday that choosing Romney would be a big insult to Trumps voters.

Trump is also considering one of his most loyal backers, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. A Trump aide says the president-elect is spending significant time on that choice.

The selection is likely to be top of mind as Trump gathers with family at his Mar-a-Lago resort for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Times staff writer Joy Resmovits in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

christi.parsons@latimes.com

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

Follow @cparsons for news about the White House.

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Following a rare request to be relieved of duty, Cmdr. Sarah H. De Groot  the highly decorated skipper of the San Diego-based warship Rushmore  has been replaced this week.

Cmdr. DeWayne Sanders has temporarily taken the helm of the landing dock ship, according to a statement from Naval Surface Force spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Haggard.

Navy officials indicated that De Groot, 42, was not under investigation for any wrongdoing.

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She declined to comment when contacted at her home by the The San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday.

The Rushmore, an aging Whidbey Island-class amphibious warship, has been undergoing shipyard maintenance in its home port.

The training phase for its crew is not slated to begin until early 2017.

De Groot has long ties to the Rushmore. She took command of the vessel in March after serving two years as its executive officer. She also was the warships 1st lieutenant during her inaugural department head tour.

During the naval celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Rushmores commissioning, an event that took place on June 1, De Groot told her sailors that it was an honor to serve aboard the vessel, adding that their success during the maintenance availability ... will ensure the ship will have many more successes to come.

The Rushmore boasts a storied history.

During its first deployment, the amphib spearheaded the 1992 beach landing in Somalia, kicking off Operation Restore Hope. That campaign became the largest military-led humanitarian mission in history.

The 38th vice chief of naval operations, Adm. Michelle Howard, commanded the Rushmore in 1999  the first black woman to skipper an American warship.

In 2015, the Rushmore rescued 65 survivors who were clinging to a life raft that was spotted drifting through Indonesias Makassar Strait following a ferry disaster.

De Groot was raised in Long Beach. Her awards include five Navy and Marine Corps commendation medals and the Meritorious Service Medal.

After serving aboard the amphibious warship Pearl Harbor, she became the supercarrier Constellations combat systems maintenance officer in the early stages of the U.S.-lead invasion of Iraq in 2003. She returned to Iraq to become the force protection officer for Destroyer Squadron 50, where she guarded that nations offshore oil infrastructure during a brutal counter-insurgency war.

Her shore tours have included serving as flag secretary for the commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic and later as the top tactical action officer mentor for Afloat Training Group San Diego.

Despite 18 years of what naval officials described as exemplary service, De Groots resignation likely means the end of her Navy career.

cprine@sduniontribune.com
The six men at this months reunion for the World War II aircraft carrier Wasp spent much of their weekend at a Point Loma motel. They talked. They listened to a historian. They ate.

And one morning, they took a bus to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

There on a grassy hill, monuments honor three ships sunk during the war and the men who vanished with them. The lost vessels: the St. Lo and the Ommaney Bay, both escort carriers, and the Wasp.

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The veterans prayed, laid a wreath, then reboarded the bus. But part of them never left the cemetery.

Going there, said Jim Berry, the Wasp veteran who hosted the reunion, was the emotional highlight of the weekend.

 Jim Berry

San Diego is home to roughly 10,000 World War II veterans  and dozens of World War II monuments. They are made of carnelian granite and copper-clad marble, brick-and-mortar and terra cotta. They vary in size, from knee-high markers to towering sculptures, and in subject matter, from individual heroes to whole flotillas. Some are topped by busts of the famous; others remember men whose names are absent from the history books but ever-present in the family histories recounted by their descendants.

Each monument is as individual as the men, ships and squadrons they honor. But all convey the same message, the one inscribed on the marker for the St. Lo: We Do Remember.

In time, though, no one will truly remember the events of 1941-45. When that day comes, will these memorials still testify to an earlier generations sacrifice?

You know what I hope for? asked Berry, an 89-year-old Chula Vistan. That they dont tear em down.

Lucky ship

When people sat down 10 years ago to figure out what the USS San Diego memorial should look like  what it should honor  there was disagreement.

Veterans of the ship, one of the most decorated in World War II, wanted to celebrate their military success: 34 enemy engagements, 18 battle stars. In their camp, there was talk of anti-aircraft guns blazing.

Sculptors Eugene Daub and Louis Quaintance suggested something quieter. They wanted it to be a place of reflection, more about the ordeal of war, the sacrifice, than the winning.

What finally emerged was a little bit of both. Because of its placement on the busy waterfront, between Seaport Village and the USS Midway, its probably seen as often as any World War II monument in San Diego.

The ship went into service a month after Pearl Harbor. For three years it worked the Pacific Theater, traveling 320,000 miles. Kamikaze planes spiraling its way always missed. More than 1,700 men served on the ship. Not one was lost in combat. At wars end, the San Diego was the first Allied warship into Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender.

In the late 1990s, some of the ships surviving veterans decided they wanted a monument in San Diego. Daub, who lives in San Pedro, and Quaintance, who lives in Berkeley, won a competition to design it.

Both of us had parents in World War II, said Daub, whose father fought in the Army in the Philippines. This was a chance to be part of a wonderful cause, creating a legacy for everybody involved.

Their design mimics a ships bow, 28 feet tall, with walls angled in a V-shape. One wall lists the names of all who served on the ship. Writing on another wall calls the war perhaps the most singular unifying event in the history of the United States. On the floor is a map showing where the ship fought.

Another wall features a terra cotta relief of a battle scene, the San Diego surging through the ocean while shooting down an enemy plane. Its a nice way to represent that part of the story, Daub said.

When it came to designing the sculpture of a sailor resting along one of the walls, Daub said they wanted the face to reflect the reality of war: Utterly exhausted, totally spent, with some sadness, a little remorse, and the feeling that some things are beyond your control.

Taffy 3

Vice Adm. Clifton Ziggy Spragues eyes are unblinking and his jaw is chiseled  literally. Just steps from the San Diego memorial, Spragues bronzed bust sits atop a monument to Taffy 3, or Task Force Unit 77.4.3. If the cruiser San Diego enjoyed incredible good luck, this little force seemed doomed.

In October 1944, the destroyers, destroyer escorts and escort carriers under Spragues command were ordered to stop a larger, stronger Japanese flotilla in the Battle of Samar. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Americans turned back the Japanese battleships and cruisers, but lost dozens of planes and five ships.

For the rest of his life, John Ibe would remember abandoning the doomed escort carrier St. Lo and floating among its oily wreckage. After three hours of bobbing in the sea, he was hauled to safety by sailors from another U.S. vessel.

He wouldnt be alive without the bravery of those men, said Shelly Edwards, who later served as Ibes assistant at his San Diego commercial real estate company.

Ibe, who was 84 when he died in 2006, campaigned to build monuments at Fort Rosecrans to the ships, squadrons and men of Taffy 3. Once that was accomplished, he turned to this waterfront memorial, then to one nearby honoring the late comedian Bob Hope for his USO tours to entertain the troops.

Ibe started out with the first one and just kept going, said his son, Mike, Im sure if he was still around, hed be working on another one now.

52 boats

Doug Smay was the driving force behind Liberty Stations 52 Boats Memorial, which honors each of the U.S. submarines lost during the war. His father did 13 patrols in the Silent Service and felt lucky to have survived.

The black granite monuments line sidewalks that border a huge lawn at what used to be the Naval Training Center. There are 52 trees, too  Liberty Elms from New Jersey.

Trees are how the whole thing started, some 15 years ago. Smay was walking along Mission Bay and saw a plaque and 52 trees. He thought maybe it was a tribute to the lost subs. Turns out it was in honor of the 52 Americans taken hostage in Iran in November 1979 and held for 444 days.

It gave me the idea, he said.

Making the idea reality was harder and took longer than he imagined, a sometimes tortured walk through government bureaucracy. But the result is frequently stirring.

Each monument tells a single subs story. The men who died, some 3,500, are listed under this heading: On Eternal Patrol. There are tales of mishap (subs that collided with reefs), mystery (subs that disappeared) and bravery (a commander atop his sub who ordered the hatch closed to save the ship from enemy attack, even though he doomed himself).

On the anniversary of each subs sinking, Smay goes to the park in the morning and places an American flag next to the appropriate monument. In the evening, he comes back to remove the flag. He often sees other people catching up on history, and that makes him happy.

Many people dont realize what the submarines did during the war, he said.

The San Diego chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II helped raise about $250,000 for the 52 Boats Memorial. Most of its members, including Smays father, Howard, died before the dedication in March 2010.

But he knew it was going to be built, Smay said. He saw the architects drawings.

Now there are so few members of the chapter left that its dissolving. The national organization held its final reunion earlier this month. It, too, is shutting down.

Hometown heroes

Some of the countys World War II monuments arent about a particular ship or battle  theyre small, respectful nods from a specific town or neighborhood to the boys who never came home.

In Ramona, theres a softball field at the corner of 9th and G streets, a few blocks south of Main. There are concrete bleachers behind home plate, and on the back side of the bleachers, in an alcove, theres a rusted metal plaque set into the wall.

At the top of the plaque is an eagle and the words World War II. Underneath that it says, THIS MEMORIAL DEDICATED MAY 30, 1946 TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF OUR VALIANT VETERANS WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR GOD AND COUNTRY.

It lists 11 names, which seems like a lot for a town as small as 1940s Ramona. The first names could have come from just about any high school yearbook of that era: Robert, John, James, Harold, Charles (twice), William, Angelo, Archie, Joseph, Elario.

In Little Italy, Piazza Basilone lists a dozen of that communitys fallen, too, right behind a bust of one of the most storied U.S. Marines in history, Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone. He was from New Jersey, but Italian-American communities all across the country claim him as their own.

Basilone received a Medal of Honor for bravery on Guadalcanal in 1942, was brought home to help sell war bonds and grace the cover of Life magazine. Then he asked to return to combat. At Iwo Jima, in February 1945, he single-handedly took out an enemy bunker before being killed by an artillery shell. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart.

Seven years ago, Basilone was one of four Marines featured on U.S. postage stamps. A current crop of admirers has created their own monument to him  a Facebook page.

The Wasp

The slopes of Fort Rosecrans are dotted with memorials honoring soldiers of the Mexican-American War, the Mormon Battalion, Taffy 3 and the sailors who died in 1905 when the Bennington exploded in San Diego Bay. Even in this crowd, the Wasp is easy to find. Its monument sits at the foot of a hill, below the cemeterys office.

Berry visits several times a year. He reads the plaque, which lists everyone who died while sailing on this carrier, from its 1940 voyages across the North Atlantic to its 1942 demise in the South Pacific. Two names always give him pause: Ezell Douberley and Eddie Wicker.

I talk to all my friends, he said. It means a whole lot.

This one-sided conversation will end some day, but a new discussion has begun. At this years reunion of the USS Wasp CV-7 Stingers Club, friends and family outnumbered Wasp survivors by five-to-one. Typical of the younger members is Matt Heffernan, a grandson of a Wasp sailor who died in 1946.

Heffernan, 43, never met his grandfather and knew nothing about the Wasp until a few years ago, when he found the carrier mentioned on the Internet.

I found this group, the Denver resident said. Now Ive got a whole bunch of grandfathers.

And they have a leader. Although he was born more than a quarter century after the carrier sank, Heffernan was recently elected the USS Wasp CV-7 Stingers Clubs president.

U-T San Diego librarian Merrie Monteagudo helped research this article.
A teenage girl was fatally shot in Lynwood on Wednesday night, caught in the middle of what detectives believe to be a gang-related shooting.

Danah Rojo Rivas, 16, may have been the victim of car-to-car crossfire as she was on her way home from church with her family, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

Deputies responded to a gunshot victim call in the 12600 block of Long Beach Boulevard around 9:30 p.m., authorities said.

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The girl was riding in the back seat of her familys car with her small white poodle her lap. Her 18-year-old brother also was in the car, sitting in the passenger seat. As her mother drove east on Euclid Avenue, a possible car-to-car shooting or chase approached from behind.

Authorities said the target vehicle, a burgundy Saturn SUV, was trying to get away from the shooter but was caught in traffic at the light at Euclid Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard. A male adult suspect then exited a vehicle and began shooting multiple rounds at the target.

One of the rounds hit the car the teenager was in, tearing through the back near the license plate and striking the girl in her upper torso, the sheriffs department said.

The suspect then made a U-turn and fled the scene. The intended target also fled.

When the teenagers mother realized her daughter had been shot, she pulled over along Long Beach Boulevard. Paramedics treated the girl, but she died at the scene.

No description of the suspects car was available, but detectives believe there could be more than one person involved in the shooting. No weapon has been recovered.

The victims mother and brother were not injured, but the dog ran into the street during the incident and was struck by oncoming traffic. It died at the scene.

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini

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As hate crimes surge in California and across the country, Los Angeles law enforcement leaders came together Wednesday to promise they will not let the city fall victim to fear.

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey spoke about the wide-ranging effects that bias crimes can have on the city and county, urging victims of crimes with a racial or religious motive to come forward immediately.

Hate crimes are often underreported. Feuer said victims should not fear speaking to police because of their immigration status.

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Acts of hate tear at the fabric of who we are as a nation, and we want to send a strong message that no one should be reluctant or afraid to report a hate crime, he said. None of us is ever going to re-victimize someone who is either a victim or a witness of a hate crime.

Hate crimes surged in California and across the nation last year, and a spate of bias incidents that followed Donald Trumps victory on election day have also drawn serious concerns from police and human rights activists.

Beck said hate crimes have increased in Los Angeles by 19% compared with last year, and the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations reported a 24% increase in bias crimes in 2015. The 483 reported hate crimes in the county marked the largest total since 2011, according to the commission.

Bias crimes rose by 7% across the U.S. in 2015, according to FBI data, and crimes deemed anti-Muslim rocketed up by nearly 67%. There were 257 reported bias crimes against Muslims last year, compared with 154 in 2014.

Beck did not blame the local increase on any particular group, despite concerns that the recent election cycle has mobilized fringe white separatist and nationalist groups.

Hate crimes, Beck said, need to be combated swiftly because of the outsize effect they can have on communities that are victimized.

The fear of other is very, very strong in humanity. ... This cannot stand, he said. This cannot be something we allow as a people.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.

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After the San Diego County registrar finished counting votes Wednesday, Encinitas Mayor Kristin Gaspar had extended her lead over Supervisor Dave Roberts by 1,069 votes.

Gaspar had 111,585 of the votes, or 50.25 percent, to the incumbents 110,495 votes, or 49.75 percent.

Gaspar took the lead on Nov. 18 after being behind since the election on Nov. 8. Roberts seat was the only county supervisor race contested in the general election.

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Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, also continued to maintain his advantage over Democratic challenger Doug Applegate. Through Wednesday, returns from Orange and San Diego counties showed that Issa was ahead by 3,003 votes.

San Diego County has an estimated 86,000 mail-in and provisional ballots still to be counted, while Orange County has nearly 49,000 to count. Its not known how many of the uncounted ballots are in the supervisorial or congressional districts.

The registrar of voters in both counties are expected to release another round of results on Friday.

State law requires counties to certify their election results by Dec. 8.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
Dr. Leon Kelley has heard it all, seen it all, diagnosed it all.

A virus, Kelley assured the mother of 3-year-old Jaionii Pires, after examining the girls sore throat and rash.

This will take care of it, he said, writing a prescription. Youll see.

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To Jaioniis mom, those were comforting and convincing words. Long ago, Trena Pires learned to trust Kelley  she grew up as one of his patients.

After practicing pediatrics in southeastern San Diego for 47 years, Kelley often examines the children and grandchildren of former patients. Hes a calm, healing figure for generations of locals who swear by this local legend.

A modest man, Kelley shrinks from the legend tag. But what else do you call someone whose portrait appeared on Facebook, unidentified except for the caption: You aint from Southeast if you dont know him...

Within hours, the page filled with tributes: thats my daughters dr, my sons 2, that everybody Doctor, my brother had him & so does my godson whos 3.

While hes been a constant presence, Kelley is about to disappear. He was the second African-American pediatrician in San Diego, and hes retiring Monday  the day before his 77th birthday.

Predictably, his parting message is low-key and reassuring. He noted that his Lincoln Park office remains part of the Childrens Primary Care Medical Group, an affiliate of Rady Childrens Hospital.

Children in the community are going to get top care, he promised, as good as anywhere in the country.

Segregation, there and here

When Dr. Geoffrey Abell first met Kelley nine years ago, he thought the older guy could be a musician or artist.

He just has that sort of demeanor, said Abell, who is now 45 and one of Kelleys associates. If anyone wants to know how to be cool as an older guy, they need to hang out with him.

Abells first impressions were not far wrong. Kelleys mother, Maudeline, led a neighborhood orchestra in Chicago. She instilled in her son a lifelong love of music  he still plays cello and sings in a church choir. As a teen, though, he noticed something about his music teacher, a performer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

I realized that for him to make a living, he had to teach students like me, Kelley said.

The teen had also inherited the scientific aptitude of his father, Preston, a pharmacist. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he left for Meharry Medical College in Nashville.

He arrived in 1960, when that southern city was at the epicenter of the civil-rights movement. Despite rigorous studies  professors at Meharry, a predominantly black school, warned that protesters who were jailed or hospitalized would fall hopelessly behind  he marched in a few demonstrations.

By the time he graduated in 1964, much had changed in the South, if not everywhere.

When I came to Nashville, everything was segregated, he said. When I left Nashville, everything was integrated.

Then I came to San Diego and everything was segregated again.

He came west as a naval officer, interning at the Navys hospital in Balboa Park. He spent a year at sea, then washed ashore for a residency. In 1970, he left the service as a lieutenant commander.

Inspired by another Meharry graduate and San Diegos first African-American pediatrician, Dr. Joseph Joyner, Kelley established his civilian practice in one of San Diegos poorer areas.

Hes been there ever since.

I wanted to be there. Thats where the majority of minorities were, Kelley said. That sounds altruistic, but thats what our college taught us.

We had to go out into the community that we came from.

Drawing a crowd

Like patients, doctors need insurance. For a black doctor with a financially shaky clientele, obtaining coverage was a challenge.

You couldnt get insurance companies to cover us, Kelley said. They would rather pay more for a hospital than less to have someone see us as an outpatient.

There was strength in numbers, though, and in 1973 Kelley and nine other African-American physicians united to found Southeast Medical Center Associates.

Thirty years later, the complex had doubled in size, bringing in more specialists to serve the community. Some were drawn by the chance to work in a neighborhood where the needs are great. Others came because of a certain physicians reputation.

Dr. Kelley is a doctors doctor, said Dr. Rodney Hood, former president of the National Medical Association, a group that represents more than 50,000 African-American doctors. Everyone trusted him, and a lot of doctors sent their children to him.

He had a winning way with nurses, too, or at least one of that profession. Jewel Williams was a pediatric nurse at Paradise Valley Hospital in National City when she learned that the cool, quiet doctor had family in her native Oklahoma town.

He cant be all bad, she told herself.

He wasnt. They married in 1973, a second union for both. Together, they raised his three children and her four.

Hes a regular guy, said stepdaughter Kelly Williams, who happens to be this amazing person when it comes to caring for patients  and for all of us kids.

This regular guy was Women Incorporateds Distinguished Male in 2007. Mentors African-American high school and college students. Annually conducts Handels Messiah at Christ United Presbyterian Church in South Park. Draws a crowd in a crowded stadium.

Well go to a Chargers game, Jewel Kelley said, and at the concession stand someone will say, Dr. Kelley? Then everybody comes up: You were my doctor, You were my doctor.

He appreciates the appreciation but suspects its time to go. His office now has four other pediatricians, all young and talented, all supported by the resources of Rady Childrens Hospital. He insists that his patients are in good hands, while his own hands are not what they once were.

I know a pediatric urologist whos 83 years old, Kelley said. How good is he? Not as good as he was when he was 50.

But ask Kelleys patients. How good is this gray-haired pediatrician?

The best, Trena Pires said. I wouldnt go anywhere else.
A long-awaited independent analysis of traffic stops by San Diego police shows that race and ethnicity isnt a significant factor in determining who police pull over, but blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be searched and questioned in the field after being stopped.

The 140-page report by San Diego State University researchers, based on nearly 260,000 traffic stops in 2014 and 2015, concludes that different treatment of blacks and Hispanics contributes to tension between minority communities and the Police Department.

The report, released Wednesday, suggests several changes to department policy, training procedures and data collection that city officials said they have already made or intend to make quickly.

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Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in an interview she is optimistic enhanced officer training is already making a difference in police relations with the citys minority communities and has helped contribute to race and ethnicity not being a factor in who gets pulled over.

I believe that virtually all of our officers do the right thing, for the right reasons, in a very caring, compassionate and empathetic manner, Zimmerman said.

She also cautioned against overemphasizing statistics.

Statistics are a great piece of evidence, but not the only piece of evidence, she said. They dont necessarily tell the entire story.

Zimmerman acknowledged, however, that there remains a perception in parts of the community that minorities are more likely to be pulled over and mistreated by police after getting stopped.

We hear from some community members, not all, that they believe we pull some people over at a higher rate, she said. Thats why we need to continue having an open and honest dialogue to build trust.

Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who has lobbied for the release of the report for months, said it was a call to action for the city.

Theres enough there to say the training needs to change, the culture needs to change and weve got some work to do to satisfy some very legitimate concerns in our minority communities, Emerald said. The report shows there are real disparities, and the community is justified in feeling that police are targeting black drivers. Theyre treated very differently. Theyre pulled out of the car and theyre searched.

The report comes at a time when racial profiling and mistreatment of people of color by police has prompted violence, civil unrest and passionate debate in many places across the nation, including San Diego.

The analysis compared traffic stops during night hours, when police cant tell the race of drivers due to darkness, to traffic stops during daylight hours, when police can tell the race of drivers. That allowed them to gauge the difference.

Only stops for equipment and moving violations were included, not stops prompted by searches for a suspect in a crime or stops in conjunction with code enforcement efforts.

The data show that while blacks were pulled over more than whites in 2014, based on their population, the disparity disappeared in 2015 and wasnt statistically significant when the two years were analyzed together.

But when individual divisions of the Police Department were analyzed over the two-year period, officers in the Northeastern Division, which includes Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch, pulled over blacks and Hispanics more than whites.

In contrast, officers working in neighborhoods south of Interstate 8, which are more racially and ethnically diverse, were more likely to pull over whites than blacks or Hispanics.

Across the city, there was no statistically significant difference by race in the arrest rates for people pulled over, according to the report.

And while blacks and Hispanics were searched more than whites throughout the city, they were less likely than whites to be found with contraband or illegal items, the study said.

In addition, blacks were less likely than whites to receive citations when researchers compared drivers who were stopped under similar circumstances.

City officials and community leaders have been lobbying for the traffic stop reports release for months. The public has previously only had access to some of the findings as described by SDSU researchers, not the full range of data those findings are based on.

The release of the full report was delayed partly because city officials had concerns with earlier drafts they received, said Ron Villa, the citys deputy chief operating officer.

We met with the researchers several times to gain an understanding and clarity on where they were coming from, Villa said.

He said the city wasnt trying to quash a negative assessment of its police force. We never requested that they change their findings, and they didnt, Villa said.

Joshua Chanin, the lead researcher for the SDSU report, did not return a phone message and an email on Wednesday.

Villa said the goal was to make the report clearer, more user-friendly for the public and more accurate.

An 11-page letter city officials sent last week to the SDSU researchers focused on many concerns, most notably conclusions from data disparities that city officials characterized as insignificant.

Villa said city officials are pleased with the final version of the report, which cost $62,500.

We wanted to maintain the objectivity of the researchers, so there was no action to identify that they needed to change this or that finding, he said. The final report incorporates a lot of the things that we requested. We paid for this report, so we wanted to make sure that the taxpayers got a meaningful report, and its a quality product.

Villa said releasing the report on the day before Thanksgiving, when some city officials and community leaders who have been clamoring for the findings would be unavailable to comment, was not an attempt to limit the attention the document gets.

We got the report (Tuesday) night, and we wanted to stand by our commitment to release it as soon as possible, Villa said.

He added that city officials wanted to give the public as much time as possible to digest the analysis before next Wednesday, when the City Councils Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee is scheduled to discuss it.

Councilwoman Emerald, the chair of that committee, said the timing of the reports release was frustrating.

We get this a lot  things dumped in the afternoon before a weekend or a holiday when people are heading out of the office and just after theyve checked their emails for the last time of the day, she said, suggesting that Mayor Kevin Faulconer wanted to minimize comment on the report and control discussion of it.

Faulconer declined to be interviewed but released this statement: I strongly believe that community relationships and public safety go hand in hand. The stronger the community partnerships are, the more successful our Police Department will be at keeping our neighborhoods safe. This is why were continuing to move forward to implement the recommendations in this report.

Emerald said she was grateful that Faulconers staffers kept their promise to release the report before Thanksgiving and soon enough so that community leaders can analyze it before Wednesdays committee debate.

The most important thing was to have everybody who has a stake in this read the entire report, go through it line by line, and understand the science of it and how the researchers arrived at their conclusions, she said.

Andre Branch, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that although he had not had a chance to read through the entire report, the findings that were shared with him were alarming.

Particularly troubling, he said, was that police were more likely to search black and Hispanic drivers than white drivers, which indicated to him that better training is still needed so that these populations arent subjected to unreasonable searches that lead to nothing.

They seem to be looking for something under the assumption that there must be something illegal going on, Branch said.

The Rev. Shane Harris, president of the National Action Network San Diego, said the studys findings show how police interactions with blacks and Hispanics after a traffic stop align with what he has seen and heard in the community.

The response from police is more likely to be intrusive, Harris said, adding that some police officers might be more uncomfortable when confronting a person of color in the field.

He commended the citys political leaders for requesting the study and understanding a need for data to verify (or contradict) public perceptions. But he explained that while the study provides some of that data, it doesnt adequately address a broader problem of harassment by police.

Just because they didnt arrest me doesnt mean it gave them a right to harass me, Harris said.

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has urged the city for months to release the report, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman said the report was too much to digest quickly, but that ACLU officials plan to thoroughly analyze it before next weeks City Council committee meeting.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A six-block section of El Cajon Boulevard in City Heights has long been the central hub of the local Vietnamese community and now that designation is official.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to establish that corridor  from Euclid to Highland avenues  as the Little Saigon Cultural and Commercial District. About 70 percent of the businesses there are owned by Vietnamese-Americans.

The new district is expected to serve as the center of Vietnamese art, music, food and culture as well as a tourist destination spurring economic activity and revitalization. Besides creating a marketing opportunity, the designation will lead to welcome signs identifying the area to visitors.

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Frank Vuong, president of the Little Saigon San Diego Foundation, said its widely understood that the best way to market a product is to create a brand.

The Little Saigon district is one such product that San Diego can market as a cultural, commercial and tourist destination, he said.

Vuong later added, We want to see more customers and higher-quality services. We want to change the image of City Heights as an undesirable place to a desirable place to live, work and play.

The fall of Saigon in 1975 led several hundred thousand Vietnamese to relocate to the United States. The current population in the San Diego region is roughly 40,000, making them the second largest Asian-American community in the county behind Filipino Americans.

In a quarter-mile radius of the new district, there are more than 120 businesses owned or operated by Vietnamese-Americans.

Several business and community groups supported the creation of the Little Saigon district, including the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, the City Heights Area Planning Committee and the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.

David Moty, board chairman of the Kensington-Talmadge Planning Group, said the district will help develop local business leadership to address issues such as storefront face-lifts, crime and building repair.

This area doesnt have the walkable advantages of North Park, Main Street, downtown or Normal Heights, but change comes one step at a time and we endorse the opportunity presented here today, he said.

Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who represents City Heights, said the new district is an opportunity to create a remarkable area that will attract people from throughout the region and state.

This is not only an expression of the diversity that makes San Diego and, in particular, City Heights so special, she said. It also speaks to the unity in a community that respects the differences that we share and learns from them and acknowledges that all of these different cultures, all of these different communities coming together enriches all of us.
San Diegos first transgender police officer was kept out of an event at the San Diego LGBT Community Center in Hillcrest last week because she was wearing her uniform.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event to honor those who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence, was held Nov. 17 at the facility on Centre Street.

Officer Christine Garcia, who publicly transitioned last year, helped plan the event and was part of the police department security detail that watched over a commemorative march down University Avenue.

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After the march, when Garcia tried to enter the event as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, she was asked to leave because her police uniform could upset others in attendance.

When leaders at the center learned what had happened they directly apologized to Garcia and San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman.

We do not wish to ever make any community member feel unwelcome at The Center  these officers are valued members of our community, said Delores Jacobs, CEO of the center, in a statement.

Jacobs said the occurrence was a regrettable misunderstanding of the centers already existing policy of inclusion, which seeks to acknowledge the concerns that members of the community may have without excluding others. Leaders have reviewed the policy with its staff since the event.

While we need to support those that are uncomfortable and honor their reactions to valid and understandable difficult previous experiences, we also need to explain that our LGBTQ San Diego police liaisons are a valued part of our community, Jacobs wrote.

Longtime LGBTQ activist, City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez, said the incident was an outrage.

Any officer, be they gay or straight, should be welcomed into our community center in uniform, he said. They protect our community and neighborhoods and make San Diego a better place.

Murray-Ramirez said relations between the LGBTQ community and the police department have vastly improved over the last several decades, in part because of the work done by community liaisons such as Garcia.

Theyve really reached out to the community, he said of the department. Theyve gotten to know the community. There are always rotten apples, but on a whole we have progressed greatly. And were very appreciative of them and that progress.

The police department said Garcia would not be available to comment for this story.

Police Lt. Scott Wahl, a department spokesman, praised Garcias work in the LGBTQ community, noting she had recently been awarded by several organizations.

The San Diego Police Department enjoys having a great relationship with the LGBTQ community, he wrote in a statement. We look forward to continuing our partnership in keeping our community safe.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
A name means everything in our world. Whether it is the name of a child, the name of a school, the name of a special neighborhood in a community, or even the name of a community parade  a name is a window into the heart of the giver.

That is why the subject of this brief commentary is the importance of a particular name that needs to be changed in order to reflect the proper window of an entire communitys heart.

Specifically, I am referring to the La Jolla community parade that is held every year in early December to celebrate the holiday season. Since its beginnings many decades ago, this annual festive parade has been named The La Jolla Christmas Parade. During the early 20th century, when La Jolla was a small, and exclusive, seaside community essentially restricted to Caucasians of the Christian faith, this name was indeed the window of the communitys heart and, therefore, appropriate.

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However, things began to change in the 1950s and 1960s when previously sleepy, and relatively exclusive, La Jolla began to evolve into a major technological giant in San Diego, and eventually, the world. This change began when General Atomics was created at the then upper outskirts of La Jolla, and then again when the state agreed to develop what is now UC San Diego on nearby land.

These events changed everything  in the physical real estate landscaping and, most importantly, the composition of the population of La Jolla. Gradually, from the late 1960s to the present day, La Jollas citizenry evolved from an all-white Christian population to a highly diverse, heterogeneous citizenry consisting of Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists and others.

Todays La Jollans reflect the vast heterogeneity of peoples found everywhere on our planet, and contribute magnificent resources of both innovation and wealth throughout our community and the world. Our towns most dedicated benefactor, Ellen Browning Scripps, must certainly be smiling from above.

Why is it important to discuss the significance of changing the name of an annual December parade in La Jolla? Because we, as citizens, should choose a name that most accurately defines our local annual parade as the true window into our hearts as it exists today. Moreover, and unbeknown to most of the local public, we are actually breaking the law  as stipulated by the Supreme Court. Heres why:

The accepted definition of Christmas is: 1. A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus. 2. Dec. 25, the day on which this feast is observed as a public holiday in many countries.

According to current Supreme Court edicts, the following stipulation provides that: Religion is a pervasive and enduring human phenomenon which is an appropriate, if not desirable, subject of secular study.

However, there is a critical difference between practicing religion and teaching about religion. Most importantly, it is constitutionally permissible for public schools to teach about religion but unconstitutional for public schools to observe religious holidays or practice religion. School officials and parents must be careful not to cross the line between the laudable educational goal of promoting a students knowledge of and appreciation for this nations cultural and religious diversity, and the impermissible endorsement of religion forbidden by the Establishment Clause.

The Supreme Court has said that religion may only be studied when it is presented objectively as part of a secular program of education. Such study must have a distinctly nonreligious purpose.

In short, these rulings preclude the exclusionary use of terminology referring to a singular religion.

For these, and other reasons stated at the outset, the word Christmas must be removed from the annual La Jolla Parades title, and the parade renamed to one that is faith-neutral. The new name must reflect our currently existing widely diverse and heterogeneous composition of La Jollas present citizenry, which includes people of all faiths and beliefs.

Katz, a semi-retired physician, is a former chairman of immunology at Scripps Research and founder of several La Jolla biotech companies. He has lived in La Jolla since 1976.

Editors note: We invited the La Jolla Christmas Parade organization to submit an opposing viewpoint, but the invitation was declined.

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Donald Trumps election has unleashed a flood of animus against Mexican-Americans.

Within 24 hours of the election, Mexican-Americans across the nation (along with many other racial, ethnic, religious, and LGBTQ groups) were being verbally and even physically attacked. A novelist friend of mine tweeted a criticism of Trump and a stranger threatened him with deportation. Similarly sad, demeaning and terrifying stories are erupting all over social media.

The hostility percolates down to the most intimate levels. A lovely man joked that my son was not patriotic enough to use equipment emblazoned with an American flag but not to worry, they would not deport him.

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At a friends school, 8-year-olds teased their Mexican-American classmates that they could be deported. Parents said it was just kids being kids. Many perpetrators dont think they are racist or insist they are just joking. But the message is clear: You dont belong here.

What we are seeing is the reanimation of longstanding stereotypes  what I call racial scripts  that present Mexicans as unassimilable, criminal, even diseased.

We like to describe ourselves as a melting pot nation. Immigrants, we say, can learn our language, appreciate our culture, and adopt our values and ultimately become American. This has been the script for white ethnic immigrants, even those who faced discrimination, such as the Irish, Italians, and Jews.

But Mexicans have had citizenship available to them for nearly 170 years. So why arent they seen as fully assimilated into U.S. culture? Why can Donald Trump still call them bad hombres, rapists, criminals, and disease carriers?

Presumably much of this animus derives from concerns about the estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., about half of whom are Mexican (Pew Foundation). But we cant characterize all immigrants as lawless marauders simply because theyre undocumented. Those with criminal records are already being deported.

Many argue that being undocumented alone qualifies migrants as criminalsthey are illegal. But the history of who gets to be legal in our country is complex. European immigrants who came to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries faced few restrictions. And even when immigrants broke the rules, short statutes of limitation meant they were rarely deported.

When laws changed in 1924, the federal government took steps to help make European immigrants legal and pave the way for their eventual assimilation. Deportations were suspended, and immigrants could pay a small fee to register when they arrived in the United States.

Mexican immigrants enjoyed no such opportunities. Instead, they faced increasing regulation through the Border Patrol, established in 1924. Health screenings at the border used race, not symptoms, as the organizing principle. Other forms of control worked outside the law. Like African-Americans, thousands of Mexicans were the victims of lynch mobs well into the 1900s, a legacy documented in community and archival records.

In the 1920s, like now, employers opposed immigration quotas because they limited the availability of low-wage labor. But even this supposed openness to Mexicans nonetheless cast them as alien workers, not as immigrants arriving to the American melting pot. And during the Great Depression, when Mexican labor was no longer needed, the U.S. sent an estimated 1 million Mexicans back to Mexico, including some U.S. citizens of Mexican descent.

All these practices entrenched the racial scripts that characterized Mexicans as unassimilable, illegal and diseased.

These scripts persisted even as Mexican-Americans became a permanent and visible part of U.S. society. After the mid-1940s, U.S.-born Mexican-Americans outnumbered immigrants.

Yet these American citizens were segregated from mainstream America. They were shunted into neighborhoods by racial covenants and discriminatory government lending practices.

Their children attended Mexican schools and were only allowed to swim in public pools the day before the water was drained. They sat in the segregated section of movie theaters, were barred from restaurants (along with Negroes and dogs), and were buried  even veterans  in segregated cemeteries.

We dont have to look far to see that these racial scripts are still extended to all Mexicans, regardless of citizenship status, generations in the United States, educational level, income, language ability or even skin color.

We saw the script at work when Trump declared that a U.S. district judge, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents, had an inherent conflict of interest and could not be trusted to render a fair verdict.

And we see it in a would-be role models joke that my fourth-generation American son doesnt deserve to carry American flag-decorated gear. We all agree that right thoughts lead to right words lead to right action. We must ask ourselves what scripts we are acting out and what they will lead to, regardless of our intent.

Molina is a professor of history, urban studies, Latino/a studies, immigration, gender and public health at UC San Diego. She is a third-generation Mexican-American and the author of two award-winning books: How Race is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts and Fit to be Citizens: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939.

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The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.

E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com

Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.

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The November election was chock-full of wake-up calls for elected officials and policymakers on the national level. Here in San Diego, our regional planning agency received its own rude awakening in the rejection of Measure A, which would have imposed a regional half-cent sales tax to fund $18 billion in transportation projects over the next 40 years.

Some have read the rejection of Measure A as a sign that San Diegans dont want to pay more taxes, or that our transportation system is working just fine as it is. But thats a fundamental misunderstanding of why voters rejected the measure.

In reality, the defeat of Measure A was a vote of no confidence in the San Diego Association of Governments, the agency charged with setting the agenda for transportation projects in the county.

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SANDAG is a regional agency whose board is made up of local elected officials from jurisdictions throughout San Diego County. It is responsible for meeting local transportation and land-use planning needs. SANDAGs decisions have a huge influence on the entire county, including on whether or not the region can meet state mandates aimed at curbing the worst effects of climate change.

Through Measure A, SANDAG asked voters for more money to stay on its current trajectory of investing heavily in roads and freeways with token funds for active transportation (biking and walking) and transit. Even if Measure A had passed, the organization would still be funneling the vast majority of transportation funding toward more and wider freeways, encouraging sprawl development in the process.

Voters also sent a remarkable message about land use by rejecting the Lilac Hills Ranch Measure B proposal, a sprawl project disguised as affordable housing. The project had many flaws, most significantly its incompatibility with the countys general plan. With these dual rejections, voters signaled that we must grow up not out, and invest in transit and active transportation to support vibrant downtowns and walkable communities throughout the county.

And yet SANDAG still does not seem to be getting the message.

Rather than confront the challenges facing San Diego in the 21st century, SANDAG appears to relish its 1950s-era approach to transportation and land use planning. The agency cant seem to tear itself away from auto-focused planning as it clearly refuses to acknowledge the urgent need to support alternative transportation options.

Instead of changing course, SANDAGs leadership seems intent to strangle transit to death in our region. The agency talks a big talk about investing in transit, but it continues to prioritize spending on roads and freeways. Implementing public transit remains theoretical, with loose timelines and even looser spending commitments.

One need only look northward to see the economic success enjoyed by metropolitan regions that have invested in robust transit systems. As early as the 1960s, the Bay Area began construction on its regional BART train system. As of 2010, San Francisco had the fourth-highest transit ridership of any major metropolitan area in the nation.

The Los Angeles region is also embracing a more connected future that relies less on private cars occupied by individual drivers. Metro, Los Angeles transportation agency, is investing billions to expand its public transit rail system in the coming decades. The agencys chief executive was recently quoted in the Los Angeles Times: Were not building for today. Were building for 100 years down the road. And Los Angeles voters just endorsed this vision by passing Measure M to enhance public transportation across the region. Portland, Oregon, has also made an extensive investment in public transit over the last decade. In less than 10 years, it installed a highly successful light-rail system.

SANDAG should follow in the footsteps of other major cities, respond to the concerns of its constituents, and develop a more resilient vision for our region. If we had the political will here, San Diego residents would soon enjoy genuine options for commuting to work and school beyond sitting in traffic on ever-more-crowded freeways.

With the November election behind us, its time for SANDAG to do some soul searching and figure out how to meet the needs of a 21st-century San Diego. The people have spoken: SANDAG is broken. Now its time for the folks in charge of this powerful regional agency to get the message, and start to fix it.

Mills, former leader of the state Senate, represented San Diego in the California Legislature for 22 years.

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E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com

Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.

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This Thanksgiving comes at a time of high anxiety for many Americans after a demanding year and a stressful presidential election. But a review of Thanksgiving Day editorials in past presidential election years from earlier iterations of this editorial board shows such difficulties are nothing new on this holiday  and that Americans can remain grateful, despite divisions, for common ground.

In 1932, with unemployment at 24 percent near the peak of the Great Depression, the San Diego Evening Tribune editorial board wrote, There have been hesitations, failures  some outright stupidity and some ill faith  in high places. Among the men and women of the country at large, there have been courage, self-sacrifice, endurance. ...

[We] give thanks for a national steadfastness and a national courage. Our need of them is a bitter thing, making this day tragic for millions of our fellow men. But those qualities are here. ... They are our hope for the future, and the profoundest cause of thanksgiving for today.

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In 1960, when Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union ran high and talk of nuclear war was common, the San Diego Union editorial board wrote, On this Thanksgiving Day we may thank God for living in a land that is free, its people limited only by the bounds of their own abilities. 

Those millions struggling under [communisms] yoke envy us not for our plump turkeys and dressing, but for our freedom. ...

Ten years after the Civil War, Americans beckoned to the oppressed of other lands. We have been doing so ever since. There are millions of Americans with origins from other countries who today will thank God they are in America.

In 1968, arguably the most calamitous year in America since World War II, the Union editorial board offered both melancholy and resolve: When Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first modern Thanksgiving Day in 1863 it was at the end of one of the worst years the Republic had even seen. A little like this year, you might say. ...

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in Memphis April 4 and you could read your paper by the light of a half-dozen cities burning. Then, just as things were returning to an even keel, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot June 5 .... .

A bad year, and we have come through it all. Come through it with our cities intact, our armies intact, our government intact and ourselves nearly so after the frights this year has given us.

For these blessings, let us give thanks.

In 1980, during the Iranian hostage crisis and after the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan led the United States to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow, the Union tried to be optimistic: Today, Americans can find but little solace in international thickets where kidnapped U.S. hostages are held for ransom, where the nations lifeblood is dependent on the whims of foreigners, where Communist aggression nibbles and gnashes all around the edges of the Free World, and where wars and the rumors of war make a hydrogen holocaust the planets Damoclean threat.

If the world presents us with a wild and savage hew, and it does, we must, as did the Pilgrims in their wilderness, find solace among ourselves and within our nation. ...

No other people in any other time of history ever had as much reason as we to be thankful or to say with the ancients: Thou who has given us all things, give us this one more thing we pray: A grateful heart.

America has been through a tense, unsettling year. But this holiday, as in 1932, whatever our divisions, the heart, talent, intelligence and drive of our populace is the profoundest cause of thanksgiving for today.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

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Estates Turkey Trot

San Diego Country Estates invites the community to its annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov. 24. Check-in will be from 7 to 7:30 a.m., and the Stone Mountain Trail race/trot will start at 8 a.m. at the corner of Gunn Stage and San Vicente roads.

Entry fee is $20 for adults and $15 for children age 12 and younger. Registration will be an additional $5 the day of the event. Awards will go to the winners.

Registration forms are at the Recreation Department, 25386 Pappas Road, in Ramona Oaks Park. For more information, call 760-789-4146.

RFCC holiday schedule

The Ramona Food and Clothes Closet Thrift Store and donations area will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 24 and 25, for the Thanksgiving holiday. Both will reopen at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26.

Trails group events

Ramona Trails Association and San Vicente Saddle Club will hold their annual Turkey Trot on Saturday, Nov. 26. The ride will start at the Mt. Gower Open Space Preserve at the end of Gunn Stage Road at 10 a.m. and will end at the Hellanback Ranch Winery for a potluck lunch about 12:30 p.m.

Bring potluck items to the staging area at Mt. Gower Open Space Preserve, where John York from Hellanback Ranch Winery will have a tractor and wagon to transport hot and cold dishes, chairs, coolers, etc. to the ranch. His wife Paula will keep the hot dishes warm until lunch.

The event is free and no registration is necessary. The horses will be tied to trees, so riders should bring a halter and long enough rope.

Also on Saturday, San Diego County Parks and Recreation will sponsor the last ride on the Old Survey Road for the year. Participants will meet at 1800 Rangeland Road at 10 a.m.

Pathway dedication

San Diego County and Ramona Trails Association representatives will be among those at the dedication of the San Vicente Road Pathway on Wednesday, Nov. 30. The dedication is expected to take place some time between 1 and 1:30 p.m. before Supervisor Dianne Jacobs Ramona Revitalization meeting scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

The exact time and place of the pathway dedication was not announced before this issue of the Sentinel went to press, but it will be online at www.ramonasentinel.com and www.ramonatrails.org when it is announced. The public is welcome.

Jacobs revitalization meeting, open to the public, will be in the Ramona Library Community Room, 1275 Main St. The meeting includes updates on county business and reports regarding Ramona from representatives of various committees.

Womans Club

The First Congregational Church Choraleers will entertain Ramona Womans Club members and guests with a medley of songs at the clubs meeting on Thursday, Dec. 1.

The meeting will start at 1 p.m. in the club building at 524 Main St. All are welcome.

Lila Cassidy started the Choraleers 23 years ago. They sing at church and other functions and events in Ramona.

The club building is available for rentals. For more information, call Jill McKenzie at 760-789-3596.

Help decorate Town Hall on Dec. 1

Ramona Town Hall at 729 Main St. will be decorated for Christmas on Thursday, Dec. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., and Honorary Mayor Sharon Davis invites community members to help get the job done.

Please mark your calendars now and bring your creative self for a fun evening, said Davis. Well have pizza midway through to fuel up.

Davis asks those planning to participate to contact her in advance at silkdecor1@sbcglobal.net or 760-788-7215.

Nutcracker

A student dance performance of The Nutcracker will be held in the Charles R. Nunn Performing Arts Center at Olive Peirce Middle School on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 2 p.m.

Kick off the holiday season and enjoy these dancers hard work in this timeless holiday classic that all ages can enjoy, the announcement states.

The show will last about 2 hours. Tickets are on sale at the Ramona Julian Academy of Dance for $6 per person. Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund, which helps families pay for dance academy tuition. The scholarship fund gives every child who wants to dance but whose family cannot afford the tuition the opportunity to do so.

Food donations for the performance and contributions are welcome. For this and other information, or for ticketing questions, contact Ms.Elizabethfranco1@gmail.com.

Library art

Ramona Library, partnering with 2Create Gallery and Ramona Art Guild to provide juried art shows at the library, is looking for submissions. The first art show will be held in the first quarter of 2017, January through March, and will be wall art only. During each quarter new work will be placed in the library and a show event will introduce the artists to the community. Each quarter will have a theme, and 10 to 15 artists will have one piece of art shown per quarter. The theme for the first quarter of 2017 is Ramona, a Wonderful Place to Live. Examples of art that will be considered and juried into the show for that theme are paintings or photos of vineyards, horses, old cars, Ramona landscapes and Ramona historic sites. To submit artwork, email LibraryRamona@gmail.com for an application and more information. Submissions are due by Dec. 10.

Vacation checks

Members of the San Diego County Sheriffs Department Senior Volunteer Patrol perform vacation checks when residents are on vacation. Each home is checked at least once a day for up to six days per week while homeowners are away.

During the check, volunteers pick up any newspapers or other evidence of a vacant home, verify that doors and windows are locked, observe the property, and notify either the homeowner or a designated contact person if necessary. If they see any suspicious activity, they call a sheriffs deputy.

To receive a free home check while on vacation, visit the sheriffs Ramona station at 1424 Montecito Road. To save time, print the Vacation Check form near the bottom of the sheriffs website, www.sdsheriff.net, and bring it to the station.

Got news?

News brief submissions should be received by noon on Fridays. They may be emailed to editor@ramonasentinel.com.
FALLBROOK -- A little more than six decades ago, U.S. Army NurseCorps 2nd Lt. Harriet Moore and two friends weighed the option ofbeing stationed for two years in the Philippines or two years atPearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

The decision was easy, and on Nov. 9, 1941, the 22-year-oldMoore arrived for duty as a registered nurse assigned to thematernity ward at Tripler General Hospital near Hickam Field inHawaii.

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We thought we were having a two-year (holiday-style) tour ofduty at taxpayer expense, Harriet Moore Holmes, now 84, saidTuesday in an interview at her Fallbrook home. We were lookingforward to it immensely.

Less than a month later, on Dec. 7, notions of a leisurely tourof duty were gone and Holmes and her friends lives were foreverchanged.

Sixty-two years ago today, Japanese fighter pilots attackedPearl Harbor, leaving 2,235 military personnel and 68 civiliansdead. The attack marked the beginning of the U.S. involvement inWorld War II and a turning point for the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.

Of the 82 Army nurses working at three medical facilities inHawaii on the day of the attack, Holmes and 19 others are all thatremain, according to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Noneare known to have died that day, but more than 200 nurses diedduring World War II, according to Army Nurse Corps.

Holmes happens to be the only surviving female in theassociation chapter that covers Fallbrook, Oceanside, Vista andEscondido.

I got a letter recently from the association telling me to stayin touch because Im one of 20 left, she said. Im a dyingbreed.

Dec. 7, 1941, 7:55 a.m.

When the Pennsylvania native arrived in Pearl Harbor looking forfun-in-the-sun and romance, Holmes had no inkling that shed leaveas a war veteran.

On the day of the attack, Holmes and her roommate, MargueriteOberson, were expecting a half-day off from duty -- which only cameon Sundays.

The guys called Marguerite the blonde bomber of the Pacific, Holmes recalled. She was a pretty girl. But she was alreadyengaged when I got to Pearl Harbor.

Saturday nights were saved for dances. Moore and a friend stayedout late the night before at a dance in the Hickam Field officersclub, and she was sound asleep when her supervisor shook her awakejust after 7:55 a.m. and told her the base was under attack.

At first, she thought he was kidding. But when she ran out ofthe hospital, she knew it was true.

I could see the black smoke streaming up from Pearl Harbor justover the hills and just then a Japanese pilot flew low over thehospital, she recalled. He waved at us. We felt lucky he didntwant to bomb a hospital.

Most of the enlisted men in Hickam Field were sleeping in theirbarracks during the attack and many burned to death in their bunks,Holmes said.

Tripler General took the brunt of burn victims and those needingsurgery. Nurses at Schofield Hospital and Hickam Field, as atTripler, all faced supply shortages. The attack lasted until 9:45a.m.

My first three patients suffered burns over most of theirbodies and shortly died, Holmes said. When I tried to swab oneswith alcohol for an IV, his entire forearm skin came off. As Irecall, my next three patients survived.

Sometime during the day, her roommate found out her fiance, aB-17 pilot, had gotten his plane airborne but was shot down andkilled during the attack.

She was very shook up when she found out he was killed, but shekept right on working, Holmes said.

The calm response and skill of the nurses contributed to lowpost-injury mortality rates during the war, and 1,619 medals,citations and commendations were awarded, according to an ArmyNurse Corps Web site.

The Corps, which listed fewer than 1,000 nurses on Dec. 7, 1941,had 12,000 women in uniform six months later.

Blackout

In the weeks after the attack and declaration of war by theUnited States against Germany and Japan, the hospital staff workedin nearly complete darkness at night. In fear of another attack,black curtains were hung over windows at night and the lights werekept low. Corpsmen held flashlights so the nurses could work onpatients, Holmes said.

Sometimes we even had to hold blue paper over the lights, andit was hard to work with light like that. But we got used to it,"she said.

A nearby theater became a makeshift morgue. Holmes recalled amilitary policeman who heard moaning from inside and discovered aman thought dead was still alive.

The man recovered and I dont think he ever knew he was foundin a morgue, she said.

As Holmes relived her days in Hawaii, she also remembered thatnot everything was grim.

One day during her rounds, she noticed a tall, lanky fellowfrom Tennessee.

I asked him where he was hurt and he said, Maam, if you wereshot where I was shot, you wouldnt care none,  Holmes said,putting her hand over her mouth. I shouldnt have told you that.But it was funny and we were all thankful to have someone aroundwith a sense of humor.

After the attacks, all the servicemen and women had orders to bein their quarters before dark unless they were on duty.

So we had to sneak out to have fun, Holmes said. One time wegot caught. I was a second lieutenant and just made first, but Iwasnt in the Army for life. Marguerite, however, was a lifer andshe got passed over for her next promotion for that little stunt.But she ended up retiring as a colonel.

Holmes photo album from her time in Hawaii includes ablack-and-white photo of her sporting large wavy curls and a smileas she sat in the front seat of a car in 1943.

I dated a lot, but this one had a car, she recalled. Whenasked for his name, she thought and said,"The-one-with-the-car.

Other pictures show her in bathing suits on gorgeous beacheswith her girlfriends, including the friend she was sent to Hawaiiwith and remembers only by her last name, Taylor.

While in Hawaii, Holmes was engaged -- twice. Neitherrelationship worked out.

I was young, she explains.

End of the war

After her tour extended from two to 3 1/2 years, Holmes receivedorders to report to Guam in 1945 and left Pearl Harbor, never toreturn.

She took a short leave to Florida before heading to Guam, andduring that trip, the war ended and she never saw Guam.

She and some of her fellow nurses kept in touch over theyears.

But in the last couple years, letters have gone unanswered.Ill just keep sending them, she said. But Im afraid some arentwith us anymore.

After the war, she met and married California native DickHolmes, also a World War II veteran who served in Germany. Theyhave two daughters, and the couple moved to Fallbrook 28 yearsago.

Holmes sometimes speaks to young people about what happened toher at Pearl Harbor. Some of those she speaks to have no knowledgeof what happened that day.

I was at a school  and this little girl stood up and said,'Excuse me, Pearl who? she said.

Americans still refer often to the attack at Pearl Harbor andwhat then-President Franklin Roosevelt called a date that willlive in infamy.

While Holmes said she doesnt think about that day much, thismorning, she and fellow Pearl Harbor survivors will meet at theOceanside Municipal Pier to drop leis in the ocean in remembranceof those who died there that day.

Its the first thing that ever happened to the U.S. like thatand I think thats why the fear lasted so long, she said. But me,I like to think I danced my way through World War II.

Contact staff writer Erica Warren at (760) 731-5798 orewarren@nctimes.com.
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At 2:30 a.m. every Monday and Tuesday, Eric Brandt pulls out ofthe driveway of his Encinitas home to start his work week. Duringwhat he describes as the golden hours of his job, the managingpartner for Brandt Beef will follow a U.S. Department ofAgriculture inspector as he grades the companys meat at aprocessing plant in Pico Rivera, and then Brandt will hand-selecthow each carcass will be cut and trimmed, and which premium cutswill be delivered to the companys pickiest customers ----restaurant chefs in the U.S. and Japan.

Understanding how fat marbling, aging, moisture and pH balancewill affect the taste, texture and tenderness of his beef is a lostart that Brandt trusts to no one but himself.

My favorite time are those hours from 4 to 7 a.m., where Imgoing in those coolers and hand-selecting the meat, Brandt said."Thats old-school tradition, and I believe in doing things the waythey used to be done. Thats who we are as a company, and all ofthose years of work weve put into our business are defined for mein those couple of hours each week.

As butchery operations go, Brawley-based Brandt Beef is tiny---- processing just 350 beef cattle (about 175,000 pounds of meat)a week, about the same amount as one of the major meat-packersprocess in an hour. But 5-year-old Brandt Beef has made its name inquality, not quantity.

Brandt Beef is the nations only beef producer to earn theMaster Chefs Institutes Seal of Excellence (ranked against threecompetitors in 120 blind taste tests) and its hormone- andantibiotic-free beef is prized by fine-dining chefs and gourmetmarkets around the country.

Locally, Brandt Beef is on the menu at The Marine Room, ShoresRestaurant, Waters Fine Catering, Stingaree, Jsix, ArgyleSteakhouse in Carlsbad and Twenty/20 at the Sheraton Carlsbad,among others. Its also sold locally at Harvest Ranch andJonathans markets and to many famous restaurants in the Northeast,including Tom Colicchios Craft Steakhouse in Connecticut; Grill 23and Davios Northern Italian Steakhouse in Boston; and PorterHouse, Les Halles, SOHO Grand Hotel and Quality Meats in New YorkCity, among others. The meats are also sold online through thegourmet grocer Dean & DeLuca, where a four-pack of 8-ounce,center-cut filet mignon steaks retails for $120, and a grillingcollection of 12 burgers, steaks and chops sells for $225.

One of the companys very first customers was The Lodge atTorrey Pines, where executive chef Jeff Jackson said he likesBrandt Beef for two reasons ---- flavor and personal service.

Its about taste. Its got a cleaner flavor than other meats,and Eric has worked with me to get just the right cuts, saidJackson, who worked with Brandt for months to get the right groundblend of lean and fatty beef for the lodges famous DrugstoreBurger.

A family tradition

The Brandt family has been in farming for three generations.Eric Brandt said his grandfather lost the familys Iowa farm duringthe Great Depression and hitched a train west to California withnothing more than a couple of apples and a rooster. He got offthe train in Niland, and the Brandt family has been farming in thearea ever since. Since the 60s, the family has bred corn-fed beefcattle on its 6,000-acre Brandt Cattle Co. ranch in Brawley. Mostof the companys beef is sold to commercial packers, but 35 percentof its herd ---- those cattle destined for the Brandt Beef brand---- are natural (meaning hormone- and antibiotic-free).

Almost all of the Brandt family are involved in the business.Patriarch William Brandt runs the ranch, oldest son Mark runs thefeed operation (the cows eat a vegetarian blend of corn, alfalfaand other grains), son Ryan manages the farms sustainablecomposting operation (much of its manure is sold to produce farmersin the area); and daughter Amy sells Brandt Beef at farmers marketsin Coronado, Hillcrest and elsewhere.

Eric, 34, grew up driving tractors and washing watering troughson the Brawley ranch, but he eventually resettled in Encinitas tobe closer to the family of his wife, Tiffani (they have two boys,ages 2 1/2 and 4 months). An outgoing people person, he was headingup the familys sales and marketing operation until a sharpdownturn in the beef industry (fueled by the mad cow disease scare)led him to strike out on his own and launch Brandt Beef in2005.

Brandt believed that if he hand-selected premium cuts ofnatural-raised beef that could be traced electronically from birthto box, high-end customers would be willing to pay more for theservice. He was right. His first independent customer was GavinKaysen, the famed former chef at El Bizcocho at the Rancho BernardoInn.

I went in to his commercial kitchen with my bag of meat, andthe experience changed my life, Brandt said. Ive always lovedcooking, and hearing a chef explain what he needs and wants fromhis products was a very inspiring moment.

Artisanal practices

Working directly with chefs for feedback, Brandt began refininghis artisanal meat processing operation (he rents the USDA plant inL.A. two days a week). For quality control, he hired his own meatinspector to back up the USDAs inspector. To produce the bestproduct, Brandt Beef hangs for 60 hours (rather than the standard28 to 32), which improves pH balance; the beef is shrouded incheesecloth to reduce moisture loss; and it is packaged inspecially designed packages and shipped in bubble wrap to minimizeblood seepage. All this extra work, time and packaging means BrandtBeefs labor and production costs are two to three times thestandard, but high customer satisfaction means he could charge morein the end, he said.

The consistency of our cattle is what makes our meat perform,"Brandt said. Weve got the right beef and the artisanal practices,but the consistency factor is where we shine.

Business was growing so fast in 2006 and 2007, Brandt said hecouldnt keep up with demand. Then the recession hit and salesplummeted by nearly half. Since then, the market has begun torecover, but sales are still off by 30 percent, and Brandt said hisbusiness is just breaking even. Still, theres hope on thehorizon.

Nine months ago, the companys attention to detail, quality,consistency and product traceability passed Japans notoriouslyselective standards, and Brandt is now one of the only small U.S.meat companies exporting to Japan (about 15,000 pounds a week).Brandt is also developing an expanding line of specialty beefproducts like oxtail, cheek meat, a natural demiglace, high-endground beef and even a competition brisket for barbecuecontests.

Premium beef is also a good niche to be in as the economyrecovers, he said. People are eating less meat, but they wanthigher quality when they do.

Down the road, Brandt said hed like to own his own processingplant and continue expanding his connections with his favoritecustomers ---- high-end restaurant chefs like Bernard Guillas ofThe Marine Room and Shores Restaurant in La Jolla.

Guillas is such a fan of Brandts farm to fork philosophy, hedrove up to the Brawley ranch 19 months ago and hand-picked eightnewborn calves for his very own. The cattle were slaughtered andaged over the past month and are now being served to customers inhis two restaurants.

I embrace what they do. They really put a lot of care infarming and taking care of their animals, and it really reflects inthe quality of the beef, Guillas said. I also wanted to show thatjust two hours away from San Diego, we have one of the premiumcattle farms in the U.S. They have a passion for what they do and apassion for taking care of Mother Earth. Theyre amazingpeople.

After slaughter, Guillas eight cows yielded 3,000 pounds ofbeef. Two-thirds of it was custom-ground for burgers that went tothe Shores, along with cuts like hanger, top sirloin and skirtsteaks. All of the premium cuts went to The Marine Room.

And in keeping with the Brandt philosophy of using the wholecow, Guillas said he put on his menu some dishes that usually dontsell well in San Diego ---- sweetbreads, tongue and beef cheeks. Sofar, all of the new beef (including the organ meats) have been ahuge hit with diners.

Its selling very, very well. Were going through it liketheres no tomorrow, he said. The meat is so tender you canalmost cut it with a spoon.
Bergen, Norway -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/24/2016 -- Bakery and confectionary lovers looking for mouth-watering confectionaries, biscuits and cookies in Bergen, Norway, have a reason to rejoice. Lie Nielsen is fast emerging as the most preferred authentic cafe in the town of Bergen with its lip smacking collection of cakes, biscuits and sandwiches among others.



"Our family business in bakery and confectionary is over 100 years. We use the finest natural and pure ingredients in all our items and our experienced professionals ensure that customers get the authentic taste and flavor of the confectionary they order. Customers can even order confectionaries online. We are constantly evolving ourselves with the changing times and are adding new items in our lists. Favorable reviews among customers have enhanced our brand image over the years," opined the management of Lie Nielsen.



With its slogan "You know what the flavor", Lie Nielsen is catering to the confectionary needs of the people of Bergen and of tourists visiting the city.



About Lie Nielson

Established in 1908 by Nils Lie-Nielsen, Lie Nielsen has provided cookies in Bergen for over 100 years. The company has carved a niche for itself with its skilled workforce and expertise in serving the most delightful cookies, biscuits and sandwiches. One can order wedding cakes, cream cakes, chocolate cakes and cheese-and mousse cakes from here at a reasonable price. With its slogan of "You know what the flavor", Lie Nielsen has become a brand to reckon with. It serves Norwegian cakes at a reasonable price and is constantly adding to its existing list of items to satisfy the taste buds of confectionary lovers in the city and also of tourists visiting Bergen.



Visit http://lienielsen.no/vare-kafeer for more.



Contact details:

N Small Nielsen AS

Bjrnsonsgt. 36 5052 Bergen

Phone: 55 20 65 00

Fax: 55 20 65 05

Email: shop@lienielsen.no
Seattle, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/24/2016 -- The report "PEGylated Proteins Market by Consumables (PEGylation Kits, Reagents), Services, Protein Type (mAbs, Interferons), by Application (Cancer Treatment, Chronic Kidney Diseases), End-User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies) - Global Forecast to 2021", report provides a detailed overview of the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats impacting the global PEGylated proteins market along with the estimates and forecasts of the revenue and market share analysis.



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The global PEGylated proteins market is expected to reach USD 1,137.8 Million by 2021 from USD 690.6 Million in 2016, at a CAGR of 10.5% from 2016 to 2021.



Increase in R&D spending of pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, growth in biologics sector, high prevalence of lifestyle disease, increasing adoption of protein based drugs over non-protein based drugs are the primary growth drivers for this market during the forecast period (20162021). However, drug failure and recalls may hinder the growth of this market.



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The global PEGylated proteins market is segmented on the basis of products, protein type, application, and end-user. On the basis of product, the market is segmented into consumables and services. Of these, the consumables product segment accounted for the largest share of the global PEGylated proteins market in 2016. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the increasing adoption of kit-based PEGylation products. On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, CROs, and academic research institutes. Of these, the pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies end-user segment accounted for the largest share of the global PEGylated proteins market in 2016, owing to increased R&D spending by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.



By protein type, the market is divided into colony stimulating factors, interferons, erythropoietin, mAbs, and recombinant factor VIII. Of these, colony stimulating factors accounted for the largest growing segment in the global PEGylated proteins market by 2021. On the basis of application, the PEGylated proteins market is categorized into cancer treatment, hepatitis, chronic kidney diseases, hemophilia, multiple sclerosis, and gastrointestinal disorders.



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The geographic segments included in this report are North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (RoW). Geographic analysis reveals that North America accounted for the largest share of the global PEGylated proteins market in 2016. Growth in this market can be attributed to the increased adoption of biologics drugs such as monoclonal antibodies, erythropoietin and interferon for the treatment of chronic diseases, increasing government funding and grants for research activities.



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Frozen beneath Utopia Planitia, a large plain on Mars, lies about as much water as whats in Lake Superior, according to an international team of planetary researchers.

Cassie Stuurman, a graduate student at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, and her colleagues from the United States and Canada examined part of Utopia Planitia with the ground-penetrating SHARAD (SHAllow RADar) instrument on NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Analyses of the data revealed a widespread water ice deposit more extensive in area than the state of New Mexico.

This deposit ranges in thickness from about 260 to 560 feet (80-170 m), with a composition thats 50 to 85% water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles. It is shielded from the Martian atmosphere by a soil covering estimated to be about 3 to 33 feet (0.9-10 m) thick.

This deposit probably formed as snowfall accumulating into an ice sheet mixed with dust during a period in Mars history when the planets axis was more tilted than it is today, Stuurman said.

The Utopia deposit represents less than 1% of all known water ice on Mars, but it more than doubles the volume of thick, buried ice sheets known in the northern plains.

This deposit is probably more accessible than most water ice on Mars, because it is at a relatively low latitude and it lies in a flat, smooth area where landing a spacecraft would be easier than at some of the other areas with buried ice, said SHARAD co-investigator Dr. Jack Holt, also from the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

The Utopian water is all frozen now. If there were a melted layer  which would be significant for the possibility of life on Mars  it would have been evident in the radar scans.

However, some melting cant be ruled out during different climate conditions when the planets axis was more tilted.

For many years, planetary researchers have been intrigued by ground-surface patterns there such as polygonal cracking and rimless pits called scalloped depressions  like someone took an ice cream scoop to the ground, Stuurman said.

In the Canadian Arctic, similar landforms are indicative of ground ice, but there was an outstanding question as to whether any ice was still present at the Martian Utopia or whether it had been lost over the millions of years since the formation of these polygons and depressions, added Dr. Gordon Osinski, of the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

The large volume of ice detected with SHARAD advances understanding about Mars history and identifies a possible resource for future use.

The results were published online recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

_____

Cassie Stuurman et al. SHARAD detection and characterization of subsurface water ice deposits in Utopia Planitia, Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, published online September 28, 2016; doi: 10.1002/2016GL070138
Strong quake hits Japan, triggers Fukushima tsunami

From:Agencies | 2016-11-22 17:25

Local residents look out to sea from higher ground after evacuating their homes following an 6.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami alert in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, on November 22, 2016. A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan on November 22, triggering tsunamis along the coast including a one-metre (3.3-foot) wave that crashed ashore at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.



A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit northeast Japan on Tuesday, sparking panic and triggering a tsunami including a one-metre (three-foot) wave that crashed ashore at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.

National broadcaster NHK urged residents to "flee immediately" to higher ground, reminding viewers to heed the lessons of the "Great East Japan Earthquake".

A massive undersea quake with a magnitude of 9.0 that struck in March 2011 unleashed a tsunami that left more than 18,500 people dead or missing. It sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

An official from plant operator TEPCO told a news conference that a one-metre wave had hit the coast at the facility, but a company spokesman told AFP there were no reports of damage.

About a dozen other waves were recorded elsewhere on the northeast coast, according to the Meterological Agency, but they were smaller than initial warnings of waves as high as 3.0 metres.

The biggest, measuring 1.4 metres, hit the port at Sendai north of Fukushima, but officials said there were no reports of damage there.

NHK aired rolling coverage of the earthquake, with the words "Tsunami! Flee!" in white lettering over a bright red band on the screen.

The Meterological Agency lifted its final tsunami warning nearly seven hours after the earthquake struck.

TEPCO earlier reported that a water cooling system at a reactor in the separate Fukushima Daini facility had briefly stopped, in an automatic response, but that it was back up and operating.

"The biggest risk now is a case whereby contaminated water is carried away with the tsunami, which pollutes the environment," TEPCO's chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda told reporters, of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi.

The 2011 disaster sent radiation levels across the Pacific Ocean soaring and decimated some fishing grounds off Japan's coast.

The global Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research said in July that levels were returning to normal but that the seabed and harbour near Fukushima were still highly contaminated.

Residents along the coast heeding evacuation advice clogged some roads, with a Fukushima newspaper reporting unusual early morning traffic jams in the small city of Soma.

There were no immediate signs of widespread damage and only minor injuries were initially reported.

Fourteen injuries have been reported throughout the region, including three elderly women who broke bones when falling or trying to evacuate.



- 'Ground still shaking' -



Still, people along the coast were badly shaken.

"It was huge and lasted so long," Akemi Anzai, from the city of Minamisoma north of the Fukushima plant, said of the quake.

"The tsunami siren warning can be heard from the coastline," she told AFP. "The ground is still shaking. I'm so scared. But my concern is rather the situation at the nuclear plant."

The United States Geological Survey said the 6.9 magnitude quake, at a shallow depth of 11.3 kilometres (seven miles), struck shortly before 6:00 am (2100 GMT on Monday) in the Pacific off Fukushima.

It shook buildings in Tokyo, 230 kilometres to the south.

Shinkansen bullet train services were suspended in the region but gradually resumed, though delays were still being reported.

Sendai airport, which suffered significant damage during the 2011 tsunami, temporarily closed but flights resumed in the morning.

Fishing boats had rushed out to sea to avoid the direct impact of the tsunami, the Sankei Shimbun said.

NHK showed footage of what appeared to be seawater flowing up a river in Miyagi prefecture though none of it surged beyond the banks.

"The fear that I felt almost six years ago came back," Junko Murata, another Minamisoma resident, told AFP.

"Maybe there won't be major damage this time but we will have to remain on edge for years and years," she added, referring to the Fukushima plant.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and suffers several relatively violent quakes every year, although high building standards and frequent drills limit the number of casualties.

In April two strong quakes hit Kumamoto prefecture, leaving at least 50 dead and causing widespread damage.
Algerias scientific research sector has made progress recently, after a long period of funding delays and stalemates due to a weakening governance system.



Prior to 2008, the budget for scientific research was very poor, receiving only 0.28 percent of the countrys GDP (gross domestic product). The sectors deterioration was reflected in Algerias meagre scientific outcome, for example the lack of scientific publications and patents registered by researchers. It was also reflected in weak cooperation and networking among research institutions such as universities and research centers on the one hand, and the states economic and social sectors on the other.

In the beginning of 2009, signs of progress appeared, after the government implemented a special strategy to improve the quality of scientific research and promote it until 2017.

To discuss the most important pledges, achievements and new trends in Algerias scientific research, SciDev.Net interviewed Abdel Hafidh Aouragh, director of scientific research and technological development in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.



To begin with, could you introduce us to the status of the scientific research sector in Algeria before 2008?

Scientific research was missing from Algerian economy and society until 1998 when the first law for scientific research was issued, giving priority to the establishment of a national fund to finance the sector. During the first five-year plan, from 1998 to 2002, the work focused on making the concept of scientific research operational on the ground, and on the creation of institutions to put it in practice through establishing laboratories, funding research, and hiring researchers.

Does this mean that the low spending on scientific research was the reason behind its poor status?

Of course, funding was a major impediment which stifled much progress in scientific fields. Infrastructure for scientific research was poor, or in other words, the infrastructure did not support the production of knowledge and the development of technology. Therefore, we went through a stage of apparent weakness in the sector until 2008.



After that, the second five-year plan for scientific research was issued, extending from 2008 to 2012, which saw the creation of the General Directorate for Scientific Research and Technological Development in 2009. The directorate focused on ensuring the advancement of scientific research by strengthening the countrys scientific and technological capacity, identifying and providing the necessary research and development methods, appraising the results of this research, and supporting the states funding for all activities related to research and development.

All this required spending on the sector, which reached 0.5 percent of the GDP.



So what has changed after that spending and the strategy designed to advance scientific research?

Putting in place infrastructure for the scientific research sector was among the priorities of the Directorate. This was in order to present an integrated national system for research, increase the number of researchers and academics, and upgrade scientific equipment and enterprises. Now, we can say that the results are satisfactory.



We have increased the number of research labs in universities from 600 in 2008 to 1400 in 2016. Now, all Algerian universities have research laboratories equipped with world-class research tools in all fields and disciplines. This has come with an increase in the number of researchers in all disciplines  from 1200 to 30,000 professors in universities. In addition, there are now 60,000 doctorate students in the country.



Outside university campuses, there are 30 research centers at the national level, employing 2500 permanent researchers. These centers are concerned with applied research and technological development in particular.

These developments have also reflected positively in the number of scientific publications, where we moved from 12,000 research papers published in high-profile scientific journals in 2008 to 45,000 in 2015. The rate of growth in scientific publications in Algeria is deemed one of the highest globally. Algeria was also ranked highly in scientific publications among African countries, taking first place in some disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics.

Along with all these developments, a special fund has been dedicated to the establishment of specialized scientific bodies and international partnerships  most recently supporting the inauguration of the UN International Institute for Research and Sustainable Development at the end of 2015, which gives a strong boost to the engine of scientific research.



But the gap between scientific research and social and economic sectors still exists. Is there a plan to bridge it?

This was one of the weaknesses of scientific research in Algeria, which we are now working to address through turning scientific ideas into a products or services.



We have started to adapt scientific objectives to development, economic and social objectives, mobilizing the scientific community and ensuring it is equipped within the research frameworks approved by law, in addition to improving the funding system to match that goal.

You spoke about funding and also other activities  what has been achieved in this regard?

For example, we entered into many partnerships with public and private economic enterprises, through which researchers can implement their theoretical research in technological projects to develop Algerias industry.



We are also working to create a research climate within enterprises, with mixed research teams that include members of scientific laboratories as well as economic and industrial enterprises. There are also financial incentives and tax exemptions, deducted from the National Scientific Research budget, that can be channeled to institutions wishing to invest in the field of scientific research.

This leads us to discuss improving working conditions for researchers in the country. What steps has the state taken to encourage those who have migrated to return?

All the mechanisms we have implemented are working towards this goal, as some companies have already started to establish research laboratories in collaboration with scientists at universities and research centers  one example is Sonatrach, one of the countrys major oil companies. Many laboratories have also started to open commercial branches to market their research products and offer their services to the economic sector, relying on the financial return of those products for funding.

I can confirm that confidence in Algerian researchers has returned: the number of economic institutions that resort to Algerian research laboratories to find solutions to their problems, or for innovations to increase efficiency of their production, has been on the rise. Algerian researchers have proven reliable and efficient in using knowledge to develop the country.



It is true that the number of researchers returning to Algeria is very low. Yet we believe that building a strong research system can only be achieved through the development of human capacity in Algeria, creating an environment that encourages creativity and innovation as the only means to promote Algerian scientific research.





There are indications of stability in human resources at universities and research centers due to an improvement in the living standard of research professors.

The Algerian government is still working to design policies to reverse the brain drain by linking advanced scientists to research centers and economic institutions in the country, using them to transfer technology and knowledge. The aim is to provide professional and social conditions at a level equivalent to their work abroad.



In 2012, the General Directorate for Scientific Research and Technological Development kicked off a programme to support young researchers and affiliate them with foreign academic institutions. The Directorate has also created the 'President of the Republic Award' in specific fields of science, to reward scientists for new ideas and help implement their projects at home.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Middle East & North Africa desk.

This article is part of a series on the future of research funding in low and middle income countries supported by the International Development Research Centre


Fighting climate change continues in American cities no matter what President-elect Mr. Donald Trump will do, according to Mr. Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. He made this statement in Washington at a talk hosted by the China General Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

Mr. Bloomberg, a media tycoon known also for his advocacy on climate change, praised Xie Zhenua, China's climate envoy, for stating that China remained committed to tackling the issue of climate change. He said that it is a responsible thing to do for the Chinese people and the world. He added that he would advocate the mayors of 128 cities in the United States to fight climate change and join the Paris Agreement if Mr. Trump decided to withdraw the United States from it.

It is reported before, in the tweet of Mr. Trump in 2012. He wrote that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." Mr. Trump also became the spokesperson for fossil fuels, industries and acclaiming the virtues of coal during the election, according to Global Research.

Mr. Bloomberg said that he cannot tell people what Donald Trump's administration will do, and in all fairness, they will need time to figure it out themselves. He further said that what is stated on the campaign trail is one thing; carrying out a specific policy is another. He hopes that they will recognize the significance of the issue.

On the other hand, Mr. Bloomberg is confident that no matter what happens in Washington, no matter what regulations the next administration adopts or rescinds, no matter what laws the next Congress may pass, they will meet the pledges that the U.S. made in Paris. Mr. Bloomberg cited the reason as simple: Businesses, cities and citizens will continue lessening emissions because they have determined -- just as China has -- that doing so is in their own self-interest, as noted by New York Times.
A new study conducted by a Japanese scientist will give nutritionist the shock of their lives. The study claims that having a scoop of ice cream for breakfast can give a person's brain boost leading to improved alertness and mental performance.

Yoshihiko Koga, a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo, has conducted a series of clinical trials where test subjects were required to eat ice cream immediately after waking up. They were then put through a series of mental exercises on a computer.

According to Excite News, Professor Koga found that the people who had eaten ice cream had faster reaction times and were better at processing information compared to those who had not eaten ice cream.

After monitoring the subjects' brain activity, Prof. Koga found an increase in high-frequency alpha waves, which are usually associated with elevated levels of alertness and reduced mental irritation. To further examine the possibility that the test subjects' reactions were simply the result of the brain being shocked into higher levels of alertness by the low temperature of the ice cream, Professor Koga repeated the experiment -- only this time he used cold water instead of ice cream.

The experiment revealed that participants who drank cold water displayed an increased level of alertness and mental capacity, but the levels were not as pronounced as compared to when the subjects started their day with ice cream, reported The Telegraph.

Professor Koga is still continuing his study and is also still trying to establish a solid connection between the mental boost delivered by ice cream and a specific ingredient in it, while another explanation says that ice cream is a treat that triggers positive emotions and added energy.

Meanwhile, British nutritionists have reacted with some skepticism to Prof. Koga's findings. "A possible explanation [for increased alertness]... is the simple presence of consuming breakfast vs. not consuming breakfast," said Katie Barfoot, a Nutritional Psychology Doctoral Researcher at Reading University.

"Our brain needs glucose to function, and a high glucose meal will aid mental capacity considerably compared to a fasted brain," she continued. "This, however, does not condone eating dessert for breakfast. A study which explores the interaction between consumption of low and high GI foods, whilst including a fasted group, would establish a better understanding of this increased mental capacity."

Professor Koga is an expert in psychophysiology, a branch of psychology concerned with the interaction between the body and the mind.
The real victims of climate change are the next generation. As the Earth continues to deplete, today's youth is starting to move. Eight kids are reportedly suing the government for the less effort coming from the state in fighting climate change.

Eight children asked the judge last Tuesday to find Washington in contempt for the failure of protecting the future generations from the devastating and harmful effects of climate change. The petitioners asked the judge to address the Department of Ecology of the state to come up with science-based numeric emission reductions, according to ABC News.

The state arguments are that they have already complied with the court's prior order and the accusation has no basis for finding the Department of Ecology in contempt. Judge Hollis Hill from the King County Superior Court said that she needed more time to deliberate after seeing the arguments last Tuesday.

The kids with the age ranging between 12 and 16 years old are part of the national effort that is led by the Oregon-based non-profit organization called Our Children's Trust. It forces the federal government and the states to give action on the effects of climate change.

A plaintiff in both the federal and Seattle Aji Piper said that "The most concerning thing to me is that our planet will be destroyed and I would have done nothing about it. We're bringing this case because we need to have a stronger voice and right now that's through the legal system."

Andrea Rodgers, the attorney of the children, told the judge on Tuesday that, "Ecology has the legal authority and responsibility to remedy the ongoing legal violations of these young people's fundamental rights."

As follows, Rodgers added that the lawsuit is not about the clean air rule. It is more of the duties of the state in the statute and in the constitution. Thus, these include especially the protection of rights of the young people from the dangers of the climate change, according to Fox News.
President-elect Donald Trump wants to put NASA's focus back on space exploration and scrap programs that study climate change. Trump apparently wants to keep NASA away from politically correct science, according to his adviser Bob Walker.

"We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research," Walker told the The Guardian. "Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission." Furthermore, it was added that, Trump's decisions will be based on "solid science, not politicized science."

Trump has previously called climate change is a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese. However, on Tuesday he has reportedly agreed that there is some connection between human actions and the climate, and that he could reconsider his position on the Paris agreement. "I'm looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it," Trump said.

As noted by adn.com, NASA's Earth science division could receive setbacks in funding in favor of space exploration. Trump had reportedly set a goal during his campaign to explore the whole solar system by the end of this century. Although, of course, this means good news for space exploration, it comes at the cost of ignoring the immediate needs of the planet. Scrapping NASA's climate research means elimination of the study that goes into understanding clouds, ice and other climate phenomena.

According to climate scientist Michael Mann from Penn State University, NASA has a unique and critical role in investigating Earth and climate change. Therefore, without its support, not only the U.S. but also the entire world will be affected by human-caused climate change.

"We live on planet Earth and there is much to discover, and it is essential to monitor and track many things from space," added Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist from National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "Information on planet Earth and its oceans and atmosphere is essential for our way of life. Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential."
There is a light that comes before dawn, best known to those of the animal kingdom, and perhaps a few hunters. This is the predawn of outlines, shapes without definition, movement without observation, sounds without source. The shy of the night take advantage of it to complete their purposes, and hide from coming day. But not so if you are a stag in rut.

I had arrived in a small Scottish village on the first week of autumn, when the majestic red deer go into their rut. That time when the highland champions vie for the favor of the does, and the cry of Wha dare meddle wi me can be heard from many a hillside in the early hours of the morning. The stags (bucks) were up, and so was I. Outside I went to lean against a 13th-century castle, and together we observed a day being born. An old castle, an old man, and a new day.

The first thing you realize with adjusted eyesight is that it is not really black at night, just varying degrees of darkness. The sky, for example, has its own recessed lighting that provides a cool blue ceiling to the scene. A billion pinpricks of light all wired to differing voltages. Some with timer switches, set at differing rates, while others are on for the duration of the night.

The hilltop profile begins to show against a lightening sky, and the Monarch of the Glen bugles his first call of the day, from way up the hill. The call rolls down the mountainsides and into the valley as a tsunami of sound. Immediately, another big stag up the glen responds. He uses the acoustics and resonance of the valley walls to best effect. Soon there are four or five sources of calls around this little harbor for a handful of yachts. The castle stands grim, the old man smiles, and a new day begins.

Isnt Creation wonderful Oh Ancient of Days, I said to the castle? Aye came the whisper in the wind, as it slipped out through the arrow slots of the keep.

And arent those stags mighty, and braw? I questioned again, leaning back to feel a stone nestle comfortably between my shoulder blades, last hefted by man eight hundred years ago. From the topmost turret of the castle, again came the whisper. Aye, I have seen it all, but the roaring is only for a season, it is the living that takes a lifetime.

And what do you mean, Oh Ancient of Days," I asked? Aye, it's for the prophet to know, and the poet to say was the reply, and his whispers were lost in the souch o the sea.**

The first rays of the sun spilled over the hill, ran down through the now green glen, and with the burn, flowed into the anchorage at my feet. Yes, todays a new day, but some day a New World?

Arran of the many Stags *

Behold the monarch of the glen,

His castle strong and grey,

And he has rule oer all the land,

For fourteen leagues away! I say,

For fourteen leagues away!

See how the fair around him stand,

To fall upon his sway,

Four beauties come at his command,

From sixteen leagues away! I say,

From sixteen leagues away!

Crowned with a pointed diadem,

Scarred in the battles fray!

His bellowed roar put all to flight,

For twenty leagues away! I say,

For twenty leagues away!

Yet majesty is but on loan,

Its season lasts a day,

Another sits upon his throne,

From just one league away, I say,

From just one league away.

* Title is taken from an Irish poem, written of the 13th century.

The same period the castle was built.

** Old Scots for suck or swallow up.
Though the complainant had lodged a complaint then, police was unable the nab him.
Two weeks later, the gossip has turned to official fact; Wilbur Ross is Trumps pick to become Secretary of Commerce, a Cabinet post requiring approval from the US Senate. On the morning of his Marine Money speech, it was well known the Ross had been advising and counseling then candidate Trump on economic matters; two weeks before the election, he wrote an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal titled, A vote for Trump is a vote for growth.

Shipping readers will be familiar with Ross-backed tanker owner Diamond S-controlling more than 30 MR product tankers and a dozen Suezmaxes, Nautical Bulk Holdings (an owner of eco-bulkers) and his role in LPG specialist Navigator Tankers, one of shipping?s few Private Equity success stories. The 2014 IPO attempt of Diamond S, originally put together by Craig Stevenson before Ross came in, did not garner the hoped-for valuation from investors. On the New York shipping conference circuit, consolidation, where companies merge together, has been a favorite theme. His shipping story is still being written; he may need to divest himself of certain business holdings, or put them into a blind trust (or a similar entity) to avoid conflicts where official actions influence their own business affairs.

Rosss greatest success has been on the steel industry in the early 2000s when he packed up a trio of bankrupt steel producers (including once-mighty Bethlehem Steel), took the new company public and then sold it to industry leader Mittal for $4.5bn, making a reported 12.5 x return for investors. Throughout 2016, hes been investing in debt of distressed energy companies, betting for an upturn.

Shipping people will now have an influential Cabinet member, and close whisperer into the ear of the new President, who actually knows the difference between a suezmax and an ultramax - the vessel of choice for his dry bulk venture. Not only that, they will be represented at the table.
MOL is teaming up with Mitsui & Co, and AKOFS Offshore in a joint venture, Avium Subsea, which is acquiring the subsea support vessel Skandi Santos from AKOFS.

The Skandi Santos has been on charter to Brazilian state oil and gas firm Petrobras since 2010.

The joint venture headquartered in Norway is owned 25% by MOL, 25% by Mitsui and 50% AKOFS.

It is MOLs first move into the subsea sector where it says it expects stable demand and steady earnings.

The subsea support vessel business is a field in which MOL can make use of extensive experience gained over two decades of managing cable-laying vessels, and represents a new offshore business following its FPSO system, FSRUs, and shuttle tanker operations. MOL is pooling its individual strengths to promote and expand the subsea support vessel business, which requires advanced technologies, the Japanese shipowner said.

The offshore vessels market has endured a difficult two years with serious overcapacity following the slump in the oil price.
SOE, subsidiary of privately-owned Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group, had gone into liquidation in August before it applied to the Qidong court to start debt restructuring, and won the courts approval on 11 November.

At meeting of creditors, it was revealed that a total of 418 creditors are chasing for RMB8.8bn ($1.27bn) owed by SOE.

The Official Assignee for SOE said that the Chinese shipyard is continuing to complete its existing work but no longer able to receive new jobs, despite its bankruptcy.

On 13 November, SOE delivered the 38,000 cu m ethylene/ethane gas carrier Gaschem Beluga to Ocean Yield. The vessel is the first of two sister ships to be delivered, and the second vessel has scheduled delivery on 1 July 2017.

SOE is also continuing construction on a 27,500 cu m LNG carrier and module fabrication for Russias Yamal LNG project.
The merger of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC will create the worlds fifth largest container line with 1.47m teu in fleet capacity.

The EC has approved the merger under the condition that UASC withdraws from the NEU1 consortium on the North Europe  North America trade, of which Hapag-Lloyd is also a member. If UASC also remains a member it said the merged company would have faced insufficient competitive restraint on the route. With UASC withdrawing from the route the merged companys position on the trade would be comparable with Hapag-Lloyds today.

"European companies rely on container liner shipping services for their transatlantic shipments. It's very important that the markets remain open, said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy.

The commitments offered by Hapag-Lloyd ensure that the takeover will not lead to price increases on the routes between Northern Europe and North America."
Anyone who grew up in the United States know the story of the first Thanksgiving. But that portrait might not be so accurate.

Nearly 400 years ago in 1620, more than 100 people sailing in a ship called the Mayflower left England bound for the New World. Many of those on board were part of a religious group intent on separating from the Church of England, their beliefs outlawed in their home country. Because of the religious intent of their journey, these people referred to themselves as Pilgrims.

Instead of arriving at the southern coast of what would become the United States as intended, their ship instead drifted further north, landing them in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. They eventually settled in an abandoned Native American village that they named Plymouth.

Thanksgiving Pumpkins Game for Wolves: Photos

During the first year in the New World, the colonists did not fare well. They arrived at the start of winter, so they couldn't plant crops. Most didn't know how to hunt game and in were in fact afraid of the wilderness.

Half of the colonists died that first year and the rest would have followed had it not been for the aid of the Wampanoag Indians. In exchange for protection against rival tribes, the Wampanoag allowed the colonists to live on their land and taught them how to grow crops, as the grain varieties they brought from England were ill-suited for their new home. The natives also instructed the Pilgrims on how to hunt and fish.

By the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims adapted to their new home, and decided to organize a special day of prayer and a three-day-long feast. They invited the natives, who brought a feast of their own upon joining the colonists.

This is the story of the first Thanksgiving - except it isn't.

Thanksgiving 2050: Feast or Famine?

While that sums up what happened in the fall of 1621, the idea of a feast of thanks certainly wasn't invented by the settlers at Plymouth. Similar harvest festivals were common in Europe, and other "thanksgivings" were common in the early American colonies to celebrate safe arrival. Spanish colonists, for example, had a similar meal in Texas 100 years earlier.

In 1789, Congress passed a resolution recommending a national day of thanksgiving. Days later, President George Washington named Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin." But it didn't yet become a tradition. Other thanksgiving proclamations were issued sporadically in later years under different presidents and even governors, though never with any consistency.

Those thanksgiving had nothing to do with the Pilgrims, however. A thanksgiving was celebrated in 1776, for example, to celebrate national independence. Another was declared in 1815 by James Madison to celebrate the end of the War of 1812, the last time Thanksgiving was recognized on a national level until the 1860s.

In 1841, New England historian Alexander Young published a book containing a letter from pilgrim Edward Winslow describing the three-day event in 1621. Young included a footnote describing the event as "the first Thanksgiving." Young mistakenly determined that the days of thanksgiving celebrated in the United States and national and state levels traced back to the Pilgrims.

Video: Blowing Up a Pie to Jump-Start Thanksgiving

The myth of the first Thanksgiving, however, was passed down as a story of trial and good fortune to those immigrating to America, and the connection to the Pilgrims stuck ever since.

President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in 1863 that cemented Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November, a tradition that held until 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the celebration to one week earlier to extend the holiday shopping season. And the rest is history.
NASA scientists are working on technologies to extend the shelf life of foods to up to seven years. That's more about triple the amount of time foods currently flown aboard the International Space Station are considered useable, said Kloeris, manager of NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

Which is not to say that foods, including the holiday dinner NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson be sharing with their crewmates aboard the space station on Thursday, are unsafe to eat after two years, just that they might not be as tasty or provide as much nutrition, Kloeris said in an interview with Seeker.

Taste and nutrition are among the key challenges scientists face as they work to develop foods that will keep astronauts happy, healthy and productive during a three-year mission to Mars.

Because food will be among the cargo flown to Mars before any people arrive, NASA figures it needs to have a shelf life of between five and seven years. Astronauts would eat the oldest foods during the six- to nine-month journey back to Earth.

RELATED: Space Prunes for Healthy Astronaut Bones?

Seven-year-old turkey may not sound very appetizing, but NASA, in partnership with military researchers, is looking at two promising technologies that could make it a reality.

The first method, called high-pressure processing, is similar to how canned foods are prepared today, but with less heat and more pressure.

"The idea would be that your initial (food) quality after processing would be higher and your initial nutrient content would be higher because you have used less heat," Kloeris said.

Because it started off better quality, the food would take longer to degrade, giving it a longer shelf life, she said.

The high-pressure process already is in use today for some refrigerated products, like guacamole in a pouch, which, if prepared the way canned foods are processed, would be black instead of green.

The second method is called microwave sterilization, and it works by quickly heating and quickly cooling foods. Because the heat is applied over a shorter period of time, theoretically, it should start off higher quality and remain edible longer.

NASA also is mulling how much variety in foods is needed to maintain a crew's physical, psychological and emotional health.

"Food is important on lots of levels," former astronaut Sandy Magnus told Seeker. "Human beings gather around food for social purposes. Think of all the times you meet friends at restaurants or bars and share a meal and get caught up over food.

"When you have a party at your house, how often does the group tend to gather in the kitchen? From a social viewpoint, having the ability to gather for the preparation of meals, the sharing of the meal, and the clean up is important socially and psychologically," she said.

Dining logistics may be different in space, but the idea is the same, said Magnus, who experimented with cooking while she served aboard the station.

RELATED: Here's How Extraterrestrial Farming Will Work on Mars

Among the 200 or so different items in the station's pantry are the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including sliced turkey, cornbread dressing, green beans and mushrooms and various desserts.

"What the astronauts eat is really up to them," Kloeris said.

One thing the astronauts have that's not available to terrestrial diners is a ringside seat to see Earth from space.

"Holiday or not, getting the view... makes you appreciate the beauty and wonder of the planet that we live on," Magnus wrote in an email. "If we could somehow have everyone take a moment at holidays to try and capture that same sentiment somehow - maybe being outside and watching the beauty of a deep blue sky, listening to the wind blow through a stand of trees, smell the rain coming in a storm - then I think there would be less negativity in the world. We sometimes don't stop to see and appreciate the beautiful things around us."

Former astronaut Sandy Magnus tries her hand at space cooking during her 134-day mission aboard the space station in 2008-2009. Credit: NASA WATCH VIDEO: How Astronauts Grow Plants In Space
The Charities Aid Foundation ranks each country based on how charitable their population is in the annual World Giving Index. Given their relative wealth, it's perhaps unsurprising that Australia, New Zealand and the United States are some of the most generous countries in the world. Much of their populations regularly donate money to humanitarian and community services.

What's slightly more unexpected is that Myanmar, a fairly poor nation, is even more generous than Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. Over the past five years, Myanmar has consistently ranked as the most generous country in the world, with more than 9 out of ten people saying they had recently donated money.

What makes Myanmar so generous year after year? Watch today's Seeker Daily video to find out more.

Thanks to our sponsor Kay Jewelers for supporting Seeker Daily!

Learn More:

Charitable Aid Foundation: World Giving Index 2016

The World Bank: World GDP

Harvard Divinity School: Buddhism in Myanmar
Instead of holding a blowout Black Friday sale, Jeremys Department Store, a retailer of discounted designer clothing, is shutting its doors after three decades in business.

Owner Jeremy Kidson made the announcement in an email to customers and on the Jeremys website this month. When Kidson closed the business San Francisco location in South Park, he had announced plans to also close a Berkeley store and consolidate the business in a former church he was renovating at 1701 Franklin St. in Uptown Oakland.

In the email, Kidson said that he had encountered almost five months of maddening delays to get the necessary permits to open in time for our very famous Black Friday event.

It was a very hard decision, Kidson said. I love Oakland so much, but it was one thing after the next; they kept putting obstacles in front of me.

Kidson said initial delays over what he was permitted to alter in the historic Romanesque Revival building, built in 1900 as the First Church of Christ Scientist, were resolved over the summer, but that he next encountered delays with the citys fire and building departments over the installation of a sprinkler system in the former main chapel, which was to be used as the stores primary retail area.

The Chronicle found three permits on file related to the project: an electrical permit filed in September and two remodeling permits from March and June.

The city had already issued us one permit, then the sprinkler issue came up and they said they would issue no more, Kidson said. They put a hold on it until there was an approval for fire. It moved very slow as we filed for an alternative system. It took almost two months, we hired a fire engineer who teaches at Berkeley, and in the meantime, everything was on hold.

Kidson said he reached out to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for assistance but that even though her office was responsive, city departments didnt seem to communicate with each other and nothing was getting signed off on.

Aliza Gallo, the economic development manager for the city, expressed disappointment with Kidsons decision not to open.

Overall, we are looking into any corrections we can make and to see where things fell apart, she said. We welcome Jeremy to reconsider his decision. Were trying to get in touch with him to see if we can get all parties together to see where the gap was. Hed be an asset to the Uptown district. I hope hell give us a second chance.

When Kidson realized that Jeremys would not be able to reopen for its first Black Friday sale in the new space, he decided to close the business: Between the financial risk of not having the Black Friday sale and the election of (Donald) Trump, I decided to fold up my tent and go.

The Berkeley store closed on Sunday, liquidating remaining stock. Kidson said he now plans to start an organization to help underprivileged youths in the Franklin Street space.

Jeremys began in 1987 as the New West boutique on Brannan Street in San Francisco. The business always focused on designer and luxury fashion at discount prices: designer samples, damaged pieces or manufacturing mistakes, and unsold lots from previous seasons. Although businesses like Loehmanns and Filenes Basement were already selling designer clothes at a discount at the time, Kidson said his highly selective approach was a first in the industry.

After a name change to Jeremys, Kidson moved the store in 1993 to its most famous location in San Franciscos then-up-and-coming South Park neighborhood. The store remained there until Kidson closed it in 2015 to reopen in Oakland. (Kidson still owns the South Park building, which now houses a Blue Bottle Coffee on the ground floor.)

Kidson purchased the former church from its congregation for $2.6 million this year with plans to remodel and create a grand experience for shoppers that would have included a cafe and wine bar as well as live music and DJs.

He plans to eventually open a cafe in the rotunda of the Franklin Street property, but will probably now rent the main space to a tech company. Hell use the rest of the former church as offices for Kidson Land Co., his commercial real estate business.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com
When Dominika Bednarskas wife, Perlita Payne, got her masters degree last year, the Berkeley couple rented a wheelchair-accessible van to go to the San Jose State graduation. When Bednarska  who uses a mobility scooter  returns from a flight, if shes too exhausted to deal with BART, they opt for a rental.

They rented through City CarShare, a San Francisco nonprofit that was the Bay Area pioneer in car sharing  hourly rentals of vehicles from dispersed locations. Its wheelchair-accessible vans cost about $12 an hour, a significant savings for short trips compared with the $140 a day that traditional rental companies charge, Bednarska said.

This month City CarShare transferred its fleet to Getaround, a privately held startup that arranges hourly rentals of peoples personal cars.

The companies said the deal would be great for City CarShare members. But the accessible vans didnt get transferred. Instead, Bednarska said, she received an email that theyd been decommissioned and a reservation shed made months ago was canceled.

At the same time, some City CarShare members said they were dismayed by the abrupt transition and by some Getaround policies, such as requiring all renters to have Facebook profiles and to refill gas tanks. Their discontent underscores the culture clash of a merger, one thats exacerbated when a nonprofit joins with a for-profit.

D. Ross Cameron/Special to The Chronicle

Im really upset, Bednarska said. If youre able-bodied, you have all these options. Paratransit takes hours and hours and its really hard to get a wheelchair-accessible cab or Uber. We used City CarShare almost weekly; it was a really important resource.

A source close to City CarShare said the BART grant that helped purchase the vans barred others from operating them. In the Getaround deal, City CarShare is retaining ownership of its existing fleet, but offering them for rentals only through Getarounds app.

I want to (donate) these vehicles to an organization that can service the community with them, said Lawrence Mulligan, acting CEO of City CarShare.

Berkeleys Center for Independent Living and Easy Does It Emergency Services are two agencies City CarShare has approached, the source said.

There are not good alternatives for wheelchair users to rent cars, said Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. A wheelchair user herself, she rented accessible vans from City CarShare many times.

I hope that the vehicles go to a place that will continue to let people rent them short-term, Golden said. I have to really question why (Getaround) didnt take them. It opens up the issue of illegal discrimination.

Other aspects of the deal are also stirring controversy.

Getaround relies on Facebook to verify owners and renters identities, in addition to drivers licenses. But some City CarShare members dont have and dont want Facebook.

I dont really see why they cant just transfer the account of proven customers, said Jeffrey DeLeo of San Francisco, who with his wife has used City CarShare about once a week since 2014. He noted that many sites allow multiple verification options, including site-specific user names/passwords. When Lyft created its ride-hailing app, it required a Facebook account, but it now allows for logins with a phone number.

Getaround members log in with Facebook, Mulligan said, so a different system would require extensive engineering. Getaround said: Our team has heard the feedback regarding additional sign-in options and is looking at adding other authentication channels.

Another complaint: Initially CarShare users couldnt find vehicles they were accustomed to renting, both because some were offline and because Getarounds system showed vehicles by distance rather than a map. Getaround said it has now added a map. Some CarShare vehicles were sidelined while technicians installed hardware to allow a smartphone to unlock them.

Some City CarShare members said they valued the nonprofit for its environmental focus and doubted whether a for-profit would have similar values, although Getaround also sees its mission as reducing car ownership.

Im feeling abandoned and confused by the abrupt transition, said David Fairley, a City CarShare user since its founding 15 years ago. He and wife Pam sold their car in 1993 to reduce their contributions to global warming. City CarShare was their go-to for school field trips, hauling stuff to the dump and moving their son to UC Davis. I liked City CarShare specifically because it was a nonprofit, he said.

He dislikes Getarounds policy that requires topping off the gas tank for each rental, because its time-consuming. The company said it is actively working on rolling out a gas solution for all Getaround vehicles. City CarShare required that cars be refilled with a half tank, and paid for gas as part of the rental.

Mulligan said Getaround rentals cost less overall. Free membership and no mileage charges massively outweighs the inconvenience of having to go to the gas station, he said.

Getaround said that thousands of City CarShare members had transferred their accounts. The nonprofit had about 20,000 active members.

We understand that despite our best efforts and planning, some City CarShare members have not found the transition to be as smooth as we had hoped, Getaround said. We are here to listen and support the community through this transition however we can.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Some San Francisco stories seem too strange to be true.

The Chronicles front page from Nov. 24, 1983, covers a topless bar workers death atop a trick piano made famous by renowned stripper Carol Doda.

The assistant manager of The Condor nightclub was crushed to death early yesterday when an elevator piano accidentally rose to the ceiling while he was entangled atop it with a young woman, the story read.

James (Jimmy the Beard) Ferrozzo, 40, a longtime employee of the North Beach topless club, was caught between the spangled piano and the ceiling while he was lying partially on top of his 23-year-old girlfriend, Theresa Hill, police said.

Doda, of course, was a beloved San Franciscan who helped take stripping out of the shadowy margins of American society and gained worldwide fame as a topless dancer in the 1960s and 70s, her Chronicle obituary from 2015 read.

She worked for decades at the Condor in North Beach, and the descending piano was one of the signatures  just one, mind you  of her burlesque act.

When Doda was long gone from the club one night, tragedy struck.

The accident on the piano ... happened between 4 and 6 a.m. yesterday, the story by The Chronicles Stephen Magagnini read. Angel Vicente, the clubs janitor, found the couple pinned between the piano and the ceiling 15 feet off the ground at 7:30 a.m., police said.

R.I.P.: Jimmy the Beard.

R.I.P.: Ms. Doda.

Top O the Top of the News: One of the last of a divine breed, a San Francisco hatter, tells what makes him mad. Page 47. The answer: groan-inducing plays on words.

See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspapers history.

Chronicle Covers highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Michelle Devera and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke

(Click to enlarge)




President-elect Donald Trump is not, by his own admission, an avid reader. But Im guessing that he has at some point cracked open, and even absorbed, some ideas from Alexis de Tocquevilles Democracy in America. The French nobleman spent nine months visiting the United States during 1831-32, and produced an amazing, prescient analysis of the young country published in two parts (1835 and 1840). Trump seems to embody some of the characteristics of the people Tocqueville describes, and is clearly well in tune with the Frenchmans musings about the then-distant future.

In the recently concluded presidential election campaign, the key line of attack on Trump aimed at the vagaries of his temperament, which was depicted, at the very least, as boorish. Another theme focused on his alleged penchant for too-sharp business practices, as if he were a latter-day version of Sinclair Lewis protagonist in Babbitt, a man who was nimble in the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay. Jeb Bush tried to devalue the Trumpian persona by saying, repeatedly, that you cant insult your way into the White House. Wrong.

Why did none of these attacks defeat Trump? The answer lies in Tocquevilles discussion of American behavior. He puts the matter quite succinctly: In democratic countries, manners are generally devoid of dignity ... and they are frequently low. Then he goes on to observe but they are frequently more sincere. And this may be the secret of Trumps success: He is without question authentic. From his extemporaneous speeches to his quick, sotto voce interpolations during the presidential debates, Trump personified the rough earnestness Tocqueville recognized in Americans nearly two centuries ago.

It is this authenticity that helped Trump ride the populist wave that washed him into high office. The power does not derive from the man, but rather from the people. As House Speaker Paul Ryan noted, so admiringly, Trump heard and heeded the discontented voices to which others were not listening. In a country where 70 percent of the people believe all is not well, the candidate who acknowledged this concern and pledged to act to rectify the situation prospered. For, as Tocqueville so accurately observed: The people reign in the American political world. ... They are the cause and the aim of all things; everything comes from them, and everything is absorbed in them. It took Trump, the antipolitician, to remember this.

A final, Hail Mary assault on Candidate Trump had to do with his possible business ties to Russia and his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The fact that hackers alleged to be working for the Kremlin had made Swiss cheese of Democratic cybersecurity offered yet another Russian-flavored, anti-Trump angle of attack as well. But it didnt work.

It turns out that Trumps assessment of Russia is deep and nuanced. He sees that the effort to overthrow Syrias Bashar Assad is doomed, but that Russia can be an important ally in the fight against the Islamic State and other terrorists. He also holds out the hope of greater cooperation with Russia in world affairs. To my mind, this sounds a lot like Tocqueville on the subject of Russia and the United States: Their starting-point is different and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.

So there it is; at the turn of every Trumpian corner we find Tocqueville. Whether the topic is personality, populism or power politics. Coincidence? Maybe. But I think not.

John Arquilla is professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. His books include The Reagan Imprint and Afghan Endgames. In July, he wrote for Insight Trump needs a military adviser who grasps modern war, about retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the president-elects pick for national security adviser. The views expressed herein are his alone. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.
Brian A. Pounds

As you inch along the freeways toward Black Friday sales, watch out for potholes chewing up your tires. Theres plenty of time to listen to traffic jam warnings on the radio and think about the $762 per year in repair costs for an average driver tooling down Californias lousy roads.

Sacramento hears your pain but isnt doing anything about it, at least for now. Gov. Jerry Brown and top legislators are officially giving up on a transportation fix-it plan for the two-year session of the Legislature that runs out next week. They called off a special session to deal with the costly topic, with no consensus in sight and the clock ticking down.
For many, a pretty drive and a short walk are as much as a tradition on Thanksgiving as eating turkey, ham or prime rib.

Each offers a chance for little breather, the opportunity to get up to date with family and friends, and  perhaps  even a little exercise in a beautiful place to whet the appetite for the feast to come.

A break in the weather and a low tide in midafternoon could tempt some to venture to tide pools, beaches and other coastal stretches where outcrops often can provide seclusion. One word of caution: Head instead to inland parks, open spaces and bay frontage.

The National Weather Service has issued a beach hazards statement, effective through Thursday night, for sneaker waves from Sonoma County to Monterey. Conditions are present to support a heightened risk of unsuspecting beachgoers being swept into the sea by a wave.

Forecasters advise to never turn your back to the surf and that fishermen should not fish coastal rocks, like Deadmans Rock near the Cliff House in San Francisco, or the jetty that protects Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2007

Area by area, here are 10 of the best pretty drives with short walks for Thanksgiving:

San Francisco

The Coast Trail is a perennial favorite. Drive to Lands End (near the Cliff House) and park in the lot on Merrie Way. The trailhead for the Coastal Trail is at the north end of the lot, which leads on a terraced bluff (an old rail line) to an overlook of China Beach, and along the way, world-class views of the mouth of the bay, Golden Gate. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, (415) 561-4700, nps.gov/goga.

Peninsula

North Peninsula: At San Bruno Mountain, an easy 3.1-mile hike rings the summit with spectacular views of downtown San Francisco and South Bay. As a loop, you get a new view every 10 minutes. San Mateo County Department of Parks, (650) 363-4020, http://parks.smcgov.org

Peninsula skyline: The best short walk on Skyline is at Russian Ridge, where the trailhead is located across Skyline from Vista Point, 1.2 miles north of the junction of Page Mill Road. In half a mile, the trail rises to 2,572-foot Borel Hill. You get awesome views across the coastal foothills to the sea on the horizon. Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, (650) 691-1200, www.openspace.org.

South Peninsula: Long Ridge Open Space is on Skyline, 3.3 miles south (just past Portola Heights Road) of the junction with Page Mill Road, or 3.6 miles north of the junction with Big Basin Way/Highway 9. The trailhead is on the west side of the road. A 4.6-mile loop descends into a forested valley, then climbs 400 feet to the Wallace Stegner Bench for the payoff view across the Butano Rim and coastal foothills. Midpeninsula Open Space District, (650) 691-1200, www.openspace.org.

Marin

Marin lookout: A lot of people have heard about the jaw-dropping view at 2,071-foot ORourkes Bench, perched high on Mount Tamalpais, but dont know how to get there. Its only a 15-minute walk. To find the trail, park at Rock Spring (at the junction of Pantoll Road and Ridgecrest), then cross Ridgecrest and look for the trail on the south side of the road. Mount Tamalpais State Park, (415) 388-2070, www.parks.ca.gov.

Marin woods and water: One little change can turn a walk on the Pump Trail into something unforgettable. The trailhead is at the west side of Alpine Dam (for additional parking, cross the dam and go a quarter-mile to pullouts). Next to the dam, youll find a service road that leads into a wooded canyon (with a great view of the backside of the dam). Continue to an unsigned spur, the second cutoff on your left (where the canyon drops below on your left). That leads a short distance to pristine sites along Lagunitas Creek. Sky Oaks Ranger Station, (415) 945-1181, www.MarinWater.org.

East Bay

Oakland hills: Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve provides a sensational, easy 2-mile walk amid prehistoric lava rock, yet it seems that only those who live nearby visit here. It is just south of the Highway 24 tunnel. You get a tour of ancient volcanics, plus on nearby Skyline, pullouts along the road for great views of the bay. Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, (888) 327-2757, option 3, extension 4554; www.ebparks.org.

East Bay Skyline: In a sequence, you pass trailheads for Redwood and Anthony Chabot regional parks. At Redwood, the Stream Trail is routed along Redwood Creek, easy and gorgeous. At Chabot, start at the Bort Meadow Trailhead, then drop down to Grass Valley and turn left for a pretty 2.8-mile loop. Anthony Chabot Regional Park, option 3, ext. 4502; East Bay Regional Park District, www.ebparks.org.

East Bay shore: The Hayward Regional Shoreline is a 1,600-acre wetland with flat trails, often with wood walkways above the marsh, that provides a home for migratory shorebirds as well as sweeping views across the South Bay. The centerpiece is Cogswell Marsh. Low tides Thanksgiving afternoon mean the birds will be out in force, poking around the flats for their dinner.

Flank of Diablo: Castle Rocks, a series of sandstone spires, blocks and monoliths on the pretty flank of Mount Diablo near Walnut Creek, is one of the more unusual sites in the Bay Area. For the best view, start at the Old Borges Ranch trailhead (a map is available there); it connects to the Briones-to-Mount Diablo Trail, which is routed up toward Buckeye Hill at Shell Ridge. About halfway up the hill, break left for the best view of a series of spires (and a view down Pine Canyon as well). Old Borges Ranch Interpretive Center, (925) 943-5899; Shell Ridge Open Space, City of Walnut Creek, (925) 943-5800; www.walnut-creek.org

Tom Stienstra is the outdoors writer for The San Francisco Chronicle. His Outdoor Report can be heard at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9). Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com
Most people are drawn to Big Sur for the scenery. Stretching for 90 miles from Carmel to San Simeon, it makes for one of the worlds most dramatic drives, with the pounding Pacific on one side of Highway 1 and the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains on the other.

But spend a little more time in Big Sur, and youll find more than majestic cliffs and crashing surf. Its the spiritual home to generations of seekers drawn to the Esalen Institute, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and New Camaldoli Hermitage. The writer Henry Miller called Big Sur his first real home in America.

And then theres the storied restaurant Nepenthe, or as its late owner Lolly Fassett liked to call it, Big Surs living room. During the 50s and 60s, it teemed with Hollywood stars, artists, musicians, writers and hippies.

It was a very cosmopolitan experience in a rural, remote place, recalls Kirk Gafill, Fassetts grandson, who now runs the restaurant. People came to Big Sur to drop out or get away from everything. To be removed from the rest of the world. You have to work pretty hard to be disconnected from the world today.

True, but a day exploring Big Surs bohemian side is a good way to begin.

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Morning

Breakfast can wait as you begin your early morning meditation with a drive down Highway 1. It allows you some distance from your life, Nepenthes Gafill says, metaphorically speaking. You can really absorb what a special place it is.

Start by soaking in the view of Bixby Bridge, a concrete arch bridge built in 1932 and at 260 feet one of the tallest of its kind in the world. Park on the west side of the road, north of the bridge for the best angle of this engineering marvel.

For brunch, pull off the highway at Big Sur Bakery, a converted ranch house, built in 1936 by a member of the pioneering Post family. The restaurant, owned by Los Angeles transplants Michelle Rizzolo and Philip Wojtowicz since 2001, is popular with locals and tourists alike. Rizzolo, the pastry chef, is an alum of La Brea Bakery and Campanile, where Wojtowicz worked too. The breakfast pizza with bacon, eggs, cheese and scallions is a must-order if youre there on the weekend  or opt for one of Rizzolos buttery pastries.

Make note of the dinner menu, which includes pizzas and heartier wood-fired fare such as chicken with gravy, local sea bass with wild fennel butter, and grilled dry-aged prime beef with fresh horseradish. Before you leave, grab a package of chocolate chip cookies ($12 for eight) and proceed to your next stop. Note: The bakery will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 30-Dec. 13 to focus on baking and shipping their annual winter stollen.

James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle

About a quarter mile back up the highway, keep an eye out for Sycamore Canyon Road, the only turnoff for hard-to-find Pfeiffer Beach. Make the sharp turn and follow the narrow road about 2 miles to the parking lot (theres a $10 day-use fee) and walk the short trail through a stand of cypress trees to a lovely beach with purple-tinged sand. The tint comes from garnet deposits washed down from the hillsides, creating a pretty watercolor effect.

Midday

The $17.50 Ambrosia burger on the lunch menu may give you sticker shock, but Nepenthe is worth a visit for the vibe and the view. The site of a cabin once owned by Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, it was purchased by the Fassett family; they built a restaurant on the property and helped feed Big Surs counterculture. The scene today is more family-friendly than far out, with nary a whiff of patchouli, but the airy wood-and-glass interior remains much the same and a unique example of early Northern California modern architecture. While there, you may see artist Erin Lee Gafill, family member and Nepenthes artist-in-residence, painting landscapes from the deck.

Across the road is a dramatic glass-and-wood building designed by Big Sur architect Mickey Muennig (who also designed Post Ranch Inn). It houses the Hawthorne Gallery, the exhibit space for one of the West Coasts most artistic clans  nine family members each working in different media, including Greg Hawthorne, who creates large-scale contemporary paintings, furniture and sculptures, and his daughter, Shelby, whose art glass is also found on the tables at Sierra Mar, the restaurant at Post Ranch Inn. Before leaving, stroll their sculpture trail.

Its a short hop to the Henry Miller Memorial Library, tucked into a redwood grove. This library was the home of Emil White, who turned his residence into a memorial to his longtime friend after Miller died in 1980. More bookstore than library, its now a local center for the arts, hosting concerts, workshops and movie screenings. Inside the redwood cabin, tables are stacked with books, old movie posters hang on the walls, and international currency dangles from the ceiling. Pick up a copy of Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, Millers 1957 tribute to his adopted home, and sink into a cushy chair in the corner.

Afternoon

James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle

You dont have to be a guest at luxe Ventana Big Sur to take advantage of the resorts on-site Art & Seekers program. Workshops range from drumming circles to neuroacoustic music therapy. The quartz bowls and cymatic resonance session is designed to relax and balance body, mind and soul. If thats all a bit too New Age-y, learn the art of charcoal tree drawing with Terese Garcia (be warned, actual tree hugging is involved). After class head to the restaurant patio for a Ventana Fortuna, a refreshing cocktail of mezcal, cucumber and basil, and watch the sun set.

Evening

Dining options in Big Sur range from casual to elegant. Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn features a fixed-price Taste of Big Sur menu with dishes such as black mussels cooked in embers with native kelp and sea vegetables.Then theres fireside dining at Nepenthe, and wood-fired cuisine at cozy Big Sur Bakery. Or you can dine at Ventana, where Chef Paul Corsentinos four-course tasting menu highlights seasonal produce and seafood. Time your visit right and wrap up the evening with a performance at the Henry Miller Memorial Library. Coming up: An evening of folk pop and glogg with Erisy Watt and Huddy Bali 7 p.m. Dec. 17. Tickets cost $10.

If you go

Big Sur Bakery: 47540 Hwy. 1, Big Sur, (831) 667-0520, www.bigsurbakery.com. Breakfast daily, brunch weekends, dinner Wednesday-Sunday. Closed Wednesday, Nov. 30-Dec. 13.

Hawthorne Gallery: 8485 Hwy. 1, Big Sur, (831) 667-3200. www.hawthornegallery.com. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

Henry Miller Library: 48603 Hwy. 1, Big Sur; (831) 667-2574. www.henrymiller.org. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

Nepenthe: 48510 Hwy. 1, Big Sur, (831) 667-2345; www.nepenthebigsur.com. Lunch and dinner daily.

Pfeiffer Beach: Sycamore Canyon Road, Big Sur (off Highway 1, about 1.1 miles south of the entrance to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park).

Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn: 47900 Hwy. 1, Big Sur; (831) 667-2800. www.postranchinn.com. Lunch and dinner daily.

Ventana Big Sur: 48123 Hwy. 1, Big Sur; (831) 667-2331. www.ventanainn.com. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Art & Seekers program: www.ventanainn.com/art-gallery/art-seekers-program. Workshops from $50 to $180 per person; $90-$300 couples.
Post-It notes filled with emotional messages of love, kindness and uncertainty following the presidential election  that covered a Lakeshore Avenue mural  were destroyed by a local man on Tuesday.

Nicknamed the "Love Wall" in the days since the first sticky note appeared, the messages became a uniting factor in the neighborhood, in a time filled with uncertainty for many.

"The wall was really inspiring for people," said Pamela Drake, executive director of the Lakeshore Avenue Business Improvement District, to SFGATE. "There were messages of hope, but also of resistance that we're not just going to be this kind of country that (president-elect Donald Trump) wanted to turn us into."

The notes hit different emotions about the election and the United States. One message reads, "Hatred is NOT an American value." Another said, "Be kind to each other  and to Oakland."

Despite the hope-filled messages on those Post-Its, Oakland resident Stephan Tompkins, 85, wanted the notes taken down. Tompkins claimed responsibility for ripping the hundreds of sticky notes from the mural on Tuesday, and told ABC 7 that they were blocking the view of the art and that he disagreed with the people posting the messages.

"Tell me what you're saying, nothing," Tompkins, a Trump supporter, told the news station. "Just an empty expression. Some child who didn't get the right kind of training."

Peet's employee Kyle Lamberson, who works next to the mural, said he thought it was cool to see people showing support on the wall. Most locals didn't understand why the notes were taken down.

"I think some people were bewildered, they didn't know why he did it," Lamberson said. "It had a significance to a lot of people."

Similar walls filled with Post-It note messages have popped up in various areas, including the "Wall of Empathy" at the 16th Street BART station in the Mission District.

Drake said that someone had called to alert her that someone was taking down the notes from the wall, and that by the time she arrived at the mural, all of the notes were gone.

"There was a bunch of people standing there arguing with (Tompkins) but they had all gone quiet because they recognized they weren't able to make headway with him," Drake said.

"There's really no point in arguing with him and after he took them all down, he stood guard the entire day," Drake said.

According to her, the notes began organically as a movement to express people's feelings after the election. She said a woman and two kids brought markers and Post-Its to the wall and wrote messages, leaving them on the mural. Each day, more and more messages were added, creating a wall of powerful messages from the community.

"We all loved it and everybody came down," Drake said. "Literally every day I'd take more pictures and post them on my Instagram  some of the whole wall and some of the individual messages."

Now, Drake is hoping to preserve some of the messages and asked locals to post their photos of the Love Wall to the Lakeshore Avenue Facebook page for digital preservation.

"People are upset to come and see it gone," Drake said. "A lady came by and said, 'What happened?' I said somebody took it down, and she said, 'That's so sad.'"

"This was the best sort of little community connection for people to go, besides the 'Hands Around the Lake' which was brief," Drake said. "We all want to protect each other and take care of each other and so now we just have to figure the next step. This was a bridge, but it wasn't an end in itself ... I think art is part of what's going to carry us through."
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After nine months living in an RV that had to be moved every three nights, Andrea Johnson thought shed lost her two children behind one of the many doors in their new two-bedroom apartment.

Johnson was doing dishes when the place went silent so she mounted a search and found them in the last place she expected  already tucked into their slots in their new bunk beds, Jose, 12, on the bottom, Amber, 8, on top.

It was the first time they ever put themselves to bed on their own, said Johnson, 43, during an interview on her only day off from work, a Wednesday. They were so thankful that they wanted to go to bed early.

The bunk-bed set, with mattresses, built-in drawers and twin dressers, came courtesy of the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund. It was delivered, set up and made up to mark the end of an odyssey that began the way so many odysseys begin in Silicon Valley, with an eviction.

The Sunnyvale apartment complex where Johnson had grown up with a single, working mom, and where she was raising her own kids as a single, working mom, was sold.

Eight years on a month-to-month lease became a 60-day notice to vacate. The favorable rent she was able to cover while working as an in-home care provider could not be found anywhere else. She did not have much but she had an RV, so she loaded up the two kids and the two cats and went mobile.

Im used to doing everything on my own, said Johnson, who has a diploma from Homestead High School in Cupertino, Steve Jobs alma mater, and national certification as a medical assistant. Im not a victim except of circumstances.

Truth is, she didnt mind life in the RV, getting up at 5 a.m. to boil water to get the kids washed before getting them off for school. She still had her car, which she parked near the RV, switching in and out to protect her parking spot. But every day was like a three-men-in-a-boat conundrum.

The kids never missed a day of school and I never missed a day of work, she said. It was crazy trying to move cars and move kids, finding places to do your laundry and homework and juggling doctors appointments. And looking for a place to live at the same time and everybody telling you no because they only want the techies to move into their building.

There were only two aspects to it Johnson couldnt work around. One is that her son, Jose, has special needs that require close monitoring and supervision.

The other is the parking restrictions in Sunnyvale. Stay anywhere more than three nights and shed be towed. Stay anywhere for two nights and shed be ticketed. She tried moving the RV to the rough side of town where the transients are, but then other hassles would ensue.

She finally found a spot next to Sunnyvale Community Services, an independent nonprofit that provides emergency assistance. Because the organization is located just outside a residential community, she could stay more than three nights without attracting police attention. She was even able to sneak the plug for her RV into an outlet at the agency to recharge her generator.

Johnson was trying to stay discreet but was unknowingly on the radar of Stephano Joseph, a case manager for Sunnyvale Community Services. One day, Johnson came over and inquired about a food giveaway, and that was an indication that she needed more than parking and power for her RV.

When Joseph knocked on the RV door, Johnson didnt know what a case manager was, she said. Here I am, a stubborn independent female who is used to doing everything on her own.

She took some convincing, but once she was approved for the organizations Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program, doors started to open. It took two months, but Joseph found Johnson and her children a two-bedroom apartment on a cul-de-sac in San Jose, on the side of Interstate 280 nearer the hills and just past the Santa Clara city line.

The living room is bigger than the RV, Johnson said, pointing from her front door to the vehicle in its own designated parking spot.

She has a one-year lease, and her rent is subsidized by the city of Sunnyvale. As Johnsons income rises, the subsidy will drop proportionately. She is completing work for her licensed vocational nursing certificate, which will triple her earnings power, she said. She has a new job coming in about six weeks, with better pay. By next year, she expects to be able to cover the entire rent.

But she never could cover the furnishings.

I worked my butt off to get this stuff, she said. But she never could find free beds, so the three of them slept on blow-up mattresses until the day Joseph caught wind of this arrangement.

Sunnyvale Community Services has a three-way arrangement with the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund and a furniture store in Silicon Valley. The bedroom set, which has a double mattress on the bottom for Jose and a single on top for Amber, is the only brand new furniture in the apartment.

Were finally home, Mom, Jose said when Johnson found her kids tucked in on their own that first night.

Then he slept through the night for the first time since their eviction.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art

Donations to the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund help thousands of people in the Bay Area throughout the year. Assistance is in the form of grants paid directly to the supplier of services, such as a landlord. Individuals do not receive direct grants. For more information, visit www.seasonofsharing.org

Where the money goes

Distribution of funds

1986-2014 2014-15 2015-16 TOTAL $98,210,692 $6,990,000 $7,393,750 $112,594,442

Critical family needs / housing assistance and food banks

County 1986- June 2014 2014-15 2015-16 TOTAL Alameda 18,961,033 1,313,850 1,404,812 21,679,695 Contra Costa 12,888,762 898,950 961,188 14,748,900 Marin 5,298,121 345,750 369,688 6,013,559 Napa 4,784,211 489,900 443,625 5,717,736 San Francisco 18,272,869 1,313,850 1,404,812 20,991,531 San Mateo 11,255,893 691,500 739,375 12,686,768 Santa Clara 15,243,360 1,106,400 1,183,000 17,532,760 Solano 5,561,458 414,900 414,900 6,419,983 Sonoma 5,930,886 414,900 443,625 6,789,411 Total $98,210,692* 6,990,000 7,393,750 $112,594,442

Generally, 85 percent of the total funds are distributed for critical family needs and housing assistance, and the remaining 15percent is allocated to food banks for emergency food services.

Four percent of grants for critical family needs and housing assistance is paid to fiscal sponsors for fee management; fees are covered by The San Francisco Chronicle and the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund.
Munchery, a San Francisco startup that cooks and delivers meals to hundreds of thousands of customers in a handful of cities, has begged its cooks to bring down the cost of the ingredients, according to current and former employees. That often meant no organic chicken. No wild salmon.

Nathaniel Faggioli, the companys chief operating officer and a former Goldman Sachs banker, has pushed employees to find ways to improve its margins as it tries to attract another round of financing, according to the people.

Meanwhile, line cooks in San Francisco, its flagship market, stayed up until 2 a.m. assembling Vietnamese caramel chicken, roasted half game hen and beef pho, said the current and former employees. Yet some of that food consistently gets thrown in the trash or donated, they said. Munchery spokeswoman Marcy Simon denied that cooks stayed that late and also denied that any prepared food gets thrown away. She acknowledged Munchery made more food than it sold.

From September 2014 to July 2016, the San Francisco area kitchen (now in South San Francisco) made about 653,400 dishes (an entree or a side) that never got sold, according to an internal financial document and interviews with ex-employees, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal. Thats an average of 16 percent of the food the kitchen was producing. The value of that waste exceeded $1.9 million, based on Muncherys $2.96 average per dish food cost over that period, according to the document. Former and current employees said the startup was overproducing food in other kitchens and beyond that time period.

Executives said there is nothing alarming about the waste. Overproduction is a fact of life in the food business. Neither restaurants nor online food providers can predict exactly how much food will be ordered each day, Simon wrote in an email. We measure ourselves on limiting overproduction to a small percentage of overall sales. Munchery said its San Francisco kitchen is profitable.

Munchery, which said on Monday that it had appointed James Beriker as CEO, has few peers to compare it to; not many venture-backed startups are trying to both cook and deliver meals. But no matter how you calculate it, the amount of food that Munchery wastes is high, experts said. Most restaurants waste 4 to 10 percent, said Dana Gunders, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council who studies food waste. Its also significant in terms of straight financials, she said.

Since it started making deliveries in 2010, Munchery promised to upend the industry. A lot of companies have tried and failed to grind out a profit delivering food, but Munchery executives had something novel to offer. Unlike GrubHub or DoorDash, it wasnt delivering food from restaurants, and unlike Blue Apron or Plated, it wasnt mailing customers a box of ingredients and a recipe. Its cooks make meals in four giant kitchens in different states, and the startup delivers them in several cities. Two other companies, Sprig and Maple, also make and deliver food, but have raised far less money.

Tri Tran, Muncherys co-founder and outgoing CEO, grew up in Vietnam, with barely enough to eat, eventually moving to the U.S. with his family when he was 11. His powerful story has helped to propel Muncherys brand, as has the companys outspoken investor, Shervin Pishevar. Muncherys two main investors are Pishevars Sherpa Capital and Menlo Ventures. The startup raised $85 million in May 2015 at a valuation between $250 million and $275 million. Pishevar and Tran declined to comment for this story.

Lately, Munchery has experienced tumult. In addition to food waste, the company has lost money in other ways, particularly through aggressive marketing campaigns. It has been struggling to raise more capital. The startup may end up tapping existing investors for more funds, a person familiar with the matter said. It has raised about $120 million in total, a lot more than many food delivery startups. The challenges it has faced illustrate how eager venture capitalists have been to find a company that can make and deliver food profitably  but how hard it is to do that. At least three top executives have left in the last year.

Executives knew they were producing a lot of meals that would go to waste, but told their staff to cook substantially more food than the company anticipated it would sell, according to current and former employees.

Some former employees said overproduction had helped to convince them that they should leave. Pascal Rigo, Muncherys former chief customer experience officer who left in April, said costly marketing and a lack of transparency around customer turnover troubled him. It was very difficult to be part of a company that I felt some members of the executive team were not telling the entire story to employees or investors, he said.

During the last week of June, Munchery sold 39,870 dishes cooked in its San Francisco kitchens, according to the internal document. It was a pretty typical week, the document shows, and about 14 percent of those entrees and sides did not go to customers.

Munchery board member Jeff Housenbold said he wasnt aware of the waste. I actually dont have great visibility into how many meals go unsold, he said.

Some of the excess food was taken home by delivery drivers and kitchen staff; some was thrown away; some was donated to charity, according to former employees. They said they were told to continue overproducing to ensure that the startup had enough food in case a marketing campaign increased sales.

Spokeswoman Simon denied that any of the meals were thrown away. She said that during the past few months, excess food in San Francisco has been donated to two charities, City Impact and FoodRev, and that previously it had been donated to Food Runners, another charity. Christian Huang, the executive director of City Impact, confirmed that Munchery sent them some of their food. FoodRevs executive director did not respond to a request for comment. Mary Risley, founder and executive director of Food Runners, said she hadnt heard from Munchery in over a year.

In early 2015, Munchery needed to raise a new round of financing. Its executives prepared a slideshow for investors.

One slides headline declares that Munchery would reach $2 billion of revenue by 2019 without raising any more money: Note: This plan assumes that the $60 million Series C will be our last financing round. Growth in 2017 and beyond supported by cash flow of our business. Munchery has since tried to raise more money, people familiar with the matter said.

Muncherys internal financial document highlights the way the company has relied on marketing to boost revenue, but bringing in consumers through steep discounts doesnt always make for a sustainable customer base. Between September 2014 and July 2016, Muncherys best week in terms of revenue out of the San Francisco kitchen came during the second week of May 2015, when the company generated $598,700, according to the document. Later that month, Munchery announced that Menlo Ventures would lead an investment of $85 million. Almost immediately, San Franciscos revenue began to flag. Several weeks that summer, San Francisco revenue dipped below $400,000. The kitchens revenue was shrinking, not soaring.

Former employees said thats because Munchery had cut back on its marketing spending after the financing round. According to Simon, Marketing budget decisions have nothing to do with the timing of fundraising rounds. As recently as June, weekly revenue in the San Francisco kitchen was $510,800. The document does not provide revenue for other kitchens. Simon said the companys San Francisco revenue has grown 12 percent since July.

The financials show that Munchery was having a hard time hanging onto customers, said Evan Rawley, a professor at Columbia Business School. Its not that hard to get a customer if you give them enough discounts, you hit them with enough advertising, he said.

Eric Newcomer is a Bloomberg writer. Email: enewcomer@bloomberg.net
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The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to create a national network of proving grounds where automakers can safely test self-driving cars, Secretary Anthony Foxx said this week.

Such facilities could include race tracks and test tracks at car factories. Universities, corporate campuses and even the urban cores of cities could choose to participate by allowing autonomous vehicle testing on their properties.

All would be required to draft a safety management plan and designate a safety officer to carry it out. They would also be required to share best practices and safety testing data, excluding any information the car companies consider proprietary.

We believe that by designating facilities as part of a community of practice, we can foster a safe environment for these entities to share best practices related to testing and developing this technology, Foxx wrote on the departments official blog.

Safety is our top priority ... and over the past year we have leaned in on ushering in these innovations that will transform transportation as we know it, he wrote.

Facilities interested in participating have until Dec. 19 to apply for the program. The department plans to pick member facilities next year and wants all of them operational by 2018.

It is not immediately clear whether the companies and facilities already testing autonomous vehicles will want to participate. The incoming administrations approach to self-driving cars is also unknown.

The program does not offer financial incentives. And automakers, which are racing each other to develop self-driving technology, may be hesitant to share much information with competitors.

Before we make an application, we have to go back to our partners and say, What do you think? said Randy Iwasaki, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority.

The authority runs GoMentum Station, a testing facility for autonomous vehicles on the site of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station. Three companies  Honda, Ubers Otto and EasyMile  use the stations grid of roads to test self-driving cars, trucks and shuttle buses.

A bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September even authorized tests of vehicles without brakes, steering wheels or human occupants at the site.

Iwasaki said the authority would consider applying for inclusion in the Transportation Departments proving ground network. But first, it must weigh whether participation would add a new layer of regulation without bringing much benefit in return.

Does it mean well be able to develop this technology faster? he asked.

The automakers and their federal regulators see self-driving technology as a way to prevent traffic accidents, which claim more than 30,000 lives in the United States each year. At the same time, critics fear it could eventually eliminate the jobs of truck and taxi drivers.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
It sounds like a great idea: Forget passwords, and instead lock your phone or computer with your fingerprint. Its a convenient form of security  though its also perhaps not as safe as youd think.

In their rush to do away with problematic passwords, Apple, Microsoft and other tech companies are nudging consumers to use their own fingerprints, faces and eyes as digital keys. Smartphones and other devices increasingly feature scanners that can verify your identity with these biometric signatures in order to unlock a gadget, sign into Web accounts and authorize electronic payments.

But there are drawbacks: Hackers could still steal your fingerprint  or its digital representation. Police may have broader legal powers to make you unlock your phone. And so-called biometric systems are so convenient they could lull users into a false sense of security.

We may expect too much from biometrics. No security systems are perfect, said Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University who helped police unlock a smartphone by using a digitally enhanced ink copy of the owners fingerprints.

Biometric security seems like a natural solution to well-known problems with passwords. Far too many people choose weak and easily-guessed passwords like 123456 or password. Many others reuse a single password across online accounts, all of which could be hacked if the password is compromised. And of course some use no password at all when they can get away with it, as many phones allow.

As electronic sensors and microprocessors have grown cheaper and more powerful, gadget makers have started adding biometric sensors to familiar products.

Apples iPhone 5S, released in 2013, introduced fingerprint scanners to a mass audience, and rival phone makers quickly followed suit. Microsoft built biometric capabilities into the latest version of its Windows 10 software, so you can unlock your PC by briefly looking at the screen. Samsung is now touting an iris-scanning system in its latest Galaxy Note devices.

All those systems are based on the notion that each users fingerprint  or face, or iris  is unique. But that doesnt mean they cant be reproduced.

Jain, the Michigan State researcher, proved that this year when a local police department asked for help unlocking a fingerprint-protected Samsung phone. The phones owner was dead, but police had the owners fingerprints on file. Jain and two associates made a digital copy of the prints, enhanced them and then printed them out with special ink that mimics the conductive properties of human skin.

We tried the right thumb and it worked right away, Jain said.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, meanwhile, fooled some commercial face-detection systems by using photos they found on the social media accounts of test subjects. They used the photos to create a three-dimensional image, enhanced with virtual reality algorithms. The spoof didnt work every time, and the researchers found it could be foiled by cameras with infrared sensors. (The Microsoft face-recognition system uses infrared-capable cameras for extra precision.)

But some experts believe any biometric system can be cracked with sufficient determination. All it takes are simulated images of a persons fingerprint, face or even iris pattern. And if someone manages that, you cant exactly change your fingerprint or facial features as you would a stolen password.

To make such theft more difficult, biometric-equipped phones and computers typically encrypt fingerprints and similar data and store them locally, not in the cloud, where hackers might lift them from company servers. But many biometrics can be found elsewhere. You might easily leave your fingerprint on a drinking glass, for instance. Or it might be stored in a different database; Jain pointed to the 2015 computer breach at the federal Office of Personnel Management, which compromised the files  including fingerprints  of millions of federal employees.

Most crooks wont go to that much trouble. But some experts have voiced a different concern  that biometrics could undermine important legal rights.

U.S. courts have ruled that authorities cant legally require individuals to give up their passwords, since the Fifth Amendment says you cant be forced to testify or provide incriminating information against yourself. In the last two years, however, judges in Virginia and Texas have ordered individuals to unlock their phones with their fingerprints.

Theres a legal distinction between something you know, like a password, and something you possess, like a physical key or a fingerprint, said Marcia Hofmann, a San Francisco attorney who specializes in privacy and computer security. While you cant be forced to reveal the combination of a safe, she noted, the Supreme Court has said you can be required to turn over a physical key to unlock a door.

Getting your thumb print or iris scan is not the same as making you speak, agreed Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. In practice its another way of getting access to the computer, but through a very different means.

The issue hasnt been tested yet in higher courts, though its likely just a matter of time.

Even with vulnerabilities, some analysts say the convenience of biometric locks is a plus  not least because it may give the password-averse another easy option to secure their devices. Its bringing secure authentication to the masses, said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, a tech policy expert at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

Others say the best approach would combine biometric systems with other protections, such as a strong password or PIN.

Its good to see biometrics being used more, because it adds another factor for security, said Jain. But using multiple security measures is the best defense.
Alameda County Sheriffs Office

A Maryland man who police say threatened to blow up a plane as it taxied to a runway at Oakland International Airport just before the Thanksgiving holiday was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats.

Arpan Shah, 32, told passengers Tuesday afternoon on the Baltimore-bound Southwest Airlines plane that he was going to blow up the aircraft while it was in the sky. The captain of Flight 5135 was immediately alerted to the threat and returned the aircraft to the gate, officials said.
A male in his 20s suspected of sexually assaulting a male UC Berkeley student inside the alleged victims room at a university affiliated cooperative housing unit had not been arrested Wednesday, the day after the alleged assault occurred.

The assault was reported shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday inside a room in the co-op affiliated with the university that is managed by the Berkeley Student Cooperative, a nonprofit group that manages a number of co-ops around the East Bay campus, police records show.

The Chronicle is not specifying the co-op where the alleged assault occurred to protect the privacy of the victim.

The nonprofit cooperative, which operates a host of shared-living apartments and houses, many geared toward diverse groups, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The assault occurred about 1:30 a.m. inside the 20-year-old students room at the co-op after the two met on the internet, according to the UC Berkeley Police Department.

Police were working to identify the attacker, believed to be about 20 years old, but no arrest had been made as of Wednesday night, an official said. It was unclear whether the attacker was also a student.

Sgt. Sabrina Reich, a spokeswoman for the UC Berkeley Police Department, said officers met with the survivor and offered resources and medical attention. She declined to release additional details, citing the ongoing investigation, adding that we take these crimes seriously.

The Berkeley co-op system consists of a series of apartment complexes and houses, some affiliated with the university, where students live together in large groups and often participate in shared social events and other functions.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
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San Francisco police officers are adding a new strategy  going undercover  in an effort to combat hate crimes, Interim Police Chief Toney Chaplin said Wednesday.

At a City Hall news conference with Mayor Ed Lee and other leaders, Chaplin did not offer specifics, but warned that police are taking proactive measures to ensure that a flurry of hate crime reports emerging around the country in the aftermath of Donald Trumps election wont be duplicated in San Francisco.

Were going to put officers out much like we did when our teams made it to the playoffs and we dressed officers in rival teams gear, Chaplin said, referring to the citys bid to tackle rising sports-fan violence.

Were going to do that in our neighborhoods, he said, so if someone decides they want to take someone on or attack them because of how they look or what theyre wearing, they may be attacking an on-duty San Francisco police officer.

While police have not seen an uptick in hate crime reports in San Francisco since the election, Chaplin cautioned that hate crimes are notoriously underreported. The news conference Wednesday was held to encourage any victims to report crimes.

San Francisco has seen a roughly 10 percent increase in hate crimes this year, and a 28 percent increase from two years ago, Chaplin said.

The spike is not something that is as big as it sounds, but I think its significant enough that we need to start looking at it, he said after the news conference. For every one you see, how many do you not see? I think there are a lot of things that arent reported, there are a lot of people that are painting over hate graffiti. Thats a crime. We want it reported, we want it documented so we can show that its a problem that is surging.

Chaplin said he was also sending uniformed officers to areas where prejudice-based crimes occur in order to create high visibility and deter further crimes.

Reports of hate crimes have raised concerns around the Bay Area. On Tuesday, a Richmond man was accused of racially motivated murder in the killing of an African American man in El Sobrante. On the UC Berkeley campus, three men allegedly threatened to rip off a students hijab, or headscarf, on Nov. 10.

Last week, a Latina nanny allegedly was grabbed and shoved in San Franciscos Fort Mason by a man who told her through broken Spanish, No Latinos here. On Friday, city police arrested a man on suspicion of spray-painting a racist epithet and symbol on the wall of a business and nearby vehicle in the Bayview neighborhood.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
Evan Sernoffsky / Evan Sernoffsky

An 18-year-old armed-robbery suspect was identified Wednesday, a day after his death in a rollover crash in Sunnyvale following a prolonged police chase that started in San Francisco.

Amari Brown-Glaspie of San Francisco was killed in the crash early Tuesday, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner.
Vallejo Police Department / Vallejo Police Department

Police arrested a 48-year-old Vallejo man Wednesday afternoon in connection with the killing of a woman and the wounding of a man inside a Vallejo home that morning, officials said.

Everett Highbaugh was arrested by officers with the Oakland Police Department in their jurisdiction following the early morning shooting in the 600 block of Virginia Street in Vallejo, between Sutter and Napa streets, police said.
GREENVILLE, Miss.  Back in the 1960s, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. observed that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week in America, a fact that remains true in many communities today.

But three weeks after their church in the Mississippi Delta was mostly destroyed by arson and someone spray-painted Vote Trump outside, an African American congregation has been welcomed into the church of its white neighbors.

The bishop of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, Clarence Green, says the generosity of First Baptist Church of Greenville demonstrates that unlimited love transcends social barriers. And his host, First Baptists senior pastor James Nichols, says their brothers and sisters in Christ are welcome to stay as long as they need a home.

The Hopewell congregation, about 200 strong, is holding services a mile away at 600-member First Baptist. The guests are using the chapel, a space with dark wooden pews and bright stained-glass windows where small weddings and funerals are usually held. Its on the downtown campus of First Baptist, a few steps from the larger main sanctuary.

Nichols says he offered to have the Hopewell flock worship with his members in shared services, but Green hopes his congregation can maintain its identity and sense of community while their home church is rebuilt.

They opened their doors to us to stay as long as we want and do whatever we need there, Green said. What God is doing  its not about race, creed or color.... The God we serve is neither black nor white, Jew nor gentile.

Greenville is bordered on the west by the Mississippi River and an oxbow lake, while cotton fields, brown and dormant after the fall harvest, stretch north, east and south from the edge of town. Once a bustling center of commerce, the compact downtown, with brick streets, is now dotted by several empty buildings. About 78 percent of its 32,100 residents are black.

While its common to see people of different racial backgrounds eating lunch together, local residents say the congregations at most churches remain clearly identifiable by race.

An arson investigation continues with no arrests made in the Nov. 1 burning of Hopewell, whose congregation was founded in 1905 in the heart of an African American neighborhood. While some walls survived the fire, the empty windows are boarded up and the beige brick structure will likely be razed. Reconstruction could take months.

Nichols said he's constantly preaching the Golden Rule  do unto others as you would have others do unto you .

If it had been our church that burned, somebody would have reached out to do the same for us, Nichols said.
NEW YORK  After Ivanka Trump appeared on CBS 60 Minutes wearing a $10,800 bracelet from her jewelry line, someone at her company sent photos from the interview to fashion writers to drum up free publicity. A firestorm of criticism erupted over the impropriety of profiting off the presidency, and the company apologized.

If only the bracelet brouhaha was the end of it.

Experts on government ethics are warning President-elect Donald Trump that hell never shake suspicions of a clash between his private interests and the public good if he doesnt sell off his vast holdings, which include roughly 500 companies in more than a dozen countries. They say just the appearance of conflicts is likely to tie up the new administration in investigations, lawsuits and squabbles, stoked perhaps by angry Oval Office tweets.

In an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday, Trump insisted that the laws totally on my side, and ethics experts agree that federal conflict-of-interest rules largely exempt the president from running his businesses the way he pleases while in office.

A look at several areas where conflicts may arise:

 For use of the government-owned Old Post Office for his new Washington hotel, Trump agreed on annual rent to the government in a contract that was signed more than three years ago. Trump agreed to additional annual payments based on various financial measures of how well the hotel is doing. Such payments typically require drawn-out negotiations each year.

Trumps extensive operations abroad raise the possibility that his foreign policy could be shaped by his business interests, and vice versa. Trump has struck real estate deals in South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Uruguay, Panama, India and Turkey, among other countries.

One of Trumps biggest lenders is Deutsche Bank, a German giant in settlement negotiations with the Department of Justice on its role in the mortgage blowup that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. The hit to Deutsche could be substantial, with the government reportedly demanding $14 billion.

Trump has cited a long-running audit by the Internal Revenue Service in refusing to release his tax returns. The president nominates the commissioner of the IRS, who serves for five years.

Trump will also get to make appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, which rules on labor disputes. In July, the board ruled against Trump in a case involving workers trying to unionize at the Trump Hotel Las Vegas. The Trump Organization lists six other hotels in the U.S. on its website.
CHICAGO  Elizabeth Thompson cant wait to leave the big city behind and decompress over the Thanksgiving holiday at her grandmothers house in rural south-central Indiana. But first she has to get there.

On Wednesday, Thompson, 23, missed her Amtrak train from Chicago to Galesburg, Ill., where she had planned to catch a ride with a family member the rest of the way to Edinburgh, Ind.

Its just where we go to unplug and escape, said Thompson, who had to decide whether to wait several hours for the next train or hop on a bus and get going.

Americans took to the roads, air and railways Wednesday for what is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in almost a decade. Almost 49 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more between Wednesday and Sunday, the most since 2007, because of lower gas prices and an improving economy, according to AAA.

The weather appeared to be cooperating for the most part, with no significant issues, National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley said. There was light rain in Chicago, a major airline hub, but delays were only averaging 15 minutes, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

It looks pretty quiet across the country today; Ill take it, Seeley said.

For those who didnt want to drive, Amtrak was adding some extra trains Wednesday and Sunday between Chicago and Milwaukee, its biggest Midwest corridor, spokesman Marc Magliari said. Some Midwest trains have been sold out for several days, he said.

Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman said the railroad was prepared to handle extra riders.

This is a day when we need everything to go right in order to not have a serious issue with delays, with folks being backed up into stations, Moorman told reporters at New Yorks Penn Station. Knock on wood when I say this, everythings going well.
California may have the size and economy of a good-size country. But California is not a nation. Which is why it would be self-destructive to seek to become one.

Its understandable why the election of an evil white supremacist swindler as president has given the idea of California independence such currency. A secession movement has taken hold in the media, made its intentions known on billboards, and begun planning a referendum. Many Californians are renewing objections to how Americas outdated 18th century governing system, from the Electoral College to the U.S. Senate, works against Californias interests.

Last week, I was constantly asked about the possibility of Californias independence while running a global forum on democracy. The conference was held in Spanish Basque Country, whose people have sought their own nation within the Iberian Peninsula for centuries.

So I answered California independence questions with my own query: Do you think we would be better off trying to go our own way? The responses were sobering: the process of winning independence is always costlier than secessionists think. Basques said theyve sustained their effort because of a political culture that prizes stubbornness, protecting the nations distinctive culture, and a willingness to fight.

Such feistiness is inspiring. But it is not very Californian.

We are an un-nation The word nation, after all, comes from Latin and old French words for birth (naissance). But more than a quarter of Californians were born in some other country, and millions of us entered the world in some other state. Nations are defined by common descent, history, language or culture, but Californians pride ourselves on the lack of shared history that makes us so diverse.

It is our inclusive un-nationhood, and not just our political preference for Democrats, that makes California the natural opposition to the prospect of a federal government peddling racist and xenophobic nationalism. Which is precisely why the idea of an independent California country  so long discussed  is now newly serious. And newly dangerous.

To be blunt: Do we really want to answer Trumpian nationalism with our own? For our un-nation to pursue its own nationalist project would be nothing less than a betrayal of ourselves, a suicide of the universalist California idea.

It also would be a nasty business. The conflict could last decades, and the costs would mount financially and politically  and in blood.

Wed have to battle Congress and other states to get their support if we wanted to leave peacefully, and wed certainly have to take more than our share of Americas debts with us. And if things got so bad that we chose to leave without permission? Do you really think a country as violent and war-prone as the United States would let its greatest province exit without a fight? (Just ask the Confederate States of America.)

Inevitably, the fighting would pit Californian against Californian. Many of us would not want to leave the U.S. Dont forget: While Hillary Clinton won California by 29 points and more than 3.5 million votes, one-third of California voters cast ballots for Trump  an uncomfortably large Fifth Column.

Taking on an independence war of choice makes no sense when we already face so many other consequential fights. Climate change threatens like the big waves that I watched splash over the top of Basque seawalls. The world confronts regional wars and stagnant incomes.

Californians shouldnt waste another second contemplating independence. We must instead focus on defending our nation and protecting its people, regardless of race, religion or legal status, against whatever horrors the haters in Washington, D.C., might send our way.

But in doing so, we must be careful to avoid escalating the conflict. Ours will have to be a strategy right out of the Cold War. Contest every incursion of the Orange-Haired Empire, while carefully avoiding rhetoric or actions that lead to greater conflict or violence. Build our own alliances and collaborations with states and countries that share our values.

We will have to be especially disciplined about not impugning the motives of those who support the new American regime. Instead, we must relentlessly urge them to change their minds, and assure them that when they realize their nationalist path is a mistake, we will welcome them back, like the sanctuary weve always been.

So, on this Thanksgiving weekend, lets avoid rancor at the family table. Instead lets give thanks for the United States, and for the fact that were its biggest, most powerful state, with plenty of weight to throw against Washington.

America, for better and for worse, is Californias nation. Why would we ever surrender it?

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters
Regarding Schools chief abruptly quits, stuns Oakland (Nov. 23): Thank you to Jill Tucker for her excellent article on the departure of Superintendent Antwan Wilson from Oakland. I hope the Oakland Unified School District board reads it. It is time for Oakland to hire someone who is local, community based, not trained by the Broad Superintendent Academy and someone who is going to stay and make a commitment to Oakland.

There is plenty of research that leaders must stay at least five years in order to influence a school or district. Oakland Unified needs a superintendent who will be committed to staying. We also need a leader who will listen to parents, students and teachers and not be a top-down manager.

Finally, we need a leader who will be committed to the education of all children, even the students with higher needs like English language learners and special education children. Unfortunately, Wilson was too focused on bringing charter schools into the system (which drain thousands of dollars from OUSDs budget every year) rather than building up and sustaining the democratic and publicly accountable schools in the district. This is an opportunity for the OUSD board. I hope they look carefully at applicants who are from the Bay Area.

Alison McDonald, Oakland

Not committed

So another careerist extraordinarily high-paid superintendent is about to abandon the children of Oakland (to whom he unequivocally said he was dedicated). This is not a surprise. This is the modus operandi for all superintendents who come from Broad Superintendent Academy background. They are dedicated to running schools like a business and not an educational institution. He, like his cohorts from Broad Superintendent Academy, is committed to charter school growth, which siphons off public funds into private hands and lacks accountability to and democratic control by the public.

The upside is that we the public can now join the NAACP in telling our school board representatives that they should make the most important criteria for selection of a new superintendent their dedication to public education and an end to charterization and privatization of our most important public institution. As the NAACP points out, the privatization is most harmful to communities most in need: people of color, the disabled and working and poor families.

David Weintraub, Oakland

Disrespectful fliers

Regarding 1st-class fliers no-class conduct (Nov. 22): It was with a considerable amount of disgust when I read that a Gold Star family flying from Sacramento to Phoenix was allowed to off board first so they could catch a continuing flight to Philadelphia and on to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive the remains of their 30-year-old son, Sgt. John Perry, who was killed in Afghanistan. Because of the brief delay, this led some of the first-class passengers to boo the family on its way out.

Havent we had enough of the incivility and disrespect for those living in the United States who are not accepted or liked? Now we are witnessing more verbal attacks on families who have sons and daughters who have lost their lives in wars defending the rights and freedoms not only for us but also for mankind in general?

Ray Mark, Alameda

GOP obstruction

Regarding Attitude change (Letters, Nov. 21): Dont blame President Obama for the continued suffering and anger of many people in the Midwest. He tried time and time again to pass legislation that would create jobs and help improve the economy, only to be met with obstruction by a Republican Congress. Remember Sen. Mitch McConnells pledge at the outset of Obamas first term to ensure its failure. President Obama did not change. The No Congress is responsible for the disaster that occurred on Nov. 8.

Bettie Spring, San Francisco

Surveillance state

Regarding Encryption gains favor amid fears of spying by Trump (Nov. 21): Many people are now desperately seeking encryption to protect what little they have left of privacy. Lots of them no doubt had voted for the outgoing president based on his successful one-syllable campaign slogan Hope, and the audacity of same, because they hoped he would deliver. His administration instead quietly constructed a vast machinery of total surveillance and potential repression, which Edward Snowden and others tried to warn us about. President Obama is now genially turning the key to that machine over to his successor with best wishes in order to assure a smooth transition from a would-be democracy to something else. All Donald Trump has to do is to turn the ignition and floor it.

Gray Brechin, Inverness

Littered city

I have to agree with A will to clean up (Letters, Nov. 23). Our daughter lives in Chicago and we visit a few times a year. Each time we come back to San Francisco, we are so sad that there is so much litter on the street. Why dont the politicians in San Francisco care? When in Chicago, we tell others we are from here and they all comment on how trash-filled our streets are. Get it together, San Francisco!

Jenn Pfeiffer, Greenbrae

Hitler comparison

Regarding History teacher suspended for comparing Trump, Hitler (Nov. 14): A Mountain View history teacher was suspended for holding a class that compared Adolf Hitlers rise to power with Donald Trumps presidential campaign. The suspension must been have done by people who flunked world history. The rise to power for both have similar themes. Both played on the legitimate concerns of ordinary people. Hitler, an unemployed World War I veteran, had those feelings. Trump probably has never had holes in his handmade loafers.

Hitler promised to restore German prestige and power. Trump promises to make America great again. Both blamed scapegoats for economic hardship and violence. Replace Jews and Bolsheviks with Muslims and Mexicans entering the country illegally. Both cited government as inept and corrupt. Replace Weimar left-wing elitists with Washington insiders. Both used media to further their propaganda. Joseph Goebbels said the big lie repeated often becomes the truth. Trump manipulated social media to get him free exposure on cable and commercial TV. While Trumps name calling and bullying tactics were ugly and provocative, they do not reach the level of the murderous violence of Kristallnacht. Students should explore and debate such issues within a democracy. Is academic freedom in America dead too?

Ernest Scosseria, Berkeley

Medical expenses

Regarding Physicians sue over state law on billing (Oct. 18): You reported about California physicians suing over a law preventing them from billing for out-of-network services. This is interesting to me both as a consumer as well as a physician assistant student.

My work history includes billing for a surgeons office in Utah, where these laws do not exist, and I have personally seen the devastation that an unexpected bill can place on someone with restricted income. Many dont realize that even though you are receiving care under one roof (i.e., a hospital), many of the providers carry different insurance contracts or no contracts at all.

Therefore, even though many people check their benefits with the hospital or their physician/surgeon, they may still receive unexpected bills from other providers such as anesthesiologists, pathologists and radiologists not covered by their plans, making it very difficult to get true cost estimates for these services. Unfortunately, this may prevent some people from seeking necessary care in the future out of fear of detrimental medical expenses.

Brandi Haycock, Pleasant Hill

Be thankful

Many of us have much to be thankful for, despite the election of a dishonest, egocentric, impulsive bigot to the American presidency, and despite the ongoing suffering of millions of innocents throughout our world, etc. But, it behooves us to remember what all our faiths and common decency teach: Welcome the stranger, love our neighbour and help those in need. As we sit down to our opulent Thanksgiving meals, may we remember those in need, especially the Syrians who are dying and starving while we feast.

Celia Menczel, Walnut Creek
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Three new species of tiny salamanders  the smallest animals of their kind in the world  have been discovered in Mexico, and scientists fear theyre already doomed to extinction.

The lizard-like creatures were found by a team of former UC Berkeley graduate students and famed biologist David B. Wake, their former professor and an expert on all things amphibian, who warns that the salamanders and their relatives could be the last ones on Earth.

A biological disaster is facing us, said Wake, a co-author of the new scientific report on their discovery.

The former Berkeley scientists have been exploring salamander habitats for many years in the mountains around the Mexican city of Oaxaca, and found that the animals, which once numbered in the hundreds, have almost disappeared. In their report of one hunt, for example, where loggers had already churned up the salamander habitat, the researchers wrote:

We searched for more than two hours, turning abundant cover of wood chips, chip piles, logs and bark on logs, as well as leaf litter and rocks. Conditions seemed good with adequate moisture but only a single individual was found, under a small pine log lying beside the road. We found no salamanders during four later visits.

All three newly discovered species are members of a tiny salamander genus called Thorius. They are smaller than matchsticks, while other Thorius critters are barely more than half an inch long. Scientists had found it was almost impossible to tell any of the species apart because their bodies are so similar.

But since the 1970s, the scientists have developed molecular techniques like DNA analysis and digital imaging, so that now they have identified 29 distinct Thorius species, including the newly discovered ones.

One of the three new ones is Thorius pinicola, or the tiny, pine forest dweller. Another is Thorius longicaudis, or the long-tailed tiny one, and the third is Thorius tlaxiacus, or the heroic tiny one named for Heroica Ciudad de Tlaxiaco, the city in the region where the Mexican army fought off a 19th century French invasion.

Wake, who explored the mountains around Oaxaca for years in search of Thorius salamanders, called the newly discovered species enigmatic because they are so different from others of their kind. Their disproportionately enormous eyes and nostrils and curiously shrunken skulls are unique, he said.

Logging in the region has turned many salamander-friendly forests into corn and potato farms, Wake said. We used to find hundreds of the salamanders in a single day, and now theyre all critically endangered.

The Chytrid fungus disease, which already has decimated other salamanders and frogs in Mexico and around the world, also is a threat. The deadly epidemic could spread to the Thorius species, Wake said.

Wakes former students who discovered the new salamander species are Gabriela Para-Olea of the National Autonomous University of Mexico; Sean Rovito of Mexicos National Laboratory of Genomics; and James Hanken, who discovered many other Thorius species as Wakes graduate student more than three decades ago, and is now a professor of zoology at Harvard.

Their report is published in the scientific journal PeerJ.

David Perlman is The San Francisco Chronicles science editor. Email: dperlman@sfchronicle.com
HILLA, Iraq  A car bomb tore through a gas station south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 56 people, including 20 Iranians, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Police and hospital officials confirmed the toll and said another 45 people were wounded in the attack, which almost completely destroyed the gas station, several nearby stores and set several cars on fire. The station is located on a major highway near Hilla.

The blast knocked out power at the station, forcing relatives looking for the remains of loved ones to use the glare of their mobile phones to guide them. Body parts that remained unclaimed were gathered in a blue bag and placed on the sidewalk outside the station. Large sections of the station were covered in blood.

Irans Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The Islamic State claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite religious observance in the holy city of Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred.

The Shiite observance marks the 40th day after the death anniversary of a much revered, 7th century imam. It routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, including many Iranians who travel overland into Iraq for the occasion.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Thursdays attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on Islamic State or its forerunner, al Qaeda in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove Islamic State militants from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the countrys second largest city, where U.S.-backed offensive has been underway for more than six weeks.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces said his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out air strikes to support the troops.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to the state media. The airstrip was seized from Islamic State by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.
HAIFA, Israel  A wildfire roared through parts of Israels third-largest city Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes as the countrys leaders raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the blaze.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifas northern neighborhoods, sending panicked residents fleeing from the area.

While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. In a rare move, Israel called up hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and was making use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by a slew of countries.

The Haifa blaze was the most serious in a series of fires that have erupted across the country in recent days. On a visit to the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said anyone implicated in setting the fires would be punished severely.

Its a crime for all intents and purposes and in our opinion it is terror for all intents and purposes, he said. He said incitement to arson was also playing a role in spreading the fires.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the identity or motives of the suspected arsonists, but Israeli officials typically use the term terror to refer to Arab or Palestinian militant activity.

Israel has been on edge during more than a year of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, that have tapered off, but not halted, in recent months. Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for fueling those attacks.

Netanyahus accusations could test already brittle relations between Israels Jewish majority and its Arab minority, which has long suffered discrimination in Israel and says it has been slighted by rhetoric from Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the past.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 10 TV news that eight people had been arrested and that authorities had found flammable materials and liquids poured in certain areas, a find that pointed to arson. He said arson was suspected in about half of the fires.

Israeli media said the Shin Bet internal security agency was helping search for perpetrators, while Erdan said we need to be prepared for a new type of terror.

Ayman Odeh, the head of a joint Arab bloc of parties in Israels parliament and a Haifa native, appealed to Israelis to come together and abandon politics during the trying time.

The Palestinians meanwhile offered to send firefighting teams to help combat the flames, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Yousef Nassar, the director general of the Palestinian Civil Defense, said the offer of assistance was a humanitarian message. The Palestinians assisted Israel during a deadly wildfire in 2010. Israels response to the offer was not immediately known.
1 Peace deal: A revised peace deal between the Colombian government and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is due to be signed Thursday, according to a statement from government peace negotiators. President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC chief Rodrigo London are to sign the agreement in Bogota, the statement said. The agreement is then expected to be approved by the countrys Congress, where the ruling center-right coalition National Unity has a majority. Santos and Londono already signed a peace agreement on Sept. 26; however, its implementation was left in a state of uncertainty when Colombian voters rejected it in a referendum on Oct. 2. Fighting between state security, leftist guerrilla groups and rightist paramilitary is believed to have killed 220,000 Colombians over the years. Critics of the initial deal looked at approximately 500 modification proposals on 57 topics that were then put to FARC.

2 Life sentence: A white supremacist who shot and stabbed a pro-European British lawmaker while shouting Britain first was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for a crime prosecutors called an act of far-right terrorism. Jurors at Londons Central Criminal Court deliberated for less than two hours before unanimously finding 53-year-old Thomas Mair guilty of murdering Labor Party legislator Jo Cox. Mair fired three shots at 41-year-old Cox with a sawed-off .22 rifle and stabbed her 15 times with a 7-inch dagger outside a library in the area she represented in northern England on June 16.
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan  Indian troops fired on a Pakistani passenger bus in Kashmir on Wednesday, killing 10 civilians in one of the deadliest incidents in weeks of violence in the disputed Himalayan region, stoking tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the shelling naked aggression, and the government summoned an Indian diplomat to lodge a protest. The Pakistani army contacted its Indian counterpart over a crisis hotline, saying we reserve the right to respond at the place and time of our choosing.
SEOUL  South Korean prosecutors investigating a corruption scandal surrounding the countrys president and her friend raided a unit of the countrys largest business group, Samsung, and the national pension fund on Wednesday, as public outrage grows over Samsungs alleged link to the scandal.

An official at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said investigators seized documents, computer hard drives and other materials at Samsung Groups corporate strategy office in Seoul and at the National Pension Services offices in Seoul and its headquarters in Jeonju. The official declined to be named, citing office policies.
IGUALA, Mexico  In the two years since dozens of families in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero banded together to search for relatives who have disappeared, Maria Carmen Figueroa Acevedo has missed only one weekly gathering.

Without hesitation she says she believes her son, Ricardo, is alive. She dreams regularly of his homecoming.

Spending each Tuesday with other families like hers is a weekly dose of hope and why the group has made it to its second anniversary this month. It gives me the strength to continue, Figueroa said.

The Other Disappeared collective stopped short of calling the milestone a celebration, given the tragedies behind the groups formation. But about 150 relatives turned out Tuesday at a site recently occupied for their headquarters, a large property they cleared themselves with a concrete structure spruced up with paint to hold their meetings.

They grapple with a problem that is widespread in Mexico. Nearly 28,000 people were reported missing across the country from 2007 through the end of July, according to government statistics. The real total is believed to be significantly higher due to the fact that many families do not report their loved ones disappearances out of fear, because many of the disappearances are believed tied to drug violence and reprisals by cartels.

The Iguala group gained notice in 2015 when the Associated Press interviewed relatives of more than 150 of the disappeared in and around Iguala. The vast majority of their missing were young men.

Since its formation two years ago, the groups members have had the remains of 18 relatives returned to them by authorities. Five more sets of remains have been identified and await transfer to their families, said Adriana Bahena Cruz, a representative of the group.

They plan to remodel the building on their headquarters site to have two training rooms and a multipurpose meeting space. Eventually, they hope to partner with a genetics lab so they can have DNA testing done at the site. They would also like to attract a business, perhaps a factory of some kind, to provide employment for the families, especially the jobless female members left alone to raise children by the disappearance of husbands.

The site on Igualas north side will be called Victims City.

The Other Disappeared collective formed in November 2014, less than two months after 43 students from a rural teachers college were abducted by local police in Iguala and turned over to a drug cartel. The students disappearances drew so much national and international attention that other families, many for the first time, came forward to say they had missing relatives, too.
BEIRUT  Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces clashed with Kurdish-led forces on Wednesday in northern Syria, where both are fighting the Islamic State.

The press office for the Kurdish-held parts of Syria said eight civilians were killed in shelling by Turkish-backed forces in the countryside between Manbij, a town controlled by Kurdish-affiliated forces, and the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said two civilians were killed in the clashes, which were still under way.

The Turkey-backed forces have converged on al-Bab in recent days. On Wednesday, the Kurdish-affiliated forces entered the Islamic State-held town of Arima, near al-Bab. Turkey has called on the Kurds to leave Manbij and withdraw to the east.

Turkish warplanes, meanwhile, targeted Islamic State in northern Syria, Turkeys state-run Anadolu News Agency said. Quoting unnamed military officials, it said the raids destroyed two buildings, an ammunition depot and four defensive positions around al-Bab.

In Cairo, meanwhile, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi expressed support for Syrian President Bashar Assads military, in remarks that are likely to anger Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries, which back Syrias armed rebellion.

Egypt angered Saudi Arabia, its top financial backer, last month when it backed a draft resolution on Syria at the U.N. Security Council that was opposed by Riyadh. The kingdom has since suspended fuel shipments to Egypt.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned deliberate attacks on hospitals in Syria, and said its very regrettable that Russia is supporting Assad.

There are too many indications that hospitals and medical facilities are deliberately being bombed, she said in a speech to the German parliament, adding that it has to be pursued under criminal law.

Assads government has also received crucial support from Iran, where an official was quoted as saying that more than 1,000 Iranians have been killed in combat in Syria.

The figure was provided by Mohammed al-Shahidi, the head of a foundation that provides aid to the families of those killed in action.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua  An unusually late-season Hurricane Otto swirled over the Caribbean just off Central America on Wednesday and headed toward a possible landfall in Nicaragua after regaining hurricane strength.

Heavy rains from the storm were blamed for three deaths in Panama, and officials in Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast.

In addition, areas of heavy rain well to the north may trigger flooding in parts of Honduras and Belize.

Nicaragua ordered evacuations in low-lying areas of its sparsely populated Caribbean coast, an order that could cover about 7,000 people.

The countrys disaster prevention agency said classes would be canceled in the area south of the town of Bluefields, which was hit hard by Hurricane Joan in 1988.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the westward-moving storm had regained hurricane strength late Wednesday, with winds of 75 mph, after fluctuating between tropical storm and hurricane status earlier this week. It was expected to make landfall as a hurricane Thursday.

It would be the first Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to make landfall on Thanksgiving Day, according to Weather Underground.

The storm caused heavy rains in Panama as it moved roughly parallel to that nations northern coast.

Jose Donderis, Panamas civil defense director, said a landslide just west of Panama City early Tuesday trapped nine people. Seven were rescued, but two were pulled from the mud dead. In the capital, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school.

Panamanian authorities canceled school and began to release water from the locks and lakes feeding the Panama Canal. They also said the Sixaola River, which runs along the border between Panama and Costa Rica, is being monitored for potential flooding.

Costa Ricas National Emergency Commission said it was evacuating 4,000 people from the area where the storm was expected to hit and where rivers could overflow. The effort was expected to involve evacuations by plane, boat and road in the low-lying coastal areas.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said Otto could damage the countrys important coffee and agriculture sectors.

Families who live near rivers or areas of landslides: Be alert and in contact with the local emergency committees, Guillermo Solis said in a statement.

Nicaragua also feared damage for impoverished farmers there; Otto could threaten coffee crops that are almost ready for harvest.

Otto could seriously jeopardize food security for small-holder farmers who rely on maize, beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods, said Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for Heifer International, a U.S.-based antipoverty group.

On Wednesday, the hurricane had top sustained winds of 70 mph and was moving west at 7 mph, the U.S. hurricane center said. Otto was centered about 180 miles east-southeast of Bluefields.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has extended for two weeks its deadline for feedback on a proposed new Dashboard approach for banks financial disclosure aimed at making it easier for retail investors to compare how sound the lenders are, and will make a final decision on whether to proceed early next year.

The proposal for quarterly disclosure arose out of the Reserve Banks Regulatory Stocktake last year aimed at improving the efficiency, clarity and consistency of prudential requirements for banks and non-bank deposit makers. It was thought that current bank disclosures largely contain the right information the public need to see, but could be made more accessible and comparable.

Banks already publish quarterly disclosures on their own websites, including the more detailed full-year disclosure statements. A consultation document the Reserve Bank released in September suggests replacing quarterly disclosures with the Dashboard published on the central banks website.

They wouldnt be signed off by banks directors, unlike for the full and half-year results which will remain in place, in order to make them more timely - released within a month.

The proposal includes side by side comparisons of locally-incorporated banks according to key metrics - credit ratings, capital adequacy, asset quality, net profit, non-performing loans, and total assets. It could potentially include loan-to-value ratios and large credit exposures depending on feedback and the top line numbers for retail investors would be supplemented by detailed information sitting in behind for more sophisticated analysis.

Some of the information will be drawn from public information already disclosed and some from content provided by the banks in private reporting to the central bank.

Toby Fiennes, head of the Reserve Banks prudential supervision department, said the aim of the Dashboard was two-fold, centred on improving market discipline.

One side is raising interest from depositors and other retail investors on the relative safety of the banks and the other is if the banks know they are under scrutiny, there is more incentive to be safe and show they are safe, he said.

Fiennes admitted the bank had not done any study on the factors that have led to bank collapses overseas to find out what metrics may have exposed those before they happened.

The more capital a bank has the less likely there is to be a bank failure. Its not a perfect match because all sort of things can be hidden in the core numbers and a bank failure can happen very quickly even with a one-month lag, he said. But it shows the relative resilience of the banks.

He said designing something simpler that the public would take notice of was the holy grail the central bank had been chasing for some years but was difficult to do and did depend on people being willing to find out the information. Investors couldnt just rely on credit ratings from rating agencies which had suffered a negative reaction since the GFC, he said.

One of the objectives is to lower compliance costs for retail banks with an estimated $100,000 spent on the current quarterly disclosures by larger organisations.

Its also considering reporting separately on the central banks website any bank breaches which are currently covered in the quarterly disclosures and shifting quarterly reporting of new capital issuances to six-monthly in the half and full-year results.

If it goes ahead, the Dashboard is likely to be introduced in the middle of next year. If it doesn't, the bank's Plan B option is to reduce current quarterly disclosures to essential information that still meets international standards but would have less detail than the Dashboard.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Data warehousing company Wherescape was the supreme winner in the 2016 New Zealand International Business Awards with judges impressed by its ability to turn big data into big business.

The company, which also won the Best Medium Business award, develops automation software for organisations to manage and analyse their big data. Founded in 2002, Wherescape originally started as a business intelligence consultancy within New Zealand and pivoted a few years ago to providing software products globally that help make business decisions faster and cheaper.

The company is based in Auckland and Portland, Oregon and has customers in 26 countries after recently expanding into Asia. The United States is the companys largest and fastest-growing market, where clients include GE, Nike, and the Dallas Cowboys.

It was also a finalist in last years international business awards and this years Supreme judge David Downs said it had made outstanding progress in the past year.

Their clever transition from a product company to a global sales organisation has allowed them to exploit the global opportunity for data analytics, right at the time when expertise in big data is most sought after, he said.

Company co-founder and chief executive Micheal Whitehead said last year it had considered and rejected the idea of an initial public offer but he wouldnt rule it out in future. Venture capital firm Pioneer Capital invested more into the business last year, lifting its stake to around 43.5 percent while Whitehead has a slightly higher stake after buying out his co-founder, Wayne Richmond.

Other award winners include Haka Tours and Timely in best emerging business, Hamilton manufacturer Gallagher for best business and excellence in design, Straker Translations for excellence in innovation, New Zealand Mint for excellence in marketing, Ngai Tahu for Maori excellence in export, and Xero for excellence in leadership.

NZTE chief executive Peter Chrisp said this years winners have used their Kiwi ingenuity and tenacity to build global businesses from New Zealand.

Were seeing an exciting shift in the mindset of digital businesses as they go global from day one, he said. It can be a winning strategy as these companies chase rapid customer growth in niche high-value markets.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Louis Font, 33, and Joseph Roschbach, 33, are prepared to save lives every day they go to work.

Fifteen years ago when these best friends worked as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) they performed CPR and other life-saving skills at the rate the rest of us perform regular office duties.

"Together we have revived multiple patients in cardiac arrest by using the skills we've learned," said Roschbach, who is now a police officer, while Font is a firefighter.

And after a combined 35 years of experience, the pair wanted to help others learn the most important thing they say anyone can ever do: Save lives.

"Knowing that our skills made it possible for someone's loved one to continue to live and enjoy their lives made us want to pass that skill on to anyone willing to learn," said Font.

For this reason, the long-time friends and colleagues formed Hands to Heart in Dec. 2015.

"The chemistry that we offer students, along with the knowledge that we have creates not only an informative, but also a fun environment, for students to learn in. We not only teach from book knowledge, but we also teach from the experiences we've had through our time working in emergency medical services," said Font, noting they recruited good friend Jared Johnson, 32, an active duty paramedic to help grow the business.

CLIENTS

Font and Roschbach believe anyone can save a life, so they will teach everyone from a group of Girl Scouts to senior citizens important life-saving techniques.

"Our clientele is anyone over the age of 10 who is willing to learn a life- saving skill. It really is a course that is teachable to any age group," said Roschbach.

CLASSES

Hands To Heart offers three types of certifications that all follow the guidelines set forth by the American Heart Association.

Hands Only CPR - "An excellent skill that is approved by the American Heart Association in which we teach our students how to properly perform effective chest compressions without incorporating ventilations," said Font. "Upon completion of our Hands Only course the students receive a course completion certificate from Hands to Heart."

Heartsaver - Students learn CPR, airway management, and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator also called the AED. Upon completion of this course, students receive an American Heart Association CPR, AED and first aid provider card, said Font.

Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) -- This course is more for a student who is either in, or is interested in, working in the medical field or in a professional field where a CPR certification is required, said Roschbach.

"Upon completion of our BCLS class our students will receive an American Heart Association BCLS CPR provider card," he added.

DRIVE TO SUCCEED

Roschbach and Font said their goal is to get as many people as possible trained in CPR.

"Knowing how crucial the skill of CPR is to successfully reviving a person in cardiac arrest and having the ability to pass our knowledge on to our community and help others, that is what gives us the drive to succeed," said Font.

"Our satisfaction comes from knowing that any student who takes our course will leave knowing, and feeling confident in the ability to provide high quality CPR and to any person in need," he added.

HANDS TO HEART AT A GLANCE

Website: www.hands2heartnyc.com



New Businesses in Focus is a weekly column that relates the stories of new Staten Island businesses owners.

If you have a new business on Staten Island, e-mail porpora@siadvance.com.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After years of iconic holiday displays, Joseph DiMartino says his elaborate decorations will shine even brighter this Christmas season.

DiMartino, 59, is known for the Christmas Wonderland outside his Sharrotts Road home. The display draws tens of thousands of visitors to his Charleston neighborhood.

"I've worked eight to 12 hours a day on this ever since Labor Day," he said. "It's a lot of work to pull it all together, but it's worth it."

DiMartino created the display in memory of his wife, Debra Ann, a victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. Each year, he raises thousands of dollars for the Nalitt Institute's Outpatient Children's Cancer Unit at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, in the name of his late wife.

"She loved children and loved to give," DiMartino said. "So I ask when people come to see the lights, if you can give a dollar, some change -- whatever you have helps."

Thanks to donations over the years, DiMartino's extravagent display has raised more than $200,000.

"Last year we raised over $34,000 in donations for the children," he said. "This year, the goal is $35,000 -- and I think we can do it."

Island Auto has pledged to match dollar for dollar up to $2,500 to support the effort.

DiMartino's newest addition to his Christmas Wonderland is a rustling and bustling bakery full of workers.

"Every year, I look to add something new," he said. "This year, it's the holiday bakery -- this new addition cost me around $17,000."

And if you think that sounds like a lot, it pales in comparison to what he's spent through the years.

"There's easily three-quarters of a million dollars I've put into these decorations," he said. "But I love to do it -- it's always worth it."

DiMartino doesn't lament on the price; he'd rather know his investments have brought joy to each and every person who stops by his home throughout the holidays.

"I'm still a big kid myself," he said. "Just to see the happiness and the excitement on their faces, and everyone's faces when they see each piece, it really warms your heart."

Borough President James Oddo recently signed a proclamation that will make Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, "Lights For Life Day," in honor of DiMartino's charitable efforts.

The lights and moving displays will be turned on for the first time Thanksgiving night at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to attend.

The display is located at 107 Sharrotts Rd, between Bloomingdale and Arthur Kill roads. After Thursday, the lights will be on daily from 5 to 11 p.m.

Santa Claus will make special appearances Dec. 9-11 and Dec. 16-18, from 7 to 8 p.m.
image2.JPG

Police are investigating a report of a suspicious package at the Yukon Bus Depot in New Springville.

(Photo courtesy of Anthony Spenato)

Update: The package was not dangerous and the streets were reopened.

---

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are investigating a report of a suspicious package at the Yukon Bus Depot in New Springville.

The package was reported around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to emergency radio transmissions.

Police have blocked off a portion of Yukon Avenue, between Richmond Avenue and Forest Hill Road, while the investigation continues.

While some MTA buses were experiencing delays, the agency reported that as of 10:53 p.m, service had resumed, but delays were still possible.

A week ago, a tracking device was found attached to an MTA bus at the depot, prompting an evacuation of the facility. The magnetic device was attached to the oil pan right by the rear bumper of the bus.

Since it was discovered, the MTA has not provided any additional information about the object. However, all of the buses throughout the five boroughs were checked after the incident and no other devices were found, said Daniel Cassella, president of ATU Local 726.

More information will be posted when it becomes available.
Page Content

Public Health professional Dr. Virginia Asin attended the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Caribbean Roadmap Workshop in Miami from November 14-18.





Dr. Virginia Asin, is Head of Sint Maartens Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department from the Sint Maarten Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour.

The workshop organized to formulate a five-year roadmap and to strengthen health security for the Caribbean region to meet and sustain requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR).

The objective is to develop capacities necessary to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and threats. A health threat anywhere is a health threat everywhere whereby diseases spread faster and farther. SARS global economic impact costs were US$40 billion while Ebola was US$30 billion.

Infectious disease epidemics pose global and regional health security threats. Recent experience in the region with vector-borne diseases such as Chikungunya and Zika, and the threat of Ebola, highlight the need for national and regional multi-sectoral cooperation and preparedness.

Dr. Asin was invited to participate as a Caribbean Public Health professional, and to be present to share the historic moment of the GHSA being expanded to the Caribbean and the uniqueness that for the first time the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool will be used to assess the regional capacity to develop a GHSA roadmap.

The JEE tool goal is to set a baseline of capability across each technical area for the region; and to designate a few priority actions to help make rapid progress in each technical area.

Participants during the workshop sessions validated regional health security capacity data and filled in any information gaps; shared information and best practices; identified strengths and gaps; identified private sector and development partner resources available to support work at the regional and country levels; and facilitated and identified opportunities for coordination and collaboration among development partners, government agencies, civil society, and the private sector.

The Caribbean region, led by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Help Desk and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) hosted the workshop, in close coordination with the Pan American/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to commence with the process in creating the five-year GHSA roadmap.

The U.S. Government is supporting the process through the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Additional participants to be included in future sessions will be representatives from the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security.

In attendance at the workshop were representatives from ministries of health, agriculture, environment, defense, trade, executive office, regional and national stakeholders such as civil society groups, trade associations, the private sector, and development partners.





PHOTO CUTLINE: Group photo of attendees at the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Caribbean Roadmap Workshop in Miami.




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"Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country," Trump said in the release. "She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."
Now, almost 70 years later, the Drill Hall in Canberra is revisiting the same theme, albeit with a different band of participants. The artists brought together in this exhibition are Matt Arbuckle, Peter Atkins, Chris Carmody, Nicole Ellis, Erwin Fabian, Robert Motherwell, Elizabeth Newman and Trish Roan. It is neither a harmonious, nor entirely convincing grouping of artists, where such major artists as Motherwell and Fabian, are juxtaposed with someone like Arbuckle, an artist in his 20s, who is still to establish his own authentic language in his art.

In other words, some early 20th century modernists who were not content to simply abandon academic representation as the sole purpose of their art, sought to introduce foreign objects into their work, frequently in the form of collage, to act as a creative lightning rod to free the artist to laws of chance. Realising the primacy of collage as a liberating force in modern art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York launched their famous Collage show in 1948, which brought together the Cubists, the Dada artists, as well as the American modernists, including the then emerging Robert Motherwell.

Tony Oates, the curator of this exhibition, states that his show "takes its impetus from the early collages of Braque and Picasso (and later, from Robert Motherwell) which demonstrate the potential of a 'foreign' object to act as an artistic catalyst".

The exhibition does bring together some interesting and unlikely bedfellows. Motherwell is one of the giants of American Abstract Expressionism. Born in 1915, he created an extensive oeuvre that spanned more than half a century until his death in 1991. The Drill Hall exhibition includes eight of Motherwell's lithographic collages from the 1970s and 1980s, which he completed in collaboration with the master printer Ken Tyler on loan from the National Gallery. They are light, elegant, bold, but also possess a touch of irony.

For Motherwell, the collage element was largely a formalist strategy that disrupted the organic, gestural mark and created a conceptual and formal tension in the design. The collaged insertion spatially punctures the freehand drawn elements and allows them to ambiguously float in space.

Fabian was also born in 1915, but in Berlin rather than America, and was exiled to Australia as one of the Dunera boys. He settled in Melbourne and has just turned 101 and is still working and making some of the most challenging sculpture in Australia today. All of his sculptural pieces in this exhibition, including Bloom (2010) and Epigram (2015), have that ineffable quality of "natural belonging". The essence of his creative process lies in the creation of a new natural order, where all of the elements appear as if they belong, as if they have been found this way in nature without actually resembling any specific form found in nature. Each piece takes on its own character with qualities of humour, heroic power, lyricism and so on.

Fabian has a remarkable quality of transforming pieces of scrap metal, the found elements in his art, into meaningful sculptural forms which have a huge presence, a distinct identity and speak of a new natural order. Although his work may be termed abstract or at least 'non-literal', his figures in the final analysis belong to the grand tradition of humanist sculpture  in other words they interact with us on a human and emotive level  we come to believe in their existence not only as aesthetic objects, but as metaphors for the human spirit.

Of the other participants in the exhibition, Atkins is one of the more interesting younger artists and reveals a very different attitude to the found object. He scavenges material amongst the ordinary bric-a-brac and detritus of life in which he seeks to discover extraordinary beauty. In this he is an alchemist, whose transformed realities challenge and provoke us as we accompany him on his journey through the overlooked and unnoticed.
A Canberra man was found not guilty on Thursday of raping and assaulting a woman he had met outside Cube nightclub in Civic.

It was alleged that Kerry Roy Bye, 25, approached a drunk and vomiting 19-year-old about 4am on Friday, November 13, 2015, and taken her to his Cook unit in a taxi. It was alleged he violently raped her, and did not allow her to leave the bedroom.

court Credit:AFR

The woman's memories were fractured by blackouts, but she had told the court she remembered waking in the bed, where she said Bye had pulled her hair and choked her before raping her.
Members of the public will have one last chance to stop the demolition of Bruce Hall despite the ACT Heritage Council's decision not to add the university residence to the ACT heritage list.

The Australian National University has referred its decision on knocking down the hall to the Department of Environment and Energy, the National Capital Authority's chief planner Andrew Smith told a joint standing committee on the National Capital and External Territories on Thursday.

Ex-resident Allan Connelly-Hansen outside Bruce Hall in April. Credit:Jay Cronan

The referral under the EPBC Act came at the advice of the NCA in response to community concerns that the heritage values of the ageing hall were being overlooked.

"What we have said to the ANU is there are significant community concerns and they would be best served by assessing those but also by making a referral under the EPBC Act to determine whether or not the heritage values that members of the community are saying exist are found to exist by an independent arbiter," Mr Smith said.
Autolyse's Mickey Gubas has vowed to keep the popular Braddon cafe and bakery operating after it was placed into liquidation.

Hayes Advisory confirmed the business went into liquidation on November 15 and was now for sale.

Popular Braddon cafe in Autolyse is remaining open as it searches for new owners Credit:Rohan Thomson

The liquidator is trading on the business to enable its sale at a going- concern value to maximise the return to the creditors.

Creditors resolved to place the business into liquidation and it's understood the Australian Tax Office is the largest creditor.
Today's Homes, the Fyshwick building company that went into voluntary liquidation on Tuesday, is not expected to survive.

"There will be no ability for Today's Homes to trade through this. At best, we will be taking a project by project approach," voluntary administrator, Eddie Senatore of Deloittes Restructuring Services, told Fairfax.

Brendan Howe, of twenty20 projects, says he has already been approached by clients of collapsed Fyshwick builder, Today's Homes, asking for advice on how to finish their homes. Credit:David Ellery

"I have a duty to investigate any transaction associated with the directors and parties related to the directors and the company and a separate team is focusing on investigations into director-related transactions. There are signs emerging there is a case to answer for insolvent trading."

The award-winning building company's imminent collapse has come as the worst possible Christmas present for clients who currently have up to 17 new homes under construction around the ACT.
The serviced apartments had no hot water, broken phone lines and out-of-order lifts, but, the consumer watchdog says, the owner had a sneaky trick to sidetrack guests who might write disparaging online reviews.

This alleged attempt to stop customers writing bad online reviews has landed Australia's biggest residential apartment developer in court.

An image from Meriton's website. Credit:Meriton

On Thursday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched proceedings in the Federal Court against Meriton Serviced Apartments for alleged misleading or deceptive conduct.

The ACCC alleges Meriton stopped reminders to send reviews to TripAdvisor  a tremendously influential travel review website  from being emailed to guests who had had a bad experience.
Legendary waterfront warrior Chris Corrigan has announced he will stand down as chairman of logistics giant Qube, just months after the company completed the takeover of Asciano's Patrick's container ports business.

Coal industry veteran and long-time Qube director Allan Davies will be appointed chairman after a transitional program that is expected to be completed by around June 2017.

Qube chairman Chris Corrigan plans step down by the end of June 2017. Credit:Daniel Munoz

"I could not be more proud of the achievements of the Qube management team and it has been an enormous privilege to be part of the progress of this business," Mr Corrigan told Qube's annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday.

Mr Corrigan, who has chaired Qube since early 2011 and is a former managing director of Patrick's, said he will continue as a director of the ports group "for a more extended period" to help oversee its integration following the acquisition from Asciano.
NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro is "concerned" 600 electricity worker jobs will be lost in regional areas but says his government supports Essential Energy's aim to minimise electricity prices for consumers.

The Fair Work Commission has overturned a ban on compulsory redundancies which will allow Essential Energy to slash 600 jobs by 2018.

"Concerned": NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro. Credit:Janie Barrett

The Commission said there is "no avoiding" the adverse impact that job cuts would have on families or the loss of specialist skills in rural communities. The economic imperative to minimise electricity costs to consumers could not be avoided because the government run electricity distributor was a business and "not a social service".

"In circumstances where Essential Energy, although government-owned, is required to operate as a business producing commercial rates of return rather than as a social service, and is subject to a regulatory regime which forces reductions in its revenue in order to minimise electricity costs to the consumer, it seems to us that a significant reduction in the size and cost of Essential Energy's workforce has become inescapable," the Commission said. "To maintain a prohibition on involuntary redundancies in those circumstances would simply be a denial of reality."
Your former high school classmate has pictures of a new baby, your aunt has video of her great vacation in Majorca, and the US presidential candidate has several articles accusing her of killing an FBI agent for leaking emails.

One of these things is not like the others (hint: it's the last one), but Facebook will share them all if it thinks they'll please you. It will even promote them further if it thinks that other users will find them interesting as well. To the algorithms that control the site, what matters is the "connection" you make with others via these snippets of information. Whether that connection is based on something true is an entirely different question.

In the current kerfuffle over whether the fake news and misinformation that proliferated on the site might have influenced the outcome of the 2016 US election, Facebook's difficulty in acknowledging whether it's simply a provider of pleasant connections or a public utility with real obligations has come to the fore. The criticisms have illuminated Facebook's crisis of mission: profitable lifestyle platform or force for common good? More than a decade after its launch, its creator is still trying to figure out what it's supposed to be  but it's frankly irresponsible to remain undecided for much longer.

As originally conceived, Facebook's value was limited. In its 2006 mission statement, the company claimed that its purpose was simply to "connect people through social networks", providing an engaging, friendship-enhancing experience. It was a lifestyle site  its limitations on what could be shared revolved mainly around whether content made the site a welcoming space for users.
Donald Trump's victory is the most spectacular success to date for right-wing populism.

Pundits had expected Austria to become the first Western democracy to choose a right-wing populist, Norbert Hofer, as president when it re-runs its election in December. The United States has beaten them to that honour. So now Trump has triumphed, what should we expect from a populist in power?

While the US is the first advanced democracy to elect a right-wing populist president, similar figures have come to power in parliamentary systems in European countries. Prominent examples include the governments led by Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and Viktor Orban in Hungary.

Like Trump, these men claimed they were taking democracy back for their people from the hands of national and international political, financial, media and cultural elites.
In shades of Julia Gillard's 2012 misogyny speech and Rosie Batty's work as Australian of the Year, Ms Husar showed the courage and honesty that changes national thinking, challenges misconceptions and brings into the open our darkest secrets.

And surely the first step is to watch , read or listen to the words Labor MP Emma Husar spoke from her heart to a stunned Parliament this week.

"Sadly, the wheel of domestic violence continues to affect my life as a grown woman": Emma Husar. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Every Australian can  indeed, we must  help relieve the suffering of domestic violence.

Domestic and family violence is a scourge on Australian society, yet we rarely discuss it. Victims feel condemned to silence.

"For many years I was embarrassed and I was ashamed," Ms Husar told the House. "I know that I should not have been, but I was."

Ms Husar revealed that for 29 of her 36 years she had suffered. The first 13 were as a child of an "always-drunk-when-abusive father" who had grown up in a home where violence was acceptable. He thought it normal to abuse his wife and, vicariously, Ms Husar and her sister.

The grog was a key part, as it often is. But booze or drugs are not always there. Untreated mental illness, anger issues and above all simple disrespect for women, in particular, are core concerns.

So often Australian culture tolerates and generates disrespect of women. This is not some culture war between elites and outsiders. This is real people being hurt while neighbours, family, friends and even the law turn a blind eye.
Peter Dutton has sought to rewrite history in a disgraceful appeal to prejudice. In broad strokes, he set out to besmirch the legacy of migration to Australia during the Fraser years, by claiming "the reality is that Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in".

It is obvious that Mr Dutton is not interested in learning from the past, but instead has a political aim in the present. His intention is to sully the longstanding view that Mr Fraser presided over a successful immigration policy  a policy that was at its heart far more welcoming of refugees than the shameful stance adopted by contemporary politicians. Mr Fraser, a Liberal prime minister, was a consistent and potent critic of the cruel consensus of contemporary politicians to "stop the boats" and punish refugees, until his death last year.

That Mr Dutton is the minister responsible for immigration is an indictment of the character of this Coalition government. That Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has once again been unwilling to rein in his minister, following Mr Dutton's offensive tirade in May about "illiterate and innumerate" refugees, is equally damning to the quality of his leadership.

But Mr Dutton was not done. Under pressure to justify his derogatory remarks, he then set out to re-engineer his commentary to demonise the Lebanese community in Australia, or at least those who fled the civil war in the 1970s. "I'm on safe ground because I've relied on the facts," Mr Dutton has subsequently claimed, relying on advice that of the last 33 people charged with terrorist related offences in Australia, 22 are from Lebanese Muslim backgrounds.
Although the Nationals did somewhat better than expected, and relatively better than the Liberal Party, at the last election, they have been afforded a disproportionate influence in the Turnbull government, and particularly in its public profile.

They have been awarded the key "pork barrelling" portfolios, they have been allowed to run issues and speak out, inconsistent with cabinet decisions, even to the extent of being able to cross the floor or abstain in parliamentary votes where they disagree with the cabinet position.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull just sits back and lets it happen, happy to have to attempt to "rationalise" the irrational.

In terms of the numbers, the Nats hold 16 of the government's 76 seats in the House (21 per cent) and six of the government's 30 senators. They have five spots in the 23-member cabinet (21.7 per cent), only one of seven in the outer ministry, but three of 12 (25 per cent) among the assistant ministers. Overall, they hold 10 of the 42 spots (almost 24 per cent) in the Turnbull ministry.
Some 10 years ago, I was interviewed by the morning show host of a Canberra talkback station. The interview was triggered by something I'd written about terrorism or Muslims. The host wasn't exactly in the mood for a friendly chat.

"Where are the so-called moderate imams? Where are the so-called moderate Islamic leaders? Why don't I hear more so-called moderate Muslims speak out against the terrorists? Or are they not as moderate as we're led to believe?"

Senators Pauline Hanson, Eric Abetz and Cory Bernardi during the opening of the 45th Parliament. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

After the election of a Republican president whose campaign was characterised by racism, bigotry, misogyny (and whose prominent political and media supporters promoted anti-Semitism, violence against women, white nationalism and much more), I'm now hoping to ask the same questions to followers of my own broad political church.

On social media I see fervent Trump supporters and defenders among people I used to hand out how-to-votes with, people I caucused with in internal party ballots and people I helped do numbers for on pre-selection panels (such as former Parramatta MP Ross Cameron) supporting the Republican President-elect and his more extreme followers.
Malcolm Turnbull returned from the APEC Leaders' summit in Peru all fired up about counter-terrorism, and that was the theme of his national security statement to the House on Wednesday. Terrorism is often included as a safe topic at international talks because just about everyone can contribute without having major disagreements. However, there are many types of terrorism and it is frequently the case that separatist terrorism  which is usually down to central government mismanagement  gets included in the mix, particularly if there is any possibility of the regime concerned connecting it to Islamic State or al-Qaeda. In East Asia, terrorism in China, the Philippines and Thailand is mostly of the mismanaged separatist kind. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met US President Barack Obama at APEC as leaders grapple with how to respond to terrorism. Credit:Pablo Martines Monsivais The Prime Minister noted that Australia has increased counter-terrorism spending by $1.5 billion since September 2014, and there is no doubt that within Australia the security agencies have done a good job of protecting our security. Our regional efforts have been less convincing. For example, the Australian Bomb Data Centre was a key part of the regional network of bomb data centres  most of which the ABDC had been instrumental in setting up post-Bali 2002. However in 2015 the Australian Federal Police, which hosted the ABDC, quietly closed it down and moved the function into its forensics area.

I was told at the 2016 International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators Conference in Canada in July that the level of regional support from Australia has declined significantly (most regional terrorism incidents are bombings). In addition, the ABDC's well-respected annual "bomb" conference that brought together international experts will not run this year for the first time since 1996, and may be permanently discontinued. It is certainly true that we face a new type of threat from supporters of IS, but perhaps not as dangerous as the threat we faced from al-Qaeda  which had always been more interested in causing mass casualties. IS generally prefers simple operations using knives and vehicles because it thinks that the newsworthiness of the killing is more significant than the number of casualties. The brutal killing and attempted beheading of Fusilier Lee Rigby in London in May 2013 is more its style. However, where there are combat-hardened IS returnees from Syria and/or availability of automatic weapons, IS attacks can be much more deadly, as in Paris or Orlando. Firearms attacks with automatic weapons are far less likely in Australia. We do however need to be wary in the long-term of a resurgence of al-Qaeda, which has been quietly rebuilding capability while the West has been fixated on IS. Turnbull also mentioned the potential threat to Australians overseas. This is certainly an ongoing security concern. The Sinai affiliate of IS was responsible for bombing a Russian Metrojet passenger aircraft in October 2015 with the loss of 224 lives. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that a plane carrying Australian tourists out of somewhere with inadequate airport security  like Bali, could be similarly targeted. We could probably be doing more to help Indonesia improve its airport security.
We're getting to the pointy end of the strudel now, with just five amateur bakers left in the shed. The pressure might be beginning to show, too, with tonight's challenges resulting in some rather big misfires alongside some terrific successes. It's sweet-dough week, and the first challenge  making 24 identical iced fingers  seems manageable enough. The degree of difficulty rises in the technical challenge: making a batch of German "bee sting" cakes. Not only must the cakes be made to tricky texture requirements; they must also be filled with custard and finished with a baked-on topping of caramelised almonds. The showstopper challenge  making a towering Polish-style babka cake  is as difficult as each competitor wants to make it. Another fine episode full of civilised competition, with judges Matt Moran and Maggie Beer providing considered, constructive critiques. Brad Newsome

SBS, NITV, 8.30pm

Some of SBS' confrontational factual series have been less than edifying. Some, though, have been genuinely rewarding and, fortunately, First Contact falls into the latter category. As Ray Martin introduces six white, privileged Australians to the realities of Indigenous life in Australia there are certainly some uncomfortable moments, but on the whole the producers have struck a good balance between tension and release. The casting is also excellent, with just the right mix of right-wing hardliners (David Oldfield), leftie bleeding hearts (Natalie Imbruglia, Tom Ballard) and undecideds (Nicki Wendt, Dicko, Renae Ayris). That Dicko should acquit himself well is unsurprising: he's an intelligent man with a genuinely curious, open mind and his journey alone makes tuning in worthwhile. Ballard rose in my estimation, particularly for his ability to take on Oldfield and articulate precisely why the One Nation politician is so far off the mark. Also surprising is Imbruglia, who  in this first ep, at least  proves herself as rigidly unbending in her romantic noble-savage notions as Oldfield is in his way. All up, a thoroughly satisfying package as much for the human insight as the educative agenda. Melinda Houston

Rick Stein: From Venice to Istanbul

ABC, 8.30pm

Sure, this is mostly about Rick Stein travelling to picturesque places, eating food, and showing us how to cook it. But he also makes an attempt to both introduce us to the cultures of the places he visits, and track a sort of culinary evolution around the edge of the Adriatic. Tonight he leaves Venice, stops off in the Emilia-Romagna region, then heads to Split in Croatia where the harbourside city provides a bounty of his favourite food: fish. He also seems to be simultaneously maintaining an impossibly idyllic villa in the Greek Isles where he does his try-this-at-home work, including  delightfully  a dish that really doesn't work out. (Fortunately, plenty of the others do.) Nice work if you can get it, Rick! Melinda Houston
The architect of the GP co-payment has hit out at the Turnbull government, accusing it of having no health policy. He also savaged the performance of Health Minister Sussan Ley and her predecessor, Peter Dutton over their inept handling of the policy.

In a scorching address to the policy think tank the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), Terry Barnes said the government had brought the so-called Mediscare campaign on itself by failing to set out its own plans for the healthcare sector. He said the coalition showed no sign of learning the lessons of the election campaign, despite it almost costing the government office.

He also suggested further radical reforms to the idea of universal healthcare, saying drunks, smokers and diabetics did not deserve free treatment because of their lifestyle choices.

Mr Barnes, a former advisor to Tony Abbott when he was the health minister, described pursuing structural reform within the Medicare system as a "diabolical task" because the system is a "sacred cow" and tinkering with it is like "killing Bambi."
Government ministers and senior public servants will be sent to "cyber bootcamp", while chief statistician David Kalisch will effectively be put on probation, following a damning review into the 2016 census debacle by the Prime Minister's cyber security chief.

In an excoriating report, Alastair MacGibbon said the Australian Bureau of Statistics had failed to adequately prepare for predictable cyber security issues with the 2016 census, mishandled the subsequent crisis and has refused to take responsibility.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the review will determine "which heads will roll and when" as a consequence of the debacle, which saw the census website deliberately shut down at peak hour on census night and left millions unable to complete their forms.

In a statement acknowledging the review, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack revealed the Turnbull government had reached a commercial-in-confidence settlement with contractor IBM after the tech giant apologised for the census outage.
Australia's alliance with the United States should not be compromised on the basis of who is in the White House, the country's most senior defence official has warned in a rare public commentary on politics.

In a speech at Old Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday night, his first comments since the shock victory of Donald Trump, Department of Defence Secretary Dennis Richardson said "the alliance cannot be taken for granted".

"Those who believe in it must be prepared to engage in the public debate and to make the case. Perhaps more so than of any time over the past 70 years, this is one of those times," he said.

"I say this because the recent US presidential election probably cuts more directly into our domestic politics than any presidential election in our lifetime. We will make a big mistake if we allow the alliance to be held hostage to perceptions of the success or otherwise of one administration or one person."
NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes has doubled down on his criticism of negative gearing, rebuffing criticism from the Turnbull government and questioning why investors receive tax breaks for buying a sixth home when others cannot buy a first.

Dr Stokes' surprise intervention into national tax policy comes ahead of a potential showdown on social housing when Commonwealth and state governments meet next week.

His comments in a speech on Friday put him on a collision course with the federal Coalition counterparts, who fought Labor's proposed negative gearing reforms at the July election and have instead told states to boost the supply of new housing.

Asked about Dr Stokes' comments, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government had no plans to reconsider its position on negative gearing, while Finance Minister Mathias Cormann essentially told his Liberal colleague Mr Stokes to stick to his knitting.
Pauline Hanson has, to use her exact words to the Senate, "had it up to here with my tolerance".

This may be the most honest remark uttered by anyone in the Senate for years.

Less expected was Senator Hanson's claim to expertise as a constitutional lawyer and an assertion about the genesis of what was known as the "race power" so breathtaking that it might render all previous scholarship on the subject redundant.

She was on her feet to argue that it ought not be illegal to have opinions that might "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" others because of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.
Fires burn at Chain Valley and Catherine Hill Bay on October 18,2013, leaving burnt-out remains. Credit:Simone De Peak Australia is among the most flammable countries in the world. According to NASA satellite data, there were an astonishing 4595 bushfires a week in Australia in 2013. The severity of such fires varies hugely, from tiny grassfires to catastrophic events like the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that razed large parts of Victoria and caused the deaths of 173 people. It's for this reason that most districts in country Australia have their own RFS brigades made up of unpaid locals. NSW has more than 74,000 RFS members, making it the largest volunteer firefighting organisation in the world. The Lake Macquarie region boasts 16 such brigades, including one at Wyee, a snoozy town on the southern shores of the lake. The brigade, which is based out of a battered green shed, has roughly 70 volunteers, one of whom was a local man named Alex Noble. Detective Chris Swadling discovered a cluster of fires had occured around Wyee. Credit:Janie Barrett Noble joined the RFS in late 2011, when he was 18. Within no time he became one of the brigade's most dedicated members. Despite having a full-time job driving cranes, he was unstinting with his time, only too happy to perform any role, washing trucks, stowing hoses and sweeping out the shed.

In September 2013 he was roundly praised for single-handedly putting out a brush fire at the rear of his workplace, Eatons Building Materials, in Mannering Park on Wyee's semirural outskirts. That same month, he assisted Rick Miller with the investigation of a separate fire. "Alex was cooperative and appeared happy to help me," Miller says. Alex Noble arrives at Toronto Court House in January, 2014. Credit:Marina Neil Noble has red, short-cropped hair and brown eyes. He is skinny: his work shorts and high-viz vest hung off him in folds. According to his grandfather, Paul Noble, Alex had few friends around town. "He loved watching rugby league," says Paul, "so I encouraged him to join a local club, but he wasn't interested." In the brigade, however, Alex was a star. He was invariably the first person to report to Wyee station after a fire was called in: once his RFS colleagues attended a bushfire only to find Noble already there, in his uniform. Fighting fires was his reason for being: he boasted about his training and experiences; his Facebook page featured a photo of himself set against a background of flaming treetops.

His Rural Fire Service work was voluntary, but he dreamed of one day becoming a paid firefighter with Fire and Rescue NSW. It didn't seem unreasonable. According to one observer, Noble was "the kind of kid who was really going places". In late 2013, police noticed a significant increase in the number of bushfires in the Lake Macquarie area. More than 100 fires, most deemed suspicious or deliberate, had been reported between September 2012 and September 2013. The NSW Police Arson Unit subsequently established Strike Force Lorus,headed up by a thickset, 30-year-old detective named Chris Swadling. The first thing Swadling did was plot the fires using the Arson Trends Analysis System. ATAS collates data provided by the RFS, Fire and Rescue NSW and police, and allows investigators to map when and where fires are occurring. "What we found was that most of the fires were clustered around Wyee," Swadling says. "Most were small roadside ignitions, which told us that it was probably someone who had a car. And most of them happened at night, which pretty much ruled out school kids." It was also unlikely to be farmers clearing scrub, Swadling says, since they get no benefit from roadside ignitions. The fires mostly ranged in size from 10 square metres to 600 square metres; one was just two square metres. Swadling visited a number of the larger sites, together with Rick Miller, whose first job was to determine the fires' origins. Miller examined trees for scorch marks and rocks for soot stains. He also studied the grass. "As a general rule," he says, "the side of the tussock closest to the flames will burn hottest, and more of that will be gone than the other side, which will be higher and more intact. It's called the 'angle of char'." Once you have the origin, you look for the cause. A big part of Miller's working life is spent on his hands and knees, fossicking through the dirt. "You're looking for any signs of cigarette butts, Jiffy lighters, accelerants. People also start fires with sparklers or mosquito coils, or with reactive chemicals. If you find a piece of exhaust carbon, then there's a chance there was some kind of mechanical cause."

Miller determined that most of the Wyee fires had been "hot sets", meaning they were started with an open flame, most likely from a cigarette lighter. ("Hardly anybody uses matches anymore.") Yet they found little in the way of evidence, which wasn't surprising. According to Detective Sergeant Hassan ElKhansa, a team leader in the Property Crime Squad's Arson Unit, the longer a fire burns, the more evidence it destroys. "This is the opposite to most other crimes, where the longer the offence goes on, the more evidence accumulates," he says. "It makes arson very difficult to investigate." (According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, only 2.6 percent of arson cases result in legal action  among the lowest of all offences.) Swadling had more luck when he looked at the phone data. When a member of the public reports a fire, they usually ring 000, in which case their number is automatically registered with Fire and Rescue NSW. (The call is also recorded.) Plenty of people had called 000 to report fires between September 2012 and September 2013, but one number kept popping up  17 times, in fact. When Swadling traced the number, he found that it was subscribed to one Alex Gordon Noble. Humans have for thousands of years been crucially dependent on fire. It enables us to cook and keep warm; it's a source of light, and has long been regarded by campers as a good substitute for television. In the case of arson, however, it can be a tool of unparalleled destruction. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, bushfires injure more people in Australia than all other natural disasters combined. The insured losses from the 2009 Victorian fires alone exceeded $1 billion. Arson is believed to be driven by four main factors: profit, revenge, mental illness and pyromania. "True pyromania is extremely rare," says professor James Ogloff, director of the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science at Swinburne University in Melbourne. "I've seen hundreds of arsonists over my career, but only three or four pyromaniacs." Pyromania was once thought to be a "moral illness"  an inability to distinguish right from wrong. Freud redefined it as a symptom of our desire to gain power over nature, adding that most pyromaniacs were males with a history of bed-wetting. Other possible causes were rejection and the wish for the return of an absent father. Nowadays pyromania is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as an impulse-control disorder.

"For pyromaniacs, the fascination with fire is all-consuming," says Ogloff. "If they are not lighting fires, they are reading about fires or watching movies about fire  they love Backdraft. And once they start thinking about it, they have an uncontrollable need to light one. They then feel more relaxed, but, nine times out of 10, they also feel guilty." Treatments for pyromania are largely ineffective, and usually come down to some form of cognitive behavioural therapy (replacing destructive thoughts with helpful ones). Locking people up doesn't seem to help, either. "Even in prison I've seen people who cannot stop lighting fires," says Ogloff. "In some low-security prisons you're allowed lighters, but in some prison smoking areas they have a hole in the wall where you light your cigarette. People sometimes put bits of paper in there, and light that. I've even seen people take a double-A battery and bread clips  the wire with plastic wrapped around it  and touch on both ends of the battery at the same time, and that gets hot enough to start a fire." In the bushfire context, firefighters are in a catch-22 situation, Ogloff says. "They have to give fire warnings, but for people who are fascinated by fire, that's like a paedophile being near a kiddies' pool." Detective Swadling now had a name, Alex Noble, and a phone number. From a senior RFS member who is permanently embedded with the arson unit, he'd also discovered that Noble was a Rural Fire Service member at Wyee. He then questioned everyone in the Wyee brigade, and listened back to Noble's 000 calls. "Not once did Alex identify himself to the 000 operator as an RFS member," Swadling says. "And not once did he tell his brigade mates that he was the one who had reported the fire." Indeed, often Noble would light a fire, call 000 and wait for a notification on his RFS pager before racing to the station, where he would ask everyone where the fire was. On the afternoon of August 24, he did this on four separate occasions, lighting and then reporting fires at 2.20pm, 8.07pm, 9.49pm, and 11.54pm. When one of his fellow volunteers asked how he got to the station so quickly, Noble said he was living nearby, in Toepfers Road, Wyee. (In fact, he was living in Mannering Park, with his grandfather, 15 minutes drive south.)

"Alex was essentially leading a double life," Swadling says. By early 2013, Noble was seeing a local woman named Sam. By September, with Sam heavily pregnant, the couple moved to a unit in Rutherford, a residential area an hour's drive north of Wyee, where Sam's family lived. On Monday, September 30, Noble resigned from his job, telling his workmates that he'd landed a full-time paid position with the Rutherford unit of Fire and Rescue NSW. (Actually, he'd got a job at a Rutherford building supplies company.) Moving north meant Noble would no longer be attached to the Wyee brigade. (Rutherford doesn't have an RFS unit.) September 30, then, would be his last chance to light, and then fight, a bushfire. And so, during his lunch break, Noble walked to the rear of one of the company's sheds, where no one could see him. He crouched down in the dry grass, 30 centimetres inside the fence line, and lit a fire. He then walked back into the shed, and sat next to a fellow worker. Minutes later, he turned around and said: "Can you smell smoke?" Swadling still didn't have enough to charge Noble and was planning to put him under surveillance. But the fire that day at Eatons forced his hand. Despite Noble's efforts with an extinguisher, the blaze got away. When crews from the RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW arrived, Noble joined in fighting the fire, before mysteriously disappearing at around 3pm. "He only wanted to light a small fire," says Rick Miller, "so when it got big he got upset." Suspecting, correctly, that Noble had gone home, Swadling and another detective paid a visit to his Rutherford unit. "We asked Alex to come to the station and talk to us as a witness to the fire that day," Swadling says. "He was really excited at being able to assist."

Noble began the interview in high spirits, detailing what he'd seen that day, and his efforts to fight the fire. Swadling then asked Noble if he'd ever phoned 000 to report a fire. Yes, he said, once, about a year ago. Swadling then began playing the recordings of Noble's 17 calls to 000, the last of which was just four days before. Initially Noble said that he must have forgotten about the calls, but as the recordings went on, his face dropped. "He went from joking around with us to slumped over, head down, like his life's been ripped from him." Noble left the station at about 10pm. Early the next morning, he phoned Swadling and said he wanted to talk. The two men met at Toronto Police Station, where they sat down in front of a printout of all the fires in the Wyee area. "Alex started freely admitting to all these fires," Swadling says. "He would've gone on but I made a mistake. I wish I didn't do it, but I said, 'You know, we're up to 10 fires now.' And then he stopped and said, 'That's all of them.' " Alex Noble gave all sorts of reasons for lighting the fires. He lit them because he was bored. He lit them to gain experience as a firefighter. He lit them, almost as an afterthought, on his way home from dinner at the RSL; while driving back from a Westfield shopping centre; after dropping some DVDs at a mate's place; as he made his way home from a labouring job. Sometimes he lit his second, third or fourth fire for the day because the others he'd lit were "too small". He was fascinated by fire, his trial later heard: according to a psychiatrist's report, he was the rarest of arsonists: a true pyromaniac. In October 2014, Noble was given two years' jail for deliberately lighting 15 fires in 2012 and 2013. In March this year, a court found that the fire he lit at Eatons on September 30, 2013 was the eventual cause of the October 17 blaze that led to the near annihilation of Catherine Hill Bay. He was subsequently sentenced to another eight years, and will be eligible for parole in October 2020. Firefighters reserve particular contempt for arsonists within their ranks. RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons described Noble's conduct as "the ultimate betrayal". (None of Noble's brigade mates would talk for this story.) Wyee locals were similarly wounded: when news about Noble got out, his Facebook page received so much hate mail he had to shut it down.
Self-driving cars, ride-sharing, electric-powered vehicles: how deeply will the motoring trends of 2016 have penetrated through the city by 2026?

Wheres my flying car, right? Theyre working on it, but even by 2026 traffic wont be ready for take-off. Cars will be more autonomous and more connected than ever before, but they wont have gained in altitude.

Instead theyll have picked up some advanced social skills. Such as, knowing where you want to go and what time you need to leave; suggesting you bus or train it instead because the traffics bad; reminding you to pick up some milk on the way home.

The car industry will change more in the next five to 10 years than it has in the past 50, driven by the convergence of connectivity, electrification and changing customer needs says Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors. A vehicle wont be just a tool to get you to your destination, though it will still be that. It will be a mobile rolling device, she says. And it will understand you to an extent that wont seem so uncanny by then.

Cars will be fully integrated with our digital lives and synced with our calendars and social media. They will know our plans before we get in, as well as our habits, preferred service stations, fast food outlets, taste in podcasts and even driving mood via our playlist choice. Once you start unlocking access to the vehicle via connectivity, you get a bunch of services like never before, says George Parthimos, CEO of Connexion, a Melbourne-based company that makes software for internet-connected cars.

Hands-off technology will be more widely available, but cars wont be driving themselves, other than for long enough to, say, make a video call or compose an email. As Techradar reports, the latest BMW 7 series already lets you take your hands off the wheel for up to 15 seconds, and stays centred in a lane at high speeds. But it will be 10 to 20 years before you can expect a car to drive you safely from door to door, Parthimos says. Safety and security is a massive area, and they want to make sure they get that right. You dont want hackers to take control of your car, he says.

When integrated into the Internet of Things ecosystem, cars will be able to understand the requirements of your home and so provide individualised service. They almost become your butler, says Parthimos.

Thats another level on from apps such as Toyota Link, which gives drivers directions, weather information and real-time advice on where to find cheap fuel. It lets them search accommodation, restaurants and businesses in their area while listening to their choice of playlist through the internet music streaming service Pandora, all through the vehicles audio unit, using Bluetooth and a compatible smartphone.

By 2026 cars will communicate with each other and share information about traffic flow, mishaps, speed and road and weather conditions. If a car stops suddenly or is in danger of hitting another vehicle, all the cars around it will instantly know. Theyll be alert and alarmed, with some able to take partial control of the brakes or steering to help avoid a collision.

Theyll also be connected to road infrastructure like smart highways and traffic lights, so they can not only self-correct if straying from their lanes, but propose a change of plan en route based on real-time conditions. Theyll feed us information via augmented-reality, videogame-style smart displays that blur the distinction between road and screen.
With 5.7 million Twitter followers, Queen Rania al-Abdullah has been called the "most listened-to woman in the Middle East". She's also one of the most watched. And admired.

The wife of Jordan's King Abdullah II, Queen Rania on Wednesday coolly turned heads as she took in the National Portrait Gallery with Lucy Turnbull as part of her and her husband's state visit to Australia and New Zealand.

Lucy Turnbull and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan visit the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra on Wednesday. Credit:Andrew Meares

While she got cosy with the Prime Minister's wife, her husband talked counter-terrorism with George Brandis and co. The couple will on Thursday plant the obligatory National Arboretum sapling before arriving in Sydney, which will see a visit to the Rocks' Fort Street Public School for Her Majesty.

With Australia currently wracked by fears around immigration, the visiting Arab dignitary may wonder what exactly it is we have to worry about.
In a welcome, if bizarre, turnaround, Dubai prosecutors have reportedly dropped charges against a British woman who was arrested earlier this month after reporting she had been raped in a hotel room by two British men.

Authorities confiscated the woman's passport accusing her of extramarital sex, a crime punishable by imprisonment and flogging. The case, which has led some rights groups to advise women not to report rape in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has attracted significant media attention.

Tolerant image: Burj Khalifa in the middle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Credit:Kamran Jebreili

It is also not the first time a foreign tourist has found herself at odds with the country's dubiously applied laws.

With its seven-star hotels, glitzy shopping malls, desert safaris, and glamorous nightlife, Dubai has catapulted into fourth place on the world's most popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 14 million visitors last year.
A 28-year-old woman has been found guilty of fraud after she forged children's attendance records at her Aussie Giggles family day care centre to rake in more than $3.6 million in taxpayer funding.

Melissa Jade Higgins allegedly falsified children's attendance at her family day care centre on the NSW-Victorian border to claim millions of dollars in Special Child Care Subsidies (SCCB).

Melissa Jade Higgins received childcare benefits exceeding $3.6 million to which she was not entitled.

The SCCB subsidises the full cost of childcare for children who are experiencing or are at risk of abuse or neglect.

Ms Higgins claimed the SCCB at an inflated rate of $180 per hour for up to 14 children and for children who did not attend her service.
The UK's top anti-corruption agency has launched an extraordinary attack on Unaoil  the firm at the centre of an international oil industry scandal  accusing it of high level corruption.

In a submission to the British High Court, the Serious Fraud Office accused the Monaco-based company of attempting to thwart bribery probes targeting it and its big-name multinational clients.

The court documents also reveal secret details of the anti-corruption investigation, including the arrest in March at Manchester airport of a senior Unaoil manager who was found carrying two cheques worth almost 2 million ($3.3 million)

The SFO declared it was "unpersuaded that Unaoil conducts any lawful business".
As the mysterious and moustached Basil Al Jarah made his way through Manchester Airport in March to board a flight to Dubai, he had no idea the UK's National Crime Agency was watching his every move.

Al Jarah was being tailed because of what he did and who he worked for. For years, the man known to colleagues as "the Captain" had been a senior figure in Monaco firm Unaoil.

But Al Jarah never made his flight on March 22. Instead, he was arrested by British detectives.

Unaoil and Al Jarah specialised in clinching massive energy industry deals in notoriously corrupt places on behalf of multinational clients. War-torn Iraq was Al Jarah's turf and he had in his pocket senior politicians and oil officials.
They said a total of 31 sheep were euthanised and an orphan lamb was seized during further inspections in the next few days.

"The inspector tried to get the live sheep to stand but they were too weak. It was obvious there were dead sheep everywhere that the inspector looked  approximately 60 were counted, despite the poor visibility. "

"The inspector found a small amount of extremely poor quality pasture hay with three sheep lying in it, one with a lamb attempting to suckle off her, and nearby two recently deceased ewes," the spokesperson said.

The inspector found a small amount of poor quality pasture hay with three sheep lying in it, one with a lamb attempting to suckle off her. Credit:RSPCA

The RSPCA claims one ewe was found alive in the middle of a pile of dead sheep after being dragged about 100 metres, with skin ripped off on one side.

"One eye had been pecked out by crows, and now the other eye was exposed to the sky and potentially further crow attacks," the spokesperson said.

"Mr Reardon later said he had dragged the ewe behind his quad bike, not realising she was alive. However, he would have had to bind her legs at close range, and it would have been obvious to anyone that she was still alive."

When the RSPCA contacted Mr Reardon, he claimed the sheep were all dying from pregnancy toxaemia and hadn't taken them to the vet because he already knew what their illnesses were.

He said he couldn't remember where he had put lick blocks that supply protein. The inspectors couldn't find any at the property.
Labor has launched an attack on the Baird government over the chronic undersupply of affordable housing in Sydney, accusing it of leveraging state-owned land to fill government coffers rather than provide housing for low-income workers.

Shadow planning spokesman Michael Daley has taken aim at the NSW government's Central to Eveleigh development strategy, alleging the program is being treated as "another property deal".

Mr Daley seized on plans released by the government's property development arm UrbanGrowth NSW on Monday, which confirmed that housing built under the project would be subject to a 5-10 per cent affordable rental housing target.

But Mr Daley said the government had an obligation to aspire to a much more ambitious target of 20-30 per cent on state-owned land.
A man charged over an assault in Sydney's CBD at the weekend that left his victim in hospital with critical head injuries was responsible for a separate attack in the same location two weeks earlier, police allege.

The 24-year-old man will face Central Local Court on Thursday charged over the separate assaults on George Street in Haymarket this month.

The latest alleged assault occurred about 12.45am on Sunday, when a 31-year-old man was walking along George Street near the intersection with Hay Street.

Police will allege in court that the 24-year-old approached the victim and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious, before running away.
A man was charged with murder during a bedside hearing at the Princess Alexandra Hospital on Thursday, following a stabbing in suburban Brisbane earlier in the week.

The 39-year-old Tingalpa man, the former husband of the woman who lived at the Brompton Street address in Alexandra Hills, was charged with with murder, entering a dwelling with intent and contravention of a domestic violence order.

Police charged a 39-year-old man with murder on Thursday after a fatal stabbing at Alexandra Hills. Credit:Cheryl Goodenough - Fairfax Media

He was remanded in custody until February 6 and remains in a serious condition in hospital.

The charges come after a man was allegedly stabbed to death by his partner's former husband just before midnight on Tuesday.
Two large grassfires at Kurwongbah have been contained on Thursday afternoon, after local students were evacuated.

The blaze was contained about 4pm and water bombing was finished, but an estimated 11 crews remained on scene.

Fire crews managed to contain a large grassfire at Kurwongbah late on Thursday afternoon. Credit:7 News Queensland

A smoke warning was still in place, with surrounding residents urged to keep doors and windows closed.

About 2pm, students and teachers at Narangba State School were safely evacuated to a nearby community centre as a precaution, with the grassfires burning near Narangba Road and Boundary Road at Kurwongbah.
Dr Rob Campbell performed the surgery on Mrs Hodges that changed her life. Credit:Robert Shakespeare "I knew from my experience that it would have been impossible for someone to pretend the symptoms and they did look very odd. "They appeared to be epileptic seizures but Rhonda was wide awake having a conversation." Rhonda Hodges has been rounding up cattle on her property after the procedure. Dr Geffen sought advice from neurology colleagues at Mater Private Hospital in Brisbane, who diagnosed her with Stiff Person Syndrome, a one-in-a-million condition that had paralysed Mrs Hodges below the waist and left her unable to move her legs or feet due to very severe spasticity and dystonia.

Mrs Hodges was brought to Mater Hospital in Brisbane and underwent a test dose of intrathecal baclofen that was injected into her spinal fluid to try and balance her nerve signals. Rhonda Hodges kept going despite numerous doctors treating her as having a psychiatric disturbance. Credit:Robert Shakespeare Within days she was able to move herself from her bed to her chair, in what she called a "miracle". "When I saw my toes bend I thought "Yes!"," she said. Dr Saul Geffen knew Mrs Hodges had a serious issue and contacted colleagues at Mater Hospital to work out what was wrong. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

"It was just wonderful to see my toes bend and no spasm all day every day." Neurosurgeon Rob Campbell assessed Mrs Hodge's improvement and by adapting existing technology he surgically inserted a permanent, computerised pump system under her abdomen skin that would deliver a small amount of the drug directly into the spinal fluid "minute by minute" every day. Dr Campbell said the pump has been used to treat cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis in the past, however this was the first time it had been used to treat the rare disease in Australia. "The step forward here has been to push that envelope wider to deal with this condition," he said. "This treatment is about disease control, not cure. It is control and returning to Rhonda the freedom to live her life as she wishes.

"It makes me proud of Rhonda to be brave enough to be the first patient to push that envelope out to allow us to do this work." Mrs Hodges went home to recover for a few weeks after the surgery in September before going back to the Mater Hospital a few weeks ago for further physio. She can now sit, stand, walk without pain and has regained her independence, which she credits to her the team of doctors and her physio Denis Giguere. "With Denis's encouragement and positivity, I ran with everything that we tried to do," she said. "I was looking forward to the everyday things like getting out of bed, going to the toilet, having a shower, doing simple things like setting the table.

"I went home and I swept and mopped the floors, I was out mustering cattle with my electric wheelchair and I was chasing cattle up to the yards with a polypipe, doing all these crazy things. "It was just wonderful that I could get outside and do all these things." The determined woman said the ordeal had taken a toll on her family, but they have still managed to keep their humour. Mrs Hodges said her husband has two fencing jobs lined up for her when she is discharged from the hospital for good on Friday. "It took a toll on my husband emotionally because he could see what it was doing to me but he couldn't do anything about it," she said.

"When I was having a bad day my father-in-law would come in and a crack a joke. "I haven't been able to carry my grandchildren so now I am going up to Christmas to see them and take them places and do things with them, I am really looking forward to it." Mrs Hodges has shared her story so those out there who may be battling the same disorder did not give up hope. "I would like to tell those people out there who have got this, it may not work for you but it is worth a try," she said. Dr Campbell hoped Mrs Hodge's case raised awareness of the possibilities out there.
Three top employees at Seqwater have left the Queensland government statutory body as the state heads into peak storm season.

Chief executive officer Peter Dennis, chief financial officer David Delaporte and People and Culture manager Alanna Herbst have all quietly left Seqwater in recent months.

Seqwater chairman Dan Hunt confirmed Mr Dennis advised the board of his intention not to renew his contract, which was due to expire in 2017.

"Mr Dennis advised his intention to do so, to pursue other opportunities," Mr Hunt said.
Perth cafe owner Michael Pond faces $1 million of fines over alleged breaches of council planning rules.

The question before the the court: does a takeaway really have to be taken away?

The popular Trigg cafe named Yelo often has queues of punters snaking out the door as shown in a photo from its social media page.

However, the the City of Stirling say Yelo's planning approval was subject to certain clauses including that food and drink be served in takeaway containers and use of the verandah be limited to 20 people and five tables.
Homes in Brunswick East were evacuated for five hours following a major gas leak on Thursday, with road closures "wreaking havoc" in area.

Excavation equipment being operated by contractors in Roberts Street ruptured a high-pressure gas main at about 3.30pm.

Emergency services at the scene of a gas leak in Brunswick East.

Police and firefighters had to go from door to door to evacuate people in the immediate vicinity of Roberts and Blyth streets.






Police have dropped historic child sexual abuse charges against a child protection worker after deciding they did not have enough proof to convict her, despite photographing her pelvic region against her wishes to help their investigation.

Credit:Penny Stephens

Katrina Arrendondo, who works in the child protection division of the Department of Health and Human Services, was stood down after she was charged in September with one count of sexual penetration and one count of an indecent act against a child under 16 years under her supervision, care or authority.

The abuse was alleged to have occurred at the Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre against a teenager in custody and after his release between 1994 and 1995, when Ms Arrendondo was a youth officer there.
Steve Bracks' great grandparents came to Australia in the 1890s from what is now Lebanon in search of a better life.

Like a lot of migrants, they thought they were bound for America. But as fate would have it, his mother's side of the family ended up in Ballarat, his father's in Sydney.

Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has described Peter Dutton's comments as 'malicious', at worst. Credit:Andrew Quilty

Had Australia discriminated on the basis of race at the time, Steve Bracks in all likelihood would not have grown up as a typical Aussie kid and gone on to become Victoria's 44th premier.

Who knows? Perhaps the family of Melkite Catholics would have ended up in America as intended, where the surname came to be spelled Brachs, or New Zealand, where it is Brax.
A former police officer accused of selling fraudulent police, airport and maritime identification to criminals on the "darknet", claimed that he reported the location of each of his customers to Crime Stoppers, a court has been told.

James Goris, 44, was arrested on Tuesday during a raid on his home in Castlemaine  five months after Victoria Police's e-crime squad, the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police started an investigation into his alleged online activities.

James Goris at Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Mr Goris, who served with Victoria Police for five years until 2010, was denied bail in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Wednesday facing five charges.

Police hold fears the fraudulent identifications could have been used to enter police stations to obtain a firearm, bypass airport security or aid potential terrorist plots, the court was told.
The father of an off-duty policeman stabbed between the eyes during an alleged home invasion expects his son to face a long recovery.

Senior Constable Daniel Yeoman was in bed at his family's home, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, when a teenager allegedly forced his way into the house in the early hours of last Saturday.

Jade Hunia was 19 when he stabbed Senior Constable Daniel Yeoman in the face. Credit:Instagram

Police allege that after Senior Constable Yeoman went to the aid of his wife, he was stabbed by Jade Hunia, 19, before the teenager took car keys from the bench and stole the couple's car.

Mr Hunia was reportedly on bail at the time of the attack on Senior Constable Yeoman.
Paul Sant admitted making five fake radio transmissions to planes and air traffic control. Credit:Facebook

He also posted a video which he purports to have taken while he was in the cockpit as a Virgin Embraer 190 took off from Canberra en route to Melbourne.

Family members posted on Facebook about Mr Sant's hopes of becoming a pilot.

His lawyer, Pern Chaya, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday that her client had been diagnosed with autism and depression, but was not on any medication.



"He's 19, so he's a young prisoner," Ms Chaya said.



It was Mr Sant's first time in custody, she said.



Mr Sant was remanded until Monday, when he is expected to make an application for bail.



Australian Federal Police's head of crime operations, acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Sheehan, said the public should be reassured that authorities were treating the matter appropriately.



"The current security measures in place for the airline industry are robust, and the travelling public should be reassured we are treating this matter appropriately," he said.



Airservices Australia operations manager Steven Clarke said there was no current threat to the safety and security of the travelling public as a result of the alleged transmissions.



"Airservices has appropriate procedures, processes and systems in place to ensure the safety of aviation operations at Melbourne and Avalon airports, and across the country and for the travelling public," Mr Clarke said.

Mr Sant lived in Rockbank, about 30 kilometres from the airport, but it is unclear where the offences are alleged to have occurred.
Dog owners at a popular Perth dog park are angry council rangers have removed a communal dog bowl after a mystery resident complained it was a drowning hazard.

The bowl was recently removed from Britannia Road Reserve in Mount Hawthorn by the City of Vincent and replaced with a sign saying it had been taken away due to public safety concerns.

The blue dog bowl used by people's pets at Britannia Road Reserve has been confiscated.

The park is a dog exercise area and social meeting point for many locals whose pets use the bowl to have a drink and cool down.

Since being erected, the council sign has been vandalised with the word 'tossers', but City of Vincent mayor John Carey said the bowl was a public liability and would be replaced by the council with a safe drinking solution.
Curtin University has awarded its software development contract to Indian outsourcing giant Tech Mahindra, and while staff claim this will cost local jobs now and in the future, Curtin rejects this claim outright.

The issue was raised on Tuesday at an open union meeting of staff and students held to discuss the impact of recent budget and job cuts across the Bentley campus.

A staff member told WAtoday a group of Curtin IT workers were not having their contracts renewed as a result of the Tech Mahindra contract.

The staffer said Curtin's existing workers were capable of doing the work, and a failed bidder for the contract had actually approached some of those outgoing to see if they would be willing to stay, but Tech Mahindra did not.
Police have discovered more than 1,500 cannabis plants growing in ten empty houses in Perth's southern suburbs which had been stripped and fitted with air vents to facilitate the sophisticated set-up.

Ten people, some of whom were living in Perth unlawfully, were arrested on Wednesday after 24 search warrants were executed in Rockingham, Warnbro, Waikiki, Safety Bay, Medina, Port Kennedy, Cooloongup, Byford, Wattleup, Shoalwater, Westminster and Baldivis.

The 'grow houses' are believed to be linked to the same drug syndicate.

During the search warrants 1,500 cannabis plants and approximately 30 kilograms of cannabis material - valued at around $3.3 million - was seized, along with cash.
Bogota: Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono signed a revised peace accord on Thursday in a far more sober ceremony than a first deal rejected last month by millions at a plebiscite.

As they inked the pact with a pen made from a bullet at a Bogota theatre, onlookers chanted "We did it!"

The new accord to end 52 years of war in Latin America's fourth-largest economy was put together in just over a month after the original pact was narrowly and unexpectedly defeated in an October 2 referendum for being too lenient on the rebels.

The government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have met in Cuba for the last four years to end the region's longest-running conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean nation.
Washington: A Florida woman who grew increasingly frustrated because her guests wouldn't leave is under arrest after she shot one of them, the Bay County Sheriff's Office said.

Alana Annette Savell, 32, was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm on Monday after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida.

According to the sheriff's office, a man and a woman had gone to Savell's house around 1am local time on Monday to "hang out" and drink alcohol. After a while, Savell said she told her guests multiple times to leave, but they did not listen.

Savell then retrieved a .22-caliber handgun and began shooting at the feet of her guests, according to an affidavit.
Paris: Security has been upped at the headquarters of France's criminal investigations police as potential targets from a seized mobile telephone are identified while five suspects in an alleged terror plot are questioned.

A police official confirmed that security was reinforced at the imposing judicial police headquarters on the Seine River, known by its address, 36 Quai des Orfevres.

Paris police headquarters on the Seine River, known by its address, 36 Quai des Orfevres. Credit:Google Streetview

It follows the arrest of seven people on Sunday in Strasbourg, in eastern France, and in Marseille, in the south.

The building reportedly showed up, along with others, in searches performed on a mobile phone belonging to one of the suspects.
Milwaukee: Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said on Thursday she has raised $US3.5 million to force recounts of the November 8 election results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, three states where Donald Trump scored narrow wins.

The campaign said it exceeded its initial goal for raising $US2.5 million and has enough money to pay Wisconsin's $US1.1 million filing fee due on Friday. At the same time, the party said it raised its target to $US4.5 million, with filing deadlines approaching in Pennsylvania on Monday and Michigan on Wednesday.

Stein is pushing for recounts because experts pointed to statistical anomalies in the tallies in all three battleground states, according to the party's website.

Trump, a Republican who ran as an anti-establishment maverick, carried all three states by narrow margins despite public opinion polls pointing to victories by Hillary Clinton, the Democratic standard-bearer.
Ankara: Turkey says it will retaliate after three of its soldiers were killed in what the military said was a suspected Syrian air strike, the first such deaths at the hands of Syrian government forces since Ankara launched a cross-border incursion in August.

The attack occurred at around 3.30am local time on Thursday during a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel operation in northern Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement.

It said 10 other soldiers were wounded in the air strike that it "assessed to have been carried out by Syrian regime forces". It gave no details on the exact location.

"It is clear that some people are not happy with this battle Turkey has been fighting against Daesh (Islamic State). This attack will surely have a retaliation," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Paris: A masked gunman has burst into a retirement home for monks in southern France and stabbed an elderly woman to death.

The national military police couldn't immediately say whether the incident in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, near the southern town of Montpellier, was linked to a terror act.

Credit:Google Maps

A press official said early on Friday that more than 100 members of the security forces have been dispatched on the scene .

The body of the deceased woman was found gagged and tied up outside the retirement home, which houses about 60 monks, the official said. She had been stabbed several times.
St. James, MARIGOT:--- I would like to thank all the voters in St. Martin who came out to vote on the occasion of the 1st round, last Saturday, November 19th, of the Primary of the Right and Center. I also want to thank the voters who voted for Alain Juppe and made it possible for him to earn 128 votes. This placed him in third place and 44 votes behind Nicolas Sarkozy who placed first on the Saint-Martin, but who was ultimately eliminated from the contest and soundly rejected at both the Overseas and the National level. Francois Fillons surprising and brilliant performance is to be congratulated and Alain Juppe took precedence in the Overseas Territories while earning 28% of the overall vote. Finally, I want to thank all members, supporters, fans, volunteers, the delegates and accessors who worked at the 2 polling stations.

However, the participation figure of 471 voters on Saint-Martin, (2.47% of voters against 9.07% nationally), was very disappointing. This low turnout, however, can be clearly explained by a process that the online press denounced a week ago as an "Electoral hold-up."

This low turnout can also be explained by a total absence of any explanation to the population of the real issues of this primary. This democratic debate should have been proposed and organized by local representatives of Les Republicans and by the current Member of Parliament and Territorial Councilor who is the legal representative of the party on our territory.

This lack of action on their part, effectively, stifled the debate on the views and ideas of the contenders for the mantle of candidate of the Right in the Presidential elections of 2017. It also deprived Saint-Martiners of an opportunity to make up their minds and cast their votes for the possible next President of the Republic. In addition, as a population, the seeming lack of reaction, creates a view of a people lacking in ideas and opinions who have little concern for their country. We as a population have never been shy to express our views or take on the tough questions that concern our future. Given the information and opportunity, I have to believe that we would have done better, because, make no mistake, this election concerned us in several fundamental ways.

First of all, given the current economic, social, security and developmental malaises under which we currently suffer, it was important that we cast a vote for a potential partner at the national level. We are in need of reforms at the level of our status, as well as, regulations that touch on issues such as social charges, expansion of the working week to include Sundays, and the compensation payments to France that continue to weaken our development prospects. Other issues for which we need partnerships with the State touch on how the security of our island is carried out, educational reforms, making our territory more competitive regionally and on and on. The need for partnership touch on real bread and butter issues, as well as, our wellbeing as a society and developing opportunities for our youth, many of whom are totally disenfranchised. This Primary was not just the business of the Right and the Center and it was certainly not the business of any one politician and his supporters to stifle a debate that truly concerns us all.

Any vote --- that impacts the wellbeing of the populace -- is -- the business of the people. It should be their choice to decide not to vote but it can never be the choice of any person or group to highjack the debate by failing to make sure that the people are informed. The guarantee of fair elections is a principle of our Republic that should never be undermined. There is a saying that the one eyed man is King in the country of the blind. Here on Saint-Martin we have gone past the era when we were spoon fed, intimidated and told what to think. We are past the era when dirty politricks and political maneuvering in the shadows was the way our leaders led.

Thankfully, the tidal wave that was expected here for Nicolas Sarkozy was avoided along with the negatives that could have ensued. Fortunately, once again, those in the positions of responsibility have the opportunity to provide us with the information necessary and have another chance to open a true debate of ideas, something that this important plebiscite deserves. I look forward to hearing the ideas and the pros and cons in support of both Francois Fillon and Alain Juppe. I continue to advocate for Alain Juppe, of course. I do, however, look forward to an exercise in true democracy, a debate of ideas followed by a vote that results in a winner. The people in responsible for conducting this election have a second chance to do things right.

This is how politics is done on Saint-Martin. Lets get on with it.

Jeanne Rogers-Vanterpool

Member of the Executive and the Territorial Council

Of the Collectivite of Saint-Martin
GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Public Health professional Dr. Virginia Asin attended the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Caribbean Roadmap Workshop in Miami from November 14-18.

Dr. Virginia Asin, is Head of Sint Maartens Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department from the Sint Maarten Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour.

The workshop organized to formulate a five-year roadmap and to strengthen health security for the Caribbean region to meet and sustain requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR).

The objective is to develop capacities necessary to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and threats. A health threat anywhere is a health threat everywhere whereby diseases spread faster and farther. SARS global economic impact costs were US$40 billion while Ebola was US$30 billion.

Infectious disease epidemics pose global and regional health security threats. Recent experience in the region with vector-borne diseases such as Chikungunya and Zika, and the threat of Ebola, highlight the need for national and regional multi-sectoral cooperation and preparedness.

Dr. Asin was invited to participate as a Caribbean Public Health professional, and to be present to share the historic moment of the GHSA being expanded to the Caribbean and the uniqueness that for the first time the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool will be used to assess the regional capacity to develop a GHSA roadmap.

The JEE tool goal is to set a baseline of capability across each technical area for the region; and to designate a few priority actions to help make rapid progress in each technical area.

Participants during the workshop sessions validated regional health security capacity data and filled in any information gaps; shared information and best practices; identified strengths and gaps; identified private sector and development partner resources available to support work at the regional and country levels; and facilitated and identified opportunities for coordination and collaboration among development partners, government agencies, civil society, and the private sector.

The Caribbean region, led by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Help Desk and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) hosted the workshop, in close coordination with the Pan American/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to commence with the process in creating the five-year GHSA roadmap.

The U.S. Government is supporting the process through the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Additional participants to be included in future sessions will be representatives from the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security.

In attendance at the workshop were representatives from ministries of health, agriculture, environment, defense, trade, executive office, regional and national stakeholders such as civil society groups, trade associations, the private sector, and development partners.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in an urgent plenary public session on Thursday November 24, 2016.

The urgent plenary public meeting is scheduled for 09.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is Appointment of Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson Parliament.

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Initiates Exchange Offer

PALO ALTO, CA  (Marketwired)  11/23/16  Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) today announced its offer to exchange the outstanding unregistered notes that it issued in October 2015 in a private placement pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, for new registered notes.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is offering to exchange (the Exchange Offer) up to $14,600,000,000 aggregate principal amount of its outstanding unregistered (i) $2,250,000,000 2.450% Notes due 2017, (ii) $2,650,000,000 2.850% Notes due 2018, (iii) $3,000,000,000 3.600% Notes due 2020, (iv) $1,350,000,000 4.400% Notes due 2022, (v) $2,500,000,000 4.900% Notes due 2025, (vi) $750,000,000 6.200% Notes due 2035, (vii) $1,500,000,000 6.350% Notes due 2045, (viii) $350,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due 2017 and (ix) $250,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due 2018, for a like principal amount of its new registered (i) $2,250,000,000 2.450% Notes due 2017, (ii) $2,650,000,000 2.850% Notes due 2018, (iii) $3,000,000,000 3.600% Notes due 2020, (iv) $1,350,000,000 4.400% Notes due 2022, (v) $2,500,000,000 4.900% Notes due 2025, (vi) $750,000,000 6.200% Notes due 2035, (vii) $1,500,000,000 6.350% Notes due 2045, (viii) $350,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due 2017 and (ix) $250,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due 2018 (collectively, the New Notes).

The Exchange Offer will expire at 5 pm ET on December 23, 2016, unless extended (such date and time, as they may be extended, the Expiration Date). The settlement date for the Exchange Offer will occur promptly following the Expiration Date. The Exchange Offer is made solely pursuant to Hewlett Packard Enterprises prospectus dated November 23, 2016, which has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hewlett Packard Enterprise has not authorized any person to provide information other than as set forth in the prospectus.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase the New Notes or any other securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

is an industry leading technology company that enables customers to go further, faster. With the industrys most comprehensive portfolio, spanning the cloud to the data center to workplace applications, our technology and services help customers around the world make IT more efficient, more productive and more secure.

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Hewlett Packard Enterprise could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of Hewlett Packard Enterprise for future operations; other statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that expected benefits may not materialize as expected and other risks that are described in Hewlett Packard Enterprises filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the risks described in Hewlett Packard Enterprises Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Hewlett Packard Enterprise assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements.

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Kings of Leon appear to have been ruled out of Glastonbury festival 2017  despite recently declaring their love for the iconic Somerset event.

The four piece, famous for hits like Sex on Fire, said recently they would welcome a return to Worthy Farm in Pilton.

Performing at Glastonbury was one of the band's first ever gigs in Europe. In 2008 the band headlined the festival.

But Kings of Leon have now signed up for an exclusive gig at Hyde Park as part of British Summer Time 2017  making a return to Glasto unlikely.

However reports suggest American alt-rock band the Pixies  who are also performing at the Hyde Park event as support do not seem to be subject to the same exclusivity.

This would potentially leave the way clear for Pixies to return to Somerset in the summer of 2017. They're in the country, why not?

Would you like to see Pixies back at Glastonbury? If Kings of Leon do give the festival a miss, would you be disappointed? Comment below to have your say.

Here's what we got from the Alt Rock geniuses in 2014:
More than five months after the first-ever class of 32 cadets graduated from the Warren Firefighter Academy, Macomb Community College and Dorsey College will be paid for the training services they provided for those cadets.
A guide to voter rights in Indiana. What you need to know before you cast a ballot
There is a major reason why many flock to the Grand Strand to play 18 holes on our various golf courses. Many options are available which include scenic, challenging or even courses that the beginner would enjoy. Read moreTee off: Plan your next golf outing along the South Strand
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WASHINGTON  The international community needs to establish expected patterns of behavior in space, despite ongoing worldwide political tension, top Pentagon space experts said.

"There is an erosion of some of the commonly accepted standards and norms, and there's concern about that as folks around the world have tried to find advantage, find seams," said Winston Beauchamp, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space. "That's part of the reason why we want to codify our norms and behavior in space because it is such an important domain, not just for us but for humanity."

Speaking at a Nov. 17 summit hosted by the Defense One website, Beauchamp said that the danger of collision and debris in orbit means that nations must work together to avoid those risks, even if they have somewhat tense relations  such as between the U.S. and Russia or U.S. and China. [The Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]

"We need to be able to operate in space both to advance our state of technology and eventually get the human race off this planet onto another planet," he said. "We can't do that if we have to try to fly through a shell of debris."

Rear Adm. Brian Brown, head of the Navy Space Cadre, said that norms often develop over time, and that the U.S. is leading on developing them.

"Much like the maritime laws that we have, they established over time by safe and responsible behaviors and patterns of life," he said. "That is something we are pushing for in a lot of different areas, so we don't have miscalculations in space."

Because of the long-lasting effects that could come from destroyed satellites and the resulting debris, the U.S. military is taking a defensive mindset, said Brown, the deputy commander for the Joint Functional Component Command for Space at U.S. Strategic Command.

"Everything is about not having a war extend to space," he said.

Even in peacetime, to avoid collisions the U.S. is warning satellite companies and other nations when there's a risk of collision, Brown said.

"There are norms and behaviors that are already out there that the U.S. is leading on," he said. "If you look at basic safety of flight things that we do today, there are specific standards for low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit where we provide conjunction warnings if two satellites, or a satellite and a piece of debris, come within proximity."

Were another nation to attack U.S. assets in space, Beauchamp said the Pentagon wouldn't automatically respond in kind.

"It's important to note that if something were to happen in space, our response wouldn't necessarily be in space," he said. "If someone were to do something, we would respond in a time and place of our choosing, primarily because we wouldn't expect something to happen in space in isolation. It would be an extension of some conflict that would be occurring terrestrially."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
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The Features of 'Ur-Fascism'

In the mid-1990s, when fear broke out over the possibility of a new fascism in Russia, novelist and scholar Umberto Eco defined elements of an "Ur-Fascism." The main question he posed at the time was this: Is there a way of defining fascism to make it recognizable during any period of time? Eco had experienced Mussolini's Italy as a boy and wrote about how he won an essay contest in 1942 on the subject "Should we die for the glory of Mussolini and the immortal destiny of Italy?" His answer? Yes, of course we should die. "I was a bright boy," he wrote in the 1995 article , which appeared in the New York Review of Books.

Should we die for Trump's glory and the immortal destiny of the United States? If this question is ever asked of American students, then they will, without a doubt, be living under fascism. In order to prevent his own experiences from happening again, Eco developed an early warning system including 14 different features that define Ur-Fascism -- a fascism test, as it were. It can be applied to Trump in terms of what is known about him politically, knowledge that comes primarily from the campaign.

"The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition," Eco begins. It has to do with the "primeval truth," the pseudo-religious "syncretistic" elements of a fascist movement. That's not a pronounced characteristic with Trump. He hails from the worlds of real estate development and reality TV, and thus far there haven't been any significant signs of religious or philosophical underpinnings to his movement. So that criterion, at least, does not apply.

Feature No. 2 is the "rejection of modernism," of capitalism, but also of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason -- the "Spirit of 1789," Eco wrote, in reference to the French Revolution. Trump is himself a capitalist, but politically he has shown a strong tendency towards the irrational and intemperate. No determination is yet possible on this point.

'Distrust of the Intellectual World'

Clearly applicable is feature three, which includes a "distrust of the intellectual world." In Trump's world, most intellectuals are considered to be part of the hated "Establishment."

Feature four for Eco is an entirely closed worldview that considers any disagreement to be "treason". That kind of worldview to which all must submit is not currently detectable in Trump.

In point five, he writes that Ur-Fascism "seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition." Here, it sounds as though Eco could have been writing directly about Trump, AfD or Marine Le Pen.

Point six states: "Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That was why one of the most typical features of historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups." It would be impossible to more aptly describe Trump's appeal to his voters.

Nationalism is the seventh point in Eco's list -- in other words, Trump in his purest form.

At the halfway point of Eco's symptoms of Ur-Fascism, it's clear that four of the criteria speak in favor of a fascism verdict, two are against it and one is undecided.

Perverting American Democracy

Point eight: "The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies." As a boy, Eco wrote, he was taught that the English ate five meals a day, "more frequently than the poor but sober Italians." He was also taught that Jews were disagreeably rich. Although Trump is said to be a billionaire, many of his supporters are driven by rage against an establishment they see as having enriched itself.

In identifying Ur-Fascism, point nine holds that "there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle." In other words, permanent warfare. That definitely has not been a part of Trump's message.

As for point 10, Eco says that Ur-Fascism reflects what he calls a "mass elitism." Those who are members of the movement, the party or the nation look down on everyone else. Surely some of Trump's white supporters disdain African Americans, but the feeling of indignity is still greater than the idea of superiority.

"The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die," Eco writes in point 11. Furthermore, everyone would be raised in this spirit. That doesn't apply.

Criterion number 12: The Ur-Fascist "transfers his will to power to sexual matters." That is true of Trump.

Point 13: "Whenever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism." That is at the core of right-wing populism. They like to claim that those in power in Washington, Berlin or Paris are out of touch with what "the people" want.
A Confederate time capsule about 121 years old has been found, but most of the content has been reduced to mud. This week, workers started digging up the Confederate Monument located at the University of Louisville campus in Kentucky.

The impressive Civil War monument was ordered to be moved by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. It will cost the city almost one million dollars to move the statue from the university to Brandenburg where it will be used in the citys Civil War re-enactments.

The 70-foot-tall memorial was erected in 1895 after a generous donation from the Kentucky Womens Confederate Monument Association. During the second day of dismantling the monument, workers found a box containing mud and water.

According to historians, the capsule was supposed to have several items related to the Civil War that have links to the Souths great men and her lost cause. Inside the box, officials had placed a cigar smoked by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a sketch of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

A scarf that was worn by Davis secretary, Confederate currency valued at several thousand of dollars, Confederate soldier badges, a Bible, and memoirs written during the Civil were also placed in the vintage brass box.

A photograph of Susan Hepburn, who collected funds to build the monument, was in the capsule. It appears that the box was not properly sealed and over the years, rainwater poured in and destroyed almost everything.

Experts are planning to dig through the muddy content to see if anything can be saved. Fischer tweeted:

We retrieved the time capsule from under the Confederate Monument today; unfortunately water infiltrated the brass box, destroyed contents.

Sarah Lindgren, the Public Art Administrator for the Metro Louisville Archives, who opened the capsule, explained:

Its hard to say at this point whether the box was sealed at all. It certainly isnt now and pieces are falling apart.

Lindgren said whatever is salvaged will be given to the Filson Historical Society where they will be part of an exhibition.
Michael Flynn added Sharia law to the long list of fake awful things that will take over America and destroy it.

Flynn, a retired United States Army lieutenant general, who has been tapped to be a National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, has been caught on numerous occasions perpetuating claims that have been debunked time and time again. He has also called Islam a cancer and said the Islamic ideology is sick.

The former chair of the Military Intelligence Board and Assistant Director of National Intelligence has knowledge, seen data, and received top-level briefings that only a few Americans have access to.

So, why is he insisting on the faux rumors that Muslim-Americans have found secrets ways to put Sharia law in a handful of states including Massachusetts, Florida, and Texas?

Additionally, Mr. Flynn has been going around saying that more than 12 Democratic state senators had voted to impose the laws on a local and state level and were blocked by Republicans.

Respected media outlets in all of these states and countless fact-checkers like PolitiFact and Snopes have made it clear that the claims are fake. The Houston Chronicle wrote that the rumors about Sharia courts are the hoax of the year.

In a fiery speech at the ACT! for America gathering in San Antonio, Texas, the senior intelligence officer for the Joint Special Operations Command said:

This Sharia law business, whats happening right here in the state of Texas is unbelievable. I try to study a little bit about where Im going to go to talk, whats happening here, you guys have some serious issues. You got some serious issues  I studied Florida a little bit, because I was down last Wednesday in Florida where a couple of these campaign events and what struck me was, Florida has 36 state senators. 12 of them are Democrats. 12 of those senators are Democrats and the other whatever it is 24, I guess, or 14, are Republicans. So, all 12 Democrats voted to have Sharia law as part of the state judicial system in the state of Florida. You got that going on in this state right here. You have that going on in this state right here. Its over 100 cases around the country.

The tough-talking general took things a step further in a speech to ACT! in Dallas, where he said that radical Islam is spreading in all 50 states. He said:

I want people to understand that there are different laws that are not our laws that others try to impose when theyre trying to protect somebody. Like its going on right now in the state of Texasin your state, in many other states around this country, at the state level, at the local level and the state level; because you cant do it at the federal level just yet because we dont have the Supreme Court in place that would provide the top cover.

He added:

When you, in the state of Texas, you, in the state of Texasyour legislators, your state representatives, your state senators, theres a bunch of them that would be willing to have Sharia law imposed in the state of Texas. Listening to the Irving mayor, I mean, she said something to me today that I had not heard anybody say, but it does not surprise me that the movement that does existokay, you hear about CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and all these different organizationsthe movement that does exist, they go out to cities and they look for the mayors to co-opt. So thank God they couldnt co-opt her. I mean, shes as tough as nails. Shes as tough as nails.

The Islamic tribunal, which Flynn and others such as former CIA employee Steve Tarani claimed has been backing Shariah morals and principles, is actually an organization that helps Muslims settle business and noncriminal disputes.

The tribunals website reads: does not attempt to impose any belief system upon any individual and work in compliance with the State of Texas and the United States Constitution.
Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), November 24, 2016 (SPS) - The African countries participating in the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, which works opened Wednesday in Equatorial Guineas Malabo reaffirmed their commitment to the African Unions Constitutive Act.

The Foreign Ministers of the African Union countries reaffirmed this commitment following Moroccos decision to condition its participation by its refusal to sit alongside the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which a founding member of the Pan-African Organization.

The Moroccan request has been "categorically" rejected by the African countries which insisted on the compliance with the AU Constitutive Act.

Eight countries, namely Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Yemen, and Somalia have announced their withdrawals from the summit because of the participation of the Polisario Front delegation.

The African Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their commitment and support to the Saharawi cause, recalling that SADR is a founding member of the AU.

The African Union, which insisted on the SADR participation in the summit works, has always supported the Sahrawis right to self-determination.

SADR became member of the African Union Organization in 1982. Morocco withdrew in 1984.SPS

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Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), November 24, 2016 (SPS) - Africa has reiterated, Wednesday in Malabo, its support to the Sahrawi cause, and expressed through a "strong and unambiguous" political message its commitment to preserving the unity of its ranks and its cohesion against any attempt to undermine them.

All the repeated manoeuvres and pressures exerted by Morocco on its allies to exclude the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, being held since yesterday Tuesday in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, failed owing to the determination and intransigence of African countries not to accept any agenda that goes against their principles.

African countries have unanimously underlined that the values and the principles that govern the African Union could not be in any way compromised.

In this regard, they strongly reaffirmed their commitment to the active solidarity with peoples struggling for their freedom, as well as for the achievement of the decolonization process in Africa.

As underlined by the AU Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma "we will continue to support Palestinian and Sahrawi peoples until they recover their national rights."

Out of all the member states of the Arab League, four Gulf countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in addition to Jordan, withdrew from the works of the Fourth Africa-Arab Summit. Arab League was present with the two thirds of its members.

Minister of Maghreb Affairs, African Union and Arab League Abdelkader Messahel has represented President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the Summit.SPS

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Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), November 24, 2016 (SPS) - Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the African Union countries have prevented Morocco from succeeding in its attempt to destabilize AU and creating division among its members, by conditioning its participation by its refusal to sit alongside the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which a founding member of the Pan-African Organization.

Morocco, supported by some Arab countries, conditioned its participation at the summit by the non-participation of the SADR, which was flatly rejected by the African countries which insisted on the inviolability of the African Protocol. This strong position forced the Moroccan delegation and that of some Arab countries, especially the Gulf, to decline their assistance.

African leaders wished to remind their Arab counterparts that both the Saharawi and Palestinian issues are a matter of decolonization, therefore both must be supported by all.

Morocco has recently announced its intention to join the African Union, of which the SADR is a founding member, fact that the Saharawi Foreign Minister, Mohamed Salem Uld Salek has referred to, saying that this should be in line with the principles of The AU Constitutive Act and with respect for the principle of the intangibility of the borders inherited of colonialism.

The Saharawi foreign minister also indicated that if Morocco wishes to be a member of the Union, it must recognize and abide by the resolutions of the African Union and the UN concerning Western Sahara and also define its true political map.SPS

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Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) - the Algerian Minister of Maghreb Affairs and African Union and the Arab League, Mr. Abdelkader Messahel has praised in his speech on the occasion of the fourth Afro-Arab summit in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, "the firm position of the African Group supporting the Sahrawi cause."

Abdelkader Messahel added that this attitude has failed the maneuvers of some non-African parties that tried to impose its point of view," calling on the Polisario Front and Morocco to "initiate a direct political dialogue to allow the Sahrawi people to self-determination in accordance with the regulations and resolutions of the United Nations."

The Algerian minister went on saying that Algeria is undertaking its responsibilities as a key player in the region in order to bring security, peace and avoid conflict through inclusive dialogue and a political solution and national reconciliation.SPS

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Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)- Minister of Maghreb Affairs, African Union and Arab League Abdelkader Messahel on Wednesday, in Malabo, said the "cohesion" that marked the fourth Africa-Arab Summit in the face of Morocco's attempts to expel the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) from the Summit meeting "shows that the African continent remains unified against any attempt to undermine the stability of Africa and the Africa Union."

Morocco has conditioned its participation in the said summet by its refusal to sit alongside the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which a founding member of the Pan-African Organization.

The Moroccan request has been "categorically" rejected by the African countries which insisted on the compliance with the AU Constitutive Act.

The African Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their commitment and support to the Saharawi cause, recalling that SADR is a founding member of the AU.

The African Union, which insisted on the SADR participation in the summit works, has always supported the Sahrawis right to self-determination.

It worth mentioning here that, SADR became member of the African Union Organization in 1982. Morocco withdrew in 1984.SPS

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There are some on this Thanksgiving Day who will feel that everything for which they might be thankful is overshadowed by the loss of some young life, either in the process of training or in the actual fighting, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her Thought for the Day column on Nov. 25,1943. But even to those who are sad, there is reason for thankfulness in the thought that the cause for which their loved ones died is triumphing.

Halfway around the world in Egypt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was celebrating Thanksgiving with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had brought two large turkeys from London for the occasion. Roosevelt and Churchill had stopped in Cairo to meet with Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek before traveling on to Teheran to meet with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

On the third day of the Cairo conference, a Thanksgiving celebration provided the perfect excuse to substitute platitudes for policy. Both Churchill and Roosevelt spent the morning on business before they united with Chiang for a group photo. By then, British civilian and military officials had become increasingly frustrated by Roosevelts obsession with China  to the obvious neglect of decisions that needed to be made for other theaters of war. At lunch with Anthony Eden, Churchill confided that Roosevelt was a charming country gentleman who was not given to business-like procedures.

The Chiangs declined to attend Thanksgiving dinner on account of Madame Chiangs illness but agreed to meet for tea in late afternoon. FDRs guests gathered at his Cairo residence at 8 p.m. Guests included top officials and family members from both the United States and the United Kingdom delegations. At dinner, Roosevelt declared: This year, with the United Kingdom in our family, we are a large family, and more united than ever.

Churchill recalled: The presidents guests included his personal circle, his son, Elliott, his son-in-law, Major Boettiger, and Harry Hopkins and his son Robert. We had a pleasant and peaceful feast. Two enormous turkeys were brought in with all ceremony. The president, propped up high in his chair, carved for all with masterly, indefatigable skills. As we were about 20, this took a long time, and those who were helped first had finished before the president had cut anything for himself. As I watched the huge platefuls he distributed to the company I feared he might be left with nothing at all. But he had calculated to a nicety, and I was relieved, when at last the two skeletons were removed, to see him set about his own share.

Speeches were made of warm and intimate friendship, remembered Churchill. For a couple of hours we cast care aside. I had never seen the president more gay. After the meal was over we returned to the big room in which we had held so many conferences. Dance music  from gramophone records  began to play. Sarah (Churchill) was the only woman present, and she had her work cut out, so I danced with (American General Pa) Watson ... to the delight of his chief, who watched us from the sofa. With music provided by the Marine Band, Roosevelt sang the Marine Hymn. This jolly evening and the spectacle of the President carving up the turkeys stand out in my mind among the most agreeable features of the halt at Cairo. The celebration continued until about 10:30 p.m. when Roosevelt resumed his discussions about military aid to China with U.S. General Joseph Stillwell.

Five days later, on the last day of the Teheran summit, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill gathered at the British Embassy for another celebration  the prime ministers 69th birthday. Salmon and turkey were served, but the highlight of the meal was Persian Lantern Ice, an elaborate dessert confection which slid off its base and showered Stalins translator in liquid ice cream. A top Churchill aide noted that the dessert descended like an avalanche on his unfortunate head. In a moment ice cream was oozing out of his hair, his ears, his shirt and even his shoes.

A true professional, the Russian translator was unmoved, and he continued translating Stalins speech.

Lewis E. Lehrman, co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, is author of Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point (Stackpole, 2008) and Lincoln by littles.  (TLI, 2013).
C ompanies most loyal employees are likely to miss out on bumper paydays when their owner sells up after the Chancellor scrapped a fledgling share incentive scheme.

He said yesterday that Employee Shareholder Status, introduced by his predecessor George Osborne in September 2013 to encourage employees to stay with a business and incentivise them, will be abolished.

An employee could be given shares worth up to 2000  the value ascribed to the statutory employment rights, including unfair dismissal rights, they had to give up.

Income tax was paid on any value over 2000. When the individual sold the shares, any gain on shares originally costing less than 50,000 was tax-free, up to a limit of 100,000.

However, the Government claimed the scheme was being abused by companies. The status is primarily being used for tax planning instead of supporting a more flexible workforce, it said.

Cormac Marum of accountant Harwood Hutton said: Companies will no longer be able to reward loyal employees.

The risk is that business owners will give smaller payouts to their faithful right-hand man or woman  unless they address this issue long before any company sale is imminent.
T he Chancellors plans to inject 400 million into Londons tech start-up scene have come under fire from leading industry figures for failing to tackle the digital sectors skills shortage.

While attracting funding has been a concern for tech firms since the Brexit vote, a top priority is retaining access to skilled IT workers, many of whom come from abroad due to a lack of home-grown tech talent.

Russ Shaw, founder of industry group Tech London Advocates, said Philip Hammonds plans to put more cash into venture-capital funds miss half of the picture.

He added: They will not be a silver bullet, and crucially do not address the tech sectors number one issue  access to talent. The Prime Minister must take positive steps to safeguard our tech talent pipeline and allow companies to access workers with the right skills.

This requires a more functional immigration policy to attract world-class talent, and an investment in digital skills to train up our existing home-grown talent. Financial incentives can only be successful if we have skilled workers that can use them to innovate and create value.

Taavet Hinrikus, chief executive and co-founder of London start-up TransferWise, said the problem is access to talent rather than funding.

We need to attract the best in the world if were to build world-class businesses here in the UK. We need clarity on the Governments approach to immigration and reassurance that the best people will not just be able to come here but will be welcome too, he said.

Venture capital investor Eileen Burbidge admitted there is a skills gap, but said there are schemes to alleviate the problem.

Additional programmes such and introducing coding into the school curriculum are working in parallel to address the skills gap domestically and will take time to bear fruit, she said.
L ike Christmas in most British households these days, Philip Hammonds first Autumn statement fundamentally meant little, but spread harmless cheer.

From his three new ho-ho-ho fiscal rules  funny for being so meaningless  to his muted policies for housing and infrastructure, he made jolly noises, but did nothing to change the course of the nation.

George Osbornes jazz hands act, full of policy surprises, was nowhere to be seen.

Filling the Green Book, where the details are laid out, must have been a stretch, even though it was a third the size of last years.

But Hammonds work was every bit as political as his predecessors. He couldnt make any really major tax or spending decisions that might divide the Tory party amid the unpredictability of Brexit and  still a possibility  a General Election next year.

As a result, we still have no clear idea what Hammonds vision of the country really is.

Given her tendency to keep every part of government decision-making locked down and secret at No 10, perhaps thats how the Prime Minister likes it.

On surer ground

Uncertainty being the killer of investment, company bosses seem pleased at the lack of Autumn Statement surprises, estate agents and insurers excepted.

Osbornes rabbit-producing wheezes irritated the companies expected to implement and pay for them.

Especially when they then had to untangle it all on the frequent U-turns. Hammond, a businessman himself, gets that.

However, a lack of clear communication from the government has been annoying companies for months.

Nobody in Whitehall, they complained, seemed to know if Cameron-Osborne era policies still stood or not.

So, for the first time in years, the re-announcements and confirmations of previous Budget policies, usually annoying PR padding, were seized upon with gratitude. Small mercies.

One new policy we did get was 400 million for tech start-ups. The idea is the cash will stop us losing more great firms such as SwiftKey to big foreign investors.

Yet, a little earlier in his speech, Hammond boasted of our success attracting foreign investment, citing the Japanese takeover of ARM.

Today, Skyscanner has sold out to the Chinese. So, tell us, Phil, do you approve or not?

Such inconsistency aside, its skilled people from around the world that fast-growing tech firms really struggle to find. They need free movement of people. Four months from Article 50, on that score, answer came there none.
A collapse in London house sales since the Brexit vote sent the UKs biggest estate agent spinning to a shock profit warning on Thursday.

Countrywides shares slumped 10%, or 19p, to 174.9p as the firms woes were compounded by the planned ban on letting agent fees to tenants proposed in the Autumn Statement.

The ban could knock 5 million off annual profits.

The stark impact of the referendum, as well as previous hikes in stamp duty, were underlined by a 29% slump in London house exchanges in the three months to September.

Chief financial officer Jim Clarke said: After the referendum, we thought the market might be down 5% or 10% across the country and maybe a bit more in London, but since then the reaction has been more severe than that... In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, nobody was talking about that kind of movement.

Countrywides profits will be around the lower end of expectations in the tough market conditions.

Transactions this year are likely to be 6% down on 2015 and 2017 even lower, according to Countrywides forecasts.

Clarke added: Nobody really knows what the next 12-18 months really looks like, but as people get more visibility on that it increases their confidence.

While the tenant fee ban could squeeze out unscrupulous operators and help the industry raise its game, Countrywide has more than 22,000 properties under management in London. The profit hit to the firm could be around 5 million a year, although the finance chief said there was likely to be a sharing of the pain between agents, landlords and tenants.

The chief executive of housebuilder Berkeley, Rob Perrins, also attacked Chancellor Philip Hammond for leaving untouched a 3% stamp-duty surcharge on second homes and buy-to-lets, which came into force in April.

He told the Standard: Everyone knows the recent changes are not working. It destroys the feelgood factor and means that fewer homes get built."

Perrins added: Government has to create the | conditions for growth and give us certainty to invest. Stamp duty does the opposite.

Rory ONeill, head of residential at estate agent Carter Jonas told the Standard: The Autumn Statement is a missed opportunity for Philip Hammond to alleviate the stamp duty stranglehold stifling Londons property market.
S kyscanner, one of Britains most innovative and fastest-growing tech firms, has been sold to the Chinese in a 1.4 billion deal.

The travel search business has 60 million users a month and is one of the UKs few so-called unicorns  tech firms worth more than $1 billion (800 million).

Its sale to Chinese rival Ctrip comes just days after Theresa May promised at the CBI conference a more active industrial policy that would limit the sale of British companies to foreigners.

Skyscanner, which has its headquarters in Edinburgh, was set up to allow users to compare prices from different travel sites when searching for flights, hotels, and rental cars.

Dan Ridsdale at Edison Investment Research said: Skyscanners sale to Chinas Ctrip is following what is fast becoming a familiar path for Britains fast-growing technology innovators. The sale comes just a day after the UK Government pledged [in the Autumn Statement] more capital investment fiscal support for UK tech so more fledgling firms can build for longer-term growth.

Skyscanner said it would still run independently, with the same management team. Ctrip was founded in 1999 and is one of Chinas best-known travel firms.

Skyscanner backers include investment firm Sequoia as well as the Malaysian governments strategic investment fund. Its biggest investor, Scottish Equity Partners, welcomed the sale.
A fter a 45-minute speech in which all he said was either already known or distinctly embarrassing you can understand why Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond would not want to do a second Autumn Statement.

His raft of measures to boost innovation, infrastructure spending and productivity had all been leaked by the Prime Minister herself on Monday in her speech to the CBI.

His news on the economy  the plunge in growth forecasts, the ballooning of the deficit, the kicking of our return to fiscal rectitude into the impossibly long grass  served only to show anyone who still harboured doubts that the uncertainty generated by Brexit coming on top of the legacy of the Osborne years means there is no money left.

Before the event we were told that there would be a focus on those who were just about managing  a cohort who are now referred to by the dreadful acronym of Jams. Unfortunately, major benefit cuts put in place by Osborne which have not yet kicked in mean this segment will in fact be worse off in 12 months time than they are today in spite of a small increase in the minimum wage and a few other tweaks. The hints were that they would get jam today; the reality is that there will be no jam tomorrow either.

Hence Hammonds embarrassment and his judgment that showpiece Commons occasions are fine when the economy is booming and the Chancellor has the money for headline-grabbing gimmicks but they risk being seen as hollow and threadbare when real action is needed to meet serious challenges.

But you always learn something from these occasions even if it is not what you want to hear. For example, we now have a handle on what the Government thinks Brexit will cost us in the near term. The Office for Budget Responsibilitys growth forecasts have been revised down because of all the uncertainty and, according to the Chancellor, the UK economy will be 122 billion worse off by 2020 than previously thought.

That permanent loss of wealth seems rather more than the saving of the 7 billion or so we pay annually in net contributions to Brussels but the Chancellor declined to suggest that we would be better off staying in.

Instead he laid out plans to try to make the economy more resilient so it can better withstand the shock. He is deploying a small amount of money  albeit all he can afford  and hoping to use the tax system to encourage innovation and investment in infrastructure. After years of pouring scorn on the Labour Partys attempts to devise an industrial strategy, and spinning furiously against former Business Secretary Vince Cable in the coalition years  when he wanted one too  the Conservatives have changed their tune.

They have a strategy. It involves supporting research, development, innovation and infrastructure while crossing their fingers that this will in turn stimulate a surge in productivity  and do so quickly.

This is the equivalent of Willie Wonkas golden ticket, because if we can produce more per hour, then we can earn higher wages, pay more in taxes, manage a larger burden of Government debt, increase funding of the National Health Service and still come out ahead. And it is probably the case that if you believe the stories of Roald Dahl you might also believe that the limited measures announced yesterday will do the trick.

There is unfortunately a snag, on top of the fact that governments have been trying to boost productivity for years with almost nothing to show for their efforts. There is an increasing amount or academic research which shows that if you have a low-wage economy in which people are struggling to make ends meet, in workplaces where they feel permanently insecure and under pressure, then they do not give of their best because they are simply too stressed.

However, the economic philosophy of all British governments since Margaret Thatchers has been based on what are termed flexible labour markets, which is the polite term for places where workers have limited protection. Their key feature is that workers have few mechanisms to demand higher pay and can be hired and fired easily. As a side-effect employment is increased because employers find it more efficient to pile on cheap labour when they need to up production rather than invest in better plant and equipment.

In Germany and France, where employers cant hire and fire so easily, firms have to invest their way to growth. As a result the productivity in these countries and the prosperity of their populations is considerably higher.

So this is the paradox. The Government is wedded to flexible labour markets which make productivity gains well-nigh impossible. It is also now wedded to policies which it hopes will lead to increased productivity. It is hard to see how it can have both. Perhaps the difficulty of devising an economic policy based on having your cake and eating it is another reason why Philip Hammond does not want another day like yesterday.

There is a further tension. If by some miracle productivity does improve and firms do get more efficient it would probably cause a short-term rise in unemployment. Economic theorists dont bother about this because they say that those still in work will have more to spend and their spending will create jobs for those who are displaced, so the disruption will be only temporary. But the problem is that the new jobs almost inevitably tend to be low-paid and of the sort which many Brits seem to want to leave to immigrants.

Now if Theresa May has her way we will only allow in highly skilled immigrants. Does that mean there will be no one to take these jobs or that Brits will no longer be able to turn up their noses when they are offered them?

Is that what the Prime Minister means when she talks of an economy working for everyone?
 Why cant we be more like London? Thats what a teary-eyed senior Democrat asked me at Hillary Clintons campaign finale event at the Javits Center in New York on election night. I was as heartbroken as him  wed both spent months campaigning non-stop.

As a lifelong Yankophile, Ive now almost given up on my American Dream. Who needs the American Dream when you have the London Legend? For everything that has gone wrong in the US regarding Muslims (and everyone else), there is a lot that London has got right.Remember that despite a Donald Trump-style campaign against him, Sadiq Khan won Londons mayoral race without the sky falling.

Muslims in the US have good reason to worry: Trump had promised to ban their co-religionists from entering the country (later repositioning the ban as high security vetting for those from particular countries). He alluded to a Muslim problem and proclaimed that Islam hates us.

Campaign rhetoric has quickly translated into an approach to government: General Mike Flynn has been put forward as national security advisor. Flynn has described Islamism as a vicious cancer present in all Muslims, and described fear of the religion as rational.

Many of my American Muslim friends are thinking of moving. I dont think they should. Instead, they should act like Londoners. They should stay in the US and draw inspiration from Londonism.

Londonism is what allowed us to turn the dilapidated Docklands into Canary Wharf. Its what let us turn the Millennium Dome into the O2. Londonism is women wearing hijabs, bikinis and everything in between, while asserting their right to wear what they want.

But most importantly, its what lets us cut through diplomatic rhetoric, political correctness and journalistic hyperbole when we face down terrorism by shouting you aint no Muslim bruv. Im now advising my American friends to say to white supremacists who are now in the ascendancy: You aint no American, buddy.

Londonism is what makes our city the best in the world. Zurichs trains might be more punctual, Singapores airport might be slicker, and Berlins flats might be cheaper. But we have a secret weapon: our ideology. One that allows us both to nurture business while holding the worst bankers to account, to welcome immigrants wholeheartedly while retaining our Britishness.

The US electoral map makes it look like whole states are red and others blue. However, at the county level, urban areas are blue and rural ones red. City slickers want more of the same, while country bumpkins want change at any cost. Sound familiar? Trump was right about one thing: the US election really was Brexit times 10.

Ive been to New York dozens of times. Ive been to York once. We cosmopolitans are living in a parallel universe of post-race, post-class, post-everything bliss, and reality has burst our bubble. Ironically, it is Londonisms cocktail of policies (Centre-Right on the economy, Left-wing on immigration) that may be the tonic for our ideologically divided world.

We need to ensure the countryside has as many opportunities as the city. We have to export Londonism  to the Rust Belt and the counties. Americans love all things British: Adele, Simon Cowell and Prince Harry. Cant we sell them some Londonism? At least the exchange rate works in their favour.

Muddassar Ahmed is patron of the Faiths Forum for London
A n isolated incident. Thats how the police often describe it. Another woman is dead  killed by a boyfriend, a husband or an ex  but dont panic! Its a one-off. A domestic. This mans misogynistic murdering only stretches to spouses.

The phrase is intended to reassure but theres a lie at its heart: that theres no pattern in femicide. Two women a week die at the hands of men  shot, stabbed, beaten, burnt  and yet each of these murders is talked about as an island. No bridges, no borders with other cases.

Motives are complex but misogyny and extreme male entitlement play a part. These are also often stories of state failure. If a building were liable to ignite youd expect fire escapes, alarms and extinguishers to be installed, not barbed wire around the walls. And yet vulnerable women  whose lives with brutish partners can be perpetual fire-fighting  face barriers when they try to flee.

Earlier this week, Sisters Uncut blocked bridges to protest against cuts to services for ethnic-minority violence survivors. Funding is so squeezed that around a third of all refuge referrals are turned away. How can you escape, when theres no room at the refuge?

And when victims seek help from public services, opportunities are missed and mistakes made. In 2013, Kerry Power was strangled by her ex-boyfriend. Despite telling the police he was stalking her, Power was not seen as high risk. Yesterday it emerged that she had dialled 999  trying to make a silent solution emergency call  after he broke in to her house. But the officer who advised Power hadnt explained that she needed to give a signal (such as a tap) to distinguish it from a hoax, and her call wasnt put through.

Power wasnt just unlucky. Theres growing evidence that failures which let domestic violence morph into domestic homicide are systemic. The Government is set to publish a review of case investigations but London charity Standing Together has put together analysis that sets out where the systems flaws lie.

Its research shows that it takes a village  or at least a well-functioning and well-funded state  to help prevent domestic violence deaths. GPs are alone in routinely engaging with both victims and perpetrators: they need to be able to spot warning signs. Police and social workers should give greater weight to the testimonies of friends and families; victims usually confide in them first. And everybody needs to move beyond the stereotype of the black-eye of domestic violence; abuse is complex and coercive control can escalate into murder too.

Tomorrow is the UNs international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls. Here in the UK theres a grim acceptance that domestic violence homicides are inevitable, the darkest scene in the dance between the sexes. For those two women a week, we must challenge that.

Seventeen and never been quite so close to the edge

Hailee Steinfeld in The Edge of Seventeen / Moviestore collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

I suspect Hailee Steinfeld belongs to that rare species, the mountain pygmy possum of humanity: people who actually enjoyed adolescence. Theres Steinfeld, Lily-Rose Depp and... no, thats it. Just those two winners of the genetic dice roll.

Still, in The Edge of Seventeen, Steinfeld makes a perfect mardy, awkward, shoulders-slouched-and-fingers-poking-out-of-her-sleeves teen, Nadine. The film  released next week  brought me back to my own adolescence (and not just because Andie McPhee from Dawsons Creek pops up). One of its windows into the teenage girls soul that sets the film apart from other coming-of-age dramas is its portrayal of misfiring, nascent female sexuality.

Nadine writes a message to her crush that climaxes in we can do it in the Petland stockroom. She rightly realises it makes her sound like a psychopath, only to be hit by the bane of the iPhone age: the adjacency of the delete and send buttons. Nadine was only playing (ineptly) at being hypersexual  she thinks its her best way to get the guy. Its a costume teenage girls try on. A joy of adulthood is that you can shed it.

Coxs legacy should be to remind us that not all politicians are the same

Yesterday, after Jo Coxs murderer was sentenced, her husband spoke outside the Old Bailey. An act driven by hatred instead has created an outpouring of love, he said, adding that he had taken solace in the good that his wife helped effect.

My hope is that part of Coxs legacy will be prising open the minds of those who uniformly dismiss politicians, who proclaim theyre all the same, out for themselves. Cox wasnt the same. She was out for the poor and the dispossessed.

A new Channel 5 series, MPs: Behind Closed Doors, should help too. Starting on Monday, it lets viewers into the surgeries of three MPs: Naz Shah, Nick Clegg and Jacob Rees-Mogg (Cox was en route to her own when she was killed). Two of the MPs emerge with reputations enhanced, the man who took his nanny canvassing slightly less so (a constituent calls Rees-Mogg obstinate after he patronises her about Brexit).

The series shows that MPs are sometimes glorified, gilded social workers or housing officers but that they can also be a vital part of the state safety net and a battering ram for constituents who have had every door slammed in their faces.

Universal contempt for politicians is like a virus: it takes over cells and spreads. We need a cure.

Wards cant be passport control

Two hundred million pounds a year. Thats the estimated cost of deliberate health tourists using the NHS. Sounds like a huge sum, doesnt it? Enough for the Government to sell us an idea that regularly flies out of its bad policy generator: forcing patients to show their passports to receive non-essential treatment.

But big numbers have a habit of obfuscating, of jellifying our minds. 200 million is less than the NHS spends on stationery. Its about 1.6 per cent of the extra borrowing the Government is now expected to do just this year thanks to the EU referendum. And theres another important number here too: 9.5 million Brits dont have a passport.
A s the Design Museums new home opens today on Kensington High Street, five of Britains top creatives pick their favourite exhibits.

Flying Pigeon bicycle

This was my immediate favourite. Apparently more than 500 million have been made in Tianjin since 1950, more than any other vehicle. The strange thing about them is that they were everywhere in China but are now very rarely seen on the streets of Beijing.

I can remember clearly my first visit in 1995: staying on the 2nd Boundary Road there, asking the hotel for a bike and going out in the early morning with the shoals of bicycles, both Flying Pigeons and other bikes . There was a wonderful sense of being part of this flock or herd of moving, silent vehicles making its way into the mania of the centre.

The design is completely classic. The one in the Design Museum has a double crossbar but there is an almost archetypal feel about this shiny black and chrome, elegantly sectioned bicycle, with its sprung seat, practical stand and simple lever brakes.

The last time I rode one with my wife we were stopped by the police who told us it was illegal to bicycle in Tiananmen Square. Now the bicycle is becoming rarer, even in Shanghai where you used to see women in patterned dresses, bonnets and detachable sleeves sitting bolt upright and gliding along Nanjing Lu  a signal site of China along with early-morning ballroom dancing and Tai Chi.

Anyway, it is a lovely object that has brought mobility to millions, justifiably seen as a piece of technology for and by the people.

Sir Antony Gormley, Sculptor

First look at Design Museum

Kinneir and Calverts road signage system

The road signage system designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert in the late Fifties became so ubiquitous that most people never think about it having been designed by anyone because it is simply just right. Kinneir & Calvert found a way to extract maximum clarity from a minimum of means. Even if it is not always recognised, it is everyday design that really makes an impact on people.

I remember the road signage from when I was a child but it was only when I studied architecture and design that I understood its significance. The design rules the duo set up more than 50 years ago have lasted and they continue to influence graphics today.

Amanda Levete, Architect

Citymapper

In just a few years this smartphone app has become indispensable because of the way it pools data from all the various transport networks to offer a single wayfinding solution. Its well designed and easy to use: if you want to get home all you have to do is press Get Me Home.

Weve included it in the Design Museums collection as a piece of design that makes living in a big city such as London a little bit easier. Arguably the most impactful designs today are not objects but digital tools that streamline everyday experiences.

Justin McGuirk, Chief curator, Design Museum

Harry Beck's London Underground map

In recent years Ive found myself using the Underground more and more. Its such an efficient way of getting around, with wonderful faces to look at as you travel.

Every time you enter a station or wait on a platform you see Harry Becks Underground Tube map: an instantly recognisable piece of design that is also a perfect expression of beauty and utility. Earlier this month, at Piccadilly station, I was reminded how fortunate Londoners are to have inherited a transport system shaped by visionaries, when I attended Langlands & Bells tribute to Frank Pick, managing director of London Underground in the 1920s and vice-chairman of London Transport from 1933-40. It was because of Pick that Becks map, Edward Johnstons typeface and the iconic Roundel found their enduring place in the visual landscape of London.

John Pawson, Architect and designer

Thonet Chair No.14

Designed in the 1850s, Michael Thonets classic bentwood chair is one of the worlds most successful commercial products and its design has remained virtually unchanged for 150 years. Ive always loved the elegance of steambent furniture, and this chair started a modern movement a long time ago. The chairs became a staple in cafes around the world and I couldnt even begin to imagine how many backsides have sat in them in my own restaurants down the years.

All the components could be created in one location and assembled elsewhere. They are extremely durable, because if you knock them over they bounce rather than break, as theyre so flexible, yet theyre terrifically elegant and very economical to make. The Thonet bentwood cafe chair epitomises all the principles of design, manufacture and distribution that I believe in and is also incredibly elegant and beautiful. It has been in constant production for more than 150 years so it is probably the most successful chair ever made.

Sir Terence Conran, Designer, restaurateur and Design Museum founder

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T ony Conigliaro, the mixologist behind Islingtons 69 Colebrooke Row and Sohos Bar Termini, will open a new bar in Dalston next month  his largest yet, and first in east London.

Often described as the Heston Blumenthal of drinks, Conigliaro is known for his scientific molecular mixology approach to drinks. His famous creations include the Prairie Oyster, which involves using the process of spherification to create an egg yolk out of clarified tomato juice, and a bottle-aged negroni.

He designs all his cocktails in a fully-functional laboratory near Bethnal Green.

The new bar, named Untitled, will serve a changing selection of twelve original cocktails, each named after and designed to evoke a single thing, such as Snow, through its sight, smell and taste. This will extend to what each drink is served in, with a local 3D Printing company having been commissioned to create bespoke vessels.

Dalston drinking: Tony Conigliaro on Kingsland Road / Benny Robinson @ Machine17

The bars design pays homage to Andy Warhols famous Silver Factory in New York, which was decorated with tin foil and acted as a haven for artists, radicals and creatives in the 1960s.

Conigliaro said: I loved Warhols vision and wanted to create a modern space where creative people could meet and interact. We have a great number of creative friends and collaborators in east London, so it seemed like the obvious choice for a project such as this.

Violin: One of the evocative cocktails on the list / Benny Robinson @ Machine17

Untitled will be open seven days a week, from 11am until late, and will serve coffee from Dark Arts during the day.

There will also be a selection food, still being decided on, with Conigliaro adding: Ive always been a great advocator of cocktails paired with food, and that it should be given as much emphasis on a menu as the wine list.

The best bars in London 1 /64 The best bars in London Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London 252 High Holborn, WC1V 7EN, rosewoodhotels.com/london

The Rosewood is doubly wonderful for drinkers, as theyve two fine spots. In the modern Dining Room, sit at the gin bar, which outstocks anywhere else in London, with more than 400 gins and 27 tonics. Trying to choose is impossible, but what a lovely impossibility to have. The bar staff clearly had one hell of a tasting session as they know the list perfectly. Across the way is Scarfes Bar, a brilliant, brilliant bar gladly shaken free from all the stuffiness usually found in hotel bars. The drinks are stunning, theyve often live music, it gets wonderfully busy and crackles with laughter. Go a little later and its busier, people drink more, everything is better. Bar Americain 20 Sherwood St, W1F 7ED, brasseriezedel.com

As the name suggests, this is a classic American bar, and done near perfectly. One can become very fond of Bar Americain and very quickly: passing through Piccadilly Circus, it acts as a magnet  a quick negroni becomes a temptation impossible to resist. Its a very beautiful place, calling to mind grand Parisian hotels of the 20s and 30s, bottles winking from the bar, staff floating through with their finery and litres of charm. Youre here to drink the classics: theyve a killer Clover Club and a straight-down-the-line Manhattan. But ask: the bartenders know their stuff and bring their A-game to any challenge  tell them what you like, and theyll bring you something new. They often have specials on, as well. Top marks for the attentive staff, bringing plenty of water and bowl after bowl of popcorn  both essential after a few here. Oriole Smithfield Markets, E Poultry Ave, EC1A 9LH, oriolebar.com

The team behind Nightjar took their winning formula, gave it a bit of a shake up and created Oriole. Theyve live music throughout the week  from Wednesday to Saturday, theres a charge per person, so watch out for that  which gives any night here a bit of zip. This is a strictly seated spot, so be sure to book: once inside, its a whirlwind tour of the world, with fine details from across the globe, both in the styling and the drinks and so much cheaper than booking a holiday. Drinks are excellent, whether youre into New Orleans style classics or something from the depths of Asia: explore the menu (split into Old World, New World and The Orient) and expect something unusual and faintly brilliant, with a touch of the Tiki. Put it this way: Oriole is ideal whether you prefer drinking from a crystal tumbler, a teacup or, er, a silver crocodile. Piano Works 113-117 Farringdon Road, Farringdon EC1R 3BX, pianoworks.bar

Full credit to this fun Farringdon spot: theyve worked hard to make the place better and better since opening, which is pretty good going for what was already a decent spot to begin with. The Piano Works sounds like a quiet jazz bar but instead is a hell-raising house of sound, splendidly raucous, where a house band take requests and belt out your favourite songs. The more you get involved, the more fun it is, and the place heats up the later it gets. Wine starts at 16, house cocktails are 8, but they've tons of terrific deals during the week  including cocktails for a fiver (!!) Drink lots, dance lots and leave in the early hours with someone you shouldnt do. Thats what we did. Hawksmoor, Spitalfields 157A Commercial St, E1 6BJ, thehawksmoor.com

Its hardly surprising the bar snacks are a highlight here  have the oxcheek nuggets with a side of chips, then call the waiter over to order them over again  given how good the steak upstairs is. The drinks and setting, though, match them pound for pound. The old tube tiles on the walls, the beautiful parquet floor, the copper tops and silvery black ceiling make the large space a place to settle in for the night no matter your seat, while the cocktails come with oodles of thought in each one: the new menu has homemade bitters, shrubs and syrups, and its bloody obvious everyone behind the bar is more than a little nerdy about building drinks. Shaky Petes Ginger Brew is the classic, so have it, but follow up with the Shadow Boxer, a mix of scotch, sherry and Fernet-Branca. Odd, oddly delicious. Its also a cracking place to sit for a bottle of wine. Andrew Edmunds 46 Lexington St, W1F 0LP, andrewedmunds.com

Perhaps better than its ever been, Andrew Edmunds recently won The Good Drinking prize in our Restaurant Awards, and for good reason. Its a small spot, cramped to the point that coming here on a first date feels like youre being very forward indeed , with the best tables upstairs and not much to look at  just settle for being distracted by someone beautiful. The food, French-ish/English-ish, is fine, but its the wine that's extraordinary. And youre here for wine: forget cocktails, they have. What a list, and so quietly marked up that youre getting a steal with almost every bottle  indeed, the more expensive the better the deal. Having been going 30 years, those who knew old Soho say its one of the last bastion of such things. Drink too much gorgeous wine and come back often. The Connaught Bar Connaught, Carlos Place, W1K 2AL, the-connaught.co.uk

A bar for the impossibly beautiful, a bar of high heels and glimmering lights, of perfume and leather. Aside from oddly thumping music, the Connaught is wonderfully detached from the world  a place of its own, cosy and winter warm when it needs to be, light and summer when desired. The drinks, naturally pricey, are well put together and while classic in tone, come with crackles of theatre: washes in perfume bottles, branches as garnishes, smoke, the lot. Still, the martini trolley is what theyre famed for, so its only right to indulge. Afterward, head to the Champagne Room: sadly the law stops it being the cigar haven it once was, but it's still gorgeous: romantic and charming with its fireplace, dramatic with its glass ceiling and sculpture swan diving. Treat yourself to the Ruinart blanc de blanc. Damned good olives, too. Milk & Honey 61 Poland St, W1F 7NU, mlkhny.com

You know a bar is good when local bartenders love it, and Milk & Honey has long been a Soho favourite for those in the know. Hidden in plain sight this terrific bar has been doing its thing for just shy of 15 years. The talent hasnt diminished, and neither has the care put into the drinks. Cocktails are strong and proper and happily, they're updating the list soon to freshen things up. At around 10 a drink, M&H is also a bargain for central London, and the quality outstrips the price. It functions as a members bar, but non-members can book up until 11pm  though going earlier in the week means youre more likely to score a table. Milk & Honey is civilised, without the crushing formality. Next door is the Blind Pig, another top 'hidden' spot. Mark's Bar HIX Soho, 66- 70 Brewer St, W1F 9UP, hixrestaurants.co.uk

The bad: you might not get in. If its busy, they dont squeeze people into this basement, so either be there early, or bamboozle them with charm, or dazzle them with your brilliant wit. Were kidding: just take someone hot. The good: pretty much everything else. Naturally, the bar snacks are distractingly tasty, but the drinks list is excellent, and unusual too, with a few historical recipes brought back to life. Attention to detail is everything here, so if youre not sharing one of the big old Chesterfields, head to the bar and sit and watch  theres something about it thats like seeing a cardmaster turn tricks. And have a Hix Fix, just to say you have. The Beaufort bar and the American Bar at The Savoy The Savoy, Strand, WC2R 0EU, fairmont.com

Glitz, glamour and lots of gold: both Savoy bars are wonderfully opulent. The world-famous American bar, recently revamped, is still up there as one of the best bars on our humble planet. The bartenders bible, Harry Craddocks The Savoy Cocktail Book, was written here, and the cocktails served today remain as finely tuned as they ever were. Whereas as other bars try to recreate the glamour of such places, The Savoy neednt pretend: everything is genuine. The palatial Beaufort is absurdly romantic, and drinks are extravagantly presented: it works for the most special of special occasions, and theres something undeniably grand about sipping away in the same place Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway all did. If youre planning a few drinks, either be rich or take someone rich  seriously. Artesian 1C Portland Pl, W1B 1JA, artesian-bar.co.uk

Artesian won its accolades for its team, Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale, who ran the place for eight years and earned its reputation as the best bar in the world. Theyve sadly departed, but have left the place in capable hands, and the feel is much the same as it ever was, which is chic, glamorous, and not taking itself too seriously. While the beautiful and the rich rub shoulders, the bartenders are mixing up excellent but often slightly silly drinks  but its their mischievousness that makes them so winning. Seriously impressive. Les Compagnie Des Vins Surnaturels 8-10 Neal's Yard, WC2H 9DP, cvssevendials.com

Call it CVS and your night becomes considerably easier to pronounce. Sat in Neils Yard, it is one of Londons finest wine bars. Thoroughly French, of course: New World wines barely get a sideways glance, while even Italys finest is only begrudgingly given a little space on the considerable menu. This doesn't mean there is a lack of choice  to the contrary, it is almost overwhelming, though they have a short by-the-glass list, and the charming staff are both well informed and passionate about what to have. In the summer, sit outdoors, in the winter, cosy up by the bar. Wherever you are, try the mystery wine; if you guess it, youll win a bottle. Have food  small plates made to share, and terrifically good  and drink plenty, so the bill doesnt hit as hard. The Shrub & Shutter 336 Coldharbour Ln, SW9 8QH, theshrubandshutter.com

This Brixton bar felt new in the area, taking a little of east London and bringing it down south. Theyve a pleasingly patchwork approach to decor: there are jars and bottles and shakers everywhere, which gives the place a kitchen feel. The cocktails, lovely to drink on their own, are made better with the food, which is designed to match what youre drinking. The pairings initially sound a little gimmicky  crayfish with vodka, venison on the side of The Deerhunter (an old fashioned, basically)  but they work, so drop that sceptical streak for a moment. It gets busy, so book up, get in early, and stay late. Theyve a license until 3am, so itd be rude not to. Sky Pod at the Sky Garden 1 Sky Garden Walk, EC3M 8AF, skygarden.london

The truth of it is, you come for the view, but good God it's a great view, and 360-degrees at that. Up 35 floors, if you can think of a London icon, you can probably see it. When the weather's good, get outside for some fresh air. With completely free entry and minimal security fuss, its worth making a reservation, though if youre ok to queue, theyll have you in. Cocktails arent torturously expensive, at around 11.50, and are very enjoyable  the cognac-chocolate-caramel-port mix that is Black and Gold is particularly good so it doesn't feel like they're relying on the sights.

Theres a sense of special occasion, and all the more so with live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. Theyre hoping for jazz on Wednesdays, too. If youre tempted to eat, Fenchurch and the Darwin Brasserie are well worth trying  Fenchurch is particularly good for veggies. The Gilbert Scott St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Euston Rd, NW1 2AR, thegilbertscott.co.uk

Given the golden hue here, where luxury hangs in the air like perfume, its remarkable that wine starts at as little as 5 a glass. Wine is its strong point, and likeable head sommelier Joris Beijn is a man worth knowing: he is passionate about his list, knowledgeable and accommodating. The bar is flexible, in that it is by turns ideal for a date, or a catch up with old friends, or a pre/post dinner drinks. The room is a stunner: high painted ceilings, dramatic red walls, great big bells as art, marble bar top and crystal glasses catching the light. Cocktails come in at around 14, and err on the light side: lots of gin and floral concoctions. The restaurant, next door, isnt to be missed, either, just be prepared to get an Uber home: invariably, youll stretch and tease out the evening to stay just a little longer. Gerry's Club 52 Dean Street, W1D 5BJ, gerrysclub.com

A word of warning: this is technically a member's club, but you'll probably be fine if you flirt enough  and don't ask for Gerry, he's long since passed. Michael looks after this place now. We've only been once  very late, very drunk and with very good friends. Most old-school Soho drinking dens are dead, but this hub of actors and writers is what remains of 'Old Soho'. If you're boring, steer clear: it is a place to drink wine and beer and tell stories, to laugh uproariously and to give yourself a monumental hangover in a faintly discreet way. 68 and Boston 4-5 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4DD, 68andboston.com

Boston, the bar upstairs, looks like glamorous train carriage from the golden age of cocktails but plays it a little bit safe. Wine bar 68, downstairs, is the real gem, with a wonderful way of pricing: every bottle on the list is 20, so choose what you like, not what you can afford. Better yet, if you don't fancy a bottle, they're served by the carafe (14) or glass (5.50). Wines are well picked and Denise Medrano, wine blogger and lover found behind the bar, is always working to update the list  so go back to try something new. Youll probably end up getting drunk here: the pull of another bottle at just 20 is monumentally hard to resist, but hey, thats what Soho is for. If you fancy drinking something more upscale, ask  theyve a few hidden wines kept hidden away for those in the know. Thats you, now. The Pink Chihuahua at El Camion 25-27 Brewer St, W1F 0RR, elcamion.co.uk

Forget house infusions and drinks that take half an hour to make: sometimes a good night needs tequila and dancing. The Pink Chihuahua is built for it: theyre providing the tequila  more than 300 different types of it, in fact  youre there to drink it down and dance it up. Theyve all sorts of twists on Margaritas and Daiquiris, and, given youre downstairs from Mexican restaurant El Camion, plenty of bar food to indulge in too. Lots of fun, and if youre feeling more in the mood just to sit back and sip something slowly, ask about their choice of Mezcal. There's real talent here, but fun too. The Gibson 44 Old St, EC1V 9AQ, thegibsonbar.london

Given the dearth of decent cocktails in Farringdon, the tiny Gibson is a God-send. Its a parlour pitched somewhere between Edwardian and Art Deco, and drinks arent simply poured here, theyre tended to, built, thought about, adored. All unsurprising, really, given the team learnt their trade at the likes of Nightjar and The Connaught.

This place is doing more creatively to push bartending forward than any bar that's opened up in a while, so ask the team for recommendations and youll be presented with something magic. Youll need to ask, actually, as the menu is a novel and theres the risk of wasting the evening reading instead of drinking, and that simply wouldnt do at all. Peg+Patriot Patriot Square, E2 9NF, talentedmrfox.com

The Talented Mr Fox, Matt Whiley, offers is a nice blend of things here: while the menu takes a sophisticated trip around London, with each cocktail a column of flavour, some managing chameleonic taste all within the space of a sip, the actual bar is surprisingly spare and understated. The effect is such that while drinks are upmarket, one doesnt feel obliged to sit demurely to enjoy them. Relax, have a few  you might want to, as the serves arent huge. It should be said that these cocktails are among Londons most interesting, rather than Londons best: they are talking points, oddities, they put flavours together in a way that isnt available elsewhere. If youre big on trying new things, different experiences, seeing what a cocktail can do, come, its a must. If its just something reliably delicious you fancy, elsewhere may be better. Worship Street Whistling Shop 63 Worship St, EC2A 2DU, whistlingshop.com

One presumes the staff here have night vision, otherwise its a complete and utter mystery how they see customers, let alone their ingredients. Still, they must do, for the output is pretty much excellent through and through at this dark spot. Its Victorian-inspired, which sounds tired and not a little tacky, but the gang from Purl have done it properly. Drinks are busy  lots of fusions, blends, gasses and pressure and all sorts  so its appropriate they come out of a lab. Still, all this engineering seems to be worth it, as the drinks slip down easily, the alcohol often hidden away. Make sure to take a seat in the Dram Shop, and pop in to the Gin Closet too, which operates as an honesty bar. Kansas Smitty's 63-65 Broadway Market, E8 4PH, kansassmittys.com

Below bar Off Broadway  a long way off, its Mexican  sits this glorious den of jazz and juleps. It is a speakeasy for 2016: that is to say, it has none of the contrived mannerisms of bars which proclaim to be speakeasies, it just happens to actually be one: youll need to knock to get in, the music raves loud and hot, and the place is so crowded strangers become family after a drink or two. The house band, for which the place is named, have envy-inducing talent, and the bar has fairly recently overhauled its drinks list, and the results are good. Youll be absorbed by the music, and stay afterwards to ride the buzz of the crowd. GONG 52, Shangri-La Hotel, the Shard, SE1 9QU, .gong-shangri-la.com

Gong is in the Shard, so youre there for the view alone. View it certainly does: at 52 floors up, its by far Londons highest spot to drink: consequently, sipping on a martini, one feels a little like a Bond villain pondering all thats below. Its not a huge bar, but that somewhat adds to the sense of exclusivity. Prices are, naturally, sky high: expect to pay at least 18. The drinks have plenty about them to compete with the view: presentation is everything. Theyve not skipped on the spirits making the mix, either: expect the likes of Zacapa 23 rum (heavenly stuff), Talisker scotch and Tanqueray 10 for the gin. All top drawer stuff. If this all sounds a bit intimidating, bear in mind they operate a no reservations policy, so youve as good a chance of getting in as anyone else. Mr Fogg's Salon 58 St Martin's Lane, Theatreland, WC2N 4EA, mr-foggs.com

Downstairs is a pretty decent pub, busy from theatreland. Upstairs, the salon is quieter, but only a little. The walls are a glittering ballgown of 19th century curiosities, unsubtle nonsense winking away. Head to a chaise longues with a couple of friends or a date and take in something from each one of the five acts which split the menu. Drinks seem to smell especially good here, rich, relying heavily on the likes of rum, cognac and sherry. Gin lovers need not despair: theyve a room with 300 different types next door. Come elegantly dressed. Bar Termini 7 Old Compton St, W1D 5JE, bar-termini.com

Do Bar Termini right and youll love it: do it wrong, and you may be underwhelmed. Tony Conigliaro, cocktail chap par excellence, and coffee maestro Marco Arrigo have built a revolving-door of a place: dont come here to linger. Expect a night of cocktails and youll leave disappointed: instead, love it in the day for the 1 espressos, and swing by in the evening for a negroni (6). Theyre small, but some of the best in the capital. One swishes in and out here, and that way, it adds a touch of Italian glamour to any evening. Trisha's (New Evaristo Club) 57 Greek St, Soho, W1D 3DX



Drinks dont make a bar, and thank goodness, as the stuff served at Trishas  named for its owner  is uniformly pretty awful: red and white wine youd consider an insult if a friend served it at supper, prosecco wildly overpriced, terrible spirits ecetera ecetera. At more than 70, the club is Sohos oldest, and while nobody who goes there can ever remember anything changing  its often quite hard to recall much about Trishas in crystal detail, as it happens  nothing needs to. The bad wine and expensive mixers and paint stripper spirits are all part of the point: its a glorious drinking den, and marvellous, marvellous fun. There are characters here: the last time we were in, we sat being scared witless by an old East End gangster who said hes known the Krays. Tremendous. Long may this place live. The Fumoir Claridge's, 49 Brook St, W1K 4HR, claridges.co.uk

The Fumoir will confuse you, as youll be torn between shouting about it and keeping it all to yourself. This plush purple and leather spot, deco decadence with a touch of welcome pomp, is hidden away behind a secret door at Claridges. Tiny and glitzy enough to feel like a Hollywood dressing room from the Golden Age, its little surprise the likes of Christina Hendricks adore it. For such a small place, they squeeze an awful lot in: plenty of wines, classic cocktails given a stern shake up, buckets of gin, a lovely choice of armagnac and a magnificent scotch list, gleaming with rarities. 69 Colebrooke Row 69 Colebrooke Row, N1 8AA, 69colebrookerow.com

Once known as the bar with no name, henceforth they shall be called the bar with Bernards watch, as there is no other explanation for the speed with which their finely mixed cocktails arrive. Another bar from Tony Conigliaro, its earned its reputation for turning out hit after hit: the drinks list is endlessly tempting. The piano is a nice touch; that is gets played a much nicer one, and make sure to order the Prairie Oyster  fun to drink, and one even for those who cant eat seafood. Bear in mind its a small spot, so youre close to your neighbours, and if you dont like strong drinks where the booze kicks, this wont be for you. Happiness Forgets 8-9 Hoxton Square, N1 6NU, happinessforgets.com

Dont expect frills and fuss or the rest of it here: Happiness Forgets is cocktail bar distilled down to its very essence, and done very well  their tag High End Cocktails/Low End Rent sums it up best. The bartenders are all top drawer, and their creations impeccable. Unsurprisingly, this Hoxton space has its regulars, so the crowd is always good. Tables can be booked, but half are always kept for walk-ins: try your luck, its worth it. Dry Martini by Javier de las Muelas Melia White House Hotel, Albany Street, NW1 3UP, melia.com

Come to this one to brag: Dry Martini is known as Barcelonas best cocktail bar, and has been rated the fifth best bar in the world by the Worlds 50 Best Bars panel. Renowned bartender Javier de las Muelas has bought over his concept to us lucky Londoners, and with it, finely mixed and classic cocktails. No prizes for guessing that the Dry Martini is the house special  if you dont think you like them, heres a place to change your mind. With more than 80 gins on the list, you could easily lose a week here. Gordon's 47 Villiers St, WC2N 6NE, gordonswinebar.com

Gordons seems to get more and more crowded with each passing day, but perhaps rightly so: the beloved Embankment institution is made for knocking back bottles of wine in. Eat a few cold bites and chat into a long, unwinding evening. The wine list is good enough, but youre really here for the atmosphere: in summer, the terrace, buzzing, in winter, the caves indoors, crammed with noise, spilt wine, and joy. Social bar at City Social 25 Old Broad St, EC2N 1HQ, citysociallondon.com

Youd think youre at City Social, up 24 stories of Tower 42, to eat, but if you stop in the bar, theres a good chance you wont make it to your table. The drinks come as something of a surprise: theyre so much better than one expects from a restaurant bar, inventive, put together carefully but not staidly, retaining a sense of fun. And, crucially, damned tasty. Its a dark room, and full of city types, but perfect for a few late night cocktails soaking up the view, which is really quite wonderful. Bloody pricey, but thats part of it. Ladies and Gentlemen 2 Highgate Rd, NW5 1NR, twitter.com

William Borrells bolthole transcends its gimmick (which, if you hadnt guessed, is that its a converted public loo), with the help of some very handy bartenders, and its house-brewed gin, Highwayman, of which twelve bottles a day get distilled. Ladies & Gents manages well as a place for a quiet drink, or better yet, a place to quietly get roaringly drunk. Convenient indeed. The drinks are strong, very interesting, and theres plenty of odd sods on the wall to keep your conversation up. It maintains a veneer of being somewhere faintly upmarket, but youll probably end up reading from one of the books scattered around or trying to dance to the live music. Perfect for a date that gets out of hand. Bull In A China Shop 196 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6LG, bullinachinashop.london

Truth it, youll need to catch this place on a good night, as weve been in often enough to know it has its good nights and its meh nights. But when the place is on, its really cooking, and easily one of the best bars in town. The cocktail list is short, but thought through, and care is taken in even the small things: they even make sure the water glasses are chilled. The chamomile and charcoal Old-Fashioned is a must, and any whisky lovers should get chatting to the bar staff, as theyve bottles which arent available anywhere else in the capital. Sager + Wilde Arch, 250 Paradise Row, E2 9LE, sagerandwilde.com

Wine lovers rejoice, wine bores look elsewhere. Sager + Wilde admirably keep things unpretentious: the exposed brickwork sets the tone: theyre keeping things low key. The specials list changes regularly, and always with interesting choices introduced. Some of the wines are exclusive to this place, so youre all but guaranteed to try something new. Have a SHE + T (sherry with tonic, delicious), and absolutely do not leave without having the grilled cheese sandwich. 7 Tales at Sosharu 64 Turnmill St, EC1M 5RR, sosharulondon.com

Underneath Jason Athertons Sosharu is this sexy, seedy Japanese drinking den, where youll find the hazy, debauched glamour of Tokyo after dark. Unlike so many bars underneath restaurants, 7 Tales doesnt feel like a holding pen, and drinks are precision made, with flavours leaning beyond the usual  think rice-washed gin, sake, infusions of sesame, snacks like tempura. Bar snacks are an irresistible must. Callooh Callay 65 Rivington St, EC2A 3AY, calloohcallaybar.com

Eccentric doesnt seem to quite cover it: enter the surreal world of Callooh Callay through an old Victorian wardrobe, catch sight of a throne and order punch out of a gramophone from a menu thats more of a sticker book. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but the bartenders really know their stuff, so for all the quirks, drinks are fundamentally pretty excellent. On the weekends, its a party bar, and DJs spin music to match: youre here for a good time. Any detectives in your gang will find there are two extra rooms in Callooh Callay to explore  theyre hidden away, too, naturally. If youre good, you might even get an invite upstairs to the Jub Jub Room, where the 10-long cocktail list changes every three weeks. Fans should also head to their new offering in Angel, Little Bat. Dukes Bar Dukes Hotel, 35 St James's Pl, SW1A 1NY, dukeshotel.com

Dukes is known for one reason: martinis. The St Jamess hotel was a favourite haunt of James Bond author and (very) keen drinker, Ian Fleming, who supposedly came up with the shaken, not stirred line here. Their martinis are exceptionally strong, and very large: theres a reason they wont serve you more than two. But look, break the mould: theyre a classic hotel bar, they serve a fine range of classic cocktails. Theres also a cognac and cigar garden, if youre so inclined. NOLA 1st Floor, 68 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY, nola-london.com

It would be too easy to miss this place, so do your homework and saunter in: its must more attractive than sweatily asking anyone if theyve seen the place. Drawing inspiration from the home of proper cocktails, New Orleans, the bar loves traditional drinks, builds them properly and serves them in a den of music and laughter. Unlike some places specialising in old school serves, NOLA is a place for fun: sure, it seems to say, you could have a quiet drink  but why would you want to? Theres a cracking cigar terrace too, small enough that everyone talks before heading back in for one hell of a Vieux Carre. Call Me Mr Lucky 11 Southwark St, SE1 1RQ, twitter.com

All the hidden bars at the Breakfast Clubs around the capital are popular, with perhaps The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town being the best known. Call Me Mr Lucky, on Southwark Street, happens to be our favourite. Once youve flirted with the staff  ask to get lucky  youre taken through the restaurants kitchens to a lively bar decorated like some twisted take on a kids party. Have a go on the wheel of fortune, where youll really want to get lucky, and win a free shot, and then work your way through the cocktail list. Like any good-time bar worth its salt, this place is big on tequila, and the drinks are light-hearted fun, but  here we go getting lucky again  along with the quirks comes quality. By the of the evening, before youre porured back onto the street, youll swear tequila is your new favourite drink, and youll be singing the party hits they play all the way home. K Bar at The Kensington 109 - 113 Queen's Gate, SW7 5LP, townhousekensington.com

K bar feels majestic  and there is no other word for it  because drinking here is a little like being in the captains quarters of the Titanic, albeit without the sinking feeling. There is glamour here: a kind of place to be seduced in. Cocktails wise, bar manager Ben Manchester is the man to ask for, but theres a fine list to choose from. It avoids stuffiness, and just needs to be packed out to really get cooking. Nightjar 129 City Rd, EC1V 1JB, barnightjar.com

Nightjar has fame which means writing about it is redundant: people think it marvellously good, and theyve live music most of the week. Its seating only and worth booking: just be sure not to cancel, or theyll charge a steep 10 per person. They do the speakeasy theme, but well enough that it isnt too tired yet, and have plenty of old school style on the list. Pick up a pack of cards from the bar on your way out. Reverend J W Simpson 32 Goodge St, W1T 2QJ, revjwsimpson.com

Bourne and Hollingsworth run this rather lovely little bar, downstairs from a small doorway on Goodge St. Service is friendly and speedy, it's comfortable, and drinks more than hold their own  there's both obscure traditional mixes and modern serves made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Luckily, with good drinks come good people, and it's a loud, happy place. Albertine 1 Wood Ln, W12 7DP, albertinewinebar.co.uk

Albertine hasnt changed much since the day East Enders was commissioned there. A wine bar through and through, youll struggle to get anything else (though there are a couple of ales on the menu.) Its a place with spirit, which draws a regular, devoted crowd. They sell everything they serve, and its well worth splashing out: the mark-up gets less and less as the bottles get more expensive, meaning you can get an absolute bargain at the top end of the list. Its also the kind of wine bar you go to to overindulge. First Aid Box 119 Dulwich Rd, SE24 0NG, firstaidbox2015.com

This place really is worth travelling to Herne Hill to, which must be saying something. The team behind Shrub & Shutter have thickly laid on the pharmacy theme here, with cure-all drinks. Its not an idea which sounds like it should work, and yet, how much better life would be if they were one of the emergency services. Expect saline drips, syringes, and the likes of plastic lungs  their take on thirst aid  but rest assured, flavours arent medicinal in the slightest. At 8 - 10 a drink, its reasonable for London, and wonderful to see a bar really trying something new. Bravo. Media Wisdom Photography - Giles Christopher Nam Long Le Shaker 159 Old Brompton Rd, SW5 0LJ, namlong.co.uk

It gained fame for its celebrity fans, which include Mick Jagger and Prince Harry, but Nam Long has held on longer than most A-list haunts: its been going 30 years, and recently was given an overhaul. Its quite possibly the most Chelsea place imaginable  there are literally MIC cast members floating about  and its a go-to spot to drink far too much and party. The upstairs area is bright, airy, and well looked after by the excellent bartenders, while downstairs  "the Opium Den"  is as it sounds (though there was no opium available when we asked... ) The drinks upstairs were made with more care, but downstairs is more intimate, opulent, and better for a small groups. Some of those Chelsea types who go really are the very worst, and the drinks are outrageously expensive, but hey, its a laugh. The Vault at Milroy's 3 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4NX, shop.milroys.co.uk

A bar through a bookcase: were sold. Better yet, its underneath one of Sohos finest whisky shops  with stiff competition from The Vintage House  so if youre taken with something downstairs, buy it on your way out. Its a simple little bar and the service is decidedly so-so, but its usually pretty busy, they play good music and have an excellent range of spirits. The menu is changed regularly, but its a good place to cram into with friends or on a date. You mightnt spend the entire night here, but for a couple of drinks on the way somewhere, or on the way back, it fits the bill perfectly. Bounce 241 Old St, EC1V 9EY, bouncepingpong.com

There are two Bounce bars, one on Old Street and one on Holborn. The Old Street spot is a little more fun, graffiti adorning the walls,the Holborn spot somewhat more upmarket. Still, they both deserve a mention, and for the simple reason theyre damned good fun. Drinks here are good, with a decent spirit selection at both (and a huge number of gins in Farringdon) and a respectable selection of beers. Food is fine, simple. Still, you come to play ping pong. Theyve tables everywhere. Theres little to fault with Bounce: its a laugh, and sometimes thats all somewhere needs to be.

The bar will include a large communal concrete table and a display of work from up-and-coming local artists.

Cocktails have been priced to be affordable, and start at 6.50.

Untitled will open on Thursday February 9 at 5pm. Visit untitled-bar.com.

Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from Londons food scene.

Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum

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H ip Hop doesn't have many classic imports from the UK but one of the most legendary rappers of all time is London's own, Slick Rick.

"Rick the Ruler" has returned home to perform in London for the first time in over 30 years and the Evening Standard had a chance to have a catch up with the MC on his tour.

Rick is the most sampled rapper in history and has inspired several generations and genres with his music and fashion. Hip hop strongholds in Nas, Outkast and Snoop Dogg have been directly influenced by Rick's flashy style and creative storytelling in tracks such as "Children's Story".

The catchy "La Di Da Di" has been covered in various forms, with even Miley Cyrus using an interpolation in her comeback track, "We Can't Stop".

"Its a great feeling." The veteran said about being recognised all over pop culture.

"It is an honour, it's interesting and fun to see how other artists have fit my music into their thing, their sound and their music"

The landscape of hip hop has changed over the years since Rick broke through but the South London native's love for the art has not changed.

Coming Home: Slick Rick

"The hip hop scene today is interesting with lot of pros and cons as far as some of the images and messages put out there.

"However, hip hop is a beautiful art form and it truly represents all voices."

Many UK rappers have tried their luck across the pond but have claimed that they've not had much luck because of the difference of accents.

Rick shared that it was actually his accent, along with his style that enabled him to create a buzz before being signed by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin for Def Jam in the 1980s.

"It was early days in hip hop when I arrived in America." He recalled.

"I was the first British American there, so there was a lot of attention on my accent, the way I sounded and eventually the way I looked. My music was my music and my fashion was my fashion and at the time I was not trying to mesh the two as it came natural to want to dress upscale. I was just being myself.

"Hip hop is the true melting pot. It has bought together all races, genders, classes and cultures, which is why its so powerful."

Despite seemingly having done it all in the music industry in his decorated career, Rick has plans to keep progressing.

"There will be more fashion, more hits, more fun, more adventures. Would like to work on music for movie scores and soundtracks."

Catch Slick Rick on his "Coming Home" tour throughout the U.K. between 25th and 30th November. For tickets and information on Rick's next steps, visit ricktheruler.net.

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout
T he team behind Dinerama and Hawker House are set to take the street food scene to new heights  literally  next year with the launch of a rooftop site.

The new market from Street Feast will sit above Crossrail Place in Canary Wharf and will be open all year round, seven days a week, offering over 10,000 square feet of eating and drinking.

The new market, which is as yet unnamed, will open early in 2017. It will join Street Feasts other markets Dinerama in Shoreditch, Hawker House in Canada Water and Model Market in Lewisham.

It follows Street Feasts parent company London Union raising 2.5 million for new sites through crowdfunding, and the closure of the street foodies original site in Dalston to make way for flats.

Were told that there are a handful more venues in the pipeline too.

30 must-try dishes in London restaurants 1 /41 30 must-try dishes in London restaurants Bone marrow on toast with parsley salad at St John Not only has this dish kicked off countless wonderful meals over the course of St Johns 25 years, but it also gets credit for putting British cooking back on the global culinary map. Roasted bone marrow, coaxed out onto toast, cut perfectly with salad of parsley, shallots and capers. A nose-to-tail revolution, and utterly divine. Whole turbot at Brat Tomos Parrys talents with a turbot first came to feverish acclaim at Mayfair restaurant Kitty Fishers, but they are now the star attraction at his Michelin-starred solo spot. This whole fish  grilled Basque-style, over hot coals and in a specially designed cage  softens as if it has melted, and is basted at the table in an emulsion made with its own juices. Benjamin McMahon Marinara at 50 Kalo di Ciro Salvo Superlatives should be used in moderation  but heck it, this might just be Londons best pizza. This under-the-radar London iteration of a Naples pizzeria serves an unrivalled marinara: just tomato sauce, oil, garlic and oregano. No need for any more  with a sauce this good and a base so fine and perfectly charred, you can stop mourning your cancelled Italian holiday at first bite. Luciano Furia Clay pot baked pork and crab glass noodles at Kiln When we say Kiln is one of the hottest spots in town, we mean it  hang over the counter at the Thai barbecue and youre not far out of range for the odd flame. Baking in the heart of the swirling heat is this must order: shimmering glass noodles, coated with a silky sauce enriched with fatty slicks of Tamworth pork belly and improbably unctuous crab meat. Lamb chops, Melabes Perhaps because its quietly tucked in among its unassuming neighbours down on the wrong end of High Street Kensington, Melabes is often overlooked by Londons food lovers. An unwarranted shame, as this partly Middle Eastern, partly Mediterranean set-up is really very good; it is somewhere to pick and choose from bits and pieces, and put a meal together yourself. The lamb chops, which come all smokey and burnished from the grill, are perfect; pink as a Vegas sign inside, but the fat all soft and dripping and delicious. A must, whatever the order. Steak tartare imperial at Bob Bob Ricard Theres Press For Champagne buttons, lobster in your mac and cheese and anything that stays still long enough gets gilded  there is no point in going small at Bob Bob Ricard. Steak tartare is a luxurious pick at the best of times, but the Imperial upgrade here comes with a dollop of caviar  even without the finishing touch, the tartare itself is one of the best in the capital. Bacon naan at Dishoom Londoners spent decades believing bacon in a bap with some ketchup (or brown sauce, but lets not have that argument now) couldnt be beaten  and then Dishoom came along. This breakfast sandwich fills a fresh naan with bacon, a slathering of cream cheese, a luxurious tomato and chilli chutney, coriander and an oozing fried egg if you feel so inclined. Hangover be gone. Cacio e pepe at Padella Five years ago, you would have thought anyone queuing for pasta in London to have lost their minds  this dish changed that. The starlet of Padellas much coveted is this plate of pici  hand-rolled fat worms of eggless pasta  with a mirror-shine sauce of parmesan cheese and pasta. Simple but unrivalled  and itll set you back just 6. Jamon croquetas at Barrafina A dish like this should be elusive  it is far too easy to eat seven portions of croquetas in a single sitting, which is why we presume Barrafina makes you queue. Very sensible. As the crunchy coating gives way to the oozing centre, enriched with the flavour of Spanish jamon (the best ham in the business), were already planning our next visit. Biang biang noodles at Xi'an Biang Biang Noodles There are oodles of noodles in the capital, but Guirong Weis triumphant take is one of the finest. First finding followers at her north London restaurant Xian Impression (soon to reopen for dine-in, but not yet), the dish of has inspired a whole spin-off restaurant in Spitalfields. Thick, hand-pulled, chewy noodles soak up all the spice and zing of the special sauce they swim in  very special indeed. Souffle Suissesse, Le Gavroche Le Gavroche  the street urchin  is perhaps not for everyone. It is a Mayfair time machine, a reminder of how things were done once upon a time. Fortunately, it happens that how things were once done was very well indeed, and lunch or supper here is a masterclass in traditional French luxury (and often, happily, includes very large glasses of wine). Staff make the place, anyone who has been gently teased by the twins pretending to be each other will know. A tendency towards the old ways does mean the cooking offers little in the way of evolution or revolution, but new, after all, isnt always better. Michel Roux Jrs cheese souffle, baked on double cream, stuns, so overwhelmingly tasty, utter decadence that clings to the taste buds. Buttermilk Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Around the Cluck / 12:51 James Cochran found his signature dish early on, but its good it should stay with him for the rest of his career. While he has chops, and can do more beyond, theres something special in the way he works with his chicken; hotly spiced, gorgeously crispy, beautifully soft on the inside. A long-standing favourite and, though 12:51 cant operate as it did before, there are tables at his new project Around the Cluck, which is operating out of the same site. Breakfast at Hawksmoor Guildhall Your Full English is not full in comparison to the Hawksmoor breakfast at the steak connoisseurs Guildhall restaurant. The mind-boggling two-person spread swaps bacon rashers for an entire smoked chop, serves its bubble and squeak with short rib, puts trotter meat into its baked beans, and adds grilled bone marrow to all the usual trimmings. Cauliflower shawarma at Berber & Q Its not often that the main event at a barbecue restaurant is the veg, but Berber & Q have achieved just that. The cauliflower shawarma here is cooked on their flaming grill until softened and charred, before being doused liberally in tahini, pomegranate molasses, coriander, pomegranate seeds and a scattering of dried rose petals. BBQ Butter Chicken Wings at Brigadiers Brigadiers is a bold, boisterous sort of place: a labyrinthine City dining room, packed to the rafters with beer and Indian food that is indisputably gutsy. But arguably its finest moment comes in one of its smallest packages  these chicken wings may be diminutive, but are mightily spiced, deftly charred and dripping with ghee-fuelled succulence. Beef brisket bun at Smokestak David Carters Shoreditch restaurant occupies itself by giving the entirety of Kansas City a run for its money on a daily basis. The star turn at this lauded barbecue restaurant is its beef brisket bun  the meat is soft and juicy, riddled with its fats in the centre, while charred and treacle-like on the outside, paired perfectly with pickled chillies. To remember it is to salivate, we assure you. Snails, LEscargot LEscargot is one of Sohos old aristocrats and in its grand, beret red dining room there is always a mischievous sense of fun  perhaps because it is still such a smart, suited, chandeliered place, and people are often drinking themselves rather silly. The clue to good eating is in the name; the snails come still clinging to their shells and submerged in their butter and parsley sauce. Dive in; you will emerge stinking gloriously of garlic. It wont matter a jot; roll on the red wine and settle in for a long, comforting night. Confit potatoes at Quality Chop House Yes, there are some high quality chops on offer at this 150-year-old Clerkenwell restaurant but blimey, leave room for the chips. Fine slices of potato are stacked into architecturally sound wedges, and confited until shatteringly crispy on the outside and devastatingly soft in the centre. They have been much imitated in recent years, but never bettered. Smoked eel sandwich at Quo Vadis Jeremy Lee cooks many things to a legendary level at Quo Vadis  his pies could so easily have also made this list  but he gets the nod here for his unrivalled take on the fancy sandwich. Smoked eel, horseradish cream and Dijon mustard, served with red onion pickle  a combination so popular Lee says he nearly ran out of eel on post-lockdown reopening. Classic bao at Bao London has buns in abundance, but we still bow down to the fluffy superiority of Bao. The Taiwanese restaurant has become a cross-town favourite, thanks to its pleasingly pert rice buns (they are genuinely very pert, no crassness intended) and carefully considered fillings. The classic order comes filled with braised pork, fermented veg, coriander and a dusting of peanut powder. Carol Sachs Potato and roe, Core by Clare Smyth Clare Smyth has a knack that must infuriate other chefs; she is able to take the simplest of ingredients  say, a single carrot and a smattering of lamb mince  do something devilish with it and charge rather a lot for it; so good are the results, though, that few mind. Smyths sorcery is perhaps best witnessed with her signature, the potato and roe. It is simply a potato on a plate in a little sauce, but then it is also perhaps the best potato dish in the world; it has this wonderful salty richness, a certain seaside intenseness. It is glorious; so too is the smoked chicken that tends to come as an amuse bouche. Youll be treated here. Omelette Arnold Bennett Dont worry, no Arnolds were harmed in the making of this dish. Alongside impeccable service and an arguably perfect dining room, you could add another highlight to your breakfast at The Wolseley by ordering this creamy, haddock-filled dish, named for the writer who inspired its creation while staying at the Savoy. Fish pie, J Sheekey Long an actors favourite, J Sheekeys glamour has never lost its lustre. Its kept its regulars and charmed newcomers with a menu that plays the greatest hits of fine dining favourites. Seafood is Sheekeys thing; simply done sole is beautiful here, crab comes three ways, brill brushed in butter has a meatiness thats beyond satisfying. The fish pie is famous though, and rightly so; beneath the flaking pastry is a sea of cream, mustard and white wine, in it bobbing cod, haddock and salmon. It is simple but never fails; it does on its own for lunch, but is a failsafe at supper, too. John Carey The Ari Gold at Patty & Bun Theres a cheeseburger on every high street in the capital  but not all of them are created equal. Patty & Bun has got the classic combination down to a tee with its curiously named Ari Gold burger: a fat, 35-day aged patty is served medium rare, and topped with gooey American cheese, smokey house mayo and tangy pickled red onions. Xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung Few dishes in the capital have been known to cause queues of four hours. Thats exactly what the world-famous xiao long bao dumplings did when top Taiwanese restaurant group Din Tai Fung first opened in Covent Garden. An intricately folded out layer (made by chefs trained for at least 18 months) gives way to succulent meat and a broth you could take on by the bowlful. Pig's trotter, the French House Upstairs in the Soho local, Neil Borthwick is quietly running one of the areas best kitchens. He orders in particularly good oysters, does brilliant things with brill and with his pigs trotter, has a dish that is rich and fatty, but with a beautiful salty cut that makes it madly moreish. The menu tends to change often upstairs in the French, but have this if its on. That little dining room is somewhere to go in early for lunch and stay until late, eventually spilling down into the pub below, to drink pints  they do pints now, not just halfs  all while merrily reliving the joys upstairs. Peter Clark Dover sole with crab butter at Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill There are so many delights at Bentleys, its tricky to pick a single one. This could so easily have been a plate of rigorously sourced oysters, the fish pie, the decadent Royal seafood platter (pictured). It is however, the Dover sole that wins. A sublime piece of fish always, expertly cooked without fail  choose it either filleted with beautiful crab butter, or grilled and whole for a simple pleasure. Over in the City, Corrigan does similarly brilliant things with lobster at Daffodil Mulligan. Ragu, Lina Stores Sohos Lina Stores  the pasta bar, not the longstanding Italian deli it comes from  is the sort of restaurant one longs for; small, fun, friendly, not too pricey. They do small plates of near perfect pasta; their ragu, whether lamb or veal, is a gem. A good ragu is hard to find  too often theres too little meat, or meat not cooked for long enough  but here, they spend the time over it, cooking slowly, carefully. No restaurant can compare with a Nonna, but Lina gets gratifyingly close. Porterhouse steak, the Guinea Grill London is not short of steakhouses, but the Guinea does not number among them. A pub  a proper one  it is tucked down a Mayfair sidestreet, away from everything and yet still perpetually busy. Besides the small bar is a dining room that looks much as it must have done when the likes of Sinatra was in (or Bette Midler, or Kylie, or Regan, or, or, or), where theyve served prime Aberdeen Angus cooked on a smoking hot grill. The Guinea is all about having a good time  pints, red wine, brandies, the lot  but they cook beautifully, and their handling of a good piece of beef is second to none. Puree de pommes de terre, Le Comptoir Robuchon The late Joel Robuchon may have been the most decorated chef of his and perhaps any other era, but his signature stayed humble  mashed potato. Until youve had it, it is hard to believe it could be quite so good; mash, after all, is mash. No matter the scepticism, it will always surprise; it is almost silly that so little could taste of so much. A side, it will match almost everything on the menu; of which, the lamb with aubergine on the menu of classics is extraordinarily good.

Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from Londons food scene.

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B estselling novel and Oscar-winning film Room is coming to the theatre for the first time next year in a new adaptation by its writer Emma Donoghue.

The story of five-year-old Jack, who has spent his life imprisoned with his mother in a squalid shed they call room, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010.

Last years film won Brie Larson the best actress Oscar for her performance as Ma.

Donoghue said the stage version, which will have its premiere at Theatre Royal Stratford East as part of its 2017 season, would be totally different to the novel and the movie she scripted.

She said: What is really fun is each form, each medium, has different things it is good at, so the film was able to be so realistic and get a level of detail in about the room  even the wear and tear on the furniture  whereas theatre will bring out the aspects of the story about inventing your own little world.

The script will be broken up by songs, though Donoghue said it will not be a conventional musical, adding: They are very powerful and simple and work with conversations because they allow people to express what theyre not getting to express in their conversations.

The story, which follows Jacks life in the room and his escape into the wider world, was partly inspired by the case of Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned and sexually abused his daughter in a cellar under his house in Austria for 24 years, resulting in the birth of seven children. Donoghue, who was born in Dublin and now lives in Canada, said her story was only superficially about crime.

She said: I think it is a really universal story because everybody starts life in a relatively small place, every newborn is in a tiny social circle, and youve no choice over the family youre born into. Everybody starts in this arbitrary way and as you grow older you realise there are other worlds, other possibilities, and its a bigger world out there.

Most people move gradually towards that bigger world but the story of Jack dramatises it because he goes overnight from that small world into a bigger world and it shows what a shock it is. Other shows at Theatre Royal Stratford East next year include a revival of The Whos rock opera Tommy.

Meanwhile Kirsten Childss musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin follows a young dancer trying to make it in LA, and features an original score fusing Motown, pop and R&B.

For more information visit www.stratfordeast.com

@RobDexES

Visit standard.co.uk/theatre for the latest news and reviews from Londons theatre scene.

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P laywrights and artists will mark six months since the Orlando nightclub shooting with an evening of plays and poems.

After Orlando will take place at The Vaults on December 12, presented by Chaskis Theatre company. Over seventy short pieces have been written specifically for the event, with both emerging and established playwrights curating the event.

Neil Labute and Anders Lustgarten have contributed pieces, and the cast will include Maddy Hill, recently seen in Imogen at the Globe Theatre.

The Orlando attack, which saw 49 people lose their lives in Pulse nightclub, took place on June 12 and was the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in United States history.

All profits from the event will be donated to LGBT charity Stonewall.

Arts picks of the week: 21st-27th November 1 /7 Arts picks of the week: 21st-27th November New Design Museum opens The Design Museum has moved and you can now find it in a beautiful new building in Kensington. There are plenty of ace new exhibitions there to celebrate the move, including permanent display Designer Maker User and Fear and Love, an exploration of how design has become part of our culture.



Opens to the public on November 24; designmuseum.org Peter Pan This isnt just for kids - visionary director Sally Cookson brings her inventive production of Peter Pan to the National Theatre. Her brilliant production of Jane Eyre ended up being broadcast as an NT Live screening in cinemas, and this is likely to be just as special.



Until February 4, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Once in a Lifetime Harry Enfield takes a role in this musical at the Young Vic, playing Hollywood impresario. The Young Vic have had a great year, taking two Evening Standard Theatre Awards (for Billie Pipers performance in Yerma, and for new playwright Charlene James and her FGM play Cuttin It) so we hope theyll round off the year with another banger.



25 Nov - 14 Jan, Young Vic; youngvic.org Hollie McNish Her poetry went viral on YouTube, now Hollie McNish has written a book and made an album. Shell be performing a one off free show of new album Poetry Versus Orchestra for ASOS Supports Talent At Cadogan Hall, alongside the renowned jazz orchestra Metropole Orkest.



23 November, Cadogan Hall; cadoganhall.com The Children Last time Lucy Kirkwood had a play on stage (the epic Chimerica), it ended up going bonkers, selling out and transferring to the West End. Her latest play will be in the Royal Courts Downstairs, and is about two very isolated nuclear scientists. Its bound to be brilliant.



Until 14 Jan, Royal Court Theatre; royalcourttheatre.com The Snowman Raymond Briggs The Snowman is probably in the top five synonyms for Christmas, and you can catch the stage version at the Peacock at Sadlers Wells, now in its 19th year. Itll be great for kids, but adults are bound to get misty eyed too.



23 Nov - 1 Jan, Peacock Theatre; sadlerswells.com Last chance to see: Oil Not one to be missed by any means - this epic play by Ella Hickson tackles huge issues with heart and humour. Anne-Marie Duff stars in this incredible piece of writing that manages to think about climate change, mother/daughter relationships, and many other things besides.



Ends 26 Nov, Almeida Theatre; almeida.co.uk

To find out more visit chaskistheatre.com and to buy tickets visit thevaults.london

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C ity bosses and celebrities will sleep rough tonight in support of the Standards appeal to fund a helpline to help the capitals young homeless.

More than 1,000 people are expected to take part in youth homeless charity Centrepoints Sleep Out in south London, a record breaking figure for the annual fundraising event.

Spending a night in sleeping bags on cardboard boxes, exposed to the elements on a site on the Greenwich Peninsula, they will get a glimpse of life for those who sleep rough in the capital.

As part of our Christmas Appeal, it is hoped the London Sleep Out will raise 450,000 to help launch The Centrepoint Helpline and fund the charitys other vital services for homeless young people.

Homeless Helpline: Centrepoint want a freephone number for young people facing homelessness

It is being held alongside 11 other Sleep Out events across the UK.

Sleep out: The event will raise money for the charity / Centrepoint

Actress and fashion designer Sadie Frost, Princess Dianas niece Lady Kitty Spencer, James Bond star Colin Salmon, actress Lisa Maxwell, and double Olympic gold rowing medallist Alex Gregory are among those taking part.

Fundraising event: Sadie Frost is among the celebs taking part / Dave Benett

While more than a 50 companies participating to raise money and awareness around youth homelessness include Forsters LLP, Mediacom, Ogilvy, RBS, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, ASOS, Natwest and Santander.

ASOS chief executive Nick Beighton is among those scheduled to take part.

Participants will be treated to dinner served by the RAF and a bedtime story from entertainer Christopher Biggins before bedding down under a giant marquee.

Charity event: ASOS chief executive Nick Beighton is due to take part / ASOS/PA

Brisk winds and predicted 4C temperatures promise to make it an uncomfortable night for those taking part.

Centrepoint ambassador and BBC Radio 2 DJ Sara Cox, who is taking part in her seventh Sleep Out, said: Its a really important event to bring people together raise the issues about homelessness.

It will never replicate homelessness, but even the glimpse that we get enforces how difficult the situation is that people find themselves in.

Sara Cox: The Radio DJ is taking part in her seventh sleep out / Ian West/PA

Physically, we are uncomfortable and cold, but the real difference is psychological.

We will be safe while the vulnerable who sleep on the streets at night are in danger - It might be evil people preying on them to get them into drugs or prostitution.

While we know it is one night only and we will be returning to our warm beds.

People have to remember there are so many reasons people can end up homeless, things like family breakdown and its not the young persons fault.

The Standards Young and Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money to help Centrepoint launch a much-needed Freephone number and online service.

Homeless Helpline: Centrepoint want a freephone number for young people facing homelessness

The Centrepoint Helpline will ensure the thousands of young people facing or experiencing homelessness get the advice and support they need as soon as possible.

Lady Kitty, who is taking part in the Sleep Out for the first time and whose cousin Prince William is the charitys patron, backed our appeal as she stressed how the helpline will be a lifeline for thousands of young people.

Centrepoint gala: Lady Kitty is a supporter of the charity / Lucy Young

She said: For a lot of the people I talk to at Centrepoint about becoming homeless the key issues are mental health, divorce, family breakdown, its things that dont discriminate across any gender or background and these are things that can affect anyone.

So when the odds are stacked against these young people, people need to get behind them.

Centrepoint: Sade's story

For the young people it helps, Centrepoint isnt just a shelter. Its a way forward in life, a turning point.

"They are taught everything. from budgeting, to tuition, to how to prepare for a job interview to how to pursue apprenticeships. They are encouraged to follow their dreams.

The helpline would be great. Just to have someone to talk to for anyone going through such hard times can be a lifeline.

The Evening Standard's Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money for the Centrepoint Helpline, a brand new support service that will save young people from ending up on the streets.

To donate please visit our Just Giving page.
R etailers across London will be bidding to rake in the cash on Black Friday tomorrow but Whole Foods Market has a different take on the pre-Christmas sales jamboree - boosting the Standards Centrepoint appeal.

On Give Back Friday, the supermarket chain will donate five per cent of tomorrows gross sales from its seven stores in the capital to our campaign to help the young homeless.

In addition, customers will be able to donate to Centrepoint at the tills throughout the next two months.

Diego Hvozda, store team leader at Whole Foods Market Piccadilly, said: We are in awe of the constant energy from the Centrepoint team and their commitment to helping young adults get back on their feet.

Centrepoint helpline: The Evening Standard is raising money to launch a freephone for young and homeless people / NIGEL HOWARD

All our London stores are rallying behind our Christmas appeal, but we at Piccadilly have a special connection as we share a neighbourhood with many Centrepoint services.

"At this time of year there is a lot of joy and happiness, but we must not forget that this can be one of the most lonely times for those who are homeless.

It is the second year in a row the homelessness charity has teamed up with Whole Foods. Last year they raised 31,946.

Nick Connolly, head of corporate development at Centrepoint, said: We are delighted to have the continued support of Whole Foods for their Christmas campaign this year.

Homeless Helpline: Centrepoint want a freephone number for young people facing homelessness

With the number of young people sleeping rough in London more than doubling in recent years, this support is truly invaluable.

"This winter alone, almost 25,000 young people will be at risk, making dangerous choices just to survive.

Whole Foods: Piccadilly store team leader Diego Hvozda said he is 'delighted' to support the campaign

Benjamin Woodgate, marketing coordinator at Whole Foods Market, added: We are proud and delighted to be partnering with Centrepoint for the second year running.

We have a great appreciation for the efforts of the Centrepoint team, especially during the Christmas period and winter months.

This Christmas Evening Standard is raising money to support Centrepoint, and also to raise money for a new Youth Homelessness Helpline.

Centrepoint: Sade's story

More than 150,000 young people approach the authorities every year because they are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Nearly three quarters of those who approach Centrepoint have experienced abuse of some kind.

The Evening Standard's Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money for the Centrepoint Helpline, a brand new support service that will save young people from ending up on the streets.

To donate please visit our Just Giving page.
B race yourself, London: the Americans are coming, jazz hands akimbo. Im not talking about a wave of Manhattan refugees fleeing the Trump Supremacy, but a theatrical invasion. A host of shows that have wowed crowds on and off Broadway are heading our way this winter and into next year. They range from quirky projects to all-singing, all-dancing, teeth n tits musical extravaganzas, and all points in between. British and American politics may be increasingly isolationist, but the special relationship between the theatre communities of London and New York is booming.

Most hotly anticipated is Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Mirandas hip-hop musical about one of Americas founding fathers, which won 11 Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the admiration of the Obamas. Hamilton is such a must-see that a lottery was created for tickets in New York and seats were changing hands online for more than 800. London has already had a taste of Mirandas work, when his melting-pot, anti-gentrification musical In The Heights played in Kings Cross, but Hamilton apparently knocks In The Heights into a cocked hat. The show will reopen the refurbished Victoria Palace next October.

Before then, one of the great modern American musicals, Dreamgirls, telling a fictionalised version of The Supremes story, has finally come to London  specifically to the Savoy Theatre where its currently previewing in a new British production  35 years after it first conquered Broadway.

Meanwhile, at the New London, weve got the raucous School of Rock  adapted from the film by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Julian Downton Fellowes. Another film adaptation, An American in Paris, premiered on Broadway, directed by Royal Ballet associate choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and comes to the Dominion in March. A third US translation, Waitress, is reportedly looking for a venue for spring 2017.

School Of Rock / Tristram Kenton

Some of the starriest openings of this autumn/winter have been plays first shown and conceived on Broadway, though often built around talent from this side of the pond. Nice Fish is an absurdist comedy about ice-fishing in Minnesota. Written by and starring the ineffably great Mark Rylance and American prose poet Louis Jenkins, it began life in Brooklyn, but now has a short run at the Harold Pinter Theatre. The smash-hit revival of Harold Pinters No Mans Land, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart, the Evening Standard Theatre Awards winner for Best Revival, was first created at New Yorks Cort Theatre in 2013.

At the more avant-garde end of the scale, Lazarus, the off-Broadway concept musical on which the dying David Bowie worked with Irish playwright Enda Walsh and Belgian director Ivo van Hove, is at the Kings Cross Theatre until January, with the star of Dexter and Six Feet Under, Michael C Hall, reprising the lead role. Over the next 12 months, the National, Hampstead and Royal Court Theatres are all mounting plays  new works and revivals  of shows previously seen in New York.

Why? And why now? One reason is that New York offers London a different skill set. We send them classy plays such as Les Liaisons Dangereuses and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and for a while in the 1980s, we even threatened to overthrow their dominance of more commercial productions. Though as a raft of shows coming our way proves, Broadway is excellent at the big-scale numbers.

Broadway is the dominant provider of musicals and remains so, says Mark Shenton, associate editor of The Stage, although we are obviously going to send them [Old Vic hit] Groundhog Day for spring 2017.

A second and more prosaic reason is that (the actors union) British and American Equity relaxed its restrictions on traffic between actors, directors and entire companies in 2008. It used to be much more play for play, musical for musical, actor for actor, says Stephen Spence, British Equitys assistant general secretary. This led to unholy squabbles over whether a British show balanced an American one or whether Actor A from the US properly matched Actor B in the UK. Now the unions operate a pool system, which takes a longer-term view (in effect, indefinitely) of weeks worked by American actors here and there, with both sides keeping an eye to make sure the balance doesnt get too skewed.

Sophie Anne Caruso and Michael C Hall in Lazarus

The relaxation of Equitys restrictions has made everything so much easier, says veteran producer Robert Fox, who has brought Lazarus across the Atlantic. There is not as much red tape now and there is a greater understanding of the mutual benefits of making it all easier. I personally wonder if Sam Mendess Bridge Project  a mixed company of British and American actors that produced classic plays in Brooklyn and the Old Vic for three years from 2009  also had a subtle impact.

It meant directors would think more freely about cross casting, agrees Sonia Friedman, producer of Dreamgirls, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and The Book of Mormon, among countless other shows on both sides of the Atlantic. Friedman introduced American actors to the Royal Court production of The Seagull with Dame Kristin Scott Thomas when she took it to New York. The American audience felt ownership of it, because it was a cross cast piece. But it had the original aesthetic of the British production.

She points out that we export more plays to New York: the Donmar Warehouse productions of Les Liaisons Dangereuses and its all-female Tempest will appear on Broadway and in Brooklyn soon. New Yorkers have a romantic relationship with British theatre, says Friedman, particularly with Shakespeare, with our actors, with our classics.

McKellen and Stewart, who have been Gandalf and Jean-Luc Picard, Magneto and Professor Xavier, and are also respected classical actors, created No Mans Land to run alongside their production of Waiting For Godot, which began in London. Rylance is treated like Burbage, or Henry Irving, or Olivier over there, Friedman adds.

Its economically more viable to take our work to New York than bring one of the big star-led plays from New York to London because the economics dont work, she continues. A Hollywood star  and I wont name one  could be paid 40,000 to 56,000 a week: theres no way in the West End you could get close to that. Bradley Cooper coming over [to do The Elephant Man last year] is a wonderful exception.

Which leads us to the third point about the apparent American theatrical onslaught in London. More than ever, its clear that New York-London theatrical traffic runs entirely two ways, says Matt Wolf, an American in London and critic for The International New York Times. The globalisation of culture, and social media, have just made the traffic faster.

Culturally, we have always been close to America, says Julian Bird, chief executive of the Society of London Theatre. The two theatre capitals have worked very hard with each other to generate a product that, if its a success, the other city wants to see. And things are expensive, so co-production makes sense. Friedman says: Social media has had a massive impact. Its made the world a tiny place. Everybody who follows theatre is following Hamilton, all over the world. Im living the Harry Potter experience now  you can make your show a global hit overnight, although the show still has to be good enough.

Mark Rylance and Jim Lichtscheidl in Nice Fish

There is an increased synergy between the two like-minded cities. Wolf points out that shows often start small in the Big Apple and grow here: The Spoils [Jesse Eisenbergs play, recently at Trafalgar Studios] and Lazarus and Nice Fish can play small New York venues and then take on commercial spaces in London, leaving Broadway for the big musicals and star vehicles like Tom Hanks in Lucky Guy or Nathan Lane, John Goodman and John Slattery in The Front Page. It was logical for Mark Rylance to launch the American-flavoured Nice Fish in the US, though online word of its excellence made a transfer inevitable. Similarly, it made sense for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to open here (Friedman is working on the Broadway transfer). Shenton points out that the quintessentially American School of Rock is the first show Andrew Lloyd Webber has premiered in New York rather than the UK since Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971.

Lazarus, a global product drawing on English, Irish, Belgian and American experience, had to start in New York. Bowie lived very near to the New York Theatre Workshop and was receiving treatment in NYC for his illness, says Fox. It not only made sense but was imperative that it started life over there. That said, Bowies music is loved globally and with the team of artists involved, the project is truly international. It was always part of the discussion I had with David that the show should come to London if successful in New York.

That is the over-arching truth of the apparent American invasion of our stages. There is constant cultural interplay between New York and London  the two great melting-pot metropolises  but the best always comes back here in the end.

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H oney  what a magical ingredient! Over the years, we have found ourselves using it more and more in cooking. It is so versatile with so many different flavours, each dependent on what flower the bee has visited, and at what time of year. It is fantastic in dressings (our simple go-to is olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper), or spread over sourdough toast in the morning with salted butter, drizzled over porridge, ice cream, cheese, yoghurt and berries. It also works well in marinades and can even be used in baking.

Our favourite honey is the wild heather honey of the Cheviot Hills from Lucys familys farm in Northumberland. We recently visited the bees with Ian Robinson, the beekeeper, who took us through the whole journey of honey-making. Hats off to the worker bees who will fly around 75,000 miles in their lives, collecting nectar in order to make the wondrous honeycomb.

In recent times, we have taken to using honey as a substitute for refined sugar. If you are going to do this, keep in mind the flavour and taste of the honey and make sure it will work with your dish. If using in baking, as we are here, then be aware that most honeys are sweeter than sugar so you will need less. The other difference with this cake is that we have opted to use olive oil instead of butter, which leaves it  the dreaded word, moist  in the middle.

This cake makes a lovely light dessert and couldnt be more festive with a dollop of brandy cream.

Honey cake with brandy cream

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a nine-inch round cake tin. Put the ground almonds, self-raising flour, baking powder, honey, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, salt and eggs in a large mixing bowl and mix together with an electric whisk. Slowly add the olive oil while mixing with the whisk. Add the majority of the pistachios (keeping out a handful) and gently stir in. Pour into the tin and scatter the remaining pistachios over the top. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. While cooking, make the brandy cream by mixing all the ingredients together. Serve the cake alongside the cream.

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

115g of ground almonds

115g of self-raising flour/gluten-free self-raising flour

2tsp of baking powder

225g of honey

4 free-range eggs

2 lemons  zest and juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a nine-inch round cake tin. Put the ground almonds, self-raising flour, baking powder, honey, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, salt and eggs in a large mixing bowl and mix together with an electric whisk. Slowly add the olive oil while mixing with the whisk. Add the majority of the pistachios (keeping out a handful) and gently stir in. Pour into the tin and scatter the remaining pistachios over the top. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. While cooking, make the brandy cream by mixing all the ingredients together. Serve the cake alongside the cream.

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O nce Upon a Times The Little Treasured Toy Shop

Always hoped that Hamleys comes to life at night? Then Once Upon a Times Little Treasured Toy Shop is your Christmas dream come true. The two-storey space on Conduit Street has been transformed into an abandoned New York toy store where youll be treated to a three-course meal as your surroundings slowly come to life throughout dinner, from swinging acrobats to marching toy soldiers. Expect a toy drummers salmon pate, turkey croquettes and a magic monopoly dessert  an interactive board game of brownies with berry coulis, jelly and a spiced Christmas cream. Weve been told to expect themed follow-ups at Easter and Halloween.

Where: Conduit Street, W1

Tickets: from 70. 24 Nov to 22 Dec (onceuponatimepresents.com)

Pitch Black

Were living in a world where everyones obsessed with the way things look, especially cocktails, says Pitch Blacks co-founder Dom Balfour. Not any more. At the cosy Shoreditch drinking den the lights are dimmed, then extinguished, after all the guests arrive before a delectable, ever-evolving liquid smorgasbord is served in absolute darkness: Champagne on arrival, two cocktails, followed by two aromatic wines. You dont find out what drink youve had until afterwards and the idea is to let your nose and taste buds do the talking. The cocktails change every week but theyre always well-known classics, from breakfast Martinis (gin, orange liqueur, marmalade, lemon juice) to pisco sours. Expect Christmas drinks to join the menu soon. Bring on the egg nog.

Where: City Road, EC1

Tickets: 48 (pitch-black.designmynight.com )

Bompas & Parrs Beyond the Waterfall

Sam Bompas & Harry Parrs last theatrical outing, Dinner at the Twits in September, served up bird pies and glass-eye-topped cocktails from Roald Dahls gruesome hosts. This latest one really pushes the boat out. In the middle of Westfield shopping centre, a small vessel sails you across an actual 60ft lagoon, under a waterfall and on to a twinkling Aladdins Cave before you stumble upon a hidden cocktail tavern staffed by mermen mixologists. Everythings ocean-inspired, including the cocktails, which are laced with undersea botanicals and minerals. Saltier than your average mojito.

Where: Westfield, W12

Tickets: 15. 9-23 Dec (bompasandparr.com)

Gingerlines Chambers of Flavour

Like all good stories, Gingerlines wildly popular Chambers of Flavour begins in a bar. Jump through an inter-dimensional portal of a lever-laden machine  a wonderful bit of set design  before delving into parallel worlds. Previous adventurers have plundered forests to hunt for birds nests containing little salad bowls, then been served dessert on an aeroplane while being serenaded by a flight attendant in drag. The location is only revealed by text an hour before (its always near the East London Line, hence Gingerline), and guests are sworn to secrecy afterwards.

Where: secret locations

Tickets: 55 and 75, with the next release at midday on 30 Nov (chambersofflavour.co.uk)

Waldorf Project

Futuro, the third chapter of artist Sean Roggs critically acclaimed Waldorf Project series, isnt for the faint-hearted. Engage your brain, then surrender your senses as dancers lead you through chambers of a plastic-padded cathedral space in the Here East building, with performers clad in costumes that emit more light the more people gather round. Seven courses follow: a savoury, brown composite is tastier than expected while lychee cocktails in balloon-like containers are served throughout the three-hour psych-out. The night ends with one drop of tincture placed on your tongue. They call it closure. We call it a little stingy.

Where: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20 Tickets: 84. Until 4 Dec (waldorfproject.com)

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G lenn Close

Winner, Best Musical Performance for Sunset Boulevard

For American audiences, Glenn Close, 69, has always been the definitive Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webbers 1990s stage musical version of Billy Wilders Hollywood classic. In 1994, she won a Tony after premiering the role on Broadway. This April, 22 years later, she came to Londons Coliseum and proved she was still worthy of a close-up. The Evening Standard Theatre Awards judges praised a peerless performance, adding that The shows signature song, As If We Never Said Goodbye, has never been better sung. It was as if Close was giving a masterclass. Close said of the win: To come back for the first time in the West End, to be supported by the glorious ENO... it was an extraordinary, revelatory experience for me. On top of that was the amazing response from our audience. It was a huge honour. I hope to come back one day. First the show will transfer to Broadway in February.

J.K Rowling attends the European premiere of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' / Getty Images

JK Rowling

Co-winner, Best play for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Most successful UK author or not, its still a brave person who decides to make their move to playwriting with a six-hour epic that the world is waiting to watch fly  or crash. Rowlings magical thinking partners were playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany. Thankfully the trios efforts proved bewitching. At the awards ceremony, Rowling, 51, who couldnt attend, sent a message via Noma Dumezweni, who plays Hermione, thanking Tiffany and Thorne for crafting the bare bones of a story into something very special.

Charlene James / Matt Writtle

Charlene James

Winner, Charles Wintour award for Most Promising Playwright

Now more than ever we need to look out for each other in the world, said 34-year-old James as she accepted her prize for Cuttin It. Her piercing, vital play followed British-Somalian teenager Munas race to save her younger sister from the ritual of female genital mutilation. A co-production between the Young Vic and the Royal Court, the work brought insight and humanity to its exploration of a barbaric practice this newspaper has campaigned against. Hailing a voice of the future, the Evening Standard editor, Sarah Sands, lauded an urgent, funny and tender play that confronts the question: how are we allowing girls to be branded in a land of the free? The Birmingham-born, Lewisham-based actress and playwright proved a popular winner: London Mayor Sadiq Khan posed for a picture with her and her prize, while veteran playwright Roy Williams tweeted congratulations. The Royal Court has already commissioned a new play.

Sophie Melville

Sophie Melville

Nominee, Best actress for Iphigenia in Splott

On Valentines Day, this Welsh actress sent a tweet to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. It wasnt a love note but a challenge. Come learn what the #NHS means to the majority, said Melville, 30, of Gary Owens furious monologue critique of governmental cuts that took the bare bones of Euripides Greek tragedy and set it in a downtrodden district of Cardiff. Critics stumbled over superlatives describing Melvilles incendiary performance as the forsaken Effie, at first a mouthily confident, hard-drinking young woman, who, after becoming pregnant, is left tragically unsupported.

Sonia Friedman / Dave Benett/Getty Images

Sonia Friedman

Producer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, winner of Best Play

It has been another stellar year for the super-producer, whose crowning achievement in 2016 was proving the naysayers wrong with her wizard production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, winner of Best New Play at the Awards. It might be the biggest project that any theatre producer has done, she said proudly, after its July opening had cast the critics under a collective spell. Theres no chance of Friedman, 51, resting on her laurels, though: her productions of Dreamgirls and Nice Fish have just opened, while next year sees a much-anticipated Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf starring Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill, Sam Mendes directing Jez Butterworths The Ferryman and a West End transfer for the Meniers sharp Travesties.

Helen McCrory

Helen McCrory

Nominee, Best actress for The Deep Blue Sea

Audiences held their breath in the Nationals Lyttelton Theatre this year during the final, heartstopping moments of Carrie Cracknells luminous production of Terence Rattigans bittersweet study of thwarted love in post-war London. When McCrorys proud, down-on-her-luck, upper-class Hester fired up her kitchenettes stove in the plays final scene, would she choose life or suicide? Hester was another tour de force from McCrory, 48, last nominated at these Awards for her 2014 Medea. The Peaky Blinders actress, who is married to Damian Lewis, with whom she has two children, will star in a new ITV series, Fearless, in 2017.

Noma Dumezweni as Linda / Alastair Muir/REX/Shutterstock

Noma Dumezweni

Nominee for Best actress for Linda

This has been an astounding 12 months for the Swaziland-born actress, who this time last year wowed audiences in Penelope Skinners cri de coeur Linda, criticising the invisibility of older women. On opening night, Dumezweni, 46, who had taken over the demanding central role at only two weeks notice after Kim Cattrall pulled out, was applauded at the interval. She then had to run the gauntlet of at best petty, at worst racist remarks regarding her casting as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Her policy was dignified silence, though both JK Rowling and the film series Hermione, Emma Watson, came out battling for Dumezweni. And so, of course, did the critics, when the show opened.

Vicky Featherstone

Artistic director of the Royal Court and director of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Nominee, Best Musical

Featherstone, 49, was appointed as the first female artistic director of the Royal Court in 2013  and shes made sure the theatre maintains its reputation as Britains home for new writing. But her impact can be felt far beyond Sloane Square. For the National Theatre of Scotland she directed Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, revived with ribald success at Londons National this autumn. She also commissioned the NTSs refugee musical Glasgow Girls, which played at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Sheridan Smith

Nominee, Best Musical performance

After rave reviews for her charismatic star turn as Fanny Brice in the Meniers production of Funny Girl last Christmas, the popular musical star was a lynchpin for the shows triumphant transfer to the West End. An exhausted Smith, 35, had to take a two-month break from the production in May, but this did nothing to dent her immense popularity.

Suzan-Lori Parks

Nominee, Best Play for Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

This three-part play, set during the American Civil War, is an epic in itself, but the 53-year-old Kentucky-born Parks ambition is to make it the first in a cycle, steeped in mythology, charting the black American experience. In Part 1, a slave, Homer, is promised his freedom if he agrees to go to war with his Confederate owner.

Glenda Jackson as King Lear / Alastair Muir/REX/Shutterstock

Glenda Jackson

Star of King Lear, The Old Vic

Too late to be part of this years nominations, veteran actress Jackson has garnered stunning reviews for her first stage role in 25 years as King Lear, directed by Deborah Warner. The

80-year-old, who left acting to pursue a frontline political career, stood down as MP for Hampstead at the last general election. Of her current barnstorming performance at lifes despatch box, Evening Standard critic Henry Hitchings wrote: Glenda Jackson is immense. Even though were talking about a performer who has won two Oscars, this will surely rate as one of her

greatest achievements.

Aoife Duffin

Aoife Duffin

Nominee, Emerging Talent award for A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing and The Taming of the Shrew

At the Young Vic in February, the Cork-born actress, who looks years younger than 33, brought a heartwrenching vulnerability to A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, a monologue adaptation of Eimear McBrides stream-of-consciousness novel, which won the Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction in 2014. Then, at the Globe in June, her tiny frame seemed to endure all the ills of the world as The Taming of the Shrews Kate, at first spitting with fury, but, by the chilling end, broken-spirited.

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour / Corbis via Getty Images

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Nominee, Best Musical

If there was a prize for the most outrageously loveable female musical ensemble, this would have been a shoo-in. An uproarious picaresque and an elegy for youthful dreams, it follows an Oban Catholic school choirs trip. Adaptor Lee Hall and director Vicky Featherstone first discussed a stage adaptation of Alan Warners novel The Sopranos about a decade ago, but reignited their plan after meeting at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards a couple of years back. The National Theatre of Scotland production was a 2015 Fringe hit; it arrived

at Londons National this autumn.

Emma Rice / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Emma Rice

Director of Shakespeares Globe

The ebullient Rice, 49, was hailed as a breath of fresh air when she arrived on the South Bank in April to helm her inaugural season as the first female director of the Globe. The first production she directed there, an exuberant A Midsummer Nights Dream, was a critical and commercial hit, so now speculation is rife as to why Rice will leave her post after only two years. Artistic differences  primarily her use of modern lighting  have been blamed by the board, but surely something as important to them should have been hammered out at the interview stage?

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N estled in King Kongs huge hand or staring up at Free Willy as he arcs overhead, 10-month-old Grayson takes a starring role in some of Hollywoods best-loved movies.

The little boy has become something of a social media sensation thanks to the images of him posing in famous scenes from the likes of Jurassic Park and Singin In The Rain, hand-drawn and posted online by his mother.

Actress Fee Ainsworth, 33, began sketching the scenes when she learned she was pregnant with Grayson in April last year. She told the Standard: As an actress, I knew my work would dry up while I was pregnant and I would have a lot of time on my hands. I have always been arty, and I came up with the idea and justified it as some crazy bump-bonding exercise  nine months of peaceful drawing exposing my soon-to-be child with peace and serenity.

I also thought Grayson would like to have some pictures to laugh at later on while knowing they were done solely for him and that he was present in every single one.

Mrs Ainsworth, of Putney, drew 12 pictures before Grayson was born in February this year. She would first create a small version of the scene, with a space left for her unborn child, and then scale it up, using charcoal on rolls of paper. The largest, a scene from E.T., is 145cm by 145cm. On average, each took her three weeks. Mrs Ainsworth set up the first scene, Free Willy, when Grayson was four weeks old. Her husband Glen, a surveyor, takes the pictures. Grayson loves it, she said.

Originally, she was going to make the images into a calendar to give to Graysons grandparents, but decided to post them on her blog, graysononhollywood.com, on which she also writes about parenting.

Grayson with mother Fee / Fee Ainsworth

The reception was fantastic, she said. It has just taken off. I got enquiries from people wanting their babies in their favourite movie scenes. She is planning on turning the images into a business. Im now taking orders from parents to shoot their scenes from January. Im busy drawing commissioned pieces of their favourite movie scenes, purchasing wardrobe, arranging studio shoots.

Basically a business has been born out of never intending to start one, this was just mine and Graysons fun times which has been turned on its head, in a positive way.

Follow Lizzie on Twitter @LizzieEdmo
A s the polls closed for the US election just over a fortnight ago I was on the phone to Sophie Walker discussing what a Hillary Clinton win would mean for feminism. The leader of the Womens Equality Party, like many of us, believed that a high-point was within touching distance.

Just a few hours later the world had been turned on its head as Donald Trump  alleged sexual assailant, pro-lifer, connoisseur of locker-room banter  was elected President.

His victory boosted the rise of the so-called Alt-Right  a loose grouping including white supremacists and anti-feminists  that has thrown mainstream liberal opinion into despair.

The morning after Donald Trump was elected I felt incredibly sad, Walker says. A vote for Donald Trump was a vote to say misogyny and racism dont matter. He perpetuates everything that is wrong about this idea that there is only so much of the pie to go round, and that equality for one person means taking it away from somebody else.

She is appalled that he has appointed Steve Bannon, whose online news outlet Breitbart runs headlines such as Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer? as White House chief strategist.

But Walker, speaking ahead of WEs first ever party conference in Manchester this weekend, was also resolute: I felt, right, we are now past the point where anybody can feasibly suggest that sexism and misogyny dont exist. Actually, bring it on. This guy has been very clear about what he stands for, and when someone is so clear, in many respects it makes it a much more straightforward fight.

One of the narratives that has emerged from the US election was that the result was a rejection of a liberal elite who focused on issues such as equality, which voters didnt feel resonated with their everyday concerns.

Walker disagrees with those who claim that Clinton was not disadvantaged because she was a woman (Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures) / Daniel Hambury

But Walker is unsympathetic. I have absolutely no time for people who may push others out of the way to protect what they have. The idea that Trump and Nigel Farage are anti-establishment when they are so rooted in business, industry and powerful and wealthy networks is absurd.

This framing of minorities, these groups who are so massively discriminated against, as somehow the elite, is similarly absurd. What we have to do as we push back is be very clear about what is going on here, which is a deliberate movement to sow fear and suspicion of each other.

Trump won 53 per cent of white womens votes, prompting many progressives to accuse them of being traitors to their gender. I am ashamed that white women voted to maintain their privilege over moving forward with equality for all, she says.

Celebrity feminists - in pictures 1 /6 Celebrity feminists - in pictures Emma Watson Beyonce Kevin Winter/WireImage Miley Cyrus Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Taylor Swift Josiah Kamau/BuzzFoto via Getty Lena Dunham Michael Buckner/Getty

She disagrees with those who claim that Clinton was not disadvantaged because she was a woman, because as a Clinton she had every advantage possible. That was the joke. Hillary was always the outsider. The idea that he was anti-establishment and she was the insider! You put a woman in a political race and shes always the outsider.

There are silver linings. The election of Trump brought a bump in interest in Walkers party  which now has 65,000 members and registered supporters  matched only by the Brexit vote.

The positive is that people are mobilising in a way Ive not seen for a long time. Trump will be responsible for a whole global wave of feminism. For all those times that people have said we should do something about this, that time is now.

Trump won 53 per cent of white womens votes / AP Photo/Evan Vucci

But can a small UK political party really expect to divert the juggernaut of male-dominated, Right-wing Trumpism  or indeed Faragism  that is ploughing through conventional politics?

Walker thinks for a long time and then simply says: Yes, throwing her head back and laughing. Im not comparing myself to Nigel Farage, but if anybody is in any doubt about the impact a small party can make with minimal numbers of votes but huge amount of influence, then there you have it.

For me a political party is always about leverage. Im always hoping the other parties will do this first and I will give them warm and fulsome support to do it.

She insists that WE is more than just a political movement: she won one in 20 votes at the London mayoral election, came within a hairs breadth of taking an assembly seat and is already talking about putting forward candidates at council elections. We always said this needed to be a political party because the only thing that motivated the other political parties was votes.

The party also wants to amplify the voices of feminists in other parties and look for ways to collaborate. For example, WE is working with the Lib-Dems and Greens against Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election. It has conducted a huge survey, What Women Want, that emulates one of 20 years ago that changed the direction of politics.

So surely its a good thing that there is woman in Number 10 to listen? Another pause. Having a woman as Prime Minister is important symbolically, for little girls to see a woman in that job, she admits. But there is a huge difference between having a leader who is a woman and a woman leader enacting policies for womens equality. And thats what we havent seen.

While she praises Theresa May for her work recruiting female Tory MPs and changing police attitudes to domestic violence, she says its hugely disappointing there hasnt been more policy on equality since she took power.

Walker says its hugely disappointing there hasn't been more policy on equality / Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Walker is uncomfortable with the idea that the Labour Party  which has the highest number of female MPs, many of them brilliant feminists  has a women problem, suggesting instead the problem might be with its leader. Jeremy Corbyns response to Trump was incredibly telling: to make an entire formal statement about the US election that made no reference to the misogny and sexism of his campaign is flabbergasting, she says.

This weekend is a big one for WE as it gathers in Manchester for its first conference, which will include workshops on debating and standing for office as well as speeches from luminaries, including party founders Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer. There is, of course, a creche.

Walker, 45, and her husband, Chris Naylor, chief executive of Barking and Dagenham council, have four children between them.

She says: There are conflicts between the time I spend doing this and the time I spend with my family  and thats never going to go away. They completely get it, but obviously they get fed-up with me not being there. The fact her husband is a feminist helps. I cant recommend it highly enough, she laughs.

Theresa May's new cabinet 1 /32 Theresa May's new cabinet Philip Hammond British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jack Taylor/Getty Amber Rudd Home Secretary Lauren Hurley/PA Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary Lauren Hurley/PA Jeremy Hunt Health Secretary Dominic Lipinski/PA Justine Greening Education Secretary Paul Hackett/Reuters Michael Fallon Defence Secretary DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Liz Truss Justice Secretary Dominic Lipinski/PA Chris Grayling Transport Secretary Dominic Lipinski/PA Karen Bradley Culture Secretary Dan Kitwood/Getty David Davis Exiting the European Union Secretary (Brexit Minister) Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Andrea Leadsom Environment Secretary Dominic Lipinski/PA Liam Fox International Trade Secretary Steve Parsons/PA Alun Cairns Welsh Secretary Andrew Matthews/PA Sajid Javid Communities Secretary Dan Kitwood/Getty Priti Patel International Development Secretary Andrew Matthews/PA Greg Clark Business, Energy And Industrial Strategy Secretary Dan Kitwood/Getty James Brokenshire Northern Ireland Secretary Andrew Matthews/PA Patrick McLoughlin Tory Party chairman and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Dominic Lipinski/PA Damian Green Work and Pensions Secretary Dan Kitwood/Getty Baroness Natalie Evans Leader of the House of Lords Dominic Lipinski/PA Gavin Williamson Chief Whip Paul Hackett/Reuters Jeremy Wright Remains Attorney General David Gauke Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Mundell Remains Scottish Secretary

She is an unconventional politician, a former journalist who never wanted to go into the political arena because she was put off by the ding-dong of it all, but felt compelled because of the inequality she saw around her. When I first started doing this there were a lot of people who said to me, Oh, youre going to have to get a thick skin. I dont particularly want one. I think politics is better done by people who can empathise.

She has her fair share of Twitter trolls, and is conscious that encouraging women to join up is a big ask because of how difficult it can be for women to speak out in defence of their rights. Because the misogynists did such an effective PR job on the concept of feminism, generations of women are loathe to even mention it for fear of the abuse that will be heaped upon them.

But for Walker, WE cannot be just a talking shop for like-minded women. She is fiercely proud the party has practical solutions for addressing big issues such as the gender pay gap, affordable childcare and violence against women.

We spend too long talking about what a feminist is, she says. Im interested interested in what a feminist does.

Follow Pippa Crerar on Twitter: @PippaCrerar
B lock off 24-hours for your next G&T session, because a gin hotel is about to open in London.

The Distillery hotel is set to open on December 16 on Portobello Road in west London, with four floors dedicated to drinking and enjoying gin.

The redeveloped former boozer on the corner of Portobello and Talbot roads has a 400-litre gin still fitted in the basement, and three boutique guest rooms overlooking the famous market street below.

Alongside litres of craft gin, the hotel is also home to a modern visitor centre called The Ginstitute, where guests will be able to learn about the history of gin and try their hand at blending their own.

Separately, the ground floor has been converted into a pub called The Resting Room, where patrons can sample the spirits served direct from barrels suspended from the ceiling above the bar.

Meanwhile the first floor has Spanish bar and restaurant called GinTonica, which serves G&Ts in the classic Copa de Balon style, alongside a vast and varied menu of gin cocktails.

(The Distillery)

On the top floor, there is a private dining room called the Boardroom, with a VIP bar and a choice of three boutique rooms - each fitted with minibars and record players - that start from 125 per night.

Founder of Portobello Road Gin and The Distillery Ged Feltham said: We already have bookings for The Distillery from across Europe and even as far afield as South Africa  and the positive response to the project so far has been overwhelming!

Not only does the new distillery mean we can continue to produce our product on Portobello Road, it has allowed us to expand our hugely successful gin-making experience, The Ginstitute, which had outgrown its original venue.

The most exciting parts of the project are the new and unexpected opportunities that have come with a development of this size and scale. We are proud purveyors of London spirit and we look forward to exciting guests from around the globe with amazing gin and other wonderful new distillates and aged spirits.

The Distillery opens to the public 16th December 2016. For more information, prices and latest news visit the website here.
A n 87-year-old artist was fighting for her life today after being mugged at her home in north London.

Stella Magarshack was returning from grocery shopping nearby when she was followed into the communal lobby of her block of apartments by an unknown man.

She asked who he was there to see but the man did not answer and instead snatched her bag before running off.

The victim, a keen artist and former head of art at fee-paying King Alfreds School in Hampstead, entered her flat and told a relative that she lives with what happened.

The relative left the room to call police, and when they returned the pensioner had collapsed.

Paramedics rushed to the flat in Camden, close to Regents Park, and took Ms Magarshack to hospital with what police described as life-threatening injuries where she remains in a critical condition.

Nephew Orlando Toro, 45, said: She went to collect some medicine from the pharmacy and do her shopping.

The Camden home of artist Stella Magarshack, where the attack took place / Jeremy Selwyn

Someone had followed her but may have been waiting. It was opportunistic.

She was coming in to bring her shopping in. Apparently she made a second trip and the guy snatched her bag.

Then she went up the stairs but she was panicked. She had a stroke as a result of her bag being snatched.

Ms Magarshack also suffered bleeding on the brain, her family said.

Mr Toro added: The stairs may have raised her blood pressure. She managed to call the bank cancel her bank cards.

A relative went to check on her and she was okay, but a few minutes later her voice was funny and she felt ill.

Her other nephew found her.

She was looking after her family. She does not have children but her sister did and she helped bring them up. She was their second mother.

She is very independent. If anyone can help catch this person please come forward. Its an 87-year-old person and somebody has targeted her. They may have seen her a few times and saw how slow she was moving and waited for the right moment.

Detective Inspector Adam Ghaboos, from Camden CID said: This was a nasty robbery which has left an elderly lady fighting for her life. Our thoughts are with the victim and her family and friends during this difficult time.

We are determined to find the person responsible and we would urge any witnesses or anyone with information to contact the police or Crimestoppers as soon as possible.

He said no arrests had yet been made and enquiries were continuing. The attacker is described as tall and black.

Any witnesses or anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A man who sexually assaulted a teenager following a night out at Tiger Tiger has been jailed.

Predator Yathukulan Paskarmoorthy, 33, pounced on the 19-year-old when she left the Haymarket nightclub in the early hours.

The confused student, who had only been in the UK for four days, had mistakenly left the club though a fire door and found herself in a basement of the neighbouring building.

Paskarmoorthy, who had been sitting at a table in the club, followed her out of the door, grabbed the woman and pushed her to the floor.

She fought back but Paskarmoorthy's sex assault only stopped when she pleaded: "There is a camera. Don't do this, don't do this to me, you'll get caught."

This startled him and he immediately stopped and ran out of the building, the court heard.

Paskarmoorth, of Berkley Road, Kingsbury, pleaded guilty to the September 17 sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court on October 26, police said.

He was sentenced to four years in prison at the same court on Wednesday.

CCTV footage from the night saw Paskaramoorthy follow the woman through the fire exit and leaving the building a short time after.

Speaking about the impact the attack had on her the woman said: "I'd only been in London for four days at the time and I didn't want to tell my parents as I felt it would affect them psychologically and they would want me to come home straight away.

I didn't want to worry them. So I just went to my room mate and cried because I had to get it off my chest.

"I hate that it happened, but I fought the guy off and I was glad I did because I do not want him to do worse to someone else. I'm very apprehensive about going out with university friends now, and I do not."

Detective Constable Ben Lucas, the investigating officer from the Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "This was a predatory attack on a vulnerable young woman and has left her fearful to go out with friends.

"I would like to praise her for her courage in coming to us and helping us to bring Paskaramoorthy to justice. The sentence passed will give him time to reflect on his horrific actions and how he has affected this young womans life."
A lorry driver has been charged following the death of a cyclist who was killed in a crash in south London.

Darren Anderton, 48, is accused of failing to stop at the scene of a collision after cyclist Magda Tadaj was struck by a lorry in Croydon earlier this year.

Ms Tadaj, 25, from Streatham, died from multiple injuries after being hit by the truck in Selhurst on May 23.

She was the second cyclist to die on London's road this year.

Anderton was charged with failing to stop at the scene of the collision on Tuesday.

He is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on December 20.
A young man was stabbed in the face by two armed suspects who attempted to steal his moped in north London.

The moped rider, 22, was slashed across the cheek with a sharp object and threatened by two men in Tottenham on Thursday afternoon.

He was stabbed after refusing to hand over his motorcycle in Park View Road, Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim said.

The victim managed to escape and sped off towards Leaside Road where he stopped and called the police.

Officers and medics rushed to help the victim after being alerted to the attempted robbery at about 5.15pm.

Attacked: The victim was stabbed in the face with a sharp object / @Shomrim

He was taken to hospital by Hatzola  the Jewish fast response ambulance service  where he remains in a stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.

A Met Police spokesman said: We were called to reports of a man who had been assaulted in Park View Road, Tottenham.

We have attended the location and spoken to the victim and established he was assaulted after somebody attempted to take his moped.

A Shomrim spokesman said: Police attended to the location of the victim after he managed to escape. He had managed to ride away to safety.

He suffered a large cut to his chin. Hes in a stable condition with non life-threatening injuries.

No arrests have been made.
A murder probe has been launched into the death of a five-year-old boy who died after suffering head injuries at a south-east London park.

The boy was left fighting for his life in hospital after he was injured at Mountsfield Park, Catford on Sunday afternoon.

Police were called to the south London hospital at about 1.45am on Monday after the boy was admitted with critical head injuries.

He died in hospital the following day and the investigation was passed to the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

Marvin Iheanacho, 38, from Wesley Avenue, Hounslow, was arrested on Monday and appeared at Bromley Magistrates Court the following day charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Woolwich Crown Court on December 20.

Officers await the results of a post-mortem examination carried out today.

Police said they plan to return to the park on November 27 to conduct appeals one-week on where the victim was injured.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Lynes, who is leading the investigation, said: "We are appealing to find any witnesses who were in, or near to, Mountsfield Park, Catford between approximately 5.15pm and 6.45pm on Sunday November 20.

"We are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard anything regarding an incident involving a man in the company of a child."

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 020 87214868 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org.
A man is fighting for his life in hospital and three other people have been injured after a car ploughed into pedestrians in West Kensington.

Emergency services swarmed the area after the car mounted the pavement and crashed into four men in North End Road on Wednesday evening.

Police and paramedics raced to the scene of the crash at the junction with Mund Street at about 6.45pm.

Dramatic images taken at the scene showed dozens of emergency services vehicles lining the street and medics treating the injured.

Scotland Yard said a 56-year-old man and three men, aged in their 20s, were taken to hospital after the crash.

Emergency services swarmed the area in North End Road

One of the men, aged in his 20s, was in a critical condition, while the other three male pedestrians were described as stable, police said in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Police said the car stopped at the scene and a female passenger who was inside the car was also receiving treatment from paramedics for minor injuries.

A 19-year-old woman was arrested by officers on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving and taken into custody.

Police and ambulances parked inside the cordon

Witness Srivinas Namilikonda, 32, and three passing medical student helped to give medical aid to the victims at the scene until emergency services arrived.

The IT worker, from Hounslow, told the Standard: "An out of control car hit four people, they flew in different directions. It was very bad.

"People immediately called paramedics and police. The medical students were really helping and telling people what to do until the ambulances came and the trauma team.

"It was a horrific feeling. I have never seen anything like this before. So many people were crying."

A woman, who lives in North End Road, told the Standard: "It sounded like a bomb went off. I then went to the window and heard people screaming and shouting.

Crash: A car mounted the pavement and ploughed into several pedestrians / Bridgette Parlma @Bparlma

"When I left the flat, there were people lying in the road and blood was everywhere.

"People were rushing round to try and help the injured. It was terrifying as I didn't know what was happening."

The road was cordoned off while paramedics treated the injured and police investigate.

A Met Police spokesman said: It is believed at this early stage that the car mounted the pavement and collided with four pedestrians.

"The four pedestrians - a 56-year-old man and three males aged in their 20s - were taken to hospital for treatment.

"The 56-year-old man and two of the men aged in their 20s are in a non-life threatening condition.

"A man, aged in his 20s, remains in a critical condition in hospital."

Detectives from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for witnesses.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
A man was fighting for life today and three others were left injured after a teenage driver ploughed into a group of pedestrians crossing a crowded shopping street in London.

Witnesses described scenes of utter chaos as a 19-year-old female driver lost control of an Audi A3 turning a corner in West Kensington at high speed last night.

One man in his twenties suffered a suspected broken neck when he was thrown into the air after being hit head-on and was in a critical condition today.

Three other men  one aged 56 and two in their twenties  were also taken to hospital after emergency treatment at the scene.

Interview with eyewitness of West Kensington crash - London Live

Witnesses said the driver had been celebrating her birthday before the collision as she turned from North End Road into Mund Street at about 6.45pm.

One man suffered a suspected broken neck in the horror crash in Kensington / Nigel Howard

An 18-year-old onlooker, who claimed to be a former schoolmate of the driver, said: She was driving from McDonalds celebrating her birthday and came round the bend at about 60mph.

She swung on to the pavement and into one guy, who slammed into the windscreen. He flew up in the air and landed on his head.

Crash scene: Emergency services vehicles in North End Road

The driver then skidded into another man. Two more people were smashed into railings.

Theres so much blood everywhere  its the worst thing Ive ever seen.

One witness described the scene as a battlefield as members of the public, including three medical students, helped paramedics tending to the wounded on stretchers scattered across the street.

A 20-year-old shopkeeper whose business overlooks the junction said: It looked like the end of a battle in a film, with bodies on stretchers, children crying and doctors racing around trying to save people.

IT worker Srivinas Namilikonda, 32, who had been passing by, said: It was a horrific feeling. I have never seen anything like this before. So many people were crying.

The driver was arrested and remains in police custody. A passenger in the Audi was treated for minor injuries.

The Met Police said: A 56-year-old man and two men in their twenties are in a non-life-threatening condition. A fourth man, in his twenties, remains in a critical condition.

The car involved stopped at the scene. A 19-year-old woman was arrested by officers on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving. Inquiries are ongoing.

Witnesses should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A n 87-year-old woman is fighting for her life after she was robbed on her doorstep in north London.

The elderly woman from Camden collapsed and is now in a critical condition following the terrifying robbery on Tuesday evening.

The former art teacher had arrived home from grocery shopping when she was followed into her block of flats by the robber, at around 8pm.

But as the victim asked the unknown man in the lobby who he was there to see, he grabbed her bag and ran off.

The pensioner, who is a keen artist and has lived in Camden all her life, went inside her flat and told a family member what had happened, but collapsed as the police were called.

She was rushed to a north-London hospital with life-threatening injuries where she remains in a critical condition.

Police have now launched an appeal to find the suspect, who is described as a tall, black male.

Detective Inspector Adam Ghaboos called it a nasty robbery which left an elderly lady fighting for her life.

He said: Our thoughts are with the victim and her family and friends during this difficult time.

"We are determined to find the person responsible and we would urge any witnesses or anyone with information to contact the police or Crimestoppers as soon as possible."

No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.

Any witnesses or anyone with information can call police on 101. Information can also be reported to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
A preacher who has advocated dying while fighting jihad and claimed men can use physical force on their wives was given a platform at a London university, the Standard can reveal.

Abdurraheem Green, a Muslim convert from Roman Catholicism who was once banned from Arsenals Emirates Stadium for making anti-Semitic comments, preached to students at a SOAS Islamic Society charity event this month.

Green has previously written that conflict between Islam and Western societies is ordered in the Koran. He has also claimed: Dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise and Allahs good pleasure.

In 2005 he was barred from boarding a flight to Australia after being placed on a movement alert list amid concern over his radical comments.

Charity speech: Abdurraheem Green told SOAS students that the whole world is a prison

This month the Islamic Education and Research Academy, a charity he co-founded and chairs, was warned by the Charity Commission to distance itself from extremists. Green has since said he does not support terrorism and acknowledged saying some radical things in the past.

During his SOAS University of London address he told the audience that the whole world is a prison. Discussing the plight of people in Gaza, he said: Theyre blessed in a way that were not blessed, because theyre not deluded.

Abdurraheem Green speaking at London university event

Theyre not deluded into thinking that theres some enjoyment in this life. They know the reality. They really know that this world is a prison.

Green told the Standard that he did not support terrorism and his comments about jihad were years old and related to traditional Islamic teachings.

He said: Jihad wasnt a dirty word 20 years ago. Now if you say jihad you probably think of terrorism or Isis. I dont encourage anyone who lives here to go and participate and to go abroad and fight. The preacher also denied encouraging violence against women and claimed he now only advocated self-improvement.

But Adam Deen, managing director, of the Quilliam Foundation, which challenges extremism, said: Abdurraheem Green and his organisation push a reading of Islam that upholds noxious theological views and is simply incompatible with universal values. As a consequence, his activities have tainted young Muslim minds.

A spokesman for the university said: SOAS is committed to maintaining a neutral platform and ensuring that all members of our diverse community are free to express their opinions. However, this does not permit the expression of views that are against the law.

A spokeswoman for the SOAS students union said: The union supports the schools values on freedom of speech. This can only be conducted effectively in an atmosphere of open inquiry, mutual tolerance and intellectual freedom.

However, freedom of expression may not be exercised to threaten the safety or freedom of expression of others.
A family of six are facing a threadbare Christmas after a Kensington-based storage company disposed of most of their belongings.

The Horvaths entrusted their winter clothes, treasured family photographs, handmade Christmas decorations and even birth certificates to a 200-per-month Shurgard self-storage unit when they had to relocate.

But after failure to settle a 50 late-payment fee their possessions  estimated value 4,000  were removed.

Attila Horvath, 39, said a reminder for the fine was sent by letter  but it was to his old address and he did not receive a demand until the company emailed him, by which time it was too late. Mr Horvath claims Shurgard told him there is no way to get them back.

The Horvath family stored their winter clothes, treasured family photographs and even birth certificates with the firm. / Google Streetview

The IT contractor said: We had to move out of our flat in Acton in March, so we put anything we didnt need all the time into the Shurgard container.

Everything was in there. Our whole lives. The 50 sq ft storage unit was full to the top. I just want to get back the memories we have lost. It contained so many toys, gifts and even the last picture we have of my wifes late father.

The father-of-four admitted he made a mistake in not paying a 50 late fee immediately, but said he was not warned of the consequences.

He explained: Last Friday I received an email saying the items had been thrown away. I was shocked. I was told about needing to pay the late fee via email on October 28, but there was no warning or notice of possible contract termination. How is it possible to not email important information like that in the 21st century?

Mr Horvath moved to London in 2014 with wife Orsolya, 35, and their children, aged three to 14. He said: Our Christmas will be a lot poorer this year. We would like to appeal to Shurgard for help and would be grateful to anyone who could give us legal advice on how to get our belongings back for Christmas.

Emails from the Kensington Shurgard store manager, seen by the Standard, said: We have acted legally as per the terms and conditions of the contract and had on 15 occasions attempted to call you. We have also sent two letters in regards to overdue payments on the 21/08/16 and 30/09/16. We have done everything within our power to contact you and keep you informed.

As your goods have now been removed from site there is nothing further we can do to return any items.

Mr Horvath denies he received calls or voicemails from Shurgard about the deadline. Shurgard UK has been contacted for comment.
E VER-partial to a Ferrero Rocher, The Londoner dashed off to The Ritz last night, where Nigel Farage was hosting a self-congratulatory soiree. We strolled in at the partys mid-point, as family and supporters including donor Arron Banks, the Barclay Brothers and political journalist Isabel Oakeshott toasted Farages glorious reign over Ukip, potential move to the US, and his endorsement from Donald Trump. The English sparkling wine, supplied by Lord Ashcrofts Gusbourne winery, had run dry around 9.30pm  had Lord A underestimated Ukips thirst?

Guests didnt seem to mind  they were puffing away on cigarettes, with Ritz-branded ashtrays doled out. The Londoner called The Ritz, owned by the Barclay Brothers, to ask how theyd got the permission. No answer as yet.

All the talk was of an altercation between Richard Desmond, owner of the Express and a key donor to Ukip, and the partys former treasurer Andrew Reid. Reid was enjoying the party when Desmond approached him. You owe me 200,000, he said, and didnt seem to be joking. Desmond donated 1 million to the party in April 2015 just before the election. He queried whether Reid had repaid his own loan to the party using a part of that sum. Neither Desmond nor Reids office has commented this morning but The Londoner was told at the party last night that the matter was resolved amicably, and no-one was to blame, and it was put down to party accounts not being updated.

Several bystanders witnessed Desmond call Reid a fat git, and Farage was beckoned over to settle the dispute as the two men squared up to each other. The Londoner upped the ante by inviting Banks down to the casino. He declined; a shame, as The Londoner was on a winning streak.

The Donalds London empire can wait

why has Donald Trump never made his mark on the London property scene? In the latest The London Magazine, letting agent James Robinson of Lurot Brand recalls getting instructions to meet a money-no-limit buyer in the Nineties. I put together a two-day itinerary and climbed into the armed limo cavalcade with what turned out to be Donald Trump. After enjoying the affable billionaires company I thought it was time to close him for an offer on a 12 million flat on Palace Green, W8, which he agreed was the best. He beamed and said: Hell, I am going to buy nothing! I have just been using you. I was considering London for my next Trump Tower, but from seeing all this crap I can see London aint ready for me yet. It might be a little while longer until we are.

--

If Trump ever reconsiders a London purchase, he could call Janice Morley, the founder and editor of this papers Homes & Property section. She hosted a bash at Kent House in Knightsbridge last night to celebrate the supplements 20 years of making Londoners feel, literally, at home, and raising standards across the city. Hats off, Janice, heres to another 20.

A Trumpian twist to Thanksgiving

As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving today, they may pause for something to be thankful for. But the Brits had a head start last night, celebrating a day early with a dinner at Annabels, hosted by auction house founder Alexander Gilkes. Actor Douglas Booth was among the diners, while chef Tess Ward and stylist Martha Ward were at the bar. Booth repeated Stephen Kings assertion that electing Trump would be like fixing eczema with a blowtorch  and after the results, he tweeted: However hard, dont mourn. Organise. After apple pie, of course.

From Bollywood to a Port in a storm

THE Londoner was feeling bookish last night and headed down to Library on St Martins Lane for the fifth birthday of the fashion and art magazine Port, edited by Dan Crowe. Among the guests were Handsome Devil actor Nicholas Galitzine, who told The Londoner that although he has legions of female fans he actually hangs out on dating websites. I use Tinder and I often match with girls but I never follow up, Nicholas said, with a twinkle in his eye. I get a thrill out of swiping left and right! Also at the party was British Bollywood actress Amy Jackson, pictured. For anyone who doesnt know her, she is a superstar in the Indian film world despite having no Indian heritage, and is now in the top 20 highest-paid Bollywood actors  its rumoured that she learnt the style from watching Shilpa Shetty on Big Brother. Jackson had dropped in to celebrate after arriving from Mumbai where she now lives: Ive learned to speak Hindi and Tamil after the third movie. Is there any chance she might go mainstream? Im shooting a movie in London in the New Year in fact, although it does have an Indian angle.

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TONY Blair breaks his silence in this weeks New Statesman, according to editor Jason Cowley. The former PMs place on the cover suggests a return to the British political scene. This is quite a coup. The idea of Blair breaking his silence, however, comes up as frequently as a Cher farewell tour. In fact, typing Cher Farewell tour into Google presents 207,000 results. Tony Blair breaks silence offers 305,000.

A bodice-ripper by Gove?

BOOTED out of the Cabinet by Theresa May, it appears Leave crusader Michael Gove has plenty of time on his hands. The most recent register of MPs financial interests lists not only payment for his new column in The Times  150,000  but an advance of 17,500 for a book from HarperCollins. Listing the hours involved as impossible to calculate, Gove teases of a walloping tome. As for the subject, a cloud of mystery descends. Neither his parliamentary office, literary agent nor the publisher took it upon themselves to answer our calls, and theres no hint which of the HarperCollins imprints will publish it  Harper Paperbacks, Broadside Books, 4th Estate, or even Avon Comics, perhaps? The Londoner is certainly pitching for a Gove-penned title under its Mills & Boon imprint. Talk about taking back control.

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Alternative political comeback of the day: David Miliband has written his first article for LinkedIn, garnering a formidable 661 views.
A London Tory party has banned one its members from its Twitter account after they posted a picture of the Mayor of Wandsworth brandishing a gun.

The tweet sent by official Wandsworth Conservatives account @TootingTories showed Councillor Richard Field visiting a local cadet unit.

Dressed in his ceremonial chains, the Mayor turns to face the camera with a rifle in one hand. The image was later captioned Persistent fly-tipping, you say? Leave that with me  Ill see what I can do and shared online.

Chairman of Tooting Conservatives Shakeel Ahmed said: This sort of content is entirely unacceptable and reflects neither the views of Tooting Conservatives or the Mayor of Wandsworth. The tweets authors access to the account has been removed.

Tootings Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan said it was highly inappropriate and incredibly insensitive.
N igel Farage gave a cheeky nod to his ambassadorial ambitions by handing our Ferrero Rocher chocolates at a reception at the Ritz to celebrate his Brexit victory.

The interim Ukip leader, who has been backed by Donald Trump to be Britains next US ambassador, gave out the chocolates in a reference to the famously terrible confectionary advert.

That 1990s cult classic was set at an ambassadors reception and included the often-quoted line: You are really spoiling us.

Mr Farage was given the mountain of sweet treats at a Ritz hotel reception hosted by millionaire Arron Banks, who bankrolled the Leave.EU campaign.

Away from his tongue-in cheek antics, Mr Farage told the reception there would be a "seismic shock" at the next general election if Theresa May has not delivered Brexit by 2020.

His speech was heralded by Leave.EU spokesman Andy Wigmore with a call for attention from "Ladies, Gents, Lords and diplomats".

Mr Farage told the gathering: "We've got a problem. In America the revolution is total. Not only have the people spoken and won, but the old administration, Obama and all those ghastly people, are out and the Trump people are in.

"In this country, the people have spoken, but the same players have just been shuffled around the chess board and we are still being run by the career professional political class.

Farage: Brexit warning ( Andrew Woodcock/PA) / Andrew Woodcock/PA

"I am not sure what is going to happen over the course of the next couple of years but I suspect there's another big seismic shock in British politics perhaps going to come at the next election.

He went on: "I suspect that the Conservative party is not fit for the legacy of Brexit. I suspect there is going to be a genuine realignment of British politics over the course of the next three or four years.

"It is unfinished business - the people have spoken but the establishment don't want to listen. There are great battles to be fought and I'm going to go on fighting those battles."

"For those of you who aren't particularly happy with what happened in 2016, I've got some really bad news for you - it's going to get a bloody sight worse next year," he said, to loud cheers.

Also present were Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Bone, Labour donor John Mills and Ukip leadership candidate Paul Nuttall.

Asked if he would back the interim Ukip leader for ambassador, Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Mr Farage's relationship with Mr Trump could be beneficial for the country but I am not sure he should be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

"Mr Farage is certainly extraordinary in his own way but I think that being plenipotentiary as well may be a bit too much."
T ony Blair has held private talks with Nick Clegg ahead of the former Labour prime ministers return to frontline politics with a new centre-ground campaign.

Mr Blair has been courting the senior europhile Liberal Democrats over the past few weeks in an attempt to bolster support for his new organisation, which is designed to counter Brexit.

Mr Clegg, the Lib-Dems EU spokesman, is the latest high-profile politician Mr Blair has taken soundings from according to a party source, and follows a recent discussion with former Chancellor George Osborne on Britain quitting the European Union.

The former Lib-Dem leader and Mr Blair held a private meeting earlier this month. However Mr Blairs approach to current Lib-Dem leader Tim Farron was rebuffed, and he allegedly rejected the offer of a face-to-face meeting with Mr Blair.

Europhile: Nick Clegg (Chris Williamson/Getty) / Chris Williamson / Contributor / Getty Images

The Lib-Dem source said that while Mr Clegg welcomed Mr Blair with open arms, Mr Farron gave him short-shrift and is not interested in a closer political relationship.

Mr Blairs new organisation launches in the spring and intends to analyse why British voters chose Brexit and the populist forces that led to the election of Donald Trump in the United States. He suggests there is a global political vacuum, and his moves to get senior Lib-Dems on side could be seen as an attempt to galvanise centre ground politics and restore New Labour thinking in the UK.

Tony Blair: 'I understand the mistakes'

Staunch Remain campaigner Mr Clegg has previously said he agrees with Mr Blairs view that a second referendum should not be ruled out. The pair both believe those who voted to stay in the EU should be able to make the argument that remaining is in the countrys interest.

A spokesman for Mr Farron refused to comment.
Z ac Goldsmith has said Heathrows third runway would already be under construction if he had not been elected to Parliament in 2010.

Mr Goldsmith last night said supporters of an expanded Heathrow would consider it a win if his decision to quit the Tory Party over the issue, triggering a by-election next Thursday in his Richmond Park constituency, backfired.

At the last all-party hustings before the vote, the former London mayoral candidate  who is standing as an independent  admitted he had his work cut out to recapture the seat.

His Liberal Democrat challenger Sarah Olney is also committed to blocking a third runway and hopes to capitalise on the constituencys 70 per cent Remain vote in the EU referendum. Mr Goldsmith had backed Leave. He trumpeted his years opposing Heathrow expansion, adding: Had I not been elected in 2010, the spades would already be in the ground for this third runway.

Zac Goldsmith on Heathrow airport decision

Mrs Olney said: It is disappointing our MP for six years has not been more effective persuading the Government not to proceed with the third runway  but we must continue the fight.

Mr Goldsmith was accused by Labour candidate Christian Wolmar of wasting public money by triggering the poll because of your failure to influence your own party about Heathrow.
A premature baby was left to die alone in a sluice room by hospital staff, a report has revealed.

An NHS Trusts review of Royal Oldham and North Manchester General hospitals found several other unacceptable situations where babies and mothers suffered due to bad medical decisions and lack of facilities.

This included a mother misdiagnosed as having mental health issues who eventually died from a catastrophic haemorrhage.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said it had apologised to the families involved for any failings.

In the most harrowing incident, a baby born at 22 weeks and six days  just before the legal age of viability  was not left with her mother as she died.

Instead, hospital staff placed her in a Moses basket and left her in the sluice room to die alone.

The sluice room is where items such as incontinence pads and bedpans and disposed of and where sick bowls are cleaned and disinfected to be reused.

The report, initially internal-only until uncovered by the Manchester Evening News, also condemned staff attitudes.

It found mothers suffered unacceptable risk and that long-term failings led to high levels of harm for babies.

Professor Matthew Makin, the trusts medical director, said considerable work has been done since the report to improve services.

He added: These cases were, like all reported incidents, investigated thoroughly at the time and the families have been contacted and met by the trusts head of midwifery to apologise for any failings in care and to discuss the changes that have been made.
D onald Trump has called for unity in America as a growing campaign for a recount in three key swing states raised nearly 1.8 million in a matter of hours.

The President-elect said in a YouTube message that it was time to begin to heal our divisions after a long and bruising election campaign that had left emotions raw.

In a message timed to coincide with todays Thanksgiving holiday in the US, Mr Trump last night said he understood that tensions just dont heal overnight.

It doesnt go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities.

He said he hopes America will move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

President-elect: Donald Trump has called for unity / Getty Images

However, his remarks were at odds with growing demands for an election recount in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin following claims by a group of computer scientists that it was possible hackers may have tampered with voting to artificially boost Mr Trumps tally.

An appeal launched yesterday by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to raise money for the recounts quickly reached almost 1.8 million.

She claimed statistical anomalies in the three battleground states had raised concerns over the veracity of the results and cited the Green Partys successful demand for a recount in Ohio in 2004 - which resulted in two officials being convicted of vote-rigging - as evidence that it was a cause worth pursuing.

Our effort to recount votes in those states is not intended to help Hillary Clinton, she insisted. But if irregularities are, indeed, discovered the overall Electoral College vote could be overturned in favour of Mrs Clinton.

Donald Trump - In pictures 1 /112 Donald Trump - In pictures President Donald Trump takes the oath of office as his wife Melania Trump holds the bible and his son Barron Trump looks on, on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC Getty Images Acceptance speech Republican president-elect Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd during his acceptance speech at his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of 9 November 2016 in New York Getty Images Little Trump Donald Trump pictured when he was 4 years old Donald J Trump/Instagram The Trump Princess Donald Trump waves to reporters in 1988 with his first wife Ivana as they board their yacht 'The Trump Princess' in New York AP Donald Trump stands next to one of his three Sikorsky helicopters at New York Port Authority's West 30 Street Heliport in 1988 Out on the town Trump and his first wife Ivana arrive at a social engagement in New York in December 1989 AFP/Getty Images Surviving at the top Trump followed up his successful book The Art of the Deal with Surviving At The Top in 1990 Random House Meeting the King of Pop With Michael Jackson in 1990 FilmMagic Taking a break with Miss Universe contestants Donald Trump meets Miss Universe contestants during a break in rehearsals in the Imperial Ballroom at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas in 1990 Miss Universe Organization via AP Genie of the lamp Donald Trump stands next to a genie lamp in 1990 as the lights of his Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort mark its grand opening in Atlantic City AP Marla's wedding day Donald and Marla Trump at their wedding in 1993 AP Donald Trump with daughter Ivanka at a Harley Davidson Cafe Event, New York City on 9 October 1993 Rex Features New arival Marla and Donald Trump leave St. Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida with their newborn baby girl, Tiffany on 14 October 1993 AP Behind the lens Donald Trump takes a picture of Bridget Marks in 1993 after interviewing her for Playboy magazine's 40th anniversary playmate in New York AFP/Getty Images Top Trump New York real estate giant Donald Trump poses in his Trump Tower office on a giant letter "T" on 08 May 1996 AFP/Getty Images New love interest Donald Trump and Melania arrive for VH1's Divas Live concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City on 13 April 1999 Getty Images Toasting in the New Year Donald Trump and Melania toast the new year during Trump's gala bash in 2000 The Sun-Sentinel/AP Wax work A wax replica of Donald Trump stands ready to be put on display at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, New York City in 2000 Madame Tussaud's/Getty Images Rebuild call Donald Trump talks in 2005 to reporters where he presented a proposal that the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center be rebuilt in New York Reuters Cracking prformance Amy Poehler, Tracy Morgan, Donald Trump, Seth Myers, Maya Rudolph perform on Saturday Night Live in 2002 Rex Features 'How To Get Rich' Donald Trump poses with a copy of his new book 'How To Get Rich' during a book signing on 24 March 2004 at Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Center in New York Getty Images Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka (left) and girlfriend Melania Knauss (right) attend the "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century" Costume Institute benefit gala on April 26, 2004 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City Getty Images Fired up figure Donald Trump poses with the new Donald Trump 12-inch talking doll 29 September 2004 at the Toys "R" Us store in New York City Getty Images Olympic flame Donald Trump carries the Olympic flame during Day 15 of the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay on 19 June 19, 2004 in New York Getty Images Donald Trump on The Celebrity Apprentice (2005) Rex Features Anyone for golf? Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at the Old Course in St Andrews where he was meeting with the media to answer questions regarding Trump International Golf Links on 28 April 2005 in St Andrews, Scotland Getty Images Hollywod star Donald Trump, billionaire developer and producer of NBC's "The Apprentice," with his wife, Melania, and their son, Barron, pose for a photo after he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 2007 AP In the Highlands U.S. property mogul Donald Trump gestures during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland on 27 May 2010 Reuters Donald Trump plays a round of golf after the opening of the The Trump International Golf Links Course in Scotland in 2012 Getty Images Family time Donald Trump, Barron Trump and Melania Trump attends Trump Invitational Grand Prix Mar-a-Lago Club at The Mar-a-Largo Club on 04 January 2015 in Palm Beach, Florida Getty Images Officially in the running U.S. Republican presidential candidate, real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump poses with his family after formally announcing his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination during an event at Trump Tower in New York on 16 June 2015 Reuters Love, life and laughter Donald Trump sits with his wife Melania Trump while appearing at an NBC Town Hall at the Today Show on 21 April 2016 in New York City. Getty Images Thumbs up Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on 21 July 2016, in Cleveland, AFP/Getty Images Don't cry for me ... Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds babies at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado on 29 July 2016 Reuters Donald Trump eating KFC on his private jet in August 2016 Is this really the Oval Office? Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump views a replica of the Oval Office on a tour of the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 30 September 2016 Reuters Women for Trump Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses a "Women for Trump" placard during a rally at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida on 12 October 2016 AFP/Getty Images In debate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, America on 09 October 2016 AP Love your country The future is orange: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump hugs a U.S. flag on 24 October 2016 Reuters U.S. President-elect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S. on 09 November 2016 Reuters 60 Minutes Donald Trump and wife Melania being interviewed on 13 November 2016 by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes 60 Minutes/CBS At The Whiie House US President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump meet in the Oval Office of the White House on 10 November 2016 EPA Kiss-story Republican president-elect Donald Trump embraces his wife Melania Trump during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of 09 November 2016 in New York Getty Images Person of the Year U.S. President-elect Donald Trump poses on the cover of Time Magazine after being named its person of the year, in a picture provided by the publication in New York on 7 December 2016 Time Magazine Meeting Kanye U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and musician Kanye West pose for media at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York on 13 December 2016 Reuters First Press Conference President-elect Donald Trump stands with his son Eric Trump (left) daughter Ivanka and son Donald Trump Jr. (right) on 11 January 2017 Reuters US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington,Virginia 19 on January 2017 AFP/Getty Images Big shoes to fill: US President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive to attend an inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on 19 January 2017 AFP/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive for a VIP reception and dinner with donors in Washington on 19 January 2017 AP British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump walk along The Colonnade of the West Wing at The White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC Getty Images Pope Francis walks along with US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump during a private audience at the Vatican in May 2017 AFP/Getty Images US President Donald Trump inspects border wall prototypes in March 2018 AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump walk to a joint news conference at Chequers in July 2018 Reuters US President Donald Trump takes the hand of Prime Minister Theresa May as they enter Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire in July 2018 PA A six-meter high cartoon baby blimp of US President Donald Trump is set to fly as a protest against his visit July 2018 AP Activists inflate a giant balloon depicting US President Donald Trump as an orange baby during a demonstration against Trump's visit to the UK in Parliament Square, London July 2018 AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump with The Queen in July 2018 AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel deliberates with US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of the official agenda on the second day of the G7 summit on June 9, 2018 in Charlevoix, Canada Getty Images President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island in Singapore on 12 June 2018 Evan Vucci/AP U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland in July 2018 Reuters US President Donald Trump meets with rapper Kanye West in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on 18th October 2018 AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian posed for a photograph together at the White House meeting Donald Trump/Twitter A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN's Jim Acosta as he questions U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference in November 2018 Reuters President Donald Trump looks over tables of fast food for the the college football playoff champion Clemson Tigers in the State Dining Room of the White House in January 2019 Reuters US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on February 27, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump (left) with Nigel Farage when they met met face-to-face on 2nd March 2019 PA/White House President Donald Trump smiles at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, after signing a proclamation in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019 AP US President Donald Trump (L) First Lady Melania Trump (C) and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe' Akie Abe (R) watch a sumo battle during the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo on May 26, 2019 AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump gestures after receiving a prayer at McLean Bible Church on 2nd June 2019 AP US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump make their way to board Air Force One on 2nd June 2019 AFP/Getty Images Donald and Melania Trump arrive at Stansted Airport on 3rd June 2019 AP President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are pictured ahead a meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018 AFP/Getty Images Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg watches as Donald Trump enters the United Nations to speak with reporters on September 23, 2019 Reuters Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during a welcoming ceremony at the NATO leaders summit in Watford on December 4, 2019 Reuters President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, in Milwauke AP US president Donald Trump delivers a speech at the Congres center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on January 21, 2020 AFP via Getty Images US President Donald Trump speaks during the first presidential debate at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio AFP via Getty Images A car with US President Trump drives past supporters in a motorcade outside of Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland AFP via Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump works in the Presidential Suite while receiving treatment after testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland via Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley October 4, 2020, in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Not shown in the photo also in the room on the call is Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Reuters Donald Trump walks out of hospital after receiving treatment for Covid-19 AP Mr Trump boards Marine One to return to the White House after receiving treatment for coronavirus AP Donald Trump stands on the Truman Balcony after returning to the White House from hospital Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump removes his mask upon return to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 05, 2020 in Washington Getty Images

With the former First Ladys lead over Mr Trump in the nationwide popular vote now more than 2 million, she is facing increasing pressure from her own supporters to join the recount call in spite of opposition from the White House, which is pressing for a smooth transition of power to Mr Trump, who won the Electoral College vote by 290 to 232. A total of 270 is needed to claim victory.

Mr Trump was not paying the votes challenge much heed yesterday as he continued to piece together his administration.

In an apparent attempt to show he does not hold any grudges from the divisive campaign, Mr Trump announced yesterday that he has chosen two women for top positions in his Cabinet even though both had been critical of him in the past.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley - who has previously said she was not a fan of Mr Trump - is being lined up for US ambassador to the United Nations and Betty DeVos, who once branded the property tycoon as an interloper, is his pick as Secretary for Education.

Mr Trump will point to the latest consumer expectations index from the University of Michigan which claims that, in some cases, Americans are the most hopeful they have been in more than a decade.

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The index rose by the biggest margin since 2011, suggesting Americans believe Mr Trump may have what it takes to improve the nations economy.

For the first time since 2006, 37 percent of households said they expect their personal finances to improve in 2017. In addition, 46 percent of respondents surveyed agreed the US will have continuous good times over the next year.

Although researchers did suggest that the surge in consumer expectations was perhaps exaggerated by, among other things, a widespread sense of relief that the election had finally ended.
A woman has died after a gunman stormed a retirement home for monks in southern France, according to reports.

The assailant is believed to have burst into the building near Montpellier at about 10pm local time on Thursday evening.

The attacker was reportedly armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun, French media reported.

Armed police were surrounding the building in Montferrier-sur-Lez.

A police source told Reuters that the dead woman, who is believed to be the concierge who lived on the ground-floor of the retirement home, had contacted police before she was killed with a knife.

Local news site Metropolitan tweeted pictures of police at the scene.

It is believed some 70 monks lived at the home.

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"An individual, who was masked and armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun came into the retirement home where 70 monks live," a source told the AFP news agency.

The source said the man's motivations were unknown.

Local media reported that at least one person had been found dead inside by police, who were still hunting the attacker.

French news channel BFM TB reported that the police search of the building was over and all the other residents were safe but that the armed man was still on the run.

The facility is a retirement home for monks who worked as missionaries in Africa, according to French media.
A t least 80 people were killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a petrol station in Iraq, officials said.

The blast hit a gas station and a restaurant near al-Hilla on Thursday, around 60 miles south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The majority of those dead are thought to be Shia Muslims returning from a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala.

Iraqi security forces gather at the site of a suicide truck bomb attack / REUTERS

Officials said the target appeared to be buses of Iranian pilgrims heading home.

Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying over 200 people had been killed or injured in a statement published by their news agency Amaq.

Each year millions of Shia pilgrims travel to Karbala to commemorate Arbaeen, the end of the 40-day mourning period for the third Shia Imam, Hussein.

This year's pilgrimage took place on Sunday.

A man reacts at the site of a suicide truck bomb attack / REUTERS

Isis are Sunni extremists who believe Shia Muslims are apostates in part due to their veneration of the Prophert Muhammad's family.

The attack comes as a senior Iraqi commander said his troops have driven Isis fighters from three more neighbourhoods in the northern city of Mosul.

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban centre still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq.

Iraqi Shiite pilgrims make their way to the holy city of Karbala / AP

The Iraqi Government's campaign to liberate the city began on October 17.

Iraqi troops are backed by US-led coalition air strikes against Isis positions in the city.
A n Australian judge has been criticised for suggesting it was understandable that a 31-year-old man had sex with a 14-year-old girl because hes not made of steel.

Franco Abad avoided jail after being found guilty of sleeping with the teenager in May.

The Melbourne Childrens Court security guard met the 14-year-old, who was in the care of social services, after they shared a cigarette outside the court in July last year.

The pair had sex multiple times over a six-week period after the teenager told Abad she was 17, a court heard.

Despite police warning him she was lying, Abad has sex with the girl once more after learning her real age.

He was only charged over the final incident.

Handing Abad a two-year good behaviour bond, Judge Christopher Ryan said: Hes resolved hes not going to have any more to do with her.

And then he goes to bed and at an indefinite time thereafter hes joined in bed by a nubile young woman.

The human aspect of it is readily understandably Well, hes not made of steel.

An Australian Supreme Court chief branded the comments inappropriate.

Justice Marilyn Warren said: The sentence was underpinned by observations as to the victims presentation and behaviour, demonstrating that irrelevant matters contributed to the manifest inadequacy.

The judge inappropriately and mistakenly took account of irrelevant matters, namely the attitude, demeanour, conduct and nobility of the victim and the effect she had on the respondent.

I would observe that the observations made by the judge about the complainant and the descriptions applied were inappropriate, irrelevant and should not have been made.

Abad was found guilty of one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and placed on the sexual offenders register for 15 years.

The Victorian Court of Appeal case by the Director of Public Prosecutions however, for a harsher sentence, was dismissed on Tuesday because the DPP admitted the offending was still at the very low end of the scale.
A Peruvian university campus dubbed a modern day Machu Picchu has scooped the first international Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) prize.

Judges said the Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Lima stood out as a bold new addition to the city skyline after it was crowned the winner of the inaugural awards.

Designed by Dublin firm Grafton Architects, the building was chosen from a shortlist of six buildings across five continents including work by British architects David Chipperfield and the late Dame Zaha Hadid.

Experts said the high-rise campus, which was built on the edge of a ravine and is used by engineering students, was an exceptional example of civil architecture and was designed with people at its heart.

UTEC Lima - In pictures 1 /6 UTEC Lima - In pictures Bold addition: Judges said the campus stood out from the other five entries Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA Exceptional: A jury said the building was designed with "people at its heart" Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA Comparisons: It was also dubbed a "modern day Macchu Pichu" Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA History making: The campus won the first ever RIBA international prize Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA Competition: The building beat work designed by British architects David Chipperfield and Dame Zaha Hadid Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA

The RIBA jury said: Grafton Architects have created a new way to think about a university campus, with a distinctive vertical campus structure responding to the temperate climatic conditions and referencing Perus terrain and heritage.

To its close neighbours, it is a series of landscaped terraces with clefts, overhangs and grottos, a modern day Machu Picchu.

Comparisons: The campus was dubbed a "modern day Macchu Pichu" / Iwan Baan/courtesy of RIBA

RIBA President Jane Duncan added UTEC would inspire other architects and universities all over the world.

Grafton Architects directors Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara said they were "honoured after they were awarded the prize.

Other buildings in contention for the award included the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Azerbaijan, a curved conference centre designed by Dame Zaha Hadid, who died earlier this year.

A Norwegian concert hall, Portuguese arts centre, Mexican art gallery and a First World War memorial in France were among the other shortlisted entries.
R ussia has begun moving missiles into key positions facing Nato forces in Europe in the past 48 hours  its most provocative military moves since Donald Trump was elected president.

Three new types of missile, some able to fire nuclear warheads at most parts of Western Europe, are being established in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic jammed between Poland and Lithuania  both Nato members.

The missiles are the S400, a highly effective air defence setup already being used in Syria, and the Iskander tactical medium range missile, which can carry nuclear warheads.

The Russians say that they sending the missiles into Kaliningrad to counter aggressive moves by Nato in setting up its new anti-missile system in Europe.

This includes dispatching new types of US cruise missiles to Poland and Romania, plus the deployment of thousands of US, British, and allied troops on exercise in Poland and the Baltic states.

The question is why Moscow is moving the missiles now  just as president-elect Trump has said he wants talks with president Putin?

Putins spokesman, Dimitry Peskov, says its because Russia needs to respond to the expansion of Nato towards its borders. The alliance really is an aggressive bloc.

Russia has been extremely, and very visibly, busy on the missile front. It has started exercises with mobile missiles, again with nuclear capability, carried on trains  a system not used since Soviet times.

It has also sent new anti-ship missiles to Kaliningrad, the Crimea, and the Kuril islands in the Pacific  whose sovereignty it disputes with Japan.

The Japanese have reacted furiously at the deployment of the new Bastion anti-ship batteries. Russia has tried to play the row down by saying a planned Putin visit to Tokyo will go ahead.

The deployments of the new missile arrays  and the establishment of the S400 and Iskander batteries on the Kaliningrad peninsula look pretty permanent  is setting up a flurry of political reaction.

The outcome is unpredictable and may not be what Moscow wants  and very likely the very opposite.

Both neutral Sweden and Finland are indicating they may now apply for full membership of Nato because of the continual provocations of Russian forces.

Both have seen probes by Russia air and sea forces, and even simulated nuclear attacks against their cities.

Nato exercises will continue in eastern Europe, because they are at the request of Nato members like Poland and Estonia.

Yet Putin seems very keen to make a deal on three fronts at least with the new US president. First he would like an agreement on supporting Bashar al-Assad in Syria and resolving the battle of Aleppo in his favour.

Moscow would also like sanctions lifted over its seizure of Crimea. It would like the annexation recognized.

Put simply, the Putin regime would like to be treated as an equal partner of the US and its senior allies over the security of Europe and much of the Middle East.

The latest military manoeuvres and deployments seem an extraordinary gamble. They risk shutting down the chance of a deal with President Trump before he has even got to the White House.
B een waiting eagerly for Cyber Monday? Savvy shoppers are in for a treat, as heaps of retailers have dropped major discounts for the sales event.

Among the shops taking part is Missguided, which is offering 50 per cent off everything from its website.

Looking for the perfect party dress? British label Karen Millen has also begun its Cyber Monday sale in-store and online, with 25 per cent off selected items until midnight.

If youre in the mood for some retail therapy, then see below for our pick of the best Cyber Monday fashion offers available now.

In the Style

Save up to 40 per cent on all items with the code CYBER.

Charlotte Crosby Black Ruched Mesh Bandeau Mini Dress

Steal the Geordie Shore star's style in this mini-length bandeau dress. The design is finished with ruched detail and a mesh overlay.

10 (was 24.99), In The Style, Buy it now

Miss Selfridge

Save up to 60 per cent on everything in-store and online.

Belted Oversized Quilted Puffer Jacket

The red puffer is everywhere this season. Get the look in Miss Selfridges sporty oversized option, which is complete with a removable belt.

45.50 (was 65), Miss Selfridge, Buy it now

Dainty Flower Sequin Ankle Boots

Put your stamp on winter in these dazzling embroidered boots featuring a block heel and sequin details.

45.50 (was 65), Miss Selfridge, Buy it now

Missguided

The online retailer is now offering 50 per cent off everything with the code CYBER50. The offer ends on November 26 at midnight and excludes sale items.

Carli Bybel X Missguided Grey Faux Fur Jacket

The lust-worthy Missguided X Carli Bybel collection boasts plenty of gorgeous pieces to keep your wardrobe on point this winter. Our top pick is this classy cover-up, which comes in a regular fit and features an open front to keep the rest of your ensemble on show.

50 (was 100), Missguided, Buy it now

Barbie X Missguided Green Camo Cropped Tshirt

The Barbie collection is back. From streetwear to party pieces, theres something pretty for every situation here. This cropped tee from the range is an effortless way to rock the camo trend.

7.50 (was 15), Missguided, Buy it now

Red Sequin Strappy Cross Back Shift Dress

Christmas is the perfect excuse to get kitted out in sequins. Get your sparkle on in this holiday red-hued shift dress featuring a strappy low cross back.

17.50 (was 35), Missguided, Buy it now

Nasty Gal

Get 30 per cent off everything  including sale items and the After Party Vintage and Studio range. The offer is applied automatically at checkout. Here are the dreamy items we need right now.

Nasty Gal Studio Meryl Velvet Jacket

Falling for winter florals? Bring the drama in this longline plush velvet jacket by Nasty Gal Studio. Its oversized silhouette makes it perfect for layering this season.

105 (was 150), Nasty Gal, Buy it now

Making Me Ruche Heeled Boot

If, like us, you were impressed with those insanely sparkly Saint Laurent boots worn by Kendal Jenner on her 22nd birthday, then these identical vegan leather boots are right up your street.

35 (was 50), Nasty Gal, Buy it now

Take Flight Aviator Jacket

This vegan leather jacket softens up the tough aviator style with a feminine pink finish. Buckle collar fastening provides extra warmth, while an adjustable waist buckle allows for a tighter fit.

56 (was 80), Nasty Gal, Buy it now

Prettylittlething

Sassy shoppers can get up to 30 per cent off everything.

Fuchsia Satin Lace Trim Strappy Bodycon Dress

The Prettylittlething x Kourtney Kardashian range is dripping with showstopping outfits for the party season. This figure-hugging lace trim dress will ensure all eyes are on you after hours.

10 (was 25), Prettylittlething, Buy it now

Debenhams

Quiz Bottle Green Sequin Lace Bardot Midi Dress

Make a statement in this beautiful midi bodycon dress by Quiz. Keep accessorizing at a minimum to let the sequin detail take centre stage.

29.59 (was 36.99), Debenhams, Buy it now

Urban Outfitters

Shoppers can get up to 50 per cent off selected items from womens and mens clothing brands as well as Urban Outfitters home and gifts range.

Kimchi Blue Simonetta Floral Maxi Shirt Dress

Embrace flower power vibes with this shirt maxi dress from UOs Kimchi Blue label. We love its lightweight yet cosy material and defined waist for cinching you in.

26 (was 52), Urban Outfitters, Buy it now

Mini Blanket Scarf

Oversized and cut in a cosy blanket style, a vibrant outerwear piece to keep the chill off your neck while adding interest to your outfit.

16.80 (was 24), Urban Outfitters, Buy it now

Very

V by Very Pleated Sequin Skirt

Nothing screams Christmas like sequins. The high waist and flared silhouette of this embellished midi skirt will flatter your shape as you dazzle on the dance floor.

38 (was 50), Very, Buy it now

V by Very Short Faux Fur Jacket

In case you didnt know, V by Very has an uber-pretty collection of faux-fur coats for the winter season. The short length of this noir design, complete with an eye-catching print, means it's just the ticket for wearing over party dresses.

52 (was 75), Very, Buy it now

Karen Millen

The luxury clothing brand is now offering a 25 per cent discount across selected items. New styles will be added to the sale each day until midnight on November 27. Here are our favourite pieces for the party season.

Satin Fold Mini Dress

A figure-hugging pencil dress in sumptuous red satin is sure to turn heads at this years Christmas do. In a classic knee length, its material is conveniently stretchy to ensure comfort. We love how the waist is fitted to flatter your shape. Also available in silver.

168.75 (was 225), Karen Millen, Buy it now

Embroidered Lace Peplum Dress

The perfect LBD for rocking around the tree in. With cap sleeves and a round neck, it pairs beautiful lace fabric with multicolour floral embroidery and sequin details. The fluted peplum hem flutters as you walk and swirls when you dance.

206.25 (was 275), Karen Millen, Buy it now

Dorothy Perkins

The high street retailer is offering up to 50 per cent off selected ranges. The sale is both online and in-store. See our top picks below.

Blush Faux Fur Collar Coat

Baby, its cold outside. Wrap up in this pastel-hued coat created with a detachable faux-fur collar for added cosiness. Its elegantly structured, with sleek concealed buttons and a back vent for ease of movement. A grey version is also available.

32.50 (was 65), Dorothy Perkins, Buy it now

Navy Pearl Embellished Neck Jumper

Keeping snug is made simple with this high neck navy jumper, which is complete with pearl and diamante embellishment for a touch of winter glam. Step up the look by adding a pair of sparkly earrings.

17 (was 29), Dorothy Perkins, Buy it now

House of Fraser

Linea cashmere jumpers

Snuggle up this winter in a cosy cashmere knit from Linea, created in a V-neck design thats perfect for layering and available in three contrasting colour combinations.

49.50 (was 99), House of Fraser, Buy it now

Carvela Rate Tote Shoulder Bag

Keep organised while looking chic with Carvelas generously sized tote bag, complete with gold-tone chain handle straps and available in four gorgeous colours.

47.20 (was 79), House of Fraser, Buy it now

Label Lab Studded leather jacket

A hard-wearing black leather jacket is ideal for the chilly months and pairs with just about anything in your winter capsule. Toughen up your look with this decadent studded design from Label Lab.

200 (was 400), House of Fraser, Buy it now



Biba Leopard And Velvet Coat

The leopard coat is undoubtedly a classic cold-weather staple. This Biba offering is crafted with sumptuous velvet and falls beautifully to mid-thigh in length.

90 (was 190), House of Fraser, Buy it now

Biba Tote Handbag

In a versatile navy hue, this sleek leather carry-all will help you keep organised in style on busy weekdays. A tassel embellishment lends a playful touch to the design.

149 (was 199), House of Fraser, Buy it now

ISSA Betty Embellished Feather Cape

Making an entrance at the upcoming Christmas parties just got easier. This beautifully embellished feather cape will help you dress up a simple outfit and make it party-ready.

79.20, House of Fraser, Buy it now

HOBBS

Get 20 per cent off any item from HOBBS now until November 26. The luxury retailer will also be running a Daily Deal until the 26th, providing further discount on a different category each day. Here are some of hot pieces to look out for.

Laura Coat

Bold fur is all the rage this season. Get the look in this teal faux-fur coat, cropped to sit on the hip and designed with concealed hook-and-eye fastenings for a sleek appearance.

143.20 (was 179), HOBBS, Buy it now

Ruby Fringe Court

Put your stomp on winter in these classic courts, crafted from high-shine spazzolato leather and reinvented with this seasons fringing. The mid-height block heel is just right for dashing to meetings  or running for the last train.

127.20 (was 159), HOBBS, Buy it now

Connie Slingback

In a pointed design, these premium leather slingbacks will make a sleek addition to your occasion wardrobe. The padded footbed adds to its comfort factor.

71.20 (was 89), HOBBS, Buy it now
K anye Wests condition is reportedly worse than previously suspected as he remains in hospital on Thanksgiving.

The rapper, who was taken to the UCLA medical centre on Monday, is still being assessed after being admitted for exhaustion, sleep deprivation and dehydration.

According to TMZ, the 39-year-olds medical problems go deeper and he set for a longer stay at the facility.

They are taking it day by day. He understands that getting help at the hospital was necessary, a source told People.

Kanye West cuts concert short after rant on Beyonce and Jay Z

Family and friends are around. Kim is being amazing. As are all of his friends and team and inner circle.

"There was no question about her staying in New York City. She had to be with him last night."

West was rushed to hospital on Monday, just hours after he cancelled all the remaining dates on his Saint Pablo tour.

While initial reports suggested that the rapper was handcuffed to a stretcher, it later emerged that he voluntarily sought medical help.

West sparked concern when he dropped the mic and stormed off stage during his concert in Sacramento on Saturday night.

After a political tirade and a rant about fellow musician Beyonce, West performed just three songs before leaving the stage.

He then cancelled his Sunday night show, before pulling out of all of his remaining tour dates.
T heres an app for nearly everything nowadays  ordering food, finding a date, watching TV  and now the Catholic church is getting in on the act.

The launch of The Catholic App has been announced on Vatican Radio, and has already picked up the nickname Sindr.

While it uses GPS location technology reminiscent of several dating apps, the software will allow Catholics to find their nearest Holy Mass or confession booth.

The app has already been launched at the Vatican and is expected to go live for users across the world in 2017.

Speaking to Vatican Radio, Edinbugh Archbishop Leo Cushley explained: The idea was really inspired by the Holy Father himself.

The best apps for Londoners 1 /16 The best apps for Londoners Zip car Join, reserve, unlock and drive  it really is that simple. The capitals preferred car clubs app gives 24/7 access to cars and vans in your neighbourhood and lets you extend or cancel reservations on the go. Free Uncover Sick of being stuck on waiting lists? You need Uncover, which redistributes cancelled reservations at some of the capitals top restaurants, including The River Cafe and Nobu. Not for planning freaks, though  tables typically become free at 40 minutes notice. Free Uber So popular its become a verb, this private driver service has revolutionised travel in the capital. Its speedy and affordable, making it a welcome alternative to the night bus. Free Santander Cycles Launched this summer, the official app for Boris fifth child can be used to search for nearby docking stations and check bike availability. Theres also a journey planner featuring easy, moderate and fast routes to satisfy all cycling tribes. Free Plume Air Report This new app has been downloaded by 3,000 Londoners. Sensors gathering air pollution data submit updates every hour, resulting in a scale that ranges from fresh to extremely polluted. Free Nightcapp Heres an app that will have booze hounds raising their glasses. NightCapp is a map that pinpoints more than 1,500 London watering holes that stay open past 11.30pm. It also shows users when a bar is about to close by highlighting it in orange. Better get moving. Free Money Dashboard An award-winning budget planner, this helps you keep track of personal spending across multiple accounts, pay off credit cards and even makes suggestions on how to manage your finances better. Free Her Promising to introduce women to a lesbian that hasnt slept with any of your friends, this revamped dating app includes queer-themed news and blogs, upcoming event notices and an improved algorithm-matching system. Free FoodMood This new startup, which reckons its Tinder for food, pledges to narrow down your choice of lunchbreak destinations. Hit yum or yuk on photos of dishes in your area. Juvenile, but strangely addictive. Free Daily Yoga This offers more than 50 yoga sessions, as well as a database of 500 yoga poses. Suitable for all levels, programmes include yoga aimed at specific areas of the body and weight loss. Namaste to that. Free Coffee Meets Bagel Billed as the anti-Tinder, this new kid on the block delivers just a single match to users once a day. Coffee Meets Bagel uses Facebook profile information to recommend suitors based on friends of friends. Neither coffee nor bagels are included. Free. Bristlr Do you have a beard? Perhaps youd like to stroke one on a regular basis? This can be arranged. Unlike other dating apps, Bristlr is unashamedly all about hooking up the hairy with the hairless. Theres even a beard-rating option for aficionados. Free

He said to be imaginative about what to do for the Holy Year of Mercy.

This is a little bit of smart technology that could make a big impact on how the Catholic Church brings the mercy of God and the joy of the Gospel to our contemporary world.

The Holy Year of Mercy was launched by Pope Francis on December 8, 2015, and ended on Sunday November 20, 2016 on the Feast of Christ the King.
Weve struggled to find an appropriate response to the verdict in the trial of a Gering teen who was accused of scrawling racist graffiti onto a car owned by a classmate, Isaiah Wilson, who is biracial.

Scotts Bluff County Judge James Worden dismissed the case before it even reached the jury. Apparently trains and buildings and fences can be the subject of graffiti, but not vehicles. Or something like that. Our hometown taggers must be relieved to discover that defacing vehicles that dont belong to them isnt a crime in Scotts Bluff County, even when it includes a word that the defendants own attorney called mean, careless, reckless and hurtful.

Of course, the real offense was to Isaiah Wilson, not to his car. From all accounts hes a good young man who was raised well and is highly regarded by his peers. Calling the incident repugnant and disgusting would be stating the obvious. And while its tempting to ask for better justice from the legal system, that community dwells in a protected bubble thats impervious to outside opinion, and sometimes common sense. So that wouldnt go far enough either.

What seems most appropriate is for someone to offer Isaiah Wilson a meaningful apology. Since one probably wont be forthcoming from the folks most responsible for this case and its outcome, well offer one on the communitys behalf.

Isaiah, were sorry.

Its important for you to know that many people who learned about this dispiriting incident are deeply ashamed and dismayed about what happened to you. From what weve read, you dont harbor a lot of hatred in your heart. You still deserve better than this. We wish that more people could purge the ugliness from their own hearts, or at least keep it to themselves.

Were sorry that a half century after Martin Luther King was assassinated for speaking out against institutionalized racism and after so many fought and died in the streets to bring fairness and decency to our nations laws, bigotry can still raise its nasty head in America. Our community isnt immune, sad to say. Even today, we still catch whiffs of it. It still stinks.

You might have noticed that stench surrounding some of the comments on our Facebook page. Some posters seem to be challenged by the notion of what it means to be well raised. Apparently, for them, it covers racism, a vice no baby is born with. Pay attention to the others, the good folks, and take them to heart. You have many defenders out there, including some youve never met. They called the crime horrible, ignorant, racist behavior. And it was.

We apologize that the attention focused on this case will cause some people to celebrate the verdict. We hope they let it go, as theyve encouraged others to do, and leave you alone. You didnt ask for any of this. Theyve got life all wrong and will have to live with the consequences.

That might take awhile, unfortunately. Scrubbing away the darkest stains of human history takes persistence. Those who toil at it often find themselves facing down entrenched resistance. But take heart. Itll happen. Its happening already.

Finally, we apologize that the legal system didnt do a better job of protecting your property, let alone your human dignity and your right to be left alone. We suspect that the outcome might have been different if, say, someone had been busted for peeling a racist bumper sticker off a car that didnt belong to him. Unfortunately, the law can devote so much effort to admiring its own cleverness that it trips over simple justice. If its any consolation at all, courtrooms used to be worse places for people of color. We hope theyll continue to get better.

The best response will be to teach your own children well, remembering what your mother, Chris, said after the verdict: We are better people, we will rise above, she said. ... We raised our children to know right from wrong.

Shes not alone, Isaiah. Neither are you.
The European Commission on Thursday found Romania's plans to provide 447.8 million lei of support to alleviate the social and environmental impact of closing two uncompetitive coal mines by 2018 to be in line with EU state aid rules. It also concluded the support would not unduly distort competition, according to a press statement released on Thursday by the Commission.

Following the decision taken by Romania to close two uncompetitive coal mining units, in November 2016, Romania notified to the Commission plans to provide public funding of 447.8 million lei (approximately 99 million euros) to ensure their orderly closure.

The European Commission's assessment has found that, in line with the Council Decision, the aid aims to ease the closure process by providing financial support totalling 233.7 million lei (approximately 52 million euros) to those workers who will lose their jobs due to the closures. In particular, the state support will fund compensation salaries for the laid-off personnel and programmes to retrain former employees to work in alternative professions and other social security benefits for these workers. Furthermore, this support will be used to undertake necessary underground safety measures related to the closure, to rehabilitate the mining sites and to re-cultivate land after the mine closures. The remainder of the aid totalling 214.1 million lei (approximately 47 million euros) will cover production losses of the mines until closure.

Responsibility for decisions on whether or not to close public coal mines rests with member states. EU state aid rules, in particular Council Decision 2010/787/EU, allow member states to support the closure of uncompetitive coal mines in order to alleviate the social and environmental impact.

Aid to cover exceptional costs resulting from activities related to the closures, notably to mitigate social costs such as the costs of social welfare benefits or early retirement, costs incurred in safety or site rehabilitation for the production units subject to closure, as well as the pumping and cleaning of water from decommissioned mines can be paid out after the closures until 2027 and must also be based on an agreed closure plan.

Closure aid can cover operational losses subject to certain limits and must be based on an agreed closure plan. The Council Decision requires that a mine receiving closure aid must cease mining activities by the end of 2018 at the latest.

agerpres.
Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos says in respect to the Government having sent the law on conversion of loans taken in Swiss-francs to the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) that the law must fix problems of people in need, not those of speculators.

"I did my duty for those people by supporting this law with the proposed amendments, in order to solve people's problems and not those of speculators, who got loans of millions. If we do not submit the law to the Constitutional Court before it is enforced, it could come into force and later being challenged by some banks, with the beneficiaries facing disastrous results if it was to be found with unconstitutional elements. If the law is found now with unconstitutional elements, we still can change it before comes into force," Dacian Ciolos stated in a comment on Facebook.

The PM has answered to a person criticizing the Government's decision to send the law to the CCR.

On Wednesday, the CCR decided to postpone the discussions over the bill's constitutionality on the conversion of loans taken in Swiss-francs for 18 January.

When exiting the courtroom, CCR President Valer Dorneanu stated that the law postponement was needed to identify the solution and correlate it with the one issued on the debt discharge law.

One month ago, the Government challenged with the Court the draft law adopted by Parliament on the conversion of into Swiss-francs loans to the rate of the date the loan was granted.

The draft law on the conversion of Swiss-franc loans was adopted by the Deputies' Chamber as a decision-making forum on October 18.

agerpres.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba  Canada may ban an insect-killing chemical used to protect crops because it harms aquatic bugs, including midges and mayflies, while the government continues to investigate whether imidacloprid poses a risk to bees.

Imidacloprid, made by Bayer AG, should be phased out within five years, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) said on Wednesday.

Imidacloprid is part of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, also called neonics, that are applied as a seed treatment or sprayed on plants' leaves. Neonics have drawn scrutiny in recent years after research pointed to risks for honey bees, which have been in serious decline in North America, possibly due to pesticides, loss of habitat and climate change.

The European Union limited use of neonics, including imidacloprid, two years ago. There is no such ban anywhere in North America yet, said Scott Kirby, director general of environmental assessment at PMRA.

Bayer, the biggest imidacloprid manufacturer, is "extremely disappointed" in the decision, said Bayer Canada Vice President Derrick Rozdeba, in a statement.

"Canadian growers value imidacloprid due to its efficacy, safety to applicators and favorable environmental profile, when used according to label instructions," he said.

The recommendation is a surprise, said Dave Carey, manager of government affairs and policy at Canadian Seed Trade Association, whose members include seed suppliers Syngenta AG and Monsanto Co.

"There are always concerns when a product that companies and growers rely on is taken off the market," Carey said.

Monsanto treats most of its soybean varieties with imidacloprid, spokeswoman Trish Jordan said.

Ron Bonnett, president of Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said phasing out the chemical may not cause problems for farmers because other neonics are still available.

"I don't see a lot of red flags right now," he said.

The government will now hold a consultation period on the change before PMRA makes its final decision next year.

The regulatory agency is also reviewing two other neonics, clothianidin and thiamethoxam.

The move was greeted with cautious optimism by Canadian beekeepers, who have been concerned about a possible link between neonics and spikes in bee deaths.

Phasing out imidacloprid may result in fewer bee deaths, but it depends on what chemicals farmers replace it with, said Rod Scarlett, executive director of Canadian Honey Council.

Environmental Defence, an activist group, said the decision is welcome, but the phase-out is unnecessarily long.
NEW YORK  Decembers almost here, which means many fund investors are about to get a taxable lump in their accounts.

The end of the year is distribution season for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Thats when funds send payments to their investors called capital-gains distributions, and shareholders receive them even if they dont sell any shares. These distributions can be as big as 20 percent of a funds price, and investors holding funds outside a 401(k), Individual Retirement Account or another tax-advantaged account can be liable to pay capital-gains taxes on them.

Funds have already put notices on their websites to give shareholders an idea of what to expect. The biggest mutual-fund family by assets, Vanguard, expects to send gains distributions for several dozen of its funds in late December, for example, running the gamut from a health care stock fund to a New Jersey municipal bond fund to a dividend stock fund.

A confluence of several, disconnected factors is pushing distributions higher this year, from investors continued march to index funds to the rash of buyouts that has occurred in recent months.

Capital-gains distributions are a result of trades that funds make through the year. When a fund sells a stock, it records how much it made or lost on the investment. At the end of each year, the fund tallies up all the gains made and passes them on to shareholders as a capital-gains distribution.

When that happens, the price of the mutual fund drops by the same amount. So, if a fund trading at $50 passes along a $5 capital-gains distribution, its price drops to $45. Shareholders still have $50 worth of investments but have to pay capital-gains taxes on the $5, if the fund is held in a taxable account.

Funds that make a lot of trades in a year have bigger gains distributions than those that hold investments for the long term. A special class of funds, called tax-managed funds, tries to limit their trading in hopes of minimizing these distributions. Index funds also tend to have less because they do less trading.

The recent flurry of corporate takeovers has also triggered some gains: October saw a record amount of U.S. mergers and acquisitions announced for a month, highlighted by AT&Ts $85 billion deal for Time Warner. When a stock in a funds portfolio gets taken out, it automatically triggers a gain.

With that in mind, here are several factors to stay mindful of this distribution season:

Watch out for funds with shrinking assets or new managers. When a mutual funds size is shrinking  and its shareholders are fleeing  its managers need to raise cash to return to them. They do that by selling stocks or bonds, and those transactions can trigger capital gains. The S&P 500 is at a record high and closing in on its sixth year of gains in the last eight. That means funds are likely booking gains when theyre making any sales.

Exacerbating things for some funds run by stock pickers is the rise of index funds. Investors are increasingly opting for the lower costs offered by mutual funds and ETFs that merely track market indexes, rather than try to beat them. Nearly $40 billion went into index funds during September, for example, while nearly $23 billion left actively managed funds, according to Morningstar.

Those departures further force funds led by active managers to sell stocks and bonds, triggering more gains.

In a similar vein, when a new team of managers takes over an actively managed fund, they often turn over the portfolio to bring in their favorites and excise the old regimes.

Dont think youre immune if youre in an index fund or ETF. Index funds and ETFs are certainly more tax efficient than funds run by active stock pickers, but they can also pass along distributions.

Indexes change over time, and funds have to make purchases and sales to continue to match the index.

Some specialized ETFs can also have distributions, such as those that invest in foreign stocks but try to eliminate the effect of shifting currency values. These ETFs hedge against currencies by trading financial derivatives, and these deals can lead to gains distributions.

Of the 21 ETFs where iShares expects to make a gains distribution later this year, 10 are currency-hedged funds, for example.

Capital-gains distributions for index funds and ETFs, though, tend to be small and rare in general.

If youre looking to buy a fund, it can pay to wait. If you buy a fund for your taxable account just a few days before the distribution is made, you have to pay taxes on it, even though you werent part of the fund when the trades that triggered the distribution occurred.

So if youre interested in a fund for your taxable account, waiting just a few days to purchase it can mean avoiding a bill. Likewise, if youre planning on selling a fund thats in a taxable account, it can pay to do so before the record date for its capital-gains distribution.
ST. LOUIS  Donations for the St. Louis police sergeant who was shot twice in the face Sunday are now being accepted by a national nonprofit and the officer's bank.

A private fund for the sergeant, who remains unnamed, has been set up at Carrollton Bank in south St. Louis. Donations can be made to "St. Louis P.D. Injured Officer." The bank is located at 5807 Murdoch Avenue.

The National Association of Police Organizations also is collecting donations on behalf of member organization, the St. Louis Police Leadership Organization. The injured officer belongs to the Leadership Organization and its national chapter said it began accepting donations in response to "an outpouring of support from both the law enforcement community and St. Louis region," according to a press release.

The association will put 100 percent of donations to its Relief Fund to help support the sergeant, who was shot twice in the face near Hampton Avenue and Pernod Avenue.

"While the Sergeant was critically injured, he has since been released from the hospital and has a long road to recovery and needs our support," a statement from the association said.

Officials ask those making donations to write "St. Louis Police Sergeant" on their check or money order.

Donations may be mailed to: NAPO Relief Fund, St. Louis Police Sergeant, 317 S. Patrick Street, Alexandria, Va. 22314.
CAIRO  Theres a new type of criminal in Egypt.

Those who deal in, umm, sugar.

In late October, an Egyptian court sentenced a shop owner to five years in jail and an $11,000 fine for hoarding supplies of sugar  instead of selling them to customers, according to local news reports. A few days before that, police arrested and jailed a waiter as he walked on the street carrying 22 pounds of sugar.

His crime? Prosecutors accused the waiter of stockpiling sugar, a government-subsidized commodity, with the intent of profiting by selling it to stores at a higher price.

Egypt is in the midst of a sugar crisis. In a country where sugar is used in abundance, to sweeten traditional dishes and flavor multiple doses of Arabic tea every day, a nationwide shortage of sugar has spiked prices and shaken up the population  and the politicians.

Some 2,000 tons of sugar stocks were seized last month from one of Egypts largest food producers.

The arrest are part of a widespread police operation targeting dealers of sugar on the black market. The government also set up a hotline in October for citizens to report incidents of stockpiling of sugar, as well as other staple commodities such as rice.

This fall, Egyptian authorities have raided sugar factories and distributors, including companies that make Twinkies and Pepsi Cola, forcing temporary shutdowns. That didnt send a positive signal to potential foreign investors, but the countrys prime minister insisted it was the correct action.

It was a limited number of cases and they have been dealt with, said Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, referring to the raids. And we will monitor this procedure, but it was necessary.

Nevertheless, the sugar crisis is the latest trigger for the growing populist anger at Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and the countrys sinking economy. A recent national poll by Baseera, the Egyptian center for public opinion research, found that Sissis satisfaction rate among Egyptian voters dropped to 68 percent in October, a 14 percent drop since August.

The shortages of sugar have also become a political weapon. In October, Egyptian authorities issued arrest warrants for members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, accusing them of forming cells to procure and hoard sugar to foment more anger at the Sissi government, according to local media reports.
President-elect Donald Trump selected on Wednesday two prominent Republican women for Cabinet-level positions, adding diversity to an inner circle that was already coming under fire for being composed mostly of white men.

In a potentially controversial choice, Trump intends to nominate billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos for education secretary, turning to a conservative activist who has forcefully pushed for private school voucher programs. Her nomination is expected to face strong opposition from public school advocates, who oppose her efforts to funnel taxpayer dollars from public to private and religious schools.

Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate, Trump said in a statement. Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.

Hours earlier, Trump had announced that he would fill the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations slot with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a rising Republican star and daughter of Indian immigrants who has virtually no foreign policy experience.

Haleys nomination marked Trumps first female appointment to a Cabinet-level post after his initial selections  such as attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions and incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn  had been older white men.

Though Trump was elected with strong support from white working-class voters, people familiar with the president-elects thinking said he wanted to announce both womens appointments before Thanksgiving to show that his Cabinet would be diverse.

The decision to nominate DeVos, who met with Trump last weekend, was made in the past 48 hours, the people said. They added that DeVos benefited from strong support in the conservative movement and among conservative political donors.

But DeVos immediately drew scathing opposition from the National Education Association, the nations largest teachers union.

By nominating Betsy DeVos, the Trump administration has demonstrated just how out of touch it is with what works best for students, parents, educators and communities, NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said in a statement. She has consistently pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions to public education.

DeVos tweeted that she was honored to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in ed is not acceptable.

DeVos  whose husband, Dick DeVos Jr., is an heir to the Amway direct-sale fortune  is a Michigan power broker and major donor to conservative causes and candidates around the country. Her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, one of the most profitable private security contractors during the Iraq War.

DeVos and her family supported Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the GOP presidential primaries, and she was never an enthusiastic supporter of Trump.

I still have reservations about him as a person, she said in July at the Republican National Convention, which she attended as a Michigan delegate.

She has been closer to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana pushed to expand that states voucher program into the nations largest. She also has close ties to many Republicans in Washington, and her nomination was greeted with enthusiasm by GOP leaders on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate education committee and frequent critic of what he viewed as the Obama administrations federal overreach on education, called her an excellent choice.

But others said her nomination heralded an intent by the Trump administration to dismantle the nations public schools by draining them of students and resources.

Betsy DeVos is everything Donald Trump said is wrong in America: an ultra-wealthy heiress who uses her money to game the system and push a special-interest agenda that is opposed by the majority of voters, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn  executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organization that has long raised concerns about funneling tax dollars to religious schools  called her nomination an insult to public education.

Haley, also a former Trump critic, is generally considered a mainstream Republican, with views on military and national security matters that fall within the GOPs hawkish mainstream.

Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country, Trump said in a statement. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.

Haley, who has accepted the offer, said she was honored that the president-elect has asked me to join his team and serve the country we love.

Her words represented a sharp departure from the campaign, during which she also initially backed Rubio for the GOP nomination and lambasted Trump as everything a governor doesnt want in a president.

Trump is considering another prominent former rival and mainstream Republican, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, for secretary of state, though some Trump advisers are reportedly pushing back against that and backing other candidates, such as former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Haleys selection, also seen as an effort to reach out to establishment Republicans unsettled by Trumps surprise victory, came amid indications that he was slowing down transition planning to spend Thanksgiving with his family. The president-elect flew Tuesday night to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., where he will spend the holiday and weekend.
CBBCs Mister Maker is backing the cancer awards.

THE bravery of children with cancer in Warwickshire is to be recognised with a special award, as new figures released by Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens show increased hope of survival.

According to the charity, the rate of children dying from cancer in the West Midlands has fallen by five per cent since the early 2000s.

The news comes as Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens launches its annual Star Awards, in partnership with TK Maxx.

The awards, which celebrate the courage of children affected by cancer, are backed by a host of famous faces including CCBC's Mister Maker, Olympic long jumper and medallist Greg Rutherford, professional dancers Karen andKevin Clifton and television personality Sam Faiers.

Around 145 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the West Midlands.

And relatives and friends of young cancer patients and survivors who deserve special recognition are being urged to nominate them for the accolade in the run up to Christmas.

Unlike many other childrens awards, there is no judging panel because Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens and TK Maxx believe that each and every child who faces cancer is extra special.

Recipients will get a unique trophy, a 50 TK Maxx gift card and a certificate signed by celebrities.

Cancer Research UK Kids and Teens raises vital funds to accelerate research into new, better and kinder treatments for children, teens and young adults with cancer.

The charity also supports the work of researchers who are working hard to understand the causes of childrens cancer and the faulty genes that drive it.

Its childrens cancer trials team co-ordinates groundbreaking cancer trials for children and young people in specialist treatment centres across the UK. These trials make pioneering new therapies available to children with cancer and are helping more survive.

Jane Redman, Cancer Research UK Kids and Teens spokesperson for Warwickshire, said: It is a privilege to be able to recognise the courage of children with cancer with a Star Award and we would like to encourage anyone who knows an inspirational youngster to nominate them now.

Although were losing fewer young lives to cancer, a lot more needs to be done to find new and better treatments.

And as more children survive cancer, its especially important that we concentrate on improving their quality of life after treatment. Many children who survive cancer will live with long-term side effects from their treatment which may have an impact on them as adults. So its vital that we find treatments that are not only better at treating the cancer but also have fewer side effects.

Cancer Research UKs investment in clinical trials for children with cancer has been a major factor in developing todays treatments and its pivotal to ongoing research that will offer new hope to children with cancer and their families.

TK Maxxs support of Cancer Research UKs Kids & Teens Star Awards is part of a wider partnership with the charity, which has raised around 27.1 million since 2004, through stock and cash donations.

Around 23 million of this has specifically supported research into childrens cancers, making the retailer the biggest corporate funder of research into childhood cancers in the UK.

Cancer Research UKs Kids & Teens Star Awards are open to all under-18s who have cancer or who have been treated for the disease in the last five years. Make a nomination at cruk.org/kidsandteens
The restoration of the chapel at Compton Verney has been at the centre of the estate's revamp.

ART gallery and Capability Brown landscaped park, Compton Verney, has won a highly-prestigious Brown Tercentenary Award at the annual Georgian Group Awards in London.

The Georgian Group is an English and Welsh conservation organisation, created to campaign for the preservation of historic buildings and planned landscapes of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Compton Verney a Grade I-Listed Georgian mansion and set in 120 acres of Grade II-Listed Lancelot Capability Brown parkland.

Director of Compton Verney, Dr Steven Parissien, said: This is a wonderful and much-deserved tribute to our immense achievement not just in rescuing our fantastic, Grade I-Listed Chapel from dereliction, but also in restoring the historic landscape and its outstanding Capability Brown buildings as a whole.

He added: It is also a testimony to the skill and dedication of the architects and craftspeople who have been working on rehabilitating this unique resource over the last five years.

Following major investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and years of painstaking work, the chapel reopened to the public at the end of August.

The restoration of the chapel was the culmination of Compton Verneys 3.7million Capability Brown restoration and refurbishment project.

The chapel restoration has benefitted from grants from the J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust, Country Houses Foundation, Wren Heritage Fund, HB Allen Charitable Trust, All Churches Trust and the William Delafield Charitable Trust.

Compton Verneys project manager, Chris Rice, said: The works have included relaying the roof and rebuilding the bellcote, repairing the stonework and decorative plasterwork, installing new mechanical and electrical services and redecorating the interior.

The most dramatic changes have been returning the interior to its original Georgian colour scheme and the replacement of the abysmal 1930s windows with new leaded lights containing hand-made glass.

The project has also included the conservation and retention of some surviving 18th century stained glass on the north side of the building.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLORADO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- AZARGA URANIUM CORP. (TSX: AZZ)(FRANKFURT: P8AA)(OTC PINK: PWURF) ("Azarga Uranium" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Ng Kim Huatt from the Company's Board of Directors.

"The Board of Directors would like to express their sincere appreciation for the contributions made by Mr. Kim Huatt during his tenure as a director of the Company and wishes him well on his future endeavors," said Richard Clement, the Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Kim Huatt resigned subsequent to Blumont Group Ltd.'s ("Blumont") extraordinary general meeting on 22 November 2016, where Blumont's shareholders voted in favor of the debt settlement agreement between Blumont and Wintercrest advisers LLC ("Wintercrest"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund L.P. The debt settlement agreement contemplates a number of transactions, including the transfer of 18,053,810 Azarga Uranium shares held by Powerlite Ventures Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blumont to Wintercrest or its nominee.

About Azarga Uranium Corp.

Azarga Uranium is a mineral development company that controls six uranium projects, deposits and prospects in the United States of America (South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado) and the Kyrgyz Republic. The Dewey Burdock Project in South Dakota (the "Project"), which is the Company's initial development priority, has received its Nuclear Regulatory Commission License and the Company is in the process of completing other major regulatory permit approvals necessary for development of the Project, including those from the Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information please visit www.azargauranium.com.

Follow us on Twitter at @AzargaUranium.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management regarding its disclosure and amendments thereto. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's continued efforts to obtain major regulatory permit approvals necessary for development of the Project. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation: (1) the risk that such statements may prove to be inaccurate and (2) other factors beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional information about these and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties are set out in the "Risks and Uncertainties" section in the Company's most recent MD&A filed with Canadian security regulators.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this News Release.

Contacts: Azarga Uranium Corp. Blake Steele President and CFO +1 303 790-7528 [email protected] www.azargauranium.com

Source: Azarga Uranium Corp.
HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Deloitte China today hosted a FinTech Forum, in which regulators, influencers and industry protagonists discussed hot button issues affecting the development of financial technology (FinTech) in Hong Kong.

Over 100 participants, including bankers, regulators, and FinTech executives, attended this Deloitte forum on the theme of "How FinTech shapes the future of Hong Kong -- challenges and opportunities? Leaders or followers?". The event is supported by Cyberport, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen. Guest speaker Mr. Howard Lee, Senior Executive Director of Hong Kong Monetary Authority shared his views on "FinTech for the banking sector". "There is no doubt FinTech is changing the financial landscape, globally, and drastically. It is changing the way as to how we bank and how banks operate. The key is banks need to embrace not just technology, but to embrace changes in their customers' financial management culture in order to stay ahead of the curve," he said.

During his keynote speech, Mr. Tim Pagett, Financial Services Industry Leader, Deloitte China said "Disruption has been a continuing feature of the global market for Financial Services and whilst the advent of the FinTech era would appear to have accelerated this disruption, it has also simultaneously created a raft of opportunities for the market participants, customers and service providers. It is critical for the continued positioning of Hong Kong as a premier financial centre in the region that we embrace these opportunities and to provide incentives and infrastructure for FinTech players to innovate and prioritize the customer and business experience, and to explore opportunities in non-conventional financial products and services. It is critical that we recognise and endorse the important role that government regulation and policy play in supporting this positioning. Through collaboration, incentive and a collective understanding of the risks and benefits to be obtained through fully leveraging digital technologies, we should be well positioned to undertake this exciting journey of exploration in a manner that sees benefits for the economy as a whole. We have a lot of ground to cover in what always appears to be a little time -- focusing not just on market benefits but also on the valid concerns of investors and customers."

The forum included a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Koo, where speakers covered a wide range of topics spanning the role of the Government, regulation, talent and the development of blockchain -- a major innovative and emerging technology that is expected to have a significant impact on the financial industry in the coming decades. The panelists included Mr. Nelson Chow, Chief FinTech Officer, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Ms. Bnedicte N. Nolens, Senior Director, Head of Risk and Strategy, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Mr. Peter Yeung, Head of ICT, Smart City and Green Technology, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Dr. Toa Charm, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, and Dr. Witman Hung, JP, Principal Liaison Officer Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen.

Mr. Peter Koo, National Leader of IT Advisory Services, Deloitte China, also highlighted digital/smart identification will be a key to open the door of different FinTech applications, which has re-defined the way of identity authentification for individuals or organizations by leveraging technology to streamline the identification process and mitigate any related risk. "There is a pressing need for financial institutions, as well as all industries, to drive the development of digital identity if they are hoping to launch FinTech products or services, such as cryptocurrencies. Without robust digital identity infrastructure, financial institutions will find it difficult to convince customers to use FinTech related products and solutions," he said.

Commenting on the challenges faced by FinTech companies, Mr. Koo said "For many FinTech start-ups, the challenges for products and services development can be ample, but the dearth of funding capital can be one of the major hurdles for FinTech start-ups as they seek to further develop and expand their business models." "Companies can count on external intermediaries, professionals and incubator organizations to get connected with potential angel funds and venture capital investors. But, most importantly, they should ensure they can prove to institutional investors that they can execute and convert their initial business idea into a sophisticated, sustainable and revenue generating model," he said, noting that there is an expert professional network subsidized by the Hong Kong Government, which has included professionals from different domains and disciplines to assist various FinTech start-ups residing in Hong Kong.

"Cyberport is committed to fostering the development of FinTech in Hong Kong through collaborating with industry partners and leveraging Hong Kong's advantages as an international financial centre," said Mr. Herman Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Cyberport. "By collaborating closely with Deloitte, Cyberport look forward to creating synergy to accelerate the growth of FinTech companies and unlock Hong Kong's potential in FinTech."

About Deloitte Global Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500 companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries bringing world-class capabilities, insights, and high-quality service to address clients' most complex business challenges. To learn more about how Deloitte's approximately 244,400 professionals make an impact that matters, please connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

About Deloitte in Greater China We are one of the leading professional services providers with 24 offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Hsinchu, Jinan, Kaohsiung, Macau, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Taichung, Tainan, Tianjin, Wuhan and Xiamen in Greater China. We have nearly 13,500 people working on a collaborative basis to serve clients, subject to local applicable laws.

About Deloitte China The Deloitte brand first came to China in 1917 when a Deloitte office was opened in Shanghai. Now the Deloitte China network of firms, backed by the global Deloitte network, deliver a full range of audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management and tax services to local, multinational and growth enterprise clients in China. We have considerable experience in China and have been a significant contributor to the development of China's accounting standards, taxation system and local professional accountants. To learn more about how Deloitte makes an impact that matters in the China marketplace, please connect with our Deloitte China social media platforms via www2.deloitte.com/cn/en/social-media.

This communication contains general information only, and none of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, its member firms, or their related entities (collectively the "Deloitte Network") is by means of this communication, rendering professional advice or services. None of the Deloitte Network shall be responsible for any loss whatsoever sustained by any person who relies on this communication.

 2016. For more information, contact Deloitte China.

Wilfred Lee Title: Director Tel: +852 2852 1243 Fax: +852 2541 3726 Email: Email Contact Wayne Lui Title: Assistant Manager Tel: +852 2238 7046 Fax: +852 2541 3726 Email: Email Contact

Source: Deloitte China
SINGAPORE -- (Marketwired) -- 11/23/16 -- Over 370 students from PSB Academy will graduate this Saturday with degrees awarded by one of Australia's leading modern universities, The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON) in programmes ranging from Business, Commerce, Communication and Engineering, to degree courses in IT, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety as well as the university's premier Master of Business Administration (MBA).

"For over 10 years in Singapore, the University of Newcastle, Australia -- through its partnership with PSB Academy -- has developed professional leaders of the future who will make a positive impact here in Singapore and in the global community. We are delighted to celebrate the success of our graduates this year and I am confident that, like the distinguished alumni who precede them, they will be characterised by the spirit of enterprise, excellence and resilience to meet the challenges of the future," says Professor Caroline McMillen, Vice Chancellor and President, The University of Newcastle, Australia.

Amongst UON's prominent graduates are some of Singapore's leading figures and captains of industry. They include Singapore's Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport Dr Khaw Boon Wan as well as Dr Tan Chin Nam, whose distinguished career includes holding top leadership positions in the National Computer Board, Economic Development Board, Singapore Tourism Board, the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Chairman National Library Board, and Chairman Media Development Authority, amongst other appointments.

Ready to drive future economy sectors

In a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum, Singapore leads many countries in the prospects of thriving the digital economy. 25 year-old digital entrepreneur, Ms. Shahnaz Nazimuddeen who topped her full-time MBA cohort in Singapore, feels confident that her newfound knowledge in business strategy from UON will help her online home dcor business take off. "The MBA programme has definitely built my confidence in dealing with multiple stakeholders. Through an in-depth understanding of cross-cultural management, I am now able to liaise with vendors and suppliers from different countries better. Furthermore, knowing how to do a thorough company and competitor analysis was valuable in helping me determine the competitive advantages of my business, the weaknesses to address and the opportunities to pursue," says Shahnaz.

At 24, Evan Isaac Woon Cheng Chian will graduate with a Communication (Major in Public Relations and Journalism) degree. Aside from being the first among four siblings to graduate with a degree, Evan will also be amongst over 30 students from across the disciplines who will graduate with distinction this year. Prepared with skillsets that he has acquired in UON programme, Evan is already excited about doing well in his first full-time job as a copywriter and designer for a design company specialising in developing mobile-based digital platforms. "I've always wanted to be a journalist from a young age, and while I am only three weeks into my new job, I'm glad that my career ambitions are gradually coming to light. My degree course has definitely been relevant in offering me the tools I require for the trade, and it has allowed me tap into and hone my creative talent to do well in my job," says Evan.

Another student who will graduate with distinction is Mr Cheng Zhi Jie. The 32-year old, who holds a safety officer certification, had decided to take up a part-time UON degree in environmental and occupational health and safety. "As a working father, I had to go beyond my own limits many times, but through all that, I have benefitted from the challenges presented. Having good classmates who support you throughout really helped," says Zhi Jie, who had found employment in a surveillance systems company ahead of his graduation.

"This year marks a 10-year milestone for our partnership with the University of Newcastle, Australia in Singapore, and we remain committed to championing a world-ready brand of education in our quest to nurture industry-ready graduates for Singapore's Smart Nation and beyond. Students who were dedicated to doing well in their degree programme can also feel confident of their future prospects because they will graduate from one of the world's best and modern institutions of higher learning whose programmes are constantly being tuned to the needs of global developments and the future," says Eur. Ing Joao Ponciano, Dean and Vice President, PSB Academy.

Students holding relevant diplomas from private institutions and local polytechnics are welcome to apply for the January 2017 intake of The University of Newcastle Australia's degrees in Business, Commerce, Environmental, and Occupational Health and Safety at PSB Academy.

Image Graduates from The University of Newcastle class of 2016 ready to shape Singapore's future economy: (From left) Copywriter at a digital mobile platforms firm Evan Isaac Woon Cheng Chian, online entrepreneur Shahnaz Nazimuddeen, and systems surveillance engineer Cheng Zhi Jie, are among the top scorers from each of their graduating cohorts in Communication, MBA, and Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety respectively. http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/6213

Company Logo http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/4694

About PSB Academy

Productivity is at the heart of PSB Academy. Once known as the Productivity and Standards Board, PSB Academy is known today as "The Future Academy", with signature programmes that focus on what really matters: performance in the real-world.

The Academy hosts over 11,000 local and international students in its slate of industry-ready certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate programmes every year.

PSB Academy voluntarily commissions reputable external research firms to conduct graduate employment surveys as one of several key measures of graduate outcomes. Last year, idstats research consultancy found that around nine in 10 local/ international students found perm/temp employment within six months of graduation, six in 10 benefitted from pay raises and/or career progression, and that graduates took 2.1 months on average to find employment.

PSB Academy is situated at two campuses in Singapore: PSB Academy Delta campus near Tiong Bahru, and PSB Academy City campus at Marina Square. Learn more at: www.psb-academy.edu.sg

Media contacts Melody Uy Email Contact +65 6213 6997 Abigail Ng Email Contact +65 9093 3787

Source: PSB Academy
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 -- Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. ( the "Company" or "Purepoint") (TSX VENTURE: PTU) is pleased to report on last week's Hook Lake Preliminary Technical Committee meeting, a project owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (21%). The Hook Lake JV project resides within the Patterson Uranium District that hosts Fission Uranium's high-grade PLS uranium discovery, NexGen's Arrow discovery and the Hook Lake JV Spitfire discovery.

Mobilization of camp and drill equipment has commenced, utilizing the remaining $500,000 from the 2016 budget. Initial drilling will follow-up the Spitfire high-grade intercept returned earlier this year by hole HK16-53 with 10.3% U3O8 over 10.0 metres.

The proposed 2017 Hook Lake JV exploration program plans for twenty-five diamond drill holes, approximately 10,000 metres of drilling, at a budgeted cost of $4,000,000. Drilling is planned to further delineate the Spitfire Discovery and to follow the associated mineralized structure towards the northeast. The Hook Lake JV project technical and management meetings will be held within the next two weeks.

Highlights of the Meeting:

-- A total exploration budget of $4,500,000 has been proposed for the remainder of 2016 and 2017, adequate to deliver approximately 11,000 meters of drilling. -- Final approvals for the program are anticipated following the technical and management meeting. -- Purepoint has adequate funds in its treasury for this program and will be responsible for a net funding commitment of approximately $500,000. -- Purepoint will conduct an investor webinar once the program and budget approvals are in place. The webinar will cover the objectives of the exploration program in detail. Registration information to follow.

Hook Lake JV Project

The Hook Lake JV project is owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (21%) and consists of nine claims totaling 28,683 hectares situated in the southwestern Athabasca Basin. The Hook Lake JV is considered one of the highest quality uranium exploration projects in the Athabasca Basin due to its location along the prospective Patterson Lake trend and the relatively shallow depth to the unconformity.

Current exploration is targeting the Patterson Uranium District that hosts Fission's Triple R Deposit (indicated mineral resource 79,610,000 lbs U3O8 at an average grade of 1.58% U3O8), NexGen Energy's Arrow Deposit (inferred mineral resource 201,900,000 lbs U3O8 at an average grade of 2.63% U3O8) and the Spitfire Discovery (10.0 metres of 10.3% U3O8) by the Hook Lake JV.

About Purepoint

Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. is focused on the precision exploration of its seven projects in the Canadian Athabasca Basin. Purepoint proudly maintains project ventures in the Basin with two of the largest uranium producers in the world, Cameco Corporation and AREVA Resources Canada Inc. Established in the Athabasca Basin well before the initial resurgence in uranium earlier last decade. Purepoint is actively advancing a large portfolio of multiple drill targets in the world's richest uranium region.

Scott Frostad BSc, MASc, PGeo, Purepoint's Vice President, Exploration, is the Qualified Person responsible for technical content of this release. Mr. Frostad has supervised the preparation of, and approved the scientific and technical disclosures in, this news release.

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Contacts: Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. Chris Frostad President and CEO (416) 603-8368 www.purepoint.ca

Source: Purepoint Uranium Group Inc.
RED DEER, AB -- (Marketwired) -- 11/24/16 --

SafeTracks GPS Canada Inc., manufacturers of the award winning TRiLOC GPS Locator and North America's leader in personal monitoring is very pleased to announce today that it has joined the national Blue Cross Blue Advantage Savings program.

The Blue Advantage program allows Blue Cross plan members to save on medical, vision care and many other products and services offered by participating providers across Canada. SafeTracks is proud to have its products and services included in this program.

"Blue Cross is pleased that SafeTracks GPS has joined the Blue Advantage program. Its mission to provide increased independence to at-risk individuals aligns with our mission to support the health and well-being of Canadians." -- Sharmin Hislop, Alberta Blue Cross spokesperson.

SafeTracks GPS Canada provides at-risk individual's leading edge, cost effective and innovative personal safety and wandering prevention products. Blue Cross plan members receive discounted pricing on SafeTracks' award winning products.

"SafeTracks' significant value proposition lies in the enhancement of life we provide. Our Lifestyle Management products provide the user with safety, increased independence; all the while providing families and caregiver's the peace of mind they truly deserve," says Vince Morelli, president and CEO of SafeTracks GPS Canada.

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, there are an estimated 564,000 Canadians living with dementia and 25,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Canada's health-care system is ill-equipped to deal with the staggering costs and suitable care1.

The majority of individuals suffering with dementia or Alzheimer's are considered a high risk for wandering often leading to severe consequences. 3/5 people living with dementia will wander, more than half of those will be injured if not found within 24 hours. SafeTracks offers freedom and independence to the elderly as well as provide their family members reassurance in knowing their loved ones are safe.

About SafeTracks GPS: SafeTracks GPS Canada Inc. is a global leader in the design, development, and distribution of mobile Personal Emergency Response devices (mPERS) used for electronic locating and monitoring of at-risk individuals. Our mission is to provide leading edge, cost effective and innovative personal safety & wandering prevention products serving at risk individuals for both personal and commercial applications. www.safetracksgps.ca

About Blue Cross: For more than 70 years the Blue Cross name in Canada has stood for affordable, quality individual health and travel insurance coverage, as well as group benefits and group life insurance, delivered with trustworthy and personalized service. http://www.bluecross.ca

1Latest Information and Statistics - http://www.alzheimer.ca/en/Get-involved/Raise-your-voice/Latest-info-stats

Social Media:

www.facebook.com/safetracksgps

www.twitter.com/safetracks

www.pinterest.com/safetracks

www.instagram.com/safetracksgps

www.linkedin.com/company/safe-tracks-gps-canada-inc

www.youtube.com

General Information, or investor relations email: [email protected] 403-877-1754

Source: SafeTracks GPS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Industries across the board are intensifying their demand for high-performing materials with tunable properties. This surge in the uptake of new materials and coatings will disrupt existing business models, encouraging collaborations among original equipment manufacturers and material developers. Companies and the academia are also signing long-term research agreements for applied research to prove the feasibility of commercial-scale product development. These strategic partnerships will greatly help accelerate the commercial launch of technologies across targeted applications.

2016 Top Technologies in Chemicals and Advanced Materials is part of Frost & Sullivan's TechVision (Materials & Coatings) subscription. The research offers a detailed account of the top technologies employed in anti-corrosive coatings, anti-microbial coatings, bio-based materials, carbon fibers, graphene, lightweight materials, micro- and nano-encapsulation, nanocoatings, self-healing materials and smart packaging. It also covers their market potential, intellectual property and funding, sectors of economic impact and regional adoption.

For complimentary access to more information on this research, please visit: http://corpcom.frost.com/forms/APAC_PR_CLow_D6FB_Nov16.

"Collaboration models that leverage multidisciplinary expertise and stoke research efforts in emerging economies and Asia-Pacific countries are boosting the adoption of new materials and coatings in varied industries," said TechVision Research Analyst Aarthi Janakiraman. "The anti-corrosion coating market in Asia-Pacific has been the most active research hotspot and accounted for 77% of the patents share over the last three years."

Novel chemistries, reduced raw material consumption, low volatile organic compounds content, and environmentally benign chemicals and materials will remain dominant areas of research. Rapid advances in materials such as graphene, carbon fibers and nanocoatings are taking innovation to a higher level, attracting a host of investors that are eager to fund research in materials and coatings.

"Over the last two to three years, investors have emphasized the R&D of multifunctional and high-performance materials and coatings to address application-specific needs," noted Janakiraman. "However, the long-term durability and scalability of these materials need to be proven before they can be considered disruptive."

These inventive coatings and materials are finding substantial uptake in industries as diverse as healthcare, electronics, oil & gas, automotive and building & construction. Companies with presence in numerous industries realize that innovations in the chemicals, materials and coatings domains offer them substantial opportunities to set themselves apart in their target markets. It also helps enterprises position themselves as leading innovators to the right type of consumers.

About TechVision

Frost & Sullivan's global TechVision practice is focused on innovation, disruption and convergence, and provides a variety of technology-based alerts, newsletters and research services as well as growth consulting services. Its premier offering, the TechVision program, identifies and evaluates the most valuable emerging and disruptive technologies enabling products with near-term potential. A unique feature of the TechVision program is an annual selection of 50 technologies that can generate convergence scenarios, possibly disrupt the innovation landscape, and drive transformational growth. View a summary of our TechVision program by clicking on the following link: http://ifrost.frost.com/TechVision_Demo.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion

2016 Top Technologies in Chemicals and Advanced Materials D6FB

Contact: Carrie Low Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific P: +603 6204 5910 F: +603 6201 7402 E: [email protected]

Melissa Tan Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific P: +65 6890 0926 F: +65 6890 0999 E: [email protected]

Twitter: @TechVision_FS Linkedin: www.frost.com/techvisionlinkedin

http://www.frost.com http://ww2.frost.com/research/techvision

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/strong-opportunities-emerge-for-new-multifunctional-materials-across-application-sectors-300368415.html

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
RIYADH (Reuters) - A Bahraini court has sentenced six people to life in prison for targeting police by planting a bomb near the entrance to the town of Maameer in May last year, the kingdom's public prosecution office said on Wednesday.

The six had already been convicted of planting the bomb, the office's statement on its official Instagram page said. The device had been disabled before it could explode, it said.

Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has grappled with persistent, low-level violence between largely Shi'ite demonstrators and police since the government crushed an Arab Spring-inspired protest movement in 2011.

Majority Bahraini Shi'ites say the Sunni Muslim-dominated government discriminates against them, while authorities deny that and say opposition politicians are trying to undermine security.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have criticized the kingdom's lack of an independent judiciary and accused its security forces of committing torture and other forms of ill-treatment with impunity.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Katie Paul; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. To match Special Report CYBER-HEIST/WARNINGS REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo

DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh delegation will visit the Philippines to speed up recovery of the rest of some $81 million stolen from its account in the New York Federal Reserve in February, two officials said on Thursday, after recovering a fifth of the funds.

The five-member team, led by Law Minister Anisul Haq, will hold talks with Philippines authorities on Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.

"We are hoping it will help expedite the recovery of the rest of stolen funds," a member of the team told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

Unknown cyber criminals used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from its Fed account in early February, one of the biggest bank frauds ever.

They succeeded in transferring some $81 million via an account at the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. Most of the money was laundered through casinos in Manila and remains missing.

Only $15.25 million has been recovered. It was returned to Bangladesh earlier this month.

A senior central bank official told Reuters the team will also try to meet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier pledged the stolen money would be returned.

The team also included Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Abdur Razzaq, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry; and Eunusur Rahman, secretary of the Finance Ministry's bank and financial institutions division.

This week, an anti-money laundering body in the Philippines filed charges against five officials of RCBC bank and a former treasurer who "wilfully ignored" suspicious activity that led to the money vanishing after the cyber theft.

No arrests have been made, despite investigations by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and authorities in the Philippines.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul, editing by Larry King)
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Iceland's Left-Greens have suspended talks with four other parties on forming a coalition government, the movement's leader said on Wednesday, after disagreements including over funding for healthcare and education.

Katrin Jakobsdottir told news site Visir she had not decided whether she would give up on trying to form a new government by handing back the mandate given to her by Iceland's president.

After the talks to try to resolve differences over to how fund increases in spending on welfare and education, as well as other issues, Jakobsdottir told Icelandic television that "not all the parties ... have the necessary conviction to continue to these talks to form a government".

"Therefore, I have decided that these talks are over."

The five parties - the Left-Green Movement, the Pirate Party, Bright Future, the Reform Party and the Social Democratic Alliance - have been in discussions after the center-right Independence Party failed to form a government following October's election.

The Left-Greens want to hike taxes to pay for welfare and education.

The Independence Party was the biggest after the Oct. 29 vote, with the Left-Greens the second largest. The Pirate Party, which polls had forecast could upset the traditional political order, was third.

Pirate Party head Birgitta Jonsdottir told Icelandic television she would try to form a government if Iceland's president asked her to do so.

"But then we must find some other way than the one we are faced with now, for the reason that none of these parties seems to be able to work together," she said.

(Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom; Editing by Alison Williams)
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico arrives for the European Union summit- the first one since Britain voted to quit- in Bratislava, Slovakia, September 16, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told journalists they were "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes" on Wednesday when asked about allegations that public procurement rules had been broken for cultural events marking Slovakia's European Union presidency.

Fico has long had poor relations with media critical of him or his government, refusing questions from certain journalists and in some cases filing lawsuits.

At Wednesday's regular news conference after the weekly cabinet meeting, Fico became angry when asked about allegations made on Sunday by Zuzana Hlavkova and anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.

"Some of you are dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes, and I stand by my words," Fico told journalists. "You don't inform, you fight with the government."

He also said the accusations were a targeted attack to smear Slovakia's presidency of the European Union, which ends in December.

Hlavkova was part of a team at the Foreign Ministry tasked with organising cultural events to mark Slovakia's EU presidency, including a ceremony in February to unveil its logo.

At a news conference on Monday held in conjunction with Transparency International, Hlavkova accused her superiors of pressuring her into sidestepping public procurement for the ceremony, and to work instead with an events agency close to Fico's leftist Smer party.

She also alleged that a concert marking the start of the presidency in July was organised without public procurement, and that organisational costs of the event had been set higher than required.

Transparency International said on its website that "feigned public procurement" was a crime and that it had asked three watchdogs to look into the case, namely Slovakia's public procurement bureau, its anti-monopoly bureau and its supreme audit office.

Police declined to comment.

Speaking at the same news conference as Fico, Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak also rejected the accusations.

"Everything was in line with the law and the budget allocated for the presidency won't be even fully spent," Lajcak said.

(Reporting By Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
By Mircely Guanipa

CARACAS (Reuters) - Oil-rich Venezuela's refinery network was operating at about a third of capacity, according to union sources and workers, as state oil company PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] struggles with equipment issues after years of underinvestment.

Venezuela's biggest refinery, 645,000-barrel-per-day Amuay refinery, was operating at only 260,000 bpd with two of its five crude distillation units out of service, union leader Ivan Freites told Reuters, citing an internal report.

Its flexicoker remains down, Freites added.

A worker, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to media, confirmed the situation.

Adjacent Cardon, with capacity of 310,000 bpd, was at 120,000 bpd, added Freites, a fierce critic of PDVSA and the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Meanwhile, the smaller refineries of El Palito and Puerto La Cruz, with capacities of 146,000 barrels per day and 187,000 bpd respectively, were barely refining any crude, according to a separate union leader and a worker.

The El Palito refinery was halted in October for scheduled maintenance, according to PDVSA. Union leader Freddy Alvarado said on Wednesday that the complex remained shut.

The catalytic cracking and alkylation units at Puerto la Cruz have been inoperative since the start of November, union leader Jose Bodas said earlier this month.

Over the weekend, the refinery's reformer unit for octane 95 gasoline stopped operating, Bodas added on Wednesday. A worker at the refinery confirmed the issues.

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for information.

Venezuela's refineries have been plagued with blackouts, equipment issues and stoppages for years.

PDVSA often blames problems on "saboteurs" intent on bringing down socialist rule in Venezuela, and says its foes and hostile media try to exaggerate refinery issues. Critics say years of underinvestment and poor maintenance are the cause.

U.S. refining firm Citgo Petroleum is sending more products to its parent company, PDVSA, to compensate for problems in the domestic network, according to sources and Reuters data.

(Reporting by Mircely Guanipa; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
POWER OF ATTORNEY





Know all by these presents, that the undersigned hereby constitutes and appoints each of (i) the Chief Executive Officer of Achaogen, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the " Company "), who is currently Kenneth J. Hillan, (ii) the Company's Chief Financial Officer, who is currently Tobin Schilke and (iii) the Company's Controller, who is currently Pattie Chiang, and their respective successors, signing singly, with full power of substitution, as the undersigned's true and lawful attorney-in-fact to:





(1) execute for and on behalf of the undersigned, in the undersigned's capacity as an officer of the Company, Forms 3, 4 and 5 (including amendments thereto) in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules and regulations thereunder and a Form ID, Uniform Application for Access Codes to File on EDGAR;





(2) do and perform any and all acts for and on behalf of the undersigned which may be necessary or desirable to complete and execute any such Forms 3, 4 or 5 or Form ID and timely file such forms (including amendments thereto) and application with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and any stock exchange or similar authority; and





(3) take any other action of any type whatsoever in connection with the foregoing which, in the opinion of such attorney-in-fact, may be of benefit to, in the best interest of, or legally required by, the undersigned, it being understood that the documents executed by such attorney-in-fact on behalf of the undersigned pursuant to this Power of Attorney shall be in such form and shall contain such terms and conditions as such attorney-in-fact may approve in such attorney-in-fact's discretion.





The undersigned hereby grants to each such attorney-in-fact full power and authority to do and perform any and every act and thing whatsoever requisite, necessary or proper to be done in the exercise of any of the rights and powers herein granted, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do if personally present, with full power of substitution or revocation, hereby ratifying and confirming all that such attorney-in-fact, or such attorney-in-fact's substitute or substitutes, shall lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue of this power of attorney and the rights and powers herein granted. The undersigned acknowledges that the foregoing attorneys-in-fact, in serving in such capacity at the request of the undersigned, are not assuming, nor is the Company assuming, any of the undersigned's responsibilities to comply with Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.





The undersigned agrees that each such attorney-in-fact herein may rely entirely on information furnished orally or in writing by the undersigned to such attorney-in-fact. The undersigned also agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Company and each such attorney-in-fact against any losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in these respects) that arise out of or are based upon any untrue statements or omission of necessary facts in the information provided by the undersigned to such attorney-in fact for purposes of executing, acknowledging, delivering or filing Forms 3, 4 or 5 (including amendments thereto) or Form ID and agrees to reimburse the Company and such attorney-in-fact for any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred in connection with investigating or defending against any such loss, claim, damage, liability or action.





This Power of Attorney supersedes any power of attorney previously executed by the undersigned regarding the purposes outlined in the first paragraph hereof (" Prior Powers of Attorney "), and the authority of the attorneys-in-fact named in any Prior Powers of Attorney is hereby revoked.





This Power of Attorney shall remain in full force and effect until the undersigned is no longer required to file Forms 3, 4 or 5 with respect to the undersigned's holdings of and transactions in securities issued by the Company, unless earlier (a) revoked by the undersigned in a signed writing delivered to the foregoing attorneys-in-fact or (b) superseded by a new power of attorney regarding the purposes outlined in the first paragraph hereof dated as of a later date.





IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has caused this Power of Attorney to be executed as of this 15th day of November, 2016.








Pakistans permanent envoy in the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said that Islamabad condemned the use of water as tool of war and said that that World Bank was guarantor of Indus Water Treaty.

While addressing to UN Security Councils debate on water, peace and security, Maleeha said that Pakistan considered any such threat against the international human laws.

She said that access to water is one of the basic human right and the right needed to be guarded every time.
Boris Johnson is also expected to call on President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived in Islamabad today(Thursday) on a two day official visit to Pakistan.

Senior Foreign Office officials received the visiting dignitary on arrival.

British Foreign Secretary will hold talks with Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz today.

Ways and means to enhance bilateral relations in diverse fields will be discussed during the meeting. Regional situation and international issues of mutual interest will also come under discussion.

During his visit, Boris Johnson is also expected to call on President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif on Thursday termed India's 'surgical strike' a 'drama'. "If Pakistan were to conduct a surgical strike, it would become a chapter in Indian textbooks," the army chief said.

The army chief, addressing members of a tribal jirga in Khyber Agency's Bara tehsil said the Pakistan Army is "the strongest force against terrorism".

"They have eliminated terrorism from Pakistan's tribal areas," he said.

"I kept the morale of Pakistan Army up in my time, but I will hand over the reigns to the next chief on Nov 29," he told members of the jirga.

"We have fought the menace of terrorism together over the years," the army chief said. "It has woven us eternally in an unbreakable bond."

"I hope that the relationship between the army and the nation will continue, even after I say goodbye to the Pakistan Army," he said.

Talking about his post-retirement plans, he said he would like to dedicate his life for the welfare of the families of slain soldiers.
The Israeli regime has revived an initiative for constructing 500 new illegal settler units in East Jerusalem al-Quds after the suspension of the project due to international pressure.

The Israeli anti-settlement NGO, Ir Amim, said that the Jerusalem municipality had decided to go ahead with the plan on Wednesday.

"This morning, the local planning and building committee made the decision to advance (with the plan)... for 500 units in Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in the occupied Palestinian territories, Ir Amim said.

Read more: Israeli settler runs over Palestinian family in West Bank

The project was approved by the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee two years ago, but it was suspended amid global pressure.

The new illegal settler units will be built on a 76-acre lot between Ramat Shlomo and the Palestinian neighborhood of Shuafat after expropriating private Palestinian land in the area.

The development came a week after Israeli lawmakers gave their initial approval to a controversial bill that would grant legal status to settlement outposts illegally constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier this month, Israeli Science Minister Ofir Akunis said that Tel Aviv should begin a new wave of settlement construction in the West Bank after the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Also read: Israeli forces martyred Palestinian girl in West Bank

The remarks came after Jason Greenblatt, a top advisor to Trump on Israel, said, It is certainly not Mr. Trumps view that settlement activities should be condemned.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Tel Aviv regime has defied international calls to stop its illegal construction activities, with its settlement expansion being among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of the so-called Middle East peace talks in 2014.
A suicide truck bomb on Thursday killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla, about 100km south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement. The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from Karbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant on its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Many Iranian nationals  the largest contingent of foreigners at the Arbaeen pilgrimage that ended on Monday  were among the victims, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said. The attack took place near a village called Shomali.

At least seven buses with pilgrims were inside the petrol station at the time, a senior police said. Those buses were loaded with Iranians, Bahrainis and Iraqis. Ambulances and civil defence are on their way to the site, a police intelligence source said.

A Shomali resident said the petrol station is located on the main motorway between Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra. There were Iranians but also lots of people from Basra and Nasiriyah, Mousa Omran said, referring to another southern city. Between 17 and 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Hazrat Imam Husain.

The days-long final phase of the pilgrimage sees huge numbers of pilgrims walk long distances to reach Karbala. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million Iranians were among this years visitors. Many of them stay a few days longer to visit the shrine city. Iraqs security forces were on high alert for the duration of the pilgrimage, seen as a major potential target for IS.

The militant organisation, which is currently trying to defend its last major Iraqi bastion of Mosul against a massive offensive, has claimed countless such bombings. According to analysts, IS has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the US-backed offensive launched on Oct 17 to retake Mosul.

In a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, the group said a bomber blew up his vehicle amidst their assembly, inflicting among them more than 200 killed and wounded, including Iranians.
Chinese mainland tourists walk past Chinese and British flags at the Mall in London, Britain. REUTERS/SUZANNE PLUNKETT

For a holiday marked by fashion, sales and food, Chinese tourists ride cheaper pound and bargain packages to Great Britain

The United Kingdom has unexpectedly emerged as a popular travel destination among Chinese tourists, especially in the second half of the year, industry experts said.

According to Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, the UK registered the biggest annual increase during the seven-day National Day holiday in October. The number of tourists booking trips via Ctrip rose by 60 percent during the holiday.

Ctrip's sales of UK packages are not comparable to those for Japan, South Korea or Thailand as the distance is longer and the cost higher. But they have outnumbered trips to another popular destination, Australia, and are approaching long-time favorites such as the United States, Italy and France.

Zhu Linlin, a communications specialist at a Shanghai-based multinational insurance company, flew to the UK during the National Day holiday. Before going there, Zhang did not have very high expectations. But the trip turned out to be quite a surprise.

"There is so much to seethe museums, the castles, universities and even just the natural scenery. While people used to say that tourists in the UK will be fed up with fish and chips, I would like to say that they are all wrong. The choices are plenty. I ate to my heart's content at every meal there. Since the pound has been quite low after Brexit, the whole trip was really worth the money," she said.

After the peak travel season ended with the National Day holiday, Ctrip packages became cheaper by 10 to 20 percent. So, Chinese tourists' interest in the UK persisted, ready for the big Christmas-related sales in December and New Year sales in January.

Li Yi, a fashion buyer based in Shanghai, visited the UK in late October. Now, as the sales season is around the corner, she has booked fresh flight tickets for January.

"I used to live in London. I lived there for six years. It can be said that my understanding of the fashion business started to take shape there. There are so many fashion brands which are really chic and unique although they are less known compared to big names. It is better for me to go there and check out the latest trends. And, of course, the prices are very attractive," she said.

To cater to the growing demand of Chinese travelers, hotels and airlines have come out with special offers. As the year winds to a close, the shopping season with big events like Black Friday and Christmas sales is sure to lure thousands of Chinese travelers, industry experts said.

Como Metropolitan London, located in the central part of the city, provides its guests with personalized shopping guidance services at the outlet store Bicester Village. Besides, an additional 10 percent discount is provided to Como's guests at this outlet.

British Airways charges its business-class passengers 14,800 yuan ($2,172) each for a return trip from Shanghai to the UK, if a group of two to five people book tickets together by the end of November. Travelers flying from Chengdu or Beijing can enjoy separate discounts. The special group packages through the year cover holidays including Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and Labor Day.

According to Richard Tams, executive vice-president of British Airways China, the UK has become one of the most popular destinations for travelers from China. The airline started to provide special group trips from this month, which are designed to provide travel plans "for the next great holidays with ample lead time and great savings".
Brian Rogers

Rogers Rabbits

www.sunlive.co.nz

This week on RR we are bringing you a crapload of science.

That is the collective name for lots of sciences. Today there will be some highly-scientific terms used, as I was a prolific attender of Miss Smolenskis fourth form Otumoetai College chemistry class of the seventies, and imminently qualified to comment on discoveries of a scientific nature. Mr Humes fifth form physics class featured daring young scholars who proved that if you flung a paper spitball fast enough over Ross Willoughby you could avoid detection and possibly also hit a freckled geek in the background. Then there was the longest-running science experiment of all time, Stu Henderson, the objective to see how many decades of torture by young people can one mortal can withstand. Apparently Mr Henderson is still there and from all reports, the experiment is going well. The biology department may be eyeing him up for their fossil collection.

Back in the day

Speed was a common theme in the seventies, when a teacher could get away with racing the students on their motorbikes to and from the college; and bring a gun to school to demonstrate velocity. Imagine if that happened in todays society? The only demonstration of speed would be the pace at which said teacher would be incarcerated. However the relatively uncensored attitude of school life did provide some extra-curricular learning opportunitiesinvaluable life experiences, which are sadly lacking from todays PC white-washed world in which you cant even climb a tree without a risk assessment of falling from it, or hurting its feelings.

Quake science

Theres a lot of science coming out of North Canterbury and Wellington regions in the aftermath of the quakes. We wish all those affected a speedy recovery. The Sun is planning a promotional boost for Kaikoura businesses once theyre up and running. More on this in the coming months. The best way we can help recovery is to support those businesses once theyre back on their feet. Watch this space.

Peace of my mind

You dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the peace protesters are still banging on a tired old drum, long after the party ended. It was great to see the armed forces, especially the navy, with all hands on deck for earthquake assistance. This is the meaningful action we need from our tax spend, rather than posturing and pomp. Well done the crew of Canterbury and special thanks to our mates from the US Navy, in their first visit since the thawing of the silly ships ban. As weve said before in this column, its pretty much a waste of time New Zealand attempting to have a warfaring strike force, better to focus on coastal patrols, disaster relief, fisheries patrols and customs back-up. We have big brothers with real strike capability on our side should the need ever arise. Id like to see some science on how many of these are habitual protesters who turn up to every event involving a megaphone and a placard. There would be a huge crossover of characters who regularly chant, barricade, hoick and hikoi at whatever fashionable protest is Special of the Day.

Beer motivation

From the Not Much Has Changed Department, comes this riveting piece of science: Researchers have concluded from studies of barley genetics, that beer motivated early farmers. The Okayama University researching barley dormancy mutation have identified the gene mutation and the enzyme it encodes to determine whether the dormancy of barley is long (better for food crops) or short (better for beer-making). And to cut a very long story short, it seems the early beer-makers won out. This will be of no surprise to modern day farmers, as most I know are also motivated by beer. The mutation for short dormancy contributes further to the debate as to what extent the development of ancient agrarian societies was driven by the human appetite for flour and bread, or for beer and alcohol. Here at RR, we are experts at interpreting science discoveries and also have a conclusion: The ancient farmers probably took more interest in cropping for flour and bread when they discovered things that go well with beerfish and chips; and barbecued sausages slapped in a sauce-slathered slice.

Doh, Auckland

Dumb science led Auckland Council to a new slogan, considering the number of inmates trying to escape. The former City of Sails, which lately has become the City of (House) Sales, now apparently has a new tag. Not many residents are happy about that. Auckland spent half a million to come up with The place desired by many. Which is ironic, considering the landslide of people leaving for the provinces. The alternate slogans are coming thick and fast, and here at RR were keen to help stir that pot. The ACT party has been quick to seize on the subject with better slogans reflecting what Aucklanders want from council: The place where my kids will afford a home before I die. The place where Im not stuck in traffic all the time. The place where my consents get processed within the 20 day statutory requirement. The place where my rates bear some resemblance to services rendered.

If you have a better slogan for Auckland city, wed love to hear it. Drop a line to: brian@thesun.co.nz

Parting shot:

Heres a scene from downtown Tauranga. You dont have to be a science genius to figure out the flaw in this security measure.
The roads of Te Puke are set to rumble when a convoy of motorcycle cruises into town for the White Ribbon Ride this Friday.

The week-long motorcycle voyage, which takes place all across New Zealand during White Ribbon Month in November, aims to tackle New Zealands crippling domestic violence record head-on.

White Ribbon riders are trained to speak about violence prevention and include motorcyclists from The Patriots  former and current members of the armed services  and Te Ahi Kikoha who travel across New Zealand delivering speeches and taking part in about 80 community events.

This week riders in four groups  Auckland and Northland, Lower North Island, South Island and the Haruaki convoy which is visiting Te Puke on Friday  have been covering the country spreading their message of respectful relationships.

Te Puke is the second to last of 12 towns being visited during the Hauraki ride which began in Hamilton and will finish in Hamilton.

Our whole aim is to stop violence towards women, the kaupapa {purpose) is to get men to stand up, speak out and to act to prevent mens violence towards women, says Hauraki region White Ribbon Ride leader Aaron Morrison.

On Friday, the Hauraki convoy will head to Te Puke High School to deliver a presentation to students focusing on the White Ribbon message at about 12.30pm.

The convoy will then travel to Te Puke Intermediate to deliver another presentation as well as announce the winner of the White Ribbon colouring competition at 1pm.

Following the school visits the convoy will then leave on mass and do two or three laps of Te Puke Township with a police escort, says Its Not Ok Te Puke campaign spokesperson Heather Beddie.

Theyll then be mulling around on the street talking to people, and all the champions from the Its No Ok campaign will also be distributing the white ribbon message and pledge to members of the public.

The White Ribbon Riders will also appear at the annual Papamoa Santa Parade which runs down Dixon Road to Papamoa Plaza this Sunday, November 27, from 12pm-3pm.

White Ribbon day, which aims to end family violence against women, serves as a reminder to not forget the children when it comes to matters of domestic abuse.

Intimate partner violence and child abuse is inextricably linked, says Child Matters general manager relationships and operations, Jane Searle.

In about 65 per cent of child abuse cases reported to Child Youth and Family, there is also occurrences of intimate partner violence.

In 70 per cent of intimate partner violence cases, the children are also being abused, says Jane.

Even if children are not physically abused, their exposure to violence, and violence occurring in their home, can cause serious harm.

At least one in four adults has experienced childhood trauma or abuse, family violence or sexual assault, says Jane.

It is not always easy to tell if a child is being hurt or is at risk, but we strongly urge anyone who may have concerns about a child to speak up.

There is no quick fix for child abuse and Child Matters believes Government organisations, Police, community groups, businesses, Maori and health organisations, individuals and members of the public all play a role in keeping children safe.

There is not one agency that can do it alone, and its up to everyone in the community to take responsibility for any worries that they have regarding a child. If you have any concerns at all about the safety of a child, please contact Child Youth and Family (0508 FAMILY) or the Police as it could make all the difference.

Child Matters is a national charitable trust dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. The organisation provides training, consultation, policy writing and advisory services.

For more information about the ride and campaign visit the White Ribbon website at: whiteribbon.org.nz
One morning I received a Facebook message "can you please tell me if a cruise ship has berthed this morning, have friends on it from Oz, many thanks".

I look up on Google and reply with; "Hi the Arcadia was due to berth at 5.43 am today. Its fine weather so it probably did". "Okay thanks, will keep trying their cell phone."

After a 7am coffee at Luca, I go check out the ship.

Pilot Bay is breathtakingly beautiful. Theres really no words in English to describe it. I like the Croatian word "izuzetan" which means "exceptional" so Ill go with that. Pilot Bay is izuzetan.

An official looking guy in a yellow vest called Barry Lusher watches me pull into the coned area.

"You cant actually park there?" He smiles. "Hi I thought Id just get a quick photo of the boat? Send it to someone who is looking for a friend?" "Oh yeah thats fine." I hop out. Take a few photos. Barry is one of the official ambassadors for our city. However he calls himself a carpark warden.

Its still fairly quiet with some tour operators assembled waiting for passengers to come through the gates.

Barry tells me theres usually about 30 - 40 vans and buses waiting depending on the size of the ship.

The vans all meet first at Blake Park and then go into a draw to see who will be parked closest to the ship, he states. Then they drive on down here.

Those who make it into the draw get to park close. The others have to park in the next street. Theres a new draw for each ship.

Barry and I chat for a while in between him directing people. Hes brilliant. He considers his primary role as meeting and greeting passengers and ensuring theyre in the right place. Hes been doing this for 6 or 7 years and arrives at 6.30am with the rest of the ambassadors rostered on to help. "I like the interactions with passengers," he says. "The satisfaction of helping them. Showing them the most beautiful place in New Zealand." He strides off after a lost looking couple.

"Are you ok? Can I help you?" he enquires with a friendly smile. They turn, looking relieved.

"Were just wondering where to go, they explain. This is only our second time ashore. Weve had a lot of sea days. Our tour operator isnt here yet." "They run to a schedule and should be here soon, he replies with his customary smile.

Its now 8.30am. They chat for a bit and he answers their questions.

I get a Facebook message in from a Kim Breen "Has the Arcadia arrived yet? Thanks :D" "Yes", I reply, and send her a photo of the ship.

Kim responds with "Woooo will see my uncle from Liverpool today first time in 7 years thank you.

Barry returns and tells me how theres usually hundreds of cruise ship passengers milling around by this time, but today is a luxury 150-day around-the-world cruise that came from French Polynesia and has been at sea for 5 days. He points out that the main problem for passengers disembarking is the name of the road behind us - "The Mall" which has a large road sign and arrow pointing towards the Mount.

"Most people think thats a sign pointing to a shopping mall, he states. They can get quite lost.

The Mall is the name of the road that runs along Pilot Bay from Salisbury Wharf to Adams Ave.

The confusing The Mall sign.

He heads off to guide the Hop On Hop Off bus in to its allocated park.

One of the operators chats with me. I ask them where they take the passengers.

Well some of them stay on board the ship. About 40% of them go on buses that park inside by the ship. To Hobbiton, Waitomo, Rotorua or somewhere like that.

Anyone go to Tauranga? I ask.

We errr how can I put it without being rude. Theyre usually looking for views which they can get here at the Mount. Unless they want the historic stuff or the art gallery, well, theres nothing much over there is there, truly. But they dont know about the Mount.

They dont know about the Mount? I ask, puzzled.

The cruise ships pretty much promote Rotorua. Mount Maunganui doesnt get mentioned in any of their paperwork. Instead its Tauranga, he says. The passengers says Mount Maunganui  oh I didnt realise there was a town here.

In order to stop touting, those tour operators that are not meeting specific people are required to stay within a metre of their van.

Twenty Japanese come up to me.

"Excuse me, which way is to the city? they ask.

Im suddenly thrust into the role of guide and wonder whether they mean Tauranga City or the Mount Maunganui shops. I quickly point out the two locations from which to catch the buses going over the harbour bridge to Tauranga. From their faces I can tell they dont want that.

"Or theres shops just around the corner over there, I point in the other direction. Its our Mount Maunganui township."

Their faces light up with smiles and they head off happily chatting. I guess after five days on board they just want to go for a walk on dry land.

The Hop On Hop Off bus guide with a giant pink hat comes towards me with a grin. "Its you!" I exclaim.

"Youre the pink hat lady today!" He had jogged past me the night before. Usually theres a woman wearing the pink hat.

"Yep! My sons not doing it today so its me."

Like Gandalf with his staff, he stands, feet apart holding the sign firmly. Passengers for the bus are told to look for the lady in the bright pink hat. I forget to tell him Sonny Bill Williams was also out heading for a swim the previous night.

Barry comes back. Hes beaming.

Passengers are frequently referring to this as the best reception, and the best information they have when they need it anywhere in New Zealand.

I get home and receive a new Facebook message from the person with friends from Oz - "unable to make phone contact, is there any other way I can please." I look up on Google, find the "meeting passengers" link and phone number and email that through.

Later in the day, a message and photo come in from Kim Breen.

I was asking you if the ship had arrived because my Uncle and Aunty from Liverpool were on it and I hadnt seen him for 7 years, she wrote.

We met them in Tauranga, had a pub meal and then we headed over to Omokoroa so they could see where we lived before heading back and dropping them off in time to meet their bus in Tauranga. It was a very special day for me. He had also never met my daughter Callie either, so pretty cool day.

Yes, very cool day, another izuzetan day in the Bay.
Bay of Plenty drivers are being warned to drive to the conditions with rain causing some slippery conditions.

There have been three reports of vehicles crashing in different locations around Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty.

Police are dealing with a crash on State Highway 36, at the intersection of Pyes Pa Road. There are also reports of a crash on Turret Road.

Earlier this morning, a caller to the 0800 SUNLIVE news hotline reported a bus had crashed into a pole in the CBD. They said the crash appeared to be minor.

A front moving across New Zealand is bringing rain to Tauranga today.

This front will be followed by strong winds that will be a feature of the weather into the weekend, says the MetService.

Whats causing these strong winds?

The strong westerly flow is being caused by a deep low - currently over the south Tasman Sea - as it dips down below the South Island on Friday night, says MetService spokesperson Tuporo Marsters.

As the low passes the country it squeezes the isobars together over New Zealand, causing the westerly winds to pick up.

A cold southwest change then works its way up the country from late Saturday, and temperatures will take a dip in the South Island on Sunday.

Temperatures are getting as low as 6 degrees in Invercargill on Sunday, with a forecast high of 11.

We could also see some snow on those South Island mountains from Fiordland and up through Canterbury.
American residents met at events along the coast, where much discussion centred on Trump?s win and his forthcoming presidency

The American community remembers their home country with friends in Estepona on Thursday. : SUR

On Thursday, the Costa del Sols 2,000 American nationals celebrated the annual Thanksgiving holiday in traditional style.

Members of the American Club, which has several chapters stretching from Nerja to Sotogrande got together at different events to remember the first settlers on American shores and to give thanks.

Estepona celebration

The American Club, Estepona chapter, met for lunch at the Marriott Playa Andalucia. Some 90 people attended, around half of whom were from the US and half from other countries including Spain, the UK, Ireland and Germany.

As every year, it was a lively event with plenty of animated conversation. However, this year the big topic of conversation was the recent victory of Donald Trump in the Americanpresidential elections earlier this month.

Club member Lew Bordeaux spoke for many, telling SURthat the American community was very divided about the result but that all hoped that good relations would be maintained with Europe as a close partnership is fundamental. It was important to be cautious and wait to see what happened, he added.

Three groups meet in Mijas

Meanwhile Restaurante Valparaiso in Mijas played host to a joint celebration of three of the American Clubs local chapters.

The get-together included a lunch and charity raffle in aid of the Cudeca cancer charity, as well as plenty more debate and discussion about what lies in store for American politics in the next twelve months before the next time the chapters meet for their Thanksgiving celebrations.

Ambassadors message

Meanwhile outgoing USambassador to Spain, James Costos, has thanked people for their support during his time in the country and said that he is firmly committed to advancing our excellent bilateral relationships with Spain and Andorra with Donald Trumps transition team.
'True neighbors' ink deals on astronomy, finance, education

President Xi Jinping and Michelle Bachelet, Chile's president, share a light moment before bilateral agreements are signed at the government house in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday. [Photo/Agencies]

China and Chile agreed to begin negotiations on deepening a free trade agreement signed in 2005, as President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to the Latin American country.

The agreement was among the 12 cooperative documents signed on Tuesday to enhance cooperation in areas including astronomy, finance, education, agriculture and trade.

"An upgrade of the FTA between Chile and China will give two-way economic and trade cooperation a strong boost," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday while meeting with Xi.

Chile welcomes Chinese enterprises to increase their investments in the Latin American country, she said, adding that her country is willing to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as soon as possible.

The agreements also include jointly establishing and operating an astronomy base in Chile and setting up a Chinese culture center in Santiago.

Xi said after the signing ceremony that he had invited Bachelet to make a state visit to China next year, as the two countries move forward to boost mutual political trust and enhance high-level exchanges.

"Chile is close to China in the countries' alphabetic rank, and we are true neighbors," he said.

China has never changed its confidence in the potential for Latin America's development, Xi said, adding that Beijing firmly supports Latin American countries' efforts to safeguard regional peace and unity.

Bachelet said the agreements will bring more practical cooperation to the two countries.

Thanks to the FTA, as much as 97 percent of Chile's exports to China are free of tariffs now, she said.

In June, China Construction Bank, one of China's largest banking institutions, opened a branch in Santiago, which is the first clearing bank for renminbi transactions in South America.

The bank will facilitate Chinese financing for Chilean projects, Bachelet said.

Chile was the first Latin American country to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China. In 2014, bilateral trade volume reached $34.15 billion, almost five times the amount at the time the agreement was signed.

China, which was Chile's 25th-largest trading partner before the FTA agreement, is now its biggest trade partner.

Last year, although overall trade volume declined to $31.9 billion because of the global economic downturn, Chile's exports to China still accounted for more than one-fourth of its total.

Liu Rutao, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Chile, highlighted the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

A new level of free trade will introduce e-commerce, trade in services and more scientific inspection and quarantine into the traditionally commodity-heavy trade, Liu said.

Xu Shicheng, a senior researcher of Latin American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Chinese and Chilean economies are highly complementary, providing much opportunity for bilateral cooperation.

China has advantages in such areas as infrastructure construction capacity, manufacturing, steel production and equipment, which are needed in many Latin American countries, including Chile, he said.
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivers his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons, in London November 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced more funds for Britain's infrastructure and measures to reverse lagging productivity in the first official statement of the government's economic priorities since this year's vote to leave the European Union.

Hammond used his Autumn Statement, his first since becoming chancellor in the wake of the Brexit referendum, to reassure domestic and overseas businesses of the continuing strength of the British economy. Its resilienceit was the fastest-growing among major economies in 2016confounded commentators, at home and abroad, after Britain voted to "chart a new future for our country", Hammond told a packed House of Commons.

But he acknowledged growth was slowing, and laid out plans for 23 billion pounds ($28.5 billion) of growth-creating infrastructure spending, despite rising government debt.

The chancellor had supported remaining in the EU and, since taking his new post, has come under fire for being over-cautious. His critics included colleagues who favor a quick exit that would open the way for bilateral free-trade agreements in which economies such as China are seen as the biggest prize.

Lack of clarity on the government's negotiating strategy with the EU has been blamed for some businesses putting investment plans on hold and Hammond acknowledged in his speech that "business values certainty and stability".

In the mini-budget, Hammond confirmed that corporation tax would continue to fall, to 17 percent by 2020, despite speculation he might have cut even deeper. By offering the lowest company taxes in the industrial world, the government seeks to boost direct investment from overseas.

Hammond pledged additional infrastructure spending, including more than 1 billion pounds on roads. A new fast route between the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge, already nicknamed the "brain-belt expressway", is designed to act as a new tech corridor.

The chancellor said he was also injecting 400 million pounds into venture capital funds to unlock new finance for growing companies.

The writer is a senior media consultant for China Daily UK.
Choosing a quote with which to start this review is a tricky task. David Henry Hwangs M. Butterfly is an Arts students dream; packed with brilliantly crafted monologues and snappy one liners, it is a play which opens up to a myriad of points of enquiry. Tensions between East and West, cross-dressing, performed and subverted gender roles, and conflicting political ideologies are all foregrounded in this production of the Tony Award winning play.

The Corpus Playroom lends itself well to tightly woven tales of destruction and this production certainly used the space to its advantage. The atmosphere was at once intimate and oppressive: the audience is drawn in as Butterfly (Jiwoo Yoo) undresses behind a screen, silhouetted in soft yellow lighting, and repelled by shouting as the happy domestic illusion shatters for Rene (Dan Blick) and his wife Helga (Jessica Murdoch). The play begins in Renes prison cell and the plot is narrated through a series of increasingly complex flashbacks which occur across different times, places and indeed planes of consciousness of Renes existence. Despite this, the slick scene changes mean that the main thread is never obscured. The intertextuality with Puccinis opera is ever present: towards the end of the play in particular it is Butterfly who comes to control the play, indicating who should speak and when.

Both Yoo and Blicks performances are highly convincing and I can only imagine the emotional exhaustion that comes with putting on a play such as this. Yoo plays out the complexity of Butterflys character with aplomb and he delivers some of Hwangs greatest lines with ease. His courtroom speech towards the end of play had my hairs on end, as he explains the sobering truth which upends Western concepts of democracy, power and gender. Blick is just the right blend of the arrogant grammar school educated boy, stinking of white male privilege and the insecure young man, sweating and fumbling his way up the career ladder, haunted by memories of his spotty youth. At times I almost felt pity for him, until he delivered one liners such as this: But is it possible for a woman to be too uninhibited, too willing, so as to seem almost too masculine?

The production team successfully exploit the theme of dressing and undressing which informs some of the most interesting aspects of the play. Rene starts off with a dressing gown over his suit and his changes between jackets and ties mirror the multiple personas which he is experimenting with. Ending the play wearing the very same kimono as Butterfly was wearing when she fell in love with him reinforces the subversion at the end of the play. Butterflys costume changes are equally important: she plays at the Oriental lily in her kimono, the Western actress in a black ball gown and finally, the suit wearing Communist spy back in Paris. The shift dresses and sexy lingerie of Renes wifes Helga are the perfect foil to Butterflys modesty when in China, yet her available flesh is undesirable to her roaming husband. Becky Shepherdsons Renee is an interesting counterpoint to Helga and her monologue reducing all conflict as an attempt to mask small penis size certainly appealed to the audience. As did Cara Fungs performance as Chin; her blunt assertion Don't forget: there is no homosexuality in China! hinted at a wider set of political implications which are left relatively unexplored.

This production encourages the audience to reflect upon the relevance of the questions which the play asks and whether almost 30 years after its first production, we have found some answers. My hunch is that we havent. Unlike anything I have ever seen on the stage in Cambridge, M. Butterfly is a highly thoughtful and well-acted production.

8/10
The legacy and expectation surrounding Shakespeare always makes his plays difficult to do justice to, but Alex Strouts and Caitlin Carrs Antony  Cleopatra succeeded in capturing the essence of Shakespeares devastating tragedy. Although there were a few slightly clumsy scene transitions and first-night mistakes, the acting was fantastic and the atmosphere in the crammed Pembroke Cellars was infectious.

This cast were brilliant at conveying the subtleties of Shakespeares language. Particularly notable scenes included the exchanges between Cleopatra (Beatriz Santos) and her women, military debates, and the final scene, which perfectly created the cathartic release the audience sought. Henry Eaton-Mercers performance as Antonys devoted friend Enobarbus was outstanding, and the comic elements he brought to the play provided moments of humour and levity within the ever-present atmosphere of war, severity, and tragedy. The barge scene was phenomenal: very difficult and laden with expectations, Eaton-Mercers delivery enabled a scene to be envisioned that no staging could do perfect justice to.

The decision not to stage the barge scene was a good one, but some other staging decisions were less successful. The use of music between scene changes was a nice idea, especially as transitions involved a lot of prop movement and tended to be noisy and messy, but the choice of music seemed out of place.

The use of the projector during scene changes, and at other odd moments such as the barge description, could have been really exceptional if the images were not juxtaposingly modern and at odds with the overall theme and tone of the play. Although I liked the concept, it did spoil the play slightly to have clips of commuters on busy tubes, or images of stations in London projected behind characters. It didnt seem to fit with the atmosphere that the actors were attempting to project.

Despite the slightly out of place music and projection, and some clumsy scene changes, there were many positives to this performance. The use of costume and design was very effective, with an elaborate display of various costumes modelled by Cleopatra. Make-up designer Lauren Perry must also be commended for her work, especially on characters' eye make-up.

Overall this was a very good performance, with strong characterisation, commendable costumes and some fantastic acting. Antony  Cleopatra is a strong interpretation of Shakespeares text.

7/10
When I reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Box last week, one of my complaints was about the layout of the home screen. Instead of having just one section for all your apps, the Mi Box splits your app library in two, with a separate section of Mi Box Recommends apps that cant be customized.

This isnt the first time Ive run into this problem. Last years Nvidia Shield Android TV, which runs the same operating system from Google, also has a separate row just for Nvidias pre-installed gaming apps and Netflix. As with the Mi Box, theres no way to move those apps around.

Fortunately, there are ways to take control of your home screen on the Xiaomi Mi Box, Nvidia Shield Android TV, and Google Nexus Player. Theyre just hidden out of sight from the average user. Heres what you can do:

Xiaomi Mi Box: removing the Mi Box Recommends row

Getting rid of Xiaomis bloatware first requires a settings tweak:

Go to Settings

Under the Device heading, select Apps

Under the System apps heading, scroll to and select XiaomiLeanbackCustomizer

Select Disable, then select OK

Removing this row doesnt get rid of the apps themselves, it simply moves them to the main app section so that everythings in one place. To remove these apps completely, you launch them first, as this takes you to the Google Play Store to complete the installation. After this step, uninstall the apps through Settings > Apps or through the Google Play Store, and the icons should disappear. (Thanks to Android Box Reviews for the tip.)

Nvidia Shield Android TV: removing the Shield Hub row

The weirdest thing about the Nvidia Shield Android TV is how it relegates the Netflix app to the same row as Nvidias own gaming services. If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, follow these steps for relief:

Go to Settings

Under the Device heading, select Apps

Under the System apps heading, scroll to and select Nvidia Customizations

Select Notifications, then select Off

When you return to the home screen, both Netflix and the Shield Hub app will appear inside the main apps section. You can press and hold the A button on those apps to rearrange the icons.

Theres just one downside: Launching the Shield Hub takes you straight to Nvidias GeForce Now cloud gaming service, with no apparent way to access GameStream (for in-home streaming from a PC) or Nvidias native game store.

Extreme measure: Set a new default launcher

If youre still unhappy with the Android TV home screenfor instance, you dont like the Recommendations row, or dont want your games and apps separated, you can install an alternative home screen launcher.

Alternative home screen launchers for Android TV provide more freedom to customize.

With Android 6.0, Google made this a lot harder on Android TV devices. Even if you install an alternative launcher like HALauncher or TVLauncher, theres no built-in way to set them as the default. Fortunately, there is a workaround, discovered by the XDA developer forums. All you need is a laptop and USB cable, and it doesnt even require rooting your device:

Install your alternative launcher of choice

On your PC, download and install Minimal ADB and Fastboot

Nvidia Shield owners may need to install Shield Open Source drivers on the PC, though this shouldnt be necessary in Windows 10

On your Android TV device, go to Settings

Under the Device heading, select About

Scroll down to Build, and press the A button eight times. (A message will tell you that you are now a developer.)

Return to the main Settings menu

Under the Preferences heading, select Developer options

Select Debugging, then select USB Debugging, then select On

Connect the Android TV device to the PC with a USB cable

On the Android TV device, approve the connection

On the PC, launch Minimal ADB and Fastboot

In the command prompt, type adb devices

Verify that a device is detected (it should appear as a string of numbers)

In the command prompt, type adb shell pm hide com.google.android.leanbacklauncher

Now when you press your devices home button, it should return to your alternative launcher. To get the standard launcher back, return to the command prompt and type adb shell pm unhide com.google.android.leanbacklauncher.

Ive confirmed that this works on the Nvidia Shield Android TV. And unlike the more basic workaround that eliminates Nvidias home screen section, launching the Shield Hub app from an alternative launcher preserves access to GameStream and Nvidias game store.

One of Androids strengths has always been the ability to customize, so its a shame Google makes power users go through so many steps to change the home screen. But at least its still possible.

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Not content with introducing the most extreme surveillance law ever passed in a democracy, the UK government also feels its citizens need to be protected from the horrors of online pornography. As such, it plans to ban websites that display "non-conventional" sex acts.

The proposal, which is part of the digital economy bill, would see the same UK pornography restrictions that are in place for adult DVDs and video-on-demand services applied to online content.

ISPs would be forced to block sites featuring material that would not be certified for commercial sale by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) - the UK's version of MPAA. These "non-conventional" acts may include pictures and videos that show spanking, whipping or caning that leaves marks, and sexual fetish material that includes bondage or sadomasochistic activity, urination and other bodily functions.

There are plenty of other types of acts covered by this definition, including public sex and the hilarious "four-finger rule." Basically, porn sites would need to block about half of their content from UK audiences in order to comply.

Additionally, even those site that host so-called conventional adult material could suffer under the bill, as they will be forced to verify British users' ages before allowing them access. The age checks could be carried out using credit cards - because nobody would have any issues with typing their Visa number into a porn site, obviously.

"The Government is committed to keeping children safe from harmful pornographic content online and that is exactly what we are doing," said Karen Bradley, UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. "Only adults should be allowed to view such content and we have appointed a regulator, BBFC, to make sure the right age checks are in place to make that happen. If sites refuse to comply, they should be blocked."

The bill is the latest move in Britain's battle against online pornography. Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who allegedly engaged in a sex act with a dead pig's head as part of an initiation ceremony while at Oxford, ensured that many UK households now have adult websites blocked by their ISPs unless they opt-in.

The Digital Economy Bill could be amended before it becomes law but, unless the government pays attention to the numerous anti-censorship protesters, completely legal adult content could soon be banned.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has admitted that he secretly edited certain posts on the site that targeted him, replacing his username in the abusive comments with the names of moderators from unofficial Donald Trump subreddit r/the_donald.

Huffman faced the anger of certain Redditors after the Pizzagate subreddit was banned. The section was being used to discuss a fake news story started by 4Chan users that claimed a pizza place in Washington D.C. - Comet Ping Pong - was the home of a child abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief, John D. Podesta.

r/Pizzagate was set up with the intention of proving the existence of the conspiracy, but Reddit shut it down after users started posting personal information of those supposedly involved. "We don't want witchhunts on our site," reads part of the notice that replaced the page.

This didn't go down well with members of r/the_donald community, some of whom accused the company of censorship. In retaliation for the ban, they targeted Huffman with a series of insults using his "spez" Reddit name so he would be notified each time one appeared.

It seems the CEO reached breaking point after some of the posts accused him of being a pedophile. "Yep. I messed with the 'f*ck u/spez' comments, replacing 'spez' with r/the_donald mods for about an hour," he said. "It's been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly."

Huffman's acknowledged that he made a mistake, and the altered posts have now been returned to their original state . "Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won't do this again," he wrote.

Not surprisingly, Huffman's justifications for his actions haven't placated members of r/the_donald, who say he has single-handedly destroyed Reddit's credibility and are calling for his resignation. "This is not a the_donald thing anymore. This should infuriate and concern EVERY SINGLE USER FROM EVERY SINGLE SUB. Falsifying content. CEO ethics violations," wrote one user.
Even as expectations are up that evidence of life could be established on Mars, scientists have reported the presence of a giant deposit of buried ice that has frozen water to the equivalent of Lake Superior. That may sound a setback to trace life as water is the core component of life on the Earth.

This follows the data sent by the ground-probing Shallow Radar (SHARAD) aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA that scanned the Utopia Planitia region of Mars to pass the crucial indications. The data followed diagonal striping of the area to confirm large subsurface deposit of water ice.

Ice On Mars

The said ice layer is so massive that it's more than the size of New Mexico. The soil content was also 3 feet to 33 feet (1 to 10 meters) thick, making scientists affirm that the area is best for future exploration by astronauts visiting the Red Planet.

The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, was led by Cassie Stuurman of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas.

The reason why the scientist's singled out Utopia Planitia for exploration was the presence of "scalloped depressions" akin to the landscape in the Canadian Arctic which also has ice lying underneath.

Explaining the evolution of the ice sheet, Stuurman said the deposit might have formed as a result of snowfall into an ice sheet that mixed with dust "during a period in Mars history when the planet's axis was more tilted than it is today."

Massive Ice Deposits

The location of the deposits was between 39 and 49 degrees north latitude and the ice layer had a thickness ranging from 260 to 560 feet (80 to 170 m) with a water ice component at 50 to 85 percent and the rest as the rock, according to SHARAD data.

Calling this as massive, scientists said this is the equivalent of water in Lake Superior, which carries 12,090 cubic kilometers (2,900 cubic miles) of water.

However, the news of a dominant ice layer may be a setback for the quest to fix traces of life on Mars, as life on Earth is always linked to water.

Researchers are of the view that liquid water might have existed before, when poles of Mars tilted in a different angle and melting of ice happened.

At present, Mars is at a 25-degree lean and the tilt may change to 50 degrees over a 120,000-year cycle.

"We don't understand fully why ice has built up in some areas of the Martian surface and not in others," said co-author Joe Levy.

Underlining the importance of studying the distribution of Martian water, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist Leslie Tamppari said early there was enough liquid water on the surface of early Mars. Much of that is gone now with a large quantity remaining underground as ice. .

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The Dead Sea, world's deepest salt lake and one of the oldest natural attractions in the world, is literally dying. Lying at 1,400 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is wedged between Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.

The Famous Dead Sea

It derives its name from the hypersaline water, which prevents marine creatures from thriving.

The Dead Sea has been a haven for Mediterranean travelers who love to float with ease on high-density water. In the olden days, Roman king Herod I made the Dead Sea his spa resort.

Containing 10 times more salt than any other ocean, the Dead Sea is rich in potassium, magnesium, bromide and calcium chloride, which made it world famous for the healing powers. People had been thronging to the sea, seeking a cure for skin, heart and lung conditions.

Damage To The Dead Sea

In a statement, EcoPeace explained that the Dead Sea water levels have fallen more than 80 feet since the beginning of the century because of unhindered development, including tourism-related constructions around the sea.

It also said 2,000 sinkholes were found on the western shores of the Dead Sea, raising concern that surface water is disappearing to the underground.

EcoPeace Middle East added that the lake is fast moving away from the bordering nations at the rate of more than 3 feet per year.

The 15 million-years-old Dead Sea is a lake that drains the watershed of the Jordan River. The crisis is also the fallout of that natural faucet depleting over the years.

"Far and away the biggest cause of the rapid disappearance of the Dead Sea is the lack of water coming into it from its traditional sources  the Jordan River," EcoPeace Middle East said.

Noting that much of the water is taken by the Israel, Jordan and Palestine for domestic consumption, the group said the bulk of the water is going to agriculture that is very subsidized.

Skewed Supply From Jordan River

According to Gidon Bromberg, head of Friends of the Earth in Israel, the demise of the Dead Sea is mainly caused by the interruptions in the Jordan River and the diversions that are blocking the waters running along Jordan to the Dead Sea from the Yarmouk River. This was mainly due to the construction of dams, storage reservoirs and pipelines.

Compounding the problem is tourism development in the region, which is worsening the drainage into the Dead Sea. High-rise hotels and other attractions are choking the water sources and replacing the lost water with sewage.

Just like Yellowstone National Park, the Dead Sea is being "loved to death," EcoPeace Middle East added.

Enhanced mineral and water extractions for the cosmetic industry is also harming the Dead Sea.

Meanwhile, Jordan and Israel inked a deal to replenish the Dead Sea and increase the flow of the Jordan River. Accordingly, a canal from the Red Sea that will pump 300 million cubic meters of water annually to the Dead Sea has been proposed.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is trying to get Apple to make its products in the United States instead of other countries.

Most of Apple's current manufacturing partners operate in countries such as China and Vietnam, but Trump wants to incentivize the company to build at least one plant in the United States and make its products locally.

In an interview with The New York Times, Trump said that both Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and Apple CEO Tim Cook called him after winning the election. Trump explained to Cook that he would consider it a "real achievement" if he could convince Apple to make devices in the United States instead of other countries and Cook reportedly acknowledged the suggestion by saying that he understands.

Trump told the CEO that Apple could build a big plant in the Unites States, or several big plants, and make its devices right there, and that could be doable with the right incentives.

Tax And Regulation Cuts

The recently-elected president further noted that he's optimistic that Apple will take him up on his offer based on the incentives he has in mind, which would include "substantial regulation cuts" and a "very large tax cut."

"I said: 'I think we'll create the incentives for you, and I think you're going to do it. We're going for a very large tax cut for corporations, which you'll be happy about,'" Trump told the NYT, recalling his talk with Cook.

Big tax cuts, however, are currently impossible due to regulations, therefore those regulations have to go. He added that regulations have become "ridiculous" and companies find it hard to start things up and expand.

Apple Reportedly Interested In iPhones Made In USA

Just recently, a report revealed that Apple has already asked Foxconn, one of its manufacturing partners, to look into the possibility of shifting iPhone production to the United States. However, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou was reportedly not so excited with this idea, as it would lead to arguably higher production costs.

Getting Apple to move its production to the United States has been an important thing in Trump's agenda for a while now. Earlier this year, as MacRumors points out, Trump said Apple will be persuaded to build its "damn computers and things" in the United States instead of other countries. At that point, Trump also threatened to slap a 45 percent tax on products imported from China.

Cook, for his part, has previously argued that Apple makes iPhones in China because the country placed a huge focus on manufacturing, whereas the United States has a smaller workforce vocationally skilled for what it needs.

At the same time, Apple is also paying lower wages in China compared to what it would have to pay in the United States. The company also collaborates with partners in Asia, Japan and South Korea for device manufacturing.

Moving Forward

Tim Cook supported Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election, although Apple as a company supported both presidential nominees. Nevertheless, when Trump won the race, Cook sent a memo to Apple employees urging them to "move forward together" despite the uncertainties they may face in the future.

It remains to be seen whether moving forward will mean accepting Trump's proposition and start building manufacturing plants to move its device production to the United States, but the incentives Trump mentioned could do the trick.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Nokia recently confirmed that it will reenter the smartphone market in 2017, and now details of its upcoming handset have leaked. The device will reportedly feature a waterproof metal body, 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch Quad HD displays and high-end Carl Zeiss optics.

After watching Apple and Google enter the mobile market and quickly capture market share from the top smartphone maker at the time, BlackBerry, Microsoft put a plan into motion that would allow it to quickly make a larger splash in the smartphone pool.

Nokia Sells Smartphone Division To Microsoft

Microsoft acquired Nokia's phone division in 2014 for $7.2 billion and released several smartphones, including the Lumia 1525, Lumia 930 and Lumia 630, which were all powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone OS. The Lumia lineup never amounted to the kind of market share Microsoft was hoping for, and the experiment reportedly cost the company $8 billion.

Nokia Confirms It Will Reenter Smartphone Market in 2017 With New Android Handsets

After a long absence, Nokia is about to reenter the smartphone game and recently confirmed it would release new Android- based smartphones in 2017. The handsets are expected to be unveiled at MWC 2017, which kicks off on Feb. 27. 2017. Renders of one of the handsets leaked in early November, and a new report reveals some of the specs expected in the 2017 flagship Nokia smartphone.

New Flagship Nokia Smartphone Specs And Details Leak

The screenshot above was captured on Weibo and shows what are supposedly the specs of the upcoming Nokia smartphone. It will reportedly be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which is a little outdated for a flagship device expected to be released in 2017. The smartphone will include a 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Quad HD display, and like the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7, the device will supposedly feature a metal body that's also waterproof. The tipster claims the smartphone's rear camera will pack in high-end Carl Zeiss optics, although there's no mention of megapixels.

While the version of Android the smartphone will be running wasn't listed, it's safe to bet the handset will be powered by Android 7.0 Nougat, as a mid-range device codenamed Nokia D1C was spotted on Geekbench in early October with Android 7.0 Nougat on board.

Nokia isn't actually building its new smartphones, rather its new parent company, HMD Global, will design the devices, and Foxconn will manufacture the handsets. Nokia will oversee smartphone production, act as a patent owner and provide the Nokia branding according to reports.

As always, it's best to take reports of upcoming and unannounced smartphones with a grain of salt for now. We'll be keeping an eye on any new details regarding Nokia's 2017 smartphones and report back.

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Samsung has been adamant about the recall of problematic Galaxy Note 7 devices after a very strained stint with exploding units, which resulted in a number of blunders, chief of which is the total cancellation of the device in the production line, with other collateral damages such as an airport ban tagging along.

As the company attempts to herd all Galaxy Note 7 units into its turf, recent reports suggest that Samsung might be recalling the wrong devices.

Samsung Tries To Recall A Galaxy Note 4

Redditor dominicedcel shared a screenshot over the Android subreddit about a cautionary notification he received from Samsung, trying to coax him to return his device.

While this isn't a major surprise given Samsung is in the process of pulling all Galaxy Note 7 devices to avoid any more incidents of combusting units, the Redditor's device wasn't actually a Galaxy Note 7, but a Galaxy Note 4.

Samsung doesn't deserve the blame wholesale, though, since the Galaxy Note 4 device was in fact running a Note 7 ROM, a complex tweak only a number consummate Android tinkerers are capable of doing.

While the incident might be ample fodder for another laughingstock situation for Samsung, it does impend a potential problem in its recall for Galaxy Note 7 devices. Flashing a Note 7 ROM onto older Galaxy devices are lapsing Samsung's ability to accurately detect Galaxy Note 7 devices still out in the wild, making it harder for the company to locate actual problematic devices instead of safe and functional ones.

Rendering Note 7 Devices Dysfunctional Via Updates

For stubborn owners still keeping hold of their Galaxy Note 7 units all things considered, Samsung has opted for an alternative route, blocking features of the phone via updates. In fact, it has began blocking recalled Galaxy Note 7 units from connecting to mobile networks in New Zealand recently.

There's also been reports that Samsung is enforcing a 60 percent cap on the Galaxy Note 7's battery to prevent it from overcharging and potentially doing what it's infamously known for.

It's not hard to imagine that Samsung might also begin enforcing other austerity measures to perfectly functioning phones flashed with a Note 7 ROM, potentially barring some features on working phones because they're tagged by the company as potential hazards due to its software.

The Galaxy Note 7 situation has been quite a dispiriting turn for Samsung, which has already suffered significant losses and has already issued an apology in light of the incident. It's unclear whether Samsung will be able to identify which units are legitimate Galaxy Note 7 devices or older devices simply running a Note 7 ROM, but if you have an older Galaxy Note device running a Note 7 ROM, it's best to correct that situation immediately if you don't want the company to potentially block a number of features on your phone.

Meanwhile, the Google Pixel or Samsung's other flagship pair, the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, are worthy replacements for the Galaxy Note 7, if ever you're on the hunt for one.

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Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an ancient city and a cemetery believed to be more than 7,000 years old at Abydos City in the Sohag province, the Antiquities Ministry revealed on Wednesday, Nov. 23.

Home Of Builders Of Royal Cemeteries

It is believed that the forgotten ancient city served as residence of senior officials and grave builders who were responsible for building the cemeteries of the royal family in Abydos.

The discovery of the lost civilization, which dates back to Egypt's First Dynasty, was made during excavations conducted by an archaeological mission of the Ministry of Antiquities.

Important Archaeological Site

Abydos is one of ancient Egypt's oldest cities and served as the Egyptian capital by the end of the Predynastic Period and during the reign of the first four dynasties.

It is considered as among the country's most important archaeological sites, being the home of many ancient temples and a royal necropolis where pharaohs were entombed.

Pottery, Stone Tools And Graves

Archaeologists found huts, iron tools and pottery as well as 15 huge graves made of mudbrick. The remains of pottery and stone tools suggest that the city supplied the labor force involved in the building of royal tombs with food and drink.

The ministry said that the size of the graves indicate the importance of the people who were buried there.

"The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the First Dynasty," the ministry said.

Mahmoud Afify, the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, stressed the importance of the discovery. The find may lead to new information that can shed light on the history of Abydos City as well as on the history of ancient Egypt in general.

Discovery May Boost Tourism

The discovery is also hoped to boost Egypt's ailing tourism industry, which remains an important source of foreign currency for the country.

Egypt is rich in ancient sites that were built hundreds of years ago by the pharaohs. The ancient pyramids, in particular, draw tourists to visit the country. There is also interest on ancient Egyptian royals including Queen Nefertiti and King Tut.

Years of unrest and jihadist attacks, however, have discouraged many tourists from visiting Egypt over the past years.

Egypt had 14.7 million tourists in 2010 but this dropped to 9.8 million in 2011. Only 1.2 million tourists visited Egypt in the first quarter of 2016.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
HTC Launches Desire 10 Pro For Rs 26,490 | TechTree.com

HTC has launched the Desire 10 Pro India. The handset is priced at Rs 26,490 and will hit the stores mid December. The phone will be available in Stone Black and Polar White. It seems, the company has decided not to release the Royal Blue and Valentine Lux hues in India. Going by the press images, the Desire 10 Pro shares the design language with the HTC 10. However, it is made of plastic as opposed to its top-end sibling.







The Taiwanese-brand has launched the dual-SIM variant of the handset. It features a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS screen. It has Corning's Gorilla Glass protection for scratch-resistance. The phone boasts of a 20-megapixel laser autofocus main camera. Selfies will be taken care of by a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. It is powered by MediaTek's Helio P10 chip. The phone comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. You can add up to 2 TB microSD card. Other features include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC, and 3000 mAh battery.







Like most sub-30k handsets, the Desire 10 Pro features a fingerprint sensor. In terms of software, you get Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with HTC Sense UI on top.





TAGS: HTC
Satya Nadella: Next Microsoft Phone Will Be The "Ultimate Mobile Device" | TechTree.com

After writing-off Nokia acquisition, Microsoft has hardly announced any flagship smartphone. While it may seem that the Redmond-based company has given up on its smartphone dreams, that's apparently not the case. In an interview with Australian Financial Review, Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella stated that, "We will continue to be in the phone market not as defined by today's market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device".







While Microsoft continues to develop the phone software, the report claims that the tech-giant would not launch a new device category without "bringing something different to the table". Nadella does not want to release phone only because others are doing it.



If Microsoft manages build a unique phone, there's a good chance that it will be launched under the Surface brand. So far, Microsoft has launched phones with not so competitive specs. Especially, when compared to the Android flagships, Lumia phones always came across as underpowered devices. It will be interesting to see if that will change under Nadella's leadership.

TAGS: Microsoft
Microsoft Holoportation Turns Star Wars Esque Communication Into A Reality | TechTree.com

With some clever use of 3D capture, software wizardry, and Hololens, Microsoft has come a step closer to digital presence technology shown in science fiction movies such as Star Wars. In a recent update, the Software-giant has significantly cut the setup requirements.







As opposed to the early studio room experiment, Microsoft's engineers have managed to fit the entire rig in a car. Of course, it is meant to be used by the person sitting in a passenger seat. Nobody wants to divert a driver's attention right? According to the FAQs posted on the company's blog, the system requires only two cameras. One to capture the video and other to add depth information to it. To achieve better quality, you can increase the number of cameras. In addition to fitting the entire system in a car, the company had to deal with ever changing lighting and vibration.



To experience the holographic tele-presence, you will have to wear headsets such as Hololens or HTC Vive. Excited already? Don't forget to check out the demonstration video below:





TAGS: Microsoft
On Sunday, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro also remembered him as a great friend of the Bolivarian nation and an "excellent human being." | Read More
Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba has had a transformative effect on the lives of many of its users.

Alibaba Group, which matches buyers with sellers in the same way as eBay, has grown into an internet behemoth. Founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, it has a market capitalisation of US$233 billion on the New York Stock Exchange and had sales of more than 100 billion Chinese yuan ($19.5 billion) in its most recent financial year.

The companys websites facilitate business-to-business sales, business-to-consumer sales and consumer-to-consumer sales and sell more than US e-commerce giants eBay and Amazon combined.

As impressive as those numbers are, for many Chinese Alibaba has meant something different  a way out of poverty and into business ownership.

Many rural communities have started using Alibabas consumer and small business portal, known as Taobao, to start their own small enterprises.

It has led to the phenomenon known as the Taobao village  largely agrarian communities transformed thanks to new job opportunities created by the site.

We hear stories of empowerment about how 71-year-old grandfathers no longer need to plough the fields. They could be sitting behind a laptop that the whole village pitched in and bought for him to sell produce from the village, says Felix Tan, a lecturer in the school of information systems and technology management at UNSW Business School.

There are between 300 and 400 Taobao villages in China and Tan says the site has brought them a new level of prosperity.

We went into the villages in 2012 and 2013 and many of the villagers were driving cars and motorcycles, which was brilliant to see, he says.

Part of the reason why Alibaba is so successful is because it is one platform that is able to connect with the people; it gives normal people the opportunity to participate. Its really about social inclusion and financial participation that Alibaba does extremely well.

Source: Leader of the pack: What makes the Alibaba Group so successful?
CapitaLand will establish a $500 million fund next year to invest in commercial property, primarily in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

We see opportunities in the commercial space in Vietnam so we are prepared to take a position, President and Group Chief Executive Lim Ming Yan said on Straitstimes.com.

Given the mismatch between demand and supply, the Group sees strong demand in the Grade A office sector, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, a CapitaLand spokesperson told

I think the general trajectory for Vietnam is favorable and we foresee that this trend will continue for at least the next ten years.

Seed projects for the new commercial fund have been identified and the group is in talks with capital partners. Mr. Lim said. If you talk to many of these sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, they feel they are underexposed to Asian real estate at this point and are prepared to allot more capital, he explained.

This will be CapitaLands second investment fund in Vietnam, after a $200 million fund launched in 2010 that has been fully invested in the development of three residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Capital partners were sovereign wealth fund GIC and Mitsubishi Estate Asia.

The developer has set a target of raising funds with total assets under management (AUM) of up to $10 billion from various private investment vehicles by 2020. CapitaLand Vietnam aims to grow its funds under management to $1 billion by next year to support the groups AUM goals.

It also plans to acquire more sites in Vietnam for residential development  possibly yielding 2,000 to 2,500 units  as demand for housing is expected to increase amid rising urbanization and a growing middle class.

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Vietnam has a huge young population that is very active on internet, mobile and with highly national enthusiasm for technology, startups and entrepreneurship.

As a result, vietnamese startup ecosystem is rapidly growing in cities like Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and Da Nang, aiming to become a modern industrialized state by 2020.

In order to achieve that, the national government has planned to develop a functioning national innovation system, fostering its startup ecosystem and supporting the growth of innovation via Startups and SMEs. The project has set the following targets for 2020:

Complete the main legal framework for a startup ecosystem; run an online portal for the National Innovative Startup Ecosystem; support about 800 startup projects and 200 startup enterprises, of which 50 will raise follow-on investment from private venture investors or will undergo mergers and acquisitions worth about 1 trillion VND (about 50 million USD).

By 2025, the project is expected to have supported 2,000 startup projects and 600 startup enterprises, of which 100 will have raised follow-on investment from private venture investors, or will have undergone mergers and acquisitions worth about 2 trillion VND.

One key actor to support these goals is the Innovation Partnership Program (IPP), that is an Official Development Assistance (ODA) program financed jointly by the Governments of Vietnam and Finland. IPP has been supporting the project draft National Program to Support Innovative Startup Ecosystem in Vietnam by the year 2025 by working with policymakers.

One of the identified top priorities along with the national government is to get in place a solution to enhance partnering, online information sharing, matchmaking, communication and benchmarking to mention. All of this should be done in a global context reaching out international innovation and startup networks.
The federal government has raised conflict-of-interest issues with the hiring of a new head for an embattled state agency overseeing housing for low- and moderate-income people in Louisiana.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asked the Louisiana Housing Corp. for detailed information about Charles Tates business arrangements because it fears the possibility of a serious and pervasive conflict of interest.

The request has further slowed efforts to fill a job vacated 18 months ago when the LHC executive director quit in the face of sexual harassment allegations. And the HUD request, made in a letter last week, raises questions about why the LHC board would choose a candidate who needs special permission to skirt ethics rules  particularly for a state agency that might be asked to handle some of the flood relief work that HUD will pay for.

Louisiana Housing Corporation worker sues former executive director, claims sexual harassment A Louisiana Housing Corporation employee who said she was sexually harassed by Executive Dir

Tate has on-the-ground experience, working with churches and other nonprofits, in developing and financing housing that's affordable to families of modest means, said members of the LHC board. That position was echoed by the Edwards administration.

The governor has confidence in Charles Tate. Mr. Tate has a tremendous amount of experience in this field and is knowledgeable about these issues, said Matthew Block, executive counsel for Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Nevertheless, information about Tates compensation and business arrangements is being gathered for HUD, and the governor will consider his position after reviewing the records.

The board has to decide how to move forward, and well be communicating the governors wishes in the next couple of weeks or so, Block said Tuesday.

Were in limbo right now, said Elton Lagasse, a LHC board member from Jefferson Parish. Were going to have to look at it very seriously, and look at this closely before giving him the job.

Our reaction is to wait and see, said Gillis R. Windham, a board member from Killian. We didnt think it was an ethics violation, or we wouldnt have approved him.

Board members said they voted to hire Tate in June because he has extensive experience in putting together affordable housing projects, which is pretty much what the LHC does.

Consolidation effort under way Gov. Bobby Jindals efforts to consolidate the states housing programs got under way Thursd

The Louisiana Housing Corp. was created in 2011 as an umbrella that brought together the functions of several agencies. It administers state and federal funding and helps local communities build apartments and single-family homes for low- and moderate-income people, such as the 46 new homes aimed at revitalizing the Old South Baton Rouge neighborhood announced in late October or the 2,000 affordable housing units for New Orleans announced in September.

+7 New Orleans has added almost 2,000 affordable housing units in 2016 Less than a year after housing advocates pledged to work with Mayor Mitch Landrieus adminis

The LHC has an annual operating budget of about $14 million, mostly through funds the agency raises, and until recently it had been unable to balance its budget without outside help.

The position as the head of the LHCs roughly 100 staffers became open when Frederick Tombar III resigned in May 2015 after an investigation concluded he had sexually harassed two female employees, frequently asking them to spend the night with him at his government-funded hotel rooms.

Tate, a former aide to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, had run an Opelousas-based nonprofit called Community Directions Inc. that developed housing for the poor, elderly and disabled  projects funded by HUD through the LHC. He provided services through a company he owns called Jasmine Consulting LLC.

Generally, affordable housing programs are aimed at modest-income families who pay about a third of their monthly income on rent. Those amounts often dont raise enough money to cover the costs of construction and financing.

Tate specializes in filling the gap between what the residents can pay and the money needed to finance the deal. He gathers grants, tax credits and other means of financing to cover the remainder of the investment.

He said the three projects HUD is most interested in are homes for the elderly in Carencro, family housing in Ville Platte and a small housing project for families in Opelousas.

Tate is still owed money for work he did on some of those projects.

While state law prohibits employees from working with firms that do business with the state, the Louisiana Board of Ethics has allowed legislators and state officials to get paid for past work that was completed before their government appointment.

On June 17, the Board of Ethics found that Tate could receive the back pay and volunteer to help nonprofits. But, HUD, which also must sign off on the hire, wants particulars on the work that was done by Tate and the money still owed him.

HUD is concerned because it appears that Tates compensation as chief executive of Community Directions Inc. depends on operating expense funding through the federal Community Housing Development Organization. Regulations generally forbid people to be paid through CHDOs net earnings, HUDs Stanley Gimont wrote Lloyd Spillers, chairman of the Louisiana Housing Corp. board. Gimont is acting deputy assistant secretary for HUD grant programs.

HUD asked for documents from Community Directions Inc., such as its charter, bylaws and status of projects.

HUD has determined that Mr. Tates continuing financial interest in Jasmine Consulting while serving as LHCs executive director creates a serious and pervasive conflict of interest, HUD wrote.

Tate said the church-based leaders of Community Directions basically told him that he would get his pay through the financing he arranged.

He grew up in New Orleans and is the son of Al Tate, who served on the Louisiana Supreme Court and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from the 1960s until his death in 1986.

Tate said he became involved in the work as Ville Platte city prosecutor and when he saw the different conditions in which people lived.

It seemed like a lot of societal forces were lined up against them. I had trouble rationalizing why that would be so, Tate said. I view one of my greatest responsibilities is to teach every community around the state to go about obtaining affordable housing.
The Nutcracker. Queensland Ballet. Music by P. I. Tchaikovsky. Choreography by Ben Stevenson. Canberra Theatre, November 23-27. Sold out.

Across the world The Nutcracker is the quintessential Christmas experience. Children grow up knowing the story of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince who takes her on a journey through a snowy forest to the Kingdom of Sweets. Those children (and their parents) look forward throughout the year to its annual return. It used to be a wonderful Christmas experience enjoyed each year by Australian dance audiences too, but that was long ago. Now, however, under the energetic and committed direction of artistic director, Li Cunxin, Queensland Ballet has begun to bring back the annual tradition of a Nutcracker Christmas. This year Canberra has been included as part of Queensland Ballet's season. How lucky we are.

Mia Heathcote in Queensland Ballet's The Nutcracker. Credit:David James McCarthy

Every Nutcracker has its own character and every production has slight differences in how the story unfolds. Queensland Ballet's production is by American-based choreographer Ben Stevenson and it has a warm and homely atmosphere to its opening scenes. Children cross the stage in excitement, some dragging their parents behind them. Some ride a sled. Some older people slip on the icy surface. They enter a house, complete with sparkling Christmas tree, where young and old mingle, laugh, eat and drink, dance, play (and have the odd argument) and exchange presents. Clara, youthfully and prettily danced by Mia Heathcote, is given a nutcracker doll by a mysterious visitor, Dr Drosselmeyer (Shane Wuerthner), and the story revolves around this toy. There is a strong comic element to the party scene, and there are more elderly characters than is often the case. It all makes for a genial gathering.

When the party is over and the guests have departed Clara is woken from her sleep by giant mice who attack her. A fight ensues and Clara kills the King Rat with her shoe before her nutcracker toy is transformed into the Prince (Alexander Idaszak) and the journey to the Kingdom of Sweets begins. When she arrives, Clara is entertained by the inhabitants of the Kingdom, from the pastry cooks to the Sugar Plum Fairy (Yanela Pinera). Finally we find Clara and her toy nutcracker back at home. And we wonder if we, and Clara, have been dreaming?
It was supposed to be Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's best shot at hosing down calls for a royal commission, but a parliamentary inquiry into the banks has run into trouble almost immediately with the sector and consumer groups alike panning its first report.

Banks say a plan to name and shame employees who break the rules within five days after their breach is "unrealistic" and have hosed down support for a banking tribunal.

Financial rights advocates have also criticised plans for a tribunal, saying it would be "catastrophic" for consumers.

The recommendations are part of a report by the government-dominated parliamentary inquiry into the big four banks.
Woolworths warned it would get nothing for Big W if it sold the chain tomorrow, after shareholders grilled it over the future of the chain following the shock exit of its chief, Sally Macdonald, last week.

Chairman Gordon Cairns said Australia's discount supermarket sector was "significantly challenged" in Australia, answering a series of difficult questions from the floor of its annual meeting.

"It has been harder in Big W than we anticipated, we are on the record as saying that no decision will be taken on the business until we have improved the business," Mr Cairns said.

Mr Cairns was quick to assure investors this was not another Masters Home Improvement, least of all because of the scale of the chain.
A new internship scheme threatens to exploit young people on wages that fall below the national minimum award, a peak community services organisation has warned.

The Australian Council of Social Service says federal government plans to introduce internships as part of its Youth Jobs Program are also without adequate health and safety protections for young participants.

In a submission to a Senate review of the Youth Jobs Path: Prepare, Trial, Hire Bill, ACOSS says the $200 a fortnight incentive payment for the 12-week internships needs to be legislated and indexed to CPI movements.

The bill passed the lower house of Federal Parliament on Wednesday night and is now due to be voted on in the Senate, where Labor and the Greens are expected to push for amendments.
Joh's fight to the death

"The Queensland Government was plunged into turmoil yesterday by a series of dramatic events culminating in the sacking of three ministers by the Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen," the Herald reported. "But the ministers, who include Sir Joh's main challenger for the leadership, the Minister for Health, Mr Mike Ahern, are refusing to step down. The deadlock has isolated Sir Joh, and it seems he will be replaced."

Regular shorts

"Stevie Wonder was to fly to Sydney on Monday night but decided at the last minute to stay in Brisbane," revealed our correspondent. "He had heard his good mate Michael Jackson was in town. All the luggage had gone on ahead so when the party decided to hit the town later in the evening they had no suitable clothes. They contacted a menswear store at midnight and Stevie paid for new outfits for all."

Nimrod's funds cut
Manuela Hancock, Brunswick West What is truth? Dutton claims he has "spoken the truth" with regard to Lebanese Muslim migrants. This brings to mind the rhetorical question of Pontius Pilate when examining Jesus: "Truth? What is truth?" Philip Herry, Lilydale Fine men in lock step

Fabulous to see two great Australians, Dutton and Turnbull, in lock step about immigration and in particular their views on second and third-generation Lebanese Muslim migrants. Dutton, a wolf in wolf's clothing, and Turnbull, a sheep in sheep's clothing. Jack Morris, Kennington Fraser changed his tune If Malcolm Fraser hadn't gone all leftie on us in his post-PM days, I wonder whether his multicultural trailblazing of 1976 would now be coming in for quite as much criticism from the Duttons and Bolts of this wonderfully diverse world? John Skaro, Malvern

No tributes planned I was touched at the way the Vietnamese community turned out to pay tribute to Malcolm Fraser. I wonder how Dutton will be remembered  no wait, I do know. Chris O'Connor, St Kilda THE FORUM The right is deluded

I continue to be amazed by the view being peddled that there's a move in the community towards the hard right. When Mr Turnbull was elected to lead the Liberal Party and thus the country in September last year, his popularity was almost stratospheric. This was because he was seen as a small "l" Liberal who would change the policy direction of the previous Abbott administration. The voters who acclaimed his elevation and who now vote him down are not turning to the hard right instead. I would dearly love to see Mr Turnbull stand up to the right in his party and see what the polls do. If they improved, as I predict they would, the right would be in a quandary: support Turnbull to retain government at the next election, or replace him with Morrison, Dutton or even Abbott, and lose support as a result. Joan Selby Smith, Blackburn Hands off my fund Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer is leading the government's latest attempt to hobble industry superannuation funds by requiring them to employ "independent directors". Has the Coalition polled members of such funds seeking their views, or does it intend to just ram this policy down our throats? Do we members want expensive "independent" directors? I don't think so. Industry funds are beating the pants off many retail funds.

Is the government simply pandering to the big end of town from whence comes so many of the Liberal Party's donations? It is this sort of inappropriate approach that has so many Australians like me determined to vote independents into the Senate. John Frederick Sampson, Endeavour Hills Out of her depth Has there ever been a minister so out of her depth? In addressing a meeting of industry super groups, Ms O'Dwyer implored them to grasp better corporate governance standards by emulating that of the banks. Is it any wonder the crowd laughed and gasped with incredulity? In pursuing a solution to a non-existent problem, Ms O'Dwyer has made herself look foolish. If anything, she should force the bank super funds to lift their game to the standards set by industry funds. My money is in one of the best-performing funds in the country  an industry fund. Keep your hands off my money, Ms O'Dwyer. My fund certainly doesn't need your help.

Ross Hudson, Camberwell A wake-up call Health Minister Jill Hennessy has begun a review into the emergency response to the thunderstorm asthma event, which she said "could not have been predicted" (The Age, 24/11). What a lame response. While one cannot predict when anything will occur, they can certainly foresee events happening, including a terrorist attack on a nightclub or at a sporting event; a major public transport accident or fire; or injuries suffered in a "mass hysteria" such as we see from time to time overseas. One hopes the inspector-general for emergency management and the minister have all these kinds of events on their radar, too. Richard Cook, Clifton Hill

Free speech is safe Peter Murray (Letters, 24/11), it is racist to say all Americans are liars, sexist and racist, but it is not racist to say that the just over 25 per cent of people who voted for someone with those traits were extremely misguided. That can easily be validated and is covered under the rarely mentioned section 18D. Free speech is safe, and don't believe anyone who claims 18C threatens it. Graeme Finn, St Peters, NSW Clever use of words Michael Read regards the elite as educated people with a range of interests (Letters, 24/11). Others may see them as neo-Marxist fanatics with narrow prejudices and a desire to control. The word "elite" can be used pejoratively and non-pejoratively.

Yes, we right-wingers see constitutional recognition of Indigenous people and Torres Strait Islanders as "race-based" and nationally divisive. Nor is there anything new in the idea that a majority can be oppressed by powerful ethnic minorities. Consider Wilmot Robertson's 1972 book The Dispossessed Majority. Iargue that it's not corruption of language that pains Read, but its clever deployment by those with a different point of view. Nigel Jackson, Belgrave Slur on ABC is unfair Noel Pearson accused the ABC of being miserable and racist after it reported on a confidential government audit of the Cape York Academy, which reveals Pearson's Good to Great Schools Australia organisation was involved in "high-risk" business practices. Pearson appears confused over conventions of corporate governance. When the ABC asks why an Indigenous organisation should not account for its spending in the same way as any like-funded body, it is not racism but what is required for funding to continue. Taxpayers demand nothing less.

Inappropriate accusations of racism do nothing to aid the case of First Australians. James Ogilvie, Kew Party platform I agree with the many letter writers who have criticised the Radio National changes. Also of concern was the addition to the panel on The Drum on Tuesday of a staffer working in the office of Senator Eric Abetz. It sets a worrying precedent. Such people, whether from the right or the left, will almost always spread the party message.

Coll Spark, Ocean Grove Make aggressors leave Why should victims of domestic violence, who are mostly women and children, be the ones who have to leave the family home (The Age, 24/11)? Surely it is more appropriate that the perpetrator (mostly men) is the one who should be required to leave. If this were recognised practice, and rigorously enforced, this would surely be helpful in reducing the incidence of domestic violence stress. Linda Rendell, Bright Cafe society is valid

Economic activity is anything where a supply of goods and services satisfies a demand from consumers. So the cafe/coffee society is just as valid as making widgets and in many respects is more sustainable and socially useful (Letters, 24/11). Many economic activities cannot be classified as essential but nevertheless keep people engaged as active economic participants. AFL, for example, is a billion-dollar industry that at heart is nothing more than two teams of people chasing a ball around an oval. Forms of economic activity are created and destroyed on a regular basis, as we see with the renewable energy and the fossil-fuel industries. As robots and computers take over more responsibility for digging up resources, making widgets and so on, we will need to create more industries that employ people. Industries based on culture, food, sport and the arts don't rely on us being "internationally relevant" or "succeeding in an increasingly competitive and ruthless world", but they are important. Graeme Henchel, Yarra Glen Be consistent, Barnaby Ross Gittins (Comment, 23/11) was spot on in predicting the knee-jerk reaction of the likes of Barnaby Joyce to the sensible proposal by the Grattan Institute to introduce an excise on sugar added to beverages. The excise would be a win-win for the community and government  provide revenue for the health sector at the same time as tackling the obesity crisis. The next time farmers are affected by drought or flood, is Joyce going to say: "Take responsibility for yourself; the Australian Taxation Office is not going to save you"?

Allan Dowsett, Preston In furious agreement I strangely find myself in furious agreement with Barnaby Joyce. As The Age report showed, poorer suburbs are more addicted than richer ones to the sweet relief. Taxing sugar would only increase their economic burden, and do little to cut intake. Introducing another tax that is not targeted at the very wealthy is mad. Melanie Lazarow, Brunswick Question the growth

Yarra Council has called for a cap on development of four storeys (The Age, 24/11). The Greens and Socialists on the council want their heartland protected from the high-rise development that could slow urban sprawl, yet don't question our high rate of population growth. Perhaps they would like other non-Green voting areas of Melbourne to take up the slack. I agree that a 16-storey development on Queens Parade is inappropriate, but we need to look at the big picture. This means working to ensure population growth is in sync with infrastructure targets and urban-renewal projects. Otherwise it is a classic case of nimbyism where all the focus is on protecting the local area while ignoring the underlying issues driving the impact. Mark Allen, Reservoir Designers need a hand One reason "passenger falls on trams are increasing" (The Age, 24/11) is the growing number of trams with no hanging hand straps. To get out of window seats, move through the tram and reach the doors, passengers have to grope their way across the shoulders of seated passengers. These trams appear to have been designed by people who have never had to disembark from a tram.

Mary Hoffmann, Richmond AND ANOTHER THING... Peter Dutton Dutton: the Minister for Intimidation. He probably misheard "immigration", but with Mr Turnbull's new political dictionary, words have strange meanings.

Des Files, Brunswick Peter Dutton: Minister against Immigration. Malcolm Turnbull: shadow Prime Minister. John Higgins, Hawthorn Turnbull appeases Dutton. When will we learn? Russell Brazier, Port Melbourne

Some people can't handle the truth. Surely the question about Dutton's comments should be: "Are the statistics he used correct or not?" Bill Howard, Essendon Politics Did I miss something? Why is the Senate voting on the backpack attacks? Patrick Toohey, North Balwyn

How does One Nation find so many talented senators? Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick Why do we elect so many "unAustralians" to federal parliament? Carl Ross, Hernes Oak Battlelines II: Shirtfronting and the Art of Diplomacy.

Nicholas Melaluka, Fairfield The line-up of politicians at their barbecue to cure cancer (The Age, 24/11) indicated a blind irony, since meat is a Class 2A carcinogen and cured meats a Class 1 carcinogen. Philip Ross, Brighton And what about food handling regulations requiring gloves to be worn? Judy Kevill, Ringwood

Presumably, the Coalition would allow a free vote on marriage equality if it were of the shotgun variety. Paul Rodan, Malvern East Tweeting now seems to be the official diplomatic avenue between nations. Maybe it will work out better? Lesley Black, Frankston And finally
An unlicensed young mother who had used drugs before she crashed her car, killing her two-year-old daughter, has been sentenced to a maximum of three years in jail, with a judge describing the case as one of the most tragic he had ever encountered.

Tori Shipman, now 21, feel asleep at the wheel as she drove west along the New England Highway towards the Hunter Valley region in August 2015.

A police office examines the wreckage of the car that crashed, leaving a two-year-old dead.

Her car crashed into a concrete pylon and her daughter, Jannali, who she had allowed to sit in the front passenger seat instead of in her baby carrier, was thrown through the passenger side window and died.

Delivering his sentence in the Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, Acting Judge Norman Delaney said that Shipman had suffered an "indescribable tragedy" and questioned what further punishment could be delivered to somebody in her situation.
A Queensland criminologist has been jailed for brazen and persistent sexual abuse of a young girl in the 1970s.

Paul Wilson, 75, first assaulted the victim when she was aged eight at his Brisbane home in Indooroopilly and only stopped when she moved away from the area.

Queensland criminologist Paul Wilson, pictured when he gave evidence in Schappelle Corby's trial in Denpasar, Indonesia. Credit:Ardiles Rante

The now-retired former academic and high-profile criminologist played blindfolded games of hide-and-seek with her and forced her to take her clothes off when he caught her.

Some of the abuse was carried out while other children and an adult were in the house.
The damage bill from the devastating hail storm that hit Mildura recently has passed $100 million and is expected to climb higher.

New figures from the Insurance Council of Australia reveal that the storm, which hit Victoria's Sunraysia district and communities in NSW and South Australia, has already generated about 20,000 insurance claims, with insurance losses so far estimated at $115 million across the three states.

Wine grape grower Russell McManus with some some severely damaged wine grape vines on his property near Mildura. Credit:Darren Seiler

But the final toll is likely to be higher, given some damage is not insured.

Campbell Fuller from the Insurance Council said it is expected to "take several months for the full extent of the losses to be known".
Pro-euthanasia doctors have slammed the Australian Medical Association's decision not to back assisted death laws, saying the powerful group is out of touch with the community.

On Thursday, the AMA released a new position on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in which it did not support the controversial practices.

The doctors' union said a recent survey of 4000 of its 31,000 members showed 38 per cent supported voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide, 50 per cent were opposed to it and 18 per cent were undecided.

Polls consistently show the vast majority of Australians want laws to give them the choice of an assisted death if they find themselves suffering intolerable pain.
A man has admitted firing shots into a brothel from a stolen Porsche, just weeks after he was released from jail.

Patrick O'Kelly, 27, of Narre Warren, told police he had taken "heaps" of ice in the days before he shot at Club 859 in Caulfield on March 30.

Police allege up to eight shots blasted the front of the brothel while six workers were inside. No one was injured.

One worker known as "Velvet" told police she was in the front room of the brothel when shots were fired, including one that came through the window of her room.
The latest in a string of new marine parks off the West Australian coast awards protection to world-renowned Horizontal Falls, described by David Attenborough as "one of the greatest natural wonders of the world".

But a second, adjacent park was simultaneously announced without such protections.

The creation of the Lalang-garram/Horizontal Falls park would ensure the long-term future of a unique conservation, cultural and ecotourism destination, Environment Minister Albert Jacob said when announcing the park.

It included eight sanctuary zones, including Turtle Reef, Walcott Inlet and the Falls, which environmental organisations including the Wilderness Society have welcomed for the protection they will afford to assets such as turtle and dugong populations and coral reefs.
The election of Donald Trump has focused attention on the phenomeon of "fake news" and to what extent it may have affected the United States presidential election. Credit:AP Haley will arrive at a United Nations dealing with a world simmering with tension in a myriad of flashpoints. Current UN Ambassador Samantha Power's experience illustrates the sort of promise and problems Haley faces. The key to US leverage is in the 15-member Security Council. Any of its five permanent members - the US, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France - have a veto. Trump's had harsh words for China, while stressing more cooperation with Russia. Nikki Haley, Trump's UN ambassador pick. The South Carolina governor and daughter of Indian immigrants is a novice in international diplomacy. Credit:AP Be careful, warned Senator Ben Cardin, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member. "Russia has shown itself to be a global bully and not a partner," Cardin said.

Power, who has an extensive background in international affairs, has been one of the Obama administration's key people watching implementation of the Iran nuclear pact. She was also instrumental earlier this year in getting the Security Council to unanimously impose new sanctions intended to stop North Korea from further developing weapons of mass destruction. Power has been less successful, though, combating Russian resistance to agreeing on how to curb Syria's civil war. Piccone, a senior foreign policy adviser in the Clinton administration, thought Haley could have an opening. "Trump has said we need to fix Syria," he said. He noted that Antonio Guterres, secretary general-designate, has a political background. He had been prime minister of Portugal. Ann Corkery, a former delegate to the UN General Assembly, said Haley's political experience could be highly useful. "She has consistently demonstrated her ability to bring together people on opposing sides of complicated issues," said Corkery, now a Washington attorney. The news of Haley's selection came after days of criticism of Trump's early picks as a homogeneous bloc of older, white men. If confirmed, Haley would step down as governor and be replaced by the state's lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster, who was an early and vocal supporter of Trump.

Haley, 44, supported Florida senator Marco Rubio during the Republican primaries, and she was a prominent and frequent critic of Trump early in his run. That criticism was thought to have kept her off Trump's list of vice-presidential candidates, although her name was mentioned in passing before he chose Indiana governor Mike Pence. Haley called out Trump in January when she gave the official Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, and she later took him to task for his failure to condemn groups like the Ku Klux Klan. "Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference," Haley said in the State of the Union rebuttal. "That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume." In a follow-up interview on the NBC's Today show, Haley  the daughter of immigrants from India  said: "Mr Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk".

Trump responded harshly to that address, calling her "weak" on immigration and noting that she had asked him for campaign contributions. "She's very, very weak on illegal immigration," Trump said. "She's very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can't have that." The following month, she condemned Trump for not speaking out against white supremacy more forcefully. Among the challenges Haley faces: Will Trump renegotiate last year's Iran nuclear deal, reached between that country and the US and five other world powers?

Haley opposed the pact. The UN has urged all of the agreement's negotiators to continue honouring it, something all other parties have signalled they intend to do. Supporters say scrapping the agreement will help Iranian hard-liners, whose interests are better served with a more isolated Islamic Republic. Will Trump stick to his campaign promise to halt Muslim migration to the US until terrorist threats are addressed? Will he bar refugees fleeing violence in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan? Such policy could violate international law, which stipulates that other countries have an obligation to take in people seeking refuge from persecution in their home country and cannot bar refugees based on origin. Guterres is likely to resist any American efforts to dismantle refugee programs. He formerly served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and is a strong advocate for wealthy countries doing their fair share to help the most vulnerable. He will take office January 1. Will Trump have much use for the UN? He's not a fan of traditional alliances.

During the campaign, Trump branded NATO, the 67-year-old European defense pact, as obsolete. He said the United States backing of a NATO ally could depend on whether a nation paid its fair share of military spending. About 70 percent of NATO spending comes from the US. Trump appeared to soften that view last week. A NATO statement said he and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the alliance's "enduring importance." Trump has also suggested that Japan, South Korea and Germany don't pay enough for US military protection. Will Trump bring back waterboarding as an interrogation tool, even though it's a violation of the international convention on torture? The UN Commissioner for Human Rights has already warned his staff that they will fight attempts from a Trump administration to bend current human rights norms. Trump this week told The New York Times his view of torture may be shifting. Loading
How To Attract Younger Enthusiasts To The World Of Historic Vehicles: FIVA Runs Symposium in Paris

LONDON - November 23, 2016: Five days of festivities to celebrate World Motoring Heritage Year 2016 got off to a tremendous start at the Automobile Club de France in Paris on 16th November, with an International Symposium on Trade, Skills & Youth.

The Symposium was the first activity in the five-day ?Paris Week, 16-20 November, organised by FIVA (the Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens) as the culmination of international World Motoring Heritage Year, under the formal patronage of UNESCO.

The Symposium was held to debate such important issues as training, education and apprenticeships, technical topics, and the need to engage the younger generation in the joys of historic cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. It took place at the prestigious, 125-year-old Automobile Club de France, with an opening address by President of the ACF, Mr Robert Panhard, of the famous Panhard family.

Part One of the day-long Symposium focused on the ?Preservation of Skills. It began with a short presentation on ?Training by experts from French oil and lubricant specialist Motul, a company that has for many years made generous contributions to the preservation of motoring heritage in France.

Subsequent topics under discussion included the hugely successful apprenticeships in historic vehicle restoration that have been developed and launched by the FBHVC (Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs), as well as educational programmes across the EU and  looking at one skills area in more detail  paint processes and training. This latter topic covered such issues as how to pass on technical skills, environmental matters and the economic impact of good work. Contributing to the discussion were restorers, concours judges and the famous collector of important historic vehicles, Corrado Lopresto, as well as experts from German paint specialist Glasurit, who gave an overview of the companys refinishing expertise that will be made available to the wider FIVA community.

Part Two of the Symposium was devoted to ?Youth, with a panel of younger enthusiasts (aged 23 to 33) from France, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland and India in open debate on how to keep interest in historic vehicles alive among the younger generation. As a consequence, FIVA made a commitment to initiating activities such as workshops to help attract younger people to the historic vehicle movement, while there was also discussion on the potential for school programmes to spark students interest  and on how clubs and companies might attract more young people into the world of historic vehicles. The atmosphere was one of optimism and confidence in a bright future for historic vehicles.

FIVA is the only global organisation of its kind aiming to encourage the safe use of historic, mechanically propelled road vehicles, while remaining equally focused on preserving and promoting the very culture of motoring. In 2016, FIVA celebrates its 50th anniversary with the FIVA World Motoring Heritage Year programme under the formal patronage of UNESCO.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/11/2016 (2170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Find these stories and more in the Nov. 24 issue of The Carillon.

Carillon courtside

Sports editor Terry Frey gives us a rundown on volleyball provincials which get underway Thursday.

GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON Where will you find a promo for the upcoming SRSS production of The Secret Case of Sherlock Holmes? Elementary, my dear readers. Check out the Nov. 24 issue of The Carillon.

Problem solving

Reporter Adriana Mingo checks in with St Pierre RCMP about issues of vandalism in Niverville.

Shopping around

Reporter Jordan Ross talks with Save-On-Foods about the companys interest in Steinbach as a place to expand their operations.

Scheer delight

I report on Conservative leadership candidate Andrew Scheers visit to Provencher last Friday.
No giving of thanks was ever more soul stirring than the one offered on the night of Nov. 4 by the widow of an NYPD sergeant outside a Bronx hospital.

Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo had been rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in the afternoon after being shot by a maniac armed with a semi-automatic pistol. His last words had been a warning that likely saved his partners life as they approached a suspects car.

Gun! Gun! Gun!

The doctors at Jacobi had become experts by treating far too many gunshot wounds, but they had been unable to save the 41-year-old father of two young boys. He had been pronounced dead even as his wife, Lisa, was being rushed there.

As always happens when one of their own is killed in the line of duty, cops from all over the city came to the hospital, a good number from home, most in plainclothes.

Whatever they wore to get there, a cop later said.

More than 500 of them were standing outside the emergency entrance at 9 p.m., when their slain comrade was brought out on a gurney, covered with a flag. They went silent as he was wheeled the 25 feet to a waiting NYPD ambulance that would be taking him to the medical examiners office.

Lisa Tuozzolo watched from the emergency entrance as her husband was placed in the back of the ambulance. She began to wail as the two doors thumped shut.

Open the doors, somebody was heard to say.

An emergency service cop did as bid. An NYPD chief escorted the widow up to the reopened back. She climbed inside and sat alone beside the man who had been an adoring husband and a dad such as all dads should be.

The cops remained still and mute as the hush filled with Lisa Tuozzolos sounds of absolute grief. She collected herself after three or four eternal minutes and stepped back out onto the concrete apron. The only sound was her voice.

Thank you, everybody, she said. Thank you. Thank you.

The cops would later talk of the awe that filled them on hearing this woman offer them gratitude at such a moment. But they uttered not a syllable as the ambulance doors thumped shut again.

The ambulance began to roll away. The hundreds of cops stood as many as 15 deep in a double line that stretched across the parking area and down along the inclined roadway.

The cops who had come from home returned to families whose greatest fear was that this could happen to them. The cops who were working rejoined the thousands of others out patrolling the city, as cops across the country continue to do no matter how many are killed, no matter how little thanks they get from the people they routinely risk all to defend.

Five members of the NYPD had been shot to death in the line of duty in just over two years, beginning with the two detectives who were assassinated as they sat in their radio car just before Christmas in 2014.

Dallas had lost five cops in a single night in July. Baton Rouge had lost three in a single day later that month. But the cops in all these cities had kept on, ever ready to race into danger.

On Nov. 10, cops from across the country joined the NYPD in forming a much longer double line for Sgt. Tuozzolo, this time for his funeral on Long Island. Thousands gave a white-gloved salute as an honor guard bore the flag-covered coffin into St. Rose of Lima Church.

Lisa Tuozzolo was by the entrance with her boys, 4-year-old Austin on one side and 3-year-old Joseph on the other. She held their hands and crouched down so she was at eye level with them. She spoke to one and kissed him on the shoulder and then spoke to the other as the coffin passed.

She continued to hold their hands when she rose and led them inside. The eulogists included NPYD Commissioner James ONeill.

Paul did not hesitate, ONeill said. For the sake of his family in blue and for the sake of strangers, Paul kept moving toward the danger, moving toward the unknown, because thats what we do.

Cops everywhere kept doing what they do. Four of them were shot in four cities this past weekend; one, a detective in San Antonio, Texas, died.

Another cop was shot in Detroit on Tuesday. He died early Wednesday evening.

The San Antonio family and the Detroit family, along with five families in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge, now arrive at the first Thanksgiving since their loss.

They, and the Tuozzolos in New York. The very least we owe the cops and their families are the words that Lisa Tuozzolo offered with such monumental nobility to her fallen husbands comrades outside a Bronx hospital.

Thank you.
George Bush doesnt care about black people. Those seven words, delivered by an agitated Kanye West, not only impelled the best holy shit I cant believe he just did that look from Mike Myers, but were, as The Nations Mychal Denzel Smith noted, the first relatable expression of black rage on a national stage.

They came on Sept. 2, 2005, during the NBC special A Concert for Hurricane Reliefa live televised event raising money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Amid the cacophony of celebrity camera-mugging, media delinquency, and governmental neglect, Wests words cut through like a chainsaw; and, with YouTube less than four months old, became one of the first videos to go viral. Taken together with his pro-gay rights MTV interview one month prior, it also established West as one of the most exciting political voices of his generation.

But, as the celebrated poet and novelist Margaret Atwood once wrote, Potential has a shelf life, and if Wests pronouncements over the past calendar year are any indication, his cachet as firebrand has all but run out.

Over the course of the past two weeks, members of the musician-cum-fashion designers inner circle have become alarmed by Wests increasingly erratic behavior, from unprovoked emotional outbursts to signing merchandise with the signature Trump.

During one recent show, West announced to a shocked crowd that he would have voted for Trumpif I voted, before unleashing a patronizing mini-lecture directed towards the Black Lives Matter movement: Specifically to black people, stop focusing on racism, he said. This world is racist, OK? Lets stop being distracted to focus on that as much. Its a fucking fact. We are in a racist country. With anti-Trump protests underway mere blocks from the San Jose, California, concert venue, the crowd did not take kindly to Wests remarks, which were met with a chorus of boos, bottles, and merch set ablaze. If that werent enough, he doubled down on Saturday during a performance in Sacramento, California, airing out everyone from Beyonce to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Im on my Trump shit tonight, he bellowed, before storming out after a grand total of three songs.

Following the twin outburstsand subsequent backlashWest canceled the remaining 21 dates on his Saint Pablo Tour. Then, according to TMZ, West attempted to assault a staff member at his trainer Harley Pasternaks home gym. He was carted off to UCLA Medical Center at the advice of his personal physician, reportedly suffering from temporary psychosis due to sleep deprivation and dehydration.

Who knows exactly why West canceled his tour, or why he visited the hospital. Perhaps he wishes to spend more time with his wife, Kim Kardashian, who suffered a traumatic robbery at gunpoint months earlier. Perhaps hes been affected by the ninth anniversary of his mothers passing on Nov. 10. Perhaps he is exhausted. Perhaps its none of these things.

In an interesting twist, however, the medical diagnosis may allow West to collect tens of millions in insurance money, reported TMZ. Kanye had an insurance policy that covered him in the event illness prevented him from performing. The policy provides the insurance carrier will pay Kanye for not only the money hed make but the money he was obligated to pay others if accident or illness... prevents any Insured Person from appearing or continuing to appear in any or all of the Insured Performance(s) or Event(s), wrote the gossip site.

Earlier this year, West claimed to be $53 million in debt.

Does sleep deprivation and dehydration excuse an attempted assault, as reports have suggested occurred? Does it excuse him telling black people to stop focusing on racism? Does it excuse his support of Donald Trump, who has a four-decade career of discrimination against the African-American community, from his housing discrimination suits in the 70s to his racist birther crusade meant to delegitimize the first black president?

What it certainly does not excuse is Wests bizarre behavior prior to the Saint Pablo Tour, such as back in February, when he took to Twitter to defend Bill Cosby, a man whos been accused of sexual assault by over 50 women:

Or his continued support of Ian Connor, a stylist employed by West whos been accused of rape by as many as seven women, and regularly harasses women on Twitter. Wests silence regarding the Connor allegations has been deafening.

West is a supremely gifted artistone of the most important artists of his generation. And with much of the nation discouraged by the budding kakistocracy, Wests army of devoted fans needs their leader to be the courageous, powerful, righteous voice they know he can be.
You know who has a lot to be thankful for? Stephen Colbert asked at the top of his pre-Thanksgiving Late Show monologue Wednesday night. Donald Trump. Not only is he going to be the president, but he has the most amazing family.

As the host reported, Trump told reporters at The New York Times this week that his son-in-law Jared Kushner could broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine. And after that, maybe he could broker peace between America and the other half of America, Colbert joked.

He went on to address the various conflicts of interest that Trump could face as Americas richest president of all time, including foreign diplomats seeming obligation to stay at his new Washington, D.C. hotel when they visit him at the White House.

Yeah, it would be rude for a foreign diplomat to meet President Trump and not stay at a Trump hotel, Colbert said, the same way it would be rude to come to America to meet President Kennedy and not fly into JFK. He also knocked the Indian business partners who were recently photographed giving Trump the thumbs up and ethics the middle finger.

Of course, now that he is going to be the president, business cannot occupy all of Donald Trumps attention, Colbert continued. Hes got to save that for Twitter. This past weekend, Trump once again angrily tweeted about Saturday Night Lives depiction of him, demanding equal time for his side.

What does that mean, equal time for us? Colbert asked. Thats not how it works, buddy. Youre going to be the president. Thats the guy who gets made fun of. If you wanted to be someone everyone loves, you should have run for ice cream man. And its the perfect job for someone who can dish it out but cant take it.
Thanksgiving. Its about family. Its about gathering together to ask the Lords blessing, as we sing in our all-American, non-denominational, way. Its about those mysterious Pilgrims, who toggle in our minds between being religious fanatics and cute cartoon charactersalthough you wonder how they kept their black and white outfits so crisp and clean on the frontier. And its about food. Whats Thanksgiving without those autumnal yummies: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie.

But our historical understanding of the holidays origins are as mashed up as our sweet potatoes. We blur Pocahontas, Captain John Smith, Squanto, and William Bradford, and the Mayflower into one geographically inaccurate, timeless mess. And while we believe we are replicating the Pilgrims menu, they probably ate seal and lobster without sweet desserts, because their sugar stocks were depleted. Least appetizing of all, some of our settler forbears were so hungry, so depraved by starvation that rather than consuming that Norman Rockwell-esque beautifully browned turkey, they ate chops of human cheek and chunks of human tongue.

Consider the colonist who mistook his pregnant wife for a meal. Although his name is lost to history, his story helps illuminate the mishmash that has become Americas Thanksgiving tale. While some will use it to pillory the colonists as brutes, it actually highlights their achievements. Not only did they survive unbearable conditions and launch this great adventure called America, but amid all the misery they taught an invaluable lesson we should remember as we adjust to living in Trumpland: Dont forget to appreciate the good and say thanks, even when trouble strikes.
On Thursday morning, the Today show aired a light piece about Donald Trumps prized Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida. Its a storied estate, steeped in history, declared NBC News Kristen Welker, before throwing to audio of Anthony Senecal, Trumps longtime (and now retired) butler. Perhaps ironically, the Today show piece about Mar-a-Lagos history did not once mention Senecals own history, which includes being investigated for the Secret Service over threats to President Obamas life he made on Facebook.

Senecals troubling habit of representing himself in a disturbing manner on social media is no secret. In May of this year, Mother Jones David Corn found several appallingly racist and sexist posts on Senecals Facebook page. More than one offered the suggestion that President Obama be hanged. The Secret Service confirmed that month that it was investigating Senecal as a result of his social media activity.

Mr. Trump has spent the last 20 Thanksgivings here. But now, as president-elect, everything is different, declared Welker in Thursday mornings Today show piece. For example, post-Nov. 8, security at the Mar-a-Lago estate is much tighter, and a major network just aired a light segment starring a man who as recently as last year called Hillary Clinton a LYING DECEIVING C**T !!!!!!!, a bitch, and a slut. Everything is different.

During the segment, Senecal, who has also suggested on Facebook that Ferguson, Missouri, should be carpet-bombed, showed off photos of himself and the Trump family at the estate. Tony Senecal knows a thing or two about Mar-a-Lago, declared Welker, either ignorant or apathetic about the fact that Senecal posted a photo of the Confederate flag less than two weeks after the Charleston church shooting and frequently railed against negroes. He once signed a petition requesting Jay Z and Beyonce be arrested for supporting terrorism.

Its just Mr. Trump and Miss Melania and myselfexcuse me, president-elect Trump, said Senecal to close his portion of the Today show piece. Gotta get used to that.

NBC did not immediately respond to a request from The Daily Beast for comment.
In stark contrast to the United States, with its scattered mini-wars around the globe, Genghis Khan always fought with one single, clear goal: victory. Total victory, not a qualified, partial, negotiated or hyphenated victory.

Since the opening of the 21st century, the United States has been engaged in ill-defined and metastasizing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the very countries where the Mongols were most successful. The Mongols conquered each of these countries in a matter of months, destroyed the notorious terrorist Cult of the Assassins based in the mountain fortresses of northern Iran, and wiped out all pockets of resistance to Mongol rule. They also famously killed the Caliph, a transgression which Osama bin Laden believed to be unforgivable.

The Mongol conquests, harsh and bloody as they were, produced an unprecedented century of peace and prosperity in the Middle East in precisely those countries where the sustained might of America has not managed to produce even a single day without the killing of children, bombing of hospitals, gassing of civilians, and dislodging of a perpetual stream of refugees that are now dangerously destabilizing Europe.

Genghis Khans Mongol nation consisted of only about a million people, roughly half the size of the McDonalds workforce today, and his army had only 100,000 warriors, a number that could easily fit in a modern Olympic stadium. Yet with this army he not only conquered but ruled hundreds of millions of people. The United States has more than three hundred times as many people, its total military force is nearly twenty times that of Genghis Khan, and its budget and technology are infinitely greater. The Mongols fought with bows and arrows against the far more sophisticated empires of China and Khwarzim. Why were the Mongol wars so successful in Baghdad, and we so remarkably unsuccessful?

Americans would not think of looking to Genghis Khan for lessons on war, life, or much of anything because we generally believe that unlike heroic western conquerors such as Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon, he was an Asian barbarian who could not possibly teach us anything. In the modern West it seems ludicrous to present an illiterate nomad as equal to the great conquerors and law givers of European history. Yet there was a time, even in the West, when he was greatly respected. Geoffrey Chaucer called him a noble king and wrote that there was nowhere in no region so excellent a lord in all things. Thomas Jefferson collected biographies of Genghis, and Edward Gibbon praised him.

Most people today perceive his victories as the result of brutality, and it is true that he used scorched-earth tactics to subdue his enemies. But if brutality alone were enough to secure a lasting victory, the United States would easily have easily conquered every country we have been at war with since Korea. As much as we would like to dismiss his victories, they arose from clear thinking, planning, and implementation, three commodities woefully lacking in American policy makers and war makers.

What did Gibbon and Jefferson see in Genghis Khan that we can no longer see? Genghis Khans success can be summarized in five critical concepts by which he conquered, and more importantly, by which he successfully ruled and brought peace and prosperity to his subjects.

1. Total Confidence: Genghis Khan never attacked unless he knew that he could win. He prepared his army, gathered extensive intelligence about the enemys army and social divisions with its society. If he could not win, he postponed the attack, sometimes for years, but he never forgot and never abandoned his goal. He instilled the same confidence in his people, and most importantly in his army. They had confidence that if he declared a war, they would win it quickly and efficiently and no matter how many fatalities they inflicted he would do everything to minimize loss of life for his soldiers. Genghis Khan had confidence in his people, and they showed total confidence in him.

2. Clarity: Genghis Khan was totally clear about his objectives in war and peace, and he made them equally clear to his enemies as well as to his followers. When he attacked, he gave his foe only one viable option. Like the Americans in the war against Japan and German in World War II, the choice was total and unconditional surrender or annihilation. Just as the Allies fire bombed Dresden and Wurzburg in Germany and Americans dropped atomic bombs on the women and children of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Genghis Khan unleashed ferocious violence on civilian populations. If they fought him, he annihilated them, but if they surrendered he faithfully kept every promise and protected them from every predator.

3. Choices: Genghis Khan never attacked without making clear to the enemy the reasons for the attack and the benefits they would have if they surrendered without fighting. While American presidents throw out a mystic fog of restoring democracy, respecting human rights, emancipating women, and building a new world order, Genghis Khan offered very specific benefits through his personal envoys and through messages attached to arrows shot into enemy cities. He outlawed the kidnapping and sale of women, ended taxes on religious institutions and public service occupations such as doctors and pharmacists, guaranteed religious freedom to every person, and always fulfilled his threat to execute any corrupt official or thief. If his enemies surrendered, there would be no increase in taxes and for many, especially merchants, a sharp decrease. He guaranteed the return of lost property, and he created as system of routes and bridges with caravan stations to facilitate travel and commerce. The consequences for refusal to surrender were the vague but ominous Mongol refrain, the sky knows.

4. Consequences: Although the wording of the Mongol threat was vague, the consequences were frightfully clear. First, he killed all the leaders who resisted him, as well as their heirs, the aristocracy, and the entire ruling establishment. He did not try to persuade his sworn enemies, humiliate them, co-opt them, or incorporate them into his empire. He knew that they would be a constant source of problems and resistance. And if they had not been able to lead their people to victory over him, they were of no use. He killed them. The same applied to the enemy army. He had no place for them. The old elite was destroyed, but he spared almost everyone with a skillwhether it was weaving, metalwork, pottery, or knowing how to read and write or translate between languages. Those without skills were used as cannon fodder in the next campaign, digging ditches, serving as living shields for Mongol warriors, and performing any job too degrading or dangerous for a Mongol.

5. Consistency: Genghis Khan was consistent in keeping his promises and establishing law and peace. The Persian chronicler Juvaini wrote that a virgin with a pot of gold on her head could walk from one end of the Mongol empire to the other without fear of molestation. When Genghis Khan made war, it was total war, and when he made peace it was total peace. He was as steadfast and consistent in his rule as he was in battle.

As strict as his principles were, Genghis Khan also recognized the need for practicality, constantly learning through experience and adapting to changing conditions. When circumstances warranted it, he made exceptions for his harsh conquests to single out particularly virtuous or brave foes. When an enemy warrior attacked him and shot his horse out from under him, Genghis Khan demanded that his would-be killer identify himself. Fearing a certain and horrible death, the man stepped forward. Genghis Khan made him a general in his army, knowing that a man brave enough to attack the enemy leader and to admit it was worth having in his service. The warrior was renamed Jebe, after the type of arrow he used to kill Genghis Khans horse, and he became one of the Mongols greatest generals. Similarly, when Genghis Khan defeated his rival Wang Khan of the Kereyid tribe, he saw that the old khans bodyguards fought fearlessly even when they were certain of defeat. After the battle, Genghis Khan asked them to join his bodyguard, knowing that they would do the same for him as for their fallen leader.

Genghis Khan established a century of peace, but he did not accomplish this through the might of his army or through the crushing defeat of his enemies. Peace lasted because he offered the common people a better life under Mongol rule, and allowed them guarantee to follow their traditional culture and religion without fear of persecution. He did not try to shape them into Mongols.

Confidence, clarity, choices and consequences, and consistency were his most effective weapons. America lacks all of these in its poorly focused and seemingly random efforts at fighting terrorism around the globe. Our leaders speak loudly but incoherently, and they react harshly but ineffectively. Our next president could learn a lot from Genghis Khan.

Jack Weatherford is the author of Genghis Khan and the Quest for God (Viking).
Winning campaigns is a thrilling experience. But losing campaigns crushes your soul. And I cant think of a campaign that worked harder or longer or was more convinced they were going to win than Hillary Clintons. I have a lot sympathy for Hillary and her supporters.

So what went wrong?

The short answer is the least complicated. She was the insider candidate in an outsider election. In 2008, I told John McCain he could have run a perfect campaign and lost by four points instead of six. Sometimes the currents are so deep it doesnt matter how hard or how well you paddle.

But this one was close.

As a media guy, Ive always believed there should be at least a little bit of art along with science in politics and life. But over recent years research took over the church while the choir sang from the hymnal of A-B testing, so I just shut up.

But then Donald Trump happened. I was surprised that he won. But the signs were there all along the way. The very first episode of The Circus, our real-time documentary on the campaign on Showtime, was titled The Outsiders, and featured Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump. We believed at the very beginning voters were expressing a strong preference for something different.

And the title of our second-to-last episode was Nobody Fucking Knows because despite the blizzard of polls and research to the contrary, our experience led us to believe maybe something else was happening. My co-host Mark Halperin was excoriated in the mainstream media in the last week of campaigns for simply suggesting there might be a path for Trump to win.

Even when I was in charge of advertising for the George W. Bush campaigns in 2000 and 2004, I thought a lot of money spent on TV ads was wasted. And argued the campaign should think about other ways to spend the money. Donald Trump got that. And took it to an extreme. He spent more money on hats than ads or field organization, which seemed crazy at the time. But in retrospect, they were obviously better investments.

All the research when averaged out over the campaign had Hillary Clinton ahead the whole campaign. President Obamas smartest strategist predicted there was 100 percent chance Clinton would win. 100 percent! Which fogged everyones lenses, including mine.

It seems likely that when it came to polling, Trump supporters participated in a spiral of silence. They dont trust the establishment. Or the media. Why would they trust or talk to pollsters? Or acknowledge their support publicly only to be called ignorant, uneducated, misogynist, or racist? I think its more than likely they either didnt respond to pollsters or intentionally misled them.

And Clinton was very well known and running for a third term for Democrats, so was effectively the incumbent. It should have been a clear warning sign when she never really polled above about 43 percent, because under this scenario, undecided voters are almost always going to break to the challenger.

And while Hillarys rallies were always well orchestrated, supporters at the events always seemed more earnest than excited.

At the very first Trump rally I attended a year ago, and at the last rally I attended the day before the election, I was blown away. They were combination rock concert and church revival. Ive never seen anything like them in more than three decades of working in politics. People got off work in the middle of day and stood in lines for hours in the blazing heat and freezing cold. They were passionate, enthusiastic, and totally dedicated.

Trump voters were never going anywhere else. No matter what they heard from the media or other candidates, they were sticking with their guy. In fact, all the attacks just hardened their resolve. Trump was right. He could have shot somebody on Fifth Avenue, and he wouldnt have lost any of his support.

Authenticity is like pornography; you know it when you see it. Its not something polling can accurately measure, but its something voters crave and reward when they get it. Which is why advertising doesnt work. Voters want to see candidates unscripted and unvarnished.

In early 2008, Clintons campaign was a battleship of inevitability without much message. Then she lost Iowa, and went from front runner to down double digits in New Hampshire. Then there was an incredibly authentic moment that cameras captured just a day or so before the election. She was asked a softball question by a supporter at a town-hall event, and for once she tossed the talking points.

She was clearly not feeling well, had lost some confidence, and likely feeling vulnerable. In other words, human. Like all the rest of us. And she teared up just a bit and talked about why she was running, and why the struggle was important. And she articulated a clear rationale for her candidacy. It was simple, quiet, moving, and real. And 24 hours later, she erased what was thought to be an insurmountable deficit and won New Hampshire.

Why didnt that lesson stick?

During this campaign, I saw a moment like that just once. The day after she lost, in her concession speech. It was incredible. And achingly human and authentic. I had the opportunity to work with and get to know Hillary Clinton just a bit a few years ago during some non-profit work. And Ill repeat what many others say. In person, she is warm, affectionate, engaging, and has a great sense of humor. One of the reasons we produced The Circus was to give candidates and their campaigns an opportunity to reveal a more contextualized, authentic view of who they are.

We conducted many interviews with Donald Trump, on his plane, at his office, and at his home. And got a lot of time with family members like Eric and Donald Trump Jr. We practically lived with Bernie and Jane Sanders, who became a rock star for our audience. Bernie is not warm and cuddly or conventionally television friendly. Just the opposite. Hes gruff and exudes get off my lawn. But our viewers loved him because he was real.

But over the course of a year, we got exactly zero interviews with Hillary (or Bill, or Chelsea). Im not saying we were 60 Minutes, but we had more than a million viewers, which aint nuthin. But more importantly, we offered an unfiltered opportunity to let Hillary be Hillary.

I get it that Hillary is not Bill. That he campaigns in poetry, and she campaigns in prose. That she prefers governing to campaigning. That she prefers public service to public spectacle. But running for president is not an SAT test. People want to take their measure of the person. For the life of me, I do not understand why Hillary Clinton insulated and isolated herself in a bubble. Of course she did a lot of directed communication to her base supporters. But where was the outreach beyond?

Megyn Kelly begged repeatedly for Hillary to come on her show. The Megyn Kelly with millions of viewers; who is no ideological patsy and took on Donald Trump more forcefully than any other journalist; who stood up against sexual harassment of women and helped push out Roger Ailes as the powerful head of Fox; who I suspect has a lot of viewers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. A Megyn Kelly interview should have been a no brainer.

Finally, here is what I believe is most important. Trump told a story. We think about story usually in a cultural frame: movies, books, music. But its just as true for campaigns. Voters are attracted to candidates who lay out a storyline. Losing campaigns communicate unconnected streams of information, ideas, speeches. Winning campaigns create a narrative architecture that ties it all together into something meaningful and coherent, as I articulated last year in a short New York Times op-documentary.

How do you tell a story? Identify a threat and/or an opportunity. Establish victims of the threat or denied opportunity. Suggest villains that impose the threat or deny the opportunity. Propose solutions. Reveal the hero.

Thats what Trump did. The reality TV star understands the power of narrative. He identified a threat: outside forces trying to change the way we live. And an opportunity: make America great again. He established victims: blue-collar workers who have lost jobs or experienced a declining standard of living. He suggested villains: Mexican immigrants, China, establishment elites. He proposed solutions: build a wall, tear up unfair trade deals. And the hero was revealed, Donald Trump.

What was Hillary Clintons story?

Campaigning and governing demand different skill sets. Hillary Clinton was as qualified as anyone who has ever run for the office of president. She is competent and organized, and I think she would have made the trains run on time. I disagree with a lot of her politics, but I was genuinely interested to see how she would govern. I think she would have been surprisingly bipartisan and worked with people like Paul Ryan to get things done and solve big problems.

But well never know because until and unless we change the rules, you still have to get elected first. And that requires mastering the art of storytelling.
In the aftermath of the election, the fashion world has been relatively quiet on the issue of how it will interact with future first lady Melania Trump.

Its an unsurprising silence given the industrys almost uniform support of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Vogues Anna Wintour kicked off New York Fashion Week in September with a group runway show doubling as a Clinton fundraiser, lavishing praise on the impossibly chic Clinton advisor Huma Abedin and first daughter Chelsea Clinton.

Its something of a tradition for the biggest names in fashion to offer both financial support to campaigns and sartorial services to first ladies. Jackie Kennedy was famously swaddled in Chanel and Dior. Nancy Reagan was often dressed by her close friend Oscar de la Renta. And French designer Sophie Theallet frequently provided clothes to Michelle Obama.

And it was Theallet who was the first industry name to vocalize her post-election dissent, in an open letter published last week that called on fellow designers to boycott dressing Melania, a former fashion model, because of the rhetoric of racism, sexism, and xenophobia unleashed by her husbands presidential campaign.

One might have expected other leading designers and fashion figurestypically vociferous in their support of socially progressive issuesto transform their support for Hillary into a shunning of Melania. But most have remained quietor been quietly dismissiveabout the incoming administration, with the exception of Tommy Hilfiger, who recently told Womens Wear Daily that any designer should be proud to dress her.

Hilfiger called Melania a very beautiful woman, and offered a more-superficial-than-substantive defense of his position: I dont think people should become political about it. Everyone was very happy to dress Michelle [Obama] as well.

But the fashion industry has always been political, whether deliberately or not (and Hilfigers nonpartisan plea was controversial enough to provoke coverage by nearly every major American media outlet).

And the Trumps will be the most connected to the fashion industry of any incoming president in American history (even if most of the fashion is, like Trumps rhetoric, more populist than couture). Melania has promoted her own lines of jewelry and skin care products; Donald Trump has hawked ties; Ivanka Trump sells clothes and shoes; while even her mother, Ivana Trump, peddled House of Ivana perfume, jewelry, and clothing on various home shopping networks.

Regardless of Donald Trumps odious politics, it would be difficult to replicate the fashion industrys love affair with the soon-to-be-former first lady, who buoyed a diverse group of young designers like Jason Wu and Prabal Gurung while also wearing bigger, more established names like Michael Kors and Narciso Rodriguez.

And her embrace of more affordable brands like J.Crew made her even more appealing as a style icon. She also represented a greater shift within the fashion world: In the eight years since shes been in the White House, American fashion runways and magazinesonce paraded by predominantly white modelshave become more ethnically diverse.

So would Mrs. Obamas designers join the anti-Melania resistance? Representatives for Jason Wu, Prabal Gurung, Thakoon, and Narciso Rodriguez did not respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment. Barbara Tfank, who dressed Michelle Obama on numerous occasions, declined to comment. When approached by Womens Wear Daily after Theallets open letter, Michael Kors, Caroline Herrera, Rosie Assoulin, and Diane von Furstenberg also declined to comment, while others spoke only on condition of anonymity.

One unnamed designer wouldnt discount the idea of a boycott, and instead was going to be trying to figure out ways to stand up and fight for what I believe is right.

But those who are talking tend to hew closer to Hilfigers position: We dont like him, but we wont necessarily punish her. Caroline Herrera told the Business of Fashion that she expects designers will eventually come around to the idea of dressing Melania. I think that in two or three months theyll reach out, because its fashion, she said, and Melania will be representing the United States.

Reached by The New York Times, Rag & Bone chief executive Marcus Wainwright, one of the designers who contributed to Hillary Clintons Made For History campaign merchandise, was careful not to be overtly discriminatory against the Trumps, saying it would be hypocritical to say no to dressing a Trump. If we say we are about inclusivity and making American manufacturing great again, then we have to put that before personal and political beliefs.

While the average Trump voter might not be a regular Rag & Bone customer (studded black jeans for women cost a cool $295), Hilfiger has made his fortune catering to the masses. Perhaps his comments, and his colleagues silence, are designed to transcend politicsand avoid annoying 60 million potential customers.
Lenin sheds a tear in Valentine commercial

Valentine Distilling Company is releasing its first television commercial, created at its Detroit home.

The 30-second ad presents Valentine Vodka as the Worlds Best Vodka to viewers.

Earlier this year, on March 17, The Worlds Best Spirits 2016 were presented by Felicity Murray, editor and founder of TheDrinksReport.com, at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. It was at this awards presentation that Valentine Vodka was announced as winner of Worlds Best Vodka by TheDrinksReport.com. The final tasting note for Valentine Vodka from the 2016 awards reads as follows: Lots of complex flavour through the nose and palate  a wonderful example of multigrain vodka. Sweet, smooth and creamy on the tongue with a clean and supple finish.

To celebrate this victory, Valentine Distilling Company has been working the past few months with some very talented individuals who have one thing in common  theyre all Detroiters - to create a spirits advertisement to be remembered.

Rifino Valentine, founder and president of Valentine Distilling Co. says: Being able to create our first commercial locally to celebrate this milestone speaks to exactly what Valentine stands for - dedication to making quality products and showing the world that American craftsmanship and manufacturing exists today.

The commercial features a visit to Vladimir Lenins tomb in Moscow. When the 'Worlds Best Vodka' is announced, a tear is shed by Lenin, Russian communist revolutionary and politician, as it is made clear the Worlds Best Vodka comes from Detroit.

Writer Jon Stewart of Huntington Woods and art director Bill Whitney of Oxford teamed up to develop the idea for the commercial. Director Thomas Drew, known for his work for Cadillac, Michelin, the AdCouncil, USPS, and many more, was then added to the team to bring the commercial to life. The set for the commercial was built and the commercial shot at Drews studio in Royal Oak. Flynn Drew, Toms son, joined the team as director of photography for the commercial.

After weeks of casting for a good 'dead Lenin lookalike,' Jeremy Verdusco was riding his bike down Stewarts street. Verdusco was flagged over and the proposition was made: You look like dead Lenin, how would you like to play him in a commercial for Valentine Vodka?

Verdusco, a fan of Valentine spirits, was happy to join the crew. Verdusco, who was officially cast as Lenin in the commercial, also resides in Huntington Woods.

Stewart says: He just happened to be an innocent pedestrian in the wrong place at the wrong time: the shoot required him to spend 10 hours in facial prosthetics and makeup.

Verdusco says: It was a long day on set, but worth it for a product I believe in. Southeast Michigan has a lot of talent, and it shows in Valentines products and in the crew that brought this commercial to life.

Makeup and special effects artist Dan Phillips is a nationally-renown practitioner of his art. He has worked on a variety of high-profile productions including The Hobbit. Dan is also a Detroiter. Also on the production team is Kurt Kulas, agency producer, from Birmingham.

All post-production was completed in Detroit. Editing, visual effects, audio, and final assembly were executed at Ringside Creative in Oak Park, with artwork by Gecko Imaging in Royal Oak.

After days of work by the crew, Valentine Distilling Co. is ready to share its first television commercial with viewers around the world.

24 November 2016 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant
Airport activation breaks down category walls

Remy Cointreau Global Travel Retail is running a multi-brand promotion at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport this month in association with Gebr. Heinemann.

The Craft Journey  Travel to the Origins of Elite Spirits is an immersive activation intended to let shoppers discover a selection of the crafted expressions from the Remy Cointreau portfolio, and encourage them to jump from a category with which they are familiar to another, thereby enlarging their repertoire.

Secondly, from the retailers perspective, the promotion is intended to maximize the revenue per basket and drive sales across the various liquor and spirits sub-categories while providing a unique consumer experience.

The Craft Journey associates a selected range of premium expressions from the Remy Cointreau portfolio: Mount Gay, The Botanist, Bruichladdich, Remy Martin, Cointreau and Metaxa.

Lyndea Dew, global marketing and development director at Remy Cointreau GTR, explains: This asset is a huge opportunity to encourage exploration and multi-buy. There is no reason why a client interested in the Bruichladdich craftsmanship on Islay should not be interested in the way Mount Gay is hand-made in Barbados. This is an opportunity to break down category walls because it is about the clients passion for authenticity, know-how and origins. It is not about sticking to one tried and tested category.

Launched in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Lounge 1, the activation combines brand story-telling, video and, of course, tasting. A video plays about the heritage of the brands that the customer has chosen while he or she savours the aromas and intricate flavours of the drink.

For each brand on display there is a link on the wall map depicting individual brand journeys, highlighting the bottle, the craftsmanship story and relevant sensory elements such as ripe golden barley for Bruichladdich whisky, botanicals for The Botanist gin and the bitter sweet oranges from which Cointreau is derived.

Rudiger Stelkens, purchase director liquor, tobacco, confectionery at Gebr. Heinemann, comments: Amsterdam Schiphol is a vibrant mix of seasoned business travellers and enthusiastic holidaymakers of all ages and backgrounds. To capture their attention we love to dramatise retail with lively activations, spectacular displays and other customer- engagement activities. We are delighted to have worked with Remy Cointreau on The Craft Journey, which is a perfect example of a discreet promotional tool that informs, educates and entertains in a refined and contemporary way.

24 November 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Rport, editor-in-chief
A&M administration must protect the Aggie 'family'

In the afternoon on Aggie Game Day last Saturday, a driver pulled out in front of another vehicle. The driver then had a gun pulled on him from the driver cut off near the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

From the detail given in the police report issued via email, it seems this was a road-rage incident. During this rather challenging time in the United States, however, it is a red flag. Furthermore, there have been other red flags identified by students of Texas A&M.

While a recent group, tagged #BTHOracism on social media, has been voicing its concern regarding major and minor racially charged incidents on campus, the university administration has not taken its concerns as seriously as needed.

We don't feel safe, myself included. I'd like to ask the university administration, those who work with President Michael Young, to please look at the compilation of unfriendly major- or micro-aggressions, racially charged or not, and ask if this is truly a "family" atmosphere.

The Aggie Family is just that: a family. We may all disagree on the finer points in life but we all still are just humans. We all still are Aggies. It's a family when there is some conflict; it's when we can put aside those differences that we are then a true family.

ELIZABETH MARCHIO

Bryan
One of the most controversial aspects of the toxic trade deals being pushed by the EU is the system of corporate courts.

This is a parallel legal system that enables corporations to sue governments for billions of pounds for passing laws that might harm their profit margins.

Giving corporations a whole raft of legal new powers is not only wildly unpopular with people across Europe, it could very well be incompatible existing judicial systems in Europe.

As Green MEP Yannick Jadot pointed out, "many legal experts, including the German Judges Association, and even an Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, are convinced that any kind of ISDS [corporate courts] system in CETA may be incompatible with EU law."

So if you have a trade deal that would have far-reaching implications for legal systems, surely the sensible thing to do would be to refer it to the experts on those legal systems so they could give it proper scrutiny before giving it the go ahead?

That's exactly what 89 cross-party MEPs tried to do today in the European Parliament, with a motion to refer the corporate court system in the EU-Canada trade deal (CETA) to the European Court of Justice in order for them to make a proper, informed decision as to its legal compatibility with the current judicial systems operating across Europe.

Sounds sensible, right?

Unfortunately, the motion was defeated yesterday, with 258 MEPs voting for the referral, and 419 MEPs voting against. In the UK alone over 6,000 people emailed their MEPs to say that there should be proper legal scrutiny.

Some UK MEPs like Molly Scott Cato (Green), Jude Kirton-Darling (Labour) and Julie Ward (Labour) were part of the original group that had proposed the referral, and five Labour MEPs and all the Green MEPs present voted in support of the referral. But a series of UK MEPs voted to block it, including all Conservative and LibDem MEPs, most Labour MEPs and UKIP's notorious Roger Helmer.

What was particularly underhand about this vote was that pro-CETA MEPs used all sorts of underhand hustles to prevent a debate taking place ahead of the vote. The leadership of the two main parties put a lot of pressure on the MEPs who proposed the motion to withdraw their names, while also manipulating the complex procedures of the parliament to push things through. So those who had concerns didn't get any chance to articulate them.

But why would MEPs vote against something that seems so sensible? The answer is that it is desperation that is prompting MEPs to make such irresponsible decisions.
But even there he finds Taranaki, a town surrounded by fracking wells, where residents complain of high cancer rates. A Maori elder tells him, in tears, that their concerns have been ignored throughout.

Conflicting identities

The film shows the conflict, both politically and personally, in which the activists are caught up. Behn's own mother works for the oil companies, trying to change the system from the inside. He understands all too well the reasons behind her decision. When he became a lawyer, after years of hard work and reluctant city life, he was torn between two identities, two ways of life. He faced hostility in the legal and professional world, and some too from indigenous communities.

"You've got to dress like a clown if you want to join the circus", Behn says wryly: but putting on that suit meant, for some, that he was no longer one of them. It is obvious that this pains him. But Behn throws himself into work. Having left the legal profession, he has now extensively researched the impact of extractive industries across Canada, the US, and New Zealand, highlighting the 'boom and bust' cycles that the oil and gas sector generates.

The profits "should be used in a good way", says Behn, "and I've never seen extractive industries pay a fair rate to the people and lands they destroy and desecrate."

Currently Behn is working with academics to quantify the longer-term effects of the fracking industry on indigenous public health. In Behn's northeastern BC - or 'Treaty 8 territory' - a report found that 41 billion litres of heavily contaminated water had been injected into a single 50-year-old gas well. Vast quantities of less contaminated water are disposed of in huge ponds.

The 'best science'?

One problem, Behn says, is that the elusive 'best science' - which governments say they'll listen to - doesn't actually exist yet:

"People are getting sick, developing long-latency illnesses that won't fully manifest for twenty, maybe thirty years. In a way that's more terrifying: if someone drops dead today that gets investigated. But if, in a population of 20,000 people, 400 develop a rare form of cancer that doesn't show up for twenty years - that's much harder to trace."

Fracking companies in British Columbia say they adhere to strict regulations on safety and environmental impact. In Scotland, chemicals multinational Ineos, which owns exploration licences for around 700 square miles of the country, maintains that shale gas exploration can be done safely, and that an 'indigenous' shale industry is needed to keep up with energy demand.

But Behn thinks the impact is underestimated. "Scots must understand that fracked wells produce a lot of gas at the start - but they taper off. So to sustain long-term production, you have to keep fracking, keep drilling for years, if not decades.

"So at the start it's going to look tiny. But look at a fully-developed shale field - what you see is a checkerboard of roads and pipelines. After twenty, thirty years it'll radically change the landscape. No amount of money in the world will change it back."

From Pennsylvania to the Firth of Forth

Just a few days after Behn's visit, the first shipment of fracked US shale gas was due to arrive at Ineos' vast petrochemical plant at Grangemouth.

The gas comes from Pennsylvania, where health concerns have become a serious issue. A cursory glance at satellite maps shows the typical fracking landscape - crisscrossing networks of squiggly white lines and drilling stations. One of the companies supplying the ethane was recently fined $4.15m for pollution violations there.

Ineos staged various PR stunts around the arrival of the north American gas, including a 'lone piper' on the pier, and an luxury wine-and-dine trip for journalists. The company is hoping to push ahead with its proposals for hydraulic fracturing across the heavily-populated central belt of Scotland, pending the Scottish Government's final decision, which is expected in spring 2017.

Behn studies a photograph of the sprawling Grangemouth plant, with its chimneys and flares, and the fug that hangs over the neighbouring town. "It reminds me of my territory a lot", he says. "My land is bisected, divided, by pipelines, roads, well sites, pads, all that. It's really hard on my heart."

'Expect resistance'

For Behn the arrival of the US shale gas is an illustration of how interconnected the issue is. He has traveled extensively to talk with indigenous people resisting further oil and gas developments, and describes with passion the protest camps in North Dakota, and in his own county.

"What's happening is a rise of indigenous resistance. The phrase is 'respect existence or expect resistance', because if you don't respect the people's right to say no, or the people's right to clean water, and if you don't respect democratic process or the rule of law - expect us to stand up and oppose.

"But that's terrifying", Behn admits, "because it's a post-9/11 world and right now it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better."

The thousands of indigenous people gathered at Standing Rock, North Dakota, right now would probably not disagree. The water protectors, as they have asked to be known, have for months now been met with extraordinary violence by a militarised police force, as they attempt to stop the construction of a crude oil pipeline.

Tear gas, tasers, concussion grenades, attack dogs and other 'non-lethal' weapons have seen scores of people hospitalised; just days ago a 21-year-old woman was hit with a stun grenade, cutting her arm to the bone. She may lose the limb.

"I wish it wasn't so hard to do right by the people around you and the land that sustains you", Behn concludes, "but that seems to be the way of it in the 21st century." The privilege of travelling and meeting other activists is "bittersweet" for him: "to see these people who love their land and their people, and yet they're suffering for it. I see it a lot in my communities, and I see it here as well."

"If your country decides to go for it, I'd be happy to try and help you avoid the mistakes of my territory. But I hope it doesn't happen."

Jen Stout is a writer and reporter based in Glasgow. Originally from Fair Isle, her background is in campaigns and activism. She is particularly interested in Russia, policing and justice, offshore finance, land reform, surveillance, and LGBT rights, to name a few. Jen previously worked as a reporter for online new media platform CommonSpace, and is now freelance; writing primarily for Bella Caledonia, and for Film & Campaign, which brings new audiences to new documentary films. @jm_stout

News on fracking proposals, campaigns and resistance is available at Frack-Off

Fundraising page for Sophia Wilansky, the woman severely injured by a stun grenade at Standinbg Rock.
"I want to put on record my appreciation of the efforts of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, NFU Scotland, the Royal Scottish Zoological Society, and Scottish Land and Estates who have worked in partnership to set out a way forward.

"Beavers promote biodiversity by creating new ponds and wetlands, which in turn provide valuable habitats for a wide range of other species. We want to realise these biodiversity benefits while limiting adverse impacts on farmers and other land users. This will require careful management.

"Today's announcement represents a major milestone in our work to protect and enhance Scotland's world renowned biodiversity. But I want to be absolutely clear that while the species will be permitted to extend its range naturally, further unauthorised releases of beavers will be a criminal act.

"Swift action will be taken in such circumstances to prevent a repeat of the experience on Tayside."

Research has shown that beavers provide important benefits for biodiversity, and watershed management. However, the animals can also cause some difficulties for farmers and land managers in agricultural areas due to the damming of rivers and streams, and consequent local flooding.

Now let's introduce them north of the Great Glen!

Welcoming the Scottish government's decision to allow reintroduced beavers to remain in the country announced today, Trees for Life said that it plans to move ahead with investigating the possibilities for bringing beavers to areas north of the Great Glen, working with local communities to identify where they might live without perceived adverse impacts.

Steve Micklewright, Trees for Life's Chief Executive said: "Today's decision means that beavers can naturally spread through Scotland in the future. There is a lot of space in the Highlands where they could thrive, improving the region for other wildlife and providing a tourist attraction that will benefit the local economy."

However, the main obstacle to the natural spread of beavers to the Highlands is geography, he added: "The Great Glen presents a natural barrier to beavers colonising the area on their own from the existing populations in Argyll and Tayside, so the only way to be sure they will return to the northwest Highlands would be to give them a helping hand.

"While it is certain that beavers could live in the Highlands, the next step is to ensure they would be a welcome addition to the landscape. That is why we plan to work out where they would be welcome. Then we plan to enter in to dialogue with the government to explore how we can help them to return to those areas."

Advice and assistance to farmers

The impacts of beavers in Scotland have been closely monitored by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) at both the official Scottish Beaver Trial site in Knapdale in Argyll and on Tayside.

A study commissioned by SNH showed the beavers were not to blame for floods takiong place last winter. And last spring a Stirling University study based on 13 years observation was published, showing that beavers actually slow floodwaters and thus reduce the impact of flooding, while also increasing biodiversity, assisting soil retention and filtering out pollutants.

The Scottish Government is now required by law to complete a Habitats Regulations Assessment and consider a Strategic Environmental Assessment. Management techniques to prevent beaver damage, such as controlling flow through dams, or protecting valuable trees can be carried out without a licence.

More intensive management techniques, up to and including lethal control, are permitted under the Habitats Regulations for specified purposes and subject to there being no other satisfactory solution, and no adverse effect on the conservation status of the species.

This is the framework that applies in most other European countries and allows beavers to be managed to prevent serious damage to land uses such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

The Scottish Government will provide advice and assistance to farmers in understanding their options and helping them implement mitigation and prevention measures.

Oliver Tickell is contributing editor of The Ecologist.
Iowa state volleyball semifinals live updates and analysis

All five classes will compete in the state semifinals Wednesday in Coralville.
WILTON  This Thanksgiving, Miller-Driscoll School is especially thankful for one person: assistant principal Sheelah Brown, who announced her retirement effective Nov. 28, after 30 years of service.

Although principal Kathy Coon has only worked with Brown during this past year, she said shes witnessed her long dedication to the school and district.

From what Ive seen in the short time that Ive been here, not only does she care about the profession but she really cares about the people who work in this profession. She has wonderful connections with the staff, families and students, Coon said. Shes given a huge chunk of her personal and professional life to this district, so she will definitely be missed.

Miller-Driscoll secretary Marie Jarboe said shes going to miss her wonderful boss of 15 years and wishes her the best of luck in her retirement.

Shes been a wonderful administrator both to the children as well as the staff, Jarboe said. She probably will always say that the most important thing is the children in the building. She always put them first in everything.

Former Miller-Driscoll teacher Maria Coleman, now the director of human resources and general administration at Wilton Public Schools, shared similar sentiments. She said the district is grateful for the wisdom and compassion Brown shared for many years.

Each day, she brought love, energy, and an unwavering commitment to providing an excellent education for our district's youngest students, Coleman said.

Brown was born in the Bronx, N.Y., to immigrant parents and was the first girl in her neighborhood to go to college  earning a masters degree in reading education and a doctorate in educational leadership later on.

She moved to Fairfield County with her husband and family in 1987 and became a reading specialist at then Miller School that same year. Later in 2001, former superintendent David Clune nominated her as one of the schools assistant principals.

During her 30 years at Miller-Driscoll, Brown achieved her lifetime goal of helping students learn to read. She received training in the Reading Recovery program in the 90s and helped arrange school workshops with internationally renowned Connecticut authors, such as Marc Brown, Stephen Kellogg and Bernard Haber. She also helped the school remain at the forefront of high-impact educational initiatives involving positive school climate, math education, and reading and literacy.

Most of all, her greatest joy has been working with the children, parents and staff of Wilton, she said.

It has been a privilege and pleasure to work in a community that supports educational excellence, Brown said. The Thanksgiving holiday provided a gift of timing to announce my retirement with a profound sense of gratitude, hopefulness and appreciation for my colleagues, the Wilton community, and the gift of teaching all the children that walked through the doors during my 30 years in Wilton.

In her retirement, Brown will continue her role as a consultant to Ee-Boo Corp. She also looks forward to spending time with her husband, eight children and 25 grandchildren.

SKim@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1044; @stephaniehnkim
Warminster boy makes Phillies nation proud with viral video from Game 1

Carson Wallace, 5, of Warminster, starred as one of the Phillies most savage fans as his celebration and taunt of an Astros fan went viral.
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Linkedin Herlambang P. Wiratraman (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Thu, November 24, 2016

The issue of free speech in Indonesias democracy needs to be seriously promoted. This might be no significant change after the House of Representatives finally passed into law the controversial amendments to the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law last month.

There are two major issues related to newly revised ITE Law. First, to what extent the law protects citizens rights and freedom to express themselves without any fear of socalled cyber defamation.

Second, how this ITE Law revision strengthens democracy and human rights, especially in promoting public participation in all legal and political processes. This relates to the role of press freedom in the democratization process.

The public has recently been shocked by the detention of Yusniar, a 27-year-old housewife, after a comment on her Facebook account was deemed defamation (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 12). Yusniar is not alone. There have been more than 140 charges under the old ITE Law.

The ITE Law practice seems abusive in nature, especially in dealing with cyber defamation. Defamation using the Internet carries a maximum prison sentence of six years, or 12 years if the act harms or causes losses to others.

(Read also: Who actually needs 'right to be forgotten'?)

The Constitutional Court stated in its decisions No. 50/PUU-VI/2008 and No. 2/PUU-VII/2009 that the primary law for Article 27 paragraph 3 of the ITE Law is Articles 310 and 311 in the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP). Therefore, Article 27 paragraph 3 of the ITE Law is not considered an independent legal norm but rather is dependent on other provisions of the KUHP. For this reason, the meaning and definition of defamation cannot be interpreted and defined separately from the meaning of defamation in Criminal Code Articles 310 and 311.

Nevertheless, the practice seems to be draconian. This can be proven by two things. The aim of such an article has actually has been wrongly interpreted to attack freedom of expression, and most cases dealt with are personal expression, which is actually guaranteed under Article 28 of the Constitution and numerous laws, such as Law No. 39/1999 on human rights and Law No. 12/2005 on ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The application of the ITE Law has even gone so far as intervening in private communications, which are supposed to be guaranteed by the law for freedom of expression. The initial, and most famous, legal case was of Prita Mulyasari, who was convicted and imprisoned for complaining about hospital service in 2009 in a private email that went viral.

Most recently, a poor laborer in the East Java town of Probolinggo, Joko Hariono, stood trial after his director reported him to the police because of a private group communication among laborers that criticized the management. Surprisingly, when I testified as an expert witness, the prosecutor admitted to applying an obsolete, colonial era criminal law paradigm on defamation. Although the court finally acquitted the defendant, still Joko found the trial seriously intimidated his right to freedom of expression.

Therefore, despite the lesser maximum punishment stipulated in the revised ITE Law (four years, instead of six-12 years), the potential for the abuse of public rights remains high. The point is not merely about the punishment, but the need for a clear limitation and provision under the law itself. Learning from previous cases, the abusive application of the ITE Law stems from multiple interpretations that could lead to silencing criticism.

There is a new legal formulation under the revised ITE Law, namely the right to be forgotten, which Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara hails as an improvement, while critics deem it a setback to democracy and press freedom.

The article is very likely to degrade public participation in democracy for five reasons.

First, the article does not provide any clear guidance to implement the new right. The removal of personal data as an exercise of this right must be legitimate and have a reasonable legal argument. The process should also comply with transparency.

Second, the current debate in Indonesia over the right to be forgotten has actually taken place in Europe over the last few years ago, with confrontations between privacy and freedom of speech. The practice of this legal concept is aimed at rehabilitating the reputations of ex-convicts and protecting their rights in the cyber world.

In the Indonesian context, Article 26 could go beyond the practice of information access limitation in Europe as citizens may exercise their right to be forgotten on all websites and the media, including digital apps.

Third, there is no clear requirement and the procedure to delete such information digitally is prone to misuse for certain political interests. Unsurprisingly the new law will be easily used to strengthen impunity by hiding information about past human rights abuses and criminal acts.

Fourth, the legal consequences of the three aforementioned points are difficulties for the public to exercise their right to know and examine candidates running for public posts, as well as to monitor and participate in public policymaking, including criticizing public officials.

Fifth, the article contradicts Law No. 40/1999 on the press, which prohibits the government from restricting or curbing press freedom. The article aims to prevent the spread and use of certain electronic information, which could lead to censorship. The Press Law strictly prohibits anyone, including the government, from removing previously published news reports.

Considering the greater authority and power entrusted in the government, the newly revised ITE Law is not only misguided in principle but could also potentially attack 132 million Indonesian Internet users, as well as the freedom of the press.

---------------

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Linkedin Muhamad Jaki Nurhasya (The Jakarta Post) London  Thu, November 24, 2016

There is no question that Indonesias show of military force near Ranai Natuna last October, which included sophisticated maneuvers by the Air Force, invited myriad opinions about it being a statement concerning regional politics. President Joko Jokowi Widodo himself looked over the exercise, which sent an even stronger message to other countries that Indonesia's territorial integrity is in good hands. Without a doubt, Indonesia's military assets were shown to be ready for any future contingency.

At the same time, this development occurred during an era of uncertainty on the world stage created by the United States' now-president-elect Donald Trump, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, geopolitical maneuvers seemed to be required in the South China Sea situation. With a recent statement made by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the visit of a US warship to Vietnams Cam Ranh Bay naval base and China's continuing assertions of its territorial claims, it is clear that the military will continue to be a defining element of the South China Sea conflict.

But the question of "What would be a possible trigger for an open conflict in the South China Sea?" should be the primary concern of all relevant decision makers. Is it likely that a military incident would trigger an unwanted clash? Or are there any overlooked non-military factors more likely to start one?

The question might have an answer in the development of White Hull armadas in the South China Sea. This idea was echoed by Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen on the sidelines of a meeting of ASEAN and US defense ministers in Hawaii recently. In the conference he mentioned that incidents might "have very little to do with military ships" and are more prone to be triggered by developments of coast guards and fishing vessels asserting their country's territorial claims.

The concern is not without proof, as many sources said that China can be seen to be increasingly developing its coast guard's capacity. Other primary players, such as the US, seemed to be already alarmed by the development and the US has transferred three of its Hamilton-class coast guard cutters to the Philippines. Those events may contribute to a White Hull race in the region.

Indonesia is not an exception, as one of its frigates, the KRI Oswald Siahaan-354, encountered a Chinese Coast Guard vessel while it was arresting a Chinese fishing boat last May. This was not the first instance when Indonesian authorities had to deal with the Chinese Coast Guard, as Indonesian fishing authority vessels reportedly had several encounters with the Chinese Coast Guard while conducting their duties.

It is then understandable that Indonesia needs to be aware of the dynamics of the region. Its current Maritime Security Board (Bakamla) has been boosting its capabilities. Its Bakamla Integrated Information System (BIIS) is set to become a sophisticated maritime territorial domain awareness instrument throughout Indonesias vast waters.

However, the development of a functioning maritime security agency in Indonesia came with several challenges, as multiple institutions (including the military, police and other non-military institutions) have overlapping jurisdictions. Effective coordination, information sharing and unity of command questions have not yet been resolved among the maritime security stakeholders.

There are at least three important features of a White Hull race that Indonesia should be aware of. First, coast guards or other White Hull authorities are prone to becoming disguised paramilitary fleets. In this case, there might be a need for a stronger and more capable White Hull fleet to be prepared for such development.

Second, on the other hand, as coast guards are mostly categorized as non-military institutions, sending a White Hull fleet can also be a more gentle gesture in a conflict situation. Consequently, Indonesias White Hull authorities also need to be equipped with crisis handling capabilities as to not spark larger and more severe incidents.

Third, means of communication and protocols to avoid clashes between White Hull authorities needs to be bolstered among the South China Sea stakeholders. China's recent opposition toward including White Hull authorities in the new Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) arrangement with ASEAN countries is something to be concerned about. Such an arrangement needs to be a priority and having a means of communication, such as a meeting of officials from the coast guards and maritime law enforcement agencies, needs to include other stakeholders to ensure it builds a healthy confidence.

Indeed, a form of the "White Hull race" is in place in the South China Sea conflict and it is important for Jakarta to join and become a determining factor in the race.

***

Muhamad Jaki Nurhasya is a Master's degree candidate in science and security at the War Studies Department, Kings College London, United Kingdom. These views are his own.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

With support from the Mexican Parliament, 21 Indonesian-inspired paintings are displayed at the Relatos Sabatico art exhibition in the lobby of the Senate of the Republic of Mexico from Nov. 22 to 25.

The exhibition features works by Mexican artist Sara Ali, an alumni of the Darmasiswa scholarship program organized by the ministries of culture and education and foreign affairs, which had enabled her to study traditional dance in Surakarta, Central Java, in 2013.

In one of her works entitled Keraton Siji, Ali showcases the beauty of batik from the Surakarta Palace. Her paintings have become a medium for her to recall the memories of her life in the charming city, kompas.com reported.

(Read also: Papuan Kamoro art set for exhibition in Jakarta)

Together with head of the Mexican Parliaments Commission of Culture, Gerardo Sanchez Garcia, Indonesian Ambassador to Mexico Yusra Khan opened the exhibition, expressing his pride about the Darmasiswa program that inspired Alis exhibition and fosters bilateral relations between Indonesia and Mexico.

Garcia spoke about the importance of presenting cultures from around the world through different mediums.

The exhibition was well received by the parliament, with one of its members, Carmen Dorantes Martinez, remarking that Alis works opened her eyes for Indonesias cultural richness.

Not only is this painting exhibition a platform for Sara Ali to showcase her work, but it is also a means of introducing Indonesian culture to the world. (mra/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) San Francisco, United States  Thu, November 24, 2016

Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey says the social media platform accidentally suspended his account.

Dorsey tweeted Tuesday night, "just setting up my twttr.again (account suspension was an internal mistake)." The post was an echo of his first-ever tweet, which came in 2006.

(Read also: Twitter gives co-founder Jack Dorsey a 2nd chance as CEO)

just setting up my twttragain (account suspension was an internal mistake)  jack (@jack) November 23, 2016

just setting up my twttr  jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

San Francisco-based Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent members of the so-called "alt-right" in an apparent crackown on accounts tied to hate speech or threats of violence. Twitter declined comment, but noted its policies against hate speech and harassment.

Some supporters of the movement cheered Dorsey's brief suspension with celebratory tweets Tuesday.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

Uber is reportedly ready to recruit former sex workers and people convicted of minor crimes as drivers to give them a chance to start a new life  a new policy that will be implemented at the companys headquarters in the United States.

Those who have formerly worked as prostitutes and those with convictions for non-violent crimes such as pickpocketing, vandalism or disturbing the peace are being given the opportunity to apply to become Uber drivers.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says the company is committed to providing opportunities to people with a limited range of options, or to those who have had doors closed on them, as quoted by the Hartfort Courant. On his Facebook page, Kalanick wrote: To break the cycle of recidivism, we need to give them a second chance.

(Read also: Uber Indonesia rolls out new tourist-friendly feature)

This policy has already been implemented in California, and will be put into practice in Connecticut by the start of next year. However, Uber said applicants who had felony convictions within the past seven years would be rejected.

As reported by tempo.co, David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, argues that the policy is good for public safety in the long term. "When people with a criminal record are able to get employment, it stabilizes their lives [...] and they're less likely to offend again," he said.

This is because, according to David, one of the main reasons people reoffend is because they have no economic opportunity.

Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan assures that the companys background checks are adequate to keep drivers and passengers safe, adding that through the apps feedback feature drivers can be easily identified if a problem occurs. (mra/kes)
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Linkedin (China Daily/Asia News Network) Sydney, Australia  Thu, November 24, 2016

Anti-poverty campaigners Oxfam on Tuesday released their Christmas "naughty or nice" list of clothing brands that have detailed where their apparel is made, scooping up some international giants.

The Christmas period is key for Australian retail sales, however, the progressive populace are voting with their wallets to find articles that fit with their clear commitments to global social justice.

Since the shocking Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, many companies have vowed to improve their factories and worker practices.

"Unless a company publishes the locations of its factories, there is still no way of checking if their clothing is being made under safe and fair conditions," Oxfam said, the impetus to be added onto the Naughty List.

"There's no other way out of the Naughty List," Oxfam said.

(Read also: Fashion reseller Banananina joins e-commerce race)

Swedish multinational H&M, US label GAP, Australian giants Pacific Brands and the Cotton On Group, among many others, have all made the nice list in 2016 for being transparent in their sourcing practices.

Maybe British brand ASOS, Japan's Uniqlo and Spanish multinational Inditex, which owns fashion giant Zara, could take a lesson, as they all made Oxfam's "naughty list".

Inditex and ASOS have made significant strides towards transparency in 2016, Oxfam conceded, but a full list of where products are sown or their top tier factories is still missing.

"(ASOS) have promised to publish (the full list), though, so the elves are ready and waiting to move them onto the Nice List soon," Oxfam said.

"It's embarrassing to be on the naughty list and companies know it."

Topics : Zara Uniqlo Oxfam

This article appeared on the China Daily newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Charge daffaires Joanna Azzi (fourth right) at the Lebanese Embassy in Jakarta cuts the cake with Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Asman Abnur (fourth left) and a number of ambassadors during a ceremony to commemorate Lebanese Independence Day on Tuesday. Lebanon declared its independence from French rule on Nov. 22, 1943.(JP/Jerry Adiguna)(fourth right) at the Lebanese Embassy in Jakarta cuts the cake with Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Asman Abnur (fourth left) and a number of ambassadors during a ceremony to commemorate Lebanese Independence Day on Tuesday. Lebanon declared its independence from French rule on Nov. 22, 1943.(JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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Linkedin I Wayan Juniarta (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Thu, November 24 2016

Transformation: The official design for Baliphex 2016s stamp and commemorative cover reflects the transformation of Balinese dancers into a symbol of social resistance. (Courtesy of Baliphex 2016)

An exhibition tells the early construction of Balis image as a paradise for tourists.

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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu and Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

Jakarta gubernatorial election candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and his running mate Sylviana Murni will remain eligible in spite of infighting within their political backer, the United Development Party (PPP), which took another turn following the recent court ruling on the partys leadership dispute.

The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) ruled in favor of senior PPP politician Djan Faridz who challenged the decree issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry recognizing Muhammad Romahurmuzys leadership of the oldest religion-based party in the country.

The court ruling on Tuesday annulled the ministerial decree on the party that has been rocked by internal conflict for more than a year.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The police have decided not to detain Buni Yani, who uploaded edited footage of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama citing a Quranic verse, after naming him a suspect on Wednesday evening.

"We decide not to detain him because Buni was cooperative during questioning and answered all of the questions," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said at a press conference on Thursday.

(Read also: Buni Yani, uploader of Ahok's blasphemy video, named suspect)

Awi also said there was no risk that Buni, a university lecturer, would destroy evidence because the police were in possession of all materials related to the case, including his mobile phone, copies of his email and Facebook accounts and screen shots of his Facebook status.

Buni has been prohibited from leaving the country for the next 60 days to prevent him from avoiding investigation, Awi said.

Awi said Buni had been charged under Article 28 paragraph 2 of the Electronic Information and Transactions law (UU ITE) on spreading information to incite hatred, which carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison. (jun)
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Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The city administration and the City Council are finalizing the details of a draft bylaw on streamlining the administrations organizational structure, which could potentially lead to hundreds of civil servants losing their positions.

Acting Jakarta Governor Sumarsono said the city administration planned to reduce the number of structural positions in a bid to improve performance effectiveness and financial efficiency.

[The number of structural civil servants] will decrease by 10 to 15 percent, he said after a plenary meeting on the draft bylaw at the City Council on Wednesday.

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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

One evening, Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan, accompanied by his wife Fery Farhati Ganis, prepared to pose for a group photo when he suddenly turned rigid, like a mannequin, and so did dozens of others near him, including the person holding the phone to take the picture.

Freezing in place with different poses, Anies, Fery and the others were engaged in an elaborate scenario for a video meme, known as the mannequin challenge, the latest internet sensation that has swept the world.

The video trend features groups of people striking frozen poses while a cameraman walks through them to show their pose in detail.

The video trend, which is usually set to the song Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd, was first started by high school teenagers.

However, a long list of well-known public figures have followed their path.

Now that the video has gone viral, social media-savvy Anies has added to the list of prominent figures in the country who have participated in the latest internet sensation. Anies stunt will likely catch the attention of young voters in the capital.

Indirectly, [the aim] is to reach them [the young voters], said Naufal Firman Yursak, the media center head of Anies campaign team.

(Read also: Why the Mannequin Challenge is the latest internet sensation)

A video posted by Anies Sandi (@jakartamajubersama) on Nov 21, 2016 at 5:32pm PST

Anies team hopes that with the mannequin challenge video, voters will see the fun side of Anies.

This was a spontaneous effort [...] to show that despite his serious look, he can also be fun, Naufal said, adding that the video was aimed at convincing young voters that Anies, now 47, could represent their interests.

Aside from that, he also explained that the video was the teams attempt to offer good political education to young voters.

Principally, young voters are important because they give us votes and they are also [objects] for us to teach them peaceful politics, he added.

Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has also undertaken the mannequin challenge.

A video posted by Luna Maya (@lunamaya) on Nov 14, 2016 at 8:15pm PST

His army of volunteers, including celebrities like Luna Maya and Uya Kuya, forced Ahok to be a part of the global trend to connect with younger voters.

This [the video] was not an initiative from the campaign team. It was an idea from the volunteers, Ivanhoe Semen, a spokesman with the Ahok-Djarot Saiful Hidayat team, said.

According to the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta), about 29 percent of the 7,132,856 voters on the preliminary list of eligible voters (DPS) are aged between 17 and 30 years.

Despite this relatively modest figure, young voters are still an important segment, Ivanhoe said.

Young voters are considered rational because they do not take religion or race into consideration when choosing a candidate, according to a July survey conducted by the Jakarta-based pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC).

They are more concerned with issues related to job creation, education, mobility and corruption eradication, SMRC survey executive director Djayadi Hanan told The Jakarta Post in October.

While Ahok and Anies have joined the trend in the hope that the video meme will make them more relevant to younger voters, the youngest gubernatorial candidate, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, now 38, has so far abstained from participating in the trend.

Agus has instead posted a video of himself on Instagram singing a romantic song for his wife Annisa Pohan. The video has also gone viral.

A survey by Public Opinion and Policy Research (Populi) predicts that 46.7 percent of young voters aged between 17 and 25 are likely to vote for Ahok-Djarot, followed by Anies-Sandiaga with 28.3 percent and Agus-Sylviana Murni on 13.3 percent.

The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) arrived at a different result, placing Agus-Sylviana as the most electable candidate pair among young voters with 33.8 percent, followed by Anies-Sandiaga with 30.8 percent and Ahok-Djarot with 27.8 percent.
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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

China has further cemented its role as one of Indonesias strategic partners going forward with the Asian powerhouses commitment to continue with the rising trend of investment flowing into the archipelago.

Speaking in a forum attended by Indonesian and Chinese business players, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng said China saw great potential for bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Chinas realization of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Indonesia grew by a staggering 291 percent to US$1.5 billion from January to September compared to the same period last year, according to Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data.

China will continue to encourage more enterprises to invest in Indonesia and help speed up Indonesias economic growth, Xie said on Wednesday.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has held five meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the past two years, a sign of deepening ties between the two countries that look to expand economic cooperation from electricity and mining to new sectors such as e-commerce and tourism.

Both countries have recorded investment cooperation in more than 3,000 projects over the last five years, to the point that approximately one fourth of Indonesias electricity is generated by power plants built by China, the worlds second-largest economy.

Meanwhile, tourism is deemed as promising with Jokowi targeting half of his 20 million foreign tourist target by 2019 to come from China. As of September this year, 1 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia.

This year, most investment from China has been seen in the steel and mineral processing sectors, which includes smelters in Sulawesi. Chinese investors are also going large in the cement and automotive industries, signaling a commitment to Indonesias infrastructure push, with ventures in cement plants in Kalimantan and Papua for instance.

The strength of cooperation between the two Asian countries is also evident with the investment commitment from China Development Bank (CDB) of $14.4 billion for 57 projects since it entered Indonesia in 2006, although only $9.7 billion of the commitment has been realized.

Going forward, CDB is looking at projects on power plants, as well as sea transportation-related infrastructure.

Indonesia and China have [...] synergy on the Chinese Silk Road concept and Indonesias aim to be [a] global marine fulcrum. CDB wants to actively cooperate in that sector, CDB general manager Xiamen branch Yang Aiwu said.

CDB, however, gave no comment on the reason behind the delayed disbursement for Indonesias first high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung, West Java, which requires $5.1 billion investment that may well be mostly funded by a CDB loan.

Chinese investors, now one of Indonesias top trading partners and a top-five foreign investor in the country, previously saw a low ratio of investment realization-to-commitment from 2005 to 2014 as only 7 percent of Chinese investment commitment was realized during the period, BKPM data showed.

In terms of doing business, they are pretty fast at making cooperation agreements, but then it becomes very difficult in the execution phase, said Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman for international relations Shinta Kamdani.

In tackling the issue, the BKPM earlier this year launched a special information desk  the Chinese desk  to facilitate Chinese investors and assist them with their investment plans.

The Chinese Embassy in Indonesia highlighted land acquisition difficulties, a changing policy environment, as well as difficulties in acquiring work permits for foreign workers as the top-three hassles Chinese business players faced in investing in the country, said counselor for economic and commercial affairs Wang Liping.

Meanwhile, Center for Reform in Economics (CORE) Indonesia research director Mohammad Faisal expected that investment from China would significantly increase in various sectors.

Tourism [investment] has been pretty insignificant. We expect it [China] to invest in Indonesian tourism destinations next year, as well as other sectors such as telecommunications, he said.

Faisal also warned that investment from the Asian giant was usually followed by Chinese workers and products flowing into the country, which could potentially affect domestic human resources.
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Linkedin Herlambang P. Wiratraman (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Thu, November 24 2016

The issue of free speech in Indonesias democracy needs to be seriously promoted. This might be no significant change after the House of Representatives finally passed into law the controversial amendments to the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law last month.

There are two major issues related to newly revised ITE Law. First, to what extent the law protects citizens rights and freedom to express themselves without any fear of so-called cyber defamation.

Second, how this ITE Law revision strengthens democracy and human rights, especially in promoting public participation in all legal and political processes. This relates to the role of press freedom in the democratization process.

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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra  Thu, November 24, 2016

The panel of judges at Medan Corruption Court has sentenced former North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho to six years in prison for the misappropriation of Rp 4.3 billion (US$ 317,343.44) of social assistance funds.

The courts presiding judge Djaniko Girsang said Gatot was found guilty of having violated Article 2 (1) of Law No.31/1999 on the eradication of corruption, as charged by prosecutors.

The sentence imposed by the judges was two years less than that sought by prosecutors. The panel also rejected the prosecutors demand for the governor to reimburse state losses of Rp 2.8 billion. The panel said the burden of the losses should not be inflicted on the defendant because the misappropriated funds went to other people and organizations.

Djaniko said 17 institutions had received social assistance funding and grants from the North Sumatra budget (APBD) for the period of 2012-2013. Based on facts revealed during his trial, the judge said, the distribution of the funds to all of those institutions was based on proposals by the defendant, who served as the North Sumatra governor at that time.

Djaniko said the governor conveyed his proposals to several North Sumatra administration officials in a meeting at his official residence in November 2012. The administration had rejected the distribution of the funds to the institutions in the 2011 APBD but because of the governors request, they were listed as beneficiaries in the 2012-2013 APBD.

It had never been examined whether or not those institutions were eligible as beneficiaries of the funds, said Djaniko during the trial on Thursday. (ebf)
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar  Thu, November 24 2016

The Makassar District Court suspended the detention on Wednesday of Yusniar, a housewife who was currently on trial in a criminal case resulting from a post she made on Facebook.

The panel of judges turned down her legal teams request to drop the case, but agreed to release the 27-year-old, who has been behind bars since Oct. 2. We, the panel of judges, agree to suspend the defendants detention and change it to a city arrest as of Nov. 24, presiding judge Kasianus said.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The Jakarta Police have freed a 52-year-old man, identified only by the initials NS, who has been named a suspect for allegedly disrupting a campaign event of deputy gubernatorial candidate Djarot Saiful Hidayat.

We cannot detain him because the maximum punishment carried by the criminal charge is less than five years, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

NS, a food seller, was arrested at his house in Kembangan, West Jakarta, on Tuesday.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has arrested a man for the alleged possession of 29,505 ecstasy pills discovered during an operation in Jakarta last month.

BNN chairman Budi Waseso said the suspect, identified only by the initials MR, 35, was caught at a supermarket in Pantai Indah Kapuk, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Oct. 19.

The suspect was a courier and he had hidden the ecstasy pills under his motorcycle seat. The pills came from Riau Islands and were about to be distributed to nightclubs in Jakarta, he told journalists in Jakarta on Tuesday.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) is calling on the House of Representatives to immediately deliberate a sexual violence bill and pass it into a law.

Komnas Perempuan deputy chairman Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said she believed the deliberation would receive widespread support from the public.

We want Indonesia to do more to protect its people from sexual violence by continuing the bills deliberation in 2017, said Yuniyanti on Thursday, in her statement to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on Nov.25.

The UN is set to hold a 16-day campaign to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that will start on Nov. 25 and run until Dec. 10, coinciding with Human Rights Day. The campaign involves fund-raising to end gender-based violence.

Yuniyanti said Komnas Perempuan would run the 16-day campaign, which involved 150 activists across the country. She further urged the government to prioritize the eradication of violence against women amid an increase in reports of violence against women.

The commission received 321,752 reports of violence against women in 2015, a nearly 40 percent increase from 2014, in which it received 232,220 reports, she added. (adt/ebf)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

Indonesia and the Netherlands have pledged to strengthen economic cooperation in the future, boosted by a number of new business deals inked by the two governments and businesses.

The partnership will involve various areas including agriculture and infrastructure development as stated during the three-day visit by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, which concluded on Wednesday.

Rutte underlined Indonesias role as Netherlands strategic partner, saying that both countries had a lot to offer in the economic field, especially owing to the formers status as Southeast Asias biggest economy.

Indonesia plays a big role in the region. It is one of the central players in ASEAN and Indonesias leadership in this region is highly valued, Rutte said in a limited press briefing. The country will contribute to maintaining stability in the world, particularly in this region.

The importance of the two countries economic ties is highlighted by an already robust bilateral trade, which amounted to 3.2 billion (US$3.4 billion) last year, according to figures released by the prime minister. Netherlands is now the main market for Indonesian exports to Europe.

Dutch businesses invested a total of $1.3 billion in 2015, down 24.4 percent from 2014, in 421 projects, according to data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

During his visit, Rutte led a Dutch delegation comprising ministers, including Infrastructure and Environment Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, business leaders from 110 companies, educational institutions and NGOs.

Ruttes second state visit to the former Dutch colony in three years followed a similar visit by President Joko Jokowi Widodo to the Netherlands in April.

The delegates signed 38 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and letters of intent (LoIs) covering economic and non-economic issues, such as water management, flood protection, climate change and health care, with their Indonesian counterparts, further intensifying ties between the two countries.

On the occasion, Rutte also said the Netherlands was keen to enhance its bilateral relationship as business prospects in Indonesia had improved due to extensive reforms, particularly on the ease of doing business.

[Dutch] businesspeople find it is increasingly easier to do business here. But still, there is more room for improvement, he said, adding that the 14 economic reform packages issued by Jokowis administration would boost the business climate, although they still depended on implementation.

Indonesia climbed 15 places to 91st on the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Index for 2017 as its deregulation moves have attracted the attention of global investors.

The Netherlands has reasserted its commitment to helping Indonesia develop its infrastructure, particularly in port construction and the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD), popularly known as the Giant Seawall.

Another major interest for the Dutch delegation is seaport management, according to Rutte. This follows an agreement signed last year by Indonesias state-owned port operator Pelindo I and the Port of Rotterdam Authority to develop a nationally strategic port at Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra.

However, Rutte did not provide any estimates of the value of the business deal.
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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

In a Muslim-majority nation like Indonesia, Islamic education in public schools is expected to play a key role in instilling the values of tolerance among students.

But a study launched by the Religious Affairs Ministry on Wednesday suggested that the form of Islamic education being taught in the classrooms focuses too much on theory and ritual and pays little attention to teaching the values of religious tolerance, which the study says could actually be found in the Quran.

The study, conducted by the Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP), a European Union-funded organization, has found that numerous values related to peace, tolerance and democracy can be found in the faiths holy scriptures, but teachers of Islamic studies lack the ability to translate these principals to their students.

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Linkedin (Associated Press) Tokyo  Thu, November 24, 2016

A member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for an unsuccessful 1986 mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, the Tokyo District Court said.

Former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki had been accused of conspiring with another person to fire two rounds at the embassy from a hotel room in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, according to Japan's Kyodo News service. Neither exploded.

The 68-year-old Shirosaki was imprisoned in the United States for more than a decade for a rocket attack on the US Embassy in Jakarta the same year. He was released in 2015, and Japanese authorities re-arrested him upon his return home.

The Japanese Red Army carried out a series of violent hijackings and attacks globally in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The implementation of the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, combined with a recent foreign investment policy revision, has opened the door for new medical equipment producers to tap into the domestic market.



Indonesian Association of Medical and Laboratory Appliances Enterprises (Gakeslab) vice chairman Erlyn Rommel said recently that Indonesia saw more people seek medical services after the JKN program was launched in 2014.



We have 9,750 Puskesmas [community health centers] and today they see more and more patients. So services need to improve with sufficient medical appliances, said Erlyn.



The program has so far covered more than 60 percent of the population of 250 million people and is expected to cover the entire population by 2019.



However, 90 percent of the medical equipment, including hospital beds, radiography machines, gloves, bloodlines, infusion bags and injection tubes, was still imported.



The number of local producers was only 50, 27 of which produce hospital beds.



Erlyn said foreign producers had a great opportunity to enter the domestic market, supported by the governments move to ease foreign investment restrictions in the medical equipment sector.



The ease was part of the governments 11th economic policy package and has been cemented through the issuance of a presidential regulation. Foreign investors are now allowed to wholly own manufacturing facilities to produce medical equipment.



To accelerate the sectors development, the government has also prioritized locally made equipment in the governments e-catalog for state health institutions.



Gakeslab has been meeting with manufacturers from various countries to explore the possibility of new investments.



They have shown interest, but no real investments have been made because the policy was just announced this year. Well see how it goes next year, he said.



Chinese and Taiwanese producers seem to show the most interest, compared to producers from other countries, such as ones in Europe.



Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Kalbe Farma has recently announced its plan to enlarge its medical equipment division, which currently contributes six percent to its dozens of trillion rupiah sales.



Growth potential for the equipment is good enough at around 15 to 20 percent per year along with improved health awareness, said Kalbe Farma finance director and corporate secretary Vidjongtius.



The publicly listed firm will seek partnerships with local manufacturers to produce consumable products, such as masks, gloves and bloodlines.



Kalbes medical equipment division previously focused more on marketing equipment from other producers, 70 percent of which were foreign producers while 30 percent were local ones.

-------------------

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Linkedin Liza Yosephine, Ina Parlina and Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Banyumas  Thu, November 24, 2016

With the security forces ready to deal with more rallies by conservative Muslims demanding the arrest of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, President Joko Jokowi Widodo appeared to be at ease on Wednesday, calling such protests as the noise of democracy.

In a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the State Palace, Jokowi said it was only natural for democracy to get a little noisy sometimes.

You may have heard we had some demonstrations and some political tensions recently. We have this kind of political outburst from time to time. We are becoming used to it. We gladly accept it as a price of democracy, Jokowi said.

Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab announced on Wednesday that the FPI along with other conservative Muslim groups, united in the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Councils Fatwa (GNPF-MUI), would go ahead with its rally plans on Dec. 2 to demand the government arrest Ahok for alleged blasphemy.

Ahok, who is seeking reelection in February, inadvertently provoked Muslims when he cited a verse from the Quran during a gathering with residents in Thousand Islands, Jakarta.

The protests did not stop even after the National Police began to question Ahok as a suspect in the case.

Ahead of the anticipated rally, the President publicly met several influential figures, putting on display the stable support of his government. Last week, Jokowi met with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, signaling the possibility of new terms between the former rivals who competed against each other in the 2014 presidential election.

On Monday, he met with former president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and later United Development Party (PPP)chairman Romahurmuziy, on Tuesday, to discuss various political issues.

The heightened communications with the political and Muslim leaders have resulted in solid support behind the government.

Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, the countrys two largest Muslim organizations, have denounced the rallies and called on Muslims to refrain from participating in them.

The GNPF-MUI was behind an earlier mass rally on Nov. 4, which later turned violent.

Muhammadiyah chairman Haedar Nashir later called on all Muslims on Wednesday to accept the decision of the police who have named Ahok a suspect in the blasphemy case.

We strongly support the law enforcement authorities in upholding justice against those who have done wrong, Haedar said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Security forces have been on high alert ahead of any planned rallies. The Jakarta Police have taken a tougher stance, having issued a circular to remind people that an act of treason could result in the death penalty.

In expressing ones thought in public, it is illegal to carry out [an act that will jeopardize] the nations security such as treason against the President or the Vice President, the circular stated, which was signed by Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochammad Iriawan.

In a move to ensure that everyone is aware of the law, the police plan to drop around 50,000 copies of the circulars from a helicopter.

The police have also named Buni Yani, who posted a video of Ahok addressing Thousands Islands residents, a suspect, accusing him of inciting public anger against the governor. The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) has cautioned against the polices stern action, saying it could disrupt the process of democracy.

Police intelligence must be proactive, but not to the point where it could restrict the space for democracy. This incident risks becoming a precedent in future expressions of opinion, LBH Jakarta director Alghiffari Aqsa told The Jakarta Post.

Beyond the capital, pressure and insults from conservative Muslim groups allegedly wishing to topple Jokowi have sparked public anger in a number of regions supporting the President in Central Java, especially in Banyumas regency.

Members of the community expressed a readiness to fight to protect Jokowi if the groups continued with their threats. They have erected dozens of banners thorughout Banyumas capital of Purwokerto. (vny)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) announced a set of guidelines on political party codes of conduct and recruitment in a bid to produce more qualified leaders in the future.

KPK commissioner Laode M. Syarif said the initiative was based on the commission's concern over rampant corrupt practices implicating members of political parties. Of around 600 people the antigraft body had prosecuted, nearly 200 of them were political party members, he added.

Actually, it is the responsibility of each political party [to compose such guidelines]. However, it's within the interest of the KPK to prevent corruption," Laode said, during the announcement of the guidelines on Thursday.

LIPI senior political analyst Syamsuddin Haris said the guidelines were composed to ensure only quality people were selected as members of political parties because they played key roles in delivering future leaders in the country. Hence, political parties needed a standardized recruitment process that was transparent and accountable, he added.

The level of public trust in political parties is quite low. If political parties and their politicians are not good, the country might face an uncertain future," Syamsuddin said.

Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, who attended the event, said the guidelines were important on account of growing public perception that politics was dirty.

It seems politics is dirty is a common perception among our people. This is because politicians tend to think that doing anything for a vote is acceptable, said Syamsuddin. (fac/ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The lawyers representing Rajamohanan Nair, a suspect in an alleged tax evasion ploy implicating an official at the Finance Ministrys Directorate General of Taxation, have claimed that the businessman had fallen victim to extortion attempts committed by officials at the tax office.

Tommy Singh, one of the legal team members, said three officials at the directorate general had threatened Rajamohanan that the tax amnesty application he had filed for his company would be rejected unless he paid a sum of money.

Our client had filed a complaint to the government regarding the treatment he faced. However, no action had been taken until the [alleged bribery] incident occurred," Tommy said at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building on Thursday evening.

He declined to reveal the names of the three officials suspected of having attempted to extort the money from his client.

KPK investigators arrested Rajamohanan, a director at PT. EK Prima Ekspor Indonesia, along with Handang Soekarno, a middle-ranking official at the directorate general in an operation in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Monday.

It is alleged that Handang accepted bribes worth US$148,500 to help the businessman evade his companys tax arrears amounting to Rp 78 billion ($5.76 million).

KPK commissioner Laode M. Syarif said earlier on Thursday that he suspected the money given to Handang was from Rajamohanan's office, leading the anti-graft body to investigate the possible involvement of other people at his company. (fac/ebf)
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Linkedin Krithika Varagur (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The recent, shocking election of Donald Trump as president of the United States should lay to rest any doubts about the capabilities of hate speech. Our universe of possibilities for living are completely circumscribed by language and also revised and expanded by it.

Some Americans vague feelings of irritation that their neighbors speak Spanish and their suspicions over a woman wearing a hijab passing on the street were like wet plaster until given shape by clear, verbal imperatives: Build a wall; ban Muslims!

The American disaster was midwifed by words. Trump is free to backtrack on those words, like he did in a recent televised interview, because hes long since given up exclusive ownership of them.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said on Thursday that police had not received any notification so far regarding a rally reportedly planned for Friday, which, according to National Police chief Tito Karnavian, has the potential to provoke an attack against the current administration.

"We have called our intelligence officials, and they said there was no notification on tomorrow's protest. However, if there is a protest tomorrow, we are ready," Awi said at a press conference in Jakarta.

He added that based on regulations, protesters should have submitted a notification to police three days before the protest.

(Read also: Security measures prepared to prevent expulsion of Jokowi in upcoming rallies)

However, Awi said staging a protest was a civil right, so police would not arbitrarily disperse people wishing to protest on Friday.

Awi revealed that 27,000 personnel were on stand-by for to secure any protest in the city.

They would be deployed to various spots of the capital, including Jl. Sudirman, Jl. MH Thamrin and the House of Representatives, he added.

On Nov. 4, hundreds of thousands of people, led by Muslim conservative groups, staged a rally in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, demanding the government pursue legal proceedings against Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama over alleged blasphemy.

The conservative groups said earlier they would organize another rally on Nov. 25, demanding the police detain Ahok.

A few days ago, the groups said they would stage a rally on Dec. 2 instead. (jun)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The Islamic Students Association (HMI), one of the organizations set to participate in a mass rally on Friday, has denied that the scheduled demonstration is related to the blasphemy allegations against Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama.

Former HMI member Muhammad Syukur Mandar said on Thursday the planned rally was aimed at showing the solidarity of Indonesian Muslims with the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

The demonstration tomorrow is being held to protest against the violence and killing of Rohingya Muslims. This is the standpoint we want to express, said Syukur, who is also the associations lawyer.

He further added that around 2,000-3,000 people from various organizations, including the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), were likely to participate in the rally. There will be around 300 to 400 people from the HMI, he added.

It is believed that the Friday rally will start at 10 a.m., during which protesters will gather in front of the Myanmar Embassy on Jl. Haji Agus Salim, Gondangdia, Menteng, before marching to the UN office on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta.

Syukur said protesters would end their rally by erecting a Rohingya solidarity post, at which people could register to volunteer for humanitarian work for Rohingya refugees or to donate aid.

As of Thursday afternoon, no mass organizations expected to participate in the rally had yet submitted notification letters to the Jakarta Police. We will send it to the police in the evening, Syukur said, adding that the police should not prohibit them from holding a rally given that Indonesia was a democratic country. (ebf)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

The police have begun to investigate a case of defamation allegedly committed by musician Ahmad Dhani against President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, by summoning several witnesses, including Islam Defenders Front (FPI) head Riziek Shihab and artist Ratna Sarumpaet.

Ratna said the police had also summoned National Mandate Party (PAN) supervisory board head Amien Rais, Muslim cleric Bachtiar Nasir, lawyer Eggi Sudjana, Dhani's wife Mulan Jameela and the musician himself on Thursday.

"We have decided not to go because the summons letter is unclear," Ratna said via telephone on Thursday, arguing that the letter did not contain the reported person's name.

(Read also: Jokowi supporters report singer Ahmad Dhani for alleged defamation)

Meanwhile, Eggi, who arrived at the police office at 10.30 a.m., said he believed Jokowi should personally report Dhani for defamation if he felt insulted, as regulated by Article 207 of the Criminal Code on defamation against leaders or institutions.

In this case, he said, the police had followed up on a report from a resident named Riano Osha.

"In a defamation case, the person who feels insulted is the person who should report to the police. Just like president SBY who himself reported Zaenal Maarif to the Jakarta Police," Eggi said, referring to a police report made by then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2007. (jun)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

Another rally against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, reportedly slated for Dec. 2, would be unnecessary and could be misused by certain parties wishing to take advantage of the situation, a minister has said.

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saefuddin said the ongoing legal process against Ahok, who has been accused of blasphemy, had proven the presence of justice.

"What is the purpose of the rally? If it's related to the ongoing legal case, the Indonesian Ulema Council [MUI] and other Muslim organizations have shown their appreciation for the efforts made by the police," he said at his office on Wednesday.

He added that although peoples freedom to express themselves was constitutionally guaranteed, the presence of mass groups could be taken advantage of by certain parties.

"An individuals identity might get lost when gathering with a crowd of people and what drives them next is the psychology of the mass. It has the potential to be driven by free riders," he said.

Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, was named a suspect last week over an alleged blasphemous remark he made when citing a verse from the Quran in September. The remark sparked uproar among many Muslims, although the governor has repeatedly apologized, saying he did not mean to insult any religion. (fac/dmr)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

Nice to meet you: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) exchanges souvenirs with Association for Netherlands Alumni and Families chairman Theo Lekatompessy (left) and Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan P. Roeslani (second right) after a meeting with businessmen in Jakarta on Wednesday. (JP/Donny Fernando)

Indonesia and the Netherlands have pledged to strengthen economic cooperation in the future, boosted by a number of new business deals inked by the two governments and businesses.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

Growing awareness has driven down the amount of daily waste in South Tangerang, Banten, by roughly 15 percent to around 250 tons in the past three years, a city administration official said.

South Tangerang Sanitation Agency head Taher Rochmadi said the agency realized the most effective way to reduce waste was to minimize the production of household waste, which made up 70 percent of the citys total waste.

We have been campaigning about waste management to South Tangerang citizens since 2013. Our main targets were children because such knowledge should be taught at an early age, Taher told The Jakarta Post.

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Linkedin Jusuf Wanandi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

I have known Dr. Tahir as a businessman whose eyes are open to humanitarian issues. At the beginning he was interested in education and health care, which is quite logical for a businessman who should understand how important human resources are for development. Indeed, human resource development is vital for Indonesias efforts to overcome the income gap, which is a problem that has developed into an important political issue.

As a patriot, Dr. Tahir was first concerned about his nation and the countrys well-being, as well as the productive capacity of Indonesians, but in his endeavors over healthcare issues he has become aware of the importance of the international aspects. He decided to participate in the Bill and Melinda Gates Global Fund initiative to eradicate tropical diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria and polio, that are mainly found in countries with emerging economies.

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Linkedin Vivian Salma (Associated Press) Washington  Thu, November 24, 2016

Donald Trump's presidential victory has dimmed hopes for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and analysts say Israel may be given carte blanche from his administration.

American presidents have long struck a delicate balance in the conflict, stressing the close US friendship with Israel and lavishing the Jewish state with aid. But recent presidents also have tried to negotiate, and they have called out Israel for actions seen as undermining peace efforts, such as expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Trump's role can't be easily predicted.

A foreign policy novice, the billionaire businessman takes pride in his deal-making skills and says he'd love the challenge of negotiating a Mideast agreement. He told The New York Times on Tuesday that it "would be such a great achievement." He said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, an observant Jew and a close adviser, may help make that happen.

Last December, Trump told The Associated Press that he wanted to be "very neutral" and try to get both sides together. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been "taken over" by or are condoning militant groups. Some of his top aides challenge the legitimacy of Palestinian demands for a state and have claimed that the Palestinians are a made-up people.

That has cast doubt on whether he would ever question Israeli actions or even try to serve as a neutral broker.

"Trump's administration may take a totally hands-off approach," said Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst and executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. "Israel would have free rein to dominate the Palestinians forever and ever if there is no external involvement."

David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the volatility of the Middle East and of American political parties after a grueling campaign have made "the conclusion of a two-state solution very unlikely."

Some senior Israeli officials share that view.

Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, said after Trump's Nov. 8 election that "the era of a Palestinian state are over." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested Israel could cut a deal with Trump that allowed expanded construction in major settlements while freezing building in isolated parts of the West Bank. That would be a sharp break from Obama administration policy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been more cautious, congratulating Trump but giving no indication on whether he will now change his policies.

Relations have been tense between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu. Trump has accused Obama of putting undue pressure on Israel.

But Obama has hardly cast off Israel. In September, the US signed its largest-ever security agreement, giving the Israeli military $38 billion over 10 years. While Obama pressured Israel into a partial settlement freeze in 2009 and 2010, settlements continue to expand.

According to the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, there were 3,915 housing starts during Obama's term as of the end of 2015. By the time Obama leaves office, that number will almost certainly surpass the 4,191 units started during George W. Bush's presidency.

Previous administrations have given varying amounts of leeway to Israel on the issue of settlements, but also have pushed for the two-state solution. President Bill Clinton helped broker the Oslo Accord, attempting to establish a framework to resolve the conflict. President George W. Bush launched a plan that endorsed an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel. Both approaches fizzled, and two rounds of peace talks during the Obama years quickly collapsed.

Trump criticized Palestinians when he spoke in March at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington. He said "half of the population of Palestine has been taken over by the Palestinian ISIS and Hamas, and the other half refuses to confront the first half." Hamas, an Islamic militant group, controls the Gaza Strip. ISIS, an acronym for the Islamic State group, is not a major force in the Palestinian territories.

One of Trump's top advisers on Israel, Jason Greenblatt, said in a recent interview that the president-elect doesn't think West Bank settlements should be condemned or pose an "obstacle to peace." Greenblatt, chief legal officer and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, was interviewed on Israel's Army Radio.

Trump has echoed the decades-old promise of past presidential candidates that he would move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That would signal US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move that would infuriate Palestinians, who claim the eastern sector of the city, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital. Presidents have not followed through on the pledge.

Some Trump advisers and supporters have been dismissive of the Palestinian cause. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the Israeli American Council in September that the US should "reject the whole notion of a two-state solution in Israel."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson both say the Palestinians are an invented people. John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, said in 2014 that a two-state solution "would inevitably lead to a terror state on the other side of the border with Israel."

Jeremy Ben Ami, founder of J-Street, a liberal pro-Israel group that advocates a two-state solution, said the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies in the pending Trump Cabinet appointments.

He said if policy is driven by the "Israel-can-do-no-wrong" camp, "then some of those in the Israeli right-wing are going to be very happy."

___

Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24 2016

The government has confirmed that voters who do not possess electronic identification cards (e-KTPs) can still vote in the February 2017 regional elections

Citizens can go to civil registry offices in their respective regions to have their personal data recorded and registered, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said on Wednesday.

There, they will get a reference letter as a temporary electronic identity card, which will be valid for six months. Currently, the Home Ministry is not able to issue e-KTPs as the government has run out of the blanks used to create e-KTP cards, which consist of seven layers and chips.

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Linkedin Syamsul Huda M.Suhari (The Jakarta Post) Gorontalo  Thu, November 24 2016

Im a healthy, smart and a good mother because Im keen on reading. While pregnant, I always read books, magazines and articles on the internet, goes part of a short song mimicking the tune of the popular urban song Im a Healthy Child sung by Milastri Muzakkar. The short song played before dozens of pregnant women in the room of a community health clinic in North Gorontalo regency.

Slowly, the pregnant women sing along, following the songs cheerful tone.

Milastri, or Mila, from Generasi Literat, an independent organization that promotes literacy, has been traveling around health clinics in Gorontalo for the last few months.

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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

After a month in detention, Yusniar, 27, walked out of prison Thursday after a court agreed to put her under city arrest while her trial for alleged defamation on Facebook resumes.

Her family was waiting outside to welcome her and Yusniar hugged her father Baharuddin, her husband Jamal and her sister while crying. She knelt down and kissed the earth in the yard of Makassar detention center.

The Makassar District Court suspended her detention on Wednesday. The panel of judges cited reasons such as the fact that Yusniar was a low-income housewife who needed to work to support her family and that she had been cooperative while attending hearings.

Besides her family, a crowd supporting her, calling themselves the Coalition Caring for Democracy (Kopidemo), also welcomed her release.

Im grateful that I can be together with my family again and I can help my family make a living from our shop, Yusniar said.

She also thanked the people who had supported her.

Yusniar (right), a defendant in a defamation case related to a Facebook status she posted, hugs her family on Nov. 24 after the Makassar District Court suspended her detention.(JP/Andi Hajramurni)

Yusniar has been charged with violating the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation, which carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison. (evi)
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Linkedin Walter Sim (The Straits Times/ANN) Tokyo  Thu, November 24, 2016

It is an unusual diplomatic "dance." After paying homage to one "suitor," they follow it up soon with a visit to the other.

In recent months, some ASEAN leaders have made visits to China, soon followed by treks to Japan, underlining how they are hedging between both powers as the two compete for influence over ASEAN.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi both chose China over Japan for their first visit to a country outside ASEAN, but dropped in on Japan soon after.

Duterte visited Beijing a week before Tokyo; China was the first and Japan the fifth country outside ASEAN that Suu Kyi went to.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing two weeks before he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo last week.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had a bilateral meeting with Xi in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in early September and visited Tokyo later the same month.

"Diplomatic protocol very often reflects a country's prioritization of national interests," said SIM University East Asia expert Lim Tai Wei, adding that such interests include national security, economic development and alliance obligations.

Japan's wooing of ASEAN is not new  it did so under the "Fukuda Doctrine" of 1977, named after then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda. This committed Japan as an equal partner to ASEAN in which it pledged to work with ASEAN in areas such as politics and economy.

Subsequent Japanese leaders tended to put ASEAN on the back burner, especially in the decade or so after the 1998 Asian financial crisis, with China stepping up its courtship of ASEAN.

But since taking office in December 2012, Abe has renewed Japan's southbound push with vigor, visiting all 10 ASEAN countries within his first year.

He has offered generous dollops of aid, technology transfer and investment flows to ASEAN states, while seeking support for his pro-active security policy.

This plays well with ASEAN, where four in the 10-nation bloc have conflicting territorial claims with China over the South China Sea.

Despite concerns over unilateral Chinese actions, such as land reclamation in the waterway, Heng Yee Kuang, who teaches international relations at the University of Tokyo, said: "ASEAN states at the same time also recognize the reality of Chinese presence, both in terms of economics and security."

"Smaller countries hedge to maximize the benefits from multiple sources and different major powers, at the same time not being excessively close or overly dependent on any one power," he added.

He noted that while Laos and Cambodia are known to be pro-China, they remain friendly with Japan, which offers them support in infrastructure, human resources and environmental protection.

Research fellow of think-tank Sasakawa Peace Foundation Ippeita Nishida said while China is a key player in Southeast Asia, Abe has been projecting a "continued eagerness to engage in the region... [as] a realist politician with a strategic mind and sound political base at home."

Tokyo has stressed the need to uphold the rule of law  to differentiate itself from China, which has ignored a July international tribunal ruling that invalidates its claims in the South China Sea, said analysts.

Japan's charm offensive has also gone beyond "soft power" means to include military capacity-building.

Heng noted Japan's Self-Defense Forces have "made several historic moves such as training with the Philippine Navy for the first time and sailing into Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay for the first time." Japan has also given patrol vessels to countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

Heng calls this a form of "patrol boat diplomacy," but said the move is largely symbolic. "A few donated patrol vessels cannot match Chinese capabilities to launch more monster 12,000-tonne coast guard patrol cutters."

Topics : ASEAN China Japan relations

This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin (The Korea Herald/ANN) Kuala Lumpur  Thu, November 24, 2016

North Korea requested setting up a dialogue partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but the regional bloc has rejected the invitation because of the tense security situation on the Korean Peninsula, a Malaysian diplomat familiar with the matter said.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DRPK] requested it, [but] as of now I don't think it is being considered," Shahafeez Shaharis, director at the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' ASEAN-Malaysia secretariat, told a group of South Korean journalists visiting the country on an exchange program, according to Yonhap, as reported by The Korea Herald.

"They have to meet requirements [for partnership]. Under the current situation, it's going to be quite challenging for ASEAN to consider [the request]. I don't think it's an issue to be considered," the official said, highlighting that "We are focusing more on the situation in the peninsula to decrease."

His comments reflect the level of condemnation the global community, including ASEAN, has expressed over North Korea's recent series of military provocations such as the two nuclear tests in January and September.

"We are very concerned about the violations of resolutions by the DPRK," Shaharis said, referring to North Korea by its official name. "We, ASEAN, condemn and we share and express our concern."

The regional group of 10 Southeast Asian countries holds regular dialogue with South Korea, China and Japan in the form of ASEAN Plus Three. Currently, North Korea's engagement with ASEAN is limited to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a multilateral dialogue involving 27 Asia Pacific countries.

The Malaysian diplomat also underlined ASEAN's focus on more engagement and dialogue in dealing with North Korea's nuclear issues.

"What we'd like to see is the situation on the Korean Peninsula not to stay as what it is now. We'd like to have more and more engagement, discussions and dialogue between all participants," he said. "We want North Korea to come back to the six-party talks and to [move] away from the confrontational diplomacy.

"The ARF is currently the only mechanism that has the participation of North Korea. Even though at the moment, it's very minimal... [but] this is an opportunity to engage and discuss the issue and come to an amicable solution," the Malaysian official added.

This article appeared on The Korea Herald newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Jim Gomez (Associated Press) Sierra Madre Mountains, Philippines  Thu, November 24, 2016

Communist guerrillas warned that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely to be reached if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist foreign control by other countries he's trying to befriend, like China and Russia.

In a clandestine news conference in a New People's Army guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla outlined the advantages and downside of talking with Duterte to end one of the world's longest-running Marxist insurgencies.

The dozens of mostly young guerrillas in muddy boots in their rain-soaked encampment on a wooded plateau reflected their resiliency but also showed the tough conditions that have long hampered their insurgency. Young rebels cooked rice, pork and chicken in soot-covered pots over wood fire while others gingerly puffed cigarettes while watching the peripheries. The nearest army camp lies just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away. When an air force Huey helicopter flew overhead, rebels at the news conference briefly paused and watched the passing aircraft.

Founded in 1968, the rebels' communist party has held peace talks with six Philippine presidents, including Duterte, whose rise to power in June sparked rebel optimism due to his searing anti-US rhetoric, populist pro-poor stance and appointments of at least two left-wing Cabinet members.

But the guerrillas have also found themselves in a dilemma due to the tough-talking Duterte's moves they find reprehensible, including the killings of large number of poor drug users that sparked accusations of massive human rights violations against him, a recent decision to allow dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in a heroes' cemetery and threats to shift to dictatorial rule if rival politicians derail his anti-drug crackdown and try to impeach him.

New People's Army new regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla, who uses the nom de guerre Comrade Diego, answers questions from reporters during a clandestine news conference in their encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, Philippines, Nov. 23, 2016.(AP/Aaron Favila)

While the president has gotten attention with his angry threats to end the presence of American forces in the country, stop joint combat exercises with US troops and terminate a defense accord with Washington, Padilla said Duterte has, so far, not formalized these utterances and instead has walked back on many publicly-stated policies.

"While the Duterte government hasn't abrogated all these treaties, the New People's Army will have no reason to enter into a friendship or alliance with him," Padilla, 69, told a small group of journalists escorted into an encampment ringed by mostly young rifle-wielding guerrillas.

"That's not negotiable because as long as the US military has a presence, the imperialist influence on Duterte's government will remain," said the bespectacled Padilla, who wore a Mao cap with his 9mm pistol within reach on a wooden table.

Other rebels echoed Padilla's remarks. "We support Duterte but not 100 percent," said a 24-year-old rebel who identified himself as Guiller. "He's projecting himself as anti-US and pro-poor but that's still mostly rhetoric. If the problems persist, the revolution will go on."

Coinciding with the rebel warning, the Philippine armed forces chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya announced Wednesday that most joint exercises with the US military would proceed next year, including the largescale Balikatan maneuvers. Most would be refocused, though, on disaster-response, humanitarian missions and counterterrorism from previous maneuvers centered on territorial defense that Duterte worries may offend China.

Visaya's statement came after he met US Pacific Command in an annual defense meeting on Tuesday.

Despite thorny issues, Padilla said Maoist guerrillas remain committed to pursue talks with Duterte while criticizing his wrong moves, like allowing Marcos's heroes' burial and carrying out the bloody anti-drugs crackdown.

Philippine police should target drug lords and syndicate leaders and not poor addicts, who the rebels consider victims and not criminals," he said, adding they have targeted big drug dealers in the past.

"We are sincere with the peace talks, we are honest and we want to end 47 years of armed struggle," Padilla said when asked if the rebels were just trying to extract concessions from a president with whom they may not likely forge a peace deal.

The guerrillas, he said, would not simply surrender their firearms unless their major demands are not met, including social and economic reforms, land reform and an industrialization program that favor the poor, who make up about a fourth of more than 100 million Filipinos.

"If he remains in the right direction, he will be with us," Padilla said. "But if he veers off from the direction that we seek, we will break away from him."
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Linkedin Esther Htusan (Associated Press) Yangon, Myanmar  Thu, November 24, 2016

Ethnic rebel groups in northeastern Myanmar say their recent attacks on government forces were a response to military pressure and that they are still interested in peace talks.

Mai Aik Kyaw, a spokesman for the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, said fighting in northern Shan State was continuing Thursday. He said the government has not asked for talks with the four guerrilla groups that began attacks Sunday, but if it does invite them, they are ready to participate.

He said the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi "has never spoken out nor solved any of the problems of the military's offensive fighting and human rights violations. Without proper discussions and negotiations, this fighting will never stop."

The Kachin Independence Organization, whose fighting forces are also involved, said earlier its guerrillas were countering government army attacks and it didn't seek to derail the comprehensive talks to end decades of fighting between the government and a score of ethnic minority groups.

Talks called by Suu Kyi at the end of August were attended by representatives of 17 of the 20 major ethnic groups, including the Karen, Kachin, Shan and Wa, who together make up 40 percent of the country's population.

But the other groups involved in this week's fighting  the Ta'ang, also known as the Palaung, the Kokang minority's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Arakan Army, a smaller group allied with the Kachin  did not take part in those talks, which are supposed to build on a "Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement" that the ethnic groups insist include a political solution to their long-standing demands for greater autonomy.

"If and when they are willing to invite us for negotiation, we are ready to participate," said Mai Aik Kyaw. "We didn't have a chance to attend the conference."

The coalition of four ethnic rebel forces on Sunday attacked military outposts, police stations and a trade center in northern Shan State, which borders China.

"Since the fighting started in the region, nine people have been killed and 29 people are injured and more than 3,000 people have fled to the nearest border town in China," Sai Kyaw Tint, a member of the regional parliament, said by phone Thursday.

The remote area is not easily accessible and independent reporting is difficult.

"At a time when people of Myanmar are in the process of striving for national reconciliation, it is extremely disappointing and saddening that these incidents are instigated," Suu Kyi said in a statement issued Wednesday.
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Linkedin (The Nation/ANN) Bangkok  Thu, November 24, 2016

The next general election in Thailand will definitely take place next year, but a new government may not be formed by the end of the year, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Wednesday.

He said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had repeatedly maintained over the past year that the next election would be held in 2017 in line with the post-coup road map for a return to democracy.

However, Wissanu said unforeseeable factors could make it unlikely for a new administration to be formed in 2017, adding that it would take about two months for the official election results to be announced after the vote.

Under the new electoral system, a single ballot will be used for both constituency and party-list members of parliament (MPs), which would be unprecedented in Thailand.

Due to the new voting and vote-count systems, the political party with the most votes will not be guaranteed to form the government. The one that fails to get the most votes may succeed, the deputy premier said.

After the election results are announced, there will be a process concerning the opening of parliament to select a new prime minister, he said.

Please be fair to the government. The road map will be followed, but there may be some factors that cannot be seen today. There could be some changes or adjustments. However, today we insist there will be election in 2017, Wissanu said.

He was speaking at the event 'Thailand: New Economic Landscape' on the topic 'Royal Leadership Virtues: Guidance for the People and the State,' which was organized at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

Wissanu also said the country would experience several major changes next year, adding that the promulgation of the new Constitution would happen soon, although he could not say at this point when it would take place.

The 10 organic bills required by the new charter must be completed within eight months after it is promulgated, with the first four being the key organic bills concerning political parties, the election of MPs, selection of senators and the Election Commission.

Once the organic laws are completed, he said the government would be able to announce a general election within five months without further delay.

Thats why the prime minister has determined the road map. Its not wishy-washy, said Wissanu.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, November 24, 2016

Thailand has announced a new policy that will waive some visa fees and halve visa-on-arrival costs for tourists from 18 countries for a period of three months.

Tourists from Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan will not be required to pay the 1,000 baht (US$28) fee for visas sought at Thai embassies and consulates.

Also, a 2,000 baht fee for visas on arrival will be cut to 1,000 baht, as stated by assistant government spokesman Apisit Chaiyanuwat. The changes will be implemented from the beginning of December until the end of February next year, according to Xinhua news agency.

(Read also: Thailand issues tourist guidelines for mourning period)

The fee reduction is primarily intended to attract more visitors to Thailand during the period and increase earnings related to tourism.

In addition, foreigners staying in Thailand long-term may extend their long-stay visas from a maximum of one year to a maximum of 10 years, on the condition that visa holders have a minimum of 3 million baht in the bank or a minimum monthly income of 100,000 baht. (mra/kes)
Agudath Israel of America applauds the U.S. Department of Education upon the release of guidance pertaining to the Equitable Services provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the landmark education-funding legislation passed by Congress last year. Agudath Israel worked closely with congressional leaders and departmental officials in advancing the quantity and quality of federal educational services provided to nonpublic schools, including the hundreds of elementary and secondary Jewish day schools around the country. Numerous significant changes and additions put forward by Agudath Israel were incorporated into the new law and are given further detail in the just released guidance.

At various opportunities over the past months, Agudath Israels Washington Office, led by Rabbi Abba Cohen, strongly encouraged the Department to release the guidance as early and as comprehensively as possible. With the release of the guidance, there will be greater certainty as to how the provisions on equitable services with be implemented, particularly the new and enhanced provisions. That they were put in place at this earlier date, before the change in administrations, is extremely important as it will provide the opportunity for schools districts and private school personnel to become better acquainted and better prepared for the changes as they go into effect. Agudath Israel also welcomes the news that the Department will be hosting two webinars that will provide an overview of the changes pertaining to private schools.

Agudath Israels offices in Washington and around the country will continue to work with Jewish schools and with state and local officials in clarifying and disseminating the new guidance.

[TLS]
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Choosing a university to suit you

On Thursday, November 16, a total of 36 universities, colleges and higher-education institutions attended the BISP Higher Education Fair, the largest of its type on the island.



By Mark Knowles

Thursday 24 November 2016, 10:00AM

36 educational institutions attended the BISP fair. Photo: BISP

The Phuket News spoke to British International School Phuket University Counsellor Dale Ford, who together with his colleague Jacqui Brelsford help to make it a success. We spoke to Dale about the ins and outs of applying to universities around the world and how best to prepare for this daunting step.

So, 36 universities attended the event? It must take a lot of work to organise. How has the event developed over recent years and what made this years special or interesting?

This is the third year that BISP has hosted large university fairs. These fairs were held in both October and November to dovetail with other international university events in the region. While BISP University Counsellor Jacqui Brelsford coordinates it, the fair couldnt happen without help from several members of the BISP community.

In addition to allowing students to speak one-on-one with admission officers, several presentations were offered about such topics as what it is like to study hospitality, engineering, business, or art and media, along with university options that exist in different countries.

The fact you have other schools attending the event seem to suggest its the best of its kind on the island. Are there plans to expand and grow the event to include even more of Phukets schools and more universities?

We are happy to welcome students and university counsellors from neighbouring international schools. Universities are more likely to come to Phuket if they can reach a larger audience of students in one location rather than going to individual schools. Currently our fairs are limited to students from international schools.

We anticipate even larger numbers of admission officers will be coming in future years as universities learn more about the quality students in Phuket. The BISP university counsellors continue to strengthen relationships with admission officers and encourage more to come during the fairs or individual visits.

What are the main things you hope students get out of this event?

We want students to focus on universities that provide a best fit for their interests, abilities, and circumstances. Learning about university and course options around the world helps students make informed decisions when they select, apply and then choose which university to attend.

Over the past four years BISP graduates have enrolled in over 100 universities in 19 different countries so its important that we welcome universities from around the world to our campus.

What role does the event play in your process of guiding students as to which academic paths to pursue?

The process of university counselling at BISP begins well before Year 13. By focusing on academic success, personal growth and exploration beginning in Year 10, students will be more successful in selecting and being admitted to universities.

For some universities, especially in the UK, it can be important that students take a specific combination of IB subjects and earn particular scores related to what they want to study. These events can help younger students make appropriate subject choices.

In the US, however, its more important that students earn good internal marks. In the US, IB exam results are less important than a four-year record of strong performance in class beginning in Year 10. Knowing that internal marks matter is important.

Ultimately all universities want the same thing  they are looking for students who will thrive both academically and socially on their campuses. The best predictor of future academic success is past success in secondary school.

Does it help the BISP Faculty stay up to date on trends in university enrollments and new courses they offer? How?

Jacqui Brelsford and myself are both new the BISP this year, but we are both well connected to the world of university admission. Conversations occur each time an admission representative comes to campus.

In addition, as BISP university counsellors, we attend and speak at international conferences with a goal of deepening the relationships between universities and BISP along with learning about universities and courses that would provide a great fit for our students.

Jacqui was an international student when she was in secondary school, which gives her a first-hand understanding about many of the issues faced by international students. Personally, I have over 25 years of counselling experience and was honoured to receive the International Association for College Admission Counselings Lifetime Achievement award in July this year.

For more information about BISP University Counselling, visit www.bisphuket.ac.th/university
Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort appoints new general manager

PHUKET: Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort has appointed Stephen Radcliffe as its new General Manager.



By The Phuket News

Thursday 24 November 2016, 11:32AM

Stephen Radcliffe, General Manager, Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort.

Mr Radcliffe, who joined Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort this month, brings with him 34 years hospitality experience.

He first joined Hyatt in August 1990 as Conference and Banqueting manager at Hyatt Regency Birmingham. In November 1993, Mr Radcliffe was selected as the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage for Hyatt Regency Macau and three years later, moved to Hyatt Regency Cheju to take on the role of Director of Food and Beverage. He continued his career in Food and Beverage in locations such as Hyatt Regency Surabaya, Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok and Grand Hyatt Jakarta.

In 2004, Mr Radcliffe was selected as General Manager for Bali Hyatt where he remained for eight years before assuming his most recent role as General Manager for Hyatt City of Dreams Manila in 2014.

I am excited to return to Thailand after a number of years away from this beautiful country. It is an absolute pleasure to be leading the passionate team in Phuket, a world of renowned location, said Mr Radcliffe.

Willi Martin, Area Vice President overseeing Hyatt Regency Phuket, noted, We are delighted that Stephen will be managing Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort and we look forward to welcoming him back to the South East Asia team.

I wish Stephen much success in rapidly stabilising the performance of Hyatt Regency Phuket following the recent upgrading of the property.

Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort, with 201 guestrooms and suites overlooking Kamala Bay, officially opened on December 24, 2013.

The Hyatt Regency brand operates hotels and resorts at more than 160 urban and resort locations in over 30 countries around the world.
No proof of Thais funding Islamic State

BANGKOK: There has been no evidence so far of Thai nationals funding the Islamic State (IS) group, but further investigations are under way to verify the latest information provided by Australia, a senior police officer says.

crimetechnologypolice

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 24 November 2016, 09:09AM

No evidence has surfaced yet of actual support of the Islamic State (IS) from Thailand. Photo: via Bangkok Post

Deputy ational police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, in charge of security, said security authorities have not detected any IS-related activities in the country, nor have they found evidence that Thais are providing financial support to the group.

However, with information from Australian police officials, the Special Branch Police and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) have been put on alert, he said.

He was referring to Australian information that some groups of Thais were providing financial support to the IS and that over 100,000 Facebook users from Thailand visited IS-related online communities over the past year.

On Tuesday (Nov 22), the deputy police chief said the information provided by Australian police officials matched with an investigation by Thai authorities into the activities of some groups of Thais linked to the radical Islamist group and that some Thais frequently travelled back and forth between Thailand and Syria.

Gen Srivara said yesterday (Nov 23) that Thai officials are investigating information about the Facebook users to determine if these people are Thai nationals or foreigners and if the IS group has connections with insurgent groups in the deep South. These users were sorted into six groups based on the information provided by Australian police officials, he added, but gave no additional details.

The deputy police chief said the CIB is working with the Immigration Bureau to verify the information about Thais who went to study in Syria while security agencies are keeping tabs of those who had returned.

However, Gen Srivara said that officials are not treating every Thai who has been to Syria or other Middle Eastern countries as a suspect.

He called on people not to panic over the information, saying it must be investigated and verified.

Based on the intelligence of Thai security agencies, there are no IS-related activities or connections here. Australia gave us the information as part of cooperation in their investigation. It works like this worldwide, not just in Thailand.

Australia has advanced equipment and when theyve found something suspicious they come to us to help verify, he said.

Gen Srivara said he had reported the issue to Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon who instructed concerned parties to follow proper procedures.

Deputy police spokesman Maj Gen Piyapan Pingmuang said the information from Australian police was raised during the annual meeting last Wednesday (Nov 16) between the police forces of the two countries.

However, the verification of the user names used to visit IS cyber communities is normal practice as there are many suspicious user names used in such communities. Officials have to verify their purpose and any potential links.

Initially, there has been no evidence to prove that those Thais are linked to the IS [in terms of being members] and in addition some of those user names are old ones, he said.

Read original story here.
Phuket Governor offers reprieve to Patong Loma Park food vendors

PHUKET: Governor Chockchai Dejamorntham today ordered Patong Municipality to stop work on renovating the Loma Food Court building on the Patong beachfront into a community building until the dispute with vendors evicted from the food court had been resolved.

tourismconstructionpatongeconomics

By Darawan Naknakhon

Thursday 24 November 2016, 06:05PM

Military personnel were present as Patong Municipality workers moved in to reclaim the building yesterday (Nov 23). Photo: Darawan Naknakhon

Military personnel were present as Patong Municipality workers moved in to reclaim the building yesterday (Nov 23). Photo: Darawan Naknakhon

Gov Chockchai ordered the Patong authority to halt its reclamation of the the government-owned building after food vendors appealed to him for help again today en masse at Phuket Provincial Hall.

The vendors appeal follows Patong Municipality workers sealing off the building yesterday (Nov 23), preventing 13 vendors from opening their food stalls still inside the building.

The council workers moved in at about 1:30pm, led by Patong Deputy Mayors Veerasak Kaminthong and Boonma Eibsap, and accompanied by military personnel and volunteers.

The workers set up metal barriers to seal off the area.

The move comes after all the leases issued to the vendors had expired, and after Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup told vendors at a meeting at Provincial Hall on Nov 1 that it was likely too late for Patong Municipality to stop its plan from converting the Loma Food Centre into a community building. (See story here.)

At that same meeting, held after the vendors filed a complaint with the the Damrongdhama Centre (Ombudsmans Office), Phuket Vice Governor Teera Anantaseriwidhya urged both parties to try to resolve the dispute without resorting to legal action.

We want the Governor to investigate why Patong Municipality did not discuss this problem as directed in the meeting but instead they proceeded with tools to seal off the area from us, former Loma Food Court vendor Wannee Kesakomol said today.

Patong Municipality needs to resolve this problem. We want to be able to sell food in the area until both of us reach the agreement on this issue, she added.

Patong Municipality Legal officer Somchai Netibumrung explained that officials were acting lawfully in sealing off the building as all the leases had expired.

Our management policy is to use this area to be a new building for the public, for which the plans have already been approved, he said.

The last leases expired in October and we gave them 15 days notice to remove their belongings and vacate the premises, Mr Somchai said.

Yesterday their time was up, so officials came with tools to seal off the area. However, the work was halted after they demanded us to stop.
Phuket police charge Patong hill bus crash driver with reckless driving

PHUKET: Police have confirmed that the driver of a Phuket tour bus who said that brake failure caused him to lose control of his vehicle while descending Patong hill on Monday night (Nov 21) has been charged with reckless driving.

accidentshealthpolicecrimetransport

By The Phuket News

Thursday 24 November 2016, 11:18AM

Uyporn told police that he was heading to Patong when the bus suffered a brake failure. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Patong Police Maj Teerasak Boonsang told The Phuket News today (Nov 24) that bus driver, Mr Uyporn Rattanasang, 51, has been charged with reckless driving causing injury to other people.

Patong Police were notified of an accident on Phra Baramee Rd at 10:23pm on Monday where it was reported that a bus carrying 19 Chinese tourists had crashed in front of the Sea Pearl Resort causing injury to two motorists.

Uyporn told police that he was heading to Patong when the bus suffered a brake failure. He lost control of the vehicle, crossed over to the opposite lane and nearly crashed into an oncoming motorbike. (See story here.)

Maj Teerasak said, The driver has been charged with reckless driving causing injury. The bus has full insurance coverage and the company is taking care of all expenses including damages caused to the property.

Maj Teerasak also confirmed that the motorbike driver and his passenger who were injured as a result of the crash, 33-year-old Nattachai Chanmala and 22-year-old Ms Ratchanok Masjula, are still in hospitals recovering from their injury.

We are waiting for the victims to be released from hospital so they can settle their claim for compensation, after that we can conclude this case, he said.
PIWC Couples Evening

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Bring along your husband/partner/friends for a romantic evening with great food, beverage and music. Price for members and their partners is 1,000 THB p.p. and for guests 1,200 THB p.p. (food only) Registration starts at 6.30 pm and dinner begins at 7.30 pm. RSVP REQUIRED | send email to info@piwc-phuket.com, attention Maggy Wigman. NOTE for cancellations and no-shows: If you are a no-show and/or do not provide 24 hour cancellation notice, you will be responsible for the dinner fee. Thank you for your understanding as we need to provide the venue with a confirmed headcount in advance. All proceeds from this dinner support the PIWC scholarship fund.
Ravine bus tragedy spurs new safety measures

BANGKOK: The Transport Ministry said yesterday (Nov 23) that it intends to apply aviation-style safety practices, including strict limits on driving hours, to inter-provincial public buses.

accidentsdeathtransport

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 24 November 2016, 09:35AM

Rescuers work frantically to free 20 survivors from the bus crash that killed 20 retirees on an outing in Uttaradit province. Photo: Boonnam Kerdkaew

The promise was made in reaction to another multi-fatality bus crash on Tuesday (Nov 22). A bus plunged into a ravine in Uttaradit, killing 18 passengers and injuring another 20.

The new requirements are among a set of measures that Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith has ordered in response to the tragic incident.

He wants the state-owned Transport Co Ltd, which runs and provides concessions for inter-provincial buses, to adopt two new measures commonly used to ensure safety in the aviation industry.

First, bus drivers will be required to make trip plans, similar to a pilots flight plan, which include details ranging from routes to be travelled, stops and destinations.

The plans must be sent to Transport Co for examination to ensure proper precautions are being taken, he said.

Second, restrictions on driving hours will be applied to bus drivers to make sure they have enough rest, which should help reduce the incidence of accidents, he said.

At present, Transport Co Ltd only gives bus drivers a 30-minute break for every four hours of driving. Mr Arkhom said officials have been told to consider whether to review this practice, as that amount of rest time may not be enough.

The accident on Tuesday involved a bus, carrying 36 retired employees of CAT Telecom Plc, which was travelling downhill on a winding road on Khao Pueng while on its way from Phrae to Bangkok.

The driver and his assistant survived and were receiving treatment at a local hospital. The driver jumped from the bus just before it plunged into the ravine.

Police were waiting to talk to him about the accident.

There was evidence the driver, identified as Udon Summart, slammed on the brakes for 100 to 200 metres, showing he tried to stop the vehicle, Mr Arkhom said, citing an initial investigation.

The 48-year-old driver has worked for Transport Co Ltd for 20 years and had never been involved in an accident.

The bus, which was hired for the special trip, had only been used for six years out of its expected 30-year lifespan.

Transport Co Ltds acting president Amnat An-atngam said the company was waiting for investigation results into the cause of the accident.

An initial examination of road conditions near the accident found the four-lane road met safety standards, he said.

However, Mr Arkhom instructed the Highways Department and Rural Roads Department to inspect hillside roads and routes prone to accidents nationwide as part of solutions to ensure road safety.

Officials must also install barriers at turns, place warning signs and even landscape areas surrounding some dangerous stretches of road, he said.

Since Nov 1, the Department of Highways has seized 215 lorries that exceeded weight limits and which were blamed for damaging roads, the transport minister said, adding most of them were 22-wheel trailers that were carrying rocks and sand.

The overloaded lorries are a cause for concern.

Once loaded with materials, they can weigh up to 115 tonnes, far beyond the legal limit of 50.5 tonnes, Mr Arkhom said.

Read original story here.
Rosewood Phuket unveils key pre-opening team

PHUKET: Seven key executive committee members will join Managing Director Andrew Turner in opening the highly anticipated Rosewood Phuket, the first Southeast Asia resort for the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts collection of ultra-luxury hotels.

tourism

By Press Release

Thursday 24 November 2016, 11:23AM

Scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2017, Rosewood Phuket is a much-anticipated addition to ultra-luxury hospitality in Thailand.

 Jodie Clark, a native Australian, has joined as Director of Sales and Marketing, bringing with her more than 15 years' experience, including postings in Australia and Thailand. Prior to joining Rosewood Phuket, Ms Clark spent seven years with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, most recently as Complex Director of Sales and Marketing at Vana Belle, a Luxury Collection Resort, Koh Samui and Sheraton Samui Resort.

 Giovanni Palmaccio, an Italian national with more than 15 years experience in luxury hospitality, has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage. Mr Palmaccio joins Rosewood Phuket following three years at Langham Shanghai, Xintiandi, most recently serving as Director of Food and Beverage, following tenure at The Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai, Pudong from 2011. A culinary aficionado with a passion for wine, Mr Palmaccio rapidly worked his way up the career ladder holding numerous food and beverage management positions in European upscale five-star properties.

 Jusman So has been appointed Executive Chef and brings with him nearly 16 years culinary experience. Prior to joining Rosewood, Mr So was Executive Chef at Aman Resorts top-performing property Amanyara in the Turks and Caicos Islands, following a position as Opening Executive Chef of Regent Hotels & Resorts in Montenegro. Mr So spent three years with Capella Hotel Group after first establishing himself at Sage restaurant, where he was named Singapores Best Rising Chef in 2008 at the World Gourmet Summit.

 Chutima Boonsanong has been appointed Director of Human Resources following her successful tenure as Director of Human Resources at Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort. Ms Chutmia has a wealth of experience with international hotel brands, including Hyatt, Marriott, Anantara and Phuket luxury brand Twinpalms.

 Tunyawan Kraseewat has joined as Director of Rooms. Ms Tunyawan has extensive experience in various roles within rooms division operations, including her most recent post as Director of Rooms at The Naka Island, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Phuket. Ms Tunyawan spent 16 years with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, including as part of the opening team at The St Regis Bangkok.

 Kittikorn Poolsin joins as Director of Engineering. Mr Kittikorns most recent position was Chief Engineer at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. Mr Kittikorns 35-year career encompasses the management of engineering projects in hospitality, mining and state enterprises.

 Naruemol Jirakittikul has been appointed Director of Finance. Most recently she was Director of Finance at Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort. Ms Naruemol has more than 20 years experience in finance, serving several international branded hotels in Thailand including Hyatt, JW Marriott, Marriott Executive Apartments, Courtyard and Renaissance.

Scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2017, Rosewood Phuket is a much-anticipated addition to ultra-luxury hospitality in Thailand. The resort will feature 71 villas and 32 residences situated along one of the last remaining secluded beaches in Phuket.

An array of culinary journeys is offered throughout four resort restaurants and bars, including a rustic Thai seafood restaurant, southern Italian-inspired restaurant, relaxed poolside shack and pool bar.

Recreational facilities will encompass Rosewoods holistic wellness concept offering a range of contemporary programs and alternative therapies, fitness centre, beachfront pool, childrens club and residential-style wedding pavilion with indoor and outdoor spaces accommodating up to 250 guests for cocktail receptions.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts manages 18 one-of-a-kind luxury properties in 11 countries, with 17 new hotels under development. The Rosewood collection includes some of the worlds most legendary hotels and resorts, including The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in Paris, as well as new classics such as Rosewood Beijing.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts targets to double its number of hotels in operation by 2020.
Victim who died in Thursday crash was from Sisseton
Today is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Daniel Zion. He was the Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria and for a short time was also the Chief Rabbi of Jaffa, Israel. He came to faith in Yeshua through multiple miraculous encounters.

In a speech given on the Israeli radio station Kol Yisrael, the rabbi spoke of his first encounter with the New Testament:

More than twenty years ago, I had the first opportunity of reading the New Testament. It influenced me greatly. I began to speak about it in a small circle in Bulgaria. I always regretted that Jesus the Messiah has been estranged from the community of Israel. Jesus the Messiah did nothing but good for the Jewish people. He called them to repentance, proclaimed the Kingdom of God and Divine Love, a love towards all men, even ones enemies.[1]

In one encounter with the Messiah, he received a message to pass on to the Czar of Bulgaria. Zion stated in this message that if the Jewish people under the Czars reign were not protected from being sent to the Nazi death camps, God would judge the leadership and the nation of Bulgaria.

After receiving this message, which the Metropolitan Stefan of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church assured him was from the Lord, the Czar met face to face with Adolf Hitler, may his name be obliterated. The Czar told him that he would not put his Jews on the trains to Poland. He made the argument that he could use them for various labor needs.

The Nazis soon singled out Daniel Zion, recognizing that he was responsible for the preservation of the Bulgarian Jewish population. They arrested him and sent him to Samovit labor camp located on the Danube River. While interned in the camp, the Jewish prisoners looked upon the ships docked outside and assumed that they would soon be shipped off to Poland to die. However, because of Daniel Zions efforts on their behalf, that day never came.

He was often brought out before his brothers and flogged by the Nazi guards. The Bulgarian Jews saw him as a suffering tzaddik taking undue punishment on their behalf.

Once released, Daniel Zion wrote and published the first Jewish book in Bulgaria after Nazi occupation. It detailed the horrible conditions under the fascist control of the Third Reich.

Ultimately, Zion was responsible for saving the lives of over forty thousand Bulgarian Jews. After the war, he led thousands of them to move back to the Holy Land. Once there, he was accused of converting to Christianity, which he had never done. He was a faithful Jew who believed in Yeshua the Messiah. He continues in his radio address, Do not think that I have left Judaism. On the contrary, I have remained Jewish, and have become more Jewish because Jesus himself remained Jewish.

Zion received much persecution for his beliefs, but he held onto his faith in Yeshua without wavering:

In spite of all the difficulties, suffering and persecutions, which I have endured incessantly, nothing could dissuade me from my faith. On the contrary, God, to whom I had given my heart and to whom I turn in all my needs, has given me the strength and power to continue my witness. He spoke to me through a verse in Isaiah 41:10, Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. By this I understood that a great and important task has been given to me by the Eternal God, which I must accomplish at all costs.

He worked alongside Abram Poljak and Pauline Rose in building the Messianic community in Jerusalem acting as both cantor and preacher. He also served as president of the Union of Messianic Jews in Israel. Zion wrote ten books during his career in Sofia on topics ranging from science and health to personal memoirs and Jewish mysticism.

Daniel Zion was a righteous man of God who deserves to have his memory serve as a blessing to all future generations. With Gods help Vine of David will soon release a work that will honor his name.

Rabbi Daniel Zion died at the age of ninety-six on the 23rd of Cheshvan, 5740 (November 13, 1979), and is buried in the Holon cemetery in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, Israel.

Endnotes
In this Nov. 19, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos pose for photographs at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J. Trump has chosen charter school advocate DeVos as Education Secretary in his administration. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
The Centre has alerted all airports to maintain a hawk's eye vigil for possible shipments of cash being taken out of the country after demonetisation. Both the ministries of finance and home have taken note of the possibilities of cash being taken out by such routes and have alerted the security agencies including the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is in charge of security at airports in the country. Out of 130 airports in the country, 98 have been asked to step up measures to scan for illegal money and gold.

Sources said that the intelligence and security forces have been alerted to keep an eye out for excessive cash or gold in handbags, detected in X-rays, which they must report to air intelligence unit of income tax. Offenders can be intercepted there or at the arrival airport.

Air intelligence units of the income tax department are stationed at all major airports in the country like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. These units function under the investigation wing of the department and work in close coordination with CISF, enforcement directorate, directorate of revenue intelligence, customs department, airport administration and so on. They will keep a tab on huge cash or any incriminating material being carried from one place to another for facilitating tax evasion.
Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has praised Malayalam superstar Mohanlal for supporting demonetisation.

Said Naqvi to THE WEEK, Mohanlal is a great actor and a wise man. What he said, through his blog, was the voice of more than 1 billion Indians. It is not in good taste to simply attack a public figure like Mohanlal because his views contradict yours. This is not acceptable. All of us have the right to air our views.

Naqvi said that demonetisation was a crusade against corruption and black money. The government of India is sincere about development and the well-being of every citizen in the country. The entire country is with us. People are supporting us wholeheartedly in this revolutionary move.

Mohanlal, who refrained from commenting to THE WEEK at this juncture, had earlier praised PM Narendra Modi for demonetisation. Said Mohanlal, I am also forced to adjust. I can bear with the situation as a responsible citizen and also as a person who can think seriously. Soon, politicians from the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front attacked Mohanlal for supporting demonetisation. Said the newly-inducted minister M.M. Mani, who is considered a maverick, Mohanlal is backing Modi because he has black money in his possession.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan came in support of Mohanlal and said that planned and organised attacks in Kerala against those who support demonetisation should come to an end.
While Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has confirmed that he will attend the Heart of Asia meeting early December in Amritsar, there is little likelihood of he meeting any Indian leader bilaterally.

All the same, Indian foreign office spokesman Vikas Swarup hasn't ruled out a bilateral meeting either. As of today, there is nothing, he said.

Aziz's willingness to attend the meeting is significant, since India had boycotted the SAARC summit that was scheduled to take place in November in Islamabad, Pakistan. India's boycott was followed by a few other members, leading to cancellation of the summit.

If Aziz's willingness to attend the December 3-4 Amritsar meeting is taken as an olive branch, there could be pressure on India from world powers to soften its stand and agree to a bilateral.

However, with Aziz's counterpart Sushma Swaraj being indisposed, it is more likely that even if a bilateral takes place, it will be between the foreign secretaries.

Heart of Asia is a 13-country initiative primarily focused on Afghanistan. This year's meeting will be jointly opened by Prime Minisiter Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

India and Pakistan had been upping their ante in the last few days. On Wednesday, Indian foreign secretary S. Jaisankar had talked of Pakistan getting isolated in South Asia. Earlier, during the BIMSTEC outreach summit at Goa too, Indian diplomats had talked of the possibility of floating and strengthening regional forums and initiatives minus Pakistan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sartaj Aziz had announced that Pakistan was launching a diplomatic initiative, with ISI support, to contact anti-Narendra Modi elements among the Indian diaspora across the world. He was thus holding Modi personally responsible for Indo-Pakistan relations getting nasty.

Meanwhile, the firing between the armies on both sides of the line of control in Kashmir has been continuing without respite. The Pakistan high commissioner was issued this month's fourth demarche on Wednesday evening over the firing incidents.

Swarup alleged that Pakistan army had fired on 27 occasions in the five days between November 16 and 21, and that 18 villages on the Indian side had been hit. He also alleged that Pakistan army had been using higher-calibre weaponsfrom mortars to full-scale artillery.
Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy

By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat
Recently a policeman ruined a bar mitzva celebration in Jerusalem by detaining one of the members of the family in order to take him to a warning discussion with a Shin Bet coordinator. Honenu Attorney Menasheh Yado is of the opinion the detention was illegal and therefore filed a complaint with the Old City Police Commander and also demanded to know whether or not the Old City Police is backing the policeman and with what authority the policeman carried out the detention for the purpose of a discussion with the Shin Bet.

Attorney Yado wrote that a youth arrived at the entrance to Har Habayis with his father and two brothers, on the day of one of the brothers bar mitzvah. Knowing that he was distanced from Har Habayis, the youth did not try to ascend. He stated that a policeman stationed at the entrance to Har Habayis called out to him and informed him that he was permitted to ascend Har Habayis on that day and therefore requested that he enter the inspection station. When the youth approached the inspection station the policeman informed him that he was being detained and taken in for interrogation.

The youth was taken to the Old City Police Station, where he was not interrogated but was spoken to by a Shin Bet coordinator who told him that his activity on that day with regard to Har Habayis was legal and that the Shin Bet demands that his actions remain legal. The youth was released but the familys celebration was marred by the baseless detention.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A dedication ceremony was held on Tuesday morning 21 Cheshvan, at the Masada National Park Visitors Center, for Dead Sea Research Institute, in which Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian Authority scientists will work together to study the Dead Sea in order to find ways to rehabilitate it and the region around it on both shores. The institute was established under the aegis of the International Cooperation Ministry, which invested NIS 4 million in it. Additional partners in the establishment of the institute are the Tamar Regional Council, Tel Aviv University, the JNF and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Deputy Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara said that the institute would coordinate the work of four separate research institutes in Israel and Jordan that are working on the area from the Aravah to the Jordan Valley and are carrying out advanced studies for the benefit of the local population and neighboring peoples.

He added, This place serves as a symbol of the deep desire of the Israeli people for cooperation with our neighbors in joint research, progress and development in order to improve life in general and our common life in particular. The Dead Sea, the preservation of which we are currently fighting for, is an historic source for heritage, tourism and raw materials used by the entire world in technological, agricultural and medical developments. Under my leadership, the Regional Cooperation Ministry is advancing many projects to raise awareness of the Dead Sea with our neighbors, especially the canal between the seas which, in a few years, will raise the level of the Dead Sea by millions of cubic meters of water and supply freshwater to the peoples of the region.

Taking a historical and cultural view, I will work together with the various regional councils to rename the section of Highway 90 between Jericho and Eilat, which was known in ancient times as a conduit for the spice trade, after the Queen of Sheba, as a sign of cooperation between us and our neighbors.

The institute will coordinate the research that is currently being done on the Dead Sea, boost interest and define a list of priorities. It will also serve to increase the study and teaching of various disciplines associated with the Dead Sea, assist in carrying out studies in the area and be a regional center for researchers and students.

Studies carried out by the institute will concentrate on issues such as: Climate and environmental medicine and health; Dead Sea studies (flora and fauna, environment, geology, archaeology and heritage); natural resource, environmental and community management and regional-international cooperation, as well as bio- and nanotechnology.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely spoke out strongly against the so-called two-state solution, which calls for the establishment of the State of Palestine at the expense of Jewish communities throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely on Wednesday 22 Cheshvan told the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference: There is a need for a paradigm shift in the new era sweeping the Middle East, in which entire states are disintegrating, with radical terror organizations filling the vacuum and chaos left in their wake.

In reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Deputy Foreign Minister said We need to refute the myth of occupation. The term is both legally and historically incorrect. The Prime Minister was right in referring to the uprooting of Jews as ethnic cleansing. Gone are the days when transfer of Jews was possible.

Whoever wants to see a future in which peace emerges between the sides, needs to invest in education today. This is an investment in the future and the effort will be well worth it in the long run. It is possible. Japan and Germany serve as examples. After the Second World War, great efforts were mounted to foster democratic values through educational reform. These efforts bore fruit and we can learn much from that experience.

I call on the international community to work together once again and invest in the Palestinian educational system and in the future of Palestinian children. Israeli children are raised on values of tolerance, innovation and entrepreneurship. Palestinian children are raised to hate and murder Jews. The situation is very tragic and it is high time we change it.

More than 22 billion dollars were spent by the international community in the Palestinian Authority in the last two decades. It is time to monitor what is being done with these vast sums of money and to invest resources effectively in the young generation, by fostering values which will enable them to lead better lives.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Sivan Farag)
Irans top leader has warned that renewal of a decades-old sanction on his country will lead to reaction by Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khameneis website quoted him as saying on Wednesday, Definitely, the Islamic republic of Iran will show reaction about the renewal. He didnt elaborate.

Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the renewal is a violation of a landmark nuclear deal with world powers that capped Irans nuclear activities in return for lifting sanctions.

Khamenei, who supported the deal, said the U.S. has violated the deal by various violations so far.

Last week, the U.S. House renewed the Iran Sanctions Extensions, first passed by Congress in 1996 and which expired at the end of the year. There is widespread support in the Senate for approving it.

(AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted on Wednesday that many in the U.S. and Europe are branding U.S. President-elect Donald Trump a dictator because he wasnt their favored candidate. Erdogan called on them to respect democracy.

Addressing a meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan also accused Western nations of calling any leader that did not serve their interests a despot.

The West will continue to welcome tyrants who have blood on their hands with red carpets and label anyone who criticizes them as a dictator, said Erdogan who is frequently criticized for his increasingly autocratic style of governing.

Are they calling someone a dictator? Then you should think the opposite. That person is good, because (he or she) goes against their interests, Erdogan said.

Turkeys relations with President Barack Obamas administration have been tense. Ankara has strongly objected to Washingtons support fir Syrian Kurdish militia who are linked to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey and perceptions that the U.S. is reluctant to extradite a Muslim cleric who is accused of masterminding a failed coup in July.

Erdogan spoke with Trump soon after his election and has said he hopes his triumph would be an auspicious development.

In the televised speech, Erdogan said anti-Trump protesters in Western nations had no respect for democracy or the result of the U.S. election.

In America they started calling Trump a dictator. In various countries of Europe they spilled into the streets and started saying dictator,' said Erdogan. I thought you were democrats? Why arent you respecting the results of the ballot box?

Erdogan added that he was not concerned about Trumps comments on Islam or Muslims, saying the president-elect would correct them once in office.

We are used to such things in politics, Erdogan said. They speak that way today and then theyll correct that wrong, he said.

(AP)
The German government expressed revulsion Wednesday at Nazi-style salutes such as those performed at a recent far-right event in Washington, but said it was confident the United States can tackle the issue.

Video published by The Atlantic showed participants at the event Saturday raising their arms in salute during a speech by Richard Spencer, head of the white-nationalist National Policy Institute.

Speaking generally, whenever we see videos from anywhere showing people raising their hand to do Hitler salutes we are repulsed, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Wednesday after being asked about the clip .

It goes against the principles and values of our politics, he added.

Nazi Germany was responsible for genocide and war that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people in the 1930s and 1940s. After the war, Germany made it a criminal offense to display Nazi imagery  including the salute, which was usually accompanied by the cry Sieg Heil! which translates as hail victory.

Seibert said the fact that the incident is being widely discussed in the United States was a good sign. We have great faith in American civil society, media and politics to address such bad developments, such terrible events, he said.

White-nationalist groups have existed in the United States for decades but drew increased attention last summer when activists showed up at the Republican National Convention to celebrate Donald Trumps nomination as the partys presidential candidate.

Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, was filmed Saturday saying Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory! to cheers from the audience.

(AP)
Americans took to the roads, air and railways Wednesday for what is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in almost a decade.

Almost 49 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more between Wednesday and Sunday, the most since 2007, because of lower gas prices and an improving economy, according to AAA.

It will be the first time many have gathered with family and friends since the rancorous election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and many say they hope they can leave politics behind  even for just a day.

Well avoid it, said 47-year-old boilermaker Kevin Baumann, who stopped in central Montana Tuesday on his way home to Spokane, Washington, after working on a coal plant in Iowa. Weve got bigger things to talk about during the holidays.

James Arnold, 18, a freshman at Eastern University in Philadelphia, expects that the election will be a big topic of conversation during Thanksgiving dinner at his familys home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

My family loves to talk about things together and the election is something huge, he said Tuesday while waiting for a train.

Every holiday they sit down and talk about things like that, he added. Its going to be interesting.

The weather appeared to be cooperating for the most part, with no significant issues as of Wednesday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley said. There was light rain in Chicago, a major airline hub, but delays were only averaging 15 minutes, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

It looks pretty quiet across the country today; Ill take it, Seeley said.

For those who didnt want to drive, Amtrak was adding some extra trains Wednesday and Sunday between Chicago and Milwaukee, its biggest Midwest corridor, spokesman Marc Magliari said. Some Midwest trains have been sold out for several days, he said.

(AP)
Two weeks before Election Day, at the final Pennsylvania Senate debate, legendary Philadelphia newsman Jim Gardner began with what seemed like an easy first question. Can you tell us, Gardner asked Democrat Katie McGinty, about one issue where you disagree with your party or your potential president?

Thanks, Jim, and I do stand with Secretary Clinton, McGinty said. She spent the next minute never distancing herself from Hillary Clinton. I know this, Secretary Clinton will fight for working families and thats what Im going to do as well.

Its now clear that Democratic strategists and the media spent too much time focused on the wrong question, asking how Republicans would separate themselves from their unpopular nominee, President-elect Donald Trump.

Instead of Trump being a drag on Republicans, Clinton became the anchor to which Democratic candidates willingly attached themselves. Despite her deep unpopularity throughout the campaign, no Democratic candidate for Senate ever tried to separate themselves from Clinton in any meaningful way.

The results are stunning in their consistency.

Clinton lost Pennsylvania, the first Democratic presidential nominee to lose the state since 1988, with 47.6 percent and a little more than 2.8 million votes. McGinty lost too, by almost the exact same margin, with 47.2 percent and about 50,000 fewer votes than Clinton. Clinton lost Wisconsin, with 46.9 percent, as did former senator Russ Feingold, D, in the Senate race, with 46.8 percent and 1,800 fewer votes than Clinton.

Again and again, as they positioned themselves as generic Democrats supporting Clinton, voters in turn treated these candidates quite generically.

In its final ratings the independent Cook Political Report rated 11 Senate races as either toss-up or lean Democrat or lean Republican. Six of those Democrats finished within 1.4 percentage points of Clintons share in that same state, according to the Associated Press calculations. Three more fell well behind her.

Only two Democrats in key races performed significantly better than Clinton: Evan Bayh, who got 125,000 more votes than Clinton in Indiana, and Jason Kander, who received about 230,00 more votes in Missouri. They both lost, by wide margins, in states where Clinton received just 38 percent of the vote.

Not surprisingly, given their near-complete dependence on Clinton, Senate Democrats only won three of those 11 races  in Illinois, Nevada and New Hampshire. Those were the only three states of that bunch that Clinton put in her electoral vote column.

It seemed like such a smart strategy a year ago, as the Republican primary became increasingly bitter and GOP incumbents in swing states fretted about their top-of-the-ticket problem. With fewer voters than ever splitting tickets among presidential candidates and down-ballot races, Democrats believed they could hitch their wagon to Clinton for victory.

There was no overhaul to the partys agenda after the 2014 midterms left Democrats in the minority and needing a five-seat gain this fall to reclaim the majority.

Democrats talked about getting a better message, to a degree that it was clear many didnt understand the difference between a message and an agenda. The message is the thematic umbrella  Clintons Stronger Together or Trumps Make America Great Again  while the more difficult part is the granular policy agenda.

In 2012 Vice President Joe Biden struck gold with a campaign message: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. But President Barack Obamas successful reelection campaign had a broad agenda focused heavily on tax fairness, pledging tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 and to raise taxes on the rich.

By 2014 Democrats did not have a broad agenda. Instead, they proposed a minimum-wage increase and refinanced college loans for young voters, a guarantee of equal pay for equal work and new immigration laws for Latino voters. This fall, the only significant update was a more robust proposal to make college affordable.

The problem is they talk to people in segments, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who is challenging House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told The Washington Posts Daily 202 last weekend. Heres our LGBT community. Heres our labor guy. That doesnt work. You stop becoming a national party. Thats what happened.

Aside from regional accent, or delivery style, Democrats sounded remarkably similar. In campaign appearances two days apart in mid-October, nothing distinguished Catherine Cortez Masto, the former Nevada attorney general, from Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., in their policy positions.

Cortez Masto won the seat of retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., finishing within a few thousand votes of Clintons winning margin. Kirkpatrick got blown out by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as Clinton fell far short there.

Democrats mocked Republican efforts to localize their races and predicted Trump would define those campaigns. But in at least four states GOP incumbents broke free of their nominee, winning reelection by a significantly larger margin than Trump won their state: McCain and Sens. Ron Johnson, Wis., Rob Portman, Ohio, and Marco Rubio, Fla.

McCain, Portman and Rubio put away their challengers so early that their national party didnt spend resources there, pouring that money into other critical races.

In the campaigns final weeks, the undecided voters, particularly in working-class regions, broke sharply against Clinton. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., the incoming minority leader, acknowledged that Trumps anti-trade agenda and vow to bring back manufacturing jobs connected with some traditional Democrats.

Its my view that the Democratic aspects of his economic program is what brought the blue-collar vote to him, more than anything else, trade being the tip of the spear, Schumer said in an interview last week with The Washington Post.

So, as the bottom fell out of Clintons campaign, Democratic Senate candidates had little to fall back on. Trump even became a bonus for some Republicans, winning by huge margins in Missouri and Indiana and by a larger-than-expected four percentage points in North Carolina.

Some voters did split tickets for Trump and a Democrat  just not very much in Senate races. In Pennsylvania Democrats swept statewide races for attorney general, auditor and treasurer, all receiving more votes than Clinton or McGinty.

In the North Carolina governors race, Democrat Roy Cooper is leading and likely to be declared the winner. He received 180,000 more votes than the partys Senate nominee, Deborah Ross.

Thats the margin between winning and losing.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Paul Kane - Paul Kane covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post.
If President-elect Donald Trump is serious about draining the swamp, ethics experts have a few ideas for how it can be done.

Last week, following criticism that he was walking back his campaign promise to rid Washington of special interests, Trump introduced a three-part plan aimed at closing both ends of Washingtons revolving door. His transition team said Trump plans to ban lobbyists from working in the new administration, extend the amount of time administration officials must wait if they want to become lobbyists after leaving government and prohibit outgoing administration officials from ever lobbying for a foreign country.

Though the proposals sound stringent, ethics experts are by and large skeptical that they will be effective. The outright ban on lobbyists coming into the administration is easy to circumvent because a lobbyist could simply deregister  some lobbyists working on the Trump transition have already done that.

What follows is a breakdown of what ethics experts think could be done to drain the swamp. Some are out of Trumps direct control and would fall on Congress to implement. The experts we consulted are Brett Kappel, a government-ethics attorney at the law firm Akerman, Norm Eisen of the Brookings Institution, who authored the ethics rules in the Obama administration, and Craig Holman, a lobbyist at the watchdog group Public Citizen.

1. Expand the definition of a lobbyist.

This is something Congress would have to do by changing the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA). The law defines a lobbyist as someone who spends at least 20 percent of their time lobbying for a single client during a three-month period. Ethics experts call this the 20 percent loophole because it allows people who spend, say, 19 percent of their time lobbying to avoid registering as a lobbyist.

Changing this definition would mean that anyone who lobbies on behalf of clients  whether they lobby a little or a lot  would have to register as a lobbyist. This would presumably reduce the de-registration or shadow lobbying phenomenon, which has grown increasingly prevalent over the past eight years after the Obama administration released restrictions on lobbyists working for the government. In reaction to these restrictions, many people who work in the influence industry either terminated their registrations or did not register to begin with so they can call themselves advisers or consultants instead of lobbyists.

But getting members of Congress to eliminate a loophole that benefits their own post-government employment prospects is a long shot.

You could expand the definition to include anyone whos paid to influence government decision-making, Kappel said. Theres a whole lot of former members [of Congress] and senior government officials who dont lobby because they dont make lobbying contacts, they just advise other people on how to do it. You could bring those people in.

2. Ban lobbyists from giving campaign contributions or raising money for elected officials.

This is probably the most radical change but also the most effective one, according to experts, when it comes to draining the swamp. There is currently no limit on how much money federal lobbyists can raise for members of Congress, though candidates do have to disclose the names of lobbyists who raise at least $17,600 as bundlers, meaning the collect contributions on behalf of the candidate.

Congress could certainly follow the lead of some state and local governments, like South Carolina and California, that have enacted bans or dollar limits on lobbyists giving money to legislators. But such a ban at the federal level is unlikely, given that lawmakers would be cutting themselves off from a lucrative source of fundraising that is entrenched in the political system.

Such a move, though, might thrill many Washington lobbyists, who privately complain that fundraising is a drag. Every lobbyist in Washington would be ecstatic if Congress would do that, Kappel said.

3. Continue executive order that restricts the role of anyone with financial conflicts of interests, not just lobbyists, coming into the administration.

The Trump White House could keep in place the executive order Obama issued at the beginning of his presidency that restricts not only registered lobbyists from serving in the executive branch, but non-lobbyists with a financial conflict of interest as well. This would mean corporate executives and consultants would have to meet strict rules if they want to work in the executive branch, such as recuse themselves from getting involved in issues that directly affect their former employer or clients for a defined period of time. The Obama executive order did this by requiring appointees to sign a pledge saying that for two years, they would not work on matters that affect their former employer or clients. Trump could continue that executive order, or even expand on it.

One thing Trump could do to drain the swamp is to preserve Obamas ethics order for incoming administration officials, Holman said. Hes not only bringing his own conflicts of interest baggage into the White House, but the titans of industry hes talking about appointing to his administration all have their own conflicts of interest. No one needs that ethics executive order more than Trump.

4. Limit the influence of big donors.

Its impossible to drain Washington of special interests without changing the campaign finance system, according to ethics experts. The 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC opened up a gush of money into U.S. elections by allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on politics as long as they did so independently of campaigns and parties. The 2016 campaign saw a large concentration of donations from a small group of ultrawealthy individuals, many of whom  like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer  backed Trump.

The swamp is watered by big money so [Trump] needs to do something about campaign finance reform, Eisen said.

Groups lobbying for stricter campaign finance laws hope to overturn Citizens by pressuring Congress to propose a constitutional amendment, which would then have to be ratified by the states, but the effort is a long shot. In the meantime, Trump  or any elected official  could take independent steps to limit the influence of wealthy donors in his administration. So far, this doesnt appear to be happening. Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of Robert Mercer whose family has spent millions of dollars backing Trump, serves on the executive committee overseeing the Trump transition.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Catherine Ho
(Adds comments from Newmont, sources on offers)

By John Tilak and Susan Taylor

TORONTO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold is reviewing the financial backing behind an approximately $1.3 billion bid for its stake in Australia's Kalgoorlie mine by Minjar Gold, a unit of Shanghai-listed Shandong Tyan Home , two sources told Reuters.

Toronto-based Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, is studying the offer for the 50 percent stake to ensure Minjar has adequate resources and support to complete the transaction, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is private. Barrick declined to comment.

Little-known Minjar has trumped offers by Australian, Chinese and Canadian companies for the asset, the sources said.

Newmont Mining, Barrick's joint venture partner at Kalgoorlie and mine operator, has said it was interested in buying the remaining stake, but price has been a sticking a point.

It was unclear if Newmont was interested in matching Minjar's offer, but the sources said the price made a counter-offer less likely.

Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara declined to comment, saying only that "Barrick will decide which of the offers it received makes the most sense for them."

Minjar, which is based in Perth, Australia and incorporated in that country, is a subsidiary of Shandong Tyan Home, which is primarily involved in Chinese property development and management.

With the recent drop in gold prices, it is uncertain if Minjar will continue to stand by its offer, the sources said.

Spot gold was trading at $1,185.90 on Thursday, touching nine-month lows.

Earlier this year, Minjar agreed to buy a small gold mine in Australia from Evolution Mining for A$52 million.

A trading halt on Shandong Tyan shares extended for a fourth session on Thursday, after the company said on Monday there was a pending announcement related to a major plan.

Earlier this week, The Australian newspaper reported that Minjar would buy the Barrick asset and a deal announcement was expected Monday, but that did not happen.

Story continues

Kalgoorlie is the latest in a string of assets that Barrick has put up for sale to whittle down debt and is the company's last remaining holding in Australia.

Barrick announced sale plans in July and the company's president said in September that there was "robust" interest in the asset, which analysts estimated was worth $600 million to $1 billion.

China's appetite for acquisitions in the metals and mining sector has gained alongside metals prices. According to consultancy EY, China was the highest value dealmaker in the sector in the third quarter. The country was the target of $2.4 billion worth of deals and acquirer of $3.8 billion worth, EY said.

(Additional reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Alan Crosby)
The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has provoked a mixed reaction among European Jews, said Pinchas Goldschmidt, chief rabbi of Moscow and the current president of the Conference of European Rabbis, the primary Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe.

I think that, in general, European Jews look at the United States and the elections in the United States not so much as what happens to the United States but how those changes will affect Europe, and how those changes will affect the lives of the Jews in Europe, Goldschmidt said in a phone call from New York last week. On the other hand, Id say Israel is much more central to European Jews than to American Jews.

Goldschmidts comments came during a wave of debates about what a Trump presidency means for the worlds Jewish community. While Trump has a close relationship with his Orthodox son-in-law and has spoken in strong pro-Israel terms, his campaign has frequently been linked with anti-Semitic fringes.

Stephen K. Bannon, the former editor of the fiery anti-establishment website Breitbart News who left for Trumps campaign and will soon become a chief White House strategist, has been accused of making anti-Semitic comments. Perhaps more alarmingly, members of the alt-right community have openly praised Trump with messages clearly inflected with neo-Nazi rhetoric.

Hail Trump! Richard Spencer, a prominent member of that movement, said during a recent event to celebrate the election.

Goldschmidt, who was born in Zurich and became chief rabbi of Moscow in 1993, said there was a clear difference between Jews in Western Europe and Britain, who seemed worried about Trump, and those in Eastern Europe and Russia, who were more hopeful. The split was somewhat similar to one seen in the United States, he said. I think most of the Jews in the United States had voted for Clinton, and there were two distinctive groups who voted for Trump, the Orthodox Jews and the Russian-speaking Jews, he said.

There have been rising reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe over the past few years, with thousands of Jews in Western Europe choosing to leave their homes and move to Israel. Goldschmidt said that the memories of the 20th century are still defining for many Jews in Europe, in contrast to Americans.

One of the basic differences between European Jews and American Jews is American Jews feel very secure, saying what happened in Europe can never happen in America, he said. While Jews in Europe always keep their eyes open that one day, you might have to get out of here.

Over recent years, the situation for Jews in Europe has become especially fraught, Goldschmidt said. I usually use a metaphor for the situation of Jews in Europe. A person standing on train tracks and in both directions trains are coming towards this person at great speed, he said. One train is the train of Islamic radicalism and terrorism which has created havoc in us. I am speaking of [the terror attacks in] Toulouse, Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels.

And on the other side there is the reaction of old Europe against this onslaught of terrorism, Goldschmidt said. The radical right comes with these anti-immigration measures which are mainly directed at the Muslim immigrants, but we the Jews are the collateral damage.

Goldschmidt said that despite similarities in the momentum of the far right in Europe, he said he still thinks that European parties, such as Frances National Front, had key differences compared with Trumps success. Those parties were founded by Nazi collaborators, to some extent, he said, noting that although some of them had now distanced themselves from anti-Semitism, they did not have close Jewish advisers or family such as Trump.

But suggestions by Trumps team for potential policies targeting Muslim extremism  such as a database of Muslim immigrants  gave Goldschmidt pause. Here we are talking about registering American citizens based on their religious practices, he said. I dont even know if it is constitutional.

I as a European do not want to tell Americans what to do and how to keep their country safe. However, any generalization based on religion I think goes against the core of American values, Goldschmidt said, before adding that Trumps proposals targeting Muslims were a result of how hard it has become to draw a line between radical Islam and mainstream Islam. We have to look to our Muslim colleagues to create this line, create this red line, in order that the Muslims do not suffer discrimination.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Adam Taylor
President-elect Donald Trump intends to name Betsy DeVos, a conservative activist and billionaire philanthropist who has pushed forcefully for private school voucher programs nationwide, as his nominee for Education Secretary, according to a person close to DeVos.

Trumps pick underlines his promises on the campaign trail to put school choice  the expansion of taxpayer-funded charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools  at the center of his efforts on education.

His embrace of DeVos, a Michigan power broker and major donor to the GOP and its candidates around the country, shows a willingness to look outside his circle of loyalists. DeVos donated money to Republican primary contenders Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush before throwing her support behind Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. She was never an enthusiastic Trump supporter, telling the Washington Examiner in March that she considered him an interloper who does not represent the Republican Party.

Teachers unions and other proponents of public schools are likely to decry DeVoss nomination as catastrophic attack on public education. Some conservative groups are also likely to be unhappy; they have argued that choosing DeVos signals that Trump is wavering on his vehement opposition to the Common Core State Standards.

DeVos, 58, has not said much about the Common Core, the set of math and reading guidelines adopted by most states. But she has ties to several pro-Common Core organizations, including as a member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, started by former Florida governor and Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush.

President-elect Trump rightly slammed Governor Jeb Bush for his support of Common Core on the campaign trail, said Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project, in a statement Tuesday warning Trump not to pick Devos. Betsy DeVos would be a very Jeb-like pick.

DeVos, a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, and her husband Dick DeVos, an heir to the Amway direct-sales fortune, co-founded the Windquest Group, which invests in technology and manufacturing. They have poured millions of dollars into lobbying for voucher programs across the country.

Betsy DeVos serves as chairman of the American Federation of Children and its associated 527 action fund, a platform she has used to support candidates who endorse vouchers and charter schools  and to attack candidates who dont.

While hers is hardly a household name, she has helped change the landscape of education across the country. Three decades ago, there were no state voucher programs. Now, according to the advocacy group EdChoice, about 400,000 children in 29 states are going to private schools with the help of public dollars, some via vouchers and others through derivative programs, such as tax-credit scholarships or education savings accounts.

DeVos is working toward a scenario in which all parents, regardless of their Zip code, have had the opportunity to choose the best educational setting for their children, she told Philanthropy magazine in 2013. And that all students have had the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential.

Research on the impact of voucher programs shows mixed results.

Several recent studies have found that voucher recipients math and reading test scores decline after they transfer from public to private schools. But other studies have found that voucher recipients are more likely to enroll in and complete college than their counterparts who attend public schools.

Pro-voucher advocates see in the Trump administration an extraordinary opportunity to advance the cause on a national scale, giving more parents the ability to use tax dollars to pay for private schools.

The president-elect has proposed redirecting $20 billion in federal spending toward a grant program to states for expanding vouchers and charter schools. He has also said he wants to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to persuade states to devote another $110 billion toward vouchers  enough, he has said, for every child living in poverty to have a scholarship of $12,000 toward the school of his or her choice.

While charter schools have won bipartisan support during the past two decades, vouchers remain a politically polarizing issue, with most Democrats  including President Obama  opposing them, arguing that they drain public schools of needed resources and send taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.

Vouchers also send money to religious schools, a fact that has provoked not just political resistance but also a series of legal challenges in state courts. Vouchers and tax credits force all Americans to pay for religion, whether they believe in that faith or not. Thats fundamentally wrong, Barry Lynn, executive director for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said in 2010.

Critics of voucher programs fear that the Trump administration could wield federal dollars to dramatically undermine teachers unions and weaken the civic institution of public education, redirecting dollars from public schools to private institutions that dont have the same obligation to serve all students  including those who are needy or have learning disabilities.

DeVos has donated to and worked with many groups advocating for charter schools and voucher programs. She has also given to several Christian schools and conservative policy think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute.

She and her husband, the 2006 Republican nominee for Michigan governor, have also made substantial gifts in support of the arts.

Betsy DeVos served on the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 2004 to 2010, departing with a $22.5 million gift to support training for arts leaders. That program, the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, is now based at the University of Maryland.

DeVos and her husband are major GOP donors who during the 2016 cycle gave a total of $2.7 million to the GOP and to Republican candidates and political action committees; they made no donations to Democrats, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

DeVos brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, one of the most profitable private security firms during the Iraq War. Blackwater came under intense scrutiny after the companys guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007; four guards were convicted on charges related to the massacre. Prince has since left the company, which is now called Academi.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Emma Brown
Agudath Israel of America warmly welcomes todays announcement that President-elect Trump has nominated Betsy DeVos for the position of US Secretary of Education.

Agudath Israel has worked closely with Mrs. DeVos for many years, together with other organizations and legislators from both sides of the aisle, to give parents educational options for their children. Thanks to that effort, hundreds of thousands of children across the United States are receiving a quality education they couldnt otherwise afford, including many students who choose to attend Jewish day schools.

Shlomo Werdiger, chairman of Agudath Israels board of trustees, expressed his enthusiastic support for Mrs. DeVoss nomination. I have had some excellent discussions with Betsy DeVos, Mr. Werdiger said. She is intelligent, compassionate and effective. President-elect Trump has chosen wisely.

I have witnessed, firsthand, Betsy DeVoss passionate support for school choice, said Agudath Israel of Americas national director of state relations, Rabbi A. D. Motzen, and I am confident that a Department of Education under her leadership will correctly focus on students.

Agudath Israel of America advocates on behalf of more than 250,000 students in Jewish day schools and post-secondary institutions, and looks forward to continue working with Mrs. DeVos as she leads the effort to implement President-elect Trumps education platform.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
11:32AM IL: [PHOTOS & VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Talmon community spokesman Ravid Sharon explains the fire has reignited and residents have been evacuated from homes and schools. There is significant damage to buildings at this time he reports.

In Haifa, there are reports of persons trapped in a building on Chorev Street. Firemen are pulling people out of area homes with assistance from EMS and police units. Two persons treated for smoke inhalation have been transported to Rambam Medical Center.

In Ashkelon, a fire is reported on Histadrut Street. Fire trucks responding from Ashdod, Kiryat Gat and Sderot. [FOR EARLIER UPDATES FOLLOW BELOW]

11:11AM IL: Carmel Hospital has been alerted and is moving to emergency status, preparing to receive victims of the fire as it continues spreading in the area. Hospital spokesman Eli Dadon quotes Hospital Director Dr. Avi Goldberg announcing the emergency room stands ready to receive patients should their services be required.

Police are calling on residents of Martin Buber, Dakar, Einstein and Merkaz Chorev Streets to evacuate immediately.

Haifa area fire spokesman Uri Chibutro announces  The fire is now described as enormous to people and property. All available forces are being called in immediately as the fire is out of control. All area residents should evacuate their homes immediately.

11:09AM IL: A general callout was issued a short time ago in the Binyamin Regional Council area of the Shomron as the fire that was declared under control earlier in Talmon is once again raging, out of control.

Qualified persons able to respond have been instructed to contact the area fire commander to register as the fire has reignited in Talmon and at least two homes in the community are engulfed in flames and are in danger of collapsing. Kindergartens in the community have been evacuated.

11:05AM IL: As a preventative measure, police are evacuating people from a number of streets in the Romeima area of Haifa. In addition, residents of Dakar Street are being evacuated as well. Another blaze is reported in Haifa, near HaGiborim Bridge.

10:52AM IL: Police are evacuating residents from buildings in the Achuza and Romeima areas of Haifa as the fires continue to spread out of control.

10:24AM IL: Tens of fire apparatus are trying to prevent a large fire from speaking in northern Israel, in the Um el-Fahm Forest area.

Another fire has broken out in an open area of Haifa, which is cause for serious concern. The fire is dangerously close to the Paz Bridge, which has already been closed as has Route 22 from the Airforce Technical School at Yadin Interchange towards Haifa. At least two people have been treated for smoke inhalation. The fire is out of control and spreading, apparently now reaching the Ramat Sapir area.

In Haifa, children are being evacuated from a number of kindergartens and daycare facilities.

Israel Police are confirming another blaze, this one in Hadera, not far from the Israel Electric Company power station. There are no injuries and BH for now, the blaze is small and it is hoped it will be brought under control before it spreads.

Accompanying photos are from a blaze along the coastal area.

It is becoming increasingly apparent the blazes are the result of arson. Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) earlier that he is certain at least half of the fires are the result of arson .

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos:      via Media Resource Group)
12:15PM IL: The fire in Haifa is spreading the Moriah neighborhood, the heart of the Carmel. The fire is spreading without mercy despite the efforts of firefighters on the ground and in the air, which do not seem to have an impact against the strong wind conditions. [EARLIER UPDATES FOLLOW]

12:03PM IL: National Fire Service spokesman to Channel 10 News : It is too early to determine the cause of the fires but because it begin in 3 to 4 different places, it appears on the surface to be arson.

A police chopper high overhead is directing aerial and ground forces as how to proceed trying to control the blaze.

11:55AM IL: Among the buildings being evacuated in Haifa is a an old age home. A United Hatzalah EMT is seen going house-to-house, armed only with a face mask, working desperately to get people out in time. Firefighters are describing the fire as massive as firefighting planes from a number of countries are heading to Israel to assist.

MDA forces and police are all working with the fire department to get people out of the area. despite the seriousness of the situation, some persons are unwilling to abandon their homes. Fire spokesman Uri Chibutro reports the damage in the areas being evacuated is heavy and at present, efforts are concentrating on getting people out in time.

11:46AM IL: Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav told Channel 2 News moments ago that the entire Romeima and Sapir neighborhoods in the city is being evacuated as the fire is out of control. There are reports that Haifa University is being evacuated as wellCarmel and Rambam Hospitals in the city are on alert status to accept victims of the fires. At least two victims of smoke inhalation have been transported to Rambam.

The Paz Bridge and portions of Route 22 in Haifa are closed as fire officers are calling for assistance, aware the fire is spreading quickly.

Residents in Haifa are being brought to Beit Yad LBanim on HaYarkon Street as well as the Bat Galim Matnas.

In the Shomron, there is an call for anyone capable of assisting as fires are burning out of control in Yishuv Talmon (Binyamin Council area) and Yitzhar (Shomron Regional Council). In Talmon, hundreds of students and residents have been evacuated as a number of homes are engulfed in flames. Bchasdei Hashem, at present, the only damage is to property.

In Ashkelon, there appears to be a fire on Nitzanim Street, apparently a residential structure.

There are reports of three fires in the Nazareth area and at present, there is no fear of having to evacuate residents.

Turkey has offered assistance, to send a large firefighting plane, which Israel has accepted. Israel receiving firefighting planes from Greece, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Cyprus, and Turkey, ten in total.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller reports basic and advanced life support ambulances are standing by at fire scenes in areas around Israel.

Six persons have been transported to Rambam Medical Center with light smoke inhalation injuries. Other patients are being treated in a number of areas in Haifa.

Fifteen ambulances and advanced life support paramedic units are preparing to evacuate the Fliman Geriatric Hospital in Haifa if fire commanders give the word. They are in constant contact with the Health Ministry and IDF Homefront Command.

Heller reports MDA has treated and transported 35 patients suffering from smoke inhalation since the fires began earlier this week. Bchasdei Hashem there has been no loss of life and the injuries are minor.

Kibbutzim are announcing they are opening their doors to victims from Haifa, Zichron Yaakov, Gilon Nataf, the Binyamin area of the Shomron, Modiin area and anyone who cannot return home due to fires.

Deputy Director of the Kibbutz Movement, Gil Line, has put the word out, instructing kibbutzim to prepare to take in the homeless. The phone number for information is 03-692-5331.

12:40PM IL: Channel 2 News reports that 35 fire victims have been transported to hospitals in Haifa by ambulance and private vehicle.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: MDA Spokesman Unit)
1:12PM IL: Israels Fire Service has declared a state of emergency due to the situation, particularly in the Haifa district.

All fire service employees are being called up and all vehicles belonging to the department that are usable, will be added to the ongoing efforts in the Haifa district. the Givatayim station is closing and handing over responsibility for that area to Ramat Gan.

The Haifa Convention Center will be used as the gathering site for all fire service personnel. They will operate on frequency 9901 until reaching the gathering area.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Haifa area police spokesman explains that due to the fire condition, residents have been evacuated from the following Haifa neighborhoods: Ramat Sapir, Ramat Chen, Ramat Almogi, Ramat Ben-Gurion, Achuza, Merkaz Chorev, Romeima, Ramat Eshkol, Begin, Ramat Golda, and Naot Pras.

The residents of these streets are instructed to leave immediately if they have yet to do so. In addition to the fire and smoke gas cylinders are exploding as a result of the fires. Anyone in those areas may dial 110 to reach officials for instructions.

Hundreds of IDF Homefront soldiers and vehicles are being mobilized to assist in the Haifa area as winds are over 65KPH with gusts reaching 100KPH (60 MPH) and the area is totally dry as there has not been rainfall.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Israel Electric Company has joined other agencies in declaring a state of emergency in the northern area. The utility company has been forced to cut power to areas, high tension lines, due to the dangers posed by spreading fires.

MDA reports treating 56 people for smoke inhalation in the Haifa district, of which one is listed in moderate condition and the remainder light. Eight victims were transported to Bnei Tzion Hospital, 35 to Rambam, and 13 to Carmel.

Greece and Turkey are sending additional firefighting planes. The Greek planes are capable of dumping 18 tons of water every five minutes and these advanced planes appear to have taken the lead in the fight to stop Haifa from burning. The water for the planes is coming from the Mediterranean of the Haifa Bay.

In a short time there will be additional challenges as shekiya in Haifa is 4:35PM today. It will be especially difficult in areas where power has been cut.

Police are reporting traffic is at a standstill on many roads including Rt. 752 from Nesher to Ligur, Route 721 from Damon Junction to Beit Oren Junction and Route 70 towards Ein Tut.

Route 4 from Beit Oren to Haifa is also backed up a is Route 22 at the Bialik Interchange and Route 75 from Lev HaMifratz Junction to Emakim Junction.

Police advise motorists to use Route 6 to Route 70 to Route 22 as an alternative.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Hundreds of United Hatzalah volunteer EMS personnel assisted firefighters in evacuating residents in the Romeima and Sapir neighborhoods of Haifa during a series of fires that blazed in those areas on Thursday morning., 23 Cheshvan. Residents who were still in their neighborhoods were evacuated by the firefighters, police and United Hatzalah volunteers.

Multiple fires burned in and around the wooded Haifa neighborhoods propelled by strong winds in the area. Schools and kindergartens were among the first buildings to be evacuated.

UH Haifa Head Moshe Adler said: Our volunteers left their jobs and families and are joined the firefighters, police officers, and other rescue workers to help evacuate and rescue residents, children, and the elderly in the affected areas. It is important that our volunteers joined the effort and were present in order to provide first aid to any resident or firefighter that required assistance during the evacuation. Tens of people have been treated for varying degrees of smoke inhalation.

Doron Shafir, a paramedic with United Hatzalah who helped with the evacuation spoke about the assistance that the EMS personnel were providing the fire department and police during the blaze. We are working with emergency rescue forces to evacuate the residents in the area. We are going into the high-rises and evacuating the elderly from the area in our own personal vehicles to safe areas. What is unique about this situation is that we live on these streets as well. These are our neighborhoods and our neighbors.

Shafir added, In one instance United Hatzalah ambucycles had to open up a lane of traffic for an individual who needed to be evacuated as he was suffering from significant smoke inhalation, and we were able to transport him to Carmel Medical Center in moderate condition.

Volunteers from the organization are assisting rescue teams at the location of other fires around the country including Nataf and Talmon. The organization has instructed its volunteers, across the country, to be on a state of alert in order to provide an extra level of response to any emergency, whether it is fire related or a medical emergency, as it is expected that there will be ambulance evacuation delays due to the heavy traffic and extra workload in affected areas.

Additionally, the organization has set up logistics and relief centers for firefighters and rescue workers in multiple locations around the country that have been hard hit by fires in the past three days, including Haifa.

The centers provide a respite for firefighters to recoup and receive hot drinks and food. The Director of Operations for United Hatzalah, David Krispel said We are happy to help the firefighters and rescue workers who are giving every ounce of energy they have to help protect the residents in the affected areas. At United Hatzalah we have enlisted to help not only with providing medical assistance in the event that it is needed but also in providing humanitarian assistance to the firefighters who are working day-and-night to combat the fire and encourage them in any way we can.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett headed to Haifa to assess the situation and rescue efforts. He was assisted by a United Hatzalah ambucycle driver to get a clear picture of the area affected by the fire.

Photo Above: Naftali Bennett riding on a United Hatzalah ambucycle. Others: United Hatzalah volunteers helping fire and rescue personnel and evacuating residents.



(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: United Hatzalah)
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro accompanied by embassy staff members donated blood to Magen David Adom.

On Tuesday, 21 Cheshvan, the ambassador arranged for the blood drive in the embassy, which yielded 40 units. This was not the first-time Ambassador Shapiro has given blood, as he generally does so twice annually, aware of the importance of contributing.

The ambassador showed great interest in the blood donating process as compared to the United States, asking about the blood inventory, how many units are given daily and annually.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
An Ohio man who plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol during President Barack Obamas 2015 State of the Union address kept trying from behind bars to urge others to violence in support of the Islamic State group, federal authorities say.

Prosecutors described 22-year-old Christopher Lee Cornells jail activities in a sentencing memorandum filed this week ahead of a Dec. 5 sentencing hearing. They want a judge to sentence him to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to three charges.

This case is unusual in the amount of post-arrest conduct and misconduct by the defendant  his persistence in trying to incite violence and his efforts to obstruct justice through witness intimidation, the filing by U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassmans office stated. These events reflect a profound lack of remorse, or at least, a very lengthy delay in the appearance of remorse by Cornell.

Cornells attorneys plan to state their recommendations on sentencing next week to U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith.

The entire issue is much more complex than what is noted in the government memo, attorney Martin Pinales said.

The defense Wednesday filed a mental health report for Cornell under seal, and stated they plan to have psychologist Scott Bresler, who has met repeatedly with Cornell, testify at the sentencing hearing.

His attorneys filed a motion last year saying there was reasonable cause to believe Cornell was mentally incompetent. However, Beckwith ruled in April he was competent for trial after hearing testimony.

The FBI arrested Cornell on Jan. 14, 2015, in a gun shop parking lot in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. He was arrested less than a week before Obamas scheduled address in Washington; federal authorities say Cornell wanted to shoot the president, members of Congress and others at the speech.

Prosecutors said Cornell continued while in jail to promote violence, trying to circulate his Message to America call for others to fight against the disbelieving people of America. He told WXIX-TV in an interview that he wanted to shoot Obama in the head, and U.S. authorities said he was able to circumvent a security program on a jail computer terminal meant for legal research to make internet posts about his Capitol attack plan and call for others to wage violent jihad.

They said he also was fixated on learning the true identity of a confidential informant and had numerous discussions with his father about him. After his arrest, his father, John Cornell, had said his son was misled and coerced by a snitch. Cornells attorneys have said they will highlight the role of a government confidential informant at the sentencing hearing.

Federal investigators said Cornell made an internet post after his arrest in which he identified the man he believed he was the informant and gave personal details about him.

U.S. authorities have expressed deep concern over Islamic State militant efforts to recruit homegrown terrorists.

A federal judge Wednesday sentenced another suburban Cincinnati man, Munir Abdulkader, 22, of West Chester Township, to 20 years in prison for an alleged plot involving a planned beheading of a military veteran followed by an attack on a police department in support of the Islamic State group. He was arrested four months after Cornell and pleaded guilty to three charges last March.

Pinales was in the courtroom to watch the Abdulkader sentencing.

This case had a plot that was doable, Pinales said. My case had a plot that was impossible.

Cornell pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees, offering material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and to a firearms-related charge.

(AP)
The Israeli Arab community has come out strongly condemning the fires that now appear to be the work of arsonists, possibly Palestinian arson terror. There are reports that the Shin Bet has made arrests in connection with the fires that destroyed thousands of dumans of forest in the Haifa area, destroyed dozens of homes and compelled the evacuation of over 60,000 area residents.

As fire planes from Turkey, Italy, Russia and other countries are heading to Israel to assist, including the American SuperTanker, MK Ahmed Tibi was quick to speak out on Thursday, 23 Cheshvan, questioning why the community automatically points a finger of blame at Palestinians. Tibi added that if it learned that the fires were indeed Palestinian terror, then he condemns the actions unequivocally, in the strongest possible terms, calling to bring those responsible to justice.

The Israel Islamic Organization (IIO) echoed Tibis words, condemning what appears to be an unprecedented arson attacks. the organization announced that it is opening its doors, all Israeli Arab communities, to the victims of Haifa and other areas of northern Israel.

Vice President of the IIO Dr. Mansur Abbas reports receiving dozens of calls from Kfar Kassam residents offering to accept families who are homeless. Abbas said he received similar calls from residents of other Israeli Arab municipalities. Kfar Kassam has launched a situation room to assist those in need. One may dial 03-937-9826.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)


Just as tens of thousands of people were being forced out of their homes due to massive fires around the country, a small group of around 10 people caused thousands of people to be inconvenienced in the heart of Jerusalem. The group walked into the middle of Kikar Shabbos, bringing traffic to a screeching halt, causing dozens upon dozens of packed buses to be stopped, and hundreds of private cars to be stuck in gridlock traffic.

These protestors are the regulars that take to the streets, burning the city down, disrupting traffic, inconveniencing thousands of people from getting to and from work, school, doctors appointments, Yeshiva, Kollel, shopping or anything else. Naturally, when confronted today by the bus drivers, the violent scream of NAZIS! is yelled.

Not to worry, whatever the protest was about, it was done Lishem Shomayim.
Landlords and letting agencies pay more attention to a renters financial history and credit score than any other factor, according to research by credit reporting service ClearScore.

A whopping 62 per cent of landlords agreed a tenant's credit score was the most important factor affecting decisions on whether to let to them, followed by their age (at 44 per cent) and their salary (41 per cent).

However, as many as 39 per cent of renters wont ever be told if a less-than-perfect credit score means they fail the checks.

Would your credit score prevent you renting? 62 per cent of landlords consider financial history is a key factor

Credit scores are used to asses how safe a bet potential customers applying to borrow through a mortgage, loan and credit card are to lend to.

They track your past record at paying bills on time and take into account whether you've been reliable at paying your debts before.

If you miss a monthly payment, it can mean your credit score drops and you may be refused a loan, credit card or mortgage.

Now it is becoming more common for landlords to use reports to decide who to let their properties to, with 68 per cent more likely to take the information into account than five years ago.

Nearly half of those letting properties (48 per cent) now carry out credit checks on all prospective renters while 37 per cent pick and choose which applicants they want the extra information on.

Generation rent - those struggling to get onto the property ladder - are the most likely to have their borrowing history questioned with 79 per cent of landlords running searches on those between the ages of 18 and 34.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT WHETHER LANDLORDS ACCEPT TENANTS 1 Financial history/credit reference 62% 2 Age 44% 3 Salary 41% 4 Job sector 37% 5 Personality 30% 6 Marital status 20% 7 If you have children 13%

Where you live also determines how likely you are to have your credit report searched.

London ranks the highest with 95 per cent of landlords in the capital checking a future tenants credit file first, followed by those in the East Midlands at 94 per cent and the North West close behind at 93 per cent.

The South West are the least likely to have their financial habits checked in such depth, with a lower 73 per cent of those renting out accommodation running a search before accepting new tenants.

Justin Basini, ClearScore founder, said: With demand for rental properties outstripping supply, landlords can hand pick tenants and many prioritise those with the strongest financial payment histories.

HOW LIKELY ARE LANDLORDS IN YOUR AREA TO CREDIT CHECK? Rank Area Percentage of landlords performing credit checks 1 London 95 2 East Midlands 94 3 North West 93 4 Yorkshire 91 5 South East 91 6 West Midlands 90 7 East England 88 8 Northern Ireland 83 9 Scotland 82 10 Wales 81 11 North East 81 12 South West 73

'As there is no sign of the housing crisis slowing down, taking control of the factors you can change  like your credit score  could help you secure your dream property in a competitive market.

Are you being credit checked without realising?

However renting isn't the only thing UK borrowers are unaware they are being credit checked for.

Some 63 per cent of people don't realise that insurance providers run checks before customers can set up monthly instalment plans, according to figures from Amigo Loans.

And of the 2,000 people surveyed by the loan provider, 56 per cent were unaware that energy companies run their own checks before setting up direct debit payments for gas or electricity bills.

Flat rentals came out fourth, followed by mobile phone contracts and overdraft extensions.

10 TIMES YOU WERE CREDIT CHECKED AND DIDN'T REALISE 1. Monthly insurance instalments (63 per cent)

2. Gas direct debit payment (56 per cent)

3. Electricity direct debit payment (56 per cent)

4. Flat rental (50 per cent)

5. Mobile phone monthly contract (37 per cent)

6. Overdraft extension (49 per cent)

7. Store cards (42 per cent)

8. Retail finance (37 per cent)

9. Car finance (27 per cent)

10. Personal loan (24 per cent)

Your credit history not only determines whether you will be accepted for financial products, but also how good a deal you will be offered.

Despite this, only 12 per cent of people know their exact credit score, according to Amigo Loans.

Keeping track of your score will help prevent you applying for products you are unlikely to be accepted for.

Future lenders can see repeated applications which can make you look desperate for credit if made in a short period of time, worsening your chances further.

Glen Crawford, chief executive of Amigo Loans, said: 'Thousands of people are completely oblivious to the fact big institutions are checking their financial trustworthiness.

'The days when you would only be checked for a mortgage or a loan are long gone. Whats really worrying is that people could be inadvertently destroying their own credit score, and as a result may be closing the door on life dreams like home ownership.'

HOW TO CHECK YOUR CREDIT SCORE IS UP TO SCRATCH There are three main credit referencing agencies Experian, Equifax and CallCredit, all three of which store broadly the same information but your actual scores may differ slightly. Your file shows your name and address, any electoral roll information, details of any open accounts (or any closed in the past six years) such as loans, credit cards, overdrafts or mortgages. It will also include any previous application searches, details of any missed or late payments and information on any history of bankruptcy and county court judgement and any joint credit. How you can check your credit score for free There are a number of ways to view your rating and history - keeping an eye on your score will help you avoid sticking your head in the sand if you are struggling with a low score. It will also make sure you don't miss any fraudulent applications in your name and ensure you only apply for the financial products you are likely to get accepted for. Experian and Equifax offer 30-day free trials of their service online but you will need to remember to cancel before the end of the promotion to avoid subscription fees. You can also find out your Experian credit score free for life using its CreditMatcher tool. Callcredit offers a free-for-life credit reporting service, Noddle. ClearScore also offers free unlimited access to your credit report online, provided by Equifax. Users can also download an app to help them monitor their score. There is also a tool called Checkmyfile which offers a free trial to check your reports with both Equifax and Callcredit. Alternatively you can request a snapshot excluding any score by requesting a statutory credit report online or by post at a cost of 2 from each agency.

To find out more about getting your credit report back on track read This is Money's guide to getting your report up to scratch.




Sir Philip Green's yacht Lionheart could be seized by the courts to help plug BHS's 571million pension gap.

Last time Sir Shifty was aboard the 100m vulgarity, he was filmed ranting at a Sky News reporter while accoutred in snug-fitting beachwear.

Speaking to a Green aide after the car crash footage was broadcast, sage ex-Marks and Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose smoothly advised: 'Never, ever allow Philip to appear on camera wearing shorts again.'

Change of tack: Sir Philip Green's floating 100m vulgarity Lionheart could be seized by the courts to help plug BHS's 571m pension gap

British Airways boss Willie Walsh is furious after discovering the firm's 200m glass-fronted offices will be demolished to make room for Heathrow's third runway.

He claims not to have known about Heathrow's plans, saying: 'The first I saw of it was in the Airport Commission report.' Punchy, 6.4m-a-year Willie, 55, opposed Heathrow's expansion, reasoning it will lead to higher landing charges.

Some suspect he just hates the thought of rivals gaining a bigger foothold.

Goldman Sachs' well-nourished European chief Mike Sherwood, 51, will embark on a health drive when he soon departs the bank after 30 years.

He says: 'I'm going to try and lose some of the 25 kilos I've put on since joining Goldman.'

Is north London boy Woody's local Chinese takeaway Zing Zing, in which he's an investor, already drafting a profit warning?

Grizzled ex-Sainsbury's boss and EU campaigner Justin King's prediction that the falling pound will prompt supermarket prices to rise by 5 per cent over the next six months was afforded the second slot on BBC morning bulletins yesterday.

Why's the Beeb giving yesterday's man King such prominence? Heaven forbid any anti-Brexit bias at work.

Speaking at this week's Financial Times Book of the Year award, diminutive 2.8million a-year Talk Talk boss Dido Harding, 49, joked: 'There are more things to smile about in Britain today than Ed Balls' dancing.'
Investors in Chapel Down, the listed UK winemaker, will be cheered after the company suggested that 2016 could be a vintage year.

Chapel Down, based in Kent, said it was an 'exciting time' for its wines after a successful harvest saw it gather its highest quality fruit to date.

The winemaker said that the warm summer had helped boost the ripeness of its grapes, providing the perfect balance of acidity and intense flavours that would allow it to create more award-winning high-value wines in the years to come.

Lovely bubbly: Chapel Down, based in Kent, said it was an 'exciting time' for its wines after a successful harvest saw it gather its highest quality fruit to date.

This followed the strong harvests enjoyed in 2014 and 2015.

Chief executive Frazer Thompson said: 'It's been another outstanding year and we're really excited about the potential of the wines we can create from the 2016 vintage.

'It will help Chapel Down to continue to surprise and delight its customers and keep the development and momentum moving forward.
Revival: Menswear retailer Austin Reed is set for a return to the High Street

Menswear retailer Austin Reed is poised for a High Street revival just months after it crashed into administration with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

Earlier this year Edinburgh Woollen Mill bought the brand, which once made suits for Winston Churchill.

It had initially planned to launch autumn/winter collections online only, but now has a 100million plan to open 50 shops, with a flagship store in London.

The news came as Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which also owns Peacocks and Jane Norman, revealed strong growth.

Sales grew 2.4 per cent to576million for the year ending February, and it said it would open 200 new stores by early 2018.

Prof i t was down 14.5 per cent to 89.8million, but this was due to new international reporting standards and exceptional items.
Ryanair has revoked a deal with a flight comparison site after it allegedly displayed links to unauthorised websites.

The budget airline has accused Momondo of aiding rivals and urged customers to book directly on the Ryanair website instead.

Momondo displays flights for price comparison purposes and transfers customers to host websites to purchase tickets.

Cutting ties: Ryanair has revoked a deal with a flight comparison site after it allegedly displayed links to unauthorised websites

But Ryanair, which allows a number of comparison sites to list its flights, said the company had breached its contract by transferring customers to rivals Opodo and CheapOair.

Ryanair is engaged in several legal cases against some websites to prevent consumers from being subjected to extra charges and to ensure it has contact details to communicate with its customers.

The company has started legal proceedings in the Irish High Court against Google and eDreams claiming both mislead buyers by advertising non-existent Ryanair fares.

Robin Kiely, head of communications at Ryanair said Momondo was in breach of contract and Ryanair revoked its licence to prevent any more customers being misled.

Pia Vemmelund, managing director of momondo, said: 'Our primary purpose has always been to show the lowest available price to provide our users with transparency.

'Therefore, we wont compromise on that transparency by taking out specific travel agencies from our search results just because an airline like Ryanair tells us to. That would be against our principles.

'We can confirm that we no longer have a license agreement with Ryanair, but we cannot confirm a breach of contract or that we agreed to exclusively show Ryanair prices through Ryanairs website only.
Popular flights website Skyscanner has been bought by Chinese giant Ctrip.com in a deal worth 1.4billion, as yet another UK tech star falls into the arms of a Far East owner.

The deal marks a big payday for co-founders Gareth Williams and Barry Smith as well as its army of investors, including Sequoia Capital and Scottish Equity Partners.

Ctrip - China's biggest online travel service - expects to complete the takeover by the end of the year and said the current management of Skyscanner would remain in place.

Foreign ownership: Skyscanner, the UK-based travel search business, has been bought by Ctrip, China's biggest online travel firm

The firm employs more than 800 staff, with 10 offices worldwide, including in Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Glasgow and London has around 60 million monthly active users.

It was launched in 2003 to let users compare prices from different travel sites when searching for flights, hotels and rental cars.

Chief executive Williams said: 'This is an important and exciting step in our journey of accelerated global growth.

'Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and continue to deliver the Skyscanner products that travellers know and love.

'It takes us one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world'.

Pioneer: Tech guru Brent Hoberman says the next stage for the UK is to build more decacorns - companies worth 10billion

But the deal comes less than 24 hours after Chancellor Philip Hammond promised 400million to help Britain's successful digital start-ups avoid being snapped up by larger rivals.

Hammond said in his Autumn Statement: 'I am taking a first step to tackle the long-standing problem of our fastest growing technology firms being snapped up by bigger companies, rather than growing to scale.'

His comments were aimed at the recent sale of Cambridge based ARM to Japan's SoftBank and Google's acquisition of artificial intelligence start-up DeepMind for 400million.

Asked whether Theresa May had a view about the Skyscanner deal, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: 'It's not something where I've heard any particular concerns raised.

'We want to see inward investment into this country. We want to see our entrepreneurs succeeding. One of the things we have been setting out this week is how we are going to be seeking to do more to encourage innovation, to encourage new small businesses to grow and scale up, and looking at how we can support that.'

SKYCANNER'S STORY The firm was founded in 2003 by Gareth Williams, Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith. The trio met on their first day of studying mathematics and computing at the University of Manchester. A passionate skier, Williams was frustrated by the time it took to sort through potential flights. Skyscanner does not sell flights directly. Instead, the site can be used to find the cheapest deal for a desired route after which users are automatically transferred to the airline or travel suppliers website to make their booking directly. It has has an annual turnover of 120million. The company now has offices in the UK, Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen, Miami, Barcelona, Sofia and Budapest. The UK has produced 17 other unicorns in recent years, compared to more than 140 worldwide, according to research from GP Bullhound, the investment bank.

Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman cheered the deal but admitted it represented a wider problem for the UK tech scene - namely why has this country failed to produce a Google, or Facebook or Amazon.

He said: 'It is a serious problem as these companies will shape the world in the future. We don't have the huge domestic market and audience that the US has but we've still struggled to build companies on a pan-European scale.'

He added: 'The next stage is to build more decacorns - companies worth 10billion.'

The deal adds to a string of acquisitions by Chinese companies in search of UK technology, brands and access to foreign markets.

Framestore - the Oscar-winning UK visual effects company behind Gravity and the Harry Potter films - was sold to China's Cultural Investment Holdings earlier this month in a deal valuing the group at 150million.
'A disgrace': Sir Philip Green has been slammed over pay for depot workers

Topshop workers are staging a strike on one of the busiest shopping days of the year in a bid to hit back at owner Sir Philip Green.

More than 100 staff at the clothing company's online Arcadia distribution hub in the West Midlands are planning a walkout on Monday  known as Cyber Monday  in protest at working conditions and pay, according to the GMB union.

A spokesman for DHL Supply Chain, which owns the depot, said plans are in place to make sure the strike caused as little disruption as possible.

It comes as Green faces calls for his assets, including his 100million yacht, to be seized to help pay the pensions of thousands of workers at collapsed High Street chain BHS, which he sold last year for just 1 to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell.

Workers at the Solihull depot are paid 7.20 an hour, the current minimum wage for over-25s, but David Warwick, an organiser for GMB, said workers wanted the independently calculated living wage of 8.45 an hour.

He said: 'It's a disgrace that Sir Philip Green, who holds the purse strings on this DHL contract and has enriched himself on the backs of these loyal workers, is refusing to put a sensible offer on the table.

'I sincerely hope he takes some time from sailing his luxury yacht to reconsider his position and pay his workers enough money for a decent standard of living.'

In a statement, DHL said: 'We are disappointed that the GMB has announced its intention to hold industrial action.
Warning: Chancellor Philip Hammond said the national debt is heading to 2trn

Government borrowing costs shot up today after the Chancellor said the country's public debt was heading towards 2trillion, sparking a row over gloomy economic forecasts.

The ten-year gilt yield climbed sharply from 1.4 per cent to 1.48 per cent as it was revealed that the country would be borrowing more than first thought.

In Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement yesterday, the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast that Brexit would add almost 60billion in borrowing to our debt.

The independent official forecasting body forecast total borrowing from now to 2020/21 of 216.3billion, compared to the 94.3billion prediction made in March.

Of the 122billion rise, 58.7billion was blamed on Brexit.

That came despite a set of forecasts that said the UK would not fall into a recession, but that growth would be lower.

The OBR downgraded its growth prediction for 2017 from 2.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent, citing increased uncertainty and lower investment.

It then said that in 2018 growth will be 1.7 per cent instead of the 2.1 per cent predicted at March's Budget, but left growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 unchanged.

Overall it said growth would be 2.4 per cent lower over the next five years.

In total, slower growth, lower investment and falling consumer spending will leave a hole in the public finances - which will lead to an extra 122billion of government borrowing by 2020-21.

The Chancellor later admitted that the forecasts held a high degree of uncertainty and OBR chairman Robert Chote said there was a 50 per cent chance of them being wrong, but a row erupted as Brexit-backing Tory MPs criticised them as too gloomy.

Former Cabinet minister John Redwood said: 'The OBR are probably still quite wrong about 2017 - their forecast is too low, their borrowing forecast is too high, and we will get good access to the single market once we are out of the EU.'

Gilt yields rose on the back of the details and the Autumn Statement announcements. The yield on these UK government bonds is a benchmark that reflects how much it costs the country to borrow money.

Meanwhile the pound rallied to $1.25 and 1.18 as investor confidence around the UK economy rose, and the gold price climbed to $1,213.8 an ounce.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg also criticised the OBR. 'It seems to me that there are two problems with those assumptions,' he said.

'One is that they assume that we will apply tariffs on the same basis inside the European Union, which the Chancellor will know he will be able to remove.

'And secondly, they're particularly gloomy on the prospects for financial services.

The OBR themselves admit there is a 50% chance their forecast is 'too gloomy'

Aside from estate agents, who took a pounding earlier in the day on the news of the ban on tenant fees, there was little movement from other stock market-listed firms which may have expected to be hit hard.

Shares in Direct Line Insurance fell 2.1 per cent, or 7.6p, to 348.4p and Admiral Group was down 2.1 per cent, or 41p, to 1926p after another raid on insurance premium tax was unveiled. Although this will bring in 4billion for the Treasury, the cost is passed on to consumers.

And a forthcoming review of the energy market did little to move utilities firms. SSE slipped 1p to 1461p.

The FTSE 100 was largely unmoved, finishing slightly lower at 6,818.09.

As expected, Mr Hammond ditched predecessor George Osborne's fiscal rules  which included running a surplus in 2019-20  instead saying he would the public finances to the black 'as early as possible in the next Parliament'.

A surplus is not expected until at least 2023. OBR forecasts said that the national debt as a proportion of national income will peak at 90.2 per cent in 2017-18.

First, the public finances should be in balance 'as early as possible' in the next parliament.

Second, debt must be falling as a percentage of GDP by the end of this parliament, and third, a new cap on welfare spending.
Britain's brightest technology firms are to be protected from foreign takeovers in a bid to keep their talent and ideas on these shores.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to unlock 1billion of new finance to help businesses grow.

It could stem the flow of Britain's most promising tech stars being sold to overseas giants and robbing the UK of the chance to challenge Silicon Valley.

Russ Shaw, founder of London Tech Advocates, which promotes London as a tech hub, said: 'This is a really positive step. If we're serious about building businesses for the future we need to help them scale up to that make-or-break phase.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to unlock 1billion of new finance to help businesses grow

'These are not FTSE 100 or 250 firms but they have the potential to get to that point. This is where the country's jobs growth is coming from.

'We live in a free market and given how much the pound has declined, our firms are a greater acquisition target.'

Hammond's announcement was a 400million injection into venture capital funds through the British Business Bank, which will unlock 1billion of finance.

The government-owned bank does not invest in small firms but works with venture capital funds to offer finance.

The measures come after a string of British firms were lost just as they began to reach the cusp of major growth.

In 2014, artificial intelligent firm DeepMind was sold to Google for 400million, and this year video-app Magic Pony was sold to Twitter for 120million.

Swiftkey, whose keyboard app predicts what a smartphone user is likely to type next, was bought by Microsoft for 200million in February.

And the jewel in Britain's technology crown, ARM Holdings, was sold to Japanese-owned SoftBank for 24bn in the summer.

Meanwhile, a string of smaller firms pioneering the use of artificial intelligence are being snapped up by Chinese private equity firms.

Critics argue that if Britain continues to sell its tech stars, Cambridge's 'Silicon Fen' will never grow to rival California's Silicon Valley.

And London's tech start-ups are in desperate need of cash after having been accused of soaking up most of the venture capital funds already available in the UK.

Digital wealth manager Nutmeg raised 30million, but only by casting its net far and wide. The round of funding was led by Hong Kong's largest independent advisory firm, Convoy.

Patrick Imbach, co-head of KPMG's tech growth practice, said that the Government cash was a 'timely acknowledgement' that Britain's long-term investment culture was lagging behind the US and China.

Charlotte Holloway, policy director at techUK, said: 'A match-fit Britain must be a tech-fit Britain.

The Chancellor's focus on backing tech and unleashing a new wave of productivity is exactly the vision needed for an uncertain period ahead.'

However, Ed Molyneux, chief executive of cloud-accounting software company FreeAgent, questioned whether the move would prevent smaller businesses being snapped up.

He said: 'If the offer on the table is right, I'm not sure that additional funding will be hugely successful in dissuading business owners from selling up.'

Hammond's flood of cash yesterday came with a string of other measures to boost the digital economy.
A purge on David Brent-style bad bosses is being put at the forefront of a bid to get firms working as well as their European rivals.

The Chancellor revealed that British workers take longer and get less pay to carry out the same job as their German peers  and even those in Italy and France.

In a damning insight into the nation's poor productivity, it was claimed every family could be 9,000 better off if companies were more efficient.

Bad boss: Ricky Gervais in The Office. The Chancellor revealed that British workers take longer and get less pay to carry out the same job as their German peers

It showed how German workers take four days to do the same job that it takes a British worker to do in five.

Matching the productivity of the US would raise GDP by 31 per cent, equating to around 21,000 per annum for every household in the UK.

To end this nationwide go-slow, Hammond unveiled a 23billion fund devoted to jump-start our productivity and is leading a push to improve bad bosses.

Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield has been appointed to improve the quality of management in the UK and end the David Brent factor. The 13million plan will see bosses receive training to help them get the most from their workforce.

Investors In People reckons inept leadership is costing the UK economy 84billion a year.

It's not clear how they worked that out, but a survey by the Chartered Management Institute rang true, with its finding that larger firms are littered with 'accidental managers' who have been promoted with no training.

As a result, while they were good at their job, they can prove useless at helping companies grow.

Four out of ten bosses are considered useless by their underlings, so the scourge of inept leadership looks like a big problem.

If all British businesses became just one percentage point more productive every year, the UK economy would increase by 240billion in a decade, equivalent to 9,000 for every household.

It's great that instead of just talking about poor productivity they are actually going to do something about it,' said John Neill, the chairman and chief executive of manufacturing and consultancy group Unipart.

'Looking at the scale of the country's debt, the only way out is growth and the only way to get that is better productivity and an improved export performance.'

The new productivity fund, which will deliver the 23billion from the 2017-18 tax year to 2021-22, will provide cash to improve housing, research and development, infrastructure and new 5G broadband.

Engineering companies were delighted by news of the additional 2billion of funding for research and development.
BT is under pressure to up its game and connect rural villages to the internet

BT is under pressure to up its game and connect rural villages to the internet after smaller providers were handed a 1billion boost.

The FTSE100 telecoms giant and its infrastructure arm Openreach have been accused of failing to invest enough money in fibre broadband, leaving households and businesses struggling to get online.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is now handing cash to smaller rivals who install fibre cables direct.

City Fibre, whose shares rose more than 5 per cent yesterday, said it was a positive step for the industry.

The measures came with a five-year suspension of the 'fibre tax' and cash to trial 5G mobile speeds.
MBABANE  Underage Miss Cultural Heritage top 12 finalist Tanele Myeni has decided to quit three days before the main finals, following the discovery that she is still a pupil.



Myeni informed the committee responsible for the pageant about her withdrawal on Tuesday morning.

This means there will only be 11 girls competing for the 2016/2017 Miss Cultural Heritage crown.

This was after the committee questioned her if she was still a pupil or not.



Information gathered is that the committee discovered that Myeni was still at school, which was against the rules and regulations of the pageant.

Myeni was then called and she confirmed this.



She was then asked what her wishes were after it was felt that she had not been honest with the committee from the start. It is then that she decided to withdraw her participation from the pageant.



The Swaziland National Council of Arts and Culture (SNCAC) has already been informed about Myenis quitting.

Stanley Dlamini, SNCAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) confirmed that Myeni had withdrawn her participation.

I just got a report from the committee that one of the participants has decided to withdraw.



This was after it was discovered that she was still a pupil, and had not communicated this fact to the committee during the eliminations, he said.

Dlamini said he asked the committee if it had investigated the matter before calling her in for questioning and they assured him they did.
















KWALUSENI  These female students entertained their colleagues during their march to deliver a petition yesterday. The students want the universitys administration to allow owing students to write their exams. (Pic: Sibusiso Zwane)

MANZINI  The University of Swaziland (UNISWA) students have given the institutions administration less than a day to revoke its statement that owing students will not be allowed to write examinations.



The students said this through a petition which was delivered by Students Representative Council (SRC) Secretary General Sakhile Ndzimandze to Vice Chancellor Cisco Magagula yesterday before they commemorated Black Wednesday.



The petition was received by Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) Musa Kunene on behalf of the administration.

Through the petition, the students said they had learnt that the university issued statements in various media concerning those who still have not settled their first semester fees.



They said the statements were to the effect that the owing students would not be given exam cards and would subsequently not be allowed to sit for the examinations.



The students deemed this as a highly inconsiderate position due to various reasons.

Firstly, the students said their owing colleagues were self-sponsored; that is they fork out money from their own pockets if not from the meagre salaries earned by their parents and relatives.



As much as we are not anticipating that university education should be free, these students success will be delayed.

We, therefore, call upon the university to reconsider this stance as a matter of urgency and we will be waiting for your soonest response, reads part of the petition.
MANZINI  An Asian businessman was allegedly denied the right to visit his arrested friend and countrymen by police officers.



He was further told that the countrys law does not allow foreigners to reside within Swaziland.

The incident allegedly took place on Saturday morning at Matsapha Police Station. *Azibar, a businessman from Pakistan, said three of his visiting friends were arrested last Thursday while at Magevini flats in Matsapha.



He said they were all kept in the police cells for that night and further taken to court the following day where they were found guilty and were sentenced to five months in prison or pay E500 fine.



The businessman said this was despite the fact that they furnished the police with the required documents (passports and visas).

He said after paying the fine on Friday, his countrymen were kept in the police custody pending their transfer to His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) facilities where they were supposed to await their deportation.



The businessman said he was allowed to bring them foodstuff and blankets together with toiletries on Friday night.

He said when he brought them breakfast on Saturday morning, he was attended to by an officer who fully introduced himself before asking him what he was doing at the police station.
LOBAMBA - Why was Swazi Airways bought? This was the question on the lips of several Members of Parliament who expressed displeasure at the fact that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport had purchased or leased a plane, which was now just lying idle at King Mswati III International Airport.



Manzini North MP Jan Sithole said government was spending money on projects that would be white elephants.

As I speak, there is a parked aeroplane that is non-operational. Why is government venturing into business that has failed even in countries with better economies? wondered Sithole.

He said staff was hired at Swazi Airways, including air hostesses, but clearly they sat around and did nothing as the airplane was not yet operational.



This was during the debate of the Mid-Year Review Report which was made by Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini two weeks ago.

Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo also wondered why Parliament was not involved in the Swazi Airways issues.

Now we have to allocate money for servicing the plane that is not even operational, said Khumalo.

He said government had deemed it fit to inform Parliament on the intended purchase of a plane for the King, but had failed to inform them about Swazi Airways.



He said he would not approve this deal because Parliaments advice was not sought, adding that if it was for licencing issues, the ministry should just have leased the plane and sent it back after receiving the operating licence.






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By Tammy Scileppi

They say the best gifts are the ones you make yourself. Scrapbooks are wonderful, but lets face it, buying something special for that special someone saves time, especially around the holidays.

So, if youre working on your gift list and cant decide what to get for your favorite co-worker, new girlfriend or Uncle Harry and Aunt Juanita, heres a great tip: Why not buy locally made, handcrafted products? Theyre the next best thing to making it yourself, and you probably already know that artisanal items make fabulous, budget-friendly gifts.

Whether its a crocheted baby sweater or an interesting ceramic vase, a hand-poured, organic lavender candle or an original paintingtheyll surely appreciate that thoughtful, one-of-a-kind gem you picked out especially for them.

If youre a jewelry lover or know someone who is, did you know you can also stock up on striking, locally designed pieces at bargain prices, when you visit Ridgewood Market?

And if youre also thinking vintage, retro, or Boho Chic, why not check out Lockwood Shop in Astoria or Jackson Heights? These days, few peopleespecially millennialscan resist that artisanal/nostalgic combo, whether its in clothing or home decor. For more gifting ideas from days gone by, stop by Stray Vintage on Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside.

Just in time for the holiday season, neighborhood shop owners are revamping their merchandise, while local vendors are getting ready to sell their creations at fleas and holiday markets throughout the borough.

Where else can you find these specially made, one-of-a-kind treasures, without having to schlep to Manhattan or Brooklyn?

Heres a curated sampling of places across Queens that offer a mix of handcrafted offerings made by locals, as well as regular items. You can find plenty of giftable options at reasonable prices, and theres a wide variety of unique products to choose from, which will make perfect Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwaanza presents.

Another nice thing about gifting handmadeyoure helping local artisans, many of whom make a living from selling what they craft.

Astoria shop owners Vivian Dritsas and Elena Poumpouras of Lavender Label have been gearing up for the holidays and making sure there is plenty of soap to go around, because customers cant get enough of their homemade line of great-smelling natural bath and body products.

Our soaps are made of quality organic and/or sustainable oils, such as coconut, olive, palm, castor, shea, sunflower and safflower oils. We occasionally play around with recipes and add jojoba, avocado and meadowfoam oils, Dritsas noted.

We have a huge array of scents from pure essential oils of lavender, peppermint, tea tree, lemongrass, rosemary and geranium, as well as fragrance oils, like vanilla, cedar, pumpkin, honey and pomegranate. These are some of their most popular sellers.

At Lavender Label, youll find a grand list of items that make unique gifts, including a full bath and body line, accessories for adults and children, and quality kids clothing from infant to adolescents.

Bath and body products and candles range from $4  $22. Kids clothes, $12  $100. Accessories and toys, $6  $50.

Dritsas opened Lavender Linewhich was initially called The Little Soap Shopback in 2008, after making and selling her soap at fairs and private events for two years. Soaping had become an obsession and so I decided to quit my full-time job at Citi and go all the way with this, she recalled.

At first, she made all the soap in the shop in small batches and soon began making and selling other products, like bath salts, soy candles, body butters and lip butters.

A few years later Elena, an old friend and co-worker came on board. Elena and I became partners in November 2014. I knew instantly she and I would have a great dynamic, said Dritsas.

But it was difficult to keep up with the business because when youre making cold process soap you have to cure each batch for a minimum of four weeks before selling it. So, I reached out to a friend of mine, who is also a soap maker and hired her to make our special recipe for us. We have been using her since. She is based in Long Island, so everything is as local as you get. We will make small custom batches there and still make our salts, body butters, lip butters in the shop and finish most other products on premises.

Lavender Line is at 22-07b 36th St. in Astoria. Call them at (718) 704-4408 or go to theli ttles oapsh op.net to find out more.

More giving treasures can be found at Matted LIC Gallery (46-36 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City). And while youre there, you can chat with the local artists whose works are on display through Nov. 30. Who wouldnt love finding a piece of original art under their Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush?

Ridgewood Market (657 Fairview Ave.) is another spot packed with giftable finds. So, if you go, browse and shop to your hearts content. Theyre doing two markets this holiday seasona Sunday afternoon Brunch Market Dec. 11 and a Saturday Night Bazaar Dec. 18with over 40 vendors per market, a prize raffle, a 50/50 raffle and much more, according to founder/organizer Sarah Feldman.

The quality of vendors gets better every year, Feldman noted. She also provided a sampling of some of the vendor submissions. No doubt, youll discover a cornucopia of artisanal offerings made by locals. Those offerings include coconut oil-based hair and body products; wood signs and other wood gift items; Digital prints, art prints and silkscreens; handcrafted ceramic tableware and pottery;

plus homemade honey, chocolate and baked goods. For the high-tech shopper, theres robot gear and robot-themed t-shirts, while the more nostalgic can opt for locally designed retro-style baubles and accessories as well as vintage articles, including dolls, clothes, linens and brooches. To see some the selections available go to www.ridge woodm arket.com/ vendo rs/ .

Featuring items by local designers and makers, Lockwood Shop (32-15 33rd St., Astoria) is a one-stop destination for holiday shoppers who want something different. In addition to their Astoria store, Lockwood has a branch at Queens Museum (New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, www.queen smuse um.org ), where youll find a great selection of giftable items for everyone on your list. Dont miss the museums specially curated selections that reflect current installations, and their collection of Worlds Fair goodies.

Back in Long Island City, you can check out the holiday shopping deals at the popular LIC Flea (5-25 46th Ave., Hunters Point, 718-224-5863). On Dec. 17 and 18, you can start celebrating early at their Spiked Mug Festival (www.spike dmugf est.com ). Plus you browse the offerings at the accompanying holiday flea and food bazaar, where you will likely find plenty of artisanal fare.

Last year, You Are Here Studios participated in LIC Flea. But this holiday season, photographers Alex and Lisa will be selling their funky, Queens-centric and New York City images at a couple of Manhattan locations. The two business partners live in Astoria and said they grew their business from, and in Queens. If your holiday shopping expeditions take you to Manhattan, you can browse through works at Kiosk E3 at the Bryant Park Winter Village (through Jan 2), the kiosk on the main floor of the Oculus Building at World Trade Center (through Dec 31). Find out more at www.YouAr eHere Studi os.com

And finally, if youre already feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed out, and you need some inner peace, you might want to check out what Inner Peace (79-24 37th Ave.) in Jackson Heights has to offer. The shop has been a part of the community for 17 years and offers a Zen-like atmosphere. Youll find candles and calming oils, Tibetan singing bowls and even crocheted baby clothingall made by craftspeople in the area.
By Benjamin Haber

In creating a Republican form of government non-existent at the time, while our founding fathers did not agree on everything, they were uniformly intelligent. They created three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judiciary. They recognized the executive and legislative would be political in nature, but not the judiciary, which should adhere to the law impartially, free of ideological and political interference.

To make sure that would be the case, the federal judiciary were given lifetime tenure except in cases of unethical conduct. For most of the time since its inception, the federal judiciary functioned quite well as envisioned. Indeed, there were times when a person nominated to the Supreme Court did not even appear before the Senate, which judged that persons fitness by examining his legal and judicial scholarship.

Unfortunately, our U.S. Supreme Court is now on the verge of becoming an ideological and political court, contrary to the intentions of our founding fathers and the fault rests squarely on the Republican members of the Senate.

The members of the court are odd in number so as to avoid split decisions, which can at times cause uncertainty in application of the law. Upon the death of Antonin Scalia, President Obama as the sitting president was constitutionally required without undue delay to nominate a replacement. He fulfilled his constitutional obligation and nominated Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a centrist and one of the most qualified persons ever nominated to sit on the court.

Without any impartial considered thought, but strictly on political and ideological grounds, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, announced Garland would not even be given a hearing. McConnells absurd justification was that since Obamas term in office was about to expire with an imminent presidential election on the horizon, the choice for filling the vacancy left by Scalias death should be left to the people whose voice will be heard at the election.

Taking McConnells words at their literal meaning, it is the people who should make the decision, the people having given Hillary Clinton over 1 million more popular votes than Donald Trump did speak in support of a Garland appointment to the Supreme Court.

Suffice it to say, McConnell, hell-bent on a political and ideological Supreme Court, will ignore his own words, and let what should be a revered branch of our government be dragged into a legal morass which would have shocked our founding fathers.

Benjamin M. Haber

Flushing
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By Gina Martinez

More than 500 people gathered outside of Nu Clean cleaners in St. Albans Saturday for the street renaming in honor of the late A Tribe Called Quest rapper, Malik Phife Dawg Taylor. The site at 192nd Street and Linden Boulevard is now also Malik Phife Dawg Taylor Way.

The atmosphere was positive and celebratory as fans sang along to the groups classic songs while holding up signs and album art. A large portion of the fans were from St. Albans, with others came from all over the city. There was even a couple who drove all the way from Indiana to make it to the event.

A Tribe Called Quest is widely known as one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time. The rap group began in 1985 in St. Albans, with its four original members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Jarobi White and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The group became incredibly successful after the release of their debut album Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm in 1990. Phife Dawg was a stand-out member, known for his great lyricism. Taylor died in March of kidney failure. He had suffered from type-2 diabetes since the 1990s even referring to himself in Oh My Godas a funky diabetic His condition worsened through the years and he received a kidney transplant from his wife in 2008.

The event was a huge celebration of Taylors life.

White addressed the crowd telling them that they were not there by chance and that it was all divine. He said it was no coincidence that after 18 years with no album, their latest EP debuted at No. 1. In We Got It From Here Thank You 4 Your Service, Phife Dawg makes posthumous appearances. He also said the surprisingly good weather meant all was in their favor. Rappers Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes also addressed the crowd, telling stories of their upbringing in St. Albans and how it shaped who they are today. Taylors mother, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, told childhood stories about Taylor and how he was a mischievous child who also enjoyed going to church. In addition to the tributes, poetry was recited in Taylors honor.

The street renaming came one day before Taylors birthday, Nov. 20. He would have been 46 years old.

At the event were former friends who knew Taylor. Milt Shake, a former dancer who had photos of performing at Syracuse University, thought it was amazing to see St. Albans own be honored.

It means a lot to us, he said, especially for those who grew up in St. Albans and love hip hop. Its amazing to see one of us make it like this.

Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) was instrumental in getting the street renamed.

It is an honor to be able to pay tribute to Malik Phife Dawg Taylor and A Tribe Called Quest, Miller said. They have continued the incredible musical culture of southeast Queens with a message through hip hop that transcended a generation, while also representing us with the dignity and respect as international ambassadors. They never forgot where they came from, and now all that pass by will know of Phifes Tribes and their contributions to American culture.

He added, I would like to thank the Taylor family, Q-Tip and Jarobi White, and the community for helping us to celebrate this legacy.
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By Mark Hallum

A rally for safer streets near schools drew hundreds Friday after two boys were struck by cars within the same week, leaving one 11-year-old boy in critical condition.

City Councilmen Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) and other elected officials spoke with over 100 students, faculty members and concerned residents about the challenges of establishing slow zones and a three-bill package he plans to pass in the City Council.

Alongside Vallone, was state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), state Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows), and Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Fresh Meadows), as well as students and staff of JHS 185 at 147-26 25th Drive in Flushing, near where the 11-year-old was hit.

Vallones triple-hitter legislation will require a 20-mile-an-hour limit near all elementary and middle schools as well as an re-examination of the current slow zones within the city to determine whether they fit the new safety requirements, additional speed bumps and crossing guards, enhanced signs and flashing lights.

Vallone is also drafting a resolution to scrap what he calls antiquated federal guidelines, which often lead to the denial of requests for additional safety requirements.

We put in legislation this week after the two most recent incidents, one here at [JHS 185], one at [PS 194], Vallone said. As a father, I couldnt take it anymore. Im tired of being rejected [by DOT] when you ask for a speed bump, a light, a crossing guard, signs, tickets, enforcement, and then saying we cant do it. This legislation, which is supported by everyone you see here, says you have to do it. And thats the only way its going to make change.

Since legislation is often caught in a bottleneck at the state level, Rozic said, it is important for city officials to pass the legislation that may encounter snags in Albany.

We need to pass this bill in the City Council, and we need to make sure all of our students are supported in every way and we are doing everything we can to protect our schools, Rozic said.

Avella has grappled with DOT over having four-way stops and other safety measures brought into play in his district and has publicly expressed anger when his requests were denied from the city agency.

How many years do we have to go back and forth with the citys Department of Transportation before they finally do the right thing? Avella said. No child should ever be injured when coming to school or going back to home. This is unacceptable for the city of New York to continue.

Grodenchik said he has been rejected repeatedly by DOT when asking for safety measures, including one study that was conducted and rejected at Benjamin Cardozo High School.

Angela Sierra and Vincent Farruggio, both students at JHS 185, also expressed concern about their safety relating the recent incidents and the need for increased safety measures at schools.
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By Mark Hallum

The annual Immigration Resource Fair at the Flushing Library was a little different this year, with a Speak Out session for those worried about the new administration coming to the White House on Inauguration Day. Borough President Melinda Katz hosted the session, which turned into an open mic for leaders from immigrant organizations throughout Queens to discuss the issues facing the people they serve.

The Immigration Resource Fair is organized by U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Katz to give immigrants the assistance they need, such as legal advice and filing citizenship paperwork. This year the phrase on Katzs lips was Queens has your back.

Although this is an annual, long-planned event, this years seems to have become even more timely in light of recent events and the current climate, Katz said. In addition to a free, on-site legal clinic, as well as direct, one stop access to over 30 organizations and agencies, weve incorporated a public Speak Out session, a space for people to share their candid thoughts.

Naheed Bahram from the Women for Afghan Women said many recent immigrants in her program voted for the first time on Nov. 8 and were deeply disheartened by the results. Many of the Muslim women have reported to Bahram fear of leaving the house wearing their hijab.

Her program educates women on the U.S. Constitution and American democracy. But classroom attendance has dwindled since the election, according to Bahram.

We have lost some of our students, who have stopped coming to our classes just because of their appearance, Bahram said. Ninety-nine percent of the women coming to use our services are Muslims wearing hijabs.

She pointed out that at the after-school program last week, one of the mothers called and said, Im sorry Im not able to come pick up my son. Can I send assign my neighbor to come pick up my children?

This parent is known to Bahram as a mother who regularly picks up her children herself. After the election, however, her husband, concerned for her safety, said she should not leave the house.

Jesus Huerta came from Mexico as a child and did not know he was undocumented until several of his family members were deported. Now a student at Hunter College, Huerta said he would like to keep the education system to stay open to undocumented immigrants so they can have the same opportunities in the United States as everybody else.

According to Stephanie Mulcock from Cidadao Global, there was an influx of immigrants from Brazil over the summer because of political unrest. Now Brazilian immigrants are facing even more uncertainty.

Children are also facing bullying in schools, according to Rokeya Akhter, founder of the New American Womens Forum.

The fear that we feel right now is indescribable, Akhter said. I dont how to describe how I feel when I hear my nephew asking me how were going to survive here when were at school and theyre telling us to go back to our country. This is my country.

Katz remarked that the common word used during the Speak Out session was uncertainty.
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and prominent charter school advocate Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education, the first women selected for top-level administration posts in his new administration.

Both Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation.

While some cheered Haley\s selection, despite her limited experience on the international stage, the DeVos choice faced criticism even before it was formally announced Wednesday. Conservatives warned that DeVos, a longtime Republican donor, previously supported the Common Core education standards that Trump railed against during the campaign.

Trump, who was at his Palm Beach estate Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, called DeVos "a brilliant and passionate education advocate."

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is the only minority member chosen by Trump so far. Retired neurosurgeon and Trump loyalist, Ben Carson, an African-American, has been offered the job of secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a person familiar with the offer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the deliberations publicly.

Carson has not yet accepted the offer, but he tweeted on Wednesday that "an announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again."

Trump said that Haley, his UN choice, "has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country."

"She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals," he said in a statement. "She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."

DeVos, from Michigan, is a longtime advocate for charter schools and school vouchers. She currently leads the advocacy group, American Federation for Children, and sits on the board of the Jeb Bush-led Foundation for Excellence in Education.

"Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families," Trump said.

DeVos said in her own statement, "The status quo in education is not acceptable."

The DeVos family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors to GOP candidates and the Republican Party. DeVos\ husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company.

The couple gave $22.5 million to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 2010, at the time the largest private donation in the center\s history.

Hours before the DeVos pick was announced, conservative policy leader Frank Cannon, president of American Principles Project, called her "an establishment, pro-Common Core secretary of education."

"This would not qualify as \draining the swamp,\" Cannon said, referencing Trump\s campaign trail slogan. "And it seems to fly in the face of what Trump has stated on education policy up to this point."

Asked about DeVos\ support for the Common Core standards, Trump spokesman Jason Miller noted that "the president-elect has been consistent and very clear in his opposition to Common Core."

"Anybody joining the administration is signing on to the president-elect\s platform and vision for moving America forward," Miller said.

There was less immediate opposition to Haley\s selection.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham praised his home-state governor as a good choice and said in a statement that he looks forward to working with her on "overdue reforms of the United Nations." Graham is chairman of the Senate\s Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations, which is responsible for funding the UN and all American foreign assistance.

Haley said she accepted the assignment partly out of "a sense of duty."

"When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation\s standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed," she said in a statement.

Not all presidents have treated the ambassadorship to the U.N. as a Cabinet-level position, and Republicans have tended not to grant that status.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Trump is "spending significant time" weighing his choice for secretary of state. Among those he has interviewed is 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who repeatedly denounced Trump during the 2016 campaign.

After secretary of state, the UN ambassador is the highest-profile diplomatic position, often serving as the voice for U.S. positions on the international stage. As part of the Cabinet, Haley would have more opportunity to shape U.S. policies, rather than simply defend the administration\s positions.

Yet it could be an awkward role at times. Trump campaigned on the theme of "America first" and said he is skeptical about "international unions that tie us up and bring America down." Trump has also described the United Nations as weak and incompetent.

Haley would be the third consecutive female U.S. ambassador to the UN, after Susan Rice and Samantha Power, the current ambassador.

Bad blood between Trump and Haley was evident through much of the campaign.

"The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!" Trump wrote on Twitter in March. Haley denounced several of Trump\s campaign comments and urged voters to "reject the siren call of the angriest voices."

DeVos, too, was slow to warm to Trump.

She told The Associated Press in July, "A lot of the things he has said are very off-putting and concerning."

SOURCE: Associated Press
Indian troops fired on a Pakistani passenger bus in Kashmir on Wednesday, killing 10 civilians in one of the deadliest incidents in weeks of violence in the disputed Himalayan region, stoking tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan\s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the shelling "naked aggression," and the government summoned an Indian diplomat to lodge a protest. The Pakistani army contacted its Indian counterpart over a crisis hotline, saying "we reserve the right to respond at the place and time of our choosing."

The Pakistani military said it had already fired back at Indian positions, killing seven soldiers, but there was no word on casualties from the Indian side.

The Indian military said in a statement that Lt. Gen. Ranbir Shah had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart and expressed "grief" over the civilian casualties. But he insisted that India\s "retaliatory" fire had only been directed at locations where Pakistan had fired first.

Kashmir is split between Indian and Pakistani areas of control and claimed in its entirety by both countries. The South Asian rivals fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, and it remains one of the world\s most intractable conflicts.

Waheed Khan, a Pakistani police official in the region, said the Indian shelling also hit villages near the Line of Control separating the two sides, killing another two civilians and causing others to flee. At least three Pakistani soldiers were also killed, the military said, adding that Indian troops had fired on an ambulance.

The latest exchange of fire came a day after the mutilated body of an Indian soldier was found in Kashmir. The Indian military did not say whether the soldier was killed by Pakistani soldiers or Kashmiri rebels, who have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

"Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act," Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman, said after Tuesday\s attack.

Tensions have soared in Kashmir since militants attacked an Indian army base there in September, killing at least 17 soldiers. India said the militants were supported by Pakistan, charges denied by Islamabad. The two sides have traded blame for the cross-border fire and have accused each other of violating a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir.

Last week, the Pakistani army claimed to have shot down a small Indian drone in Kashmir, a day after the navy said it had intercepted Indian submarines entering the country\s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.

Source: Associated Press
Argentina says it has agreed with Britain to discuss exhuming and identifying Argentines who were buried in the Falklands after being killed in the countries\ 1982 war over the islands.

Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra said Tuesday the two governments planned to meet in mid-December in Geneva along with representatives of the Red Cross.

"The meeting will define a protocol for the exhumations" of 123 Argentine soldiers buried in a cemetery on East Falkland Island, known in Spanish as Isla Soledad, she said.

Red Cross personnel have visited the site in the South Atlantic and carried out a preliminary evaluation, she said.

Malcorra said her country has asked that an Argentine forensic expert be allowed to join in the Red Cross\s preliminary investigations.

Families of Argentine troops killed in the conflict have long demanded that their loved ones be identified.

Britain and Argentina fought a brief war over the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish, in 1982 after Argentine forces occupied them.

The conflict killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders.

Argentina argues it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century.

But Britain says it has historically ruled them and that the 3,000 islanders have the right to self-determination.

In a 2013 referendum, residents voted overwhelmingly to remain part of Britain.

After years of testy relations under former leftist governments, Argentina has pursued a cautious rapprochement with Britain under current President Mauricio Macri.

The countries agreed a series of deals in September covering oil, fishing, navigation and trade in and around the islands.

SOURCE: AFP
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Albany

New York regulators say that alternative utility suppliers have earned an $817 million windfall selling natural gas and electricity to residential customers across the state since 2014 as the Cuomo administration seeks to reform the market for such sales.

Dating back to the deregulation of the state's utility market in the late 1990s, New York state has allowed alternative energy companies, also known as energy service companies, or ESCOs, to sell electricity and natural gas supply in competition with utilities like National Grid and NYSEG.

The state Public Service Commission is currently trying to stop sales by alternative energy companies to customers enrolled in low income subsidy programs while it reforms the entire ESCO market in a case that is still pending.

A public comment period for the case ended this week.

"The PSC will be reviewing all of the comments received in the ESCO moratorium proceeding, including strong comments received by seven low-income advocacy groups supporting the moratorium against energy service companies enrolling new low income assistance program participants and requiring them to de-enroll existing low-income customers from their services," PSC spokesman James Denn told the Times Union.

The ESCOs have fought the PSC both in regulatory filings and in state court.

In a filing in that case made this week, staff at the PSC revealed numbers furnished by utilities that showed that since 2014, residential customers paid alternative energy suppliers $817 million more than if they had remained with their utility for gas and electric supply.

For National Grid customers, the number is $175 million. National Grid serves most of upstate New York, including the Capital Region.

Customers enrolled in utility low income programs have paid $95 million more dating back to 2014 than if they remained with their utility, the PSC data shows.

Utilities like National Grid have already sent out letter to low income customers saying they will be pulled from their ESCO, but a court ruling supported by the ESCOs has blocked that from taking place.

Direct Energy, an ESCO that does business in New York state, says it supports reforming sales to low income customers. But it does not believe that the market should be cut off entirely.

"Direct Energy supported a temporary pause in low-income shopping on a going forward basis," Chris Kallaher, a senior director of government and regulatory affairs told the Times Union. "We do not, however, support interfering with existing relationships between ESCOs and their customers."

Kallaher said the way that the utility's so-called default price is calculated is misleading  leading to "unreliable" comparisons of the costs of ESCO and utility service.

He also said that the PSC should examine more closely ESCOs that specifically target low income customers and the methods they use in sales and marketing to ensure that vulnerable customer segments are not taken advantage of.

"Providing innovative energy products that allow our customers to take control of their energy consumption decisions is central to Direct Energy's mission, and we look forward to working with the PSC and other stakeholders to establish a market that allows us to fulfill this mission for all customers," Kallaher said.

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
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BETHLEHEM  Bethlehem school district voters cast their ballots Tuesday on a $32.2 million bond for 111 proposed renovation projects.

The most expensive project is a $7.8 million rehabilitation of the high school's auditorium. New seating, lighting, acoustics and air conditioning would be installed as well as a fly loft above the stage and a sound and light room. In addition, the stage would be widened and extended into the pit area.

If approved, the average homeowner would pay an additional $40 in school taxes. About $21 million of the projects are reimbursable through state building aid, and if voters approve it, the district would draw about $4.9 million from its reserve fund.

The impact to taxpayers would be $16 per $100,000 of assessed property value, about $40 on a property valued at $250,000.

"Our preference is to keep all the facilities in good condition and by having periodic approval on bond projects, it allows us to maintain everything in good condition," said Judith Kehoe, the district's chief business and financial officer. "It's a more efficient way to maintain our buildings, both for students and the community."

Construction of a new high school auditorium was not considered viable because it would not qualify for state reimbursement, so school leaders opted to expand the renovation and added $2 million in work since the bond plan was introduced last spring.

Voting is 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the upper gym at the high school. Voters will consider both the bond project and drawing money from the reserve fund. Details of the 111 projects are available on the school district's website, but here are some highlights.

High school

Renovate auditorium, $7.8 million.

Renovate Library Media Center by expanding windows to allow for more natural light, replace carpet, lighting, ceiling tiles and furniture, $811,504

Renovate all restrooms in B, D, F and G wings, $830,156

Replace home and visitor bleachers at stadium field with ADA compliant bleachers and expand capacity from 1,000 to 1,500 on "home" side and from 500 to 1,000 on "visitor" side, $909,219

Middle school

Upgrade pool tile and equipment, prep and refinish steel structure, replace starting blocks, $1.3 million

Replace windows in original building (1932) and select windows in other areas, $1.2 million

Replace roofing in pool/locker room wing, media center and band/chorus wing, $430,100

Eagle Elementary

Install new playground equipment (with additional support from PTA), $189,750

Elsmere Elementary

Asbestos abatement, $1.2 million

Replace pavement and improve drainage. Add/replace site lighting, $474,375

Gym renovations to include restored masonry, renovated stage area and replacement of wall padding and backstops, $325,500

Replace windows in 1964 wings, $322,651

Exterior masonry restoration, $248,099

Glenmont Elementary

Replace pavement, make drainage improvements in parking area, $608,781

Full kitchen renovation including new equipment and serving lane layout, $407,499

Refinish metal roofing on 1991 addition, $156,860

Hamagrael Elementary

Pavement reconstruction and drainage, $411,125

Add security cameras (interior and exterior), $102,781

Refinish metal roofing on 1991 addition, $100,000

Slingerlands Elementary

Replace bus parking pavement, $774,813

Exterior masonry repairs near main entrance, $426,938

Refinish metal roofing on 1991 addition, $113,850

Transportation

Roof replacement over existing building, $434,528

Renovate driver training area, $432,867

Restore exterior masonry, $216,030

ccrowley@timesunion.com  518-454-5348  @townstu  http://facebook.com/cathleenFcrowley
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Saratoga Springs

Bethesda Episcopal Church's rich historical record brims with stories that date back centuries.

Many of these parish parables are rooted in the music program and the congregation's commitment to encouraging young musicians.

True to form, the church is where Harry T. Burleigh, a composer and arranger renowned for his African-American spirituals, got his start as a teenager near the end of the 19th century.

More Information Celebrate a trailblazer Skidmore College is celebrating Harry Burleigh on Dec. 2 with talks at 12:15 and 7 p.m., along with a concert at 8. Go to https://www.skidmore.edu. See More Collapse

Best known for arrangements that remain classics today, including "Deep River," Burleigh's "In Christ there is no East or West" has remained a standard in the Episcopal hymnal.

Bethesda Episcopal Church will honor Burleigh's musical legacy on the 150th anniversary of his birth at its annual Advent Service of Lessons & Carols at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at 26 Washington St.

"Harry Burleigh received his earliest musical training and recognition at Bethesda," said Interim Rector, the Very Rev. Marshall J. Vang.

Burleigh came to the Spa City and worked as a wine steward in the Grand Union Hotel, which, like other boarding houses at the time, provided seasonal jobs for young African-American men.

Bethesda's then-rector, the Rev. Joseph Carey, arranged afternoon services for these workers, which is where Burleigh's voice first attracted attention.

As a student at New York City's National Conservatory of Music of America, Burleigh became associated with Antonin Dvorak and is credited with inspiring the acclaimed composer to include spiritual melodies in the New World Symphony.

Burleigh was accepted as a baritone soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan when a tie vote of the congregation  which had never allowed African-Americans to worship there  was broken by J.P. Morgan. He stayed on for more than 50 years.

In 1917, the NAACP awarded Burleigh with the Spingarn Medal for highest achievement by an American of African descent.

Burleigh went on to arrange and compose many spirituals and was a teacher who encouraged students like Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson to pursue their musical studies.

"From his beginning here (at Bethesda), he became one of America's most important composer/arrangers of spirituals," said Vang, who has used music to help grow the church's community outreach.

The parish recently published its history, which revealed a deep connection to music and significant personalities (like Burleigh) who rose up through the program.

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David Hyde Pierce, also known as Dr. Niles Crane from the sitcom "Frasier," grew up in Saratoga Springs, sang in the choir and was an assistant organist while in high school.

Pierce continues to support the church and helped provide resources for the installation of a second pipe organ in the sanctuary.

Bethesda's Schola Cantorum choir will perform with baritone Stephen Salters, one of the premier interpreters of Burleigh's arrangements, at the advent service.

Salters's appearance is part of a collaboration with the Skidmore College Music Department, which mounted a training workshop and academic unit on the history, significance and performance of spirituals.

The following events will be held at the Arthur Zankel Music Center on Friday, Dec. 2: 12:15 p.m., talk by Bard College's Myra Young Armstead, "Blacks in Saratoga Springs: Then and Now;" 7 p.m. pre-concert talk by historian Jean Snyder, author of "Harry T. Burleigh: from the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance;" 8 p.m., Salters concert.

"Bethesda is thankful to have rediscovered Burleigh's story, and we will welcome community and religious leaders from throughout the region to our observance of his life and legacy," Vang said.

jpatterson@timesunion.com  @JenSPatterson  518-454-5340
Green Party nominee Jill Stein is asking her supporters for more than $2 million by next week to request a recount in Wisconsin , Michigan and Pennsylvania , three battleground states where "voting anomalies" have been alleged and Donald Trump won.

The campaign did not point out any specific evidence of fraud or irregularity, but cited reported hacks into voter and party databases that it says are "causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable." Prominent cybersecurity experts have recently said that although the chances of the election results being tampered with are slim, a recount would be the best way to ensure that results are valid.

A recount would not change the outcome for Stein, who finished fourth behind the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson , Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump. Stein received a little less than 1.4 million votes overall.

Still, there is a tiny chance that the states where she's asking for recounts could possibly flip to Clinton with enough votes. Clinton would need to win all three states to obtain the necessary electoral votes to overcome Trump.

The Clinton campaign has not yet commented on Stein's efforts to obtain a recount. Last week, when two experts asked Clinton to contest the results, the campaign said it wouldn't because there's "no clear proof of fraud" at the ballot box.

The combined cost of requesting all three recounts is expected to surpass $2 million. The filing fee in Wisconsin alone is about $1.1 million, Stein's campaign manager said. The fees in Michigan and Pennsylvania are $500,000 and $600,000, respectively. Wisconsin's deadline to file for a recount is Friday. The other two states' deadlines are next week.

In Michigan, Trump won by 9,500 votes. He won by 22,500 in Wisconsin and 69,700 in Pennsylvania.

Stein won 1.1 percent of the vote in both Wisconsin and Michigan. In Pennsylvania, she received only 0.8 percent of all votes cast.



Stein said the campaign intends to "restore confidence" in the voting system by checking the accuracy of machine-counted vote tallies. The campaign's website is asking Stein's supporters for help in raising the money, opting to go with "the people, and not big-money corporate donors."



"After a divisive and painful presidential race, in which foreign agents hacked into party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states, many Americans are wondering if our election results are reliable," Stein said. "That's why the unexpected results of the election and reported anomalies need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified."



Stein's campaign manager, David Cobb, led the charge for a recount in Ohio in 2004 when he ran for president as the Green Party's candidate. He said those efforts led to some voting machines becoming banned in California after they were shown to be highly vulnerable. Similar machines, he said, continue to be used in Wisconsin, however.
[November 23, 2016] Western China Catches Attention of the West

CHENGDU, China, Nov. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Western China International Fair, which has been hosted 16 times in Chengdu, has become a platform for international communication and cooperation. This year's fair, which held its opening ceremony on November 3 and ended on November 14, organized 75 events related to investment promotion and trade cooperation. Regions from Sichuan province, of which Chengdu is the capital, signed deals for 836 projects at the 2016 fair with total investment valued at some 657.25 billion yuan ($96.32 billion). Jeong Hyeon-jun, a representative from the Korea Business Incubation Association, said that the association and South Korean exhibitors ppreciated that the fair provided them with such a platform, where they found South Korean products were popular in China. Amanda Koh from Malaysian CocoScience Co said the company thanked the fair for the considerate services it provided before and during the event. Cathy Lee, a black tea exhibitor from Sri Lanka, said: "We feel the fair has become more and more international and the conference and exhibition environment is satisfying."



The fair, held in western China's Chengdu, is not inferior to those in Beijing and East China, Lee said. The Chengdu Investment Presentation and International Cooperation Zone Project matchmaking event, hosted in the Tianfu New City Convention Center on November 2, was regarded as a highlight of the fair. The presentation and matchmaking activity saw the signing of 19 agreements worth 158.63 billion yuan, the fair's organizers said.

In one of the thirteen project investment deals struck, Siemens will help Beijing-headquartered BOE Technology Group Co., a supplier of internet-of-things technology, products and services, to upgrade and reform production lines with total investment valued at 1 billion yuan. Six strategic cooperation agreements involving 115 billion yuan included one for an industry fund focusing on Sino-Germany (Chengdu) innovation cooperation. The fair invited foreign and domestic companies to learn about the economic and social development of Chengdu and potential opportunities in the city. The companies also discussed cooperation with businesses and industry associations from Chengdu. Local officials said the fair aimed to help Chengdu become a regional hub of the economy, science and technology, cultural creativity, foreign contact and comprehensive transport in western China. The first phase of the 11th EU-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair, another important event at the Western China International Fair, was held from November 2 - 6 in the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone. Its second phase took place from November 6 - 8 in Qingdao. Statistics showed that the first phase saw more than 150 companies from 14 European countries and more than 400 Chinese enterprises engage in more than 800 matchmaking talks. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161121/0861612443

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[November 23, 2016] Taro Announces New $250 Million Share Repurchase Authorization

Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TARO) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a new $250 million share repurchase authorization of its ordinary shares. This authorization follows the successful completion of the previous $250 million share repurchase program in August 2016. Repurchases may be made from time to time at the Company's discretion, based on ongoing assessments of the capital needs of the business, the market price of its stock, and general market conditions. No time period has been set for the repurchase program, and any such program may be suspended or discontinued at any time. The repurchase authorization enables the Company to purchase its ordinary shares from time to time through open market purchases, negotiated transactions or other means, including 10b5-1 trading plans in accordance with applicable securities laws or other restrictions. About Taro Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a multinational, science-based pharmaceutical company, dedicated to meeting the needs of its customers through the discovery, development, manufacturing andmarketing of the highest quality healthcare products. For further information on Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., please visit the Company's website at www.taro.com.



SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements to be based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurances that its expectations will be attained, including without limitation statements in this press release regarding Taro's intention to repurchase its ordinary shares under the share repurchase programs. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the market price of Taro's stock, the nature of other investment opportunities presented to Taro, cash flows, general domestic and international economic conditions, industry and market conditions, changes in the Company's financial position, litigation brought by any party in any court in Israel, the United States, or any country in which Taro operates, regulatory and legislative actions in the countries in which Taro operates, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC (News - Alert) reports, including its Annual Reports on Form 20-F. Forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligations to update, change or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, additional or subsequent developments or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005607/en/

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[November 23, 2016] U.S. International Trade Commission Votes to Investigate Unlawful Importation of Ace-K Sweeteners from China Alleged to Infringe Celanese Patent

Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global technology and specialty materials company, today announced that the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has voted to institute an investigation into the unlawful importation into the United States of certain high-potency sweeteners, specifically Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K), in response to the company's recently filed complaint with the Commission. The investigation centers on alleged violations of section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States of high-potency sweeteners that are alleged to infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,024,016, owned by Celanese. Celanese contends a number of Ace-K manufacturers have unlawfully introduced sweeteners made via Celanese's patented technology from China into the United States market. In the investigation, the Commission will consider a general exclusion order barring the importation of all infringing sweeteners. Celanese continuously invests in manufacturing and quality improvements and is dedicated to robust research, development and customer support for the sweetener products manufactured by its patented process. The company intends to protect these investments to supply customers with quality engineered products, and intends to vigorously defend its patented technology against unlawful importation and uses in the United States. Further details of this action by the USITC to initiate an investigation can be found here: https://www.usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2016/er1122ll689.htm



About Celanese Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Our two complementary business cores, Acetyl Chain and Materials Solutions, use the full breadth of Celanese's global chemistry, technology and business expertise to create value for our customers and the corporation. As we partner with our customers to solve their most critical business needs, we strive to make a positive impact on our communities and the world through The Celanese Foundation. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,000 employees worldwide and had 2015 net sales of $5.7 billion. For more information about Celanese and our product offerings, visit www.celanese.com or our blog at www.celaneseblog.com.

All registered trademarks are owned by Celanese International Corporation or its affiliates. Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain "forward-looking statements," which include information concerning the company's plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs and other information that is not historical information. When used in this release, the words "outlook," "forecast," "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "plans," "intends," "believes," and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and beliefs and various assumptions. There can be no assurance that the company or its customers will realize these benefits or that these expectations will prove correct. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond the company's control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed as forward-looking statements. Other risk factors include those that are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005672/en/

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[November 23, 2016] USANA Health Sciences Announces CEO Transition Plan and Appoints Kevin Guest Chief Executive Officer

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE: USNA) today announced a CEO transition plan. Dave Wentz has made the personal decision to step down as Co-CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of the Company. The Board of Directors has appointed current Co-CEO, Kevin Guest, as CEO of the Company. The Company will no longer utilize a Co-CEO management structure. The USANA Board of Directors now consists of six directors, four of whom are independent. Commenting on his transition, Mr. Wentz said, "I am grateful for my long tenure with USANA and am proud of what we have accomplished over the past 24 years. USANA has always been, and will remain, a positive influence for so many lives, including my own, and I am confident in the Company's future under Kevin's leadership. I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and continuing to advocate for the direct sales industry as Chairman of the Direct Selling Education Foundation." Gilbert Fuller, Chairman of the Governance, Risk and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors, said, "Dave has made an incredible contribution to our organization over the past two decades. He has skillfully led the Company to multiple years of record sales and customer growth and helped the Company navigate both anticipated and unanticipated challenges. We are grateful for his dedication and hard work in the many roles he has held with USANA and wish him all the best going forward." Commenting on the appointment of Mr. Guest as CEO, Dr. Myron Wentz, Chairman of the Board, noted, "We are pleased to name Kevin Guest as CEO of USANA. Kevin has ledUSANA in a variety of roles for more than 20 years, including President and most recently as Co-CEO. In each role, Kevin has demonstrated sound leadership, integrity and judgment. Perhaps most importantly, Kevin has earned the trust, respect and admiration of countless USANA Associates, customers and employees around the world as he has served them. On behalf of the Board, we are grateful to Kevin for his great commitment and leadership to USANA in its mission to improve the health and nutrition of individuals and families around the world."



Kevin Guest commented, "I am honored by the trust and confidence the Board of Directors has placed in me to lead USANA going forward. Dave and I have worked side by side to achieve many goals over the years, and I have the utmost respect for him. I also have complete confidence in, and respect for, the leadership team we have in place at USANA. Our team has talent and experience in each of the key leadership positions and is committed to USANA's mission. As demonstrated by the Board's recent decision to split the stock, we are confident that the strategies we have in place will help USANA achieve its long-term growth potential." About USANA

USANA develops and manufactures high-quality nutritional supplements, healthy foods and personal care products that are sold directly to Associates and Preferred Customers throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Thailand, France, Belgium, Colombia and Indonesia. More information on USANA can be found at http://www.usanahealthsciences.com. Safe Harbor This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. Our actual results could differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including global economic conditions generally, reliance upon our network of independent Associates, the governmental regulation of our products, manufacturing and marketing risks, adverse publicity risks, and risks associated with our international expansion. The contents of this release should be considered in conjunction with the risk factors, warnings, and cautionary statements that are contained in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005708/en/

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[November 23, 2016] Whistle Launches #NeverLostAgain One-for-One Holiday Campaign to Support Pet Shelters

Pet technology brand and makers of the most trusted GPS pet tracker, Whistle, announced today that it is teaming up with pet shelters around the U.S. to help more adoptable dogs find - and stay with - their forever homes. The one-for-one campaign was created to raise awareness for the estimated 4 million lost pets that wind up in shelters each year, and encourage pet owners to take responsible and simple steps to ensure their best friend is #NeverLostAgain. For every device purchased between Black Friday (News - Alert) (11/25/2016) through Giving Tuesday (11/29/2016), the company will donate a device and three months of free service to an adoptable shelter dog. The donated device will make it easier for new pet parents to rest assured that their newest family member is getting the best possible care from day one. "We came up with the idea to donate pet trackers to adoptable dogs after spending a lot of time working with our shelter partners this year," said Ben Jacobs, Whistle co-founder and CEO. "A large majority of pets admitted to shelters are ready to go to a loving home. This pay-it-forward campaign makes it so that pet owners can both protect their own pets, while supporting shelters doing important work for pets in their communities." Pet owners use Whistle GPS Pet Tracker to keep track of their pet's location and activity right on a mobile app, receiving notifications when their pet leaves a designated safe area and when it has hit its daily activity goal. Whistle has been celebraed by pet and technology experts as the most reliable and affordable pet tracker on the market, and is trusted by more than 150,000 pet owners across the United States.



Participate in the campaign November 25-29, 2016: To join the campaign, you can get a Whistle GPS Pet Tracker for the discounted price of $49 (a $30 savings) when you use the code "GIVING" at checkout on Whistle.com. For every device purchased November 25-29, 2016, Whistle will donate a Whistle GPS Pet Tracker (up to 1000 devices) to the shelters and rescues in the #NeverLostAgain program. You can also follow along and share your own stories of pet adoption using #NeverLostAgain on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

ABOUT WHISTLE Whistle is the pet brand born out of a love for pets. Founded in 2012 by Ben Jacobs, Steven Eidelman, and Kevin Lloyd, Whistle is on a mission to equip pet owners with simple tools that help them stay connected to their pets from anywhere. The flagship product, Whistle GPS Pet Tracker, combines best in breed location tracking with activity monitoring, to offer the 150 million pet parents in the U.S. peace of mind about their best friends. For more information about Whistle visit www.whistle.com or www.facebook.com/whistlelabs or www.twitter.com/whistlelabs. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005724/en/

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[November 23, 2016] INVESTOR ALERT: Goldberg Law PC Announces Securities Class Action Lawsuit against StoneMor Partners L.P. and Encourages Investors with Losses to Contact the Firm

Goldberg Law PC, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against StoneMor Partners L.P. ("StoneMor" or the "Company") (NYSE: STON). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired StoneMor shares between January 19, 2012 and October 27, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the firm in advance of the January 20, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss during the Class Period, click here to participate. In addition, we encourage you to contact Michael Goldberg or Brian Schall, of Goldberg Law PC, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 9007, at 800-977-7401, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at http://www.Goldberglawpc.com, or by email at [email protected].



The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, StoneMor made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company's reported non-GAAP financial metrics were materially misleading and concealed the truth about the Company's real financial condition; and that the main purpose of StoneMor's regular debt and equity offerings were to pay distributions to unitholders rather than to pay down indebtedness under the Company's revolving credit facility as publicly stated; and that as a result of the above, the Company's statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On September 2, 2016, the Company announced that it would restate its financials to correct various errors. On October 27, 2016, StoneMor cut its distribution by half. On November 9, 2016, the Company announced that it needed to "amend its Form 10-K for [the] fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, and its Forms 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended June 30, 2016 and March 31, 2016." When this news was announced, shares of StoneMor fell in value causing investors harm.

Goldberg Law PC represents shareholders around the world and specializes in securities class actions and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005726/en/

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[November 23, 2016] Europe Mobile Security Market (2016 - 2022)

LONDON, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The mobile security market showcases as a highly potential platform for mobile device security and data protection solutions. Though it is relatively in the early stage of adoption, compared to smartphones, tablets and laptop market; yet, it is contributing substantially to the revenue of the overall mobile device and information security industry. The user-friendly and readily available technology solutions are gaining popularity amidst the mobile device end-users. With the advantages already mentioned, technological breakthroughs and growing levels of awareness among consumers could eventually fuel the market growth during the forecast period. The technological breakthroughs in the VPN network security is enabling stakeholders to stay connected remotely to company networks and in a much secured way. Integrating security solutions right into the mobile devices can dynamically upgrade the manufacturing process. Governments and research practitioners plan and formulate security measures to guard data from being infiltrated. The report highlights the adoption of Mobile Security. Based on the solution type, the Mobile Security market is segmented into Authentication, Mobile Application Management and Mobile Data rotection. Based on the type, the market is segmented across Email and Anti-Virus. Based on OS Type, the market is segmented into Android, iOS and others. The end-users highlighted in this report include Individual and Enterprise. The Enterprise segment is further bifurcated into Financial Institution, Retail, Government, Telecom & IT, Education, Manufacturing & Automotive, Aerospace, Defense & Intelligence and Others.



Based on Country, Europe Mobile Security market is segmented into Germany, UK, France, Russia, Spain, Italy and Rest of Europe. US remained the dominant Country in the Europe Mobile Security market in 2015. Italy would witness highest CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2022). The report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the Mobile Security market. Key companies profiled in the report include Symantec Corporation, Check Point Software Technologies, IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Corporation, HP Enterprise Company, FireEye, Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, AT&T Inc., and Dell Inc. (SonicWall Inc.)

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4125901/ About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/europe-mobile-security-market-2016---2022-300368342.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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[November 23, 2016] Global Facial Recognition Market (2016 - 2022)

LONDON, Nov. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Facial recognition is a biometric security system that identifies a person from a digital image or video frame. Unlike fingerprints and iris recognition, the facial recognition system focuses on the facial features of a person. Facial features such as cheek bones, and the distance between eyes, and eye-brows are the factors that are used to differentiate customers; therefore, the need for physical contact of the subject for identification is not necessary. The facial recognition technology, though being relatively new, can be integrated into the existing surveillance systems. The significant factor driving the growth of the facial recognition market is the continuously growing investment into surveillance systems worldwide. Rising incidences of terror attacks have significantly influenced the need for surveillance systems in public places. The facial recognition technology is now integrated into the surveillance systems for better safety and security. However, due to privacy concerns such as misuse of personal information and data cloning can be a major restraining factor that would hinder the growth of the facial recognition market. Also, these systems can be less accurate and not very reliable when compared to fingerprint and iris recognition security systems. Nevertheless, with ongoing advancements in the facial recognition algorithms, significant growth would be witnessed during the forecast period. The report highlights the adoption f Facial Recognition. Based on the Technology type, the Facial Recognition market is segmented into 2D, 3D and Facial Analytics. Based on the Component type, the market is segmented across Hardware and Software. Hardware segment is further subdivided across Scanners, Cameras, Hand held devices and Integrated devices. Based on Application Type, the market is segmented into Homeland security, Criminal Investigation, ID management, Physical security, Intelligent signage, Web application, Business intelligence, Photo indexing and sorting and Others.



Based on region, Facial Recognition market is segmented into North America (US, Canada, Mexico and Rest of North America), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Russia, Spain, Italy and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Rest of Asia-Pacific) and Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America remained the dominant region in the global Facial Recognition market in 2015. LAMEA would witness highest CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2022). The report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the Facial Recognition market. Key companies profiled in the report include Microsoft Corporation, Gemalto NV, Daon Inc., 3M Company, IBM Corporation, Nuance Communications, Inc., Cognitec Systems GmbH and Animetrics.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4125904/ About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-facial-recognition-market-2016---2022-300368353.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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[November 23, 2016] Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles Identify Biomarker to Aid in Prognosis of Pediatric Ependymomas

A multi-institutional group of researchers, led by investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Michigan, have identified a simple and inexpensive tool for assessing the prognosis of pediatric brain tumors called ependymomas. Their study, which demonstrates the epigenetic mechanism behind these tumors, may offer future opportunities for novel therapeutic options. It is published online by Science Translational Medicine. Childhood posterior fossa (PF) ependymomas are tumors found largely in the hind brain (consisting of the cerebellum, pons and the brainstem) of children. Routine assessment of tumor grade and other markers in PF ependymomas do not correlate well with outcomes in these tumors, highlighting the need for new prognostic markers. Genomic sequencing efforts have not identified mutations in these tumors, and the origin of PF ependymomas remains obscure. While lacking recurrent genetic mutations, a subset of these tumors exhibits alterations in DNA methylation. In this study, the researchers looked at modification of histones - protein components of the chromatin around which DNA winds, and which play a role in gene regulation - in particular, histone H3. Co-lead investigator Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD, of the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan, observed that histone H3 is modified differently in pediatric posterior fossa ependymoma. Specifically, 80 percent of these tumors exhibited loss of the H3K27me3, a repressive mark, while 20 percent of tumors retained H3K27me3. Researchers went back and looked at MRIs and outcomes of children treated for these tumors and identified that tumors with loss of H3K27me3 behaved more aggressively and showed poor overall survival. This suggests that reduced H3K27me3 may be a prognostic indicator in PF ependymoas.



"Detection of H3K27me3 by immunohistochemical staining is a widely available and cost-effective surrogate molecular marker. This test can be readily implemented in most departments of pathology and provides a much-needed tool to risk stratify and identify ependymoma patients who would potentially benefit from epigenetic therapies," said co-lead investigator Alexander R. Judkins, MD, of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at CHLA and Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. This loss in H3K27me3, along with other epigenetic changes, was similar to that observed in another type of pediatric brain tumor of the hind brain region termed diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs). This suggests that both of these tumors arise from similar epigenetic states. Intriguingly, researchers found that certain progenitor cells in this part of the brain also showed low H3K27me3, suggesting - as both tumors share epigenetic similarities - that low methylation of H3K27me3 is important to the development of tumors in this region of the brain.

According to the Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network (CERN) Foundation, the current standard therapy for ependymomas includes total surgery that may be followed by radiation therapy. Complete surgical resection is often not possible due to tumor location and concerns about damaging the surrounding brain during surgery. Because such treatment can come with a cognitive cost, especially to pediatric patients, there has been a lot of interest in what drives ependymomas so that they may be treated more effectively. "By demonstrating the epigenetic mechanism - that we theorize likely goes awry during brain development - we will be better able to identify these tumors, determine a more accurate prognosis and - importantly - perhaps develop better therapeutic options," said Venneti. Additional contributors include Jill Bayliss, Chan Chung, Pooja Panwalkar, Abhijit Parolia, Arul M. Chinnaiyanm, Richard C. McEachin and Marcin Cieslik, University of Michigan; Piali Mukherjee and Ari Melnick, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Chao Lu, C. David Allis and Benjamin Sabari, The Rockefeller University; Siddhant U. Jain and Peter W. Lewis, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Daniel Martinez, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Ashley S. Margol and Benita Tamrazi, Children's Hospital Los Angeles; Melike Pekmezci, UC San Francisco; Benjamin A. Garcia, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Gaspare La Rocca and Craig B. Thompson, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Mariarita Santi, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and Cynthia Hawkins, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. This work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute of the NIH (K08 CA181475), the Mathew Larson Foundation, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation (SV); and RO1GM110174 and P01CA196539 (BAG). RCM is supported by the University of Michigan Bioinformatics Core. C.L. is the Kandarian Family Fellow supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (DRG-2195-14). CBT is supported by the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (CBT) - a NIH P30 CA008748. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161123005736/en/

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[November 24, 2016]

Lawren Harris canvas surpasses $11 million on the Heffel auction block, shattering Canadian record

Canada's art market leader offered more than 200 masterworks at a live auction in Toronto on November 23, totalling $41M

art market leader offered more than 200 masterworks at a live auction in Toronto on November 23, totalling Mountain Forms , the remarkable Lawren Harris canvas sold for $11,210,000 , a new record for a Canadian work at auction and a world record for the artist

the remarkable canvas sold for , a new record for a Canadian work at auction and a world record for the artist Eight masterpieces fetched results over and above the million dollar mark, including works by A.J. Casson , Tom Thomson and Bill Reid

, and The Peter and Joanne Brown Collection fetched incredible results and was the most valuable single-consignor collection ever sold in the Canadian art market

TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Today in Toronto, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Canada's art market leader, held the highest grossing art auction in Canadian history. With masterpieces by Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson and A.J. Casson leading the sale, a treasure trove of important works of art were sold at the semi-annual live auction. Shattering presale estimates of $22 million to $32 million, the auction total exceeded a remarkable $41 million, demonstrating the strength of the market and the undying appetite for important masterpieces. (All prices are in Canadian dollars and include an 18 per cent buyer's premium).

Lawren Harris's highly anticipated Mountain Forms led the fall auction with a remarkable sale price of $11,210,000. Strong competition from bidders in the saleroom and on the phones drove the 1926 canvas to a new artist record and a new record for a Canadian work at auction, more than doubling the previous record. The visual impact, date, provenance and exhibition history all factored into its successful sale. The work also had personal connections for Heffel as it was owned and sold in the 1980s by Kenneth Heffel, father of David and Robert. The painting recently starred in The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris, the celebrated exhibition that toured major institutions in Boston, Los Angeles and Toronto.

"There is no question that Mountain Forms is deserving of the Canadian record," said David Heffel, President of Heffel Fine Art Auction House. "There was overwhelming passion and attention for the work, and thanks to international interest in Harris, the exceptional canvas achieved a truly international result."

For the first time, Heffel's fall auction was presented in four separate catalogues. In addition to its longstanding Post-War & Contemporary Art and Fine Canadian Art sessions, The Peter & Joanne Brown Collection featured 90 significant works and became the most valuable single-consignor collection sold in the Canadian art market. Gustave Caillebotte: Iris bleus, jardin du Petit Gennevilliers was also featured as a dedicated session and continued the Heffel tradition of offering high-end international art at live auction.

Noteworthy results from the Fall 2016 Live Auction







For more information on the pieces included in this year's fall auction, visit www.heffel.com.

About Heffel Fine Art Auction House

Heffel has sold more Canadian art than any other auctioneer worldwide, with sales totaling more than half a billion dollars since 1978. With offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary, Heffel has the most experienced team of fine art specialists in Canada and provides superior client service to both sellers and buyers internationally.

SOURCE Heffel Gallery Limited
[November 24, 2016] Study by Zendesk Shows 43% Believe That Chat Will be in Vogue for Customer Support in 2017

BANGALORE, November 24,2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 20% of Respondents Feel Messaging Will be Used More in 2017 Zendesk, a company that builds software for better customer relationships, recently commissioned a study that was conducted among 2000 respondents across India. The study was part of their efforts to analyze trends in customer relationship management in India among Indian enterprises. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161123/442701-INFO )

The report also shows that new age communication platforms such as chat and messaging have grown in popularity in recent years. While 43% of the respondents feel they will be using chat more in 2017, 20% of the respondents interviewed felt they will use messaging more by the same year to communicate with companies. KT Prasad, Country Sales Director, Zendesk India adds, "The study highlights the fact that businesses are transforming rapidly in India and effective customer relationship management is at the heart of this seismic shift. Armed with a distinctive understanding of shifting customer needs, Zendesk is keen to partner with Indian companies to achieve their growth potential." As to what platforms are currently in use for communication in customer service, 59% believe it is email and phone and 5% of the respondents prefer to use self-service, while just 6% chose web forums. Interestingly around a quarter of respondents in North India (25%), South India (23%) and West India (26%) prefer chat.



India that were known for quality customer service. Rating for the Top 5 industries for quality customer service Travel & Hospitality 40% IT services 33% Financial Services 29% Retail 22% Telco 20% Transport 8% Among this 37% males favoured IT Services While 44% of females favoured Travel and Hospitality Handling irate customers is the biggest challenge for any customer focused company. On the question as to what annoys you most when you reach out to a company to complain, to get help, to solve a problem or ask for more information, this is what the respondents felt.

Almost half of all respondents, 49% said that being passed around from person to person was the most annoying element when contacting customer support. This was followed by lack of knowledge at 38%, frustrating responses in a robotic / non-human way was 33%, lack of information being provided on websites at 30% and 24% attribute limited channels to reach a company being the key annoyance factor. On using social media as a platform for customer feedback, 92% of the respondents felt they would be prepared to comment on social media if they received good customer service while 61% felt they would if they received bad customer service. On whether reviews and comments on good or bad customer service from social media contacts can influence one's decision to purchase a product or service from a company, an overwhelming 88% believed that good or bad reviews from social media contacts would influence their decisions. This trend further rises to 91% for the 18-34 year olds. The study also shows that customers in general are happy to pay extra for products or services if they are guaranteed better customer service by the respective companies. 64% of respondents affirmed this and this further rises to 70% for 18-34 year olds and drops to 54% for those over 45 years old. Interestingly, 68% men are more likely to pay as opposed to women at 61%. The study by Zendesk clearly reflects a shifting trend in customer relationship and communication platforms in India. This is no misnomer but is just the mirror image of a global trend that is today prevalent across the globe. Companies on their part will need to wake up to this paradigm and take the necessary steps to better engage with their treasured customers. About Zendesk Zendesk builds software for better customer relationships. It empowers organizations to improve customer engagement and better understand their customers. More than 87,000 paid customer accounts in over 150 countries and territories use Zendesk products. Based in San Francisco, Zendesk has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. Learn more at http://www.zendesk.com.

Media Contact:

Priyan DC

Star Squared PR

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[November 24, 2016] Cut-throat Competition on the Polysilicon Market

WURZBURG, Germany, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New report from Bernreuter Research: Capacities exceed demand by far The polysilicon industry will experience severe cut-throat competition in 2018. According to the Polysilicon Market Outlook 2020, the new report from polysilicon market research firm Bernreuter Research, half a dozen polysilicon manufacturers could be pushed out of business by the end of 2018. "Slowing demand from the photovoltaic industry on the one hand and increasing production capacities on the other will cause turmoil on the polysilicon market," says Johannes Bernreuter, head of Bernreuter Research and author of the report. The polysilicon spot price will slump from more than 14 US$/kg currently below 12 $/kg in 2018, forecasts Bernreuter. Already in 2014 and 2015, supply of polysilicon grew more rapidly than demand from the photovoltaic (PV) industry, which consumes approx. 90% of polysilicon produced worldwide. The global output of 313,000 and 363,000 metric tons (MT), respectively, led to swelling inventories, which drove the spot price down to a record low of 12.93 $/kg in January 2016 "Only the massive Chinese PV installation rally in the first half of 2016 saved the polysilicon industry from even more serious oversupply," says report author Bernreuter. Between 2017 and 2019, however, new capacities of up to 141,000 MT - 70% of them in China - are plannedto come on stream while the annual growth rate of new PV installations will sink below 10%. This disparity between supply and demand will result in strong cut-throat competition. "We expect that some projects will be deferred, others will end up as stranded investments, and several existing manufacturers will disappear from the market," says Bernreuter.



Chinese polysilicon producers are not only expanding the capacity for solar-grade polysilicon, but a few are also trying to break the oligopoly that six incumbent manufacturers hold in the production of electronic-grade polysilicon for the semiconductor industry. "It remains to be seen if Chinese producers can meet the high purity requirements for semiconductors," comments Bernreuter. Regarding fluidized bed reactor (FBR) technology, the high hopes that were pinned on it for producing low-cost solar-grade polysilicon have not been fulfilled so far. "Obviously, the technical challenges of keeping silicon dust formation low have been underestimated," says Bernreuter. As a result, the established Siemens process will continue to be the dominant production method. Bernreuter Research predicts that the market share of FBR will fall below 3% in 2016 and remain in the single-digit range over the coming years.

More details on the polysilicon, solar and semiconductor markets are provided in The Polysilicon Market Outlook 2020. The 70-page report contains elaborate scenarios of supply and demand, detailed forecasts of polysilicon prices and manufacturing costs through 2020 as well as the latest development of FBR technology. For more information on the report, please go to: http://www.bernreuter.com/en/shop/polysilicon-market-reports/market-outlook/report-details.html About Bernreuter Research Bernreuter Research was founded in 2008 by Johannes Bernreuter, one of the most reputable photovoltaic journalists in Germany, to publish global polysilicon market reports. As early as 2001, Bernreuter authored his first analysis of an upcoming polysilicon bottleneck and new production processes. Since publishing its first report in 2010, Bernreuter Research has gained a reputation of providing the most comprehensive and accurate polysilicon reports on the market. Press Contact:

Bernreuter Research  Polysilicon Market Reports

Lessingstr. 6  97072 Wurzburg, Germany



Your Contact Partner:

Johannes Bernreuter, Company Head

Telephone: +49-931-784-77-81

E-mail: [email protected]



SOURCE Bernreuter Research

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[November 24, 2016] Wirecard Expands e-commerce Collaboration With Tamaris

ASCHHEIM, Germany, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wirecard is now handling payment processing and risk management for Tamaris' online shop in 16 European countries Wirecard AG is expanding its collaboration with the Detmold-based Wortmann Group, the biggest shoe manufacturer in Europe and market leader for fashionable women's shoes: from now on, the payment specialist will handle payment processing as well as risk management for the Tamaris brand's online shop in 16 European countries. The global payment provider is therefore enabling Tamaris customers to pay for their products online using Visa, MasterCard or PayPal. This supplements Wirecard's current cooperation with the Wortmann Group: Wirecard has already been responsible for payment processing for Tamaris' German, Austrian and French online shops. Marion Laewe, Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard AG: "We are delighted to use our country-specific payment solutions to support the Wortmann Group during their planned globalisation and expand our collaboration to include a further 13 countries. We are proud to have been able to convince Tamaris once again of our global expertise and to be able to support further technical implementation of their omnichannel strategy." Wortmann Group collections are sold globally in 70 countries and in more than 15,000 hoe shops. The Tamaris brand is particularly successful, and has now developed its e-commerce business across Europe. Since November 2016, customers in 16 European countries have been able to choose from a wide range of women's shoes, bags and accessories online and pay for them conveniently.



Wirecard media contact:



Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

Email: [email protected]



About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard. Wortmann Group media contact:



Wortmann Fashion Retail GmbH & Co. KG

Nico Gold

Tel: +49(0)5231-605-140

Email: [email protected]

About the Wortmann Group In financial year 2014/2015 (as at 31 May 2015), the Wortmann Group reported total sales of EUR 1.016 billion (previous year EUR 1.01 billion). With a volume of approximately 31 million pairs in the fashion segment and 27 million pairs in the standard segment, the Wortmann Group is one of Europe's largest shoe production and sales companies. In Europe, alongside the top brand Tamaris, the Group's brands also include Marco Tozzi, Caprice, Jana and s.Oliver shoes, as well as Novi Footwear Fareast Ltd. in Asia. The Group currently has 1,154 staff internationally (previous year: 1,114), of whom 582 are in Europe. Around 30,000 people work in production for the Detmold-based corporation around the world. The Wortmann Group's collections are offered in more than 70 countries and more than 15,000 shoe shops worldwide.



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[November 24, 2016] OT Provides a Unified Transportation Payment Card in the Philippines

OT (Oberthur Technologies), a leading global provider of embedded security software products, services and solutions, today announced its partnership with AF Payments Inc. (AFPI) to provide multi-purpose smart cards in the Philippines to allow end-users to have one single card to commute and pay in Manila. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161124005108/en/ OT's transportation payment card (Photo: Business Wire) There are a lot of unbanked people in The Philippines. In order to allow them to easily use transportation in Manila and in the same way be able to pay, AFPI decided to offer them a single card. To do so, OT provides the multi-purpose smart cards enabling commuters to connect from one train line to another without the hassle of changing tickets. The card can also be used in select bus lines and toll ways. In addition to transportation, cardholders will soon be able to pay for goods via a stored value account loaded in the smart card. "We are privileged to be the certified partner of AFPI and to support them in offering a multi-purpose card to Filipinos that will enable to have one single card to transit and pay for goods. This will also help in the development of urban transport in Manila. OT has demonstrated its expertise in transportation and payment markets worldide, so we were able to meet stringent technical requirements from AFPI" said Mark Garvie, Asia Financial Services Institutions Managing Director at OT.



"OT has a strong local presence and excellent reputation in the Philippines so they are an ideal partner to provide a smart card which enables end-users to commute easily and pay securely. We have our hearts set on offering payment means to the unbanked segment and offering a payment service via a stored value smart card is the best solution. AFPI is extending this functionality to banks and other financial institutions to make the "beep" cards accessible to all Filipinos" said Peter Maher, President and CEO at AFPI. ABOUT OBERTHUR TECHNOLOGIES

OT is a world leader in embedded digital security that protects you when you connect, authenticate or pay. OT is strategically positioned in high growth markets and offers embedded security software solutions for "end-point" devices as well as associated remote management solutions to a huge portfolio of international clients, including banks and financial institutions, mobile operators and governments, as well as manufacturers of connected objects and equipment. OT employs over 6,500 employees worldwide, including almost 700 R&D people. With a global footprint of 4 regional secure manufacturing hubs and 39 secure service centers, OT's international network serves clients in 169 countries. For more information: www.oberthur.com FOLLOW US

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[November 24, 2016] Abacus Launches to Help Marketers Improve Facebook Ads Through Data

New agency launches with funding from Vitality Capital, advisory board includes Bruce Croxon TORONTO, Nov. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - Today performance digital agency Abacus is launching to provide a data-driven approach to Facebook advertising, with a few simple mantras: be lean and take an agile approach; focus on growth since it's the only metric that matters; and be scientific because data is the only thing marketers can trust. The agency will audit and manage Facebook ad accounts for large advertisers around the world with a focus on tracking metrics that tie Facebook ad campaigns directly back to revenue and the bottom line. Abacus will also offer consulting services, Facebook account audits, and a CPA Lab for new Facebook advertisers and SMBs to help them learn how to launch their own effective Facebook marketing strategies. Abacus is launching with funding from Vitality Capital, which will be used to recruit top talent and continue to build out their technology and data capabilities and advantages. They've also compiled an advisory board that's led by Round13 Capital founder and former Dragon Bruce Croxon. "Marketing has changed more in the last five years than it has in the previous 50. Clients are increasingly asking for evidence that their digital marketing efforts are working, and we provide results based on hard data, not on soft metrics like awareness and branding," said Peter Reitano, CEO, Abacus. "Instead of focusing on marketing campaigns, we create growth engines that are repeatable, predictable, and scalable." Abacus was founded by two industry veterans with both agency and client-side experience. CEO Peter Reitano was President at Spark, a paid digital agency with locations in Toronto and Austin, TX that grew to 30 people and was acquired earlier this year. While at Spark he worked with clients including Porter Airlines, Porsche, Ritz-Carlton, and OCAD University on their paid digital and search campaigns, and he also led the agency's operations. He is also a digital marketing instructor at Bitmaker Labs, and a frequent speaker at events across North America. Chief Strategy Offcer Jeff Goldenberg is a client-side veteran and performance Facebook advertising expert with over 15 years of startup experience. His most recent role was leading marketing and customer acquisition at Borrowell, a fast-growing fintech company. During his time there, he helped Borrowell achieve rapid month-over-month growth in their loan origination business, and was instrumental in helping launch their Free Credit Score program, the first of its kind in Canada, which resulted in over 100,000 Canadians getting their credit score for free. The summer culminated in a partnership between Borrowell and CIBC, also the first of its kind in Canada. He started Abacus based on his own frustration as a buyer of digital services and lack of expertise in the field. Having learned the Facebook ad platform from the inside out, he is anxious to apply his knowledge to help other companies grow. He is a frequent speaker and the co-author of the acclaimed book The Growth Hacker's Guide to the Galaxy.



"Our team has a combination of creatives, conversion optimizers, and data scientists and we believe nothing matters except growth and results based on hard data," said Jeff Goldenberg, CSO, Abacus. "We obsess over how technology and data can grow your business, because as the digital world continues to become more connected and complex, increasingly clients need someone to help navigate the clutter." Abacus will be working directly with clients, and they've also formed a network of partners, including ad agencies, content agencies, communications agencies, digital agencies, investment funds, accelerators, and incubators. If you're a company that's considering Facebook advertising, a current advertiser who has hit a plateau, or just someone who's feeling lost in the world of digital, get in touch at [email protected].

Abacus's advisory board includes: Mona Akhavi , Founder and CEO, SideBuy

, Founder and CEO, SideBuy Erin Bury, PR All-Star and Managing Director, 88 Creative

Karla Congson , former CMO Dundee, Founder Collective IQ

, former CMO Dundee, Founder Collective IQ Bruce Croxon , former Dragon, Round 13 Capital

, former Dragon, Round 13 Capital Vlad Dascalu , design and strategy, Pinch VR

, design and strategy, Pinch VR Philippe Garneau , advertising legend, GWP Brand Engineering

, advertising legend, GWP Brand Engineering Robert Morand , EVP, GWP Brand Engineering

, EVP, GWP Brand Engineering Anthony Lipkin , VP Growth & Partnerships, Symbility Intersect

, VP Growth & Partnerships, Symbility Intersect Karl Sakas , Consultant to the Marketing Agency stars Find Abacus online:

Website: http://abacus.agency/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abacusagency/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agencyabacus

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abacusagency/ About Abacus: Abacus is a performance digital agency that specializes in helping companies achieve their growth objectives through Facebook ads.. With a data-driven approach to Facebook ads, Abacus is focused on creating scalable, predictable, and repeatable programs for clients, whether they're a Fortune 500 brand or an SMB. Abacus was started by agency veteran Peter Reitano and client-side veteran Jeff Goldenberg, and the advisory board includes Round13 Capital founder and former Dragon Bruce Croxon. The company has funding from Vitality Capital, and is based in Toronto. About Vitality Capital: Vitality Capital is a Toronto-based investment office investing on behalf of a limited number of significant high net-worth individual investors and family offices. At Vitality Capital we believe in the potential of immensely passionate people, our primary goal is to identify outstanding entrepreneurs with a grand vision and to help them realize their dreams by providing expansion capital and mentorship. We support entrepreneurs through our three investment funds: Vitality Mid-Market Growth Fund, Vitality Real Estate Partners Fund and Vitality Venture Fund. SOURCE Abacus

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The worlds largest hotel company, Marriott International, Inc. MAR recently announced the signing four new hotels in Mexico.

One of the hotels is Westin,  one of Marriotts 30 leading brands , and is situated in the city of Puebla. The property will be owned by IDEURBAN and is slated to open in the second half of 2018. The Westin Puebla joins Westin brands existing properties in three cities across Mexico. Two more hotels of the brand are in the development pipeline. Featuring 142 guestrooms, the property will be located in one of Pueblas most important business district and will encompass amenities like a spa, a fitness centre, a pool and an office space.



Another hotel slated to open together with Marriotts franchise partner Grupo Diestra is The Renaissance Cancun. The 180-room hotel marks the Renaissance brands entry into Mexico and is strategically located between Cancuns Hotel Zone and its downtown area.



Meanwhile, Aloft brands Aloft Puebla will be joining two existing hotels of the brand in Mexico. Scheduled to open in late 2018, the property will bring Aloft brands tech-forward, lively experience to one of Mexicos leading industrial cities. The hotel will feature 100 loft-style rooms, a gym, a cafe and the industrys first keyless entry system that enables guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key.



The fourth hotel in the pipeline is the AC Hotel by Marriott Monterrey. Located in a high-end neighborhood of Monterrey called Valle Oriente, the hotel marks the AC Hotels brands second property in Mexico after the opening of AC Hotel Guadalajara in August this year.

MARRIOTT INTL-A Price

MARRIOTT INTL-A Price | MARRIOTT INTL-A Quote

Notably, Marriott is following an aggressive expansion strategy in the Caribbean and Latin American region, driven by a solid increase in the demand for business and leisure travel to this part of the world. Currently, the companys portfolio includes over 200 hotels in the region, spanning across 33 countries and territories.



Mexico exists as one of the key markets in this region and the company currently has 70 hotels there. Moreover, by 2022 the company plans to open 38 additional properties in Mexico.



However, due to its huge international presence, Marriott is susceptible to large-scale foreign exchange headwinds. Furthermore, lingering political uncertainty in key international markets are affecting most of the hoteliers including Hyatt Hotels Corporation H, Hilton Worldwide Holdings HLT, etc. and might restrict revenue growth at Marriott too.



Marriott currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).



A better-ranked hotel stock is Red Lion Hotels Corporation RLH whose current year growth estimate is pegged at 48.7% compared with the industry average of 23.8%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



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[November 24, 2016] Top 5 Vendors in the Intelligent Power Module Market From 2016 to 2020: Technavio

Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recent global intelligent power module (IPM) market report. This research report also lists six other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161124005014/en/ Technavio publishes a new market research report on the global intelligent power module (IPM) market from 2016-2020. (Graphic: Business Wire) The increase in demand from smart grids, renewable energy, and the commercial sector will drive the market. The market growth is also dependent on the efficiency and cost effectiveness of power electronics devices that are used for stabilizing the power supply in many devices. Awareness about the environment will foster the demand for electric and hybrid electric vehicles, which use IPMs. The automation of industrial processes will result in high power consumption. To reduce the high consumption of power and cut costs, manufacturing industries will also adopt IPMs during the forecast period. The market growth rate will fall because of the steady decline of consumer electronics sector primarily because of price sensitivity. Competitive vendor landscape The global IPM market is dominated by the top five vendors accounting for more than 80% of the overall revenue. The market is highly competitive with the players vying with each other to gain larger market shares. The global IPM market has a high potential for growth because of the increase in applications for power electronic devices across several sectors. The market is characterized by the presence of significant entry barriers in the form of capital requirements, which prevents new players from entering the market. "Intense competition, rapid advancements in technology, and the changing dynamics of the market are the key factors for the intense competition among vendors. With the rising competition, the market will also see consolidation. Few mergers and acquisitions are taking place in the market," says Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead embedded systems analyst from Technavio. International players will grow inorganically during the forecast period through M&A of regional or local players. American and European players are prioritiing horizontal integration, to maintain proven expertise at a specific level. Asian companies are expanding vertically to be fully integrated and optimize the costs.



Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=54538 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Top five IPM market vendors Infineon Technologies (News - Alert) The company is the second largest manufacturer of high-power IGBT modules. Its CoolMos and SiC technologies have proven to be its strengths in power electronics. The company is expanding its Australian site in Villach, which will be its innovation and competence center for power electronics. The company strives to enhance the performance of its power electronics components, which contributes to better fuel efficiency and lower emission norms of the automotive industry. The company operates through 50 subsidiaries across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas. It caters to the automation, data processing, electromobility, industrial, chip card and security, consumer, solar energy systems, wind energy systems, automotive, lighting, medical, motorcycles, e-bikes and small e-vehicles, mobile devices, power supplies, motor control and drives, and smart grid sectors. Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Electric Mitsubishi Electric is leading vendor in the IPM market. It is a global leader in the manufacturing and marketing of electrical and electronic equipment used in the communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, and transportation industries. The company also focuses on developing new products and technologies and has invested USD 1.795 billion in R&D as of March 2016. It has set up corporate laboratories in Japan, the US, and Europe, and has also established partnerships with research institutes in Japan and the overseas markets. Some of its subsidiaries include Mitsubishi Electric (News - Alert) Building Techno-Service, Mitsubishi Electric Plant Engineering, Ryoden Elevator Construction, Mitsubishi Electric Control Software, Ryoko, Mitsubishi Elevator Hong Kong, and Mitsubishi Elevator Korea. Fuji Electric Fuji Electric, originally known as Fuji Electric Holdings, changed its name to Fuji Electric Co. Ltd. in July 2011. The company is engaged in the development of food and beverage vending machines, refrigerated and freezer showcases, and retail distribution systems. It manufactures beverage vending machines through Fuji Electric Retail Systems. It focuses on peripheral businesses such as vending machine refurbishment, repair, and installation and conducts store distribution activities. SEMIKRON SEMIKRON is one of the key leading vendors in the global IPM market and has its production plants in more than 10 countries. It offers semiconductor chips, driver electronics, cooling systems, capacitors, controllers, and other products and solutions through two major divisions: components and systems and solutions. Its components division offers IGBT modules, MOSFET modules, thyristors, rectifiers, and other power electronic components. Its systems and solutions division offers IGBT systems, MOSFET systems, converter systems, and other engineering technology systems. ON (News - Alert) Semiconductor ON Semiconductor manufactures and sells analog, standard logic, and discrete semiconductors for data and power management applications. Its product portfolio includes ICs and analog ICs. In addition, the company offers discrete semiconductors in a variety of surface-mount and standard packages. Browse Related Reports: Global Data Center Rack Power Distribution Unit Market 2016-2020

Global IGBT-Based Power Module Market 2016-2020

Global Power Transistor Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. 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/20161124005014/en/

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[November 24, 2016] Proagrica Discusses Evidence-Based Production at Saf agr'iDees AgriTech Roundtable in Paris

LONDON, November 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading agri tech companies met at an event organised by Saf agr'iDees and the British Embassy in Paris last week, to discuss the use of Big Data in agriculture. The aim of this meeting was to look at how precision agriculture and Evidence-Based Production can drive developments and innovation. Proagrica was invited to share their latest insights into utilising data to increase productivity on farm and resource protection. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161124/442768 )

All of the discussions were related to the Triple Bottom Line (people, planet and profit), and ensuring that food production can be achieved in the future while responding to the sustainability challenges that society faces. Each roundtable offered the chance for organisations to collaborate and share knowledge, so that the industry can move forward. With a variety of speakers from across Europe, including academic institutions, NGOs and private organisations, the discussions were far reaching and informative. Further round tables and collaborative agreements will be the next steps from this event. David Wilson, CEO of Proagrica comments, "This day demonstrated the sheer amount of resource that is dedicated to finding solutions to complex challenges of food production. With theoretical and practical research developing every day, it's an exciting time to be involved in agriculture and Proagrica is pleased to participate in driving the global agri agenda and offer our new platform and capabilities in Evidence-Based Production." or more information about what Evidence-Based Production means, visit http://bit.ly/EvidenceBasedProduction



For a video of the presentation visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2C9zXkv9k (24:44) Tweet us using the hastags #EBP # #agriday #bigdata #smartagri and tag @Proagrica @UKinFrance @SAFThinkTank

ENDS For further information please contact: Snezana Petrovic Angharad Belcher Chief Marketing Officer Account Manager Proagrica rdp [email protected] [email protected] +44 (0)20 8652 2077 +44 (0) 1452 429 177

Notes to Editors Proagrica is a global division of Reed Business Information and the RELX Group, a FTSE 100 company. Proagrica provides critical decision-support to the global agriculture industry by delivering high-value insight and data, trusted workflow tools, proven integration technology and effective channels-to-market. We're proud of our market-leading brands in Europe, as well as a growing footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, South Africa and the US. Our portfolio includes flagship media brands Farmers Weekly and Boerderij, as well as the latest in the integration and connectivity capabilities that F4F offers across the supply chain. We're known for our industry leading farm management software Farmplan and GateKeeper, but with an increasing need for actionable insight from data and analytics, we have been developing new products in this area under our Agility brand. About Reed Business Information Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com About RELX Group RELX Group is a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 27.3bn GBP / 31.9bn Euro / 34.0bn USD*. *Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investorcentre

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[November 24, 2016] Top 5 Vendors in the Residential Water Treatment Equipment Market From 2016 to 2020: Technavio

Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recent global residential water treatment equipment market report. This research report also lists 23 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161124005026/en/ Technavio publishes a new market research report on the global residential water treatment equipment market from 2016-2020. (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio's market research analyst predicts the global residential water treatment equipment market to grow at a CAGR of close to 15% between 2016 and 2020. Water treatment equipment is useful to provide small communities or remote colonies with safe drinking water. If the water quality does not meet local drinking water guidelines, then it is more economical to install POU devices in households, than to upscale a whole treatment plant in that locality. Decentralizing water treatment proves beneficial. Treating water at a central public facility is more expensive and not all water consumed in a household needs to be of high quality (water for drinking and cooking needs to be high quality, whereas water for bathing, lawn watering, and various other applications do not). Thus, implementing a POU or POE treatment strategy might be substantially less expensive than building, expanding, or upgrading a central treatment plant. Competitive vendor landscape Large number of players in the global residential water treatment equipment market makes it highly competitive and fragmented. There is a huge scope for development in this market because of the availability of a wide range of water treatment chemicals such as coagulants and flocculants, biocides and disinfectants, inhibitors, deformers and deforming agents, pH adjusters, and softeners. This has encouraged new players to enter the market, which is expected to grow rapidly in the future because of the rising demand for safe and clean water. "Large players are offering products that are manufactured in Asian countries at lower costs, further intensify pricing pressures and making it difficult for the smaller participants to compete on the basis of price," says Poonam Saini, a ead retail goods and services analyst from Technavio.



The residential water treatment equipment market is currently facing issues related to misleading claims. So, to build credibility, key players are investing in R&D to improve solutions in terms of user-friendliness and functionality. Players are competing on factors like pricing, technology, and quality. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=54541

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Top five residential water treatment equipment market vendors 3M (News - Alert) 3M engages in the manufacturing and sales of safety and graphics, electronics and energy, industrial, and consumer-related products to its customers. In FY2015, the company reported USD 30.27 billion in revenue. 3M has taken various strategic initiatives to increase its presence in the market. In August 2016, the company announced that it will supply bottled water and state-funded filtration systems to 80 homes in Washington County, Minnesota, US, as part of a contract with The Minnesota Department of Health. Such initiatives enable the company to increase its presence in the market. EcoWater Systems EcoWater Systems engages in the designing and manufacturing of residential water treatment systems. Its offerings include water softeners, refiners, conditioners, and filters. It offers residential and commercial water solutions. The key customers of the company include residential apartments, office buildings, hospitals, restaurants, office buildings, and shopping centers. It operates as the subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Company. General Electric General Electric engages in the manufacturing and sales of products that include aircraft engines, power generation products, water processing products, and household products. In FY2015, the company reported USD 108.8 billion in revenue. The company sells water treatment products to its customers through its subsidiary GE Appliances. In June 2016, the company announced that GE Appliances was acquired by Haier. Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Rayon Mitsubishi Rayon offers water treatment products that include ultrapure water producing plant, process water treatment plant, standard equipment, separation and purification plant, ion exchange resin, and water treatment chemicals. Such a wide range of product offerings enables the company to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Pentair Pentair has taken several strategic initiatives to strengthen its position in the market. In February 2016, the company unveiled new water reuse solutions at the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) in Texas, US. In October 2015, the company presented its advanced filtration and water purification water treat technologies at Aquatech Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Such initiatives enable the company to enhance its brand image. Browse Related Reports: Global Residential Drinking Water Treatment Equipment Market 2016-2020

Global Commercial Water Treatment Equipment Market 2016-2020

Global Portable Water Purification Systems Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. 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/20161124005026/en/

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[November 24, 2016] K-Mobile Explores Business Expansion Opportunities with Pakistan's ICT Sector

TORONTO, Nov. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - The President and Founder of K-Mobile, Mr. Shami Munir, was among business executives travelling to Pakistan on a business mission this month to explore business opportunities with the growing Pakistan Information & Communications Technology (ICT) sector. The mission follows Mr. Munir's participation in a collaborative seminar in Toronto attended by 36 Canadian companies, hosted by the Canada Pakistan Business Council (CPBC) and the Government of Ontario's Ministry of International Trade. "I commend CPBC's President Samir Dossal and the Ontario Ministry International Trade for taking the initiative to start this dialogue among ICT companies in Canada and Pakistan," said Mr. Munir. "Over the past 17 years, I have launched several companies in Canada in the telecommunications industry. Having immigrated from Pakistan, I am eager to explore these Canadian-Pakistan business opportunities and look for valuable snergies."



"Canadian companies, like K-Mobile, have expertise to further ICT connections between Canada and Pakistan," said Mr. Dossal. "With a Canadian-Pakistani Diaspora of 300,000 and Pakistan consumer base of 50 million, there is a great opportunity to leverage new business-to-business collaboration." Mr. Munir provided K-Mobile gifts to all attendees at last week's informative and interactive session, which was attended by many ICT professionals including the Consul General of Pakistan in Toronto, Honourable Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, and the Ontario Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Dr. Shafiq Qaadri. He is also supplying K-Mobile gifts during his Pakistan business mission.

About K-Mobile and President and Founder Shami Munir Shami Munir founded a telecommunications company, Kimcot, in 2001 with a vision to become a leading telecommunication service provider in Canada. Under Shami's leadership, the company became a multi-million dollar venture and a dependable telecom service provider in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. In 2013, Mr. Munir seized the opportunity to develop a competitively-priced smartphone, which he called the K2, and to open new retail K-Mobile stores that provide customers with the best choices in smartphones, phone plans and prices. Mr. Munir has now opened his first five K-Mobile stores, and is committed to opening 245 more by 2018 across Canada's most populated cities employing a diverse workforce. He launched the K2 phone in August 2016, now sold in stores, and which can be found at www.k-mobile.ca SOURCE K-Mobile

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Summer movie-blockbuster season may be over, but that doesn't mean there's nothing left worth seeing in 2019. In fact, most of the year's best movies don't even come out until closer to Oscars time, so don't get too attached to your best-films-of-the-year ranking quite yet. We've put together a list of 19 films coming out in the final quarter of 2019 that we're excited to see, simply curious about or sure will drum up audience buzz, if not awards buzz. So let's take a look at what's in store with the rest of the year's films, including new flicks by directors Ang Lee and Martin Scorsese as well as reboots and a reboot of a reboot (really).

September

(Image credit: STXfilms)

Hustlers

Release date: Sept. 13, 2019

J. Lo, Cardi B, Lizzo, Lili Reinhart (Riverdale) and Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) starring as former strippers who team up to take down their rich Wall Street clientele sounds like a fever dream premise too good to be true, and yet the movie Hustlers not only exists, but is out now.

Social media reactions are already pouring in, calling the film "a JOY" and "easily one of the best films thus far from STX [Entertainment]." And the No. 1 positive critique across almost every review? That J. Lo delivers an amazing performance, maybe her best ever. We're expecting this to be the feel-good film that 2019 has desperately needed.

(Image credit: Macall Polay)

The Goldfinch

Release date: Sept. 13, 2019

Based on Donna Tartt's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, The Goldfinch tells the story of Theo Decker, a young boy whose mother dies at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art after a terrorist's bomb goes off. Theo survives and takes one of his mother's favorite paintings, "The Goldfinch," while escaping.

Later in life, Theo gets involved in crime and art forgery as he continues to try to process what happened to his mother years ago. Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver, The Fault in Our Stars) plays Decker in the film adaptation, with Nicole Kidman, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Sarah Paulson filling out the cast.

(Image credit: Francois Duhamel)

Ad Astra

Release date: Sept. 20, 2019

The past decade has treated us to some truly groundbreaking, out-of-this-world space movies, including Gravity, Interstellar, First Man and High Life  and thankfully, this trend isn't slowing down in 2019.

In Ad Astra, directed by James Gray (We Own the Night, The Lost City of Z), Brad Pitt stars as astronaut Roy McBride, who sets out on an intergalactic journey to find his father, Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a scientist who may or may not be conducting rogue experiments that could affect all of humanity. Stunning visuals and a sure-to-be impressive score by Max Richter (The Leftovers), not to mention its several Venice Film Festival nominations, make this film an early Oscar contender.

(Image credit: Yana Blajeva)

Rambo: Last Blood

Release date: Sept. 20, 2019

Rambo's back for one final mission, baby, marking an end to the four-decades-long action film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. In his latest mission, Rambo heads to Mexico to save a friend's kidnapped daughter and winds up facing off against dangerous Mexican cartels.

The latest trailer promises plenty of bloodshed via all sorts of weapons, including booby traps, knives, guns and crossbows, not to mention a hearty helping of shot-for-shot homages to previous Rambo flicks for the nostalgic (i.e., dads).

(Image credit: Jaap Buitendijk/Focus Features)

Downton Abbey

Release date: Sept. 20, 2019

The Crawley family has been expecting you.  Continuing the soapy storylines of the 2010-2015 British TV show of the same name, the Downton Abbey movie is sure to deliver more shocks and scandals on the big screen than the franchise ever has. With a visit from King George V and Queen Mary igniting tensions among the servants and the Crawley family members who reside at Downton, drama and snappy one-liners by Dame Maggie Smith will quickly ensue. Oh, how we've missed this place.

October

(Image credit: Niko Tavernise)

Joker

Release date: Oct. 4, 2019

Fresh off winning a Golden Lion (the top award) at the Venice Film Festival and receiving a slurry of hot takes on social media, Joker is poised to be the most talked-about film of 2019. Joaquin Phoenix, following in the footsteps of fan-favorite Jokers before him  including those played by Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series) and Jack Nicholson (Batman)  plays Arthur Fleck, a washed-up comedian whose life circumstances and deteriorating mental health turn him into Batman's archnemesis in the fictional Gotham City.

The film's gritty, indie take on the popular villain seems to be the DC equivalent of Marvel's Logan (2017), an intimate, Mad Max-esque character study of popular X-Man Wolverine. We're excited to see if director Todd Phillips (The Hangover trilogy) can deliver the first Oscar-winning superhero film.

(Image credit: Netflix)

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Release date: Oct. 11, 2019

Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and AMC took a risk in April 2013 when they announced that a Breaking Bad prequel series called Better Call Saul was in development  but did we really need to see a precursor story to an already nearly flawless show? Well, now, after four seasons of the critically acclaimed and audience-loved prequel have aired, it's clear the decision was a good one.

This year, Gilligan and co. are expanding their "Heisenverse" even more, with a Breaking Bad Netflix original movie, El Camino. This film will extend beyond the events of both the Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad series, showing what happens to Jesse Pinkman after the (likely) death of his partner in crime, the drug kingpin Walter White. Though little is known about the plot, the movie will surely change how we perceive the outstanding Breaking Bad series finale  but because the OG Breaking Bad team has written, produced and directed the movie, we're confident that it'll be just as great.

(Image credit: Paramount)

Gemini Man

Release date: Oct. 11, 2019

It's Will Smith vs. CGI de-aged Will Smith in this long-hyped futuristic film by director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain). Smith plays both Henry Brogan, an assassin with a target on his head, and Junior, a cloned version of Brogan trying to kill his older self  and though Junior is faster and younger, the real Brogan can predict his clone's every move.

Fellow hitperson Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) joins Brogan in fighting off Junior, while mysterious characters Baron (Benedict Wong) and Clay Verris (Clive Owen) will likely also stand in their way. It's Minority Report by way of Mission: Impossible, and even as unsettled as we are with this being a sort of feature-length "deepfake" video, we're more than onboard for Smith hurling motorcycles and grenades at himself.

(Image credit: Jessica Miglio)

Zombieland: Double Tap

Release date: Oct. 18, 2019

Ten years later, we're finally getting a sequel to the raunchy, fun-as-heck Zombieland. Sure, it probably should have come out, say, seven years ago, or maybe five, but hey, we'll still take it now.

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) return to kick more zombie butt and tell the surviving humans to nut up or shut up while facing bigger threats and keeping their dysfunctional little family together.

(Image credit: Disney)

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Release date: Oct. 18, 2019

Angelina Jolie reprises her role as the evil Maleficent in this follow-up to the 2014 Disney film about the Sleeping Beauty villain. In Mistress of Evil, Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) accepts a marriage proposal from Prince Phillip, which causes an uproar from Maleficent. You see, Phillip's mother plans to divide humans and fairies forever, using the wedding as a means of doing so, which creates a rift between Aurora and Maleficent. Can the two find peace as a family, or will their differing points of view endanger everyone in the land?

November

(Image credit: Niko Tavernise/Netflix)

The Irishman

Release date: Nov. 1, 2019 (theaters); Nov. 27, 2019 (Netflix)

After breaking from his trademark mobster movies with thriller Shutter Island, family-friendly film Hugo and Leonardo DiCaprio-starring dramedy The Wolf of Wall Street, director Scorsese returns to his roots with The Irishman, a crime drama that follows Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), the man who claims to have killed infamous mobster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

With a runtime of 210 minutes (that's 3 and a half hours), this movie is Scorsese's longest to date by a full half-hour, so if you choose to see it during its limited theatrical run before its Nov. 27 Netflix premiere, definitely make sure to pee before you get settled. Scorsese and stars De Niro and Pacino are the perfect recipe for Oscar bait, but will this film's self-indulgent runtime hurt its nomination chances? We'll see in November.

(Image credit: Kerry Brown)

Terminator: Dark Fate

Release date: Nov. 1, 2019

Edward Furlong, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back as John Connor, Sarah Connor and the titular Terminator, respectively, in the sixth (and last?) installment of the Terminator franchise.

James Cameron has returned to the series after being absent from it since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and he considers Dark Fate a direct sequel to the first two films, with the events of the other three occurring in alternate timelines. In Dark Fate, a dangerous new liquid-metal Terminator, played by Gabriel Luna (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), is sent from the future to eradicate a Terminator-human hybrid (Natalia Reyes), and it's up to the Connors and the OG Terminator to save her and the future of humanity.

(Image credit: Jessica Miglio)

Doctor Sleep

Release date: Nov. 8, 2019

Horror director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) welcomes us back to the Overlook Hotel in Doctor Sleep, which is based on Stephen King's 2013 Shining sequel of the same name.

Doctor Sleep follows a grown-up Dan Torrance, Jack Torrance's son with psychic abilities from The Shining, as he battles literal demons (a group of semi-immortal beings called the True Knot) as well as figurative ones (his alcoholism) while also protecting a young girl named Abra Stone with whom he shares a psychic connection. The production team behind the movie rebuilt the Overlook Hotel using Stanley Kubrick's original blueprints, so the attention to detail alone will be exciting to see.

(Image credit: Disney)

Lady and the Tramp

Release date: Nov. 12, 2019

Justin Theroux and Tessa Thompson are dogs in love in Disney's newest "live-action" remake, the company's third this year alone, following Aladdin (2019) and The Lion King (2019).

If you thought talking CGI lions were weird, wait till you see CGI dogs eating spaghetti. Still, it should be a nice-enough family-friendly film that'll be good to watch around Thanksgiving, and the voice actors alone are reason enough to give it a chance. It'll also be a Disney+ exclusive film and one of the few originals available upon the streaming service's launch, so it'll be interesting to see how the nontheatrical release affects viewership  for better or worse.

(Image credit: Nadja Klier)

Charlie's Angels

Release date: Nov. 15, 2019

Good morning, Angels! This Charlie's Angels reboot of a reboot is peak 2019 state of cinema. But despite the lack of originality, we're still pumped to see Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska star as the new butt-kicking trio of Angels updated for a more modern age.

Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2) both wrote and directed the movie, which is a refreshing change of pace from its male-heavy influence in the past, (Really, how has such a long-running franchise about women never been directed by a woman?) Banks also stars as one of THREE Bosleys, alongside Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Patrick Stewart, which shouldn't be confusing at all. But really, just give us high-tech gadgets, awesome weapons and a decent dose of humor, and we'll be happy.

(Image credit: Disney)

Frozen 2

Release date: Nov. 22, 2019

Who among us hasn't heard (or, admit it, sung along to) Frozen's "Let It Go"? (It's stuck in your head now, isn't it? Sorry, not sorry.) The six-years-in-the-making sequel finally arrives in November, with returning voice actors Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff reprising their roles as Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Kristoff, respectively.

Frozen 2 will find our heroes leaving the confines of Arendelle in order to save it by learning more about the origin of Elsa's powers. We can also expect a ton of new songs, at least one of which we're sure to be hearing for years.

(Image credit: Claire Folger)

Knives Out

Release date: Nov. 27, 2019

Director Rian Johnson's first feature-length film since 2017's divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi is " a blissfully fun whodunnit " with an all-star cast that includes Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Michael Shannon.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last weekend to glowing reviews that promise a fun murder mystery with tons of surprises wrapped up in a stylish, modern package  and we personally can't wait to see what this director has up his sleeves when he's not beholden to a legacy franchise like Star Wars.

December

(Image credit: Hiram Garcia)

Jumanji: The Next Level

Release date: Dec. 13, 2019

A modern-day reboot of Jumanji (1995) with a Jumanji video game rather than a board game sounded like a disaster on paper, but 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was surprisingly hilarious and fun thanks to actors Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart and Jack Black.

The sequel, subtitled The Next Level, sees the return of that killer cast while adding sure-to-be-great newbies Danny DeVito, Danny Glover and Awkwafina. The group will have to brave more-treacherous locales, scarier enemies and, again, themselves in this big-budget follow-up that we can't wait to see.

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Release date: Dec. 20, 2019

This is it, fellow Jedi knights, the ninth and final installment in the Skywalker saga. Director J.J. Abrams returns to the decades-long space epic after 2015's The Force Awakens to tie up the stories of Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo, as well as newcomers Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren.

The Rise of Skywalker doesn't premiere for another three months, but countless theories and possible spoilers abound, so be careful about where you lurk online if you're not into those kinds of things. How will Palpatine reenter the fold? Will Rey's parentage be further illuminated? And what, exactly, does the "Skywalker" in the film's title symbolize? All will be revealed in December (or not  it is the master of mystery, J.J. Abrams we're talking about, after all). Let's just hope it's not as divisive as Rian Johnson's previous installment, The Last Jedi.
Many news reports today are suggesting that computer experts are worried that the 2016 U.S. presidential election was hacked, and are demanding a recount to see whether Hillary Clinton actually beat Donald Trump, but that's not true. What electronic-voting experts are suggesting instead is a vote audit of the kind that they think should be routine after every election.

(Image credit: A. Katz/Shutterstock)

This pervasive but mostly false story stems from a misleading report posted online yesterday (Nov. 22) by New York magazine entitled "Experts Urge Clinton Campaign to Challenge Election Results in 3 Swing States." It says that "a group of prominent computer scientists ... believes they've found persuasive evidence that results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked."

But in a blog posting today (Nov. 23), one of those experts cited, J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan, contested the accuracy of the New York magazine story. And Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com, one of the country's most prominent statisticians, said there's no evidence that the presidential vote in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was rigged.

MORE: Why Can't Americans Vote Online?

The New York Magazine piece "incorrectly describes the reasons manually checking ballots is an essential security safeguard," Halderman wrote.

"Were this year's deviations from pre-election polls the results of a cyberattack? Probably not," he added. "I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong, rather than that the election was hacked."

However, Halderman said the ballots should be audited nonetheless, because otherwise there would be no way to know for sure. And unfortunately, the only to do that is to demand a recount  not to give Clinton another chance to beat Trump, but to make sure that the various voting systems in use across multiple states actually work properly.

Halderman admits that the election certainly could have been hacked, because many of those voting systems are not very secure. He and other verified-voting experts have argued for years that electronic voting is very risky unless each recorded vote leaves a paper trail. (Indeed, the Netherlands has abandoned electronic voting and gone back to pencil and paper.)

But a stolen election would probably be easy to spot statistically. To that effect, Silver said on Twitter yesterday that "the claim ... of rigged results in Wisconsin is probably BS," and displayed several charts to demonstrate that. (Good luck understanding them.)

"Run a regression on Wisc. counties with >=50K people, and you find that Clinton improved more in counties with only paper ballots," Silver tweeted. "HOWEVER: the effect COMPLETELY DISAPPEARS once you control for race and education levels, the key factors in predicting vote shifts this year."

"Nothing in Pennsylvania, either, whether or not you control for demographics," he added. "And Michigan has paper ballots everywhere, so not even sure what claim is being made there."

Another prominent statistician, Nate Cohn, who was hired by The New York Times after Nate Silver left the paper following the 2012 presidential election, also dismissed the New York Magazine story.

"It's hard to stress how weak this is," Cohn tweeted yesterday.

That's not to say there aren't issues with the 2016 presidential election. Many computer-security and national-security experts believe that the Russian government influenced the election by releasing compromising material about Clinton through WikiLeaks  and got the result Russia desired. In other words, a hostile foreign power may have swayed a U.S. presidential election.

There's also the continuing vote count in California, which so far has added so much to the Democratic candidate's total that she now leads by more than two million votes nationwide. But both of these are policy and legislative issues that have little to do with voting machines, and the next president will have to deal with them.
Listening to your album, a cool but tired voice breaks, it just reminded me so much of those old days. A guitar strums and feedback crackles. And it brings back that time when we did pump our fists in the air. Cause you had to be, the voice stammers, you had to be in their face. A blunt strum and the guitar stops. The voice repeats; determined. You had to be in their face. What follows is the only seconds of silence where you feel safe for the entire duration of A.B. Originals Reclaim Australia.

Crunchy strings twang over sinister horns straight out the Jaws soundtrack as an organ slides and a fiercer, younger, angrier voice answers the call, The brothers are back! Faint hearts stutter and the Right wing clutches their pearls as two pissed off black men ball their fists in the air. More than a hip-hop supergroup, this Indigenous rap pack embodies generations of their black brothers and sisters as they call on Australia, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, to plant its feet in the red dust and pump its fists towards the black sky as the sun kisses its back.

Hip-hop has always been a soundtrack for fighting oppression. Born in the slums of a torn apart New York City, it is a culture which granted a voice to the voiceless. African-American and Hispanic teenagers made sense of a parentless childhood courtesy of the Post-Vietnam drug epidemic. They did so on the streets with spray-cans, drum-breaks, microphones and cardboard mats.

Since then, hip-hop has been adopted by the worlds lost youth as a tool to fight aimlessness and to find autonomy. It allowed Yorta-Yorta boy Adam Briggs to travel from the streets of Shepparton to arenas in Europe to becoming Briggs, the winner of the 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards Album of the Year award and founder of the first Indigenous Australian hip-hop label, Bad Apples. It allowed Ngarrindjeri boy Daniel Rankine to travel from the Coorong River to become Trials, one quarter of Australian hip-hop royalty The Funkoars and an ARIA award winning producer for Drapht, Illy, Hilltop Hoods, Seth Sentry and more. Now hip-hop allows them both the methods and the means to say to other Indigenous kids across the country: you can do this too.

This invitation is first extended in the aforementioned spoken word Foreword featuring Indigenous Australian recording legend Archie Roach, passing the baton to A.B Original. After that, the tone for Reclaim Australia is immediately set with, 2 Black 2 Strong. Its the blackout! Brothers in the area! Smart black man with a plan; nothing scarier! Trials hollers over rattle snake percussion and cuts by Jaytee Hazard in a song of defiant identity.

These boys arent new kids on the block. They rap like teenagers with the experience and tenacity of men who have lost the glint in the eyes but not their spark. Their words conjure the past like a medicine mans chant. When Trials verse breaks midway to sample Malcolm X giving birth to the phrase, Too black, too strong, it draws parallels between Americas sordid past with slavery and racial genocide with our own country and illuminates the sickening longevity of this message. 53 years since Message to the Grass Roots in Detroit, the contention still rings true, one that informs the start of the record with brute force.

This intertextual breadth and self-awareness lends the record an additional pang of bitter sweetness. The same artists who inspired a generation of hip-hop and post-civil rights warriors are now the meta-reference points for a new generation: sadly meaning that not much has changed. But Trials and Briggs use this to elevate and highlight their message, rather than reduce them to token hip-hop references.

In Call Em Out the boys post a unified call to action of naming and shaming of historical proportions, featuring horrifying audio of proposed plans to solve the problem of the Indigenous population. The song features Detroit underground juggernaut Guilty Simpson whose African-American perspective mirrors the soul and pain of Briggs and Trials over lazy keys and a screeching guitar and mourning brass stabs. When his thick Mid-Westen drawl utters, speaking for victims, many dont have a voice, shuffled in the system, you know he uses his kinfolk as an example for more than one nation, a sentiment echoed on The Feast when Comptons very own King T cameos, a soldier of the West Coast rap sound which permeates these 12 songs and binds them with a sonic aesthetic and the tonal palpability of the records purpose.

By paying homage to their American predecessors and peers, A.B. Original dont parody, rather they posit insidious irony. On Strong Arm, Trials and Briggs trade lines inspired by 50 Cents Wanksta (I said damn homey/ you walking on my fucking land homey) to deliver a courageous war-cry and nightmarish chant of vigour and brute force. These references satirically underline the principle of appropriation.

Referencing Ice Cubes classic Today Was a Good Day in Firing Squad, Briggs mimics his idol; Scoring points on the court they was trouble/ last week fucked around and got a triple double. As well as framing it as dark satire, by flipping the punchline in the context of unjustified court dates Briggs demonstrates respecting the pillars of the history and culture he draws from to inspire and motivate him, unlike our government on the land they call home.

The fortitude of such messages makes it too easy to mistake the pained cries of frustration as hatred. On Sorry, Caiti Baker bellows, I might just kill somebody, continuing the subversive twist of I know youre sorry, and Im sorry but I gotta, ironically and sarcastically apologising to the countrys past and present politicians: Dropped so many Ses off my chest they call it Abotage! The sorry Im not sorry middle finger to the apathetic and indifferent mimics the same message Indigenous Australians heard for too long, and is simultaneously reminiscent of political-rap pioneers Public Enemy, referenced by Briggs with, I got a letter from the government/ took it where my oven is! This is but one of many ways the group flips the table. On Firing Squad the marching music of Haus layered prayer atop syncopated synths and stuttering hi-hats paints a picture of a squad staring down the soon to be fallen in a subversive tale conjuring images of slaughtered Indigenous Australians.

Thats just one of many guests spots who illuminate that the outrage and torment A.B. Original embody isnt one perspective, but an old-new world of silenced perspectives. On ICU Thelma Plums voice cracks amidst haunting trickling keys, Youre too busy watching me/ When you need to watch yourself, addressing the intensive big brother scrutinising the one side but ignoring the other while Briggs roars, I never hesitate to burn a bridge/ sometimes I just remind them what a furnace is, delivering a call to live despite the watching eye that suffocates a nation of Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.

In Dead in a Minute, vocalist Caiti Baker once again appears and trills, I will always begin knowing I will never finish/ I got too much to do/ I could be dead in a minute and you can see the clock ticking backwards, mocking the mirage of freedom. Its one of many sentiments that Indigenous Australians have whispered to themselves or felt traverse across their minds and A.B. Original immortalise and verify its poignancy, much like the lead single January 26 featuring Dan Sultan. Its ironic that, with its digestible G-Funk bass synths and sound effects, its the most palatable song on the record, its warmth and party vibe painting a dark parody of a day that will always represent invasion and massacre for this nations first people.

Pity, however, has no business on this record. When the duo arent going ham on Australias racist past and present they are elevating themselves and their kin to echelons of worship which they have for too long been denied. Take Me Home feat. Gurrumul, the theme song to Aboriginal superhero TV series Cleverman, sees ritualistic chanting on top of claps, climbing synths and pounding drums where the duo make it apparent if it wasnt clear, if things dont change somebodys getting buried. A.B. Original elevate themselves not as saviours but as guides and exemplars to lead their people back home to a land that was robbed from them over 200 years ago.

Many have spoken about Reclaim Australias message, and its impossible not to, but as much as this record casts a light on this countrys history of racism, discrimination and inhumanity, it also casts a light on the culture and the craft whose sound and identity has been watered down courtesy of bubble-gum friendly diatribes and appropriated sensibilities of first world problems delivered by privileged voices with hip-hop as the cash cow delivery system.

Rap music will always be different to hip-hop. The latter is an all-encompassing elemental movement, the former is a mechanism of character, mettle and finesse. We know Briggs and Trials can rap. But whats vital in noting is that the skill and professionalism of their craft disregards any claim that this album is just shock value for shock values sake. Reclaim Australia is Rap-101, which sees the duo delivers some of the verses of their career.

On Dead In a Minute, Trials completely snaps, detailing the perspective of mixed-breeds and hybrids by mixing viciousness with cross-rhyme transitions, switching compound multi-line patterns with Biggie-esque singular internal rhyme prowess: Nothing sweet as winning when you always got to start last/You Jar-Jar big mistake, cokeheads lick the plate. Briggs answers in kind with a mastery of assonance and wordplay: Its the awesome force within, thing Im forced to win/ Jesus, you crossed me once but never crossed again. Throughout the entire record both Trials and Briggs showcase a cadence where the flow is free and effortless but each internal and end rhyme are the keystrokes of a master plan.

However, the element of rap where both soar is by effortlessly blending it with good old fashioned songwriting. No form or structure becomes bland. The pair shake it up with bridges, hooks, choruses, pre-hooks, two verses and three verse structures and spoken word interludes with inventive instrumentation devoid of hackneyed straight sampling.

All elements of which are on display in the soul of the record and the bone shattering call to arms, Report to the Mist. In between verses of double-time fury, A.B Original scream, We got a team with us! You thought we were them good ones! Stepping on our side thats where you put a foot wrong! Roll call! Report for duty! Here the duo marry unfuckwithable candour with nothing but hard-body, anthemic, screw-face, step back before you get hurt rap music. Its a concept which flips the tables once again as the accompaniment to Firing Squad, painting the disenfranchised as the military order with lines like, Mr Policeman, muthafuck you and that whole precinct. This song is Australias Fuck the Police, and its long overdue.

In saying so, its vital to acknowledge that Briggs and Trials have bravely taken it upon themselves to publicly release the nature of all private conversations and carpool confessionals that are being uttered country wide. Report to the Mist represents the spirit behind the message of the album. It posits the energy of why this message is so significant. It paints an alternate reality to exemplify why unity and inclusion is so vital. Because if division and discrimination and profiling and police brutality continues, this is the cry that will answer back whilst also echoing the shameful history which informs it: The blacker the berry the bigger the charge/ the whiter the lies/ the deeper facade/ the whiter crime the looser the cusp/ and the blacker the skin and that noose is for us.

The ignorant have suggested that these two Indigenous Australians have co-opted hip-hop culture and style, and their use of the West Coast G-Funk sound is the same appropriation they accuse Australias history of committing. This is naively false. What Trials & Briggs do is paint an intertextual representation of a culture born from fighting political and socio economic oppression. The G-Funk sound itself was pioneered during a time of turmoil in 80s and 90s America, torn by racial violence and discrimination which, unfortunately but ironically enough, still continues today. The same artists of that era who lifted themselves above their painful origins inspired their generation and now A.B are flipping that to inspire the next generation of young Indigenous boys, girls, men and women.

The breadth and thematic density of this record is immense. Its a concept album and simultaneously not a concept album. The slaughter and mistreatment of Indigenous Australians is not a concept  its a fact. This record is historical artefact. This record is protest music in the purest meaning of the word. This record has been waiting to be made for over the past two hundred years.

The message is raw, its undeniable, and its context is unprecedented. Its something that Australia has been missing. This is if Run The Jewels made It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back with M.O.P writing every hook. However, one thing above all cant be understated: this is really good rap music. I mean, really fucking good rap music.

10/10

Reclaim Australia is out tomorrow through bad Apples Music/Golden Era Records, and available for pre-order now.
KSHB: Two people connected to the Wyandotte County Sheriffs Department and the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department are charged with child endangerment and as felons in possession of a firearm.

MSM offers this "news" of suspects on the right side of the law who still ran afoul of rules and regs according to charges reported by TV news.As always, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty:Wyandotte County Sheriff's spokeswoman isand we'reto let readers decide and in the hopes thatis having a safe and fun holiday.Developing . . .
Fox4: Kansas City police are investigating a deadly shooting that happened after a Wednesday evening robbery. Police say officers were called to the 3100 block of E. 49th Street at about 5:50 p.m. where a victim was suffering from a gunshot wound.

- That's the 110th murder so far this year.





- At this point last year there were only 92 murders which was still a 30% increase over the year before that . . .





- The KCMO murder count now stands near a 10-year-high for this time of year and could be the highest so far this century.

The latest local killing . . .Quick look at stats:Developing . . .
Here's a reminder that looks can be deceiving even if this local crime reportto offer any relevant suspect description beyond noting the nice attire of local crooks.Here's the news that reminds locals to fear nice clothes, too:Crime in Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods has spiked this year as increasing violence and break-ins threaten the community that has grown frustrated with the lack of leadership from City Hall on this constant threat.Developing . . .
Bras. For about half of you reading this, theyre an essential item of wear. For the other half, theyre two great big cups of suggestion containing the most fun body parts yet discovered by science. In other words, theyre something nearly all of us are deeply familiar with, if only via our bedroom-ceiling fantasies.

But familiar doesnt have to mean pedestrian. As every internet fact writer will tell you, its whats beneath the surface thats truly interesting. No, we dont mean boobs. We mean the history of the bra itself. While all the other cool websites are happy just watching their girlfriends undress, we love nothing more than to get our nerd on and read up on some undergarment history. Trust us, youll be glad we did.

10. Bras Were Invented in Ancient Greece

Next time a girl offers you a chance to take off her bra, tell her to cool her jets and listen to this amazing factoid first. The bra was first invented in ancient Greece. This means the garment your hypothetical partner is wearing is older than the Colosseum in Rome.

After shes left in disgust, shaking her head and muttering about guys who spend too much time reading listicles, you can comfort yourself by digging deep into the mind-blowing details. See, the ancient world didnt have much in the way of underwire, so their bras were very different to what we have today. Instead of coming off the shelf, they were totally homemade, and boy did they look it. Making a bra in ancient Greece involved wrapping a load of wool or linen across your chest and tying it behind your back. It may not sound like much, but it totally worked, giving support to many-an Athenians chest-area.

Something approaching modern bras didnt really show up until the 1500s, when corsets came into fashion in a big way. While bras in Greece were worn for comfort, breast-supporting corsets were mandatory for middle-and-upper-class women for centuries. While were on the subject of female subjugation

9. 60s Bra Burning was a Total Myth

When we say the words sixties feminist rally to you, what image instantly pops into your head? A good proportion of you just said something along the lines of hippy college girls burning their bras. If popular culture was the sole arbitrator of whats historically true or not, this would be correct. But pop culture is pop culture, not history. And history says no bras were ever burnt in protest.

Like, ever. As in, not one single, lousy bra ever had the decency to tear itself off someones torso and go hurtling into a blazing trashcan. We know this because NY Post reporter, and later editor of Ms., Lindsy Van Gelder, admitted in 1992 that shed made the whole thing up.

At the time, the media was covering the burning of Vietnam draft cards with some sympathy, while kinda ignoring the womens lib movement. Gelder thought she could net some of her male colleagues sympathy by linking the two stories via the burning of a hated object. Unfortunately, her plan backfired when male reporters found it hilarious and turned the idea into a kinda pre-internet meme. By the 1980s, the image was so firmly entrenched in pop-culture that its never left.

8. Bras Make Boobs Go Saggy

When you think about it, bras are weirdly unnecessary. Not if youre carrying a lot of weight upfront and need some support, but if youve got small-ish breasts they dont offer much. So why do most girls wear them? The official answer is that theyre advisable to prevent sagging and back pain, and improve posture. The official answer is totally wrong.

Meet Jean-Denis Rouillon, the scientist with the job your 14-year old self always dreamed of having. Since 1997, Rouillon has been measuring womens naked breasts to see how they change after prolonged bra-wearing, versus prolonged hanging loose. From his research base in France (of course its in France), Rouillon has demonstrated that not wearing a bra makes your nipple gain a  inch of lift every year. By comparison, wearing a bra stops supportive breast tissue growing and leads to a terminal case of sag.

However, we should point out that this only really works if youre still young. After your mid-30s, ditching the bra wont make any difference at all. In terms of sag, at least. In other ways, it might just save your life

7. Bras Have Totally Killed People (Twice)

If theres one thing weve learned doing this job, its that anything, no matter how innocuous, can be dangerous. Bras are no exception. While they may look unthreateningly functional or sexy from the outside, at their heart lies a soul steeped in pure danger. We know this for a fact, because bras have been known to kill at least two people.

For our younger male readers who may not have reached first base yet, you should know bras contain metal wire. Its how they offer support to breasts, and why 90 percent of girls you meet have at least one story of their bra going rouge and stabbing them. While getting poked by an errant piece of metal sucks, it has nothing on what happens under certain, horrifying conditions. In event of a nearby lightning strike, the wire in a bra can act as a conductor. The result can be insane burns, agonizing agony, or even death.

This last one happened to two women in central London in 1999. During a storm, a lightning bolt exploded nearby, their bras went into superconductor mode and killed them both. While thats certainly a rare occurrence, it does prove that even the most-innocent item of clothing can potentially conspire to leave you deep beneath the cold, cold ground.

6. Howard Hughes Invented the Craziest Push-up

Hollywood mogul Howard Hughes was many things: a genius, a lunatic, a recluse, an obsessive-compulsive, and an airplane-loving super-pilot (hence Scorsese naming his biopic of Hughes The Aviator). He was also a guy who knew what cinema audiences wanted. And in the 1940s, they wanted breasts so gravity-defying you could land a biplane on them.

This culminated in 1943, with Hughess movie The Outlaw. Having hired the already well-equipped Jane Russell, Hughes set about making sure her breasts would become the star of the show. Using cutting-edge airplane technology, the eccentric madman designed a push-up bra that would heave his starlets accessories all the way up to heaven. It was the pushiest push-up bra in history, and it made Hughes the talk of the town.

Unfortunately, being male, Hughes hadnt given much thought to comfort. According to Russell, his super high-tech bra hurt so much she could only wear it for five minutes at a time. Eventually, she chucked the damn thing out, tightened the shoulder straps on her regular bra and did the scene without Hughes oddball invention.

5. Victorias Secret Was Originally Intended for Men

Victorias Secret is where women shop when they want to let their partner hes been a good boy. The lingerie-maker has been fueling male fantasies for decades, and is one of the places for gals to pick up a nice bra. But this quintessentially-female store has a slightly surprising side to it. When it was first opened, it was originally intended for men.

It was the mid-70s, and founder Roy Raymond was looking to buy his girlfriend something sexy for their anniversary. Unfortunately, this wasnt really standard-practice in those days, and the store he went into very nearly called the cops after mistaking him for a pervert. Raymond got so angry he decided to open his own lingerie store, specifically catering to men who wanted to buy their wives gifts without ending up on a register somewhere.

The idea was good enough to expand into two other stores, but by 1982 the company was nearly broke. Raymond sold out, and the buyer targeted Victorias Secret back at women, turning it into a multi-million dollar empire. Raymond wound up going broke and committing suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in 1993.

4. Imelda Marcoss Bulletproof Bra

Imelda Marcos was the modern worlds answer to Marie Antoinette. As wife of the Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, she blew insane amounts of public money on clothes and shoes, reveling in luxury as her people starved. When her husband was deposed she fled abroad, leaving behind over 3,000 pairs of shoes and a mind-blowing number of luxury items. But most mind-blowing of all may have been her bulletproof bras.

You dont get to be wife of a notoriously corrupt dictator without acquiring at least some enemies, and Imelda Marcoss enemies were more-numerous than most. The former beauty queen had embedded herself deep in the government, appointing family members to highly-paid posts created especially for them, and blowing state funds on her shoe collection. Aside from the armed guerilla groups in the countrys outer provinces, there were millions of ordinary people who were itching for a chance to off this symbol of corruption.

Hence the bulletproof bras. Paranoid about assassination, Imelda took to wearing bras that could save her from a surprise attack. Being Imelda Marcos, though, she also ensured the bras themselves were highly-fashionable, even with a Kevlar lining.

3. Bras are Worth Way More than You Realized

Bras are fairly durable garments. Not many people buy more than a couple a year, and few people own stacks and stacks of the things. As such, you might think that the bra industry is profitable, but on a human scale. Say, an annual turnover of $500 million or so. Well, youd be wrong. As an industry, bras are worth a staggering $16 billion a year.

For comparison, the entire GDP of Iceland only stands at $19 billion, and theyve got fish and Bjork to help them out. If bras were a country, theyd be wealthier than Jamaica, Kosovo, the Bahamas, and about forty more you couldnt reliably place on a map.

Part of this might have to do with the insane luxury lines of bras developers often put out. For those with the requisite levels of cash and Imelda Marcos-levels of self-centeredness, there are bras out there that go for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Some go for millions. Just keep this in mind: next time you buy a car or a house or even a mansion, there is someone out there, somewhere, wearing a piece of lingerie worth more than your latest major purchase.

2. WWI Made Bras Obscenely Popular

The Law of Unintended Consequences is often invoked to explain truly unexpected outcomes. But perhaps no outcome can be considered such a black swan event as the rise of the bra. In the first decades of the early 20th century, corsets were king, and bras were barely at the level of court jester. The event that made women chuck their uncomfortable corsets and switch to bras? Err, the advent of WWI.

Corsets use a lot of wire. When the US entered WWI in April 1917, all that metal was needed for the war effort. So the War Industries Board went public in mid-1917, and told American women to stop buying corsets. By sheer fluke, Warner Brothers Corset Co. had just purchased the patent for the bra. Needing something innovative to keep their business afloat, they immediately pushed into bra production. By the time metal rationing ended in late-1918, the bra had become the undergarment of choice.

It would take WWII and another metal shortage for corsets to disappear completely, but it was WWI that started it. Next time your girlfriend dresses up in a nice, sexy bra for you, remember to take a moment and thank Kaiser Wilhem for invading Belgium.

1. The Inventor of the Modern Bra Got Screwed Over (by her husband)

Although the sixties turned them into symbols of male oppression, the first bras were considered highly-liberating. Compared to strict Victorian corsets, they allowed women to move easily, work in factories (seriously, try constructing munitions while wearing a corset), and not faint every time they were in a warm room. So its ironic than an early symbol of female emancipation wound up failing to make its inventor any money.

The modern bra was first patented in the US in 1914 by Caresse Crosby. After getting fed up with her oversized corsets, Crosby got her maid to help her sew two pink handkerchiefs together with some ribbon. When she wore the result to a party, other women went mental. Crosby was able to dance freely, and looked like a natural woman instead of an armor-plated tank. Orders began to pour in from friends. Crosby set up a business.

Unfortunately, fate intervened in the shape of her husband. Just as the business was gathering steam, Mr. Crosby got fed up and forced his wife to sell her patent for $1,500. No sooner had she done so than the War Industries Board effectively banned corsets and the bra went supernova. Caresses rewards for liberating womens breasts went unclaimed, all thanks to her miserly husband.

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon shares the disappointment of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots leaders following the failed talks in Mont Pelerin

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon shares the disappointment of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots leaders following the failed talks in Mont Pelerin, his spokesperson said in a written statement on Wednesday.

The Secretary General shares the disappointment of the two leaders who had hoped that the meetings in Mont Pelerin would pave the way for the final phase of the talks, the statement said.

The statement said that that Ban is encouraging President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to do their utmost to overcome this particular hurdle.

Bans spokesperson said: They have made significant progress across chapters over the past eighteen months, advancing their talks further than ever before. They should continue to build upon their substantial achievements.

The UN Secretary General has also called on the leaders to continue their efforts to reach a settlement in 2016.

The Secretary General reiterates his full support and the commitment of the United Nations to assist the two leaders in reaching their shared goal, while respecting that the future of Cyprus will be determined by Cypriots, for all Cypriots. He will be in contact with both leaders soon to discuss the next steps. He is in close contact with his Special Adviser who is currently assessing the situation, the statement said.

CALL FOR GUARANTORS TO DO UTMOST IN PROCESS

Ban has said that all interested parties should avoid any statements and actions that would make the resumption of talks more difficult.

In a reminder to the leaders and interested parties, Ban has said that temporary setbacks are not uncommon in peace processes as talks approach a final stage.

The Secretary General also calls upon all interested parties, especially the guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, to do their utmost to support the leaders during the coming days and weeks, which will be crucial for the negotiations and the future of Cyprus, the statement said.

President Anastasiades will be addressing the public in a press conference on Wednesday night.

Read more here.

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Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias spoke with U.N. Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide on Thursday evening, to whom he reiterated Greeces support for the continuation of the negotiating process.

Kotzias said Greece seeks a fair and viable solution to the Cyprus issue and discussed with Eide the collapse of peace talks in Switzerland and the role of the U.N. in the process.

The foreign minister and the U.N. envoy agreed to meet after the latters imminent return to Cyprus, a development for which Kotzias expressed the Greek governments satisfaction.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades rejected on Thursday press reports which claimed there as a rift in the countrys relations with the Greek foreign ministry

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades rejected on Thursday press reports which claimed there as a rift in the countrys relations with the Greek foreign ministry, saying relations are excellent with everyone in the Greek government.

Its not just the prime minister, its the government of Greece, he said responding to questions during a press conference in Nicosia. Those people who insinuate at such critical times that theres a possibility of a crisis in the relations between Cyprus and Greece should stop, he added.

We have an excellent cooperation with the Greek government, the prime minister  who expresses the policies formed by the government team  and therefore I consider unjustified, at this particularly critical time, any speculation.

Separately, Alternate government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said there is no problem with Mr. Kotzias.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The Dutch cabinet has approved a proposal for a partial ban on Islamic veils in public areas such as schools and hospitals as well as on public transportation

The Dutch cabinet has approved a proposal for a partial ban on Islamic veils in public areas such as schools and hospitals as well as on public transportation. This ban will make it the third country in Europe to prohibit the burqa.

In a statement issued Friday after the Dutch cabinet approved a bill by interior minister Ronald Plasterk, the government said: Face-covering clothing will in future not be accepted in education and healthcare institutions, government buildings and on public transport.

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, told journalists after a cabinet meeting that the ban was intended for security reasons or in specific situations where it is essential for people to be seen, but would not apply to wearing the burqa or niqab on the street. He added: The bill does not have any religious background.

In approving the ban, the government explained that it had attempted to find a balance between peoples freedom to wear the clothes they want and the importance of mutual and recognisable communication.

It is estimated that between 100 and 500 women in the Netherlands would be effected by the ban.

Sources: Telegraph, The Guardian

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Hempel Paints, a global supplier of marine, protective and decorative coatings, plans to move its entire production unit in Saudi Arabia to its new plant in Jeddahs second industrial city as part of a strategy aimed at meeting the needs of its Saudi customers.



Inaugurated two years ago, the factory in Jeddah is Hempels first 100 per cent water-based production factory in the Middle East, the largest in the region, and the second largest in the world.



The strategic move coincides with the centennial anniversary of the inception of Hempel Group.



Unveiling the plan, Ahmed Abdul Aziz, the sales and marketing director at Hempel Paints Middle East, said the move is in line with the market developments and its commitment to meet customer needs and requirements.



"We completely understand that Saudi Arabia, in line with its Vision for 2030, will witness dynamic developments across all aspects, particularly the construction sector, which is the largest in the region," remarked Abdul Aziz.



"Plans are under way to build 40,000 hotel rooms by 2018 in Riyadh and Jeddah and 120 hotels by 2020 in the kingdom," he stated.



According to Raden bin Saafaq Al Dweish, the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Committee of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce Industry, around 1.5 million residential units are in demand in the market.



Commenting on Hempel Paints current annual production and 2017 expansion plans, Abdul Aziz said: Built on 15,000 sq m, the factory has production lines with manufacturing capacity of 32 million litres a year. The plan is to increase the maximum capacity to around 40 million litres annually.



As for Hempels market share, Abdul Aziz said the paints and coatings market has a great growth potential, with an estimated value of SR3 billion ($799 million) a year.



According to him, the company is aiming to double its market share in the kingdom.



"Our market share is expected to grow in the next five years due to the companys commitment to providing its customers with best quality products and services," he noted.



Hempel has been present in the kingdom for more than 45 years, controlling a considerable market share and maintaining strong market positioning thanks to its technologically-advanced paints available at its showrooms located strategically in the kingdom, said Abdul Aziz.



Its decorative paints are widely used by homeowners, architects, and construction companies. Armed with over 100 years of paint expertise, the company produces a wide range of interior, exterior and floor coatings solutions, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
A delayed high-speed railway linking Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia, which will benefit 166,000 passengers per day, will finally open in March 2018, said a report, citing the Al Shoula consortium which is building the project.



The rail network linking the holiest cities was initially scheduled to open by the year end but the date for its completion was moved to the end of 2017, according to AFP.



Now the Spanish consortium says partial operations on the high-speed rail project will begin in December and full operations is set to start in March 2018, stated the report.



Saudi Arabia had awarded the contract worth 6.7 billion ($7.1 billion) in 2011 to the consortium of 12 Spanish companies and two Saudi firms for the high-profile project, which included laying of 444 km of track between Makkah and Madinah, providing 35 trains and maintaining the line for 12 years.



The leading firms in the consortium - Spains rail company Renfe, train maker Talgo, and state track operator Adif - have extensive experience with the countrys own high-speed network.



Saudi authorities have agreed to pay an extra SR600 million ($160 million) to compensate for additional costs of the project due to the delay, the report added.
Oman's Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (SEZ) has awarded a pair of contracts worth RO76 million ($197 million) for the construction of a comprehensive flood protection system designed to secure the zones multibillion-dollar investments at the key port development.



The project, tendered out in separate contracts, entails the construction of an elaborate network of flood channels that will drain run-off from the Jurf and Saay wadis currently crisscrossing the SEZ, safely into the Arabian Sea, according to Oman Observer.



Among the biggest beneficiaries of the massive flood protection system being developed by Sezad is the $6-billion Duqm Refinery project, contracts for the execution of which will be awarded next year, said the report.



Parts of a 2,224-aacre site earmarked for the project have been developed in preparation for the start of construction work, it stated.



Sezad said additionally, flood protection dams will be built upstream of the Jurf and Saay wadis to stave off potential flood events that could imperil industrial schemes to be located downstream of these wadis.



The authority has already roped in Turkish construction firm Serka Taahhut for the construction of channels along the downstream courses of the Jurf and Saay wadis, thereby ensuring that potential floodwaters are suitably diverted away from industrial developments.



Under the RO49-million ($127 million) contract, a major outlet channel will be built to collect the outflow from both Jurf and Saay for eventual drainage into the sea.



Both water courses will be suitably excavated, trained and streamlined to facilitate the smooth flow of floodwater into the sea, it added.
More than 140 companies from over 27 countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey, will participate at the upcoming 14th edition of the Middle East Natural and Organic Products Expo (Menope), to be held in Dubai.



Being held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment the event will be held from November 29 to December 1, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).



Menope 2016, the regions only natural and organic products show, is being organised by Dubai-based Global Links, and will have three distinct vertical focus this year namely, food and beverages, beauty and wellness, health, nutrition and alternate medicine.



Engineer Fatima Obaid Al Kalbani, director of health and plant development department at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, said: The ministry's patronage of this exhibition comes within the framework of its interest in organic farming and organic products and enhanced contribution to food diversity.



In light of the increase in organic farming allocation, the number of organic agricultural crops and agricultural areas and growth in imported organic products, the ministry is keen to help regulate this sector, particularly with focus on the development of legislative frameworks which will in turn support the sector and enable it to enhance and compete in the market, as well as encourage private sector to invest, she added.



In collaboration with the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), MOCCAE also oversees the administration of the UAEs registered organic product trademark, Organic as well as the UAE system for ratification of the inputs and products in organic food under a regulatory order of 2014. This regulation limits the imports and circulation of inputs and organic products which do not have the national `Organic trademark or if the products are not compatible to the ministrys recognised norms of production, quarantine regulations and veterinary rules of the state. The Ministry in cooperation with partners also helps in promoting local organic products across shopping malls and other outlets.



Mohamed Khalifa Al Marar, chairman, Global Links, said: The expanded and demarcated focus of this years expo is in line with the current market scenario. While food and beverages may still be on the top of the sales pyramid of organic and natural products, in the last few years segments like beauty and wellness as well as nutrition, particularly in categories such as infant food, has gained momentum,



Organic and natural products market still remains nascent, however, the impetus for growth in this sector has accelerated considerably with increasing number of health-conscious consumers embracing green life across food intake, personal beauty grooming as well as in preventing and responding to health-related issues, he added.



A Euromonitor study earlier had forecast that the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) market for organic and natural products will be to the tune of close to Dh500 million ($120 million) in 2017, and has been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12-15 per cent for the last five to six years.



The event will showcase a variety of products spanning across herbals and spices, food and beverages, cereal products, supplements, health care products, natural living, natural cosmetics, healing products, natural remedies, traditional medicines, spas, relaxation facilities, pet products and fabrics.



The event has consistently attracted trade visitors of quality and as a buyer-seller platform the expo is known to be an effective enabler of trade. This year we expect over 5,000 trade visitors at Menope and early indications are that a predominant share of this will be from the GCC, Al Marar concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
African air travel spend is expected to rise 24 per cent with the introduction of the pan-African passport in 2018, a new report has unveiled.



According to a new research released by global travel technology provider, Sabre Corporation, the new passport will enable African travellers to visit other countries on the continent without a visa.



The comprehensive survey by Sabre aimed to uncover the opportunities and challenges faced by travellers in Africa today, to help airlines' growth and provide African travellers an overall better journey. Travellers from four countries  South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt were surveyed, with those having flown in the past 24 months saying they would spend 24 per cent more with the introduction of the passport (from $1,100 to $1,500 annually).



But despite a willingness among travellers to spend more on flights, travel in Africa still remains inaccessible to the majority, with only 23 per cent of those surveyed having travelled abroad at all in the last two years. When asked what prevents them from travelling more, the top reasons were:

 32 per cent said travel is too expensive

 31 per cent said it is difficult obtaining visas

 30 per cent said it is too difficult to book travel

 28 per cent said there are no flights to their chosen destination



Travellers also expressed a number of gripes about their current experiences when travelling:

 27 per cent said the check-in process takes too long

 22 per cent said the check-in procedure is confusing

 20 per cent dont like the food on aircrafts

 19 per cent think there is not enough to do at the airport



The results suggest that while travel is inaccessible to many and is difficult for those who do travel, there is a still a strong desire to travel more, said Dino Gelmetti, vice president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Airline Solutions, Sabre. Additionally, most of the pain points can be addressed by airlines, and these tweaks could make all the difference to travellers. African carriers currently face tough competition from international rivals that control 88 per cent of African airspace but, as demand for travel increases, African airlines have a real opportunity to win the lions share of bookings by addressing the pain points of travellers and going the extra mile to improve their experience.



Like many other travellers globally, Africans also expressed a strong interest in experiencing a travel journey that was more personalised and appealing to their taste. Respondents said that they would be willing to spend up to $104 per trip on an airlines extra products and services  such as excess baggage, cabin class upgrades, and special food and beverage  if it improved and personalised their journey.



Airlines, globally, currently pocket an average of just $16 per passenger on ancillaries, so the fact that African travellers are prepared to spend six times more than that represents a significant retail opportunity for carriers on the continent, said Gelmetti. Airlines will flourish if they invest in technology that can make sense of customer data and use it to offer passengers the right product in the right context at the right time. This technology, which empowers airlines to mirror the personalised shopping tactics already mastered by the online retail industry has been proven to increase ancillary revenue by an average of 10 per cent, and is being used by some of the worlds most forward-thinking carriers.



As further encouragement for African carriers, Sabres survey respondents stated a number of reasons why people would choose to fly with their local carrier over a foreign airline; the top three reasons were:

 It offers cheaper tickets

 It offers the latest technology on board

 It offers greater comfort on board. - TradeArabia News Service
If you want to experience Christmas season with a relatively warmer and more humid weather, check out this list of places that could defrost your winter blues.

Honolulu, Hawaii brings you perfect tropical weather on its Islands. Throw off your socks and mittens and replace them with shorts and bikinis to celebrate the big waves of Waikiki. Don't miss their Honolulu City Lights where the locals would start the lighting of the tree. It highlights and starts the holiday celebration according to Life Hack.

Go Carribean in Jamaica. This perfect warm island will offer you lush rainforests and beautiful beaches. Celebrate your Christmas like its summer and switch on your reggae songs for the holiday. Dubbed as the "Music Island" of the Carribean, Jamaica offers you comfort and luxury with these travel deals.

Soak your feet in the warm waters of Mexico. Puerto Vallarta is a beach resort located at the Pacific Ocean's Bahia de Banderas. Its December temperature averages to 70 degree Fahrenheit and is perfect for relaxation. It is also known for its vibrant night life. Check out Puerto Vallera's travel deals here.

Christmas is the perfect time to get a spa in Bali. Its weather temperature averages to 81 degrees Fahrenheit, makitng it the perfect place for couples who want to have a special time for the holidays since travel holiday packages in Bali offers discount to celebrate the Christmas season. Check out cheap packages here.

Take part in fiestas at Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Christmas and Hanukkah holiday events for 2016 offers different activities that will be a feast to your eyes. The Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair and Winterhaven Festival of Lights are the most popular holidays in Tucson and marks the start of the Christmas season. Check out more on Tucson's events here.

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Hong Kong Disneyland aims to increase tourism and revenue, so t a $1.4 Billion upgrade. The theme park will add Frozen and Marvel attractions in hopes of attracting more international tourists and local tourists from mainland China.

"This proposed expansion brings the best of the Walt Disney Co. to this wonderful tourist destination, giving guests an experience only Disney can deliver and infusing some of Disney's most beloved characters and stories into this unique destination," Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts said.

Hong Kong Disneyland's expansion will start on the year 2018 and is expected to finish by 2013. It will also refurbishe the Sleeping Beauty Castle and add a "Moana" attraction which is based on the upcoming Disney film, according to LA Times.

Hong Kong Disneyland, the smallest of all the theme parks of Disney, suffered a slump of revenue of the past year mainly due to the political unrest and slow economy. It reported a loss of $20 million in revenue for the last 12 months. The theme park is not the only one suffering from losing huge percentage on tourism but in mainland China as well.

"Everybody knows tourism in the region, especially in Hong Kong, has been challenging, so it's not just Hong Kong Disneyland," Samuel Lau, Managing Director of Hong Kong Disneyland, said.

"We need to quickly double up to make sure we invest in tourism in the long run. Some of these projects will take time to build and create, and now is the time."

The government of Hong Kong owned 53% stake of Hong Kong Disneyland and it will contribute the $750 million while Disney will fund the remaining $650 million in the $1.4 billion investment.

The expansion and refurbishing of attractions will employ and make 3,500 jobs. It will also give 600 employments within the park.

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Ctrip.com International Ltd of China, an online travel service provider, signed an agreement to buy Skyscanner Holdings Ltd, a travel search website, which is valued at about $1.74 billion.

According to Reuters, Skyscanner was valued at $1.6 billion when it acquired $159 million from a group of investors in a funding. The company was then reported to be considering a public offering.

CTrip took the sale by acquiring the company in their signed agreement.

"Skyscanner is one of the largest travel search platforms in the world," James Jianzhang Liang, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip stated according to their website.

"We are excited to welcome Skyscanner into the Ctrip group. Ctrip and Skyscanner share the same passion and dedication in providing travelers around the world with better services. This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies."

Both companies aim to complement each other's expertise to aid the consumers for easy traveling. CTrip will benefit from Skyscanner's international positioning, where it bragged of millions of users from around the globe.

Skyscanner, on the other hand, will make use of CTrip's first hand technology and experience from being the leading travel service provider of China.

"Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from. Today's news takes Skyscanner one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travelers around the world," said Gareth Williams, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skyscanner.

Williams reiterated that both companies share a common view to provide and aid travelers an organized and hassle-free traveling. In doing this, they need to have powerful technology and a 'traveler-first approach' in handling their service.

"In taking the next step to achieving our goal, Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and our growing global team will continue to innovate and deliver the products travelers know and love. It's an exciting time for our business, our partners and the travelers who use us," Williams added.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, US-bound flight searches from Arab countries has shown significant drops. Muslim US flight searches have gone down by seventy percent in comparison to October 2016.

Cheap Flights Finder, an automated flight search engine, has reported that the two weeks following the Trump 2016 election has displayed a significant drop in US flight searches. Instead, as reported by Travel Pulse, data has shown a post-election spike in flight searches for countries such as the UK, Turkey, and Malaysia.

The president-elect expressed a firm stand on the deportation and rejection of Muslim travellers and immigrants during his campaign. Due to Trump's insistence on the matter, many speculated a crash in the US travel industry coming in from Arabic countries and Islamic nations.

However, as stated by the search engine CEO, Shahab Siddiqui, there is no conclusive information stating a connection between the flight search drop and the election. Regardless, it is apparent that a majority of Muslim travelers have decided against US travel in the past few weeks.

The recent spikes in flight searches are apparently directed towards predominantly Islamic countries. These spikes in searches may be found in countries that are also predominantly Islamic, showing that Muslim travelers are opting to visit fellow Muslim countries.

Statistics also suggest that Muslim travelers may feel safer opting for UK travel. Though both countries see Muslims as a minority (1% in the US and 4.8% in the UK), recent search polls show that these travelers show preference for the UK.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Siddiqui states that the US travel industry may experience a downfall in the following months due to ongoing speculation regarding the Trump administration. The uncertainty regarding future US travel laws and processes may be scaring away potential travelers.

Travel experts have expressed their desire to continuously monitor statistics similar to those presented by Cheap Flights Finder. The industry intends to keep close watch on similar trends and developments so as to provide a reliable forecast for travel and tourism in 2017.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Celebrity Cruises has begun construction on what is now being referred to as the next generation of cruise ships. The proposed ship, known as Celebrity Edge, boasts the most daring and revolutionary designs and innovations in cruise ships to date.

The luxury cruise line has designed the Edge to be a pioneer in innovation and technological advancements, thus changing the way cruise voyages are viewed. The construction of the revolutionary ship will mark the first new ship class for Celebrity cruise ships since the year 2008.

Planning for the innovation was done earlier this year, with the help of Celebrity Cruises president Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, and her carefully selected team of architects and designers. According to Breaking Travel News, Lutoff-Perlo designed the cruise ship class to raise the bar of excellence in the cruise line industry.

Having had the seen the cutting of the ship's first piece of steel in the STX France shipyard, the company expects their plans transformed into reality in the span of twenty-four months. Celebrity Cruises expects to see the completion of the Celebrity Edge sometime in autumn of 2018.

In addition to the Edge, Celebrity has also announced the launching of the Edge's sister vessel, known as "Celebrity Beyond". As stated by Cruise Mapper, Celebrity Beyond has been described to offer the same luxurious Edge Class service, offering a whole new way to see the world.

The first of the Edge sister ships is scheduled for its initial delivery in spring of 2020, with the third and fourth new Celebrity Cruises ships to be delivered in autumns 2021 and 2022 respectively. These additions are set to be the newest and boldest ships belonging to the Celebrity Cruise line.

Although the cruise line has remained tight-lipped regarding the proposed ship's specifications, representatives have offered reassurance by promising more details in the near future. The line has guaranteed that all travelers, partners, and Celebrity cruise reviews will be amazed by the results.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
In a MH370 news update, a number of the passengers' family members expressed their intent to visit Madagascar on Dec. 3 to Dec. 11. This is in the hopes of finding debris from the missing plane that mysteriously vanished in March 2014.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was flying with 239 people on board and was traveling to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, and suddenly disappeared from the radar. However, twelve days after the Malaysia airlines crash, investigators identified six pieces of wreckage which are most likely from the missing plane, as reported by Associated Press.

In a report by Australia Channel, aircraft experts do not believe that the missing flight was preparing for a landing. In one of the MH370 Theories, Australian Transport Safety Bureau concluded that the outboard wing flap debris is most likely not in an extended position and theorized the plane was likely to be out of control when it went down in the Indian Ocean.

This means that the pilot did not intend to land or ditch. Search Director Peter Foley told reporters, "(It) means the aircraft wasn't configured for a landing or a ditching - you can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control," However, he further added that "You can never be 100 percent, we are very reluctant to express absolute certainty."

With these findings, the Associate Press also mentioned that the families of the missing Malaysian flight passengers will go on a search in Africa for debris that may lead to clues that may reveal what happened during that fateful day.

"Despite these hugely important finds, there has been no systematic, organized search by any responsible party," in a statement by Voice 370, the MH370 family association. "This leaves the (next-of-kin) no other choice except to take it upon ourselves to do something to find answers and closure," they further added.

Last July, Malaysia, China and Australia agreed that the search would be suspended after January in the absence of credible new evidence pointing to the plane's location. This is also why some families are hoping to discover new clues that would extend the said search.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to Amritsar - home to the Golden Temple that is the most holy place of the Sikh religion - before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s.

Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina - she was called "Nikki" as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.

Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, told Reuters family and friends were delighted by Haley's appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

"It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success," Randhawa told Reuters by telephone.

Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikki's father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

India's foreign ministry said it was happy to hear news of Haley's appointment, describing her as a supporter of closer U.S.-India ties who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June.

"We know Governor Haley very well," said spokesman Vikas Swarup. India's foreign secretary visited the United States earlier this month and interacted with "very senior levels" of the Trump transition team, he also said.

HOMECOMING

Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child, doesn't speak Punjabi and has converted to Christianity.

But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called "an emotional and very personal day".

"I always yearned to see Punjab - my motherland - and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years," she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with nips from a water bottle.

Story continues

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first U.S. ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the United States into a Punjabi family but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favourable views towards India, where he has real estate interests. The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.

Trump's stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York and Haley's appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

India, the world's largest democracy, is also lobbying to be made a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council, although it's doubtful this would be a priority for Trump.

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post.

"We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success," said Randhawa. "And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days."

(Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Nick Macfie)


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : ASCOTT REDEFINES TRAVEL FOR MILLENNIALS WITH NEW BRAND LYF AND TARGETS 10,000 UNITS BY 2020 Industry: Accommodation

Lyf residences, designed for and managed by millennials, to seize opportunities in rising trend of co-living and co-working



(TRAVPR.COM) SINGAPORE - November 23rd, 2016 - Singapore, 24 November 2016  CapitaLands wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) is unveiling its newest brand, Lyf (pronounced life), designed for and managed by millennials who wish to experience destinations as locals do. Going beyond traditional hospitality concepts, Lyf signifies a new way of living and collaborating as a community, connecting guests with fellow travellers and change-makers. Mr Lee Chee Koon, Ascotts Chief Executive Officer, said: Millennials already form a quarter of Ascotts customers and this segment is poised to grow exponentially. Lyf is a unique accommodation tailored for this demographic, including technopreneurs, start-ups and individuals from music, media and fashion. We do not define millennials by age but instead they are a social generation who crave discoveries and desire to be part of a community. Lyf will provide global jetsetters and trendsetters with the opportunity to Live Your Freedom in a dynamic environment and network with like-minded creatives to bring more ideas to life. Most importantly, they can be assured of a consistent quality in products and services, given Ascotts track record in managing award-winning properties worldwide. With the rising trend of co-living and co-working, Ascott aims to have 10,000 units under the Lyf brand globally by 2020. Mr Lee added: Lyf marks another milestone in Ascotts innovation journey to design products and experiences for the future of travel. We are on the lookout for sites in key gateway cities for Lyf and we are open to both investment and management contracts to meet the growing demand for such co-living spaces  including Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom. As we scale up to achieve our global target of 80,000 units by 2020 through Lyf and our other brands, our guests can easily take their pick from our wide-ranging portfolio across the world. We will continue to test new concepts to seize market opportunities and raise the bar in our customer experience to ensure that Ascott retains its leading edge in the industry. Unlike conventional serviced apartments, the properties will be managed by Lyf Guards, millennials who may be residents themselves, community managers, city and food guides, bar keepers and problem solvers all rolled into one. Lyf Guards, guests and partners can conduct workshops with local craftsmen, hackathons with local start-up accelerators or innovation talks. Residents may even score exclusive invites to local music festivals and concerts. Designed to facilitate interaction between guests, each Lyf property has its own unique personality with fun and quirky design elements. They will all have Connect communal spaces, co-working areas that can be easily transformed into zones for workshops or social gatherings. Residents can also hangout at the Wash & Hang laundromat and play a round of Foosball while waiting for their laundry to be done. The Bond social kitchen is where guests can prepare home-cooked meals, take cooking classes and socialise while learning more about global cuisines from other residents. Lyf properties may incorporate interactive digital art pieces or even giant ball pits, hamster wheels and oversized Connect Four sets for the kids amongst us. The residence will offer a range of apartment layouts from Big Bed rooms (studios) to Two of a Kind rooms (twin rooms)  two private rooms with a shared kitchen. Project groups can opt for the All Together unit (business suites) which have smart display screens for video conferencing and discussions while a large table doubles up as a collaborative working zone and dining area. Instead of standard wardrobes, guests can hang their clothes on rails that suspend from the ceiling or put up a hammock for a lazy afternoon snooze. The size of the millennial travel market is expanding rapidly and individuals in their 20s and 30s will account for more than half the workforce by 2020[1]. With millennial travellers spending more than US$200 billion[2] annually, Ascott is already host to a significant number of millennials and will further cater to the growing demand with Lyf. The launch of the new brand comes on the back of a year of remarkable growth for Ascott with more than 10,000 units added globally. [1] How Millennials Are Shaping The Future Of Business Travel (24 January 2014), Forbes [2] Report: Millennial Travel Tops US$200 Billion (15 November 2016), Hotels Mag About The Ascott Limited The Ascott Limited is a Singapore company that has grown to be one of the leading international serviced residence owner-operators. It has over 29,000 operating serviced residence units in key cities of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, as well as over 22,000 units which are under development, making a total of more than 52,000 units in over 300 properties. The company operates three award-winning brands  Ascott, Citadines and Somerset. Its portfolio spans more than 100 cities across 27 countries. Ascott, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited, pioneered Asia Pacific's first international-class serviced residence with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984. Today, the company boasts over 30 years of industry track record and award-winning serviced residence brands that enjoy recognition worldwide. Ascotts achievements have been recognised internationally. Recent awards include World Travel Awards 2016 for Leading Serviced Apartment Brand in Asia, Europe and the Middle East; Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Brand; Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Apartment Company; Business Traveller UK Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Apartment Company; Business Traveller China Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Brand; TTG China Travel Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Operator in China and DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards 2016 for Best Serviced Residence Brand'. About CapitaLand Limited CapitaLand is one of Asias largest real estate companies headquartered and listed in Singapore. The company leverages its significant asset base, design and development capabilities, active capital management strategies, extensive market network and operational capabilities to develop high-quality real estate products and services. Its diversified global real estate portfolio includes integrated developments, shopping malls, serviced residences, offices and homes. Its two core markets are Singapore and China, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have been identified as new growth markets. The company also has one of the largest real estate fund management businesses with assets located in Asia. CapitaLands listed real estate investment trusts are CapitaLand Mall Trust, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Ascott Residence Trust, CapitaLand Retail China Trust and CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust. ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Joey Wong Company: The Ascott Limited Phone: 67132865 Email: joey.wong@capitaland.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS
One scientist-engineer is proposing the use of ice towers to help alleviate water shortages caused by climate change.

The progression of global climate change has brought on a cascading number of troubling trends, one of them being the melting glaciers in the Himalayan mountains. As the glaciers retreat farther and farther each year, it disrupts the hydrological cycle that makes the Himalayan glaciers an important source of freshwater for almost a billion people, their crops and wildlife down on lower elevations. According to the European Geoscience Union, 70 percent of these glaciers could be gone by 2100.

But rather than giving up in despair, some see this threat as an opportunity to innovate. Scientist, engineer and teacher Sonam Wangchuk, born in the northern, arid highland region of Ladakh located in India, is proposing the building of "artificial glacial ice towers" that will help locals adapt to these unpredictable changes brought on by a warming climate.

Built using vertically placed pipes that shoot out glacial meltwater during the spring, which will be frozen into ice towers, these so-called "ice stupas" (a stupa is a mound-like structure to house relics and for meditation in the Buddhist tradition) will be an adaptation measure to help farmers facing acute water scarcity. Watch Wangchuk, who won the 2016 Rolex Award for Enterprise in Environment, explain the concept in this video:

2016 Rolex Award for Enterprise /via

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

Inspired by earlier ideas of flat, artificial glaciers created by Ladakhi engineer Chewang Norphel, Wangchuk further expanded on the idea in 2013 as part of a classroom project for the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh Alternative School, a school founded as part of a movement of Ladakhi youth wanting to reform the educational system of Ladakh.

The next winter, a crowdfunded, two-storey prototype of the ice stupa was built using 2.3 kilometers of pipe, using 150,000 litres of unwanted winter stream water. The design's verticality means that it melts slower than flat, artificial ice, and during the late spring, it slowly melted and released water, creating a new source of water for local farmers, some of which was used to irrigate crops and 5,000 newly planted tree saplings. The ice stupa lasted until early July, providing an astounding 1.5 million litres (396,258 gallons) of meltwater.

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

With the award, Wangchuk's aim is build yet another twenty of these towers, each 30 metres (98 feet) high, in different parts of this water-parched region. Wangchuk believes that ice towers are a cost-effective solution that would empower locals, as the largest initial cost is to set up pipes. After installation, these towers will practically run themselves, providing water to residents when they need it most. It's an adaptation to an increasingly severe water problem, and in conjunction with a tree-planting program, could help "green the desert" of these arid highlands.

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

Sonam Wangchuk/Video screen capture

There's more: the innovative idea of artificial ice towers are spreading, possibly to a mountain range near you. Earlier this year, Wangchuk was invited by one Swiss municipality to construct an artificial ice tower as a winter tourism attraction, but also as a test drive for future ice towers that might alleviate the water worries brought on by retreating glaciers in the Alps.

Read more over at 2016 Rolex Award for Enterprise in Environment, Ice Stupa and watch the videos on Sonam Wangchuk's YouTube channel.

[Via: The Wire]
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New Delhi: State Bank of India on Thursday said it has waived merchant discount rate (MDR) on Master and Visa debit cards, having already done so on RuPay debit cards last week to promote digital payments with immediate effect. The move follows governments directive on Wednesday asking banks to facilitate digital transactions. PTI

New Delhi

Fire at RILs Jamnagar refinery; 8 injured

Eight persons were injured when a flash fire broke out at Reliance Industries 33-million-tonnes -a-year refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. The fire which broke out at 3 am was immediately extinguished and there was no impact on production, the company said. pti

Chandigarh

Jet Airways, Indo Canadian Bus in pact

Jet Airways has entered into a bi-modal transport service agreement with Indo Canadian Bus Service. Under the pact, Indo Canadian Bus Service will offer convenient bus connections via Delhis IGI Airport for Jet Airways guests. tns

Chandigarh

Axis Bank waives transaction fee on cards

To support the governments demonetisation scheme and to offer ease and convenience to its merchants and customers, Axis Bank on Thursday waived Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) transaction fees on debit card usage. The bank has waived the service charges on the use of debit cards at Axis Bank terminals up to December 31. tns
Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

Slamming the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today passed strictures against it for dismissing a plea of UT Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) AS Cheema (59) seeking cancellation of his transfer to Delhi without giving any reason.

According to Cheemas counsel DR Sharma, the tribunal told the ministry to reconsider its decision failing which the court would initiate action against it. CAT reacted after UT counsel Arvind Moudgil today presented the official letter before the court stating that the government had heard his request for cancellation of his transfer to Delhi, but rejected it. The tribunal slammed the counsel questioning how Cheemas request was dismissed without giving any reason, said Sharma.

Cheema, an AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram Union Territories) cadre IPS officer of the 2000 batch, had requested the government to let him continue his remaining service in Chandigarh. On November 16, he had also challenged his transfer in CAT, terming the order arbitrary and unreasonable.

In his application to the tribunal, he contended that only six months were left for his retirement. Secondly, he was posted in Chandigarh on his own request. It was also mentioned that he was granted permission by the UT Administration to take admission to a two-year LLM course in the evening batch at Panjab University and he paid Rs 80,000 as the semester fee.

It was further mentioned that as per the service policy, when one year was left for retirement, an official could not be transferred arbitrarily without given any reason. Cheemas counsel told the tribunal that his request had been dismissed with a single stroke by the MHA. The DIG is due for retirement on May 31 next year.

The next hearing in the matter has been fixed for December 5.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

Lovleen (18), a first-year student of the UILS, Panjab University, who was residing in Girls Hostel No. 5, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room this evening. Lovleen was pursuing BA LLB (first semester).

According to the police, no injury marks were found on the body. Lovleen was a native of Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The police collected samples of food and belongings of the student from the hostel room.

Hostel inmates residing in adjoining rooms were also questioned by the police to know about the behaviour of the girl during the past few days. A police official said the postmortem report would throw light on the cause of the death. The postmortem would be conducted tomorrow.

According to Lovleens friends, she had dinner in the mess and a cup of coffee with them last night.

PU DSW (Women) Meena Kaplash said the girls parents had been informed about her death by the university. She said nothing suspicious was found from the girls room by the police.

Kaplash said Lovleens roommate, who was away to her home, arrived at 8.30 am today and found Lovleen sleeping. Thinking that Lovleen might be tired and did not want to attend the class, the roommate left for the department. When she returned at 5.45 pm, she found Lovleen lying in the same position and informed the attendant and warden, who took Lovleen to Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, where doctors declared her brought dead.

The PU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Arun Kumar Grover, and the Registrar, Col GS Chadha (retd), rushed to the spot after they got information about the girls death in the hostel.

PU Chief Security Officer Jatinder Grover said during preliminary investigation, the police did not found anything suspicious from the students room.
Harish Khare

We do not want another 'god' as the political leader of our country We must not only not have any more gods...we must also 'devalue' the exaggerated importance that we have given to the office of Prime Minister."

The author of this wisdom lies gravely unwell in a nursing home in New Delhi. Much before old age and its attendant infirmities took their toll, this man used to articulate  on behalf of the BJP  wise propositions of good governance and democratic accountability. His name is Jaswant Singh, the most suave, educated and responsible minister in the Vajpayee era.

Jaswant Singh had made this formulation in 1987. That was the age when the Prime Minister had more than four hundred seats in the Lok Sabha; he also had a majority in the Rajya Sabha. He had a shouting brigade who would keep the presiding officers in check; he had an officer in the PMO who would publicly deride Opposition leaders as cretins. That was the age of prime ministerial supremacy and it produced many unmitigated national disasters.

Let us dig a little deeper in history. The year is 1971. The legend has it that the legendary soldier, Sam Manekshaw, told off an impatient Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that he would not be prepared for "action" in East Pakistan till he was satisfied that adequate preparations had been made and logistical wrinkles sorted out. The Prime Minister had the good sense to heed the sound advice of a sound officer, and lived thereafter to see the Indian armed forces settle Pakistan's hash.

These glimpses from the past are being recalled to reiterate the lessons the recent history has taught us. And, the unambiguous lesson, from 1975-77 onward, has been a cultivated distrust in the idea of an omnipotent Prime Minister and his overweening ambition. Beware of a too powerful Prime Minister. India is too vast a country to be at the mercy of a Prime Minister and his wisdom.

The demonetisation mess painfully brings home the correctness of Jaswant Singh's caution against elevating a leader as "god" who must be rendered unambiguous obedience and obeisance. The utter incompetence in implementing the "demonetisation" drive merely underlines the total abdication by the Reserve Bank of India of its institutional autonomy and voice. The RBI Governor was duty-bound to tell the Prime Minister to slow down, just as General Sam Manekshaw once told another Prime Minister. The country is a daily witness how the Finance Ministry officials are encroaching upon the RBI's institutional space and making a mess of it.

This is incongruent. Here is a regime  whose senior-most impresarios take considerable pride in micro-management and have built up a formidable reputation in Gujarat as control freaks  which was so callously inattentive to the post-demonetisation dislocations. The very arbitrariness and the resulting chaos are being sought to be palmed off as "worth the pain" because Prime Minister Modi means well.

No one is sure to what extent the Finance Minister, leave alone the rest of the Cabinet members, were privy to this so-called "surgical strike" on black money. The country remains in the dark as to whose counsel the Prime Minister sought while firmaning this most drastic and draconian change in currency notes. Not since Morarji Desai's gold control (in the wake of the Chinese aggression ) order has any other single governmental initiative touched the lives of so many Indians. Yet the collective thinking and collective decision-making appear to have been done away with.

This unhealthy concentration of power and authority in one man can only be a recipe for unhappy consequences. Already the blue-book of personality cult is operational. Ideological, political and moral approval is sought for the Prime Minister and his bold move. Anyone disagreeing with the Leader is being called a habitual dissenter, a fake secularist, and a potential deshdrohi. Anyone dissenting is dismissed and ridiculed as an accomplice of the corrupt and the terrorist. The officials down the line have interpreted this kingly intolerance as a simple licence to shut people up. For example, in Indore, the local officials have outlawed any criticism on the social media of the demonetisation decision because they think "internet social media wars" could disrupt social peace. The Leader can disrupt the daily lives of the millions and millions of citizens but no citizen can have a right to share his/her plight or vent anger about being denied one's own money. On the other hand, the Prime Minister's Office uses the very social media to conduct an "opinion poll" of its own and claims wide public approval for the demonetisation move.

Why was one individual  however popular, wise, and honest  allowed to undertake this experiment in monetary Stalinism? Collectivist impulses of the State have been let loose. Millions and millions of households have been forced to surrender their meagre savings to the banks. The mopped-up savings will now be available to the Omnipotent Sarkar, to be dispersed as per the preference of the ruling clique. If Stalin could force the Soviet citizens to donate their labour for industrialisation and for the glory of motherland, we can also force our people to cough up their hard-earned savings to fight off the evil Pakistan. The minatory penetration of a Leviathan State is complete and total even in the remotest part of the land; each day the State issues firmans on how much and how a citizen can use his own money. All because the Leader wanted to be bold and to transform India, like no other Indian leader had done these last 70 years.

In the best of the Stalinist traditions the (virtual) mobs are being encouraged to denounce anyone who dare question the ruling regime's preferences and priorities. We are manufacturing new orthodoxies: any governmental initiative-good, bad or malevolent  will not be questioned if it is declared to be in aid of fighting corruption, black money, terrorism and counterfeiting of currency. It is demanded of the citizens that they put up with the inconvenience in our fight against these presumed objectives. As in Comrade Stalin's days, endorsements for the regime are expected. Expectedly, the venerable Ratan Tata has led the chorus of approval. Just stand up and applaud.

A wise king was always advised to leave his subject unmolested of his two possessions  jameen (land) and jorru (womenfolk). Rulers, democratic or authoritarian, have faced most primaeval resistance whenever they have sought to take liberties with their citizens' land or women. Now, we have witnessed a new experiment with a democratically elected king putting his hand in the subject's jeb (pocket). Consequences will be there.
Shinder Singh Thandi

ON November 23, a day before Thanksgiving, American Sikhs received a gift to be proud of  the nomination of Nikki Haley to become US Ambassador to the UN. She and her Sikh parents represent a migrant success story  a story where anyone can live the American Dream.

The American Sikh story starts in April 1899. It took 57 years for the first Sikh to become a Congressman- Dalip Singh Saund was elected in 1956 and served till 1963. Now, 60 years later President-elect Donald J. Trump has nominated Nikki Haley, a person of Sikh heritage, to be the US Ambassador to the UN and member of his cabinet. Nikki birth name Nimrata Nikki Randhawa - unlike most other US politicians of Indian-heritage, including Saund, has risen through the ranks of the Republican Party. Now she becomes the first politician of South Asian, Indian, and Sikh heritage to become a member of the Cabinet. Nikki Haleysparents  Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa were from Amritsar district. Nikki was born and grew up in Bamberg, South Carolina, with its back-drop of racism and American race politics not far away.

Her three siblings became high achievers in their own right. Helping with her mothers clothing business, she majored in accounting. She acquired sufficient experience in South Carolina state politics before deciding to run for Governor. Unlike Bobby Jindal, a former Republican Governor, Nikki is proud of her Indian roots and her parents Sikh faith. She married Michael Haley in 1996 whom she met as a fellow student and converted to Christianity but still settled on two marriage ceremonies  a Sikh and Methodist.

Nikki Haley quickly learned the skills of successful political leadership and in reconciling competing economic and political interests. As a conservative, her policies focussed on cutting taxes, reducing public debt and big government and creating jobs through promoting growth and encouraging inward investment. In June 2015, she received international praise for banning the Confederate flag from all South Carolinas government offices and grounds after the Charleston Massacre which ended in the killing of nine African-American children. Her critics called her opportunistic asked why it took her so long to understand the symbolism of bigotry inherent in the Confederate flag. She was also highly pro-active in selling South Carolina to global markets. In her first visit to India and ancestral homeland of Punjab, not only did she paid obeisance at the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, but also discussed possibilities of mutual trade and investment opportunities. She was chosen last January to provide the Republican response to Barack Obamas last State of the Union address and soon began to be touted as a potential Presidential candidate. Maybe her appointment as US Ambassador to UN will make that a reality in future  maybe in 2020 or 2024.

However nobody should be in doubt about the tremendous challenges she is likely to face. Trump was her third choice as the President nominee for the GoP. In fact she strongly distanced herself from Trump and his politics of bigotry and division, although previously she had aligned herself with the Tea Party which was equally bigoted. Added to this, she has no foreign policy or diplomatic experience. As the argument goes, it is one thing to be marketing your state but entirely another to be an ambassador to the world given its multitude of complexities. It will indeed be a challenge for her, on the one hand, to deal with demands of President Trump and whoever is nominated as Secretary of State, as there is a high probability that neither will have foreign policy experience. In the UN, one thing is for certain. Sikh advocacy groups, especially those who have developed a populist anti-India and anti-Punjab narrative and harbour separatist sentiments from the comfort of their US homes, will be tempted to appropriate her or mock her if she shows indifference. It will be interesting to see if she allows herself to be distracted by the tension between her emotional link to her parental religion or ethnicity and her upbringing as an American first. These are interesting times and let us hope that, not only Nikki Haley lives up to the meaning of her Sikh name and the important Sikh value of humility but also that sections of the US Sikh community also show the same behaviour towards her and give her a fair chance to build a record of success. This will be the least of her concerns as she prepares for the challenges ahead.

The writer is a Visiting Professor in Global Studies at UC Santa Barbara
The Supreme Court's threat to pass an order if the government fails to amend the law to put a Lokpal in place makes an interesting inset to the anti-corruption drama on display in New Delhi. The Lokpal post has remained vacant in the absence of a "Leader of the Opposition", who, under the Lokpal Act, has to be part of the selection panel. For the appointments of CBI Director, Chief Information Commissioner and Chief Vigilance Commissioner the government has changed the respective laws by incorporating the leader of the largest party in opposition. There is no justification why the same should not have been done in the case of Lokpal. The government put up a feeble defence which was shredded by the court.

Chief Justice TS Thakur took a swipe at the government claims of being committed to cleansing the system. Demonetisation is also being sold with an anti-corruption tag. CJI Thakur questioned the intent of the government. Making it clear to the Attorney General that the court would not let the Lokpal Act become redundant, he scathingly observed: When you say the government is committed to cleansing corruption, then this (Lokpal) is the step in the right direction. Why should there be a feeling (the) government is dragging its feet? The Lokpal Act, passed after a civil society movement against corruption, has been allowed to be disabled by a technicality.

It is clear political parties are not interested in having powerful Lokpal and Lokayuktas to bring about probity in public life. Successive governments had scuttled all efforts towards making Lokpal happen until the Anna Hazare movement forced the UPA government to hurriedly pass the Act in 2013. Barring Karnataka, nowhere has any Lokayukta shown any particular results. As Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi had fought a long legal battle with the then Governor over having a Lokayukta. As Prime Minister, he is less likely to tolerate anyone judging him or his government's actions. A disinterested Opposition has made no issue of it. Even AAP seems to have abandoned the idea. It was left finally to the apex court to put the government on the mat, leaving little space for it to wriggle out.
Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

The Haryana Government on Thursday announced 2 per cent increase in DA for its employees with effect from July 1, 2016, putting an additional monthly financial burden of Rs 21.92 crores on the state.

Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu said the state government has also decided to give Rs 10,000 in cash to its employees in coming month salary.

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He said the cash would be sent from Chandigarh to all its state headquaters of Panchkula, and for sub-division and district-head quarter employees, cash arrangement would be made by district authorities.

The minister said the cash payment decision was taken after the requests of the employees.

He said that finance department has made arrangements for the payments of the increased DA, which will be paid at the earliest.

He said the government is taking all measures to ensure maximum cash supply to the state residents.
Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

The state BJP will take the issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal and Haryanas right over river waters to the people of Punjab during the upcoming Assembly poll in the neighbouring state.

Talking to The Tribune yesterday, state BJP president Subhash Barala said leaders in Punjab had made the SYL canal an emotive issue in political one-upmanship while people in that state would appreciate Haryanas right over the river waters.

He said the same political leaders had welcomed the decision when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the SYL canal at Kapoori in Patiala district in 1982, but were now vying with each other to deny Haryana its right.

We will tell the people of Punjab during our campaign that the elder brother of Haryana should honour the commitments made at the time of division of assets between the two states, Barala said.

Asked whether the Punjab unit of the BJP shared his view on the SYL canal, he said party leaders of that state were free to have their own point of view, but as far as the Haryana BJP was concerned, its stand was clear and firm.

After the Supreme Court verdict on Presidential reference, our party met the Punjab Governor, requesting him not to give assent to any Bill contrary to the decision of the Punjab Assembly. We sought time from the President after the all-party meeting and would seek time from the Prime Minister as well, he said.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision on demonetisation as a big step towards eradication of black money, Barala said opposition parties had been indulging in false propaganda on the issue.

Brushing aside reports of hardship to farmers due to demonetisation, he claimed that not a single agitation by farmers had been witnessed in the past few days.

The state BJP president said a majority of farmers had already sown their wheat crop and maintained that the delay by some others was largely due to delay in preparation of fields due to ban on burning of stubble.

He said the BJP would observe Ambedkar Jayanti, falling on December 6, as Samrasta Diwas and the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 25 as Susashan Diwas.
Our Correspondent

UNA, NOVEMBER 24

The Una district Congress today staged a protest against the decision of the NDA government to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. Party workers alleged that the decision was taken in a haste, forcing the general public to financial hardships.

District party president Varinder Dharmani said the Congress was not against the idea of unearthing black money, but the hardship to the general public could have been minimized if the Union government had taken adequate measures to stock and distribute new currency into the banks.

Former Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Ram Nath Sharma, former MLA Ganesh Datt Bharwal, member of the Pradesh Congress Committee Satpal Raizada and block Congress presidents from Una, Kutlehar, Haroli, Gagret and Chintpurni segments were also present. The activists later presented a memorandum to the Additional DM Rajesh Kumar Maria, registering their protest against demonetization of currency notes.
Our Correspondent

KANGRA, NOVEMBER 24

State Youth Congress president Vikramaditya lambasted the state BJP leadership for launching a campaign that Virbhadra Singh government would not complete its tenure. Vikramaditya was addressing a public meeting at Lunj in this subdivision today.

He asked the state BJP leadership to bother more about the NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has pushed the country to the brink because of unplanned demonetisation forcing poor and middle class people to stand in queues before the banks and ATMs for sustaining their families. He was critical of Modi government for pushing the country into a financial crisis under the pretext that it was a crusade against Black money.

Vikramaditya said that the Prime Minister failed to get back the money from the Swiss banks as claimed by him during the Lok Sabha polls.

He blamed the Modi government for the deaths of common people while being in queues for procuring their own money, which he said, was unfortunate and disturbing.

Vikramaditya highlighted in the achievements and development works during the present Virbhadra Singh government in the state in general and in Shahpur Assembly segment in particular despite the constituency being represented by a BJP MLA. He said that different offices, including that of the SDM, was sanctioned for Shahpur in order to help rural people.

Vikramaditya was touring this politically important district for the last three days. He was accompanied by Sanjay Rattan, MLA at Jawalamuhki, CPS Neeraj Bharti and vice chairman State Forest Corporation Kewal Singh Pathania during his Lunj tour today.

At Lunj he was accompanied by state youth Congress general secretary and in charge for Kangra and Chamba districts Udpati Thakur, other youth Congress leaders Vinod Zinta and Sunil Sharma.
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 24

State Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, along with Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rohit Thakur, MLA Anirudh Singh and party workers, was detained by the police as they burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi protesting against demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

Sukhu, along with party leaders and workers, marched from the Congress office towards the sabzi mandi slope when the police swung into action and detained them. The party held similar protests at all district headquarters against the demonetisation by terming it Aam Nagrik Asuvidha Diwas.

Sukhu, along with other workers, was stopped by the police as they tried to proceed towards the Mall from the Sabzi Mandi slope after burning the effigy of the Prime Minister. There was a minor scuffle as police tried to prevent obstruction to traffic by the Congress leaders and workers, including women.

The Congress leaders were bundled into a bus and pick-up jeeps and taken to the outskirts of the town, where they were released. Sukhu criticized the police for detaining the workers while they were protesting peacefully and termed it as unconstitutional.

Demanding relief measure for the general public of the country who is facing hardship due to the Centres decision of demonetisation, Sukhu said about 100 people have died due to the decision of the Modi government and people have to wait hours in queues in banks to change the notes.

He criticised Modi for not preparing any action plan before starting demonetization. He added that the Congress welcomed the decision but the hardship faced by the people cannot be ignored or tolerated.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 24

Hours after the Army launched a counter-offensive against Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) after three Indian soldiers were killed, the Army claims to have foiled two infiltration bids in north Kashmir.

The infiltration bids were foiled in the Gulmarg and Nowgam sectors. These are manned by the Armys Baramulla-based 19 Infantry Division.

The Army said the first attempt to breach the LoC was made in the Gulmarg sector, 60 km from Srinagar, late on Wednesday when soldiers noticed suspected movement of militants.

As the group whose number could not be established was challenged, they opened fire triggering a gunfight. The exchange continued for some time and militants were pushed back to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), defence sources said. A massive search operation was also carried out in the sector after the brief gunfight.

In the wee hours on Thursday, another infiltration bid was foiled in the Nowgam sector, nearly 120 km northwest of Srinagar. Here also the militants fled back to PoK after the Army fired upon them.

The Army said it suffered no casualty during these two operations.

The infiltration attempts were foiled in the sectors that did not witness border escalation after the mutilation of a soldier and killing of two others in Machil in Kupwara district on Tuesday. A day after the beheading of the soldier, the Army launched massive fire assault on Pakistani posts in the Keran, Machil and Gurez sectors and caused substantive damage in PoK.

After the LoC escalation, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan spoke to each other over the telephonic hotline on Wednesday.
Ludhiana: Ryan International School is organising the International Festival of Performing Arts for Children (IFPAC) on November 25 and November 26 at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, Ludhiana. The festival revolves around the theme  Brighter Tomorrow, aiming at amalgamation of cultures to establish a stronger bond between the young cultural ambassadors from across the globe. We have international trainers from Finland, Latvia, Egypt, Zimbabwe and India, who have trained around 1,900 children in Ludhiana and Dugri for various performances. The performances include world choirs, modern puppetry, Drums of India and a heart wrenching ballet based on Nirbhaya gang-rape case that shook the world in December 2012.

Reading activity

A one nation reading together activity was conducted at Ryan International Public School for students of Class I onwards. Inderjeet Kaur, senior co-ordinator, read a poem for the students give me a book written by Uma Krishna Swami. The students did reading together and repeated the poem after the teacher .The students actively participated in the activity. They also wrote about their favourite books along with the names of their writers turn by turn on the bulletin board. Students learnt about working as a team by doing reading together. The activity also motivated them to read books to enhance their knowledge.

U-17 cricket tourney kicks off

Ludhiana Sahodaya School Complex U-17 Tournament kicked off here on Thursday on the campus of Nankana Sahib Public School, Gill Park. The tournament was inaugurated by Raghbir Singh, chairman, Markfed, and member of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. Harmeet Kaur Waraich, principal of the host school, welcomed all the participating teams and asked them to play a fair game. As many as 21 teams of different schools are participating in it. The first match was played between Police DAV School and Harkrishan Public School (Dugri). Police DAV School won the match by 37 runs. While the second match was played between GNPS and BCM School, Sector 32, in which the later won the match by 9 runs.

Education contest

Sat Paul Mittal School won prizes in the World Education Robot Contest organised by the Federation of World Educational Robot for teenagers from November 19 to 20 at National Exhibition and Convention Centre, Shanghai, China. A total of 10 countries and over 4,000 participated in this competition. Aryaman Verma of Class VI and Snehal Jindal of Class IX won the first prize in the junior high team. Karthikay Verma of Class VI, Lakshita Verma of Class V and Bhavya Bansal of Class V won the second prize in the junior team.

Show and tell competition

To improve communicative and descriptive skills of children, a show and tell competition was organised at BCM Kindergarten, Sector 32, Chandigarh Road, on Wednesday. Kids of UKG astonished the audience with their excellent performance. They exhibited their confidence and articulate skills while speaking on the topics such as television, laptop, save trees, family trees, vegetables etc. The winners were awarded trophies and the participants were given books as souvenirs.  TNS
Dubai, November 24

Two Indians were and four others  among them three children  were injured when the car they were travelling in crashed into a vehicle in Oman, a media report said on Thursday.

Kerala residents Pottachole Ameer, 32, and his mother-in- law Kavumpuram Jemeela, 45, died in the accident which took place on the Barka-Nakhal road, about 70 km from Muscat.

Ameer's wife and their three children have been injured in the accident that occurred when their car collided with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction late on Tuesday, Times of Oman reported.

The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital where the condition of two children is stated to be critical.

Ameer's father-in-law, who works in Dubai, has reached Oman to assist the family.

Ameer, who had been living in Oman for a decade, owned a hypermarket in Nakhal for the last three months.

Meanwhile, Shameer, who is co-ordinating the efforts to repatriate the bodies of victims to India, said it would happen only on Monday.

"As the next few days are holidays here in Oman, we will not be able to process the papers required to send back the bodies," Shameer added.  PTI
New Delhi, November 24

India said on Thursday that it had conveyed to Pakistan its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the Line of Control and noted that 27 ceasefire violations had taken place between November 16 and 21 using artillery and heavy mortar.

Giving details of the demarche issued to Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Syed Hyder Shah on Wednesday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the government had reiterated its concerns about the safety of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan who inadvertently crossed over the Line of Control over seven weeks back.

He said the demarche, fourth in the month, was issued on the continued violation of ceasefire from the other side of the Line of Control.

"The Government of India stated that despite calls for restraint, Pakistan forces committed 27 ceasefire violations between November 16 and 21 by resorting to calibre escalation and employing artillery and 120 mm heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003," Swarup said.

He said the government conveyed that it strongly deplored "the tacit support of the Pakistan Army" to armed terrorists that came from close to Pakistan Army posts on November 22, targeting an Indian patrol near the Line of Control in Machil sector opposite Pakistan's Kel Sector, and killing three Indian soldiers, one of who they mutilated.

The government also protested the deliberate targeting by the Pakistan Army of 18 villages along the Line of Control during the period November 16 and 21 which resulted in a non fatal casualty besides causing extensive damage to public and private property and the displacement of civilian population.

"The government conveyed its grave concerns at the continued attempts to infiltrate armed terrorists from across the Line of Control to target Indian posts and patrols. During the last week alone, there have been 15 instances when terrorists indulged in nefarious actions from the vicinity of Pakistani Army posts across the Line of Control," Swarup said.

Referring to the sepoy who inadvertently crossed over the Line of Control, Swarup said India expected his early repatriation and safe return.

Wednesday's summons to the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner came after similar steps by the External Affairs Ministry on November 2, 9 and 16.  IANS
Kochi, November 24

A Dammam-bound Air India Express plane from Mangaluru with 131 passengers and crew onboard landed under emergency conditions at Kochi after sparks were seen by the Air Traffic Control as the aircraft got airborne.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft landed safely and there was no harm to any passenger or crew, an Air India Express spokesperson said, adding that after an inspection the aircraft was cleared for onward journey.

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The flight IXE 885 took off at 1813 hours yesterday from Mangaluru airport for Dammam in Saudi Arabia.

"However, Mangaluru Air Traffic Control noticed sparks in the aircraft and reported the same to the flight commander.

"The aircraft was subsequently diverted to Kochi following permission from the ATC there," the spokesperson said.

The flight made a "precautionary" landing at Kochi International airport at 1930 hours, he said.

Air India Express engineers carried out a thorough inspection of the aircraft upon its arrival at Kochi but did not find any "snag" in it, the spokesperson said adding the aircraft departed for its destination at 1030 hours from Kochi. PTI
Donald Trump

In his first address since his electoral victory speech, President-elect Donald Trump this week discussed which policies he planned to pursue immediately upon taking office.

And the first issue mentioned in the more than 2-1/2-minute video was trade.

"I'm going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country," Trump said. "Instead, we will negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores."

Throughout his campaign, Trump made opposition to free-trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership core to his message.

He insisted he would make moves to renegotiate US trade deals as soon as he took office, aiming to bring offshore jobs back into the country. He took a hardline, protectionist stance, even going as far to say on the trail that TPP amounted to "the rape of our country."

And even as the plan has faced early backlash from some in Trump's own party  Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Tuesday that he was "disappointed" Trump intended to withdraw from the TPP  Trump has plowed ahead in his unorthodox play to reshape the nation's trade policy.

Trump's trade-related transition is being led by senior trade adviser and former Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco. A source told Business Insider that DiMicco was under consideration to be the next US trade representative  the top trade official in the administration.

The source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Trump was also willing to consider tough-on-trade Democrats  such as Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois  for other administration posts, adding that his team was looking to go "five deep" with people who agree with Trump's platform.

But it has proved difficult to find resumes that match.

Dan DiMicco

Story continues

Last week, a trade memo from Trump's transition team was provided to CNN. It contained an outline for trade policy within a Trump administration's first 200 days, including killing the current TPP, renegotiating or withdrawing from NAFTA, stopping "unfair imports," ending "unfair trade practices," pursuing bilateral trade deals, and retaining and returning manufacturing jobs.

That final bit focused on lowering the corporate tax rate and slashing regulations on businesses and the energy sector.

"The Trump trade plan breaks with the globalist wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties," the document said. "The Trump administration will reverse decades of conciliatory trade policy. New trade agreements will be negotiated that provide for the interests of US workers and companies first."

The plan provides benchmarks for Trump's first, 100th, and 200th days in office. They begin with an immediate overhaul of NAFTA, with his ordering the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to form a study on the ramifications of withdrawal from the treaty and what would be required through legislation to do so.

Trump would also instruct the US trade representative to notify Mexico and Canada of the administration's intention to propose amendments to the deal, which, as CNN reported, "could include measures on currency manipulation, lumber, country-of-origin labeling and environmental and safety standards."

But an order was included that demanded such a report pay "extra consideration to the effects such a policy change may have on the middle class, manufacturing and service sector workers, and foreign direct investment into the United States."

In addition, right off the bat, Trump would submit legislation related to currency manipulation and review if trading partners engage in "harmful" practices. On Day 100, Trump would target China, attempting a crackdown on the country through bilateral trade negotiations and by seeing whether it could be labeled a currency manipulator.

On Day 200, Trump would consider formally withdrawing from NAFTA, though the memo acknowledges there could be negative consequences of doing so.

donald trump

Robert Shapiro, a professor in the Columbia University department of political science, told Business Insider that the memo showed "Trump is doing what he said he wanted to do."

But what the memo does not outline, and what Shapiro said was "really very hard to say," is what actually produces a "better deal" for the US.

"The pieces of it that he emphasized in the campaign are things that affected jobs in the US, and what primarily affected jobs in the US is manufacturing," he said.

He continued:

"The real importance of the agreement that have to do with labor, with the environment, he doesn't talk about. He's going to have to be held accountable for anything he renegotiates and has any effect on jobs. A lot of the calculations that go into jobs and where jobs go have more to do with markets and genuine comparative advantage ... it's not clear that he can make jobs come back depending on what he does in these agreements."

The Columbia professor said there needed to be "more appreciation of facts and reality" on the subject, adding that the majority of jobs that went abroad may "have gone abroad anyway regardless of these agreements." And even doing a better deal with China to return manufacturing jobs would provide an uncertain result, Shapiro said, since "now, jobs are leaving China for other countries for the same reasons they left here."

One message he thought was encouraging to see in the memo was the discussion of weighing the potential benefits and setbacks of some of the moves.

"We haven't heard a good discussion about what the pros and cons are in terms of what are the consequences, in terms of what negative effects terminating the agreements would have," he said. "There is definitely no discussion of that at all."

Sue Welch, the CEO of Bamboo Rose, a digital business-to-business marketplace for product and supply chain management, said the moves discussed in the memo, particularly regarding NAFTA, would crush the economy.

"What about the other 14 to 15 million Americans dependent on NAFTA for their livelihood?" she said. "You have to balance."

Welch said it would have a negative effect on labor in the US, would be damaging to the supply chains among the US, Canada, and Mexico, and would cause prices to rise across the board, particularly at giants such as Walmart.

The entire blueprint, she said, would be "kind of a lose-lose situation."

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

The Congress today underscored that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the most experienced person to comment on the effects of demonetisation and insisted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond since it was his decision.

The Congress said never in the history of this country will there be a person as experienced as Dr Singh who held the posts of Secretary Economic Affairs when the 1978 demonetisation was carried out, Finance Secretary, RBI Governor, Finance Minister and the Prime Minister.

Dr Manmohan Singh made it clear the Congress is in favour of waging a war against black money. The party does not agree with the November 8 method adopted by the government. The country will take a long time to recover from it, party leader Jairam Ramesh said. Reacting to the charge that Opposition is running away from the debate, he said: We are not avoiding the debate. We want the PM to be present as this decision was taken by one man, is being implemented by one man, is being complimented by one man.
New Delhi, November 24

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Thursday said a responsible government is willing to accommodate the oppositions suggestions over the demonetisation move and added that there was no question of prestige as this decision was taken in national interest.

We should not lose more time. The opposition has been asking for discussion on this urgent matter (demonetisation) but they have been delaying it for eight days, Kumar told the media here.

We respect all the opposition parties. Everyone needs to run Parliament smoothly. There should be a meaningful discussion. If there are any suggestions, the government is willing to listen. There is no question of prestige whatsoever, he added.

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Meanwhile, sources said the opposition leaders had decided not to hold talks with the government till November 28.

A separate meeting is currently underway in Prime Minister Narendra Modis chamber in Parliament.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the opposition leaders is currently underway in Parliament to chalk out strategy to end the ongoing logjam over the demonetisation move.

A meeting is also underway at Union Home Minister Rajnath Singhs chamber in Parliament. Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar are among those present in the meeting.

As the government attempts to find a truce with a united opposition, which has disrupted both Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Rajya Sabha and is likely to participate in the discussion on demonetisation.

Since the first day of the Winter Session, the opposition leaders are calling for the Prime Minister to speak on the issue in Rajya Sabha, where the government does not enjoy majority.

Even though most of them support the governments move on fight against black money, they are protesting against the abrupt manner in which the ruling dispensation implemented demonetisation as even after third week of the announcement, long queues can be seen outside ATMs and banks with the people looking to either exchange or deposit old notes.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said the nation had supported the governments step to unearth black money, adding that the decision had been taken keeping in view the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said Prime Minister Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 denominations. ANI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

The Rajya Sabha today saw the debate on demonetisation resume, but for a brief period. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened the debate in the House on behalf of the Congress, calling the government decision monumental management failure. He accused the government of ignoring the plight of the poor and the aam aadmi and said the decision was in fact a case of organised loot, legalised plunder of the common people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House when Dr Manmohan spoke.

The former PM warned the government that the decision will harm the countrys economy. The GDP of the country will decline by about 2 per cent by what has been done. And this is an underestimate and not an overestimate, he said. The Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha have been demanding that the PM be present in the House when the debate on demonetisation takes place. The PM today came to the House during question hour and for that one hour, the debate was resumed. Dr Manmohan's speech was short, but highly critical of the governments November 8 decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The PM has said wait 50 days, it is a short period. But for the poor and the deprived, even 50 days can bring about disastrous effects, he said, referring to a speech made by Modi recently where he asked for 50 days to complete the crackdown on black money.

After Dr Manmohan, it was the turn of Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party who in light banter also took a dig at the timing of the demonetisation announcement, linking it to the upcoming poll in Uttar Pradesh. He alleged the decision was not taken in the national interest, but considering UP elections.

Derek OBrien of the Trinamool Congrss (TMC) countered several arguments put forth by the government on the benefits of demonetisation. If only 2 per cent people hold black money, then why are the rest of 98 per cent people being made to suffer due to demonetisation, he asked the government.

The House was then adjourned for lunch. When it re-assembled at 2 pm, the Opposition members refused to carry forward the debate in the absence of the PM. An agitated Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Opposition of devising ways to avoid the debate.

Jaitley kept in dark: SP

"There are those who say the PM did not take even (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley into confidence (about note ban). If Arunji had known, he would have whispered about it in my ears. He knows me".Naresh Agrawal, SP

It will kill economy: TMC

"Anyone who opposes you, Mr PM, is not anti-national or in favour of black money. Why are you giving us this lecture on black money? We are opposing you since we believe this will kill the economy" Derek OBrien, TMC

Treat it as calamity: Tata

"It may be worthwhile to consider special relief measures similar to those employed at times of national calamities to serve the poorer segment of the population for their daily needs." Ratan Tata, TATA Sons chairman
New Delhi, November 24

With China not budging from its position on Indias NSG bid, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has called for a sensible and pragmatic conversation between the two sides on how not accommodating each others aspiration was detrimental to the overall relationship.

The Foreign Secretary also observed India should use its soft power and do more in improving its image in China as people there do not have a very fair idea about the country.

The Foreign Secretarys comments featured in a report of the Standing Committee on External Affairs on Indias soft power which was tabled in Lok Sabha yesterday.

I do not think we should be in denial of what is the problem that we are having with China right now.

So, at this time what is required with China is a sensible pragmatic conversation about how not accommodating each others aspirations is not beneficial to the relationship. We need to have the conversation and we will have that conversation, Jaishankar has been quoted as saying in the report.

He was replying to a question on whether soft power can be employed in Indias dealings with China.

Referring to the NSG issue, he said soft power has a value but asserted it cannot be substitute for some serious hard power arguments.

...We cannot find a fix for a terrorism problem or a PoK problem or a NSG problem in soft power engagement per se.

At the same time, the Foreign Secretary said, I do believe, particularly in China, we need to do more to improve our image there. I did two postings there back to back. I think an average American has an image of India which is much superior to what an average Chinese has of India.

Therefore, clearly there is work to be done , there is soft power deficiency there which needs to be remedied. Comparing Indias soft power with that of China, the Foreign Secretary said Indias pluralism, which does not have sharp edges, and the very lack of assertiveness make people comfortable and less threatened.

A part of it was also because a democratic country with a culture of tolerance, culture of acceptance seems to be intellectually less domineering than China, he said.  PTI
Chicago, November 24

An Indian man was mistaken for a Muslim and brutally hit multiple times on his head and face at a bar in the US, the latest in a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes following Donald Trumps victory.

Ankur Mehta was allegedly attacked at the Red Robin Restaurant in Pennsylvania while he was working on his tablet with earbuds in his ears when the attacker grabbed and punched him with his elbow and fist.

The attacker who was identified as Jeffrey Burgess also hurled racial and ethnic epithets at Mehta who was taken to a hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip, Pittsburghs Action News 4 reported.

Mehta told police that Burgess said to him that things are different now and I dont want you sitting next to me. You people.

Burgess, 54, spoke with slurred speech and was staggering and smelled of alcohol, police said, adding that he then used an ethnic slur commonly used against those of Middle Eastern descent.

We believe this is just the latest incident in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

The criminal complaint says Burgess beat Mehta in the head and face with his elbow and fist, launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically, Bethel Park police Chief Timothy OConnor said.

Mehta was oblivious to the comments until Burgess allegedly struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, the officer said.

Witnesses told police Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also said Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgesss impending attack.

Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, simple assault, harassment and public drunkenness.

The incident comes amid a notable spike in hate-crime incidents against the minority community following Trumps election as US President.  PTI
Washington, November 24

Cutting across party lines, Indian-Americans in the US have hailed President-elect Donald Trump for nominating Nikki Haley as US envoy to the United Nations.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican Party, but further strengthen the India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, an old-time Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Conventions.

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This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body, maybe in securing Indias rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley is she has not forgotten her roots or heritage, Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur. She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.

The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time, he added.

Its a proud moment for all Indian-Americans on President-elect Trumps choice of Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations, said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was adviser to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

Haleys appointment--her Indian and Sikh heritage--is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration. The President-elect is uniting the party and getting competent leaders with proven track record to serve in his administration, Ahluwalia said.

Trumps nomination of Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a cabinet-level position, has taken my breath away as I celebrate the highest milestone for the Indian-American community and the inherent trust that America has in her citizens love of America and our cherished Constitution, said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

Welcoming the appointment, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning.

Governor Haley has done a tremendous work as South Carolinas first female and Indian American Governor and she will surely succeed as the top diplomat at the United Nations, said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC).

USINPAC had been working with the Trump transition team to make sure that qualified Indian Americans had the opportunity to serve in the Trump administration, Puri said.

In addition to Haley, Keelen said Trump is also considering the former Indian-origin governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal for a position in his administration.

Keelen said Trump understood the importance of US-India ties, as the two nations shared the same values, faced the same issues with terrorist attacks on their soil.

Of course Haley fully deserves this honour and with Trump honouring her with such a coveted position he has honoured India and Indian-Americans in recognising their contributions to their country, Shivangi said.

Batra said with the appointment of Haley, Trump declared that America would no longer act insecure and engage in John Boltonesque war lust or arrogance, and in its place use charm and respect as its preferred diplomatic arsenal. PTI
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24



Pointing out the extent of hardship that demonetisation has caused the common man and small businesses, and the likely hit of 2 per cent on the GDP, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said this had been coupled with "monumental" mismanagement in implementation, and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder".

Manmohan said the demonetisation move of the BJP government could not prevent black money and terror funding.

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Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, he said the GDP would take 2 per cent hit due to demonetisation.

"These measures convinced me that the way the scheme had been implemented, it's a monumental management failure. And in fact, it is a case of organised loot and legalised plunder. It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering people," he said as the debate on the issue resumed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the House.

I want to ask the PM if he can name a country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw it," he said.

He said those who said demonetisation is good in the long run should recall the quote, "In the long run we are all dead, Manmohan said.

The cooperative banking sector, which was serving a large number of people in the rural sector, was not operational, he said.

"The Prime Minister asked people to wait for 50 days, but for the poor section these days can be detrimental, the Congress leader said.

He said: Sixty to 65 people have lost their lives, what has been done can weaken our people's confidence in the currency and banking system. With Agencies
Islamabad, November 2

Pakistan had readied its battle plans after threats from India, the countrys air force chief said on Thursday and warned the neighbour against acts of aggression, as tensions escalate in the Indian sub-continent.

Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said Pakistan was not worried about India at all", while he spoke at 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS).

"India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them," he was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

He is quoted to have said Pakistan could not ignore this kind of pressure. "We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression," he said.

India launched a counter-offensive against Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after terrorists killed three Indian soldiers  beheading one of them  under Pakistans army cover fire in a gun battle in Kashmirs Machil sector.

Pakistan claimed on Wednesday that Indian forces had hit a passenger bus in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, killing nine and wounding as many people.

The country also claimed it had killed seven Indian soldiers after its neighbour had opened fire along the Line of Control, killing three of Pakistans soldiers.

Pakistans soldiers continued to shell Indian outposts, injuring six jawans.

Pakistans Prime Minister has said the country would not tolerate "deliberate targeting" of innocent civilians, particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC," he said on Thursday.

The International Border and the Line of Control has been fraught with tensions since Indian Army conducted a military strike that targeted terrorist 6-7 launch pads across the border in Pakistans territory on September 29. The attack came 10 days after a terrorist strike on a military camp in north Kashmir's Uri. Nineteen indian soldiers were killed in the attack.

Although Pakistan has since denied such a strike, there have heavy cross-border firing and shelling since. India has accused Pakistan of having violated a truce agreement of 2003 several times in the past two months.

India has long accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorist camps, a charge the neighbour has repeated denied.  PTI
Islamabad, November 24

Pakistan on Thursday stepped up its anti-India rant with the military chiefs, including outgoing Army chief General Raheel Sharif, threatening that the armed forces were capable of teaching India "a lesson" if the border tension escalates.

Just days ahead of his retirement, General Sharif said that India had staged a "drama" of surgical strikes. "If India conducts a surgical strike we will give such a lesson that will be taught in India Army courses," according to an ISPR statement.

The comments from the army chief, who is on his farewell tour, came a day after Pakistan claimed that 13 people, including three soldiers, were killed in Indian firing along the Line of Control.

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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also convened a high-level meeting to review the situation at the Line of Control, as Pakistan's Air Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and Naval Chief Admiral Zakaullah joined in hitting out at India.

Pakistan has shown utmost restraint in the face of Indian belligerence and will not tolerate India's "deliberate targeting" of civilians and ambulances, Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying in a statement from the Prime Ministers House.

"We cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport," Nawaz Sharif said.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continuing ceasefire violations from the Indian side," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister called upon the international community to play its active role in defusing tension between the two nations, "which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side", said the statement.

The meeting concluded that India was trying to divert the attention of the international community "from the grave human rights violations, massacres and atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces" in Kashmir, it said.

In a related development, Pakistan's Air Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said the country's armed forces were "not worried about India at all".

Speaking at the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) in Karachi, the chief of air staff also called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: "They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve." Meanwhile, Naval Chief Admiral Zakaullah also joined the other two military chiefs and said that the response that Pakistan Navy gave to India (when it chased an Indian Submarine last week) has satisfied the public. "I am also satisfied." Firing exchanges and a bitter diplomatic war between the two neighbours have escalated after the September 18 killing of 19 Indian soldiers in a terror attack on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.  IANS
New Delhi, November 24

Suspended RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, accused of allegedly raping a minor girl, will continue to remain in jail as the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to him by the Patna High Court.

A bench of Justices AK Sikri and AM Sapre said they had allowed the appeal of the Bihar government, seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yadav by the Patna High Court on September 30 this year.

The apex court had on November 8 directed Yadav to surrender before a trial court in Bihar after suspending the High Court order granting bail to him. Yadav had complied with the direction.

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The apex court had also directed the trial court to record the statement of the minor rape survivor within two weeks and had asked Yadav not to interfere in the matter.

It had earlier rejected Yadavs plea to remain outside Bihar till the victim deposed before the trial court and felt that the RJD legislator should remain in jail till the victim records her statement fairly and without any fear.

It had said it was more concerned about the safety of the girl.

The apex court had on October 18 directed the trial court not to record the testimony of the victim till October 24 after the state government submitted that she felt threatened due to the accused being out on bail.

Yadav had allegedly raped the minor girl at his residence in Bihar Sharif on February 6 this year. After evading arrest for a considerable time, he surrendered after a local court had issued proclamation notice and an order to attach his properties for not surrendering before the police.

Bihar Police, in its chargesheet, had also named a woman and her relatives as accused on the ground that they had been allegedly supplying women to the MLA representing Nawada Assembly constituency. The RJD had suspended Yadav from the party on February 14, a day after his arrest warrant was issued. PTI
New Delhi, November 24

Suspended RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, accused of allegedly raping a minor girl, will continue to remain in jail as the Supreme Court today cancelled the bail granted to him by the Patna High Court.

A Bench of Justices AK Sikri and AM Sapre said they had allowed the appeal of the Bihar Government, seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yadav by the high court on September 30.

The apex court had on November 8 directed Yadav to surrender before a trial court in Bihar after suspending the high court order granting bail to him. Yadav had complied with the direction.

The apex court had also directed the trial court to record the statement of the minor rape survivor within two weeks and had asked Yadav not to interfere in the matter in any manner. It had earlier rejected Yadavs plea to remain outside Bihar till the victim deposed before the trial court and felt that the RJD legislator should remain in jail till the victim records her statement fairly and without any fear.

It had said it was more concerned about the safety of the girl. The apex court had on October 18 directed the trial court not to record the testimony of the victim till October 24 after the state government submitted that she felt threatened due to the accused being out on bail.

Yadav had allegedly raped the girl at his residence in Bihar Sharif on February 6.  PTI
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

With the Opposition making clear its intentions on demonetisation with calls of Bharath Bandh and Akrosh Diwas on Monday, the BJP is looking at options to send across the correct message on the issue among people.

Ahead of its countrywide protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modis move on November 28, the saffron party is holding rallies and events in support of the move and against black money and corruption. Besides, in the coming days, senior ministers will brief party MPs in batches about the demonetisation for the dissemination of right message among people.

Senior ministers Ananth Kumar, Manohar Parrikar, Rajnath Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Nitin Gadkari, M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and JP Nadda will be part of the exercise between November 24 and December 15.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the partys Delhi unit is organising a Sankalp march. The Madhya Pradesh BJP is also holding a similar event in support of the currency ban. 50,000 farmers and labourers will participate in the rally in which Union Minister Piyush Goyal will participate after meeting traders bodies, BJP leaders say.

Though BJP leaders do not appear anxious over the criticism they are facing in Parliament, where the first two weeks have gone pretty much the way as expected, there are concerns about the Oppositions growing unity on the issue.

Standing by Modis decision to remain silent in the Rajya Sabha today, they say even if he had spoken today, as the Opposition was demanding, the fate of the House would have been very much the same. The Opposition, they claim, was not inclined to let the House function till Monday, otherwise the purpose of the Monday rally would have been defeated.

The Prime Minister reached out to everyone as he walked across in the Rajya Sabha. He also exchanged words with former PM Manmohan Singh and other leaders of the Congress, JD-U and the NCP. However, it suits them to maintain unity on the issue, the BJP leaders say.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

With the Opposition making clear its intentions on demonetisation with calls of Bharath Bandh and Akrosh Diwas on Monday, the BJP is looking at options to send across "the correct picture and message on the issue" among the people.

Ahead of its countrywide ante against Prime Minister Narendra Modis move on November 28, the saffron party is holding rallies and events in support of the move and against black money and corruption.

Alongside, in the coming days, senior ministers will brief party MPs in batches about the Prime Ministers initiative for the "dissemination of right message among people".

Senior ministersAnanth Kumar, Manohar Parrikar, Rajnath Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Nitin Gadkari, M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and J P Naddawill be a part of the exercise between November 24 and December 15.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the party's Delhi unit is organising a Sankalp march. The Madhya Pradesh BJP is also holding a similar event in support of the currency ban. 50,000 farmers and labourers will participate in the rally in which Central minister Piyush Goyal will participate after meeting traders bodies, BJP leaders here say.

Though the BJP leaders do not appear particularly anxious over the criticism they are facing in Parliament, where the first two weeks have gone pretty much the way as expected, there are concerns about the Opposition criticism and its growing unity on the issue.

Standing by Prime Minister Modis decision to remain silent in the Rajya Sabha today, they say even if he had spoken today, as the Opposition was demanding, "the fate of the House would have been very much the same".

The Opposition, they claim, was not inclined to let the House function till Monday, "otherwise the purpose of the Monday rally would have been defeated".

The Prime Minister reached out to everyone as he walked across in the Rajya Sabha. He also exchanged words with former PM Manmohan Singh and other leaders of Congress, the JD-U and the NCP. However, it suits them to maintain unity, the BJP leaders say.
Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, November 24

Following the seizure of Rs3.5 crore in demonetised currency from a chartered flight at Dimapur airport and subsequent arrest of Naga businessman Anato Zhimomi, security agencies in the Northeast have woken up to the possibility of militants trying to get exchanged scrapped cash in border states such as Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh where tribal population is exempted from paying income tax.

Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay apprehended that militant groups like the ULFA(I) and NDFB(S) based in Myanmar had been trying to exchange demonetised currency by taking advantage of the porous international border.

There have been intelligence inputs that ULFA (I) and other militant groups have been pressuring businessmen and villagers to get now-invalid notes exchanged. The ULFA(I) alone is believed to have about Rs9 crore in the demonetised currency.

In the recent meeting of the counter-insurgency Unified Command structure, banks were told to mount surveillance on heavy cash deposits.

Meanwhile, security forces have been instructed to check every vehicle on inter-state roads between Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland to check movement of scrapped notes.

A businessman based in Nagalands commercial hub, Dimapur, on the condition of anonymity, said Naga rebel groups had been knocking at local businessmen to either get their money exchanged in new currency notes or invest in their business.

Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu has directed banks across the hill state to keep tab on people not belonging to Arunachal but trying to deposit demonetised notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 in accounts belonging to local tribals, a communique of the Arunachal Pradesh Government said.
Tribune News Service



Samana/Chamkaur Sahib, November 24

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday claimed that the Badals were spending money to ensure that Capt Amarinder Singh formed the government in Punjab.

Addressing a rally at Samana, the Delhi Chief Minister said the Badals knew that people were annoyed with the SAD-BJP and only Amarinders victory could ensure their safety.

The AAP convener also announced that Dr Balbir Singh of the party would contest the Assembly election against Capt Amarinder Singh from Patiala urban.

Dr Balbir, who was earlier a friend of Dr Dharamvira Gandhis, had worked for Gandhis campaign for the Lok Sabha poll before parting ways.

Earlier, Congress workers blocked the Patiala-Samana road from where Kejriwal was supposed to travel to reach the venue, following lathicharge by police. There was also a clash between Congress workers and police.

As Kejriwal and AAP MP Bhagwant Mann reached the venue of the second rally at Chamkaur Sahib, protesting Congress workers pelted the Delhi Chief Ministers car with stones.

Addressing the rally, Kejriwal reiterated his allegations of Swiss bank accounts of Captain Amarinder Singh He also quoted account numbers of Amarinders wife Preneet Kaur and son Raninder Singh. He also claimed to have seen their Swiss bank accounts.

Attacking Badals, Kejriwal said they have taken over all businesses in the state. They will not be spared for spreading drug menace.

There were protests against Kejriwal at different places.

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Earlier, while addressing a rally at Dhuri, Kejriwal alleged that Wednesdays attack on his vehicle, when he was going to Nihal Singh Wala in Moga to address a rally, was an attempt by the Badals to scare him away from Punjab.

They can never break my resolve to work for the welfare of Punjab which has been ruined during the misrule of Akalis and Congress, he said while addressing the rally on the fourth day of his 11-day tour of poll-bound Punjab.

Blaming the SAD-BJP government for the deliberate breach in his security, Kejriwal alleged, It was an attack on me by the Badals to scare me away from Punjab. I myself saw a police officer indicate towards a group of 15 to 20 people, who came rushing towards me and started attacking my vehicle with canes, he claimed and asked, Can someone dare do that with the Badals in Punjab? I think it was a deliberate attack.

I dont need security by the Badals. I have come here to sacrifice my life for the sake and cause of Punjab. I am ready to fight for the people till my last breath, Kejriwal said.

Slams Modi for demonetisation

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for causing inconvenience to the people through demonetisation, he alleged, It is the farmers, shopkeepers, women and government employees who have suffered the most and are forced to stand in queues to withdraw their hard-earned money.

He alleged that Modi was only making fool of the people as demonetisation had actually benefited business tycoons. If Modi really has brought back black money, then the black money amassed by the Badals and those stashed by Amarinder in foreign banks should have been brought back, he said.

On the attack on preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, Kejriwal said, If religious preachers are openly attacked, how can Badal ensure safety and security of the common man?

He alleged that the SAD-BJP government, which claimed to be Panthic, had failed to arrest the culprits in a series of sacrilege incidents in the state and assured people that if AAP formed the government in the state the culprits would be nabbed.

Alleging that Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and the Badals were contesting the Punjab assembly polls jointly, he said, I have learnt that many hoardings of the Congress across Punjab have actually been funded by the Badals. Similarly, they (SAD and Congress) are seen together waving black flags at me wherever I go. I have never seen Akalis show black flags to Congress leaders and vice-versa.

Speaking at Dirba, he alleged, A month ago, the Badal government withdrew a corruption case against Amarinder. It was a favour reciprocated for Amarinder opposing the CBI probe against Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia for his involvement in the drug racket.

Similarly, when Amarinder was the chief minister from 2002 to 2007, he had never acted on the corruption cases against the Badals, the AAP national convener alleged.

Everybody knows Amarinder and his family have stashed ill-gotten money in Swiss bank accounts. But Badal in 10 years as CM never acted against him, Kejriwal alleged.

Asserting that when the AAP formed government in Punjab, it would not tolerate corruption, he said, The AAP has always worked against corruption. When I came to know an AAP minister was trying to seek Rs 6 lakh in bribe, I threw him out immediately.

However, Badal had failed to take action against his ministers Tota Singh and Majithia, who had been accused of corruption and drugs, Kejriwal alleged.

He claimed that Badal instead of acting against corrupt leaders was filing false cases and lathicharging anganwadi workers and teachers, who peacefully protested for their rights.

The Congress, too, failed to take action against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler who were involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said, adding that Amarinder had given clean chits to Tytler and Kamal Nath.

Accusing both the SAD and Congress of surrendering Punjabs right on river waters, senior AAP leader HS Phoolka said the party would not allow a single drop of water to be taken from the state.

The SAD-BJP combine and Congress have misled people on the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link canal issue. The notification of acquiring land for it was issued by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Amarinder had supported it, he alleged. With PTI
Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, November 24

In a new twist in Punjab politics, former Congress leader and ex-MP Jagmeet Singh Brar has joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) as the ad-hoc president of partys state unit. Brar who merged his Lok Hit Abhiyan with the TMC, however, maintained that he along with his supporters would continue campaign and support for the AAP in the 2017 assembly elections.

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This announcement was made earlier in the day in Delhi by the TMC vice-president and MP Mukul Roy. Brar had met Mamata Banerjee yesterday on the sidelines of her demonetisation protest in Delhi.

I thank @MamataOfficial for giving me this responsibility as part of our larger effort to forge a national alternative & work for grassroots pic.twitter.com/W7nJutHSh5  Jagmeet Singh Brar (@jagmeetbrar7) November 24, 2016

Notably, Brar was in touch with Mamata Banerjee for the past few months. His recent decision to extend unconditional support to AAP in Punjab was a part of this initiative, according to Brar. He had first met Mamata in Kolkata on September 6.

In a written statement, he said, I had extended my unconditional support to AAP in Punjab after due consultation with Mamata ji and my decision to join the TMC is also part of a larger initiative to build a national alternative. I will fight the Abdalis of Punjab with Kejriwal and the Tughlak of Delhi with Mamata ji.

Clarifying about his equation with AAP, Brar said, Neither I nor any of my supporters had joined AAP. We had extended our complete support from outside and chosen not to join AAP formally to avoid any confusion or insecurity among their cadre. Our aim was and will remain the removal of Akalis and Congress from Punjab. We are not siyasi saudebaaz. My supporters have joined the TMC with me and we will campaign and support AAP in 2017.

Our support for @AAPPunjab2017 will continue unchanged & unconditionally under the leadership of @MamataOfficial who will join us in Punjab  Jagmeet Singh Brar (@jagmeetbrar7) November 24, 2016

He added that, A detailed campaign plan will be drawn up soon. I will request Mamata ji to visit Punjab and campaign for AAP. Leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and friends from other parties must come together to give India a solid alternative.

Notably, Brar had created a flutter in January this year when he had termed AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwals Maghi Mela rally at Muktsar, a record breaker, saying that there was never such a huge rally.

He was expelled from the Congress on April 11 this year for his statements against the interests of the organisation. After the Congress defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he had suggested that the AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi should go on a sabbatical to introspect the reasons for the partys worst performance in the elections.

Brar, a former Lok Sabha MP from Faridkot, a native of Charewan village in Muktsar district, had defeated Sukhbir Badal in 1999.

Meanwhile, ex-MLA from Kotkapura, Ripjit Singh Brar, younger brother of Jagmeet, said, We have merged our Lok Hit Abhiyan with the TMC, hopeful that the AAP will leave some seats for the TMC for the forthcoming elections.

He said Jagmeet would come to Muktsar from Delhi on Saturday.
Ruchika M Khanna

Khanna was once among the most prosperous towns in Punjab. The presence of Asias largest grain market helped many commission agents mint money. The nearby town of Mandi Gobindgarh (which falls in adjoining Amloh constituency), known for its steel mills, provided a bountiful boost to Khanna-based mill owners. This constituency has also nurtured many top politicians, bureaucrats, educationists, doctors and judges  who did their bit to build infrastructure and bring about development. But sadly, the town is now a pale shadow of its former self.

In the past decade, this Assembly seat has been represented in turn by an Akali and a Congressman. First it was Bikramjit Singh, son of late Akali leader Basant Singh Khalsa. Locals allege that he did nothing for the constituency as he was an outsider sent from Ludhiana. The sitting MLA, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, is the grandson of former chief minister Beant Singh. The lineage, however, failed to help him get major development projects.

Those who zip past the town on the high speed highway will understandably rubbish the claims of poor infrastructure. The eight overbridges that pass through Khanna, too, are indicators of development. But a closer look reveals that most of the roads connecting Khanna to other towns  Samrala, Malerkotla and Amloh  have not been relaid/recarpeted for years. It needs a master driver to wade through these potholed roads. Encroachments are rampant; all open spaces along the GT Road have been taken over by small business establishments, selling anything and everything.

In some pockets, Akali leader Ranjit Singh Talwandi has got BiPaSa (bijli, paani, sadak) works done, thanks to being in the good books of the Badals. At Rasoolaran village, where the Akali Dal polled more votes than the Congress in the 2012 Assembly poll and the 2014 parliamentary elections, the link roads are in a good condition. An open space is being turned into a playground; a gym is also being set up. According to Ranjit Singh, a resident, their village mostly has Akali votes, so all these development works are being finished at a breakneck speed in view of the impending code of conduct.

In stark contrast, the main Khanna-Malerkotla road abutting Majri village is full of potholes. Arvinder Singh, a paramedic at a small private clinic here, says these craters cause many accidents. We get several cases every day. Everyone knows about it, but it seems that the people are being punished for not voting for the ruling alliance, thus no development work is being initiated here, he laments.

Despite his loss to Kotli in the 2012 poll, Talwandi has been given another chance by the SAD. Anil Dutt Phalli, who switched over from the BJP, is the AAP choice. Though there are a few applicants for the Congress ticket, including Hardev Singh Rosha, Kotli is expected to contest again.

Bhagwant Singh, a businessman, takes the MLA to task: He wasnt visible in the constituency for over four years. Its only recently that he has started coming here. If people vote for him, it will be only out of respect for Beant Singh.

Khanna has alternated between a Congress candidate and an Akali in the elections. A reserved constituency till 2012, it became a general one post-delimitation, having 67 villages and one town. Of the 1.56 lakh voters, 90,000 reside in the town. The Hindu voters (40,000) are predominant, followed by SCs/BCs (30,000); the rest includes the Jat Sikhs, Ramgarhias and urban Sikhs.

While Talwandi will be banking on the legacy of his father, late Jagdev Singh Talwandi, the AAP candidate will rely on his reputation of being an able leader to seek the voters mandate. A municipal councillor, Phalli is credited with getting several development works done in his own ward and also the one his wife represents. Being a cousin of Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi helped him get funds.

Satwinder Singh, a dairy owner from Rasoolaran village, points out that those owing allegiance to the ruling alliance are getting liquor at wholesale prices from contractors and supplying it at lower than the market rates so as to woo the fence-sitters. Manjinder Singh, a resident of Goh village, asserts that the days of voting for parties are over. After years of neglect, we are looking for a pro-active representative who can get work done for the people, he puts it precisely.
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

Resentment is brewing in the Punjab Congress ranks over new entrants to the party, with many top leaders flagging their concerns to the leadership.

The meeting of the Congress screening committee for selection of candidates in Punjab saw state leaders speak on how new entrants could impact partys prospects in election-bound Punjab.

Many fear fissures in the state unit, as paratroopers will step on the shoes of Congress workers who have been working in the opposition for 10 years.

Besides former MLAs Pargat Singh and Dr Navjot Kaur, the Congress recently opened its doors to Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Inderbir Bolaria, both former Akali leaders and sitting MLAs.

State Congress leaders are asking whether all new entrants will get tickets of choice or winnability factor will prevail.

Among seniors invited by the screening panel headed by Rajasthan ex-Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to share their views on Punjab are MPs Choudhary Santokh Singh, SS Dullo, Partap Bajwa and Ravneet Bittu, former Union Ministers Ashwani Kumar, Manish Tewari and Preneet Kaur, and leaders such as Sunil Jakhar, Lal Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Ashwani Sekhri, Manpreet Badal, MS Kaypee, among others.

One of these leaders says, Most newcomers are like demonetised currency. Their parties have discarded them. Winning prospects of many are questionable. The Congress must stick to the winnability factor. Tickets must go to people who can win and not to those who have joined us for their survival. New entries need deft handling.

Following Pargat Singh and Dr Navjot Kaurs joining, former minister Ashwani Kumar is learnt to have told the panel today that a 130-year-old party should not appear to be clutching on straws ahead of the elections. He urged the leadership to ensure workers morale was not dented and all factions were taken along, besides factoring in the AAP factor.

Other leaders are worried about how the Congress will defend the induction of Phillaur, who faced allegations of drug peddling. Capt Amarinder Singh promised to end Punjabs drug problem, if voted to power. With Phillaur in the Congress, can we justify this agenda? said another Punjab leader.

Dullo and Bajwa have been citing Congress Jaipur resolution of 2013, which says newcomers should cool off in the party for three years before getting tickets.

Many state leaders admit new inductions will create a perception of upswing for the Congress, while they say much will depend on how the interests of Congress workers are protected vis-a-vis outsiders.

There are questions. For instance, if Pargat is to be fielded from his current seat Jalandhar Cantt, what will happen to Jagbir Brar, our candidate who lost this segment to him in 2012? We hear Sarwan Singh Phillaur is seeking a ticket from Phillaur, which Congress MP Santokh Singhs son Vikramjit is also seeking. Dinesh Bassi, Punjab Youth Congress leader, has been working in Amritsar East for long, hoping for a ticket. But the Congress could cede this seat to sitting MLA Dr Navjot Kaur. Same is the case with Amritsar South, which Bolaria represents, a Congress insider said of the dilemm.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 24

Normal life was affected as employees of the Transport Department went on an indefinite strike here today. Government buses remained off road in both Garhwal and Kumaon divisions.

More than 4,000 employees are protesting in support of their pending demands. The protesters, including bus drivers and conductors, under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Union, gathered at the ISBT and protested against the Congress-led state government. They raised slogans against the government and in favour of their demands.

The agitated outsourced employees, including bus drivers, conductors, workshop technicians etc. demanded that they should be hired as contractual employees. They wanted better pay and perks.

Meanwhile, the strike by roadways employees hit commuters the most. The state transport buses did not ply leaving commuters dependent on cab operators or their own vehicles. The worst affected areas were Garhwal and Kumaon divisions as people had to opt for private buses and Max vehicles to reach their destinations.

Addressing protesters, Ashok Chowdhury, secretary, Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Union, said talks with the Transport Department Managing Director, BK Sant, remained inconclusive. He lamented that memorandums about their demands were submitted to the management, but to no avail.

Chowdhury said the management had given them a false assurance that their demands would be fulfilled soon. He said they had decided to call off their agitation only when their demands, which had been pending for a year now, were fulfilled.

The protesters said the state government should accede to their demands as these were genuine.
Anthony Noto

Twitter's Anthony Noto is getting a hefty stock package worth up to $12 million per year to take on a larger role as Chief Operating Officer of the struggling internet company.

A Twitter spokeswoman told Business Insider on Wednesday that the package "reflects his increased role and responsibilities as COO" and is meant to align with "the interests of our shareholders."

Noto, who has served as Twitter's finance chief for the past two years, has presided over a tumultuous period at the company marked by slowing growth, multiple management shake-ups and a sharp decline in the company's stock price.

Twitter announced plans to lay off hundreds of staffers last month as it tries to cut costs and revive its business.

Twitter's stock is currently down about 20% from its 52-week high and is down roughly 75% from its all time high of $74 after its 2013 IPO.

Noto is replacing longtime Twitter COO Adam Bain, who announced his sudden departure from the struggling social network earlier this month. Now that Noto has been promoted from CFO to COO, Twitter is awarding him a new stock package that vests over a four year period, the company said in an SEC filing on Wednesday.

The former Goldman Sachs investment banker and ex-Army Ranger is receiving a total of 940,000 restricted stock units and 325,000 performance-based restricted stock units as part of his new pay package. The package has a "total compensation target" of $12 million per year, Twitter said.

"Anthonys executive compensation package reflects his increased role and responsibilities as COO and was designed with the assistance of an independent outside consultant to align with the interests of our shareholders, incentivize growth and value creation, and be competitive with peer and industrywide practices," a Twitter spokeswoman said.

"His compensation includes a mixture of restricted and performance-based stock options, which only grant upon certain financial and operational performance metrics," she added. "Approximately 96 percent of Anthonys compensation is in stock, which underscores Anthonys alignment with shareholders and commitment to generating enhanced value."

Story continues

New severance deal

In addition to his new stock package, in the event that Noto is fired, he will get 100% of his base salary (listed as $250,000 in Twitter's most recent proxy statement) in severance, instead of the 50% portion that he was previously entitled to.

Twitter noted that Noto will get 100% of his salary in the event he "is involuntarily terminated for any reason (including by him for good reason) other than cause, death or disability" though not in the context of a change in control.

The rich compensation package may not sit well with shareholders at a time when Twitter's business is struggling and following the company's failed efforts to sell itself earlier this year.

And Noto compensation has raised eyebrows before: The lavish $73 million total compensation package he received when he was hired by Twitter in 2014 caused rumblings among many insiders at Twitter, where top executive salaries had previously been capped at $200,000 for many years.

Noto "will continue to lead the live content business and assume responsibility for Twitters revenue-generating organizations as well as global partnerships and business development and other functions," according to the SEC filing.

Twitter is looking for a new CFO to replace Noto, who is still currently serving as COO and interim CFO.





More From Business Insider


BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, November 24

The period of the traditional trade fair of Jauljibi has been extended up to November 28 amid complaints from traders that demonetisation has badly hit their business and they want more time to sell their goods.

Jauljibi is organised at the Nepal border town by the same name in Pithoragarh district. According to traders unions, those who were severely hit by demonetisation included traders who reached with Tibetan goods, tribal craftsmen, women craft sellers and others from other districts and Nepalese traders with horses from Humla district of Nepal. These traders complained of less volume of trade as compared to last year due to lack of high-value currency notes following demonetisation in the country.

Over 300 shopkeepers, including tribal traders, could sell only a small portion of their goods this year. They now hope to sell the remaining goods at the Uttarayani fair to be held at Bageswar in January next year, said Lila Bangyal, trader and social worker in Jauljibi town.

While sales volume were affected up to 60 per cent, Nepalese tribal and horse traders were also badly hit by demonetisation. We are now facing the problem of keeping goods before these could be sold during the Bageswar fair in January next year, said Direndra Dharmashaktu, trader and president of the Jauljibi Vyapar Sangh.

Local administration sources in Dharchula say facilities like electricity, water and sanitation to the fair will also be extended till the extended period.

The 10-day Jauljibi fair was visited by Chief Minister Harish Rawat today amid assurances that the fair would be given wider shape from next year. The Chief Minister also took part in the stone-laying ceremony of Rs 18.5 crore developmental schemes, mostly motor roads in the region, said an Information Officer of the district.

Horse traders from Humla district in Nepal say due to the demonetisation move in India, over 50 horses taken from interior parts of Nepal for sale this year could not be sold till the last day of the fair.

The Chief Minister said besides Tibetan delicacies of chaumin and momo, traditional Kumaoni food joints would also be introduced in the fair next year.
Baghdad, November 24

A suicide truck bomb killed more than 80 people, most of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Islamic State, the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a US-backed military offensive launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.  Reuters
Baghdad, November 24

A suicide truck bomb killed over 100 people, most of them Iranian Shiite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km south of Baghdad on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.

The group is also fighting off a US-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shiite militias are taking part.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant on its premises that is popular with travellers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the blast from the explosives-laden truck. Reuters
Islamabad, November 24

Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described US President-elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world.

In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it had issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Trump.

Writing in the Pak-based Al Qalam Weekly (Nov 18-24, 2016) the JeM ideologues Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif have stated that while the international media has used Trumps victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory is actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the world.

They said the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trumps election.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of bad character, temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam.

He said while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trumps victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries.

He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which had brought victories against powerful opponents. ANI
Washington, November 24

A 32-year- old woman in the US opened fire at her house guests because they were "too loud" and had overstayed their welcome.

Alana Annette Savell was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after she shot at two people, striking one, at her home in Panama City, Florida.

Bay County Sheriff's Office said: "The victim (Ms Kirsty Jo Mohr) stated she felt herself get hit in the legs and ran away from the home and got into a vehicle".

"Savell stated that the victim and her friend had come to her home to hang out and began drinking and getting too loud.

Savell stated she did not want them in her house and started shooting at their feet," the sheriff's office said.

"The suspect's boyfriend stated to investigators that he has told his girlfriend that once someone is told to leave their property three times, she is to go get the gun and shoot it at the ground. If that does not work, she is to shoot people in the leg," it said.

After firing the gun at the ground, Savell continued shooting as the man and woman left, striking the woman twice in the leg, the Washington Post reported.

Savell later acknowledged to authorities that there was a phone in the house and she could have simply called 911 to make the guests leave.

"The defendant stated that she knew she was wrong for shooting at the victim and Gary, but stated when she started shooting she could not stop," the affidavit read.

Savell's boyfriend was also struck with a round in the leg during the incident that took place on Monday, the sheriff's office said. After the guests left, Savell put the handgun into a garbage can next to the house.

Sheriff's deputies were called around 2 am to a hospital, where the female gunshot victim was receiving treatment.

Savell was arrested about two hours later and taken to the Bay County Jail, where she is being held on a $100,000 bond.  PTI
Allied is a World War II movie starring Brad Pitt and directed by an Oscar-winning filmmaker, and I couldnt figure out why Id heard so little about this movie.

Now I know. This war movie is a bomb.

Its not the worst movie of 2016, but when the work on both sides of the camera is this mediocre, Allied just might be the most disappointing film of the year.

Its certainly one of the most boring.

So much went wrong here that its hard to know where to start, but the place to always start is the script, written by Steven Knight, whos written several bad movies since 2007s Eastern Promises.

The year is 1942. The place is North Africa. A pair of spies played by Pitt and Marion Cotillard (hes from Canada, shes from the French Resistance) are about to meet in Casablanca, pretending to be husband and wife.

Dont get excited; this is no Casablanca, although everything about the filmmaking choice is in that old-fashioned style, which doesnt work any better here than it did in fellow World War II snoozefest The Monuments Men.

The assignment for Max and Marianne: Get close to local Nazi officials, get invited to an upcoming Nazi shindig, whip out machine guns and assassinate the bad guys at the party. Good luck getting out alive.

They survive, so that we can have a movie longer than 30 minutes, and so that this fake couple can get married because theyre so in love.

This set-up sounds inherently exciting, but there are multiple problems. To begin with, they dont look like theyre in love. Theres no sensuality in what might be Pitts most heat-free relationship ever on-screen.

The films biggest surprise over two hours is when he asks her to marry him because I didnt even think they liked each other.

Or trusted each other.

This is all done to set up the films real story twist: Sorry, Max, I know youve started a family here in London with your wife, but were pretty sure that Marianne is a German double-agent.

Director Robert Zemeckis knows how to incorporate special effects beautifully into his movies, as evidenced by Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express and Flight.

But he is incapable of building any suspense in Allied, which is as creaky as an old mans knees.

With no innovation to make or technical challenge of any kind, its as if Zemeckis decides to settle for spending time around cool vintage war planes and dressing up his two pretty stars  who always look far too fashionable for their wartime posts.

With the pair not creating a believable couple, its hard to care whether shes a German spy or not, and the way that this investigation proceeds is clumsily executed.

Armed with this information, we watch Max go about trying to find the truth. Not only is this scheme poorly written, but we only receive his perspective, and Cotillard has almost nothing to do.

Pitt is incredibly stiff here playing a pretty stiff guy.

He looks so awkward sneaking around that it leaves Cotillard, one of the most gifted performers around, to produce a series of perplexed Max seems like hes bothered by something looks.

The energy is wrong in what feels like a blown mix of The English Patient meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which featured Mr. Pitt and Mrs. Jolie Pitt and had all of the steamy sensuality this film is missing.

There is recommended viewing of Pitt in World War II like Inglourious Basterds and Fury, but Allied should be treated like an invitation to join the Nazi party.
Residents in Valsayn South are said to be marooned in their homes. Councillor for the area S
Next week SBS premiered Icelandic thriller Trapped, which has been available at SBS On Demand since May.

The 10 part series begins with a double episode, reminiscent of an Agatha Christie locked room murder, and is directed by Baltasar Kormakur (Everest).

Set in a small Icelandic town in a deep fjord in the east, Trapped follows the story of town sheriff Andri Olafsson (Olafur Darri Olafsson) as a ferry approaches the town and a dead body is discovered on the shore. Without a head, limbs and legs, this is an unrecognisable torso.

Meanwhile the weather is getting worse. To be able to leave town, the residents have to drive over a heath. Its now impassable because the snow is closing off the town from the rest of the world. As sheriff Olafsson is waiting for the forensics to arrive from the city, he has come to the conclusion this was murder, a recent one  and the killer is most likely either on the ferry or someone still in town  someone trapped.

Episode One: (9.35pm)

A dismembered body is found in a fjord just outside a small Icelandic town. Simultaneously, all roads in and out are closed by a severe storm. With the forensics team from the city unable to reach them, its up to local Police Chief Andri Olafsson and two of his officers to investigate the murder.

Episode Two: (10.35pm)

At the Police Station, Lithuanian Jonas Malakauskas has been arrested and spends the night in the cell. Meanwhile, someone is posting photos of the mutilated body on social media sites.

9:35pm Wednesday November 30 on SBS.
US dramas Blindspot and Code Black return to Seven shortly.

Blindspot is back next week at 10:30pm Wednesday with S2E8.

When Jane and Weller go missing during an undercover operation, the rest of the team must interrogate two criminals who hold the key to finding them. AUSA Weitz (recurring guest star Aaron Abrams) returns with a vendetta against the team.

Updated: Code Black is back at 9:30pm Monday December 12 with S1 E6 on 7flix.

Neal clashes with his father, Dr. Peter Hudson (Daniel Gerroll), who is a neurosurgeon, over how to treat his gravely ill mother, Asra Hudson (Roma Chugani), whose mysterious symptoms force Angels Memorial to quarantine Trauma One.

Episodes 7 & 8 will follow at 8:30pm on December 19.
Sunday Night moves into its summer series this Sunday, revisiting a story it ran in June on the Stocco brothers, both of whom are about to face sentencing.

It is one of the most destructive and bizarre rampages in Australian criminal history.

Two men  a father, a son  posing as farm handymen, preying on unsuspecting Australian families. Stealing, looting, destroying, menacing and ultimately killing.

Australia first heard the names Gino and Mark Stocco in October last year when the pair opened fire on a police highway patrol, raising the stakes in one of the biggest manhunts ever undertaken by Australian law enforcement.

Twelve days and thousands of kilometers later, it came to a bloody end when the pair was arrested for murder and a catalogue of other offences.

Now, on the eve of their sentencing, Sunday Night takes you deep inside this intriguing true crime drama as reporter Steve Pennells pieces together the forensic detail of a crime spree eight years in the making.

The Stoccos cut a deep scar through the lives of honest, hardworking families throughout Queensland, NSW and Victoria, causing millions of dollars damage and untold heartache while the authorities seemingly did nothing.

Sunday Night exclusively profiles the crusading farmer forced to turn amateur detective to gather evidence against the Stoccos to force authorities to act. And other families struck by the pair, but who bravely campaigned for action.

This major Sunday Night investigation charts the audacious, inexplicable reign of terror that Mark and Gino Stocco got away with for too long.

Sunday at 7.00pm on Seven.
The Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas at its meeting on November 23 decided that Viktor Medvedchuk and representatives of separate regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO) will prepare a report for the next sitting of the group regarding the process of release of illegally kept persons

Darka Olifer, the press secretary of Ukraines representative in the group Leonid Kuchma, wrote on her Facebook page.

As earlier reported, according to the latest official data provided by the Security Service of Ukraine, 109 Ukrainian citizens are held captive in occupied areas in Donbas. The whereabouts of only 57 Ukrainians is known.

iy
Defence Minister of Ukraine General of the Army of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak held talks with Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces Lt. General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi in the framework of his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This has been reported by the press service of Governments portal.

The parties discussed situation in Ukraine and agreed on key aspects of further cooperation.

The situation in the east of Ukraine as well as in annexed Crimea makes us to develop and reform our army. In the past 2.5 years we have gained a valuable experience and are ready to share it, General Poltorak stressed.

According to the minister, the scope of cooperation between Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates includes experience sharing, joint officers training, data exchange, and military medical cooperation (particularly, treatment and rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers both in Ukraine and the UAE).

General Poltorak thanked Lt. General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi for the opportunity to provide treatment and rehabilitation for 30 Ukrainian soldiers.

Chief of Staff of UAE Armed Forces remarked that their country was rather young but it had gained its capabilities in a rapid manner. Meanwhile, they also faced a serious threat such as terrorism.

Ukraine received a proposal to participate in an exercise to be conducted in the United Arab Emirates soon.

The parties showed interest in defence industry cooperation as well and thanked each other for openness and agreed on development of further cooperation.

ish
One Ukrainian soldier was killed in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the last day, Ukrainian Defense Ministrys Spokesperson for ATO issues Colonel Oleksandr Motuzianyk stated.

One Ukrainian soldier was killed in the ATO zone over the past day, Motuzianyk said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He also noted that the soldier was killed as a result of enemy attacks in Marinka.

iy
Ukraine has moved 23 positions up in Paying Taxes ranking, which assesses the ease of paying taxes in world countries.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk posted this on his Facebook page.

"Ukraine has moved 23 positions up in Paying Taxes ranking, which assesses the ease of paying taxes. Of course, it is a positive result, but is that sufficient for us? Does business in Ukraine have all the necessary conditions for development? Do we want to remain the 84th out of 190 countries? Obviously, we do not. We need to significantly simplify tax administration, to remove opportunities for corruption, to reform the State Fiscal Service. These are the main problems the business faces up as I hear at every meeting with entrepreneurs," Danylyuk said.

"We need to constantly make such steps and work together to create conditions for the development of entrepreneurship and economic growth. However, we will be able to do this only when the government and the business work together," the Minister added.

ol
Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic will make a working visit to Moscow on Friday, November 25 to reach an agreement on the uninterrupted gas transit to European consumers through Ukraine.

An Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels learnt this from the European Commission.

"Vice-President Maros Sefcovic will be in Moscow on November 25. He will meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak," the press service informs.

The European Commissions press service notes that the program of the visit is still to be confirmed, but the major talking points will be reliability of Russian gas supplies to European consumers during the winter period, as well as other aspects of bilateral cooperation.

ol
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has expressed hope during his meeting with Speaker of the Knesset of Israel Yuli Edelstein that the Ukraine-Israel Free Trade Area Agreement will be signed before the end of 2017.

This is reported by the Government portal

"This [signing of the FTA Agreement] will open up quite serious opportunities for deepening cooperation and increasing trade turnover between the two countries," Ukrainian Prime Minister underscored.

Groysman noted he had ratified the intergovernmental agreement on temporary employment, which was subsequently supported by the Parliament and signed by the President.

ol
The group of MEPs from the four factions appealed to President of the European Council Donald Tusk asking him for further support for Ukraine on its way to Europe.

The MEPs call on Tusk to convince the Netherlands of the need for positive decision regarding the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and speedy granting Ukraine visa-free regime. The appeal was initiated by Polish MEP Micha Boni, an Ukrinform correspondent reports from Poland.

"We kindly ask you to conduct within diplomatically acceptable steps the negotiations with the government of the Netherlands regarding the ratification of the Association Agreement with Ukraine and possibly fasten positive decision for the visa-liberalization process for Ukraine," the appeal reads.

As noted, "it will send a strong signal to the Russian Federation that its aggression will not be tolerated and that Ukraine is a key partner in a secure alliance."

As MEPs note the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement proved to be "a powerful and effective instrument for implementation of comprehensive reforms in Ukraine in accordance with European standards, as well as the road map, which enjoys full support of the majority of Ukrainians."

The appeal was signed by members of the European People's Party (EPP) Michal Boni, Mariya Gabriel, Jaromir Stetina, Danuta Hubner, Pavel Svoboda, Petras Austrevicius from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Mark Demesmaker from the faction of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and Tibor Szanyi and Marju Lauristin from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

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2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the first major group of refugee arrivals seeking asylum and protection directly from Australia. On 26 April 1976, five young men fleeing Vietnam sailed into Darwin Harbour.

The Human Lives Human Rights campaign, released by the Regional Representation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Canberra today, celebrates the enormous contribution of refugees to Australia and reinforces the basic human rights of those who seek asylum.

The four Australians taking part in this unscripted campaign represent the stories of countless others who have faced the difficult journey to safety, and found it in their new country. Despite their many varied accomplishments, these Australians are ordinary people who have survived through extraordinary circumstances.

Over four decades, people who have fled war and persecution have enriched their new communities and changed their new homes for the better, said Catherine Stubberfield, spokesperson for the UNHCR Regional Representation in Canberra. Former refugees are to be found across all areas of Australian life. They have become business leaders, doctors, teachers, politicians, sportsmen and women, and an integral part of Australian society. But refugees should be protected for the simple reason that they are people  mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, neighbours and friends.

Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right. Everyone has the right to life and liberty. Everyone has the right to freedom from fear. Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.

These human rights dont change based on race, religion, sex or nationality. Human rights dont change based on whether you seek safety by land, air or sea.

People fleeing war and persecution have few options. Most are faced with impossible choices to find protection for themselves and their families.

Far too often, the humanity of refugees and asylum-seekers is ignored or forgotten. The campaign asks us to reconsider who refugees really are, and to reinforce the basic, common values that compel us to protect them  Human lives, Human rights.

Campaign microsite

www.unhcr.org/en-au/human-lives-human-rights

Media enquiries

Catherine Stubberfield | +61 2 6281 9112 | +61 424 545 569 | [email protected]



UNHCR Regional Representation in Canberra

UNHCRs Regional Representation is based in Canberra, and is responsible for the promotion and protection of refugee rights in Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Single mother Manee, left, holds up a copy of her newly acquired Thai National ID Card, accompanied by her daughter, right, in Chiang Rai, Thailand.  UNHCR Thailand

CHIANG RAI, Thailand  When Sawitree* turned seven, she tried to apply for her Thai nationality card.

But despite having been born in the Southeast Asian nation she could not meet the application requirements as her Thai father could not be found.

I felt like I had no future, no options. It was like a dead end, says Sawitree, now 12, of the state of limbo that she found herself in.

Her mother and father separated when she was barely a year old. Her step-father went to district offices in Chiang Rai and Bangkok, unsuccessfully trying to get the right documents so that Sawitree could obtain an identity card showing that she was, in fact, a Thai national.

I felt like I failed her for not being able to obtain the card. Without it, she did not have many choices, says her step-father, referring to the limitations on freedom of movement and higher educational opportunities that stateless people face.

I felt like I had no future, no options. It was like a dead end.

When staff with the Adventist Relief and Development Agency (ADRA), a local NGO partner working with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, assisted the family in resolving the case, they finally obtained the documentation they needed, and in mid-October, Sawitree received her national identity card.

I was very happy the day I got to hold the card, she says with a smile. Asked how having a document showing her Thai nationality would change her life, she says, I will continue to study. I want to become a nurse, to help people who are sick and injured.

The young Thai students plight is far too common. There are around 10 million people worldwide who are denied a nationality. UNHCR works with governments around the world to identify, prevent, and resolve their situations, and in 2014 launched the global #IBelong Campaign that seeks to end statelessness over a decade.

In Thailand alone, there are currently 438,821 people registered as stateless. Many stateless people and those at risk of statelessness in Thailand come from areas where national borders have changed, leaving their nationality in question. Some belong to hill tribes living in remote areas with limited access to information about nationality procedures and who, in the past, lived without registration or identity documentation.

The Thai government has pledged to attain zero statelessness by 2024. Earlier this year, it requested all districts in the country to identify and issue legal status  which could range from Thai nationality to permanent or temporary residence  to eligible stateless students in its database. This move could benefit up to 65,000 students like Sawitree, who might otherwise struggle to pursue higher education.

To help address the challenge, UNHCR has been working with the Thai authorities and, most recently with ADRA, to open service points in different schools in Chiang Rais Mae Fah Luang and Mae Chan districts.

Stateless students and their families living there have been able to obtain nationality-related information and eventually lodge applications for birth registration, nationality, permanent residency and related civil status and identity documentation.

The project has engaged government officials at the district level, school principals, community leaders as well as local civil society, who have also been working on the issue of statelessness. The target  to prepare 10,000 applications by the end of 2016.

I will continue to study. I want to become a nurse, to help people who are sick and injured.

The Chiang Rai project has also helped Manee, 39, a single mother with two daughters from the Lahu hill tribe. She lives and works on a farm, but in the past as a stateless person could not travel freely outside of her district for work or to visit relatives.

When she tried to apply for nationality, she faced several challenges. Born in a remote area, her birth was not registered and she found it difficult to get through the administrative procedures without assistance.

Language was always a problem, she says. I also did not understand the process. It became simpler when I received help from ADRA officers without any charges.

With this support, she acquired Thai nationality last month. She says this has brought her peace of mind. She looks forward to exercising her full rights, including the right to travel to see her cousins, and access public services that will also benefit her children. She also feels empowered to be more active and vocal in village activities.

Now that I have my card, I hope my childrens turn will come, says Manee. They need to have DNA tests to obtain Thai nationality so that they can travel to places they couldnt before.

*Names of all stateless people have been changed for protection reasons.
Alaa has spent 4 years in Lebanon grieving for lost loved ones back home and worrying about those who remained.  UNHCR/ Sam Tarling

BEIRUT, Lebanon  It was a Thursday evening last month, four years since Alaa* and her family had sought refuge in Lebanon. Aleppo Today was playing on the television in the background, the voice of a news anchor running through the days casualties. When her phone rang, Alaa shuddered. Its Aleppo, she said.

On the other end of the line, her sister Samar broke the dreadful news. Alaas 16-year-old nephew, Samars son, had been killed by an explosion while on his way home from school.

I felt that my heart was about to stop beating. Tears gushed from my eyes but Samar was strangely composed. I am not sure where she found the strength. She said she would rather die a hero in Aleppo than leave the only place she can call home, Alaa said.

Lebanon is host to over one million Syrian refugees. But despite being far from the war raging in their hometown, life in Syria continues to haunt them in their place of asylum.

"She said she would rather die a hero in Aleppo than leave the only place she can call home.

In the more than four years she has spent as a refugee in Lebanon, 39-year-old Alaa has grown grimly accustomed to the agony of mourning loved ones who remained in her hometown of Aleppo.

Since arriving in Lebanon with her husband and four children in 2012, she has lost 14 relatives back home. Thirteen of them, including two of her sisters and their children, were killed in the ugly brutal conflict, while her mother died out of sheer grief, she said, and her sister Samar is the only one who now remains in the city.

Alaas harrowing experience underlines the high human toll of Syrias brutal conflict, now in its sixth year. It also reveals how the horror currently unfolding in Aleppo reaches far beyond the city itself, impacting even those that have found relative safety in exile.

Since Alaa* (left) arrived in Lebanon in 2012 with her son Adib* and other family, she has lost 14 relatives back home.  UNHCR/ Sam Tarling

Adib* takes part in a psychomotor therapy group designed to help children traumatised by war at the Restart Centre in Beirut, Lebanon.  UNHCR/ Sam Tarling

Adib* (L) and his brother Bushra*, 10, from Aleppo, show their drawings to UNHCR staff member Dana Sleiman, in their home in Lebanon.  UNHCR/Sam Tarling

Alaas sister Samar tells her that getting from the rebel-held Seif Al Dawleh district in eastern Aleppo, where she currently lives, to her pre-war home in Salaheddine  normally a five minute commute  is now too dangerous a route and can take up to 10 hours. Reaching Damascus is ever more challenging.

We used to pay 10 liras to visit the capital. Now my sister says its 2,000 liras each way and reaching the city is not guaranteed. Alaa is unable to send her sister money, and often loses touch with her for days on end due to heavy fighting and the lack of communications networks. I wait for her messages in agony but dread the moment that she will call.

Many, like Alaa and her family from Aleppo, were forced to move multiple times inside Syria before finally reaching safety in Lebanon.

Underlining the increasing dangers for those remaining in eastern Aleppo, UNHCR published findings of a survey of residents conducted with partners late last month. It showed 63 per cent of respondents knew someone who had died or was injured by explosives, while 82 per cent cited damage to their property. Many, though, said they would stay even if there were safe evacuation routes.

Survey of 398 east #Aleppo residents: 63% said they were aware of deaths or injuries from explosives https://t.co/5SvUZBDrCr pic.twitter.com/tISjVTvv3c  UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) November 25, 2016



Intensified fighting in Aleppo has cut off humanitarian access to most parts of the city, resulting in shortages of food, medical supplies and other essentials. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has long called upon all parties to the conflict to allow humanitarian organizations to carry out their duties in safety, and to protect medical facilities, schools, water infrastructure and the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers, while allowing essential evacuations.

They havent had running water or electricity in years. My sisters husband works three jobs to put food on the table, said Alaa. Humanitarian aid never reaches the area where they live. She often begs her sister to join her in Lebanon, even though she knows that leaving the city nowadays is increasingly difficult.

Alaa has spent years in Lebanon tormented in her own isolated world, grieving for lost loved ones back home and worrying about those who remained. For a long time, all I wanted to do was sleep so that I could dream about my family. I used to get so upset when my husband woke me, she said.

Despite the pain, Alaa is trying to get back on her feet. Since April, she has been attending a UNHCR-supported community centre in Beirut, where she and her family receive psycho-social support. I look forward to Fridays because I get to go out and meet people.

Alaa says she wants to feel better so she can take better care of her four children. They need me, and I want them to be happy, to get an education and be capable of hoping for a better future again. Her husband works odd jobs as a handyman but it is not enough to make ends meet. The family receives US$162 worth of food assistance every month.

* Names changed for protection purposes
Displaced Colombian children play basketball on a dirt court in la Gloria, Colombia.  UNHCR

LA GLORIA, Colombia  A group of displaced youth in Colombias Amazon region have set their elders an example with a scheme to heal suspicion and hostility in their divided community.

As a peace deal to end Latin Americas longest-running conflict neared completion, young men and women in La Gloria, in Caqueta province, took matters into their own hands to reconcile the disparate factions in their own community of displaced people by organizing cultural activities for the younger generation.

La Gloria was in the process of being built as part of a government plan to house displaced people when the first wave arrived in 2011 in the wake of floods and natural disasters. The development was poorly supervised and the houses were shoddy. Some were only partially built.

In 2013, people fleeing the internal conflict between government forces and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels were moved into smarter new social housing being built as part of a relocation process.

Tension and resentment grew among the various groups from different backgrounds, over the variable quality and type of accommodation they were offered.

I was not happy when I arrived. There was a lot of rivalry between all of the people living in the neighbourhood.

I was not happy when I arrived in La Gloria, said 14-year-old Samuel, whose family had fled the conflict. I did not know anyone and everybody was on his own. There was a lot of rivalry between all of the people living in the neighbourhood.

Invisible barriers grew up between groups of newcomers, who generally stayed within their own neighbourhoods and did not mix. Children from different areas were not allowed to play together.

After Colombians narrowly rejected a peace accord in a September referendum, the Government and the FARC reached a revised agreement which was signed on Thursday (November 24). It aims to end 52 years of conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and was welcomed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

As a result of the conflict, there are more than 7.2 million internally displaced people in Colombia. UNHCR is focusing efforts to help the displaced, including local integration which is vital to ensure their rights are respected and they have dignified livelihoods.

Tired of living in the untenable environment in La Gloria, Samuel and other teenagers who had been attending youth art workshops provided by UNHCR decided to take the initiative to try to improve community spirit.

They started by organizing activities for children and young people. At the beginning, children were not allowed to come, but we insisted with their parents and slowly they let them join, Samuel said.

With the support of UNHCR, Samuel and his companions built a youth centre, where everyone could get together, learn, share ideas and develop activities without having to worry about where they came from.

The young residents of La Gloria also decided to join the UNHCR-funded Festival of Life and Rights, in which the whole community joins in activities and shares experiences.

The idea took hold and its success paid off when the community was later able to come together to find solutions to problems such as an increase in crime and drug dealing, and families spilling over into other areas as a result of a lack of housing in La Gloria.

Often, informal settlements and vulnerable townships such as La Gloria, where more than 350 displaced families live, are left to fend for themselves, assuming responsibility for their own security and finding ways to earn a livelihood.

To ensure social cohesion, they are encouraged to develop their own ideas, work as a team, implement projects  with support from UNHCR  and learn how to organize themselves and operate as a joint community. They receive guidance on how to negotiate with local and state authorities.

The best thing about the festival is it represents us  the young people who were able to move beyond the adults rivalries."

This year, the German-run Sinfonia Tropico biodiversity project also joined the three-day festival, providing music, art and theatre workshops with a strong environmental component.

Sinfonia Tropico describes itself as an initiative that raises awareness about the loss of biodiversity and the risks of deforestation and climate change in Colombia through events that combine art and science.

The festival closed with a photographic exhibition and a talent show, where the children and young people showed their parents and the community what they had learned and their desire to construct a better future.

Samuel joined music classes and was happy to get on stage: Using my voice and meeting all those teachers that came to the community, showed me that people do care about us, are interested in us and eager to help our community, he said.

Natalia, now good friends with Samuel despite living on the opposite side of town, said: The best thing about the festival is it represents us - the young people who were able to move beyond the adults rivalries, lower the hostilities between both sides of town and develop a sense of belonging to the community. This is why we are motivated to continue working every day to build a better life.
Vienna, 27 October 2006 Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), will present the industrial development cooperation report to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 30 October 2006. On this occasion he will address the Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) of the UNGA during its session on Poverty Eradication. The address will be held during a regular meeting of the Second Committee in Conference Room II, UN Secretariat Building, at 10:00 local time. The report highlights the programmes in UNIDOs priority areas and progress made, its cooperation with other organizations of the United Nations system and the steps it is taking to strengthen these partnerships and contribute to greater programmatic coherence in the development activities of the system, including at the field level. It also presents UNIDOs contributions and support to the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD). UNIDO adapts its responses to the changing industrial development environment and the requirements of its Member States, focusing on its three priority areas: poverty reduction through productive activities, trade capacity building, and energy and environment. South-South cooperation is given particular attention as a means of promoting industrial development, and stimulating trade growth and technology diffusion in support of international efforts to meet of the Millennium Development Goals, especially in Africa and least developed countries. The Second Committee is chaired by Ambassador Tiina Intelmann of Estonia. During this session, it will deal with issues relating to economic growth and development such as macroeconomic policy questions, financing for development, sustainable development, human settlements, poverty eradication, strengthening humanitarian and disaster relief assistance, globalization and interdependence, operational activities for development, and information and communication technologies for development. It will also consider issues relating to Groups of Countries in special situations (such as the Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries).

The report (UNGA document A/61/305) is available here (pdf).

For more information on the report, please contact:

Mr. Agerico Lacanlale

Senior Adviser to the UNIDO Director-General

Tel.: +43-1-26026-3690

a.lacanlale@unido.org

The report is available at www.unido.org/press-releases

For more information on UNIDO, please contact:

Ms. Cristina Stricker

UNIDO Information Officer

Tel.: +43-1-26026-3034

C.Stricker@unido.org

Note for editors

UNIDO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works towards improving the quality of life of the worlds poor by helping countries achieve sustainable industrial development. UNIDO views industrial development as a means of creating employment and income in order to overcome poverty. It helps developing countries produce goods they can trade on the global market, and helps provide the tools  training, technology, and investment  to make them competitive. At the same time, it encourages production processes that will neither harm the environment nor place too heavy a burden on a countrys limited energy resources. UNIDO has 171 Member States and has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria (please visit www.unido.org).
The rumors have been wild, speculating the storyline of the "House of Cards" Season 5. Viewers strongly believe that the upcoming series might have a twist as Donald Trump becomes the president of the United States.

"House of Cards" Season 5: New characters revealed

There will be new characters arriving in the new Netflix's political drama series. Some of the names include Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott, according to Hollywood Reporter. There is no word about what character that the casts will be playing.

However, viewers can expect a strong merciless character played by Clarkson. The Oscar nominee who won the Emmy for her role in "Six Feet Under" is rumored to play a role inspired by Hillary Clinton.

As for Campbell Scott, the actor plays in "Royal Pains" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" but there is no official statement about what type of character he will be playing in the next season of "House of Cards".

One thing that viewers agree on is that both will play pertinent roles in the show. Perhaps, the audience can expect an even ruthless manipulation in the storyline.

"House of Cards" season 5: Featuring Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

Many have speculated that President Trump will be mentioned in the upcoming season. As the plot hasn't been leaked yet, there is a huge possibility that new characters might be inspired by Trump and his inner circle.

With the drama sets in present-day in Washington DC, it is safe to argue that either President Trump or Mrs. Clinton will be featured in the show - probably behind-the-scenes of the election and the presidential debates.

'House of Cards' renewed for season 5, showrunner exits https://t.co/hFvqjhvCtY via @EW  LUIS BEVILACQUA (@luisbevi) November 21, 2016

"House of Cards" Season 5 Netflix air date

The new season will be aired sometime in February 2017 on Netflix.
President Elect Donald Trump did not completely talk about his stand on education through his campaign. He provided snippets to the media and reporters about his views on the matter and critics say it is often times conflicting.

But since he is going to take his seat in the Oval Office next year as the next president of the United States, many are looking forward to his views and agenda on the education system of the country.

During a panel discussion in Washington last week, the NY Times covered Frederick M. Hess. Hess is a conservative education policy expert and he teases that Donald Trump's achievement when it comes to education is Trump University.

Trump University is a controversial issue when it comes to Trump and his businesses. He was sued for fraud after Trump University promised to teach real estate skills from the man himself. However, he did not show up, at least once, in the many conferences and seminars under his name.

Where does President elect Donald Trump stand when it comes to school and education? Hess dissects Trump's suggestion that the federal Department of Education is going to get the "chopping block." Hess explains that Trump's statements are still not clear whether he will follow the Republican agenda or pursue his personal and populist streak.

Hess did note that Trump's education proposal of funding $20 Billion to allow low-income students to receive education follows the policy of Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Pence is known to favor school choice. But out of all his statements, Trump argues that he is serious about cutting college and university costs, to lower student debt and improve schools in America.

Donald Trump still has not made a formal policy or agenda for education but he did meet with several education authorities to discuss the matter. Reportedly, he is looking for possible choices for the next education secretary.
Do you know that becoming a Santa Claus requires more than just wearing a red costume and a white, long beard? This is the reason why there are hundreds of aspiring Santa Claus pay for a three day training course at America's Harvard of all Santa Schools.

Around two hundred Santas and Mrs. Clauses came across from US, Canada, Denmark and Norway to Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Michigan, to learn the skills of becoming a Santa Claus.

The training ran from November 18 to November 20 and taught about the history of Saint Nicholas, the skills of wood toy-making, storytelling skills, feeding reindeer and spreading the Christmas spirit.

The school was established in 1937 and was considered as the "Harvard of all the Santa Schools", according to Randy Schneider who considered himself as a professional Santa since 1999. This was made as a non-profit organization by directors Tom and Holly Valent.

"It's a privilege to be Santa," Tom said, sitting in a tall wooden chair with a "SANTA" engraving and green velvet upholstery.

"Every child that comes and sits on Santa's knee remembers that forever so when you're putting an everlasting memory into a child's mind, you want to make sure it's a good one."

And because there are just so many people who expressed their desire to be professional Santas, Tom and Holly had to refuse a hundred of them.

"What a great place to find a husband!" one Mrs. Claus joked.

One of the Mrs. Claus Kathy Armstrong actually found his Santa when she was in college, and they are now married for 44 years. They both decided to attend the Santa School when they retired as physical therapists.

"We decided it was something we both wanted to do," said Kathy.

"We even learned sign language," Bill, a loyal member of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, said. "It's important to be able to spread Christmas cheer to all children," he added.
In a speech given at Oxford's University Union, the world-renowned intellectual, Stephen Hawking gave humanity a deadline: 1,000 years. In the next millennia, we need to find another planet to colonize and call home.

The Cambridge professor warned that even if we survive the next 100 years given all the natural threats of climate change, external threats such as asteroids, the man-made dangers of nuclear terrorism and the full development of artificial intelligence, remaining on Earth puts all of humankind at risk of a pending mass-extinction.

The whole thing may seem like your typical Hollywood science-fiction but Prof. Hawking told the Daily Express that the Earth has now become very fragile and if our specie is to survive, we need to keep looking at outer space and eventually have the future generations escape.

Mankind's relentless and unsustainable use of natural resources only hastens the planet's pending cataclysmic end, the Express reports.

While other scientist agree with the adverse changes we are facing now, not all of them share the same opinion of finding and colonizing another planet necessary.

The cosmologist and theoretical physicist also talked about the "M Theory" which Hawking believes is the theory of everything. The theory basically combines the existing 5 String theories and a 6th theory called 11-dimensional supergravity. Einstein was looking for a more unified theory than relativity and some scientists believe that the answer is M Theory.

Stephen Hawking also remains skeptical of developing full-blown artificial intelligence (AI) that could pose a threat to human race when AI redesign itself and supersede man who will not be able to compete because of his biological limitations.

In the last 50 years, we have dramatically advanced our knowledge of outer space. What used to be limited to government research is now being explored actively by entrepreneurs. The likes of Elon Musk, Russian physicist Yuri Milner and Sir Richard Branson have made it part of their business empire to develop and transport people into space commercially some day.

NASA have also been searching for an Earth-like planet since 2009 and have found thousands of candidate planets since then. It is extraordinary since the discovery of the first exoplanet that revolves around a star, pretty much like our own sun was made only 21 years ago.
John B. King Jr., U.S. Department of Education Secretary, has urged states to ban corporal punishment in schools. There are still a lot of schools using this traditional practice.

Fox News reported that King wrote a letter to governors and school leaders on Tuesday. He urged them to use positive methods of correcting or addressing behavior instead of using physical force.

According to U.S. News, corporal punishment includes paddling, spanking or hitting students. The practice is allowed in 22 states. However, it is considered ineffective and harmful to children.

"Our schools are bound by a sacred trust to safeguard the wellbeing, safety and extraordinary potential of the children and youth within the communities they serve," King said in a statement. "No school can be considered safe or supportive if its students are fearful of being physically punished."

A 2013 study by Elizabeth T. Gershoff revealed how spanking is "a form of violence against children." She also noted that this practice should no longer be a part of American childrearing.

The study found that spanking was associated with an increase in mental health problems in childhood and adulthood. It also increased the likelihood of delinquent behavior for children and criminal behavior in adulthood.

"Not only does corporal punishment inflict pain and injury, it also stifles students' ability to learn," Fatima Goss Graves, a senior vice president at the National Women's Law Center, said. "Policymakers must eradicate violence against schoolchildren and instead foster learning environments that are safe and productive."

King also noted that corporal punishment is disproportionately applied to students. Boys =, children of color and kids with disabilities are more likely to be physically punished.

"The use of corporal punishment can hinder the creation of a positive school climate," King wrote in the letter. "Corporal punishment also teaches students that physical force is an acceptable means of solving problems, undermining efforts to promote nonviolent techniques for conflict resolution."
SpaceX has won the NASA launch contract for the first-ever survey of the Earth's surface water. The launch is scheduled for Apr. 2021.

In NASA's press release, the space agency announced that it has chosen Elon Musk's space company, SpaceX, to provide the launch services needed for its Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. It is expected to happen five years from now.

The launch will use SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. It will be launched from the Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vanderberg Air Force Base in California.

It was revealed that the total cost for NASA's SWOT mission is about $112 million. This includes launch service, spacecraft processing, payload integration as well as tracking, data and telemetry support.

"Designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earth's surface water, in addition to high-resolution ocean measurements, the SWOT mission will collect detailed measurements of how water bodies on Earth change over time," the space agency wrote. "The satellite will survey at least 90 percent of the globe, studying Earth's lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans, at least twice every 21 days, aid in freshwater management around the world, to improve ocean circulation models and weather and climate predictions."

The SWOT spacecraft will be developed and managed by NASA and French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The SpaceX launch service will be managed by NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to Tech Crunch, SpaceX currently has nine missions with NASA on its planned launch manifest for upcoming contracts. It was previously reported that Elon Musk has confirmed that the cause of the Falcon 9 rocket blast was its fueling system. He also announced that rocket launches may resume as early as December

NASA has expressed alarm over SpaceX's "unique and contrarian fueling process." It seems that the space agency is concerned with the process because it involves people on board the spacecraft.
When it comes to changing someone else's mindset when you think they are wrong or when you try to get your own way, you may try all sorts of techniques to win over an argument or discussion. It's easy to have an argument with someone especially when they do not share the same views you do, but there are ways for you to get your point across while avoiding the conversation from turning ugly.

1. Don't try to win the argument. When you make it too obvious that you are attacking someone's ideas, they will build a defense wall and it will be a lot more difficult for you to get through to them. Try to take their advice and understand their points of view.

2. Be civil. No matter how irrational or ridiculous the perspective of the other person sounds, you should still know how to respect it. The only way for them to think logical is when you have already been able to establish a personal connection.

"When people have their self-worth validated in some way, they tend to be more receptive to information that challenges their beliefs," Peter Ditto, a psychology professor at the University of California at Irvine, told New York magazine in 2014.

3. Ask how instead of asking why. In order to get people to open up, it is better to ask open ended questions, this is the advice of John Gottman, a psychologist who works with couples.

4. Be confident. According to a study conducted in 2013, the people who know how to act as if they are right are the ones who are listened to because people tend to be drawn to the expertise or the confidence level of a person, instead of what they are saying.
Xiaomi CES 2017 is expected to feature several products in the global market. It is yet to be revealed what the actual global product will be. However, rumor has it that the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 as well as the Mi Mix may be launched worldwide in the Xiaomi CES 2017.

The chinese company reportedly announced its presence at the Xiaomi CES 2017 via Twitter teasing fans of an all-new global product to launch soon. The company is yet to reveal what the product will be. Moreover, the company also kept mum on whether a smartphone or a different device will be shown in the Xiaomi CES 2017 event.

Furthermore, the Xiaomi CES 2017 is slated to head on to the Las Vegas, Nevada event to join the smartphone manufacturers selling in the global market. It should be noted that the Chinese smartphone manufacturer noted that a global product was being prepared to make a global launch via the Xiaomi CES 2017. Dozens of smart products are speculated to launch worldwide from phones to rice cookers in the Xiaomi CES 2017, Slashgear reported.

The Chinese company previously went without a US appearance. The global product to hit the Xiaomi CES 2017 may reportedly mean anything. However, the Xiaomi Mi Box smart set-top box is said to be a reasonable pick. Note that the Mi Box was also successful in the tech market.

Meanwhile, several reports claim that the Xiaomi CES 2017 may in fanct launch one of its smartphones in the U.S. market. Xiaomi reportedly gained a lot of attention in the past few weeks will the limited release of the Xiaomi Mix. Note that the handset is a concept smartphone with an almost bezel-free design, First Post reported.

Xiaomi CES 2017 may in fact launch the handset worldwide. It should be noted that the Xiaomi Vice President of International Hugo Barra previously revealed a couple of years ago that the company has plans on releasing its first smartphone in the U.S. Moreover, the 5.7 inch Mi Note 2 smartphone recently released in China may also be officially available in the U.S. as well via the Xiaomi CES 2017. Watch the Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix Comparison here:
Pangu remains silent of its iOS 10 jailbreak tool but a new report indicates that the release date could be imminent.

iOS 10 jailbreak Pangu is linked to an individual source

The analysis comes from iCrackUriDevice that mentions a source that links to Pangu jailbreak - who happens to be Alibaba's Senior Security Engineer, with a Twitter account named SparkZheng. He claims that there is going to be an iOS 10 jailbreak release albeit no word of the exact date.

Why this information seems legit?

Back in 2014, Forbes reported that Alibaba acquired 25PP - the developer that contributes to Pangu jailbreak attempts. The link becomes clear that the engineer might have worked with Pangu to break the restriction in iOS, including the iOS 10 jailbreak tool.

And to support the claim, the iOS engineer at Alibaba is allegedly the same person who managed to jailbreak iOS 9.3.4.

iOS 10 jailbreak to be an open source?

The said source also posted on Weibo, stating an update about iOS 10 jailbreak in Chinese language. While the translation may not be perfect, iCrackUriDevice managed to come up with his own interpretation of the update.

It can be argued that Pangu has worked on iOS 10 jailbreak and it will bring a few changes including open source system to the iPhone 7 device when it is jailbroken.

iOS 10 jailbreak release date delayed?

According to the familiar source, there is a great chance that the release will be delayed due to the time-consuming process. And the MOSEC event where Pangu demoed security flaw in iOS 10 has to be somewhat, a guarantee, that the hacker has already developed the exploit, Redmondpie reported.

With that being said, jailbreaking community should not need to worry about Pangu's slow move as the reports indicate that there will definitely be an iOS 10 jailbreak release.
The purpose of the guidelines national committee CCAFU on bladder cancer was to propose updated french guidelines for non-muscle invasive (NMIBC) and invasive (MIBC) bladder cancers.

A Medline search was achieved between 2013 and 2016, as regards diagnosis, options of treatment and follow-up of bladder cancer, to evaluate different references with levels of evidence.

Diagnosis of NMIBC (Ta, T1, CIS) is based on a complete deep resection of the tumour. The use of fluorescence and a second-look indication are essential to improve initial diagnosis. Risks of both recurrence and progression can be estimated using the EORTC score. A stratification of patients into low, intermediate and high risk groups is pivotal for recommending adjuvant treatment : instillation of chemotherapy (immediate post-operative, standard schedule) or intravesical BCG (standard schedule and maintenance). Cystectomy is recommended in BCG-refractory patients. Extension evaluation of MIBC is based on pelvic-abdominal and thoracic CT-scan; MRI and FDG-PET remain optional. Cystectomy associated with extensive pelvic lymph nodes resection is considered the gold standard for non metastatic MIBC. An orthotopic bladder substitution should be proposed to both male and female patients lacking any contraindications and in cases of negative frozen urethral samples. The interest of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is well known for all MIBC, wathever the stage. Thus, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for all eligible patients according PS (PS <2) and renal function (clearance > 60ml/mn). As regards metastatic MIBC, first-line chemotherapy using platin is recommended (GC or MVAC). In second line treatment, only chemotherapy using vinflunine has been validated to date, even if results of immunotherapy clinical trials are encouraging.

These updated french guidelines will contribute to increase the level of urological care for the diagnosis and treatment for NMIBC and MIBC.  2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Progres en urologie : journal de l'Association francaise d'urologie et de la Societe francaise d'urologie. 2016 Nov [Epub]

M Roupret, Y Neuzillet, A Masson-Lecomte, P Colin, E Comperat, F Dubosq, N Houede, S Larre, G Pignot, P Puech, M Roumiguie, E Xylinas, A Mejean

Comite de cancerologie de l'Association francaise d'urologie, groupe vessie, maison de l'urologie, 11, rue Viete, 75017 Paris, France.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27846935
The purpose of the guidelines national committee CCAFU was to propose updated french guidelines for localized and metastatic prostate cancer (PCa).

A Medline search was achieved between 2013 and 2016, as regards diagnosis, options of treatment and follow-up of PCa, to evaluate different references with levels of evidence.

Epidemiology, classification, staging systems, diagnostic evaluation are reported. Disease management options are detailed. Recommandations are reported according to the different clinical situations. Active surveillance is a major option in low risk PCa. Radical prostatectomy remains a standard of care of localized PCa. The three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is the technical standard. A dose of > 74Gy is recommended. Moderate hypofractionation provides short-term biochemical control comparable to conventional fractionation. In case of intermediate risk PCa, radiotherapy can be combined with short-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In case of high risk disease, long-term ADT remains the standard of care. ADT is the backbone therapy of metastatic disease. In men with metastases at first presentation, upfront chemotherapy combined with ADT should be considered as a new standard. In case of metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC), new hormonal treatments and chemotherapy provide a better control of tumor progression and increase survival.

These updated french guidelines will contribute to increase the level of urological care for the diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer.  2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Progres en urologie : journal de l'Association francaise d'urologie et de la Societe francaise d'urologie. 2016 Nov [Epub]

F Rozet, C Hennequin, J-B Beauval, P Beuzeboc, L Cormier, G Fromont, P Mongiat-Artus, A Ouzzane, G Ploussard, D Azria, I Brenot-Rossi, G Cancel-Tassin, O Cussenot, T Lebret, X Rebillard, M Soulie, R Renard-Penna, A Mejean

Comite de cancerologie de l'Association francaise d'urologie, groupe prostate, maison de l'urologie, 11 rue Viete, 75017 Paris, France.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27846936
The government of Colombia and its leftist rebels plan to sign a revised peace deal Thursday to replace the one voters narrowly rejected last month.

Negotiators for Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, crafted more than 50 changes to satisfy the opponents, led by former president Alvaro Uribe.

The main complaint was the original plan did not include sufficient punishment for FARC fighters. The five-decade battle has left more than 220,000 Colombians dead, forced 360,000 to flee the country and displaced 6.7 million Colombians from their homes.

Out of nearly 13 million votes cast in the referendum in October, the no vote prevailed by a mere 54,000 ballots.

Santos' surprising and embarrassing defeat at the polls forced the FARC to make more concessions. The changes require the FARC to be more open about its illicit activities such as drug trafficking and kidnappings for ransom to support its resistance. The new deal exposes more rebels to criminal prosecution.

Thursday's signing in the capital of Bogota will be far different than September's grandiose ceremony held in Cartegena before a wave of foreign dignitaries that included Secretary of State John Kerry, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Cuban President Raul Castro, who hosted most of the talks in Havana.

The first deal garnered Santos a Nobel Peace Prize for ending the longest-running armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere. Santos said the impact of the revised plan will be the same.

One big change this time is voters won't be asked to ratify the deal, only congress must approve it. Santos insisted on a public vote the first time, saying Colombians needed to decide.

Uribe and other critics said they want another referendum, given the historic nature of the accord. Santos and the FARC leaders said they've already consulted with the opposition, made many of the requested changes and are confident that elected legislators can seal the deal.

Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that strategy makes sense since congress can speak for the Colombian people. She said there's another reason to move quickly: Organizing another referendum would take months, and that delay could jeopardize the truce.

The objections of Uribe and other opponents will loom as congress debates the deal. Opponents wanted to give FARC representatives fewer seats in the 268-member congress than the 10 promised under the original deal, but the number was not changed. Opponents weren't satisfied with the vague penalties FARC members will face.

As a result, the revised peace deal may do little to change the sharp divisions over the accord that will play out in the coming years, Arnson said.
State lawmakers groups are urging the University of New Mexico to stop using aborted babies' body parts for research while an investigation into the matter continues.

University researchers have had an on-going relationship with late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd, and have been using late-term aborted babies' body parts from his facility in their research. In June, a U.S. Congressional panel sent evidence to the New Mexico Attorney General indicating that the university and late-term abortion facility may have broken a state law involving the use of aborted babies' body parts.

Earlier this year, the government panel also uncovered evidence that the abortion facility may have provided aborted babies' brains to a summer camp for youth at the university.

As of press time, a group of Republican state lawmakers wants the university to suspend its use of aborted babies' body parts in research. The legislators recently sent a letter to the board of regents urging them to stop the activity while the investigation continues, according to the local news report.

In August, there found notes indicating a flippant, even celebratory attitude from university lab technicians as they collected aborted babies' body parts for the university's Sciences Center.

The lab technician "wrote in his notebook 'whoo hoo!!' when the [abortion] clinic was able to provide a 'whole pancreas' of a fetus for another project and drew a frowning face next to an entry that showed that another fetal pancreas was not intact," according to the report.

The lab technician's notebook also contained gruesome details about the babies who were aborted, including an "intact" aborted infant who was 30.5 weeks along - old enough to survive outside the womb - and at least 20 aborted babies who were past the 20-week gestation mark.

Among the other disturbing details was a note indicating that the abortion facility may have provided aborted babies' brains to a summer camp for youth.

University officials told the Albuquerque Journal that it was an educational research program called "Neuroscience Summer Experience," not a camp. They said students included undergraduate and graduate students from the university, or children of faculty members. They also said a faculty member dissected the aborted babies' brains, not the students.

The evidence came from a larger Congressional investigation that formed after a series of undercover videos revealed Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities could be selling aborted babies' body parts in violation of the law. Since then, the panel has uncovered a growing list of evidence that abortion facilities and groups that handle aborted babies' body parts have violated federal laws.
Hon Ba (the Lady Island), also known as Ba Vien Dan (three cannon rounds) or Archinard Island, is a small island in Vung Tau City. Hon Ba Temple or Lady Temple is located on the island.



The temple was built in 1881 by a follower named Ho Quang Minh. From the foot of the island to the temple runs a winding road with solid three-step at its end.

In 1939, Archinard, a Frenchman officer, aimed three cannon rounds at the temple for the purpose to demolish it, but only one hit the corner of the temple.

Not much damage was made. Soon after that, the officer lost his life with his own gun due to his carelessness.

That is why the island is called Three cannon rounds or Archinard. Local people, however, call it Hon Ba.



In 1971, a migrant from Tra Vinh named Thanh Phong called upon locals to contribute resources to restoring the temple.

The present temple is 4m above the surface of the earth. Inside the temple, there is a 6mx3m cell, once used as a place for secret meeting of patriots.

Each year, there are four major offerings at the temple, which are in lunar January, April, July and October.



Hon Ba is now famous for travelers as it is not only a tourist attraction, but also a spiritual destination for cultural and religious visitors.
Investors at the trading floor of Vietinbank Securities Company. - Photo kinhdoanhnet.vn

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged up 0.2 per cent to close at 683.16 points, marking a three-day increase of 1.5 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange rose 0.5 per cent to end at 81.4 points, up 1 per cent after three sessions.

Consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN) was the major focus of the market yesterday with strong increases in both trading volume and price as the company planned to pay dividends for the first time in the last six years, BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) wrote in its report.

Masan Group said the company would propose shareholders approve a plan to pay a 30 per cent dividend in cash, or VND3,000 per share, for 2015-16 performances, including an advance payment for this year.

The news boosted MSN by 6.7 per cent with more than 2.15 million of the companys shares being traded. MSN has jumped 10 per cent in the last seven sessions.

The banking-finance sector remained positive. Among the nine listed banks, Vietcombank (VCB), MBBank (MBB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) advanced between 0.4 per cent and 1 per cent.

MBBank has sold nearly 49 per cent of its ownership in MCredit to the Japan-based bank Shinsei, making MCredit a joint venture that will operate next year. MCredit was renamed from Da River Finance JSC after MBBank acquired the finance services provider in March 2016.

The deal should add considerable process and product expertise to MBBanks consumer finance arm, HCM Securities Corp (HSC) said in a note.

Consumer finance is the fastest growing segment in Viet Nams banking industry and attracted a lot of interest and competition, HSC said, adding the deal would help MBBank win some market share and gain an edge over competitors.

Faros Construction Corp (ROS) reversed its fall in the early trading to end up 1 per cent on speculations that it would be added into the investment fund FTSE ETFs portfolio in the fourth-quarter review.

On the opposite side, energy stocks retreated as oil prices fell in Asian trading after Iran and Iraq, two large members of OPEC, left markets uncertain whether they would join OPEC and other producers to resolve the current global glut.

Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) suffered from foreign selling and stepped back 1.2 per cent after rising 2.5 per cent in the previous two trading days.

Market trading liquidity increased from Tuesday with more than 152 million shares being exchanged worth nearly VND2.89 trillion (US$128.4 million).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she gives a speech during a session at the Bundestag in Berlin, on Nov 23, 2016. (Photo: AFP/Tobias Schwarz)

Speaking in parliament for the first time since her announcement Sunday that she would seek re-election next year, Merkel cautioned that public opinion was being "manipulated" on the internet.

"Something has changed - as globalisation has marched on, (political) debate is taking place in a completely new media environment. Opinions aren't formed the way they were 25 years ago," she said.

"Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls - things that regenerate themselves, reinforcing opinions with certain algorithms and we have to learn to deal with them."

Merkel, 62, said the challenge for democrats was to "reach and inspire people - we must confront this phenomenon and if necessary, regulate it."

She said she supported initiatives by her right-left coalition government to crack down on "hate speech" on social media in the face of what she said were "concerns about the stability of our familiar order".

"Populism and political extremes are growing in Western democracies," she warned.

Last week, Google and Facebook moved to cut off ad revenue to bogus news sites after a US election campaign in which the global misinformation industry may have influenced the outcome of the vote.

But media watchers say more is needed to stamp out a powerful phenomenon seen by some experts as a threat to democracy itself.

Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats are the odds-on favourites to win the German national election, expected in September or October 2017.

But she is facing a strong challenge from a resurgent rightwing populist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has her liberal refugee and migration policy in its crosshairs.

It is currently polling at around 12-13 per cent which could complicate the complex maths of coalition building after the poll. All of Germany's mainstream parties have for now ruled out forming an alliance with the AfD.
The Inspectorate uncovered evidence of numerous counts of false accounting, including management fees payable to SCIC at some of the companies where SCIC personnel joined the management. The incorrect accounting practices pushed up expenditures by VND183 billion ($8.1 million).

SCIC swapped the dividend payable by Hanoi Transport Construction JSC had to pay to it for equity, without informing the government. It gave Vinaconex VND1.6 trillion ($70.7 million) to help it pay part of its VND2 trillion ($88.3 million) debt, also in exchange for a stake, without preparing a report on how this would be a profitable investment. SCIC reported investing VND43.3 trillion ($1.9 billion) in Phuong Nam Pulp Mill, which has yet to be confirmed by Vietnam Paper Corporation.

SCIC prepared wrong calculations on the VND257 billion ($11.5 million) risk provision for its investment in 29 companies. It provisioned VND645.7 billion ($28.5 million) for the investment in Bao Viet Holdings, without proper and adequate reasoning.

SCICs reported expenditure was VND252 million ($11,000) higher than its actual expenditure. Other violations amounted to a total of VND130 million ($5,740).

Apart from the misuse of sizeable amounts of money, SCIC assumed the role of representing the states stake in Vietnam Trading Engineering Construction JSC (Vietracimex), without actual authorisation from the Prime Minister. Vietracimex is not the type of company SCIC would represent the states stake in, according to current regulations. SCIC also received the right to represent states capital in Bao Viet from now-defunct Vinashin, which was also against the law. It reported to the Prime Minister and authorised government agencies about taking on Viet Ninh Service, Investment and Development JSC (VINICO) from Ninh Thuan province, then gave it back to the province in 2009but, in fact, it never actually received the company.

It should have filed the nearest quarter financial statement upon receiving the company, but these documents are missing.

In some instances, SCIC assigned representatives without written authorisation and at another instance, with authorisation dated a year after receiving the company and making the appointment. Sometimes a representative for two consecutive years failed in his/her assigned tasks, but SCIC did not make the adequate replacement.

SCICs representatives often failed to make regular reports on the investee companies operations, as stipulated by regulations. Sometimes they allowed the company to make investments before securing the shareholders permission or making proper analysis. In addition, these representatives ignored protocol to request SCICs permission before allowing the companies to make important decisions.

SCIC represents the states stake in a number of wholly or partially state-owned companies. The list of investees includes big names, such as Vinamilk and FPT.
Vietnam Airlines will add nearly 900 flights on 10 domestic routes between January 15 and February 13 next year to meet the demand during Tet (Lunar New Year).- Photo bnews.vn

They will offer 185,000 additional seats, taking the total number of seats on all domestic flights during the holidays to more than 1.6 million, 13 per cent higher than on normal days and 46 per cent higher than last year.

The 10 routes are between cities such as Ha Noi, HCM City, a Nang, Nha Trang, Hue, and Phu Quoc, with the Ha Noi-HCM City sector having the highest number of additional flights  327.

It will be followed by the HCM City-a Nang and HCM City-Hue sectors with 190 and 136.

More information is available at www.vietnamairlines.com and the airlines offices across the country.
For Tang Kengsreng, moving to San Jose two and a half years ago was not easy.



The 29-year-old Thbong Khmum province native had worked as a software engineer in Phnom Penh for three years and previously lived in Iowa as an international student.



He didnt know any fellow Cambodians here, let alone others working in the tech industry.



For us new arrivals, we dont have friends or people you know, and language is a bit of a problem. Moreover, cultural difference is also a problem. I grew up in Cambodia and am used to the lifestyle there. Simply put, coming to live here is like a 180-degree turn, he said.



Now a software engineer at Cisco Systems, he tells VOA Khmer his dreams have come true.



As a software engineer, I love it here. When I was in Cambodia, whenever Apple launched a new product, I would stay up late at night to watch the live announcement on television to feel what it would be like to be there [Silicon Valley]. I wanted to be there physically and be part of it, and a be code writer [software engineer] there.



Centered in the Santa Clara valley between the cities of San Jose and San Francisco, Silicon Valley is generally considered the technology capital of the world. Its home to technology giants like Apple, Google and Facebook. According to recent census data compiled by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, more than a third of its working residents are foreign-born, much higher than the national average of about 13 percent.



Numerous well-educated science and engineering professionals from Asia, particularly China and India, have flocked to the valley.

But for young Cambodians like Kengsreng, as well as second-generation Cambodian-Americans, moving to the area is a far cry from their homes and those of their parents, many of whom lived through the Khmer Rouge years.



Another pioneering tech professional, Mok Sophal, 31, also software engineer, agreed that they were fortunate to be at the cusp of innovation.



Sophal worked across the U.S., in Salt Lake City, Utah, and for Microsoft in Seattle, Washington, before moving to San Jose to work with Targets online team.



Even within the U.S., he says, the region is unique in terms of the opportunities it affords employees.



For technologists, this is the number one place to be, he said. Here is where you can develop yourself and have more opportunity in the future to further develop yourself or build a company or a startup.

However, there are downsides to this apparent silicon paradise.



Rent is high, as are stress levels. Sophal says it is not easy to make new friends. Life here can be lonely and everyone is busy with their work, he tells VOA Khmer.



Maya Gilliss-Chapman hopes to change all that.



The 25 year old was adopted by American parents and founded Cambodians in Tech in 2014 with a view to encourage Cambodians to get into the industry and connect those already working in Silicon Valley.



While she shares Sophals occasional loneliness, Maya, who works for a start-up, said her organization was first off, a community, because I dont want people to ever feel the way I felt and that was alone.



Kengsreng and Sophal have also struggled with the language barrier, miscommunication and higher expectations of their performance.



Its a combination of language and culture. For example, in Khmer (Cambodia) you would never tell someone this work is like trash. Just throw it away. But here some people say that.



Boun Sambun, 57, was one of the first Cambodians to arrive in the area and get into the tech industry. He understands the excitement of young Cambodian professionals, as he worked as an electrical engineer for Intel, the firm that produced the silicon chip that led to a computer revolution and gave the valley its name.



He prides himself on contributing to the digital revolution, but he says as he gets older he is yearning for a slower pace of life.



Life is too fast here. So living in Silicon Valley, we always have to keep up. You cant just stop learning after gaining a skill and work in the same job until you retire. You always have to keep an eye on the constant change of technologies. So you have to learn forever.





He eventually plans to retire in Cambodia, saying he would not be able to afford to keep his house in San Jose after losing his job at Intel.



All four of the Cambodian tech pioneers VOA spoke to for this report were grateful for the experience, but saw their ultimate goal being making a contribution to Cambodia.



Gilliss-Chapman and her colleagues at Cambodians in Tech are in Cambodia this week to launch an initiative that aims to directly connect Silicon Valley to Phnom Penhs fledgling tech sector. She hopes to one day bring more young tech-savvy Cambodians to come and experience Silicon Valley.

Kengsreng shares this goal. Although his lifelong dream to be here has been slightly disrupted by the realities of an immigrants experience inside the worlds tech capital, and while the magic of the Valley has somewhat faded with time, Kengsreng encourages more young Cambodians to dream big and to find a way to experience Silicon Valley one day.



If you come here physically, you can experience what it is like to be at a global tech company, how they operate. It is an experience that will be hard to find in our own country.
Its not unusual for people to change careers. James Faison is one of them, though five years ago he didnt imagine he would be. With a law degree from Harvard, he was well into a career as a corporate lawyer in Miami. Then, in 2012, his grandfather died, and Faison inherited his farm. So, he quit his job and returned to Virginia to start a farm business. But instead of raising cattle or corn, he's raising incomes for local farmers. Faiza Elmasry has the story, narrated by Faith Lapidus.
It was on May 30 when Agatha Ikefuna, a nurse who lives in Onitsha, a city in southeastern Nigeria, was trapped by a series of military roadblocks.

That's when the chaos erupted.

"I was trying to drop my child in school. There was no movement. They said people were being killed," she told VOA.

Pro-Biafran demonstrators had gathered to honor people who died nearly 50 years ago in the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafra War, when shots rang out nearby.

Some witnesses said it was the police firing on protesters, while others claimed the exact opposite. Ikefuna believed it was thieves who had infiltrated the protest.

Whoever pulled the trigger left dozens of civilians and at least two policemen dead. According to a report released Thursday by Amnesty International, Ikefuna had witnessed only a portion of an estimated 60 killings at various Biafra remembrance events that had taken place in the region that day.

Between August 2015 and August 2016, the London-based human rights organization says, Nigeria's military has killed at least 150 peaceful protesters in a "chilling campaign" to repress renewed demands for a breakaway state of Biafra in the West African country's southeastern corner.

Analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and testimony from 146 witnesses show that Nigerian troops routinely "fired live ammunition with little or no warning'' into crowds of protesters, and that hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained and sometimes tortured.

Responding to questions about the mass killing that occurred on May 30, Nigerian army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman denied any "killing of defenseless agitators," insisting that security forces "exercised maximum restraint" in response to violent protesters who had already killed five police officers and wounded several soldiers.

Usman also accuses the secessionists of targeting other tribes in "a reign of hate, terror and ethno-religious controversies ... [that threaten] national security."

A high-level Nigerian military official who asked not to be named told VOA that Amnesty Internationals report is not accurate and grossly exaggerates misrepresents events as they unfolded. She also said the Nigerian army investigated the May 30 events and concluded that the Biafra activists were at fault. She said the army plans to hold a hearing to present its findings.

Makmid Kamara, interim director of Amnesty International Nigeria, says the armys response to the report is to be expected.

"This is a copy and paste response to our allegations," he told VOA. "Its the same thing that they have been saying for years, because we have been calling on them repeatedly to conduct independent, impartial and thorough investigations into allegations of serious human rights abuses."

Kamara, who personally interviewed witnesses of the violence that broke out at the secessionist rallies, said he is still haunted by some of the eye-witness accounts.

"I remember interviewing one protester who was shot on his leg and, while [attempting to] run away, fell into gutter and tried to hide himself, and then a particular soldier came to him," Kamara said. The soldier "dragged him out of the gutter and poured acid on him and that man is still recovering from those injuries."

Other witnesses, he added, have reported seeing Nigerian soldiers taking dead bodies to local army barracks.

In one account published by Amnesty researchers, a woman in Onitsha city said her husband called her May 30 to say a soldier had shot him in the stomach and that he was in a military truck with six others, four already dead. He then began whispering that the vehicle had stopped. She heard gunshots, then nothing.

The woman later found her husband's body at a mortuary with three gunshot wounds: one to the stomach and two in the chest, the report said.

Biafra declared independence in 1967 but was absorbed back into Nigeria after a three-year war that claimed an estimated one million lives.

The leader of the current pro-Biafran movement, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested last year on charges of treason. He is still in custody in the Nigerian capital on orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Since Kanu's 2015 arrest, protests have increased seemingly in lockstep with military violence.

Amnesty says President Buhari has promised to investigate but done nothing about previous reports documenting the December 2015 military killings of more than 300 Shiites, and the deaths in military detention of some 8,000 people in the war on Boko Haram's radicals in the north.
Nigerias military has killed at least 150 peaceful protesters in a chilling campaign to repress renewed demands to create a breakaway state of Biafra in the southeast, Amnesty International said Thursday.

The military denied any killing of defenseless agitators. Security forces have exercised maximum restraint in response to violent protesters who in May killed five police officers and wounded several soldiers, said army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.

Evidence analyzed

The London-based human rights organization said an analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and testimony from 146 witnesses showed the military fired live ammunition with little or no warning into crowds protesting in several cities between August 2015 and August 2016.

Hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained and some tortured, Amnesty said.

The report quotes one woman in Onitsha city who said her husband called her May 30 to say a soldier had shot him in the stomach and he was in a military truck with six others, four dead, and then whispering that the vehicle had stopped. Then she heard gunshots. The woman later found her husbands body at a mortuary with three gunshot wounds, one to the stomach and two in the chest, the report said.

Amnesty said it has evidence of mass extrajudicial executions by security forces, including at least 60 people killed at a May 30 rally in Onitsha to commemorate the 1967-1970 civil war to create a Biafran state for the Igbo people. One million people died in that war.

Usman accused the secessionists of targeting other tribes in a reign of hate, terror and ethno-religious controversies ... (threatening) national security.

Protests increase

Protests have increased, along with military violence, since the October 2015 arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, a leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, who has broadcast incendiary statements in southeast Nigeria through the groups London-based clandestine Radio Biafra.

Amnesty said that Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to investigate but done nothing about its previous reports documenting the December 2015 military killings of more than 300 Shiites and the deaths in military detention of some 8,000 people in the war to curb Boko Harams Islamic.
Communist guerrillas warned that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte's government is unlikely to be reached if he won't end the Philippines' treaty alliance with the United States and resist foreign control by other countries he's trying to befriend, like China and Russia.

In a clandestine news conference in a New People's Army guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains southeast of Manila, regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla outlined the advantages and downside of talking with Duterte to end one of the world's longest-running Marxist insurgencies.

The dozens of mostly young guerrillas in muddy boots in their rain-soaked encampment on a wooded plateau reflected their resiliency but also showed the tough conditions that have long hampered their insurgency. Young rebels cooked rice, pork and chicken in soot-covered pots over wood fire while others gingerly puffed cigarettes while watching the peripheries. The nearest army camp lies just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away. When an air force Huey helicopter flew overhead, rebels at the news conference briefly paused and watched the passing aircraft.

Founded in 1968, the rebels' communist party has held peace talks with six Philippine presidents, including Duterte, whose rise to power in June sparked rebel optimism due to his searing anti-U.S. rhetoric, populist pro-poor stance and appointments of at least two left-wing Cabinet members.

But the guerrillas have also found themselves in a dilemma due to the tough-talking Duterte's moves they find reprehensible, including the killings of large number of poor drug users that sparked accusations of massive human rights violations against him, a recent decision to allow dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in a heroes' cemetery and threats to shift to dictatorial rule if rival politicians derail his anti-drug crackdown and try to impeach him.

While the president has gotten attention with his angry threats to end the presence of American forces in the country, stop joint combat exercises with U.S. troops and terminate a defense accord with Washington, Padilla said Duterte has, so far, not formalized these utterances and instead has walked back on many publicly-stated policies.

While the Duterte government hasn't abrogated all these treaties, the New People's Army will have no reason to enter into a friendship or alliance with him, Padilla, 69, told a small group of journalists escorted into an encampment ringed by mostly young rifle-wielding guerrillas.

That's not negotiable because as long as the U.S. military has a presence, the imperialist influence on Duterte's government will remain, said the bespectacled Padilla, who wore a Mao cap with his 9mm pistol within reach on a wooden table.

Other rebels echoed Padilla's remarks. We support Duterte but not 100 percent, said a 24-year-old rebel who identified himself as Guiller. He's projecting himself as anti-U.S. and pro-poor but that's still mostly rhetoric. If the problems persist, the revolution will go on.

Coinciding with the rebel warning, the Philippine armed forces chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya announced Wednesday that most joint exercises with the U.S. military would proceed next year, including the largescale Balikatan maneuvers. Most would be refocused, though, on disaster-response, humanitarian missions and counterterrorism from previous maneuvers centered on territorial defense that Duterte worries may offend China.

Visaya's statement came after he met U.S. Pacific Command in an annual defense meeting on Tuesday.

Despite thorny issues, Padilla said Maoist guerrillas remain committed to pursue talks with Duterte while criticizing his wrong moves, like allowing Marcos's heroes' burial and carrying out the bloody anti-drugs crackdown.

Philippine police should target drug lords and syndicate leaders and not poor addicts, who the rebels consider victims and not criminals, he said, adding they have targeted big drug dealers in the past.

We are sincere with the peace talks, we are honest and we want to end 47 years of armed struggle, Padilla said when asked if the rebels were just trying to extract concessions from a president with whom they may not likely forge a peace deal.

The guerrillas, he said, would not simply surrender their firearms unless their major demands are not met, including social and economic reforms, land reform and an industrialization program that favor the poor, who make up about a fourth of more than 100 million Filipinos.

If he remains in the right direction, he will be with us, Padilla said. But if he veers off from the direction that we seek, we will break away from him.
A Turkish cabinet member says a suspect in the fatal car-bombing outside a government building in the southern city of Adana has been shot and captured.

Minister of European Union Affairs Omer Celik said police opened fire on a light utility vehicle believed to be carrying the person responsible for the Thursday attack after the driver refused warnings to stop.

Celik says the suspect was injured and is being treated.

The bomb targeted a government building in the southern Turkish city of Adana and killed at least two people. Another 33 were wounded, a senior cabinet official said.

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak condemned the attack during a news conference in Adana, promising to "bury ... those who commit terrorism, their pawns and their supporters."

The attack was the latest in a string of deadly bombings that have rocked Turkey for more than a year. The attacks have been carried out by Kurdish militants or the Islamic State group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The car bomb was detonated remotely at the entrance to the office of the governor of Adana, who was the likely target, Celik said.

"Terror hit my hometown today. Lost 2 citizens, dozens wounded. It is a shame to talk about proportionality against terrorist organizations," Celik wrote on his Twitter account.

Several cars in the parking lot caught fire after the blast, video footage showed. The blast also damaged the government building, Anadolu Agency said.

Some of the wounded were in serious condition, said Huseyin Sozlu, the mayor for the city.

"The bomb that was detonated was a high-impact one," he said.

The European Union has expressed increasing disapproval of Turkey's wide-ranging crackdown on critics and political opponents following a failed coup attempt in July, actions Ankara defends as part of an ongoing war on terror.

Vote to pause EU negotiations

The EU Parliament on Thursday held a non-binding vote to freeze talks on Turkey's bid to join the 28-nation bloc.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus condemned the bombing and offered condolences on Twitter, adding: "Having become a target because it has disrupted the game being played in the region, Turkey will not yield to terrorism, it will continue its fight against terrorism with determination."

As with previous attacks, Turkish authorities imposed a media ban, barring broadcast and publication of graphic images or information that might hinder the investigation.

A statement by the United States Consulate urged all citizens to "avoid this area throughout the day, maintain a high level of vigilance, monitor local media for updates, and exercise caution if you are in the vicinity."

American troops are stationed at the Incirlik Air Force base, roughly 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city center. Incirlik serves as a base for aircraft involved in the U.S.-led coalition's campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
A member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia in 1986.

Japanese media report that a Tokyo court handed down the sentence Thursday against former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki.

He was accused of conspiring with another person to fire two rounds at the embassy from a hotel room in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Neither exploded.

The 68-year-old Shirosaki was imprisoned in the United States for a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta the same year. He was released in 2015, and re-arrested upon his return to Japan.

The Japanese Red Army carried out a series of violent hijackings and attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.
German medical experts have warned that a strain of the bird flu virus is spreading rapidly across northern Europe, most likely being carried by wild birds that do not show any symptoms.

Thomas Mettenleiter, president of Germany's animal-health-monitoring Friedrich Loeffler Institute, issued the warning on November 23.

Mettenleiter said the H5N8 virus is now jumping from wild birds to domestic fowl on northern European farms.

He said the virus has been detected in 10 German states since it was first registered in the country on November 8.

Cases have also been reported in other European countries, including Denmark and Sweden -- which announced on November 23 that its first case of the disease was confirmed in a wild bird in the south of the country.

Further tests were being carried out on a poultry farm in southern Sweden.

H5N8, which is not thought to be dangerous to humans, was first found on the border of Russia and Mongolia in June.

Since then, it also has been found in Iran and Israel.
Calls among Hillary Clinton supporters for a recount of votes in three key states grew louder this week on the news that her national popular vote lead surpassed 2 million votes, along with reports of voter irregularities in some counties.

Last week, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta spoke with a few election lawyers and computer scientists who urged him to ask for a recount in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan because they thought the electronic voting booths used in those states could have been hacked, according to a report in New York magazine.

The academics said their findings showed Clinton's support had dropped 7 percentage points in counties that used electronic voting machines, as opposed to those counties that used optical scanners or paper ballots.

Though the academics provided no proof of any hacking, they nonetheless urged the recount based on the slim margin of Trump's victories in those states  less than 2 percentage points in all three states.

Foreign interference?

Had Clinton won these states, she would have earned 274 electoral votes, which is just slightly higher than the 270 needed to win the presidency.

In a Wednesday blog post on Medium.com, one of the academics, University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman, said he thought it was possible a foreign government could hack America's voting machines. He called for an examination of the voting equipment in the three states for signs of a cyberattack.

"Unfortunately, nobody is ever going to examine that evidence unless candidates in those states act now, in the next several days, to petition for recounts," he wrote.

While the academics questioned the validity of the elections in the three Midwestern states, polling expert Nate Silver of the website FiveThirtyEight.com said the claim of rigged results in the states was probably false, and he said Clinton's loss could be attributed to demographic shifts.

Silver's explanation

According to Silver, the disparities noted in the New York magazine report "completely disappear" when controlling for race and education levels, two demographic indicators that most closely predicted the vote shift this year.

"Maybe a more complicated analysis would reveal something, but usually bad news when a finding can't survive a basic sanity check like this," he wrote on Twitter. "Nothing in Pennsylvania, either, whether or not you control for demographics. And Michigan has paper ballots everywhere, so not even sure what claim is being made there."

Despite the lack of evidence, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has so far raised $2.7 million  enough to pay for the recount effort in Wisconsin  and was attempting to raise an additional $2 million to request recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

A post on Stein's campaign website called the voting machines used in Wisconsin "highly vulnerable to hacking and malicious programming," and said the machines lacked any security features.

Stein's initiative

Stein won slightly more than 1 percent of the popular vote. The statement on her website said the recount effort wasn't meant to help Clinton, whom Stein heavily criticized throughout the campaign, but "is about protecting our democracy."

The deadline to ask for a recount is Monday in Michigan and Wednesday in Pennsylvania.

The Clinton campaign has yet to announce any plans to contest the results in the three states, but she and her supporters repeatedly denounced Trump during the campaign after he said he thought the election might be rigged against him.

"We are a country based on laws, and we've had hot, contested elections going back to the very beginning," Clinton said in October, after her final debate with Trump. "But one of our hallmarks has always been that we accept the outcomes of our election."

President Barack Obama made similar comments during the election, telling Trump to "stop whining" about a rigged election, and the president said it could never happen.

"There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America's elections, in part because they are so decentralized," he said. "There is no evidence that that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that could happen this time."
Fighting between rival militia groups in the Central African Republic has killed 16 people and driven thousands of civilians from their homes, U.N. peacekeepers said Wednesday.

The latest clashes between two former factions (the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic and the Union for Peace in Central Africa) of the Seleka rebel group broke out Monday in the town of Bria.

A United Nations peacekeeping base was targeted before the blue helmets drove the gunmen away. The peacekeepers are patrolling Bria, about 600 kilometers northeast of the capital Bangui, and have bolstered efforts to protect the population.

United Nations offers warning

A spokesman for the U.N. warns that violence against civilians is a grave matter which could be investigated by international tribunals.

Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest nations. Its weak central government is struggling to assert its authority across the entire country, where more than a dozen armed factions are roaming.

A civil war erupted in 2013 when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew Christian President Francois Bozize.

Christian militia groups violently targeted Muslims who took up arms to defend themselves. Both sides are accused of committing atrocities.
With less fervor and an added dose of uncertainty, Colombias government Thursday will sign another peace accord with the countrys largest rebel group  the second in two months.

The simple, hastily-organized ceremony in a Bogota theater reflects President Juan Manuel Santos greater sense of urgency to end hostilities with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after the original accord, brokered over four years of talks, suffered a shock defeat in a referendum a week after it was signed in front of heads of state and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Santos, winner of this years Nobel Peace Prize, has tried to project a conciliatory image in the face of the humbling defeat at the polls.

50 changes

The new, 310-page accord introduces about 50 changes intended to assuage critics led by still-powerful former President Alvaro Uribe. They range from a prohibition on foreign magistrates judging FARC crimes to a commitment from the insurgents to forfeit assets, some of them amassed through drug trafficking, to help compensate their victims.

But the FARC wouldnt go along with the oppositions strongest demands  jail sentences for rebel leaders who committed atrocities and stricter limits on their future participation in politics.

In an act of protest, members of Uribes political party are considering a boycott of next weeks scheduled debate in congress on ratifying the agreement, accusing the legislature of disobeying the constitution. Theyre also threatening to call for street protests to denounce what they say is a blow against democracy.

The government preferred to impose itself in a way that divides Colombians instead of a national pact that would bring us together, Uribes Democratic Center party said in a statement Wednesday.

More bloodshed possible

The lack of broad support for the accord will make the already-steep challenge of implementing it even tougher.

Colombians overwhelmingly loathe the FARC for crimes such as kidnappings and drug-trafficking. Ensuring that the 8,000-plus fighters dont wind up joining criminal gangs rampant throughout the country, or the much-smaller National Liberation Army, will also test the states ability to make its presence felt in traditionally neglected rural areas at a time of financial stress triggered by low oil prices.

Theres also a risk that peace could trigger more bloodshed, as it did after a previous peace process with the FARC in the 1980s, when thousands of former guerrillas, labor activists and communist militants were gunned down by right-wing militias, sometimes in collaboration with state agents.

That fear, although less prevalent than in the darker days of Colombias half-century conflict, has become more urgent with more than a dozen human rights defenders and land activists in areas dominated by the FARC being killed by unknown assailants since the first signing ceremony in September.

Santos this week held an emergency meeting with his Cabinet and U.N. officials to discuss the murders, taking an opportunity to reinforce his message that peace cant wait. So far this year, 70 have been killed, according to Bogota-based We Are Defenders, more than in all of 2015 and 2014.

We have to take action. Theres no time to lose, Santos said in a televised address announcing Thursdays ceremony with less than 40 hours of anticipation.

Once signed, Santos will introduce the accord to Congress, where a solid majority in support of peace is expected to ratify it as early as next week. Lawmakers will then embark on the nettlesome task of passing legislation so the guerrillas can begin concentrating in some 20-plus demobilization areas where they will begin turning over their weapons to United Nations-sponsored monitors.
Aviators detained in Ethiopia while retracing a historic flight route along the length of Africa in 24 vintage planes and support aircraft should be freed in a few days, an Ethiopian aviation official said on Thursday.

The Vintage Air Rally crew, flying aircraft that include biplanes built in the 1920s and 1930s, are being held in Gambela, western Ethiopia, after traversing neighboring Sudan.

They have already flown from Europe and through Egypt and plan to end the tour in South Africa. The oldest plane taking part dates to 1928; the oldest pilot is 72.

"They did not have proper authorization," Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

"They are not under arrest. They are safe and will remain in Ethiopia until the review [of their situation] is concluded," he said, adding the group had requested permission to overfly Ethiopia but had not followed rules and had stopped in Gambela without authorisation.

When asked if that review would be completed within the next few days, he said: "Of course" but did not give further details.

The rally organisers said in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday that it was not clear why Ethiopian authorities had kept the aviators at Gambela airport rather than let them stay at a hotel where they had made bookings.

"Still detained," the rally organizer, Sam Rutherford, said in a brief text message to Reuters when asked about their situation, adding that one member of the group needed "urgent hospital treatment" but an ambulance request had been refused.

He did not give more details.

The aviators' aim was to cross 10 countries, making 37 stops in a little more than a month. They had been due to fly to Kenya after Ethiopia.

The organizers said in Wednesday's statement that the British Foreign Ministry was aware of the situation.
The European Parliament has warned that "hostile propaganda" by Russia against the EU is growing, while urging member states to increase their efforts to counter disinformation.

The move drew an angry response from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who lashed out at the European Parliament for lecturing Russia on democracy.

Lawmakers voted on November 23 in favor of a motion condemning Russian state media outlets like the television channel Russia Today (RT) and the news agency Sputnik for disseminating "absolutely fake" news.

They said the Kremlin was using "a wide range of tools and instruments", including think tanks, multilingual TV stations, "pseudo news agencies", and social media to spread fake information, challenge democratic values, and divide Europe.

The resolution says the Kremlin has stepped up its propaganda efforts against the EU since Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in 2014.

Lawmakers urged the European Union to boost its "tiny" communication force and invest more in "awareness raising, education, online and local media, investigative journalism, and information literacy."

They said they were "seriously concerned by the rapid expansion of Kremlin-inspired activities in Europe, including disinformation and propaganda seeking to maintain or increase Russia's influence to weaken and split the EU."

Putin told reporters in Moscow that the resolution signaled a "political degradation of democratic ideas in Western society."

The motion was approved by 304 votes to 179, with 208 abstentions.

The EU Parliament also warned against propaganda from the extremist group Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda, and other nonstate actors.
A suicide truck bomb claimed by Islamic State killed at least 70 people at a gas station south of Baghdad Thursday. Many of the victims were Iranian pilgrims who had taken part in a Shi'ite holiday in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

Authorities say buses full of people were parked at the time and that numerous vehicles were torched by the force of the blast in the city of Hilla. The pilgrims were headed back to Iran after visiting Karbala for the Arbaeen observance. Arbaeen marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, during the 7th century. Imam Hussein's followers believe he was buried in Karbala.

Reports also say Iraqi security forces were on high alert for the duration of the pilgrimage, seen as a potential target of Islamic State. The terror group considers Shi'ites to be apostates.

The attack comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake the key city of Mosul from IS militants. Since October 17, Mosul has been under siege by forces trying to remove the IS fighters, who have controlled the city and other large swaths of Iraq for more than two years. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in Mosul even as Iraqi forces have begun clearing neighborhoods in the city's east.

The United Nations refugee agency says at least 60,000 people have fled the fighting in Mosul, Iraq's second city, since the military offensive began last month and that around 40,000 have done so since the start of November.
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's Nina con Collar," an early painting whose whereabouts had been a mystery for 60 years, has sold for $1.81 million at a Sotheby's Latin American art auction.

Works by Mexican Rufino Tamayo and Colombia's Fernando Botero topped sales at the auction.

We saw a series of exceptional prices for the giants of Latin American modern art," said Axel Stein, Sotheby's Latin American art chief, commenting on the $16.84 million in total sales on Tuesday evening in New York.

Audrey Hepburn owned Tamayo painting

Leading the sale was Tamayo's "Sandias y naranja" (Watermelons and orange), a 1957 oil and sand on canvas once owned by film star Audrey Hepburn, Sotheby's said. It sold for $2.29 million.

A Botero bronze sculpture, "Man on a Horse," fetched $1.82 million, and his "Homage to Bonnard," a large-scale nude painting, went for $1.39 million.

Kahlo's "Nina con Collar," (Girl with Necklace), which had not been seen publicly for six decades, went to an unidentified European buyer. The 1929 oil on canvas is among the first 20 of the Mexican artist's 143 paintings, Stein said.

The work, whose subject is about 13 or 14, prefigures hallmarks of Kahlo's self-portraits, including winged eyebrows and a full frontal gaze.

Kahlo died at age 47 in 1954. The following year, her widower, the muralist Diego Rivera, gave "Nina con Collar" to one of her studio assistants, who hung it in her California home for 60 years, according to Stein.

Former assistant had missing painting

The work came to light when the unidentified former studio assistant, now in her mid-90s, contacted Sotheby's last summer, Stein said.

In international art markets, works by Kahlo have fetched more than any other Latin American artist, according to Stein.

Last May, Christie's sold a 1939 Kahlo painting for $8 million, an auction record for her work. Sotheby's has privately sold Kahlo works for more than $15 million each, said Dan Abernethy, an auction house spokesman.

One reason Kahlo's works are so valued in the international market is that Mexico barred their export for several decades under laws to conserve the country's cultural heritage, Stein said.
Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to Amritsar  home to the Golden Temple that is the most holy place of the Sikh religion  before immigrating to North America in the early 1960s.

Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina  she was called "Nikki" as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.

Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, told Reuters family and friends were delighted by Haley's appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India.

"It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that [Nikki] has achieved this success," Randhawa told Reuters by telephone.

Randhawa, a retired lecturer, said he was in regular touch with Nikki's father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.

India's Foreign Ministry said it was happy to hear news of Haley's appointment, describing her as a supporter of closer U.S.-India ties who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June.

"We know Governor Haley very well," said spokesman Vikas Swarup. India's foreign secretary visited the United States earlier this month and interacted with "very senior levels" of the Trump transition team, he also said.

Homecoming

Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child, doesn't speak Punjabi and has converted to Christianity.

But she has visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called "an emotional and very personal day".

"I always yearned to see Punjab  my motherland  and now I am so proud to be here after almost 40 years," she told TV reporters at the time, her voice choking with emotion as she steadied herself with nips from a water bottle.

Her biography is similar to that of Richard Verma, the first U.S. ambassador to New Delhi of Indian origin. He was born in the United States into a Punjabi family but visited often as a child. Verma was mobbed by relatives and locals when he visited his ancestral home in early 2015.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, while Trump has expressed favorable views toward India, where he has real estate interests. The tycoon-turned-TV reality star told one cultural event put on by diaspora Republicans during the presidential campaign that he loved the country and its people.

Trump's stated intention of banning immigration by Muslims from countries that are a source of Islamist militancy has played well with many in India, a majority Hindu nation that has long been at odds with Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Much of the diplomacy over the rivalry between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed powers, plays out in the corridors of UN headquarters in New York and Haley's appointment is likely to be seen positively in New Delhi in that light.

India, the world's largest democracy, is also lobbying to be made a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council, although it's doubtful this would be a priority for Trump.

Back in Punjab, relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration to mark the elevation of Haley to the top diplomatic post.

"We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success," said Randhawa. "And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days."
A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters.

Spreading quickly due to dry, windy weather, the fire raced through Haifa's northern neighborhoods. While there were no serious injuries, several dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Police and firefighters were deployed throughout the city, as people loaded up supermarket carts with belongings and fled their homes. Some people connected hoses together from apartment buildings to help battle the fires, while residents held cloth over their faces.

The blaze was the largest of several fires to erupt across the country in recent days. The rash of fires is the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history. That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft arrived from as far away as the United States.

Israel has strengthened its firefighting abilities since then, buying special planes that can drop large quantities of water on affected areas. Several countries, including Russia, Cyprus, Turkey, Croatia and Greece _ were also sending assistance to battle this week's blazes.

Guy Catlan, who runs a gas station in Haifa, told Channel 10 TV that workers turned the power off and were helping firefighters to prevent flames from reaching it. ``There is a very large quantity of fuel here, it is very dangerous to the entire area, it could be a big catastrophe,'' he said.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were investigating all possible causes for the wildfires, including arson. Residents of eight neighborhoods in the northern city of Haifa were told to evacuate their homes on Thursday afternoon, he said. Rosenfeld did not know how many people were affected, but media reports said tens of thousands live in the affected areas.

The military said it deployed two search and rescue battalions in order to assist civilian efforts. It also called up about 500 reserve soldiers to back up the police and fire departments.

Several roads and schools were closed in some areas of Haifa. Mayor Yonah Yahav told Channel 2 TV there were several fires in his city.

Yahav also said there were indications one of the fires was caused when ``someone tossed a cigarette in an area full of oil and flammable fluids'' in an industrial zone.

A spokesman for Israel's fire and rescue service, Yoram Levy, told the station that firefighters were working around the clock. He said the fires in Haifa ``are probably arson,'' and that there was an attempt to torch a fire station.

Police said the blazes started early Tuesday morning at Neve Shalom, a community outside Jerusalem where Israelis and Arabs live together. Fires later erupted elsewhere near Jerusalem and in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanking him for his help in dealing with the fires. The premier's office said Thursday that Russia is sending two large firefighting aircraft to Israel.
Australia has resettled about half of the 12,000 refugees it agreed to take in last year from the conflict in Syria. Most of the new arrivals are living with relatives in Sydney, the countrys biggest city, Sydney.

The New South Wales government is offering free training programs to Iraqi and Syrian refugees resettled in the state to help them find work. It will spend $20 million over the next four years on various schemes.

John Barilaro, the New South Wales minister for Skills, says the programs will help refugees build new lives.

The purpose is to make sure that they assimilate in society and become part of what is wonderful about this state and that is jobs and opportunity for everybody, including those that have now joined our shores, said Barilaro.

Last year, Australia promised to accept 12,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria on top of its annual humanitarian intake of about 14,000 people.

Last December, 51-year Iymen Baerli arrived in Sydney with his wife and three young children. War had forced them to leave their home in the Syrian city of Homs. They fled to Egypt, before being offered sanctuary in Australia, where life has not been easy. He is still unemployed and relies on welfare payments to survive.

"It was a very hard move, moving from Syria to Australia. There are huge differences in culture and tradition. I have been struggling and it isnt easy, but I hope in the future it will be better, said Baerli.

Ahmad Hemmed is a migration agent and community volunteer, who has helped many Syrian families in Sydney. He believes the majority are struggling to adapt to live in their new homeland.

There are people that after I meet them here after even a year, they do not like the country and they are scared to mix with (the) Australian community. They [are] still isolating themselves with similar cultural background people and I think they are raising their kids in the same way, which, you know, for me it is really concern[ing], said Hemmed.

Officials concede that many Syrian refugees have struggled to find work in Australia.

Professor Peter Shergold, the New South Wales coordinator general for refugee resettlement, says measures are being put in place to help.

The [NSW state] Premier wanted to make sure that if we were going to do this and have expanded numbers that we were providing the support services that were necessary that these people could build their new lives as quickly as possible, and so my job is really to both oversight the government agencies delivering services, but in particular to try and make sure that we are working with community, with corporate New South Wales, with the not-for-profit organizations, with volunteers so it becomes not just a government effort but a community effort, said Shergold.

The remaining 6,000 refugees from the Syrian crisis are expected to arrive in Australia within a year.

But Alex Greenwich, an independent MP in the New South Wales state parliament, believes the resettlement program needs to move faster.

The refugee and asylum seeker immigration process is one that is intensely bureaucratic. There are obviously important checks and balances in place but I think I and many other people would like to see that fast-tracked, would like to see us being able to welcome people sooner than later. It is much better for a refugee to spend less time in a camp or in a detention center and get into being welcomed into a community. It is better for their health, their mental health. It is obviously something that we should be prioritizing and fast-tracking, said Greenwich.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his government will permanently increase the nations annual refugee intake from 13,750 people to almost 19,000.

Since the end of World War II, Australia has resettled about 800,000 refugees.
NATO has ended Operation Ocean Shield after a sharp drop-off in attacks by Somali pirates.

The Royal Danish Air Force carried out the last Indian Ocean surveillance missions for NATO.

The NATO operation had been one part of a highly successful coordinated international response to the threat of piracy that also included the European Union, the United States and other independent nations.

During its peak, piracy off the Horn of Africa had an economic impact of $7 billion, with more than 1,000 hostages taken. There hasnt been a successful piracy attack since 2012, down from more than 30 ships at the peak in 2010-11. The NATO planes flew from the Seychelles.

They have been giving a lot of assistance to us regarding the piracy issue, said Colonel Simon Dine, a commander with the Seychelles Coast Guard. They assist us in training with the Seychelles Coast Guard and the Seychelles Peoples Air Force, which has given us a great help to assist in the maintaining of the security of the Seychelles territorial water. Its sad for them to go back, but we are looking forward to continue to work with good relationship for the future.

The commander of the Danish air force detachment that carried out the last mission emphasized that NATO can resume its anti-piracy efforts at any time - whether in the Somali basin or the Atlantic Ocean.

NATO is now shifting resources to deterring Russia in the Black Sea and people smugglers in the Mediterranean.

NATO's spokesman Dylan White said in a statement that the global security environment had changed dramatically in the last few years and that NATO navies had adapted with it.

After more than a decade of NATO-led operations far beyond its borders, the military alliance is shifting its focus to deter Russia in the east, following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Earlier this month, NATO broadened its operations in the Mediterranean to help the European Union stop criminals trafficking refugees from North Africa.
Europe should impose tariffs on imports from countries that do not implement a global agreement for fighting climate change, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in an opinion piece published Wednesday.

Valls' position puts him at odds with Germany and the European Commission, which rejected a call from former French president Nicolas Sarkozy for a tax on U.S. imports if a Trump administration quits the 2015 Paris Agreement.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to pull out of the Paris Agreement for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from fossil fuels. Instead, he says he will push ahead and develop cheap coal, shale and oil.

Essay appears in business newspaper

Valls wrote in Les Echos business newspaper that Europe should take action to prevent companies from moving to countries that spurn the Paris Agreement.

If for that Europe needs to tax imports from countries that don't want to implement the Paris agreement, well then, let's do it," he wrote.

French President Francois Hollande, who was the architect of the pact and whose term ends in May, has said that he would work with Trump and that the agreement was in the interest of the American people.
The Philippines will build a new seaport in the South China Sea next year in a bid to push its claim over part of the waters, Philippine officials said, a move that analysts say is likely to provoke reactions from other claimant-countries, particularly China.

But Eugenio Bito-onon, the former mayor of Kalayaan, the Philippines smallest municipality in the Spratly Islands, said the port is designed to make Thitu Island more accessible for about 200 residents, mostly fishermen, and about 50 rotating soldiers who live on the island.

We are looking at a harbor with moorings designed to shelter fishing boats, patrol boats and even yachts, he said.

Plans go back to 2012

Bito-onon first broached the idea of building a port in 2012, but the arbitration case that Manila filed against Beijing got in the way. All Philippines construction and repair plans were halted.

The national government said at the time that the project is not feasible and costly, he said, recalling how he battled with bureaucracy. "Maybe the government approved the project now after theyve realized that it can be done. After all, China was able to transform their occupied submerged reefs into man-made islands.

China started its land filling activities in 2013, dumping sand on dredged up reefs to transform the rocks into fortified military outposts in the middle of the disputed sea. The reefs are now islands with airstrips equipped with modern military facilities, Bito-onon said.

Goals of the project

Philippine officials say the new seaport would vastly improve access not only to the remote island but also to the eight other Philippine-claimed military islets, reefs and sand bars in the Spratlys.

Philippine lawmaker Johnny Pimentel said that Manila has earmarked 450 million pesos (roughly $9 million) for the work.

The port "will surely help encourage human settlement in the remote Philippine island, said Pimentel.

Kalayaan consists of about 95 islands, cays, shoals and reefs in the middle of the South China Sea, all claimed by the Philippines.

Remote location

Located 518 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan Province, Thitu island is the most habitable and the biggest occupied by the Philippines in the disputed Spratlys. It is the second largest island in the entire Spratly chain.

A low-lying landmass, Thitu has been occupied by the Philippines since 1970.

The government has been planting civilians there since 2001 in a bid to populate the 37-hectare island. But only a few stayed due to the islandss lack of accessibility and inadequate facilities.

From Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, the island can only be reached through a World War ll-era surplus military ship that makes a routine trip to the area every three to four months, depending on the weather.

Even though it has an airstrip, only small military planes make an occasional trip to the island.

With the construction of a seaport, Bito-onon hopes more Filipinos or even foreign tourists would be encouraged to visit the island.

Lawmaker Pimentel has urged the government to put up a research station on the island, and to find ways to provide the 37.2-hectare island a renewable and stable source of electricity. At present, he said, a generator supplies some of the islands electricity needs.

Resumption of oil and gas exploration is urged

Pimentel also urged the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to restart the oil and gas exploration in the disputed South China Sea that were temporarily suspended while an international tribunal heard the Philippines maritime case against China.

"It is in the national interest that we renew forthwith the quest for new deep-water natural gas deposits [in that region], while the government pursues strong and effective diplomacy with China." he said.

The Department of Energy put on hold three offshore oil and gas hunts in the South China Sea last year out of respect for the ongoing court case.

Its high time to allow the resumption of the stalled projects, considering the arbitral tribunals verdict that the areas involved are well within the Philippines exclusive economic zone, as defined by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Pimentel said.

Seaport might change Philippines-China relations

Edmund Tayao, a political science professor at the University of Santo Tomas, said the seaport would reinforce the Philippines presence in the area. It is incumbent on the part of the government to provide the necessary facilities there."

Relations between Manila and Beijing soured in 2012 when China occupied the Scarborough Shoal, north of the Spratlys.

Manila is now moving fast to rekindle its ties with Beijing, according to incoming Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana, who added the Philippines "has shifted to seeking better political and economic ties with China, but not seeking a military alliance.

At best, it would be an alliance of trade and commerce, he said.

The group of islets shoals, reefs and cays known together as the Spratly Islands are claimed in whole or part by the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
A police officer has died a day after he was shot in the head while on patrol near a university campus in Detroit.

Wayne State University Officer Collin Rose, 29, died about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at a hospital, Detroit police Sgt. Michael Woody said.

Rose's death had been reported earlier in a news release from school president M. Roy Wilson.



This is a tragedy felt by all of us,'' Wilson said. Collin served Wayne State with distinction, and we owe those he left behind our deepest sympathies and our strong support.

Victim was five-year veteran

Rose also is the only Wayne State officer ever to fall in the line of duty, Wilson said.

The five-year veteran of the university's police force had gone through surgery earlier Wednesday, but his condition was described by the department's chief as very grave.

Police said a suspect in the shooting was arrested late Tuesday night a few blocks from where Rose was shot, but no charges have been filed.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig had said Rose was on duty around 6:30 p.m. when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles and that he was about to speak to someone on a bike.

Officers who arrived on the scene found Rose injured on the ground, Craig said.

Not sure officer was ambushed

Authorities say ambush-style shootings on Sunday left one police officer dead in San Antonio, Texas, and another wounded in St. Louis, Missouri, underscoring fears in the law enforcement community that the uniform is increasingly becoming a target.

But Wayne State Police Chief Anthony Holt said that wasn't the case in Detroit on Tuesday.

I don't believe it was an ambush, Holt said at a news conference Wednesday. I don't believe he was specifically targeted because of his uniform.

A Detroit man who has had several run-ins with police is in custody. Holt said no weapon has been recovered and that the investigation is ongoing.

We're trying to put the pieces together, Holt said.

School employs 65 officers

University spokesman Matt Lockwood said Wednesday morning that Rose had undergone surgery and that his parents and fiancee were by his side.

Rose was a cadet with the New Baltimore Police Department and had his first job as an officer with the village of Richland, Lockwood said. Rose, a cyclist interested in dog training, graduated from Ferris State University in 2010 and was president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Wayne State has more than 27,000 students and is located in the heart of Detroit. Wilson said the school employs around 65 officers.

Officials offer condolences

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and state Attorney General Bill Schuette offered condolences Wednesday night to Rose's family and fellow officers.

Officer Rose was doing his job, serving his community and protecting all of us, when he was tragically gunned down, Schuette said in a statement. Officer Rose was too young to have his life taken, and he leaves behind a family that will never be the same.
His face blackened and helmet coated in soot, Hussein Saleh watched the oil fields of his home town in northern Iraq burn, belching up thick smoke that blotted out the sun.

Dozens of fellow workers and engineers from Iraq's North Oil Company, wearing dirty jackets and overalls with scarves wrapped around their faces, started up their water tankers and bulldozers for the day's work.

Their job: to extinguish and cap another oil well that Islamic State militants set ablaze when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces drove them out of Qayyara in August.

"I've worked in oil for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this," 57-year-old Saleh said, standing close enough to the flames to feel the heat.

"Daesh (Arabic acronym for so-called Islamic State) just put explosives on the wellheads and blew them up," he said.

The men work in large teams to reduce the blaze, contain the fire and then cap the well. Each fire can take days to put out, Saleh said. Since October they have capped at least seven or eight wells, with more than a dozen more to go.

But the work has been dangerous. On top of the fires and the potential for inhaling toxic smoke, the area is still being cleared of Islamic State booby traps and landmines.

Qayyara's burning oil fields vividly depict the destruction the group wrought on northern Iraq, as Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition battle to drive the jihadists out of their stronghold in nearby Mosul.

Islamic State has made hundreds of millions of dollars through sale on the black market of oil from the fields it captured in Iraq and Syria when took over swathes of both countries in 2014, according to U.S. government estimates.

Oil smuggling

It has suffered a near collapse in oil smuggling revenue, however, since losing control of a series of oil fields in 2015 and 2016.

In Qayyara, the job of cleaning up the mess has just begun, and is slow and challenging.

"We use water, earth, everything we can to control and reduce the blaze, and it's a big team -- perhaps 150 people working on one well," supervisor Ahmed Hidayat, 54, said.

"Earth is bulldozed over the burning oil surrounding the well so we can get close to it, and then when we're close enough we cap the well.

"We try to plug it with a new wellhead instead of cementing it over, because then we'd have to drill through again."

On Wednesday the men prepared to cap another well, spraying water onto the fire that turned the black smoke white.

As they did so, an explosion rang out close to the well - a controlled detonation by Iraqi sappers of an Islamic State IED.

"There were mines laid around the wells," Saleh explained.

"A policeman was wounded five days ago. He put one foot off the road and stepped on a mine. It's a bit scary, you don't know where they might be."

Sabah Ali, a worker from another oil-producing town northwest of Mosul, said he was worried for his health because of prolonged exposure to the fumes.

"It's hard work. The fires are massive and you breathe in so much smoke," he said. "Someone choked on it recently and had to be treated by our medical team."

But the men, some of whom haven't worked for two years because they lived in areas under Islamic State control, say they are happy to be receiving their wages again, plus danger money of around $50 a day.

Saleh said he also felt a duty to his town and country.

"People should work for the good of their country. Daesh has destroyed the country, destroyed the people, destroyed Islam," he said.
Most future entrepreneurs first attend university and business school. But in Silicon Valley, there is a school aimed solely at current and future entrepreneurs. In the first of two reports from San Mateo, Elizabeth Lee says the school uses unconventional teaching methods.
The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) is threatening a "national shutdown" if Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini fails to ensure an independent investigation into alleged missing public funds from Treasury Department bank accounts.

This, after an independent forensic audit of the Accountant General's office conducted by Kobla Quashie Consultants showed that the government Treasury Department bank accounts have a $360 million shortfall.

Local media reported that auditors fear there may have been fraud, misappropriation and embezzlement of the funds. The independent Times of Swaziland newspaper quoted Quashie as saying, "It should be stated that the amounts noted as differences are so significant that it renders the annual treasury accounts submitted to Parliament and other government agencies inaccurate and misleading."

Protests ahead

TUCOSWA's Secretary General Vincent Ncongwane says workers are to meet soon to plan protests against the alleged financial malfeasance.

"We want that investigation so that the veracity of that would be determined, Ncongwane said. So that if indeed this money is missing, then we are saying that heads would have to roll. Because Swaziland cannot afford the losses of such amount and we need to know, if they are indeed lost, are not [due] to corruption.

Calls to Percy Simelane, spokesman for the government in Mbabane, were not answered.

Civil society and banned political party groups, including the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), condemned the alleged financial malfeasance. They said it is unacceptable that the government has yet to demand answers or launch a thorough investigation. They also said Swazis and other public sector workers have the right to know how the administration plans to recoup the funds, as well as punish those implicated in the alleged embezzlement.

Swazis, Ncongwane said, are disappointed the administration has yet to issue a statement on the issue.

"There is widespread concern to the extent that a good number of organizations have given us the support that they are also supporting our call for an independent inquiry, he said.

Pressure on international community

Critics have called on the international community to pressure the administration in Mbabane to account for the missing funds. They asked donors to withhold funds from the government until an investigation is completed.

"It would be unfortunate if it were to come to that," Ncongwane said. However, "the international community cannot afford to keep quiet because if they do so, then the government is not going to see how serious it is that we cannot have money to be thrown up just like that."

Ncongwane says workers are aware that the administration could use the police and other security agencies to intimidate them when they embark on nationwide demonstrations to protest the lack of action on the missing funds.

"We think that government will not act negligently to ban us, he said. Of course, they would try to intimidate, of course they would try to harass us as they normally do, but we are not going to back off because of that."
German police arrested a 20-year-old Syrian refugee who sympathized with Islamic State after he tried to cross into Denmark with potential bomb-making materials, a spokesman for the Stuttgart prosecutor's office said Thursday.

The man, whose name was not disclosed, had been in Germany for some time. but it was not immediately clear when he entered the country, spokesman Jan Holzner told Reuters.

"We have evidence that he sympathized with Islamic State," Holzner said.

He said the man was arrested Sunday in the southern city of Ulm after failing to cross into Denmark a day earlier, but he gave no further details. He did not know whether the man had been granted asylum in Germany.

"He was carrying materials that could be used to make a bomb," Holzner said. He declined to provide more details but said the quantities of material involved were "not typical of what would be used in a normal household."

Holzner said the investigation was continuing and it was not clear whether the man had been in contact with Islamic State members outside Germany.

"At this point we have no additional suspects in this case. We cannot say if there are others behind the scenes," he said. Holzner said the man would be detained in Stuttgart.

German authorities were on high alert for possible Islamist attacks after two attacks linked to the militant group occurred in July.

In October, Syrian refugee Jaber Albakr hanged himself after being arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on a Berlin airport.
Twenty-three years ago today, the U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill, which required a five day waiting period for the sale of handguns.

The law was inspired by the 1981 shooting of former President Ronald Reagan and the crippling injury of his press secretary, James Brady, who was left paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair by the incident.

The bill was signed into law a few days later by then President Bill Clinton.

The politics of gun control in the United States have since changed dramatically. Activists who champion gun rights have largely succeeded in recent years in rolling back gun restrictions in several states.

Those restrictions have loosened despite a rash of mass shootings in recent years, including the killing of 28 people, most of them young children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School by Adam Lanza in 2012.

At the heart of America's firearms debate is the U.S. Constitution's 2nd amendment, which includes the phrase "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

For many Americans, exercising the right to own firearms is an expression of patriotism. Those same gun rights activists fear the federal government will pursue overly restrictive laws, curtailing access to firearms or ammunition. Supporters of more restrictions say they will lower the number of gun homicides, which kill 10,945 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The effectiveness of background checks, a key part of the Brady Bill, has been studied: in Connecticut in one case, and Missouri in another.

The upshot?

In Connecticut, a law requiring gun buyers to get permits, which themselves required background checks, was associated with a 40 percent decline in gun homicides and a 15 percent drop in suicides. Similarly, when researchers studied Missouri's 2007 repeal of its permit-to-purchase law, they found an associated increase in gun homicides by 23 percent and a 16-percent increase in suicides.

But those studies looked at background checks for those getting a permit from law enforcement, not a gun shop, to buy a firearm. Not all states have that kind of requirement on the books.

Healer in chief

During his two-terms in office, Obama spoke to the nation in the aftermath of similar mass shootings numerous times. His statements began to reflect his horror and frustration over such violence.

After Sandy Hook, Obama fought back tears, saying "Every time I think of those kids, it gets me mad."

The president used the tragedy to renew past efforts to press Congress to pass a law banning assault-style weapons. But like so many attempts in the past, it ultimately failed.

Last year, a poll by the Gallop organization showed few Americans believe that laws can stop gun violence.

James Brady and his wife, Sarah, spent the rest of his life fighting for stricter gun laws. He died in 2014 at age 73.
The United Nations says time is running out for the 275,000 inhabitants of the besieged northern Syrian city of eastern Aleppo, whose food stocks are depleted. The U.N. warns people will starve if aid convoys are not allowed into the city in coming days.

The last food provided by the World Food Program was distributed to the trapped residents of eastern Aleppo days ago. Now, nothing is left. Repeated requests by the United Nations to send aid convoys into the city have been refused by one or more of the warring parties.

Special Advisor to the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Jan Egeland says there are hopeful signs that all the necessary approvals may soon be forthcoming. He says the U.N. has received written approval in principle by the armed opposition groups in Aleppo. He says Russia has given its verbal support for aid to be delivered.

He says he is waiting for written confirmation from Russia and for a positive response from the Syrian government for this very complex, dangerous operation to go ahead.

Courageous humanitarian workers will be able to go with hundreds of truckloads of medical equipment, food and all of the other things needed in Eastern Aleppo and we are ready to evacuate hundreds of wounded to medical facilities in both West Aleppo and opposition-held Idlib, said Egeland.

With the exception of a few short pauses in the fighting, eastern Aleppo has been under relentless aerial attack by the Syrian government and its Russian ally. Egeland says every medical facility in the city has been hit.

He says the U.N. is launching a system to try to stop the attacks from happening over and over again.

Of course, there then also has to be accountability for attacks. Under humanitarian law, it is war crimes to deliberately attack medical facilities, he said.

The plan calls for the monitoring of hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities to ensure they are only used to care for the wounded and sick. It also calls for these buildings to be clearly marked and for notifying the locality of these structures to all those using air warfare to avoid attacking them.
The trial resumed Thursday in Turkey for journalists and editors from the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem, which was shut down in August for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatist group.

Since Turkey's failed military coup last July, more than 30,000 people have been arrested in a crackdown that has targeted alleged coup supporters and backers of the country's legal pro-Kurdish movement. Yet, while opposition parties claim the crackdown is a witch hunt, there have been few large protests.

This month in Istanbul, hundreds of Kurdish construction workers took to the streets in a spontaneous protest over the arrest of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Within days, human rights groups claimed protesters were rounded up and arrested on anti-terror charges. The HDP blames such crackdowns for the relatively low turnout at protests following the jailing of dozens of their elected mayors and parliamentary deputies on terrorism charges.

"There is no permission for us to organize any meeting or rally; all our rallies are being banned, said HDP parliamentary deputy Idris Baluken, speaking shortly before his arrest this month. There is no permission for us to make press statements. If 10 people come together in the street, there is deadly intervention by the police.

A state of emergency has been enforced since the failed coup, giving the government and authorities sweeping powers. The pro-Kurdish party has been crippled with the arrests of thousands of its local officials and activists.

Late last month, a few thousand people protested in Diyarbakir following the removal from office and arrest of the citys co-mayors, Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, on terrorism charges. Diyarbakir, the largest city in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, is the center of the pro-Kurdish movement. Government advisers said they were expecting hundreds of thousands on the streets in protests in response to the arrests.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) says there has been a shift in Kurdish sentiments after PKKs 2015 decision to extend its fight against the state into towns and cities across the predominantly Kurdish region, resulting in widespread devastation.

There had been so many complaints by the people that the HDP municipalities were not doing their jobs and transferring their funds to the PKK terror organization, said Muhammed Akar, leader of AKP's Diyarbakir branch. As you can see, there has not been a reaction against these operations. Citizens do not consider this as a political operation but a judicial one. If that would not be the case, then there would be a problem for democracy which would result in societal reaction.

The government also points to a lack of social unrest as a sign of public support for its crackdown on those alleged to be involved in Julys failed coup in which more than 240 people died.

With the number of job dismissals surpassing 100,000 and over 30,000 arrests and the closure of hundreds of critical media outlets and civil society organizations, opposition parties are shouting witch hunt. Rumors abound about widespread torture, charges strenuously denied by the government. The scale of the crackdown is cited by observers as creating a climate of fear.

Fear is certainly a reason why people aren't reacting, observes political columnist Semih Idiz of the Al-Monitor website and Hurriyet Daily News. "I know people who are not politically involved but are too scared to write anything critical about the government on social media.

Idiz says apathy is also a factor after the failure of anti-government protests in 2013.

After the Gezi [anti-government] demonstrations which we had a few years ago, the fact that this did not translate into any political action, there is this feeling of helplessness, of the having lost, of resignation," Idiz told VOA. "This is the idea now. I think it will take perhaps a serious economic crisis to mobilize people not along sectarian or class divisions, but generally speaking, because they are fed up.

Analysts say the AKP remains fearful of a repeat of the nationwide anti-government Gezi protests.

A week of nationwide demonstrations against government-proposed legislation that critics claimed would free child rapists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a rare intervention against his prime minister, Binali Yildirim, calling to drop the controversial law.

Erdogans intervention, observers suggest, was in part out of fear of the unrest getting out of control. Erdogan thinks he can block Kurdish people's democratic reflexes and political reactions, warns HDP deputy Baluken. On the contrary, this piling up of anger sometimes needs a breaking point.

With the government warning any major unrest would be treated as a coup attempt, analysts say there is little room for peaceful protests.
Turkish F-16 warplanes were put on emergency standby Thursday after Ankara accused the Syrian government of having carried out an airstrike on Turkish troops operating in northern Syria that left three soldiers dead and 10 others wounded, one critically.

Western diplomats expressed concern the airstrike overnight Wednesday by a Syrian air force L-39 Albatros light-attack warplane marks a highly dangerous turn of events in the five-year-long Syria conflict and risks bringing Syria and Turkey into a major clash.



Initially, the death of the soldiers near the town of al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, was blamed on the Islamic State (IS) terror group. But in a statement Thursday the Turkish military said the Syrian air force was responsible. The bodies of the killed soldiers were transferred to the southern Turkish border town of Kilis.

"In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously," according to a Turkish armed forces statement.

The Syrian government has so far failed to comment. A pro-opposition network of activists, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, disputed Ankara's claim, saying it believed the Turkish deaths were caused by an IS suicide bomb.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yldrm held emergency phone calls with Defense Minister Fikri Isk and the Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar before placing a gag order on the Turkish media, ordering broadcasters not to report on the attack.

Yldrm vowed later that the attack will not be left unanswered." He told reporters that the alleged air strike won't affect the Turkish armys determination to clear northern Syria of "terrorist groups."



"This attack and other such attacks will be retaliated, he said.

Turkish opposition politician Kemal Klcdaroglu warned the air strike could drag Turkey into a "perilous process" and urged the government to act with restraint.

Turkish military targeted



The airstrike marks the first time the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have targeted the Turkish military since the launch in northern Syria 94 days ago of operation Euphrates Shield, a Turkish-led intervention with Syrian rebel militias aimed at pushing back from Turkeys border both ISIS militants and the Kurdish militiamen of the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, who Ankara fears want to carve out an independent state in northern Syria.

Earlier this week, Turkish military sources told VOA that Syrian radar defense systems had "locked on" to Turkish warplanes conducting bombing runs on ISIS and YPG positions. No missiles, though, were fired on the jets. We took it as a warning, a Turkish air force officer said.

Western officials have expressed concern in recent days that Euphrates Shield would trigger some kind of military response from Damascus as it moved away from the immediate border area and focused on al-Bab, a strategic town 46 kilometers from Aleppo currently held by ISIS militants. The town is coveted by rebel militias, the YPG and the Syrian government.

This is a warning shot to the Turks to stay away from al-Bab. Hopefully it is just that, but it risks a potentially catastrophic escalation of the war, a Western diplomat told VOA.

Euphrates Shield forces, featuring Turkish soldiers and militiamen from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), have been as close as two kilometers from the town of al-Bab for several days, according to FSA commanders, but had refrained from assaulting the center of the town.

Fighting escalates



Fighting between Turkish-backed rebels and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), earmarked by the United States to retake Raqqa from ISIS militants, escalated dramatically this week, largely provoked by Euphrates Shield forces advancing towards al-Bab and a town to the north-east, Manbij.

The intensifying clashes have been complicating Washingtons bid to use Kurdish-led forces to launch a full-scale assault on the jihadists self-proclaimed Syrian capital of Raqqa, and are maneuvering the U.S. and Turkey into ever greater cross-purposes in Syria, Western diplomats and analysts say.

Last week, the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing special forces personnel detailed to the Turks Euphrates Shield operation - highlighting the increasingly conflicting priorities between the United States and Turkey.

The SDF is also keen to overrun al-Bab and has vowed to capture the town before the Turkish-based militias do. A major confrontation between the two sides over the town has been anticipated for months, and the Turkish airstrikes against the YPG have mainly focused on disrupting Kurdish forces moving from Manbij south-west to al-Bab.

US position



On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman told a Turkish newspaper that the United States does not endorse the YPGs offensive to capture al-Bab. "We do not support nor condone any maneuvers in this area, which only help Daesh who is now on the run across Iraq and Syria, said Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman.

But he also indicated disapproval of Turkey-backed targeting of the town. Turkey's operations are being conducted unilaterally and not as part of the Coalition effort, he said.

For the Assad government the capture of al-Bab by Euphrates Shield-aligned rebel militias would represent a danger to its months-long siege of insurgent-held districts of eastern Aleppo.



Control of al-Bab would help FSA and Islamic militias to smuggle in weapons and aid to eastern Aleppo, which are under scorched-earth airstrikes by Syrian government and Russian warplanes.

In the case of the Euphrates Shield forces around al-Bab, Turkish soldiers have been in the vanguard, say Western military officials. Elsewhere, they have held back and the spearhead role has been taken by Syrian rebels. Why the switch is unclear, but some Western diplomats suggested this week that it was a signal to Damascus that it would be Turkish soldiers occupying the town when seized and not Syrian insurgents  a move they suspected aimed at mollifying Damascus. If that is the reason, judging by Wednesdays airstrike, it would appear to have failed.
The Turkish Armed Forces says three Turkish soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in Syria by an airstrike allegedly fired by government forces.

A statement from the Armed Forces posted on its website says the attack took place before dawn Thursday.

One of the wounded soldiers was said to be in critical condition.

The casualties are likely to ratchet up tensions between Ankara and Damascus. In August, Ankara sent ground troops into northern Syria to support Syrian opposition forces in the fight against Islamic State militants and to curb Syrian Kurdish territorial gains.

Ankara views Syrian Kurdish forces as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
The U.N. torture investigator is going to Turkey from Nov. 27 to Dec 2 at government invitation and plans to visit police stations, prisons and pre-trial facilities where detainees are held to discuss "challenges" related to torture, a U.N. statement said.

Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 125,000 officials in the military, civil service, judiciary and elsewhere since a failed coup attempt in July. About 36,000 have been jailed pending trial, in a crackdown condemned by Western allies, activist groups and the U.N. human rights office.

"I look forward to engaging with the Turkish Government on how to meet the challenges of upholding the rule of law, promoting accountability, and fulfilling the right of reparations for victims, in particular in the aftermath of the attempted coup in July of this year," the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, said in a statement.

Melzer, a former Red Cross and Swiss official, currently works at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He took up the independent U.N. role this month, succeeding Juan Mendez, whose fact-finding mission to Turkey scheduled for October was cancelled by the government.

Mendez, in a statement at the time, voiced deep disappointment, citing the need to investigate "allegations of severe overcrowding and poor conditions in many detention centers throughout the country."

"Independent monitoring of the situation in places where individuals are deprived of their liberty is a crucial safeguard against ill-treatment and torture," he said.

The last U.N. torture investigator visited Turkey in 1998, a U.N. official said. However, other U.N. human rights experts have visited since then including this year on disappearances.
With its dockside machinery destroyed in an air strike at the beginning of Yemen's 20-month-old war, the major Red Sea port of Hodeidah is struggling to unload food and fuel needed ever more urgently by a population riven with hunger and disease.

Controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, Hodeidah was the entry point for what port officials say was 70 percent of the Yemen's food imports as well as humanitarian aid. Food deliveries have been cut by more than half, they say.

Before the war, which has killed 10,000 people and displaced three million, the port bustled with workers, sailors and shipping agents trying to ensure smooth delivery of vital supplies to the impoverished country's 26 million people.

Last week, dozens of workers gathered outside the office of the chairman of the port shouting to be allowed in to ask for work or financial support.

Jets from the Saudi-led Arab coalition, fighting to force the Houthis out of territory they seized last year, disabled the port's four giant cranes and they are still out of action, officials say. Other dockside machinery has also been destroyed.

Rubble from last year's Aug. 17 air strike still lies strewn on the dockside.

"There is no more work left for us," said Ahmed Abdo, a port worker, sipping water to cool himself in the hot weather.

"We used to have three or four ships at the port and we would unload them in two or three days. Now, only ships with their own cranes are allowed to enter."

Unloading by hand, trading accusations

Last week, the port looked nearly deserted, with only a few workers laboring under blazing sun to unload a cargo of corn from a ship by hand into a waiting truck, now that the pipes used to funnel the grain into silos have been destroyed.

Another vessel was preparing to leave after six days unloading its cargo - a task that used to take a few hours.

The United Nations say both sides are holding up aid deliveries and has set up its own verification and inspection mechanisms to try to solve the problem.

After last year's attack, the Saudi-led coalition spokesman, General Ahmed al-Asseri, said that coalition jets had targeted a naval base used by the Houthis within the port.

The Arab coalition, which entered the war in March last year after the Houthis' advance forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile, denies holding up food delivery or targeting infrastructure facilities.

It says the Houthis routinely hold up aid deliveries and divert resources to the war effort.

Asseri was quoted by Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV this month as saying that the Houthis had been holding up 34 vessels carrying humanitarian aid for up to six months at Hodeidah. Sources in the aid community have denied knowledge of any such delays.

Port officials and shipping sources also said they were not aware of any aid vessels being held by the Houthis, though they noted that port registry had shown that three cargo ships had been held up by court orders due to commercial disputes.

The central bank problems providing lines of credit to finance imports is also causing delays.

"Until just before 2015, Hodeidah port achieved a boom in revenues in non-oil resources exceeding 30 percent in average growth," said Captain Moahmmed Abu Bakr Ishaq, the chairman of the board of the Red Sea ports, which includes Hodeidah. "But the ports infrastructure has been destroyed by the coalition."

Facing famine

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien told the U.N. Security Council last month that Yemen was close to famine, with more than 21 million Yemenis suffering from food shortages.

The U.S.-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network, run by the U.S. Agency for International Development, estimates that a quarter of all Yemenis are probably in a food security "emergency" - one stage before "catastrophe", or famine.

It says the areas worst affected are parts of Taiz province and southern coastal areas of Hodeidah province.

Figures provided by the port showed that wheat and barley imports fell 11 percent from January to October this year, while livestock imports have completely stopped.

Awad Said, the port supervisor, said that restrictions imposed by the coalition on entry of ships after the start of the war had raised insurance premiums and cut the number of vessels entering the port by more than half.

Ishaq said that about a million tons of food supplies entered through Hodeidah last year, a third as much as in 2014.

The number of containers dropped by 54 percent to 142,000, down from 300,000 in 2014, he said.

After the 2015 raid, officials said Gulf Arab jets bombed the port nine more times. According to Maritime Executive, an online specialized outlet, air strikes have hit a berth, cranes, a World Food Program warehouse, the port control building, port authority warehouse and the customs building.

"The port's capacity was severely curtailed since the coalition aircraft destroyed the four cranes," Said told Reuters. "It is now struggling to stay open," he said.
I am writing to you in response to the statement made by the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations in the context of the discussion following the briefing on the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq delivered at the 7804th meeting of the Security Council, on 9 November 2016 (S/PV.7804), in which he levelled unsubstantiated accusations against Turkey.

It has not been long since I reacted to the letter dated 14 October 2016 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2016/870, annex), which contained similar allegations. Yet, on 9 November 2016 the Permanent Representative of Iraq took an even more aggressive tone against Turkey.

It is unfortunate that Iraq has been developing a practice of misusing every opportunity in the Security Council to settle its bilateral differences with Turkey. Since December 2015, when the Security Council discussed the military training activities of Turkey in Bashiqa for the first time, the perspectives of both Iraq and Turkey on the camp have been thoroughly considered.

Currently, the consultations regarding the most efficient way to transition the Bashiqa camp into a Global Coalition against Daesh military facility are under way. Following four rounds of talks between the two countries, Turkey is now working on the written counter-proposal of Iraq.

Iraq faces existential challenges, the most important and pressing of which is the ongoing Mosul operation. At this critical juncture, nothing can be more detrimental to the interests of Iraq than deflecting the international communitys focus from this operation.

Given the gravity of the accusations levelled by the Permanent Representative of Iraq during the Security Council briefing, I have an obligation to formally renounce those false claims and register the views of Turkey on the matter.

Daesh poses a direct threat to the national security of Turkey. As such, Turkey has been effectively fighting against this terrorist organization both individually and as part of the Global Coalition.

I also deem it necessary to shed some light on the past developments that led to the rise of Daesh in Iraq. The current predicament in Iraq has been primarily the result of its own wrongdoing. Policies of sectarian and ethnic exclusion, the marginalization of certain groups and the concentration of power at the central Government level at the expense of the federal system envisaged in the Constitution have created conditions upon which Daesh has capitalized.

These policies have inflicted severe damage chiefly upon the armed forces of Iraq. The Iraqi army showed no effort to defend Mosul and disappeared into thin air when Daesh entered the city in June 2014. Consequently, Daesh occupied one third of Iraq without resistance, and, two years on, it still controls a large part of Mosul. In this two-year period, Daesh has terrorized the people of Iraq and launched terrorist attacks to the detriment of regional and international security.

Unfortunately, the Government of Iraq does not exercise its sovereignty over some parts of Iraq. In these places, multiple terrorist organizations operate, and they are major destabilizers in the region and beyond. Terrorist organizations like Daesh and PKK are both present in some parts of Iraq and pose direct national security threats to Turkey.

No other country in the region has suffered more than Turkey from the lack of authority in the northern part of Iraq. The armed terrorist groups that are operating freely in Iraq and infiltrating into Turkish territory to carry out attacks continue to threaten the security of Turkey and the safety and well-being of the Turkish people.

Therefore, we recognize the importance of and support to the territorial integrity and political unity of Iraq. We are convinced that only by restoring its full authority and sovereignty over its entire territory can Iraq stop the security threats to its territory, the people of Iraq and its neighbours.

Turkey is a determined member of the Global Coalition against Daesh. We are also extending robust and wide-ranging bilateral assistance, including humanitarian relief, to the Government of Iraq, the KRG and local groups to consolidate their capacities in the ongoing fight against Daesh and other terrorist organizations.

Turkey, where more than 300,000 Iraqi citizens have taken refuge since the Daesh occupation in 2014, remains particularly concerned about the possibility of another major humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq. Since the start of the Mosul operation, we have been providing humanitarian relief to the Iraqis.

Thus, the unfounded claims expressed by the Permanent Representative of Iraq neither reflect the true nature of the approach of Turkey to Iraq nor do they bode well for the spirit of long-standing friendship between Turkey and Iraq.

I would like to reiterate our conviction that dialogue and diplomacy is the only option to address the bilateral issues between Turkey and Iraq.

Turkey remains committed to pursuing this path and is equally determined to take all measures necessary for its self-defence available under international law and principles.

I would appreciate if the present letter could be circulated as a document of the Security Council.
ERG & Stay Clean Call For Legalisation of Cannabis

In a joint statement to media, Equality Rights Group and rehabilitation NGO, Stay Clean, have called for Gibraltar to stop punishing and penalising the use of cannabis. That situation only benefits the mafias, who've had it too good for too long and grown fat on the profits. That has to end. Instead, we must look to the authorities, not the gangsters, to control this particular demand and supply problem. We've left it too long. Government and Society must now assume responsibility for bringing back control!

Chairman Felix Alvarez explained that Encouragement to habits of health and avoidance of psychoactive substances is a priority, and definitely the direction we need to move in. But there are many good reasons why its time for us in Gibraltar to now legalise the medical and recreational use of cannabis. And more and more countries are already testifying to this fact. As with tobacco and alcohol, awareness and regulatory control, time and again, have proved to be far more effective than criminalisation in significantly reducing medical and criminal harm. As part of our Connected Health project presented to Government in September, we have proposed important upgrades to the structural infrastructure of care and rehabilitation for those with a substance abuse problem. And part of that approach is to modernise and revamp our legislation, moving away from punishment, fines, and heavy investment in police and court time and resources and, instead, putting our efforts into support, treatment and compassion.

A change in the law should start with cannabis. First of all, because the medical use of cannabis in the relief of acute pain is proven, and it is plain wrong to get in the way of relieving the suffering of a significant number of people in our Community with important chronic pain issues. But whether for medical purposes or for recreational use, Regulation should be the method adopted in order to bring in sensible, positive legal and on-going monitoring that lowers all the risks. At the moment, regulation does indeed occur, but its organised crime that exclusively regulates every aspect of the demand and supply of drugs. For the sake of our wider Community, therefore, we call on Government's Inter-Ministerial Committee on this matter to wrest control from organised crime and, instead, place it securely and safely in the hands of Government.

Imagine if we imprisoned and pursued people for drinking whiskey or vodka. Thats what used to happen under Prohibition in the past. By contrast, under Regulation, society controls every aspect of the consumption of alcohol  from the strength or proof sold, to the safety and purity of the product, its advertising, the times and places where it can be bought and consumed, and the legal age for purchase. Cannabis needs to be controlled in exactly the same way. We all benefit because, under a regulatory system, the authorities, and not the traffickers, are put in control, and people have no fear in approaching health professionals when necessary, confident that, if they have a problem, they will be treated as patients, not criminals. We need to start taking this step forward now, Mr. Alvarez concluded.

Head of Stay Clean, Damian Broton, added that The general consensus is that cannabis may be broadly comparable to accepted social drugs such as alcohol in some respects, and, in fact, may even be less damaging in terms of health or crime harm. That's why legalisation is being increasingly called for internationally, including by British parliamentarians and public. We advocate Regulation, but we must all understand, however, that Regulation does not mean we treat all drugs in exactly the same way. It is more sophisticated than that. It is not synonymous with blanket decriminalisation or legalisation, he continued. 'How we manage and deal with each drug under a regulatory system depends entirely on the specifics of that substance and the level of demonstrated harm. It's not a simple 'one size fits all'.

But regulation is not so strange. It's something we routinely do. We are already used to regulating all our foods and drinks to keep us from harm. In exactly the same way, and to give just one example, under regulation, heroin, which is clearly known to be a very dangerous drug, would not be legalised or be freely available. Yet similarly, it would be disastrous to continue to allow each and every aspect of its sale and consumption to rest in the hands of organised crime, as happens now. So, in the case of someone addicted to heroin, it is clearly desirable for the drug to be provided and administered by health professionals as part of a treatment plan rather than by someone down a dark alley. And that is exactly why, as part of the Connected Health project, we urge and call for the adoption of Regulation as a more effective, more compassionate, and more pro-active approach to managing a reality which will not just go away, however much we may foolishly ignore it or punish it at great cost to lives and to resources. Its time to finally take back control in every way, and talk in terms of more intelligent, better support and treatment, the statement ended.
Gibraltar Delegation at COP22 in Marrakech

Negotiators and Scientists from over 200 countries were in Marrakech last week for the latest UN Climate Change conference, COP22, the first meeting since the signing of the historic Paris Agreement. Gibraltar Government Scientists Dr Liesl Mesilio-Torres and Stephen Warr from the Department of the Environment and Climate Change represented Gibraltar at the meeting, which was also attended by Prof. Daniella Tilbury of the University of Gibraltar.

It was an opportunity for public and private sectors to showcase progress and start the process of turning the Paris agreement into a blueprint for action.

The conference attracted over 50,000 participants. In addition to the Marrakech Action Proclamation For Our Climate And Sustainable Development, that was arrived at through the involvement of more than 70 Heads of State, the conference produced a multitude of declarations, initiatives, MoUs, agreements and an unstoppable wave of positive momentum in the fight against climate change.

Amongst the key outcomes was the delivery by the UK and Australia of the $100 billion dollar annual climate finance roadmap by 2020. More than 110 Parties have now ratified the Paris Agreement providing a key political signal towards global commitment to climate action. For the first time in COP history a meeting will take place this upcoming January between the COP22 Presidency and civil society to take stock and chart a roadmap for collaboration over the next year.

Gibraltar was once again engaging at an international level on these vitally important issues.
Gibraltar Bus Tracker WebApp  Launch of Route 9

Following the success of the Bus Tracker WebApp for Routes 2, 3 and 4, Govt are pleased to announce the launch of the eagerly awaited Route 9.

Additionally, the Information Technology & Logistics Department (IT&LD) have been working closely with the Gibraltar Bus Company and developed a new feature to the WebApp. The improvement to the platform will give the user greater detail on the location of each of the buses on route and provide added information of the buses last recorded position and any other anomalies, explaining possible reasons for this.

Further routes will be launched as and when they are developed and fully tested by the IT & LD.

The Night Bus is still operational on Friday and Saturday nights from 21:00 to 02:00.

The Night Bus will also be available throughout December so members of the public can make use of the service during the festive period to include the 24th, 25th 30th and 31st December. This bus service will assist the RGPs drinking and driving awareness campaign and give other transport options to persons celebrating on these festive dates.

The Minister for Transport, Traffic and Technical Services Paul Balban said: I am pleased to see yet another Bus Route added to the Gibraltar Bus Tracker WebApp platform. I would like to thank the IT & LD and the Gibraltar Bus Company for their commitment and effort to improve the public transport experience for all bus users.


The Great Motoring Show Countdown of 2016 is finally over. After a year of anticipation, the exTop Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May premiered their new Amazon series, The Grand Tour, last Friday to stellar reviews. For fans of the old Gear, seeing them fool around and drive supercars again is surely a delight  as is the influx of Amazons money. (The first episodes sprawling opening sequence in Californias Mojave Desert was estimated to cost in the low millions.) On a recent afternoon, Vulture sat down with May at the Classic Car Club Manhattan to discuss reinvention, where hed like to film next, and why everybody should chill out about the BBC.

How did you three decide that Amazon would be the best home for the new show?

This isnt my forte, but we liked the new platform and we liked the streaming thing. Amazon was prepared to do it in such a way that they would give us a healthy budget, but they would also let us produce the show as our own entity. We formed a production company [W. Chump and Sons] to do it. So we had a budget, freedom to do it ourselves, and then we had to make a car show. Cant do much else, and its best that they leave it to us.

Did you field other offers? Im sure there was a massive amount of interest.

We had a sort of gentlemans agreement that whoever we decided to choose, we wouldnt reveal what the others were. But they were massive, massive organizations! Brilliant!

What are the key differences between Amazon and the BBC? Do you have more creative freedom now?

Its not really more creative freedom, to be honest. The BBC gave us almost complete freedom; they rarely interfered unless we really stepped over the line. They didnt tell us what to do. There were a few basic house rules, but there are few rules at Amazon as well. You cant go completely mad and we wouldnt want to. We wouldnt want to do anything like incite riots or offend minority citizens or make distasteful jokes. We wont do anything nasty. We dont swear and cuss a lot, because we police ourselves. Were still doing what weve always done. Behind the scenes is a bit more complicated, because we actually have to run the whole business right down to buying paper for the printer and paper clips. But obviously the three of us arent doing that. Wed be really bad at it. [Laughs.]

Jeff Bezos has said that the show is very, very, very expensive, and the sharp production quality attests to that. How were the traveling-tent studio and cinematic segments fleshed out?

The cinematic element is that its in 4K, which makes all the difference, and also makes it a lot more difficult to do. You need more kits and people and theres a huge amount of data, which has to be shipped back and makes the edit take longer. But the quality of the films are amazing mainly because we took with us quite a lot of the sound cameramen that we used to work with in the old days on Top Gear. Over the years, weve been honed in with probably the best team in the world for filming cars and recording the sound of cars. Its mainly down to them. A bit of it is 4K, but that in itself is just the tool. The tool doesnt do the job. Its the craftsperson who does the job, and we have the best picture and sound-craft people in the business.

And the tent! The tent originally stemmed from some slightly mad idea that Jeremy had. We liked the idea that we would be a homeless car show rather than going to the same studio every week. And then we got this idea that we were a bit like Victorian explorers, and all of the very difficult fun they had mapping out the world back in the day. So once that idea took hold, we ran with it. But it turns out to be much more complicated than you imagine  because, of course, you need a big tent. Plus you need a hospitality tent, a support tent, a guest tent, and a technical tent for all of that 4K outside-broadcast type stuff. All the tents! By the time you finish, youve actually built a portable studio. It takes about a week to take apart, its unbelievable. Its worth it, but its very complicated and Im afraid to say an easily expensive operation.

A worthy expense, Id say.

Id think so, yes. Were probably over budget, but we dont look at that. We dont spend it on clothes.

You couldnt take trademarked BBC names, such as the Stig. Did the BBC impede your production in any way that you didnt expect?

We couldnt obviously take the name Top Gear. We couldnt have the Stig, the Cool Wall, Star in the Reasonably Priced Car, we couldnt use our old track. But we didnt want to use any of those things. Even if wed been able to, we wouldve still said, No, weve done this thing before, lets think differently. A lot of the stories of the BBC saying I cant use some of my catchphrases is all nonsense. They havent tried to bully us in any way whatsoever. Its all gentlemanly. Its quite simple, really. The Stig belongs to the BBC, so we cant have it, no more than I can have the boots youre wearing.

I dont have any quarrel with the BBC. I still work for them; Im just making a short series for them. Theyre perfectly magnanimous about it. They got to invent their show, we reinvented ours. The rivalry is very healthy. I hope well get to the point where instead of having one really great, big car show, therell be two.

You have 36 episodes planned for The Grand Tour. Are there any cities where youre particularly keen to pitch the tent?

We havent decided the next 24 locations yet. Id quite like to film in Central Park. I think we have asked, but were not allowed to. Wed like to put it in Hyde Park in London as well, but its either not allowed or too complicated or too expensive. Other places Id quite like to go to are South America. Mexico too. Weve done a lot of deserts, like in the first episode obviously, so it would be nice if we went somewhere very snowy. Asia and the Middle East would be great. We can even possibly do one in Australia or New Zealand, but wed have to plan that really well.

You have to film in Central Park! Well get Bill de Blasio on the phone.

You make a good point. The other thing thats more complicated than we thought, which is pretty interesting, is that you want to have a nice view out of the window. Sometimes its just very naturally beautiful like the desert, but sometimes, like we did one in Rotterdam, its the European cityscape. Youve also got to think about the time of year, which direction the tent is facing, what the sun is going to do as it comes straight through that big window, or else you cant film anything.

Lets talk about that opening sequence in the Mojave Desert.

Very expensive! [Laughs.]

I was going to say, lots of reports on the cost.

The price is going up with every report, but yes, it was very expensive.

What was it like filming that? Did you get it all in one take?

Its one of those fun television storytelling things that you do for real, and then you go back and film other bits like the wheels of cars or clouds of dust to piece the story together. So its more than one take, but in terms of how we drove through the convey of Mad Max cars, we did that in one go. And we got it right! But when youre actually in the car, you cant see a bloody thing. Its terrifying. You have to make your way through the throngs of cars, and sometimes you get as close as inches away before you actually see anything. Im conflicted because I like being in deserts. I find them sort of cleansing, but theres another part of me that hates dust. And I particularly hate dust in cars, so its a huge conflict going on there.

Calling the venue Burning Van was pretty amusing.

[Laughs.] That was one of those things where someone in the office said, Ho ho ho, we can call it Burning Van. And the next thing we knew, wed actually arranged a burning caravan to be there. That probably cost a bit of money as well. Spending our pocket money.

The Grand Tour has been in development for more than a year. Is it a relief to finally have the series out there?

It is. We tried to tell ourselves that we were relaxed. We knew we had a certain amount that the fan base would be able to get the show on Amazon Prime. We knew wed be doing something fairly familiar. So there would have to be a pretty massive shift in the public perception of us and the tastes of our audience for it to be a complete failure. So I thought, logically, it must work. But it was still fantastic as the first episode starting streaming and we looked on the Twitter feed and saw all of these nice things coming through. I pressed the Twitter icon and I thought, shall I? But it was all good.

Have you ever thought about your television legacy? Or your greatest moments?

[Pauses.] Thats an interesting question. Maybe from Top Gear it would be taking the Bugatti Veyron to its top speed, because thats something that isnt impossible for much longer. But amongst stuff Ive done, there were things like a flight in the U-2 spy plane with the U.S. Air Force [in James May at the Edge of Space]. I was able to look at the curvature in the Earth and look down at California and the sea at over 70,000 feet. Id be quite happy if that was the only thing people have ever seen of me. Im amazed its lasted as long as it has. I feel like I may have gotten quite old, and a little bit of me thinks that Im too old to do this type of thing. But Im very grateful that Im still allowed to do it. I got into it just thinking, Oh, television, maybe Ill have a go at that. I couldve never imagined that it would get to this.

This interview has been edited and condensed.
Monday nights edition of NBC Nightly News featured a report on President-elect Donald Trumps transition. President-elect Donald Trump met today with more prospective members of his administration as his team released a video of Trump talking about his legislative priorities. At the same time, questions remained about how Trump will separate the work of his businesses from his work on the nations business.

Hallie Jackson followed up with a detailed account of Trumps overseas holdings and their implications for a Trump presidency.

All well and good. But what anchor Lester Holt didnt detail was a meeting that he himself had attended at Trump Tower earlier in the day. He wasnt alone, as a number of other network dignitaries from five outlets  CNN, ABC News, NBC News, Fox News and CBS News  huddled with the president-elect. Attendees included Chuck Todd (NBC News), Phil Griffin (MSNBC), Norah ODonnell (CBS News), Gayle King (CBS News), Charlie Rose (CBS News) and Jeff Zucker (CNN).

So what did Trump tell all these icons of mainstream media? Well, pretty much what he has been saying for about 18 months. It was like a fing firing squad, a source told the New York Post. As per custom, Trump allegedly teed off on CNN, a network that he allegedly mentioned in close proximity to the word liars.

That, at least, was one perspective on the proceedings. Another came from Politico, which cited a source describing the meeting as less intense, and said the discussion included Trump expressing the possibility of a reset of the tumultuous relationship between the president-elect and the media and that all he wants is fairness.  And various reports concur that Trump expressed particular dismay that NBC News had used a photo of him that accentuates his double chin.

So there are two competing versions of what happened in that Trump Tower conference room: one that portrayed Trump as a conquering hero, dissing the masters of the mainstream media; another that portrayed things as somewhat conciliatory. Guess which version came from Trump aides eager to please the folks that vaulted them into the White House and which came from TV types wishing to save a bit of face?

Whichever you believe, sit back and appreciate that the most exalted executives in the U.S. news business Monday got into what amounts to a leaking war with the president-elect of the United States and his staffers. How did this happen? It happened because the media folks participated in an off-the-record discussion with Trump, meaning that they couldnt turn around and publish or broadcast the words and sentiments bandied about in the meeting. Three dozen news luminaries, silenced.

As any media historian will tell you, theres ample precedent for such off-the-record sessions. Theres a tradition of news anchors hanging with the president in a pre-State of the Union luncheon, for example. And President Obama, like his predecessors, has regularly engaged reporters and columnists in off-the-record chats so that theyre familiar with his thinking on contemporary issues  which is a euphemism for spinning them.

Of all people, though, the folks in attendance Monday at Trump Tower should have known better than to meet with Trump under such circumstances. This is the guy, after all, who put their camera operators in peril by shouting them down at rallies; the guy who screamed Katy to single out NBC New reporter Katy Tur at a late (and angry) campaign rally; the guy whose former campaign manager manhandled reporters; the guy whose campaign replaced policy pronouncements with media denunciations; the guy who vowed to erode the First Amendment protections for news organizations.

The guy, too, who harassed Fox News host Megyn Kelly for months and months, ostensibly over the historic question that she posed at the first presidential debate on Aug. 6, 2015, regarding his mistreatment of women. Over Twitter, Trump called Kelly a lightweight, among several other insults that were repeated over and over.

Throughout this roughly eight-month period, Fox News chief Roger Ailes held countless off-the-record meetings with Trump, as did others at Fox News. It all accomplished nothing, as Kelly writes in her memoir, Settle for More: Roger had tried. (Sean) Hannity had tried. Bill Shine had tried. Time had passed. Trump wasnt stopping. So Kelly traveled to Trump Tower for an off-the-record session with Trump. Though he finally stopped the harassment and appeared on a soft-focus interview show with Kelly on the Fox Broadcasting Co., he never came on The Kelly File, the hosts highly ranked Fox News program.

The lesson? Dont negotiate with Donald Trump. Cover Donald Trump.

Erik Wemple writes the Erik Wemple blog, where he reports and opines on media organizations of all sorts.
MEAD  Tests measuring the spread of RDX and TCE in bedrock under the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant near Mead have been completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The tests results show the treatment of groundwater contamination has been effective.

That was the given by Edwin Long, the Corps senior project manager, at a Nov. 16 meeting.

The meeting was the second one held this year to update the public on ongoing efforts to clean up the RDX (an explosive) and TCE (a cleaning solvent) that had leached into the ground during ammunition production at the former NOP southeast of Mead.

In May, the Corps announced that monitoring wells at the south end of the contamination plumes showed high concentrations of the chemicals at a deeper level than previously penetrated.

In response, Phase II was initiated and 11 compliance locations and two perimeter locations were tested at the lower Omadi Formation bedrock depths.

Preliminary data showed that 11 of the wells showed no detections of contaminants and two wells showed concentrations below action levels, Long said.

The two monitoring wells showing a measure of contaminants are south of contaminant plume three.

Since the data has not been confirmed, Long said the Corps would not release the levels of RDX and TCE measured from those wells.

However, he did add that the measurements do say that the treatment and remedy is effective.

There are no new exposures based on what we found in the Omadi. The Corps can say with confidence that no one is drinking contaminated water from this source, Long said.

Once the data is confirmed, the Corps will take the next steps in a collaborative effort with Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the Natural Resources District.

Were going to keep an open mind about the next steps, Long said.

Part of the next steps will include an updated well inventory throughout the 87-square-mile area, picking up any wells that might have been dug since the last inventory in 1992, Long said.

In addition to the Omadi formation assessment, the Corps will also be conducting two new investigations in the area.

The investigations under the Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) will take place at the former demolition grounds on the southwest corner of the site and a landfill area on the northeast corner of the site.

These investigations will focus on identifying munitions and explosives of concern, including unexploded ordnance and potential contaminants in the soil, surface water and sediment.

Project manager Dane Morris said the investigations are currently in the project planning stages, which include a project planning meeting in January and fieldwork starting in the spring.

On the demolition grounds site, geophysical intrusive investigations will be conducted to identify high density munitions areas, munitions types and analyzing soil and water samples based on the munitions found.

At the landfill area, the investigation will include similar geophysical analysis as well as excavation.

Over half of the 17,000 acres that fall within the former NOPs parameters are owned by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The Nebraska National Guard and Army Reserves also own part of the property, specifically the former Atlas Missile Area, where furthest eastern plume of contamination originated.

A project planning meeting in January will include these stakeholders, as well as private land owners in the area, Morris said.

The two areas of investigation have always been on the Corps radar, but were recently moved up on the overall list of needs, due to a regular assessment and scoring system of all projects, Morris said.

While the Corps continues to address the overall needs of the area, Long said the goal for the year was met, as containment was achieved for 2015.
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Thanks to the recent strength in the price of iron ore mining giant Rio Tinto looks set to deliver $10 billion in operating cash flow in 2017 in and will generate $5 billion in extra free cash flow over the next five years by slashing operational costs across its global empire.

The company's new chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques is turbo charging the cost and efficiency drive as part of a broader strategy to prioritise value over volume - in a move that will see the end of the big additions to supply and the return to a focus on judicious capital expenditure and a more conservative balance sheet.

Rio took the opportunity of the investor strategy update to escalate its fight against the West Australian Nationals push for an additional tax on iron ore which it said would increase its cost base by $1.5 billion per year. Iron ore boss, Chris Salisbury described the proposed tax as unfair, discriminatory and bad for business, Western Australia, Australia and the mining industry in general.

Asset disposals will continue in 2017 and debt is being purchased or repaid in order to strengthen the company's foundations to enable it to weather this period of global geo-political uncertainty and market volatility.
When the rest of the world rings in the New Year, India's central bank will be grappling with a unique situation: how to deal with more than 23 billion worthless bank notes.

Stacked one on top of the other, the pile would be 300 times the height of Mount Everest. Laid down to form a pathway, it'd be long enough to reach the moon and back five times. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invalidated the bills in a single move announced on November 8, sucking out 86 per cent of the nation's currency in circulation and giving citizens until December 30 to exchange them for fresh notes.

Described as the world's most sweeping currency policy change in decades, the step has earned the government both admiration for its boldness and criticism for its execution. The Reserve Bank of India spends more than $US400 million ($542 million) on currency production each year, about 1.5 per cent of the global bank note industry.
As I've already observed today, things are getting more than a little silly.

Fresh from her appearance in the Senate shortly before question time, Jacqui Lambie has just taken the new president of the National Farmers' Federation to task.

Fiona Simson, the first woman to hold the role, was holding her inaugural press conference which overlapped with Senator Lambie's. Senator Lambie just had a win on the backpacker tax but the NFF does not like what has been agreed.

The two had what we might call a difference of opinion in front of the cameras.

"Don't worry about me, go and talk to your farmers," Senator Lambie finished with while Ms Simson was left to ponder her career move.
A former federal public servant who says she suffered six years of racism from her boss is claiming more than $1 million in compensation from the Commonwealth.

Iva Ilijevski is suing her former employer, the Australian Taxation Office, claiming it did little to stop the years of abuse she says she suffered at the hands of a team leader in her Melbourne workplace due to her Croatian background.

A former ATO official is claiming more than $1 million in compensation, alleging six years of racism from her boss. Credit:Louie Douvis

In addition to the $1 million sought for the economic loss of being forced from her job, Ms Ilijevski is also claiming $250,000 for pain and suffering as well as her legal costs.

Documents filed to the court allege that Ms Ilijevski, had not experienced any discrimination in the first six years she worked at the ATO.
A culture that sees learning as more parallel (study and work combined, at least in the early part of a career) and less linear (study, then work). I'm all for university education and still believe it is the best investment most people make. But doing so much study upfront, when many students are not ready for it or unsure about their career, is antiquated. Universities, to their credit, are providing more options to condense courses or offering options for intensive "bootcamp-style" learning. It's good stuff, but only part of the answer. Perhaps we should think about how to speed up some parts of university courses and slow down others. Or in other words, help students to "learn fast and slow". The degree's second half is slowed down and ideally completed on a part-time basis and tailored to full-time work over several years.

For argument's sake, consider a different learning model where students in a generalist undergraduate degree, such as business, complete 12 subjects in a year (over three semesters). Achieving a sufficiently high grade point average qualifies them to be awarded a Provisional Bachelor of Business Degree from their university. They get a certificate, a short ceremony and have a recognised qualification  enough to meet with graduate employers. The catch is the remaining 12 subjects must be completed within six years (or less, if a student is motivated) to achieve the full degree. Failure to complete the second half of the course within the allotted time means the degree is rescinded. Under this model, the first half of the course is sped up and undertaken on a full-time basis at university. The degree's second half is slowed down and ideally completed on a part-time basis and tailored to full-time work over several years. The student has enough upfront learning to get started in their career. Twelve subjects in many generalist degrees is more than enough, given content repetition in business degrees, for example - and sufficient for recruiters to spot top students.

Granted, this is only one model and it would not work in all fields. Nobody wants to be treated by a doctor with a provisional medical degree or rely on a bridge that was designed by engineers with half a degree. But this model could work in many generalist areas. A range of stakeholders would need to work together for this model to succeed. Industry recruiters would have to see value in students with provisional degrees and feel confident they are sufficiently trained to perform their roles. Government would have to change funding models for some traditional university courses, to incentivise universities to offer such courses (and forgo more funding upfront). Universities, too, would have to challenge traditional course structures, delivery and accreditation. They are not set up to deliver undergraduate courses that extend over longer periods, but could be with some forward planning. This type of thinking could change the relationship between students and their university. I see a future where more kids have portfolios of project-based jobs or ventures, or both. Many will move from one job to the next at a speed older generations can barely comprehend.

Universities can become a "safe haven" for young people who are between jobs or ventures. When a job ends, they go back to university to complete more subjects, reconnect with peers, learn new skills and regain their confidence. Then go again for their next job. The same applies with ventures. A young entrepreneur starts a venture, fails, goes back to university for a few subjects, consolidates their on-the-job learnings, and launches his or her next idea. Universities, in a sense, fill in the gaps for students between projects and help ensure they are "learning or earning". That has to be better than a failed young graduate or entrepreneur spending their days on X-Box between jobs or blowing their remaining savings on overseas travel. They have a purpose to complete their degree and more incentive to do so in the required time. Industry could benefit by getting graduates in their workforce sooner and having greater input into their future learning. For example, a graduate being groomed for a marketing role could be encouraged by their employer to study marketing subjects part-time. The student, through the loan system, pays for this education rather than the employer. Business, too, might pay lower salaries for those with provisional degrees compared to undergraduates with full degrees. Recruiting students earlier, at less cost, and having greater scope to tailor learning to the employer's needs, is a benefit for industry  provided companies are willing to step up, take greater responsibility for on-the-job training and pay students what they are worth when the full degree is awarded.
Police are hunting a suspected arsonist who started suspicious fires at telecommunication sites in Perth's northern suburbs over a three month period to the end of October.

A police spokesman said the blazes were sparked at locations in Malaga, Dianella and Morley between July 30 and October 29.

Police would like to speak with this man in relation to a reason spate of arson attacks. Credit:WA Police

"All the incidents occurred between midnight and 7am," he said.

"During these times a man forced entry into the various telecommunication sites before starting a fire inside the communication huts.
Fortune and Time magazines are holding a meeting in the Vatican about forging a new global social contract.

The so-called Global Forum will bring together those who believe capitalism is the way to beat poverty and a Pope who deplores the damages caused by unbridled capitalism.

On December 2, Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, will lead the first discussion on the Moral Imperatives of Modern Leadership. The following talk will be a "call to action" by Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Ghanaian president of the Vatican Integral Development office.
Australian woman Sara Connor has lost her bid to have the murder case against her thrown out in Bali, sparking her to again proclaim she is innocent.

The 46-year-old mother from Byron Bay looked tense as the three judges at Denpasar District Court on Thursday dismissed her lawyer's challenge over the alleged murder of Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa.

Connor and her British DJ boyfriend David Taylor are facing charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death, with prosecutors alleging they attacked Mr Sudarsa on Kuta Beach on the night of August 16 and then left his lifeless body in the sand.

Connor's legal team, however, had argued that the indictment against their client was "inaccurate, unclear and incomplete" and that she should have been facing charges of eliminating evidence.
At the invitation of Mr. Andreas Tallai, Commissioner of the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA), WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the Conference on "Modern Platforms of Interaction - Enhancing Cooperation between Tax and Customs Administrations" held at the National University of Public Service in Budapest, Hungary, on 23 November 2016.

Following the opening speech by Mr. Mihaly Varga, Minister for National Economy, Dr. Mikuriya spoke about the WCO's initiatives to enhance Customs-Tax cooperation while emphasizing the importance of keeping Customs functional and well-resourced to discharge its responsibility, in both fiscal and non-fiscal areas, under any organizational arrangement.

The meeting was attended by several Heads and representatives of Customs, Tax and Revenue administrations, as well as by Mr. Miguel Silva Pinto, Executive Secretary of the Inter-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA) and Deputy Director General of the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority, and they discussed the interaction between the Customs and Tax administrations from a wide range of viewpoints.

On the previous day, Secretary General Mikuriya spoke at the ceremony to rename the WCO Regional Training Centre (RTC) after the late Lieutenant General Arnold Mihaly (1945-2013) who, in 2001 in his then capacity as Commissioner of the Hungarian Customs and Financial Guard, conceived and set up the Hungarian Customs Training Centre as the first WCO RTC. Attendees at the ceremony included members of his family and several Heads of Customs administrations, who applauded his vision and legacy.

-----------------------------------

Photos:

1) Group photo;

2) From left to right: WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya, Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga, and Commissioner of the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) Andreas Tallai.
Under the auspices of the WCO Vice Chair for East and Southern Africa (ESA) region and the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) of the region, and with the support of Mauritius Revenue Administration (MRA), a series of meetings were successfully carried out in Port Louis, Mauritius, from 3 to 11 November 2016.

The Heads of Regional Training Centers (RTC) held their half-year meeting, incorporating the, 25th Regional Steering Group (RSG) meeting. This was followed by a two day session for the Working Group (WG) on Regional Strategy Development.

The ESA RTC Heads meeting took note of several outcomes, which were formulated in the form of recommendations to the RSG. In summary, the meeting noted that a number of activities had taken place as reported in the RTCs action reports. A common challenge of the RTCs is related to funding, and that issue should be mitigated to enable them to fund their programmes. The participants agreed that the roles of the RTCs go beyond hosting regional activities and called upon each RTC to actively position themselves as leaders in their respective areas as Centers of Excellence and as such supporting the various Members allocated to each RTC.

With respect of the RSG, the meeting explored the status of the Decisions of the 21st Governing Council held during the month of May this year in Lesotho. The RTC Heads noted with satisfaction the pre-launch of the new WCO ESA ROCB website and the support provided by CCF Korea. They acknowledged the publication "Trade Facilitation in East and Southern Africa" from the 1st Regional Research Conference to researchers.

The WG for the development of a new Regional Strategy and Implementation Plan focused their efforts on revising the strategic objectives taking into account current & emerging issues such as, among others, the Trade Facilitation Agreement, Digital Customs, Illicit trade, and Customs and Tax Cooperation.

Several activities linked to the agendas of the regional economic communities were identified by the WG. This will facilitate Members involvement in the development of the strategy while reducing the risk of duplication of activities.

The WG agreed that further work should be carried out by a Strategy Virtual WG, in order to support the continuous progress of a comprehensive strategy.
The following companies are subsidiares of NOV: APL France SAS, APL Norway AS, APL do Brasil Ltda., ASEP Otomotiv Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Acker Holdings LLC, Ackerman Holdings C.V., Ackerman Holdings GP LLC, Advanced Production and Loading, Advanced Wirecloth S. de R.L. de C.V., American Pipe and Construction International, Ameron B.V., Ameron International, Ameron International Corporation, Ameron Pole Products LLC, Ameron Polyplaster Industria E Comercio de Tubos Ltda., Ameron Singapore Holding LLC, Andergauge Limited, Andergauge Redback LLC, Arabian Rig Manufacturing Company, Big Red Tubulars Limited, Bondstrand Ltd., Brandt Oilfield Services (M) Sdn. Bhd., C.M.A. Canavera S.R.L., CJSC Fidmash, CJSC Novmash, Chemineer Inc., Coil Services Middle East LLC, Cooperatie Intelliserv Holding U.A., Cooperatie NOV NL U.A., Danco AS, Elmar Far East Pty Ltd, Enerflow Industries, Environmental Procedures LLC, Fiber Glass Systems (Qingdao) Composite Piping Co. Ltd., Fiber Glass Systems L.P., Fiber Glass Systems Oman L.L.C., Fiberspar, Fiberspar Australia Pty. Ltd., Fibra Ingenieria y Construccion S.A., FidService LLC, Fjords Processing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fjords Processing AS, Fjords Processing Australia Pty Ltd, Fjords Processing France SAS, Fjords Processing Korea Co. Ltd., Fjords Processing Limited, Fjords Processing Middle East DMCC, Fjords Processing UK Ltd., Fryma S.a.r.l., GPEX L.P., Grant Prideco (Jiangsu) Drilling Products Co. Ltd, Grant Prideco (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Grant Prideco III C. V., Grant Prideco Inc., Grant Prideco Jersey Limited, Grant Prideco Mauritius Limited, Grant Prideco Netherlands B.V., Grant Prideco PC Composites Holdings LLC, Grant Prideco S. de R.L. de C.V., Grant Prideco de Venezuela S.A., GustoMSC B.V., Hebei Huayouyiji Tuboscope Coating Co. Ltd., Hydralift AmClyde Inc., Hydralift France SAS, Inspecciones y Pruebas No Destructivas S. de R.L. de C.V., IntelliServ Norway AS, Intelliserv GP Holdings LLC, Intelliserv Inc., Intelliserv International Holding Ltd, Intelliserv LLC, JiangYin Tuboscope Tubular Development Co. Ltd, Keystone Tower Systems Inc., MSI Pipe Protection Technologies UK Limited, Merpro Group Limited, Midsund Bruk AS, Mono Group Pension Trustees Limited, Mono Pumps New Zealand Company, Monoflo NOV S.A.I.C., Moyno Inc., NKT Flexibles I/S, NOV (Asia) Inc., NOV (Barbados) Holding SRL, NOV (Barbados) SRL, NOV (Caymans) Ltd., NOV (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., NOV - Oil Services Angola LDA., NOV APL Limited, NOV Africa Pty Ltd, NOV Australia Pty Ltd, NOV Azerbaijan LLC, NOV Brandt Europe France, NOV Brandt Oilfield Services Middle East LLC, NOV CAPS Pte. Ltd., NOV CV1 GP LLC, NOV CV2 GP LLC, NOV Canada ULC, NOV Completion Tools LLC, NOV Completion and Production Solutions Korea Ltd., NOV Denmark Cooperatief U.A., NOV Downhole Argentina LLC, NOV Downhole Bolivia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Colombia LLC, NOV Downhole Comercializacao de Equipamentos para Petroleo Ltda., NOV Downhole Congo LLC, NOV Downhole Eurasia Limited, NOV Downhole Italia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Kazakhstan LLC, NOV Downhole Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Downhole Pty Ltd, NOV Downhole Thailand LLC, NOV EU Acquisition SNC, NOV Elmar (Middle East) Limited, NOV Eurasia Holding LLC, NOV Expatriate Services Inc., NOV FGS Malaysia Sdn Bhd, NOV FGS Singapore (Pte.) Ltd, NOV Flexibles Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Flexibles Holding ApS, NOV Fluid Control B.V., NOV GEO GP LLC, NOV GEO LP1 C.V., NOV GEO LP1 LLC, NOV GEO LP2 C.V., NOV GEO LP2 LLC, NOV Gabon SARL, NOV Germany GmbH, NOV Germany Holding GmbH, NOV Ghana Limited, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Equipment Manufacturing LLC, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Products Middle East FZE, NOV Grant Prideco L.L.C., NOV Holding Danmark ApS, NOV Holding Sub UK 1 Limited, NOV Holding UK 1 Limited, NOV Holding UK 2 Limited, NOV Holdings B.V., NOV India Private Limited, NOV Intelliserv UK Limited, NOV International Holdings C.V., NOV International Holdings GP LLC, NOV International Holdings LLC, NOV Intervention & Stimulation Equipment US LLC, NOV Intervention and Stimulation Equipment  Aftermarket Comercio de Equipamentos e Servicos Ltda., NOV Kenya Limited, NOV Kostroma LLC, NOV Kuwait Light & Heavy Equipment Repairing & Maintenance Co., NOV LP (Trading) LLC, NOV MFG India Private Limited, NOV Mexico Holding LLC, NOV Middle East FZCO, NOV Mozambique Limitada, NOV NL Mexico Holding B.V., NOV Oil & Gas Services Egypt (S.A.E), NOV Oil & Gas Services Senegal S.A.R.L., NOV Oil & Gas Services Uganda Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Ghana Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Nigeria Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Tanzania Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Vostok LLC, NOV Oilfield Solutions Ltd., NOV Park II B.V., NOV Process & Flow Technologies AS, NOV Process & Flow Technologies Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies Pte. Ltd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies UK Limited, NOV QFZ LLC, NOV Rig Solutions Pte. Ltd., NOV Romania LLC, NOV Saudi Arabia Co. Ltd., NOV Saudi Arabia Trading Co., NOV Services Ltd., NOV Servicios de Personal Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., NOV Tanajib Kuwait for Services and Maintenance of Oil Rigs Refineries and Petrochemicals W.L.L., NOV Tuboscope Italia S.R.L., NOV Tuboscope Middle East LLC, NOV Tuboscope NL B.V., NOV Tubulars and Connectors Ltd., NOV UK (Angola Acquisitions) Limited, NOV UK Finance Limited, NOV UK Holdings LLC, NOV UK Holdings Limited, NOV UK Korea LP, NOV Wellbore Technologies Norway LLC, NOV Wellbore Technologies do Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Wellsite Services Germany GmbH, NOV Worldwide B.V., NOV-BLM SAS, NOVM Holding LLC, NOW International LLC, NOW Nova Scotia Holdings LLC, NOW Oilfield Services LLC, NQL Holland B.V., National Oilwell (U.K.) Limited, National Oilwell Algerie, National Oilwell Varco (Beijing) Investment Management Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco (Thailand) Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Algeria, National Oilwell Varco Almansoori Services, National Oilwell Varco Bahrain WLL, National Oilwell Varco Belgium SA, National Oilwell Varco Denmark I/S, National Oilwell Varco Egypt LLC, National Oilwell Varco Eurasia LLC, National Oilwell Varco Guatemala Limitada, National Oilwell Varco Guyana Inc., National Oilwell Varco Hungary Limited Liability Company, National Oilwell Varco Korea Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco L.P., National Oilwell Varco MSW S.A., National Oilwell Varco Mexico S.A. de C.V., National Oilwell Varco Muscat L.L.C., National Oilwell Varco Norway AS, National Oilwell Varco Peru S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Petroleum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Poland Sp.z.o.o., National Oilwell Varco Pte. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Rig Equipment Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Romania S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Solutions S.A. de C.V., National Oilwell Varco UK Limited, National Oilwell Varco Ukraine LLC, National Oilwell Varco de Bolivia S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco de Chile - Servicios Limitada, National Oilwell Varco do Brasil Ltda., National Oilwell de Venezuela C.A., National-Oilwell Pte. Ltd., National-Oilwell Pty. Ltd., PT Fjords Processing Indonesia, PT H-Tech Oilfield Equipment, PT NOV Oilfield Services, PT National Oilwell Varco, PT PROFAB INDONESIA, Pesaka Inspection Services SDN.BHD., Pipex Limited, Pipex PX Limited, Pridecomex Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., R&M Energy Systems Australia Pty Ltd, R&M Energy Systems de Argentina S.A., R&M Energy Systems de Venezuela C.A., R&M Singapore Holding LLC, RE.MAC.UT. S.r.l., RHI Holding LLC, ReedHycalog International Holding LLC, ReedHycalog L.P., ReedHycalog LLC, ReedHycalog UK Limited, Robannic Overseas Finance A.V.V., Robbins & Myers B.V., Robbins & Myers Foundation, Robbins & Myers GP LLC, Robbins & Myers Holdings LLC, Robbins & Myers Holdings UK Limited, Robbins & Myers Inc, Robbins & Myers Inc., Robbins & Myers Italia S.R.L., Robbins & Myers N.V., Rodic S.A. de C.V., Romaco S.a.r.l., STAR Sudamtex Tubulares S.A., STSA, Screen Manufacturing Company Unlimited, Slip Clutch Systems Limited, South Seas Inspection, Subseaflex Holding ApS, T-3 Energy Preferred Industries Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., T-3 Energy Services Cayman Holdings Ltd., T-3 Energy Services Cayman Ltd., T-3 Energy Services LLC, T-3 Energy Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., T-3 Investment Corporation IV, T-3 Mexican Holdings Inc., Telluride Insurance Limited, Tianjin Grant TPCO Drilling Tools Company Limited, Tuboscope & Co. LLC, Tuboscope (Holding U.S.) LLC, Tuboscope Brandt de Venezuela S.A., Tuboscope Norge AS, Tuboscope Vetco (France) SAS, Tuboscope Vetco (Osterreich) GmbH, Tuboscope Vetco Capital Limited, Tuboscope Vetco Moscow CJSC, Tuboscope Vetco de Argentina S.A., Tubular Coatings Solutions Ltd., Tucom Composites Polyester Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Urban WLY LP, Varco BJ B.V., Varco CIS LLC, Varco International de Venezuela C.A., Varco L.P., Varco US Holdings LLC, Vetco Enterprise GmbH, Vetco Saudi Arabia Ltd., Visible Assets Inc., Wilson International, Woolley Inc., XL Systems Antilles N.V., XL Systems Europe B.V., XL Systems International Inc., voestalpine Tubulars Corporation, voestalpine Tubulars GmbH, and voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG.

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AutoZone, Inc. retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company offers various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Its products include A/C compressors, batteries and accessories, bearings, belts and hoses, calipers, chassis, clutches, CV axles, engines, fuel pumps, fuses, ignition and lighting products, mufflers, radiators, starters and alternators, thermostats, and water pumps, as well as tire repairs. In addition, the company offers maintenance products, such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluids; brake drums, rotors, shoes, and pads; brake and power steering fluids, and oil and fuel additives; oil and transmission fluids; oil, cabin, air, fuel, and transmission filters; oxygen sensors; paints and accessories; refrigerants and accessories; shock absorbers and struts; spark plugs and wires; and windshield wipers. Further, it provides air fresheners, cell phone accessories, drinks and snacks, floor mats and seat covers, interior and exterior accessories, mirrors, performance products, protectants and cleaners, sealants and adhesives, steering wheel covers, stereos and radios, tools, and wash and wax products, as well as towing services. Additionally, the company provides a sales program that offers commercial credit and delivery of parts and other products; sells automotive diagnostic and repair software under the ALLDATA brand through alldata.com; and automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products through autozone.com. As of August 27, 2022, it operated 6,168 stores in the United States; 703 stores in Mexico; and 72 stores in Brazil. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee.
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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State Street Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. The company offers investment servicing products and services, including custody; product accounting; daily pricing and administration; master trust and master custody; depotbank services; record-keeping; cash management; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance and enhanced custody products; deposit and short-term investment facilities; loans and lease financing; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk, and compliance analytics; and financial data management to support institutional investors. It also engages in the provision of portfolio management and risk analytics, as well as trading and post-trade settlement services with integrated compliance and managed data. In addition, the company offers investment management strategies and products, such as core and enhanced indexing, multi-asset strategies, active quantitative and fundamental active capabilities, and alternative investment strategies. Further, it provides services and solutions, including environmental, social, and governance investing; defined benefit and defined contribution; and global fiduciary solutions, as well as exchange-traded fund under the SPDR ETF brand. The company provides its products and services to mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, and investment managers. State Street Corporation was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
Image: Bahamasb2b

by Rick Lowe

Gowon Bowe, Chairman of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, has reportedly stated that the government's new tax compliance initiative would "assist in increasing annual revenue, decreasing annual deficits and generating annual surpluses."

Cast your mind back to 2014 and very similar, if not the same arguments were put forward about VAT when the Bahamas Chamber and other groups went along with the implementation of a Value Added Tax at 7.5% (instead of the proposed 15%).

A year and a half in, VAT has hampered economic growth and many believe it has exacerbated the wasteful spending by a government that now appears even more cash strapped than before VAT was introduced.

This points to the core issue with the country's fiscal problems: Spending, waste, "leakage" (read theft of tax dollars) and an ever growing monolith of power and regulations.

No obvious steps have been taken by the government to hold the line on spending since VAT was introduced. Instead they argue that controlling their inflated budgets (note this is not even suggesting a 5% decrease in spending) to compensate for slower economic growth would be detrimental. Presumably they think the burgeoning deficits and debt are not harmful.

It is cause for concern when the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce gives up on sound fiscal principles in order to go along to get a long with the party in power.

The argument that the result of taxing people more will "assist in increasing annual revenue, decreasing annual deficits and generating annual surpluses" is specious based on the governments fiscal track record. The trend line of the debt and deficits over 40 years - which includes many tax increases along the way - casts a long shadow of doubt on this reasoning.

There is also no guarantee that increasing taxes will increase revenue in a declining economy. Higher taxes might slow economic growth even more.

Yes, we've seen this movie before and the outcome is not very pleasant so far.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Nov. 24, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 24, 2016 | 10:35 AM | PADUCAH, KY

A Paducah man faces a long list of charges, after a traffic stop Wednesday night turned into a police pursuit.



The McCracken County Sheriff's Department says a deputy spotted a driver acting suspiciously at around 11:30 pm, pulling in and out of several closed businesses in the area of Bridge Street and Husband Road. The deputy pulled over the driver, 34-year-old Robert Garnett of Paducah, and discovered Garnett was driving under the influence.



As Garnett was being placed under arrest, he attempted to flee onto Irvin Cobb Drive, but the deputy was able to take him into custody. A search or Garnetts vehicle reportedly revealed an open alcohol container, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and prescription drugs. Garnett was placed under arrest and taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail.



Deputies said Garnett was able free himself from the handcuffs and escape as they arrived at the jail. A foot chase ensued, and Garnett stole a running vehicle at a nearby home and fled the scene. Garnett reportedly hit a deputy as he was fleeing in the vehicle.



The stolen vehicle was located a short time later and Garnett was apprehended on the following charges:



operating a motor vehicle under the influence of Alcohol/drugs/ect. 3rd off (aggravated) (2 counts), possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia  buy/possess, possession of controlled substance, 3rd Degree  drug unspecified, fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (on foot), driving on a DUI suspended license  1st offence (aggravated) (2 counts), possession of open alcoholic beverage container in motor vehicle prohibited, theft by unlawful taking or disp. All others, under $500, theft by unlawful taking or disp. Auto, $500 or more but under $10,000, escape 2nd degree, assault 3rd degree  police officer, fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (motor vehicle), resisting arrest, and disregarding stop sign (3 counts).
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Nov. 23, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 23, 2016 | 12:49 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The most advanced weather satellite ever built rocketed into space Saturday night, part of an $11 billion effort to revolutionize forecasting and save lives.



After it reaches its final designated orbit in the next two weeks, GOES-R will be renamed GOES-16. The new satellite will become operational within a year, after undergoing a checkout and validation of its six new instruments, including the first operational lightning mapper in geostationary orbit.



Forecasters will use the lightning mapper to hone in on storms that represent the greatest threats. The satellites primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, will provide images of Earths weather, oceans and environment with 16 different spectral bands, including two visible channels, four near-infrared channels, and 10 infrared channels.



Science Officer Pat Spoden of the National Weather Service office in Paducah said it's going to revolutionize forecasting, and they will know even more when the satellite is in place and they can do some testing with the data they receive.



"Now we get a picture maybe once every 5 minutes that's already 7 minutes old or longer. Now we're gonna get 1-minute data that's only 90 seconds old. In a severe weather phase there's a big difference between 90 seconds and 7 minutes," Spoden said.



Faster and more frequent data hopefully means increased safety for everyone.



Spoden said, "We're gonna be able to see individual updrafts. We're gonna be able to see when - we think at least in some cases - when the storms are becoming severe, and maybe get warnings out sooner than we do now. Now when you're looking at RADAR, it's kind of happening. Can we get to the point where we're looking at it before it happens? That's our goal."



In all, data from GOES-R will result in 34 new or improved meteorological, solar and space weather products.



It's something meteorologists have been waiting for since 2007, when NOAA began to award contracts for the project. Three satellites currently handle weather information, and are nearing the end of their life span. If more than one of them fails, the nation could be missing critical weather data.



There are four satellites that will eventually be launched in the GOES-R series: R, S, T and U, which will extend NOAAs geostationary coverage through 2036.
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This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Internationally acclaimed novelist and Manitoba native Miriam Toews was awarded $50,000 Wednesday night in Toronto as the winner of the Writers Trust Fellowship.

She is the second winner of the fellowship, awarded by the Writers Trust of Canada, which will announce a third winner next year for a total of $150,000 awarded. The first winner was novelist and poet Michael Crummey of Newfoundland.

The fellowship was created to assist writers financially by providing a window in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible, a media release said.

CAROL LOEWEN / HANDOUT / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Miriam Toews

Im deeply, deeply grateful and honoured to be selected for the Writers Trust Fellowship, especially considering the astounding literary talent in Canada, Toews said in a statement. The fellowship affords me an extravagant amount of time to write, and time is the most meaningful gift a writer can receive.

As part of the fellowship, Toews has been invited to attend a two-week, self-directed residency at the Leighton Artists Colony at The Banff Centre.

Toews, best known for her novels A Complicated Kindness and All My Puny Sorrows, received the fellowship at the Writers Trust Gala at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Toronto. The event was a black-tie fundraiser attended by more than 400 guests, including more than 50 guest authors.

The Writers Trust is thrilled to welcome Miriam Toews into the burgeoning community of Writers Trust Fellows, Mary Osborne, executive director of the trust, said in a press release.

Miriam is beloved by readers and fellow writers alike for writing with honesty, a unique sense of humour, and heart. We are honoured to support her work, and look forward to reading and sharing the many stories we hope are yet to come.

Toews, who lives in Toronto, was born and raised in Steinbach. She has written six novels and one work of non-fiction. Toews has previously won the Governor Generals Literary Award, twice won the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize, and has won the Writers Trust Engel/Findley Award. Her novel A Complicated Kindness won the 2006 edition of CBC Canada Reads. She was awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize last month in recognition of her advocacy for the mentally ill and support for young writers.

The news release said the Writers Trust Fellowship was created to identify and support the leading Canadian writers of our time. Toews was selected under the criteria of being a writer who has demonstrated exceptional creative ability and outstanding promise in their publications to date.

The event, which was hosted by comedian and author Ron Tite, annually raises more than $200,000 to support Writers Trust programming.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The longest-serving employee of the longest-running land duty-free shop in Canada was recently honoured in Toronto.

Carolyn Schwark, from the Emerson Duty Free Shop, won the 2016 Outstanding Land Border Duty Free Employee Award for her 32 years of service. Schwark was nominated by her fellow employees.

The Emerson shop was the first land border duty-free store in the country when it opened 34 years ago. Schwark was presented her award by the Frontier Duty Free Association. Also attending the gala last week were store owners/operators Michael and Simon Resch.
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This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister has challenged the federal Liberals to restore trust and certainty within Manitobas aerospace industry.

Pallister was primarily talking about the Trudeau governments failure to build a factory of the future  a high-tech research and development project in Winnipeg, which the premier said has been in development since 2011  and is underway in Ontario and Quebec.

But media also prodded Pallister to discuss sudden changes this week in Ottawas defence policy. The federal government announced Tuesday it plans to buy 18 Super Hornets  upgraded versions of the outdated CF-18 fighter jets  while delaying the purchase of F-35 fighters.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS From left: St. James MLA Scott Johnston, Wendell Wiebe with the Manitoba Aerospace Association, Premier Brian Pallister, WestCaRD's Bob Hastings, Trade Minister Cliff Cullen and Deputy Premier Heather Stefanson.

We need certainty, Pallister said. Well continue to pursue additional clarity. There is greater uncertainty in the aerospace industry than there was days ago.

The premier scaled back his words and tone from his harsh criticism Tuesday of Ottawas decision, which he had initially said would hurt Winnipegs economy. Pallister singled out Magellan Aerospace on Tuesday, which has invested tens of millions of dollars to manufacture parts for the F-35.

There are many things that arent good. Well leave it at that, Pallister said Thursday. I wont go into that topic today not to allow ourselves to be divided. I want to work in partnership with people; to have a partnership, you need trust.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told the Free Press Wednesday the decision on fighter jets is good news for the city; that Ottawa is not pulling out of acquiring F-35s and Winnipeg will benefit from Canadas purchase of 18 additional CF-18s.

This is very good news for Winnipeg given that Boeing has a substantial footprint in Winnipeg, Sajjan said.

No contracts are in place yet, but Sajjan said Boeing will benefit and, since three-quarters of its Canadian workforce is in Winnipeg, the city will benefit too.

He said existing contracts with Magellan Aerospace on the F-35s are not in jeopardy because Canada isnt pulling out of that program.

The Winnipeg division of Magellan Aerospace is the largest Canadian structural supplier to Lockheed Martins F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Its production facility produces horizontal tail assemblies for the conventional take-off and landing variant of the F-35.

Pallister said Thursday he would not expect Sajjan to disagree publicly with his own governments decisions.

The premier met for 90 minutes Thursday with leaders of Manitobas aerospace industry, something the premiers staff said had been scheduled some time ago to discuss the factory of the future.

Aerospace executives were seated behind Pallister at his news conference, but they werent introduced. There was no comment from Magellan representatives or from Boeing, which build the CF-18s at plants in the U.S.

Pallister wanted to focus on the factory project, which he said has shovels in the ground in Ottawa and London, Ont., and in a Montreal suburb.

Theyve left out one area of the country, Winnipeg, he said. Youll need to get answers from them  Ive been unable. Weve had virtually no measurable response, except verbiage.

Bob Hastings, CEO of Winnipeg-based research and development company WestCaRD, told the news conference the project is intended to produce the next generation of technological innovation. The extension of the program here was expected to include construction of an 80,000-square-foot building for research and development located near the Richardson International Airport, he said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman is leading a delegation of local business people on a six-day trip in Toronto.

Bowman will be accompanying a delegation from Economic Development Winnipeg for the Nov. 23 to 28 tour that his office said will include meetings with Canada Goose, the Omega Foundation, IBM, Toronto Pearson West Cargo, the National Angel Capital Organization and Johnson and Johnson.

While Bowman did not mention his six-day visit to Toronto when he spoke to reporters earlier Wednesday, a statement released by his office later said the tour is part of his 2014 election campaign commitment to showcase Winnipeg on the national and international stage.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Brian Bowman

We continue to see reports praising the momentum of Winnipegs innovation, technology and tourism sectors, Bowman said in a statement released by his office. Learning the experiences of businesses and organizations in Toronto will not only help our sectors continue to grow but also identify ways in which we can collaborate to increase investment in Winnipeg.

Bowman will also be meeting with Toronto mayor John Tory and will give a keynote address to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law on appropriate responses to the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fentanyl test kits removed from a pharmacys shelves may not be 100 per cent accurate, but they could help prevent deaths, a Winnipeg pharmacist says.

Michael Watts started selling the kits at Brothers Pharmacy on Selkirk Avenue in late October but removed them within days after the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba ordered him to.

Since then, at least five people in Winnipeg have died from suspected fentanyl overdoses.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Owner of Brothers Pharmacy Mike Watts with the fentanyl testing strips.

The college has not changed its opinion on the matter.

The college said its concerned about the accuracy of the test kits, which are used in B.C.

Health Canada has approved the $10 kits for detecting fentanyl in urine, but not in street drugs such as cocaine or crystal meth.

The college fears the tests could give false negatives by missing the presence of fentanyl. A false negative will incite an addict to increase a drug dosage out of a false sense of security, according to the college.

It comes down to policy-makers being naive about what false negative would do to a user, Watts said.

A false negative does not lead to more drug being used whereas a positive could lead to fewer deaths. Were dealing with policy-makers who dont understand the nature of the beast, Watts said.

He said a false negative means the addict will only take the drug in the normal dosage.

Its frustrating. Everyones just worried about liability.

In a statement, the college said its seeking more information from the manufacturer, Health Canada and colleagues in B.C., where Insite, a safe-injection site, uses the kits to test drugs for opioids.

At Insite, a small amount of street drug is mixed with water, and narrow strips of paper change colour if the opioid is present. That was how Watts was selling it.

Watts has been told a drug such as cocaine is cut with fentanyl because the opioid is cheaper. So drug users end up taking the potentially lethal opioid without knowing it.

Watts has no plans to defy the college.

Brothers Pharmacy will use the kit to test a urine sample if someone believes they have taken fentanyl.

Weve had two or three people come in, Watts said.

 staff
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This article was published 23/11/2016 (2170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tina Fontaines accused killer made an appearance in provincial court Wednesday in relation to his Law Enforcement Review Agency complaint against the Winnipeg Police Service.

Raymond Cormier, 54, alleges police engaged in a clear and malicious act to deliberately manufacture and fabricate false evidence in an attempt to establish a link between me, the murder suspect, with Miss Tina Fontaine, according to the complaint obtained by CBC Manitoba.

The complaint, filed in June, was rejected as beyond the agencys scope. He is appealing the decision in court.

Raymond Cormier

Cormier appeared via videolink dressed in a grey T-shirt before provincial court Judge Ryan Rolston. Crown counsel Devin Johnston asked Cormier if he was able to retain counsel  the reason his earlier court appearance was adjourned.

A fired-up Cormier said it has been a headache to find a lawyer and Legal Aid denied his requests for a specific lawyer.

He said hes unable to follow through with his LERA complaint until he receives the disclosure from his second-degree murder charge in the case of 15-year-old Tina.

Johnston pointed to a possible issue with the LERA case, telling court he doesnt know who the officers (involved in Cormiers case) are.

LERA cannot hold a hearing without the police officers there, said Paul McKenna of Myers Weinberg, who is representing the Winnipeg Police Association. Their rights would be at play.

Cormier was asked Wednesday if he would consider representing himself, but he told the court his Grade 4 education would make it a bit difficult.

He said he wants to have a different lawyer for his criminal trial.

The case was adjourned to January in order for Cormier to obtain counsel.

Cormier told CBC his arrest was the product of a Mr. Big sting operation, which is when undercover police elicit a confession from a suspect by creating a fake criminal organization and seducing the suspect into joining it.

The Free Press spoke with someone well-briefed on the case, who said the covert operation was not the most crucial part of the evidence against Cormier.

This isnt a Mr. Big case thats not how the Crown is making the case, the source said.

Cormier was arrested in September 2015 and charged with second-degree murder in Tinas August 2014 slaying.

The teen from Sagkeeng First Nation was reported missing in Winnipeg Aug. 9. Her remains were discovered in the Red River on Aug. 17.

 with files from Gordon Sinclair Jr.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/11/2016 (2170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Canadas defence minister says Manitobas concerns that Ottawas decision to negotiate the purchase of 18 fighter jets from Boeing will negatively affect the province are misplaced.

Harjit Sajjan told the Free Press Wednesday it was surprising to hear Premier Brian Pallister say the governments plans would have a severe negative impact on Manitoba.

This is very good news for Winnipeg, Sajjan said.

SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan attends a news conference on fighter jets in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Pallisters comments came after the federal government announced Tuesday a multi-pronged process to replace Canadas aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets. It includes negotiating with Boeing to buy 18 of that companys Super Hornet fighter jets as an interim stop gap measure, launching an open and transparent competition for new fighter planes to permanently replace all of the CF-18s, and maintaining Canadas role in the Joint Strike Fighter program developing F-35 fighter jets. There will also have to be investments made in the CF-18s to extend their lifespan even longer.

Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of defence staff, said Canadas CF-18s are already in such poor shape Canada cant meet its commitments to NATO or the North American Aerospace Defence Command. The Liberal government decided since the competition for new planes could take up to five years, Canada needs to buy some new planes immediately.

The Super Hornets, an upgraded version of the CF-18s, are the governments first choice for the first planes, although how much it will pay is still to be determined, and it is receiving heavy criticism for the sole-source contracting.

Sajjan, however, said Manitoba will be happy with the result.

This is very good news for Winnipeg given that Boeing has a substantial footprint in Winnipeg, said Sajjan.

There are no specific contracts in place yet but Sajjan said Boeing will put industrial benefits in Canada and since three-quarters of Boeings Canadian workforce is in Winnipeg, the citys aerospace sector will be positively affected.

The existing contracts with Magellan Aerospace on the F-35s are not in jeopardy because Canada isnt pulling out of that program. Also, Sajjan said since Canada has to upgrade its existing CF-18s, CFB Winnipeg stands to benefit from that.

Manitoba has quite the sore spot when it comes to federal defence fighter jet contracts, given the politically motivated decision of the former government of Brian Mulroney in the 1980s to award a 20-year contract for maintenance on the CF-18 fleet to Quebec-based Canadair, despite a lower and superior bid by Winnipegs Bristol Aerospace.

The Winnipeg division of Magellan Aerospace is the largest Canadian structural supplier to Lockheed Martins F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It has invested tens of millions of dollars in a production facility specifically to produce horizontal tail assemblies for the conventional take-off and landing variant of the F-35.

Sajjan said Wednesday Canadas participation in the F-35 program is not tied to procurement, but Scott McCrady, Magellans corporate F-35 program director and the chairman of the Canadian JSF Industrial Group, has said in the past that future work will become uncertain if the Canadian government decides not to buy the F-35.

Pallister is set to meet Tuesday with local aerospace officials and plans to raise his concerns directly with Ottawa as well.

Manitobas government remains concerned about the potential impact of yesterdays federal announcement on our provinces aerospace industry as well as the lack of dialogue with local industry regarding the decision, Pallister said in a statement. This has created significant uncertainty within an industry that is vital to Manitobas economy.

 with files from Martin Cash and Larry Kusch

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/11/2016 (2170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The only man to survive one of three suspected fentanyl overdose cases in the city last weekend is reported to be improving in hospital.

The 21-year-old is now in stable condition, Winnipeg police said Wednesday.

Emergency personnel discovered the individual along with a 22-year-old man after responding to a medical distress call from 67 Kinlock Lane Sunday night. Illegal drugs were found in the upscale Richmond West rental home, located near the University of Manitoba, leading to speculation the men were students.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Emergency personnel wrap up their day-long search of 67 Kinlock Lane in Richmond West Tuesday.

The 22 year-old man died. Earlier on Sunday, a man in his 30s was found dead at the Mariaggi Hotel in the Exchange District in another suspected fentanyl overdose case.

Manitoba has recorded at least two dozen deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016  nine confirmed to be caused by or related to fentanyl, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen told the legislature Tuesday afternoon.

The confirmed deaths occurred in the first five months of 2016, Goertzen said.

The province recorded 20 such deaths a year earlier.

This number is expected to go up, the health minister said this week. Sadly, we know as the toxicology reports come back from other overdose cases, this number will almost certainly be higher than in previous years.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobas child-poverty rate is the highest in Canada for the second straight year, a national report card released Thursday reveals.

The Campaign 2000 report, A Road Map to Eradicate Child and Family Poverty, examined the most recent data available, collected from 2014. The corresponding Manitoba Child and Family Poverty Report Card 2016  released by Winnipeg Harvest  shows one in 3.5 children in the province are living in poverty.

The troubling data show the number grew from 23 per cent in 1989 to 29 per cent in 2014, the highest of any province, and exceeded only by the territory of Nunavut.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sid Frankel, author, Child and Family Poverty Report Card 2016, at a Winnipeg Harvest hosted symposium about family poverty and basic income Thursday morning.

Sid Frankel, the provincial reports author and an associate professor of social work at the University of Manitoba, said the one-in-3.5 statistic translates to 85,110 children in Manitoba, and the provinces deep poverty rate is 10.5 per cent above the national 18.5 rate

Last year we described child and family poverty in Manitoba as a crisis, which has become a chronic nightmare, he said, speaking at the Basic Income Symposium at the U of M. In 2014, the nightmare continued.

The data show that more than 62 per cent of Manitoba children in single-parent families live in poverty, the highest rate of all provinces and territories and 16.6 percent above the national rate.

Manitoba has the distinction of having the highest indigenous child-poverty levels in the country, 76 per cent (or) more than three-quarters of children living in First Nations communities in Manitoba are poor, Frankel said. And 39 per cent of indigenous children living outside the First Nations communities are poor.

Joy Black, a single mother of a 16-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, spoke Thursday about the daily struggle and emotional toll that poverty takes on families. Her son has been diagnosed with several medical conditions, making it difficult for her to find and keep a job.

My experience living in poverty is having to say no to them a lot, Black said.

She said feeding her family, even with food-bank support, is a daily challenge and theres never enough money. She described a constant and humiliating search for funding assistance for every extra-curricular or school activity.

Some days you just want to go curl up and pull the covers over your head and hide from the world, Black said, adding she escaped an abusive relationship and is raising her children alone.

My children are lucky in that I have a strong focus on their education and I have been telling them if you do good in school, you go on after. You go to university, you take a trade, you do something so you dont have to stay living like this, she said.

Manitoba also has the highest rate of all provinces of child poverty in two-parent families at 18.5 per cent, also higher than the national rate.

Food bank use, included in the report from the Hunger Count 2016 by Food Banks Canada, showed Manitoba second overall with 8.9 per cent of all children in families using food banks. Only Newfoundland and Labrador (10.8 per cent) was higher.

The report calls for the provincial government to make good on Premier Brian Pallisters campaign and victory speech promises to set child-poverty reduction targets in a plan with a timeline.

Were disappointed that now two throne speeches have not contained that plan, Frankel said.

The province did not respond publicly Thursday.

Other recommendations in the report included increases and improvements to the Manitoba Child Benefit, developing a plan to reduce child poverty in indigenous communities, increasing the supply of well-paying, non-precarious full-time jobs and increasing the minimum wage to $15.53 per hour, as recommended by Make Poverty History Manitoba.

Another solution addressed in the report was a basic income for all families, noting that the current welfare system is inadequate and those government income transfers lift fewer children out of poverty than any other province or territory.

The reports child-poverty rates are based on Statistic Canadas Low Income Measure After Tax, which takes into account household size and income. In Blacks case, the LIM-AT for a single parent with two children is $30,301.

I dont even come close to that. If I got that, it would make a huge difference in our lives, she said.

Frankel said most Manitoba families living in poverty are between $12,000 and $13,000 below the LIM-AT poverty threshold.

In 1989, the government of Canada in the House of Commons passed a unanimous motion to end child poverty by the year 2000.

To see current report, go to campaign2000.ca.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca

campaign2000.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A country store on the north shore of Ontarios Lake Huron will sell you a pill press for $78.29, shipping included.

It takes three seconds flat to produce a 10-mm Aspirin-sized pill, the owner of Boomers Country Store in Bruce Mines boasts on eBay.ca. And the press comes with a free happy-face stamp to dress up the product.

That was just one of close to 1,300 pill press devices available Thursday on eBay, depending what words go in the search line  and anyone with a credit card can purchase one and itll show up in the mail or via courier in a few days.

EBAY Make pills in seconds flat one ad for a pill press says on eBay.

Manitoba New Democrats want Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen to ban the sale of pill presses as one way of slowing down the production, distribution and deadly consequences of fentanyl and other opioid drugs.

B.C. and Alberta have banned the sale of presses, NDP critic Matt Wiebe said.

This is the way to go in Manitoba, he said.

Goertzen said this week that Manitoba has confirmed nine fentanyl deaths among 24 opioid-related deaths in the first five months of 2016. There have been more suspected opioid-related deaths since then, including two last Sunday.

This is not just a crisis, it is a public-health emergency, Wiebe told the legislature Wednesday. The health minister is shirking responsibility for an out-of-control fentanyl crisis.

Goertzen told the legislature there is no point in a provincial ban on pill presses unless the federal government enacts a national ban.

We have been saying for several weeks there has to be restriction of pill presses in Canada. Drug dealers dont respect borders, Goertzen said. The former (NDP) government never talked about it  weve been on board for a long time.

Wiebe said some people use the presses legally to make supplements at home, which is the market Boomers Country Store is targeting with its offer on eBay.

When drug dealers use them there are no controls and no way to know whats in them, Wiebe said, echoing Goertzens frequent warning that people using drugs may be unaware theyre taking fentanyl.

The products available on eBay are unlikely to interest anyone beyond home-supplement hobbyists; most produce a single pill at a time.

They range from $46.66 for a product sold from Hong Kong to $2,290 for an offer from China.

Boomers Country Store points out its item is dishwasher safe, and illustrates its use with garlic cloves being transformed into pills.

Proclaims Boomers: Leaves no shavings or filings in your pill and will not mushroom or bend like lower-priced aluminum or brass punches. Just three sound hits on the top of the ram with your hammer and you have a pill in seconds!

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its not the great potato famine but the great spud glut.

A bountiful potato harvest in Manitoba this year smashed yield records for the second consecutive year.

Now, potato growers have to figure out what to do with their mountains of taters.

STAN WIEBE PHOTO

The excess totals about 100 million pounds  the equivalent of 1,300 semi-trailer loads  above what producers are contracted to sell to french fry processors McCain Foods and Simplot. Producers have been renting sheds and farm buildings around the countryside  especially near Carberry, where the crop is described as phenomenal  to store all those potatoes.

Its a good problem to have, said Chad Berry, president of the Keystone Potato Growers Association.

Its a great year. Everyone should be very happy, said Berry, who farms near Treherne. That is, so long as their fields didnt get too much rain.

Yields averaged 34,800 pounds of potatoes per acre for the processing market, (french fries). That cleared last years record 32,200 pounds. The total harvest was 1.68 billion pounds this year.

The smaller table potato market is a different beast. Its production is mainly in southern Manitoba, which didnt have the same climate as the Carberry-Portage la Prairie region, where french fry potatoes are grown.

The table potato production wasnt quite as large but was still probably the second- or third-largest crop ever, said Dave Whitmore, Peak of the Market vice-president of sales.

A longer growing season and moderate summer temperatures  excessive heat can damage potatoes  were the main reasons for the bumper crop of processing potatoes, Berry said.

Timely rains helped, although growers for the processing market have irrigation systems.

Stan Wiebe, who has grown potatoes for 37 years and has kept temperature and precipitation records for as long, said the growing season has been getting longer.

I would say potato farmers are planting at least a week earlier than 10 to 15 years ago, said Wiebe, a photographer with several public exhibits to his credit, who supplied the Free Press with some photos of his harvest this year.

Killing frosts in recent years have been holding off until well into October instead of late September, he said.

Wiebe thinks the climate variance is likely cyclical. Farmers are typically reluctant to credit global warming, he said, for fear such talk might trigger new policies that result in added costs.

STAN WIEBE PHOTO Potato pile in storage facility at Stan Wiebes farm near McGregor. Brenten Unrau operates the machine (called a bin piler) which puts the potatoes onto a pile in the potato storage where they are stored until McCains needs them for making them into french fries.

However, Wiebe has also grown corn the past 37 years and had his largest corn crop this year. Corn is another crop that requires a longer growing season.

As for the 100 million pounds of extra potatoes, they will be hard to sell and may be returned to the soil for their minimal nutrient value.

Growers sign annual contracts with McCain and Simplot, then try to manage production to hit those targets. Anything over their contract targets must be marketed elsewhere.

Growers dont like to waste food, but finding markets for so many extra potatoes will not be easy as capacity elsewhere is taken up by contracting, too. They might be able to sell some in North Dakota, which didnt have a great harvest, but would face strong American competition.

As for the local table market, its relatively small, and a different variety  Russet Burbank  is grown to make french fries. Some farmers will look to the dehydrated potato flakes market. There are flakes processors in Alberta and Minnesota, but freight costs can be higher than their discount prices.

Some farmers will unload potatoes on cattle feedlots, and some will be forced to bury them on fields, said Dan Sawatzky, Keystone Potato Growers Association manager.

About 1,300 acres of potatoes werent harvested this year because they were either flooded or farmers had no place to put them. Those fields are tilled and exposed potatoes will decompose by summer, Sawatzky said.

There are about 55 potato producers in Manitoba for the processing market.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week, the Canadian military told reporters our special forces operatives in northern Iraq have been involved in numerous firefights in recent weeks with the Islamic State group.

After photos appeared on Facebook showing Canadian soldiers firing anti-armour missiles on the front lines, it was not surprising that the Department of National Defence confirmed that Canadian forces had been involved in firefights.

According to Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, commander of the Canadian Special Operations Forces, there have been three separate occasions wherein our soldiers engaged IS would-be suicide bombers with sophisticated anti-armour missile systems.

FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Major General Mike Rouleau, the commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces, says Canada's troops are not engaged in offensive combat operations in Iraq.

For those who have been following the weeks-long allied offensive to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from IS, it is widely known they have employed a multitude of suicide car bombs.

The Kurds do not possess weapons like we have. So our three engagements with anti-armour weapon systems prevented that from happening several thousand metres before they wanted to detonate, Rouleau explained. So far, so good. Our commandos are blasting apart the IS bad guys on the battlefield.

But that sounds like combat and, as we have been repeatedly told by both the former Conservative government and the current Liberal government, Canada does not have a combat mandate in Iraq.

To make the distinction clear, Rouleau stressed to reporters that Canadian troops are not leading the fight, nor are they engaged in offensive combat operations. Digging himself in deeper, Rouleau added, We have never accompanied any leading combat elements. My troops have not been engaged in direct combat as a fighting element in offensive combat operations.

Huh? How can these Canadian soldiers firing anti-armour missiles not be with a leading combat element, if the only thing in front of them are the IS attackers?

As for offensive operations, the entire push into Mosul and the recapture of its surrounding villages is one massive offensive. The IS suicide vehicles are desperate counterattacks to slow down the allied advance.

It is a hell of a stretch of logic to push right up to the IS front lines and then proclaim your actions to be self-defence and, somehow, not combat.

Sticking to his guns, Rouleau tried to portray his soldiers actions as those of helpful bystanders who will engage IS with sniper fire or airstrikes to defend the Kurdish fighters they are supposed to be training.

From deliberately selected positions that maximize our utility to advancing Kurd forces, we have either defended ourselves, defended friendly forces, or defended civilians caught in the middle, Rouleau explained.

Forgetting the fact that Rouleaus statement of directly supporting advancing Kurd forces contradicts his earlier claim of having never accompanied any leading combat elements, it brings to mind the old axiom that if the enemy is within range of you, then you are within range of the enemy.

The crazy part of all of this is that most Canadians do not care that our special forces personnel are engaged in combat with IS, even though they do not have the mandate. IS is a group of mass murderers, rapists and perpetrators of attempted genocide.

There is no doubt a sense of perverse pride among the Colonel Blimp warmongers that Canada is actively engaged in this shooting war.

However, Canadian generals just wont admit it.

In my opinion, Canadian soldiers are not among the best in the world  they are the best. Our special forces operatives are undoubtedly a tremendous asset to the Kurdish forces they are supporting in battle.

I am also sure that several of our soldiers have performed acts of heroism that would be worthy of medals of valour.

However, due to the deliberate duplicity of our senior commanders in redefining the term combat in order to exceed their politically mandated advise and assist role, these soldiers are not getting full credit for their service.

We cant praise Canadian soldiers for their prowess in combat because, officially, they cannot be in combat.

Scott Taylor is the founder and publisher of Esprit de Corps Magazine. He is also a bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Opinion

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This article was published 24/11/2016 (2169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As soon as he takes power in January (if one can believe him), U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said he will pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is the free-trade agreement negotiated by U.S. President Barack Obama with Canada, Japan and nine other Pacific Rim countries. This grand gesture, perfectly consistent with Mr. Trumps election campaign promises, will do little damage because the treaty never took effect and employers have not organized their affairs around the opportunities it offers.

Mr. Trumps list of the first things he will do, issued on Monday in a YouTube video, reflected a pared-down version of his intentions, compared with the much longer first things list he issued on Oct 22 during the election campaign. Taken together with his recent comments to the New York Times, the shorter list shows Mr. Trumps rapid growth in wisdom and political maturity.

No longer is he locking up Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the election. The promised wall at the Mexican border is fading fast. Illegal immigrants will no longer to be rounded up. Nor did a repeal of Obamacare make it to this weeks list of first things. Mr. Trump now has an open mind on the Paris agreement on climate change, which he used to condemn.

EVAN VUCCI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES U.S. president-elect Donald Trump

His former intention to renegotiate NAFTA, the trade treaty that has linked Canada, Mexico and the U.S. for 22 years, has also vanished in the swirl of shifting plans. Leaders of Canada and Mexico both said lately they were ready to renegotiate, which may have reminded Mr. Trump the exercise might not favour the U.S. He may also have heard from Republicans in Congress and employers across the country who support NAFTA as it stands.

Since the threat to NAFTA has receded, Canada can turn its attention to the next phase of trade expansion. The TPP, likely now killed in its cradle, may still represent the wave of the future in trade expansion since it aimed for uniform environmental standards, intellectual property protections, labour standards, human trafficking rules, child labour and many other fields that were not covered in traditional free-trade deals. Canada should keep in touch with the TPP members and see if they might like to keep a light in the window against a day when the U.S. comes knocking once again.

Mr. Trumps latest plan is a series of bilateral trade deals with TPP countries. In each bilateral deal he will have to solve the problem of differing environmental standards, labour standards and so on. After starting down that road, he or a successor may easily conclude that TPP was the more efficient solution.

It is easy to mock Mr. Trumps quick and easy changes in policy. But there are real forces at work behind his shifting opinions. He will eventually do something of substance  something beyond tweeting and issuing YouTube videos. He wont necessarily be guided by what he used to think or say, but he will probably be guided by a need to produce tangible benefits for some of the people who elected him. When he figures out that trade barriers impair American progress, Canada should be there to help him with the next steps.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.  Abraham Lincoln, Oct. 3, 1863

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1863:

In accordance with the respective proclamations of the President of the United States, and the Governor of Minnesota in setting apart a day of National Thanksgiving and recommending the people to abstain from their usual avocations on that day, no paper will be issued from this office tomorrow.

The U.S. Christian Commission have issued a circular appealing to the ministers and churches throughout the land for Thanksgiving collections to be devoted to the alleviation of the wants and distresses of our countrys defenders. Not only are money collections desired, but contributions of clothing, reading matter, and other articles which would be valued by men who are debarred, by reason of their position, from the comforts of home.

The appeal should not be thrown away upon our Christian people. Liberal Thanksgiving offerings ought to be sent on from every worshiping community in the North. While we remain at home, in the enjoyment of all the comfort, luxury, and safety of our peaceful hearth-stones, the absent, the brave, and the suffering, should be remembered, gratefully and liberally, on every appropriate occasion.

In this city, some four or five congregations will unite, tomorrow, at the Congregational church, in rendering praise to the Giver of all good things. Other churches will doubtless observe the day in a similar manner at their respective places of worship. Let each and all contribute something to the object set forth.

If it shall appear hard to any one that we are called upon so often to give, let him or her bear in mind that those for whose behalf we are now solicited, peril all  property and life. There is no measure to their sacrifice.

Contributions of any kind may be handed over to the president of the Soldiers Aid Society in this place, by whom they will be forwarded to their proper destination.

Friday, Nov. 25, 1863:

Business was very generally suspended in town yesterday after 10 oclock in the morning. Many of our citizens attended church services, and all, it is to be presumed,  found some rational cause for thanksgiving  if for nothing else, certainly for good dinners.

Mr. Burts Thanksgiving sermon, delivered at the Congregational Church, was a well-conceived effort, excellent in temper, sound in doctrine.

Its import was that man should rejoice and give thanks always; that not even the calamities incident to a devastating Civil War exempt the human heart from the duty of thankfulness for the needful chastenings which are visited, a promise no less for the gifts innumerable which we do receive.

The past year has been one of great sacrifices and calamities. Yet there was much to be grateful for. In material blessings, the loyal North, and our own State, especially, has been abundantly favored. Our population has increased; capital has multiplied; our harvests have been plenteous; or air sweet, and our sky is pure; no pestilence has visited us; the arm of no foreign foe has been raised to disturb our prosperity; quiet has been restored to our frontier; business has strangely prospered, even in the midst of national adversity; in the field of battle victory has crowned our arms in the sacred cause; the domain of liberty has been enlarged; and even now, amidst the thundering of cannon and the clashing of arms, can be described not in the far distance signs of returning freedom, peace, and happiness to our entire land.

The condition of those who had risen to subvert our Government and rend the Republic, was, on the contrary, deplorable in the extreme when put in contrast with the blessings which we enjoy. It was an illustration upon a great scale, of the truth of the inspired maxim  the way of the transgressor is always hard. The rebels were eating the fruit of their wickedness  hunger, want, privations, disorganization of society, loss of property, the destruction of their peculiar institution  all had been visited upon them as the legitimate consequences of their own mad treason.

The peroration of Mr. Burts address was very fine: a vision of the Republic restored, regenerated, in the noontide of its effulgence and greatness: peace, harmony, and happiness, everywhere prevailing; the arts, sciences and manufactures flourishing, and ministering to the uses, comfort, and gratification of our people; united at home and respected abroad; and all our privileges doubly dear to us in that they had ever been assailed by treacherous hands, and rescued at the peril and sacrifice of many noble lives.

The church was crowded during the delivery of this Thanksgiving address, with a very large and intelligent audience, upon whom the words of the speaker were not thrown away.

Its import was that man should rejoice and give thanks always; that not even the calamities incident to a devastating Civil War exempt the human heart from the duty of thankfulness for the needful chastenings which are visited, a promise no less for the gifts innumerable which we do receive.
She entered the Sisters of St. Mary on March 3, 1957. She received the name Sister Marie Lourdes and professed her final vows Sept. 8, 1964. She studied nursing at St. Johns School of Nursing, St. Louis, Missouri, and became a registered nurse in 1952. In October 1973, she left Missouri and began her career at St. Clares Hospital in Baraboo, serving as operating room supervisor, nursing supervisor, patient care coordinator, emergency room nurse, mobile unit nurse and staff nurse. She and her good friend and companion, Sister Bridgid McNamara, served together in Baraboo for more than 30 years, retiring in February 2007.
Nov. 16, 3:12 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle accident with no injuries on Highway 60 in the town of Elba.

Nov. 16, 5:23 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle accident with no injuries on North Dickason and West James Street in the city of Columbus.

Nov. 19, 3:54 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to a fire alarm due to malfunction on East James Street in the city of Columbus.

Nov. 19, 10:07 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to check out a house for electrical issues from water leaking in the ceiling on North Ludington Street in the city of Columbus.

Nov. 21, 8:59 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department responded to assist EMS on Chapin Street in the city of Columbus.

Total fire calls for the year so far: 186
Green Party candidate Jill Steins campaign reported Thursday morning that it raised enough money to fund a recount of Wisconsins presidential election.

Citing concerns of results legitimacy, Stein had warned Wisconsin state officials her campaign would request a recount in the state. The campaign also said Wednesday it would request recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Since the Stein campaign launched online drives Wednesday to raise the millions of dollars required for recounts in the three states, it has gathered more than $4 million. The campaign estimates a recount in Wisconsin would cost $1.1 million.

The fact that in 24 hours we raised $4 million says that people are lacking confidence and want someone to take a look, said Michael White, co-chairman of the Wisconsin Green Party.

He added that the Green Party is in the best position to call for a recount because the results wont favor them. Preliminary results show Stein with 30,980 votes, just 1.1 percent of presidential votes cast on Nov. 8.

What does the Green Party have to gain? The only thing that we have to gain is building trust in the electoral process and making sure we dont have problems in the way its conducted, he said.

White stressed that he and the Green Party are not alleging that the election results were manipulated, rather that there is an apparent discrepancy between the data exit polls collected and the ultimate result of the vote.

White also cited reports that academics and activists had expressed concerns about the results. They reportedly had been trying to persuade Clintons campaign to seek recounts based on findings that raise questions of whether election results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were subject to a cyberattack.

Wisconsin Elections Commission director Michael Haas said Wednesday that the commission has not seen credible evidence of any attempt to manipulate Wisconsins election results, although it is preparing for a recount ahead of Fridays deadline for a candidate to formally request one.

We dont have any reason to suspect that any voting equipment has been tampered with, Haas said.

Republican President-elect Donald Trump narrowly won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton in pre-election polls in those states.

In Wisconsin, the state will pick up the cost of a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.25 percent. Unofficial results show Trump and Hillary Clinton separated by a little more than 27,000 votes, or approximately 0.93 percent, so the recount fee is required.

While Wisconsins presidential election was close, it was not close enough to trigger a requirement that the state pay for a recount. That means whoever requests a recount would have to pay for it.

Were not trying to change the election, but verify the election process and ensure that its as transparent as possible, White said.
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Nigel Farage warns of 'seismic shock' if Brexit not delivered

BBC News24 November 2016"Another big seismic shock" could hit British politics at the next election, Nigel Farage has warned Theresa May, if Brexit is not delivered by 2020.The interim UKIP leader said he suspected the Conservative Government "is not fit for the legacy of Brexit".He made the remarks at a reception in London's Ritz Hotel to celebrate his contribution to the Brexit victory.In a nod to Donald Trump's call for him to be UK ambassador to the US, he handed out Ferrero Rocher chocolates.The sweet treats were famously offered in a TV advert set at an ambassador's reception and included the oft-quoted line: "You're really spoiling us, Mr Ambassador!"Downing Street has already rejected Mr Trump's claim that Mr Farage would do a "great job" as ambassador by saying "There is no vacancy".And Mr Farage has dismissed reports that he is planning to emigrate to the United States.Mr Farage was introduced for his speech by Leave.EU spokesman Andy Wigmore, who accompanied him in a meeting with the US president-elect at Trump Tower earlier this month, with a call for attention from "Ladies, gents, lords and... diplomats."Mr Farage told the gathering: "We've got a problem. In America, the revolution is total. Not only have the people spoken and won, but the old administration - Obama and all those ghastly people - are out and the Trump people are in."In this country, the people have spoken, but the same players have just been shuffled around the chess board and we are still being run by the career professional political class."I am not sure what is going to happen over the course of the next couple of years but I suspect there's another big seismic shock in British politics perhaps going to come at the next election (in 2020)."I suspect that the Conservative Party is not fit for the legacy of Brexit. I suspect there is going to be a genuine realignment of British politics over the course of the next three or four years."It is unfinished business - the people have spoken but the establishment don't want to listen. There are great battles to be fought and I'm going to go on fighting those battles."The reception at the Ritz was hosted by millionaire Arron Banks, who was thanked by Mr Farage for bankrolling the Leave.EU campaign.Also present were Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Bone, Labour Leave campaigner and donor John Mills and UKIP leadership candidate Paul Nuttall.Asked if he would back Mr Farage to be the UK ambassador to the US, Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Mr Farage's relationship with Mr Trump could be beneficial for the country but I am not sure he should be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary."Mr Farage is certainly extraordinary in his own way but I think that being plenipotentiary as well may be a bit too much."Mr Farage recalled that he had joined Mr Banks and other leading Brexiteers at the Ritz on the morning after the 23 June referendum for a victory breakfast of Champagne and kippers - a reference to the nickname for UKIP supporters.He said: "When people look back in 100 or 200 years, 2016 will be seen as one of the great historic years - a year of big political revolution."Brexit was the first brick knocked out of the establishment wall and then look what we got on 8 November. The election of 'The Donald' was something of a completely different order."To cheers he said: "For those of you who aren't particularly happy with what happened in 2016, I've got some really bad news for you: it's going to get a bloody sight worse next year."
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An 82-year-old staunch Brexit supporter is travelling the length of the country to remove hated EU metric road signs.



Pensioner Derek Norman began taking down metric signs in 2000 while working as an agent for then UKIP leader Jeffrey Titford.





Mr Norman was incensed after discovering EU plans to turn the country completely metric ahead of Britains transition into the Eurozone and set about trying to keep as many signs as possible in imperial measures.



The retired TV and radio repair man has since changed or removed nearly 2,000 road signs to date.



SIGN OF THE TIMES Staunch Brexit supporter travels length of the country to remove hated EU metric road signs



Pensioner Derek Norman began taking down metric signs 16 years ago and has since changed or removed nearly 2,000

By Emma Glanfield24th November 2016The SunAN 82-YEAR-OLD staunch Brexit supporter is travelling the length of the country to remove hated EU metric road signs.Pensioner Derek Norman began taking down metric signs in 2000 while working as an agent for then UKIP leader Jeffrey Titford.Mr Norman was incensed after discovering EU plans to turn the country completely metric ahead of Britains transition into the Eurozone and set about trying to keep as many signs as possible in imperial measures.The retired TV and radio repair man has since changed or removed nearly 2,000 road signs to date.He has also set up a group of antic-metric campaigners  dubbed metric martyrs  who aim to combat unwanted enforcement of metric measures in Britain.It comes after campaigners claimed that shops should be allowed to go back to selling fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces following the Brexit vote.Mr Normans resistance group, named Active Resistance to Metrication, carries step ladders and wears yellow jackets and helmets when they remove signs across the country.On his first trip to Northampton in 2000, Mr Norman removed six signs and dumped them in a ditch 10 miles away.He claims his actions are legal because the Traffic Signs Regulations 1994 states that distance signs must only be in miles and yards.He said: Because they were illegal you didnt need to be a council official to remove them so long as you told the council where youd put them.His work to remove all metric signs in the country is still ongoing and Mr Norman, a longstanding UKIP member, travelled 20 miles to Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, to remove a sign six months ago.Despite suffering from tremors, the pensioner  who lives with his wife Kay, 74  is now planning to target a sign in Essex when the weather improves.He said: We havent finished because there are still some metric signs. We have lookouts who tell us where they are and we go round and either remove them or cover them up.We will be finished when we have got rid of them all.But the groups crusade hasnt been without challenges.Fellow campaigner Tony Bennett, a solicitor, was arrested seven times for removing signs and charged with stealing road signs and criminal damage.He avoided charges in all but one case by citing the Traffic Signs Regulations 1994, which mandate the use of imperial measures for roads.However, he was convicted on one charge but appealed and won  allowing the group to continue removing the signs.Mr Norman revealed that after the ruling most councils backed down apart from Portsmouth City Council which said it would change the signs back to metric.However, with the referendum result seeing Britain vote to leave the EU it seems the future is brighter for Mr Norman.He said: We have never been anti-European. We go on holiday to Europe and the people and cuisine are lovely. We have always been against the European Union taking us over.My first feelings about that came when Ted Heath took us into the Common Market but at the same time gave away our independence.I remember when Harold Wilson sent out leaflets that went around the country saying that joining the Common Market will not mean that they will be making our laws.That turned out to be a complete lie.Mr Norman became active in UKIP when the party was in its infancy and created its East of England chapter in 1995.He said: I was an electrical engineer and I was quite happy to use metric units for physics, chemistry and science but I do not see why they should make our everyday life metric.If you buy a loaf of bread why does it have to be in metric? So from that point we were opposed to it.We also found out that local councils were going to change all the road signs in the country illegally.We saw a solicitor and he went through all the road regulations and found that it wasnt legal to put up metric signs.During a recent UKIP Bonfire Night party, the group celebrated by burning an effigy of Ted Heath  the Conservative prime minister who in 1973 brought the UK into the European Community, the EUs predecessor.Mr Norman said: I couldnt believe that we actually had the chance to leave the EU. I worked so hard in my own time. I wont know what to do.
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Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut.

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That sound you hear is the alt-rights heart breaking.All the Campaign Promises Donald Trump Has Broken in the Last 24 HoursOn Tuesday, after much negotiation and drama over how the meeting would take place, Donald Trump sat down with a handful of New York Times journalists and editors to take their questions about his upcoming presidency. And, as they spoke, Trump proceeded to nonchalantly walk back several major promises he made during the campaign, prompting spittle-flecked headlines on Breitbart like BROKEN PROMISES and outrage from all corners of Trumps Internet.Few should be surprised that Trump, a political chameleon who was a registered Democrat in New York City before he crisscrossed Americas heartland in his Boeing 757 as a born again Republican, flip-flopping on issues ranging from the Iraq War to abortion as he went, may now be abandoningor at least softeningsome of his most extreme positions. The Muslim ban? It may or may not be happening. The Wall? A great campaign device. Obamacare, too, might not be so bad, Trump has said, as long as he can keep just the popular parts. Then again, it may be just as likely that Trump keeps his promises, depending on who has his ear and whatever he is feeling on any given subject at any given time. For now, here are Trumps biggest broken promises from his big New York Times sit-down:He Wont Pursue a Clinton IndictmentEarlier Tuesday, Kellyanne Conway announced that Trump would no longer attempt to appoint a special prosecutor to indict Hillary Clinton over her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state, a promise that Trump made to Clintons face during a debate and one that he used to whip his campaign rallies into a frenzy. Speaking to the Times, Trump confirmed Conways statement. Look, I want to move forward, I dont want to move back. And I dont want to hurt the Clintons. I really dont, said Trump, adding that Clinton suffered greatly in many different ways.Asked whether his supporters would be upset by his decision, Trump replied no. I dont think they will be disappointed. I think I will explain it, that we have to, in many ways save our country. Because our countrys really in bad, big trouble. We have a lot of trouble. A lot of problems. And one of the big problems, I talk about, divisiveness. I think that a lot of people will appreciate . . . Im not doing it for that reason.(Those supporters would beg to differ.)Trump Admits Waterboarding Might Be BadDuring the campaign, Trump praised waterboardingwhich has been labeled as torture and is illegal under U.S. and international lawat great length. I like it a lot, he said at a rally in June, and said it wasnt as tough as the atrocities that ISIS was committing. So we can't do waterboarding, but they can do chopping off heads, drowning people in sealed cages . . . you have to fight fire with fire.By November, Trump seemed to back off the idea of going immediately to waterboarding as a form of intelligence-gathering, citing a meeting with General James Mattis, his anticipated pick for Secretary of Defense. I met with him at length and I asked him that question. I said, what do you think of waterboarding? He saidI was surprisedhe said, Ive never found it to be useful. He said, Ive always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture. And I was very impressed by that answer, said Trump, who had expected him to say Its phenomenal, dont lose it.That said, Trump gave himself some wiggle room: Im not saying it changed my mind. Look, we have people that are chopping off heads and drowning people in steel cages and were not allowed to waterboard. But Ill tell you what, I was impressed by that answer.Trump Admits Climate Change is Man-MadeIn a memorable exchange during the debates, Clinton pointed out that Trump has previously described climate change as a Chinese-backed hoax to destroy the American economy. This is true. Its also true that Trumps position on the issue has been wildly inconsistent over time: Climate change is real, climate change is not real; climate change is caused by human activity, climate change is not caused by human activity; we need to invest in clean jobs, or we need to reopen the coal mines.At the very least, Trump committed to being open-minded, in a fashion: I have a very open mind. And Im going to study a lot of the things that happened on it and were going to look at it very carefully. But I have an open mind.As for his promise to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, which committed the United States to leading the fight against climate change, Trump told Tom Friedman: Im looking at it very closely, Tom. Ill tell you what. I have an open mind to it. Trump Acknowledges the Existence of the First AmendmentCrowds at Trumps rallies would often cheer when Trump promised to go after the lying and biased media that sought to tear him down. I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money, he pledged in February, blowing straight past the First Amendment protections afforded to a free press. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace . . . we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because theyre totally protected.Now, Trump appears to see some sense in the freedoms afforded to the press, at least insofar as they benefit him. I think youll be happy. I think youll be happy, he promised the Times on Tuesday, when journalist Mark Thompson asked if he was committed to protecting the First Amendment. Actually, somebody said to me on that, they said, You know, its a great idea, softening up those laws, but you may get sued a lot more. I said, You know, youre right, I never thought about that. I said, You know, I have to start thinking about that. So, I, I think youll be O.K. I think youre going to be fine. (Let the record show that this is still a deeply troubling answer.)The New York Times Is O.K.It was interesting that Trump agreed to sit down at all with the nasty Times, which he has often accused of being biased and unfair to him. On Twitter, he called the failing paper really disgusting,, poorly run and managed, and, of course, SAD!.As of Tuesday, he told the Times board that he still didnt think they treated him fairlyI would say The Times was about the roughest of allbut otherwise he had a different tune. Look, I have great respect for The Times, and Id like to turn [our relationship] around.
Cannuck said: Poor Trumpites. He seems to be backpedaling on everything. I'm sure you're all happy he still plans on massive increases to the deficit as well as massive tax increases... oops...I mean tariffs







Salt in their eyes Click to expand...

So once again you prove you didn't take time to read the article .And once again you have proven you are a simple troll .Or should that read silly troll .Why don't you bump your Cannuck thread again , maybe someone will take the bait this time .




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New York  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday offered a prayer that the nation will begin to come together after one of the most acrimonious campaigns in decades."It is my prayer, that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by a shared purpose and very, very common resolve," he said in a brief video released on the eve of the holiday."Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," Trump acknowledged.The Republican real estate mogul unexpectedly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 following a contest filled with insults, mutual recriminations and heated rhetoric.Trump said the nation must strive to "restore the bonds of trust between citizens. Because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing."The president-elect and his family will spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.everyone just needs to relax and calm down. the Christmas holidays will be upon soon, a welcome New Year with great hope ahead, then Donald Trump will finally be taking back the oval office.the nation should chill and give the man a chance. everyone knows he's smart and will get sh!t done, especially with the Republican control over the houses and the upcoming supremes.it'll be ok. have a nice breather. there's plenty of time to get mad again if you want to I suppose.
Ensuring a 'soft Brexit' for the UKs nuclear industry

24 November 2016

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The general trend of "ever closer union" in Europe was abruptly upset on the 23rd June 2016, as British voters decided to withdraw from the European Union (EU) (commonly referred to as 'Brexit'). While there are many important Brexit-related issues to be sorted, one of the most critical issues relates to the UK's membership in the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), writes Vincent Zabielski.



The Euratom Treaty predates the formation of the EU, and while it's not considered to be a "foundational treaty" of the EU, the European Atomic Energy Community remains decidedly European - its members include all the members of the EU, and no country outside of the EU. The multi-billion-pound question is to what extent UK participation in Euratom should continue post-Brexit, and what happens if it doesn't.



Assuming that the UK goes ahead with implementing the decision to leave the EU, it will do so by invoking Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Article 50 sets out the entire withdrawal process in just a few hundred words, allowing any member state to withdraw from the EU "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". The process begins when a state that is a member of the EU notifies the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the union, and then negotiates and concludes an agreement that sets out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the EU.



The process is designed to be an arms-length transaction, and so the UK would be barred from participating in the discussions of the European Council, and have no voice in the decisions made by the EU. Article 50 stipulates that foundational treaties of the EU shall cease to apply to the UK from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the date that notification of withdrawal was provided. The two-year time limit may be extended by unanimous decision of the European Council decides to extend this period.



The exit procedures for membership in the European Atomic Energy Community under Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty are identical, but the exit notification for the Euratom Treaty would not necessarily have to happen at the same time as the Brexit notification. Brexit - in theory at least - could precede exit from European Atomic Energy Community, with preparation for potential exit from Euratom taking place over several years before Article 50 of the Euratom Treaty is triggered.



Continued participation in Euratom has advantages and disadvantages for the UK. On the plus side of the equation, participation in Euratom provides the framework for bilateral cooperation with the other 27 EU states that are party to the treaty. Additionally, through bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements between Euratom and other states, the UK's participation in the Community provides the basis for nuclear power cooperation with Australia, Argentina, Canada, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Ukraine, the United States, and Uzbekistan.

Euratom also plays a significant role in developing directives governing, among other things, radiation safety and waste management policy for its members, resulting in a consistent approach to such matters throughout Europe. Much of the nuclear commerce with the UK depends on the counter-party countries' agreements with Euratom, and depending on the domestic legislation of the counter-party, such commerce could be disrupted by a withdrawal of the UK from Euratom.

If the UK withdraws from Euratom, trade in fissile material and reactor components with many EU and non-EU trade partners could be interrupted until separate bilateral agreements are concluded with those countries.



Moreover, agreements between Euratom and many nuclear supplier nations are the legal basis for their exports to the UK of major power reactor components, as well as uranium consigned for UK conversion, enrichment and fabrication facilities. These Euratom agreements are applicable to the UK in its capacity as a member of Euratom. Continued participation in Euratom would keep these legal channels for nuclear commerce available to the UK. Continued participation in Euratom for a period of time post-Brexit would allow time to establish agreements with those trading partners that currently do not have a stand-alone bilateral agreement with the UK. Somewhat ironically, in order not to disrupt commerce with the EU, the UK would need to enter into a bilateral cooperation agreement with Euratom that takes effect on the date that the exit from Euratom takes effect.



However, while Euratom membership provides the UK with the regulatory framework for much of its international nuclear trade, it also subjects the UK to significant oversight and regulation by the EU, which is what the 'Leave' movement objected to in the first instance. As long as the UK remains in Euratom, it will continue to be subject to broad EU governance relating to nuclear trade, in particular the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA). The ESA was established by the Euratom Treaty to ensure a regular and equitable supply of ores, source materials and special fissile materials in the EU.



Located in Luxembourg, the ESA has its own legal personality and functions under the supervision of the European Commission. Article 52 of the Euratom treaty gives the ESA the exclusive right to conclude contracts for the supply of ores, source materials and special fissile materials within the EU. Any nuclear operator that enters into an agreement to purchase or sell fissile materials must first get the contract approved by the ESA. The control of ESA over fuel supply is close to absolute - member countries of Euratom only buy the right to use and consume nuclear fuel, while the European Atomic Energy Community retains the right of ownership.



To be clear, while it remains a member of Euratom, the UK does not own, and is legally prevented from owning any of its nuclear fuel. The fuel is the property of the European Atomic Energy Community. Euratom membership also obligates the UK to implement the directives related to nuclear safety and policy that are issued from time to time by the European Commission, which would undoubtedly rile some 'Brexiteers'.



A final disadvantage of withdrawing from Euratom is the potential devastating effects on nuclear new build. Depending on the domestic legislation of the supplier country, projects from countries that would no longer have a treaty relationship with the UK could face significant delays whilst the bilateral treaties are negotiated. However, countries (like China) that have stand-alone bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with the UK will find themselves in a very advantageous situation. Such a market disruption should be avoided if possible.



Considering all of the above, the best path forward for the UK and its nuclear trading partners would be a controlled exit from the European Atomic Energy Community after Brexit. For example, as part of the Brexit negotiations, the EU and the UK could agree that the notification procedures under Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty would be triggered, for example, three to five years after the notification under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon is triggered. Such an approach would maintain trade, encourage a fair market for new-build, and ensure safety and security standards are continuously maintained, while - over a reasonable period of time - restoring the autonomy that the UK seeks. Whether or not such an approach would be politically feasible remains an open - and urgent - question.



Vincent Zabielski

Comments? Please send them to editor@world-nuclear-news.org

Vincent Zabielski is a senior lawyer in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittmans Nuclear Energy practice and is based in London.

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12. HawaiI Volcanoes National Park -

For an adventurous vacation, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is one of the best places to visit in the US. Here, tourists can visit lava tubes, underground tunnels that were carved out by hot lava, or look down into the steaming craters of still active volcanoes. Lucky visitors will be able to see an actual lava flow coming out of the Kilauea Volcano or even visit the point where the lava flows into the ocean at Kamokuna. Aside from these activities, birdwatchers will enjoy sighting and capturing pictures of the unique tropical birds throughout the park.

11. Mammoth Cave National Park -

Mammoth Cave National Park is in the state of Kentucky. This park is an excellent destination for tourists who are interested in underground caverns and caves. Here, visitors can explore the worlds longest cave system and go camping, horseback riding, hiking, or biking. This national park has something for everyone!

10. Redwood National and State Parks -

A visit to either the Redwood National or State Parks in the state of California leaves tourists in awe. The sheer size of the redwood trees here is mesmerizing as they reach over 300 feet in height. Many of the redwoods have been standing for over 1,000 years, making them some of the oldest living things on earth. Visitors can hike among the trees, launch their kayak in the Klamath River, and visit Gold Bluffs Beach - one of the most beautiful Pacific Northwest beaches in the country.

9. Everglades National Park -

One of the unique habitats in the US can be found at Everglades National Park in the state of Florida. Not only is this subtropical wilderness a national park, but also a World Heritage Site, a Wetland of International Importance, as well as an International Biosphere Reserve. Visitors to this park may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of American crocodiles, manatees, and even the Florida panther. Because of the vast waterways throughout the park, tourists can rent canoes and kayaks to go exploring. Birdwatching is also a popular activity at the Everglades.

8. Mesa Verde National Park -

One of the best places to visit in the US is Mesa Verde National Park, located in the state of Colorado. This park offers tourists a look into the cliff dwellings and top-of-the-mesa villages of the Ancestral Pueblo people. These cliff dwelling and village ruins were built between 450 and 1300 BC and are located throughout the park. Here, tourists can go hiking or camping and may have a chance to see prairie dogs and mountain lions.

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If tourists are looking for a vacation filled with natural beauty, wild animals, and breathtaking views, then Denali National Park in Alaska is the perfect option. Some of the most common animals here are bears, caribou, sheep, moose, and wolves. The crown jewel of this national park, however, is Denali Mountain which towers 20,310 feet over the 6,000-acre undeveloped landscape. Whether tourists visit in summer, spring, winter, or fall, Denali National Park has something for everyone.

6. Los Angeles -

For an urban vacation, Los Angeles in California offers some of the best activities for tourists. Some of the notable attractions in this city are amusement parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios, both of which draw the attention of millions of adults and children every year. Movie lovers will also be excited for the chance to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where famous actors and actresses have sidewalk stars dedicated to them

5. The Niagara Falls -

Niagara Falls straddles the border between the US and Canada. On the US side, it is located in New York state. The falls are often considered one of the most amazing natural wonders in the world, making this park one of the best places for vacation. The waterfall creates a large U formation and tourists can take a boat near the bottom of the falls. This activity, of course, requires a raincoat, although most people still get wet. In addition to the impressive photo and boating opportunities, tourists to Niagara Falls can also go wine tasting nearby.

4. Las Vegas -

Tourists hoping to take a unique and adult-centered vacation should look to Las Vegas, where the slogan is: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. This city is home to numerous luxurious hotels like the Grand Bellagio and the pyramid-shaped Luxor. The main attractions in this city are the casinos which offer visitors various gambling games, from cards to slot machines. The neon lights are constantly shining, and there is always something to keep tourists entertained; Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps.

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Violet E. Hardy, 89, of Tucson, Ariz., formerly of Fremont, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, at Sunrise Senior Living Center in Tucson.

Violet was born April 8, 1927, to Rev. E.R. and Melvina (Harmon) Christiansen on a farm near Decatur. Violet graduated from Decatur High School in 1944. Following high school she attended Midland Lutheran College. She married Marshall R. Hardy on April 25, 1946, in Fremont. She taught school in Washington and Douglas counties for eight years and Fremont Opportunity School in Fremont for one year. Following her teaching career she began working for the Dodge County Treasurer's office where she worked for 17 years. In 1978, she became the Dodge County Treasurer where she worked until her retirement in 1991.

She was preceded in death by her parents; twin sister, Vivian A. Flanders; sister, Velva C. Piekarski; and brother, J.R. Christiansen.

She is survived by her husband of 70 years, Marshall; daughter, Barbara (Jeff) Taylor of Tucson; grandson, Joel (Kim) Taylor of Bowling Green, Ky.; and great-grandson, Jacob Marshall Taylor.

The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. Dec. 2 at Dugan Funeral Chapel in Fremont. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the start of the funeral on Friday.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to St. Timothy Lutheran Church.

Condolences may be left at www.duganchapel.com.
Prison (illustration)

By: Wayne Morin

Prison guards managed to intercept contraband that was smuggled into an inmates cell using a drone, according to police in Norway.

Nyborg police said that the incident unfolded on Tuesday night, at the State Prison in Nyborg.

Guards saw a drone approaching the prison, and it flew into an open window on the fourth floor. The drone carried two cellphone and saw blades.

When the items were recovered by the prisoner, the drone flew out of the window. Guards immediately rushed to the prisoners room, and seized the items.

Police were called to the scene, but they were unable to find the drone or the people who operated it. Investigators believe that the inmate planned to use the saw blades to escape from prison.
Plaid Cymru AM Asks Who Benefits From Welsh Water Ownership? As Local MP Questions Dee Valley Deal In Parliament

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Nov 24th, 2016

The Dee Valley Water takeover has been raised in the House of Commons by Wrexham MP Ian Lucas, with Plaid Cymru AM Llyr Gruffydd enquiring if UK Government are capable of finding Rhostyllen on a map.

Dee Valley Water has been subject to bid and counter bids from Ancala, an infrastructure investment company, and the Severn Trent Water company. The latter bid from Severn Trent appears to be unwelcome, with a 1,500 name strong petition against their specific bid (viewable / signable here) which bluntly reads: Dee valley water staff want the Ancala deal to safeguard jobs in North East Wales, keep our local service and keep us Welsh. The Severn Trent deal is unwanted by our staff, our customers and the people of Wales.

During Business Questions today in London, Mr Lucas raised the takeover proposals in the Chamber. He told the House: Dee Valley Water is a valued, independent business in NEW supplying water to Wrexham and Chester. Its independence and many jobs are threatened by a takeover by Severn Trent. If local decision making is important, what say can local people in my area have about who sells them the water that they drink?

In reply, the Leader of the House said the sale was a commercial decision  but recommended Mr Lucas put in for a further debate.

Separately, Mr Lucas and Ms Jones have also written to Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns MP, calling on him to make clear his views on the matter.

In their letter, they state: The workforce and trade union at DVW support strongly an acquisition by Ancala and are concerned that the acquisition by Severn Trent will cost jobs locally.

We in North-East Wales would be grateful for your support to retain a successful, independent Welsh business and invite you to make public your support for the Ancala bid.

Speaking today, Mr Lucas said: I will continue to push the Government on their response to this takeover, and will ask Ministers to answer local peoples questions in a Parliamentary debate as soon as possible.

A takeover by a large company like Severn Trent, headquartered outside Wales, will have a major impact on our area and on Welsh jobs and services.

Mr Lucas will meet with unions and others tomorrow alongside Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens.

Plaid Cymru AM Llyr Gruffydd AM has called for clarity as the bidding war for Dee Valley Water escalates: In a little over a week weve seen the bidding between Severn Trent and Ancala go up from 71m to 84m. This is a vastly inflated sum for a small but important company and there is clearly a bigger agenda playing out here.

The priority for me and Plaid Cymru is to safeguard jobs and local services in the Dee Valley Water area. Its also to ensure that customers are protected  its not right that they have no say in this whole process. Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymrus leader, has made it clear that Welsh water services should be run from Wales and not from Coventry.

We need to start an important conversation about who benefits from Welsh water. At the moment, I fear that it isnt the people of Wales.

Theres a need for greater clarity on why this takeover bidding war has escalated  why now? And who will ultimately be making money from this? Workers and suppliers deserve some security and peace of mind in the run-up to Christmas.

Mr Gruffydd said the fact that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had launched a Phase 1 investigation into the proposed takeover could lead to a more in-depth Phase 2 investigation: Given the implications for the local economy and the longer-term future of the water industry in Wales, I think a Phase 2 investigation may have merit.

Plaid Cymru is also pressing the Welsh Government to make clear its stance on this matter. Are there devolved powers that they can use and, if not, what powers are needed? We should have the power to decide on such crucial decisions rather than relying on a UK Government that would struggle to find Wrexham on a map, let alone Rhostyllen.
White Ribbon Campaign 2016 Aims To Break the Silence

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Nov 24th, 2016

A campaign which aims to raise awareness and end all forms of violence against women and girls will be marked in Wrexham tomorrow.

The White Ribbon Campaign, which takes place internationally each year, encourages men and women across the country to pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence.

Those taking part in the campaign symbolise the pledge by wearing a white ribbon.

In Wrexham this years campaign will be marked with an event at the Memorial Hall on the 25 November starting at 10.00 am.

This year the theme is Break the Silence which is seen as an important step in tackling domestic abuse and violence.

The event will concentrate on raising awareness of breaking the silence. Themed My Story it will feature the journey of survivors that have experienced all forms of violence and abuse. There will also be confidential and experienced staff on hand to offer help and advice to anyone affected by violence.

Lead Member for Health and Adult Social Care, Cllr Joan Lowe, said: Domestic abuse and violence against women is a human issue that affects all our communities and all generations. Awareness raising events such as the one on the 25th are an essential part of combating such behaviour and help to break the silence of those who suffer, often behind closed doors in their own homes.

I will be wearing my White Ribbon for the campaign and I encourage as many people as possible to proudly wear theirs.

Town Centre businesses are also called upon to show their support for the event and the campaign by displaying white ribbons and encouraging their staff to wear one.

North Wales Police, who is an accredited organisation officers and staff will be highlighting this years initiative by donning white ribbons to show their support.

PC George Howat from the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit said: North Wales Police are sending out a clear message that there is no excuse for domestic abuse. Do not suffer in silence as there is help out there on White Ribbon Day and every day. Together lets eliminate domestic abuse.

Domestic Abuse has a devastating impact on the victims who suffer its many forms. White Ribbon Day helps to raise awareness of domestic abuse and gives victims confidence to come forward and report it.

I want victims to realise that North Wales Police attaches importance to this crime and we together with our partners take all steps that we can to protect the victim, children and witnesses from further harm.

If you or someone you know is experiencing or have experienced domestic violence there are a number of agencies that can help:

Live Fear Free Helpline: 0808 8010 800

In an emergency, always call the Police on 999

White Ribbons are available at the event on the 25th or in advance from Naomi Mumba-Dobson on 01978 297040.
Over the past week-and-a-half members and supporters of the Socialist Equality Group (New Zealand) have been campaigning in Auckland for its public meeting this coming Sunday. Entitled The political causes and international implications of Trumps election: A Marxist assessment, the event is one of a series of meetings being organised by the International Committee of the Fourth International to discuss a socialist and international strategy to fight against the dangers of war, fascism and dictatorship.

SEG supporters have spoken to workers about these vital issues in the city centre and working-class suburbs, such as Onehunga, Mangere, Avondale and New Lynn. We have met hospitality workers, stevedores, truck drivers, teachers, retail workers and many others, including dozens of immigrants and students from the Pacific Islands, India, China and other countries. Auckland is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with 39 percent of the population born overseas.

There is widespread concern over the victory of Donald Trump, particularly his extreme nationalist plans for trade war with China and his intention to deport millions of immigrants and attack the rights of Muslims and other minorities. Several people remarked that the US presidential election had increased the danger of World War III.

Auckland is currently hosting naval contingents from the US and dozens of other countries as part of the NZ Navys 75th anniversary celebrations. The first visit by the US navy in 33 years marks the complete restoration of the US-NZ military alliance and New Zealands integration into Washingtons war preparations against China. There is deep-seated opposition among workers and youth to the promotion of militarism and New Zealands ties with US imperialism.

Thomas, a Chinese student who bought a ticket to the SEG meeting, said Trumps threat to build a massive wall between the US and Mexico was really, really crazy.

I think his policy on immigration is very bad, especially toward people from Asia and Muslim people. Hes very anti-China. Chinese people are very nervous about him, including my friends in America. They plan to move to New Zealand because of the election.

Thomas denounced the US military build-up and encirclement of China, saying: I think America should not be in the South China Sea. He added that if China positioned its navy off the coast of California the US would respond with world war.

Jonas, 20, arrived in Auckland from Germany a week ago. He is on a break after finishing high school. I think that Trumps campaign was very populist, he said. His opinions on women, on immigrants are really terrible. He said he would make America great again, and provide jobs and more money for the poor. Except that he didnt say how he would do it.

Commenting on Trumps attacks on China, Jonas said: I said before the election that if Trump got elected it would mean World War III. I think there actually is a real chance.

Doug, who works as a septic technician, denounced the elite in the US who supported Hillary Clinton. He described Trump as a buffoon but added that the Democrats had managed to put 15 percent of the entire population out of their minds, as if to say they dont vote anyway, so they dont matter. So 15 percent of the population stood up and voted for Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton turned up to a rally with someone who gets paid $18 million a year to sing a song, while people are having to go to food banks to feed their children. People thought: You obviously dont even know we exist, and you want to be our president.

Vijay, a young hotel worker who moved to New Zealand from India, also bought a ticket to the meeting. Hillary Clinton lost, he said, because of her pro-war policies. She wanted to make Syria a no-fly zone. If any plane flies, shes going to shoot it down. Thats horrible; and then she would go to war against Russia! How many people will die if theres a world war?

Vijay said both US presidential candidates represented the rich. He went on to describe the worsening social crisis in New Zealand, which parallels the situation in the US, including the lack of affordable housing and the exploitation of migrant workers in the hospitality sector. More than half of my friends work for $10$12 an hour, he said. They get paid in cash. I work two jobs just to pay the rent. Im lucky because I work in jobs where Im paid above the minimum wage ($15.25 an hour).

Vijay opposed the attempts by New Zealands political establishment to scapegoat immigrants, saying: I dont blame the Chinese workers. Theyre looking for jobs. Theyre desperate. Imagine you come to a country with $2,000 in your pocket, and your rent is $600 a month. Its so hard to find work.

Sogra, whose family had emigrated from South Africa, also denounced both candidates and said Trump had won because there was nobody else to vote for. She blamed the collapse in support for the Democrats on the US military interventions in the Middle East and said: There are people being killed in Syria, all over. Clinton is responsible. Not only her, but also Bush, all the other administrations are responsible for the war.

Sogra voiced her concerns about Trump. He doesnt like black people, he doesnt like brown people. Hes against immigrants. Im from South Africa and we went through the racism of the apartheid system, so we know what its like.

Like many other workers who spoke to the SEG, she said social inequality played a large part in the election result: The rich are getting richer and the poor stay poor, all over the world. In the US they are funding the military while the poor stay poor and theres people living on the street. I havent been to America but Ive seen polls showing that people are really struggling there.

* * *

SEG public meeting

The political causes and international implications of Trumps election: A Marxist assessment

Sunday November 27, 2:30 p.m.

Grey Lynn Library Hall

474 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

Tickets: $5, $3 concession
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons lead in the popular vote over Republican Donald Trump now tops 2 million votes, according to a tabulation of results reported by each state and reported by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Clinton has received 64,223,958 votes to Trumps 62,206,395, with several million more votes remaining to be counted, mainly mail ballots in California postmarked by November 8 but received by election authorities after that date. Vote counting in California is slowed by the length of the ballot, which includes a large number of complex referenda proposals.

Under the antiquated Electoral College system, which grossly over-represents smaller rural states at the expense of California and other heavily urbanized states, Trump has won 306 electoral votes to Clintons 232. A vote in the Electoral College, set for December 19, will officially entitle Trump to take the oath of office next January 20.

Clintons lead of 2 million votes is far greater than the margin in any previous US presidential contest in which the popular vote loser was installed as president by the Electoral College. Her margin of victory in the popular vote, approaching 2 percent, is greater than that of seven candidates who actually won the presidency.

The antidemocratic character of Trumps election victory has not deterred leading Democrats, from Obama and Clinton on down, from prostrating themselves before the president-elect. The newly elected Senate Democratic leader, Charles Schumer, made one passing reference to Trump losing the popular vote, suggesting this meant he had no mandate, but he drew no conclusions from this about either the policies or the personnel of the new administration.

Trump himself raised the subject Tuesday in the course of his hour-long, on-the-record discussion with editors, reporters and columnists of the New York Times. He noted criticism that he had not won the popular vote, and then argued that he could have done so if he had campaigned in the most populous states such as California, New York and Texas.

No one at the Times pressed the issue with himor any other issue, for that matter. The transcript records a generally cordial discussion, punctuated at least 15 times by laughter. No one would guess, reading the transcript, that the newspaper had excoriated Trump not only in its editorial pages and op-ed columns, but also in its news pages, declaring him unfit for the presidency and a threat to American democracy. The verbal broadsides are forgotten, replaced by bowing and scraping before the new commander-in-chief.

Despite the media cover-up, however, Trumps heavy defeat in the popular vote is significant. It underscores the fact that his installation in the White House is not the product of an embrace of his ultra-right policies by the American people.

Democratic candidates have won the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections, but in two of the six popular vote victories, the Democratic candidateAl Gore in 2000 and now Clinton in 2016fell short in the Electoral College.

In 2000, when Gore won nationally by 540,000 votes, the election was stolen through the Supreme Court intervention to halt the counting of legal votes in Florida. The notorious Bush v. Gore decision effectively awarded Floridas electoral votes to Bush and made him president.

A group of computer scientists and election lawyers charged this week that the 2016 election result is equally dubious. They presented a report to leading Democrats, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and general counsel Mark Elias, arguing that the vote totals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania had been manipulated in favor of Trump.

The 56 electoral votes from the three populous industrial states were all awarded to Trump, who carried each state by a narrow margin: 27,000 votes in Wisconsin, 9,000 votes in Michigan, and 70,000 votes in Pennsylvania. If these electoral votes shifted to Clinton, she would win the Electoral College by 288 to 250.

The argument, presented by Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, is suggestive, but not conclusive. It relies on the finding that Clinton received disproportionately fewer votes in counties that used electronic voting machines compared to counties that used paper ballots and optical scanners. In Wisconsin, the only state analyzed in detail, Clinton may have lost as many as 30,000 votes, more than Trumps margin of victory.

The analysts did not claim definitive proof, but urged the Democratic Party to file challenges in the three states to force reexamination of the tabulation and, if possible, full recounts. The deadlines are approaching fast: Friday, November 25 for Pennsylvania; Monday, November 28 for Wisconsin; and Wednesday, November 30 for Michigan.

There have long been suspicions of data manipulation by electronic voting machines, partly because of anecdotal reports of errorvoters claiming they cast a vote for one candidate only to see the machine record it as a vote for anotherand partly because the machines are manufactured by companies run by CEOs with close ties to the Republican Party.

The current claims, however, may well serve as an effort to whitewash the dismal performance of the Democratic Party in key working-class areas, particularly among minority workers in inner-city Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh and other urban centers.

There are additional problems with the claims of electronic manipulation. Michigan conducts voting entirely by means of paper ballots with optical scanners, making such manipulation difficult. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, has an entirely electronic voting system, with no paper ballots. However, the state government is under a Democratic Party administration, and would therefore seem unlikely to steal the election for Trump.

Moreover, there have been attempts to link charges of election manipulation to the Russia-baiting by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party during the months before the election, when the Democrats claimed that the Russian government was responsible for hacking into the emails of campaign chairman Podesta and the Democratic National Committee. No evidence was ever presented of a Russian role in the release of these emails, which proved politically embarrassing, and the warnings that Moscow planned to disrupt the functioning of polling places on Election Day proved to be a false alarm.

The main obstacle to any serious investigation into possible rigging of voting machines or state tabulations, however, is the attitude of the Democratic leadership, above all the Obama White House, which has embraced Trump and promised a smooth transition to what will undoubtedly be the most reactionary, militaristic and dictatorial government in American history. New York magazine, which first reported the claims of vote manipulation in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, noted the stance of the Obama administration, writing, Also complicating matters, a senior Clinton adviser said, is that the White House, focused on a smooth transfer of power, does not want Clinton to challenge the election result.
Dozens of refugees were forced to flee the Souda refugee camp on the island of Chios last Thursday after a brutal attack by Golden Dawn members.

According to reports, the attack began at around 9:30 pm and lasted until the early hours of the morning. The fascists threw petrol bombs, large boulders and fireworks into the camp from surrounding elevated areas. A 42-year-old Syrian man was assaulted and a Nigerian boy was injured by one of the rocks. Three tents were burnt down and three more were damaged.

Afraid to return to the camp, the refugees that fled slept at the fishing market that night when temperatures dropped to 8 degrees Celsius. Many were still there three days later, according to reports.

On learning of the attacks, a group of aid workers rushed to help the refugees. One of these, Alexandros Panagiotakis, told CNN Greece that the group came upon around 150 migrants at the fish market where they had sought safety from the far-right attackers. [Another aid worker and I] went to get our cars so that we could transport the migrants to a safer place.

On their way to get their cars Panagiotakis and his colleague were set upon by a mob of 30 Golden Dawn members, who attacked them verbally and physically. They threw us down and started to kick and swear at us, said Panagiotakis. They stopped only when a riot police squad arrived. They hit me on my sides and legs and the girl [the other aid worker] was semi-conscious. We were taken immediately to hospital.

Similar attacks had taken place the previous evening, when Golden Dawn members armed with makeshift clubs and crowbars attacked refugees outside the Souda refugee camp while large stones were also thrown into the camp. According to reports a 25 year-old Algerian man is still in intensive care after being hit in the head.

In covering the events, the media lay the blame on the refugees by claiming that the troubles on Wednesday evening began after a group of migrants broke into a fireworks shop and then reportedly proceeded to set them off towards police and local residents. Refugees who spoke to Greek daily I Efimerida Ton Syntakton (Ef.Syn.) paint a different picture and claim that the trouble started two hours before when a group of locals attacked a group of Algerians sitting at the Chios public park. The group had firecrackers and started to throw them [at the refugees] for no reason, said a Syrian refugee.

The wave of violence was in fact stoked by the visit of Golden Dawn MPs Ilias Kasidiaris and Yiannis Lagos to Chios on Tuesday, where they spoke at a public meeting that evening calling for mass deportations of all refugees and migrants. This was part of a wider tour with a similar event taking place on the neighbouring island of Lesbos. Kasidiaris and Lagos were accompanied by a delegation of parliamentarians from Belgium, members of the Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang party.

There are currently more than 16,000 refugees and migrants being detained in refugee camps on Greek islands in the Aegean, while existing infrastructure is only adequate for around 7,500 people. The overwhelming majority have fled from the imperialist-driven conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Chios alone there are 4,000 refugees and migrants--nearly four times more than the current capacity.

Overcrowding is directly linked to the March agreement between the European Union and Turkey, which stipulates that Turkey take back all refugees who come across the Aegean to Greece. As a result, refugee camps in Greece have become internment camps of people--most of whom are destined to be deported back to Turkey after their cases have been assessed. The process is extremely slow, and meanwhile arrivals continue to flow in, which places even more pressure on existing infrastructure. According to figures from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), nearly 3,000 people crossed into Greece from Turkey in the last four weeks alone.

The Golden Dawn meetings sought to exploit tensions among sections of the local population, partly due to the increase in petty theft as a result of the economic desperation of the migrant and refugee population and partly due to the effects the refugee crisis has had on the tourist industry, the backbone of the local economy. Their timing was also designed to cause maximum provocation, given that they coincided with the commemoration of the student uprising against the military junta on November 17, 1973.

A counter-protest was held that same evening in Chios, with around 200 people holding a march through the islands main town towards the Grecian Castle Hotel where the Golden Dawn meeting was taking place. The demonstrators path was blocked by riot police.

According to various accounts from eyewitnesses, the attacks on Wednesday and Thursday were carried out under the nose of the police, despite their having been officially placed on high alert since the Golden Dawn meeting on Tuesday. Riot police only intervened to stop Thursdays attacks on the camp in the early hours of the morning, after they had gone on for five hours. There was a notable delay in police intervening in the attack on the two aid workers, which took place a few metres away from two patrol cars.

Tolerance of far-right attacks by the Greek police, delaying intervention or letting perpetrators get away, is a common occurrence. Golden Dawn enjoys substantial support among officers, especially in riot police units. Three years ago rapper Pavlos Fyssas was murdered in Keratsini by a Golden Dawn member while police stood near-by and did nothing.

The police have arrested none of the perpetrators. The only people arrested so far were 37 refugees and three foreign aid workers during the altercations on Wednesday evening.

In a speech to his parliamentary group, Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos openly defended the attacks while railing against the progressive journalists of this country who lay the blame at the door of far-right elements. He added, You know what? Yes! For them every Greek that resists is a Golden Dawn member. For us thats a badge of honour. Golden Dawn is the national defence of Greece.

Like their far-right counterparts throughout Europe, Golden Dawn has been emboldened by the victory of the fascistic Donald Trump in the United Stateswhich Michaloliakos referred to in his speech as a true victory against globalisation. But if Golden Dawn is able to posture as an anti-establishment party and to exploit social anger by channeling it into the scapegoating of migrants, this is the responsibility of the Syriza-led government. Since betraying his anti-austerity mandate last year, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras signed a third austerity package with the EU while at the same time enforcing the EUs reactionary refugee policy.
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) has successfully established a student club at the University of Melbourne. At a meeting on Monday, the Clubs and Societies Committee (C&SC) of the universitys student union formally approved the final stage of the IYSSEs application and informed club executives that the IYSSE was now affiliated.

The founding of an IYSSE clubbased on the revolutionary socialist and internationalist program of the world Trotskyist movementat one of the countrys oldest and most prestigious universitiesis of considerable significance. It underscores the desire of growing numbers of students to take up a political fight against the program of war, austerity, attacks on education, and the erosion of democratic rights being implemented by the entire official political establishment, including Labor, the Liberals and the Greens.

The attraction of young people to the IYSSEs program, including its call for students to turn to the working class and take up a study of Trotskyism, i.e., classical Marxism, is an indication of mounting opposition to what has passed for left politics on campus, based on the promotion of identity politics by organisations that speak for a privileged layer of the upper middle-class.

Many of those who joined and fought for the establishment of the IYSSE club expressed their hostility to the attempts by this milieu to divide the working class along the lines of gender, race and sexual orientation, and to suppress the fundamental class questions, including the mounting threat of world war. The IYSSEs opposition to the nostrums of post-modernismthat there is no objective truth or law-governed historical processappealed to numbers of students who want to understand the global economic and political crisis in its objective historical context.

The IYSSEs affiliation was the product of a political struggle spanning more than two-and-a-half years. Its initial application, in the first semester of 2014, was rejected by the C&SC on the grounds that it had overlapping aims with the club of the pseudo-left and anti-Trotskyist organisation, Socialist Alternative (SAlt).

A second application in the first semester of 2015 was rejected on the same grounds and supporters of the IYSSE were told that they should join Socialist Alternative. After the IYSSE issued a detailed public response, outlining the unbridgeable gulf between its socialist and internationalist program and SAlts politics, the C&SC shifted to a new pretext. It rejected the IYSSEs third application in the second semester of 2015 on the basis that the committee could not have a good faith working relationship with the IYSSE because the latter had issued an open letter to the student body opposing the C&SCs previous decision.

This year, the IYSSE stepped up its campaign for the right to affiliate and was able to expose the anti-democratic conceptions underlying the C&SCs ongoing proscription. This culminated in Semester One of 2016, when the IYSSE demonstrated that the C&SC had violated its own constitution by refusing the IYSSEs fourth affiliation application without citing any of the required grounds for rejecting it.

As part of its fifth affiliation campaign, in Semester Two, the IYSSE collected more than 80 expressions of interest from students signalling their support for the formation of a club. Faced with this growing student support, the C&SC allowed it to proceed with its affiliation and hold an Inaugural General Meeting (IGM).

In the weeks prior to the IGM, IYSSE members distributed thousands of leaflets and held hundreds of discussions with students on the necessity to build an international anti-war movement based on a socialist program to halt the mounting threat of a global conflict.

IYSSE campaigners explained that Labor, the Liberals and the Greens had placed Australia on the frontlines of US preparations for war against China. They warned that this would inevitably be accompanied by a stepped-up assault on democratic rights and the ever-greater promotion of nationalism and xenophobia, including denunciations of Chinese influence in Australian society by pro-US politicians and media commentators (see: Australia: Opponents of war with China labelled rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows). They also raised the fundamental historical questions, including the contemporary significance of the Russian Revolution amid another breakdown of world capitalism, and of the struggle waged by Leon Trotsky against its betrayal by the Stalinist bureaucracy.

In an indication of the response among students, the IGM was attended by 46 students, including 38 members of the IYSSE. Following the election of the clubs executive and the ratification of its constitution, Socialist Equality Party national secretary, James Cogan, delivered a detailed presentation outlining the US-led plans for war against China and Russia.

In the course of the ensuing discussion, members of the Socialist Alternative club denounced the IYSSE for opposing the upper middle-class interests underlying identity politics and movements such as Black Lives Matter, which had just received a $100 million grant from the Ford Foundation, an institution with the closest ties to the US state and the corporate and financial elite. The clear chasm between the class orientation and political perspective of the IYSSE and Socialist Alternative demonstrated to all those present the false character of the C&SCs earlier claims that the two organisations had overlapping aims.

In the aftermath of the IGM, the IYSSE submitted its membership list of 67 students.

A leading member of the club spoke to the WSWS on the significance of the campaign: This was a product of the protracted struggle that we waged against the censorship of our club. It was a principled campaign based on the demarcation of our movement from the pseudo-left tendencies on campus and the fight against the danger of war. We opposed the claim from the C&SC that we should form an unprincipled alliance with the pseudo-left clubs.

We insisted on the democratic right of all students to form the club of their choice and it was on that basis that we won a lot of support. The IYSSE is the only anti-war club on campus, its the only way that the growing anti-war sentiment of students can find expression.

In 2017, the University of Melbourne IYSSE club will wage an offensive for Trotskyism, in opposition to the pseudo-left politics that have dominated on campus. Like its counterparts at other universities and colleges throughout Australia and internationally, it will raise the necessity for students to turn to the working class on the basis of the fight for a socialist program. In the centenary year of the Russian Revolution, the IYSSE will hold major lectures and events outlining the critical historical experiences of the working class in the 20th centuryabove all, the 1917 October Revolution and the lessons that must be drawn for the enormous social struggles that will erupt in the period directly ahead. Students can contact the IYSSE, and join the club here.
A month after the murder of two Tamil students belonging to the arts faculty, Jaffna University workers, the country-wide demonstrations of students and youth offer key political lessons. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim students throughout the country jointly protested against the police murder.

On October 20, Sri Lankan police had opened fire at Pawnraj Sulakshan and Nadarasa Gajan, who were riding a motorcycle, causing a fatal accident. Bullets were found in the chest and head of one victim; the other succumbed to internal injuries.

Along with students from the Tamil-majority North and East provinces, students from ten universities in the predominantly Sinhala South protested the killing. They accused the government of the murders, demanding an end to the killing of students. Media and civil organisations protested at the Fort railway station in Colombo, together with hundreds of workers. Plantation workers protested in the central provinces.

These events vindicated the Socialist Equality Party's (SEP) opposition from the beginning to the installation of US-backed President Maithripala Sirisena's good governance regime. The killing of Pawnraj Sulakshan and Nadarasa Gajan was not a tragic accident. It flowed directly from the police-state conditions imposed by Sirisena and his Tamil National Alliance (TNA) allies against workers and youth in the Tamil-majority North of Sri Lanka.

The murder came amid mounting popular opposition after the September 24 demonstration against the Sirisena regime and the TNA, as the masses instinctively strive to unify themselves across ethnic lines. Tamil and Sinhala students jointly organised the protests in Jaffna, and Sinhala and Tamil students read the same statement against the police killings.

Instinctive feelings of solidarity will not suffice, however, to oppose police-state measures and the attempts by the ruling class, seven years after the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, to divide workers and youth along ethnic lines. There must be a fight to unify workers across ethnic lines in struggle against the TNA and the Colombo regime, and a ruthless fight against Tamil and Sinhala nationalism.

Students and their families are hostile to the TNA, whose leader R. Sampanthan met with Sirisena and proposed an impartial inquiry into the murder. Northern Province Education Minister Thambirajah Kurukularajah had to flee when he tried to speak at Gajan's funeral in a working class area of Kilinochchi, after students took his microphone and told journalists to leave.

The TNA replied through its flunkeys at TamilNet, who wrote that students have come under criticism for denying space for grassroots-oriented Tamil politicians to take part in the processions and protests.

While students instinctively oppose the Tamil nationalists, the student organization leaders base themselves on Tamil nationalism and cover for the TNA, on the basis of reactionary calls for no politics. They accepted the calls from Sirisena and the university administration to end the protests. The demands they presented while meeting with Sirisena were the same as Sampanthans.

Their perspective was limited to asking President Maithiripala Sirisena to conduct an inquiry, punish the policemen involved, and compensate the bereaved families. The delegation of the pro-Sirisena Jaffna Student Union, led by Vice Chancellor Vasanthy Arasaratnam, met with Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, presenting the demands. She predicted, Once the report of the magisterial inquiry is submitted, [the government] will take proper action to ensure [students] safety and expedite the legal process into the deaths of the two students.

These demands, presented to Sirisena by his political allies, proved totally impotent. A month after the killings, nothing has emerged from the investigation, except loose assurances that the policemen involved had been arrested. In the meantime, the military-police occupation of the North has only intensified, with a spreading wave of arrests.

Fresh police forces, including Special Task Force (STF) and intelligence squads, have been dispatched under the pretext of investigating the murders. Several youth were arrested on charges of belonging to the Ava Group gang and of being former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

In taking up a struggle against police brutality in the North of Sri Lanka, workers and youth, both Tamil and Sinhalese, are entering into conflict not only with the capitalist ruling elite in Sri Lanka, but with American and world imperialism. This struggle can only develop in conscious opposition to the Tamil nationalists and all factions of the Colombo regime. They represent layers of the venal Sri Lankan bourgeoisie tied to imperialism or the capitalist regime in China.

It is not only the bayonets of the Sri Lankan army that stand behind the TNA and the Sri Lankan police. Washington organized last years regime change operation, ousting pro-Chinese President Mahinda Rajapakse and replacing him with Sirisena, as part of its pivot to Asia against China. It views the army-police deployment around Jaffna as key to keeping order in a strategic area it wants to control and hold against China in case of war.

The SEP alone opposed the regime-change operation based on its opposition to the imperialist war drive in Asia. In fact, Washingtons pretense that Sirisena would bring good governance to Sri Lanka has been exploded in just two years. Sirisena and his right-wing prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, introduced IMF austerity and economic liberalisation measures, attacking workers and the poor. Budget proposals for 2017 in parliament show that new attacks are planned.

At the beginning of the year, Sirisena and Sampanthan promised to release political prisoners jailed for decades under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act. Only a handful have been released. Sampanthan cynically declared in a press conference that he did not have the prison keys to release the remaining prisoners.

None of these problems can be resolved by representatives of the capitalist class. As anger mounts among the workers and youth, they are returning to the old tactics of divide and rule that produced decades of bloodshed and civil war in the island.

Rajapakses common opposition is responding to the crisis of Sirisenas regime, which is heavily dependent on Chinese loans, to manipulate public anger by whipping up anti-Tamil communalism. Together with its allies, it is defending police and occupying armed forces in the North. Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe, the leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala racist party, defended the police killings, claiming that rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres are behind criminal activity. He called for a crackdown on all 12,000 former LTTE members in Sri Lanka.

For its part, TamilNet has slanderously attacked the entire Sinhala population as implicated in police murders in Jaffna. It quoted an unnamed senior student leader as saying, This act has not only emboldened the Sinhala rulers in the island, but every Sinhala person carrying weapons in their hands while serving the interests of the genocidal State.

The SEP and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), its student movement, have placed the struggle against war and communalism at the center of their work. We appeal to workers and youth to come forward, support, and build the SEP and the IYSSE in Jaffna and throughout Sri Lanka.
The state Labor government in Victoria has seized on recent clashes at a juvenile detention facility in Melbourne to imprison children in a maximum-security adult prison. This repressive response to a so-called riot in the juvenile facility is the latest example of the brutality being inflicted on teenage prisoners, following revelations of sickening abuses in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Up to 40 teenagers, accused of rioting on November 12 at the Youth Justice Centre in the suburb of Parkville, have been moved to the top-security Barwon Prison. The Parkville facility holds 1518-year-old males who have been either sentenced to imprisonment or are awaiting trial, denied bail.

There have been repeated protests by teenage prisoners over the past two years, sparking clashes between detainees and staff at the overcrowded and dilapidated Parkville facility, and other Victorian juvenile jails. In the latest incident, according to unsubstantiated media reports, inmates set off fire alarms, barricaded themselves in inaccessible areas, and climbed onto rooftops.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he would make no apology for shifting boys to Barwon. He demonised the teenagers, declaring: Violent, repeat offenders who have been involved in completely unacceptable conduct are going to adult prison.

The detention of dozens of boys in an adult jail is supposedly a temporary measure, while fortification works are undertaken at the Parkville institution. The Andrews government, however, attempted to send seven alleged ring leadersfive 16-year-olds and two 17-year-oldsto the adult prison permanently.

The states Youth Parole Board blocked that permanent move as a violation of human rights legislation. Nevertheless, Families and Justice Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government was determined to send a very clear message that this disgraceful behaviour wont be tolerated.

Such statements indicate that the Labor government is preparing for further punitive measures against juvenile prisoners, a high proportion of whom have complex trauma, post-traumatic stress, and other psychological issues caused by unemployment, social dislocation, family breakdown, and alcohol and drug addiction.

More broadly, behind the tensions in the juvenile jails is the fact that working-class youth face deteriorating economic and social conditions. According to a recent report, young people in Australia are the first generation since World War II to face lower living standards than their parents.

Working-class youth confront high unemployment and under-employment, insecure part-time and casual work, heavy housing costs, huge debts and soaring tuition fees. Even on understated official figures, unemployment is around 28.7 percent for those 1519 years old. In some areas, joblessness has reached depression-era levels of over 40 percent.

The only answer of the Labor government, and the ruling class as a whole, is police-state violence. Past pretences of tackling the underlying social problems, or even of providing treatment and rehabilitation programs for detainees, have been largely dispensed with.

The governments vicious response was backed by the trade unions. Community and Public Sector Union state secretary Karen Batt said the provisional detention of young people in adult prisons was a strong and smart response.

The entire political and media establishment in Victoria has waged a sustained and reactionary law and order campaign around the Parkville unrest. The commentary has tried to bury evidence of the appalling conditions inside the Parkville centre that likely sparked the supposed rioting.

In 2010, an Ombudsmans report documented serious overcrowding, with the number of detainees in some wings of the facility being nearly twice the number of beds. Electrical hazards were also detailed, with at least two instances of staff members experiencing an electric shock. The report also exposed unhygienic facilities, unguarded potential suicide by hanging points, unsafe grounds and poor maintenance, among many other issues.

State Liberal Party opposition leader Matthew Guy declared that the government was not doing enough to curb a violent crime wave sweeping Victoria. In reality, Victorian Crime Statistics Agency data for the year ending June 30, 2016 showed a 4 percent decrease in the number of people aged under 25 convicted of committing a crime.

Lurid claims of a youth crime tsunami have been promoted by the media, especially the Murdoch outlets, such as the tabloid Herald Sun. The newspaper has spearheaded a racist campaign to link the unrest to immigrant and refugee youth, especially from Sudan. Without providing any evidence, it declared that leading rioters of Sudanese and other African backgrounds in the Parkville facility were connected with the so-called Apex gang.

A hysterical campaign against this alleged gang has been conducted since March, when a group of young people reportedly engaged in some petty thefts and vandalism in central Melbourne during an annual festival. It remains unclear whether the Apex gang actually exists.

The dispatch of teenagers to adult jails in Victoria is part of a wider pattern of violence directed against working-class youth across Australia, at the behest of Labor and Liberal-National governments alike. In both the Northern Territory and Queensland, governments have convened official inquiries to seek to whitewash, and quell public outcries over, exposure of abuses such as assaults, imposition of solitary confinement and use of hooded restraints (spit hoods) in juvenile jails.

The purpose of the law and order campaign is to create the climate for even more repressive laws, targeting the legal and democratic rights of young people and the working class as a whole. The phenomenon is an international one, with governments moving toward authoritarian forms of rule in order to push through corporate austerity agendas.

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On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation authored by Secretary of State William H. Seward declaring the last Thursday of November a day of thanksgiving.

Despite a Civil War of unequalled magnitude and severity, the declaration stated, the conflict had not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship, while the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. The proclamation concluded, The country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

The ravages of the Civil War would last another year and a half. Nevertheless, it was true that society was being transformed by railroads, steamboats and the telegraph, an expansion in productive capacity that would accelerate with the rapid industrialization fostered by the Second American Revolution. The Civil War would clear the way for capitalist progressand the explosive growth of the class struggleby abolishing slavery.

As families throughout the United States gather to share a meal this Thanksgiving, relatively few will agree with Sewards assessment that the country can expect years with large increase of freedom. Rather, for many, Thanksgiving will serve only to underline the economic hardship and oppression they face.

More than one in eight households will have had difficulty putting food on the table the year before, and millions will have a Thanksgiving meal only by standing in line at a food pantry or soup kitchen.

Over a million-and-a-half people were homeless last year, including some 300,000 children and 450,000 disabled people. Millions more live in substandard housing, doubled up with other families, or in motels. Such conditions may affect only a minority of American families directly. But the great majority of the population is economically insecure.

Forty-six percent of adults are so financially strapped that they either could not cover an emergency expense costing $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money, according to a survey released by the Federal Reserve this year.

Under these circumstances, the announcement that the average premium under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), supposedly designed to insure lower-income people, will increase 25 percent next year means that millions will either lose their health coverage or face hundreds, or even thousands of dollars in additional expenses.

The terrific stress caused by living in households one accident or illness away from financial ruin, in which young people are burdened by debt and face narrowing prospects, while the elderly confront rising medical costs and decreasing retirement benefits, produces many signs of social distress.

The brutality of this society, compounded by militarism and police violence, falls hardest on the young. One study has found that the prevalence of serious depression among teenagers increased by 37 percent between 2005 and 2014. Another reported that children from 10 through 14 are for the first time more likely to die from suicide than from a car accident.

Perhaps the most devastating manifestation of the social malaise is Americas drug epidemic. This year, a shocking 28,000 people will die from opioid overdose, almost as many as the number killed in car accidents. For tens of thousands of families, Thanksgiving will be a time of mourning for those who have lost their lives to heroin, fentanyl or prescription painkillers.

Many of the states most affected by the drug epidemic are those worst hit by joblessness and deindustrialization. Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the rust belt states that backed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but swung behind Donald Trump in the 2016 election, all saw their rates of opiate overdose increase by more than 10 percent between 2013 and 2014.

The social crisis in the United States is fueling an immense growth of oppositional sentiment, including significant signs of renewed class struggle and political radicalization that found only initial expression in the elections. This came first in the widespread support during the Democratic primaries for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who called himself a socialist and denounced the billionaire class and social inequality.

Sanders political revolution concluded ignominiously with an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, who ran on the claim that, in the words of President Obama, America is doing pretty darn great. The implication of this delusional narrative was that those who disagreed and were swayed by Republican candidate Donald Trumps demagogic appeals to social discontent were part of the white racist working class, seeking to defend their privileged status against blacks and other minorities. Basing her campaign on various forms of identity politics, Clinton pitched her appeal to the affluent and complacent. The result was a sharp decline in votes for the Democratic candidate within all sections of the working class.

Trump, who is being installed in the White House with the blessings of the outgoing president and both parties, will not make America great again. Neither he nor any section of the ruling class has a solution to the social crisis gripping America. His America first economic nationalism will exacerbate the global capitalist crisis and mean sharper attacks on workers within the United States. His program of tax cuts for the wealthy, the elimination of regulations on corporations, cuts in social programs and an immense increase in military spending will fuel social discontent and anger.

Trumps election marks a turning point in the looming showdown between the financial parasites he personifies and the great mass of the population, the working class.
The 2016 elections that have brought the quasi-fascist Donald Trump to the Oval Office also saw the Democrats suffer losses in Senate races that were almost entirely unanticipated and left them the minority in the chamber.

This reversal coincides with the passing of the leadership baton among Senate Democrats from Harry Reid of Nevada to Charles Schumer of New York. Portrayed in the media as a pugilistic leader and, in some press accounts, as the person in whom Trump has met his match, the New York senator has consistently favored the more right-wing factions of the Democratic Party. His ascension to the leadership position should be the occasion for an examination of his politics, as expressed in the elections aftermath and his preceding career.

Tellingly, Schumer was nearly tripping over himself with obsequious gestures to Trump, even before all the ballots have been counted. On one Sunday talk show, Schumer went so far as to claim that during the campaign Trump had occasionally voiced very progressive and populist opinions. An example of greater sycophancy or effort to fool the public would be hard to find!

In other interviews that aired last weekend, Schumer presented the Democrats in the Senate as both would-be collaborators with Trump and a brake on the president-elects most reactionary tendencies.

Schumer repeatedly and unctuously appealed for Trump to work with us as much as possible while claiming, absurdly, that the Democrats would fight the new administration when it favored business interests and the wealthy over the blue collar voters that supported him, as though this would occur from time to time rather than being the essence of Trumps plans.

In an interview with Fox News, Schumer repeated the plea for Trump to work with us three times. He used the same language on ABCs This Week and NBCs Meet the Press. The supposed logic of his appeal was that Trump had won support from working-class voters who had previously backed Obama, by promoting Democratic positions on trade, infrastructure, and jobs and rejecting the traditional Republican policies. This explanation left out entirely any mention of the actual record of the Obama administration, which has presided over a recovery where 95 percent of the gains went to the wealthiest 1 percent of the US.

Schumer hails from the so-called centrist wing of the Democratic Party. His campaigns have received tens of millions from Wall Street and the wealthy, including a contribution of more than $8,000 from none other than Donald Trump.

In the 2016 elections, Schumer, functioning as the head of the Democratic Senate campaign, backed the more right-wing candidates for the Democratic nomination wherever there was a contest, including Patrick Murphy in Florida and Evan Bayh in Indiana. Murphys father, a wealthy real-estate executive, poured $1 million into his campaign. For his part, Bayh had worked for a hedge fund and joined various corporate boards after previously serving two terms in the US Senate. He was considered an ideal candidate since he brought with him a war chest of $10 million left over from previous campaigns. Both Murphy and Bayh lost by wide margins.

Schumers background in capitalist politics extends back to the 1970s when he was elected to the New York state legislature. He later served in the US House of Representatives from 1981-1999 before winning election to the Senate in 1998.

In his 35-year career in the federal legislature, Schumer has combined devotion to the banks with economic nationalism and support for US imperialism around the globe.

Like his then fellow Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, Schumer voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002 on the basis of lies about supposed weapons of mass destruction. Noticing the shifting political winds, Schumer later criticized the Bush Administrations conduct of the war and politely suggested that a team of generals review it. Nonetheless, he continued to vote for funding for the war. He supported US interventions in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. Likewise drone assassinations and, with limited reservations, NSA spying. Additionally, in 2007, he voted for a Sense of the Senate resolution to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. He supported sanctions against Teheran and opposed the six-nation deal with Iran that lifted sanctions in return for Iran limiting its nuclear power program.

Today, Schumer parrots the line that Russia is menacing Eastern Europe and has commented approvingly on NATO expansion and military exercises on Russias doorstep. He lashed out at Vladimir Putin in 2011 for helping Edward Snowden escape. The senator would have greatly preferred to see the whistleblowerwho exposed massive government spying on the population of the entire planetput on trial for his life back in the US.

Schumer is a diehard supporter of the oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel, telling a 2010 gathering of the Orthodox Union in Washington DC that, since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see thats not the way to go, makes sense. As though such strangulation would take place without people starving!

In 2011, Schumer was also a vocal proponent of trade-war legislation directed against China for allegedly artificially suppressing the value of its currency to lower the prices of Chinese goods overseas and undercut its global competitors. At the time, he stressed that American firms could compete with Chinese businesses on a level playing field as other proponents of insourcing claim. To be sure, this is possibleby continuing the dramatic lowering of wages and benefits of US workers.

Schumer also backed legislation in 2011 that has much tougher border security (the senators own words) than anything that Trump has proposed. In cruelty towards migrants, Schumer clearly sees a kindred spirit in the chauvinist Trump.

Trump appears to have taken the measure of Schumer. Said the incoming president, I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than [former Senate minority leader] Harry R[eid] and has the ability to get things done. Good news! As something of an expert in political theater, Trump sees in Schumer and fellow Democrats rather contemptible figures who will, with episodic posturing to the contrary, fall in line and facilitate implementation of his reactionary agenda. Social resistance, however, is inevitable and will take place increasingly outside of the confines of both capitalist parties.
Since Trumps election as US president, the Development and Justice Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has further advanced its authoritarian agenda, while signaling a possible geo-strategic shift away from NATO and towards China.

On November 21, the AKP government detained former Mardin co-mayor Ahmet Turk, a Kurdish bourgeois nationalist politician of the Democratic Regions Party (BDP). The BDP is sister party of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), nine of whose lawmakers, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were arrested on November 4.

As part of the witch-hunt that followed the failed, NATO-backed coup attempt of July 15, Istanbul public prosecutors last week issued arrest warrants for 103 academic personnel, detaining 73 from Yldz Technical University. They are charged with membership of an armed terror group, that is, the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.

The AKP accuses the Gulen movement of leading the failed coup. Since July 15, some 110,000 people have been sacked or suspended in the civil service, army and judiciary. Some 36,000 are jailed. Defense Minister Fikri Isk told parliament that 20,088 were Turkish Army personnel.

Meanwhile, the AKP, working with the fascistic Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is preparing to amend the constitution, setting up an authoritarian presidential system. It has reportedly drafted 29 articles, enabling the president to appoint ministers from outside parliament and rule by decree. The president would also be able to appoint half of the members of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors, as well as university rectors.

However, the main change has occurred in Ankaras relations with its partners in NATO and the European Union (EU). On November 20, at NATOs annual Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul, Erdogan again criticised NATO member states ties to the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PKK is banned as a terror organization in Turkey.

Erdogan said, We want you to prevent members of terror organizations from acting comfortably in your countries, making propaganda, choosing militants and racketeering with threats. Referring to the PYDs military wing, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), he said terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria were using the weapons of friendly nations.

Erdogan was also quoted on Sunday as saying that Turkey did not need to join the EU at all costs and could instead join a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and the Central Asian nations. On November 18, as another sign of Turkeys escalating alienation from its NATO allies, Erdogan had warned the EU that it had to decide by the end of the year on Turkeys membership. He said that Ankara should look at other opportunities, like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

After Erdogans statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on November 21 that China would consider any application from Turkey to join the SCO. The Russia and China-led pact was formed with the participation of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as a regional security bloc in 2001. The Turkish President has already repeatedly expressed his wish to join the SCO, where Ankara has dialogue partner status since 2013.

Discussions of a move towards closer ties with China, which previously were a more or less obvious bluff to give Turkey leverage in talks with NATO, increasingly appears todayamid a global war drive and turn to authoritarian forms of ruleas a serious possibility.

Speaking to NTV on November 18, Isk stated that Turkey has been in talks with Russia to purchase S-400 air-defense missile systems. We are negotiating on S-400 not only with Russia, but with other countries that have similar systems. Russias position on this issue now is positive, he said, adding: We hope that NATO member states would take this seriously, and our system will be compatible with the alliances requirements.

Last year, under heavy pressure from NATO, Turkey canceled a $3.4 billion tender for a Chinese long-range missile defense system.

Applications for asylum from 40 Turkish soldiers working at NATO bases and headquarters after the July 15 coup further increased tensions between Ankara and its NATO partners. On November 18, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed these reports. He avoided any direct confrontation with Turkey, however, saying: As always, this is an issue that is going to be assessed and decided by the different NATO allies as a national issue.

The deterioration of Turkeys relations with NATO and the EU is not new, nor is it the result of Trumps election. However, Trumps election has escalated Ankaras nationalist, authoritarian and militarist agenda, as well as the centrifugal tendencies in NATO and the EU.

Ankara has welcome Trumps election as an opportunity to further its nationalist program. However, the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), the two pro-EU bourgeois opposition parties, together with their pseudo-left followers, are watching Trump with deep concern.

Erdogan was one of the first heads of state to congratulate Trump for his election, saying, With this choice, a new era has begun in America. I hope this choice of the American public will contribute to beneficial steps toward basic rights and freedoms, democracy and developments in our region.

Relations between Erdogan and Trump are extremely fragile, however. On June 24, Erdogan denounced Trumps anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling for the removal of Trumps name from the Trump Towers shopping center and residence complex in Istanbul.

The AKP hopes that with Trump as US president, they will be able to play a prominent role in the Middle East and rebuild bridges with Washington. Once one of US imperialisms best allies, the AKP is deeply disappointed in Obama, who did not satisfy Ankaras demands to strengthen Islamist forces in the Syrian war, but used as proxies Kurdish nationalist fighters opposed to the Turkish government.

Disputes between Washington and Ankara have risen sharply, particularly after the attempted coup of July 15, which enjoyed tacit support from the Obama administration and Germany. Since then, Turkey has repeatedly asked for Gulens extradition, but Washington has not yet agreed to Ankaras request. There is no clear sign that Trump would do so, either.

Nor is there any clear sign that he would change the policy of relying on the Kurdish-nationalist PKK and PYD as the main proxies against the Syrian regime and the Islamic State (IS) militia. Speaking to the New York Times in late July, Trump called himself a fan of the Kurds and hoped that the Turkish government would work with its Kurdish minority.

Since August 24, Turkish army has launched its Euphrates Shield Operation in Syria, to push Kurdish forces back to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and strengthen the FSA, Ankaras own proxy. Turkish army and FSA forces have occupied Syrian territory along the Turkish-Syrian border, and now aim to capture the strategic town of Al Bab from IS.

The Turkish operation apparently faces opposition not only from Russia and the Syrian regime, but also from Washington. In remarks to journalists on November 17, US Colonel John Dorrian implied that the US-led coalition does not support Turkeys move to liberate Al-Bab. Speaking from Baghdad in a video conference with reporters, Dorrian said: Thats a national decision that they have made.

The offensive on Al Bab threatens to unleash all-out conflict between the Turkish-backed FSA and US-backed Kurdish forces that are suffering under Turkish artillery fire.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida A&M University is getting into the holiday giving spirit by giving back to the Big Bend area with two events.

The university announced that it's gearing up for its annual Holiday Toy Drive and Celebration on Dec. 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Interim President Larry Robinson and his wife Sharon will host the event at the President's House on Adams Street.

Organizers have asked community members to bring new, unwrapped gifts for children of all ages. The gifts will be donated to local organizations that focus on supporting children and families in need.

They said that last years Toy Drive helped around 400 children receive gifts during the holidays.

Later in December, the university will also host its annual Shop with a Cop event, where FAMU police officers will take local families and children shopping for the holidays at Walmart stores.

For more information about making donations for next weeks Toy Drive, contact event organizer Vernon Bryant at (850) 412-5106 or vernon.bryant@famu.edu.
GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Officials are hoping to keep you safe by meeting Wednesday in Gadsden County.

The meeting focused on a number of topics, including how law enforcement officers can enforce safety procedures throughout the county over the holidays.

They also talked about ways to keep businesses and residents safe, advised people walking home from holiday get togethers, to walk in pairs and be aware of their surroundings.

With so many traveling for the holidays, they highlighted the increased deadly car crash rates in the state.

Deputies said patrol cars will also be going around neighborhoods to check for any suspicious activity.
The trial for a Connell woman charged with taking a 69-year-old grandmother from her home and killing her later has been pushed back into 2018.
Yakima police cordon off the entrance to Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center's emergency room Tuesday night, Nov. 22, 2016, after a man who was shot drove himself to the hospital. (DONALD W. MEYERS/Yakima Herald-Republic)
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As I write these words, on Wednesday evening, there is no evidence so far suggesting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have received or expected to receive a benefit as a result of the purchase deals with German corporation ThyssenKrupp

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It is important to say this because it is unthinkable that an Israeli prime minister would decide to spend billions from the defense budget in order to fill his pockets with money, and also because once the affair is clarified, if it is clarified, the prime minister will immediately claim that all kinds of radical journalists, the states enemies and destroyers, leveled false accusations on him. This affair is serious enough without the Netanyahu familys bank account being part of it.

Shimrons denials were refuted, putting the prime minister in an embarrassing situation, if not worse (Photos: Emil Salman, Yaron Brener)

Netanyahu, in his fourth term, is a king in his palace. He is surrounded by courtyard filled with chamberlains and relatives. Each and every one of them has an agenda; each has interests, aspirations, passions. "Did you know?" the investigators will ask, if they really want to investigate. "I did not," Netanyahu will say. "How did you not know?" they will ask. "Why you are the one who is the first to spot a fire on Mount Carmel? Cant you spot a fire in your own courtyard?"

Netanyahus decision, to finalize the purchase of three additional advanced submarines from the German shipyard, produced three types of responses from well-informed people, senior defense establishment officials in the past and in the present. There are those who see it as an erroneous but legitimate decision; there are those who see it as a reasonable decision; and there are those who see it as the right decision. The argument has to do with strategic considerations regarding Iran and the list of priorities in equipping the IDF and the defense budget.

Those who oppose the decision are mainly questioning its timing: The Navy will only need these submarines in 15 to 20 years. In the meantime, the equipment will be improved or become cheaper, the defense needs will change and the list of priorities will change.

Those who support the decision say that if Netanyahu prefers to do business with German Chancellor Angela Merkel rather than with her successors, he is entitled to; they compare the submarine decision to the considerations which promoted the IDF and the government to decide to purchase F-35 planes. Both deals create a commitment for decades, they say. Its reasonable to assume that by the time the last F-35 arrives, 80 percent of its tasks will be performed in a cheaper manner by unmanned aerial vehicles. Its less reasonable to assume that such a revolution will occur underwater.

The two problematic issues which the police investigation should focus on are the decisions related to the purchase of the ships for the protection of the gas rigs, and the involvement of the prime ministers lawyers and relatives in the entire affair. I will focus now on the lawyers involvement.

The lawyers are David Shimron and Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahus relatives and the owners of a successful law firm. Shimron serves as Netanyahus confidant in any political negotiation and as the familys attorney on every single issue, including the financial affairs that are being examined as we speak by the State Attorneys Office, and will soon turn into an investigation under caution. Molcho serves as Netanyahus messenger in diplomatic negotiations.

Channel 10 reporter Raviv Drucker did remarkable journalistic work in its quality, importance and accuracy by exposing Shimrons involvement in the German companys activity. It turned out that Shimron was the lawyer of Miki Ganor, the German companys representative in Israel; it also turned out that Shimron had met with the Histadrut labor federations chairman at the Germans service, and even approached the defense establishments legal advisor on the issue. The revelations allegedly pointed to a blatant conflict of interest between Shimrons commitment as the prime ministers confidant and his activity as a private attorney. Shimron denied everything. His denials were refuted, putting the prime minister in an embarrassing situation, if not worse.

On Wednesday, when it was revealed that the police had received additional intelligence, of a criminal nature this time, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit realized that there was no escape from ordering a police investigation. Netanyahu should have immediately announced that he is breaking off contact with Shimron and Molcho until the affair is clarified. Any conversation with them will generate claims that they may be disrupting the investigation, withholding evidence or coordinating testimonies. In the meantime, Netanyahu has done nothing.

It stinks, a source in the Justice Ministry concluded Wednesday. Its too early to predict how far this stench will go once the affair fades away, whether this was a collection of mistakes in good faith, whether it was an ongoing ethical offense or a series of criminal acts.

Follow the money, the Watergate informant advised the journalists who exposed the affair. In this case, the required advice would be to follow the lawyer.
Jewish leaders criticized French presidential frontrunner Francois Fillon on Wednesday for suggesting Jews had in the past not wanted to respect the country's rules.

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Fillon, tipped to win the second round of a primary this weekend to become the conservative candidate for next year's presidential election, was talking to Europe 1 radio about the need to fight radical Islamism.

"We must fight that fundamentalism, in the same way that in the past ... we fought some forms of Catholic fundamentalism and we fought the drive by Jews to live in a community that did not respect all the rules of the French Republic."

Francois Fillon (Photo: AFP)

It was not clear what precisely Fillon was referring to.

France's Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia later spoke with Fillon about his comments, a spokeswoman for the rabbi said in a statement.

Korsia said that although Jewish groups may in the past have lived in relative isolation from wider society, that was "in no way Jewish citizens' choice, but the consequence of French society not accepting their peers at the time," the statement said.

Sacha Ghozlan, head of the French Jewish students' union UEJF said: "Those surprising comments raise questions about how Francois Fillon defines fundamentalism."

"The UEJF wonders what period Francois Fillon is referring to when he says Jews refused to abide by the rules of the French republic, if it's not at the time of Vichy (the war-time government that collaborated with Nazi Germany) when Jews were forced to hide and wear a yellow star," Ghozlan said in a statement.

Fillon later wrote on his Facebook page that his comments had been misunderstood.

"I never meant to call into question the Jewish community's attachment to our common values and to the respect of the rules of the Republic," he said.

Security is one of the top issues in the presidential race following a wave of Islamist attacks over the past year and half.

Fillon, who is likely to face the far-right National Front's Marine Le Pen in the final presidential ballot if he wins Sunday's primary, has repeatedly warned of the risk of French Muslims being radicalized.

"There is a rise of fundamentalism in the Muslim community, fundamentalists are in the process of taking the Muslim community hostage," Fillon told Europe 1 before his comments on Catholics and Jews.
The hashtag "Israel is burning" or "the Zionist entity is burning" has become one of the top trends on Arab media over the past 24 hours, with countless of people gloating over the recent rash of fire plaguing Israel over the past three days.

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"They tried to ban the muezzin's call, and Allah rained fire on them," Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq tweeted.

Other Hamas social media pages have posted videos of songs rejoicing about the fires, like one called "Catching Fire."

Video mocking the fires in Israel on Arab social media

Some people posted their hopes that the fires would reach strategic facilities in Israel, like the Haifa Chemicals plants, gas storage facilities across the country, and IDF bases that have large arms depots. One wrote, "All of Israel's neighbors must aid itI suggest they send planes filled with gasoline and rain it down on the burning areas. I want to inhale the smell of barbecue from the Zionists." One wrote, "All of Israel's neighbors must aid itI suggest they send planes filled with gasoline and rain it down on the burning areas. I want to inhale the smell of barbecue from the Zionists." A publicist from Gaza wrote: "The Russian planes that burn the Syrian bodies every day are now helping in putting out fires inside the occupied territories." A publicist from Gaza wrote: "The Russian planes that burn the Syrian bodies every day are now helping in putting out fires inside the occupied territories." Another hoped: "God, add more fire to them until it is their end." Another hoped: "God, add more fire to them until it is their end."

One of posters was the head of General Security in Dubai, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, who headed the investigation into the assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room, which was attributed to Israel.

Khalfan Tamim wrote on his Twitter account: "Israel banned the muezzin and caught on fire. Blessed be God."

He also offered advice, "Israel has no choice but to agree to coexistence and peace with the Palestinians. It doesn't matter how much time passes, they (the Palestinians) will always come out on top. That is why treating them well is the best way forward for Israel."

Mishary Rashid Alafasy, a Kuwaiti imam, wrote on his Twitter account: "Best of luck to the fires :)" He later added: "Israel is burning and losing control. It is asking its allies for help after banning the muezzin prayer in occupied Palestine and in the holy sites that were robbed (May the heart of the faithful be purified)."

Later, Alafasy posted a map of fire-affected areas in Israel, noting "The fire is still burning in the Zionist entity."

Internet memes were also quick to appear. Egyptian news site Almogaz posted a meme showing one person telling another "Israel is burning," with the other responding "Great. No one in the world can stand it."

A satirical Twitter account posted a video of a fire with a Star of David instead, with a man jumping next to it and the writing "This is my situation now."
TOKYO -- A member of a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia in 1986.

Japanese media report that a Tokyo court handed down the sentence Thursday against former Japanese Red Army member Tsutomu Shirosaki.

He was accused of conspiring with another person to fire two rounds at the embassy from a hotel room in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Neither exploded.

The 68-year-old Shirosaki was imprisoned in the United States for a rocket attack on the US Embassy in Jakarta the same year. He was released in 2015, and re-arrested upon his return to Japan.

The Japanese Red Army carried out a series of violent hijackings and attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.
MOSCOW -- Russia's counterterrorism agency says two suspected militants and two special forces officers have been killed in a gunbattle in the nation's volatile North Caucasus.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that security services acting on a tip surrounded a house in Nazran in the province of Ingushetia where the two suspects were hiding. They refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces.

Both suspects were killed in Thursday's firefight, and two officers of the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, also died.

An Islamist insurgency has spread across the North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya. While Chechnya has become more stable under the watch of a Kremlin-backed strongman, violence has spilled into neighboring provinces where security forces clash frequently with gunmen.
ERBIL/BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Kurdish and Shi'ite forces agreed to coordinate movements after cutting off Mosul from the rest of the territory held by Islamic State in western Iraq and Syria in support of a U.S-backed offensive to capture the city, US and Iraqi officials said on Thursday.

The agreement was reached at meeting on Wednesday between commanders of Kurdish Peshmerga forces deployed in Sinjar, west of Mosul, and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organisation, the biggest component of the mostly Shi'ite paramilitary coalition known as Popular Mobilisation.

Popular mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, deployed southwest of Mosul to complete the encirclement of Islamic State's last major city stronghold in Iraq.
Workers at the Israeli Navy's shipyard have demanded the IDF's internal comptroller to look into outsourcing done at the shipyard in recent years amid reports of pressure put on the Navy to outsource maintenance work for its submarines to a German shipyard.

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In a letter to Brig. Gen. Ilan Harari, head of the shipyard workers' union Nissim Elimelech slammed Navy officers in charge of acquisitions from civilian companies, demanding that they be replaced.

"The workers' union found out that instead of buying new tools and doing upgrades, or preserving the knowledge for the benefit of the IDF, the Resources Department often proposes and signs different privatization deals. It is also outsourcing assignments to contractors without even issuing a tender, which in our opinion is done without real supervision, doing so even when there is no justification for outsourcing."

The INS Dolphin at the Navy shipyard in Haifa in 2003 (Photo: Roni Shizer)

Elimelech noted that "there is national significance to the fact the shipyard workers have the capability and knowhow to carry out repair work on all vessels used by the Navy, down to the smallest screw."

He added that "even if there is justification for it, outsourcing must be done in accordance with military commands ... and by examining the alternatives in an organized manner. Outsourcing should surely not be done on a regular basis instead of hiring new workers and without justification.

"It doesn't make sense that while the shipyard has skilled workers, assignments are being outsourced to contractors at a much higher cost, instead of preserving the knowledge and saving the taxpayer's money."

Israel's submarine deal with Germany includes two main parts: The acquisition of three submarines and the signing of a contract for long-term maintenance work with the German shipyard that is represented by Israeli businessman Miki Ganor. It is the latter contract that would be more profitable to Ganor, according to defense officials.

The Israeli Navy's shipyards currently employ Israeli civilians to do maintenance work on its submarines, and it is them that would be affected if the work is outsourced to a private company.

In a letter obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth, head of the IDF Workers Union Moshe Friedman confirms that Ganor and his lawyer David Shimron who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal lawyer met with him and with Avi Nissenkorn, the head of the Histadrut Labor Federation, to pressure them against trying to foil the efforts to outsource the maintenance work to the German shipyard.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit ordered on Wednesday to open a police inquiry into the submarine deal

The Justice Ministry issued the following statement in light of the investigation: The attorney general conducted further consultation meetings regarding the submarine deal, which included the state attorney and other officials from the Justice Ministry, as well as the head of the Israel Police Investigation and Intelligence Department.

The statement explained that the consultations focused on new information received by the police today, as well as other developments on the matter. At the end of the discussion, the attorney general decided to instruct the government to conduct an investigation led by the Israel Police on the different aspects of the affair.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has denied that he had any knowledge of his attorney's connection to the submarine deal.
An initial investigation by the Fire & Rescue Authority on Thursday raised suspicions that at four areas of Haifa the fire was a result of arson.

Ran Shalf, the head of the Fire & Rescue Authority's investigations department, said that 60-70 percent of the cases were arson while the rest were a result of negligence.

"We're investigating ... there are cases, like in Dolev, where we see it's arson. There's physical evidence."
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber detonated his car bomb at a gas station in al-Hilla city, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 12 civilians and wounding 10 more, police and medical sources say.

The attack took place at gas station with an adjacent restaurant used by Iranian pilgrims to rest on their way back from the Arbaeen pilgrimage in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala.

No side has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the ultra-hardline Islamic State group has mounted similar attacks in areas outside their control in an attempt to undermine the military campaign in Mosul, the group's last remaining city in Iraq.
The Shin Bet is investigating the suspicion that the fires that broke out in Haifa were the result of nationalistically-motivated arson.

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan instructed the police to monitor social media in an effort to identify those inciting to arson.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference on Thursday evening in which he suggested that many of the fires which continue to rage across multiple areas in Israel may have been the result of deliberate arson attacks.

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I want to be completely clear. Every fire caused by arson or by incitement to arson is terrorism in all respects, Netanyahu said. Anyone attempting to burn parts of the State of Israel will be punished, he added as he provided an update of the situation in Haifa, much of which has been ablaze all day.

PM Netanyahu with Public Securiy Minister Gilad Erdan

The prime minister also confirmed that the American 747 Supertanker, the largest aerial firefighting aircraft in the world that was deployed during the Carmel Forest fires in 2010, would be landing in Israel overnight Thursday.

PM Netanyahu in the Supertanker in 2010 during the Carmel Forest fires (Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan instructed the police to monitor social media in an effort to identify those inciting arson.

We need to prepare for a new type of terror, he said on Thursday evening. The terrorism of arsonist, which also comes from incitement on social media networks. We will be opening a special unit of investigation into the incidents.

Furthermore, Erdan informed the journalists that a number of arrests had already been made. Earlier in the day, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh said some of the cases of arson were likely nationalistically motivated.

Fire in Haifa (Photo: Avi Ben Zaken)

The Police Commissioner has instructed the Investigations and Intelligence Division to create a special investigation unit for every single fire to be investigated and so that all efforts will be taken to bring those responsible to account if it was arson and if someone initiated it, Erdan said.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said at the end of the press conference that he would consider using his authority to cancel the status in Israel of anyone found to have been involved in arson attacks.

Netanyahu also offered his praise for the firefighters working around the clock to extinguish the fires. I salute the firefighters and the pilots, both in Israel and from abroad, he said. Currently 12 firefighting aircraft have been sent to Israel from Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, the UK, Italy and Croatia.

A Palestinian official also told Ynet that the Palestinian Authority had offered its assistance to Israel. Later, eight Palestinian firefighter vehicles escorted by the Commander of the Jenin Civil Administration made their way to Haifa to help extinguish the fires raging in the city. In 2010 the PA did provide succor in the Mount Carmel Forest fires.
The head of Lebanon's international airport denied on Thursday Israeli accusations that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were using commercial airline flights to ship weapons to the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.

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Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon made the accusation in a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

Hezbollah army vehicles

"(The news) is completely devoid of truth," Fadi al-Hassan, head of Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport said in a statement, adding he believed Israel had sent the letter to damage the reputation of Lebanon and its international airport.

Iran has also denied Israel's accusation.

Heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is classified as a terrorist group by the United States, wields strong political influence in Lebanon and its powerful military wing is fighting in the Syrian conflict in support of President Bashar al Assad.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning a French decision to label Israeli products produced in the West Bank.

The Israeli government condemns the decision of the French government to implement EU guidelines labelling Israeli goods produced beyond the 1967 borders. We regret that France, of all countries, in which a law exists against boycotts, is taking steps which can be interpreted as a nod of support to radical elements and the BDS movement against Israel. Moreover, it is a puzzling and disturbing fact that France chooses to implement a double standard when it comes to Israel while ignoring the 200 territorial conflicts which are taking place today across the world, including those taking place right on their doorstep.
A Reform synagogue in Ra'anana was vandalized, ostensibly by Jewish extremists, with graffiti overnight Wednesday, and a menacing knife was left alongside three envelopes containing death threats addressed to prominent individuals who have been calling for gender equality at the Western Wall.

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The names on the envelopes were Anat Hoffman, Chair of the Board of Women of the Wall; Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism; and American Rabbi Richard Jacobs, President of the US Union for Reform Judaism. The envelopes all contained death threats.

The knives and death threats (Photo: The Reform movement)

The graffito on the front of the synagogue declared, "The divine presence will never leave the Western Wall." On another wall, "Obadiah 18 and 21" was written, referring to passages wherein God destroys Israel's enemies.

Hoffman said in response that the act of vandalism was committed due to her organization's struggle for women's right to pray at the Western Wall, or Kotel: "The knife is a direct result of the ill winds blowing against the implementation of the Kotel deal from the leaders of the Haredi parties and Haredi rabbis, who are doing everything against anybody who is different from them. The murder threat was intended to intimidate and stop us, but our spirit will not be broken. We will continue to defend the women of Israel from the winds of hatred and discrimination raging outside."

Graffito on front of building (Photo: The Reform movement)

A few weeks ago, dozens of male and female rabbis from the Reform and Conservative movements entered the Western Wall Plaza with Torah scrolls in protest of the non-implementation of the government's decision to set up a mixed-gender, pluralistic area for prayer. Clashes broke out between the protesters and young ultra-Orthodox Jews at the Kotel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement that said, "I strongly condemn the graffiti discovered this morning at the Reform synagogue in Ra'anana. Such acts have no place in our free society."

The defaced synagogue (Photo: The Reform movement)

The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, which describes itself as being "founded upon loyalty to the State of Israel and commitment to Halahcha," also released a condemnatory statement: "Even while there are clear differences between how we and the Reform movement approach issues of Jewish identity and the Jewish nature of the State, it should be completely clear that those differences of opinion must never lead to any hint of violenceneither verbal nor physical. We wholly condemn what was done to the Reform center in Ra'anana and join in the call for the authorities to act to stem any further tide of violence and not diminish the seriousness of these incidents."

MK's Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party replied to the incident, "Yesh Atid expresses its deep shock and disgust at the dangerous incitement discovered this morning at a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana. Those who carried out these acts are hateful people whose actions are alien to Judaism and Jewish values. This is a clear death threat and we call on the law enforcement agencies to act quickly to find those involved and bring them to justice."

Ra'anana Mayor Ze'ev Bielski ordered increased surveillance on Progressive Jewish institutions in his city on Thursday morning. In a letter that he sent to Kariv, he said that the incident of the preceding night "crossed red lines."
The largest firefighter aircraft in the world will be landing in Israel within the next 24 hours to help the country battle the fires which have engulfed a number of cities and towns over the past few days.

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The new plane, the Boeing-747 Supertanker only became operational half a year ago and is considered the cream of the crop of aerial firefighters in the world. Not only is it capable of carrying 74 tons or water or flame retardant, but its unique engine enables it to generate pressure which causes a rainstorm effect by the water or flame retardant released.

Supertanker

X

Israel contacted the American company Global SuperTanker, which operates the aerial firefighter, to look into the possibility of it being flown to Israel. Indeed, a supertanker previously owned by the company Evergreen before it went bankrupt was flown to Israel to assist in the 2010 Carmel Forest Fires.

Supertanker to make its way to Israel

Currently situated in Colorado Springs, the plane can release eight rounds of the the water and the flame retardant.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained why the fire fighting sky giant is of paramount importance given the current circumstances.

Supertanker

It needs to be understood that the firefighting planes currently being used are not able to operate overnight. There is only one plane that has this ability, and that is the Supertanker, Netanyahu said. I instructed that it be brought here. It will take 24 hours to come from the US. We only use it in extreme situations. We dont use it for everything but I prefer that we have too much rather than too little.

In addition to the Supertanker, the Foreign Ministry was instructed to approach as many countries as possible with the view to retrieving as many planes as possible.

Among others, France and Portugal were approached. The former announced that it would send two more planes on Friday morning. Russia also announced that it would send two additional planes to the two expected to arrive on Thursday night. The third Russian plane is capable of carrying 50,000 cubic meters of water. The Ukraine will also send two firefighter planes while Azerbaijan has pledged to send one.
Wednesday night, the first Facebook Live chat took place between Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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Mordechai answered a small number of questions in the half-hour-long chat that had been submitted to him on the Facebook page that he keeps in Arabic, which he speaks fluently. The questions answered related to day-to-day matters, such as providing entry permits into Israel for work, and matters relating to crossing procedures for sick people seeking entry into the West Bank or Israel for medical treatment.

To the question, "When will the occupation end?" the coordinator answered, "One hand cannot clap," and said that the economic, security and humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in the West Bank was better in comparison than the residents of neighboring Arab states.

Yoav Mordechai on Facebook Live

One of the posts that did not receive a response was from a student in the Gaza Strip who told of the despair that the youth in Gaza feel, condemned to unemployment and without the ability to travel to other countries due to the blockade on the strip, which has raised the rate of suicides there. The same student also criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas government for not assisting in any way to improve the difficult situation.

Another Palestinian claimed that there was no use in trying to create a dialogue. Mordechai replied, "You're only a clerk in your government, and you have instructions. The easing measures aren't in your hands." Some posted derisive comments here and there, but the vast majority maintained a respectable discourse and asked pertinent questions.

Hamas is extremely opposed to the idea of direct conversation between a senior Israeli official and the Palestinian population. In recent weeks, the organization has even warned Gazans not to feed on the information transmitted to them via Facebook.

According to them, Mordechai is exploiting the page for intelligence purposes and to incite the residents against the Hamas regime in Gaza. There were also those who wrote on the coordinator's Facebook page in the West Bank that the profile covered up the residents' problems and grievances and presented only a very partial picture of reality.
I welcome the approval by the Republic of Korea and Japan of a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The ROK-Japan GSOMIA will enable increased information sharing and strengthen cooperation between our two closest allies in Northeast Asia.



By sharing appropriate security information, they will enhance their deterrence posture against North Korean aggression and strengthen their ability to defend against continued missile launches and nuclear tests, both of which are explicitly prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.

Happy shootin' my friends!

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Expert Advice with Todd Hunter. 25/11/2016

As a professional investor, getting the edge on the market place is what makes the difference between owning a portfolio that performs fantastic, as opposed to just average. Hence why I keep my cards close to my chest about where we invest. Reserved for me and my clients only.

That said, I understand that potential investors are wanting to know what I look for when I research, so I am going to divulge a recent location I invested in, but more importantly, why I invested there?

During the GFC, the Gold Coast was one of the hardest hit regions in Australia.

Around 6-10 years ago, house and land packages were being flogged to interstate investors in both Upper Coomera and Ormeau. Typically, investors were ripped off by property companies and marketeers. These four-bedroom, two-bathroom, double garage homes on 550m2+ blocks were sold for between $440,000 - $480,000. Mass sales volumes meant many houses settled simultaneously, resulting in relaxed tenancy due diligence. Affordability checks and tenancy checks were skipped. So it may come as no surprise these investors had an awful experience and lost money.

I started investing in both of these suburbs in January 2014 through to July 2015 (18 months). This is when the market was completely dead and prices had reduced considerably. So much so that we were buying these same houses for between $341,000 and $380,000. Yes thats right, $100k -$140k cheaper than what the original owners paid and for majority of these properties, we were achieving yields of between 5.7% and 5.9%. Very few required any work too, worse case carpets and paint on a handful.

The reason we stopped investing there was due to the market heating up, which meant all the bargains were gone. The median house prices are now:

Upper Coomera - $445,000

Ormeau - $460,000 Not bad in 12-18 months! Market timing is everything. The funny thing is that there are now several Buyers Agents and property companies buying in these suburbs for their clients, and yes, they are paying $440k for these same houses and competing against other buyers to secure what houses they can. How does that make sense? If you read the latest Core Logic suburb growth stats you will see: Ormeau 12 month growth  3%

3 year growth  13.6% Upper Coomera 12 month growth  5.45%

3 year growth  15.58% Upper Coomera Yet I have achieved between 23% and a whopping 35% in a little over 12 months. Thats under market investing! Now dont confuse Upper Coomera with Coomera  they are completely different. Coomera has tiny houses on tiny blocks and thats why they dont achieve the same rents and have a much higher vacancy rate. So why these suburbs? Employment is a plenty  there are numerous regions on the Gold Coast for employment. Brisbane CBD is only a 35-45 minute drive away and both Brisbane and Coolangatta Airports are only 40  45 minutes away also.

is a plenty  there are numerous regions on the Gold Coast for employment. Brisbane CBD is only a 35-45 minute drive away and both Brisbane and Coolangatta Airports are only 40  45 minutes away also. Schooling  the three best private schools on the Gold Coast are ALL in Upper Coomera. Wealthy families from Hope Island & Sovereign Island all bring their kids to these schools. There are also many public schools locally.

 the three best private schools on the Gold Coast are ALL in Upper Coomera. Wealthy families from Hope Island & Sovereign Island all bring their kids to these schools. There are also many public schools locally. Shopping  Ormeau has its own shopping centre and Upper Coomera is expanding its current shopping centre. Coomera shopping centre is still in talks to be approved and Westfields is only 7 minutes away in Helensvale.

 Ormeau has its own shopping centre and Upper Coomera is expanding its current shopping centre. Coomera shopping centre is still in talks to be approved and Westfields is only 7 minutes away in Helensvale. Transport  both Upper Coomera and Ormeau are on the M1 Highway which also has a train line heading straight into Brisbane CBD. Meaning you can earn the bigger dollars in Brisbane and have the lifestyle of the Gold Coast. ....................................................................
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2.16 million renting families are pet owners. Despite these high numbers, landlords are reluctant to advertise their properties as allowing pets and many people assume they wont be allowed to bring their pets with them.

The annual PETstock Pet Parent Survey, which interviewed more than 905 pet owners across the country, found that approximately 54% of pet owners thought landlords and property managers should be compelled to allow pets on the rental premises.

While a handful of owners (8%) admitted that their pets had damaged a rental home, 30% strongly agreed that landlords should be compelled to accept pets. Only 1.5% strongly disagreed with the need to change the law.

In Victoria, there are no laws that directly cover pets in tenancies or residencies, but landlords often include a clause in the lease banning them, said Shane Young, chief executive officer of PETstock. However, this may soon change as the Victorian Government is currently reviewing tenancy laws, including the law around pets.

RSPCA Victoria says its time to correct the perception that all pets damage rental properties. The organisation also wants the landlord ban on pet owners to be overturned, believing that the restriction unfairly hurts both pet owners and their pets. More than 700 animals were surrendered to RSPCA Victoria animal care centres in the last financial year because their owners couldnt take them to their new homes.

Given that an incredible 83 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they treated their pets as their children, these figures are not surprising, Young said. When they are looking for a place to live, it can be really hard for pet parents to find a place where the owners will allow them to keep their pet.

Related stories:

Triumph For Tenants: VCAT Rules Against Pet Bans

Lobby Group Calls For End To No-Pet Clauses
Kano: Boko Haram jihadists have raided three villages in northeastern Nigeria, killing five people and setting fire to several homes and fields, residents told AFP on Thursday.

Armed members of the extremist group on Wednesday sped into the villages of Huyum, Sabongarin Huyum and Wasada on motorbike, killing five villagers and looting their property before setting fire to their homes and farms, witnesses said.

"The armed men arrived at 4 pm and for four hours they held us all hostage," Huyum resident Bala Jonah said.

"They killed five people and burnt down our houses and farmland, just when we were about to harvest our crops," he added.

Hundreds of people living in the three villages fled for the relative safety of the town of Askira, located some 10 kilometres (six miles) away.

A local official from the village of Wasada confirmed the toll.

"There is no doubt the attacks were the work of Boko Haram. We have lost five men, our homes and our food," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

News of the attack has been slow to emerge because of the destroyed telecommunications infrastructure in northeast Nigeria, and restricted access.

The villages that the jihadists raided were located near Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls two years ago.

They are also near the Sambisa Forest, one of the group`s last bastions.

Boko Haram`s insurgency in Nigeria`s predominantly-Muslim north has claimed at least 20,000 lives and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

Nigerian troops with the help of neighbouring countries have recaptured swathes of territory from Boko Haram since early 2015, but the extremists have carried out sporadic attacks on remote villages in the restive region.
Bogota: A new peace accord between Colombia`s government and Marxist FARC rebels will be signed on Thursday and sent to Congress for approval. This was announced by President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday, bringing a formal end to the 52-year civil war ever closer.

The revised document will be signed in Bogota between FARC leader Rodrigo Londono and Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his efforts to end the conflict with the insurgent group.

"We have the unique opportunity to close this painful chapter in our history that has bereaved and afflicted millions of Colombians for half a century," the president had said in a televised address.

The government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been in talks in Havana, Cuba for the last four years, hammering out a deal to end a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean country.

The government published the revised peace deal last week in a bid to build support after the original draft was rejected in an October 2 referendum amid objections it was too favourable to the rebels.

Santos and Londono signed the original deal two months ago in an emotional ceremony before world leaders and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The decision to ratify the revised accord in Congress instead of holding another referendum will anger members of the opposition, particularly former President Alvaro Uribe who spearheaded the push to reject the original accord and wants deeper changes to the new version.

"This new accord possibly won`t satisfy everybody, but that`s what happens in peace accords. There are always critical voices; it is understandable and respectable," said Santos, 65, warning another plebiscite could divide the nation and put in danger the bilaterial cease-fire.

The expanded and highly technical 310-page document appears to make only small modifications to the original text, such as clarifying private property rights and detailing more fully how the rebels would be confined in rural areas for crimes committed during the war.

Uribe has criticized it as just a slightly altered version of the original and wants rebel leaders to be banned from holding public office and jailed for crimes.

With AFP inputs
Washington: Donald Trump has received just two classified intelligence briefings since winning the presidency earlier this month, far less than his immediate predecessors, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Republican`s limited engagement with his team of intelligence analysts has some officials questioning the real estate mogul`s commitment to national security or international affairs, arenas in which he has no significant experience.

The Trump transition team has brushed off those concerns, saying the president-elect has simply been busy appointing his administration members.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, in contrast, has received intelligence briefings nearly every day since the November 8 vote, the paper reported.

Within days of his win Trump received his initial briefing, and met once more with top US intelligence analysts before heading to Florida for the US Thanksgiving holiday.

The billionaire has turned away other opportunities to meet with intelligence officials, according to the Post.

Trump`s last three predecessors regularly received intelligence briefings during their transitions, often on a daily basis. President Barack Obama took regular briefings as well as scheduled "deep dives" on major security issues such as Iran`s nuclear program.

As a candidate Trump had voiced skepticism of the US intelligence community, and brushed off intelligence findings throughout the campaign.

Prior to his first classified intelligence briefing -- a privilege reserved for presidential candidates from the two main political parties -- Trump told Fox News he had scant trust in the experts he was slated to meet with.

"Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country. Look what`s happened over the last 10 years. Look what`s happened over the years. It`s been catastrophic," he told Fox News.

Following Trump`s shock victory, the White House had said in a fact sheet on the transition process that "the president-elect and other senior officials will begin receiving daily intelligence briefings from the intelligence community".
Islamabad: Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has described US President-elect Donald Trump as a man of bad character and a threat to Muslims across the world.

In a message to its followers in Pakistan and elsewhere, the JeM said it has issued a warning to Muslims worldwide to beware of Donald Trump.

Writing in the Pakistan-based Al Qalam Weekly (November 18-24, 2016), JeM ideologues - Maulana Mansoor Ahmad and Talhe As-Saif - have stated that while the international media has used Trump`s victory to create fear among Muslims, this victory was actually depressing for the United States itself, rather than for the rest of the world.

They said that the same is evident from the protests being held in many states in the United States against Trump`s election as the next president.

Analysing the personality of Trump, As-Saif said that the three important aspects of the former are that he is a man of `bad character`, temperamental and emotional, and anti-Islam.

He added that while the United States had targeted Muslims in the war against terrorism, it had only led to a further spread of jihad, and that Trump`s victory would only fuel extremism in the countries suppressed by America, leading to a change in government in these countries.

He added that Muslims were people of faith and could not be frightened, as their religion gave them resilience, patience and persistence, which has brought victories against powerful opponents.
Palm Beach (US): The scramble to shape his administration underway, President-elect Donald Trump's team has simultaneously begun turning its attention to raising tens of millions of dollars for festivities related to his Washington inauguration.

Trump, who vowed during the campaign to "drain the swamp" of special interests corrupting Washington, has set USD 1 million donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors, according to an official on the Presidential Inaugural Committee with direct knowledge of tentative fundraising plans. At the same time, Trump's inaugural committee will not accept money from registered lobbyists, in line with his ban on hiring lobbyists for his nascent administration.

Barack Obama set stricter limits on donations for his first inauguration, in 2009, holding individual donors to USD 50,000 each and taking no money from corporations or labor unions, as well as none from lobbyists and some other groups.

Plenty of corporate executives, though, gave individually and often at the maximum amount. And he opened the spigots for his 2013 inauguration, setting no limits on corporate or individual donations.

The new details, confirmed today on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to disclose private deliberations, came as

Trump gathered with family at his Palm Beach estate on Thanksgiving.

It was a working holiday of sorts for Trump, who suggested on Twitter that he was engaged in trying to prevent an Indiana air conditioning company from moving jobs to Mexico.

"I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier AC Company to stay in the US," Trump tweeted. "MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!"

The company, which has announced plans to move 1,400 jobs to Mexico from Indiana in the coming years, confirmed today it "has had discussions with the incoming administration," but said there was "nothing to announce at this time." On the eve of the national holiday, the president-elect offered a prayer for unity after "a long and bruising" campaign season.

"Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," Trump said in a video message on social media. He added, "It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve."

Unity has emerged as a common theme during Trump's limited public appearances in the days since his stunning general election victory, which followed a campaign season in which he rained extraordinary personal attacks on his opponents in both parties, the media and his many Republican critics.
Berlin: The leader of the German state of Bavaria has invited Donald Trump to visit, reports said today, after he urged European politicians to keep an open mind about the controversial US President-elect.

Premier Horst Seehofer, a maverick member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, wrote to Trump to congratulate him on his victory and said he would be welcome "any time" in his state capital Munich, Bavarian government sources told German news agency DPA.

Specifically, Seehofer suggested Trump could attend the city's annual international security conference in February, just weeks after his inauguration as US president on January 20, the unnamed sources added.

In contrast with many German and European officials, Seehofer warned soon after the November 8 US election against prejudging Trump too harshly.

"I would urge us to see what he actually does," Seehofer said, calling for dialogue between Germany, European partners and the United States on "shared policy".

Seehofer has frequently clashed with Merkel over her liberal border policy, which permitted the arrival of around one million asylum-seekers over the last two years.

Following Trump's election, Merkel offered the populist billionaire "close cooperation".

But she stressed that relations must be based on the "values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief".

Trump, whose paternal grandparents hailed from Germany, is expected to attend the G20 summit, which Merkel will host in Hamburg next July.
Washington: US 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has garnered 64,223,958 tallied votes by Wednesday morning, over two million more votes than President-elect Donald Trump, according to data released by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

With new votes tallied from New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland and California, Clinton's popular vote lead reached 2,017,563 overnight. Trump so far has won 62,206,395 votes, Xinhua news agency reported.

As many as 7,143,347 votes went to third party, write-ins, or independent candidates, the data revealed.

Since votes in many states are still being counted, it is expected that Clinton's lead in the popular vote, with Michigan's 16 electoral votes still up for grab, will continue to grow.

Clinton will be the fifth presidential nominee to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote in the US history.

The former Secretary of State's advantage had crossed the one-million mark by November 15 and ballooned to 1.5 million by Sunday.

However, it was Trump who prevailed on the November 8 Election Day by clinching the crucial 270 Electoral College votes, the bare majority required to win the presidency.

As of Wednesday, Trump has 290 votes to Clinton's 232, with Michigan outstanding. Even if Clinton wins there, she still would trail, 290-248.

Among other states where the vote was close, only Florida could flip the election. But she trails there and in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by too many votes to trigger an automatic recount, said Richard Wolf with the USA Today newspaper.

"Three thousand votes are all that separate Clinton and Trump in New Hampshire. The margin is about 12,000 in Michigan, 27,000 in Wisconsin, 68,000 in Pennsylvania and 113,000 in Florida -- close, but nothing compared to the 537 votes that separated George W. Bush and Al Gore in Florida 16 years ago," Xinhua news agency quoted Wolf as saying.

Nearly all US states will complete their popular vote counts by December 13, in time for the December 19 meeting of the Electoral College -- the 538 individuals who, usually without exception, vote according to the results in each state, Wolf said, adding that in some states, the final count may come even later.

Millions of ballots come in at the last second, or, in states that allow it, several days after the election with the proper postmarks. It takes money, manpower and accurate voting machines to get every vote counted correctly, he explained why the counting takes so long.

California Senator Barbara Boxer, who supported Clinton, introduced legislation last week to abolish the Electoral College, while several electors who will formally cast votes on December 19, are pushing to block Trump from winning a majority of votes, according to local media reports.

However, Boxer's long-shot bid is not expected to clear the current GOP-controlled Congress and those electors' effort is also unlikely to succeed -- even if it did, the House of Representatives could simply choose to elect Trump.

Trump said in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday that he would "rather do the popular vote" and was "never a fan of the Electoral College".

A week after his historic election victory, Trump tweeted: "The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!"

However, four years ago, Trump tweeted: "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy," in response to President Barack Obama's re-election against Mitt Romney in 2012.

In 2000, the then Vice-President Al Gore earned about 500,000 more votes over Republican nominee George W. Bush. At the time, it was the largest advantage in the popular vote for a candidate who lost the Electoral College vote in the US presidential election.
Pittsburgh (US): An Indian man was assaulted at a restaurant's bar in the South Hills Village in Pittsburgh because he was mistaken as a Muslim, media reports said.

The police arrived at the Red Robin Restaurant, where Anukur Mehta, directed it to the suspect, Jeffrey Burgess, Wtae-TV reported.

Mehta told the police that Burgess was seated next to him at the bar and began making racial and ethnic slurs. He told Mehta that "things are different now" and "I don't want you sitting next to me. You people", according to the report.

The police said that when 54-year-old Burgess spoke he was staggering and smelled of alcohol. "He launched an unprovoked attack on the victim as he was seated at the bar, beat him physically," Bethel Park police Chief Timothy O'Connor said.

Witnesses told the police that Burgess grabbed Mehta by the head and punched him. They also added that Mehta was defenceless and unaware of Burgess' impending attack. Burgess struck him in the face with his elbow multiple times, said the report.

Mehta was taken to a local hospital with a loose tooth and a cut to his upper lip. Burgess was arrested for ethnic intimidation, assault, public drunkenness and harassment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, condemned the attack, saying it's the "latest in spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes since the November 8 elections".
Washington: Cutting across party-lines, Indian-Americans in the US has hailed President-elect Donald Trump for nominating Nikki Haley as US envoy to the United Nations.

If confirmed, Haley, 44, would be the first-ever Cabinet-level official to ever serve in any US presidential administration.

This would not only bring the Indian-American community closer to the Republican Party, but further strengthen India-US relationship, said Sampat Shivangi, an old-time Republican leader, who holds the distinction of attending the last four Republican National Convention.

"This is a masterstroke. Now India has a friend at the highest world body. May be in securing India's rightful place at the UN Security Council and other important matters. One thing to admire about Haley she has not forgotten her roots or heritage," Shivangi said.

Haley is a great choice for the UN Ambassador post, said M Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American entrepreneur.

"She has had prior experience in South Carolina with foreign companies and governments. Nikki has been to India and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"The Indian-American community is excited that we now have someone at the cabinet level in the US government for the very first time!" he added.

"It's a proud moment for all Indian-Americans on President-elect Trump's choice of Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations," said Puneet Ahluwalia, who was an advisor to the Trump Campaign on Asia Pacific Islanders committee.

"Haley's appointment -- her Indian and Sikh heritage -- is a clear indication of inclusivity for the incoming administration. The President-elect is uniting the party and getting competent leaders with proven track record to serve in his administration," Ahluwalia said.

"Trump's nomination of Nikki Haley to be our ambassador to the UN and to sit at the Horse Shoe table of the Security Council, a Cabinet-level position, has taken my breath away as I celebrate the highest milestone for the Indian-American community and the inherent trust that America has in her citizens' love of America and our cherished Constitution," said Ravi Batra, a top Indian-American attorney in New York.

Welcoming the appointment of Haley, Ashok Mago from Texas said this is just the beginning.

"Governor Haley has done a tremendous work as South Carolina's first female and Indian-American Governor and she will surely succeed as the top diplomat at the United Nations," said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC).

USINPAC has been working with the Trump transition team to make sure that qualified Indian Americans have the opportunity to serve in the Trump administration, Puri said.

Last week, USINPAC had hosted Congressman Lou Barletta, and Matt Keelen, a Republican strategist and consultant for the Trump campaign, for a Google hangout.

In addition to Haley, Keelen said Trump is also considering the former Indian-origin governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal for a position in his administration.

Keelen said Trump understood the importance of US-India ties, as the two nations share the same values, face the same issues with terrorist attacks on their soil.

"Of course Haley fully deserves this honour and Trump honouring her with such a coveted position he has honoured India and Indian Americans in recognising their contributions to their country USA," Shivangi said.

Batra said with the appointment of Haley, Trump declares that America will no longer act insecure and "engage in John Boltonesque war lust or arrogance," and in its place use Charm and Respect as it's preferred diplomatic arsenal.
New York: Donald Trump Jr. the older son of the US President-elect, in October participated in a private meeting in Paris at which the possibility of supporting Russian efforts to halt the war in Syria was discussed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The meeting took place on October 11 at the Ritz Hotel in the French capital and included diplomats, politicians and businessmen, some of the participants confirmed.

Among the participants was Randa Kassis, who is a member of one of the Syrian opposition groups that was created in Moscow and which, according to the Journal, is being supported by the Kremlin in the search for a end to the war that erupted in Syria five years ago, EFE news reported.

The meeting was organised by Kassis's husband, Fabien Baussart, the President of the French Centre for Political and Foreign Affairs, a think tank that often organises international meetings on subjects on the world agenda.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the younger Trump's participation at the meeting stirred controversy about the role of the now-president-elect's family members in affairs of state and his stated desire to cooperate closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kassis confirmed to the paper that Trump's son had participated in the meeting, saying that he had emphasised the importance of having Russian cooperation in Middle Eastern conflicts such as the one in Syria.

In an earlier message posted on her Facebook page, Kassis had said that the Syrian opposition was sure that Russia and the United States could reach an agreement on the conflict thanks to Trump's presidential victory.

Trump's former campaign chief, Kellyanne Conway, said that Trump Jr. was present only at one roundtable discussion in Paris, adding that Kassis participated in that discussion, and in a group dinner for about 30 people to analyse the prospects for the US election.

Rivalries between Russia and the United States so far have hindered progress on finding a solution for ending the war in Syria despite the efforts being made by the United Nations to get all parties to agree.

Among other issues, the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama and the government in Moscow have not agreed on the role of Syrian President Bashar al Assad in a political solution to the conflict.
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to distribute free mobile phones to enable economically-backward people to undertake cashless transactions in the wake of the ongoing currency crisis.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu came up with this proposal during a review meeting with RBI officials and bankers here today.

"Everybody needs a mobile phone for digital transactions, so we want to implement this idea and distribute mobile phones," he said.

RBI officials informed the Chief Minister that another Rs 3,000 crore worth new currency notes were expected to reach the state by November 28.

Of this, notes of smaller denominations were expected to be around Rs 60 crore, they said.

The Chief Minister asked the bankers to review the situation constantly with their top officials through teleconference, till the problem eased out.

RBI representative Hari Sankar, Andhra Bank deputy general manager G S V Krishna Rao and other senior officials attended the meeting.
Lahore: Sixteen Bangladeshis have been arrested by Pakistan's top investigation agency on charges of possessing fake Pakistani identities as part of its crackdown on foreigners living illegally in the country.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 16 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday from Faisalabad district of Punjab, about 150 km from Lahore, for living in the country on fake identities, senior FIA official Ali Imam Zaidi said.

"An FIA team conducted a raid at the house of Muhammad Sraj at Chak 266-RB Jaranwala Road?Faisalabad and arrested 16 Bangladeshi nationals. Most of them had Pakistani CNICs (computerised national identity cards) which were issued on fake documents," Zaidi said, adding that the Bangladeshi nationals had been living here for the last many years.

He said the FIA has also arrested three Pakistanis, including an ex-employee of National Database Registration Authority, for their alleged involvement in preparing fake CNICs of the Bangladeshis.

A case has been registered against the suspects under the the National Database Registration Authority?Ordinance, 109 Pakistan?Penal?Code and 14 Foreigners Act.

Zaidi said the FIA has launched a crackdown in the country?against foreigners living illegally in Pakistan.
Dhaka: The Bangladesh cabinet on Thursday approved the draft of the "Child Marriage Prevention Act 2016" keeping the minimum age for girls' marriage unchanged at 18 years.

The cabinet, however, incorporated a provision paving the way for marriage of minor girls under 18 years in special circumstances, Xinhua news agency reported.

The cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, allowed marriage of minor girls under 18 years under special circumstances subject to clearance from the court and their parents' consent, Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam said.

He said the minimum marriage age for men also remained unchanged at 21 years.

Bangladesh, which has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world despite a three-decade-old law banning marriage for girls under the age of 18, in September 2014 proposed measures to lower the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 16 years.

Over the last two years, the move to lower the legal marriage age for girls has been met with widespread protests.
Manila: An Indian couple was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne gunmen in Camarines Sur province of the Philippines, the media reported on Thursday.

The victims, killed in the Bicol region in Luzon island, were identified as Bahagwantsingh Buttar, 45, and his wife Jaswinder Kaur, 36, reported news tabloid Tempo.

They were residents of San Bartolome in Sipocot town of the Camarines Sur province.

According to a report in Journal online, the victims were on their way home when they were repeatedly shot. The victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds on their bodies, causing instantaneous death.

The authorities arrested the suspects Marvin Magdaong, 40, and Rodolfo Gumatay 53.


Islamabad: Pakistan is not worried at all about any threat from India and its "battle hardened" military is capable of responding to aggression, Air Force Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said today.

"We are not worried about India at all," the Air Chief said, speaking at the ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS).

He said it is better if India showed restraint and solved the Kashmir issue to prevent escalation of tension.

"India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them," he was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

Aman said that Pakistan does not want war but cannot ignore this kind of pressure. "We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression," he asserted.

He said Pakistan had "readied all of its (battle) plans following threats from India" after the terror attack in Uri sector.

The Air chief asserted that Pakistan, engaged in Operation Zarb-e-Azab, has a "battle hardened military" to respond to threats.

The air chief's remarks came a day after Pakistan claimed that Indian forces targeted a passenger bus in PoK killing at least nine people and wounding another nine.

It also claimed that seven Indian troops were killed in retaliatory fire when India opened fire on the Line of Control (LoC) and killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Indian Army yesterday launched a counter offensive against Pakistan along the LoC after three Indian soldiers were killed, with body of one of them mutilated in a cross-LoC attack, even as Pakistani troops continued to shell Indian positions, injuring six jawans.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate "deliberate targeting" of innocent civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport.

"Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC," he added.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted by the Patna High Court to suspended RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav in a rape case of a minor girl.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and A M Sapre said that they have allowed the appeal of Bihar government, seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yadav by Patna High Court on September 30 this year.

The apex court had on November 8 directed Yadav to surrender before a trial court in Bihar after suspending a Patna High Court order granting bail to him.

The SC had also directed the trial court to record the statement of the minor rape survivor within two weeks and had asked Yadav not to interfere in the matter in any manner.

It had earlier rejected Yadav's plea to remain outside Bihar till the victim deposed before the trial court and felt that the RJD legislator should remain in jail till the victim records her statement "fairly and without any fear". It had said it was "more concerned" about the safety of the prosecutrix.

The apex court had on October 18 directed the trial court not to record the testimony of the victim till October 24 after the state government submitted that she felt threatened due to the accused being out on bail.

Yadav had allegedly raped the minor girl at his residence in Biharsharif on February 6 this year. After evading arrest for a considerable time, he surrendered after a local court had issued proclamation notice and an order to attach his properties for not surrendering before the police.

The Bihar Police, in its charge sheet, had also named a woman and her relatives as accused on the ground that they had been allegedly supplying women to the MLA representing Nawada Assembly constituency.

RJD had suspended Yadav from the party on February 14, a day after his arrest warrant was issued.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Home Ministry has directed strengthening of security in all airports and airstrips across the country to check movement of domonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.

The alert has been sent after it was found that several crores of rupees in demonetised banknotes were transported in a chartered jet from an airstrip in Hisar to Dimapur airport in Nagaland.

"All airports have been alerted and directed to keep strict vigil on illegal transportation of cash," an official said.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which protects nearly all 98 airports in the country, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been given clear instructions to be on high alert against any such attempt to convert black money into the banking system.

A Bihar-based businessman, who was travelling alone in a chartered jet from Hissar, was yesterday apprehended by the CISF here following a tip-off by the Intelligence Bureau that he was carrying "suspect money". He was later freed after he produced "tax exemption certificates".

During the searches at a few premises owned by a Dimapur businessman, the taxmen were able to locate the missing Rs 3.5 crore. Not only that, they impounded another Rs 4.47 crore in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bills.
London: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on Wednesday revised down growth forecasts for the British economy for 2017 and 2018.

Hammond told lawmakers in his House of Commons speech that Britain's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2017 would be 1.4 per cent, down from 2.2 per cent predicted seven months ago, Xinhua news agency reported.

That was in his predecessor George Osborne's final budget before he was swept from office in the wake of the Brexit vote, and the downward revision in GDP is also in part a reaction to the referendum decision to quit the European Union (EU).

Hammond based his figures on data from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official economic data agency, which lowered the forecast for 2018 too, from 2.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent. However growth for 2019 and 2020 was forecast as the same, at 2.1 per cent.

Britain's public sector net debt is also forecast to be higher, continuing to rise as a share of GDP, peaking at 90.2 per cent in 2017-2018. The March Budget had forecast that debt was to start falling this year, and be down to 81.3 per cent by 2017-2018.

Hammond vowed that spending would "return to balance as early as is practicable in the next parliament".

Britain's productivity has remained stagnant since the financial crisis, and raising productivity was "essential to deliver higher living standards for working people", said Hammond.
Rajkot: Gujarati edition of a book on the late RSS leader Lakshmanrao Madhavrao Inamdar, co-authored by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be released here tomorrow.

"The Gujarati edition of the book written jointly by Narendra Modi and (RSS leader) Rajabhai Nene on L M Inamdar, popularly known as "Vakilsaheb", would be released tomorrow," said Rajubhai Dhruv, BJP spokesperson.

Senior RSS leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani would be present for the function, he said.

Hindi edition of the book was published two years ago.

Born at Satara in Maharashtra, Inamdar was jailed for eight months during the freedom struggle. He became RSS pracharak in 1942 and handled various responsibilities in the saffron organisation. He is considered to be Modi's mentor.
New Delhi: The three-day Directors-General of Police (DGP) Conference is all set to commence today at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad and will witness the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Police chiefs from all states and Union territories as well as heads of para-military forces will collect at the event with an agenda to discuss cross-border terrorism, radicalisation as well as police reforms.

The conference is organized by the Intelligence Bureau and will also have Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in attendance, along with ministers of state for home Kiren Rijiju and Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.

PM Modi will inaugurate the conference and attend the deliberations on November 25 and 26.
Jammu: The Indian Army on Thursday said it foiled two infiltration bids from across the Line of Control (LoC) into Jammu and Kashmir during the last 18 hours.

The Indian Army`s Udhampur headquartered Northern Command said: "Two infiltration attempts were foiled in the last 18 hours."

"Alert troops push back intruders in Gulmarg and Nowgam sectors after heavy exchange of fire."

The army sources told IANS that there was no casualty among its soldiers when these two infiltration bids by militants from the Pakistani side were foiled.
New Delhi: Notwithstanding the government's efforts to break the deadlock in the Parliament over demonetisation, the Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha, Thursday, refused to engage in a debate over the issue and continued to demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be present in the house before the matter is discussed.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the government is not running away from a debate.

Naidu made it clear that since the matter  demonetisation  comes under the finance ministry, the rule mandates that the finance minister will respond to the debate, and not the Prime Minister.

However, the Congress asserted that the PM will have to participate in the debate for the Parliament to take up the issue.

As soon as the proceedings began in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad requested the chair that former PM Manmohan Singh be allowed to speak during the Zero Hour.

The Leader of the House Jaitley said, Let the opposition resume the debate and let former prime minister Manmohan Singh speak in the debate.

The Congress then said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be present in the house when former PM Singh speaks. PM Modi is scheduled to attend proceedings in the house later in the day.

PM should show courtesy and listen to former PM Singh, Congress leader Anand Sharma said while talking to reporters after the house was adjourned.

The Lok Sabha also witnessed unruly scenes as the Opposition continued to disrupt the house over the issue.

The house was adjourned till 12 noon after Akshay Yadav of the Samajwadi Party tore paper, threw it at Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The upper house has not conducted any business for the last five days due to Opposition's demand that PM Modi take part in the debate over demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

Meanwhile, reports said that the Opposition has made up its mind to not let the house function till November 28, when they will organise a 'Bharat Bandh' to protest demonetisation.
New Delhi: Amid uproar and adjournments in Parliament over demonetisation move, PM Narendra Modi convened a Cabinet meet at Parliament Library building on Thursday.

PM Narendra Modi had called Cabinet meeting possibly to discuss the penal 200 per cent tax that is keeping away the scrapped 500 and 1000 rupees notes from entering the formal system.

The meeting, summoned at a very short notice, comes amid reports of high tax penalty terrifying people from putting their cash savings into the formal banking system.

Govt wants all of the 500 and 1000 banknotes to be deposited?

Sources said the government wants all of the 500 and 1000 banknotes to be deposited and not burnt or destroyed for the fear of penal action.

The Income Tax Department had previously warned that cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh threshold post demonetisation decision could attract tax plus a 200 per cent penalty in case of income mismatch.

It was stated that the department was tracking all cash deposited during the period of November 10 to December 30, 2016, above a threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh in every account.

This had put a fear in people with reports of the banned currency even being destroyed.

Govt to come out with a deposit scheme?

Sources said the government may come out with a deposit scheme or an instrument like bond where the cash savings in the banned notes could be deposited.

Modi's November 8 shock ban on high-denomination currency notes had swept away 86 per cent of the currency in circulation in the biggest ever crackdown on black money, corruption and counterfeit currency. The move had led to Rs 14 lakh crore worth currency being withdrawn from circulation.

A 50-day window was given to holders of the old currency to deposit in their bank accounts. But the penal tax provisions were deterring many.

Rajya Sabha adjourned

Earlier, in the day, the Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amidst ruckus over demonetisation by the opposition at around 3.00 p.m., shortly after the house met after another adjournment in the post-lunch session.

As the house re-assembled post-lunch at 2.00 p.m., the opposition demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's continued presence in the house.

PM Modi had come to the house at 12.00 noon and sat for an hour. However, he did not return after the lunch break.

Amidst ruckus by the opposition, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, who was in the chair, adjourned the house until 3.00 p.m.

As the house met at 3.00 p.m., the opposition persisted with its demand for Modi`s presence in the house during the discussion on demonetisation.

The government accused the opposition of running away from discussion.

As the opposition members trooped to the well of the house, raising slogans against Modi, the chair adjourned the house for the day.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: A court here on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's estranged son-in-law in a case of alleged theft and misappropriation of his wife's property.

Special Judge Deepak Garg granted bail to Syed Mohammad Imran, asking him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety of the like amount.

Imran was arrested in Bengaluru last week.

Dikshit's daughter Latika had accused Imran of domestic violence and filed a complaint in June.

She also alleged that Imran took away jewellery and other expensive items from her residence.

Latika and Imran, who got married in 1996, had been living separately for the last 10 months.

Imran has been booked for dishonest misappropriation of property, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and cheating and also for violation of the Information Technology Act provisions.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Thursday that if an "alliance" with the Congress takes shape in the state before the assembly elections, the opposition parties will face a humiliating defeat.

"We are going to win the elections on our own, but if an alliance takes place, the opposition parties will face a humiliating defeat," Akhilesh told reporters outside Parliament.

However, he added that any decision regarding a possible alliance will be taken only by "Netaji" -- Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akhilesh was asked whether the Samajwadi Party will go for an alliance with the Congress, as its strategist Prashant Kishor has been trying to work out.

He was at Parliament House to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Chief Minister said that he has handed over a letter to the Prime Minister and urged him to take measures to address the concerns of farmers affected by demonetisation.

He also said that concerns relating to marriages and health should also be addressed.
New Delhi: Addressing the weekly media briefing, Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, slammed Pakistan for ceasefire violations and supporting terror.

Slamming Pakistan for ceasefire violations, Vikas Swarup said, "MEA called in Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner yesterday and issued a demarche, the 4th one this month on continued ceasefire violations from other side of LoC."

MEA summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner and stated that despite calls for restraint Pakistan violated ceasefire 27 times from 12-21 Nov.

"Internationalising Kashmir issue has borne no fruit. Pakistan would be advised to 1st end state support to terror," said MEA on committee formed by Pakistan.

"These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003; govt also protested the deliberate targeting by Pakistan army of 18 villages along LoC during 16-21 Nov," Swarup added.

Bilateral talks with Pakistan

On possibility of bilateral talks with Pakistan, Vikas Swarup said, "Talks and terror can't go together. Environment has to be terror free for talks to take place."

"Not ruling out or ruling in anything, but not in position to confirm," says Vikas Swarup on if there will be bilateral talks with Sartaj Aziz.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar on December 3 and 4.

The visit comes amid rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC).

The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will see participation of over 40 countries.

Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan

"We expect early repatriation and safe return of Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who inadvertently crossed LoC over 7 weeks ago," said MEA spokesperson.
Gurugram: A nearly two-year-old leopard was beaten to death on Thursday by villagers near Gurugram, an official said.

The young leopard was killed after allegedly injuring at least six persons in Mundawar village, located in the foothills of Aravali mountain range, near Sohna, some 26 km from Gurugram city.

The leopard entered the village on Thursday morning and was beaten to death by the villagers.

Out of six injured persons, four were admitted to Sohna civil hospital.

Villagers informed the forest department officials but they failed to reach the spot on time.

Angry over the poor response from the forest department, people blocked traffic by keeping the body of the leopard on the Sohna-Ballabgarh road.

People told police that the leopard was spotted in the region on several occasions over the last one year. The information was conveyed to forest officials but they remained inactive.

The body of the leopard has been sent for post-mortem examination.

Authorised forest officials (wildlife) were not available for comment despite efforts.
Srinagar: Militants attacked a police station in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday evening and firing exchanges between security forces and the assailants were still on at the spot, said police.

"Militants attacked the Kralgund police station in Handwara tehsil of Kupwara late Thursday evening," a senior police officer told IANS.

"The attack has been repulsed... firing exchanges between the security forces and the militants are still going on," the officer added.
New York: Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan on Thursday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a "full-fledged crisis".

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met the Deputy UN Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a "grave threat to international peace and security".

Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC "was a deliberate attempt" by India to "divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed" by it in Kashmir.

Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly "abhorrent act" that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowball into a full-fledged crisis.

The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.

The Pakistan Army yesterday said seven persons, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.

The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan yesterday rejected as "false" and "baseless" the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack.
Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Punjab on Friday and will lay the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bathinda, Punjab government officials said here on Thursday.

Modi would first arrive on Friday afternoon in the Sikh religious town of Anandpur Sahib and will attend a function to mark the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh master.

Anandpur Sahib, which is famous for Takht Keshgarh Sahib, the second holiest of Sikh shrines after Amritsar's Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple, is about 85 km from here.

The 'Khalsa Panth', the present-day Sikh religion, was founded here by Guru Gobind Singh on April 13, 1699.

Modi would then go to Bathinda in south-west Punjab where he will lay the foundation stone of the 750-bed AIIMS.

He is also scheduled to address a public rally in Bathinda.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the Lok Sabha member from Bathinda constituency, would be present during the Prime Minister's visit.

"Tight security arrangements have been made at both places. Around 10,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure foolproof security at both locations," a Punjab Police officer told IANS here.

With assembly elections likely to be held in Punjab early next year, Modi's visit has political and electoral significance for Punjab's ruling alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The alliance has been in power in Punjab since 2007.
Srinagar: Another terror attack has been reported in Kashmir.

According to latest reports, militants on Thursday night attacked a police station in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

Reportedly, militants attacked a police station in Handwara area of Kupwara by resorting to firing and also lobbed a grenade.

He said there was retaliatory firing by the police personnel, forcing the militants to flee.

There was no report of any loss of life in the firing.

A manhunt has been launched to nab the attackers.
New Delhi: Amidst serious discussion in the Rajya Sabha over the Centre`s demonetisation move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday could not resist himself from laughing briefly over a comment made by Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal.

As Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal took a swipe at demonetisation decision and spoke about the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, both Prime Minister Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley shared a good laugh.

"When you talk about threats to your life, we are deeply hurt. You can move around without any worry in Uttar Pradesh because the law and order situation there is very good," he said jocularly.

During the intense discussion on demonetisation, Agarwal also taunted Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Here is what he said:
Bhopal: Banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives, who were killed in an alleged police encounter following a daring prison break in Bhopal earlier this month, have now been hailed as 'martyrs'.

On October 31, eight members of SIMI escaped from Bhopal Central Jail after slitting the throat of guard Ramashankar Yadav. Eight hours after their escape, all the eight activists were killed a few kilometres from the city in a shootout with the police.

Later, bodies of five of the eight SIMI activists - Amjad Khan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Salik, Sheikh Mehboob and Aqueel Khilji - were on November 01 laid to rest at Bada Cemetery close to Abana river in their home district  Khandwa - amid tight security.

According to Pradesh 18, tombstones have now found to be placed over their graves.

Epitaphs on the gravestones hail the five deceased as martyrs.

Over 2,000 people had participated in the funeral procession earlier this month during which also the deceased were declared as martyrs.

Around 700 police personnel, some of them in plain clothes, had kept a watch on the funeral procession, sources said.
Mumbai: A dance bar association in Maharashtra on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's order to file applications regarding the issuance of licences on old norms.

Earlier in the day, the bar owners had moved the apex court seeking licences on old norms. The court has asked them to file an application in the matter.

The court will now hear the case on Jan 11.

We welcome the court's order on Maharashtra dance bar matter, said Adarsh Shetty, president of AHAR, an association of over 8,000 bars and restaurants.

The owners have challenged the Maharashtra government's stringent norms to regulat bars.

On August 30, the apex court had issued a notice to the state government over a new law for dance bar licenses and asked it to reply within six months.

Besides objecting to the restriction of keeping a one-kilometer distance from religious or educational structure for setting up bars, they are also opposing the move to shut down bars before 11.30 pm, terming it as discriminatory.

The Dance Bar Regulation Bill, which was unanimously passed by the Assembly on April 13, among other things, prohibits serving liquor in performance areas and mandates that the premises must shut by 11:30 pm. It also imposes heavy penalties on dance bar owners and customers for not following rules.

(with ANI inputs)
Mumbai: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped repeatedly by her minor friend from the same school located in Juhu here, leading to her pregnancy, police said today.

The alleged crime had taken place on the school premises, police said, adding that it came to light on November 21, when the girl was taken to a hospital and was found to be 13-weeks pregnant.

"The victim and the accused, who studied in the same school, knew each other. They had a physical relationship inside the ladies toilet of their school in August," a police officer said.

Thereafter, the accused started calling the victim regularly and forced her to keep sexual relations with him by threatening to reveal their status to their school friends, police said.

"The girl had told her mother about the health issues she had suffered in the past couple of months. The mother took her to hospital, where doctors found the girl to be 13-weeks pregnant," police said.

Shocked parents of the victim and the doctors contacted Juhu Police following which the girl's statement was recorded and based on her complaint, an offence against the accused was registered.

The offence has been registered at Juhu police station under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 376 (rape) and 506 r/w 4, 8 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Further investigation into the case is on.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Thursday resume its hearing of the Mumbai dance bar case where the bar owners have challenged the stringent norms regulating bars and the Maharashtra government is justifying the need for these restrictions to ensure the safety and dignity of women working in these establishments.

The apex court had earlier on September 21 ruled that three dance bars in Maharashtra with proper CCTVs can continue operating.

A division bench of the top court, headed by Justice Dipak Misra and Justice C Nagappan passed this order.

On August 30, the apex court had issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government over a new law for dance bar licenses and asked it to reply within six months.

Dance bar owners have objected to the restriction of maintaining a one-kilometer distance from any religious or educational structure claiming it was not possible in big cities.

They claimed that another curb of shutting down the bars before 11.30 pm is discriminatory at the time when the central government was promoting round-the-clock business by commercial establishments.

Maharashtra Government`s counsel Shekhar Nafade had, however, said they would fight the objections at the next hearing as the government had every right to frame rules in the interest of society.

The apex court had in May directed the Maharashtra Government to grant licenses to eight dance bars within two days and asked them to give an undertaking that they would not engage employees with criminal antecedents near the dance area.

The Dance Bar Regulation Bill that was unanimously passed by the Assembly on April 13, among other things, prohibits serving liquor in performance areas and mandates that the premises must shut by 11:30 pm.

It also imposes heavy penalties on dance bar owners and customers for not following these rules.

The apex court had on March 2 rejected certain suggestions like providing live CCTV footage to police of performances in the dance bars and asked the state government to grant licences to owners within 10 days after they comply with the modified guidelines.
Mumbai: The Bombay Hight Court, while rejecting the bail application of former media baron Peter Mukerjea, has said that witnesses' statements and other evidence indicate his involvement in the 2012 murder case of his step daughter Sheena Bora.

Peter, who was arrested in the case by CBI in November last year, had approached the high court seeking bail after the sessions court rejected it. However, the high court had also turned down his bail plea on November 16.

Justice N W Sambre, in an eight-page order, refusing bail to Peter, also said, "It is really unbelievable that a stepfather has no concern for a daughter for almost three years as regards to her whereabouts."

The court noted that the statement of Indrani's driver Shyamwar Rai (who has turned approver in the case) points finger towards Peter as regards his involvement in the murder case.

"Even though the applicant (Peter) was out of the country at the relevant time, he was still in regular touch with the main accused Indrani everyday," the court said.

While refusing to accept Peter's contention that he was not against Sheena's relationship with his son Rahul, the court said, "The statement of Peter's adopted daughter Vidhie also speaks of disapproval of relationship between Sheena and Rahul by the applicant. The statement of other witnesses also point towards the involvement of the applicant to the crime in question," it said.

The judge refused to accept Peter's claim that he was misled by his wife Indrani as regards the whereabouts of Sheena and that he was made to believe that Sheena was very much alive and was residing out of the country.

"Even though the applicant is a stepfather of the deceased and he claims to have supported the relationship of his son Rahul with Sheena, in such an eventuality the least that was expected of is the applicant, being the stepfather of Sheena and father of Rahul, should have tried to know her whereabouts," the order said.

In his bail plea, Peter had refuted CBI's contention that he and Indrani hatched the conspiracy to murder Sheena as they were against her relation with Rahul, Peter's son from his first marriage.

According to the prosecution, Sheena was murdered on April 24, 2012, but the crime came to light after the arrest of Shyamwar Rai in another case in August 2015.
Kozhikode: In a draconian announcement, the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, has warned girl students against roaming with boys on its residential campus, else they would face suspension and expulsion from the hostel.

The warning notice was issued by ladies hostel warden S Bhuvaneswari on Tuesday. It was, however, taken down on Wednesday following widespread condemnation.

The notice had read: Inmates of the ladies hostel and mega ladies hostel are strictly instructed not to roam with boy students inside the residential campus. We got a lot of complaints in this regard. If any girl (is) found along with a boy student inside the residential campus, severe action will be taken against her, including suspension and expulsion from the hostel.

Kozhikode district Collector Prasanth N slammed the notice on his personal Facebook account. Pathetic! Hope better sense prevails and that we wont have to discipline those who enforce 'discipline' this way, the Collector wrote.

Meanwhile, G Unnikrishnan, the dean of student welfare in the institute, said the notice was issued following some complaints.

Girl students have been restricted from roaming with boys only on the residential campus of our institute, where our faculty and other staff reside with their families. This area also has ladies hostels. So, its a well-populated area and different people have different views about girls roaming with boys inside the campus. There were some complaints too, he told Deccan Herald.

Unnikrishnan added that students must maintain some discipline on the residential campus.
Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Thursday allowed the anticipatory bail applications of SUM Hospital owner Manoj Nayak's wife Saswati Das and his sister Arati Nayak in connection with last month's fire in the private hospital in which at least 30 patients died.

Justice Debabrata Dash allowed the advance bail pleas of Saswati and Arati, who are the members of the Trust that runs the hospital.

Despite repeated summons, when the duo failed to appear before the police, the Twin city Commissionerate police had issued a lookout notice against them.

Manoj Nayak, however, had surrendered before the police. He is now out of jail after a lower court in Bhubaneswar granted him regular bail on October 28.
Chennai: In a horrifying case of animal cruelty, four students of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, allegedly tortured and killed a monkey (aged about 11-12 months), and buried her on the premises.

The brutal incident comes to light months after two medicos in Chennai flung a dog off a terrace.

Meanwhile, an FIR has been filed in the case that took place in Vellore and all four students of the college have been suspended.

As per Chennai-based animal welfare activist Shravan Krishnan, the female bonnet macaque had strayed into the hostel on November 19.

"The four medicos caught her with a blanket, tied her hands and then tortured her in front of other students, beating her with sticks and belts, breaking her legs and jaws, and finally put a rod up her anus and killed her," he said.

The incident took place at around 12.30 pm.

"The hostel general secretary immediately informed the college authorities," Krishnan added.

Upon exhuming the monkey's body, it was revealed that she had multiple fractures. The monkey's hands were tied behind her back, a telephone cord tied around her neck and a sharp object inserted from the rear, said The Times of India.

The college condemned the act and suspended the students.
Ghazipur (UP): The Army on Thursday paid rich tributes to slain soldier Manoj K Kushwah in his home town in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

Kushwah died fighting terrorists in Machhal sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kushwah's mortal remains were on Thursday brought to his ancestral home where the Army paid rich tributes to the soldier with gun salutes in the presence of scores of people.

The army has vowed to avenge the killing of the soldier.

Meanwhile, an anti-terror operation is currently on in Tujjer village of Sopore in Baramulla. It is believed that 1-2 terrorists are hiding in the village.

A joint team of the Army and the police is currently carrying out the operation.
Guerrero: Authorities have unearthed 12 bodies in clandestine graves in Mexico`s violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero, officials said Wednesday.

The pits were found on a mountain near the village of Pocjahuxco, part of the municipality of Zitla, a region where drug cartels have been fighting over control of criminal operations. Seven bodies were exhumed on Tuesday and another five on Wednesday, said Roberto Alvarez, the state`s public safety spokesman.

State prosecutors are investigating the crime scene, while soldiers and police guard the area, Alvarez said in a brief statement.

Local media said the bodies were found in six pits.

Drug cartels have been burying their victims in hidden graves across the country for years, and authorities regularly find human remains.

Guerrero is one of the country`s most violent states and a major opium poppy grower, with the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos drug gangs engaged in brutal turf wars.

Last weekend at least 24 people were killed in the state. The bodies of nine men, including five that were dismembered, were found on a roadside.

Last week a dozen people were abducted in another part of the state that has been hit by a rash of mass kidnappings for ransom.

Guerrero is also known for the disappearance of 43 students in the city of Iguala in September 2014, a case that drew international outrage and remains unsolved.

The Pacific resort of Acapulco, once a famous destination for Hollywood stars, is now considered the country`s murder capital as the Beltran Leyva gang and the Independent Cartel of Acapulco battle for supremacy.

The Iguala case put a spotlight on the rash of disappearances in Mexico, where some 28,000 people have been reported missing since 2007.

Frustrated by the lack of progress by the authorities, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of the disappeared have led their own searches across the country, learning to detect clandestine graves on their own.
Province de Luanda: Thirty-seven former fighters from Angola`s main UNITA opposition party go on trial Friday accused of attempting to stage a coup earlier this year, the state news agency Angop reported on Thursday.

Members of the group face charges of planning an armed assault against the presidential palace in Luanda and of occupying the premises of

Angola`s national public television and radio, on 31 January 2016, according to the charge sheet.

All are former members of the armed wing of the ex-rebel movement-turned-opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the prosecutor told Angop.

UNITA denied the accusations at a news conference.

The party`s parliamentary group leader, Adalberto da Costa Junior, said it was "not the first time" that the Angolan authorities had "used this type of accusation to denigrate the opposition."

The prosecutor said the case had been kept under wraps for many months "to avoid unnecessary speculation and panic among the population."

Authorities are still looking for 20 other suspects in connection with the coup bid.

President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, 74, has ruled the oil producing nation with an iron fist for 37 years.

The country holds elections next year and dos Santos, 74, is expected to stand again and hold onto office as he has since 1979.

In March, 17 political activists were convicted and sentenced to between two and eight years for acts of rebellion. They were granted amnesty last month.
Seoul: At least eight out of 10 South Koreans support the move for impeachment of President Park Geun-hye after prosecutors identified her as an accomplice to Choi Soon-sil, her longtime confidante indicted for abuse of power and extortion, a survey said on Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, 79.5 per cent of respondents expressed agreement on impeaching the scandal-hit President. Among them, 60.3 per cent strongly favoured the impeachment, Xinhua news agency reported.

Going against it was 14.6 per cent, but the portion of those who want Park to be impeached was up from 73.9 per cent last week when people demanded that she either voluntarily resign or be impeached.

Almost one million protesters rallied on the streets nationwide last Saturday, demanding Park step down. But, the presidential office rejected the demand, saying Park will maintain her presidency to take responsibility for state affairs.

Despite public and parliamentary opposition, the first South Korean female leader pushed a military intelligence accord with Japan, formally signing the deal on Wednesday to directly exchange information on North Korea.

Protesters in front of the South Korean Defence Ministry's headquarters, where the two sides sealed the military agreement, shouted for the President's immediate resignation, saying Park must distance herself from state affairs, including diplomacy and security.

On Sunday, the prosecution office said Park had conspired with her decades-long friend in multiple crimes. Park became the country's first sitting President to be investigated as a criminal suspect.

Prosecutors raided Samsung Group headquarters on Wednesday and searched the headquarters of Lotte and SK, two of the country's top five conglomerates, on Thursday over bribery allegations.

The country's parliament is set to launch a separate investigation into the scandal later this month. The team of a special prosecutor who will probe the case independently is said to launch investigation early next month.

The opposition vowed to put an impeachment motion to vote in the National Assembly by December 9.
Cairo: Eight soldiers have been killed in a car bomb attack by "armed terrorists" targeting a checkpoint in Egypt's restive North Sinai province, the army said.

"A group of armed terrorists attacked the army checkpoint yesterday using a 4x4 vehicle with high explosive materials," military spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

"Eight soldiers were killed during the attack. The army exchanged fire with the terrorists killing three of them and injuring others. The armed forces are currently continuing searching area for terrorists," Samir said.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants in the last few years and since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
Aleppo: Syrian regime air strikes and artillery bombardment Thursday on rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo killed at least 16 civilians, four of them children, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the assault came on the 10th day of an offensive by government forces to retake the east of Syria`s second city from the insurgents.

At least 172 civilians, including 26 children, have been killed since the assault was launched on November 15. Rebel fire has killed 16 civilians in the government-held west, including 10 children.

One of the worst hit areas on Thursday was Bab al-Nayrab, rescuers said, adding that the rebel district was targeted with a barrel bomb dropped by a government helicopter.

An AFP cameraman captured video footage of rescuers battling from more than one hour to pull a seriously wounded boy from the rubble of a building in Bab al-Nayrab.

The lower part of the boy`s body was stuck in the rubble and a bloodied gash could be seen at the back of his head as if part of the scalp had been ripped apart.

Rescuers from the White Helmet group used a pickaxe to hack away at the concrete in order to lift him out of the rubble, the footage showed.

The boy, who could be heard crying out "Father, Father" as he pleaded for them to hurry up and get him out, was lifted alive from the rubble.

"The operation took us an hour, an hour and a half... and there is still a woman trapped under the rubble," one of the rescuers told AFP.

Since November 15, government forces have pounded eastern Aleppo with air strikes, barrel bombs and artillery fire in a bid to retake that part of the city from insurgents.

More than 250,000 civilians have been trapped under siege for months in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, with dwindling food and fuel supplies.

Overnight Tuesday, dozens of civilians tried to flee but were forced back by gunfire, the Observatory said.

The government`s offensive has hit hospitals and rescue centres and forced schools to close.

Elsewhere in Aleppo province, at least seven people were killed, including two women and two children, in air strikes on the town of Binnish, the Observatory said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said one house had been levelled by the air strikes.

More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria`s war erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
Istanbul: Two people were killed when a car exploded early Thursday outside a government building in the southern Turkish city of Adana, officials said.

"Two people were killed and 16 were wounded," Governor of Adana, Mahmut Demirtas, was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Anadolu.

The blast, which occurred outside the governor's office, is the latest in a wave of violence striking Turkey, whose government is fighting both Kurdish militants and jihadists.

"A vehicle blew up at 8.05 am (0505 GMT) at a parking lot next to the entrance of the governor's office," Demirtas said.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a woman, the governor said, without providing further details.

The force of the blast smashed shop windows in the neighbourhood, private NTV broadcaster reported.

Ambulances and fire engine teams were dispatched to the scene, Anadolu reported.

Turkey has been on high alert since 2015 after a series of attacks blamed on Kurdish militants and Islamic State jihadists.

The United States has advised its citizens to carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time.
Islamabad: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday arrived on a two-day official visit to Pakistan for talks on bilateral and regional issues, officials said.

Johnson will hold talks with Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister`s advisor on foreign affairs, later in the day here to review the security situation in the region, including the peace process in Afghanistan.

During his visit, the British Foreign Secretary will also call on President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Xinhua news agency reported.

Johnson and Aziz will hold a joint press conference at the conclusion of their talks at the Foreign Ministry here.
Bogota: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono, signed a revised peace agreement here on Thursday.

The revised agreement will be sent to Congress, Xinhua news agency reported.

The initial peace agreement was rejected by a slight margin in an October 2 referendum vote, after the conservative opposition led by former hardline President Alvaro Uribe said it did not go far enough to hold the rebels accountable for past crimes.

The vote sent both sides back to the negotiating table, with Colombian President Santos insisting a new deal be ready as quickly as possible to maintain the momentum of the negotiations, which lasted nearly four years.

Santos` government said earlier this week that the new treaty takes into account the Opposition`s concerns.
Bluefields: A compact but powerful Caribbean hurricane made landfall in Nicaragua on Thursday, clobbering the south of the country and northern neighboring Costa Rica with 175-kilometer (110-mile) winds and rains likely to trigger floods and mudslides.

Hurricane Otto, a rare late-season storm hitting further south than usual, is expected to churn slowly along the border of the two countries into Friday, wreaking destruction as it gradually loses strength.

The hurricane came ashore near San Juan de Nicaragua, also known as Greytown, south of the city of Bluefields and close to the Costa Rican border, Walter Fonseca, the operations chief for Costa Rica`s National Emergencies Commission told Teletica television.

Its position, strength and trajectory are also being monitored by the US National Hurricane Center, which warned Otto`s trailing rains "will likely result in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides."

As it massed offshore earlier this week, its outer bands of wind and rain caused four deaths in Panama.

Thousands of people in at-risk communities along the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican coasts were evacuated ahead of the hurricane.

In Bluefields, a city of 45,000 people, and elsewhere, panic-buying cleared shops of bottled water, battery-powered lamps and plastic bags. On Wednesday, hundreds crammed onto boats to flee, while others remaining hammered metal sheeting over windows.

"This is the first time a hurricane has hit here," said Faucia Pena, an inhabitant of Bluefields. "We are asking God to end it or send it elsewhere. Everybody is afraid."

Some Nicaraguans further south had crossed the nearby border into Costa Rica, hoping it would be safer there, according to locals.Both Nicaragua and Costa Rica have closed schools, mobilized emergency crews and issued red alerts for areas across much of their territories.

Costa Rica has declared a nationwide emergency, sending non-essential public workers home for Thursday and Friday and urging private companies to do likewise.

"Let me be clear: the hurricane is potentially highly destructive," Costa Rican President Luis Guilermo Solis warned in a broadcast late Wednesday.

Costa Rican officials met early Thursday to evaluate preparations.

"We are doing everything necessary," Solis said, adding that there were no shortages of fuel or water reported.

Despite the evacuation order in parts of Costa Rica, some residents defiantly opted to stay.

"Some people don`t want to leave their homes, leave all their possessions, their animals," police officer Christian Rodriguez told the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion in the village of Batan, close to Limon.

One woman who did evacuate her home near the village of Barra del Colorado, Teresa Romero, 52, told AFP that around 10 male locals had refused to leave. She was taking shelter in a church near the capital San Jose.The high winds and heavy rains could devastate crops -- a big blow especially in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

Otto "could seriously jeopardize food security for small farmers who rely on maize (corn), beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods" in Nicaragua, Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for Heifer International, a US-based poverty-fighting charity, said in a statement.

Otto is a rare, late-appearing hurricane in the Atlantic storm season, which runs from June to the end of November.

It is also on an unusually southern trajectory.

"Otto is the southernmost landfalling hurricane in Central America on record," the US hurricane center said.

A previous, far-stronger hurricane, Matthew, devastated parts of southern Haiti early last month, killing 546 people and leaving nearly 175,000 homeless.
Cairo: An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 15 supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison over inciting violence and vandalism in Suez province northeast of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The defendants, mostly from Morsi`s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, have also been accused of assaulting a police officer and a conscript from Suez police station, Xinhua news agency reported.

Suez Criminal Court also acquitted four defendants in the same case that dates back to 2014 when a group of Morsi`s supporters held anti-government protests and riots in support of the deposed Islamist President.

Most of Morsi`s loyalists, including the ousted President himself, are currently in custody facing various charges varying from inciting violence to espionage.

The Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a 25-year jail term against Morsi in the case of espionage in favour of the Palestinian Hamas movement and ordered the ex-President`s retrial. A week earlier, the court overturned the death sentence against Morsi in a 2011 jailbreak case.

Morsi was overthrown by the army in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group. Later crackdown on his supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.
Ankara: Turkish media reports say an explosion in front of a government building in the southern city of Adana has injured at least five people.

The private Dogan news agency says the blast occurred today in the car park of the office of the governor for Adana.

One of the injured was in serious condition.

It was not immediately known what caused the blast but Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks carried out by Kurdish militants of the Islamic State group.
Washington: The leader of the German state of Bavaria has invited Donald Trump to visit, reports said Thursday, after he urged European politicians to keep an open mind about the controversial US President-elect.

Premier Horst Seehofer, a maverick member of Chancellor Angela Merkel`s conservative bloc, wrote to Trump to congratulate him on his victory and said he would be welcome "any time" in his state capital Munich, Bavarian government sources told German news agency DPA.

Specifically, Seehofer suggested Trump could attend the city`s annual international security conference in February, just weeks after his inauguration as US president on January 20, the unnamed sources added.

In contrast with many German and European officials, Seehofer warned soon after the November 8 US election against prejudging Trump too harshly.

"I would urge us to see what he actually does," Seehofer said, calling for dialogue between Germany, European partners and the United States on "shared policy".

Seehofer has frequently clashed with Merkel over her liberal border policy, which permitted the arrival of around one million asylum-seekers over the last two years.

Following Trump`s election, Merkel offered the populist billionaire "close cooperation".

But she stressed that relations must be based on the "values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief".

Trump, whose paternal grandparents hailed from Germany, is expected to attend the G20 summit, which Merkel will host in Hamburg next July.
Chihuahua: Gunmen have kidnapped six police officers in northern Mexico, sparking a massive manhunt involving troops, officials said Thursday.

Some 30 armed men occupied the village of La Simona on Wednesday, installed checkpoints at the entrance of the community and forced the six municipal officers into vehicles, said Carlos Huerta, spokesman of the Chihuahua state prosecutor`s office.

The assailants also took weapons and a police car.

Soldiers and local and state police have been "deployed in several communities near the location (of the kidnappings) to find the officers," Huerta said.

La Simona, which has a population of 250 people, is part of the municipality of Madera in a mountainous region near the state of Sonora. Shootouts have erupted in the area in the past.

The state of Chihuahua, which borders the United States, has endured some of the worst violence in Mexico`s decade-long militarized battle against drug trafficking.
Garessio: Torrential downpours caused flooding in parts of northwest Italy on Thursday, with the rains expected to continue until the weekend.

The floods forced the closure of many roads, schools and businesses in the Piedmont and Liguria regions near southeastern France, which has also been hit by heavy rain.

Italian television channels showed footage of the Tanaro river bursting its banks and cutting in two the town of Garessio in Cuneo province near the tiny Mediterranean principality of Monaco.

"We are frightened, this reminds us of the floods of 1994," Garessio mayor Sergio di Steffano told reporters.

Flooding on November 5 and 6, 1994, left 70 people dead.

No casualties have yet been reported from Thursday`s storms.

"We have shut all the bridges, factories and schools. The bars and shops in the (town) centre are flooded. The main road is shut, we are cut off from the world," di Steffano said.

A leading local official from Cuneo, Giovanni Russo, called on residents to stay away from the water except in case of absolute necessity.

Schools were shut in several provinces of the area.
Mosul: Iraqi forces battled the Islamic State group deep inside Mosul Thursday, piling pressure on jihadists who have no more escape routes but leaving trapped civilians in the crossfire.

Elite forces gained new ground in east Mosul, looking for fresh momentum as stiffer-than-expected IS resistance threatened to bog down the five-week-old offensive against the jihadists` last major stronghold in Iraq.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP on the front line in Mosul that his forces were battling IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa in Iraq`s second city.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists` ability to resupply the eastern front.

An old British-era bridge, which cannot be used by heavy vehicles, is the only one still standing in the city.

"The Iraqi advance on the south and southeast of the city has started to pick up some steam, which we think is a really great development," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

"They`re going to have to react to that advance. That thins out their defences," he said.

A senior CTS commander said Wednesday that 40 percent of eastern Mosul had now been retaken."It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them," Dorrian told AFP.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

They are also edging towards the city from a northern front as well as from the south, where they are within striking distance of Mosul airport.

Among the forces deployed south and west of the city are the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella for paramilitaries dominated by Tehran-backed militias.

They have focused their operations on Tal Afar, a large town still held by IS west of Mosul and on Wednesday announced they had cut the main road between it and Syria.

That will make it very long and dangerous for IS if it attempts to move fighters and equipment between Mosul and Raqa, the last two bastions of their crumbling "state".

The eastern side of the city was expected to offer less resistance than the west bank but CTS forces have faced a torrid time.IS fighters moving in an intricate network of tunnels have used snipers, booby traps and a seemingly endless supply of suicide car bombers to stop Iraqi forces.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive but fighters have admitted being surprised by how fierce IS resistance has been.

The intensity of the fighting has been one of the factors preventing civilians from fleeing to the safety of some of the camps being set up around Mosul.

The United Nations had expected around 200,000 people to flee their homes in the first few weeks of the offensive, but only about a third of that number have been displaced so far.

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that around 76,000 people had been displaced since October 17.

It said that about 7,000 people had already returned to their homes, leaving roughly 69,000 still displaced, most of them in camps.

Forces have so far encouraged residents to remain in their homes as they inched through the city, fighting house-to-house.

Evacuating the population would allow Iraqi forces to use heavier artillery and achieve faster results but Iraq`s leadership wants to prevent the complete destruction of Mosul.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly promised to rid the northern city of IS by the end of 2016.
Hilla (Iraq): A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad on Thursday, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.

Most of the victims were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.

IS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, IS said a bomber "blew up his vehicle amidst their assembly, inflicting among them more than 200 killed and wounded, including Iranians."

Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said it had targeted several buses.

"A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack," he told AFP. "There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians."

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

"There are completely charred corpses at the scene," said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.

Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city, which lies southwest of Baghdad, to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul today, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.
Region du Centre: An Australian surgeon kidnapped by jihadists nearly two years ago whose whereabouts remain unknown has been declared a citizen of the west African nation, an official decree announced Wednesday.

"Arthur Kenneth Elliott, born 11 November 1934 in Perth, in Australia.... a surgeon" has been naturalised Burkinabe, according to the decree with a list of 84 people who obtained the nationality.

Elliott along with his wife Jocelyn, 76, an Australian humanitarian worker, were abducted in January 2015 by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists from Djibo, a dusty town near the border with Mali and Niger. The couple had run the sole medical clinic there since 1972.

Jocelyn Elliott was released by her captors in February thanks to negotiations by Niger`s government, but her husband has not been seen and is believed to be being held outside Burkina.

The kidnapping of the Australian couple was claimed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine, a Malian mainly Tuareg group.

Their abduction coincided with a jihadist assault on an upmarket hotel in Burkina Faso`s capital Ouagadougou that left at least 30 people dead, including many foreigners.

The kidnapping prompted an outpouring of support, with the people of Djibo who turned to Facebook to plead for the couple`s release and hundreds of students with placards reading "Free Elliott" taking to the streets of the town with their teachers.

Jocelyn Elliott has refused to leave Burkina Faso vowing to wait for her husband`s return to continue their medical work.

The Djibo residents have launched a petition on the internet demanding that Dr Elliott be freed.
Karachi: Pakistan has signed a deal with Turkey to supply 52 Super Mushshak basic trainer aircraft, a minister said.

Talking to media at the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2016, Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer said the deal will strengthen ties between two brotherly countries and result in huge foreign exchange for Pakistan, DunyaNews reported.

"Development of a fleet tanker in collaboration with Turkey, is another example of close relationship in the field of defence production between two countries", Tanveer added.

The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in three batches  in 2017, 2018 and the last batch in 2019.

The indigenously-made Super Mushshak aircraft, is a primary trainer aircraft with a recorded range of 814 km and a maximum speed of 268 km/h. These state-of-the-art training jets, developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), have been in high demand from various African and Middle Eastern nations.

The Minister also announced that another agreement was signed with Ukraine for the upgradation of 200 al-Khalid-1 tanks.

The Al-Khalid or "The Immortal Tank", is a main battle tank developed in a joint venture between China and Pakistan in the 1990s. It is powered by a Ukrainian diesel engine.

Talking to media, Tanveer said Ukraine defence industry is one of the most advanced in the world, which also produced battle tanks for the Russian army.
Haifa: Tens of thousands of Israelis fled raging bushfires in the northern city of Haifa Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any proof of arson would be treated as "terror".

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said up to half of a spate of fires had been "arson terror", while another minister appeared to point a finger at the country`s Arab minority -- drawing fierce rebukes from Arab Israeli leaders.

Some residents were trapped in their homes as the army called up reservists to support firefighters struggling to cope with a third day of blazes.

Haifa mayor Yona Yahav told journalists 60,000 of the city`s roughly 250,000 residents had been evacuated, calling the scale "unprecedented".

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said residents in eight Haifa neighbourhoods had been told to leave due to six separate fires.

Residents spoke of a desperate rush to evacuate the elderly.

"The fire is out of control and is spreading from one house to the other," the rescue services chief in the Carmel neighbourhood, Naftali Rottenberg, told public radio.

"Sometimes we are taking residents out against their will."

Yael Hame, a Haifa resident who fled her house, said it was "very frightening".

"The fire was up over the skyscrapers. It came up to 20 stories high."

Hame said she thought the fires were "much more dangerous" than a blaze in 2010 in Haifa that killed 44 people -- the deadliest in Israeli history.

Around 65 people have been hospitalised with mild injuries, according to the Magen David Adom medical service.

A number of residents remained stuck in their homes, a fire service spokesman said.

Fires also raged in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank, police said, with Netanyahu saying there were 15 fire sites in total.

A number of countries made immediate pledges of support, including planes.Speculation in Israel quickly turned to the source of the fires.

Noah Wolfson, head of the Meteo-Tech meteorology website, said the dry autumn and strong winds meant conditions were perfect for fires to spread -- whether sparked by accident or on purpose.

"The extreme dryness -- relative humidity below 10 percent -- coupled with very strong winds, enhance and encourage any small fire to expand and be horrendous," he said.

The forecast for coming days was not optimistic, he added, with winds due to slow somewhat but no rain expected until early next week.

Erdan told a press conference up to half of the recent fires had been started deliberately, labelling it "arson terror".

"It is clear that many fires started as deliberate arson," he said.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party appeared to blame the alleged arson on members of the Arab minority.

Netanyahu, speaking near the scene of the fires, said authorities had noticed "encouragement to arson" on social media.

"Every fire caused by arson or incitement to arson is terror and will be treated as such," he told reporters.

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab block in the Israeli parliament, said in a statement the immediate accusations amounted to "incitement" against Arabs.

He pointed out that many of the fires had disproportionately affected Arab areas, including in Haifa where he is from.

"We have lived in this country for hundreds and thousands of years and not burned it."

Odeh`s party said in a separate statement that thousands of Arab families were ready to accept those who fled the fires, regardless of their religion.The extent of the damage will be assessed in the coming days, but for much of the day areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by the strong dry winds, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Planes dropping water and powder swooped over every few minutes, dousing the area in an attempt to manage the flames.

Some residents tried to use their personal hoses to douse their homes, while others packed a few prized possessions into shopping trolleys and rushed to safety.

Dozens of soldiers, police, medics and firefighters were huddled in an impromptu command centre in a nearby parking lot.

The emergency prompted a growing list of countries including Greece, Russia and Turkey to send firefighting aircraft.

The 2010 fire required the assistance of planes and personnel from more than 16 countries to put out.
Naypyidaw: Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have pushed into Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding chaos in Myanmar.

Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have fled their homes, the United Nations says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

Bangladesh has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

Cradling his two-year-old son, he said military men killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam.

"They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt," Ayaz told AFP, pointing to a cut on the boy`s forehead.

Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter along with at least 200 of his neighbours at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees.Many of those seeking shelter in Bangladesh say they have walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into the neighbouring country, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

The Rohingya are loathed by many in majority Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned the Myanmar ambassador to express "deep concern".

"Despite our border guards` sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh," it said.

"Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing."Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh`s secular government has been under intense pressure to open its border to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

Instead, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar`s military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don`t know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP.

"They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

The Myanmar military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared, she believes raped and killed by the army.

"We heard that they tortured her to death. I don`t know what happened to my mother," said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the Bangladeshi border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent them back to Myanmar.

Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say they will send back across the border.

"They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar," said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced "certain death" if made to return.
London: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the British people on Thursday that Brexit can still be stopped.

Xinhua news agency quoted Blair as saying that if the British public were to be given the chance to evaluate whatever final deal Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with Brussels minds could still be made up.

The European Union exit "can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain cost-benefit analysis doesn`t stack up", said Blair, 63.

The former Labour Party leader said that he was not advocating it should be stopped, rather that it could happen if the reasons were compelling.

"Why wouldn`t you keep your options open?" Blair said.

"Why wouldn`t you say, `We took this decision, we took it before we saw what its consequences are; now we see its consequences, we`re not so sure,`" Blair told the New Statesman magazine in an interview.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced on Wednesday that "Brexit" will require Britain`s Treasury to seek 122 billion pounds ($152 billion, or 143 billion euro) of extra borrowing and new spending plans in between now and 2020.

Blair, who was Britain`s Prime Minister between 1997-2007, discarded his return to front-line politics because he considered there was "just too much hostility" towards him.

This year the Labour politician was criticised in a British government report on the Iraq war for authorising the invasion based on "dodgy" intelligence and before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.

The Conservative cabinet of Prime Minister Theresa May plans to enter official "Leave" negotiations with the European Union before April 2017, after the Brexit option won 51.9 per cent of the votes in the June 23 referendum.

May is waiting for a Supreme Court ruling that could oblige her to seek a parliamentary vote prior to invoking Article 50 that will then kick-start a two-year negotiation period between London and Brussels to agree on the conditions that will enable Britain to exit the European Union.
Ankara: The Turkish army blamed the Syrian regime for an air strike on Thursday in northern Syria that killed three soldiers and wounded 10, it said in a statement.

"In the air strike assessed to have been by Syrian regime forces, three of our heroic soldiers were killed and 10 soldiers wounded, one seriously," it said in a statement on its website,

The army said in the strike took place at 3.30 am (0030 GMT) in the Al Bab region. Turkish media reported earlier that the attack was by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
New Delhi: Old habits die hard, they say - but they do die sometimes as experience in cleanliness is showing on the capital's pride - the 'Delhi Metro'. People in the city, known for their propensity to litter, are actually restraining themselves from spitting or throwing waste and helping keep the Metro property spic and span, says a passenger, a regular on the Metro. You hardly find 'paan' (betel leaf) stains on the walls, ubiquitous plastic bags lying on platforms, on the tracks or inside the train coaches, says another passenger. But as one moves out of a metro station it is the same old story, the familiar sight of litter, just outside the Metro station! "It is a cyclic effect. If you keep an area clean it is a human tendency to maintain the cleanliness. If we keep a place dirty, people will dirty it," says Anuj Dayal, Chief Public Relation officer (CPRO), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC). "We have 'cleaning gangs' at every station. These gangs, employed by private companies and monitored by the DMRC, look after the maintenance of the Metro. It is taking a lot of manpower and resources in keeping the Metro clean and we have been reasonably successful," Dayal says. "Sometimes people do litter and dirty the platforms. But not so much as you would find outside," says a maintenance person at Patel Chowk Metro station. Deterrence has played a role in educating people. "Defaulters are booked under Operation and Maintenance Act, 2002 of the Delhi Metro. Besides, CCTVs have been mounted at all metro stations. So if someone is creating nuisance it will be recorded on the cameras and can be used as evidence while booking people", says Dayal. "Delhi has a unique set of problems. Many people do not care about cleanliness or anything," says Dr Iqbal Malik, founder and director of Vatavaran, an NGO working on socio-economic issues. "The credit for the cleanliness in the Metro Rail must go to the authorities and not the people. I wish the authorities at other places were as strict as the metro," Dr Malik says. A cleanliness survey conducted in 2007 by AC Neilsen ORG Marg ranked Delhi 9th on cleanliness among 18 state capitals surveyed. The survey, aimed at understanding perceptions of citizens on the levels of cleanliness of their cities, brought forth demands from respondents for greater availability of dustbins in public places and greater participation by municipal administrations in maintenance of cleanliness. The ranking suggests that the national capital is not half as worse as other state capitals but not half as good either. "On an average about 5000-6000 tonnes of garbage is generated everyday in the city of Delhi. Roughly 1500 people are caught for dirtying public places. Although the fine is less the humiliation of appearing before a municipal magistrate is a strong deterrent against repeating the offence," says Deep Mathur, CPRO, MCD. When a comparison between the Delhi Metro and the city is suggested in terms of cleanliness, Mathur says, " it is not right to compare the MCD and the Delhi Metro. Difficult areas, problem areas are with the MCD." "The policy of the MCD on garbage management will never result in a zero-garbage Delhi. The MCD's plan is that of centralized garbage management. I think decentralized garbage management involving public participation is a good solution," says Dr Malik. Whatever the reasons, we hope this habit, of keeping the metro premises clean, is logically practiced in the city as well and doesn't die an early death, says another regular traveller. Bureau Report
CLEAR LAKE  Fourth-graders at Clear Creek Elementary are continuing a holiday tradition  decorating trees for Opportunity Villages Festival of Trees.

They will have two miniature Christmas trees displayed for sale  one with teal embellishments and the other multicolored. Both feature ornaments students colored themselves and music note garland.

Jordan Ainley and Henry Bunn were among classmates hanging decorations on the trees earlier this week.

Their grade chose a musical theme because of Buddy Holly, said Bunn, who made a music note ornament.

The decorating event is part of the schools Authentic Intellectual Work project, fourth-grade teacher Melanie Mareel said.

It focuses on the value beyond school of what we learn on a daily basis, she explained.

Opportunity Village is expecting more than 100 Christmas trees, wreaths and swags during its 21st annual Festival of Trees Dec. 1-4, which is part of Christmas by the Lake.

They will be on display Friday through Sunday. Visitors can buy an entire display of decorations to take home after the weekend.

Proceeds from the festival support Opportunity Villages services for people with disabilities.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man was ordered Monday to serve up to five years in prison for felony possession of methamphetamine, third or subsequent offense.

Matthew S. Boese, 33, also had a $750 fine suspended.

Boese had methamphetamine inside his wallet on April 14 in the 1500 block of North Federal Avenue, according to the Mason City Police Department. He pleaded guilty in May.

Boese also was ordered to serve up to two years in prison, concurrently with the methamphetamine possession sentence, after having is probation revoked on a September 2015 misdemeanor conviction of carrying weapons.

Boese was armed with a double-edged stiletto knife on Aug. 20, 2015, according to court documents.

-- Mary Pieper
A poster reads "RWE has to pay for climate damage" on November 24, 2016, in front of the regional court in Essen which is hearing a Peruvian farmer's case against RWE

A German court began hearing Thursday a complaint by a Peruvian farmer who accuses energy giant RWE of contributing to climate change that has caused glacial melting in the Andes, threatening his home and livelihood.

Saul Luciano Lliuya argues that RWE, as a major historic emitter of greenhouse gases, should share in the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a nearby glacial lake that is at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice.

"We hope that the court will rule in our favour, so as to save our world, our Earth, in some way," said Luciano, who had travelled to the western German city of Essen to attend the hearing.

Luciano, who is also a mountain guide, is being advised by pressure group Germanwatch which said the case was the first of its kind in Europe and could set a legal precedent.

But Germany's second-largest energy producer said the case was "unfounded", telling the court it "could not be made liable for general and global developments such as climate change".

"There is no legal basis for the applicant's request," RWE spokesman Guido Steffen told AFP.

Observers had expected the court to reject the David versus Goliath case as early as Thursday, but the judge has instead set a new hearing date for December 15.

It is unclear if a ruling would be expected at that date, or if the judge would seek "proof of evidence", meaning the court would plunge into the question of climate change and its causes in proceedings that could last months.

- 'Partly responsible' -

Luciano's German lawyer, Roda Verheyen, claimed that RWE is the "top single-greatest CO2-emitter in Europe".

Pointing to a 2013 climate study, she said the company was responsible for 0.5 percent of the total emissions "since the beginning of industrialisation" -- making it at least partly responsible for the Peruvian farmer's plight.

"We're not saying that RWE is responsible for climate change as a whole, but we're saying that RWE is a major contributor and should therefore be obliged to pay 17,000 euros ($18,000) -- a pro-rata sum towards the costs of eliminating the risk of flooding," Verheyen said Thursday.

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Besides seeking the sum to help pay for flood defences, Luciano is also asking RWE to reimburse him for 6,300 euros he himself has spent on protective measures, according to a summary of the case.

"The big contributors to climate change, such as RWE, must finally take responsibility for the consequences of their emissions," Luciano was quoted as saying in a statement on the Germanwatch website.

"We in Peru have hardly contributed to climate change but have to live with the worst consequences," said the father of two.

RWE has countered that the plantiff has failed to demonstrate a clear link between CO2 emissions and the alleged flood danger, and that the act of emitting greenhouse gases was not against the law.

Steffen, the RWE spokesman, said the firm did not understand why it had been singled out for legal action.

"We are making a huge contribution to the modernisation of coal-fired power plants in Germany" to make them more efficient and reduce the output of CO2, he told AFP.

At the same time RWE was "investing billions in renewable energy", he said, as part of Germany's switch from fossil fuels to clean energy such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is very sorry that his office cited the 1857 Dred Scott case, which established that the descendants of enslaved black people were not US citizens, in response to an ACLU brief in a case challenging a judge's ruling that Kansas's constitution doesn't guarantee the right to have an abortion.



Dred Scott is considered by legal scholars to be "the worst ruling in the US Supreme Court's history."

The ACLU had argued that the Kansas Constitution's equal rights provision, adopted in 1859, should be interpreted similarly to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law. That amendment served as the basis for the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed abortion as a constitutional right under U.S. law. The state disputed that in a 14-page filing, contending that the equal rights provision was inspired by the Declaration of Independence and should be interpreted similarly as a statement of ideals rather than as a document of law. To support its contention, the state's attorneys cited seven cases in which the Declaration was found to have no legal effect. Most of those cases were from the past 30 years, but one was from 1857: the Dred Scott decision, which is often referred to as the worst ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court's history.

Attorney General Schmidt apologizes for state's citation of Dred Scott case

[Brian Lowry/Wichita Eagle]

(via Lowering the Bar)
If youre not taking care of yourself, youre not going to be productive. (Getty)

Nearly half of Canadians are struggling with productivity and feel they could be getting more done while at work according to a poll released this week by payroll services provider ADP.

Distraction sat at the top of the list, with 40 per cent of the more than 1,500 employees polled saying it hindered their productivity.

We call it the distraction deluge, says Russell Wong, chief financial officer at ADP Canada. People have an issue with concentrating (as) a result of poor office design, chatty co-workers, wasting time on social networking sites.

Over 30 per cent cited archaic internal processes or cumbersome workflows creating bottlenecks and slowing down their ability to accomplish all their work.

That was a consistent (sentiment) across the respondents, whether it was the age, region, gender or even level of education, Wong pointed out. Another key productivity dampener was complacency, with 27 per cent saying they they didnt really need to work more efficiently to get the job done. That is something employers need to take a look at and figure out how to address.

Aside from those three, Canadians also found that a lack of resources or tools, a growing boredom with their job, an overwhelming amount of work and shortcomings in training also brought their productivity down.

Despite being only a small sample of Canadians sentiments, the survey provides an interesting look at a small aspect of Canadians work lives at a time when wellbeing in the country is falling out of step with the economies growth.

According to a study Canadian Index of Wellbeing researcher at the University of Waterloo released this week, the countrys gross domestic product grew 38 per cent between 1994 and 2014 while wellbeing edged up just shy of 10 per cent.

Canadians are spending more time commuting to their jobs, up from around 40 minutes on average in 1994 to an hour in 2014, which amounts to about two weeks of lost free time in a given year. While flex-hours are becoming more commonplace, Wong points out that ADP has implemented its own system to allow employees to work in the environment that suits them best, the wellbeing index found that more Canadians are working on evening and weekends or rotating schedules.

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There are some correlations between wellbeing and productivity, especially for employees who feel complacent. A lot of that complacency stems from employees losing sight of the organizations goals and objectives, explains Wong. In other words, Canadians are forgetting why they even started working at their job in the first place.

If you dont have a clear purpose and dont understand how you connect and are of value to the business and the customers then that can effect wellbeing, he says, which ties hand-in-hand with productivity. Where its not complacency it can be overwhelming workloads.

As people get tired and their energy level goes down that absolutely impacts their productivity, adds Wong. But both the employers and employees share the responsibility in curbing these productivity killers.

It relates back to understanding your goals objectives and prioritizing and I think employees have to be able to do that, he says. And the employers also have to recognize that if you overwork your employees, theyre going to get sick, take time off and their productivity is going down and (eventually) theyre going to leave.
The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue...

1 year ago
By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders reaffirmed support for carrying out a 2014 pact on closer ties with Ukraine but cited "limitations" amid divisions over how far to go with a country mired in intractable corruption and conflict. Some in Ukraine feel the EU has not shown enough support in its confrontation with Russia and worry that promises by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to mend Washington's relations with Moscow could be come at their expense. On top of that, a provision to lift EU visas for Ukrainians is snagged and the Netherlands is struggling to work around a national referendum that rejected the EU's agreement on freeing up trade and building closer political ties with Kiev. Three years after a pro-EU uprising overthrew the Moscow-allied leadership in Kiev, the mood was publicly upbeat at Thursday's Brussels gathering at which European Council President Donald Tusk spoke Ukrainian and exchanged jokes with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a joint news conference. "You have many friends here, and I can promise you that you will not be left behind," Tusk said. "We also have our limitations, but we will continue in our efforts to fulfil your justified expectations. "Ukraine's success will be the success of all of Europe." But behind the official optimism, problems with the deal are mounting as many in the EU are unhappy with the pace of reform in Ukraine, especially in purging rampant graft, and some want to rehabilitate trade ties with major energy supplier Russia. For Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 45 million people, the drive towards Western integration has come at a high cost. Scores were killed during clashes between protesters and Ukrainian security forces 2013-14 and soon afterwards Russia annexed the Crimea region and went on to back an insurgency by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. The EU slapped sanctions on Russia over the bloodshed in the industrial east but the conflict - which killed nearly 10,000 people to date - remains unresolved. Tusk said the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia would be extended - likely for six months - before an EU summit on Dec. 15-16. But the future beyond that has turned murky as EU divisions over the wisdom of penalising Moscow have deepened. Trump's rise to power may only weaken the bloc's resolve. CORRUPTION, ENERGY, TRADE AND VISAS Corruption remains rife in Ukraine. Public declarations revealed recently vast wealth held by officials, upsetting both the EU and Poroshenko's constituency at home. EU leaders told Poroshenko he must do more in rooting out graft, improving rule of law and liberalising the economy. Still, Tusk said he hoped Ukrainians would be granted visa-free travel to the EU - coveted by Kiev - by year-end. But that is not certain as Germany and France have stalled the process, fearing an influx of Ukrainians could pressure the job market and stoke anti-foreigner feeling that has already hurt mainstream parties facing elections next year. At Thursday's summit, Brussels and Kiev signed a "strategic energy partnership" agreement, a message to Russia which has strived for years to bypass Ukraine in selling more of its gas to Europe, including by the Nord Stream pipeline. But that is unlikely to assuage Ukrainian concerns after Brussels lifted a cap on Gazprom's Opal pipeline, opening the way for Russia to expand Nord Stream capacity. And the future of the entire association accord, which EU leaders said had boosted Ukrainian exports to the bloc by 5 percent this year, is now uncertain in the wake of the Dutch vote to reject it. While the pact is being provisionally applied, The Hague is negotiating for a legally-binding EU summit decision that would allow the Dutch parliament to override the referendum result. The document would spell out that the agreement does not prejudge Ukraine's eventual membership in the EU, does not oblige the bloc to provide military or financial support to Kiev and does not give Ukrainians access to European jobs. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
French English

Valneva Wins "Fastest Growing Listed Company" Tech 50 Award for France by Deloitte

Lyon (France), November 24, 2016 - Valneva SE ("Valneva" or "the Company"), a fully integrated, commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative life-saving vaccines, today announced that it has won the "Fastest Growing Listed Company" Award for France in the 2016 Deloitte In Extenso Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking. Valneva also ranked 43 out of 500 companies in Deloitte's 2016 Technology Fast 500(TM) EMEA.

The Technology Fast 50 and Fast 500 initiatives reward the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies - both public and private - in France and the EMEA region. Award winners are selected for demonstrating innovation, leadership, and rapid revenue growth over their last four years of operations.

Laurent Halfon, Deloitte Partner and country manager of the Technology Fast 50 program in France, commented, "The Technology Fast 50 ranking promotes companies like Valneva which reflect the incredible drive for innovation and added value creation of French entrepreneurs. Already in its 16th edition, the Technology Fast 50 France ranking has become a true reference for French and international investors. We are proud to see Valneva among the winners for 2016."

Thomas Lingelbach, President and CEO, and Franck Grimaud, Deputy CEO of Valneva, added, "This award underpins the underlying rationale of Valneva's strategy focused on growing revenues through a combination of organic and strategic growth while continuing to invest in promising Research & Development programs and activities."

Following a strong business performance in the first nine months of 2016, Valneva recently increased its financial guidance and expects revenues between 95 and 100 million in 2016 and an EBITDA profit of 1-5 million. Valneva will continue to build commercial and R&D value in the coming years and expects to grow its revenues to approximately 250 million by 2020.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms. In France, Deloitte SAS is the member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, and professional services are provided by its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte's approximately 244,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.



About Deloitte Technology Fast 500 TM EMEA

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500EMEA programme is the region's most objective EMEA region industry-ranking to focus on the technology field, recognising tewchnology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of revenue growth in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Combining technology innovation, entrepreneurship and rapid growth, Fast 500 companies span a variety of industry sectors, and are leaders in hardware, software, communications, media, life sciences and clean technology.

The programme is supported by the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 initiatives, which rank high growth technology companies by location or specifically defined geographic area and is run by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited's Technology. More information on the programme and winners is available on www.deloitte.com/fast500emea

About Valneva SE

Valneva is a fully integrated vaccine company that specializes in the development, manufacture and commercialization of innovative vaccines with a mission to protect people from infectious diseases through preventative medicine.

The Company seeks financial returns through focused R&D investments in promising product candidates and growing financial contributions from commercial products, striving towards financial self-sustainability.

Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO/JESPECT indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has proprietary vaccines in development including candidates against Clostridium difficile and Lyme Borreliosis. A variety of partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies complement the Company's value proposition and include vaccines being developed using Valneva's innovative and validated technology platforms (EB66 vaccine production cell line, IC31 adjuvant).

Valneva is listed on Euronext-Paris and the Vienna stock exchange and has operations in France, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Canada and the US with over 400 employees. More information is available at www.valneva.com.

Contacts

Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine Teresa Pinzolits

Head of Investor Relations Corporate Communications

& Corporate Communications T +43-1-206 20-1116

T +02-28-07-14-19 M +43-676-84 55 67 357

M +33 (0)6 4516 7099 communications@valneva.com

investors@valneva.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates, the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect intellectual property and operate the business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Norwegian English

(2016-11-24) Kitron has been selected by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) as an international source for manufacturing of a sub-assembly for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The potential value for Kitron is more than NOK 1 billion over the lifetime of the agreement, which runs until 2036.

The sub-assembly, called the Dual Channel Transmit/Receive (DCTR) module, is part of the CNI (Communications, Navigation and Identification) system developed by Northrop Grumman. It was won by Kitron in a best value competition.

The contract covers the initial steps of transferring technical knowhow and manufacturing prototypes for testing and validation. This process will be on-going through 2017. Kitron will then be awarded production contracts with deliveries starting in 2018.

"The F-35 program is crucial for Norway, adding significant defense capabilities and important for Kitron and the region since the long-term program secures substantial employment. Winning this type of contract reflects Kitron's position as a competitive and trusted partner," said Hans Petter Thomassen, Managing Director of Kitron Norway.

In September 2015 Kitron announced a separate agreement to supply different subassembly electronic modules for F-35 aircraft avionics; that production continues.

Northrop Grumman's integrated CNI suite provides F-35 pilots with the capability of more than 27 avionics functions including voice and data communication. The CNI design uses advanced software-defined radio technology that allows the simultaneous operation of multiple critical functions while greatly reducing size, weight and power demands on the advanced fighter aircraft.

Norway is one of the international partner countries participating in the F-35 program. Under a manufacturing license agreement between Kitron and Northrop Grumman, Kitron will manufacture sub-assemblies for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35 Lightning II is the world's most advanced military aircraft, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, advanced mission systems, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and cutting-edge sustainment.

For further information, please contact:

Peter Nilsson, CEO of Kitron ASA, tel. +47 94 84 08 50

Hans Petter Thomassen, Managing Director of Kitron Norway, tel. +47 91 39 23 60

E-mail: investorrelations@kitron.com

Kitron is one of Scandinavia's leading electronic manufacturing services companies for the Data/Telecoms, Defense, Energy, Industry, Medical devices and Offshore/Marine sectors. The company is located in Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, China and the United States. Kitron had revenue of about NOK 1.95 billion in 2015 and has about 1,250 employees.

www.kitron.com
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES OR ANYOTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.



BIONOR PHARMA - PRIVATE PLACEMENT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED

Oslo, 24 November 2016

Reference is made to the stock exchange notices on 21 November and 23 November 2016 where Bionor Pharma ASA ("Bionor" or the "Company") announced (1) the acquisition of Solon Eiendom AS ("Solon Eiendom") for a total consideration of approximately NOK 1,000 million (the "Acquisition") to be settled by issuing 6,666,666,666 new shares (the "Consideration Shares") in Bionor at NOK 0.15 per share, (2) a fully underwritten private placement of 1,000,000,000 new shares at NOK 0.15 per share and 1,000,000,000 Consideration Shares at NOK 0.15 per share (the "Private Placement"), and (3) a subsequent offering of 666,666,666 new shares at NOK 0.15 per share directed at existing shareholders of Bionor that does not participate in the Private Placement (the "Subsequent Offering") and who are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or for jurisdictions other than Norway, which would require any filing, registration or similar action.

The Private Placement was successfully completed yesterday and a total of 2,000,000,000 shares were agreed to be sold. The Private Placement attracted significant interest from high quality investors and was more than 5 times oversubscribed. Arctic Securities AS, DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, and SpareBank 1 Markets AS acted as managers (the "Managers") for the Private Placement and are engaged as managers for the Subsequent Offering.

Notification of allotment in the Private Placement will be sent to the applicants today through a notification to be issued by the Managers. The payment date is on or about 19 December 2016 and expected delivery date is on or about 21 December 2016. The new Private Placement shares and the Consideration Shares will be issued on a separate ISIN and delivered to the investors, and thereafter converted to the current ISIN of Bionor Pharma and become tradable on Oslo Brs as soon as practically possible following the announcement of a prospectus approved by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority which is expected in the first half of January 2017, subject to approval at the extraordinary general meeting (the "EGM") which is scheduled for on 14 December 2016.

The Company will receive gross proceeds of NOK 150 million from the Private Placement when completed. The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for acquisition of a minority stake currently owned by Edvin Austb (who is an indirect shareholder of Solon Eiendom) in a property project in Ski for approximately NOK 60 million, acquisition of land for new projects and for general corporate purposes.

Cipriano AS, a company wholly owned by Einar J. Greve, Chairman of Bionor, was conditionally allocated 66,666,667 shares in the Private Placement. Einar J. Greve, through Cipriano AS, currently holds 50,000,000 shares in Bionor.

Ferncliff Listed Dai AS, a company indirectly controlled by ystein Stray Spetalen, Board member of Bionor, was conditionally allocated 183,333,333 shares in the Private Placement. Ferncliff Listed Dai AS currently holds 270,000,000 shares in Bionor.

Certain existing shareholders of Solon Eiendom have conditionally sold down 1,000,000,000 Consideration Shares at NOK 0.15 per share as part of the Private Placement. Dukat AS (owned by Tore Aksel Voldberg), MRD Holding AS (owned by Simen Thorsen) and Solon AS (owned by Tore Aksel Voldberg) have agreed to sell 333,333,333, 333,333,334 and 333,333,333 Consideration Shares, respectively. The existing shareholders in Solon Eiendom are subject to a 12 months lock-up following completion of the Private Placement.

The Board has assessed the Private Placement in light of the equal treatment requirement, balanced the considerations that speak for and against carrying out the Private Placement and concluded that the waiver of the preferential rights inherent in a private placement was considered necessary in the interest of time and successful completion in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders.

Completion of the Acquisition, the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering, is still subject to, among other things, approval by the shareholders of the Company at the EGM which is scheduled for on 14 December 2016. The largest shareholders of the Company, including Ferncliff Listed Dai AS, Lars H. Hie, Cipriano AS and Alden AS, have entered into lock-up undertakings until the EGM and have undertaken to vote in favour of such resolutions at the EGM.

Subsequent to the completion of the Private Placement and Acquisition, the Company plans to carry out a Subsequent Offering of 666,666,666 new shares at NOK 0.15 per share directed at existing shareholders of Bionor who did not receive allocation of shares in the Private Placement or who participated in the underwriting consortium for the Private Placement, provided that such shareholders are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway) require any prospectus filing, registration or similar action. The Company intends to seek listing for the subscription rights for the Subsequent Offering. The subscription period for the Subsequent Offering will commence after approval of a prospectus by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority which is expected in the first half of January 2017. The Company will provide additional information about the Subsequent Offering in due course.

The last day the Bionor shares traded including the right to participate in the conditional Subsequent Offering was 23 November 2016, and the Bionor shares will trade exclusive the right to participate in the conditional Subsequent Offering from today. The record date is 25 November 2016.



For more information, please contact:

Einar J. Greve

Chairman of the Board, Bionor Pharma ASA

E-mail: ejg@cipriano.no

Cell Phone: +47 900 27 766

Important information:

The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia).

This release is an announcement issued pursuant to legal information obligations, and is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. It is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States. The issue, exercise, purchase or sale of subscription rights and the subscription or purchase of shares in the Company are subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor the Managers assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions.

The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Managers are acting for the Company and the Selling Shareholders and no one else in connection with the Private Placement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company and the Selling Shareholders for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and/or any other matter referred to in this release.

Forward-looking statements:

This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect the Company's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Jupiter Asset Management Ltd (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/ offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Deutsche Boerse AG (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held /dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 23rd November 2016 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Yes

London Stock Exchange Group PLC





2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



Tendered Ordinary



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 6,875,354 3.68 (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 6,875,354 3.68

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: None Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: None

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit Ordinary - Tender Purchase 2,000 EUR 76.0086

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit None

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit None

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit None





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) None





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"







None

(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO

Date of disclosure: 24th November 2016 Contact name: Lucy Wood Telephone number: 0203 817 1231

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
English Estonian

AS Tallinna Vesi hereby informs its shareholders of the hearing held by the Tallinn Circuit Court on 23rd November 2016, concerning the ongoing tariff dispute between AS Tallinna Vesi and the Estonian Competition Authority. The Tallinn Circuit Court, will make a ruling with respect to AS Tallinna Vesis appeal, on the 22nd December 2016. The Court is entitled to extend this date if deemed necessary.

Since 2011, the Estonian Competition Authority has so far refused to approve AS Tallinna Vesis water and sewerage tariff applications. In October 2011, Estonian Competition Authority issued a precept to AS Tallinna Vesi to reduce tariffs. The Estonian Competition Authority has not changed its opinion, irrespective of the fact that the Estonian Courts have previously declared the tariffs part of the Services Agreement, which was entered into between AS Tallinna Vesi and the City of Tallinn back in 2001, to be a public law contract. AS Tallinna Vesis belief is, that under the Administrative Procedure Act, the state is obliged to comply with a public law contract until amendment or repeal thereof.

By its ruling of 5th June 2015, Tallinn Administrative Court dismissed the companys complaint (the Court published the reasoning of the ruling on 12 October 2015). AS Tallinna Vesi disagreed with the ruling made by Tallinn Administrative Court, because AS Tallinna Vesis is of the opinion that the Court had incorrectly applied the Law, and had wrongly assessed the submitted evidence.

International Arbitration Proceedings, are running separately and in parallel to the Local Court dispute. The hearings of the International Arbitration were held in November 2016, with a decision expected from the Arbitration Panel in the first half of 2017. Information about the publicly available documents as regards to the International Arbitration can be found on the ICSID webpage.
CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 24, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Three months ago, Anjani Pandey, Event Director for Silver Screen for Short Films (SSSF), an organization that celebrates, inspires and entertains by honoring short films that offer honest, exciting and thought-provoking portrayals of our world, came across a short film he couldnt ignore, at the Church of Scientology-supported The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay in downtown Clearwater. At SSSFs monthly meeting in November, Mr. Pandey showed another chapter of The Way to Happiness short film to 35 members of SSSF at Muvico theater in downtown St. Petersburg.



Joe Creek, a volunteer with The Way to Happiness told the audience at Muvico, The Way to Happiness is a guide we can all agree on. It brings us all together.

In a letter to The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay, Mr. Pandey wrote, All the points which are covered in this book help people develop a good moral behavior. I highly recommend The Way to Happiness material [and] I will be sharing it with other film producers and actors.

Using the unabridged and complete text, exactly as written by L. Ron Hubbard, The Way to Happiness book-on-film follows the printed book chapter by chapter, precept by precept. The interweaving stories of a cast of characters illustrate each concept contained in the book.

The two-hour book-on-film, produced by the Church of Scientology at Golden Era Productions, its film studio in Southern California, is available on DVD in English and 15 other languages. The DVD has been placed in more than 86,000 schools, public, national and academic libraries around the world.

Educators, parents, community and religious leaders, law enforcement officers and many others use The Way to Happiness book-on-film in their programs.

The Way To Happiness film has won the Telly Award, The Indie Festival Award of Excellence, The Aurora Awards - Gold Award, 3 awards of Merit from the Accolade Awards and The Communicator Award of Distinction.
CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 24, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Saturday, November 26th, She Helps to Empower (S.H.E.) will have their Kids Day community event in the Fort Harrison, the Church of Scientologys international religious retreat. This is where over 100 youth and parents will come together to learn about morality, the truth about drugs and their human rights from their peers.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/06625ad3-84db-4e02-af29-04e54ebf41d7.

Three young adults will present three of the Church of Scientology-supported humanitarian programs to the group; Foundation for a Drug-Free World, United for Human Rights and The Way to Happiness. Each is its own non-profit organization, educating and eradicating drug abuse, human rights abuses and immorality.

Tranette Engram, founder of S.H.E. said, It is obvious when a youth does not fully understand something. I believe that they will understand these programs better coming from one youth to another. And the areas that these programs address are very important for them to understand.

17-year-old Robin Chiancianesi will speak about The Way to Happiness. Written by L. Ron Hubbard, this booklet fills the moral vacuum in an increasingly materialistic society, containing 21 basic principles that guide one to a better quality of life. The mission of The Way to Happiness Foundation International is to reverse the moral decay of society by restoring trust and honesty the world over through the publication and widespread distribution of The Way to Happiness, a common sense guide to better living.

15-year-old Emma Ashton will speak about United for Human Rights. United for Human Rights (UHR) is an international non-profit, non-religious educational program based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UHRs purpose is to educate people on what human rights are, creating valuable advocates for tolerance and peace.

14-year-old Veronica Zaniboni will speak about the Truth About Drugs program. This program educates youth and adults on factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free. These materials have helped people around the world learn about the destructive side effects of drugs and thereby make the decision for themselves to not use them.

We have opened up the doors of the Fort Harrison to non-profit organizations such as S.H.E. to hold their own events and spread their valuable information throughout our community, said Dylan Pires, Community Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology.

The Fort Harrison Religious Retreat:

Since its construction in 1927, the Fort Harrison has been the home for many community events and charitable organizations. The Fort Harrisons current owner, the Church of Scientology, has hosted over 500 community events there since a top-to-bottom restoration in 2009. The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard, and incorporated in 1954. To learn more, visit www.scientology.org.
CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 24, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Saturday, the 19th of November, Russian pianist and human rights advocate Elmira Terkulova inspired a diverse audience with songs she composed about her life, freedom and human rights at the Scientology Information Center in Downtown Clearwater. Ms. Terkulovas debut Clearwater concert featured classical songs from her own album encouraging talent, self confidence and human rights. She shared highlights of her own life and what has led her to where she is today.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c4126b47-aa6d-459a-8123-0d1ed108990d



As a child, Elmira had always wanted to be a pianist. She studied piano for 15 years, but never had the confidence or ability to perform. One and half years ago Elmira found Scientology and gives it credit for her increased confidence. As a result, she fulfilled her childhood dream and began performing publicly. While in Clearwater doing religious services at the Church of Scientology she was inspired by the United for Human Rights Program and decided to perform at the Information Center under the theme of human rights.



I want to encourage people to pursue their dreams and remind them about their human rights, said Elmira. Its important that people understand that they dont have to listen to others opinions of what they can or cant do. Whats important is that they know they are free to choose what they want to do in life and believe in themselves. 

Her audience, a diverse cultural mix from Israel, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and the United States, responded with three standing ovations and rave reviews.

Mrs. Carol Ohrbach said, Ive been around a long time and have heard the greats like Dave Brubeck, Errol Garner, George Shearing, and Bobby Short and the amazing Chick Corea. You could easily compare Elmira to these masters. She creates her own compositions in the tradition of great Russian composers. I was reminded of Rachmaninoff and Borodin and I was moved to tears by her performance!

The center, located at 500 Cleveland Street in Downtown Clearwater, is housed in the Historic Bank of Clearwater. All are welcome.

To attend future events or for more information contact Amber at 727-467-6966 or e-mail her at amber@cos.flag.org

Upcoming events at the Scientology Information Center include:

Scientology Information Center Holiday Reception during:

500 Cleveland Street: Saturday, December 3rd, 5-10pm

During Rudolphs Miracle on Cleveland Street, Clearwaters premiere family-friendly holiday festival. The event will include Christmas Caroling and light holiday refreshments. A photographer will be on hand to take photos with the choir in their Dickens style costumes.

A Night of the Arts for Human Rights: At 500 Cleveland Street:

Friday, December 9th, 6-8pm. The Scientology Information Center will host a concert in honor of International Human Rights Day by the Church of Scientology choir and special guest performers. Event will include light refreshments. For more information or to reserve your seat please call 727-467-6966.

About the Church of Scientology:

The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 nations. Based on L. Ron Hubbards words, A community that pulls together can make a better society for all, the Church of Scientology regularly engages in community events.

For more information please visit www.scientology-fso.org.
Finnish English

Press Release

24 November, 2016

Espoo, Finland - The Nokia Foundation has granted its 2016 Recognition Award to Jari Arkko for his broad-ranging, long-term contributions to the advancement of Internet technologies and the interoperability of the Internet.

Arkko is known for his passion to make the Internet work better for all different ecosystems and businesses. For the past 20 years he has been one of the key technical and organizational leaders in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and since 2013 he has been the chairman of the organization.

In the technical domain, Arkko has strongly contributed in areas including Internet security, the Mobile Internet, Internet Protocol version 6, and the Internet of Things (IoT). He has driven, for instance, improved privacy in the Internet as well as helped ensure that the Internet is administered in a community-driven way. Arkko has also emphasized the benefits of interoperable standards for the Internet of Things ecosystem.

Arkko's approach has been instrumental in the refinement of the IETF standards process towards further openness and transparency. He has also been an active contributor in other standards communities such as 3GPP.

"The Internet is one of the greatest achievements of our time. It is a great pleasure to see Jari Arkko, a Finnish pioneer of Information and Communications Technologies, lead such a remarkable global collaboration project as the IETF. We are delighted to recognize and reward Jari Arkko's groundbreaking work with the Nokia Foundation Award," said Timo Ali-Vehmas, Chairman of the Board of the Nokia Foundation.

The Nokia Foundation has granted over 1 500 scholarships during its 21-year existence. In 2016, the Foundation will grant scholarships and awards totaling around 360 000 euros.



About the Nokia Foundation

The Nokia Foundation's purpose is to support the scientific development of information and telecommunications technologies and to promote education in the sector in Finland. The Nokia Foundation provides scholarships and awards for this mission. The Foundation was established on the initiative of Nokia Oyj in 1995; it is an independent, non-profit organization under Finnish foundation law. www.nokiafoundation.com

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in creating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com

Media Enquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.

Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.

Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
Greetings, all, and welcome to post-Thanksgiving! Phew. Hope you had a great holiday.

What's on your mind? We, obviously, are thinking about cookbooks, as Bonnie demonstrated in her fantastic list of the year's best; about the power of immigrant cooking, as we showed in our mini-profiles of immigrants who make tortillas, pierogi, pasta and more; the price of nutritious food, as Tamar illuminates in her latest thought-provoking column; and more.

And next week we'll have our huge cookie issue! (With recipes posting online soon, soon, very soon!) If you want to explore our previous decade's worth of recipes, don't forget about our Holiday Cookie Generator! We built it last year, but will be adding our latest 25-plus recipes soon, so they'll be included...

For you PostPoints members, here's today's code: FR9599 . Remember, you'll record and enter it into the PostPoints site under Claim My Points to earn points. The code expires at midnight, so be sure to enter the code by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday to get credit for participating.

We'll have giveaway books for our favorite chatters today: "Cooking With Mary Berry," source of this week's DinMin recipe; plus two books that were on our best-of list! (Don't worry, we had extra copies -- we wouldn't let these go without keeping one of each in our library.) They're Kate McDermott's "Art of the Pie" and Diana Henry's "Simple."

OK, let's get this going!
Goldman Sachs predicts that natural gas prices in Europe will fall by about 30%

Alzheimer's Care Armenia launches Alzheimer's Disease Early Detection Program in Armenia

Iran to send delegation to Vienna to strengthen relations with IAEA

Iranian Foreign Minister to discuss state of nuclear deal negotiations with Borrell

Putin: Russia is ready to supply grain to the poorest countries even without participation in the deal

Pentagon to supply Vampire anti-drone system to AFU

Household chemicals can provoke creation of superbacteria in wastewater

Xi Jinping confirms China's readiness to invest in Pakistan

Simone Inzaghi: We were good against a super strong team that are one of the best in Europe

Kuzmina: I don't agree that Armenia's economy will be swept away if the borders with Turkey are opened

Poland to build wall on border with Kaliningrad

Garo Paylan proposes opening Armenian-Turkish border

Atletico Madrid is in talks with Luis Enrique

Eduard Solovyov: Russia stated extreme undesirability of close contacts between Baku and NATO countries

Christophe Galtier: Qualifying was obviously mandatory

Zelenskyy: Threat of use of nuclear weapons by Russia exists and it is not related to non-compliance with ultimatums

IRNA: Azerbaijani State Security Service reacted nervously to Pashinyan's visit to Tehran

FLYONE ARMENIA to start operating flights on the route Yerevan - Beirut Yerevan

Moscow to host meeting of Secretaries of CIS Security Councils

Armenian MFA considers it inappropriate to comment on Lukashenko's rambling statements

Dollar rises, euro falls in Armenia

Biden's threat to impose profit tax on oil companies is more of boast than threat

Vadim Mukhanov: Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are one of main points of negotiations

Google to end support for Street View app in 2023: App to be removed from App Store and Google Play in coming weeks

Russia analyst describes Karabakh Armenians fate if Western version of peace treaty is signed

Armenia MFA: Lukashenko statement is disconnected from reality

Manuel Neuer has skin cancer, undergoes 3 surgeries

Russia MFA spox comments on Zangezur corridor prospects

Voytolovsky: Both sides will have weighty reasons to extend Russia peacekeepers mission in Karabakh

Armenia finance minister: Expenditure for PM's office will be reduced next year

Finance minister: Expenses for needs of parliament staff, Armenia President will increase considerably in 2023

Zakharova on meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs in Sochi

Armenian President congratulates Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Khadija from 'The Clone' marries Brazilian deputy

Azerbaijani special forces conduct exercises on border with Iran

PSG is the only team in top 5 leagues with no loses

COVID-19 causes deterioration of intestinal microflora, which contributes to development of other infections

Armenia defense minister meets with head of EU monitoring mission

Nikol Pashinyan: It is necessary to continue the work to reduce cash turnover

Russia resumes its participation in grain deal

Barcelona midfielder is out for 6 weeks

UK shortage of F-35 fighter pilots

Google shuts down Hangouts: How to save data from this platform?

Premier: Ministry of Internal Affairs, Foreign Intelligence Service will be established in Armenia in 2023

Shoigu: The NATO grouping near Russia's borders has grown 2.5 times since February

Anne Hathaway calls idea of making sequel to 'The Devil Wears Prada' 'tempting'

New Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad hopes to continue talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Allegri: Messi has always been the best in the world

Security Council chief receives head of EU monitoring capacity mission to Armenia

Pashinyan: Armenia-Azerbaijan borders existence was recorded both in Sochi and Prague

Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to take part in rally on November 5

Canada to welcome 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025

Armenia PM: Communication difficulties, challenges in relations with Turkey have been overcome

Pashinyan: Armenian side suggests extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh

Xavi considers Barcelona to be Europa League favourites

'Friends' star Matthew Perry spends $9 million to fight his addictions

MFA: Armenia has no misunderstandings with Iran

Russia position on Karabakh status corresponds to Armenia government approach, PM says

Yerevan hosts seminar on gynecological ultrasound with Italian professor

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy makes first flight since 2019, puts US military satellite into orbit

Pashinyan: Armenia attaches great importance to further development, deepening of relations with Brazil

Premier: Armenia defense spending will increase by 113% in 2023 compared to 2018

Deputy PM Grigoryan to attend Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation, security commissions 3rd meeting

George Martin names his favorite scene in 'House of the Dragon'

Pashinyan: Armenia has set new record for registered jobs

Israir Airlines launches flights between Tel Aviv, Yerevan

Armenia envoy briefs UK House of Commons defense committee chair on impact of recent Azerbaijan attack

Jurgen Klopp has his 400th match as Liverpool manager

PM: Armenia's economy is booming today

Seoul, Pyongyang launch missiles

The Witcher fans call to boycott show due to Henry Cavill being replaced

Keep complaining, but it will cost $8: Musk decides on new price of Blue subscription on Twitter

Newspaper: Armenia ruling political team is in favor of western version of peace treaty with Azerbaijan

Paris Masters: Khachanov advances to Round of 16, to face Djokovic

State Department: US will contribute to Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

Turkey parliament approves extending mandate of countrys military in occupied Aghdam of Karabakh

Champions League: Inter lose, Eintracht and Tottenham are in Round of 16; match results of the day

Sweden to reach NATO's defense spending goal of 2% of GDP by 2026

Lebanon raises electricity price for first time since 1990s

Study: Facebook has a negative impact on the psyche of young people

Lavrov and Cavusoglu discuss situation over 'grain deal'

Champions League: Inter's starting lineup against Bayern

Turkey not satisfied with Sweden's promises

Azerbaijan claims to have 'exposed' Azerbaijanis who acted 'under control of Iranian secret service'

Agent: I can assure you that Jurgen Klopp has no intention of resigning from Liverpool FC

Taliban sets up female Interior Ministry unit in Afghanistan to disperse protests

U.S. concerned about Iran's 'threats' against Saudi Arabia

Lebanon is facing a power vacuum, left without a president

Masters: Novak Djokovic's winning start

Gas exports from Iran to Armenia to double

In first 9 months about $1.7 billion is transferred to Armenia

'Planet Killer': Asteroid hiding in sunlight may one day collide with Earth

Baerbock and Scholz disagree on China

Neurochips can help fight Alzheimer's disease

Delegations of Ukraine, Turkey and UN temporarily suspend movement of ships in framework of Black Sea grain deal

Qatar Energy Minister calls EU proposal to limit gas prices hypocritical

Jamshidi: Any capturing of further territories is occupation

Luka Jovic: I think I went to Madrid too soon

Putin: Kiev must give real guarantees of strict compliance with the Istanbul agreements

Putin and Erdogan discuss results of meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Sochi
YEREVAN.  168 Zham newspaper spoke with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group former Co-Chair of the US, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Matthew Bryza, with respect to the avenues for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict.

As per Bryza, a golden mean needs to be found between the Kazan and Madrid documents. According to the US diplomat, Armenia says it supports the Kazan document, whereas Azerbaijanthe Madrid document, albeit it did not want to sign this document at the initial phase.

Bryza expressed the view that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, together with the presidents of their countriesi.e. Russia, US, and France, would be wise to push forward what Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As per the US diplomat, the substance of this proposal is to mitigate the differences between these two approaches.

In Bryzas view, the main difference is the fact that the Madrid document speaks about the return of all seven Karabakh-contiguous territories to Azerbaijan, whereas the Kazan document refers to solely five such territories.

As per Bryza, this matter can be fundamentally resolved, and there may also be an agreement. But, in his view, it is meaningless to talk about the points in this agreement, if the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan do not spend time with, and do not restore trust between, one another.

Matthew Bryza added that if this does not happen, none of the conflicting parties will feel confident enough to make concessions, and the statements will be made solely to resolve some political issues.

As per the US diplomat, the two presidents need to sit down and speak with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Goldman Sachs predicts that natural gas prices in Europe will fall by about 30%

Iran to send delegation to Vienna to strengthen relations with IAEA

Iranian Foreign Minister to discuss state of nuclear deal negotiations with Borrell

Putin: Russia is ready to supply grain to the poorest countries even without participation in the deal

Pentagon to supply Vampire anti-drone system to AFU

Xi Jinping confirms China's readiness to invest in Pakistan

Kuzmina: I don't agree that Armenia's economy will be swept away if the borders with Turkey are opened

Poland to build wall on border with Kaliningrad

Garo Paylan proposes opening Armenian-Turkish border

Eduard Solovyov: Russia stated extreme undesirability of close contacts between Baku and NATO countries

Zelenskyy: Threat of use of nuclear weapons by Russia exists and it is not related to non-compliance with ultimatums

IRNA: Azerbaijani State Security Service reacted nervously to Pashinyan's visit to Tehran

FLYONE ARMENIA to start operating flights on the route Yerevan - Beirut Yerevan

Moscow to host meeting of Secretaries of CIS Security Councils

Armenian MFA considers it inappropriate to comment on Lukashenko's rambling statements

Dollar rises, euro falls in Armenia

Biden's threat to impose profit tax on oil companies is more of boast than threat

Vadim Mukhanov: Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are one of main points of negotiations

Russia analyst describes Karabakh Armenians fate if Western version of peace treaty is signed

Armenia MFA: Lukashenko statement is disconnected from reality

Russia MFA spox comments on Zangezur corridor prospects

Voytolovsky: Both sides will have weighty reasons to extend Russia peacekeepers mission in Karabakh

Armenia finance minister: Expenditure for PM's office will be reduced next year

Finance minister: Expenses for needs of parliament staff, Armenia President will increase considerably in 2023

Zakharova on meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs in Sochi

Armenian President congratulates Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Azerbaijani special forces conduct exercises on border with Iran

Armenia defense minister meets with head of EU monitoring mission

Nikol Pashinyan: It is necessary to continue the work to reduce cash turnover

Russia resumes its participation in grain deal

UK shortage of F-35 fighter pilots

Premier: Ministry of Internal Affairs, Foreign Intelligence Service will be established in Armenia in 2023

Shoigu: The NATO grouping near Russia's borders has grown 2.5 times since February

New Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad hopes to continue talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Security Council chief receives head of EU monitoring capacity mission to Armenia

Pashinyan: Armenia-Azerbaijan borders existence was recorded both in Sochi and Prague

Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to take part in rally on November 5

Canada to welcome 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025

Armenia PM: Communication difficulties, challenges in relations with Turkey have been overcome

Pashinyan: Armenian side suggests extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh

MFA: Armenia has no misunderstandings with Iran

Russia position on Karabakh status corresponds to Armenia government approach, PM says

Pashinyan: Armenia attaches great importance to further development, deepening of relations with Brazil

Premier: Armenia defense spending will increase by 113% in 2023 compared to 2018

Deputy PM Grigoryan to attend Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation, security commissions 3rd meeting

Pashinyan: Armenia has set new record for registered jobs

Israir Airlines launches flights between Tel Aviv, Yerevan

Armenia envoy briefs UK House of Commons defense committee chair on impact of recent Azerbaijan attack

PM: Armenia's economy is booming today

Seoul, Pyongyang launch missiles

Newspaper: Armenia ruling political team is in favor of western version of peace treaty with Azerbaijan

State Department: US will contribute to Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

Turkey parliament approves extending mandate of countrys military in occupied Aghdam of Karabakh

Sweden to reach NATO's defense spending goal of 2% of GDP by 2026

Lebanon raises electricity price for first time since 1990s

Lavrov and Cavusoglu discuss situation over 'grain deal'

Turkey not satisfied with Sweden's promises

Azerbaijan claims to have 'exposed' Azerbaijanis who acted 'under control of Iranian secret service'

Taliban sets up female Interior Ministry unit in Afghanistan to disperse protests

U.S. concerned about Iran's 'threats' against Saudi Arabia

Lebanon is facing a power vacuum, left without a president

Gas exports from Iran to Armenia to double

In first 9 months about $1.7 billion is transferred to Armenia

Baerbock and Scholz disagree on China

Delegations of Ukraine, Turkey and UN temporarily suspend movement of ships in framework of Black Sea grain deal

Qatar Energy Minister calls EU proposal to limit gas prices hypocritical

Jamshidi: Any capturing of further territories is occupation

Putin: Kiev must give real guarantees of strict compliance with the Istanbul agreements

Putin and Erdogan discuss results of meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Sochi

Blinken goes to Germany to meet with G-7 colleagues

Iranist: Cooperation between Yerevan and Tehran will prevent further Turkish activism

U.S. military conducts field weapons inspections in Ukraine

Defense Ministers of Russia and Turkey once again discuss suspension of 'grain deal'

Armenian President and ICRC representatives discuss Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan

Aliyev's aide visits Nakhchivan

Berlin urges Serbia to choose between EU and Russia

Armenian Deputy Prime Minister and USAID representatives discuss bilateral cooperation

Erdogan: Turkey continues to make necessary initiatives on grain deal

Macron promises Ukraine to survive winter and strengthen air defense

The Collins British Dictionary chooses main word of 2022
It is in the United States interests to better relations with Armenia, Western analysts told the Voice of America Armenian service.

As per American Foreign Policy Council analyst Stephen Blank, Washington and the European countries have strategic interests in the South Caucasus, and these interests need to be strengthened.

In his view, the West should pay greater attention to the three South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan).

In the analysts words, first and foremost, this concerns the efforts toward resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh Artsakh) conflict, since the active US engagement in this matter is a guarantee for achieving peace.

According to Blank, the Karabakh conflict settlement cannot be left solely under the responsibility of Moscow because in that case, the conflict will never be resolved, since Russia wishes to see a manageable conflict in Karabakh.

University of Oxford (England) lecturer Samuel Ramani spoke about Armenias unique role for the US. As per, Ramani, Armenia is a more reliable partner for the US than Azerbaijan.

He recalled that, from the South Caucasus countries, it is Armenia that has had the most stable foreign policy, over the course of the past decades; and, being a member in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), it repeatedly has assisted in the US peacekeeping missions in Europe and the Middle East.
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YEREVAN.  Armenia will receive a US$50-million loan from the World Bank (WB), for the state budget needs of the country.

The draft of the respective loan agreement was approved at Thursdays Cabinet session of the government.

Accordingly, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will provide these funds that are allocated within the framework of the Fourth Development Policy Loan of the WB.

This loan will be provided for 25 years, with a 14-year grace period.
YEREVAN.  Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, on Wednesday met with Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie of the Canadian Province of Quebec, Christine St-Pierre.

They met within the framework of the ongoing International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) ministerial conference in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar.

The interlocutors reflected on the course of implementation of the agreements that were reached at the OIF ministerial conference which was convened last year in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, and discussed issues that are on the agenda of this organization, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Nalbandian and St-Pierre also exchanged views on the avenues for the development of cooperation in several domains.

In addition, they conferred on a number of urgent regional and international matters.
YEREVAN.  Armenia will receive another US$30 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to strengthen the infrastructure of the country, Minister of Finance, Vardan Aramyan, stated at Thursdays Cabinet meeting.

The second phase of the ADB Infrastructure Sustainability Support Program for Armenia was initially assumed to be in the amount of $90 million.

The program, however, has not yet been approved.

It plans to develop the energy sector and urban road network of Armenia.
The European Parliament members voted on Thursday to support a temporary freeze on EU accession talks with Turkey.

MEPs say that Turkey should nonetheless remain anchored to the EU. They also pledge to review their position when the "disproportionate repressive measures" under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted.

Turkey is an important partner of the EU, say MEPs. But in partnerships, the will to cooperate has to be two-sided (...) Turkey is not showing this political will as the governments actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path, they add.

A temporary halt of the negotiations would entail that no new negotiating chapters be opened and no new initiatives be taken in relation to Turkeys EU Negotiation Framework.

The re-introduction of the capital punishment by the Turkish government would lead to a formal suspension of the accession process, say MEPs, pointing out that the unequivocal rejection of the death penalty is an essential element of the Union acquis.

MEPs strongly condemn the disproportionate repressive measures taken by the Turkish government since the failed coup attempt in July 2016. These violate basic rights and freedoms protected by the Turkish Constitution itself, they say.

The resolution was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.
During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to cut federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, where local authorities have reduced the level of police cooperation with federal immigration agents. It's unclear how Trump intends to do this, and if his method would require congressional approvalgiven his apparent sub-Schoolhouse Rock level of understanding of the workings of government, it's possible he has no idea eitherand any such proposal could face steep barriers in the courts. Nevertheless, New York City is a sanctuary city, and Mayor Bill de Blasio and others have vowed to fight any effort to change that.

A new cursory analysis by the Comptroller's Office shows that a federal shutout would have dire consequences for the city, particularly for programs serving the poor, children, people with HIV and AIDS, and for the NYPD's counterterrorism program. Again, a total shutoff of funding would face a lot of legislative and judicial hurdles, but the threat is certainly ominous.

As the comptroller's report states, about 9 percent of the city's $83.5 billion budget comes from federal sources. Those funds are heavily concentrated in supporting social-service programs, including Section 8 housing vouchers, which are entirely federally funded and are helping to keep over 39,000 households from homelessness, public assistance grants, which more than 600,000 New Yorkers are currently receiving, and the Administration for Children's Services, which is nearly half funded by federal aid.

Federal money also covers most of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's HIV/AIDS prevention program, and more than 60 percent of the NYPD's counterterrorism program.

In a statement, Comptroller Scott Stringer appealed to Trump's conscience, the existence of which we could not immediately verify.

"What we know with absolute certainty is that any cuts in federal aid to New York will have a devastating impact. We have a record homelessness crisis that will be made much more challenging with any decrease in funding," Stringer said. "I urge President-elect Trump to remember that behind every federal line item is a human facea family in need, a victim of domestic violence, an AIDS patient, a hungry school child. We are a city that welcomes immigrantswe dont turn people away based on where theyre from or what language they speak, and that must not change."



(Scott Lynch/Gothamist)

There are an estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants in New York City, and the de Blasio administration has sought to firm up their status through initiatives such as the IDNYC program, which allows people to apply for identification cards without proof of citizenship. More than 800,000 New Yorkers have signed up for the IDs since they were created two years ago, and the legislation to create the program came with a destroy-in-case-of-a-tea-party-president clause to protect personal data that could be used by a hostile federal government to identify people for deportation. The city is required to review the data by the end of the year and determine what data to destroy.

"We're not going to tear families apart. So we will do everything we know how to do to resist that," de Blasio said following Trump's victory.

"We're going to push back like hell," Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said.

After initially striking an upbeat tone about Trump's rise to power, Governor Andrew Cuomo, too, vowed to resist in a lofty speech, saying, "If there is a move to deport immigrants then I say start with me. I am a son of immigrants."

About a third of New York City's undocumented population are young immigrants and parents of legal residents who are eligible, according to a recent report, for temporary reprieve from deportation under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, an executive order that Trump has said he will repeal upon taking office. Trump has also said he wants to create a deportation force to round up, imprison, and eventually deport anywhere from 2 to 11 million people. Many immigrants were reluctant to sign up for DACA protection for fear that the database of their information would be used to one day deport them, and given that there is no indication that Obama plans to erase the records, that fear now seems entirely justified.

Congressional moves to withhold federal funding to achieve policy goals are subject to strict tests under the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Dole. Of course, thanks to Republican obstructionism over the last year, Donald Trump will take office with an open Supreme Court seat to fill. So far, Trump's administration picks seem to indicate that he views lack of experience, disdain for science and the future of humanity, overt racism, homophobia, and anti-Muslim bigotry, and belief in government as a vehicle to advance an apocalyptic vision of Christianity as job qualifications, so whoever he picks for judge is bound to be, uh, interesting.
Armenian News-NEWS.am has received new details on the killing of the Armenian man, who was shot dead in Moscow on the night of November 24.

The Armenian Embassy in Russia informs that Gevorg Gevorgyan, who was shot dead in the capitals Yasnevo district, had been previously convicted.

According to the information, last time Gevorgyan entered Russia one month ago. The victim was involved in construction business, as per the Russian media outlets.

Earlier, it was found out that the killing of the man in southwestern Moscow resembled a kill order. The body of the man with firearm wound was found near Litovsky Avenue.

According to the law enforcement officers, an unknown person shot dead the man with Kalashnikov rifle, following which he escaped, leaving the weapon on the murder site.

The Investigative Committee confirmed this information, specifying that the rifle was found at the distance of about 300 meters from the body.
Turkey insists that the resolution passed by the European Parliament on suspending talks with Turkey about entering the EU contradicts to democratic values and has no legal force, said EU Affairs Minister of Turkey Omer Celik, reports RIA Novosti.

"The decision of the European Council contradicts to its own democratic values, which the Turkish people supported during the coup attempt of July 15, going to the streets against military aircrafts. We do not consider the decision of the European Council serious; it has no legal force, "said Celik.

Celik recommended the Council of Europe to follow the words addresses against Erdogan.
Poland plans to require UK to preserve freedoms of EU internal market , said the Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski during his visit to Ireland.

Waszczykowski met with the Polish community in Dublin, where he discussed the situation of Polish migrants after the Brexit. He said, if the British government intends to stay in the EU market, they will have to ensure the freedom for Poles who live in the UK. "We believe that the status of Poles who live in the UK should be symmetrical, ie the same, as the status of Britons who live in the EU.

We are going to require Great Britain to ensure four freedoms enshrined in the EC Treaty, namely free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, said Waszczykowski, reports the Polish Radio.

As Waszczykowski considers, negotiations between London and Brussels can last for several years. He noted, that Brexit will be the chief topic of today's talks with Irelands Foreign Minister Charles Flanagan.
I am offering the solution to a problem most Republicans don't know they have -- that they can be outmaneuvered and thrown on the defensive endlessly, on nearly any issue, because they accept as true Democrat lies about the Republican Party. To correct that misperception and to help the Republican Party get 'back to basics' is why I'm a man on a mission.

A few years ago, after one of my speeches, a man told me "Do you know what your problem is? You're too far ahead of your time!" My efforts to show Republicans how they would benefit from celebrating the heritage of our Grand Old Party have been arduous, but if this were easy someone else would have already done it.

Among my speech topics are Reconciling the Tea Party and the GOP; Barack Obama, the Worst President Ever; Socialism, the new Slavery; Appreciating the Heritage of our Grand Old Party; Returning to the Founding Principles of the United States; The Womens Rights Achievements of our Grand Old Party; Abraham Lincoln, Republican; Frederick Douglass, Republican; Martin Luther King and the Republican Civil Rights Legacy.
The European Parliament has accused Minsk of violating democratic values. The resolution accepted on November 24 says, that the number of new political prisoners in Belarus increases, and the opposition is being intimidated, reports the DW.

The European MPs pointed out that since 1994, there have not been held free and fair elections in the country. In addition, the key sectors of the Belarusian economy are still under state control. The document mentions that Belarus is the only European country, that applies death penalty: in 2016, the country's supreme court sentenced four people to death.

European parliamentarians have expressed concern over the lack of safety measures of the first nuclear power plant in Belarus, which is being built on the border with Lithuania. The European Parliament insists that there be international supervision of the project, so that all safety standards are maintained. 468 MPs voted in favor of the resolution, 21 against, 93 abstained.
Dr. Strange

At the Cinemark

(PG-13)

Grade: B-

My friend Jon, a connoisseur of fantasy/superhero films, reduced Doctor Strange to a single stinging sentence.

Benedict Cumberbatch should stick to competing for Oscars, he mused, reminding us that not all great actors are suited to become superheroes.

I came away from my encounter with Marvels Doctor Strange with a similarly disappointed feeling. I, too, felt Cumberbatch was a mixed blessing.

As the arrogant neurosurgeon whose big ego matches his extraordinary skills, Cumberbatch is quite brilliant. He channels his inner House, M.D.

But when Dr. Strange heads for Nepal to receive spiritual training, the cape just doesnt quite fit.

He exudes but one persona: cynical surgeon skeptical of the occult who spews one liners.

Thats not to say that the film isnt entertaining.

The first third, in particular, is riveting as the surgeon suffers drives his Lamborghini off a cliff, an accident that disables both of his patented surgical hands. His desperate, angry and sad search for a medical cure fails, so he heads to Nepal.

Were with him right up to the point where he seeks to harness spiritual powers. But I never bought the transformation from surgeon to superhero. Hes a cynical and funny warrior, but hes no Spider Man, Superman or Hulk.

I actually doubted that Cumberbatch fully committed to his role in this Marvel universe.

The special effects are dazzling and the world we enter is meticulously crafted. Judged by its ability to transport us to somewhere weve never visited before, Strange is a terrific ride.

Rachel McAdams is a believable love interest, a fellow doctor who can see the softness beneath the gruff exterior.

Even the spiritual guides are well cast. Who can top Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, the mistress of mystical powers? In fact, the whole cast of transformers were convincing.

So, I guess, it comes down to my not buying Sherlock in his new cape.

To be honest, this is the first time Ive ever found Cumberbatch anything but sensational. I loved him as Sherlock, and admired him in Imitation Game. Im a card carrying member of the BC fan club.

I guess its the cerebral layers of Cumberbatch that I missed in Strange. He plays a smart doctor, yes, but his intelligence wasnt central to the story this time. This is a tale of magical powers and inter-celestial battles, a story of a nimble mind outwitting the universe.

For the record, the world is being attacked on many fronts by a bad guy named Kaecilius. Ancient One and her team are battling to save the world. When Strange earns his stripes, he joins forces with the good guys.

Stop me if youre heard this before.

Strange does indeed have strange powers of the transcendental mystical kind, muted by ego.

Ancient One keeps telling him to drop the pride and be humble. Hard lesson for a narcissist to learn. Harder still in the White House.

Ancient One tells Strange to stop fantasizing about returning to being a great surgeon and, instead, to be content to save the world with his new powers.

I could imagine a powerful performance if that reformation of the soul was believable.

Instead, we head to climactic battle like all other superhero movies.

Its worth noting that I stand almost alone in being disappointed in Doctor Strange, which earned a 91 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Its earned more than $500 million worldwide in just over one week of release.

So, its clear Im out of step on this one. Perhaps my disenchantment is because Im growing weary of the never-ending onslaught of superhero movies that feel like money machines riding the tired formula to the bank.

I dont find that Marvelous.
Kenya Airways on Thursday announced the resignation of its chief executive officer, a move demanded by pilots complaining of mismanagement at the troubled airline.

CEO Mbuvi Ngunze will step down in the first quarter of 2017. His resignation follows that of chairman Dennis Awori only last month.

"While I regret this decision, I respect his position," said the airline's new chairman, Michael Joseph.

The airline in October averted a crippling strike by pilots demanding that management step down after what they called disastrous strategic decisions that left the company in severe financial difficulty.

The strike would have struck a major blow to the embattled airline, already facing growing criticism over alleged corruption, flight delays and high prices.

However it was put on hold as the government assured the strikers of change at the top.

Joseph said the airline would find its next CEO within three months.

Kenya Airways in July posted a net annual loss of 26.22 billion shillings ($250 million/230 million euros) -- the worst ever by a Kenyan company.

The airline, whose slogan is "Pride of Africa", is among the 10 biggest in Africa, with key connections to Europe and Asia.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and China have agreed to jointly combat transpacific trafficking of fentanyl into Canada, they said Thursday following a wave of overdoses with the powerful synthetic opioid. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) Vice Minister Chen Zhimin agreed at a meeting in Ottawa "to strengthen coordinated law enforcement actions to disrupt the supply of fentanyl and synthetic opioids," according to their joint statement. The drug's use in Canada has turned into a public health crisis that Paulson described as "a grave threat." Highly potent and addictive, the analgesic is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The related drug carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. Two milligrams of pure fentanyl (the size of about four grains of salt) is enough to kill the average adult. Coroners have said the drugs were responsible for 2,000 deaths in Canada in 2015 and an even higher number is expected this year. Three recent busts saw the powerful narcotics intercepted by border officials, during a routine traffic stop in Vancouver, and by postal staff.
At least 67 people were killed when part of a power station under construction in China collapsed Thursday, state media reported, the latest industrial accident in a country with a dismal safety record. A cooling tower platform plunged to the ground in the early hours, trapping an unknown number of people beneath it, the official Xinhua news agency said. State broadcaster CCTV put the toll at 67, with local reports saying one person was still missing and two others injured. Pictures of the scene in Fengcheng, in the central province of Jiangxi, showed a grey mass of concrete slabs, steel girders and twisted metal splayed in a heap on the ground inside a large round structure. Hard-hatted rescue workers in neon jumpsuits carried bodies out from the site on stretchers wrapped in orange sheeting. A total of 32 fire engines and 212 military personnel had been deployed to the scene, the Jiangxi provincial fire department said on a verified social media account. The construction of two 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power units at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station began last July and was expected to be completed by early 2018, the local Yichun city government said on a verified social media account last year. The expansion was budgeted to cost a total of 7.67 billion yuan (now $1.1 billion), it added. The main investor for a previous expansion project at the plant suspended trading in its shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange Thursday afternoon, stating that "significant events" that could not be disclosed could impact its share price. Its shares had fallen 3.41 percent by midday. The State Administration of Work Safety has dispatched a team to investigate the cause of the accident, Chinese media reported. Many companies cut corners with workplace safety to reduce their costs and widespread corruption in China also allows firms to sidestep oversight. The Administration's former chief, Yang Dongliang, has been accused of accepting more than 28 million yuan in bribes. His trial started Thursday, Chinese media said. - Poor safety - Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often poorly enforced. In August a pipeline explosion at a coal-fired power plant in the neighbouring province of Hubei killed 21. Earlier this summer more than 130 people were taken to hospital after chemicals leaked from a plant in eastern China. In April a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to quell the flames. Last December, the collapse of a gypsum mine in the eastern province of Shandong left one person dead and 13 others unaccounted for, with four miners only rescued after being trapped underground for 36 days. A total of 19 people had been found responsible for the incident, Xinhua said Thursday, with three managers arrested and 16 other local officials "punished". The agency did not give further details. The owner of the collapsed mine committed suicide by drowning himself at the scene soon after the collapse, Xinhua said. He will not be subject to criminal liabilities, it cited investigators as saying.
Nearly 60 people taking part in a vintage air rally from Europe to South Africa were released on Thursday after being detained by authorities in Ethiopia, organisers of the journey said.

Pilots of a dozen biplanes and their teams were allowed to leave the airport in Gambella, two days after arriving at the outpost in western Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan.

"They have been released. We hope to leave Ethiopia.

"They have a hotel because they cannot fly when it's dark. So they have to wait, so they should leave at first light tomorrow," a spokesman for organisers Vintage Air Rally told AFP.

The reason for their detention at the airport was unclear and the organisers were not expected to give more detail before the planes were air-bound and out of the country.

The teams included participants from France, Germany, the US and Britain, whose foreign ministry said it had been involved in the Gambella incident.

"We are providing assistance to a group of British nationals in Ethiopia who are taking part in the Vintage Air Rally. We will remain in contact with the local authorities," a spokeswoman for the UK's foreign ministry told AFP.

Dating from the 1920s and 1930s, the biplanes set off from the Greek island of Crete on November 12.

The first few days of their journey saw them touch down in Egypt, where they were the first group of aircraft to land at the country's famous Giza pyramids for 80 years.

The group had arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday and had been due to travel onwards to Kenya after the stop in Ethiopia.

A British pilot who joined the tour on Sunday, 72-year-old Maurice Kirk, was reported missing during the flight from Sudan to Ethiopia. Vintage Air Rally said on Wednesday that he had been found and had joined the other pilots at Gambella airport.

The 13,000-kilometre (8,000-mile) journey had originally been scheduled to end on December 17 in Cape Town, South Africa, travelling through countries including Tanzania and Zimbabwe along the way.
Focussed on authenticity, THE FIFTH COLLECTION is a conduit for buyers and sellers to find high-end luxury goods

THE FIFTH COLLECTION, a high-end vintage fashion marketplace based in Singapore, has announced today it raised a S$2 million (US$1.4 million) seed round led by Florian Fenner, a Venture Capitalist with an eye on Southeast Asia.

Chris Evdemon, a Partner at Sinovation Ventures (out of China) and Peter Douglas, an investor with a long history in Asia, also invested in the company. Other undisclosed investors also participated in the round.

Calling itself a re-commerce platform, the money will be used to grow the team and invest in operations, marketing and technology. It also will help finance avenues to help grow sales.

The Fifth Collection is a marketplace platform for luxury-goods sellers to upcycle their offerings through a trustworthy platform and for buyers to find high-end products that have been certified and vetted.

Our core value is authenticity, not only with regard to our products, but also in our promise to our customer, our people and every aspect of what we do. Customers in this region are among the most sophisticated in the world and they can feel it. This approach takes more time but we have been rewarded with 70 percent repeat customer sales and an average order value of over S$1,000 (US$750), said Co-founder and CEO Nejla Matam-Finn in a statement.

Also Read: ShareChat, a non-chat social network for first time Internet users, secures US$4M Series A

For its users, the company provides authenticity, quality control, price recommendation, deluxe packaging, returns handling, and free next-day shipping.

Focussing on authenticity makes sense for the startup because the listed items sell for a lot of money. As of publishing, the homepage has a bag from Hermes selling for S$143,000 (US$99,800) and a Celine luggage bag being offered at S$3,000 (US$2,000).

Also Read: Branding advice: Logo design tips for startups

It offers products from famous luxury designers like Jimmy Choo, Burberry and Vera Wang. In total, the marketplace has about 500 brands from the luxury fashion industry.

Story continues

The Founding team is a husband-wife duo. Nejla Matam-Finn acts as CEO while her husband Michael is the COO.

The online fashion magazine Buro 24/7 awarded the company with the honor of Best Singapore Digital Startup in 2016.



Copyright: Prometeus / 123RF Stock Photo

The post Singapore e-commerce platform THE FIFTH COLLECTION raises US$1.4M to bring you the best of fashion appeared first on e27.
The Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI) held a financial literacy forum and workshop for Filipino inventors.

DOST-TAPI said that the financial literacy seminar aimed to help inventors manage their financial resources and preserve any income they can generate from their inventions and innovations.

The two-day forum cum workshop on entrepreneurship and financial management for inventors was held as one of the activities during the DOSTs celebration of the 73rd Annual National Inventors Week last week at the DOST Compound in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Edwin Suson, an associate professor at the College of Business Administration of the University of Santo Tomas and a financial advisor and trainor, gave valuable tips to the inventors present during the forum.

Another speaker was Generoso David, department manager of the Land Bank of the Philippines, who shared his expertise in fund sourcing.

During his talk David discussed the many loan facilities of Land Bank and how inventors can avail of its services to finance their inventions for commercialization.  Rainier Allan Ronda
POLSON  Anglers have caught 437,258 lake trout out of Flathead Lake in the 14 years of Mack Days fishing tournaments.

But probably only one of them has landed a bride.

When Missoula chiropractor Chris Moore decided to propose to his girlfriend, Amanda Ormsby, earlier this month, he decided to make the request a memorable one.

Amanda loves fishing, which is part of why I chose to do it this way, Moore says.

Moore cooked up his surprise and, with the help of his buddy, Brandon Bretz, set about pulling it off during the final day of Fall Mack Days.

Moore and Bretz usually get in several days of fishing during Mack Days tournaments, but have been so busy this fall that they'd only been able to make it out for half a day, back on opening day on Sept. 23.

I called Bretz and said, Hey, we need to go fishing, and told him why, Moore says. He liked it, and I knew I was going to need some help to pull it off.

***

They climbed in Bretzs boat, headed out, and waited until there was a lull in the fishing, Moore says.

That provided the excuse for one of them to announce that Maybe we should switch it up, and put on a flat fish.

The two men had Ormsby take over driving the boat while they retreated to the stern to tie on a No. 7 flat fish lure to use trolling.

They also attached the small engagement ring box to the line while Ormsby was busy driving the boat, dropped the line in the water, let it out, and put the rod in a downrigger.

We set it on the clip as light as we could, Moore says, so the pressure of the water would kick it off and make it look like a fish was on.

Bretz took over driving duties. It took some doing to fake the bite, but when it happened, We yelled at Amanda to get the rod, Moore says.

It didnt take her long to realize something wasnt right as she reeled in the line  Its not fighting, Ormsby noted  and Moore edged closer to look.

What is on it? he asked as the lure neared the surface, grabbing the line and lifting the ring box out of the water. What is that?

A smile spread across his face, giving away what was about to happen.

As he got down on one knee, the box in hand, a surprised Ormsby said, Are you serious? Are you serious?

And then the marriage proposal hit a serious snag.

***

Moore opened the box.

It was empty.

Whatd you do?" Bretz asked Moore.

Its not in there, he replied, his eyes darting around the floor of the boat.

Oh, God, Ormsby said.

I was wondering if he was dumb enough to put a ring in a box and drop it into Flathead Lake, Ormsby said later. Im glad hes not.

Moore angrily flung the empty box on the floor and turned away, but couldnt hold the grin off his face very long.

In the space of about two seconds he had pulled another engagement ring box out of his back pocket, headed back down on one knee while saying, Just kidding  will you marry me?

This box had the ring in it.

***

Amandas face was so funny, Moore says. After I knew I had her fooled, I pulled the ring out of my back pocket.

I was shocked. Speechless, says Ormsby, who works for Home Instead Senior Care in Missoula.

The two have known each other for about 2  years, a relationship that initially began as a friendship according to Moore, the owner of Western Montana Spine and Injury Clinic.

They had discussed marriage, he says, but Ormsby had no idea a proposal was coming her way Sunday  much less one that emerged from the depths of Flathead Lake.

Oh, and her answer?

She said yes.

Even without the ring, I would have said yes, Ormsby says.
Populist Dutch MP Geert Wilders remained unapologetic as his hate speech trial drew to a close on Wednesday, saying "millions of Dutch citizens will be convicted with me" if he is found guilty. Wilders, 53, who had previously shunned hearings held at a high-security courthouse near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, addressed a three-judge bench at the end of the three-week trial which will formally be closed on Friday. "I am not a racist and my voters are neither. They are people who want their country back and who are sick and tired of not being listened to," said Wilders, dressed in a dark blue suit and with his trademark peroxide hairdo. "If you convict me, you will convict half of The Netherlands," said Wilders, who added: "Many Dutch will then lose the last bit of trust in the rule of law." The firebrand far-right politician faces charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands. Set for a verdict on December 9, the trial focuses in part on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands". When the crowd shouted back "Fewer! Fewer!" a smiling Wilders answered: "We're going to organise that." The Netherlands will hold general elections in March and Wilders's far-right Freedom Party (PVV) is riding high in various polls, a close second or even ahead of the ruling Liberal VVD party. His 2014 statements were met with outrage, including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints to police followed. But Wilders accused prosecutors -- whom he referred to as government "puppets" -- and opposition politicians of directing a "political process" against him. "The court is being abused to settle a political score," Wilders told the judges. Earlier, public prosecutor Wouter Bos said Wilders could "say what he wants" but that "the law is clear and applies to everyone -- to Wilders too". Goran Sluiter, a lawyer representing aggrieved groups and individuals who are demanding compensation from Wilders, told the judges "that only the law can protect minorities" in The Netherlands. Whereas Wilders says the principle of freedom of expression was on trial, Sluiter told the judges that it was a "criminal process against an evil that's called discrimination". Prosecutors last week demanded a 5,000 euro ($5,300) fine against Wilders, who has promised to close mosques, ban Muslim immigrants and withdraw The Netherlands from the European Union should he be voted into power next year.
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Reusing music has always been a slightly grey area in skateboarding, but still something which was for the most part avoided in the era of VHS and rewatching the same video for months on end until the next tape appeared in the local shop for you to wear out the heads on. For one thing a vague etiquette demanded it and, for another, who wants to be put up against certain yardsticks to which youll clearly be found wanting? Skating to fIREHOSEs Brave Captain or Sizzlas Haunted and Nervous will forever belong to Natas and Cardiel respectively and would seem incongruous in the context of another section.

Saying this, some sections would always slip through editors guards and cause the occasional double up. Since the death of VHS and the rise of both cheap cameras and editing equipment  leading to a massive rise in the amount of scene videos appearing  followed closely by the internet taking over the world and offering ten million skate videos at our disposal, trying to find a previously unused song to match up to a skater is becoming more unrealistic by the minute.

This is not necessarily a bad thing though; a good song is a good song regardless and seeing how one track can interact with a different set of tricks, style and personality in a skate video can be a proper treat. With that in mind, here are some of our favourite moments where a song has been reused and re appropriated to soundtrack two or more sections.

Honourable mention: Led Zeppelins Immigrant Song, used for Jeremy Wrays section in Plan Bs Revolution and the Darkstar montage in Almosts Rodney Vs. Daewon Round 2. No chance of Youtube letting that fucker stand!

Blast  In My Blood

Santa Cruz Streets on Fire  Turf section/Creature Skateboards Born Dead  Darren Navarrette





SST Records and Santa Cruz has a solid connection in the form of Blasts Owen Neider, resulting in a solid amount of the labels music being heard in early Cruz videos. Heres a classic in the form of The Turf section in Streets On Fire, with Navarrette undoubtedly paying homage in Creatures Born Dead. In addition to these two, the song can also be heard in Ohio Skateout  a video which possibly got more out of the SST back catalogue than the entire canon of Santa Cruz videos
Family businesses have been around for thorough out history, and some of the most iconic brands have started as family-owned companies. Family businesses refer to businesses where one or more family members own and control the company and are continued down multiple generations. Family businesses are a smart way to start a new venture while retaining control over its growth.

Startup Tips for Developing a Family-Owned Business

Starting family-owned companies take significant effort and business planning. But if done right, they can grow and become successful ventures.

Start with a business plan: The first step for starting a business is laying the groundwork for it. This means deciding roles, the level of involvement needed, compensation, and who reports to.

The first step for starting a business is laying the groundwork for it. This means deciding roles, the level of involvement needed, compensation, and who reports to. Map out funding: If family members are putting in their own money for seed funding, its essential to recognize their contribution to the family business.

If family members are putting in their own money for seed funding, its essential to recognize their contribution to the family business. Have an outside source: While it might be tempting to keep everything in the family, external sources for advice and guidance are necessary. They can take on a neutral role and provide insight without potentially jeopardizing relationships with other members.

READ MORE: What Family Businesses Must Get Right to Scale

What to Avoid When Running a Business with Family Members

While running a family business can be immensely rewarding, there is a lot of risk of issues, egos, and rocky relationships moving forward. Unfortunately, many family businesses often fall victim to this, so its crucial to preserve relationships as much as possible while developing the business.

Giving family members preferential treatment: As businesses grow, its crucial to keep accountability and equality. Nonfamily members should not be treated any differently than family, so no special treatment or personal interests are involved.

As businesses grow, its crucial to keep accountability and equality. Nonfamily members should not be treated any differently than family, so no special treatment or personal interests are involved. Not having a succession plan: As family members retire or pursue other ventures, having a succession process can help reduce issues for the people involved. In addition, creating clear rules for what happens and who takes over when a family member leaves will protect the business in the long run.

As family members retire or pursue other ventures, having a succession process can help reduce issues for the people involved. In addition, creating clear rules for what happens and who takes over when a family member leaves will protect the business in the long run. Think about future generations: Future generations may not want to be part of the business, and thats okay. Rather than trying to force family relationships into a situation, they dont want to be in. For children who want to be involved, ensure they have opportunities for outside experience. Let them decide what departments they would like to participate in based on skill sets.

READ MORE: The Secrets of Running a Family Business Revealed

13 Amazing Family Businesses

Most family businesses are successful when they have a great idea in a specific niche. If youre thinking about starting a family business or a small business, there are many amazing ideas to pursue. Well go through profitable and fun family business ideas to inspire you to start your own.

1. Celebration Boxes

For crafty families with a penchant for entrepreneurship, celebration boxes could be a great idea. The family can get involved by creating themed boxes with handmade and curated products. They can use their artistic flair for celebrations around special occasions such as baby showers, graduations, weddings, and more.

2. Pet Sitting

Pet sitting can be an excellent idea for family members who love animals and want to make some money. You can start with your neighborhood to grow your client base and build your reputation.

3. College Consulting

If you like the prospect of working with other families and helping high school students, college consulting could be a great idea. You could work with prospective students to help them select colleges, put together applications and provide guidance around their college essays.

4. Plant Nursery

If your family members have a green thumb and love plants, why not start a plant nursery? You could start with indoor office and home plants, sell them around your area before growing, and even offer outdoor plants.

5. Start an Online Store

As a family firm, you could also start an online store and sell products. You may need to invest some money initially in sourcing the right types of products based on interests. However, as you grow the business, you will have less debt, and your online business could prove to be a profitable idea.

6. Errand Service

If youre looking for business ideas that dont require a ton of company money, you could also start an errand business. This could include basic tasks such as picking up dry cleaning, quick shopping trips, and anything people in the neighborhood need help with.

7. Farmers Market Vendor

You can also work with family members to sell produce and products at farmers markets for extra cash. You can create a local brand for your products for your family business idea and set up a stall at the farmers market to sell to new customers with the entire family.

8. Cleaning Business

Depending on the area, many family-controlled enterprises have gone into commercial and residential cleaning. You can offer cleaning services to offices and homes at reasonable hourly rates or package deals and volume discounts for larger clients.

9. Auto Detailing

If there are family members who have the right skills, auto detailing can prove to be a profitable business. Customers are always looking for reliable and affordable auto detailing services, so you could grow a solid customer base.

10. Child Care Service

As more people work from home or have hybrid working hours, child care has become more in demand. You could start a daycare service in your home to provide nearby neighbors with affordable and trustworthy child care.

11. Tour Guide Service

If your local community sees a lot of tourists and visitors, you could start your own business by offering tour guide services. You could create special guided tours based on historical significance, adventure tours, and more, depending on what the area has to offer.

12. Bed and Breakfast

If you have a suitable location, you could start a bed and breakfast for visitors. Many family business starting ideas are in the hospitality sector, and a B&B could be a low-cost way to break into the market.

13. Small Farm

A small farm can be profitable if you have the real estate for it. Many customers are seeking out local produce and fruit, and its also a good business the next generation can pick up. You can spend time growing in-demand fruits and vegetables and sell them in local markets.

READ MORE: Small Business Ideas for Beginners

Are Family-Owned Businesses Profitable?

As a small business, a family business can be immensely profitable. Many family-owned companies have grown to be huge, such as Walmart, and there is a lot of value creation with these kinds of businesses. The Harvard Business Review found that family businesses play a significant role in contributing to the world economy.

Whats the Best Family-Owned Business to Start?

The best family business ventures are generally based on existing talent and skills family members may have. If youre looking to start a successful company, an online store or a small farm could be successful. However, if there are specific skills family members have, small businesses can be built off of that as well.

Image: Depositphotos
A federal judge on Tuesday issued an injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labors Overtime Rule set to go into effect December 1. The Final Rule would have increased the minimum salary for exempt employees from $23,660 to $47,892 per year.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzanti agreed with 21 states and a coalition of business groups filing an emergency motion (PDF) challenging the Final Rule. After considering the arguments in a preliminary hearing, the judge granted the plaintiffs motion. The move temporarily blocked the rule from taking effect and allows more time for litigation.

Overtime Law Blocked as Business Groups Rejoice

Business trade associations and advocacy organizations are applauding the judgment that has blocked the overtime law.

Todays decision is an important win for all manufacturers in America  halting what would have been a dramatic and devastating change in labor law that manufacturers could not afford, said the National Association of Manufacturers in a prepared statement.

In a similar statement, National Federation of Independent Business president and CEO Juanita Duggan remarked, This is a victory for small business owners and should give them some breathing room until the case can be properly adjudicated.

The Final Rules fate under President-elect Donald Trumps administration is likely dire. Its well known Trump plans to prune what he considers burdensome government regulation  and that includes nixing the overtime rule.

Rolling back the overtime regulation is just one example of the many regulations that need to be addressed to do that, Trump told Circa, a news site, in August. We would love to see a delay or a carve-out of sorts for our small business owners.

According to the Labor department, more than four million American workers are currently classified as exempt from overtime pay yet earn salaries that fall below the new minimum threshold.

Prior to the judges ruling, employers had until December 1 to either give exempt employees who make below the new threshold a raise or reclassify them as nonexempt.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
Theyre joining the likes of Charlie Russell and Theodore Roosevelt. Lee Metcalf and Cecil Garland. Doris Milner and Granville Stuart.

Thirteen conservation visionaries will be inducted into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame in a December ceremony in Helena. Whether a teacher, lawmaker, author, attorney or tribal leader, each brings a unique contribution to the outdoor legacy of Montana and the conservation heritage cherished by so many.

Look around at what Montana has become, said Thomas Baumeister, chairman of the selection committee. Were celebrating something done collectively, something we did right.

The committee received 39 applications for this hall of fame class  the second following the inaugural class in 2014. The caliber of nominations challenged those charged with making the final selections as reviewers whittled nominees to the final 13.

It was excruciating getting it down because we had so many great people, said committee member Jane Ratzlaff, president of Montanas Outdoor Legacy Foundation, a funder of the project. Its celebrating those willing to stand up to keep Montana an outdoor paradise.

The Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame honors the history of conservation but also serves as inspiration for future generations. Conservationists must resist apathy or believing the work is done, Ratzlaff said, while recognizing the foundation of individuals who shepherded our wild places even when doing so was unpopular.

Thirty million acres of public lands is worth standing up for, she said.

For the first installment of this two-part series on the 2016 inductees, meet Pat Williams, Bob Munson, Pat McVay, Margaret Adams, Bob Anderson, Ken and Florence Baldwin, and George Darrow.

Pat Williams

Rep. Pat Williams, born in Helena and raised in Butte, served in the U.S. Congress from 1979 to 1991. There he earned a reputation for protecting Montanas wild places.

I think some of the great work by Montanans in the Congress like Lee Metcalf and Mike Mansfield set an early marker about protection and the necessity of it, he said. Those markers created a hallmark for the country that simply some places, despite their mineral or energy potential, are off limits because they are marvelous wildlife habitats, the headwaters of our great rivers and scenic cash registers for our businesses.

In 1980 Williams led congressional designations for the Rattlesnake Wilderness near Missoula and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness near Bozeman.

In the 1990s a push for geothermal drilling near Yellowstone National Park raised concerns about the impacts to the parks world famous geothermal features. Williams pushed legislation that prohibited drilling near the parks border that passed after several years of contention.

In the early 1980s Williams secured one of his most notable conservation victories. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, he fended off efforts from the Reagan administration to seismic test for oil in a 320,000-acre portion of the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Rocky Mountain Front.

I was able to ban it from committee, and when Congress spoke that day it was a loud and certain message to oil and gas companies and the Reagan administration that wilderness areas are there for a reason, and one of those reasons was certainly not for oil, Williams said.

Bob Munson

Bob Munson couldnt wait to get out of Chicago and come West. As one of the founders of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the move would prove life changing for Munson and game changing for wildlife.

He attended the University of Montana and married a Libby native. After a stint in the armed services and temporary return to the Midwest, in 1977 Munson came to northwest Montana. It was there that RMEF was born.

In 1984 Munson, Charlie Decker and two other parishioners at the Troy Christian Fellowship Church sat at a kitchen table and talked about the fact that so many wildlife species had dedicated conservation groups. Why not elk?

The four of us believed it was worth a shot, Munson said. I borrowed money from my mother and brother, took my sons college fund and ended up with a mass mailing brochure.

The initial push generated 300 members, and they borrowed another $25,000 to publish the first Bugle magazine. Still, uncertainty surrounded the future of the young organization.

It really was one miracle after another and a totally amazing situation, Munson said. I definitely believe God ordained this business  its a story when I look back I can hardly believe.

The mission is simple  look out for elk and other wildlife and preserve the hunting heritage and habitat, he said. After more than 30 years, RMEF and its 200,000 members have conserved more than 6.4 million acres of habitat in 27 states and invested more than $84 million in research and conservation projects.

Munson says he shares his induction into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame with everyone who worked hard to get RMEF off the ground and build it into the organization of today.

I am totally humbled and I think the greatest testament to my induction are those early people that risked it all, he said. Im the recipient of something that was a team effort.

Pat McVay

Teaching the next generation of hunters has been the passion of Kalispells Pat McVay since even before Montana had hunter education.

In the early 1950s McVay started junior shooting and hunter safety programs in Hungry Horse, personally calling the NRA to collect materials for the program.

I moved to Hungry Horse in '52, and we had four hunting accidents in our area. I very much believed they couldve been prevented  Im a firm believer in hunter safety, McVay said.

In January 1957 he received the call from Mel Ruder, editor of Hungry Horse News, who said the Legislature made hunter safety the law of the land. Three days later McVay filed paperwork to become the first certified hunter education instructor in Montana. He still teaches the course at his ranch east of Kalispell.

I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world, he said.

His ranch is a verifiable encyclopedia of firearm history, offering students the chance to see early flintlock rifles to modern shotguns and a definitive collection of cartridges.

McVay, 96, believes the field course including live firing is perhaps the most important aspect of hunter safety. Not only was he Montanas first hunter education instructor, but he was also the first to hold an in-the-field course and live shooting rifles and shotguns.

I feel thats very important to encourage hands-on handling of different guns, he said. Every kid has a natural curiosity about guns, and Im a firm believer in teaching them to handle them safely.

Upon learning that his life spent teaching thousands of new hunters earned him induction into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame, McVay chuckled and said, Ill tell you it took my breath completely away. I just never dreamed it would happen.

Bob Anderson, 1943-2013

Bob Anderson was raised in Livingston and spent his time hiking the backcountry of the Absaroka and Beartooth mountain ranges.

As an advocate for designation of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Andersons passion for the area led to formation of the Absaroka-Beartooth Task Force in 1970  an effort realized with wilderness designation in 1978.

On the task force, Anderson wrote a lands inventory expanding the area considered for wilderness designation and worked to prevent the wilderness from being split by a road corridor through Slough Creek.

Anderson spoke lovingly of that high place and shared his knowledge of it in Beartooth Country  Montanas Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains, first published in 1984.

His work expanded beyond the Absaroka-Beartooth as a founder of Citizens for the Great Bear, advocating for protection of lands between Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall that would become the Great Bear Wilderness.

Recognizing the need for conservation outside of Yellowstone National Park, Anderson was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in 1983  perhaps the most active group working to conserve that ecosystem today.

As a member of Montanas Public Service Commission in the 1990s, Anderson led the charge of energy conservation and pushed for cleaner sources of energy.

-- Information from Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame biographies.

Margaret Adams, 1920-2005

Margaret Adams shaped the lives of thousands of students in Great Falls as the creator of the school districts elementary environmental education program.

The Havre native grew up with her seven siblings and graduated from what is now Montana State University-Northern. The life-long teacher and principal arrived in Great Falls to teach at Lincoln School in 1957.

Outside of teaching, she became an early member of the Montana Wilderness Association and helped found the Great Falls Conservation Council and Upper Missouri River Chapter of the Audubon Society  as well as serving as president of Montana Audubon. In 1997 she was honored as Montana Audubon Conservationist of the Year.

Adams was known for activism with a drive to understand, learn and share ideas. The style of learned advocacy helped her work with often unnatural allies on conservation issues.

As conservation advocates, Adams and her friends drove from Great Falls to Lincoln to shop at Garlands Town and Country Store as its owner, Cecil Garland, faced boycott over his support of the Scapegoat Wilderness designation in the face of Forest Service logging plans.

That love of wilderness continued through her life. In her 60s Adams and other conservation minded women backpacked through Montanas wilderness areas, returning to testify for wilderness legislation and balking at the idea that the states remote country was only for the young.

-- Information from Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame biographies.

Ken Baldwin, 1908-2007; and Florence Baldwin, 1911-2007

Every acre of wilderness in Montana is thanks at least in part to Ken and Florence Baldwin.

As hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, the Baldwins began noticing a troubling decline in wildlife in the 1930s. By 1958 Ken had served as president of the Montana Wildlife Federation and Gallatin Sportsmens Association and wrote that it was necessary that wildlands be set aside to leave the habitat for those animals.

In 1958 Ken sent letters to 100 friends and colleagues seeking support for a Congressional wilderness bill. Within two weeks, 21 Montanans met at Bozemans Baxter Hotel and formed the Montana Wilderness Association, naming Ken the president.

In 1962 the Baldwins led a group of 40 hikers into the Table Mountain and Spanish Peaks intending to build grassroots support. The hike led to creation of MWAs Wilderness Walks, which remain popular to this day.

The Baldwins continued to organize support for the Wilderness Act, which garnered sponsorship from Montanas senators until it passed in 1964. The landmark law established the Bob Marshall, Cabinet, Gates of the Mountains, Anaconda Pintler and Selway-Bitterroot wilderness areas, and serves as the foundation for all other wildernesses to follow.

-- Information from Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame biographies.

George Darrow, 1924-2015

George Darrow seemed like an unlikely co-author of Montanas bedrock environmental law.

The Republican lawmaker was and oil-field worker, military man, rancher, farmer and petroleum geologist.

He was also a passionate conservationist.

As a leader of Montanas Republican Party and legislator from 1967 to 1974, Darrow often crossed the aisle to work politically on protecting Montanas natural resources, including passage of the Montana Environmental Policy Act in 1969. MEPA stands as a foundation of environmental law, requiring the state to consider environmental ramifications of its actions.

But his work did not stop there as the chief sponsor of the Montana Water Policy Act of 1967 and an advocate for inclusion of every Montanans right to clean and healthful environment as guaranteed in the 1972 state constitution.

Darrow also recognized early on the importance of wild lands to Montanas economy. He advocated for wilderness designation of the Swan Crest, convincing the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce to support the proposal.

At a time when conservation and natural resource extraction seemed wholly incompatible, Darrow shaped legislation reflecting the invaluable price of pristine forests and clean water.

-- Information from Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame biographies.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Amnesty International accused pro-government Yemeni troops battling Houthi forces for control of the southwestern city of Taiz of harassing medical staff and putting fighters among the civilian population, in charges the authorities strongly denied. Civilians in Taiz, which had a pre-war population of 300,000, have been trapped by intense fighting, with dead bodies lying in the streets and hundreds of people wounded this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday. Amnesty, a London-based human rights watchdog, said that so-called Popular Committees - anti-Houthi local militias backed by exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government - had detained and threatened to kill medical staff in Taiz and deployed tanks outside hospitals. Popular Committee fighters hold most of Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, but are hemmed in by Houthi forces on three sides. "There is compelling evidence to suggest that anti-Houthi forces have waged a campaign of fear and intimidation against medical professionals in Taiz," said Philip Luther, research and advocacy director at Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa wing. "By positioning fighters and military positions near medical facilities they have compromised the safety of hospitals and flouted their obligation to protect civilians under international law." Deputy Human Rights Minister Nabeel Abdulhafeedh Majed said the report was biased and contained factual errors. He said pro-government "Resistance Forces" had no tanks in Taiz, adding that it was the Houthis who were besieging the city and terrorizing civilians. "Even if some isolated incidents of revenge by individuals in the Resistance had happened in the past, this is no longer the case," Majed told Reuters by telephone from Cairo. "The national army has brought matters under control and army officers now lead the resistance in a professional manner," he added. A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015 to restore the internationally recognized Hadi, who is living in exile in Saudi Arabia. The United Nations has also accused Houthi forces around Taiz of blocking humanitarian supply routes into the city, located some 205 km (123 miles) south of the capital Sanaa. Rights groups have accused both sides in Taiz of using rockets and mortars in populated residential areas. Landmines planted by Houthis in Taiz have caused numerous civilian casualties, according to Human Rights Watch. Amnesty said its researchers had interviewed 15 doctors and other hospital staff in Taiz who described how Popular Committee members had "regularly harassed, detained or even threatened to kill them over the past six months". The report cited at least three cases in which hospitals were closed after threats to staff, including an incident on Monday when fighters shut down the biggest public hospital apparently for providing emergency medical treatment to three injured Houthis. The report quoted the director of the hospital as saying fighters had set up positions and tanks around the compound, ignoring pleas from staff and local authorities not to do so. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Hugh Lawson)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel asked Greece and Croatia on Wednesday for planes to help fight forest fires that have raged across the country for the past two days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. A lack of rain combined with very dry air and strong easterly winds have spread forest fires throughout central and northern Israel. Scores of homes have been damaged or destroyed but no deaths or serious injuries have been reported. Local weather forecasters said the tinder-dry conditions and strong winds appeared set to continue for several days with little chance of rain. A statement from Netanyahu's office said that the Greek and Croatian prime ministers, Alexis Tsipras and Andrej Plenkovic, "responded immediately" to his request "and promised to send firefighting aircraft as soon as possible". In 2010, a major forest fire in northern Israel in similar weather conditions that raged for several days killed 42 people, prompting reform of firefighting services and the establishment of an airborne firefighting squadron. Police have not yet said whether any of the fires were set deliberately. (Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Louise Ireland)
In the months that I spent as a field organizer reaching out to Montanans and listening to their concerns, one message resonated clearly: Montanans are deeply concerned about the future of coal and the communities that depend on it. Those concerns are completely valid, but while its true that coal is an important part of our economy, its also true that it is dying. Montanas leaders will do everything they can to support the valued communities that rely on coal, but nobody can change its falling market value. I believe that the best way that our state can sustain and grow those communities is by transitioning them, with a lot of support, toward renewable energy. Montana has enormous potential for the development of a variety of renewable energy methods. Coal might be fading, but the communities who depend on it don't have to. Regardless of our feelings on this years elections, its important to remember that our families need support no matter who is in power. We can choose to cling to short-term and divisive temporary fixes, or we can choose to march into the future together, ensuring that Montanas families will remain secure far longer than coal will allow.
If you have opinions about the subject matter of posts on this blog please share them. Do you have a story about how the system affects you at work school or home, or just in general? This is a place to share it.
FRESNO, Calif.  Utility workers in Fresno have rescued a cat that was stuck atop a 45-foot-high power pole for nine days.

The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2fD6MbH) Pacific Gas and Electric Co. linemen on Tuesday retrieved the black and white, big-boned cat named Fat Boy after cutting power to homes in the area.

Fat Boys owner, 14-year-old Andrew Perez, says the cat probably climbed the pole after being scared by a dog. He says he had called several agencies for help to no avail.

Local tree services also had declined to help, but Silver Villa of nonprofit Paw Lives Matter says she made sure someone helped the feline. She says the cat is in pretty good health.

PG&E spokesman Denny Boyles says power on the 1,200-volt line was cut off, leaving 250 homes without power for a few hours.
MEXICO CITY  Authorities surrounded a camp in the Mexican town of Zitlala Wednesday, after seven bodies were discovered in improvised graves and human remains were found in a portable cooler, prosecutors said.

The gruesome discoveries were made in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, where a wave of violence left approximately 30 people dead over the weekend, and where several people were still missing after a mass kidnapping.

Organized crime groups including La Familia Michoacana were active in the region and responsible for a wave of kidnappings for ransom of teachers and farmers, said Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez.

The big cartels have become small criminal groups that have one characteristic: extreme and irrational use of violence, Alvarez told MVS Radio.

The discovery Tuesday came just one day after authorities found 12 decapitated bodies in two locations elsewhere in the state. Three were identified as people reported kidnapped by La Familia Michoacana.

Guerrero Gov. Hector Astudillo on Tuesday condemned the violence as barbarism and savagery, which he attributed to crime gangs trafficking heroin and other drugs.

In some areas of Guerrero armed civilian militias known as self-defense groups have sprung up to protect themselves from the violence.

More than 1,800 killings have been reported in Guerrero since the beginning of 2016  putting it in second place behind Mexico state for the countrys highest homicide rate  as well as dozens of reported kidnappings.

Forty-three students disappeared in Guerrero in 2014, in an incident that prompted an international investigation and accusations of a cover-up. Additionally, human remains have been found in several improvised graves around the state.



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PHOENIX  Travelers heading home for the Thanksgiving holiday jammed Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Wednesday as they rushed to join their families for a feast.

The airport was busier than usual at midday and expected to be slammed with travelers by late afternoon, with an estimated 180,000 fliers moving through the facility over the day and similar numbers expected again on the busy Saturday and Sunday travel days. Thats about 60,000 more than normal for those days.

Even though the airport is busy, a report by AAA Arizona shows more people are taking advantage of low gas prices to drive, not fly, to their destinations. An estimated 1.4 million Arizonans will be driving at least 50 miles, while nearly 400,000 will be flying.

Drivers should be aware of the usual hotspots during busy travel times, especially Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff, I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix, and Phoenix west to the California border, according to Quentin Mehr, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Mehr said drivers should prepare for breakdowns and cold weather by packing blankets, water and food, especially those traveling to the northern parts of the state. Most importantly, dont fiddle with your cellphone while driving and wear a seat belt anytime the vehicle is moving.

Mehr said a fatal accident Wednesday on I-17 could have been less severe with seatbelt use. A pickup pulling a trailer blew a tire on I-17 in north Phoenix, and the driver lost control, slamming into the freeway median. He was not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected and fatally injured.

Mehr said the mans daughter was in the truck with him and survived minor injuries.

Theres the testament  have your belt on, Mehr said.

At Sky Harbor, spokeswoman Heather Lissner said travelers can take some of the stress out of travel by arriving early, checking the airport website for parking options or having someone drop them off at the Sky Train station near the airport. Checking carry-ons for prohibited items is also a must, Lissner said.

The mix of travelers at Sky Harbor was a cross-section of folks heading home for the holiday or taking an excursion.

Four Yuma women were headed to a clogging convention in Nashville.

Janice Jestin and her three companions make an annual trek to the convention, leaving their husbands at home to fend for themselves and watch TV. They were excited to be off, even with the holiday travel angst.

Jestin teaches the folk dance, splitting her time between Yuma in the winter and Canada in the summer.

They always do it on Thanksgiving weekend, so its always lots of fun to try and travel and get there, she said.

For Irene Schlarb, who flew to Phoenix from Canada, the tears were flowing, not from fear of flying but from seeing her 12-week old granddaughter, Francesca, for the first time.

Im more stressed emotionally, Schlarb said. This is like our first. Theyre all special.
A $300,000 federal grant will provide financial aid for up to 20 Native American nursing students in 2017 at the University of New Mexico and San Juan College in Farmington, UNM announced.

The intent of the Indian Health Service grant is to educate more Native American nurses, which today number only about 200 statewide and to improve nursing services in underserved areas, said Dr. Joseph Sanchez, program operations officer at the UNM College of Nursing.

The three-year grant program will help students eliminate hardships that can prevent nursing students from graduating and finding jobs, Sanchez said.

UNM College of Nursing plans to begin accepting eligible students in the American Indians Into Nursing program in spring 2017.

The program likely will accept 10 to 20 students in 2017 and grow to 40 to 50 students by 2019, Sanchez said.

As we begin to build that pipeline, we are hoping to engage more students, he said.

Financial aid will be available to nursing students earning both associates degrees and bachelor of science degrees.

The awards will provide each student with $1,000 to $1,300 per semester to pay for tuition, books and fees for 10 to 20 students, he said.

The program also will provide a living stipend of $1,300 each semester to pay for expenses ranging from housing and childcare to a dead battery in the car, he said.

Collaborators include San Juan College in Farmington and UNM Center for Native American Health.

For more information, visit the UNM College of Nursing website at nursing.unm.edu or call 1-800-690-0934.
CHICAGO  This is my sixth year highlighting favorite books that are diverse, but not about diversity. I get a lot of raised eyebrows and questions about this peculiar genre.

Well, there are a lot of books out there that are diverse and about diversity  meaning that they are written by an author from a minority group and are specifically about that particular groups unique life experiences.

For example, Jennine Capo Crucets Make Your Home Among Strangers is a devastating story about the trade-offs a first-generation college student makes when she leaves home for that better life all immigrant parents wish for their children.

This is fantastic  obviously, writers of color often pursue literature in order to tell their own stories.

Equally wonderful, however, is when an author gets to write for a very broad audience on a topic not specifically associated with his or her ethnicity.

As Puerto Rican novelist and founder of La Casita Grande Editores, a new publishing house specializing in Latino and Caribbean literature, Jonathan Marcantoni recently told me, The biggest challenge in the Latino publishing scene is getting stories that go outside of immigration, identity and the American Dream narrative, which is what Latino authors are stuck in. Its almost an unspoken rule that, if you tell a story, it has to include one of these things and, as a result, there arent too many science fiction, crime or romance novels written by Latinos and other writers of color that stand on their own as genre works.

This is why its so important to highlight when such authors and books do come along  they have stories to tell that are meant for everyone and arent anchored by the few topics that have been deemed authentic and acceptable for nonwhite authors.

So here are the top three barrier-breaking books I read in 2016.

First, Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade. This is a book I internally summarized as short stories about children being traumatized by their callous parents enigmatic behavior. An excerpt:

When shed taken off the dress today, Monica hadnt even felt cold, so filled was she with the dark exhilaration of punishing Cordelia. In giving away Cordelias lovely, meaningless inheritance, shed made an adversary of her 7-year-old daughter, and now even that she held against her.

The stories arent all about parents and children but, if you like lots of relationship-driven, quietly tense scenarios that veer toward being too painful to read, Valdez Quade delivers it in beautiful prose.

Next, something more my cup of tea: A business book written by someone even more unique than a black swan  a Hispanic quantitative analyst who left the loving embrace of Goldman Sachs for the high-flying world of high-tech startups.

Part bootstrap how-to, part insider look at the machinations of venture capital, Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez begins with a biting description of what its like to be a product manager at a conference room table with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. It skyrockets from there.

Chaos Monkeys is not without its faults  Garcia Martinez is emblematic of a sexist, high-tech bro culture. But if you already cant stand spoiled, entitled Silicon Valley types, yet crave an insider look, I guarantee youll enjoy this book.

Last, but definitely not least in terms of plain fun, is IQ: A gritty, emotional, and clever thriller about a brilliant young private detective helping inner-city Los Angeles residents, by Joe Ide.

Ide, a Japanese-American author serves up an uber-smart, clean-eating Sherlock who just happens to live in the hood. This description doesnt do IQ justice, because theres nothing in this book that is pat, or even completely familiar.

Isaiah Quintabe is so urban cool that he alternates between being an action hero and steering lady callers to his apartment away from his pet chicken (I.Q. takes payment from his clients in cooked and raw foodstuffs, among other things).

He is darkly moody and, of course, breathtakingly clever. In short, hes as captivating as the South Central Los Angeles characters he dwells among. Dont miss it.
Throughout history, revolutionaries of all stripes have warped the meaning of words to subvert reality.

And now here we go again, with another effort  spearheaded by the media and universities  to use any linguistic means necessary to achieve political ends.

Sanctuary city is a euphemism for the local and state nullification of federal law  a subversive tactic that dates back to the nullification crises during the Andrew Jackson administration and, later, in the years leading up to the Civil War.

This makes a mockery of the simple constitutional principle that cities and states cannot subversively pick and choose which federal laws to obey.

The term sanctuary would never apply to conservative jurisdictions that in similar fashion sought to offer sanctuary to those dissidents who disobeyed federal gun registration, income tax or environmental laws.

College administrators boast of offering counseling and therapeutic help to students and faculty members distraught over the recent election. They use terms like divisive and polarizing in describing the election, when in truth they wish to hide from their donors, alumni and half the country their own abject and one-sided contempt for incoming President-elect Donald Trump.

Note that, in the highly emotional elections of 2008 and 2012, universities did not offer commensurate counseling services  because their own preferred candidate won and thus his victory was not polarizing. Once upon a time, campuses did not worry about whether independent faculty and conservative students were sullen and depressed in adolescent style over the implications of President-elect Barack Obamas radical promises to fundamentally change America.

Campus safe space is another vocabulary distortion. Such places are often set-aside spots that actually discriminate on the basis of race or gender.

Likewise, college theme houses often admit residents on the basis of segregation by ethnicity or race  in a way that would have been considered deplorable during the Civil Rights movement. Indeed, the word segregation has now virtually disappeared from our vocabulary because it could more likely apply to left-wing rather than right-wing protocols.

Microaggression is certainly not aggression as usually defined. Instead, the term seeks to stifle free expression on the principle that one can still be dubbed a racist or sexist by saying something that normally would not offend anyone  at least not without arcane academic inventions of bias.

Both right-wing Nazi Germany and the left-wing Soviet Union banned old words and created new words that furthered political agendas and warped reality.

Trigger warning should mean that readers or viewers are advised that literature or media could be obscene or threatening. In fact, this one-sided term applies only to material  from Roman elegiac poetry to the works of Mark Twain  deemed potentially hurtful or unfair by 21st-century progressive standards of race, class and gender. No one on campus is given a trigger warning before reading the left-wing manifestos of Eldridge Cleaver or Malcolm X, despite their calls for violence.

The danger of destroying rules of language is that revolutionaries of any stripe can join this crooked game.

What if a right-wing movement wished to redefine sanctuary cites as subversive cities?

Would it be any more biased to call the sites of university post-election counseling services progressive lamentation centers?

Would a visitor from Mars be less confused about safe spaces if they were rebranded by right-wingers as segregated set-asides? Would microaggressions be better understood if they were renamed nanno thought crimes?

Perhaps trigger warnings could be rephrased by counter-revolutionaries as censorship protocols?

Of course, no one would like such linguistic payback.

There would be howls of protest if the new Trump administration rebranded extraconstitutional executive orders as pen and phone liberation acts, or named its substitute for Obamacare The Real Affordable Care Act.

To prevent this endless cycle of corrupting words, members of the media and academia should act as our linguistic guardians. Instead, for short-term political gain, they have abandoned their professional responsibilities to become our worst subverters of language.

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; email: author@victorhanson.com.
A feud between outgoing Senate Democratic floor leader Michael Sanchez and the family members of several high-profile crime victims continues to simmer even after Election Day, with Sanchez questioning on social media this week why the father of 4-year-old Lilly Garcia was not charged for his role in a road rage incident that ended with his daughters death.

In response, the girls mother, Veronica Rael-Garcia, who appeared in an expensive TV ad targeting Sanchez in the run-up to this months election, blasted the longtime lawmaker in a Facebook post of her own as being a sore loser and hateful.

The online volleys come less than a week before jury selection gets underway in the trial of Tony Torrez, the man accused of killing Lilly Garcia in an October 2015 incident on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque. Lilly was in the back seat of her fathers vehicle when Torrez, apparently upset at Lillys fathers driving, pulled up alongside and allegedly fired shots at the vehicle.

One of the most powerful members of the Legislature, Sanchez lost the Valencia County-based Senate district he has held for almost 24 years when he was defeated Nov. 8 by Republican Greg Baca of Belen in a hard-hitting race that featured big spending by outside groups.

In his social media post this week, Sanchez cited three recent Albuquerque-area cases in which three different individuals were charged with child abuse for driving erratically  and possibly drunk  with children in their vehicles and appeared to suggest that Lilly Garcias father, Alan Garcia, should also have faced a child abuse charge in connection with his daughters death.

Lets see, three people charged with DUI and also child abuse because of child in vehicle. But father who starts road rage incident with children in vehicle walks away without any charges whatsoever. Go figure. Tell me whats wrong with this picture? Sanchez wrote on his Facebook page.

Witnesses to the shooting told investigators that Alan Garcia was swerving his red truck across westbound lanes on I-40 and didnt let Torrez pass. Police say Torrez then fired several rounds at the truck, fatally striking Lilly in the head.

The red truck isnt allowing the red sedan to pass, Jonnell Tafoya, who witnessed the shooting, recalled in an interview with police. He  was swerving from lane to lane.

Alan Garcias 8-year-old son, Isaac, told an investigator that his father was just driving like idiots, according to a transcript of his interview.

But Albuquerque police maintain Lillys father didnt commit a crime.

We looked at the totality of the circumstances, as we do in all cases, and there is no evidence that Lily Garcias father committed child abuse related to the incident, Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

Veronica Rael-Garcia, Lillys mother, became active in state politics after the shooting. Rael-Garcia, along with other mothers and wives who have lost loved ones in violent shootings, advocated during this years legislative session enhanced criminal penalties, including a proposed expansion of the states three strikes law for individuals convicted of multiple violent felonies.

That legislation and several other House-passed crime bills stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate in this years 30-day legislative session, though the Senate did approve measures calling for stiffer penalties for repeat DWI offenders and those convicted of child pornography possession and manufacturing.

In the run-up to this months Election Day, a pro-Republican independent expenditure group called Advance New Mexico Now spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads and mailers targeting Sanchez, who has reported spending nearly $400,000 on his re-election campaign. The GOP group, also known as a super PAC, is run by Jay McCleskey, the top political adviser for Gov. Susana Martinez, who has blamed Sanchez for years for blocking her legislative agenda.

In television commercials paid for by Advance New Mexico Now, Rael-Garcia and another mother spoke against Sanchez, claiming he cradled criminals and lacked empathy.

Sanchez, an attorney, strongly disputed the claims and said in a pre-election interview that it was unfair to use his profession as a political wedge issue. He did not return a request for comment Wednesday on his Facebook post.

Rael-Garcia also could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Torrez has been charged with murder, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and other charges. Jury selection for his trial starts Monday.
BILLINGS (AP)  Nicole Walksalong has special expertise in the area of foster and adopted children, a knowledge that comes from beyond her formal education.

She's the adopted mother of twin girls and her own mother was adopted into a white family as a child. The family raised her mother on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which later allowed Walksalong to stay connected to her culture.

Walksalong's intimate knowledge on the topic of adoption and fostering children is part of the reason she will help to define a newly created position within Yellowstone County's Court Appointed Special Advocates, reported the Billings Gazette.

"The important thing to remember is that you're not saving these children," Walksalong said. "You're helping them."

Walksalong began in October working as CASA's Indian Child Welfare Act program coordinator. Part of her job is helping programs like the Center for Children and Families and the state Division of Child and Family Services understand the cultural background of Native American children.

About 40 percent of the county's foster children are Native American, Walksalong said. CASA hopes to reduce the number of Native American children in foster homes and connect more Native American families with resources to help them through the foster care system.

She's also working with county Judge Rod Souza to establish what would be the fourth special ICWA court in the nation. The court is scheduled to begin taking on cases in July 2017.

Congress passed ICWA in 1978 in order to keep native families and tribes together. The act requires states to place native children removed from their families with relatives or other tribal members.

Taking children from Native American families without their consent goes back to when trains would run through reservations picking up children and shipping them to boarding schools to be educated, Walksalong said. Tribes lost much of their culture when that generation of children was taken.

There are some cultural differences with Native American families, Walksalong said. It's normal for multiple generations to live in a household, and older children are taught to look after their younger siblings, she said.

"These aren't signs of neglect," Walksalong said. "It is part of a child's education."

Many Native American families feel like they're often misunderstood when dealing with dependent or neglect cases, she said. The special court could be a more relaxed place where families can discuss what is happening in their homes.

The changes would be small. Things like scheduling the court in the afternoon to help with travel time from the nearby reservations and having the judge sit at the table with parents rather than speaking from the bench, Walksalong said.

She is reaching out to Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribes to see what they need and what they are struggling with when it comes to members of their tribes in foster families.

While in high school, Walksalong worked with children in the foster care system at Watson Children's Shelter in Missoula. The shelter provides short-term care for children who have been abused, neglected, abandoned or whose family is in crisis.

She was awarded a full scholarship to Rocky Mountain College. After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology, she began working for New Day, a private nonprofit working to improve the lives of troubled youth, particularly Native American kids.

"My heart is with kids," Walksalong said.

It was through New Day that Walksalong met her twin daughters. The girls had been placed in 19 different homes before she adopted them. Their last placement had been with Lavonna Bird, who was arrested in 2012 after killing a boy she was fostering along with the girls.

Walksalong was an ideal parent for the girls, having worked before with children who suffered huge traumas. Her husband is also an enrolled member of the Crow tribe, and able to help the girls continue to connect with their culture, Walksalong said.

She encourages Native American families to foster Indian children, or be a CASA volunteer. Even if a family can't adopt a child, the foster system needs more Native American advocates working for the children in the court system, Walksalong said.

"It takes a lot to adopt, and you have to give them a certain type of love, because you're taking in children you didn't get a chance to raise, to mold," Walksalong said. "But to me, they've always been my kids."

Walksalong's mother, Lonette Keehner, was adopted as a child from her Blackfeet family. Keehner and her two siblings were the first set of triplets born to the Blackfeet tribe in recent history. Keehner and the surviving sister were adopted by a white hospital nurse after the two got sick soon after their birth. Their brother died in the hospital.

That experience had helped Keehner bond deeply with Walkalong's two adopted daughters.

"They started calling their grandparents grandma and grandpa, before they called my husband and me, mom and dad," Walksalong said.

Keehner was murdered on Dec. 21, 2015, in Missoula by Scott Austin Price. Walksalong struggled to help her children through another painful loss. She said her grief overcame her for a time, before realizing she needed to help herself before she could help others again. She entered therapy to help her process what had happened.

When Keehner's side of the family met to spread her ashes in Glacier National Park, Walksalong's daughters were included. The two girls wear a piece of their grandmother's jewelry every day in memory of her, Walksalong said.

The tragedy of her mother's death brought her daughters closer to their family in many ways, she said.

"If we look at our old ways, our traditions say all children deserve a home," Walksalong said. "All children deserve a family."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ordered the withdrawal of the Guerin report into the handling of Garda whistleblower allegations, which forced the resignation of former justice minister Alan Shatter in 2014, writes Daniel McConnell of the Irish Examiner.

In a major vindication of Mr Shatter, the withdrawal of the report is a major embarrassment for Mr Kenny, who all but forced the resignation of one of his most loyal supporters at the Cabinet table.

Mr Kenny, speaking at a briefing for political correspondents, said that following discussions with Attorney General Maire Whelan this morning, he instructed his officials to have the report pulled.

I spoke to the Attorney General this morning and after consultation with her, I instructed the Secretary General of my department to take down the Guerin Report from the website of my department, he said.

Obviously, arising from the O'Higgins report and the decision of the Appeals Court there is no reason that it should be up on the website, he added.

Earlier this week, Mr Shatter said he wanted certain critical findings made against him in the 2014 Guerin report to be removed and a corrected copy handed to the Taoiseach.

The former Minister for Justice was seeking a number of court orders after winning an appeal over Mr Guerins failure to give him a right of reply.

Earlier this month, the three-judge Court of Appeal unanimously ruled in Alan Shatters favour following his failed High Court challenge.

They agreed he should have been asked for his version of events before Sean Guerin concluded that he had not adequately handled allegations of Garda misconduct in the Cavan/Monaghan division.

A declaration to say his constitutional rights were breached by the defective procedure adopted has been agreed between the parties, but Mr Guerin is contesting an application for orders for the critical findings to be quashed and a corrected report handed to the Taoiseach.

His barrister told the court that the report is no longer under his control and that it is now a matter between Mr Shatter and Enda Kenny.

Paul Anthony McDermott said he cannot simply quash a few sentences and that Mr Guerin had no power to rewrite it.

A judgement on what orders should be made will be made at a later date.

Update 8pm: Alan Shatter has welcomed the removal of the Guerin report from the Taoiseach's website and has called for further action by the Taoiseach and opposition politicians.

"I welcome the fact that the Guerin Report has been removed from the Taoiseach's website. It is over two and a half years since I expressed my concern to the Taoiseach about the absence of fair procedures in the approach taken by Mr Sean Guerin in the preparation of his report. I detailed my concern on the day of my resignation, in my letter of resignation from Government, in private correspondence and discussions with the Taoiseach and ultimately, in the Dail on the 19th June 2014. Unfortunately, my concerns were entirely ignored both by government and opposition.

"High Court proceedings were taken by me not only to vindicate my good name and reputation but also to reinforce an important public interest principle which is a matter of constitutional and natural justice - it is, that no individual should be criticised or condemned upon the conclusion of an inquiry, whether statutory or non- statutory, without a fair hearing. In a constitutional democracy, this is at the very foundation of the rule of law. If it were to be devalued and rendered redundant we would be perceived internationally as a Banana Republic. It is one of the first principles of law I learnt as a young law student.

"I am already on record thanking Judge O'Higgins for the fair, careful and considered approach taken by him in the preparation of his report and, in particular, for his application of fair procedures to ascertain the truth or not of allegations made. I have also previously welcomed his findings that in addressing issues raised by Sergeant Maurice McCabe I showed "personal and active concern" and acted "appropriately "and "reasonably" and "took the obvious, prudent and sensible course". The O'Higgins Report clearly documents the complex background to controversies that occurred in the first quarter of 2014.

"The Court of Appeal in the comprehensive judgements reviewing our law delivered two weeks ago has ensured that no body or individual appointed by government in the future to conduct an inquiry, review or any similar exercise is at liberty to criticise any individual , be they politician, public official or private citizen, without affording them an opportunity to be heard. That is as it should be. It should have not been necessary to take on the entire political establishment to ensure this does not happen again. Nor should I have been made a political pariah by those in leadership positions in Fine Gael.

"It was from a journalist this evening I learnt of the Guerin Reports removal from the Taoiseach's website. While welcoming its removal, I believe such action should have been taken long ago and certainly no later than upon receipt by the Taoiseach of the O'Higgins Report. The Taoiseach has, to date, declined to acknowledge, either in the Dail Chamber or elsewhere, that Judge O'Higgins conclusions contradicted those of Mr Guerin. I now ask that he do so. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice, opposition leaders and independent Deputies welcomed the Guerin report and some welcomed his harsh criticism of me and placed it on the Dail record. I am now asking that the Dail record be corrected by them. The Guerin Report was laid by the Taoiseach before both Houses of the Oireachtas. I am asking the Taoiseach to take the steps required for it to be withdrawn.

"It is my hope that within the coming days this long drawn out and personally stressful saga will finally end. I want to again publicly thank my wife, family and close friends whose support has been invaluable over the past two and a half difficult years."
Published On Nov 24, 2016 06:21 PM By Raunak for Hyundai Grand i10

The facelifted Grand i10 is coming in January 2017, with the latest iteration of Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design language and additional features. It will retain its mechanicals.

The Grand i10, a.k.a. second-generation i10, which made its world debut in India in September 2013, was a runaway success for Hyundai. The hatchback is constantly selling around 11-12k monthly and it's one of the bestselling models in its segment. Now, Hyundai wants to spice things up with the introduction of the midlife update of the Grand i10.

The facelifted model made its global premiere online in August ahead of the recently held Paris Motor Show, where it had its public debut. It was expected to come to our shores early next year and, voila, our sources have confirmed that the Grand i10 facelift will be launched in January 2017. Heres what we expect out of the upcoming 2017 Hyundai Grand i10.

Design

Hyundais facelifts usually adopt changes done to the companys design language and the Grand i10 is no different. In fact, the updated Grand i10 was the first Hyundai to feature the new 'Cascading' grille, which will become the family identity for Hyundai models henceforth.

Unique compared to the lineup, the extremities of the grille in the facelifted model get circular daytime running LEDs. It also features projector fog lamps similar to the recently launched Elantra. Of these two add-ons, we expect Hyundai might offer the daytime running LEDs with the updated hatchback in India. The rear profile sees the redesigned dual-tone bumper with circular fog lamps, mirroring the front DRLs in a way. Rest of the vehicle is unaltered, including the head and tail lamps, save for the new set of alloy wheels.

Cabin and features

Unlike the exterior, the interior of the 2017 Grand i10 remains the same. In the European version, Hyundai has just added a new shade of red for the dashboard, along with new upholstery (existing blue and black options are also available). This is similar to what Hyundai offers with the i20 Active in the country, however, it is unlikely that these options will come to India with the updated Grand i10.

Apart from these, Hyundai has equipped the 2017 i10 in Europe with its latest seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The unit comes with support for both Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto. Possibilities of the Grand i10 offering a touchscreen unit are high, but it is unlikely that it will offer CarPlay and Android Auto. Perhaps it might get the present seven-inch unit from the Elite i20 (it will be a segment-first feature). Also, we believe that Hyundai will offer the climate control unit from the Xcent in the updated hatchback since the Ford Figo comes with an automatic AC. Rest of the features of the outgoing model will be carried forward in the upcoming version.

Speaking of safety equipment, Hyundai already offers driver airbag as standard in the Grand i10, while the front passenger airbag is offered from the second last trim and ABS (anti-lock braking system) is only offered with the range-topping optional variant. We believe that Hyundai will offer ABS as standard with the upcoming hatch, similar to the Xcent compact sedan, and maybe dual front airbags as well.

Mechanicals

As is the case with the European model, the facelifted Grand i10 will continue to offer the 1.2-litre petrol engine with five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions, along with the 1.1-litre diesel coupled to a five-speed manual.

Prices and rivals

Thanks to the aesthetic improvements and additional features, the prices of the updated model will go up marginally. The hatchback will continue to compete with the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Ford Figo, Honda Brio, and others.

Read More on : Hyundai Grand i10 price
Published On Nov 24, 2016 06:51 PM By Khan Mohd. for Toyota Prius

Joining hands with the Indian government, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) organised a Toyota Caravan on November 23 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. In its bid to make the environment cleaner and safer for living, the Japanese automaker brought together top officials from the government and luminaries from the industry on this platform. Besides, engineering experts from Toyota Motor Corporation Japan, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, Singapore and the senior management of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) were present in a number of interactive sessions. They focussed on sharing knowledge and spreading awareness about the safe and eco-friendly technology.

To showcase its prowess in alternative fuel technology, Toyota also showcased the new Prius at the venue. Undoubtedly, the carmaker has been among the pioneers who used hybrid technology successfully in their cars. The globally acclaimed and highly successful Prius signifies that, if neatly designed and efficiently powered, even hybrid vehicles can be a grand success.

At the event, subjects like Commitment to Safety with Technology & Education and Creating a Clean & Sustainable future through environment friendly technologies were discussed by senior officials from the state and central government, along with top bosses from TKM.

Girish Shankar, secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, said, We appreciate Toyota Kirloskar Motor for adopting an encompassing approach towards its pursuit to educate and spread the importance of adopting safer & eco-friendly technology. This platform has helped to reflect, share knowledge and enhance understanding on the various challenges with regard to road safety and the need for achieving a sustained environment.

Speaking on the occasion, Akito Tachibana, managing director, TKM, said, Toyota believes that we have to play a greater role than just manufacturing world class cars. We are here to solve the bigger issues in the society leveraging our technology and innovation. We aim to offer the newest technology towards creating a sustainable earth for the next generation. Toyota takes the ownership in building a safer, cleaner & greener world for our children.

Toyota Caravan will be held in different parts of the country, with the next seminar scheduled to take place in Jaipur on November 26, 2016.

Read More on : Toyota Prius
Published On Nov 24, 2016 12:31 PM By Raunak

In the wake of last years diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen is marching towards an emission-free, electrified future to resurrect itself globally. The German auto giant recently announced its goal to make a quarter of its line-up battery powered by 2025. And a lot of batteries will be required if the manufacturer wants to electrify such a major chunk of its portfolio. VWs head honcho Matthias Mueller hinted to a Frankfurt daily in a recent interview that the company might set up its own battery manufacturing facility.

"If more than a quarter of our cars are to be electronic vehicles in the foreseeable future then we are going to need approximately 3 million batteries a year," Mueller said. "Then it makes sense to build our own factory."

American all-electric automaker Tesla is one step ahead of other automakers when it comes to battery powered vehicles and has been riling other manufacturers with the popularity and acceptance of its cars worldwide. Tesla has recently opened its battery production facility  Gigafactory 1  in Nevada, USA. This facility, which is nearly 14 per cent complete, will have the largest footprint of any building in the world, and will also produce cars.

(In Picture:Tesla's Gigafactory)

Check out this detailed report on Teslas Gigafactory here: Tesla Opens Gigafactory For In-House Battery Production

Tesla has partnered with Panasonic Crop., Japan, for the production of batteries at the Gigafactory since it requires huge capital. On a similar note, Volkswagen might collaborate with an already established battery manufacturer as well, because the automaker has many ways to burn through money considering the present scenario (emissions scandal).

Recommended Read: Meet the Volkswagen I.D. Concept!

Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
The seven charities criticised by the Fundraising Regulator for their monitoring of Neet Feet have told Civil Society News that they accept the findings in todays decision and pledged to follow higher standards in the future.

All of the charities named in the adjudication decision published by the Fundraising Regulator today have responded to Civil Society News request for a comment. All respondents have accepted the findings of the regulator, and expressed commitment to the highest ethical standards.

Unicef UK

A spokesman from Unicef UK, said: Unicef UK did not work with the NEET Feet Bristol fundraising team which was the subject of The Suns investigation. However, this does not alter the fact that Unicef UK expects the highest standards from fundraising agencies across the board and takes decisive action if these standards arent met. Unicef UK swiftly terminated its contract with NEET Feet following the allegations that were levelled against the companys Bristol office.

Unicef UK welcomes the Fundraising Regulators acknowledgement of the multiple measures Unicef UK had in place to monitor and supervise NEET Feets compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice, as well as its assessment of where these measure should be improved. At Unicef UK we constantly review our fundraising as part of our ongoing drive to achieve the highest standards. We are pleased to say that as a result of this, Unicef UK identified and implemented these improvements, before they were recommended in the Fundraising Regulators report.

Unicef also welcomed the fact that the Code does not currently provide enough guidance on issues around stipulations in contracts between third party agencies and charities.

World Animal Protection

A spokesman from World Animal Protection said: Our responsibility to our supporters is of the utmost importance to us, as is our responsibility to ensure that any third parties who work with us comply with all fundraising regulations.

We had worked with Neet Feet for only ten weeks, and suspended them immediately when the allegations came to light. We accept the Fundraising Regulators recommendation and have taken swift action to implement.

Smile Train

A spokeswoman from Smile Train said that it took the recommendations and findings of the regulator very seriously, and said the charitys focus was always on its beneficiaries and donors it raises money from.

The trust and confidence of our donors is exceptionally important to us and as such, we pledge to all our benefactors that we will always comply with all UK charity laws and regulations. We do our utmost to ensure that high standards of practice are followed and adhered to.

All recommendations specified by The Fundraising Regulator within the report have been carefully reviewed and fully taken on board, and we will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that the third party vendors we work with are compliant with fundraising code.

Action for Children

Sir Tony Hawkhead, Chief Executive of Action for Children, personally apologised on behalf of the organisation to any member of the public in the Bristol area affected by the unacceptable conduct of individuals employed by Neet Feet when acting on behalf of our charity.

He also said that Action for Children have co-operated fully with the investigation and would welcome further dialogue with the Regulator on measures to deter and prevent behaviour of this kind, and to seek clarification on some of the detailed findings.

He also condemned misrepresentation or aggressive tactics in charity fundraising and we have already taken steps to strengthen procedures in relation to how we work with contractors.

RNIB

Wanda Hamilton, director of fundraising at RNIB, said: We accept the findings of this report and welcome the guidance and clarity the new Regulators investigation has given to both the Code of Fundraising Practice and compliance in this area.

We have worked with an independent consultant to create a new framework for third party fundraising. We will continue to review and improve the way RNIB monitors the work of external contractors, including listening to welcome calls and the implementation of a new mystery shopping process.

Hill Farm Trust

Emma Sambrook, director of fundraising at the Hill Farm Trust, said the organisation completely agreed with the findings of the adjudication, but was disappointed that the Fundraising Regulator felt that the efforts we had made fell short of their expectations.

She also confirmed that the charity had suspended all third-party fundraising until it has conducted an internal review of its practices.

Save the Children

A spokeswoman from Save the Children said it immediately terminated our contract with Neet Feet earlier this year when breaches of the fundraising code were brought to our attention by The Sun. We accept the findings of the regulators investigation and constantly review and update our fundraising practices as we strive for the highest standards".

IoF praises 'rapid action'

The chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising has praised the rapid and strong action of the Fundraising Regulators first adjudication report.

Peter Lewis, chief executive of the IoF, said in a statement that the Institute welcomed the rapid and strong action taken by the Fundraising Regulator to deal with the bad practice exposed in this case.

Lewis also said that no one gets more upset about examples of poor fundraising than fundraisers themselves.

Lewis also said the IoF looks forward to working with the regulator to develop further guidance for our members on hot to set-up an appropriate monitoring and mystery shopping programmes.
The NCS Trust, the body being established to deliver the National Citizen Service programme, should not have to produce detailed business plans because it risks drowning in excessive bureaucracy, the House of Lords has heard.

The NCS Bill, currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, seeks to establish the body under a Royal Charter.

Earlier this week peers debated what the new body, which will have an income of around 400m by 2020, should have to report to Parliament.

Conservative Peer, Baroness Finn, argued that the reporting requirements in the Bill should be relaxed, while Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Barker said they should be increased.

Drowning in excessive bureaucracy

Finn said that the NCS Trust should not have to produce detailed business plans, and should only have to report on its primary functions.

She said: One of the main reasons for the success of the NCS thus far has been its flexibility to respond rapidly and positively to feedback on the programme and to adapt quickly to change.

To insist on more onerous reporting requirements, which would be inconsistent not only with the draft royal charter but with other public bodies, including other royal charters, would detract from the NCSs ability to deliver a quality and engaging programme.

Finn said the trust needed to be nimble and not weighed down by ever more onerous obligations.

Kids Company showed need for proper accountability

Meanwhile Baroness Barker lobbied for greater accountability of the NCS Trust, including a duty to report on its relationship with the voluntary sector.

She said that in light of recent scandals it is important that the voluntary sector is held to high standards and highlighted that once the body launches it will have a sizeable budget.

I appreciate that we are talking about a royal charter body but the voluntary sector has had one of the worst years on record and has suffered a great deal in terms of its reputation and public support, precisely because it has not been living up to the higher standards of reporting which it should demonstrate, she said.

Barker added that the NCS Trust will become a central commissioner of services from the voluntary sector, and as other resources diminish that will become increasingly important and that recent examples like Kids Company and Work Programme show that the lack of a requirement for proper accountability can be extremely damaging.

She said: It is right that Parliament should know the extent to which the trust has collaborated with and resourced the rest of the voluntary sector given that it will be one of the few sources of money for volunteering.

Government response

Lord Ashton of Hyde, the Department for Culture Media and Sports spokesman, said the government was listening but that it is important that the NCS Trust is not distracted.

He said that the nearly 20 amendments for additional reporting requirements risks being excessive.

There must be a balance between the reporting essential to maintain public confidence in the NCS and allowing the trust space to focus on quality delivery, he said.

He offered to write to the Trust to seek its assurances that its reporting will be thorough and will take into account the views of this House, as expressed in the various amendments.

He also said that because the Trust is not an infrastructure or representative body it would not be right to mandate the trust to report on how it has resourced the voluntary sector.

The amendments tabled by Finn and Barker were either withdrawn or not moved.


The Fundraising Regulator has criticised the actions of seven charities which employed the defunct agency Neet Feet, in its first ever adjudication decision.

In the adjudication report, published today, the regulator found that Action for Children; Home Farm Trust; the RNIB; Save the Children; Smile Train; UNICEF and World Animal Protection did not employ all reasonable efforts to ensure that the agencys work was in compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

The regulator also found that Neet Feet breached six sections of the Code of Fundraising Practice, and that fundraisers had "deliberately intimidated, misled and targeted the vulnerable".

It said the agencys fundraisers were: derogatory to the public, accepted donations from vulnerable people, were unreasonably persistent and misleading in pressuring donors, fundraised under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and did not employ best efforts to ensure donors were over the age of 18. They also ignored "No Cold Calling" stickers.

The Childrens Trust was found to have made all reasonable efforts to ensure that Neet Feets fundraisers operated within the bounds of the Code and escaped censure as a result.

The investigation into Neet Feet was launched after an expose by the Sun found evidence of the agencys fundraisers using aggressive tactics, deliberately targeting the young and elderly and using of illegal drugs during work hours.

The Sun article was published on 11 July this year. Within 2 weeks Neet Feet had gone into voluntary liquidation, with the loss of 130 jobs across offices in Bristol, London and Cardiff.

As part of the investigation, the Sun provided the regulator with over six hours of video footage compiled by an undercover reporter.

Gerald Oppenheim, director of policy at the Fundraising Regulator, told Civil Society News that of the eight charities involved, only Action for Children and The Childrens Trust took up the regulators invitation to review the footage.

Oppenheim also confirmed that the adjudication committee reached its first decision without the input of two of its members. Both Peter Hills-Jones, former chief executive of the Public Fundraising Association  of which Neet Feet were once a member organisation  and Catherine Cottrell, deputy executive director of fundraising at Uncief UK, stood back from the adjudication due to conflicts of interest.

Criticism of the charities

The adjudication is strongly critical of all the named charities - and, indeed, the sector as a whole - of being "largely focused on how much money was rasied" and not focused enough on how that money is raised. The regulator said that "while we are aware of the financial pressures on the sector, we consider that more attention could, and should, have been paid to the experience of the donor".

While the regulators adjudication committee found that each of the charities had contracts in place with the agency which contractually required Neet Feet not to conduct itself in a way that would bring its clients into disrepute, none of the charities outlined how the agencys compliance with the Code was to be monitored or prescribed how frequently, or in what form, that monitoring would take place.

Action for Children, Unicef UK and Save the Children UK were the three charities originally named in The Suns article.

The regulator criticised Action for Children as it did not monitor the training delivered by Neet Feet, nor did it conduct a sufficient number of mystery shopping exercises. Both Unicef UK and Save the Children were criticised for not making all reasonable efforts to ensure that Neet Feet were complying with the Code, despite the regulators admission that both took a number of measures to monitor and supervise the agency.

All other charities except The Children's Trust were criticised for a similar lack of oversight, despite many of them not working with the Neet Feet team in Bristol.

As a result of the investigation World Animal Protection and Smile Train have effectively suspended all future face-to-face fundraising campaigns.

The Fundraising Regulator has called on the chief executives of all seven charities to write to it within three months to confirm what action they have taken in response to our findings and recommendations.

Neet Feet response

The Suns article also alleged that a number of fundraisers employed by the agency had criminal records, a fact which the agency never disputed.

In a statement provided to the Fundraising Regulator, a representative from Neet Feet said it employed some people that when we met them they were not in employment, education or training. We employed great people and one or two not so great people.

We believe in rehabilitation and giving people an opportunity, as did many of our clients until The Sun printed their story.

The Fundraising Regulator also found that Neet Feets training and quality assurance arrangements were ad hoc in nature and could find no evidence that the agency trained its fundraisers on both the PFRA rulebook and on the Code of Fundraising Practice.

Proposed changes to the Code and conclusions

The Fundraising Regulator said it has identified two areas of the Code relevant to this decision which it may amend and perhaps provide supporting guidance around in the future. These relate to contractual arrangements between charities and third parties and whether further steps should be required of third-party agencies who employ people with criminal records.

It found a great deal of variation between the contracts that the different parties had in place with the agency and said that the Code could be amended in future to include confirmation that the charity and the agency carry joint responsibility for ensuring that fundraising activities comply with the Code.

The regulator said however that it would not be appropriate for us to recommend that no fundraising agency should ever employ ex-offender  however it said that in this instance Neet Feet could, and should, have done more to ensure the monitoring and oversight of its employees.

Lord Grade, chair of the Fundraising Regulator, said: The practices undertaken by Neet Feet fell far short of the ethical and respectful standards we expect. Fundraisers deliberately intimidated, misled and targeted the vulnerable. Actions like this sully fundraising and damage the reputation of the entire sector.

Seven of the eight charities that engaged Neet Feet should have done more to specify contractual obligations and monitor compliance. While we recognise that charities are under financial pressure, the donor experience must always come first. If donors are treated badly, beneficiaries will suffer.

The responses from the charities and fundraising umbrella bodies can be found.
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, has been appointed as interim chief executive of Shelter, effective from the start of January next year.

Brown will lead the organisation following the departure of Campbell Robb, the current chief executive, who will step down at the end of the year.

Recruitment is currently open for a permanent chief executive, with applications closing on Monday 5 December. The charity has said it hopes to announce the new permanent chief executive in early February.

Graeme has been director of Shelter Scotland since July 2008, and prior to this was director of communications, policy and campaigns for Shelter UK.

Derek Myers, chair of trustees at Shelter, said: Campbell Robb has been at the heart of Shelter's vital and successful work for the past seven years. During that time we have helped more people than ever before and campaigned to ensure housing gets given its proper priority.

Until we recruit a permanent replacement for Campbell, Graeme Brown will help ensure the continued success of the charity. With several years of experience as director of Shelter Scotland, the board of trustees is confident that the organisation will be in very good hands.
Gender-based violence happens around us every day, but too often it goes unnoticed and unaddressed.



To help shine a light on this global issue, groups from across the Dal community have joined together for the second year in a row to organize a campaign for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.



The campaign begins Friday, November 25  the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women  and ends on International Human Rights Day on December 10.



The campaign really helps bring conversations about sexualized violence to the forefront and allows students and people in the community an opportunity to talk about them in a setting that is safe and comfortable, says Rebecca Stuckey, outreach and education coordinator at South House sexual and gender resource centre.

Learn more: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

South House worked alongside Dals Human Rights & Equity Service (HRES) office, the Gender and Womens Studies program, and other groups across campus to organize this years campaign. The 16-day period also includes important dates like World Aids Day (December 1) and Canadas National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (December 6).

Volunteers helped kick off the campaign in the Student Union Building on Thursday, sharing reasons for taking against against gender-based violence.





More than 20 events and initiatives have been finalized so far for this years Dal 16 Days campaign, including a number of talks with notable individuals. Rebecca Thomas, Halifaxs Poet Laureate, visits campus on December 1 to offer her insights on sharing lived experiences through spoken word. The following Monday, December 5, human-trafficking survivor Caroline Skydiver will share stories about her experiences.



On November 30, South House will offer students a chance to build their own self-care toolkit. The session, at South Houses space on Seymour Street, will provide personalized suggestions and resources based on different peoples needs, says Stuckey.



Its what students want to make of it and what they want to take out of it, she says. We will have a number of different resources and materials there. We thought that was a good way to ensure that every student was getting what they need specifically, so everything isnt just cookie-cutter.

Making connections, raising awareness





Residence Life, DalOut, Get Real, Allies at Dal and Student Health Promotion have teamed up to organize a roaming information booth that will be set up in different locations across campus on different days to provide advice on how to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.



I think a big part of the campaign is creating awareness around the realities of gender-based violence, especially on campus, so that people know where they can go for support, says organizer Rachele Manett, a masters student who is president of DalOut and works as a Respect Rep with HRES.



December 6, Canadas National Day of Remembrance and Action, represents the 27th anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique tragedy in Montreal. Dals Women in Engineering group will host a memorial on Sexton Campus beginning at 7 p.m. It will include a candle bearing ceremony for the victims followed by discussions about current incidents of violence against women.



Its important to realize that one person can do such a great deal of work around combatting those human rights violations, says Manett. They happen around us every day, so its important that we all be aware of that and work together to try to end it.

Learn more: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence


Light and moderate alcohol consumption of up to two drinks per day is associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke but seems to have no effect on a person's risk of hemorrhagic stroke, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine. High-to-heavy drinking was found to be associated with increased risk of all stroke types.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and University of Cambridge, UK, suggest that the divergent associations of alcohol consumption with different types of stroke may explain some of the inconsistent findings of previous studies which investigated the association between alcohol consumption and stroke but did not discriminate between different stroke types.

Dr. Susanna Larsson, lead author said: "This is the first study that combines the results from all available prospective studies on alcohol consumption and risk of hemorrhagic stroke subtypes. Our results showed that heavy drinkers were about 1.6 times more likely to suffer from intracerebral hemorrhage and 1.8 times more likely to suffer from subarachnoid hemorrhage. The association between heavy alcohol consumption and these two types of stroke was stronger than that for ischemic stroke."

Ischemic stroke is caused by blood clots which block diseased or damaged cerebral arteries. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a weakened blood vessel, such as an aneurism, bursts and bleeds either within the brain (intracerebral) or -- less commonly -- into the space between two membranes that surround the brain (subarachnoid). The researchers suggest that different associations between alcohol consumption and type of stroke may have to do with the effects alcohol has on the human body.

Dr. Larsson explained: "Previous research has found an association between alcohol consumption and lower levels of fibrinogen -- a protein in the body which helps the formation of blood clots. While this may explain the association between light to moderate alcohol consumption and lower ischemic stroke risk, the adverse effect of alcohol consumption on blood pressure -- a major risk factor for stroke - may increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke and outweigh any potential benefit".

To examine the association of alcohol consumption with different stroke types, the researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 prospective studies with data on ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. They also included data from the Cohort of Swedish Men and the Swedish Mammography Cohort, rendering a total sample of 18,289 ischemic stroke cases, 2,299 intracerebral hemorrhage cases and 1,164 subarachnoid hemorrhage cases.

Alcohol consumption across all studies was assessed with a questionnaire or by interview and standardized to drinks of alcohol. Exposure categories were light (<1 drink per day), moderate (1-2 drinks per day), high (2-4 drinks per day) and heavy (more than four drinks per day).

While this meta-analysis included a large sample size, allowing for associations between alcohol consumption and different stroke types to be estimated with relatively high accuracy across a wide range of alcohol consumption and in different subgroups, the authors caution that it is limited by its lack of individual patient data which prevented the same exposure categories to be used in all studies. Also, the possibility that the associations of light and moderate alcohol consumption with stroke risks have been overestimated due to the small sample sizes of some of the included studies cannot be ruled out.

Most of the studies included in this meta-analysis adjusted for major potential confounders such as age, sex, smoking, body mass index, and diabetes. However, observational studies can show a possible association between alcohol consumption and risk of different types of stroke, but they cannot show cause and effect because other factors may have impacted the results.

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1. Differing association of alcohol consumption with different stroke types: a systematic review and meta-analysis Larsson et al.

BMC Medicine 2016

DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0721-4

For an embargoed copy of the research article please contact Anne Korn at BioMed Central.

After the embargo lifts, the article will be available at the journal website here:http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0721-4

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As Zika spreads throughout the world, the call for rapid development of therapeutics to treat Zika rings loud and clear. Taking a step further in identifying a possible therapeutic candidate, a team of researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), in collaboration with scientists from the University of North Carolina, have discovered the mechanism by which C10, a human antibody previously identified to react with the Dengue virus, prevents Zika infection at a cellular level.

Previously, C10 was identified as one of the most potent antibodies able to neutralise Zika infection. Now, Associate Prof Lok Shee-Mei and her team at the Emerging Infectious Disease Programme of Duke-NUS have taken it one step further by determining how C10 is able to prevent Zika infection.

To infect a cell, virus particles usually undergo two main steps, docking and fusion, which are also common targets for disruption when developing viral therapeutics. During docking, the virus particle identifies specific sites on the cell and binds to them. With Zika infection, docking then initiates the cell to take the virus in via an endosome - a separate compartment within the cell body. Proteins within the virus coat undergo structural changes to fuse with the membrane of the endosome, thereby releasing the virus genome into the cell, and completing the fusion step of infection.

Using a method called cryoelectron microscopy, which allows for the visualisation of extremely small particles and their interactions, the team visualised C10 interacting with the Zika virus under different pHs, so as to mimic the different environments both the antibody and virus will find themselves in throughout infection. They showed that C10 binds to the main protein that makes up the Zika virus coat, regardless of pH, and locks these proteins into place, preventing the structural changes required for the fusion step of infection. Without fusion of the virus to the endosome, viral DNA is prevented from entering the cell, and infection is thwarted.

"Hopefully, these results will further accelerate the development of C10 as a Zika therapy to combat its effects of microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome. This should emphasise the need for further studies of the effect of C10 on Zika infection in animal models," commented Dr Lok.

"By defining the structural basis for neutralization, these studies provide further support for the idea that this antibody will protect against Zika infection, potentially leading to a new therapy to treat this dreaded disease," says Ralph Baric, PhD, professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health.

These findings suggest that C10 may be developed as a therapy for Zika infection, and should be further explored. In addition, disrupting fusion with C10 may prove to be more effective in preventing Zika infection compared with therapies that attempt to disrupt docking. This is because the fusion step is critical for Zika infection, while the virus may develop other mechanisms to overcome disruptions to the docking step. With the call for rapid development of Zika therapies, C10 has emerged as a front runner to answer this call.

Published on 24 November 2016 in Nature Communications, this research is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 3 Grant (MOE2012-T3-1-008), the National Research Foundation Investigatorship Award (NRF-NRFI2016-01 to Lok Shee-Mei), Duke-NUS Signature Research Programme funded by the Ministry of Health, Singapore, and National Institute of Health (USA) AID Research Grants (AI100625, AI107731 to Ralph S. Baric).

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Heroes of Antarctic exploration have played a crucial role in research that suggests the area of sea ice around Antarctica has barely changed in size in 100 years.

Ice observations recorded in the ships' logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the German Erich von Drygalski have been used to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.

The study, published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere, suggests Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.

The research, by climate scientists at the University of Reading, estimates the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice is at most 14% smaller now than during the early 1900s.

Jonathan Day, who led the study, said: "The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice.

"We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new.

"If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher."

The new study published in The Cryosphere is the first to shed light on sea ice extent in the period prior to the 1930s, and suggests the levels in the early 1900s were in fact similar to today, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square kilometres. Although one region, the Weddell Sea, did have a significantly larger ice cover.

Published estimates suggest Antarctic sea ice extent was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around 6 million square kilometres in recent decades.

The research suggests that the climate of Antarctica may have fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century, swinging between decades of high ice cover and decades of low ice cover, rather than enduring a steady downward trend.

This study builds on international efforts to recover old weather and climate data from ships' logbooks. The public can volunteer to rescue more data at oldweather.org.

Day said: "The Southern Ocean is largely a 'black hole' as far as historical climate change data is concerned, but future activities planned to recover data from naval and whaling ships will help us to understand past climate variations and what to expect in the future."

Capt Scott perished along with his team in 1912 after missing out on being the first to reach the South Pole by a matter of weeks, while Shackleton's ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew journeyed to attempt the first ever cross-Antarctic trek.

In addition to using ship logbooks from three expeditions led by Scott and two by Shackleton, the researchers used sea-ice records from Belgian, German and French missions, among others. But the team was unable to analyse some logbooks from the Heroic Age period, which have not yet been imaged and digitised. These include the records from the Norwegian Antarctic expedition of 1910-12 lead by Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach both the south and north poles.

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Please mention the name of the publication (The Cryosphere) if reporting on this story and, if reporting online, include a link to the paper or to the journal website.
A common species of Asian tree frog may actually be two separate species according to new genetic data collected by an international group of scientists. If the two groups of frogs are confirmed to be different species, assigning their scientific names may require searching historical records of foreign explorers in Japan during the 1800s.

Before the frogs are officially recognized as two separate species, researchers will test if individual frogs from the two groups have unique physical or behavioral features and if they can produce healthy offspring.

The project began when researchers at European universities expanded their studies on sex determination and population dynamics in amphibians to include Asian species. The species of tree frog that they chose, Hyla japonica, is found throughout Japan, the Korean peninsula, eastern China, and eastern Russia. Collaborators around the world began sending genetic samples from local frog populations to discover their evolutionary relationships.

The data revealed evolutionarily distinct groups of frogs in Japan, the Korean peninsula, and eastern Russia. Ancestors of the modern frog populations likely traveled either into or out of Japan by two separate routes: from the North on a chain of islands between Russia and Japan, and from the South along a land bridge on the Philippine Sea Plate between South Korea and Japan.

Japanese H. japonica populations may have been isolated into separate East and West groups. Researchers are exploring this possibility in more detail with an ongoing research project led by Ikuo Miura, PhD, an Associate Professor in Amphibian Research Center at Hiroshima University.

The same separation between East and West Japan is known in other species of frogs and skinks. Miura explains that the scientific community has no definitive information about exactly what caused the divide between East and West Japan, but suggests the possibility of the expansion of ancient basin associated with volcanic activity in central Japan.

Miura and Yuya Higaki, a fourth-year bachelor's degree student, are currently running genetic analysis on 50 populations of H. japonica from across Japan. They will present their preliminary results on November 26th at the annual conference of the Herpetological Society of Japan. This project is part of Miura's larger research interests in sex determination and its influence on speciation and evolution.

If H. japonica is recognized as two separate species, it will be challenging for researchers to decide which species should keep the original name due to the mystery surrounding which population of H. japonica was used for the original species characterization in 1858. The German-British naturalist Albert Gunther named H. japonica after examining a specimen collected years earlier, potentially in 1826, by Philipp Siebold and Heinrich Burger, German botanists and physicians who were among the first Westerners granted official access to Japan. The modern research team visited the British Museum of Natural History to inspect the original specimen, but the location of where Siebold and Burger collected the first H. japonica is recorded only as "Japan." For now, naming the species will remain a historical mystery secondary to the ongoing scientific questions.

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The current research paper is published in the November 23, 2016 issue of BioMed Central Evolutionary Biology. Authors of the paper are based at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (Germany), Russian Academy of Sciences, Seoul National University, Ewha Woman's University (Republic of Korea), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Hiroshima University.

The species Hyla japonica is listed as Least Concern on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) Red List.

Find more Hiroshima University news on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HiroshimaUniversityResearch

More information about the Hiroshima University Amphibian Research Center is available in both English and Japanese on their website: http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/amphibia/main/InstAmphBiol/Home_en.html

Information about the Herpetological Society of Japan is available in both English and Japanese on their website: http://herpetology.jp/

Academic Paper Citation: Dufresnes C, Litvinchuk SN, Borzee A, Jang Y, Li J, Miura I, Perrin N, Stock M. Phylogeography reveals an ancient cryptic radiation in East-Asian tree frogs (Hyla japonica group) and complex relationships between continental and island lineages. BioMed Central Evolutionary Biology. 23 November 2016.
Following months of delay, a controversial pig farm in Northern Ireland has finally received planning permission to build a unit for 15,000 finishers.

Farmer Derek Hall had originally suggested building a unit for 30,000 pigs on the Rea Hill Road near Newtownabbey, but revised plans have now been passed for a unit half that size.

The permission was passed by councillors, some of them farmers, at a sitting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council planning committee.

See also: Seven things to consider with pig planning

Residents had voiced huge concern over the project and said the unit would produce too much slurry and smell.

In total, there were 856 individual letters of objection and 200,000 people had previously signed an online petition.

Celebrities including Queen guitarist and animal welfare campaigner Brian May as well as actors Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove had also publicly opposed the pig unit.

Angry opponents were present in the council chamber for the meeting and protested afterwards outside, some confronting the councillors.

The Ulster Unionist Partys Roderick Swann was one of nine councillors who backed the proposal.

He said: Im a farmer myself who supports the agri-industry and I was quite satisfied that all the necessary welfare issues were addressed.

The planning case officer and all the consultees were quite happy with everything that was proposed.

Asked if he understood the strong opposition, both from locals and those not so local, Mr Swann said: I can and I cant. There was an awful lot of not in my backyard.

A lot of these animal rights folks, theyre entitled to their opinion, but I think theyre on the wrong track sometimes. This will be the most modern pig farm, not only in Ireland, but also Great Britain.




Haiti - Elections : CEP call to order





In order to preserve serenity, the Provisional Electoral Council reminds the general population, parties, political groups and candidates in particular, the provisions of Articles 123, 197, 197.1 and 226.1 of the Electoral Decree in force.



It is categorically forbidden for any candidate or party to declare himself the winner of the election before the official publication of the results by the CEP. In addition, any public demonstrationt in favor of one or more candidates, one or more political parties or groups, is prohibited from polling day until the official proclamation of the results, this, under Article 123 of the Decree.



The CEP calls the population calm and invites them not to respond to provocations or give in to incitement to violence.



Articles of the Electoral Decree :



Article 123 :

"Any public demonstration in favor of one or more candidates from one or more political parties or groups, is prohibited from election day until the definitive results are proclaimed."



Article 197 :

"Is punished by imprisonment from six (6) months to one (1) year and a fine of ten thousand (10,000) to twenty-five thousand (25,000) gourdes, the fact by any person to organize or participate in a public demonstration in favor of one or more candidates, one or more political parties or groups deom polling day until the proclamation of the results."



Article 197.1:

"Is punished by a fine of thirty thousand (30,000) to one hundred thousand (100,000) gourdes, the fact by any person to publish electoral predictions concerning the conduct of the poll or to publish electoral prognostics realized by anybody on polling day."



Article 226.1 :

"In no case, the observers can publish in the press or otherwise partial results or the tendency of the vote before the official publication of the Provisional Electoral Council, under penalty of being prosecuted before the competent court for infringement of the Electoral Act."



HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : Demonstrations, the Minister of Justice condemns with force





Following, among others, the demonstrations of the activists, supporters and sympathizers of Fanmi Lavalas who took the streets Monday and Tuesday to protest against a supposed electoral coup and demand the respect of the vote of the ballot boxes, convinced of the victory of their candidate Maryse Narcisse; Camille Junior Edouard, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security "strongly condemns all threats and acts of intimidation recorded over the last 48 hours".



Anxious to preserve Public Peace the Minister Edouard invites all candidates and their supporters to keep their calm and not to violate the prescriptions of the electoral decree which prohibits any demonstration during the period preceding the proclamation of the results of the ballot by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), the only body competent in the matter. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19313-haiti-elections-cep-call-to-order.html



It relies on the civic good sense of all citizens and exhorts them to have the same patriotic behavior that they showed during the election day last Sunday.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19310-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html



HL/ HaitiLibre